USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 55
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 55
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 55
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On the other hand when you visit a new town in your motor car is it not your preference, as well as usual custom, to look over the town in all its grown-up appearance, before asking the guide to take you to the site of the home of the first inhabitant, or possibly to the scene of the activities of the aborigines?
' Some superficial person asked "Of what use is a baby?" and the thoughtful person replied, "He might grow to be a man." When you are introduced to a real personage, do you have any pronounced longing to be shown his baby picture before you look him over as he appears since he has arrived at distinction ?
Before you have a chance to say "Ask me another," and wonder why all the queries, let us understand one another. The facts or descriptions of the towns, as here projected, begin with their present appearance and fame and then hark back to the historical background. If to some this be questionable didacticism, it is the belief of the writer that it will be pleasing to others, and everyone has the privilege of reading the last chapter first in any book or the last paragraph first in this, if such be his choice.
ABINGTON
Abington Shod Half an Army-Like that of Abou Ben Adhem, the name of Abington is bound to lead all the rest in any list of towns of Plymouth County or Massachusetts, if the alphabet is to determine the line of succession. It is not alone alphabetically that the town of Abington has, however, had that distinction in the history of Plymouth County. There was a time when it was the town having the largest population. During the Civil War it not only led all other towns in the county in its production of army shoes, but it furnished nearly half of the shoes worn by the entire Union army. Other distinctions which the town has had and some which it possesses at present, will appear as the story of the town progresses.
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According to the two hundred and fourteenth annual report of the officers and committees of the town of Abington for the year 1926, the town had under its feet 5,960 acres of land. On this foundation were 1,343 dwellings and living in them were 2,341 voters.
Abington's total real estate value is $4,435,650. The value of personal estate is $769,168. The town spends $3,500 for police protection; $12,- 000 to maintain its fire department ; $50,000 for general highways, ex- clusive of those of State and county ; $10,000 for the support of its poor; $6,000 for street lighting; $66,000 for teachers' salaries; $5,000 for its public library ; $45,000 for its water department. It has proportionate governmental expenses, consistent with those interesting items, which furnish more or less of an index by which a stranger can form an intel- ligent idea of what manner of town Abington is.
The year 1926 was one of special significance in the history of the school department, as, at the end of the first two months of the year, the old form of school administration closed: Dr. R. B. Rand, who had served as a member of the school board continuously for thirty years, resigned. Since 1908 he had acted as school physician for the Adams Street School. He was held in high esteem by all with whom he came in contact.
Until 1926 Abington had a part-time superintendent of schools, C. A. Record, who held that position, also being principal of the Dunbar Street School. He was made full time superintendent, and Miss Claire A. Crowley succeeded him as principal.
The Abington High School enjoys a certificate privilege to the State Normal schools, special certificate to Dartmouth College, as well as a certificate privilege to all those New England colleges which are rep- resented by the New England College Certificate Board. The privilege also allows the school committee to certify through the Board of Re- gents of the State of New York as well as through the South, the North Central and other certificate groups.
An athletic association was organized in the Abington High School in 1925, and the last important act of the old school board in 1926 was to appoint Charles M. Frolio and C. F. Christianson faculty directors of this association.
In common with sixty-four public high schools in Massachusetts, the town of Abington has deans for girls. Miss Ella F. Wood is dean for girls and faculty advisor for the school paper. She also teaches four periods of English. As dean she follows up academic work which is un- satisfactory, instructs the girls in manners, conduct, good taste in dress, health and relationship with parents. The school department also em- ploys two truant officers, two school physicians, a school nurse, super- visor of drawing, physical supervisor, dental hygienist and school nurse. The town adopted at the annual meeting in March, 1926, the State
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Accountant System, which was immediately installed and placed under the care of John Shanahan for a term of three years. By virtue of this system there has been a stoppage of overdrawn accounts and a stimu- lation in the collection of outstanding accounts.
In order to give the stranger another side to a word picture of Ab- ington, it might be mentioned that there were seventy-two marriages registered in 1926. Seventy-nine births were registered for the same time, and ninety-five deaths. The people of Abington have paid little regard to the threescore years and ten limitation in human life as, of the ninety-five deaths, thirty-four had passed the age of seventy. The oldest, Susan W. Nelson, lacked less than twenty-four hours of being 94 years of age.
The total taxable valuation of Abington is approximately $5,000,000, according to the assessors.
The present Fire Department is in its forty-fifth year. At the begin- ning of the present year the manual force consisted of one permanent man and forty-one call men, exclusive of a volunteer call company at West Abington. The apparatus consists of one Seagrave 750-gallon triple combination and one Pope-Hartford combination chemical and hose car, located at the Brighton Street Station; one Seagrave combi- nation ladder truck with Locomobile tractor attached and one Reo hose car, located at the Dunbar Street Station ; and one Ford hose car located at the Hancock Street Station. The department has 3,650 feet of double jacket hose and 1,300 feet of single jacket. The fire alarm system consists of one Gamewell three-circuit switchboard and storage battery, one motor generator set, one steam whistle, two bells, two tape registers, twelve tappers, thirty street boxes and about thirty miles of wire. The forest warden has hand pump tanks, brooms, shovels and other equip- ment for forest fire fighting, as in some recent years as many as sixty grass and brush fires have called for the use of such implements.
The Abington Public Library has for half a century been a valuable asset on the educational side of the town. The Central Library had 15,- 592 volumes at the beginning of 1927, and the branch library, called the North Library, 9,150. Both cooperate with the public schools and the general student body of the town in furnishing supplementary reading. Art exhibits, scenic views of public parks and mountain !trails, story hours and lectures are additional means of educational value furnished the public. The average daily delivery of books, both libraries being taken into account, last year was 149, for the 303 days the libraries were open.
The library work is assisted by two small funds, both for the North Library, the First Unitarian Fund and the Blanche Arnold Sylvester Fund. The latter was a recent gift from Mrs. William B. Arnold, the in-
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terest to be used in the Department of Fine Arts with particular refer- ence to painting and music.
The Water Department has its pumping station in Pembroke at Great Sandy Bottom Pond and its standpipe in Rockland, on Beech Hill. There is a joint water board of Abington and Rockland and it has before it a report of the State Department, which indicated the advisability of the joint board taking some step towards securing a ground supply either near Great Sandy Bottom Pond or nearer the two towns. For a number of years the Massachusetts Board of Health has advocated tak- ing some steps to protect the water shed, since the number of summer cottages in that area is constantly increasing. There were, January 1, 1927, sixty cottages about the pond, and the cottagers enjoyed boating and fishing privileges, under rules of the Great Sandy Improvement As- sociation.
Just beyond Great Sandy Bottom Pond is Little Sandy Bottom Pond and water from the latter flows into the former. Mayflower Grove and its amusement park, and a large number of cottages are on the shore of the smaller pond. These conditions are taken into consideration in the problem for a future water supply for the two towns. At present the analysis is satisfactory.
There were 3,326 water services in the two towns at the beginning of 1927, and the water rates totalled $49,596. The joint board employed J. J. Van Valkenburgh of Framingham as consulting engineer to make a survey of the water works system in West Abington and advise as to the best method to adopt for improving the same. He recommended that an elevated steel tank of about 125,000 gallons capacity be erected, the top to have an elevation the same as that of the steel standpipe on Beech Hill.
Town Officers-At the annual town meeting in March, 1927, the town appropriations exceeded $200,000. The officers elected for that year were: Town clerk, William J. Coughlan; selectmen and overseers of the poor, John Shanahan, Ira E. Wright and Howard W. Belcher; town accountant (appointed by selectmen) John Shanahan, term expires April 1, 1929; treasurer, George D. Witherell; tax collector, Frank A. Erickson ; assessors, Everett D. Wilkes, William C. Brett and Clarence C. Somes; school committee, Belle F. Burnham, Stephen G. Stone, Mary W. Gomley, William H. Whiting, William J. Sheehan and George F. Garrity ; superintendent of schools (appointed by school committee) Christie A. Record; water commissioners, George E. Gomley, Harrison C. Witherell and Frank L. Merrill; trustees of public library, Mabel A. Record, Flora A. Wyman, Abby N. Arnold, Leon F. Fairbanks, Henry E. Claflin, Catherine F. Coughlan, Frank N. Sanderson; park commis- sioners, Thomas F. Lydon, William H. Nash and Raphael F. Mckeown;
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trustees of the soldiers, sailors and marines memorial, William G. W. Holloway, Charles C. Murphy, Arthur H. Gillis, William J. Coughlan, Willard H. Thayer and John Shanahan; constables (appointed police officers by selectmen) Henry W. Nickerson, Frank C. Bates, Thomas Dorsey, John H. Manley, John W. Gillis, John H. Murphy; chief of fire department and forest warden (permanent tenure) John L. Casey ; superintendent of moth department, C. Fred Shaw (appointed by se- lectmen) ; surveyor of lumber and bark and measurer of wood, William H. Garfield; sealer of weights and measures (appointed by selectmen), William H. Garfield; registrar of voters (appointed by selectmen), Henry C. Morrison, William J. Reardon, Bradford C. Powers and Wil- liam J. Coughlan ; board of health, John Shanahan, Ira E. Wright and Howard W. Belcher; inspector of slaughtering and animals, Bernice V. Blanchard (appointed by Board of Health) ; burial agent (appointed by selectmen), C. Fred Shaw; town physicians (appointed by selectmen) Dr. Richard B. Rand and Dr. J. Frank Curtin.
The Abington Visiting Nurse Association is a useful organization which holds baby clinics at Legion Hall, as well as furnishing a nurse for community service. At the beginning of 1927 one hundred and forty- eight babies had been examined at the clinic, a lecture on the eye and ear had been given, with illustrations, and plans were underway for an adult foot clinic.
The nurse, Miss Jessie Rutherford, last March, a typical month, made 239 calls, of which 150 were pay calls and 89 free calls. She visited seven old cases and twenty-eight new ones. The annual contributions amount to about $3,000.
The officers of the association for 1926-1927 were: President, Mrs. James Morse; vice-presidents, Mrs. Windsor Wyman and Mrs. Joseph B. Casey ; corresponding secretary, Miss Lena Whitmarsh; recording secretary, Mrs. William H. Whiting; treasurer, Miss Amelia W. Dyer; auditor, Miss Annie Leavitt; directors, Miss Lillian Cook, Mrs. Alvah Barbour, Miss Mildred Hunt, Mrs. Clarence Peterson, Mrs. S. M. White, Mrs. W. H. Lewis, Mrs. Thomas J. Griffin, Mrs. Thomas Lydon and Mrs. Mary W. Nash.
Unusually Patriotic-Reference has been made to the fact that Abing- ton was at one time the largest town in Plymouth County, in popula- tion. Incorporated June 10, 1712, having previously been a part of Bridgewater, the town of Abington had only been in existence fifteen years when a part of it was taken in the new town of Hanover. March 31, 1847, the bounds between Abington and Weymouth were established. March 21, 1861, the bounds between Abington and Randolph were es- tablished ; also on the same day the bounds between Abington and Hing- ham. March 9, 1874, a part of the town was established as the town of
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Rockland. March 4, 1875, a part was included in the new town of South Abington, now Whitman. The month of March seems to have been the time for territory to be taken away from Abington on several occasions.
Regardless of the major operations which Abington has endured at times, it has always retained its patriotic fervor and integrity as a mem- ber of the Plymouth County family of towns. The town is associated, in the minds of many people, with the meetings of abolitionists which were held in Island Pond Grove, in the days when to speak against the institution of slavery was not only an unpopular but a dangerous pro- ceeding. In all the wars the town has responded promptly and gener- ously, and, at the close of the Civil War, the third Grand Army Post to be organized in Plymouth County was McPherson Post, No. 73, De- partment of Massachusetts, Grand Army of the Republic. It is named in honor of Major-General James Birdseye McPherson who was killed while superintending an advance of the skirmish line in the battle before Atlanta. He stood at the head of his class in West Point when graduat- ing in 1853. The post was organized December 23, 1868. The charter members were F. P. Harlow, Charles F. Allen, E. P. Reed, W. B. White, T. S. Atwood, F. Foster, Jr., S. W. Bennett, Jr., Josiah Soule, Jr., H. L. Cushing and Henry B. Peirce. The latter was a lineal de- scendant of Captain Michael Peirce of Scituate, who was sent out by the governor and council of Plymouth in 1676, to stay the ravages of the Narragansett Indians and drive them back to Rhode Island. The command consisted of fifty first-comers in Plymouth and vicinity and twenty friendly Indians. They had a battle with the Narragansetts at Attleboro Gore and continued the desperate fight until Captain Peirce and every one of his command were killed.
Henry B. Peirce was assistant adjutant general of the Grand Army of the Department of Massachusetts for five years until he was elected secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1875. He was re- elected to that office many times, the vote which he received in the election in 1880 being the largest ever received by any candidate for any office in Massachusetts up to that time. In 1870 Mr. Peirce was ap- pointed a member of the commission for the care of disabled soldiers, and became secretary and treasurer of the commission.
Other charter members and early members of McPherson Post were prominent in the affairs of the Grand Army departmental affairs as well as in the local purposes of the organization. For many years it was the custom of McPherson Post to go into camp each year, in the vicinity of Brant Rock in Marshfield, a custom which was originated by the Ab- ington Boys of '61 and taken up by numerous other posts in their younger days.
McPherson Post was one of the first to invite a woman to be Memo- rial Day orator. Mrs. Mary A. Livermore of Melrose, delivered the ora- Plym-33
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tion in 1872. This reformer, philanthropist, orator and writer, was greatly appreciated in Plymouth County. Previous to the Civil War she taught school in Virginia and attempted to teach the Negroes during her leisure hours but was not permitted to do so. She left Virginia and opened a school in Duxbury, in this county, and was also for a time teacher in the Partridge Academy in that town.
Mrs. Livermore was one of the founders and an active worker in the Sanitary Commission which did such magnificent work in the Civil War. Mrs. Livermore was sent to the front with stores for the hos- pitals. While coming from a camp in front of Vicksburg she made her first public address in one of the largest churches in Dubuque, Iowa, telling of the needs of the boys in the camps. This meeting was arranged by a chance acquaintance to whom she told her story on the train. He per- suaded her to stop at Dubuque and tell the story to some friends of his. While she was resting at a hotel he secured the church, flooded the city with fliers, inviting the whole city to hear the story. That was the beginning of her brilliant platform work in the interest of the soldiers, woman's suffrage, temperance and many other causes for the benefit of humanity.
McPherson Post at one time contained one hundred and eighty-one names, representing sixty-seven distinct military organizations and twelve ships of war. The post observed its fifty-seventh anniversary January 31, 1927, with a banquet and entertainment at Grand Army Hall. It was also a celebration of the twenty-seventh anniversary of Mc- Pherson Woman's Relief Corps, the faithful auxiliary to the post. At that time there were only ten members of the post living and eight of them were at the celebration. They were: Comrades Calvin Baker, Charles W. Howland, James B. Johnson, Harvey Edson, Isaac K. Holmes, Albion Conant, Willard Gurney and John F. Hatch, the latter commander of the post. The two comrades unable to be present were William H. Nash and Henry T. Rochefort.
Among the members of the Woman's Relief Corps present was Mrs. M. Augusta Murray, the oldest woman in the town.
At the annual town meeting in March, 1927, James B. Johnson, a member of the post, suggested rechristening Lincoln street, Lincoln Highway, as a memorial to the war president. Comrade Johnson was a member of the personal body guard of President Abraham Lincoln. A committee, consisting of Charles E. Ford, commander of the Sons of Veterans Camp; Joseph Holman, commander of Lewis V. Dorsey Post, Spanish War Veterans; Mrs. Annie Collins, president of the Legion Auxiliary ; Mrs. Willis Caulkins, president of the Sons of Veterans' Auxiliary ; and Mrs. Blanche Damon, president of the Woman's Relief Corps, was appointed to confer with Comrade Johnson regarding the possibilities of a suitable Lincoln Memorial.
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The town has a Legion Home and Legion Field for athletics, as a memorial to the soldiers, sailors and marines who served the country in war. The memorial trustees are William J. Coughlin, William G. W. Halloway, Arthur H. Gillis and John Shanahan.
A company from Abington was one of those that within twenty-four hours after the first call for 75,000 men, were on their way to Fortress Monroe. More than a full regiment, 1,138, from this town enlisted dur- ing the war. The town furnished more than its quota of officers: Two lieutenant-colonels, three majors, twelve captains, seven first lieutenants, twelve second lieutenants.
Churches in Early Times-The records of the first church, earlier than 1724, cannot be found. At that time there were 46 members. The first house of worship stood in front of the old burying-ground. It had neither steeple, bell, nor pews. The second edifice was erected in 1751; the third in 1819; and another in 1849. The pastors were Samuel Brown, 1714-1749; Ezekiel Dodge, 1750-1770; Samuel Niles, 1771-1814; Holland Weeks, 1815-1820; Samuel Spring, Jr., 1822-1826; William Shedd, 1829- 1830; Melancthon G. Wheeler, 1831-1833; James W. Ward, 1834-1856; F. R. Abbe, 1857.
The second parish was formed in 1807, of inhabitants of South Abing- ton and East Bridgewater, after strenuous opposition. The house of wor- ship was dedicated and Rev. Daniel Thomas was ordained in 1808, dis- missed in 1842. Dennis Powers was minister eight years; Selden Hayes, and Alfred Goldsmith, one year each. H. L. Edwards, was installed in 1855.
The third church was formed at the house of Samuel Reed, August 27, 1813. Pastors: Samuel W. Colburn, 1813-1830; Lucius Alden, 1832- 1834; Horace D. Walker, ordained in 1844.
The first Baptist Church was constituted October 30, 1822, with eleven members. The settlements have been: Willard Kimball, 1824-1826; David Curtis, 1826-1828; Silas Hall, 1830-1834; W. H. Dalrymple, 1835- 1837; E. C. Messenger, 1837-1845; W. F. Stubbert, 1846-1852; Nath'l Colver, D. D., 1852-1853; Horace T. Love, 1853-1854; F. A. Willard, 1854-1856; J. C. Wightman, 1857-1858; N. Judson Clark, 1860.
The First Society of the New Jerusalem was organized in 1830, though Rev. Holland Weeks, pastor of the First Congregational Church was the first receiver of the doctrines, and began to preach them in 1820. In 1838, Joseph Pettee was ordained pastor.
The First Universalist Society dates its first meeting April 6, 1836. Thompson Barron was the first pastor, Mr. Hewitt, 1840-1845; Q. H. Howe, 1845-1846; Leander Hussey, 1846-1848; J. Whittier, 1848-1849; N. Gunnison, 1850-1853; E. S. Foster, 1855-1856; V. Lincoln, 1857-1869; J. Crehore, 1860.
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The Congregational Church, North Abington, was organized October 3, 1839, with 49 members. Pastors : Willard Peirce, 1840-1850; Isaac C. White, 1850-1869; William Leonard and Benjamin Dodge.
The Baptist Church in East Abington was organized in May, 1854, with 22 members. Pastors : Horace T. Love, William P. Everett, Willianı S. McKensie, Jeremiah Chaplain, D. D., and Sereno Howe.
The Catholic Church was organized in 1854 by Rev. Fr. Roddan. In 1856, Rev. Fr. Roche was appointed. The church edifice, capable of seat- ing more people than any similar building in the county, "was conse- crated by the Right Rev. Bishop McFarland, of Hartford, under the in- vocation of St. Bridget, Patroness of Ireland."
The semi-centennial celebration of the town was held June 10, 1862, at Island Grove, the oration being delivered by Rev. E. Porter Dyer. Fifty soldiers of the War of 1812 appeared in procession, together with Bands, Military, Masonic, Sons of Temperance, and Public School organi- zations.
Inventor of Tack Machine-At its corporation in 1710, the town had probably less than 300 inhabitants, only three times the number Plymouth had, when, ninety years before, the Pilgrims had landed. At the first census in 1726, the number had increased only to 371.
At that period and long afterwards it was for the surrounding coun- try a "lumbering region." Sawmills were erected in 1698, and the set- tlers looked to Hingham, Scituate, Hanover, Duxbury, Plymouth, where ships were built and commerce and trade prospered, as the old and wealthy towns upon which they depended for a market and supplies. The renowned frigate Constitution, "Old Ironsides," was built in great part of Abington white oak.
"Tacks," still an important item in the business of the town, were early made by hand, and a citizen, Jesse Reed, invented the machine which has given the business such impulse. Melvil Otis of Bridgewater had a share in the invention and later improvements were made by Thomas Blanchard of Springfield and Samuel Rogers of East Bridge- water. The patent rights of these inventions were sold to Elihu and Benjamin Hobart, for a considerable sum for those days, said to be $30,- 000. One man could make as many tacks in a day as fifteen men by the old hand method.
About this time the invention was stolen by some people who had it patented in England and tacks sent back here for sale. Complaint was made to the government and a protective tariff fixed, the importation of tacks being taxed at five cents per thousand, up to sixteen ounces to the thousand; after that at five cents per pound. Without this pro- tection the business in this country would have been ruined, as iron and labor were cheaper in England.
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The industrious inhabitants early engaged in boot and shoemaking and it has been an important industry in the town ever since.
First Pastor Owned Pious Slaves-The ecclesiastical history of the town, in its earliest time, is not known with certainty, beyond the fact that the first pastor was Rev. Samuel Brown and that he arrived De- cember 8, 1711, and was ordained November 17, 1714. There were eight original members : Rev. Samuel Brown, William Hersey, Andrew Ford, William Tirrell, Ebenezer Whitmarsh, Joseph Josselyn, William Reed and Joseph Lincoln, among the men, and presumably as many women. This is not known, but in 1724, when the church membership numbered forty-six, more than half of them were women.
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