History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 59

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 59

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" Now unto others would I speak, And solemnly advise, O never to forget that day, That day of great surprise.

"When darkness overspread the earth Before the child was found, How then was silence put to mirth, And how did fear abound,

" When we knew not that e'er again The sunlight would appear ; But while the darkness did remain, Alas ! what did we fear ?

" We feared that babe would perish quite, That lovely rose in bloom ; We feared our everlasting night, We feared the day of doom."

March 12th. Zephaniah Willis eommeneed to preaeh, and on the 8th of May the church voted unanimously to give him a eall, and the town con- eurred in the same on the 22d. He aeeepted the invitation in July, and was ordained on the 18th of October following. The order of serviees was as follows : Introductory prayer, Rev. Mr. Shaw ; sermon, Rev. Mr. Sanger; ordaining prayer, Rev. Mr. Briggs; charge, Rev. Mr. Hiteheoek ; right hand of fellow- ship, Rev. Mr. Robbins.

Rev. Mr. Willis' salary at first was eighty pounds, to be paid partly in Indian eorn, rye, pork, beef, ete., at specified priees. It was also voted to give him, as an encouragement to settle, about one hundred and thirty-three pounds, to be paid in building materials. The last-named sums were of the same value as they were in 1775, for at this date (1780) the eurreney had become greatly depreciated, as at the same ineet- ing fourteen hundred and fifty-two pounds were ap propriated for repairing the meeting-house. Ten eords of wood yearly was the minister's allowance until he should have a family, and then twenty eords were to be allowed, said wood to be delivered at his door.

September 4th. The first eleetion of State offieers under the new Massachusetts Constitution took place,

and the town vote for Governor was, for Hon. John Hancock, thirteen, and for the Hon. James Bowdoin, twelve.

1781, May 5. At this time the paper eurreney had become so greatly depreciated that no confidence eould be placed in its value. In December, 1780, seventy-five dollars per bushel were allowed the sol- diers for the eorn that was due them, and at this meeting in May it was voted " to allow Mr. John Fuller's account for twenty-two pounds ten shillings, old eurreney, one hard dollar."

1782, March 11. It was decided to build two new sehool-houses, one at the southwest part of the town and one at the northwest.

1784. The town agreed to give Rev. Mr. Willis ninety-five pounds per year for ten years from the time of his settlement.

1787, April 2. The old burial-ground was inelosed this year, the wall " to begin at the line of the land of Franeis Adams in the range of the northerly side of the porch of the meeting-house, and extend to the north west side of said poreh, and that on the easterly end of the meeting-house the wall begin at the north- east corner of the tower on which the steeple is erected, and that it extend from thence in a line with the northerly side of the tower one rod and a half, and from thenee to extend to the line of Fran- eis Adams in such a direction as to inelude within the enclosure the graves nigh to the land of the said Adams."

December 17th. Hon. William Sever, Esq., was ehosen a delegate to the State Convention for ratify- ing the United States Constitution to be held in Jan- uary, 1788.

1790. Mr. Levi Bradford agreed to make the whipping-post and stoeks for nine shillings, the town to find the iron. Eighty pounds were raised for the sehools; the South Distriet to have three months' sehool, the Middle Distriet six months', the South- west and Northwest Distriets each four and a half months'.

1791. A rate of labor on highways was established as follows : For a day's labor by a man, 2s. 8d .; for a yoke of oxen, 2s .; for a horse, 1s. 6d .; for a eart, 1s. 4d. These priees were considered for eight hours' work per day.

1793, Oet. 3. Hon. William Sever had lately pre- sented the elureh and congregation with an elegant folio Bible, and the town appointed Rev. Z. Willis to wait on his honor with the thanks of the town for his valuable present. This Bible was of the first folio edition printed in our country.

1794, May. A -committee was chosen to agree

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with a schoolmaster, and they reported to allow Mr. Martin Parris seventy pounds per year " so long as he shall give satisfaction to the town." The road from the meeting-house by Adams' mill to the Plymp- ton road, near the house of Ebenezer Washburn, was laid out ; but it was not accepted by the town until 1798.

1795. May 10. William Drew, Esq., died, aged sixty-four years. He was son of Cornelius and Sarah (Bartlett) Drew, and the grandson of Samuel, mentioned page 259. He was a merchant and ship- builder. During the early days of the Revolution he was one of the Committee of Correspondence, and 1780 he represented the town in the General Court, and was also a delegate to the State Conven- tion for framing the new State Constitution.

1796. Rev. Mr. Willis' salary was four hundred dollars, exclusive of wood. Mr. Parris, the school- master, was allowed fifty dollars in addition to his salary, "considering the increase in price of pro- visions." Previous to this year the accounts seem to have been kept by the old New England currency, but as will be noticed above a change was made at this period.

1797, April 3. It was voted by the town to take the steeple of the meeting-house down, as it was not in a safe condition, although it had stood but thirty- three years. One thousand dollars raised for the necessary expenses of the town.

1798, Feb. 5. It was voted to build a new meeting- house in place of the old one, that had stood about eighty years. Mr. Robert Cook, Capt. Judah Wash- burn, Mr. John Sever, Col. John Thomas, Capt. Isaiah Thomas, Col. John Gray, Mr. David Beal, Mr. Cephas Wadsworth, Mr. Jedediah Holmes, Mr. Jere- miah Sampson, Mr. Melzar Adams, Mr. Charles Holmes, and Seth Drew, Esq., were a committee to report a plan for the building. On the 22d, Col. Gray laid the plan before the town, which was adopted : "the house to be sixty feet long and fifty- five wide, besides the projections," which were ten feet, and to be twenty-five feet in the walls. Col. John Thomas, Seth Drew, Esq., and John Faunce were chosen the committee on labor and material. The pews were sold by the plan for the purpose of raising the money necessary for the building of the house. March 26th twenty-nine pews were sold for $2413, and the next day twenty-one more were sold for $1915. By August 6th the sum of $7394 had been realized from the sale of the pews, the prices ranging from $60 to $135. The work of raising the new house of public worship was commenced on the 31st of July, and completed August 2d. During the

summer season, while the new house was in process of building, a structure was prepared on the green, made from the roof of the old house, and it was called the "Quail trap," and there the people wor- shiped. The church-bell was placed on a framework near by, and was there rung on public occasions until it soon became cracked, and thus rendered useless. The new meeting-house was opened for worship Sep- tember 16th, while it was yet unfinished. The fol- lowing account of the raising of this building was taken from the papers of the late Cornelius A. Bart- lett, who was a most reliable person, and had an ex- tensive knowledge of the history of his native town. He died Nov. 8, 1880 :

" When the second meeting-house in Kingston was raised it was made a very jovial occasion. Booths were erected in the field opposite, and all kinds of liquor and refreshments were sold freely. Mr. Bildad Washburn kept a tavern in what is now known as the Russell house, and Mrs. Dorothy Bates, who was then ten years of age, recollected the crowds of people who were there every day. Peleg Holmes said he listened one day to a Mr. Jackson, who was playing on a fiddle, while some were dancing. After the franie was up, a procession formed of those who were employed in raising the building, consisting of car- penters, sailors, blacksmiths, etc., caclı taking some implement of his trade, such as axes, rules, squares, tackles, ropes, etc. They marched to the Great bridge and back to the temporary building on the green that was used for public worship while the new church was being built. There they had punch, etc., and after an hour or so had passed in their having a jolly time the crowd dispersed to their homes, and so ended an old-fashioned ' meeting-house raising.'"

1800, Nov. 22. A committee was chosen to settle accounts with the building committee for the new meeting-house.

1801, June 15. We have now arrived at a period when the town took the first action which produced the most distracting divisions and a bitter quarrel, known since as the "Great Fund Controversy." For years its effects were felt, and probably the policy adopted by the town at that time would now, if discussed, even after the lapse of more than threc-quarters of a century, find its supporters, as well as those who would condemn it. Rev. Mr. Willis felt much troubled, and almost decided to remove from the town, so deeply did he regret the result of such discord and con- tention, when, to use his own words, "the town of Kingston had been remarkable for peace, unanimity, and concord." A disruption of the old parish soon took place, and some of the members who withdrew

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soon became the founders of the Baptist Church in the town, although at the time of their withdrawal they had no particular sympathy with that denomina- tion. The action of the town referred to was this : It was voted "that the sum of eleven hundred dollars arising from the sale of the pews in the meeting-house be put into a fund, and that the interest accruing therefrom be applied for the support of a Congrega- tional minister." Although this was the origin of the controversy, it produced no great contention until the succeeding year, when application was made to the General Court for an act of incorporation. At different stages of the controversy many harsh or bitter words were spoken by both partics, but they are now buried in the past, and the active participants have all, long ago, passed away, so that at this late day we have nothing to do but record the actual doings of the town during the four or five years the contention lasted, and such will be given in these pages under the different years as they appear upon the records of the town.

December 8th. Died, Mr. Ebenezer Cobb, in the one hundred and eighth year of his age. This is the most remarkable instance of longevity known in this vicinity. As he was born in 1694, his lifetime em- braced six years of the seventeenth century, the whole of the eighteenth, and one year of the nineteenth cen- tury. On the occasion of the completion of his hundredth year, April, 1794, Rev. Dr. Chandler Robbins, of Plymouth, went to the house of the venerable man and preached a suitable sermon. The reason of Dr. Robbins officiating at that time was that some feeling had arisen between a son of the centenarian (Mr. John Cobb) and Rev. Mr. Willis, and the preference was given to Dr. Robbins. Shortly after Mr. Willis called on his aged parishioner, as they were on very friendly terms, when the latter said to his minister, " Do not feel offended because you was not called to preach the sermon. It was none of iny doing : it was the boy's work ; but I promise you, Mr. Willis, when I have another century sermon to be preached, you shall do it." As he was five years of age before Mary Allerton Cushman, the last survivor of the " Mayflower" company, died, it makes him the link that connects the Pilgrims with the present generation. Persons are now living who recollect Mr. Cobb, and at the late celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the town (June 27, 1876), two gentle- men were on the platform as speakers who recollected conversing with him, viz .: Rev. Job Washburn, of Rockport, Me., and Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, of Philadelphia.

1802, Jan. 11. It was decided to make applica-

tion to the General Court for an act of incorpora- tion, incorporating Rev. Z. Willis, Ebenr. Washburn, Esq., Col. John Gray, Jedediah Holmes, Esq., John Faunce, Col. John Thomas, and Jedediah Holmes, Jr., as trustees of the fund, on which action was taken in 1801. An act of incorporation passcd, but soon a majority of the voters were making strenuous efforts for its repeal, as will be seen by the action of the town the next year.

1803, May 20. Voted "to petition the General Court for a repeal of the law for a fund for the sup- port of a Congregational minister." Seth Drew, El- kanah Cook, and David Beal were chosen to draw up a petition, and Seth Drew, who was the representative that year, was chosen agent to present it to the General Court. Although a majority of the people were in favor of the repeal of the law by which this church or town property was funded for the support of a Congregational minister, yet their efforts were of no avail with the Legislature, which was probably in- fluenced more by a few persons of high standing in the town than by the actual majority. It is related that the late Hon. Seth Sprague, who was then the representative from Duxbury, asked during one of the sessions " why so little notice was taken of that petition from a respectable majority of the people of Kingston ?" and the answer was heard around him from several members, " the Honorable Squire Sever is against it." As before stated, their efforts were not successful, and the General Court gave the petitioners leave to withdraw.

1804. The town voted thanks to John Faunce for his long and faithful services as clerk, he having held that office twenty-seven years continuously from 1777.

1805, Jan. 3. William Sever, Esq., proposed pay- ing every person that is dissatisfied with the minis- terial fund their proportion of said fund.

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January 7th. Voted " to apply to the General Court for an amendment for an alteration of the act of in- corporation of the ministerial fund."

June 26th. David Beal, Stephen Drew, Wrestling Brewster, Jr., Stephen Bradford, Amos Cook, Sam- uel Everson, Rufus Ring, Uriah Bartlett, Lysander Bartlett, Sylvanus Bradford, and Francis Ring peti- tioned the town " to make the ministerial tax separate from the other town tax, as they had joined the Baptist denomination." At a subsequent meeting this request was refused.

1806. It was decided to build the magazine on the north side of the burying-ground. This building, known as the powder-house, remained there many years, not being taken away until after 1860.

1808. Moses Inglec, Nath. Foster, and Jededialı

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HISTORY OF KINGSTON.

Holmes. Jr., were appointed to procure a new bell for the Congregational meeting-house. It was brought from Boston in the brig " Three Thomases," owned by John, Nathaniel, and Sylvanus Thomas. When the vessel arrived at the Cow Yard. in the harbor. it was hoisted to the mainstay and rung. This bell was in use forty-three years. A petition was sent to President Jefferson to remove partially or wholly the embargo.

June 15th. The Hon. William Sever died, aged eighty years. He had been a very prominent man in town and State affairs ; was one of the first Com- mittee of Correspondence at the commencement of the Revolution, and for many years judge of probate for the county of Plymouth. Rev. Dr. Dwight, in his " Journal of Travels," in that part relating to the Old Colony, speaks of him thus: " Mr. Sever was the most respectable and worthy character I have known," and Dr. Thatcher, in his " History of Plym- outh," says, " But I venerated him the more on ac- count of the remarkable similarity in his person and appearance to Gen. Washington. The resemblance in erect form and in dignity of manners was so pe- culiarly striking that the comparison was almost per- fect, and my interviews with him brought to my mind the most delightful recollections." Mr. Sever was the first president of the Plymouth Bank, which was organized in 1804.

1810, April 26. Col. John Gray died in his eighty- first year. He was also one of the Committee of Correspondence, and conspicuous in the affairs of the town, having been one of the selectmen thirty- four years, during the period between 1758 and 1803, and was the treasurer continuously from 1769 to 1804. Mr. Gray was the direct descendant from Edward Gray, and lived at Rocky Nook, on part of the estate of his ancestor. January 26th, Deacon Ebenezer Washburn died, aged seventy-four years. He was the representative to the General Court fif- teen years, during the period 1776-97.

1811. The road by the houses of Nathaniel Holmes, Nathan Chandler, and Oliver Sampson was laid out this year.

1812. The ministerial tax was made separate from the other town tax. One hundred dollars was appro- oriated "for a woman school." A town-meeting was held July 28th to express disapprobation of the war with England. A vote was taken, and a wish or the restoration of peace and an abhorrence to an Alliance with France was expressed.

1813. During the spring of this year an unusual number of deaths occurred. Rev. Z. Willis records he deaths of eight adults in the month of April,

and all of the same disease, which he names lung fever. The sickness that then prevailed proved so fatal that it was termed " the plague." Dr. Jabez Fuller, the principal physician of the town at that time, fell a victim to the disease, and died April 12th, aged fifty nine years.

1814, June 24. It was voted "to choose four men to join with the selectmen to contract with as many men as are required to be drafted on as good terms as possible by the month." Hezekiah Ripley, Ellis Bradford, Peter Winsor, and William Holmes were chosen, and the selectmen were requested to call on the adjutant-general for the quota of fire-arms, ac- coutrements, and ammunition for the town. Eli Cook, Benjamin Delano, and Ellis Bradford were chosen a Committee of Safety. Six hundred dollars were raised for war expenses. "Three anchors were made at the forge in the northwest part of the town by Hyde & Holmes (Charles) for the government ship ' Independence.' This ship was originally a seventy-four-gun ship, but razeed to a fifty-seven this year. The largest of the anchors weighed nine thou- sand three hundred pounds; the others, eight thou- sand three hundred each." (Cornelius A. Bartlett's MSS.)

1815. Amount of the ministerial fund this year, two thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven dollars and forty-five cents.

1816. The Southwest District was allowed to set their school-house on town's land south of road lead- ing to Elkanah Washburn's, and west of road to Plympton, bounded southwest by land of Ebenezer Adams. This was the Crossman Pond school-house. The selectmen were directed to collect all the musket- balls belonging to the commonwealth and hold them at the disposal of the quartermaster-general.

1817. On account of the failure of the crops, " Rev. Mr. Willis is willing to abate his salary from what it would be (partly payable in corn at 7 shillings per bush .; rye, 7/6, pork, 10 c., and beef, 5 c. per lb.), five hundred to four hundred and eighty dollars."

1820. The road between the house of Seth Ever- son and that of Martin Cook was laid out. George B. Holmes was chosen delegate to the State Conven- tion for revising the Constitution of Massachusetts.

1821, April 9. The town voted on the fourteen constitutional amendments of 1820, and rejected them all.

1822. At the meeting, May 6th, Maj. George Russell, the clerk, was suddenly taken ill, and lived but a short time after being removed to his residence, dying the same day.

1824. The sum of five hundred and thirty dollars

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was raised for the grammar, English, and woman's school. The ministerial fund was five thousand three hundred dollars.

1826, June 5. Samuel Stetson, who had been the treasurer of the town for seventeen years, resigned the office.

1827. The town purchased the present almshouse of Miss Abigail Drew for six hundred and fifty dol- lars. It was the same house that had formerly been occupied by her father, Mr. Zenas Drew.

1828, Oct. 3. Spencer Bradford resigned the office of treasurer, and Eli Cook was chosen.

1829. The great bridge over Jones River was re- paired, and a new arch or passage-way was built.

1830. The town was districted anew for schools, and the northwest district had forty-five families ; the west, thirty-nine ; south, twenty ; southeast, fifty ; and the middle district, one hundred and seven.

1832. The election for State officers was held in November instead of May, as had been the law for many years previously. Thomas P. Beal, Esq., pe- titioned for a road to be laid out from Loring's gate in Duxbury to the Boston road along the river by the landing.

1833. Eight hundred dollars was raised for the schools.

1836. The selectmen were ordered to finish the Landing road, the same petitioned for in 1832. A petition was offered for a new road at Rocky Nook, through what is known as the "Spirit Pasture.'

1837. Rev. John Allen, Rev. Abraham Jackson, Rev. John Davis Sweet, Jedediah Holmes, and Rob- ert Holmes were chosen the school committec. The first movement was made for the enlargement of the old burial-ground. A committee, consisting of Eli Cook, Thomas C. Holmes, Nathaniel Faunce, Jede- diah Holmes, Nathaniel Holmes, James Foster, and Nahum Bailey, was chosen to receive the town's proportion of the surplus revenue of the United States, and to invest the same.

1838. Voted that the prudential committee in the several school districts be authorized to contract for teachers.

1839. A committee was appointed to present a plan and estimate the cost of a town-house, but this action was afterwards reconsidered.

1840. The burial-ground was enlarged by land bought of Daniel Adams for six hundred dollars. A committee, consisting of Thomas C. Holmes, Eli Cook, James N. Sever, Alexander Holmes, David B. Bart- lett, Nathaniel Faunce, Asaph Holmes, Thomas Brad- ford, and Rufus B. Bradford, was chosen to build a town-house, the building to be completed Oct. 1, 1841.

The road from Boston road by the iron-works on Stony Brook to the Landing road was laid out. Also the one from the great bridge along the river to the Plympton road.

1841. Two hundred and fourteen persons were en- rolled in the militia this year.

1843. Rev. Joseph Peckham, Rev. Thomas E. Keely, Rev. Augustus R. Pope, Alden S. Bradford, and Thomas Cushman were chosen the school com- mittce. The great bridge was repaired, a part of it having fallen during a freshct.

1844. It was decided to divide the United States surplus revenue among the school districts for schools or school-houses and for no other purpose. District No. 1 received $589.69; No. 2, $946.16; No. 3, $503.89; No. 4, $437.89; No. 5, $451.08; No. 6, $556.69. Total amount, $3485.40. In all these districts new school-houses were built within a year or two. Joseph Sampson, the treasurer, died Decem- ber 6th.

1845, Jan. 25. A meeting of the town was held to see if liberty would be given to the directors of the Old Colony Railroad to build a permanent bridge over Jones River, but it was not granted. The free use of the town hall was allowed for anti-slavery and temperance meetings, also for singing-schools.

1847. Rev. Zephaniah Willis died March 6th, aged ninety years.

1848. Several events occurred this year calculated to disturb the usual quietness of the town. In April the dwelling-house of Mr. E. P. Richardson was con- sumed by fire, and the same month Capt. Perez H. Sampson, of the old packet "July," while on a trip to Boston, absconded or met with foul play, and his whereabouts was never known to his family or friends. In August a barn of Mr. Joseph Holmes' near the Old Colony Railroad depot was totally consumed by fire, and before the year closed a store in the centre of the town was entered by burglars, thus making an eventful year.

1849. In June of this ycar a bell was placed in the tower of the Baptist meeting-house, and rung for Sunday service on the 1st day of July for the first timc.

1850, April 25. The town voted to procure a fire-engine, and an attempt was made to organize a fire company, but the votes were all reconsidered June 8th.

1851. The old meeting-house was demolished in May, and the present Unitarian Church was built during the year. In April occurred the memorable storm and unprecedented high tide on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts, and a great deal of damage

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was done at the Rocky Nook wharves and at the landing in this town.

1852. Joseph Holmes and sons presented a clock to the Unitarian Society, and it was put into the tower of the church. The first hour struck after it was in order was four o'clock P.M., June 26th.

July 16th. Hon. Thomas Prince Beal, one of the prominent members of the Plymouth County bar, died, aged sixty-six years.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 59

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