History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 80

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 80

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Thus the Indians parted with their title to the Hanover lands. Our ancestors boast that they pur- ehased the title from the aborigines, and did not ae- quire it by conquest. Just what this Indian title was is not a matter of certainty. It seems to have been not an absolute ownership, perhaps, so mueh as a right to the occupation,-a right to live, fish, hunt, and

trap in the territory, and a right to the unobstructed enjoyment of these rights. None of these deeds or conveyanees of the Indians eould give a good title to the lands therein conveyed. The title was valid against the Indians, but not as against the colony. Whoever took such a deed took it for the benefit of and in trust for the colony. This rule was inflexible, and its infraction induced serious results. One Thomas Joy, of Hingham, was committed to jail for producing " a deed of gift of lands to him from an Indian saehem, whereby he had broken a law of the eolony," and was not released until he had diselaimed all title to the lands and surrendered his deed to the eourt.

Colonial Grants .- The history of the land tenure in the old Plymouth Colony is an interesting one. The system of common ownership prevailed at first to a great extent. As time wore on and the number of inhabitants inereased, the common lands were gradually granted out until nearly all were disposed of; but yet to-day, after the lapse of two centuries, the relies of the system remain. The towu of Hanover has lost, probably, all the common land within its borders, ex- eept perhaps some spots near the eentre ; but, as the sueeessor of the old " proprietors," it still holds their shares in certain low, marshy islands ealled " the flats, in North River, within the limits of the town of Seituate. Every year the right to harvest the erop of salt sedge-grass, or as it is ealled by the farmers, " flatstuff," growing on these islands, is sold to the highest bidder at the Mareli. town-meeting, a relie of the old meetings of the " proprietors," which ean be seen in hardly another town in the county. It was this very question of the proper and equitable division of these common lands which gave occasion to the supplementary aet of incorporation of the town of Hanover, passed May 25, 1737. This act reeites in the preamble that in the aet for ereeting a new town within the county of Plymouth by the name of Hanover, there is a saving to the towns of Seituate and Hanover of their interests in the eom- mon and undivided lands withiu the said towns ; and the said town of Hanover was taken partly out of the town of Seituate and partly out of the towu of Abing- ton, and the inhabitants of that part of Hanover ouly which was before part of the town of Seituate, have an interest in the said common land with the town of Seituate, and there is some difficulty about the im- provement and management of the common and uu- divided land which lies in the said town of Seituate, and which they have not agreed to make a division of, whose interest therein is not known, viz., the mow- ing ground, flats, hummoek, aud beach.

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HISTORY OF HANOVER.

The grants spoken of above were in the first in- stance made by the Colony Court. This was at first a meeting of all the freemen of the colony. A gov- ernment of representatives or deputies was of later growth. Very soon, however, the freemen chose " assistants." as they were called, whose duty it was to assist the Governor in his duties. In this " court of assistants." as it was sometimes called, or " court of the Governor and assistants," lay all legislative, ju- dicial, and proprietary functions. Their records show them to have made the laws which they afterward executed as a court in the modern meaning of the term, and also to have granted out to various indi- viduals known as proprietors, or, as in one case, to a whole town, the lands which had been occupied by the Indians.

Scituate was at one time a town of more inhabi- tants, of greater wealth, and of larger influence, than Plymouth. Even in those early days the question of moving the seat of government from Plymouth was agitated, and the Colony Court passed a law perpetu- ally tying the Governor to Plymouth. Perhaps to allay the rising trouble, the court granted to Scituate the right and power of making grants of the lands within its limits, a favor never shown to any other town in the colony. The grants thus made by the town cover a large portion of the territory of Hanover east of the share line. The extreme northwest of the town was divided into lots whose greatest length was east and west, called the great lots. These lots began on the south side of Accord Pond, and ran southerly with the share line beyond the present Ce- dar Street. The angle in the westerly line of the town is at their southwest corner. They were one mile in length, and of widths varying from twenty- five to thirty-three and a third rods. Through the centre there was left a space "five rodes brode be- tweene the two halfe miles for a passedge-way through all the lotes to the common." These lots, called the great lots, were granted out before 1700. They passed, as did all common lands by the custom of the colony, not to those persons who were by the English common law the heirs-at-law of the original proprietors, but to the "successors" of these proprie- tors. By " successors" was meant those persons who at the death of the " proprietor" owned and occupied his homestead.

Hanover's remaining territory, east of the share line, was granted out in large or small lots to other proprietors, perhaps to make even division among all. The body of proprietors decided to how many acres of swamp and of upland each proprietor was entitled, and then the old method of lot was used to decide who

should have his first pitch. In the order of the lot each proprietor took a surveyor and picked out the number of acres granted him. This was called "making his pitch." These "pitches," could they now be picked out from the confusion of the old records, would cover the map of the town with an irregular system of patches, in many instances over- lapping each other. The cedar swamps being the most valuable wood lands were exempt from these "pitches," and were usually laid out in regular par- allel lots across the swamp, and divided out separately.

West of the share line, all the land now comprised within Hanover bounds was in 1654 spoken of in the Colony Records as being "out of the bounds of any township," and was that year granted by the Colony Court to Mr. Timothy Hatherly " to satisfy the part- ners at Conihasset," " sundry contentions and entan- glements between Mr. Timothy Hatherly and some of the Inhabitants of Scituate" having arisen.

In 1656 the grant was given more definite bounds, as follows : " A tract of land to begin at Accord Pond on the southerly side, and to run three miles south- erly towards Indian Head River Pond, and to be laid out three miles square on the west line of Scituate." Later, in 1671, to avoid running the north line across the colony line, the court ordered it to be run from the south side of the pond so far south of west as to avoid the patent line, as the line dividing the two colonies was then and is now called. This tract was divided into forty parts, twenty-seven of which were assigned to the " Conihasset Partners." In 1663, Mr. Hatherly repurchased ten shares, and then sold twenty-three shares for sixty-nine pounds to John Jacob, Edward Wilder, John Thaxter, and Matthew Cushing, of Hingham, and John Otis, of Scituate, who already owned seven and one-half shares. The remaining shares belonged to Thomas Andrews and others. A division was made in 1672 by these par- ties among themselves. The entire grant was divided into eastern, western, and middle shares by lines drawn parallel to the share line.

The eastern lot was two hundred and forty rods wide, and was assigned to Jacob & Co. In 1699 it was divided by east and west parallel lines into lots to hold in severalty. The southerly end was thus di- vided into five lots, each sixty-four rods wide, and the northerly end into five lots, each one hundred and twenty-eight rods wide. These divisions were called the " Drinkwater shares," before spoken of, probably from the stream running through them, which at its junction with the Indian Head is now sometimes called the Drinkwater River.

The middle division was divided by north and south

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

lines, as Hobart supposes, to give eachi owner a por- tion of ecdar swamp. These lots were called the small shares. The present limits of Hanover included all the Drinkwater shares and also a part of the sınall shares.

Immediately south of this grant to Hatherly two hundred aeres of land west of the share line was granted, in 1665, to Cornet Robert Stetson, of Scitu- ate. In 1667 it was laid out and bounded "on the east by the line of the Town of Seituate until it erosses a deep, still brook, and so again from the town's line, as Mr. Hatherly's land runs, westerly, until it crosses the said brook there again, with all the spots and holes of meadow that are within said bounds." Just south of this grant, in -1671, the Col- ony Court confirmed a sale made by their agents, Jo- siah Winslow and Constant Southworth, to Joseph Barstow and Joseph Sylvester. This grant is de- scribed as " a parcel of upland, be it more or less, lying and being on the westward side of Scituate bounds, and is bounded on the north with the bound- tree of Cornet Stetson, which is marked R. S., and the rocks by the brook that bounds the Cornet's land, and so ranging southerly until it meets with three black-oak trees and one stump marked J. B. J. S., and from thence west to the utmost extent of the land purchased by Cornet Stetson, and from the three trees southeast to the brook, only there is excepted out of the aforesaid sale fifty acres contained within the aforesaid bounds granted by the Court to William Barstow, deceased, for services done for the country."

Lying to the south of this latter traet was the land sold in 1671 to Joseph Barstow and Moses and Aaron Simmons, of Seituate, for the sum of eight pounds, " a parcel of upland, more or less, lying and being on the westward side of Seituate town bounds, and bounded north with the lands of Joseph Silvester and Joseph Barstow, extending itself southerly to the utmost ex- tent of the purchase made by Cornet Robert Stetson for the use of the Colony, and westerly to the utmost extent of said purchase." In another place this is described as running south from Barstow's other land on the west line of Scituate one mile and a half. The southeast corner of this grant is supposed to have stood near the lower tack-factory on Indian Head River, in Hanson.

Incorporation .- The carliest settlements made in Scituate were made near the shore and in the vicinity of the harbor. Later the attractions of the good lands near North River drew settlers up its course. The power furnished by the waters of the Indian Head and Drinkwater Rivers lured settlers farther and farther into the forest. Probably the carliest

settlements in Hanover were therefore made at the " Corners." In 1704 to 1710 we find forges erected on the Indian Head. Gradually the population spread northwest, following at first the course of the Third Herring Brook, also a valuable stream for the power it gave, and then spreading back ward into the interior. In 1727, the year of the incorporation, we find within the Hanover limits about three hundred souls.

At this time the colony law provided for a regular tax upon each and every tax-payer for the support of the ministry and the church. This tax was levicd upon all, whether attendants upon church, or, as they would have said, "meeting-goers," or not. The burden of traveling so far to reach the meeting, for the sup- port of which they paid their taxes, was so great that this probably as much as any other thing brought the settlers of this town to petition the General Court to establish a new town.

Scituate, from whose territory the greater portion of the town was carved, made no opposition, but Abington strove valiantly against losing the little strip of territory which before that time had belonged to her. They feared they would miss the taxes which the new town would now contribute to the support of a minister and church of their own. Their fears were well-grounded, for in the act of incorporation it is stipulated as a condition that the inhabitants of the said town of Hanover "do, within the space of two years from the publication of this act, erect and finish a suitable house for the Publie Worship of God, and as soon as may be procure and settle a learned Orthodox Minister of good conversation, and make provision for his comfortable and honorable support, and that thereupon they be discharged from any fur- ther payment for the maintenance of the ministry, &c., in the towns of Seituate or Abington for any estate lying within the said town of Hanover."

Accordingly, in September, 1726, Lieut. William Recd, Matthew Pratt, Edward Bates, and Samuel Noyes were chosen " to draw up objections in answer to the Drink water people's petition to draw off from them." This remonstrance, presented the following spring, assigned as reasons for opposing the new town's incorporation,-

" 1. Because of the fewness of our families in number, which is but about fifty-three, including the cight desiring to be set off; and of these five are newly married, and have neither house nor home but as they sojourn under the roof of others; and of the rest six are widows whose husbands have of late deceased, leaving their families much broken, and under lew circumstances, which nineteen, taken from fifty-three, leaves but thirty-feur, and even of these some are so poor that they are left out of tho rates, and have need of support from the town, so that there will be but thirty families left te bear the public charges.

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HISTORY OF HANOVER.

"2. The part of the town petitioning to be set off contains eleven polls and above one-fifth the ratable estate, and al- thongh there will still be left to Abington a considerable tract of land, yet but little part of it is capable of settlement except the easterly part, which is chiefly in gentlemen proprietors' hands who do neither sell nor settle their lands, they living in other towns and improving the same only as timber lots, and the inhabitants petitioning to be set off dwell on the easterly part of those great lots which run westerly nearly to the centre of Abington, which will hence be exempt from taxation here for the support of the ministry.

" 3. That the eight petitioners for the separation, viz .. Elijah Cushing. Jeremiah Hatch. Nathaniel Davis, Joseph Bryant, Nehemiah Cushing. Benjamin Loring, and Isaac Hatch, though they nrged their distance from public worship, were but four miles from the meeting-house, and that if it was objected that the way was difficult and impassable, yet several responsible men had offered to make it good and passable for man and horse for £5 charge."

In the light of the present comparative sizes of the towns of Hanover and Abington, this remonstrance is a curiosity. To meet so pitiable an appeal the General Court appointed a committee to visit the territory in dispute. They reported in favor of the petitioners and against the remonstrants. But their representation of the unfortunate condition of Ab- ington as to its taxable estate produced an act reliev- ing the town of Abington by providing that all lands of non-residents lying within the limits of Abington should be liable for three years to a tax for the sup- port of the ministry of one half-penny per acre. The Legislature also granted them a tract of land lying northeast of what is commonly called Waldo's farm.

The new town thus incorporated chose for its first town clerk William Witherell, who lived at the Four Corners.

CHAPTER II.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

The Early Church-The Second Congregational Church-The Catholic Chapel-St. Andrew's Church-The Baptist Society -- The Universalist Society.

Ix the act incorporating the town we have already seen that the Legislature inserted a proviso that the inhabitants of the said town of Hanover do, within the space of two years from the publication of this act, erect and finish a suitable house for the public worship of God, and as soon as may be procure and settle a learned Orthodox minister. This was in strict accord with the prevailing ideas of the time when Church and State were hardly sepa- rated. The town was not slow to take action under this proviso. The publication of this act

is dated July 11, 1727, and we find on record, July 17, 1727, that " Mr. Daniel Dwight was chosen to dispense the word of God for three months," and the sum of £7 19s. was appropriated to recompense him for this service. The meetings were held near the centre of the town, in some citizen's home, that of Mr. Samuel Stetson being first used, until in No- vember of the year 1727 it was voted to erect a " meeting-house," thesc strict old Calvinists scorning to use the word " church," as savoring too much of the English Church ideas.

The building committee, Elijah Cushing, Joseph House, and Abner Dwelley, were instructed to build a house as cheaply as possible, and its dimensions were to be, length forty-eight feet, width thirty-eight feet, and height between joints nineteen feet, to be completed by Oct. 1, 1728.

Then came the momentous question of defraying the expense. The house when completed cost about three hundred pounds. It had neither steeple nor bell. The gable-roof shut down over a double row of small windows with diamond-shaped glass, probably set in lead. No fire ever occasioned the need of a chimney, and no plastering raised the question of whether frescoed or plain walls were better for true worship. There are now people living who remember the first introduction of stoves in church. They were objected to on the ground that they would occa- sion headache and drowsiness. The ladies of the congregation sometimes carried little tin boxes filled with glowing coals called foot-stoves or foot-warmers, but the greater part of the congregation were warmed only by their zcal. In this edifice, with its huge hard- wood timbers creaking as the winter winds whistled through the edifice, sat the people of the congregation and listened to the preached word for nearly forty years, until its place was supplied by a more preten- tious edifice upon the same spot in 1765.

I have spoken of the struggle necessary to raise the funds to build this church. At that time the circulating medium was scarce. Much of the trade between neighbors was conducted by barter, and but little money passed. Thus we find many people con- tributing lumber for the church ; Thomas Buck gave the land ; others gave other lands, which, the town owning the church, were surveyed off to the town and afterward sold. The parent town of Scituate having made no objection to the incorporation of this offshoot town, no hesitation was felt in asking aid from the old town, and with some success. Ninety pounds were subscribed, of which £66 1s. 6d. were collected. Besides thesc funds, lands in old Scituate were given by several residents of that town.

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

But little idea of the great labor necessary to build such an edifice can be formed by us of the present age. Every timber was hewn, and, with the boards and shingles and all other lumber entering into the building of the meeting-house, grew probably within the town limits. No commodious harbor near by received loads of lumber of all dimensions from the district of Maine or elsewhere. No factory with its hundred machines, spitting forth tons of nails, was anywhere in existence. Every nail in the church was hammered out by hand by some pious blacksmith. All the fine beading and moulding of the pulpit and the sounding-board were made on the spot. Surely a year was little time enough for the most skillful handlers of the broadaxe and the most cunning manipulators of the rabbit-plane to do this work.

At last the meeting-house was completed. Rev. Benjamin Bass, the first settled minister of Hanover, at a salary of one hundred and thirty pounds per an- num, after the rate of silver money at sixteen shillings per ounce, was to be ordained. He was a graduate of Harvard College in 1715, and was at this time settled in what is now Quincy. After a day of fast- ing and prayer (December 4th), on the 11th day of December, 1728, " Benjamin Bass, A.M., was by prayer and fasting, with imposition of the hands of the Presbytery, ordained a pastor of the church. The Rev. Mr. Eclls, of Scituate, Mr. Lewis, of Pem- broke, Messrs. Hobart and Gay, of Hingham, and Mr. Checkley, of Boston, laid on hands; Mr. Gay began with prayer; Mr. Checkley preached; Mr. Eells gave the charge, and Mr. Lewis the right hand of fellowship."

The ministry of Mr. Bass was terminated only by his death, which occurred on May 23, 1756, and he, like several of his successors, lies buried in the Centre Cemetery. His ministry was uneventful. His suc- cessor, Rev. Samuel Baldwin, whose sister was wife of Col. Oliver Prescott, of Revolutionary fame, was offered as an inducement to settle, after he had re- jected one or two offers, eighty pounds lawful money, and " to build him a dwelling house forty feet long, thirty feet wide, and seventeen fect between joints, with two stacks of chimneys, a plain roof, with a suit- able number of windows with crown glass, and to be painted inside and outside such a color or colors as shall be agreeable to his mind; and to build and finish under the house a cellar thirty feet long and fourteen feet wide, pointed, etc .; and everything both inside and outside, both wood work, iron work, and joiners' work, with two Bofatts, and as many closets in said house as may be convenient, are to be done to the turning of a key, and to be under-pinned in a suita-

ble manner to the acceptance of the said Mr. Bald- win." This offer he accepted, and he was ordained Dec. 1, 1756. Ilis ministry was successful, filling tlic house every Sunday. His labors were interrupted by the Revolutionary war, which interfered with the payment of his salary to such an extent that in 1779 he asked a dismission, which was granted. He had been with the society twenty-three years, three months, and three days, had added one hundred and seven persons to the church, and baptized six hundred and thirty-two. He was a zealous patriot, and a chaplain in the Revolutionary army. His utterances were fervid and eloquent. His mind was clouded by " partial derangement" during four years previous to his deccase, which occurred at his house in Hanover, Dec. 1, 1784. This house still stands near the Centre, on Hanover Street, in a fine state of pres- ervation.

The next settled minister over this parish was Rev. John Mellen, of Sterling, Mass. He was settled Feb. 11, 1784, and his ministry terminated in 1805. His ministry was marked by much of an eventful character. His opinions were subject to much com- ment in his society, undoubtedly leaning strongly toward Arminianism. For these opinions, declared in his sermons (several volumes of which were printed) and less formally in his conversations, he was brought before a council in 1773, but was acquitted. He seems to have been a man who left his mark upon his time. He is spoken of as being " liberally endowed by nature with a strong and energetic mind, which was highly improved by diligent and successful culti- Vation." He was much beloved by his parishioners generally, being of a sociable disposition, a pleasant, genial, companionable man, with a zealous, ardent temper in whatever he undertook. His son Prentiss was United States Senator from Maine.

On the 23d of July, 1806, Rev. Calvin Chaddock, remembered even to this day as " Parson Chaddock," was settled over this society. Here he remained for twelve years, a portion of the time eking out his salary by officiating as principal of the Hanover Academy, which was established by him during his residence here. Rev. Scth Chapin, the sixth pastor, was settled in 1819, and went away in 1824.

The seventh pastor, Rev. Ethan Smith, remained here but five years, and was followed by the Rev. Abel G. Duncan, who was installed Aug. 22, 1833. He represented the town for six years in the Legislature.

His successor was Rev. Joseph Freeman, who has recently died in York, Me. His ministry extended from April 18, 1855, to July 25, 1869. He was for several years, like Mr. Duncan, one of the school

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HISTORY OF HANOVER.

committee of the town, and was the last settled pastor, his successors not having been regularly installed, but serving merely as acting pastors.

Mr. Freeman was followed, in June, 1872, by Rev. Cyrus Williams Allen. who closed a ministry of seven years in East Jaffrey, N. H., to settle in Han- over. He was a son of John and Betsey (Crossman) Allen, and was born at Taunton. Mass., Oct. 28, 1806. He graduated from Brown University, in 1826, at the early age of nineteen, having entered college in the Sophomore class. Three years later he graduated from Andover Theological Seminary, and at once entered upon the duties of his chosen profession by going as a missionary to Illinois and Missouri as agent for the American Tract Society. The region he traversed (mostly on horseback) was then an almost trackless wilderness. Here he passed five years of his young life, devoting himself heart and soul to the duties which met him. Upon his return he was settled for seven years at Norton, Mass., and was for ten years one of the trustees of the Wheaton Female Seminary located at that place. His changes were then as follows: Pelham, N. H., for four years; Coleraine, Mass., for three years; Hubbardston, Mass., eight years ; East Jaffrey, N. H., seven years ; Han- over, Mass., for a little over eight years. During his Hanover pastorate nineteen united with the church. He married (June 6. 1837) Mary, a daughter of Gideon and Eunice (Macy) Folger, of Nantucket, a most estimable lady of great strength of character, who has been in truth a helpmate through their long wedded life. She is connected by blood with all the leading people on the island of Nantucket, that little " nursery of giant men" and women.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 80

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