USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 52
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 52
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30th April, 1662. Capt. Richard Brackett, Lut. Rich. Cooke, appeared before the Gov'er and deposed that having subscribed their names as Wittnesses to this paper, were present and did both see and heare Thos. Gatleiff, in behalf of himself and Peter Brackett. Thos. ffaxon and Moses Pain, in behalfe of the Town of Brantry, signed and published the writing contained 'in this [paper] to be their agreement. Edw. Rawson, Receiver. Witness hereunto, Rich. Cooke, Richard Brackett, James Peni- man."
The relics of this old dam can be seen to this day. It had a fourteen-foot head. The saw, or board and lumber mill was located in the vicinity of Brackett's wharf on the town river, or as it was then called, Mill river.
1680. It may be of interest to some of the old families to know the common custom of this period of marriage contracts; therefore we shall give the following specimen :-
"Articles of agreement between William Vezy, Sen., of Bran- try, in the County of Suffolk, and Martin Saunders, concerning a marriage between Solomon Vezy, son of William Vezy and Elizabeth Saunders, daughter to Martin Saunders as followeth :- William Vezy, engageth and promiseth to give and set ont to his son Solomon Vezy, half his now dwelling house and barn, in which he now liveth in Brantry, with half his pasture land and common land, and meadow land that lyeth about his house in stony Field, and half his marsh lying in Salters Farm, and half his meadow at penny Ferry in Dorchester. bounds, and half the land at his house which was given to Mr. Benjamin Tompson by the town of Brantry. Also, the said William Vezy promiseth to give Solomon Vezy, at marriage, seventy acres of upland at Aldridge Farm in the woods. It is to be understood that Solo- mon Vezy is to have half the dwelling house and barn in case he come and live in it. But after the death of his Father, Wil- liam Vezy, and his mother Ellen Vezy, he is to have half and enjoy it without any exception. But in case the Father and his Son Solomon do not agree to improve their land together, then they are to divide all by themselves, or by indifferent men chosen by themselves, and after division is made the Father is to have choice and so stand divided, only so long as the Father William
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Vezy and Mother Ellen liveth, and the Father William Vezy, promiseth to give a yoke of oxen and a horse, and such movables as are given to Solomon in his Father's will made in 1679."
" Articles of agreement between Martin Saunders of Brantry and William Vezy concerning a marriage between Elizabeth Saunders daughter of Martin Saunders and Solomon Vezy son of William Vezy :-
" The said Martin Saunders, Father of Elizabeth Saunders, promiseth to give and set out for his daughter Elizabeth upon marriage with Solomon Vezy, ninety pounds as followeth, thirty pounds as was given her by her Grandfather Hardier, to be a part of the ninety pounds, and three acres of upland lying before Goodman Haydens house, sixty rods long and eighty rods wide, next the County road way at thirty pounds, and two acres salt meadow at Penny Ferry at twenty and forty pounds, in mova- ble or household stuffs, or cattle, and as long as their Father Saunders and Son Solomon can agree he shall have house room, and the use of half the barn, rent free, and in case the Son Solo- mon and daughter Elizabeth will remove, the Father Saunders do's promise to give to his Son Solomon and daughter Elizabeth ten pounds towards building a house, Alwayse to be understood that if the marriage between Solomon Vezy and Elizabeth Saun- ders do not succeed, then these presents to be void and of no effect. Agreed upon and signed October twentyeth, 1680."
1682. " Lieut Edmund Quincy, Samuel Tompson, Alexan- der Marsh, Christopher Webb, selectmen, were instructed to lesse the Town lands to Benjamin Tompson the schoolmaster for twelve years."
The Rev. Noadiah Russell, a tutor in Harvard College, makes the following allusion in his diary of 1682, to Mr. Parmen- ter :- " Second month, (April,) 6th day. There was a strange report of a man at Braintree, Parmenter by name, who after some sickness pretended to strange revelations from an Angel under a pine tree, viz :- ' Yet ye world should have very happy times ; yet Mr. Terry should be President of Harvard College, and he himself minister in Mr. Terry's room, he pretended to be miraculously inspired with learning, but it is to be feared he will find himself deluded."
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1689. "It was voted that Samuel Speer should build a little house, 7 foot long and 5 foot wide, and set it by his house to secure his sisters, good wife Witty being distracted, and provide for her, and the town by vote engaged to see him well payed and satisfied which shall be thought reasonable."
We find recorded this year, the amount of the town tax as assessed upon the inhabitants. "It was voted that the Town rate should be made foure score pounds, one-half to be paid in money, and the other half in Country pay."
1692. At this period, or somewhat over a half century after the town was incorporated, the inhabitants seem to have settled into fair working order, as this year we find for the first time recorded a full list of town officers, viz :-
" Town Clerk,-Samuel Tompson, 3d.
" Selectmen,-Alexander Marsh, John Baxter, Joseph Penni- man, Nathaniel Wels, Joseph alenn.
" Commissioner,-Ensign Samuel Penniman.
" Constables,-John Webb and Samuel Payne.
" Tithingmen,-Caleb Huborff, Thomas White, Martin Sand- ers, Samuel Savill, Theopilus Curtis.
" Surveyors of Highways,-Nehemiah hayden, John French, John Kingley, Jr., Joseph Adams, Sen.
" Viewers of Fences,-For Monoticutt, Corporall John Lamb and Dependence ffrench; for the fore fields, Peter Nucom and Samuel Nucom; for the stony fields, Samuel Bass, carpenter, Joseph Bass, joiner ; for the farm fields, John Bass, Jr., benimin Neal."
" Voted, that the present Selectmen and Caleb huborff, Sam- uel Peniman, decon parmitor, and Thomas Bass, and Samuel Tompson are chosen to seat the meeting-house by appointing persons to their places. It was further voted that the present selectmen are impowered by the Town to make order for the Town for the year 1693, for the making up of fencis, fetering horsis, and hogs kind, yoaking and wringing of swine, and by making orders to restrain sheep by putting them to a keeper or keepers."
July 16th, 1694. The first Town Assessors chosen were :- "John Ruggles, Sen., John Cleverly, Sen., and William Veasey."
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At a meeting held Dec. 24th, 1694, we find the first specific appropriation made by the town recorded, viz :- " Five pounds for John Belcher's widow's maintenance, thirty shillings to Thomas Revell for keeping William Dimblebee, and twenty-five shillings for ringing of the bell, and sweeping the meeting-house in the year 1694, and seven shillings to William Savill, for Dimblebee's cofin, eight shillings for mending the pound, and eight shillings to the Constable for warning the Town, and five shillings for the exchange of a Town cow to Samuel Speer, and ten shillings to Thomas bas, for debt for ringing the bell for- merly, this to be raised by rate."
The first town debt that we find any record of, was the ten shillings due Mr. Bass for ringing the bell for the former year, and was by vote of the town to be raised by taxation.
1696-7. "On the Sabbath, 2 day of February last some of our Sallops at anchor on Sabbath day night, and being to carless, not keeping a watch the Indians and French come on them unwares, killed one man, and took the rest prisoners, and all the Sallop being six in number, of which some of the men as was said come home a while after."
1697. Mr. William Rawson, desiring a higher seat in the synagogue than his neighbors, asked permission of the town to allow him this privilege, which was granted him by the following vote :- " Voted, that Mr. William Rawson should have the priv- ilege of making a seat for his family between, or upon the two beams over the pulpit, not darkening the pulpit."
In Marshall's manuscript diary we find the following incidents, which we were allowed to copy through the kindness of the Massachusetts Historical Society :- " Mr. Ebenezer Crane had his house and all in it burnt at noonday, Sept. 18th, 1697, and a few days after another house was burnt and all that was in it. There died this year 12 grown persons, viz :- Lient. Twelves, goody Bradford, Neal Campbell, goody Nucum, John Sanders, his wife, Thomas Holbrook, Ephrim Arnold, Mrs. Faxon, Mr. Quincy, goody Thayer and John Rewett, old Mr. Holbrook, also 12 children, viz :- John henches, Will. Vesey, Soll. Vesey, John Sanders, Moses pain, John pain, Ben. Neal, Nici Savel, Mr. Rawson, Samuel Bagley and Black Mingoes."
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1699. Mr. Rawson by vote of the town was released from all charges from land in controversy between Boston and Brain- tree.
" The inhabitants of Braintree Lawfully convened, voted that the Town would stand by the persons who have the Town Lands leased to them, in defending them from Mr. Tompson their late Schoolmaster, they paying rent of said Land to the Town Treasurer for the present school."
" Voted, That John Bagley of Roxbury should have four pounds for keeping Abigail Neal, Providing he give the Town no further trouble."
1700. The land controversy between Boston and Braintree continued.
1701. "It was then voted, that the Selectmen shall be and are now impowered to call for, and Recover the entry money mentioned May 13th, 1700." This vote had reference to a vote of the town obliging every scholar, from the 18th of August, to pay his entry of one shilling to the town, and so successively for every quarter for the whole year. This payment was to go towards paying the schoolmaster for the years 1700 and 1701. If not paid, it was to be collected by suit at law against the par- ents or masters concerned.
Nov. 28th, 1710. " Voted, that the Town should allow six pounds for Keeping Bulls to run at large from the 1st of March next to March, 1712, to be paid at the end of the year, every Bull to be a good sufficient Bull of 2 years old, and no man shall be allowed more than twenty shillings for a Bull. The following persons entered their bulls :- Thomas Wales entered a bull to run at large; Peter Marquand, John Ruggles, Samuel Cleverly, Col. Quincy, Dea. Samuel White, Samuel Belcher and Eliezer Veasey." This custom of the town of engaging bulls and boars to run at large for the purpose of stocking their farms was continued at intervals for about forty years; forty-two pounds to be raised for the purpose of defraying town expenses.
March 2d, 1712-13. "It was voted, that the present Select- men be a committee fully impowered to stake out the Ancient way not exceeding a rod wide over Rock Island creek to the town's land meadow, with this provision, that the particular
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Persons that are interested in the land and meadows on Rock Island side and their heirs forever, do bear their proportionable part, besides their part, as they are inhabitants of the Town, to the making and maintaining of it."
April 11th, 1715. This seems to have been the first period when the announcement of intentions of marriage were made public. "Voted, that the Publishments of intentions of mar- riage shall for the future be set up upon the foreside of the most Public door of the meeting-house."
The Narragansett wars had been so expensive that they had left the Province largely in debt. To relieve them of this em- barrassment, the Court issued one hundred thousand pounds in Bills of Credit, and in 1720-21, the town took the following action on disposing of these Bills of Credit :- " Voted, that there shall not be disposed of them in Larger Quantities than 25 pounds, nor less than 20, and that they be let at 6 per cent. John Quincy, Joseph Crosbie and Benj. Webb were appointed trustees for these bills, on the part of the town. The Hon. Ed- mund Quincy, John Quincy and Joseph Crosbie were the three persons accepted by vote of the town to have their part of these bills in the Province Treasury let to; they paying the said sum of one hundred pounds of five hundred and forty-eight, down and giving good security for the whole."
1725. " Whoever brings a black bird to the Selectmen killed shall receive one penny a piece, or kill a ground Squirrell shall receive three pence per head."
1727. The Punkapog Indians having been swindled and their rights so often trespassed upon for years, that they in Council concluded to protect themselves against these innova- tions by petitioning the Legislature to appoint Col. John Quincy in whose integrity they had the utmost confidence. In accord- ance with their desire, the Court appointed Col. Quincy, who for over twenty years served them with the greatest fidelity. The following is their petition, viz :-
" To the Honourable William Dummer, Esq., Lieut. Gov'r .:-
" The Humble petition of your Hon. Humble petitioners, the native Indian proprietors of punkapaugue plantation, in the .
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town of stoughton, Humbly showeth, That whereas some of our English neighbours are too ready to incroach upon our tim- ber and our wood, cutting it down to make coals with, and Damnifying ns greatly thereby, whereof we are necesitated to pray for the imposition and assistance of some English person impowered by this great General Court, to take the case of us that we may have Justice done us, and that we be not wronged. We humbly pray that Maj. John Quincy, Esq., may be fully im- powered and authorized by this Great and General Court, to look after us in all Respects whereby we may be under a better Reg- ulation, than we have been of Late, as to our wood, timber, orchards, meadows and upland, that we have Still in our hands, and that he may issue and settle any small differences between any of our English neighbours, all which we leave with your Honors most wise consideration, and Humbly pray as in duty bound.
AMOS A. AHATTON, THOMAS T. AHATTON, HEZAKIAII II. SQUAMANGU, GEORGE + HUNTER, SIMON S. GEORGE.
" punkapaugne, June 2, 1727."
-Mass. Archives, Vol. XXXI, p. 143.
1728. The town voted to accept the sixty thousand pounds of Bills of Credit.1 The lowest denomination to be let out was ten pounds ; highest amount to be loaned, forty pounds. The trustees chosen were Benjamin Neal, Joseph Crosbie, Nehemiah Hayden, John Thayer, Jr., and Samuel Curtis.
March 11th, 1734-5. "Voted, that a petition be preferred to
1. "In 1745, another expedition was fitted out from Massachusetts against Louisburg. It was successful in capturing that fortress; but the expense demanded a fresh issue of from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 pounds in bills of credit, which was declared lawful money, but this declaration did not hold good, as it depreciated, and the holders of it lost a large amount by its decline. One hun- dred pounds sterling in specie, or a bill on London, was equivalent in value to lawful paper money of New England, 1100 pounds. Great Britain soon after- wards ceded Louisburg to France, greatly to the mortification, but certainly to the advantage of Massachusetts, for the latter received from the British Treasu- ry about 183,000 pounds, on account of the expenses of the Louisburg expedi- tion, and with this sum compounded for the redemption of her paper bills. The composition was under two shillings in the pound sterling, or fifty shillings ยท in lawful paper money, to one ounce of specie money was given."
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MISCELLANEOUS.
the General Court to Grant the Town something as a considera- tion, and in lieu of the four thousand acres of land taken from us and added to the Town of Milton, and Likewise to Grant us something Gratis for our having kept a Free Latin School for about ninety years." Edmund Quiney, John Quincy and Ben- jamin Webb were chosen a committee to manage this affair.
March 17th, 1736. " Voted, that the Town Meetings for the future shall be held half the time in the old meeting-house in the North Precinct, and the other half in the Middle Precinct."
March 6th, 1739. Dr. Benjamin Stedman was chosen Sur- veyor of the Highways.
1740. The town voted that Suffolk County should be divided into two Counties.
In 1741, it was voted that the constable should receive the Land Bank Bills1 for the payment of taxes and pay it into
1. About this period or earlier, various schemes were projected to relieve the Provinces of their financial difficulties, and the Land Bank was one of these swindling institutions. "The land bank, or manufactory scheme, which was begun or rather revived in the year 1739, and produced such great and lasting mischiefs, that a particular relation of the rise, progress and overthrow of it may be of use to discourage and prevent any attempts of the like nature' in future ages. By a strange conduct in the General Court, they had been issning bills of Credite for eight or ten years annually for charges of government, and being willing to ease each present year, they had put off the redemption of the bills as far as they could; but the Governor being restrained by his instructions from going beyond the year 1741, that year was unreasonably loaded with thirty or forty thousand pounds sterling taxes, which, according to the general opinion of the people, it was impossible to levy, not only on account of the large sum, but because all the bills in the Province were but just sufficient to pay it, and there was very little silver or gold, which by an act of government was allowed to be paid for taxes as equivalent to the bills .. A scheme was laid before the General Court by Mr. Hutchinson, then one of the Representatives of Boston, in which it was proposed to borrow in England upon interest, and to import into the Province a sum in silver equal to all the bills then extant, and there- with to redeem them from possessors and furnish a currency for the inhabitants, and repay the silver at distant periods, which would render the burden of taxes tolerable by an equal division on a number of future years, and would prevent the distress of trade by the loss of the only instrument, the bills of credite, without another provided in its place, but this proposal was rejected. One great frailty of human nature, an inability or indisposition to compare a distant, though certain inconvenience or distress with a present convenience or delight, is said by some strangers who come among ns from Europe, to be prevalent in Americans, so as to make it one of their distinguishing characteristics. Be that
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the town treasury. This bank was established by a com- pany of Boston merchants who were to issue bills of credit, which they promised to receive as money ; real estate to a cer- tain amount was to be security that they would fulfil their engagements. These merchants were persons in straightened circumstances, or in financial difficulties, and some who pos- sessed real estate but had no money, while others were men of no substance whatever. It finally worked into politics, and the controversy was long and bitter on these private banks, dividing towns, parishes and particular families, until it finally burst up, to the great and serions loss of the community, and is another fair illustration of the idiosyncrasy of poor human nature, whose follies are so often repeated.
March, 1741. The noted Joseph Gooch was chosen one of the Selectmen of the town. He first appears on the records as mod- erator, Ang. 25th, 1739.
1746. The town voted the securing of the town's stock of powder, and the Selectmen were instructed to build a " Closite one the Beams of the middle precinct meeting-house (if it be allowed of), as a suitable place to keep the powder."
as it may, it is certain that at this time a great number of private persons, alleging that the preceding general Court having suffered the Province to be brought into distress from which it was not in the power of their successors to afford relief, the royal instructions being a bar to any future emission of bills until all that were then extant should be redeemed, resolved to interpose. Royal instructions were no bar to the proceedings of private persons. The project of a bank in the year 1714, was revived. The projector of that bank now put him- self at the head of seven or eight hundred persons, some few of rank and good estate, but generally of low condition among the plebeians, and of small estate, and many of them, perhaps insolvent. This notable company were to give credite to 150,000 pounds, lawful money, to be issued in bills, each person being to mortgage a real estate in proportion to the sums he subscribed and took out, or to give bond with two surities, but personal security was not to be taken for more than 100 ponnds, from any one person. Ten directors and a treasurer were to be chosen by the company. Every subscriber or partner was to pay three per cent. interest for the sum taken out, and five per cent. of the princi- pal; and he that did not pay bills might pay the produce and manufacture of the Province at such rates as the directors from time to tiine should set, and they should commonly pass in lawful money. The pretence was that, by thns furnishing a medium and instrument of trade, not only the inhabitants in gen- eral would be better able to procure the Province bills of Credite for their taxes, but trade, foreign and inland, would revive and flourish. The fate of the pro-
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1751. A controversy between the town and Benjamin Owen about the money he had collected of the town tax, but not re- ceiving a suitable compensation, they agreed to sell his property to reimburse the town.
Jan. 3d, 1752. The following is the first case of kidnapping that we have found :- " A Petition of John Scott of Braintree, in the County of Suffolk, sheweth that he was lawfully married to Lydia Thiwing of Cambridge, soon after which he went a voyage to sea, and left his wife with child, which child, soon after it was born, was secretly conveyed away by one Samuel Spear, and now is called by his name, but the petitioner is cer- tain he is his son, and has received him as such of the said Spear. He therefore prays he may have Liberty to change his name to that of John Scott."
1755. There having been so much controversy about the con- tinnation of Summer street as having been the old Plymouth road, we will here give from the official records the laying
ject was thought to depend upon the opinion which the general Court should form of it. It was necessary, therefore, to have a house of representatives well disposed. Besides the eight hundred persons subscribers, the needy part of the Province in general favoured the scheme. One of their votes will go as far in popular elections as one of the most opulent. The former are most numerous; and it appeared that by far the majority of the representatives for 1740, were subscribers to or favourers of the scheme, and they have ever since been dis- tinguished by the name of the land bank house.
"Men of estates and the principal merchants in the Province abhorred the project and refused to receive the bills, but great numbers of shop keepers, who had lived for a long time before upon the fraud of a depreciating currency, and many small traders, gave credit to the bills. The directors, it was said, by a vote of the company, became traders, and issued just what bills they thought proper, without any fund or security for their ever being redeemed. They pur- chased every sort of commodity, ever so much a drug, for the sake of pushing off their bills, and by one means or other, a large sum, perhaps fifty or sixty thousand pounds, was abroad. To lessen the temptation to receive the bills, a company of merchants agreed to issue their notes, or bills redeemable by silver and gold at distant periods, much like the scheme in 1733, and attended with no better effect. The Governor exerted himself to blast this fraudulent under- taking,-the land bank. Not only such civil and military officers as were direc- tors or partners, but all who received or paid any of the bills, were displaced. The Governor negatived the person chosen speaker of the house, being a direc- tor of the bank, and afterwards negatived thirteen of the new clected counsel- lors, who were directors or partners in or reputed favourers of the scheme. But all was insufficient to suppress it."-Hutch. Hist., Vol. II, p. 352.
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out of this lane into the South Commons, viz :- " May 14th, 1755. To lay out a way to the South Commons, Beginning at the way near Mr. Apthorp's (which was then located on School street),1 then adjoining all along to the land of the Proprietors in that quarter, until we came to the corner of Mr. Isaac New- comb's fence, near his house, and have allowed the said way one rodd and half wide and no more, excepting in some certain places by reason of some inconvenience, viz :- One place near Mr. Ephriam Pray's house we have left out a small hill of Rocky Land, and another near Mr. Benjamin Cleverly's house, and an- other near Mr. Joseph Pray's barn, the above said way to be fenced out and lye open for the use of the town."
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