USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Falmouth > Suckanesset; wherein may be read a history of Falmouth, Massachusetts > Part 13
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After the third meeting house was built in 1841, Friends in West Falmouth subscribed to build a school- house that would be more convenient to their children than the schools in the village. Asa Wing of Sandwich
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was the first teacher. Later it was made the body of the Lindley M. Wing house.
For many years members of the society were prominent in political as well as social life. James T. Dillingham was chosen to the Legislature in 1857, James E. Gifford served in the Legislature in 1880 and 1881, and Meltiah Gifford served in that body in 1884.
Until a few years ago it was the policy of the town management to have one Friend in the Board of Select- men. In that body we recognize the names of Thomas Bowerman, Richard Landers, Stephen Bowerman, Paul Swift, Prince Gifford, William Gifford, Daniel Swift, Barnabas Bowerman (who served 12 years) and Prince G. Moore (who served 14 years).
In the autumn of 1888, while on a visit from Worcester to his native place, Daniel Wheeler Swift sub- scribed $300 towards a fund of $1000, the annual income from which is used towards keeping the grounds of the graveyard in a neat condition.
The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Falmouth dates back to the first decade of the Nineteenth Century when the Rev. Joseph Snelling, one of the first Methodist ministers in America, who joined the church in Boston in 1793, had the circuit of Cape Cod, Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket. In his memoirs he wrote, after telling of preaching at the home of Captain Stephen Swift, at West Falmouth and other places, that Dr. Hugh George Donaldson was converted and baptized. Said Mr. Snelling "I had meetings at his house and there I formed the first Methodist Society in Falmouth. A preacher was sent then from the conference, whose labors were blessed, and the number in the society increased. It was not long before they built a neat and convenient meeting house." This was in 1808.
Dr. Hugh George Donaldson, grandfather of former selectman John F. Donaldson, built and lived in the house now (1930) Sabens' Laundry on Main Street near the old Methodist cemetery. Captain Stephen Swift's house was further east on Main Street, beyond the Town Infirmary, its site still marked by clumps of lilac bushes though the poplar trees in front of it, have vanished. This old house also sheltered early meetings of the Masonic body, and was said to have the Square and Compass painted on the ceiling of its front parlor.
In June of 1810 Methodists of Sandwich and Falmouth
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sent a petition to the General Court protesting that they were taxed for support of the Congregational Church although duly organized in their own societies. A town meeting of Falmouth in November, 1810 voted "not to remonstrate against the petition"; but as late as 1825 the Congregational Church records tell of a committee ap- pointed "to look up delinquents and bring them back to their duty." The formation of the Methodist society was the first denominational split in the history of the town. The report of this committee states "Brother Joseph Davis and his wife said they did not break the covenant by going off as they only went to another branch of the Church of Christ. They enjoyed themselves better" and "Mary Rowley liked the Methodist best and therefore she went after them."
The first minister sent, after organization in 1808, was the Rev. Erasmus Otis, who preached in the tavern on the shore, now the old Brewer house. The first Methodist church, built 1811, was on land belonging to Dr. Donaldson, near the Methodist cemetery on Main Street. About 1829 Deacon William Nye deeded the land for the present location to John Tobey et al for $200, nearly opposite the town hall, and the building was re- moved there. In 1847 the old building was torn down and the present one erected, being remodelled in 1896-7 when the chapel was added and rear galleries taken out. In 1929 repairs were made, the church painted white and renovated inside, and shrubbery planted on the grounds. The pastors since 1882 have been: J. M. Taber, T. A. Johnston, Percy Perinchief, A. G. Smith, E. W. Eldredge, C. K. Jenness, H. C. Scripps, R. S. Moore, T. S. Streeter, J. E. Blake, C. H. Hinckley, R. H. Schuett, C. W. McCaskell, C E. DeLa Mater, C. C. Pratt, M. S. Stocking, J. R. Magee, C. W. Ruoff, Jesse A. Martin, C. V. Bigler, Arthur Wads- worth and E. B. Thomas.
Methodism as a religion had an early start in Woods Hole. Nearly 130 years ago itinerant preachers visited the little town and preached sermons in the village schoolhouse. The first minister of whom there is any record was Father Otis, well known on the Cape at that time, who after he had sown the seed of Methodism, was followed by preachers of Falmouth who came every Sunday.
It was not until 1879 that the congregation had a church of their own. The class meeting of those days
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was held at the home of Sanford Herendeen who shared with Marshall Grew a deep devotion to religious work.
Mrs. Abagail Grew and family gave the lot and at a cost of $2,500 the building was erected and dedicated as "the People's Church." Originally a plain wooden struc- ture with no entry and plain open pews, it was remodeled in 1890 and greatly improved.
In the evening of July 24, 1884, a meeting was held at the church for the purpose of organizing the Metho- dist-Episcopal Church, practically the entire congrega- tion attending. Nine persons were received into the new church by transfer from other churches. They were: Vinal N. Edwards, Henry M. Grew, Ephraim S. Edwards, Maria A. Donaldson, Lucy T. Swift, Minerva A. Robinson, Sarah H. Edwards, Levi D. Fish and Mary D. Fish. Han- nah B. Gardiner, Grace L. Donaldson, and Love P. Cornell were received as full members, and nine others on pro- bation.
Up to 1920 the ministers boarded at the houses of different members. The present parsonage was bought from Mrs. Prescott at a cost of $2,000, and completely re- paired in 1927.
Out of the 36 pastors of the church since its origin, 30 have been students at Boston University.
The pastors: Richard H. Dorr, J. B. Smith, L. M. Flocken, Henry Pearce, C. E. Todd, M. B. Wilson, J. D. Wing, E. W. Eldredge, R. C. Westenberg, Fay Donaldson, O. L. Utter, F. C. Anderson, David Houghtelin, George A. Marvel, Edward Roberts, F. M. McCoy, W. Woodward Booth, W. E. Plaxton, Samuel Johnson, J. Wesley Pontius, H. S. Jackson, W. W. Davis, Fayette F. Leavitt, Otis W. Moore, E. H. Mohn, Walter L. Morgan, Leonard Mitchell, F. B. Morley, Otis H. Moore, Elwyn Tingley, Edwin Win- ters, Z. V. Arthur, George R. Locke, Ellery J. Beal.
The Church of the Messiah at Woods Hole was the first parish organized in Falmouth of the Protestant Episcopal denomination, Bishop Eastburn holding a ser- vice in the school house October 6, 1852, when on a journey to Nantucket. At that time Mr. Joseph Story Fay of Boston, had recently bought his house overlooking Little Harbor, on the main road, which is said to be the first "summer residence" in Falmouth. Jeremiah Hop- kins, proprietor of the old Webster House, was also active and served as senior warden when the parish was or- ganized. The sum of $3237 was raised and the church
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consecrated in February, 1854, the first rector being the Rev. Thomas Flower.
In 1888 Mr. Joseph Story Fay offered to contribute the present handsome stone building, and although it is said fishermen objected, as they had come to use the steeple of the old church as a range mark in entering the harbor, the gift was accepted. The old church was remodelled and moved nearer the corner and is still in use as the parish house. The corner stone of the new church was laid July 2, 1889.
Rectors of the Church of the Messiah, following Mr. Flower are: Rev. John West, Rev. Hiram Carlton, Rev. Charles McI. Nicholson, Rev. H. H. Neales, Rev. Joseph Dinzey, Rev. E. Marriett, Rev. James Bancroft.
St. Barnabas Memorial Church stands on Main Street on the site of the old Succannessett House, built by Timo- thy Crocker, bought by Elijah Swift, and owned by his family until 1889. Late in 1888 steps were taken to form the parish and the next year the ground was bought, the old house moved to Cahoon alley and work begun on the church which was consecrated June 11, 1890. The parish house was dedicated December 29, 1890; and the rectory bought in 1901 and left as a legacy to the parish by E. Pierson Beebe. The rectory is the old Captain John Hatch house, occupied prior to 1901 by Robinson Crocker Bodfish.
Originating as a memorial to James Madison Beebe and Esther Elizabeth Beebe, for forty years the several members of the Beebe family have added to and main- tained the beauty of the church until today it is one of the handsomest in the country. In 1929 the interior of the church was entirely re-decorated as the gift of Mr. Frank H. Beebe, who is senior warden of the church. The side walls are plastered, tinted a warm rose to har- monize with the dull red sandstone of buttresses and arches. The oak corbels and groining are picked out in gold; and the lofty roof paneled in soft sky-blue between the dark oak beams. In the chancel the roof is diapered with panels of gold ornamented with rose and dull green symbols of the crucifixion. The exquisite stained glass window of the Ascension over the altar, and the four memorial windows installed in 1928 give added richness to the coloring. The altar itself, of carved oak, with paneled oak reredos on which hangs a replica of the Bot- ticelli Madonna and Child in its heavily ornamented
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Florentine gilt frame, is flanked with the tall Magnificat candelabra of wrought iron and brass from Italy and has rich brocade altar cloths corresponding to the seasons of the church year.
The spacious grounds of the church, flanked by the rectory on the East, a stone wall with elaborate shrubbery and flower bed on the West, and the parish house at the rear, by Siders Pond, are rarely beautiful, with lofty trees, close-clipped lawn, a convert of rhododendrons by the main church door; ivy on the walls.
The first rector of the church was Rev. Charles Hall Perry from 1888-1890. He was followed by Rev. Henry Herbert Smythe who retired in 1922 as rector emeritus. Rev. James Clement Sharp was rector from 1922 until his death in January, 1927, and the Rev. Leslie F. Wallace succeeded to the active charge of the parish in July, 1927.
The principal Catholic Church of Falmouth, as well as the oldest is St. Joseph's Church on Millfield Street, Woods Hole, which was dedicated June 26, 1882, when the Rev. Cornelius MacSweeney was pastor, coming from Sandwich.
Previous to that time, a mission had been maintained at Woods Hole, at first from New Bedford, and later from Sandwich, with such priests as Rev. James Tute and Rev. Thomas F. Clinton driving over to say mass. The railroad to Woods Hole was opened in 1872, and according to tra- dition it was the number of Catholics among the workmen of the road during its construction that led to the establishment of what grew into Woods Hole parish. Father MacSweeney was at Woods Hole for some twenty years, laboring earnestly in the parish, which included the whole township, and seeing the start of the churches of St. Patrick's in Falmouth and St. Anthony's in East Falmouth. Another priest connected with St. Joseph's in the old days was the Rev. James Coffey, present pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart in New Bedford.
The present pastor of St. Joseph's and St. Patrick's, is the Rev. Thomas F. Kennedy, who came to St. Joseph's in 1905.
St. Patrick's was established by Father MacSweeney, in 1899. Father Kennedy opened the station at Megan- sett, known as the Church of the Immaculate Conception, saying the first mass in the Casino on July 16, 1915; and buying the property September 3, 1920. St. Thomas' Church at Falmouth Heights, was also opened by Father
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Kennedy, first mass being said there July 4, 1918, and the property purchased June 14, 1921. On June 3, 1928, St. Thomas Church was set aside as a parish, with the Rev. James A. Coyle as pastor and the Church of the Im- maculate Conception is now served from the parish of St. Thomas.
The church of St. Joseph has a beautiful situation, overlooking Mill Pond, with the rectory adjacent and a beautiful granite oratory and bell tower, 55 feet in height, built in 1929, opposite the church on the shore of the pond. This bell tower is the gift of a member of the parish, Mrs. Frank R. Lillie of Chicago who summers at Woods Hole, where her husband is director of the Marine Biological Laboratroy. The Angelus peal rings morning, noon and night from this tower.
The church itself is of brown stained shingles, un- assuming and unpretentious as to exterior, but surpris- ingly beautiful within, due to the delicate colors employed in the decoration.
Woods Hole and the other Falmouth churches belong to the diocese presided over by the Rt. Rev. Daniel F. Feehan, Bishop of Fall River.
The outlying villages maintain their own independent church organizations, though not all support resident pastors.
In East Falmouth we find a large Portugese congre- gation supporting a very pretty church, St. Anthony's, with the Rev. M. J. Texeira in charge. Also a Seventh- Day Adventists Society, meeting on Saturdays, with the Rev. Manuel Nobrega coming from New Bedford to pre- side; and a Methodist Episcopal chapel where the Rev. Edward B. Thomas preaches.
Waquoit maintains the Waquoit Congregational Church served by the Rev. Hugh Duglay, who comes from Falmouth for the services; and Wagucit Chapel in which the Rev. Thygeson of Hatchville preaches on Sunday evenings.
North Falmouth has a Congregational Church of tra- ditional New England white-painted architecture, newly renovated and restored in 1927 with generous gifts from a summer resident, James H. Rand of North Tonowanda, N. Y., aiding. The Rev. Charles W. Mock is pastor. In North Falmouth summer Catholic services are held at Megansett Casino.
There are thus fifteen structures dedicated to Chris-
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tian worship in the township of Falmouth in 1930, and six denominations represented in church societies among the 5000 population; a far cry from 1708 when the first church was organized in Falmouth, with but one building, cne denomination.
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CHAPTER XIV
FROM SHEEP TO STRAWBERRIES
T HE first mill in the town was built around 1700 by Philip Dexter on what is today called Coonamessett River, in East Falmouth, but in the early records is referred to as Five-Mile River. It runs from Coonames- sett Lake to empty into Vineyard Sound through Great Pond. In 1719 Ensign Parker and Timothy Robinson were appointed a committee at town meeting to treat with Philip Dexter over charges of excessive tolls for grinding of meal. Nevertheless, this site continued to serve the whole township until 1787, when Jesse Gifford built for Samuel Bowerman, Joseph Bowerman and Richard Lake a windmill for grinding of grain at West Falmouth which stood on the Swift property just north of the present West Falmouth M. E. Church. In 1922 Seth Gifford bought the property, soon after selling the mill to Fred Field who moved it to Brockton where it later burned down.
Joseph Bowerman passed the mill to his sons Seth and Thomas and Thomas Bowerman tended it until 1816. Moses Swift inherited Thomas Bowerman's share and bought that of Seth and the mill in its latter days was carried on by Silas F. Swift, his son. The memory of this old landmark is perpetuated by the present newspaper, the Falmouth Enterprise, which uses a drawing from an actual photograph, taken in 1886, of the old mill for the heading of its column "All's Grist to the Old Mill."
Waquoit, on the swift Moonowist River, had an early saw mill and grist mill built by Zenas Ewer which burned. Then John Robinson had a grist mill, followed by a yarn and cloth mill operated by Alexander Clarke. In 1855 Parker Bodfish of Wareham became interested in a grist mill that operated for thirty years or more.
Sheep, of course, were an invaluable asset to the pioneers, producing at once clothing and mutton, and the
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early records of Falmouth are largely made up of the ear-marks registered by each householder for his cattle and sheep. "The mark that Leftenant Jonathan Hatch gives to his Creaturs is a half crop on the left hand and a hapeney on the hind side of the same ear. Provided the 6 day of July 1679."
The Quaker families of Bowerman and Gifford, West Falmouth were largely concerned in sheep-raising, since the natural pasture land in the vicinity of Sippe- wissett and Chappaquoit favored the industry, but it was not confined to West Falmouth.
Shiverick's Pond, immediately adjacent to Main Street, in the old days was the scene of many a 'sheep- washing' in the month of May when the sheep were brought in to be despoiled of their thick coats. The carding mills centered around East Falmouth and Wa- quoit where the streams were large enough to turn a wheel, and in the pre-Revolutionary days, or even later, the children were set to gathering thorns to be used in lieu of expensive hand-wrought pins, for fastening the rolls after the wool had been carded ready to be taken home for spinning on small wheels in the family kitchens.
The Revolution made great inroads in this industry, live stock being carried off by the British in raids, and a great number of head being required for supplies for the army, furnished in kind instead of in cash, and the last blow came in 1854 when the town passed an ordinance excluding animals from the roads, which cut down their ranging, so that the great flocks no longer throve. The old offices of fence-viewer and field-driver, still annually honored by custom but today nominal in their duties, date back to these times when the prevention of trespass and damage by flocks was a vital issue in the township.
Herring can hardly be classed as an industry, yet played an important part in the industry of the town, from the early days when the appearance of the great swarm in the spring after the lean times of Pilgrim win- ters must have seemed providential and an occasion for pious rejoicing on up to a century ago when a host of small sloops put into Waquoit Bay and Falmouth to load with herring to be carried out for bait to the Grand Banks and the Georges. Laws were early enacted on a com- munistic basis of sharing equally the gifts of nature, and were so jealously enforced that if two men were netting herring-and a third were seen approaching, the two
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would divide equally the fish already caught and com- mence, with the newcomer, another 'catch' to be divided into three shares. Herbert H. Lawrence of Teaticket tells an amusing anecdote of going to the herring run one spring day and planning to participate in the catch until old 'Squire' Donaldson vigilantly recalled that Lawrence would not be sixteen until June, and thus disqualified him from a man's share.
There is an old tradition that about 1800 a sharp controversy raged for several years about the right of a mill-owner to set a dam across the mill stream at East Falmouth, which would form a bar to a natural herring run. So bitter became the feeling that one party, as a gesture of hostility and derision, conceived the idea of loading one of the old cannon on the Green with herring. The charge was tamped down, the gun rammed to the muzzle with herring, and the match applied. The gun. burst, probably from steam or gas generated by its un- usual charge, and killed the gunner.
In 1885, at the height of the supplying of herring for bait to the fishing fleet, it was realized that something must be done to encourage the propagation of the herring, since the fish live far out in the depths of the ocean and come to fresh water only as adults to spawn. A law was therefore passed that the herring might not be caught from noon on Saturdays to noon on Mondays, and in Coonamessett River the herring were further protected from 10 at night until 5 in the morning. At present herring may not be taken on Sundays. The herring are still, in Falmouth, reserved freely to all adult citizens, although in most other towns of this vicinity the privilege is sold to commercial bidders for the benefit of the town. Today herring are valuable chiefly for the scales which are stripped and used in the manufacture of artificial pearls and pearl buttons, while the rest of the fish is utilized in fertiliser.
Salt-making was a considerable industry in Fal- mouth, as in other parts of the Cape for almost a century, beginning at the time of the Revolution, when the price of imported salt soared to $8 a bushel. The waters about Cape Cod yield a bushel of salt from every 350 gallons of water, it is said and the long stretches of coast line suit- able for erection of the works, as well as the convenient neighborhood of cheap logs combined to make the process of solar evaporation the simplest to adopt.
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In 1845, according to State records, Falmouth had 42 salt works in operation, producing 24,500 bushels. Later lumber became scarce, necessitating importation of pine from Maine and cheaper salt came on the market from other sources so that in 1865 but four plants were produc- ing in Falmouth, and in 1870 Joseph Davis took down the last in active operation to permit the erection of the Tower House at Falmouth Heights.
The salt works extended all along the coastal plain, along the shores of Little Harbor at Woods Hole; Quissett Harbor and West Falmouth Harbor, and Falmouth to the Heights. Mr. William H. Hewins, town clerk and treasur- er (1930) still recalls how when the sky clouded over he, and other boys, would be called by the owners of the works to drive down to the shore to aid in working the ponderous wooden covers on rollers that protected the vats from infiltration of rain. He describes the vats as being of wood, about a rod square and less than a foot high. Scattered over the plain were about a dozen wind- mills with canvas sails, "a fine sight in a south-west breeze." Wooden cribs were sunk, out to sea, from which the salt water was pumped to a storage tank high on the shore by the wind mills, through pipe-lines made of hol- lowed logs from Falmouth forests.
About eight inches of water was run into the first of a series of vats, or water-rooms, from which it was later led to the pickle room where the lime was removed. As the crystals commenced to form, the water was con- ducted to a third vat, or salt-room where the precipitate of coarse yellowish crystals could be raked out. A small amount of Epsom salts was produced in Falmouth, at times.
Most of the Falmouth salt found a ready market at home, as the fishing fleet, hundreds of vessels, would put in here in the spring and fill their holds with salt before starting for the Banks. The salt was also used in Falmouth homes, and Mr. Hewins remembers how it was one of his boyhood tasks to get the mortar and pestle and grind up the salt for the family table.
The price of salt made by evaporation ranged from seventeen cents to a dollar a bushel and in the later periods of its manufacture a day's wages for a man were a dollar and a quarter. A romantic story is told of Ephraim Sanford in the troublous times of the war of 1812 running the blockade with a cargo of salt to New York, with the
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sails of his vessel dyed red to escape detection at night, and clearing a hundred dollars on a trip. Names promin- ent among owners of salt works in Falmouth were John Crocker, Weston Jenkins, Elijah Swift, Silas Jones, John Butler, Knowles Butler, Davis and John Hatch, Silas and Thomas Lawrence, John Dimmick, Nymphas Davis, Silas Davis and Edmund Davis.
The history of transportation in the township is epitomized in the various types of routes of travel that may be found in the vicinity even today, 1930.
The first route to break the wilderness of the heavy forest that three hundred years ago covered Cape Cod was the footpath worn by Indian tribes as their hunters sought the haunts of game or as the tribe made its semi- nomadic move from summer camp near the shore to winter site in some more sheltered inland spot.
It was some such marked trail that the white men first followed from Barnstable "to Sechonesit town where the Indians now inhabit," marching on foot, in stout buckled shoes made by themselves or by the village cob- bler, with flintlock over their shoulder, powder horn swinging at their belt. As livestock increased in the colony, and settlement was made at Succanessett, (Fal- mouth) the substantial citizens of the community intro- duced horses, and after the King's Highway was laid out in 1686, following the earlier foot path, we may picture many a pious family setting forth to meeting of a Sabbath at Barnstable with the mother in her close bonnet, white kerchief and ample skirts mounted on the horse, the baby in her arms, an older girl on a pillion behind her, the father and sons walking ahead.
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