USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 12
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 12
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 12
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The colonists seem to have generally admitted that the Indians had a natural right and title in the lands which they occupied. The sachems were dealt with when it was desired to purchase land from the Indians and, whether the Indians understood the verbiage of the deeds or not, there was a passing of papers which caused the colonists to feel that they had something to defend, evidently being early in the conviction, as regards the Indians, that "ignorance of the law" or what a deed was all about, was no excuse.
So far as their standing with other colonists were concerned, the Plymouth organization had no acknowledged right to the soil, beyond possession, until January 13, 1630, when they obtained a patent, under the Earl of Warwick and Sir Ferdinando Gorges Act, which conveyed to "The Council for New England, in consideration that William Brad- ford and his associates have for these nine years lived in New England, and have their planted a town called New Plymouth, at their own charges" an immense amount of territory. Bancroft says: "The council of Plymouth for New England, having obtained of King James the boundless territory and the immense monopoly which they had desired, had no further obstacles to encounter but the laws of nature and the remonstrances of parliament. No tributaries tenanted their countless millions of uncultivated acres; and exactions upon the vessels of English fishermen were the only means of acquiring an immediate revenue from America."
They acquired rights at Cape Ann, and extensive domains on the Kennebec River in Maine. They had rights on the Connecticut River.
One of the first social diversions of which we have record in the Plymouth Colony was a duel between two young men who attempted to settle an argument according to Old World ideas. With a sword in the right hand and a dagger in the left, according to the record, they fought until each had received a wound and their honor was satisfied. They had neglected, however, to take the Pilgrim army and the Pilgrim laws, "behooveful for their present estate and condition" into considera- tion. They were sentenced to lie in a public place, neck and heels tied together, for twenty-four hours. This method of punishment was be- lieved by early residents in Plymouth County to be very efficacious in curing men of a desire to fight duels and hens of a desire to set. It is sometimes employed for the latter reason in these days but most of the duelling proclivities have died a natural death.
Rights to a Whale Carefully Safeguarded-At a town meeting held January 17, 1652, an "agreement was made with Daniel Wing and Michael Blackwell for the taking of the fish in Herring River;"-and it was "ordered that Edmund Freeman, Edward Perry, Geo. Allen,
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Daniel Wing, John Ellis, and Thos. Tobey, these six men, shall take care of all the fish that Indians shall cut up within the limits of the town, so as to provide safety for it, and shall dispose of the fish for the town's use; also that if any man that is an inhabitant shall find a whale and report it to any of these six men, he shall have a double share; and that these six men shall take care to provide laborers and whatever is needful so that whatever whales either Indian or white man gives notice of, they may dispose of the proceeds to the town's use, to be divided equally to every inhabitant."
So numerous were whales in the bay, and such was the activity of the whalemen, that instances were frequent of whales, escaping wounded from their pursuers and dying subsequently, being washed to the shores. Besides these, the grampus and other large fish were often stranded on the flats by the action of the tides.
The contest for the right of whales seems to have been carried on with vigor. It was further ordered, September 13, "that Richard Chad- well, Thos. Dexter and John Ellis, these three men, shall have all the whales that come within the limits and bounds of Sandwich, they paying to the town for the sd. fish £16 a whale." It was also "provided that if any of these three men have notice given by any person who has seen a whale ashore or aground and has placed an oar by the whale, his oath may, if required, be taken for the truth and certainty of the thing, and the sd. three persons shall be held liable to pay for the sd. whale, although they neglect to go with him that brings them word. And if they do not go with him, then sd. person shall hold the sd. whale, and by giving notice to any third man shall have paid him for his care herein £1. And in case there come ashore any part of a whale, these four men, Mr. Dillingham, Mr. Edmund Freeman, Edward Perry, and Michael Blackwell, are to be the judges of the whale before it shall be cut off from, to determine the quantity less a whole whale; and then, without allowing further word, these three men, viz .: Rd. Chadwell, Thos. Dexter, and John Ellis, shall make payment for sd. whale, one- third in oil, one-third in corn, and one-third in cattle, all marketable, at current prices," etc., etc.
According to an early record, in 1702, the town gave to Rev. Roland Cotton "All such drift whales as shall, during the time of his ministry in Sandwich, be driven or cast ashore within the limits of the town, being such as shall not be killed with hands."
Evidently the coming ashore of a whale "such as shall not be killed with hands" was regarded as one of those "acts of God," such as are referred to in matters of law, even to the present day.
In many of the towns the minister was given special rights in dead
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whales, and in some of the towns, as has already been mentioned, in the case of Eastham, such property coming into the possession of the town was appropriated directly toward the support of the minister, in much the same manner as most towns in the Old Colony today appro- priate "dog taxes" for the support of their public libraries.
In 1684 the town of Sandwich "ordered that inhabitants who are seventy years of age shall be excused from killing the quota of blackbirds."
First Suicide and First Divorce-The first suicide on Cape Cod was of the wife of a prominent inhabitant of Yarmouth, who hung herself in 1677; the same year that the first town meeting of Yarmouth was held.
It was indeed hard to withstand the suffering which must have been a part of every-day life for many people in those early days, but to escape by self-destruction was considered gross infamy as shown by a quotation from the records : In the Massachusetts Colony, "Oct. 16, 1660, the court, considering how far Satan doth prevail upon persons to make way with themselves," in order to "deter therfrom" and "to bear testi- mony against such wicked and unnatural practise, do order that such persons shall be denied the privilege of the common burial-places of Christians, and shall be buried in some common highway, and a cart- load of stones laid upon the grave as a brand of infamy, and a warning to others."
This method of branding suicides as infamous had nothing to do with Barnstable County only as it was a part of the Massachusetts Colony after the merger of the Pilgrim and Puritan colonies. There are tradi- tions, however, that special burial places were provided-but not in the common highways-for those who died of smallpox or committed suicide, thus medical and theological requirements became blended. There are those alive today who know of the burial places of people who died of smallpox being apart from the usual cemeteries, and can point out such burial spots.
One of the early clergymen of Cape Cod requested that his body be buried in the older cemetery in the town as he feared on judgment day the newer place of burial might be overlooked by the angels delegated to wake the dead. This is an indication of the horror which people in the early days had of being interred otherwise than in the graveyards, usually adjacent to the churches.
There are several old burying grounds on the Cape, some of them overgrown with blackberry vines and hog cranberry, with the remains of a stone wall or an old fence making an attempt to enclose the area of neglected mounds. In some cases the descendants of those buried
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there have long since been unknown hereabouts and possibly there are no longer descendants. Some of the graveyards have been kept de- cently by succeeding owners of the farms on which the burying grounds are situated, simply because they were recognized as resting places of the dead and therefore entitled to respect, even though those interred were of no kin and apparently forgotten by everyone.
No one seems to know the oldest burying ground on Cape Cod. Pos- sibly it is at North Dennis, where an ancient stone marks the place of burial of a son of John Hall, founder of the Hall family in America. Whether the body of John Hall was buried beside the grave over which the stone is still seen no one knows, but it is fair to presume that he was buried on the same farm and possibly in approximately the same spot. John Hall came to this country with Governor Winthrop in 1630 and settled on the Cape in what is now the town of Dennis. There are other stones bearing the names of members of the Hall family and a wooden fence enclosed the spot.
Freeman, in his "History of Cape Cod," says :
"In 1661, occurred the first instance on the Cape, so far as the records supply, of divorce a vinculo matrimonii. We regret being obliged to say, the husband was an inhabitant of this town, and for the criminal acts that led to the divorce he was fined and publicly whipt; nor did this punishment suffice-for his continued naughtiness he was 'whipped a second time,' and then disappears from the town."
Law Hard on Indians and Quakers-In 1678, the following appears among the court orders: "This may certify that certain Indians near Sandwich, whose names are Canootus, Symon, and Joel, being appre- hended on their confession, and convicted of feloniously breaking open a house and stealing from a chest of Zechariah Allen of Sandwich, £25 in money, and they having lost or embezzled sd. money and no other way appearing how he may be satisfied for his loss, the colony have sentenced the above-named Indians to be perpetual slaves, and empower the sd. Allen to make sale of them in N. England, or else- where, as his lawful slaves for the term of their lives." *
The early colonists did not allow any deviation from what they considered orthodox in the way of religious belief, notwithstanding they sought these shores for "freedom to worship God." About 1655 the Quakers appeared and came in for much unpleasant treatment on
* "A sister of John Sassamon was this year claimed as a slave by Joseph Burge; the title being proved, it was ordered by the court that £5 be paid for her lib- erty." "Many women and children were thus held, throughout the colony-victims of the late war."-Baylies.
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the part of the early settlers. So far as Cape Cod is concerned it was a trifle more tolerant than were the Puritans of Massachusetts Colony but in 1655 there was an order of The General Court that "no Quaker be entertained by any person or persons within this government, under penalty of five pounds for every such default, or be whipped." Among others, Nicholas Davis was banished from the Massachusetts Colony upon pain of death, and later settled in Barnstable.
What might be called insult added to injury was an occurrence at Plymouth, where two Quakers, named Rouse and Norton, were im- prisoned and, when they refused to be sworn, were publicly whipped. The officer who had administered the whipping demanded his fee of them and, when they refused to pay it, they were remanded to prison and remained there until they promised to leave the jurisdiction.
A fast was observed throughout the Plymouth Colony under order from the court, October 2, 1658:
The court having taken into serious consideration some signs of God's dis- pleasure manifested by his afflicting hand on the country, -- partly by his visitation of many families and persons with sickness and weakness, and partly by the un- seasonableness of the weather for the ingathering of the fruits of the earth for our own food, and fodder for cattle; as also by letting loose as a scourge upon us those fretting gangrene-like doctrines and persons commonly called Quakers, and not hitherto so effectually blessing our endeavors as we have desired for pre- venting their infection and disturbance; as also by too much prevailing of a spirit of division and disunion both in church and civil affairs, to the great dishonor of God and discomfort one of another.
At the December term of the court the marshal, George Barlow of Sandwich, was ordered :
Whereas it is observed, that frequently divers of those called Quakers have repaired to Sandwich from other places by sea, coming in at Mannomett with a boat, which practice, if continued, the court conceiveth may prove a dangerous consequence, the court doth impower and authorise you, George Barlow, marshal of Sandwich, etc., that in case you shall have any intelligence of the arrival of any of those called Quakers at Mannomett or any place adjacent upon the coast with- in our jurisdiction, that you may forthwith repair to such boats, requiring com- petent aid to go with you, and arrest any such boat or boats, taking their sails and masts from them, and securing them until some of the magistrates be acquainted therewith, and further orders be given you about the same; and likewise that you apprehend the bodies of all such Quakers as shall come in any such boats, or any other Quakers you shall then and there find, and proceed with them as effectually as if you found them within the bounds of Sandwich or any other town within your liberties.
It was resolved at the same meeting, "that a summons be sent for James Skiff to answer to such things as shall be objected against him in regard to traducing the law about refusing to take the oath of fidelity."
Five men and one woman, Quakers, were sentenced at Plymouth,
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May 8, 1659, under a previous order of court to depart out of the juris- diction by the eighth of June on pain of death.
"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" many times and the persecution of the Quakers did not meet with unanimous approval, although those who lifted their voices in their behalf or in criticism of the orders of the court or of those who executed them, were dealt with with corresponding severity. To befriend a Quaker in any way meant disfranchisement and ostracism. Isaac Robinson, son of the revered Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the church at Leyden, was dismissed from civil employment in the Plymouth Colony and his name was stricken from the list of freemen because he dared to take a liberal attitude toward them.
That the Quakers were not diplomatic in their language when put before the court we know full well and we can easily imagine the reaction upon such a dignified official as Governor Prence when he had before him Norton and by him was told: "Thomas, thou liest ; Prence, thou art a malicious man." We submit that such language, or its present-day equivalent, would be considered contempt of court by any judge in our own day. It was, without doubt, irritating to this same Governor Prence to receive a letter from Norton in which appeared, among many similar sentences: "Thomas Prence thou hast bent thy heart to work wickedness, and with thy tongue thou hast set forth deceit. Thou imaginist mischief upon thy bed, and hatchest thy hatred in thy secret chamber; the strength of darkness is over thee, and a malicious mouth has thou opened against God and his annointed, and with thy tongue and lips hast thou uttered perverse things."
Secretary John Morton referred to the Quakers as "a pernicious sect that sowed their corrupt and damnable doctrines in almost every town." The answer to this charge of "damnable doctrine" seems to have been made in their "Vindication," published later, which read: "We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be of divine origin, and give full credit to the historical facts, as well as to the doctrines therein delivered, and never had any doubt of the truth of the actual birth, life, sufferings, resurrection and ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as related by the evangelists ; without any mental or other reserve, or the least diminution by allegorical explanation."
Eventually King Charles forbade further persecutions of the Quakers, the most obnoxious laws were repealed in Plymouth Colony, and it is stated that "the Quakers became the most peaceful, industrious and moral of all the religious sects," as, indeed, they probably were all the time.
A tract of land, covering 10,500 acres was set apart by the General
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Court in 1660 for the exclusive use of the Indians of Mashpee. A grant and deed of this plantation was obtained through the influence of Richard Bourne of Sandwich. In 1666 Richard Bourne had a con- ference with Governor Prence in relation to the religious improvement of the Indians who had been under his instruction and he urged that they be allowed to have church fellowship. This was allowed at a subsequent period.
Governor Prince, or Prence as he wrote his name, died in April, 1673. He had been excused from living at Plymouth for a time and made his home in Eastham, where he was greatly respected. He was succeeded as governor by Josiah Winslow, son of Governor Edward Winslow, the first of the governors born in New England. It was while he was governor that King Philip's War took place.
Governor Winslow died in Marshfield, December 18, 1680, after holding office by several successive elections since the death of Governor Prence. One of the first acts of his administration had been the restora- tion of Isaac Robinson, son of Rev. John Robinson of Leyden, and others who had expressed sympathy with the Quakers to the rights of freemen. Thomas Hinckley of Barnstable was the successor to Gov- ernor Winslow.
Governor Hinckley was twice disturbed while in office; once when King James II forced all the colonies to surrender their charters; and again when Sir William Phipps was sent by William and Mary as governor-in-chief of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. He died in Barnstable, April 25, 1706, aged 86, and of him it has been written: "He had stood by the cradle of the colony in its infancy and had been, from first to last, the associate, in weal and woe, of its great and good men, and had lived, himself the chief among the surviving, to see the last chapter written in its immortal annals."
The Edward Winslow mansion in Plymouth, erected in 1754, by the great-grandson of the old governor, a brother of General John Winslow who, at the command of George II transported the Arcadians, was once the property of Dr. Charles Jackson, who clashed with Dr. Morton over the discovery of ether. While it was his property it was the scene of the wedding of Lydia Jackson and Ralph Waldo Emerson. They took their wedding trip in a chaise from Plymouth to Concord.
Indians Defended Cape Against King Philip-In preparation for the King Philip War the Plymouth Colony first furnished one hundred and fifty-eight men and it was ordered by the court that "every man shall take to meetings on Lord's Day his arms with him and with at least five charges of powder and shot." It was further ordered that "every town be garrisoned for the security of families." Men were impressed
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for the war from Cape Cod as follows: From Sandwich, sixteen; Yar- mouth, fifteen ; Barnstable, sixteen; and Eastham, eight.
There was another call in December and Sandwich furnished eleven, Yarmouth ten, Barnstable thirteen, and Eastham nine.
The Sugkonessett Tribe of Indians which had the squaw sachem Awashonks, joined with the colonists in the war against Philip, and Captain Church, who was assisted in communicating with Plymouth from Mt. Hope by members of this tribe, made arrangements with the Indian queen for her braves to play their part. The Wampanoags had some authority over the Cape Cod tribes of Indians but the latter refused to join Philip in his war and really acted as a defence to the Cape Cod towns. The "severest calamity that befell the Plymouth Colony in this bloody war," according to Hubbard, was the blotting out of the force under Captain Pierce at Scituate, fifty English and twenty friendly Indians, at Providence, Rhode Island, in the early part of the war. There were twenty from the Cape Cod towns among the lost.
As the war went on new calls for men and money were received and the Cape towns responded, but the brunt of the war was borne by Rehoboth, Taunton, Bridgewater, Dartmouth, Middleboro and Swansey, the actual warfare being confined largely to that territory.
King Philip was killed August 12, 1676, and his head taken to Plym- outh and displayed as a trophy. The war had lasted about two years, during which about six hundred colonists were killed, thirteen towns destroyed entirely, all the buildings burned; and fifty-three towns suf- fered severely.
The October, 1917, number of the "Cape Cod Magazine" spoke of ancient slackers as follows :
Slackers were not unknown, even in ancient times, and history relates instances where men drafted for service in the King Philip War offered excuses as unique as are some of those of the present day. There appears to have been a home guard, too, for all "competent" boys under sixteen were obliged to join the "town watch." It is recorded that two men of Sandwich were fined two pounds each for not appearing when drafted. General James Cudworth, a valiant and distin- guished soldier of Barnstable, on being appointed commander of an expedition against the Dutch, was reluctant to accept the post. After modestly stating that the command was far beyond his deserts, he went on to say that the state of his wife's health was such "that she cannot light a pipe of tobacco, but it must be lighted for her." And he concludes: "Sir, I cannot truly say that I do not in the least waive the business out of an effeminate or dastardly spirit; but am as willing to serve my king and country as any man whatsoever, in what I am capable and fitted for, but do not understand that a man is called to serve his country with the inevitable ruin and destruction of his family."
So far as we know no such unique excuse as the one mentioned was made by any of our Cape Cod young men in the recent draft, but doubtless many were puzzled in trying to reconcile their duty to country and family.
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Beginning of Three Counties-A county seat was required for Barn- stable County in 1685 and there was considerable influence used to have the courthouse located at Yarmouth, all the arguments being brought to bear. Governor Hinckley and his assistants, Barnabus Lothrop and John Walley, had much to do with getting the location of the county buildings near the centre of the present town of Barnstable. There had been an extension of the Sandwich road that year, the old foot bridges giving way to more substantial structures and these changes had much argumentative weight.
This year, 1685, was important in the annals of Plymouth Colony because it witnessed the division of the colony into Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable counties and from that time on county government was something new in these parts. There were eight towns included in Barnstable, although at that time Sandwich, Yarmouth, Barnstable and Eastham were the only ones fully incorporated. Barnstable was made the shire town, a courthouse was erected, laws were revised, confirmatory titles given and a county government established appro- priate for the new order of things. Falmouth was incorporated the following year.
The laws were printed and published in the several towns, magistrates and associates met to hold court for the trying of actions and there were the usual cases before them of people charged with selling liquors to the Indians, breaking the Sabbath, stealing hogs or suffering them to go at large without rings, for which the culprits were put in the stocks, publicly whipped or made to pay fines.
It was while Governor Hinckley was still in office that a new order of things was set up. King Charles had died and was succeeded by James II. The colony continued for a time its former administration but there arrived in Boston, December 20, 1686, Sir Edward Andros, with a commission from James II, appointing him governor of New England. The affairs of the Plymouth Colony became merged to a large extent with those of the Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Con- necticut colonies.
James II pretended that he was only anxious to secure greater tolera- tion but there was much dissatisfaction with having the Plymouth Colony lose its distinctive character and Governor Hinckley petitioned the throne for redress. During the persecution of the Quakers Edward Randolph had been sent over from England and it is related that Randolph, on one occasion, "had the insolence to reprove and even threaten the governor of Plymouth for exacting taxes from Quakers for the support of the ministry." He wrote a letter to Governor Hinck- ley, June 22, 1686, in which he said: "Perhaps it will be as reasonable to
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