USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Kingston > Report of the proceedings and exercises at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Kingston, Mass. : June 27, 1876 > Part 9
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In the " Provincetown Roadstead " the question of settlement there had been earnestly discussed, and not the least accurate of their chronicles has asserted that but for the wild snow- storm of Dec. 8, which prevented their seeing the point of Sandy Neck, the permanent settlement would have been made at Cummaquid, now Barnstable. Nor did the establishment at Plymouth cause the fathers to forget the scenes of their tem- porary sojourn. In the following June they were again at Cummaquid and Mattakeese (Yarmouth), and through the intercession of our courteous sachem, Iyanough, recovered the lost boy from those Nausets who before had greeted them with hostile arrows. Poor Jyanough ! Terrified by the loud threats of Standish, he fled into the cape swamps, where he perished of exposure, and his bones, if a learned antiquary is not at fault, are to be seen in the vestibule of Pilgrim Hall yonder. But the " First Encon: ter " was also the last hostile meeting between the English and the Indians of the cape. They were and even to this day are, friends in peace, allies in war. Gov. Bradford and his successors bought corn and beans of them in various times of dire distress and famine.
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By 1627 the Pilgrims had established a trading-post at Manomet, now called Cohasset Narrows, in the present town of Sandwich, the permanent settlement of which commenced . in 1637. Sandwich, Yarmouth, and Barnstable had deputies in the General Court in 1639. Duxbury and Scituate alone had preceded these towns in the order of settlement. In 1643 Gov. Thomas Prince, Deacon John Doane, and Edward Bangs led so large a company to Eastham, on the cape, that the church at Plymouth, it was lamented, was left like a mother bereft of her children. Seven times, Prince, "majestic of presence and a terror to evil-doers," was re-elected governor, whilst resident at Eastham.
The last governor of the colony of New Plymouth when it was merged in the Massachusetts - "the calf," as was said, " dying in the cow's belly "- was Thomas Hinckley, of Barn- stable. He was not the least meritorious of the six governors. Born at Tenterden, in Kent, England, in 1618, he was only two years old when the Pilgrims landed at Provincetown; but he came over to Plymouth when a lad, and at twenty-one years of age was in Barnstable with Pastor Lothrop and the Scituate Colony. His name appears on the first page of the records of Barnstable, and does not disappear from them till. his death in 1706, at eighty-eight years of age, a survivor of the colony by fourteen years. As early as 1745 he was in Plymouth as deputy, was successively assistant, deputy gov- ernor, commissioner of the United Colonies, and governor by many annual elections, until by his last official act, proclaiming a fast upon the merger of the Pilgrim Colony with its more powerful Puritan neighbor, New Plymouth ceased to exist. During his time, and especially in the period of the Indian and French Wars of 1775-6 and 1790, much official business of the colony was transacted at Barnstable. He was industrious,
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devout, a friend to education, firm, acute, astute, skilled and diligent in public business, comprehensive of those arts which make a small State grow large.
I believe this hasty sketch will amply demonstrate that the fourteen towns of the Cape (including the new Indian town of Mashpee) have ample right to participate in the historical fes- tivities of the people of the Old Colony, that noble common- wealth unsurpassed in influence and glory, if the smallest in numbers and the meanest in substance. Indeed, we of the Cape have sometimes thought that the associations, memories, lineage, labors, contributions, and valor, of our immediate ancestry and our birthplace, were sometimes strangely over- looked at Plymouth. But after all, what does it matter? We all have part in that immortal story of sacrifice, devotion, triumph, such as poets and orators are yet unable adequately to recite. Though monuments may never rise and statutes never be erected to the Pilgrims of Plymouth, the earth and the heavens are telling forever their story, more enduring than the marble, more inspiring than architecture.
You, fellow-citizens of Kingston, celebrate to-day the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of your separation as a muni- cipality from old Plymouth. We of the upper Cape towns are almost ready to celebrate our two hundred and fiftieth. Our ancestors, also, entered in through the gateway of Ply- mouth. We trace to the Mayflower, to the Fortune, to the Ann, to the Leyden Church, to the church of Jacobs and Lothrop in London, to Pastor Robinson himself; and the precious seed we received, we have kept pure and unmixed with foreign and degenerate. We are more English than England, nay, we are nearer Plymouth than Plymouth itself. But by an instinct of nature, we are all drawn to the cradle of the race, just as we read that the body of William Bradford,
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the second, was borne through deep snows with great difficulty from his residence near Jones River, because he had expressed a desire to be buried by his father, the second governor, the good and wise historian of New Plymouth.
When I received an invitation to participate in this festival of that part of Plymouth lying upon Jones River, I recalled certain documents I had lately seen in the archives of Massa- chusetts, having reference to the laying out of a new road over Jones River in 1709, embracing a report of John Otis of Barn- stable, grandfather of the famous James Otis and of Mercy Warren of Plymouth, drawn up by the direction of the Barn- stable County Court of Sessions. These papers show how inti- mate was still the connection of our fathers, the Cape people being obliged to contribute to the support of bridges in Ply- mouth County.
I also found in the archives a petition of Joseph Sampson and others, selectmen of Kingston, dated Aug. 15, 1781, addressed to Gov. John Hancock, "captain-general, etc.," asking that Capt. Daniel Loring may be commissioned captain of "one of those sort of boats commonly called Shaving Mills to cruise on the enemies of the United States," which had been built and equipped by a number of the inhabitants of this town. The document evinces the activity and patriotism of the people during the Revolution, which doubtless still exist ; but have you any " Shaving Mills" now ? or do you go for them to Boston or to the Banking establishments of our friend, Mr. Davis at Plymouth, and the rest ? I will hand these papers to the Committee of Arrangements to be printed, if they shall think them of interest to anybody in this generation.
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[Archives of Massachusetts, Vol. 171, p. 460.]
Kingston.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN HANCOCK Esq.
Capt. General, & Governor in Chief of the Comth of Mass. Bay:
Sir: Whereas a no. of the inhts of this town have built & equipt one of those sorts of Boats commonly called Shaving Mills to crnize on the enemies of the U. S., & are desirous that Cap. Daniel Loring of this town shd. be comd to command sd. boat, we, therefore, the subscribers, selectmen of the town, beg leave to recommend sd. Loring to yr. Emi- nency as a person in whose fidelity & prudence, yr. Excellency may put full confidence & pray yr. Excellency wd. grant him a com" for that purpose.
KINGSTON, 15th Aug. 1781.
JOSEPH SAMPSON. JOHN FAUNCE. JED : HOLMES.
HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN HANCOCK, Esq.
[Vol. 113, pp. 505-308, Archives of Massachusetts.]
The Court of Gen Sessions of Barnstable County, having been served at its Term of April 1709, with a copy of the pet" of Samuel Bartlett & David Alden, Selectmen of Duxbury & Saml Sprague & Ephraim Ellis, agents for the Town of Marshfield, relative to the turning of the road or Highway that leads over "Jones River," "directed its clerk, William Bassett, to certify to the General Court, the appointment of Hon. John Olis Esq. of Barnstable, and Mr. John Paine, of Eastham, its representatives, to lay before the General Court " the proceedings that have been relating to the turning said way, and the motives leading thereto," which duty, Messrs. Otis and Paine performed very judicionsly on the 3' of May following, by memorial to the General Court, giving four principal reasons why the location of the road had been changed, upon the application of the town of Plymouth & the Court of Gen Sessions for the County of Barnstable, ie. New way wd. be much better: less chargeable to maintain: the expense & neglect of "Causey" on North side of old bridge: avoids the causey on South side wh. was very low & difficult when the " Tidde " was high: and foy new way is 40 or 50 rods shorter through better country, & hath the unanimous concurrence of the Southern inhabitants, "as hath appeared by their cheerful paying of a considerable tax."
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Their report proceeds upon the ground of general public benefits to which contrasts the petition of Elisha Wadsworth of Duxborough, " That whereas the justices of the County of Plymouth have seen cause to demolish ye bridge over ye river between ye towns of Plymouth & Dux- borough (called Jones River) and to lay out another way which is extremely to my damage. For whereas formerly by opening one gate, I could goe on mine own land to ye Queen's Rode & then I had but four miles to Plymouth Town, and now I have six miles and a half: and one mile further to mill: and also ye situation of my living and ye commodity of my Place, are much Damnified. And further to augment my Grief, my neighbours y' dwell between me and ye new Rode afores4, through whose land ye old Rode passeth, have divers thnes fenced up ye same, so y' I have been forced to pull it down, before I could pass on my carnest occasions: for wh. they daily threaten to Arrest me, whereby I am in continnall danger, yet notwithstanding, our justices take no care for my relief.
The humble request, y'fore of your grieved supplicant is for such relief &c.
ELISHA WADSWORTH."
Caleb Loring, agent for Plimpton, petitions for that town, in support of the new way.
On the coming Fourth of July I shall have the honor of addressing the inhabitants of the venerable town of Barnstable, upon the Cape ; and if opportunity offers, shall not fail to tell them that on this, their happy anniversary, the people of Kingston, once the people of Plymouth, have kindly remem- bered that our ancestry bore with theirs, the toils, the depriva- tions, sustained the burdens and faced the perils, the glorious fruitago of which has made the name of "Pilgrim " the most honored among men.
12. Our Past; it is studded with memories over which the Ilistorian, Poet, and Scholar love to linger.
RESPONSE BY HON. HENRY S. WASHBURN, OF BOSTON.
Much has already been said, Mr. President, upon the subject which you have assigned to me, but the theme is far from being exhausted. We might, I am sure, indulge in these pleasant
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remembrances of the past far into the night before us, and yet leave unsaid and unsung much that would awaken the tender- est emotions of our being.
We come together from remote distances to exchange greet- ings and congratulations, and to look upon forms and faces associated with the recollections of our early days.
" We tread in olden paths to-day, We muse on hallowed memories here, And linger fondly by the way With friends we've missed for many a year."
I am reminded daily of Kingston by meeting its sons in the streets of Boston, for many years the city of my habitation. You have long been honorably represented there in the persons of several of its most respected citizens. Of these, the presi- dent of the day is a worthy illustration. He is not always as staid and sober as you see him now, nor does he usually address me in the dignified manner in which I have just been introduced to you. "How are you, Henry ?" and " How are you, Nathaniel ?" were salutations which only a few days ago passed between us. How tenderly does this familiar recogni- tion by old friends move us ! How much dearer to the heart is it than all the Misters, Esquires, and Honorables, by which the world addresses us ! "There is no one left now to call me Victoria," said the British queen on the death of the prince consort. How does this reveal the almost infinite longings of the heart, amid all the glare and blandishments of life, for familiar voices, still calling after us by the name we bore in our childhood ! And so to-day we touch the tenderest of chords as we recognize each other as Nathaniel and Joseph, Edward and Levi, Mary and Hannah, Eliza and Rebecca.
I referred to the president a moment ago as one who in Bos- ton had been an honor to his birthplace. An ex-president of
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the Mechanics' Association, himself an accomplished artisan and builder, it is the pride of his friends to point to some of the most imposing and substantial structures in the city as the product of his skill and genius. And here, by my side, sits another who has just addressed you, a gentleman well-known for his ster- ling integrity and large business capacity. When, recently, the President of the United States, like Diogenes of old, was searching, with a lantern in his hand, for an honest man to fill the position of postmaster of the city, he selected a Kingston boy, Edward S. Tobey !
Opposite to me, upon this platform, is still another, the pos- sessor of an ample fortune, acquired by his own energy and industry, whose rosy face and benevolent look speak always of peace and good-will to men. As a good steward he rejoices in dispensing to the needy of the abundance which has been given to him. Many a weary one, rising from a bed soft as down could make it, has had occasion to bless the name of Henry R. Glover.
And here, too, I see one, unassuming and unpretending, who, in his own quiet but effective way, is constantly going about doing good. In all our reformatory and penal institutions, the benignant face and venerable form of " Uncle Cook " is daily seen, bringing words of succor and good cheer to those who literally have no one to care for them. Into his car how often has the Master whispered, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me " !
Nor let me refrain, Mr. President, in this connection, from referring to him, my honored kinsman, who, in the fulness of years, after having borne the burden and heat of the day, has travelled more than two hundred miles to mingle his congratu- lations with us on this occasion. At the age of four-score-and- ten years he waits " till the shadows are a little longer grown"
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before he shall pass away from the scenes and responsibilities of earth. Kingston can boast of few men more worthy to be honored than Job Washburn.
My thoughts involuntarily turn at this moment to another, not now among the living, but upon whom, until recently, you looked with feelings of pride and veneration. I refer to the late Ichabod Washburn, a native of Kingston, a gentleman well-known throughout the commonwealth. And here allow me to relate an anecdote regarding him, which I am sure will interest you. The son of a sea captain, he at an early age, with this twin brother and a sister, sustained the loss of his father, and was thrown upon his own energies for support. His brother had the misfortune to be born with only one arm, and it was deemed best that a portion of the small property left to the family should be expended in giving him an education which would fit him for some one of the learned professions, but that Ichabod should acquire the knowledge of a trade by which to earn his living. Up to that time cotton cloth had been made chiefly on hand-looms, some of which are still to be found in the farm-houses around us. Cotton factories, or the making of cotton by machinery, were just then coming into use. One of the earliest of these institutions was established by Deacon Holmes, in the west part of this town. An opening was pre- sented for the boy Ichabod to work in this factory, which was soberly considered by the immediate friends of the family. The opinion was freely expressed that the position for a while might be a good one ; but as these factories were turning out cotton rapidly, it was evident they would soon fill up the world with the article, and the boy would be thrown out of employment. Horses and oxen, however, must always be shod, and iron work of various kinds would be required, and so these wise men thought it would be safer to put him out as an apprentice
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to learn the trade of a blacksmith. When we consider the crude and imperfect machinery of that day, and compare it with the wonderful mechanism now displayed in the cotton mills of Lowell, Lawrence, and Fall River, we can but smile at the opinion then entertained of a speedy overstock of cotton cloth in the country. But the boy blacksmith faithfully served his master till he reached his majority, when he threw off the shackles that bound him, and struck out for himself as a manu- facturer in a department of business which soon led him to fame and fortune. That fortune, honorably acquired, distilled ever as the dews ; and it was his pleasure, as you well know, not to overlook, in the distribution of his property, the town of his nativity.
Upon the order of exercises before us is a cut, representing the old church, with two steeples, so well remembered by elderly people present. It may be fitting that I should read a few lines referring to that venerable edifice, which I composed many years ago, but have never published.
THIE VILLAGE CHURCHI.
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It stands where it stood in the olden time, When my step was light in my boyhood's prime; And I hear, on the breath of the morning, swell Again the chime of that old church bell.
It stands where it stood on the brow of the hill, And the people tread in its old aisles still, While I look around and inquire, Where Are the good old men who once worshipped there?
And they point to the grave-yard close by the way, And they tell me they've been there for many a day; That the manly heart and the blushing maid Have been long in that quiet graveyard laid.
HHHH
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J. S. CONANT SC
Frid
OLD MEETING HOUSE, KINGSTON, MASS.
BUILT 1798. DEMOLISHED 1851.
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. There was one I remember ; his mild blue eye Was wet with tears when he breathed good-by, And the clasp of his hand was warm and true ; But he wasted away like the early dew.
Oh! my heart is sad, old church, while I gaze Around for the friends of my early days, And my tears fall fast as the April rain, For I seek the departed here in vain.
Mr. President, this occasion, which must be interesting to all, isto some of us full of tenderness and significance. After many long and weary years, passed in toil and conflict, we return to find, notwithstanding earth's chances and changes, these hills and vales still the same, the same these din old woods, these silver streams, these fragrant meadows, this land-locked harbor, and the boundless expanse of ocean spread out beyond it. As a village, quiet and unpretending, comparatively little known in the wide, wide world, its people, from generation to generation, have, as God has given them ability, performed their part in the great drama of life, true and loyal ever to the best interests of their State and the country. Right happy are we to pay our homage at this dear old shrine to-day. If the mother is glad to see her children, they are equally glad to see their mother. If she is proud of her sons, they are also as proud of her. The gladness and the pride are reciprocal.
At the foot of this hill, as you come to the Jones River, in turning into what was once a lane, but now more of a highway, you reach, in a few rods, after passing over a little brook, an old house, which to-day bears an inscription informing us that it was standing in 1703. For the most, if not through all its history, it has been the home of my ancestors. There my father and grandfather were born, and there still resides a cousin of mine, one of the committee of arrangements for this festival. Here, also, my childhood was passed ; and I cannot
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refrain, in closing these remarks, from paying a passing tribute to that dear little stream, so tenderly associated with my boy- hood, and which still flows on, beautifying and gladdening the valley through which it passes.
THIE BROOK.
There is a brook, a merry brook, Whose waters glide away, And creep within each tiny nook, Like a little child at play.
It runs beside my grandsire's door, The same as, when a child, I heard its mimic waters pour Their music on the wild.
The passing stranger may not heed This modest little rill, Which wanders through the verdant mead, Its pleasant journey still:
But unto me, O stream! a voice Hast thou of buried years; I cannot see thee but rejoice, I cannot but with tears.
'T is not because the hills and vales Through which thy pathway lies Are fairer than the hills and dales Beneath a thousand skies;
Nor yet because thy waters leap So joyously and free,- No, not for these my heart doth keep This memory of thee.
'T is for the past that thou canst stir Each passion at thy will, For halcyon days, that I prefer Thy sparkling waters still.
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Oh! thou art wedded to the days, The blessed days of youth, When gently fell the loving rays Of tenderness and truth ;
To the memory of the carly dead Within their cold graves sleeping; Thou art, for hours forever fled, A thousand memories keeping.
Sad were our being, if the mists Of gathered years could hide The past, that we might not recall Who lived, who loved, who died!
Then thanks to thee, thou little rill, For the record thou dost bear, The record of the good and ill Which slumbers by thee there.
A pilgrim from the din and strife Of carth, I turn to thec. Full soon must end this checkered life, Bear record, then, of me!
13. The successful business men who have gone out from our town, as they do not forget us, they will be held in perpetual remembrance by us. Particularly in memory of Ichabod and Charles Washburn of Wor- cester, Mass.
REMARKS BY CHARLES F. WASHBURN, ESQ., OF WORCESTER.
Ladies and Gentlemen and kinsmen of every degree, - I arise under peculiar circumstances, - to speak of and for those who would have been so happy to be here to-day ; to whom Kingston, physically and socially, was dear, was replete with interest ; to whom, probably, one third of those present were related in some degree by tie of blood. I refer to Ichabod and Charles Washburn, late of Worcester in this State.
Representing, as I do for the moment, natives of this town
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who have passed away, I have, while sitting here, been con- strained to liken myself to one born of Athenian parents in some Greek colony on the Asiatic shore, who, without having ever before seen the prond city of Minerva, had been made from earliest childhood intensely interested and thoroughly acquainted with its history, and who from the conversation of his parents had grown up with the feeling that his home was Athens and that her people were his people. Such are my feelings for you and for this old town.
This commanding hill is dear to me because from its summit my dear departed ancestors have looked out upon and enjoyed this same grand panorama, - the Gurnet, the spires of Dux- bury, Captain's Hill,. the mouth of Jones River, Plymouth Harbor, Clark's Island, the ocean-vexed beach, Plymouth itself. Could the foreigner by birth, but Athenian by blood and education, have looked from the Acropolis upon the same number of objects with greater interest than I do upon the objects and scenes I have mentioned, and which were never more plainly to be seen than spread before us on this auspicious day ? I trow not! Why, not a place or point have I men- tioned, associated with which I have not more than one narra- tive or anecdote from the lips of my father or uncle.
And just here let me say that while, though the story of Sala- mis and its victory would be sweet to our Athenian, the story of Clark's Island and its victory is to-day just as dear to me. Yes, more important in its results, grander in its purpose, was the single act of our chilled, jaded, storin-tossed forefathers, in deciding to remain on Clark's Island that first Sunday, because it would be breaking the Sabbath to move to the blessed main land, than ever was that successful onslaught upon the hordes of Asia. Go where you will, study the reasons of the rise and fall of nations, and the most potent of them will be found in the
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fact of their recognition or ignoring of the God who made them, and His commandments.
There never was a community, from that Friday evening when, in darkness, in cold, and in storm, its founders groped upon Clark's Island, until the present, in the which God and Ilis word have been more profoundly revered ; and never, from the foundation of the world, has a community exerted so wide-spread and benign an influence for pure religion as has this. But I hear you say, "Our townsmen and kinsmen, - tell us of them." The story is not a long one.
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