USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Mattapoisett > Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts : being a history of these towns and also in part of Marion and a portion of Wareham. > Part 3
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Rochester > Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts : being a history of these towns and also in part of Marion and a portion of Wareham. > Part 3
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The most marked of the natural features of Old Roches- ter is the very extended shore line made by the harbors and the enclosing "Necks." An ancient town record names Cromeset Neck, Great Neck, Charles Neck, and Mattapoisett Neck, as the four Necks of Rochester town. Mattapoisett Neck, which gives to that harbor about two miles of western shore line, is called on some of the old maps Attansawomock Neck. Its two divisions are com- monly referred to as the "East" and "West" Necks. On the eastern side of Sippican Harbor is Little Neck where the first Ministry lands of Rochester were lo- cated. Cromeset Neck, lying between the Weweantit and Wankinco rivers, is now in the town of Wareham. Certain tracts of upland that are nearly enclosed by swamp lands within the town are also called "Necks."
If one follows on the map the long shore line from west to east he finds minor irregularities that are also worthy of notice. There is Brandt Island Cove, containing Brandt Island, - said to have been named from the water-fowl (brant) that used to frequent this spot, - and owned (1907) and occupied in summer by George V. Brower of New York. Other small islands along the Matta- poisett shore are Seal Rocks, Ram Island, and Gravel Island.
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Mattapoisett and Old Rochester
On the eastern shore of Mattapoisett Harbor is Neds Point, named from a former owner, Edward Dexter, and now occupied by a small government reservation, con- taining Neds Point lighthouse; to the eastward of which is a curiously shaped peninsula with three projections, Angelica Point, Strawberry Point, and Goat Island; the last being a narrow serpentine strip of land nearly enclo- sing the little bay known as Pine Islands Pond.
Farther east one comes to Connett Point (formerly Cordwood Point), Pease's Point, and Hiller's Cove. Between Mattapoisett and Marion is Aucoot Cove (formerly spelled Orcoot), containing Haskell Island, and receiving the little stream on which the Sparrow mill is located. The eastern side of Sippican Harbor is broken by a double indentation known as Blankin- ship's Cove and Planting Island Cove, partly shut in by Little Neck and the low peninsula known as Plant- ing Island. Meadow Island is a low, grassy tract within the harbor, and a little to the north of Ram Island is a tiny islet known as Little Island. The most interesting single feature of the harbor is Bird Island, which stands off the entrance, well out into the bay, crowned with the white lighthouse that adds pictur- esqueness to these quiet shores. Great Neck is partly divided by the deep indentation known as Wing's Cove, the western peninsula terminating in Ruggles's Point, formerly known as Butler's Point, from Butler Wing, a former resident of this Neck. Great Hill, which is east of the cove, attains a height of about 127 feet, and was made a station for the United States Coast Survey.
Although many places along the extended shore line are low and marshy, there are also various beautiful
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General Features
sandy beaches; among these being Silver-Shell Beach (formerly Nye's wharf beach), overlooking which many summer residents of Marion have built their beautiful homes. Crescent beach, Pico beach, and other strips of shore in Mattapoisett, are of similar character At Aucoot Cove, Angelica Point, and other places, are many rocks that show the results of strong glacial action. Along the shores are the valuable deposits of quahaugs, scallops, and other shell-fish, which have been of large food value to the inhabitants from Indian times to the present. The fishing rights to the shell-fish of the shores and the fish in the bay, as well as to the herring of the rivers, have been the subject of much town legislation, and in all town divisions the rights in these fisheries to all the inhabitants of Old Rochester have been carefully preserved.
With the exception of the hills near Sniptuit Pond, and Great Hill in Marion, there are no elevations of importance in the Old Rochester lands. A few higher points like Vaughn's Hill, Braley's Hill, Cathell's Hill, may be'men- tioned, and reaching north from the central part of Can- nonville in Mattapoisett is a somewhat elevated strip that has been named Oakland Heights.
The grassy land of the necks and the shore lands in general furnished to the colonists "hey grounds "; and here salt hay is still harvested yearly though less valued than of old. They were also used for pasturage, and for years these Necks in general were held as a "common field " for the stock-raising inhabitants of the old town.
The Menchoisett region is largely a sandy plain, the deposit apparently of a great lake formed under glacial influences. A large, level region a mile or so northeast of the center is known as Walnut Plain.
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Mattapoisett and Old Rochester
But there are in Old Rochester large swampy tracts that have never been populated though they are valued for timber. Some of these are in the northeast part of the town, where the branches of the Sippican River take their rise. There is also the old "Logging Swamp," midway between Sniptuit Pond and the western town line. Several others, as Haskell Swamp (formerly Great Bear Swamp), Little Bear Swamp, and Great Cedar Swamp, lie in the extensive wooded tract that reaches from Roches- ter into Marion and Mattapoisett. Among the uplands or "necks" that extend into, and are nearly surrounded by, these swampy tracts are Horse Neck, Sniptuit Neck, and Towser's Neck, where the old Indian Totosin dwelt before and during King Philip's War.
But besides the sandy and swampy tracts there are large sections where the light, sandy soil is closely filled with huge boulders and smaller rock deposits, showing how mighty were the glacial forces that were once ctive in shaping the natural conditions of this region.
There are many interesting single rocks. Of these the one deserving of first mention is the great Minister's Rock in Marion, which, like many another rock or stone in all ages and countries, was made use of by the men of old when they set up their altars of worship. Another rock of great interest is the enormous granite boulder at the rear of the summer home of the late Edward Atkinson in Mattapoisett; a boulder forty-two feet in height and thirty-six in width, divided by a vertical fissure through which a footpath runs. The great Ward's Rock at the shore, almost on the dividing line between Fairhaven and Mattapoisett, for so long a conspicuous landmark
THE GREAT ROCK, MATTAPOISETT
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General Features
from the sea, has in recent years been much reduced in size by blasting.
Joe's Rock, in a picturesque locality of North Rochester, near the pumping station of the New Bedford water- works, contains Joe's cave, said to have been the hiding- place of a fugitive of the Revolutionary era.
In Central Rochester also there are several interesting rocks, among which may be named Witch Rock, on the corner beside the "Old Country Road." Further back in the woods is "Indian Pound Corn," a large table rock formation showing the indentation made by the Red Man's pestle. There is also a "Devil's Rock," which, like many other similar rocks of New England, shows the definite impress of the foot of the imp as he leaped from the boulder, although this particular Devil's Rock bears an added confirmation of its genuineness, in that William Harris, Sr., actually saw the fiend when he took the final leap.
In the woods about three quarters of a mile west of Rochester Center, running through the old Thompson and Sturtevant lands, is a curious ridge of gravel, half a mile long and wide enough for a wagon path, which is a very perfect specimen of the glacial formation known to geologists as an " esker."
In Mattapoisett is a ledge of "pink granite," which is still being quarried. Minister Le Baron, in 1786, refers to this as follows: "In Second Precinct there is a fine stone suitable for Building with wh Nantucket Market is principaly supplied, and of late some have been exported to the Southern States and used for Millstones in ye manu- facturing of rice."
The uplands of Old Rochester are still nearly covered
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Mattapoisett and Old Rochester
with forests of oak, pine, and cedar, interspersed with ash, maple, spruce, walnut, elm, beech, birch, holly, sassafras, and other trees. The white pine timber is especially valued, and by its rapid growth it keeps up the supply of material for the boxboard industry, at the numerous sawmills of the region. There is considerable undergrowth of vines, huckleberry bushes and other shrubby plants. In the early days the Indians kept the woods open by frequent burnings, so as to afford free passage for travel.
Along the country roads of the Old Rochester lands numerous native wild cherry trees hang out their white blossoms in spring, and in the late summer their clusters of deep-hued berrylike fruit. In the spring also the blossoms of the "shad-bush" give a feathery whiteness to the woodland edges, and the sandy fields and roadsides of the old Menchoisett region are covered with lupines, making a brave display of color with their showy blue racemes.
Beside the pathways and in the old pastures grows the sweet fern redolent of old New England associations; also the bayberry, valued of old as a source of "bayberry tallow," the fragrant green "myrtle-wax," formerly used for the manufacture of candles; and there is also a plenty of the wild indigo weed that countrymen use to stick above the horses' ears to keep off offending insects. In the swamps are delicious huckleberries to be had in plenty by those who can withstand the boggy wetness of the places where the juiciest berries prefer to grow. And there are low level stretches where the tiny-leaved cran- berry vines make a crimson carpet in September when thickly hung with the red glossy fruit. In ancient par-
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General Features
lance this was the "craneberry," and, as an old writer informs us, "The craneberry is a plenteous production, and is sent to a wide vicinage, even to Boston."
Most of the small wild animals found in early days in the woods of Old Rochester still inhabit these regions. Wildcats, once numerous, have disappeared, but an occasional red fox may yet be seen. Even the deer, once apparently extinct in this region, has shown signs of resuscitation of late.
Throughout the summer months the ears of the villagers are greeted with the frequent call of the American cuckoo, while the whippoorwill sings his pathetic evening call from many an old fence or mossy stone. The woods abound with tree toads puffing their tiny bladders and uttering their trilling notes, and in the marshy places a million frogs make a croaking spring music which brings to the listeners' ears the pleasant assurance that the winter is over, and that all the glories of spring will soon be manifest.
But it is impossible to enumerate all the natural features of the Old Rochester lands, which are, after all, not pe- culiar to Old Rochester, but are similar to those of all the other parts of Southeastern New England.
Enough has been given to enable one to form a fairly correct general picture of the seventy or eighty square miles of territory that the men of Rochester bought from the old Colony Court in order to build thereon their future homes.
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CHAPTER III
THE BEGINNINGS OF ROCHESTER TOWN, 1679-1700
N 1679, several persons having proposed to purchase lands in Sippican, the Plymouth Court decided to accommodate them if they "can procure some more sub- stanciall men that are prudent psons and of considerable estates," who would settle with their families. The agents to make the purchase were Joseph Lothrop and Barnabas Lothrop of Barnstable, Kenelm Winslow of Marshfield, and William Clark of Plymouth, Governor Josiah Winslow acting for the colony. July 22, 1679, the purchasers met for the first time at the house of Mr. Joseph Bradford of Plymouth, and the deed was drawn.
The territory covered more than seventy square miles, which, after Wareham was set off in 1739, was reduced to about fifty-eight square miles.
The deed shows the eastern boundary of the purchase to have been the "Westerly Jumping Brook" (or Besse Brook) of Wareham and the Wankinco River. Some other land must have been added, however, for many acres east of the Wankinco were afterwards assigned to Thomas Clark and other proprietors.
The purchasers were thirty 1 in number, but two addi- tional shares were set aside for "the Minister and the
1 The number has sometimes been given as twenty-nine, the name of James Clark being omitted from some of the early lists.
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Beginnings of Rochester Town, 1679-1700
Ministrie," and the name of the Indian Connett, added in 1683, made the whole number of proprietary shares thirty-three, among which these extensive land holdings were to be divided.
March 10, 1679, the proprietors "met at Joseph Burge his house at Sandwitch," and ordered that "Mr. Thomas Hinckley, Mr. William Paybody, Joseph Warrain, Samuel White, and Joseph Lothrop Shall take a vew of the Lands of Scippican and determine where the house Lots shall be Layed out and if the Land will Beare it to Lay 40 ackers to a house Lot and to have for their paines 2s 6d a piece in mony." The report as to size of lots must have been adverse, for April 15, 1679, the purchasers met again at Joseph Burge's and made the first land division by lot, giving to each proprietor twenty acres for a house lot and forty acres of woodland, sixteen of these home lots being at Mattapoisett and sixteen at Sippican. It was allowed that those that "mislike" their home lots at Sippican might take up home lots in any "Unlayed out lands from Charles his meadow and the long swamp to Sippican River." The first and second home lots on Great Neck, and two lots of the best of the woodland, were also set aside for the Minister and the Ministry.
Those who drew home lots at Sippican were the Min- ister, the Ministry, Elizabeth Ellis, James Clarke, Wil- liam Clarke, Samuel Briggs, Seth Pope, William Pay- body, Joseph Burge, Benjamin Foster, Benjamin Bartlett, Kenelm Winslow, Ralph Powel, Joseph Dunham, Thomas Clark, Aaron Barlow, - 16.
Those who drew home lots at Mattapoisett were Samuel Hammond, Joseph Dotey, Samuel Davis, Samuel White, Barnabas Lothrop, George Morton, Joseph Lothrop,
-
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Mattapoisett and Old Rochester
John Perry, John Bradford, John Cotton, William Brad- ford, John Burge, Moses Barlow, William Dexter, Joseph Bartlett, Mr. Thomas Hinckley, - 16.
In some of the lists of the early proprietors the title "Mr." (in those days an honorary title) was given to Thomas Clarke, John Cotton, John Bradford, and Wil- liam Paybody, as well as to Thomas Hinckley. But with the exception perhaps of Thomas Clarke these honorable gentlemen do not appear to have taken up their residence on the lands of Rochester.
Joseph Lothrop was the first Proprietors' Clerk. He and his brother Barnabas did not live in Rochester, though they had very large land holdings, and were most active in the early proprietary affairs.
A few of the proprietors moved at once into Rochester; some sent their sons to occupy their lands; others soon sold their shares, which were often divided among several purchasers, so that the number of those owning proprie- tary rights was soon much increased. From time to time new lots were surveyed and drawn. In 1665 it had been ordered by the Plymouth Court that the proprietors of each town should procure a suitable book for the record of their land titles. These old Proprietors' Books, to- gether with the colony patent and the Indian deeds, furnish the foundation for most of the land titles of New England. The Rochester Proprietary records are full and valuable, and were kept up for many years. The last record of land divisions was made in 1792. Two ancient copies of the Proprietors' Book are in existence. About 1875-1885, a copy, in four volumes, was begun by Mr. Joseph S. Luce of Marion, and finished by Noah Hammond, Esq., of Mattapoisett. This authorized copy
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Beginnings of Rochester Town, 1679-1700
is kept at the Registry of Deeds in Plymouth. Another copy was made by Mr. Hammond for the town of Matta- poisett.
Laws for the new township were at first made at the proprietors' meetings, which after 1694 began to be held in Rochester itself. June 4, 1686, the town was incor- porated, under the name, "Rochester-town in New England." Soon after this, laws for the town began to be made by the freemen at town meeting, but the opinions of the proprietors continued to have much weight in town affairs.
Aaron Barlow, Samuel White, and Samuel Hammond were selectmen in 1690, the earliest whose names have been recorded. The town books now in existence begin with the records of 1697, but mention is made of records before this date. Mark Haskell was town clerk in 1697. At his death, a year or two later, Peter Blackmer was chosen, and held this office for many years. The honor of being town clerk was its chief emolument, but occa- sionally a small sum was paid as the "Proffits of the townes books." Thus, in 1711, Peter Blackmer was paid the sum of twenty shillings "for keeping the townes books for about 11 years past." The closely written old town books of Rochester have never been copied, but they form a most important compendium of local history.
To attract settlers the proprietors voted that "them that first settell and are livers " should be allowed to make ten barrels of tar apiece, "of the kind comonly called small barrells," upon the commons for their own benefit. But lest the purchasers who were not settlers should claim the privilege of making tar it was ordered that none of these should be "alowed to Burne or make any Tarr of the
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Mattapoisett and Old Rochester
pine knots or wood for the space of five years." Tar was an important article of commerce until after the Revolu- tion, and in 1704 a law was passed against unauthorized "milking of the pine trees" on the common lands. It was also ordered that no "tymber claboarding shingling or coopers stuff" should be exported out of the town, and if any were brought to the landing-place as if for export, " it shall be forfeited one half to the informer and one half to the town." "Twentie shilings" was the "penaltie " for every tree or part of a tree thus exported.
The woods abounded in foxes, wildcats, and other small animals. The early records have many entries of bounties paid for "3 catts in season," "two foxes out of seson," for crows, redbirds, jaybirds, squirrels, and other animal pests. Foxes' heads brought "3 shillings for old ones, and one shilling for young ones puppied this year." The animals must be presented, however, "with both thir ears on to be cut off." In 1694 forty shillings was paid for " the killing of two grown woulves in our town." In 1706 each householder was required to bring in his animal quota of four crows and twelve blackbirds killed by the bringer, or must forfeit twopence for each black- bird and sixpence for each crow that was lacking. In
1738 each male twenty-one years old was required to kill "6 crowbill Blackbirds or Bluebirds, or 4 squirrels or 2 crows all well grown," or on failure to do so, "to have 2 shillings added to their next town tax."
Dogs kept to protect sheep were often troublesome. The white men had learned from the Indians to use her- rings as a fertilizer for corn, one or two being planted in each hill. But dogs uprooted the corn to dig for herrings. So in 1703 it was ordered that "every dog, Bitch, or dog
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Beginnings of Rochester Town, 1679-1700
kind" should be fettered on the 20th of April for forty days by "haveing one of their fore feet fastened up to their neck," and if any person should set his dog at large not so tied during that period, "any person may kill such dog, Bitch, or Dog kind."
One of the earliest needs of the town was a gristmill, and in 1683 twenty acres of land were laid out on the two sides of Sippican River as a mill privilege. Aaron Barlow and Joseph Burge were appointed to set up the mill, which was to be of "such Capacitie as She may grind the corne of the Inhabitants for twentie years." Aaron Barlow declined the commission, however, and the work devolved on Joseph Burge alone. Towards this first mill William Connett paid for himself and his brother "six barrells of tar," while the other proprietors were taxed ten shillings apiece.
The exact location of this first mill is not definitely stated, but a few years later the mills at "Leonard's Pond " were known as the "Sippican Mills," and here important industries were carried on in all the generations of the Old Town History. In 1694 permission was given for another gristmill to be set up in Mattapoisett. In 1704 the commission for the first mill having expired, a very important gristmill was erected at "Leonard's Pond." It had a perpendicular shaft, and was tended by Peter Blackmer, who was also the town clerk. Near Peter Blackmer's mill the town also gave a piece of land to Anthony Coomes on condition that he "do the work of a smith among us for seven years."
In 1685 the towns of Plymouth Colony were divided into three counties, Plymouth, Bristol, and Barnstable, and the judicial department of the government was trans-
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Mattapoisett and Old Rochester
that all landholders should be taxed ten shillings for his support. But no permanent settlement as the town's minister was ever given him, and after four years he removed to Falmouth.
He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Arnold, Jr., son of Minister Arnold of Marshfield. In 1687, Mr Arnold was invited to " settle," and was given a whole proprietary share on condition that "he continue in the work of the ministry among us until prevented by death." He began his preaching in the little meeting-house by Minister's Rock. But few new settlers were coming to this part of the town. The flow of population was from this point towards Great Neck, Wareham, Leonard's Pond, and upper Sippican village. In 1685 lots were laid out "in the woods" at Rochester Center, and before long settlers began to find their way there, and into the more northern parts of the town.
The year 1694 was an important one in the annals of Rochester. About this time many changes were made in the land holdings. Lots were exchanged, or were thrown up, and new ones drawn. Minister Arnold now came into possession of land that was later known as the Sturtevant farm, and between this date and 1697 he had built a house on it and moved to that locality. July 10, 1694, an important meeting of the Proprietary was held in Sandwich, at the house of Samuel Prince, who about this time bought out Benjamin's Foster "whole shear," and was also chosen clerk of the records.
About this time also a definite effort was begun by the town to establish its permanent center. In February, 1694-5, Woodlot No. 17, belonging to Isaac Little, was chosen as a place to "sett a meetinghouse." It is de-
MINISTER'S ROCK, LITTLE NECK, MARION Reverend Mr. Shiverick's First Pulpit, 1683
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Beginnings of Rochester Town, 1679-1700
scribed as lying " on the west side of Muddy Brook below where the Rhode Island way goes over." But the town was not at that time ready to build, and three years later Woodlot No. 30 was chosen, the owners of which now threw it up, and received in return a like number of acres in the "undivided."
In 1697 the town exchanged its "Ministry lands by the Sea " for lands in the interior, and Samuel Briggs, an early settler of Little Neck, whose twelve-year-old daughter, Eliza, is said to have been the first person interred in the ancient burying-ground by Minister's Rock, was allowed to take up the lands around the little meeting-house, in consideration of his having allowed a cartway to be made through his lands to the "town's generall landing-place." On the new ministry lands thus chosen at the Center, the town now voted to lay out a burying-ground, and a training field, and "a place to sett a meetinghouse," while a part of the land was "to ly and remaine the Min- istry." A woodlot to the north of Rochester Church is still known as "The Ministry." There were many other ministry lands, however, in various parts of the town, that were afterwards divided up among the parishes.
But although the general location of the central public lands of Rochester was decided upon in 1697, there were still some months of doubt and discussion as to the exact site for the important building which was to be the center for the town's civic and religious life.
February 2, 1699, it was "voted that the meetinghouse shall be sit on the westerly sid of the long Bridg."
This obscure and apparently incredible statement on the pages of the town's books has been one of several
.
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Mattapoisett and Old Rochester
confusing factors which led to the loss, during several generations, of all real knowledge or agreement as to the actual location of the important meeting-house built by the town in 1699.
It did not seem possible that there was any "long Bridg" at Rochester Center. But further study has brought to light facts bearing on this question. If one follows the trout brook a few rods to the rear of Capt. Judah Hathaway's house he may find to-day traces of a very ancient road crossing the brook at this point. This is a part of the oldest road from Rochester Center toward Little Neck and Sippican, the road that was in use when the meeting-house was built. Between this point and the burying-ground much of the land is low, and though at present it is dry and arable, this was not always the case. Mr. Holmes writes in his memoirs: "One thing is re- markable. When I was young, old people said they could remember when people caught fish in a brook which ran across where the road turns to go to Deacon Dexter's, between Charles's and the meeting-house. There are now no signs of a brook there, but the vestiges yet may be traced from the brook westward until it comes nearly in range with Ruggles's house." In imagination one can seem to see a stretch of corduroy road made of pine logs, crossing this ancient brook and the trout brook and the wet lands near by, and known perhaps to the early settlers of Rochester as "the long Bridge."
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