USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Falmouth > The celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts, June 15, 1886 > Part 2
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
24 .
TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
internal communications have improved by chaining the lightning to the wires, by which we can hold converse with friends far away as though we were face to face.
Although the principles of freedom have attracted to this land a heterogeneous mass of mankind, still, we are comparatively a con- tented people, thriving, industrious, cheerful, and happy.
O, God be. pleased to impress our minds and memories with the fact, that the measures which stimulated the people of this great nation to achieve these great results, were the spirit and character of the early settlers of these colonial and provincial towns of Massachu- setts, where lived our fathers whose blood thrills our veins. Thank- ing Thee, O God, for such an eventful dispensation of the past, in which we have a goodly heritage, we pray that thy blessing may be given to all who have their birth or dwelling in this beautiful town of sacred memory and rich association. May its hills, which thou hast made of granite, be utilized in improvements, and its waters be filled with the tribes of the sea. May thy merciful benediction rest upon its sons and daughters on sea and land, many of whom are gathered here at this reunion, and on all those who shall gather at the future anniversaries of the coming centuries. Bless the Chief Magistrate of this grand old commonwealth of the State and his staff officers, with the Lieutenant-Governor and the various officers and organizations of the State whose presence honors us to-day. May thy wisdom direct him and his counsellors in their administrations of public ser- vice. Let continued blessings of wisdom and strength be given to the civil and judicial administrators of this town, which has been noted for its peaceful relations, and renowned for the integrity, up-
25
200TH ANNIVERSARY.
rightness, and ability of its citizens, whose presence has graced the various places of responsibility assigned them on sea and land.
May all the exercises of the day performed by the orator and the speakers, be a means of joy and source of inspiration to this vast assemblage, inciting them to greater efforts and nobler purposes in life, and let the arduous labors of the various committees be crowned with success, and when the work of life is done, may we be gathered into the everlasting habitations of the just, whose ceaseless praises shall be unto thy most excellent name-forever. Amen.
"America " was sung by the audience, led by Francis A. Nye.
On account of the lateness of the hour, the singing was followed by the collation,-Divine blessing having been invoked by Rev. H. K. Craig, after which the President introduced the Orator of the Day, Gen. John L. Swift of Boston, who said :-
A mother is a mother still, The holiest thing alive.
This truth with regard to the strongest and most sacred of human ties, holds good in our attachment to the mother town where our lives began. In this land, as individuals and as a race, we owe much to the place of our birth. Local autonomy has developed the ideas and the men that have made us a mighty people to be crowned with an unmatched history. From the planting of Plymouth in 1620 and Boston in 1630, Pilgrim and Puritan civilization has spread from sea to sea in a ceaseless march of adventurous pioneers. Clustering together as they advanced, the fourfold elements of the New England
26
TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
system,-church, school, townhouse and militia,-became embodied in each settlement ; which has resulted in an unprecedented progress, and stored-up memories of heroic struggle that time can neither dim nor destroy. Falmouth, one of the first offsprings of the earliest of these Massachusetts settlements, rejoices now in the 200th day of its birth. In the sixth volume of the Plymouth Colony Records it is stated that on June 4, 1686, " Upon the request of the inhabitants of Sippecan, alias Rochester, to become a township, and have the privi- leges of a town, the court granted theire desires in yt respect ; and the like granted to Succanesset inhabitants." That record makes a legal title to the existence of this town, but the time and reason of the adoption of its present name is an unsolved mystery.
In the year 1686 Charles II., last of the Austrian line, ruled Spain. Innocent XI. was reigning pope. Louis XIV. was king of France, and French military posts and Catholic missions circled and enclosed the English settler from the St. Lawrence and the lakes to the outlet of the Mississippi river. James II. was on the throne of England, and Joseph Dudley by him was commissioned as President of New England, when Falmouth, with its twin sister Rochester, be- came the 66th and 67th of Massachusetts towns. It was a time of general gloom, for the charter rights, under which the colonies had prospered, and by which had been stimulated the habit of self-gov- ernment, and out of which sprang the nation, had fallen, and Andros as royal governor, against the will of an outraged community, was about to supersede the colonial magistrates.
27
200TH ANNIVERSARY.
TRADITIONS.
Falmouth drew most of its early population indirectly from Sau- gus and Scituate : directly from Plymouth, Barnstable and Sandwich. Tempting as it is to invade the regions of fable lying beyond the year 1686, in order to trace the faint lines of remoter occupation, it is best, with our limited time, to leave the field of doubt and depend solely on that which is authenticated.
Town matters, as chronicled by the town clerk have slight inspi- ration for the general reader. Our forefathers were more anxious about their property in cattle and lands than for their personal his- tory, therefore their official statements are more valuable to the title- hunter than to the antiquary. The records have invariably an unattractive monotony of comparatively trifling restatements, and Falmouth makes no exception to this rule. Its annals were occupied with the details of most ordinary and prosaic concerns. Two cen- turies ago it was probably necessary to Joseph Gifford to have it written in the town book that he "gives his creatures a mackerel tail on the left ear." But reading about those earmarks does not thrill with excitement a later generation. What we know beyond dispute is that in 1660 Isaac Robinson and Jonathan Hatch had houses built between Salt and Fresh ponds. There is a romantic story of a birth in the Hatch family on the night of arrival as the boats were anchored among the tall flags. It is said that the boy, in honor of the bul- rushes where he first drew breath, was named Moses. Like some theological propositions, this item in our history can neither be affirmed nor denied.
28
TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
FACTS-THE FIRST PROPRIETORS.
But, however mythical this tradition may be, we hold on with unflagging zeal to the Mosaic account of the first fruit and the infant stage of Falmouth. We know also that the Quakers came in about six years after the first settlers,-and came to stay. From that time to this they have lived here in peace, respected as citizens, neighbors, and friends. By town records we know that one year after incorpo- ration there was laid out a King's highway, from Little Harbor to Five-mile river, and that our prudent progenitors ordered that all travellers using gates or bars should leave them as they found them, closed. Whatever may now be the view about "Gates Ajar" in the ce- lestial country, Falmouth in its primitive condition was against having the bars down or the gates open in this vicinity. In 1689 lands were sold in North Falmouth to John and Ebenezer Nye, and afterward the vacant lands at Wood's Holl, the Highlands in the region of Hog Island, and the "Plain's land" in Tateket were allotted for set- tlement.
Many of the first proprietors of the Sucannesset plantation re- tained their connection with the church at the "Great Marshes," but they were frequently reminded by their Barnstable associates that it was needful for them to have a church of their own. According to the Plymouth Records the first movement for a church here was made in 1681, certain lands being set apart forever for the help and encour- agement of such fit persons as may be helpful "in teaching the good word of God." In 1687 definite arrangements for public worship in Falmouth were concluded, and the Rev. Samuel Shiverick was the first preacher.
29
200TH ANNIVERSARY.
EARLY HISTORY.
The burden of taxation began with civilization, and can only end with the millenium. In 1705 there was much difficulty in col- lecting an extra tax to meet a deficiency of 42 pounds in the Fal- mouth budget. An indignation meeting led to a revocation by the town of the oppressive assessment, and an order upon the constable to stay his grasping hand was issued.
The constable was the man of importance in the old days. He was the executive arm and represented power. He collected the dues and reported all breaches of peace to selectmen. He carried about as a badge of office and as a terror to evil doers, a black staff tipped with brass, and furnished at town expense. He took oath faithfully to discharge his duties, among which, by colonial statute, was to apprehend Quakers, notice such as sleep in meeting, and to do the town's whipping. There is no report of any Quaker being apprehended by a Falmouth tip-staff, or of any quaking apprehension on the part of Quakers because of the constable.
The records tell us that every housekeeper was required to " kill six old and 12 young blackbirds or four jays and deliver them to the selectmen, or pay 3s. for delinquency." This slaughter was not com- manded to ornament with plumage that indescribable article, the new Falmouth bonnet, but to save Falmouth crops from devastation. Rev. Joseph Metcalfe became a settled minister here in 1707, and the church book shows as members : John Robinson, John Davis, Moses Hatch (probably him of the bulrushes), Thomas Parker, Aaron Row- ley, and their wives, together with Mrs. Anna Hatch, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Alice Hatch, Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Lydia Hatch.
.
30
TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
There is an amusing incident of the hair-breadth escape of Parson Metcalfe's new wig from the shears of the good wives of Falmouth, who questioned the Christian seemliness of the very fashionable Boston peruke. They were made to clip off what they thought savored of ungodliness. The story is interesting if true, but this wig anecdote has been heard of in divers places.
In the year 1712 a new purchase of land carried the town to Mashpee and Sandwich boundary lines, and in 1714 Daniel Legg appears on the educational scene as the first-mentioned schoolmaster. Two years afterward the town votes to employ Hannah Sargent as "school dame" for 12 lbs. a year and diet." Whether Daniel Legg was too expensive or whether his legs gave out we are not told.
The town goes on year after year at its initial period, quietly and unostentatiously making its own brick from the clay pits of the forest in the "new purchase "; laying out a training field, building a new meeting-house and a new mill, and for convenience dividing itself into districts. In 1773 an epidemic appears among the oyster beds, and our fathers who relished toothsome food, tried to rescue this worthy shell-fish from the ravages that beset it. All in vain the attempt proved, and this luscious member of the mollusk family became extinct in this locality. Then a prowling and ravenous wolf makes havoc with the sheep, and the town offers a large bounty for its head. These make the principal circumstances in the first 75 years of Falmouth town life.
THE ERA OF THE REVOLUTION.
But other misfortunes than the fatality of bivalves, and other terrors more alarming than devouring wolves are coming to Falmouth.
31
200TH ANNIVERSARY.
The grim, fierce aspect of war hovers over the land and people of which it makes a part.
No orator, however gifted or eloquent, has yet done full justice to that momentous epoch that led to American nationality. The thirteen straggling colonies, stretching from the Bay of Fundy to the Florida reef, along an unfortified coast, were composed of an agri- cultural and seafaring people, tilling the soil and felling forests on land, and on the ocean pursuing commerce. They were untrained to arms, only as called upon to repel the savage. Without disciplined troops, munitions or equipments of war, for seven years they coped with and finally conquered the most formidable nation then existing ; a nation whose skilful generals and brave veterans had fought and won battles in every quarter of the globe.
In this unequal contest Falmouth, with perhaps 250 able-bodied men, enlisted at the beginning and remained to the end, under the banner which became the emblem of resistance to kings and of inde- pendence from any government on earth but that which came from themselves.
Never did this town flinch in its patriotic task. Its war record has always been honorable, and sometimes sufficiently conspicuous to be historical. During the French and Indian wars its burdens were comparatively light, the proportion of its levy at that time being only one pound and its quota calling for but one able-bodied person. This draft for money and men was promptly filled to the utmost dollar and the last man. This solitary soldier, according to the records, was sent to the front " with fixt gun, sword or hatchet, horn or cartouch box, suitable ammunition, and knapsack." There is no other account
32
TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
of this lone warrior than the fact that he made one of fifty-six men from Barnstable county raised for Quebec. His name is not known, or whether he ever came back from the seat of war. He may have been, but this is only conjecture, with Wolfe when the heights were carried and the dying chief rejoiced over a victory that broke forever the power of France in the New World.
DURING THE WAR.
Though cautious and economical, in the war of the Revolution Falmouth made quick and efficient response, and "money was poured out like water." History tells of the doings of Barnstable in 1774, and of " the body of the people" that in great numbers assembled there to denounce the "unconstitutional acts of the British Parlia- ment." John Grannis, Elisha Swift, Ebenezer Nye, Moses Swift and Daniel Butler were of the Falmouth contingent on that occasion, and with others, lifted their hats to Colonel Otis as they passed his house on their way to the Court House. Falmouth sent Moses Swift to the Provincial Congress and voted to stand by that body, and to "secure a stock of cereals," and to "provide firearms" and "put every man on watch." From this town minute-men were organized, and it ap- proved the action of the Continental Congress, voting "to consent to such constitution and form of government as shall most conduce to the safety, peace and happiness of the State." There were "com- mittees of correspondence," and of "safety," the latter "to call the town together in one fortnight complete in arms."
It also appropriated a large sum of money for local defence. Falmouth was in constant fear from invasion. Bristol and Warren in Rhode Island had been sacked. The Elizabeth Islands were
4
33
200TH ANNIVERSARY.
stripped of cattle by the British, New Bedford and Fairhaven had been attacked, and the expectation was general that the roar of the cannon would here soon be heard. This kept Falmouth soldiers largely at home to protect these unguarded shores. But Falmouth in addition sent men to the army, and one of her soldiers, Isaac Green, while on guard, shot a British officer for gross violation of the rules of war. In April, 1779, a fleet of ten sail appeared abreast of this town, intending to surprise and burn it. A tory native having given the alarm, the trenches were full of men, and enlivened by the shrill fife of Stephen Swift, a lad of 16, and inspired by the courage of their leader, Colonel Dimmick, the men were ready for the emer- gency and the hostile expedition failed to land or to do much of damage. The fifer, Stephen Swift, was my grandfather, and if his fifing was as exhilarating as the narrations to which I have listened of the scaring of the "sheepstealers" from Falmouth soil, it was music to stir the soul.
Mr. Charles Jenkins, to whose manuscripts Freeman, in making his History of Cape Cod, was much indebted, and which by the kindness of his kindred I have been permitted to review, has pre- pared with much care the war record and the general history of this town in its earlier years. In these papers of Mr. Jenkins will be found a graphic description of raids upon privateers, the preparations for defence of the town, items concerning the expenditure of £1,000 at first, and f1,200 later, to prosecute the war of 1776,-and about the companies formed, the privations endured, the honorable fidelity of Isaac Green at his post of duty,-all written with a minuteness of detail that demands for them immediate publication. Unusually
34
TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
exposed, constantly under apprehension, a vigilant coast defence sus- tained, and all demands upon her fulfilled, entitles Falmouth to the honor of being one of the most energetic and loyal towns in the great struggle for independence.
THE SECOND CENTURY.
At the commencement of the second century of the civic exist- ence of this town James Bowdoin was governor, and a neighbor, for he owned the island of Naushon, and there made sheep raising famous. In 1784 the State had 358,000 inhabitants, and the nation numbered 3,000,000 ; but its position was embarrassed and critical. The prop- osition for a federal union under a written form of government was approved by every vote cast upon the question in this town. Expe- · rience of trial and sacrifice for the principles involved, and the contest of the Revolution had so enlarged and broadened the sense of loyalty in Falmouth, that under no subsequent disaster did it ever quail, nor in any exigency did it ever fail in its duty to town, to State, or to nation. Its staunch loyalty has grown with the expansion of the country, and its fealty to the constitution and the Union has been unbroken from its vote of acceptance to this moment, when its second century beholds the flag it aided in making the symbol of a nation floating over a Republic imperial in extent, and immeasurable in its resources and possibilities.
The exhaustion from the war, and the suffering and depression from depreciated currency which followed that event, kept Falmouth for a long time backward. Prof. James Winthrop of Harvard College in 1791 rode to Falmouth in a chaise. An account in his hand- writing of this journey is in the Public Library of Boston. "Falmouth
35
1231500 200TH ANNIVERSARY.
is a pleasant town," says Winthrop, "but as it is out of repair cannot vie with Sandwich." After referring to Mashpee, he continues : "Got to Mr. Parker's to dine. He lives nearly at Wood's Hole [The pro- fessor spells it with one "1" and a final "e," which he maintains is the name for the end of the Cape]. Nobsque divides the Little from the Great harbor. There are only 10 dwelling houses, round the former, but with the shops and outbuildings and the irregularity of the ground it appears like a considerable settlement." In 1787 an attempt was made to set off the north shore of Falmouth to Sand- wich, the superior town, as the professor then thought it. The town sent Mr. John Robinson to Boston to resist the scheme.
LOCAL EVENTS.
The practice of vivisecting towns not being then in vogue, the movement to amputate Falmouth fell through. Since then secession for any purpose, anywhere, has had no quarter in Falmouth. The 18th century closed, so far as this town was concerned, by permission to Dr. Weeks to build at Nobsque a hospital for inoculation, and by finishing a new meeting-house, and having the bells set ringing at 6 A. M., 12 M. and 9 P. M. This would be a trifle early for our day, but none too soon for a time when the eight-hour agitation was not begun. In 1800 a poorhouse was provided, and Falmouth was then possessed of every feature of advanced civilization. At the beginning of the 19th century there was expended here for schools $400 yearly, $900 for town purposes and $80 for roads. There were then in Fal- mouth eight mills and 300 dwellings, and a production of 35,000 bushels annually of salt. At this period more English hay was cut in this town than in any town in the county, but the onion crop was
36
TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
assailed by a deadly insect, and like the lamented oyster this pungent vegetable departed from Falmouth life.
Daniel Webster writes of this town, "in point of position and in regard to prospect it is the handsomest place in these regions." Tra- dition has it that he feasted often at Great Hill upon a Falmouth chowder with his Falmouth friends, and that was a certain way to get a fine view and tasteful impression of this town. After years of peace Falmouth had a little war of its own, a herring war, to decide whether or not alewives should have right of way to " Coonenosset" pond. It was fought at town meeting, at General Court, at law, and became so bitter that a cannon, in possession of the anti-herring party, was pre- maturely discharged, killing the gunner and the herring fight at the same time. May the present international herring dispute end with- out even so much disaster as the loss of one life.
THE WAR OF 1812.
A noted artillery company, commanded by Captain Weston Jenkins, flourished here for some time. This valiant officer made a successful exploit against the British in 1814. The Embargo fell heavily upon this town. Commercially it never entirely recovered from the blow, as its valuable Southern trade was so interrupted that those engaged in it were forced into other channels of enterprise. In 1814, Captain Jenkins, with 32 men, captured at Tarpaulin Cove the privateer Retaliation, with its five guns and 12 men. It was the demand for these artillery guns one year before, and the refusal to deliver them, that led to the attack of the British frigate Nimrod, the commander allowing an hour and a half of time to remove the sick and aged before firing on the town. The fire was opened, but no
37
200TH ANNIVERSARY.
greater harm was done than puncturing a few houses and hitting beds carried into the fields, which caused the air to be filled with fly- ing feathers. The wounded houses in their decoration are in high feather to-day.
THE METHODISTS.
Eighty years ago marked changes began here, and among them, the Methodists commenced to break ground in this section. "Meth- odism," says Prof. Austin Phelps, " has been emphatically the reli- gion of the frontier and the backwoods." It by no means confined itself to such areas, but wherever it could set up a tabernacle, Meth- odism has started in. Its preachers are always on the move, and as a body it is always going on. John Wesley, its founder, may be said to have had his pulpit in his saddle, for on horseback he is consid- ered to have travelled the equivalent of 12 times the circuit of the globe to preach in Great Britain alone. Though the first Methodist church here dated from 1811, one year after formation of the second Congregational Church at East Falmouth, the Methodists pushed their pickets into the town some time before that year. Stephen Swift, the fifer of the Revolution, had in manhood become a captain in the merchant service. He had retired and was largely interested in the salt works on the shore road, which were prosperous, until an- other marked change, by the discovery of interior salt deposits, had placed the old methods of producing salt into a sad pickle, which eventually ruined that investment here. .
Captain Stephen Swift lived near the "works" in the angle of the main street and the Teaticket road. His house, when he occu- pied it, was a picturesque place, having a fine garden, with English
38
TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
cherry trees, full in their season of luxurious fruit. A long row of Lombardy poplars stood in front of the house, and as in that house I was born, it has for me, even in its decayed condition, a peculiar in- terest. Captain Stephen Swift, in one of his voyages to Baltimore, had listened to a noted Methodist divine, and was attracted towards the new doctrine. When the advanced Methodist line came into Falmouth he invited its representatives to make his house their home. In his roomy kitchen the first Methodist meetings were held. It has also been told me that in the same kitchen the first masonic gathering met. He was a prominent mason, but for this fact I have only the family hearsay. But, as my father had, and very willingly too, to look after the Methodist horses when their owners made home with Captain Swift, it is quite certain that my grandfather, though dying a member of the First Congregational Church of Falmouth, was an early warm and constant friend to Methodist comers in this place.
MEMORIES OF FATHER TAYLOR.
My parents were members of the Methodist Church, and there is in my mind a mixed memory of youth, in which camp-meeting preparations, baskets of crockery, barrels of provisions and presiding elders commingle together. Father Taylor was stationed here in the early Methodist period, and he and Mrs. Taylor were dear friends of my parents, and they addressed each other with brotherly and sisterly familiarity. At one camp-meeting Father Taylor came to my mother and said : "Priscilla, I'm starving; have you anything to cat?" "Come right in Edward," said Pricilla, "we are just at breakfast." Elder Otis and John Newland Maffit, then at the height of his popu- larity, were already seated, and Father Taylor took his place the other
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.