USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > West Bridgewater > Proceedings of the 250th anniversary of Old Bridgewater, Mass. at West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, June 13, 1906 > Part 6
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God-the temples set up to commemorate other gods, or to gratify the vanity of mortal man, have their uses, but the work of historical societies is above all others in importance, duty, scope and enjoyment.
The indifference of the world today to all things but com- mercialism in our lives, calls for consideration. Eating, drinking and sleeping should be supplemented by thinking and resolve.
Thus life goes on with more or less success to the end when death calls, and what has that man or woman, person or thing have left but their record ? The undertaker furnishes costly, perishable flowers-buries the body-possibly erects a monument, and live historical societies gather up the records of his life.
Today I do not remember an event that has ever impressed me more than a single sentence uttered by ex-President Grover Cleveland during the heat of a political campaign. A young man with warm blood, he had been accused of indiscretions in youth, and his political manager had asked him, "What shall I say ?" Without a moment of delay, he thundered back, for he was an honest patriot, this sentence that echoed and re-echoed all over the United States, "Tell the truth."
Does not today the representatives of Divinity, Law, Medicine, and other professions, in short the great National body politic, need to study that sentence ? Is not that slogan good enough to use ? Man-traps have been set for hundreds of years, and the newspapers furnish evidence that they are yet in use.
Among the many noted persons whose names I have seen recorded in Old Colony records as eminent, or men that did things, none stand out in history to me more prominently than two that accident has thrown in my way, and representing as they did good blood and education.
The first on the list is Shepard Fiske, who came to the North Parish in Bridgewater in 1724, from Braintree. He then twenty-one years old, a graduate of Harvard, a physician, trader, civil engineer, and an all-round man for development. For more than fifty years he largely shaped the life of Bridgewater. He died in 1779 and is buried one-fourth of a mile from this
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spot. He was patriotic, had many general useful attainments, professional and mechanical that have never yet been excelled by any in this vicinity. He was a physician, teacher, lawyer, farmer, a true laborer in the Lord's vineyard. He died poor, and noble Williams Latham one hundred years after erected a monument to his memory.
William Baylies is the second man on this list, born in 1776, he settled as a lawyer in Bridgewater. He was undoubt- edly one of the greatest men that ever lived in New England, for he was a contemporary, an associate, and a peer of Daniel Webster.
A paper may be read possibly in the future about this, one of the greatest men intellecturally that ever lived in New England.
Tables Set for Dinner in the Tent.
Farnham Gillespie
Howard Wilbur
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E.P.Dunbar
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C.C. Thayer
Sidney K.B.Perkins
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Letters of Regret Received From Invited Guests.
The committee in charge received many interesting and cordial letters, quotations from which follow :
Bridgewater, England.
I beg to offer to you and your communities embraced in the centers originally called Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and now consisting of Bridgewater, etc., my personal hearty congrat- ulations on your forthcoming celebration of the 250th anniver- sary of the settlement, etc., and to inclose herewith, for your kind acceptance, a lithograph print of mine of Bridgwater (formerly written Bridgewater,) England.
Very obediently,
FRED E. COLES, Mayor.
Town Clerk's Office, Bridgewater, England. Dear Sir :-
Your letter of May 12th addressed to His Worship the Mayor of Bridgewater was cordially received and read with great interest at the Meeting of the Town Council of this Ancient Borough on Thursday last.
The time between now and the celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Settlement of the Communities embraced in the territory originally called Bridgewater in Massachusetts, and now consisting of Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, West Bridge- water and Brockton (City), is too limited to admit of Represent- atives from my Council attending such celebration, but I am desired to thank you for the kind expressions of good-will con- tained in your letter, and to tender to your Executive Committee and all concerned the most fraternal greetings of the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Bridgewater, with the earnest hope that this 250th Anniversary will be a complete success and tend to the future welfare and prosperity of the territory.
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Anticipating that a few photos of some of the old land- marks and relics of this our ancient Town might be of interest to your community, they have been despatched and I trust they will safely arrive.
With every good wish believe me, Yours faithfully, W. W. GABER.
JOSHUA E. CRANE, EsQ. :
Dear Sir-I am directed by His Excellency, Governor Guild, to acknowledge the formal invitation of your committee to him to attend the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Old Bridgewater, on June 13, and to say that he regrets exceedingly that his official duties will prevent his attendance.
He suggests that your committee communicate with His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor, Eben S. Draper, Hopedale, Massachusetts, and ask if it will not be possible for him to attend to represent the Commonwealth.
Respectfully yours, CHARLES T. GETTEMY, Secretary to the Governor.
House of Representatives, Washington, D. C., June 2, 1906. MY DEAR MR. CRANE :-
On my return to my desk after two days' absence in New York I find your very kind invitation to attend the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Old Bridgewater on June 13. I regret most sincerely that a previous and very urgent engagement here, at that time, prevents me from accepting. This is all the more regrettable because I should enjoy the occasion, and especially the opportunity to respond to the sentiment : "The Government of the United States." I thank you and the Executive Committee for the honor you have done me by thus inviting me. Believe me.
Yours very faithfully, WILLIAM C. LOVERING.
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Boston, Mass., June 6, 1906.
JOSHUA E. CRANE, EsQ. :
Dear Sir-I regret very much that I cannot accept the kind invitation to the 250th anniversary of Old Bridgewater, but the graduation time of my boy at the Middlesex school pre- vents my acceptance. With most interesting memories of the old town and its associations I send my cordial good wishes for the occasion.
Respectfully, JOHN D. LONG.
Boston, May 28, 1906.
My Dear Sir :-
I am in receipt of your letter of the 25th asking me on behalf of the Executive Committee to be present and speak at the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Old Bridgewater, June 13.
I desire to thank the committee for their kind invitation, but shall be obliged to decline for the reason that the day of the celebration comes in the week directly following the summer session in Boston of the American Medical Association, June 5 to 8, and as I shall practically be away from my office all of that week I shall be extraordinarily busy the week following. Other- wise I should be very glad to accept the invitation, as it would give me much pleasure to attend.
Yours very truly, MYLES STANDISH.
Easton, June 10, 1906.
Dear Sir :--
Your invitation to our Board to attend the 250th anniver- sary of Old Bridgewater received today, and owing to an important meeting of our Board for that day will be obliged to decline your invitation. Thanking you for same, we are,
Yours truly,
EVERETT E. POOLE, Chairman.
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Brooklyn, N. Y., June 11, 1906. MY DEAR MR. CRANE :-
I beg to acknowledge with sincere appreciation the kind invitation to be present at the 250th celebration of the settle- ment of Old Bridgewater the day after tomorrow. You may be sure that were it not for many duties and engagements which demand my time and strength, I should be present to join with the descendants of the founders of the town, and many hundreds more beside, in celebrating the history and traditions of Bridgewater. Anyone who has in blood and bone an infu- sion of life-giving power from that good Old Colony stock must always thrill with pride and pleasure when its virtues are celebrated.
Regretting exceedingly that I cannot come to the anniver- sary on Wednesday, and with every good wish for the complete success of the occasion, I remain,
Yours cordially, REV. JOHN P. FORBES.
Plymouth, June 11, 1906.
Dear Sir :-
The Board of Selectmen thank you for the kind invitation to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Old Bridgewater, and regret the probable inability of any member of the Board to attend.
Yours respectfully,
F. N. BARTLETT, Chairman.
Swampscott, Mass. DEAR MR. CRANE :-
With sincere regrets I thank you for the kind invitation. So illustrious a history Bridgewater is privileged to have, and judging from the programme the celebration can but be a grand success. The mere fact of the choice of orator for the day is sufficient to insure it. With most earnest wishes for the same, I am,
Cordially yours, ANNIE H. ALDEN.
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New York, June 4, 1906.
Dear Sir :-
I beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your favor of May 29. I regret, however, to say that it will be impossible for me to attend the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Bridgewater on the 13th inst. because I have made a number of arrangements which it is now impossible for me to break. If I had known of the affair sooner I think I could have arranged to have been present. You will under- stand, I know, the disappointment I feel at my inability to join my fellow-townsmen on this interesting occasion.
Yours very truly,
F. D. MILLET.
Scituate, June 10, 1906.
L. W. PUFFER, EsQ. :
Dear Sir-I thank you for your kind invitation in memory of my esteemed friend, the late Henry Gurney, to be present at the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Old Bridgewater. I remain,
Yours very respectfully, CHAS. OTIS ELLMS.
Boston, June 11, 1906. DEAR MR. CRANE :-
Your kind invitation to the 250th anniversary of Old Bridgewater was only received this evening, too late for me to make any arrangements to be present, as my engagements are generally filled for at least a week in advance. I shall be in Cape Cod on that time. I have been much interested in your town, as my forbears lived and died there, as evidenced by deed and probate registry over which I have spent much time. I am sorry that I cannot come, but it is impossible to change my dates now. With best wishes for a pleasant and successful meeting, I am,
Yours very truly, FRANK A. BATES, Sec'y. Orcutt Family Association.
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Boston, June 10, 1906.
Dear Sir :--
Let me thank you cordially for your invitation to be present at the 250th anniversary of the Old Bridgewater. Having acquainted myself somewhat with your history for the first two hundred years, and your contributions to the life of the nation during that period, especially through your old-time clergymen, it would be a pleasure to be present. It will, how- ever, be impossible for me to attend.
I am pleased to see that in connection with your response to the third toast, or after it, you make use of the hymn of our late mutual friend, Mr. Edward Alden, who so sincerely and devotedly loved Old Bridgewater.
Very truly yours,
GEORGE A. JACKSON.
Dr C. E. Lovell
W. H.Osborne
Zıba C. Keith
E. Alden Dyer M. D .
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Remarks.
By Hon. William H. Osborne, East Bridgewater, Toast- master of the Day.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen-The part that has been assigned to me on this occasion is that of offering certain sentiments, which together with the responses, are intended to emphasize in a concise manner certain salient features in the town's history. It is not my province to make a speech, but I cannot neglect the opportunity afforded me by the courtesy of the Executive Committee, to add my testimony attesting the great importance of this historic day.
Any one having even the smallest pride of ancestry, or veneration for his nativity, cannot possibly be indifferent to such an event as this.
It is not alone the fact that the day marks the lapse of two hundred and fifty years since the ancient town had its birth that makes this occurrence of such peculiar significance, but also the succession, during this period, of the many great events in the history of the country and the history of the world.
Bridgewater has lived to see the nation emerge from the condition of colonies under the British crown, to that of the most powerful and enlightened republic in the world, and the blood and the substance of its people were freely expended in that great conflict that made the republic possible.
The heroes of Bridgewater, who fell while following the nation's flag in the bloody encounters of the late Civil War, are numbered among the 400,000 victims of that struggle that saw the union of the states restored, and wiped from the escutcheon of the nation the stain of human slavery.
It is only becoming that we should pause for a moment in these festal exercises and remember the debt of gratitude we owe those brave men, who gave to their country and our country, in the hour of its greatest peril, "the last full measure of devotion."
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We have long since linked their names with the heroes of the Revolution, and on the recurrence of Memorial Day we decorate with equal honors the graves of each.
Let us hope, Mr. President, that when the 300th anniver- sary of the birth of the town shall be celebrated, those who engage in it will have no occasion to take note of wars, national or otherwise, but only the blessed triumphs of blessed peace.
2 5OVANNIVERZARY. JUNE 13-1906
Scene in the Square.
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Toasts.
The Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Old Bridgewater.
The ancient town of Bridgewater, once the hunting ground of a feeble tribe of native Indians, is now the happy and prosperous home of more than 50,000 people, whose combined estates are officially estimated at $40,000,000. Out of her original territory have been carved from time to time the whole or a part of at least three distinct populous and wealthy municipalities of our County of Plymouth.
In every great national crisis, both civic and military, she has borne her full part. By the fame of her soldiers, her scholars, her merchants and artisans, she has added lustre to the history of the Commonwealth. Her sons and daughters are now assembled on this her natal day, to do honor to her fame and renew the ties of kindred and of home.
Responded to by Joshua E. Crane of Bridgewater.
Mr. President, in rising to respond to this sentiment of commemoration, I desire to express my thanks to the committee in recognition of the honor which they have conferred upon me in inviting me to speak for every citizen, and every lover of Old Bridgewater, and for the several communities embraced within its territorial limits.
The 250th anniversary of the incorporation of Old Bridge- water is heralded in honor of the founding of one of the great townships of the colony of Plymouth, which long maintained an exalted place in the annals of the commonwealth, and bequeathed its name to four of its prosperous parishes.
Like other towns of New England endowed with ancient names of the mother country, we are able to rejoice in the name of Bridgewater, given by its founders in recognition of their love for their native land, and with that of Taunton, our neigh- boring city, in the County of Bristol, forming an impressive and pleasing memorial of its settlement and its social recognition of Somersetshire.
Mentioned as early as the days of William the Conquerer as the "Bridge of Walter," and possessed of a castle of impor- tance at the beginning of the 13th century, it became a noted stronghold of the Royalists in the days of the commonwealth,
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but doomed to fall before the parliamentary force of Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell in 1645. In this eventful period and in the very year of its conquest the grant of the Plymouth Colony to the men of Duxbury prepared the way for the beginnings of the new English Bridgewater, which is declared in the Bridgewater Monitor by Increase and Cotton Mather, "has been a town favored of God. Yea, some favors of Heaven unto it have indeed been distinguishing. It was planted a noble vine, and may no more of the text from whence this phrase is borrowed ever be applied unto it. The first planters of it were a set of people who made religion their main interest, and it became their glory."
We rejoice in the possession of such a record of godly and heroic ancestors, whose consecrated hearts and sinewy strength in the fervor of a primitive age gave marked vitality to their lofty purposes and achievements for the maintenance of spiritual liberty in the colony, and defended its welfare with indomitable courage and constancy through the memorable struggles of a later century.
We rejoice today in the privilege of commemorating the fame of all whose names are emblazoned on our escutcheon, and we glory in the spirit of achievement which adorns the record of their lives.
The several independent communities bearing the name of Bridgewater and the city of Brockton, with the remarkable changes of the years, are not the towns of fifty years ago. Those living today need to be reminded of the struggles and the deeds of former generations which have been suffered and accomplished in their behalf. The memory of the fathers should be cherished in the hearts of the children, and should be revered in every school and at every fireside. "Let Thy work, O Lord, appear to Thy servants and Thy glory to their off- spring" May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and the work of our hands, establish Thou it, that we in turn may preserve unimpaired the dignity and honor'of our inheritance, and transmit to our posterity the record of our citizenship, characterized by the spirit of loyalty to the ideals of the founders of the colony for social and moral advancement and
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for the firmer establishment of the vital principles of Christian fellowship and brotherhood throughout our state and country.
Responded to by Mrs. Lysander F. Gurney of Brockton.
The history of a town is nothing less than a collective history of the people and localities comprising that town, and in response to the toast, "The celebration of the 250th anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Old Bridgewater," I have been invited to give my paper. A brief history of the early settlers, the habits, customs, educational ideas, religion, etc., of our ancestors, who bred and nurtured the patriotism of the Revolutionary War, as well as the staunch and heroic principles illustrated in their lives, although a theme with which we are all familiar, yet reiteration fixes in the mind, and a repetition of some of the facts may not be without profit and interest.
Old Bridgewater in Somersetshire, England, whence comes our name, Bridgewater, is a prosperous town of about 15,000 inhabitants, situated on both sides of the Parnel river. The town is compactly built like most old English towns, as they were walled around for safety in turbulent times, and so were necessarily crowded together. The river flows through the center of the town, across which are a railroad and highway bridge, uniting its two sections. The principal church is the ancient Episcopal one of St. Mary's, the established church of England.
English Taunton is a large town about ten miles southwest of Bridgewater, and these names, with many others, were lovingly transplanted by our ancestors, that their homes in this country might remind them of their old homes in the mother- land.
The shares of the original proprietors numbered fifty-four, - to which two more were added, one to the Rev. James Keith and one to Deacon Samuel Edson. Of these it may be of interest that fifteen, including the two named, were lineal ancestors of the writer. Of these fifty six purchasers, not more than one-third actually removed from Old Duxbury and became
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permanent settlers, and of these eighteen, eleven were my lineal ancestors, and I probably speak for others here today, when we claim to be called descendants of the old families of Bridge- water.
Each settler had at first a grant of six acres on the town river, and these lots were taken up at what is now West Bridge- water, and there the first houses were built and improvements made. The lots were contiguous and the settlement compact, with a view to mutual protection and defence against the Indians.
The outermost mile around the outside of the purchase was laid out in 1683, into four great divisions, one on each side of the settlement, called the East, West, North, South precincts.
For twelve years after the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, Plymouth was the only town in the colony. A few small settle- ments gradually grew up along the coast, among them Duxbury, which was incorporated in 1632.
To the east of Narragansett Bay, Taunton was settled in 1637, but the higher land between Plymouth and Taunton remained the forest home of the Indians, whose chief was Massasoit, later known as Ousamequin, the hospitable savage, who had befriended the first settlers on the coast.
In 1645 Miles Standish, with others, received permission to buy of the Indians in the wilderness about sixty square miles as compensation for land taken from Duxbury when Marshfield was made a town, and in 1649 a deed was signed by Massasoit, on Sachem's Rock, in the eastern part of the purchase, the price paid being seven coats, nine hatchets, eight hoes, twenty knives, four moose skins and ten and one-half yards of cotton.
The deed was signed on the part of the colonists by Miles Standish, Samuel Nash and Constant Southworth.
This tract was first called Duxbury New Plantation, but in 1656 it was incorporated as the town of Bridgewater, and was the first town settled away from the coast within the Old Colony limits.
In this year, 1856, John Cary was chosen constable-the first officer chosen in the town. In May of the next year the officers elected were John Willis, deputy ; Arthur Harris and
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John Howard, surveyors of highways; John Cary, clerk. The office of constable was of high reputation, and as in old Saxon times, so now, it was intended that only those should fill it who were honest and able men, both in body and estate, and not of the meaner sort.
For nearly one hundred and sixty years town meetings were held in what is now West Bridgewater, the old center of the town, and for more than fifty years all attended church in the same place, until the town was divided into parishes, and churches were built in the different precincts.
In 1675, at the time of King Philip's War, there were only sixty-four men over nineteen years of age in the settlement. In 1775 there was a population of 880. The first meeting house built in the West precinct in 1661 was near the site of the Historical building, and the first minister was Rev. James Keith, who remained over the parish until his death in 1719 aged seventy-six years. The second was built in 1764, where the Soldiers' monument now stands. The first meeting houses in the other precincts were built in 1716, 1721 and 1737, the ministers serving a life time. Those were long pastorates com- pared with those of the present day, and an ordination was a rare occurrence, so much so that it attracted people for miles around, a procession with fife and drum being features of the occasion.
It is a significant fact that the first settlers organized a church before they formed civil government. This shows the spirit in which our New England civilization was founded. In 1646 the Massachusetts colony re-enacted the English law com. pelling church attendance, and required a fine of five shillings for absence from church on the Lord's day, Thanksgiving or Fast day, without good cause. Therefore everybody attended church and it was not uncommon for the people to go ten or fifteen miles to meeting.
The court order was that "every soldier, bring his arms fixed to meeting with six charges of powder and shot, and if any neglect or refuse to perform, he shall be fined two shillings to be gathered by the constables."
It is Sunday morning in Old Bridgewater, along the green
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lanes and field paths come the settlers in family groups. Young men are carrying their best coats on their arms, and young women their best shoes in their hands, to be put on before entering the meeting house. Some are on horseback, the wite on the pillion behind the husband and the youngest child in front, while the Squire, His Majesty's "justice of the peace," comes in a dusty chaise, for no man except the minister is considered his peer.
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