USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > The History of Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, 1836 > Part 14
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
It appears from the town records, that, in 1711, a petition was presented to the General Court " by the inhabitants of the south-east part of the town," (Palmer's river), to have the town divided into two precincts for the support of the ministry, and that each precinct should support a minister.
This measure the inhabitants of the older part of the town, (now Seekonk), promptly and resolutely opposed. They drew up and presented to the General Court, by way of remonstrance, a long petition, in which they stated, that a former petition of theirs had been represented, in the petition of the people of Palmer's river,* as " a heap of lies and deceits : " this is all we know of the contents of the latter petition ; the other is entered at large on the town records.
" March 30, 1712. Voted to raise thirty pounds annually, for the support of schools : of which the neighbourhood of Palmer's river should have ten pounds, and be obliged to main- tain an English school; and the old part of the town and Watchemoquet should have the remaining twenty pounds, and be obliged to maintain a grammar school."
In May, 1713, the General Court recommended to the town of Rehoboth the raising of £120 for the support of two minis- ters,-one at Palmer's river. Against this the majority of the town remonstrated by a petition.
" September 12, 1715. The town voted to build a new meeting-house, to be fifty feet in length and forty feet in breadth, and twenty-five feet between joints ; the town to pay towards it two hundred and fifty pounds. It is mentioned in another place, that the meeting-house " should be so high between joints as will be needful for two sets of galleries." It was also voted that the new house should stand near the site of the old one.
"June 11, 1716. Voted that the meeting-house now build- ing should be set up and raised on the east side of the old meet- ing-house, ranging north with the old meeting-house, and thirty- three feet eastward from it." This new house stood, as I have been informed, a few rods south of the present Congregational meeting-house in Seekonk.
" March 25, 1717. The town voted that John Lyon should have liberty to build a wharf and ware-house, at the point called
" The neighbourhood of " Palmer's river" was in the vicinity of the Orleans Factory, and extended along the river both above and below it.
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Daggett's point, below the hill." This I think to be the point of land between the Ten-mile river and the Pawtucket, upon the north side of the mouth of the former.
It appears from the records, in 1717, that the people of Palmer's river, with the permission of the General Court, had commenced building a meeting-house in their part of the town ; and the inhabitants of the older part of the town, seeing them determined on prosecuting their plans, agreed, provided they should be freed from all further expense of erecting this house, to give up for their assistance £50 of the £250, which had been voted by the town for the erection of a meeting-house in the western and older part of it.
" December 16, 1718. The community," (as the company associated for building the meeting-house in the western part of the town were now called,) " voted, and gave the old pulpit, belonging to the old meeting-house, to the congregation of Pal- mer's river, to be set up in their meeting-house, provided said congregation do accept of said pulpit for the use before men- tioned."
The new meeting-house, which the people of Palmer's river were now building, stood between the present Congregational meeting-house of Rehoboth and the Orleans Factory, about a half of a mile from the latter, and near the old burying ground, on what is sometimes called " burying-place hill."
" December 23, 1718. It was voted by the community, that the rules to be observed in seating the new meeting-house for the sabbath are as followeth : firstly, to have regard to dignity of person, and secondly by age, and thirdly according to the charge they bare in respect to the public charges, and what charge they have been at in building the meeting-house." A. committee was chosen to seat the house according to the above rules.
The fifty pounds voted by the the town and " community," to aid in building the meeting-house at Palmer's river, on con- dition that the town were freed from all further expense connect- ed with it, were accepted by the inhabitants of Palmer's river, who also entered into an engagement to clear the town from all further expense in relation to their house. The following list of the names of those who bound themselves to this agreement, may serve to give us some idea of the number and names of the families who constituted the neighbourhood of Palmer's river :-
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Samuel Peck,
The mark + of
Joshua Smith, jun'r. Ichabod Peck, ==
Jethanial Peck, Solomon Millard,
Joshua Smith,
Thomas Bliss,
Ephraim Millard, '
Samuel Bliss,
William Blanding,
William Marten,
Lennox Beverly,
Daniel Blanding,
Jacob Bliss.
Benjamin Willson, Solomon Peck,
Abraham Carpenter, Nathaniel Smith,
" December 29, 1718. Voted that the congregation at Palmer's river should have for their use the facing of the old meeting-house gallery, towards finishing their meeting-house."
" March 28, 1720. Thomas Cathcart, of Martha's Vine- yard, agreed to teach school one quarter of a year, commencing at the middle of August, " for the sum of ten pounds in money."
" March 10, 1720. Mr. John Greenwood agreed with the selectmen to teach school for the town, six months, for twelve pounds for the first quarter, and the second quarter at the rate of forty-five pounds per year." He was the son of the Rev. Thomas Greenwood, then their minister ; he graduated at Cam- bridge in 1717, and, in 1721, was settled as the minister of the western part of Rehoboth, over the church of which his father had been pastor.
The Rev. Thomas Greenwood died September 8, 1720, at half past 2 o'clock P. M., aged fifty years. He was a native of Weymouth, Mass. where his father, of whose christian name I am ignorant, died, according to minutes made by the Rev. Thomas Greenwood, still extant,* September 1, 1693, in the evening. Mr. Greenwood graduated at Cambridge in 1690, was married December 28, 1693, and canie to reside in Reho- both the Tuesday following. Mr. Greenwood had six children, viz : Hannah, born Feb. 5, 1694; John, born May 20, 1697, about two o'clock P. M. ; Noah, born April 20, 1699, and died March 26, 1703 ; Esther, born August 20, 1791, and died Sept. 14; Elizabeth, born April 5, 1704; and Esther, born Saturday, June 25, 1709. Mrs. Greenwood died at Weymouth, January 24, 1735, and was interred the 27th.
" November 14, 1720. Whereas the church of Christ, in Rehoboth, having made choice of the Rev. Mr. John Green-
* These are a book of family and church records, which the Rev. John Greenwood bequeathed to the church, and which are still in the possession of the Congregational church of Seekonk.
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
wood to preach the gospel amongst us for the present; the question being put, whether the town would concur with the church's choice ; it passed in the affirmative." " Voted by the town to raise seventy pounds per annum till we have a minister settled amongst us."
" February 13, 1721. A vote was taken for inviting Mr. Greenwood to become the minister of the west part of the town. One hundred and nineteen voted in favour of the meas- ure and only five against it."
" March 13, 1721. The town voted, that the business of both the religious congregations of the town,-the one in the west part of the town, and the one at Palmer's river,-should be managed by the town as the affairs of one church ; and that the expenses of each should be borne by the whole town. The town voted also to raise £200 for the settlement of a minister in each of the two meeting-houses ; £100 to be appropriated to each."
The meeting-house at Palmer's river was, by this time com- pleted, and on the 29th of November, 1721, a church was gath- ered here, and the Rev. David Turner, of Scituate, ordained their minister.
" July 8, 1723. Josiah Cotton made an agreement with the town to keep the school in Rehoboth for the quantity of one year, for the sum of £45."
" May 8, 1727. The town voted a bounty of 5s. to any one who should kill a wild-cat within the limits of the town, and bring the head to any two of the selectmen."
" April 22, 1728. Voted that the town's proportion of the sixty thousand pounds, that is now in the Province's treasury, should be brought into the town ; and Mr. Samuel Bullock, Mr. Timothy Walker, and Mr. John Willmarth were chosen trustees, to transact about the money." It was also voted, " that this money be let out to the inhabitants of the town by the trustees ; and that none be allowed to have more than ten pounds, nor less than five."
June 10, 1728. The Rev. John Greenwood and the Rev. David Turner presented a petition to the town for an increase of their salaries, stating that their present salaries were inadequate to their comfortable support. The town, in answer to their petition, voted to add to Mr. Greenwood's salary £20, and to Mr. Turner's £30, making the sum of the respective salaries of each £100.
18
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
" March 31, 1729. It was proposed for the town's consid- eration, whether it might not be proper to build a house for the entertainment of such poor people as are, or shall be, destitute of a house to dwell in. The town by vote adjourned or deferred the matter till the next general town meeting."
" May 21, 1733. John Pierce of Rehoboth brought a wild- cat's head before the town, and his ears were cut off by Thomas Carpenter, constable, in the presence of one or more of the selectmen of the town of Rehoboth."
In the year 1734, the town expended for the support of schools £60.
During the year 1735, the town obtained leave of the Gen- eral Court to sell the several small pieces of school land, that lay scattered in different parts of the town, " provided that they purchased other real estate, in one entire tract, with the pro- ceeds of said sale, to be appropriated for the use of the schools in Rehoboth, and for no other use whatever."
"November 3, 1735. Thirty pounds were voted towards upholding the grammar school in town." And November 6th, sixty pounds were added to the thirty for the support of schools in town.
" March 29, 1736. Voted to build a work-house for the poor of the town."
"October 22, 1736. Ten pounds were granted towards the support of the gospel in the north-east part of the town. This was probably granted to a Baptist congregation, though no church was organized (according to Benedict) in this part of the town till 1743, the date of the organization of " Round's church."
"November 15, 1736. The town voted to raise £140 for the support of the ministry, £70 of which were to be paid to the Rev. John Greenwood, and the other £70 to the Rev. David Turner."
" March 28, 1737. Forty pounds were voted towards the salary of a schoolmaster; and what is needed more is to be made up out of the town treasury."
In 1739, £80 were expended for the support of schools. During this year the town voted to give the Rev. John Green- wood and the Rev. David Turner each £200 yearly, in " the present currency." The currency here referred to was proba- bly the bills of credit issued by the General Court of Massachu- setts, and which, as appears by the doubling of their salaries,
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
had already depreciated one half. The town also voted to grant a salary to the elder of the Baptist church in Rehoboth.
" March 31, 1740. Peter Bowen and Ebenezer Cole were chosen to inform of all breaches of an act in addition to an act for the better preservation and increase of decr."
In the year 1741, a highway two rods wide was laid out by the town, "from Pawtucket Falls till it come to the line between Rehoboth and Attleborough, into the county road lead- ing towards Mendon, laid out on the 3d or 4th day of October, 1684."
In 1742 the town expended £70 for the support of schools : and in 1743, £90 were appropriated for the same object.
In 1743, the prices of grain, agreed on between the town and the ministers, and at which rates the latter were to receive it in the payment of their salaries, were as follows, viz : wheat at 15s. per bushel, rye 12s., Indian corn 9s., oats 5s., barley 10s.
In 1744, £65 were expended for the support of schools, and in the year following, £125.
The Rev. David Turner, in addition to the duties of a cler- gyman, sometimes practised the healing art, to which he appears to have given some attention before studying divinity. In the year 1746, " the Rev. David Turner is allowed £5 for admin- istering medicine to one of the poor of the town."
In 1746 the town raised for the support of schools £125, in 1747, £170, in 1748, £200, and in 1749, £300.
" May 23, 1749. Voted that the sum of £40 of bills of credit, of the old tenor, be added to the ministerial tax the pres- ent year, to make up the deficiency occasioned by what is to be paid out of it to Mr. Checkly, minister of the church of Eng- land at Providence."
In 1750, the town raised for the support of schools £30, in 1751, the same sum, and in 1752, £38.
" May 1752. Voted that the meeting-house in the west part of the town be covered with new shingles, and the south side of the said house be repaired with new clapboarding and new win- dows with sash glass."
March 25, 1754. The town voted to build a pound at Palmer's river. This year the town expended for the support of schools £38, in the year following, £30, in 1756, £68, in 1757 and 1758 the same sum.
It appears from a letter addressed to the church by him, that, in 1757 Mr. Greenwood was obliged, in consequence of bodily
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
infirmity to resign his pastoral charge over his church in Reho- both. He also, at the request of the town, relinquished his yearly salary and his claim to the profits of the ministerial lands, on condition of the church, or town, or individuals, becoming responsible for the payment of £20 to him yearly during his life. The following is a copy of his letter.
REHOBOTH, December ye 2d, 1757.
"To the First Church of Christ in Rehoboth, under my pastoral care.
" Bretheren :
" Whereas, by divine Providence, I am rendered unable, through bodily infirmity, to carry on the work of the ministry any longer, after 30 odd years labour therein : and whereas you presented to me the town's resolution, not to grant any support for another minister here, except I release my salary, ye minis- tering lands, and quit my pastorial office : although I think it not reasonable in the town to defer it ; yet for peace's sake, and that the gospel might not be hindered, I release iny salary, from the eleventh day of March next and forever after ; and I also release the ministry lands in said town from any claime or any improve- ment from me after the first of March next, as aforesaid. And by the advice of some ministers and bretheren, called to advise in the affair, and at the desire of this church, I do likewise promise to ask and to receive of this church a dismission from my pastoral office over them, as soon as a council of churches can conveniently sit for the orderly doing of it ; provided the church, particular persons, or the town, or any or all of them, will come under obligation, for my support and maintenance during my natural life, to give me twenty pounds annually, to be paid, one half in money, and the other half in specie equal to money ; the first year to be paid, the eleventh day of March, A. D. 1759 ; and so from year to year, by the eleventh of March successively, during my natural life, as aforesaid, and that I and my estate be not taxed towards public charges.
" JOHN GREENWOOD."
These propositions the church and town readily acceded to, and forty-seven individuals pledged themselves jointly to raise annually the support required, agreeing to give yearly various sums each, from " two pounds " to " two bushels of corn" or " two bushels of rye."
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
Mr. Greenwood died December 1, 1766, having lived in Rehoboth between forty-five and forty-six years. He was born at Rehoboth, May 20, 1697, graduated at Cambridge in 1717, was married May 25, 1721, and ordained minister of Rehoboth in the same year. Mr. Greenwood had fourteen children, the most of which died young.
Mr. Greenwood was succeeded in the ministry by the Rev. John Carnes, a native of Boston, and former minister of Stone- ham. He was installed over the first Congregational church in Rehoboth, April 18, 1759, and was dismissed by request, June 28, 1763. He graduated at Cambridge in 1742. His wife was Mary, a daughter of Mr. John Lewis, of Lynn. He died at Lynn, October 12, 1802, aged 78 years. A more particular account of Mr. Carnes will be given in the ecclesiastical part of the history of the town. From the time of the death of the latter Mr Greenwood, the affairs of the town and the churches became distinct, and will hereafter be so related in our history.
From 1759 to 1772 the town raised annually for the support of schools £80, with the exception of the year 1767, when £100 were raised.
In 1760, the term " dollars" occurs in the town records for the first time.
In 1763, the town "voted to petition the General Court for a lottery, in order to raise a sufficient sum of money to build a work-house for the use of the poor of the town."
May 14, 1766, the Rev. Ephraim Hyde was ordained pastor of the first Congregational church in Rehoboth, in the place of the Rev. John Carnes, who had taken a dismission.
In 1772, the town " voted for schooling to be added to the profits of the school land, £93 13s." From 1772 to 1778, the town raised annually for the support of schools the sum of £90 ; in 1778, £200, and in 1779, £300 were raised for the same object.
REVOLUTIONARY AFFAIRS.
We have now, in our survey of the history of the town, ap- proached the eventful period of the war of the Revolution. Our materials for the history of this period are scanty, as Reho- both can claim the honour of having been the theatre of no interesting event connected with this war ; but, as exhibiting
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the feelings of the people at large, and disclosing the secret but powerful workings of that spirit which achieved our indepen- dence, the few facts we are able to give may not be uninterest- ing. Much of the spirit of those times may be learned from a general survey of the country ; but the secret workings of that spirit in the minds of the people can be best traced in minute histories of the particular towns. Here the emotions of the national heart may be felt in the pulsations of the feeblest artery ; and here the firmness of the national arm may be seen in the tension of the minutest cord. And we cease to wonder at what the united strength of the colonies achieved, when we con- template the determined zeal which pervaded the breasts of the smaller communities and of individuals. The bold Declaration of Independence hardly astonishes us, when we consider the proud spirit of independence which breathed through the coun- cils of even the smallest assembly. The humblest citizen of the humblest town in the colonies felt that he contended for his rights, with the king of England, upon equal footing,-for his rights were the rights of man. The glitter of a diadem, the splendors of a throne, and even the magic name of king, in his view, gave to the monarch no title to the privilege of trampling the rights of the subject in the dust ; nor did the name of sub- ject impose the duty of submitting tamely to the abuses and usurpations of power. The eloquence of Otis had electrified New-England ; beyond the reach of its thunder its lightning had been felt, and had ignited the train which the tyranny and oppression of years had laid. One spirit now breathed through New-England and inspired every breast. The people thought, and felt, and acted as one. And the sentiment which pervaded alike the colonial assembly, the county convention, and the town meeting, throughout Massachusetts, was a settled and firm resolve to resist to the last extremity every encroachment upon their rights, and to maintain those rights at all hazards. While, with filial affection for the mother country, and true loyalty to their sovereign, they declared that " the prosperity of England they had ever considered as near and dear to them as their own," and prayed " that there might never be wanting one of the illustrious House of Hanover to sway the sceptre of Great Britain and America, so long as the sun and moon should endure ; " they omitted not to add the petition, that that sway might be "in righteousness," and a determination "not only to secure their
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remaining privileges inviolable, but also to obtain a full redress of all their many grievances, and a full restoration and confir- mation of all the rights and privileges they were justly entitled to by nature and the solemn compact entered into with their predecessors, the patentees of the province, and solemnly rati- fied by King William and Queen Mary."
As an illustration of these remarks, and a proof that the peo- ple of Rehoboth were not wanting in patriotic zeal at this eventful crisis, a copy of the instructions given by the town to their representative, in 1773, is here inserted. These instruc- tions breathe a spirit of noble independence, and glow with the same fire which kindled the eloquence of Faneuil Hall or lit the thunders of Bunker Hill.
"To Capt. Joseph Barney, Representative for the town of Rehobothı.
" Sir,
" It is evident from the repeated suffrages of the freehold- ers and other inhabitants of this town, that your late conduct in the General Assembly of this Province has met with a favoura- ble reception. With pleasing hopes and expectations we trust you will, in this day of general oppression and invasion of our natural and inherent rights and liberties, join in every salutary and constitutional measure to remove those unconstitutional burdens and grievances, that this Province, and America in gen- eral have long and justly remonstrated against. Nevertheless, we think it our duty to express our sentiments in regard to the encroachments made on our rights and liberties, as stated by the worthy inhabitants of the metropolis of this Province, whose loyalty, vigilance, and patriotic zeal, in this time of common danger, has not been equalled in the present nor exceeded in former times ; of which we have the highest opinion, and shall ever acknowledge with gratitude : the particulars of which we do not think expedient to enumerate, but refer you to a pamph- let * (for your careful perusal), sent from Boston to this and every other town in the Province ; which, (upon the most care- ful and critical examination), we humbly conceive very justly states our rights and privileges as men, as subjects, as christians,
* This was a pamphlet published by Mr. Otis, entitled " the Rights of the British Colonies asserted and proved."
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and the unparalleled encroachments made on them by a ministry, who, fond of arbitrary sway, in open violation of the most sacred contract and agreement, entered into with our predeces- sors, the patentees of this province, and solemnly ratified by king William and queen Mary, have hitherto with impunity profanely violated the faith and promise of a king, on whose royal word we made the most firm and indubitable reliance, and have involved this province and continent in the utmost distress and calamity, and in its consequences have deeply affected the parent state, whose prosperity and happiness we have ever con- sidered as near and dear to us as our own. And it now is, and ever has been, our earnest desire and prayer, that there may never be wanting one of the illustrious House of Hanover to sway the sceptre of Great Britain and America, in righteousness, so long as the sun and moon shall endure.
"We, your constituents, desire and expect that you exert yourself to the utmost of your ability, not only to secure our remaining privileges inviolable, but also to obtain a full redress of all those many grievances, so justly complained of,-a full restoration and confirmation of all the rights and privileges we are justly entitled to by nature and the solemn compact, afore- said; that generations yet unborn may know, that this town have not been dormant, while the enemies thereof have been vigilant and active, to wrest from them every privilege and bles- sing, that renders life worthy of enjoyment.
" We trust you will be vigilant even among your bretheren, lest some of them, through sinister views or ambitious designs, be induced to barter away and betray our dear-bought privileges and liberties, together with this our paternal inheritance, estab- lished with so much toil, and raised to such a height of glory, and transmitted down to us at no less price than the blood and treasure of our ancestors. Though we hope and presume, there will not be found a man in that august assembly, so aban- doned, so profane, so enthusiastic, so mad, as to disturb the repose of the pious dead, and bring upon himself not only the just indignation of all the virtuous, but the ire of that dread Sov- ereign, beneath whose aweful frown audacious monarchs and their minions tremble.
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