USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Middleborough > History of the town of Middleboro, Massachusetts > Part 2
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1 Dwight's Travels, vol. ii, p. II.
xxiii
INTRODUCTION
Years
Above 90
80
70
50
20
Under 20
Total
. 1802
I
3
2
2
3
8
19
1803
I
4
2
4
4
16
31
1804
4
I
7
2
6
20
1805
6
3
14
6
29
1806
I
3
I
7
12
1807
5
2
5
6
4
22
1808
2
IO
7
4
8
31
1809
2
4
7
4
I2
29
1810
2
3
4
5
6
20
1812
4
2
4
5
7
22
Total,
7
24
37
39
48
80
235
From this table it appears that the average number of deaths in this precinct was 23.5. Of the whole number 235, seven, one thirty-third part, lived to be above 90; and twenty-four, a tenth part, above 80 ; thirty-seven, nearly a sixth part, above 70; and sixty-eight, the whole number that died above 70, was a little less than one third of the total. One hundred and seven died above 50, not far from one half ; while those who died under 20 were eighty, a little more than one fourth of the whole.
The population has not materially increased during the past one hundred years as compared with some other towns of the commonwealth. There were not as many inhabitants in 1810 as in 1790. Since 1860 the population has steadily increased.
No official census was taken of any of the towns in the province or in the commonwealth until 1765. The following table gives the population of Middleboro from that time to the present : -
1765
Province
3412
1840
State
5085
1776
4119
1850
5336
1790
State
4526
1860 1
4565
1800
44 58
1870
66
4685
1810
66
4400
1880
66
5239
1820
4687
1890
66
6065
1830
5008
1900
66
6885
1 The town of Lakeville was set off from Middleboro in 1853, thus reducing its population.
Noodleborough vas incorporaled (n 1663
MAP
Superficial Area
43577 Armes
Amount occupied by Highway's
of the TOWN of
Water
1650
Population on t855
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MEDFOR
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
CHAPTER I
INDIANS
HEN the pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, Middle- boro was occupied by the Nemasket Indians.1 From them the place took its name until the incorporation of the town in 1669. They were a part of the great nation of Pokanokets,2 under the sachem Massasoit, whose rule extended over all of the tribes in southeastern Massachusetts ; these, with the exception of the Nemaskets, had been greatly decimated by the plague which swept through this region.3 The principal settlements were at Muttock on the Nemasket
1 The word " Nemasket " is probably derived from two Indian words, " Ne- mah," meaning " a fish," and its terminal " et," meaning " the place of," and at this place the Indians from time immemorial had a fish weir, and from this the surrounding country was named. In the old records it was spelled Namasket.
2 The Pokanoket race was composed of the Wampanoags of Bristol County, in Rhode Island, the Pocassets at Rehoboth, Swansea, and Tiverton, the Saconets at Little Compton, the Nemaskets at Middleboro, the Agawams at Wareham, the Manomets at Sandwich, the Sakatuckets at Mashpee, the Mattakees at Barnstable, the Nobsquassets at Yarmouth, the Monamoys at Chatham, and the Nausets at Eastham. The islands at the south were also included.
3 " The devastation wrought by the disease was horrible ... and strange to say, the Namaskets, who were in the centre of the path followed by the pesti- lence, were spared, the deluge of death dividing at that point and depopulating the country on each side of them." Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic, p. 136.
See Isaac Backus in vol. iii of the Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. p. 148.
" When Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins sent out their two messengers to visit Massasoit at Mount Hope, in July, 1621, they lodged the first night at Namasket, where so many Indians had died a few years before that the living could not bury the dead, but their skulls and bones appeared in many places where their dead had been." Prince's Chronology, p. 106.
2
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1620
River, upon the borders of Assawampsett Pond, and Titicut, not far from where the Nemasket empties into the Taunton River.
It was a characteristic of all of the North American Indians to select for their settlements the most sightly and beautiful locations in the country, where there was plenty of water for fishing and a broad outlook over their hunting-grounds. This seems to have been especially true of the Nemasket Indians. Their principal settlement was at Muttock, on the bank of the high hill on the westerly side of the river. There was an abundance of fish in the river below, across which they had erected a fish weir near the site of the present dam. Numer- ous springs of sweet water were at the base of the hill, and the land adjoining was fruitful and well adapted for their corn gardens.
The settlements at Assawampsett were upon the borders of the beautiful inland lakes and upon the high ground sur- rounding. At Titicut they extended along the banks of both sides of the river ; the site of the wigwam of their sachem was probably upon what is now known as Fort Hill. The Indians living about Middleboro ponds were in the habit of going to New Bedford for the purpose of obtaining shellfish, and their path was the old pond road leading from Assawampsett Pond to New Bedford.
At this time the Indians lived in wigwams, built of poles, which, fastened together at the top, formed a circle from fif- teen to twenty feet in diameter. These poles were covered with skins of bear or deer, and a hole was left in the top for the smoke to escape. The ground upon which the wigwam stood was usually hollowed some three or four feet in the centre, and in the middle a fire was built for cooking purposes ; the earthen floor was covered with mats or skins, while at the doorway hung a skin which was drawn back during the day, but dropped at night and secured by placing a stick against it. In the centre of the village stood the wigwam of the chief, painted with his totem, and others were placed around it, so near that conversa- tion could be heard from one to another. This continued to be the home of the Indians for almost a century, until they
3
INDIANS
1620]
adopted many of the customs of civilized life and it gave place to the cabin, or hut, which formed a much more com- fortable shelter from the storm and snow of winter. The site of the chief's wigwam at Muttock may still be seen upon the top of what is known as Oliver's Walk.
The dress of the Indians consisted of moccasins made of the skins of animals caught or killed in their hunting expedi- tions, breeches made of deerskin, and a kind of blanket made of deer or bear skin, which they threw over their shoulders. They wore nothing upon their heads, and as they gradually adopted the ways of civilized life, they were accustomed to wear whatever clothing could be obtained from the whites.
From the earliest times they secured much of their food by fishing1 and hunting. Maize or corn,2 raised in corn gardens,
1 They used nets made of bark from a species of willow-tree, and of rushes and strong grass.
2 The following legend of the first growth of corn is interesting : -
" Mon-do-min, an old hunter of the Wampanoag tribe, sat one night alone in his wigwam, on the shores of the Nemasket River. The night was dark and stormy, for Ke-che No-din, the Spirit of the Wind, was very angry, and threatened to tear up the oaks on the banks of the river and scatter them on the ground. Mon-do- min was old and lame ; his wigwam stood far apart from all the others; he could no longer hunt the wild deer, or bear ; he was very weak, and fainting with hunger, for he had not tasted food for many days. Then he looked up to the Great Spirit for help, and said, 'Oh, Great Spirit ! Shah-wain-ne-me-shin ! Have pity upon me, and look down out of your window in the southern sky, and send me help from your home in the ish-pe-ming [heavens].' Presently he heard a fluttering among the long poles at the top of his wigwam. He looked, and, lo ! a partridge [be-nah-nah] was caught among the poles, and could not escape. Mon-do-min took the partridge in his hand, and said, 'Now has the Great Spirit had pity upon me, and sent me food, that I may not die of hunger.' So he kindled a fire and prepared to dress the partridge for food. Presently, amid the pauses of the storm, Mon-do-min heard cries of distress. It was a woman's voice, crying bit- terly; she had lost her way in the forest, and was crouching, for shelter, beneath the cover of the Great Rock, close by the door of his wigwam. Mon-do-min has- tened, with all the strength that his old and trembling limbs would permit, and found the woman. He raised her up, brought her into his wigwam, laid her on his own bed of bearskins, and chafed her bruised limbs (for she had fallen from the rock), and tried to restore warmth to her shivering frame. He then took the partridge he had prepared for his own nourishment and said, 'My sister, this is what the Great Spirit had given me to eat, when I was perishing with hunger. Take it ; it is thine ; there is not enough for thee and for me. Thou wilt live ; but I must die. Thus has the Great Spirit spoken. But remember me, when thou
4
[1620
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
was an important article of diet, and the woods of the country abounded with wild cherries, wild plums, beach-plums, wild gooseberries, strawberries, huckleberries, raspberries, and black- berries. The soil was loosened by a sharp wooden stick ; a fish, usually a herring, was buried at a depth of five or six inches, covered by about two inches of soil, then a few kernels of corn were planted, pressed down hard, and this, being fertil- ized by the decayed fish, produced an abundant crop. When ripened it was shelled and dried, then placed in baskets and stored in pits in the earth, called "caches." It was pounded to meal in the stone mortars with pestles. Their food was often prepared in this way : -
"It is generally boiled maize or Indian corn, mixed with kidney-beans, or sometimes without. Also they frequently boil in this pottage fish and flesh of all sorts, either new taken or dried, as shad, eels, alewives, or a kind of herring, or any other sort of fish. But they dry, mostly, those sorts be- fore mentioned. These they cut in pieces, bones and all, and
seest one alone and perishing, as thou wert, and do to them as I have done to thee. Farewell, I shall not see thee again till we meet in the Country of Souls.' " Mon-do-min said no more. He laid himself down on the cold earth for his couch, and that night the Great Spirit took him to his dwelling, in the Country of Souls.
" In the morning the woman awoke from her slumbers calm and refreshed, and looked, and saw Mon-do-min dead in the bottom of the wigwam. Then she arose, and went and called the chiefs of the tribe, and they came and buried Mon-do- min on the bank of the river, close by where his wigwam had stood.
" When the Moon of Leaves [June] had come, they went, and behold! the ground around the grave of Mon-do-min was covered with fine, springing shoots, like grass ; only the leaves were broader, and more beautiful in the sun. Then they wondered, and said, ' What is this that we see ? this that is growing around the grave of Mon-do-min?' And while they wondered, lo! from a bright cloud that stood just above them, the Great Spirit spoke and said, ' My children, listen to what I have to say to you to-day. This that you see shall be food for you to eat, when it shall be ripened into full ears of grain. It shall be called Mon-do- min [corn]. It shall be called by his name, for his kindness to the poor and perish- ing one, that stormy night, when he brought her into his own wigwam, and gave her of his own food to eat, when he was himself perishing with hunger. And you shall tell it to your children, and your children's children, in all your tribes, when you see the green corn waving by the Lake of White Stones [Assawamp- sett] and the river of the Nemaskets.'"
+
5
INDIANS
1620]
boil them in the aforesaid pottage. Also they boil in this fermenty all sorts of flesh they take in hunting, as venison, beaver, bears flesh, moose, otters, raccoons, or any kind that they take in hunting, cutting this flesh in small pieces, and boiling it as aforesaid. Also they mix with the said pottage several sorts of roots, as Jerusalem artichokes, and ground nuts, and other roots, and pompions, and squashes, and also several sorts of nuts or masts, as oak acorns, chestnuts, walnuts ; these husked, and dried, and powdered, they thicken their pottage therewith. Also sometimes they beat their maize into meal, and sift it through a basket, made for that purpose. With this meal they make bread, baking it in the ashes, cover- ing the dough with leaves. Sometimes they make of their meal a small sort of cakes, and boil them. They make also a certain sort of meal of parched maize; this meal they call nokake. It is so sweet, toothsome, and hearty, that an Indian will travel many days with no other food but this meal, which he eateth as he needs and after it drinketh water. And for this end, when they travel a journey, or go a-hunting, they carry this nokake in a basket or bag, for their use."1
" The indians have an art of drying their chestnuts, and so to preserve them in their barnes for a daintie all the yeare. Akornes, also, they drie, and, in case of want of Corne, by much boiling they make a good dish of them ; yea, sometimes in plentie of Corne doe they eate thes Acornes for a novelty." 2
Women were held in great contempt, and were obliged to do all of the hard work. The wife had to skin and dress the deer killed by her husband, prepare the food which he devoured, leaving for her only what he did not care for, and work in the field while he smoked comfortably at home.
The men were brave, courageous, fierce, and revengeful, " much addicted to lying 3 and speaking untruth," with little
1 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. iii, p. 216.
2 Roger Williams's "Key into the Language of America," in R. I. Hist. Coll. vol. i, p. 90.
3 The following is an Indian account of the origin of this trait of character : - " When the Pale Face came across the Big Waters [Te-che Gah-me], there were straight paths running all through our forests. Our warriors walked in them. They were very narrow. But our warriors' feet went straight forward. It did not hurt them to walk in straight, narrow paths: But the Pale Face could not walk in them. His toes turned out ; he was trying to walk two ways at once. He
6
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1620
regard for honor. With few tools, they were yet ingenious and skilful. They kept time by the sun and moon, and were observers of the stars. They were superstitious, submitting to their priests or "powahs " in their worship of many gods, the chief of whom were Kiehtan, the creator and giver of good hereafter, and Alamacho, the evil spirit. They believed that evil spirits always settled where the dark spirit Death, whom they called "Pau-guk," had been. They burned the wigwam to send away these spirits, and if they thought him near, would do their utmost to drive him away, beating drums, throwing hot water into the air, and making unearthly noises. The whip-poor-will was believed to be a messenger from the other world, and on hearing his mournful note they would cry, "Be still ! it is the bird from the Spiritland."
Their principal burying-ground was on Muttock Hill. At sunset they would carry the body of the dead, wrapped in furs or mats, to the grave. A basket of meat was placed at his head, a pot of water at his feet, and his moccasins were in his hand. If he were a rich man, his jewels and wampum were buried with him. They then marched around the grave, chant- ing in solemn words, "Go on thy journey, brother. 'T is late and the sun is set. We will keep the fire for travellers burn- ing to light thee on thy way. We have put food before thee for thy journey and moccasins for thy feet. Fear not, for the dark roaring river thou must cross. Step lightly over and go on thy journey."
After filling the grave, they built a fire at the head and kept it burning four days and nights. They believed his desolate jour-
could not walk straight. His ways were crooked. He taught our people to steal. He came creeping into our wigwams at night. He crept in like a mouse that nib- bles the children's corn. He had long fingers - so long that they would reach to the bottom of the sugar mo-ko-ks [birch-bark boxes]. He stole all the women's sugar out of them, made of the juice of the maple-tree. And when our people told him of this, and he opened his mouth to speak, we saw that he had two tongues. One tongue laid very still ; the other moved very fast. The lying tongue walked very fast. The Indian no longer walks straight, he has learned to walk two ways at once, like the Pale Face. The tongue that spoke the truth stands still. The lying tongue walks very fast. It is like the brook that runs over the stones. None can stop its babblings."
7
INDIANS
1660]
ney through a prairie, where he was liable to lose his way, was without light save from this fire. If he had been a murderer, he was attacked by snakes, wild beasts, and evil spirits until he reached the banks of the Spirit River. This he crossed on a floating pole, guided by Meno Manito, the Master of Life, to the Happy Hunting-Ground. The wicked spirits could not follow, but the current took them away from him to the prairie.
For half a century after the landing of the pilgrims at Plym- outh, the friendly relations which had been established be- tween the whites and the good king Massasoit continued. The two races for the most part lived together in peace and har- mony, the white settlers being careful to see that exact justice was done to the Indians, and that all of their rights of person and property should be fairly protected. Whenever a white man offended an Indian he was immediately brought to jus- tice, and compelled by the laws of the colony to make ample and full reparation, or suffer punishment for the offence com- mitted, and the Indians were obliged to submit to the same laws that governed the whites.
Massasoit died of the plague in the year 1660, and was suc- ceeded by his son, Wamsutta. There is a touching incident related by Mr. Hubbard, that not long before the death of Massasoit, the aged chief came to Mr. Brown, who lived not far from Mount Hope in Rhode Island, and brought his two sons, desiring that there might be love and amity between them, as there had been between himself and the whites. It seems, however, that upon the accession of Alexander he failed to obey his father's injunction, and Mr. Hubbard further says that "he had neither affection to the person nor to the reli- gion of the whites." 1
In the year 1656 his two sons presented themselves before the court at Plymouth and desired that English names might be given them. Wamsutta, the eldest, was afterwards called Alexander, and Pometicon was then given the name of Philip. Some two years after the death of his father, although Alex- ander had become a party to the league with the whites and
1 Hubbard's Indian Wars in New England, Drake's edition, pp. 46, 47.
8
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1662
had received many benefits therefrom, rumors came that he was plotting with the Narragansetts against the English. At length these rumors became so numerous that he was sum- moned to Plymouth for an explanation. He was said to have been temporarily visiting on the shores of a pond in Halifax, but as he did not immediately respond, Governor Bradford and some others of the colony sought an interview. He had some excuse for not earlier obeying the command, but consented to
ALEXANDER ABOUT TO EMBARK ON THE RIVER (From Harper's Monthly Magazine, vol. 71, p. 815. Copyrighted, 1885, by Harper & Bros.)
return with them. A little later, a satisfactory interview was held in Duxbury, and the party returned to Plymouth, Alex- ander informing them that he was to go to Boston. A few days after, he stopped at the house of Winslow, in Marshfield, where he was taken sick. From here he was carried by his attendants to Governor Bradford's house in Plymouth. His sickness continuing, his people bore him across the country through Plymouth and Middleboro to the wading-place, then along the Titicut path a little below the weir at Pratt's bridge, . where they embarked in canoes, but he died before reaching
9
INDIANS
1668]
his home.1 It was alleged that his death was hastened by ill treatment which he received at the hands of the English while in Marshfield and Plymouth, and that this was one of the causes of King Philip's War, which occurred some years later. There is, however, no proof of this charge.
On the death of Alexander, which occurred in July, 1662, Philip became the chief sachem of all of the Pokanokets, and one of his first acts was to appear before the court at Plym- outh and earnestly request a continuance of the amity which had existed between the whites and his father, promising to endeavor in all things to carry himself inoffensively and peace- ably toward the English. This compact was witnessed by five of his chiefs. It is said that this was undoubtedly an act of treachery on the part of Philip, but it had the effect of allaying the suspicions which had been for some time excited in the colony. (See chapter on King Philip's War.)
The territory ruled by King Philip was the greater part of southeastern Massachusetts, including a portion of Rhode Island. This was divided among various sub-chiefs, who held sway over the different local tribes. Among these was Paman- taquash, or, as he was familiarly known, the pond sachem, whose domain was the country near the ponds.
About six years after Philip's accession, in 1668, this pond sachem, by an instrument which was recognized as binding by the court at Plymouth, bequeathed his rulership to Tispequin, the black sachem, a chieftain of great power and notoriety, of whom we shall speak hereafter. This will was written by Nathaniel Morton, secretary of the colony, and Samuel Spray. It is as follows : -
" Witneseth these presents, Pamantaquash, the pond Sachem, being weak in body but of perfect disposeing memory, declared it to be his last will and Testament, concerning all his lands at Assawamsett, or elsewhere, that he is now possessed of, that he would after his desease leave them unto his -, Tuspe- quin, alius the black Sachem, for his life, and after the sd Tus- pequin his decease unto Soquontamouk, alius William, his sone,
1 Between June 13 and August 26 (N. S.). Plymouth Colony Records, vol. iv, pp. 16, 25.
IO
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1668
and to his heires forever, and desired severall of his men that were then about him to take notice of it and be witnesses of it if he should not live himself to doe the writing under his owne hande."
This instrument was witnessed by Paempohut, alias Joseph, Sam Harry, alias Matwatacka, Wosako, alias Harry, and Felix, alias Nanauatanate.
The following is an interesting copy from the records in Plymouth : -
"The land that the said Pamantaquash challenges, the names of the places ... said witnesses have made description . . . followeth Pachamaquast, Wekam, ... Nekatatacouck, Set- nessnett, Anec . . . path that goes from Cushenett to . .
. goes through it :
" Wacagasaness : Wacom . . . Quamakeckett, Tokopis- sett ; Maspenn Wampaketatekam : Caskakachesquash Wachpusk, ester side of ye pond : p ... Pachest ; soe or Namassakett riuer Pasamasatuate.
" Harry and his sone Sam, Harry, desiers that neither Tus- paquin nor his sone be prest to sell the said lands . . . by any English or others whatsouer.
"The lands Mentioned which Tuspequin posesseth, Ha . Wosako, wch is long as he lives.
" 29 October, 1668.
" Witnes, " WAPETOM, his mark.
" WASNUKESETT, his mark."
Chickataubut was one of the "great sachems " among the Massachusetts Indians. He was styled the " greatest sagamore in the country." "His territory did extend from Nishamago- guanett, near Duxbury mill, to Titicut near Taunton and to Nunckatateset, a pond of considerable size in the southwestern portion of Bridgewater adjoining Raynham and from thence in a straight line to Wanamampuke which is the head of Charles River."1 Who was his father, or how he obtained this rule, has not come down to us. He was one of the nine sachems who signed the Articles of Submission to King James on the 13th of September, 1621, and Governor Dudley said of him, in 1631,
1 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. iii, p. 332.
II
INDIANS
1631-69]
that "he least favoreth the whites of any of the sagamores that we are acquainted with by reason of the old quarrel in Plymouth wherein he lost seven of his best men." However, the whole intercourse of this chief with the Massachusetts colonies seems to have been friendly. He, with his squaw, visited Boston as the guest of Governor Dudley, and presented the governor with a hogshead of corn. He died of smallpox in the month of Novem- ber, 1633. His favorite resort was Titicut, and his land com- prised three miles on each side of the river, which was granted by his son Wampatuck to the Indians in Titicut before 1644.
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