History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 42

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 42

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185

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

The development of the school system of the town from its smallest beginnings has been sufficiently in- dicated by what has been expressed in these pages. The interest felt by its people in the cause of educa- tion is strikingly displayed by their readiness to ac- cept and bear the burden of taxation for its support. The appropriation of twelve hundred and twenty dol- lars, already stated to have been made in 1803 by a population of three thousand five hundred, has swol- len, with only double the population, to the sum of twenty thousand five hundred dollars in 1884. Nor is the burden believed to be a heavy one. It is looked upon as an investment from which something better than a percentage of interest is received,-an income in the shape of increased comforts, an enlarged capacity for enjoyment, a high standard of morals, the partial extinguishment of idleness and poverty, a more com- prehensive view of life and its dnties, and a more vigorous capacity to compete with the world in the exposure of its secrets and the development of its resources.

The manufacturing industries of Plymonth showed few signs of an elastic growth until navigation ceased to absorb its capital. During the first century and a half after its settlement, grist-mills, coopers' shops, domestic looms, and fulling-mills furnished, with agri- culture, the chief employment of its people on the land. The most lucrative branches of business, how- ever, were fishing, and a coastwise and a gradually increasing foreign trade. Finally, after the process of centralization of trade in the cities had set in, the fisheries only survived ; but so reluctant was capital to abandon the source of its accumulation, that it continued to invest in tonnage which never floated in Plymouth waters, and which contributed little to the promotion of its welfare. Manufactures, it is true, began, in the latter part of the last century and in the beginning of this, to spring up in the hands of a few enterprising men, but their growth was limited until the channel by which wealth flowed into investments on the ocean was closed altogether, and a new one opened by which it sought new fields of activity on the land.

Stephen can beat all the corn that is or shall be used in the colony, it shall not be lawful for any other to set np a work of that kind except it be for his own use, or freely, without toll or any other consideration whatsoever, to give leave to others to make use of the same.' In 1633 the court further ordered " that Ste- phen Deane have a sufficient water-wheel set up at the charge of the colony, consisting of one foot more in depth than that he now useth, at or before the 27th of March, the said Stephen finding the iron-work thereunto belonging; in consideration whereof the said Stephen to surrender np his work, and that right and claim he challengeth for the beating of corn, whenever a grinding-mill shall be set up at the order and appointment of the Governor and Council of As- sistants."

The mill built by Mr. Deane stood near where the works of Samuel Loring now stand, and were oper- ated by him until his death, in 1633. In 1635 it was agreed by the court "to be needful to build a inill, and these fonr whose names are underwritten were appointed to collect the money for the building of the same, as also to agree with workmen and order other all things for the dispatch thereof .- Captaine Standish, Mr. William Collier, John Done, and John Winslow.'

In 1636 it was ordered " that Mr. John Jenney shall have liberty to erect a mill for grinding and beating of corn upon the brook of Plymouth, to be to him and his heirs forever ; and shall have a pottle of corn toll npon every bushel for grinding the same for the space of the two first years next after the mill is erected, and afterwards but a quart at a bushel for all that is brought to the mill by others; but if he fetch it and grind it himself or by his servants, then to have a pottle toll for every bushel as before."

Mr. Jenney erected his mill on the site of the old one, and after his death, in 1644, it was carried on by his son Samuel until 1683. The town, still re- taining title to the privilege, made in 1683 the fol- lowing agreement with Charles Stockbridge, of Scit- uate :

The first mill built in the town was a corn-mill, "Whereas the town of Plymouth have been many years much damnified for want of the right management of their corn-mill, and having by their agents made suit to the said Charles Stockbridge to come and purchase said mill, and come and build it as he shall sec cause for the good and benefit of the said town and himself, the said Charles Stockbridge coming to Plymouth on the account abovesaid, the said town of Plym- outh have for his encouragement hereby granted unto the said Charles Stockbridge the whole use of their brook or stream commonly called Town Brook, where the old mill now standeth, to him, the said Charles Stockbridge, his heirs and assigns, for the use of a corn-mill or mills as he or they shall see meet, and which was probably located at " Holmes' Dam," near Billington Lea. In 1632 the Colony Court, on the application of Stephen Deane "to set up a water- work to beat corn upon the brook adjoining to the town of Plymouth, for the benefit of the common- wealth," ordered " that, provided the place be made choice of where no hinderance to a grinding-mill in- tended hereafter, he might bring his work nearer the town ; that he should receive one pottle out of every bushel for toll and no more ; "and that in case the said | for no other use no more than any other townsman; which

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

said brook and privileges said Charles Stockbridge, his heirs and assigns, shall have so long as he or they shall maintain a sufficient corn-mill and miller to grind the town corn well and honestly for one-sixteenth part of a bushel of corn or grain, which shall be brought unto the said mill in a fit capacity to grind; and for the further encouragement of said Charles Stockbridge herein the said town have paid unto him, said Stockbridge, eleven pounds in silver towards the raising of said mill-dam and making a waste-water course for the herrings to pass over the dam into the pond; and the said town by their agents, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do hereby en- gage to and with the said Charles Stockbridge and his heirs and assigns to be at half the charge of maintaining the said water-course successively ; namely, all that part of it that is below the said mill-dam. In confirmation of which articles of agreement aforesaid the agents for the said town of Plymouth and the said Charles Stockbridge have put to their hands the first of May, 1683.

"Signed in presence of

" ISAACKE LITTLE.

" JOHN HATHAWAY.

"EPHRAIM MORTON, SR.

JOSEPH WARREN. JOSEPH BARTLETT.

CHARLES STOCKBRIDGE."

It is plain from these extracts from the records that corn was the prominent feature in the economy of the Pilgrims. It was undoubtedly in some shape, either ground or unground, their chief article of food. Winslow, in 1621, says in a letter to a friend in England who is preparing to come to New Eng- land, which has been already quoted, " Be careful to come by some of your meal to spend by the way, it will mueh refresh you ;" " our Indian corn, even the coarsest maketh as pleasant meat as rice ;" "let your meal be so hard trod in your cask that you shall need an adz or hatchet to work it out with." The colony looked upon corn as its main staff and support, and the mills for its grinding became, therefore, the wards of its court. After the death of Mr. Stockbridge, the mill was sold by his widow to her son, Charles, and a grist-mill continued to be operated on the old privilege until 1847, when the mill of that period was burned. In January, 1847, the condition of the original grant to Mr. Stoekbridge-that he and his as- signs should forever maintain a grist-mill-being no longer complied with, the town took action to dis- cover its rights in the premises. The property was then in the hands of the Robbins Cordage Company, who were the final assignees of Mr. Stockbridge, and it was believed by many that unless the company complied with the conditions of the grant they would lose their title. The matter was referred to the se- leetmen, who after consulting counsel made a report abandoning all elaims, which was accepted by the town. Thus the town lost all its right, title, and in- terest in a mill where for two hundred and fourteen years its inhabitants had enjoyed the privilege of grinding their corn at specified moderate rates.

No other mill was built in Plymouth until 1672,

when George Bonum built a fulling-mill on the Town Brook about two hundred feet above the works of the Bedstead-Joint Company. It was afterwards re- moved to the point where the works now stand, and continued in operation until the beginning of the present century. The appearance of this mill marks the time when spinning-wheels and looms began to be used in every household, and when the homespun eloth began to be made so extensively as to render such a mill necessary. From the date of this mill until the middle of the next century there seems to have been no new industrial enterprise established. At about that time a leather-mill was built where the factory of the Billington Mills is now situated, and not many years after a snuff-mill was erected near it. In 1809, William Davis, Nathaniel Russell, and Sam- uel Spear were incorporated under the name of " The Plymouth Cotton Company," and a cotton-factory was built in the place of the old mills, and burned in 1812. In 1813 it was rebuilt, and again burned in 1843. In 1855 the privilege was sold to the Samoset Mills corporation, who built the present fac- tory, and sold it in 1872 to parties who changed its name from Samoset Mills to Billington Mills, and its produet from thread to print cloths.

The two next privileges below the Billington Mills do not appear to have come into use until the latter part of the last century. Under either the ownership or direction of various parties-Solomon Inglee, Jacob Albertson, Anthony Dyke, John King, Ephraim Noyes, Nathaniel Russell, William Davis, Barnabas Hedge, Samuel Spear, and Oliver Ames-shovels and anchors were for some years manufactured at these privileges. In 1854 the lower of the two was sold to Jeremiah Farris and Oliver Edes, the grant- ors, in 1846, to the Plymouth Mills, and in 1854 the upper was sold to the Plymouth Mills, which, under the superintendence of William P. Stoddard, is ex- tensively engaged in the manufacture of rivets and machinery. These privileges were owned many years by N. Russell & Co., who carried on extensive opera- tions at a privilege below.

The next privilege on the Town Brook, that now occupied by the Robinson Iron Company, was first brought into use, in 1792, by Martin Brimmer, who bought it of his father-in-law, George Watson, and, after building a dam, erected a rolling-mill, slitting- mill, grist-mill, and oil-mill on the premises. In 1805, Sarah Brimmer, widow of Martin, sold it to Nathaniel Russell, William Davis, and others, from whom, in 1837, it passed into the hands of Mr. Rus- sell, who for some years, either alone or in connection with his son, Nathaniel, carried on the manufacture

187

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

of nails and hoops and nail-plates. In 1866 it was sold by the family of Mr. Russell to the Robinson Iron Company, who continued, with enlarged facili- ties, substantially the same business. On the east- erly part of the premises belonging to the Robinson Iron Company an extensive tan-yard was formerly lo- cated. William Crombie bought the land by two deeds in 1766 and 1786, of Richard Cooper, and es- tablished the tannery, which he carried on for many years. Solomon Richmond succeeded in the business until finally the land was sold, and is now the prop- erty of the present proprietors of the iron-works.

The privilege which has already been described as that used in connection with the ancient corn-mill was used many years by the Robbins Cordage Company, now dissolved, and is now utilized by Samuel Loring in the manufacture of tacks and rivets. In 1812 a cotton-factory was erected at Eel River, which, after thirty or forty years of varying success, was changed into a cotton-duck factory, which is now carefully man- aged by Mr. Edward B. Hayden. In 1827 a rolling- mill and nail-factory were also erected at Eel River by N. Russell & Co., which, after the death of Nathaniel Russell, were sold to the Russell Mills corporation, which took down the old buildings and erected the present commodious cotton-duck mill on the premises. Two zinc-mills have also been running for many years at Eel River, one owned by the estate of Oliver Edes and the other by N. Wood & Co.

In the north part of the town the Plymouth Cord- age Company, incorporated in 1821, has an extensive establishment, which for many years, under the thrifty management of Bourne Spooner, more re- cently under that of his son, Charles W. Spooner, and at present under the superintendency of their able successor, Gideon F. Holmes, has continued to employ a large body of workmen and carried on a lucrative business. Near the railway station a factory for the manufacture of fancy cassimeres, under the management of Roswell S. Douglass, and a shoe-fac- tory, owned by Francis F. Emery, an enterprising and substantial merchant of Boston, have been established within a few years and give cupployment to a large number of the town's inhabitants. A tack-factory, also near the station, and recently erected by Ripley & Bartlett; the gas-works, constructed in 1854; a foundry for the manufacture chiefly of stoves, owned by the Plymouth Foundry Company, and superin- tended by Luke Perkins ; a saw-, stave-, and box-

mill, owned by E. & J. C. Barnes ; a keg-factory, owned by Samuel Bradford ; a grist-mill and mill for the manufacture of a recently-patented and exten- sively-used bedstead-joint, under the management of Nathaniel Morton; a shoe-shank factory, owned by Manter & Blackmer; and the usual variety of smaller enterprises complete the list of industries within the actual limits of the town, while just without its limits, at Rocky Nook, a part of Kingston, on Smelt Brook, are located extensive works for the manufac- ture of tacks and rivets by Cobb & Drew, whose office is located in Plymouth. The capital employed in these establishments in 1883 was $2,017,000, and their product reached the sum of $3,372,000. With- out, of course, any allusion to the ordinary business of the stores and lumber-yards and coal-wharves, a statement of the indications of the prosperity of the town would be far from complete without a reference to the banking institutions and customs and postal business. The banking institutions consist of the Plymouth National Bank, originally incorporated as the Plymouth Bank in 1803 ; the Plymouth Savings- Bank, originally incorporated as the Plymouth Insti- tution for Savings in 1828, and rechristened by its present name in 1847; the Old Colony National Bank, originally incorporated as the Old Colony Bank in 1832 ; and the Plymouth Five-Cents Sav- ings-Bank, incorporated in 1855. The capital and surplus of the two national banks are about $550,000, and the deposits of the two savings banks exceed the sum of $2,800,000.

The value of foreign imports during the year 1883 was $320,021, on which the duties paid amounted to $71,330.30. The number of tons of domestic im- ports was 46,246, valued at $1,106,012, exclusive of the catchings of fishing-vessels, amounting in value to $56,456. In addition to the above, merchandise amounting to 34,141 tons was brought into the town by rail during the year, the value of which there are no ready means of estimating. The net receipts of the post-office, after the payment of all expenses, was $6100; and with this item the narrative of the his- tory and present condition of the town of Plymouth must end. It has already exceeded the limits as- signed to it, and the author must ask both the indul- gence of the editors in occupying more than the share of space which perhaps justly belongs to Plymouth, and that of the reader in occupying so much less than the subject of the narrative deserves.

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

OLIVER EDES.

Oliver Edes, son of Oliver and Lucy (Lewis) Edes, was born in East Needham, Mass., Nov. 10, 1815. Hc received the educational advantages afforded by the common schools of those early days, and at the age of sixteen he learned the trade of nail-making on Boston Milldam. After working at this business for some time, at various places, he entered the employ of Appollas Randall & Co., at South Braintree, where he learned to run taek-machines. Mr. Edes was a thor- ough mechanic, and while here his inventive genius exhibited itself in various ways, and at the age of twenty-two he invented and patented and put in oper- ation the first rivet-machines which eut from drawn wire all the different sizes and forms of small rivets. The introduction of these machines revolutionized the whole rivet business, and from this beginning of Oliver Edes has grown this vast industry through- out the United States, with the whole civilized world for its market. Prior to this invention of Mr. Edes, rivets had been made by hand and imported from Europe at a large expense. It is related of Mr. Edes that he met no little difficulty in introducing this new article of manufacture. His first attempt was made in Boston, where he was met with all kinds of objec- tions, dealers being loth to believe that machine-madc rivets were of practical value. Although being met with refusal, the perseverance and energy which marked his subsequent successful business carcer here displayed itself, and he again endeavored to con- vince the Boston dealers of the superiority of his goods. Failure met his efforts a second time. He then gave his rivets directly to the consumers for trial, and in this way a demand was created which soon rapidly increased. The growth of the busi- ness has been almost phenomenal ; "machine" rivets are now made from the smallest pin wire up to the large bolts used for the heaviest boiler-sheets.

In 1840, Mr. Edes formed a eopartnership with Andrew Holmes, under the firm-name of Holmes, Edes & Co., for the manufacture of rivets, at North Marshfield. This business continued about three years, when the firm of Farris, Edes & Co. was formed, and about one year later removed to Plymouth, where the manufacture was entered upon extensively, and from this place the business really dates its growth, still being carried on by several large establishments.

In 1850, Mr. Edes retired from this business, and, in company with Nathaniel Wood, under the, firm- name of Edes & Wood, began the manufacture of

zinc, shoe-nails, and tacks, and soon after commenced the rolling of zinc nail plate in the southern part of Plymouth, known as Chiltonville. In 1859, Mr. Edes purchased Mr. Wood's interest, and continued the business as sole proprictor. In 1880 his son, Edwin L. Edes, became associated with him, and the business has since been conducted under the name of Oliver Edes & Son.

In 1883 the Edes, Mixter & Heald Zine Com- pany was organized, consisting of Mr. Edes, his son E. L. Edes, his son-in-law J. W. Mixter, and T. H. Heald, of Knoxville, Tenn., for the development of the zine ore-mines in Virginia and Tennessee, and for the manufacture of zine metal. The works and mines are located near Knoxville, Tenn., where is manufae- tured zine spelter of the finest quality. It will thus be seen that Oliver Edes, as a practical mechanie, with business taet and wise foresight, during his life- time gave to the country industrial interests of im- mense importanee.

Oct. 7, 1836, Mr. Edes united in marriage with Susan Davie, of Plymouth, and their family consists of the following: Lydia Curtis Edes, William Wal- lace Edes, and Edwin Lewis Edes.

Mr. Edes was a Republican in polities.

Oliver Edes was a kind, sympathetic man, a great lover of nature, of the trees, of the shrubs, and of the flowers, and withal aniong the noble traits of his ster- ling character was that of unostentatious benevolence. During the latter years of his life he was much afflicted with rheumatie troubles, which often con- fined him to his bed for weeks and months at a time a great sufferer, but bearing his affliction with forti- tude and courage. His death occurred Feb. 21, 1884, thus removing one of Plymouth's most honored and esteemed eitizens.

TIMOTHY GORDON, M.D.

Among the prisoners in the eamp at Tuthill Fields, in London, taken in the wars between England and Scotland in 1650, was a young Scotchman bearing the name of Alexander Gordon. With others of his countrymen, he was released on the condition of his cmigration to New England. Iu the summer of 1651 he crossed the ocean on a ship commanded by Capt. John Allen, and after reaching his destinatiou was still held as a prisoner of war at Watertown until 1654. After his final uuconditional release, he re- moved to New Hampshire before the year 1660, and married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Lysson, a sawyer on the falls at the bend of the Squamseot River. In

THE

Ohier Edes

شكيد

النفس

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

1664 he settled on a town-grant "beyond ye little river" in Exeter, where he died in 1697. Thomas Gordon, their son, who was born in 1678, and died in 1762. married Elizabeth Harriman, of Haverhill, in the State of Massachusetts. Timothy Gordon, the son of Thomas, who was born March 22, 1716, and died March 30. 1796, married Maria Stockbridge, of Stratham, N. H., and their second son was Timothy Gordon. a farmer and shipwright, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born at Brentwood, N. H .. Dec. 30, 1757. and died Jan. 16, 1836. at the age of seventy-eight. He was a soldier in the Revo- lution and a pensioner of the government. He en- listed April 23, 1775, in the company commanded by Capt. Daniel Moore in Stark's regiment, and was in the battles of Bunker Hill, Bennington, and Saratoga. It has been written of him by one who remembered him as he sat at his desk engaged in accounts or corre- spondence, " I have never yet found a Gordon, and I have known many, so amiable in character, so mild in disposition, so true in all that is genuine manliness of character, as Timothy Gordon, of Belleville."

He married, Jan. 23, 1782, Lydia, the oldest daughter of David Whitmore, son of Joseph Whit- more, and brother of Governor Whitmore, of Hali- fax. According to tradition, Joseph Whitmore lived in Woburn, Mass., prior to 1710, and removed with his wife, Elizabeth, to Newbury, Mass., about the year 1712. Lydia Whitmore was born in Newbury, Oct. 10, 1763. Timothy Gordon, her husband, did the iron-work of the United States sloop-of-war " Wasp," built in Newburyport. Capt. Jones, who was assigned to her command, taking a fancy to his son Timothy, the subject of this sketch, then about eighteen years of age, offered to take him in his ship. The plan was frustrated by his mother, and when the vessel was nearly ready for sea Timothy was sent, with an older brother, with two yoke of oxen and a horse, to Brentwood, N. H. When they returned the " Wasp" had sailed, and after her capture of the British brig " Frolic," Oct. 17, 1812, she with her prize was taken by a British seventy-four, and the young Timothy thus escaped the terrors of Dartmoor prison. By the escape, however, it is possible that the government lost the services of one who, if he had entered the navy, could not have failed, with the energy, conrage, determination, and nerve which dis- tinguished him in later life, to have attained high rank among the captains of his time.

He was born in Newbury, Mass., March 10, 1795, and in the common schools of his native town re- ceived his education. After leaving school a taste for the sea inclined him to commercial life, and he surgical practice in a small community gave him rare

made one or more voyages as supercargo to Spanish and Mediterranean ports. In 1823 his brother Wil- liam, who had acquired a high reputation in the med- ical profession, was in full practice in Hingham, Mass., and with him he began the study of medicine. His studies were completed at Bowdoin College, where he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1825. He married, May 12, 1825, Jane Binney, daughter of Solomon and Sarah Jones, of Hingham, and set- tled in Weymouth, where he remained until 1837. In that year he removed to Plymouth, where, in the enjoyment of a constantly-increasing practice, he continued to reside until his death.

Of his wife it is fitting to say something more than that she died Jan. 14, 1877, at the age of eighty- three, after a married life of fifty-two years. It was truly said of her at her decease that " she was a per- son of clear and practical mental perceptions, good judgment, and generous impulses, ' well reported for good works.' Her genial and pleasant ways, her amiable disposition, her gentle words, her kind and charitable regard for others, find an abiding proof and tribute in the grateful memories of many hearts."

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 42

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