USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Scituate > History of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1831 > Part 16
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Hickes's swamp, east of Brushy hill.
Hoop-pole hill, one mile west of the south Meeting-house.
Hoop-pole neck, near Great or Farm neck, west of stepping stones.
Hoop-pole cedar swamp, west of Hoop-pole hill.
Halifax hill and swamp, one mile south-west mount Blue. Horse Island, a marsh island near Farm neck.
Hatchet rock, near John Otis's, a mile south of the stepping stones. Hollet's island, Marsh island near the stepping stones.
Herring brook hill, on which south Meeting-house stands.
Hobart's landing, on North river a mile above Little's bridge. Dogget's ferry, now Little's bridge.
Iron mine, or Indian head river brook, half mile south-west Hanover corners.
Indian path, over third Herring brook, foot of Old pond.
Job's landing, east side North river, below the brick-kilns.
Jenkins's meadow, east side of Valley swamp.
Johnson's swamp, west of Beach woods and mount Hope.
King's landing, half mile below Union bridge.
Long marsh, on first Herring brook above the mills, (1640). Little marsh, east of the harbour in 1636.
Log bridge, in 1650, over third Herring brook at Elijah Barstow's. Meeting-house lane, old burying ground south east of the harbour, 1633.
Merritt's brook, falls into Bound brook above the mills.
Musquashcut pond, at Farm neck, 1637, (near J. B. Tur- ner, Esq.)
Man hill, 1648, east of Musquashcut pond.
Mast hill, (or Asp), in the Beach woods.
Mount Hope, on the west of the Town, near Hingham and Cohasset corners.
Mount Blue, one mile south-east of mount Hope.
Mount Ararat, one mile north-east of mount Blue.
New found marsh, on Spring brook, west of Dead swamp one half mile.
New harbour marshes, from Little's bridge to the cliffs.
New saw mill, in 1678, above Old pond at Curtis's.
Old brick yard, in 1647, south-east of Episcopal Church hill. Old saw mill, in 1653, at Stockbridge's on first Herring brook. Old saw mill, in 1676, on third Herring brook at Indian path, (at Winslow's).
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LAND MARKS.
Old bridge, in 1670, at the east foot of Curtis hill or button- wood hill.
Prouty's dam, 1686, at the road north of Hooppole hill.
Prospect hill, at Hingham line on the Hersey road.
Pine Island, below Little's bridge, also near Cohasset harbour. Planting Island, south-west of Great or Farm neck.
Penguin rock, east of Farm neck.
Project dale, west part of Hanover.
Rocky swamp, south of third Herring brook below Jacob's mill. Ridge hill, mile south-east the Town-house, also on Plymouth road.
Rotten marsh, between Stockbridge's mill and Little's bridge. Rotten marsh swamp, south of Rotten marsh.
Satuit brook, falls into the creek at the harbour.
Savage lot, east of mount Blue, formerly property of Thomas Savage, Esq. Boston.
Spring swamp, south of Plymouth road in Hanover.
Spring brook, west branch of second Herring brook.
Slab brook, south-west White oak plain, now Margaret's brook. Great spring swamp, near North river below Cornet's rocks. Stepping stones, from the Cohasset road to Hooppole neck. Strawberry cove or Briggs's harbour, within the glades.
Sweet swamp, near Cohasset road, a half mile north of north Meeting-house.
Stony brook, east branch of Merritt's brook.
Stony cove, on North river near King's landing.
Schewsan's neck, north-east of Belle house neck.
A
Stockbridge's old way, from Stockbridge's mill to Town- house, &c.
Sand hill, on Stockbridge's old way, one mile south-west of the Town-house.
Symon's hill, near Burnt plain on south-west.
Pincin hill, half mile north-east from the Town-house.
Round head swamp, south of Eagle's Nest swamp.
Rattle snake hill and rock, half mile west from Wild cat hill.
Till's creek, 1640, now Dwelley's creek, opposite Gravelly beach.
Taunton Dean bridge, (1680), and brook, south-west of Halifax hill and near late John Daman's.
Valley swamp, above Jacob's mill on second Herring brook. White oak plain, one mile west of the south Meeting-house. White oak plain bridge, on south east White oak plain.
Wild Cat hill, 1640, north side of old pond, and south of Cord- wood hill one mile and a half.
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LAND MARKS.
Wolf Trap, near Iron mine brook in Hanover.
Wigwam neck, near the gulph and Hooppole neck. Wanton's brook, east of Hooppole hill.
William's rock, north west of the light-house.
Walnut Tree hill, half mile south of Stockbridge's mill.
Walnut hill, west of Beaver dam on second Herring brook.
Wills's Island, a marsh island near Little's bridge.
Walter Woodworth's hill, the N. east part of Walnut Tree hill. Fresh marsh, 1690, near Plymouth road.
Buttonwood swamp, above Jonah's mill, S. W. of Church hill. Spruce swamp, S. of Cordwood hill and second Herring brook. Digged hill, (1670), where William James's house now stands. Torrey's bridge, (1690), near late Walter Jacob's.
Bardin's forge, (1704), now Curtis's anchor shop in Hanover. Stony brook swamp, south-west of Booth hill.
Henchman's dam, (1700), near Halifax hill.
Pickell's hole, near late Galen Daman's, half mile south-east of Black pond hill.
Hickes's hole, east side of Great swamp.
Briggs's neck, at Burnt plain swamp.
Jacob's frame swamp, west of Symon's hill.
Cold west hill, fourth of mile south-east of Buttonwood or Curtis's hill, (1680).
Wolf swamp, (see Dead swamp), 1673.
Ben's hill, half mile south of Symon's hill.
Church's hill, on Plymouth road half mile west of Hugh's cross brook, (Hanover).
Wampee's swamp, south-west of Hanover Meeting-house.
Nichols' hill, mile south of the harbour, near Capt. Leonard Clap's.
Turkey plain, near Indian head river in Hanover.
Beach neck, Curtis street in Hanover.
Little Cedar swamp, near Indian head river.
Collamore's ledge, midway between Cedar point and the glades. Egypt, a tract of land adjoining Man hill and Musquashcut pond. Queen Ann's corner, on the Plymouth road at Hingham line ;
so called from Ann Whiton, who kept a tavern at that place, from 1730, many years.
Ludden's Ford, on North river above North river bridge on Plymouth road.
Gov. Winthrop in his pedestrian journey to Plymouth in 1632, (Winthrop I. 92), named it Luddam's Ford, " from Mr Luddam their guide," who carried over the Governor and Rev. Mr
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POST-OFFICES.
Wilson on his back. We have no doubt that James Ludden,« an early settler in Weymouth, was this guide, who had the honor to carry his Excellency a-pick-back.
POST OFFICES AND ROADS.
A Post-office was established in Scituate in 1800, and kept by Charles Turner, jr., Esq. the first Post Master. In 1805, it was removed to Augustus Clapp's, (P. M.), where it remained until 1828, Chandler Clap having been Post Master the two last years. In 1828, a Post-office was established at South Scituate, J. K. Nash, Post Master : and the same year an office was established at West Scituate, on the Plymouth road, Edward Jacob, Post Master. In 1829, the old Scituate office was removed to Shadrach B. Merritt's, Post Master, and in the same year an Office was established at the harbour, Gideon W. Young, Post Master. There are now four offices in the Town.
A mail passed through Scituate to Plymouth from the time of the establishment of the Post-Office department : and another from Boston by way of Cohasset, since 1800. These have been carried by stage coaches nearly the whole time. An accommodation coach began to pass from South Scituate to Bos- ton in March 1828, owned by a company of gentlemen of Scituate : it is now (since January 1831) owned by Mr Doolittle of Boston and Mr Parker Jones. The excellent hotel in West Scituate on the Plymouth road, was first established by Eliphalet Leon- ard about 1800, who was largely concerned in the Plymouth stages. The masters that have succeeded in that house have been Davis Whiton, James W. Sivret and John Smith.
* In the Weymouth records we notice Mary daughter of James and Alice Ludden, born 1633 - Sarah 1639 -John 1656. Sarah married Daniel Fairfield 1659. The name is written Louden in Plymouth county at this time.
FAMILY SKETCHES.
PREFACE.
In presenting to the publick the following Family Sketches, it may not be improper, by way of preface, to observe, that though many of the families in our catalogue cannot exhibit a line of illustrious names, yet they are such as partook in the perils of founding and defending this country, in times when courage, constancy and patience were indeed common virtues, but not the less admirable to us for being common at that time. There needs no apology for attempting to preserve the genealogies of those families, who occupied these hills in those early times : it is all the nobility we have; and it is nobility enough, when we can trace our descent from the fathers of New England.
Nature is wonderfully impartial in the distribution of intellectual talents : and it seems to be the fixed order of Providence, that families, in this respect, should flourish and decline : nay, often, that an individual should spring forth into eminence, whose "origin was as obscure as that of the spark, which by the collision of steel and adamant, is struck out of darkness."
It is highly instructive to learn the character, opinions, and manners of those men, and to follow them in their transaction of the concerns of their young communities, and to observe what an impress they were giving to the character of future generations, and how, almost unconsciously, they were preparing the foundation for a free and illustrious empire. This is the philosophy of history. But the muse of history is a sister and inmate of that of Poetry. Few subjects are more agreeable (at least to many minds) than that of contemplating the characters of the men who first broke the soil which we now cultivate, and few things can more excite the imagination, than to muse upon the spot where they lighted their domestic fires, or to walk over the green turf that covers their remains.
It would, however, be weakness in us to hold the memory of our ancestors in undiscriminating admiration. They were men, and had their faults, for which it is hardly apology enough to say, that they were the faults of the age. In their opposition to the Church of England, they were often found contending against the most unessential forms, as if they involved the deepest principles of religion: and their nonconformity, even in these, degener ated to obstinacy. But then it was defensive obstinacy ;
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FAMILY SKETCHES.
and the contest, though nominally relating to so trifling a question, as whether a cap should be round or square, in reality, involved the question of liberty or subjection.
It was their object to found a pure and harmonious Church ; and in pursuing that object, they committed mistakes rather than crimes. In the first place they had not profited by their own example in England, as well as the example of all Christendom, to learn that a community or church of perfectly harmonious sentiments was a vision and not reality. Then after having defended, with a martyr's zeal, the liberty of interpreting the Scriptures for themselves, they hastened to the inconsistency of claiming a right of interpreting the Scriptures for others. And again, in order to preserve the greatest practicable degree of unity of opinion, instead of the true policy of toleration, they embraced the mistaken policy of persecution. Yet it was in some degree defensive, because they were rather desirous to remain unmolested by others, than to invade their faith or practice. This furnishes some apology for their desires to keep out the Quakers from their communities : but the apology would go farther, had they not manifested both a vindictive spirit towards foreigners who came to disturb their peace, and a censoriousness nearly as rigorous, towards the members of their own Churches, who dared to hold an opinion not approved by the majority. They ought to have been aware that their own example of resistance against the Church of England had fostered and encouraged the resistance which they themselves met.
But after all these abatements, our admiration of their virtues, their sufferings and their achievements is deservedly high. Many of them, if they had not stood in the ranks of power and nobility, had certainly stood in the ranks of the most learned and enlightened people of England : and their integrity, their piety, and the purity of their morals in general, were unimpeachable.
It would be filial impiety in us, not to honor their memories : it would be the part of ignorance, not to confess, that the spirit of freedom which dwelt first in them, has gradually grown up to that more enlightened spirit of liberty which is our present glory : and especially would it be the part of ingratitude, not to honor their memories for their labours in subduing this wilderness, and their sufferings in defending and preserving a home for us their posterity. We love to speak of the patriots of the Revolution ; but we ought to know that we owe less, if possible, to the patriots of 1776, than to those of 1676. The one was a contest for liberty : the other a struggle for existence.
" - egregias animas, qua sanguine nobis,
Hanc Patriam peperere suo, decorate supremis
Muneribus." AEN. Xi. 24.
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MINISTERS.
MINISTERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH.
Previously to the gathering of a Church under Mr Lothrop, January 18, 1634, O. S .* we have found few records that relate to the teachers of religion, who may have visited and occasionally officiated at Scituate.
seesavage
MR GILES SAXTON
Peter _317.
was undoubtedly the first who officiated for any considerable term of time. We find his name on the list of freemen in Massachusetts in 1631. We have no record to show when he came to Scituate, nor how long he resided in the plantation : we can only infer from incidental dates and facts, that it must have been between the years 1631 and 1634.
Mather, in his Magnalia, furnishes us with all the notice which is extant, of Mr Saxton; and he was ignorant of his Christian name. It is our conjecture that it was Giles, and the same who took the freeman's oath in 1631.
Mather thus speaks of him: "Mr - Saxton was a York- shire man, a studious and learned person, and a great Hebrician. The unsettled condition of the Colony, and some unhappy contention in the plantation where he lived, put him upon re- moving from Scituate, first to Boston, and so unto England, in his reduced age. I find in honest Mr Ryther's devout book, entitled "a plat for Mariners,' this passage concerning him. ' An old Puritan Minister, Mr Saxton, of Leeds in Yorkshire, in a storm coming from New England, when they were all expecting the vessel to sink, said, 'Oh! who is now for heaven ? Who is bound for heaven?'" Mag. I. 536.
The "unhappy contention in the plantation," of which Mather speaks, may have been nothing more than that alluded to in Mr Vassall's letter to Mr Wilson, (see Ecclesiastical History), viz. concerning the removal of their Meeting-house nearer to the North River. A discussion respecting the mode of baptism had not yet agitated the plantation, that we can learn.
* The second centennial anniversary will fall on January 7, 1835, N. Style. See note on double dating, at the close of this work.
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MINISTERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH.
MR JOHN LOTHROP.
By the industrious researches of a descendant of this worthy man, (the late Rev. John Lathrop, D. D. of Boston), we are furnished with many interesting notes of Mr Lothrop, the first regularly settled minister of Scituate. He is particularly noticed also in Neal's history of the Puritans. He had been a minister at Egerton, in Kent in England ; and having imbibed the principles of the Puritans, he renounced his orders under the Church of England, and removed to London, where he found the same sentiments gaining ground. This was in 1623. Mr Henry Jacob had established the first Congregational Church in Eng- land, at London, in the year 1616: it was on the plan of Robinson's at Leyden, he having consulted with Mr Robinson on the subject. Mr Jacob having removed to Virginia in 1624, Mr Lothrop became his successor in London. That Church had held their meetings privately, and escaped the vigilance of their persecutors for some time : at length, April 29, 1632, they were discovered by Tomlinson, the pursuivant of the bishop, holding a meeting for religious worship, at the house of Mr Humphrey Barnet in Blackfriars. Forty-two of them were apprehended, and eighteen only escaped. Mr Lothrop, with others, was imprisoned, where he remained until April 1634, two full years, and was then set at liberty, on condition of departing from the kingdom. Morton, in the New England Memorial, remarks, that "during the time of his imprisonment, his wife fell sick, of which sickness she died. He procured liberty of the bishop to visit his wife before her death, and commending her to God in prayer, she soon after gave up the ghost."
He embarked for Boston, with about thirty of his Church and people, and arrived September 18, 1634, in the ship Griffin : and on the 27th of the same month he proceeded, with his friends, to Scituate, where a considerable settlement had already been made by "the men of Kent," and who received Mr Lothrop as a former acquaintance. A considera- ble accession had been made to the settlement in the autumn of the same year, as we observe in the records of Plymouth Church, November 23, 1634, Anthony Annable, Henry Cobb, George Kenrick, George Lewis, and several others, were dismissed from the Plymouth Church, "in case they join in a body at Scituate." The Church was gathered on the eigh-
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MINISTERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH.
teenth of the January following, and Mr Lothrop "elected into office." The ceremonies of induction into office, were the laying on of the hands of the elders with prayer. Those elders had probably been elected previously and ordained by the Church on the same day.
During Mr Lothrop's residence in Scituate, he lived on a farm, granted by the Court and laid out by their committee, on the south-east side of Colman's hills. The place is accu- rately marked by deeds of conveyance, viz. nigh the first Herring brook where it approaches nearest to the sand hills : bounded by Josiah Checket's land west-by John Hewes' and the highway south-and by Humphry Turner's east. This place, with the buildings, was sold to Mr Hatherly (who was always ready to accommodate in affairs of the plantation, with his purse) in 1640: and by Mr Hatherly to Christopher Blackwood in 1641 : and by Blackwood to Mr Charles Chauncy in 1642. Mr Lothrop had shares in the New Harbour marshes, between his house and the North river.
His ministry here was not prosecuted with great sucess or in much peace. The difficulties with which he was embar- rassed, early inclined him to seek another residence for himself, and such of his friends as might choose to accompany him, and application was made to the Governor accordingly. In the memoir prepared by his descendant, above named, two letters to Gov. Prence are preserved,* dated at Scituate in 1638, touching his proposed removal. In these letters he observes, " Many grievances attend me, from the which I would be freed, or at least have them mitigated, if the Lord see it good." But he so cautiously avoids naming those grievances, that we are obliged to seek an explanation from other sources. He remarks also, " Your worthy self, together with the rest joined and assisting in the Government with you, having gratuitously and freely, upon our earnest and humble suits, granted and conferred a place for the transplanting of us. - Wherefore let me entreat and beseech you to do this further greate curtisye for us, to make composition with the Indians for the place, with what speede you can, and we will freely give satisfaction to them, and strive to be the more enlarged in thankfulness to you." The place to which removal was contemplated at that time, is not named; but we have no doubt that it was Seipican, (Roch- ester), because an order of Court, 1638, grants "Seipican for
* The originals were found amongst Governor Winslow's papers by Hon. John Davis.
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MINISTERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH.
the seateing of a township for a Congregation, to Mr Thomas Besbeech, Mr James Cudworth, William Gilson, Anthony Annable, Henry Cobb, Henry Rowley, Edward Foster, Robert Linnet and others." The place of destination was changed however the next year, and the removal made to Barnstable in 1639 and 40. The records of Scituate show that more than half the Church removed with their pastor. The author of the New England Memorial observes, " He was a man of an hum- ble heart and spirit -lively in dispensation of the word of God, studious of peace, furnished with godly contentment, willing to spend and be spent for the cause and Church of Christ. He fell on sleep in the Lord, November 8, 1653."*
The troubles which affected his peace at Scituate, were in part, the dissensions amongst his people on the subject of removing their Meeting-house, but chiefly, we believe, their dissensions on the subject of baptism. The mode of baptism was a subject which had shaken and divided his Church before he left England, in 1633; and the controversy followed him and divided them again; this appears from the fact that many of those who remained at Scituate after his removal to Barnstable, brought in Mr Chauncy for their pastor, against the remonstrances and opposition of nearly one half of the Church; and eagerly adopted his mode of immersion.
The first wife of Mr Lothrop died in England in 1633, while he was a prisoner, as related above. There were four sons of that wife who came with him, viz. Thomas, Samuel, Joseph and Benjamin.
He married a second wife, (whose name we have not learned), whose sons were Barnabas and John. He had also two daugh- ters, Jane and Barbara of his first wife, and Abagail of the second.
Thomas settled in Barnstable, and his posterity are numerous in Plymouth County. We believe also that the families of this name in Cohasset are his descendants.
A Thomas Lothrop of Barnstable married Deborah Loring of Hingham, in 1736; he died early in Boston. His only son was the late venerable Col. Thomas Lothrop of Cohasset, born 1738, whose sons are John, Capt. Peter and Capt. Anson.
Samuel settled in Norwich, Connecticut, and his descendants are numerous in that State and in New York.t
* Mr Lothrop was educated at Oxford in England.
t A record made by the descendants of Samuel, varies somewhat from that of the most authentic records that have fallen under our notice. Proba-
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MINISTERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH.
'Joseph, Barnabas and John settled at Barnstable, and have descendants surviving at Bridgewater and elsewhere, John was in England in 1653, but we believe he returned. Benjamin settled at Charlestown, and has left posterity in Essex County.
Of these sons, Barnabas was the most distinguished. He was an assistant in the Government of Plymouth Colony, also, a member of the first Council in 1692, after the union of the Colonies under the Charter of William and Mary. His wife was Susan Clark. He died at Barnstable in 1715, aged 79. He was born in Scituate, as we believe were all the children of his mother, save Abigail, who was the first child baptized at Barnstable, October 1639. - John married Mary Cole of Plymouth 1671 .*
The will of Rev. John Lothrop is dated in 1653. We trust that it is not improper to subjoin an abstract of that will, for historical purposes.
"To my wife, my new dwelling house. To my oldest son Thomas, the house in which I first lived in Barnstable. To my son John in England and Benjamin here, each a cow and 5£. Daughter Jane and Barbara have had their portions already. To the rest of the children, both mine and my wife's, each a cow. To each child one book, to be chosen according to their ages. The rest of my Library to be sold to any honest man who can tell how to use it, and the proceeds to be divided, &c."
The inventory estimates the remainder of his library at £5.
The removal of Mr Lothrop's family was October 11, 1639. Barnstable Records.
There was a Thomas Lothrop free in Massachusetts 1634. This must have been another family. It was probably his son Thomas, who was killed by the Indians at Deerfield in 1675.
In the papers of the Historical Society, (Vol. IV. 2d series, Anno 1816), it is mentioned that Adam Blackman officiated
bly the names and order of the ages of Mr Lothrop's children were as follows : Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin, Jane, Barbara, Barnabas, (born at Scituate 1635), John born 1637, Abagail born 1639. Samuel of Norwich had sons, Samuel, Israel, Joseph and five daughters. Joseph had sons, Joseph, Barnabas, Solomon and four daughters. Solomon had one son Joseph, D. D. of West Springfield, and one daughter. Dr. Joseph has sons, Solomon, Seth, Joseph, Hon. Samuel and Dwight. The late Rev. John Lothrop, D. D. of Boston, was also a descendant of Samuel of Norwich.
* A John Lothrop died in Boston 1716, and gives in his will " to wife Esther, to son Joseph, to brother Barnabas, and sisters Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, Hannah, Abigail and Experience." We notice also, " Abigail, widow of Barnabas Lothrop, late of Barnstable, died in Boston 1715." This may have been a second wife of Mr Barnabas Lothrop.
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