Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Bristol County, Massachusetts, Part 8

Author: Borden, Alanson, 1823-1900; Boston History Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 1399

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Bristol County, Massachusetts > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

erell, Elisha Thayer and Ephraim Briggs. The town also sent into that war acompany with Capt. Nathan Hodges in command, twenty- four of whom were from Norton, and another under Capt. Joseph Hodges in which were about the same number from this town. In - Capt. Job Williams's company, of Taunton, nine Norton men, enlisted in 1760, and in that and the following year ten men went from this town to aid in the conquest of Canada.

Coincident with the formation of the town took place the organiza- tion of the Congregational (Unitarian) Church, over which Rev. Sam- uel Phillips was pastor, beginning in 1710. For the maintenance of the minister a subscription paper was drawn up, dated January 5, 1710, which was signed by fifty two residents, each of whom donated a piece of land ranging in extent from twelve acres by John Pool down to half an acre by each of several others. A number of the subscribers were residents south of the south line of the Purchase. The following shows where the land was laid out and its extent :

All these severall parcells of land mentioned in this paper is Granted to the first minister that shall settle in the work of the ministry in the north precinct, on both sides of the way that goeth from Nathaniel Hodges' to the meeting-house in said precinct, and on both sides of the way that leadeth from the meeting-house in said precinct to Samuel Hodges' house, and partly on the northerly side of said meeting- house, running up towards the land of Major Leonard, to be laid out as may be most convenient for the first minister that shall settle in said precinct. The whole sum granted is seventy-three acres and three-quarters, on the sixty-four acre division.

Judge Thomas Leonard, father of George, gave by his will, dated January 27, 1711-12, to the first minister who shall be "orderly settled " in the western part of Taunton North Precinct and continue there in the ministry seven years, twenty acres of land; if he continued four- teen years, he was to have twenty acres more, and if he did not remain fourteen years, then the second minister remaining seven years was to have the second twenty acres. Rev. Mr. Phillips was never ordained and soon departed; he was succeeded by "Mr. Joseph Avery," who was given "15s. a sabbath, for the time he shall trantiently Preach among them, before they have come to any certaine Bargain with him." A fund of £32 was raised by tax in 1710-11 to help build a house for the minister, to which sixty-six inhabitants contributed. In the list are a few names of early settlers not yet given, among them Samuel Blake, sr., Samuel Alline, Robert Woodward, Jeremiah New- land, Joseph Eliot, Thomas Hervey, sr., and Jonathan Lincoln. The house was built on the minister's lot. Mr. Avery was not permanently

FROM 1685 TO 1776.

engaged until September, 1714. In the work of building the house and possibly in clearing the land, many of the inhabitants contributed sums of money, bricks, quantities of grain, and labor. Mr. Avery continued pastor until 1748 and died in Norton in April, 1770. Mr. Joseph Palmer was setttled as the next pastor in 1753 and served until his death in 1793, receiving £80 salary, and preached until his death, February 13, 1835. Other early pastors were Revs. M. Briggs, Will- iam P. Tilden, Frederick Hinckley, George F. Clark, Daniel C. S. M. Potter, Isaac Kelso, John B. Willard, J. E. Bruce, S. C. Beach and L. W. Manning. The first meeting-house was built in 1710 and was occupied until 1753, whon the second one was erected. This was used until 1836, when the present house took its place.

The old Baptist Church of Norton was organized in 1761. In that year are records of several baptisms, "by immersion." A covenant was signed March 24 by twelve persons, of whom five were women, and William Carpenter was chosen elder. The old society was in reality a continuation of an organization of certain dissenters who left the First Church during the ministry of Mr. Avery. The old church was dissolved October 13, 1835, and on the same day the present society was organized. The first pastor of the new organization was Rev. Henry C. Coombs.1

1 Other churches of Norton are the Trinitarian Congregational, organized on April 3, 1832, with twenty-two members, eleven of whom withdrew from the original church before described. Measures were at once adopted to build a house of worship, which was accomplished through the liberality of the members and particularly of Laban Wheaton and his son, Laban M. Wheaton. The house was dedicated January 1, 1834. The building was enlarged in 1836. In 1857, either by donation or purchase, all pews previously owned by individuals became the property of the church. In 1878 a chapel (formerly the Wheaton Seminary) was finished and on September 18 was given to the church by Mrs. E. B. Wheaton. In 1882 the same generous woman made exten- sive changes in both the church and chapel buildings, adding a tower clock, etc. The original members of the society were the following : Nathan Perry, Leavit Bates, Hannah Bates, Lysan- der Makepeace, Sarah Makepeace, John Patten, Nancy Patten, Phoebe Patten, Lydia Shepard, Elizabeth Briggs, Rhoda Lothrop, Jesse Blandin, Laban M. Wheaton Eliza B. Wheaton, Josiah King, Clarissa King, Mason Stone, Abigail M. Stone, Harriet Patten, Polly Goodwin, Allen Tucker, Emma Field.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Norton was organized May 3, 1850, with the following inembers: Rev. S. P. Snow (the first pastor), Maria J. Snow, Joseph Snow. Nancy Snow, David Cummings, Roxalana R. Cuminings, Albert S. Tucker, Abigail Tucker, Jonathan J. Stanley and Polly Jones. A meeting-house was built and dedicated May 8, 1854.

In 1874 Rev. E. D. Hall, of East Attleborough, began holding Methodist services near Lane's Station in Norton and a Sunday school was soon organized. Interest increased and work was begun on a chapel in November, 1875; it was dedicated in February, 1876. A separate church or- ganization was effected June 10, 1876, and on July 23, Rev. George W. Brewster held the first quarterly conference of the new society. The church afterward accomplished a great amount of good.

The Catholic Church in Norton was built in 1865 and for many years was supplied with preach- ing by pastors from Taunton and North Attleborough.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

The inhabitants of Norton, in common with those of other parts of Bristol county, took an early interest in educational affairs. On April 28, 1719, the town " made chois of Thomas Skinner, sen., to Be thare schoolmaster and to beginn at ye first day of June, 1719, and to continu one quarter, and his salary not to Excead two pounds for said quarter." In 1720 Jeremiah Bassett was employed as teacher at thirty pounds a year, one-third in money, "first beginning at the public meeting- house, the school to be moving if continued the other part of the year." If this school continued the other three-quarters of the year it was to be kept at other specified points in the town, a practice that was fol- lowed several years. In 1721 Mr. Bassett's entire salary was paid "in ye Produce of ye Towne." The same was true of Simeon Wetherell, who taught in 1723; he was to " keep school at his father's or his own house, to teach children to Reed, Right and Cifer." The next teacher was probably Othniel Campbell, of Taunton. On July 13, 1724, it was voted "that the scholl shall be Kept ye next quarter in that part of the town which Goes by the name of Winecunet."

Other teachers in early years were John Sumner and William Cas- well, both employed in the fall of 1724; Josiah Briggs, 1727; Mr. Bacon, 1733; Mr. Vesey, 1736; Deacon John Briggs, 1751; Samuel Dean, 1755. The school records are very fragmentary and during many years relate almost wholly to the pay of the various teachers, and pay to families for "dieting" them. After the close of the Revolution, under the first school system, the town increased its number of schools to meet the necessities for educational privileges, built new and better school houses and was, of course, able to obtain teachers with higher qualifications. A notice of Wheaton Seminary is left for later pages.

The establishment within the limits of this town of the Leonard forge has been mentioned. It was one of the earliest industries of any importance in Bristol county. It had a large business for that period in smelting iron, which continued down to about the close of the last century. The late Judge Leonard built a grist mill nearly on the site of the old forge in 1805, which was in operation more than a quarter of a century, and in 1855 George L. Barnes, a descendant of Major George Leonard, who had come into possession of the Leonard homestead, erected a saw mill and shingle mill near the forge site. In recent years this property passed to the Norton Steam Power Company, which is noticed further on.

There was a saw mill as early as 1710 on Meadow Brook, owned by

FROM 1685 TO 1776.

James Leonard and John Austin; it may have been the first one in the town. Samuel Clapp and his son Jonathan owned it for some years succeeding 1746 and, in 1771, it passed to John Cook and Samuel God- frey. It burned about 1819 and was rebuilt by its then owner, James Godfrey; subsequently Benjamin and Moses Lincoln owned it.

George Leonard had a "corn-mill" in 1714 on Wading River at the site of Barrowsville; it was probably the first one in this town. Nathan- iel Leonard, son of George, owned it from 1716 to 1761, previous to which a saw mill had been added. On January 12, 1770, George Leon- ard, son of Nathaniel, sold the property, with one hundred and thirty- five acres of land, to Jonathan and John Amory. After other changes of ownership the mills were conveyed, in 1790, to Ephraim Raymond, who soon afterward built a forge and continued its operation a number of years.

Prior to 1745 Jonathan Hodges built a mill on Goose Brook where he carried on the business of "fulling, dyeing, and dressing cloth." This was the first business of the kind in the town. A very early saw mill was built on Burt's Brook by Dea. John Andrews, and about 1790 William Carpenter established a nail cutting business on the westerly side of Rumford River.

The first tannery in the town of which there is record was built about 1740 by Deacon Benjamin Copeland, between the house occupied in recent years by Thomas Copeland and Mulberry-Meadow Brook; it went to decay about 1845. About 1758 David Arnold established a tannery on Burt's Brook. Another tannery was built before the Revo- lution near Rumford River by a Mr. Bassett. The water privilege of Rumford River, in the Center village, was owned in early years by Ebenezer Burt, who sold, in 1744, to William Stone forty and one-half acres of land there and in 1766, sold to Nathaniel Stone (son of Will- iam) the remaining rights and privileges on the stream. The Stone family owned the property many years and operated a forge, a saw mill and a grist mill. In 1812 Deacon Daniel Lane and his sons re- built the saw mill, having previously acquired the property. The sons, associated with others, built a cotton factory in 1828, which passed to Laban M. Wheaton in 1846 and was operated by him until his death. Nathan Smith bought it in 1864 and began manufacturing cotton bat- ting. In 1867 Story & Talbot leased the mill and successfully carried on wool scouring therein. Mr. Talbot soon became sole proprietor. Other later manufactures in this town are noticed farther on.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Among early physicians in Norton were Dr. Samuel Caswell, who, in 1723, bought land and was called a " practitioner of Physick." Dr. Nicholas White, son of Deacon Nicholas White, born about 1705, prac- ticed and lived sometimes in the north and sometimes in the south part of the town; died June 29, 1751. Dr. William Ware, son of John, of Wrentham, born in July, 1697, kept a public house, 1728-40, and practiced. Dr. John Wild, jr., son of John. Dr. Lewis Sweeting lived a part of the time in what is now Mansfield. Dr. Geoge Wheaton, son of Ephraim, born August 18, 1728, began practice in Norton before 1750, and was a prominent citizen. Dr. Gideon Tiffany, son of James, jr., born September 19, 1737. Dr. Adam Johnstone, a native of Scot- land, settled in Norton about 1772. Dr. Daniel Parker settled as early as 1773, was a surgeon in the army. Others were Drs Nathaniel Cook, Timothy Smith, Nathan Babbitt, born in Norton, March 6, 1755; Samuel Morley, son of Samuel, graduated at Yale in 1777; Lewis Leprite, a Frenchman, settled about the close of the Revolution and was promi- nent; Leavit Bates settled in the town about 1796; Guilford Hodges was practicing in 1803; Asa M. Adams settled about 1819; Richard F. Sweet settled in 1831 and died in 1841; Ira Barrows, born in Attle- borough, located in Norton in 1841, removed to Providence in 1851; Benjamin M. Round, George H. Randall, George W. Wild and others later.

The next town in Bristol county to be incorporated after Norton was Dighton. This, as the reader has already learned, was the South Pur- chase of old Taunton, which was bought in two sections, the first for £143 and the second for £47. The first section was to be three miles on the river and extending back four miles; the second was one mile wide on the river and four miles long. After the territory was pur- chased from the Indians in 1672 it was retransferred to a committee representing the proprietors named below. On December 30, 1684, these proprietors by vote chose John Richmond and John Hathaway "to see this writing signed, sealed and delivered before a magistrate." When the lots were surveyed seven highways were laid out, running westerly from the river two miles into the forest, with a public landing at the river end of each. The north and south roads were laid out later. Following are the names of the associates:

Mr. George Shove, Israel Deane, Henry Andrews,

Samuel Pitts, Nicholas White, Sr., Samuel Hall,

Ester Gallop, Joseph Hall, James Leonard, Jr ..

FROM 1685 TO 1776.

Jonathan Briggs, Mr. Giles Gilbert, John Turner,

James Leonard, Sr.,

John Lincoln,

Thomas Lincoln, Sr.,

Richard Stephens,

Thomas Lincoln, Jr.,

Joseph Willis,

Hezekiah Hoar,

Francis Smith,

Mary Street,

Richard Stacey,

James Burt,

Nathaniel Thayer,

John Hall,

Jonah Austin, Sr.,

Increase Robinson,

John Macomber, Sr.

George Watson,

Thomas Harvey, Jr.,

James Phillips,

Thomas Leonard,

Isaac Deane,

John Hathaway,

Nathaniel Williams,

Ezra Deane,

John Dean,

Robert Thornton,

Thomas Williams,

Joseph Wilbore,

Thomas Deane,

William Witherill, Jr.,

Aaron Knap,

Joseph Williams,

Richard Briggs.

Peter Pitts,

John Tisdale, Jr.,

Samuel Williams,

Thomas Gilbert,

James Tisdale,

James Walker, Jr.,

Richard Burt,

John Hodges,

Peter Walker,

John Tisdale, Sr.

Shadrach Wilbore,

Israel Thrasher,

Christopher Thrasher,

John Smith, Sr.,

Samuel Macey,

John Pool,

Thomas Harvey, Sr.,

Nicholas White, Jr.,

Edward Bobbett,

Samuel Smith,

Jared Talbot,

Edward Rew,

Robert Crossman, Sr.,

John Smith, Jr.,

Thomas Caswell,

William Paul,

John Macomber, Jr.,

William Witherell,

Samuel Holloway,

Thomas Amesbery.

Henry Andrews, Jr.,

Malachi Holloway,

The names of the committee are these: George Macey, James Walker, Walter Deane, John Richmond.

The first settlement of white men in this town was made around the Indian clearing mentioned in an early chapter, and probably by squat- ters who removed before the outbreak of the Indian war of 1675. Soon after the close of that conflict permanent settlement began by immi- gration from Taunton. The name of Capt. Jared Talbot is frequently mentioned in the old records and he was one of the very earliest settlers, The marriage record is of "Jared Talbot and Rebecca Hathway " in 1687. A son was born to them March 26, 1688, who died within a few weeks, and another was born April 4, 1690. Their other children were Josiah, Jacob, John, Elizabeth, Seth, Rebecca, Ebenezer and others to the number of fourteen, several of whom died in infancy. Three other heads of families were contemporary with Talbot, namely, Ephraim Hathaway, Edward Babbitt and Nicholas Stephens; these had respect- ively eleven, nine and nine children.

James Walker, one of the early settlers of the South Purchase, was born in 1619 and came from England with his brother William, stop- ping first in Taunton. He was father of five children who survived

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

him-James, Peter, Eleazer, Hester and Deborah. He was one of the six proprietors of Assonet Neck, was a large landowner and interested in early manufactures. His son James lived at the Weir in Taunton and kept a public house; he was father of six sons and five daughters. In his will he left to his son David " two lots in Dighton where he now dwells," and to his son Josiah three upper lots. Peter Walker, son of the first James, was an iron manufacturer in company with James Phillips. According to a history of the family, his iron works were on an island mentioned in his will as " a little island joining to Nicholas Stevens." The island is formed by the Three-Mile River at North Dighton. The name of Walker is a prominent one in the history of the town and a number of the family have been conspicuous in public affairs.

Among other family names that were prominent before the Revolu- tion were those of Shove, Gooding, Hathaway, Pitts, Stephens, Atwood, Deane, Ware, Briggs, Pool, Whitmarsh, Waldron, Jones, Andrews, Fisher, Paull, Williams, Westcott, Austin, Babbitt, Goff, Ide, Burt, Nichols, Crane, Hoar, Smith, Perry, Baker, Simmons, Phillips, Pierce, Shaw, Luther, Cleveland, Vickery, Lincoln, Peck and Francis.

Thomas Coram was one of the early residents of this town and one of the very first to engage in ship-building, which later became a large industry. He came over to Boston when twenty-five years old, married and subsequently returned to his native country. He organ- ized a colony that settled Nova Scotia and founded Halifax, and was instrumental in colonizing Georgia.

William Ellery was a resident of Dighton during the Revolutionary war, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence; when the British entered Newport in 1776 Ellery found refuge with Capt. Rufus Whitmarsh, near the Lower Four Corners; he resided there a number of years and died February 15, 1820.

Hodijah Baylies and his brothers William and Thomas S. were sons of Nicholas, who was an iron manufacturer of Taunton, lived in Dighton and were prominent men. Hodijah Baylies was a graduate of Harvard in 1777, enlisted in the army as lieutenant, was an aid of Gen- eral Washington and otherwise distinguished in the service. When the United States constitution was ratified in 1787 Major Baylies was ap- pointed collector of customs in Dighton and held the office until 1809.1

1 The collectors at Dighton following Mr. Baylies were Nathaniel Williams, 1809-23; Hercules Cushman, 1823-25; Seth Williams, 1825-29; Dr. William Wood, 1829-33; Horatio Pratt, 1833-34. In the latter year Dr. P. W. Leland was appointed and the office was removed to Fall River.

FROM 1685 TO 1776.

He was appointed judge of probate in 1810 and held the office until 1834. He was father of four children and died in 1843. Dr. William Baylies, born November 24, 1743, was his brother and practiced med- icine in Dighton many years. He became one of the most distinguished men of the town and held several public offices. William Baylies, LL.D., born in Dighton September 15, 1776, was his son. He was prominent as a lawyer and statesman. Dr. Baylies was one of the original proprietors of the old Dighton and Berkley bridge, the com- pany having been incorporated in 1801. The building of that bridge was persistently opposed by persons along the river who were inter- ested in shipping. There were at that time, according to a protest issued against building the bridge, "sixteen coasting vessels owned and employed above the place where the bridge is intended to be built."

Taunton was the principal objector to the bridge. The old bridge was demolished in 1853 and was rebuilt in 1873.

The early records of this town were very poorly kept and only com- paratively few of the early settlers can be traced. Besides those named there are found prior to the incorporation of the town in 1712, David Walker, Edward Shove, Ebenezer Pitts, Samuel Talbot, Nathan Walker, John Burt and Abraham Hathaway. Jared Talbot's house stood near the public burial ground, on the hill on the east side of the Bristol and Taunton road. He was the second town clerk, the first having been Joseph Deane; he was a prominent citizen and one of the fifteen signers of an agreement made in 1708 with the inhabitants on the east side of the river to build a separate meeting-house and support their own minister. At that time Assonet Neck was a part of Taunton, having been annexed in 1677, and constituted part of the lands for- feited by King Philip; it was purchased from the government by Rev. George Shove, James Walker, James Tisdale, Walter Deane, William Harvey and Richard Williams, and was annexed to Taunton in July, 1682, and in 1799 was set off to Berkley. On May 30, 1712, the town of Dighton was incorporated and Assonet Neck became a part of it. The town was named in honor of Frances Dighton, wife of Richard Williams, one of the original proprietors of the South Purchase.

Previous to 1709 the few inhabitants of what is now Dighton were compelled to attend meetings at Taunton. Among the few very early records is the following, under date of December 19, 1709:

At a legal meeting of the South Precinct in Taunton, voted that Capt. Jared Talbot, Joseph Deane, Richard Hopkins, Ebenezer Pitts and John Crane, shall be a commit-

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

tee to treat with and make a full agreement with Mr. Nathaniel Fisher in behalf of the precinct to be our minister during his lifetime.

In 1710 it was " voted by us of the South Purchase to allow Joseph Pool, Thomas Jones, and Matthew Briggs sixteen pounds and ten shil- lings for seting [seating] at the meeting house." Rev. Nathaniel Fisher was paid £43 for each of his first three years; £50 for each of the next three years and £60 for the next three. The agreement to this effect was made June 28, 1710, and was signed by Jared Talbot, Richard Hopkins, Joseph Deane, John Crane and Ebenezer Pitts, who were, of course, all early settlers. Mr. Fisher was the sole minister of the town for more than half a century.

It will be borne in mind that when Dighton was well started in its cor- porate existence it was divided into two parts by the river, the terri- tory on the east side extending north as far as the site of the old meeting-house on Berkley Common. This was inconvenient, as seen by the following vote of December 21, 1713:

Voted, to make two towns; that on the west side of the river Capt. Talbot gives the land to set it on, Joyning the road, near the meeting-house; the one on the east side of the river, Edward Paull gives the land to set it on. Voted also that the Selectmen should exact [i. e., survey] the lines of the township, set up stocks and whipping-post, and make the towns.

The east side of the river was not, however, made into a separate town until more than twenty years later.

A public ferry was maintained across the river about half a mile be- low the site of the bridge; the ferry was, in 1715, placed in charge of Jared Talbot and Abraham Hathaway for three years. Later another ferry was established a mile farther down the river.

The bill of town charges for 1712 amounted to £87 12s. 5d. In- cluded in it are three items amounting to just ten pounds for "dieting " the schoolmaster; so we know there was a school in the first year of the town's existence. The town officers for 1712 were as follows: Town clerk, Joseph Deane; selectmen, Col. Ebenezer Pitts, Edward Paull and James Tisdale; constables, John Burt and David Walker; asses- sors, Samuel Waldron, Daniel Axtel and Abraham Shaw; treasurer, Ensign John Crane; tithingmen, John Wood and Isaac Hathaway; sur- veyors for ways, Abraham Hathaway, John Wood; fence viewers, Thomas Burt, Isaac Pool; field-drivers, John White and Richard Wood; flax culler, Joseph Maxfield.

The records of the town for many years contain little of interest to

FROM 1685 TO 1776.

the general reader. Public affairs were not complicated in those days in that region and the thoughtful men chosen to administer them found little difficulty in promoting the general welfare of the community. In the year 1727 the town fixed the following prices for produce, as was customary in, other towns at that period: Winter wheat, 6 shillings and 6 pence per bushel; corn, 2 shillings, 6 pence; oats, 1 shilling, 5 pence ; bayberry, 14 pence per pound (for producing a vegetable wax); butter, 10 pence per pound; bar iron, 2 pounds, 3 shillings per hundred; tobacco, 3 pence per pound.

In 1733 it was unanimously voted that the representative, Edward Shove, "should Exhibit a petition to the great and general court for so much un propriated lands as they in thare great Wisdom shall think fit to be for supporting the school in said Dighton." Another school entry of 1734 is as follows:

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Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Bristol County, Massachusetts, Part 8

Author: Borden, Alanson, 1823-1900; Boston History Company, Boston, pub Publication date: 1899 Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Company Number of Pages: 1399

Author: Borden, Alanson, 1823-1900; Boston History Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 1399