History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 30

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 30

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In 1695 a church was formed in that part of Plym-

outh which is now Plympton. It was found that nearly forty families were settled there, and that these either attended ehureh at Plymouth under great difficulties, or were deprived of religious instruction on the Sabbath altogether. In 1707 the town of Plympton was incorporated, ineluding the present towns of Plympton and Carver and a part of Halifax, which was taken from Plympton in 1830. No serious objection was made by the town of Plymouth, and at a town-meeting in March, 1706/7, it was voted " that the town consent that the North Parish be a township in compliance with their petition, with the proviso that all real estate now belonging to, or which shall be improved by any in the old town, either by himself or tenant during their living here, shall be rated here, notwithstanding there being a separate town, and so the like of any estate that belongeth to any of them that lyeth in the old town of Plymouth."

In 1711 it was voted " that all the lands lying to the northward of the range of the land between Sam- uel Harlow and John Barnes, that is to say, to run up the same point of compass said range of Harlow's and Barnes' range runs, to run up to the top of the hill, and all the range to the northward, shall be for a perpetual common or training-place, never to be granted any part thereof, but be perpetually for public and common benefit." In other words, Training Green, under this vote included all the land bounded by what are now North Green, Pleasant, South, and Sandwich Streets. In 1716 it was also voted "that the Training Green, Cole's Hill, and a spot of land about the Great Gutter, with all the common lands to each parcel adjoining, shall not be disposed of to any person without special license from the town, notwithstanding former grants." Notwith- standing these votes Training Green has since that time been seriously eurtailed of its proportions. In 1788 the town sold that portion lying between South and South Green Streets to the First Precinct, and in 1790 the precinct sold it to Jesse Harlow. Mr. Harlow sold during his life, in 1806, the lot on the corner of Sandwich and South Green Streets to Ezra and John Harlow, who built the house now standing on the lot, and the remaining lots were disposed of by the heirs of Jesse Harlow after his death. About that time there were two military companies in Plym- onth, the South and North Companies. The North Company, in 1699, was commanded by John Brad- ford, with Nathaniel Southworth, lieutenant; John Waterman, ensign ; and James Cole, John Rickard, and John Bryant, sergeants. The South Company, of which the writer has an original roll dated 1699, was commanded by James Warren, with-

131

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

Lieutenant.

Joshua Witherley.

William Shurtleff.

Ensign.

Richard Jones.

Jabez Durkin. William Benson.

Sergeants.

Samnel Harlow.

Benjamin Warren. Isaac Lathrop.

Corporals.

Stephen Barnaby.

Abraham Jackson, Jr. Simon Lasell.

Josiah Finney.

John Pratt.

William Harlow.

John Foster.

Drummers.

Nathaniel Holmes. Nathaniel Holmes, Jr.

Privates.

John Dyer.

Samuel Doty.

Ephraim Morton, Jr. John Morton.

Timothy Morton.

David Shepard.

Benjamin Bosworth.

Ehenezer Holmes.

John Jackson.

James Warren.

George Barrow.

James Clark.

William Fallowell.

John Clark.

James Barnahy.

Elnathan Bartlett.

Francis Adams.

Joseph Holmes.

Samuel King, Jr.

Benjamin Bartlett.

Jaduthan Robbins.

Joseph Silvester.

Benajah Pratt.

Humphrey Turner.

Micajab Dunham.

Samuel Cornish.

Joseph Pratt.

Nathan Ward.

Joseph Dunham, Jr. Nathaniel Dunham.

Benoni Shaw.

Joshna Ransom.

Job Gihhs.

John Andros.

Samnel Bates, Jr.

Jonathan Shaw.

Elisha Hunter.

Benoni Shaw.

Joseph Morton.

Eleaser Pratt.

Eleaser Dunham, Jr.

Daniel Pratt.

John King.

John Barrow.

Thomas Savory.

Benoni Lucas.

Samnel Dunham, Jr.

George Bonum.

Samuel Nelson.

John Carver.

William Hunter, Jr.

Eleazer Morton.

John Holmes.

John Faunce, Jr.

Benajah Dunham.

Caleb Gibbs.

Richard Seara.

Jonathan Barnes, Jr.

William Barnes.

Hezekiah Bosworth.

John Barnes.

Benjamin Bumpas.

Thomas Doty.

Charles Church. Abraham Jackson, Jr.

Henry Churchill.

John Rider.

Jabez Shurtleff. William Rider.

Elisha Holmes.

Joseph Faunce.

Samnel Dunham, Sr.

William Dunham.

Ebenezer Eaton.

Giles Rickard.

Mannasseh Morton.

Robert Bartlett. John Whiting.

Ebenezer Dunham.

Eleaser Churchill, Jr.

Francis Curtis, Jr.

John Churchill, Jr. Ephraim Morton, Sr.

Ebenezer Morton. John Harlow.

Benjamin Andros.

Thomas Clark, Jr. Elisha Studson.

Samuel Withered.

James Nichols.

Jonathan Brewster. Benjamin Chandler. John May.

Nathaniel Morton.

Henry Andrews.

John Pulton.

Josiah Morton.

James Revis.

Eleaser Holmes.

Nathaniel Garner. Samuel Rider.

John Churchill.

Francis Billington. Samuel Lucas, Jr.

Thomas Harlow.

Thomas Faunce, Jr.

James Shurtleff.

Barnahas Churchill. John Cole, Jr.

Eleaser King.

Daniel Dunham.

John Eastland.

Ichabod Delano.

William Penney.

Isaac Barker.

Thomas Childs.

Jacob Willard.

Jonathan Rickard.

Cole's Hill, mentioned in the vote of the town which has been quoted, has always been said to have taken its name from James Cole, who has been sup- posed to have had at an early date grants of land along its border. The investigations of the writer have shown this to be doubtful. The lands granted to him in 1637 were located on the south side of Leyden Street, where his house was situated, and no evidence exists that he ever owned land on Cole's Hill. In 1697, Nathaniel Clark, the old councilor of Andros, sold the lot of land on the corner of Cole's Hill and North Street, on which the Plymouth Rock House now stands, to John Cole, who married his step-daughter, Susannah, daughter of Edward Gray. Mr. Cole lived on the lot until 1725, and as the name " Cole's Hill" does not appear in the records until after 1700, it is fair to presume that the hill took its name from him. On this hill, as is well known, the Pilgrims who died during the winter of 1620/1 were buried. It is probable that there John Carver, Elizabeth Winslow, Mary Allerton, Rose Standish, Christopher Martin, Solomon Power, William Mullens, William White, Degory Priest, Richard Britteredge, and others, forty-four in number, who died before the middle of April, with the exception of Dorothy Brad- ford, who was drowned, and such as might have died on board the ship and possibly been buried in the sea, found their last resting-place. The tradition concern- ing the burials on this spot has been verified by repeated discoveries of remains. In 1735, during a heavy storm, the bank of the hill was washed away at the foot of Middle Street, and several bodies were exhumed, though not, so far as is known, preserved. In the early part of the present century, while dig- ging the cellar of the Jackson House, on the corner of Middle Street, workmen found a part of a skeleton, which also failed to be preserved. On the 23d of May, 1855, workmen engaged in digging a trench for

George Morton, Jr.

Thomas Clark, Sr. John Faunce, Sr.

Ebenezer Burgess.

Stephen Churchill. Benjamin Crowell. David Bates.

Jeremiah Jackson.

Ephraim Kempton. John Watson. John Cole.

Jonathan Morey, Jr.

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

the pipes for the Plymouth water-works discovered parts of five skeletons between the two points, five rods south and two rods north of the foot of Middle Street. The writer, then chairman of the board of selectmen, took them in charge, and placing them in a box lined with lead, deposited them in a brick vault on the summit of Burial Hill. Before disposing of the re- mains he submitted two of the skulls to the dis- tinguished surgeons, the late John C. Warren, and Professor Oliver Wendell Holmes, for a critical exam- ination, and received from them a signed certificate that they belonged to the Caucasian race. When the canopy over Plymouth Rock was approaching completion, its vacant chamber was thought to be a fit place for their permanent preservation, and there the box with its contents was finally deposited. On the 8th of October, 1883, while digging holes for the stone posts of the fence on the hill, workmen found another body, and on the 27th of the following month still another, which it also fell to the lot of the writer to take in charge. The bones of the former were placed in a lead box and deposited in a brick vault on the spot of the original burial, while the bones of the latter were permitted to remain undisturbed as they lay in their grave. Over the brick vault a handsome granite tablet has been recently placed, bearing the following inscription :

"ON THIS HILL THE PILGRIMS WHO DIED THE FIRST WINTER WERE BURIED.

THIS TABLET

MARKS THE SPOT WHERE

LIES THE BODY OF ONE FOUND

OCT. 8TH, 1883. THE BODY OF ANOTHER FOUND ON THE 27TH OF THE FOLLOWING MONTH

LIES 8 FEET NORTHWEST OF

THE WESTERLY CORNER OF THIS STONE.

ERECTED 1884."

Within the last few years the Pilgrim Socicty have purchased the wharf on which the rock stands, to- gether with the buildings round the base of the hill, and graded and grassed and curbed the slope as it now is. A handsome and substantial flight of granite steps has been built from the base, near the rock, to the summit, and hereafter the whole hill will be treated and ornamented as a memorial of the Pil- grims. In 1797 the easterly bounds of the hill, as determined by a committee of the town, began at a stake twenty-nine feet north fifty-three and a half degrecs east, from the northeast corner of the Ply- mouth Rock House, and thence ran south thirty-eight degrees cast thirty-eight feet, thencc south twenty-four

degrees east thirty-nine fcet, thence south eleven de- grees east forty-nine feet, thence south five degrees east sixty-seven feet, to a point eighty-one feet cast from the southeast corner of the house at the corner of Middle Street.

The spot referred to in the quoted votes of the town as the Great Gutter is Court Square. When the land along the base of the hill, on the westerly side of Court Street, was granted to different individ- uals, at the beginning of the last century, it was a sort of guleh, rough and ragged in appearance, taking the rains and melted snows of the hills in the rear and discharging them across what is now the street and the fields below into the harbor. Its reservation was due to its undesirable character, and not to any deliberate intention of the town. At a subsequent period, after the lots adjoining it had been built upon, its valuc for an open square became apparent, and its reservation followed. In the earliest deeds in which it is men- tioned it is called simply "land belonging to the town of Plymouth." After it was graded it was called "Framing Green" until the present court- house was built, in 1820, when it assumed the name it now bears. At the head of the square the lot on which the court-house and jail now stand was granted by the town to Ephraim Little in 1698. In 1709, Mr. Little conveyed it back to the town in ex- change for land in Middleboro', calling it in his deed his " valley lot, nigh the pound, at the head of the great gutter," and specifying that it shall be for the use of the ministry of the town forever. In 1773 the precinct sold it to the county, and a jail, with a keeper's house, was built on the land, to take the place of the old prison and prison-house on Summer Street. In 1785 the town sold to the county fifteen feet, on the upper end of the square, in front of the land then owned by the county, bringing its easterly line where it is to-day, at the fourth post from the easterly end of the entrance to the square, on the northerly side. In 1857 the square was enlarged on its southerly side by the purchase of lots with houses standing thereon by the town, and their surrender to the county for its use and control as long as the county buildings shall occupy their present posi- tion. For a more precise statement concerning this enlargement, and the county lands generally, the reader is referred to pages 284 and 285 of " Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth."

The only piece of public land never granted by the town, which remains to be described, besides the Uni- tarian Church lot which has passed into the hands of the present society as the First Parish, is Burial Hill. How early this hill began to be used for the purposes

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133

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

to which it has been so long devoted there are no means of knowing. The first meeting-house was erected on this hill in 1622, and it seems probable that its neighborhood was from that time used for burials of the dead. The "churchyards" of Eng- land, synonymous with " graveyards," must have re- tained all their hallowed associations in the memories of the Pilgrims. To bury their dead as they had always seen them buried at home, in grounds conse- crated by the presence of the sacred altar, must have been a custom which they fell into, without thought or donbt, as naturally as in a wilderness full of sus- pected foes they would cluster the dwellings of the living in the neighborhood and under the shelter of a fort. Between the planting-time of 1621, when the graves on Cole's Hill are said to have been leveled, and the time of the construction of the church, in 1622, six deaths are recorded, but where the burials were made it is impossible to say. It is probable, however, that some portion of Cole's Hill continued to be used until the Common-House, standing on its sontherly slope and making it in reality a “ church- yard," was abandoned and the new place of worship occupied.

Until 1698 the hill is invariably called in the records " Fort Hill." Twice in that year it is referred to as a burial-place,-once by Judge Sewall, in his diary, and again by Nathaniel Howland, in a deed to Francis Le Baron of the lot now occupied by Davis Hall, in which he bounds the lot on the west by the Burial Hill. The fact that until the close of King Philip's war the hill had always been a fortified spot ; was abandoned as a location for the meeting-house in 1637, when a new house was built on the north side of Town Square; held the name of Fort Hill for many years after ; and within the memory of man and the reach of tradition has exhibited no older gravestone than that of Edward Gray, which bears the date of 1681, has heretofore led the author to doubt whether the close of the war, in 1676, and the abandonment of the fortification at that time do not mark the period when the hill became consecrated to the graves of the dead. But in the face of this doubt the question must arise, " Where were Brew- ster and his wife, William Bradford, Samuel Fuller, Stephen Hopkins, Francis Eaton, Peter Brown, and others, who died in Plymouth before 1681, laid in their graves ?" No trace of any other place of burial, except such as were used by the Indians, has ever been found within the limits of the present town. Cellars have been dug, wells have been sunk, water- and gas-pipe trenches have been excavated, almost every spot has been turned over and explored, and

not a white man's bone has ever been found, except on Cole's and Burial Hill. If deliberate and method- ical searches had been instituted, like those which have characterized the explorations of Pompeii and Troy, they could not have been more thorough or better calculated to reveal, if ever such had existed, the forgotten burial-places of the Pilgrims.

The fact that no earlier stones than that of Edward Gray are to be found on the hill is to be explained by the same causes which have been at work in later times, and have destroyed many of modern date. In various parts of the town to-day may be found grave- stones, fifty or seventy-five or a hundred years old, utilized as covers of drains or cesspools, showing the extraordinary indifference with which the hill has been treated almost down to the time of our own generation. From time to time new paths have been laid out, and stones removed to a pile in some obscure corner ; other stones have become loosened and have finally fallen, and instead of being replaced have been added to the pile, to which stone-masons and others in want of covering stones have had free access, until finally all have disappeared. And more than this, the records of the town show gross municipal neglect in the management and care of a locality which, now next to the rock itself, is the most interesting feature of the town. The first entry on the town books re- lating to the hill is under date of May 14, 1711, when it was voted " that the common lands about Fort Hill shall be sold under the direction of Isaac Lathrop, Nathaniel Thomas, and Benjamin Warren," reserving sufficient room for a burial-place. An article was in- serted in the warrant for a town-meeting, held May 21, 1770, on the petition of William Thomas, Thomas La- throp, Thomas S. Howland, Jonathan Churchill, and Isaac Lathrop, " to see if the town will let out the feed- ing of the burying hill for a term of years to any per- son or persons that will appear to fence the same with good post- and rail-fence, or whether the town will fence the same at their own cost, or any other way inclose said hill as they please." Thus it will be seen that as late as 1770 the hill was not even fenced, and was therefore constantly subject to depredations by cattle, and that the town refused to fence it. At a town-meeting held April 15, 1782, it was voted to give permission to Rev. Chandler Robbins " to fence in the burial hill that he might pasture the same for so long a time as the town think proper, he to have lib- erty to take off the fence when he pleases ; he being re- quired to carry the fence aback of the meeting-house and the barns to his parsonage lot ; and also, as soon as he can conveniently, shall make a fence from the meet. ing-house to the land of Mr. Sylvanus Bartlett, leav-

134

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

ing an open way to go over said hill to the lane lead- ing down by the house of John Cotton, Esq." The parsonage lot here referred to included the land now bounded by the Burial Hill and the vacant engine- house lot on the southcast and on the southwest ; by Russell Street on the northwest, and on the northeast by a line running from Russell Street to the Burial Hill, ninety feet northeasterly from the easterly house lot on the southerly side of said street. The land of Sylvanus Bartlett referred to is that on a part of which the house of Albert Benson stands, and the open way required to be left is now Church Street. At a town- meeting, held April 6, 1789, a committee appointed at a previous meeting submitted a report on the con- dition of the hill, which was accepted, as follows: " That the damage to gravestones appears to be done by some wanton or imprudent men or boys, and to prevent the like doings in future your committee are of opinion that it is the duty of parents and heads of families to restrain those under their care from doing the like in future, and that the grammar schoolmas- ter be desired to take all the pains in his power to pre- vent the scholars that come to his school from doing any damage to the stones; and as it is possible that horses may damage the gravestones at times, it is the opinion of your committee it would be well for the Town to desire the Rev. Mr. Robbins, who improves the hill as a pasture at this time, not to have more horses there than shall be really necessary." These votes quoted, not for the purpose of entering into any general detail of the proceedings of town-meet- ings, furnish competent evidence of a municipal care- lessness and neglect sufficient to account for the ab- sence of the oldest stones.

Up to 1782 the southeasterly line of the hill ex- tended to the rear of the High Street lots, as has been seen by the vote of the town, already quoted, which required Rev. Mr. Robbins in fencing the hill to leave an open way. The southwesterly line, as far as the engine-house lot on Russell Street, has probably never been encroached upon. On the northwesterly side the engine-house lot, still belonging to the town, was, up to the laying out of Russell Street, in 1834, in- cluded within the limits of the hill, and below the line of the parsonage lot, the line of which has already been stated, the hill ran down to the lands of the county. On the northeast the lots on Main and Court Streets were originally bounded by the hill, which sloped down to their southwesterly limits. The sales of lands on School Strect began in 1736, and probably at that time the street was opened. In 1773 the town granted to the county a road of thirty fect in width through the Burial Hill grounds up as far

as the parsonage lot, and that grant was the first step in the laying out of South Russell Street, which was extended when the precinct sold its lands in 1839. That portion of the hill which sloped down to this thirty feet way was sold at various times,-the Stand- ish lot in 1812, the next in 1799, and the corner lot in 1812. In these latter years the town has bestowed more care on the hill. The gravestones and monu- ments, which are all that make it sacred, are now sharply watched; the oldest have been protected by hoods of iron from crumbling and depredation, and their permanent preservation for our children and children's children has been assured.

The only remaining portions of land within the limits of the town never granted to individuals which are worthy of mention are those covered by the an- cient streets, which were laid out over common land. The first street was that laid out in 1620, extending from the top of what is now Burial Hill to the shore, and was called First, or Broad, or Great Street, and in 1823 christened by the town Leyden Street. The second and third, both laid out before 1627, were Main and Market Streets, leading, as an early descrip- tion states, one to the rivulet (Shaw's Brook), and the other into the land. Main Street extended to the Massachusetts Indian path, and Market Street to the Nemasket path, which after crossing the brook at the rolling-mill, and there leaving the Agawam path to run up by the South Ponds to Agawam, followed up the south side of the town brook, crossing again near the works of the Plymouth Mills, and running through the estate of B. M. Watson, found its way by the most convenient trail to Nemasket or Middleboro'. During the last century Main was called Hanover Street, and Market, South Street. Each received its present name in 1823. Summer Street was the third street, called at an early date Mill Street, leading as it did to the corn-mill established at an ancient date on the site of the works of Samuel Loring, after- wards called High Street, and finally, in 1823, Sum- mer Street. North Street was the fifth, called in the early deeds New Street, sometimes at a later date Howland Street and Queen Street, and occasionally North, and finally, in 1823, christened by a vote of the town by the last name. Emerald Street, called in the last century Smith's Lane, was an carly street, connecting at an early date with a ford across the mouth of the town brook at low water, and after- wards with a swing-bridge across the stream a little higher up, and thus affording connection between the casterly and southerly parts of the town. It origin- ally turned with an easy curve into what is now Brad- ford Street, which was then a part of the lane, and

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The

135

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

then gradually curved into the highway. Besides these streets there are two lanes, both of which were opened before 1633, Spring Lane, so called because leading from the fort to the spring, and Woods Lane, or the "lane leading to the woods," now Samoset Street. It may be as well here as elsewhere to com- plete the list of streets. Middle Street was laid out in 1725 by Jonathan Bryant, Consider Howland, Isaac Little, and Mayhew Little, " for and in consid- eration of the public good and for the more regular and uniform situation of the town of Plymouth, and to be forever hereafter called King Street." After the Revolution the insignificant name of " Middle" was substituted informally for the ancient appellation, and in 1823 it was formally adopted by a vote of the town. In 1716, Water Street was laid out, connect- ing North with Leyden. At that time the way over the brook entered between the Turner House and the barn of E. and J. C. Barnes, crossing by a ford, and at a little later day by a swing-bridge also, for foot passengers alone. In 1762 the causeway was built and Water Street extended. In 1728, Thomas How- land threw out land from the " Main road" to the shore for the laying out of a street which he called Howland Street, the name it still bears. This street, only laid out at the time as far as the land of the present gas-works, was extended to the water in 1854. In 1798, James Thacher threw out land and laid out a street, which he called Thacher Street. In 1803 this street was extended to Ring Lane through land of Sylvanus Bartlett and Joshua Thomas, and in 1823 the whole street received the name of High Street, and the old street bearing that name was changed to Summer Street. Sandwich Street was laid out in 1666, and should perhaps be added to the list of streets covering land which never had an indi- vidual ownership. At that time it crossed the brook at its level, and entered Summer Street by the present Mill Lane, what is now Spring Hill being then too steep for a road. In 1716 Spring Hill was first laid out, as stated in the records, " with a convenience to water creatures" at town brook, though probably until a much later date, when the bridge was raised, Mill Lane continued to be used for travel. Pleasant Street, though an old road across private land, was not laid ont until 1802, and not until 1823 did it receive its present name and lose its old one of Judson Street. Court Street was of course only the continuation of the Main road (Main Street), and probably followed an old Indian trail, being gradually leveled and widened and straightened until its present condition has been reached. Ring lane was probably only a right of way to land of Andrew Ring from the high-

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 30

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