History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 237

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 237

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fit to keep and rear cattle ; good store; but, alas! this remedy proved worse than the disease, for within few years those that had got footing there sent themselves away partly by force and partly by meeting, the rest with importunity and pleas of neces- sity, for as they must either suffer them to go, or live in eon- tinued opposition and contention, and others still, as they con- ceived themselves straightened or to want accommodation, broke away under one pretense or other, thinking their own continued necessity and the example of others a warrant suffi- cient for them, and this I fear will be the ruin of New Eng- land,-at least of the churches of God there,-and provoke the Lord's displeasure against them.

"This church at Marshfield, above called Green's Harbour, was again and afterwards carried on by the help and assistance under God of Mr. Edward Winslow, who at the first secured several Welsh gentlemen of good note thither, with Mr. Blin- man, a godly, able minister, who unanimously joined together in holy fellowship, or at least were in a likely way thereunto. But some dissension fell amongst them, which caused the part- ing not long after, and so the hope of a godly society as to them was frustrated. Not long after. those that went from Plymouth with that godly gentleman, Mr. William Thomas, keeping up a communion, it pleased the Lord to send unto them a suitable and able preacher of the gospel named Mr. Edward Buckley, who was chosen their pastor and officiated in that place very profitably divers years, but at last he left them and went to a place called Concord in the Government of the Massachusetts, and a considerable time after the Lord raised up and sent an- other faithful servant of his, who proved able and well fitted for tho work of the ministry, Mr. Samnel Arnold by name. He remained with them for their special comfort in the work of the ministry."

In the margin of the record the following words are written :

" In the beginning of the church of Marshfield was the second church of God that issued out from the church of Plymouth."

The first reference in the Plymouth Colony records to Marshfield is in the shape of an order passed at a general court July 1, 1633, as follows :

" That unloss Mr. Gilson, John Shaw, and the rest that un- dertooke the cutting of tho passage betwcon Green's Ilarbour and the bay, finish it before tho first of October next ensuing, aoeord- ing to covonant, thoy be amorecd in ton pounds ; but if nny of them will doo it, tho fino bo oxaeted of tho rest and they paid for thoir labour."

On the 3d of January, 1636, it was ordered by the court that "the cut at Green's Harbor for a boat passage shall be made eighteen foot wide and six foot

de-

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HISTORY OF MARSHFIELD.

deep, and for the manner how the same shall be done for the better ordering thereof, it is referred to the Governor and assistants with the help of John Win- slow. Jonathan Brewster. John Barnes, and Christo- pher Wadsworth, as well to proportion every man equally to the change thereof, as also to order men that shall work thereat, that ten men may work to- gether there at once, and that the Governor, or whom he shall appoint, shall oversee the same that it may be well performed."

These extracts have been variously construed, some believing that the passage was cut into the ocean, and others into Duxbury or Plymouth Bay. and thus great uncertainty has existed concerning the original char- acter of Green's Harbor River. This river, which undoubtedly derived its name from some person by the name of Green, perhaps Richard Green, who was a resident at Plymouth before 1630, or Joseph, who appears to have owned lands either in Duxbury or Marshfield as early as 1640, undoubtedly ran by a natural outlet into the sea. It is not at all probable that, after finding its way from its source within the precincts of West Duxbury to the sand hills of the shore, it meandered through a wide tract of marsh before it reached salt water in Duxbury Bay, nor is it at all probable, if it had such an outlet, that the General Court would have interested itself in opening a new passage to the open ocean. Such a passage would have rendered no service to the colony, as at that early period no demands of navigation existed for means of communication by water with any other place than Plymouth ; nor again, is it probable that three months would have been allowed by the court for the completion of a passage to the sea through a narrow beach, which six men could have accomplished in as many days. And further than this the names Green's Harbor and Green's Harbor River seem to indicate plainly enough that such a harbor existed as must have been reached from the sea and not across the marshes from the more inland waters of Plymouth or Duxbury Bay. On the other hand it is reasonable to suppose that, when members of the colony estab- lished farms in Marshfield, the General Court would wish to furnish the easiest and safest means of com- munication. The extract from the church records already quoted shows that at first these farms were appurtenant to homesteads in Plymouth, and that they were expected to be carried on by servants while their owners continued to dwell in the old town. Such a state of things required the shortest and safest ronte for personal transportation, and, what was more important, an easy conveyance by boat for all kinds of freight. The roads were rough and crooked, and

horses were scarce, and by the way of the fords, across the intervening streams the distance to Green's Harbor must have been fifteen miles, while that by water through the new passage could not have been more than seven.

As nearly as can be ascertained the original outlet was a little north of Cut Island. An indentation in the marsh suggests the probable spot where it was situated. The state of things resulting from the construction of the new passage continued until 1806, the outlet to the ocean permitting the passage of vessels, and the new passage enabling boats to pass and repass at high water across the marshes to the waters of Plymouth Bay. It is probable that the new passage gradually fell into decay and failed to drain, as it had at first done, and as various natural ditches had done before it was built, and in 1806 various proprietors of the marsh petitioned the General Court for an act of incorporation permitting them to build a canal from Green's Harbor to Duxbury Bay. On the 11th of February, 1807, the following act was passed, providing,-

"SECT. 1. That Isaac Winslow, Luke Wadsworth, Judah Thomas, and Benjamin White, proprietors in Green's Harbor Marsh in the town of Marshfield, together with their associates, and such others as may hereafter associate with them, and their heirs and successors, shall be a corporation by the name of Green's Harbor Canal Company, with all the powers and privi- leges incident to similar corporations, for the purpose of drain- ing the stagnant water on Green's Harbor Marsh in the town of Marshfield, and for better improving said Marsh by crecting dikes or removing bars of sand, rocks, or other obstructions that oppose the draining of said marsh ; for digging a canal or canals for said water to pass into Duxbury or Plymouth Bay ; and building a bridge or bridges across said canal or canals, if tbe same should intersect any private or public highway, and by the name aforesaid inay sue or bc sued, and do and suffer whatever other similar bodies politie may or ought to do and suffer.

"SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That any Justice of the Peace in the county of Plymouth, be, and he is hereby em- powered and directed upon application in writing from every five or more of said Proprietors, to issue his warrant to one of the Proprietors aforesaid, requiring him to notify and warn a meeting of said Proprietors at such time and place as he shall think most convenient, the purposes to be expressed in said war- rant, by posting up copies of said warrant with the notification thereon at the south meeting-house in the town of Marshfield seven days at least before the time of holding said mecting ; and the said Proprietors, when legally assembled as aforesaid, shall have power to choose a clerk, committee or committees, asses- sors, collector or collectors of taxes, and treasurer ; so shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of the trust reposed in them, and continue to serve until otbers are chosen and sworn in their places, which may be annually ; which officers, chosen and sworn as aforesaid, shall have the same power to perform, exe- cute, and carry any vote or order of said corporation into full effect as town officers of like description have by law. And said corporation shall at their first meeting agree and determine upon the method of calling future meetings; and each Pro-

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

prietor shall vote according to the number of shares ho holds in said corporation, Provided no one Proprietor shall be allowed more than five votes ; and said corporation shall at their first meeting, or at any other meeting legally called for that pur- pose, have powor to vote and raise monies for all expenses that have arisen or may arise in draining the marsh aforesaid, or better improvement of the samue, including the making of canals, orecting dikes, removing dams and bars of sand, building a bridge or bridges across said canal, purchasing lands necessary to carry the object of said corporation into effect, as likewise paying the damages individuals may sustain by reason of the erection of the dikes or digging the canals aforesaid, and all monies voted and raised aforesaid shall be assessed on each Pro- prietor in the marsh aforesaid, in proportion to the number of acres or value thereof, he or she may own in said marsh ; and if any Proprietor shall neglect or refuse to pay the sum or sums assessed upon him or her as aforesaid, after sixty days notice, so much of his or her marshland, aforesaid, shall be sold as will he sufficient to pay the same with legal costs, in the same man- ner as non-resident proprietors' land in the Commonwealth are sold to pay taxes.

"SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That said Corporation shall have full power to purchase and hold any real estate, not exceeding fifty acres, that may be necessary to carry their de- signs into effect; and said Corporation shall be holden to pay all damages which shall arise to any person through whose land said canal or canals shall he dug, or on whose laud said dikes shall be erected ; wheu it cannot be obtained by voluntary agreement, said damages to be estimated by a Committee ap- pointed by the Court of General Sessions of the Peace in the County of Plymouth, saving to either party a right of trial by jury, according to the law which makes provision for the re- covery of damages happening by the laying out of public highways."

On the 16th of March, 1831, it was enacted,-

" That the act, entitled 'an act to establish a Corporation for the purpose of draining Green's Harbor Marsh, in the town of Marshfield,' be and the same is hereby limited to, and shall expire on, the first day of April, which will be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, provided, however, that said corporation shall be, and hereby is continned a body corporate for the term of three years from and after said first day of April, for the purpose of prosecuting and defending all suits which now are or may hereafter be instituted by and against said corporation, and for enabling said corporation grad- ually to settle and close their concerns, but not for the purpose of continuing the business for which said corporation was orig- inally established, and provided, also, that this act be accepted and ratified hy said corporation, at a legal meeting for that purpose dufy convened."

Under the act of 1807 a eanal was dug through the marsh, and it is apparent that a divided outlet so diminished the foree of the water at the old mouth as to gradually close it. At high water the backing up of the river caused by the incoming tide resulted in a quite extended basin, separated by only a narrow strip of beaeh from the open sea. In 1810 some sportsmen at the top of a high tide shoveled away the sand across the strip, and the incoming and out- flowing tide soon eut the passage which the last gen- eration has known at the southerly end of Branches Island. This is believed by the writer to be the cor-

rect history of a locality, concerning which tradition has landed down various statements and theories.

The recent history of this river, covering the erec- tion of a dike and highway across it to the island on the northerly side, is worthy of mention in this nar- rative. Along its borders were situated, according to an authentic survey, fourteen hundred and fifty acres of marsh, only a small portion of which yielded any income. In 1870 some of the marsh owners, believ- ing that by the ereetion of a dike these marshes might be reclaimed and converted into valuable tillage land, applied to the harbor commissioners for the requisite permission, and an engineer of the board was sent to examine the locality and report on its feasibility and on the probable damage to the navigation of Green's Harbor. In 1871 the Board of Harbor Commissioners reported to the Legislature that whatever damages. might be inflicted on the harbor by a dike would be more than compensated for by the contribution to the agricultural wealth of the town, and recommended that a dike might be permitted to be built. On the basis of this report a petition to the Legislature was referred to the committee on agriculture, whose re- port, favorable to the dike, was referred to the com- mittee on harbors, and finally reported by them and enacted as follows :

"SECT. 1. The proprietors of Green's Harbor Marsh in the town of Marshfield are authorized to erect a dam and dikes across Green's Harbor River at or near and not above Turkey Point, so called, with one or more slnice-ways and gates, for the purpose of draining Green's Harbor Marsh and improving the same and preventing flowage from the sea ; said dam, dikes, and improvements to be made under the authority of commis- sioners to be appointed in the manner provided in the 148th chapter of the General Statutes, with all the powers and subject to all the duties required or allowed by said chapter; provided that uot more than twenty of the proprietors shall be required to petition the Superior Court for the appointment of said eom- missioners ; and it shall be the duty of said commissioners to construct fish-ways on said dam if required, and iu the man- ner roquired by the commissioners of fisheries of the commuon- wealth, and to make return of the same to said court; of all which proceedings said court shall have jurisdiction as fully as if provided in said chapter.

"SECT. 2. For the purpose of cultivating and improving said marsh, maintaining said dam, and repairing the gates, sluice- ways, and other improvements, and the removal of any obstrne- tions in the channels of said marsh which may thereafter ae- cuminlate, and for conducting the fisheries at and about said dam, which may have been introduced by them, tho said pro- prictors may manago their affairs as proprietors of goneral fields, and as such shall have all the powers aud bo subject to all tho duties and linbilities conferred and imposed on the pro- prietors of general fields by the 67th chapter of the General Statutes, and may include in their nets the introduction und propagation of herrings, nlewives, and other fishes.

"SEcr. 3. The county commissioners of the county of Plym- onth, in the execution of the powers granted them by ohnptor 26 of the laws of the your eighteen hundred and seventy-oue,

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HISTORY OF MARSHFIELD.

1137

shall have authority to contract with the commissioners, who may be appointed by the Supreme Court for the erection of a highway. bridge, and dam without a draw, at the joint expense of the town of Marshfield and the county of Plymouth, and of said proprietors, or any of them : provided, however. that said dam, bridge, and highway. whether located separately or to- gether, shall be subject to the provisions of section 4 of chapter 149 of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six.

" SECT. 4. Should shoaling take place above the level of mean low water in the channel of Green's Harbor River, and its ap- proaches below the dam and likes, in consequence of the eou- struction of said dam and dikes, said shoaling shall be removed by the proprietors of Green's Harbor marsh under the direction and to the acceptance of the board of harbor commissioners. And if the proprietors of said marsh shall fail to remove said obstrneti ns from six months after due notice from said commis- sioners, then said commissioners shall cause said obstruetions to be removed at the expense of the proprietors of said marsh, and said proprietors shall be liable to the Commonwealth for the same in an action of contract, and the negotiation of any party or parties shall not defeat the same."

Under the provisions of chapter 14S of the General Statutes it was judicially decided " that the proposed improvement was for the general advantage of the proprietors ;" and the Superior Court ordered the work to be done. and appointed as commissioners Clemens Herschel. Paul Hill, and Franklin Kent. Under their direction the dike was completed in 1872 at a cost of about thirty thousand dollars, which was assessed on the marsh owners. Subsequently the town of Marshfield laid out and built a townway across the dike at a cost to the town of $2832.25. In the mean time, under authority given by an act of the Legislature passed in 1870, the county commissioners had laid out a highway to cross the river at a point below the dike by means of a bridge with a draw. After the construction of the townway across the dike a hearing was had before the county commissioners on a petition to discontinue the laying out of the high- way, which resulted in a rejection of the petition. The Legislature, however, subsequently repealed the act. authorizing the commissioners to build a bridge, and thus put an effectual stop to any further pro- ceedings in the construction of the highway.

By a considerable number of the inhabitants of Marshfield the alleged shoaling of the river is claimed to have inflicted a serious injury, and in 1877 T. B. Blackman and others petitioned the Legislature to take measures to remove obstructions in the harbor, and presented to the committee on harbors a bill to abolish the dike. This bill was reported by the com- mittee, and referred to the judiciary committee, who reported that it ought not to pass, on the ground of its unconstitutional feature of impairing the obliga- tion of contracts. The adverse report of the judi- ciary committee was accepted, and a bill was enacted, reported by them, " that the Supreme Court, sitting

as a court of equity, shall have full jurisdiction to hear and determine the rights of all parties under chapter 303 of the acts of 1871 (the dike act), and to enforce the provisions of said act." This bill further provided that the attorney-general, upon the petition or requirement of the harbor commissioners, is hereby authorized and directed to bring in the name and behalf of the commonwealth a bill in equity or other proper process to compel any and all parties liable under said act so to do, to remove the shoaling or other obstructions in the channel of Green's Harbor River." In 1878 it was further resolved by the Legislature " that there be allowed and paid out of the treasury a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars to be expended for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of the act of 1871 (the dike act)." The bill in equity was duly brought, and on a demurrer filed by the defendants arguments have been had, and pending the decision of the court on the demurrer no answers have been filed. Such is a hasty sketch of an enterprise and the controversy at- tending it which have excited deep interest in the town, and divided by a decisive line the opinions and sympathies of its people.

Who were the first oeeupants of land in Marshfield it is difficult to say. Whoever they were they were not absolute settlers, some of them having occupancy merely for a year, for the purpose of mowing the land, and others, as has been already stated in the extract from the church records, holding farms ap- purtenant to their homes in Plymouth. The first reference in the records to any grant of land is under date of Jan. 6, 1636, stating that grants of land at Eel River to Josiah and Kenelm Winslow were made void upon grants. inade to them at Green's Harbor. The grant to Josiah Winslow at Green's Harbor was of one hundred acres, made Dec. 4, 1637, and that to Kenelm was of land adjoining, made March 5, 1637/8. On the 20th of March, 1636/7, John and Josiah Winslow were permitted to mow the grass for that year on Great Wood Island, at Grecn's Harbor. On the 4th of December, 1637, one hun- dred acres were granted to Thomas Bourne, and at the same date it is entered in the records that

" Mr. Edward Winslow having formerly a grant of divers lands at or upon a neck of land called Green Harbor's Neck (alis) Carsewell, the said grant was confirmed together with all and singuler the upland upon the said neck & severall branches thereof, bounded & marked by Mr. Thomas Prence & Mr. John Alden, Assistants to the government, viz., westward upon a marsh called Carsewell Marsh, and from thence, with a smale ridg of hills, to the great marsh on Greene Harbor's River, according to severall marks by them made, & caused to be made, eastward abutting upon or neere the river called Grecne Har- bour River, and on the north and south side with great marshes

72 .

1138

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

on either side the same, which lands so bounden are given & confirmed to the said Edward Winslow, his heires and assignes forevor."

On the 1st of January, 1637/8, it was recorded that

"whereas certain freemen of Seituate, viz., Mr. Timothy Hath- erley, Mr. John Lathrop, William Gilson, Anthony Annable, James Cudworth, Edward Foster, Henry Cobb, Isaae Robinson, George Kenriek, Henry Rowley, Samuel Fuller, John Cooper, Bernard Lombard, George Lewis, and Humphrey Turner have complained that they have such small proportions of lands there allotted them that they cannot subsist upon them, the court of assistants have this day granted them all that upland and neek of land lying between the North and South Rivers, and all the meadow ground between the said rivers from the North River to the Beaver Pond, and all along hy the North River side and to hold the bredth from the South River trey or passage by a straight line to the North River so far up into the land as it shall he marked and set forth unto them. Always provided and upon condition that they make a township there, and inhabit upon the said lands and that all differences betwixt them and Mr. Vassall or others of Seituate be composed and ended before the next court, or if any do then remain that they be referred to the consideration of the Governor and assistants that their removal from Seituate may be without offense. And also pro- vided and upon condition that whereas a proportion of two or three hundred aeres of the lands abovesaid should have been granted to Mr. Vassall upon condition he should have erected a ferry to transport men and eattle over the North River at these rates, viz., for a man a penny, for a horse four pence, and for every heast four penee; and to make causes or passages through the marshes on both sides the said ferry both for man and beast to pass by which he was willing to do and to answer all damages which might happen in default thereof; and the court in their judgments did conceive it more expedient to prefer the necessities of a number hefore one private person. That the said freemen of Scituate above named do so ereet a ferry over the North River to transport men and beasts at the rates ahove- said, and make sueh passages on both sides through the marshes to the ferry and provide a sufficient man to attend the same, that may answer all damages which may happon through his negleet thereof, or else the grant abovesaid to be void."

The conditions of this grant were not acceptable to the applicants, and consequently the grant became void. The ferry, however, was provided for, as the following entry shows under date of April 2, 1638 :

"Two hundred acres of upland and a compoteney of meadow lands to he laid to it are grantod to Mr. William Vassall to keep a ferry over the North (River) where the old Indian ferry was, and to transport men and beasts at these rates, viz., for a man one penny, and for a beast four pence, a horse and his rider four pence, and to make the way passable for man and beast through the marshes on both sides the river at his own charges, and to keep them in repair from time to timo, and Captain Standish and Mr. Alden are appointed to set tho lands forth for him."

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 237

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