History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 249

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 249

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John Davis

In the Boston Atlas of Jan. 17, 1843, which had bitterly op- posed Morton, appeared an editorial headed " The Collins Gov- ernor," in which the following language occurred : "There is not now the shadow of a doubt that Marcus Morton will be elected this day as Governor of Massachusetts. In 1839 he was elected Governor by one vote majority at the popular election. Now, not having votes enough at the election by the people, he comes into the office by a single vote in the House of Repre- sentatives, and that vote given to him by a member from one of the strongest Whig towns in the commonwealth, who voted against the known and expressed wishes of his constituents, and hasely betrayed the interests he was sent here to sustain. This man is the member from Eastham, B. H. A. Collins, whose name we have before annonnced," etc, etc. Any descendant of Mr. Collina wbo may chanee to read these lines need not feel that any stigma is thereby, of necessity, cast upon his kins- man's memory. The charge was made hy a newspaper smart- ing under the election of a man whom it opposed. It is only inserted here to show that the "one vote" by which, practi- cally, Mr. Morton was for the second time made Governor, could be ascribed to any one of the representatives who voted for him, according as one might please,-that is, that the " shade of Alden" had just as good a right to claim it for Hull, as the Atlas had to charge it upon Collins. It is one of those matters which cannot, in the nature of things, be definitely pinned down as the act of a particular man. Perhaps it is bet- ter mo .- A. E. S.

muster-roll, as we learned from Capt. Lawton. At this present writing the voters are, almost to a man, Democratic Whigs, and friendly to Gen. Taylor as next President. . . . The town has now a minister, and pays him a moderate salary. He is a Methodist, and appears peculiarly well fitted for the station he occupies. His name is Bates. He is a good preacher, intellectually strong, and has a bold delivery. He is sixty-eight years old, but looks much younger. ... Father Bates was born in Cohasset. He followed fishing until he was fourteen years of age, when he went to Vermont to be educated. . . . Among other improvements in Hull since 1845, it should be men- tioned that two wharves for the accommodation of vessels, steamboats, and fishermen have been built, one by Mr. [John] Mitchell, a short distance from Tower's hotel, which is 170 feet long and 100 wide. It is a substantial structure, well put together, and partly built of stone. It cost about $2000. Mr. Tudor has extended his wharf by adding an L to it, 50 by 60 feet. His wharf is now about 200 feet long. The depth of water at the end of it, at low tide, is from 10 to 12 feet. A new town hall is in progress near the pond in front of Main Street, which will cost about a thousand dollars. The upper room is to be devoted to town-meetings, and the lower one to education and religion."

Hull did her whole duty in the Rebellion, raising twenty-two soldiers and two sailors. Three men were lost in service: Sergt. Ansel P. Loring, Company E, Forty-seventh, killed on duty near New Orleans, June 24, 1863, his body having been found floating in the Mississippi, with shot-wounds through the head; Nathaniel R. Hooper, Company F, Twentieth, killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 11, 1862 ; and John M. Cleverly, Company A, Third Rhode Island Cav- alry, at Charity Hospital, New Orleans, of chronic diarrhœa.

Among the noteworthy old houses at Hull, the Cushing house may properly be mentioned. It was built as a parsonage for Rev. Ezra Carpenter, one of the early ministers, and is still well preserved. More than a century ago, when it was occupied by Capt. Souther, formerly of the British navy, the patriot James Otis frequently made it his summer home. It is thought that the old Hunt house was built for Rev. Mr. Mathews' parsonage. Revs. Zechariah Whit- man and Samuel Veazie are known to have occupied it, and the latter made a painting in the kitchen which is still preserved. The house was later the home of William Haswell, a British naval officer and father of Mrs. Rowson (the talented lady alluded to in the opening portion of the present sketch). Haswell lived

1188

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

there until the revolt of the colonies against British tyranny. Within a few years the venerable house was purchased by Mr. John Boyle O'Reilly, the Irish- American poet and editor of the Boston Pilot. The Oregon House, the largest hotel in Hull village, was built in 1848 from materials of the barracks at Castle Island. It has been considerably enlarged since that time.

During recent years Hull village has shared in the prosperity resulting from the rising prominence of the region as a summer resort, and a large number of cot- tagers make the old town their home during the hot months. On the old steamboat wharf is situated the pieturesque club-house of the Hull Yacht Club, which numbers nearly five hundred members. The bay in- side of Hull is a favorite resort for yachtsmen, and many interesting aquatie events take place therc each year in the boating scason. At Windmill Point, the very tip end of the territory of Hull, is located a second steamboat wharf. It is here that the Nan- tasket Beach Railroad makes one of its termini, the stations being directly in front of the mammoth Hotel Pemberton, one of those great caravansaries peculiar to the American watering-place of the present day.

Telegraph Hill, the most conspicuous eminence in the village of Hull, overlooking the harbor and its approaches, is owned by an elderly lady residing in Hingham, who persistently refuses either to sell or lease it. Were it to come into the market it would be quickly dotted with attractive summer cottages. The hill has on its summit the ruins of an old fort, within whose embrasures rises a small wooden struc- ture with a square tower. This is the signal station from which the passage of inward-bound shipping is telegraphed to the Boston Merchants' Exchange. Before the invention of the telegraph a similar end was accomplished through the use of semaphores.1

A tower stood on Central Wharf, Boston, whence the signals (as repeated from an intervening island) were observed and repcated to the Old Statc-House. At first the names and characters of incoming ships were indicated by wooden arms, at varying angles, on a tall staff. Later, however, a sct of one hundred and twelve different flags, one for each shipping merchant of Boston, was in use. Vessels entering the bay bore their owner's colors, and their identity was thus easily made out and signalled to Boston. The fort was built during the Revolution, the exact date and the circumstances of its construction, however, being somewhat uncertain. On the southeasterly slope of the hill is the village graveyard. Within it lie buried representatives of the old families of the town, some of whose descendants walk about the streets of Hull at the present day.

Below are certain statistics relating to Hull, which have been collated from official sources :

RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.

Year.

Expenses.

Receipts.

1868

$2,835.90

$2,930.75

1869

6,288.70

6,422.30

1870.

6,720.59

6,482.18

1871.

7,254.73

7,650.66

1872.

3,865.86

4,198.89

1873

5,442.88

5,808.69

1874.

14,305.34

15,269.10

1875

7,604.68

7,699.84

1876

11,567.20

11,594.20

1877

10,475.03

10,525.94

1878.

10,594.76

12,072.80

1879

9,079.69

10,647.42

1880.

11,351.85

13,116.71

1881

26,534.94

28,550.11

1882

21,568.76

22,952.56

1883

34,767.57

36,871.86

b 0

1771

460 11 2

1791.

353 4 11

1801.

$1,961.27

1811

2,163.63

1821

3,437.25

1831

58,100.85 2

1840

58,124.00

1850.

117,823.00

sid

but ing

ago

ner lad 10

2 In 1831 a ohango was made in tho manner of fixing tho town's valuation, which nocounts for tho apparent largo inorcase over tho previous year.

man tio

Ne. Ratable

Year.

Polls.

Heuses.

Valuation.

I The semaphore was the first really efficient telegraph. It was invented by Claude Chappe, and adopted by tho French government in 1794. Subsequently, under various modificatieus, it came inte use in nearly every civilized country. It consisted of an upright post supporting a herizontal bar, which, turning upen a pivot, could be placed at various inclinations. This had two smaller arms pivoted to its extremities, and capable of being turned at various angles with them. By independent movement ef the parts the apparatus was susceptible ef ninety - eight distinct pesitions, and of exhibiting the same number of different signals, which could be made te represent cither letters, numbers, words, or sentences. The speed of transmission under the most favorable circumstances was abont three signals per minute. [The electric telegraph of the present day can bo worked at a rate of specd exceeding ferty words per minute .- A. E. S.] The semaphores were placed upen high towers, usually abont four er five miles apart. Much ingenuity was expended by Chappe and others in arranging a system ef lights to onable the semaphere to be used at night, but with only partial suc-

cess. In fegs and snow-sterms, moreevor, this system was en- tirely usoless. Until tho introductien ef tho olectrio telegraph almest evory cenntry in Europe maintainod linos of semaphores between its capital and the most important perts upon its sca- beard. Perhaps the most important and cestly undertaking of this kind was the groat line constructed by Nicholas I. of Russia from tho Austrian frontier through Warsaw to St. Peters- burg, and which was compesed ef two hundred and twenty sta- tions. Tho semaphores were erooted upon tho summits of sub- stantial and lofty towers, and the wholo work eost several millions of dellars .- Johnson's Cyclopedia.

dia

1189

HISTORY OF HULL.

Year.

No. Ratable Polls. Houses.

Valuation.

1$60

$179,078.00

1870 ...

260,612.00

15$0

114

324

897,759.00

ISSI.

112

366

1,316,124.00

1882

125

454

1,577,905.00

1883

160

477

2,116,866.09

1SS4

187

501

2,194,172.00

Population .- 1776, 120 ; 1790, 120; 1800, 117 ; 1810. 132; 1820, 172; 1830, 198; 1840, 231; 1850, 253; 1855, 292; 1860, 285; 1865, 260; 1870, 261; 1875, 316; 1880, 383.

Nantasket Beach .- It is nearly a century since Nantasket Beach began its career as a pleasure resort, -in a small way, to be sure, as a desirable rendezvous for picnic parties, but nevertheless a beginning. In 1826 a Mr. Worrick opened a small public-house near the southerly end of the Beach, called " The Sports- man," which was the resort of Daniel Webster and other distinguished men, and is still in existence and occupied as a summer cottage. The first steamboat pier was built in 1869, and the boats of the Boston and Hingham Steamboat Company, which had for half a century previous been running to Hingham, began to touch at Nantasket Beach. Those who came once, returned to busy cities charmed with the spot. They told their friends of the Arcadia which they had discovered. The tens of visitors became scores, and the scores hundreds ; and, notably within the past ten years, or even less, a spirit of enterprise and prog- ress has entered into the very atmosphere of the place, until now the number of tourists who visit the Beach during the warm months is only to be measured by thousands. In place of the unpretentious hotels of the early hosts, now are seen great caravansaries, architecturally beautiful without, and supplied within with every comfort and convenience which a guest may desire. Upon the once barren knolls and hill- sides have been reared handsome cottages, many of which are occupied by Boston's wealthy families.

One thing which gives Nantasket Beach no incon- siderable prestige is the fact that its tone has always been high. Without being a Newport, where none but millionaires find congenial companionship await- ing them, the Beach has drawn to itself the patron- age of the masses of people of moderate means, but of taste and refinement as well. In the parlors and upon the piazzas of its great hotels silks rustle and diamonds glisten ; and women and men, whose man- ners and speech entitle them to the appellation of ladies and gentlemen, promenade or converse, or listen to the music of an evening. Upon the roadways many a neat private turnout is seen, and the indica- tions of wealth are not difficult of discovery in many

directions. It should not be inferred, however, that Nantasket is a spot where the poor man has no place. On the contrary, there is no summer resort known to the writer where the laboring man and his family can enjoy a day's or a week's " outing" to more ad- vantage to themselves, or at less expense, than here. Any well-behaved person, high or low, rich or poor, is always sure of courteous treatment, as well as of renewed vigor and strength from the sea breezes, the bathing, and the many charming accessories of this favorite resort.

It is not the purpose of the present writer to enter into a conventional description, à la guide-book, of this best-known summer resort in New England. It is known the country over to thousands upon thou- sands of tourists. The unsurpassed beauty of the steamer trip of an hour's duration from Boston to Nantasket pier, the manifold natural attractions of the Beach, the bountiful provision made to entertain the visitor, the excellence of its hotels and orchestras, -all these things, and much more, are already known of all men. To recount them in detail in an article such as this would be but a waste of valuable space.

" Roll on, thou deep and dark-blue ocean,-roll ! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ; Man marks the earth with ruin,-his control Stops with the shore; . . . His steps are not upon thy paths,-thy fields Are not a spoil for him,-thou dost arise And shake him from thee; . . . Unchangeable save to thy wild waves' play,- Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow,- Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now."

Were the writer another Byron, he knows of no fitter spot to visit in search of scenes which should inspire his muse to lofty flights than Nantasket Beach. The sea, in its ever-changing aspects, has ever been a favorite theme for poetic song, though few writers have equaled in grandeur of thought and expression the stanzas of which the above-quoted lines are a part. It is at Nantasket that old ocean can be studied in all its thousand phases ; from the calm, blue expanse, dotted with glistening sails, shim- mering in the summer sunlight, or glowing redly with the bright reflection from sunset-hued clouds, to the heaving, scething caldron, whose angry, white-capped waves come dashing up the level beach, or shatter themselves against rocky cliffs, as if to rend them.

Until within recent years travel along the Beach Was restricted to vehicles. Now, however, by means of the Nantasket Beach Railroad, extending from Hotel Pemberton to the Old Colony House station on the Old Colony Railroad, one may not only visit at his convenience any of the numerous "way

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

stations" along the line, but may travel by a con- tinnous, though somewhat circuitous, rail route to Boston, or to the inland towns to which the Old Colony Railroad gives access. The beach, especially at low water, is one of the finest to be found any- where. Broad, smooth, and hard, of the finest and whitest sand, it furnishes a delightful promenade or drive, as well as the best facilities for bathing. About midway between the Nantasket Beach station and Hotel Pemberton is Strawberry Hill. Here is located a good-sized settlement of neat cottages and a hotel,-the Sea Foam House. Strawberry Hill has its own steamboat wharf, and is a favorite resort. It is unquestionably destined to become very much larger in the near future, since there are a great many excellent sites for cottages as yet unimproved, and the land is held by persons who are disposed to, encourage building. The old barn on the hill summit is a well- known landmark for pilots off the coast. On this site a barn containing eighty tons of hay was burned in 1775, " to grieve the British garrison of Boston," and the harbor was splendidly illuminated by these patriotic fires. From Strawberry Hill the official surveys and triangulations of the harbor have been made, and the stand-pipe of the Hingham Water Company, fifty feet in height, is erected there, ninety- seven feet above high water, giving one hundred and forty-seven feet pressure. Previous to the building of these works there was complaint in regard to lack of water by the cottagers at Strawberry Hill, Hull, and Nantasket; but now a great abundance of ex- cellent water is secured from Accord Pond, Hingham.

Many pleasing drives may be taken with the Beach as a starting-point, the most beautiful being that along the far-famed Jerusalem road,-the delightful highway traversing the bluff leading southward toward Cohasset from the Beach, which many of Boston's aristocracy have fixed upon as sacred to themselves. The sea view from this road is un- excelled for beauty, and a drive along its smooth course is rendered additionally pleasing on account of

the elegant residences, surrounded by well-kept and attractive grounds, which line it on either side. These structures are of a totally different style from the cottages on the Beach proper, for they are all more substantially constructed and more elaborate architecturally. In several instances they are solidly built of stone, with commodious stables in the rear. They resemble the Newport villa more nearly than the more modest cottage peculiar to Nantasket. The drive over the road is at all times a charming one, even to one familiar with its beauties, while to a stranger it cannot fail to . be a most delightful experience.

Every visitor to Nantasket Beach is forced, as it were, to do homage to the clam. Signs greet him at every turn offering him "steamed clams," " boiled clams," " fried clams," "clam chowder," " baked clams," etc., until he may well recall John G. Saxe's witty sonnet :

"TO A CLAM. " DUM TACENT CLAMANT.

"Inglorious friend ! most confident I am Thy life is one of very little ease; Alheit, men mock thee with their smiles, And prate of being 'happy as a clam !' What though thy shell protects thy fragile head From the sharp hailiffs of the hriny sea ? Thy valves are, sure, no safety-valves to thee While rakes are free to desecrate thy bed, And hear thee off, as foemen take their spoil, Far from thy friends and family to roam ; Forced like a Hessian from thy native home, To meet destruction in a foreign hroil ! Though thou art tender, yet thy humble bard Declares, O clam, thy case is shocking hard."

A New York newspaper remarks that " Bostonians are justly proud of Nantasket Beach, where one can get cultured clams, intellectual chowder, refined lager, and very scientific pork and beans. It is far superior to our monotonous sand beach [Coney Island] in its picturesqueness of natural beauty, in the American character of the visitors, and in the reasonableness of hotel charges, as well as the excellence of the service."

APPENDIX.

Plymouth County in the Rebellion .- In the history of the various towns elsewhere in this work will be found an account in detail of Plymouth County in the Rebellion, embraeing the aetion of the towns, with soldiers' names, ete. In this chapter are presented brief sketehes of various organizations having representatives from this eounty. Plymouth County, however, was more or less represented in nearly every organization in the State.

The Third Militia Regiment, Col. Wardrop eom . mander, was one of the earliest organizations to leave the State. It left for the front April 17, 1861, and returned on the 16th of the following July, having performed efficient serviee. One company of this regiment, Company A, of Halifax, was organized as early as 1792.

Fourth Regiment .- The Fourth Regiment was first mustered into serviee in April, 1861, for three months, and ordered to Fortress Monroe, Va. It was commanded by Col. Abner B. Paekard, of Quiney, and included among its companies the Lincoln Light Infantry (Company I) of Hingham. When the eall was made, in 1862, for nineteen thousand and eighty men for nine months, the Fourth again volunteered, and was sent to Camp " Joe Hooker" to receive re- cruits. It was placed under the command of Col. Henry Walker, and ordered to join the forees under Maj .- Gen. Banks, in the Department of the Gulf.

Seventh Regiment .- This regiment, recruited principally in Bristol County by Col. (afterwards Maj .- Gen.) Darius N. Couch, was mustered into the ser- vice of the United States at Taunton, Mass., June 15, 1861, and arrived at Washington, D. C., on the 15th of July. It took part in the battles of the Peninsula, Fredericksburg, Chaneellorsville, Gettys- burg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, and Cold Harb r.

While in the service it was almost constantly en- gaged in important duties at the front. Upon return to Taunton, June 20, 1864,.it met with a welcome reception, and was mustered out the 4th of July.

Twelfth Regiment .- The Twelfth Massachusetts was raised by Fletcher Webster, of Marshfield, who was commissioned eolonel, and eommanded the regi- ment until he was killed at the second battle of Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862. It was afterwards under the command of Col. James L. Bates, of Weymouth, Mass. This regiment originated as follows :

The Sunday after our troops were attacked in Bal- timore, Md., a mass meeting was held in State Street, Boston, in response to a call for volunteers issued by Fleteher Webster. The meeting was addressed by William Dehon, Esq., Edward Riddle, Hon. Charles L. Woodbury, Mr. Webster, and others. After read- ing the proclamation of Governor Andrew, Mr. Web- ster said he had offered his serviees for the purpose of raising a regiment to serve the United States during the continuanee of the existing difficulties. "I shall be ready on Monday," said Mr. Webster, " to enlist recruits. I know that your patriotism and valor will prompt you to the path of duty, and we will show to the world that the Massachusetts of 1776 is the same in 1861."

The regiment was mustered into serviee June 26, 1861, and left the State July 23d. It was engaged at Cedar Mountain, Seeond Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilder- ness, Spottsylvania, North Anna River, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. July 8, 1864, it was mustered out of service at Boston.

Eighteenth Regiment .- To the loyalty and pa- triotic spirit of the citizens of Duxbury, Middleboro', Hanover, Dedham, and Wrentham is due the origin of this notedly exeellent regiment. Companies pre- viously formed and drilled in these towns were ordered into camp at Dedham, Mass., by the Governor in July, 1861, and thus made the nueleus for the Eigh- teenth. To these were soon added companies from Taunton, Quiney, and Plymouth, and in November a company from the town of Carver, swelling the num- ber to nine hundred and ninety-six men.

The regiment was mustered into the serviee of the

1191

1192

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

United States on the 27th of August, 1861, but as a battalion of cight companies left Massachusetts, Au- gust 26th, under orders for Washington.

The adjutant-general states that during the follow- ing autumn opportunity was offered, and favorably improved, for the instruction and drilling of the regi- ment, and the command thus obtaining a high degrec of discipline, and a commendable proficiency in mili- tary drill and exercise, was complimented by the gen- cral of the division, George McClellan, with a new and complete outfit of uniforms, camp equipage, etc., imported from France by the government, being the same worn by the Chasseurs à pied.

The subsequent history of the regiment was as brilliant as it was active and sanguinary. It shared in the battles on the Peninsula, and was engaged at Second Bull Run, Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Weldon Railroad. The casualties were numerous, and the regiment suffered severely, the killed and wounded numbering nearly two hundred and fifty.

Made up largely by enlistments from Plymouth County, the Eighteenth may be justly termed the " Old Colony Regiment." Few organizations made a better record.

Twenty-ninth Regiment .- The companies com- posing this regiment were mustered into serviee and left the State at different dates. Seven of the number were formed from among the first enlistments of three- years' men. They were sent to Fortress Monroe to fill up the ranks of the Third and Fourth Militia Regiments, the latter including the Lincoln Light Infantry of Hingham, and when these returned home the seven companies were designated as the First Battalion Massachusetts Volunteers. Three new companies were afterwards sent to join it, and the battalion was then regularly organized as the Twenty- ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. It was in the following engagements: Hampton Roads, Gaines' Mills, Savage Station, White-Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Jackson, Blue Spring, Campbell Station, Siege of Knoxville, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, and Fort Stedman.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 249

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