USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Acushnet > History of the Town of Acushnet, Bristol County, State of Massachusetts > Part 16
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Second Assistants and 2nd Lieutenants. Edward C. Spooner, 1853-56. Seth Hoard, 1860-61. Joseph Lawrence, 1862. Jonathan P. Lund, 1863. Eli W. Reed, 1864. Jireh B. Gifford, 1865. Edward C. Spooner, 1866-67. Charles E. Howland, 1868. Alexander O. Pierce, 1879-80. Amos P. Little, 1881-82. Israel H. Peckham, 1881-82-83-84-85. Joseph W. Spooner, 1886-87-88-89-90-91-92. Herbert S. Spooner, 1893. John G. Whalen, since 1894.
Clerks. Samuel P. Burt, 1855. Edward P. Lund, 1856-57-58-59-60- 61-64-65-66. Reuben Washburn, 1862. George A. Cobb, 1866 to 1878 inclusive. Andrew B. Grinnell, 1879-80. Allen Russell, Jr .. 1881-82-83-84-85-86 and 1890. John Daley, 1887-88-89-91-92. John F. Parker, 1893-94. John Russell, since 1894.
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Hancock No. 9 is still at Acushnet village, and is the only protection in case of fire for this important and growing section of the city. This machine was originally placed in commission in the city of New Bedford in 1843.
The next engine house after the two above mentioned was located on the spot where George W. Bennett's blacksmith shop now stands, on the west bank of the river, about two hundred feet south of the bridge. When the schoolhouse standing on Acushnet avenue, just south of the Congregational church, where the present one is, was moved across the highway, it was transformed into an engine house, and has since been used for that purpose.
HANCOC
HANCOCK ENGINE, NO. 9
Nothing stirred the boys of the "machine" quite like an alarm of fire, and as they ran through the town hauling the engine by ropes attached to it, they would sometimes sing this jolly chorus of a fireman's song :
"Then Wake her! Wake her !! Now, my boys ! As through the streets we fly. And when we reach the fire, my boys, Then 'break her down's' the cry."
When extra efforts were required at the brakes the chief or foreman would cry: "Waker! Shake her!" and the boys would do so with a shout.
At a gala day of the New Bedford department Nov. 26, 1873, at the banquet in City Hall, the following was one of the toasts :
"Hancock No. 9: Like the illustratious statesman whose name you bear, may each member of the company be firm in the resolve that Freedom's fire shall never go out."
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This was preceded by music by the Acushnet band, and was responded to by Foreman Reuben Washburn.
The Acushnet boys have manned the brakes and done heroic duty at many fires, some of which were large and resulted in great loss. They deserve and the locality demands more up-to-date apparatus.
A memorable and disastrous fire occurred in the village in 1847. Three dwelling houses and other buildings were destroyed, notwith- standing the brave and tireless services of the entire New Bedford fire department. The New Bedford Mercury thus briefly describes the catas- trophe in its issue of Friday, June 11, 1847.
"On Wednesday evening a bowling alley and barn adjoining at Head-of-the-river took fire about 12 o'clock and was entirely destroyed. This belonged to Mrs. Cummings, who had purchased it within a few days of Mr. James Thomas. It appears to have been regarded as a nuisance, and it has been suggested that the origin of the fire may not have been entirely accidental. At 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the next day a dwelling house on the farm of Mr. Gideon Nye, Jr., temporarily resorted to by Mrs. Humphrey Hathaway, whose husband was at sea, took fire from a defect in the chimney and was entirely destroyed, together with a considerable portion of the small remains of her furniture rescued from the flames on the pre- ceding night. Great credit is due to the firemen of Engine No. 3."
Among other destructive fires in and about Acushnet Village which the Hancock boys have vigorously fought are the following :
Congregational church on County road in the village, loss $2,500, Feb. 5, 1865. Reuben Washburn's house, April 17, 1880. Thomas Terry's blacksmith shop, south of bridge, June 8, 1882. Simeon Hawes' ice houses, June 7, 1882, and again the 10th of the same month ; loss $12,800, insured for $7,900. Congregational chapel, Oct. 28, 1885. Thomas Terry's farm- house, on the east side of the Mill road, formerly the residence of Capt. William Gordon, July 9, 1886. George A. Cobb's Hall, Oct. 24, 1887. Frank B. Carr's box factory, Acushnet avenue, June 13, 1888. Mary Davis' dwelling house, March 20, 1894. Henry W. Cushman's box factory on Long Plain road, Aug. 1, 1894. Frank B. Carr's box factory, Acush- net avenue, Nov. 4, 1894. Simeon Hawes' barn, Oct. 16, 1895. Plainville houses, Aug. 4, 1896. Humphrey H. Swift's building, April 15, 1899. Harry O. White's dwelling house, County road, Oct. 17, 1900. Julia Parker's dwelling house, July 4, 1901. Mary Davis' ice house, Aug. 27. 1901. Charles S. Knowles' wax factory, Nov. 13, 1901. Charles How- land's dwelling house, April 24, 1903. Stephen West house, west of Parting Ways, May 27, 1903. Methodist church, in the village, entirely destroyed Dec. 11, 1904.
"The Bedford Fire Society" was formed March 4, 1807, with Abraham Sherman, Jr., a native of this town, as clerk. A committee was appointed to form rules and regulations, and eighteen articles in regard to the management of the fire department were adopted.
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Article 6 will be interesting as showing some things that were required of members. "Each member shall keep constantly in good order, hanging up in some convenient place in his dwelling house, under penalty of fifty cents for each deficiency, two leather buckets and two bags; the buckets to be painted conformably to the orders of the society; the bags to be one yard and a half in length and three-quarters of a yard in breadth, with strings to draw them up. The buckets and bags shall be marked with the owner's name, under penalty of twenty-five cents for each bucket and bag.
Article 7. At the alarm of fire each one shall immediately repair, with his bucket and bags, to the dwelling house, shop or store of that member which he believes to be most in danger, and use his best endeavors, by the direction of the owner if present, to remove and secure his goods and to return them to him again free of expense.
A committee of three of the members were appointed at stated meet- ings to visit the house, shop or store of each member, examine his buckets, bags, etc., and report at the next meeting. The records show that on "Ist mo. 13, 1812, Sands Wing, later a prominent citizen of Acushnet, paid a fine of 50 cents, his buckets and bag not being in their place."
DEBT, DEATH The people who shook the dust of Plymouth off their AND TAXES feet and came up to this unsettled wilderness to escape persecution did not escape two ever present burdens- death and taxes. The Plymouth authorities did not forget their abode, neither did they forget to tax them for the support of that from which they received no benefits. As early as 1652 the tax rates for the "Naigh- bourhood att Acushena" was 10 shillings. There were very few people here in 1660, but a demand was made upon them for 1£. 10s., and in 1662 the tax was more than double that of two years before, "3£. 10s.," to be paid in money, or wheat at "4s. pr bushel." The Naighbourhood mani- fested their great displeasure at taxation without any returns therefor, and reluctantly, if ever, paid some of the levies. People who now favor advertising delinquent tax payers might cite precedents like this in the Old Colony records: "June 5 1663 .- Due in rates from Acushenah not yett paid 3: 10:00." This, it will be observed, was the tax of the previous year. Money was a scarce commodity, and the people had no idea of transporting the seventeen bushels of wheat required to pay the tax a dis- tance of thirty miles on horseback over Indian trails.
Debt and taxes have been burdensome to this town. The Civil War commenced the year following the one of its incorporation. Money was borrowed to meet the heavy demands upon the town. We inherited at the division of Fairhaven as our share of the debt of that town $4,000. To this was soon added the bounties paid for men to fill the quota of the town and to aid their families, amounting to about $9,000. On Jan. 1,
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1894, notes against the town amounted to $13,030. The tax payers worked hard to relieve themselves of this heavy load and rejoiced to hear the assurance of the Selectmen at the annual town meeting of 1874 that there was not a note held against the town and $951.21 in the treasury.
Then came the necessity of repairing, and replacing with new struc- tures the dilapidated schoolhouses that the town had at its set-off from Fairhaven. Four houses were built, one reconstructed and the others thoroughly repaired, all at an expense of $10,505. The town bought four gravel lots, and dug four wells. In 1884 there was no debt; $1,000 in the treasury ; taxes only $8.00 per $1,000.
Tax payers enjoyed the low rates that prevailed after the school- house construction period till the macadamizing cyclone struck the town in 1896, when there began another flood-tide of debt and taxes. During the following decade, as stated, the town borrowed on its notes more than $30,000, and taxes went up by leaps and bounds till they reached the alarming, oppressive rate of $22 per thousand dollars in 1906.
As much of the property of the inhabitants of the town is in real estate, a large proportion of which is unproductive unless cultivated, and a class of property that cannot escape the vigilant eye of an Assessor, one can readily understand what a hardship such a high rate of taxes becomes. At this date the great expense of maintaining the school system; of keeping the rapidly deteriorating macadam in repair; the slow increase in real estate valuations, and other taxable property is not encouraging to the future tax payer of the town.
INDUSTRIES OF THE TOWN
Various industries have been conducted in Acushnet covering a period of almost two and one half centuries.
Grist mills and saw mills were among the earliest, and these with carding and fulling mills which were among the first to be established in this country, were driven by water, with which the town was fairly well provided. This is utilized to a considerable extent at the present time as is shown by the articles on "Acushnet river and its tributaries" and those that immediately follow on this subject.
CUSHMAN'S BOX In 1874, Emery Cushman, who had been several FACTORY years engaged in the manufacture of packing boxes,
was carrying on the business in a limited way in a shop in the rear of his dwelling house on the west side of Long Plain road a third of a mile north of Parting Ways, found the business had outgrown the accommodations for it bought the Taber Mills property described in an article under that heading. Here in the old mill he sawed his stock for boxes which he made there till his decease in 1884, when he was succeeded in the business by his son, Henry W. Cushman, under whose efficient management it grew in magnitude and prosperity till his
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death in 1904. He soon installed steam power and sawed an immense quantity of logs not only at the mill, but by portable mills, on tracts in other towns when he bought standing wood for the purpose. The, mill was totally destroyed by fire on the evening of August 1, 1904. This was a discouraging event to Mr. Cushman, but he was equal to the emergency, and the following morning he courageously commenced the work of recon- struction.
His customers stood by him and soon his business and facilities were better than before the conflagration. The business now furnishes employ- ment for 60 to 70 men and 25 horses. Packing boxes of wood of all sizes
Photo. by A. H. McCreary, Phila.
CUSHMAN'S BOX FACTORY.
are made here and shooks are prepared to make into boxes elsewhere. Since the decease of Mr. Cushman the large business, including the factory here and the portable mills in various places, has been judiciously and ably managed by his widow and her two sons, now as The Henry W. Cushman Co., incorporated, with Mrs. Frances K. Cushman president and treasurer. One of the sons, Henry, is the agent and outside manager of the business and the other son, Emery, has charge of the manufacturing department. This business has been made a great success through the close attention to all its details and superior judgment in its manage- ment.
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BLOCK FACTORY On the Mill Lot, at the . northeast corner of the river and the village bridge was one of the earliest water power enterprises in the town. It is said to have been erected and in operation as early as 1707. Cotton was picked there for the cotton factory. which stood a few rods up the river, now the Acushnet saw mill and box factory. Pumps for domestic wells and salt works were bored from logs, and blocks for rigging the vessels that were built in the Stetson and Bellville ship yards just below were made there. William Roach and John Wing, Jr., were interested in this business at one time. The last manager of manufacturing here was Benjamin Taber, who lived on the east side of Mill road, the second house north of Bridge street. He finally gave up the business and went west, carrying the light machinery with him.
Judge Nathaniel Spooner acquired the property in 1817 from Edward Wing since which date a grist mill was in operation several years. Mill- ing was discontinued several years ago and the building was demolished in 1903. Then disappeared a land mark of almost, if not quite two cen- turies of existence.
ACUSHNET SAW MILL CO.
Manufacturing enterprises on the present site of the Acushnet Saw Mill Company's plant on the "Mill lot" have been various. Being at a point in the river where there is a natural fall just before the stream widens it is the finest water privilege anywhere on the river. One of the first saw and grist mills in the town was erected here, also a carding, fulling and dressing mill, but all the persons who owned and operated them have not been ascertained. However, this much appears of record. William Gordon, Jr., or his father, Capt. William Gordon, a Revolutionary hero, leased the property and managed it in 1818 as indicated in this advertisement in the New Bedford Mercury :
June 26, 1818.
Wool Carding.
"The subscriber hereby gives public notice that he intends carry- ing on the wool carding business the ensuing season in the new build- ing between the grist and paper mills at the Head of Accushnett river; and to commence next week; being furnished with good ma- chinery, he flatters himself that from his experience in wool carding, merino and native wool and by the attention, care and punctuality he proposes to observe in the prosecution of his business he shall be enabled to give ample satisfaction to his employers."
Wm. Gordon, Jr.
It is stated that a man by the name of Almy was manufacturing cloth. batting and candle wick here in 1834; a Dillingham ran the saw mill about the same time, and Shadrack Davis was making nail kegs on the premises in 1836. The cotton industry was discontinued and Jonathan P. Lund bought the property about 1840. There was a great demand
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for paper and Mr. Lund in partnership with Charles W. Morgan of New Bedford built a paper mill extending eastward across the stream from the saw mill. The saw mill, frame of the paper mill, part of the water wheel, bobbins and picker sticks, scraps of paper, cloth, batting, etc., are still there. Mr. Lund attended to manufacturing wrapping, ship sheathing and candle box paper and Mr. Morgan looked after selling the product. The saw mill turned out boxboards, building lumber and ship timber. Mr. Lund became possessor of the entire property and before the war gave up the paper business. Later he presented the property to his son Parkman M., who carried on the saw mill till 1867, when he sold out to Simeon and Jonathan C. Hawes and N. Hervey Wilber, who formed a co-partnership and continued the business. Subsequently Simeon sold his interest to the other two, who continued till a corporation was formed in March 1907, with Jonathan C. Hawes, president ; N. Hervey
Photo. by A. H. McCreary, Phila.
ACUSHNET SAW MILL.
Wilber, treasurer; Frederick B. Hawes, clerk. The latter entered the employ of the company in 1886. He has been for several years and is now manager of the business.
Extensive additions have been made from time to time to the old saw mill, which still occupies a conspicuous position in front of the plant. All the water power is utilized and in addition to this there are steam engines which will soon be increased by another of 225 horse power. The company commenced to make packing boxes in 1890, using a small part of the product of the little mill and employing two box makers. Now they use for this purpose the production of, five other saw mills, have a branch box factory at Fall River, Mass., and employ from seventy-five to
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one hundred men. This mill is fully equipped with all the modern ma- chinery and appliances for cheapening the work of production.
The pond and dam at the northeast of the factory are picturesque spots. In viewing these one should not allow the shadow of this incident published in the New Bedford Mercury of Aug. 28, 1807, to pass over it: "Drowned in the Millpond at the Head-of-the-River, Quash Russell, a man of color."
WHITE'S COTTON FACTORY
Where the river is crossed by the present White's factory road stood an extensive enterprise which is now knownas "White's factory" as the White brothers owned and managed cotton and woolen mills at this place. But the water power was utilized here long before these mills were erected. A mill dam was built soon after 1746 and in 1778 there was a "New Mill dam" there. In 1799 there was a saw mill here which Moses Washburn that year sold to William White, Sr., with the water privileges. William had a knowledge of manufacturing cotton and woolen goods and bought this plant for the purpose of erecting a cotton mill to be run by himself and three of his bright, rugged industrious sons: Phineas, William and Benjamin. His other three sons engaged in the same business: Ansel at Long Plain, Ezra at Plympton, Mass., and Stephen at South Hadley, Mass. Captain Joseph Whelden, a neighbor, had an interest in the business. They at once constructed a stone cotton mill and other buildings, erected dwellings for operatives and the locality became a busy, thriving place. Captain Whelden sold to William White, Jr., in 1814 his interest, the dam, two houses, gristmill, saw mill, dye house, cotton factory and ·machinery.
This cotton factory stood on or near the present saw mill and was burned the date of which is unknown as the business papers and books of the concern were burned when this mill and its successor was con- sumed by fire. It was probably the year 1830, as it was rebuilt in 1831, the White brothers continued the business till 1844 when they sold to (Sylvanus) Thomas & (William F.) Dow who it is said enlarged the mill and put in steam. The second factory was burned between 1854 and 1856 and the business was discontinued. Among the products of these works were cotton cloth for the Fall River print works, dyeing and card- ing wool and fulling cloth for residents of this locality. Tradition is that the construction of the first mill here was commenced in 1799, which we assume to be correct, this was one of the very few cotton factories in the United States in that century. Slater's first mill, in Pawtucket, R. I., the only mill of any account in this county at that date, was built in 1793, and in 1816 only 500 bales of cotton of 300 pounds each were manufactured in this country.
Samuel B. Hamlin bought the property and the converted ruins
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have been for many years a saw mill which is now owned by James B. Hamlin. On a stone over the door of the mill is cut the date of its con- struction, 1831. See pages 55 and 62.
WHELDEN COTTON FACTORY That the William White cotton factory was a success is indicated by the withdrawal of Captain Joseph Whelden in 1814 and his building a larger stone mill a mile up the river, a short distance south of its junc- ture with Deep Brook, at once. Captain Whelden was an energetic, thrifty retired whaling master, and there were associated with him in the project (in 1818), Job Grey, Jr., Loum Snow, Sr., Jireh Swift and Jonathan Swift, under the firm name of Whelden, Swift & Co. It has not been ascertained when manufacturing was discontinued here.
The last conveyance of the property was in 1866 by Sylvanus Thomas to the city of New Bedford in connection with the introduction of water taken by that city from a reservoir on the river above that point for domestic purposes. The vine clad ruins of the old factory are a pic- turesque object.
For a number of years the town voted that the highway tax on Whelden, Swift & Co.'s factory be permitted to be laid out on the private way leading to the factory. This woods road was from the Long Plain road on the east and the Mill road at the west, crossing the river at the mill on a bridge. See page 62.
ANSEL WHITE COTTON FACTORY The fourth cotton mill on Acushnet river was located almost due west from Long Plain village. In 1818 Ansel White, of White's factory fame, then 22 years of age, decided to carry on business alone and that year acquired the property on which a grist and saw mill if no other, had been in operation since 1815, on the south side of the way. His success enabled him to build a stone mill here, about 1830, it is said. This mill stood on the north side of the road and was used for wool card- ing, candle wick making, etc. It was burned and rebuilt about 1840. He was succeeded in the business by his brother, Benjamin, father of ex- Governor Benjamin F. White, of Montana, and Captain James Allen. Benjamin retired in 1857 and Captain Allen, his brother-in-law, con- tinued for a time. It was later let for the same purpose. The building was burned in 1859 and never rebuilt. When the city of New Bedford decided to introduce water into the place they purchased a tract of three hundred acres here, including the pond just above Ansel White's dam, where the reservoir was constructed. See page 62.
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IRON MINE, BLOMARY On the Morse homestead is a lot located about FORGE AND MILL
a half mile north of Mill road, now the prop- erty of William G. Taber, called the "Iron" lot. Here is an iron mine which was extensively worked almost two centuries ago and for many years thereafter.
The south side of Mill road on Deep Brook there was in 1738 a blomary, the first place through which iron passes after it is melted from the ore, and a "forge" which signify works where iron is made malle- able by puddling. Slag and cinders may be seen there now. The home market was largely supplied for several years with iron from this plant. Competition caused a discontinuance of this business. A saw and grist mill were erected on the stream at this point and the latter has been in operation almost continuously till the present. Joseph and Pardon Taber managed these mills for some time succeeding Jacob Taber. Later the property came into possession of Joshua Morse, Sr., and then his sons, Joshua, Edward and George P. The property is now owned and man- aged by William G. Taber, and the product is box boards, most of which are shipped to Philadelphia. See page 61.
TABER'S MILLS About a mile north of Parting Ways and five hundred yards east of Long Plain road, is a pond. Its outlet is Meadow brook which flows westerly to the Acushnet river. Several of the needful industries of early days were located on this stream near the pond. They were here before 1750 and were known as "Taber's Mills," consisting of "Fulling Mill and Smith's shop." This and the dwelling house which was erected about 1675 was devised to Amaziah Taber. Here wool was carded, cloth fulled and dressed, buttons. wheel- barrows, chairs and bedsteads made, grain ground and logs sawed.
Thomas Wood, "clothier," was the last proprietor of this business before all the buildings except the residence were destroyed by fire. Amaziah devised the property to his grandson, Thomas, whom he called a "clothier," which occupation he probably learned of his grandfather. Thomas Wood continued to run the whole plant many years, when his sons Albert and Jabez, used the works for sawing box boards and making candle boxes. They changed the power from water to steam. After a time they gave up the business, moved to New Bedford and in 1874 the mill property and water privilege was sold by auction to Emery Cushman, of this town, box manufacturer.
BLACKSMITH SHOPS
There could have been very little business for black- smiths for several years after the first comers began their homes here. Horses and wagons and agricultural implements which required such a workman were few. The first shop in present Acushnet that appears of record to me is that of Daniel Summer- ton, who lived in the first house east of the Methodist church at the foot
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of Meeting House hill, as early as 1755. Mr. Summerton's shop, in which he industriously plied his vocation, stood about one hundred feet east of the dwelling house, on the north side of Post road. A person who passed the shop in childhood on her way from her home to the school at Parting Ways, told the writer she remembered the old shop. She said Mr. Summerton had a son Benjamin who worked with his father, and she recalled the frequent entreaty she heard from the latter as she passed the shop to "Blow Ben, blow!" "Ben" subsequently became a ship master.
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