USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 69
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 69
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 69
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shipyards in connection with it. Considerable fishing was carried on from Scituate Harbor in days gone by, and coasting trade was a source of employment and profit.
The principal street of the town is called Kent Street, which serves as a reminder that the first comers were Englishmen from Kent, Eng- land. They arrived in 1628. Timothy Hatherly associated himself with Robert Stetson and Joseph Tilden in building a sawmill on Third Herring Brook in 1656, which was one of the first sawmills in the colony. The mill was burned by the Indians May 20, 1676, when they mnade their savage visitation to Scituate in King Philip's War and burned no less than nineteen houses and barns.
One of the industries in which Scituate has always had the lead is gathering sea moss from the rocks in the vicinity, curing it on the shore and marketing it to be made into food products which are much in demand.
Scituate, like many of the towns in Plymouth Colony, had been nearly depopulated of natives by the smallpox a few years before the English made a permanent settlement on this cost. These natives were the Matakeesetts and controlled by the chief or sachem of the Massachusetts.
The name of the town is the aboriginal name, derived from the brook that falls into the harbor. It was called in the earliest records in 1633 Satuit; shortly after it was written Seteat, then Cittewat, and about 1640, the present name of Scituate was settled. The settlers at Scituate extinguished the Indian title by purchase as by deed dated June, 1653, from the chief of the Matakeesetts, signed by Josias Wampatuck and given to Mr. Timothy Hatherly, Mr. James Cudworth, Mr. Joseph Tilden, Humphrey Turner, William Hatch, John Hoar, and James Torrey, for the proper use of the inhabitants of the town of Scituate. Prior to 1640 there was a deed given which was subsequently destroyed. In the year 1727, a part of Scituate was incorporated by the name of Hanover.
In 1849 the southern part was incorporated by the name of South Scituate, since named Norwell.
The following is a list of the first freeman in Scituate, from 1633 to 1649: Mr. William Gilson, Anthony Annable, Humphrey Turner, William Hatch, Henry Cobb, Samuel House, Mr. James Cudworth, Isaac Robinson, Samuel Fuller, John Cooper, Henry Rowley, George Kendrick, Edward Foster, George Lewis, Bernard Lombard, Mr. John Lothrop, Henry Bourne, Thomas Besbedge, Samuel Hickley, John Lewis, Richard Sillis, Edward Fitzrandle, Robert Linnet, John Wil- liams, Thomas Dimmack, John Twisden, Thomas Chambers, John Hewes, Charles Chauncey, William Parker, Walter Woodworth, Tim-
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othy Hatherly, William Caseley, Edward Eddenden, Thomas Clapp, Edward Jenkins, Isaac Stedman, John Allen.
Charles Chauncey was minister of the first church of Scituate, for thirteen years, from 1641 to 1654, when he was chosen president of Har- vard College.
The first church, Unitarian, in Scituate, was regularly gathered in January, 1634. Some of the earlier pastors were: Giles Saxton, 1631 to 1634; Rev. John Lathrop, ordained 1634; Rev. Charles Chauncey, 1641; Rev. Henry Dunster, 1659; Rev. Nicholas Baker, 1660.
The Baptist Society was formed in 1825, the church built the same year and dedicated August 17th.
The First Trinitarian was formed 1825, with a church built in 1826 and dedicated November 16th.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in 1825, and the edifice built in 1826.
In the early days, going to church was a serious matter, and staying away still more serious. There were punishments galore likely to be visited upon one, whichever course he pursued. An early resident of Scituate named Bryant entered the church after the service had begun. Parson Wetherell's eagle eye was upon him instantly and he inter- rupted himself to say : "Neighbor Bryant, it is to your reproach that you have disturbed the worship by entering late, living as you do within a mile of this place; and especially so since here is Goody Barstow, who has milked seven cows, made a cheese, and walked five miles to the house of God in good season." Evidently it was less sinful to make a cheese on the Sabbath than to enter the meeting-house a trifle late.
In addition to Samuel Woodworth, author of "The Old Oaken Bucket," who was born in Scituate in 1785, the town has been the birthplace of Rev. Thomas Clap, president of Yale University; Wil- liam Cushing, LL. D., associate justice of the United States Supreme Court until his death, September 13, 1810; Samuel Southworth, eminent portrait painter; Rev. Charles Turner Torrey, advocate of human free- dom, born here in 1813, and died in prison in Baltimore May 9, 1846: Rev. Charles Chauncey, chosen president of Harvard College in 1653: Samuel Deane, who wrote a history of Scituate, among his writings, in 1831, and others of contemporary fame.
WAREHAM
The town of Wareham is situated at the head of Buzzards Bay and is noted for many interesting things, historically and otherwise. It in- cludes in the township Onset, Point Independence, the village of Buz- zards Bay and other localities famous as shore resorts. Some hand- some and valuable summer homes have been erected in Wareham in
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recent years. The number of non-residents who are assessed for prop- erty taxes is 2,088. The number of residents assessed on property is 1,976, the balance being on the side of non-residents, as is the case in numerous instances where towns have a large summer population dur- ing the vacation season which migrates elsewhere when the school bells begin to ring.
The total valuation of the town of Wareham April 1, 1926, was $11,- 768,735. The real estate valuation was $9,435,485, and the number of acres of land assessed 20,603. The number of dwelling houses was 3,184. There were 1,828 male residents twenty years or more of age. The town appropriations totalled $252,603. These figures give some idea of the size and importance of a town which has given a good ac- count of itself since the days it was sold by the Indians to the town of Plymouth and later transferred to town proprietors, largely from Hing- ham.
It is always interesting, when one views such handsome buildings, parks and playgrounds as the tourist encounters in Wareham to know the value of the public property. It is $357,450 in real estate and $40,100 in personal property. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts owns an experiment station, engine house, upland and cranberry bog, the total value of which is $8,875. The Wareham Fire District has a fire station, pumping station, stand pipe and land valued at $57,100. The Onset Fire District has a hook and ladder building, stand pipe, office building, store house, hose house, pumping plant and land, to- talling $85,150, and the church, charitable and literary societies have property which inventories $168,405. Some idea of the tourist business is shown in the fact that there are nineteen innholders and the number of common victuallers was, in 1926, seventy-five.
In the town in 1926 the total number of marriages was seventy-two, the births numbered one hundred and thirteen and the deaths eighty- nine.
There are several small parks in the town and more will undoubtedly be added in the near future. A recent bequest to the town was under the will of Albert A. Ball, giving $10,000 for the improvement of the parks at Onset. The town maintains a Red Cross Life Saving Station and life guards on the beaches at Wareham and Onset and conducts a recreational beach program for the inhabitants, under supervision of the Red Cross life-saving corps.
There are approximately 1,300 children of school age in the town and four hundred and thirty-one are transported at the town's expense to the various schools. There are sixty-five pupils in the Wareham High School from surrounding towns who pay tuition fees amounting to $6,000. The grade schools also accommodate a few pupils from other
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towns, paying $800 in tuition fees. The school appropriation for 1927 was $106,300.
One of the most interesting acts of the town meeting in March, 1927, was voting $600 for the encouragement of the shell fisheries. It was asserted that that amount, paid to gather seed of scallops and distribute them down the bay would mean a greatly increased yield in 1928. The plan was privately carried through a few years ago and resulted in greatly increased profits to the fishermen.
The town has been lighted for several years by a privately owned company and a municipal plant is under consideration, with a com- mittee appointed by the town to make investigations.
A water system was installed early in 1927 to serve Cromesett Park, one of the rapidly growing summer resorts, the supply coming from artesian wells.
Among the large corporations doing business in Wareham are the New Bedford and Agawam Finishing Company at East Wareham, the largest taxpayer in 1926; the Tremont Nail Company, Henry S. Brown Corporation, United Cape Cod Cranberry Company, Cape Cod Ship- building Corporation, Maple Springs Company, and Standard Horse- shoe Company.
Old Town Hearse Sold as Relic-In earlier days all towns in this vicinity owned a town hearse, which was available for use whenever a citizen of the town passed away. Until last March the old Wareham hearse, unused for many years, reposed in a shed at the Agawam Cemetery. It was said to be two hundred years old, and was a one-horse rig, painted gray. It was purchased to add to the collection of old vehicles owned by Henry Ford.
Veteran Court Crier-Deputy Sheriff James W. Hurley of this town has called "Hear ye, hear ye-" and the rest of the formal warning as court crier in Plymouth County so many years that he has outlived every judge, lawyer, court clerk or officer who was attached to the Plymouth County bar when he received his first appointment in 1882. In 1927 Court Crier Hurley was seventy-eight years of age and still on the job.
New Industry Making Steel Castings-In the summer of 1927 the United Shoe Machinery Corporation sold the Tremont steel mill at West Wareham to the Washington Steel Company of Washington, Pennsylvania, a concern organized early in 1927. The Tremont mill will be used for manufacturing special steels and electric steel castings.
About one hundred and twenty acres of land, a hydro-electric plant, three open hearth furnaces with a total capacity of one hundred and fifty tons of steel per day, a blooming mill and other equipment were included in the sale. The concern plans to put out a line of charcoal
MAIN STREET, WAREHAM
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GEORGE OAKES TOBEY, JR., MEMORIAL LIBRARY, WAREHAM
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iron sheets, tin plate and special alloy sheets; also a non-corroding and rust resisting steel under a special process controlled by the com- pany.
Search for Pirates' Gold-There are several islands in Onset Bay which belong to Plymouth County, as they are parts of the town of Wareham. The largest is Onset Island which contains eight acres, sit- uated near the southerly point of Long Neck. This island is supposed, according to tradition, to have been a burial place for pirates' gold and a generation or two ago there were still living men who, when boys, had made attempts to unearth some of this hidden treasure.
There was a tradition concerning the spot where a part of the loot was carefully hidden, watched over by the devil, as the gold had been obtained in an evil manner. According to tradition those who dug for it must utter no word if they hoped for success. On one occasion, so the story goes, a group of boys met there by appointment one dark and stormy night, and succeeded in uncovering the top of a pirate's treasure chest. This excited one of the number and, in his zeal for quick and effective work, he struck a companion with his pick-axe. The com- panion uttered an oath and immediately the treasure chest sank from view and, dig as rapidly as they could, the young men could not again strike it with their implements.
Wickett's Island, containing five acres, is off shore from the once cele- brated Onset Camp Ground, and derived its name from an Indian who retained possession of it long after most of the land in that vicinity had gone into the possession of the white men.
Hog Island, Little Bird Island and other smaller islands are used at times for camping purposes or in shooting wild fowl, and all add to the picturesque appearance of a section of Plymouth County which is most beautiful.
Agawam Purchase Laid Out as a Separate Nation-The town of Wareham is about sixteen miles south of Plymouth, which brings it fifty miles from Boston. Originally it was a part of Plymouth and a part of Rochester, which joins it on the west. That part which for- merly belonged to Plymouth was called Agawam Purchase. Wareham was incorporated in 1739 and consisted of the two tracts mentioned until 1827 when Tihonet, a locality partly in Plymouth and partly in Carver was added, to make up the town of Wareham as it exists at present.
Herring fishery rights, ministry lands and church interests figured largely in many of the affairs in the early history of all localities in this section, including the Agawam Purchase. In 1682 the town of Plym- outh wanted a new meeting-house and the inhabitants decided that the easiest way to pay for it was to sell Agawam, which had been purchased
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from the Indians in 1666 "in consideration of the full and just sum of twenty-four pounds and ten shillings."
The deed, conferring title to this land, extending from an arm of the sea which connects the head of the bay with Buzzards Bay, to the rising of Red Brook, crossing White Island Pond and Oliver's Neck Bay, is still on record at the Plymouth Registry of Deeds.
Agawam Purchase was laid out by the first proprietors as though it were a separate nation. There was a water privilege set apart for the use of the community with a site marked for a mill on the Agawam River, a graveyard, pound for restraining runaway domestic animals, lots of land for the use of the ministry, providing for a meeting-house and schoolhouse. Every municipality in those days had its whipping post and pillory, and undoubtedly these improvements would have been added in carrying out the scheme of things if the town of Plymouth had not purchased the village from the proprietors and provided for jurisdiction of the territory.
The original proprietors of Agawam laid it out with a main road through the centre, running east and west and crossing five brooks. Until a generation ago, when the keeping of sheep in Plymouth Coun- ty-and largely in Massachusetts-was for the most part given up, there was a tract of land on the north side of this main road, used as a sheep common. Anyone possessing sheep was allowed to pasture them on that land, which contained over 5,000 acres of light, sandy soil on which grew vegetation so meagre that other domestic animals found it poor pasturage, but sheep were able to crop the grass so closely that the sheep owners were glad to be allowed to use it.
How Name of Tihonet Originated-Tihonet is a part of Wareham which many people believe possesses an Indian name and some have wondered what the name signifies. An early settler had a small land right in that vicinity and was accustomed to cut timber wherever he found that which would be most marketable, regardless of whatever rights might belong to someone else, according to the tradition.
Another man who was aware that valuable timber came from that section sought to find who owned it, and wanted to take a look at the wood lots to satisfy his curiosity concerning their value and the facili- ties for hauling the logs to mill when they were cut. Accordingly he engaged the early settler to show him around in the vicinity. When- ever he saw an especially valuable area he asked the guide who owned it and the invariable reply was: "I own it." Later, when asked where he had spent the day, he said "At I-Own-It," and the name has stuck ever since, with a slight variation in the spelling.
Through Tihonet flows the Wankinco River, on the banks of which Daniel Hunt built a forge and a sawmill many years ago, putting them
CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, EPISCOPAL, WAREHAM
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a mile apart. The forge and mill eventually passed into the hands of the Wareham Iron Company and this company petitioned the Legis- lature to have Tihonet become a part of Wareham. It had previously been owned jointly by Plymouth and Carver. The Legislature passed an act in 1827, in accordance with the prayer of the petitioners. An at- tempt had been made to have the separation from Plymouth accom- plished as early as 1773, which is shown by a record under May 10, 1773, which reads: "Voted not to request Plymouth to set off Tihonet to Wareham."
There was considerable opposition to the move to have Wareham acquire Tihonet in 1827. Among the opponents was Benjamin Bourne, Esq., who insisted that his vote in opposition be entered upon the records. The Wareham Iron Company, however, had the greater in- influence as the company contemplated carrying on an industry which would furnish considerable employment to those in that vicinity. The water privileges in the Wankinco River constituted the only natural assets the area possessed. There is a fall of twenty-eight feet at Ti- honet Dam. The river is fed by spring brooks flowing into it from either side.
Alewives Saved for Plymouth-The act of the incorporation of the town of Wareham bears the date of July 6, 1739, and it provided that the "inhabitants be and hereby are vested with all the Powers, Privileges and Immunities that the Inhabitants of other Towns in this Province are or ought by law to be vested with, Saving that the Privilege of Catching Alewives be and remain as heretofore." At that time there was a law in force, by an act of 1692, which allowed towns having more than thirty and less than forty voters to do as they preferred about sending a representative to the General Court. This privilege the town did not exercise for forty years and so it is inferred that the voting population was less than forty and, perhaps, less than thirty during these two decades. In 1769, the town wished to be heard before the General Court and the record shows that they sent an agent and not a representative.
The first town meeting was held August 6, 1739, having been called by Edward Bumpus, upon authority from the General Court. He acted as moderator and town officers were elected, including: Selectmen and assessors, Jireh Swift, Jeremiah Bumpus and Jonathan Hunter ; town clerk, Jonathan Hunter; treasurer, Jireh Swift; constables, John Bumpus, Jr., and Joshua Gibbs; surveyors of highways, Joseph Gifford, Isaac Hamblin and Jonathan Bumpus; tithing man, Henry Saunders ; fenceviewers, Eneneazer Perry and John Ellis.
Rallied to Defense of Marshfield-At the time of the incorporation of Wareham, July 6, 1739, it is not known what its population was. At Plym-41
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that time every town containing forty qualified voters was entitled to a representative, but for forty years after incorporation, the town voted that they were not qualified to send, and when they wished to be heard at General Court, they sent an agent instead of a representative.
In the French War of 1757-58, Wareham sent nine men to assist in the capture of Cape Breton. Samuel Besse lost his life there. Five others joined the Northern army, to capture Canada, besides Jo. Joseph, Sol. Joseph and Jabez Wickett, three Indians who fought against the hostile Indians.
As early as January 18, 1773, a town meeting was held in Wareham to consider grievances of the Provinces under Great Britain. Captain Josiah Carver was moderator. In February, 1774, strong resolutions were adopted, insisting upon the rights of British freedom. In January, 1775, they voted to allow every minute-man 1s 4d per week and refused to make any tax under the King's authority, but to pay the Province tax already made to Dr. Andrew Mackie, with instructions that he keep it until the town should otherwise order. On March 17, they voted to purchase six guns for the town and instructed Nathan Bassett to put the other guns in repair and make bayonets for them.
About the time of the battle of Lexington, it was rumored that the King's troops were at Marshfield laying the country waste. Forty minute-men immediately left for Plymouth under the command of Captain Israel Fearing, Lieutenants Ebenezer Chubbuck and Barnabus Bates. According to a record of those times :
"Eight men served two months; eighteen enlisted for six months, and were stationed along shore. During their term of service they went to Nashuana, rowing themselves in two whale boats. Nine were in the army near Boston eight months, making thirty-six men sent into service the first year, from a town without voters enough to send a representative. In 1776, eighteen men enlisted, and in 1777, fourteen men enlisted for three years, or the war, eight men enlisted for two months to serve in Rhode Island, and in August, nearly every man in the militia went on the secret expedition to Newport.
"In September, 1777, the town voted 33 pounds for 100 pounds of powder, and in November, 100 pounds to supply the families of Continental soldiers with such articles as they needed. In September, 1778, the British burned the shipping craft at New Bedford, and the Wareham militia turned out under Major Israel Fearing, it afterwards being said that the work of these men was of great importance in stemming the havoc. Eighty-six different individuals did service in the army, thirteen of whom died.
"During the Revolutionary War the operations of our patriotic citi- zens were not confined to the land. Captain Barzilla Besse went out privateering under a commission from the State, in an armed sloop,
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and took one prize. He, together with John Gibbs, and some others of his crew, left his vessel at Nantucket and joined Captain Dimmick of Falmouth, as volunteers, in a wood sloop borrowed at that place for the occasion, and running down towards the enemy's vessel, which was a shaving mill mounting six swivels. Dimmick was ordered to strike; he showed submission-but in running under her stern, he put his bowsprit over the enemy's taffrail, and calling upon his men, they sprang on board, killed the English captain, and took his vessel in a few minutes.
"Also a 10 gun sloop named the 'Hancock,' owned by John Carver, Nathan Bassett, and others, was fitted out from this place as a priva- teer, commanded by James Southard. The first cruise they went to the West Indies and took two prizes. The second cruise they took two Grand Bank fishermen, both brigs, and brought them into Ware- ham."
"The enemy took from our citizens the schooner 'Lion,' coming from the West Indies, with a load of salt, the schooner 'Desire' go- ing to Brazil, and a sloop which was built for a privateer, and per- formed one unsuccessful cruise in that capacity, but was afterwards sent to Turks Island for salt, and was taken while returning."
British Visit to Wareham in 1814-Previous to the War of 1812, commerce flourished and many vessels were built at the Narrows. John Saunders was killed at the battle of New Orleans.
Thirteen sloops from Wareham were captured by the enemy, among them the sloop "Polly." Captain Barrows was taken on the 9th of June, 1814, off Westport. The captain ransomed her for $200 and came home to get the money, leaving Moses Bumpus and James Miller with the British until his return.
The same day the sloop "Polly" was re-taken by a party fitted out from West- port; but the two young men, Bumpus and Miller, had been taken on board the brig-of-war "Nimrod," and by their aid, as was supposed, in a few days, she ran up the bay to West's Island. Here they landed and took Samuel Besse on board for a pilot, as he says, by force, and compelled him to pilot the brig up the Bay.
There was great excitement in Wareham, June 13, 1814, when the town was visited by British soldiers who did $25,000 worth of damage and departed, promising to return and burn the entire town. Those left in defense of the town had no time to offer resistance, and were too few to have done more than kill a few of the enemy at best and have their entire number exterminated and the town burned in retaliation.
On that morning Ebenezer Bourne was at work about 9 o'clock when he saw a British vessel off Mattapoisett, standing up the bay, and come to anchor about four miles south of Bird Island Light. Immediately six barges, forming a line two abreast, put off from the
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vessel, under lateen sail, steering for Wareham. Bourne had a boat moored at Crooked River. He put off in this boat, sailed to the lower end of the Neck, and notified the selectmen, who were in session. Major William Barrows was ordered to assemble men and guns, while others were sent to get the store of ammunition, which was in the custody of Wadsworth Crocker. A stranger on horseback was asked to spread the alarm and especially notify Captain Israel Fearing, who was ordered to call out his men and proceed to the east side of the Narrows.
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