USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > West Bridgewater > Proceedings of the 250th anniversary of Old Bridgewater, Mass. at West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, June 13, 1906 > Part 5
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Religion and education in those enlightened communities have always gone hand-in-hand. Let it never be forgotten by us or by those who succeed us on the stage of life, that here at least religion has never been opposed to knowledge, that it was because of their religious principles that our forefathers estab- lished free public schools and other institutions of learning. A free, self-governing church demanded an educated, intelligent membership and ministry, and made schools and colleges
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necessary.
The broad rock on the bank of yonder river, which at first served as a pulpit for the infant church, is emblematical of the breadth and simplicity of their faith and worship, the strength and firmness of their religious convictions, and the steadfastness and immovability of their Christian character. Their first pastor near the end of his long pastorate bore this testimony to the character of the town : "The New England Bridgewater has been a town favored of God." "It was planted a noble vine." "The planters of it were a set of people who made religion their main interest and it became their glory." Increase and Cotton Mather called it a "most praying and a most pious town."
The young men were conspicuous in public worship. In the town records for 1674 appears this entry : "The young men were allowed to build galleries to the meeting house, and to have the front seats to themselves."
A long line of able and accomplished ministers succeeded Mr. Keith, among them were Rev. John Reed, S. T. D., of the first parish ; Rev. John Shaw, S. T. D., of the south parish ; Rev. James Flint, D. D., and Rev. Baalis Sanford of the east parish ; Rev. John Porter and Rev. Paul Couch of the north parish.
Forty-two churches, representing all the leading denomina- tions of Christian faith and worship, now minister to the spiritual needs of the people in the field where one sufficed for sixty years.
Never was the religious life of these communities more active and vigorous than it is today. The declaration of holy writ that "Righteousness exalteth a people," is illustrated in these towns.
The cause of temperance, earnestly advocated by the first pastor and supported by his people, has always been and now is effectively maintained here.
In 1671 the town appointed a committee to inquire who drank strong drink in ordinaries. A great temperance revival took place in these towns in the early part of the last century when illicit liquor selling was extirpated.
The city of Brockton has an enviable record on this
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question. Not a liquor saloon exists within its borders.
The citizens of these municipalities have at all times main- tained good government within their respective jurisdictions.
No riots or violent disturbances have ever brought disgrace upon them.
In business, professional and public life the men of Bridge- water and their descendants have won high distinction.
From Thomas Alger descended the distinguished divine and author, Rev. William R. Alger.
From John Ames descended the Ameses of Easton, of whom Oliver and Oakes built the first transcontinental railroad, the Union Pacific, of which Oliver was president for several years until his death.
Oakes Ames was a member of Congress and Oliver Ames, 2d, was twice Governor of Massachusetts. Fisher Ames, the great orator and publicist, was of the same stock.
From Rev. John Angier descended Oakes Angier, Esq., of West Bridgewater, the brilliant barrister, whose great career was cut short by an untimely early death.
From Ichabod Bryant descended William Cullen Bryant, poet and journalist.
From John Cary descended on the mother's side Marcus Morton, of Taunton, member of Congress, Governor of Massa- chusetts and Justice of the Supreme Court, and his son, Marcus Morton, 2d, for many years Justice and Chief Justice of the same Court.
From John Fobes or Forbes descended Hon. Charles E. Forbes, Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.
From Arthur Harris descended Hon. Benjamin W. Harris of East Bridgewater, member of Congress and Judge of Probate, and his son, Hon. Robert Orr Harris, Justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts.
From Thomas Hayward descended Hon. Thomas Hayward, Jr., a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Governor's Assistant.
From John Howard descended Benjamin B. Howard of West Bridgewater and New Bedford, noted for his business ability, who built and endowed Howard Collegiate Institute,
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and Francis E. Howard, his son, the generous patron of the Old Bridgewater Historical Society.
From Rev. James Keith descended Ziba C. Keith, first Mayor of Brockton, George E. Keith, the shoe manufacturer, and many other men eminent in business and in the professions through the country.
From John Kingman descended Hosea Kingman, Esq., the accomplished and learned lawyer.
From Experience Mitchell descended many men conspic- uous for their ability and services in the civil and military affairs of the town and state, among whom was the able and learned Hon. Nahum Mitchell of East Bridgewater, historian of Bridgewater, member of Congress and for many years Judge and Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Massachu- setts, and Edward C. Mitchell, of Leland University, New Orleans, La.
From Samuel Reed descended Rev. John Reed, D. D., of West Bridgewater, and his son, John Reed, Esq., of Yarmouth and West Bridgewater, for many years member of Congress.
From Rev. Zedekiah Sanger, D. D., who came from Duxbury and was installed as assistant to Rev. John Shaw at South Bridgewater in 1781, descended Hon. George P. Sanger, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
From John Shaw descended that great jurist, Lemuel Shaw, for many years Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
From John Washburn descended Emory Washburn of the highest eminence as a jurist and author of legal and historical works, Professor of Law in Harvard Law School, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Governor of Massachusetts ; William B. Washburn, United States Senator and Governor of Massachusetts ; Elihu B. Washburn, member of Congress, Secretary of State and for seven years United States Minister to France; Cadwalader C. Washburn, member of Congress and Governor of Wisconsin, and Charles Ames Washburn, journa- list and author and United States Minister to Paraguay. Three brothers of this family were serving in Congress at the same time.
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From Thomas Whitman descended the brothers Kiborn and Benjamin Whitman, born in Bridgewater, lawyers and public men of conspicuous ability, of whom Kiborn was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas when Nahum Mitchell was Chief Justice ; Ezekiel Whitman of East Bridgewater, member of Congress and for many years Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and of the Supreme Court of Maine ; Dr. Marcus Whitman, the missionary who saved the vast territory of Oregon to the United States, and a host of men eminent in the professional, educational and business life of the state and nation.
Others like Hon. William Baylies of West Bridgewater, Hon. Aaron Hobart of East Bridgewater, and Hon. Artemus Hale of Bridgewater, have represented the district in Congress, and Hon. William L. Douglas of Brockton has occupied the Governor's chair.
This list by no means exhausts the roll of Bridgewater's worthy and illustrious sons and their descendants. To mention all by name only would require a celebration of a week's duration.
If Bridgewater has not furnished a president to the nation it has not been for lack of presidential timber, as the names already mentioned abundantly show.
In war as in peace, Bridgewater has fully and honorably discharged its duty to the state.
In the early Indian wars Bridgewater men were conspic- uous for address and gallantry.
They assisted in the destruction of the Pequot stronghold in Connecticut, by which that fierce and dangerous tribe was annihilated. They were with Capt. Church in the Great Swamp fight at Kingston, R. I., when King Philip's power was broken.
In the French and Indian wars, which caused greater loss of life and property in the New England towns than any other conflict, they were in most of the important engagements.
They took part in the expedition to Crown Point and in the reduction of Louisburg.
Bridgewater men fought at Concord and Lexington and Bunker Hill at the opening of the Revolutionary war, and in the
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battles at Stillwater, which ended in the surrender of Burgoyne and decided the result of the war, and in many other battles of that war.
In the Civil war Bridgewater poured out her blood and treasure for the preservation of the union. In every campaign of that war and in many a desperate conflict her men followed the glorious flag of liberty and union to its ultimate triumph.
East Bridgewater alone furnished 257 men in the Revolu- tionary war, and 377 in the War of the Rebellion.
The other Bridgewaters undoubtedly furnished propor- tionate numbers.
Thus briefly have we sketched the origin, settlement and growth of the town of Bridgewater, the character and achieve- ments of its inhabitants, and the notable events of its history.
It is well to recount and praise the mighty deeds and excellent virtues of our forefathers, but it is far better to imitate them.
Never was courage, honesty and unselfish devotion to the common weal more needed in this county than today.
Prosperity has relaxed the moral fibre of the American people. Appalling revelations of dishonesty and corruption permeating the political and business world have alarmed and disheartened true lovers of their country. 1
There is but one remedy for the gigantic evils which have insidiously fastened themselves upon the vitals of the nation, and that is a speedy return to the principles and practices of the fathers.
Such a return has already begun under the leadership of the great patriot and statesman who now fills and magnifies the office of President of the United States. God grant that there may be no halting on his part nor on the part of the American people, until the ancient standards of public and private life and conduct shall have been restored, and the nation once more stands among the nations of the earth as pre-eminent in right- eousness as it is in intellectual and material greatness.
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Address.
Dr. Loring W. Puffer, of Brockton, President of the Old Bridgewater Historical Society.
The incorporation of the Old Bridgewater Historical Society took place in 1895. Five years later the Society, having received a gift of land from Francis E. Howard, a building was erected upon it in 1900, on Howard Street, West Bridgewater. The Building Committee was chosen by the Society from the Society and consisted of the Hon. Benjamin W. Harris, Loring W. Puffer, Francis E. Howard, Charles R. Packard, Henry Gurney, Simeon C. Keith, Ziba C. Keith, Joshua E. Crane and Samuel P. Gates.
Dr. Loring W. Puffer was afterwards appointed to act as agent of the committee, and had general supervision of the work.
The entire cost of the building was about $8,000. The architects were Cooper & Bailey of Boston, and the contractors Crowell & Briggs of Brockton.
While all of the men in that number were noble and useful, no one was more loved and respected than Henry Gurney of East Bridgewater, now living in another world. Every moment of his life he was thinking and acting for the best interests of the Society, both by his counsel and by money, and I wish here and now to pay my tribute to his steadfast honor in all acts relative to me, or the Society until the time of his death. Sainted man ! The last work of his life was to sign a paper asking that the town in which he was born would contribute to the printing of the old records, and the celebration of the 250th anniversary which we are doing now.
There was but one name mentioned when we selected a President-the name of Benjamin W. Harris, who as most of you know was the unanimous choice of the Society.
A few words about his ancestors. In the year 1740 Hugh Orr of Scotland, a thrifty Scot, moved by a common impulse among the people at that time, came to Bridgewater. It was a
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marvellous change from the banks and braes of Bonny Doon, and a country hundreds of years old, to a wilderness in America. Providence had ordained that he was to be the man whose fertile brain and cunning hand was to fashion the bayonet, the musket, and the cannon, that later were to wake the echoes at Charlestown, Dorchester Heights and elsewhere. Selecting a wife at Quincy, Massachusetts, the home of two future presidents, he obeyed the law to replenish the earth, and ten children came to help found Bridgewater.
Arthur Harris came over one hundred years before Orr, in 1640, and his virile family intermarried with other families of Bridgewater and elsewhere, including the names of Winslow, Howard, Latham, Orr and Snell, with at least twenty-five names of Pilgrims and forefathers.
Judge Benjamin Winslow Harris of East Bridgewater, was born in 1823. His ancestry embraces from thirty to forty families of that noble band called the Plymouth Colony. He was made District Attorney in 1858, and served for seven years in Plymouth and Norfolk Counties ; in 1872 he was elected to Congress, where he remained ten years. His special work was mostly in the interest of the Navy, and he justly received the title of "Father of the Navy." His work since has been law practice and Judge of Probate for Plymouth County.
Elevated to many noted positions by the common people, and by appointments by the Presidents of the United States, he has served the people here and elsewhere with honesty, discre- tion, fidelity and zeal. The slurs of the envious, as well as the plaudits of the public, have never disturbed his serenity of mind, and he still lives an example to be copied by those who believe in God, liberty and education, and a kind but just and effectual enforcement of law.
He began his service to the state and nation a poor man in worldly goods and he is not a millionaire today. He is an example spoken of in the Bible of a man who said "Give me neither poverty or riches ;" and does he not just fit into the niche described by a poet of Bridgewater, (Jedidiah Southworth) who was a Captain in the Revolution, in a little poem when speaking of the great Samuel Adams,
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"Such is the man, my Muse would fain describe, Attached to virtue, never grasped a bride, Meekness and wisdom, are in him combined,
Uncommon talents occupy his mind ; Excelled by few, if any, in the States, Loves freedom yet, and tyranny he hates."
Inheriting, as he did, the blood of honorable Hugh Orr, one of the many of his great ancestors, he has performed a service to the County, State and Nation, achieved by few, and his ermine has never been tarnished. Long may he live to be a comfort to his family and satisfaction to his numerous friends as they review his well spent life in the service of the public.
Today we are to speak of the past that suggests the duties of the future, that are rarely considered, except on commemora- tive occasions, and I speak from my heart without personality.
The poet says, "Nature unadorned is adorned the most," but Nature is naked, and like man needs some clothing, and training, and this applies to trees-the glory of the world.
Where the first church and graveyard was and now is, but used as a road today in West Bridgewater, the surroundings are nearly the same as one hundred years ago. Nature should be assisted and trained. Nature's pruning seems destruction. Witness San Francisco! Ill-constructed buildings everywere in the world, timbers too small, not properly fastened, too much sand in mortar, in short, greed and sin, go hand-in-hand working destruction to life and property to make money. On the other hand the cement of brotherly love binds and holds a community together like honest well laid cement in a building, for then both stand.
Men may be led, but they can never be driven. The building of our Historical Society lies in the most fertile and beautiful part of ancient Bridgewater. Unsightly fences, here and elsewhere, trees out of place, unnecessary elevations in streets, and in short all those objects that render a landscape disorderly should be changed, even though it should render the property more valuable, and hence lift the taxes a peg. The man that does as his grandfather did, by burning bushes and wood to remove rocks, works at an expense of time and money,
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and can now use dynamite, for the men that today use ancient modes, cumber the earth.
In this brief consideration of life in the new world since 1620, and locally that portion of it mainly bounded by the Old Colony lines, it is not expected or desired in the duties of this day that more than a single glance can be given to the few subjects touched upon by me.
Just exactly why the Plymouth Colony was planted in 1620 at Plymouth has been answered by historians, judges, and the clergy. Planted in weakness, it has been raised in power until in a life of nearly three hundred years, it faces the world today impregnable. The living principles enunciated and lived were obedience to the law, compulsory education, and belief in Him, "who plants his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the storm." The compact in the Mayflower was the rule and guidance of their simple life, as they faced unshrinkingly the first winter, the king of terrors.
It is two hundred and sixty years since the town of Duxbury in Massachusetts was granted the plantation, after- wards known as Bridgewater. This act was by the Old Colony Court at Plymouth in 1645. Other grants were made later. The Old Colony Court acts were undoubtedly permissive, that is, suggesting the trade afterwards made with the Indians, repre sented by their Chief Ousamequin, who gave a deed of Bridge- water lands to three prominent men of the Old Colony, Captain Miles Standish, Deputy-Governor Constant Southworth and Samuel Nash.
That was the beginning of the settlement of this ancient town. The details of this exceedingly interesting and impor- tant transaction can be found in the only history of Bridgewater now in print, and published by the Honorable Nahum Mitchell in 1840, sixty-six years ago.
This story of the settlement of Plymouth County and its environs has been told many times, and it never loses its interest in the retelling, for the calm, heroic struggle of the Pilgrims in proverty, exposure and death for a principle, furn- ishes a scene nowhere else to be found in the history of the world. The compact on the Mayflower seemed divinely
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inspired, containing all the germs of wisdom as applied to other governments, as at present organized on this earth today, or in the past history of other nations, savage or civilized.
From the time the Colony was established at Plymouth, and other sections of the Old Colony, life was mostly to be found in log houses, with rare specimens of what is now known as the Colonial style. This variety of building or occasionally others, increased until about the year 1880 with the varying fortunes of the people. Some houses of brick, to be sure, were to be found in the larger towns and cities, but were compara- tively few, while today a few houses can be found constructed of three inch upright plank, and dating back close to 1700. The method of building was a safeguard against the arrows and bullets of the Indians. Cooking by and in the fireplaces, and in brick ovens then embraced all the methods known. Today, complex chemical compositions with numberless names, cover our dining tables. .
The lapse of fifty years since the 200th centennial celebra- tion of the settlement of Bridgewater, has launched the Nation into period of rapid changes. Never before, probably, in recorded history has such startling knowledge been daily flashed over the world.
In all domains of science, proliferation on proliferation, excites our wonder, and sometimes compels our appreciation. The various constructive marvels of our time that enter into our lives seem never ending, and suggests a great unfolding of divine purpose in the various professional and business fields, where the people are employed.
Archaeological discoveries in the past fifty years have modified to some extent the belief of the people as to the age of the world, as well as their conceptions of that Being we call God. Fifty or seventy-five years has evidently changed creeds somewhat, and the people at large, believing that man has a reli- gious duty, approve of the changes. It is a question much dis- cussed whether the vast number of so-called religious beliefs, with costly buildings, is not somewhat of a hindrance, when we consider the people to whom technique is of more consequence than love, honesty and wisdom. And would not larger societies,
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and more able men here and elsewhere directly stimulate larger audiences with greater use to them ?
A question second to no other in importance to us as a Nation, is the problem, what are we to do with our boys ? Fifty and more years ago, all boys were taught to do something useful with their hands. They served no regular apprentice- ship in the family, but daily learned by observation, expectation or request the simple daily life and the use of common tools. Every man of average character or note had a garden and raised vegetables, which meant money for the family. Who has a garden today ? There is a bond between the earth and man, older I believe than civilization, and intelligent and active delvers in the soil, professional or the laborer, nightly sleep the sweet sleep of the just.
Generally the boys of today know little of gardens. I am told, and I believe, that the judges in the highest courts in the State consider the problem of, "What to do with the boys," the most serious of all they face today. Less than a decade makes thousands of voters every year. The Nation is to be gauged by the training of the boys. Many boys cannot be governed by their parents, should not the parents be held responsible for the acts of children between ten and eighteen ? And should not the father be held responsible if he cannot control them, and is not reiterated probation in most cases a mistake ? Arbi- tration is as old as the Bible, but should not justice to the people as to sentences as well as probation, have a proper place in our Courts ? We have today in the Old Colony, representa- tives of most of the nations of the earth. They are giving us object lessons in economical life of which we never dreamed. With all the valuable denizens landing on our shores we receive too the scum of the world of the genus homo.
The doctrines of Plymouth Rock and the acts of all that has made us a nation are by too many derided and ignored. And yet our Judges are the most honorable men of any holding public positions. The attendance at our churches, as compared with fifty years ago, is humiliating to the lover of law and order, and these unpleasant facts cannot have escaped the observation of any individual of mature years.
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Standing here, a descendent of both Pilgrims and Puritans, an active life of nearly four score years gives me, I think, a right to call attention to changes wrought in seventy-five years of unheard of development, in all conjectural and other lines.
The Nation faces today as never before, a condition that forces pessimism to the front as a cardinal principle. The Yellow Peril is not our worst peril. Witness the general disre- gard of not only all of our ancient, but the commonest modern laws. And the sentences for violation of all laws are so cumbered with conditions, that one is reminded of the opinion of a citizen who once declared, "That he was in favor of the Maine law, but agin' its enforcement." Witness a recent case before a Court in New England that everybody knows all about where the public, after a verdict by all Courts high and low, for fame or greed, tries to settle that case by petition.
The real patriot in the United States today views with alarm the modern tendency of towns and cities to pile up debts for future generations to pay, and mostly contracted by men not owning real property, and who, forgetting the injunction that "the diligent hand maketh rich," still further depletes his own treasury by idleness every morning of the two best hours for work in the whole day.
What means the universal vote of the labor element all over the United States against the right arm of this Govern- ment-the Army and Navy? Is treason stronger in this Nation today than patriotism ? Let us thank God that we have an honest, fearless man in the President's chair at Washington, and that Theodore Roosevelt is that man.
Why then, if the labor element is loyal today, do they oppose the enlistment of their members in the various State's militia ?
Temples and monuments will crumble, but the art preser- vative will live forever. History to the world is what the soul is to the body. It matters not what the vehicle is that conveys the idea, for it is the thing that lives. Hence, the work and life of historical societies is a preservation of history. The record may be on stone, metal or paper, yet the illumination of the divine purpose is there. The temple erected to the living
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