USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Carver > History of the town of Carver, Massachusetts : historical review, 1637-1910 > Part 6
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SOUTH PRECINCT OF PLYMPTON
building was defeated, but by such a narrow mar- gin that it did not end the agitation. At the same meeting it was voted to enlarge the building and plans were adopted to carry the ordinance into effect.
The South Meadow people refused to abide by this verdict and they caused a special meeting to be called to act upon reconsideration. Some went so far as to demand a division of the Pre- cinct. While they lacked the strength to force a reconsideration they alarmed the old guard who, fearing a weak committee rescinded all previous orders and voted with a sweep "to take affairs in their own hands," and in this drastic manner the old building was enlarged, but against the loud protests of the Southrons.
The South Meadow people were so persistent in the matter that the friends of the Precinct de- cided it the part of wisdom to bring some pressure to bear that would end the agitation. Accord- ingly at a meeting in 1769 it was voted to leave the whole question to a disinterested committee composed of Capt. Josiah Snell of Bridgewater, Col. John Thomas of Kingston and Thomas May- hew, Esq., of Plymouth. The Arbitration Board thus constituted visited the Precinct, viewed the situation, heard all persons interested, and in September rendered its report. The report coun- selled unity but decided that the Cross Paths was not a proper place for a Meeting house. This report silenced the agitation for a while but it did not remove the cause and the same question came up two generations later in its old virile form.
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HISTORY OF CARVER
This temple stood for nearly a century and un- til it became in a condition unfit for public uses, while the financial condition of the Precinct coupled with the old dissatisfaction over the ques- tion of a location interposed serious barriers in the way of the erection of a new building.
The extreme South enders had erected a build- ing of their own, but as the Precinct had refused to use it according to the wishes of the Proprie- tors, these residents added their strength to that of the South Meadow people in the fight for the location of a new Precinct Meeting house.
Rev. John Shaw may be considered as the last of the ministers of the old regime and after he surrendered his charge the Precinct rapidly de- cayed. A serious attempt beginning in 1816 and ending in 1821, was made to get the fragments to- gether but to no purpose. The line of cleavage between the two societies was too marked and to add to the perplexities of the situation the Congre- gationalists were hopelessly divided on the ques- tion of location.
In 1816 the Precinct voted to demolish the old structure and build anew on the same site. This. was the olive branch held out by the old guard who really favored a site near the Green, but by way of a compromise this plan was suggested only to be rejected by the South Meadow people. Two weeks later all previous orders were reconsidered and a committee consisting of Ensign Barnabas Lucas, Capt. Joshua Cole and Nathan Cobb named to make an estimate of a new building. In Janu- ary following all votes were again reconsidered
THE SECOND CHURCH, BUILT 1823
After 1860 King Philip's Hall; Lower Floor used by Chandler Brothers- as Shoe Shop. Later remodeled for Screen House with Upper Story divided into Lodging Rooms for Employees
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SOUTH PRECINCT OF PLYMPTON
and the Precinct began anew by voting an assess- ment of one hundred and fifty dollars on the pew holders for the purpose of repairing the building. This action did not meet with success as the as- sessment was not collectable in those degenerate days of the Precinct. The friends of the Precinct gave up the struggle at this point and rested until 1819 when they voted to build a new Meeting house near the Green provided some one would con- tribute the lot, and in 1820 they voted uncon- ditionally to build a new Meeting house in the North end of the Precinct. While the vote ap- pears on the Precinct records it was not strictly speaking a Precinct move, and no serious effort was made to hold the Precinct to the contract. The South and Centre had retired from the com- pact forever and when the building was built it was financed by the Proprietors of the North Meeting house. The question of a location was not settled and no sooner had the plan started than the Congregationalists of the Centre united with the Baptists to build the Central Meeting house. This union between the two sects for the erection of the temple resulted in its common use for nearly fifty years or until the plan of its con- struction died a natural death through the death or neglect of the Proprietors.
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PLYMPTON IN THE REVOLUTION
In common with other Old Colony towns with one notable exception Plympton entered seriously into the problems that led to the Revolution. Not the least of the obstacles in the way of the execution of its work was the financial straits in which the town found itself, and how- ever heartily she may have desired to play her part in the great struggle she was hampered by circumstances beyond her control. But hers was no isolated case for it is a well known fact that the problem of financing the country through a seven years' destructive war transcended every other problem. The soldiers were ready but the means were lacking.
However, unless the cause went by default, the town must assist in caring for her soldiers, caring for their families, and providing its quota of beef and other necessities called for by orders of the Continental Congress. No sooner did the storm break than the country's money and credit vanished. Attempts to supply the deficiency by issuing paper met the fate expected for there was no permanent government and the fiat of the Con- tinental Congress died when the congress ad- journed. What wonder that the continental cur- rency, with its cable cut, soared away into a body- less myth? And how natural for people to use
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HISTORY OF CARVER
the term in measuring items of no conceivable value. So far did the currency soar that in one year the town of Plympton voted seventy-eight thousand pounds for war purposes, and for all practical purposes the appropriation may as well have been seventy-eight millions, for however easily the appropriation may have been made and the paper collected it was forever worthless. Committees were appointed to fix the ratio be- tween the new and old "emitions" and hard money. Sixty to one was easily written and pro- posed - not so easily sustained when one of the quantities compared was in hiding and the other uncontrollable. The Committees might as well have attempted to fix a ratio of velocity between Plymouth Rock and the East wind, and we may smile as we speculate on the feverish debates in town meeting upon the question of accepting the Committee's report, with a vote of non concur- rence. And so while we appreciate the sacrifices of the soldiers at the front we should not forget the sacrifices of those who stayed at home.
The townspeople shared the sentiment against the Stamp Act and assisted in the agitation for its repeal. Its representative in the General Court for 1765 was instructed to act with the rep- resentatives from Boston, believing that what Boston desired, Plympton should desire, and hav- ing full faith in the patriotism and judgment of the Boston leaders. The town voted promptly against paying anything from the Province treas- ury for damages sustained in the disturbances against the Stamp Act, while the matter of erect-
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PLYMPTON IN THE REVOLUTION
ing a monument in honor of the services of Pitt in securing the repeal of the obnoxious law it was content to leave at the discretion of the General Court.
Following the repeal of that law tariff taxes became the storm centre of the town's revo- lutionary spirit. Here again the Boston leaders were entrusted when it was voted unanimously to concur with the representatives from the town of Boston in the matter of boycotting certain im- ports and of promoting manufacturing in the Colony. In 1768 Capt. John Bradford was chosen as the town's representative to a convention in Faneuil hall "to take under consideration the dangerous situation we apprehend this Province is in." Gov. Bernard had dissolved the General Court at a time when the Colonists were appre- hensive of an attack from the French, and fearful of the loss, through British usurpation, of their civil and religious liberties.
In July, 1774, Capt. George Bryant, William Ripley, Dea. Samuel Lucas, Capt. Seth Cushing, Dea. Thomas Savery, Benjamin Shurtleff and Joseph Perkins were named as a committee to consider the alarming state of public affairs and report at a later meeting. This report indicates the seriousness with which the committee viewed the situation and their resolution to meet it firmly. The report says :
"In the first place we recommend unto all to be deeply humble before God under a deep sense of the many aggravated sins which abound in the land in this day of our calamity which is the
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HISTORY OF CARVER
fundamental cause of all the calamities that we feel or fear and repent and turn to God with our whole hearts. Then we may humbly hope that God will graciously be pleased to return unto us and appear for our deliverance and save us from the distress we are now laboring under and pre- vent larger calamities coming upon us.
We also recommend that the town by no means to be concerned in purchasing or consuming any goods imported from Great Britain after the first day of October next and until our grievances are removed, and with regard to entering into any combination respecting purchasing goods im- ported from Great Briton we humbly conceive it would be very improper to act anything of that nature until the result of Congress shall be made public and upon the report thereof we advise the town to be very active in pursuing the most regu- lar method in order to promote the good of the public and the flourishing state of the same."
The above committee with the addition of David Megone, James Harlow, John Bridgham, John Shaw, Isaiah Cushman and Isaac Churchill were continued to act upon the report of the Contin- ental Congress.
The struggle was on in earnest now and there shall be no turning back until we are freed from British power. Seriously and carefully but firmly the town stood by the provisions of the Congress and the proposals of the patriot leaders for furthering these ends. Families and friends must be separated, brothers may strike at each other from opposing sides in the bloody conflict,
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PLYMPTON IN THE REVOLUTION
for in the dark hour of war more emphatically than at any other time is fulfilled the saying of the prophets : "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." The out and out Tories departed and their lands were seized and rented for the benefit of the town treasury.
Another considerable faction with Tory learn- ings that could not go to the extent of forsaking property and associations whose voice was always on the side of regularity and who constantly scanned the cloudy horizon for the star of peace that would compromise the differences between crown and subject. When in 1775 the town voted to pay the Province tax to Henry Gardner of Stow instead of to the Province Treasurer these con- servatives called a special town meeting to act upon reconsideration. It is admitted that these conservatives had regularity on their side but the town had cast its lot in the vortex of revolution where precedent and regularity are abolished and by a large majority it refused to reconsider its revolutionary action.
In that tempestuous year of 1774, Plympton's representative in the General Court was in- structed to "do nothing that is inconsistent with our charter rights and privileges," but in case the Governor should adjourn the Court to Boston said representative must refuse to attend, unless the Governor would first remove the British soldiers from the town. Deacon Samuel Lucas was chosen as the town's representative to a Provincial con- gress at Concord.
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HISTORY OF CARVER
Early in 1776 a committee of six was named to solicit for the poor of Boston and Charlestown, and Capt. Seth Cushing was chosen representative to the General Court to be holden in Watertown. The following Committee of Safety, Correspond- ence and Refraction was chosen by the town: Thomas Savery, Thomas Loring, Jr., Isaiah Cush- man, Eleazer Crocker, Joshua Perkins and Ben- jamin Ward. And in these stirring pre-revolu- tionary days, the town of Plympton discounted the Continental Congress by forty-two days, de- claring for independence at a town meeting May 23d when, according to the records of the town clerk, "voted unanimously independence of Great Briton," and caused the Selectmen to take a spe- cial oath to take a full account of the number of the inhabitants of this town agreeable to the order of the Continental Congress.
In the last years of the war the town had to exert itself to fill its quotas, and the calls were provided in town meetings. Years of hardships, financial discouragements and uncertainties, had made enlisting hazardous, but the town found a way to hold its own and its quotas were always provided for. It is fair to state that the total enlistments, including re-enlistments from the town during the war equalled one-third of the population. The olive branch was never held out to the Tories. In 1783 it was voted "not to re- ceive any of the Refugees which had fled to the enemy for protection into this town," and to em- phasize the vote it was voted to hire out their lands and turn the rentals into the town treasury.
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Built 1859
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PLYMPTON IN THE REVOLUTION
The town sent two representatives to the con- vention that framed the Constitution of 1780. The representatives made their report, but the records are silent as to any final action. It is probable that there was difference of opinion as to the merits of the instrument which was compromised by delay. In 1780 the following committees were chosen to report at a subsequent town meeting, work and places of service of the various soldiers who had served in the revolutionary army from Plympton :
For Capt. Sampson's company: Isaiah Cush- man, Isaac Churchill, Sylvanus Bartlett.
For Capt. Harlow's company : Timothy Ripley, Dr. Dean, Benjamin Cushman.
For Capt. Shaw's company: Nehemiah Cobb, Eleazer Crocker, Deacon Lucas.
For Capt. Hammond's company: Joseph Bar- rows, Benjamin Ward.
It is known that these committees performed the work assigned them and made a full report to the town. The report was not recorded nor does it appear that it was formally adopted. Such a paper would have been of great assistance in the matter of securing pensions for the veterans, and from the historical standpoint the loss is irre- parable. Why the paper was not recorded may be a matter of conjecture, but upon this point Lewis Bradford* speaks plainly, using the word "embezzled" to express his indignation.
*Lewis Bradford was town clerk of Plympton from 1812 to 1851. His records are replete with historical sketches, genealogical items, and explanations, making the town records of Plympton unique and instructive from the historical standpoint.
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HISTORY OF CARVER.
Marshfield was the one point in the Old Colony where Tory sentiment predominated, and had the fortunes of war elected that the initial battle of the Revolution should be fought among these hills, it is evident the Red Coats would have met with a reception even more vehement than they experi- enced on Lexington green. When the report that a detachment had been sent from Boston to rein- force the Crown sympathizers in the neighboring town spread, the military spirit of the Old Colony awoke and there was consequently much excite- ment in this region, and on the very day that the patriots of Concord and Lexington were "firing the shot heard 'round the world," nearly two hun- dred fellow patriots of Plympton were hurrying across the country to fire a similar shot in Marsh- field. So large a force marching out of so sparsely settled a community reads more like a crusade than a military uprising, and in so unanimous a cause the farmer's wives and daugh- ters must have watched the proceedings with in- tense interest.
There are obstacles in the way of obtaining a complete and reliable list of the soldiers that fought in that war for the credit of Plympton and a more or less indefinite list must necessarily fol- low. The town records are silent in the matter, and there is danger of mistakes from both sides of the reckoning in making up the list from the pay rolls on file. The fact that a roll was sworn to in Plympton, may not be prima facie evidence that the soldiers were invariably Plympton sol-
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PLYMPTON IN THE REVOLUTION
diers, and on the contrary the town may have had soldiers whose names are lost in the unsystematic methods of recording. Often a name appears on the rolls many times and it is not always easy to determine whether it is a repetition of the same person, or a record of two or more soldiers by the same name.
Companies were raised in Plymouth County and it is fair to assume, that these embraced Plympton soldiers. In justification of this, many names appear on these unidentified rolls-names that sound familiar-but with nothing to identify them they must be omitted from the list.
There were Plympton* men in at least five military companies at the breaking out of hostili- ties, and these companies after the march to Marshfield, were reorganized and continued in the militia during the war. The army was often recruited from the ranks of the militia, detach- ments, and sometimes the whole company being detached to reinforce the Continental army
*Deborah Sampson, while not in the service to the credit of her native town for well-known reasons, has earned a place in Plympton's story of the Revolution. She was born Dec. 17, 1760, a descendant of Governor Bradford, Myles Standish and John Alden. In the latter years of the war, dressed in male attire, she enlisted at Bellingham for the credit of the town of Uxbridge under the name of Robert Shurtleff. She was severely wounded, in 1782, but succeeded in hiding her identity; but, being stricken the following year with a fever, she was sent to a hospital in Philadelphia, where her physician discovered her sex and caused her discharge. By a special provision her name was added to the pension list, and after her death the pension went to her husband, Benjamin Gannett, as a "soldier's widow." She was specially honored by the state and nation.
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HISTORY OF CARVER
temporarily, to be returned to the ranks of the militia after the crisis had passed.
The following commissioned officers were in the service at various times during the Revolutionary conflict :
Capt. William Atwood: Marched with his company to Marshfield.
Capt. John Bradford: Marched with his com- pany to Marshfield; continued in the militia as Captain in 1775 and 1776, serving as Continental agent.
Capt. John Bridgham: Marched with his com- pany to Marshfield; Captain in the militia in 1775, and in Capt. Cotton's company in Rhode Island in 177,8.
Capt. George Hammond: Private in Capt. Shaw's company at Marshfield; commissioned as Captain of the militia in 1776 and serving until 1778.
Capt. Thomas Samson: Sergt. in Capt. Brad- ford's company at Marshfield; ensign in the militia in 1775; Captain of a company of militia 1776; marched with his company to Bristol, R. I., on an alarm December, 1776; went on a secret ex- pedition against Newport, R. I., September- October, 1777; Captain in the militia 1778; in command of a company in Rhode Island in 1781 three days.
Capt. Nathaniel Shaw: Marched with his com- pany to Marshfield; in the militia 1776; marched with his company to Bristol, R. I., on an alarm December, 1776; also Captain in the militia 1778.
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PLYMPTON IN THE REVOLUTION
Lieut. Elijah Bisbee, Jr .: Sergt. in Capt. Lor- ing's company at Marshfield; Lieutenant in Capt. Ebenezer Washburn's company in Rhode Island 1776; in command of Capt. James Harlow's com- pany at Bristol, R. I., 1777; at Castle Island 1778.
Lieut. Nehemiah Cobb: Lieutenant in Capt. Bridgham's company at Marshfield; Lieutenant in militia 1775 to 1780; in detachment to rein- force Continental army in Rhode Island in 1780 three months.
Lieut. Joseph Cole: Private in Capt. Shaw's company at Marshfield; commissioned Lieutenant 1776; Second Lieutenant with Lieut. Frances Shurtleff at Bristol; in Capt. Sampson's company secret expedition against Newport; Second Lieu- tenant, Capt. Ebenezer Washburn's company 1778.
Lieut. Joshua Loring: Sergeant and ensign 1776-77-78; commissioned Lieutenant May 1779; in Capt. Jacob Haskins' company 1779-80.
Lieut. Joshua Perkins: Sergeant in Capt. Shaw's company at Marshfield; commissioned Lieutenant 1776, Capt. George Hammond's com- pany; in command of a detachment from the com- pany that was sent to Bristol, R. I. on an alarm in March 1777; Lieutenant in Capt. Hammond's company in 1778; also in Capt. Calvin Partridge's company stationed at Dorchester Heights 1778.
Lieut. Zephaniah Perkins : Lieutenant in Capt. Thomas Samson's company in 1776; also Lieu- tenant in same company at Bristol, 1776 and 1778.
Lieut. John Shaw: Sergeant in Capt. At- wood's company at Marshfield; Second Lieuten-
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HISTORY OF CARVER
ant in Capt. George Hammond's company 1776; Second Lieutenant in Capt. Shaw's company at Bristol 1776, and in Capt. Hammond's company 1778.
Lieut. Frances Shurtleff : Lieutenant in Capt. Shaw's company 1776; in command of a detach- ment that was sent to Bristol, R. I. on an alarm, December, 1776; Lieutenant in Capt. Shaw's com- pany 1778.
Lieut. Silas Sturtevant: Second Lieutenant in Capt. Thomas Samson's company, commissioned 1778; Lieutenant in Capt. Samson's company in Rhode Island 1781.
Lieut. Job Weston: Sergeant, Capt. Loring's company Marshfield; Second Lieutenant, Capt. James Harlow's company 1776; commissioned 1776, Second Lieutenant of Capt. James Harlow's company commanded by Lieut. Elijah Bisbee, Jr., Bristol 1776; Third Lieutenant, Capt. Samson's company secret expedition against Newport; Second Lieutenant, Capt. James Harlow's com- pany 1778; Lieutenant, Capt. Jesse Sturtevant's company detached from militia to reinforce Con- tinental army three months in Rhode Island 1780.
Those whose service was limited to the march to Marshfield :
Capt. William Atwood Salathiel Bumpus
Sergt. Joseph Atwood
Rowland Hammond
Nathaniel Atwood Bartlett Murdock
2nd Lieut. Joseph Barrows Thomas Muxam
Corp. Simmons Barrows
Gideon Perkins
Jonathan Barrows
Robert Sturtevant
Benjamin Benson
PLYMPTON IN THE REVOLUTION
103
Capt. Thomas Loring Ensign Ignatius Loring Sergt. James Churchill James Bishop, Jr. Nathaniel Bonney, Jr. Ebenezer Bonney Noah Bosworth
Abner Hall Thomas Harlow Job Holmes Job Holmes, Jr. Joshua Loring Josiah Perkins, Jr. Luke Perkins
Winslow Bradford
Nathaniel Pratt, Jr.
Ephraim Bryant
Jonathan Rickard
Nathaniel Rider
Joseph Bryant Joshua Bryant
Joseph Ripley
Isaac Churchill, Jr.
Josiah Ripley
Isaac Churchill, 3d
Timothy Ripley, Jr.
John Churchill
Henry Samson
Nathaniel Churchill
Noah Sturtevant
Elkanah Cushman, Jr.
Zadok Weston
Isaiah Cushman, Jr.
Elisha Whitten, Jr.
Samuel Cushman
Adam Wright
Thomas Cushman
Benjamin Wright
(In Capt. Bradford's company).
Corp. Issacher Bisbee
Heman Crocker
Sylvanus Bartlett
Isaac Cushman
Nathaniel Churchill
Joel Ellis
Stephen Churchill
(In Capt. Bridgham's company).
Sergt. Bartlett Murdock
Daniel Pratt
Ephraim Griffith
Eleazer Robbins
Simeon Holmes
John Shaw
Joseph Lucas
David Wood
(In Capt. Shaw's company).
Sergt. Eleazer Crocker
Caleb Atwood
Sergt. Elisha Lucas
John Atwood
Corp. Eleazer Rickard, Jr.
James Doten
Drummer Isaiah Tillson
Sylvanus Dunham
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HISTORY OF CARVER
Daniel Faunce
John Shurtleff
Nehemiah Lucas
Edward Stevens, Jr.
John Rickard
John Stevens
Benjamin Shaw
Daniel Vaughan, Jr.
Benjamin Shaw, Jr.
Joseph Vaughan
Jonathan Shaw
David Wood
Those whose service was limited to the detach- ment under Lieut. Frances Shurtleff to Bristol, R. I., in December, 1776:
Sergt. Consider Chase Nehemiah Cobb
Sergt. Timothy Cobb
David Ransom, Jr.
Those whose service was limited to Capt. Thomas Samson's company that marched to Bris- tol, R. I., in 1776 :
Drum. Shadrach Standish Isaac Loring
John Bradford James Magoon
John Churchill Asaph Soule
Those whose service was limited to the march to Bristol, R. I., under Lieut. Elijah Bisbee, Jr., in 1777:
Sergt. Joel Ellis, Jr. Elisha Whitton
Joshua Loring Joseph Wright
Corp. Nathaniel Sherman Samuel Wright, 2nd
Those whose service was limited to the detach- ment under Lieut. Joshua Perkins, which went to Bristol, R. I., in 1777 :
Sergt. Joseph Barrows Ellis Griffith
Corp. Simeon Barrows Bartlett Murdock
Those whose services was limited to Capt. Sam- son's secret expedition against Newport in 1777 : Isaac Bisbee Samuel Bradford
Jonathan Barrows Benjamin Ransom
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PLYMPTON IN THE REVOLUTION
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