USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > North Bridgewater > History of North Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to the present time, with family registers > Part 34
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421
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
Gidcon Howard, Luke Packard, Asa Battles, Shepard Packard, James Cary, Theron Ames, Job Ames,
William French, Ezekiel Merritt,
Isaac Eames,
Otis Alden,
M. II. Perkins,
Alvin Snell,
Amos Whiting,
Shepard Snell, Loring Brett,
Turner Torrey, Issachar Snell, Shepard Keith, Joseph Snell,
Cyrus Howard,
Darius Howard,
Samuel Bryant,
Lewis Howard,
Henry Kingman,
Seth Kingman, Galen Manley,
Moses Cary,
Isaac Curtis,
Benjamin Marshall, John Wales, Jr., Ephraim Noyes,
Jonathan P. Crafts,
Caleb Copeland, Jr.,
Merritt Noyes,
Jesse Perkins, Jr.,
Oliver Jackson,
Oliver Howard, Jr.,
Ebenezer Edson,
Charles Dunbar,
Barnabas Curtis,
Seth Snow,
Jacob Dunbar,
David Noyes,
John Smith,
Ebenezer Dunbar,
Moses Noyes,
Eliphalet Kingman,
Samuel Wood,
John Ritchie,
Josiah Perkins,
Isaac Hartwell, Jr.,
Ansel Perkins,
Nahum Perkins,
James Willis,
Robert Packard,
Thomas Thompson,
Abijah Knapp,
Perez Robinson,
John Thompson,
Martin Dunbar,
Josiah Dunbar,
John Tilden,
Ortho Hayward, Azor Packard, Zina Hayward,
Waldo Hayward,
Daniel Manley,
Daniel Howard, Jr.,
Enos Thayer, 2d,
Howard Marshall,
David Battles,
Seth Edson,
Gilbert Snell, Enos Thayer, Ephraim Cole,
Salmon Manley, Austin Howard, John Wales,
Otis Howard,
Gideon Howard, Jr.,
John Ames,
Eliab Whitman,
Oliver Howard,
Rev. Thomas Beresford, Samuel Holmes,
Lott Blanchard,
Samuel Packard,
Jonathan Perkins.
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 15, 1820. Read and committed to the Committee on the Incorporation of Towns. Sent up for concurrence.
Read and concurred.
TIMOTHY BIGELOW, Speaker. IN SENATE, January 18, 1820. JOHN PHILLIPS, President.
The following is a copy of the remonstrance of Eliab Whit- man and others of the North Parish : -
Sidney Howard,
Jacob Fuller,
John Craft,
Charles Packard,
Silas Packard,
Preston Packard,
Nathan Packard,
Silas Dunbar,
John Tilden, Jr.,
William Edson,
422
HISTORY OF NORTH BRIDGEWATER.
To the Honorable the Senate and the Honorable the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled, Anno Dom. 1820 :
We, the undersigned inhabitants of the North Parish in Bridgewater, un- derstanding that an order of notice from your honorable body has been served on said town of Bridgewater, purporting that Asa Iloward and 213 others have petitioned the General Court praying that said North Parish may be set off from the town of Bridgewater, and incorporated into a separate town by the name of North Bridgewater, do most respectfully represent that, in our opinion, the proposed dismemberment of the town of Bridgewater cannot be supported by such reasons and arguments as will justify a measure so repugnant to the interest and happiness of the said North Parish, as well as to the town at large. We cannot conceive what new reasons or arguments ean be offered for dividing the town. It is a fact that the population of said town has been nearly stationary for forty years past, and the distance from the centre has not increased, but in several in- stanees has been considerably shortened, and the roads very much improved in that time. It is also a fact that there are scetions of the south, east, and Titicut parishes nearly as remote from the centre of the town as the most remote seetion of the North Parish, and they cannot be much relieved by the proposed division. The town house is a substantial building, and ample in its size, and with a very small expense might be made a convenient ae- commodation for our most numerous town meetings. Nevertheless, should your Honors, in your great wisdom, think it expedient to grant the prayer of said petition, and incorporate the said North Parish into a distinct and separate town,
We, the undersigned inhabitants of said North Parish, being deeply impressed with the belief that such a measure will be pregnant with many great and serious evils to said North Parish, do most earnestly wish, and humbly pray your Honors, that we, the said undersigned, may, with our estates, be exempted from said Act of Incorporation, and still retain our connection and relation to the town of Bridgewater ; and, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
Eliab Whitman,
Rev. Thomas Beresford, Ezekiel Merritt,
Lott Blanchard,
John Tilden, Josiah Perkins,
Gideon Howard, Jr.,
Abijah Knapp,
Silas Packard,
Lewis Howard,
Seth Edson,
Jacob Fuller,
Darius Howard,
Nahum Perkins,
John Crafts,
Theron Ames,
Jesse Packard,
Josiah Dunbar,
Martin Dunbar,
Isaac Curtis,
William French,
Shepard Keitlı,
Oliver Howard,
John Wales, Jr.,
Jonathan Perkins, M. HI. Perkins, Jacob Dunbar,
John Wales,
Moses Cary, Seth Snow,
Silas Dunbar, Jr.,
E. Edson, his M mark,
Ebenezer Dunbar,
Thomas Thompson,
Jonathan P. Crafts,
Waldo Hayward,
423
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
Charles Packard,
David Battles,
John Tilden, Jr.,
Shepard Snell,
Job Ames,
Enos Thayer, 2d,
Sidney Howard,
Asa Battles,
Nathan Packard,
Samucl Packard,
Ansel Perkins,
Joseph Snell,
Ephraim Noyes,
Turner Torrey,
Oliver Jackson,
Moses Noyes,
Ilayward Marshall,
Isaac Eames,
Ortho Hayward,
James Willis,
William Edson.
Austin Howard,
Benjamin Marshall,
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 19, 1820. Read and referred to the Committee on Incorporation of Towns. TIMOTIIY BIGELOW, Speaker.
Read and concurred.
JOHN PHILLIPS, President.
The following is a copy of a petition in aid of Asa Howard and others : -
To the Honorable Senate and the Honorable House of Representatives in General Court assembled, A. D. 1819 :
The petition of the undersigned inhabitants of the North Parish of Bridge- water, humbly shows that, whereas there is now pending before the honor- able legislative body the petition of Asa Howard and two hundred and thirteen others, praying for said North Parish to be set off into a town, for various reasons, did not sign said petition, but have since taken into consider- ation the subject-matter of said petition, and are of an opinion that it will be very advantageous to the inhabitants of said parish to be set off as afore- said, and cannot see any disadvantage that will arise to the remaining part of the town by granting the prayer of said petitioners. For the foregoing reason your petitioners wish to have their names annexed to said petition, and, in duty bound, will ever pray.
Bela C. Dike, Moses Packard,
Orin Packard, Shubael Clark,
William Cary, Ephraim Howard,
Abijah Pitcher,
Martin Snow,
Job Bryant,
Ephraim Brett,
Charles Gurney,
Elisha Belcher,
Luke P. Lincoln,
Issachar Snell.
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 18, 1820. Read and committed to the Committee on the Incorporation of Towns Sent up for concurrence.
Read and concurred.
TIMOTHY BIGELOW, Speaker. IN SENATE, January 18, 1820.
JOHN PHILLIPS, President.
Ebenezer Warren, Jr., Joel Packard, Algernon S. Silvester,
John B. Harris,
John Marshall, Joseph S. Packard,
IN SENATE, January 19, 1820.
424
HISTORY OF NORTH BRIDGEWATER.
The following is a copy of remonstrance from the town of Bridgewater, by Daniel Howard, Esq., as agent : -
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled :
The subscriber, an agent for the town of Bridgewater, duly appointed for this purpose, begs leave, in behalf of said town, respectfully to remonstrate against the petition of Asa Howard and others praying that the North Parish of said Bridgewater may be set off and incorporated into a separate town, by the name of North Bridgewater.
'This renewed attempt to divide the town of Bridgewater has been wit- nessed by a large majority of its inhabitants with feelings of regret and surprise. It was hoped and believed that the petitioners would acquiesce in the decision of the last General Court, whose attention was called to the subject by a petition, both in substance and in form like the present. The petitioners, however, having seen fit to renew the controversy, renders it necessary on the part of the town again to protest against the adoption of a measure which no exigence or necessity requires, and which, it is believed, would affeet very injuriously the best interests of the inhabitants of Bridge- water.
The evils which the petitioners suffer from their connection with the town are, as they allege, the distance which they have to travel to attend town meetings, the badness of the roads at a certain season of the year, and the want of a house convenient for the transaction of the business of the town.
There is no town in the Commonwealth the inhabitants of which, if so disposed, cannot complain of some inconveniences to which they are subjected in the transaction of their municipal concerns. The inconveniences expe- rienced in this respect by the town of Bridgewater are not more numerous than what are suffered by the greater part of the towns in the State. The distance travelled by the petitioners to attend town meetings and the bad- ness of the roads may be inconveniences ; but they are not more so now than they have ever been since the town was incorporated. They are incon- reniences to which the inhabitants of every country town must, in a greater or less degree, submit, and to which the people of the North Parish, in their more unambitious days, quietly submitted, in the full persuasion, no doubt, that they could not be remedied without subjecting themselves and the town to others of a much more serious and formidable nature.
It may be asserted, however, with truth, that the roads in Bridgewater are, generally speaking, uncommonly good. They have been much im- proved, and, within a few years, new ones have been opened, lessening the distanec of travel from various parts of the town (particularly the North Parisii) to the centre.
The numerous population of Bridgewater, to which the petitioners have alluded, constitutes no impediment to the correct and orderly transaction of the business of the town.
Their system of town government, practised upon for many years, very
425
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
much facilitates the management of their municipal concerns. Each parish has the nomination and, in effect, the appointment of its proportion of town officers ; and thus the interests of all are equally consulted.
If the town house is out of repair, as stated in the petition, it can be easily fitted so as to accommodate all the inhabitants, and nothing has pre- vented this but the fear of a division, which the petitioners have contributed so much to excite and keep alive.
The whole amount, then, of what the petitioners would gain by a separa- tion would be barely saving to themselves of a few miles' travel, an advan- tage too inconsiderable to balance the many disadvantages to the town at large, of which such a measure must be productive.
The separation of the North would doubtless be followed by a total dis- memberment of the ancient and respectable town. A short time would see us divided into four or five petty towns, with an increase of expense to each, involved in perpetual litigations with each other, and vexed with internal broils. The seeds of dissension are already sown among us, and wait only the favorable moment of a separation to spring up and yield a plentiful harvest.
It is unnecessary to pursue this subject further, and set down in order all that can be said against granting the request of the petitioners. Enough has been said in this brief statement, it is apprehended, to convince every candid and reflecting mind that a separation of the North Parish would, to itself, be productive of no real advantage, but to the town of great and lasting injury,
JANUARY 15, 1820.
DANIEL HOWARD. IN SENATE, January 18, 1820.
Read and committed to the Committee on Incorporation of Towns. Sent down for concurrence.
JOHN PHILLIPS, President.
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 18, 1820.
Read and concurred.
TIMOTHY BIGELOW, Speaker.
The Committee of both Houses appointed to consider applications for the Incorporation of Towns, to whom was referred the petition of Asa Howard and others, inhabitants of the north precinct of Bridgewater, praying that said precinet may be incorporated into a separate town, have had the same under consideration, and ask leave to report, That the prayer of the petition be so far granted that the petitioners have leave to bring in a bill for that purpose.
Which is respectfully submitted, by order of Committee.
EBEN GAY, Chairman.
Read and accepted. Sent down for concurrence.
IN SENATE, February 2, 1820.
JOHN PHILLIPS, President.
54
426
HISTORY OF NORTH BRIDGEWATER.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 11, 1820.
Read and concurred.
E. H. MILLS, Speaker pro. tem.
The vote on the acceptance of the report was seventy-eight in favor, and sixty-eight opposed. An effort was made to re- consider the above vote, which was rejected.
In the first session held in June, 1820, the petition was again presented, and the following action taken : -
IN SENATE, June 10, 1820.
On the petition aforesaid, Ordered, That the petitioners cause an attested copy of their petition, with this order thereon, to be served on the Town Clerk of Bridgewater, thirty days at least before the first Wednesday of the next session of the present General Court, that all persons interested may then and there appear and show eause (if any they have) why the prayer of said petition should not be granted.
Sent down for concurrence.
JOIIN PHILLIPS, President.
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, June 10, 1820.
Read and concurred.
E. H. MILLS, Speaker.
A true copy. Attest,
S. F. McCLEARY, Clerk of the Senate.
Received this order of notiee by hand of Abel Kingman, Esq., the seventh day of August, 1820.
ELIAKIM HOWARD, Town Clerk of Bridgewater.
The town, upon the receipt of the above order of notice, held a meeting, November 6, 1820, "To see whether the town would vote to be divided." 144 voted in favor of divi- sion, and 164 against the same.
The meeting then adjourned to the 24th of November, at which time the vote was put to see whether they would choose an agent to oppose a division of the town. 206 voted to choose an agent, and 321 voted against the same. This is the last attempt of the town to oppose the passage of the bill to Incorporate the North Parish.
At the next session of the General Court, held in Boston, January, 1821, the subject of division was again brought to
-
427
NCORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
their notice, as appears of record. The petition was read and referred to the Committee on Incorporation of Towns, January 18, 1821, together with the following petition : -
To the Honorable Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts :
The undersigned humbly represent that we did, in the course of the last year, sign a paper remonstrating against the petition of Asa Howard and others, inhabitants of the North Parish of Bridgewater, praying for said parish to be incorporated into a town, and was at that time fully of an opinion that it would be best for the town to keep together ; but, taking into consideration the petition of the West Parish to become a town, and the proceedings of the town at a late meeting on the subject of said petition, do not think it proper to oppose any further ; but if the honorable Legisla- ture should think proper to grant the prayer of the said Asa Howard and others, we wish to be incorporated with them, notwithstanding any petition to the contrary.
NORTH PARISH, January 10, 1821.
Jesse Packard, Turner Torrey,
Anzel Perkins,
Oliver Jackson, Abijah Knapp,
Samuel Bryant,
Jacob Dunbar,
Isaac Hartwell, Jr., Job Ames,
Ebenezer Dunbar,
Hayward Marshall, Theron Ames,
Ezekiel Merritt,
Nathan Packard,
Shepard Snell.
The committee to whom was referred the above petitions reported as follows ; namely,
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
The Committee of both Houses, to whom was referred the petition of Asa Howard and others, praying that the North Preeinet, in the town of Bridge- water, in the County of Plymouth, may be set off from Bridgewater, and incorporated into a separate town, have had the same under consideration, and ask leave to report that the prayer of the petition be so far granted that the petitioners have leave to bring in a bill for that purpose.
Which is respectfully submitted, by order of the Committee.
MARK DOOLITTLE, Chairman.
IN SENATE, June 9, 1821.
Read and accepted. Sent down for concurrence.
JOHN PHILLIPS, President.
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, June 11, 1821.
Read and concurred.
JOSIAH QUINCY, Speaker.
The following is a copy of the bill as passed by both Houses, assembled June 15, 1821 :-
428
HISTORY OF NORTH BRIDGEWATER.
AN ACT TO ESTABLISHI THIE TOWN OF NORTH BRIDGEWATER.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Gen- eral Court assembled, and by authority of the same :
That all that part of the North Parish of Bridgewater which lies within the said town of Bridgewater, according to the present territorial limits thereof, be, and hereby is established as a separate town, by the name of North Bridgewater ; and the inhabitants of the said town of North Bridge- water are hereby vested with all the powers and privileges, and shall also be subject to all the duties and requisitions of other corporate towns, accord- ing to the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth.
SECTION 2. Be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of the town of North Bridgewater shall be holden to pay the arrears of all State, County, and Town taxes which have been legally assessed upon them, together with their proportion of all debts due from the said town of Bridgewater prior to the date of this Act ; and the said town of North Bridgewater shall be entitled to receive their proportion of the said debts and taxes due to the said town of Bridgewater, when collected and paid into the Treasury of said town ; and the said town of North Bridgewater shall be entitled to hold their proportion, according to the present valuation of all the real and personal property belonging to the town of Bridgewater before the passing of this Act.
SECTION 3. Be it further enacted, That the said town of North Bridge- water shall be holden to support their proportion of the poor of the town of Bridgewater which are now chargeable to said town, which proportion shall be ascertained by the present valuation of the town ; and all persons who may hereafter become chargeable as paupers to the said towns of Bridge- water or North Bridgewater shall be considered as belonging to that town on the territory of which they had their settlement at the time of the passing of this Act, and shall in future be chargeable to that town only.
SECTION 4. Be it further enacted, That all future State and County taxes which may be levied on the said towns of Bridgewater and North Bridge- water, previous to a new valuation, shall be assessed and paid in the same proportion as they now are according to the present valuation.
SECTION 5. Be it further enacted, That any Justice of the Peace for the County of Plymouth is hereby empowered, upon application therefor, to issue a warrant directed to a freehold inhabitant of the said town of North Bridgewater requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof quali- fied to vote in town affairs, to meet at such convenient time and place as shall be appointed in the said warrant, for the choice of such officers as ·
towns are by law required to choose and appoint at their annual town meetings.
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Juno 14, 1821. This bill, having had three several readings, passed to be enacted. JOSIAH QUINCY, Speaker.
429
ILCORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
IN SENATE, June 15, 1821.
This bill having had three several readings, passed to be enacted. JOIIN PIIILLIPS, President. June 15, 1821. Approved. J. BROOKS.
The first town meeting held after the incorporation of the same, was July 4, 1821. The meeting was opened with prayer by Rev. Daniel Huntington, the pastor of the First Congregational Church. Joseph Sylvester, Esq., was chosen moderator, and Colonel Edward Southworth Town Clerk. Abel Kingman, Esq., Howard Cary, Esq., and Captain Zecha- riah Gurney were chosen selectmen, after which the other town officers were chosen. The number of voters present at the first town meeting was about two hundred.
INTRODUCTION
TO
THE FAMILY REGISTER.
" Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth, now withering on the ground; Another race the following spring supplies, They fall successive, and successive rise. So generations in their course decay, So flourish these when those are passed away." POPE.
NEVER was there a time since the settlement of this country when the public mind has been so much interested in genealogical research as at present. There is, and has been for a long time, a growing desire to know more of our ancestry. With some this feeling has increased from a desire to trace themselves back to the Pilgrim Fathers. In others, there is a wish to connect their name with some distinguished person- age in favor with royal power, - to some noted warrior, or celebrated statesman, of the older countries.
In many the love of curiosity induces them to toil hard in pouring over old, musty records, examine inscriptions on ancient gravestones and monuments. In gathering such information, many facts have been brought to light and recorded that might otherwise have been lost or forgotten. It is to the efforts of this class of persons that we are in- debted for nearly all of the history of our country ; for the history of a nation is nothing else than a collective history of the families that com- pose that nation. It is through their efforts that the history of the past is rescued from oblivion, whereby materials are gathered for our town histories, family memorials, and other works of the kind, that enable biographers, and historiographers to do justice to their works.
431
432
HISTORY OF NORTH BRIDGEWATER.
These are the persons that form our historical associations and socie- tics, the value of which is beginning to be appreciated by nearly all classes in the community. Within a few years several of these organ- izations have been formed in different sections of the country, and people are just awaking to a sense of the importance of pursuits like these. Young people are beginning to inquire into the history of those that preceded them ; and I rejoice in the belief that the interest in this kind of study is increasing, and ere long hope to find the number of such to be very numerous.
Daniel Webster has well and truly said, " It is a noble faculty of our nature which enables us to connect our thoughts, our sympathies, and our happiness with what is distant in place or time, and, looking before and after, to hold communion at once with our ancestors, and our pos- terity. There is also a moral and philosophical respect for our ances- tors, which elevates the character and improves the heart. Next to the sense of religious duty and moral feeling, I hardly know what should bear with stronger obligation on a liberal and enlightened mind than a consciousness of an alliance with excellence which is departed ; and a consciousness, too, that in its acts and conduct, and even in its sentiments and thoughts, it may be actively operating on the happiness of those that come after it."
I am, however, well aware that there are many who regard memorials like these as dry and uninteresting. To me they are exceedingly interest- ing, not merely as a collection of names and dates, but for the associa- tions connected with them. The birth, marriage and death, of an individ- ual are the most important events in his history. "Each in itself is a memorial, not of death only, but of life,-of a heart that once lived and loved, a being that lived a certain period of time and then re- turned to dust, - of an individual human life, that had its shares in the joys and sorrows, its cares and its burdens, its afflictions and its hopes, its conflicts and its achievements, its opportunities wasted and improved, and, finally, its hour of death."
In the following notices of North Bridgewater families, I have in- tended to bring them down to the present time, and especially those who were residents of the town previous to 1800. In all works of this kind writers have to depend upon the assistance and co-operation of others, and he must take the facts as they appear on record, or are commu- nicated to him personally ; statements have to be compared with records, and cach with the other have to be carefully examined to discover any errors that may exist. The sources of information are numerous, and
433
INTRODUCTION TO THE FAMILY REGISTER.
there is a great variance in names and dates. One of the principal and most reliable is that found in the folds of the family Bible ; next, is the records of the town, which are supposed to have them from the parents' own pen, or by oral communication, or by a personal consultation with the parents. In gathering the information for the foregoing lists, I have travelled from house to house, at great expense, and copied the names, dates, etc., as given from their records, or, as in many instances, where families had no record, from their memory. I have consulted the town records thoroughly, have written hundreds of letters of inquiry to different sections of the country, have copied inscriptions in every grave- yard in the town, and, when I had all of them before me, I carefully compared them, and arranged them for the printer. I have labored to include all the families, with their descendants, of the earliest settlers in the town, among the most numerous of whom are the Packards, Howards, Keiths, Kingmans, Snells, Snows, and Reynolds. Should some of the family records appear meagre and imperfect, the friends of the name may charge themselves with the blame in part, and not to me ; for, besides examining the records above mentioned, I have consulted all the published works upon genealogy and town histories that have come to my notice (and which are now quite numerous) that would be likely to aid me in my efforts to make the work complete.
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