USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 19
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About 1824 the old building was occupied as a tavern by John J. Wood. The exact date of its demolition is unknown to me; it was between the years 1837 and 1840. One gentle- man informs me that he remembers when the sign represented a bell, and it was called the Bell Tavern. I am informed that a portion of this old tavern was moved to Chapman Street, opposite the terminus of Sherman Street, and converted into a tenement-house by that indefatigable preserver of ancient buildings and friend of our early days, Elijah Bailey.
On the site where stands the house known as the Huntoon homestead there stood, in the latter part of the last century, a large old-fashioned mansion which was used as a tavern.
Capt. Amos Upham was the landlord; and he was a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity. There was a hall in this old mansion on the northwest side, and here the Masonic breth- ren were wont to meet on winter evenings. They had no charter, but held what are known as sodality meetings. The honest landlord took the east; Jesse Downes, the father
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of the commodore, the west; John Capen the south; and George Jordan acted as Tyler. In 1814 Cobb's tavern, on the Sharon border, was substituted as a place of meeting. Jonathan Cobb was evidently a lover of the craft, for on the walls of the old tavern can still be seen blazoned the symbols of the Masonic order.
In 1807, after the ordination of Rev. William Ritchie, the ministers and council were entertained at Mr. Upham's tav- ern. The same year the hall was used for a dancing-school.
Mr. Upham sold his house of entertainment to Mr. George Downes ; and on Sept. 16, 1819, the hall was used for the last time, when Mr. Joseph Lancashire delivered an address on education. On the 21st of November the house took fire. The people at the meeting-house first discovered it, and rang the bell. Samuel Capen's hatter-shop was torn down, and the old Capen house, built by John Wentworth, Jr., was with great difficulty saved, to last until 1879, when it was demol- ished. The house of Dr. Jonathan Stone, at the corner of Ragged Row, commonly called the Withington house, or English Cottage, was also in danger, having been in flames many times, but was finally saved.
In 1820 Mr. Downes erected the house now standing. It contained perhaps the only hall in Canton in those days. Here came all the shows; and either in the hall or on the grounds were exhibited " two bisons and a catamount," and sometimes an elephant. In 1825 the hall was used for reli- gious services while the new meeting-house was being built. The same year a grand ball took place. Here, in 1824 and 1833, performed the celebrated magician, Robert Potter, son of Dinah, slave of Sir Harry Frankland. One who saw him says, -
" I ne'er shall see another show, To rank with the immortal Potter's ; He's dead and buried long ago, And others charm our sons and daughters."
On training-days the floor of the room in which these lines were written was so covered with the refuse of punch that the lemon peel floated about upon it. Here, also, met the select-
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men to transact their business, and the " Proprietors of the Common Field Meadows." Here was held the annual meet- ing of the Norfolk Universal Society in 1827. From 1822 to 1829 the post-office was kept in this house.
Mr. George Downes was a leading man in town. He was the son of Oliver Downes, and was born Sept. 3, 1790, and died Feb. 6, 1861. " He was," says one who knew him, " a most useful citizen, - one who sustained and filled with affec- tionate assiduity the tenderest relations of domestic life; one whose sound mind, candid judgment, mature experience, and sterling common-sense were frequently appealed to in busi- ness affairs and highly appreciated by all who knew him." Mr. Downes left the house in 1840, and removed to the farm now occupied by the family on Pleasant Street.
On the 27th of October, 1845, after this house had become a private residence, there occurred in it one of the most tragic events that ever took place in this town. Mr. Huntoon's wife had died on the 2d of October, 1844; and he, with his son, was living in the house with a housekeeper named Eliza Baker. It was when Porter's burning fluid lamps, as they were called, were in vogue; and Eliza had often been cau- tioned never to fill them when lighted. On this day she went into the dining-room, and bolting the doors for fear of interruption, took the can containing the fluid, unscrewed the top of the lamp, which was lighted, and tipped the can to pour out the fluid. The moment the fluid reached the outlet of the can, a flash ignited it, and there was a terrific explosion. Mr. Huntoon, who was writing in his study, heard the noise and fearful screams. He tried the door and found it locked, then retreating a few paces, he rushed with all his force and burst it open. The impressions of the mo- ment are thus described in his own words : -
" I had written thus far when I was attracted by a noise in the dining-room, whither Eliza Baker had just gone with her lamp. And, oh, what a scene followed ! In a moment what a change came over me ! From a quiet, calm, and still room instantly the sounds of con- fusion, fire, and death are heard. What a display of mortal weakness, insecurity, and frailty is here, when the transition from the active
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career of life to the insensibility of the grave has been so awfully rapid ! One moment she was breathing freely the invigorating air of life ; the next, the suffocating flames of death. No warning, no ad- monition. With the suddenness of a flash of lightning enveloped in the devouring flames and without the reach of mortal assistance or relief, what an awful moment, what an age of agony must have been crowded into that single moment when she saw that blazing room and fastened door ! Upon such a scene of mortal agony I never before looked, and I pray God I never may again. Language has no words to express it ; the mind has no power to conceive the horror of it. I cannot realize the scene I then beheld. Its image in my memory is like the awful vision of a frightful dream. I can hardly be persuaded that it is not a delusion."
When Mr. Huntoon entered the room, the woman stood in the centre of it, enveloped in the flames. He threw her on the floor and wrapped some woollen article about her. She was then taken out of the room. In the mean time the flames had communicated to the woodwork ; and it was only by the activity of the neighbors that the house was saved from burning. The blisters on the panels are still visible. Miss Baker died on the following day from her injuries.
On the 23d of September, 1846, the pastor of the First Parish gave an " old folks' party " at this house. The united ages of twenty of the participants amounted to 1314 years, as follows : Mrs. John Sherman, 84; Mrs. Jesse Downes, 85; Mrs. Nathan Gill, 77; Mrs. Draper, 80; Mrs. Thomas Dun- bar, 65; Mrs. Avis Leonard, 60; Mrs. Abigail Lewis, 75; Mrs. Eaton, 47; Mrs. Fisher, 52; Mrs. Turner, 60; Mrs. Elisha White, 52; Mrs. Billings, 80; Mrs. James Endicott, 64; Mrs. Samuel Capen, 66; Mrs. James Bent, 54; Mrs. Dav- enport, 55 ; Mr. Elisha White, 56; Mr. Thomas Dunbar, 71 ; Mr. Ebenezer Turner, 60 ; Major Samuel Leonard, 71.
Many of those who attended this party I well remember, and now they are all gone. Truly -
" Life 's like an inn where travellers stay : Some only breakfast and away ; Others to dinner stay, and are full fed ; The oldest only sup and go to bed; Long is his bill who lingers out the day; Who goes the soonest has the least to pay."
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Friend Crane, the son of Elijah and Sarah (Haughton) Crane, was born in Ponkapoag, on May 20, 1764, in the old- fashioned gambrel-roofed house his father raised, and which still protrudes into the street. In 1801 Mr. Elijah Fisher sold to his brother Abel " the dark colored stage " which he had himself built, together with a full set of harness tipped with brass ; also the box, slate, and all privileges of which he was owner at Major King's tavern in Boston. Abel sold them to Friend Crane, who took the house known as the Stearns house, near the railroad bridge, and resided there. In 1812 he built what is now known as the Everett house, and for more than twenty-five years he continued to drive his stage into Boston. King's inn was situated in Dock Square, and was a famous coaching-house. Crane left there for Canton on every Tuesday and Saturday at three o'clock; but he had so many parcels to deliver that it was often ten o'clock before he reached Canton. At one time the stage left from Dag- gett's in Market Street. In 1823 it was advertised to leave from Barnard's on Elm Street every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. From 1826 the stage was driven by Ozias Gillett, who sold out to James Dunbar. Ezra Swift, Elijah and Nathaniel Bent subsequently drove the stage.
Mr. George Hollingsworth, in writing of Mattapan in his boyhood, thus describes Friend Crane's stage : -
"Twice a week and later every day the stage driven by Friend Crane to and from Canton would halt here to water the horses and take in perhaps a passenger or two. The stores dealing in refresh- ment for man and beast were the natural resting-places, and from them intelligence was conveyed."
Friend Crane subsequently resided in the house opposite Neponset Street in South Canton. He was a stanch Bap- tist in his religious belief; and a tablet has been placed in the Baptist church which bears the following inscription : -
" In memory of Deacon Friend Crane one of the founders and early supporters of this church, died March 27, 1847."
Mr. Leonard Everett came to Canton about the year 1815. He was the son of Edward and Hannah (Leonard)
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Everett, and was born Sept. 26, 1787, on the old Everett homestead in Sharon, which the Canton Historical Society passed on their way from Sharon Village toward Moose Hill, on the Fast Day walk of 1880. Mr. Everett began business in the Upham tavern, and for a year or two remained in that house; the firm was Johnson & Everett. He then re- moved to the house we are describing. It is not probable that Mr. Everett had many lodgers at his house, but it seems to have been an excellent place for dinners. On Nov. 15, 1822, when the Crane Guards turned out for the first time in their new uniforms complete, they started from Everett's, marched to General Crane's, took something to drink, fired nine times a six-pounder belonging to Captain Revere, then marched to Thomas Dunbar's, then to Colonel Lincoln's, where they had victuals and drink of good quality, where, after firing a salute, they marched off to the north part of the town. The performance ended by "A splendid Ball in Everett's Hall."
The deacon appears to have been something of a military man, as he is designated as quartermaster. The members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company residing in Canton - namely, Capt. A. Kinsley, Jonathan Leonard, Charles Leonard, Franklin Bisbee, John Gay, and Frederic W. Lincoln - dined in 1823 at Quartermaster Everett's. On the 23d of March, 1826, a military ball took place in the hall of this house. On the 28th of October, 1831, the house and store were burned. It was the day of the ordination of Rev. Mr. Edes, and Hon. Thomas French writes, "Mr. Everett's house was nearly destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon, soon after the services; goods and furniture mostly saved." As I remember this place, it was the very embodiment of a coun- try store. Here congregated all the loafers and idlers in the vicinity, who sat on boxes covered with buffalo-skins, around the stove, and continually spat tobacco-juice upon it. Here were discussed the politics of the town; and the man who could hold his own in argument for the space of a year was looked upon as a village wiseacre.
The store was for many years open on Sundays at noon ;
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and between the services crackers, cheese, and gingerbread were sold to such as did not carry their luncheon to meeting. Singing meetings were often held here; and in 1839 the committee decided in this house what tunes should be printed and what excluded from the forthcoming collection of the Stoughton Musical Society, to be printed by Marsh & Capen.
Mr. Everett was an active man in the affairs of the town, parish, and church, and held offices of trust and responsibil- ity in all these various organizations. He continued keeping this country store until his death, which occurred March 21, 1852.
In the old Canton Cemetery there stands an ancient stone, which bears this inscription : -
" Here lyes ye body of Dea'n Stephen Badlam, who died March 20th, 1758, in ye 38th year of his age."
And near it is another stone bearing this: -
" Here lyes ye body of Mrs. Hannah Badlam she died March 16th, 1758, in ye 34th year of her age. She was ye wife of Dea'n Stephen Badlam."
Thus they sleep, -they who kept the old tavern on Ragged Row a hundred and forty years ago. Deacon Badlam was the son of Stephen and Elizabeth (Billings) Badlam, and first saw the light in Milton, May 18, 1720. In 1742 he purchased from Roger Sherman the old farm now owned by the town of Canton, and here he kept until his death a well-ordered hos- telry. He was elected to the office of deacon, Feb. 15, 1749. He appears to have been a cabinet-maker, for in 1754 he receives payment for " making a sort of a desk for ye town books." In 1767 Asahel Smith, a brother-in-law of Deacon Badlam, came from Dedham and purchased the farm. He was active during the Revolution, and was captain of the second company that marched at the Lexington alarm. It is said that he paid for his farm by the sale of wild pigeons, which he caught in a swing-trap, carrying them to Boston and selling them at the market, and that his income from
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this source was one hundred dollars a year. This may ap- pear an exaggeration; but we are informed that the pigeons were so numerous in the vicinity of Pigeon Swamp that one man caught with a net one hundred dozen lacking one. He tried to catch one more, but could not, and would not shoot one. We can well understand how this swamp came by its ancient name.
Capt. Asahel Smith died Sept. 18, 1779, at the age of forty-six years. He also lies buried in the old cemetery, and the lines following are cut upon his stone: -
" My children dear, this place draw near A father's grave to see; Not long ago he was with you, And soon you 'll be with me."
During Smith's occupancy of the tavern, the old singing society frequently made the roof ring with their melody; but on Sept. 21, 1767, they met at Smith's, and the report was, "samone very poorly." Here William Billings kept his singing-school, and the exercises were held in the afternoon, as the roads were so bad that it was inconvenient to drive after dark.
During the Revolution the selectmen and the Committee of Correspondence met often at Smith's. Here they regu- lated the prices of goods and merchandise, or decided on the distribution of supplies to the families of soldiers.
In 1776 the question was discussed in this old tavern as to what should be done with those citizens who refused to take the test oath. In 1778 Captain Smith's bill for hiring soldiers for the town, amounting to £10 18s., was approved; and on the 14th of June, 1779, the committee discussed the question as to the best way and manner in which the men for the nine months' service could be secured.
Captain Smith was succeeded by his son Joseph, who kept a public-house until 1792. On March 12, 1793, the heirs sold the farm to Andrew Capen, father of Nahum Capen, LL.D., the author of the " History of Democracy." Andrew Capen was very fond of music, and lived to be present at the fiftieth anniversary of the Stoughton Musical Society, held in
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1836. It was during his occupancy that the old tavern was finally closed, although it was allowed to remain standing until within the memory of persons now living. It was sit- uated a rod or two south of the present building; the old well still remains. In 1808 the present building was erected, and from Mr. Andrew Capen it passed into the possession of the town. In 1842 an addition was made to it, and in 1881 a new building was joined to the almshouse.
Between the old Blackman house and Carroll's tavern, on the southerly side of Washington Street, stands an old-fash- ioned house with a lean-to roof, and projecting therefrom an enormous chimney. It has within a few years been curtailed in its proportions and reduced to the size of an ordinary house; but in spite of paint its appearance indicates age. It has been called the Dunphe house of late years, because it was at one time occupied by a family of that name. But at the close of the last century it was the resort of the Federal- ists of that time. From 1785 to 1800, and how much earlier we cannot say, it was known as the Eagle Inn. It was the house referred to in the "Alphabet Song," which appeared soon after July 4, 1798, in the words : -
" E stands for Eagle, the sign of the inn; F stands for Federal, who went to drink gin."
The principal patrons of this inn were courteous and bland old gentlemen, who had saved from the levelling influences of the Revolution the traditions of English elegance and good cheer, which they or their ancestors had brought to this country. Capt. William Bent, who lies buried in the old burying-ground at Ponkapoag, came to Canton in 1763. We are not at present able to assert that he occupied this old house for the succeeding twenty years; but that he was engaged in furnishing refreshments, if not in keeping a tav- ern, would appear from the following entry in an old diary, under date of "Sept. 27, 1769, finish husking; supper at Bent's." Again, in 1771 : "Two days at Bent's to meet Dr. Stevens."
In the list of taverns which appear in a series of old almanacs
15
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in our possession, beginning in 1752, we find no mention of our Canton Bent; but this may be because his residence was not at that time on a stage route.
The almanac of 1767 mentions Doty's as two miles beyond Bent's; but this was Capt. Lemuel Bent, whose tavern stood under the large elm-tree near the present Atherton tav- ern in Milton. The old almanacs further record that May's is three miles beyond Doty's; and Noyce's in Sharon four miles beyond May's.
Capt. William Bent, whose services during the Revolution- ary War will be narrated elsewhere, was landlord of the Eagle Inn at the time of the July Fourth celebration. Here he put up such travellers as chance threw in his way, and retailed to the village loafers grog at threepence per glass. The well- to-do farmers purchased West India at three shillings a quart, and the parson always got a drink free.
It was at Bent's that Moses Hartwell, the brother-in-law of Roger Sherman, boarded when he kept the school at Canton Corner in 1766. He had taught the school a decade before, but since that time he had been to Yale College, from which he graduated in 1762. He was the son of Joseph and Mary (Tolman) Hartwell, and was born July 24, 1735. The mel- ancholy news of his death reached Canton, Sept. 6, 1769, and is thus recorded: "Tidings came that Moses Hartwell was taken ill in New York on the 8th of August, and was brought home to his brother Sherman's house at New Haven sick of ye nervous fever, and died ye twenty-fifth of ye same month. Sic transit gloria mundi."
From 1786 to 1796 all the school meetings pertaining to the Canton Corner School were held at Captain Bent's. Dur- ing the piping times of peace, Bent had leisure to devote to town affairs and to parish matters. He attended to the first painting of the meeting-house; on Sundays he took charge of the boys in the gallery; the supply of the pulpit was in his hands, and the candidates were well entertained at the old inn.
During the war, when not out in service as captain in the Continental army, he purchased and distributed supplies to
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the families of the soldiers. He was away from this house between the years 1781 and 1785, when he kept the May tav- ern. He was appointed one of the committee of the Canton parish to prepare a bill for the separation of Canton from Stoughton; and many were the meetings held alternately at this tavern and at Drake's in Stoughton to adjust the details of the separation. Here, also, were held trials for small of- fences. About 1800 the sign of the eagle was removed from the inn, and the figure of a horse substituted. In 1805 the committee appointed by the Court of Sessions met here to consult about widening and straightening the post-roads.
Captain Bent kept this tavern until his death, Oct. 16, 1806. It was then taken in charge by his son William, who also in later days kept the May tavern. About 1824 the Eagle Inn was purchased by Gideon Mackintosh, who learned the trade of a hatter of Capt. Benjamin McKendry. He was a genial, gentlemanly man, the father of Adam, and purchased subsequently the farm on which Adam resided at Packeen. Gideon Mackintosh married, Nov. 5, 1812, Nancy, daughter of John and Nancy (Tucker) Sherman, grand-daughter of Roger Sherman. Gideon Mackintosh died Sept. 19, 1859, aged seventy; she died Sept. 19, 1836.
The old tavern, standing just west of Aunt Katy's Brook, was erected April 14, 1798. It contains a hall for dancing; and a piazza on the second story, opening from the hall. Here was held the preliminary trial of Jack Battus. Here Baptist, Universalist, and Catholic clergymen have held the services of. their respective organizations, but the old people who were young a half-century ago will best recall the days of sleighing parties, and the merry dance that followed. It was kept by mine host Samuel Carroll, who married a daugh- ter of Adam Blackman.
Mrs. Maynard was fond of describing the old-fashioned "sings " that took place at Carroll's, about 1800, when old Dea- con Elijah Dunbar led the singing, and when he called for an old-fashioned pewter platter, for fear of dulling his knife on the new-fangled china that had been placed before him; but most to be remembered was the grand "sing" of 1815, when
1
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the return of peace was announced, and the timbers shook with the ancient melody. Mr. Nathaniel French subsequently taught a singing-school in this tavern, and psalm tunes were sung over and over again.
It was in the hall of this tavern that the first Baptist min- ister preached, on the 4th of September, 1806. Here the Rev. William Ritchie boarded before his settlement, and here were adjusted the preliminary articles regarding his pastoral office. Here also were the meetings held to op- pose the building of the Turnpike in 1806, and also to pre- vent its completion.
After the death of Carroll, which occurred Oct. 25, 1820, the tavern was kept at one time by John J. Wood; and here Universalist meetings were held. It was subsequently owned by Larra Wentworth, who was born Sept. 6, 1800, and died Dec. 13, 1858. It is now owned and occupied by Edward Cotter. The irregular shape of the doors and windows, and the piazza on the second story, give to the building a peculiar and picturesque aspect.
Capt. John Tucker resided until the beginning of the pres- ent century on the farm now owned by Ellis Tucker. He was born in 1748. In 1772 he married Rachel, daughter of Rob- ert and Margaret (Smith) Thompson; she died Oct. 18, 1830, and he Dec. 11, 1826. He was the son of Capt. Samuel Tucker, from whom all the Tuckers in Canton are descended. He came from Milton and settled on the easterly side of the York road; the old cellar-hole and well are still to be seen opposite the residence of the late Nathaniel Tucker; for some reason Captain John was styled "Governor." He married, Dec. 3, 1747, Abigail, the daughter of Major John and Rebecca (Fenno) Shepard. One of his sons, Jedediah, grad- uated at Harvard College in 1782, became a clergyman, and was settled at London, N. H., in 1789. He died in 1818, and was found by the roadside with his horse standing beside him. Another son, Samuel, resided at York, and married Olive Hartwell, Nov. 30, 1780. Simeon also lived at the Farms near him, and Oct. 23, 1788, married Milla Hartwell. Daniel married Bethiah Gill, Oct. 16, 1777, and resided on
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Farm Street in the house now owned by Phineas Tucker. Samuel the father died March 17, 1796, in the seventy-sev- enth year of his age, and Abigail, his wife, March 23, 1792, aged sixty-four.
The Redman farm was purchased by Capt. John Tucker, in 1803, who formerly resided at the Farms. The old Redman house, built in the earliest days of the settlement, was then standing, and was called the " small old house." Mr. Tucker erected the present house, and here opened a tavern, which was for many years to have a reputation unsurpassed. Within its walls, while it was a new house, on the 3d of April, 1813, the veteran soldiers of the Revolution had a reunion, and afterward enjoyed a fish chowder under the shade of a large button-wood that stood about where the modern avenue crosses the old Ponkapoag Pond bank. Captain John died Dec. II, 1826, aged seventy-eight.
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