USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fairhaven > Old-time Fairhaven; erstwhile Eastern New Bedford, Volume I > Part 22
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Laura Keene. - Not far from the Fairhaven town line, and with- in the old Fairhaven township, is to be found the site of the Laura Keene farm, now within the limits of the town of Acushnet. In the '60's this estate was purchased by the popular actress, and called "Riverside Lawn." Laura Keene, perchance, by a slight stretch of the imagination, may be called the link between Fairhaven and Abraham Lincoln.
It seems that the manager of Ford's Theatre, Washington, D. C., saw, in his mind's eye, a full house, if the public realized that President Lincoln and General Grant were to be present at "Our American Cousin." The newspapers of the National Capital, on the fourteenth of April, 1865, under the caption "PERSONAL NO- TICE," printed the following : Lieutenant-general Grant, President and Mrs. Lincoln, and ladies, will occupy the state box at Ford's theatre tonight, to witness Miss Laura Keene's company in Tom Taylor's "American Cousin."
Grant did not attend. Lincoln was driven to the house of Senator Harris. Miss Harris, the senator's daughter, and Major Rathbone, a son of the senator's wife, accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln to the theater, arriving there at 8:40 o'clock. The house was packed. All arose and cheered. The President bowed and took his seat. John Wilkes Booth, by cunningly planning the sinister plot, forced his way to the President's box, and, with pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other, after sizing up the entire situation, fired, the bullet entering the President's brain. The uproar was terrific. Miss Harris shouted for water. After attempting to calm the audience, Laura Keene entered the President's box with water and stimulants. The President died at 7:22 the following morning on Tenth street opposite the theater, a room many of us have since
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visited. The grief of America was voiced by Walt Whitman in his poem "My Captain."
But what of Laura Keene, a former resident of old Fairhaven? The Standard tells us :- "OBITUARY. Laura Keene, the actress, or Mrs. Lutz, well-known in this vicinity, died in New Jersey, on Tuesday last (November 4, 1873). She had been for some time in failing health with consumption, and had gone into the country un- der the advice of her physician. She was born in England in 1830, and first played in Madame Vestris's theater in London, making her debut in October 1851, as Pauline in 'The Lady of Lyons.' In 1852 she came to the United States and opened at Wallack's in New York, September 20. In November, 1855, she opened the Varieties, and on November 18, 1855, a new theater, the Olympic, of which she continued to be the lessee and manageress until 1863. On Oc- tober 18, 1858, she produced 'Our American Cousin' which had an immense run. 'The Seven Sisters' brought out by her, November 26, 1860, ran 169 nights. In 1868, she visited England, and since then she had travelled with a company under her own management."
The Standard, a few days later continued :- "LAURA KEENE, whose maiden name was Lee, was twice married, first to a Mr. Taylor and the second time to J. S. Lutz. She was playing 'Our American Cousin' in Ford's theater, Washington, when Abraham Lincoln was shot by Booth, and she rushed from the stage to the President's box and pillowed his head in her lap. She was buried yesterday (Friday, November 7, 1873) in the Catholic cemetery at Montclair."
Thus by way of association, when one passes the former estate of Laura Keene, on the bank of the Acushnet river, the Great Emancipator is called to mind.
Henry Huttleston Rogers. - Thirty-eight years ago, in the month of November, "Little Journeys," by Elbert Hubbard, devoted one number of Volume 25, to H. H. Rogers. Elbert Hubbard, II, rep- resenting the five children who own the copyrights on Elbert Hub- bard's writings, has granted permission to quote the following.
"Henry Huddleston Rogers was a very human individual. He was born at the village of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, in the year eight- een hundred and forty. He died in New York City in Nineteen hun- dred and nine, in his seventieth year."
"H. H. Rogers had personality. Men turned to gaze at him on the street; women glanced, and then hastily looked, unnecessarily hard, the other way ; children stared."
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"The man was tall, lithe, strong, graceful, commanding. His jaw was the jaw of courage ; his chin meant purpose ; his nose sym- boled intellect, poise and power ; his brow spelled brain."
"He was a handsome man, and he was not wholly unaware of the fact. In him was the pride of the North American Indian, and a little of the reserve of the savage. His silence was always eloquent, and in it was neither stupidity nor vacuity. With friends he was witty, affable, generous, lovable."
"In business negotiations he was rapid, direct, incisive; or smooth, plausible and convincing, all depending upon the man with whom he was dealing. He often did to others what they were trying to do to him, and he did it first. He had the splendid ability to say 'No' when he should, a thing many good men cannot do. At such times his mouth would shut like a steel trap and his blue eyes would send the thermometer below zero. No one could play horse with H. H. Rogers. He himself, was always in the saddle."
"H. H. Rogers was the ideal executive. He did not decide until the evidence was all in; he listened, weighed, sifted, sorted, and then decided. And when his decision was made the case was closed."
"The parents of H. H. Rogers were neither rich nor poor. They had enough, but there was never a surfeit. They were of straight New England stock. Of his four great-grandfathers, three had fought in the Revolutionary War. The father had made one trip in a whaler. He was gone three years and got a one-hundred and forty-seventh part of the catch. The oil market was on a slump, and so the net result for the father of a millionaire-to-be was ninety-five dollars and twenty cents. This happy father was a grocer, and later a clerk to a broker in whale-oil. Aside from that one cruise to the whaling grounds, Rogers Pere played the game of life, near home and close to shore."
The mother planned for the household. She was economist, bursar and disburser. She was a member of the Congregational church, with a liberal bias, which believed in 'endless consequences' but not in 'endless punishment.' Later the family evolved into Uni- tarians by the easy process of natural selection. The father said grace, and the mother led in family prayers. She had ideas of her own and expressed them. The family took the Boston Weekly Congregationalist and the Bedford Weekly Standard. In the house- hold there was a bookcase of nearly a hundred volumes. It was the most complete library in town, excepting that of the minister."
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"The home where H. H. Rogers was born still stands. Its frame was made in Sixteen Hundred and Ninety, mortised, tenoned and pin- ned. In the garret the rafters show the loving marks of the broadaxe, to swing which musical instrument with grace and effectiveness is now a lost art."
"How short is the life of man! Here a babe was born, who lived his infancy, youth, manhood ; who achieved as one in a million, who died, yet the house of his birth - old at the time - still stubbornly stands as if to make mock of our ambitions."
"I had tea in this house where H. H. Rogers was born and where his boyhood days were spent. I fetched an armful of wood for the housewife, and would have brought a bucket of water for her from the pump, only the pump is now out of commission, having been re- placed by the new-fangled waterworks presented to the town by a Standard Oil magnate. Here Henry Rogers brought chips in a wheelbarrow from the shipyard on baking-days; here he hoed the garden and helped his mother fasten up the flaming, flaring holly- hocks against the house with strips of old sail-cloth and tacks."
"In the winter the ice sometimes froze solid clear across Buzzards Bay. The active and hustling boys had skates made by the village blacksmith. Henry Rogers had two pair, and used to loan one pair out for two cents an hour. Boys who had no skates and could not beg nor borrow and who had but one cent could sometimes get one skate for a while and thus glide gracefully on one foot."
"To grow up on a coast and hear the tales of seafaring men who have gone down to the sea in ships, is to catch it sooner or later. At fifteen Henry Rogers caught it, and was duly recorded to go on a whaler. Luckily his mother got word of it, and cancelled the deal. About then good fortune arrived in the form of opportunity. The young man who peddled the New Bedford Standard wanted to dis- pose of his route. Henry bought the route, and advised with his mother afterwards, only to find that she had sent the seller to him."
"When the railroad came in, Henry got a job as assistant bag- gageman." "Henry Rogers was twenty. It was a pivotol point in his life. He was in love with the daughter of a captain of a whaler. They were neighbors and had been schoolmates together. Henry talked it over with Abbie Gifford - it was war or the oil-fields of Pennsylvania. And love had its way, just as it usually has."
"He entered into a partnership with Charles Ellis, and erected a refinery between Titusville and Oil City. The first year he and Ellis divided thirty thousand dollars between them."
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"In the fall of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, when he went back to Fairhaven to claim his bride, young Rogers was regarded as a rich man. The bride and groom returned at once to Pennsylvania and the simple life. Henry and Abbie lived in a one-roomed shack on the bank of Oil Creek. It was love in a cottage all right, with an absolute lack of everything that is supposed to make up civilization."
"About this time, Charles Pratt, a dealer and refiner of oils, of Brooklyn, appears upon the horizon. Pratt now contracted for the entire refined output of Rogers and Ellis at a fixed price. Crude oil suddenly took a skyward turn. Rogers and Ellis had no wells. They struggled on trying to live up to their contract with Pratt, but soon their surplus was wiped out, and they found themselves in debt to Pratt to the tune of several thousand dollars."
"Rogers went to New York and saw Pratt, personally assuming the obligation of taking care of the deficit. Ellis disappeared in the mist. The manly way of Rogers so impressed Pratt that he decided he needed just such a man in his business ; a bargain was struck, and Rogers went to work for Pratt. Pratt gave Rogers an interest in the business, and Rogers got along on his twenty-five dollars a week, although the books showed he was making ten thousand dollars a year. Then comes John D. Rockefeller on from Cleveland, with his plans of co-operation and consolidation."
"Rockefeller was only one year older than Rogers, but seemed twenty. Rockefeller was always old and always discreet; he never lost his temper; he was warranted non-explosive from childhood. Rogers at times was spiritual benzine. The Standard Oil Trust was duly formed with a capital of one million dollars. The Pratt Oil Com- pany, with principal works in Brooklyn, but a branch in Cleveland, was one of the twenty concerns that were absorbed."
"And so it happened that Henry H. Rogers aged thirty-two, found himself worth a hundred thousand dollars. He was one of the directors in the new company."
"And viewing the life of Rogers for years, from the time he saw the light of a whale-oil lamp in Fairhaven, to the man as we behold him now we must acknowledge his initiative and his power. He gave profitable work to millions."
"And so in eighteen hundred and eighty-five, when he was forty- five years of age, he built the Rogers School. In a few years, Rogers - or Mrs. Rogers, to be exact, - presented to the village a Town Hall. Next came the Millicent Library, in memory of a beloved daughter. When his mother passed away, as a memorial to her, he
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built a church and presented it to the Unitarian denomination. The Fairhaven Water-works System was a present from Mr. Rogers. And lastly was the Fairhaven High School. His last item of public work was an object-lesson as to what the engineering skill of man can do. He took a big bog or swamp that lay to the north of the village and was used as a village dumping ground. He drained the tract, filled in with gravel, and then earth, and transformed it into a public park of marvelous beauty."
"Rogers had the invincible heart of youth. He died as he had lived, always and forever in the thick of the fight. He had that American trinity of virtues ; pluck, push, and perseverance. Courage, endurance, energy, initiative, ambition, industry, good-cheer, sym- pathy were his attributes."
CHAPTER XX
Wars
King Philip's War. - In the Mercury of Wednesday, September 19, 1832, we find an article with the caption "Some Further Remi- niscences of Dartmouth" as follows: - "In 1675, John Cooke was the Deputy or Representative. In 1676, the town (Dartmouth) was deserted on account of Philip's war. and sent no Representative. After a long misunderstanding between that Chief and Plymouth govern- ment, hostilities began in 1675; and in course of that year many of the inhabitants of Dartmouth were slain and the settlement broken up. Some one, however, remained and repaired Russell's house at Apponaganset, which was converted into a garrison.
In 1676, Col. Church, two of whose subaltern officers were How- land and Delano, attacked the Indians in Dartmouth, and Pocassett, and Middleboro, and pursued them near Assawamsett Pond, Acushnet, Sconticut and Apponaganset, and took many prisoners, at and near those places ; and some in Russell's orchard. These were sent out of the country and sold as slaves by the Plymouth government, to the great discredit and dishonor of those who advised to such a meas- ure. Col. Church remonstrated against it in strong terms, and so did some others. But from revenge or fear, or it might be, in order to strike terror into others, the government sent them away and sold them in Bermuda. They were, indeed, found in hostility to the Eng- lish ; at least a part of them, but some of them had voluntarily sur- rendered themselves to Church, which made him express more in- dignation and horror at the deed."
Invasion of Fairhaven. - We have all read about the Spanish Armada, the Syrian Invasion, the invasions by both the North and the South during the Civil War, and we have recently read about the European Invasion. Let us again read about the Invasion of Fair- haven, by the British, during the Revolution. There have been a number of versions of this Revolutionary event, the details of which have been set forth by General Charles Grey, Judge Edward Pope, Elijah Macomber, John Gilbert, Charles Grinnell, Capt. Lemuel S. Akin and others, a summary of each appearing in the Standard of September 5, 1878, a century after the invasion. "The History of New Bedford," by Daniel Ricketson, published in 1858, a copy of which is in our possession, devotes Chapter XXII to this invasion.
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From these we select the salient points, interjecting an interpre- tation or two of our own in the process of relating, since there are contradictions and differences among the writers.
On the evening of September 4, 1778, the British fleet, of 32 vessels, with the Carysfort in the van, sailed from New London and entered Buzzards Bay, the object of the expedition being to destroy whatever privateers could be found. The harbor had been the rendez- vous for privateers, and the English commerce suffered. This fleet, under command of Rear Admiral Gambier, with Major General Grey in charge of troops, arrived off shore in the late afternoon of the 5th riding at anchor in Clark's Cove. The fleet had been sent under or- ders from Sir Henry Clinton at New York, some asserting that it consisted of two frigates, one brig of war, 36 transports and 5,000 men. One of the men was Captain John André. Immediately upon arrival, the troops, 4,000 in number, debarked upon Clark's Neck and marched along the six-mile stretch of the Acushnet shore, de- stroying on the way vessels, houses, barns, mills, stores, wharves, etc., valued at an amount ranging, according to various estimates, from $100,000 to a quarter of a million dollars.
Thence they proceeded to the Head of the River, crossing the bridge and continuing to Sconticut Neck, by-passing Oxford and Fair- haven, it is said, although some versions maintain that on the way from Acushnet a detachment was sent to destroy Fort Phoenix while · Major General Grey with the main army marched to the Neck.
Under the date of September 6, 1778, Grey wrote: "The only battery they had was on the Fair Haven side, an enclosed fort, with eleven pieces of cannon, which was abandoned, and the cannon proper- ly demolished by Capt. Scott, commanding officer of the artillery, and the magazine blown up." Another version is that the garrison at Fort Phoenix, consisting of Capt. Timothy Ingraham, command- ing officer of the fort, Lieut. Daniel Foster and 36 non-commissioned officers and privates, spiked the guns and retreated north, leaving the colors flying. The enemy burned the barracks guard house and blew up the magazine containing 25 casks of powder.
On Saturday evening, the 5th, the troops encamped on Sconticut Neck, remaining there until Monday, when they re-embarked. This statement, however, has been questioned, some saying that the Brit- ish reembarked and were on board their ships before Sunday noon, the 6th. Capt. Jabez Delano wrote: "About noon of the 6th Grey's troops hove in sight," placing them at that time on Sconticut Neck. At any rate they re-embarked, by-passed Oxford, being practically
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without injury or damage, and Fairhaven proper, in plain view, had not suffered, up to this time, to any great extent. However, on the "following" night a detachment was ordered to proceed up the river to commit whatever devastation was possible by burning the town. Their design was suspected by the citizens on shore and a defense of the village was planned. This defense unit consisted of about 150 men. Our commander, too old for action, concluded that resistance would be futile. A Colonel, next in order to take the command, decid- ed that "He who fights and runs away - May live to fight another day." Then arose Major Fearing, of Wareham, who after the two above-mentioned had abandoned the undertaking, deserting their troops and hied to places of safety, became a self-appointed command- er-in-chief.
On came the British, destruction-bent, having landed their troops near the foot of Washington street. This landing place was known as the Capt. Alden wharf, later as the Warren Delano wharf. The local militia, skeptical of the leadership of such a young man as Major Fearing, and becoming jitter stricken by the formidable array of the enemy, began to retreat. Then it was that Fearing took up a position in the rear of his troops and shouted : "I'll shoot the first man who retreats." Order was immediately restored. Forward they marched, Fearing placing his troops between the stores, already ablaze, (on Middle street), and the village itself, cautioning his men not to fire until each militiaman was near enough to hit his man. As soon as the British arrived within the designated distance, the Fairhaven squad fired. The astounded British fled to their boats but not without loss, and set sail for Buzzards Bay.
Ricketson, in his "History of New Bedford," states : "Thus did this heroic youth, in opposition to his superior officers, preserve Fair Haven, and merit a statue from its inhabitants." An after-generation erected at the entrance to Fort'Phoenix a tablet which is worded as follows: "Erected in memory of Major Israel Fearing, the ardent patriot and accomplished soldier. On the 7th day of September, 1778, the British troops landed from their ships in the bay for the purpose of burning this town. By the unflinching courage of Major Fearing as commander-in-chief of the militia, the enemy was bravely met and completely defeated and the town was saved."
The Fearing Memorial at Fort Phoenix was dedicated on August 29, 1905.
Many remember the Salathiel Eldredge house near the north- west corner of Water street and Eldredge lane, the house facing the
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lane. This house and the Calvin Delano house, about a tenth of a mile apart were two which were struck by shot fired by the British under General Grey's command. The ball which struck the Eldred- ge house was of iron whereas the one which struck the Calvin Del- ano house was of lead. These shots were fired as the galley was about half way between our shore and Crow Island.
In the Standard published about 70 years ago we find : "An in- teresting relic. Jabez Delano, Jr. of Fairhaven, shows us (1878) a piece of board burned on one side, which was cut from the remains of the house of his grandfather, Calvin Delano, after its destruction by fire, which contains a bullet firmly imbedded, which was fired into it during the night attack of Gen. Grey's expedition, September 7, 1778. The bullet remains precisely where it lodged during the attack."
The Calvin Delano house, mentioned above, which stood where Jonathan Bisbee's tin shop, moved and converted into a dwelling house stands on the southeast corner of Water and Center streets, was built in 1776. It was purchased by Joseph Smith in 1849, and nearly destroyed by fire in 1864.
First Naval Engagement of the Revolution. - Thomas Jef- ferson, histories state, wrote the Declaration of Independence. This document was adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776. The war was on. England had a navy without equal in the world. We had none. To compensate for our weakness on the sea, privateer's were sent forth to seize any British vessels engaged in commerce.
General Gage was having a struggle to secure sufficient food supplies for his troops, so a British ship was dispatched to this area to seize cattle, sheep and other necessities of life to sup- plement his dwindling food supply for his soldiers at Boston. This was the cause of the first naval engagement of the Revolution, which took place off Sconticut Neck in the vicinity of West Island.
The British vessel sent was the Falcon which soon captured, on May 5, 1775, two sloops in Vineyard Sound. This aroused the citizenry here and from two companies which were undergoing drill at Fairhaven twenty-five men from each company, were selected by Captains Nathaniel Pope and Daniel Egery to man the sloop Success which straightway started to discover the whereabouts of the Falcon and the two captured decoys. One of the captured ves- sels was espied at the entrance to the harbor and recaptured without a shot being fired. On the next morning, May 15, the second sloop was discovered and, after a brief engagement, was also captured.
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Thus ended the initial encounter of the Revolution, fought and won off the Fairhaven shores.
The War of 1812. - Let us enter the period of the War of 1812, quoting from the Mercury and the Bristol Gazette, the latter being the first newspaper published in this town, copies of which are on file at the local library.
In the Mercury of Friday, March 13, 1812, we read: - "We understand that the United States sloop of war, 'Wasp,' Capt. Jones, will sail from Sandy Hook the first fair wind; and it is rumored she has on board two messengers with despatches for England and France." And on March 20th of that year the same paper states : - "The 'Wasp,' sloop of war, has sailed from New York for Europe, in a secret manner. Those who watched her, say she has carried out two messengers with despatches. Conjectures are numerous and various on the subject." On August 6, 1812, the "Wasp" of this town was captured by the British. In the following month Fair- haven prepared for defense by enlisting men for the regular militia and for volunteer companies.
According to the Bristol Gazette, we find preparation for war initiated before this: - "NOTICE. The inhabitants of the south- erly part of Fairhaven are requested to meet at the Academy, in Fairhaven Village, on Saturday, the 8th day of August next, at 4 o'clock P. M., for the purpose of forming volunteer companies to repel invasion, and support the laws of the Country. July 31, 1812." Again we find further patriotism: - "ATTENTION. The Com- pany of Volunteers, under my command, are hereby notified to ap- pear in front of the Fairhaven Academy tomorrow at 3 o'clock P. M., completely armed and equipped for actual service. (Signed) J. Glea- son, Jun., Captain. Fairhaven, September 11, 1812."
The "War Hawks" and the "Western Expansionists" strongly advocated the War of 1812, and on June 18th the Senate and the House of Representatives made the Declaration. The Treaty of Peace was not signed until December 14, 1814. So emphatically was New England opposed to entering the struggle, that the separation of New England on the basis of States' rights, from the Union, was suggested.
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