USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Scituate > The early planters of Scituate; a history of the town of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its establishment to the end of the revolutionary war > Part 24
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"Because Mr. Tymothy Hatherley was elected to the office of an Assistant the last Court & will not take the said place upon him, Mr. John Browne, being next in the number of votes, was by the generall consent elect- ed to the office of an Assistant in his stead; and for the fyne + Mr. Hatherley is thereby lyable unto, the Court will further consider whether the same shalbe esteated or noe."
It was not "esteated" and soon forgotten. The next
¡ William T. Davis in his "Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth" says (Page 131) ;-- "He m. a 2nd wife, Lydia, wid. of Nathaniel Tilden" 1642, and had no children. He may have had by 1st wife, a son Arthur, who was in Plymouth in 1660, and a son, Thomas, of Boston.
"That if any elected to the office of Assistant refuse to hold according to the election, that then he be amerced in ten pounds starling fyne." Plymouth Colony Records (Laws) Vol XI page 10.
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year he was willing to serve, and in addition, was chosen Treasurer of the Colony. He was authorized to solemnize marriages; to "Issue warrants for actions and administer oaths" and to empanel juries to lay out highways in Scit- uate. He was one of the committee to let the colony fishing trade at Kennebec; a member of the Council of War; and was requested to see that the military company at Scituate "exercise in arms" and engage in regular and sufficient training. These were among the more serious duties which he performed. He was often called upon to do other things of a trifling importance, less dignified in their execution, but of a substantial and real value to both town and colony. For instance, Mary, the wife of Walter Briggs of Scituate, having been indicted for telling a lie, "the Court having examined particulars about it, have cleared the said Mary Briggs, but desired Mr. Hatherly from the Court to admon- ish her to be more wary of giving occasion of offence to others, by unnecessary talking to the occasion of others to complaine or raise such aspersions." Again, he was requested by the Court "to make inquiry concerning a stray stier which is at Thomas Tilden's near North River in Marshfield, which stier Mistress Richards layeth claim to." He was also "ordered to set at right such things as con- cern Thomas Rawlins & John Damman by reason of costs and charges" by the former upon land of the latter's uncle, William Gilson. And again, James Till of Plymouth a servant of Mr. Hanbury, being sent to Scituate with two hides to be delivered to Humphrey Turner, the tanner, he sold them to Joseph Tilden "for sixteen shillings, less than half their worth." Thereupon the Court ordered that "James Till shall dwell two years now next ensuing with Mr. Tymothy Hatherley," who was to see six pounds a year "bestowed upon him for his necessary apparell and to give an account thereof to the Court; that if anything remayne it may be payed to the country towards the satisfaction of his (Till's) bonds for breach of his good behavior."
In June 1650, Hatherly was licensed by the Court to set
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up an iron mill on land "lying between the path and the ponds betwixt Namassakeeset f and Indian Head Rivers. "within three years." Davis in his Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth # says that it was accomplished, but the earlier chronicler bearing the same surname, states that :- "It did not however take place at that period, but a smelting fur- nace was erected upon the precise grant, by Mark Despard and the family of Barker about 1702" §. He was one of the committee "to review the lawes and reduce them to such order as they may conduce to the benefit of the govern- ment." On September 27, 1642, he with Edward Winslow and Miles Standish "are deputed and authorized by the Generall Court, this day to treate and conclude with such Commissioners as the Governor and Court of Massachusetts shall appoynt for that purpose, upon such heads and proposi- tions as the Lord shall direct them for our combineing together mutually in a defensive and offensive warr for our present defence against the intended surprisall of the natives;
The Mattakeeset River in Pembroke. The "Path" referred to crossed Indian Head River at "Ludden's" or Luddam's ford. Governor Winthrop in his journal (Vol I Page 92) records his return trip to Boston after a visit to Plymouth in 1632. "About five in the morning the Governor (Winthrop) and his company came out of Plymouth; the Governor of Plimouth, with the pastor and elder &c. accompanying them near half a mile out of town in the dark. The Lieut. Holmes with two others and the governor's mare
came along with them to the great swamp about ten miles. When they came to the great river, they were carried over by one Luddam their guide, (as they had been when they came, the stream being very strong, and up to the crotch) so the governor called that passage Luddam's Ford. Thence they came to a place called Hue's Cross. The Governor being displeased at the name, in respect that such things might hereafter give the Papists occasion to say, that their religion was first planted in these parts, changed the name and called it Hue's Folly". Winthrop's editor Savage calls this a "slight usurpation" or jurisdiction for the reason that the Governor was in another colony. Governor Winthrop in doing so was under the mistaken idea that the name had reference to the papal insignia. It did not. The place was called Hewes' Cross Brook from the crossing of the First Herring Brook and a small stream. John Hewes lived there. He was both a Welchman and a free- man, but never a Papist. Savage in making his mild criticism probably overlooked this.
Page 147.
History and Description of Scituate, 1815, by Samuel Davis.
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and also to treate & conferr with them about a further combination & league to be concluded betwixt us for fu- ture tymes, & to certyfy this Court of the heads thereof, that upon our approbation of the same they may be con- firmed by a Generall Court".t Thus was Hatherly a pion- eer in the negotiations which finally crystalized into the Commissioners of the United Colonies, a body with which he was later prominently indentified. On June 4, 1645, "Mr. Tymothy Hatherley is chosen to supply Mr. Princes roome in the comission for the United Collonies, if Mr. Prence be not able, who is now very sick. He was again chosen in 1646 and 1651.
Hatherly was a man of great generosity. He was liber- al in thought and with his gifts. Like his near neighbor and warm friend Cudworth, while failing to agree with the Quakers, he was nevertheless tolerant of their presence in both the town and colony, and being ready and outspoken, this stand lost to him much of the public confidence at the time. He was no longer made an Assistant and during the last ten years of his life, with the one notable service on the committee to revise the laws of the colony, he perform- ed no important public function. He died in 1666, his estate impoverished through his own generosity. He had given the parsonage house and land to the church, and his farm at Musquashcut to that body and the society; he had offered a comfortable home and farm to Reverend Mr. Chauncey, whose faithful friend and loyal supporter he had been, when the latter contemplated returning to England, if he would remain at Scituate; to the Conihasset partners he gave the major part of his tract nine miles square lying southerly of Accord Pond and many a worthy friend and neighbor profited in other ways by his unostentatious kind- ness. His will, i made on the twentieth day of December 1664 was probated on October 30, 1666. It follows :-
"I, Timothy Hatherley of Scituate, being weake and
Plymouth Colony Records Vol II Page 88
Plymouth Colony Records. Wills Vol. II (part 2) Page 34.
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sicke in body but of sound and stedfast memory, bless- ed be God, doe make This as my last Will and Testa- ment, in manner and form as followeth :--
Imprimis, I commend my soul to God that gave it and my body to the earth from whence it came. As for my worldly goods with which the Lord hath bless- ed me I do dispose of the same as follows :----
Item. I give unto my wife Lydia Hatherley my house I now dwell in with the rest of the housing thereto belonging, with all the land I die possessed of during her natural life. Also I give to her my silver plate and all my pewter and brass that I do not other- wise dispose of by will; also what moveables there are and my linen. Furthermore I give unto my wife my gray mare, two cows and two oxen and my coat with all my wearing clothes.
Item. I give to Edward Jenkins, his wife and child- ren twelve pounds to be paid within one year after my decease in current New England pay.
Item. I give to Nicholas Wade his wife and child- ren twelve pounds to be paid within one year after my decease in current New England pay as also one great brass kittle.
Item. I give to Susanna, the wife of William Brooks and her children twelve pounds and I acquit her of her first husband's debt to me. And also one copper kettle with three eares, to be payed within one year after my death.
Item. I give to Timothy Foster five pounds and to Elizabeth Foster three pounds in current New England pay within one year from my decease.
I give to Thomas Hanford ten pounds to be payed within one year after my decease in current New Eng- land pay.
Item. I give to Joan Robinson, the wife of Samuel Baker forty shillings, and to the other three children of Nath'1 Robinson, John, Nathaniel and Christopher
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forty shillings apeice to be payed within one year after my decease in current New England pay.
Item. I give to Lydia Garrett my wife's daughter, three acres of land part of which her house stands on, unto her and her heirs forever. And five pounds in current pay of New England within one year after my decease and likewise acquit all former accounts and reck- onings between she and I, from the beginning of the world to this day.
I give to the four children of the said Lydia Gar- rett forty shillings apeice to be payed to them by my Executors when they come to the age of twenty-one years in current pay of New England.
Item. I give to George Sutton his wife and children . five pounds to be payed in current New England pay.
Item. I give to the widow Prebble my wife's daughter fifty shillings to be paid within one year after my decease in current New England pay. I give to Lydia Lapham one heiffer worth fifty shillings or fifty shillings in good goods, to be payed within one year after my decease.
Item. I give to Thomas Lapham thirty shillings to be paid within one year after my decease in current New England pay.
Item. I give to Christopher Tilden five pounds to be paid within one year after my decease in current New England pay.
Item. I give to Nicholas Baker eight pounds to be payed in six month after my decease.
Item. I give to my man Thomas Savery fifty shill- ings to be payed when his service expires in current New England pay.
Item. I give to Lydia Hatch the daughter of Wil- liam Hatch eight pounds to be payed by my Executors when she comes to the age of twenty-one years in cur- rent New England pay or when she marries.
All the rest of my goods and lands not given and
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bequeathed, my debts and legacies payed and funerall charges discharged, I give and bequeath unto my high- ly and well beloved friend Joseph Tilden whom I doe constitute and appoint to be the whole and alone Ex- ecutor of this my last will and testament.
In witness whereof, I the said Timothy Hatherley have hereunto set my hand and seal this twentieth day of December Anno Dom. 1664.
TIMOTHY HATHERLY and a (seal).
Signed and sealed in sight and presence of Nicholas Baker Nath'l Chittenden."
When this will was offered for probate Joseph Tilden the Executor declined to serve, and thereby was revealed a situation which for a time portended a contest over that document. Standing alone the Court record made at the time is inexplicable. It says :--
"Whereas Mr. Timothy Hatherly by his last will and testament, hath made, ordained, and appointed Mr. Joseph Tilden to be his sole exequitor; and the said Joseph Tilden doth refuse to accept of the said exequitorship according to the said will; wherefore the Court have appointed him to be administrator on the estate of the said Mr. Hatherly, to pay all debts and legacies due and owing from the estate so farr and by equall proportions as it will amount unto;" and at the sitting held June fifth 1667 :- "Letters of ad- minestration were likewise granted unto Mr. Joseph Tilden to adminnester upon the estate of Mr. Timothy Hatherly deceased; and the said Mr. Tilden is hereby ordered and impowered to receive and dispose of the said estate in ref- erence unto payment of debts and legacies due from the estate soe farr as there is estate to discharge, and in all points to act and do whatever may be requisite for preserving and disposing as an adminnestrator according to the will of
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the deceased." f The personal estate was appraised at£224; 12 S : 08d., not to mention £116 due him from John Hollett, James Cudworth and Rodolphus Elmes. The legacies were but £107. These were made to various friends; to all of his wife's children, and to his own relatives-Thomas Han- ford a nephew, Susanna Brooks, who called herself a niece, Timothy Foster and John Robinson grand nephews, and Joan Robinson and Elizabeth Foster, grand nieces." # To certain of them specific devises of land were made. When the will was offered for Probate, on the thirty-first day of October, 1666, they did not know, and Tilden did not inform them, that only a few days before, on October thirteenth, Hatherly had conveyed to his wife's son, the same Joseph Tilden who is named as Executor of his will, for a "valu- able and sufficient consideration," his farm on the southerly side of Satuit Brook and one hundred and thirty acres which remained of the four hundred acres "layed out to" it. In- cluded in the deed were Hatherly's remaining Conihasset shares. In fact all the real estate which he possessed. Til- den had simultaneously executed and delivered to Hatherly a bond § in the sum of "£100 good and current silver money," conditioned to "suffer Timothy Hatherley and Lydia Hatherley TI to severally and jointly possess and en- joy the use, benefit and profits of the housings and lands made mention of in the above deed, during the full term of their natural lives, without any disturbance or molesta- tion."
Why such a transaction should have taken place so near to the time of Hatherly's death, when it may fairly be pre- sumed that he knew his own days were few, is not at all clear. The will provided the same life tenancy for his widow as did Tilden's bond. Under the will the latter, being the residuary legatee and devisee, would have taken
Plymouth Colony Records Vol IV Pages 138 and 155.
315. Plymouth Colony Records (Deeds) Vol III pages 92 to 97 and
§ Plymouth Colony Records (Deeds) Vol. III pages 103 and 104. Tilden's mother.
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by far the greater portion of the estate. Perhaps Tilden sought to take the whole of the real property and a larger residuum of the personal. If so he was disappointed. Nephew Hanford, upon learning the situation immediately raised objection and threatened a contest. For six years the matter was in controversy. Meantime Tilden had con- veyed all of the Hatherly real estate which he obtained through the above deed, to his sons Nathaniel and John, and had deceased. . Finally, a settlement was made by which Hanford received twice what was given him under the will, and the relatives and all other legatees were paid the same sums which that instrument provided. The whole story is best told in the language of the release which Hanford gave in June 1673 :-
"To all men to whom these present shall come, I Thomas Hanford of Norwalk in the jurisdiction of Connecticut, Pastour, being the alone son of Eglin Seallis 1 deceased, who was the natural sister of my unkle Mr. Timothy Hatherly deceased, and so by vir- tue of the near relation by blood, I the said Thomas Hanford do lay claim as heir unto the lands of my un- kle Mr. Timothy Hatherly deceased, and the said Mr. Timothy Hatherly having made some conveyance of his land unto Mr. Joseph Tilden deceased as appears by a deed bearing date the thirteenth day of October 1666, one thousand six hundred and sixty-six. The said Joseph Tilden has conveyed the same alsoe to his two sonnes Nathaniel and John Tilden and so there is a difference and contest like to arise between the said Tildens and me the said Thomas Hanford. Where- fore Know You, that I, the said Thomas Hanford for and in consideration of twenty pounds to me in hand paid, before the sealing and delivery of these presents, by the said Nathaniel and John Tilden, twelve pounds thereof in current silver money and eight pounds
Hatherly had already given this sister land in Scituate. Her first husband was Hanford's father. Upon his death she married Edward Foster and for her third husband Deacon Richard Sealis.
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thereof in current English goods at Marchants prices at Boston; and also that there may be a composed and settled peace and quiet between me the said Thomas Hanford and Nathaniel Tilden and John Tilden, in, about, concerning and respecting the premises afore- said; with which said sum and in consideration that peace and amity may be continued betwixt us if well & fully satisfied, contented and paid, and do exonerate, acquit and discharge the said Nathaniel Tilden and John Tilden, they and either of them, their and every of their heirs, Executors and administrators forever, do by this present writing, sealed with my seal and sub- scribed with my name in the presence of Richard Collicut and Edward Jenkins and James Cudworth, three credible witnesses whose names are subscribed to allow, ratify and confirm from me and my heirs, un- to them, the said Nathaniel and John, them and their heirs and assigns forever, all the housing and lands, both upland and meadow expressed in the aforesaid deed from Timothy Hatherly, together with all the estate that doth or may belong to the heirs of the said Timothy Hatherly, for them the said Nathan- iel Tilden and John Tilden, their heirs and assigns forever. x x
x x Dated this seventh day of June in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred seventy and three." f
Hatherly's place in the foundation of the Pilgrim Repub- lic has usually, historically, been circumscribed by the bounds of the town which he founded, and of which he is described as the "father." Baylies who gives him this title says of the leaders who came in the Mayflower :
"It was only by the consummate prudence of Bradford the matchless valor of Standish, the incessant enterprise of Winslow that the colony was saved from destruction. The submissive piety of Brewster, indeed, produced a
¡ Plymouth Colony Records (Deeds) Vol III P. 315.
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moral effect as important in its consequences as the active virtues of the others."
But what of the generous and able assistance which Hatherly gave to the little colony and its agent Winslow, in his own "incessant enterprise" to save it from "destruction." The latter made frequent necessary trips from Plymouth to the old country when disputes arose between the colonists and their financial sponsors, the Merchant Adventurers. Hatherly's purse was always open, his voice ever raised in support of the Pilgrims, and his activities directed to their welfare. Neither was he averse to share with them the physical hardships and dangers of the wilderness. In the ten years before permanently settling in Scituate, he lived at Plymouth more than half the time. Through him, the selfish and traitorous Peirce was exposed, and eliminated from the Adventurers. When dissatisfaction and disa- greements in this partnership arrived at the dissolving point, it was Hatherly with Shirley, Beauchamp and Andrews who bought out the interests of the disaffected ones and became voluntarily liable for bringing out of Leyden many of the friends and brethren who had lingered there, awaiting an opportunity to join the voyagers of the Mayflower in their new home.
It was Hatherly who helped out the trusting Bradford and his neighbors when they had become involved with the no-longer-to-be-trusted Allerton. His generosity enabled them to square accounts with the successors to their origi- nal sponsors. His wisdom foresaw the benefits to be derived in a confederation of the struggling colonies. His diplo- macy was invoked in many a trying situation. Yet, to the discredit of those whom he thus served -- he was driven out of their counsels when his broad humanity led him to differ with them in the treatment of the Quakers.
By his example he taught tolerance, thrift, courage and devotion. None of the forefathers did more.
.
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THE CLAPPS
The Clapps (or Clap as they spelled it) came from Dor- chester in old England to the locality to which they gave the same name in New England. Thomas, the Scituate an- cestor, came first to Hingham and then to Scituate in 1640.
In 1645 he purchased from Timothy Hatherly a farm of twenty-four acres at Greenbush adjoining that of Samuel Hinckley, the father of the governor. On these acres and in their vicinity his descendants have ever since had their abode. His children were Thomas, who went to Dedham, Eleazer, afterwards a resident of Barnstable; John, who died in youth; three daughters, Elizabeth, Prudence and Abigail, and Samuel who set the pace for prominence and public spirit in Scituate for those of his name who succeeded him. He married Hannah Gill of Hingham and lived on the farm at Greenbush, which his father bought of Hatherly.
With Thomas King and Theophilus Witherell, two of his neighbors living near the North River, and Ephraim Little and John Rogers of Marshfield, he was engaged in trade with the West Indies, the owner of the "good barque called the Adventure, of burden about forty tun," and thus early did much to give impetus to the shipbuilding which later devel- oped upon that estuary.
He was a selectman of Scituate in the decade which fol- lowed the year 1682 and at the same time acted continuously as a deputy to the General Court at Plymouth. For sixteen years he served in a like capacity in the legislature of the Province. He was as popular with and respected by his fellow legislators as his townspeople. He served upon the most important committees and especially in matters of finance. In 1695, with the Treasurer of the Province and the famous John Walley he was appointed to report to the Privy Council in London "what quantities of Pitch, Tar, Ro- zin, Planke, Knee Timber and other Naval Stores for the use of his Majesty's Royal Navy &c the Government here
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may undertake to send yearly to England," and thereafter for a long time the export of these stores was based upon the recommendation of this committee. He had a large part in framing the legislation which was enacted in 1705 to pre- vent the debasing of the colonial currency. During the latter years of his legislative service he was annually chos- en one of the "committee to view the work at the Castle," when the reconstruction of that fortification in the inner harbor of Boston, was put in charge of the engineer William Wolfgang Romer. He laid out the first turnpike from Middleborough and Bridgewater to Boston and acted as one of the two commissioners appointed by the General Court to levy and assess the tax for the French and Indian War. In the performance of these duties he found time to serve upon juries and to act as an inspector and viewer of whales and to be a town constable.
Two grandsons of Samuel Clapp, each named Thomas, have brought fair fame to the family. Col. Thomas Clapp, son of Samuel's fourth son John, born in 1705, was grad- uated at Harvard and educated for the ministry. Ordained and settled over the first church at Taunton, he soon tired of his pastorate and returned to Scituate. Here he was elected to the legislature for eight years, not however con- secutively. Less prominent in that body than his grandfather had been, he was however a member of the first committee of the General Court to farm out the excise when that duty, having theretofore been rather scandalously performed by a commission, was intrusted to the law making body. As early as 1697, the practice of selling the revenue arising from licensing traffic in intoxicating liquors, or "farming out the excise" as it was called, had been in vogue. The law f provided :---
"and that the said commissioners may lett or farme the excise, or any part thereof, to any person or persons, in any county, town or place within this province, for
+ Acts of 1697 Chap. 3 Section 13.
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the best profit and advantage of the publick that they can for the year ensuing."
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