USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Carver > History of the town of Carver, Massachusetts : historical review, 1637-1910 > Part 9
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By 1805 the poor problem had become such a burdensome one in the opinion of the voters that the Selectmen were instructed to collect all of the Town wards, bring them into Town immediately and buy or build a house for them at the lowest possible cost. Nothing came of this vote, how- ever and ten years later another effort was made towards a more centralized and economical sys- tem. At the regular March meeting it was voted to postpone the sale of the poor until May. A system developed so rapidly that at the May meeting a committee composed of Samuel Shaw, Thomas Hammond and Hezekiah Cole was named to find a place where the poor could be gathered and to estimate the cost. As a result of the deliberations of this committee its chairman, Shaw, agreed to take the poor at his house. The offer was accepted and Samuel Shaw became keeper of the town's poor, a position he held for ten years. Shaw owned a large farm between the Quitticus road and Cedar brook, residing in a house near the brook and keeping the poor in another of his houses which stood on the corner of Rochester road and Quitticus road. During this decade the poor were well cared for and un-
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH-BUILT 1824 Centre of Old Home Meetings
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THE SECOND SEPARATION
der the supervision were kept at work as far as their strength and competency would admit. Making cloth for the town from flax purchased by the agent formed a good part of their labors.
In 1826 the salable paupers were again sold at auction while the undesirable ones were left in the hands of the Selectmen. This old system had not come to stay, for the following year the Select- men were instructed to see what they could buy a small farm for and in 1829 the town voted to build a poor house and Thomas Cobb and Jonathan Atwood was the committee to select the site and contract for the building. The com- mittee followed their frugal instincts so closely, no doubt urged by the town vote to buy a "small building" that the building proved too small and after a year's experiment it was discarded and the poor again fell to the care of the Selectmen. This first poor houset owned by the Town stood on the corner of Rochester road and the road that leads to Beaver Dam road and after several fruitless efforts to remodel it, it was placed upon the market where it remained for nearly twenty years before a purchaser was found. In 1841 the Selectmen recommended trading it for the Winslow Wright farm,* but their proposition did not receive the approval of the town.
tThe poor were first gathered in a house owned by Samuel Shaw, which stood on the site of the residence of E. E. Shaw. The first poor house stood on the site of the residence of Mrs. P. J. Barrows, and which was burned.
*The Winslow Wright farm, was that now owned by James P. Kennedy.
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In 1840 the novel plan of selling the poor singly and then setting them up in a body with the understanding that if the bid in a lump was less than the aggregate of single bids, the bidder of the lump should be accepted. Under this ex- periment Thomas Hammond was the successful bidder for the lump sum of $471. Financially his speculation was not a success and he was subse- quently granted an additional fifty dollars.
In 1843 the Selectmen were instructed to view the farms in town that were for sale, but owing to sectional feeling over the location no agree- ment was made. Two years later Jonathan Atwood, Eliab Ward, Ebenezer Cobb, Asaph Atwood and Henry Sherman were constituted a committee with authority to purchase a poor farm and as a result of their labors the last poor farm came into the possession of the town. This farm was bought of Capt. Joseph Holmes but it was known as the Deacon Savery place, being the former residence of the town's first Selectman, Thomas Savery.
A share of the dissatisfaction of the poor management of the early times arose from a lack of centralized agencies. A Board of Over- seers was chosen in 1838 and again in 1845 but the method at that time did not touch the popu- lar favor and permanent Boards were not elected until 1852. Since that year the Almshouse under the management of the Overseers has been the unquestioned system governing the poor depart- ment.
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In the march of events the dawn of the 20th century found almshouses as conducted in small towns out of favor. Still more centralized pos- sibilities are hinted at as public sentiment ad- vances and country poor houses may be con- sidered a thing of the past. Consequently there is no agitation looking towards replacing the house burned in 1909 and it is probable that a better system will be developed from the un- scientific methods now in vogue in this humani- tarian branch of municipal government.
A provision for education, meagre as it may seem to us, was among the early duties of New England town fathers. At first the limit of ef- forts consisted in a vote in Town meeting in- structing the Selectmen to hire a school master. The labor of the master was mainly during the Winter months and there was no minimum or maximum limit to the age of his pupils. School houses and books were not provided, and the seeker for "learning" was expected to interest himself or herself to the extent of procuring books and of finding a place where the school might be held in session provided there were pupils enough to render it necessary. From this beginning developed the District School system which was well under way at the time the town was incorporated, the Districts having been or- ganized under the direction of the Precinct.
The initial move of the Town of Plympton for a school was at a town meeting in 1708 when the freeholders voted to have a school and instructed their Selectmen to hire a school master.
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HISTORY OF CARVER
Two schools were established at that time, one at Colchester and one at Lakenham, but in 1716 the master was authorized to spend one fourth of his time at Lakenham and one fourth at South. Meadows. By this it appears that one half of the school money was devoted to the South which at the time had established two schools.
In 1734-5 the South Precinct (recently incor- porated) was exempt from a school tax provided it maintain a school of its own, and by 1755 while the town voted to have a school in each Parish the South Precinct was left to control its own, Samuel Shaw being the authorized agent to hire a master, and Capt. Barnabas Shurtleff, Dea. Crocker and Samuel Shaw constituted a com- mittee to "model" the Districts in the South. This may be considered the basis of our school system.
There were three Districts at that time, Laken- ham, Popes Point and South Meadows, Dea. Crocker representing the first District, Capt. Shurtleff the second and Samuel Shaw the third. At the time Carver was incorporated three dis- tricts more had been carved out of the Precinct and at a town meeting in November, 1790, Benja- min Crocker, Consider Chase, Samuel Lucas 3d, Capt. William Atwood, Benjamin White and Caleb Atwood were named as a committee to re- model the school Districts in town and apportion the money. In 1802 a seventh District was es- tablished known as the Federal District and made up of the families residing around the Federal Furnace, and in 1851 the Western part of District
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No. 4 was set off as a separate District No. 8. With occasionally voting a family from one Dis- trict to another, and a general vote in 1843 an- nexing the Federal District to No. 4 and the "Snappit" District to No. 1, these Districts con- tinued up to the time the District system was abolished. After the two Districts named were merged Summer schools were maintained at Federal and Snappit, those old districts drawing their proportional part of the school funds for Summer schools while scholars over eight years of age attended other schools in Winter.
The town's authority in the school was an agent elected in town meeting from the District, but the schools were in the control of the patrons of the school who resided in the District, and in some of the last years of the system the town showed its hostility to the growing sentiment in the direction of town control by voting to permit each District to elect its own agent. Each Dis- trict built and paid for its own school house, the management of the schools was in the hands of District officers, and resenting the approaching town control it was frequently voted "that the Prudential Committee be the School Committee required by law."
There were various plans of dividing the school money which was raised in a lump sum and assessed by the town Assessors. At first it was divided according to the polls and estates in each District. Later is was divided according to the number of scholars in each District, and as the battle between the advocates of the Town and
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HISTORY OF CARVER
the District systems waged hotter the town showed its colors by voting that each District should draw all the school money paid into the town treasury within its limits.
For several years after the town's incorpora- tion there were but two school houses within the municipality Districts 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 holding their schools in private buildings. The first building in the Lakenham District stood directly south of the Green; the second building was built in 1849 and used until the present school house was opened in 1903. The original Popes Point school house stood on the east side of the river a short distance west of the residence of George W. Atwood; the building now in use was erected on its present site in 1854. The first building in the Center District stood opposite the residence of Mrs. Maria Y. Shurtleff and used until the present Primary school house was erected in 1850. The old school house of South Carver stood near the Indian land east of the brook. Upon the secession of the western section form- ing District No. 8 the old building was discon- tinued and the present school house erected which was opened for school purposes in 1852. The first building in Wenham stood opposite the pres- ent school house which was built in 1855. "Snap- pit," once a populous village, erected its first school house on Snappit Green; the second build- ing built about 1850 was moved to North Carver in 1880 and fitted for a Grammar school. Federal District never had a school house; the original building in District No. 8 stood east of the
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residence of Capt. William S. McFarlin which was moved to its present location near Bates Pond in 1900. In 1890 a small school house was built near East Head bogs but owing to the vacilating population of that section it was in use but a few years.
In addition to the public schools there were private schools in operation in the southern sec- tion of the town in the first half of the nineteenth century conducted only during the summer months and supported by private subscriptions. The school was first held in the South Meeting house, the front seats being used. Later a small building was erected where afterwards stood the blacksmith shop of Ellis Maxim, and in 1833 through the efforts of John Savery and Ezra Thompson a school building for summer use was erected on the Ridge near the Israel Thomas place. This was in use but a few years. It is a significant fact that the total annual enrollment has not materially varied since the town was in- corporated.
The High school was established in 1897, hold- ing its sessions in the Town Hall until the High school building was erected in 1899.
The first town appropriation for schools was thirty pounds, equal in the exchange of the times to two hundred dollars. This annual allowance was annually increased until it reached eleven hundred dollars when the system was abolished in 1869.
In considering the appropriations up to this point it is essential to remember that the system
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of "boarding around" was in vogue, the teachers being compelled to board a proportional time with each patron of the school. The teacher whose lot was cast under this regime could tell entertaining stories of her experience, and while it may seem something like a hardship the teacher could get an insight into the nature and require- ments of the pupils which the modern trained educator looks upon as a thing beneath her dig- nity.
The leading citizens of the town were unalter- ably wedded to their system, and as the statute required a vote on its abolition once in three years beginning with 1859 the matter was one of continual agitation. In 1863, 1866 and 1869 at the regular March meetings the friends of the system easily prevailed; but at a special meeting in May, 1869, the majority voted to submit to the inevitable and a committee composed of Thomas Cobb, John Bent, John Shaw, Jesse Murdock, H. A. Lucas, Frederick Cobb and Andrew Griffith was elected to appraise the several school build- ings in town. An effort to reconsider was made at a meeting June 20th, called upon petition of George P. Bowers and twelve others but the ma- jority refused to recede.
Among the opponents of the change who fought to the end was William Savery. Believing the cause of education would be injured in passing the control of the children and the schools into alien hands he stubbornly resisted the change. Mr. Savery had taken an interest in the schools in many ways. He furnished a large bell for his
THE HAMMOND HOMESTEAD At Wenham
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own school District; he had presented each Dis- trict in town with a library of forty-two volumes each; and for several years he had added one hun- dred dollars annually to the town's school appro- priation. Benjamin Ellis and E. Tillson Pratt were also interested in the schools to the extent of leaving substantial endowments for their en- couragement.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
Evidently the remorse over the evils of intem- perance was not marked enough in the eighteenth century to make any impression on public senti- ment. Certainly late in said group of years the remorse was not of such a type as to interfere with a society of meeting house promoters which voted to provide ardent spirits, not only for those who were to do the tugging and sweating at the raising of their structure, but to those who at- tended in their capacity as curiosity seekers, and "liquor sufficient for them all" is written boldly in the records.
Then again it is evident that here and there, some lonely soul condemned to serve its proba- tion in advance of its time was the target of wise remonstrance or biting sarcasm as perchance it ventured to suggest that it was not the part of wisdom for one to get crosslegged in body and mind often enough to hazard his dependents on the public charge. And this sentiment grew little by little until it produced a revolution in public sentiment and the anti-tipplers became the dominant force.
This town seems to have been afflicted with the evil early and hard. Its taverns, located about midway between the rum importing towns of New Bedford and Plymouth with stages making
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HISTORY OF CARVER
their periodical stops; its furnace stores making a specialty of rum and molasses; and with its merchants* with an eye ever out for business looked after the supply. And the furnacemen subjected to extremes of heat and cold, with ample spare time and a constant credit gave a back ground for the demand.
And so the tavern became the centre of the evil on which the invaders trained their artillery. Around these taverns were centred the excite- ment, the society, the loafers, for no where else was the opportunity. And there was the news, for there were no newspapers and the only mails came lumbering along in the stages. A letter from New York was marked twenty five cents due and precious glad was the recipient to pay the price, for it was a rare treat to hear from such a remote point of creation. And then if a well-to-do spendthrift happened to be a passenger on the stage he would be sure to stop to warm his frost bitten fingers and incidentally stand treat for the house, and it would be little less than a mis- fortune to be reckoned among the absentees. For these reasons, and others unmentioned, the loaf- ers and the news seekers and the smoke-after-sup- per furnacemen felt it a duty to be at the tavern
*Benjamin Ellis and Skipper John Bent were rivals in the iron trade, rum trade, etc. Ellis was eminently successful, but Bent failed to land, hence looked upon his rival with suspicions. Meet- ing at a town meeting when the agitation against rum selling was at its height, Ellis accosted Bent in this bantering way: "What do you say Skipper? The ministers say they are going to send us
to - for selling rum. What do you say to that?" The Skipper improved his opportunity with his piping answer. don't believe they can do that. But they may send some of us there for mixing too much of Sampsons pond water with it."
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every night and the sounds of revelry made their mark ultimately upon the public conscience.
Thus it comes to pass that when we look back to that tide called temperance movement which assumed shape and motion about eighteen hun- dred and twenty five, the old tavern lit up with its glowing fires and merry with its jostling joking loafers breaks upon our vision with the glare of a noonday sun.
That there was just cause for the movement does not admit of contradiction; that public senti- ment laid dormant so long invites comment. Drunkenness everywhere, pauperism on the in- crease, farms passing to the store keepers, even at funerals the inebriety of those in official capacities shocked the sensibilities of the mourn- ers. And so we do not marvel that when the un- lucky number had been reeled off of the nineteenth century the voters in town meeting assembled, with no opposition on record, decided "to have a stroke in the warrant for the May meeting for taking up rum."
The State had taken hold of the subject with its legislation when in 1825 the Selectmen of Car- ver were instructed to use their influence for the suppression of the evils of intemperance in town according to law; and two years later Ezra Thompson, Samuel Shaw and Thomas Adams were constituted a committee to enforce the laws relating to Taverners and Retailers. In their re- port the committee says :
"Your committee have viewed with grief the increased progress of dissipation in the town of
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Carver and feel anxious that some arrangement might be made which will come within the limit of the authority of the town to check the progress of that evil which in our opinion is the principle cause of the multiplied crime and poverty which the inhabitants of the town are becoming noted for, and your committee are of the opinion that these evils are promoted by a want of due ob- servance of the laws by the licensed houses and stores in town."
As a step towards the solution of the problem the committee recommended :
First.
That a committee of three be chosen by bal- lot to act with the Selectmen in posting in the licensed places the names of those who are known to be notoriously intemperate.
Second.
That a committee of seven be elected to be known as a Committee of observation to make a note of every violation of the laws and re- port to the Selectmen.
Third.
The Selectmen to take cognizance of such complaints and when proved to annul the license and commence action against said parties.
These recommendations were accepted by the town and for the first committee, those making the suggestions were named. The committee of observation was composed of Dea. Levi Vaughan, Jonathan Atwood, Thomas Hammond, Joseph
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THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
Barrows, Lieut. John Shaw, Levi Sherman and Ebenezer Dunham.
While these committees may be assumed to have worked with determination along the lines mapped out, the evils of intemperance did not dis- appear, if in fact there was any visible cessation.
In 1829 John Savery took up the problem in a special town meeting. As a result of his efforts an inquisition was named composed of Benjamin Ellis, Ezra Thompson, Jesse Murdock, Lot Shurtleff, Jonathan Atwood, Capt. Samuel Shaw, Alvin Vaughan, Capt. Thomas Cobb, Capt. Levi Vaughan, Levi Sherman, Benjamin Ransom, John Savery and Lewis Pratt. The prescribed duties of the inquisition were to watch over the habits of their fellow townsmen and if in their judgment any were found spending too much of their time around the taverns a report signed by any three of the committee brought the matter to the attention of the Selectmen. The time of this method was brief but it was the means of plac- ing several under guardianship and out of the reach of the greedy retailer.
In 1832 the Selectmen were under instructions to post the names of those "who were misspend- ing their time and property by the excessive use of intoxicating liquors," and Rufus Sherman, Samuel Briggs, Lot Shurtleff, Thomas Maxim, John S. Lucas, Isaac Dunham and Ebenezer Dunham, constituted a standing committee for the prosecution of illegal liquor sellers.
This first outbreak of the temperance move- ment failed to eradicate the evils of intemperance
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HISTORY OF CARVER
and the first promoters became disheartened. There naturally came a lull in the efforts while the need of corrective steps did not abate. The efforts of those who were recorded against the evil were centered in efforts to enforce the laws against illegal sales, until 1856 when an attempt was made to regulate the traffic by the adoption of the Town agency plan.
According to his bond the agent was to sell "to be used in the arts, and for mechanical, chemical and medicinary purposes and for no other." Very little was called for in the arts, or for me- chanical or chemical purposes, but the records show that it was used liberally for medicinal pur- poses. With few exceptions the 8,500 sales re- corded while the plan was in vogue were for medicine. A well known resident who had served the town in various public capacities headed the list May 28, 1856, with one gallon of gin and one gallon of New England rum for medicinal pur- poses.
The agency was continued nearly twenty years but it failed to eradicate the evils of intemper- ance; and this fate reached also the State pro- hibitory law that followed and the local option rule of later days.
Working outside of the channels of legislation, and on moral suasion lines, have been instituted several temperance societies.
Wankinquoah Division, No. 135, Sons of Tem- perance, was organized Nov. 3, 1859, in Bay State hall with the following charter members :
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
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THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
William S. McFarlin, John Murdock, Benjamin Harlow, Elisha M. Dunham, Hiram O. Tillson, Andrew Griffith, Ephraim Griffith, Isaac Harlow, Simeon Harlow, Joseph T. McFarlin, Solomon F. McFarlin, Joseph T. Shurtleff, Alonzo Shaw, Lucian T. Hammond, William Hammond and Jason Atwood. These ladies were also initiated as visitors : Mrs. Mary A. Murdock, Mrs. Nancy B. Perkins, and Misses Eliza Shaw, Amelia Sher- man, Harriet Atwood, Lucretia McFarlin, Mercy J. McFarlin, Lydia Atwood, Deborah Bumpus, Hannah Tillson, Helen Griffith, Eliza Ellis, Mary E. Shaw, Harriet Tillson, Lois Smith, Hannah Smith, Elizabeth Maxim, Elizabeth Shaw, Lydia Shaw, Melissa Atwood and Carrie B. Griffith. This order continued in active operation until the surrender of its charter, Oct. 10, 1872.
Five years later Echo Lake Lodge, I. O. G. T., was organized in the same hall with the following charter members: William S. McFarlin, Alfred C. Covill, Lucie H. Gill, Lizzie Leach, Ella Lovell, T. T. Vaughan, Edward Vaughan, J. A. Vaughan, Eben Crowell, Bell Faulkner, Nannie Douglass, Emma Blake, Frank Case, Charles Sherman, Laura Shaw, Ella Sears, William Miller, C. F. Tillson, Elmer Shaw and Emma Souther. The charter of this society was surrendered in 1881.
Winthrop Lodge, I. O. G. T., No. 247 was or- ganized in Winthrop hall, Oct. 28, 1889, with charter members as follows: William S. McFar- lin, Nelson F. Manter, Thomas P. Manter, James E. Brett, Ira B. Bumpus, Zelotus K. Eldredge,
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Albert F. Atwood, Jason B. McFarlin, John B. McFarlin, Silvanus L. Brett, Hannah A. Brett, M. Elvira Briggs, Lizzie M. Schouler, Z. W. Andrews, Emma F. Manter, Amanda J. Adams, Ella F. Manter, Sarah J. Swift, Ida M. Tillson, Mabel M. McFarlin, Nellie W. Shaw, Edward C. Shaw and Hannah W. Atwood. The efforts of this society resulted in the building of Good Templars hall.
The Carver W. C. T. U. was organized April 14, 1893 with twenty five members. Mrs. Mary Tobey was the first President; Mrs. Dessie Vaughan, Secretary and Mrs. L. C. Vaughan, Treasurer. April 26th of the same year the Car- ver L. T. L. was organized with Mrs. P. Jane Bar- rows as President.
The South Carver W. C. T. U. was organized Feb. 26, 1884, with Mrs. D. M. Bates, President, and Mrs. John S. Cartee, Secretary.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH
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