USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 55
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2Kendall, Travels, II, 197.
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Annals of Gay Head
Mr. Jeffers death we do not learn, but it appears that in 1830 fifteen members of the society became affiliated with the Baptist church at Homes Hole.1 Whether this occurrence was precipitated by the lack of a pastor is not known. Two years later they were dismissed to form an independent society, April 8, 1832, with Joseph Amos, a Marshpee Indian, as pastor. He was entirely blind, but is described as "a preacher of considerable ingenuity."2 The first deacons were Simon Johnson and Johnson Peters, and Zacheus Howwaswee, parish clerk. . In 1838 there were forty seven communicants; about sixty in 1861 and 40 in 1870. He supplied the pulpit until his death, after which the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society began (1855) its supervision over the church and gave it financial support. The following named clergymen have since served as pastors : Bray, Sawyer, Charles G. Hatch, 1861-5; George B. Fitts, 1866-8; Gilman Stone, 1869-71; - Snow, 1872-3; Charles Kent, 1874-7;
Messrs. Shields, father and son, 1877-87;
Thompson,
1887; Allen, 1893; Charles Kent; Eng- strom; Louis B. Purmort, 1900-01; William Carpenter, 1902-04; George W. Hawkins (died June, 1906); and Clarence L. Whitman, the present incumbent.
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION
It may be assumed that after the establishment of the Christian worship in this town some means were taken to provide schools for the education of the Indian children. Of the character, number, location or scope of such school or schools we have no record. Doubtless the preachers could read the scriptures in the Indian tongue, and there were probably others of the quicker-witted sort who could do the same. These preachers usually acted as school teachers with the meeting-house for a schoolroom, and they used the Indian bible, primers and catechisms as text books. A visitor, in 1702, wrote that there were here "two schoolmasters chiefly for winter, Josias Hassawit the Anabaptist preacher and Peter Chavin."3 It is not probable that English received much attention, if any, and doubtless what little the children learned was picked up by association with the whites. In 1714, in
1Records, Baptist Church, Vineyard Haven. In 1827 a Sunday school had been organized.
2Barber, Historical Collections of Massachusetts, 148.
3Sewall, Diary, III, 397.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
an assemblage which numbered nearly half the population, inquiry was made "if any one could read English At last only two young men were produced. I set him [Josiah Hosuit Jr] to read in my Psalmbook with red Covers and then gave it him. Promised a testament to the 2d [Abel Sacahcas- sauet]."1 We may believe that theological books, catechisms and sermons, however excellent in design, were not calculated to encourage the spirit of learning in these youthful aborigines, and the lack of proper text books suited to their age and capacity prevented the spread of knowledge among them.
The first schoolhouse of which we have any definite knowledge existed in 1807 in the basement of the Baptist church and was described in the following terms: "Beneath against the hill is an apartment of stone called by no better name than the cellar, in which, a school master keeps the Indian school. The winter season is the only part of the year in which it is kept . . . . Some of his scholars are remark- ably apt and the rest are not below the ordinary level."2 The person who then taught in this forbidding "apartment" was Ebenezer Skiff, the light keeper, who walked a mile daily over the sandhills to fulfill his task. Frederick Baylies, the mission- ary, succeeded him for a brief period about 1815,3 and he was followed by a native, Aaron, son of Cyrus Cooper. Of him a modern authority on local annals writes: "After many years spent in 'furrin parts,' where he learned to speak French and acquired much other information - where he had possessed himself of a set of navigation instruments and many books - Aaron returned home, and his learning soon secured him employment as a teacher."4 Another returning son of Aquinniuh, fresh from traveling "abroad," Tristram Weeks (b. 1800), was the next teacher, and many of the books used by him are still preserved. He received in part payment for his services the timber that then remained in the abandoned Congregational meeting-house.
At this time, as in the past, and until 1870, the school system was under the control of the state, which paid the expenses, in part, for the Indians were wards of the Common- wealth with a commissioner to govern them. The reports 'Sewall Diary, III, 432. Josiah was afterwards a preacher. 2Kendall, Travels, II, 196. $A recent writer in referring to this teacher said: "This pedagogue occupied three chairs and spent much of his time in sleeping" (Vanderhoop, "Gay Head Indians, &c.," in New Bedford Evening Standard). ‘Ibid.,
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Annals of Gay Head
of these commissioners, regular and special, show an unpromis- ing and generally wretched state of affairs in the school. In 1849, for example, there was an inadequate supply of books for reading and writing according to the commissioner. "But the contemptible and beggarly appropriations (from $50 to $100)," says one of their people who had investigated this subject, "continued to be doled out by the anxious authorities, who never allowed their love of enlightenment and their 'interest in the cause of education' to run away with their parsimonious principles. Is it any wonder that little or no creditable work was ever performed by the natives? Those having the funds in charge always recommended the employment of home talent in order to keep the money at home. Here was a fine example of the blind leading the blind."1 About this time young ladies from other towns on the island came to teach, one of whom, Mary Jane Tilton (Mrs. Cottle), is most pleasant- ly remembered for her care and attention to the children under her charge.
The missionary preacher, Rev. Mr. Hatch (1861-5), gave a new impetus to the cause. Those students who had the desire, and those whom he could influence to learn more than was provided in the curriculum, were encouraged to come to his home, where he taught them the higher and more useful branches. His untimely death seemed a blow to the prospects of the scholars, but another, equally as zealous, was found to take up the work, Rev. George B. Fitts of Middleboro. This young man was just out of college (1866), and for nearly three years he was the "guide, philosopher and friend" of these wards of the State, and by the application of methods suitable to the molding of this crude material, the school made a great stride forward.2 Through his influence philanthropic people in Boston became interested in the work, funds were secured for the modern equipment of a schoolhouse, and visits of these influential patrons gave an added encouragement to the pupils. The school term then comprised eight months, and the expense, about $300, was borne, in part, by the state. A special committee of the General Court appointed in 1869, reported favorably on this appropriation as follows:
In view of the peculiar situation of this people and their circumstances we earnestly hope this aid will be continued. In no better way can the
1Vanderhoop, "Gay Head Indians, &c.," in New Bedford Evening Standard.
2Some of his pupils became teachers and secured employment in the southern states. One became his assistant after a course at the Normal school.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
Commonwealth compensate the long years of degradation to which an unjust denial of the rights of citizenship doomed them, than by generous assistance towards the education of their children.1
The recommendations of this committee were adopted and, until 1889, when this state aid was withdrawn, the school had the benefit of twenty years of satisfactory maintenance. Since then the ability of the town to give proper financial support to the school has greatly increased, and a term of nine months is now provided with two teachers. Scholarships have been presented by public spirited friends, and one of the boys has taken a course at the Boston Latin school.
PATHS, HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES
One hundred years ago a visitor to this town stated: "on the Indian lands there are no made roads, and for the most part only horse paths." This condition existed for about fifty years more, when a continuation of the county road from the Chilmark line to the lighthouse was laid out. Its con- struction was without design and unscientific, and soon became a continuous sand rut for lack of repairs. In 1870, when the town was incorporated, the act provided that the county commissioners should forthwith "proceed to lay out and construct a road from Chilmark to the lighthouse on Gay Head, and may appropriate such sum from the funds of the county as may be necessary to defray the expense of the same." It was further provided that it should be maintained for five years by the state. This legislation resulted in the construction of the present and only public highway in the town, which since 1875 has been a town charge.
THE GOVERNMENT SERVICES
LIGHTHOUSE ESTABLISHMENT
Only one lighthouse exists in the town, but it is of such an important character that it warrants extended consideration. It was the first one erected on the Vineyard by the general government, and was authorized by an act of Congress approved July 16, 1798, which provided for its construction "As soon as urisdiction of such land at Gay-head . . . . shall have been ceded to the United States." This formality was accomplished
1Senate Report, No. 14, 1870, p. 7.
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Annals of Gay Head
Feb. 22, 1799, by the General Court of this state,1 and a tract of two acres and four rods passed into the possession of the government. The tower first built was of wood, forty feet high, and the lantern, supported by eight large pine beams,
LIGHTHOUSE, GAY HEAD.
was reached by ladders. The light, which was a white flash, was produced by fourteen lamps burning sperm oil, and it is a part of the tradition of the place that there was quite as much smoke as flame resulting from the combustion of this
1Laws of Massachusetts, II, 847. The original proclamation of President Adams concerning these acts is preserved at the lighthouse.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
illuminant. The keeper was often obliged to wear a veil while in the tower, and the cleansing of the smudge on the glass lantern was no small part of his job. This wooden tower, which had been reduced ten feet in height, lasted sixty years, and the site of it, nearer the brow of the cliffs than the present one, can be seen yet in a circular elevation of the soil. The second and present tower was built in 1858-9, and is of brick construction sixty feet high.1
This new lighthouse was placed in the class of the first order and equipped with one of the most powerful illuminators on the Atlantic coast. The compound lens, made by Fresnel, a French expert, consist of 1,003 prisms of the finest cut and polished crystal glass, scientifically arranged in three sections.2 This results in a refraction of the rays of light from the lamp above and below to the middle of "bull's eye" whence they are projected horizontally in concentrated power. The il- luminator is a lamp with five concentric wicks, the largest being five inches in diameter, and it consumes two quarts of oil an hour, or about seven and a half gallons on the longest nights. The distinctive flash effect was retained, but a red one was added. Every ten seconds a white light flashes three times and the fourth is red. This magnificient light sweeps the sea for twenty miles with its great luminous radiants majestically revolving around the tower, affording a sublime spectacle to the beholder standing beneath. A famous writer of a half century ago describes the effect of this during his visit, in the following language: "Of all the heavenly phenomena that I have had the good fortune to witness - borealis lights, mock suns or meteoric showers - I have never seen anything that in mystic splendor equalled this trick of the magic lantern of Gay Head."3
Like a phantom pale, the Gay Head light, 'Gainst the blackening cloud of the squall stands out. The note of the surf on Menemsha Bight Murmurs its warning of "Ready! About!"
This light is visited annually by thousands of people as one of the "sights" of the Vineyard.
1The work of construction at this remote point tested the capacity of the contractor. It required eight pair of oxen to transport the iron deck across the island and hoist it into position. In 1903 a new keeper's house, costing $10,000, was built to replace the old one shown in the illustration.
2This cost the government $16,000.
3Porte Crayon, Harper's Magazine, (1860) Vol. XXI.
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Annals of Gay Head
The first keeper was Ebenezer Skiff 1 (1799-1834), followed by his son, Ellis Skiff. He was succeeded in turn by Henry Robinson, John Hayden, Samuel Flanders (a picture of whom appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1860), Ichabod N. Luce, Calvin C. Adams, Horatio N. Pease, William Atchison, Edward Lowe and Crosby L. Crocker (1886), at present in service.
THE POST OFFICE
Until 1873 this town was served from the Chilmark office at Squibnocket, and on Feb. 14 of that year Isaac D. Rose was appointed the first postmaster of the newly-established office. He served eleven years, and was succeeded by William A. Vanderhoop, Dec. 11, 1884; Paulina A. Vanderhoop, Nov. 14, 1893, and Mary A. Cleggett Vanderhoop, Aug. 13, 1907, the present incumbent.
LIFE SAVING STATION
A fully equipped station of this service was established at Gay Head and placed in commission Dec. 20, 1895, with a crew composed of native surfmen, and the crews have generally been of Indian extraction. The record of the station is that of great efficiency and notably brave work.
MISCELLANEOUS ANNALS
NOTABLE WRECKS
This headland has been the scene of many marine disasters since its settlement by the English, a line of reefs making out far into the Sound, hidden from view, and strong currents setting unwary mariners onto the Devil's Bridge, to be dashed and broken in pieces by the pounding of the waves.
In the night of Jan. 14, 1782, occurred a disaster laden with sorrow for the people of the Vineyard, as the master and more than half of the crew were residents here. The vessel had started from Edgartown under favorable weather conditions, but a severe storm of wind and snow arose towards night and she was driven ashore on the reefs about two miles from the
1The Boston Marine Society recommended Capt. Silas Daggett of Homes Hole as keeper "should he find it for his interest to surrender other objects of business to this alone" (Records, Aug. 6, 1799).
3I
History of Martha's Vineyard
cliffs. A contemporary poetic threnody of twenty stanzas thus tells, in part, of what befell them.
The ship was split from stem to stern, Which filled their hearts with supprise, When these poor mortals came to see Supprising death before their eyes.
Twelve men hung to the quarter deck, If I do rightly understand,
And nine of them was drowned, The other three got to land.
There were 15 poor souls in all That the rageing ocean proved their grave I hope they did for mercy call Though but little warning seemed to have.
It is a little difficult to follow the mathematics, to say nothing of the metre of this rhyme, but later verses seem to say that twelve lost their lives.1 Matthew Butler, Samuel Wiswall, Bayes Norton, Samuel Fish, Jethro Norton, and Isaac Bunker were of Edgartown. Four were buried at Edgartown and the rest in Chilmark.
The wreck of the City of Columbus, which occurred in the early hours of the morning of Jan. 18, 1884, was the most appalling in the annals of this headland. The vessel was proceeding from Boston to Savannah, and the night was un- usually clear with the moon shining, though a heavy wind was blowing; the air was bitterly cold, and the seas were high. As she was passing the Devil's Bridge, about 3:45 A.M., the man at the wheel either misunderstood an order for a change of course or a wrong order was passed, and in a moment she was fast on the treacherous ledge of rocks and careened to port. The sea was soon making a clean sweep of the larger part of the deck. For some reason those on duty in the lighthouse did not discover the stranded vessel until 5 A.M., when the keeper of the light (Horatio N. Pease) called for assistance. Meantime, as the unfortunate passengers, aroused from their sleep, came upon deck they were washed off into the raging surf and either drowned or killed by their injuries. Four men succeeded in reaching the shore in a ship's boat about 7 o'clock, and one of these died from exposure almost immediately after landing. The volunteer crew of Gay Headers, consisting of
'This " poem" was evidently written by a survivor. The author of this book has a copy made in 1842 by Betsey Burdsall for "Jane Randal, one of these fatherless children." Parson Thaxter states that fourteen were lost.
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Annals of Gay Head
Thomas C. Jeffers, in command, Henry H. Jeffers, Raymond Madison, Thomas E. Manning, Charles Stevens, Simeon Divine, and John O. Anthony, could make no headway in launching their whaleboat, as it was stove up in their efforts to clear the breakers, and they barely escaped drowning. At about nine o'clock a life-boat was successfully launched by a crew of Gay Head Indians, consisting of Joseph Peters captain, Samuel Haskins, Samuel Anthony, James Cooper, Moses Cooper, and John Vanderhoop. After battling an hour they were able to bring seven men ashore rescued from the rigging. A second crew manned it, all Indians, except the captain, James T. Mosher. They were Leonard L. Vanderhoop, Thomas C. Jeffers, Patrick Divine, Charles Grimes, and Peter Johnson. They had rescued thirteen men when the U. S. Revenue Cutter Dexter arrived to render assistance, having been called to the scene by telegraphic messages. There were passengers still in the rigging, but many had become numbed and frozen, and had dropped off exhausted, into certain death. Lieutenant John U. Rhodes commanded a rescuing party in one of the ship's boats and performed feats of heroism that made his name famous in the story of this terrible wreck. It was impossible to effect a landing on the vessel or get very near to it owing to the danger of being battered to pieces in the heavy seas. The only way men could be helped was to induce them to jump overboard and be picked up. But two men remained in the rigging, and both were fast losing strength. Rhodes, with a line about him, jumped into the chilling, surging waters and swam for the wreck. Some wreckage struck him and he sank, was pulled out, taken to the Dexter, revived, and his wound dressed. He insisted on making the second attempt and this time he succeeded. The last two living souls on the unfor- tunate ship were aided in their leap for life by him and brought to safety. "For heroic exertions at the imminent peril of his own life" the Massachusetts Humane Society presented a gold medal to him, and their silver medal was given to each member of the Gay Head crews.1 The toll of the sea from this unnecessary wreck was one hundred and twenty-one souls, and is the greatest disaster in the history of the place.
1The Squibnocket lifeboat of the Massachusetts Humane Society was brought over before the end of the efforts at rescue. She was manned by Eddy C. Flanders, captain; Benjamin F. Mayhew, E. Elliott Mayhew, William Mayhew, Cyrus C. Look and Seth Walker. They did excellent relief work, and were awarded a bronze medal by the Humane Society.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
TAVERNS
There have been no "public houses" in this town worthy of record, as the transient visitor is infrequent except in summer, and private families have always furnished temporary lodging and otherwise cared for the traveler who remains at Gay Head over night.
CEMETERIES
The native population of Gay Head preserved the tra- ditions of their race in the matter of burials, although the town has not proved to be rich in the funeral memorials of its dead. Few graves, which have accidentally been opened, have yielded up much archæological treasure. Small articles, such as stone fishing implements, arrow points, corn, and to- bacco, have been found buried with the Algonquians of Gay Head. Naturally they had no well-defined grounds set off for their burials, as this was not an Indian custom, but there is a considerable collection of graves on Abel's neck, and a tradition is that Hiacoomes, the first Indian preacher of the Vineyard, is here interred. This seems quite unreasonable, as he was a resident of Chappaquiddick. On the old Con- gregational meeting-house lot are many graves, and on Mele- tiah's hill, in the rear of the site of the Baptist meeting-house, may be seen still more. Most of them are marked with rough stones, and the inscriptions are nearly obliterated. In fact, scattering memorials of the dead are to be noticed all over the peninsula.
The modern burying ground contains the remains of the Indians of this day and generation, as well as some of the white race, and has no special historic interest.
MARITIME TRAFFIC
As showing the extent to which this great marine highway guarded by Gay Head is used the following record, kept by an official of the lighthouse in the year 1870, will testify: number of craft seen passing, 36 ships, 160 barks, 1,541 brigs, 21,642 schooners, 1,989 sloops, and 1,102 steamers, making a total of 26,470 vessels of all classes and rigs.
INDUSTRIES
The principal occupation of the residents has always been the fisheries, and it continues to be so, individually and
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Annals of Gay Head
collectively, for the town derives some income from licensing fish traps and pounds. In addition to this is the shipping of clay from the cliffs, which has continued for nearly twenty years in the hands of the Gay Head Clay Co. and the Gay Head Fire Brick Co., as lessees of the town rights, as previously noted.
STONE BOWL.
EXCAVATED AT GAY HEAD IN 1907.
35
.
ANNALS OF GOSNOLD THE ELIZABETH ISLANDS
ANNALS OF GOSNOLD THE ELIZABETH ISLANDS
FORMATION OF THE GROUP
The chain of a dozen islands, large and small, running westward from the mainland of Cape Cod at Woods Hole, between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, constitute the Elizabeth Islands, known now as the town of Gosnold, an integral part of the County of Dukes County. These islands, varying in size from a few acres to several thousand, now bear the following names, beginning at Woods Hole and going westward in sequence: Nonamesset, Uncatena, Monohansett, Naushon, Weepecket, Pasque, Nashawena, Penekese, Gull, and Cuttyhunk. They have been, since the first purchase by Mayhew in 1641, a part of the political life of Martha's Vine- yard and this county, at first forming one of the outlying portions of the Manor of Tisbury, later of Chilmark and for the past quarter of a century as an independent township.
POPULATION
There are but few references at hand for computing the number of persons living on these islands before 1800, and none prior to the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1761 it was stated that there were "near twenty families" here, and we can estimate that this represents about ninety souls. In 1777 there were reported seventeen families and "about 100 souls" (Mass. Arch., CXVII, 758). The census of 1790 gives 13 on Cuttyhunk, 10 on Nashawena, 21 on Pasque, and 59 on Naushon, a total of 103.
No further records of the separate enumeration of people resident here until after its incorporation as a township exist. The decennial censuses of the United States show the popula- tion of Gosnold as follows: In 1870 it was 99; in 1880 it was 152; in 1890 it was 135; in 1900 it was 164. The state census of 1905 showed a population of 161 in the entire group.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
DISCOVERED AND NAMED BY GOSNOLD, 1602
The voyage of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold and his land- fall at Nomans Land in the spring of 1602 has been narrated in this history (Vol. I, pp. 59-65), and it will only be necessary to refer to his landing and settlement on the westernmost of the group, now called Cuttyhunk. Leaving Nomans Land on May 24, 1602, the "Concord" sailed past Gay Head, which was "doubled," in their course, "and then came into a fair sound where we rode all night." This was the Vineyard Sound. "The next morning," the journalist continues, "we sent off one boat to discover another cape that lay north- west of this, between us and the main, from which were a ledge of rocks a mile into the sea, but all above water and
Elizabethas fle
EARLIEST MAP OF THE ELIZABETH ISLANDS, 1610. FROM THE ARCHIVES OF SIMANCAS, SPAIN.
without danger."1 Sailing around this they anchored in "one of the stateliest sounds," which was named by them Gosnold's Hope.2 "This island," near which they dropped anchor, wrote the journalist, "Captain Gosnold called Elizabeths Isle," the one now known by its Indian name, Cuttyhunk.3 This little Elizabeth's Isle, has thus survived three centuries as one of the landmarks of the early voyagers, and spread itself in the plural form over the entire group.
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