USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Barrington > A history of Barrington, Rhode Island > Part 22
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"Gardner Smith a black was born the 15th of January, 1733 of free parents."
" Hannah Allen was born March 27, 1717, being thursday at half an hour after six in the evening."
" Hannah Kent, daughter of Josiah and Alathea Kent was born March 13, 1737."
" Peleg Heath, the first son of Peleg and Sarah Heath, died February 10, 1735-6, aged one year, five months and fourteen days."
June 26th, 1776. " Voted that James Smith keep and board Christian Phippen one year at the rate of three shillings per week or in like proportion if she should not survive."
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
RECORD OF EARMARKS.
Hezekiah Tiffany's earmarks for his creatures are a crop of the near ear and a slit in the top of the right ear.
Joshua Smith's earmarks for his creatures is two half pence on the left ear, one on the upper side and one on the under side of the same ear.
The Rev. Solomon Townsend's earmark for his creatures is a hind gadd in each ear.
Mr. Peleg Heath's mark for his creatures is a crop from the top of the near ear and a hole in the same ear.
Philip Short's earmark for his creatures is a swallow tail in the right ear.
Mark of Ellis Peck Jnrns Sheep and Cattle is a lone Gad in the right and a slit in the left ear. Recorded Oct. 3, 1742.
BARRINGTON, April 14, 1733.
"Taken up in damage feasant and made strays by Thomas Dexter of Barrington : Two mares ; one large black mare about six years old ; no earmark nor brand, a natural pacer. The other a dark bay about seven years old ; no earmark nor brand. The black mare was prized at £12 and Ios. and the bay mare was prized at £8."
" Barrington, Sept. 9th, 1724. Taken up by Mathew Allin a stray yoak of oxen of a red color and the top of each of their horns cut off, and marked with a hollow crop on the right ear, and a half penny on the upper side of the near ear."
NOTES FROM REV. PELEG HEATH'S DIARY.
Peleg Heath was born at Roxbury, July 26, 1700, and married to Sarah Richmond the 19th day of November, 1730. Sarah Richmond was born Oct. 31, 1711. Peleg Heath was thirty years, three months and twenty days oid when he married. Sarah Richmond was nineteen years, nineteen days, and nineteen minutes old on marriage day. The said Peleg Heath is eleven years, four months, and
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PELEG HEATH'S DIARY.
twenty-four days older than Sarah, his wife. May the God of our fathers be our God, and bless us with the blessing of his eternal Covenant, Amen. P. H.
June 28, 1732. At Barrington died our Grandfather, John Rogers, Esq., after ten days sickness, in the ninety-second year of his age (91 years and 5 months.) He had been blind nine years. He left two children, Bradford and Searl, twenty grandchildren, sixty-nine great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild ; ninety-two in all. All these sprang from his first wife, whose maiden name was Eliza- beth Peabody.
June 21, 1734. The new meeting house was raised in Barrington, to which I subscribed to pay five pounds toward ye finishing and building of it, which I also paid to Captain Samuel Allen, one of the Committee for which he gave me a receipt, October 4th, 1734.
This is the truth.
PELEG HEATH.
October 14, 1734. A bear was killed in Barrington, and I gave him his first wound which was pretty fatal. He was sold for £2, 9s. 5d. He weighed 18714 lbs., and I was cheated of every farthing. P. H.
October 14, 1739. My worthy father and friend Samuel Allen, Esq., departed this life in the 52d year of his age - a very heavy stroke to me, to the church, and to the town - a worthy gentleman, and a sincere Christian. He was sick but nine or ten days with a violent fever, but through God's goodness, had his senses at times, to the last, and the last day of life I heard him pray seven times, - Oh that God would answer his prayers which were so earnest in behalf of his Church and Society here. He was decently interred the 16th day of October, attended with the best of gentle- men in the Country. "My Father. My Father."
P. H.
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
EARTHQUAKES.
December 7, 1737. The evening of this day, between ten and eleven of the clock, at night, we had a very heavy shock of an earthquake ; the house shook and my bed under me exceedingly. All my family were sensible of the shock : - as the voice of God is in the earthquake, oh, that God will make mine heart and the hearts of mine tremble before him, by reason of our sins, that his power may drive us to repentance : - may it be God's will. P. H.
Barrington, June 3, 1744. Being Sabbath Day, about half an hour after ten of the clock, in the forenoon, there was here, a terrible shock of an earthquake. My house, beds and things in it, all shaking as though they would fall down ; it came with a mighty noise. The eternal God whose power is Infinite, of his mercy, save us from Destruction by earth- quake, and cause our hearts to quake, and tremble for our sins, that so we may find favor in his sight, and be saved therefrom through Jesus Christ. P. H.
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CHAPTER XIX
FROM MASSACHUSETTS BAY TO RHODE ISLAND - BARRINGTON RENAMED WARREN.
Claimants to Rhode Island Territory - Claims of Rhode Island-Labors of John Clarke - Sir Robert Car - Long Struggle - Joint Commis- sion of 1741 - Appeals of Massachusetts and Rhode Island - Decree of King -Towns Added to Rhode Island - Barrington Loss and Gain -New Town Formed - Named Warren by the General Assembly - Why So Called - Value of the Six Towns Added to Rhode Island.
R HODE Island has made a gallant fight for every inch of the soil within her present boundary lines. The contest was continued for more than a century between Rhode Island, single-handed and alone on the one side, and the Colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New York on the other. On the East, Plymouth and the Bay Colonies claimed the territory to Narragansett Bay and the Patuckquet River. Connecticut and New York laid claim to all territory west of the Bay, and, between the claims of these great contestants, the little colony of Rhode Island had apparently a small chance for an independent life. It is only concerning the Eastern boundary that we of Barrington are interested at the present time. By the commission of King James to John Carver, William Brad- ford and others, in 1620, and by deed from King Charles I., under date of November 6, 1627, confirmed further by letters patent from Charles II., under date of January 13, 1629, the founders of New Plymouth claimed and held the territory "from the mouth of the said river called Narra- gansett River to the utmost limits and bounds of a countrey called Pokenacutt als. Puckenakick als. Sawaamsett West-
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ward." This land grant was evidently intended to cover all the lands between Plymouth on the East, and Narragansett Bay on the West, and was confirmed by the League of Peace with Massassoit and the settlers, by which, "hee the said Massassoiet freely gave them all the lands adjacent to them, and their heires forever."
In answer to the claim of Plymouth and the Bay Colonies to all the territory "of Puckenokick als. Sawaamsett to Narragansett Bay and Patuckquet River," which had been deeded to the Sowams proprietors by Massassoit, in 1653, Rhode Island set up the rights guaranteed by her Charter of 1663 from Charles II., which describes the Eastern boun- dary line as "extending towards the East or Eastwardly three English miles to the East and North Eastern parts of the aforesayd Narragansett Bay, as the sayd bay lyeth or extendeth itself from the ocean on the South or South- wardly unto the mouth of the said river which runneth to- wards the town of Providence, and from thence along the Eastwardly side or bank of the sayd river (higher called by the name of Seacunck River) up to the ffalls called the Patuckett ffalls." This line was secured, among other valuable considerations of this Charter, by John Clarke, who spent twelve years in England prior to 1664, in defending the claims and protecting the rights of the Rhode Island Colony. The Charter of Charles was the death blow to the claims of Plymouth, but it was nearly an hundred years before the final act, establishing a permanent boundary line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Time and again colonial and royal commissioners considered the question at issue between Rhode Island and Plymouth. Sir Robert Carr, at the head of a royal commission, spent a part of the year 1665 in Rhode Island, and reported to Lord Arlington in London "that the two colonies could not agree for that Rhode Island claimed a strip three miles in breadth, east of the Bay, which Plymouth could not concede without great prejudice to her interests, and therefore they had, for the present, established the Bay as the boundary line until his
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EASTERN BOUNDARY.
Majesty's will could be known." A partial explanation of the report of this commission may be found in the fact that Sir Robert spent some days with Mr. Willett at his resi- idence at Wannamoisett, and persuaded him to go to New York to confer with Col. Nichols, another member of the commission ; soon after which Mr. Willett was made the Mayor of that town. In 1678 Plymouth again opened the Eastern boundary controversy only to arouse bad blood and bitterness of spirit on both sides of the case.
After the union of Plymouth with Massachussetts Bay Colony, in 1692, the boundary dispute was transferred to a more powerful adversary, and the decision of the case was referred by the Sovereigns, William and Mary, to the Council of New York. The unsettled condition of affairs disturbed the collection of taxes and other legal matters in the towns on the eastern shores of the bay, as Massachusetts and Rhode Island not only claimed but exercised authority over the same territory. The years from 1700 to 1741 were full of trouble and dispute, when a joint Commission, appointed by the two colonies, after long and able discussion, made judgment in effect as follows : " Defining Narragansett Bay to end at Bullock's Point, it gave to Rhode Island all the land within three miles of the shore, south and east of a line measured three miles north-east from the end of Bullock's Neck, and designated five places, to the south and east whence the three mile lines were to be run, to define this Eastern boundary. From the south-west corner of Bullock's Neck to Pawtucket falls, high water mark, was to be the di- viding line, and thence a due north line to the accepted boundary of Massachusetts." That the sympathy of the people of Swansea was with Rhode Island is clear from the vote of the town, February 24th 1741. " Resolved that it is our unanimous wish to come under the Rhode Island gov- ernment, as we apprehend we do belong there."
Both Massachusetts and Rhode Island appealed from parts or the whole of the decision, and the King of England was made the umpire to settle the long standing, blood-stirring
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
dispute. Both colonies sent agents to London to represent the contestants. In May 1746, the royal decree was issued, confirming the decision of the commissioners of 1741, and settling the boundary line as indicated by the accompanying map. "This closed," says Arnold, " at least during the colo- nial period, a controversy which was coeval with the Charter of King Charles, and had virtually commenced soon after the settlement of Aquidneck. A century later was to witness the revival of this territorial dispute before another tribunal, upon grounds equally untenable, with these that were thus summarily dismissed by the Privy Council." Arnold's His- tory of Rhode Island, page 134.
By this change of the eastern boundary line of the colony, the towns now known as Cumberland, Barrington, Warren, Bristol, Tiverton, and Little Compton were added to Rhode Island. The last two towns went to Newport County. Bar- rington, which had enjoyed a corporate life since 1717, was increased in territory and population from old Swansea, and the new town was called Warren. Warren and Bristol con- stituted a new county in Rhode Island, called after its shire town, Bristol. The act of incorporation of the several towns may be found in Vol. 5, R. I. Col. Records, pages 204-206. This act was passed by the General Assembly, the 27th day of January, 1746-7, and Matthew Allin, Esq., of Barrington, was appointed to call a meeting for town organization on the second Tuesday in February, 1746-7, the date on which the first town meeting of the new town, to be called Warren, was held.
By the act of the Commissioners in the change of the eastern boundary lines, Barrington was dismembered, and nearly one- half its original territory was added to Rehoboth on the north. To compensate the town for this great loss, the territory taken from Swansea, on the east side of Palmer's River, was added to Barrington, practically forming a new town, with its boundary lines and area very different from old Barring- ton. This change of territorial limits was a great damage to Barrington. From 1717 to 1747 it was a compact town, ex-
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MAP OF ORIGINAL TOWN FROM 1717 TO 1747.
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ANCIENT MAP OF WAMPANOAG TERRITORY, 1670.
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CONTENTS OF THE NEW TOWN.
tending its boundary more than half-way to Providence, thence easterly to Palmer's River, including the section now known as Barneysville. After the set-off to Rhode Island the town was made up of three peninsulas, separated from each other by the two branches of the Sowams River.
In the formation of the new town, Barrington contributed the major part of the wealth and population. New Meadow Neck was the centre of a busy people, largely occupied in ship-building. Tustin says that the central part of the town was near Kelly's Ferry, "and was then called the 'Place of Trade,' and for sixty years nearly all the shipping in the foreign and coasting trade, held by the people in this vicinity, was built at and connected with the wharves and warehouses on New Meadow Neck, near the two bridges." Tustin is also authority for the statement that forty-seven families were added to Barrington from Swansea to form the new town. The number of freemen admitted as corporators was only seventy-six, the majority of whom resided on the Bar- rington side. General Fessenden states that " at the time when Warren became a separate town the population was still small, and the majority of its wealth if not of its inhabi- tants was on the Barrington side of the river." The enter- prise of the people on both sides of the river was devoted to ship building and navigation, while agriculture occupied the attention of the more conservative at the date of the union.
Ship building was carried on to a considerable extent at several places in Barrington. The Martins built large ves- sels at the ship-yard at Martin's Ferry, near the foot of Ferry Lane. The Bowen ship-yard was first located on the west side of New Meadow Neck, just south of the pres- ent bridge, the near ferry crossing to the west bank of the Barrington River. Vessels were also built on the west shore of New Meadow Neck, above and below the bridge, and as far up as the wharf of Samuel Allen, near the pres- ent residence of Mr. Benson Bean. At Kelly's Ferry there was another ship-yard, owned by the Eddys. The craft built were sloops, schooners, and brigs mainly. After the
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
incorporation of the new town, the ship building interest sprang up on the east bank of the Barrington River, owing to deeper water and better facilities for trade with Swansea, which was now extending its settlement eastward from Myles's Bridge and about Kickemuit.
The General Assembly and people selected Warren as the name of the municipality, for patriotic reasons. The siege of Louisburg had just been terminated in favor of the English, and the names of Sir William Pepperell, commander of the land forces, and of Sir Peter Warren, of the naval forces, were in universal honor and applause. When the news of the downfall of the French reached the colonies, the enthusiasm was intense, and every town was ablaze with fireworks and illuminations. The seaport towns, which had contributed of men and money freely to the expedition, were especially jubilant over the results, and every occasion was made use of to honor the heroes of the long contest. The positions accorded to Washington and Warren in the Revo- lution were held by Pepperell and Warren in the earlier war for independence, which led up to the final struggle in 1775. Warren's fleet still continued to protect our ships from French cruisers, and when, in 1747, our new town was to adopt a new name, no more grateful act could be performed as expressive of the patriotism of the people and their debt of gratitude to the protector of their shipping interests than to name the town Warren, in honor of Sir Peter.
It is an interesting fact that Colonel Gridley, who planned the batteries at the siege of Louisburg, laid out the Ameri- can intrenchments at Bunker Hill, and the same old drums that beat at Louisburg, June 17, 1745, on the triumphal entrance of Pepperell and Warren, beat at Bunker Hill June 17, 1775, and when General Gage was erecting breastworks on Boston Neck, " the provincial troops sneeringly remarked that his mud walls were nothing compared with the stone walls of old Louisburg." By this conquest of Louisburg, Warren won fame, - a seat in Parliament and a bride with vast estates in New York.
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CHARACTER OF TOWNS ADDED.
Concerning the six towns added to Rhode Island in 1747, it may be said that while the annexation was of vast conse- quence to her interests, the loss was a correspondingly severe one to Massachusetts. The latter colony held Cape Cod and Boston Bays on the east, and she expected to hold Nar- ragansett Bay and Providence River to Pawtucket as a part of her coast line on the southwest. So important was this maritime border to the Bay Colony, that when the question of locating the capital of Massachusetts was raised, and the issue lay between Boston on Boston Bay and Rehoboth on the Narragansett, the former town had only a small majority in its favor. The old town of Rehoboth lacked but a few votes of being "The Hub," of fame and fortune, and this largely because of her situation on Narragansett Bay and her nearness to Providence, Newport, and New York. Besides the importance of the coast line, harbors, and fisheries of the bay, the land of the Wampanoags was regarded as " The Garden of the Colony," and its surrender to Rhode Island, the colony which Massachusetts had so long held in contempt, was a mortifying loss to the proud people. The towns which had grown up along the east shore of the bay, were now prosperous and full of expectancy. The people held the traditions of Plymouth and Boston which had given them laws, education, and religion. Congregationalism, the established church of New England, was the ruling faith in Rehoboth, now East Providence, Barrington, Bristol, Tiver- ton, and Little Compton. The ministers of these churches as well as the membership were among the most influential in the colony, and to their early training in school and church may be traced the character and habits of this bor- derland people even to the present day. The tier of towns from Cumberland to Little Compton may be considered in its governmental, social, religious, and civil aspects, as rep- resenting the best of early New England life and its acces- sion to and influence upon the life and career of Rhode Island have never been estimated at their full value. The breast bone of Massachusetts was transformed into the back bone of Rhode Island.
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CHAPTER XX
BARRINGTON WITH PARTS ADJACENT INCORPORATED AS WARREN
First Town Meeting - Names and Qualifications of Freemen -Town Officers of First Election - Deputies and Town Legislation from 1747 to 1770.
P URSUANT to the Act of the General Assembly passed January 27th, 1746-7, and the call of Matthew Allin, special Justice, the freemen of the new town met at the house of John Child, February 10th, 1746-7, for organization and election of officers. According to the Act of Incorpora- tion "That part which has heretofore been a part of Swansea and Barrington, with a small part of Rehoboth thereto ad- joining, with the inhabitants thereon, (shall) be incorporated into a township, by the name of Warren."
The qualifications of the freeman were declared to be " Every man, who is possessed of lands or real estate, suf- ficient by the laws of this Colony, to qualify him for a free- man, and the Eldest sons of all such freeholders."
FREEMEN OF WARREN, 1747.
Matthew Allin, Esq.,
Samuel Low,
Peleg Heath,
James Brown,
Capt. Samuel Miller,
Samuel Miller, Jr.,
Ebenezer Allen, Josiah Humphrey, Jr.
Nathaniel Peck,
John Kelly,
Joshua Smith, Benjamin Smith,
James Smith,
John Child, John Martin,
Richard Thomas, Benjamin Drown,
John Adams,
Nathaniel Bowen,
John Luther, Philip Short,
Joseph Allen, 2d.,
Israel Peck,
James Bowen,
Thomas Cole,
Jonas Humphrey,
Capt. Joseph Allen, Elijah Rawson, Elder Joseph Mason,
Josiah Bowen, John Cole, Jr., Oliver Salsbury,
Josiah Humphrey,
Nathaniel Eastabrooke, John Eastabrooke, Jr.,
Benjamin Miller, Walter Hail,
Samuel Bowen,
Benjamin Butterworth,
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TOWN DOINGS.
Ebenezer Garnsey, Joseph Allen, Jr., John Kinnicutt,
Ebenezer Adams,
Joseph Viall, Daniel Peck, Samuel Allen,
Ebenezer Allen, Jr., Capt. Bernerd Hail, Bernerd Hail, Jr.,
Hooker Low,
Benjamin Cole,
Nathan Miller,
Caleb Eddy, John Mason,
Joseph Butterworth,
Matthew Watson,
Caleb Carr,
Benjamin Barton,
Solomon Peck,
Isaac Wheaton,
Samuel Barns,
John Wheaton,
Edward Luther, John Butterworth, William Salsbury, Edward Bosworth, Constant Viall, Josiah Kent, Ebenezer Martin, Joshua Bicknell, Joshua Bicknell, Jr., Amos Thomas, Ebenezer Luther, William Knowles,
Ephraim Tiffany, Joseph Grant.
Matthew Allin, the veteran moderator of town meetings in Barrington, was called to preside over the meeting, and John Kinnicutt was elected town clerk.
The following named persons were elected to the offices of the town :
Deputies to the General Assembly - Matthew Allin and Samuel Miller.
Town Council - Capt. James Mason, I; Mr. Ebenezer Allen, 2; Capt. Bernard Haile, 3; Mr. Samuel Low, 4; Samuel Bowen, 5 ; Matthew Watson, 6.
Town Clerk and Town Treasurer - John Kinnicutt.
Town Serjeant - Joseph Allen.
Appraisers - John Adams, Josiah Kent, vice Edward Luther, Walter Haile.
Constables - Benjamin Smith, Edward Bosworth.
Surveyors of Highways - Joshua Bicknell, Jr., Oliver Salisbury, Benjamin Drown.
Assessors - Josiah Humphrey, Edward Luther, John Kin- nicutt.
Town's Attorney - Capt. Joseph Mason.
Packer and Culler of Staves - William Knowles.
Fence Viewers- Josiah Humphrey, William Easterbrooks.
Hog Reeves - Ebenezer Cole, Benjamin Butterworth, Joshua Bicknell, Jr., Benjamin Drown.
Surveyor of Highways - Benjamin Drown.
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Capt. James Mason, William Easta Brooke, John Easta Brooke, Samuel Humphrey, Ebenezer Cole,
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
Overseers of Poor- Ebenezer Allen, Capt. Barnard Haile. Surveyors of Timber, Plank, Boards, Etc .- Ebenezer Cole, Oliver Salisbury.
Pound Keeper - Israel Peck.
Sealers of Weights and Measures-Benjamin Smith, Joshua Bicknell, Oliver Salisbury, Josiah Humphrey, Wil- liam Easterbrooks. Ebenezer Cole.
Vendue Master - Peleg Heath.
Grand Jurors - John Mason, Ebenezer Allen, Jr., Nathan- iel Peck, Walter Haile, Elijah Rawson, Ebenezer Morton.
Petit Jurors - Amos Thomas, William Salisbury, Samuel Allen, John Easterbrooks, Jr., Edward Luther, Nathaniel Brown.
The town voted to pay £115 of the colony rate of £5,000 as the town's levy.
The Town Council voted to let out the ferry from New Meadow Neck to Brooks Pasture to John Kelley ; members of General Assembly, jurymen, and town's people on train- ing and town meeting days to go over, ferry-free.
Two acres and 25 rods of land were laid out for town use on New Meadow Neck for a ferry lot and wharf, said lot being 5 rods wide on the north end and ten rods on the south end.
1748. Deputies, Matthew Allin, Capt. Benjamin Barton. A fine of 10 shillings was levied upon a townsman for dis- orderly behavior.
1748-9. Warren held 82 Proxies, 2 Representatives, 4 Justices, 600 whites, 50 negroes, 30 Indians, I Militia Com- pany. From H. B. M. State Papers, London.
1749. Deputies, James Smith, Capt. Benjamin Barton.
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