USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 7
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a proper admonition to him; but this admonition he seemed not to desire. Mr. Dunbar says that "he showed a very undue spirit, and in a sarcastical way thanked the church for purging the church." On the next Sunday Mr. Dunbar publicly admonished and suspended him. Five years after, he probably had been able to break himself of his evil habit, for he was then considered qualified to act as tithing-man. Robert Pelton married Rebecca Crehore, of Milton, Sept. 2, 1697, and settled in this town as early as 1713. He was buried Sept. 4, 1745.
(10) Edward Wentworth, a brother to Shubael, Charles, i and John, had fifty-one and three quarters acres on the south- east side of the present Washington Street, between Ridge Hill and Meeting-house Hill. Edward was born in 1695 ; he married, Oct. 17, 1717, Kezia, daughter of Deacon Benjamin and Jemima Blackman. She died Oct. 10, 1745, aged fifty- two years. He then married Sarah Winslow. He was an innholder from 1742 to 1747, a warden of the English Church in 1764, and died Feb. 12, 1767. His house stood on the spot now known as the Jabez Cobb place.
(11) Charles Wentworth received two hundred and eigh- teen acres, described as bounded northeast by the land of Benjamin Blackman, west by that of Edward Wentworth and Samuel Dwelley, northwest by Robert Pelton's land, south by Edward Wiatt's, and southeast by a certain brook; this land is west of the Turnpike, and is bounded on the south by Pequit Brook. Charles Wentworth was a prominent man in the town; sometimes moderator; selectman in 1730-32, 1734-37, 1739, 1741-43, 1746. He was also famous in militia affairs, was commissioned captain in 1746, and owned slaves. He married Bethia Fenno, Dec. 15, 1713. She died April 29, 1780, aged eighty-nine, and he died July 10 in the same year, aged ninety-four. His homestead was on the Turnpike, on the present estate of Volney Kinsley.
(12) William Billings, commonly known as Ensign Wil- liam, afterward lieutenant, was the son of Roger and Sarah (Paine) Billings. He was born at Milton, July 27, 1686. He married Ruth Crehore, June 17, 1719. His farm within the
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
plantation line consisted of twenty-two acres. It was bounded northeasterly by the Ponkapoag Plantation line and on the south by the farm of William Wheeler. His house stood on an ancient road, on the brow of a hill. William Billings had a daughter Ruth, who lies buried in the cemetery in a very ancient tomb with a brick base. On the top rests a slab of slate, which records her name and the names of her parents, and says she " died August nineteenth, 1736, in the sixteenth year of her age." This was the first tomb erected in the old churchyard, and the builder was obliged to receive per- mission of the inhabitants in town meeting to erect it. Fifty years ago it was protected by a railing, and within the mem- ory of the writer the bricks that supported the slab were standing. It is now a sad ruin. The storms of winter have almost erased the inscription, and the frosts have destroyed the mortar between the bricks; and in a short time, unless repaired, every vestige of it will have disappeared. Tradition asserts that Ruth, who was a beautiful girl, went to a ball with thin-soled shoes, through which indiscretion she took a violent cold which resulted in her death.
On the 17th of December, 1769, the builder of this tomb died. I learn from an ancient diary that in due time " old Lieutenant Billings was laid in his tomb."
(13) John Danforth, a non-resident, the son of the Rev. John Danforth, of Dorchester, received, March 22, 1725, a deed from the Indians of one hundred and fifty acres of land. It was situated on the easterly side of the present Dedham road, opposite the Wheeler farm. It is commonly known as the Wetherbee pasture. The original purchaser died in 1728. When Rev. Samuel Dunbar purchased it in 1761, it is de- scribed as being bounded north by Pecunit Brook, northeast by Pacquimit meadow, east and southeast by land of John Wentworth, west by land of William Billings in part, and partly by a way leading to Billings' house, northwest by the Indian or Dorchester line, and west by land of William Wheeler. From the old parson it passed into the possession of Squire Dunbar. A cellar-hole on which a house was stand- ing in 1725 was visited by the Canton Historical Society in
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1876. From the elevated portions of this land a magnificent view of the Blue Hill range and Pecunit valley is obtained.
(14) William Wheeler, one of the English tenants, received an Indian deed of land estimated at one hundred and one acres more or less. This land was situated on the west side of the Dedham road, and is that which his son William, Jr., gave to the First Congregational Church. It is described in the original deed as bounded on the north by William Bil- lings' land, east by John Danforth's, on the southeast by the land of John Withington, on the south by that of Daniel Stone and John Vose, and on the west by the Dorchester line. Mr. Wheeler also owned a meadow which now belongs to the First Parish. It consists of three acres, and lies east of the Danforth land and north of the meeting-house. It is famous as having once belonged to Capt. John Nelson, who figured prominently in the arrest of Governor Andros.
William Wheeler was born in 1693. He was one of the original founders of the church in 1717. His first wife was Abigail. He married, May 21, 1729, Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Phoebe Stearns. The site of his house can still be seen between the Dedham road and the half-mile trotting- track; the house was removed to Canton Corner and now forms part of the Abel Everett house.
He died July 16, 1773, in the eightieth year of his age, and was buried in the Canton Cemetery.
(15) Rev. Joseph Morse, the first minister of this town, re- ceived from the Indians three parcels of land in 1725. His homestead stood where the Catholic Cemetery now is. It was bounded northwest by the country road, westerly by land of John Wentworth, south by Pequit Brook, and east by the land of David Stone; and it contained one hundred and thirty-four acres. On the opposite side of the road he owned also ten or twelve acres, which is now embraced in the Canton Cemetery. He received fifty acres on the westerly side of the country road, bounded north by Capt. John Vose's land, east by a way called Taunton Old Way, and easterly and southerly by Pequit Brook. This land began where now stands the house of Asa Shepard, and ran on the
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
westerly side of the present Washington Street to where the road bends in Endicott's woods. Some of this land is still owned by the descendants of the first minister.
(16) David Stone received eighty-six acres east of Rev. Mr. Morse. It is now commonly called the Tilden farm, at the present time owned by Edwin Wentworth. It is situated on the easterly shore of Reservoir Pond, and a road from Randolph Street leads directly to it.
David Stone is supposed to have been a great-grandson of Gregory. He was baptized at Watertown in 1687. He prob- ably canie here with his wife Sarah as early as 1712. He was one of the founders of the church. He died May 26, 1733; his wife died Jan. 27, 1739.
(17) Samuel Dwelley appears as owning a piece of land southwest of Charles Wentworth in 1725. He married, June 24, 1725, Charity, daughter of Philip and Charity (Jordan) Liscom. She joined the church in 1730, and died Aug. 20, 1741.
(18) Edward Pitcher testifies to certain transactions at Ponkapoag Village in 1704, when he was eighteen years of age. In 1745 he interfered with the monotony of the daily life of the town by expressing his opinion of the members of the church in language more forcible than polite. He called them "a parcel of devils," and added that he "would not sit down with such a parcel of devils." He died at the house of Thomas Spurr, March 9, 1773. His wife died Oct. 12, 1769, at the house of John Spare. George Blackman made her coffin, and Isaiah Bussey tolled the bell.
(19) Edward Wiatt received ninety-seven acres, bounded on the north by the land of Charles Wentworth and Samuel Dwelley, west by the land of Edward Pitcher, south by the Indian land, and east by Pequit Brook, for which he paid £20. He married, April 15, 1718, Abigail, daughter of James and Abigail (Newton) Puffer. She was born Nov. 20, 1696. A man bearing this name was in 1690 a soldier in Capt. John Withington's company. Wiatt died before 1728.
(20) John Wentworth received two parcels of land by deed in his own name. They lay on both sides of the present
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Washington Street at Canton Corner. The first was on the southeasterly side and consisted of sixty-five and one half acres, and was described as being bounded on the north by the road, on the east by the land of Joseph Morse, on the south by Pequit Brook, running to the lower south side of the dam until it came to the country road; it might be described as running from the fifteenth mile-stone to Pleasant Street, back to Reservoir Pond. It is substantially the land now occupied by George Munroe Endicott.
The second tract was on the opposite side of the street. It consisted of eighty-one and one half acres, which was de- scribed as being bounded southeast by the country road, southwest by the way leading to William Billings' land, north- west by land of John Danforth, and east by Pecunit meadow in part and the meeting-house land. This farm would now be included in a line from the Canton Cemetery to the Dedham road, thence to the Wetherbee pasture and so to Pecunit meadow.
John Wentworth himself never lived on this land. The part on the southeasterly side was shortly in the possession of John Withington, Jr., who married John Wentworth's daughter Martha.
John Wentworth, the son of the first settler, in October, 1729, brought the machinery of the church into operation to settle a secular dispute with another church-member, David Tilden. It was a controversy in regard to the boundary lines of their estates. The pastor decided against Mr. Wentworth. " I then," says he, " first awfully and solemnly admonished him, and then suspended him. I was wonderfully assisted from God." We do not know how Mr. Wentworth bore his humiliation, but the joy of the victorious party was uncon- trollable, and he evinced it by partaking freely of the cup that not only cheers but inebriates, for which indiscretion he in due time came under the censure of the church. Mr. Wentworth, not satisfied with the opinion of the church, car- ried the matter before a jury, who decided that Mr. Tilden had not removed Mr. Wentworth's landmark.
Possibly the church was propitiated when in 1765 " our
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
aged brother, John Wentworth, gave it £50." Mr. Went- worth died Jan. 6, 1772.
About 1741 John Wentworth, Jr., grandson of the first John, erected a house on the northwest side of the present Washington Street, at Canton Corner. It was a two-story house with a lean-to roof, and was within my memory occu- pied by Samuel Capen, and was not pulled down until about 1879.
This John, Jr., who was born Nov. 8, 1709, and died on Feb. 9, 1769, seems to have had a peculiar experience in his love affairs. It appears that after the death of his first wife, Mary, he became intimate in 1737 with Mercy Smith, and with the advice of the church determined to marry her; but for some reason best known to herself, one Jerusha Lyon postponed this arrangement by the following notice, which she served on one of the officers of the town: -
STOUGHTON, March 24, 1738.
To Mr. BENJAMIN SAVELS, Clerk of y Town of Stoughton.
SIR, - I am informed that you have published an intention of mar- riage betwixt John Wentworth, Jr., and Mercy Smith of this town. These are therefore to certify to you that I do forbid your proceeding in that matter, and desire that you would take down said publishment and keep it down until the matter is determined as the law provides in such cases.
JERUSHA LYON.
The notice seems to have stopped the marriage. In De- cember the church was called to consult concerning Miss Smith's behavior ; and it was not until Sept. 19, 1744, that she finally married Mr. Wentworth. But Jerusha was finally to triumph. Mercy died June 22, 1765, and Jerusha reigned as wife and widow of John Wentworth, Jr., in the old house at Canton Corner until her death, April 13, 1791.
(21) Capt. John Vose received from the Indians ninety acres lying on both sides of the country road. The part on the southerly side was bounded on the east by the Taun- ton Old Way, or a way leading to Joseph Morse's land, and is the land extending on Washington Street from the old Town House to the house of Mr. Asa Shepard; beyond this, where
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ANCIENT DEEDS AND GRANTS.
Washington makes a détour to the west, began Vose's line, and extended in the rear of the house formerly of J. Mason Everett to Pequit Brook on the southeast. It is described in the original deed as bounded north and west by the country road, southwest by the land of Joseph Tucker, southeast by Pequit Brook.
The homestead was on the northerly side of the present Washington Street, and was bounded on the north by land of William Wheeler, east by a way now Dedham road, leading to William Billings's, and westerly by the land of John With- ington. It extended from the corner of Dedham Street, on Washington Street, to Chapman Street.
(22) John Withington, who originally belonged to Milton, appears in Canton as a member of the church in 1717. He was the son of Philip and Thankful (Pond) Withington, and was born Dec. 30, 1682. He sold his house and farm to Rev. Mr. Dunbar in 1728, and in 1733 removed to Stoughton, having purchased from Edward Esty the saw-mill on the site now occupied by French and Ward. In his later life he re- turned to Canton, where he lived to a good old age, with his son, and died Dec. 31, 1772. He was one of our earliest school-teachers, and his penmanship was elegant.
(23) Daniel Stone received forty acres, bounded northeast by John Withington, north by the Wheeler farm, northwest by the Indian line, southwest by Philip Goodwin, and south and southeast by James Endicott.
Daniel Stone appears early in Canton, where he married Thankful Withington, Jan. 11, 1712. He is called of Dor- chester. Other records show him here in 1716. He lived on the southerly side of Chapman .Street, where the old well still may be seen; and the lot still is called the Stone pas- ture. It is asserted that he exchanged his farm with Thomas Shepard. He removed to Ponkapoag and occupied the Bemis place, and Shepard moved to his farm. Thankful, his wife, died Oct. 27, 1732; and he married, Nov. 23, 1758, the Widow Hannah Woodcock. He died May 2, 1762. aged eighty-four years.
(24) James Endicott is presumed to have received his
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
deed from the Indians. Ellis Ames used to assert that he had seen the deed with a plan annexed, but no other searcher has been so fortunate. At the settlement of his estate in 1769 he owned nearly one hundred and forty acres of land.
Mr. Endicott's land extended from the hill near the Endi- cott homestead southward to the northern boundary of Dr. A. R. Holmes's estate on Washington Street, running west- ward some distance from the highway.
It is said that James Endicott erected his house on a thirty-five acre lot, which the Indians had, in 1710, given to Rev. Joseph Morse. Some amicable arrangement was made, and Mr. Endicott remained in possession. This house prob- ably stood on the site of the present brick house on Wash- ington Street owned by the Endicott family ; it was burned Oct. 29, 1806. Mr. Endicott was licensed as an innholder in 1723 and 1725. His birth is found upon the Reading records in 1696. He married (1) Nov. 26, 1723, Esther Clapp; she died July 11, 1750, aged forty-nine years; (2) Hannah (Til- den), widow of Elhanan Lyon, Jan. 9, 1752 ; she died May 22, 1778. He lies buried in the Canton Cemetery. The in- scription on his stone says he " died October the twenty-first, 1768, in ye 72ª year of his age."
(25) David Tilden received twenty acres of land, bounded on the east by John Wentworth, westerly by Taunton Old Way, and southerly by Pequit Brook. This property in 1719 was occupied by Jabez Searl, who died in 1724. After David Tilden's death it was, in 1764, occupied by David, Jr. The- ophilus Lyon, a grandson of David Tilden, owned it in 1787, and sold it to Priest Howard in that year. The house was built by David Tilden and is standing.
David Tilden, a grandson of Nathaniel, the immigrant, was the first of the name in this town, and married Abigail Pitcher. He appears to have been interested in town and church matters, and swept the meeting-house. He had some difficulty with his neighbors, and was once charged with being "unduly transported " with the cup that inebri- ates. He and his wife are buried in the Canton Cemetery. The stones are inscribed as follows: -
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" In memory of Mr. David Tilden, who died July ye 3ª 1756, in ye 7Ist year of his age."
" In memory of Abigail, widow of Mr. David Tilden, died June ye 25th 1758 in ye 71st year of her age."
(26) Samuel Hartwell, one of the English tenants, received from the Indians fifty-nine and one quarter acres of land. It was situated on the south and north side of Taunton road, so called, and bounded northwest by Pequit Brook, northeast, south, and southeast by the land of Moses and Benjamin Gill. The house which he built in 1717 is standing on Pleas- ant Street, and is now occupied by the Pitcher family. Hart- well purchased more land, and sold in 1735 one hundred and twenty-four acres.
He was the son of Samuel Hartwell, who lived in what is now the town of Lincoln, and was a brother of Deacon Jo- seph, who was also settled here. Samuel was born Nov. 12, 1693. He married Abigail Stearns. The name of Hartwell's Dam was given to the point where Pequit Brook crosses Pleasant Street as early as 1723.
(27) Moses and Benjamin Gill received one large tract of 172 acres on the east and west sides of the way called Taun- ton Old Way. It was bounded northerly and westerly by Pequit Brook, westerly and easterly by the land of Samuel Hartwell, and easterly by that of Nathaniel Ayers; southwest and south by Indian land in part, and by land of Joseph Esty; east and south by Hartwell's land; east by the Indian land ; north by the property of David Stone, Joseph Esty, and Joshua Pomeroy. It is substantially the land on Pleasant Street lying between Pequit Brook and Sherman Street, on both sides of the street. They appear to have received a tract of sixty acres, which they sold in 1734 to William Sher- man. They carried on a law-suit with John Wentworth and William Sherman about boundary lines. Moses died June 22, 1749, and Benjamin one week later.
(28) Ebenezer Clapp appears to have received only nine and one half acres in the Ponkapoag Plantation, although he had land which he inherited from his ancestors in the "Twelve Divisions," his father deeding him, in 1716, land in Lot No. 8,
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
"lying beyond the land of Ponkapoag," now the Dunbar farm. He gave the name to Clapp's Hill. His land was bounded southeast by the way leading to the ironworks, southwest by the land of Benjamin Smith, northwest by Dor- chester line, and northeast by the land of Philip Goodwin.
Ebenezer was the son of Ezra and Abigail (Pond) Clapp. He married (1) Nov. 11, 1702, Elizabeth Dickerman, in Mil- ton; (2) Feb. 14, 1719, Abigail Belcher. He was a promi- nent man in town and church affairs, but died in poverty, Aug. 27, 1761. No stone marks his grave. His widow died Jan. 5, 1780.
(29) Philip Goodwin was living, in 1729, in a house situated on the south side of Chapman Street, between the land of Daniel Stone, James Endicott, and Benjamin Smith, now owned by Joseph W. Wattles.
He was the only Canton soldier of Capt. John Withing- ton's Canada company of 1690 that received in 1737 in his own right a portion of the town now called Ashburnham, for his services in that campaign. In 1717 he appears as part owner in " Hors Shew " Swamp; and the church record shows that on March 16, 1718, Abigail, daughter of Philip and Elizabeth Goodwin, was baptized. In 1734 he was the owner of a mill; he sold or exchanged his house on Chapman Street in 1739, and we find him, in 1741, at the Danforth mill, grinding corn. He owned the covenant and was bap- tized in 1744; and Elizabeth having died Dec. 5, 1743, he married Mehitable Andrews on May 22 of the next year. She died Nov. 25, 1795; he died Dec. 24, 1759.
(30) Timothy Jones received, in 1725, twenty acres, with a house then on it, bounded on the northwest by Dorchester line, and southeast by the road leading to the ironworks.
Timothy Jones was here in 1717, and built a frame for a dam. He was one of the eight original builders of the first ironworks at the Stone Factory privilege. He was probably the grandson of Richard, of Dorchester, one of the proprie- tors of the "Twelve Division" lots, who died in 1642. Timothy marricd, May 28, 1719, Elizabeth Eames, who died July 13, 1792, aged ninety-six. He died Sept. 17, 1761.
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His house was situated near where Mr. Sumner White now lives.
(31) Joseph Smith received thirty-two acres, bounded northwest and southwest by the Ponkapoag line. It touched the Massapoag Brook at its southwestern boundary. It was bounded southeast by land of Elijah Danforth, Esq., and northeasterly by land of Timothy Jones. In 1732 Mr. Smith made an exchange with Ebenezer Mosely for land south of Dry Pond, and removed from this town.
(32) Richard Smith appears as one of the original church founders in 1717, and occupied land at the present Stone Factory the same year. He had formerly belonged to the church at Milton, where he appears to have been taxed as late as 1709. He died Feb. 10, 1728. He had a son Joseph, born Feb. 18, 1683, by his second wife, Thankful Lyon.
(33) Joseph Tucker received from the Indians fifty-three acres of land, bounded west by the road now Washington Street as it runs through South Canton, on the northeast by the land of John Vose, east by the Indian land, south by the Ponkapoag line, and on the southwest by Massapoag Brook. This land extended from the residence of the late William Shattuck to the brook south of the Massapoag House; he also owned ten acres on the west side of the road.
(34) William Sherman and John Wentworth took 270 acres; but it seems that the value of the land was not deter- mined for some years, and that the purchasers made several applications to the General Court that this might be accu- rately decided upon, as they were ready to pay the purchase- money for the use of the Indians.
Upon this petition the General Court ordered that Amos Ahauton and the other Indian proprietors of Ponkapoag be and hereby are fully empowered to execute a good deed of sale of such part of the 270 acres of land within mentioned as is not orchard land, or has not been under special im- provement of the Indians (containing in the whole about ten acres), to John Wentworth and William Sherman, their heirs and assigns respectively; and that John Quincy, Esq., and Mr. Oxenbridge Thacher, of the House of Representatives, and Ezekiel Lewis, Esq., of the Council, be empowered to
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
inspect the survey, and see that the deed is agreeable thereto, which they are to certify thereon; and that thereupon the said Wentworth and Sherman do pay into the hands of John Quincy, Esq., trustee for the Indian affairs of Ponkapoag, the sum of £170, to be by him employed as the other Indians' money in his hands, the charge thereof to be defrayed by the petitioners.
The gentlemen appointed attended to the matter, sold the land for £180 4s., being the purchase-money, with interest added, and reported that the money had been paid, and was subject to the order of the court; and it was ordered to be put at interest for the benefit of the Indians.
An indenture was made bearing date Oct. 14, 1734, between Amos Ahauton, Thomas Ahauton, Simon George, Hezekiah Squamaug, and George Hunter, all residents in Ponkapoag, in behalf of themselves and the other Indians that were or might be interested therein, on the one part, and John Went- worth and William Sherman, both of Stoughton aforesaid, on the other part. By this deed a clear title was obtained to the land, pursuant to the Act of General Court of 1701.
In April, 1735, John Fenno, Joseph Tucker, and others rep- resented to the General Court that there was great contention in Stoughton in regard to the land obtained from the Pon- kapoag Indians; that the matter had been carried into the courts, and great expense at law had been occasioned ; they therefore desired that the court would issue such orders as would settle and compose these difficulties. The court, in reply, ordered Thomas Cushing to repair to Stoughton and hear the petitioners, examine deeds, leases, and plats, and have the lands surveyed by a skilful surveyor. Cushing recommended (May, 1735) that the 270 acres be confirmed to Sherman and Wentworth and their heirs, provided that the said land did not extend farther east than " John Went- worth's Beaver Meadow," nor interfere with the "Twelve Divisions," and declared that Joseph Esty should have a right of way from his field to the road.
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