USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 22
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overseers of the poor, of the town of Stoughton, in the County of Suf- folk, in New England, by and with the consent of two of His Majes- ties Justices of the peace for said County, have placed, and by the said parents do place and bind out, Alexander Loghead, a poor child belonging to said Stoughton, unto John Sumner, Tanner, of the same town and County aforesaid, and to Hannah his wife, and their heirs. And with them after the manner of an apprentice to dwell and live from the day of the date of these presents, until the roth day of Jan- uary, which will be in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hun- dred and sixty-three, at which time the said apprentice, if he survive, will arrive at the age of twenty-one years. During all which said term, the said apprentice his said Master and Mistris, &c., well and faith- fully shall serve, their secrets shall keep, their commands Lawful and honest everywhere he shall gladly obey. He shall do no damage to his master, nor suffer it to be done by others, without giving reason- able notice thereof to his said master, &c. He shall not waste the goods of his said master, &c., nor lend them unlawfully to any ; at cards, dice, or any other unlawful game or games, he shall not play ; fornication he shall not commit ; matrimony he shall not contract ; tav- erns, ale houses, or places of gaming he shall not haunt nor frequent ; from the service of his said master, &c., by day nor night, he shall not absent himself. But in all things and at all times he shall carry and behave himself toward his said master and all theirs as a good and faithful apprentice ought to do, to his utmost ability during all the time and term aforesaid. And he, the said John Sumner, doth hereby covenant and agree for himself, his wife and heirs, to and with the said Elknah Billings, Wm. Royall, Herekiah Gay, Joseph Billings, and Daniel Richards, or their successors in said trust, to teach or cause the said apprentice to be taught the trade of a tanner, or else in the lieu and stead thereof to deliver and pay to him one yoak of steers three years old, and six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence in money, at the expiration of the aforesaid apprenticeship. And to learn said apprentice to read and write ; also that they shall and will well and truly find, allow unto, and provide for the said apprentice, sufficient and wholesome meat and drink, apparel, walking and lodg- ing neat and convenient for such an apprentice during all the time aforesaid ; and at the end and expiration thereof shall dismiss their said apprentice with two good suits of apparel fit for all parts of his body, and suitable to his quality.
IN TESTIMONY whereof the parties to these present indentures have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals the eighteenth
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day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty four and in the twenty-seventy year of the Reign of His Maj- esty King George the Second, &c.
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered in the presence of
RICHARD HIXSON. JOHN RHOADS.
JOHN SUMNER.
Consented to by ISAAC ROYALL, Just. peace. ROBERT SPUR.
The custom of verifying the accuracy of weights and meas- ures is of very ancient origin. It was an old English custom; the government of England made regulations in regard to weights and measures, long before the time of Magna Charta; and as early as the time of Henry VII., Parliament introduced the system of sending weights and measures to the chief offi- cers of the town, to be proved.
In 1761, according to the order of Jeremiah Ingraham, sealer of weights and measures, all persons were required in his Maj- esty's name to bring their weights and measures, both great and small, to the dwelling-house of the sealer, and there have them tried, proved, and sealed, as the law directs.
In early days the inhabitants were much troubled by rattlesnakes, of which there were very many in town. In Sharon there is a hill still called Rattlesnake Hill, and on the old Bay road is Rattlesnake Plain. In 1743 Rattlesnake Rock at Packeen is mentioned; it is still to be seen near the junc- tion of Pecunit and Elm streets. It is asserted that the burn- ing of the woodlands from time to time has exterminated them. The Blue Hills have always been noted as an especial haunt of the snakes, which, to this day, are sometimes killed in the vicinity. Young Strowbridge was bitten by a rattle- snake, July 27, 1791. Dr. Puffer, who was reputed to have a sure remedy against the poison, was sent for ; but before he arrived, the boy was dead.
In 1807 Polly Billings was bitten in Randolph Woods. She was unable to reach home, but walked three quarters of a mile to the Widow Jerusha Wentworth's in great distress.
I often lamented in my boyish days, when the story of the
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Strowbridge boy was related to me by my father, that so efficacious a remedy should have been lost to the world, more especially to the boys of Canton; but twenty years after, among my collection of old almanacs, dating from 1747 to 1883, I found in that of 1771 the following: -
A sure and certain cure for the bite of a Rattle-Snake made Pub- lic by Abel Puffer, of Stoughton. ·
As soon as may be after the Person is bit, cut a Gash or Split in the Place where the Bite is, as the Teeth went in, and fill it full of fine Salt. Take common Plantain and pound it, add a little Water to it, then squeeze out the Juice, and mix it with clean Water ; then make a strong Brine with fine Salt and the Juice, till it will not dissolve the salt ; then make a Swath or bandage with Linnen Cloth, and bind it around just above the swelling (but not too tight); then wet the Band- age with the before-mentioned Brine, and keep it constantly wet with the Brine, -for it will dry very fast, - and keep stroking the Part with your Hands as hard as the Patient can bear, towards the Cut you made, and you will soon see the Poison and virulent Matter flow out of the Cut ; and it will often flow so fast that it will swell below the Cut, and if it should, you must cut below the swelling to let out the virulent Matter, and it will not leave running till it is discharged. You must keep the Bandage moving downwards as the Swelling abates. It is proper to give the Patient something to defend the Stomack, as Sweet Oil, Safron, or Snake Root. It very often bleeds after the Poison is out ; but be not surprised at that, - it is Good for it. It will run some time after the Poison is out ; there must be Care taken that none of the poison that runs out gets to any sore, or raw Flesh, for it will Poison the Person.
I expect that some will slight this Publication, for the Remedies being so simple a Thing ; but I hope no one will so slight it, if he is bit, as to neglect trying the Experiment, and the Effect will prove what I have said to be true. I should not have published this had I not been certain of its performing the Cure by my own Experience ; for I have cured two Persons dangerously bit, and a Horse and Dog, with no other Thing but what is mentioned in the before Direction, and make this Public for the Benefit of Mankind, tho I have been offer'd a considerable Sum by some Persons to make it known to them, but then it must be kept as a secret.
STOUGHTON, Oct. 4th, 1770.
ABEL PUFFER.
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In 1757 Shubael Wentworth, Isaac Fenno, Adam Black- man, William Wheeler, Paul Wentworth, and others, having been much annoyed and alarmed at the large number of rattlesnakes in the town, desired that a premium, or bounty, be offered by the town for each one killed. The town voted that it would give one shilling for each rattlesnake killed in the town, the person claiming the bounty to bring "the rattle and an inch of ye tail joining ye rattle." William Royall killed twelve, and John Atherton five. In 1771 William Shaller killed sixty-four snakes; and in 1793 the selectmen were re- quested to write letters to the adjoining towns in which there were dens of rattlesnakes and see what action might be taken to destroy them.
In 1808 appears this record : -
"March 7. Voted to pay a bounty of one dollar per head or tail for every Rattlesnake absolutely taken & killed within the town in the months of April, May, & October the present year."
Hon. Charles Endicott, in his centennial address in 1876, said : -
" Practically this was very much like offering a bounty of two dol- lars for each snake killed, and very likely it was found to be so, for the next year the town voted the same sum for rattlesnakes' tails, and cautioned the treasurer 'to guard against deception when he is ap- plied to for such bounties.' "
As late as 1834 a bounty of fifty cents was offered by the town for every rattlesnake's tail.
Another link in the chain which binds New England to Saxon England was an officer who was partly constable and partly a corrector of public manners and morals. He was called a tithing-man, not because he collected tithes, for he did not, but he seemed to exercise his duties only on Sunday. It was his business to prevent all driving, except of those who were going to church or could give a " life or death " reason for their profanation of the Lord's Day. All persons who walked out on the Sabbath, and especially those who were turbulent, fell under the ban of his displeasure, and re-
17
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ceived from him, except in aggravated cases, patriarchal counsel and fatherly guidance. He looked into the meeting- house to see who was absent, and then went into the byways and the fields to find the erring wanderers from the fold.
An ancient custom of distinguishing cattle and sheep by artificial marking was in vogue in this town in early times. We have never seen a list of owners with the marks attached, but the following will show the method pursued : -
" A white ram, with a half penny cut out of ye under side of ye left ear, with three strokes of tar on his right side.
" A white ram, having two small horns. One of them bends towards his right eye. He hath a swallow tail cut out of his left ear, and two half penny ; to wit, one on ye upper side, ye other on ye under side of ye same ear.
" A white ram. No horns. He hath a small black spot on the tip of his right ear ; he hath no artificial marks.
" A white ram, having a cross cut out of ye right ear, and a half cross off ye left ear.
" A white ram, having a deep slit in each of his ears and the under side of each ear cut off about half way from ye tip of ye ears to ye bot- tom of said slits. No horns."
Perambulation, or beating the bounds, is another old cus- tom that has come down to us from our English ancestry ; and to this day the law requires that the town lines be re- viewed at stated times. The English custom since the time of Elizabeth made it obligatory once a year; and the substan- tial men of the parish, and the boys of the parochial school, turned out and walked over the bounds, while the parish beadle and the curate in his cossack read from the psalm, " Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbors." The days allotted to this work, or pleasure, were called Gauge Days; and at certain parts of the boundaries the village boys were "bumped," - that is, swung against a tree or stone or post, - that the location might forever remembered be. Sometimes the boys were flogged, in order to impress the precise locality of the landmark on their memories.
In early days the boundaries were defined in a simple and primitive manner. The General Court considered that a great
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heap of stones, or a trench six feet long and two feet broad, were sufficient indications of a boundary.
The following is a specimen of the manner of procedure. The oldest town informed the adjoining town of its purpose to perambulate the line in these words: -
To the Selectmen of the Town of Stoughton :
GENTLEMEN, - These come to desire you, by yourselves or agents, to meet with Lieut Richard Thayer and Lieut John Adams, agents for the selectmen of the town of Braintree, at the house of Mr Ben- jamin Crane, of Milton, on Monday, the thirteenth of April next, at nine o'clock in the forenoon, in order to perambulate the line and renew the bounds between the said towns of Braintree and Stoughton, as the law directs.
Gentlemen, we are your humble servants,
JOHN QUINCY. WILLIAM HUNT. EBENEZER ASPLEND.
The return of one of these perambulations is as follows :
We, the subscribers, being met by appointment upon the third day of September, 1740, to perambulate the line between the towns of Dedham and Stoughton, - we began at ye bridge at ye north of ye Roe- buck Tavern in Stoughton, and followed the northermost branch of Traphole brook until we came to Walpole line, near which we erected a heap of stones, at ye root of a black ash tree, which we marked with a letter D on ye north side, and S on ye south side. But inasmuch as y= bounds between said towns is a wet line, it admitted of no renewing.
JOHN EVERETT, Agents for RICHARD EVERETT, › Dedham.
GEORGE TALBOTT, Agents for JEREMIAH FULLER,
JOHN SHEPARD, Stoughton.
About 1830, stones were erected to designate the boundaries.
The drinking customs of Canton were not unlike those of other towns. The sideboards were ornamented with decan- ters of rum, brandy, and gin; the latter was considered the ladies' drink. The first question a visitor was asked on enter-
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ing the hospitable mansion of a Canton farmer was, "What will you take?" If the visitor refused to drink, - which was an almost unheard-of occurrence, - he was suspected of slight- ing the kindness of his host. Not to offer wine to all guests was an insult. Mrs. Abigail Maynard, who died at the age of ninety-two years, on June 19, 1882, informed me that having called with her mother on a neighbor, and no drink having been offered them, she, although a child, noticed this breach of good manners, and remarked afterward : "Mother, they did n't offer us anything to drink." The Canton boy of seventy-five years ago was almost at birth initiated into the mysteries of alcoholic mixtures. If he cried as a baby, a little rum with sugar was administered; and if his trouble amounted to a pain, a teaspoonful of brandy slightly diluted with water was given to quiet him. Should he survive all these doses and with health and vigor arrive at years of discretion or attain his majority, his freedom-day was the occasion of a grand entertainment, when liquor flowed copiously. When the in- tention of his marriage was droned by the clerk on Sunday in the meeting-house, the happy man was in due time called upon by his companions, and all drank in anticipation of the happiness in store for him; and when the day of his wedding arrived, the house of the bride was filled with friends and guests, who drank to his future health and happiness. The birth of each child furnished an excuse for treating his friends.
In 1809, when the schoolhouse was raised, much liquor was consumed. When the old meeting-house was raised in 1747, Nathaniel May was chosen on the committee to pro- vide for the raising; and when it was pulled down, rum and brandy were provided for the rope-pullers; but more aston- ishing than all is that at the visitation of schools during this century it should have been thought necessary that liquor should be furnished.
My father, who came to Canton in 1822, has told me of the drinking habits of the people in his day. He determined to re- fuse all invitations to drink while making his parochial visits. One clergyman from a neighboring town was so overcome
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by the hospitality of Canton friends that he and his wife went away, leaving their baby behind them.
Thus our old townsmen lived; and when the last bowl of toddy had been emptied, the last glass of flip taken, and . the sympathizing friends and neighbors met at the house of the deceased to pay the last sad rites, a table was spread, upon which liquors of all kinds were placed.
In 1830 Hon. Thomas French writes: -
"It is doubtful if there are any licensed houses in town after Sep- tember. I expect the town will vote not expedient to have licensed houses."
In 1833, according to Deacon Jeremiah Kollock, the first attempt was made to bring about some reformation in these customs. They had become a disgrace; liquor was no longer pure; and delirium tremens, which had been unknown among the early settlers, began to show as a result.
About 1834 a number of gentlemen met at Everett's Hall. Deacon Kollock thus describes the condition of affairs at that time: - /
"The use of wine, beer, cordials, and cider were considered harm- less, and in many cases actually useful. The leading men in this organization were Thomas French, Esq., who was the president, Deacon Ezra Tilden, Leonard Everett, Esq., Theodore Abbott, Jona- than Messinger, Elisha White, Elijah Spare, Dr. Simeon Tucker, and many others I cannot now recall. I think they held meetings once a month and talked over the subject. The ideas then advanced seem to us at this day very peculiar. They thought the drunkard could never use the milder drinks for the purpose of intoxication, and by discountenancing the use of rum, brandy, and gin, and trying to stop the sale of these, we should break down the tide of drunkenness that was ruining some of the best men, never thinking that drunkards formed the appetite in the use of wine, beer, and cordials. Thus things moved on until 1837, when those who had taken an interest in the discussions of the old society, and the young men, from the light that dawned in upon them, began to feel it was time to take a step forward. After much discussion this resolution resulted in the organi- zation of the Young Men's Temperance Union. We met weekly in the vestry under the Baptist church, and discussed the subject, obtained lecturers, etc. After the passage of the Fifteen-Gallon Law in 1838,
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we commenced prosecutions, and tried every means in our power to stop the sale without success ; we were branded as a set of young fanatics. All the plans laid to get evidence against those who sold, would leak out before they could be executed. At this juncture a proposition was made that the whole business of prosecutions be left to a committee of nine, to be chosen by the society, and that said committee should keep its own secrets. The result was that after much labor by the committee, both by day and night, we obtained a large number of cases against some of the prominent traders and all the hotel-keepers in town (these hotel-keepers were among the leading men in town), and had them all arraigned before Judge Leland at Ellis Amies's office the same day. We proved all our charges ; and they were all heavily fined. This was managed so quietly that the society had no knowledge of what was going on until the trial came off. This came like a thunderbolt on the rum traffic, and put an entire stop to the sale for a longer period than has been since. I cannot recall all the names active in this society, there have been so many changes, but I will give those that recur to me at this moment : Ezekiel Capen, V. J. Messinger, V. A. Messinger, Abner T. Upham, A. E. Tucker, Charles K. Whitney, Charles F. Hard, William Bullock, Rufus S. Preble, Theodore Abbott, Timothy Kaley, Uriah Billings, Charles W. Marden, and many others which I might recall on further reflection."
In writing of the Washingtonian movement, Rev. Edwin Thompson says: -
" In 1840 the Bolivar factory was destroyed by fire, and Jonathan Messinger was its agent and one of the principal owners. He was always friendly, and a cordial welcome in his family was always given. He and his sons, Virgil and Vernon, were among the early friends of temperance in the town; also Abner T. Upham, an overseer in the mill, was equally interested. In 1840 there was a temperance excite- ment in which Hon. Nathan Crosby of Lowell, agent of the Massa- chusetts Temperance Union, was the principal speaker. The same year we had a popular Lyceum course, and Rev. Charles Kimball, Rev. M. Clark, Mr. Walworth, of the firm of Walworth & Nason, were among the speakers who kept up a lively interest. It was at the house of my friend Simeon Presbrey that I first learned of the Wash- ingtonian movement. Mr. Presbrey said, 'There is a new movement. in Boston among the reformed men.' I shall always remember Mr. Presbrey as a warm, sincere, and genial friend. Among the old
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friends of temperance, other than those I have already mentioned, are Elisha White, Leonard Everett, Hon. Thomas French, Deacon Capen, Deacon Kollock, and James White."
The following composition was sung during the Washing- tonian days; it was composed by a gentleman then residing in Canton.
" Fallen is thy throne, O Alcohol ! Thy reign is passed and gone ; Thy ruined halls are desolate ; Thy slaves to freemen born. Where now those fires that fed thee Thro' sorrow's blighted home; Those flames, from hell that led thee O'er misery's path to roam ?
"Once thou didst boast o'er Canton That we were all thine own ; Thou claimed us as thy heritage, Liege subjects to thy throne. But Temperance' torch has lighted The deadly upas-tree ; And Canton's shrines are lighted For other gods than thee.
" Come forth, ye Washingtonians ; Raise all your voices high ; Sing down those rum establishments, Whence come the mourners' sigh. Come, Canton's sons and daughters, Let Love your efforts crown, Till Alcohol, in all quarters, Is banished from your town."
On the 13th of August, 1849, the Rev. Theobald Mathew, the distinguished Irish apostle of total abstinence, visited Canton. The Massapoag Division, Sons of Temperance, met him at the station by a committee; and the carriage of Lyman Kinsley with its famous "silver manes and tails" was placed at his disposal. Father Mathew was escorted to Endicott's grove by a procession of citizens, where an ad- dress of welcome was delivered by Rev. Benjamin Huntoon. Father Mathew then delivered one of his characteristic speeches, after which many persons signed the pledge.
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CHAPTER XV.
THE THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.
T `HE first indication we have that the town of Stoughton was dissatisfied with its old meeting-house, either on account of its size or condition, was evinced at a meeting held on Nov. 1, 1739. It was voted that the article in the warrant which had reference to the building of a meeting- house, and granting money therefor, be continued until the next March meeting. The matter was thus disposed of. It was often discussed in town meeting, and as often voted down ; nor was it until October, 1745, that a vote was obtained in favor of building a new meeting-house. Having determined to erect a new house of worship, the inhabitants in the first precinct decided that it should be placed near the old one, on the land owned by the parish. Preserved Lyon, James Endicott, and Silas Crane were chosen a committee to pro- cure the materials for building the house; and it was decided that the building should be fifty-four feet in length, thirty- four feet in breadth, and twenty-four feet high. It was originally intended to have a steeple, after the manner of the Dorchester meeting-house. Money to the amount of £1,500, old tenor, was granted by the precinct; and it was deemed advisable to add three more gentlemen to the build- ing committee, to provide for raising the meeting-house. The house was raised on the 4th of July, 1747. After the building was completed, and had been in use for some time, some of the inhabitants wanted a porch erected at the east end of the church; but it was not looked upon favorably by the precinct. Thomas Shepard, Ezekiel Fisher, and Stephen Badlam offered afterward to build this porch at their own expense. A request to build four pews in the two south
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corners of the meeting-house was received with better favor, and assented to. Two committees were chosen to see in what manner the pews in the new meeting-house should be disposed of; but neither of the two reports appear to have been satisfactory to the parish, the first report advising that the pews be disposed of to the highest bidder, provided he be a free-holder and an inhabitant of the parish, and that those who stand the highest on the real-estate valuation list have the preference. The report of the second committee recom- mended that the pews be settled upon those that were rated the highest last year for real estate, - the man rated the highest to have his first choice by paying the price of the highest pew, and so on until all the pews were disposed of, the parish finally deciding that the twenty-nine persons whose valuation was the highest were to draw the pews, the two highest to have their choice, paying the highest prices; and so on until the pews were all taken up. The money obtained from the sale of the pews was appropriated toward paying for the erection of the house, and the money received from the sale of the old meeting-house was devoted to the same pur- pose. The house was not finished for some years. In 1750 the parish voted to do something toward finishing it; and yet in 1752 it was not done, and the building committee were forbidden to do anything more toward finishing the meeting-house until further orders.1
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