USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 51
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The school was first kept in a building called the Academy, which had been erected in 1797 by cer- tain proprietors for a private school and other pur- poses. The town-meetings were held in this building, after they had ceased to be held in the First Parish Church in 1832, till 1857, when the present town hall, with rooms in the lower story for the High School, was built.
The winter schools in the several divisions of the town, and afterwards districts, were always taught by male teachers till the High School was established. After that time the plan of putting these schools
under the care of female teachars was gradually in- troduced, with good results. In 1851 the present system was adopted, giving to all the schools forty weeks' schooling and placing them under the charge of female teachers who should continue through the year without change.
This arrangement has continued to the present time, except that the Beechwood grammar school has for some years been taught by a male teacher through the year.
Primary winter schools began to be provided in one or two of the larger districts before 1840. New ones have been established as they have been needed, and at present there are five yearly primary schools in the town.
In September, 1883, an intermediate school was opened.
At present there are in the town one high school, four grammar, two mixed, one intermediate, and five primary schools.
The whole number of pupils in 1882-83 was, in the summer term, three hundred and eighty-three ; in the fall term, four hundred and two; and in the win- ter term, three hundred and eighty-one. The appro- priation of the town for the support of the schools the current year (1883-84) is five thousand seven hundred dollars.
An account of the schools in Cohasset would not be complete without reference to the private schools which have had an important part in educating the people. Before the incorporation of Cohasset as a precinct, and afterwards until it became a district or town, dame-schools were doubtless supported by the voluntary contributions of the people, to supply, in part, the utter want of provision made by the town for teaching the children, or such provision was made to supply its deficiencies.
After 1797, when the Academy was built, a good private school, generally under the charge of a liberally-educated man, was kept till a public high school was established. Rev. Mr. Flint and Mr. Wm. Whittington also taught many private pupils. Young women opened private schools and had many children committed to their charge ; but since the public schools have been lengthened and improved private schools have been discontinued. At present none are kept in town.
As a part of the educational system of the town, a public library for the use of all the inhabitants was established in 1879. The town voted to give three hundred dollars toward the library, provided the school-teachers would raise an equal amount of money. They obtained more than that amount,
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
mostly by subscriptions of from twenty-five cents to five dollars. Afterwards liberal-minded citizens gave larger sums of money ; there have been generous con- tributions of valuable books, and a considerable amount of money was raised from a fair. The town has consented to grant three hundred dollars or four hundred dollars annually for the support of the library, and has provided for it convenient rooms. The library now contains more than three thousand volumes of books, many of which are of great value, affording excellent reading to all who choose to avail themselves of it in the town.1
CHAPTER XXIL.
DOVER.
BY MRS. G. D. EVERETT.
THE town of Dover lies in the northwestern part of the county, is one of the border towns' between Norfolk and Middlesex Counties, and is bounded as follows: on the north by Needham and Natick, on the east by Dedham, on the south by Walpole and Medfield, and on the west by Sherborn and Natick.
Much of the early history of Dover will be found in the history of Dedham, of which it originally formed a part, being known as the fourth precinct of Dedham. The earliest record which throws any light upon the history of Dover is the charter granted by their Ma- jesties, King William and Queen Mary, to the inhab- itants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England; which charter stated that His Majesty King James the First by his letters patent under the Great Seal of England, being dated at Westminster, Nov. 3, 1621, granted to the Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, and their suc- cessors and assigns, for the planting, ruling, ordering and governing of New England in America, all that part of America lying in breadth between the fortieth and forty-eigthth degrees of north latitude, and in length all the land from sea to sea, provided they are not possessed or inhabited by other Christian prince or State. To have, hold, and enjoy, paying to the king, his heirs or successors, one-fifth part of the gold and silver
ore which from time to time should be found or obtained within these lands or territories. And whereas this Council established at Plymouth, for the ruling and governing of New England in America, did by their deed dated March 3, 1628, grant and confirm to Sir Henry Roswell, Sir John Young, Knights, Thomas Southcott, John Humphreys, John Endicott, and Simon Whetcombe, their heirs and assigns, all that part of New England in America which lies between a great river commonly called Monomack, alias Mer- rimack, and a certain other river called Charles River, being in a certain bay commonly called Massachusetts, alias Mattachusetts.
Also all the lands within the space of three Eng- lish miles to the southward of the southernmost part of Massachusetts Bay; and all the lands which lie within the space of three English miles to the northward of Merrimack River ; and in breadth from the Atlantic Sea on the east to the South Sea on the west. And that the affairs and business, which from time to time should happen and arise, concerning the planting and governing of these lands, that they might be better managed and ordered, King Charles the First did make and create, by his letters patent, Sir John Roswell, Sir John Young, etc., and others that should be admitted, one body corporate, by the name of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, in New England ; and did grant them and their successors, powers and privileges in this letter patent which may more fully appear ; and whereas, several persons employed as agents of our colony, have made application unto us that the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and the province of Main, and the territory called Acadia or Nova Scotia, be incorporated into one real province, by the name of " Our Province of Massa- chusetts Bay, in New England." We do therefore, will and establish, that thenceforth and forever, there shall be one governor, one lieutenant, a deputy gov- ernor, and one secretary, to be appointed and commis- sioned by us, our heirs, and successors, and eight and twenty assistants and counselors, to advise and assist the governor.
We find the acts and laws governing the colonies during the reign of King William and Queen Mary, and their Majesties King George, Queen Anne, and to the time of King George III., or from 1688 to 1760, were explicit and exacting.
Laws were made for governing the General Court, religious services, school taxes, poor, for commission over the Indians, for breaking the Sabbath, profanity, exporting, importing, cruelty to animals, for marriage and divorce, drunkards, vagabonds, thefts, fortune- ' tellers, collecting debts, etc.
1 In the foregoing history of Cohasset certain proper names are spelled in two different ways. The names now spelled Bates, Jacobs, and Stetson, in the early records were written Bate, Jacob, and Stutson. The part of the town formerly called "The Beechwoods" of late years has been called " Beechwood," the name given to the post-office in that locality.
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DOVER.
Each town within the province was to be provided with an able, learned orthodox minister, of good con- versation, to dispense the word of God to them. And all agreements and contracts made by the inhabitants respecting their minister or schoolmasters were to be good and valid according to the interest thereof; but if the inhabitants neglect to provide suitable ministers or schoolmasters, upon complaint being made to the Quarter Sessions of Peace for that county, the court was empowered to order a competent allowance for such minister, according to the estate and ability of the town, to be assessed upon the inhabitants by a warrant from the court, directed to the selectmen, to be proportioned and assessed as other public charges. Or if a town was destitute of a minister for six | months the court could procure and settle one, and order the charge for his support to be levied upon the inhabitants of the town.
Every town within the province having fifty house- holders was to be constantly provided with a school- master, who should teach the children to read and write, and every town having the number of one hun- dred householders should also have a grammar school and some person of good conversation, well instructed in the tongues, to keep such school. Every such schoolmaster or masters to be paid by the inhabitants, under penalty of ten pounds for every conviction of such neglect.
In the year 1635 (history of Dedham) the General Court then sitting at Newtowne granted a tract of land south of Charles River to twelve men. The following year several persons joined them, and an additional grant was made to nineteen persons of all the land south of Charles River and above the fall, not before granted, and a tract five miles square on the north side of Charles River, for the purpose of forming a settlement. The above grants constitute at the present time the towns of Dedham, Norwood, Norfolk, Medfield, Wrentham, Needham, Bellingham, Walpole, Franklin, Natick, Dover, and a part of Sher- born. When the General Court gave large tracts of land to the inhabitants it required them to make new settlements as soon as circumstances would permit.
The early settlers of Massachusetts colony during the first five or six years remained in Boston and the adjoining towns of Roxbury and Watertown. The first twenty-four families who settled Dedham came from Watertown. The early history of Dover (or from 1635 to 1748) and Dedham are identical, and the early records of Dedham must form the only records of many of the adjoining towns, which were all embodied in the town of Dedham.
The affairs of this new settlement required much
time and management. Regular monthly meetings were held to transact the business, which for many years was entrusted to seven men, who made all necessary by-laws for the people. The town of Ded- ham was first known by the name of Contentment, this name being written over the records of several of the first meetings. Edward Allyne was one of the leading men who came in the first company from Watertown, the first records of the town being written by him. These pioneers were surrounded by foes and toil on every hand. The woods abounded with wolves and other wild animals. Indians lurked in the forests with suspicious looks and acts, and their daily bread was to be wrung from the sterile soil.
In 1637 a meeting-house was built, which was thirty-six feet long, twenty feet wide, and twelve feet high, with a thatched roof. It stood where the meeting-house of the First Parish of Dedham now stands. The pitts (as the pews were called in the records) were five feet deep and four and one-half feet wide. The elders' seat and deacons' seat were before the pulpit. The communion-table stood before these seats, and placed so that communicants could reach it from all directions. The officers of the church were pastor, teachers, rulers, and deacons. The pastor to administer the seals of baptism and the sacraments ; the ruling elder to admonish, excommunicate, absolve, and ordain ; the teachers to pray, preach, and instruct ; deacons to regulate the collections for the poor and sing psalms.
All newcomers were required to give to a commit- tee chosen for that purpose an account of their mo- tives for wishing to settle there. These questions to be answered satisfactorily before they could remain : Where they were from? What property they pos- sessed ? If there was a probability of their becoming a charge to the inhabitants? Also what were their moral feelings, religious affections, and opinions of Christian doctrines ?
In 1664 the town consisted of ninety-five small houses situated near each other, within a short dis- tance of where the court-house now stands. Only four of the number were valued at twenty pounds ; the others were valued at from three to ten pounds. There were no saw-mills, and boards must be sawed by hand. They were probably log houses with thatched roofs. Every house was obliged to have a ladder reaching from the ground to the chimney as a means of protection in case of fire, under penalty of five shillings for such neglect. It was a law of the colony that settlers should build their houses near each other for protection, and in 1682 a law was passed that no one should move to a greater distance
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
than two miles from the meeting-house without spe- cial license, as any one so removing would expose himself in time of danger.
Medfield was the first town settled by the Dedham proprietors, in 1641; Wrentham, in 1.673; other towns were incorporated later.
The Indians were often troublesome, disregarding boundary lines, frequently trespassing after boundaries had been established. Richard Ellis and Timothy Dwight were chosen agents to treat with King Philip, the sagamore, for the possession of land six miles square.
In 1671 fears were entertained of an attack by the Indians, and the great gun now in town, with the | carriage thereunto belonging, was ordered to be put in repair for service. In 1673 the General Court ordered the town to be put in readiness for war. In 1675 the bloody war known as King Philip's war com- menced. A man was found shot in the woods and the murder traced directly to King Philip. He was the chief instigator of the war. He had his summer hunting seat near Taunton, where some of the people furnished him with beef, repaired his muskets, and furnished him with some simple tools such as the In- dians could use. These acts of friendship, through Philip's influence, protected them, while other towns suffered from their savage incursions.
In 1672 a new meeting-house was built on the same site as the former one, that being taken down and giving place to a larger one. The new house had three pair of stairs in the corners. Men were seated in galleries on one side, women on the other, and boys in the front gallery. The duty of the tything-man was laborious ; he received as much pay many years as the deputy of the General Court. He was obliged to go on errands for the elders, whip the dogs out of the meeting-house, and prevent disorder among the boys.
The business of seating persons in the meeting- house came under the jurisdiction of the elders, the greatest taxpayer having the best seat. The new house was furnished with a bell. One Balch received ! ten shillings for one year's service in beating the drum to collect the congregation.
The school-house, a building eighteen feet long by fourteen feet wide, and three stories high, the upper story being used as a watch-tower, stood near the church.
In 1691 the town was indicted for not supporting a school.
Sheep were introduced into the town in 1667. A large number of dogs were kept in the plantation to guard against the ravages of the wolves. We find that bounties as high as twenty shillings were paid for their
capture, and that Sergt. Ellis was paid certain sums for their capture from time to time. Horses wearing fetters roamed in the woods, and swine wearing great yokes around their necks ran wild.
Absences from town-meeting were punished by fine, the roll of the townsmen being called after the first half-hour had expired. One shilling fine for the first half-hour's absence, and two shillings and sixpence for the whole meeting. Until 1700 the people voted by wheat and beans, wheat denoting the affirmative, and beans the negative.
Many of the first houses built had decayed ; the in- habitants had forsaken them and settled on larger tracts of land in the west part of Dedham, on the land now comprised in Dover, which was established some years later as Springfield Parish.
The inhabitants of the westerly part of Dedham presented a petition, March 3, 1728, at a legal town-meeting, requesting that they and their estates might be set off as a precinct, with the following bounds, viz. : Beginning at Bubbling Brook, where it crosses Medfield road ; and from thence taking in the lands of Samuel Chickering; from thence to the westerly end of Nathaniel Richards' house-lot, and so down to Charles River, with all the lands and inhabi- tants westerly of said line ; which petition was voted and granted at said meeting.
Again, Nov. 19, 1729, a petition was presented to the General Court, praying to be made a distinct pre- cinct with the above bounds.
The petition was consigned to a committee, who reported that the inhabitants, with their estates, should be freed from paying the minister rate in Dedham, and ordered that the ministerial taxes be paid to the several ministers of the towns where they attended church. This report was accepted by the court.
In 1736 there were about fifteen hundred inhabi- tants and only one minister, and one schoolmaster em- ployed a few weeks in a place. There was one physician, a few mechanics, no traders or manufacturers.
Another petition was sent to His Excellency William Shirley, Esq., Governor-in-Chief over his majesty's province, praying that they might be freed from paying ministerial rates in the respective places where they had been 'accustomed to attend public worship, as it was attended with great difficulty and labor. They now desired to be set off as a pre- cinct, with parish privileges, feeling that they could now build a meeting-house, support a minister, and meet together for public worship with some degree of ease and convenience. This petition was signed at Dedham, March 30, 1748, and presented to the Gen- eral Court, April 5, 1748, with the following names :
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DOVER.
John Draper.
Daniel Wight.
Samuel Chickering.
John Battelle.
Josiah Ellis.
Josiah Richards.
Benjamin Ellis.
John Cheeney.
Joseph Draper.
John Chickering.
Seth Mason. Joseph Chickering.
Jonathan Day.
Nathaniel Wilson.
Eliphalet Chickering. Jabez Wood.
Ezra Gay.
Oliver Bacon.
Timothy Ellis.
John Bacon.
Daniel Chickering.
Joshua Ellis.
John Griggs.
Hezekiah Allen, Jr.
Thomas Battelle.
Ebenezer Newell.
Jonathan Bullard.
Thomas Merrifield.
Thomas Richards.
Jonathan Battelle.
Jonathan Whiting.
Ralph Day.
Abraham Chamberlain.
This petition was granted Nov. 18, 1748, giving the powers and privileges which precincts enjoy. They then became an incorporated body, styling them- selves the West, or Fourth Precinct in Dedham. A warrant for the first precinct meeting was issued Dec. 20, 1748, and as the General Court did not appoint a person to call the first parish meeting, one of his majesty's justices of the peace, Joshua Ellis, warned the inhabitants to assemble in the school-house in Dedham (Third Precinct, near the dwelling-house of Joseph Chickering), January 4th, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, to choose a moderator, precinct clerk, and a committee to call parish, district, or precinct meetings. The inhabitants assembled at the time and place mentioned, and made choice of the following officers :
Joshua Ellis, clerk ; Joshua Ellis, Joseph Chick- ering, Joseph Draper, Samuel Chickering, Samuel Metcalfe, precinct committee.
At the next precinct meeting, holden in the same school-house March 15, 1749, Jonathan Whiting was chosen precinct treasurer ; Joshua Ellis, Joseph Draper, Joseph Chickering, assessors and precinct committee.
A vote was also passed to grant twenty-five pounds to defray the charge of three months' preaching and other precinct charges.
Joseph Draper, Ralph Day, and David Wight were chosen a committee to procure a minister to preach with them, also to provide a place for ye precinct to congregate in.
The following committee was also chosen to pre- pare timber for a meeting-house: Capt. Hezekiah Allen, Joseph Draper, Samuel Metcalf, Daniel Chick- ering, Jonathan Day. The committee who were ap- pointed to prepare the timber for the meeting-house were also instructed to build the house forty-two feet in length, thirty-four feet in width, and twenty feet in height from the top of ye cel to ye top of the plate.
Capt. Joseph Williams and four others were chosen to select a site for the meeting-house, and Nathaniel Wilson and two others to agree with any person or persons for the price of the land (if need be). This evolved unthought of difficulties with the committee, and after repeated meetings, debates, and petitions for different spots for the new meeting-house, tie-votes and many other obstacles to overcome, it was finally agreed to abide by the decision of a committee of dis- interested persons from other towns, who reported that it should be placed upon the easterly side of Trout Brook, in the Third Precinct, not far from ye bounds between Deacon Joseph Ellis and Mr. Eliph- alet Chickering, which would be a short distance back of where the present Congregationalist Church now stands.
The report of the committee was accepted Feb. 17, 1750, and the first precinct meeting was held in the meeting-house, March 20, 1754. At this meet- ing money was granted to finish the outside and lower floor. In 1758 another grant was made for lathing and plastering. During the same year more money was appropriated to build a pulpit ; then in 1759 still another grant to finish two' galleries and stairs, with this provision, that the galleries should have only common seats. The last grant was made in 1761 to finish pews on the lower floor. Thus, after ten years' struggle with difficulties hard to overcome, the people were prepared to invite a gospel minister to settle with them to dispense the word of God and his sacra- ments.
The first minister employed in the precinct was Mr. Thomas Jones, who preached thirteen Sabbaths in the spring of 1749 ; from this time to 1754 noth- ing decided had been done to establish public worship ; consequently the people were warned by the grand jury of Suffolk County to give reasons for this neglect, with this admonition, if this negligence was continued they might expect to be presented.
The sum of £13 6s. 8d. was voted to defray the expense of preaching for three months, and from this time to Oct. 18, 1758, different ministers were em- ployed for three and four months at a time; then a unanimous vote was given for Mr. Joseph Manning, of Cambridge, to dispense ye word of God and admin- ister ye special ordinances of ye gospel. This invita- tion was extended to him, with a salary of £66 13s. 4d., but these hopes were soon blighted by his declining to accept the call, with this benediction for their fu- ture welfare :
"Therefore finally Brethren, Live in Love and Peace, keep- ing ye unity of ye Spirit in ye Bond of Peace. And may ye God ! of Peace be with you, may his peace rest upon you. That ye
16
Samuel Metcalf.
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
great Shepherd of ye sheep would in Due time give you a pastor after his own Heart, a faithful Minister of ye New Tes- tament to your Spiritual Edification and abundant Joy and Comfort, is and shall be ye Prayer of your Friend in Christ, " JOSEPH MANNING.
" CAMBRIDGE, Dec. 4, 1758."
During the next four years different ministers were employed, but no one was called to settle. In 1760 our ancestors were again notified by the General Court of their remissness ; again in 1762 they were admonished by the court to choose a minister. Then a unanimous vote was given for Mr. Benjamin Caryl, with a salary of £66 13s. 4d.
The following is Mr. Caryl's letter of acceptance, which cannot fail to show his prayerful spirit to be directed aright in his duties towards his fellow-men :
1
" To the People of Springfield Parish in Dedham, Greeting :
" CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,-I hope I am, in some measure, sensi- ble of the over-ruling Providence of God in all things, and willing to hear and obey his voice to me therein. Especially would I, at this time, acknowledge and view the Providence of God, both in so far Uniting your Hearts to invite me, to carry on the great work of the Gospel Ministry among you and in inclining my heart to accept your invitation.
" And I desire to bless God, that after so much pains taken to know my Duty, I am so well satisfied with the clearness of my call to settle among you in the work of the Ministry, tho' I hope I am sensible of my own unfitness, unpreparedness, and insufficiency for these things. But being fully persuaded ye Christ as King and head of his Church has appointed and es- tablished the Office of ye Ministry to continue in a constant succession to the End of Time, and has promised to be with his faithful ambassadors alway, to the end of ye world, I do, therefore, humbly leaning on Christ's strength, Seriously com- ply with your desire to take upon me the Office of a Pastor, and to administer Christ's Ordinance among you.
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