USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Truro > Truro-Cape Cod; or, Land marks and sea marks > Part 21
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better understood. That protection belongs to statesmanship, and free trade to text-books and speech-making seems safe doctrine in this country. In Europe, particularly England, where men are born and bred statesmen, and home interests more concurrent than in our diversified industries, we should expect wiser laws. But Buckle says, " It is no exaggeration to say that the history of the commercial legislation of Europe presents every possible contrivance for hampering the energies of commerce." Although greatly opposing sectional interests have to be met, and untried statesmen are being surged up to grave responsibilities, our self- protection is being closely scrutinized, and is commending itself.
In 1689, the laws touching the seining of mackerel were repealed, and it was ordered, "That the magistrate of Barnstable County dispose of and manage the Cape Cod fishing ; provided, however, that all former fishing orders shall be in force."
Though the Fathers erred in some points, they were wiser in others than their children of this day, as at the same time (1670), penalties were imposed for taking fish at certain times previous to spawning. That such an enactment was wise and practical, all who understand the question must admit. That the free and unrestricted seining of fish, particularly of mackerel, is a national wrong and ruinous to a national indus- try, none will pretend to deny from honest convictions, or a knowledge of the facts.
It is also highly creditable to the Fathers that out of this revenue, the tax of fishing, thirty-three pounds were contrib- uted to defray the charges of the free school. A better restitution for ill-advised legislation was never made. Up to this time (1670), just fifty years after the landing of the Pil- grims, there had been no public schools. The property of the fishing of Cape Cod was granted to found a free school in 1671. John Morton was the first schoolmaster, and Thomas Hinckley steward of the fund.
Again the Cape creeps into notice as introducing another fiction. First, as a shelter to the Mayflower; second, in the
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execution of the first written contract of self-government ; third, for corn to the Pilgrims ; and fourth, for funds from the fishing wherewith to establish the first free public school in the world. A little later will be found the first protest against slavery. Natural advantages of soil and climate are of no avail when set against general education and high morals. More than two hundred years ago a writer entitled to consideration, discriminated as follows : -
New England is in a good condition for hardihood, but for matter of any great hopes but fishing, there is not much in that land; there is much cold, frost and snow, and the land so barren except a herring be put into the hole that you set the corn or maize in, it will not come up; and it was a great pity all those peeple, being now about twenty thousand, did not seat themselves at first at the south of Virginia, in a warm and rich country where their industry would have produced sugar, indigo, ginger, cotton and the like commodities.
At the end of this two-hundred-year race, New England, with her cold and frost and snow, her granite, and ice, and hay, and codfish, and herring, and education, has achieved the highest condition of general intelligence, well-developed industries, and average wealth on the face of the earth. While Virginia has but a low average of these high achievements, her soil is worn out, many of her towns and cities are hasten ing to decay, and the State stands upon the verge of bank ruptcy.
I will have never a noble, No lineage counted great ; Fishers, and choppers, and ploughmen Shall constitute a State.
In 1729, John Bacon, lawyer of Barnstable, died. By a provision in his will, his “ negro slave Dinah is ordered to be sold, and the proceeds improved by my executors in buying Bibles, and they shall give them equally and alike to each of my said wives and my grandchildren."
THE FIRST PROTEST AGAINST SLAVERY.
May 18, 1773 .- It was voted by the town of Sandwich, that our representation is instructed to endeavor to have an act passed by the Court to prevent the
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importation of slaves into this country, and that all children that shall be born of such Africans as are now slaves among us, shall after such act be free at twenty-one years of age.
Five years after this vote, March 25, 1778, " selling slaves in the American market was prohibited in Boston."
POMP'S LOT.
Northeasterly from the house of Leonard P. Rich is a wood- lot that keeps alive the memory of "Pomp," who was an African of the pure Congo species, purchased or stolen according to the gospel of the times, by the captain of a whaleman from Truro, and on arrival sold to Jonathan Paine. Pomp performed his duties as a slave faithfully, but he was never fairly happy or content. He indulged in the homesick passione which the negro feels, and with his countrymen, .believed in metempsychosis, or transmigration of soul.
One day when the longing for kith and kin and home was deep in his heart, he took a jug of water, a loaf of bread and a rope, and went into a thick wood-lot belonging to his master. Selecting a high tree, the stump of which may yet be seen, he placed his jug of water and loaf of bread at the foot of the tree, to sustain him over the journey, and placing the rope around his neck, took his departure for Afric's sunny foun- tains. Many days after, his body was found hanging to the tree; his soul had gone to the God who gave it, in whose merciful hands we leave him.
It may seem unaccountable and unreconcilable in our day, that the settlers of New England, with their positive con- science, and honest convictions, should have planted such dragon's teeth as slavery. We must, however, remember the moral condition of the world, the wrongs and cruelties of soci- ety, and how much had been done, rather than how much remained undone. Not thirty years are yet passed since slavery was defended by the press, the pulpit, the platform. and the sword of this Christian nation. The villainous traffic in African slaves was prosecuted with great energy and profit,
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and regarded a fair field for enterprise, for more than a hun- dlred years after the settlement of Plymouth.
Captain Matthias Rich, a native of Truro, well-known in his day and generation as " Beau Flash," was a dashing fellow, a man of great energy and enterprise, and a successful trader in " Guinea blackbirds." When a poor boy, working hard at home in sight of the ocean, as the ships sailed by he used to lighten his toil and amuse his sisters by telling them how he would own and sail ships when a man.
He lived many years in Pleasant Street, Boston ; the house is still standing. When public sentiment became too strong to face, he moved to Baltimore, and became a successful mer- chant. He died in about 1810, leaving a family and large property. His son Charles owned large plantations in Miss- issippi, where he died in about 1830. It was reported that a grandson of the old captain was an officer in the late war and a prisoner at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor.
March 13, 1775. - The town voted to pay over the Provincial tax to Henry Gardner Esq. of Stowe. Gamaliel Smith and Job Avery entered dissent.
March 16, 1770. - Hincks Gross forbid the banns of matrimony between - - of Chatham, and - - of the District of Wellfleet, and says the reason therefor that said - - (the man) is non compus.
Wellfleet, April 9: 1770 .- 'Zoheth Smith, Naaman Holbrook, and Jonathan Young, Selectmen, have this day entered with their protestation of the banns of matrimony between - - of this District, and - - of Truro, for the following reason : The said - - , being an idle vagrant, and has received assistance from said District, and has no business to guarantee matrimony him- self, and should he marry, his family would be an additional expense to this District.
JOHN GREENOUGH. District Clerk.
The Dark Day of May 19, 1780, was a strange phenomena that caused much excitement and was referred to as long as any who witnessed it lived to tell the story. Happening at a time when considerable license was given to supernatural agencies, it is not surprising that it was regarded as porten- tous of dire calamities. Dr. Samuel Tenney, referring to its cause, remarks :
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That it was supernatural was never supposed but by the ignorant and super- stitious. It must then admit of a rational and philosophical explanation. The darkness was the most gross in Essex County and vicinity. The earth and trees were clad in a hue extraordinarily enchanting, even amid the general gloom. The following evening was no doubt the darkest ever known. A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes was invisible. The darkness has been accounted for by "air currents condensing the vapors," etc.
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Little was done to establish lighthouses on our coast till the beginning of the present century. In 1794, there was not a lighthouse on Cape Cod. About this time Rev. Levi Whitman of Wellfleet, whom the Massachusetts Historical Society say "was distinguished through the country for his activity and benevolence," in a letter to Rev. James Freeman of Boston, said :
That mountain of clay in Truro seems to have been erected in the midst of sand hills by the God of Nature for the foundation of a lighthouse which, if it could be obtained, in time no doubt would save the lives of thousands, and mil- lions of property. Why, then, should not that dark chasm between Cape Ann and Nantucket be illuminated? From the Clay Pounds in Truro in pleasant days in February and March, we often discover fifty or sixty sail of vessels which come from the West Indies and the southard, and have been sheltered in the Vineyard Sound.
The Highland lighthouse was built in 1798, rebuilt 1853 ; Race Point, 1816; Billingsgate, 1822; Long Point, 1826; Three Lights at Nauset, 1838; Pamet Harbor, 1849, discon- tinued 1855. Wellfleet, 18 -; Wood End, 1873.
The safety with which the clumsy old arks used to make passages across the ocean in the early days, is quite sur- prising. When we remember their unshapely hulls, rough rig, and general inconveniences, and consider the rude instru- ments of navigation, and that they were mostly without charts or books, or knowledge of coasts, entirely destitute of lighthouses, the fact is truly marvellous. They were watchful men ; of eagle-eye and keen observation, with hearts of English oak - altogether worthy of the claim that they belonged to an age of great navigators.
Up to 1637, two hundred and ninety-eight ships had sailed for New England, only one of which did not land in safety.
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Insurance offices should have paid fat dividends in those days. The tonnage of these ships, so well known in history, is another surprise. The Golden Hind, in which Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the world, was one hundred and two tons burden. The Mayflower was one hundred and eighty tons, being one of the large packet ships, and for many years after 1620, was employed bringing passengers from different ports in England.
Forbisher's Great Fleet, of which we have heard much, in which he sailed to discover the "Northwest Passage" in 1576, consisted of two barks of twenty-five tons, and a pinnace of fifteen tons. It was on this voyage that the ancient mariner discovered the hole from whence blew the northwest wind, and said "if he had had another hat, would have stopped it up." Sir Humphrey Gilbert's "frigate," ships and barks were all small craft.
They were mostly God-fearing men in those days, and had a full recognition of their responsibility to God and man. The phraseology of the times may have had a certain influence. Certainly the influence shaped the phraseology.
Witness the following bill of lading at a much later date :
Mount Vernon, Nov. 16, 1763.
Shipp'd by the grace of God, in good order and well-conditioned, by George Washington, in and upon the good ship call'd the Virginia, whereof is master under God for this present voyage, Henry McCabe, and now riding at anchor in the river Potomac, and by God's grace bound for Liverpool, four hhds. of tobacco. And so God send the good ship to her desired port in safety. Amen.
In the seven years preceding 1794, there were seven deaths in Truro between the ages of ninety and one hundred. Aver- age deaths, sixteen per year, including those lost at sea, in a population of twelve hundred.
March 6, 1788. - At a meeting, voted to allow Job Avery seven pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence old tenor for his time and horse last summer going for soldiers.
At the same meeting, the proprietors voted that Silvanus Snow Esq., Deacon Jonathan Snow and John Rich 3d. should be a committee to set off as much of the common land about the meeting-house for the use and benefit of the town
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of Truro as will make a convenience for sheds and shelter for people and horses and a convenience for meeting-house burying-grounds and training-field. At same meeting voted to sell all the residue of the said proprietor's property at vendue to the highest bidder.
Attest. SILVANUS SNOW.
The Training-field, laid out south of the meeting-house, and that annually used to be the resort of every man and ooy, is still owned by the town. It commands a delight- ful situation, is smooth as a threshing floor, though never broken by the plough. In early times large oak-trees stood around the church and on this field. Under these trees seats were built for the accommodation of the people during the long noons of summer. None thought of going home till both meetings were over. On these favorite seats under the shadow of the trees, gathered the old and the young.
The old men of the last generation loved to tell about the long noonings between meetings when they were boys. There were always men who had the gift of story-telling. Perhaps some of their relations would be termed in these modern days "fish stories." Old Hutta Dyer had the repu- tation of being the Prince of Yarners. Whenever he seated himself to smoke his pipe, whether under the trees or the sheds, there the boys gathered also. It is doubtful if the Grecian youth listened more attentively to the wisdom of Socrates and Laches, or the sublime contemplations of Plato, than the young men and boys attending these weekly orations. It is a tradition of old Hutta, that while fishing for bass from the shore at the back side, having hard luck, he half-hitched his line around his great toe, and lay down on the soft sand. With the gentle lullaby of the rippling waves in his ears he fell asleep, but was very suddenly awakened by being dragged feet-first into the surf. An immense strain on the line half-hitched around his great toe, kept his long leg as stiff as a handspike, whatever became of the rest of his body. It seemed a mile to that fatal line, and a physical impossibility to find the end of his leg. But it was not a time of much deliberation ; with almost superhuman effort, he recovered the line, and landed upon the sand an immense squid-hound
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bass of sixty pounds. This species are now often caught from the shore ; they are alive, and require practice to land them. Instances are known of this fish weighing nearly one hundred pounds.
Thoreau says : " When I asked a minister of Truro what the fishermen did in winter, he answered, 'Nothing, but go a-visiting, sit about, and tell stories, though they worked hard in the summer, and it is not a long vacation they get.'" The Plato of Walden Pond adds, " I am sorry that I have not been there in the winter to hear their yarns." The minister's answer has too much truth in it to be false; but like many truthful statements, mis- leads.
In the winter time the boys and young men attend Innl school. Some of the men are en- gaged in coast- ing, or foreign voyages. Some seasons in good LEHatsat weather consider- able attention is "AND SO OFFSHORE LET THE GOOD SHIP FLY." paid to boat-fish- ing, while the elderly men can find plenty of work about their homes, preparing their summer wood, etc.
That plenty of time is left for sitting about, visiting, and spinning yarns, is true. Various attempts have been made to furnish employment in the winter season to the fishermen, but as yet, for various reasons, it has not proved successful.
Excitement and variety are associated with sea-going
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young men who will not endure continued disciplined labor from day to day on the land. Three months' schooling used to be too long for some of these restless spirits that could content themselves on shipboard for months. The heart of the old stormy viking of the Norseman, or the fair- haired, iron-faced Dane that buffeted the North Sea rigors in his shallop for love of adventure, still lingers .-
And so off shore let the good ship fly ; Little care I how the gusts may blow, In my fo'castle bunk in a jacket dry - Eight bells have struck, and my watch is below.
THE DIRECT TAX OF 1798.
In the days of the Roman Empire there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. This was to pay for the wars and other amusements of these virtuous Romans.
In the year 1798, A. D., there went out a decree from our government that to cover war contingencies, all dwelling- houses with lots not exceeding two acres, should be taxed. This was known as " The Direct Tax for 1798."
That for Truro was rendered on the first day of October, 1798. It covers a dozen folio pages. I should judge the valuation was not over one third of the real value.
The number of dwellings in 'Truro taxed was 172. Valuation, $22,867. The lowest valuation, of which there were a number, was $105; the highest, $275. These were Anthony Snow, Benjamin Collins, Barnabas Paine, Caleb Knowles, George Pike, John Collins, Isaac Small, Silvanus Snow, John Rich, Richard Rich, Joshua Rich, and Frances Small. Those over $200 were Ephraim Rich, Isaiah Snow, Isaac Atwood, Benjamin Hinckley, Hannah Collins, Jesse Rich, Jonah Atkins, Lois Cobb, Nathaniel Rich, Priscilla Rich, Sarah Atkins, Sanı- nel Atkins and John Young. Of the 172, only two that did not own their houses. The names most numerous were Rich, 26; Lombard, 15; Snow, 15; Paine, 10; Dyer, 10
The number in Provincetown was 102. Valuation, $15,375. Those valued at over $200 were Joseph Nickerson, $230; Ebenezer Nickerson, $205; Seth Nick. erson, $230; Steven Nickerson, $205; Thomas Small, $205; Samuel Rider, $205.
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In Wellfleet there were 182 houses, valued $23,795. The highest were Thomas Holbrook, $702; Hezekiah Doane, $470; Nathaniel Mayo, $375; Philip Covell, $360.
These tables give the relative value of these three towns about eighty years ago.
REV. JAMES FREEMAN.
Rev. James Freeman, D. D., was the first, or among the first Unitarian ministers in America, and for years the pastor of King's Chapel, Boston. He was the son of Constant and Lois (Cobb) Freeman, born in Truro April 22, 1759, and graduated at Harvard College in 1775. His ancestors were such Pilgrim stock as Constant Southworth, and of such orthodoxy as Deacon Samuel Freeman and Rev. Samuel Treat, the Eastham minister.
A marble bust and mural tablet stand to his memory in King's Chapel. The tablet bears the following inscription :
REV. JAMES FREEMAN, D. D., Pastor of this Church, chosen April 21, 1783, ordained Nov. 18, 1787. Died Nov. 14, 1835, aged 76 years. Dr. Freeman was the first Unitarian preacher in this city; and he adorned the doctrine he professed by his Christian simplicity, purity and faithfulness, by the benevolence of his heart and the integrity of his manners. Respect for his talents, and for the courageous honesty and firmness with which he maintained his opinions, was mingled with love for his mildness and affectionate sympathy.
In theological attainments there were few, and in the qualities which endear a minister to his people, there were none to surpass him.
INSCRIPTION OF THE BUST
This bust was placed here December 16, 1843, by a grateful congregation.
Dr. Walker said, " He was the wisest man he ever knew ; his wisdom was born of the marriage of good sense and unselfishness."
Bradford says, "Dr. Freeman was a good classical and general scholar, well acquainted with history, and with the
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works of the most elegant and accomplished writers of the English language."
A volume of his sermons, passed through a second edition, was well received. He was a fearless and independent inquirer, but not rash nor fond of innovating unless truth required it.
Rev. Mr. Greenwood, of King's Chapel, paid the following tribute to his character :
Honesty and truth, pure and transparent, associated with gentleness and urbanity, unaffected modesty, and real kindness and good will, were qualifica- tions so distinctly marked in every word, and action, and look, that no one could know him without reading them there. His candor was proverbial; never rude, harsh or uncharitable, he was always generous, affectionate and kind.
Doctor Freeman was the Recording Secretary of the Mas sachusetts Historical Society. In 1794 he wrote a description of Truro, which may be found in Vol. III., First Series. As the date of that sketch was just about half-way from the set- tlement of Truro to the present, and contains a geographical description of the town, I will make a few extracts from the same.
Truro is situated east-southeast from Boston 41°, 57', and 42°, 4', northi lati. tude, and between 70°, 4', and 70°, 13', west longitude from the Royal Observa- tory at Greenwich. The length of this township as the road runs is about fourteen miles, but in a straight line about eleven miles. The breadth in the widest part is three miles, and in the narrowest part not more than half a mile. The distance of the meeting-house (Old North) from Boston is fifty-seven miles in a straight line, but as the road runs it is one hundred and twelve miles, forty miles from the C. H. in Barnstable. East Harbor contains fourteen houses, the Pond Village forty, Clay Pounds six, the whole town one hundred and seven, only one house in town over one story high. The population by the census of 1790 was 1193. In 1794, the polls were 330, estimated population, 1320.
At this time, Boston and the twenty-three contiguous towns then embracing the County of Suffolk, contained less than forty-five thousand inhabitants, averaging less than two thousand each, and Truro had about twelve hundred, or nearly seventy to a square mile. We are not surprised that
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Doctor Freeman speaks of the town as being full of people. To-day the twenty-three towns contain a population of a million, and Truro less than in 1794. In 1860 the popula- tion was about 2000 : 360 houses, 440 families. Doctor Free- man is in error in his statement that there were only 107 houses, as we have just shown by the Direct Tax of 1798 that there were 172 houses subject to the tax, which must be correct. The two-story house referred to, was the great gambrel roof of Captain Joshua (Governor) Atkins, that less than fifty years ago stood up the Hollow just eastward of Mrs. Hughes.
There was an attempt many years ago to make a harbor at the Pond Landing. It is conceived that a wharf of timber or stone placed on the outer bar, about four hundred rods in length, and six or seven feet in height, would offer a con- venient harbor.
The inhabitants consider the Clay Pounds as an object worthy the attention of strangers. The eastern shore of Truro is very dangerous for seamen. More vessels are cast away here than in any other part of the County of Barnstable. A lighthouse near the Clay Pounds, should Congress think proper to erect one, would prevent many of these fatal accidents. There are proofs that the ocean has gained nearly half a mile upon the outer shore within the last sixty years. The soil in the township is depreciating, little pains being taken to manure it. Not much attention is paid to agriculture, as the young men are sent to sea very early in life. The hillocks of the Indian corn formed by the hoe, are left unbroken, and the land lies uncultivated six or seven years. Formerly fifty bushels of corn were raised on an acre, but the average produce at present is not more than fifteen or twenty. The soil was once good for wheat, the mean pro- duce of which was fifteen or twenty bushels an acre.
A subsistence being easily obtained, the young people are induced to marry at an early age; many of the men under twenty-three, and many of the women under twenty. A numerous family is generally found after a few years.
Though Truro, in respect to soil, is inferior to the other townships in the County except Wellfleet and Provincetown, both of which have convenient har- bors, yet in spite of every disadvantage, it has become full of inhabitants. In the time of the contest between Great Britain and America, four masters of ves- sels with their men, the greater part of whom belonged to Truro, were lost at sea.
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