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 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
Caleb Church
Taken vpon oath to the truth of this decleration above written by the subscriber 26 2: (mo:th): 71
Ri: Bellingham Govr.1
The scant evidence preserved in these quaint documents points to the Indian in the red coat as the culprit. He was speedily found guilty and condemned to death. "The . . . Indian . yt shott ye man was hangd and his head sett vpon a pole on ye gallowes", wrote Rev. Simon Bradstreet of Newport in his diary.2
The gallows were on Boston Neck, near present-day Washington and Dover streets, and there the Indian's head remained for at least six years, a gruesome reminder to all his people that the white man's way would pre- vail.3
From this time on the people at the mill were faced with the prospect of an Indian war. The Dedham town records tell us how the authorities
1 Mass. Arch. XXX, 167.
2 N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., VIII, 328.
3 Drake, II, 79.
[ 37 ]
٢
£
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
ordered "the great Gunn now in Towne wth the Carriage there vnto belonging" to be imme- diately set in "repayer. fitt for service . . . " 1 and of how search was instituted for the town's supply of ammunition, to learn "what remayn and whear it is." 2 The Dedham military com- pany, being found "destitut of Comission offi- cers" was provided with some by the General Court.3
Meanwhile a newcomer, though only a tran- sient, appears at the saw mill settlement in the person of one "Frances Joanes." Jones took up residence with Caleb Church, who bound him- self in £30 "good Countrey payemt" to see that this additional member of the community would be of no charge or trouble to the town.4
Jones' presence was doubtless welcomed by all those at the mill, for it meant another man to join in the defence in event of an attack. But he probably did not remain long; for Caleb Church soon after departed from the tiny isolated community to the less exposed town of Watertown, where he blossomed out as a grist mill proprietor.5 Jones disappeared from the records at the same time.
Late in June, 1675, the long impending con- flict began, Maj. Thomas Savage and Capt.
1 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 205.
2 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, p. 8. 3 Bay Col. Rec., IV, Pt. 2, p. 567.
4 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 210. 5 Mass. Arch., LXVIII, 236.
[38 ]
KING PHILIP'S WAR
Thomas Brattle, commissioners from Massa- chusetts, who planned to negotiate with King Philip, found the bodies of two men in the road near Swansea on June 24. It was an unmis- takable sign. They turned horse and rode back.1 The struggle now known as King Philip's War was on.
We turn now to the more easterly of the two main Indian trails that traversed what is now Walpole territory. This rude path, which we have previously noted, was the Country Road, now Pleasant Street. In spite of its humble character as compared with modern roads, it was, at the time of Philip's War, the main way from Boston to the Wompanoag country and Rhode Island; though the fact of Zachary Smith's having chosen the Saw Mill way for his journey to Providence proves that the western route was even at this early day coming into favor. But it was chiefly over the Country Road that the coming and going of troops, the stealthy passage of wandering bands of hostile warriors, the clash of actual conflict and the war-whoops of the braves were to disturb the primal quietude in the succeeding months.
Notice of the outbreak of hostilities reaching Boston, the General Court, on the same day, June 24, ordered "100 able souldjers forthwith impressed out of the severall Towns" 2 and this
1 Ellis, 60.
? Bodge, 46.
[39 ]
---
on all -
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
company "mounted as dragoons" 1 marched out of Boston two days later with another troop of horse.
It was dark before they reached Dedham; and, as fate would have it, there came an eclipse of the moon, "which occasioned them to make an Halt, for a little Repast, till the Moon recovered her Light again." 2
Some of the soldiers, the historian tells us, "would not be persuaded but that the eclipse falling out at that Instant of Time was ominous." Some professed to be able to discern "an un- usual black Spot" in the centre of the Moon, which looked like an Indian scalp. Others saw an Indian bow.
But they managed to get over their fears, and "after the Moon had waded through the dark Shadow of the Earth, and borrowed her Light again, by the Help Thereof the two Companies marched on towards Woodcoks House thirty Miles from Boston, where they arrived next Morning." 3
This night march to Woodcock's tavern, which stood a mile north of the present village of North Attleboro, opposite a small cemetery,4 took the troops over the old trail, and so makes the expedition part of our Walpole history.
The outbreak, once started, spread rapidly.
1 Bodge, 47. 2 Hubbard, 17.
3 Ibid., 18.
4 Ellis, 63, note.
[ 40 ]
١٢
KING PHILIP'S WAR
The Narragansetts, Philip's neighbors to the south, came in to help him; and the Nipmets or Nipmucks, in the central and western parts of Massachusetts, likewise joined.
Of the latter was the chieftain Matoonus, father of the young man who had been hanged and beheaded for the murder of Zachary Smith. Burning with long-nourished resentment against the whites, Matoonus now flung himself and his followers into the war and fell upon the town of Mendon, July 14. Several of the inhabitants were killed and a fresh alarm was spread through the settlement. This was the first attack of Philip's War made within the bounds of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1
The melancholy sequel, Matoonus' capture and death, is contained in this entry in Sewall's diary, a year later (1676) :
"July 27. Sagamore John [a friendly Indian] comes in, brings Mattoonus and his sonne pris- oner. Mattoonus shot to death the same day by John's men." ? . It was simply legalized murder, as had been the killing of Miontonomah many years before.3
On December 9, 1675, a powerful force was mustered on Dedham Plain for operations against the Narragansets. Among its men were at least two who were afterwards to become
1 Hubbard, 31. Mendon Annals, 62 et seq.
? Sewall, I, 15. Hubbard, 101. 3 Ante 32.
[ 41 ]
£
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
prominently identified with Walpole,-William Robbins, who was to become a resident near the saw mill in 1692,1 and Samuel Foster,2 who in 1725 was to buy part of the former Indian reser- vation near present Plimptonville 3 and become a settler there.
Before the troops left Dedham for a march through Walpole territory to attack a Narragan- sett fort near Kingston, R. I., they were informed by proclamation "that if they played the man, took the Fort, & Drove the Enemy out of the Narragansett Country ... they should have a gratuity in land besides their wages." 4
But war-time promises are readily made and not so readily carried out, as we in our day know; and most of the men who did the fighting were dead before these Narragansett land grants were made. In 1740 lands in Township No. 4, now Greenwich, Mass., were given to William Robbins of Walpole, son of the pioneer, and to John Foster, also of Walpole, son of Samuel. 5
Joseph Hartshorn, who was to become a Walpole resident about 1694 (coming from Read- ing, whence came also William Robbins), was another veteran of this war, serving in a cam- paign in the Connecticut Valley.6
And, finally, Walpole's own James Fales left
1 Lewis, 36. Ded. Hist., Reg. VIII, 106. : Bodge, 340.
Lewis, 18, 19. ' Bodge, 180. Sylvester, II, 278.
· 5 Bodge, 340. · Bodge, 240, 259-61.
[ 42 ]
KING PHILIP'S WAR
his home by the mill and saw service against the Indians in 1676.1
The destruction of Narragansett fort, January, 1676, scattered the Indians, but bands of warriors continued to roam the woods. Seventeen persons were killed and 32 houses were burned in an at- tack on Medfield, February 21. And in June In- dians were seen near Wrentham, and a force was ordered to "Rainge the woods" after the enemy .?
Early in July the eminent judge, Samuel Sewall, noted in his diary that "not many miles from Dedham" a party of friendly Indians led by two whites had set upon the enemy, "slew 5 and took two alive." 3
Later in the same month, friendly Indians re- ported having seen a band of Indians "roving up and down the Woods about Dedham . . . almost starved for want of victuals." 4 A party of settlers, accompanied by Indian allies, set out after these unfortunates, killed many and took 50 prisoners, together with a goodly store of wampum and powder.
"That which encreased this Victory," says Hubbard, "was the Slaughter of Pomham, who was one of the stoutest and most valiant Sachims that belonged to the Narhagansets." One of Pomham's sons, "a very likely Youth, and one whose Countenance would have bespoke Favour
1 Huntoon, 66. Bodge, 450.
' Sewall, I, 15.
' Mass. Arch., LXIX, 18a.
‘ Hubbard, 100.
[ 43 ]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
for him, had he not belonged to so bloody and barbarous an Indian as his Father was," was among the captives. 1
This poor lad, with the others, was either hanged, or condemned to the worse fate of slavery. Pomham, or Pumham, had been the Sachem of Shawamet, in and about Warwick, R. I., and one of the first chieftains of the Narragansetts to go to Philip's assistance.2
Just what the little band of settlers at the saw mill did during these stirring days when Indians were prowling in the nearby woods, is difficult to determine. The people of Wrentham petitioned the Governor and Council March 18, 1675-76, for leave to withdraw, and Capt. Daniel Fisher of Dedham was authorized to give them as- sistance in removing.3 All but two of their dwel- lings were afterwards burned by the Indians. 4 They removed their goods in carts by way of the Wrentham and saw mill paths to Dedham vil- lage.5 It is not at all improbable that the settlers at the saw mill went along with them, if indeed, they had not withdrawn before. Yet these hardy souls may have remained here in the wilds, far re- moved from neighbors, working with their mus- kets close at hand, determined to stand their ground and save their property.
1 Hubbard, 100. Old Indian Chronicle, 276-78. True account, 7, 8.
2 Drake, III, 73, 76. 3 Mass. Arch., LXVIII, 168.
Bean's Sermon, 14.
5 Historical Address, 32.
[ 44 ]
CHAPTER FOUR
FROM HAMLET TO TOWN
F-TAD Philip's War ended the Indian troubles in Massachusetts Bay Colony, it is prob- able that the town of Walpole would have been born long before 1724. But that struggle was a prelude to a series of conflicts which kept New England in arms for nearly a century and sent an oft recurring chill of apprehension into every outlying settlement in the land.
Walpole, true enough, was not within the zone of actual conflict, but it still was sufficiently exposed to attack from roving bands of Indians to possess no very alluring prospect for settlers. There were grave fears of danger in places far more populous and less open to sudden assault than was the tiny settlement by the saw mill.
Some idea of the state of the public mind may be obtained from this entry in Judge Sewall's diary on Sept. 14, 1685: "Coming home, hear of Meadfield Mill being burnt .
. A sus- pected Indian is put in Prison. It seems the people were in Arms last Sabbathday at Ded- ham, somway knowing of Meadfield Mill ." 1
1 Sewall, I, 95-96.
[45]
יוד
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
Much of Massachusetts was still a wilderness, and it would have been possible for hostile tribes from the north and east to penetrate to settlements near Boston without warning. Con- sequently, at the opening of the first of the long series of French and Indian Wars, in 1690, be- cause the settlers of all outlying towns were fearful of attack, and could not tell friend from foe among the Indians, all friendly Indians were ordered to the Natick and Ponkapoag reserva- tions, where, to insure their remaining, a roll- call was ordered for every morning.1
· A like step was taken 15 years later, to remain in effect "during the present Hurry and Dan- ger" (Queen Anne's War), and funds to provide subsistence for the concentrados were furnished by the General Court.2
But it was no easy matter to herd the Red Men on these reserved lands, and compulsion was at times needed. It was perhaps on one of these occasions that Lieut. Barachiah Lewis of Dedham proceeded against the Indians 3 who remained on their former favorite camping grounds in East Walpole. A statue to Lewis' memory now stands at the junction of Plimpton and East Streets, near the place where he made his drive against the refractory natives.
It is not strange that under conditions such
1 Mass. Arch., XXX, 315a. 2 Mass. Arch., XXVIII, 11.
3 Statement by Isaac Newton Lewis.
[ 46 ]
--
£
1
FROM HAMLET TO TOWN
as these, with a threat of danger constantly hanging over all who dwelt there, the settlement at the saw mill did not take on any consequen- tial growth until after the close of the 17th century.
Yet there were hardy souls unafraid of the wilderness and its dangers; and of them we find Joseph Kingsbury, settling down as one of the saw mill group, some time before 1679. He, the two Fales, and Thomas Clap were instructed in
Emmy to agelip
James Fales
that year by the town to do their road work "about thatwas Quints House and the other Defetiue plais adjoyning to the Saw Mill." 1
Many a year was to pass before others were added to the group, which now, after 20 years, still numbered only four families-Fales, Clap, Parker and Kingsbury. "Quints House" prob-
Chomage Chap
ably refers to the house once occupied by Quin- ton Stockwell, who had departed from the settle- ment seven years before,2 and which appears to have remained idle in all that time. An attempt by Isaac Bullard, its owner, to lease it, had been
1 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 90. 2 Ded. Rec., 1659-72, 224.
[ 47 ]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
blocked by the authorities.1 The Dedham vil- lagers evidently preferred to keep their own settlement as close-bounded as possible for greater protection of the whole in times of danger; and complaints were heard in town meeting that an old regulation prohibiting build-
Quitin gfor Groall
ing houses more than a mile and a half from the meeting house was being violated.2
A prospective Walpole resident was made when Ezra Morse came down to Ed Hawes Brook and built a saw mill there in 1678.3 This stream, now called Ellis Brook,4 was after- wards for a time Walpole's northern bound, and is now a part of Norwood. Thereafter the saw
Hava Money
mill in which we are chiefly interested became the "vper Saw mill"5 as distinguished from the "lower saw mill" of Morse.
In the early 90s William Robins, or Robbins, came from Reading and joined the saw mill group,6 and two years later his comrade-in-arms of Philip's War, Joseph Hartshorn, settled on
1 Ded. Rec. 1659-72, 224.
: Worthington, 14. 3 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 70.
4 Lewis, 40. 5 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 158.
6 Lewis, 36. Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 217 and 225.
[ 48 ]
m
THE ROBBINS HOUSE, on Original Robbins Farm (1710)
-
2
2
-
FROM HAMLET TO TOWN
adjoining lands.1 Thus the saw mill settlement remained until the new century.
In 1705 a step was taken by the Dedham proprietors which assured a rapid development of the southern part of the town. The few grants that had been made previously in that section had affected only a relatively small part of the lands. Practically all of Walpole terri- tory, including that between the Neponset River and Dorchester line, from present Plimp- ton Street to South Walpole, remained the un- divided common property of the Dedham towns- people. But it was now decided that these lands should be surveyed and divided propor- tionately among the proprietors.2 This was done, but with such delays attendant upon de- ciding upon the method of procedure and diffi- culties in getting the proprietors together, that the actual allotment-known in history as the "Sawmill divident"-was not completed ' until long after Walpole became a town.3
Even before the "Sawmill divident" was decided upon, complaint had been made that the road be- tween the saw mill and the cedar swamp was not properly laid out; 4 and when active steps towards the land allotments were taken, and the impor-
1 Lewis, 36. Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 217 and 225.
: Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 336-339.
3 Records of allotments are in Volume IV of the Dedham Rec- ords. See also Ded. Rec., 1707-1749, 11, 12.
' Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 306.
[ 49 ]
3
7
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
tance of a proper road became of interest to a larger number of the townspeople, the whole length of highway from the Dedham end through present Walpole Centre, across the Neponset, and thence in a circuit "to the great shaving place at the seder Swamp" was laid out in proper fashion. 1
When the "Sawmill divident" lands were turned over to individual owners, new life was immediately infused into the whole southern part of Dedham. Many new families came in; and with the increase in population an added consideration was given to the section in its relations with the older part of the town. William Robins was chosen town constable in 1708.2 In 1714, Joshua Clap was made con- stable and Joseph Hartshorn a surveyor; 3 and in the next year Ebenezer Fales was similarly honored.4 From time to time other familiar names appear. The old saw mill settlement was beginning to come into its own.
By 1715 a fulling mill probably was in opera- tion at the Centre. Sewall, making one of his journeys to Bristol, tells of dining at Dedham and then passing "by the Fullingmill, at the Houses, Bait. Get to Wrentham about Sun- set." 5 It seems likely that the "Houses" were those along the old Saw Mill Road. In another two years the march of progress is marked by
1 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 306.
3 Ibid., 65. 4 Ibid., 73.
2 Ded. Rec., 1707-1749, 10 5 Sewall, III, 56.
[ 50 ]
THIE GOSS HOUSE, North Street, Walpole (1712)
ba
FROM HAMLET TO TOWN
the presence of a bridge over Spring Brook, the present crossing of Main Street. 1
This development at the saw mill was in no sense a development of Dedham Village. The new community grown up in this former wilder- ness was isolated, hence centred upon itself. Many, if not a majority, of its people were not Dedhamites by birth or by family connection. Geographically and socially, the saw mill settle- ment was a distinct and separate community, and as such its separation from Dedham Village was the next logical step forward.
Even back in the days when there were only three or four families at the mill, their situation had been recognized as wholly different from that of the rest of the townspeople. It was voted that "Those men belonging to the Saw Mill ... are to pay to the reuerend Mr. John Wilson two third parts of thier rates . . . and the other third part to Mr. Will Adams pastor." 2 John Wilson was the minister at Medfield, whose church was much nearer to the saw mill folk than that at Dedham Village, for the sup- port of which they were taxed. And so they were excused from paying all but a third part of their church assessment, so that they might contribute to the Medfield church, which of necessity they attended. Likewise they were
1 Lewis, 49. Ded. Rec., 1707-1749, 92, 100.
2 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, 95.
[ 51 ]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
exempted from school charges.1 But in time these exemptions seem to have been either for- gotten or ignored. Possibly that came to pass when the problem of gathering adequate funds for the Dedham church became a pressing one, and when on top of the normal expense of maintenance was added the further burden of building a new meeting house.2 So far as its value to the saw mill people was concerned, this new Dedham meet- ing house might as well have been in Jericho.
In 1717 the town finally agreed "that the parsons at the old saw mill" might be relieved of their poll tax, provided they pay it to the church "whear they constantly hear," but no reduction in their estate tax was allowed.3
Now it was all very well to abate a part of the tax of the saw mill residents and tell them they could pay it at Medfield if they chose. But that did not bring the meeting house nearer to hand, or allay the physical discomfort and waste of time entailed by the long ride over the bumpy Medfield road. There was no fine smooth highway in those days, nor were there fine carriages in which to ride. Indeed, when a tax was laid on light pleasure carriages twenty-five years after Walpole became a town, it reported back confessing that it owned none.4 The ride to church meant a journey in a rude farm cart.
1 Lewis, 41. 2 Lamson, 42, 43.
3 Ded. Rec., 1717-1749, 91. 4 Mass. Arch., CIX, 29Sa.
[ 52 ]
٢ 1
-٩/٩:٧/7 ٢٨1-٢-٠٥٠
ـل موات
ابيبسي
THE CARROLL HOUSE, Summer Street, South Walpole (about 1720)
١٤٫١٤٠٠٠
١٠٬٠٠
٠٠٠ ----
غلا ير فات ٥سر ديجيت الوبين
ـو كوعد
- - -
we
ـدفـ
محمد مراد
.4 54
. س ز
4
.......
FROM HAMLET TO TOWN
It is not surprising then to see the people taking steps to correct these impossible condi- tions; and at the annual Dedham town meeting of 1721 "the Inhabitants of this town liueing at or near the old sawmill did present theire petition to the town desireing the town to free them from paying to the minister in this town, in order to have preaching amongst themselues." 1 That is, they wanted a minister of their own.
This appeal made little impression upon the rest of the Dedhamites, who were loath to make heavier for themselves a financial burden already a con- stant worry. So they voted to refuse the petition.
The saw mill people thereupon determined to free themselves altogether from the yoke of this absentee government under which they labored. Two months after this first rebuff, they returned unrepentant to the field of battle.
"This 15 day of May severall of the Inhabi- tant of the Southerly part of this Town did pre- sent a petition to the Town desireing the Town to set them off from the Northerly part of the Town in order to be a Township among them. Non Concurencd." 2
Though again defeated, the future citizens of Walpole had truly "started something." The next year, 1722, the people of the westerly section, and those from "Clavebordtrees," as the record has it, came into meeting demanding
1 Ded. Rec., 1707-1749, 132. 2 Ibid., 133.
[ 53 ]
I
£
N
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
that they too be set off, either as separate pre- cincts, or as independent towns. Though the records contain no mention of the disposition of this matter, we know that nothing came of it, and that the birth of the town of Westwood was thus put off to a later occasion. 1
One cannot help but feel that the rejection of these petitions played an important part in the pre-natal history of Walpole; for when the people of the saw mill, two months later, again came forward with their proposals to be set off, the unfeeling "Non Concurred" was not again written against them. Due perhaps to the sympathetic support of these men of Clap- boardtrees and West Dedham, the residents of the south part of the town were freed of all charges for paying for the ministry at Dedham Village. And on the same day, May 16, 1722, a committee was appointed to consider the matter of setting off "a township or precinct at or near the old saw mill and to view where may be the most proper place for bounds if they Judg it necessary . . ·
Two years passed before further action was taken. On May 15, 1724, the question was put before Dedham town meeting "whether it be theire mind to Grant the Petition of Severall of the Inhabitants at or near the old sawemille that they might have a township." To this 1 Ded. Rec., 1707-1749, 142. " Ibid., 144.
[ 54 ]
TRT
FROM HAMLET TO TOWN
momentous proposition the worthy citizens of Dedham gave assent, though not unanimously. The feeling of opposition was so warm that those dissenting set their names down in the record book, that posterity might know where they stood.1
In the afternoon of Tuesday, June 2, 1724, the House of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, after an adjournment from the previous Saturday, assembled in the Court House, now the Old State House, in Boston. One of the first pieces of business transacted is recorded in the journal, as follows:
"A Petition of several of the Inhabitants of the Town of Dedham, near the old Saw-Mill, signed William Robins, Joshua Clap and 5 others in behalf of themselves and the rest of the Petitioners, Shewing that they have for a long Time laboured under great Inconveniencies by reason of their great Distance from the publick Worship, that they prefer'd a Petition to the Town of Dedham to set them off for a Township, the said Town well considering their Case, at their Meeting held the 15th of May last, were pleased so far as concerned them to grant their Petition, that they might have a Township or distinct Precinct, that the Bounds thereof should extend from Wrentham Bounds to the Easterly side of John Everett's House, and from Dorchester line streight to Medfield Road fifty
1 Ded. Rec., 1707-1749, 167, 169.
[ 55 ]
-------
U
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
Rods Westerly from the Place where Hawse's Brook (so called) crossed Medfield Road, and so on Medfield Road to Medfield Line, Praying that this Court would please to declare and con- stitute them a Township by such Name as to them shall seem meet, and all the Lands com- prehended within the said Bounds may be set off in said Township, that they may enjoy all the Privileges and Immunities which other Towns in this Province by Law have and enjoy.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.