USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Walpole > The story of Walpole, 1724-1924; a narrative history prepared under authority of the town and direction of the Historical Committee of Bi-Centennial > Part 2
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One of the two principal trails can be traced on any modern map. It became one of the earliest traveled highways in America, the main path from Boston to Providence and New York -the Country Road, later the Post Road or Roebuck Road, now Pleasant Street. The other, running more to the north and west, became at an early date the "sawe mill waye" and later the old Sawmill Road, to Walpole Centre; 1 and beyond that, from the Centre to Stop River, the "parth" to Wollomonopoag or Wrentham.
There is a tradition that this old way came down through the present Westwood and thence over what is now North Street. This would have been fully in accord with the common prac- tice of the early Massachusetts settlers of running their roads around the heads of brooks to avoid swampy lands; and further investigation may establish the faithfulness of the tradition. But at an early date a shorter route was in use, ap- proximately the present way through Norwood, over Walpole Street, across Hawes' (now Ellis)
1 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 154.
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Brook, and then somehow getting around the swamps of Wildcat to where the road still crosses the Neponset, below Stetson's Pond. Thence to Stop River as Main and West Streets still run. 1
Dedham Village had not been settled long, we may be sure, before the hardy pioneers pushed out along these trails to spy out the country, which for many miles to the south and west was theirs by grant of the General Court.
As early as the winter of 1647-8 Dedhamites had been prospecting down into Wrentham territory, and were probably instrumental in having added to the original covenant or local by-laws of the town a provision that "Mine or Mines of any sort of Metall or other Mineralls wt so ever" should be the sole property of the discoverer. 2
In May, 1659, "Anthony Fisher senio: & Robt Crosseman giue notice of thier discouery of a mine of Metal, Claymeing the pruelidge of ye Town order to them thier hiers and assignes. lying aboue or westerly of the place wher Naponcet Riuer deuide. part being on the south side of the greatest streame of the said Riuer., pt betwixt the deuision of the said streames. lying in seuerall places thereabout." 3
1 See Lewis, 10, 11. . 2 Ded. Rec., 1636-59, pp. 119-121. . 3 Ibid, p. 159.
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This was clearly Walpole territory. There were then no white residents within many miles, yet the Dedham folk were familiar with the geography of the place.
In 1653, first mention of Stop River appears in the record, William Avery and his "heyers" being granted a parcel of meadow lands "abut- ting vpon and adjoyneing vpon Stopp Riuer neere Meadfield." 1
By this time the existence of a great swamp area covered with a magnificent virgin growth of cedar was known even to the most confirmed homebodies in Dedham Village. Timber had been cut in it. But it was not until 1657 that the town voted that "the Swampe neare Meat- field shall be desposed of in propriatie"-that is, apportioned among the proprietors of the town.2
It was now some twenty-five years since the beginnings of the Dedham settlement, and a material change had doubtless come over the village. The rude dwellings of the early settlers, built of logs or hand-sawed boards and roofed with thatch,3 were giving way to more conse- quential structures. One of the earliest acts of the town had been to authorize the construc- tion of sawpits-"Pitts 12 foote in length 4} foote broad 5 foote deepe"-4 some of which re-
1 Ded. Rec., 1636-59, p. 215. ? Ded. Rec., 1636-59, p. 140.
' Worthington, 13. ‘ Ded. Rec., 1636-59, p. 39.
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mained until one hundred years ago as memen- tos of that early day.1
With the growth of the town the tedious process of sawing lumber out by hand naturally fell into disfavor. And when the rich re- sources of the cedar swamp "neere Meatfield" were thrown open to the townsmen, the problem of converting this vast store of natural wealth into finished boards came to the fore.
To do it by hand was out of the question. It is not surprising, then, to find the following entry in the Dedham records under date of January 4, 1658:
"In refference to the proposition about the saw mill the Towne leue the answer till further consideration." 2
Their "considaration" must have been weighty indeed, for a whole year went by before further action was taken. Then, at a general meeting of the townspeople, on Jan. 3, 1659, the matter of "setting vp of a Sawe Mille" was left to a committee which was empowered to make agree- ments in behalf of the town "With such psons as shall prsent them selues for the setting vp of a Sawe Mille & giue them such encouragemts as they shall Judge meete . ." 3
About the same time the surveying and laying out of the swamp was begun by one Samuel Fisher, who received six shillings for his labors.
1 Worthington, 13. 2 Ded. Rec., 1636-59, p. 147 ' Ibid., 148.
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"Takeing the circumference of the Ceader Swampe" is the way the record sets it down.1
The way from Dedham Village down to the Cedar Swamp-the old Indian trail to which we have had reference-must have been only a crude bridle path, or, at best, a rude woods road over which by utmost diligence a sledge might be drawn. But now, as the townspeople looked out from their limited village and dreamed of a development in this richly- endowed land to the south, they realized that a more pretentious road must be laid out if the supply of timber was to be made fully available. Accordingly, on Feb. 25, 1659, the selectmen deputed Peter Woodward, Nathaniel Coleburne and Thwaits Strickland "to laye out and marke the fittest carte waye to the Ceader swampe" that they could find.2
Meanwhile two of the most prominent men of the town, Joshua Fisher and Eleazer Lusher (whose prominence is further attested by their membership in the exclusive Artillery Company at Boston, later to become the "Ancients"), had come forward with a proposition to erect and maintain an adequate saw mill at the edge of the swamp. After conferences with the committee named by the town, they finally, on March 4, 1659, signed an agreement to have the mill in operation before the 24th of June,
1 Ded. Rec., 1636-59, p. 148. 2 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 3.
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1660. This was the first definite impulse that led to the settlement of Walpole territory:1
The agreement provided that the two pro- prietors were "joyntly & severallie toe builde and erecte a Sawe Mille uppon Naponcett River or any Parte there of wher they shalle Judge most Meete for ye Empvnt off ye Timbur in ye Ceader Swampe allready graunted." They were given certain rights to all timber on swamp lands not previously allotted, "soe long as themselves or their Heyers or Assignes shall mayntain a Sawe Mille there."
The committee agreed that "noe other sawe mille shall be erected or sett up in or uppon that Stream of Naponcett . . . for ye Space of Tenne Yeares," unless by consent of Messrs. Fisher and Lusher.
Not content with granting this ten year monopoly, the committee proceeded to practi- cally guarantee the mill's earnings by arranging that "whatever Pyne or Ceader Timbur ye sd Mille shall cutt for eny off ye Inhabitanc of this Towne into Inch Boarde, yt one Halfe of ye Boarde shall bee alowed to ye Owners of ye Timbur, and ye Reste to ye Owners off ye Mille."
And in the light of our present-day attitude toward "price fixing," it is interesting to note that the mill proprietors were given exclusive rights to fix the price of lumber in the town for
1 Ded. Rec., 1636-59, p. 227.
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a space of two years. Such would proceed naturally from that part of the arrangement providing that "if eny Man shall have Boarde cutt att ye Mille shall sell eny Board at a lower Price than ye Owners usually doe, then its at the Libertie of ye Owners whether they shall cutt eny more for that Pson for ye Space of two Yeares after or not." But after the mill had been in operation two years, if any person of- fered to sell such cut lumber to the mill owners, and they refused to buy, "then ye sd Psons shall be at Libertie to sell as they se Cause. .. . "
About the only protection received by the townspeople was through a provision that if any individual applied to have his timber sawed, the mill must not continue with its own sawing for more than 10 days without making way for the private work. 1
The mill was built at or near the junction of School Meadow Brook and Neponset River 2 some time in the summer of 1659. But just where it was, or whether it was in operation that year, is something that has yet to be de- termined. On Dec. 12 the two proprietors were granted liberty to take certain lands due them in such place "neere the Sawe Mille" as they made choice of.3
1 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 227.
? Lewis, 2. Also see chapter on Industrial Walpole in this volume.
3 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 8.
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We can see now, for the first time, the em- bryonic Walpole-the mill by the river's edge, the rude dam, and the massive wheel. Near the mill perhaps the first humble dwellings of the men who work there. Civilization had come into the wilderness. The chatter of birds now is drowned by the hum of machinery and the rasp of the saw tearing through wood. And from a distance comes the dull thud of axes against the sturdy cedars on the swamp's edge. This is the beginning of a new era.
Soon comes James Fales, from another part of Dedham, to set up a home for himself and his family on Spring or Spice Brook- probably the first man to own his home in what is now Walpole territory.1 He is shortly joined by Thomas Clap, who settled at what is now the corner of Main and Kendall Streets.2 Clap managed to marry himself to Fisher's daughter, in 1662, and perhaps got the saw mill as part of the dowry.3 At any rate, he owned it by the summer of 1664.4 Samuel Parker was another who came in these first years. He built himself an humble dwelling probably not far from the house now numbered 274 Stone Street, at Mas- sachusetts Avenue, at one time the residence of Royal Smith.5 By 1663 Quinton Stockwell was
.
1 Lewis, 3 .. 2 Lewis, 3-4.
3 Clapp Family in America, 107.
4 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 87.
' Lewis, 3-4, also Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 76.
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also here, but only as a tenant. Not long after- wards he moved away and out of our story.1
The road from Dedham Village to the mill had, in the meantime, been ordered laid out- "the fittest way they could finde from the Towne to the Ceader Swampe neere the Sawe mille"- and was to be "mayntayned at the publike charge of the Towne." ? It doubtless was much travelled; and as early as January, 1661, a "complaynt" was made about "a defectiue brige lyinge towards the sawe mill" which was accordingly repaired.3
In the following autumn we see Walpole territory taking on a more definite form by the establishment of Stop River as the easterly bound of the Wollomonopoag or Wrentham plantation-"vpon the river called stoope river vp streame ly till it be about halfe a mille aboue the falles in that river wheare about the parth to sayd place [Wrentham] ly and from thence south ward to Dorchester line. . . . " 4
A road of some sort-by courtesy a "highway" according to the old town records"had been laid out by this time between the saw mill itself and the edge of the swamp, so that timber could be hauled out. And, though there were only four families settled nearby, the prospect of a
1 Lewis, 3, 4. Ded. Rec. 1659-73, p. 224.
2 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 8-9.
3 Ibid., 31.
4 Ibid., 35.
$ Ibid., 42.
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rapid development at and near the sawmill seemed certain enough to warrant a proposition that the "meadowe about the sawmill" not previously disposed of, be sold to those "that are & shall be setled about the sawmill." This the town assented to.1
At the same time was made one of the most important grants of land set off in Walpole territory. Rev. John Allen, minister of the Dedham church, was given 18 acres "vpon the plaine halfe a mille this sid the sawmill on this sid the brook on the right hand of the parth as we goe to the mile [mill]." 2 This included all of present Walpole Common.3
The next few years show no new developments at the little settlement. There is, in the records, a constantly recurring mention of the road from Dedham Village to the Saw Mill, and that from the Centre to Wrentham-the latter, by 1663, become a regularly laid out "highway." 4 They were no longer Indian trails, as in the beginning; and though we must not picture them as modern streets, but rather as the crudest of woods roads, it was possible to transport over them "a Rock stone intended for a mille stone" from near Stop River clear through to Mother Brook, on the far side of Dedham Village.5 There was, we may well imagine, a constant coming and going
1 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 35. 2 Ibid., 73. 3 Lewis, 23. " Ibid., 93.
* Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 76.
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between the mill and the village; supplies being hauled in and sledge loads of lumber going out. Over these roads passed the traffic to and from Wrentham-not a very heavy traffic, to be sure, for there were only 16 families in Wrentham by 1673,1 yet enough to bring some life into the tiny settlement by the mill, and to keep its four families in touch with the outside world.
We know, for instance, that the saw mill folk were posted on political affairs of the day-how King Charles II was demanding that the Massa- chusetts Bay Colony live up to its charter re- quirements, of the deputations and messages that had been sent to him by the General Court, and of how he had demanded that the Puritan custom of limiting the franchise to members of the Congregational churches must now be changed. "All freeholders of competent estate," he desired to be admitted as freemen, that is, as full citizens with the right to vote.
This was of peculiar interest to the people at the mill, for Fales, Clap and Stockwell were not freemen. Clap, though owner of the mill, was a comparative newcomer in the town, and in December, 1661, had been voted liberty to stay in Dedham only "so longe as he cary him selfe as he ought." ?
The General Court of the Bay Colony, fearful of losing the charter, yet unbending in defense
1 Bean's Sermon. 2 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 41.
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of Colonial rights, answered the King's demand by attempting to prove that the non-freemen were perfectly contented with their lot. A high- sounding testimonial to that effect was drawn up in Dedham, as in other towns; and to it Clap, Fales and Stockwell affixed their signatures. That document is preserved in the State Archives. 1
By 1666 "those 4 neighbors at the sawe mill" had become a recognized group in the town.2 Two years later they were referred to as the "Inhabitants at the Sawe Mille." 3
In 1669 we find a newcomer among them, one Caleb Church, whose name will shortly recur, only to pass forever from our story. Lieut. Fisher, in April of that year, gave notice to the selectmen "that Caleb Church is placed as tenant at the sawe Mill: and leaue it to thier consideration." 4 That their consideration would be favorable was a foregone conclusion, for Fisher was a power in the town.
So Caleb Church settled down in the little company here-with Thomas Clap, James Fales, Samuel Parker and (until the summer of 1672) with Quinton Stockwell 5 and their households- expecting, doubtless, a peaceful and quiet exist- ence. But if such were his hopes, he was doomed to disappointment.
1 Mass. Arch., CVI, 110. Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 276-8.
2 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 121. 3 Ibid., 162. 4 Ibid., 171.
5 Ibid., 224.
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CHAPTER THREE
KING PHILIP'S WAR
IN the morning of Thursday, April 13, 1671,
the settlers dwelling near the saw mill be- came greatly alarmed when Indians came run- ning down the road from Stop River and told that they had found the body of a white man, who had been murdered.
The dead man was quickly identified as one who had spent the previous night at the home of Caleb Church and who had left only a short time before to continue his journey to Provi- dence. His name was Zachary or Zechariah Smith.
Suspicion was directed towards a party of three Indians who had come down the Saw Mill Road from Dedham village that morning, and had gone on towards Wrentham shortly after Smith had started in the same direction.
We can imagine the feverish haste of the saw mill people in this emergency. One of them probably made for Dedham to notify the authorities. Others, accompanied by the friendly Indians (who doubtless belonged to the Christian villages at Natick or Ponkapoag),
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must have gone after the three Red Men. At least one of the Indians was taken into custody, and handed over to the authorities of the Col- ony, at Boston.
It is not difficult to realize what apprehension this tragic affair must have caused among the handful of people at the saw mill settlement. The Indians had long been restive under the restraints placed upon them by the white men, and an uprising had been looked for mo- mentarily. This murder was thought to be the first flickering of an impending conflagra- tion.
Certainly the Indians had cause enough to complain. They had been almost uniformly the friends of the Colonists. They had lived in peace with them, had provided them with food for themselves, furs for their trade and lands for their settlements. 1
Of the force of their land-grants to the settlers, it is clear that the Red Men had no true concep- tion. We have seen already how an early agree- ment with Chicatabut was construed as a grant of lands probably far more extensive than that great Sachem understood. And King Philip, who gave with a lavish hand, seems to have taken it for granted that he was giving the white men merely equal rights with the Indians, and not absolute ownership. He complained that
1 Ellis, 19, 20.
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the white man's clearings and fences prevented the Indians from using the lands of which he had in fact disposed.1
But the land question was only one source of misunderstanding and blundering. Others were the inevitable product of a Puritanism which re- garded itself as the chosen instrument of the Al- mighty, armed with the sword of the Lord and Gideon, to bring the Indians to the white man's way of living.
Indians were punished for violation of laws they could not understand, as, for instance, traveling on Sunday.2 Again, the efforts of John Eliot and his co-workers to win the Indians to Christianity, which included as an essential part the segregation of these "praying Indians" in villages under a local government similar to that of the colonial towns, were looked upon by the Red Men as an effort to weaken and break up the tribal relations.3 Finally, and most terrible of all, was the fierce ruthlessness of the Puritans in their wars with the Indians-the Pequot War in particular-and the crowning infamy of the clerico-judicial murder of the great sachem, Miontonomah of the Narragansetts. Miontonomah, long a friend to the English, was arrested and handed over to the Mohawks to be killed in cold blood. "On that day confi- dence in the white man's justice received its
1 Mem. Hist., Boston, I, 249. ' Ellis, 23. 3 Ibid., 24.
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death blow." 1 Yet only such as this could have been expected in a people who saw in the Indians only "Nations of Barbarous Indians and Infidels, in whom the Prince of the Power of the Air did Work as a Spirit." 2
War rumors were hardy perennials. Almost from the day that Philip became Sachem of the Wompanoags, in 1662, he was accused of plot- ting, and was continually nagged about it by the whites.3 "The Heathen People amongst whom we live, and whose Land the Lord God of our Fathers hath given to us for a rightful Possession, have at sundry times been Plotting mischievous Devices against that part of the English Israel" complained Increase Mather.4 The Indian lands, you will note, are God's gift to the Puritans.
So worried were the authorities at Plymouth by those "mischievous Devices" that Philip was called in to give an accounting. The very day before the murder of Zechariah Smith at the saw mill, Philip was forced to agree to have his people give up all their fire- arms.5
Little wonder then, with thoughts of an Indian war on everybody's mind, that the murder of Smith by an Indian on the lonely Wrentham road should have alarmed not only the few
1 Ellis 27-35. 2 Magnalia, Book VII, Ch. VI, p. 41.
' Ellis, 35 et seq. ' Brief History, 1. 5 Ellis, 40.
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settlers at the mill, but those in the other settle- ments as well.
A contemporary historian asserts that the Indian was "vexed in his mind that the design against the English, intended to begin in 1671, did not take place" and that consequently he slew Smith "out of meer malice and spight against them [the English]". 1 As a matter of fact, this murder was not a part of Philip's War, though it doubtless was a contributing cause. And it did have a sequel in that war, as we shall see.
Justice moved quickly in those days. One of the three Indians, a son of Matoonas, noted chieftain of western Massachusetts tribes,2 was placed on trial for his life in Boston late in June. Some of the original documents in the case I have located in the State Archives. As they never have been printed, they are inserted here in their entirety. First is a summons issued to John Everett, a well-known Dedham resi- dent of the day. His part in the affair is not known. 1
To the Constables of Boston or their deputy These require yow in his Majtys name forthwith. to sumon. & require Jnº-Eueret forthth to Make his personall ap- pearance before the Court of Asistants now sitting in Boston to give in his euidence agt [illegible] Indian now on Tryall for murdering of Zechariah Smith an English 1 Hubbard, 7. 2 Ibid.
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man making yor returne. to this Court hereof yow are not to faile Dated in Boston the 23th June 1671. By the Court Edward Rawson secrety person sumoned & Appeared 1
Next we get the testimony of two Dorchester residents, for whom the Indians had been working.
Boston. 26:2:71 1781031
The declaration of Tho: Tylestone and Tymo: ffoster of Dorchester. in refference to the Indians who are Sub- jected be Guilty of the murther of Zachary Smyth. Two Indians that had diuers dayes wrought with vs or one of vs who Said they belonged to Phillip. Sachem at mounte Hope. went from our work the 12 of Aprill instant. one of them before they went away Came to the house of Tymo: Tyleston brining thier howes and kettle. and Said they wer Sent for home. because one of them had a childe dead yet thier Cariage and words made vs doubt of the truth of that reason. for thier Cariage had beene in a Vapoureing manner and Sayeing they would kill Englishman. all one pigion. and they would haue 3. or 4 Squair[s] apiece. and they would Sell Some of them to the peguots 109 apiece and other like words and be- hauiour to the Same purpose. neither was thier carriage at thier going a way ws occasioned by the death of a Childe, they Said they would goe to Provedence, whether allso ws we vnderstand the man that ws killed Sayd he was goe- ing .. one of these Indians Seemed to vs to be about 30 years or vpwards of age. in a blue Indian Coate vper- most, a blacke rounde Crowned hatt the other in a red Coate made with sleeues. . and mettall buttons. and
1 Mass. Arch., XXX, 16Sb.
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red stocking and he had a gunne. he had no hatt. we Sawe not the messenger that Came for them. and they haue not returned to their work according to thier pmise
Thomas Tilston Timothy ffoster
Taken vpon oath to the trueth of this declaration aboue written by the two subscribers. 26:2:71
Before me Elea. Lusher Asist 1
Finally comes the statement of Caleb Church himself-probably the last white man to see Smith alive-which is sworn to before Gov.
Caleb Church
Richard Bellingham. The document has an added interest in the highly original manner in which Wollomonopoag is spelled.
The Declaration of Caleb Church of Dedham saith: that the young man that was found dead upon the Roade between the saw mill belonging to dedham & Willum Anmeckpux, did lye at the house of mee the said Church, the Wednesday night before he was slaine, and did depart from my house well vnto my best remembrance about halfe an houre after there came three Indeans and followed him vpon the Road and one of them was an Indean of a middle size haveing a gun as he passed by seemed to be 1 Mass. Arch., XXX, 166a.
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very surley and presented his gun at the dogs as he passed by, and hurled stones at them and father saith not.
Caleb Church further adeth that the Indean aforesaid had a red strait-bodyed Coat, he further saith that hee heard James Vailes [Fales] say that the Indeans that brought tidings of the english man being slaine he said Vailes was formerly acquainted with all
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