USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Acushnet > History of the Town of Acushnet, Bristol County, State of Massachusetts > Part 2
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THIS PURCHASE did not fully materialize at this time for some unex- plained reason. The deed was not executed till 1652. It may safely be inferred that the old sachem, Massasoit, or Wesamequen as it is in some places written, could not be earlier brought to terms, or perhaps the bands of his tribe who dwelt in this section were unwilling that these delightful hunting grounds should be transferred to another people and no longer be their homes. The transaction, however, was finally consummated, and one of the largest real estate deals ever made in Bristol county was accomplished.
The following is a copy of the deed from Wesamequen and his son Wamsutta to these first comers as found in the Plymouth records :
Bradford Governour.
1654. A deed appointed to be recorded.
New Plymouth, November the 29th, 1652.
Know all men by these present, that I, Wesamequen, and Wam- sutta my son, have sold unto Mr. William Bradford, Captain Standish, Thomas Southworth, John Winslow, John Cooke and their associates, the purchasers or old comers, all the tract or tracts of land lying east- ward from river called Cushenagg, to a certain harbour called Acoaksett, to a flat rock on the westward side of said harbour. And whereas the said harbour divideth itself into several branches the western most arme to be the bound and all the tract or tracts of land from the said western most arme to the said river of Acushenagg, three miles eastward of the same, with all the profits and benefits within the said tract, with all the rivers, creeks, meadows, necks and islands that lye in or before the same, and from the sea upward to go so high that the English may not be annoyed by the hunting of the Indians in any sort of their cattle. And I, Wesamequen and Wam- sutta, do promise to remove all the Indians within a year from the date hereof that do live in the said traet.
And we, the said Wesamequen and Wamsutta, have fully bar- gained and sold unto the aforesaid Mr. William Bradford, Captain Standish, Thomas Southworth, John Winslow, John Cooke, and the rest of their associates, the purchasers or old comers, to have and to hold for them and their heirs and assigns forever. And in considera-
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tion hereof, we the above mentioned are to pay to the said Wesame- quen and Wamsutta as followeth :
30 yards of cloth
1 cloak
8 moose skins
2 € in Wampan*
15 axes
8 pair stockings
15 hoes
8 pair of shoes
15 pair of breeches
1 iron pot
8 blankets
and
2 kettles
10 shillings in another comoditie
And in witness hereof we have interchangeably set our hands the day and year above written.
In the presence of
John Winslow John Cooke
Jonathan Shaw
His
Wamsutta MM
Samuel Eddy
Mark
Here are the names of the original purchasers of this valuable tract of land which was subsequently the original township of Dartmouth, each person having "one whole share," excepting Messrs. Collyer, Howland and Bassett and Sarah Brewster, who had a half share each.
Mr. William Bradford
Steven Tracye
Captain Standish
John Faunce
Mr. John Alden
Henry Sampson
Mr. Collyer and Sarah Brewster
Philip Delanoye
Mr. Howland and William Bassett George Morton
Robert Bartlett
Manasses Kempton James Hurst
William Palmer
John Dunham Sen'r
Samuel Hickes
John Shaw Sen'r
Peter Browne
Francis Cooke
Francis Sprague
John Cooke Joshua Pratt John Soule
Thomas Morton
Constant Southworth
Samuel Cuthbert
Thomas Southworth
Edward Holman
Miss Jennings
Edward Bumpass
A subsequent record states that it was "Mr. Robert Hickes," and not his son "Samuel" who was one of the purchasers.
*WOMPOM (plural WOMPOMPEAG) was the Indian name for the WHITE beads used as currency, or for the payment of tribute from tribe to tribe; from WOMPI, white. The court of 1640 fixed the price of Wampum as currency at 6 for a penny, about 300 to a dollar; 1500 to a f.
What "Another comoditie" which was given in part payment in this bargain with the two Indians consisted of no records disclose. We are left to conjecture what the medium was. It may have been "fire water," of which the average Indian was very fond. Old Wesamequen preferred it should be recorded a "comoditie" to conceal its identity.
Mrs. Warren
Edward Dotye
Moses Simons
Samuel Eaton
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The "Mr. Howland" named in the above list was John Howland of the Mayflower. John sold his share in 1667. He never resided here.
This syndicate's purchase comprised an area of over 115,000 acres. Consequently "Miss Jennings" and Mrs. Warren possessed more than 3000 acres each. There were women who were large land owners before the advent of the famous Hetty Green. The payment made seems very little, comparatively, for so large a tract-one of the most valuable in the colony. Many a single rod within the bounds of this purchase is now valued at a greater sum than was paid for all these acres.
THE FIRST COMERS TO OLD CUSHENA
Immediately after the colonists came into pos- session of this tract in 1652, people began to migrate here from their Plymouth and Duxbury homes. Very few of the 36 original purchasers, however, came here to . live. They evidently bought the land on speculation and "unloaded", as brokers say, to those who were seeking permanent homes outside the shades of Plymouth. It seems clear, however; that the following of the above grantees resided in Old Dartmouth: John Cooke, Samuel Hickes, William Palmer, Samuel Cuthbert, and "Miss Jennings." There is no valid evidence that any other of the purchasers lived here, but it is evident their children did. The first settlers, who were relatives and friends of John Cooke, located homesteads in present Acushnet and Fairhaven, and at this time no other part of the purchase was occupied. Henry B. Worth is satisfied that this section of Old Dartmouth appropriated by settlers from Plymouth remained in their possession for nearly a century, and indeed, every family except the Sowle's and Macomber's which came from other parts of the Old Colony settled in this section and none except a West and a Taber settled in this region from any other part of New England.
Henry Howland's family were in the Ponegansett section in 1662. The Russells and Slocums were there before 1664; and at this date the Tabers, Spooners, Hathaways and Popes were engaged in establishing primitive homes, starting business enterprises and cultivating the soil in the tract east of the Acushnet river.
Of the above, John Cooke, son of Francis of the Mayflower, lived a few rods southeast of Oxford schoolhouse, Fairhaven.
Samuel Hickes resided at Newlands Neck in the southeast part of Fairhaven.
William Palmer owned land and possibly resided thereon situated south of the steam railway, Fairhaven, extending from the river east.
"Miss Jennings", widow of John Jeune, it is my belief, resided for a time in the family of her son Samuel near Parting Ways.
Samuel Cuthbert's home was at the head of Sconticut neck road in Fairhaven.
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Book 5 of Plymouth Court Orders gives the following exact list of all free men in Dartmouth on the 29th May 1670 :
John Cook
William Spooner
John Russell
Samuel Hickes
James Shaw
William Palmer
Arthur Hatheway
William Spooner's homestead included Riverside cemetery, the Dana farm and more, in Fairhaven.
Arthur Hathaway, the progenitor of all the Hathaways hereabout, lived where the Stephen Hathaway house, so called, stands in this town, on the east side of Fairhaven road.
James Shaw lived between the railroad in Fairhaven and Fort Phenix. He was appointed a "drill Sergeant" by Plymouth Court.
John Russell's home was in the present town of Dartmouth near the famous Russell's garrison house, which he constructed.
It appears from the Old Colony records that in 1694 the 56 persons named below, possessed all the purchase of 1652. None of these, however, were among the original purchasers. Probably all of them lived in what was then the town of Dartmouth. Those marked with a # had homes within the bounds of this town of Acushnet. Here are the names of this list of 56 owners:
Manasseh Kempton Seth Pope John Russell
Mary Davis
Thomas Taber, Jr.
Lettice Jenney
.
Arthur Hathaway*
Samuel Allen
Peleg Slocum
Valentine Huddlestone
Stephen West
Edmund Shearman
Samuel Jenney*
Mark Jenney
Aaron Davis
Giles Slocum
Ralph Earl, Jr.
Jonathan Russell
John Shearman
John Hathaway* George Cadman Jacob Mott Eleazer Smith
John Spooner, Jr .*
Return Babcock
John Tinkham
William Shearman Thomas Taber Jonathan Delano
Joseph Tripp James Tripp
William Macomber
Samuel Cornwell
Joseph Russell Stephen Peckham
Samuel Shearman
James Sisson John Russell, Jr. Abraham Tucker John Tucker Thomas Briggs
William Earl, son of R. E.
Samuel Spooner*
John Spooner* Thomas Mitchell
Benjamin Howland
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Isaac Pope Eleazer Slocum
Gersham Smith
John Lapham
Joseph Ripley
Daniel Sherman
Samuel Hickes Elizabeth Ricketson Joseph Taber*
Other records, however, show conclusively that in addition to the above list the following persons also owned real estate here at that date, 1694, namely : John Almy, William Corey, Thomas Lawton, Thomas Waite, Richard Ward, William Gifford, Richard Kirby, John Aiken, and Matthew Allen.
THE PIONEER of Acushnet were among the Plymouth colonists who
SETTLERS firmly resisted for conscientious reasons the civil court requirements in relation to the support of a publicly elected and paid ministry and compulsion of attendance upon the religious services of the Puritan church. They were generally a profoundly religious people and early provided here for public church worship, for the strict observance of the Lord's day and for rigid enforcement of and obedience to the civil laws of the community. This subject will be treated at length under "Early Religious History."
When these "first comers" to this place of refuge decided to make new homes for themselves here, the outlook must have been discouraging and pitiful. No language can describe the feelings that must have pos- sessed these home makers as they parted from old neighbors, friends and relatives at Plymouth and came up over the lonely Indian trail to this forbidding territory of forests and Indians, and wild beasts. But onward they firmly marched, their valiant hearts filled with the sublime sentiment of these poetic words of the Quaker poet, Whittier :
"O! speed the moment on
When Wrong shall cease-and Liberty and Love And Truth, and Right throughout the earth be Known, As in their home above."
But these sturdy, courageous, frugal men and women endured the suffering, privations and hardships that beset them on every hand, and bravely overcame the tremendous obstacles that laid athwart their pathways.
It is probable that the men of these families had made preparations here in advance for this exodus by clearing places in the forest for their new homes and erecting thereon rude cabins and furnishing them as best they could.
THE BIRTH The original township of Dartmouth of which pres- OF DARTMOUTH ent Acushnet was then a part, was born with very brief official ceremony by the Plymouth Court of June 8, 1664. Here is an exact copy of the Court order :
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"Att this Court. All that tracte of land commonly called and knowne by the name of Acushena, Ponagansett and Coaksett is allowed by the Court to bee a townshipe; and the inhabitants thereof have libertie to make such orders as may conduce to theire comon good in towne consernments; and that the said towne bee henceforth called and knowne by the name of Dartmouth."
THE INDIAN WAR The stipulations of Wesamequen and Wamsutta in the deed of this tract that "the English may not be annoyed by the hunting of the Indians in any sort or their cattle," and their "promise to remove all Indians within a year that do live on the said tract," and Massasoit's dying injunction to his sons Alexander and Philip to continue in friendly relations with the English, were little heeded by the former and violated in a most savage, inhuman manner by the latter, resulting in the direful Indian war. The spark which finally ignited the war spirit into a fierce and prolonged deadly flame, was the murder of Sassamon, one of the Seaconet band, near his residence on Assawampset neck, in Lakeville. Sassamon was an educated Indian, a convert to the Christian religion, spoke English fluently and was at one time a school teacher. Later he became the private secretary of King Philip, where he learned of treacherous plotting of the chief against the English. Subsequently his interest in the safety and welfare of the people at Plymouth led him to reveal to the authorities there the hostile intentions of King Philip. He gave this priceless information under a pledge of absolute secrecy, knowing that King Philip would take his life if he knew what he had done. Alas, some one wickedly betrayed this misplaced trust. Philip soon learned that the Plymouth government had heard something to his discredit. He was summoned to appear before them but refused to obey the command. A little later, Jan. 29, 1675, a hat and gun were found on the ice on Assawampsett lake and brave Sassamon's body laid under the ice near by where they were found. He had been murdered, no doubt at the edict of King Philip.
The war cloud darkened all through the spring of 1675. The white settlers were made aware of the impending peril. For an illustration: One day an Indian was hoeing in a field on the Stephen Hathaway farm on Fairhaven road in this town, when a strange Indian came to him and told him King Philip had decided to commence war against the English. The workman immediately ceased his work and left his employer, who rightfully suspected his reason for so doing. A few days later the tocsin of war sounded, and open hostilities commenced. On Tuesday, the 12th day of June, 1675, Captain Benjamin Church with his English and Indian soldiers commenced the pursuit of King Philip, which was cour- ageously continued till his capture by them near his lair on Saturday, the 12th day of August, 1676.
The contest at once assumed a most barbarous and inhuman char-
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acter. A month later, near the end of July, the savage hoard resorted to the torch and tomahawk. Nearly all the dwellings of the white settlers of Old Dartmouth, including present Acushnet, were reduced to ashes; crops were destroyed; domestic animals were killed or stolen; men, women and children were murdered. Complete devastation was their wicked intent and the pitiful result. Had it not been for the protection afforded by the garrison or block house which had been providentially erected for emergency, not a white settler would have been spared to relate the details of that horrible catastrophe. John Cooke's garrison stood on the north side of Howland road, 600 feet west of Main street, Fairhaven ; Russell's garrison was at Apponegansett, and there was one on Palmer's island. Another garrison house was that of Thomas Pope near his residence, which was a log cabin built by him soon after he came here and was situated on the west side of the Sconticut neck road, a few hundred feet south of the highway to Mattapoisett.
A garrison house was a neighborhood resort built in the midst of Indian settlements. They were often large buildings, sufficient to afford shelter from the elements. These were surrounded by a bullet proof stockade, or what was termed a palisado of heavy close-fitting logs. To these the settlers resorted for protection in the hour of danger.
Cooke's block house was the only place of safety for the residents within present Acushnet bounds from the tomahawks and scalping knives of the savages, and to this haven, to this place of refuge, they hastily fled from their cabins at the first alarm, over the lonely forest paths and Indian trails, and here the brave settlers defended and saved the lives of their loved ones with their matchlock weapons. Some were slain on their way to these life saving resorts. Jacob Mitchell, an ensign bearer of the Dartmouth militia in 1673, who resided at the head of Sconticut Neck road in Fairhaven, started with his wife for the block house of John Cooke, for safety. Their road led them around the east side of the tide mill pond, which now is a park. They had proceeded but a few rods from their house when they were both shot dead. Their bodies were subse- quently found and buried by their friends at the foot of a pear tree, which was on the spot where the former Unitarian church (now a schoolhouse) stands. The Indians burned the house later. It is also recorded that William Palmer, who lived in the vicinity of Fort Phenix, was murdered like the Mitchells. He was probably fleeing to either Cooke's or Pope's garrison house for protection from this cruel horde.
The fact that John Cooke's dwelling house, which stood within gun shot of his garrison, was sacked and burned at this time by the savages, is a slight indication of their courage and ferocity. No pen can describe, no human mind can conceive the feeling of despair which must have filled the hearts of this homeless, harassed, terror-stricken company when this horrible event ended. How different the map and history of Acushnet
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but for Cooke's block house and the marvelous heroism of this little but mighty band. It may be they recalled the promise of their Heavenly Father to Joshua: "As I was with Moses so I will be with thee," and believed it was for them in this hour of extreme need of divine aid and protection, and this stimulated to superhuman effort.
Drake, in describing this terrible event, says:
"They burnt nearly thirty houses in Dartmouth, killing many people after a most barbarous manner, as skinning them all over alive, some only their heads, cutting off their hands and feet; but any woman they took alive they defiled, afterwards putting her to death."
Rev. Increase Mather wrote in 1676 that :
"Dartmouth did they burn with fire, and barbarously murdered both men and women; stripping the slain, whether men or women, and leaving them in the open field. Such, also, is their inhumanity as that they flay off the skin from their faces and heads of those they got into their hands, and go away with the hairy scalp of their enemies."
Every house within the bound of present Acushnet was consumed by fire. These people had been here but a little while, none of them more than 25 years, and now they were homeless and almost penniless, in the midst of barbarous war. These men, women and children were in a heart- rending, pitiful condition.
This act of dreadful slaughter and sweeping devastation excited the sympathy of the people at Plymouth. This was publicly manifested by an order of the General Court of Oct. 4, 1675, that :
"The 14th instant shall be observed as a day of fasting and prayer by reason of the Indians, theire psisting on in theire hos- tillitie and barbarous creweltie and outrage against the English. That during the time of publicke danger, every one that comes to the meeting on the Lord's day bring his armes with him, and furnished with att least six charges of powder and shott, until further order shall be given under the penaltie of 2 s for every such defect."
The same court, after declaring that it was a "dispensation from God in suffering the barbarous heathen to spoile and destroy most of theire habitations," ordered :
"That in the rebuilding or resettleing thereof, that they soe order it as to live compact together, att least in each village as they may be in a capassitie both to defend themselves from the assault of an enemie and the better to attend the publicke worship of God, and minnestry of the word of God, whose carelesnes to obtain and at- tend unto, wee fear, may have bine a provocation of God thus to chastise theire contempt of his gospell, which wee earnestly desire the people of that place may seriously consider off, lay to hart, and be humbled for, with a sollisitus indeavor after a reformation thereof by a vigorous puting forth to obtaine an able, faithfull dispenser of the word of God amongst them."
As painful as the circumstances were that brought forth this expres- sion of sympathy, the court could not allow the opportunity to chastise
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the people for dereliction of duty in not choosing a minister of the gospel by civil process, to pass without doing so.
Captain Benjamin Church and his band of faithful soldiers were in Acushnet many times in his search for King Philip. One of these expedi- tions from Plymouth occurred about the 20th of July, 1675, a few weeks after the town was burned, when Church started out with "18 Engifh and 22 Indians." They marched to Middleboro over the much used Indian trail. Here they met the enemy and in an engagement captured about 16 of them, sending them under guard to Plymouth. Captain Church planned to spend the night on Assawampsett Neck. He proceeded along the trail, which is now the main highway from Middleboro to Acushnet village, unmolested till he reached the brook which crosses the road a little south of "Sampson's Tavern," where was then a thick swamp. Here "the enemy fired upon them, but hurt not a man," wrote Captain Church. He continues thus in describing this expedition : .
" Churches Indians ran right into the swamp and fired upon the Enemy, but it being in the dusk of the Evening, the Enemy made their efcape in the thickets: The Captain then moving about a Mile into the Neck, took advantage of a fmall Valley to feed his Horfes; fome held the Horfes by the Bridles, the reft on the guard look'd fharp out for the Enemy, within hearing on every fide, and fome very near; but in the dead of the Night, the Enemy being out of hearing, or ftill, Capt. Church moved out of the Neck (not the fame way he came in, leaft he fhould be Ambufcado'd) toward Cufhnet, where all the Houfes were burnt; and croffing Cufhnet River, being extreamly fategued, with two Nights and one Days ramble without Reft or Sleep; and offering good forage for their Horfes, the Captain concluded upon baiting, and taking a Nap. Set- ting Six Men to watch the paffage of the River, two to watch at a time,' while the others flept, & fo to take their turns; while the reft of the Company went into a thicket to Sleep under the guard of two Sentinels more. But the whole Company being very drowfy, foon forgot their danger, and were faft a-fleep, Sentinels, and all. The Captain firft awakes, looks up, and judges he had flept four Hours, which being longer than he defigned, immediately roufes his Company, and fends away a file to fee what were become of the watch at the paffage of the River, but they no fooner opened the River in fight, but they difcovered a company of the Enemy view- ing of their tracts, where they came into the Neck; Captain Church and thofe with him foon difpers'd into the brufh on each fide of the way, while the file fent, got undifcovered to the paffage of the River, and found their watch all faft a fleep; but thefe Tidings thoroughly awakened the whole Company. But the Enemy giving them no prefent difturbance, they examined their Snapfacks, and taking a little refrefhment, the Captain orders one party to guard the Horfes, and the other to Scout."
It will be observed that Church's band entered the town by the present Middleboro road, and in the writer's judgment marched south-
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ward up Braley hill, through Long Plain down to Parting Ways, thence westward into the village. They bivouaced near the bridge where Capt. Church took a "four Hours Nap." Here they were near the "Acushnet great swamp, " west of Acushnet village. This was a favorite lurking place for King Philip's men. From here they sallied out, com- mitted theft and other depredations, and returned to cover. It was an unsafe place to pursue them.
From Acushnet village they scouted over the spot where the city of New Bedford now is. Then they proceeded down to the head of Ap- ponegansett river, and near Russell's garrison "they clap'd into a thicket and there lodg'd the reft of the Night without any fire; and upon the Morning light appearing" they 'started out towards the Great Cedar Swamp. At the south side of the swamp. near Smith Mills, the company divided; the Indian soldiers were to march around the west side and the English soldiers, with Captain Church, along the east side of the swamp. The "ruins of John Cooke's house" at Oxford was the appointed meet- ing place. On reaching the vicinity of the bridge in Acushnet village, where Church crossed the river the day before, Church met an old Indian woman whom he knew, who had been driven from her home on Rhode Island by some of Philip's band. She said the cedar swamp was full of Indians and a number of them were then down on Sconticut Neck, "whither they went to kill Cattel and Horfes for Provifions for the com- pany." Captain Church asked her where they crossed the river. Church writes that in reply to this query, "She pointed to the upper paffing place." * They followed the trail to Parting Ways, thence southward over Fairhaven road in this town, "down into the neck." "Thereupon," Church writes, "I crossed the River fo low down" that this band of marauders "should not meet with our Tracks on their return." He then proceeded along the east bank of the Acushnet river to "Cooke's ruins." Church's Indians reached there "late in the Night with their booty, and when they compared their Succeffes" it was found that each division of soldiers had killed three of the enemy and captured 63 pris- oners. The next day Church started for Plymouth with his "booty." King Philip made preparations to intercept Church at Assawampsett, believing Church would return the way he came. Church, anticipating this, took the trail through Mattapoisett and Marion, out-generaling the sagacious Philip.
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