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 3
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The location of these works is very picturesque, being on
* A descendant of Cornet Robert through Joseph and Samuel.
PRIVATE
AYM
WATERMANS' TACK WORKS. Project Dale.
13
WATERMAN'S TACK FACTORY.
the edge of a placid pond, which during the summer sunsets is a perfect mirror. It is surrounded by hills, thickly grown with foliage, and has a beautiful fall of water over the dam most of the year. There was formerly a bridge over the Indian Head at this point but it disappeared many years ago. Old residents now remember when wool was taken here to be carded. In 1860 L. C. Waterman & Co. leased a part of the old factory with power of Geo. Curtis, into whose possession it had fallen. The original firm was composed of five partners : - Lemuel Cushing Waterman, Josiah M. Smith, George P. Clapp, Wil- liam J. Kender, and William P. Winslow, all practical tack- makers. Twelve machines were put in at first with a capacity of fifty or sixty tons per year, the full force of persons employed being eight to ten. Mr. Waterman subsequently bought out the interests of his partners and took into the firm his son Rodolph Cushing, and later, his son Irænens Lloyd, and the style changed to L. C. Waterman & Sons. In 1870 the firm purchased the entire factory property and power of George Curtis, since which time extensive improvements have been made and new buildings and machinery added as the business. increased. In 1875 L. C. Waterman retired from active con- nection with the business, devoting his time to the care of the. Geo. Curtis estate, of which he was trustee. He was born in So. Scituate, July 14, 1814, educated at Hanover Academy, and began life in a wholesale dry-goods store in Boston. Here he- remained two years, when he returned to his native town and taught school. At twenty-five he married Elizabeth B. Good- ing, daughter of Henry Gooding of Boston. Soon after he was employed in the tack-factory of Sam. Salmond at Tiffany, being superintendent at one time. With Mr. Salmond's death his connection with these works ceased and he commenced business at Project Dale. He died March 11, 1889, leaving the business to his three sons. The number of machines now operated here is thirty-four and the capacity of the factory about 250 tons per year. The full force of male and female help employed is twenty-five. The line of goods manufactured has always been of the finest quality and adapted to the uses of the furniture and upholstery trade, also tacks for carpet laying and for car and carriage work.
In February, 1886, an uncommonly heavy fall of rain caused a flood along this valley ; at Barstow's anchor works on King St. and at E. Phillips & Sons' tack-factory at South Hanover
14
COL. JESSE REED.
the dams were nearly destroyed. At Project Dale the water poured into the factory and the under-pinning and dam were partially carried away. All the factories and mills suffered great damage, bridges were washed away, trains were stopped, and at Salmond's tack works on the Third Herring Brook, a good part of a large hill, side of the dam, was washed away. Another heavy freshet occurred in November, 1888, but little damage was done.
The second tributary to the Indian Head of any account is ROCKY RUN BROOK, which flows into the stream about one hundred rods below E. Philips & Sons' tack-works. It rises in the western part of Pembroke about half a mile north of Oldham Pond, and flows in a north-westerly direction past the residence of James H. Dwelley. In the centre of the pond, which Mr. Dwelley has made near his house by damming this brook, is an old site of a mill, built early in 1700 and owned and run, tradition says, by Dea. Isaac Buck. Here he manufactured wooden ware, consisting of bowls, trays, skimmers, (one of which is preserved in Hanover, as is some of his other work), plates of a curious pattern, and other useful articles. Mr. Buck was a Hanover man, and lived in South Hanover on the old road which was laid out from Scituate and which connected with the road from Cricket Hole to Indian Head Pond. He was a near neighbor of Benj. Sylvester, whose daughter Abigail he married in 1737. In 1728 he signed the Church Covenant. In 1731 he was chosen on the jury, and July 31, 1733, was chosen Deacon of the First Church. He is supposed to have been a son of Lient. Isaac Buck of Scituate, as there is an Isaac recorded among the baptisms of that town.
Col. Jesse Reed, after disposing of his first privilege in Han- over, moved to one near Rocky Run, where he . erected works, and conveyed water to his wheel through a trongh one-third of a mile long ; but the difficulties were such that he finally sold out and removed to Marshfield.
The next privilege on the Indian Head above Waterman's is what is now known as the " old dam." This privilege was pur- chased by Mr. Enos Bates, who contemplated building a dam and grist-mill, but before he carried out his plans he sold it to Col. Jesse Reed, who built the dam and erected a grist-mill, nail factory, and machine shop. An old, unfinished mill-stone was recently found by Calvin T. Phillips who now owns the
15
BARSTOW'S FORGE.
property. A road, which was probably the first in the colony, crossed the river about thirty rods below this dam, and was used by the settlers for nearly one hundred years to get to their possessions at the Indian Head Ponds. The piers of the old bridge are now occasionally seen when the water is low. Mr. Hira Bates, who, with his wife, lives with their son, Hira W. Bates, at South Hanover, both at the advanced age of ninety- three years, but in possession of good health and all their facul- ties, remembers when there was a foot-bridge at this spot. Hira Bates, and his wife Lucy, were born on the same day and hour, and have been married sixty-four years.
Col. Jesse Reed was one of the most intelligent and noted men we ever had in town. He was inventor of the tack ma- chine, and his Reed's machine is used to-day with scarcely any improvements. He was also the author of some twenty or more other inventions, among them patterns of pumps, cotton gins, tree-nail machines, etc. A full account of Colonel Reed and his inventions can be found in Barry's History of Hanover, pages 141 and 363, and it is well worth reading. The factory that he built on the Bates privilege was moved to Project Dale and used by E. Y. Perry, Esq.
A short distance farther up the stream is the manufactory of E. Phillips & Sons. In 1720 the town granted two acres of land on the Indian Head River, between Pine Hill and Rocky Run Brook, to Capt. Joseph Barstow and Benjamin Stetson, "for the accommodation of a forge and finery." A bridge was built across the river this year and Barstow and Stetson erected a forge which was known as BARSTOW'S FORGE. Capt. Joseph Barstow was also interested in a grist mill, a sloop, and was a large land-holder. He died July 25, 1728, leaving property appraised at over thirty thousand dollars. His youngest son, Joshua, inherited his interest in the forge. Joshua was then eight years old, but as soon as he reached a more mature age, he improved the business left by his father and continued in it until his decease, being drowned at the eastward, Oct. 3, 1763, aged forty-four. His son Joshua, then fourteen years old, succeeded him, and was soon conducting the forge, which business he continued until his removal to Exeter, N. H. about 1795. During the Revolution Mr. Barstow is said to have done quite a business in the manufacture of cannon balls. He melted the iron at an ordinary forge fire and moulded them in the bottom of his forge. In 1795 the property was sold to Robert
16
ROBERT SALMOND.
Salmond and others. Benj. Stetson was probably ont of the firm previous to 1755, though his son Benj., a blacksmith by trade, may have succeeded him. For about thirty years Mr. Salmond was engaged in the iron business at this forge. For twenty-eight years Nathaniel Cushing was interested with him and also Chas. Josselyn for a much shorter time, who was also engaged in business on King St.
Robert Salmond and others were in 1813,
" Making some large Anchors for the Frigate that is building at Charlestown."
His sons were building or had built a ship at Bangor, Me., and it was lying idle until the war was over. In writing to his sons, Mr. Salmond says :
" If the war continues five years longer the ship will not be worth but little 'more than the iron that is in her."
What became of this vessel is not known, but in October, 1814, the sons Robert and Samuel wrote :
" We are still in darkness respecting the fate of the vessel, but it is highly probable she will be burnt where she is standing, by the British, if not ransomed in the sum of $2000.00; if burnt, the town will be liable, but if the town is burned too, of course their liability will not be worth much."
Robert Salmond died May 5, 1829, aged eighty. During the last few years of his life Thomas Hobart of Abington was a part owner in the forge, there being also on the premises at that time a tack-factory and corn mill. About 1825 Messrs. Hobart and Salmond had a contract from the United States Govern- ment for the manufacture of anchors for the Navy, and several were made for the old seventy-four gun ships, probably of the largest size ever forged. In 1828 Mr. Salmond disposed of his interest to Mr. Hobart and Mr. Hobart took into the firm John Sylvester, who had been employed in the forge since 1825. Previous to that time he was a tack-maker, and also had been in the " Old Mill Dam Iron Works " at Boston and Watertown. Joseph Sylvester was foreman. John Sylvester managed the works very successfully. About one hundred tons of bar iron were made per year, one hundred tons of anchors, and twelve to fourteen tack machines were run and several built yearly. In 1830 they commenced the manufacture of locomo-
17
HANOVER FORGE CO.
tive cranks and it is claimed that they were the originators of this industry .*
In 1837 the partnership terminated and Mr. Sylvester formed the Hanorer Forge Company, which continued until 1853, when he sold out and removed to Belmont, Mass., where he resided until his death, March 18, 1882, in his eighty-fourth year. Until 1858 he was one of the firm of John Taggard & Co., Iron, Boston. That year he purchased the Danvers Iron Works at Danversport, and in 1864, the Spike Works at Somerville, which interest he held at his death.
In 1853 Ezra Phillips, E. Y. Perry, and Martin W. Stetson formed a partnership under the firm name of E. Y. Perry & Co .. for the purpose of carrying on the tack business, Mr. Perry moving his machines from Project Dale, and Mr. Phillips his from the old Thomas privilege. Mr. Perry had previously purchased the above forge, lately occupied by John Sylvester, and known as Sylvester's Forge, at South Hanover for $3100. The financial panic of 1856-57 soon overtaking them, Mr. Stetson became discouraged and withdrew. Messrs. Perry & Phillips continued in business together until 1874. Their business relations were of the pleasantest kind. They always honored and spoke well of each other. They each had remark- able talents in different directions and what was lacking in one was found in the other. Under such strong-minded and prac- tical men the business increased rapidly and they were very successful. Mr. Perry's experience at Project Dale, and Mr. Phillips's at So. Abington, under Jas. Soule, and at Mr. Hobart's factory in Hanson, did not come amiss. In 1874 Mr. Perry's outside interests had become quite large and demanded so much of his time that he felt obliged to withdraw, thus leav- ing a vacancy valuable to whomever was decided upon to fill it. Mr. Phillips wisely took in his two sons, Calvin T. and Morrill A., under the firm name of E. Phillips & Sons, which name still continues. A fairly good account of Mr. Perry and of Mr. Phillips can be found in Hurd's History of Plymouth County, 1884. To Mr. Perry's energy and push, to his strong will and business ability, is due the fact that Hanover is to-day so far ahead of its surrounding towns (only excepting Rockland).
* " Hanover is a manufacturing place, manufacturing bar iron, iron castings, anchors, plows, vessels, tacks, leather boots and shoes and woolen cloth annually to the amount of $75,000," says Haywood in his New England Gazetteer in 1839.
18
E. Y. PERRY & CO.
It is he who has built up many of our industries, especially the lumber and mill industry ; and real estate, that would often have been sacrificed, found in him a ready purchaser. He was mainly instrumental in bringing the Hanover Branch Railway into existence. It was he who conducted it on such a strict and successful basis, that it was the only road, probably, in the United States without bonds and with virtually no debt at the time of its purchase by the Old Colony in 1887. At this time Mr. Perry again felt the press of business and was glad to withdraw from the Presidency of the Hanover Branch Railway, and when the Old Colony R. R. signified a wish to buy it he was strongly in favor of selling out to them at par, which price they paid. He did not forget to speak a good word for the employees and recommend that they all be retained, which was done. Mr. Perry was born in Pembroke, now Hanson, Mass., Nov. 4, 1812, married Mary B., daughter of David and Deborah B. Oldham of Pembroke, Mass., July 8, 1834, and now resides in South Hanover, Mass. They had but one child which died in infancy. Mr. Perry still continues in business, his mind being as clear and active as ever. He has recently passed through a severe illness, but his strong constitution, which he inherited and has kept perfect by his regular habits, came to his rescue, and he is now about as of old, quite himself again. His grand- father died in his ninety-third year and his grandmother lived to be within less than three months of one hundred years old.
Mr. Ezra Phillips was born in Pembroke, now Hanson, Oct. 10, 1810, and married Catherine H., daughter of Dr. Calvin Tilden of Hanson, Nov. 27, 1834. In 1848 Mr. Phillips pur- chased one-third of the factory in Hanson, owned until then by Mr. Hobart and commenced the manufacture of tacks for him- self. Upon his entering into partnership with Mr. Perry, he assumed the management of the mechanical part of the business, being " a good manager of workmen and an excellent judge of the worth and merits of machinery." Mr. Perry, "an excep- tionally good financier and general manager, clear-headed and a cool and accurate calculator," managed the business part. A more fitting tribute could not be paid to Mr. Phillips than Mr. Perry's testimony of his connection with him. He says, " After an intimate business and social relationship with Mr. Phillips for more than thirty years, I consider him one of the grandest and best men I ever knew. The routine of business was robbed of its monotony and vexation by the tact, geniality, pure
E. PHILLIPS & SONS' TACK WORKS. Indian Head River, So. Hanover.
19
MILLS ON THE INDIAN HEAD RIVER.
methods, and manly way in which Mr. Phillips bore himself. It was simply pleasure to do business in connection with such a man." Mr. Phillips died in Hanover, May 15, 1882, and his two sons have since successfully carried on the business under the same firm name. At the present writing they employ at this factory from forty-eight to fifty two hands, running seventy- one tack and nail machines, a rolling mill, machine shop, and have a sixty horse-power engine. They cut last year about 750 tons of nails and tacks and rolled 250 tons of zine and lead. The tacks average about 6400 to the pound, or 12,800,000 to the ton ; nails about 750 to the pound, or 1,500,000 to the ton. This factory is one of about forty now in this country .*
Ascending the Indian Head river, about one half mile above Phillips's tack works, we come to its junction with the DRINK- WATER RIVER. We will follow up the Indian Head, then come back to the Drinkwater. The first dam on the Indian Head stream is about one mile from its junction with the Drinkwater, and was probably finished in the spring of 1715, as we find that on May 30th of that year " Joshua Cushing, Joseph Foord, and Thomas Barker of Pembroke and Thomas Howland of Marsh- field enter into an agreement in regard to a Saw Mill that they are building on the Indian Head stream near the road that leads to the little Cedar swamp." In 1827 Dr. Samuel Barker sold the right for mill privilege to Elihu Hobart, who erected a tack- factory and employed Hervey Dyer as agent. He remained ten years, when it was sold to a Company and by them to Luther Howland of Hanson, who manufactured tacks until about thirty years ago, when the factory was burned. It has not since been rebuilt. The privilege is owned by Lewis White.
Farther up the stream is the dam built by the Thomases. Col. Nathaniel Thomas; bought a large tract of land in this vicinity in 1694-95 and his son, Isaac, settled on that portion 40 rods east of the mill. The cellar is still visible. It is doubt- ful if Nathaniel ever lived here. If he did it is certain that he later moved to Marshfield, as appears by an account of his wife's death in an old paper.
" Marshfield, October 16 (1727). On the Sth Instant, the Lord's Day Morning, died here, Mrs. Mary Thomas, Wife to Nathaniel
* See account Cushing's Mill above Teague's Bridge.
+ See Thomas's Brick-kiln Yard.
20
THOMAS'S SAW MILL.
Thomas, Esq : of this Place. A truly valuable Person, for bright and unblemished Vertue, unfeigned and unaffected Piety, rare and excellent Wisdom and Discretion : yea for all or most of those Ornaments and Endowments of Nature and Grace, which serve Adorn and Distinguish Her Sex : One in whom the united characters of a Compleat Gentlewoman and solid christian, were exemplified and Beautified to an uncommon degree : One who by Her prudent, humble, affable, peaceable, courteous and obliging temper and carriage, gained and to the last maintained a great interest in the esteem and affection of all that knew Her; Her death has filled many hearts with grief, and has caused an universal lamentation. She was decently Interred on Wednesday the 11th Currant." - The New Eng. Weekly Journal.
In 1712 the above mill, (erroneously called Cotton's Mill in Hurd's History of Plymouth Co. ) was written in the old records "Colonel's Mill," which is correct. A deed dated January 1716, mentions "the old saw-mill called Col. Thomas's Saw Mill." In 1722 it is spoken of as Isaac Thomas's Saw Mill, and in 1737 as Edward Thomas's Saw Mill, formerly owned by Col. Thomas. Edward was son of Isaac. Later a grist mill was built here, which was run by Dea. David Beal. The following advertisement shows that Col. Thomas either had business in Marshfield about the same time, or else did iron work here.
" August 24th, 1713. A Cast Hammer, Anvil Plates and all other need- ful cast iron work for a forge or iron works, all new, to be sold by Nathanael Thomas, Esq., at Marshfield."
About 1829 Benj. Hobart of Abington bought the mill and put in machinery for cutting tacks. It was burned in 1835, but rebuilt, and used as a tack factory until 1848, when Nathaniel Cushing bought two-thirds of it for a trunk factory, Ezra Phillips buying one third for a tack factory. Cushing soon sold out to A. J. Taft & Flavel Shurtleff. Later Mr. Shurtleff bought Taft's share. Mr. Phillips went into company with Mr. Perry from here. Henry H. Brigham of So. Abington later bought the whole, and used it as a tack factory until it was burned in 1859. Since then there has been a saw-mill here. This privilege is now owned by E. Phillips & Sons. The stream rises in the Indian Head Pond in Hanson, from whence it received its name.
Returning to the junction, we follow the Drinkwater River up to TEAGUE'S BRIDGE, so named for Daniel Teague, who lived in Hanover, a few rods above it, about 1750 to 1760 and
21
HATCH'S MILL.
whose cellar can still be seen. This bridge was built before 1740, at which time it was spoken of as Hatch's Bridge. Just above the bridge there is a dam built probably about 1716, as,
" On July Ist, 1716, John Rodgers of Marshfield, John Cushing, Amos Turner, George King, Joseph Barstow,* Samuel Barstow, Michael Wantont and James Hatch, all of Scituate, ; and Joseph Stockbridge of Pembroke, enter into an agreement in regard to a saw-mill that they are building in Scituate upon Drinkwater River, near where the line between Scituate and Abington crosses the river."
This was known as Hatch's Mill, Dea. James Hatch probably owning the largest interest. He lived on Hanmer's Hook, on land bought by Jeremiah and Walter Hatch of John Hanmer before 1680. This estate was sold to Cornelius White in 1743, a descendant of Peregine White, the first male child born in Plymouth Colony,-and in 1850 was occupied by Albert White, Esq. In The Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser of May 20, 1765, is the following :
" By order of the General Court :
On Wednesday the 22d of the present month of May, at 4 o'clock P.M. at the house of Mr. Foster, Inholder in Plimouth, will be exposed to sale by publick auction, several tracts of land in the County of Plimouth, viz ; one tract formerly belonging to Jeremiah Hatch, lying in Hanover, one tract on the Northerly side of Assonet River in Middleborough, formerly belonging to Benj. Booth & Isaac Pierce, jun., two tracts in the town of Rochester, &c. all which several tracts were mortgaged to the Commissioners for the hundred thousand pounds loan, in the year 1716, and judgment has been recover'd and possession taken for the Province."
In 1814 the Hatch Mill, which for nearly a century nad been used as a grist-mill and saw-mill, was bought by a stock com- pany with a capital of $20,000, and a cotton factory erected. Among other owners were Nathaniel Cushing, father of Elijah, who lived at the old place now standing at Cushing's Corner, Hanson, Abishai Stetson, father of Nahum of Bridgewater, prominent in the iron business for the past fifty years, and Chas. Josselyn, father of Mrs. Hira Bates of So. Hanover. Later, Thomas Hobart, who lived in Hanson, near East Bridge- water, had an interest. They made common cotton sheeting
* He was afterwards associated with Benj. Stetson.
t Son of Edward, see Delano and Foster Yards.
t Part of which is now Hanover.
22
COTTON FACTORY ON THE DRINKWATER RIVER.
and shirting. The people in the town and in the towns of Hanover, Pembroke and Marshfield, had private looms, and used to weave, obtaining the cotton yarn from the factory. The small amount of money received for weaving was the principal in- come of the women of Hanson and its vicinity. The work was done by the families of the best people, and the daughters were not too proud to toil day by day and earn the pennies that formed the nucleus, in some cases, of independent fortunes later. They were paid so much per yard for the work. At .Squire Joseph Smith's* they had two or three looms and his daughters wove after his death. At Gad Hitchcock's they had two looms. The Mass. Gazette and Boston News-letter, Boston, April 11, (1765) states that :
" The Rev. Mr. Gad Hitchcock, of Pembroke, is chosen by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company to preach the Sermon at the Anniversary of the Election of Officers for that Company on the first Monday in June next."
At Isaac Bowen Bowker's, father of Dr. Bowen Bowker, there was one loom. Noah Bonney's family also wove. The Company ceased giving out work after a time and put a power loom into the factory. They also owned a store and a boarding house, which were run in connection with their business. Nahum Stetson was in the store when about nineteen years old, and went from there to Lazelle, Perkins & Co., where he has been nearly ever since. Ethan Allen Stetson, (brother of Nahum), Isaiah Perry and his brother, E. Y. Perry, Esq., were clerks afterward-think Isaiah Perry was owner at one time. Business was carried on at this store until the fire of 1852. The superintendents of the factory at different times were Job Luther, Luther Faxon, L. B. Hatch, A. M. Hobart and others. The business gradually decreased and but little was done after 1830, owing to the competition of the larger factories at Fall River, Lawrence, Manchester, and other places. During the panic of 1837, business at Hobart's tack-factory in Hanson became very dull, and Ezra Phillips, who had been working there, hired room and power in the cotton mill, and during the winter of 1837-38 manufactured shoe-pegs. Later in 1838 Cobb & Cushing occupied the building as a saw-mill, and the boarding-house was occupied by Theodore Cobb as a private residence. In 1852 the factory, store, and residence were burned to the ground. Soon after Elijah Cushing erected a
Grandfather of Joseph Smith, who was engineer of the Hanover Branch Railway.
23
MIGHILL'S IRON WORKS.
saw-mill on the same dam and, together with his sons, George and Theodore, carried on the business until this mill was burned about ten years ago. A few years ago E. Phillips & Sons bought the privilege which they have since used as a reservoir for the factory below. In Dec., 1888, this firm bought a factory at Brockton, where they now run thirty-six tack and nail machines, employing thirteen or fourteen hands, with a pros- pect of increasing the production this year. They intend eventually to move their Brockton factory to the above priv- ilege, which is often spoken of now as Teagne's Bridge (because of its close proximity to said bridge ), but if that site is found to be undesirable, they will move from Brockton to their works at South Hanover instead.
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