USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 3 > Part 61
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"The mark which Thomas Harris Junr Gives his Cattell is a fork in the Topp of both the Eares; Jt being the marke which his Grand- father, the deceased Thomas Harris formerly gave his Cattell, or to say, marked them with".
As the cattle frequently passed from fathier to son, upon the death of the other, this preserving them as family marks was a convenient way of saving to the poor dumb beast their auricular organs, otherwise it would have resulted in very materially reducing them in size and perhaps in usefulness, for
"The Marke which Edward Manton Gives his Cattle is a Cropp of of the Topp of ye left Eare".
The æsthetic taste of the colonial farmer may be seen in the mark which Zuriell Hall gives his "Cattell is a Cropp of the Topp of the Right Eare & a flower deluice on the left".
With this artistic design waving in the air, stimulated by the action of countless flies as
"Clarine Peach-bloom, and Phoebe Phyllis Stand knee deep in the creamy lilies In a drowsy dream",
there was a certain appropriate blending of the whole composition.
When horses or cattle were found astray the finder took them into his charge and informed the town clerk, who posted a notice thereof in some conspicuous place and also spread a record of the same upon the town books. This entry was made apparently upon the first page he came to when he opened the book, as often following the record of the birth of a child as preceding a deed or the findings of a "Crowners Quest", and the entries read :
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EARLY HABITS AND CUSTOMS AND OLD LANDMARKS.
"Upon the 18th day of January 1678 William Whipple made Proclamation of a stray horse that he had taken up the description of the said is as followeth for Colour bay, branded on the foreshoulder with X the two hind feet with a white in the forehead, with a small white on the Nose, Dock somewhat short of stature something small".
"January ye 23d 1667 William Haukins junr. gave notice to be Recorded that he upon the 22d of this Jnstant took up a Stray maire of a darke bay Couller with fowre white specks of saddle gauls thre on the left side and one on the Right side and a white Speck, on the hinder part of the neere foote before neare the hoofe and marked with a fore Gad on her right Eare".
Horses were highly valued, for in early times they were the only means by which the settlers could travel about unless they went afoot. The finding of a horse was advertised much more extensively than the tak- ing up of cattle. In 1652 there was found within the township a stray horse for which no owner appeared, and in addi- tion to the usual form of record- ing the find and giving notice, the town clerk was ordered "to write unto Mr Adderton Mr Browne & Mr Winthrop touch- SAUNDERS HOUSE, NEAR ASHAWAY, Erected about 1740. ing a stray horse wch was taken up the 27 of the 3d moneth last that notice may be given to the Coun- trey about him that the true owners may have him restored."
In the taking up of stray cattle due formalities were observed, and the entries read :
"October ye 21st 1719
"Then Edward Hawkings junr gave notis that he had taken vp three stray Cattle one brown Cow haueing no Eare marke and one two and vantage heffer of a Red Culler Earemarked with a slitt in Each side of the Left Eare and the top of the Right Eare Cutt of : the other a yeare and vantage hiffer of a brown Culler with a white face haveing no Eare marke".
"December ye 24th 1717
"This day Ensign Epenetus Olney Gave notis that he had taken up a stray steere of a yeare and vantage old being of a Red Culler and Eare marked with a crop of on the Left Eare".
"March ye 13th 1702-3 John Browne gave notice that there was a Stray beast com to his Cattle he hauing made much inquiry but cannot yet find any owner. The beast is a heifer of a yeare old and Vantage
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
of Colour a kind of a Browne marked on the left Eare with a Cropp, or a kind of a fork; some small matter of white under her body".
The annoyance which these wandering cattle produced is shown by the notice which James Thornton filed with the town elerk regarding a horse which came unbidden within the bounds of his farm, for his troubles are set forth with much detail in the following writing, which by some eurious combination of circumstances is found twice recorded on the old town record book :
"This writeing may Certifie all Persons that I James Thornton of ye Towne of Providenec in ye Collony of Rhode Island &e : have taken up a certaine horse, a Smale one, of Colour Sorrill haveing a white face, the which horse jumpt over my fence into my Meaddow, Con- tinually doeing of me damage amongst my Grass I severall times hunted him away, but Could not keepe him out, whereupon I was forced to take him up & to secure him, intending to have him Pro- claimed & Enter him a Stray; But there being no Pound in the Towne was Constrained to seeure him in my yard; But in ye meanwhile heareing of the owner of ye horse, that is said to be a man which went from our Towne to Bloek Jsland a Souildiar, his name I doe not know ; I could not Proceed wth him as a stray, but as a Trespasser, And therfore must & shall Endeavour to secure sd horse for ye Space of one yeares time from the 7th day of this Jnstant July 1709: And if the owner of sd horse doe not eome to looke after him before the End of ye said time & pay ye damage & my Charge & trouble about him, then when said time is Expired, I shall Repare to those in Authority & Request of them to dispose. concerning said horse in order as the law in such Causes Requires, that so I may have my damage & Cost paid out of Said horse & then the overpluss (if any be) may be to the Lord of ye ffee, as ye law directs: The aforesd horse was upon the 7th day of July 1709, by John Whipple & Thomas Angell apprized at Twenty & five shillings. They being both of sd Providenee."
Many laws were enacted for the protection of the cattle, for on these beasts depended mueh of the comfort of the household; milk, butter and cheese were most important produets of the farm and without the cattle these were denied to the settlers. Cheese vats, called in the old inventories "Cheese ffats", and churns were the property of nearly every householder.
It was to provide pasturage for their cattle that many of them established their homes so far from the compaet part of the town.
With the lands which were purchased, assigned or laid out to the early settler there was nearly always ineluded a "share of meadow" or "a piece of Meaddow". These meadows are variously referred to : "Christopher Smith his ffirst share of meaddow is A Swampe".1 Another meadow belonging to Smith is deseribed as "hauing a narrow
1 Early Records of Providence, vol. i, p. 55.
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EARLY HABITS AND CUSTOMS AND OLD LANDMARKS.
slang goeth from it". Epenetus Olney had a "meddow lying on the South Side of the River". William Field had shares of meadow lying upon Moshassuck River. In nearly every case the meadow is situated near a brook or river.
Few settlements were made in New England where the land was better watered than in Northern Rhode Island. Large rivers, like the Blackstone, Moshassuck, Woonasquatucket and Pawtuxet, flowed all around, while countless brooks and streams wound in and out between the lands through which the rivers found their way to the salt water. "The early settlers did not attach the same signification to the word meadow which now belongs to it in New England, where it means low, swampy land, without regard to the mowing. They called by the name meadow all grass land that was annually mown for hay, and especially that by the side of a river or brook, and the meaning of the word was the common one in England, whence they brought their language".
Some of these meadows were extensive tracts of land and became conspicuous geographical land marks. They had names given them by reason of their location and sometimes by virtue of their ownership. There was the Great Mattety meadow, Mashapauge meadow, Observa- tion meadow, Great meadow, Many Holes meadow, Cranberry meadow, Wanskuck meadow, Mashantitut meadow, Reddock's meadow, Ways meadow, and Benedict's meadow. The meadow of Many Holes sug- gests a word now obsolete, but which finds many references among the land records; this is the word "hole". J. C. Atkinson in his "Glos- sary of the Cleveland Dialect"-a dialect spoken in a district of Northumberland, England-gives "Holl, a deep narrow depression in the surface of the land or place of no great longitudinal extent". Some of the places designated in the early records as holes can even now be identified, and show that such a name was given to deep places in brooks or very deep swampy sections, such as "Hawkins' Hole" in Johnston and Deep Hole on the Woonasquatucket; besides these there was the Devell's Hole and Dayle's Hole; but in Groton, Mass., its significance was apparently different, for in that town the record of Joseph Parker's land speaks of an acre lying "In a hole neare the Angle medow" and land containing two holes or three of swampy meadow, and Timothy Allen's grant mentions three acres at "Skull hole".
On the west side of the river, in Providence, nearly opposite to the home lot of William Hawkins and Christopher Unthank,1 or where Wickenden street now appears, there was a point of land called by the name of Cowpen's Point, where, in 1657, John Crossman was accom- modated with some land ;2 this geographical feature of the country has
1Hopkins's Home Lots of the Early Settlers, map.
2 Early Records of Providence, v. ii, p. 92.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
long since been obliterated; the foot of South street, however, serves to designate to-day its location. This name was evidently derived from the use which was made of this tract of land. Cowpen's Point naturally was surrounded with water, except on one side, and could be approached only from one direction from the land. Protect this side and it was secure from the depredation of wild beasts and would be a comparatively safe place wherein the "kine, horses, goats, sheep and swine of the settlers could be assembled and cared for at night".
A night pasture was the public institution preceding nearly all others in the planting of a New England town. That of Boston was established in 1634 by the following order: "Item That there shall be a little house, built and a sufficiently payled yard to lodge the cattell in of nights att Pullen's poynt necke". We find the name in Boston records as late as 1699 attaching to a field at Rumney Marsh. The "night Pasture" of Roxbury is frequently mentioned in deeds and other conveyances, while Concord, Groton, Salem, and other towns of early origin afford in their annals abundant proof that the custom was universally observed of driving the common herd afield daily during the season of forage, under the care of children and keepers. In Watertown this enclosure was called "Cowpen" or wolf pen.
In 1634 William Wood, in "New England Prospect", says "a few posts and rayles keepes out the Wolves and Keepes in the Cattle".1 That it was the custom of the early settlers of Providence to pursue such a course with their cattle is shown by the instrument called "Dexters Plaisster", endorsed by Thomas Clemence, wherein it states that "the Cattell Going so far in one day to feed as they might Come home at Night".
Cowpen's Point without doubt was the night pasture of the settle- ment, and quite likely had its "payled yard" for the better security of the little herds of the colonists. "Wolves were to the pioneers of New England the most troublesome of all wild beasts, being often too cunning to be trapped, too cowardly to come within reach of the gun and fearfully destructive in the midnight forays upon the unhoused flock".2
In 1659 it was ordered by the town of Providence, as an encourage- ment to the killing of these pests, that any one who kills wolves shall have "a halfe penny a head for each head of catel, they who kill the wolfe to gather it upp",3 and there are many entries upon the records where "the head of a wolfe" was brought in to the town clerk, and the fact duly certified. Sometimes these bloody trophies were brought in and "set up in a public place in the town". June 18, 1687, Nimrod, an Indian, brought in the heads of five young wolves, which he killed.
1 Annals of Lancaster, p. 21.
2 Ibid.
3 Early Records of Providence, v. ii. p. 122.
BURR'S TAVERN, WARREN, R. I.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
One wolf eatcher had carried his business to such an extent that he petitioned the town to have a part of the Common land set off to him as a reward for his services.1
In the early part of the eighteenth eentury taverns or public houses of entertainment became quite eommon throughout New England. When the privilege was granted by the town to carry on such a public institution, there were certain regulations which governed their eon- duet. No unlawful games, such as "Carding, Dicing, Slide groat", etc., werc to be permitted at the tavern. Carding and dicing are common enough in these days, but Slide groat was an old-fashioned game of chance which is even now sometimes indulged in, and is called by the name of "Shovel Board" or "Shuffle Board". In early days it was played by pushing or shaking pieces of metal or money to reach a certain mark designated on the board used in the play, and it is not difficult to see where the mischief of the game comes in. It was also stipulated that no "Evil Rule" should be maintained within the tavern which might have a bad influence on the persons who might there congregate. With an eye to the welfare of the younger element in the community, apprentices and boys were forbidden to frequent taverns or ale houses. Liquor was sold at the tavern as a matter of course, for our colonial fathers and mothers did not regard drinking as an evil habit. Tavern lieenses, if we read the records regarding their grants eorreetly, were only issued to the "likelyest persons", and those who were fortunate enough to eome within that elass were expected to conduct their hostelries "to ye best of their skill & abilities".
The first taverns or inns were almost entirely places of resort for drinking and its incidental soeiability. Beside this they served to diffuse the news of the times. They were the common resort of the people. The main room of the tavern was the one inviting and attractive plaee. Here was the great fireplace, adding its cheer to the surroundings; while earelessly arranged on the sanded floor were a settle or two, a form, ehairs, stools and ehests.
"The chest contrived a double debt to pay A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day".
In the corner, perhaps built into the wall, was the "bowfatt", as it was sometimes called, or a "cubbard" or press, where the liquors, the quart pots, the pint pots, the gill pots and other vessels were kept. There was also another indispensable artiele, which was as mueh a part of the barroom furnishings as the pots and bowls, and which usually hung by the fireplace. This was the "logger head", "hottle", "flip dog", or flip iron, or by whatever name it was ealled. This was used
1 Providence Town Papers.
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EARLY HABITS AND CUSTOMS AND OLD LANDMARKS.
when heated to give to certain mixtures a burnt, bitter flavor. Some- times this became so worn from frequent heatings that it had to be turned over to the tender mercies of the village blacksmith before it could do the work which was expected of it. On the account book of Henry Bowen, who kept the old tavern at Barrington, R. I., for many years, there is the entry of the charge for repairing his flip iron and it reads, "For mending flip iron /8".
Over all this presided the landlord of the hostelry, who, next to the town clerk, was the most important personage in the town life. He was thoroughly informed on all public matters and generally on pri- vate matters as well. He was the confidant of those who gathered around his fireside, and he always held public office, for that was the
RUINS OF COLE'S TAVERN, WARREN.
A famous tavern of Warren, formerly standing at the corner of Main street and what is now Joyce street. This hostelry was established in 1765, and was destroyed by fire in March, 1893.
prerogative of the tavern keeper. In many of the old taverns the Town Council held its meetings. Notices of publishments of mar- riages, of auctions and stray cattle, and the Town's Acts and Orders were there posted.
It was the privilege of the magistrate to perform the marriage ceremony, always satisfying himself, however, before doing so, that the banns had been regularly posted on "some eminent tree" as the law required.
All these duties brought the tavern keeper into close communion with his fellow men and contributed largely to the influence which such persons always exercised in the community of which they were a part. Merry parties, too, congregated in these old inns, and around
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
the blazing fire supped their flip, toddy and other seductive drinks of colonial days. There is an ancient rhyme which describes with great clearness a convivial party thus congregated. It gives us the banter and coarse jest of the tap-room and throws much light on the character of the conversation, when a congenial crowd met together for the pur- pose of paying their bets and gossiping about their neighbors. It is in these words :
"Landlord, to thy bar room skip,
Make a foaming mug of flip ---
Make it of our country's staple,
Rum, New England sugar maple,
Beer that's brewed from hops & Pumpkins,
Grateful to the thirsty Bumpkins.
Hark! I hear the poker sizzle
And o'er the mug of the Liquor drizzle,
And against the earthen mug
I hear the wood'n spoon's cheerful dub,
I see thee landlord taste the flip;
And fling thy cud from under lip,
Then pour more rum the bottle stopping, Stir it again and says it's topping;
Come, quickly bring the humming liquor, Richer than ale of British vicar, Better than Usquebaugh Hibernian
Or than Flacus' famed Falernian,
More potent, healthy, racy, frisky,
Than Holland's gin or Georgia's whisky.
Come, make a ring around the fire
And hand the mug unto the squire;
Here, Deacon, take the elbow chair,
And Corporal Cuke, you sit there;
You take the dye tub, you the churn,
And I'll the double corner turn.
See the fomenting liquor rise
And burn their cheeks and close their eyes;
See the sidling mug incline,
Hear them curse their dull divine
Who on Sunday dar'd to rail
Against B-'s flip or Downer's ale.
Quick, landlord, fly and bring another,
And Deacon H. shall pay for 'tother;
Ensign and I the third will share,
Its due on swop for the pyeball mare".
Flip was an immensely popular drink in those days and so continued for many years, and even now cannot be said to be out of popular favor. There were many ways of preparing it. One of the most popular is said to have been of "home brewed beer", sweetened with sugar, molasses or dried pumpkin, and flavored with a liberal dash of rum, then stirred in a great mug or pitcher with a red hot hottle or flip dog, which made the liquor foam and gave it a burnt, bitter taste. Battered flip was sometimes called for, but this was the same concoc- tion with the addition of beaten eggs or whipped cream.
Space does not permit any extended account of this peculiar New
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EARLY HABITS AND CUSTOMS AND OLD LANDMARKS.
England institution, the tavern. With the changes that have taken place it has ceased to exist as our grandfathers knew it, but its influ- ence as an educational factor in the life of early New England will always remain.
Curious names were conferred upon the children in colonial days. Thomas Olney of Providence had a son Epenetus, a name from the Greek, and when transferred to the Latin form is written thus: E-pæn-e-tus, the accent being on the second syllable; it means "praise- worthy". This, like many other names bestowed in early times, was taken from the Bible. Of course there were the usual number of persons bearing the names of Jolin, James, Abigail, Patience, Henry, Robert, William, Elizabeth, Margaret, Sara, and many others. As well as the more common names taken from Holy Writ, like Gideon, Daniel, Ephraim, Simon and Zachariah; Mary, Susanna, Rebecca, Esther and Ruth, but in addition to these there were names which it would seem were brought forth after long and persistent search to find something strange, unique or uncommon, and the result was colonial parents inflicted names upon their offspring which must have almost retarded their growth. Philip, Hope and Experience were given as names to both boys and girls. Alexander Balcom had a son named Freegift; Thomas Estance and Estance Thomas, supposed to be father and son, were joint partners in the purchase of a parcel of land from Stephen Paine in 1674; Robert Burdick of Newport and Westerly had a daughter Tacy; Thomas Butts of Little Compton had a son Idido; Hannah George of New Shoreham married Tourmet Rose ; Teddeman Hull was a physician of Jamestown, R. I. The wife of John Saunders of Westerly was named Silence, and the records pre- serve the same silence as to her surname.
Some of the names have a certain appropriateness, for Endcome Sanford died young, so the record says. While his brother Restcome died unmarried. It is seldom that such uncommon names are com- bined in one family as in that of John Tyler of Portsmouth, for his children were Lazarus, Miriam, Tamar, Question and Friendship.
William Harris, with whom Roger Williams had lifelong con- troversies, had a son named Tolleration, and a daughter Howlong. Horod or Horrid Long, of Newport, was a woman of many names, and the history of her life is as horrid as the name she bore.
The most wonderful name and one which was the least likely to have been selected from all the names appearing in the Bible was that of Mahershalallashbaz, and there were, previous to 1680, two persons in the Colony bearing this name, one a daughter of Samuel Gorton of Warwick, whose peculiarities brought upon him no end of troubles, while the other was a son of Mary Dyer, she who was hung for the
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
criine of being a Quaker, on the grounds now comprising the beautiful Public Garden and Common in Boston.
No law seems to have been more persistently disregarded in the carly years of the Colony than the law for recording births, marriages and deaths. The importance of these records, so carefully and minutely kept in Old England, early engaged the attention of the authorities in the settlements in New England. In Providence as early as 1655 it had been ordered by the town that "all persons joining in marriage, all parents of children new borne and all executor ( ) or next friends to persons dieing shall Record in ye Towne ( ) names and times of their maring of their children new Borne & the Burreill of their friends paying 3s. to ye Town Clerk for their record & this under ye Penalltie of paying 5s. for each neglect".
Neither the fee for complying nor the penalty for neglecting seems to have influenced the majority.
Marriages were more often recorded than other vital records. In colonial days this ceremony was performed by the magistrates, and this form, used to give notice of the fact, is found in the following paper yet preserved :
"Prouidence October the 24th 1705
"These are to Declare to all persons that theire is an intention of marrig betwen Benjamin Westcot of prouidence and Bethiah Garner of Kings Towne that if any person hath just Cause to Shew to the Contorairi they may be under Shew theire Reasons or ales Euer after hold theire peace".
Sometimes thic magistrates would attend to properly recording these events upon the books of the town, but more often they would make a record upon a book kept for the purpose or upon sheets of paper ; several of these are among the Providence Town Papers and many such marriages have never appeared upon the public records.
Justice Thomas Fenner during the year 1711 made use of a little almanac in which he notes these "unions of families and fortunes". It is a curious little book, three and one-half inches wide by six inches in length, containing eight leaves.
This old almanac was doubtless kept carefully in one of his chests, for it does not appear that he was the owner of a desk, and from time to time as a marriage was performed by him it was duly recorded on the margins of the pages in the book; from it we learn that
"Samuel Bats and Mary Corpes married
Jancrary the 23 1710 or 11
Samuel Relef junor and Joane Spicer
was joyned in marriage March the 15 1711
On the 27th of June Experience Mitchel
was married
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EARLY HABITS AND CUSTOMS AND OLD LANDMARKS.
Mr Jonathan Sprague and Hannalı Cook
joyned Jn marrige on the 3 of August 1711 John Corp and patiance Gorton was
married on the 18th of October 1711".
Another marginal note states that "the 2d munday Jn Nouember Js to be a Councill day".
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