USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > The history of New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts : including a history of the old township of Dartmouth and the present townships of Westport, Dartmouth, and Fairhaven, from their settlement to the present time > Part 20
USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Westport > The history of New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts : including a history of the old township of Dartmouth and the present townships of Westport, Dartmouth, and Fairhaven, from their settlement to the present time > Part 20
USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Dartmouth > The history of New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts : including a history of the old township of Dartmouth and the present townships of Westport, Dartmouth, and Fairhaven, from their settlement to the present time > Part 20
USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fairhaven > The history of New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts : including a history of the old township of Dartmouth and the present townships of Westport, Dartmouth, and Fairhaven, from their settlement to the present time > Part 20
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" The first Baptist minister who preached stat- edly in New Bedford was Peleg Burroughs, pastor of the first Baptist church in the then called Dart- mouth church, now Tiverton. This church was formed in 1686, and its worthy pastors suffered much persecution from the unjust laws of clerical taxation in Massachusetts. One of them refusing to give his cow for the tax, as that was needful for his family's sustenance, was imprisoned nine months! Peleg Burroughs was ordained in 1780 over this church, and as some of the members lived in New Bedford, he visited and preached for
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several years at the house of Maltiah Hathaway on the way, and at the house of George East, now owned and occupied by his grandson, Bradford Coggeshall, where his pulpit may still be seen. As he was endowed with much of the power of the Holy Spirit, and used the plain language of the Friends, who only had a meeting-house, they offered him theirs, -a thing very unusual with them; but I cannot find by his journal that he occupied it more than once, though he speaks of uniting with them in silent worship at a school- house. Few, perhaps, living recollect him. He baptized many. Quite a number of the members of this church constituted the first Baptist church in New Bedford, now under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Girdwood."
Early in the last century, the first church and society of Congregationalists was formed at that part of the old township of Dartmouth known as Acushnet. The meeting-house, taken down a few years since, having been long unoccupied and in a dilapidated condition, stood upon the hill about half a mile to the eastward of the village of Acushnet. The old graveyard, however, still re- mains,-one of the most ancient and interesting burial-places in the Old Colony domain.
The first settled minister was the Rev. Samuel Hunt, of whose history I have been able to obtain no information, except what is contained in the inscriptions given below. The old parsonage- house built by Mr. Hunt is still standing, though remodelled of late years. It stands upon an ele- vated spot at the north-west corner of the junction of the County road and that leading into the village
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of Acushnet, and is now owned and occupied by Augustus Harrington. Mr. Hunt was probably one of the old-fashioned agricultural parsons, for I find in the old records of land surveys several large tracts of wood and other lands in his name. But he has long since gone from works to rewards, and the following epitaph upon his tombstone in the old graveyard is all that the "inexorable past" has left to his memory.
" Approach and read -for thou canst read-the lay Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."
" Here lieth ye body of the Revd Samuel Hunt, who was the first ordained minister over the church of Christ in Dartmouth, who died Jany ye 25th, 1729, in ye 48 year of his age."
He was accordingly born in the year 1681. Near by the tombstone bearing the above inscrip- tion is another with the following:
" Here lieth interred the body of Joanna, wife of ye Hon. Ephraim Hunt, Esq., late of Weymouth, youngest daughter of Doctor John Alcock, late of Roxbury, who died March ye 20, 1746, in ye 87 year of her age."
This was probably the mother of the Rev. Sam- uel Hunt, by whose filial piety she undoubtedly made her home at the old parsonage.
The successor of Mr. Hunt was the Rev. Richard Pierce, who also lies in the same old burial-place, and whose epitaph contains all I have obtained of his memory, as follows :
"Memento mori. Here lieth interred the remains of Richard Pierce, A. M., who was born March 29th, 1700, and departed this life March 23d, 1749,
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after having spent 16 years in the work of the Gospel ministry. A gentleman of an unspotted character in the office he sustained, of polite be- haviour, remarkably affable, and kind to all; who lived greatly beloved, and died much lamented. Cujus pulvis in pulvere, dormit, expectans stellam matutinam,"
The next minister of this church was the Rev. Israel Cheever, who is said to have been dismissed in 1759, and was succeeded by Samuel West, D. D., in 1761. The tombstones of the wife and an infant son of Mr. Cheever are in this graveyard, but he removed to some distant quarter, where he died.
Under the ministry of Doctor West, the society was very large, being the only meeting for religious worship, with the exception of that of the Friends, for an extensive district of country. Doctor West was a man of superior abilities and education for that period, but his great eccentricity, combined with absence of mind, rendered him less practically useful in his profession than many of inferior talents and knowledge. Many anecdotes are re- lated of him, some of which are undoubtedly much exaggerated; but among the most authentic are the following :
His first wife, whose name was Experience, was a very tall woman; and he would often remark to his friends, that he had "learnt by long experience what it was to have a good wife."
Upon one occasion he found, after. his congre- gation had assembled and he had got into the pulpit, that he had left home without his sermon.
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He gave out a hymn with a great number of stanzas, and deliberately walked to his house, nearly a quarter of a mile distant, for his sermon, and returned in due time to deliver the same.
Upon another occasion, he left his wife upon the horse-block, and rode off to meeting, supposing her to be on the pillion; and did not ascertain his mistake until he had arrived at the meeting-house door.
Taking a bag of corn from his crib to carry to mill on horseback, he forgot to use the horse, and carried the grist upon his own back, leading his horse the while.
When engaged in an argument, of which he was very fond, and in which he had few equals, he forgot everything else; and he has been known to walk several miles along the road bareheaded, when in conversation with some of his distant neighbors. On one occasion, himself and his brother-in-law, the late Doctor Whitridge, of Tiv- erton, R. I., the father of the late Doctor William C. Whitridge, of this city, entered into an argu- ment early in the evening, by the roadside, and talked all night, the rising of the sun alone warning them of the lapse of time.
Doctor West was born at Yarmouth, Cape Cod, March 3d, 1729-30, O. S. He graduated at Har- vard University in 1754, one of the first scholars of his class, but did not receive his ordination until several years subsequently. In 1765, the country then being in a state of great excitement, owing to the difficulties with the mother country,
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Doctor West turned his attention to politics, and was one of the leading members of the Whig party. He was a member of the convention for framing the constitution of Massachusetts and of the United States. He deciphered the letter of his old classmate, Doctor Church, physician-gen- eral to the army, who was suspected of a treach- erous correspondence with the enemy, which proved to be the case, as he was afterwards arrested and imprisoned.
" Dr. West was chosen an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences, at Philadelphia and Boston. He published two ordination sermons, one election sermon, one at the anniversary (1777) of the landing of the Pilgrims, and others; with an essay upon 'liberty and necessity,' in reply to President Edwards." Blake's Biographical Dic- tionary.
He died at the house of his son, the late Samuel West, M. D., of Tiverton, R. I., in his seventy- ninth year.
So far as the writer is aware, Doctor West ever retained the most friendly relations with his society, and his memory is cherished with much respect by those of our community who knew him personally ; and the pleasant anecdotes of his eccentricities will probably be handed down from father to son for generations yet to come.
He was buried at the old graveyard connected with his meeting-house, and the following is the inscription upon his gravestone :
" Samuel West, D. D., &c., the son of Dr. Sack- field West, by his wife, Ruth Jenkins, was born at
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Yarmouth, C. C., March 3d, 1729-30, O. S. Or- dained in this place June 3, 1761. Relinquished his pastoral charge in June, 1803. Died at Tiver- ton, R. I., Sept. 24th, 1807."
The earliest physician of the old township of Dartmouth, so far as I have ascertained, and who lived in the early part of the last century, was Doctor Daniel Hathaway, whose name is attached to some lines on the death of John Russell, who died in 1727.
Doctor Benjamin Burg died Sept. 18th, 1748, in the fortieth year of his age, and was buried in the old graveyard at Acushnet.
Doctor Elisha Tobey, Esq., died May 10th, 1781, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, a well-known physician of his time. His residence was the old gambrel-roofed house in the north part of Acushnet village, now occupied by his grandson, Elisha Tobey.
Doctor Samuel Perry, a physician of considerable repute, died April 15th, 1805, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His residence was the house now occupied by his grandson, Thaddeus M. Perry, on the east side of the Acushnet road, near the village of Acushnet.
Doctor Samuel Perry, son of the preceding, died of apoplexy at the house of Judge Edward Pope, on Main (now Union) street, Oct. 26th, 1820, aged fifty-seven years.
Doctor Ebenezer Perry, also a son of the elder Doctor Perry, and a physician of extensive practice in New Bedford and vicinity, also died of apoplexy,
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March 18th, 1822, in his sixty-seventh year. His residence was on old Main street, now owned by Messrs. Watson & Manchester, bakers, No. 175 Union street.
Doctor William C. Whitridge, one of the most skilful and distinguished physicians of the present time, died at his residence, 117 Elm street, corner of County street, Dec. 28th, 1857, in the seventy- fourth year of his age .*
The Dialectic Society, formed in 1812, was the earliest literary society in New Bedford of which I have obtained any account. William Sawyer Wall was the first President, who was succeeded in his office by Abraham Shearman, and John Howland. At the first anniversary John Mason Williams delivered an address, and Thomas A. Greene a poem. Their meetings were held at the Friends' schoolhouse then standing on Prospect Hill, near the spot now occupied by the "Bethel."
The " Fragment Society" was a charitable asso- ciation under the direction of ladies, in connection
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* The following petition from the old Dartmouth Records is with- out date, but a subsequent call for a meeting of the town to act there- on bears date September 5th, 1772.
"To the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, the Humble Peti- tion of Doctors Gelston and Randall Praying that a Warrant may be Granted to Summons this Town, to meet to Geather to Declare their Approbation in regard of said Doctors, Erecting a Hospital for In- oqulation on anjalaca Island, if Obtainable or Else where as they Shall think meet, and we as in Duty Bound shall ever pray.
SAMUEL GILSTON ANNANIAS RANDALL"
A warrant for a meeting was subsequently issued, but that portion of the record containing the proceedings is wanting. A small Hos- pital, however, was erected at this period, on a lot a short distance north of the Oak Grove Cemetery. The place was long known as the " Pock-House pasture."
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with which was a school for poor children, who were also supplied with clothing. These institu- tions were supplanted, the former by the Lyceum, and the latter by other charities and the public schools.
That great institution of the North, the Lyceum, has become second in importance to no other as a source of interest and instruction to the mass of the people. It is decidedly popular; rich and poor, the old and the young, attend the lectures, not only with unabated but increasing interest. It has opened a new field of emolument for our scholars and literary men; and we hope in due time to add also our literary women, to exercise their talents, and bring forth from the treasures of thought and study the intellectual pabulum the public appetite so much craves.
The increased desire for knowledge in our people is truly very hopeful and encouraging to the lovers of light, of liberty, and of free institutions. From ignorance alone can oppression come; enlighten the masses, and tyranny must meet its doom. Every encouragement should therefore be given to men of thought and learning to enter this new field of literary labor, particularly in the way of liberal compensation. It is an old truism that no labor is so poorly paid for as that of the brains. We are forgetful, when some talented and eloquent lecturer has received his fifty or one hundred dollars for his performance, how much time and study - how many years of preparation and expense he may have given, to qualify himself for the same.
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No men are more busy during the season than our popular lecturers; thousands of miles do they travel, subject to all the inconveniences and expo- sures during the most inclement part of the year. The fine scholar, -- the man of taste and refine- ment,-is undoubtedly thrown into many scenes of painful experience. Some revelations of per- sonal history in this line would afford a good subject for a lecture, which we shall probably in due time hear. Let us then not be niggard in our remuneration for the services of these devoted teachers of the people, but in a liberal manner hold out inducements for the best talent and culture to continue in the field.
Let us rejoice that there is one place at least where free thought can find expression ; and may the spirit of bigotry or sectarianism be ever kept aloof therefrom.
Although the Lyceum of our time resembles but little that of the grove of Attica, yet with such teachers as Emerson, Parker, Beecher and others, it seems destined to rival even that of Aristotle.
The New Bedford Lyceum is one of the oldest institutions of the kind in this country. The first meeting was held on the evening of November 19, 1828: Stephen Merrihew, Chairman, and Joseph Congdon, Secretary. The Lyceum was organ- ized on the 8th of December following. The first board of officers were Stephen Merrihew, President ; Abner Bourne and Benjamin Robinson, Vice Pres- idents; William C. Taber, Treasurer; William T. Hawes, Recording Secretary ; Thomas Rotch, Cor-
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responding Secretary; Charles W. Morgan, Joseph Congdon, and Thomas A. Greene, Curators; Orville Dewey, John H. W. Page, and Samuel Rodman, Committee of Arrangements. An occasional lec- ture on chemistry, or some other scientific subject, or a debate, was then the order of the day, little dreaming that we were aiding in the establishment of an institution destined to become so flourishing and important.
The Friends' Academy, for many years the only classical institution in New Bedford, was founded by a number of the Society of Friends in the year 1810. The old building, which is now in a fair way to be entirely eclipsed by the massive structure being erected by the Elm-street society of Metho- dists, and other buildings with which it is sur- rounded, stood originally upon the then outskirts of the village, and was one of its most prominent objects. With its plain but spacious dimensions, its symmetrical tower, surmounted by a spire and vane, and extensive grounds, it really presented an agreeable and even tasteful appearance. But this old temple of Minerva, the "classic hill" of our youth, is now in a state of dilapidation; and the spire which once stood so stately gives signs of decay ; the old vane that had boldly faced the brunt of so many storms now hangs drooping from its ancient support; and even the old bell seems to toll out in mournful numbers a requiem to the departed spirit of former days.
That an interest was warmly felt in the cause of education by the founders of this institution, their
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liberal donations sufficiently declare. William Rotch, Sen., contributed the lot of land, and $2000; William Rotch, Jr., $5000; Samuel Rodman, Sen., $2000; Samuel Elam, $1000, and at his decease, in 1812, his rare and valuable library ; Thomas Ar- nold, $500; his son, James Arnold, $1000; and Oba- diah M. Brown, $536; Samuel Rodman, Jr., (1817,) $1000; Benjamin Rodman, (1820,) $450, and a share in the Rhode Island Bridge, $100: amounting to $13,586. Subsequent subscriptions for the pur- chase of a lot of land to enlarge the play-grounds in the rear enclosing the same, and for the erection of fixtures for a gymnasium : Charles W. Morgan, George Howland, Sen., Thomas Rotch, and Joseph Rotch, $100 each; Joseph Ricketson and John Howland, Jr., $50 each; Nathaniel Hathaway, William Swain and Thomas S. Swain, each $25 : in all, $575, -making the whole amount of sub- scriptions $14,161. These sums comprise all the do- nations to the Academy. The act of incorporation was granted February 29th, 1812. The original Board of Trustees were William Rotch, Sen., President; Elisha Thornton, 1st, Thomas Arnold, Samuel Elam, Samuel Rodman, Sen., William Rotch, Jr., William Dean, Abraham Shearman, Jr., and James Arnold. The Trustees at this time were required to be members of the Society of Friends. James Arnold is the only survivor of this board, who was for several years the President of the same. He was succeeded in 1836 by his father-in-law, William Rotch, Jr., who was also the Treasurer, holding both offices until the time of his
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decease, 4th mo., 1850, at the age of 90 years. His successor as President was Samuel Rodman, Jr., who still holds this office.
The first Principal was John Brewer, a gentle- man of high attainments and culture, whose mem- ory is much cherished by his old pupils, (many of whom are or have been among our most active citizens,) as well as by the public generally. Mr. Brewer held his post for about six years, from 1811 to 1817.
From 12th mo., 1813, Thomas A. Greene was an assistant until the close of Mr. Brewer's term ; and 9th mo., 1817, the school was re-opened under the charge of Moses S. Moody and Mr. Greene. Mr. Moody, however, remained but one year, when Mr. Greene became the sole Principal, and was assisted by the late Joseph Congdon. In 1820, 3d mo., Mr. Greene resigned. On the death of Thomas Ar- nold, in 1826, Mr. Greene was chosen to fill the va- cancy in the Board of Trustees. To the unremit- ted personal attention of this gentleman, through a period of nearly forty years, this institution is much indebted. Although not a graduate of any col- lege, our respected fellow-citizen is a good classical scholar, and at the request of the late Principal, A. J. Phipps, Esq., Mr. Greene received from Dart- mouth College, N. H., the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
From the time of Mr. Greene's resignation in the spring of 1820, the Academy was closed until the spring of 1824. During this interval the win- dows were boarded and the library removed to the
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" stone store" of Samuel Rodman, Sen. Standing as it did at that time in an isolated place, the Acad- emy obtained the reputation of being haunted. Early in the spring of 1824, the boards were removed from the windows, letting in once more the light of day, the accumulated dust and cobwebs re- moved from the rooms, and in the month of March the school was again commenced, George Newell, · a graduate of Harvard University, the teacher, who continued his charge for two years. Mr. Newell was an eccentric bachelor, but a good classical scholar, and a kind-hearted man. He afterwards became a physician, married, and died many years since. It affords me much pleasure, as one of his pupils during the whole of his term here as teacher, to bear my testimony to his worth. The period passed at the old Academy when under his charge was the pleasantest of all my school-days. Gen- tlest of teachers! a space of more than thirty-four years has not obliterated thee from my memory. Thy patience and kindness towards me are among the most cherished memories of my early days. Requiescat in pace.
During the Summer term of 1826, Charles Bab- bage, now a Unitarian clergyman, then an under- graduate of Harvard University, was the instructor. He was succeeded at the Fall term of the same year by John H. W. Page, a graduate of that year of Harvard, who continued as Principal until the Spring of 1829. The school during his charge was in a flourishing state, comprising both sexes, which had not previously been the case. Our highly
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respected fellow-citizen, John F. Emerson, Principal of the High School, a graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege, N. H., was the first assistant, succeeded by Alanson Brigham, Charles Devens, Samuel Saw- yer, Oliver Prescott and William H. Sanford. William H. Sanford was the successor of Mr. Page as Principal, and held that station for two years, assisted during the latter part of the time by George W. Warren, of Charlestown. In 1831 William M. Holland became the Principal, but resigned in a few months, having received an appointment as a Professor in Washington College, Hartford, Connecticut. David Mack was his successor in the Winter of 1831-32, who resigned from ill health in 1835. The school was very flourishing during his superintendence. Mrs. Elizabeth Dorr was at this time the teacher of the young ladies' department, a lady of superior qualifications for the situation, and who gave much satisfaction. Henry W. Lee, now Bishop of Iowa, was also an assistant in the English branches dur- ing a part of the time of Mr. Mack's charge of the school. Isaac N. Stoddard succeeded Mr. Mack in 1835, resigning in the Spring of 1837. In 1837, June, John V. Beane became Principal, which of- fice he held for eight years. During the whole of this period Miss Abby Osgood was the teacher of the young ladies' department-a lady highly qual- ified for the office, and much esteemed by her pu- pils as well as by the patrons of the school. Dur- ing a short period at the close of Mr. Beane's charge, the school was confined to the tuition of
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young ladies alone. In October, 1845, Mr. Beane resigned his trust, and was succeeded by Simon Barrows, who resigned in June, 1846. The Acad- emy was then taken for one year by Misses Caro- line and Deborah Weston, accomplished and suc- cessful teachers. William P. Atkinson, a graduate of Harvard University, was their assistant in the classical department. In the Summer of 1847, the Trustees invited Abner J. Phipps, at the time and for several years previously a teacher in Phillips Academy, Andover, to become Principal, who con- tinued at the head of both departments until their separation in 1855, when the male department was continued to him, and the female to Edward A. H. Allen. During the eight years the number of pupils was at times very large for this school; at one term there were one hundred and four pupils, and the average number for the thirty-two quarters was sixty-eight. Mr. Phipps is a gentleman highly qualified for a teacher of youth, possessing that rare quality, the power of maintaining good disci- pline with mildness, and of inspiring in his pupils a love for their studies. He is a graduate of Dart- mouth College, N. H., and is one of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University.
The male department of the Academy is now under the charge of Thomas Prentiss Allen, a grad- uate of Harvard University, and a gentleman of the most enlightened views in the education of youth. The female department has been removed to the commodious and substantial building of brick, erected by the Trustees of the Friends' Academy
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in 1856, upon Morgan street, of which Edward Augustus Holyoke Allen is the Principal, and Misses Sophia Shepherd and Elvira Johnson, as- sistants, all teachers of excellent attainments, and the school is in a flourishing state. The price of tuition to these schools, as well as the private clas- sical school, now under the charge of Mr. Phipps, is one hundred dollars per annum, and the number of scholars limited.
For a large portion of the statistics contained herein, I am under obligations to the last-named gentleman.
Doctor Alexander Read, a physician of high standing, and much respected for his moral excel- lence, was born at Milford July 10th, 1786, and died at his house, corner of County and Union streets, Nov. 20th, 1849, aged 63 years.
Doctor Silas Tompkins, a graduate of Brown University, was born in Little Compton, R. I., and died in New Bedford Dec. 21st, 1853, aged fifty-four years.
" Col. Samuel Willis, Esq.," a man of consider- able note in the early history of Dartmouth, was born in Bridgewater in the year 1688, and died in Dartmouth Oct. 3d, 1763, in the 76th year of his age. His house stood upon the spot now occupied by the mansion of the late John Avery Parker, County street.
" Hon. Walter Spooner, Esq.," an active and in- fluential man of his day, during the period of the Revolution, who was also at one time Chief Jus- tice of the Court of Common Pleas for the County
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