USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 23
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"A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."
Before the year had expired we find him continuing agita- tion against the Mayhew government, as shown in a letter dated Oct. 8, 1675, addressed to Gov. Andros of New York. It is an interesting statement of the difficulties experienced by those not in the favor of the official circle, but is too long to be given in full.
The death in 1682 of the aged Governor removed one cause of complaint on the part of Athearn against that feature of the government of the island, the life tenure of the chief magistrate, and though no change occurred in the tenure of the Mayhew family upon the offices of the island, yet it is evident that Athearn chose to accept the inevitable conditions and bide his time. The only change in the results of his ap- pearances in litigation after the decease of Gov. Mayhew as shown by the court records, is a series of decisions in which he is enabled to compromise or divide with his opponent. Prior to this they had all been adverse verdicts. But a new enemy soon appeared on the scene in the person of William Rogers, and he kept Athearn constantly before the court for two years. He charged him with stealing a cow the year previously and killing it privately. Athearn was non-suited. He sued him for slander and asked damages to the amount of fifty pounds. The jury returned a verdict of non-liquet. The next year he complained against him for stealing a black cow, but the charge was withdrawn. Athearn had evidently reached the limit of his patience, and proceeded to take the law into his own hands by personally chastising his persistent persecutor. Rogers forthwith complained against Athearn "for halling or pulling sayd Rogers by the eres and caueling him sayd William Roge and thefe with other Skurvie words in court." The court found for the defendant, though the act took place in its presence.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
An amusing incident occurred at this time in which Athearn again figures as a defendant in an action for slander with damages claimed to the amount of £100. The plaintiff was Thomas Peat "Skoole master of Edgartown" and his declaration relating his grievance so dramatically sets forth the circumstances constituting the offence, that it were best told in his own language and it is here quoted :-
The plaintiff stated that he was in the house of Richard Arey on the 14th of March, 1686-7, "teaching som of his skol- lers then in skoolle, when in came Simon Athearn, who asked the plaintiff to give him his dafter Marys Coppy book & sum Coppys the sayd playntiffe was Ready to pleasure the said defendant, but in the entrem" the defendant was writing in his daughter Mary's book "without the liberty and privity" of the schoolmaster. The defendant "tok a pen of one of the skollers and writ in a Coppy boock som Skandloues & slandrous words ...... as may apere by a manniskript of the sayd defendant, which the sayd plaintiffe will produce. in which the defendant undervalewed & disparraged the sayd plant: to his skollers, counseling them to forsak him, Render- ing him to be an Idell wasting person in the way of his caulling in the very Instant that the sayd playntiffe was bisied in the performance of his Douty in his Skoole, yet was the sayd defendant so Impudent before the sayd plantiffes face, Subtilly & fox like to Record the sayd Plaintiffes name in a mock verse in the skoole."
The jury found "it a trespass for a man to com into a Skolle and take a pen of one of the Skollers in Skool & whrit in one of the Skollers books without the aprobation of the master of the Skoole," and the plaintiff was awarded twelve pence damages and costs of court. It is only to be regretted that the "mock verse" which Simon Athearn composed that day in his daughter Mary's "coppy boock" has not been preserved in order that we might enjoy a perusal of the lines which so incensed this pedagogue.
Notwithstanding all these evidences of a litigious life Athearn retained the confidence of his neighbors. He was one of the committee of the town of Tisbury to lay out sixteen shares in the new purchase in 1675. He was chosen county commissioner in 1686; constable of Tisbury in 1687; assessor in 1692; commissioner for the town (for the trial of small cases) in 1693; selectman in 1695. Such a character as the subject of this sketch is not made of the material that enters
32
Annals of West Tisbury
into the composition of a popular man, and although easily the first citizen of Tisbury in his day in point of energy, progressive spirit and interest in the public welfare, yet viewed from the standpoint of office-holding his true dimensions are obscured.
Athearn's possession of Tississa, which he purchased of the Indian Jude in 1674, and held without confirmation from the Lord Proprietor, or approval of the town, involved him in a long series of differences with his townsmen and litigation with a number of them on account of trespass, defamation of title and assaults. In 1678 he reached an agreement with the town. concerning this neck of land by the terms of which Athearn yielded his claim to the largest part of the neck, receiving ten pounds as a return for his purchase money, out of which he was required to pay two pounds for the portion that was confirmed to him. It appears, however, that the town failed to live up to the agreement, and he felt free to act accordingly. As the neck was declared to be common lands, Athearn proceeded to acquire the shares of others from time to time; but this arrangement did not settle the contention and two years and a half later, at a town meeting, held on June 18, 1680, the following vote was passed :- .
being a town mitting it was put to vott whare or no Simon Atharne shoulde have the necke. ... of land that liath upon the pountes of the indian necke but the towne voted that the said simon Attharne should but have his share with the reste of the inhabitants and tendred the saide simon Attharne if hee youlde sine the dedes the yould pee him the mony.
Whatever the hitch in the negotiations depended upon, it appears that the town authorities undertook to dispose of this neck of land by grants in 1683, and Athearn caused his protest to be recorded in the town book. This was immedi- ately followed by the reciprocal protest of the townsmen against the entry of his caveat. He took this matter finally to the county court, and on June 22, 1684, the following record of the case appears :-
Simon Athearn complaineth against the Constable and overseers of the Town of Tisbury for non-payment of certain monies due by contract about a neck of land caled Copeck alias tississa.
Athearn finally acquired by one means or another the possession of the much-disputed neck.
A political change which followed several years after the death of the old Governor, the transfer by Matthew Mayhew
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History of Martha's Vineyard
of his manorial rights as lord of the manor to Thomas Dongan by sale, was not to the satisfaction of Athearn, but he was helpless to prevent this situation and was obliged to await the adjustment of these difficulties till a more fortunate time. It was not far off and came unexpectedly. The accession of William III brought in a government which exercised less of the ancient prerogative and seemed to give expectation to Athearn that the rights of the people would be heard and considered and that the liberality of the Prince of Orange would be reflected in his Colonial representative in New York. So when Gov. Henry Slaughter, the new appointee, arrived in New York in March, 1691, he was scarcely seated in his new office before Athearn addressed him on the condition of affairs at the Vineyard.
This letter is printed elsewhere (Vol. I, pp. 179-80), but it was not in this direction a change in the Athearn's horizon was to occur. The procurement of the new charter for Massa- chusetts in 1691 became the opportunity for Simon Athearn to establish himself in new relations with the authorities of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He wrote a letter of infor- mation and advice to Sir William Phipps and recommended some of his friends for local offices, and Sir William appointed one of them to the most important office on the island. If he had aspirations for official preferment himself the following recommendation from prominent residents of the Vineyard seems to show that he was a candidate for the bench. This testimonial with its curious phraseology, is worth printing in full :-
Wee whose names under writen present our most humbel duty to your Excellency & your honnored Consesell & ar redy upon all demand or Command from your Exsellency to Sarve you with our Lives & fortine & pray for your exsellencys happines & prosperuty & for the happines & prosperity of your honoured Consell and we Count our sealfs happi that we are under the shaddow of your Exsellency & wee are willing to acquaint your Exsellency that wee were not willing to specke when the Gentlemen were here. Because that your Exsellencys orders might be setteled in Peease & quitnes now wee are willing to give your Exsellency an aCount of Mr. Simon Athearn we Looke upon him to be a well acom- plish man he is no drunkerd nor no Card player nor a man that freequint tavorns but wee doe know but he may have his feialing as well as other men: for estate: few or none upon our Iland goeth beyond him & for a Justes wee Looke upon him as fit a man as any here: so wishing & pray- ing for your Exsellencys happines & the god of paese Bles you with al Spritual Blessings & give you a hart after his owne hart that he may tack a delight in you to doe you goode & save you from all your enemies :: wee
34
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Annals of West Tisbury
humbly beg your Exsellencys pardon in what is amisse in writing to your Exsellency & Remaine your most humbel & dutiful sarvants.1
This interesting document was signed by Andrew New- comb, Joseph Norton, James Pease, Jacob Norton, John Butler, Thomas Norton, William Vinson, Thomas Wolling, Thomas Butler, Isaac Norton, Benjamin Norton, Moses Cleaveland, John Pease and Thomas Vinson. It is to b noted that no member of the Mayhew family appended his name to this testimonial.
In the meantime the Mayhews had made their peace with the new regime, and Athearn failed in his aspirations. He had to swallow his feelings as he saw the same old officials reinstated in the Vineyard courts. Thereafter he devoted his time to an agitation in favor of consolidating Tisbury and Chilmark as one township, the details of which are else- where narrated. Although he was representative of Tis- bury at the General Court for several sessions he was unable to effect anything of personal advantage to himself or for the benefit of his town. In 1696-7 he was engaged in another litigation arising from alleged trespass on his property, and personal assaults which followed this. Voluminous papers in the case prepared by him detail the injustice he received at the hands of Richard Sarson and Matthew Mayhew, who imprisoned his son and refused to allow him an appeal to the superior court at Plymouth; Athearn states that he had been under indictment without trial for two years, on a charge of felony, and declared that there seemed to be no law by which the accused may be "discharged from such vexatious imprison- ment espetially when a father-in law and his two sons are the rulle in such Infeariour Court."
It is thus that Athearn pays his respects to Richard Sarson and his stepsons Matthew and Thomas Mayhew. It is not possible to weigh the equities of this long controversy, but the recital of his grievances caused Gov. Stougton to address a letter to these justices, in which he "Signified" to them that Athearn should have the proceedings against him con- ducted "equal and agreeable to the Rules of Law and Justice, which is all that is expected." It must have been a strong case that induced the executive to interfere with a judicial proceeding. After the recital of all his experiences for so many years and the unfortunate results of his litigations, we may
1Mass. Arch., CXII, 435-
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History of Martha's Vineyard
safely conclude that Athearn made a vital error in not effecting a matrimonial alliance with the Mayhew family.
The remainder of his life, as far as external evidences warrant the conclusion, was devoted to the care of his estate and the enjoyment of the declining years of an active if not a politically fruitful life. In worldly possessions "few or none apon our Iland goeth beyound him" as stated by his friends +++ 1692, and with extensive acres at Great Neck, Tississa, Charles' Neck, and scattering parcels of land in Chilmark, Edgartown and Tisbury, he doubtless found greater satisfaction than in the bootless campaigns he waged against the family that held sway over the island in his day and generation.
On the several visits of Judge Sewall to the island in 1702 and 1712 he mentions dining with and meeting Mr. Athearn, and again in 1714 he notes in his diary under date of April 10: "View'd Watsha Neck all over, being conducted by Mr. Simon Athearn." We thus have trace of him to within a year of his death.
He had a family of nine children - four boys and five girls - growing up about him, of whom his eldest, Samuel, remaining a bachelor until after his father's death, inherited many of the pugnacious qualities of his famous parent. His daughter Sarah was the wife of his clergyman, the Rev. Josiah Torry. His second son, Jabez, destined to lead a distinguished life on the Vineyard, had contracted an advantageous alliance with Miss Catherine Belcher. His daughter Mary became the wife of Thomas Waldron, and before Simon Athearn paid the debt of nature his latter years were doubtless made happy by the coming of grandchildren to play on his knee. He had passed three score years and ten, and on the 20th day of February, 1714-15, his earthly career was closed. The enumeration of his real and personal property disclosing, as it does, varied possessions of a man of wealth in that time, aggregating £1639, 14 shillings, 11 pence, equivalent at this time to about $50,000 is worth of the space required for its presentation. The items of tankard, cordial-cup and drinking- cup indicate that he maintained the hospitalities required of a country gentleman. Judge Samuel Sewell of Boston was a guest at his house in the spring of 1702, while on a journey to Gay Head, and doubtless sipped sack-posset from these same cups.
Not the least of the attributes of this versatile and interest- ing character are the helps he has given to the historian of
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Annals of West Tisbury
the Vineyard in his letters regarding affairs upon the Vineyard written during the period of his political activities. They are the only documents extant dealing with the personal phases of that remote time, and the motives actuating the characters in the drama, as they appeared to him. To him also are we indebted for two manuscript maps of the island drawn before 1700, and although crude in execution and sadly lacking in typographical accuracy, yet they contain valuable informatic. nowhere else to be found. Facsimiles of various portions of these maps appear in other portions of this work.
In the graveyard at West Tisbury carved with the grue- some emblems of mortality a slate stone tells the passing stranger where lies the mortal remains of Tisbury's first great citizen.
Probate Records, I, 50.
July 21, 1715. The estate of Mr. Simon Athearn of Tisbury late deceased prized by us the subscribers.
4?
The lands and building in Great Neck or homestead 600
The land in Tississa Neck
250
The land in Charles Neck 200
The land in the Oldtown or Edgartown
100
the meadow in Chilmark
60
the land at Keephegon
the small parcels lands between the Pine Hills 6 "
the Old Mill River his right of lands on the plain 2 ''
£1234
2dly The Moveable Estate
one pair oxen
IO. 0
one pair oxen
9.10
5 cows
17.10
7 cowes & calves
22.15
2 steers
6. 0
4 two year old steers
6. 0
2 two year old heifer & a bull
4.10
8 yearlings
6. 0
one mare and a colt
I2. 0
6 swine
1.16
one mare
3 . 0. 0
£ s
99. II
3dly 112 sheep with their lambs and fleeces at £8. Ios per score 47.12
190 sheep with their fleeces at £6 per score 57. 0
104.12
37
History of Martha's Vineyard
4thly Money and household stuff
Province bills
38.16.17
one silver tankard
9. 0. 0
6 silver spoons
3.12. 0
one silver cup
3. 0. 0
one silver porringer
3. 0. 0
one bed with furniture
II. 7. O
one do do
12. 8.
one do do
6.12. 0
one do do
6.10. 0
one do do
4.10. 0
£sd 48
5ly his wearing apparel
12.16. 6
2 large Bibles
5. 0. 0
one do old
2. 0
some small books
I. 3. 0
4 law books
I. O. O
3 pair sheets
4.10
2 pair do
2. 5
I pair do
2. 5
I pair do
.12
2 pair do
I. O
2 pair pillow bears
I. 4
5 do
.16
I pair do
4
one carpet
6
£sd
6ly 4 table cloths
I. 4
23 napkins
2.10
I cupboard cloth
.IO
I towel
4
3 cushions
3
I brass kettle
2. 0
2 brass kettles
.18
3 brass candle-sticks
.13
I bellmettle skillet
8
one iron kettle
6
I chafing dish
6
I spit pan & fender
I. I
one warming pan
.16
one brass frying pan
6
one pair beases
.I5
one brass gun
I. O
one iron pot
.16
one do
.I2
one do
- 9
one iron kettle
I.IO
one do
8
I cupboard
2.10
I trunk
5
I parcel wooden vessels
1.IO
92. 5 - 7
33. 3. 6
38
Annals of West Tisbury
I Gridiron
. 6
I pair tongs & slice
8
3 trammels
.15
box heaters & goose
3
I pair bellows
2
old iron
I
I pair steelyards
I. O
I pair worsted corns
.I2
I sword
4
I table
I.IO
I do
I. 5
I do
.12
I do
. 8
I do & form
.IO
2 joint stools
. 6
I dozen chairs
2.14
8 chairs
1.12
6 old do
.IO
I chest
. 5
I do
.IO
I do
. 6
I do
. 6
I chest drawers
3. 0
I cupboard
.12
4 pounds hops c 9
I.IO
3 corn seives
. 4
I half bushel
3
I hair cloth
.12
2 bridles & saddles
1.15
I side saddle
.15
3 seives
· 5
2 meal bags
. 6
2 sleighs & harnesses
.16
warping bars & boxes
.IO
I pair looms
I.IO
3 spinning wheels
.18
I pr. wool cards
2. 6
4 pewter platter
1.12
2 do
.12
4 do
.16
13 plates
1. 6
2 basons
. 6
4 porringers
. 6
I cordial cup
. 5
I tankard
- 7
I candlestick
3
I salt cellar
. 2
Io spoons
· 3- 4
3 drinking cups
. 4
2 looking glasses
I.IO
mantletree furniture
. 5
39
History of Martha's Vineyard
60 pounds sheeps wool
2.10
I bushel flaxseed
. 4
6 pound flax
. 4
4 axes
. 8
3 hoes
. 9. 6
I spade
. 2
I adze
- 4
I auger, chisel, gouge
6
2 pitchforks
. 3. 6
I lantern
. 2. 6
2 pudding
. 3 .
I tunnel
. I. 6
I cart & wheels
2. 5
2 cops & pins
- 7
I plow with irons
.16
2 harrows
I.IO
2 rings, staple & yoke
. 6
2 chains
.16
I cart rope
- 3
I thousand boards
2.15
100 cedar bolts
.16
I beetle & wedges
. 6
I Grindstone
.IO
20 bush barley
3.IO
76. 2.10
1234. 99.II
104.12
92 . 5 - 7
33 - 3. 6
1639.14.II
Errors Excepted
ROBERT CATHCART JOHN MANTER BENJAMIN MANTER
JOHN CASE
This early settler came to Tisbury from parts unknown about 1681, as the first knowledge we have of him is found in a town vote on December 16th of that year, when a home lot was granted to him on the north side of New Mill river, adjoining the Chilmark boundary line. His connection with any of the contemporary families of this name in other parts of New England has not been established.1 He married, probably after his settlement here, Desire (13) daughter of
1There were several Case families in Connecticut and Rhode Island before 1700 and the indications point to the former colony as the early home of our settler. Most of his children removed there after his death.
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Annals of West Tisbury
John Manter, by whom he had eight children of record as shown by his will. His career was uneventful and scarcely any references to him appear in the town or county books. He was undoubtedly a young man, perhaps had just reached his majority when he came to Tisbury, and his death occurred in 1705 or 1706, when he was in the prime of life. His will, dated Feb. 5, 1704-5, was probated February 11, 1706, but the estate was not divided until 1720, when the minor children became of age.1 The estate was inventoried at £105, and his son William, a weaver by trade, was made administrator in 1719, before the final settlement was effected. Descendants of this son William remained in Tisbury till about 1800, but the name became extinct here after that time.2
ROBERT CATHCART.
LoBont Cathcart This early settler was a Scotchman and the family is said to have originated or derived its name from the Barony of Cathcart in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It is not known when he came to this country, nor when he was born. The tradition in the family is that he had been engaged in some of the numerous border or clan wars of the period, and received a wound from a bullet which he carried to his death. The first record of him on the Vineyard is in 1690 when he purchased a lot of land in Tisbury from Arthur Biven, a tract of twenty acres in the northernmost home lot on the west side of Old Mill brook.3 He married about this time, Phebe, daughter of Thomas Coleman of Nantucket, and it is probable that the young Highlander "set up his Ebenezer" at once in the new town.4 Here he began the occupation of innkeeper, which he followed throughout his life,5 and in March, 1693, he was chosen town clerk, an office which he likewise held to the date of his decease. In 1696 he bought a new home- stead lot on the west side of the South (Chilmark) road, just south of the Whiting estate, and in 1706 added the southern
1Dukes Probate,' I, 24. The estate of the widow Nickerson of Yarmouth showed a debt due from John Case in 1706 (Barnstable Town Records).
2Members of this branch removed to Maine after the Revolution, and it is probable that the name still survives in that state.
3Dukes Deeds, I, 101. Dated Dec. 2, 1690.
"This Nantucket marriage may indicate his previous residence in that island. 5In 1696 his license to sell strong drink was "renewed."
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History of Martha's Vineyard
half of this lot, making in all about thirty acres. Here he con- ducted a "shop," kept an ordinary and acted as town and proprietors' clerk until the spring of 1718 when death terminated his career.1 His birth is estimated as in 1650, and he was therefore about 68 years of age. His widow Phebe, who was evidently many years his junior (she was b. June 15, 1674), married Samuel Athearn the following year. Five sons and six daughters of Robert and Phebe Cathcart are known, though no record of their birth exists, and while the family was prominent in Tisbury through that century, it is now extinct in the male line on the island.2 Branches of it resided in Nantucket and western Massachusetts during the last century, and descendants may be traced throughout the United States.3
It is supposed that the name "Scotchman's Bridge" in West Tisbury derived its name from Robert Cathcart, who may have built it, or from one of his sons.
EDWARD COTTLE.
This early settler of Tisbury was born about 1628, and although a discrepancy exists in the records as to this point4, it is considered more probable that this represents the date of his birth, rather than ten years earlier. He first settled in that part of Salisbury now known as Amesbury, Massachusetts. There is extant a statement made by him of his experiences there which is printed here as the best account of the reasons which caused him to move from that place :-
* "I the sd Edward Cottle obtained among other lands a tract called the Lion's mouth being a neck of land * & built a sufficient house -sd lands possessed many years, which house being providentially burnt together with my goods, I then built a small house att a place called Ja- maica, w'thin same township, w'ch being burnt by the Indians (1668) & not being so able in estate as some other of my associates in said parts was necessitated to try what success I might have by removing to the south-
1He died between Jan. 16 and March 24, 1718. Administration of his estate was granted to the widow Oct. 1, 1719, two months after her remarriage. He died intestate, and his estate was finally divided in 1739, when the youngest child had come of age (Dukes Co. Prob., III, 121).
2The last member of the family to live on the Vineyard was Mrs. Ann Judson (Cathcart) Johnson, widow of Henry C. Johnson and mother of Norman Johnson of Vineyard Haven. She died in 1907.
3Mr. Wallace Hugh Cathcart (Salmon6, Hugh5, Thomas4, Robert3, Gershom2, Robert1) of Cleveland, Ohio, President of the Western Reserve Historical Society, is a distinguished scion of this Vineyard family and a patron of this work.
4Essex County Court Rec., XII, 368; XIII, 72.
42
Annals of West Tisbury
wardly part of New England, hopeing the Eastern parts might in time obtain a settled peace that I might then Return, to my inheritance again: but matters occuring Contrary, I purchased a small settlement at ye town of Tisbury in Dukes County afores'd, & being now grown aged & out of hopes of Ever returning" etc., etc.1
This interesting and valuable statement does not disclose his intermediate place of residence, before coming to Tisbury, but we learn that he removed from Amesbury with his wife Judith and a family of six or seven children and migrated to Nantucket about 1668-9, where he resided about seven or eight years.2 At least four children of record were added to his family there, and then he probably returned to the main- land, taking up a residence at a place called "Mannamoiett." This is probably identical with Monomoy on the southeastern part of Cape Cod. He is mentioned as of that place in 1677, and on March 5, 1677-8, "Edward Cottle & his wife of Manna- moiett, for prophaning the Sabath by quarrelling [were] fined 40s-" with the alternative "to be whipt."3 His stay there was brief, not exceeding three years.
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