History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 39

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 39

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P. Marion Holmes, on the soldiers' monument as a Plymouth man. He was commissioned first lieutenant in 36th Regt. May 23, 1863, and was killed at Campbell's Station, Tenn., Nov. 16, 1863.

Thomas W. Hayden was born in Quincy, July 7, 1832. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Mass. Regt., May 6, 1861, was made corporal Feb. 18, 1862, and died at Crab Orchard, Sept. +, 1863, leaving a wife.

Orin D. Holmes was born in Plymouth in 1843. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., May 6, 1861, was promoted sergcant Feb. 1, 1864, re-enlisted, and was killed at the battle of Fort Stead- man, near Petersburg, March 25, 1864. Unmarried.

Edwin F. Hall was born in Weymouth, March 9, 1848. He enlisted in Co. D, 58th Regt., Feb. 27, 1864, and was killed at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. Unmarried.

George M. lfeath was born in Plymouth, March 24, 1835. He enlisted in December, 1861, in Co. E, 32d Regt., and was a cor- poral. He died at Harrison's Landing, July 30, 1862.

Justus W. Harlow was born in Kingston, Jan. 30, 1839. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., March 6, 1862, and died at Camp Hamilton, near Fortress Monroe, Sept. 16, 1862, leaving a wife.

William N. Hathaway was born in Plymouth, Nov. 17, 1840. He enlisted in Co. G, 38th Regt., Aug. 12, 1862, as corporal, and died Feb. 23, 1863, at Convalescent Camp, near Washing- ton. Cumarried.

Thomas Haley was born in Plymonth, June 10, 1830. Hc enlisted in Co. H, 18th Regt., Ang. 5, 1861, was discharged at Hall'e Hill, near Washington, Feb. 24, 1862, enlisted in Co. G, 38th Regt., Aug. 14, 1862, and died at St. James' Hospital, Louisiana, April 5, 1863, of phthisis, leaving a wife and chil- dren.

Horace A. Jenks was born in Springfield, April 30, 1833. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., May 6, 1861, as sergeant, was made first sergeant Oct. 31, 1862, second lieutenant June 18, 1863, and died at Mill Dale Hospital, Mississippi, July 24, 1863. He was color-sergeant in all the seven days' battles except Charles City Cross-Roads and Malvern Hill. Hc left a wife and child.

Josiah Leach, seaman in the navy, and died at some place unknown.

Thomas A. Mayo was born in Plymouth, Aug. 19, 1821. IIo enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., May 6, 1861, was made second lieutenant May 6, 1861, and was killed at the battle of Gaines' Mills, June 27, 1862. He left a wife and four children.

John D. Manter, a Plymouth man, but not one of the Plym- outh soldiers. He enlisted in Co. B, 3d Regt., and died at Newberne, Feb. 6, 1863.

Charles E. Merriam was born in New Hampshire in 1844. He enlisted in Co. E; 29th Regt., May 6, 1861, and died at Harper's Ferry, Nov. 12, 1862. He had been previously wounded at Malvern Hill. Unmarried.

Lemuel B. Morton was born in Plymouth, May 2, 1834. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., May 6, 1861, and was killed in action at Spottsylvania Court-House, May 12, 1864. He was promoted corporal Feb. 18, 1862 He left a wife and child.

Gideon E. Morton was born in Plymouth, July 5, 1840. He enlisted in Co. F, 7th Regt., at the beginning of the war, and died at Fredericksburg, May 3, 1863. Unmarried.

Isaac T. Oldham was born in Plymouth in 1823, enlisted in Co. B, 24th Regt., and died at Newberne in 1863, leaving a wife and children.

Isaac H. Perkins was born in Plymouth, Dec. 15, 1836. He enlisted in Co. E, 23d Regt., Sept. 23, 1861, re-enlisted at the expiration of his term of service, was wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864, and died of his wounds at Camp- bell Hospital, Washington, June 26, 1864. Unmarried.

George T. Peckham was born in Walpole, March 29, 1826. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., March 1, 1862, was made corporal Feb. 17, 1863, and died at Knoxville, Nov. 1, 1863. He left a wife and three children.

William Perry was born in Carver, Nov. 3, 1843. He enlisted in Co. G, 38th Regt., Aug. 14, 1862, and died at New Orleans, June 5, 1863. Unmarried.

Thomas Pugh was boru in Baltimore in 1833 (probably a slave). He followed the sea, and enlisted in the 5th Cavalry, Dec. 22, 1863, and died after the expiration of his term of ser- vice, Nov. 18, 1865, at sea, while the regiment was on its way home from Texas, leaving a wife and four children.

Lewis Payzant was a recruit obtained in Boston, and no cir- cumstances of his life or death are known. He left a wife and children.

Harvey A. Raymond was born in Plymouth, March 31, 1835. He left Plymouth, April 30, 1861, to join Co. B of the 3d (three months') Regt., at Fortress Monroe. He afterwards enlisted in Co. E, 23d Regt., Aug. 2, 1862, and was killed at the battle of Whitehall, in North Carolina, Dec. 16, 1862. He left a wife.

Henry H. Robbins was born in Plymouth, Dec. 8, 1840. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., May 6, 1861. He died of small- pox at the Kalorama Hospital, Washington, Dec. 4, 1863. Un- marricd.

Albert R. Robbins was born in Plymouth, Sept. 9, 1841. He enlisted May 6, 1861, in Co. E, 29th Regt., and died in Plym- outh, during a furlough, of smallpox, March 5, 1864. Un- married.

Edward Stevens was born in Plymouth, April 22, 1821. On the 28th of September, 1861, he enlisted in Co. E, 23d Regt. He died at Newberne, Jan. 19, 1863, of wounds received at the battle of Whitehall, on the 16th of the previous month, leaving a wife and children.

Thomas S. Saunders was born in Plymouth, Aug. 27, 1834. He enlisted in Co. E, 23d Regt., but was afterwards transferred to Co. K of the same regiment. He died at Roanoke Island, March 11, 1862. Unmarried.

William H. Shaw was born in New Bedford, in December, 1830. He enlisted in Co. E, 32d Regt., in December, 1861, and

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

re-enlisted at the end of his term of service. Ile died in Plymouth, whilo at home on furlough, Aug. 6, 1865, of chronic diarrhoca, leaving five children and no wife.

Edward Smith was born in Halifax in 1835. Hle first enlisted for three months in Co. B, leaving Plymouth April 17, 1861, and again enlisted in Co. E, 23d Regt., Sept. 23, 1861. Ile was captured, with John Taylor and Hiram J. Lanman, of the same company, at the time Edward D. Brailey was killed. Was after- wards exchanged, and died at Annapolis in May, 1862. He was unmarried.

John Sylvester was born in Plymouth, Aug. 30, 1831. He enlisted in the 1st Cavalry, was taken prisoner, and died at Andersonville, Dec. 16, 1864, leaving a wife and children. His grave at Andersonville is No. 12,053.

Otis Sears was born in Plymouth, Dec. 7, 1839. He enlisted in Co. G, 38th Regt., Aug. 12, 1861. He was slightly wounded at the battle of Bisland, in Louisiana, and died of chronic diarrboa in Plymoutb, while on a furlough, Jan. 5, 1864, leaving a wife and children.

E. Stevens Turner was born in Plymouth, Feb. 21, 1805, and was a successful ship-master until the war broke out, when, in 1861, be received a commission as acting master in the navy. He died at Rio Janeiro, Aug. 5, 1864, at the age of fifty-nine, while in command of store-ship " Relief," bound to East Indies. He left a wife and two children.

Frank A. Thomas was born in Plymouth in 1832. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., May 6, 1861, and died at Camp Ilamilton, Sept. 14, 1862. His body was buried in Plymouth. He was unmarried.

David A. Taylor was born in Wareham, June 19, 1845. He enlisted in Co. E, 32d Regt., in December, 1861, and re-enlisted at the expiration of his term of service. He was never off duty on account of sickness, had no furlough except his re-enlist- ment thirty days' furlough, and was killed near Petersburg, June 22, 1864, at the age of nineteen, after four years' service. Unmarried.

Wallace Taylor, fatber of the above, was born at East River, St. Mary's, Sidney Co., N. S., April 13, 1809. He enlisted in Co. B, 24th Regt., in July, 1861, and died at Newberne, Nov. 23, 1862. Ile was a. mariner, and left a wife and three ebil- dren.

Charles E. Tillson was born in Plymouth, Sept. 12, 1830. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., Feb. 27, 1862; re-enlisted Jan. 1, 1864; was captured at Strawberry Plains, East Tenn., Jan. 23, before he was mustered as a re-enlisted man, and died at Ander- sonville, July 14, 1864, leaving a wife and children. His grave at Andersonville is No. 3828.

Israel H. Thrasher was born in Plymouth, Nov. 23, 1827. Ile enlisted in Co. D, 38th Regt., Aug. 4, 1861, and died June 29, 1863, at New Orleans, of wounds received at Port Hudson, June 14th, leaving a wife and children.

David R. Valler was born in Plymouth in 1846. IIe enlisted in Co. I, 58th Regt., Feb. 25, 1864, and went into camp at Readville. He there hecame sick with smallpox, and returned to Plymouth, his regiment leaving eamp and going to the front before his recovery. He was afterwards sent on to join his company, but died at Alexandria, Oct. 6, 1864, before he was mustered. He was unmarried.

George E. Wadsworth was born in Plymouth, Jan. 3, 1828. Hle enlisted in . Co. E, 29th Regt., May 6, 1861, and was pro- moted corporal June 15, 1862, sergeant Sept. 1, 1862, 1st ser- geant July 1, 1863, and died Aug. 31, 1863, of fever, at Camp Parks, in Kentucky. He was unmarried.

Charles Wadsworth, brother of George, was born in Plymouth, July 11, 1832. He was draftod July 24, 1863, and after some months' service at Galloupe's Island, in Boston harbor, was

attached to the 12th Regt. carly in 1864, and was captured in one of Grant's battles on the Peninsula, and died at Salisbury, N. C., Nov. 29, 1864. He was unmarried.

David Williams was born in Richmond, Va., March 18, 1841. He enlisted in Co. E, 29th Regt., May 6, 1861. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Savage Station, June 29, 1862, ex- changed May 10th of the same year, and died at Camp Denni- son, Ky., Sept. 14, 1863. He was unmarried.

Benjamin Westgate was born in Plymouth in 1843, and at the age of cigbteen enlisted in Co. E, 23d Regt. He was killed at the battle of Whitchall, N. C., Dec. 16, 1862. Unmarried.

John M. Whiting was not a native of Plymouth. He enlisted in Co. G, 38th Regt., at Plymouth, Aug. 12, 1862, at the age of twenty-one. He was killed in the Shenandoah Valley, at tbe battle of Opequan Creek, Sept. 19, 1864. Unmarried.

John Whitmore was born in Plymouth, and was master of a vessel at the time he received a commission as acting master in the navy, in April, 1862, and died of yellow fever at sea in August, 1863. He left a wife and children.

The war record of Plymouth would be far from complete without a statement of its expenditure of money in performing its share of the work of sup- pressing the Rebellion. The expenditure covers the several items of equipment, bounties, recruiting ex- penses, and aid to families of volunteers :

Equipment of Co. E, 29th Regt $1,025.49

Bounties.

39,118.68

Recruiting expenses.

1,492.81

State aid to families to Feb. 1, 1866. 50,543.90

$92,180.88

From this amount the following disbursements are to be deducted :

Received from Kingston for bounties. ...... $2,300.00

Hingbam "

1,350.00

State

482.15

Duxbury, recruiting expenses. 48.80

Plympton,

4.65

State, State aid.

41,237.25

$45,422.85

Of this sum, $8000 or thereabouts was reimbursed by the State in 1866 for State aid payments in 1865, leaving $37,422.85 as the approximate estimate of the war expenditures of the town, including $8787.25, the sum raised by subscription for the payment of bounties. The whole number of enlistments was, of soldiers, 658, and officers and seamen in the navy, 109.

The end of the war closes this narrative, so far as the general history of Plymouth is concerned. Sinee that time little has occurred which it is necessary to record to make the narrative complete. The business of the town is prosperous. Its population in 1880 of 7093 had increased about twelve per cent. ou that of 6370 in 1875, and a valuation in 1860 of $3,100,000 had increased to $5,500,000 in 1883. There is no reason to doubt, with its railroad facilities, its harbor improving year by ycar under the eye of a paternal government, its manufacturing interests well estab-

li- it er

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

lished and growing, its good hotel accommodations, its water, its sewage, its gas, its healthfulness, its in- creasing wealth, and its interesting antiquarian asso- ciations, that its foundations are substantially laid, and its prosperity is assured. The remaining chapter will be devoted to the churches, the schools, manu- facturing establishments, and institutions of the town, all of which have a history of their own, and eannot be mingled with a general history without disturbing and obstructing its current.

CHAPTER VIII.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH-SCHOOLS-MANUFACTURES- INSTITUTIONS.

THE birth of the Plymouth Church at Scrooby and its infancy in Holland were sufficiently described in the opening chapter of this narrative. The rules of this church as to ecclesiastical government have been described as comprising the following points : " First, that cvery church of Christ should consist only of those who believe in and obey Him, and that no church should consist of more members than can conveniently meet for discipline and worship ; second, that any suitable number have a right to form them- selves into a distinct church and to choose their own officers; third, that these officers are pastors or teach- ing elders, ruling elders, and deacons; fourth, that baptism is to be administered to visible believers and their infant children, and that the Lord's Supper is to be received sitting at the table; fifth, that, besides the Sabbath and days of thanksgiving and fasting, no holidays should be recognized, and that no human invention should be permitted in religious affairs." The Pilgrim Church believed that " every Christian congregation ought to be governed by its own laws, irrespective of any bishops, synods, presbyteries, or any ecclesiastical assembly composed of deputies from different churches." It maintained that the inspired Scriptures alone contain the true religion, that every man has a right of judging for himself, of testing doctrines by the Scriptures, and worshiping according to his construction of them. Its pastors or teaching elders had the power of overseeing, teaching, and ad- ministering the sacraments. Its ruling elders were required to aid the pastor in overseeing and ruling, and its deacons had charge of the property of the church, paid the pastor, supplied the poor, and min- istered at the Lord's table.

It will be remembered that when the Pilgrims left

Holland the majority remained in Leyden with their pastor, John Robinson, and the minority went with their ruling elder, William Brewster. It has so often been stated by historians that the Pilgrim adventurers and the church remaining at Leyden continued to be one church under Robinson, that some confusing claims have been made by the First Church in Salem of precedence in the line of Congregational Churches in America. But the Pilgrims and the Leyden Church did not continue one church. The Plymouth Church was an absolute church by itself. Bradford says in his history, "The greater number being to stay, require their pastor to tarry with them, their elder, Mr. Brewster, to go with the other ; those who go first to be an absolute ehureh of themselves, as well as those that stay, with this proviso, that as any go over or return they shall be reputed as members without further dismission or testimonial, and those who tarry to follow the rest as soon as they can." This statement of Bradford is further important as tending to establish the precise position held by Brewster in the church. Mr. Bancroft calls him teaching elder, and is criticised by Dr. Young for what he claims to be an inaeeuracy. Dr. Young seems to have overlooked the anomalous condition and relation of the two churches. Although Brew- ster was chosen ruling elder in Holland, the entire independence of the Plymouth Church, which ac- knowledged him as its only head, while it could not, perhaps, elevate him to the pastorate without formal ordination, was undoubtedly sufficient to install him in the office of teaching elder, an office without which, in the absence of a pastor, the church would have been without an efficient administrator of its spiritual affairs.

That the church at Plymouth was not considered a mere branch of the Leyden Church is established by - another circumstance. Robinson did not die until March 1, 1625, and yet, in 1624, John Lyford was sent over in the " Charity," with Edward Winslow, to be the pastor of the church, and, as appears from the records, nothing but a want of confidence in the man prevented his acceptance. It cannot certainly be claimed that, under any circumstances, one church would have had two pastors. Mr. Lyford was sent by a portion of the merchant adventurers, under whose auspiees the Pilgrims had undertaken their enterprise, at a time when divisions and dissensions marked their counsels, who hoped, doubtless, to throw obstacles in the way of Robinson, whose migration they were anxious to prevent. This portion appar- ently used every effort to prevent the permanent es- tablishment, on this side of the ocean, of a church in-

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

dependent of the mother establishment. Fortunately, the selection of Mr. Lyford was a bad one. He was a man of loose morals, insineere, hypocritical, and, having a hostile objeet in view, sought to keep it baek until he had ingratiated himself in the affeetions of the colony. But he overaeted his part, and through the mask of his humility and subservieney and piety the Pilgrims were shrewd enough to see the face of an enemy. After his rejection he soon began to cause trouble in the colony by exciting jealousies among its members, writing letters to England full of ealumni- ations of its leaders, and assuming authority by virtue of his ministerial calling, which he did not rightfully possess. He was finally charged with, his offenses, and though at first denying them, at length confessed with tears " that he feared he was a reprobate, and that his sins were so great that God would not pardon them ; that he was unsavory salt, and that he had so wronged them that he could never make them amends." He soon after left Plymouth and accepted an invitation to be the minister of Cape Ann.

In 1628 a Mr. Rogers was sent over from Eng- land with Mr. Allerton, who had gone over on busi- ness of the colony, and it is probable that the same motives inspired his errand which had caused the mission of Lyford. Bradford says, " This year Mr. Allerton brought over a young man for a minister to the people here, whether upon his own head or at the motion of some friends there 1 well know not, but it was without the church's sending; for they had been so bitten by Mr. Lyford as they desired to know the person well whom they should invite amongst them. His name was Mr. Rogers; but they perceived upon some trial that he was erazed in his brain ; so they were fain to be at further charge to send him baek again the next year, and losc all the charge that was expended in his hither bringing, which was not small by Mr. Allerton's account, in provisions, apparel, bedding, &e. After his return he grew quite distracted, and Mr. Allerton was mueh blamed that he would bring such a man over, they having charge enough otherwise." It is indeed strange that such men as Winslow and Allerton should have been so far deceived by the appearance of Lyford and Rogers as to give their approval to their coming. The issue in both cases elearly proved that the unfitness of the candidates, and not any ill- founded fastidiousness on the part of the Pilgrims, eaused their rejection.

In 1629, Ralph Smith, who had come over with Higginson in the " Talbot" in that year, became the first settled minister. Bradford says, " There was one Mr. Ralfe Smith, and his wife and family, that

came over into the Bay of Massachusetts, and so- journed at present with some stragling people that lived at Nantasket ; there being a boat of this place putting in there on some occasion, he earnestly de- sired that they would give him and his passage from Plymouth, and some such things as they could well carry ; having before heard that there was likelihood he might procure house room for some time, till he should resolve to settle there, if he might, or else- where, as God should dispose; for he was weary of being in that uncouth place, and in a poor house that would neither keep him nor his goods dry. So seeing him to be a grave man, and understood he had been a minister, though they had no order for any such thing, yet they presumed and brought him. He was here accordingly kindly entertained and housed, and had the rest of his goods and servants sent for, and exercised his gifts amongst them, and afterwards was chosen into the ministry, and so re- mained for sundry years." Mr. Smith was a graduate of the University of Cambridge in 1613, and proved himself a man of learning. The anomaly of finding such a man at a small fishing station, either a spiritual exile or an emigrant inspired by the spirit of adven- ture which marked the time, might be paralleled in our own day by the discovery in Australia and Cali- fornia, in South America and on our Western prairies, of men representing all stations in English life, seeking new and broader fields of enterprise. .

Mr. Smith remained in the ministry at Plymouth until 1636, and, after a further short residence in the town, removed to Rhode Island, and finally to Boston, where he died Mareh 11, 1662. From some time in the summer of 1631 to the summer of 1633, Roger Williams was an assistant of Mr. Smith in his minis- try. Of the deportment of Mr. Williams during his short residence in Plymouth, and of the causes of his removal, sufficient has already been said. He was probably a native of Wales, and born between 1599 and 1603, and under the patronage of Sir Edward Coke was elected a scholar of Sutton's Hospital (now the Charter House) in 1621, was matriculated a pen- sioner of Pembroke College, Cambridge, in July, 1625, and took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1626-27. His passage from the national church to independent- ism was attended by sorrows and struggles. In a let- ter to Mrs. Sadleir, daughter of Sir Edward Coke, he said, " Truly it was as bitter as death to me when Bishop Laud pursued me ont of this land, and my eonseience was persuaded against the national ehureh and ceremonies and bishops, beyond the conscienee of your dear father. I say it was as bitter as death to me when I rode Windsor way to take ship at Bristol,

house meeting granted When house : Doane Rayner buildin double place of stated. As Bra ate par heavy persuas some hopes Lord meek war un after the fr with This church Edma SITS th in Er separa bring And, worthy when & fever come Norte engie Que 00 better (Thie his li be can desir where his a

and sa w and 1 d flight." and arr career to Sales well ku

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

and saw Stoke House. where the blessed man was ; and I durst not acquaint him with my conscience and flight." He left Bristol in the ship " Lyon" in 1630. and arrived in Boston in February. 1630 1. His career after leaving Plymouth, including his return to Salem and his retirement to Rhode Island, is well known. and does not concern this narrative.

Mr. Smith, while living in Plymouth, occupied a house on the south side of the present Unitarian meeting-house and improved lands in Newfields, granted to him as appurtenant to his homestead. When he removed from Plymouth he conveyed the house to John Doane. agent of the church. and Mr. Doane conveyed it to Mr. Smith's successor, John Rayner. During the pastorate of Mr. Smith the building on Burial Hill, erected in 1622, serving the double purpose of a church and a fort. was used as a place of worship. Prior to 1622, as has already been stated. it is probable that the common house was used. As Bradford says. " Mr. Smith laid down his pastor- ate partly by his own willingness, as thinking it too heavy a burden. and partly at the desire and by the persuasion of others, and the church sought out for some other, having often been disappointed in their hopes and desires heretofore. And it pleased the Lord to send them an able and godly man and of a meek and humble spirit, sound in the truth and every way unreprovable in his life and conversation, whom, after some time of trial, they chose for their teacher, the fruits of whose labors they enjoyed many years with mueh comfort in peace and good agreement." This was John Rayner, who became pastor of the church in 1636. Before that time, however, in 1635, Edward Winslow went to England, and Bradford says that " amongst other business that he had to do in England he had," in anticipation of Mr. Smith's separation from the church, " an order to provide and bring over some able and fit man to be their minister. And, accordingly. he had procured a godly and a worthy man. one Mr. Glover ; but it pleased God, when he was prepared for the voyage, he fell sick of a fever and died. Afterwards, when he was ready to come away, he became acquainted with Rev. John Norton, who was willing to come over, but would not engage himself to this place otherwise than he should see occasion when he came here; and if he liked better elsewhere, to repay the charge laid out for him (which came to about seventy pounds) and to be at his liberty. He stayed about a year with them after he came over, and was well liked of them and much desired by them; but he was invited to Ipswich, where were many rich and able men and sundry of his acquaintances, so he went to them and is their

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 39

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