USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 10
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 10
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Notwithstanding all this opposition it gradually gained the confidence of the community, and finally came into general use.
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Billings' house at the Farms may be made use of for the same purpose. No person shall have liberty to inoculate after the first of October. Each of these institutions were obliged to erect a smoke-house, and no person was allowed to leave until they had been thoroughly smoked, and had a certificate from the doctor certifying the person cleansed. The Selectmen were instructed to limit the ground upon which any person belonging to the hospitals, who has been inoculated, shall walk; any indi- vidual who shall cross the line or limits made by the proper officers of the town, shall pay a penalty of three pounds. That one of the Selectmen attend the Court of Sessions on the morrow for instructions.
There having been unpleasant differences between Lieut. Seth Spear and Mr. James Brackett, a committee was chosen to ac- commodate matters between them. Perhaps it would have been more satisfactory to the inhabitants of the town if this ancient custom had been continued, although it might have seriously interfered with the legal profession.
February 12th, 1793. The following persons were warned by the Selectmen to depart the limits of the town, viz: Thomas Welsh and wife, Barnabas Swift, Seth Joice, Thomas Swift, James McDaniels, James Dorren, Jacob Fowle and family, Mr. Copeland, Luke Herd and family, Thomas Haskell, Samuel Withington and family, John Paul and family, James Faxon and family, Gaius Thayer and family, Wm. Jenkins, and Patty Page (so called.)
April 30th, 1793. It was voted at this meeting that a drift-way should be laid out to Nut Island.
August 12th, 1793. Voted, That Judge Cranch, Moses Black, Esq., and Ebenezer Miller, Esq., be authorized to petition the General Court to have the town of Quincy annexed to Suf- folk County.
A standing committee was chosen, to see that there be not any privateering fitted out from this place by any of the citizens of the United States or others, against any of the belligerent powers, in order that strict neutrality may be kept up between us and them.
December 30th, 1793. In future the bell will toll for the com-
13
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mencement of divine service at half-past ten o'clock A. M., and half-past one o'clock P. M., from the first of November to the first of April ; at ten o'clock A. M., and two o'clock P. M., from April to the first of November.
March 10th, 1794. Voted, That Benjamin Beale, Esq., Thomas Pratt, Capt. Daniel Baxter, Lieut. Elijah Veazie, and Mr. Charles Newcomb, be a committee to make and exhibit a plan or plans of a house for the poor, with cost for erection.
Two shillings allowed for each day's work on the highways.
May 12th, 1794. At this meeting the committee chosen to select a plan for a poor house reported in favor of building one, and that they had selected for its site the town's land near Scant's swamp. Messrs. Benjamin Beale, Peter B. Adams and Moses Black were a committee to build the house, and it was decided that it should be built forthwith. This house stood nearly on the spot where the town's pound now stands.
Voted, To have a town meeting called to see if the town will sell the body seats in the meeting-house.
May 29th, 1794. Voted, To sell seats on the south side of broad alley.
June 19th, 1794. Capt. Daniel Baxter was authorized to col- leet the taxes, at nine-and-a-half pence per pound. Also, to cause the two opposite body seats to be made into two pews, corresponding in every particular with the two the ground was sold for.
September 15th, 1794. Deacon Jonathan Webb, Benjamin Beale, Esq., and Capt. John Hall were chosen a committee to take or cause to be taken a plan of the town, agreeable to an act of the General Court passed June 18th, 1794. A committee was also chosen to confer with the Rev. Mr. Wibird, about shutting up the meeting-house during his poor health.
November 3d, 1794. Capt John Hall, Capt. Daniel Baxter, Lieut. Alpheus Cary, Esq., were chosen a committee to assist Capt. Joseph Brackett to procure his quota of men to go into the army, if called for.
January 5th, 1795. To allow the committee £9, 7s, 6d, agree- able to their account rendered this day, it being for a bounty paid by them to sundry persons enlisted as soldiers.
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January 5th, 1795. Voted, That the Rev. Mr. Briggs, or some person, be requested to supply the pulpit until next March meeting.
April 6th, 1795. Voted, To let the pews in the meeting-house adjoining the Rev. Mr. Wibird's, lately built, for the term of one year, these pews to be let out at vendue to the highest bidder. To allow the Town Clerk thirty shillings, for the past two years' services.
May 6th, 1795. Moses Beal was chosen Representative. The following is the vote given for and against the revision of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: For re- vision, 5; against it, 34.
May 27th, 1795. The Selectmen be empowered to hire a piece of ground of Mr. James Brackett for a garden for the poor of the town, what they may think sufficient, for a term of four years.
October 1st, 1795. Voted, To build a school-house. A com- mittee was chosen to make a plan and estimate the cost of said school-house.
November 16th, 1795. Voted, That the school-house shall be built on the Training Field, and that part of it which the com- mittee thinks most proper.
January 17th, 1796. Mary Dunham, Lettice Pierce, Widow Lettiee Pierce, and other persons were warned to depart the limits of the town.
March 7th, 1796. Rev. Mr. Flint to officiate in the meeting- house until the second Sunday in April.
That the poor be put into the house built for their accommo- dation, excepting such as the Selectmen think not proper to be placed there. (This was the first almshouse built in town.)
The school to be kept the same manner as last year, and the master to be hired by the year.
December 8th, 1796. Voted, To accept the Committee's re- port chosen to settle the line of fence between Mr. Seth Burrell and the town lands or training field, according to the following agreement, enclosed in said report to the town :- " And we have further agreed to allow said Burrell ten dollars for taking down the old bake-house, and to run a straight line from the south
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corner of the new school-house until it comes within four feet of the underpinning of said new school-house ; then to turn and run back into said Burrell's land four feet; and then turning and running parallel with said new school-house until it extends be- yond the easterly corner of said new school-house four feet ; then running on a straight line ten rods to the north corner of the town pound, or as far as said Burrell's land extends. Said town to have liberty of four feet of land back of the line, behind the new school-house and seven feet long, to build a necessary-house on."
March 6th, 1797. Voted, To sell the old school-house, and move it away from the ground where it now stands.
April 3d, 1797. Eighty-five pounds to be appropriated for schooling, the whole to be for the new school-house and not for any other the present year. That all the poor belonging to the town shall go to the poor-house, and there be provided for the current year.
May 1st, 1797. Votes were called for by the Selectmen for a Representative to the General Court, which were as follows: Moses Black, 29; Benjamin Beale, Esq., 12; John Hall, 5; Peter B. Adams, 4.
Voted, That every man shall have the privilege of voting for a colleague to settle in the ministry who is twenty-one years of age. The vote was taken for said colleague, and the result was as follows, viz :- Mr. Whitney, 46, and Mr. Flint 34; on the second ballot, Mr. Whitney 60, and Mr. Flint S. A committee was chosen to make estimates and proposals what they supposed would be a proper and sufficient salary for a minister to settle over the parish.
May 6th, 1797. To raise two hundred dollars for repairs of the highways, according to the new method proposed by the Selectmen.
June 19th, 1797. Voted, To secure three thousand dollars as a fund to erect and support an academy in the town of Quincy, agreeable to a resolve of the General Court.
July 31st, 1797. At this town meeting the question of settling a colleague with Mr. Wibird was again brought before the town, and acted upon with the following result : Mr. Jacob Flint of Reading, 45; to hear further, 20.
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Voted, To choose a committee to treat with Mr. Flint on the subject of being settled here as an assistant minister.
August 7th, 1797. The committee appointed by the town of Quincy on Monday last, being the 31st of July, for the purpose of making estimates and proposals to the town, what they should think would be a proper offer to Mr. Flint, as a salary to settle here as a colleague with the Rev. Anthony Wibird, beg leave to make the following report :-
" Your committee would say that they have attended to said matter, as follows : That they have carefully taken into consid- eration the present state and circumstances of the town of Quincy at large, and the Congregational Society in particular, and on the whole it is their opinion and mature judgment that the sum of five hundred dollars, without any settling be offered to Mr. Flint as a salary for one year, if he should not settle as a colleague with Mr. Wibird. And in order that the salary in future may be such as shall from year to year be just and equi- table proportions to the increase and decrease in prices of the most necessary articles of Life, your committee has leave to lay before the town their thoughts upon the subject, in the follow- ing necessary articles of food, viz : Indian Corn, Rye, Beef, Pork, at the proper season of the year for purchasing of the above-named articles; the same to be made the standard by which to estimate the salary for said year. The prices of the articles at the present time are as follows, viz :-
£
S. D.
" Indian Corn, per Bushel, 0
6 0
" Rye
7 6 0
" Beef, per Hundred, 1 16 0
" Pork, per Pound, 0 0 6."
After having read the above report, a letter was read from Mr. Flint declining the invitation to settle here, on the ground of the inadequacy of the amount offered him for his salary. The letter is too long to insert here, as it would amount in spirit, sentiment and length to an ordinary sermon.
September 25th, 1797. At this meeting another proposition was made to the town,-to make an addition to the salary of Mr. Flint,-but it was voted in the negative.
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This system of basing the salaries of clergymen on the neces- saries of life, which custom had been in vogue from the earliest organization of religious societies in the colonies, had at this time become unsatisfactory and unjust to all parties. So much so was this the case, that this was the last public meeting of the citizens of Quincy in which this old ecclesiastical usage was brought before the town.
The following is the report of the committee, October 23d, 1797, on their new departure from this old custom :-
" Your committee think it a matter of great importance that a minister and his people should thrive together in mutual love and harmony, and that everything ought to be avoided relating to the settling that might interrupt; therefore, on the most mature consideration of the subject taken in every point of view, your committee are of an opinion that it will not be best to place the salary on any of the necessaries of life, knowing that such a settlement, based on the necessaries of life, has generally proved a ground of uneasiness, either on the side of the minister or the people, who will differ considerably in their judgment on the subject. Your committee give it as their most mature judgment that it would be best for the town to offer the Rev. Mr. Whitman such a sum, to be paid to him annually, as will enable him to maintain himself and family comfortably and with such decency as will do honor to the society that supports them ; and it is the opinion of your committee, that the sum of five hundred dollars per annum will afford him and his family a decent support, and they do now accordingly report that sum for the consideration of the town. Your committee would further report that it is their opinion that it would be better and more proper for the town to procure a dwelling-house for the Rev. Mr. Whitman and family, at the town's expense, for them to live in from the time he may come to settle with us till the first of April, 1799, in order to give him time to dispose of his interest at Pembroke and purchase here."
A vote was accordingly passed to give the Rev. Kilborn Whit- man a call to settle here as a colleague with the Rev. Mr. Wibird.
Mr .· Whitman, in a long and cordial letter declined the invita- tion to settle here, his reason being the want of unanimity of
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those who gave him the call. The meeting, after having received this unexpected answer, made a division of said meeting on the subject as follows, viz: Seventy-eight voted for, and eight against it. The meeting was then dissolved.
March 4th, 1798. Voted, To give liberty to individual sub- seribers to erect a pair of hay-scales in the town, on the town land, where it will be most convenient and not incommode the highway. They were erected nearly opposite what is now .Hancock Court.
March 5th, 1798. Peter B. Adams, Lieut. Elijah Veazie, and Lieut. Jonathan Baxter were chosen Selectmen for the ensuing year.
August 19th, 1799. Voted, That Mr. James Tuckerman preach four Sundays, and Mr. Kendall four Sundays.
September 30th, 1799. The thanks of the town were present- ed to the President of the United States, [John Adams,] and Moses Black, Esq., for the present of a clock to be put into the First Church.
December 2d, 1799. The following vote was taken upon set- tling Rev. Peter Whitney as a colleague with the Rev. Anthony Wibird : Rev. Peter Whitney, 48 votes ; to hear further, 8. The following salary was decided upon : $500.00 with settling, and $550.00 without settlement.
January 13th, 1800. To take into consideration the ordina- tion of Rev. Peter Whitney. The 5th of February was appoint- ed as the day set apart for the purpose, and that a council of ten churches attend the ordination.
March 6th, 1800. At the annual meeting Mr. Moses Black was chosen Moderator; Mottram Vesey, Clerk ; Moses Black, Treasurer ; Deacon Elijah Veasey, Lieut. Jonathan Baxter, Lieut. Alpheus Carey, Selectmen. Three thousand dollars were raised for town expenses the year ensuing, four hundred dollars to be raised for schools, viz: School-house, $270.00; Farm Dis- trict, $27.50; Squantum, $10.00; Hough's Neck and German- town, $22.50 ; Old Fields District, $11.00 ; Penn's Hill District, $22.50; Woods District, $22.50; North District, $14.00. The vacancy where the old stairway was in the church, be appropri-
. ated for the use of the black people to sit in.
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April 7th, 1800. The following votes were cast for Governor : Caleb Strong, 55; Elbridge Gerry, 11; Hon. William Heath, 1. To widen Old Field Road one rod and one-half.
May 5th, 1800. At this meeting a Representative was chosen to the General Court, the vote standing as follows: Moses Black, 50; Benjamin Beal, 16; James Brackett, 1.
January 11th, 1802. To choose two agents to assist with their Representative in aiding a petition in General Court to build a bridge over Neponset river, the expense to be defrayed by the town. This year it was voted to adorn the green, on which the First Church stands, with trees.
March 7th, 1803. There shall be provided, at the expense of the town, seventy-five hundred weight of powder and two hun- dred weight of balls, to be kept in stock and deposited in some proper place, for the use of two companies of training soldiers when required.
August 29th, 1803. The committee chosen on the Neponset turnpike made the following report :-
" That the town do grant to said corporation all their right and title to the old road, between Mr. Black's and the stone post at the corner leading to Squantum, excepting that part of the road which leads to Jesse Fenno's and the marshes, whenever the said corporation shall open the new road, agreeable to their act of incorporation, it being understood that this grant is made to said corporation upon condition that they shall convey the said old road to the respective proprietors of the land who have given the new road, agreeable to the agreement made between said corporation and said proprietors of the land.
" PETER ADAMS, " JOSEPH BAXTER, " DANIEL GREENLEAF,
Committee."
. Voted, That the poor be let out at vendue to the lowest bid- der, to be supported for the term of one year, on the same con- ditions that they were let out last year, viz : They are to be furnished with provisions, clothes and fire-wood, what may be necessary to support them comfortably. Accordingly the poor were put up by the Moderator, and were struck off to John Spear, at $495, for said term.
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April 2d, 1804. To grant the singers the sum of twenty-five dollars to procure a bass viol for the use of the congregation. To lay out the floor in the side galleries for pews, and to sell the same.
May 7th, 1804. The committee made the following report on the subject of making a straight road through the centre of the town, viz : - " That Mr. Ebenezer Veasey offered to straighten the road according to the burying-ground wall, fill up the old well, remove the barn, and make the fence through the land into the road, as it is now staked out, for $200; reserving to him- self the turf or soil, also as much of Capt. John Newcomb's land as may be necessary to straighten the road, at $600 per acre."
April 2d, 1804. This year we find for the first time recorded the votes for a full list of Presidential Electors, although three presidential elections, previous to this date, had been held since the incorporation of the town. The vote for Electors at large was as follows, viz: Hon. David Cobb of Goldsborough Dis- triet, Maine, 90 ; Hon. Oliver Wendall of Boston District, 90; James Sullivan of Boston District, 27 ; Elbridge Gerry of Cam- bridge District, 27. District Electors : Norfolk District, Cotton Tufts of Weymouth, 90; Norfolk District, Hon. William Heath, 27. The remaining District Electors we have omitted, but each party cast the same number of votes for all of their respective candidates. It was not, it appears, until this year that the ma- chinery of the presidential election got fairly into working order. .
At the Presidential election in 1796, the citizens of the town seem to have bolted the regular Federal nominees for Electors, and to have voted for an independent candidate, an inhabitant of their own town. It appears a little singular that the Massa- chusetts Electors, who gave their suffrage to Mr. John Adams, did not receive a vote at this election in Quincy. Why the town . refused to cast their ballots for Mr. Adams, we are unable to state. The following is the record of this election :- "The inhabitants of the town met for the choice of Electors for Pres- ident and Vice-President, and gave in their votes as follows : Benjamin Beale, Esq., 38 ;" and this appears to have been the only Elector voted for in town. Mr. Beale, also received
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two votes in Randolph, and it will be seen that he was not one of the Massachusetts Electors who cast their ballot for Mr. Adams.1
December 10th, 1804. The committee on widening the road through the centre of the town are further empowered to pur- chase of Theophilus Thayer such a piece of land as may be thought necessary for the above purpose, at the rate of six hun- dred dollars per acre. If he is not willing to sell at this rate, take the land and abide the decision of the law. This estate was located where now stands the Congregational Church.
May 6th, 1805. Moses Black, Esq., James Brackett, and Peter B. Adams, Esq., were further empowered to meet the town of Braintree Agents, respecting a division of a piece of land known by the name of Owens Fields, lying in Quincy.
April 7th, 1806. Voted, To dismiss the article respecting fishing and fowling on half-moon, viz :- "To know if the town will maintain their right and priviledge, according to old custom, in fishing and fowling on half-moon, and if any inhabitant should be prosecuted on that account, that the town, as a town, would defend the prosecution."
April 7th, 1807. A committee was chosen to lay out a road to Bent's Point, from the meeting-house.
April 11th, 1808. The committee to whom was re-committed the subject of laying out the road to Hough's Neck and German- town, made a lengthy report on May 23d, which was accepted by the town. The following is an abstract of said report : "That said road laid out by this committee was more convenient than
1. The following persons were chosen as the Presidential Electors of Massa- chusetts for 1796 :-
ELECTORS AT LARGE.
William Sever,
Stephen Longfellow.
DISTRICT ELECTORS.
No. 1,-Samuel Hollis. No. 8,-David Rosseter.
No. 2,-Edward H. Robbins. No. 9,-Nathaniel Wells.
No. 3,-Elbridge Gerry. No. 10,-Ebenezer Hunt.
No. 4,-Ebenezer Mattoon. No. 11, -- Elisha May.
No. 5,-Samuel Phillips. No. 12, -Joseph Allen.
No. 6,-Increase Sumner. No. 13,-Thomas Rice.
No. 7,-Thomas Dawes.
No. 14,-Ebenezer Bacon.
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the road as used and laid out in 1673, and a saving of one hun- dred rods in distance, and would quiet this unpleasant subject which had so long agitated the public mind, and do away with the bars and gates which have been of so much annoyance to their free communication to the Neck and Germantown."
November 7th, 1808. That the thanks of the town be pre- sented, through the Selectmen, to the Hon. Josiah Quincy, for his generous and valuable gift to the First Church, in this town, of a large Bible for the use of the sacred desk ; and further, that the Selectmen be requested to cause a place to be made in the pulpit, for the purpose of keeping it secure from danger ; and that the old Bible be presented to the Rev. Mr. Whitney, as a gift from the town.
April 3d, 1809. This year school districts were first estab- lished by metes and bounds, viz: Hough's Neck and German- town District, Old Fields District, Penn's District, .Wood's District, North District, Farms District, Squantum District, Centre District.
April 17th, 1809. For years cattle were allowed to be pas- tured in the old cemetery, located on Hancock street. This desecration of the cemetery by cattle trampling down tomb- stones had become a matter of considerable complaint; by the liberality of several of the town's most noted citizens, the people were relieved of this trouble. It was voted that a deed present- ed this day to the town, signed by the Hon. John Quincy Adams and the Hon. Josiah Quincy, conveying the right of passage, herbage and pasturage in and over the burial ground in said town, be accepted on the conditions expressed in said instru- ment, and that the thanks of the town be presented to these gentlemen for their liberal donation.
May 6th, 1809. Voted, To purchase a new bell for the meeting-house, (which was the First Church,) the weight to be thirteen hundred pounds. The sale of the old one to be left with the committee.
Voted, To accept the road, as laid out by the Selectmen, from the new bridge to the training field, and the expenses on said bridge not to exceed ninety dollars.
August 30th, 1809. An attempt was made to introduce inoc-
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ulation, or, as it is now called, vaccination, from the kine or cow pox. After a long and earnest debate the question was decided in the negative, that it would be of no use, nor any protection to the public against the loathsome disease, small pox.
May 6th, 1811. The Selectmen are requested to procure ac- commodations for the inhabitants of the town to sit in the hall at town meetings.
November 12th, 1812. Vote for the choice of Electors for the Southern District : William Heath, 121; Joshua Thomas, 121; David Scudder, 121; William Rotch, 121; John Adams, 28; Nathaniel Morton, 26; John Davis, 25 ; Joseph Barker, 26.
May 31st, 1813. A committee was chosen for the purpose of communicating and receiving information concerning husbandry, so that the town could better understand what improvements had been made in agriculture.
Voted, To allow the singers the sum of twenty dollars.
May 3d, 1814. A report of a committee on the annexation of a part of Dorchester to Quincy was received, viz :- That all that tract of land lying on the south side of Neponset river, and within the old line of the town of Dorchester, about eight acres, known by the name of Horse Hommock ; also a tract of land called Bayfield, containing seventeen acres, be annexed.
Voted, To allow the soldiers twenty dollars per month, and that they be paid, and to deduct the interest of one year if paid within two months from this date.
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