USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Bristol > Sketches of old Bristol > Part 13
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On the east side of Hope street, where the house formerly occupied by Jacob Babbitt, Jr., stands, was the "Parson" Burt house. A house at the southeast corner of Hope and Franklin streets. On the southwest corner of Hope and Franklin streets was the Wilson house. The Wardwell house stood on the west side of Hope street, where the Henry W. Peck house now stands, it had a large gambrel roof; for many years it was a tavern. The Nathaniel Munro house stood on the north side of Franklin street, between Hope and High streets, where the house of the late Thos. G. Munro now stands. The Joshua Glad- ding house stood on the northeast corner of Hope and Franklin streets. On the northwest corner of Hope and Franklin streets stood the Elisha May house.
Just west of the May house stood the Jabez Howland house, built by him; he was the first of that name that settled here; and was the first town clerk. On the east side of Hope street, the second house from Franklin street, stood the so-called Diman house, a pattern of most of the original houses built in this town;
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the house was built by John Linzee, and sold to one Joseph Jacobs. For many years it was occupied as a tavern by Haile Turner, the grandfather of the late Gov. Turner of Warren. In 1769 Mr. Turner sold the estate to Jonathan Diman and it remained in the possession of the Diman family for IIO years. The old tavern was torn down in June, 1879, and the residence of Col. Charles A. Greene now occupies the old site.
Just north, where Parmenas Skinner's house stands, was a house built by a Mr. Diman. Near the site, and just north of the Gilbert Norris house, stood the old Norris house. On the south- east corner of Hope and Oliver streets is the Isaac Manchester house, still standing; years ago Samuel Butts told the writer that in the year 1775, he was bound as an apprentice to a Mr. Wood to learn the art of a weaver; he was 16 years of age and lived in the above house; Mr. Butts thought it was an old house at that time. On the west side of Hope street, where the house of the late Samuel Thompson now stands, stood the Smith house, built by Benj. Smith. Just north of the last named, where the house that was owned by the late Leonard Bradford stands, was the West house.
A house at the southwest corner of Hope and Oliver streets. On the east side of Thames street, opposite the north end of the depot, was the Coggeshall house. The James White house stood on the north side of Oliver street, between High and Hope streets, near the barn of the late William Paull. The house at the northeast corner of Hope and Oliver streets, for many years owned by Henry S. Wood, was built by Nathaniel Bosworth (for his son), the same who built the Jas. DeWolf Perry house that lies just north of the creek; the south part of the house was built on by the late Judge Bosworth. The house on the west side of the Main road, just north of the bridge, owned by the late Wm. Harding, which is still standing (1890).
A few years later: "Another of Bristol's old houses is to be demolished, the Harding house, on the west side of the main road to Warren, a short distance north of the town bridge; this is another old landmark and must have been erected nearly two centuries ago. It has one of those 'cameleopard' roofs which
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many of the early buildings of the eighteenth century had; time has made havoc with this old structure and it has nearly gone to pieces, although the large, old- fashioned chimney gives no evidence of decay. Its roof is mossgrown, and many of the inside boardings of the house can be seen bulging out here and there. During the great September gale of 1815 the water from the harbor came up under the house and one of the vessels in the harbor was blown up into the garden."
At the corner of Poppasquash road was the old Reed house. There was an old house that stood on Wind-mill point. Col. Nathaniel Byfield's farmhouse and summer residence was on Poppasquash, and stood where the late Stephen Church's east house now stands. The Reynolds house on the east side of the Main road, formerly owned by the late Samuel G. Reynolds, and now owned by John Post Reynolds, was built by Joseph Reynolds for his son; he built the Col. Wardwell house and the Potter house, so called, for another son; the last mentioned house stood north of the Samuel G. Reynolds house, near where the Wilson house now stands, and was the homestead of the D'Wolf family.
The next house on the west side of the Main road was owned by Mr. Throop; it stood where George Peckham's house now stands. The original Throop house stood on the east side of the Main road, on land formerly owned by the late Chas. Fales, just over the hill; the cellar is still there. The Throop family became quite numerous here but are now extinct, the last of the name, the late Judge William Throop, died several years ago.
Deacon John Cary, who was a brewer, built a house and brewery on the north side of Malt house lane, near what is known as the Hatch house. The lane originally went no farther east than Juniper lane, it then being the driveway for carriages to go to Swansey, of which Warren was then a part; this lane took its name from the malt house of Deacon Cary, who was the first deacon in the town. A house on the Judge Bradford farm, in west from the road, was built by Nathaniel Paine as his farmhouse; the cellar and well are still to be seen. The old Nathaniel Fales house, still standing on what is called the Middle road, leading to Broad Common, was built by Mr.
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Martindale. The Hayman house was on the west side of the Main road and near where the stone house of the late Mrs. Annie D'Wolf Swett now stands. Mr. Hayman bought out Nathaniel Oliver, one of the four original purchasers of the township, Oliver never having settled here. Mr. Hayman did not live many years, and he was the first buried in the old ceme- tery east of the Common, by his orders, six feet from the front wall. His house and farm became the property of the first Mr. Peck who settled here, and the homestead of that numerous family.
Judge Blaggrove's house was on Bristol Neck, a short distance south of the hill. John Saffin's house was near the old line be- tween Bristol and Warren. On the old parchment plat, made by Capt. Samuel Woodbury, previous to 1684, there were three houses near Saffin's, and four at the northeast part of the town.
The first meeting-house was built in 1684 and stood just one hundred years; old people have told me that the timber was cut from the street and on the Common. Mr. William Cox, an old man when I was a boy, and a very intelligent man, told me that some of the carpenters that were building it, boarded at the Rus- sell house that stood on Hope street, in the rear of the house of Mr. Martin Bennett. They had their dinner carried to them; one day their dinner did not come at the proper time; they waited until two o'clock, then sent a man to know the cause; he was told that the boy left with their dinner at 12 o'clock, so all hands that were working on the meeting-house turned out with horns to hunt for the lost boy; after quite a search they found him near what is now the Society's lands; the woods and underbrush were so thick that he got lost.
The meeting-house was square, three-story high, two tiers of galleries; the small steeple or tower was in the middle of the roof; Mr. Oliver furnished them with a bell providing they would pay the expense of transportation; a town meeting was called and a committee appointed to get the bell; as there was no money in the treasury they voted that if any gentlemen would
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advance the money for getting the bell from Boston and hanging it in the steeple, together with a rope, the money should be de- ducted from their next rate.
"KING'S HIGHWAY"
THE Town Bridge was known as the North Bridge at one time. In 1721 it was referred to as Bosworth's Bridge, or the bridge over the North Creek, to distinguish it from the South Bridge almost opposite Walker's Island which, in the records of 1721, was called Walker's Bridge. The South Creek, at one time, must have been almost as prominent a feature of the town, as the North Creek; the many changes along its banks within the last century, have almost caused us to forget that such a creek existed.
Before the bridge over the North Creek was built, the only way to get into the town by the way of the Neck road was along the "King's Highway". This highway is mentioned in the early records as far back as 1692. The route was Malt House Lane, along the lane bordering Juniper Hill Cemetery and down Crooked Lane into town.
There was another way to get into the town from the north, by the way of the "Back Road". An old record dated April 15, 1752, sheds some light on this route: "Voted that Mr. Thomas Kinnicut be desired to make a new gate at the north end of the town, on the east side of the Neck, across the highway, and like- wise to make a piece of stone wall to complete the fence across the said way." (The gate was on the Back Road.) This was the fence just north of Crane's lane which marked the boundary line between Bristol and Swanzea, and which continued to be the northern limit of the town until a portion of its territory was annexed to Warren in 1873.
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"DADDY" BULLOCK, 1769-1876
MR. JOHN BULLOCK closed his long life at his residence on High street on Monday morning last, having attained the remarkable age of 106 years and 7 months. He was born in Rehoboth, Mass., June 4th, 1769, and came to this town in the year 1800, where he has ever since resided. His father held a lieutenant's commission in the Revolutionary War and at the battle of Stillwater, in October, 1777, received a wound of which he died a few days later.
Mr. Bullock was in the employ of Hon. James D'Wolf and family, for upwards of sixty years. Although having had no advantages of an education, he always took great interest in the affairs of the town. He voted for General Washington at his second election for President in 1793, being then 24 years of age. He walked to the Town Hall in 1872, with no other assistance than his cane and voted for General Grant.
Soon after he came to Bristol he married Sebra Thresher. They had eight children, five of whom are now living. Mr. Bullock had a strong, hardy constitution and enjoyed remarkable good health through life. It is said that he never used ardent spirits or tobacco in any form. His work was generally of the most laborious kind, such as sinking wells, blasting rocks, and clearing the land, still he never met with any serious accident and was seldom kept from work by illness. He has been about our streets until within a few months since, and his great age, feeble step, and bent and tottering form elicited the respect of those who met him.
January, 1876.
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BOURN'S TAVERN
"YEARS ago Bourn's Tavern stood where the present Post Office building now stands. It was removed in the year 1846 to Court street where it now (1866) stands."
Shearjashub Bourn, jr.,* was a merchant of the town and also proprietor of a public house which at one time was the only one in town. In the old days the Town Council and Court of Probate held their meetings at Bourn's Tavern and Mr. Bourn's bill for entertaining the town fathers in 1820 came to $42.28 according to the records. It is safe to say that this entertainment provided for the town fathers was in the liquid form for the old records are full of entries giving in detail just how much they were in the habit of imbibing at the expense of the taxpayers of the town. In 1795 the selectmen ran up a staggering bill for "entertain- ment" at Stephen Wardwell's tavern (this tavern was located on Hope street on the site of the old Henry W. Peck house) where they regularly met to transact the town's affairs. Witness this :- Grog, Supers, boles of Tod, Punch, Dubel Boles of Punch (one wasn't enough), one father, and only one, took just a nip of punch. Brandy slings, pints of Rum, glasses of Brandy, also sup- ers for 8 men and coffee for same. How in the name of heaven they were able to discuss town affairs, to say nothing of transact- ing, is beyond me. There are degrees of intoxication, there must have been, for an old book of Instructions in those matters says: "Where ye same legges which carry a man into a house cannot bring him out againe, it is Sufficient Sign of Drunkennesse."
*His stone up in the North Burial Ground reads: Died 1821; aged 70 years.
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THE COURT HOUSE
Formerly known as "THE STATE HOUSE"
In General Assembly-May Session-1816
"RESOLVED that the General Assembly do accept a convey- ance of the lot of land on the Common in Bristol, 200 feet square, and that a State House be immediately erected thereon according to the plan reported by the committee. That $6000 be borrowed from the town of Bristol for that purpose."
Nathaniel Bullock who represented the Town of Bristol in 1816-17 in the General Assembly was a member of the commit- tee at that time which looked after the State's interest. "Contract between the Town of Bristol and Charles Shaw and Isaac Borden to build a Court House. 31st day of May, 1816,
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by (for the town of Bristol)
John D'Wolf Wm. D'Wolf James D'Wolf Parker Borden Jacob Babbitt Giles Luther
"Said Court House to be 62 feet long in front-22 feet wide at the front end. The whole to be erected with stone laid in mor- tar and platide (sic) with good well-burnt Taunton bricks of as good quality as those of the Bristol Hotel and headed in every eighth course. The foundation stones to be of as good quality as those of the Baptist Meeting House in Bristol. The said Court House shall be located on the present site of the Mount Hope Academy, which building the contractors agree to remove and place 21 feet from the Methodist Chapel in a direction South from the Court House."
According to the records they agreed to pay the contractors $5500. For the faithful performance of this contract, Chas.
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D'Wolf and Wm. Thorpe, jr. were surety on the contractors' bond to the amount of $ 10,000.
Luke Drury and Edward Spalding's bill for writing contract and bonds for building the Court House was $15.00. The old cancelled notes, still extant, signed by the Town Treasurer, John Howland, show that the Town of Bristol hired from time to time the necessary money to build the Court House, from the Com- mercial Bank of this town.
July 2, 1816 ...... $ 1600. Oct. 16, 1816 ...... $ 1 500.
Bristol, May 28, 1816-Town Committee to Shearjashub Bourn
8 Dinners 4.00
3 qts. Punch 1.50
3 pts. Rum 1.50
Baiting horses
for State Comm. . 50
$7.50
received payment
S. B.
Shearjashub kept a tavern in the village back in 1816, and from the old bill it would seem that the committee had a meeting at his place to talk over things.
In 1836, twenty years after the Court House was built, the editor of the Bristol Gazette had this to say: "We wish to con- gratulate our citizens upon the great improvement recently made in the Court House of this town; formerly it was as ill-contrived and inconvenient an edefice as could have been constructed with the same amount of brick and mortar. Now, thanks to the zeal of some of our representatives, we have as beautiful a room for judicial purposes as any in the State; our citizens may well be proud of it. Arrangements are in progress for fitting up the lower story as a town house. A room has long been needed here in which to hold our public meetings."
In the year 1870, Mr. Bennett J. Munro writing about the old Court House said: "The interior of the Court House in 1816
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presented a very different appearance than it does today. The bench for the Court was on the north side and on the east where the desk for the Court now stands, was a large fireplace."
THE TOWN'S POOR FARM
A STORY concerning this old structure up on the Neck known as the "Poor Farm", situated on "Poor House Road" is interest- ing. According to tradition, Capt. Jim D'Wolf built this edifice, using the stone on his land, and when it was finished gave it to the town. At that time a fellow townsman said to him, "Why Captain D'Wolf, there'll never be need for such a large poor house in this small place." The old captain, who had already begun to be troubled at the tendency to increasing extravagance on the part of his sons, replied, with one of his quizzical smiles, "O, my grandsons will be coming to live on the farm yet, and they are accustomed to plenty of room."
The student of history, by careful research of the past, soon learns that traditions are rarely true in their entirety and are of little value when at variance with recorded facts. A search of the town's records for the year 1822, the year that the farm was built, shows that the facts and the traditional account of the gift of the farm to the town are not in accord. There is no record of the gift, instead we find in the Town Meeting records of Nov. 16, 1822: "House of Industry" (that is what they called it in those days)-"Contracted with Mr. Benj. Norris to build said house for $3500." The records of April 17, 1822, show that earlier in the year the town had purchased the land for $2 500.
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CASTLE ISLAND BEACON
MAY, 1927: "Our old familiar stone Beacon on Castle Island in Bristol harbor which has given its silent warnings since the days of the old square-riggers will soon have a modern acetylene light we have been advised by the Superintendent of Lighthouses for this district."
It may be of interest to record here the information relating to the erection of the first stone beacon on Castle Island as found in the original contract: August 16, 1824-"This agreement be- tween Christopher Ellery, Collector, and Superintendent of lighthouses in the State of Rhode Island, on the part of the United States, and Nehemiah Cole of Bristol, in said State, mason. Witnesseth, That, for and in consideration of the sum of Three hundred dollars, to be paid on completing the work to be done as hereinafter set forth (which work is to be performed under the inspection, and to the satisfaction, of the Hon. James D'Wolf and the said superintendent) the said Nehemiah shall forthwith commence and without delay go on to erect a beacon upon Castle Island near said Bristol, at the place where the bea- con now there is situated: which beacon shall be built of good and sufficient stones, to be firmly laid, without mortar, in a workman- like manner, so as to secure a lasting stability to the building, which is to be of the height of twenty-four feet, to be formed circularly, of the diameter of twelve feet at the base and six feet at the top: the foundation of the same to be laid at about three feet below the present surface of the Island, or at low watermark: and the said beacon now there standing to be taken up, and so built firmly into the beacon to be erected as to rise perpendic- ularly from the centre thereof to a sufficient and proper height in order to become and serve as an additional beacon, or continua- tion in height of the four and twenty feet of stone work aforesaid.
"The three hundred dollars aforesaid to be in full satisfaction for the materials to be used in building the beacon, and for the
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labour thereon, and it is to be finished and whitewashed in a handsome manner, the whole of the expense of the beacon thus completed to be borne by said Nehemiah for the consideration aforesaid. The stone work to be solid, and the stones to be long and large as the nature of the structure will allow.
"In witness whereof the parties have hereto set their hands and seals interchangeably, this 16th day of August, eighteen hun- dred, twenty-four."
"Sealed and delivered in the presence of A. Thurston."
"CHRIST. ELLERY (Seal) NEHEMIAH COLE (Seal)"
The first beacon was evidently a "spindle" type, a keg on a staff, which was in 1824 placed in the centre of and projected through the top of the stone beacon. The present beacon is prob- ably the one built in 1824, but at sometime the old "keg spindle" was struck by lightning and destroyed, and then replaced by the present black ball and staff.
OLD BRISTOL "COLORED FOLKS" By GEORGE H. COOMER
WITHIN the present century, the colored population of Bristol, once so considerable, has diminished to a mere remnant. Long years ago, the town had its "Goree" and its "Gambia", and such in very truth they were; for a blackness overshadowed them. "Goree" and "Gambia" were far from containing all the chil- dren of Ham who had their home within Bristol bounds. There was scarcely a household of any pretensions which had not its colored retainer, male or female; and it was by no means un- usual for a well-to-do family to keep a great many of these faithful helpers. The farmhouses were no exception; every one of them had its black man or woman, and some had half a dozen. How much I have heard of them from the old people who are now gone.
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On Bristol Neck, for example, there was no end of negroes. My great-grandfather had several, one of whom, old Charles, had, when a boy, been purchased by him for two bags of coffee. Another was old Morea, one of the most faithful creatures that ever lived, and whom the British scared frightfully during their raid in 1778, when they stopped her as she was lugging two big hams from the house to the swamp. Charles and Morea, al- though nominally slaves, in reality took the command of things, and were permitted by their master to do just as they pleased; they were worthy of the trust, those loyal old darkeys, all thoughtfulness and affection.
George Loudon was another African, who figured on the Neck, and who finally married Lucy, one of my grandfather's slaves. He could swim like a fish, and one time while navigating a scow loaded with wood, on the Warren River, he leaped overboard in chase of a loon which had dived near the boat. When he came to the surface the old negro had the loon tucked under his arm.
Mr. Newby Coggeshall, who lived on the farm now occu- pied by Mr. William H. Simmons, had a number of negroes, one of whom was called Aunt Peg. She was bitten by a mad dog and soon died. In the intervals of her spasms she would charge those around her not to come near her during her con- vulsions, lest she should bite them. Poor old Peg, considerate and faithful to the last.
Bill Gardner was another of the Coggeshall negroes; but this was after the old gentleman had given up the management of the farm to his sons, William and Henry. One day the colored man started for Warren with a load of hay drawn by an ox team. Mr. Coggeshall, old and feeble, came out of the gate and began stumping along behind, probably thinking his presence was needed. This touched Bill's pride in a tender spot. Stopping his team, and throwing back his pitch mop head, he strode directly up to the old man, handing him the whip stock. "Old Massa," he said, "if you are going to drive this team up to Warren, take the whip and go along, and I'll go back to my
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work. Massa Bill and Massa Harry won't have you tagging after them, and I ain't going have you tagging after me." "Well, Willie," replied the old gentleman mildly, "you can go on then-I was thinking that you might want somebody to go along with you, that was all."
This simply illustrates a state of things then almost universal. The trusty black servants felt more pride than their masters in attending to all the details of the farm or household; and resented any attempt or interference. They were proud of any superiority in their masters way of living, even the most trivial.
Mr. John Peck had a negro named Caesar, upon whom the responsibility always devolved of salting down the pork when the swine were slaughtered in the fall. The large, solid pieces to which tails had been attached were the first to be placed in the huge tub, and, of course, the last to be taken out. It was a sure sign that you were getting down near the bottom when such a chunk was fished up out of the pickle. But this in Mr. Peck's case never happened till late in the next fall. It would in Caesar's opinion have been a disgraceful thing to have had it occur earlier. It chanced that once in haying time, the old colored man was sent to assist a neighboring farmer for a day. When the dinner came around, there was upon the table an un- usually fine cube of solid pork. But Caesar saw at a glance that it was a tail piece, and knew that the bottom tier had been reached. Yet it was only the first of July. What a meagre store there must have been, he thought. The farmer, however, appeared to. be very proud of what his board so temptingly presented, little thinking how his sable guest was inwardly pitying him. "Caesar," he asked, with an air of intense satisfac- tion, "does your Massa Peck have such a piece of pork as that on his table?" "Not this time of year, sah," replied the good old darkey; and his host had no further observations to make in that direction. There was another black Caesar, of whom many of us have heard. This was Caesar Walker, the sexton of St. Michael's Church, who, after fleeing before the British at the time of their inroad upon Bristol, could not be made to
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