USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > The Bristol County directory, 1875-6 > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
No church bell was used in town during the ninety-eight years this old church stood, nor for quite a number of years afterward. Of this section of country it might in truth been have repeated :
"The sound of a church going bell These valleys and hills never heard,
Ne'er sighed at the sound of a knell."
and in view of their disregard for sacred things so vividly ex- emplified in the conduct of so large a portion of the community, it might with far too much truth be added :-
" Nor smiled when the sabbath appeared."
The present population of Fall River is 45,340; legal voters, 7024.
FREETOWN.
The Bristol County Directory issued in 1872 contained an ac" count of this time honored old town from the date of its purchase of the Indians, April 2, 1659, to the last conflict waged between this country and England, or what is sometimes called the "War of 1812.
*Mr. Israel Nichols was also the town's school master in 1733, and one of the two constables chosen in 1738.
92
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
In compliance with an ancient New England custom, when speaking or writing of a locality we will commence with the gos- pel ministry. William Way was the first preacher of the gospel settled in that work at Freetown, and he was also the first school- teacher. He was employed by the town that in its corporate ca- pacity hired him to fill both these positions.
The agreement between Mr. Win. Way, on the one part and the town of Freetown on the other, was consummated and concluded in an open town meeting held at the dwelling house of John Sim- mons, in said Freetown, on the 14th day of February, 1704.
Their next minister was Rev. Joseph Avery. He was the fourth and youngest child of Deacon Wm. Avery of Dedham, and wife Elizabeth White. Rev. Joseph Avery was born in Dedham, April 9th, 1687. Elizabeth, the mother was a second wife of William Avery, who by a former wife was father to four other children. Rev. Joseph and his brother John graduated at Harvard College in 1706, and both became clergymen; John settling in the work of the ministry at Truro, in the county of Barnstable.
Rev. Joseph Avery's wife was Sarah Newman, of Rehoboth, a daughter of Deacon Samuel Newman and wife Hannah, grand- daughter of Samuel Newman and wife Bathsheba Chickering, and great grand-daughter of Rev. Samuel Newman, the founder of Re- hoboth.
Rev. Joseph Avery died in Norton in or about 1770. Sarah, his wife died October 4th, 1763. ·
At a town meeting held in Freetown, July 5th, 1711, the town voted to give Recompense Wadsworth a call to be their gospel minister.
In 1713, as appears from the town records, we are led to think James Haile for a time preached to the inhabitants, and next came the Rev. Thomas Craighead, who preached for a time, and as his salary was not promptly paid, entered a suit at law and siezed several of the principal inhabitants and confined them in jail for debt, as the law of the land then permitted him to do.
These troubles between the town and Mr. Craighead occurred in or about the year 1719.
Rev. Silas Brett from Easton commenced his ministerial labors in Freetown in or about 1744, and continued about thirty years.
Gentlemen of Freetown who have been
MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNOR'S COUNCIL.
Thomas Durfee, elected for several years.
Col. Hercules Cushman, elected in 1826, served one year.
Rufus Bacon, elected in 1827, served one year.
93
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
STATE SENATORS.
Thomas Durfee, elected for several years.
Nathaniel Morton, elected May 14th, 1804, and served 5 years.
Col. Hercules Cushman, elected 182 -.
Elnathan P. Hathaway, elected Nov. 13th, 1843, served one year.
Gentlemen of Freetown who have represented the town in the different Constitutional Conventions.
Samuel Barnaby, elected 1779.
Thomas Durfee, elected Dec. 1787.
Richard Borden, Dec. 1787.
Nathaniel Morton, October 16th, 1820.
Earl Sampson elected Oct. 16th, 1820.
Elnathan P. Hathaway, elected March, 1853.
CLERK OF THE COUNTY COURTS.
Job Morton.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
Hon. Nathaniel Morton, Job Morton, and Rufus Bacon.
- ·
MANSFIELD.
This township has at successive periods formed a part of several different towns. Thus, from September 3, 1639, a small part of what is now Mansfield belonged to Taunton, it being included in the so called "Tetiquet Purchase," made in or about 1637. But a much larger portion, and in fact nearly all the terra firma of Mansfield was included within the bounds of the "North Pur- chase," so called, made in 1668.
Nearly all that is now Mansfield was a part of Taunton forty- three years, and a small portion seventy-two years.
From June 12, 1711, Mansfield was a part of Norton, and while thus forming a part of that town, was incorporated, April 26, 1770, as the North District, or North Precinct of Norton. This act of incorporation was obtained expressly for religious purposes ; a pre- cinct or parish, as sometimes called, being a section of country of which the taxable property was required to support a gospel min- ister therein settled.
By an act of the Massachusetts Legislature, passed March 23d, 1786, all places incorporated by the name of districts before the
NOTE. Thomas Durfee was from that part of the town now Fall River. Col. Hercules Cushman from Assonet Village, in old, or West Freetown, as was also Capt. Rufus Bacon. Hon. Nathaniel Morton was of East Freetown; he was father of Governor Marcus Morton.
94
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
first day of January, 1777, were declared to be towns to every in- tent and purpose whatever, and the North District of Norton being one of these, thus became a town and took to itself the name of Mansfield.
Colonel Ephraim Leonard, one of the most wealthy men of Nor- ton, resided in that part now Mansfield, where his possessions greatly exceeded, in value and amount, those of any other person. When the local militia of Norton were organized as three com- panies, Ephraim Leonard was captain of one of these companies, viz., the second, that doubtless embraced the militia of nearly or quite all the country subsequently incorporated as the township of Mansfield. These companies constituted a part of the 3d Regi- ment in the Bristol County Brigade, of which regiment Ephraim Leonard was Colonel from about 1754 to 1759; Samuel White of Taunton being his Lieutenant-Colonel, and George Leonard, Jr., of Norton, Major.
Colonel Ephraim Leonard was a son of Colonel George Leonard, , grandson of Major George Leonard, and great-grandson of Major Thomas Leonard, of Taunton.
Colonel Ephraim Leonard was born Jan. 16, 1706. He was ap- pointed a Justice of the peace in 1737, and subsequently became a Judge of the county court, and died May 2d, 1786, being a little more than 80 years of age. He was three times married. The name of his first wife was Judith Perkins: second, Mrs. Melatiah Ware; she had been the wife of Jonathan Ware, Esq., and also of Dr. Benjamin Ware. Colonel Leonards third wife had been the wife of Mr. Elisha Woodworth, and also of Rev. Timothy Ruggles. Colonel Leonard and his three wives were buried in a graveyard in Mansfield, a short distance from his former residence. The Col. Leonard mansion became the property and residence of Calvin Thomas, Esq.
John Caswell, Jr., of Norton, was a son of John Caswell and grandson of Thomas Caswell.
John Caswell, Jr., was born in Norton, now Mansfield, July 19, 1690. He was commissioned an Ensign in Colonel Sylvester Richmond's regiment, raised for the expedition to Cape Breton, in 1745, or that now called the "Old French War."
Ensign Caswell was promoted to Lieutenant in that service.
He died December 18th, 1773. Hannah, his wife, died July 6th, 1769, in her 81st year. Their son, Jonathan Caswell was a drum- mer in Captain Richard Godfrey's company of Colonel Timothy
95
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
Ruggles' Regiment,* in the French and Indian War, in the summer of 1755, also a soldier in that war in 1758, and in Captain Job Williams' Company of Colonel Thomas' Regiment in samne ser- vice in 1760. The first or earliest resident physician in Mansfield was Dr. Samuel Caswell. His medical practice commenced as early or before 1726. The inscription on his tomb stone is as fol- lows.
"Here lies ye body of Samuel Caswel, M. D., who died August ye 13th, 1755. Atatis sua, 35. 4
"In seventeen hundred and fifty-five, Relentless death did us deprive Of a very useful life. To neighbor, friend, to child and wife, He safely did administer As a Physician, Consulting more his patients' health Than all extorted gain. We that do love his memory Would like him live. Yt when we die We may enjoy felicity."
Mansfield is bounded northerly by Foxborough, easterly by Easton, southerly by Norton and westerly by Attleborough.
The population of Mansfield in 1865 was 2130; in 1870, 2432; in 1875, 2656. Legal voters, now, 622.
NORTON.
This town formerly embraced the present townships of Easton and Mansfield. Norton was incorporated June 12, 1711. Easton was detatched, and became a separate town Dec. 21, 1725; and Mans- field followed its example March 23, 1786, though it had been in- corporated as a parish or precinct April 26, 1770, and the latter date is sometimes claimed as that of its incorporation as a town.
The bounds of Norton, as first established, embrace all that tract of country called the " North Purchase," and also the north- erly angle of the "Tetiquet Purchase;" both these purchases formerly .constituting parts of Taunton. "Tetiquet Purchase " was bought of the Indians in or about 1637, and the " North Pur- chase " June 6, 1668.
*Field and Staff officers of that regiment :- Timothy Ruggles of Hardwick Colonel : Thomas Gilbert of Berkley, Lieut,-Colonel; Jonathan Ware, Major; Nathan Blake, Adjutant; Thomas Pyncheon, Surgeon ; Edward Flint, Assistant Surgeon. It was for his misdemeanor while on this service that Lieut .- Colonel Thomas Gilbert, of Berkley, was arrested and brought to that trial that unveiled so many disgraceful acts in his official conduct, and resulting in his being cash- iered. See further notice of this trial in the historic sketch of Berkley.
------
96
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
Norton at this time embraces nearly all that northerly angle of of the Tetiquet Purchase, and also a small part of the North Purchase.
Sergeant William Wetherell was the first English settler in Norton, but then Taunton. Here he set himself down in the wilderness as early as 1669, or two hundred and six years since, selecting for the spot of his residence a place on the easterly side of Winneconet Pond, and afterward removing to the southerly side of said pond. He had been a resident of Taunton several years before becoming the pioneer settler, or Daniel Boone of Norton ; as his name appears on the roll of Taunton " train band " as early as 1643, or twenty-six years before going to take up his abode in Norton, or, as then called, the North Purchase Wild Woods. From the best authority now extant, we learn the family of William Wetherell, in 1659, consisted of himself, his wife Dorothy, and their three children, and of the latter, the son, William Wetherel, Jr., attained to the years of manhood about, and, probably, a little before the father settled in what is now Norton, William Wetherell was made a freeman of Plymouth Colony at a session of the colonial court, held in June, 1658.
He was constable of Taunton in 1662 and 1676, and in 1671 and 1685, he was representative of that town in the general court. He was frequently one of the grand jury of the colony, or what was then styled the " Grand Inquest," and he also represented Taunton at a special session of the general court, held Oct. 31, and Nov. 1, 1676, a session called to take measures to provide for the exigences of the colony in the war being waged with the Indians, and now called " King Philip's War." In 1685 William Wetherell was one of the selectmen of Taunton, and the same year was licensed to " retaile cider, beeir, and strong liquors," and hence we con- clude that he was the first, or earliest tavern-keeper in what is now. Norton.
In 1671 he was one of the committee " appointed to see to the gathering in of the minister's maintenance," and on the 25th of May, 1680, he was one of the cominittee " to revise the town orders, records of land, &c."
These evidences cited are enough to show the honorable posi- tion that William Wetherell maintained in a civil capacity, and to prove that he was among the "first in peace," and from what follows, we think that we are as reasonably led to believe that he was among the " first in war," and his sufferings for the common cause entitled him to be also among the " first in the hearts of his countrymen."
.
97
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
When Plymouth Colony became involved in a war with the Dutch of New York, as it did in 1673, a company was ordered to be raised to fight the latter, and of that company the following gentlemen were appointed officers:
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
James Cudworth, of Scituate, Captain; John Gorham, of Barn- stable, Lieutenant, and Michael Peirce, of Scituate, Ensign.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Sergeants, William Wetherell, Thomas Harvey, John Wetherell and Philip Leonard. In " King Philip's War," that commenced two years later (viz., June 1675), Sergt. William Wetherell held the same rank and position in Capt. John Gorham's company as that to which he was appointed in Capt. James Cudworth's, raised for the invasion of New York, and as first or ranking sergeant of Capt. John Gorham's company, William Wetherell participated in the " great swamp fight," in what is now Kingston, R. I., Dec. 19, 1675, one of the hardest fought battles, and attended with, perhaps, the greatest slaughter of any that has been fought in New England.
In that sanguinary battle Sergt. William Wetherell was severely wounded. He was carried to the house of Peter Sanford on Rhode Island, Dec. 24, 1675, but so severe were the injuries that he had received, that he was forced to remain there till Oct. 17, 1676, or nearly ten months. The colony court, in consideration of his wounds and consequent suffering, granted him ten pounds in 1685, and five pounds in 1686, and he also received a land grant. His will bore date of Aug. 16, 1691, and was presented in probate court Nov. 18th of that year; and hence we conclude that he died between Ang. 15th and Nov. 18, 1691.
The children of Sergt. William Wetherell were William, John, Ephraim, and Dorothy. The daughter married twice, first Aug. 26, 1674, Elias Irish He died, and she married second April 1, 1686, William Wood.
At the organization of the local militia of Norton, in or about 1698, George Leonard was commissioned Captain, Samuel Brett- nell, Lieutenant, and Nicholas White, Ensign. Leonard was pro- moted to major. Major George Leonard died Sept. 5, 1716.
1
98
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
In the " OLD FRENCH WAR," as it is now called, an expedition was sent against the fortress of Louisburg, at Cape Breton, then considered the strongest fortress in America.
Bristol County furnished nearly or quite all of one of the regi- ments that participated in that seige, and the great victory over the French, achieved June 17, 1745.
Joseph Hodges, of Norton, was major of that regiment, and he lost his life in that expedition. John Caswell of Norton, was a lieutenant in that expedition.
Joseph Hodges, Jr., a son of the major, was a captain in the French and Indian War, ten years later than the " Old French War;" and Capt. Joseph Hodges lost his life in battle, fighting the French and Indians in the north-easterly part of what is now the State of New York.
Joseph Hodges, 3d, of Norton (a son of Capt. Joseph and grand- son of Major Joseph), was a Lieutenant in the Patriot army of the Revolution, and wielded for the cause of liberty the same sword used by his grandfather in the Old French War, and by his father in the French and Indian War; and thus the blade of Louisburg became a " Sword of Bunker Hill."
SEEKONK.
The name Seekonk is said to be composed of two Indian words, viz., SEAKI, signifying black, and HONK, meaning goose, and these combined made the Indian name for black goose. The locality doubtless acquired this name in the Indians' remarkably expressive tongue, from the fact that geese, in their semi-annual migrations, used frequently to alight in the Seekonk River and cove.
Seekonk was formerly a part of Rehoboth, set off and incorpo- rated as a new and distinct town Feb. 26, 1812. In 1861 a part of Seekonk was annexed to Rhode Island, and a part of Pawtucket added to Seekonk. The appearance of the town on the map was marred by those operations, and it has not inaptly been said that in its dimensions that it now strongly resembles a case knife. See- konk as it came to be, but what was then Rehoboth, suffered severely from the Indians in " King Philip's War."
--
99
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
March 28, 1676 (just about two hundred years ago), a party of Indians laid in ashes the settlement, burning forty houses and thirty barns. These constituted what was called the " ring of the town" of Rehoboth, and since known as " Seekonk plain " or " Seekonk Common." One house alone escaped the flames, and that was fortified and garrisoned. To that the English inhabitants fled, and were saved. Only one white man lost his life, and this he foolishly threw away. Under the mistaken idea that he was possessed of a " light from on high," he acted more like a fool than those in Nature's darkness. Seating himself in his own house-a practical non-resistent of the 17th century, with a bible in his · hand-he commenced reading, believing that the Indians could not hurt or harm him while thus engaged; but such faith as he pos- sessed, though strong, did not remove any mountains, nor in the least degree protect him as " common sense," and only earthly wisdom would have been sufficient to teach him. The Indians no sooner discovered than they shot him down and killed him, and he died with the Bible still in his hand ; and, yet, how many of just such lunatics have continued to " turn the world upside down" even until now, setting reason, common sense and practical truth at defiance, and turning the inestimable word of God into a lie.
· Names of Seekonk gentlemen who have held the commissions of field and staff officers in the local militia :
FIRST REGIMENT OF INFANTRY.
Colonel, Seth Wood, from Sept. 15, 1837, to March 24. 1840.
Lieut .- Colonel, Nathan Mason, from April 5, 1834, to June 13, 1837.
Adjutant, Abraham Ormsbee, Jr., from June 25, 1813 to 1822. Quarter Master, Calvin Carpenter, from June 7, 1823.
BATTALION OF CAVALRY.
Major Commandant, Allen Hunt, from Sept. 7, 1822, to 1826. Adjutant, William.Ide, from June 1, 1824.
Quarter Master, Wellington Kent, from June 1, 1824.
١٢
100
BRISTOL COUNTY HISTORY.
REHOBOTH.
This is one of the oldest townships in the county, and at present embraces much less territory than formerly. Rehoboth was incor- porated June 4, 1645. The towns of Pawtucket and Seekonk were formerly parts of Rehoboth. Seekonk was detached and became a separate town Feb. 26, 1812, and Pawtucket March 1, 1828. Nearly all of Pawtucket and a portion of Seekonk has since been annexed to Rhode Island. In " King Philip's War," waged just two hun- dred years ago, Rehoboth furnished the following named soldiers:
John Fitch, Jonathan Wilmarth, Jasiel Perry, Thomas Kendrick, Jonathan Sabin, John Carpenter, John Redeway, John Martin, John Hall, John Miller, Jr., John Ide, Joseph Doggett and Sampson Mason, Jr. They participated in the " great swamp fight,'' at what is now Kingston, R. I., Dec. 19, 1675. In some other ex- peditions in that war, Rehoboth furnished these soldiers: Preserved Abel, Samuel Perry, Stephen Paine, Jr., Samuel Miller, Silas Allen, Samuel Palmer, James Redeway, Enoch Hunt, Samuel Walker, Nicholas Ide, Noah Mason, Samuel Sabin, Thomas Read, Israel Read, George Robinson and Nathaniel Willmarth. In the expedition to Canada in 1690, Rehoboth furnished the following officers and soldiers for one of the companies in Major John Walley's regiment:
Preserved Abel, Lieutenant; Nicholas Peck, Corporal ; Daniel Carpenter, Private Soldier.
At the " Lexington alarm," April 19, 1775, Rehoboth furnished two companies of " minute men," so called. The commissioned officers of these companies were Samuel Bliss and John Perry, Captains; Aaron Walker and John Paine, Lieutenants; Joseph Allen and James Bucklin, Ensigns.
These officers also raised two companies for the regiment com- manded by Col. Timothy Walker, of Rehoboth, in the eight months' service, commencing in May, 1775. 1
Col. Thomas Carpenter, of this town, commanded a regiment in the revolutionary service in 1776.
6145
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.