USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
Sept. 20, 1742, he married for his third wife Susanna, daughter of Robert and Rebecca (Crehore) Pelton, who sur- vived him, and married for her second husband Richard Stickney, who died May 24, 1769.
This woman was a connecting link between the first settlers and the present century. In 1801 the Widow Stickney stated that she was ninety-five years of age. She was then living in a poor and leaky house on a site between the present Crane schoolhouse and the Vulcan engine-house. She only re- ceived annually ten bushels of corn and one ton of English hay, and had a right to get firewood out of her wood-lot, and apples out of her orchard for family use, the whole of which would not equal fifty dollars a year. She had maintained an excellent character for many years. Jonathan Leonard thought it was a disgrace to any civilized society that one so aged and helpless should be suffering from cold and hunger, and did all in his power to alleviate her sufferings. She died March 11, 1803, in the ninety-seventh year of her age, just one hundred and twenty-seven years after her first husband was born.
Deacon Tucker passed from earth in due time. The fol- lowing inscription on his gravestone in the old cemetery
-
57
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
styles him "Deacon," but Mr. Dunbar's records read, " once a deacon of this church."
Here lie the remains of
DEACON JOSEPH TUCKER, Who died September, ye 25th 1745, in ye 66th year of his age.
John Wentworth, one of the first settlers of the town, ap- pears to have been appointed constable in 1714, and died about 1716. His house was situated on Burr Lane. He was the ancestor of a numerous posterity, many of whom remain in town. He left York, in Maine, on account of dif- ficulty with the Indians, sometime between 1690 and 1700.
It is a touching incident in our local history that the emi- grants, driven from the place of their first settlement in the Province of Maine, should have named the new place of their residence "York," and that this name should have been ap- plied to a part of our town from that time to the present.
Moses Gill received his lease from the Indians, March 23, 1705. His wife was an Esty, sister to Benjamin and Joseph. He in all probability died before 1716, as that year his farm was divided between his sons, Moses and Benjamin, - the lat- ter taking all east of a certain line running parallel to Pleasant Street, and the former all west of the same line, with a right of way out. His dwelling-house was standing in 1716.
Benjamin Esty appears to have been a brother of Joseph. They were both signers of the original covenant at the for- mation of the church. He appears to have had some rela- tions with Moses Gill, since the lease of two hundred acres was received by Moses Gill, Benjamin and John Esty. Of the latter I know nothing. Benjamin's first wife, Elizabeth, died July 18, 1713. He married Mary Holland, Dec. 13, 1716. He died March 18, 1752, aged eighty-two. He re- moved to Sharon before 1727.
The following names of some of the early settlers in Can- ton appear in a list entitled, " Residents of Dorchester who had reached the age of twenty-one years, up to 1700:" Henry
58
HISTORY OF CANTON.
Bailey, Henry Crane, Ebenezer Clapp, John Davenport, Gil- bert Endicott, Abraham How, Timothy Jones, Peter Lyon, Nathaniel Lyon, Ebenezer Mosely, Robert Pelton, Joshua Pomeroy, Robert Redman, William Royall, Isaac Royall, John Tolman, Edward Wiatt.
The ease with which the early settlers had acquired a foot- hold on the Indian land was the cause of ill-feeling among outsiders. In 1712, six years after the first settlers had seen, to their dismay, the sheriff ride among them with his sum- monses to court, it was said to be notoriously apparent that several persons and families of her Majesty's English subjects had entered upon and possessed themselves of "the land called Puncapaug," which for many years had been appro- priated as an Indian village, and reserved by law for that purpose; and that "these persons are building fences and improving the land." We are not aware that any action was taken to restore the Indians to their just rights; but "the Honorable, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to the Indians in New England and parts adjacent in America," intimated that if the matter were taken in hand and pushed, they would bear a portion of the expense. The town of Dorchester became alarmed, and appointed Robert Spurr, Thomas Tileston, and Samuel Paul, in 1719, to see that the articles with the Indians were kept, and in no way en- croached upon.
In 1723 the matter became so weighty that the council desired a committee to examine and report upon it. In June Samuel Sewall made a report, and the council ap- pointed a committee to repair to Ponkapoag and inquire into the nature and condition of the lands which the Indi- ans had leased to the English. They were also instructed to make a report on the quantity and quality of the lands possessed by each person, and under what regulations and conditions it would be proper to confirm the leases, regard being had to the Indians' original right, and the improve- ments made by the English settlers. This committee went to Ponkapoag, and on Dec. 27, 1723, made the following report to the council : -
59
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
" I. That the tract of Land at Puncapaug Called by the name of the Indian Land, Altho said to be Six thousand Acres, Amounts to no more than five Thousand five hundred Acres, there being an Ancient Grant of five hundred Acres to one Fenno, which must be Subducted out of it.
" 2. There may be About fifteen hundred Acres of Unimproved rough land Which is Unoccupied by the English & not Leased by the Indians.
"3. The other four thousand Acres, more or less, is What is or has been Leased by the Indians to the English & now under their Improve- ments. A schedule of the names of the Tenants, of the quantity of their Lands, the purchase money they gave for it, together with the Annual Rent or quit Rent, is hereunto Annexed. Upon the Whole, that which the Committee have agreed on as proper in their opinion to represent & report to this Honb'le Court is as follows : I. That the said leases be all of them made or Reduced to Ninety Nine Years from this time, & for that 'Term of Years be confirmed to the Tenants by this Court. 2. That the Quit Rent or Annuity, to be paid by the English to the In- dians for their Lands, be one penny Per Acre per Annum, & this to be collected by & paid Unto Some proper Person or persons, Who shall be Appointed by the Court as Trustees for the Indians, - The money from Time to Time to be carefully applied for the use of the Indians.
" 4. The English Tenants, their Heirs or Assigns, at the Expiration of the said Term of Ninety Nine Years, to be allowed the Renewing their Respective Leases for Ninety Nine Years Longer, upon the pay- ment of three pence per Acre as a fine for the Use of the Indians, Un- less they should turn their Leases into Freeholds by taking Absolute Deeds of the Indians, Which they Shall be Allowed to do at any Time or Times hereafter upon paying to the Trustee or Trustees to the In- dians Twenty Years Rent of such Land as they Hold & Enjoy by Vertue of Such Leases, which Twenty Years Purchase Money shall also be Let out for the Annual Profits & Advantage of the Indians by their Trustees.
" 5. That the Indians be confirmed in their Privilege of fishing, fowl- ing, and Hunting, So they Do no Damage to the English, & also of Such Apple Trees or Orcharding (particularly Some Orcharding Claimed by Charles Redman in his Lease) as they have Expressly Saved or excepted In their Leases.
" The Committee have also Anexed a memorial in Behalf of the English Tenants Which they have Received Since their being at Puncapaug.
60
HISTORY OF CANTON.
" Question, - Whether the meadows, Orchards, & Old Fields & Clear Lands Hired of the Indians Should not pay a Greater Quit Rent than one penny per Acre.
" In Council Read & Ordered, that the first, second, & fourth Article of this Report be Accepted, And that Nath'l Hubbard & John Quincy, Esqrs., be Trustees for the Indians of Puncapaug : Sent Down for Concurrence."
In 1735 the following names appear in addition to those previously mentioned as having given bonds for the land they occupied, for the benefit of the Indians, - Philip Goodwin, Benjamin Jordan, John Kenney, Preserved Lyon, Benjamin Smith, John Smith, William Spear, Samuel Savels, Captain Talbot, George Wadsworth. A few years later appear John Atherton, Nathaniel Stearns, Thomas Shepard, Ezekiel Fisher, and Paul Wentworth.
In MentoryofMs
AlThankfull Blackmar
xHaldied.Dec.
2
THANKFUL BLACKMAN'S TOMBSTONE.
61
ANCIENT DEEDS AND GRANTS.
CHAPTER IV.
ANCIENT DEEDS AND GRANTS.
TN 1724 two petitions were presented to the General Court, - one signed by Joseph Tucker, Timothy Jones, and Joseph Morse, and one by William Sherman, John Wentworth, Wil- liam Wheeler, Samuel Hartwell, and Silas Crane in behalf of the English, that they may have liberty to purchase the lands on which they now dwell, with the tenements thereon, on reasonable terms. Another petition from the Indians, signed by Amos and Thomas Ahauton, Squamaug, and George Hunter was received. They desired that their neigh- bors, who had in many instances been kind to them, might have liberty to purchase the land.
The General Court looked into the matter; they appointed a committee, who went to Ponkapoag, sent for the English and Indian proprietors, examined the leases, made out a schedule of the names of the English purchasers, the quantity of land purchased by them, and the consideration offered. They found the Indians had been thoroughly cheated by their white brothers. The Indians had granted but 4,397 acres, and should have had remaining for their own use, 1, 102; and yet there were but 855. This puzzled the committee, for they knew that the original grant was for 6,000, after deducting for the ponds, which were estimated at 200, and the Fenno farm, which should have been only 500 acres, as laid out by Surveyor Fisher. They found upon investigation, however, that by a late survey which the colony had ordered, the Fenno farm had swollen to 660 acres, and that the south line of the Ponkapoag Plantation had become crooked, whereas by Mr. Fisher's survey it was a straight line, and were it rectified, would restore about fifty acres to
1
1
-----
62
HISTORY OF CANTON.
the Indians. This, with the fact of Mr. Justice Danforth's having purchased forty or fifty acres by the allowance of the General Court for the accommodation of certain mills, would account for additional shrinkage of the Indian land.
The court finally granted the request of the petitioners ; and they were allowed to buy out the reversion of such lands as they had upon lease, or turn their estates into fee simple; and a joint committee of Council and House was ordered to ap- prove deeds of confirmation from the Indians to the English.
Shortly afterward, several of the inhabitants of Ponkapoag or Dorchester Village presented a petition to the General Court, wherein they asserted that Amos Ahauton and other native or Indian proprietors had a good right to about 1,500 acres of land at Ponkapoag, which they had never yet leased. About 500 acres of this land was represented as being wild and uncultivated, and of no use; and the remaining 1,000 acres were represented as being amply sufficient for the needs of the Indians, - in fact, more than they could ever improve, as they were decreasing in number and increasing in laziness. The petitioners further averred that if the money obtained from the sale of this land were put at interest, the income could be far more advantageously used for their benefit than the holding of this unproductive real estate; and that the opening up of this land would very much enhance the value of property in the precinct, and be of great public advantage.
The General Court granted the prayer of the petitioners ; and Dec. 10, 1725, it was ordered in council that a com- mittee, consisting of Nathaniel Byfield, Paul Dudley, Jona- than Remington, John Quincy, and Ebenezer Stone, - the same as were appointed upon the petition the year pre- vious, - be appointed for managing the Indian affairs at "Puncapaug," and be directed especially to see justice done to the Indians.
The greater part of the land was accordingly sold, and £550 was placed at interest for the benefit of the Indians. In 1747 the fund amounted to £636 15s. 6d. The money was placed in the hands of John Quincy as trustee. He ap- pears to have so well managed the Indians' affairs that they
63
ANCIENT DEEDS AND GRANTS.
desired he might be placed as guardian over them, as will appear by the following petition, dated April 13, 1726:
To the Honorable WILLIAM DUMMER, Esq., Lieut .- Gou'r.
The humble petition of your Honorable Humble petitioners, the native Indian proprietors of Punkapaugue plantation, in the town of Stoughton, Humbly sheweth : That whereas some of our English neighbours are too ready to incroach upon our timber and our wood, cutting it down to make coals, and Damnifying us greatly thereby, whereof we are necesitated to pray for the imposition and assistance of some English person, impowered by this great General Court to take the care of us, that we may have justice done us, and that we may be not wronged, we humbly pray that Maj John Quincy, Esq may be fully impowered and authorized by this Great & General Court to look after us in all Respects, whereby we may be under a better regulation than we have been of as to our wood, timber, orchards, meadows, and upland that we have still in our hands, - & that we may issue and settle any small differences between any of our English neighbors, -all of which we leave with your honors wise consideration & humbly pray as in duty bound.
AMOS AHATTON. HEZEKIAH SQUAMAUG. THOMAS AHAUTON. GEORGE HUNTER. SIMON GEORGE.
Colonel John Quincy, for whom the town of Quincy was named, was accordingly appointed the following year, and held the position until 1747, the distance to his wards then being too great for one of his age and infirmities.
I now propose to give an account of those persons who received their deeds from the Indians about the year 1725, and the situation of their farms.
(1) Thomas Spurr, Jr., described as one of the English tenants, was probably grandson of Robert, one of the origi- nal lessees. He settled in this town as early as 1717. He died Oct. 8, 1767. The land conveyed to him consisted of 421 acres, and extended from the present Canton Cemetery to Ridge Hill, thence in a westerly course back of the Bemis farm, and then turning in a northwesterly direction, and
64
HISTORY OF CANTON.
running on Ponkapoag Brook, touched the northern boun- dary of the Ponkapoag Plantation; and running a few rods on that line, it turned at the northwesterly corner of the line, and ran southwest on the westerly line of the plantation nearly to the residence of the late Commodore Downes ; thence south, passing southwest of Pecunit meadow to a point near the Gridley monument. The house was situated in what is now an open field, a few rods northwest of the house lately owned by Alfred Lewis. The cellar is still to be seen. Thomas, Jr., married, and left sons Thomas, Robert, Michael, Elijah, and a daughter Sarah, who married Ralph Shepard.
(2) The deed of Elias Monk from the Indians is not on record. It conveyed substantially the same land which he conveyed to Joseph Billings in 1726, - 120 acres.
(3) Shubael Wentworth received a deed of nine and three quarters acres and six rods. He is described as a farmer and blacksmith.
His house was situated a few rods down Green Lodge Street, at Ponkapoag, on the northerly side of the road. The cellar-hole is still to be seen. The land is now a part of the Bowles estate.
He is supposed to have received the name of Shubael from the Rev. Shubael Dummer, who was killed in 1692 at York, and who was his father's pastor. He married (1) Damaris Hawes, who died Dec. 8, 1739; (2) Sept. 10, 1741, Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Andrews. He was a prominent man in church matters, was at one time parish clerk, and was constable in 1735. He died March 24, 1759, seventy years old.
The Rev. Peter Thacher, of Milton, under date of May 24, 1727, writes as follows : -
" I was at a fast at Stoughton, and preached in the afternoon, being desired. I baptised two children ; one was Mr. Shubal Wintworth's, ye smith ; his name was James; the other was William, son to Joseph Smith."
(4) Samuel Andrews was the son of Samuel and Eliza- beth Andrews; he received ninety-seven acres of land on what
65
ANCIENT DEEDS AND GRANTS.
is now Cherry Hill in Ponkapoag. It was bounded on the north by the Ponkapoag line, and on the south by the Redman farm. His father, Samuel Andrews, was a tenant of the Indians upon it. He had been a resident of Milton in 1709; but in 171I he had erected a house at Ponkapoag, where he entertained travellers, although he is styled a housewright by occupation. He was one of the original founders of Morse's church, and had at one time behaved in " an obstreperous and disorderly manner at a church meet- ing;" but the church, upon his expressing sorrow, forgave him, and, says the pastor, " Through the Lords great good- ness the matter was accomodated with a reconciliation." He was the first moderator of the precinct meeting held in 1716. He died before 1725.
His son Samuel married Mehitable Trot, March 16, 1727, and died June 2, 1740. In 1735 he conveyed the farm to James Andrews, who had married Abigail Crane, April 13, 1732. In 1741 he erected a new house on the premises, and in 1763 conveyed the property to James Hawkes Lewis. He died June 19, 1777, at Packeen.
(5) The deed to Robert Redman describes the same land leased to his father, with the exception that the Andrews farm is omitted, and five acres near the pond reserved for the use of the Indians. The privileges of their old orchards are especially reserved to them. The farm was said to con- tain one hundred and twenty-two acres, and was bounded on the north by the Andrews farm, on the east by Ponkapoag Pond, on the south by the brook of the same name, and on the west by the road.
(6) Joseph Topliff received one hundred and eight acres, situated on both sides of the Turnpike, south of the Redman farm, and bounded southeast by the Fenno land. At one time he owned one quarter of the saw-mill on Ponkapoag Brook. He was the son of Samuel and Patience Topliff, and was born April 24, 1687. He was town treasurer in 1733, and had some difficulty in his accounts; and the result was a law-suit in the following year. He lies buried in the Canton Cemetery, with the following epitaph : --
5
66
HISTORY OF CANTON.
" Here lyes interred the body of Deacon Joseph Topliff who de- parted this life, Jan. ye 13th 1749, in ye 63ª year."
(7) Elhanan Lyon's deed is not on record. The land probably came into his possession from his father, Peter Lyon, who was a lessee on the Indian land. In 1725 Elhanan was the owner of one hundred and thirty-seven acres, extend- ing on both sides of Washington Street, from Sassamon Street to Potash meadow. It is probable that Peter himself resided here, for we find him styling himself as an innholder at Ponkapoag in 1705 ; he was a constable for our part of the town in 1707. It may have been in the house that stood where George B. Hunt now lives, that he copied the old pre- cinct records and practised "setting the psalm." We can hardly believe that either as an innkeeper or officer he would have had much business where his house stood in 1698. Elhanan was born May 4, 1690; he lived at the southwesterly corner of Sassamon and Washington streets. He married, Feb. 19, 1712, Mary Redman. She must have died soon; for on Sept. 24, 1713, he was again married to Meredith Wiatt. He died Oct. 31, 1745. He was a bricklayer by trade, and frequently appears in town affairs; but he will always be known as "the great troubler of the church." It was his business to keep it in a perpetual ferment. In 1737 begins the long quarrel with his minister. Mr. Lyon had absented himself from the Lord's Supper for more than two years. Mr. Dunbar feels obliged formally to call the attention of the church to the matter, and informs them " of the disor- derly walk of our brother." A few years later Mr. Lyon circulates scandalous reports concerning his pastor, both as to his morals and doctrines, and appears before a meeting of the church and openly charges Mr. Dunbar with preaching " damnable doctrine." But the church considers it an inju- rious and scandalous charge, and suspends Lyon from the communion. In 1744 Mr. Dunbar gives the following account of his trouble with Elhanan Lyon: -
" Having got sufficient proof that our brother, Elhanan Lyon, Senior, had charged me with writing a corrupt lie in Mr. Liscomb's
67
ANCIENT DEEDS AND GRANTS.
and his wife's evidence, which they gave me, I did, on October second, which was my birthday, - being then forty years old, - enter a legal process with him, and get a warrant, for the apprehending him, from Squire Hall of Boston, who did, on October fifteenth, fully hear the case and give judgment upon it. Mr. Lyon was found guilty, and fined twenty shillings, lawful money to the King, and stands recorded, I suppose, in the Justices Court for a liar. Mr. Lyon at first ap- pealed from judgment, but afterwards, upon the justice's advice and further thoughts, he let drop his appeal. The man was considerably smitten with the judgment, and his pretended friends left him. None stood by him to lend him any money to pay costs of court and bound for him, except his son Enoch. May God sanctify this affliction to him, and make him a more quiet and peaceable man ; and blessed be God who saved me out of the Lion's mouth ! May this trouble be sanctified to me, and may I be more quickened in my ministerial work, and blessed be God that in this, my trouble, I had such and so many proofs of the respect and affection and concern of so many of my people for me ! May they profit more than ever under my ministerial labors among them ! The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Haggaion ; selah !"
On Jan. 12, 1745, the church, by vote, cast out brother Elhanan Lyon from their communion by excommunication. Mr. Lyon died Oct. 31, 1746, and Mr. Dunbar thus reviewed him : -
"It was but a year ago this month since I took him into the law for reviling and slandering me, and cast him, and for which the church, some time after, excommunicated him. He always justified himself ; and although I voluntarily, and without sending for, visited him, he never said one word to me about the matter. He has now gone to his doom pronounced. While he lived, he was the great troubler of this church, but he will trouble us no more. Prov. xi. Io. I think he dies as little lamented as any one in the place would have done."
(8) Deacon Benjamin Blackman was the son of John, of Dorchester, the original immigrant to New England. He was born in 1665, and came here early, signing the original church covenant in 1717. His farm consisted, in 1725, of one hundred and eighty-two acres, and he subsequently added to it by purchase. The land was situated on both sides of
68
HISTORY OF CANTON.
Washington Street, and ran from Potash meadow nearly to Ridge Hill. His house was standing in 1725, and still re- mains, known as the Eagle Inn. He was one of the ori- ginal purchasers of the Proprietors' Lot, and lies within that sacred enclosure ; his wife Jemima (Breck), sleeps beside him. He died June 12, 1749, in the eighty-fourth year of his age; his wife died Aug. 5, 1742, in the seventy-first year of her age.
In recording his death, Rev. Mr. Dunbar calls him " good old Deacon Blackman."
(9) Robert Pelton received seventy-three acres on both sides of the present Washington Street and including Ridge Hill. His house was situated on the northerly side of the road, between the Blackman blacksmith's shop and the house of the late Miss Clarissa Cobb. It was some distance from the street; but the remains of the cellar are still to be seen, and trees are yet standing which mark the site of the ancient orchard. He appears to have owned at one time sixty acres on the southeast of his home lot, and also to have purchased twenty-four acres of Deacon Benjamin Blackman. He is styled a brickmaker; and as he was the owner of half an acre of clay ground bordering on Pecunit meadow, he had a good opportunity to follow his vocation. He also owned land in the " Twelve Divisions." Pelton appears to have been a very profane man. In 1737 the church accused him of profane cursing and swearing; and the evidence having been read, Brother Pelton at first very strennously denied the charge, but at length acknowledged that " having been provoked and put into a passion by some evil-minded persons, he had so far given way to corrupt nature as to utter and express some profane, wicked words, unbecoming a Christian and his pro- fession," and declared that he would do no more. The church did not think this confession quite met the charge ; namely, openly profane cursing and swearing; and Pelton was accordingly suspended from the communion for refusing to give glory to God by making full confession of swearing openly. He therefore was warned to appear on next Lord's Day at public worship, in order that the pastor might address
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.