USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > History of Rehoboth, Massachusetts; its history for 275 years, 1643-1918, in which is incorporated the vital parts of the original history of the town > Part 23
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Charles H. Scott
Jennie P. Martin
Frances A. Marvel
Almon A. Reed
Galen Pierce
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2,500 shares as a controlling interest in case of emergency. As a matter of fact, however, the citizen shareholders, old and new together, have full control of the building.
The Antiquarian Society had its first clam-bake on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 1886. The tables were spread under the trees in the or- chard opposite the residence of Mr. G. N. Goff. Mr. Darius Goff and Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Bicknell were among the guests. Sev- eral hundred people were present. There was music and dancing in the hall. Mr. Bradford G. Goff superintended the bake and has continued the same services for thirty-one successive years.
At the second bake, in 1887, plates were laid for eight hundred guests, in a large, new tent, and the occasion was marred by a severe thunder-shower. Mrs. Zerviah Gould Mitchell and her daughters, native Indians from Assonet, were present, with their friend, General Ebenezer W. Pierce, as guests of the Society.
After this about one thousand tickets were sold each year for a number of years until the demand was so great that the largest tent in New England was secured, under which fourteen hundred people were fed at fifty cents a plate. Hundreds more were pro- vided for by food sold at tables outside. In 1915 a permanent frame-work was erected over which a canvas roof is stretched as occasion requires.
Some idea of the extent of this annual festival may be had from the following statement on the card of notification for the year 1914: "Bake consists of seventy bushels of clams, one hun- dred lbs. of fish, eight barrels of sweet potatoes, six hundred lbs. of onions, one hundred lbs. of pork (to make the dressing), two hundred lbs. of sausage, and fifteen hundred ears of corn." And we may add about one hundred and twenty-five watermelons. Music is furnished by a paid orchestra.
The Goff Memorial Hall was dedicated with impressive cere- monies on Monday, May 10, 1886, which was Mr. Goff's seventy- seventh birthday anniversary. There was a large concourse of people, several hundred coming in carriages from the neighboring towns, as it was yet ten years before the electric cars entered the place.
On the platform were seated the distinguished guests and speak- ers of the day.
The exercises began with singing "Master Great whose Power Almighty," by the Harmonic Male Quartette of Attleborough.
HON. DARIUS GOFF
HON. GEORGE N. GOFF
MRS." JULIA B. (HORTON) GOFF
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THE REHOBOTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
The President of the Antiquarian Society, Rev. Geo. H. Tilton, then gave the following
ADDRESS OF WELCOME
"Members and Friends of the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society :
We are glad to welcome you, as you have come hither from so many different places on this auspicious day. The dedication of this goodly building marks an important era in the history of this ancient town.
The Rehoboth Antiquarian Society was organized on the 5th of March, 1884. The trustees entered at once upon the work of erecting a suitable building for the purposes of the Society. This building was completed in the autumn of 1885. A charter had been granted by the General Court in March of the same year.
The object of the Society may be expressed in four particulars. In the first place there is the antiquarian department. This was the germ of the whole enterprise, the nucleus around which all the other ideas have clustered. It occurred to some of us that this old town was rich in historical and antiquarian relics which ought to be brought together and preserved. It was this object that gave the name to the Society. We have already a somewhat valuable collection, and we trust that our friends, as they see what we have done, will have it in their hearts to add thereto.
Another object of the Society was to provide a suitable hall in which we might hold our large public gatherings. The hall speaks for itself - a grand, central rallying place for the sons and daugh- ters of Rehoboth on all great occasions. The Society has also provided a fine school-room, hoping to secure the advantages of a high school for our children. For this object an ample appro- priation, either public or private, is greatly needed.
Last, but not least, is our library department. We are delighted with our bright, cheery room, and we are grateful to our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Bicknell, to whose generous interest in our enterprise we owe the Blanding Library. We extend to them a most cordial welcome. There are various factors which enter into this great undertaking, which, we trust, has only begun its important educational work in this community. We must not fail to recognize the unfeigned interest of our own citizens who have contributed-some of them from their hard earnings-sums rang- ing from $10 up to $200. Like sums have also been donated by
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former residents of the town. Friends and helpers in this work, we bid you all welcome here to-day.
But with all our gifts combined we could never have built this elegant and commodious edifice. Some building we should doubt- less have had, but it would not have been the Goff Memorial. For this we are largely indebted to the munificence of Mr. Darius Goff. We had no sooner put our united sums into one side of the balance, when his contribution brought the other scale hard down, and it has been growing heavier ever since. We congratulate him that on this very spot where he was born - just 77 years ago - he is permitted to-day to join in the dedication of the Goff Memorial. Sir, we bid you welcome, and of all your seventy- seven birthdays may this be the happiest and the best."
This address was followed by a statement from the treasurer showing all bills paid, with a cash balance on hand of $55.49.
The principal feature of the day was Hon. T. W. Bicknell's masterly oration, in which, after giving due credit to those most prominent in the enterprise, he set forth the virtues of the early settlers of the town and spoke of the school and the church as the chief agents in promoting the culture and progress of the people. "The only conservative forces in society," he maintained, "are intelligence and religion."
The prayer of dedication was offered by Rev. Alexander Mc- Gregor of Pawtucket. Addresses were made by Dr. E. G. Robin- son, President of Brown University, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Taylor of Providence, and Hon. Charles A. Reed of Taunton, secretary of the Old Colony Historical Society.
The morning exercises closed with singing the dedicatory hymn written by Mrs. Lucy Bliss Sweet, a native of the town, and the benediction by Rev. A. P. Grosvenor, a former pastor of the Con- gregational Church. Dinner was served in the basement.
At the afternoon exercises a complete surprise was sprung upon Mr. Tilton by the presentation of a large crayon portrait of him- self, designed to hang in the hall; his friend Dr. J. Taylor making the speech.
Addresses were made by Mr. David A. Waldron, President of the Barrington Historical Antiquarian Society; General Olney Arnold, of Pawtucket; Edgar Perry, of North Attleborough; Rev. E. G. Porter, of Lexington, Mass .; Hon. John M. Brayton, of Fall
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THE REHOBOTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
River, Ex-Gov. Littlefield, of Rhode Island; Rev. L. S. Wood- worth, of East Providence; Hon. H. A. Metcalf, of Pawtucket; Senator George N. Bliss, of East Providence; Dea. Joseph Brown, of Seekonk, and Rev. L. Thompson, of Woburn; closing with a few words from Mr. Darius Goff.
All the exercises were of a high order, and the occasion marked an era in Rehoboth history.
The erection of so grand a memorial, the utterances of the dis- tinguished men at its dedication, the contribution to Rehoboth history made by the complete and accurate record of the pro- ceedings published in the volume, "Historic Rehoboth," all served to win for Rehoboth a recognition as one of the chief historic places in the Old Bay State, as well as to prepare the way for the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary eight years later.
THE NEW GOFF MEMORIAL
The first memorial building was struck by lightning and burned on Friday, July 7, 1911. The new Memorial Hall was informally dedicated May 10, 1915. There were a few brief addresses in the afternoon and a largely attended social dance in the evening. Not less than three hundred people repaired to the brilliantly lighted hall to exchange greetings and to keep step with the thrill- ing music of the orchestra.
The new edifice, including its accessories, cost $35,000. There was $6,000 insurance on the old hall, leaving $29,000 as the dona- tion of the brothers Darius L. and Lyman B. Goff, a magnanimous gift in honor of their father, Darius Goff, and of the ancestral home.
The new structure is a story and a half brick building 45 x 90 feet, the interior of dark-stained oak. The fine hall which seats about 300 is on the first floor, with stage, drop curtain and two anterooms for theatricals; up-stairs are the library and anti- quarian room and in the basement a social room where suppers are served.
The building is heated by steam and lighted by electricity, the latter donated by the Bay State Street Railway Company. Every comfort of the public is provided for.
The library and antiquarian room contain the books and relics which were saved without loss from the fire of 1911. In the rear,
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outside, there is ample space for the annual clam-bake, where a suitable frame for the canvas is permanently fixed. The president of the Society is Geo. N. Goff, its secretary Ellery L. Goff, and its treasurer Henry T. Horton.
THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY
The Rehoboth Antiquarian Society took the initiative in re- commending a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the settle- ment of the town.
At a meeting of the stockholders in July, 1894, it was decided to have a celebration that year, and a committee of arrangements was chosen, consisting of Esek H. Pierce, chairman; Edgar Perry, secretary; Geo. N. Goff, William W. Blanding, Nathaniel B. Horton, Gustavus B. Peck, and Elisha Davis.
The celebration took place on the third day of October, 1894, in the Goff Memorial Hall. An address of welcome was given by Edgar Perry; Hon. T. W. Bicknell as toast-master addressed the assembly and recognized by name the towns most intimately re- lated to Old Rehoboth, several of them being daughters of that ancient town.
Responses were made for each by the following representatives: Weymouth, 1635, Bradford Hawes, Esq.
Swansea, 1667, Edward M. Thurston, Esq. Barrington, 1717, Fred. P. Church, Esq.
Attleborough, 1694.
North Attleborough, 1887, Rev. John Whitehill.
Seekonk, 1812, Joseph Brown, Esq.
Pawtucket, 1828, Henry E. Tiepke.
Cumberland, 1746. Incorporated 1747.
East Providence, 1862, Hon. Geo. N. Bliss. Newport, Hon. J. W. Horton.
The main historical address of the day was given by Hon. Ed- win L. Barney of New Bedford. Addresses were also made by Hon. John W. Davis of Pawtucket, and Hon. Edwin C. Pierce of Providence. An original poem, "Early Pilgrims," was read by Hon. Thomas W. Bicknell.
An account of these exercises, together with the addresses and poem, is published in a volume of one hundred and fifty-seven pages edited by Dr. Bicknell.
CHAPTER X REHOBOTH AGRICULTURE
THE town of Rehoboth as now limited presents many of the characteristics of the earlier days. It is still a town of homesteads on some of which descendants of the original settlers continue to live. It has still large tracts of woodland "in whose winding roads one may as easily lose one's way as among the tortuous Indian trails of old." It is easy to believe the record that even after the middle of the eighteenth century wildcats were fre- quently seen, and a bounty of ten shillings was paid by the town for each head surrendered. The population is for the most part scattered, with groups of houses here and there, as at the Village and in the Blanding and Oak Swamp neighborhoods, and at Stevens' Corner. There are no large, compact business centers where the hum of modern machinery can be heard; no steam-cars pass through its borders, and it is but a score of years since the electric cars ventured to invade the quiet of its rustic scenes.
Rehoboth is thus preeminently an agricultural town with an area of about seventy square miles, containing 538 houses, with 27,624 acres of assessed land. Many of its farms are well tilled and profitable. The State Census of 1905 reports 6,799 acres under cultivation, valued at $315,727, and the number of farms as 211.
From a geological point of view the old town was a part of the Narragansett basin, which was "the result of water erosion, the folding of strata, the giant swing of the continent." During the carboniferous period it was filled in with rocks and rock-fragments large and small, carried thither by the glaciers which rested on this part of New England.
The southward flow of the mighty ice-river, hundreds of feet high, cut channels in the rock which were deepened by the erosion of running waters, as may be seen in the Taunton, Providence and Palmer's River courses. This vast ice-sheet, creeping onward day and night, year in and year out for many centuries, was ever grinding off the sharp, outstanding points of rock and planing down the hills, forming clay, sand, gravel and boulders which it brought down and dumped on our fields and pastures. Every-
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where the land surface is overspread with these glacial deposits, the upper portion of which is known as the soil. This soil is a water reservoir in which rains are caught and held; it is also a laboratory for the making of plant-foods, and into it the roots of plants grow deeply for support, moisture and nourishment.
Besides the glacier, another powerful agency in soil-formation is what is known as "weathering," including the solvent action of rains tinctured with carbonic acid, the explosive action of frosts and the divisive force of tree-roots growing in fissures of rocks. These and other agencies are ever at work disintegrating the rocks and reducing them to soil. The kind of soil depends on the materials that form it, but in general soils are either of a sandy or clayey texture. All soils, to become productive, need to be mixed with humus or vegetable mold. Peat-bogs are rich in humus, and if drained, rotted and pulverized by cultivation and supplied with potash, are extremely fertile.
The earliest growths in the naked mineral soils were lichens which left enough humus for the mosses, and these in turn for the ferns and fungi; then came the cone-bearing trees, and finally the higher forms of vegetation.
Rehoboth, in common with other towns of the section, has varying grades of soil which the farmer should study, that he may adapt his tillage to local requirements. In this area much of the surface rock is conglomerate. Glacial sand-plains abound where the land is a sandy or gravelly loam, as, for instance, the vast Manwhague Plain, Readway's Plain about the Village Cem- etery, and the great Seekonk Plain of Old Rehoboth. There are hundreds of acres of this light soil which might be set out to pine- trees after the manner of the "Cathedral Woods"1 below Perry- ville, for they will thrive and pay a good profit when other growths fail. Our State Forester strongly recommends this course. The white pine blister-rust, however, is an enemy to be feared and if possible avoided.
On the other hand there are areas of richer soils mingled with clay, and often with a clayey subsoil, both on the uplands and on the banks of streams where the rich alluvial deposits yield ample returns in grasses, grains and root-crops.
1 A beautiful pine-grove of seven acres on the Christopher Carpenter farm on Carpenter Street, set out in 1860 in regular rows and now averaging about fifty feet in height.
COL. CYRUS M.WHEATON
REV JOSEPHUS WHEATON
ORIJESSE WHEATON
H. E HORT
H. E. HORTON Agricultural Commissioner of the American Steel & Wire Co.
." **
SCENES FROM THE WALDO GRAVES FARM, WHEELER ST., REHOBOTH
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The meadow lands along Palmer's River and Barrington River, on account of which Old Rehoboth was styled "the Garden of New England," although they have deteriorated, partly, it is said, by the excessive use of fish as a fertilizer in early times, which stimulated the soil with nitrogen at the expense of other plant- foods, are capable of renewal by supplying them with potash, lime, and phosphorus.
There is a strip of fertile land lying east of Manwhague Swamp, known as the "Hornbine Fruit Belt. The soil is a yellow loam of the finest known quality.1 It seems equally adapted to apples, peaches, cherries and other fruits of the rose family. The apple has some advantage over the peach, being more hardy and per- sistent. This wholesome and standard fruit can be profitably grown in every section of the town, provided pains are taken to nourish, prune and spray the trees.
Until recent years corn was a staple crop in the town; and potatoes have been raised extensively from the first. In 1914, five thousand bushels of tubers were grown from twenty acres on the Elisha Davis farm in South Rehoboth, by H. B. Reed and Son, who also raised fifty-five hundred bushels on twenty-two acres in 1915.
In the earlier years of the settlement and along into the nine- teenth century, flax was raised to a considerable extent, which the women spun and wove into linen for home use. Relics of this industry, including brake, swingling board and knife, hatchel and linen-wheel were still preserved in some of the old houses as late as 1885, when samples were collected for the antiquarian room. The following year some native octogenarians gave an exhibition of every phase of the industry from the raw flax to the fine-spun yarn.
Wool was obtained from sheep raised on the farms, which was spun and woven into bedding and clothing. A few of the ancient blue-and-white spreads may still be seen perfect in fabric and color.
1 Here Mr. Alfred C. Case raises fruit of rare beauty and flavor. In 1916 he sold 213₺ bushels of Red Astrachan apples from fifty-four young trees for $400. He was equally successful with a trial crop of Yellow Transparents. The same year he sold 1000 baskets of "sun-kissed" peaches at an average of 75 cents a basket. In this section also the brothers Adin and Arthur Horton are extensive growers of this delicious fruit. There are a few orchards also in other parts of the town. At Stevens' Corner, William Slater has ten acres of trees. In spite of "leaf-curl," "the yellows" and insect pests, the peach industry promises well.
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Improved breeds of sheep might again be profitably grown could they be protected from dogs. In 1855 the number of sheep reported in town was 371; in 1914 there were only twenty. Cord-wood and cider-vinegar were produced in quantity for the markets.
Oats and barley were produced quite generally, and wheat to a limited extent. The climate and soil are especially favorable for rye. Large sales of milk have been common for many years, amounting in 1885 to $74,497;1 and considerable hay has been sold. From 1870 to 1890 many farmers specialized in strawberry culture, and thousands of crates of these berries were marketed at a good profit. This industry was conducted on a large scale by Hathaway Goff and his son-in-law, George Henry Horton, in 1870 and the years following. It is said that the first berries grown in Rehoboth for the market were raised by Willard Johnson and George D. Brown in 1866, and among the early growers were Herbert C. Bryant of Salisbury Street and Isaac Briggs of Oak Swamp. At first the berries were packed in round boxes which were usually returned.
Hon. Henry T. Horton, in an address to the Rehoboth Farmers' Club in 1880, stated that fifty acres were planted to strawberries with an average yield to the acre of one hundred crates of thirty- two baskets each, making five thousand bushels. He estimated $100 to the acre as an average profit, reaching in a few instances to $500. Nason's "Gazetteer of Massachusetts" states that in 1885 the strawberry sales in Rehoboth amounted to $26,325, re- quiring 314,452 quarts or 9,827 bushels. After a time the in- dustry declined owing to increased competition and the difficulty and expense of hiring pickers. The Portuguese farmers, however, are bringing the strawberry into cultivation again, as their num- erous children enable them to harvest the crop economically.
Vegetables are produced in considerable quantities both for the feeding of stock and for sale. These include cabbages, tur- nips, carrots, beets, tomatoes, sweet corn, and to some extent celery and onions, all of which find a ready market. For a number of years the highest prizes for vegetables at the Taunton fair were awarded to thrifty Rehoboth farmers, notably Geo. W. and William Henry Bowen. The town is favored with good markets which on every side welcome its produce; no less than five cities
1Since this time the amount of milk produced has greatly increased.
HENRY T. HORTON
HON. JEREMIAH W. HORTON Ex-Mayor of Newport, R.I.
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reached by smooth and level roads compete for its fruits and vegetables.
On the 11th of February, 1874, a farmers' club was formed at Briggs Corner, which was destined to greatly improve agricultural conditions in Rehoboth. The prime mover was Julian Anness, a young man who for the sake of his health gave up a business career and lived with his father on the "Lincoln Tavern" farm, just over the line in Attleborough. He called together a few of the neighboring farmers who organized under the name of "The Briggsville and North Rehoboth Farmers' Club."
The object, as stated in the constitution, was "For the mutual improvement of its members in agricultural pursuits, and for purchasing agricultural implements, seeds, etc., at wholesale prices."
The officers chosen were Francis A. Bliss, president, who was re-elected every year for fifteen successive years; Rev. Gardiner Clark, vice-president; Julian Anness, secretary, and Ira Perry, treasurer. Meetings were held once a week except in the summer, with an average attendance of thirteen, not counting special gatherings which were largely attended. After some years the interest moved towards Rehoboth center, as some of the charter members had died or dropped out, while others took their places. The name was changed to "The Rehoboth Farmers' Club." Thomas R. Salsbury became secretary, and J. F. Moulton, treas- urer. The serious tone of the Club is seen in the fact that every meeting, at least for fifteen years, was opened by prayer.
A carefully prepared presentation of the topic of the evening was made at each session, sometimes in writing, followed by a general discussion. Some of the topics were: Insects Injurious to Vegetation, Successful Strawberry Culture, What Constitutes a Good Dairy-Cow, How to Make Hens Profitable, The Wastes of the Farm, The Breeding of Cattle, The Setting of Fruit-Trees, Pleasures and Profits of a Farmer's Life, Fertilizers and their Application, The Time to Cut Grass and How to Cure It, The Most Economical Mode of Making Butter, The Selection and Planting of Seeds, Is the Agricultural College a Benefit to the Farmers of the State, Public Roads and Farm Roads, Silos, Cab- bage Culture; these and other topics were discussed with lively interest and edification.
A visiting committee was appointed each year to study and re-
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port on various crops coming under their observation which often extended over neighboring towns. A valuable library was grad- ually gathered containing some of the best books relating to the farm and garden. Once a year the Club enjoyed a banquet, either in the Congregational vestry or the Goff Memorial, at which speeches were made both by members and invited guests. Instead of purchasing seeds, tools, fertilizers, etc., in wholesale lots through the Club, most of the members preferred to buy each one for himself.
The secretary's book reports regular meetings of the Club only up to the beginning of 1888. Meetings were held, however, as late as 1894, if not later. In 1888, Henry T. Horton was chosen president of the Club, and in 1892, Samuel A. Cash, who was succeeded by Dr. Charles N. Raymond. Its library had become scattered and the books that remained were finally donated to the Blanding Library.
Among the prominent workers in addition to the officers al- ready named may be mentioned: William W. Blanding, Henry T. Horton, James A. Eddy, Abiah Bliss, Geo. W. Bliss, J. Walter Bliss, Reuben Bowen, Ezra Perry, G. Hiram Goff, Charles W. Goff, Ellery L. Goff, William H. Luther, John A. Buffinton, S. Luther Peirce, Almon A. Reed, John C. Marvel, Bradford G. Goff, Henry C. Goff, E. A. Medbury, James P. Carpenter, Albert R. Lewis, and J. W. Humphrey. Among the ever welcome vis- itors were Thomas G. Potter of East Providence, A. W. Paul of Dighton, N. B. Gardner of Swansea, Chas. E. Chickering, Charles A. Lee and Albert N. Bullock of Pawtucket, Edgar Perry of North Attleborough, and Joseph Brown of Seekonk.
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