USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 8
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
Moses and Benjamin Gill began in October, 1736, an action of trespass and ejectment against William Sherman for part of the land contained in Sherman's deed and plan. In the in-
81
ANCIENT DEEDS AND GRANTS.
ferior court the Gills were successful in their suit, but Sher- man appealed to the Superior Court at Boston; and the court in February, 1737, ordered Mr. James Blake to go to Stough- ton and ascertain the authentic bounds of the land in dispute. Upon his arrival, the Gills did not show Mr. Blake any bounds; but Sherman showed him marked trees which divided the land of Gill and Esty from the Indian land.
This deed, and the plan of the land which accompanied it, were duly examined and approbated by Quincy and Thacher, and they found no error or mistake in it. The next year, April, 1736, Moses and Benjamin Gill, Joseph Esty, with others, presented a petition to the General Court, in which they asserted that William Sherman and John Wentworth had been guilty of "incroachments." The matter was referred to Hon. Thomas Cushing, Benjamin Dyre, and Samuel Dan- forth, Esqs., who visited Stoughton, read over the deeds and plans, and reported that they ought to "stand good and valid; " but not satisfied with the decision of the agents of the General Court, no evidence was produced either by Gill or Sherman, and Blake decided that if the trees were the bounds, the land in contest was included in Sherman's land, and so reported to the Superior Court in August, 1737; but Sherman having no proof of ownership, judgment was given for Gill. But Sherman at the next session of the court pro- duced sufficient evidence to win his case. All this dispute apparently arose about three quarters of an acre of land.
(35) Joseph Esty received by deed thirty-seven and one half acres in three different lots. The homestead, consisting of six and three quarters acres, is the place now occupied by George F. H. Horton, on Pleasant Street. In 1712 Joseph Esty conveyed to his son, Joseph Esty, Jr., seventy acres of land on Pleasant Street, which had formerly belonged to the proprietors of Ponkapoag, and by them, with the consent of the selectmen of Dorchester, had been sold and conveyed to Joseph, Sr. He died Oct. 13, 1739.
(36) Joshua Pomeroy received sixty-one and one quarter acres of land south of Joseph Esty and north of Benjamin and Moses Gill, on Ragged Row. He was described in 1725 as 6
82
HISTORY OF CANTON.
one of the English tenants, and in sale of a portion of this land said it was a part of the six thousand acres that he purchased in 1725. This is the farm subsequently occupied by Aaron Wentworth, Samuel Capen, Israel Bailey, and W. W. Brooks.
Joshua Pomeroy, when he joined the church, Dec. 17, 1719, was said to have been "last of Dorchester and firstly of the church of Deerfield." He married, Feb. 4, 1708, Repent Weeks, who died July 22, 1714; and (2) June 2, 1715, Mary, daughter of John and Hannah Blake, who died March 14, 1718; (3) Oct. 1, 1718, Mary Clapp, of Dedham.
(37) Thomas and Joseph Jordan received five hundred and twenty-three acres, bounded on the east by the Dorches- ter line, northwest by the Fenno farm, and west and south by a brook. This was on the road leading from the farms to Bear Swamp, now York Street.
Thomas and Joseph were sons of John the lessee. Thomas was born 1683, and died April 20, 1750.
(38) In addition to this large tract, Thomas Jordan re- ceived twenty acres, bounded easterly on Dorchester line in part, and partly by a brook. The other land about it was at the time of the taking of the deed, Indian land. Joseph Jor- dan married Abigail Pitcher, Oct. 18, 1716. He died May 6, 1755 ; she died Feb. 24, 1762.
The six thousand acres, by direction of the General Court and the hands of the duly appointed guardians of the Ponka- poag Indians, by degrees passed from the possession of the aborigines and their descendants; and in November, 1827, Thomas French, their guardian, sold the last acre.
And here we leave the landed history of the Ponkapoag Plantation. It is a subject which might be extended in- definitely. New and untrodden paths continually tempt the investigator ; but a limit must be assigned, if not to the inves- tigation, to the results of such research in print. Having traced the land titles of Canton, derived from the Indians through the first quarter of the eighteenth century, I leave to others the puzzling task of unravelling the oldtime deeds.1
1 See Appendix VII.
83
THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER V.
THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
T HE early settlers of Canton, in common with all the early settlers of New England, believed in God, - not in a distant and unapproachable being, who held a general super- vision over his creatures, but in a God to whom the minute details of every-day life were a subject of interest and inspi- ration ; they thought that his hand was as visible in these as in the majesty of the storm or the beauty of the rainbow. The more pious felt that as they attended to or neglected the in- stitutions of religion, they should in the world to come receive the curse or the blessing. To such the Church of Christ was the " Alpha and Omega," and civil were secondary and sub- servient to ecclesiastical matters. A majority of the mem- bers of the General Court expressed the sentiments of the people when, in 1692, they passed a law approved by the King, that every person should pay his proportionate share toward the support of "an able, learned, and Orthodox min- ister to dispense the word of God to them." And every minister, being a person of "good conversation," chosen by the major part of the town at a regular town meeting, legally held, was to be "the minister of such town." The inhabit- ants of Dorchester Village were anxious to have a minister among them. The nearest meeting-house was many miles away, or, as they quaintly expressed it, "from a sence of ye remote living from any place of ye public worship of God." Thither, through the snows of winter, following the Indian trail, designated by marked trees or piles of stones, they went, anon pausing to remove a tree broken by the weight of the snow, or carefully picking their way through the unbroken drifts. The more fortunate rode on horseback, and the " good- wife " was seated behind the " goodman " upon a pillion.
84
HISTORY OF CANTON.
Feeling deeply this inconvenience, the inhabitants of the "New Grant" represented to the town of Dorchester that they were very uneasy, and petitioned the town that they might be set off as a separate precinct. On May 12, 1707, upon the request of the inhabitants of the " New Grant," the town of Dorchester voted that the said inhabitants be set off, a pre- cinct by themselves, so far and no farther than to agree with and to settle a minister among them, and to raise a tax for his support from time to time. But attached to this liberty was the condition that the said inhabitants " shall remove their meeting-house," or erect another where it shall be thought convenient by a committee which shall be chosen by the town of Dorchester for that purpose. This language would seem to indicate that the house was not conveniently situated for the majority of the inhabitants, although it would appear to have been of ample size. From these statements we are also enabled to fix the time when the village of Ponkapoag ceased to be the centre of population.
The first meeting-house stood in that part of the English churchyard which is known as the Proprietors' Lot. It was probably built by the apostle Eliot, although a writer in the Boston. "Transcript," in 1871, says that it was not built until 1705.1 As a rate was placed upon the inhabitants in this part of the town that year " to pay their minister," it shows that the English settlers had a pastor at that time. William Ahauton, Samuel Momentaug, and Amos Ahauton, Indians of Ponkapoag in 1708, in behalf of their tribe, thanked the town of Dorchester for its care of them and their interests, in settling the boundaries between them and their white neigh- bors; and understanding that the town was offended because they had leased their land to the English, promised to lease no more, and gave up all their right to that parcel of land about the Ponkapoag meeting-house, containing about three acres, " for a burying place and training field."
This first meeting-house was sold to Ebenezer Tolman, of Dorchester, who removed it thither, and converted it into a barn, where it remained within my remembrance.
1 Mr. Samuel C. Downes says that he has always heard that there was a meet- ing-house on this site long before the erection of the English church.
85
THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
The committee chosen by the town of Dorchester to ap- point the place where the meeting-house should stand, con- sisted of Samuel Topliff, Samuel Clapp, and Samuel Wales. They notified the petitioners when they would meet them and consult about the matter. Accordingly, in the early part of June they viewed the places proposed, and finally agreed " that the meeting-house should be set on the hitherniost or northerly end of ye plaine commonly called by the Indians, ' Packeen Plaine,' upon the right hand side of the road leading from Milton towards Rehoboth; " and the spot se- lected was upon the land which is now included in the Canton Cemetery. I find no conveyance of this land to the precinct. The records of the precinct show that a committee was ap- pointed March 3, 1721, " to inquire into ye Precincts title to ye land, and to get a stronger confirmation of ye same if need be; " but the committee in their report confine them- selves to running the bounds, and the rats have left to us only this information : -
March 15, 1722, and we have opened . . . limits of the Meeting- House land, and we find the . . . From the south corner of the Rhode twenty . . . on ye east and twelve rods to a black . . . and a half to a stake : and on the west end . .
Samuel Chandler told me that Mr. Morse gave the land. I have seen a plan of Morse's land which shows that he owned twelve acres in this vicinity, while his deed, in 1725, gives him only ten acres.
In deciding on the site for the new house, the Dorchester committee and the settlers were governed in their selection by its nearness to the centre of population at that time. The meeting-house was set on a hill, so that it could not be hid. The most beautiful and appropriate spot was selected; the sightliness of its position also afforded a view of any ap- proaching danger to the majority of the inhabitants. Thus, everything having been satisfactorily arranged, the town of Dorchester gave to the settlers £30 to assist them in com- pleting their meeting-house.
This meeting-house was situated nearer the westerly part of
86
HISTORY OF CANTON.
the plain than its successor, or in other words, directly back of it. Its southwest line was nearly parallel to the northeast side of the reservoir of the Canton Aqueduct Company, and covered the spot which is now occupied partly by Lots 55, 56, 57, 62, 63, 64, as represented on the plan of the second addi- tion to the Canton Cemetery. The building was thirty feet square and supported by uprights twelve feet high.
Although the inhabitants of the " New Grant " had "set about" building their meeting-house in 1707, it was some time before it was completed. In 1716 the precinct voted that there should be $15 raised by a rate upon the inhabit- ants, and that the money should go toward finishing the meeting-house. John Fenno and Richard Hixson were chosen to receive the money, engage workmen, and pay them for their labor. The next year a new door was made near the west corner of the meeting-house, and the seats were joined together in the centre of the house. The spaces thus left vacant on the sides were subsequently replaced by long seats. In 1718 £20 was raised, a portion of which was ordered to be laid out upon the meeting-house.
In 1720 the house seems to have been in a dilapidated. condition, for a committee was appointed "to save ye meet- ing-house." The sills had become rotten, and needed to be " banked up; " the roof was not much protection on a rainy day; and the minister's pew was tottering.
It would appear that this meeting-house had galleries, for March 1, 1724, it was voted by the precinct "that thare should be a seet or seets set up in the gallarry, which may be thoft nedfull; " and in 1740 it was decided that the best place for the boys was in "y" frunt higher galary and ye west higher galary."
The seating of the meeting-house was an event of great importance. In this precinct that delicate duty was per- formed by Henry Crane, Samuel Bullard, John Fenno, Joseph Hewins, and John Puffer. I say delicate, because there was great discussion as to the award of the places of lionor and dignity. In the seating of the worshippers in the meeting- house, regard was had in the first place to the age and hon-
87
THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
orable standing of the person. Again, the amount each contributed toward the ministerial rate had its influence; and the committee had a hard time to decide who should have the chief seats, and at the same time not offend the others.
In 1727 an article was inserted in the warrant for town meeting to consider upon " making more rume in the Meet- ing House," and the following year to take measures to enlarge and repair the meeting-house.
The pew adjoining the west end of the pulpit was reserved for the family of Mr. Dunbar; and in 1731 a floor was laid, and window made, in this pew. A part of the meeting-house was reserved for the Indians for their encouragement to attend upon the public worship of God.
There are some curious old bills relating to repairs upon the meeting-house; for instance, William Wheeler received for " sweeping ye meeting-hous the sum of two pound, eight shillings, from March, 1734, to March, 1735." Ebenezer Wiswall presented the following bill: -
To three feet and a half of new glass at three shil-
lings, six pence, per foot . £0,12, 3
To seventy-eight quaries at five pence a peise 1,12, 6
To leading and bands . I, 9, 7
To mending the pew windows 12, 3
March 20, 1737-8.
£4, 6, 7
The use of the word " quaries" in this bill leads to the infer- ence that some if not all of the lights were diamond-shaped, set in lead. Mr. Wiswall was a Dorchester man, and was frequently in demand to mend the windows, and is spoken of as a "glashur."
The same year Joshua Whittemore presented a bill of five shillings for mending "ye old wenders and for making of ye new glass for Stoting old meeting-huse."
The house remained standing until 1748, when, on the 14th of August, it was voted that the old meeting-house be "puld " down for "ye use of ye new as soon as ye new cun be conveinently met in on ye Sabbath."
88
HISTORY OF CANTON.
On the 23d of October, 1747, the Rev. Mr. Dunbar preached his farewell sermon in the old meeting-house. His text was from Heb. x. 32, "But call to remembrance the former days." Would that a copy of that sermon were in existence to-day, that we might follow the reverend gentle- man as he reviewed the history of the old meeting-house, and the people who were accustomed to worship within its sacred walls! A large and crowded audience honored him with their presence; and on that occasion he undoubtedly upheld the reputation which he had acquired of being "a rousing preacher."
Here, in a sparsely settled community, in an almost un- broken forest, the meeting-house was built, and the voice of the first minister was heard therein, upon the spot where, but a short time before, had smouldered the embers of the war- fire. He not only preached the word of God to those who had left the shores of cultured England to worship Him as they thought best; but he taught forgiveness and forbear- ance toward enemies to the untutored savage also, whose only creed had been revenge.
Here was erected the church, which, hand in hand with the schoolhouse, was destined to extend the power of religion and of education throughout the land, concurrently with the extension of that land's political growth.
The committee chosen by the town of Dorchester to select a situation for the meeting-house were also empowered to lay out the bounds of the precinct. They began at a pile of stones upon the plain near Blue Hill, which was formerly a part of Captain Stoughton's farm, ran north and north- easterly over the top of Blue Hill to the Braintree line, thence following the Braintree line to the Plymouth line; " this line to be the southern boundary." The west bounds began at the westerly part of "Mashapaug" Pond, thence ran northeast to the Dedham line, "this Dedham line to be the northern boundary until it comes to the stones first mentioned."
We have seen that the town of Dorchester had willingly granted the petition of the inhabitants of the "New Grant"
89
THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
to be set off as a separate precinct; but a petition addressed to the General Court for an Act of incorporation, soon after June 23, 1708, had been unsuccessful. It received the ap- probation of the House of Representatives, but was not con- curred in by the Council. This placed the early settlers in a very awkward position. They had no legal corporate exist- ence; they might pass whatever votes they chose among themselves, but they had no power to enforce them. They could select and settle a minister, as any precinct or parish might do; but they could not tax the inhabitants to pay for his support. The clergyman whom they had chosen could not be ordained; the sacrament could not be administered, nor the rite of baptism performed, unless their pastor were assisted by some ordained clergyman.
The hardships arising from this state of things were numer- ous. It was difficult to obtain the necessary funds to pay the minister. Many of the settlers had become discouraged, and although perfectly able to bear their portion of the expense, either refused downright to do so, or were so dilatory in their payments as to render their aid useless; consequently, the burden of payment fell heavily upon a few. So hard was it to raise funds that the minister was obliged to appeal to the town of Dorchester for a contribution for himself, which was granted him.
Again, the young men and maidens found that this state of things interfered with their comfort. If they desired to be married, they must go to Milton or some neighboring town, and be joined in matrimony by an ordained clergyman. So they had to go from home, in order that their children might receive baptism from consecrated hands. Sometimes, indeed, the settlers would postpone their weddings or the baptism of their children until some ordained clergyman should come to the new village. The Rev. Peter Thacher, who was settled at Milton, September, 1681, was the nearest ordained minis- ter, and was better known to the early settlers than any other clergyman in the vicinity. At first his labors had been devoted to the conversion of the Indians at Ponka- poag. To render his ministrations more effective, he had
90
HISTORY OF CANTON.
studied the Indian tongue; and Mather says "he furnished himself with skill in their sesquipedalian language," that he might be able to converse with them in their own dialect. He visited Ponkapoag monthly, and on lecture-days imparted to them the gospel of salvation. In this way he became acquainted with the settlers; and they, appreciating his moral worth and his exemplary character, were accustomed to carry their children to him to be baptized. So it happened that the dates of many of the baptisms of the children of the first inhabitants are found upon the church records of Milton. He performed the first baptism in Canton of which we have any information : -
" Feb. 27, 1707-8. - Punkapog. At a fast of ye English inhabit- ants, Mr. Danforth, of Dorchester, preached in the forenoon, and I in ye afternoon ; and at ye close of ye public worship, Mr. Danforth ad- vising it, I baptized Mary, ye daughter of Sister Wintworth."
Peter Thacher died in 1727. He had a son, Oxenbridge, born May 17, 1681, who graduated at Harvard College in 1698, and joined his father's church at Milton, March 3, 1700-I. He preached for a short time in his early life, and is sometimes styled "Reverend; " although in the Triennial Catalogue of his university his name is not italicized, from which it may be inferred that he was not ordained. It is un- doubtedly true that he entered into an arrangement to preach to the first settlers at some time subsequent to 1700, and previous to 1707. He may be the person referred to in the vote of Dorchester, 1705, Dec. 10, "Voted that the select- men shall make a rate upon all the inhabitants of Dorchester beyond the Blue Hills to pay their minister." He is recorded as having been the first man to preach to the English inhabit- ants of Canton. I do not believe he resided in Canton; and I think his preaching was of short duration and missionary in its character. He left the ministry on account of ill health, and engaged in business in Boston. At his father's death he returned to Milton, and for several years represented that town at the General Court. He died Oct. 29, 1772, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. He had two grandsons
91
THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
who were clergymen, sons of the eminent lawyer and patriot of the same name, who died in Boston in 1767. These were Rev. Thomas Thacher, who was settled at West Ded- ham, and the more distinguished Rev. Peter Thacher, D. D., of Brattle Square, Boston. One of the original settlers of Canton went over to Dedham in his old age to hear Thomas, the grandson of his old friend Oxenbridge, preach; and when he had finished his discourse, the old settler approached him in a rapture of enthusiasm, and exclaimed, "Your grand- father Oxenbridge was the first man that brought a Bible among us."
But the time had now come when the early settlers were anxious to have a clergyman of their own. They were averse to calling upon some neighboring minister to perform pa- rochial offices; and, as before stated, they had no legal authority to raise money. Suffering deeply from the dis- couragements attending their condition, they resolved again to apply to the General Court for an Act of incorporation. In their petition they represented that they lived very re- mote from any place of public worship, the nearest being six miles distant. They gave a detailed account of the attempt which they had made to be set off as a separate precinct. They mentioned that they had met with the committee ap- pointed by the town of Dorchester, and that they had mu- tually agreed upon a site for their meeting-house; and they stated that their former petition had passed in the House of Representatives, but had not been concurred in by the Coun- cil. They prayed, therefore, that the General Court would please to confirm the town vote and the doings of the com- mittee thereupon, and that they might be a distinct precinct, empowered to choose fit persons among themselves to assess and levy a tax for the support of their minister and the de- fraying of other charges, and to do such other acts as might be agreeable to the laws.
The General Court, on the 10th of December, 1715, granted the prayer of the petitioners, and they were duly constituted on that day with full powers to exercise all the rights inci-
92
HISTORY OF CANTON.
dent to a separate precinct; and on the 19th of the same month the order was read and concurred in by the Council, as will appear by the following : -
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
December 10th, 1715. Read and
Ordered that the Prayer of this petition be granted so far as, that a new precinct be constituted and sett off with all the necessary powers and privileges used and exercised in precincts for the maintenance of the gospel ministry, agreeable to the limits and conditions expressed in the report of the committee appointed by the town of Dorchester for that end, which is signed, Samuel Clap, Samuel Topliff, and Samuel Wales.
Sent up for Concurrence,
DANIEL EPES, Speak'r pro-Tempore.
December 19th, 1715. In Council, Read and Concurred. SAMUEL WOODWARD, Secr. WM TAILER.
Consented to,
The " New Grant," from this time forward called the Dor- chester South Precinct, including a large portion of Wren- tham, extended to a point within about one hundred and seventy-six rods of what is now the easterly line of the State of Rhode Island; namely, about half a mile beyond Angle Tree. The South Precinct of Dorchester was about nineteen and a half miles long on its southerly line; and the last four and a half miles of that line was on what is now the south line of Wrentham.
"The New Grant was bounded southerly by the line of the colony of Plymouth, now called the Old Colony Line, northeasterly by Milton and that part of Braintree now Randolph, and included the present towns of Canton, Sharon, and Stoughton, nearly all, if not quite all, of Foxboro', a large tract of Wrentham, and about one quarter of the present town of Dedham. That tract now belonging to Dedham is a tract of land varying in width from one mile and one third to three fourths of a mile along on the westerly side of Canton, and may be seen by drawing, upon the map of the County of Norfolk, a straight
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.