USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Barrington > A history of Barrington, Rhode Island > Part 9
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PLYMOUTH TAX RATES.
1661. Oct. Sowams,
Rehoboth,
·
£41 3 8 6
1662. Oct. Sowams,
5 IO O
Rehoboth,
15 3
O
Plymouth,
II 2
Bridgewater,
O 30 O
4 2
Plymouth,
-
101
SOWAMS TAX-RATES.
June, 1663. "It was ordered that these that sett downe att Sowamsett be accounted to belong to the town of Reho- both." Sowamsett alias Barrington lay adjacent to Reho- both on the south.
1663. Oct. Sowamsett, £ 6 17 0 . ·
. Rehoboth,
13 17 9
Plymouth,
IO
3 6
Bridgewater,
4 2 6
1664. June Sowamsett,
2
5
1664. Sept. Sowams, .
3 15
1664. Sept. "It was ordered by the Court that the town of Rehoboth and the naighborhood of Sowamsett, in all levies for publick rates, shalbee considered as one entire township until such time that the said naighborhood shalbee in a capassitie and desire to bee a township of themselves."
1664. Oct. Sowams,
£3 7 6
Rehoboth, Plymouth,
II 7 3
8 6 6 In 1665. "It is enacted by the Court that the naighbor- hood of Sowamsett bee accounted to be within the township of Rehoboth and within that constablerick, and the constable to performe his office within the said naighborhood for the gathering of rates &e. as in any other parte of his liberties." 1665-6. March. Sowams .
£ 4 2 6
Rehoboth,
13 17 9
Plymouth,
IO
3 6
Whole levy,
£234 £286,
£179,
£160, 12s, Sp. 1670.
£296, I3s, 4P. 1671.
18s. I686.
Plymouth,
1666. 19, 08, 06
18s, 8p. 1667. 25, 18
9s, 6p. 1668. 16, 01
14, 16
24, 10 19, 17
Scituate,
31, 15,03
42, 07
26, 15
24, 04 13,09
40, 16
31, 19
Taunton,
17, 11,09
23, 11, 04
15, 01, 10 22, 09 11, 18
20, 04
33, 16 16, 6
Eastham,
14, 03, 06
18, 18
10, 06
16, 10
13, 4
Sowams,
7,17,06
10, 10
6, 14, 06
6,00
Dartmouth,
10, 10,
14
8, 15
8
11, 9 9 14, 12 8, 10
et als.
22, 17 19, 6
Rehoboth,
26, 05, 03
25, 07
Swansea.
£215,
.
·
ET
8
102
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
It is important to note that the name of Swansea takes the place of Sowams on the tax list in 1668. As Swansea was incorporated in 1667, and its people, mainly occupying the territory west of Palmer's River, are the residents of Sowams, Swansea takes the burdens of the community bearing the Indian name of Sowams.
In 1667, before Swansea was incorporated, and when Sowams was bearing a tax levy nearly one-half the amount paid by Rehoboth, or of the mother town Plymouth, the territory, now known as Warren, was known as Brooks Pas- ture and was used for the common pasturage of cattle, horses and sheep, in a common herd. The fence on the North side of the Indian lands at Bristol guarded their passage southward and the salt water made the inclosure complete on the other sides of the great field and a secure pasture ground it was without a white inhabitant on the territory, until some time after Philip's War, for Hugh Cole and Mr. Butterworth had their homes on lands east of the Kickemuit, some of which are still owned by the Cole and Butterworth descendants. An Indian village could not easily exist in the common pasture of the white settlers, and at the very time that Sowams was paying an annual rate of £10, into the Plymouth Treasury, the territory of Warren was the quiet grazing ground of the settlers' cattle, and remained in the same state of useful service to the people of Swansea until 1680 and later.
In 1658 the Plymouth Court ordered "that a Troop of horse well appointed with furniture, viz. : a saddle and a case of petternells for every horse shall be raised out of the several townships to be ready for service when required," who were freed from foot service. Each troop numbered forty-eight horsemen. Rehoboth was ordered to raise three troops, Taunton, two, and Sowams one, showing that Sowams had one-half the financial ability and population of Taunton, and one-third that of Rehoboth.
As to the layout and occupation of Brooks Pasture (now Warren) by white settlers the following items from the
£
103
BROOKS PASTURE.
Swansea records are conclusive proof that these lands from the Bristol line to Palmer's River and Belcher's Cove were not laid out for settlers until 1720, although the subject was discussed as early as 1679-So.
Under date of February 25, 1679-80, in Swansea town meeting, it was voted "that ye whole tract of land called Brooks Pasture unto ye old fence by John Wheaton's and what land is yet undivided which was obtained of the coun- trey by composition shall be divided in a distinct division and a survey up to Swansea two miles be taken which shall bear its part to satisfie Hugh Cole."
It was also voted "that Mr. William Ingraham, Samuel Luther and William Howard shall agree with Hugh Cole as to what part he shall have of Brooks Pasture."
At a town meeting held in Swansea, Aug. 6, 1680. "It is ordered that whereas the committee Chosen for ye Sur- veying of Brooks Pasture 25th of February, 1679 (1680) have now brought in their part fit to be 300 acres."
I. "It is now ordered that Convenient highwayes may be laid out in sd. land. 2. That ye land for house lots be laid out. 3. Hugh Cole Senrs. land be laid out. 4. That ye remainder be laid out to each man according to his propor- tion as Rankt and that each man draw his lot when put in form, which is to be done with convenient speed by 5 men as a Commitie namely, John Brown, Wm. Ingraham, Hugh Cole, Samuel Luther, Obadiah Brown."
At a meeting of the proprietors, April 1, 1718, "That a vote was passed yt Brooks Pasture and ye island thereby should be let out."
Still later in 1719-20, a vote was passed by the proprietors that Brooks Pasture should be laid out, and as late as April 19, 1725, the following record appears : "By virtue of a warrant from one of his majesty's Justices of Peace for ye County of Bristol, voted, that the land in Brooks pasture be all laid out in 102 lots according to quantity and quality."
It does not appear by the above records when the first house was built on Brooks Pasture, and Mr. Fessenden
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104
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
states that it cannot be easily ascertained. Certain it is, however, that the lay out of this section was not completed as late as 1720, after a period of twenty years' discussion.
My reasons for the position that Barrington is as a whole or in part ancient Sowams are these :
I. The whole territory occupied by Philip, including what is now Bristol and Warren, was known by the Indians and whites as Consumpsit or Mount Hope and Mount Hope Neck and included the land from Kickemuit River on the north to Mount Hope and Narragansett Bays on the south. All references to persons or events in this territory are referred to as at Consumpsit Neck, Mount Hope, Pokanoket, or Kickemuit; Mount Hope was the chief residence of Philip before and while he was sachem of the Wampanoags, while Sowams was the home of Massassoit. Sowams was therefore without the Mount Hope Lands and between them and Rehoboth.
II. Miantonomi, Chief of the Narragansetts, in his deed to Randall Holden, calls the bay in front of the Warwick Purchase "Sowhomes (Sowams) Bay." A most natural thing for him to do, since the Barrington territory opposite was known to his tribe as Sowams. The territory of War- ren did not touch the bay, nor could it be seen from the Warwick Purchase, while the lands of Barrington Neck, Sowams, from Rumstick Point to Pomham Rocks were daily seen by his tribe, and the shores and waters of " Sow- homes Bay" were often the scene of deadly contest between the warriors of Canonicus and Massassoit.
III. Nathaniel Morton, Secretary of Plymouth Colony, writing in 1669, a memorial of New England from 1620, states that the chief, Massassoit, after his league with the whites, " returned to his place called Sowams, about forty miles from Plymouth." The foot note to the above state- ment adds, " Massassoit resided at Sowams or Sowampsett, at the confluence of two rivers in Rehoboth or Swansea, though occasionally at Mont Haup or Mount Hope, the principal residence of his son Philip." Barrington and New
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JOHN JENCKES.
105
SOWAMS AND BARRINGTON.
Meadow Neck are about forty miles from Plymouth by the old Indian trail, and New Meadow Neck or Sowams, the res- idence of Massassoit, is "at the confluence of the two rivers in Rehoboth or Swansea."
IV. The joint deed of Massassoit and Philip to Thomas Prince, Thomas Willett and others in 1653 was of " Sowams and Parts adjacent."
This deed included the whole of Barrington or Sowams as the main body of the conveyance, with the fresh and salt meadows on the Kickemuit River, at Mount Hope and at Poppasquash as " The Parts Adjacent." The Proprietors' Records are styled " Memorial or Booke of Records of ye Severall Divisions and Bounds of ye Lands at Sowames , als. Swamsett & Parts Adjacent, purchased of ye Great Sachem Osamequin and Wamsetta his eldest Sonne by Certain Gentlemen of ye Ancient Inhabitants of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England."
This book of records, which is in the Town Clerk's office of Barrington, describes in particular the Sowams lands in Barrington, the original owners, and their successors, most of whom were residents of what is now Barrington, East Providence, Seekonk and Rehoboth. The last meeting of the Proprietors was held at the house of Elkanah Humphrey in Barrington, March 16th, 1797, at which Solomon Town- send was Moderator and General Thomas Allin was Clerk, both residents of Barrrington.
These records clearly and conclusively show that the lands styled "Sowams," deeded by Massassoit and Philip in 1653, were held by the proprietary, their successors and assigns, for nearly one hundred and fifty years, when the ownership of the unsold lands was transferred to the towns of Barrington, Swansea or Rehoboth as their interests ap- peared. The meetings were usually called in the name of "The Proprietors of Sowams," although in several instances they are styled "The Proprietors of Phebe's Neck."
It is still further an important fact, worthy of notice, that the proprietors of Sowams divided the upland as well as
L
106
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
the meadows on the Barrington side of the river and laid out highways throughout the town, which they did not do in the lands at Kickemuit, Mount Hope or Poppasquash. The territory now occupied by the town of Warren was desig- nated in the Sowams records as "Brooks pasture," after its owner. The Sowams of Massassoit, the territory sold to Thomas Prince and his associates, was substantially then the whole town of Barrington, although parts of the section were known by the Indian names of Nayatt, Chachapacas- sett, Chachacust, Wannamoisett and Peebee's Neck.
V. Mr. Fessenden refers to a map of New England in Davis's edition (1826) of Morton's Memorial as indicating that Sowams was Warren. This map is the copy of one of the first maps made in New England (1677) and is a cartographic curiosity. It locates Mount Hope nearly opposite Provi- dence, with a river east of "Seacunck " and Mount Hope with two branches. The crown referred to, as denoting the residence of the chief sachem and the location of the capital, is marked between the two rivers. If this map is of any value at all in locating Sowams, it stands in favor of New Meadow Neck, which lies between the branches of the Sowams River. An exact copy of the map as related to this section of New England may be seen on one of the illus- trated pages.
VI. John Clarke, in his Narrative of his journey to Providence and subsequent settlement at Newport, writes that Roger Williams recommended two places for his future home, "the one on the main called Sowames (the neck since called Phebe's Neck in Barrington) and Aquetneck, now Rhode Island." Roger Williams certainly knew where Sowams was for he had been entertained by Massassoit, and the Rev. John Callender, the historian, and at one time min- ister of Swansea confirms, if confirmation is needed, the location of Sowams, the home of Massassoit.
VII. Rev. Jeremy Belknap of Boston, the founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and one of the most learned and accurate scholars of history of the last century,
.
107
SOWAMS AND BARRINGTON.
in an article on Pokanoket says, "The principal seats of Massassoit were at Sowams and Kickemuit. The former (Sowams) is a neck of land formed by the confluence of the Barrington (Sowams) and Palmer's Rivers. The latter, Kickemuit, is Mount Hope." Belknap's Am. Biog. vol. II, p. 221.
VIII. By the deed of Massassoit, in 1653, it appears that the Indians were then dwelling on New Meadow Neck, for it states that "whensoever the Indians shall remove from the Neck (called Chachacust or New Meadow Neck) that then and from thenceforth the aforesaid Thomas Prince ete. shall enter upon the same," etc.
Prior to this time the people of Rehoboth had built a " Five rayle fence " from Patuckquett (Providence) River across Wannamoisett and New Meadow Neck to Palmer's River, to prevent the cattle on Philip's residence and grounds. This fence was built near the old boundary line between Warren and Bristol. It is well known that the land north of this fence, bounded on the west, north, and partly on the east by water, was a favorable and suitable place for pasturage of horses, cattle and hogs, and was so used by the whites, under the name of Brooks Pasture, until the year 1680, and probably for many years later.
IX. The river which bounds and divides the territory was the Sowams River. This is now the Barrington River, but was known to the settlers as the Sowams, and is often mentioned in the deeds and records. With Bar- rington as Sowams, it would be the most natural thing to call its principal river by the Indian name of the section where the chief resided.
X. The first white settlement was made near Myles Bridge, on the New Meadow Neck, by people excluded from Rehoboth on account of religious opinions. Settlements were also made at Wannamoisett by John Brown and Thomas Willett. To the Plymouth Government these settlements were known as Sowams and taxed under that name. As
.
108
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
Mr. Brown and Captain Willett who lived at Wannamoisett, were members of the Plymouth Government and had the best possible knowledge of the whole country, they must have ordered the name of Sowams to be applied to the chief settlements on the territory. As we have seen, as early as 1652, Sowams was assessed £1, 10s. in the Colonial tax, when there was not a white resident on the territory now known as Warren, except Hugh Cole and Mr. Butter- worth, east of the Kickemuit River. It is well known that the principal settlement of Sowams was on New Meadow Neck, where Mr. Myles's Church was afterwards built, and North of the Indian village on the south end of the Neck. Had Warren been the original Sowams, there would not have been a white settler to have laid claim to the name or to have preserved it. Mr. Willett and Mr. Brown, Mr. Allin, and others were the largest proprietors of Sowams, and must have known its true location and bounds, and used the name in local affairs, until Swansea was incor- porated.
XI. As early as 1632, a trading post was erected in the Pokanoket country by the Plymouth settlers, at Sowams, in the vicinity of the largest Indian village, as it was estab- lished to carry on barter with the Indians. In Miller's his- tory of " The Wampanoag Indians," it is stated that the trading post was supposed to have been located on the Bar. rington side of the Sowams River, on the land known as "Phebe's Neck." This trading post or house, as it is called at Sowamsett as related in Winthrop's Journal, was the place to which Myles Standish and his men came in 1632. Mas- sassoit had fled to the post for protection from a threatened attack of the Narragansetts who could easily make a raid on the Indians at Sowams, by a water approach in canoes across the bay from Warwick, or by land from the upper end of the river at Providence. Governor Winthrop sent twenty- seven pounds of gun powder to Standish, but a messenger soon brought news from Standish that the Indians had returned from Sowams to engage in a contest with the
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109
SOWAMS AND BARRINGTON.
Pequots, called "Pequins " in the account. Standish writes from Sowams to Governor Winthrop that Dutch vessels lay for trading with the Narragansetts and the men had com- municated this important news as to the Indians on the other side of the bay. Winslow in his letter relative to his second journey (1623) to Sowams to visit Massassoit, tells of a Dutch trading vessel that had grounded in front of the chief's residence, but had sailed away before he reached the place. As the water of both branches of Barrington River is deep enough for vessels of the largest size for nearly a mile above Warren, it is clear that the Dutch coasters or trading vessels could have navigated the channel of these streams and quite reasonable that they might be stranded at low tide at almost any point between the mouth of the river at Rumstick and the heads of the two branches at Barneys- ville or Hundred Acre Cove. According to Tustin, the lower end of New Meadow Neck was at that time the most central point in the town (Swansea) and was then called the " Place of Trade."
XII. Mr. Fessenden's strongest argument in favor of Warren and Sowams is found in his statement that Mr. Edward Winslow, in going to Sowams twice, does not men- tion crossing a deep, wide, rapid and unfordable river. Why should he, when there was no necessity of crossing one. The old Indian trail from Mount Hope to Kickemuit is traced by King's Rock in a northerly direction towards Rehoboth, thence westerly over the fording place, or Myles Bridge, to Sowams. This was the natural approach from Plymouth and it is clearly seen from the map that a trail from the fording place on the Taunton River above Somer- set to New Neadow Neck was a shorter route than to War- ren. Such a trail would cross the three rivers, Lee's, Cole's, and Kickemuit, at fordable passages, and lead directly to Myles bridge or the fording place that was used in crossing to Sowams. A map showing the old roads of Swansea, established in the main on the lines of the Indian trails, will convince one of the correctness of my position.
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110
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
XIII. The story of the Northmen in New England as told by Mr. Joshua Tolmin Smith is one of the most valuable con- tributions as to the location of Sowams. His opinion that the Northmen discovered Narragansett Bay, named Mount Hope, and visited the lands along Narragansett Bay and Providence River is well sustained by his argument and story. The map accompanying the book and illustrating the voyage locates the peninsula of Barrington, across which from Nayatt to Hundred Acre Cove is printed in large let- ters the word SOWAMS. Had there been doubt as to the location of the residence of Massassoit in the mind of the author, so clear testimony would not have been given.
XIV. The Rhode Island Historical Society, through the agency of Prof. Wilfred H. Munro, of Brown University, a native of Bristol, and the author of "THE MOUNT HOPE LANDS," has caused a tablet to be erected on New Meadow Neck, at the railroad station, in honor of John Hampden, who made the visit to Massassoit with Edward Winslow in 1623, and at the request of the Historical Society the name of the railroad station was changed from NEW MEADOW NECK to HAMPDEN MEADOWS. This is high authority in favor of the position that Massassoit had his residence on New Meadow Neck, where these distinguished visitors made their memorable visit in 1623, as described in a previous chapter. The inscription on the tablets will be found on page 57.
The chapter would not be complete without a reference to the spring in Warren called Massassoit's Spring. There is no denial of the existence of such a spring and of many other springs in the towns of Warren, Bristol, and Barring- ton, from all of which probably Massassoit and his tribe drank. The Sowams records refer to two springs in Bar- rington, Scamscammuck, and Tom's Springs, and to the great spring at Kickemuit, but no reference is made to any others. So far as I have been able to learn, the theory as to Massassoit's Spring in Warren is founded only on tradition and as there is only slight probability that the Indians ever
111
SOWAMS AND BARRINGTON.
had a village on the site of Warren, the story of the spring must be classed with other authors of the times. Mas- sassoit probably drank from the spring, but if we are to attach the name of the illustrious chief to all the springs from which he drank, in his travels over his kingdom, the monuments to his memory in Bristol County will be legion, as the earth-fountains are very numerous.
At the close of Philip's War, the Indian lands at Pokano- ket were deserted and the whites took measures to possess them. The Sowams proprietors under date of Dec. 28, 1676, voted, " That for the Lands at Popanomscutt, and parts adjacent, left & deserted by the Indians, now in disspute between the Proprietors and the publique wheather owers or Conquered Lands the Proprietors doe (forthwith all as one man) take Effectual Course for the defence and clearing our Interest in the Lands aforesaid in order where unto it is mutually Agreed and fully Concluded by us the proprietors in manner following viz :
That Some meet person or persons be forthwith Chosen to prosecute the business for the defence of our Interest as Aforesaid."
This record shows that the Indians were dwelling on the Sowams Purchase until the opening of Philip's War, when their desertion of them forfeited the lands to the white settlers.
iney afie zd
CHAPTER IX
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN MASSACHUSETTS
Religious Toleration as Interpreted by Pilgrims and Puritans - A State Church - Roger Williams Heresy - Rev. Samuel Newman and the Rehoboth Church - Rehoboth Heretics - Obadiah Holmes - Massa- chusetts Bay Letter to Plymouth - Boston and the Baptists - English Politics - John Myles of Wales - Baptists meet at Rehoboth - Mr. Myles the Leader of the New Movement - Mr. Myles and John Brown Fined - Baptist Church Formed - Meeting House Located - Covenant of the Swansea Church - Rehoboth Repents - A Liberal Minister and Church- John Myles, the School-Master - Captain John Myles, the Soldier in Philip's War- John Myles Preaches at Boston - Return to Swansea - New Home and Meeting-House - His Death - Rev. Samuel Luther - A New Policy - A Review of the Situation.
O UR Pilgrim and Puritan ancestry, the founders of Boston and Salem and Weymouth and Plymouth, came to America for several good and sufficient reasons ; the principal one was to find comfortable rest from the deep political and religious unrest of the mother-land. Spirit- ually they had found an enlightenment above most of their fellow countrymen, and finding themselves growing out of sympathy with what was transpiring about them, they looked about for a city of refuge to which to flee. Men they were with a new revelation, heretics if you please, honest, sincere, devout, godly, and tremendously in earnest. John Milton and Oliver Cromwell belonged to their order ; so did Harry Vane, once Governor of Massachusetts, the defender of Quakers, Baptists, Roman Catholics and Pres- byterians, who suffered death at the Restoration, with Hugh Peters, once the minister at Salem and one of the founders of Harvard College. These early New England people wished, as they thought they had a right, to be let alone as
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PURITANS AND BAPTISTS.
to religious concerns, and if not in Old England then in New England, or some other corner of the earth, they would seek out their coveted rest. Toleration, to them, meant to be independent and undisturbed in the enjoyment of their religious principles and prerogatives. As to letting others alone, whose presence and influence seemed to them intolerant and to threaten their own quiet, was another matter. The Boston Puritan had no use in the seventeenth century for a Baptist, a Quaker, a Churchman or a Catholic. The presence of either on Boston soil was a menace to the solidarity of Puritanism, in which he implicitly believed. What he regarded as errors in religion was also considered , treason to the commonweath.
Cotton Mather says, "It is also thought that the very Quakers themselves would say that if they had got into a corner of the world, and with an immense toyle and change made a wilderness habitable, on purpose there to be undis- turbed in the exercise of their worship, they would never bear to have New Englanders come among them and in- terrupt their public worship, endeavor to seduce their children from it, yea and repeat such endeavors after mild entreaties, first, and then banishment, to oblige their departure."
On the 13th of November, 1644, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay, John Endicott, governor, expressed its ideas of the Anabaptists in such legislation as this :
" Forasmuch as experience hath plentifully and often proved that since the first arising of the Anabaptists, about a hundred years since, they have been the incendiaries of commonwealths, and the infectors of persons in main mat- ters of religion, and the troublers of churches in all places where they have been, and that they, who have held the baptizing of infants unlawful, have usually held other errors or heresies together therewith, though they have (as other hereticks use to do) conceded the same, till they spied out a fit advantage and opportunity to vent them by way of ques- tions or scruple ; and whereas divers of this kind have, since
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