USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 38
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 38
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 38
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First Railroad in America-That the battle of Bunker Hill should have brought about the building of the first railroad in America is something which seldom comes into the thoughts of people who look
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upon the column which commemorates that fight in which the Yan- kees lost but the British left. It is a fact, however, that it was for the purpose of hauling granite from the quarries in Quincy that the first American railroad was built and the road is still contributing its part in transportation facilities.
A new era in transportation opened with the Granite Railway Octo- ber 7, 1826, when the first cars moved over the rails a distance of two and three-quarter miles. The cars were drawn by horses, under the direction of Gridley Bryant, a young engineer. The first load was composed of huge blocks of granite and the destination, so far as the railroad was concerned, was a wharf on the Neponset River. The inventor of the Granite Railroad was later the inventor of the eight- wheeled car, the portable derrick, the switch, turntable and other im- portant devices and improvements in railroading.
Gridley Bryant wrote a description of the road to a friend as fol- lows :
"The deepest cutting was fifteen feet, and the highest elevation above the surface of the ground was twelve feet. The several grades were as follows: the first, commencing at the wharf or landing, was twenty-six feet to the mile, the second thirteen feet, and the third thirty-six feet. This brought us to the floor of the table lands that ran around the main quarry; here an elevation of eighty-four feet vertical was to be overcome. This was done by an inclined plane, three hundred and fifteen feet long, at an angle of about fifteen degrees. It had an endless chain, to which the cars were attached in ascending or descending. At the head of this inclined plane I constructed a swing platform to receive the loaded cars as they came from the quarry .... I also constructed a turn table at the foot of the quarry. . . The rail- road was continued at different grades around the quarry, the highest part of which was ninety-three feet above the general level; on the top of this was erected an obelisk or monument forty-five high."
The first cost of the railroad was $50,000. The wharf was built at an expense of $30,000. It is still in existence, a part of the Metropoli- tan Park System. The roadbed was of crushed granite and the sleepers of stone, placed eight feet apart. The rails were of wood, twelve inches high, with an iron plate three inches wide and one-quarter of an inch thick.
One of the old railroad frogs was exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.
The upkeep of the road for many years was less than ten dollars a year. When the wooden rails decayed they were replaced with stone rails. Rails of stone had been used on the inclined plane and where the rail- road crossed public highways from the beginning.
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The first fatal railroad accident in New England, perhaps in the United States, was on the Granite Railway July 25, 1832. Four visitors had witnessed drawing heavy loads of granite and were invited to as- cend the inclined plane in one of the returning cars. The chain gave way and the car containing the four men was precipitated over a cliff. Thomas B. Achus of Cuba was killed, J. Gibson of Boston had both legs broken, W. G. Bend of Baltimore was severely injured, and Andrew E. Belknap of Boston slightly injured.
The first railroad in America was financed by Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, founder of the Perkins Institution for the Blind. He was a ship owner and carried on an extensive China trade. Presi- dent Washington offered Colonel Perkins the Secretaryship of the Navy, but the colonel declined, saying that he owned a larger fleet than the United States Navy possessed and thought he could do more good by attending to his own business.
The Bunker Hill Monument was erected under the direction of Solomon Willard, the father of the granite business in the United States, a native of Massachusetts. He came to Boston to learn the carpenter's trade, at the same time studying architecture. He at- tended an evening drawing school and took up wood carving. He carved the capitals for the Park Street church. In 1810 he carved the colossal eagle which was placed at the apex of the pediment of the old Custom House, where it still remains. He worked modeling and cut- ting marble and in 1820 was engaged on the stone work of St. Paul's Church in Boston. The Bunker Hill Monument was, however, his greatest work.
William Tuder desired to see on the battleground "the noblest col- umn in the world." The first suggestion of the monument is credited to him. Dr. John C. Warren bought three acres of the field and held it till an association was formed and money collected. The associa- tion was formed June 7, 1823. In the spring of 1825 about fifteen acres were purchased. Daniel Webster was a member of the committee on design and delivered the address when the cornerstone was laid June 7, 1825. General Lafayette was present. The celebration exceeded anything of the kind which had ever taken place in New England. Solomon Willard was appointed architect and superintendent of con- struction October 31, 1825. He merely accepted a sum sufficient to pay his expenses, saying he thought that "the interests of the associa- tion would be best served by having the services gratuitous."
It is said that Solomon Willard walked three hundred miles to ex- amine granite quarries to find the most suitable material for the mon- ument. He selected what became known as the Bunker Hill quarry in Quincy, twelve miles from the monument site. To transport thou-
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sands of tons of granite to Bunker Hill was the necessity which was the mother of the invention and construction of the first railway in the United States.
Many contributed to the cost of the Bunker Hill Monument, and among the large contributors was Judah Touro, a Jew, who also had a part in the War of 1812, as a volunteer. He began commercial life in Boston when his father, Rabbi Isaac Touro, was in charge of the syna- gogue in Newport, Rhode Island.
Judah Touro settled as a merchant in New Orleans in 1802. He died in that city June 18, 1854. In the War of 1812, when the British attacked New Orleans, he served as a volunteer under General Jack- son and was wounded January 1, 1815. He was much interested in the undertaking of the Bunker Hill Monument and contributed $10,- 000 toward its completion. He was a philanthropist, broad-minded, true type of citizen and among other benefactions endowed churches and synagogues. He died in New Orleans but left a request that his body be buried in the Jewish cemetery at Newport, Rhode Island, in which town he was born June 16, 1775, the day before the battle of Bunker Hill.
The original Granite Railway was, in 1870, merged into the Old Colony Railroad and control passed to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. These changes have added to the fa- cilities of the original company and the work started by Solomon Wil- lard as a part of his wonderful achievement in erecting the Bunker Hill Monument. The Granite Railway Company goes on. Its own five miles of track leading to all parts of their quarries are connected with the railroad lines which take the product everywhere.
The operation of the Bunker Hill quarry stopped several years ago but the Pine Hill quarry nearby is furnishing the largest supply of dark blue quarry in Quincy. The company claims it is the only firm in Quincy which undertakes to handle the largest class of work in this grade of stone to the limit of transportation. Some of the most noted structures in the country have been built of this material, including Bunker Hill Monument, the Minot's Ledge Lighthouse, the United States Dry Dock at Charlestown. To give a mere catalogue of the most modern public and commercial buildings and memorials in the country built of Quincy granite would furnish material for a large volume in itself.
Quincy granite is noted for its high polish. The absence of mica and the coarser cleavage of the varieties of hornblende and augite which takes its place furnishes this susceptibility to high polish. Quin- cy granite for monumental purposes goes under the name of "me- dium," "dark," and "extra dark." The crushing test is 17,000 pounds
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to the cubic inch. Dark or extra dark granite needs no "doping" or coloring and makes a memorial of unsurpassed beauty.
Building Minot's Ledge Lighthouse-The whole world cannot show an engineering feat superior to that of the construction of the Minot's Ledge Lighthouse off Scituate. The former light on the ledge was destroyed by a gale in 1851. The lighthouse board in 1852 determined to replace it with a stone tower. Acting under orders of the board, Major Ogden of the Corps of Engineers made a careful sur- vey and learned that the top of the highest point of the rock was three ยท feet and a half above the plane of low water, and that it would not be possible to obtain a tower of a greater diameter than twenty-two feet without going outside the line of low water. By going outside of this line it might be possible in five places to obtain a tower founda- tion of thirty feet in diameter. In four out of five of these places the ledge dropped perpendicularly to a distance from ten to forty feet if one attempted to build an inch farther out.
In order to land on the ledge and do any work there must be a per- fectly smooth sea, a dead calm and low tides. Even in summer this combination could not be had for several weeks at a time. Further- more it was necessary to have a large force of workmen to work when the conditions were favorable. The ledge was at all times under wa- ter and the little which was uncovered was only bare an hour or two at a time at low water of spring tides.
A structure was erected on the ledge to which the workmen could be secured, to protect them from being washed away from the rock. The real beginning was made at daylight July 1,. 1855, and in that year there were one hundred and thirty hours work done. The structure was completed June 29, 1860, and the light exhibited for the first time November 15, 1860.
When the first courses of granite were laid, a small dam was built with bags of sand around the spot where the stone was to be laid. If water came over this little dam the men had to bail the water out and sop it up with sponges. If the sea were very smooth two or three hun- dred of these bags of duck, half filled with sand, would keep out the water for half an hour and in that time the men worked fast.
Enduring Foundations and Memorials-There is an old Massachu- setts record which tells of a visit to Hangman's Island in "Braintry" Bay and to Hough's Neck, near Squantum. According to the letter, which was dated 1721, upon the return, the party brought a cargo of twenty tons of split slate. Stones were used for walls, steps and underpinning in early days and their use has been constantly in- creasing. So much in vogue became the practice of taking stones for
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building purposes away from Braintree that it became the chief con- cern of many town meetings. Rules were adopted providing penal- ties, and committees were chosen to collect fines or seize stones un- lawfully taken.
The old powder house on Beacon Hill in Boston was built of Brain- tree granite. It had walls seven feet thick and a bomb proof arch. It had a capacity of one thousand barrels of powder and was surrounded by palisades.
When the mill dam connecting Brookline with Roxbury was built from 1818 to 1821, the sides were of solid stone for 8,000 feet in length, from three to eight feet thick and twelve to seventeen feet high. The width between the walls varied from fifty to one hundred feet. The stone came from Roxbury and Weymouth. The mill dam was con- sidered at the time the greatest construction of the kind in the world.
The granite basement of the Art Museum Building in Boston, which was demolished in 1911, was quarried in Randolph. The East Boston and South Boston reservoirs were lined with Quincy granite and the forts in Boston Harbor were built with Quincy granite as a part of the material.
The granite towns in Norfolk County have furnished substantial foundations for some of the most enduring buildings and memorials on the North American continent.
The towns of Dorchester and Milton, in 1765, built a bridge over the Neponset River. Dorchester built the two northern sluices, covering them with stone. Milton built the southern sluices. An arch was. erected at the dividing line of the town in 1798, to commemorate the ratification of Jay's Treaty. This arch was destroyed by a gale in 1815.
The Neponset River was used for navigation in 1820. In 1826 the Granite Railway Company ran a railroad from Quincy to the tide wa- ter at Gulliver's Creek, bringing granite from the quarries to the flat- bottomed barges. Two schooners took granite to New York and brought back grain for William Hobart who started the grain busi- ness near the head of tide water in 1827. The navigation of the river attained its maximum in 1833. Seventy-four vessels, aggregating six thousand tons, unloaded at Neponset village. Other vessels sailed up the river empty to be loaded with granite for various destinations. In 1836 the General Court granted a charter for a new bridge over Nepon- set River, which practically ruined navigation but gave the inhabitants of West Quincy and East Milton more direct communication with Boston.
Slate tombstones were taken from a slate quarry at North Quincy owned by Samuel Rawson.
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The tombstone cutter with his load of slate and marble slabs made his rounds not long after the Puritans had settled in these parts. When one was selected, and copy furnished for the statistics and epitaphs, he proceeded to live with the family until the memorial had been com- pleted and set in place. Then he moved on to make another sale and contract. Usually the burial grounds were in poorly selected places and seldom visited, except to make new interments. The Puritans were fond of placing some warning passages on the stones of the de- . parted, reminding those who read them that death was sure to seek the readers out.
The first markers so erected were usually of porphyritis green stone and, being of very durable material, have lasted to the present day. They were smoothed on one or two faces and usually bore inscriptions in plain Roman capital letters.
Later stones for memorials were imported from Wales. They were of slate. Many of those decorated with sepulchral ornaments, death's heads, crosses, hour glasses and cherubims were of the Welsh stones.
Still later American marble or slate were used, having rude carvings.
During the siege of Boston, in the early days of the Revolutionary War, the British soldiers amused themselves by firing bullets against the gravestones, many proofs of which are still to be seen in the older Boston places of burial. In the Central or Old South Burial Ground on Boston Common are the remains of British soldiers who died in the barracks on the Common.
Sermons in Stones-In early Colonial days it was the custom to dig the graves due east and west, six feet in depth and to bury the bodies with the feet to the east. This was in preparation for the Judgment Day when the Judge would appear in the east on a great white throne. At the sound of the trumpet the graves were to open and the dead come forth in the same mortal form which they possessed at death. There was a special place set apart for town officials and others iden- tified with the management of public affairs, as it was believed they would be judged especially for their administration of the duties of their official life and should be judged together.
The early people endeavored to lay out the work for the Almighty and rather, at times, steady his hand. There was an aged minister in one of the Cape Cod towns, as related in another place in this history, who left a request that his body should be buried in the new ceme- tery, as the ancient burial ground had been unused for so long a time he feared he might be overlooked on the day of resurrection or be beyond the range of hearing the trumpet.
The characteristics of the people who have inhabited Norfolk Coun- ty are reflected in the epitaphs which appear on the gravestones. Tes-
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timony to the sombre teachings of the theology of the times shows forth on the tombstones of two hundred or more years ago. Some of the early poetic effusions chiseled show how the religion of the day held over the living the Damocles sword in the form of a constant reminder of inevitable death. The women of the "good old days" were regarded as subordinate in the family and were often referred to on the tombstones as "relicks" of the husband. The epitaphs were long, told of the virtues of the dead and sounded a warning to the liv- ing. Later stones have merely the names and dates of birth and death, the other extreme. There was a period when Scripture was quoted on tombstones and the selections themselves showed forth the outlook on life of the deceased or, at least, whoever ordered the tomb- stone.
Some of the early stone cutters placed their initials or otherwise signed their masterpieces. Some were fond of working Masonic em- blems, skulls, sun, moon, stars, urns, lilies, scroll work and angels into their stone cutting. Early newspapers show that some of them advertised, Early Probate records show the price which was allowed for some of the gravestones which have endured the fury of the ele- ments and the hand of time for from two to three hundred years. If any of them carried a time guarantee, evidently the quality of the en- durance of the stones justified the claims.
Stones depicting portraits of those in whose honor they were placed appeared in the eighteenth century and many are still to be found as totems of illustrious old families.
In a little burying ground in the rear of the Unitarian church in Northborough is a gravestone showing the handiwork of William Park, a noted stone cutter. The stone marks the resting place of Judah Monis, the first Jew in Norfolk County. He taught Hebrew at Harvard College and was a convert to Christianity. Of him, Rev. Cotton Mather wrote: "A Jew rarely comes over to us but he brings treasure with him." Monis taught the Hebrew language at Har- vard for forty years.
Among the stone cutters whose work is found in numerous old bur- ial grounds were: Joseph Lamson of Charlestown, James Foster of Dorchester, Jacob Vinal of Scituate, Samuel Fisher of Wrentham, Daniel Farrington of Wrentham, Samuel Fisher, Jr., and Jeremiah Fisher of Wrentham, Hopestill Foster of Dorchester, Samuel Hinsdale of Medfield, John Marshall of Braintree, Savil Metcalf of Bellingham, James and John New of Wrentham, Ebenezer and Beza Soule of Plym- ton, and many others whose homes were in neighboring counties.
If one has a curiosity to know what wages one received for turn- ing out some of the stones of better quality of workmanship it might
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be cited that an old account book shows tombstones brought from one pound to ten pounds. In some instances a coat-of-arms was cut for four pounds. An epitaph of five hundred and twenty-eight letters was cut for four pounds and eight pence.
An epitaph of that length was by no means unusual. The following is of an illustrious citizen whose body is buried in the old burial ground containing the sacred dust of numerous patriots, at Quincy. The virtues of his wife are also mentioned on the same memorial:
Sacred to the memory of Josiah Quincy, jun., of Boston, Barrister of Law, youngest son of Josiah Quincy, Esq., late of this place. Brilliant talents, uncom- mon eloquence, and indefatigable application raised him to the highest eminence in his profession. His early, enlightened, inflexible attachment to the cause of his country is attested by monuments more durable than this, and transmitted to posterity by well-known productions of his genius. He was born the 23d of Feb- ruary, 1744, and died the 26th of April, 1775. His mortal remains are here de- posited with those of Abigail, his wife, daughter of William Philips, Esq., born the 14th of April, 1745, died the 25th of March, 1793.
Stranger, in contemplating this monument as the frail tribute of filial gratitude and effection,
Glows thy bold breast with patriotic flame?
Let his example point the paths of fame!
Or seeks thy heart, averse from public strife,
The milder graces of domestic life?
Her kindred virtues let thy soul revere, And o'er the best of mothers drop a tear!
Another very interesting inscription discloses the resting place in Quincy of one of the early clergymen of Braintree, as was the name of the whole area at that time now covered by Braintree, Quincy and other municipalities. The tombstones in this case contains a veritable thumb nail sketch of the person memorialized :
Braintrey! thy Prophet's gone, this Tomb inters
The Reverend Moses Fisk, this sacred herse
Adore Heaven's praiseful art that form'd the man
Who souls not to himself but Christ oft wan,
Sail'd thro' the straits with Peter's family,
Renown'd and Gaius's hospitality,
Paule's patience, James his prudence, John's sweet love,
Is landed, enter'd, clear'd, and crown'd above. Obiit August the x, MDCCXIII, Aetatis suae LXVI.
It is believed that the first schoolhouse in the old town of Braintree was built about 1645. The town records refer to "our having kept a Free Latin School for about ninety years." It is known that "the schoolhouse" was sold in 1648, by the Rev. Henry Flynt to "Mr. Doc- tor Henry Morly," who had early been made a freeman in Boston. It is recorded that in April, 1647, he was married to Constant Starr. He evidently combined the duties of physician and schoolmaster and
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succeeded Rev. and Mrs. Flynt, both teachers, and the parents of ten children. A memorial in the old cemetery tells something of this de- voted and useful couple :
Here lies the body of the Rev. Mr. Henry Flint, who came to New England in the year 1635, was ordained the first Teacher of the Church of Braintry 1639, and died 27th April, 1663. He had the character of a gentleman remarkable for his piety, learning, wisdom, and fidelity in his office. By him, on his right hand, lies the body of Margery, his beloved consort, who died March 1686-7. Her maiden name was Hoar. She was a gentlewoman of piety, prudence, and peculiariy ac- complished for instructing young gentlewomen, many being sent to her from other towns, especially from Boston. Descendants of goodly families in Old England.
There is a memorial in the old burial ground at Quincy which marks the tomb of Joanna Hoar, the "Great Mother." C. F. Adams, second of the name, wrote: "She is the common origin of that remarkable progeny in which statesmen, jurists, lawyers, orators, poets, story tellers, and philosophers seem to vie with each other in recognized eminence." After the death of her husband, Charles Hoar, sheriff of Gloucester, England, Joanna Hoar came to America in 1638, with her five children. Margery Flynt, already referred to, was one of the chil- dren. John, the eldest son, was ancestor of Judge E. R. Hoar and Senator George Frisbie Hoar. Another son, Leonard, was third presi- dent of Harvard College. He married Bridget, daughter of Lord Lisle and Lady Alicia Lisle. Lord Lisle was president of the High Court of Justice which decreed the death of Charles I. At the Res- toration, he fled from England with a price on his head. He was tracked to Switzerland and assassinated August 11, 1664.
Lady Alicia was charged with harboring refugees after the battle of Sedgemoor, and was sentenced to be burned alive. The sentence was changed, in response to the protests of the clergy of Winchester, from burning to beheading.
The following is the inscription of Leonard Hoar, some time presi- dent of Harvard College, who died November 28, 1675, aged forty-five.
Three precious friends under this tombstone lie,
Patterns to aged, youth, and infancy,
A great mother, her learned son, with's child, The first and least went free, He was exiled. In love to Christ, this country, and dear friends, He left his own, crossed seas, and for amends Was here extolled, envied, all in a breath, His noble consort leaves, is drawn to death.
Strange changes may befall us ere we die, Blest they who well arrive at eternity. God grant some names, O thou New England's friend,
Don't sooner fade than thine, if times don't mend.
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Most of the local histories which have been written of Norfolk County have included some of the characteristic epitaphs which learned men of the Colonial period were so fond of writing and hav- ing chiseled on the tombstones of their friends and relations. Many of the ancient gravestones are still doing duty, decipherable and up- standing in a wilderness of weeds and brush, in most instances, al- though there has been a decided movement in recent years to clear the old burial grounds of underbrush and show that the present genera- tion has respect for the resting places of those who passed away two centuries or more ago.
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