USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Freetown > History of the town of Freetown, Massachusetts : with an account of the Old Home Festival, July 30th, 1902 > Part 16
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
The records of the society show that up to and includ- ing the meeting of June 7, 1841, about one hundred and fifty persons, male and female, had signed the pledge and become members of the organization. There is nothing to show just when this society was disbanded, but there is no doubt that it was in existence some years after the above date. There is convincing proof in the records that there were several earnest, consistent and fearless advo- cates of the temperance cause connected with this society. The caustic resolutions, that they from time to time in- troduced and advocated, tended at least to make some of the meetings of the society quite exciting, and to demon- strate just how far some temperance advocates were will- ing to go in furtherance of the temperance cause when it came to choosing between it and personal or political interests. From the start reported violations of their pledge by members of the society gave numerous special investigating committees much work to do, and caused more or less friction in the society. Often these reports were started by enemies of the temperance movement, and were not only proved to be false but also quite mali- cious. Some members however humbly acknowledged their delinquency, expressed their regret and asked to be retained as members of the society, promising to do better in the future. Others unblushingly pleaded guilty and asked to have their names blotted from the pledge and from the roll of membership. It may be said that some of the latter continued the immoderate use of intoxicants
239
as long as they lived. In the winter of 1840 the society appointed several committees whose duty it was to hold temperance meeting in the different districts of the town including Ashley's, Braley's, Mason's and the Furnace districts. These meetings were continued during the winter of 1841 and perhaps later. In 1841 a special com- mittee reported that there were at least six grog shops in the town. Three of the offenders who were located in the eastern part of the town were prosecuted by a committee appointed by the society for that purpose. Two convic- tions were obtained. The other offenders promised to stop selling liquor if not prosecuted for their past misdeeds.
In the winter of 1840 a Youths' Temperance Society was formed at Assonet with Lorenzo D. Lawton, President, and Simeon Burt, Secretary. This society was very active during the winter and spring, holding weekly meetings which were largely attended by both young and old. The two societies joined in celebrating the 4th of July, 1841, which proved to be a red-letter day for the temperance people of Assonet. Nathaniel Collier of Boston, a re- formed inebriate, was the principal speaker. The first gathering was held in the North church which was filled from floor to galleries. At the close of this meeting the audience formed in procession and marched to music with temperance motto banners flying to a grove where more than three hundred persons partook of a bountiful collation provided by the ladies of the village. Henry L. Deane, a distinguished vocalist of Taunton, also took part in the exercises of the day.
Among the active members of the Assonet Temper- ance Society other than those already named may be men- tioned : Thomas Andros, Jr., Augustus C. Barrows, John Burbank, Benjamin Burt, Benjamin Crane, Jr., William Carpenter, Allen Chace, Joseph Durfee, Jr., Elkanah Dog- gett, Alden Hathaway, Jr., Guilford H. Hathaway, Am- brose W. Hathaway, John T. Lawton, John Nichols, Cur- tis C. Nichols, Thomas G. Nichols, Peter Nichols, James
240
Phillips, Sylvanus S. Payne, John B. Pariss, Stetson Ray- mond, E. W. Robinson, James Taylor and Ephraim Winslow.
The East Freetown Washingtonian Temperance Soci- ety was organized at a meeting held at the Mason Meet- ing House, April 5, 1846. The following officers were elected : Charles Bierstadt, President ; Tracey Allen, Vice President and Reuel Washburn, Secretary and Treasurer. The first work engaged in by this society was the prosecu- tion of one of the parties that had previously been pros- ecuted for rum selling by a committee of the Assonet Temperance Society. He was finally forced out of the neighborhood. Pledge breakers and politics gave this society some trouble and by the records it seems to have expired December 6, 1847 on account of a lack of interest among its members. The following named members of this society are mentioned in its records: Tracey Allen, James Ashley, Charles Bierstadt, Horatio A. Braley, Fisher A. Cleveland, B. Cushman, Abisha H. Chace, Sylvanus Cole, John Duffie, Samuel F. Greene, Arad T. Leach, Andrew J. Morton, William A. Morton, Hezekiah Mason, Marcus M. Rounseville, John Spare, George L. Smith, John Townsend, Benjamin G. White, Reuel Washburn and Thomas Whitcomb.
The Assonet Division, No. 184, Sons of Temperance, was organized at Assonet Village May 24, 1860, with George D. Williams as Worthy Patriarch and Don C. H. Hathaway as Recording Scribe. This society had a mem- bership of about forty and was in excellent condition at the time of the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion. Its meetings were often enlivened by visitors from divisions located in neighboring towns. Sixteen of its members enlisted in the army. This society also had its troubles with delinquents. It surrendered its charter January 16, 1864.
Star Lodge No. 77, Independent Order of Good Temp- lars was instituted at Assonet Village Septemper 11, 1868,
241
with fifteen members. Thomas G. Nichols was the first Chief Templar, Hattie L. Briggs, Vice Templar and S. R. Briggs, Secretary. This lodge was removed to East Free- town about the year 1877, where its membership in- creased to ninety-five. It surrendered its charter May 10, 1880. Reuel Washburn was the last Chief Templar, Emma Keen, Vice Templar and Genie Braley, Secretary.
Pearl Division, No. 93, Sons of Temperance was or- ganized at East Freetown July 5, 1889, with William A. Gurney, Worthy Patriarch and Granville S. Allen, Re- cording Scribe. Its charter was surrendered in November, 1892.
Bethel Division, No. 116, Sons of Temperance was organized at Assonet Village, February 8, 1894 with Rev. A. L. Bean Worthy Patriarch and Isabel R. Burrell, Re- cording Scribe. There were about forty signatures to the charter list, and at one time the society had about seventy- five members. This division surrendered its charter in December, 1897.
Each of these temperance societies contributed its share of good to the cause which it espoused. If they did not entirely stop the use of intoxicants as a beverage in the town, if they did not redeem every drunkard that lived within their jurisdiction, they surely helped to restrict such use of the former, and saved some of the latter from a drunkard's grave.
The temperance sentiment of the town today is far in advance of that of fifty years ago. Then drunken men were almost daily seen upon the streets, often disturbing the peace and quiet of the commonwealth by their loud and profane language, some of them at times endangering the life and limbs of our citizens by their cruel and reck- less driving in our streets. These disturbances were some- times intensified and prolonged by young men, who for sport harassed these unfortunate men in various ways, goading them at times almost to desperation. Such con-
242
duct on the part of either party would not be tolerated today. Let us be thankful for this great improvement in our citizenship and rejoice that the school children of the present day are not obliged to be witnesses of such drunk- en depravity in public places. Decidedly the world is growing better. Decidedly Freetown is better.
GENERAL NOTES.
The present Christian Church at Assonet was built in 1833. It originally had two front doors, each reached by a short flight of steps. There was a large window be- tween them. A swell front pulpit was located between the two inner doors at the east end of the audience room, the pews faced it, to the east. The windows of ordinary sash and glass were of the full height and width of the present window frames, were furnished with outside blinds, and each including the large window in front had a fan shaped blind over its top. The blinds were painted green. The south side of the basement was left open and was used for storing wagons, farming implements, &c. until 1842, when it was closed in and fitted as a vestry, the only entrance being by a door on the south side. The speaker's desk was on the south side of the room. The floor was built on an incline. It had stationary board seats facing the desk. The political meetings of the earlier po- litical campaigns were usually held in this vestry. In 1867 the floor of the audience room was raised several inches, the pews turned, and the pulpit removed to the west end. The windows were altered to their present form, a front door was made in the center, nearly level with the ground, and substituted for the two originally built, and an inside entrance cut from the vestibule into the vestry. Later the original pulpit was removed, a plat- form built across the west end of the auditorium and a portable pulpit substituted. In 1875 the vestry was re- fitted, the floor being made level, the desk placed on the
243
west side of the room, settees substituted for the station- ary seats, and the outside entrance closed.
Furnace heat was substituted for that of stoves about 1860. The bell which weighs 600 pounds was presented to the society by Dr. Edmund V. Hathaway of San Fran- cisco, California, a native of Assonet, in 1863. The hole that was burned through the roof of the church by the fire of 1886, and which caused considerable damage to the ceiling, was over the rafter that replaced the one broken by the fall of the steeple in the gale of 1868. At that time pieces of the steeple penetrated the ceiling and fell to the floor of the audience room, the main portion of the steeple however rolled off the roof and fell to the ground.
The society was not incorporated until 1868.
The REVEREND JOHN BURBANK was the son of Isaac and Mary Tisdale Burbank. All his life long he was identified with the Christian Church in Assonet, which he joined during one of the revivals of re- ligion that took place in the early ministry of Elder James Tay- lor. He soon after decided to become a minister, but unfort- unately his health had never been robust, and he found himself unable to follow any regular course of study. Finally or- dained as a Christian minister, he preached
REV. JOHN BURBANK.
244
occasionally throughout his life, supplying the pulpit from time to time in Assonet, East Freetown and Smith Mills ; ill-health, however, always prevented him from accepting a pastorate. He was a zealous advocate of justice and morality, and warmly upheld the cause of temperance and that of anti-slavery. He was noble-minded and sincere, genial in conversation, often eloquent and impressive in the pulpit, a man who won general respect through his faithfulness to high ideals. He died in 1888 at the age of eighty-one years, and lies buried in the grave-yard op- posite the Christian Church.
The Congregational Church at Assonet was built in 1808-9. Ebenezer Pierce of Middleboro, now Lakeville, was the master builder. A portion of the timber and boards were brought from Maine in the Sloop Unicorn, Ebenezer Pierce of Assonet, owner, James L. Valentine, master, and George C. Briggs, John Brown and Jack Shep- ard, crew. Benjamin Dean, Sr., carted the lumber from the wharf at Assonet to the building site. Circular seats with circular book racks in front of them were constructed for the choir at the east end of the gallery. Pews built crosswise of the gallery and modelled like those in the body of the house, with seats on each side, were construct- ed on the north and south sides of the gallery. A pew of the same model was also made over the top of each of the two stairways that lead from the vestibule to the gallery. These two pews were called the slave pews. They were removed when the gallery was remodelled in 1867. There was once a sounding board in the church. The original pulpit made on a raised platform, had a paneled front. It was removed when the alterations to the church were made in 1867. The clock in the steeple of the church was placed there in 1882. It was purchased from Amherst College, the money being raised by subscription. The Rev. George F. Walker who was mainly instrumental in securing
245
the clock, set it up,- making the three dials himself and cared for it during his pastorate.
"The records of the Congregational Church of Christ gathered in Freetown, in the County of Bristol, and Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New England, September ye 30th A. D. 1747," is the way it is written on the title page of the record book kept by the Rev. Silas Brett. Before the Province of Massachusetts Bay was divided into counties in 1643, it had such divisions, but they were designated regiments, which at and before that date denoted an equal number of general and territorial divisions in the colony.
Freetown was the fifth town organized in Bristol County.
The bounds between Freetown and Tiverton were established June 17, 1700.
The easterly line of the Freemen's purchase was the line that divided old Freetown on the east from Tiverton previous to 1747, when that part of Tiverton was annexed to Freetown and has since been known as New or East Freetown.
The three telegraph offices in the town are at the As- sonet, Braleys and East Freetown railroad stations. The telephone pay station at Assonet is located in the public library building. East Freetown has private telephones but none for public use. The express offices are at the four railroad stations.
The enrolment of Freetown in 1863 was 205. When recruiting for the war of the rebellion was stopped Free- town had filled her quota and had a surplus of four men to her credit. Twenty of her citizens were commissioned in
246
the army or navy, ten of them serving in two or more or- ganizations. Eight of them first served as enlisted men. In rank there was one brigadier-general, one colonel, one major, five captains and seven lieutenants in the army and two chief engineers with the rank of captain, one ensign and two acting ensigns in the navy.
Captain Levi Rounseville who marched from Free- town with his company of minute men April 19, 1775, was the father of the Rev. William Rounseville who repre- sented the town of Freetown for ten successive years in the General Court at Boston, and great-grandfather of the Rev. William R. Alger, a noted author and divine. Lieu- tenant Nathaniel Morton of the same company was grand- father of Hon. Marcus Morton, formerly Governor of Massachusetts: and Private Peter Crapo was grandfather of Colonel Henry H. Crapo, formerly Governor of Mich- igan.
Hon. Marcus Morton was Collector of Customs at the port of Boston for four years. Hercules Cushman was Collector of Customs for the district of Dighton 1823-25. James M. Morton was postmaster at Fall River 1853-57. Nicholas Hathaway was postmaster at Fall River 1885-89.
The barn built by Benjamin Dean, Sr. and later owned by John Dean, that stood on Water street until 1865, was for many years the abattoir for Assonet and its vicinity with Thomas W. Pierce in charge. It also served well as a meeting place for more than half a hundred boys that were born on that street.
Of the three wharves, commonly called the lower wharves the middle one was built by Ebenezer Pierce and by him sold to Elder Philip Hathaway. Its location was known as the coal landing.
247
GEORGE W. PICKENS, son of George and Ruth"(Read) Pickens was born at Assonet, March 17, 1820. He chose the life of a mariner which occupation he followed until a short time before his death At first engaged in the coastwise trade he later became mas- ter of a vessel in the foreign trade. The last thirty years of his sea-faring life he spent as an officer on the Fall River Line of steamboats to New York. He was strict- ly upright and honor- able in all his dealings with his fellow men. GEORGE W. PICKENS. He never failed to express his opinion of such shams and frauds as came to his notice, in his own inimitable way. His flow of lan- guage was rapid and his word painting unique. He was a member of the Congregational Church at Assonet. He married Elizabeth C., daughter of Benjamin Dean. Their children were John Wilson, born June 9, 1846, Isidore Frances, born February 19, 1848, Clara Washington, born September 19, 1851, Benjamin Dean, born July 15, 1859, Benjamin Dean, born November 1, 1860 and Elizabeth Allen, born January 9, 1863. The last three died when young. He died February 24, 1899.
248
AN ACCOUNT
OF
The Old Home Festival,
- AT
FREETOWN, MASS.
1902.
OLD HOME FESTIVAL.
T THE first suggestion of the Old Home Festival for Free- town -an occasion memorable in the annals of the town -was made in a meeting of the Assonet Village Im- provement Society, and warmly approved. Pursuant to instructions from the Society, a Circular was sent out into all parts of the town, calling a meeting of citizens to be held at the Town Hall, Monday evening, March 3d, 1902, at which "the sentiment of our people, whether favorable. or unfavorable, might be distinctly ascertained, and that our invitation, if one is to be sent forth, may represent a cordial welcome from the whole community." It was added that :
"The old town has abundant reason to be proud of her citizens, adorning stations of eminent usefulness in the neighboring cities and the State and Nation; as they in their turn may well delight in the fair village and the pleasant homesteads from which they sprang. If it shall be decided that our community shall send out the invita- tions that are to call 'her sons from far and her daughters from the ends of the earth,' the result cannot but be de- lightful and memorable."
The meeting thus called was large, unanimous and enthusiastic, and resulted in the organization of The Festival Association with the following officers :
PRESIDENT :
Major John M. Deane, of Freetown and Fall River.
VICE-PRESIDENTS :
His Honor, George Grime, Mayor of Fall River.
Charles A. Morton, Esq., East Freetown. Judge James M. Morton, Fall River. Judge Henry K. Braley, Fall River. Andrew J. Jennings, Esq., Fall River. Elbridge G. Paul, Esq., Fair Haven.
250
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY-Rev. Leonard W. Bacon, Assonet. RECORDING SECRETARY-Mrs. Edward H. Kidder, Assonet. TREASURER-N. W. Davis, Assonet.
CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES:
On Program, Music and Speakers-Rev. P. A. Canada. On Invitation, Reception and Hospitality-Rev. Leonard W. Bacon.
On History-Dr. C. A Briggs.
On Decoration-B. F. Aiken.
On Banquet-Ralph H. Francis.
On Transportation-Gilbert M. Nichols.
On Ways and Means-N. W. Davis.
The Officers with the Chairmen of Committees, together constituted the General Executive Committee.
COMMITTEE ON INVITATION, RECEPTION AND HOSPITALITY :
Rev. Leonard W. Bacon, Mrs. Earl F. Pearce,
Col. Silas P. Richmond,
Handel E. Washburn,
Geo. B. Cudworth,
Mrs. Edward H. Kidder,
Miss C. C. Nichols,
Milton I. Deane,
Miss Lucy Evans,
Richard B. Deane.
COMMITTEE ON PROGRAM, MUSIC AND SPEAKERS:
Rev. P. A. Canada,
Dr. Charles A. Briggs, Palo Alto Peirce, Charles A. Morton,
Rev. L. W. Bacon, John M. Deane. ON HISTORY : John H. Evans, Mrs. Helen M. Irons, Mrs. Paul M. Burns.
ON DECORATIONS :
B. F. Aiken. Palo Alto Peirce, Earl F. Pearce,
Miss S. B. Porter, Mrs. L. W. Bacon, Miss L M. Hathaway.
ON BANQUET :
Ralph H. Francis, Mrs. C. A. Briggs, Mrs. N. W. Davis,
Mrs. Albert H. Thurston, Dr. C. A. Briggs, N. W. Davis. 251
ON TRANSPORTATION :
Gilbert M. Nichols, Francis E. Baker,
Joseph S. Taylor, Harold G. Irons, Andrew M. Hathaway.
ON WAYS AND MEANS:
N. W. Davis, J. M. Deane, J. D. Hathaway, N. R. Davis,
Earl F. Pearce,
Harris E. Chace, G. M. Nichols, Dr. C. A. Briggs.
ON FIREWORKS:
Milton I. Deane, Charles L. Deane.
ON RECORDING VISITORS:
Mrs. Charles W. Payne, Miss Georgia B. Cudworth.
The following ladies were volunteers in collecting and ar- ranging a most successful antiquarium :
Miss Caroline M. Evans, Miss Mercy M. Hatheway, Mrs. N. W. Davis, Miss Helen G. Pickens, Mrs. Octavia Pickens, Mrs. David Terry, Jr.,
Mrs. John M. Deane.
CHORUS:
Director-Rev. L. W. Bacon.
Organists-Mr. Alton B. Paull, Miss Mabel G. Bacon.
Violinist-Miss Florence F. Purrington.
Pianist-Miss Louise Carnoe.
Sopranos-Miss Elizabeth R. Bacon, Mrs. Charles W. Payne, Miss Helen H. Irons, Mrs. Sarah A. Balcom, Miss Lucy Walker, Mrs. Frank McCreery, Miss Georgia B. Cudworth, Miss Flor- ence B. Evans and Mrs. E. H. Kidder.
Altos-Mrs. Ralph H. Francis, Miss Sarah B. Porter, Mrs. P. A. Canada, Mrs. Frank W. Dean and Miss S. E. Rose.
Tenors-Earl F. Pearce, Charles W. Payne, Gilbert M. Nichols, Eugene E. Ray and Arthur E. Newhall.
Basses-Ralph H. Francis, Joseph S. Taylor, Abram T. Haskell and Alfred M. Davis.
252
It is no more than justice to the Committees named, to say that from that time forward they devoted them- selves with persistent energy, often to the sacrifice of per- sonal convenience and interest, to securing the success of their patriotic enterprise.
Under date of April 7th, a Preliminary Announce- ment was sent out by the General Executive Committee, giving a rough sketch of the Festival plans, and inviting suggestions from all quarters. Among the items of this Announcement was the following foreshadowing of the present publication :
The hours of a single day are not enough to include an ample Historical Discourse, treating in full of the pe- culiarly interesting annals of the town. Accordingly our Historical Committee are preparing for the press an Illus- trated History of Freetown-its events and conflicts, its notable citizens and families, its industries and schools and churches. Such a volume cherished in the old homesteads of the town, and taken to their widely scattered homes by our returning guests, will be valued as a souvenir of the Old Home and of the present celebration.
Among the preparations that deserve to be commem- orated are the organization and training of The Festival Chorus, of about thirty voices, all of them volunteers from the two choirs of Assonet. The Chorus was en- couraged by the generous assistance of the accomplished quartet of the First Church in Fall River, directed by Gilbert H. Belcher, Esq., to give a Concert at the Old North Church on the 13th of June, the proceeds of which were devoted to the expenses of the Old Home Festival. The program of this concert, in which the Chorus had the further assistance of Mr. Hawkins of Fall River, 'cellist, and of Miss Purrington of Mattapoisett, violinist, is entitled to a place here as part of the res gesta of the Old Home Festival.
253
CONCERT
OF SACRED AND SECULAR MUSIC
BY -
The Assonel Festival Chorus,
WITH THE GENEROUS ASSISTANCE OF THE
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH CHOIR,
OF FALL RIVER.
MRS. J. H. FRANKLIN, Soprano.
MISS F. H. LEARNED,
Contralto.
MR. ELLIS L. HOWLAND, MR. R. M. HAWKINS, Basso.
Tenor.
MR. GILBERT H. BELCHER, Organist and Director.
MISS F. F. PURRIN ,
Violinist, AT THE -
MR. C. S. HAWKINS,
'Cellist.
OLD NORTH CHURCH, ASSONET,
Friday Evening, June 13th, 1902, AT HALF-PAST SEVEN (7.30) O'CLOCK.
TICKETS, - 25 CENTS EACH.
FOR SALE AT THE STORES.
The proceeds of the Concert are for the benefit of the " Old Home Festival" Fund.
Particular attention is requested to the early hour required for the conven- ience of our friends from out of town.
254
PART I.
CHORUS-"Hail to Thee Liberty," (from Semiramide) Rossini
Hail to thee, Liberty ! hail to thee, Freedom, On this great day. Let sounds of melody, let notes of pleasure, Resound triumphantly this festal day. Rejoice in freedom this sacred day.
Yeoman from valley, hunter from mountain, Crowd from gay capital, hermit from fountain ; Arouse thee, great nation, this happy day, Sacred to freedom, this holy day.
QUARTETTE-"My Faith looks up to Thee," Schnecker With Violin Obligato.
GLEE-"Swiftly from the Mountain's Brow," S. Webbe
Swiftly from the mountain's brow Shadows nursed by night's retire, And the peeping sunbeams now Paint with gold the village spire.
Sweet, oh sweet the warbling throng On the white emblossomed spray ! Nature's universal . Echoes to the rising a ...
QUARTETTE-"Stars of the Summer Night," Hatton
CONTRALTO SOLO-"Springtide," Berwick
With 'cello Obligato.
THE TRAMP CHORUS, Sir Henry R. Bishop
CHORUS-Now tramp, now tramp, o'er moss and fell The battered ground returns the sound, While breathing chanters proudly swell: Clan Alpine's cry is "Win or die !"
SOLO-Guardian spirits of the brave, Victory o'er my hero wave.
DUETT-"Tarry with me," Nicolli
Soprano and Tenor. 255
PART II.
THE SOLDIER'S CHORUS, (from Faust) Gounod
Glory and love to the men of old ! Their sons may copy their virtues bold- Courage in heart and a sword in hand, Ready to fight or ready to die for fatherland ! Who needs bidding to dare by a trumpet blown?
Who lacks pity to spare, when the field is won?
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.