USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Middleborough > History of the town of Middleboro, Massachusetts > Part 20
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gate to the Constitu- tional Convention, and in 1857 was a repre- sentative to the Gen- eral Court, and a year later a member of the executive council. In 1858 he was earnestly solicited to accept the Republican nomination for Congress from this district, but was obliged to decline on account of feeble health. Soon after, he was appointed
by Governor Banks judge of probate and insolvency for the county of Plymouth,
WILLIAM H. WOOD
which position he re- tained until the time of his death. In 1873, upon promotion of Judge Devens, he was offered a position upon the bench of the Superior Court, but his ill health forced him to de-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1850
cline the appointment. He was an able judge, and those who applied to him for help without the aid of a professional ad- viser found him a sympathizing friend, ready to render all assistance in his power. He was remarkable for his conscien- tiousness, his patient industry in matters connected with his office, he was courteous and affable in his relations to all, am- bitious to discharge faithfully all duties placed upon him, a man of unusual literary ability, and a lover of good books.
EVERETT ROBINSON was born in Middleboro, January 22, 1816. His father was Josiah Robinson, a farmer, who lived in the northern part of the town. Mr. Robinson was educated under private teachers, in the public schools, and at Peirce Academy. His legal studies were pursued in the office of Zachariah Eddy, and he was ad- mitted to the Plymouth bar in 1846. He at once opened an office at the Four Corners, and continued practice until the time of his death, August 5, 1897. He was noted for his knowledge of human nature, his shrewdness. good judgment, and remarkable memory, which, with diligent ap- plication to his profession, made him one of the most successful EVERETT ROBINSON lawyers in the county before a jury. He was a man of simple habits, most scrupulous in his integrity and professional honor, and commanded the confi- dence and respect of the entire community. Few lawyers at the Plymouth bar were more dreaded by opposing counsel than Mr. Robinson. His wit and sarcasm at times were most severe, and yet he was a man of the kindest heart, generous, and thoughtful for his friends. He filled many offices in town ; was town clerk, selectman, assessor, collector of taxes, member of
237
LAWYERS
1870]
the school committee, member of the House of Representa- tives for four years, a senator three years, and president of the Middleboro Savings Bank. He married Sarah W. Taylor of Dartmouth.
FRANCIS M. VAUGHAN was a lineal descendant of George Vaughan, one of the first settlers of the town. He was born in Middleboro, March 30, 1836, fitted for college at Peirce Academy, and entered Brown University in 1857, where he remained for two years. On account of ill health, he was obliged to leave the university, and soon after commenced the study of law with Hon. William H. Wood. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar November 8, 1861, and was in practice for a few years in the West, but soon returned to Middleboro. He was elected a representative to the legislature in 1860, and was at that time the youngest member of the House. Upon the dividing of the commonwealth into judicial districts in 1874, he was appointed a justice of the Fourth District Court of Plymouth, the sessions of which were held alternately in Middleboro and Wareham. He held this office until the time of his death in 1891, and was regarded as a most impartial judge, who administered the duties of his office to the general satisfaction of the entire district.
JUDGE WOOD'S OFFICE
CHAPTER XV
PHYSICIANS
N no profession has there been greater change in meth- ods and practice than in medicine. In olden times doctors were dentists, surgeons, and physicians. If a tooth needed pulling, a rough, powerful instru- ment with a handle like a gimlet was used, and a strong man had to hold the patient's head. The story is told of Dr. Stur- tevant that, when called on to extract a tooth in haste, he got hold of two, pulling out a good one as well as the aching mem- ber. When the youth naturally remonstrated, he remarked, "I only intended to pull one, but never mind, the other one will never have to be pulled again." While they could extract teeth, doctors had not the art of supplying artificial ones ; once out, they were gone for all time, no false ones were to be had.
Prescriptions to be filled at drugstores were unheard of, but drugs and herbs were used extensively and generously. The usual method of practice was for the doctor to examine the patient's tongue, feel his pulse, let his blood, then dose him with calomel, jalap, senna, etc.
In the discoveries of modern times, probably as much ad- vance has been made in medical science and in the treatment of disease as in any other department of human progress, and we to-day can scarcely appreciate the difference in the care of the sick as compared with that which the early settlers of the country received at the hands of those who were then con- sidered able physicians.
DR. ISAAC FULLER, the son of Rev. Samuel Fuller, was the first physician,1 and his practice extended into the neigh-
1 He was called " mountebank," a title which in those days was given to a skilled physician, although to-day the meaning of the word is far different.
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PHYSICIANS
1752]
boring villages. He lived in that part of the town now Halifax.
REV. THOMAS PALMER became proficient in medicine after he had been deposed from the pastorate of the First Church. He reformed his habits of drink, and practised with success until his death.
DR. PETER OLIVER, JR., was a physician (see chapter on Loyalists), and had an office in a small building at the corner of the lane in front of his home (the Sproat house).
DR. SAMUEL CLARK. (See chapter on Four Corners.)
At the time Dr. Clark was in practice there lived here two " botanical " or herb doctors, named Lunt and Bryant.
DR. JOSEPH CLARK. (See chapter on Four Corners.)
DR. THOMAS STURTEVANT,1 who lived on the Sturtevant place at the Green, was contemporary with Dr. Joseph Clark. He was born in Halifax in 1749, and died in Middleboro, November 14, 1836. He married Sarah Soule of Halifax. At his death, after sixty years of practice in Middleboro, he left eleven children.
DR. GEORGE STURTEVANT, the youngest son, succeeded his father, residing at the homestead until his death in 1852. He had a large practice in this and adjoining towns.
1 Dr. Thomas Sturtevant was a son of Dr. Josiah Sturtevant, a physician in practice in the town of Halifax before the Revolutionary War. He early espoused the cause of the king, and on account of his pronounced utterances against the patriot cause, was compelled to leave the town and flee to Boston. He was there appointed a surgeon in the British army, but died soon after, and was buried under the Old South Meeting-House, Boston. The following letter illustrates the feeling that existed at the time on the part of the loyalists : -
August 18, 1775.
My dear husband departed this life at Boston in his fifty-fifth year where he was driven by a mad and deluded mob for no other offence but his loyalty to his sovereign. God forgive them and grant that his death may be sanctified to me and our children for our souls everlasting good. LOIS STURTEVANT.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1774
DR. STEPHEN POWERS practised as a physician in Eddy- ville from 1760 to 1774. During his residence in town he was prominent in its affairs, and for a time was the leader of the choir in the First Church. He was so influenced by the general talk of the better opportunities for enterprising young men in what was then known as "up country," that with many other citizens he moved to Woodstock in 1774. While a resident of Middleboro he lived in the Harrison Clark house, and was then and ever after an earnest supporter of liberty in the stirring events which preceded the Revolution. After the battle of Lexington he came to Boston, and at the battle of Bunker Hill he rendered great assistance in caring for the wounded. He married Lydia Drew in 1760, and died in Woodstock, November 27, 1809, aged seventy-four years. He was the grandfather of Hiram Powers, the sculptor.
DR. ARAD THOMPSON was born December 30, 1786. He was the son of Wil- liam Thompson, a large land-owner in Middle- boro, and a brother of Cephas Thompson, the celebrated portrait painter. He married Mercy, a daughter of Hon. William Bourne, in December, 1816. He served for some thirteen years as ad- jutant of the Fourth Regiment of the mili- tia of this district. He was representative to DR. ARAD THOMPSON the General Court 1 in 1825.
He died April 23, 1843, at the age of fifty-six years.
1 Dr. Arad Thompson was for many years the moderator of the town meetings.
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PHYSICIANS
1820]
DR. MORRILL ROBINSON was a much-beloved physician, who practised forty-five years in North Mid- dleboro. (See chapter on Titi- cut.)
DR. GEORGE KING was born in Rochester, July 5, 1822. He received his medical ed- ucation in New York, and suc- ceeded to the practice of Dr. Hitchcock in DR. MORRILL ROBINSON Middleboro, in 1849. He practised from 1848 until 1857, when he moved to Franklin. In 1852 he married Lucy Ann Eddy, a daughter of William S. Eddy. August 14, 1862, he was appointed assistant surgeon of the Sixteenth Mas- sachusetts Regiment, and continued to serve in that capacity until March 18, 1864, when he was appointed surgeon of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Regiment by the War De- partment. He was taken prisoner at Fort Stedman and con- fined for a short time in Libby Prison. He died in May, 1902.
DR. HENRY D. HITCHCOCK was born in Westminster, Ver- mont, in 1820. He was in practice but a short time, as he was killed in a railroad accident, February 23, 1847.
So sure was he of being chosen to this office, which he always expected, that a wag suggested that it would be appropriate for him to call the town meeting to order and request the voters to bring in their votes for Dr. Arad Thompson as moderator.
242
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1864
DR. EBENEZER W. DRAKE was born in Sharon, Mass., in 1815. He entered Brown University in 1839, remaining there three years, then entered the medi- cal school in Balti- more, Md. After pursuing his studies there for a while, he continued them with Dr. Winslow Lewis of Boston, and was graduated in 1846 from the Harvard Medical School. He mar- ried Mary E. Capen, a daughter of the late Dr. Robert Capen of Boston. He practised in DR. EBENEZER W. DRAKE town from 1847 to the time of his death in 1887. Dr. Drake was influential in all town affairs, religious, educational, and political. He was a member of the school committee of the town for twenty-five years, and one of the first appointed medical examiners for southeastern Massachusetts, holding the office during his life- time.
DR. HENRY SUTTON BURGESS SMITH was born in Bridge- water, Maine, July 12, 1838. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1861, he taught school in Brunswick, and on August 26, 1862, he married Ophelia, daughter of Jason and Mary Cheney Ripley of New Hampshire. His ambition was to become a physician, and in the midst of school duties he studied hard. In April, 1864, he was commissioned as assistant surgeon of the Thirty-second Regiment Maine Volunteers, and started with the regiment for active service in Virginia. He was in
243
PHYSICIANS
1878]
battles at the James, Petersburg, Cold Harbor, and the Wil- derness, where he rendered valuable service. At the close of the war he attended a course of lectures at Berkshire Medi- cal College, then settled in Bowdoin, Maine, where he had a large practice. On the death of Dr. Comstock he moved to Middleboro, and continued in practice till his death, October 31, 1894.
Dr. WILLIAM W. COMSTOCK was born in Smithfield, R. I., March 23, 1801. In 1826 he married Saba, daughter of Thomas Sturtevant. In 1829 he went to Buckfield, Maine, and at one time was elected as its representa- tive in the state legislature for a year. At the death of George Sturte- vant, he settled in Middleboro, where he remained until his death. In the early part of his practice he lived in the Sturtevant house, and after- wards moved to the Four Corners. He was a member of DR. WILLIAM W. COMSTOCK the Massachusetts Medical Society, of the American Medical Society, and of the Bristol South District Medical Society.
He was a man much respected and esteemed, not only as an eminent and skilful physician, but as a good citizen. Before his death he had the following motto printed for his grandchil- dren, " Power of thought is the only true measure of intellect, as force of principle is the only true measure of moral great- ness." He died October 20, 1878.
244
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1867
DR. GEORGE WALTER SNOW was born in Rochester, Sep- tember 30, 1800, and was in active practice at the Rock and South Middleboro until his death, May 7, 1867. His parents died when he was young, and he was brought up in Providence in the home of his uncle, Hon. Tris- tram Burgess, then a member of Con- gress. He stud- ied medicine with Dr. John Perkins of South Middle- boro and surgery at Harvard. He married Jane H. DR. GEORGE W. SNOW Hines, August 23, 1832, but left no children. He was a member of the Rock Baptist Church and is buried in that cemetery.
The following is a list of physicians who have been in prac- tice recently in Middleboro : -
Joseph C. Baker, William Chamberlain, -- Chapin, C. S. Cummings, Benjamin Eldridge, George L. Ellis, Winsor F. Fryer, Gilman, Edward I. Hall, Thomas S. Hodgson, Daniel S. Holmes, C. S. Jackson, E. C. Knight, Amos B. Paun, John Perkins, J. H. Sherman, James F. Shurt- leff of Highlands, A. Vincent Smith, William K. Wells, A. C. Wilbur.
CHAPTER XVI
EDUCATION, LIBRARIES, NEWSPAPERS, POST-OFFICES
ITH the exception of the professional men, there were few, if any, residents of the town who had received a college education up to the year 1750, yet the early settlers appreciated the value of sound learning. As early as 1663 the General Court at Plymouth recommended that the several townships within its jurisdiction should take some course by which every town should have a schoolmaster for the training of the children in reading and writing.
In 1677 it was enacted,1 -
"That in whatsoever townshipp in this Goverment consist- ing of fifty families or upwards ; any meet man shalbe obtained to teach a Gramer Scoole such townshipp shall allow att least twelve pounds in currant merchantable pay to be raised by rate on all the Inhabitants of such Towne and those that have the more emediate benefitt thereof by theire Childrens good and generall good shall make up the resedue nessesarie to maintaine the same and that the profitts ariseing of the Cape Fishing ; heertofore ordered to maintaine a Gramer Scoole in this Collonie, be destributed to such Townes as have such Gramer Scooles for the maintainance therof; not exceeding five pounds p anum to any such Towne unless the Court Treasurer or other appointed to manage that affaire see good cause to adde thereunto to any respective Towne not exceed- ing five pounds more pr anum, and further this Court orders that every such Towne as consists of seaventy families or upwards and hath not a gramer scoole therein shall allow and pay unto the next towne which hath such Gramer scoole kept up amongst them, the sum of five pounds p annum in currant merchantable pay, to be levied on the Inhabitants of such defective townes by rate and gathered and delivered by the Constables of such Townes as by warrant from any Majestrate of this Jurisdiction shalbe required."
1 Plymouth Colony Laws, p. 185.
246
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1710
In 1706 we find by vote of the town John Bennett 1 was "to keep a free school and he doth engage to teach all to read, write and cast accounts as shall come to him to be taught." His service as schoolmaster could not have been long, as in 1709 the grand jury found a bill against the town for not hav- ing, or not being provided with, a schoolmaster according to law. What course they pursued in reference to this action on the part of the grand jury does not appear. A town meeting was held on the Ist of March, 1709, probably as a result of that action, and Ephraim Wood was employed to be the school- master. His salary for such service to be "as the selectmen and he can agree for the year." The next mention we have of a school in town is that recorded on the Ist of March, 171I, when the town agreed with Eleazer Lewis " to teach all that shall come to him to be taught upon the same terms as was agreed with the schoolmaster for the last year." In 1713 2 a committee was appointed to choose a teacher ; again, in 1715, we find a Mr. Gardner was employed "to keep school at the meeting house this ensuing quarter of the year." The grand jury, in 1716, found a bill against the town for not being pro- vided with a teacher, and on May 18, 1716, " Mr. John Morton was chosen to answer the town's presentment for want of a
1 John Bennett, who taught school in 1703, made the following entries in his note-book : -
Scollers com to begin the scole
Elizabeth Voge R
May 10, 1703
William Ring
May 17
George Barrale 16 weeke
October ye 18 - 1703
Captain Warrens Children
6 weeke October 18
Mª Tomas 2 Children 2 weeke October 18
3 days
Mr Shirtlife weeks October 18 I week 3 days
3 days
M' Barnabie weeks October 18 I week 3 days
2 At the town meeting March 8, 1713-14, the town made choice of Mr. Ro- dolphus Elms, Mr. Nathaniel Winslow, and Mr. Nathaniel Southworth, "to be a committee in the town's behalf to seek out a schoolmaster to serve the town for this present year, or so much of the year as they shall agree for, and the town voted to pay said schoolmaster what said committee shall agree with him for which schoolmaster shall be removed four times a year for the benefit of the several neighborhoods in the town."
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EDUCATION
1750]
school master." As a result of the action of the grand jury, four schools were appointed to be kept in different parts of the town. These were taught by Thomas Roberts, who spent two or three months in each school.1 It appears, however, that there were no schoolhouses, but it was the teacher's habit to gather the children in different neighborhoods at some dwell- ing-house and instruct them for a few weeks during each year.
Among the teachers we find Mr. Foster, a relative of Madam Morton, Nathaniel Morton, the father of Governor Marcus Mor- ton, and Miss Anna Dilley, a quick, self-reliant little woman, who wrote poems, and lived by herself in the schoolhouse surrounded by an orchard near the residence of Deacon Abiel Wood. The low ceilings were covered with unpainted pine boards, and a large open fireplace occupied one corner of the schoolroom ; the desks were arranged upon three sides, and the older scholars sat with their backs to the master. Some of the older inhabitants remember the little red schoolhouse in Muttock opposite the house where Asaph Churchill lived. This was probably one of the oldest in town, built before the Revolutionary War through the influence of Judge Oliver. Not long after, others were erected, at least one in Eddyville, and possibly one within the bounds of the present town of Lakeville. Soon after the Revolutionary War there were schoolhouses in many neighborhoods, and before the middle of the last century there were forty, possibly more than within any other town of the size in the commonwealth.
Schools were held in the summer and winter months, the
1 At a town meeting May 18, 1716, the town voted that Mr. Thomas Roberts " shall be the town schoolmaster for one year next ensuing, and that the town will pay him for the same {20 a year and find his board, and that he shall keep school each quarter of the year at a several quarter of the town, that so the whole town may have the benefit thereof in the year's time, and that the town shall be divided into quarters by a committee appointed by the town, and that each quarter of the town shall have the privilege of keeping the school in such places as they shall find to be most for their general benefit, and also for boarding said schoolmaster at such place as may be most convenient. The men appointed for the aforesaid committee are John Morton, Samuel Eaton, Peter Bennet, and Jacob Thomson, which said committee shall also determine which quarter of the town the school shall first be kept in."
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1800
summer schools being taught usually by young women, while the winter schools were invariably taught by men. There were always a number of men and women who were well equipped to teach the rudiments of education as required in the district schools, so that the teachers were usually residents of the town. The winter school commenced on the first Monday after Thanksgiving, and continued from two to four months, as the number of pupils in the different schools warranted. The summer schools commenced about the first Monday in May, and continued during the summer. On the first day of the winter term, the names of pupils were taken, their places in class determined, and a " fire list " made out. This list con- tained the names of the larger boys, whose duty it was to see to the building of fires each day. After school closed at night, the boy appointed gathered wood, locked the schoolhouse door, and took the key preparatory to early work there in the morn- ing, - that the fire might be in readiness, a bucket of water drawn, and the room swept. Wood was furnished by those living in that district in pieces from eight to ten feet in length. The larger boys would cut it ; the smaller ones would pile it neatly, ready for use.
There were various methods of punishing the unruly ; the simplest, but effective, was to make a small boy sit with the little girls. The children were not spoiled, if sparing the rod was the cause, for the white birch rod and ferule were used frequently on the larger boys to maintain discipline, and the teacher was usually respected for his strength. The teacher " boarded round " with the parents, a certain number of days for each pupil in part payment of wages. The average pay of the men who taught the winter schools was about the same as that received by skilled mechanics of the time, while the women who taught the summer schools received very much less.
One of the most intelligent and honored men in the early history of the town said, " The only instruction I ever received was the six weeks' schooling during the winter months of the school at Muttock." In considering this seemingly meagre education, it must be remembered that these men read care-
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EDUCATION
1800]
fully and with thought the few books they had. This gave them a mental discipline and grasp of affairs which enabled them to fill positions with honor and credit.
As the population increased and the business of the differ- ent neighborhoods changed from time to time, the boundary lines of the school districts were subject to frequent altera- tions ; in many instances the population so diminished that the district was abolished, the schoolhouse removed, and the children were sent to adjoining neighborhoods for their edu- cation. These changes have been frequent, and in the latter years have been radical, so that, by a provision of the legisla- ture of Massachusetts, the towns were authorized to transport scholars from one part of the town to the other to save expense, rather than maintain a school in the respective districts. In each of these, school agents were chosen by the districts and approved by the next town meeting ; they were authorized to engage the teachers for the ensuing year and to look after the various interests of the school in connection with the com- mittee. The teachers, before entering upon their duties, had to pass a satisfactory examination.
Before high schools were established, children desiring to fit for college, or to continue their studies in the higher branches of learning, were sent to some of the numerous academies which at this time existed all through New England.
HIGH SCHOOL
The New England academies had for many generations done much to foster a more extended education than could be acquired in the district schools. The advantage to be derived from such a course of study was apparent, and it was felt that the state should furnish means so that all should have the advantages which academies afforded for advanced study. This idea so generally prevailed that the legislature had passed a general law that
"Any town containing five hundred families shall, beside the common schools, maintain a school to be kept by a master
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLEBORO
[1850
of competent ability and good morals, who shall, in addition to the branches of learning already mentioned, give instruc- tion in History of the United States, Book-keeping, Surveying, and Algebra, and such schools must be kept for the advan- tage of the inhabitants of the town ten months at least in each year."
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