History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 20

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 20

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Buzzard's Bay side. The ponds now called Half-way Ponds were in Manomet, and undoubtedly gave the name to Manomet Ponds, a name finally, when the stage-road to Sandwich passed these ponds, restricted to the present Manomet Ponds or South Plymouth, while the Half-way Ponds derived their new name from the fact that they were half-way to Sandwich. On this visit of Bradford the discovery was made of the facility with which transportation could be carried on between the bays on the two sides of the cape, which was still further narrowed by a creek on one side and a river on the other, leaving a portage of only four or five miles between. Advantage of this was taken in 1627 by erecting at Manomet a trading- house near Buzzard's Bay, at the head of boat naviga- tion, to and from which goods brought from or sent to the Dutch at New Amsterdam were carried across the narrow strip. The present enterprise of the Cape Cod Canal is only the application of an ancient dis- covery to the increasing demands of a business com- munity, and the most complete evolution of the rude methods of the earliest settlers.

In the summer of 1622 a fort was built on Burial Hill, which, according to Morton, was built " of good timber, both strong and comely, which was of good defence, made with a flat roof and battlements, on which their ordnance was mounted, and where they kept constant watch, especially in time of danger. It served them also for a meeting-house, and was fitted accordingly for that use. It was a great work for them to do in their weakness and times of want, but the danger of the time required it, there being con- tinual rumors of the Indians." The sachem of the Narragansetts, Canonicus, had not long before sent a messenger to the Pilgrims, bearing the skin of a rat- tlesnake filled with arrows, which Tisquantum inter- preted as a warlike challenge. Governor Bradford, in a spirit of defianee, substituted powder and shot for the arrows and sent it back. Winslow says, in his " Relation," "Knowing our weakness, notwithstand- ing our high words and lofty looks, we thought it most needful to impale our town, which, with all ex- pedition, we accomplished in the month of February, taking in the top of the hill under which our town is seated, making four bulwarks or jetties without the ordinary circuit of the pale, from whence we could defend the whole town; in three whereof are gates, and the fourth in time to be." The fort was repaired and enlarged in 1630-35 and 1642, and finally in 1676, before King Philip's war, was rebuilt one hundred feet square, with palisades ten and a half feet high, and three pieces of ordnance planted within it. The material of this fort was purchased

after the war by William Harlow, and used in the construction of a dwelling-house now standing on Sandwich Street, owned by Professor Lemuel Ste- phens. Previous to the erection of the fort, in 1622, the Common House had doubtless been used for meet- ings on the Sabbath, and in 1637 the first permanent meeting-house was erected on the north side of Town Square. The precise location of this house has never been determined until the investigations of the author disclosed it in certain references contained in the records and deeds. When Governor Bradford died he seems to have been in possession of all the land on the north side of the square from what is now Main Street to School Street, the land immediately above hin having been occupied by John Alden before his renioval to Duxbury. After the death of the Gov- ernor the land fell into the hands of his two sons, Willian and Joseph Bradford, Joseph owning the upper half and William the lower. The dividing line must have been, as shown by subsequent deeds, about seventeen feet east of the lot of the Pilgrimage Church. In 1701 it was voted by the town, "that with reference to the spots of land in controversy be- tween Major Bradford and the town, viz., that spot he sold to John Dyer and the spot of land where the old meeting-house stood, the town do quit their claim to said lands." The reference to Maj. Brad- ford does not decide the question, because both Wil- liam and Joseph were majors, but the reference to the lot sold to John Dyer is conclusive, because the only land conveyed to him by either was a lot sold by Wil- liam in 1698, near the foot of Leyden Street, described in the deed as the lot on which the old store-house forinerly stood. As the Governor's house at the time the meeting-house was built stood on the corner of the square, it is demonstrated that, giving the Governor's house a lot of about fifty feet, the meeting-house must have stood between his line and a point seven- teen feet easterly of the Pilgrimage Church. In testing the matter, it must be remembered that Odd- Fellows' Hall, now standing on the corner, was built ten feet or more from the old line of Main Street.

In August, 1623, the " Ann," of one hundred and forty tons, and the "Little James," of forty-four, arrived, bringing about eighty-nine passengers. No passenger-list has been preserved, but unless some died before the division of lands in 1624 the following names referred to in that division must approximate to accuracy :

Anthony Annable. Jane Annable. Sarah Annable. Hannah Annable.

Edward Bangs.

Robert Bartlett.

Fear Brewster.

Patience Brewster.

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IHISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

Mary Bucketi.

Ephraim Morton.

Edward Burcher.

George Morton, Jr.

Mrs. Burcher.

Thomas Morton, Jr.

Thomas Clarke.

Ellen Newton.

Christopher Conant. ITester Cooke. Cuthbert Cuthbertson, wife, and four children.

John Oldham, and a com- pany of nine.

Francis Palmer.

Anthony Dix.

Christian Penn. Two servants of Mr. Pcirce.

John Faunce.

Mannasch Fauncc.

Joshua Pratt.

Goodwife Flavell.

James Rand.

Edmund Flood.

Robert Rattliffe.

Bridget Fuller.

Mrs. Rattliffe.

Timothy Hatherly.

Nicholas Snow.

William Heard.

Alice Southworth.

Margaret Hicks and three children.

Francis Sprague.

William Hilton.

Mrs. Sprague and child. Barbara Standish.

Mrs. Hilton.

Thomas Tilden.

William Hilton, Jr. - Hilton.

Triphosa Tracey, his wife. Sarah Tracey.

Edward Holman.

John Jenney, wife, and three children.

Joyce Wallen, his wife.

Robert Long.

Elizabeth Warren.

Experience Mitchell.

Mary Warren.

George Morton.

Ann Warren.

Patience Morton.

Sarah Warren.

Nathaniel Morton.

Elizabeth Warren.

John Morton.

Abigail Warren.

Sarah Morton.

Of these, Patience and Fear Brewster were children of the elder; Goodwife Flavell was the wife of Thomas, who came in the " Fortune ;" Bridget Fuller was the wife of Samuel, who came in the "May- flower ;" Margaret Hicks was the wife of Robert, who came in the " Fortune," and had with her three children ; William Hilton brought his wife and two children ; George Morton brought six children ; Thomas Morton, Jr., was the son of Thomas, who came in the "Fortune ;" Alice Southworth was the widow of Edward and the future wife of Governor Bradford; Barbara Standish was the future wife of Miles, her maiden name unknown; Hester Cooke was the wife of Francis, who came in the "Mayflower;" and Elizabeth Warren was the wife of Richard, onc of the " Mayflower" passengers, and came with her five children. Of the whole number Bradford says that about "sixty were for the general, some of them being very useful persons and became good members to the body, and besides these there came a company that did not belong to the general body, but came on their own particular, and were to have lands assigned them and be for themselves, yet to be subject to the general governinent." Of these last it is prob- able that John Oldham and his company of nine formed a part or the whole. The passengers by these two vessels, with those of the " Mayflower" and

" Fortune," make up the list of those called first- comers.

By the terms of the contract with the adventurers, the two parties to the contract formed a joint stock company, whose lands and goods were to remain in common for seven years. The company during the seasons of 1621 and 1622 had worked together on company lands, but it was found that the want of individual responsibility was the means of producing unsatisfactory results. "So they began" in 1623 " to think how they might raise as much corn as they could and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length after much debate of things the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular and in that regard trust to themselves : in all other things to go on in the general way as before. And so he assigned to every family a parcel of land according to the proportion of their number for that end only for present use (but made no division for inheritance), and ranged all boys and youth under some family. This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious." The result was that the harvest of 1623 was abundant, and Bradford says "instead of famine now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed to the re- joicing of the heart, of many, for which they blessed God. And the effect of their particular planting was well seen, for all had one way and other pretty well to bring the year about, and some of the abler sort and more industrious had to spare and sell to others, so as any general want or famine hath not becn amongst them since to this day." (Bradford's " His- tory of Plymouth Plantation," begun in 1630 and fin- ished in 1650.)

The " Ann" sailed on her return voyage Sept. 10, 1623, laden with clapboards and furs, and Edward Winslow was sent in her to render accounts to the adventurers and procure such things as were thought needful for the colony. The " Little James" remained in Plymouth engaged in trading excursions until 1625, when she returned also to England. A reference by Bradford to one of her expeditions is valuable, as showing the unfounded nature of the popular belief that Brown's Island, outside of Ply- mouth harbor, was once an actual island. He says, " Also in her return home, at the very entrance into their own harbor, she had like to have been cast away in a storm, and was forced to cut hier main mast by the board to save herself from driving on the flats that lie without called Brown's Island." During the remainder of the year the colony was more or less

Stephen Tracey.

Ralph Wallen.

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

disturbed by the management and conduct of Thomas Weston, who had made a settlement at Massachusetts. and by the arrival of Robert Gorges, brother of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, holding a commission from the Council of New England to be Governor-General of the country. His commission appointed for his coun- sel and assistance Francis West, Christopher Lovett, and the Governor of New Plymouth, and gave him authority to appoint such other persons as he should see fit. It also gave him and his assistants or any three of them, of which three he must be one, full power to do and exccute what to them should seem good in all cases, whether criminal or civil. Before the close of the year, however, Gorges abandoned his office, and, in the language of Bradford, " returned for England having scarcely saluted the country in his government, not finding the state of things here to answer his quality and condition."

In March, 1623/4, Mr. Winslow returned in the " Charity," a vessel engaged in fishing, bringing with him the first cattle introduced into the colony, con- sisting of a bull and three heifers, and also clothing and other necessaries. He brought also the following letter from James Sherley, one of the adventurers, which will explain the condition of their affairs at that time :

" Most worthy & loving friends, your kind and loving letters I have received, and render you many thanks. It hath pleased God to stir up the hearts of our adventurers to raise a new stock for the setting forth of the ship called the Charity with men & necessaries, both for the plantation and the fishing, though accomplished with very great difficulty; in regard we have some amongst us which undoubtedly aim more at their own private ends, and the thwarting & opposing of some here and other worthy instruments of God's glory elsewhere, than at the general good and furtherance of this noble & laudable action. Yet again we have many others, and I hope the greatest part very honest Christian men, which I am persuaded their ends and intents are wholly for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in the propagation of his gospel and hope of gain- ing those poor salvages to the knowledge of God. But as we have a proverb one scabbed sheep may marr a whole flock, so these malcontented persons and turbulent spirits do what in them lyeth to withdraw men's hearts from yon and your friends, yea even from the general business, and yet under show and pretense of godliness and furtherance of the plantation. Whereas the quite contrary doth plainly appear, as some of the honester hearted men (thongh of late of their faction) did make mani- fert at onr late meeting. But what should I trouble you or myself with these restless affairs of all goodness, and I doubt will be continual disturbances of our friendly meetings & love. On Thursday, the 8th of January, we had a meeting about the articles between you and ns where they would reject that which we in our late lettera pressed yon to grant (an addition to the time of our joint stock). And their reason which they would make known to us was, it troubled their conscience to exact longer time of yon than was agreed upon at the first. But that night they were so followed and crossed of their perverse courses az they were even wearied, and offered to sell their adventures,

and some were willing to buy. But I, doubting they would raise more scandal and false reports, and so divers way do us more hurt by going off in such a fury than they could or can by coutinuing adventurers amongst us, would not suffer them. But on the 12th of January we had another meeting, but in the interim divers of us had talked with most of them privately, and had great combats & reasoning pro & con. But at night when we met to read the general letter we had the lovingest and friendliest meeting that ever I knew, and our greatest ene- mies offered to lend us fifty pounds. So I sent for a potte of wine (I would you could do the like) which we drank friendly together. Thus God can turn the hearts of wuen when it pleaseth him. Thus, loving friends, I heartily salute you all in the Lord, hoping ever to rest,

" Yours to my power,

" JAMES SHERLEY.

Mr. Sherley was one of the adventurers who proved himself until his death a true friend of the colony. He sent over a heifer as a gift, which, with its in- crease, was to be held for the benefit of the poor of the town, and in honor of its first benefactor and its faithful friend Plymouth has named one of its squares " Sherley Square." The names of the other adven- turers, either in 1620 or at this time, are not posi- tively known. A list, however, has been preserved of those who formed the company Nov. 25, 1626, and who at that time subscribed a supplementary agreement with the Pilgrims. In making up from this a list of the original members it must be remem- bered that several names, including those of Thomas Weston, William Greene, and Edward Pickering, who had left the company, must be included, and perhaps the names of some new members be omitted. The list in 1626 was as follows :

Robert Alden.

Eliza Knight.

Emnu Alltham.

John Knight.

Richard Andrews. Myles Knowles.

Thomas Andrews.

Thomas Millsop.

Lawrence Anthony.

Thomas Mott.

Edward Bass. Fria Newbold.

John Beauchamp. William Pennington.

Thomas Brewer.

William Penren.

Henry Browning.

John Pocock.

William Collier.

Daniel Pointer.

Thomas Coventry.

William Quarles.

Thomas Fletcher.

John Revell.

Thomas Goffe.

Newman Rooks.

Peter Gudburn.

Samuel Sharp.

Timothy Hatherly. James Sherley.

Thomas Heath.

John ThorneIl.

William Hobson.

Matthew Thornhill.

Robert Holland.

Joseph Tilden.

Thomas Hudson.

Thomas Ward.

Robert Kean.

John White.

John King.

Richard Wright.

Of these, William Collier, Timothy Hatherly, John Revell, Thomas Andrews, Thomas Brewer, Henry Browning, John Knight, Samuel Sharp,

" Jan. 25, 1623/4."

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

Thomas Ward, and John White probably came to New England before 1640. Timothy Hatherly came in the " Ann," and going home, again came to the Old Colony, and John Revell went back not to return. These gentlemen have been known in history as the " Merchant Adventurers." John Smith, writing in 1624, says, " The adventurers which raised the stock to begin and supply the plantation were about seventy, some gentlemen, some merchants, some handicrafts- men, some adventuring great sums, some small, as their estates and affection served. These dwelt most in London. They are not a corporation, but knit to- gether by a voluntary combination in a society without restraint or penalty, aiming to do good and to plant religion."

Other letters were received from Robert Cushman and John Robinson, the latter full of advice and counsel, and with reference to the summary punish- ment inflicted by Standish on Pecksuot and other na- tives, of which he had been adviscd, he said, " Con- cerning the killing of these poor Indians, of which we heard at first by report and since by more certain relation, oh ! how happy a thing had it been if you had converted some before you had killed any; be- sides, where blood has once begun to be shed, it is seldom stanched of a long time after. You well say they deserved it. I grant it; but upon what provo- cations and invitements by those heathenish Chris- tians ? (Weston's men.) Besides, you being no magis- trates over them, were to consider, not what they deserved, but what you were by necessity constrained to inflict." Still other letters represented the unfavor- able reports which certain discontented hangers on of the colony had made, which at Mr. Sherley's sugges- tion were answered in full. Mr. John Lyford had been sent in the " Charity" by a part of the adventurers to act as pastor, but he proved unsatisfactory, and was soon sent back. The " Charity" also brought a fish- ing-patent for Cape Ann, issued by Lord Sheffield, a member of the Council for New England, to Robert Cushman and Edward Winslow and their associates, which, however, proved of little value, and was soon abandoned. It was dated Jan. 1, 1623/4, and the original parchment has been within a few years dis- covered and published in fac-simile under the edi- torial care of Mr. John Wingate Thornton.

In the spring of 1624, before the planting scason began, a general desire was expressed for a more permanent division of land. Bradford says that " they began now highly to prize corn as more precious than silver, and those that had some to spare began to trade, one with another, for small things, by the quart, pottle, and peck ; for moncy they had none,

and if any had, corn was preferred before it. That they might therefore increase their tillage to better advantage, they made suit to the Governor to have some portion of land given them for continuance, and not by yearly lot, for by that means that which the more industrious had brought into good culture (by such pains) one year, came to leave it the next, and often another might enjoy it; so as the dressing of their lands were the more sleighted over and to Icss profit. Which being well considered, their request was granted. And to every person was given one acre of land to them and theirs as near the town as might be, and they had no more till the seven years were expired." The following allotments were accordingly made. Sixty-nine acres were granted to those who came in the "Mayflower." Twenty-nine of these situated south of Town Bank, between Sandwich Street and the harbor, and extending south nearly if not quite as far as Fremont Street, were granted to

Robert Cushman 1 Isaac Allerton

William Brewster.

6 John Billington.

William Bradford. 3 Peter Brown.

Riehard Gardiner. 1 Samuel Fuller. 2

Francis Cooke 2 Joseph Rogers 2

George Soule .. 1

Sixteen acres, including what is now Watson's Hill, were granted to

John Howland ... 4 Edward Doty ......... 1

Stephen Hopkins. 6 Gilbert Winslow.

Edward Leister 1 Samuel Fuller, Jr .. 3

Five acres, between Burial Hill and Murdock's Pond, were granted to

F E

5 William White ..

Though Mr. White had been dead three years, and his children received their acres with Edward Wins- low, whom their mother had married, it is probable that under the articles of agreement he had con- tributed a sufficient amount of money to entitle his family to the allotted acres.

Nineteen acres between Court Street and the harbor, and bounded on the north by Winslow Square (Railroad Park), were granted to

Edward Winslow. 4 John Alden.

Richard Warren

2 Mary Chilton.

John Goodman

1 Miles Standish ..

John Craekstone.

1 Francis Eaton

Henry Sampson

1 Humilitie Cooper.

In this allotment it is to be noticed that Goodman had been dead three years according to Bradford, and that Standish received two acres, though his first wife dicd in 1621, and his second wife, Barbara, received an allotment in her own name. With regard to Standish, it is probable that the rule applied to White governed his case, and perhaps that of Goodman also, though Goodman had no family. It is more probable

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

that the record of the death of Goodman by Brad- ford before the division of land. is an error.

Thirty-three acres were granted to those who came in the " Fortune." Six of these immediately north of Winslow Square, on the east side of Court Street, were granted to

William Hilton 1

John Adams. 1 John Winslow. 1 William Tench ... 1

William Conner. 1 John Cannon. 1

Eight acres immediately north of the Woolen- Mill Brook were granted to

Hugh Statie .. 1 Austin Nicolas 1

William Foord 4 William Beale. 1

Thomas Cushman 1

Nineteen acres, extending from the First or Shaw's Brook to the Woolen-Mill Brook, or the Second Brook, were granted to

William Wright. 1

Clement Briggs. 1 William Pitt. 1

James Steward. 1 Robert Hickes ..

1 William Palmer.

Thomas Prence. 1

Jonathan Brewster.

Stephen Dean 1

Bennet Morgan

Moses Simonson.

Thomas Flavell

Philip De la Nove.

1 Thomas Morton 1

Ninety-five acres were granted to those who came in the "Ann" and " Little James." Forty-five acres lying north of the Woolen-Mill or Second Brook, northerly across the Third or Cold Spring Brook, were granted to

James Rand 1

William Hilton, for wife and Edmond Flood 1 two children. 3 Christopher Conant f

Francis Cooke.

Robert Hickes, for wife and three children

5 Bridget Fuller

1 Ellen Newton

Mannasseh Faunce.

Patience Brewster

John Faunce.

Fear Brewster.

George Morton ...

Robert Long. 1

Experience Mitchell 1

William Heard. 1

Christian Penn.

Barbara Standish 1

Fifty acres on both sides of Wellingsly Brook, and so on south, were granted to

Mary Buckett. 1 Two servants of Mr. Peirce .. 2

John Oldham & Co. .10

Ralph Wallen 2

Cuthbert Cuthbertson 6

Stephen Tracey.

Thomas Clarke.

Thomas Tilden. 3

Robert Bartlett

1 1

Richard Warren.

Edward Holman

Edward Bangs ... 4

Francis Palmer. 1

Robert Rattliffe

Joshua Pratt.

1 Nicolas Snow

1 Phenehas Pratt .. 1 Anthony Dix

The precise situation of many of the lots included in the above division, and the names of their subse- quent owners and occupants, may be found in " An- cient Landmarks of Plymouth." These acres, one hundred and ninety-seven in all, had already been cleared by the Indians, and planted by them perhaps for centuries. They were confined within a strip of

land running less than two miles and a half along the shore, and not more than a quarter of a mile wide in the widest part. It was doubtless their proximity to running streams, in which herring abounded and fur- nished the best means of enriching the soil, which had probably produced a more extensive clearing than could be found elsewhere on the coast within the same limits. It is quite possible that the comparative richness of this strip to-day, bounded as it is by the more sandy soil of later clearings, is due to the long and generous culture which it received from the Patuxet tribe.

In March, 1624, William Bradford was again chosen Governor. From 1621, when he succeeded Governor Carver, he was chosen annually until his death in 1657, with the exception of the years 1633, 1636, and 1644, when Edward Winslow was chosen, and the years 1634 and 1638, when Thomas Prence was Governor. Up to this time Isaac Allerton was the single assistant, but this year, on the representations of the Governor that the duties of his office had increased with the swelling colony, four additional assistants were chosen. Hc advised, also, rotation in office and the substitution of another for himself. He said, " If it was an honor or benefit it was fit others should be made partakers of it; if it was a burthen (as doubtless it was) it was but equal others should help to bear it." No record exists showing who be- sides Mr. Allerton acted as assistants until 1633, when, at the election of Governor Winslow, William Bradford, Miles Standish, John Howland, John Alden, John Done, Stephen Hopkins, and William Gibson were chosen. The earliest elections were held on the 23d of March, the day before the last in the year under the old style, at a later time in Janu- ary until 1636, when it was enacted that on the first Tuesday in March annually "a Governor and seven assistants be chosen to rule and govern the said plan- tation within the said limits for one whole year and no more ; and this election to be made only by the freemen according to the former customs. And that then also constables for each part, and other inferior officers be also chosen."

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 20

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1706

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706