USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fairhaven > Old-time Fairhaven; erstwhile Eastern New Bedford, Volume I > Part 3
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
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FAIRHAVEN
Admiral of the same, To Ebenezer Akin Gentleman, Greeting. By virtue of the Power and Authority in and by His Majesty's Royal Commission to Me granted to be Captain General, &c over this His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay aforesaid, I do by these presents (reposing especial trust and Confidence in your Loyalty, Courage, and Good Conduct) constitute and appoint You the said Ebenezer Akin to be Captain of the first military Company of Foot, in the Town of Dartmouth, in the Regiment of Militia, in the County of Bristol, whereof Thomas Gilbert, Esq. is Colonel. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the Duty of a Cap- tain in leading, ordering and exercising said Company in Arms both inferior officers and Soldiers and to keep them in good Order and Discipline and they are hereby commanded to obey you as their captain and you are yourself to observe and follow such orders and Instructions, as you shall from time to time receive from your Colonel or other your Superior Officers, according to Military Rules & Discipline, pursuant to the Trust reposed in you.
Given under my hand and Seal at Arms at Boston, the fourth Day of June. In the second year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Third, Annoq Domini, 1762.
Bristol Co., Freetown, Sept. the 14th 1762. Then appeared the above-named Ebenezer Akin & took the oath appointed to be taken by Act of Parliament, Instead of the oaths of allegience & Supremacy, Repealed & Subscribed the Test & Declaration in said Act Contained, Also took the oath by Law Required Relating to the Bills of Credit of the Neighboring Governments. By His Excellency's command, Jno. Cotton, Dep. Secry. Before Tho. Gilbert, Ezra Richmond who were thereunto especially appointed' by his Excellency the Governor."
Ebenezer Akin, mentioned in the Commission, born December 2, 1717, was the great great uncle of Mr. Bartholomew G. Akin who resides at 14 Oxford street, Fairhaven. This Ebenezer Akin was a son of John Akin, the first of all the Akins in Dartmouth, a Scotch- man by birth, settled in what is now the town of Dartmouth, Massa- chusetts, and died there in 1746, - more than two hundred years ago.
This Commission, dated June 4, 1762 was preceded by one word- ed much the same as the above but under another date, as follows : "Given under My Hand & Seal at Arms, at Boston, the eighth Day of December. In the sixteenth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Second, Annoq Domini 1742. (Signed) W. Shir- ley. By His Excellency's command, G. Willard Storey."
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Ebenezer Akin was in this earlier Commission appointed "to be Lieutenant of the fourth foot Company in the town of Dartmouth under the Command of Thomas Hix, Captain of said Company in the second Regiment of Militia within the County of Bristol whereof Silvester Richard, Esq. is Colonel." At the upper left-hand corner of this Commission is the Seal surrounded by the words, "Province of the Massachusetts Bay."
At this time George II, (1727-1760) Grandfather of George III, was on the throne. Two events, worthy of mention, took place during this reign. 1. The rise of Methodism, creating a separate sect, although the Wesleys were priests in the Church of England, and remained so during their entire life. 2. The adoption of a cor- rected calendar in 1752, whereby the date was put forward eleven days. We Americans write, e. g., George Washington was born Feb- ruary 22 (February 11, O. S.) 1732, this showing a difference of the eleven days. Not due to this change but simultaneously with it, January first began the year instead of March 25th as formerly.
First House Built in the "Second Precinct." - Lot One, in the twenty-acre purchase, passed from Abishai Delano to Samuel Proctor, and by this latter name the house has been known. In 1842, it was owned jointly by Levi Jenney and Joseph Tripp, the map of 1855 designating it as that of J. Tripp. Fifteen years later, it was owned by T. Butman and in 1872 it became the property of Charles Christo- pher Harris. In the Standard of Friday, May 3, 1872, we find the following : "Thomas S. Butman has sold to Charles C. Harris, build- ings and 30 rods land in Fairhaven, west side of Middle street ad- joining Jabez Delano's candle house."
This same Jabez Delano in the Standard, more than seventy years ago, stated : - "It is the opinion of people, best qualified to judge of these matters, that the old Proctor House was among the first, if not the very first house built in the village of Fairhaven. The house is situated southwest from and near to the old stone Candle House, and is on the northwest corner of the twenty acre lot. This lot was the first purchase for the village, and it so occurred that a care- ful survey and record were made at that time. The compass, set at the northeast bound, which was a rock and sighted westward, struck the west window frame of the west window on the north side of the house. This fact is valuable in this particular, as it furnishes a datum to determine the amount of variation of the compass, in the inter- val. The Proctor House can point to three epochs of formation, Its extreme west portion was a shed brought from Naskatucket,
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FAIRHAVEN
and was fitted as a residence and cooper's shop; after a series of years it was honored by a second addition, and still later with a third. At this day the full sea wave washed its west side and here Capt. Alden hauled up his whaleboats, and placed them close up to the house, on the north side, to screen them from the sun. It has been a noted place to the present time for this purpose. In my boyhood days, myself and several companions decided to have what we called 'a time'. It was Saturday afternoon, no school, and we had gathered a quantity of bivalves, got them roasted and taken out and placed in a whaleboat that was close up to the windows of the house. Now Saturday was as much a general baking day as Sunday was a go-to-meeting day, and just as we were about commencing our feast of shells (as Mrs. Hawes prefaced an ode of hers on a similar occasion, of which I was one) the window was lifted in our faces, which startled us at first, not supposing we had attracted notice. But our surprise was momentary; it was Aunt Proctor with her wrinkled face all aglow with smiles holding a smoking hot pie in each hand, exclaiming, 'Here boys! after you have eaten your qua- hogs, have a piece of pie.' The window closed amid a shout of thanks. Aunt Proctor was sister to Capt. John Alden; so was my grandmother, hence the appellation Aunt. Her first husband was a Tripp, and the Hon. Joseph Tripp was their son."
"North of the Proctor House were the try-works where the blubber from the whalers was boiled out. It was the custom in- variably to bring in' the catchings and extract the oil on the land. Just to the northeast of the try-works is the entrance to Herring River, up which the whaling vessels went to get their water which they obtained at a well, said to be that attached to the John Milan house, between which and Herring River was a fresh pond, known as the Frog Pond, with flags growing in it. It was rendered notice- able from the fact that it marked the spot where a man and his wife were waylaid in the evening while on their way to the block house, by Indians, and murdered. It is said their name was Pope. All traces of the pond are obliterated. At that time all the country about here was woods, and the hostility of the Indians was a serious check to progress." (Signed) D.
"Enclosure" in the "Second Precinct." - A common or com- monty is a common right of property existing in a group of per- sons, in a tract of ground, the land belonging to a group called pro- prietors. The Jews kept the sheep belonging to a number of in- dividuals in enclosures. These folds had a door under the care of
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a porter. ,Profitable enclosures existed in England from the six- teenth to the close of the eighteenth century, the right of enclosure depending on an act of parliament. In this country, at first, "Com- mon" refers to fields set apart as pasture-land, title of the same de- termined by an act of Congress, extending at times to the State.
Such enclosures existed in our midst, one at least being legally confirmed about 1800. This enclosure or common-field was located at Naskatucket, in Fairhaven, being at the time of incorporation, in the town of New Bedford.
CHAPTER II
"Easterly New Bedford" Incorporated
"Easterly New Bedford" Incorporated. - Fairhaven, once a part of New Bedford, became a separate town in 1812. The follow- ing is. self-explanatory. "AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE TOWN OF FAIRHAVEN. Section I. Be it enacted by the Sen- ate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the easterly part of New Bed- ford in the County of Bristol, as described within the following bounds, with the inhabitants thereon, be, and they are, hereby in- corporated into a separate Town by the name of Fairhaven, viz. - Beginning at the mouth of Acushnet River, then northerly by said river, until it comes to the north side of a bridge at the head of said river; thence westerly by the north side of the highway to Swift's corner (so called) ; thence northerly by the easterly side of the highway which leads to Rounsevill's furnace, until it comes to Freetown line; thence easterly by the line of said Freetown till it comes to Peaked Rock (so called), in the northeast corner of the town of New Bedford; thence southerly, by Rochester line, till it comes to Buzzard's Bay; thence by said bay to the first mentioned bound. And the said town of Fairhaven is hereby vested with all the powers, privileges, rights and immunities, and subject to all the duties and requisitions, to which other towns are entitled and sub- jected by the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth. (Signed) E. W. Ripley, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Samuel Dana, President of the Senate; Approved, E. Gerry, Council Cham- ber, 22d February 1812."
The First Taxpayer. - Here we find a man who jumped at the chance to pay his taxes. Under the date of Saturday, February 24, 1912, we read in The Star : "FAIRHAVEN'S FIRST TAX- PAYER. To the Editor of The Star, Knowledge of the following incident came to the writer through the late William L. B. Gibbs, who will be remembered by many of our older people. The first tax collector of Fairhaven was Eben Akin, Sr. He happened to meet Rufus Allen when Mr. Gibbs was present, and asked : 'Captain Allen, would you like to be the first man to pay a tax in Fair- haven?' The plan seemed to please the captain, and he immediately paid his assessment, thereby becoming the leader in a long line of tax payers, past and present. His promptness would indicate that
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he was not much dissatisfied with the work of those early assessors, Stephen Merrihew, Joseph White and Samuel Taber. Captain Allen resided on Middle street, in the house now occupied by Zenas Winsor, and beneath it kept a grocery store with frontage on Union street. (Signed) F. L."
Town Records Lost; Some Retrieved. - In September, 1815, a gale, accompanied by an unusually high tide, wrought wide and general destruction in this vicinity. The historians of a generation ago wrote: "Most unfortunate from the historian's point of view was the fact that the building, containing the records of the town from its incorporation was swept from the wharf and the records lost."
In the main this may turn out to be true. However, we have before us some of the records of 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815, etc. The book of 1812, consisting of about seventy-five pages, was ruled by hand that year by the assessors, each page had about fifteen names. The left hand page included names of those who paid the Commonwealth tax, with the amount imposed ; the right hand page gave the amount paid by these same persons, as town and county tax. Let us make a brief enumeration of a few who are known to history lovers, with comments about them. This will serve for reference and comparison.
Samuel Borden paid a total tax of $35.37, divided as follows :- Commonwealth tax : Poll, .27; Real, $3.15; Personal, $5.40. County and Town tax: Poll, .49; Real, $4.90; Personal, $8.40; School, $12.76. Samuel Borden built, in 1800, the house known to our gen- erations as the "Hawes House."
Timothy Coffin's tax totalled $3.07. Timothy Coffin & Company paid a tax of $10.73. This firm carried on a grocery business in Fairhaven Village, the partnership being dissolved in 1814.
Nathan Church paid a tax totalling $5.66. John Delano's tax was $34.52. In 1808, John Delano was advertising for sale, corn rye, oats, etc. Calvin Delano's tax was $4.63. Calvin Delano, very likely this Calvin, built a house on the southeast corner of Water and Center streets in 1766. This building was nearly destroyed by the fire of 1864, which destroyed the shop of Purrington and Taber. To this corner was moved the tin-shop of Jonathan Bisbee, which in time was remodelled into a two-family dwelling house, still stand- ing.
Friends' Meeting House - Bridge Street
-
Four Corners and Historic Cannon
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Many Delanos were taxed. Among them was Warren who paid a Commonwealth tax of $13.45 as follows :- Poll, .27; Real, $1.17; Personal, $1.80; Town and County tax as follows :- Poll, . . 49; Real, $1.82; Personal, $2.80; School, $5.10. This, of course, was Warren I.
Isaac Drew and Joshua Drew paid respectively taxes of $1.30 and $1.86. Isaac Drew purchased the lot at the southeast corner of Main and Center streets in 1762, and built the Drew homestead. Joshua Drew was our first postmaster, in 1820.
Henry Huttlestone paid a total tax of $4.52. Killey Eldredge and Killey S. paid taxes of $6.77 and $2.38 respectively. Thomas Huttleston's tax of $3.07 was abated by the town. Hardy E. Hitch paid a tax of $2.33. Mr. Hitch lived at the northeast corner of Laurel and Church streets. Levi Jenne (all Jenneys then spelled their names "Jenne.") paid a tax of $7.70. Timothy Morton, grand- father of Charles H. Morton, paid $1.22. Mr. Timothy Morton lived at the foot of Walnut street, on Spring street. Yet Seth Pope whose parents had lost by death two Seths but determined to have the name perpetuated, paid a tax of $2.96. Abner Pease's tax totalled $11.40. Pierce & Coffin paid the sum of $2.22. William Rotch of New Bedford was taxed for land and stock, $18.87. Noah Stoddard, whose house stood on the southwest corner of Main and Center streets, paid $14.17. Nicholas Stoddard's estate was taxed for a total of $12.33.
Taxes on Furniture, Watch, Phaeton and Chaise. - Before us lies a book, a book supposed to have been lost in the gale of 1815, used by the Fairhaven assessors that year. At the top of each page we find the following printed matter: "List of duties, payable for the year 1815, on household furniture, and on gold and silver watches under the act of Congress of the 18th day of January, 1815, within the fourteen collection district of the state of Massa- chusetts."
Furniture valued above $200 and not exceeding $400 was taxed at one dollar; above $400 and not exceeding $600 at two dollars. Gold watches were taxed two dollars each; silver watches, one dollar each. This book contains the names of 117 individuals who were long on household furniture or watches or both.
Only three persons had furniture which exceeded $400 in value. These three were Samuel Borden, John Delano, and Rowland Gibbs, with valuations of $425, $500 and $420 respectively. Only sixteen owned furniture with a valuation between $200 and $400.
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These were Priscilla Alden, $280; Warren Delano, $240; Ansel Gibbs, $385; Levi Jenney, $300; John Johnson, $250; Abigail Tenney, $360; William Kempton, $360; Stephen Merrihew, $300; Thomas Nye, $295; Susannah Proctor, $250; Job Stevens, $250; Elizabeth Sherman, $320; Noah Stoddard, $310; Alden D. Stoddard, $299 ; Elias Terry, $300; Eunice Tripp, $250.
The gold-watch owners in Fairhaven, in 1815, were eleven in number. These were Priscilla Alden, Samuel Borden, Timothy Coffin, Nathan Church, John Johnson, Abigail Tenney, William Kempton, Stephen Merrihew, Gideon Nye, Asa Swift, Alden D. Stoddard. The silver-watch owners were ninety-eight in number. Five individuals owned two silver watches each.
The tax on household furniture and on gold and silver watches in this year brought into the coffers of the town the sum of $151.50.
For taxation purposes the town was divided into North Dis- trict, Middle District and South District, as shown by the assessor's books before us. We are speaking now of the time when Fair- haven included Acushnet. The assessors in the year 1813 were Bartholomew Akin, Nicholas Davis, 2d, John Hawes; In 1814, Joseph Bennett, Seth Stevens, William Kempton; In 1815, and again in 1816, Josiah Dean is recorded as the principal assessor ; In 1817, and again in 1818, James Taber, Joseph Whelden, Bar- tholomew Akin.
Besides furniture and watches, other items were taxed as is shown by a book before us, entitled "Accounts of Carriage Duties, received in 1817." Therein we find the names of individuals lucky enough to have means of locomotion in addition to shanks' pony. It appears that wagons, coaches, phaetons, sulkies and the chaise were the principal means of transportation, and the owners of the respective vehicles paid a tax of one dollar each. A few owned two vehicles, hence paid twice that sum. This booklet shows that the tax receipts amounted to $224.75, the seventy-five cents being for nine months ownership. Thus this vicinity, more than a century and a quarter ago, had a registrar of going-vehicles, who listed 179 go-carts some being credited to New Bedford, and some to Dart- mouth.
First Building Destroyed by Fire. - Those who delight in noting the progress and regress of a community will undoubtedly be interested in the following. When did the first fire occur in the village of Fairhaven? We have this answered as follows :- "FIRE IN FAIRHAVEN. On Monday morning, January 9, 1832, be-
-
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tween five and six o'clock, the barn of Mr. Noah C. Sturtevant, in the village of Fairhaven, was consumed by fire. (Mr. Sturtevant, by the way, was a trustee of the Fairhaven Academy.) A quantity of hay, carpenter's tools etc., which were in the building at the time, were likewise consumed. Loss estimated at $1,000, with no in- surance. The fire was occasioned by the combustion of a quantity of lime in a cellar under the barn, produced by the copious rains dur- ing the preceding night. The dwelling house of Mr. Sturtevant, situated only a few feet distant, was fortunately preserved unin- jured. This is said to be the first instance which has occurred in this village, from its first settlement, in which a building has been destroyed by fire."
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Early Officials, - Eben Akin, Jr. was Town Clerk, Town Treasurer and Collector of Taxes more than one hundred years ago. Let us take cogizance of some of our town officials of former days ; select men, they were as select, in fact, as any whom we have ever put into office. What puzzles us is the fact that, at times, Fairhaven is not represented by Selectwomen. Don't we want a Board of Selectwomen, a Treasurer, a Tax Collector and a Town Clerk picked from the gentler sex? In order to even things up, the women ought to be running the town, without male interference, for the next hundred years.
Of those who served us for long periods are Bartholomew Taber and two Juniors, namely, Eben Akin and Tucker Damon. Mr. Taber assumed his task as town clerk and treasurer in 1819, remaining at his post as such through the year 1833. Not only was he town clerk and treasurer but, in 1827, became collector of taxes as well, retain- ing this office the remainder of his public, official career.
Mr. Akin became town clerk, treasurer and collector of taxes more than one hundred years ago, and continued in that capacity through the year 1854. Then, after an interim of twenty years, Mr. Akin was again elected to the position of town clerk and treasurer. In this year, 1875, George Jones became collector of taxes, retaining that position until May 31, 1884. Mr. Akin served through 1887 making a record of a quarter century of devoted service.
Immediately following Bartholomew Taber, Nathaniel Church served as town clerk, treasurer and collector through 1841, completing a three-fold service of eight years. Tucker Damon, Jr., followed Mr. Akin in 1855 as town clerk, treasurer and collector, and served through 1874.
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Going back to the year of the incorporation of the town, we find Levi Jenney as town clerk. Mr. Jenney served until July 12, 1817 when Jabez Taber was chosen town clerk and treasurer, re- taining this position the following year. In 1816 the town treasurer was Nehemiah Cory and the collector of taxes John Atsatt. In 1817 Ebenezer Akin became collector. In 1818 the collector of taxes was Joseph Bates.
"Death of an aged citizen. Mr. Jabez Taber died in Acushnet on Saturday, October 1, 1870 in the 97th year of his age. He had lived in four towns and yet had never moved, viz., Dartmouth, New Bedford, Fairhaven and Acushnet."
During the period that Bartholomew Taber served as town clerk and treasurer, we find the following collectors : 1819, John Fuller ; 1820, John Fuller; 1821, Reuben Keen; 1822, William- Gordon, Jr .; 1823, Reuben Keen; 1824, Reuben Keen; 1825, Benjamin S. Sis- son and Jonathan Wilbour.
While on the subject of early Fairhaven history, let us record that the first town treasurer, after the incorporation of Fairhaven, was Joseph Tripp. Under the date of Tuesday, December 24, 1867, the Standard printed :- "PERSONAL. The Boston Journal says that Joseph Tripp of Fairhaven is one of its oldest subscribers. He is now verging on 90 years of age, was a soldier in the war of 1812- 1815, and previously was a compositor on the first newspaper ever published in New Bedford."
Acushnet Becomes a Separate Town. - The years of three- quarters of a century ago and more were stirring years in Fairhaven. Although conflagrations of an incendiary character were many, fireworks of another sort sputtered in 1858. There was introduced into the legislature that year a bill for dividing the town of Fair- haven, enabling the northern part to become a separate municipality. The reasons given were: 1. The extent of territory. 2. The in- convenience of attending town meetings and of visiting the town offices. 3. The appropriations which were claimed to favor Fair- haven Village.
A town meeting was held at Sawin's Hall on Monday, April 4, 1859 at which was considered among others, Article 11 which was as follows: "To see what action the town will take on so much of the petition of Israel Washburn and others and the several petitions in aid of the same, now referred to the next legislature, as have particular reference to a division of the town of Fairhaven, agree- able to the petition of F. R. Whitwell and others."
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The subject of the division of the town was referred to a com- mittee of six to report a time for said division, on or before the 8th of November next. This committee consisted of Jonathan Cowen, Charles H. Adams, Cyrus E. Clark, Isaac Wood, Arthur Cox and John Ellis.
At the town meeting held at Sawin's Hall on Saturday, June 25, 1859, in considering Article 2, the result was: Acceptance by the town of the report of the committee in relation to the division of the town whereby they were to define the time of said division, and the appointment of the same committee to appear before the next legislature to carry same into effect. Thus we can see the trend which caused Acushnet territory to become a separate municipality in 1860.
At a town meeting held on Monday, June 26, 1843, Article 5 read: "To see if the inhabitants of Fairhaven will consent to a separation and division of the northerly and the southerly part thereof, and define the line of partition of the same."
Gale of 1869. - The year 1869 was energetic enough in Fair- haven to make a deep impression upon the wide-awake portion of its citizenry. Let us start with the description of the "Gale" as" found in the Evening Standard: "Terrible Gale. Buildings Blown Down. The New Bedford Bridge A Wreck. General Destruction of Trees, Balustrades, Fences, Awnings, Arbors, etc. Railroads and Streets Impassable. Telegraphic Communication Suspended." These were the headings, describing the gale of September 8, 1869. "About four spans of the bridge are gone, just east of Fish Island, and as many just west of Pope's Island. The roadway on Pope's Island is blockaded by the heavy stones and timbers which formed a railing on the south side. The omnibus was caught at Pope's Island but the horses were taken over the obstruction to Fairhaven. The passengers remained on the island all night." Concerning Fair- haven we read: "The spire of the Congregational church went by the board about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. The spire struck the further end of the roof on the west side, making a large hole al- most twenty feet square. The ceiling over the pulpit was slightly broken. A portion of the spire landed immediately in the rear of the church, and another portion fell more to the west demolishing the roof of a new barn belonging to the Union store. Portions of the wreck went over the house of Mr. Charles H. Taber in the rear of the church, inflicting slight damage. Three windows were blown in at the south end of the church. A meeting was to have been held
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