USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of shipbuilding on North river, Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with genealogies of the shipbuilders, and accounts of the industries upon its tributaries, 1640 to 1872 > Part 2
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3
TIIE INDIAAN PONDS.
from September in ye year 1702. to September in ye year 1703, and all-so all that Twelve Pounds, and teen shillings which was Lent or hired unto ye Sd Despard in order to furnish him with a Stook (Stock) which will be due in September in ye year 1703. and all-so to pay or Cause to be Paid unto the Sd Bates, the sum of five Pounds Money at or before ye first day of September next ensewing, in wit- ness whereoff we have here-unto Sect our hands, dated * * * the first, 1702-3. Signed sealed and delivered in the Presents of
ISAAC BARKER, FRANCIS BARKER, JOSEPH BATES, JOSHUA BARRER."
The material for the iron business was fished up from the bottom of the pond and from numerous "bogs " in the immedi- ate vicinity, where bog-ore abounds at the present day. The furnace was situated perhaps ten rods from the pond on the banks of the stream now known as the Herring brook, which, after meandering through miles of tangled forests and pleasant meadows, forms one of the chief tributaries of North river. As to the location of the furnace there can be no doubt, as the large quantities of slag or cinder that covers the ground amply testifies. Even the mud-sill, that formed the foundation of the flume, is plainly discernible, and the surrounding ground is filled with charcoal dust, which gives the ground the appear- ance of black lead. About two rods above the site of the fur- nace the stream was tapped and formed what is now known as the Furnace ditch, in which was the flume and water wheel that was necessary to drive the blast bellows. The original stream runs on the south side of the former structure, and though plainly to be seen now, is partially filled with the accumulation of decayed vegetation that has been gathering for many genera- tions. It is the natural outlet of Oldham pond of 154 acres ; Big Sandy, 110 acres ; Little Sandy which formerly connected with it, 49 acres ; and No Bottom pond of 11 aeres, together flowing into Furnace pond of 112 1-4 acres, make a total of 437 acres of water.
On the hillside, a few rods below the old furnace, on the northeast side of the stream, is an old cellar, probably the one mentioned in an issue of the Pioneer as being built by contract by Joseph Bates, of Scituate, in 1703. A cedar tree covered with lichen and moss of a century's growth, stands on its brink, a curiosity seldom seen in this part of the country, and it forms one of the principal attractions in this beautiful locality. In an
4
ABORIGINES.
interview with a very intelligent old gentleman, who had lived in that immediate vicinity for over 80 years, we learned the fact that the first cannon that were ever cast in this country were cast at this place, and he also informed us that when he was a child, he remembered hearing an old lady by the name of Berse (who had seen her hundredth year), say, that her parents took her up to the old furnace to see them cast pots and kettles when she was a mere child, but the furnace was gone long before he could remember.
About one-fourth of a mile below the old furnace is another mill privilege, and on the dam is now standing the remains of a saw mill. The first mill at this place was built by Mr. Nathaniel Ford 60 or 70 years ago. Mr. Ford was a cabinet maker by trade, and also had a grist mill on the same dam in connection with his other business. Mr. Ford appears to have been a very independent sort of a man, and flowed the whole surrounding territory regardless of the reputed rights of others, which caused his arrest by a Mr. Isaac Barker, who claimed the submerged land. The case was carried to the Plymouth courts, but was thrown out, as Mr. Barker could produce no title to the property. After a time we find it in possession of Mr. John Gorham and Jarius Howland, who utilized it as a box mannfactory, and soon after it was burned down. Mr. Simeon Chandler next came into possession of the privilege and moved a building on the old site, which he fitted up for a mill, the same which is now standing in a ruined condition. It is pretty generally understood now that a large portion of this territory has no legal claimants, and it is almost a wonder that the town doesn't take the matter in hand and secure it for a park before it is stripped of the last remnant of its beauty.
On or before the time of the incorporation of Pembroke (according to tradition) there was quite a large settlement of Indians on the northerly side of the stream, whose ancestors had lived here from the beginning of time, so far as any one knows, or ever can know, to the contrary. Here they lived in peace and happiness, training the young red skins in the use of the sharp pointed arrows and more deadly tomahawks, with a skill and precision that no white man could ever equal ; taught them to track the red deer through the surrounding forest with an instinct only equalled by the blood hounds of modern days ; taught them to ensnare the cunning beaver and otter, that were once so plentiful in and about every stream and pond, and
MAP OF PEMBROKE. A D. 1794. INCLUDING HANSON TERRITORY
HAMUVIER
SCITUATE
SCITUATE
MARSHFIELD
PORGE
MEETING MOUSE 3THE PRINT BRUCK BRICK KILMS
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SAR
50202 R
SHIPYARD
MARSHFIELD
MW. 2º30th 48GRODZ
---
ROAD TO
SAWMILL
ANCHOR SHOP
FRIST MILL
HEAD
OSTON
030-1 TO BOSTON
PSAW MILL
MEETTAGH
OLDHAM POND
1.3' ,5M SOO RODS
MEETING HOUSE 2nd PRECINCT!
ONO BUT TOM POND':
GOOM FOND
SAW & CRIST
MILL
3
LIMPIAN HEADPOND
LITTLE SANDY SOTTO Finchy
22 72º3am
STETSO FOND
SAWMAIL
.
PART OF
SW 78.384
JONES RIVER P
DVXBOROUGH
HALIFAX
KINGSTON
( 01 WIZI
ABINGTON
FORGE . SAWMILL & GRIST-MILL
BRIDGEWATER
TAUNTON . K.
ROAD FROM PLIN
DUXBOROVCH SW33º 1171- RODS
SMALLER LEADINGO
2008587 -22 MR
BRIDGEWATER
VAIALIFAX
3
FORTE
ABIAGTOM HE 86°15 622DODS.
HANOVER
BRIDGE
4.TRIST. MILL
00
FIVER
FRIENDS
243
-- MARSHFIELD ROAD
NONLOS
HERRING
I CRAMERS CP
BRIDGEWATER
JELIMOUTH
PLIMPTON
MD
5
PEMBROKE INDUSTRIES.
whose furs protected them from the piercing cold through the inclement season ; instructed them in the manufacture of fish- ing lines and hooks to entice the shining bass and slippery eel from their native element, and to cure them by drying in their smoky wigwams. Here they passed their simple lives in peace, watching in the earliest opening of spring, for the myriads of herring that forced their way past them to the ponds above ; idled away the long, pleasant summer in their youthful and innocent sports, which is usual to the young of all races ; listened to the mournful jabbering of the large flocks of wild geese with joyful glee, as they winged their way in the Indian summer to their southern haunts ; feasted on the roasted ear of corn that a kind Providence had placed at their disposal ; and thanked the Great Spirit for His kindness to His red children, who had kept and watched over them from time immemorial. Such was the condition of the red man before the coming of the pale face with a musket in one hand and a jug of fire water in the other, who with a smooth tongue and winning ways defrauded the poor savage of his land, stupified his senses with rum, dishonored his women and daughters, brought strange disorders among them which had hitherto been unknown, and caused their speedy decay.
A stream enters the Namassakeeset at a point farther down, flowing from the southeast, and rising in Marshfield. On this stream have been erected several mills.
According to Barber in his Historical Collections published in 1839 :
"In 1837, there was in Pembroke, Mass., - I cotton mill, I cupola furnace, 2 tack factories. and 2 shingle mills." " Number of vessels built, 8; tonnage of the same, 1000; value of the same $40,000 ; hands employed, S." Pop. 1258. Distance, 12 miles from Plymouth, 9 from Scituate harbor and 27 from Boston."
Isaac Hatch commenced the manufacture of satinets here in 1813. In 1834 or 35 he made shoe-boxes, and from the time of his death in 1850 until 1859 his sons carried on the business. The latter year they built a steam mill where they manufactured a million feet of boards in boxes annually. The same year (1859) the water mill was burned and a new one erected where they made water-pails and covered buckets. This was soon given up, and the manufacture of mackerel kitts begun, and until 1870, from 1500 to 2000 were made weekly.
6
INDIAN HEAD RIVER.
Calvin Shepherd commenced the manufacture of boxes at the old Shepherd cotton mill about the same time that Isaac Hatch began. His son in-law, James H. West, now successfully carries on the business there. Nathan T. Shepherd, Lemuel Lefurgey and John Foster are also engaged in the business. Still farther down, the Namassakeeset receives another tributary from the southwest. Between the Namassakeeset and the Indian Head is the great swamp spoken of by Winthrop in his Journal. A very good account of Namassakeeset River, or Barker's, or Herring River, as it is sometimes called, has been written by Dr. Francis Collamore in his history of Pembroke, published in Hurd's history of Plymouth Co.
We are now back to the CROTCH, formed by the junction of the Indian Head and Namassakeeset Rivers. At this point North River begins its winding, snake-like course, through hill and vale, flowing over twenty miles to reach the ocean, ten miles distant. It is a truly beautiful stream and associated with many historical events of our country, which fame has been won for it by the ships built on its banks and which it safely bore to the ocean, from whence they gave renown to their builders and to the river on which they were built. We will now begin the ascent of INDIAN HEAD RIVER. A few "reaches" up we come to CHAPMAN'S LANDING on the north bank, and just below an old fording place. This has been a favorite bathing place for the boys from time immemorial, until the filth, or refuse from the rubber mill made it unpleasant to bathe there. Here the boys assembled after school and on Saturdays, coming by the deeply worn old Indian path across the Indian fields that border on the marsh-lands by the river,* stopping only to eat the luscious high-bush blue-berry that grows in abundance in these fields. They commenced to disrobe before the river was in sight, and when the bank was reached were nearly ready to jump in. Diving from the opposite bank was a favorite pastime, and the author can recall many a time diving for fresh-water clams and cooking them on stones heated by a fire built on the bank, and trying to eat them. Digging and cooking them was fun, eating them was not.
A little farther up, the Indian Head receives, as a tributary, the IRON MINE BROOK, also called TROUT BROOK, or BAR- STOW'S BROOK. It rises in Randall's Swamp, north of Hanover
* This path also leads across the Indian fields back of the residence of John Tower.
7
LUDDAM'S FORD.
St., and there are still remains on its banks of the old dams built by the beavers. It flows south across Hanover and Rock- land Sts. (or " Hanover's Folly " as old Capt. JJohn Cushing named it ), Broadway, through the land of the late Col. John B. Barstow, across Ehn St., and thence through the lands of Michael Christie and Reuben Donnell into the Indian Head.
Next up on the Indian Head we come to the historic LUDDAM'S FORD, at the bridge which connects Hanover with Pembroke below the dam of Clapp's Rubber Mill. The stream here first became famous as the fording place of Gov. Winthrop and party in 1632.
Gov. John Winthrop, in his diary under date of Sept. 1632, says ;
" About five in the morning the Governor, [Winthrop] and his company came out of Plimouth. The governor of Plimouth [Bradford] with the Pastor and Elder &c , bringing them nearly one-half mile out of town in the dark. Lieut. Holmes with two others and the Governor's mare came along with them to the great swamp, about ten miles, when they came to the great river, [now called North River, ] they were carried over by one Luddam, their guide, as they had been when they came, the stream being very strong and up to their crotch, so the Governor called that passage Luddam's Ford."
No other name has ever been given to this locality, and no more appropriate name could be given. Luddam, the guide, is probably the same Luddam that we find later in Weymouth. What appears now to be but an insignificant stream at this place, is a part of the river that was of the utmost importance to the first settlers of the colony. This and North River fur- nished large supphes of food, ahounding in fish of many kinds ; shad, alewives or herring, smelts, bass, white and red perch, pickerel, shiners, the ugly horn-pout, and Deane says, salmon among the other varieties. The alewives and shad ascend the different herring brooks and the main stream now to some ex- tent, and are taken in fairly large quantities ; but each year they come in diminished numbers. The dams prevent their ascend- ing to their old spawning grounds, and the refuse of the mills, especially the rubber mill, so impregnates the waters and fills up the smaller streams, that they cannot and will not go up, and without some decided steps are soon taken, all fish will be- come as much strangers to the river as the bass and salmon have already. Fish, tradition tells us, was one of the main supplies
8
BARDWIN'S IRON WORKS.
of food for the hardy men and women that made their habita- tions on the pleasant banks of North River. A few years ago the river was stocked with several millions of Oregon salmon, but they have all disappeared. For over twenty years there was no mechanical business carried on in the colony. The first settlers followed the example of the Indians, -lived on game and fish, and cleared small tracts of land which they planted with corn, beans, etc. They next built vessels to trade with. In early days most of the vessels were engaged in the coasting trade ; the different colonies establi hed trading houses along the coast, and they traded with the Indians and in turn with the trading vessels that touched along their shores.
Winthrop writes, in 1634 :
"Our neighbors of Plymouth had oft traded with the Dutch at Hudson's. River, called by them New Netherlands."
He adds :
"We had from them about 40 sheep and beaver, and brass pieces and sugar, etc., for sack, strong waters, linen cloth, and other com- modities. They have a great trade of beaver there, about 9,000 or 10,000 beaver skins in a year."*
There were many beavers in Plymouth County when the set- tlers first came, and many of the small streams, tributaries of North River, have to-day dams and remnants of dams originally built by these cunning and intelligent creatures. Manufacturing soon followed the ship-building art, and in 1704 a dam was built just above Luddam's Ford by THOMAS BARDIN ( or Burden, or Bardwin, as we find it spelled in different places), who, with his brother Isaac, lived on Broadway in the house which was occupied by the late David Hersey, and which is still standing, and now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Jennie Reed. Deane says they were sons of Abraham Bardin of Scituate. In 1704 Thomas Bardin also erected an anchor forge and supplied the increasing demand for anchors for the vessels built on the ship- vards below; also the iron knees then used to some extent. That Thomas Bardwin, probably son of the above Thomas, succeeded to the business, we have good reason to believe, as in the Boston Evening Post of Feb. 14, 1774, we find that there died
* Winthrop's History of New England, I, 138.
CURTIS ANCHOR FORGE.
Formerly located on the Indian Head River, just above Luddam's Ford.
9
CURTIS' ANCHOR FORGE.
" At Hanover, Capt. Thomas Bardwin, aged 86. He was born near Haverford-West, in South Wales, came over in 1716, and was the first that made bar iron in New England."
The first bridge at this point was probably built about this time. In 1730 the records of the town speak of this forge or iron foundry as the "old iron works " Before 1740 we find these iron works in the possession of the Josselyns, who had so much trouble with the town in regard to their dam, which pre- vented the herring from ascending the river to their spawning grounds. There were two brothers, Capt. Joseph ( also a dea- con ) who gave a bell to the Centre Church, and who was a man of great enterprise, and Deacon Thomas, who gave two silver communion cups to the First Church, and who was a se- lectman at one time. They were succeeded by Seth, Philip, Isaac, and John R. Josselyn, Lemuel Dwelley, Benj. Studley, and Lemuel Curtis. In 1790 Lemuel Curtis, who lived where Solomon Russell now resides, sold one-quarter of the forge, ete., to his sons Reuben and Consider Curtis ; Philip and Isaac Josselyn had sold out previously. Reuben Curtis and the others continued making anchors and doing the iron work on the vessels built below, and the business increased until they had more than they could attend to. Mr. Curtis was also a large owner in some of the vessels, and was town clerk and representative to the General Court. He resided on Elm Street, near his forge, where Reuben Donnell now lives. In 1791 Benjamin Studley and John R. Josselyn sold out to Lemuel Curtis. Seth Josselyn disposed of his interest in 1803. In 1831 Reuben Curtis sold his fourth to George Curtis, the only son of Consider, and in 1839 Lemuel Dwelley sold his half to George Curtis, which, with the other interests he bought or in- herited from his father, left him in sole possession of the works. The first works erected by the Curtis family were burned in 1848, as was also a corn mill which was built in 1832. George Curtis lived where Edward Sweeney now resides, on Elm Street, near Curtis' Crossing, and a cut of the house and also the forge is in Barry's History of Hanover. He died Feb. 16, 1875. Mr. Curtis employed about sixteen hands, and made two hun- dred and fifty tons of anchors per year, ranging in weight from one thousand to ten thousand pounds each. During the war of the rebellion, Mr. Curtis accumulated a great deal of money making anchors for the United States government ; many anchors were also made at this forge in the early part of this century for the government some weighing five tons. The
10
CLAPP'S RUBBER MILL.
anchors for the grand old war ship Constitution were forged here. For over one hundred and fifty years the "loud din of the descending hammer could be heard here daily," but now the forge, which was sold and occupied as a rubber mill, is replaced by a large modern structure far less picturesque.
In November, 1873, Eugene H. Clapp bought the old forge property of George Curtis. At that time he was in company with his cousin, Fred. W. Clapp, which partnership continued until Jan. 1st, 1880, when it was terminated by the death of Fred. W. Clapp. Since 1880 Eugene H. Clapp has been sole proprietor. They found the old buildings in the condition in which Mr. Curtis left them, and fitted them up as cheaply as possible, as at that time they were not in a very prosperous financial condition. The old flumes were carried away by a freshet within a few days after the property was bought, and the Clapps were forced to build entirely new flumes, and put in a new water-wheel. They started at first with two grinding machines which, in the process of time, have been increased in number, until to-day they have twelve. They at first only put in a floor upon which to work over one end of the mill, but business so increased as to necessitate three floors in 1881. In 1879 they put in a small seventy-five horse-power steam engine at the west end of the factory, and some additional rubber grinders, so they could run by steam when the water supply was short. In 1880, after E. H. Clapp had acquired all the property, he put in another and larger steam engine at the other end of the mill, a three hundred horse-power Corliss, which has been running from that time until the present. In September, 1881, the factory building proper was entirely de- stroyed by fire ; also the roof of the boiler house on the east end of the mill. Mr. Clapp immediately built a much larger mill, and started it up in less than four weeks from the time of the fire, and since that time has been constantly adding to the , property. In 1885 he added still another engine at the west end of the mill, replacing the old seventy-five horse-power engine with a new Brown steam engine, with two hundred horse- power capacity. In 1886 he built a new factory on the Pem- broke side of the river, and in 1888 doubled the capacity by a new addition. In 1889-1890 he proposes to put in a new water-wheel and other machinery, all of which would have been added in 1888 but for the extraordinary height of water all the season.
-
CLAPP'S RUBBER MILLS.
11
CAPT. HAVILAND TORREY.
When Messrs. E. H. and F. W. Clapp first occupied the mill in 1873 they employed only three men, but now they often have as many as one hundred, and seldom less than seventy-five employed. They have an electric plant connected with their mill and when business is rushing, work at night by electric lights. The business, which was started with a grinding capacity of one thousand pounds per day as their maximum in 1873, has increased so that Mr. Clapp is to-day able to grind forty times as much, or twenty tons daily, -and is handling several thousand tons yearly, whereas in 1873 he only handled about one hundred and fifty tons. It certainly is a great business grown from a small industry, and where it will end is hard to say, - but, judging from the past, it bids fair to rival any industry on the South Shore.
Usually, mills and factories, while they enrich the towns, do not tend to the peace and comfort of the inhabitants, as they often bring in a class of foreigners who strike, carouse, and make it disagreeable for peaceful residents. It is not so, how- ever in Hanover. From the times of early ship building until the present, men's sons resident in and about the town have been employed, seemingly like one large family, and those which Mr. Clapp has been obliged to import, have, with few exceptions, become good citizens, and many thanks are due him for his careful selections. It is to be hoped it may continue so. Mr. Clapp's actual pay-roll amounts to between forty and fifty thousand dollars yearly and the product of the mill in the neighborhood of four hundred thousand dollars yearly. He has now complete accommodation for handling and utilizing all kinds of rubber material according to the latest and best known processes, both mechanical and chemical, is doing two or three times as much work as any of his competitors, and is handling more than one half of this business in the United States.
On the Pembroke side of the stream, opposite the "Old Forge," stands an old saw mill now used as a chemical shop or laboratory for the rubber mill, having been altered and enlarged. This mill was owned by George Curtis and Haviland Torrey, who was a Capt. of the Second Regiment, First Brigade, Fifth Division, Pembroke, Militia. He was the father of Benj. B. and Herbert Torrey of Hanover, and lived in Pembroke on the hill just above the mill. He died Aug. 26, 1865, aged 74 years.
Near this mill stood an old carding-mill, first built by Jesse
12
PROJECT DALE.
Reed at a spot farther up stream and moved from thence to its last location. This mill was leased from 1836 to 1838 by Edward Y. Perry, Esq., for a tack factory when it was located up stream (see Waterman's and Phillips's factories) .
We will now leave the " Old Forge," or the modern Rubber Mill and follow up the beautiful Indian Head River as it flows over its shallow course beside the railroad and the delightful drive known as PROJECT DALE. About half way through the Dale we come to a dam and a tack-factory now owned and occupied by the firm of L. C. Waterman & Sons. This privilege dates back to about 1700. Between then and 1737 there was a fulling-mill on this spot occupied by James Torrey, who had bought fifty-two acres of land of Wm. Clift. As early as 1737 the locality was known as Project Dale and during the same year the mill privilege was sold to Thomas Josselyn and known as "Josselyn's Corn Mill." A lane led to it from the terminus of Spring St. on Broadway, which was known as Mill Lane, and is now grown up with bushes.
After Mr. Josselyn's death the mill was sold to Capt. Joseph Stetson* who lived for a time on Water St. opposite the tack works, where Theodore C. Dyer now resides. He was a soldier during the French war and a mariner for many years. At his decease the privilege was sold to Lemuel Curtis, who gave it to his son, Nathaniel, who sold it to either Elihu or Aaron Hobart. About this time, or a little later, the dam was raised four or five feet, which is said to have destroyed the privilege at the "old dam " above, built by Col. Jesse Reed, and sold by him to Elihu Hobart, Sept. 14, 1816.
Between the years 1829 and 1839, Charles Dyer owned and managed the business, which was that of making tacks for Mr. Hobart. About this time he formed a partnership with E. Y. Perry, Esq., which continued until 1850, when Mr. Perry took · sole charge of the works, which he carried on until he went in 1853 to the old Barstow works, now Phillip's factory. Mr. Perry employed at this factory sixteen hands and manufactured 300 lbs, of shoe nails per day and about 800.000 tacks. He used about three tons of copper, twenty-five tons of zinc, and seventy-five tons of iron per year.
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