USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Carver > History of the town of Carver, Massachusetts : historical review, 1637-1910 > Part 4
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In the struggle to sustain themselves from the land, they faced natural enemies that baffled their wits and developed their sporting instincts. Crows, blackbirds and red birds dug their corn after it had been planted, while wolves, foxes, wild cats and other carnivorous animals skulked after their fowl. For more than a century, bounties were paid for the heads of crows, blackbirds and red birds, while wolves and wild cats were ex-
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terminated in this manner. Beaver were plentiful in the earliest days, but they were exterminated on account of the value of their furs. But while birds and animals diminished the means of sub- sistence, there were counter advantages of no little consideration. The ponds teemed with fish, Samp- son's, Doty's and probably Clear being breeding grounds for herring, and this was a large item on their bill of fare. The woods were full of deer, rabbits and edible birds and this went far towards supplying the farmers with meat. The only species that diminished under free hunting and trapping were deer, and laws to protect them were early enacted. Such in brief were the conditions that confronted the farmer settlers in the year 1700.
But a wonderful advance was on the slate for the new century, little foreseen by the lonely farmers who witnessed its dawn and, perhaps, not fully appreciated by their descendants who, having won their independence, battled with its vexatious problems in the century's closing twilight. Still wonderful as we now behold it was the century that transformed our community from a few scat- tered farmers, living upon their crops and warring on blackbirds, to a town of social and industrial enthusiasm. Saw mills and grist mills, two meet- ing houses, three iron manufactories, forges, acres of tillage lands, taverns, school houses, stage lines, a new precinct and a new town, were the local achievements, while in the larger field, we were transformed from a group of struggling colonies sleeping on their arms in constant fear of Indian
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massacres and trembling for the next move of the monarch three thousand miles away, to a nation of independent people with full faith in their ability to sustain their rights. And while we contemplate the glory of their achievements, it is inspiring to review the pleasures and hardships of those lives devoted to the cause of human progress.
Essential to the building of better homes, and to the wants of a people who must live from their land, were saw mills and grist mills, and to the establishment of these the early settlers devoted their energies.
These mills might seem slow in the eyes of the fast operators of today, but like their builders, they did their work. Their construction was simple. A dam to hold a pond for the power was the first essential. A low building open on one side, with a long, low extension into which pro- jected the long log as the saw worked its way through, was located on declining ground in order for the better handling of the heavy logs. Most of the machinery was of wood, and the long saw shot up and down at every revolution of the water wheel, hence the name-The Up and Down mill. Most of these mills were company enterprises, the owners dividing the time when each should operate it in lieu of the modern method of divid- ing the profits. Grist mills were located on the same dam, and forges for doing iron work became a necessity in every community and they, too, were located near the mills.
In the winter months, these mills became the centres of activity and society for the male
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THE WENHAM SCHOOL HOUSE
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population. Even the millers were not rushed, and many stories could be told while the saw was plowing its way slowly but surely along and the manufacture of boards was a pleasure and a process that often entertained the farmer's wife and children.
On a Winter day when the snow precluded any other duty, the farmer shouldered his bag of grain and started for the mill. He carried no orders to hurry back, for his wife attended to the milking, while the boys had been trained to do their part. There appeared to be no reason why he could not properly loaf around the mills and forge all day, picking up bits of news and gossip for the amuse- ment of his family when he returned. And many were the debates around the mills on questions that related to their farms, their church, their neighborhood, or their rights so nobly conferred. upon them by the charter of good King William. Practical jokes had their place in the exercises of the day, and whenever an extra large log must be rolled down upon the carriage, there were plenty of spare hands to give a lift just for the fun of it. And when night ended the fun around the mill, the farmer could shoulder his bag of flour-minus the toll-and wade home through the snow in the light of the rising moon. If the mill happened to be too far away, the horse could be utilized as a means of transportation.
Think you, after such a vigorous day with little or no food, did the supper steaming on the crane or simmering in the coals, tempt the farmer to exclaim that he lived in the best days the world
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ever knew ? Yet a few years later what an advance in the facilities that catered to the wants of the people, for in this better day the housewife could burn a roaring fire for an hour in a large brick oven, rake out the ashes, insert her pot of beans, rye bread, pumpkin pies and fowl, and then while her cooking was going on she could go about her other work, stopping occasionally we may be sure to take a peek through the little aperture in the oven, to see her pies and beans gradually assum- ing their famous brown.
The girls made their own dolls and doll's cloth- ing, and no little pleasure was found in learning to do the duties that fell to the lot of women. The boys were free to hunt and trap the game. They made their own boats and fishing poles, their cross bows, carts, sleds and cornstalk fiddles, and they told stories at night in the light of the open fire, while their older brothers and sisters gathered in the larger houses and taverns for social events, where the village fiddler sawed into immortal song the old "kitchen spree."
Another item of hallowed memory in the society of the times clustered around the swing. Every hamlet had its village swing located in some clump of gigantic trees, where on holidays and in the long summer twilights, the young gathered for social joys and there has always been a suspicion that Cupid had a perch in the branches of the same old trees.
Of course there were disadvantages in those days, little inconveniences that in souls of fun and courage, only served to develop a rugged char-
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acter. To get out of bed in an old farm house when the thermometer outside hovered around zero, go shivering down to the kitchen to find that the high wind had completely extinguished the fire, called into action no little sand and self- reliance, for an extinct fire could not easily be re- kindled. While the others remained in bed, one of the older boys must don his boots, still stiff and cold from the baptism of the preceding day, and in the face of the biting wind wade across the fields through snow that buried the fences, to borrow fire from a neighbor. And then to get the coals back through the gale with life enough in them to start a blaze, was no small test on the boy's in- genuity. Such in part was the training of the boys who left their beds in darkness to dig the trenches at Bunker Hill.
While Edward Doty*, the hot tempered passen- ger of the Mayflower, may have been the first to till the soil of Carver, there is not satisfactory evidence that he resided on his possessions, and to Jonathan Shaw falls the honor of being the first permanent resident of the territory embraced in the present municipal limits of the town. Shaw had a house at Lakenham as early as 1660, and John Pratt, who had a residence south of Doty's pond in 1675, was a close second. The exact site of these houses may not go unquestioned, but there
*Edward Doty's farm was the land now owned and occupied by Finney Brothers. Thus the names was given to Doty's cedar swamp and Doty's pond, which later acquired the name of Wenham pond.
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are reasons for stating that Shaw's house stood on the site of the present Sturtevant house south of the Green. The present house was built as early as 1750 (possibly earlier), and a tradition says it was the third house built on that site. The Pratt house probably stood on the site of the pres- ent residence of Allerton L. Shurtleff.
Early neighbors of Shaw and Pratt were John . Dunham at Wenham, Benony Lucas at South Meadows and John Benson at Fresh Meadows. At that time the main traveled road from Ply- mouth to Middleboro, led through Annasnapet and Parting Ways, this road being referred to by old residents as "the old way" as late as the last of the last century. The road through Darby was in use, however, at the same time. Shaw's residence stood about midway between Plymouth and Middleboro, Mahutchett was a mile to the south- west, Popes Point two miles to the south and South Meadows three miles to the southeast.
Among those who joined the Lakenham settle- ment by the year 1700 or soon after were the Bonums, Watsons, Kings, Robbins, Watermans, Rickards, Wrights and Ransoms. There was a boom in the settlement of this region at the time through the division of the common lands. The Shaws and Watsons held possessions in the west section where their descendants settled. Watson held land on Rocky Meadow brook, and Thomas Pope owning a grant at the junction of this brook with South Meadow river, gave the name of Popes Point to the land, which later became the local name of the village that grew up around the furnace.
THE POPES POINT SCHOOL HOUSE
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The Rickards and Watermans located at Anna- snapet; the Ransoms owned the large tract be- tween the Doty farm and Lakenham brook; and the Pratts and Crookers the tract between Ply- mouth street and Wenham road.
While the earlier settlers of Lakenham patron- ized the mills at Plympton, the settlers of this region soon had such facilities of their own and mills were in operation at Lakenham, South Meadows and probably Wenham. The industrial activities of the people were confined to agricul- tural pursuits until the decade 1730-40, when the Popes Point furnace was established and a re- markable impetus given to the social and indus- trial life of this region. The building of the first iron furnace, the first meeting house and the establishment of the first three school districts, marks this decade as a memorable one in the development of the settlement.
The Shermans joined the Precinct before the Revolution, purchasing a large tract from the Ransoms. John Sherman conducted a tavern on the site of the residence of James S. McKay *.
Fresh Meadows was a thriving village before the Revolution. Fifty years after Plymouth Rock, there was a bridge across the river near where the wide bridge is now located known as Benson's bridge. The Benson property must
*The business of the tavern was moved in 1815 to the John Shaw house, near the Green, now owned by Mrs. Horace C. Robbins. In this tavern was located Sherman hall; where public meetings, balls, etc., were held. It was a lively center, especially on muster days, when the militia made it its headquarters.
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have included much of the land between the Ware- ham road and the river, the original homestead being a short distance back from the N. S. Cush- ing farm, where the spot is now located by straggling remnants of apple trees. The burying ground was on a hill easterly from the Cushing house, which is now marked by a lone headstone, the rest having been carried away by boys.
The first saw mill was established early in the 18th century, about one-half mile above the pres- ent mill and where the rudiments of the dam may still be seen. A few years afterwards, the old mill was deserted and the dam built upon its present site.
Joshua Benson was a thrifty inn keeper, whose tavern stood on the hill opposite the old mill. From the eminent position of the tavern, one could look over the mill and up the Plymouth road and the enterprising proprietor who may be presumed to have had a stock of Jamaica rum on hand, must have looked up this road with a busi- ness eye, as the well-to-do merchants journeyed between Plymouth and New Bedford. On a dusty day in summer, how refreshing to man and beast must have been a halt at the gay old tavern; and when the cold blasts of winter chilled the travel- lers through and through, how inviting must have been the red logs that burned on the hearth and the stock in trade of the genial proprietor.
On the dam beyond the mill looking from the tavern, was located the grist mill and the forge. With these thriving industries and with a gay and contented population, Fresh Meadows is a pleas-
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ant dream. The swamps in that region were prolific with huckleberries which the residents turned to good account, the men, women and chil- dren gathering them for the markets of Plymouth and New Bedford. Coming to meet the stage from all directions, the point where they gathered at the junction of the Charlotte Furnace road with Rochester road, came to be known as Huckle- berry Corner. Nathaniel Atwood occupied his old homestead later known as the Bates Place on the west side of Bates* pond; Eli Thomas and Ephraim Griffith tilled their farms up the Popes Point road; Joel Shurtleff and Caleb Atwood farmed their clearings up the Rochester road; William Washburn lived on his farm opposite the M. E. Church of later times, Deacon Asaph Wash- burn established his home beyond the river near Benson's bridge.
Reckoned from the standpoint of continued in- fluence, George Barrows and John Murdock were the pioneers of South Carver. Through marital connections Caleb Cushman, (whose wife was a daughter of George Barrows), established the Cushman farm about 1740; and later the Saverys were settled in the village through the Barrows girls. The Barrows property skirted the west shore of the pond and John Murdock held the claim to the land on the east side. The pond itself was lightly regarded, except for the fish it yielded and the grassy coves for their hay giving and pasturage qualities. Grassy Island was also used
*Bates' pond was called Atwood's pond at that time.
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as a pasture, being approached through a slough from the west shore. The old Barrows' home- stead stood at the junction of Mayflower road with Rochester road; the Murdock homestead was the farm on the east side of the pond, later known as the Israel Thomas farm; the Tillson farm was located about midway between Rochester road and Meadows road, in what is now known as New Meadows; and it is probable that the main high- way at that time passed the Tillson house, the Silas Shaw house, the Barrows house and the Murdock house and so on to the fishery at the outlet of the pond. Rochester road as we travel it, was laid out in 1698, but it is probable that the main travel south was on the east side of the pond, and the old roads leading to Halfway ponds and Agawam, show signs of having once been main travelled roads.
The success of Popes Point furnace, had fired the heart of Bartlett Murdock and through his agitation, operations towards the establishment of Charlotte Furnace were begun in 1760. The meadows south of the pond were dyked creating Furnace pond and flowing the coves and Grassy Island, for which annual damages were paid.
There were but few residents south of the pond at that time. The Seipets living on the Indian farm, hunted and tilled the land on which the village of South Carver stands ; Bartlett Murdock moved further south and laid the foundation for the Island Farm; David Shurtleff lived on his farm which proved to be his monument, going there- after by the name of The David Place; the Cush-
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THE BATES POND SCHOOL HOUSE Originally stood East of the MeFarlin Homestead
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mans were clearing their land; the Dunhams were farming up the Plymouth road and laying the foundation for Dunhamtown; the Bumpusses, Maxims and possibly others were scattered be- tween the pond and Tihonet. At the same time the Barrows family was settling the north side of the pond, and Martin Grady* was located in the woods in the direction of Wankinco. But the establishment of Charlotte Furnace laid the foundation for the village of South Carver, which went merrily on after the Revolution.
*Martin Grady's house and farm was the one later owned by Thomas Shaw, near Half-way house so called. Grady's pond thus acquired its name.
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THE SOUTH PRECINCT OF PLYMPTON
The western precinct of Plymouth, incorporated in 1698, included the hamlets of Colchester and Lakenham. The main settlements were clustered around Colchester brook and even Lakenham was only two miles away, South Meadows not being covered by the new society. But when Plympton was incorporated a few years later, it embraced all of the territory now included in the Town of Carver.
When the Plympton meeting house was built, it was located fairly in the centre of its supporters. When the settlers spread out over the South lands clearing farms in that large tract stretching towards Agawam and Rochester the meet- ing house was left far to one side, and in less than forty years from the incorporation of the New So- ciety an agitation for still another meeting house began to manifest itself based upon the same logic that induced the Western society to withdraw from the Plymouth church.
As this territory to the South grew in numbers and influence various compromises were offered to discourage the new meeting house proposition. In 1716 one fourth of the schoolmaster's time was spent at Lakenham and one fourth at South Meadows; and in 1731 the South was granted 20 pounds towards preaching in that vicinity the
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ensuing Winter. But the agitation grew - natural conditions favored it - while the breach between the old society and the embryo society gradually widened. Nothing stood in the way of an outbreak but the opportunity and this came when the town of Plympton voted salaries to two ministers. The venerable Cushman had worked his way into the affections of his people and no hints of dismissal are visible. But he was too old for active service. To control the situation the town voted him a small salary while the regular salary was voted Rev. Jonathan Parker recently ordained. And this furnished the mutineers with their opportunity.
At a special town meeting in May 1730, a pro- test against voting salaries to two ministers in one meeting house signed by 49 of the Southrons was filed with the moderator. Again at a meeting in November a stronger protest with 54 signatures was entered but the old society refused to yield. This protest shows a trace of the prevailing feel- ing: "We have done our duty in times past in supporting the minister here settled.
we look upon the circumstances of the case of Mr. Parker's call not agreeable to Scripture rule or the practice of Churches." The protest concludes with the statement that several of the subscribers have petitioned the Selectmen for a town meeting to "set us off either as a town or precinct."
The first impulse of the Southrons was for either a town or a precinct but the contest de- veloped a bitterness that rendered a compromise improbable. The old society was rigidly opposed
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to either at first, but as the breach between the sections widened, the North found it advisable to look with favor upon a separate precinct with a view to prevent the division of the town. The General Court accepted the petition which was promptly committeed and the old society went to work. At a special town meeting in June, 1732, a committee consisting of David Bosworth, Samuel Bradford and Joseph Thomas was instructed to establish the line setting off the proposed South Precinct; and a committee composed of Capt. Caleb Loring, Samuel Sturtevant and Joseph Thomas was sent to the General Court then in session to answer the petition of the South end people.
In September the committee to whom had been referred the petition visited Plympton, perambu- lated the proposed dividing line, and heard all interested parties. The committeemen un- doubtedly took a judicial view of the situation and their judgment was tempered with mercy. They decided upon a separate precinct and as the new precinct would take away one third of the ratable estates it should pay one third of Mr. Cushman's salary while he lived. Upon their own request the families of Edmund Tillson, Isaac Nye, Elisha Witton, Eleazer Cushman, Eleazer Rickard and Ephraim Tillson were to remain with the old so- ciety. The division line was practically the Plympton-Carver town line although several un- important changes have been made. The act in- corporating the Precinct passed its final stage November 16, 1732.
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Six of the freeholders of the new precinct im- mediately petitioned John Murdock of Plymouth, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, for a precinct meeting and the warrant addressed to Barnabas Shurtleff one of the petitioners sum- moned the new society in legal meeting Monday, December 18, 1732. At this meeting Barnabas Shurtleff was chosen Moderator, Joseph Lucas Clerk, and Capt. Barnabas Shurtleff, Richard Dwelly and Samuel Lucas, Precinct committee. At an adjourned meeting January 8, 1732, Capt. Shurtleff, John Murdock and Joseph Lucas were chosen Assessors, and Jabez Nye, Collector. Eighty pounds were raised for the support of the minister and Mrs. Mary Shaw was authorized to entertain the ministerial candidates at the ex- pense of the Precinct.
The bitterness engendered by the conflict be- tween the old and new precincts manifested itself for several years after the separation. At this first legal meeting of the new society it was voted not to pay the assessment against them for the salary of "Mr. Jonathan Parker." It was held by the debaters that they had agreed to pay one third of Mr. Cushman's salary but not that of Mr. Parker. The old society had the legal end of the argument as the assessment was due before the South Precinct was incorporated but there was a chip on the shoulder of the young society. Plympton appealed to the courts while the South Precinct voted to stand by their constable in re- sisting the assessment and Capt. Barnabas Shurt- leff was chosen to assist in the defence.
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SOUTH PRECINCT OF PLYMPTON
The precinct was unfortunate in its first min- istry. Not only was there constant turmoil with the common town but the relations between pastor and people were not pleasant. Which party was in the right does not appear at this day but it is probable that there was a lack of compromise on both sides that always leads to misunderstanding. The first salary was to be 80 pounds with an honorable support ever after so long as the min- ister remained with the society. In the first candi- date's answer to the call he said "an honorable support for myself and family should God give me one." This was indefinite and the freeholders debated. Should they bind themselves to support the minister's family as long as it lived? The candidate explained that he meant to be under- stood as saying as long as he remained their pastor and with this explanation the doubters were satisfied. They did not stop to consider what a world of varied construction was wrapped up in that innocent clause "an honorable support" and before they could get a separation from the first minister this question must be sifted by the courts.
At the adjourned meeting Benoni Shaw, John Witton and Samuel Jackson were constituted a committee to procure preachers until the Precinct was ready to give a call. In less than a month- February 15th - the voters were ready and the first call was given Rev. Othniel Campbell.
The ordination of a minister was an event of great import in that generation and the cere- monies attending the ordination of Rev. Mr.
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Campbell gave birth to the first general holiday of the South Precinct, June 2, 1733. Committees were appointed to entertain the ministers and other invited guests while ministers from Roches- ter, Plymouth, Kingston, Middleboro, Taunton, Raynham and Plympton lent the dignity of their presence. Samuel Shaw entertained the min- isters and their horses at the expense of the Pre- cinct.
Mr. Campbell's first salary was 80 pounds and this was gradually increased until in 1741 it had reached the highest limit - 160 pounds. In ad- dition to the salary he was sometimes granted extra remuneration whenever any unusual event occurred. In 1742 the salary was dropped to 40 pounds lawful money with an additional gift of five pounds "in consideration of the rise in things the past year." This sudden fall in the salary has no bearing on the relations between pastor and people but is entirely due to the general financial disarrangements of the Province.
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