History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 82

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 82

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After the town of Hanover was incorporated the colonies passed through the constant series of border fights, dignified by the name of wars, the French and Indian wars, and the contests between France and England for supremacy upon the sod of the new con- tinent.

In all these the town bore her part by furnishing soldiers. It usually kept a stock of powder of its own, which at one time was stored in the chamber of the first church over the women's gallery. This town powder, as years went by, bore an unfortunate existence. It was onee the subject of an investiga- tion, as modern fashion terms them, for we learn that

on Oct. 30, 1744, Capt. Elijah Cushing was instructed " to inform his Excellency concerning Dea. Thos. Jos selynn's making way with the Town stock of gun powder." This Capt. Cushing did with so much credit that November 5th he himself was appointed " to take care of the Town's Powder and bullets.' Later on (1795) the town's stock of powder was stolen and the vote of the town to buy a new stock is re corded.

The first military expedition in which Hanover men participated was in the expedition to the West Indies, in 1740,-a most unfortunate scheme, in which over four hundred died.

Then came the contest which resulted in the dis- lodgment of the French from Canada, lasting from 1745 to 1763. Hanover men were constant partici- pants in these contests. Barry states that "one or more" of the " Aeadians," whose misfortunes are im- mortalized in Longfellow's " Evangeline," settled in Hanover after their removal from their homes, but eannot give their names.

Next eame the mutterings of the approaching Revolution. Hanover's patriotism then, as ever, ran high, and during the whole of that long, desperate eontest it never flagged, although the suffering pa- triots were beset with difficulties, whose severities no pen can picture, no imagination can paint. Yet even here Toryism dared to raise its head. The royalist compaet known as the "Ruggles Covenant," pledging its signers to the support of the crown, crept stealthily about town in 1774 and obtained a few signers. It is a source of congratulation that most of its signers were those " Friends" or Quakers whose religion taught them to abhor all war. The rest were members of the Church of England, whose religion forbade them to rebel against the head of the church on earth. There are traditions of others in town whose sympa- thies led them to espouse what seemed to be the stronger eause, and who dreaded the approach of a patriot, especially if he earried a gun.

From the first Hanover sent delegates to every convention or congress whose object was redress for the colony's grievances. In 1768, Joseph Cushing, afterward judge of probate of this county, went to the convention called at Boston, September 21st, "to con- sult upon measures for the safety of the province." Afterward, in 1774, the same gentleman, with Joseph Ramsdell, Joshua Simmons, Capt. Robert L. Eells, and Dr. Lemuel Cushing as colleagues, attended a conference of delegates from every town in the county, for the consideration of means for the furtherance of the cause of freedom. Col. Cushing was here, and also in tho Provincial Congress, an active and promi-

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HISTORY OF HANOVER.

nent participant. and the honor to which his name is entitled Hanover shares.

Our first record of militia or minute-men in town is in 1773. According to Col. J. B. Barstow, Hanover raised two companies. The road now called Hanover Street asfar as the Centre, and thence westerly to the Drinkwater Forge and Abington line, marked the bounds of the two districts. The Southern Company was commanded by Capt. (afterwards Col.) Amos Turner and Lieut. Samuel Barstow. The captain of the Northern Company was Capt. Joseph Soper, and the lieutenant Samuel Curtis.

All through the war an extra body of men with special and large powers, called a Committee of Safety, was in existence, and was again resorted to in 1812. The members of these committees were usually the most prominent and substantial citizens of the com- munity.

Hostilities actually commenced on the famous 19th of April, now doubly commemorative of the initiative battles of two great contests. After this we find Hanover men participating in most of the local mili- tary manœuvres.

They were with Col. John Bailey in his attack on the regulars sent by Gen. Gage to guard Marshfield's trembling Tories. One of the ancestors of the writer, who was present at the fiasco (for such it was), said that Col. Bailey, under one pretext or another, held back his men until the regulars had gone, when he began urging on his soldiers by shouting, " Come on, my brave boys, we'll have 'em yet !"

They went to Plymouth " to guard the sea-coast" in May, 1775, and they were at Boston under Gen. Washington, and participated in the midnight occu- pation of Dorchester Heights.

June 30, 1776, a meeting was held which showed the unhesitating loyalty of Hanover. The Declara- tion of Independence had not been promulgated, but was being seriously considered throughout the little strip of sea-coast settlements then constituting the rising nation. The citizens of Hanover spoke with no doubting voice, and they then " voted to instruct their Representative that, if said Congress should think it safest to declare them Independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they, the inhabitants [of Hanover]: will support them in this measure."

But while zealously urging on the severing of the ties which bound them to the oppressive mother-land, they none the less carefully guarded their liberties and their rights. In 1778 a constitution had been prepared and submitted to the towns for their action. Most towns, Hanover among them, refused to accept it. The town chose a committee of fifteen to consider

the matter, and they reported against it. At a subse- quent meeting, June 8, 1778, the town " voted the plan null and void to a man."

Then came darker hours. Tired, poor, and dis- heartcned, the currency depreciated, the cause appar- ently not gaining, food getting scarce and high, sol- diers' families suffering, and soldiers enlisting only after bounties were offered, the patriots seemed about to become rebels by failure instead of patriots by suc- cess. Yet they still remembered their manhood and stood steadfast in their strength. The bounties were raised, supplies for the needy were forthcoming, taxes were levied for the care of soldiers' families, and re- cruits still offered themselves " for three years or the war." Such pluck, the truest sort of Anglo-Saxon perseverance, cannot fail. The war was a revolution and not a rebellion.

Military taste and love for military parade grow by being indulged in. The bitter taste of actual military life deadened this desire somewhat in Hanover, and from the end of the Revolutionary war to the begin- ning of the present century there existed but two short-lived military organizations, which have not even left their names behind.

The Hanover Artillery, the greatest and oldest of the Hanover military organizations, was organized about 1798, by Benjamin Whitman, Esq., then a lawyer at Hanover, who was its first captain. The first lieutenants were Dr. Melzar Bailey, first lieuten- ant, and Dr. Charles Turner, second lieutenant. One of its last commanders, Capt. Benjamin N. Curtis, at the present writing is still living, and is the postmaster at Assinippi village, a hale and hearty man.

The equipments of the members were blue coats, with red facings, brass buttons, and cord, inclosed by a red leather belt and brass breastplate. Buff pants and vests set off this brilliant uniform below, while above a chapeau de bras or cocked hat, sur- mounted by a black plume tipped with red, com- pleted the outfit.

Their gun-house, at first located near Robert Syl- vester's, was afterwards moved to the Centre, where it remained until its services were no longer re- quired.

Later an "independent infantry company" was formed by Col. Jesse Reed, which lasted for some years.

Then, in 1816, we chronicle the existence of the Hanover Rifle Company. Its local habitation was finally removed to Hanson, and it ceased to be a Hanover institution.

The Hanover Artillery Company saw active service in the war of 1812. For sixty-eight days, July 1 to

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

Sept. 6, 1814, under Lieut. Elisha Burrell, Jr., a detachment of it was at Scituate harbor, and from Sept. 19 to Oct. 19, 1814, the whole company was at Plymouth, under command of Capt. Edward F. Jacobs. The fort at the Gurnet, at the entrance to Plymouth harbor, was for a year under the command of Lieut. Ebenezer Simmons, of Hanover, then in the service of the United States. The Hon. Perez Simmons, his son, now living at Assinippi, remembers perfectly being held up as a child to sec from a window of the barrack the engagement between the British ves- sels and that fort.

Hanover in the Civil War .- In the year 1860 about eighty-five per cent. of the votes of this town were cast for Abraham Lincoln. During the conflict which followed his election it promptly filled every quota, and, after providing for the last call of the President, it had a surplus of about twenty-five men in the service.

At a citizens' meeting, held in April, 1861, the first concerted action in town was taken. A com- mittee was chosen to confer with citizens of other towns as to the proper course to be pursued in view of the hostilities then commenced.

Immediately thereafter, at a town-meeting called by the selectmen for the purpose, May 4th, it was voted to raise five hundred dollars " in aid of the families of volunteers that have or may enlist from this time ;" two hundred and fifty dollars " to provide for uniforms for such volunteers," and five hundred dollars to pay them for drilling " before leaving for the seat of war."

A committee, consisting of the selectmen and Thomas Turner, Melzar Hatch, and Samuel S. Tur- ner, was then chosen to carry these votes into effect. This committee was instructed to visit the volun- teers' families and relieve such as were needy. At meetings held later, other sums were raised to aid the families of absent soldiers until the State made pro- vision for them in the State aid laws.

The President's first call for three months' men, in April, 1861, was responded to by six men, and during the year thirty-six men enlisted for three years. Early in May, in the same year, Loammi B. Sylvester and others organized a company of Hanover men, with its headquarters at the Four Corners. About the same time a company was formed in Abington, which was largely composed of men from this town. The Hanover company became Company G of the Eighteenth Regiment, and that from Abington, Com- pany G of the Twelfth Regiment. Both companies during the entire war were with the Army of the Po- tomae. The positions they occupied were dangerous,

and their losses were severe. At Antietam, " of the three hundred and twenty-five inen of the Twelfth Regiment who went into the battle, but one hundred and twelve came out unscathed." At the second bat- tle of Bull Run the Eighteenth Regiment, with the same number of men, suffered a loss nearly as great, while at Fredericksburg it won the commendation of Gen. Schouler.

In July and August, 1862, of the President's call for six hundred thousand men, Hanover's proportion was forty-six, one-quarter of all its remaining able- bodied men. A single meeting was held, the situation explained, and fifty-two determined men at once en- listed,-thirty for nine months and twenty-two for three years. The former were mostly attached to the Third and the Forty-third Regiments, and the latter to Company K, Thirty-eighth Regiment. The latter company was sent to Louisiana, where the climate proved more fatal than fighting. During this year fifty-seven residents of Hanover enlisted on her quota, and fourteen recruits were obtained outside her borders.

In 1863 twenty-eight citizens enlisted on the quota of the town for three years, and twenty-seven for one ycar. The latter served mostly at Fort Warren, and the former joined old regiments in the field. Eleven recruits for three years were procured elsewhere. During this year, through the efforts of the munic- ipalities interested and the co-operation of Governor Andrew, the government at Washington performed a long-delayed act of justice in giving credit for men who had enlisted in the navy. Hanover was thus credited with seventeen men, most of whom were its own citizens. This town had representatives on the " Kearsarge," the "Cumberland," and the "Con- gress" in the famous battles where they were engaged.

At the commencement of the war the number of available men in Hanover between eighteen and forty-five years of age was not over two hundred and seventy-five. Of this number one hundred and sixty-nine enlisted. Six of these were killed in battle, eighteen died in the service, and several others soon after their discharge. Levi C. Brooks was killed at the battle of Cain River, Benjamin Curtis at the battle of Antietam (in one month after his enlist- ment), Marcus M. Leavitt at Vicksburg, John W. Nelson at the battle of the Wilderness, John B. Wilder while on picket duty, and Joseph E. Wilder at Sabine Cross-Roads. Albert E. Bates, Joshua E. Bates, Spencer Binney, Hiram B. Bonney, Calvin S. Bailey, John H. Cary, William Church, Jr., Calvin E. Ellis, Winfield S. Gurney, George R. Josselyn, John Larkum, Arthur Shepherd, Loammi B. Sylves- ter, Francis A. Stoddard, Joseph D. Thomas, Ferrin

Tof

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HISTORY OF HANOVER.

Willis. and George Woodard died in the service. The ashes of those who never returned sanctify the soil of seven sister States.

All who enlisted previous to August, 1862, did so without town bounty. After that date a bounty was paid. The aggregate sum expended for bounties by the town was twenty-five thousand dollars, and dur- ing the war the sum of twelve thousand eight hun- dred and sixty dollars was paid in aid of families of volunteers. Of this latter sum the greater part was refunded by the State. Of this record Hanover is proud, for few towns filled their quotas as promptly, while the number of those furnishing as large a pro- portion of their own citizens is smaller yet.

Soldiers' Monument .- On the 30th day of May, 1877, one of the speakers at the services at the town hall alluded to the fact that no monument had up to that time been erected by the town of Hanover in honor of those of her citizens who died in the war of the Rebellion.

As was then suggested, a committee of one or more ladies in each school district was formed to organize and carry through a fair for the purpose of raising funds for such a monument. The most successful fair which the town has ever seen was the result. It was held at the town hall on Oct. 16-19, 1877, and gave a net result of twelve hundred and forty-eight dollars and twenty-two cents.

Early in the following summer the monument was placed in position on the green, on the easterly side of the First Congregational Church, -a short portion of Silver Street, which had crossed the green, having been discontinued by vote of the town. The total cost of the monument was sixteen hundred and sixty- four dollars and eighty-eight cents, of which the town itself paid eight hundred and sixteen dollars and twenty-four cents. Of the proceeds of the fair, about four hundred dollars were used in the expenses of the dedication of the monument, and the balance, eight hundred and forty-eight dollars and sixty-four cents, for the monument itself.

The monument, designed by J. Williams Beal, S.B., of Hanover, is of Concord granite, resting upon a foundation of Quincy granite, and is sur- rounded by a raised plot of green sward inclosed in a Quincy granite octagonal curbing. The monument itself is a pyramidical obelisk about twenty-five feet high, consisting of a base six feet square and two feet six inches high, upon which rests a sub-base decorated with a heavy moulding. On this sub-base ·rests the die of the pedestal, containing four sunken polished panels, one on each face.

From the die a large and graceful moulding pro-

jects, which receives the cap of the pedestal. This is ornamented with four projecting pediments, on which are carved in beautiful relief the shield of the United States, resting on a graceful branch of palm for a back- ground. On this rests the main shaft, which is mon- olithic, the base being decorated with sunk channels and raised stars.

The shaft is crowned with a capital of unique de- sign, which is decorated with four wreaths suspended from the sides. The whole is of a purely Grecian style of architecture.

On the south or front face is the following inscrip- tion :

" Erected By the People of Hanover, in grateful memory of her sons who died in the war for the preservation of the Union, 1878."

On the other faces are the names of the deceased soldiers.

Previous to its dedication a leaden box was placed under the monument containing the following :

Proceedings of National Encampments, 1866 to 1878, inclusive.

Rules and Regulations.

Service-Book and Memorial Service.

One of each kind of blank used by the Grand Army of the Republic.

Roster of department, and complete file of General Orders, series of 1878.

A Grand Army of the Republic badge, No. 4330.

Alphabetical list of the battles of the war of the Rebellion.

Copy of United States army and navy pension laws.

The above were deposited by the Department of Massachusetts of the Grand Army of the Republic.

- This box also contained :

Reports of selectmen and school committee of Hanover for 1877-78.

Acts and resolves of Massachusetts for 1878.

Manual of General Court of Massachusetts for 1878.

A copy of each of the Boston daily papers.

Copies of local papers.

Roll- Call, Nos. 1 and 2, the "Monument Fair" paper.

Mrs. M. F. Allen's poem, written for the " Monu- ment Fair."

Sermon by Rev. W. H. Brooks.

Also the following statement :

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

"The monument was dedicated on tho seventeenth day of July, A.D. 1878.

" Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United Sates.

" Aloxander H. Rice, Governor of Massachusetts.

"Soloetmen of Hanover, Jedediah Dwelloy, Isaac G. Stetson, Samuel H. Church.

"Committee of arrangements, Rodolp C. Waterman, Jedediah Dwelley, Calvin T. Phillips.

" J. Williams Beal, architect.

" John G. Knight, chief marshal.

"The Rev. W. H. Brooks, S.T.D., president of the day."

The 17th of July, 1878, was the day fixed for the dedication. The ceremonies were long and impressive. The day was graced by the presence of the Governor of the commonwealth and his staff, the President of the State Senate and Speaker of the State House of Representatives, the Secretary of State, one past and the present commander of the Ancient and Honor- able Artillery Company of Boston, and many other distinguished guests.

The Governor and other invited guests arrived by special car at the Four Corners, and were then taken to breakfast at Academy Hall. There a procession was formed, consisting of the bands, local posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, who did escort duty, the Governor and other guests in carriages, and vari- ous local organizations. The line of march was up Washington and Hanover Strcets to the monument, where the usual ceremonies of the unveiling and de- livering up of the monument occurred, followed in the afternoon by a dinner in a large tent erected for the occasion in a neighboring field, and after the dinner, toasts and responses.

Grand Army of the Republic .- April 29, 1869, Post 83 of the Grand Army of the Republic, Depart- ment of Massachusetts, was organized at the town hall by Col. James L. Bates and Charles W. Hastings. In respect to the memory of a young citizen of Han- over, who left Amherst College to engage in the war of the Rebellion, and who served faithfully until killed at the battle of Sabine Cross-Roads, La., April 8, 1864, the post assumed the name of Joseph E. Wilder. At its organization the members of the post were George B. Oldham, Morton V. Bonney, John D. Gardner, John G. Knight, Rufus M. Sturte- vant, Charles L. Tower, W. S. Sherman, Louis Jos- selyn, Libbeus Stockbridge, Peleg Sturtevant.

The post, now numbering thirty-five members, has had over sixty in all upon its rolls, and has lost but four by death. It boasts that it has distributed over six hundred dollars charitably to soldiers and their families, and has a similar amount now in its treasury. These sums have been mostly accumulated by means of fairs, two of which were held previous to the fair

in aid of the monument, which is spoken of in the section on the soldiers' monument. The success of these fairs is of course due largely to the ladies. A Grand Army sewing circle has been organized by then. Its aid will undoubtedly be as valuable in the future as it has been in the past. During its existence the post has had the following commanders : George B. Oldham (now deceased), 1869-71 ; Morton V. Bon- ney, 1872-73; John G. Knight, 1874 and 1876; Rufus M. Sturtevant, 1875 ; Rodolphius C. Water- man, 1877-82; Woodbridge R. Howes, 1883-84.

Its present officers are Rodolphus C. Waterman, C .; Rufus M. Sturtevant, S. V. C .; Louis Josselyn, J. V. C .; Morton V. Bonney, Adjt. ; Frank Corbin, Surg. ; Henry Wright, Chap. ; John G. Knight, Q.M. ; Samuel Hollis, O. D .; Nathan Howard, O. G .; H. S. Tower, Sergt .- Maj .; Everett N. Mann, Q.M .- Sergt.

CHAPTER V.

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.

High School-Hanover Academy-Assinippi Institute.

OUR forefathers felt and knew that in order to main- tain that liberality and freedom in their institutions, both political and religious, for which they had emi- grated from their mother-country, education was the greatest essential. The far-famed common-school sys- tem of Massachusetts and New England was, by a simple process of evolution, the result of their earliest endeavors. Its two principles, first, furnishing the people the opportunity of learning, and second, com- pelling their children's attendance, are seen as early as 1677 in the colony laws. An extract from them is illustrative of this : " Forasmuch as the maintenance of good literature doth much tend to the advancement of the weale and flourishing estate of societies and Republiques,-this court doth therefore order : That in whatsoever township in this Government consisting of fifty families or upwards; any mcet man shall be obtained to teach a Gramer Scoole, such townshipp shall allow at least twelve pounds in currant mar- chantable pay to be raised by rate on all the Inhabi- tants of such Towne, and those that have the more eincdiate benefitt thereof by theire children's good and general good shall make up the residue necessarie to maintain the same, and that the profitts ariscing of the Cape Fishing, heretofore ordered to maintaine' a Gramer Scoole in this Collonie, be destributed to such Townes as have such Gramer Scooles for the

HISTORY OF HANOVER.

385

maintainance thereof; not exceeding five pounds per annum to any such Towne, unless the Court Treasurer or other apointed to manage that affaire see good cause to adde thereunto to any respective Towne not exceeding five pounds more per annum ; and further, this Court orders that every such Towne as consists of seaventy families or upwards, and hath not a gramer scoole therein, shall allow and pay unto the next towne which hath such Gramer Schoole kept up amongst them the sum of five pounds p annum in current merchantable pay, to be levied on the Inhabi- tants of such defective townes by rate."

It was the effort of our early fathers to maintain in the colonial churches an educated clergy. Scituate, of which Hanover is proud to feel it once formed a part, was settled by men of great intelligence and superior education. Among its early clergymen was Charles Chauncey, one of the first presidents of Harvard Col- lege. Clergymen, then being the most educated men in their vicinity. were looked to for much outside of their sacred office. There were no physicians in the colony for years, and the clergymen had many of their duties to perform. Another duty usually devolving on them was that of being the educators of the young. Mr. Chauncey, above referred to, prepared his own sons and the children of others for college, and " many young men for the ministry."

Mr. Chaddock, at the Centre, taught the academy for years, and Mr. Butler. of the Baptist Church, had a school in Curtis Street for one season only.

When Hanover came to be incorporated, the act of incorporation contained a provision for the establish- ment and support of a school. Accordingly, in March, 1727-28, it was "voted to keep a school this year at three places." These schools were taught in private houses, no school-house being built in town until after May 18, 1730. This first school-house was to be " at or near the meeting-house" in the centre of the town.

The first professional schoolmaster was a man of much note in his profession, Richard Fitzgerald. He came here from Scituate, where he had taught, fitting for college, among others, Hon. William Cushing, LL.D., who graduated from Harvard in the class of 1751. Mr. Fitzgerald remained in town until his death. He was a man of talent, well skilled in the languages, especially the Latin.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 82

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