USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > The History of Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, 1836 > Part 24
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SAMUEL ROBINSON, M. D., a distinguished geologist, was born in Attleborough, March, 1783, and lived there till about twenty years of age. He then went to Hanover, N. H., to study medicine with the celebrated Dr. Nathan Smith, profes- sor in Dartmouth College, and remained there about two years. He then went to Berkley, near Taunton, and commenced prac- tice, where he continued only one year. He then removed to North Carolina, to a place called Indian-town, about ten or twelve miles from Elizabeth City. Here he followed his pro-
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fession twenty years, and became distinguished both as a sur- geon and physician. An anecdote, related of him, shows him to have been also a benevolent man. The leg of a poor man required amputation ; and an amputator could not be obtained, for want of sufficient fee-money. Dr. Robinson, hearing of the circumstance, travelled fifty miles to perform the operation, without taking any compensation. The wife of the poor man, afterwards having twins, and both sons, named one of them Samuel, and the other Robinson.
While in Carolina his health became poor, and he was induced to travel with the hopes of amending it. He travelled in the Carolinas, Virginia, and the Middle and New England states ; and was instrumental in founding twenty-seven bible societies. He then came to Pawtucket, Providence, and the vicinity- his health remaining feeble-and devoted himself to the study of Mineralogy. He made a somewhat valuable collection of minerals, and published, in 1825, " A Catalogue of Ameri- can Minerals, with their localities," including all that were known to exist in the United States and British Provinces. In this the locality,-county, town, neighborhood, &c. is distinctly marked, and the book serves as an excellent travelling compan- ion to the practical geologist. It is an octavo of 316 pages.
He resided in Pawtucket and the vicinity, making his home at his brother's, Mr. Dan Robinson's, between two and three years ; and finally went, on the approach of cold weather, to St. Augustine in East Florida, where, within a few months, he died, February, 1827 .*
" ROBERT THE HERMIT." By this appellation was known a singular and eccentric being, who for many years lived in a rude cell, on the east side of Seekonk river, near India Bridge, leading the solitary life of a recluse. The following notice of this mysterious man and his eccentricities appeared in the " Provi- dence Literary Cadet," of June 1826, and was probably from the pen of the editor of that paper, at the date mentioned : -
" Beneath a mountain's brow, the most remote And inaccessible, by Shepherds trod, In a deep cave, dug by no mortal hands, An Hermit lived,-a melancholy man, Who was the wonder of our wand'ring swains : Austere and lonely-cruel to himself
* For the facts in this sketch I am principally indebted to the kindness of Joseph Hale, A. M., Principal of the Pawtucket Academy.
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They did report him-the cold earth his bed, Water his drink, his food the Shepherd's alms, I went to see him, and my heart was touched With reverence and with pity. Mild he spake,
And entering on discourse, such stories told, As made me oft re-visit his sad cell." Homes' Douglas.
" On the declivity of a hill, which overlooks the pellucid waters of the Seekonk River, in a rude cell, resides a Hermit, whose history is as inexplicable as his affected account of him- self is mysterious. His name is ROBERT, but to what country he belongs, or what are the inducements which have led him to lead the solitary life of a Hermit, no one knows, and the fact puts conjecture at a hazard. Certain it is, however, that he is not a native of New-England ; and that he is not by education or by principle attached to our habits or our institutions, the whole course of his life, since he has been with us, has abun- dantly proved.
" It is now about eighteen years, since he first visited us, and took up his abode in a thick pine grove, which threw its luxuri- ant foliage over the brow of Arnold's Hill, and from that day to this, he has carefully avoided answering any questions, which might lead to a discovery of his history, or gratify the curiosity of the inquirer.
" Months, years and days pass by him unnoticed and unregard- ed, and it is only on extraordinary occasions, that he emerges from the confines of his solitary hermitage. In the Spring he some- times occupies himself in laborious employment, such as attend- ing gardens for the neighborhood ; but so regardless is he of the things of this world, that he cares not whether his labors are rewarded or not, by those who receive the benefits of them.
" Unused to the luxuries or extravagancies of life, he contents himself with the simplest food, and such as the bountiful hand of nature supplies. The meats and intemperate liquids of social life, are unknown to him,
" But from the mountain's grassy side A guiltless feast he brings ; A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied, And water from the springs."
" In summer he cultivates a small lot of land, which he is kindly allowed to possess, by the Hon. Mr. BURGES, the owner of the estate on which the hermitage is located ; but he rarely allows the plants to arrive at maturity, before he plucks them from the earth, and throws them to the cattle that feed around
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his lonely mansion. What should induce him to thus destroy what he has often been at great labor to cultivate, he assigns no reason, nor can any one form a reasonable conjecture. His cell is decorated with various shells and bones, and is scarcely capable of accommodating himself alone ; and the furniture with which it is supplied, consists of a stool, an oaken bench, on which he reposes, and two or three pieces of broken delf ware. It is as gloomy, as darkness and solitude can make it, and appears to be admirably fitted for a misanthrope and a recluse.
" In winter he seldom emerges from his solitary mansion, but silently and patiently waits for time to introduce the vernal Spring, and to bring about that joyful season, when once more he can rove around the adjacent woodlands and meads. The rays of the sun never enter the portals of his domicil, and at mid-day it assumes all the darkness of midnight. Content with his situation, and at peace with all, he quietly looks forward for the arrival of that day, when he shall " bid the waking world good night," and find in countries unexplored, that happiness which life has denied him.
" His cell is surrounded by a thick set hedge, wrought of wild briars and hemlock, and displays much ingenuity and taste. It is in a most romantic situation, some distance from any human habitation, and not often annoyed by the gaze of the curious, or the mischievous visits of the boys, for they all love poor ROB- ERT. It is well worth the trouble of those who are fond of the curious, and are pleased with noticing the excentricities of frail mortality, to visit the abode of 'ROBERT THE HERMIT.' "
Robert was born, according to his own narrative,* at Prince- ton, N. J., in 1769 or 1770. His mother was of African de- scent, and he was born consequently to a heritage of bondage. He had no brother, and but one sister ; and from her and his mother he was separated and included in the patrimonial portion of his master's oldest daughter, on her marriage to a Mr. John Voorhis, by birth a German. When about four years of age, his master removed to Georgetown, D. C., taking his slaves with him, and thus removing Robert beyond all knowledge of his mother and sister. At the age of fourteen or fifteen, his
* A small pamphlet, entitled " Life and Adventures of Robert the Hermit, of Massachusetts," was written and published in 1829, by Henry Trumbull. To this I am principally indebted for this sketch, the language of which I have mostly employed ; as it is said to have been "taken from his own mouth."
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master apprenticed him to a shoe-maker; but, finding that he made little proficiency in the art, recalled him upon his planta- tion, and employed him principally in gardening, until about the age of nineteen. At that age he became attached to a young female, (an orphan by the name of Alley Pennington,) a native of Cecil county, Md. She also expressed an attachment for him, and a willingness to become his partner for life, provided he could obtain his freedom. This his master agreed to grant him for the sum of fifty pounds. Robert now determined on purchasing his freedom, and communicated his determination and the ultimate object of it, to a professed friend by the name of James Bevens, who immediately paid the sum stipulated for his ransom, on condition that the bill of sale should remain in his hands, until such time as Robert should be enabled, by the fruits of his industry, to repay him principal and interest.
" Feeling myself," says Robert, in the words of the narra- tive before referred to, " now almost a free man, I did not, as may be supposed, suffer many hours to elapse before I hastened to bear the joyful tidings of my good fortune, to one, who, as I had anticipated, received it with unfeigned demonstrations of joy ; and who, so far from exhibiting an unwillingness to fullfil her promise, yielded her hand without reluctance or distrust. We were married, lawfully married, and more than three years of domestic felicity passed away, without a misfortune to ruffle our repose, in the course of which the Almighty had not only been pleased to bless us with two children, but myself with so great a share of good health, as to have enabled me by my in- dustry, to earn and refund a very considerable portion of the fifty pounds paid by Bevens for my freedom. Of these sums I had neither made any eharge, nor took any receipts : in this I was brought to see my error, but, alas ! too late.
" Bevens, as I have stated, was a man in whom I had placed implicit confidence, and indeed until the period mentioned, sup- posed him, as regarded myself, incapable of any thing dishonor- able, much less of being the author of as great an act of eruelty and injustice, as ever was recorded in the catalogue of human depravity !
" It was late one evening, an evening never to be forgotten by me, while sitting in the midst of my innocent and beloved family, ammused with the prattle of my eldest child, and enjoy- ing all the felicity which conjugal love and parental affection are productive of, that this monster in human shape (Bevens)
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accompanied by another, entered, seized and pinioned me, and gave me to understand that I was intended for a southern mar- ket ! It is impossible for me to describe my feelings, or those of my poor distracted wife, at that moment ; it was in vain that I intreated, in vain that I represented to Bevens that he had al- ready received a very great proportion of the sum paid for my freedom ; to which the ruffian made no other reply than pro- nouncing me a liar, dragged me like a felon from my peaceable domicil - from my beloved family - whose shrieks would have pierced the heart of any one but a wretch like himself."
At eleven o'clock at night Robert was secretly hurried on board a schooner, put in irons, and carried to Charleston, S. C. Here he was sold at auction ; but succeeded in soon making his escape to Philadelphia, by secreting himself within the hold of a sloop bound for that port. The voyage occupied nearly four days, during which time he took no nourishment ; and finally managed to leave the sloop, as he had embarked, without the knowledge of the crew. But soon after arriving at Philadelphia, he was suspected of being a runaway slave, thrown into prison, where his master getting knowledge of him, he was again sent to Charleston, and exposed for sale by his new master. He was purchased by a Dr. Peter Fersue. After serving this last mas- ter about eighteen months, Robert again succeeded in secreting himself, in a manner similar to the one above related, in the hold of a brig bound for Boston. He continued secreted till the fifth day, when hunger and thirst compelled him to discover himself to the crew. The following is his account, taken from the " Narrative," of his introduction to the sailors, and his reception and treatment on board.
" I seized a fragment of a hoop, with which I crawled to, and commenced thumping upon, a beam near the hatchway, at the same time hallooing as loud as the strength of my lungs would admit of. Soon I was heard by the hands on deck, and while some broke out in exclamations of wonder and surprize, others ran affrighted to the cabin, to proclaim to the captain the fact that " the brig was most certainly haunted, and had become the habitation of bodiless spirits, as one or more were at that mo- ment crying out lamentably in the hold !" Bodiless spirits they no doubt concluded they must be, for the hatches being so well secured with a tarpaulin, none other, as they supposed, could have obtained access.
" The captain less superstitiously inclined, ordered the hatches
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to be immediately raised, but so great was the terror of the sailors, that it was sometime before any could be found of suffi- cient courage to obey.
" The hatches were no sooner removed than I presented my- self to their view, trembling through fear, pale as death, and with hardly strength sufficient to support myself! My appear- ance was indeed such as almost to confirm the superstitious opinion of the sailors, that the brig must certainly be haunted, for in me they beheld, as they supposed, nought but an appari- tion ! the ghost, probably, of some unfortunate shipmate, who on a former voyage for some trifling offence, had been privately and wickedly precipitated from the brig's deck into the ocean ! Such indeed is the weakness and superstition peculiar to many of that class of people, who follow the seas for a livelihood.
" Those on board became however a little less intimidated, when I assured them that. I intended them no harm, and was no other than one of the most unfortunate and miserable of human beings, who had sought that means to escape from unjust and cruel bondage ! and then briefly related to them, at what time and in what manner I succeeded in secreting myself unnoticed in the brig's hold ; where it was my intention to have remained, if possible, until her arrival at the port of her destination - and concluded with begging them for mercy's sake, to grant me a bucket of fresh water! for, indeed, such, was my thirst, that a less quantity it appeared to me would have proved insufficient to have allayed it.
" The captain (who very fortunately for me, proved to be a Quaker, and with all the tender feeling peculiar to that excellent class of people) gave orders to his men to treat me with kind- ness, and to assist me on deck, for I had now become so weak and emaciated by long fasting, that I was scarcely able to help myself. " Thy wants shall be supplied, (said the good captain, addressing himself to me,) but such is thy present weakness, that thee must eat and drink sparingly, or it may be worse for thee !" This man was truly in practice, as well as by profession, a Christian - for had he been my father he could not have treated me with more tenderness and compassion. He would allow me but a single gill of water at a draught, and that quan- tity but twice in an hour, although five times that quantity would not have satisfied me - and the food allowed me was apportioned accordingly.
" In two days after, we reached Boston, where I was landed,
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with permission of the captain to proceed whither I pleased ; not however until he had imparted to me some friendly advice, to be cautious with whom I associated on shore, and as I valued my liberty, not to frequent such parts of the town as were in- habited by the most vicious and abandoned of the human race. With this, he presented me with some change, and bid me farewell, and never to my knowledge have I since had the hap- piness to meet with this good man ; who, long ere this has pro- bably been numbered with the just, and if so, is now I trust reaping the reward of his good deeds in another and better world."
From Boston he proceeded to Salem, where he shipped, as a sailor, on board a vessel for India. Returning in safety, he shipped again on the same voyage, which proved also prosper- ous. On the return from his second voyage, he married a daughter of the woman at whose house he had usually boarded while in Salem. Her name the " Narrative " does not give, but says they were married by " a Justice Putnam, of Danvers." Having made a comfortable provision for his family in his ab- sence, he embarked on a third voyage for India, which, like the others, proved prosperous. After remaining at home about three months, he shipped in the Herald, Capt. Derby, bound from Boston to Canton. On this voyage he was absent eighteen months ; but on his return, he found (according to his own state- ment) a most unaccountable change in the feelings of his wife towards him. "Cold indeed," says he, " was the reception that I met with. So far from expressing, or manifesting, the least degree of joy or satisfaction on the occasion (although I had been between one and two years absent), I was insultingly told by her that, ' if I had never returned she would have been the last to lament it.' "' The cause of this sudden change he pro- fesses himself unable to account for. He then, in his own words, " started in quest of new friends and a new home." He stopped at Providence, and obtained a berth on board one of the packets plying between that place and New York, in which business he continued, with the exception of a small part of the time em- ployed on shore, eight or nine years.
At the expiration of that period, he set out for the south, judging that the length of time that had intervened since his escape, would remove all probability of his being recognized. In this he was correct ; for he walked the streets at noon-day, unnoticed and unknown; so great a change had twenty years
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effected. But of his wife and children he could obtain no sat- isfactory information. All that he could learn was, that soon after his disappearance, their sufferings and privations became so great, that his wife, in a fit of desperation, was supposed to have put an end to her own existence ; and that her helpless children did not long survive her. From this moment he formed the determination to retire from a world that had no longer aught to attach him to it, and to live the life of a recluse.
" With this determination," says he, "I returned direct to Rhode Island, and soon after selected a retired spot well suited to my purpose, being an extreme point of uninhabited land (Fox Point) situated about one mile south of Providence bridge - there I built me a hut and dwelt peaceably therein for several years, and until annoyed and discommoded by the youth of the town, and by labourers employed in levelling the hill in the neighborhood of my dwelling - I then applied to and obtained the consent of the gentleman (Hon. TRISTAM BURGES) to whom the land belongs, to build this hut, and permission to improve the spot of ground enclosed during my life-here in solitude I have dwelt more than six years. Once or twice a week (and sometimes oftener) I leave my recess, cross over the bridge into Providence, converse a little with those with whom I have be- come acquainted, obtain a few necessaries, and return again well satisfied to my peaceable dwelling."
The following description of the personal appearance of Rob- ert, his habits, and manner of living, his cell, and his religious belief, are in the words of Mr. Trumbull's narrative ; and, as we have pursued the history of this singular and unfortunate be- ing so far, may, perhaps, interest the reader.
" Robert is apparently about 60 years of age,* a little; short of six feet in height, inclined to corpulency, his features per- fectly regular, and of a complexion but a shade or two darker than that of many who profess to be, and pass for, whites. In his early years he states that it was much more fair, but of late years, having been so much exposed to the smoke of his cell, has become much changed. The lower part of his face is cov- ered with a thick and curly beard, of a jet black, and of uncom- mon length : his garments, or many of them, are of his own manufacture, and whenever a breach appears in any one article, it is either closed by him in a bungling manner, with needle and
* 1829.
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twine, or a patch is applied without regard to the quality or col- or of the cloth. The tattered surtout coat commonly worn by him, in his excursions abroad in winter, in imitation of the mil- itary, he has fancifully faced with red, in which, with a cap of the same cloth and with his long beard, it would not be very surprising if he should sometimes be viewed by strangers, as some distinguished ambassador from the court of Tombuctoo, or one of the loyal subjects of the Grand Seniour, clad in the mil- itary costume of his country.
" Robert is remarkably abstemious, and otherwise correct in hjs habits, never known to be guilty of profanity, is civil and agreeable in his manners, polite and condescending to all who visit him, and always willing to gratify the curiosity of such as feel disposed to inspect the internal part of his cell ; and ever grateful for presents made him. He appears perfectly reconciled to, and satisfied with, his retired situation, and on the writer's ex- pressing some surprise that he should prefer a secluded life, to that of the enjoyment of society, he observed that he had been too long the subject of the frowns and persecutions of a portion of his fellow beings, to derive that pleasure and satisfaction from their society which the less unfortunate might naturally enjoy.
" The walls of his cave or cell, are constructed principally of round stones of inconsiderable size, rudely thrown together, and externally have as much the appearance of being the produce of nature as of art ; and although they form a square of thirty or forty feet in circumference, yet are so thick and massy, as to enclose only a single apartment of not sufficient size to contain more than two or three persons at a time, and so low as not to admit of their standing erect, and indeed is in every respect of much less comfortable construction than many of our pig pens. About the centre there is a fire place rudely formed, from which proceeds a flue in form of a chimney ; and at the extreme end of his cell Robert has constructed a berth or bunk, in which, filled with rags and straw, he reposes at night. Beside the fire place stands a block, detached from the but of an oak, which not only serves him for a seat and table, but being partly hollow, inverted, for a mortar, in which he occasionally pounds his corn, and of which when sufficiently refined, he manufactures his bread. In cooking utensils Robert is quite deficient ; the one half of an iron pot is the only article made use of by him, in which he prepares his food ; a small piece of iron hoop serves him for a knife, and a few articles of damaged delf ware, and
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an old sea bucket, for the conveyance of water from a neighbor- ing spring, are nearly the whole contents of his wretched hovet. The materials of which the roof is constructed, are similar to those which compose the walls of his cell ; and although of inany tons in weight, is altogether supported by a few slender half decayed props, on the strength of which depends the life of poor Robert ; should they fail, without the possibility of an escape, his hut would instantaneously become his grave.
" To his gloomy cell there are but one or two apertures or loopholes, for the admission of light, which in winter are com- pletely closed, as is every crack and crevice, with seaweed ; this renders the apartment still more dark and gloomy than it other- wise would be, as when the door is closed to expel the cold, Robert remains within, day and night, in almost total darkness. In summer Robert employs a considerable portion of his time in the cultivation of a small spot of ground, contiguous to his hut, of 7 or 8 rods square, which he has inclosed in an ingenious manner with small twigs and interwoven branches of hemlock and juniper ; the soil is so extremely barren and unproductive, that it seldom produces annually more than three or four bushels. of potatoes, a peck or two of corn, and a few quarts of beans ; yet with this small crop, Robert is apparently better satisfied and more thankful than many, whose insatiable thirst for worldly gain leads them, not to an acknowledgment of gratitude due the Supreme Author of all good gifts, but rather, in imitation of the one of whom we read, to most bitter complaints, that their barns. are not of sufficient size to contain their abundant crops.
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