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 4
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A little more than half-way from this latter privilege to that of Stetson's at King St., there flows into Drinkwater River, TORREY'S BROOK, a small stream rising in the woods back of the Cemetery at Centre Hanover, and flowing across Main, Hanover, Grove, Myrtle and Winter streets into the river.
About seventy rods east of King St. on the Drinkwater River there formerly stood a fulling-mill, improved many years ago by Bailey Hatch, and others. About the middle of the eight- teenth century, Caleb and Robert Barker had a foundry here. From The Boston Gazette or Weekly Advertiser for January 15, 1754, the following is taken :
" CALEB and ROBERT BARKER in Hanover: Cast bells for Meeting- Houses and other uses, from a smaller to a greater, even to one of two thous- and weight ; cheaper than they can be imported : By whom all persons may be supplied on reasonable terms."
About 1830, Joshua Barker, a descendant of Caleb and Robert, erected an iron foundry on the old site, at which stoves hollow ware, and machinery of different kinds were cast. The foundry was torn down a long time ago and a little tack-factory was built by Barstow & Russell. This building is now gone and the vacant site is owned by Chas. T. Stetson. Just above this site, where King St. crosses the river, is a dam with a large water privilege and buildings now known as Stetson's Machine Works.
About 1710, " MIGHILL'S WORKS," or the " DRINKWATER IRON WORKS,' were erected here by one Mighill, probably a son of Rev. Mr. Mighill, who was settled over the South or Second Society in Scituate in 1684, though little is known of him or
24
DRINKWATER RIVER.
his business. Tradition says that he manufactured iron from bog ore, which he dug at "Cricket Hole," near the Third Herring Brook, and in the low grounds in the vicinity of Dam Brook, where it can now be obtained in moderate quantities. These works have had many proprietors and tradition says again that, during the Revolution, cannon were cast here and carried down to the old fulling-mill near the iron foundry and tested, and that Tilson Gould was killed by the bursting of one of these guns, the pieces of which are said to be still lying in the bottom of the old furnace pond. About this time Hanover was very prosperous and in 1794, there were within the town of Hanover 3 saw-mills, 6 grist-mills, 2 forges, 1 anchor shop, 1 fulling-mill.
About the year 1816, Chas. and Orrin Josselyn, Timothy Rose, Calvin Bates, and others, erected a forge on this dam. Beside the forge there were a grist-mill, a saw-mill, a box-board mill and a shingle-mill, all owned by the same company. Messrs. Bates & Holmes finally came into sole possession of these works and usually employed five hands in the forge mak- ing bar iron, and from fifty to sixty tons of anchors annually. Edwin Barstow was the last anchor maker in town, and the last anchors manufactured in town, only a few years ago, were made here under his supervision. The property is now owned by Charles T. Stetson and run as a machine manufacturing shop, making rubber hose covering, electric light wires, etc.
At the head of this pond or privilege, which is the largest in town, Longwater Brook forms a junction with DRINKWATER RIVER. Drinkwater being one of the sources of North River, should be traced to its source. It rises in Weymouth, just over the Rockland line, flows across the north-west corner of Rock- land into Abington, where it is known as French's stream, then back through Rockland into Hanover, where it receives LONG- WATER BROOK, the naine Longwater being the English interpre- tation of the original Indian name for the stream. About eighty rods up the Longwater stream, where it crosses Circuit St., is Magoun's Bridge, formerly called ELLIS' BRIDGE, built before 1676. Here was located one of the oldest mills built in the Colony, but which, tradition says, was burned by the Indians during their famous raid into Scituate in 1676. Longwater Brook is one of the more copious indirect tributaries to North River, and it attracted the attention of the settlers at a very early date. Little is known of the first mill built there, but
.
25
DRINKWATER AND "ELIHAB'S" MILLS.
tradition says it was built by a Mr. Wade, who became dis- couraged when it was destroyed by the Indians, and moved to New Hampshire. It was rebuilt and received the cognomen of " Drinkwater" for the reason, it is said, that no ardent spirits were used by the builders during its construction. That a mill was built in this locality is certain.
"On May 7, 1696, Edward Wanton, Robert Orchard, John Rodgers, Thomas Macomber, Timothy White, and Joseph House held together as tenants in common and undivided, a tract of land lying at and near a place called Drinkwater, and adjoining to a tract of land formerly granted to Timothy Hatherly, of which they proceed to divide the part that was on the southerly side of the saw-mill, called Drinkwater Mill. Wanton and Orchard had one half, and Rodgers, Macomber, White and House the other half." The mill is not spoken of as part of the property divided, but some of the land is mentioned as belonging to the mill. On Nov. 12, 1711, the remainder of the land was divided and the first divided part is referred to as the "mile of land." At this date Wanton appears to have become possessor of Orchard's share, so Wanton had half. White had died, so the other half went to Rodgers, Macomber, House, and White's heirs. It would be interesting to know the history of this ancient mill, but almost unpardonable neglect has left it and much more history of our town to fast fade away to tradition, and the scattered fragments of old wills, deeds, and other papers, that occasionally come to light, are all we have in many instances.
BEAVER DAM BROOK rises east of Plain St., which it crosses. It also crosses Hanover St. and enters Longwater Brook a little way above the old mill.
The next tributary to the Longwater stream is the STUDLEY MILL BROOK, which has two sources, one rising in the north part of Rockland, just on the Hingham line, and the other in the extreme north-west part of Hanover. This brook flows south-east and where it crosses Pleasant St. near the West Hanover Railway station, there is a mill. The first mill erected here, of which we have any account, was improved by Eliab Studley about 1730. It was known as " Elihab's Mill." Barry says, " He was a noted tavern-keeper, his house being a favorite place of public resort." The following is taken from The Boston Gazette and Country Journal :
26
ABSALOM'S ROCK AND THE " MONEY HOLE."
" Monday last, (June 16, 1766), Mr. Eliab Studley of Hanover was killed by a Flash of Lightning."
Another paper says :
" We hear from Hanover that on the 16th, Ult. (July, 1766), as Mr. Studely and his Son were returning from his Wood Lot with a Cart Load of Wood, a Thunder Storm came on, and his Son taking a Tree for Shelter : was instantly struek Dead by a Flash of Lightning .- The Mass. Gazette & Boston News Letter.
Later the site was occupied by Nahum Stetson as a shingle mill and known as Stetson's Mill. It is now owned by Lot Phillips, but is often called " Studley's Mill." The brook for a little way follows Hanover St., which it crosses below the extensive establishment of Lot Phillips & Co., (of which firm E. Y. Perry, Esq. and Albert Culver are the Co. ), and enters Longwater Brook a few rods north of where the railroad erosses it. The above establishment, located near a branch of North River deserves especial notice as being one of the largest in town. Their buildings are extensive, including a saw-mill, grist-mill and box-factory. About thirty-five men are employed here. The amount of business done is 150,000 boxes made annually, 1,250,000 feet of humber cut into boards, and the grist-mill grinds 200,000 bushels of grain annually.
The next tributary to Longwater Brook is BAILEY'S BROOK, which flows into it about fifty rods south of Cedar St. Bailey's Brook rises east of Main St. on a line with J. Brooks's Mill, and flows south, crossing Main St., and receiving Stetson's Brook just before crossing Cedar St. STETSON'S BROOK rises in Hell Swamp, east of the old highway, and flows south across Union St., then west across Main St., then north-west across Cedar St. and into Bailey's Brook. Following up the Long- water stream about three hundred rods from where Bailey's Brook enters it, we find another tributary which has its rise in Norwell and flows south. About sixty rods below where it crosses Webster St., at the foot of the pond, is the site of an old mill. This is a historic locality. The first mill there was erected as early as 1723. The third was erected by Deacon John Brooks in 1851. Here he sawed from 80,000 to 100,000 feet of inch and half-inch pine boards annually, besides pine and oak plank, joist and timber. The mill which stood in the woods near the Hatherly line has passed from view. The dam is still there, but the pond is growing up with birches. It is one of the most romantic spots in Hanover. A large rock near
27
SOURCE OF NORTII RIVER.
here, the largest in town, called Absalom's Rock, was occupied for a time as a dwelling by a hermit, a fissure in the rock form- ing protection. Near the site of the old mill is also the " Money hole," where, years ago, men, in the darkness of night, dug for Capt. Kidd's treasures. About half a mile west of this old mill site, and on the Longwater stream, is. another, Brooks Mill, built originally by Joseph Brooks in 1820, and occupied as a grist-mill until 1833, then as a shingle-mill. It was here that David Prouty polished the first cast iron ploughs ever made, he being the inventor. * Two mills have been burned on this spot within a dozen years. Albert G. Mann owns and occupies the present mill, which he runs as a saw-mill.
Following the stream up, an old grist-mill used to stand where it crosses the junction of Webster and North sts. It was built by Benj. Mann, probably about 1765 and was an old- fashioned mill with a great water-wheel, requiring an immense quantity of water to turn it. Later it was owned by his son Caleb Mann. The privilege is now owned by Albert G. Mann, great-grand-son of Benj., and used by him as a reservoir for his saw mill farther down. Following up Longwater Brook, we find a small tributary, the last, a few rods above the mill. From here it flows from a northwesterly direction, where we find its source in the woods near the Rockland line. Thus we have come to the last source of North River, and now we will go back to the river itself.
* See Barry's History of Hanover.
· CHAPTER II.
NORTH RIVER - (CONTINUED).
ITS BRIDGES AND FERRIES, AND THE INDUSTRIES THAT HAVE BEEN LOCATED ON ITS LOWER TRIBUTARIES ; ALSO, VESSELS BUILT UPON ITS BANKS IN EARLY TIMES AT YARDS UNKNOWN.
T HERE is little to record of interest relative to that part of North River between the "Crotch," so called, and Bar- stow's Bridge, the abutments of which can now be seen less than 50 feet above North River Bridge. In the Colony Records the following entry is made under date of 1656 :
" William Barstow of Scituate covenanted to make a good and sufficient bridge for horse and foot over the North River, a little above the Third Herring Brooke, at a place called ' Stoney Reache,' and to lay out and clear the way towards the bay as far as Hugh's cross brooke ; to receive £12 in current country pay."
Prior to this time the river was crossed at Luddam's Ford. William Barstow also received £20 for keeping the said bridge in repair from 1662 to 1682. This latter year the Colony Court ordered a cart bridge to be built over North River, at BARSTOW'S BRIDGE, at the expense of three towns : Scituate to pay £10; Duxbury £5; Marshfield £5. Barstow's Bridge was used until 1829, when North River Bridge was constructed. The road over Barstow's Bridge became the old Turnpike Road from Boston to Plymouth, and thousands of times have the old stages, loaded with passengers and freight, dashed down the hill, over the bridge, and up the other side, the horses leaping almost out of their traces as they sped up to the Quaker Meeting-house Shoals.
29
OLD STAGE LINE.
QUAKER MEETING-HOUSE SHOALS were so named by Ichabod Sturtevant, Jr., because the territory was so bleak and cold in winter. It included the space between Brick-kiln Lane on the Old Turnpike Road to Plymouth and John Stetson's gateway, just below and opposite the present Quaker Church. Stages running between Boston and Plymouth went over these shoals on their way to Boston at 10 A.M. and 4 P.M., and to Plymouth 9 and 11 A.M. The drivers used to say it was the "coldest place they struck " between Boston and Plymouth. Robert B. Thomas's Farmers' Almanac for 1806 says :
" Plymouth mail stage sets off from Daggett's Inn (late King's Inn, Mar- ket Square. Boston,) every Tuesday and Friday at five in the morning, and arrives there at five in the evening of the same day (through Hingham and Hanover) ; leaves Plymouth every Monday and Thursday at five in the morning, arriving in Boston at seven in the evenings of the same days."
In 1829 the Road Commissioners for the County agreed to. assess the County for one-quarter of the expense of a stone bridge, which was erected just below the old Barstow Bridge, and has since been known as the NORTH RIVER BRIDGE. The middle pier of this bridge was taken entirely from one rock that used to form a part of the wall in the field just below the present residence of E. Q. Sylvester. About ten or twelve years ago North River Bridge was rebuilt and raised, and the hills on each side cut down to a more even grade. In 1699,
" The town ordered that the undivided land lying between the Country Road and Daniel Turner's, and the Barstow's land and the North River, should lie common for the town's use."
This was probably at North River Bridge, and it would be interesting to know if the town ever conveyed or deeded it away. The tide rises three feet at North River Bridge. The distance from the bridge to the sea in an air line is not over seven or eight miles, but by the river it is fully eighteen miles.
The first tributary to the North River below North River Bridge is the THIRD HERRING BROOK, near the mouth of which is a foot bridge, known for probably over one hundred years as the RAINBOW BRIDGE, and used by the ship carpenters to reach the Hanover and Fox Hill Yards. The Third Herring Brook is about five miles long, and forms the boundary line between Norwell and Hanover. It rises in Valley Swamp, near Hing- ham, and flows in a southeasterly direction. Its first tributary is the ASSINIPPI Or "ROCKY WATER" stream. Alewives origi- nally ascended the Third Herring Brook to Valley Swamp. In
30
THIRD HERRING BROOK.
1829 there were on this stream three grist mills, three saw mills, and one shingle mill. Just below the Assinippi stream on the Herring Brook are JACOBS' Mills. These mills have been in the Jacobs family over a century and a half. Joshua Jacobs, born in 1702, and his brother, Dr. Joseph, born in 1707, were early proprietors of the saw and grist mills erected here. These mills are now owned by Benjamin, Barton, and Charles Jacobs, and are the oldest in the vicinity. In the Boston Evening Post, under date of March 30, 1772, there appears the following :
" Married, at Newport, Mr. James Jacobs, of Scituate, in this Province, to Miss Deborah Richmond, daughter of the late Capt. Perez Richmond, of Dartmouth."
About 1830 there was an extensive manufacture of bricks on the south side of Jacobs' mill pond by the families of Jacobs and Collamore. Below the old pond at Winslow's Bridge beavers built dams many years ago ; also at Valley Swamp, and a half mile west of the old Nathaniel Brooks place. CUSH- ING HILL is a half mile east of Jacobs' Mill. Capt. Jacobs' cartiray, so called, in 1720 was over Beaver Dam at Valley Swamp. ROCKY SWAMP is located south of the Herring Brook, below Jacobs' Mills.
The next mills we come to on the Herring Brook are John Clapp's, located at the foot of the pond, just above Mill street. Large quantities of lumber have been sawed here for the trunk and box factories of Hanover and Scituate. John Clapp, son of the above John, now owns the mill.
T. J. GARDNER'S saw and grist mills are located on the Third Herring Brook, not far below the Clapp Mill. Long and short boards are sawed here now. This site has been used a great many years for mill purposes. Tradition says that Benjamin Curtis, who was born in 1667, built the Curtis Mills near the site of the present mills. After the Curtises, T. J. Gardner, who married into the Curtis family, owned these mills until they fell into the hands of their present owner, Samuel H. Church, late one of Hanover's selectmen. He married Mr. Gardner's daughter. Barry says "the bridge between Curtis' and Clapp's Mills, over Third Herring Brook, was built as early as 1690.
We next come to the south branch of the Third Herring Brook. This is HUGH's CROSS, or SILVER BROOK, which rises in the woods east of Grove street, Centre Hanover, flows across
attinglin
Pembrook The Indian head River
W
The Clear time
Scituate
Z
S
The whole of this Must Contain, 9953
is funticy Road
June 5. 1726
The north River
third Herring brook?
9
a Scale of 100 Gharina or 10 dies
MAP OF PARTS OF THE TOWNS OF ABINGTON AND SCITUATE, INCORPORATED AS THE TOWN OF HANOVER, JUNE 14, 1727.
31
IIUGH'S CROSS BROOK.
Main street, northwest of the Cemetery, then running parallel with Silver street, it crosses Washington street, near the resi- dence of the late John Curtis, a little way above which it takes a sudden turn and flows east into the Herring Brook. There is but one mill on Hugh's Cross Brook. Deane refers to a new saw mill, in 1678, above "Old Pond at Curtis'." What mill this refers to is not clear, but it was probably the Benjamin Curtis Mill, on the Third Herring Brook. CHURCH'S HILL, OR the Plymouth Road in Hanover, is a half mile west of Hugh's Cross Brook.
Hon. Jedediah Dwelley, who has been one of Hanover's selectmen for over thirty years, and who is to-day the most valuable man to the town of all her inhabitants, writes as follows :
"Curtis' Mill, on Hugh's Cross Brook, was an old mill when I was a boy, and either fell or was torn down thirty years or more ago."
The dam is in a fair state of preservation ; the site of the old pond is now grown with vegetatior. The property belongs to the estate of the late John Curtis. Thomas Tindale, of South Hanover, has recently completed an extensive cranberry bog at the head of the pond.
Returning to the Third Herring Brook, we come next to a trib- utary from Norwell, Margaret's, so called, or WILDCAT BROOK, sometimes called SLAB BROOK Of SUNKEN LOG BROOK. There was a grist mill on this brook in 1829, which was built about 1795 by Elijah Turner ; but since the death of his son, Elijah Bailey Turner, it has not been used. The original name of this brook was MARGARET'S BROOK, so named for Margaret Prouty, who lived to a great age and died unmarried. She was a daughter of Richard, who was in Scituate in 1670, and sister of Edward, who had a house on the west side of the brook. Margaret's Brook rises in a swamp between Otis and Simon Hills, Scituate, and flows into the Third Herring Brook not far from the Old Indian Trail. The next point of interest on the Third Herring Brook is the site of one of the first saw mills in the Colony, located at the Old Indian Path, foot of the OLD POND and OLD POND SWAMP, which is said to have been a large reservoir for this mill, and which is now covered with a heavy growth of timber. The following is an extract from the Colony Records :
32
ONE OF THE FIRST SAW MILLS
SAW MILL REGULATIONS OF THE YEAR 1656.
" At a full town meeting of the town of Scituate, Nov. 10, 1656, free liberty was this day granted to any man or men of the town to set up a saw mill upon the third herring brook, as near the North River as conveniently it may be, on these conditions, viz. : that in case any of the townsmen do bring any timber into the mill to be sawed, the owners of the Mill shall saw it, whether it be for boards or plank, before they saw any of their own timber, and they are to have the one-half for sawing of the other half."
" And in case any man of the town that doth not bring any tim- ber to the mill to be sawed shall want any boards, for his own par- ticular use, the owner of the mill shall sell him boards for his own use, so many as he shall need, for the country pay, at three shillings and six pence an hundred inch sawn; but in case the men of the town do not supply the mill with timber to keep it at work, the own- ers of the mill shall have liberty to make use of any timber upon the common to saw for their benefit. The said saw mill to be built within three months from this date ; otherwise this order to be void.
JAMES TORREY, Town Clerk."
The same year Cornet Robert Stutson, with Mr. Hatherly and Joseph Tilden, built a saw mill on the above site and flowed a large tract of land, since called the "Old Pond Swamp." This mill was burned by the Indians in 1676, on their raid into Scit- uate during King Phillip's War. The dam still remains. James T. Tolman and his brother Samuel have pieces of the charred wood of the old mill carefully preserved. WINSLOW'S BRIDGE, so named for Nathaniel Winslow, who resided there as early as 1750, is about four rods below the site of the old mill. It was called Winslow's Bridge in the records as early as 1765. A few rods below Winslow's Bridge is located TOLMAN'S TACK FACTORY, now fast going to decay, though the machinery inside was recently in good condition. This factory was built in 1837 by Col. Samuel Tolman. It is now owned by his sons, Samuel and James T., and has been used as a tack factory ever since it was erected. Colonel Tolman also built a box-board and shin- gle mill on the Hanover side of the stream, which was burned several years ago. Next below the Tolman mills and factory is a saw mill, now owned by Charles Simmons of Norwell. It may have been the mill site of the original Jonah's Mill, and was owned and run twenty-five years ago by Pratt & Lapham. The TIFFANY Pond, which has been a favorite resort for the young of many generations in the winter time, for skating, is next below. This pond was named for Recompense Tiffany,
33
JONAH AND TIFFANY MILLS.
who, however, was not the first owner of the property. The first building erected here was a grist mill by Charles Stock- bridge, grandfather of David Stockbridge, of Hanover .* CRICKET HOLE, so called in 1640, from which bog iron ore was obtained for Mighill's and Bardin's iron works, is a short dis- tance west of Tiffany's. In 1673 the Town's Committee of Lands offered a premium of "30 acres of land to any person who, within six months, should erect a grist mill on the Third Herring Brook, and engage and tend the mill for fourteen years." Charles Stockbridge accepted the proposals, and erected his mill in 1674. The property descended to his sons, Charles and Thomas, and in 1692 Thomas sold one half of the mill to John Bryant and Samuel Stetson. In 1729 Thomas's son Thomas sold "one quarter of the saw mill " to Jonah Stetson, Samuel Stetson having sold one-quarter of the " corn mill " to the said Jonah Stetson in 1726. It was then called JONAH'S MILL, which name it was known by until it received the cognomen Tiffany. Tack works were erected about 1830, near the site of these mills, and the business of manufacturing tacks carried on by Capt. Zephaniah Talbot and by John and William Salmond, brothers of Samuel and sons of Robert. John Tower, when about eight years old, fell through the floor of this mill while it was building, and hung on one of the sills, and over the rocks, until he was rescued by his brother David. In 1838 Samuel Salmond, ; who had spent the earlier part of his life in Maine, in the South, and in Cuba, settled permanently in Hanover, and engaged in the tack business at the Tiffany factory. Here he employed fifteen male and five female hands, and run from twenty to twenty-five machines, using about sixty tons of tack plates per year. In May, 1859, Samuel Salmond took into partnership his son-in-law, Edmund Q. Sylvester, and did business under the firm name of Samuel Salmond & Son. About a month after Mr. Sylvester entered the firm Mr. Salmond died, and Mr. Sylvester has since carried on the business alone, under the same firm name. He now runs twenty-six tack machines, employs sixteen male and five female hands, and uses one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred tons of iron per year. In the spring of 1884 he put in a high pressure thirty horse-power steam engine. In 1886, the flume and a portion of the hill beyond were carried away by
* See Ilanover Miscellaneous Yards.
+ See Bridge and Smith chapters for descendants.
34
TRIBUTARIES FROM MARSIIFIELD.
a freshet, but the factory was soon in running order again. Mr. Sylvester has managed the business very successfully, and has a large New York trade. About forty rods below the Tiffany, Charles Stockbridge commenced a dam, the remains of which can be seen at the present day. Quite a little distance below the Tiffany factory we come to the bridge over the Third Herring Brook, which connects Norwell with Hanover, near the residence of Capt. Elijah Barstow. The old JOHN PALMER LOG BRIDGE was just below the present bridge, and was so named for John Pahner, supposed to be the same who came with the first settlers of Hingham in 1635. His house-lot was near the junction of the roads southeast of Church Hill. He left several descendants in Hanover and Scituate, but few, if any, of the male issue of his family are now left in this region. In 1660 John Palmer covenanted with John Bryant and Humphrey Johnson, town agents, to build a log-way and bridge, and cover it with gravel, "from firm upland to firm upland." A stone bridge was built here, by vote of the town, in 1835. It was re-built by So. Scituate and Hanover after the freshet of 1886, but the opening for the brook is not yet large enough, as the heavy freshet of 1888 forced the water over the bridge across the road. The Herring Brook flows from this point through fresh meadow land until it reaches the North River, receiving only one stream, the COPELAND TANNERY BROOK. The old Tannery was located about thirty to forty rods southeast of the Methodist Church. Smelts in large numbers ascend the Her- ring Brook, as far as the bridge, in the spring of the year.
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