USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 64
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 64
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 64
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The second minister, Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty, succeeded the first minister when Rev. Mr. Stacey died, August 25, 1741. He was ordained November 3, 1742, when he was twenty-one years of age. He had been on several sea voyages with his father, Captain Thaddeus Maccarty, a master mariner. Rev. Mr. Maccarty was a great admirer of George Whitefield, the early evangelist, but his congregation was not. Con- sequently Rev. Mr. Maccarty preached his farewell sermon on the third anniversary of his Kingston pastorate, moved on to Worcester and continued to preach there until his death in 1785.
In Worcester he preached a sermon at the execution of James Buchan- an, William Brooks, Ezra Ross and Bathshua Spooner, for the murder of Josiah Spooner, husband of Bathshua. She was a granddaughter of Rev. Timothy Ruggles, minister at Rochester in this county. She conspired with the three executed at the same time as herself for the murder of her husband by plunging him into a well. Buchanan, Brooks and Ross were British soldiers, prisoners of war, quartered at Brookfield, where the murder took place March 1, 1778.
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It is interesting to know that the third minister in Kingston, Rev. William Rand, was forced to leave his former pastorate at Sunderland because his congregation was attracted by George Whitefield and he was not. In this way Whitefield's influence took away a Kingston minister and supplied another. Rev. Mr. Rand was one of sixteen clergy- men of Hampshire County who met at Springfield and drew up an address telling Whitefield that his coming to that part of the country was offensive to them.
It might be said that, until George Whitefield took part in the great awakening in 1745, clergymen of the Congregational fold had things pretty much their own way in secular as well as religious affairs. The coming of Whitefield was exceedingly offensive to most of them but it had a decided effect in creating a more liberal spirit in contrast to the severity and uncompromising attitude of the Puritans and, in a lesser degree, the Pilgrims and their early descendants.
Some Interesting Epitaphs-Over the resting place of Kingston's third minister, in the old burial ground in the rear of the First Church, appears on the memorial stone:
In memory of the Revd. Mr. William Rand, died March ye 14th 1779, aged 79 years wanting 7 days.
Here's one who long had ran the Christian Race; Kindly reliev'd reclines his hoary head, And sweetly slumb'ring in this dark embrace Listens the welcome sound, "Arise ye dead."
One of the prominent names in the history of Kingston has been that of Sever. Nicholas Sever, pastor of a Congregational church in Dover, New Hampshire, while on a horseback journey to Cape Cod, halted at the home of a Widow Little in Kingston. The widow became the wife of Rev. Nicholas Sever November 21, 1728. Three sons were born of this marriage. One of them, William Sever, later Judge Sever, married Sarah Warren of Plymouth and the present Sever house near Kingston Landing was built for them in 1760.
Concerning the Sever and Little families, there are two old grave- stones on the old burial ground on which are epitaphs reading as follows :
Here lies deposited what was mortal of Ann Warren Sever, daughter to the Hon. William Sever, Esq., & Sarah his wife, who died Jany. ye 19th, 1788, Anno Etatis 25.
"How oft I gaz'd prophetically sad, How oft I saw her dead while yet in smiles! In smiles she sunk her grief to lessen mine, She spoke me comfort, & increased my pain."
Miss Lucy Little, deceased Sept. 29, 1756, aged 37 years 5 months. Reader! Beneath this monumental pile is laid
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What once was beauty and a spotless maid.
Here was each virtue and each Grace combin'd; Fair was her form, but fairer was her mind. So bright in her the sex's virtues shone,
They seemed all center'd in this maid alone. The harmony of life thus kept intire,
She joined at death the fair angelic quire;
The fair angelic quire with joy confest
They ne'er had welcom'd a more charming guest.
Led by th' admiring throng, she takes her seat,
And half an Angel Here, now shines above compleat.
Boundaries, Lakes, Rivers and Hills-Kingston was named in honor of Evelyn Pierrepont, first Duke of Kingston. It is bounded on the north by Pembroke and Duxbury, on the east by Duxbury and Kingston Bay, southeast by Plymouth, southwest by Carver, Plympton and Silver Lake. The latter separates it from Halifax. Possessed of a good harbor for small vessels and pleasure craft, the town is ideal as a sum- mer residence for those who are devoted to boating and the rides, walks and scenery are unsurpassed in the county. There are several lakes in Kingston, the largest being Smelt Pond, which covers ninety-two acres. Muddy Pond is near Smelt Pond in the southerly section of the town, and its area is sixty-one acres.
The Jones River flows from Silver Lake through the town to Kingston Bay and furnishes potential motive power for numerous mills and fac- tories. Some of the mill privileges have been abandoned since Silver Lake became the source of the water supply for Brockton and several towns in the vicinity of the county's only city, as the municipality pur- chased the mill privileges to protect its supply. Affluents of the Jones River are Mile Brook, Tusseck and Pine Brook, flowing into it from the north, and Jones River Brook and Smelt Brook from the south.
There are veins of volcanic rock thrown up in the town, notably at the "Devil's Stair" at Rocky Nook. The principal rock is granite and sienite. The soil is a red loam, with sand, gravel and round stones, and not especially productive for agriculture. The highest land is Monk's Hill, the highest point of land in Plymouth County. It is three hundred and thirteen feet above sea level and commands a magnificent view of the harbor of Plymouth, Captain's Hill, Duxbury Beach and the emerald sweep of the Plymouth woods. Another high hill is Pine Hill, which overlooks Indian Pond.
Twoscore years ago Kingston was the wealthiest community in the county and the home of numerous retired sea-captains. Having few industries in which the rising generation found employment, several of the younger generation sought employment and established homes elsewhere. Much of the wealth passed down by inheritance became owned elsewhere, so that the town lost its distinction as one of the
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wealthiest towns. The shipbuilding industry was once important in the town, as was the making of thread, shipping tools, tacks, rivets, hollow ware and many other things. Some of these industries still remain but most of those formerly connected with shipbuilding and the fisheries have declined. On the site of one of the principal anchor forges, on the Jones River, is a prosperous woolen mill, established several years ago.
Deserved Honor to a Kingston Nurse-In the Civil War, Kingston furnished one hundred and fifty-four men and, strangely enough, the Grand Army Post has the number 154 in the Department of Massa- chusetts. This post is the only one in the United States named for a woman. Martha Sever Post, No. 154, Grand Army of the Republic, was named for a volunteer nurse who died in the service of her country, a Kingston young woman, whose body is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. There is at present writing (1927) only one living member of the post, Amasa Lincoln, but the charter has not been surrendered. Comrade Lincoln has it hanging on the wall in his home, and occasionally goes through the ritual, coming as near as he can to holding a post meeting.
Of the one hundred and fifty-four Union soldiers, sixteen were killed in action or died in the service. Their names appear on a monument erected in their honor on the Village Green, in front of the Town Hall and adjacent to the ancient cemetery in the rear of the First Church. This monument was a gift to the town in 1884 by Mrs. Abigail Adams.
Records show that the Kingston Anti-Slavery Society was formed in November, 1834.
The one hundred and fifty-four men who served from Kingston in the Civil War, were thirty-three more than the quota required of the town to answer all calls.
Some Works of Progress in Half a Century-The shipbuilding indus- try, for which Kingston was noted for many years, was founded in 1810 by Joseph Holmes. Previously vessels had been built, at prac- tically the same location at Kingston Landing, for the Revolutionary War and between that war and the second war with the British. Between the two wars about two hundred and fifty tons of shipping were built annually, according to a record made by Rev. Zephaniah Willis, pastor of the First Church forty-eight years and later serving with a colleague until he died at the age of ninety years. He took the first census of the town and in 1815 prepared a sketch of Kingston for the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He numbered the inhabitants of the town in 1815 as 1,250.
Some of the marks of progress during the past fifty years should include the following :
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Street railway established from Cobb's Store at Rocky Nook to Plymouth in 1894 and later extended.
Gift of $5,000 from Frederick C. Adams for free lectures, awards to worthy scholars, and books.
Beginning of street lighting in 1906.
Establishment of the water system in 1886.
Bequest of $24,000 under the will of Frederick C. Adams, in 1898, for a free Public Library, the building lot a gift from Mrs. George T. Adams and Horatio Adams.
Gifts of $5,000 to the Public Library and $1,000 to the Frederick C. Adams Free Lecture Fund, from Mrs. Rosa A. Cole; $1,000 to the library and $5,000 to the lecture fund from Mrs. Annie C. Thomas; $500 to the library from Byron C. Quimby.
Two free beds to the Jordan Hospital at Plymouth, "preference in the use of said beds to be given at all times to patients residing in Kingston," from Mrs. Annie C. Thomas; $6,878, under the will of William H. Willis, in 1912, to establish a fund which should be used for the benefit of poor children in the town; $8,000 for the upkeep of the Old Burial Ground, given by William Ames in 1920 as the Lucy Ames Fund, in memory of his mother; $4,374, under the will of Thomas Prince of Oregon, received in 1924 for upkeep of the Old Burial Ground ; $21,000 from the same donor, received in 1925, known as the Thomas Prince Benevolent Fund; $1,000 received in 1925 under the will of Arthur F. Wadsworth for general town purposes.
Evergreen Cemetery was remembered in recent years with a gift of $5,000 from Edgar L. Reed of Worcester, donor of the Community Building also; $5,000 by will of Mrs. Rosa A. Cole and the "George Mabbett Holmes Memorial Park," from Dr. and Mrs. Arthur B. Holmes. ยท During the first fifty years of the town's history the development of the iron industry was important. The making of nails, tacks and anchors furnished employment for many of the townspeople. There was a time when there were more tack factories in Kingston than in any other place in America.
In earlier days water furnished power for most of the factories. On Jones River and its tributaries there have been twenty-four water privileges furnishing power for more than eighty separate industries. Steam gradually took the place of water as motive power and, in 1926, the water privileges in operation numbered five.
Details of the occupations and industries and a survey of conditions in Kingston since its incorporation in 1720 forms interesting reading, as presented in one of the books published in connection with the two hundredth anniversary celebration of the town in 1926, written by Miss Emily F. Drew.
Plym-38
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LAKEVILLE
Previous to May 13, 1853, the territory now known as Lakeville was a part of Middleboro. The bounds between Lakeville and Taunton were established June 1, 1867. Lakeville is one of the youngest towns in the county, having had only seventy-five summers and wintered well. The valuation of the town in 1926 was $1,393,140. There were 579 dwelling houses and the total acreage of the city was 17,365. The town is the home of the State sanitorium for tubercular patients, a well-appointed institution ideally located and having flower beds, broad lawns and pleasant and healthful environments.
Lakeville takes just pride in its schools, and for those wishing voca- tional and agricultural tuition provides transportation and tuition. There were nine pupils from Lakeville in the New Bedford Vocational School in 1926, at a cost of $1,468 to the town.
The Lakeville Free Public Library is an institution of great helpful- ness. It contains a well selected lot of books, many of them gifts. Mrs. Benjamin Phillips is among the summer residents who has con- tributed generously from her personal library.
At the time of the Civil War, Camp Joe Hooker was situated in Lake- ville and it was from there that many Plymouth County men marched to battles in the South.
The first postoffice for the old town of Middleboro was located not far from the present Lakeville Town Hall in 1804. It was a distributing office for several adjacent towns.
Monument to a Revolutionary Indian-In the westerly part of Lake- ville is a monument erected "in memory of Ben Simonds, the last male of the native Indians of Middleboro. He was a Revolutionary soldier. Died May, 1831, aged eighty years." The words quoted appear on the monument, a small granite obelisk, erected by Levi Reed, a prominent citizen.
Benjamin Simonds is especially recollected as a noble specimen of his race; he was of fine physical proportions, weighing about two hundred pounds. After the Revolutionary War, receiving a pension of $96 a year, he moved to the north side of the pond, where he lived at a place known as "Ben's Island." He died in 1836 and was buried in the ceme- tery, about a mile west of Lakeville Depot.
The murder of Sausaman, a friendly and Christian Indian, on the Assawampsett, hastened King Philip's War. During that war, the fa- mous Captain Benjamin Church had a severe skirmish with the Indians on the west side of the same pond, resulting in their flight.
As nearly as can be determined, there was no settlement in the town until about 1700. A man by the name of Peirce came from Scituate and built near Myrickville in 1705. His descendants are numerous. The
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Nelsons were the first white settlers on Assawampsett Neck in 1717. The Southworths settled the part near Middleboro; and Strowbridges, Richmonds, Canadys, Horrs, Sampsons, and Pickenses were all early comers.
Lakeville was incorporated May 13, 1853. Most of its territory was embraced in the West Precinct of Middleboro. The chain of ponds or lakes, parts of which are in Middleboro and Rochester, have an area of about 6,000 acres, being by far the largest lake region in the State. They give to the vicinity fine natural scenery, and have a perceptible influence on climatic conditions, especially in the prevention of early autumnal frosts. Middleboro, before the division, was the largest town- ship in the State, having a surface of nearly one hundred square miles. Its large territory was one of the main causes of the separation of Lakeville.
The borders of its ponds were famous resorts for the Indians. Here was a fine place to raise their maize and beans, to chase the deer, and catch their fish, and this was one of the last places they abandoned.
The first white settler of Lakeville, Thomas Nelson, had a farm between Long Pond and Assawampsett Lake. The land on the other two sides was owned and occupied by Indians.
Sampson's Tavern, a hostelry from Revolutionary days to within the memory of old inhabitants, was a place where "something for man and beast" could be had, with good cheer for those who came by stage on the journey from Boston to New Bedford. It was the last stop before reaching New Bedford. Some of Hezekiah Butterworth's stories were written at this tavern.
Lakeville was that part of Middleboro in early days which contained residences of the men of wealth and distinction. Many of these houses of Colonial type remained for many years and a few are still in existence. One of them was that of Major Peter Hoar, who served at the battle of Lexington. He was major of the Fourth Regiment of Militia of Mas- sachusetts. He was one of the selectmen of Middleboro more than fifty years and served in the General Court three years.
The houses of Samuel Doggett and Lemuel Ransome, Loyalists, were also in Lakeville; and that of General Ephraim Ward, the oldest house in town. A part of the house is boarded with two and a half inch oak planks, spiked on the sills and beams to form a garrison house against attacks by the Indians. The house once had a secret chamber.
The first church in Lakeville was organized October 6, 1725. Rev. Benjamin Ruggles was ordained pastor.
Rev. Hugh Montgomery, the noted Methodist preacher. was a native of this town. He gave to the Christian Church, which was organized in 1842, the nucleus of a public library. There were three hundred and fifty volumes included in the gift and the presentation was in 1866.
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Lakeville furnished ninety-one men in the Civil War and nine of them were killed in action or died in the service.
From earliest times, especially before Lakeville was set apart from Middleboro, a large number of the young men residing in the territory now known as Lakeville took unusual interest in the militia. Abiel Washburn, one of the natives of this part of the old town, was com- missioned a brigadier-general, to rank from September 4, 1816. Eliab Ward was commissioned brigadier-general to rank from April 8, 1850. Ebenezer W. Pierce entered into militia duty for a long time, while a resident of the Lakeville territory, and, after he moved to Freetown, was commissioned a brigadier-general, ranking from November 7, 1855.
The student of Indian history and traditions of King Philip and the Wampanoags can easily find plenty of legends, some of which can be substantiated as facts, connected with Lake Assawampsett, Pocksha, Great and Little Quittacus, Long Ponds and the other bodies of water and streams which abound in this town.
MARION
Marion is one of the many beautiful towns in Massachusetts, border- ing on the ocean, in which are summer homes of people who have due appreciation of the wealth of charms which such towns possess. There were, in 1926, two hundred and eighty-seven non-residents assessed on real estate in the town of Marion. Many of them own summer homes. This town was the home of the late Richard Harding Davis and his marriage took place here, with a large number of his literary friends in attendance. Former Governor William L. Douglas had a sum- mer home in Marion many years, although his legal residence at that time was Brockton.
The most magnificent summer home of all those in the town was erected several years ago by the late Galen L. Stone of Brookline. His estate is on Great Neck, which rises one hundred and twenty-seven feet above sea level. The magnificent granite castle which Mr. Stone erected is one of the show places of the United States.
The real estate valuation for Marion in 1926 was $3,546,164 and per- sonal estate $632,372, making the total valuation $4,178,536. The town includes 8,565 acres which are assessed, a few other acres being included in the property, valued at $756,427 which is exempted from taxation. It is a town of six hundred and seventy-six dwelling houses. The number of resident taxpayers is five hundred and eighty-three and the number of men, twenty years or more of age, four hundred and seventy-seven.
It is a prosperous town, with good roads, well-kept houses and lawns, everything presenting a neat appearance and such a town as attracts visitors instinctively. Investigation into civic affairs, shows that the
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town expends for schools $31,000, exclusive of $2,200 which it pays for the benefit of boys and girls who choose to go to agricultural and voca- tional schools in other places. Each year more pupils from Marion are entering the vocational school in New Bedford, and those having taken the course are always in demand.
At the annual town meeting in March, 1927, a planning board was chosen to take into consideration such plans as are most likely to main- tain for the town its residential character, future attractiveness, beauty and value.
The Marion harbor is becoming more beautiful each year. There are over one hundred moorings in the harbor, according to the report of the harbor-master and wharfinger.
In addition to its natural beauty and the encouragement which is given to induce summer residents to enjoy themselves, the town has an interesting early history, which adds to its attractiveness.
Captain Church's Important Date With Awashanks-King Philip once included among his personal possessions the territory now included in the town of Marion. During the King Philip War, Captain Benjamin Church met Queen Awashanks and her tribe, then on their way to Sand- wich to arrange terms of peace with the governor, at the Great Hill, near the beach. The queen entertained him cordially with "fried eels, bass, flat fish, and shell fish and then, around a huge bonfire of pine knots, herself and warriors pledged their allegiance to the English, and thus sealed the fate of Philip." Captain Church reported that he found the remnant of the tribe having a good time "running races on horse- back, playing at football, catching eels and flat fish or plunging and frolicing in the waves."
The first white settlement was made in Marion in 1680, at Little Neck. The first minister was Rev. Samuel Shiverick, who served from 1683 to 1687. In the vicinity of a great rock, around which the Indians were accustomed to hold their pow-wows, the first worship took place.
Marion was incorporated May 14, 1852, and the early residents, under the town government, were farmers, mariners or manufacturers, for the most part. The Indian name for the territory was Sippican. Marion is bounded on the north by Wareham, on the east by Buzzards Bay, on the south by Buzzards Bay and Mattapoisett and on the west by Mattapoisett and Rochester. It was formerly a part of Rochester. The town is very irregular in outline. The north and east boundaries are the Sippican and Weweantit rivers. The town extends at the south into Buzzards Bay in three peninsulas. Sippican Harbor runs far into the town and almost divides it into equal sections. Considerable of the territory is covered by Bear, Great and Lawrence swamps.
The name of Marion was selected because it would be an easy one
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to use in hailing vessels at sea. One source of industry with the early settlers was the manufacture of tar. Each resident was allowed by the proprietors to make ten barrels, from the undivided forest, and if he made more, he must pay a tax of one shilling per barrel to the propri- etors. Later the manufacture of salt and of boxboards and firewood was taken up.
"The imports from three whalemen and two fishermen for the year 1866 were, for the former, $65,000; and the latter, $12,000."
The town contributed forty soldiers for the Civil War, four of whom died in the service, also twenty-three seamen, three of whom were officers.
Conveyances From the Indians-The territory now called Marion, the greater part of Rochester, the westerly part of Wareham, and in many instances Mattapoisett, was called Sippican, or, as it is more fre- quently spelled in the ancient records, Sepecan. It belonged to the territory of Massasoit and afterwards of his son and successor, Philip (Metacomet), sachem of the Wampanoags. In 1662 Philip entered into an agreement with the English not to dispose of any part of his territory without their consent. In 1666 he confirmed the title of the. lands of Sepecan to. two subordinate chiefs, Watachpoo and Sampson; with the provision in the deed corresponding with the above agreement.
These lands had been held in the line of Watachpoo's ancestors, for at least six generations. On the 24th of December, 1668, Philip gave his consent to Watachpoo to sell his lands, or a portion of them, to the English. July 11, 1667, two sachems of Sepaconit (probably Agawam Neck in Wareham), sold the westerly part of the present town of Marion, to an Indian chief named Pompmunet, alias Charles of Ashimmit, "with libertie of Comanage for cattle and likewise to make use of any timber for fencing or building that is without this neck, with libertie of fishing or fowling or whatever privilege is belonging thereunto as necessary." The price was eight pounds-$26.67.
The northern portion of Sepecan, including the northwest portion of Wareham, and nearly the whole of Rochester, was granted to Thomas Besbeck and others, January 22, 1638 or 1639. On June 6, 1649, "Liber- tie is granted unto the townsmen of Plymouth to make use of the land at Sepecan for the herding and keeping of cattle, and wintering of them there as they shall see cause." For many years before and after this grant, herdsmen, with their herds, tenanted temporary habitations erected for their use, where the rich pasture lands and extensive salt marshes afforded ample pasturage. June 5, 1651, the above grant was confirmed, and limited to the citizens of Plymouth; "and the bounds thereof to extend itself eight miles by the sea-side and four miles into the land."
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