oe wed eat a CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GaTe-LopGE oF FREDERICK L. Ames, Nortu Easton. HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF EASTON Slassachusetts. By WILLIAM L. CHAFFIN. Ss CAMBRIDGE: JOHN WILSON AND SON. Aniversity Press. TRRA i n hn CPR & 08 Der ‘ , Fe 6. | \ Copyright, 1886, By Wituiam L. CHAFFIN. TO HIS WIFE, WHOSE DELIGHT IT HAS BEEN TO SHARE THE TOIL AND THE JOY OF THIS AS OF EVERY WORK OF HIS LIFE, This Mistory is Affectionately Enscribey BY HER HUSBAND, THE WRITER: PREPACE. BOUT thirteen years ago the writer of this History prepared two series of historical sketches of Eas- ton, which were published. in the “ Easton Journal.” It was probably because of this fact that he was asked, nearly five years ago, to write a sketch of Easton fora proposed History of Bristol County. In the endeavor to do that work thoroughly he collected a large amount of historical material of exceptional interest, and it seemed desirable that this material should not be lost, but should be embodied in a carefully written town his- tory. To the task of writing such a history he accord- -ingly addressed himself at once; and since that time, with the exception of a six months’ rest in 1885, neces- sitated by overwork, he has devoted to it nearly every day and hour that he could command. The religious society of which the writer is pastor, themselves inter- ested in the completion of this work, kindly permitted him to take considerable time that was rightfully theirs ; and for this he is heartily grateful. He would certainly not have allowed himself to use this time if the work were one merely of personal interest and profit to him- b vi PREFACE. self; but he considered the enterprise one of public im- portance, and has been constantly assured that his towns- men were interested in seeing it accomplished. It was undertaken entirely at the writer’s own risk, and with- out expectation of pecuniary recompense: he has his reward in the work itself, and in the satisfaction he hopes others may derive from it. With what success it has been accomplished others must judge. But the writer believes himself entitled to claim that he has spared himself no effort, toil, or ex- pense to make this History as accurate, thorough, and complete as the nature of the case admitted. Every available source of information on the subjects treated has been carefully examined,—days and weeks having sometimes been spent in settling even those small details which seemed, to the writer at least, indispensable to com- plete the finished mosaic of a good town history. It was the writer’s purpose to add to this History the genealogical tables of Easton families; but that purpose was abandoned, both because it would too much increase the size of this book, and because accuracy and complete- ness in such tables require more time than it has yet been possible to give them, though two persons besides himself have devoted about a year to this labor alone. The ma- terial for this important work is however all in hand, and the writer hopes at no very distant day to publish a care- fully prepared Genealogical History of Easton. He desires to express his gratitude to the many per- sons. to whom he has applied for information, by all of whom he is happy to say he has been treated with a real PREFACE. vil kindness that was something more than courtesy. To no one, however, is he so much indebted as to his friend A. W. Stevens, who has done all that the cultivated taste of an accomplished and critical proof-reader could do to prune away the imperfections of the writer's narrative, and to add to it accuracy, force, and finish. Especially also is he under obligation to Edward D. Williams and Samuel D. Simpson of Easton, and to Macey Randall of Sharon, for valuable documents and for the aid ren- dered by their exceptionally good memories. He is also indebted to the Rev. G. G. Withington, Joseph Bar- rows, Hiram Williams, D. C. Lillie, Guilford White, A. A. Gilmore, L. S. Drake, George C. Belcher, the Rev. L. H. Sheldon, the Rev. John W. McCarthy (now of Providence, R.I.), Mrs. F. E. Gilmore, to Comrade David Howard, and to many other Easton persons whom he would be glad to name did space permit. He would mention Gilbert Nash, of Weymouth, with par- ticular gratitude; and he has been kindly assisted by S. A. Bates of South Braintree, H. C. Kimball of Stoughton, and E. A. Hewitt of Bridgewater. He is also indebted to Dr. Samuel A. Green, Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, for valuable sug- gestions and for the privilege of using that Society's library, and to John Ward Dean of the New England Historic Genealogical Society for various favors. He cannot be too grateful to Newton Talbot of Boston; also to Solomon Talbot of Sharon, Joshua E. Crane of Bridgewater, J. W. D. Hall of Taunton, Dr. Wil- liam B. Lapham of Augusta, Me., Mrs. Mary C. DeWitt Vill PREFACE. Freeland of Sutton, Mass., Dr. Edward Strong of the State Secretary’s office, the Hon. John D. Long, Col. Carroll D. Wright, Commodore W. S. Schley of the U.S. Navy Department, the Adjutant-Generals of Mass- achusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Illinois, and to many others, who though not here mentioned are gratefully remembered by the writer. The pictures which embellish this book are mainly the work of the Heliotype Printing Company, of Boston; and for them the reader and the writer are indebted to the following individuals: To Frederick L. Ames for six of them; to Oakes A. Ames and Governor Oliver Ames, acting together, for five; and to Mrs. Oliver Ames, Sr., E. W. Gilmore, Edward N. Morse, George V. N. Lothrop, the Rev. L. H. Sheldon, the late Jason G. Howard, for one each. The Reed families furnished the picture of Mrs. Olive Reed, and the members of the Evangelical Society paid the expense of the picture of their church. The three remaining illustrations were supplied by the writer. WILLIAM L. CHAFFIN. NortH Easton, December 1, 1886. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE TROBOGRAPHY. "a [0 “BP 6 2h Mah! Sa SG a a eh ae OE Geology of Easton.— Glacial Action. — Bog-Iron Ore. —Swamps.— Brooks and Streams. — Ponds. — Meadows and Plains. — Animals. CHAPTER II. Tue Taunton NortH-PurcHaSE . . .- ... 2... 19 The Original Purchase. —The Boundary Line Controversy. — Indian Ownership of these Lands. — The Preservation of Timber. — The Division of Lands. —The Books of the Company. CHAPTER III. Ear_y SETTLERS . - 1 + ee ee eee - 39 The Seven Families of Squatters. — Subsequent Settlers. — Their Pre- vious Places of Abode.— The Time of their Settlement in Taunton North-Purchase. — Location of their Homesteads. — The Oldest House in Town. CHAPTER IV. ELDER WILLIAM PRATT. ~ «©. 7 ee ee 58 Origin of the Easton Church. — Its First Minister. — His Call, and the Gift of Land to Him.— His Previous Life. — Missionary Journey to South Carolina. — Second Journey. — Final Return to New England. — Settles in Easton. — His Remarkable Piety. — His Short Ministry and Death. x CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PAGE Precinct AND TOWN. . . . ee ee et te tt tt TE A Church Needed in the North Purchase. — Contention as to its Loca- tion. — Compromises. — Incorporation of Norton. — The Norton Parish extends temporarily Eastward to the Bay Road. — Formation of the East Precinct of Norton.—Incorporation of the Town of Easton. CHAPTER VI. Tue Ministry or THE Rev. MaTrHew SHorT. . - + + + 85 Birth and Parentage. — Settlement in Attleborough. — Settlement at the East Precinct of Taunton North-Purchase. — Sickness and Recovery. — His two published Sermons. — The first Meeting-House. — Early Dissatisfaction with its Location. — Death of Mr. Short. CHAPTER VII. THE MINISTRY OF THE REV. JOSEPH BELCHER. - »- + + + 94 Distinction between Church and Parish.— Call and Settlement of Mr. Belcher. — His Antecedents.— The Ordination. — Dissatisfied with his Salary. — Partial Insanity. — Involved in Lawsuits. — Disappear- ance. CHAPTER VIII. Tue Rev. SoLoMON PRENTICE AND A MEMORABLE CHURCH CONTROVERSY: © #@ # # © #8 % # w «© w@ & © @ «© FOR Rev. Mr. Prentice accepts a Call to Easton. — His Exciting Ministerial Experience at Grafton. — He is a “ New Light.” — Where shall the Easton New Meeting-House stand ?— Stormy Times. — The General Court invoked to interfere. — They order it built at the Centre. — It is done, but Disaffection increases. — Mr. Prentice Threatens to “break the heads” of the General Court’s Committee. — The Church and Parish divided. — Mr. Prentice’s Friends begin to build a Meet- ing-House. — Church Councils. — Personalities. CHAPTER IX. Tue PRESBYTERIAN SOCIETY . .. .. . 0. + ew we «128 Mr. Prentice’s Church adopt Presbyterianism.— Their Statement of Reasons for doing so.— His Wife becomes heretical, and joins the Baptists. — He allows the Baptists to have a Prayer Meeting at his House. — Alarm of his Church at such Latitudinarianism. — The Presbytery summoned to Easton, and Mr. Prentice Suspended. — His subsequent Experience. — His Children. CONTENTS. Xl CHAPTER X. PAGE THE Rev. GEORGE FARRAR, AND THE CONCLUSION OF THE CHURCH CONTROVERSY . . . 6. + ee ee ee) TAI Attempts of the Town to get Preaching “without Money and without Price.” — The New Candidate.— Birth and Ancestry. — His Court- ing. — The Church Conflict deepens. — Presbyterians and Baptists protest against the Ordination. — They Appeal to the General Court, but without Avail. — They must pay to support a Church and Minis- ter they do not believe in.— Death of Mr. Farrar.—The Presby- terians give up the Contest. — Religion at a Discount in Easton. CHAPTER XI. EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND InpDIAN WaR . .. . . - . 158 Massachusetts Military Archives. — Hostility of the French and English Colonists. — Captain Nathaniel Perry’s Company. — Sketch of Cap- tain Perry. — Easton Men in Captain Ebenezer Dean’s Company. — In Captain James Andrew’s Company. — Miscellaneous Enlistments. — Trying Experiences of Easton Volunteers. — The Acadians. a. 7 CHAPTER XII. THE Baptist SOCIETY . 6s 6 6 8 © 8 8 @ # @ w = 293 Opposition to the Ministerial Tax.— Growing Dissent from the Estab- lished Congregationalism. — Liberty and License. — Fanaticism thrives, and Immorality puts on the Livery of Heaven. — The Bap- tist Society organized. — The Rev. Ebenezer Stearns. — The Baptists dispute the Town’s Right to collect the Ministerial tax from them, ‘and win their case. — The Rev. Eseck Carr, Minister and Cooper. — The Baptist Meeting-House. — Decline and Death of the Society. CHAPTER XIII. Tue Rev. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL ..- .-+ ++. + 190 The Church of Christ in Easton calls Archibald Campbell. — His Par- entage, Birth, and Education. — Fair Prospect of a Peaceful Ministry. — Gathering Clouds. — Mr. Campbell’s Wife a Stumbling Block. — The Minister Slandered. — He is Dismissed with a Recommendation. — Ministry in Charlton.— Domestic Trouble and Disgrace. — Dis- missal and Sad Subsequent Experiences. — Extract from one of his Sermons. — His Children. — “ The Vale of Tears.” xil CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. PAGE EaSTon IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WaR. - . - + + + + + 206 Difficulties with the Mother Country. — Easton Discourages the use of “Forrin Superfluities.” — Easton “ Daughters of Liberty.” — The “Lexington Alarm.”— Enlistments in 1775.— Enlistments in 1776. — Rhode Island “ Alarms.” — Enlistments in 1777 and 1778. — Eas- ton Men at Valley Forge. — Later Enlistments. — Continental Cur- rency and its Depreciation. — Tories. — Biographies of Easton Military Officers: Captains Elisha Harvey and James Keith ; Colonel Abiel Mitchell; Captains James Perry, Matthew Randall, Josiah Keith, Macey Williams, Seth Pratt, and Ephraim Burr. — Brigadier- General Benjamin Tupper and Major Anselm Tupper. CHAPTER XV. Tue Rev. WittiamM REED... ee ee ee ee ew 258 The Dawn of Peaceful Times for the Easton Church.— The Call of William Reed. — His Birth and Ancestry. — “ Relation” of his Reli- gious Experience. — How he obtained his Wife. — The Ordination Services. — Home Life. — Church Discipline. — The Ministerial Land.—Incorporation of the Parish. — The Church Bell. — Pecu- niary Struggles. — Mr. Reed as a Preacher. CHAPTER XVI. InpusTRIES PRIOR TO 1800 « «© ee ew we ee ee 295 The Randalls build the first Saw-Mill.— Clement Briggs starts the first Grist-Mill. — Eliphalet Leonard erects Brummagem Forge. — Other Iron Industries. — Firearms Manufactured at the “ Quaker Leonard Place.” — Easton said to Manufacture the first Steel made in this Country. — Miscellaneous Industries. CHAPTER XVII. OLD ABANDONED HOMESTEADS . . . - s+ «+ + © « 290 Struggles of Early Settlers. — A Trip through the Northeast Corner of the Town. — Old Places in and about North Easton. — Down the old Meeting-House Road.—About Easton Centre.—In South Easton. — On and near the Bay Road.— In the Southwest Part of the Town. CONTENTS. Xlll CHAPTER XVIII. PAGE Tue War or 1812. . 6 1 ee ee ee ee ee te 306 New England not actively interested. — The Military Companies of Easton. — Enlistments in the United States Service. — Capt. Noah Reed’s Company at New Bedford. — A practical Joke carried too far. — Nathan Buck shoots Charles Gilbert. — Trial and Conviction. — Capt. Isaac Lothrop’s Company at Boston. — Capt. Samuel Cush- man’s Company at Plymouth.— Lieut. Elijah Smith and his Records. CHAPTER XIX. Tue First METHODIST SOCIETY . . - + . + + © © © + 314 Beginning of Methodism in Easton. — Jesse Lee, the Pioneer. — Isaac Stokes. — The Eccentric Lorenzo Dow.—The First Methodist Meeting-House. — The Rev. John Tinkham. — Customs and In- novations. — Successive Preachers. — Father Bates. — The New Meeting-House. — Universalist Preaching makes Trouble. — Great Revivals. — Later Preachers. CHAPTER XxX. Tue Rev. LurHer SHELDON, D.D., AND THE DIVISION OF THE PARISH . . ee ee ee ee te et et 8334 Mr. Luther Sheldon receives a Call. — His Youth and Education. — Kindness of the Parish to their Minister. — Divergence of Theologi- cal Opinions among the Parishioners. —Mr. Sheldon ceases to exchange with Neighboring “ Liberal” Ministers. — The Parish re- quests him to continue Fraternal Relations with Them. — He fails to respond to the Request.— An Ex-parte Council summoned by the Parish. — The Parish excludes Him from His Pulpit. — Mr. Sheldon’s Friends organize and begin to build a Meeting-House. — An Exciting Controversy. — Lawsuits. — Mr. Sheldon re-enters his Pulpit. — Vari- ous attempts at Agreement. — A Settlement finally effected. CHAPTER XXI. Easton CentRE CHURCHES. — SPIRITUALISM . . - «© + + 360 The First Congregational Parish after the Division : Successive Pastors, — William H. Taylor, Paul Dean, William Whitwell, George G. Withington ; Services Discontinued; The Meeting-House Burned. —The Evangelical Society: Rev. Dr. Sheldon’s Resignation ; his Character ; The Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of his Settle- ment in Easton; Successive Pastors of the Evangelical Society ; The New Meeting-House ; Sunday Schools. — Spiritualism in Easton : its Origin; its Patrons; The “First Spiritual Society of Easton ;” The “Easton Society of Progressive Spiritualists.” xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXII. PAGE LIBRARIES. 6 ee ee ee te te et 878 The First Social Library. — The Washington Benevolent Society and Library.— The Second Social Library. —The Methodist Social Library. —The No. 2 District Library. — The Agricultural Library. —The North Easton Library Association. —The Ames Free Library. CHAPTER XXIII. PUBLIC SCHOGES)) Qos A al ae we Rw we SO School Management of the last Century. — The School-Committee Sys- tem. — Superintending Committee since 1826.— Men and Women Teachers. — Teachers’ Wages. —The High School. ~ The Perkins Academy. — The History of the Schoolhouses of all the Districts. — The Oliver Ames Fund for Support of Schools. —The Oakes Ames Fund for North Easton Village. — Late Statistics. CHAPTER XXIV. NorrH Easton VILLAGE CHURCHES . . «+ + «+ + «© + + 403 Methodist Protestant Society. — Methodist Episcopal Movement; Its Failure. — Division of the Washington Street Methodist Society. — Formation of the Main Street Methodist Episcopal Society ; Reuben Meader and others build a Meeting-House for it.— Lewis B. Bates and Successors. — Origin of Unity Church; C. C. Hussey, its first settled Minister; He is succeeded by William L. Chaffin; Hon. Oliver Ames builds a new Church and presents it to the Society. — The Church of the Immaculate Conception. — The Swedish Church. — The Adventists.— Denominational Statistics of Easton. — Statis- tics of Church-going. CHAPTER XXV. SHADOWS: 400% 4 # a # 4 Go} we «© & w B Woy ww 4Ig Rough Life in the early Pioneer Days. — A notorious Gang of Thieves ; George White the Leader. — The Bank Robber. — Slavery. — Intem- perance. — Pauperism. CONTENTS. xV CHAPTER XXVI. VAIGH WAYS’. i Re ee ae a Introductory Remarks. — Abandoned Roads. — The Bay Road, Prospect Street, and Purchase Street laid out before the Incorporation of the Town. — Other old Roads. — The Taunton and South Boston Turn- pike Controversy. — Washington Street. — Other Easton Highways. — The Oliver Ames Bequest for Public Highways. — Governor Ames’s Gift for the Planting of Trees along the Streets and Highways. CHAPTER XXVII. BURIAL-PEACES: 4 oe @ woe eH HS Se ww Burials in Private Grounds in Early Times. — The Old Burying-Ground. — Other Graveyards in the Order of their Laying-out— Abandoned Graveyards. — Inscriptions and Epitaphs. — Unmarked and Neg- lected Graves. — Proposed Remedy for them. CHAPTER XXVIII. Miuit1a AND MILITARY HISTORY Se a Hat dee Old Military Days. — First Militia Company of Easton.— The West Company. — The East Company. — The Easton Light Infantry. — The Cavalry Company.—Company B, Easton Light Infantry. — Captains and Higher Military Officers of Easton, with the Dates of their Commissions. — Major-General Sheperd Leach. CHAPTER XXIX. THE Civit, WAR «4 @ «6 2 8 6 @ ew we 8 Opening of the War. — Departure of Company B, Fourth Regiment, for Fortress Monroe; its Return. — Enlistments in the Second Regi- ment. — Company G, Seventh Regiment. — Other Enlistments from Easton in 1861.— Town Action in 1861.— Easton Volunteers in 1862. — Artillery Service. — Town Action in 1862. — Enlistments and Service of Soldiers in 1863. — The Drafts. —District Subscrip- tion Papers. — Town Action in 1863.— Volunteers in 1864, — Town Action in 1864.—The Soldiers Return in 1865.— Easton Soldiers in the Navy. — Town Action in 1865.— Deserters and Shirkers. — Woman’s Service and Trials. — Summary of Enlistments. — Major Robert Dollard.— Major John Fitzpatrick. — Complete Record of Easton Soldiers in Alphabetical Order. PAGE 45° 470 506 520 XV1 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXX. PAGE INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800... 6 ee ee te te tt tt 584 Furnaces and Foundries at the Furnace Village: Sheperd Leach, the Drakes and the Belchers. — Other Industries in that Vicinity. — Suc- cessive Enterprises at the Morse Privilege. — Morse’s Thread Fac- tory. — Industries at the Green ; On the Turnpike. — North Easton Village Industries: Ames Shovel Works; Gilmore’s Hinge Factory, etc. — Various other Enterprises. — Latest Industries. CHAPTER XXXI. BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES . . - + + + + + «+ + 606 The First National Bank.— The North Easton Savings Bank. — Mili- tary Bands of Easton.— Paul Dean Lodge of Freemasons. — Miz- pah Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. —A. B. Randall Post, G A.R., No. 52. — The Good Templars. — Sons of Temperance. — The Roman Catholic Lyceum.—The Knights of Honor. — The Royal Arcanum. — The Queset Club. — The North Easton Athletic Club, — The Knights of Labor. CHAPTER XXXII. POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. «06 + ee ew ee ee ee 624 Early Politics. — Federalists and Republicans. — Easton, once anti-Fed- eral, becomes a Whig Town.— The Harrison Campaign. — The Know-Nothing Party. — Easton becomes Republican. — Town Mod- erators: Elijah Howard, A. A. Gilmore. — Town Clerks. — Town Treasurers. — Selectmen. — Representatives to the General Court. — State Senators, and other higher Officers, — Biographical Sketches : Howard Lothrop, Oliver Ames, Sr., Oakes Ames, Oliver Ames, Jr., Governor Oliver Ames, Lincoln S. Drake, Frank M. Ames. — Post- offices and Postmasters. CHAPTER XXXIII. StaTIstIcs OF POPULATION AND INDUSTRY aoe » «2 « 664 Population : Comparative Ages of Boys and Girls ; Conjugal Condition ; Nationality ; Parentage; Longevity. — Statistical Table of Polls, Houses and Barns, and Domestic Animals. — Voters of Easton in 1749. — Town Valuations. — Statistics of Industry in 1837.— Sta- tistics in 1845 and in succeeding Decades. CONTENTS. XVil CHAPTER XXXIV. PAGE EASTON: IN T8860 wo 2, @ Gea a he ee ae ae Ok oe ee OBA The Old Times and the New. — North Easton village as it is To-day. — The Ames Memorial Hall. — South Easton village and the Green. — A Trip through Easton Centre, and a Glance at Furnace Village. CHAPTER XXXV. MINISTERS 4 = «© @ «3 © S 80 eo Sw & w ee 6 @ a 692 Israel Alger. — Jarvis A. Ames. — Matthew Bolles.— Silas Brett. — Nelson W. Britton. — Charles H. Buck. — Daniel LeBaron Goodwin. — Francis Homes. — William Keith. — Jason Lothrop. — Ruel Lo- throp. — Ephraim Randall.— Joshua Randall.— David Reed. — William Reed. — Nathan P. Seiee.— Luther H. Sheldon.— Simeon Williams. — Bradford Willis. — Martin W. Willis. — Henry Wood. — Roman Catholic Clergymen: James W. Conlin. — William T. Doherty. — Edward Farrell. — Michael J. Long.— John W. Mc- Carthy. — Dennis J. Menton. — John D. O’Keefe. CHAPTER XXXVI. PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. . - + = + : ; a = “FIQ Seth Babbitt. — Charles H. Cogswell. — George B. Cae — Horatio F. Copeland. — Edgar E. Dean. — Edward Dean. — James B. Dean. — Samuel Deans. — Henry L. Dickerman. — Jason W. Drake. — Daniel Goodwin. — Samuel Guild. — Samuel Guild, Jr. — Elisha Hayward. — Joseph W. Hayward. — James Howard. — Ernest W. Keith. — Edwin Manley. — John M. Mills. — James Perry. — William F. Perry. — Seth Pratt. — Seth Pratt, Jr.— Daniel L. Randall. — Menzies R. Randall. — Zephaniah Randall. — Frederic J. Ripley. — W. P. Savary.— Caleb Swan.— George W. J. Swan.— James C. Swan. — Jesse J. Swan. — W. E. Channing Swan. — Byron H. Strout. —F. Elmer Tilden.— George Brett.— Asahel Smith. — William B. Webster. —John P. Wilson. CHAPTER XXXVII. LAWWERS cl GG Ly ae GR A ce oe tate, a FAO Edmund Andrews.— James P. Barlow.— John Augustus Bolles. — Daniel F. Buckley. — Charles H. Deans. — George W. Deans. — Frederic V. Fuller. — Henry J. Fuller.— Cyrus Lothrop.— George V. N. Lo- throp. — John J. O’Connell. — Jason Reed. — Edward Selee. — Lewis C. Southard.— Charles L. Swan.— Daniel Wheaton. — George Wheaton. — Henry G. Wheaton. — Guilford White. XVili CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXVIII. COLLEGE GRADUATES. . 2. 1. we ee ee et et Frederick L. Ames. — Oliver Ames, 2d.—Charles R. Ballard. — Mait- land C. Lamprey. — Edwin Howard Lothrop.— Commander George F. F. Wilde. CHAPTER XXXIX. MISCELLANEOUS. . . . 6. 6 ew ew wt ee et Railroads. — Newspapers. — The Great Flood of 1886. — David Thomp- son, Jr., the one-armed Soldier. — James Adams, the Puet. — Jonathan Lawrence and his great Expectations. — Has Easton an Enoch Ar- den Case ?— A search for a Slave-trader’s Fortune. — “ Old Bunn.” — The Devil’s Visit to Easton. — Witches and Witchcraft. — Bird- hunting. — Ear-marks. — Singular Death-records. — Conclusion. APPENDIX. I. A SERMON OF THE REV. MATTHEW SHORT, PREACHED IN EaSTON IN SEPTEMBER, 1728... . . 2... II. Tue Easton CourcH COVENANTS OF 1747 AND 1764. INDEX. seo ae ge Og) J Geel) oe oh! BL Re ee. Ge PAGE 752 759 783 793 803 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE GaTE-LODGE OF FREDERICK L. AMES . . . . . . . Frontispiece. THE OLDEST HOUSE IN EASTON . . . - «7. 1. ww. 50 Major ANSELM TUPPER... see ee ee ew ee 256 MRS. (OLIVE REED 3 3 4 8 @ on oe a We we we ee ww 266 Rev. LUTHER SHELDON, D.D. . . . 2. 1 we 1 ww. 366 THE EVANGELICAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, EASTON CENTRE . 368 THE AMES FREE LIBRARY, NoRTH EasTON . . . . . . . . 379 Unity CHURCH AND PARSONAGE, NorTH EASTON. . . . . . 4II THREAD MILLs oF E. J. W. Morse & Co., SouTH Easton. . . 588 AMES SHOVEL Works, NortH EasTon. . . . + ee es 596 E. W. Gitmore’s HINGE FacTory AND House, NortH Easton . 508 THE SOLDIERS’ MONUMENT . . . . . . ee ee ew ee 617 EvyaAH HOWARD... eee ew ee ee ee ee ws 638 OLIVER AMES,SR. . . . 1 ee ee eee Ciipom & p O48 Oakes AMES ..... +... eRe Se soe ew ee 650 OLIVER AMES; [Re 6 Gece eB ow Ok we OW we ew OEE Union PactFIC MONUMENT . . ~~ ~~ ee ew we ee. 657 GOVERNOR OLIVER AMES. . 2. 6 eee ee we ew ee 658 OLD CoLony RAILROAD STATION, NoRTH EASTON. . . . . . 685 AMES MEMORIAL HALL, NORTH EASTON... . .. . . . 687 Nortu EASTON VILLAGE. . . . ee ee ew we ww 689 GeorGE VAN Ness LOTHROP ........ 7 «. + «© + 744 GAaps. THE Map oF EASTON... .. + ee ew ew we ee I THE MAP OF THE TAUNTON NORTH PURCHASE gy ete Ghee, eit THE TOWN SURVEY OF ABOUT 1750 . - . «© s . ee ee 4ST THE Map oF NorTH EASTON VILLAGE. .... =... . «. 464 i wht | frma- HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER I. TOPOGRAPHY. GEOLOGY OF EASTON. — GLACIAL ACTION.— BoG-IRON ORE. — SWAMPS. —BRooKS AND STREAMS. — Ponps. — MEADOWS AND PLAINS. — ANIMALS. HE town of Easton is situated in the northeast corner of Bristol County, Massachusetts. Itis bounded on the north by Stoughton and Sharon ; on the east by Brockton and West Bridgewater; on the south by Raynham, Taunton, and Norton ; and on the west by Norton and Mansfield. It is on the Old Colony Railroad, on the main line from Boston to Fall River and Newport, and has two railroad stations,—one at North-Easton village, and one at Easton Centre. Easton Centre is twenty- four and a half miles from Boston, twelve from Taunton, twenty- six from Fall River, and about twenty from the nearest seashore. Easton has three post-offices. One is located at North-Easton village, one at South Easton, and one at the Furnace village, so- called! The principal industry of the town is the great shovel- making business carried on by the Messrs. Ames. There are also a large hinge factory, a cotton-thread factory, foundries, and other industries that will be particularly described further on. There are six churches,— one Orthodox Congregational, two Methodist, on¢é Unitarian, one Catholic, and one Swedish. The surface of Easton is on the whole quite level, though in the northeastern part there is a pleasant variety of elevation. The area is twenty-nine square miles, or, more precisely, eighteen 1 The post-office address of the latter is Easton. I 2 HISTORY OF EASTON. thousand five hundred and eighty-four square acres, of which three hundred and seventy are water, — the water being that of artificial ponds made for business purposes. GEOLOGY OF EASTON. The underlying rock formation of the town is mainly sienite, which differs from granite in having for one of its three princi- pal ingredients hornblende instead of mica. Very definite classi- fications of rock are, however, impossible, as the varieties often shade into each other. Most of our sienite has a pinkish color which makes it a beautiful building-stone. In the northeast parts of the town sienite predominates, but in North-Easton village and south of this, it alternates and in some cases mingles with a hard, dark, traplike rock that is sometimes called diorite. The North-Easton schoolhouse stands on a foundation of sienite, but Memorial Hall is supported by a basis of both sienite and diorite. The rock at the northeast corner of that hall will repay careful study. In the diorite there may be seen veins or small dikes of sienite, which must have been forced into the parted seams in a fluid condition, — the sienite, if once a conglomerate rock, having been remelted here. The two formations have been curiously welded together. Under the tower is an example of igneous inclusion, where the semi-fluid diorite lifted a block of sienite, and was able to hold it in its fiery embrace until all was solidified. Close to it is a narrow inclosed strip of a stratified soft shale, wholly different from the igneous rocks that imprison it. The shale is found in small quantities in other parts of the town. Easton is in fact on the dividing line, where the sienite is more or less succeeded by the shale and carboniferous sand- stone. There are a few indications of coal, which increase as we go southward, On the railroad just below the town is a cutting where an inferior coal, or coal-like stone, may be seen. At the Centre, and in the west and southwest sections of the town, there is considerable very coarse, inferior sandstone. An outcropping of it is in the southeast corner of the second field next south of Daniel M. Dailey’s house, on which the powder- house once stood. In swampy places in the west of the town this sandstone has cleaved very curiously into large flagstones. In a swamp west of Charles E. Keith’s house these stones are TOPOGRAPHY. 3 crowded together, easily separating into large slabs of various sizes and thicknesses. One of the most interesting rocks in town is the immense outcropping west of Stone’s Pond, in North Easton village. In this rock sienite and diorite are mingled and welded together in a curious fashion. Apparently the two kinds of rock were partially melted, and while in this semi-fluid condition formed an imperfect union. GLACIAL ACTION. Among the most interesting things about the topography of Easton are the plain indications and results of the glacial action during the ice period. It is an established fact that the north- ern half of North America was once covered with a vast sheet of ice several thousand feet in thickness. Its southern limit was south of New York City, and hence the territory of this section was covered with it. Moving slowly southward as its lower edge melted away, its immense weight bearing with incon- ceivable power upon the rock and soil below, it greatly modified the surface, and has left many witnesses in town of its action. 1. It requires only a glance at the shape of the rocky summits of our hills to see that they as a rule slope gently towards the north, while on their south side they are more or less abrupt and steep. The reason is obvious. The advancing ice ground over the northern sides of these summits, gradually planing them off and wearing them down, the stones and gravel frozen into the bot- tom of the ice acting as graving tools to cut and wear away the rock. The technical name for this appearance of these summit rocks is “crag and tail.” It may be plainly seen on Mt. Misery, on the highest outcropping rock of Unity-Church Cemetery, and on the hill south of F. L. Ames’s lawn, and indeed in: nearly all the outcroppings of the underlying rocks. Two excellent speci- mens are just west of Washington Street south of Main Street, where a clearing was lately made. So marked and general is this appearance, that any one lost in the woods may, by noticing it, easily learn the points of compass thereby. 2. The second evidence of this powerful glacial action is in the glacial scratches, or grooves, that are manifest in various places in town. These do not of course appear upon those rock- 4 HISTORY OF EASTON. surfaces that have for ages been exposed to the action of the elements, for there they have been obliterated. But they may easily be found by uncovering the tops of stationary rock which have been protected by the deposits of gravel left upon them by the ice. Thus when Unity-Church Cemetery was made, the soil was dug away from the summit rock there, on its western slope, and many square feet of its surface, for the first time since the ice period, were laid bare. The writer discovered upon this surface many of these grooves parallel with each other and witha direction nearly south, but slightly east of a direct southerly line. These glacial scratches may be seen in other parts of the town. 3. The same thing may be observed in the stones of almost any gravel-bank in town. The writer has found them in the banks made by the cuttings of the railroad between North Easton village and the Centre. Not all the stones are so marked, because not all of them were so placed as to have their surfaces grazed. But many of them may be seen that have two or more sets of grooves, indicating a shifting of their position while thus under pressure. 4. Another indication of this glacial action is the presence of bowlders that could have been brought here by no other means than the mighty force of advancing ice. They have been torn from the hills north of us and strewn over the land. Some of them show by their smooth and rounded form that they have been subjected to a great deal of wear in the friction caused by their being forced forward, and by the action of water loaded with sand and pebbles. But many of them prove by their angu- lar shape that they have come from short distances above us. In the north part of the town, especially, the prevalence of these bowlders of large size makes a striking appearance, the largest of them being almost invariably sienite. Let any one go to the vicinity of Story’s Swamp west of Long Pond, and he will find a wild and rugged scene. Huge bowlders are scattered about everywhere, as though hurled by giants in some deadly conflict. One of them is about thirty feet long, twenty feet high, and twelve in thickness, its top beautifully tufted with Polypodium Vulgaris, or Rock Polypod fern. All these indications of glacial action may be seen together at the rock and gravel-bank on the hill southeast of F. L. Ames’s TOPOGRAPHY. 5 farm-house on Main Street. The three summits of rock are seen to slope toward the north, showing the wearing action of the ice in its southward movement. In the autumn of 1884 a section of the rock on the northwest face was laid bare by the gravel being removed, and there is nowhere a more striking illus- tration of the glacial scratches than there. Hundreds of small parallel grooves have been cut into the sloping surface of the rock, and are still plainly visible: they are more noticeable, how- ever, when the rays of the sun are horizontal. The third indica- tion alluded to is the bowlder upon the top. If this bowlder were rock of the same kind as that upon which it rests, we might sup- pose that it had once formed a part of the underlying formation. But it is not. The rock below is a sort of trap-rock, mainly com- posed of hornblende, before spoken of as diorite. The bowlder is sienite, and it must have been left there by the melting glacier when the ice-king gave the signal for its last retreat. 5. The moraine deposits within the limits of Easton form a very interesting study. Nearly every one knows that a moraine is an accumulation of sand and gravel caused by the movement of glaciers. The frontal moraines are piles of such gravel, which were pushed along in front of the slowly moving ice in its suc- cessive advances, and left in their present positions as the ice melted away and retreated northward. They were generally longest east and west, though their present form has been largely modified by the action of the great streams of water formed by the melting ice, and also by the action of the sea when they were under the sea-level. Very interesting illustra- tions of the frontal moraines may be seen along the railroad between North Easton and the Centre, which cuts through a succession of them. As one walks down the track and looks ahead, he will see that these moraine deposits rise at intervals like successive waves of the sea. They present, when looked at in the light of their origin, a very striking appearance. One of the larger ones, which is below the DeWitt farm, is composed of two distinct accumulations, the upper one being that left by the last advance of the ice. 6. Another very interesting effect of this glacial action in the ice epoch is the formation known as “ridge-hills,” or Kames. These decidedly differ from the ordinary moraine deposits in 6 HISTORY OF EASTON. their shape and in their line of direction. They are narrow and long, bearing quite a resemblance to artificial embankments and lines of earth-works, and their line of direction is in general nearly north and south, though there are for short distances occasional variations from this line. Specimens of these ridge- hills-may. be seen in the valley east of the railroad between North Easton village and the Centre. One that lies just southeast of the DeWitt farm is quite remarkable, and Professor Shaler told the writer, while examining it, that he had never seen so sharp a curve in one before. In the southwest part of the town may be seen good examples of the same formation, one particularly noticeable being behind Edward D. Williams’s house, near the stream. The most striking one in town is, however, the one near Simpson’s Spring; beginning north of it and extending about a mile south, and looking decidedly like an artificial work. In fact this formation is more or less continuous through the town, and is repeated in Raynham and probably farther south. These ridge-hills are not lateral moraines, which are formed only in mountainous districts; they were probably caused by the large and powerful streams that flowed from the ice when it melted, but the precise manner of their formation is not yet clear. No doubt our valley here was the bed of a sub-glacial river. The surface contour was much changed by the drift deposits, and the shape of these deposits was more or less modified by the streams that flowed from the melting ice, and by the action of the ocean currents and waves when this section was under water, as eminent geologists declare it was during the latter part of the ice age, the absence of sea-fossils here being explained by Professor Shaler as owing to the fact that it was a “barren sea,” like the Polar Sea now. The effect of this action of the sea is plainly noticeable on some hills where the stones of all sizes stand out from the hillsides, the soil and lighter gravel having been washed out from between them by the force of the sea- currents and the wash of the waves. All these indications of glacial action in the town of Easton open a field of delightful and interesting study, which may be pursued in detail with profit and pleasure. It presents a scene of wildness and desolation, to think of the vast mantle of ice thousands of feet thick that forced its way southward, grinding TOPOGRAPHY. 7 the rocks to powder, planing off the stony ridges, piling up the hills of gravel, tearing away from their beds the mighty bowl- ders and strewing them in such wild confusion over the land. Attractive as the subject is, however, the limits of this history make its further treatment here out of place. BOG-IRON ORE. Before the incorporation of the town, bog-iron ore was discov- ered here in considerable quantities. This discovery excited great interest, because it promised to supply the raw material for the manufacture of iron implements, tools, etc. The deposits of this ore were in low boggy places, or places that had once been such. These bog-ore deposits may be caused by springs, by de- composition of iron pyrites, and also by the fossil shields of ani- malculae or by certain diatomaceous plants. The peroxide of iron held in solution by water is precipitated, unites with earthy matters and produces the ore. When smelted it makes an iron especially good for fine castings, the large amount of phosphorus it contains causing an excellent surface with clean lines and edges. This ore was found in quantities near Lincoln Spring, on Lathrop’s plain, in the low lands in the extreme northeast corner of the town, in many places in Poquanticut, and in other sections of Easton. Early in this century Gen. Sheperd Leach caused not far from two hundred acres to be dug over to furnish ore for his iron works. In time these deposits are renewed, the same causes that originally produced them being still in opera- tion. Any one may see the precipitation going on in different parts of the town, the most marked instance known to the writer being in the brook that flows through the field west of Picker Lane in North Easton village. At the foot of this lane and just at the site of the old Ferguson mill the water is colored with this solution, and the stones are covered with yellow incrustation. In the account now to be given of the swamps, brooks, ponds, plains, and other special features of the topography of the town, care has been taken to preserve the old names by which they were once known. These old names sometimes present a curi- ous study. Some one once said that he could understand how astronomers could calculate the distances, determine the orbits, 8 HISTORY OF EASTON. and learn other wonderful facts about the planets and stars, but he could not understand how they found out their names. The writer of this history is in a similar predicament as to the locali- ties referred to; it is easier for him to describe them than to tell how our original settlers “found out their names.” SWAMPS. The land in Easton slopes toward the south, the water-shed for this region being a northeast line from the upper end of Long Pond, in Stoughton, to Randolph. There is not much fall, however ; and this fact, together with the numerous springs that abound, makes a good deal of swampy land in almost every part of the town. Of these swamps, the most notable is the Great Cedar-Swamp so prized for its timber in the early days of our history. There were two swamps called Rocky Swamp, one in Poquanticut, and one around and east of the present site of the Easton Railroad station, a part of it being called Pine-Bridge Swamp. Grassy Swamp is often referred to, and is about an eighth of a mile south of the street leading from Daniel W. Heath’s to Daniel Wheaton’s ; it was once covered with tall rank grass, whence its name, but is now nearly filled with high laurel. The swamp west and southwest of the No. 2 schoolhouse was first called Cooper's Swamp, being named for Timothy Cooper, but it came later to be known as the Little Cedar-Swamp. These swampy lands have very little value now; but they contain abundant promise of making the best farming portions of the section. They only need thorough draining in order to utilize their deep, rich, vegetable deposits, and turn them into fertile fields. The day is coming when this will be done. The lands of Easton are not such as to make it a farmer’s para- dise, especially in the northern part of the town, where a gravelly soil disputes possession with innumerable overlying bowlders. Only by hard labor are these lands made fruitful. Constant cultivation will steadily improve them ; and any man who clears away the stones and changes a barren waste to a fruitful field, may perhaps console himself for present loss by anticipating the thanks of posterity ; for every such man increases the actual wealth of mankind. There are a few beds of clay in town, of small extent, from which brick were once made. TOPOGRAPHY. 9 BROOKS AND STREAMS. There are numerous references to Dorchester-Meadow River in the North Purchase records. This is the stream in the ex- treme northeast part of the town. It rises in the swamp, north of the Old Colony Railroad station, in Stoughton, passes several times under the track on its way southward, receives a tributary from Dorchester Swamp, and flows down by French’s mill, through the Marshall place and the Captain Drew place, on the road to Brockton, then through Tilden’s Corner, and finally joins the Queset, below the Easton Shoddy-Mill. The name Dor- chester was given to it because that town once included all the territory of Stoughton where this stream rises. Why shall not this stream, in memory of the olden time, be called Dorchester Brook ? The region south of the now Calvin Marshall place went for a long time under the name of Cornipsus. It got the name before 1744, because at that date Eliphalet Leonard pitched for land there, and this word is used in his “pitch.” The hill east of the Captain Drew saw-mill got the name of Cornipsus Hill. The word has been abbreviated into “ K’nipt,” which is the term the boys used to apply to the swimming hole near the mill. Martin Wild informed the writer that Jonathan Leonard said the name originated in an exclamation made by some Indians, as they stood amazed, watching the saw in the mill, as it noisily cut its way through the logs. They were heard several times to utter a word in deep and forcible gutturals, — a word that sounded some- thing like “ K’nipsus.” South of Cornipsus, and west of Stone-House Hill, are a swamp and meadow which were called before 1709 Tusseky Swamp, and Tusseky Meadow. It derived its name, of course, from the tussocks, or tufts of grass, abounding there. The brook that runs out of it in a southerly course was known as Séone- House Brook. Long-Swamp Brook, so named in town records as early as 1757, rises in the swampy land east of the Nathan Willis place, and flows nearly due south through the swamp that gives this brook its name, and empties into the pond or stream a few rods east of the Dean privilege. Io HISTORY OF EASTON. Rocky-Meadow Brook was the name by which, about the time of the incorporation of the town and later, the little brook was known which flows easterly through the hollow a few rods north of Daniel Clark’s house. Queset River is the pleasant-sounding name that is now given to the stream which runs through the villages of North and South Easton. The earliest time this name is recorded, so far as the writer has discovered, is in the agreement made in 1825, by own- ers of water privileges upon it, to enlarge the dam at the lower end of Long Pond. The application of the name to this stream occurred by a lucky accident or mistake, which is too curious to pass unnoticed. The earliest name given to it was Mill River, if we except the name Trout-Hole Brook, which, however, was only applied to that portion of it which runs through the east part of North-Easton village. It was also called Saw-mill River. After Eliphalet Leonard had built a forge at the so-called Red Factory location, and had christened it Brummagem Forge, this stream was sometimes called Brummagem River. But the ac- cepted name during the last century was Mill River. The probable explanation of the change of name from Mill River to Queset River is as follows: Bridgewater people, imperfectly acquainted with the North Purchase, had often heard “ Coweset River” spoken of as in that Purchase. Coweset River was in the westerly part, in Norton. But they sometimes mistakenly applied the name to the stream which flowed out of the North Purchase, or Easton, into their town. Thus, in the State Ar- chives, vol. cxiv. p. 211, may be seen a survey of the “ West pre- cinct of Bridgewater.” On that map our stream, known only in Easton as Mill River, was erroneously called “ Cowisset River.” This was in 1736. The writer has seen the same name on a deed dated 1733, made in Bridgewater. Bridgewater people came to know it by this name. One hundred years later Mitchell, in his “ History of Bridgewater,” gives it that name. Originally applied, by mistake, it came, at the beginning of this century, to be occasionally used by Easton people, being some- times called “Cowsett.” It is noticeable that some of the par- ties forming the agreement in which this name seems first to be recorded were Bridgewater men, and the name was given to it with which they were most familiar. It was corrupted, or TOPOGRAPHY. II rather refined, into the name of Queset. There is much in a name, and Easton may well be grateful for that mistake of Bridgewater people which changed the commonplace name of Saw-mill River into the agreeable one of Queset. The original name “ Coweset” was applied to a tribe of Indians. On Comstock and Kline’s Norfolk County map this stream is, for no good reason, called Cohasset. The main sources of this stream are in the west of Stoughton and the east of Sharon. It has two principal tributaries, next to be spoken of. In 1825 it had eight water privileges upon it in Easton, all doing business. But before the Long Pond and the Flyaway Pond dams collected the water, the stream was sometimes very small in summer. The first tributary is that which comes from Flyaway Pond which is fed by several small streams. The name Flyaway Swamp is quite old, appearing on the North Purchase records as early as 1766, and must therefore have been in use earlier. The swamp was mainly where the pond now is, and northwest of it. The dam which makes the pond was built in 1846. The stream running from it forms its junction with the Queset at the Picker field. The second tributary is Whitman's Brook, sometimes called Manley's Brook. The former name is the one originally given, and ought to be retained. John Whitman, an early settler, about 1712 built his house near the stream west of Avery Stone’s cranberry meadow, and held land in the name of Abiah Whitman his father, for nearly a mile up and down the brook. It rises in the lower end of Dorchester Swamp, on its way down the valley is fed by several springs and small brooks, and empties into Stone’s Pond. In the southwest part of the town is the stream once called Mulberry-Meadow Brook, sometimes now called Leach’s Stream. It takes its name from the mulberry trees that once grew in its meadows. The name Mulberry Brook was given to that portion of it only which is south of the junction of the two streams, which junction is formed just below Belcher’s works. It empties into Winneconnet Pond. The larger of the two branches that unite to form it is Poguan- ticut Brook, or River, the branch at the west. This stream rises 12 HISTORY OF EASTON. in Sharon, about two miles north of Abijah Tisdale’s, flows through Wilbur’s Pond, crosses Rockland Street at the Archip- pus Buck place, receives a tributary where it crosses Massapoag Avenue, flows southeasterly and supplies the reservoir built by General Sheperd Leach west of the Easton furnace. Wilbur's Pond is, however, only partly made by the water from this stream. Another brook of about the same dimensions flows into this pond on the east. This brook rises in Sharon and Stoughton, in swampy, springy land near the Bay road about a mile above Easton. It had a sufficient water-supply once to have several mills upon it. Briggs’s cotton-twine factory was one, and there was a cotton-batting factory lower down, near the road by the Tisdale cemetery; and still lower down, where it enters Easton, was a saw-mill, probably owned one hundred and forty years ago by Jedediah Willis, who lived five or six rods from it, — his house being within the Easton line, and the mill in Sharon. These two streams both flowed into the Poquanticut Cedar-Swamp, where Wilbur’s Pond now is. They united in the swamp, the main outlet for the swamp being the same as the outlet for the pond,—namely, Poquanticut Brook. Reference was made above to a tributary of the last-named brook which united with it near Massapoag Avenue. This small stream had its source in the swamp spoken of, before Wilbur’s Pond was made. It was considerably larger once than now, be- cause it helped drain the swamp; but the dam checked the flow of water into it, and cut off its main supply. It still contrives to live, however, drawing from the swampy land through which it wends its sluggish way enough water to make a stream. It flows southerly, crossing Rockland Street between the Tarteus Buck and the Mrs. Horace Buck places. The other stream which unites with Poquanticut Brook below Belcher’s works to form Mulberry Brook was known one hundred and fifty years ago as Little Brook, and is now called Beaver Brook. Higher up, near Rockland Street, it was early known as Cooper's Brook, so named from Timothy Cooper, who owned land near it there. It has its source in a pond-hole near the old Gil- bert and afterward Ansel Alger place, not far from the Bay road, and not very far from the Sharon line. It crosses Britton Street, and also Rockland Street near the Stimpson Williams place. TOPOGRAPHY. 13 At the latter spot, about 1770, Lieut. Samuel Coney built a saw- mill, which was owned about fifteen years later by Capt. James Perry. The stream from thence flows southerly, and near Beaver Street, which it crosses, it receives a small tributary which rises east of the Bay road above Ebenezer Randall’s. It used to furnish water-power for the Hayward carriage factory, which is now removed, and it makes the pond just below for the Drake foundry, the dam for this pond having been constructed in 1751, as will be elsewhere narrated. Spring Brook is a small tributary of Mulberry Brook, flow- ing into it near Walter Henshaw’s, and comes down from some distance northwest of this place. Black Brook rises in the swampy lands south of Lincoln Street and considerably east of the Bay road, flows southerly until it crosses the road just west of Edmund Lothrop’s, thence goes southeast and runs through Cranberry Meadow, crossing the road near the old Dean saw-mill, and so on in a southeasterly direction into West Bridgewater, where it flows into the Town River. The name Black Brook was in use before 1763, and is now applied to the whole stream ; but for a long time the name of Cranberry-Meadow Brook was given to that portion of it below its entrance into Cranberry Meadow. Cranberry-Meadow Neck is a ridge of land about one hundred rods west of the mill-site, running north and south and nearly cutting the meadows into two parts. A small brook flowed past the northerly end of this neck and ran, or rather sluggishly crept, downward through the meadow, emptying into the larger stream. Gallows Brook is a little brook just west of the Finley place. It rises, not in Cranberry Meadow, but in a small swamp about west of the Finley place, flows northerly, and then curves and flows east by south into Cranberry-Meadow Brook. It was so small that in 1750 it had no bridge over it, and one could step across it. But on this little stream Joshua Howard once built a dam, meaning to get a supply of water by cutting a ditch to Black Brook in Cranberry Meadow. This he actually did; and it led to trouble with James Dean, whose saw-mill privilege was threatened with serious loss by this diversion of water from its water-supply. After these parties had successively opened and 14 HISTORY OF EASTON. closed the ditch several times, Mr. Howard gave up the contest and abandoned his project of building an oil mill. We shall, however, see that the contest was renewed. The traditionary origin of the name Gallows Brook is this: An unfortunate ox was once browsing by the roadside near the brook, at a place where there was a tangle of stout grapevines. He either slipped or sank into the mire, getting his neck fastened among the vines in such a way as to be strangled. If the tradition is true, we may conclude that either the ox was very weak, or the grapevine very strong. PONDS. Although there is much swampy land in Easton, there were very few natural ponds, and these were very small. At some time there was a pond at Cranberry Meadow, but it was one made by the beavers. There were several small beaver ponds at various times. Wilbur's Pond in the northwest part of the town was made by General Sheperd Leach about the year 1825. It is the site of what was once known as Poquanticut Cedar- Swamp. The origin of the other artificial ponds in Easton will be spoken of in connection with the history of industrial enter- prises here, they having been made by dams to furnish water- power. There was a natural pond of small extent, in a basin and without an outlet, in North Easton, which was known as early as the incorporation of the town as Horse-Grass Pond. It is so called in the North Purchase records, and was situated just east of the railroad track, some rods south of the bridge over Main Street. It has now almost disappeared. Another very small pond of the same character, but which must once have been quite deep judging by the accumulation of peat or muck in it, was in the hollow about a mile south of the North Easton Railroad station. It was called Lzly Pond prior to 1750. The depth of the peat accumulation has not yet been sounded. The railroad track passes over it, and has often settled so that many times the road-bed has had to be raised at this point. The peat deposit was formed from the vegetation that grew in it, and from the leaves and branches that fell into it from the overhanging and neighboring trees. Lily Pond is referred to under that name in 1759. While the farm on which this muck deposit is TOPOGRAPHY. 15 located was the property of the Messrs. DeWitt, a large quantity of the deposit was dug up and carted away for sale. The supply is one that will last for many years. There is also a small pond west of Edward D. Williams’s and on the west side of Mulberry Brook, known as Round Pond. In very dry seasons it is nearly or quite empty. There was another, once called Ragged-Plain Pond, west of the four corners beyond Mr. Selee’s and north of the road. There were several places known in early descriptions as Beaver Dam. One was just west of Stone-House Hill; another was in the extreme northwest part of the town. Numerous small streams and swampy places made the town a congenial home for the beaver. Remains of a beaver dam were seen by Alonzo Marshall near the stream northeast of his former home, and beavers were known to have made their dams at Cranberry Meadow, and west of the old Nathaniel Perry place near the Mansfield line. The dam the remains of which were found by Mr. Marshall is referred to in the North Purchase records as early as 1709. There was also a Beaver Pond, so-called, as late as 1752, on Whitman’s Brook, near the old Joseph Drake place. MEADOWS AND PLAINS. No locality, with the single exception of Great Cedar-Swamp, is oftener referred to in the old records than Cranberry Meadow. All the meadows were valuable in the early time because there were few clearings, and the grass, though inferior to what is now raised upon grass lands, was much needed. Cranberry Meadow extends quite a distance westward from the railroad crossing at the old Dean saw-mill on Prospect Street. Lots from it were in great demand when the land was first divided. Much of it was overflowed in the winter. It was originally a beaver pond. In the action of Dean vs. Brett, elsewhere noticed, the following statements were offered in the evidence : “It appears that said Meadow was formerly flowed by the beavers, or natives, or ante- diluvians, and in that condition was found by [Timothy] Cooper.” Reference is made to “the time the natives had it for a fishing pond, after they had destroyed the beavers which made the dams below. . . . It was a natural pond or bog when Cooper found it 16 HISTORY OF EASTON. in 1706.” In fact, however, it was known and valued over ten years before this date, and before Cooper settled here. But he was the first to see its value for business purposes ; and in 1706 he was shrewd enough to have twenty-six acres of land laid out at the east end of it, crossing the present mill-site. Hockomock Meadow is in the southeast quarter of the town. It does not appear under this name in the Taunton North- Purchase records. It was in earlier times a swamp, and was called the Great Swamp. Evin's Meadow is frequently named in the early records. It is the low land west of the old Nathaniel Perry place, near the Mansfield line. It became the property of Lieut. James Leonard, then of his daughter Mehitable, who married John Willis, and on his death married Captain Nathaniel Perry. Cold-Spring Meadow is next below; and still below this, and west of the Dwelly Goward place, is Granny Meadow. Nicholas or Nick's Meadow was the name given to the meadow west and southwest of Edmund Lothrop’s. Little-Cranberry Meadow was north of Stone’s Pond, perhaps including the upper part of what is now the pond. There were several little cranberry meadows in town. Lathrop’s Plain was the large plain south of Lincoln Street, about half a mile from the North Easton Post-office, where a notable muster was held some years ago. Rocky Plain was the level land through which Centre Street now runs, the plain being mainly on the west of it. Crookhorn Plain was a name in common use as early as 1700, and may have been given to it from the real or supposed shape of the plain. It is the level land through which the Bay road runs, between Furnace village and the Sheperd place, though it was most of it upon the west side of the road. High Plain is in the southwest corner of the town, and the plain in the extreme southwest and close to Norton line was, in 1730 and earlier, known as Meeting Plain. Ragged Plain is west of the Selee place, near Mans- field. Badcock’s Plain, is at the extreme eastern border of Easton, east of South-Easton village. It was known later as Stone House Plain. Chestnut Orchard needs no special de- scription, as it still goes by this name. It extended farther south in the early days than now, taking in the Nathan Willis place. TOPOGRAPHY. 17 ANIMALS, As to the flora and fauna of Easton, they do not differ from that of this section generally, and do not call for special notice. The bears, wildcats, deer, etc., have all disappeared. The smaller animals still found here live a precarious life, there being several hunters and dogs for every fox, partridge, rabbit, or squirrel. Rewards were at first offered for killing wildcats, and we have a record of Benjamin Drake being paid five shillings for such ser- vice in 1724. Deer were plentiful, but they were such tempting game that there was great danger of their speedy extinction. In 1698, therefore, a law was passed forbidding any one, on penalty of two pounds for the first offence and more for a repetition of it, from killing any deer between January 1 and August 1. A more rigid act was enacted about 1739, and in December of that year a town-meeting was held “to chuse two good and lawful men to take good care that ye late act is not broken conserneing ye killing of Dear within their precincts; and we maid choise of John Dailey, Sen., and George Keyzer to searve in yt affeare.” From that date a deer constable, or “Informer of deer,” was regularly chosen in town-meetings, until 1789. The honor of this office for many years fell upon Benjamin Harvey. Harvey lived on the old Allen road, now Britton Street, and the location of the house may still be seen, just east of the old house now in- habited by the “Twenty Leonards.” One pleasant day in 1747 Mrs. Harvey was sweeping, and she put her little baby Sarah in the warm sunshine just outside the door. Presently the child began to cry, and the mother went out and brought her in. She had no sooner done so than a bear, that had been attracted by the cry, emerged from the woods near by and came close to the spot where but a moment before the baby had been lying. This was the only child the Harveys ever had, and we may well believe that this circumstance enforced greater caution upon the mother in the future. There are, unfortunately, very few authentic bear-stories that have come to the writer’s notice. Many years ago, old Mr. Britton used to tell Tisdale Harlow, when a little child, the story of the last bear killed in Poquanticut. The exact date cannot be given, but it was more than a century ago. It had 2 18 HISTORY OF EASTON., a lair under Fox-Mountain Rock, which is about a quarter of a mile northeast of the Harlow homestead. It was at that rock that the last Poquanticut bear yielded up the ghost. His home was afterward a resort for foxes, on account of which the rock gets the name it bears,—a rock that, like so many other outcroppings in this section, shows by its shape the results of glacial action. The northwest part of the town was a famous place for foxes. Before Wilbur’s Pond was made there was a very heavy growth of cedar there, and this, and the rocky places above, made a safe covert for this game. Foxes are occasionally seen there now. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 19 CHAPTER II. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE. — THE BOUNDARY LINE CONTROVERSY. — INDIAN OWNERSHIP OF THESE LANDS. — THE PRESERVATION OF TIMBER. — THE DIVISION OF LANDs. — THE Books OF THE COMPANY. THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE. T the beginning of the year 1668 the town of Taunton, Massachusetts, included within its territorial limits upon its northern side the present town of Raynham and about two thirds of the town of Norton. At the north and northwest of the town, as then bounded, there was a large and irregular strip of land, containing about fifty square miles, which was unoccu- pied. It was bounded on the north by the line that separated the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts, east by Bridge- water, south by the northern boundary of Taunton, and west by Rehoboth North-Purchase, now Attleborough. These lands had been purchased of the Indians by Captain Thomas Willett, for Plymouth Colony. With the strong desire for new territory which the early settlers manifested, Taunton men began to cast longing eyes toward this tract of unoccupied land. Several prominent citizens entered into negotiations for its purchase. The details of the sale are given in the following deposition of Thomas Leonard, who afterward became the clerk of the North- Purchase Company : — \ “Thomas Leonard, of Lawfull age, testifieth that when Governor Prince, Major Winslow, Capt Thomas Southworth (Plymouth Agents) sold the lands to Taunton called Taunton North-Purchase, they came to Taunton on a training day, and severall of our ancient men then met with said Gentlemen at the house of William Harvey in Taunton, and I was there sent for to come to them. The said Gentlemen did tell us that they had sold part of the land purchased of the Indians by Capt. Willit, to Rehoboth men, and if Taunton would they might buy 20 HISTORY OF EASTON. the rest of it. Then it was asked how much it was and how it lay: said Gentlemen answered it was all the land between Taunton bounds and Rehoboth bounds, and between Taunton bounds and the bay line home to Bridgewater Bounds, excepting two parcells that was granted unto others before. So we made a bargain accordingly with said agents or committee, and ten of us became bound for the payment of what we gave for said lands, & a deed was then written and left with said Wil- liam Harvey ; but we then not knowing all who would be proprietors in said lands,” etc.! Forty-three other persons joined with the ten alluded to in this statement; and this company of fifty-three Taunton men paid to the Plymouth Court the sum of £100 for the tract of land already specified. The following is a copy of the original deed of sale : — “Whereas the Generall Court of New Plymouth have impowered Mr. Thomas Prence, Major Josias Winslow, Capt. Thomas Southworth, and Mr. Constant Southworth to take notice of some purchases of land lately made by Capt. Thomas Willett, and to settle and dispose the said lands for the Collonies’ use: Know therefore all whom it may anyway concern, that the above named Mr. Thomas Prence, Capt. Thomas Southworth, Mr. Constant Southworth, and Major Josias Winslow, by vertue of power by and from the said Court derived unto them, have and by these presents doe bargaine, sell, grant, allien, al- lott, confer, and make over unto Richard Williams, Walter Deane, George Macey, James Walker, Joseph Wilbore, William Harvey, Thomas Leonard, John Turner, Henery Andrews, John Cobb, Gorge Hall, John Hall, Samuel Hall, James Leonard, Sen‘, Nathaniel Wil- liams, Thomas Williams, Nicholas White, Sen", Nicholas White, Jun‘., Hezekiah Hoar, Allice Dean, Israel Deane, Robert Crossman, Shad- rach Wilbore, Thomas Caswell, John -Macomber, John Smith, Edward Rue, John Parker, Samuel Paule, Thomas Linkon, Sen'., Thomas Harvey the Elder, Nathaniel Thayer, Thomas Linkon, Jun’, Peter Pitts, Jonah Austine, Sen‘, John Richmond, Samuell Williams, Chris- topher Thrasher, Mistress Jane Gilbert, Gorge Watson, Samuell Smith, James Burt, Richard Burt, John Tisdall, Sen’., John Tisdall, Jun’, James Phillips, Edward Bobbitt, John Hatheway, Jonathan Briggs, Encrease Robinson, John Bryant, Thomas Harvey, Jun‘., Proprietars 1 The above is from a document in the handwriting of Thomas Leonard, and is one of the numerous and interesting historical papers preserved by the late Rev. George Leonard, of Marshfield, but now the property of the city of Taunton. OMG aK ™ we AT OB tt Pe ae HET Lo anus. Me TAIL aeahoqud HraoY hothuaT 10 @Mwot gHr aqua JJAN@MAM & WOTAGK WOT2AR NVA NRGTSIN SLAY FOF MATALD SSSR Wa | 2.9 CHAWYAH.G ¥ Wo Ky Leads WHAT Cag a EXPLANATIONS ? Bounds of North Purchase. _____. 7 Sounds of Towns, —~.-~ TAUNTON NortH PURCHASE AND THE TOWNS OF EASTON,NORTON & MANSFIELD DRAWN ESPECIALLY FOR THIS HI8TORY BY E.B.HAY WARD, C.E. Sele LE Aiee = 28 Mlb CMa 4 Co Tuth Bostow ts THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 2T of the town of Taunton, and to their heirs forever, a certaine tract of land lying and being on the northerly syde of Taunton aforesaid, and is bounded as followeth, viz.: beginning on the northwest, att the bounds of the lands formerly sold by us unto the Town of Rehobeth, and to be bounded on the northerly syde by the Massachusetts line, untill it cometh to beare with the western bounds of the town of Bridgewater, and soe from the said Massachusetts line by a south line home to the bounds of Taunton, and thence by a westerly line until it meets with the bounds of Rehobeth aforesaid, and so to follow the said bounds of Rehobeth until it comes unto the bounds first men- sioned upon the Massachusetts line, — all the lands within this compas, excepting onley a small parcell granted unto John Bundey, and alsoe a grant made unto Thomas Briggs (the son of Clement Briggs), to- gether with the meddows, woods, waters, and all other benefitts, privi- leges, emoluments, profitts, and ennuities thereunto appertaining and belonging.” “To Have and to Hold,” etc. [Dated June 1, 1668.] The accompanying map will show the exact location of this tract of land. There appear to be no data for determining where the “ par- cell granted unto John Bundy” was. There is no evidence that he settled within the limits of the North Purchase. For a while he lived at Taunton, and his name appears upon the Old Proprietors’ records of that town, his land then being described as within its boundaries. If he had a lot within the limits of the North Purchase he must have disposed of it before the lands were divided there, for his name never appears upon the books of this company. Neither the old deeds at Plymouth nor the Bristol County deeds at Taunton show that he ever conveyed any lands of this Purchase to any other parties. Some details concerning John Bundy may be found in a note on page 4 of Clarke’s “History of Norton.” The statement there made, however, that Bundy was probably the first settler within the limits of what is now Easton, is unsupported by evidence. The second “parcell” of this territory not included in the North Purchase was that owned by Thomas Briggs. He was son of Clement Briggs, who was grandfather to the first settler of Easton of that name. The court-grant to Thomas was as follows : — 22 HISTORY OF EASTON. “One hundred and fifty acres of land is granted to Thomas Briggs, son of Clement Briggs deceased, and twenty acres of meadow, if it may be had in the place desired, which is in the way to Deadum from Taunton, betwixt a pond and a mill river which comes to Taunton, betwixt Taunton and Massapauge Pond.” ? This was dated June 7, 1659. The location of this grant was in the northeast part of what is now Mansfield. Thomas Briggs was probably the first settler within the limits of Taunton North- Purchase. He had two sons, Thomas and Samuel. Thomas moved to Rhode Island and became a ferryman at Kingston. Samuel lived on the old homestead. On March 16, 1696, Thomas Briggs deeded to his son Samuel one half the upland and meadow that he had at a place called Tyump, and “ like- wise my whole leantoo in my Dwelling house & one Bay in my Barne, but not of the leanto of my barne, upon the condition that my said son Samuel’s wife shall be helpful to my wife & to take a childlike care of her.”? It is also stipulated that Samuel is to take care of his father in case of need. There was a daughter who married John Cobb. Her name was Susanna. Samuel married Mary Hall. He died prior to 1707, and his widow married Benjamin Caswell. These two grants —one to John Bundy, the other to Thomas Briggs — were the only tracts in the North Purchase that had actually been laid out to persons not the proprietors, and were therefore excepted from the sale. But it seems that Plymouth Colony had promised at least one other grant within this terri- tory. The record of it is as follows, the date being 1665 : — “One hundred and fifty acres are granted by the Court unto the three sisters, the daughters of Roger Chandler deceased, viz. : to each of them fifty acres, lying between the Bay line and the bounds of Taunton, according to the desire of John Bundy.” * The proprietors ordered that this land be laid out to these daughters, and a survey of the grant was made. Some meadow land was also laid out to them, located in Cranberry Meadow. Nothing further is known of their ownership here. No deed of sale of their lands appears. But such sale was no doubt made, 1 Plymouth Colony Records, vol. iii. p. 164. 2 Land Records, or Deeds, at Taunton, vol. iv. Pp. 123. 3 Plymouth Colony Records, vol. iv. p. 110. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 23 for one of the first owners, Abiah Whitman, has land laid out to him “on the right of the daughters of Roger Chandler.” They never had a residence in the North Purchase. Indeed, it is very probable that this grant made to Roger Chandler's daughters, “according to the desire of John Bundy,” is the one referred to in the deed before quoted as the “small parcell granted unto John Bundey.” Otherwise, why is not this Chandler grant alluded to in that document? The connection of his name with it would account for the mistake. THE BOUNDARY LINE CONTROVERSY. There are some interesting facts that deserve notice, concern- ing the north boundary of the Taunton North-Purchase and the troubles that grew out of the uncertainty regarding it. This boundary was the divisional line between Plymouth Colony on the south and Massachusetts Colony on the north, which line, as finally settled, corresponds to the boundary between Norfolk County on one side and Plymouth and Bristol counties on the other! For about thirty years after the settlement of Massa- chusetts Colony there had been controversies as to the exact location of the line between the two colonies. In 1663-64 com- missioners were appointed by both governments to settle this line. It was to run westerly from Accord Pond, which was sit- uated on the line between what is now Hingham, Scituate, and Rockland, to a point “three miles southward of the south part of Charles River.” In running this line west by southwest, these commissioners found, when they were within a few miles of Rhode Island, that they were considerably south of where they ought to be. But instead of retracing their steps they stopped at that point, and marking a tree, which became known as the “Angle Tree,” they changed their course more to the north, so as to reach the point designated as the western end of the boundary line. By this mistake of the commissioners Plymouth Colony lost a large gore of land, which began ina narrow point at Accord Pond and gradually widened as the line diverged to the south. The old surveyors estimated that about 1 See Hobart’s “ Sketch of Abington,” p. 95 ef seg., where the question of this boundary line is ably presented, though without reference to its relation to the North Purchase of Taunton. 2 State Archives, vol. iii. pp. 114, 115. 24 HISTORY OF EASTON. fourteen thousand acres were thus cut off from the Old Colony. What induced the Plymouth Colony commissioners to sign an agreement so detrimental to its interests can only be conjectured. There was probably a greater divergence than they supposed; moreover, the commissioners were no doubt fatigued by their laborious journey through the forest, and did not think the land of sufficient value to pay for the labor and trouble of another survey. But as soon as the real location of this line was discovered, and the loss to Plymouth Colony understood, great efforts were made to rectify this boundary. It is obvious that it was for the interest of the Taunton North- Purchase proprietors to maintain the old line. Their purchase extended to the “ Massachusetts line,” and if they could main- tain their right to the territory up to the old line, it would make a difference of probably not less than five thousand acres in their favor. Gradually, however, the line of 1664 came to be ac- cepted as the authorized boundary. But about 1700 it was dis- covered that some of the landmarks of this boundary were not in a straight line between Accord Pond and Angle Tree, but were a considerable distance south of it, and of course much farther south of the original line between the two colonies than even the line of 1664 was. This discovery led to frequent and prolonged troubles. Even accepting the line of 1664 between Accord Pond and Angle Tree, that line itself was not a straight one, and cut off some of the land from the North Purchase. The proprietors were of course justly indignant. Their records for the first quarter of the last century give frequent signs of the difficulty. In 1702 they appoint “ John White as their agent to join with Dorchester men and all others concerned, to run and settle a straight line between the late Coloneys of the Massachu- setts and Plymouth, from accord pond to the angle tree.” 1 The result of this survey has just been alluded to; and as it would have restored to the North Purchase what they were claiming, and what even the line of 1664, if correctly drawn, would have conceded to them, Dorchester (which then included Stoughton and Sharon) refused to agree to the result. Accordingly there were frequent contentions, and in 1710 this action was taken at a meeting of the proprietors: “Then the said Proprietors made 1 Taunton North-Purchase Book of Votes, p. 26. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 25 choice of Mr. Edward Fobes and George Leonard to be their agents, to Join with Bridgewater men in Defending the runing of the line that was last run by the agreement by and between Bridgewater men and said North-Purchase men on the one part and Dorchester men on the other part, and do ingage to bear their proportion of the charge thereof.” } In May, 1713, another attempt was made to settle the diffi- culty by appointing a committee to run a new line. An effort was first made to find the old Angle Tree which was marked in 1664. The report made by a part of this committee describes the search for this tree, and the evidence upon which they were satisfied that they had found it. But here at the very start the hope of the settlement of the trouble by this committee vanished ; for “The gentleman that appeared for Attleborough and Norton would not own the tree, and refused to be concerned in running the line,” —so0 reads the report of the minority of the committee, Samuel Thaxter and Jacob Thompson. In this report the three points on the new line that were north of what is now Easton are as follows: “The next is a heap of stones on a great rock about forty or fifty rods to the east of Dorchester- Meadow Brook ; the next is a black oak, marked about eighteen rods to the southwest of Jeremiah Willis’ house; the next is a great, hollow black oak marked with stones about it on the west side of the Plain that is in the west side of Quantucket Cedar- Swamp.”® This Jeremiah Willis was the ancestor of one branch of the Easton Willises ; his house was just north of the town line, east of the Bay road, and but for the mistake of the com- missioners of 1664 would have been within the town limits. In justice, Easton should have extended farther north than it does now. This uncertainty about the boundary was a great annoyance to Mr. Willis, and to others living near the north border of the North Purchase. Twice he “pitched” for land near the line, and twice he “doth let drop his pitch because it falls in Dorchester.” Proprietors found in some cases that the land that had been laid out to them was, by the new line, included in Dorchester. The North-Purchase Company endeavored to get satisfaction for such of their number as suffered on this ac- 1 Taunton North-Purchase Book of Votes, p. 30. 2 Massachusetts Court Records, vol. ix. p. 280. 8 Tid. 26 ‘HISTORY OF EASTON. count. In December, 1717, they “ Voted that the committee formerly chosen to lay out land in said North purchase, shall have full power to make satisfaction to those that are Damnified by the runing the line by Dorchester men, and the surveyor and any two of said committee to make satisfaction to them in laying out land to them, either in quantity or quallity ; and the person Damnified to have no hand in Judging his own Damage.”* In April, 1718, it was “Voted to make choice of a committee to take care and use all proper methods as shall be thought meet and convenient for the maintaining and holding their right and title on the north side of said purchase, home to the ancient Plymouth Colony line as Granted by Charter, whether it be by renewing the bounds with the Proprietors adjoining, or by any other lawfull way or means whatsoever.”? In 1720 they voted to sell two hundred and sixteen acres of land to defray the charges growing out of these difficulties; they had previously voted a sale of fifty acres for the same purpose. Sometimes these troubles assumed a dangerous personal character. On June 2, 1722, a committee, appointed to sell a piece of land on the border, reported that they were opposed in their attempts to establish boundaries. They affirmed in their report as follows :8 We renewed the ancient bounds by erecting a heap of stones, which we intended for the first boundary. But Ephraim Fobes & Edward & Ephraim Howard [Hayward] came and told us that we had no business there, and that we had better take up the compass & be gone. Wee answered that what we did was by order of the General Court ; but the said Edward Howard told us that the General Court had nothing to do with any land there, — whereupon we read to them the Court’s order ; and then the said Ephraim Fobes went and threw off some of the stones, and said there should not be any bounds there. And from thence they went forward to a fence where the line went, and there the said Eph. and Edw. Howard warned us to stand off upon our Perill, telling us that we came like Robbers, Highway- men, and Rioters: The said Edw. Howard had an axe in his hand, and the sd. Eph. Howard had a club. Wee told them we might pro- ceed on the business wee were sent for, and Col. Thaxter, who carried the line, stepped forward with the compass, to go over the fence in 1 Taunton North-Purchase Book of Votes, p. 44. 2 Tbid., p. 46. 8 Massachusetts General Court Records, vol. xi. pp. 308, 309. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 27 the course of the line ; but Edw. Howard & Daniel Howard laid vio- lent hands upon him & pushed him back, so that we were obstructed, and unless we would have come to Violence & Blood shed we could not have gone on with our Business. Therefore we pray this great & Honorable Court would be pleased to consider the before mentioned offence, & give us further direction in the Premises. Sam. THAXTER. ROBERT SPURR. Joun Quincy. Edward Hayward and his three companions thought, no doubt, that they were defending their just rights. But the General Court took a different view of the matter, and ordered that they be arrested and shut up in Boston jail Several weeks’ confine- ment therein induced them to offer an humble petition for their release. This was granted them upon condition that they pay damages, and give security for better behavior in the future; which they did.” Of this Edward Hayward we shall soon hear more. In the year 1727 the proprietors voted that any person who will prosecute those who have settled upon the proprietor’s lands in Stoughton, but south of the line as run by Nathaniel Wood- ward and Solomon Safery, shall have one third of the land which they may recover, —-the suits, however, to be conducted at the expense and risk of the prosecutor. About 1729 it was determined to appeal to the Crown, and a committee was chosen and money raised to promote this appeal. It is in reference to this that we have the following curious vote in a meeting held May 27, 1729: — “aly. the Proprietors voted that the Handkercheife which was the return of the money which was sent to England should be sold, and that that mr. Ephraim Howard should be paid two pounds and Eight Shillings, and Lt. James Leonard to be paid Sixteen Shillings, and mr. Edward Shove to be paid Sixteen Shillings out of the money that said Handkerchiefe should be sold for, and that the rest of said money should be let out to Interest for the use of sd small proprietors. “3ly. said Proprietors voted that Lieut. James Leonard and major George Leonard shall have all the said Handkerchiefe, they Giving 1 Massachusetts General Court Records, vol. xi. p. 315. 2 Tbid., p. 369. 28 HISTORY OF EASTON. good security for twenty-three pounds sixteen shillings to the Clerk, to be paid within one year’s time,” etc. ? What do these curious votes mean? The word “handkerchief” is evidently used to signify a special collection. The proprietors raised money for specific purposes, and kept the sums thus raised in separate amounts. Silver money was of course used for the purpose alluded to inthis case. Was it tied up in a handkerchief? If so, perhaps this is the first case on record where a handker- chief was ever used for a contribution-box. For some reason the proprietors were not ready to use this collection as yet, and they therefore voted to “sell the handkerchief,’ — meaning by this, to put its contents to interest, after paying the expenses that had already accrued. In 1750 the proprietors vote to choose a committee to act with acommittee of the Rehoboth North-Purchase, or Attleborough, to petition the General Court to settle the line between the two late colonies according to the agreement of the Commissioners of 1640. In both 1752 and 1753 they voted to begin an action to eject all persons who had, without authority from the proprietors, settled upon these disputed lands. There was no final settlement of the matter until 1772. The Court then appointed a committee to run the line from Accord Pond to Angle Tree, Artemas Ward being the chairman of the committee. They reported in favor of the line of 1713, made by Thaxter and Thompson. On March 6, 1773, an act passed the Legislature, providing that the line should run from the pond, so often alluded to, west twenty and a half degrees south to the Angle Tree. This line is the present boundary between Norfolk County on the north, and Plymouth and Bristol coun- ties on the south. In 1790, a stone monument was by order of the State erected on the spot where this tree stood. INDIAN OWNERSHIP OF THESE LANDS. It will be interesting to the people of Easton to know what Indians were the immediate predecessors of the whites in the ownership of the territory of this town, which was on or very near the boundary lines that separated the important tribes of the 1 Taunton North-Purchase Book of Votes, p. 64. oe THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 29 Massachusetts Indians and the Wampanoags. The former were north of the limits of Bristol County; the latter, according to Baylies, in his “ History of Plymouth Colony,” inhabited Bristol County. Massasoit was their chief, and his authority was recog- nized as supreme among the tribes living in the whole of the colony of Plymouth, as well as in the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. These tribes were known under the general name of Pokanokets. Some doubt has been thrown upon the statement that the whole of Bristol County was once the posses- sion of Massasoit, and after him of Metacomet, who is better known to us as King Philip. These doubts are based mainly upon two considerations, which deserve a brief notice. The first of these rests upon a deposition of five Indians made in 1650. The deposition is as follows :— Pecunke, Ahiumpum, Catscimah, Webacowett, and Masbanomett doe all affirm that Chickataubut his bounds did extend from Nishama- goquannett, near Duxberry Mill, to Teghtacutt neare Taunton, and to Nunckatatesett, and from thence in a straight line to Wanamampuke, which is the head of Charles River. This they doe all solemly affirme, saying, God knoweth it to be true, and knoweth their hearts. Dated the first of the fourth month 1650. Witness : ENCREASE NOWELL. Joun ELtror. Joun Hoare.? This deposition affirms that the boundary line extended from Duxbury to Titicut, thence to Nippenicket Pond, and thence to Whiting’s Pond in Wrentham, This would cut off what is now the town of Easton from the dominion of Massasoit. But were there no other reason to doubt the correctness of this boundary, its great irregularity would condemn it, or at least, make it ex- tremely improbable. There are, however, other and convincing reasons. 1. Plymouth Colony invariably recognized Massasoit as the chief sachem of all the territory included within its limits. Bridgewater on the east, and the lands on the west of the North Purchase were bought of Massasoit. It is therefore certain that this purchase, being in the same range as these, must have been in his jurisdiction. 1 Plymouth Colony Records, vol. ii. p. 157. 30 HISTORY OF EASTON. 2. According to the deed of the above said purchase, the lands included in it were bought of the Indians by Captain Thomas Willett, and his negotiations were unquestionably with Massasoit or his successors, and not with the Massachusetts Indians. 3. Several confirmatory deeds might be cited, were there suffi- cient occasion for so doing, which assume and plainly state the fact that the lands south of the Old Colony line were purchased of Massasoit. Another source of doubt concerning the rightful ownership of this territory by Massasoit and Philip is the fact that two deeds, at least, were given by sachems of the Massachusetts Indians covering a part of these lands. One of them appears, on the face of it, to acknowledge their ownership in the North Pur- chase. In the Book of Votes of the Taunton North-Purchase Company, page 7, is the following record : — “‘ At a meeting of the proprietors of the north purchase the twenty- fourth day of Feb’y 1686-7, the said Proprietors agreed and voted to levey and raise sixteen pence in money on each share in said purchase, to pay Josiah the Indian sachim for a Deed they have percured of him ; and it is to be paid into Thomas Leonard by the sixteenth Day of next march.” The original deed just referred to is still preserved, being among the papers left by the Rev. George Leonard, already referred to. That this sachem Josiah, who was one of the feeble remnant of the Massachusetts Indians, had no valid claim to the lands he thus deeded away, is sufficiently apparent from the fact that in 1770 Squamaug, then the acting chief of this tribe, made an agreement with Philip that the line between the Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies should be the dividing-line between the Massachusetts and Wampanoag Indians. Though Josiah was without any valid claim to this land, the North-Purchase proprie- tors were willing to give him the small pittance he asked for rather than have any further trouble about the matter. The whole sum he received was only three pounds, twelve shillings. The Indians of that date had so far degenerated that they could imitate white men by becoming beggars. “Sometimes, when our fathers had purchased lands of the real owner, and others 1 Clarke’s History of Norton, pp. §0, 51. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 31 afterwards laid some claim to them, they would buy off the claim by a small consideration rather than suffer a controversy or leave a doubt to disturb private or individual purchasers hereafter. Thus the colonies practised what are called ‘quieting titles,’ and extinguished claims on expediency, and without regard to their validity.” } It is very probable that the boundaries between the Indian tribes were rather indefinite, but there is no reasonable ground to doubt that the territory of Easton was once a part of the hunting-grounds of the celebrated Massasoit and his more cele- brated son Philip. Some readers may be disappointed to find that the Indians have done nothing to add to the interest of this history. This was not the fault of the savages. They would very cheerfully have tomahawked and scalped enough of our early settlers to have furnished us with most exciting and harrowing tales of bloodshed. But several years before our first settler built his rude dwelling east of the site of Dean’s mill at South Easton, the spirit and power of the Indians in this section had been thoroughly broken, — King Philip’s war having ended in 1676. There is a tradition that they had a village on the spot just indi- cated, east of “The Green.” The tradition is probably correct, because, first, there have been from time to time a large num- ber of relics ploughed or dug up from the field there; and sec- ondly, the selection of that spot by the first comer for his homestead makes it probable that it was a clearing where the previous occupants, the natives, had been accustomed to culti- vate maize, etc. There were, no doubt, other clearings in the south part of the town, where lands were easily worked: not even an Indian would be foolish enough to attempt to clear the soil in the northeast quarter. Indian relics have been found in many different places in Easton. Two stone pestles were dug from a gravel-bank southeast of Daniel Wheaton’s house. They were deep enough beneath the surface to make it probable that they were buried with their owner, according to Indian custom. Further examination there might possibly indicate the pres- ence of one of the burying-grounds of the natives. That some 1 Manuscript letter from the late Hon. John Daggett of Attleborough, to whose kindness the writer is indebted for some facts and suggestions used in this chapter. 22 HISTORY OF EASTON. stragglers among the Indians remained about here and had come to sore need, is indicated by the following action of the town in town-meeting in the year 1763: “Voted to James Linsey one pound eleven shillings, for provisions and clothes for the Indians.” THE PRESERVATION OF TIMBER. The North-Purchase proprietors showed much interest in the preservation of the timber, especially the cedar, which grew upon their lands. From the number of votes passed empowering committees to prosecute persons who had cut cedar, oak, and other timber, it is evident that there was considerable trespass- ing upon the undivided lands. As early as 1683 the proprietors “Voted and agreed that there shall be no cedar falne that Doth belong to the said north purchase or improved for any use, until the said Proprietors do otherwise agree.” A committee is ap- pointed to “see that the aforesaid order be not broken nor the cedar wasted ; and to seize any cedar fallen or improved, or the produce thereof, for the use of said proprietors; or to arrest the person or persons so transgressing, and by law to recover the value of the produce of such cedar, improved contrary to order, or what damage he or they do to the cedar swamps.” Such votes are quite common for many years, and the preser- vation of the cedar in the Great Cedar-Swamp and in other places appeared to be a matter. of much solicitude, the proprie- tors evidently placing a high value upon it. In the year 1699 there is this curious record: “Samuel Briggs having bought about 1400 of Claboards and long shingles of an Indian, the stuff being got in the North Purchase, the Proprietors by vote agreed that he shall have them, paying six shillings in money to the proprietors, — which he then did, and it was then spent in drink.’! This was in Taunton in mid-winter, and a good drink was, in the opinion of the proprietors, seasonable, and the easiest solution of the difficulty of disposing of this unexpected six shil- lings. Whether the absent proprietors, who were not on hand to share this good cheer, took the same view of the case we are not informed. This Samuel Briggs was son of Thomas, of whom we have already heard. How this unknown Indian became pos- 1 Taunton North-Purchase Book of Votes, p. 22. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 33 sessed of these “ Claboards and long shingles” must be matter of conjecture only. They were too bulky to steal and carry away; an Indian was extremely unlikely to be a regular dealer in such merchandise ; and we are therefore obliged to imagine the extraordinary spectacle of one of these wild sons of the forest laboriously splitting out these articles from the trees among which he had so often roamed in his hunts for game. The mere thought of it touches our sympathy. THE DIVISION OF LANDS. The manner in which lands of the Taunton North-Purchase Company were divided is a subject of great interest. The deed of purchase was made June 1, 1668. The Company organized on the sth day of September following, by the choice of Thomas Leonard as clerk, and the election of a committee who were intrusted with the affairs of the Company. The next meet- ing took place November 15, 1671, when a committee was appointed to meet other committees from Rehoboth and Bridge- water, to settle the boundaries between the North Purchase and those towns. On December 31, 1674, it was voted to “lay outa Division of upland in the North purchase to each Proprietor alike, as near as they can both for quantity and quallity, no lot to be under a hundred acres, nor no lot above six score of acres.” To equalize the value of these lots, it was voted that their size might vary from one another by a difference of twenty acres, the number being according to the worth of the land. Reference is made to this division at subsequent meetings, but no actual sur- vey of the lots was made prior to 1695. Meantime several settlers had come upon the lands, they having purchased a whole, or some part of, a share from some of the original pro- prietors or from their heirs, and being allowed to choose a loca- tion and settle upon it. When the first division of lands was made in 1696, as will be presently explained, these actual set- tlers, instead of choosing their divisions by lot, as the other shareholders did, were assigned the land upon which they had already located. This was the case with the first settlers in the east part of the North Purchase, now Easton. Clement Briggs, Thomas Randall, William Manley, John Phillips, and a few oth- ers whose acquaintance we shall soon make, were residents 3 34 HISTORY OF EASTON. before the first division of land. Briggs had made his home east of “the Green;” Randall, just above on the north side of the stream; Manley, next above him; and Phillips, at the Morse place. It was not until May 12, 1696, that the first general division of land was made, It was a notable occasion for the proprietors as they met on that day in the old Taunton meeting-house. Fifty- four sections of land, of about one hundred acres each, had been roughly indicated by survey, and these were all numbered, This number of shares corresponded to the number of original share- holders, except that one share was added, which was to be laid out “for the use of the ministry,” — that is, for the support of the preaching of the gospel. Some of the original proprietors were dead, and some shares were owned in company by as many as four different persons; in which case each was entitled to a quarter-share, or about twenty-five acres. Everything being now ready for the lots to be drawn, the names of the original proprietors were called, in the order in which they appear upon the deed. As the names were announced, these proprietors, or their “ successors ” as they are termed, drew their lots, and were assigned the divisions of land corresponding to the numbers drawn, But in case any one did not like the lot that fell to him, it was provided that he might choose it in some other place. As already stated, those who had actually settled upon_ any land were assigned the location they were living upon. The divisions had thus been determined and numbered, but no careful survey of them had been made except the three lots named below. The first survey was made on the 6th day of January, 1696, and is recorded in the “ First Book of Lands” of the Company, on the first page. It was the homestead lot of Clement Briggs and Thomas Randall, Sr. The lot of John Phillips and William Manley was laid out on the same day. On the next day the lot above the latter was laid out to Thomas Randall, Jr., and the Rev. James Keith, —the latter being the minister of Bridgewater, It was more than a year before lots were surveyed in other parts of the North Purchase, which fact confirms the claim subsequently made by the settlers in what is now Easton; namely, that they were the “first settlers” of the Taunton North-Purchase. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 35 Various other divisions of land were subsequently made. The one we have been considering was called “ the first hundred-acre division.’ This was of upland. In January, 1699, there was a second division, which consisted of eight acres of meadow-land. The following list gives all the divisions of land from the organ- ization of the Company to the present time : — . One hundred acres of upland . . . . In the year 1696 Eight acres of meadow-land. . . . . 3; » 1699 One hundred acres of upland ... .- 44 » 1700 Fifty ” ” > > “28s Da ” » 1705 Sixty ” ” oes, see ” » 714 Forty se 5 soe tas Me 53 » 1724 Thirty 9 ” sce ae os ” a» = 1729_ Forty-five "3 5 $5 te ‘ y 1731 Twenty ” ” eo? cree Feed ge ” » 1744 Ten ” ” 6 " y ” ” 1755 Eight s ” 2 ee oe oe TS Four ” ” ei al ” » 1774 Sixteen 5 6 eo A ik i » 1779 Eight 4 % a 0 3 » 811 Four 3 ‘ oe) le 5 9 1814 Four ” ” 1 * 7 = * ” ” 1833 The aggregate of these divisions for the fifty-four shares is twenty-seven thousand, three hundred and seventy-eight acres. This was about four fifths of all the proprietors’ lands. But in addition to this there was in 1699 a division of “the Great Cedar-Swamp” into nine shares of six lots each ; and there were subsequent divisions of the other cedar swamps. Nearly all the remainder of the land of the North-Purchase Company was sold to raise money for legal and other expenses, as they occurred. A little of the land still remains undivided, but is of small extent and of slight value. It is an interesting fact that this Taunton North-Purchase Company still exists, and is one of the oldest organizations in the State, being now over two centuries old. The clerkship of the Company was held by the Leonard family for one hundred and fifty-five years, — Thomas holding it for the first forty-six years. He was followed in turn by George, Samuel, George, and George, Jr., they living in Taunton or Norton. Alfred Williams 36 HISTORY OF EASTON. of Taunton was chosen clerk in 1823, and Howard Lothrop of Easton in 1836. Alson Gilmore served from 1861 to 1876, when Edward D. Williams, the present clerk, was elected. The last meeting of the Company was held November 25, 1876. THE BOOKS OF THE COMPANY. The books of this Land Company are very interesting relics of other days, and they are exceedingly valuable to the anti- quarian and local historian. The old “ Book of Votes,” as it is called, is now (1886) two hundred and eighteen years old. It brings the record of the business meetings of the Company down to 1712. As this book was then full, a new book was bought, the records of the old book copied into it, and the account of subsequent meetings continued down to the present time. Another book is called the “Book of Pitches.” When land was due to a proprietor, or purchaser, he made a statement of the location where he wished his lot laid out. This choice was recorded in the book just named. This was called a “pitch.” Here is an example of one:— February 22: 1708-9. John Dayly, on Abiah Whitman’s Right, doth Pitch for twelve acres and halfe of Land on the Stone-House Plaine, Joining to Bridgewater Line, Joining to thomas Drake’s lot of his second division on the northward and westward Parts thare of, and northward of William Manley seners, eastward of John Phillips and southward of John Dayleys, if the Place will afford: if not, the re- mainder to be Between Tussuky meadow and Bridgewater Line;.. . and six and a quarter acres of Land in the northeast corner of the north purchase, Ranging south from a bever dam home to Bridgewater Line.? The original “Book of Pitches” is not preserved. That book brought the account down to 1745, when it had probably become so much worn as to need transcribing. A new book was bought, a complete copy of the old book made in it, and the records con- tinued down to the present day. This book, purchased in 1 745, and much used, is still in excellent condition. There are three books called “ Books of Lands,” or of “Sur- veys.” They number in the aggregate nine hundred and eighty- 1 Book of Pitches, p. 13. THE TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. 37 four very large and closely written pages. They contain the surveys or laying out of the shares of land due the proprietors on the several divisions, and also the laying out of the various pitches of land recorded in the book just named. The following illustrates what has been said : — In Taunton North-Purchase June 14th, 1699, we the subscribers who are of the committee chosen by the proprietors of said North Pur- chase, we have laid out & bounded nine acres of meadow & meadowish land for Mr. Keith and Thomas Randall, Junior, to the right of Samuel Smith Deceased. Said meadow lyeth up the River from Thomas Ran- dall’s about three quarters of one mile, Bounded at the lower end Ranging from a marked tree across the swamp on a west and by north point, and so bounded by upland on both sides up the river about one hundred & five or six rods to a little oak tree, from thence on a west point across the meadow to the upland again. Tuomas RANDALL. Tuomas Harvey. Joun Wuite, Szrvayer.? The first survey was made on the 6th day of January, 1696, and the last on July 18, 1882. Some of the boundary marks are interesting. For instance: “We began at a May Poal [maple?] tree.” “We began at a saxifax tree.” Frequently the bounds begin at “a little pile of stones,” with no indication of where said pile of stones may be found. On June 21, 1765, the heirs of Edward Hayward, Esq., have a lot laid out to them “north on said land forty rods zo a biva’s nest with one egg in it for a corner,’ ? —a not very lasting boundary line, one would think. The oldest of these books of surveys is the original book, which was begun in 1695, and is not a copy. It is very valuable in determining the location of the homesteads of the first settlers of this region. This book was rebound in 1782, at a cost of “nine silver dollars” for binding and the trouble and expense connected with it. There are two other books of this Company; namely, the ledger accounts. One is that of the “ Original Proprietors,” and the other of the “ Present Proprietors,” as they were called in 1724. The second book has an especial value to the genealogist, be- 1 First Book of Surveys, p. 3. 2 Second Book of Surveys, p. 4I. 38 HISTORY OF EASTON. cause in the transference and settlement of property and estates many family relationships are alluded to. These books have enabled the writer to fill up gaps in family genealogies by infor- mation which no other records could have supplied. The pro- prietors now living ought to secure the safe and permanent keeping of these valuable and ancient records. No thorough and adequate account of the Taunton North- Purchase and its celebrated land company has ever before been given ; and this is a sufficient reason for the extended notice it has received in this chapter. EARLY SETTLERS. 39 CHAPTER ILL EARLY SETTLERS. THE SEVEN FAMILIES OF SQUATTERS. — SUBSEQUENT SETTLERS. — THEIR PREVIOUS PLACES OF ABODE.— THE TIME OF THEIR SET- TLEMENT IN TAUNTON NORTH-PURCHASE. — LOCATION OF THEIR HOMESTEADS. — THE OLDEST HOUSE IN TOWN. N this chapter some account will be given of those who set- tled in the “East end of Taunton North-Purchase” (now Easton) previous to the incorporation of the town. Thorough search among the Bristol County deeds, and careful study of the North-Purchase records have enabled the writer to determine three very interesting facts concerning these settlers; namely, their previous place of residence, their time of settlement, and the locations of their dwelling-houses. Most of the settlements were made subsequent to the first division of lands, in 1696. A few families were here, however, earlier than this, settling as squatters, so called. Among these were Clement Briggs, William Hayward, William Manley, Thomas Randall, Sr., Thomas Ran- dall, Jr., John Phillips, Thomas Drake, and possibly others. The first settlements were made in what is now South Easton village. At the time of the incorporation of the town, a.D. 1725, there were, or had been, about sixty heads of families here. Of these, fifteen came from Weymouth, fifteen from Taunton, twelve from Bridgewater, and the rest from various other places. Their names are given here as nearly as possible in the order of their settlement. CLEMENT Brices, reputed by tradition to be the first settler, bought a full share in the Taunton North-Purchase, in 1694. He neglected to get the deed recorded, and it was “defaced and damnified by the mice eating some part of it, so that it was not fit to pass the records ;” and accordingly, after his death, in order 40 HISTORY OF EASTON. to make the title good, the heirs of the grantor (Benjamin Dean) gave to Clement Briggs’s heirs a new deed. He was domiciled as early as 1694, and his house was on the north side of Depot Street, east of the Green and near the head of Pine Street. He came from Weymouth, with Thomas Randall his step-father, and was grandson of Clement Briggs, who is called an “old comer,” having arrived in Plymouth in the ship “Fortune,” in 1621. Three of this first Clement’s children, being among the earliest bornin the colony, received grants of land of the Government on that account. He was a felt-maker, and settled very early in Weymouth. His grandson, the Clement Briggs who settled here, was for awhile part owner of the saw-mill which the Randalls had built, and erected the first grist-mill in town. These mills stood near where the mill now stands, at the Green. He died previous to June, 1720, and left a family of seven children. WitiiaM ManLey was from Weymouth, and was residing here as early as 1694. He was a squatter, as was no doubt Clement Briggs and others. It is therefore possible that they may have been settled here some time prior to the appearance of their names in deeds and other papers. William Manley was the an- cestor of all the Manleys of this section. He owned land, and located his dwelling-house a little below where Palmer Newton now lives, in South Easton. While a resident of Weymouth, he served in the army. He and his three sons owned the west- erly part of F. L. Ames’s estate in North Easton, and also owned both north and south of that. Like some others of this early time, he had to “make his mark.” He died December 2, 1717. Wiiit1am Haywarp was here in 1694. He was not one of the Bridgewater Haywards, but was the son of Jonathan and Sarah Hayward, of Braintree, and was born February 6, 1669. His homestead was near Simpson’s Spring, and the old location can still be identified, about fifteen rods to the east of the spring. He died March 26, 1697, leaving two children, Ruth and William. His widow returned to Braintree, and in two years married William Thayer, who afterwards settled in Easton. Tuomas RANDALL, Ist, came here from Weymouth, and was a resident in Taunton North-Purchase no doubt as early as 1694. He bought half the share which Clement Briggs had purchased of Benjamin Dean. The fifty-first share was set apart to them, EARLY SETTLERS. 41 and it included the Green, being partly west but chiefly east of it, and had one hundred and four acres. The half of this north of the mill-stream was owned by Thomas Randall. There, but a few rods from the saw-mill which he and his sons erected, stood his house. He was son of Robert Randall, one of the original settlers of Weymouth. Three sons certainly, and probably four, and at least two daughters, came with him to settle here. His saw-mill was soon built, the first one in town, and the noise of its wheel was the sweetest possible music to the new settlement. He is interesting to us as the father of what has been the most numerous family of Easton. He married, for a second wife, Hannah, daughter of Samuel Packard of Bridgewater, and widow of Clement Briggs, who was father to our first settler, Clement Briggs. He died June 11,1711. She died April 20, 1727. Joun PuILiips came here from Weymouth at the same time as William Manley, they dividing one share of land (the fifty-second lot) between them. His half was north of the Manleys, and in- cluded the Morse privilege, extending north of Mr. Morse’s house and quite a distance eastward. His house was on the spot where the house (formerly the home) of Mr. Morse now stands. He was a prominent man in the early town history, and was the first town clerk, serving twelve years in that capacity. His first wife was Elizabeth Drake of Weymouth, sister of two early set- tlers, soon to be mentioned. He was the first captain that bore a commission in the town of Easton. He was a soldier as early as 1690, serving in the expedition against Quebec. Forty years afterwards the Colony granted the township of Huntstown (now Ashfield) to the soldiers, and Captain Phillips had some shares. His son Thomas, and son-in-law Richard Ellis of Easton, were the first settlers of that town. He died November 14, 1760. Tuomas RANDALL, 2d, came from Weymouth with his father. He was married January 20, 1697, to Rachel Lincoln, of Taunton. He had his dwelling-house a little north of John Phillips, the site being almost exactly where the barn of Benjamin Macomber now stands. In 1718 he took up twenty-six acres of land in what is now North Easton, on both sides of the stream, near the Ames office. He had taken up five acres there, in I7ITI. Here he built either the second or third saw-mill in town- His first wife died February 18, 1715, and in 1719 he married 42 HISTORY OF EASTON. widow Hannah Pratt, of Weymouth. During the first years of the settlement he was the largest property owner among the resi- dents, paying double the tax of any other. He was also deacon of the church. Indeed, the Randall family was more prolific in what in later times Elijah Howard called “deacon timber” than any other family in town. In 1727 the town voted that Deacon Thomas Randall should make a pair of stocks for the use of the town. Where these stocks were set up we are not informed ; but more than one culprit of both sexes had a chance to find out if Deacon Randall did this piece of work well. He died in 1752, dividing a large property among several children, but leaving his homestead to his son Deacon Robert Randall. Tuomas Drakg, the father of John and Benjamin Drake, soon to be noticed, came from Weymouth, and had a house here as early as 1695. He appears to have lived east of the Morse place at South Easton, about half the distance to the Bridgewater line. He died August 19, 1728, three days after the death of his wife Hannah. She was his third wife, as deeds at Taunton show that this Thomas Drake of Weymouth, in 1688, had a second wife Millicent, who was widow of John Carver and daughter of William Ford. These seven persons and their families appear to be the only settlers in what is now Easton, prior to 1696; for on July 20 of that year their names are given as inclusive of all the “neigh- bourhood ” in the east end of the North Purchase. This appears by the following vote passed at a meeting of the North-Purchase proprietors held in the “ Taunton meeting-house,” July 20, 1696: “3dly, at the same time Thomas Randall and William Manley Desired the Grass this year on the meadows in the North pur- chase, between the great Cedar swamp and Dorchester bounds and Bridgewater bounds, and as far southward as to take in Cranbury meadow, they acting for themselves and the rest of the Neighbourhood ; viz., William Haward, Thomas Drake, John Phillips, Clement Briggs, and Thomas Randall, 2d, for which they promise to pay ten Shillings in money this year to the Clerk ; for which the said Proprietors Promised said Grass to them for this year, 1696.’’? 1 See also Savage’s Genealogical Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 71. 2 Book of Votes of Taunton North-Purchase Proprietors, p. 14. EARLY SETTLERS. 43 ~Jacos LronarD, of Bridgewater, had built a house as early as 1697. It was situated fifteen rods directly east of where William C. Howard now lives. The road ran between Leonard's house and well, the latter being in Bridgewater. He had lived at Weymouth, and then at Bridgewater, before coming here, He was the son of Solomon Leonard, of Duxbury, who was one of the first settlers of Bridgewater. IsRAEL RANDALL was a son of Thomas Randall, Sr., and had a dwelling-house as early as 1697, which was very near the spot where N. W. Perry now lives. He married in 1701 Mary, daughter of John and Experience (Byram) Willis of Bridgewater. In March, 1710, his father, “out of the gcod- will and natural affection which I bear towards my son,” as the deed runs, gave to him his land on the west side of the river near the Green, this being the land north of the houses of Dr. Randall and N. W. Perry. He was interested in the saw- mill business with his father and brothers. He died March 24, 1753. His widow died Nov. 29, 1760. James Harris, of Bridgewater, bought the estate of Jacob Leonard in November, 1697, and made it his home. He was first married to Elizabeth, daughter of Guido Bailey of Bridge- water, in 1693, and afterwards to Elizabeth Irish, in 1696. He sued Clement Briggs and John Phillips for cutting and carrying hay from his lot in Cranberry Meadow; and this lawsuit cost the North-Purchase proprietors sixteen pounds sterling, they disputing his ownership to the lot and agreeing to sustain the charges of the suit! Timothy Cooper, who lived next below him, proved to be a very uncomfortable neighbor, and in 1713 Harris sold out his estate to Elder William Pratt. TimotHy CooPper was a resident here in 1699; how much earlier cannot be determined. He married a daughter of Abiah Whitman, a leading citizen of Weymouth, and one of the largest land-owners in the North Purchase. Cooper was proba- bly of Weymouth, but this is only a conjecture. His house was a few rods south of the Roland Howard house, where Mr. Collins now resides, the land on which it stood being given to his wife by her father. In 1713 he bought three fourths of the saw-mill at the Green, owning it at his death; or, as the legal record has 1 Taunton North-Purchase Book of Votes, pp. 15, 16. 44 HISTORY OF EASTON. it, “he died seized of the saw-mill.” He was killed by his mill- wheel in 1726, probably in March. Tradition represents him as a very rough man, and tradition is supported by documentary evidence, which, after being concealed for over a century and a half, has just come to light, and has been examined by the writer. His violent death was regarded by some persons as a providential punishment for his sins. He left a family of five daughters, one of them marrying Seth Babbit, who was admin- istrator of the estate of her father. The old road ran just east of Mr. Cooper’s house, and thence on a southwest course coming nearly to the line of the present highway in front of David Howard’s house. BenjJAMIN Draxg, the ancestor of many of the Drakes of Easton, was born in Weymouth, January 15, 1677, and came here in the year 1700. In June of that year he bought fifty acres of land, with a dwelling-house, on what is now the Cynthia Drake road, or Church Street, south and southwest of the old burying-ground, in South Easton. In that house his first child, Benjamin, was born in December of that year. The care of the meeting-house, after it was erected, was for many years his special charge. He served in numerous town offices. Epuraim Hewitt is recorded as of Taunton North-Purchase in 1701, and may have been here a little earlier. He was prob- ably son of Ephraim Hewitt, of Scituate, and afterwards of Hing- ham. If so, he was born in 1676. He owned land here in 1700. His home-lot was northerly from Mr. Rankin’s, where Mr. Littlefield now lives. A road ran on the south gide of his house up to the present road near the track by F. L. Ames’s saw-mill. It is interesting to note that he and his wife died on the same day, November 19, 1733,— she going at sunrise, and he following her at the sunset hour. SAMUEL KINSLEY was grandson of Stephen, of Braintree. He came here from Bridgewater, buying his home-lot in Decem- ber, 1701. It was about a quarter of a mile south of Timothy Cooper’s place, just north of what is called the Thaxter Hervey place, about six rods east of the turnpike, and five rods north of the foundation of Cyrus Alger’s old forge. He built his house in 1702, and became a resident at that time. He had eight EARLY SETTLERS. 45 children, his daughter Hannah marrying Edward Hayward, Esq. He died about 1720. Joun DRAkE was son of Thomas and brother of Benjamin, both of whom moved here from Weymouth. He bought a part of a share of land of Ephraim Hewitt in April, 1702, and had it laid out in 1703, when he settled upon it. It joined Bridgewater line north of Stone-House Hill, and probably included what be- came known a century later as the North Daily place. Some- where on this lot he had his home. He died, leaving seven children, October 10, 1717, his wife Sarah surviving him just ten years. James Honce is a settler as early as 1704. His home was next west of John Drake’s, north of the old road running almost due west from Stone-House Hill. On August 8, 1704, Abiah Whitman, of Weymouth, “in consideration of the faithful service performed by James Hogg for Captain John Thomas, sone-in-law to the said Abiah Whitman,” gave to him the land on which he settled. He does not seem to have prospered. A daughter Elizabeth was the occasion of great grief, and a son was for many years a town charge. Wirttam Mantey, Jr., was of Weymouth, and was a son of one of the earliest settlers, before mentioned. He was of age in 1700, and settled on his father’s place just above Thomas Randall, Sr.’s, home-lot. He died January 16, 1764, eighty-five years old. His wife almost completed her hundredth year, dying January 6, 1777. Tuomas MaNLEY was the second son of William Manley, Sr. He was born in Weymouth in 1680. In 1701 he married Lydia Field, of Bridgewater. He built his house on the upper half of his father’s place, a little south of the No.1 schoolhouse. He was father of six sons and seven daughters, the latter being the maternal ancestors of many persons now living in town. He died June 6, 1743, leaving considerable property, among which was “a negro boy George,” valued at £38. His will shows that he meant to do all in his power to prevent any other man from taking his place as husband of Mrs. Manley. He ordains that the quarter-right in the saw-mill is to be hers “dur- ing her widowhood.” “So long as she shall remain my widow” she shall have his dwelling-house and homestead land. But “if 46 HISTORY OF EASTON. my well-beloved wife see cause to change her condition by mar- rying,” she is summarily dismissed from the premises, and, save the pittance of ten pounds, loses all further claim to the property of her late affectionate spouse. Epuraim MARVELL was a settler concerning whose antece- dents nothing can be learned. He was an early settler, coming here certainly prior to 1710. His dwelling-house was a little west of where N. W. Perry now lives, at South Easton. He seems chiefly noted as the possessor of an orchard, which is several times referred to in marking boundaries. His name is written indifferently Marble, Maravell, etc.; but he will remain a marvel to us, for nothing further can be learned about him. Epuraim RANDALL came here no doubt with his father Thomas. He is taxed as a resident in 1708, and received as his portion of his father’s estate the half of the homestead on the east side of the river, bounded west and south by the stream. The old house where he lived, and his father before him, stood several rods nearer the grist-mill than does the house now stand- ing on this lot. Five months after the death of his first wife he swiftly consoled himself by marrying a second, who was Lydia, the daughter of Timothy Cooper. .He became prominent in town and church matters, and was a deacon as early as 1730. He died May 17, 1759, aged seventy-five years. Tuomas Pratt came here from Middleboro in 1710. He was born in Weymouth, and was the son of Thomas, of Weymouth, and brother of Elder Pratt, who settled here about the same time. He moved from Weymouth to Middleboro before 1700, and was selectman there in 1704, and town treasurer in 1705. His house stood where what is called the Sever Pratt house now stands, in South Easton, just above the cemetery, on the east side of the road. The old homestead, settled in 1710, has never passed out of the possession of the family, and is owned to-day by Isaac L. Pratt. He was ancestor of the late Amos Pratt, of Alfred Pratt, and of many others. He was much interested in the church in Easton, and was a deacon. He died December I, 1744. GrorcE HALt was a resident as early as 1708, and may have come here at the time of his marriage, 1705. His house was at the Caleb. Pratt location, nearly opposite and a little west from EARLY SETTLERS. 47 where the late Jonathan Pratt lived. He was son of Samuel Hall, of Taunton, one of the original proprietors of the Taunton North- Purchase. He married Lydia, daughter of Thomas and Kathe- rine Dean, of Taunton. He was a carpenter, and became part owner in the saw-mill that was built by Josiah Keith. He had nine children, but they moved away from Easton. He was alive as late as 1760. Joun Darry was here before 1708. He married a daughter of Abiah Whitman, of Weymouth, and may have come from that place; but of his antecedents nothing has been deter- mined except that he was originally a native of the north of Ireland. He lived just east of the brook near Stone-House Hill, between where the old road once ran and the present road now runs. His father-in-law gave him part of a lot he owned near the Bridgewater line. Daily also bought land of Thomas Randall “for 5000 good marchantable boards in hand paid.” He had an interest in the saw-mill at the Green in 1713. He and his brother-in-law John Whitman had a little unpleasant- ness over a mowing privilege, which made considerable family trouble. DaniEL Owen, Sr., moved here from Taunton between 1705 and 1710. He married Anna, daughter of Samuel Lincoln, of Taunton. His house was on the Bay road about thirty rods north of the head of Summer Street, sometimes called the Littlefield road. DaNIEL OwEN, Jr., settled with his father, and lived in the old homestead for awhile after his father’s death. He then located another homestead and built a house. It was forty rods south of the Tisdale Harlow place, on the west side of the road, at the top of the knoll in the field now owned by the Belchers. The cellar has been filled and ploughed over. The old well, now filled with stones, is near the bars. In 1730, and for several succeeding years, he was an innkeeper and a licensed retailer of liquors. NATHANIEL Man.ey was the third son of William Manley, Sr. He was born in Weymouth, but probably came here with his father as early as 1695. He was a resident prior to 1708, and built himself a house where F. L. Ames’s farm-house now stands. He sold this house and considerable land near it, in 1716, to James 48 HISTORY OF EASTON. Leonard, of Taunton, the father of the first Eliphalet. He then built nearly opposite where Timothy Marshall lives. The old cellar there is not yet entirely filled, and the well may be located. He died April 21, 1753, his wife dying the next day ; or, according to another record, on the same day. JosrpH CrossMAN was the only son of Joseph, who was the son of Robert, of Taunton. He came here in 1713, and then hailed from Bridgewater, where he was temporarily residing with. his sisters. His house was close to, if not exactly upon, the spot where Thomas Randall now lives, east of F. L. Ames’s farm- house. He was a quiet, pious, and influential citizen, and be- came an elder in the church. He died March 14, 1776, at the good old age of eighty-six years. Joun -WuirmMan was son of Abiah Whitman, of Weymouth, and brother of Timothy Cooper’s wife. His house was about a quarter of a mile northwest of Avery Stone’s. After long and careful search the writer found the remains of the old cellar of his house, a few rods west of the dam that is used to overflow Mr. Stone’s cranberry meadow, near the brook which was called afterwards Whitman’s Brook. The land on which his house was built was laid out to his father in 1701, and was a lot of a hundred acres. It was a narrow strip nine tenths of a mile long, and extended south into the meadow east of Lieu- tenant-Governor Ames’s estate. He married, in 1713, Rebecca Manley, after whose death he married a second time. He died about 1757. Isaac Leonarp was son of Solomon, of Duxbury. He moved here from Bridgewater, buying his lot in October, 1713. He purchased the land about the site of the old hinge factory, now the Novelty Works, at North Easton. There was no pond there at that time. This became his homestead. He was probably the first discoverer of the bog-iron ore in this part of the town. He found a bed of it in some land of his brother-in-law, Na- thaniel Manley, not far from Lincoln spring. For this service Nathaniel Manley deeded to him one third part of all the iron ore that should be taken from it. He married Mary, daughter of Guido Bailey, of Bridgewater, and daughter-in-law of Thomas Randall, Sr. In 1726 he sold his house, lands, iron ore, etc., to Eliphalet Leonard, and then moved away. EARLY SETTLERS. 49 Epwarp Haywarp was son of Deacon Joseph Hayward, of Bridgewater, and was born July 24, 1689. He moved to Taunton North-Purchase about 1713, and February 2, 1714 (O. S.?), he married Hannah, daughter of Samuel Kinsley. The late G. W. Hayward, in his account of the Hayward family, calls her the daughter of Benjamin. But Benjamin was her brother, and was then only sixteen years old. Edward Hayward was “the first Esquire that was ever in the town of Easton ;” that is, the first justice of the peace. This title of Esquire once meant some- thing, and was not indiscriminately applied as it is now. He was a very positive man, and the old church records show that several church meetings were held in order to labor with him and others with whom he had decided differences. In the long and bitter contention that began about 1750 over the location of the new meeting-house, he led the “town party,” as it was called, with great ability, and the “ party of the East Part” was led by the Rev. Solomon Prentice, a man of great force of char- acter. The details of this controversy, and of Esquire Hayward’s connection with it will be given in another place. He lived where the house of the late G. W. Hayward now stands. He was a captain as well as justice of the peace, and held numerous town offices. He died May 21, 1760, being seventy years old. SetH BassitT was son of Edward, who was son of Edward, all of Taunton. In early times the name was usually spelled Bobbet or Bobbot. Seth moved from Taunton about 1715, and made his home at the extreme southwest part of the town. His house was very near the old Francis Goward place, or more prob- ably on the exact site of the old house now there. September 15, 1751, as the town records put it, “he departed this life for abeter.” He was then fifty-nine years old. Erasmus Bassitt, brother of Seth, settled here about the same time, though probably a little later. He owned land north and west of his brother. In a sterile field north of the old Gow- ‘ard place, less than a hundred rods from the house, may be found the vestiges of an old cellar. This was very probably the loca- tion of the house of Erasmus Babbitt. He was a “joyner” by trade. He was father of Dr. Seth Babbitt, who was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and who died of smallpox in 1761. There were several families of the Babbitts in this section, so 4 50 HISTORY OF EASTON. that in course of time it received the name of “ Babbitt-town.” Erasmus Babbitt died in 1730, SamueL Kinsey, Jr., was son of Samuel, of Bridgewater. By a natural and easily explained error the usually accurate his- torian of Bridgewater, Nahum Mitchell, has -confounded this man with his father, giving to the latter his own and his son’s children, thus dropping Samuel Jr. into nonentity. He settled here probably in 1713, his homestead being west of the present Littlefield place, near the railroad, and southeast of Cranberry Meadow. WitiiAmM Haywarpb, son of the William who was, as before said, of Braintree, succeeded to his father’s homestead soon after he became of age ; this was in 1718. The location of this home- stead has been given in what was said of his father. He had a large family, one of his sons being Edward, who must not be confounded with the Edwards of the other branch of the Hay- wards. He had a son William who died in the French War, several other sons serving in the same war. He died March 27, 1774, seventy-nine years old. He was probably the first child born within the limits of what is now Easton. Josian Keir was a son of the Rev. James Keith, of Bridge- water. In 1717 he bought over two hundred acres of land on the easterly side of Mulberry-Meadow Brook, afterwards called Leach’s Stream, and became a resident here either that year or the next. In 1720 he was selectman for the East Precinct of Norton, now Easton. His house was probably built in 1717, and is the oldest house standing in town. An addition was made to it at a later date. The old part of it is the west end, at the left of the accompanying picture as seen by the observer. This remains about as it was, and is an interesting relic of the olden time. It was used for an inn as early as 1724, Josiah Keith then being a licensed innkeeper. The house is now the property of, and is occupied by, Edward D, Williams. Not long after settling, Keith built a saw-mill; at least it was in full operation in 1724, for he is then involved in a lawsuit concern- ing “ sawing sundry planks, bords, and other. timber at his saw- mill near his now dwelling-house.” The location of this mill may still be seen west of Edward D. Williams’s house. He died Feb. 4, 1754. ‘NOLSVQ NI ASNOH ISAGIO ABL EARLY SETTLERS. 51 BENJAMIN SELEE was a son of Edward Selee, of Bridgewater, and was born in 1693. He was a resident here as early as 1716, remaining here about ten years, when he removed to Norton. His house was probably a few rods south of where his brother, next to be spoken of, lived. Joun SELEE, brother of the above, was born April 10, 1697, in Bridgewater. He was the direct ancestor of the Easton Selees. He settled in 1718, building a house about forty rods north- easterly from where John A. Selee lives now. The site of the original dwelling-house is marked by an old ash-tree now grow- ing there. The farm has remained in the possession of the family to this day. He died December 3, 1783, over eighty-six years of age. The name has been variously written, as follows: Sealey, Silli, Silly, Selle, Seele, Selee, etc. WILLIAM THAYER, “a weaver,” settled here as early as 1720. About this time he sold his place at Braintree, his previous residence, and purchased land in the section through which the north road to Brockton now runs. He was married to the widow of the first William Hayward. In June, 1724, in order to develop the resources of his neighborhood, he gave land and needed privileges to a company of men, who immedi- ately built the first saw-mill in that vicinity. The stream then went by the name of Dorchester-Meadow Brook. William Thayer had an eighth ownership. He did not live long, dying May 5, 1727. JonaTHAN THAYER was a son of the last-named. He appears to have succeeded to the ownership of his father’s estate. He married Tabitha, daughter of Timothy Cooper, January 11, 1727. His sister Bethia, who married Samuel Waters, and his brother William settled near him. Jonau New ranp, of Taunton, was a settler here in 1717. He was a relative of the Newlands of Norton, and lived not far from them. His house was in the extreme southwest part of what is now Easton, southeast of the Babbitts, on what became the Norton road. There are known to have been at least three houses on that road between Asa Newcomb’s and the Norton line. He probably lived in the second or third. He married Joanna, daughter of Thomas Harvey, of Taunton, and, for a second wife, Abigail Babbitt. 52 HISTORY OF EASTON. BENJAMIN DRAKE, son of Benjamin, was born in Easton, De- cember 1, 1700. He married Elizabeth Hewitt in 1723, and built his house just north of where Daniel Daily lives, at Easton Centre. No vestiges of the cellar can now be seen. In June, 1724, he distinguished himself by killing a wildcat, as a reward for which he received the sum of five shillings. WILLIAM PHILLIPS was a son of Captain John; but whether born before or after his father left Weymouth cannot now be determined. He was located with a homestead before 1720, and owned land “on both sides of the road that leads from Joseph Crossman’s to Boston,’ — the old road that Washington Street has taken the place of. He lived on the east side of the road, not far from, probably a little south of, where Allan Wade now lives. No house appears there on the oldest map of Easton, made about 1752, and it had probably been destroyed by that time. Phillips was a carpenter, one of the builders and owners of the saw-mill near William Thayer’s house. SAMUEL SMITH, JR., was of Taunton,—a grandson, on his mother’s side, of Hezekiah Hoar, one of the original proprie- tors of the North Purchase. In deeds at Taunton he is spoken of in 1718 as “living at Poquanticut.” At that date Poquanticut was a more indefinite term even than now, includ- ing the whole of the northwest corner of what is now Easton. Samuel Smith lived just west of the Bay road, near the Sharon line. In 1721 he sold out and moved away; but as early as 1731 his wife Mary and her child had become town charges of Easton. ELEAZER GILBERT was first of Taunton, and then of Norton. He bought out Samuel Smith, Jr., and lived on what has since been known as the Gilbert place. It was a little to the west of the Bay road, a few rods northwest of the pond-hole, and up the hill. Besides this, he purchased eighty-three acres, some of it being in Dorchester, now Sharon, — “a gore of land which Dorchester line cuts off from the lot of land which Jeremiah Willis’s house stands upon.” Reference is here made to the fact of the accidental change in the boun- dary line between the two colonies, by which a strip of land formerly belonging to the North Purchase was cut off from its northern part. EARLY SETTLERS. 53 Joun PuILtrrs, JR., a son of Captain John, was born at Wey- mouth, in 1692. He owned land where the Dickerman brothers now live, on Washington Street, and his house appears to have been just south of where John Dickerman now lives. His son Ebenezer, the Baptist deacon, lived there after him, and the first Baptist minister of Easton was ordained there. He died Jan- uary 18, 1758. BrenjaMIN KINSLEY was a son of Samuel Kinsley, Sr., before mentioned. He was born May 16, 1701, probably in Bridge- water. He married Priscilla Manley, in 1732, perhaps for a second wife. He became the owner of his father’s homestead, already located. He died March 13, 1759. Joun AvusTIN, son of Jonah, of Taunton, had a lot laid out in 17109, and built his house soon afterwards. It was southwest of George Hall’s, and not far from the No. 3 schoolhouse. He was as near to being a Mormon as the circumstances of the case would admit. In January, 1726, his wife Priscilla dies; in the following June he marries Deborah Caswell, of Norton; and she dying in August, he marries in the next March Elizabeth Briggs, — thus having three different wives in fourteen months, He was a rough character. In 1739, Esq. Edward Hayward sentences him to pay “a fine of ten shillings for prophaine curs- ing, for the use of the poor of the town of Easton.” Were pro- fanity taxable for the benefit of the poor of Easton, they might always have lived like kings. In the year following, Austin is indicted for a far worse offence. By trade he was a “cord- wainer,” or shoemaker. BENJAMIN Foses was a son of Deacon Edward Fobes, of Bridgewater. He was born in 1692, married Martha Hunt in 1721, and settled in Easton at once. He lived on what is now called Pine Street, a little south of the cemetery on the hill. He was town-clerk in 1732, and also from 1740 to 1750 inclu- sive. His handwriting was remarkably good, and very legible. He died April 10, 1770, seventy-eight years old. SAMUEL WATERS was son of Samuel, who was perhaps of Salem, and then of Woburn. He was ancestor of Asa Waters, who was so well known here in the first part of this century, and who once made shovels, in company with Oliver Ames. In the Waters genealogy, recently published, it is stated on the authority 54 HISTORY OF EASTON. of Asa Waters, that the father of the Samuel under consider- ation came here from Woburn. This is evidently an error. Samuel, Sr., could hardly have settled here without having his name appear on the North-Purchase records, or on the county deeds in some way. There is no trace of him there. His son first appears in this locality in 1722. He was of Stoughton, September 27, 1719, when he “laid hold of” the covenant of the church there. He lived in the extreme north- east quarter of what is now Easton, north of William Thayer’s. He married Bethiah, daughter of William Thayer, and lived here until 1731. In October of that year he sold his property here, and moved afterwards to Stoughton. In the old town- records, and in most of the deeds at Taunton, the name is spelled Walters. Mark Lotsrop, son of Samuel Lothrop, of Bridgewater, set- tled on land previously laid out for his father, who was an exten- sive owner in the North Purchase. His homestead was about twenty-five rods east of where Henry Lothrop now lives. Ruins may still be seen there. The name was at that time spelled Lathrop. He was born September 9, 1689, married March 29, 1722, Hannah Alden, great-granddaughter of John Alden, and died January 21, 1777. ELIPHALET LEONARD, born in 1702, was the son of Lieu- tenant James, of Taunton, a man of considerable note. Lieut. James Leonard was a “bloomer,” and the news of the recent discovery of iron ore in what is now North Easton led him to think of erecting a forge in that vicinity. Accordingly, he pur- chased of Nathaniel Manley thirty-five acres of land where Stone’s Pond lies, including the dwelling-house, which was after- wards occupied by his son Eliphalet, and was very near the spot now covered by F. L. Ames’s farm-house. He also purchased the three acres of “iron mine” near Lincoln Spring. The exact date of the erection of the forge where the Red Factory now stands, cannot be determined. It was an accomplished fact be- fore October, 1723. It was probably between 1720 and 1723, for at the former date Lieut. James Leonard bought the land below his first purchase, and apparently where the forge was built. Eliphalet was then eighteen years of age, and his name is always coupled with that of the forge. He was a prominent EARLY SETTLERS. 55 man in town and church affairs, became a captain, and held various offices and positions of trust. He was grandfather of the well-known Jonathan, or “ Quaker Leonard.” He died Feb- ruary 4, 1786, aged eighty-four years, — his wife, with whom he had lived over fifty years, dying two months afterwards. Their tombstones are in the old cemetery, and are among the few that have survived the wear of time and the vandalism of the ruffians who have desecrated by their violence that sacred spot, the most interesting historical locality in Easton. On his tombstone one may still read this epitaph : — He was so Just his friends put trust In him for years to come. We hope the Lord will him reward, For He hath called him home. BrEnyAMIN WILLIAMS was a son of Benjamin, who was son of Richard, whose name heads the list of the North-Purchase proprietors. His father took up land in 1700, on Mulberry- Meadow Brook, but lived at Taunton. The son Benjamin does not appear to have settled here much before the incorporation of the town, in 1725. He and his brother, next to be mentioned, were the earliest members of the Williams families who settled here. The location of Benjamin’s house was about where Daniel Wheaton now lives. He was a licensed innkeeper from 1726 to 1730. He and his son Benjamin were captains. He died April 5, 1775. Joun WittiaMs, early known as “ Ensign,” was brother of the last named. He was born in 1700, and settled here about the same time as his brother. His house was south of Benjamin’s, and was where Walter Henshaw now lives. When his brother gave up innkeeping in 1730, John took up the business and carried it on until he died, in 1756. His wife Abigail continued the same for three years afterwards. Seldom does it fall to the human lot to have such an accumulation of sorrows within a month as visited this bereaved woman. Hardly regainng strength after the birth of a child, she buries, late in September, a son. October 3, another son dies; on the 15th she loses a daughter; on the next day she sees her husband breathe his last. Four days after that another son passes away; and in less 56 HISTORY OF EASTON. than one month afterward still another son is gone. She loses a husband and five children in the space of a month and a half. Ensign Williams was one of the builders of the furnace at the Furnace Village. Both he and his brother owned each a negro slave. He died October 16, 1756. JoszepH Draxe, probably of Weymouth, and nephew of Benjamin, settled, when just of age, in 1723. His house was north of William Phillips’s, and south of John Phillips’s, a little north of the No. 8 schoolhouse, in the hollow on the east side of Washington Street. He must be distinguished from Joseph, Jr., son of Benjamin, who settled at the Centre soon afterwards. Tuomas MANLEY, Jr., was the only early settler who can boast that he was a grandson of an original settler. His house was situated a few rods southwest of the Philip Willis place, in the field east of the south end of the pond. This was the old house bought by Philip Willis, the one in which he lived until he built the house now standing. There, for about twenty years, Mr. Manley kept an inn, and probably did something at farming also. Samuel PuIvuips, son of Captain John, born May 17, 1702, married Damaris Smith, of Taunton. He was one of the last settlers before the incorporation of the town. The location of his homestead cannot be indicated with certainty. It seems probable that it was where his son Samuel afterwards lived, close by the location known fifty years ago as the Turner place, near the Old Meeting-house road, west of the DeWitt place. This may be seen on the old map. To the list of early settlers now given must be added the names of Elder William Pratt and the Rev. Matthew Short. The former came here in 1711, buying land, with a dwelling-house and other buildings, south of Captain John Phillips’s, about where the factory and store are located. The Rev. Mr. Short came probably in 1722, and had his dwelling-house on the north side of the street leading from the Green to the Railroad station, a few rods east of where the street from Morse’s factory joins it. As, however, Elder Pratt and Mr. Short will require our particular notice further on, nothing more will be said of them in this chapter. EARLY SETTLERS. 57 We have thus found that prior to the incorporation of the town, in 1725, there were fifty-nine families that settled here. We have been able in most cases to state their previous resi- dence, the time of their settlement, and the location of their dwelling-houses. This list is, undoubtedly, quite complete ; for ‘as the land belonged to the North-Purchase Company, their books give the names of all the purchasers, and the deeds at Taunton show to whom these purchasers sold any part of their land. It is interesting to notice how many of these old names have entirely disappeared from the town. Briggs, Manley, Cooper, Kinsley, Hodge, Owen, Crossman, Whitman, Babbitt, Newland, and Waters, — names once as familiar as household words, — no longer remain, except as they are carved on the perishing tomb- stones of our burying-grounds. Some of their descendants are here, however, under other names. It is also affecting to consider, that with very few exceptions there is no sign to mark where the ashes of these our earliest settlers rest. These exceptions are nearly all in the old cemetery near the Green. There we may find the gravestones of Elder William Pratt and his wife Elizabeth, Eliphalet Leonard and his wife Ruth, Ephraim Randall and his wife Lydia, Edward Hay- ward and his wife Hannah, John Dailey and his wife Mary, and Elder Joseph Crossman. The gravestone of the Rev. Matthew Short was removed from this place to the burying-ground at the Centre; this being done, no doubt, to rescue it from the dese- cration from which the graves of our ancestors in the oldest cemetery do not seem safe. 58 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER IV. ELDER WILLIAM PRATT. ORIGIN OF THE Easton CHURCH. —ItTs First MINISTER. — His CALL, AND THE GiFT OF LAND TO HIM. — His Previous LIFE, — MIs- SIONARY JOURNEY TO SOUTH CAROLINA. — SECOND JOURNEY. — FINAL RETURN TO NEW ENGLAND. — SETTLES IN EASTON. — HIs REMARKABLE Piety. — His SHORT MINISTRY AND DEATH. N the year 1696 there were in the East End of the Taunton North-Purchase seven families. Six of them had come from Weymouth and one from Braintree. They were piously inclined, and began at once to consider what they should do about attending public worship. They were within the bounds of the town of Taunton; but the Taunton church was twelve miles away, with a wilderness between it and them. Much the nearest meeting was that at Bridgewater, the meeting-house standing where the West Bridgewater Unitarian Church now stands, — that society being in fact the lineal descendant of the old Bridgewater church. These families therefore applied for per- mission to attend the Sunday services there ; and the result was the following vote, as shown by the Bridgewater town-records of 1696: “Thomas Randall, William Manly, and their neighbors allowed to come here to meeting, and to make a horse-bridge over Cutting-Cove River.” This bridge was over the stream a few rods south of the road to Copeland and Hartwell’s from the Turnpike. The families of this neighborhood continued to attend services in Bridgewater until they were strong enough to found a church of their own. After the Taunton North-Purchase was incorpo- rated into the town of Norton, that part of the Purchase east of the Bay road was not included within the Norton parish, and its inhabitants neither attended meeting there nor had anything to do with the support of its religious society. Besides, that society was not organized until about the beginning of 1710, and ELDER WILLIAM PRATT. 59 at that time the people at the East End (now Easton) began to think that they could support a church of their own. The foundation of the Easton church dates back certainly to 1713. There were twenty-six families here then, some of them possessed of what, for that time, was considered competent means. They therefore decided to form a society. The lead- ing spirit in this movement was Elder William Pratt, one of our early settlers, —a man of exceptionally pious character, good abilities, and prosperous estate. This chapter will be chiefly devoted to him,—a distinction he deserves, as being the first man called to minister to our religious society. As early as 1699, the North-Purchase proprietors seem to have had a foresight of the time when there would be two religious societies within the limits of their territory, one at the west part and one at the east; for they voted that when Jand is laid out for the ministry, it shall be in two lots, “ half toward Bridgewater and half toward Chartly Iron-works.” The first clear light we get concerning the date of the formation of a religious society at the “ East End of Taunton North-Purchase” is from the follow- ing interesting document, dated September 11, 1713, which is of great historic interest to Easton :— “To all Christian people to whom all these presents shall come: Thomas Pratt, John Phillips, Thomas Randell, Israel Randell, & Ephraim Randell, all of Taunton North-Purchase, in the County of Bristol in New england, send Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting. Forasmuch as Mr. William Pratt late of Weymouth hath been moved to accept of the Call of the East Society of sd North Purchase to come & preach the word of God among them, and we being willing accord- ing to our severall abilities to give Encouragement to so pious a work : Know ye, therefore, that we the Sd Thomas Pratt, John Phillips, Thomas Randell, Israel Randell, and Ephraim Randell, for ourselves and for our Severall and Respective heirs, executors, & administrators, have given and granted, and by these presents do fully, freely, Clearly, & absolutely give and grant with the sd William Pratt, his heirs & assigns, Twenty-Two acres of Land, to be taken out of the second & third Divisions of Land in said North Purchase of each of us Above named, his severall proportion as followeth ; To wit, of Thomas Pratt Seven acres, of John Phillips five acres, of Thomas Randall five acres, of Israel Randell Two acres & a half, and of Ephraim Randell Two 60 HISTORY OF EASTON. acres & a half, the said Land being now Lotted and Bounded out to the sd William Pratt in sd North purchase in a place commonly called by the Name of Chestnut Orchard, on the Northeast side of Daniel Owen’s Land, — To Have and To Hold,” ? ete. This document assumes the existence of the religious society, and proves that it was organized at least twelve years prior to the incorporation of the town,— that is, as early as 1713. It was probably organized at just this time, under the lead and with reference to the settlement of Mr. Pratt. William Pratt was not a minister, but was a ruling elder. A ruling elder might assist a minister, or, in case of need, might carry on the work of the ministry. Thus from the Bridgewater records of 1678 we find that “Mr. Keith being sick, Elder Brett was chosen to assist him in carrying on the work of the ministry between this and May next.” A ruling elder might also with propriety be ordained as a min- ister. It is certain that Elder Pratt was invited to settle as a minister; whether or not any ordination took place there is no means of determining. It is quite evident that the support of Mr. Pratt was entirely voluntary. There was then no organized precinct or town which could form a legal parish and compel the payment of ministerial rates. But the expenses were small, and Mr. Pratt was a man of means, and of such exemplary piety and interest in religious things that he would be satisfied with such moderate support as the voluntary gifts of his people would afford. Who was this Elder William Pratt who was chosen to minister to our early Easton fathers in the infant days of their church? He has left behind him the data from which particulars of great interest are to be gathered. The form in which these data were preserved is a curious combination of almanac and note- book bound in leather, after the manner of a pocket-book. This precious relic is now in the possession of Joshua E. Crane, of Bridgewater, a lineal descendant of Elder Pratt. It is about two hundred years old, but is in a good state of preservation, and has afforded the materials for a biography of its early owner which is sufficient for the purposes of this History. 1 Bristol] County deeds, Book xxv. p. 50. ELDER WILLIAM PRATT. 61 William Pratt was the son of Thomas Pratt, of Weymouth, who was “ Slayne by the Indians in the Sudbury fight, April 19, 1676.” William was born March 6, 1659. October 26, 1680, he married Elizabeth Baker, of Dorchester, and about the middle of April, 1690, he moved from Weymouth to that place. He was a pious member of the church there, and when in 1695 a new church was organized to carry the gospel to South Carolina, Mr. Pratt joined the expedition and took a prominent part in the missionary enterprise. A teacher, Mr. Joseph Lord, was chosen pastor of this missionary church, and in December, 1695, they started on their voyage to Charleston. The narrative of this voyage deserves to be published in full; as it is an account of the first missionary enterprise undertaken outside of New England by any of our old churches, and it intimately concerns the pious elder who first ministered to the early settlers of Easton in religious things. It is so quaint in its expression that an exact copy is here givens “On Dec. the 3, 1695, we the Church that was gathered in order to Caring ye gospel ordinancis to South Carolina, at this time sum of us went into a long bote to goon bord the Brigantine frindship of boston in new ingland, in order to our passing to Carolina; but mising ye vessel at first, we by reason of ye strength of the wind could not come up with here again, but were constrained to endure ye cold 3 or 4 hours before we could get at any land, til at length we got to Dorchester Neck, & from there returned to boston all in safty. December the 5 we set sail in ye aforesaid vessell to go on our voyage, & haveing a moderate & strong gale on ye Sabath evening, which was the 8 Day of ye month & ye 4th day of our being upon ye sea, we were in ye latitude of ye capes of virginia. this evening ye wind begun to bluster being at norwest, & ye day foloing blew hard, continu- ally increasing its strength, so yt on monday ye gth day of the month in ye evening we were fain to lie by, i. e. take in all ye sails except ye main Course, which being reafed was left to give vesel sum way as well as to stedy her, the helm being lashed to leward. So we continued til tusday night ; & about midnight ye wind was risen so high that ye vessel had like to have sunk, by reson that ye small sail was enough then to run her under water, & had lik to have don it, but ye seamen made way for ye vessel to rise by furling ye mainsail & bearing up be- fore ye wind. we were fain to scud thus, excepting sumtimes when ye wind abated, as by fits for a short time it did ; at which times we lay 62 HISTORY OF EASTON. by as before all ye next day & part of ye day following; either on wedensday or thursday we agreed to set apart friday to seek ye lord by fasting & prayer, & to beg of him prosperous winds & weather. . on thursday about noon ye wind began to fall & ye sun to shine out, which it had not don so as that there mit be any observasion after our going out before ; so yt on friday we could with sum comfort cary on ye work of ye day. on Saturday, ye roth day of our voyage, we found yt we were geten allmost as far southward as the latitude 31°, & wanted much westing, for ye northwest wind had driven us southestward. on Sabbath day, which was ye 15 day of ye month, we were so favered with wind as that we went with great spead on our course. On Mun- day & so forward ye wind often shifted, yet not so as to hindr our go- ing on in our desired course, tho we could not go wth so much speed as we desired. thursday morning, being ye 19th day of ye month, we came in sight of the land of Carolina, but were by a disappointment hindered from geting in yt day; but the next day we got in thro divine goodness, being the 2oth day of december. when we cam to ye town our vessel fired 3 guns, & the peepel to welcom us to the land fired about 9 guns, which was more the usial ; & when we came to an ancor, being in ye evening, many of ye peepel be- ing worthy gentelmen came on bord us & bid us welcom to Carolina, & invited many of us ashore & to ther housis. JI was among the rest kindly entertained that night. I keept in Charlestoun about a week, & then was caried by water up to mr. normans. increce Sum-ner & I war kindly reseved & entertained by the lady Extel,’ & the two other men war indevering to get into faviour with ye lady & other neigh- bors & to obtain the land at ashly rever,? & that we mit not obtain it; yet they could not prevail, for as soun as we came, the lady & others of ye neighbors did more hily esstem of us then of other, as they told us, & reioysed at our coming, tho ther was no more of ye church then increce Sumner & I; & after we had discorsed secretly with them thay war not only very kind to us, but allso used all menes & took great pains to obtain our setteling upon ashly rever, & that we shuld indever to perswad our pastr & the church to settel their. our minister was at this time up at landgrave Morttons, & sum of the church & others of the church at Charlestoun. our minister & church war strongly perswaded by ye Lieut-general blak & many others to go to new london to settel, & upon yt acount wer perswaded to go to landgrave mortons, wh was near this place. 1 Lady Axtell. 2 Ashley River. ELDER WILLIAM PRATT. 63 about a week after, we went by land to Charlestoun, & war caryed by water up to landgrave mortons. We, many of us together, went to vew the land at newlondon ; after two days we returned to landgrave mort- tons. mr. lord cald me aside, & I had much discors with him ; & when he heard what I had to say consarning ashly rever & consarning new- london, mr. lord was wholy of my mind, & willing to tak ‘up at upon thos condishons that we discorsed about, at ashly rever, which con- dishons war keept privet, between to or 3 of us. when I sought arn- estly to god for wisdom & counsel god was grasious to me, for which I have great caus to prais his name, as well as for many other signel marsys. we keept sumthings secrit from others, which was greatly for our benefit. we came from there to mr. curtesis, & from there to mr. gilbosons. we were very kindly entertained at every plase wher we came ; but where we came we herd of sum of thos that came from newingland that had ben giltey of gros miscareyis, wh was a trobel to us. but mr. gilboson cald me aside & had much discors with me; afterward he told me he was very glad yt I came to Carolina, & that he had seen me & had opertunity to discors with me. he told me he was much discureged to see ye il carey! of those yt came from newingland ; but afterward he was beter satisfied, & told me he did think ther was a great diferenc betwen the parsons? that cam from newingland; tho many did manifest their dislik of bad parsons yt came from newingland, yet thay wer glad of ye coming of good parsons. we tarried their 2 or 3 days, being kindly entertained ; & when we came away thay gave us provission for our voyag doun to charlstoun, & wer very kind to us. from there we came to governor blakes, wher we wer kindly entertained, & we dind with them; & after sum discors with governor blak we came to Mrs. bamers, where we lodge all night, be- ing very kindly entreated ; next day peppel being very kind, we had a comfortable voyag doun to Charlestoun, being the 14th of Janir. The 16th of January was ye eleksion day at Charlstoun ; after this mr. lord & sume of ye church came up to ashly rever, & upon ye sabath after, being ye 26th day of Janry, mr. lord precht at mr. normans hous upon that text in 8 rom 1 vers. ther was many that cam to hear, of the neighbors round about, & gave diligent atension. the Second day of feburary being sabath day, mr. lord precht at ashly rever upon yt text 1 pet 3.18. most of ye neightbors came to hear ; all ye next neighbrs & severall parsons came about 10 miles to hear. the sacriment of ye lord’s supper was administered yt day & 2 decons chosen. at this time ther was great Joy among the good pepel, 2 Til carriage. 2 Persons. 64 HISTORY OF EASTON. tho I have sumtims ben il & afraid of sicknes or of on? troble or other yt would Happen ; yet god hath ben very grasious to me, & hath heard my request from time to time & helped me & shoed me great marsy ; & when I was ready to be discuraged, many times god incureed me again and delivered out of my trobles. the first day of feburary being the last day of yt week, & the sacri- ment to be administred, & many of us wer to come away on second day morning to Charlstoun to com to newingland,—we got apart sum time in ye afternoon to pray unto god, & there was much of the spirit of good brething in that ordinenc. & when we took our leave of our Christian frinds ther was weeping eyes at our departuer, & we had many a blessing from them.” Mr. Pratt, as above stated, returned to New England in Feb- ruary, 1696. At the beginning of the next year he took his family to South Carolina. The following is his account of the voyage :— “When I came from newengland to South Carolina with my family, we came out of boston the 8th day of Janeuery in the year 1696-7, & we sat sail from nantasket for Carolina the r1th day, the 2nd day of the week, the 15th day of the month. The 6 day of the week it began to be stormmy, wind and Rain, & the 16 day being the 7th day of the week it began in the morning to be very violent, & wee shept in abun- denc of water; at that time we lost the bolsplit,’ & it continued very stormy. We then Sat to praying, espesially on Saterday night ; but on the Saboth we had sum mettegasion, but afterward it gru mor stormmy again & much rain, & on the 4th day of the week being the zoth day of the month about midnight our mast fel doun. But in all these trobles ther was much of marsy mixed with it, for altho the wind was very high & stormy yet it was fair for us, & that we sumtims sum metigasion, es- pesially after earnest prayer ; allso that when our mast fel doun it fel Right along about the medel of the vesell toward the stern, & did not break the pumps but fel Just by it; the mast being so exceding heavy, falen over the sid of the vesel we mit have ben all lost. On the 6th day of the week, 22nd day of the month, we with the free consent of the master & mat & marchant, we all of us together keept a solum day of fasting & prayer; & on the next day we had calm weather & a comfortable opertunity to get up an other smal mast, which was a great help to us; we had allso a fair wind, & on the saboth day we had a fresh gal & fair, & had much caus to prais god; and on 1 He means ove. 2 Probably this word means bowsprit. ELDER WILLIAM PRATT. 65 munday the wind was fair, but somuch of a calm that ther was oper- tunity to lenkthon our mast & mak it beter for sailing ; after this much calm wether but fair winds, until we cam in sight of the land. But god haveing a design to try & prove us furder, & to sho his pour & faithfullnes, & to mak us to pris marsys the mor, cased a violent storm to wris, & driveing us from land again for about a fortnite, but on the 23rd of feburary brought us all safe to land, for which we promised to prais his holy name.” This religious colony selected a spot on the Ashley River in South Carolina, in the midst of an unbroken wilderness, twenty miles from the dwelling of any whites, and called the place Dor- chester, after the town from which they came. Here they made their settlement, and built a church after the New England model. The old church building is now in ruins. The Rev. E. C. L. Browne, now of Charleston, South Carolina, has visited the interesting settlement and the site of this old church, and has written of it as follows : — “ A few dilapidated dwellings remain: and of the brick church the tower alone stands, two courses high; its woodwork all decayed, its doors and windows shown, but destroyed in their outlines by the bricks having fallen away. Visiting it last suminer, I rode my horse through its crumbling doorway and vestibule into what was once the body of the church, making my way, with some sense of desecration and a good deal of difficulty, through the tangle of tropical vines and full- grown trees that stand and lift their heads to heaven where once a pilgrim congregation stood and prayed. The foundations and outline of the edifice could be distinctly traced ; and all around were the fallen stones and broken tombs of the old churchyard. A few rods distant the concrete walls of the’ old fort stand on the banks of the Ashley, which, narrow, sluggish, and dark with the overarching trees, flows quietly by.”? The society that worshipped here moved to Medway, Georgia, about 1752, where it still exists, retaining its Congregational form. It took the lead against British oppression in 1776, when Georgia was a doubtful State; and it opposed Secession in 1861, but was swept into line by the overwhelming pressure brought to bear upon it. ’ Unitarian Review, vol. xxii. p. 263 (1884). 5 66 HISTORY OF EASTON. It must already have been noticed that Mr. Pratt was very ac- tive and influential in this planting of a Congregational church in South Carolina. Not only his narrative proves this, but we find him, December 16, 1697, “ ordained as a ruling elder of the Church of Christ in South Carolina.” The climate not agreeing with him, he returned to Weymouth. December 19, 1705, he removed to Bridgewater. It is not probable that he lived there long, for when he moves to the North Purchase he is spoken of invariably as “of Weymouth.” The precise date of his moving here is probably June, 1711. At that time he purchased twenty- eight acres of land of John Phillips, mostly on the “ westerly side of Saw-mill River, and bounded southerly by land of William Manley, — land with housing thereon.” This was just south of John Phillips’s house, and must have been very near, but a little west of, Morse’s factory. He bought, in 1713, James Harris’s house and fifty-nine acres of land, the house being back of where William C. Howard now lives. The deed before quoted, wherein he is called to the ministry, gives him twenty-two acres of land at Chestnut Orchard, —a locality that has kept its ancient name, being north of South Easton village, and includ- ing the Nathan Willis place. The deed is dated September II, 1713. But the gift was made at least three months earlier ; for in June this land, with sixteen acres more not named in the deed, of which Abiah Whitman and George Hall and his wife gave a part, was surveyed and laid out to the Elder. Eight acres of this land were at Tusseky Meadow, which is the low meadow-land northwest of Stone-House Hill. As the sur- vey of this land was made in June, Elder Pratt’s invitation to become the minister must have somewhat preceded this date. The absence of records prevents our knowing whether or not he was ordained, and gives us no details about his ministry. But there is no reason to doubt, that, since he accepted the gift of land, he also complied with the condition of the gift, —the ac- ceptance of the call as pastor. He must have been a most pious and faithful one. His account of the two voyages given above evinces an unsurpassed faith. He does not doubt that the fierce storm and wind are sent with special reference to the little band of believers who are to plant a Christian church in the wilder- ness; he does not doubt, that, because on Wednesday they ELDER WILLIAM PRATT. 67 agreed “to set apart Friday to seek ye lord by fasting & prayer, & to beg of him prosperous winds & weather,” therefore, “on Thursday about noon ye wind began to fall & ye sun to shine out.” What could exceed the faith that could put upon a violent storm that delays them two weeks the interpretation he gives in the concluding sentence of his narrative of the second voyage? Thus also from his note-book we have several instances where he believes rain is sent as special answer to the prayers of the church. For instance: “ The 20th day of Jun. the Church of Christ at dorchester [South Carolina] keep a day of fasting & prayer to seek unto god for rain. The next day it pleased god to send great showers of rain, & much refreshed the earth. & revived the corn.” His intensely religious spirit, and his inward dealings with God are shown in such experiences as the following :— “A fast in secret.—the 28th day of august, in the year 1699, I keept a day of fasting & prayer in secret, alltho at the begin- ing of my entering upon the work of the I found much unability & discuragings in my self & lettel liklihoud that I shuld hold out to go thorow the work of the day alon. But at the begining i beged help & asistunts, and god was pleased so to help me so that I hild out comfortablely until it was near night; alltho I begun under discuragments, yet g’d was pleased so to asist & incuragment me afterward as that I was much incuraged, & ended the work of the day with much comfort.” This believing spirit in Elder Pratt seems to have bordered on credulity, especially when it came to the treatment of dis- eases. He appears to have had almost a passion for collecting medical prescriptions. In this little note-book there are nearly a hundred of them, some of them from an Indian in whose medi- cal skill he placed great reliance. Three of these are quoted below : — “ For a great cold & cof that leads to the consumsion, Take youlk of an eag & sum pouder of brimston, & put to it & tak it in the morning. Or hunny & brimston, & after that take the youlk of a newlayd eag & sum good win mixtd together.” “To stop bleeding take sum nip & hold in the left hand, & put sum to the hollow of the left foot, & lay sum nip in the neck.” 68 HISTORY OF EASTON. “When nothing alc would do to stop the excessive bleeding at the nous, the pouder of a dryed toad mixed with beesweax put to the nous hath stoped it: the toad for hast was dryed in the ouven, but it shuld be hung up by the leag alive until itis dead & dry.” From this ancient almanac we extract the following curious advertisement : — “There is now in the Press, and will suddenly be extant, a Second Impression of The New-England Primer enlarged ; to which is added more Directions for Spelling, the prayer of K. Edward the 6th, and Verses made by Mr. Rogers the Martyr, left as a Legacy to his Children. “Sold by Benjamin Harris, at the London Coffee-House in Boston.” The following quotations will illustrate the variety of topics touched upon : — “ Swaring ina religious maner is a duty when called unto it (Exodus 20, 7; Deut. 10, 20; jer. 4,2; james 5, 12; heb. 6, 16; 2 cor. 1, 23; nehe 13, 25).” “The 24th day of feburary (1698) there was a great fire in Charls- toun, which burnt down a great part of the town; & a few days before the fire there was an earthquak in Charlstoun.” “T have given a bond to Capt Rit, of Charlstoun, to pay for a negro woman twenty & five pounds, at or before the 18th of august the year 1699.” By the last item we perceive that Elder Pratt was a slave- owner. What became of this female slave we cannot tell. The inventory of his estate shows that he owned two negro slaves here when he died ; but as their story will be told when the sub- ject of slavery is treated, it may be passed for the present. Elder William Pratt had only a short ministry, for he died the 13th of January, 1714, serving but a few months in his pious work. His tombstone, which is still standing well preserved in the old cemetery, is the oldest in town, and ought to be guarded with sacred care. Upon it is the following inscription : — HERE-LISE-THE-BODY * OF-ELDER-WILLIAM PRATT-AGED-54-DIED IN-THE-YEA 1713-IANVARY THE-13- ELDER WILLIAM PRATT. 69 It will be observed that the deed of land to Mr. Pratt was made in September, 1713, while the date of his death is Jan- uary 13,1713. This discrepancy is explained when it is remem- bered that the date upon the tombstone is according to “Old Style.” In fact, according to the “ New Style” or present method of computation, this date should be 1714. Elder Pratt left behind him a widow and a daughter. The latter, whose name was Thankful, was born October 4, 1683, and was married to Daniel Axtell (probably son of Lady Axtell, of South Carolina) May 12, 1702. They had ten children; and among their descendants are Silas Axtell Crane, D.D., of Rhode Island; Mrs. Caroline (Crane) Marsh, widow of the late Hon. George P. Marsh; Joshua E. Crane, Esq., of Bridgewater ; and others. The inventory of Mr. Pratt’s estate is as follows : — L 5 a His purse and apparel . . . «©. «©. ee s+ 15 18 6 BOOKS: 40-4) 3) se Glow ee Se i UT 030 Billsand bonds .......... + 65 19 6 1 horse, 3 cows, and 2 calves 3a & . Ig I0 0 Brass, iron, pewter, bedding, & other mipatlles - 20 00 Dwelling-house andland . .. . » 120 00 0 Dwelling-house and land known by thre name of Harris’s . 2. 1 ww ww we ee 6105 00 0 2 young negroes . . . .. .. . ss + §2 00 0 Outlands... . 6. ee 1 ew we 20 00 429 IL 6° The question may naturally arise, How is it that Elder Pratt can have accepted a call of the East Society of the North Pur- chase, and have served it as their minister, and, notwithstanding this, that the Rev. Mr. Short can be called “The first minister of the Church of Christ in Easton”? In the church records of 1747 he is so designated, and this is the unquestioned tradition. The explanation probably is that the church over which Mr. Pratt ministered had no legal existence. This East End of the North Purchase was then neither town nor precinct ; there was therefore no legal parish, and the little religious society here was entirely voluntary in its character. Not until the formation of the precinct, January 10, 1722, did the settlers here have a legally organized parish and church ; and it is over this that Mr. Short 70 HISTORY OF EASTON. But other and greater troubles are in store for the unfortunate minister. One can bear opposition and ill treatment in the world, if he is sure of hearty sympathy at home. But, alas for Mr. Prentice! his wife was wholly at variance with him upon the one subject that interested him more than all others, — that of religion. She had a mind and will of her own, over both of which this strong-willed husband had no control. She had con- victions as decided as his, which were formed after careful study ; and no domestic considerations, public scandal, or regard for her husband’s standing and influence could make her swerve from following those convictions to their ultimate results. Her maiden name was Sarah Sartell. She was daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Sartell, who had come to this country from England or Scotland, about 1719. Mr. Sartell was a man of considerable wealth, and he determined to give his daughter the best possible education. He therefore sent her to England, where she was educated in a convent. Besides the ordinary studies then pur- sued, she became skilful at embroidery. “Some of her needle- work embroidery is still preserved in the hands of her descend- ants, the colors as fresh as they ever were.”! She was decidedly religious in her nature, took much interest in theological ques- tions, and was a careful student of the Bible, being able it is said to quote any part of it. What an excellent helpmeet for a min- ister, provided that, like a dutiful wife, she has no opinions of her 1 N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. vi. p. 274. A MEMORABLE CHURCH CONTROVERSY. 135 own and submissively accepts those of her husband! With no misgivings on that score, Mr. Prentice, October 6, 1732, made her his wife. What mutual studies, what comparison of ideas, what discussions they may have had at home, we cannot say ; but we know that in less than a year after he began his ministry in Easton, she had declared against the government and doc- trines of the Congregational Church, at that time very dear to him. This appears in his record in the church book of the baptism of his son Solomon. It is as follows : — “SoLomon PRENTICE, Son of Solomon & Sarah Prentice. Ipsa Dis- sentiente de constitutione & dissaplina Ecclessiarum Nov. Anglarum. ... Aug 14, 1748.1} It must have been particularly trying in those days for the minister to have his wife an open dissenter from the church order and belief that he was doing his best to uphold. But something far more mortifying was in store for Mr. Prentice. Various causes were working to create opposition to the estab- lished order of things in religious matters. People were tired of being compelled to support a form of faith and worship with which they had no sympathy. There was also— partly as a re- sult of Whitefield’s influence—considerable fermenting going on in the religious opinions and feelings of the time. There were sometimes extravagant and fanatical manifestations of a dissent- ing spirit. The phase it took here (to be more particularly described in another chapter) was what was then called “ Ana- baptism.” This term simply means rebaptism,—its advocates maintaining that infant baptism was unscriptural and of no avail. Many other beliefs connected themselves with this, and the Anabaptists in Easton affirmed that any converted man, though unlicensed and unordained, might preach and baptize, etc. Rational as this idea seems to be in itself, it nevertheless opened the way for much fanaticism, and was particularly obnoxious to the upholders of the New England orthodoxy. What then, but the defection of the minister himself, could have caused greater excitement than his wife’s adoption of Anabaptist opinions and her rebaptism by an unordained layman? The story is told, and 1 “ She is a dissenter from the constitution and doctrine of the New England churches.” — Baptismal records in the Old Church Book. 136 HISTORY OF EASTON. his disgust and intense indignation expressed, in the following significant record of his daughter’s baptism : — Mary PrenTICcE, Daughter of Solomon & Sarah Prentice. Ipsa Anna baptista; Immersa Indignissimo Laico, Viz., Decemb’ 5, 1750, absente marito. Aug* 25. 1751.7 ? _ It will be observed that he wisely omitted the name of the layman who had immersed his wife. He was too angry and dis- gusted to be present at the ceremony. Bitter cup indeed for the minister to drink ! — his wife deserting his church, and, cul- tivated lady as she is, led into the water and immersed “ indig- nissimo laico,’—immersed in midwinter too! What greater tribulation can he have? We need no evidence to convince us that his parish are indignant, and that his wife is talked about in angry fashion. She is too much in earnest, however, in her religious consecration to be much disturbed by it all. Mr. Prentice had his way about the baptism of his daughter, for it was done against his wife’s newly adopted principles; but she will have influence enough with him to induce him to allow her fellow Baptists to hold meetings in his house,— and this will be the cause of his ecclesiastical undoing in the town of Easton. How long these meetings were held in Mr. Prentice’s house cannot now be told; but when it became known that he allowed the heretical Baptists to meet for prayer and exhortation beneath his roof, and was even known to speak of them with respect as “fellow Christians,” some of his own friends remonstrated with him. But he could see nothing wrong in his course, and regarded them as narrow and bigoted. In retaliation for his conduct he is forbidden by his church to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, as we see by this record: “Our Sact to be 25 Nov‘, but it was put By Because I Rec‘ and entain? some Strangers into my house & heart that I am apt to think are Sev‘ of the Most high God. On which account our peace and unity seems to be strangely broken.” It is evident from this record that Mr. Prentice was liberal in his religious sympathies. His elders and some of his people, though dissenters themselves, 1 “She is an Anabaptist. She was immersed by a most despicable layman, namely , December 5, 1750, her husband being absent.” — Baptismal recoras of the Old Church Book. A MEMORABLE CHURCH CONTROVERSY. 137 believed in drawing the line at Presbyterianism. For nearly a year he is not allowed to hold the sacrament of Communion. In March, 1754, “in hopes,” he writes, “of easing things among us, that we might go on quietly to ye administra’n and enjoy- ment of all Gospel ordinances among us,” two new elders are chosen. They are Eliphalet Leonard and James Pratt, Jr. But as his dear friend Elder Howard had died, so now early in July “Elder Pratt Died, at Taunton, to the surprize and Greife of all his freinds, especially chh & Pastor.” In August a fast is ap- pointed “to Intreat of Almighty God to show us why he is thus contending with us.” Evidently Mr. Prentice’s troubles continue and thicken about him. He is obliged to have recourse to a lawsuit to get his just pay of the town, and ‘his winning the case causes much bitter feeling among his townsmen. His own people, forced as they are by law to pay taxes for the maintenance of the town church, can give him but a meagre support, and some of them are now lukewarm towards him. Besides, as we shall see in the next chapter, the town has voted to call a pastor for the town church, and the two factions are violently at war again. To the renewed remonstrances of his church-members against his allow- ing the dissenting Baptists to hold prayer-meetings at his house, he replied that these persons were Christians, and that not only would he not forbid them, but he would pray with them as fellow Christians. Incensed at this, the church complain to the Pres- bytery, and that august body is summoned to Easton, where, November 12, 1754, they hold a session, and Mr. Prentice is summoned before the elders and ministers. We have seen much in him to criticise, but let us honor his courage and his devotion to his convictions at this critical time. Knowing the danger of his suspension from the ministry by these narrow-minded eccle- siastics, he nevertheless defends his position: he will not deny his sympathy and fellowship to those he thinks to be Christians, merely because their opinions differ from his own. The Pres- bytery give him the option of changing his course or being suspended. Knowing he has done right, he will make no acknowledgment of sorrow, and will promise no change of action. He is accordingly suspended. Let us hear his story in his own words :— 138 HISTORY OF EASTON. “Nov' 12, 1754. The Presbytery Mett at Easton According to ap- pointt And on Nov. 13, the Presbytery Clerk, @ Order, Read a Vote of Presbytery Concerning S. Prentice, Pastor of y* chh in Easton, (which they gave him no Copy off), to this purpose, V7z., that Because I had Rec® a few of my fellow Creatures (and fellow Christians as far as I know) into my House, & Suffer’ them to Pray and talk about the Scriptures, & Could not make any Acknowledgement there for to some of my Brethren that were offended there att, nor to the Presbytery, that he the s*S. Prentice be Suspended from the Discharge of his Publick Ministry Untill the Presbytery meet again, Next April. “And because by s* Vote I was Deprived of y* small Subsistance I had among my People at Easton, I thot it Neccessary, for the Hon’ of God and good of my famaly, to Remove with my famaly to Grafton ; which accordingly was Done, April 9%, 1755. ‘““N.B. I have never heard a word from the Presbytery, Neither by Letter Nor other wise, Nor they from me, from the Day of my Suspen- sion to this Day; Viz., Sep' 5, 1755.” It is interesting to notice that the power which Mr. Prentice invoked for aid against the town party proved his ultimate eccle- siastical ruin in Easton. He had rebelled against the “broken Congregational order,” and he fell a victim to the stricter order he had chosen as a substitute. Thus ended his troubled and exciting career as minister in Easton. One of Mr. Prentice’s principal trials during the last year of his ministry in Easton was the call by the town party of the Rev. George Farrar as minister of the town church. The con- troversy growing out of this call is reserved for another chapter, because Mr. Prentice, being already in trouble with some of his own people, does not take an active part in it, making no allu- sion to it in his church record, and because also this contest forms a distinct topic and extends in time long beyond his stay in Easton. He was aman of marked intellectual and executive ability. Most of the papers presented to the General Court by his party are in his handwriting, are undoubtedly his compo- sitions, and are skilfully drawn up. He had a deeply religious nature; and if he was sometimes betrayed into the use of in- temperate language, he was nevertheless excellent and pious as a man and minister. We cannot but admire his religious liber- 1 Old Church Records. A MEMORABLE CHURCH CONTROVERSY. 139 ality, which welcomed to his sympathy sincere Christians who were condemned as heretics by the dominant orthodoxy. It must be admitted, however, that his conduct in the great con- tention that has been described was not a consistent one. He began by favoring the location of the meeting-house at the Centre, and ended by refusing to preach in it: his defence was that it was his duty to obey the instructions of his church rather than the vote of the town. Concerning the real merits of this memorable controversy opinions should be cautiously formed, as we are not in possession of all the facts. There is no doubt, however, that, on the main question of the location of the meet- ing-house, the East End and North End party were in the wrong: and this was the root of the whole trouble. As to the manner of conducting this affair, very little can be said to the credit of either party. Mr. Prentice made his home in Grafton after leaving Easton ; but he preached for a short time in Bellingham and other places, and for a longer time at Hull. He went to Hull in the spring of 1758 and remained four years, having re-established his Congre- gational church relations, He went back to his home and his farm in Grafton in 1772. May 22, 1773, “he fell asleep in expectation of a glorious immortality.” Mrs. Prentice died August 28, 1792, at her son John’s house in Ward, now Auburn, and her remains were buried by the side of her husband’s grave in the old burying-ground at Grafton. Mr. Prentice had a family of ten children. Eight of them were born in Grafton, and two of them—the second Solomon, and Mary—vwere born in Easton. It is interesting to know that one of these children, Nathaniel Prentice, was the grandfather of Gen. Nathaniel Prentice Banks. General Banks’s grand- mother was Martha Howard, a daughter of Joshua Howard, who in 1771 made more cider, paid a larger tax, and was more of a farmer than any other man in Easton. Joshua Howard was of the party opposed to Mr. Prentice, and it was at his house —a large house on the site of which Mr. Finley now lives — that the councils adverse to the minister met. Nathaniel Pren- tice taught school in Easton one term in 1752, at the age of seventeen years ; and for this service his father received the sum of one pound, six shillings, lawful money, besides his board. S 140 \ HISTORY OF EASTON. Perhaps Martha was one of his scholars. They were both of the same age, were not estranged by the quarrel that divided their fathers, kept each other in loving remembrance for three years after Nathaniel left town, and were married October 13, 1757. Henry, the third son of Solomon Prentice, enlisted in the French and Indian War. In July, 1760, he was taken sick at Crown Point, where he remained an invalid until October 20; he was then brought home to Grafton with considerable diffi- culty and expense, and it was two months after his arrival be- fore he was able to dispense with a nurse. He was barely eighteen years old then. His father petitioned to the General Court for an allowance to be made on account of this trouble and expense, and the Court granted him four pounds, fifteen shillings. : Solomon Prentice, Jr., the only son of Mr. Prentice who was born in Easton, finally moved to Edenton, N. C., and died there; and Mary, the only daughter born in Easton, married Amos Binney, of Hull, May 31, 1770, and became the maternal ancestor of a somewhat distinguished family. Mr. Prentice’s suspension from the ministry in Easton did not cause the Presbyterian society to disband. It remained under the care of the Presbytery, and soon gathered strength for an- other vigorous struggle with the town church. This forms the third and closing campaign in that memorable ecclesiastical conflict, whose evil results show how much religion sometimes suffers in the house of its friends. 2 THE REV. GEORGE FARRAR. I4I CHAPIER XX, THE REV. GEORGE FARRAR, AND THE CONCLUSION OF THE CHURCH CONTROVERSY. ATTEMPTS OF THE TOWN TO GET PREACHING ‘WITHOUT MONEY AND WITHOUT PRICE.” — THE NEW CANDIDATE. — BIRTH AND ANCES- TRY. — His CourTING.— THE CHURCH CONFLICT DEEPENS. — PRES- BYTERIANS AND BAPTISTS PROTEST AGAINST THE ORDINATION. — Torey APPEAL TO THE GENERAL COURT, BUT WITHOUT AVAIL. — THEY MUST PAY TO SUPPORT A CHURCH AND MINISTER THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN. — DEATH OF MR. FARRAR.— THE PRESBYTERIANS GIVE UP THE CoNTEST. — RELIGION AT A DISCOUNT IN EASTON. oP ker final separation of the East and North End party from the town church took place November 5, 1752. For the rest of this year and throughout the next, the town raised money for the supply of the pulpit. The Rev. Samuel Vesey, of Hull, and the Rev. Mr. Vinal supplied for some time. Having got what preaching from them it could, the town refused to pay them for it. Joshua Howard took pity on Mr. Vesey and advanced him his pay, which he afterwards recovered of the town by a law- suit. Mr. Vinal, after long waiting in vain for his money, sued the town and received his just dues. Such transactions do not reflect much honor upon the town; but an understanding of the exact facts of the case will modify our censure, and show to whom the blame belongs. The town was nearly evenly divided between the contesting parties. It was only by a small majority that the town-church party could get a vote to have preaching at all in the church at the Centre; but while they would thus vote and thereby gain their way, when it came to voting money for this purpose, a few of their number through indifference would absent themselves, or decline to vote, and thus lose to the town-church party its small majority. The Presbyterians voted against such appropriations as a matter of conscience as well as personal interest ; most of the town-church party voted for them 142 HISTORY OF EASTON. for the same and other reasons ; and the failure to pay is there- fore to be charged upon the indifferent few, who cared little or nothing for the religious interests of the town. On the 20th day of January, 1754, a young man, twenty-three years of age, preached in Easton as a candidate for settlement. His name was George Farrar ; and as he was the next minister of Easton, it is well to learn something about his antecedents. Two old interleaved almanacs which he kept as note-books furnish us with most of the desired information, some of it of a curious kind. George Farrar the third, the son of George Farrar, Jr., and Mary Barrett, his wife, was born in Lincoln (then a part of Con- cord), Mass., November 23, 1730. He graduated at Harvard University in 1751. There was no Divinity School then con- nected with the College, and young men usually prepared for the pulpit by studying divinity with some minister, frequently teach- ing school at the same time. For most of the time between his graduation and his beginning to preach, Mr. Farrar taught school at Dighton, Mass. He does not appear to have lived in the minister’s family, as he boarded at different places, usually about six weeks at each, and his study of divinity may have con- sisted almost wholly of the reading of theological books, perhaps under the direction of some clergyman. One thing is sure,— George Farrar had good ministerial blood in his veins, for he was a descendant of Dr. Robert Farrar, Bishop of St. David’s in England, who on March 30, 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary, bore witness to his faith by a bloody martyrdom. The first of the family to come to this country was Jacob Farrar, who was born in England about 1642, came to Lancaster, Mass., about 1658, and was killed by the Indians in King Philip’s War, August 22, 1675. His son George, grand- father of George Farrar, of Easton, was born August 16, 1670, was taken to Concord, Mass., when six years old, soon after his father’s death, and brought up by a farmer, a Mr. Globe. When twenty-one years of age he had a quarter of a dollar in his pocket as his capital wherewith to start in life. He called his associ- ates together and spent this quarter on a “treat,” saying that he meant “to begin the world square.” September 9, 1692, he married Mary Howe; he died May 15, 1760. His son, George THE REV. GEORGE FARRAR. 143 Farrar, Jr., was born February 16, 1705, and lived in that part of Concord which is now Lincoln. He married Mary Barrett of Concord, she being born April 6, 1706. March 11, 1753, George Farrar the third joined the church at Dighton, and made in his note-book the following record there- of: “Martii undecimo publice renunciavi Diabolum & omnia opera Iniquitatis, & fui admissus in Ecclesiam Christi in Digh- ton.” Mr. Farrar, it seems, was very susceptible to the charms of the other sex, and his note-book of 1753 contains an account of his visits to various young ladies. He appears to have been interested in three different ones in rapid succession, but finally transferred his attentions to a fourth, of whom he became a most constant and faithful lover, visiting her thirty-seven times in the space of ten months. He has made a record in Latin of the date and number of each visit, and he leaves us no room to doubt either the fervor of his affection or the enjoyment of his visits. These records present a curious study to the antiquarian, for whose interest the first one is given here: “Feb. 1. I went to Berkly to the marriage of Jonath? Babbett and Eliz™ Talbut, et vexi mecum H! T* sororem nupte, et pernoctavi cum illa magna cum voluptate.” The explanation of this record may be found by reference to the then customary method of courting, which, however opposed to the good judgment and taste of the present time, was once considered proper and admissible. That courting was not out of order on Fast Day in the olden time, appears from this note by Mr. Farrar: “ April 19 was a public fast thro’ the Provence, et nocte visi octavo meam bene am-—t—m.” It is interesting to note the changes of his feeling as time went on and courting became an old story. At first his lady is meam procam, “my lady love;” then meam bene amatam, “my dearly beloved,” as on Fast Day. But these terms of endearment grad- ually drop out of the record, and after awhile he makes a busi- ness-like statement like this: Movember ye 12, vist 37 mo, — “Nov. 12, I visited for the 37th time.” What happened then we do not know, but henceforth he has another “ procam meam.” Her name is Sarah Dean, daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth (Nicholson) Dean, of Norton. She became an orphan when about three years old, and was then taken into the family of the Rev. Joseph Avery, where Mr. Farrar became acquainted with 144 HISTORY OF EASTON. her He married her June 2, 1756 ; and about two months later, she not then being of age, he was appointed her guardian, —a rather singular relationship to subsist between a man and his wife. Having taught school about two years at Dighton, reading theology meanwhile, he on December 16, 1753, tried his hand for the first time at preaching, — giving a sermon from the text, “Love not the world,” etc. 1st Epistle of John, ii., 15. He soon gained confidence enough to preach as a candidate, and came to Easton for that purpose January 20, 1754, as already stated. Having preached fourteen Sundays on trial, the town voted, April 22, 1754, to concur with the church in giving him a call. This was of course the “church” of the town party, they claiming that the other church members, though a majority, had “gone out from” the real historic “Church of Christ in Easton.” The sum of £106 13s. 8d. was voted “for his Inco- rigement for his seteling;” and he was also to be allowed the “Leberty of his giting his firewood of from the Menesteral Land.” His salary was to be £53 6s. 8d. Mr. Farrar had received a little private “ Incorigement” prior to this call; for he gratefully records the fact that on April 5 Edward Hayward, Esq., presented him with a pair of gloves, and James Dean gave him “a pistoreine,” a gift of seventeen cents! This call of Mr. Farrar was the occasion of a new and exciting conflict between the Presbyterian and the town church. Three weeks after the call, May 13, 1754, Eliphalet Leonard and forty- seven other men addressed a vigorous and spicy letter to the newly called minister, —a letter not at all calculated to flatter the young man’s vanity, or to promise him peace and quietness in his work. “Fearing thro your youth and unacquaintedness with men,” they sarcastically write, “you might be inveigled by flattery & smooth tongues to engage yourself to them through inadvertency, we fear there is danger of being committed to your watch & care,” etc. They entreat of him “by no means to think of settling in the work of the ministry in Easton, for the following reasons among others which may be mentioned att another time if these are not effectual :” — “1, Because, from the Little we have known or heard of your publick performances and private Conduct, We dont look upon you by any 1 See Clarke’s History of Norton, p. 370. a THE REV. GEORGE FARRAR. 145 means Capable off or Qualified for the great & most Solemn work of the Gospel ministry in this place. “2. We cant but look upon you to be aman full of a party spirit, or you would have taken some oppertunity to have visited some of us since you have been in Easton. “3. Because we have a minister already settled among us whom we Love & Value, whose ministry we sitt under. “4. Because we hope the Rod of the wicked will not alwaie Rest on the Lott of the Righteous ; and if ever Justice should take place, and all those that have a right by Law to act in Town affairs & no others be allowed, you may depend upon it beforehand you ’Il have no sup- port granted by the Town ; and in the meantime you must not look to have any support from us, or any of us, more than what comes by the force of the Law. “These things, Dear Sr., we look upon our Duty out of tenderness to your selfe, our selves & children, to lay before you to consider of ; and if these dont prove available to your Refusing to take the care & oversight of our souls and the souls of our children (which we shall persist in refusing to committ to your care as a minister), we trust we shall have an Oppertunity to show you more to our minds at some other time in this important affair. “While we Subscribe yours, concern? for you, ourselves and chil- dren.” ! Forty-eight men signed their names to this paper. There is another protest presented to him by seven men who are dissenting Baptists. It is as follows :— Zo Mr. George Farrar: We, the Subscribers dwellers in Easton, haveing heard the Town have given you a call to settle among them in the way and manner as they have, — We the Subscribers bear-our open & joint publick testi- mony against any Ministers being maintained by Rate, which we ap- prehend contrary to ye Gospel of the meek and Lowly Jesus. And if these reasons herein given are not sufficient to Discourage you from settling here, We hope we shall have further oppertunity to give you such reasons as Will. Joun FINNEY. JOSEPH JONES. Esen® Jones. Joun ASYEN. PETER SOULARD. JostaH ALLEN. Stmeon Bassitt.” ? 1 State Papers, vol. xiii. pp. 728, 729. ® Tbid., p. 730. 10 146 HISTORY OF EASTON. In the sarcastic references of the first of these communica- tions, and in the peremptory tone of both, one may find a spirit quite as “contrary to ye Gospel of the meek and Lowly Jesus” as that implied in a minister “being maintained by Rate.” Just at this stage of the contention things came to a stand- still for awhile. Mr. Farrar, young as he was, had sufficient discretion to pause and await the issue of the new contest that was gathering. Without accepting his call at once, he con- tinued to preach in Easton until the middle of August. His delay in accepting caused a temporary quiet. The Presby- terians began to think their bold tone had intimidated him, and nothing further was done in the matter through the year 1754. Mr. Farrar preached at Winchester, New Hampshire, for about three months, and then on November 24 returned to Easton. He had carefully deliberated upon the matter of his call, and on January 18, 1755, he sent to the town and church the following acceptance :— To the Church of Christ and Congregation in Easton : HoNnoRED AND BELOVED, — Having taken under serious considera- tion your call given me to settle with you in the sacred ministry among you, I hereby manifest my acceptation of your invitation upon the terms therein proposed. GEORGE FARRAR. Easton, January ye 18th, 1755. There is a town-meeting February 20 to make arrangements for the ordination. At this meeting the opposing parties are quite evenly balanced. A committee is chosen “to provide for the Council” that must meet to ordain the new minister. But when the question of raising money for the needful expenses is broached, the opposition prevails; the proposal to raise forty pounds in money for that purpose is voted down, as also that to raise twenty-five pounds. Hoping to do better at another meet- ing, the town party procure an adjournment. But the Presby- terians are on the alert, and at the adjourned meeting, March 3, they drum up their forces and prevent the raising of any money for the object named. Notwithstanding this, the town party are determined to ordain their minister. Benjamin Williams agrees to advance the money to provide for the entertainment of the THE REV. GEORGE FARRAR. 147 council, and to run his risk of collecting it of the town. The council accordingly is called, and meets March 26. The Pres- byterian party send a committee to it with a long, spirited, and well written remonstrance against the ordination of Mr. Farrar. They argue that the rest of the church have no right to put a minister over them whom they will be called upon to support, — “no more right,” they say, “to choose our spiritual food than our bodily food.” They claim to be a majority of the church, and insist that the others are the “separatists.” “We are of a different persuasion,’ they remonstrate; “and hence the gross injustice of settling over us, & making us pay for, a man we do not want and whose doctrines we do not believe.’ Upon this point they argue in quite stirring and eloquent language, for in this they had the plainest justice on their side. It was cer- tainly unjust to compel them to pay taxes to support a church in whose doctrines and polity they did not believe, especially when they were already contributing to the support of their own church and minister. This was in the days when Church and State were practically one in New England ; and in Easton, as in other ‘places, there were numerous instances of persons who were to some degree victims of this legalized ecclesiastical tyranny. Hanging and banishment for religious reasons were not practised in Plymouth Colony, but persons were often forced to support the established churches to which they were consci- entiously opposed or in which they had no interest. This was the case with our Easton Presbyterians. They were supporting their own church, and yet they were by law forced to help sup- port another that was repugnant to them. They confess to the council that the civil law will compel them to do this, but they beg that the council “will not sanction such flagrant injustice & infamous oppression, even if the action would be upheld by the civil law.”!1 This paper is headed by Eliphalet Leonard and signed by over sixty others, including most of the residents of the east and northeast parts of the town. But what was the council to do? ‘There was no minister set- tled over either church at this time. Mr. Prentice, though he was a resident, was under ecclesiastical suspension, and did not officiate as minister even to his own church. The town church 1 State Papers, vol. xiii. p. 731. 148 HISTORY OF EASTON. had chosen Mr. Farrar, and the town itself had voted concur- rence. It was not the fault of the council that the civil law might bear hard upon some persons; and so they voted that the objections offered by the Presbyterians “against their Proceed- ing in the solemn affair, were not sufficient to hinder them.” Mr. Farrar being called in gave his profession of faith; the council voted it satisfactory, and proceeded to ordain him} Even so late as this the meeting-house does not appear to be finished. In 1754 the town voted to build and sell some pews ; but when the ordination takes place, March 26, 1755, a special committee is chosen “to provide seats for the council.” So that it is evident that five years after work on the meeting- house began, there were very few finished pews. What accom- modations were provided for seats we can only conjecture; but they were probably chairs, stools, forms, and other things of a miscellaneous character, and must have presented a motley ap- pearance. Apparently the men and women sat apart. At least, there is frequent reference to “the men’s seats” and “the wo- men’s seats.” To illustrate this, a deposition of Benjamin and Joseph Fobes will be given; it is copied here more especially to illustrate the contentious and party spirit that prevailed in town- meetings at this period. The two parties were antagonized not only on church matters, but on nearly everything that came be- fore them in town-meeting. There was wrangling over the elec- tion of officers, there were charges of unfairness against the moderator, and of injustice against assessors, etc. On March 3, 1755, not long before the ordination of Mr. Farrar, when the excitement was at its height, the annual town-meeting was held. It was a bitterly cold day, so cold that “by reson of the ex- tremety of the wether they ” adjourned to the house of Joseph Drake, which was quite near. The following deposition will illustrate what has just been stated concerning the bitterness of this strife :— We, Benj* Fobes & Joseph ‘Fobes of Lawful age, testifieth & saith, that on march The 3, 1755, & being at a town meeting in Easton & hereing of Edward Hayward, Esq-, as moderator, Saying, if it be your minds That timothy Williams should be town Clerk for yeare insuing 1 State Papers, vol. xiii. p. 734. THE REV. GEORGE FARRAR. 149 He Desired that they would manifest it by Holding up there Hands, & they did. ‘The vote was Disputed, & the moderator called for ye Conte- ry vote; & ye moderator pretended that he Could not Deside ye matter without they that ware for Mr. Williams would move into ye mens Scats, & they that ware against it zxfo the womans Seats ; & then the moderator Pretended that he could not count them, But ordered them to go out a doors & to Draw up into two Ranks, & then he would Come and Count them; & then he came out & went to that part that was for Williams to be town Clerk & Came not near the tother part, & so went into the meeting House & Declared timothy Williams town Clerk. Benj* FoseEs. JosEePH Fosss.} Earlier in this controversy, matters came to such a pass that at an annual town-meeting the Prentice party, headed by Capt. Eliphalet Leonard, withdrew to one side of the meeting-house, and two town-meetings were in progress at the same time, electing two sets of officers! This was done on a plea that the valuation of the town assessors was incorrect, and was so managed as to exclude certain of the Prentice party who had the right to vote. Think of the confusion and excitement necessarily attending the carrying on of two town-meetings at the same time in the same room! This matter, too, goes to the General Court in the shape of a petition® presented by the minority party; and this was answered by a statement of Joshua Howard and John Williams, selectmen. After setting the matter of valuation right, they go on thus: “ Now when Capt. Leonard see that he could not Regu- late the meeting as he Plezed he withdrue; and the town Clarke being one of his associates was about to follo him at his Request, but he being conserned to attend his duty (as a Clarke under oath) did not follo the said Leonard, but tarried with us and at- tended his duty in his office until thare was another chosen and sworn in his rume; and we went on to chuse our town officers in a Regular manner, who were sworn as the Law Derects.”? This report states that “those which joined with Capt. Leonard in his pretended meeting was much ye minor part of ye town; and there was but one selectman to regulate their meeting, and they had neither warrand or notification to go by.” The whole affair was reported upon by a committee appointed by the House of 1 State Papers, vol. xiii. p. 743. 2 Ibid p. 227. 8 Ibid pp. 231, 232. 150 HISTORY OF EASTON. Representatives, and the petition of Captain Leonard and his associates was dismissed. Occurrences of a similar character with that just noted were not uncommon, and they show how intense and deep-seated was the animosity which sprang merely from a difference of opinion as to the location of the meeting-house. The members of the church adhering to Mr. Prentice had taken away the communion service. They were entitled to do this, because they were a majority of the members, and because also it had been, in part at least, purchased by a gift of silver from Mr, Prentice’s father. The town church therefore were at this time in need of a service, and we shall see by the extract now quoted that they were contented with a modest pewter one: “Eph. Randall gave to Mr James Dean three shillings Lawful money to purchase Sacrement Puter for the Lords Table, &c., in July 27th, 1755. Mr. Geo. Farrar being minister.” Mr. Farrar was, as we have seen, ordained March 26, 1755. The Presbyterians having tried in vain to discourage him from accepting his call, and to persuade the council not to ordain him, settled down sullenly to accept the situation. They remained under the care of the Presbytery and had preachers sent out to them, Mr. Prentice having moved back to Grafton. But when the taxes became due and they were forced to pay for the sup- port of Mr. Farrar, it was too much for them to bear without another vigorous attempt at relief. Accordingly at the begin- ning of the next year, 1756, “more than sixty of the Inhabitants of Easton, by their agent Eliphalet Leonard,” presented a peti- tion to the Governor, specifying their grievances and asking for justice, This petition recites the particulars of the controversy, which are already familiar to the reader, and then makes a strong statement of the injustice of forcing them to help support a church and minister to whom they were decidedly opposed. It reads: “ Yet notwithstanding the proper distinction of the two churches in Easton made by sd. council, our restless neighbors, deaf to all Intreaties, continue to destrain and unjustly take away our substance, which necessitates us to make our humble address to your honor, . . . to grant us & leave to them the undisturbed enjiyment of those religious principles each party is in con- science persuaded & obliged to choose; ... that you would THE REV. GEORGE FARRAR. I51 relieve us by freeing us from the charge of settling and support- ing Mr. Farrar, or that we may be made a separate precint,”? etc. No one can read this petition without a feeling of sympathy for those who, however blameworthy for being in their present situa- tion, were certainly in this one particular victims of real, even if legalized, injustice. This petition was ordered to be served upon the Congrega- tional Church of Easton. In their behalf their minister presents a long, clear, and well written statement of the whole subject from the beginning? The only argument it presents to answer the charge of injustice in forcing the Presbyterians to assist in sup- porting the town church is presented in the following words: “The circumstances of both parties are such that neither party is able to maintain and support the Publick worship of God sepa- rately and by themselves ;” and the town party claim that as they are the established Congregational Church, and are a ma- jority, their church and minister should be supported. Perhaps also they claim that the law is on their side. This statement was followed by a rejoinder from the Presbyterians, which how- ever presents nothing materially different from what has already been noticed. The Governor and Council appointed a committee of three men, the House of Representatives adding four more, and they considered the petitions and all accompanying papers, and reported thereon. This committee was composed of liberal- minded men, and after careful consideration they presented a report, in which they recommended that the Presbyterians should pay their proportion of the “settlement” and salary of Mr. Farrar then due ; and they added this excellent recommendation : — And that all such in sd. Town who now call themselves Presbyte- reans, upon their settling a Learned Pious Protistant Presbyterean minister over them, & certifying under their Hands that they are of the Presbyterian persuation, and lodging such certificate in the Secretary’s office, shall be free from paying anything afterwards towards the sup- port of the sd. Mr. George Farrar, anything foregoing to the contrary notwithstanding. Sam. WaTTs, For the Committee.? Fes. 18, 1756. 1 State Papers, vol. xiii. pp. 697-700. 2 Ibid. pp. 752. 152 HISTORY OF EASTON. The council accepted this report. The recommendation just quoted was ingeniously guarded. If all Presbyterians were al- lowed exemption from the town ministerial tax, large numbers would immediately claim to be Presbyterians, and the town church consequently fail of its support; it was therefore pro- vided that they must declare their belief in Presbyterianism and be actually supporting a minister, lodging their certificates of the fact in the State Secretary’s office, before they could claim the desired exemption. But nothing seems to have been settled until four months later. The recommendation of the committee was favored by the Council, but no action was taken upon it until June 3. At that date we have the following :— “Tn the House of Rep* June 3, 1756. — Ordered that this Pet? & answers accompanying the same be rivived, and that the parties be heard by Council on the floor, which was done accordingly. And after a long debate — ‘Ordered that the said petition be dismissed,” etc.! Thus we see that a church quarrel in a small town was deemed of sufficient importance to employ the time of the Governor and his Council and of the State Legislature, to be debated upon the floor of the House in an earnest discussion, and that only “after a long debate” was it decided! And yet the affair was not as trivial as it seemed to be. Underneath it lay a question of jus- tice and equity. Should citizens holding one religious belief be required by law to support another, against their will? This was a question of religious liberty, and it is to the credit of the Easton Presbyterians that they rebelled against the injustice which wronged both their conscience and estate, and that they made such a vigorous attempt to secure their natural rights. It is with extreme regret that we read that their petition was dis- missed. Even the recommendation of the committee, that they should be exempted from future taxes to support the town min- ister as soon as they settled a minister of their own, does not appear to have been adopted. The Legislature would not, by any special act, annul the legal requirement obliging all citizens of a town to support the town minister. Our fathers had fled to " State Papers, vol. xiii. p. 700. THE REV. GEORGE FARRAR. 153 this land to secure liberty of worship unmolested for themselves ; but they were not in a hurry to allow it zo others who might differ from them in opinion and in forms of worship. The record of Plymouth Colony was, however, exceptionally honorable in this regard. But the State Legislature, even in 1756, was not ready to take the ground of perfect religious freedom; and therefore Eliphalet Leonard and his committee returned, and with sorrow and indignation reported the result to their fellow-worshippers. There was no help for it now. Blamable as they were in the beginning, we cannot but sympathize with them when they are sent home from this last attempt to have justice done them, and are compelled to support a church and a minister they had come to regard with distrust and animosity. Early in 1756 Mr. Farrar bought land for a homestead ; it lay a number of rods west of the place where the almshouse is now situated, and about as far south of the street. There he set to work to build his house, which was finished in the spring. His farm and house were paid for largely with money which he borrowed. His principal creditor was Isaac Medberry, to whom, by the hand of Timothy Williams, he sent at one time a miscel- laneous collection of moneys, as indicated in the following curious receipt :— Received of the Rev’? M* George Farrar, of Easton, Two Double Loons, one Joanna, Thirteen Dollars, One pistorene, half a pistorene, Four English Shillings, Two black Dogs, and Three halves, which I promise to pay this day for the s‘¢ Farrar to Isaac Medberry, in Scitu- ate, in the Colony of Rhode Island.* (Signed) ‘Tim? WILLiaMs. Easton, August ye 9th, 1756. Mr. Farrar worked hard finishing his house, to which he con- ducted his bride, after their marriage, June 2. But his wedded life was destined to be of brief duration. He went about the Ist of September to visit a sister, who was sick with a fever at her 1 The doubloon was a Spanish gold coin, worth about $16. Those coined in 1772, sixteen years later than this receipt, were valued at $15.93. The “Joanna” was probably the Portuguese Johannes, a gold coin worth about $8. A “ pistorene ” (Spanish pistareen) was a silver coin worth about seventeen cents. What piece of money the “ black dog” was the writer does not know; it was probably a colloquial term that may now be obsolete, 154 HISTORY OF EASTON. father’s house, in that part of Concord which is now Lincoln. September 6 he himself was so seriously attacked with the same fever that he made his will that day, and eleven days afterwards, September 17, 1756, he breathed his last. His remains were laid away in the cemetery at Lincoln. And now, again, the town of Easton is without a minister, and it will be difficult to find any man who will care to face the oppo- sition and hatred of one half the town, when, if past experience can be trusted, he will also have to encounter the indifference and illiberality of many of the other half. Mr. Farrar was be- yond the reach of strife and trouble; not so his widow and his heirs. The town refused to make good its promises regarding the salary and settlement of their late pastor. Vote after vote in regard to these just payments was taken, but always in the same monotonous negative. At last the executors of Mr. Farrar’s estate, following the examples of Mr. Prentice, Mr. Vesey, and Mr. Vinal, sued the town. The town voted to let the suit for the salary go by default, but to contest the claim for the “ settlement,’ which was £106, 13s. 8d. The executors, how- ever, won the case; and not only the settlement, but a large bill of costs was wrung from the unwilling town. It was not until 1759 that the promise of the town made in 1755 was re- deemed. These are not pleasant facts to contemplate; but the writer has undertaken the task of a historian rather than of a eulogist, and will therefore try to state facts as they are, and let them tell their own story of praise or blame. The young widow, Mrs. Farrar, who was under age at the time of her husband’s death, did not long remain disconsolate ; but on February 8, 1759, she married Dr. Gideon Tiffany, of Attleborough. The death of the minister does not bring peace to the con- tending factions. The town records, both on their face and between the lines, give evidence of what Mr. Prentice would call “a most distressing and dying time in Easton.” In January, 1757, the town votes to raise no money and appoint no committee for’ the supply of the pulpit. Religion seems to be at its lowest ebb. In March there is a curious attempt at an adjustment of affairs. It is proposed to try, first, a Congregational, and then a Presbyterian minister, and then allow a majority vote to END OF THE CHURCH CONTROVERSY. 155 decide which of the two shall become the settled pastor. This proposition does not meet with acceptance ; but a vote is passed to hire a minister to preach half the time in the town meeting- house, and half in the other. This seems like the first real gleam of light in the darkness. But as when, on the face of the sky, the dark clouds part for a moment and the flash of sunlight gives promise that the storm is over, and then suddenly heavier clouds gather, bringing deeper darkness and a fiercer tempest, so was it here: the attempt at peace was a disastrous failure. The nearer the opposing parties were brought together the more in- tense was their antagonism. No one, except in irony, would venture to apply to the Easton people of that time the old words, “See how these Christians love one another!” There are indications that the majority were rather hard with the minority. Eliphalet Leonard and others earnestly request the selectmen to call a town-meeting, which they unwarrantably refuse. Whereupon Captain Leonard and twenty-two of his associates petition Justice Godfrey to the same effect, and the meeting is summoned by him. But when it convenes, Edward Hayward is chosen moderator, and at one sweep all the articles of the warrant are dismissed and the meeting adjourns. Another meeting is held a few hours later, with Benjamin Harvey moder- ator, but with the same fate for the proposed articles of Captain Leonard. June 19, 1758, further action looking to agreement is proposed. A committee is chosen to devise some plan of accommodation. Dea. Robert Randall, Dea. James Dean, and Solomon Stone are selected. They suggest, first, that all the town shall meet in the town meeting-house until next spring ; secondly, that this house shall then be taken down and carried half a mile farther north, or that the town shall pay to the north part five hundred pounds, old tenor, if that will satisfy them; thirdly, that the Cambridge Platform shall be adopted ; fourthly, that a certain number of min- isters and churches shall be convened to settle decisively all mat- ters in controversy. These propositions met with favor, though it is not stated which alternative in the second proposal was adopted. It was voted to accept them, and voted also to choose a committee to carry them into effect. Here again a gleam of light appeared for a moment, but it immediately vanished, 156 HISTORY OF EASTON. leaving thicker darkness behind ; for when they attempted to ap- point the committee, “thay could not agrea in the Chois, and sum got very [angry], and the town Dismist ye meeting.” The conviction is now evidently deepening in the minds of both the contending parties that all union between them is impossible, for in August it is voted that the Presbyterians should be set off as a separate precinct: this would have ex- empted them from paying for the support of the town church, though all in their precinct would be taxed for the church there. This vote was, however, rescinded at the same meeting. But in September it was voted that the easterly part of the town (by a line running from the west side of George Ferguson’s house to Solomon Hewett’s, where Daniel Clark now lives, and so on to Raynham) should be set off as a separate township, with the singular proviso that if they chose to do so, those living on either side of this line might be annexed to the other side, and assessed accordingly. Thirteen living on the east side immediately recorded their desire to be counted and assessed with those on the west side. But the General Court would not, of course, sanction such an awkward arrangement, and this plan came to nought. Evidently this bitter contention over a church matter was pro- ductive of scepticism or indifference in regard to religion itself. In 1759 two town-meetings refuse to raise money for the supply of the pulpit, and no progress toward reconciliation is made for two years after this. Another attempt is made in 1761 to move the town meeting-house, but without avail. It is then voted to employ a committee of out-of-town men to come and appoint the place most convenient for a meeting-house ; but the vote is recon- sidered before the meeting that passed it is adjourned. There is trouble about the disposition of the pews in the meeting-house. They are moved; new ones are built; the town votes to refund to former purchasers the prices they paid for their pews that a new sale may be made, with the hope perhaps that this new start may secure the co-operation of some of the opposing party ; but it is noticeable that nearly all the new purchasers are of the town party. It is now 1762. The opponents of the town-church party are discouraged. They have fought against heavy odds, for the law END OF THE CHURCH CONTROVERSY. 157 has compelled them to pay for the support of the town church as well as their own. Though the first contestants may hold out for conscience’ sake or for stubborn pride, new adherents do not care to join them. And so the Presbyterian Church of Easton, originating in a dispute about the location of the meeting-house, vanishes utterly from history in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and sixty-two. Here were twelve years of earnest, sometimes angry and bitter, strife. Its origin was not doctrinal; it was not a reli- gious conflict. It was a question, at first, of local interest, of personal convenience, and was rooted therefore in human selfish- ness. Let us not blame religion for it. It was not Christianity that made these contestants quarrel ; it was the want of it. The unhappy effects of this strife and animosity long survived in town. As we have said, it was fruitful in scepticism and indiffer- ence. It engendered personal strifes that lasted through the lives of the actors, and then became family traditions. It gave a lower tone to the moral, religious, and social life of the town; so that Easton obtained, and to some extent deserved, an unenvi- able reputation as compared with neighboring towns. And now, at last, shall we see peace and quietness, or will some new contest arise? 158 HISTURY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XI. EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. MASSACHUSETTS MILITARY ARCHIVES.— HOSTILITY OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH COLONISTS. — CAPTAIN NATHANIEL PERRY’S Com- PANY. — SKETCH OF CAPTAIN PERRY.— EASTON MEN IN CaPTAIN EBENEZER DEAN’S COMPANY, — IN CAPTAIN JAMES ANDREW’s CoM- PANY. — MISCELLANEOUS ENLISTMENTS. — TRYING EXPERIENCES OF EASTON VOLUNTEERS. — THE ACADIANS. the State Archives at the State House in Boston there are ninety-nine large folio volumes of muster-rolls, pay-rolls, and various other military papers, in manuscript, which are arranged with a care and’ order that are very creditable to the State Secretary and those who have had charge of this impor- tant work. These volumes average over five hundred pages each, making not less than fifty thousand pages, chiefly lists of the names, residences, rank, etc., of the soldiers in King George’s War (1744 to 1748), the French and Indian War (1754 to 1763), and the Revolutionary War. In making up the lists of Easton men who served in these wars, and learning facts about them, the writer, not trusting to the general index, has carefully exam- ined these pages in detail. The lists of Easton soldiers given in this chapter, as well as in the chapter on “Easton in the Revolutionary War,” are therefore full and complete. The French and English Colonies in North America regarded each other from the start with suspicion and jealousy. Fre- quent acts of hostility occurred, in which the Indians often took part; and these hostilities were sometimes of a brutal and fero- cious kind. The brutality and ferocity were not, however, all on one side. The whites, if not habitually as cruel and savage in their warfare as the less enlightened red men, were, in their treatment of them, guilty of acts of equal perfidy and cruelty. And considering how much more was to be expected of the whites, and what provocation the red men had in seeing their possessions falling away from them, and in being slowly driven EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 159 back from their beloved hunting-grounds, we have less reason to reproach the so-called savages than to condemn those who, in their eyes, were the too often savage invaders of their country. For the most part, the Indians were more favorable to the French than to the English colonists in the successive hostili- ties that occurred between them. Besides the two wars of the Colonists already alluded to, there were two others considerably earlier, — King William’s War (1689 to 1697), and Queen Anne’s War (1702 to 1713). But the Colonists were seldom at peace, and there was constant need of military service. The first reference in the State Archives to the military ser- vice of our Easton men is found in a petition of Josiah Edson in behalf of Josiah Keith, of Easton, for a month’s wages as a soldier! The petition was dated April 8, 1748, and was granted. This Josiah Keith was son of the first Josiah, of Easton, and father of the third Josiah, who became a militia Captain and served in the Revolution. May 23, 1748, it was voted in town- meeting “that Capt. Eliphalet Leonard shall Have ye Liberty to Hier men with ye money yt is paid to him by men that is Impresed into his Majesty’s service, or paid for that purpose to Hier men for what they may be Hiered for.” The word “im- presed” has the force evidently of drafted, since the impressed men were allowed to pay for a substitute or for exemption. Ephraim Randall had been thus impressed, June 17, 1746, and was out in service until July 26. June 6, 1754, Nathaniel Perry, of Easton, received a captain’s commission, signed by Governor Shirley. He was made a cap- tain of the regiment of which Col. John Winslow was colonel. He served in the struggle then going on at the eastern frontier. On the date of November 8, 1754, he had a company of forty-six men, with the following from Easton :?— Nathaniel Perry, Capzadn. Joseph Jones, sentinel. Ebenezer Jones, seygeant. Thomas Babbitt, sex¢zne?. Nathaniel Babbitt, clerk. Hezekiah Drake, sentinel. The word “sentinel” is equivalent to the word “private.” We have a later account of this company after it had been recruited 1 State Archives, Military, vol. Ixxiii. p. 125. 2 Tbid., Muster Rolls, vol. xciii. p. 135. 160 HISTORY OF EASTON. with further enlistments, for getting which Captain Perry had in December, 1754, received a warrant. In his company there were, May 20, 1755, ninety-six men; it was in the “2° battalion of his Excellency Gov. Shirley’s regiment, raised for the remov- ing the French incroachments from his Majesty’s Government of Nova Scotia.” Among these ninety-six soldiers the following were from Easton :! — Name. Rank. Age. Birthplace. Residence.| Occupation. Lemuel Gilbert . . . | Sergeant | 38 | Norton Easton | Laborer Hezekiah Smith. . | Corporal | 30 | Swansea Easton | Blacksmith ' Thomas Dean , ....| Private | 27] Exeter Easton | Tanner James Galliway . .| Private | 21 | Westbury Easton | Laborer Dan! Vokentrugen .| Private | 21 | London Easton | Tailor Daniel Niles, Jr. . .| Private | 19] Braintree Easton | Laborer Nath! Perry, Jr... .| Private | 17] Easton Easton | Laborer Samuel Perry ....| Private | 16 | Easton Easton | Laborer Joseph Packard . . .| Private | 25 | Easton Easton | Laborer Beriah Randall . . .| Private | 20} Easton Easton | Laborer Hezekiah Drake. . .| Private | 18} Easton Easton | Laborer Thomas Pratt ....| Private | 23 | Easton Easton | Laborer Joseph Belcher? . .| Private | 19 | Easton Easton | Laborer John Hern...... Private | 25 | Black Valley | Easton | Laborer Pendleton Britton , .| Private | 30 | Taunton Easton | Laborer Joseph Jones. ....| Private | 22} Taunton Easton | Yeoman Daniel Finney. ..| Private | 22) Norton Easton | Laborer These men were enlisted about five months “earlier than the date of this return. It was made from the Bason of Annapolis Royall, Nova Scotia.” Captain Perry's company was at the siege and surrender of Fort Cumberland, concerning which, un- der date of June 24, 1775, he wrote his wife: “ By the good hand of God, [after] four days’ seige to the Fort with our mortars they surrendered the fort, after a capitulation. But they had the lib- erty of carrying off their effects. And upon their resignation, the Bay of Vert surrendered upon the same terms. We went and took possession of it two days after the first gave up. I 1 This muster-roll belongs to N. W. Perry, of South Easton, a descendant of Captain Perry. 2 The Joseph Belcher named above was a son of the Rev. Joseph Belcher. After returning from the war, he settled in Stoughton. EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. I61 went there in company of five hundred men, where I tarried five days. The place was very pleasant, and the land exceed- ing good. This place was eighteen miles from the fort we took. Where we shall remove to next is very uncertain. The whole of our enterprise seems to be very miraculous. We had two very smart skirmishes, allowed to be much smarter than any at the reduction of Cape Breton. We have lost but one New-England man, and not one by sickness since we left Boston; and it isa general time of health now. I with my two sons are brave and hearty,” etc. About a year afterward, however, he writes his wife that he is in poor health, and earnestly desires her to obtain leave of absence for himself and his two sons, who are in his company. He soon gets the order for his release, but it was written by the hand of Death. Far away from home, but ministered to tenderly by his sons, he died June 15, 1756, at the age of forty-four. Capt. Nathaniel Perry was the son of Benjamin and Dinah Perry, and grandson of Ezra and Elizabeth (Burge) Perry, Ezra appearing in Sandwich as early as 1644. Nathaniel was born in Sandwich, July 2 (O.S.), 1713. Benjamin Perry and three sons — Josiah, Benjamin, and Nathaniel— appear in Stoughton as early as 1734, as indicated by the tax-lists; and Eliakim and Abner are there four and six years later, respectively. December 2, 1736, Nathaniel married Mrs. Mehitable Willis, daughter of Lieut. James Leonard, of Taunton, and widow of John Willis, of Easton. Through her Captain Perry became the owner of the “Perry place,” so called, on Highland Street, west of the Fur- nace Village, this having been the gift of Lieutenant Leonard to Mehitable, when she married John Willis. Captain Perry was a pious man, one of the stanch supporters of the Rev. Solomon Prentice in the trying times of the church history that have already been considered. His military experience has just been described. The Perry family developed considerable military talent. Though Edward Perry, a brother of the first Ezra, was a Quaker, and a very stubborn one, his descendants have fur- nished numerous soldiers. Among them may be mentioned Commodores O. H. and M. C. Perry, Captains Raymond H. J., James A., and N. H. Perry, all distinguished naval officers, It 162 HISTORY OF EASTON. Of Ezra’s descendants we have Captain Nathaniel and his son Captain James Perry. Two sons of Captain Nathaniel served with him in the French and Indian War, as we have already seen. And we have noted also among his troops Benjamin Tupper, a son of Captain Nathaniel’s sister Remember, who had married Thomas Tupper, Jr. Benjamin Tupper and his son Anselm both showed their Perry blood by decided military talent during the Revolutionary War, the former gaining the rank of Brigadier-general. Captain Perry left a widow and five children. She died September 20, 1797. In 1755, besides the men serving under Captain Perry, Easton had at least six other men in the service. These were partici- pants in the bloody battle at Lake George, near Crown Point, September 8. In Capt. Richard Godfrey’s company there were Samuel Drake and John Wilson In Col. Ephraim Leonard’s regiment? were John Owen, Lewis Sweeting, and Benjamin Williams, Jr., whose father was then a captain. Henry Partridge was there also, having enlisted from Easton, and serving in Capt. Samuel Clarke’s company.? Nathan Hewett was also in the service, and died at Oswego, October 30, 1755, but we have no record of his company. Capt. Benjamin Williams, although now sixty years of age, raised a company to join in an expedition against Crown Point in 1756. He was in Colonel Gridley’s regiment, and his company served from February 18 to December 23. Only the names of persons enlisting in Easton are given.* Benjamin Williams, Capi. John Smith. Nathan Bryant, Corporal. James Wright. Henry Partridge. Elijah White. John Howard Winslow. All these enlisted at Easton, but only Elijah White was said to be born here. The muster-roll states that Henry Partridge was “killed or captivated.”5 Notwithstanding his age, Capt. Benjamin Williams remained in the service several years. In 1760 he commanded a company in Colonel Thomas's 1 State Archives, Muster Rolls, vol. xciv. p. 32. 2 Tbid., vol. xciii. p. 245. 4 Tbid., vol. xciv. p. 193, and vol. xcv. p. 197. 3 Tbid., vol. xciv. p. 69. 5 Ibid., vol. xciv. p. 436. EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 163 regiment. In another company in this same expedition was a Spaniard, who enlisted in Easton, and who bore the singular name of Manuel Delopatogui. He was in a Captain Howard's company. May 7, of this year, William Hayward (son of William of Easton) died at Fort William Henry. During the next year this fort, built by Sir William Johnson in 1755, and situated near the head of Lake George, was menaced by an expedition of French and Indians under Montcalm. Intelligence of this danger caused great excitement in the New England towns, and expeditions were planned for the relief of this important fortress. There was much interest in Easton about it, and the following men enlisted in the company of Capt. Ebenezer Dean, of Taunton, in Col. Ephraim Leonard’s regiment : +— Jacob Hanks, Sergeant. Abiah Randall. Benjamin Tupper, Corforal. Seth Manley. Abial Drake. Joseph Drake, 3° Nathan Selee. Nehemiah Randall. Thomas Manley, Jr. Robert Randall. Jabez Phillips. Silas Kinsley. Samuel Churchill. Peter Sullard. Henry Howard. Oliver Goffe. Nathan Fobes. John Owen. Jonathan Hayward. Phillip King, Jr. Mark Keith. Isaac Dean. Silas Williams, Jr. Meshack Wilbore, Jr. John H. Winslow. Benjamin Dean, Jr., clerk. William Pratt. Benjamin Pettengill, clerk. They started August 17, 1757, but had marched only forty miles when they learned that they were too late. After a brave de- fence against overwhelming odds, the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Monroe who commanded the fort was compelled to surrender. This was on the 9th of August. As the prisoners filed out of the fort they were plundered, and twenty or thirty of them were mas- sacred by the savages, before Montcalm and the French officers could stop them. The Easton company named above returned quietly to their homes, being credited with five days’ service. The war still dragged on. April 13, 1758, twenty-four Easton men enlisted under Capt. James Andrews, in Col. Thomas Doty’s 1 State Archives, Muster Rolls, vol. xcv. p. 547. . 164 HISTORY OF EASTON. regiment, for service at Crown Point or Ticonderoga. These were as follows :1— Benjamin Williams, 2? Lieutenant. Isaac Atwood. Benjamin Tupper, Corporal. Seth Bryant. Seth Twinney. Joseph Drake. John Winsiow. Thomas Drake. Silas Williams. Samuel Drake. Seth Willis. Thomas Fling. Benjamin Keith. Nathan Fobes. David Keith. Oliver Goffe. 7 John Manley. Edward Hayward. Nahum Niles. John Owen. Daniel Niles. William Higgins. Peter Sullard. Ephraim Hewett. These troops had part in a most inglorious campaign. It was not their fault, however. Before Fort Carillon, at Ticonderoga, they fought with desperate valor. But while Montcalm in the thick of danger cheered on his men and directed the defence in person, the English Commander Abercrombie skulked out of sight; and after the defeat, though his forces still outnumbered Montcalm’s fourfold, he beat a disgraceful retreat. We are not therefore surprised that several of our Easton soldiers deserted. This was not before, nor was it in face of, a battle. They deserted at Half-Moon, then a station and now a town at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. Lieut. Benjamin Williams was sent after them, who found and brought them back. For their punishment, seven shillings were docked from their wages and given to Lieutenant Williams. He brought - back sixty-four deserters, and received for the service twenty- two pounds, eight shillings. Why so light a penalty was in- flicted for so grave a military offence does not appear; either the discipline was very defective, or what is more probable and pleasanter for us to believe, it was not a case of genuine de- sertion. Benjamin Keith returned home after the defeat of this regiment, and as his name was not replaced upon the roll when he returned to his company his father, Josiah Keith, petitioned the House of Representatives to rectify the mis- take. The House answered the petition favorably, and granted 1 State Archives, Muster Rolls, vol. xcvi. pp. 534-537- EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 165 Benjamin Keith the wages due him,—ten pounds, nineteen shillings. In the campaign just spoken of, in Capt. Aaron Willard’s com- pany, was John Packard, of Easton, son of Joseph and Hannah (Manley) Packard. He died in the army, July 31, 1758, after the attack on Ticonderoga! Dr. Seth Babbitt was in the same service as a volunteer.2. During this same year, 1758, there were others in Easton who enlisted. Their names are as follows :3— * Charles Finney. John Randall. David Randall. Nathan Lincoln. Edward Keith. Solomon Smith. John Mears. Mark Keith, Jr. Ebenezer Bruce. Jonathan Goodspeed. Zachariah Watkins. These eleven soldiers were in Capt. Samuel Glover’s company at the seige of Louisburg, a strong fortress on Cape Breton Island, northeast of Nova Scotia. Under Amherst and Wolfe a vigor- ous attack was made, and the place was carried July 26. Our Easton men saw hard fighting there. Captain Glover’s com- pany remained on duty at that place, and one of these men, — Edward Keith, son of William and Mary (Kingman) Keith, of Easton, — was taken very sick. A petition was presented to the House of Representatives after his return, which states that he was sent to Boston by vessel, but was so sick that he was unable to go on shore. He was obliged to remain aboard until two of his friends came from Easton, got him out of the vessel, and took him homeward “on or in a hors leter 27 miles; but before he came home his father was dead and his mother left a poor widoah with a great family, & he just come of age & he nothing to help himself, & his mother though willing yet unable to help him; & he continued sick until the next April, & not able to due one our work; and the Dr’s bill is £2 2s., and his nursing & bord comes to £2 7s. more, besides his bringing home,— which just debt he is unable as yet to pay, besides near half a year’s time which he has lost,” etc. He then petitioned for aid, and the House of Representatives allowed him £3 6s. 4d. John 1 State Archives, Muster Rolls, vol. xcvi. p. 451. 2 Tbid., Military, vol. Ixxix. p. 231. 3 Ibid., Muster Rolls, vol. xcvii. pp. 165, 167, 168. 4 Ibid., Military, vol. lxxix. p. 276. 166 HISTORY OF EASTON. Mears named above was an apprentice of Capt. Eliphalet Leon- ard, who drew his wages. He was a little fellow, who did not boast of being able to fight much, but who was an expert drum- mer. We shall hear of him again in the Revolutionary War. Benaijah Smith also petitioned to draw the pay due to his son Solomon for service at Louisburg. The re-enlistments in 1758 of those who were discharged October 10, or earlier, were — Nathan Bryant. John Hearn. John Owen. Benjamin Tupper. Abiah Drake. Robert Randall.? Timothy Gilbert. In 1759 an expedition was sent to attack the forts at Ticon- deroga and Crown Point, and for this service there enlisted from Easton, in Capt. Lemuel Bent’s company, Colonel Willard’s regi- ment the following :° — Timothy Manley, Zzeu¢. Elijah Niles. Jonathan Hayward. John H. Winslow. Joseph Packard. John Manley. John Manley, Jr. Timothy Higgins. Abijah Hill. Thomas Drake. These men served for an average of about thirty-two weeks from May 10, 1759, to January 8, 1760. They were with General. Amherst, who loitered at Crown Point after its surrender, instead, of hurrying on to join the gallant Wolfe in his attack and cap- ture of Quebec, which capitulated September 17, 1759. Two Easton men who enlisted in Captain Bent’s company died, — John Manley, Jr. and Elijah Niles. The story of the latter’s death is told in the following petition of his father, which he presented to the General Court :*— Daniel Niles, your petitioner, humbly sheweth that my son Elijah Niles was a soldier in Capt. Lemuel Bent’s company in Col. Wil- lard’s Reg’t, and returned his gun into Capt. John Fellows at Crown Point on the 25" day of Nov. last past, and was taken sick in the woods, but got to number four and there Died ; so the Re- cate we had for the gun was lost. Your petitioner prays that he 1 State Archives, Military, vol. Ixxix. p. 229. 2 Ibid., Muster Rolls, vol. xcvii. pp. 165, 167, 168. 8 Ibid., vol. xcvii. p. 387. 4 Ibid., Military, vol. lxxix. p. 244. EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 167 might be allowed the money that was stoped out of his son’s wages for said gun. As in duty bound shall ever pray. : — Danie. NILES. anuary 16, 1760. The “number four” alluded to was one of a line of forts ex- tending from Canada southward, and was located at Charlestown, New Hampshire. The petition was allowed. Jonathan Hayward of the same company had a trying experi- ence. In a petition to the General Court, he states that by Cap- tain Bent’s order he was left at Green Bush, where he had cold lodging in a barn and could not live there; that he “maida tempt” to travel, and travelled about six miles, and could go no farther ; his friends at Easton sent for him, and when the mes- senger came to take him away he paid eleven shillings and seven pence for his boarding, and they were nineteen days on the road at a cost of two pounds, fourteen shillings ; “ your petitioner prays that your honors would take his case into your wise con- sideration, and grant him such Releaf as your honors in your grat wisdom shall think best.”1 It is observable that the “grat wisdom” of their honors usually granted about half the amount petitioned for. On this application they sent to Elipha- let Leonard, for the use of the petitioner, two pounds, nineteen shillings. During the same year (1759) Dr. Seth Babbitt, who had pre- viously served at Louisburg, was a surgeon’s mate in Col. John Thomas’s regiment, stationed at Halifax. He enlisted March 31,? and continued in the service nearly two years and a half, but contracted the small-pox while in the army and re- turned home, where he died February 13, 1761. It was not allowable at that date for the remains of those who died of small- pox to be carried past any house, and his were deposited in a lonely grave that crowns a small hill northeast of the house where he died. His grave may still be traced by means of two stones, scarcely raised above the level of the soil. The house was one he built in 1756, and was northwest of the old Goward place, not far from the Mansfield line. In the same regiment with Dr. Babbitt served Jonathan Leonard, of Easton, he being 1 State Archives, Military, vol. lxxix. p. 553. ® Ibid., Muster Rolls, vol. xcvii. p. 278. 168 HISTORY OF EASTON. in Capt. Josiah Thacher’s company from March 31 to Novem- ber 1. They landed at Halifax, May 11, 1759. Seth Manley served in Capt. Philip Watkins’s company ;? and John Allen, who lived with Seth Babbitt, served in Capt. Jona- than Eddy’s company,?— both being in Col. Thomas Doty’s regi- ment. But the date of their service is uncertain. Seth Manley took his own gun, and was charged three pounds for it when he was mustered out. An appeal to the General Court, how- ever, rectified the mistake.* Gregory Belcher, son of the Rev. Joseph Belcher, enlisted in Capt. Stephen Whipple’s company, November 2, 1759, and served until March 15, 1760. His guardian was Peter Howard. In 1760 ten Easton men enlisted in Capt. Job Williams's company, of Taunton. Their record is as follows :— Name. Enlisted. Discharged. Benjamin Williams, 1s¢ Lzeutenant . . . February 13 December 6 Nathan Bryant, Sergeant. . . . - . March 6 F 6 William Bartlett . Q 3 3 4 6 Richard Brumige % 6 5 6 Thomas Fling Sy as ae sop EB. i 6 Pr 6 John Hayward (sick). . . . 2... a 31 November 10 William Keith (son of Mary) 5 6 December 6 Thomas Keith (son of ee 5 6 5 I Samuel Perry. . . . . 2 we 3 27 November 30 Beriah Randall . . . . . . . . . . April 13 December 6 In the company of Capt. Josiah Dunbar’ were — Name. Enlisted. Discharged. Thomas Drake (age 31) . . . . - . . . Marchi9g December 2 Timothy Higgins (age 17) j » 19 55 2 Edward Kingman . . . . 1... es. » 26 7 7 In another company ® was Benjamin Cole, of Easton, aged 31. In Capt. Jonathan Eddy’s company ® there were from Easton in 1760 — 1 State Archives, Muster Rolls, vol. xcvii. p. 287. 2 Tbid., vol. xevi. p. 273. 3 Ibid., p. 406. 4 Ibid., Military, vol. Ixxix. p. 272. 5 Ibid., Muster Rolls, vol. xcviii. p. 380. 6 Ibid., pp. 244-246. 7 Ybid., p. 317- 8 Ibid., p. 127. § Tbid., p. 217. EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 169 Name. Enlisted. Served. Abial Drake. . . . . . . © . Aprilé 32 weeks, 5 days. Timothy Gilbert . ...... » 2(1759) So yg Oh 5 John Hearn . ee is a Ae Sg, TPS In Capt. Jeremiah Green’s company! was William Higgins, and in another company ® (captain’s name not given) were Heze- kiah Drake and William Barclay,— the latter a Scotchman, then resident in Easton. Thomas Keith, who was in Captain Williams’s company, con- tracted the small-pox while in the service; and his mother, Ruth Keith, being at much expense and trouble about it, petitioned the General Court for relief, stating it had cost her nine pounds, one shilling, and eight pence. She was allowed five pounds, nine shillings.® The following Easton men enlisted in Capt. Samuel Glover’s company : *— Name. Enlisted. Served. John Staples (son of slg . « November 1, 1759 42 weeks, I day Solomon Smith Bh 2 % 1, 1759 64 » 4days John Holmes. . . - . . August 20, 1760 200 a GR 85 Silas Williams (deserted) - . «+ November 1, 1759 350 oy Benjamin Tupper (Sergeant) sy ty 62 5 4 John Mears (Drummer)... . 9 Tt 35 62 5 4 » Ebenezer Bruce. . . . .. . i I » 62. gy. Bs, The Solomon Smith named above was a minor, and Paul Pack- ard was his guardian. In 1761 were the following enlistments or re-enlistments of Easton men: Richard Brumfield served twenty-six weeks and two days in Capt. Job Williams’s company ;* John Mears beat his drum for Capt. Lemuel Dunbar’s company about thirty weeks ;® Timothy Higgins was with Capt. Lemuel Bent,’ and Edward Kingman with Lieut. Francis Miller’s company,’ about thirty weeks each; Nathan Bryant served as sergeant under Capt. Job Williams for thirty-two weeks; William Merry and 1 State Archives, Muster Rolls, vol. xcviii. p. 409. 2 Ibid, p. 8. 3 Thid., Military, vol. xxix. p. 405. * Ibid., Muster Rolls, vol. xcviii. pp. 400, 401. ® Tbid., vol. xcix. p. 15. 6 Ibid., p. 126. 7 Thid., p. 146. 8 Ibid., p. 165. 9 Ibid, p. 183. 170 HISTORY OF EASTON. David Smith served twenty-eight weeks and six days each in the company of Capt. Edward Blake! In 1762, in the company of Capt. Timothy Hammant, little John Mears, who is now fond of war, turns up again. The record is as follows :— Name. Enlisted. Discharged. ‘John Mears . . ... . ~~ + « © « March 24 November 1 Hopestill Randall 2... 1 we ee eee »~«624 i I John Wood . . 1. 1 ee ee ee 24 December 23 John Wood Jr. . . . » s+ es ee eee ae $3 23 Hopestill Randall was evidently transferred to another com- pany, as his time was made up on another pay-roll. He was there named the son of Baraciah Randall, which is a mistake. He served thirty-two weeks and three days,? but where he served is uncertain. There was very little active service rendered this year; the French power in America was broken. In Captain Abel Keen’s company were the following from Easton : 8 — Name. Enlisted. Discharged. William Keith . . ..... +. =. . March 27 November 20 Luke Keith « «@ 6 & 4 Bowe a we ONS a ey/ e 20 Edward Kingman . ... . es ay | 27 5 I Edmund Andrews . . .- - - ss. we “29 55 I At the same date Thomas Drake enlisted under Capt. Josiah Dunbar, and was discharged November 18.4 In the company of Capt. Timothy Hammant there were in 1762°— Name. Enlisted. Discharged. Samuel Drake . . . . ~~. + + «© + . March 24 November 1 Thomas Fling . .- «. - 6 1 1 ee ee sp 24 “9 19 Ebenezer Hayden... ~~. ee we i BA “5 19 And the Easton records of enlistments very appropriately end with the notice of the re-enlistment, the next day after being mustered out of service, of our diminutive John Mears, who served under Captain Hammant until June 3, 1763, being the 1 State Archives, Muster Rolls, vol. xcix. p. 187. 2 Thid., p. 190. 3 Ibid., pp. 197, 225. 4 Ibid., p. 237. 5 Ibid., p. 204. EASTON IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 171 last Easton soldier to leave the service He will be known in later years, after serving through the Revolutionary War, as “General Mears,” though he never aspired to an office higher than that of a drummer. Easton shared with other towns in New England in taking care of the French inhabitants who were so cruelly expatriated from Nova Scotia. This painful episode of the French and In- dian War is familiar to most of our readers.2, The French pro- vince of Acadia in Nova Scotia was occupied by the English in 1755. The French inhabitants, refusing to take the oath of al- legiance to England, were banished from their homes and scat- tered through the colonies, — men, women, and children. Their houses also were burned and their farms laid waste. Francis Parkman, the historian, has recently (1885) endeavored to ex- plain this transaction on the ground that it was considered a military necessity. He does not, however, distinctly defend it as such, but is inclined to think that the same end might have been gained by holding some of the principal men as hostages. But in whatever light historians may view it, we cannot help thinking it a cruel act. By it seven thousand peaceable people were torn from the homes they loved, and scattered far and wide. Many of them were quartered in New England towns, the Government allowing the towns pay for their support. Easton had its share, being paid at various times considerable sums, — at one time over two hundred and fifty pounds,—to keep these unfortunate people from starva- tion. Some of them died here, and were buried in now un- known graves. The town took pity on the wretched fugitives that were quartered here; and in town-meetings voted to pay for house-rent, firewood, etc., for those who were then commonly called the “ Neutral French.” Those who would read.a touching and beautiful account of this sad event will find it in Longfellow’s “Evangeline,” which is founded upon it. We must content ourselves here with the following extract, where he describes the embarkation :— 1 State Archives, Muster Rolls, vol. xcix. p. 273. 2 See Higginson’s Young Folks’ History of the United States, p. 152. Also Ban- croft’s United States, vol. iv. pp. 193-206, for a full and interesting account of the affair. 172 HISTORY OF EASTON. “Busily plied the freighted boats, and in the confusion Wives were torn from their husbands, and mothers, too late, saw their children Left on the land, extending their arms, with wildest entreaties. On the falling tide the freighted vessels departed, Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into exile, — Exile without an end, and without an example in story. Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians landed ; Scattered were they like flakes of snow, when the wind from the northeast Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the Banks of Newfoundland. Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from city to city, From the cold lakes of the North to sultry Southern savannas, — Friends they sought and homes ; and many despairing, heart-broken, Asked of the earth but a grave, and no longer a friend nor a fireside,” THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 173 CHAPTER XII. THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. OPPOSITION TO THE MINISTERIAL TAX. — GROWING DISSENT FROM THE ESTABLISHED CONGREGATIONALISM. — LIBERTY AND LICENSE. — FANATICISM THRIVES, AND IMMORALITY PUTS ON THE LIVERY OF HEAVEN. — THE BAPTIST SOCIETY ORGANIZED. — THE REV. EBEN- EZER STEARNS. — THE BAPTISTS DISPUTE THE TOwWNn’s RIGHT TO COL- LECT THE MINISTERIAL TAX FROM THEM, AND WIN THEIR CASE. — Tue Rev, EsecK CARR, MINISTER AND COOPER. — THE BAPTIST MEETING-HousE. — DECLINE AND DEATH OF THE SOCIETY. W®* have seen that compulsory payment of taxes to sup- port the church caused discontent in Easton, and was met by resistance on the part of some. This practical union of Church and State was felt to be repugnant to religious liberty. It was especially oppressive to those who had come to believe that the doctrines and usages of the established Congregational churches were not in harmony with the Gospel, and who ac- cepted a different faith and polity. They were compelled to aid in supporting two churches, — their own, and another to which they were conscientiously opposed. This unjust though legal compulsion bred indifference, dissent, scepticism, and infidelity much faster than a liberal policy would have done. Some time previous to 1750, much dissatisfaction with the ministry and churches of New England had been created by the new impulse, excitement, and intellectual activity that re- sulted from the preaching of Whitefield. He and his followers thought that the New England churches were but half alive, that many of their ministers were unconverted men, that the “ half- way covenant” was a concession to the Devil, and that a stricter church discipline was needed. Those who adopted these views were called by the rather indefinite term of “New Lights.” Sometimes they remained in the Congregational church. The 174 HISTORY OF EASTON. reader of this history will remember that Mr. Prentice, when he first came to Easton, was strongly in sympathy with them. He immediately agitated the question in church meetings, whether or not the “Infant Seed of real Believers only, or ye Seed of all who professed their faith in Christ and were visibly holy,” were the proper subjects of baptism. Evidently he favored the bap- tism only of the children of communicants; but his church did not. The “half-way covenant” meant acknowledging belief in Christ and being correct in outward life. It did not necessarily imply conversion; it did not admit to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper; it was a formal arrangement merely, but was necessary in order to secure baptism for children. This was one of the things that caused dissent on the part of many earn- est Christians. They declared that persons were admitted too easily into church membership, and proposed particular exami- nation of candidates. Mr. Prentice took this ground, and in- duced his church to require a public account, either in writing or by word of mouth, of God’s dealings with their souls before admission. This was the origin of the custom that held good for many years in Easton. For awhile Mr. Prentice did not carry his dissent any further. Others declared against paying the minister a salary: he was not ready to take this ground. His wife was an open dissenter before this time, and she found plenty of sympathy. In the west part of the town, espe- cially, there were persons who had joined a dissenting church in Norton. This dissenting church was organized in 1747. It was founded upon the principles already indicated, requiring particular examination of those wishing to become communi- cants, urging strict church discipline, opposing salaried min- isters and the half-way covenant. Among the Easton people that belonged to it were several Babbitts, Allens, Finneys, Benaijah Smith, Peter Sullard and wife, Silence Hewett, Daniel Niles, and a few others. When Seth Babbitt and wife were called to account in 1749 for absenting themselves from the Easton church, they merely replied that “the Lord had called them out, and they could not help going out.” Brother Benaijah Smith, when examined for the same thing, quoted “some texts of Scripture which had been impressed upon his mind.” The persons above named, with others not named, became a seed of THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 175 dissent in Easton, and the troubled times beginning in 1750 proved a fruitful opportunity for their cause. No church was organized at once, for it was not yet evident into what form of dissent their movement would crystallize. But meetings were held at private houses, at which any one might exhort and pray and expound the Scriptures. Any converted man might even perform the sacrament of baptism. In this free range of thought and expression, — in times, too, when ignorance was far more general than now, — fanaticism was to be expected. Every one ventilated his new-found notion, and always discovered plenty of texts to support it. Common-sense was ruled out of court. No matter how extravagant an opinion was broached, it was a sufficient answer to an objector to reply, “ The Bible says so”! In the hands of such persons the Bible became an instru- ment that would give forth any tune the performer chose to draw out of it. The sublime teachings of Jesus were travestied in the absurd conceits of ignorant interpreters. Some of them main- tained that they were “already immortal.” Could they not quote, “He that believeth on me shall never die,” and did not they be- lieve? John Finney and Ebenezer Ward and others, living in Easton but belonging still to the Baptist church of Norton, were called to account as persons “ who were crupt in princabls and practes,” and “many of their minds appeared greatly intangled.” They made fanatical claims for themselves as specially inspired. Three meetings were held concerning them. They were labored with and admonished; and as they continued ‘more cropt in their principles,” communion was withdrawn from them The records of the early Baptist church at Norton have an amusing illustration of the extent to which these follies could go. A brother in the church complained of a sister church-member for “breaking fellowship with them, and joining with the world,” because in going to and from meeting she preferred the com- pany of her husband who was not a church-member, to that of the aforesaid complainant who was! Will it be believed that several church meetings, with delegates summoned even from Middleborough, were needed to settle this momentous question? Such was the fact. The brother aforesaid was finally admonished, however, and suspended.} 1 See records of the Norton Baptist Church. 176 HISTORY OF EASTON. Such things illustrate the crudity and absurdity attending the peculiar conditions of that time. This was bad enough. But unfortunately these follies sometimes developed into immoralities. What was to be expected from those who could answer, when called to account for their conduct, that “the truly converted man could not sin, but that everything he did was done by the will of God”? Such a theory afforded convenient justification for any evil actions, and there was occasion to employ it for that purpose. The writer of this history had heard long ago a tradi- tion concerning social immoralities practised in Easton under the cloak of a pretended faith,—a tradition too gross in its details to be repeated here. Distrusting this tradition at first, he has been obliged in the end to credit it, because it has received undoubted corroboration from a historian whose authority on this point cannot reasonably be questioned. The Rev. Isaac Backus, in his “ History of the Baptist Church in America,” makes the following statement concerning the Baptist church in Norton :!— “Some of the members, especially they who lived in Easton, had run into the most delusive notions that could be conceived of, — even so far as to forsake their lawful wives and husbands, and to take others ; and they got so far as to declare themselves perfect and immortal, or that the resurrection was past already, — as some did in the Apostolic age.” The Rev. Mr. Backus was a Baptist minister of Middlebor- ough, and was contemporary with the facts noticed. He was frequently called for services to the Norton church, was present at the ordination of the first Baptist minister of Easton in 1762, and had therefore abundant means of information relative to the facts of the case. Moreover, as they pertained to the religious body of which he was a member, he was not likely to overstate their evil. His statement confirms, and is confirmed by, the tradition referred to ; and it is further supported by various allu- sions in the old records of the Dissenting Church at Norton, and of its successor, the Baptist Church. This episode in the history of Easton is a most unpleasant one to record. But let it not be misunderstood. The customs 1 See Backus’s History of the Baptist Church, vol. iii. p. 160. (New Edition.) THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 177 and practices here alluded to were not general, but were confined to a few fanatical, low-minded persons. If some of them were honestly duped, the rest were basely hypocritical. Their mis- conduct was not the result of their faith: it was rooted in per- verted passions; and the claim of its being sanctioned or allowed by religion was the shallowest pretence. But if any one doubts that progress in morals and religion has been made in town since that time, let him reflect that such a pretence on the part of even the smallest number of persons not actually lunatics would be impossible to-day. We have thus far in this chapter been considering the pecu- liar conditions and elements that preceded the formation of the Baptist church in Easton. It is but justice to say that that church is not responsible for the most objectionable of those conditions and elements. And we would again remind the reader that the principal cause out of which this dissenting church grew, was goodand noble. It was a protest against compulsory taxation for the support of religion, —a religion sometimes op- posed to the honest conviction of the unwilling tax-payer, who had many provocations of intolerance and injustice; for even in Easton this tax was extorted by imprisonment. Though some fanaticism very naturally accompanied the origin of this church, there were also much genuine faith and perhaps a moré earnest piety than the “Standing Order ” of churches could boast of. We have already seen that the Baptist movement then just developing was greatly reinforced in 1750 by Mrs. Prentice’s openly declaring for it, and by her midwinter immersion at the hands of an unordained layman. Under date of December 30, 1750, Mr. Prentice made record concerning Rebecca, the wife of Elijah Randall: “She lately turn¢ Anna Baptist, Renoun- cing her Infant Bap., & was Dip? by Peter Sullard, a poor lay- man, without any license thereunto.” It will be remembered that after Mr. Prentice became a Presbyterian, he allowed the Baptists to hold meetings in his house. His well-known good opinion of them tended to foster the movement. In March, 1762, Benaijah Smith and Daniel Niles were dismissed from the Baptist church in Norton and “recommended to the Baptist Bretherin in Easton, in order for the building up of a church 12 178 HISTORY OF EASTON. there.”! Between March 20 and July the church was organ- ized, and in July they called Ebenezar Starns (Stearns) to settle as their pastor, or elder. The account of his ordination was copied into the Easton town records, and is as follows :— A council of three churches of Christ of the Baptist Denomination, —viz., the first in Middleborough, present Isaak Backus, Pastor, Dea- con Nathan Shaw and Elezer Snow, Delegats ; the Church in Norton, present William Carpenter, Pastor, Deacon Gershom Camble and Deacon Jabez Brigs, Delegates ; the second in Middleborough, present Ebenezer Hinds, Pastor, Deacon William Smith, delegate, — convened at Easton at the caul of the Baptis Church of Christ there, for the or- dination of Ebenezer Starns to the office of Pastor over them. The councel met at the house of Ebenezer Philips on the 21* of July in- stant, 1762, and after solom prayer to God they embodyed together and chose Elder Backus Moderator, & Elder Hinds Scribe. And then we proceeded to inquire into their coming into a Church state, and satisfaction was gained; Secondly, their calling of Ebenezer Starns to be their pastor ; 3 his answer; 4” his quallifications for the work. And satisfaction being gained in all points that they ina good measure acted agreeable to the ruls of the Gospel, we proceded to the pub- blick work; & Elder Hinds prayed and preached a sermon from Coloshons 2‘ 5, & then their articles of faith and Church Covenant ware pubblickly read, and the Church manifested openly their abid- ing in their choice of Mr. Starns for their pastor, and Mr. Starns likewise his accepting of that work, and then we went on. Elder Bacus prayed while we laid hands on Mr. Starns, and then gave him his charge, and Elder Carpenter gave the right hand of fellowship and made the last prayer. The whole was transacted with decency and divine solemnity. EBENEZER Hinps, Scribe. A true coppy. Examined by Ebenezer Hinds, Scribe. MarrHew Haywarp, Zown Clark. The ordination as well as the council was held at the house of Ebenezer Phillips, who lived nearly on the site of the house of John Dickerman. On the old map this is the place marked “John Phillips, Jr.,” Ebenezer being the son of John. The first we hear of this Ebenezer Stearns in Easton is the following : — 1 Norton Baptist Church Records. 2 Town Records, vol. ii. pp. 17, 18. THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 179 Bristou ss. Zo the Constable or Constables of the Town of Easton within the said County, or to either of them, — GREETING: Whereas Ebenez' Starns, whose last residence as we are informed was at the town of Douglass (before he came to this place), came to sojourn and dwell in the said town of Easton on or about the tenth day of August, annoque Dominie 1761, not having approbation there- fore, — These are therefore in his Majesty’s name to will and require you forthwith to warn the said Ebenezer Starns to depart & leave the town of Easton, and not to intrude himself on the inhabitants of said town. Given under our hands & seals this 31 day of May in the 2° year of his Majesty’s reign, 1762. DaNIEL WILLIAMS, Selectmen RogpertT RANDALL, of James Dean, Easton The above was the customary legal form of warning that pre- vented a new resident from becoming a town charge. It appears that Mr. Stearns took up his residence in Easton, in August, 1761. In 1750 he was a resident of Douglas, being a surveyor of highways in that town. He was the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Stearns, of Lexington, where he was born. His father removed to Stoughton about 1716, being among the first settlers of that town; was deacon of the Church of Canton (then Stoughton), and died about 1740. Ebenezer married, September 109, 1734, Thankful Clapp, of Walpole, where he bought real estate, and where he appears to have lived for atime. He probably also lived several years in Stoughton again before going to Doug- las, as he was taxed there in 1739, 1748, and 1749. From Douglas he came to Easton, as already stated. He did not remain here long. His name does not appear upon the tax- list of 1767, the oldest list that has been preserved, and it is at this date that his successor in the Baptist ministry ap- pears in town. For his second wife he married, August 12, 1762, Jean, the daughter of Joshua and Mary Phillips, of Eas- ton. “About 1770 he moved to Maine and settled on Sheepscot River, afterwards of Whitefield.”2 He seems to have had nine children. 1 Records of Bristol County Court of Sessions (at Taunton), vol. for 1746-1767, pp. 271, 272. 2 See Bond’s History of Watertown, p. 460. 180 HISTORY OF EASTON. The Baptist Society soon began to have trouble in the matter of tax-paying. Its expenses were very light, and one might belong to it without contributing much to its support. If uniting with it would exempt from taxation for the support of the Congregational church, there was a temptation to be- come a member for that reason alone. As a matter of fact, many claimed to be Baptists at a later time for no other reason than to escape compulsory taxation for the support of worship. In 1728 a law was passed exempting Baptists from taxation for the “ Standing Order” of churches: but as it exempted the persons only, and not the property of Baptists, it did not avail much. Other laws were passed subsequently for the same purpose; but they were so clogged with diffi- cult conditions that they did not afford much relief, and hard legal fighting was needed to prevent the exactions of town assessors. Fortunately, Easton Baptists had among their number some persons who would not easily yield to injustice; and of these a committee was formed, consisting of Ebenezer Phillips, Benjamin Harvey, Daniel Niles, and Samuel Phillips, Jr., to assist in the defence of the resisting tax-payers. They made out a list of the taxable members of their society, presented it to the assessors July 19, 1764, and demanded exemption, not only as a matter of justice, but as a point of law. The demand was refused; the town would not exempt “those who stile themselves Baptis, Except those Persons who have been Baptised by Emertion.’ On merely nominal Baptists the tax was levied. James Stacey de- termined to contest the right, and he refused to pay the tax. He was seized, April 8, 1765, by Seth Pratt, constable, and im- prisoned for twenty-four hours, “until he paid the tax, and also paid two shillings and eight pence to the constable for arresting and imprisoning him.” Mr. Stacey, backed by his friends, brought an action in the court of Common Pleas against Tim- othy Randall, Silas Kinsley, and Henry Howard, assessors of Easton for 1764, because “ they illegally, arbitrarily, & without possible cause or reason assessed & rated the plaintiff to said ministerial rate, 13s. 8d.” He claimed that in showing the list of Anabaptists to the assessors, the law had been complied with, and they were exempted by law; and that “there never was THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 181 any just cause or legal foundation for assessing the plaintif as aforesaid; and that the said Timothy, Silas, and Henery full well knew the same; and that their doings aforesaid were illegal and arbitrary, whereby the plaintif suffered greatly in his estate, liberty, & peace of mind, to the damage of the said James as he saith the sum of Thirty pounds.” The town voted to have the assessors defend themselves against this “ professor of antepedo Baptis princabel.” But the Court awarded him £4, iss. and costs. The town appealed to the Superior Court. But subsequently better counsels prevailed ; a committee was appointed, the following report was presented, and a settlement made: — We the Subscribers, being chosen a commety by The Town of Easton to treat with a commety that ware chosen by the annabaptis Society in this Town in order to come into an agreement amacably to prevent any further proses in law in regard of an action that James Stacey of this Town brought against the assesors, &c., and after vari- ous remonstranses on both sides the following agreement was entred into, viz. : — tly. That the baptis remit to the Town one third of the legal cost that has arose on their part on account of sd action. aly. The Baptis renounce all pretention to any damage brought against the assesors at the last inferior Court at Taunton. 3ly. That those persons that have been distrest for their rates that ware of the Baptis Society in the last assesment shall have their money returned to them again ; and foinally, for the futer, that all such persons that obtain a surtifi- cate from under the hand of three of the princabel members of the anabaptis church in this Town shall not be rated to the menestiral tax, &c. It is to be understood that James Stacey’s rates is to be paid back by the Town. Done at Easton this third day of Octo- ber, A.D. 1765. P.S. It is to be understood that all those persons that shall here- after be exempted from paying the menisteral tax in this Town shall actually be in covenant with and under the watch and care of the Baptis church. BENJAMIN WILLIAMS. MattrHew Haywarpb. ZEPHENIAH KEITH. TimoTHy RANDEL. Henry Hawarp. 182 HISTORY OF EASTON. I the subscriber, as an atorney, do promis upon the Town’s agree- ing to the above sd articels to let drop all Proses in behalf of James Stacey of Easton against the assesors of sd Easton for the year A.D. 1764. Epmon ANDREWS. Easton, the third of October, A. D. 1765. We the subscribers do agree to the above Ritten articels. EBENEZER PHILLIPS, A commety Benj* Harvey, of the Danret NILES, annabaptis Church in Easton. SamMuEL PHILuips, JuN®, eda Recorded by MatrHew Haywarp, Zown Clerko The town voted to James Stacey two thirds of the cost of the lawsuit, and refunded to those Baptists whose names were handed to the assessors in 1764 the amounts distrained from them for the ministerial tax, with damages for the distress to which they had been subjected. It was a substantial victory for the Baptists, and for justice too ; moreover it marks progress, for eight years before this the Presbyterians were denied the same rights that were now wrung from the unwilling town. It is noticeable that the town makes a condition to exempt only those actually in covenant relations with the Baptist church, —that is, church members. The reason for this has been al- luded to. Some persons joined this new movement merely to evade the ministerial tax ; and the town wished to prevent such subterfuge. But this condition put a premium upon hypocrisy. There were those who would become Baptist church-members in order to save money, for, as we have said, the Baptist expen- ses were very light. Perhaps the town could enforce this con- dition in 1765; but at a later date it could not. Those who in 1782 and 1791, for instance, claimed to be Baptists merely in belief were exempted, being especially named on the tax- lists. The valuation for 1782 in three quarters of the town had sixty-one tax-payers who claimed to be Baptists; and the same proportion for the other quarter of the town (whose tax- list for that year is missing) would give a total of ezghty Baptist tax-payers. Among them were some of the prominent people of 1 Town Records, vol. ii. pp. 45, 46. THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 183 the town,— Capt. James Perry, Abisha Leach, Capt. Eliphalet Leonard, Isaac Stokes, Lieut. Seth Pratt, Benjamin Harvey, Francis Goward, Ziba Randall, Capt. Macey Williams, and oth- ers. In 1791 there was a still larger number, among whom we notice Capt. Elisha Harvey, Hopestill Randall, and Lyman Wheelock. It is evident that in many cases opposition to com- pulsory taxation for the support of worship had more to do in increasing the membership of the Baptist Society than any sincere acceptance of the faith itself. This opinion is justified by three considerations: first, there were no adequate accommo- dations for the worship of so many families where the Baptist services were held ; second, just as soon as the ministerial tax was abolished we hear no more of this society; third, this opinion accords perfectly with human nature in general, and with what the writer knows was the particular human nature of some of those who made this claim of Baptist belief. Opposition of the kind that has been described was not con- fined, however, to those claiming to be Baptists. Eleazer Keith demanded exemption from being taxed to help pay for building the meeting-house, on the ground that he was a member of the Church of England. He refused to pay the tax, was seized and imprisoned, held out for eight days in his opposition, and then, in order to be released from his imprisonment, paid the assessment, doing it, however, under protest. In 1762 he sued for damages, lost the case, and appealed to the Superior Court. Apparently the difficulty was settled without further litigation, and eventu- ally he became a member of the Congregational church. For awhile the Baptist Society, as already stated, worshipped in private houses; but in 1767 they found the arrangement in- adequate to their needs. What should they do? They did not. feel able to build a meeting-house, and they therefore hit upon a novel expedient. Eseck Carr, their second and last minister, had just come from Warren, Rhode Island. He was a cooper by trade, as his grandfather Eseck was before him. He was an earnest Baptist, and though not educated for the ministry, he could preach. He was engaged by the Baptists of Easton as their minister ; and at once they set about to provide a building which should serve the triple purpose of meeting-house, dwell- ing-house, and cooper-shop. Thirteen Baptists of Easton and 184 HISTORY OF EASTON. five of Stoughton contributed according to their several abili- ties, and bought a part of what was once the homestead lot of John Whitman, Jr. He had sold it in 1758 to Paul Packard, who sold it to Ephraim Burr, from whom, December 22, 1767, these eighteen men purchased it for eighty pounds. The con- tributors who bought it and became joint-owners were Daniel Niles, James Stacey, Ebenezer Phillips, Zachariah Watkins, Ben- jamin Harvey, Solomon Smith, Samuel Smith, Abiah Manley, Joseph Packard, Jr., Ichabod Manley, Abner Randall, Samuel Randall, Stephen Niles, all of Easton; and Simon Stearns, Benaijah Smith, Jonathan Jordan, George Allen, and Terrel Allen, of Stoughton. The house was situated on the north side of what is now Elm Street, just where the small house owned by E. W. Gilmore now stands. On the east end of the house, and united with it, they built a large addition about thirty feet square. This room was used for Mr. Carr’s cooper-shop on week-days, and for a meeting-house on Sundays. At one end was a huge fireplace ; the Baptists, being dissenters, did not fear the inno- vation of warming the meeting-house. Rude slab-seats were probably provided, the comfortable side uppermost. There was a Joft overhead with a sufficiently close floor upon the rafters to hold the corn that was sometimes stored there, as well as the tools and materials in use during the week; it might also serve as a sleeping chamber. On Saturday afternoon the room was carefully swept, the barrels, staves, and hoops piled upon one side, or placed in the loft above; and if the audience was larger than usual, in addition to the slab seats, other seats were extemporized. With these signs of wood-work about them, the imaginations of the worshippers might easily be reminded of the cdrpenter’s shop at Nazareth, and thus find these lowly surroundings an incentive rather than a hindrance to worship. If it was winter, a rousing fire in the great fireplace blazed and crackled, and shed a cheerful warmth ‘and glow over all. What could be more pleasant and interesting? Is it any won- der that such a place should seem more homelike and attractive than the barn-like plainness and coldness of the average New England church? It need shock no one who can enter into the real spirit of that time to know that as his fellow-worshippers gathered for service, their hospitable pastor was accustomed to THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 185 bring up from the cellar a huge jug of cider for their refresh- ment. Thus cooled off in hot weather, or warmed up in winter, they are ready for the exercises. A barrel standing on end answers for a pulpit, and a Bible lies open upon the top. The singing is hearty, if not artistic. The sermon is based upon strong Calvinistic doctrine, but is spiced with wise, practical suggestions, enforced by homely but telling illustrations. An eye-witness and hearer, now dead, used to say that as Mr. Carr waxed warm and earnest with his exhortations he gesticulated vigorously, his gestures corresponding to the movements of a cooper hammering to place the hoops upon a barrel, sometimes beginning upon one side and working entirely round to the other. The writer has in his possession a manuscript of a ser- mon preserved among the papers of one of these Baptists, —a sermon that may have been preached either by Mr. Stearns or Mr. Carr. Whether by one or the other or by neither, it was a product of the time, and well illustrates the substance and spirit of the doctrines then in vogue. It is an attempt to answer the question, ‘“ What hath God decreed concerning angels and men?” The answer is, that “God, by an Eternal decree, out of Love for the Praise of his glorious grace to be manifested in due time, hath elected some angels to glory, and in Christ hath chosen some men to eternal life. He has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardneth.” The doctrine of Elec- tion is thus preached in its baldest form. The following illus- trations, or proofs, are adduced : — “When a man is extremely hungry, and can’t git nothing to asswage his hunger honestly, he will steal to satisffie that painful feeling. Must we not think that almighty power could a hendred that if it pleased him so todo? But he will never alter what is decreed. . . . It can’t be thoat by no wise Person but that Adam fell from his purity by any other Reason than it being the Decree of god; for if it had pleased god to a held Adam in his state of Innocency, he had power to a don it; but if Adam had never fell, there never would a ben a Christ born to wransome the fallen Race,” — and much more to the same effect. These extracts will illus- trate the character of the spiritual food served in those days by the then current Calvinism. 186 HISTORY OF EASTON. Eseck Carr came to Easton in the year 1766. He had mar- ried Mrs. Lydia (Grinnell) Simmons, a widow with five children, A relative of Mr. Carr being asked how he was willing to as- sume the heavy responsibility of adopting so large a family, replied, “ Mrs. Simmons is a very handsome woman.” Calculat- ing prudence vanished before the charms of the blooming young widow. She had also a touch of poetry in her nature. From the top of Mount Misery, in North-Easton village, she saw, one night, just before the Revolutionary War, a wonderful display of blood- red Northern Lights. This was thought to bode some great ca- lamity, and so stirred was the soul of Mrs. Carr that she gave vent to her feelings in some rhyme, of which one stanza has been preserved, and is as follows : — “ That very night, it was so bright, So plainly I did see — Both sword and blood looked like a flood That much astonished me.” In the war thus supposed to be foreshadowed, Mr. Carr was drafted for a soldier. He refused to serve, claiming no doubt the minister’s exemption from military service. His claim was not at first allowed by the town authorities, as we see by the following order : — Bristou, ss. Zo Ephraim Randell ye and., one of the Constables of the town of Easton in the County of Bristol,— GREETING: Where as Eseck Carr, of the town of Easton, was By us the sub- scribers appointed a sholdier according to the Direction of a late act of this government for Providing a Reinforcement to the American army, has been duly notified of such appointment, and did not within twenty- foure hours after such notification Pay to us the sum of ten Pounds, nor make any Reasonable Excuse ; and the said Eseck Carr was on the Eightenth Day of December, a.p. 1776, Called out, according to Law, to march, But neglected so to do, or to Provide any Person in his stead, — you, the said Ephraim Randell ye 2nd., Constabell of the town of Easton, are therefore hereby Required forthwith to apprehend the said Eseck Carr, and him commit to the common goal in said county ; and you, the said keeper of the said goal, are alike required to Receive the said Eseck Carr into your Custody, there to Remain un- tell he pay the fine of twelve Pounds, as ordered in said act, to gather THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 187 with charges of Committment and imprisonment, or Be Discharged By order of Law. Hereof fail not. Given under our hands and Seals this Eighth Day of January, a.p. 1777. JosHuUA PHILLIPs, MATTHEW RANDELL, Captain, EDWARD HAywarD, SETH PRATT, Lieut. LEMUEL WILLIS, EpwarD Haywarp (27d) Lieut. SETH PRATT, TIMOTHY RANDELL, Selectman. JosEPH GILBERT,” Committee of Correspondance. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Carr presented a bold front; and the authorities, not being able to intimidate him, and being doubtful about their position, sent the following order to the constable, through the Captain of the East Company of the militia :— To Mr. Ephraim Randall the 2. Sir, you are Desired to let mr. Eseck Carr a Lone at present. MatTrHEew RanDALt.! Easton, JANUARY THE —— 1777. The order to arrest was probably never executed, and Mr. Carr was “let a Lone,” and without doubt exempted from mili- tary service, as other ministers then were, He continued to work on week-days and preach on Sundays, for many years. He sold pickle-tubs, barrels, etc., and was not above assisting in killing pigs and receiving pay for this service. He did a little in the way of trade, selling quintals of fish and other things. Such items are recorded upon old accounts which the writer has seen. Something of this kind was necessary in order to eke out the slender support gained from the voluntary contributions of his brethren. In common with many others of his day he was a snuff-taker, and for convenience’ sake, instead of a snuff-box he had a small leathern breast-pocket, or pouch, on his coat, in which he carried his snuff, which was thus easily accessible. : About 1784 there was a sensible decline of religious interest in the Baptist Society. Even as early as 1783 its name disap- peared from the Massachusetts Directory. This decline was not peculiar to this society alone, but was the natural consequence of the war that had just closed, for demoralizing effects nearly 1 From Papers of Macey Randall. 188 HISTORY OF EASTON. always follow war. On the 26th day of August, 1785, a meeting of the society was called at Mr. Carr’s. At that meeting, Isaac Stokes, Deacon Phillips, and Abner Randall were chosen the Committee of the Society; Ephraim Randall, Jr., was chosen clerk, and it was “ Voted that this Society, which are Baptis, should come in to a covenant agreement.” This covenant will be given here, because, with the exception of the record of the meeting just alluded to, and of a call to another meeting in 1789, it is the only written record of the old Baptist Society that has been preserved. It is as follows :— “Where as it is a time of Trouble and a declining of Religeon, and the Love of many wexes Cold, — We the subscribers, who do profes our selves to be Annebaptis, do think it our Duty to come in to a Covenant agreement with Each Other, and to agree in friendship and Union; and there fore we declare, Con- siancianty [?], that we think that the annabaptis porswaision is more agreable to the Rules of the Gospel then Any other Oppinion Which we have any knowledge of ; and there fore under this Consideration we ptromas as true Covonant Keepers, as far as we are Inabled, to up hold, Support, and maintain that order of worship, and Especially in this Society which we belong to in Easton; and also we do promas to at- tend the publick worship on Lords days, and to incourage our familys in the Same duty as far as we are In abled Convianantly so to do; and also we do promas to Each other that we will attend Society meetings, if they are Leagually warned, for the furtherance of our Establishment and good orders, and the Conducting Some measures for the Support and Bennefit of our Society as a Body Joyned to- gathar ; and also we do agree with Each other that we will do what in us Lies to keep peace among us; and where there is Disagrea- ments, Quarils, or discord we will Vse our indeavours to have them Settled in friendship again, according to Scripture Rules ; and we do promas also that we will be Charitable and helpful to one another in Sickness and Destress, as becomes Rational Creatuers that Lives in Gospel Light. In testimony where of we set our hands as True Covo- nant keepers, from this Second day of September, a.p. 1785.’"? As this was only the first draft of the covenant the names are not appended. This renewed effort probably did some- thing to revive the religious interest for awhile. But four years 1 Papers of Macey Randall. THE BAPTIST SOCIETY. 189 afterward, in 1789, there came a serious crisis, which is referred to thus: “There being a difficulty arisen in the annabaptis Society in the Town of Easton, and an Uneasiness in the minds of the people of the Society,” etc., a meeting is requested by Capt. Ebenezer Tisdale, Capt. Nathan Packard, Benjamin Harvey, David Manley, Abner Randall, and Deacon Isaac Stokes. Ac- cordingly the clerk, Ephraim Randall 2d, calls a meeting for August 17. It was “Earnestly desired that all Persons who are Quallified to act in said meeting for to attend without fail; for it is a thing of grate Importance, and may be the means of peace and good Order.” ! It would be exceedingly interesting to know what this “ Un- easiness” and “thing of grate Importance” was, but no means of information exist. It is certain, however, that the measures adopted at the meeting that was called had no permanent effect. The society had not within it sufficient life to thrive, and was unmistakably on the wane. It continued, however, loyally to rally about its minister as infirmities and age undermined his vigor. He preached as long as he had strength enough, prob- ably until within two or three years of the time of his death, which occurred in February, 1794. His remains were buried in a little cemetery which was just north of the place now occupied by E. W. Gilmore’s hinge-factory. They were disinterred when the ground was broken for that building, and were deposited by his grandson, Caleb Carr, in the cemetery on Washington Street, opposite the Methodist church. With him died the Baptist So- ciety of Easton, after a varied but not prosperous life of about thirty years. The house, and the combined meeting-house and cooper-shop attached, were owned by members of the Baptist Society. It gradually passed by successive purchases into the possession of Caleb Carr, Sr., the son of Eseck. The last pay- ment to heirs of original Baptist owners was a payment of about twenty dollars, made by his grandson Caleb, now living at the advanced age of eighty-nine, and who is universally known as “Uncle Caleb.” The meeting-house, or the cooper-shop, was torn down in 1822. The house was once surrounded by huge apple-trees, most of which were destroyed in the great September gale of 1815. 1 Papers of Macey Randall. 190 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XIII. THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN EASTON CALLS ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, — His PARENTAGE, BIRTH, AND EDUCATION. — FAIR PROSPECT OF A PEACEFUL MINISTRY. — GATHERING CLOUDS.— MR. CAMPBELL’S WIFE A STUMBLING BLOcK.— THE MINISTER SLANDERED.— HE Is DIs- MISSED WITH A RECOMMENDATION. — MINISTRY IN CHARLTON. — DomEsTIc TROUBLE AND DISGRACE. — DISMISSAL AND SAD SUBSE- QUENT EXPERIENCES. — EXTRACT FROM ONE OF HIS SERMONS, — HIs CHILDREN. — “ THE VALE OF TEARS.”’ FTER the death of Mr. Farrar, in September, 1756, the Church of Christ in Easton was without a settled pastor for nearly seven years. Neither this church nor the Presby- terian church felt strong enough to maintain a minister alone, and all attempts to unite or to compromise had failed. Both societies, and with them the religious interests of the town, were in a languishing condition. In 1762, however, the con- tention had spent its force. Death became a peacemaker by removing some of the leading contestants. The town party gained by new arrivals, and they now felt strong enough to settle a man. Accordingly, after a day of solemn fasting and prayer, Mr. Night Sexton received a call. Arrangements were made about salary, and even about ordination. Mr. Sexton, however, after looking carefully into the matter, was not willing to face the difficulties of the situation, and declined to come. Early in 1763 a candidate appears who wins general favor. March 25, after another day of fasting and prayer, the church gives a call to Archibald Campbell. At a town-meeting, April 11, the town concurs in the same. He is offered a salary of sixty-six pounds, thirteen shillings, and four pence. Why so fine a point is given to it as to taper it down to four pence does not appear. But it does denote extreme shrewdness that when it is voted “that Mr. Campbell should git his firewood on the THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. IgI menesterial land the insewing winter,” a committee is appointed “to inspect the same to see that good Timber was not cut for sd fire wood.” Mr. Campbell accepts the call in the following terms :— Lo the Church and Congregation of Easton: DrEaR FRIENDS AND GENTLEMEN, — Having taken under mature and deliberate consideration the invitation which you gave me to settle with you in the arduous and laborious work of the Ministry, on the eleventh of April last past, I think it duty; and therefore I do now accept of your invitation and the proposals which you then made me, depending upon it that you will be ready and willing as your abilities increase, to make any further additions to my salary that shall be thought reasonable, if my necessities require it. And now brethren, I am willing to be ordained to the pastoral charge over you at any time that you and I shall mutually agree on, promising that I will seek you and not yours, that I will remain among you in the faithful dis- charge of my duty, as far and as long as God shall enable me, pro- vided you remain, as I flatter myself you will, a ministerial people. And now my dear brethren, let brotherly love continue ; let us all be of one heart and one mind; let us strive unitedly to promote the peace- ful kingdom of the dear Redeemer among ourselves and on earth ; let us strive to forward each other to the Heavenly Zion above, that we may be each other’s crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus. So wishing that the smiles of Heaven may ever rest upon all your lawful endeavors, I remain your servant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel of Christ. Amen.” ; ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. Easton, June 5th, 1763. Mr. Campbell was ordained August 17, 1763. Rev. Mr. Phipps, of Douglas, preached the sermon. Rev. Mr. Perkins, of Bridge- water, gave the charge. Rev. Mr. Dunbar, of Stoughton, gave the right hand of fellowship. Rev. Messrs. Shaw and Porter, of Bridgewater, also had part. “ The whole ceremony was carried on with great Decency and good Order.’ ? Archibald Campbell came to Easton at the age of twenty- seven years. He was a man whose gifts and antecedents seemed to promise a brilliant and happy future; but could he have fore- seen through what experiences he must pass before his aged 1 Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter, August 25, 1763. 192 HISTORY OF EASTON. head, whitened by the cares and sorrows of more than four- score years, would lie at rest in a plain pine coffin in an un- marked grave, he would have prayed for swift release from life! He was forced in his later years to reflect upon the mystery of that Providence which ordained that years of trouble and anguish should follow a youthful folly, which truth to history forbids us to leave wholly unnoticed. Archibald Campbell was the ninth and youngest child of the Rev, John Campbell, of Oxford, Mass. His father was a man of marked character and superior gifts. He was born in the north of Scotland in 1691, educated at Edinburgh, having the benefits and honors of the University ; was said to have joined the army, espousing the cause of the House of Stuart, and was obliged to leave the country. He came to New England in 1717, married Miss Esther Fairchild, of Boston, and was ordained pastor at Oxford in 1721. He was a great swordsman, was skilled in law and medicine, and a man of influence in Oxford and the neigh- borhood. He died May 25, 1761. Archibald was born in Oxford August 17, 1736, according to his daughter's statement, which varies by the eleven days difference between Old and New Style from the date given by another au- thority. His father was careful to give hima good education. He entered Harvard University at the age of twenty-one years, and graduated in 1761. He is thus referred to in the funeral sermon preached on the death of his father, by the Rev. William Phipps, who afterwards preached Archibald’s ordination sermon :— “ And may a double portion of the Spirit of Wisdom and Grace rest on that Son who has, by his Father’s care and Kindness, been favored with the Advantages of a liberal Education, and who may in due time, if God will (according to the earnest Desire and Hope of his departed Father), devote himself to the Service of God in the Gospel of his Son! And may he be a rich blessing to the Church of God in his Day!” Two of his brothers were not turning out well, and Archibald, if we may judge from his father’s will, was the favorite; for he left him, in addition to one thousand pounds Old Tenor (then worth about one hundred and thirty-three pounds, lawful money), “my apparel of all sorts, my whole library of books, my watch, my gold wrist-buttons, my knee and shoe buckles, and my young THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. 193 black mare, to be well kept and supported on my said Farm sum- mer and winter, cost free, when said Archibald Campbell has no occasion to use her.” November 15, 1762, he married Hannah, daughter of Isaac Barnard, of Sutton, Mass. Not to recognize what is implied in the fact that this was a compulsory marriage, would be to miss the one clew that explains much that otherwise would be unin- telligible in the life of Mr. Campbell. But we must pass it by for the present, as it was not known in Easton for many years after- wards. All that was at first known was, that the Easton church had secured the services of a young man of excellent talent and education, who came to its ministry after a long period of discord and strife had made every one in the parish desirous of peace. He was well fitted to promote peace, and tradition has repre- sented him as a man of popular gifts and affable manners. Mr. Campbell, however, found affairs very much disorganized in the Easton church. The church records were not to be found. Mr. Prentice had probably carried off the records, which he be- gan in 1747. Consequently the covenant was gone, and the church must begin anew. A new covenant was accordingly pre- pared and signed, — which the reader may find in the Appendix to this History. It is noticeable that among the signers are very few of those who were of the Prentice party, and there are less than half the number who signed the covenant of 1747. Dea. James Dean is appointed clerk; Dea. Robert Randall and Joseph Crossman, Sr., are chosen elders, and Samuel Phillips is made “tuner.” The “Christening bason” is brought from Joshua Phil- lips’s house, and all is ready for active religious work. During the first ten years of his ministry Mr. Campbell had one hundred and fifty-six baptisms. Sometimes whole families of children, whose baptism had been neglected during the times of church strife, were baptized at once. There are interesting cases of “ difficulties” between church members, being cases of misrep- resentation, slander, dishonesty, etc., which are settled by wise action and counsel, in which a truly Christian spirit seems to prevail, — giving evidence that the church is under wise and considerate leadership. The years roll by bringing no events of special importance. William Pratt, Jr., and Daniel Littlefield are chosen deacons in 13 194 HISTORY OF EASTON. 1774, and accept and take their seats in the deacon’s pew, Elijah Copeland and Captain Matthew Randall are chosen tuners in 1777. Meantime the Revolutionary War had come on. In our chapter upon that subject we shall see that Mr. Campbell had a good word for the great cause, though his wife was suspected to have Tory proclivities. He had bought for his homestead the house built by Mr. Farrar, not many rods west of the present location of the Almshouse, with the barn and surrounding farm of thirty-five acres, purchasing them of David Keith. Here he lived until June, 1777, when he sold his place to Isaac Lothrop, of Bridgewater, uncle of Howard Lothrop. Not long after this the clouds began to gather about him. The exact nature of these troubles cannot be ascertained. Some things are, however, certain. By some means the story of that early act which led to his compulsory marriage had been whispered among his people. The secret had rankled in his own heart for many years. Such things were not uncommon at the time ; and even church-members thus guilty, after repent- ance and public confession, were “restored to their usual stand- ing” in church and society. But he had made no confession. He had come to them loaded with a sense of shame, but had withheld all knowledge of it, for what no doubt seemed to him sufficient reasons. He was repentant: should he blast his pros- pects and ruin his chance for usefulness in the world by a revela- tion that could benefit no one? Should he not rather, by a devoted life, by consecrated effort, and lowly though secret peni- tence, seek to atone for the misdeed of his ardent youth? So he hoped he might do; so for some years it appeared he would succeed in doing. But alas for any man whose peace depends upon the protection of secrecy! He could not hide from his own heart the fact that all this time he was, however good his reasons for doing it, violating one of the rules of his church, — that of public confession and humiliation. And now the story was known, and he was required, or perhaps volunteered, to per- form the act of repentance. On the 11th day of April, 1779, before the church and congregation to which for sixteen years he had ministered, he made his public confession of an offence that had occurred seventeen years before, and of which he had THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. 195 already bitterly repented! His acknowledgment was voted satis- factory “by the usual signe of lifting up their hands.” For the time the matter rests. Mr. Campbell continued preaching, and there seem to have been the usual number of baptisms and admissions to the church. But it was natural that what had occurred should gradually undermine the minister’s popularity and influence. Two things conspired to the same result. One was the fact that his wife was a woman who neither gained the love nor deserved the respect of any one. She was, let the truth be told, the bane of his life. She never joined his church, and apparently had little sympathy with it. Not only tradition, but direct statements of those who knew them in their later days, and who had been much in their company, represent her as addicted to intoxicating drinks. She was, withal, proud- spirited, and scorned her husband’s simple tastes. Such a wife must have been not only a burdensome cross to the minister, but must have intensified any disaffection that had arisen. The second trouble was, if an apparently trustworthy tradition may be credited, a case of slander. It is said that some person made one of the gravest charges against him that could affect a gentle- man’s honor. Although this charge appears to have been re- tracted upon the dying bed of the slanderer years afterward, the retraction did not come soon enough to prevent the slander, when once started, from doing its venomous work. November 21, 1781, a meeting of the church was held “to enquire Into some Reports prevailing among the People Detrimental to the Rev. Mr. Campbell’s character.” This matter was debated in several meetings. Advice was sought of a convention of minis- ters held at Taunton, February 19, 1782, The slander, after all, does not seem to have made a very deep impression, and the other difficulties do not appear to have been of a very grave character, as the church, February 25, agreed that if “the Pastor would make Christian satisfaction wherein he had acted out of character, they would receive him as their minister.” On the 4th of March such satisfaction was rendered, and “all the brethren voted to Receive him as a Brother, and all excepting two voted to Receive him as their pastor.’ A decided opposition to Mr. Campbell, however, had arisen in the midst of all this trouble, headed by Capt. Matthew Hayward, son of Edward Hayward, 196 HISTORY OF EASTON. Esq.,—— the same who was the leader in the opposition to Mr. Prentice. One of the humorous anecdotes that have come down to us from this period, illustrates the prominence of Captain Hayward in this new trouble of the church with its minister. When Ebenezer Ames was an old man, he was accustomed to go about putting to every one his stereotyped inquiry, “ What’s the news?” Meeting another and quite eccentric old man, who was known by the not very respectful name of Old Drake, Mr. Ames asked, “ Well, Mr. Drake, what’s the news?” “The news,” said Mr. Drake, “is a dream that I had last night. I dreamed that I died and went,— well, you know where I would go if I died. When I got there, I rapped upon the door, and some of Satan’s imps let me in; and I must say I was never treated more hand- somely in my life. By and by Satan himself came in. ‘Hello!’ he said to me, ‘ where did you come from?’ ‘I came from Easton, was my answer. ‘Why, that is where they are having a church quarrel over their minister,’ said Satan: ‘who leads the opposition to him?’ JI told him it was Capt. Matthew Hayward. ‘Good!’ said his Satanic Majesty, ‘that is exactly as well as though I were there myself’” On May 26 Mr. Campbell “ refused Preaching with the People in Easton on account of a Disaffection and a neglect of support, etc.” and on the 4th of July next he asked for a dismission from the pastoral charge of the church in Easton. This brought matters to a crisis, and the church and town joined in calling a small council of neighboring churches for advice. The coun- cil met July 31, 1782, and the following is the report of their action :*— “TJuLy 31, 1782. The Venerable Council met and Imbodied, before whom the Pastor Renewed his Request for a Dismission both to the Chh. & Congregation; & then the Council advised the Pastor & Chh. to a mutual Conferrence In order to see If they Could not Come to some agreement. Accordingly, altho by far the greater Part of the Chh, were unwilling to let their Pastor go, yet at length, because he Earnestly Requested It, & for Peace sake, & because of a Consider- able alienation of affections in the Congregation, they Consented, and In the Presence of the Council Unanimously voted to Dismiss & 1 See second book of Church Records, p. 11. THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. 197 Recommend their Pastor. Further, August 5*", 1782, the Council Read their Result to the Congregation, in which they agreed that It was Best for M! Campbell to leave this People because of Disaffection & alienation that appeared among them, signifying that the Chh. had Dismissed him, & advised the Congregation to Concurr with the Chhs. vote.” It is to be especially noted that the council recommended that Mr. Campbell and the church should confer together again to see if they could not come to some agreement. By this it is evident that no objections of any really serious character to the pastor had been sustained. It is noteworthy also, that “by far the greater Part of the Chh. were unwilling to let their Pastor go,” which confirms the above conclusion. And the good opinion of the parish is proved by the fact, that at the town-meeting next subsequent to this council, the town actually refused to concur with the council in their recommendation to dismiss Mr. Campbell. It is also to be considered that the church unani- mously voted to recommend as well as to dismiss their pastor. All these facts sufficiently prove that the Rev. Archibald Camp- bell, whatever may have been the difficulties and alienations re- ferred to, left the church and town with a good record. It was not until five months after the church’s vote to dismiss him that the town would consent to this action, and it was done then at his earnest solicitation. January 1, 1783, the church renewed their vote, and recommended their retiring pastor to the Gospel ministry in Charlton, and to the confidence of any church where his lot might be cast. And so in company with his coarse and unamiable wife, and with the children who were to do their part towards embittering his lot, he sadly turned his back upon the scenes of his first ministry, which had opened with bright prom- ise, but closed in disastrous eclipse. The previous dealings of the town with its ministers were of such a character that we can now feel no surprise in learning that more than seven years elapsed from the date of his dismissal, before Mr. Campbell re- ceived in full the payment of his just dues. He was installed as pastor in Charlton, January 8, 1783. His life there was in some respects a repetition of his experience in Easton. Beginning with the interest excited by his gifts as a preacher, and by his amiable personal qualities, it was not long 198 HISTORY OF EASTON. before the same dark fate overtook him here that had made his last years in Easton unhappy. His wife was observed to take no interest in his work, preferring, as she now did, the inspiration of the bottle to any that religion had to offer her. Nor was it long before his children began to add to the bitterness of the cup he was forced to drink. It was while Mr. Campbell was in Charlton that Stephen Burroughs, of notorious fame, made that place his home. He was a man of versatile talent, but a counter- feiter, a rake, and a thoroughly unprincipled villain. He taught school in Charlton, and was arrested and brought to court charged with gross improprieties towards some of his pupils. Mr. Campbell was present at the trial, and Judge Robert Treat Paine severely reproved the town of Charlton for hiring, and Mr. Campbell for countenancing, Mr. Burroughs. Mr. Campbell undertook to reply, but was peremptorily silenced by the court. The most damaging thing to be said of Mr. Campbell is that he received a compliment from Burroughs, who wrote that he ‘was a man of feeling, and had expressed his natural repugnance at my imprisonment.” How much occasion Mr. Campbell had to rue the day that made this bad man an acquaintance in his family, may be inferred from the fact that one of his daughters named her son, born before marriage, Hiram Burroughs. Mr. Campbell's eldest son, Archibald, Jr., brought a similar disgrace upon the family name, the victim being his own cousin. It is not therefore strange that our sorrow-stricken minister, whose influence for good was now destroyed, and whose heart was burdened by a triple load of shame, should wish to leave this second scene of trouble and sorrow. Accordingly, at his own request, he was dismissed from his ministry in Charlton, April 9, 1793,—a ministry of ten unhappy years. He did not have the heart to settle again, though he lived for twenty-five years after- wards, preaching occasionally as opportunity offered. Mr. Campbell’s failure to settle again was from no loss of ability, and from no decline of religious interest. There is evidence, as we have said, that he was a man of superior gifts as a preacher ; and his services, but for his family, would anywhere have been eagerly sought. By great good fortune, and through the kind- ness of the Rev. T. S. Hubbard, of Stockbridge, Vt., the writer has in his possession a manuscript sermon by Mr. Campbell. A THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. 199 portion of it will be given below. It shows exceptional ability of composition and much rhetorical power. Its theology is anti- quated, for its doctrine of the atonement, which represents Christ as actually suffering under the wrath of an incensed God, long since gave way to a more rational and merciful theory. But it is full of feeling and power. It shows a heart deeply affected by love of Christ, and thoroughly permeated and possessed with a devout and adoring faith. The first page, with the text, is miss- ing. The following selection will be read with interest; and it will prove that the troubles that had poured like a flood upon him had not weakened, and may even have intensified, his faith and love :— “He whose Dignity is unchangeable, undevided, and all his own, he vouchsafed to wear a Body of Clay ; he was content to appear as a Bloody Eclipse, shorn of his Resplendant Beams, and surrounded with a night of horror which knew not one Reviving Ray. Thus he has impowered his Church to tread the world under her feet, and inspired with the hope of Brighter glory, of more enduring Bliss, to triumph over all the vain anxieties and vainer amusements of this sub- lunary transitory world. He who has the Controll of the Lightnings that formerly laid in ashes the Licentious Abodes of Lust and Vio- lence, that will ere long set on fire the elements, and Co-operate in the Conflagration of the globe ; He Who Directs you when to sally and when to strike ; He who Commissions your whirling bolts whom to kill and whom to spare, — He Resigned his Sacred Person to the most Barbarous indignities, Submitted his Beneficent hands to the Ponder- ous hammer and the Piercing nail, yea, withheld not his heart from the stab of the executioners spear; and instead of flashing Confusion on his outrageous tormenters, instead of striking them Dead to the earth, or Plunging them into the Depths of Hell with his power, he Cried in his last expiring moments, and with his agonizing lips he Cried, ‘Father, Forgive them, for they know not what they Do!’ A Pattern of Patience for his saints! What an object of admiration for angels! Hence it is that we are not trembling under lightnings of Mount Sinai; that we are not blasted by the flames of Divine Vean- gence, or Doomed to Dwell with everlasting burnings. He, instead of Discharging the furiousness of his wrath upon a guilty world, Poured out his Prayers and Sighs, Poured out his very soul for me and my fellow transgressors, that by Virtue of his inestimable 1 Rev, xii. 1. 200 HISTORY OF EASTON. Propitiation the overflowings of Divine good-will might be extended to sinful men, that the skies might Pour Down righteousness, and peace with her Downy wings and balmy Blessings might Descend and dwell on the earth. He uttered a infantile cry in the stable, and strong expiring groans on the accursed tree, that he might in the gentlest accents whisper peace to our souls, and at length tune our Voices to the melody of heaven. “ He, in the unutterable bitterness of his spirit, was without any Com- forting sense of his almighty father’s Pressence ; he, when his bones were burnt up like a fire brand with the flames of avenging wrath, had not one Drop of that sacred Consolation which on many of his af- flicted servants has been Distilled like the evenings Dew and given songs in the night of Distress, that from this unallayed and inconsole- able anguish of our all-glorious Master we, as from a well of salva- tion, might Derive large Draughts of spiritual Refreshment. He through all his life was arrayed in the humble garb of Poverty, and at his exit wore the gorgeous garment of Contempt, in-so-much that even his own familiar friends, ashamed or afraid to own him, ‘hid as it were their faces from him’ (Isa. liii. 3), to teach us a becoming Disdain for the unsubstantial and transitory glitter of all worldly vani- ties, to introduce us in Robes brighter than the tinges of the Resplen- dant arch, even in the Robes of his own immaculate righteosness, to introduce us before that august and venerable throne which the Peacful Rainbow surrounds. As a Pledge of inviolable fidelity and infinite mercy he went, all meek and gentle, like a lamb to the slaughter for us; and as a sheep before her shearer is Dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Thus are we instructed to bear, with Decent magnanimity, . the various assaults of adversity, and to Pass with a becoming tran- quility of temper through the Ruder blasts of injurious treatment ; thus are we Delivered from the unutterably fiercer storms of incensed and inexorable justice, from the fire, the Brimstone, and the horrible tempest which will be the final Portion of the ungodly. He in his holy humanity was arraigned as a Criminal, and though innocence itself, yea the very Pattern of Perfection, was Condemned to die like a Criminal, like the most execrable Miscreant, as a Nuisance to so- ciety, and the very bane of the Public happiness ; he was hurried away to execution and hammered to the gibbet, that by his Blood he might Prepare a Sovreign Medicine to Cure us of a more fatal Distemper than the Pestilence which walketh in Darkness or Destroyeth at noon- day, that he might himself say to our last enemy, ‘O Death, I will be thy Plague! O grave, I will be thy Destruction!’ Ves, the King of heaven and Controller of universal. nature, when Dwelling in a taber- THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. 201 nacle of Clay, was exposed to Chilling Damps and smitten by sultry beams ; the stars in their Midnight watches heard him Pray, and the sun in his Meridian fervors saw him toil: Hence are our frozen hearts Dissolved into a mingled flow of wonder, love, and joy, being Conscious.of a Deliverance from those insufferable flames, which kindled by Divine indignation burn to the lowest hell. Our allglori- ous and everblessed Creator’s head was encircled with the thorny wreath, his face was Defiled with Contemelous spitting, and his Body bathed in a bloody sweat, that we might wear the Crown of glory that fadeth not away. All the waves of vengeance and wrath, of tribula- tion and anguish passed over his crusified body and his agonizing soul, that we might emerge from those Depths of misery, from that abyss of guilt into which we were Plunged by Adam’s fall and more erritreavbly sunk by our own transgressions ; that at last we might be restored to that happy world which is Represented in the vision of god as having ‘no sea’ to Denote its perpetual stability and undis- turbed serenity. He who Blesses the labors of the husbandman, and enriches your well-tilled plains with waving harvests, and Calls forth the staff of life from your furrows, He was no stranger to Corroding hunger and parching thirst. He, alas! ate the Bitter Bread of wo, and had plenteous of tears to Drink; yes, he who supplies all the fountains and currents of water from his own overflowing and inex- haustible liberality, — he, when his nerves were racked with exquisite pain and his Blood inflamed by a Raging fever, Cried, ‘I thirst,’ and was Denied the poor refreshment of a single Drop of water in his great and last extremity, that we having all-sufficiency in all things might abound unto evry good word and work; that we might partake of Richer Daintes than those produced by the fountains or the Dew of heaven, or that proceed from the fatness of the earth; that we might feed on the hidden manna and eat the Bread which giveth life, eternal life to the world, and be filled with the fulness of spiritual Blessings here and hereafter, be satisfied with the fulness of joy which is at god’s Right hand forevermore. “Our Allglorious and everblessed Creator’s head was incircled with a thorny wreath, his face Defiled with spitting, and his Body bathed in a Bloody sweat. He sunk beneath a load of woes, — woes insupportable, but not his own, when he took our inequities upon himself and heaved the more than mountaneous burden from a guilty world. He when sojourning on earth had no Riches but the Riches of Disinterested Benevolence; had no ornament but the or- nament of unspotted purity. Poor he was in his Circumstances and mean in all his accommodations, that we might be Rich in 202 HISTORY OF EASTON. grace and obtain salvation with eternal glory; that we might in- habit the new jerusalem, — that splendid City whose streets are paved with gold.” That this sermon was written in his old age is apparent from this sentence: “For me the author of all blessings became a curse ; for me he hung with streaming veins upon the cross; for me his bones were dislocated and his flesh was torn. O, may I in my little sphere, and amidst the scanty circle of my ac- quaintance, at least whisper these glad, transporting tidings, — whisper them from my old heart.” If at this time he could write with such feeling and power, it is obvious that in his prime he must have been a preacher of uncommon rhetorical ability and fervent religious spirit. The latter half of the sermon is a touching appeal to rouse in his hearers a devout and ardent gratitude to the Redeemer, whose sufferings for their sakes he so vividly portrays. He makes a feeling allusion to the “chil- dren of poverty,’ which must have been wrung from his own hard experience. And in the light of his special sorrows, it is truly pathetic to read these words: “If God pleases to with- hold or take away the affection of children, never presume that thy happiness is blasted because of such disappointment.” Mr. Campbell was fifty-seven years old when he was dismissed from his pastoral charge at Charlton. Few ministers find a new settlement after that age; in these days, at least, their ripe ex- perience and wisdom count little against the desire for younger, fresher, perhaps brighter men. But Mr. Campbell was too dis- couraged and heart-broken to seek another parish. We hear of him for a little while at Cornish, New Hampshire, and it is said he preached a year at Alstead, New Hampshire. He made his home for some time with his brother, Capt. William Campbell, of Put- ney, Vermont. There he might be seen walking on the street, dressed in his small clothes, with silver knee and shoe buckles, and wearing a cocked hat, — the same kind of costume he had worn in Easton. He finally made his home in Stockbridge, Vermont, preaching when he had opportunity. He was there as early as 1802, for at that time he deeded a piece of land in that place to his daughter Sophia. One day a Mr. Littlefield, of Easton, was travelling on horse- back in Vermont, and coming to a pond he stopped his horse THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. 203. to let him drink. A short distance away he saw an old man sitting upon a rock, fishing. He entered into conversation with him, and when he told him that he lived in Easton, Mass., the old man looked up with sudden interest, and with much feeling said: “Easton was once my home. My name is Campbell; I used to preach there; but they were cruel and drove me away, and ruined me.” Poor old man! In the bitterness of his soul it was a relief to ascribe to others the ruin that had been brought upon him by his own family, His cup was nearly full. His wife and one son and daughter had disgraced him ; another son was feeble-minded. And now to the darkness of his soul was added the darkness of bodily sight ; he became blind! What could be more deplorable? He was once the pride of his father’s heart, carefully educated, of excellent gifts, with the prospect of a brilliant and happy future ; and here he was at last, feeble, penniless, and blind,—failure behind him, unhappy remembrances tormenting him. So he dragged out his weary days to the end. Occasionally he preached even after he was blind, being led into the pulpit by some one, and having his hymns and Scripture lesson com- mitted to memory. During these latter days he lived with and was mainly supported by a grandson, Mr. William Demmond, in Stockbridge, who had married Martha, daughter of Archibald Campbell, Jr. The Rev. Archibald Campbell’s wife died May 24, 1814, and his Jot must have thenceforth been a little easier. Kindly death came at last to give rest to his troubled spirit, and, let us hope, to open his blind eyes to the light of everlasting day. He breathed his last July 15, 1818, eighty-two years old. His remains were placed by the side of those of his wife, on Stockbridge Common. There are these two graves unmarked as yet, still possibly able to be identified, but soon destined, we fear, to be forgotten. Of Mr. Campbell’s family little further need be said. Of his first child, Susanna, little is positively known, except that on August 24, 1763, she was baptized by her father. The writer of this history has corresponded with a person in Stockbridge who knew the daughter Sophia, and who says the other daughter “married a shoemaker and went west.” This other daughter must have been Susanna. The son Barnard was deficient in 204 HISTORY OF EASTON, intellect; he knew enough to steal a horse, but not enough to escape being hung for the theft. Two children, John and Hannah, had the good fortune to die young, — John dying at five years of age, and Hannah at three. Their remains, doubtless, have mingled with the dust in unmarked graves in the old ceme- tery in Easton. The son Archibald, before he was sixteen years old, served for two short campaigns in the Revolution- ary War in Rhode Island. He was guilty of gross immorality at Charlton; married, however, and had two children, — Bar- nard, born August 17, 1788, and Martha, born March 22, 1792. His wife then dying, he deserted his children, who were brought up by the Rev. Mr. Campbell their grandfather; and afterward he enlisted in the army, serving under General Wayne. Accord- ing to records at Washington, he is credited with such service, but nothing shows that he received any pay. He is said to have been last heard of in 1803. There was, however, in the Massa- chusetts service from 1811 to 1813, inclusive, an Archibald Camp- bell, who occupied the position and secured the pay of Brigade Quartermaster. The name is so uncommon that it seems quite probable that this may have been the Archibald Campbell, Jr., ‘of whom we are now writing. He disappears from the list of paid officers in 1813. The only other child was Sophia. We are glad to be able to record, that, notwithstanding the eccen- tricities and misdeeds of earlier days, she finally settled down and married, and lived a penitent and Christian life. She mar- ried Walter Pollard, who was in some military service, probably that of 1812-1814. He died at Stockbridge, July 27, 1857, aged 83 years, the same age as Sophia. She outlived him and re- ceived a small pension, and was also helped by the town. One who was acquainted with her, and with whom the writer has corresponded, says of her, “ She was one of the nicest old ladies I ever knew.” By lowly repentance, and by a life of fruits meet for repentance, she atoned for the past, and at last, with faith in redeeming love, she joined the forgiven and the blest. Thus closes the strange and sad story of the Rev. Archibald Campbell and his wayward and eccentric family. While his troubles began with his own misconduct, he was a man “more sinned against than sinning.’ With the one exception named, the writer, after the most diligent and patient search, has found THE REV. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL. 205 no stain upon his record, and no act that could cause him to blush with shame. But his experience illustrates the inexo- rable truth, so often and vividly developed in the writings of George Eliot, that some early departure from the strict line of rectitude may involve evil consequences that seem immensely out of proportion to the error or guilt incurred, or to the punishment originally deserved. We cannot do better than to close this chapter with a poem written by Mr. Campbell, and copied by him upon the last page of the sermon from which selections have already been made. It shows considerable poetic talent, and seems a fitting epitome of his own sad experience. “THE VALE OF TEARS.” In visions which are not of night, a shadowy vale I see, The Path of Pilgrim tribes who are, who have been, or shall be. At either end are lowering clouds impervious to the sight, And frequent shadows veil through out each gleam of Passing light. A Path it is of joys and griefs, of many hopes and fears, Gladdened at times by sunny smiles, but oftener Dimmed by tears. Green leaves are there, — they quickly fade ; bright flowers, but soon they Die; Its Banks are laved by pleasant streams, But soon their Bed is dry. And some that Roll on the last with undiminished force Have lost that limpid purity which graced their early source ; They seem to Borrow in their flow the tinge of Darkening years, And ev’n their mournful murmuring sound befits the vale of tears. Pleasant that valley’s opening scenes appear to Childhood’s view, — The flowers are Bright, the turf is green, the sky above is blew; A Blast may Blight, a beam may scorch, a Cloud may intervene, But lightly marked & soon forgot, they mar not such a scene; Fancy still paints the future Bright, and hope the present cheers, Nor can we Deem the path we tread leads through a vale of tears. But soon, too soon, the flowers that Decked our earthly pathway side Have Drooped and withered on their stalks, and one by one have Died ; The turf by noontide’s heat is seared, the sky is overcast, There ’s thunder in the torrent’s tone, and tempest in the Blast. Fancy is but a phantom found, and hope a Dream appears, And more and more our hearts confess this life ’s a vale of tears. Darker and Darker seems the path, how sad to journey on When hands and hearts which gladdened ours appear forever gone! Some Cold in Death, and some, alas! we fancied could not Chill, Living to self and to the world to us seem colder still. With mournful Retrospective glance we look for brighter years, But tread with solitary steps the thorny vale of tears. 206 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XIV. EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. DIFFICULTIES WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY.— EASTON DISCOURAGES THE USE OF “FORRIN SUPERFLUITIES.”’— EASTON ‘“ DAUGHTERS OF Liperty.” — THE “ LEXINGTON ALARM.” — ENLISTMENTS IN 1775.— ENLISTMENTS IN 1776.— RHODE ISLAND ‘“ ALARMS.” — ENLISTMENTS IN 1777. AND 1778.— EASTON MEN AT VALLEY FORGE. — LATER ENLISTMENTS. — CONTINENTAL CURRENCY AND ITS DEPRECIATION. — Toriges. — BIOGRAPHIES OF EASTON MILITARY OFFICERS: CAPTAINS ELIsHA HARVEY AND JAMES KEITH; COLONEL ABIEL MITCHELL; Cap- TAINS JAMES PERRY, MATTHEW RANDALL, JOSIAH KEITH, MAcEY WILLIAMS, SETH PRATT, AND EPHRAIM BuRR.— BRIGADIER—GENERAL BENJAMIN TUPPER AND MAJOR ANSELM TUPPER. HE difficulties with the Mother Country which finally cul- minated in the Revolutionary War date back eleven years before that memorable struggle began. In 1763 the colonies were fervently attached to England and the English Constitution. In 1764, however, contrary to the judgment of William Pitt and some of the liberal minds of England, it was decided to levy taxes on the colonies in order to defray the ex- penses of the long war which had just closed. This policy roused the opposition of this country, our people taking the just ground that taxation without representation was a dangerous form of oppression. The colonists were not allowed to export their pro- ducts to any country except England. Sheep-raising and weav- ing woollen cloth were discouraged by an Act of Parliament which forbade the exportation of wool, or even its transportation across the line of one province into another. They were not allowed to print a Bible, and none was printed here until after the land became free. In this land of the beaver, no one could be a hatter who had not served an apprenticeship of seven years. The duties on imports were largely increased. What brought the matter closely home to the people of Easton was the fact that slitting-mills and forges, of which there were several here, were pronounced by this same Act to be “nuisances.” EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 207 And now, most odious of all, the Stamp Act, which had re- ceived the royal sanction March 22, 1765, was on the Ist of November to go into effect! The act was not of itself espe- cially severe. It merely provided that deeds, notes, marriage. certificates, and other legal documents should be written on stamped paper, — the money for the sale of this paper going to the Government. What caused the intense excitement about it in the colonies was that it involved the unjust principle of taxa- tion without representation. The excitement of course extended to Easton. One curious indication of this—an indication also that our townsmen were not entirely unanimous on the subject — may be seen in the “Boston Gazette” of December 23, 1765. It is as follows :— “ We hear from Easton, in the county of Bristol, that a certain justice of the peace in said town in conversation said that he would not give the price of his black dog to prevent the Stamp Act’s taking place. Accordingly he had the mortification to find his black dog shot the next morning.” The Stamp Act could not be enforced in the colonies, and on the nineteenth day of March, 1766, its repeal was reluctantly signed by the king. In 1767 new and severe taxes were levied. They were not to be collected until the 20th of November. On the 28th of Octo- ber the people of Boston, in town-meeting assembled, voted to avoid the importation and use of a great number of articles of British manufacture. They appointed a committee to secure the co-operation of the other towns of the Province and of. the other colonies. Easton was appealed to, and made a quick response by summoning its voters to town-meeting on the six- teenth day of November, “to act their minds relating to the Defeculty the Province labours under,” etc. At this meeting a committee was appointed to consider the best plan of action. This committee, which consisted of Daniel Williams, Esq., Capt. Benjamin Williams, Lieut. Matthew Hayward, Benjamin Pettin- gill, and Henry Howard, made their report at an adjourned meeting, which was held on the 7th of December. The follow- ing business was enacted : — 1 See Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. v. p. 265 ed seg. 208 HISTORY OF EASTON. “ Whareas this Province labours under a heavey Debt in curd in the course of the late Ware, and the inhabitance by that means must be subjected to very Burdensum taxes, and our medeum very scarce, chiefly Ocationd by the excessive Use of forrin Superfluities and the Neglect of cultivating and improving the Natural advantages of our own Country,— therefore Voted that the Town will take all Prudant & legal measurs to Promote industry, Oeconeme, and manufactors, and to lessen the Use of forrin Superfluities by industreously cultivating and improving the Natural advantages of our own Country. The above Was Voted Unanimusly.” 4 The importation of British goods was thus greatly discouraged. People determined to forego their use as much as possible. Threadbare clothes became fashionable. The noise of spin- ning-wheels and shuttles was heard in our homes. “Every day the humor spread for being clad in homespun.” One great sav- ing was that made at funerals. A singular custom had prevailed of giving away great numbers of mourning gloves, handkerchiefs, ribbons, etc. to those who attended funerals. The following from the “ Boston Gazette” of December 14, 1767, will show how Boston started a reform in this particular : — “The practice of the Town relative to Funerals is to give Gloves only to Bearers and Ministers ; to make Use of no other Mourning for the nearest Relations than a Weed in the Hat for Men, and a black Bonnet, Gloves, Ribbons, and Handkerchiefs for Women. Fifteen Hundred or Two Thousand Pair of British-made Gloves have been given or rather thrown away at one Funeral before the new practice took Place; and such Families in Boston as then expended £100 Sterling or £150 Sterling on those occasions, now expend scarcely 48. What a Saving will there be to the Province in this grand particular!” In order to make up for the deficiency of imported goods, associations of patriotic ladies were formed in many towns to spin and knit and weave. These associations called themselves “Daughters of Liberty.” Sometimes they met at the house of the minister, working the entire day, and leaving the results of their labor as a gift to the minister’s wife. In the Boston papers of that period there were many accounts of such gatherings. 1 Old Town Records, vol. ii. p. 58. EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 209 One can easily imagine how animated must have been the scene, where the busy hum of spinning-wheels and the lively sound of many voices made music the whole day long. At Bridgewater the Daughters of Liberty adopted the plan of doing the work at home, and carrying the results of their labor to the minister's house afterwards. Easton had its associa- tion of these Daughters, and they adopted the same plan as that of their sisters of Bridgewater. In the “Boston Gazette” of October 24, 1774, was published the following interesting account : — “We hear from Easton that on Thursday the 13th Instant 53 of the amiable Daughters of Liberty met at the House of the Rev. Mr. Campbell, about One O’clock in the Afternoon, and presented Mrs. Campbell with Two Hundred and Eighty Skeins of Cotton, Linnen, Worsted, Woolen, and Tow Yarn, likewise some pieces of Cloth, Stock- ings, &c.; then they all Walked in Orderly Procession to the Meeting- House, where a sermon was Preached suitable to the Occasion by their Rev. Pastor ; and after Divine Service they return’d in the same orderly Procession to the Rev. Mr. Campbell’s House, where they pleasantly regail’d themselves with Cakes, Cheese, and Wine, and then they seasonably retir’d to their respective Families. The whole was Conducted with the greatest Decency and good order ; every Counte- nance indicated a Noble Spirit for Liberty and the promotion of our own Manufactures.” The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts directed the people of the Province to perfect themselves in military skill, and each town to provide a stock of arms and ammunition. Accordingly Easton at once called a town-meeting, and voted the sum of twenty-four pounds sterling “to purchase a stock of powder, bullets, and flints for the town.” This was Novem- ber 15, 1774. The two military companies of the town were equipped, and there was constant practice in military drill. Eliphalet Leonard, Jr., had begun the manufacture of firearms at what is now called the Marshall place, and the need of the two Easton companies in this particular was therefore readily supplied. The conviction was daily growing stronger that war was inevitable, and the winter was spent in making ready for the emergency. 14 210 HISTORY OF EASTON. A.D. 17 45. The towns of the Province were urged by the Provincial Congress to have men ready to take the field at a moment’s notice. In response to this appeal of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, Easton took the following formal action :— “ At a Town meating of the inhabitants of the Town of Easton on Munday the 3d day of April, a.p. 1775, the Town made choice of Mr. Joseph Gilbert moderator for sd meating; then the Town voted to Rais fifty minute [men], twenty-five out of each Military Company in sd. Easton; then the town voted that the said minit men should be Paid for the time they should be cauld fourth to action against an Enemie ; then the meating Was Dismist.” No one foresaw how soon these men would be called into active service. On the night of the 18th of April, 1775, eight hundred British troops crossed in boats from the foot of Bos- ton Common to East Cambridge, and about midnight began their march to Concord to destroy the military stores which had been collected there. Secret as the movement was, it did not escape the vigilance of the watchful patriots. Signal lights were hung from the tower of the North Church, and Paul Revere and others hastened to spread the alarm to the neighboring towns. The memorable fight at Lexington and Concord, and the disastrous retreat of the British on the 19th are well-known incidents in our glorious Revolutionary struggle. It was just past midday when a galloping horseman came dashing through the town of Easton, bringing to our people the startling intelligence that the Middlesex farmers had fired the first shot for Independence! Messengers hurried imme- diately to every part of the town calling the minute men to arms, and before nightfall two companies, numbering respec- tively forty-seven and fifty men, were on their way to the scene of action. Late in the day the company commanded by Captain Abiel Mitchell was seen marching, to the stirring music of fife and drum, along the old Stoughton turnpike. It is fitting that the names of our ancestors of Easton who took part in the memorable struggle that made our country free, EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 211 should be handed down to posterity. The following is the “Muster Roll of Capt. Abial Mitchell who was down at the Alarm ” :1— Abiel Mitchell, Captazn. Jacob Leonard, Lzeutenant. Silas Kinsley, Zxs¢gn (died May 19). Matthew Randall, Sergeant. Daniel Niles, Sergeant. Dominicus Record, Sergeant. . Seth Manley, Corgorad. Jonah Fobes, Corporal. Benjamin Kinsley, Corporal. Samuel Stone, Jr., Corporal. John Mears, Drummer. Seth Watkins, Fzfer. Parmenas Ames. William Adams. William Lawson. Jacob Phillips. Silas Phillips. Amasa Phillips. Henry Howard. Hezekiah Drake. David Dunbar. Noah Drake. Nathaniel Packard. Joseph Hayward. Isaac Lincoln. Roger Conant. Jonah Drake. Zachariah Drake. John Holmes. Alexander Keith. William Lindsey. Nehemiah Randall. James Randall. John Randall. Hopestill Randall. Jonathan Harris. Simeon Keith. Joseph Drake, y* 3d. John Stone. William Pratt. James Packard. Daniel Fobes. John Woodcock. Nathan Woodcock. - Oliver Phillips. Ephraim Randall. Thomas Fling. This company was mainly from the east part of the town. Another, commanded by Capt. Macey Williams, immediately fol- lowed, and going by the old Bay road took up their night march for the scene of action. Macey Williams, Captazn. Josiah Keith, Lzeutenant. Elijah Howard, Exsign. David Keith, Sergeant. Jonathan Pratt, Sergeant. William Randall, Sergeant. Ebenezer Woods, Sergeant. Clement Drake, Corporal. Isaac Fuller, Corporal. Seth Littlefield, Corporal. 1 State Archives, Revolutionary Rolls, vol. xiii. p. 16. Their names are as follows :2?— Samuel Gilbert, Corporal. Jonathan Keith, Drummer. John Dunbar. Francis Goward. Marlborough Williams. Seth Williams. Jacob Allen. Joseph Hanks. John Woods. Francis Woods. 2 Ibid., p. 160. HISTORY OF EASTON. Daniel Woods. William Bonney. Joshua Stearns. Edward Kingman. Benjamin Kingman. Lewis Gilbert. Amasa Record. John Williams. David Clarke. Edward Williams. Ammiruhami Kimball. Paul Lincoln, Amariah Wood. Anthony Hayward.! Ebenezer Bruce. Nathan Gibbs. Nathaniel Gilbert. Seth Keith. Phineas Allen. Stephen Thayer. Lemuel Andrews. Thomas Drake. Ebenezer Bisbee. Stoughton Willis. Edward Keith. Zephaniah Lothrop. Matthew Keith. Benjamin Merrifield. Elijah Williams. John Dailey. The battles of Lexington and Concord were over, and the British soldiers had retreated to Boston before our two Eas- ton companies arrived upon the scene. They remained in the field from seven to eleven days, when it appeared that the immediate emergency was over, and they returned home. It was now the 28th of April. On the 4th of May a town- meeting was held. It was voted that the committee of inspec- ‘tion should be a committee of correspondence also. These “committees of correspondence and safety” were appointed at the suggestion of that sturdy patriot Samuel Adams, and they rendered efficient service in keeping the several towns informed of the state of affairs, and in pointing out to them the manner in which they could best aid the great cause of liberty. The soldiers who responded to the Lexington alarm having returned, enlistments of men for three and six months’ service were encouraged. The town voted at this meeting to supply with blankets those who enlisted. The Easton men who enlisted at this time were mainly in the companies of Capt. Francis Luscomb, of Taunton, and Capt. Macey Wil- liams, of this town. Some, whose names are given below, were, however, in other companies. Captain Luscomb formed a company, upon the muster-roll of which appear the following Easton names :?— 1 This Anthony Hayward was a slave, the property of Matthew Hayward. 2 State Archives, Revolutionary Rolls, vol. xv. p. 57; Military Papers, vol. lvi. p. 141; Coat Rolls, vol. i. p. 141. EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 213 Matthew Randall, Lzeutenant. Seth Pratt, Zxsign. Daniel Niles, Sergeant. Dominicus Record, Sergeant. Seth Manley, Corporal. Jonah Fobes, Corporal. Samuel Stone, Corporal. John Mears, Drum & Fife. Silas Phillips. Amasa Phillips. William Pratt, ye 3d. James Packard. Ebenezer Phillips. Hezekiah Drake. Ebenezer Dickerman. Daniel Fobes. William Adams. Henry Howard. Simeon Burr. Bartimeus Hewett. Joseph Drake, ye 3d. Joseph Hanks. David Dunbar. John Holmes. Noah Drake. Jonathan Harris. Simeon Keith. Solomon Randall. Isaac Lincoln. Nehemiah Randall. William Lawson. John Stone. Oliver Lincoln. James Stone. Abiah Manley. John Turner. Samuel Manley. David Taylor. John Woodcock. Of this company, John Turner died July 30, Joseph Hanks September 2d, John Woodcock the 11th, and Jonathan Harris the 19th of the same month; and Daniel Niles, November 2. Captain Luscomb’s company served for six months, beginning May 3, in the vicinity of Boston, which was then held by the British. Capt. Macey Williams’s company was enlisted about the same time and for the same service. The names of the Easton men in this company are as follows :!— Macey Williams, Captain. Daniel Wood. Lemuel Gilbert, Sergeant. Thomas Willis. Marlborough Williams, Corgoral. Ebenezer Vining. Unite Keith, /zer. Jonathan Knapp. Lewis Gilbert. Joshua Stearns. Elijah Williams. Ruel Keith. Matthew Keith. Nathan Gibbs. Clement Drake. Seth Williams. Jacob Thayer. Zephaniah Lothrop. Stephen Thayer. Timothy Gilbert. Ebenezer Gibbs. Japheth Keith. Moses Downe. 1 State Archives, Revolutionary Rolls, vol. xvi. p. 80; Military Papers, vol. lvi. p- 137; Coat Rolls, vol. i. p. 37. 214 HISTORY OF EASTON. Of this company Matthew Keith died September 21, 1775. It will be observed that most of the men in these two companies were among those who went out on the Lexington alarm. Their names are given here because they served at this time from three to six months. They were in the twenty-second regiment, com- manded by Col. Timothy Walker. Easton furnished four other captains during this year; two of them were in Col. Paul D. Sargent’s regiment. They had in their companies but few Easton men, whose names are given below:!— | James Keith, Captain. David Keith. Nehemiah Keith. Another company? contained — James Perry, Captain. David Mehurin. John Woods, Corporal. Nathan Gibbs. Cornelius Gibbs. William Hayward. In the same regiment, and in a company of which Frederic Pope was captain, were the following Easton men :? — Elijah Turner, Sergeant. Hugh Washburn. Robert Hill, Corporal. Jonah Drake. Nathaniel Packard. Seth Drake. Nathaniel Stone. One of these men, Nathaniel Packard, died September 10. In another company, commanded by Capt. John Porter, were the following :4— Isaac Fuller, Lzeutenant. Benjamin Hanks. Oliver Mann, Corporal. Abraham Howard. John Freelove. James Manley. Oliver Phillips. James Manley died November 22. In Captain Badlam’s com- pany, of Colonel Gridley’s regiment, was Seth Watkins. In Captain Curtis’s company, of Col. Ephraim: Leonard’s regiment, was Anthony Hayward. Moses Hayward enlisted in Capt. Daniel Lothrop’s company, of Col. John Bailey’s regiment.’ 1 State Archives, Revolutionary Rolls, vol. xv. p. 49. 2 Tbid., p. 87. 3 Thid., vol. xvi. p. 5. # Ibid, p. 16. 5 Tbid., vol. lvi. p. 267. 6 Ibid, p. 18. 7 Ibid., p. 53. EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 215 The names of the Easton volunteers already noted comprise all who served from this town during the year 1775. Those enlisting after the Lexington alarm, and those for the eight months’ service, were entitled to a coat as bounty. After their return they sent in their orders for the coats. The follow- ing are copies of orders of that kind:— Mr. Richard Devins, Paymaster : Sir, —I desire you to let Hopestill Randall the bearer hereof have the coat [for uniform], or cash or both, that is due to my late husband Sergt. Daniel Niles, who deceased Nov. 2nd, 1775 ; and he did belong to Capt. Luscomb’s company under Colonel Walker. pee administratrix ELIZABETH X NILES of mark the estate Easton, December y® 26, A. D. 1775. Accompanying this paper was the following : — To the Committee of Cloathing at Watertown : This may Certify that Elizabeth Niles hath taken out letters of administration on the estate of her late husband Daniel Niles, who deceased on the 2d day of last Nov.; and we look upon it that she has a right to draw the coat money. TIMOTHY RANDALL }) Selectmen of Epruraim RANDALL Easton Easton, January y® 13th, 1776. ' “Solomon Randall, Amasa Phillips, Bartimeus Hewett, William Adams, inhabitants of the town of Easton in Capt. Luscomb’s Co., & acknowledged the receipt of a coat each from David Manley, of Easton.” ZZ s. a. Two coats: three yards & half at seven eights wide . . - 2 5 4 Two coats: three yards & quarter at seven eights wide. . 2 2 8 Francis Luscoms, Cafz. MatrHew Ranpatt, Lieut.* Roxpury Camp, Nov. ye 14, 1775. Concerning the fate of Daniel Niles, alluded to above, there is something very interesting stated in the N. E. Historical and 1 State Archives, Military Papers, vol. lvii. p. 14. 2 Ibid. p. 14. 3 Tbid., p. 14. 216 HISTORY OF EASTON. Genealogical Register for 1856. At this date there was stand- ing at the intersection of Austin and South streets, in Jamaica Plain, a house known as the Commodore Loring Mansion. It was built in 1760, and was confiscated and used as a hospital during the Revolutionary War. Daniel Niles was sick in this hospital, with some of his companions. Those who died were buried about a quarter of a mile behind the hospital. In 1856 there were about thirty graves still to be seen; but among all the head-stones at the place there was only one that showed the mark of the graver’s tool, and in this the carving was well executed, and read as follows :— “ Here lies y° Body of sergt Dan! Niles, of Easton, who died Nov? y° 2"' a. D., 1775. Aged 41 years.”? In the same company with Sergeant Niles were four compan- ions from Easton, who died about the same time, — John Turner, Joseph Hanks, John Woodcock, and Jonathan Harris. It is probable that their remains lie beside those of their comrade, but in unmarked graves. Throughout this eventful year of 1775, the design of separat- ing from the Mother Country had not developed except in the minds of some of the boldest and most far-seeing of the patriots, like Samuel Adams. Our town-meetings continued to be called / “in his Majesty's name.” It was not until May, 1776, that this phrase was dropped, and our people, knowing that the die was cast, issued their warrants for town-meetings “in the name of the government and people of Massachusetts’ Bay.” During 1775 Eliphalet Leonard and Benjamin Pettingill represented the town in “ Congress,” — by which is meant the “ Provincial Con- gress” of Massachusetts, as the General Court was several times called. A.D. 1776. It is now the year 1776. Boston is in the hands of the British, and is closely beleaguered by the American forces commanded by Washington. Little is being done during the winter months in the way of active operations, and most of the Easton militia return to their homes. At a town-meeting of 1 N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register, 1856, p. 23. EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 217 February 21, a committee is appointed to take charge of such of the “ Poor of Boston” as were in this town. The passage of the Boston Port Bill in March 1774, preventing that town from being a port of entry, had paralyzed business and caused great distress. Many of the country towns, including our own, received numbers of those thus impoverished, or of refugees who left Boston on its occupation by the British, and kindly supplied their needs. The Committee of Correspondence and Safety at this time are Maj. Abial Mitchell, Benjamin Pettingill, Jacob Leonard, Joshua Phillips, Samuel Guild, and George Ferguson. In the next March meeting the Committee of Correspondence and Safety who are chosen are Joshua Phillips, Seth Pratt, Lem- uel Willis, Joseph Gilbert, Thomas Manley, Jr., Abisha Leach, and Edward Hayward. One of the greatest difficulties encoun- tered by General Washington was that of securing ammunition. In order to assist in its supply, Easton votes that this committee shall ‘Incorage the manufacturin of Sault Peter in this town.” March, 17, owing to the skilful occupation and fortification of Dorchester Heights by Washington, the British were forced to evacuate Boston in haste. In the following June, on the first anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, a notable town-meeting was held in Easton. It was voted that “If the Honerable Con- tinantal Congress for the safety of .the United Colonies Declare them indepandent of Great Breton, we ingage, Even at the Resque of life and fortin, to do Whatever is in our Power to Soport them in sd. measure.” And before the citizens met again, the famous Declaration of Independence was adopted. July 17 it was ordered in Council that a copy of the same be sent to every minister of each denomination in the Province, to be read to the various congregations on the first Sunday after its reception, as soon as divine service was ended in the after- noon. It was a most interesting occasion when, on the following Sunday, the Rev. Archibald Campbell, the minister of Easton at that time, read that heart-stirring document to an eagerly listen- ing audience, many of whom heard it then for the first time. Every one saw that a long and desperate struggle of the feeble colonies with a powerful nation was inevitable. It was also ordered by the Council that after the reading of this document each minister should hand it to the town-clerk, who should copy 218 HISTORY OF EASTON. it in full into the town records. This was done here, the town- clerk who proudly performed that office being Matthew Hayward. Great exertions were made to prepare our militia for active ser- vice. Benjamin Pettingill was sent to Providence, and Colonel Mitchell elsewhere, for powder. Ephraim Randall, one of the selectmen, made two journeys to Watertown to procure blankets. Capt. Zephaniah Keith was delegate to the General Court at Cambridge. At the beginning of 1776, Capt. James Perry raised a com- pany of men for active service. Among them were the following Easton men :1— James Perry, Captain. Edward Kingman. Nathaniel Perry, Sergeant. Cornelius Gibbs. Francis Woods. Robert Owen. Timothy Gilbert. Seth Macomber. Ebenezer Gibbs. John Dailey. Thomas Gibbs. Jacob Thayer. Japheth Keith. These men enlisted for three months, and afterwards re- enlisted. Edward Kingman was killed near Stillwater, Septem- ber 19, 1777. In Capt. Daniel Lothrop’s company, of Colonel Craft’s regi- ment of artillery,? there were Seth Watkins, corporal, and William Adams, gunner. In Capt. Isaac Thayer’s company, of Col. Thomas Marshall’s regiment, William Randall was lieutenant® Three drafted men were in the company of Capt. Joshua Wil- bore, in Col. Ebenezer Francis’s regiment. Their names were Daniel Keith, Joab Willis, and Henry Farr. In Capt. Simeon Leach’s company, in Colonel Gill’s regiment “that marched to the assistance of the Continental troops when they fortified the Heights of Dorchester,” there were, March 24, 1776, Joseph Belcher and Benjamin Crosswell.6 This Belcher was a son of the Rev. Joseph Belcher. The son Joseph was living at Stoughton. Benjamin Crosswell was afterward known s “Priest’”’ Crosswell. He lived near the Stoughton line, east 1 State Archives, Revolutionary Rolls, vol. xlvii. p. 236. * Tbid., vol. xxxviii. p. go. 8 Ibid., vol. xxv. pp. 91, 113. 4 Ibid., vol. xxiv. p. 8 5 Tbid., vol. xx. p. 186. EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 219 of Washington Street. He enlisted again April 18, in Capt. Robert Swan’s company, of Stoughton, for twenty-four days’ service in Rhode Island. Although the British had evacuated Boston in March, troops were kept on duty in and about the place during the war. In June and July Matthew Randall, who had risen from the rank of ensign to that of captain, had a company encamped at Hull, and afterward at Castle Island. The Easton men in it were?— Matthew Randall, Captain. Elijah Pratt. John Holmes, Sergeant. Solomon Randall. John Mears, Drummer. John Simons. John Allen. Shion Turner. Seth Burr. David Taylor. William Crossman. Daniel Dailey. Josiah Jordan. Jacob Keith. Isaac Lincoln. Jacob Williams. Fortune Conking.® William Hayward. William Turner. Nathan Finney. Abiah Manley. Rufus Smith. Daniel Macomber. William Lawson. On the 8th of December, 1776, the customary congregation had gathered in the Easton meeting-house. There were moist eyes when the minister, Mr. Campbell, prayed for the country, and especially for those who had gone from this place to fight its battles. He had begun his sermon, when in the distance was heard the hurried clatter of horse’s hoofs. It came nearer and nearer. The minister paused, and the congregation waited breathless for what they felt must be evil tidings, and might be news of immediate danger. The horseman drove to the door, jumped from his saddle, and alarmed the people assembled by saying that the British had landed at Newport, and that every one must march immediately to oppose their progress. With a few words of earnest exhortation the minister dismissed the congregation, nearly all the able-bodied of whom hurried home to make ready for the march. Before the day was over the two companies of militia, commanded respectively by Capt. Matthew 1 State Archives, Revolutionary Rolls, vol. iii. p. 156. ° Tbid., vol. xxii. p. 185; vol. xxiii. p. 72; vol. xxv. p. 43. 3 Probably a Slave. 220 HISTORY OF EASTON. Randall and Capt. Josiah Keith, were hurrying toward the scene of action. It seems that two English and two Hessian brigades, under the command of General Clinton, had come from New York, and on the 7th of December had taken possession of Newport. Rhode Island could offer no adequate resistance, and therefore the militia was summoned from the other New England colonies in order to prevent an invasion of the country, should that be attempted. It was said that the enemy intended to march to Boston by way of Providence. From this time for three years, as we shall see, there were continual alarms, and a good deal of what is called “Rhode Island service ” for the militia of the vicinity. The British were closely watched all the time, and there were occasional skirmishes of an unimportant character. The two companies that went from here served until the end of the month. The following is the list of names that were on the pay-roll of Captain Randall’s company, in Col. George Williams’s regiment :*— Matthew Randall, Capéazn. Seth Pratt, Lzeutenant. Edward Hayward, 2d, 2d Lieutenant. Dominicus Record, Clerk. Benjamin Kinsley, Sergeant. Thomas Drake, Sergeant. Lemuel Willis, Sergeant. Samuel Manley, Sergeant. Robert Drake, Corporal. Abner Randall, Corporal. John Stone, Corforal. Abner Phillips, Corporal. John Mears, Drummer. Parmenas Ames. Jarvis Randall. David Dailey. Henry Farr. Jonathan Randall. William Pratt. Elijah Pratt. Shion Turner. Reuben Manley. Samuel Stone. John Randall. . Joseph Drake, ye 3d. Benjamin Fobes. Thomas Fling. Daniel Fobes. Edward Hayward. David Dunbar. Benjamin Drake, y* 3d. Ebenezer Hayward. Ebenezer Hanks. John Lothrop. James Packard. Rufus Smith. Hugh Washburn. John Cameron. Alexander Burt. Samuel Mears. Thomas Randall. Hopestill Randall. Samuel Packard. Joseph Hayward. 1 Bancroft’s United States, vol. ix. p. 200. 2 State Archives, Revolutionary Rolls, vol. iii. p. 114. EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 221] William Lindsey. Nathan Woodcock. William Lawson. Francis Drake. Josiah Keith, Captain. David Keith, Lieutenant. Lemuel Andrews, Sergeant. Phineas Allen, Sergeant. William Bonney, Sergeant. Alexander Keith, Sergeant. Edward Williams, Corporal. George Ferguson, Corporal. Daniel Macomber, Corporal. Benjamin Pettingill, Jr., Corpora/. Zebediah Kinsley, Fzfer. Isaac Lincoln. David Taylor. Zachariah Drake. Fortune Conking. The second company which marched the same day was Cap- tain Keith’s, in Col. John Daggett’s regiment, as follows :1— William Howard. Isaac Lothrop. Nathan Lothrop. Edmund Macomber. Ichabod Randall. Job Randall. Jesse Randall. John Williams. Macey Williams. Abijah Felch. Pendleton Britton. Elijah Copeland, Drummer. Samuel Keith. Benjamin Pettingill. John Britton. Philip Britton. Jacob Williams. Elisha Dean. Francis Woods. Nathan Finney. Joseph Woods. Amariah Woods. In addition to those already named as in the Rhode Island service for this occasion were John Keith and Freeman Keith, who were drafted into Capt. Isaac Hodges’s company, in Colonel Francis’s regiment.2, Benjamin Pettingill, Jr., also served in this company, as well as in that last named. In the company of Capt. Eliakim Howard, in Col. Edward Mitchell's regiment that marched to Braintree, March 4 of this year, there were from Easton? David Wade, William Hanks, Joshua Howard, and Simeon Keith. In a list of death-records kept by Timothy Randall a century ago is the following record: “Ebenezer Smith, Deceased with Sickness Sepr. 23, 1776, at Ticonderoga, in the army.” On the State muster-rolls Ebenezer Smith is named as ensign in Jan- uary, 1776, at Ticonderoga; he was in Captain Marshall’s com- pany, of Col. Asa Whitcomb’s regiment. In October he was 1 State Archives, Revolutionary Rolls, vol. ii. p. 135. 2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 86. 3 Ibid., vol. xix. p. 216. 222 HISTORY OF EASTON. promoted to be second lieutenant, and before December fol- lowing he was made first lieutenant in Capt. Noah Allen’s company. This does not agree with the Randall death-record just quoted, which is evidently an error as to date. As Ds 1777s On the 28th day of February the selectmen and the Com- mittee of Correspondence and Inspection held a meeting in order to fix the prices of labor and of all articles of merchan- dise. This action was authorized by an act of the General Court, and seemed justified by the fluctuation of prices at the time, and by the advantage which was taken of this fluctua- tion by covetous persons. According to the schedule of prices then adopted, farm labor might vary from, but could not ex- ceed, two or three shillings a day, according to the season of the year. Wheat was set at seven shillings and six pence, corn at four shillings, rye at five, and oats at two shillings a bushel. “Good grass-fed beef” was six pence a pound, cheese six, and butter ten pence; pork four pence half-penny, milk two pence a quart, veal three pence a pound, mutton and lamb three pence half-penny. Beans were six shillings a bushel, turnips one shilling six pence; “good Spanish Petatoes” were one shilling and four pence in the fall, and one and eight pence in the spring. ‘Good Marchantable Westindia Rum at seven shillings ten pence half-penny per galon, and so in proportion according to the usual custom for any smaller quan- tity ;” New England rum was four shillings, eight pence, and two farthings. ‘“Shewing a hors, well stealed heel and too, five shillings and four pence; and shewing a pare of Oxen ten shillings.” Good meadow hay was two shillings a hundred ; good English hay, three shillings a hundred. For making a pair of men’s shoes, two shillings and six pence might be charged; for men’s neats leather shoes, seven shillings and four pence a pair; for women’s shoes six shillings. Women’s work by the week was set at three shillings and four pence. Many other prices were designated, but a sufficient number have been quoted here, The Committee of Correspondence and Inspection for this year were Capt. Matthew Randall, Jacob Packard, Dominicus EASTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 223 Record, Joseph Gilbert, and Abijah Felch. Fifty pounds ster- ling were appropriated “to purchase firearms for a town stock, to supply the poor of the town therewith.” Powder was brought from Watertown and Stoughton. At a town-meeting of Sep- tember 15 it was “Voted that those Parsons who have Received Powder, baul, or flints out of the town Stock, and dont return the same before the next assessment, shall be assesed for the same over and above their Proportion of the other expense of the town at the following rate: Powder at five shillings Pr Pound, flints at one shilling Pr Doson, lead at two shil- lings Pr. Pound.” Twenty pairs of shoes, stockings, and mittens were purchased for the soldiers. A committee was appointed to provide for sol- diers’ families, some of whom were quite destitute. In March of this year the following men were enlisted by Ephrain Burr, enlisting officer :+— Eliphalet Beebe. Jonah Drake. Abiah Manley. . Ezra Gustin [Justin ?] Amasa Phillips. Daniel Wood. John Stock. In September men were enlisted for what is called “a secret expedition.” This expedition probably refers to an at- tempt which was made in October to dislodge the British in Rhode Island. Nine thousand men were gathered from vari- ous quarters in the most secret and expeditious manner pos- sible, to join in the attack. The attempt was delayed by storms and by the inefficiency of General Spencer, who was in command. These delays disaffected the troops, and many withdrew; nearly half of them had left before the night as- signed for the attempt. George Howard, <3 David Macomber, JZuszc. Warren Howard, 4 Ethan Howard, es Lemuel Keith, . Thomas Howard, ,, Joshua Lothrop, 5 Silas H. Brett, Private. Eliphalet Mitchell, ,, Alanson Cobb, st Leonard Mitchell, 3 312 HISTORY OF EASTON. Elijah Randall, Private. Alanson White, Private. William Reed, 5 Isaiah Wilbur, en Simeon Thayer, 3 Jason Wilbur, Waiter. Joseph Ward, i Joseph Wilbur, Private. Larnard Williams. Another company of Easton men did coast-guard duty at Plymouth, from September 26 to October 19. He says that on the 17th he spoke to about two hundred atten- tive people. On page 58 he writes: “During my stay on the circuit, Phily C requested to know what it was that lay with such weight upon my mind, which I declined telling for 1 See Life of Lorenzo Dow, p. 53. THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 317 [notwithstanding] many importunities. At last, having ob- tained a solemn promise before God that it should not be di- vulged, I manifested it.” He then confided to her that some one on account of his youth placed a temptation before him, and he, not recollecting any Scripture that forbade it, but one that he thought favored it, partly complied; “but in my conscience immediately I felt such [agony] that for nine days I was almost in black despair for mercy, fearing I had committed the un- pardonable sin. Oh, my tears and groans! But on the ninth day I found pardon.”! The nature of his temptation is left to conjecture. But he had made a poor confidant, for the next time Jesse Lee came round she repeated the story to him; and we hear of it in June, 1797, in Dow’s journal as follows: “Met J. Lee, to my sorrow and joy. He mentioned some things he had heard concerning me in the east (by the treachery of Phily C ); and he began to question me very close, but got no satisfactory answers. As I perceived him upon the criti- cal order, I was cautious in my answers.” It is easy to imagine Dow’s indignation against Phily C One who knew her has informed the writer that this was Phily Churchill, whose father, Ephraim Churchill, lived just over the Easton line on the north road to Brockton, and that she was very far from deserving the reputation for piety which Dow re- ported that she enjoyed among “the connection in general.” At the time of which we are speaking Easton was on what was called the Warren Circuit, which included Mansfield, Nor- ton, and other towns; and Dow was a preacher on that cir- cuit. He was an exceedingly eccentric man, one of his oddi- ties being that of wearing a long beard. Beards were not the fashion then, and were especially esteemed much out of place on ministers. Dow became for this and other reasons a genuine notable, and was able to draw large crowds to hear him preach. After the Methodist meeting-house here was finished, he was an- nounced to preach in it one evening. When he arrived he found the church crowded, even the aisles being full. It was dimly lighted ; two candles were upon the pulpit and a.few elsewhere. Crouching low, so that he might not be seen by the audience, Dow glided up the crowded aisle and suddenly rose like an 1 See Life of Lorenzo Dow, p. 58. 318 HISTORY OF EASTON. apparition in the pulpit. His first act was to take one of the candles, hold it up to his face and turn from side to side, so that the audience might gratify their curiosity as to his looks. It was as much as to say: “ You have heard of the full-bearded preacher, and now you see him. Having satisfied your eyes, perhaps you will attend with your ears.” On one occasion, perhaps on the last one mentioned, the church was crowded, the windows raised, and people even sat upon the window-sills. Several young fellows seated in the rear of the church made considerable disturbance during the meeting. It was too much to bear patiently; and suddenly Dow stopped, looked at them and said: “Those young men have come here to disturb the meeting ; they are like the dog in the manger, — they will neither hear themselves, nor let others hear. But let them alone; they are only advertising their own characters.” The Methodist Society was organized in 1795. A board of trustees was chosen, consisting of Ephraim Churchill, of Bridge- water, and George Monk, Nehemiah Randall, Isaiah Randall, and Thomas Willis, of Easton. October 13, 1795, they for five dollars purchased of Thomas Drake the land now occupied by the church on the corner of Washington and Elm streets and the old part of the cemetery... They were to hold it “upon special trust and confidence” for the sole benefit of the Metho- dist Episcopal Society, “and no other person to have and en- joy the free use of the premises,” etc. These trustees were to be self-perpetuating. The church was soon built, but it was a rude affair, judged by modern standards. It was thirty by thirty-six feet, and was nine or ten feet high in the walls. It was unplastered, with no entries; and as heating a church was then regarded as an unchristian luxury, it had no chimneys. The seats were oak slabs, the bark sides underneath, without backs, and with legs fitted into auger holes, as in the ordinary milking-stool. It was a long time afterwards, perhaps fifteen years, before there was any change in these appointments ; and then about twenty of the old-fashioned box-pews, with seats on three sides, took the place of most of the slab seats, some of which however remained. The building of this church was the cause of great rejoicing among the Methodists. Bishop Asbury 1 See the deed, in Land Records of Bristol County, book 75, p. 383- THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 319 was present at its dedication. It stood until 1830, when it was moved a little distance backward in order to give place to a new church, but was soon sold to an Englishman named Trimble, who moved it to the site now occupied by the Ames Free Library, where it eventually became a tenement house owned by Oliver Ames & Sons. It is now one of the row of houses owned by the Ames Corporation on the north side of Lincoln Street. Services continued to be conducted in the Methodist meeting- house by the preachers on the Warren Circuit for some years. Meetings were sometimes held also at private houses in other parts of the town. The Rev. Joseph Snelling and Solomon Langdon were preachers on this circuit in 1800. Mr. Snelling managed to come to Easton about once in three weeks. In his Memoir there is an interesting account of meetings held at the residence of Oliver Howard, which still stands on Short Street, east of the railroad track. Mr. Howard’s wife was an ardent Methodist, his house was commodious, and large meetings were held there. Mr. Snelling relates that at one of these the house was full to overflowing, and in every part of it might be heard some praying for mercy, and others praising God for redeem- ing grace. The Congregational minister (the Rev. Mr. Reed) was present, and the meeting was continued “ uztzl three o'clock in the morning!” A lady converted at this meeting arose, “and in a very solemn and eloquent manner told what the Lord had done for her soul.” She was to have been baptized three weeks afterwards, but before that time Mr. Snelling was called to attend her funeral. Her last message to him was, “Tell Brother Snelling that I hope to meet him in heaven, when we shall have a better meeting than we had at Oliver Howard’s.” It was estimated that a thousand persons attended this funeral, which was conducted according to the Episcopal form. Meet- ings were continued to be held occasionally at Oliver Howard’s until his wife’s death, about 1825. A new circuit was organized in 1806, including eleven towns, of which Easton had the oldest society. According to the “Minutes of Methodist Conferences,” vol. i. p. 394, Easton and Norton together numbered eighty church-members, and were ministered to by the same preacher. The first one under the new arrangement was Nehemiah Coye. This was the year 1806; 320 HISTORY OF EASTON. and it is somewhat remarkable, that while the “Massachusetts Register” names this society in 1796, the first time it is men- tioned in the list of churches in the Methodist “ Minutes,” is ten years later, 1806. In 1807 Thomas Perry was preacher of Norton and Easton, and Mansfield was added to his charge. He was followed by Samuel Cutler in 1808. In 1809 Easton was fortunate in having John Tinkham sent to the Methodist church. Mr. Tinkham was the son of Abel Tinkham, of Middleboro. He was born June 4, 1782, in Thompson, Conn., and was the oldest of twelve children. He and Lewis Bates were both or- dained deacons in 1806, having been admitted on trial in 1804. They were elected and ordained elders in 1808; and that year Mr. Tinkham was stationed at Needham. February 3 of this year he had married Zerviah Blish, of Gilson, New Hampshire. Through 1809 Mr. Tinkham labored in Easton with great ac- ceptance. He was returned for 1810, and decided to locate here, making Easton his permanent home, and preaching as oc- casion offered in the vicinity. Acceptable as he was, attention is arrested by the fact that almost no gains of church-members were made under his ministry. Vol. I. p. 394 of the Conference “Minutes” reported for 1806 eighty members for Norton and Easton. In 1810 the number was one hundred and eleven (page 484), and in 1811 it was ninety-seven (page 518), —a loss of four- teen members in the last year, and an actual gain of only seven- teen members in the two churches for five years. So far as Mr. Tinkham was concerned this fact is easily explained. He was a man of clear, practical, common-sense, who believed that efficiency and success as a minister of Christ were not to be measured by the number of conversions so much as by raising the standard of morals, improving the conduct, and Christian- izing the average daily life of the: people. He did not do much to increase the church membership; but he did increase church attendance, and church matters prospered. Mr. Tinkham could not only preach admirably, —he could also lift as heavy stones, build as much stone-wall in a day, make as good a garden, and have as fine a nursery as any one. He was a man of popular gifts, and made friends of old and young. The general esteem in which he came to be held is THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 321 shown by the fact, that, though a Methodist minister living in one corner of the town, he was twice sent to the legislature as representative. This was in 1812 and 1813, when he went as associate representative with Calvin Brett, Easton sending two for several years. A few facts may here be stated that will illustrate the life and customs of that time. Few ministers would be satisfied to-day with either the quantity or quality of Mr. Tinkham’s salary, — if the word “salary” can properly be applied to the desultory and miscellaneous payments he received for his ministerial services. His old account books are still preserved, and it is surprising to see how seldom the words “cash” and “money” appear on their pages. One man pays him eighteen pounds of veal at six cents a pound; another, twenty-nine pounds of beef for $1.52. Wood, boards, shingles, hay, shoes, and even cider are among the items received for salary. One noticeable entry is ‘‘money and potash.” In some cases no little dunning was necessary in order to get even these things. One afternoon, driving into his yard after such a parochial and business call, he astonished his little son Jason by drawing from beneath his blanket a small black pig, which was received, according to the cash-book record, “in payment for preaching the Gospel.” Another incident will illustrate what minute personal super- vision the church exercised over the habits and conduct of its members. During Mr. Tinkham’s ministry, while a “ Love Feast” was being celebrated, two lady members presented them- selves for admission; but they were not allowed entrance solely because they had bows on their bonnets! Unsanctified ornaments like these, jewelry, useless ribbons and trimmings, were not merely discouraged, — they were openly condemned by ministers who thought nothing of calling attention to them in a sermon, and they were sometimes positively forbidden by Confer- ence votes. What would our Methodist fathers think could they see one of our city Methodist congregations to-day, worshipping in a costly and ornate church, with splendid organ, paid quar- tette music, and where even the church-members are arrayed in costly silks and adorned with expensive jewelry ! While writing of dress, we may allude to the conservatism of three male members, who were accustomed to come to meet- 21 322 HISTORY OF EASTON. ing with their leather aprons on. Wearing them constantly during the week, they felt ill at ease without them, and they saw no inconsistency in appearing with them at the sanctuary. But they were objects of notice and occasions of merriment with the young people. These men were therefore waited upon and reasoned with. Two of them agreed to lay aside their aprons on Sunday; but Ephraim Churchill, of whose daughter Phily we have already heard, was for a long time proof against opposition and ridicule. He continued to wear his leather apron to church even in winter, when he buttoned it under his overcoat. His answer to all criticism was that he did not discontinue it “for fear of taking cold,” —the same excuse an old lady once gave for being unwilling to give up her apron. But even Mr. Churchill could not withstand the march of progress ; he agreed at last to concede so much to the demands of reform as to come to church with a zew apron. This being known, there was a full attendance on the Sunday following this agreement; but the lovers of fun were dis- appointed when Sunday came, to see him appear with no apron at all. And thus leather aprons disappeared from the sanctuary.? Another change marks this time. It is the introduction of instrumental music. This proposed innovation met with violent opposition at first. To bring a bass-viol into church and profane the solemn worship by “ scraping a big fiddle’? was represented as tempting a righteous Providence. In vain its advocates main- tained that it was only a restoration of the good old Bible times, when men praised God with harp and timbrel and “with an instrument of ten strings.” But here was no harp or timbrel ; and instead of the Biblical ten-stringed instrument, here. was 1 Another principal bass-singer was old Joe Stedman, who asserted his demo- cratic right to do just as he had a mind to, by always appearing every Sunday in a clean leather apron of precisely the form he wore about his weekly work. Of course all the well-conducted upper classes were scandalized, and Joe was privately ad- monished of the impropriety, which greatly increased his satisfaction, and caused him to regard himself as a person of vast importance. It was reported that the minister had told him that there was more pride in his leather apron than in Cap- tain Browne’s scarlet cloak; but Joe settled the matter by declaring that the apron was a matter of conscience with him, and of course after that there was nothing more to be said.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Oldtown Folks, pp. 49, 50- THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 323 an instrument with but four strings. Perhaps the conservatives feared that as the walls of Jericho went down before the blast of trumpets, so the walls of their Zion might collapse at the first twang of the viol-string. The bass-viol party prevailed, how- ever; the instrument was brought into meeting, but when the bow was first drawn across the strings some of the worshippers arose abruptly and left the house. This was several times repeated; but it was not long before the opposition began to diminish, and the bass-viol soon came to be recognized as a necessary part of church furnishings. March 30, 1815, in the society records there is this entry: ‘ Voted to have the Base- viol used on such Days as the pulpit is supplied by the Rev. John Tinkham.” There are no church records dating back of the division of the society in 1860, as will be explained on another page, but the so- ciety records date back to about 1810. After 1812, Elijah Smith was the clerk of the society for some years. March 9, 1812, it was voted to sweep the meeting-house once a month, and shovel away the snow in the winter; and this service was sold to the lowest bidder, Ebenezer Bartlett, who agreed to do it for $1.75 a year. Two hundred dollars were raised this year for the support of the gospel. Until his death, Mr. Tinkham preached more than half the time in Easton. Sometimes the society engaged him for half the year, sometimes for three- fourths, raising as much as they thought they could afford. In 1814 they paid him $170 for his preaching one half the year. He did not disdain to do humble work, —as for example, in 1818, the society voted to pay Mr. Tinkham two dollars for washing the meeting-house once and sweeping it four times for the en- suing year! The great innovation of stoves was introduced in 1819, two or three years earlier than by the more conservative First Parish. In 1822, and for other years, to save the expense of a sexton, Calvin Marshall and others volunteered to sweep the meeting-house in turn. About this time there was quite a large membership in this society from surrounding towns, there being twenty-seven, for instance, from North Bridgewater. The Rev. John Tinkham while settled here as local preacher preached with considerable regularity in various towns in the vicinity, sometimes however going to quite a distance. Under 324 HISTORY OF EASTON. his administration a class was formed in Stoughton, and eventu- ally a church was organized there, and a meeting-house erected. He died in Easton, greatly respected and beloved, January 24, 1824, and his remains lie in the Washington Street Cemetery, near the site of the church where he labored, and of the home where he so happily lived. We have seen that Mr. Tinkham, after two years service as minister here, the longest time then allowed in one place, was made a local preacher. In 1811 Artemas Stebbins was ap- pointed to have charge of Easton and Mansfield. In 1812 Theophilus Smith had the same appointment. In 1813 the “Minutes” state that Francis Dane and J. F. Chamberlain were sent to Mansfield; and though Easton is not mentioned, it was no doubt included in their charge. From this time until his death the pulpit appears to have been mainly supplied by Mr. Tinkham, who, however, gave only a portion of his time to preaching in Easton. There were a few irregular supplies also for the same period. In the June following Mr. Tinkham’s death the Conference (1824) appointed Charles Virgin to this post, with Hiram Walden as colleague. They had both Easton and Stoughton under their charge. Quite a revival occurred at this time. Mr. Virgin was a very excitable man, just the man for the “ protracted meetings” of those days. These meetings were assisted by Murray Jay, a powerful and magnetic exhorter and a stirring singer. He cre- ated great interest and much increased the excitement. Stories are told of gatherings in private houses where he was present, when a strong mesmeric influence would overcome many, and several would fall to the floor at once. Such abnormal magnetic power seems to have no necessary connection either with morals or religion, for persons of a low grade of morals sometimes pos- sess it, and in their hands it is a dangerous instrument. It was so in the case of Murray Jay. His character came under suspi- cion, so much so that the church was led to dispense with his services. He then endeavored to hold opposition meetings in the open air, but with little success, and finally departed for New Jersey. He was accompanied by a young lady of Stoughton, a good singer, who went, under the promise of becoming his wife, to assist him in his meetings. In two years she returned with THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 325 a little child, feeling very bitter against Jay, who was already, as she had discovered, a married man. Charles Virgin was returned to Easton in 1825. He paid the natural penalty of indulging in extraordinary excitements, being finally deposed from the ministry because of insanity. Mr. Virgin was followed at Easton by Phineas Peck, who remained here one year. He was succeeded by Ebenezer Blake, with Elias Scott as colleague. This was at the time when there was a strong anti-Masonic movement. Mr. Blake was known to have once been a member of the Masonic order, and though he de- clared he had not attended its meetings for twenty years, his for- mer membership created disaffection, and he found it advisable to leave town a few weeks before his second year was completed, when for a few Sundays there was no preaching in the Metho- dist church. In 1829 Lewis Bates, familiarly known as Father Bates, was appointed for this station. The revivals increased the church membership. The Methodist “ Minutes of Conferences” report for that year one hundred and eighty-four members for Easton and Stoughton, and this number was still further in- creased by a powerful revival which occurred under Father Bates’s ministry, extending even to Northwest Bridgewater, now Brockton Heights. In the latter place a class was formed. At the close of the first year of his ministry the church was found to be too small to accommodate the large congregations that assembled, and a new church was talked of. The old one was moved back from the street, and the new one was erected on its site in 1830, and was dedicated in October, the dedication ser- mon being preached by George Pickering. Father Bates made the dedicatory prayer, and a full choir, assisted by a band of twelve pieces, made the occasion glorious. The Easton Metho- dists were very proud of their new church. The Northwest Bridgewater Methodists also built a house of their own about the same time. During this year Sandford Benton was made colleague with Father Bates, who was returned for the second year. In the same year the Sunday-school of this church was first organized. James Dickerman was appointed superintendent, an ‘office his son of the same name fills to-day, as for many years he 326 HISTORY OF EASTON. has done. The society had been in existence for about forty years without a Sunday-school. Father Bates was a man of mark. He had great force of character, was physically very powerful, and had good natural talents. He made it his boast that he was not educated. He had a contempt for an educated minister who came from an “old Gospel shop,” as he styled a divinity school. He claimed to be a “self-made man,” and he certainly succeeded in doing a better piece of work than many people who make such aclaim. But he was largely such a man as God made him, —a fact which “self-made men” sometimes forget. If the divinity school could have had a hand at finishing him, he would have been none the worse for it. It was not long before the new meeting-house became the occasion of serious trouble. In order to raise funds to build it, application for aid had been made to some of the village people who were Universalists and Unitarians. Among these were Oakes Ames and John Bisbee. They and others responded liberally to this application, with the understanding that they should be allowed occasionally to have preachers of their own faith occupy the pulpit of the new church, provided this were not done at any time that would interfere with the regular services. For a time this was permitted, and Universalist preachers some- times held services there. But, naturally enough, a strong oppo- sition was soon developed against the preaching of what the regular worshippers regarded as most dangerous doctrine, im- perilling the soul’s salvation. The wonder is that they should originally have granted any such permission. Vigorous attempts were now made to prevent Universalist preaching in the pulpit. On one occasion the church-door was padlocked after the regular service, so as to prevent holding the Universalist service that had been announced for the evening. The padlock was however torn off and thrown under the church, where it was discovered years afterward. Locks were then screwed on the doors, but were easily removed with screw-drivers. The locks were then riveted on, but the rivets were cut or drilled out, and the locks demolished. Thomas Whittemore, a noted Universalist minister, was on one occasion announced to preach. The doors were fastened again, and his opponents stood on guard outside ; but a THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 327 stout stick broke the fastenings, the doors were forced, and the crowd entered. One of the church-members, a tall, strong man, blockaded the approach to the pulpit ; but the preacher sprang lightly by him, reached the pulpit, and proceeded with his ser- vice without further molestation. Such contentions, however, soon became tiresome to both sides. The consent of the leading subscribers was finally obtained, and the church deeded to the Conference. This of course closed its doors to Universalism. In 1831 John Lovejoy was appointed for this station, with D. S. King as colleague. Lemuel Harlow succeeded in 1832, followed in 1833 by Warren Emerson, after whom Mr. Harlow was returned for another year. In 1835 came Thomas Stetson. In 1836 Amos Binney received the appointment, and retained it for two years. The spiritual interest at this time is reported to have been at a low ebb. Judged by the accepted Methodist standard of success, the church membership, no progress had been made for twenty-five years. In 1811 the “ Minutes” re- ported ninety-seven members for Stoughton and Easton, and in 1836 the number was but ninety. In 1829 the number reported for these towns was one hundred and eighty-four, and even this number was increased, as we have seen, by the revival under Father Bates. But seven years later, as just stated, there were only ninety members, —a loss of ninety-four. In 1838, how- ever, this number was increased to one hundred and twenty-nine. These great fluctuations in the number of church-members pre- sent an interesting study, and are calculated to make serious persons thoughtful. They are to be explained by the revival system. Extraordinary excitement would temporarily impress large numbers, who would pass through various phases of feel- ing, and believe themselves converted. Then the parable of the sower would be illustrated. Abundant seed would be sown, and would even take root; but much of it would be in shallow ground, or among thorns, or by the wayside, and after periods of unnatural interest there would follow a reaction, a correspond- ing depression. Such proved to be the case after Father Bates’s meetings. There were many “ backsliders,” who, as a rule, were harmed by their experience. The number of church- members declined, and a time of spiritual dearth and insensibility followed. 328 HISTORY OF EASTON. This is merely a statement of facts based upon the figures of the Conference ‘‘ Minutes,” and is not offered as a criticism by the writer, though the facts themselves deserve attentive study. In 1839 John Bailey had the appointment for Easton and Stoughton. In 1839 and 1840 Nathan Payne was the preacher, and he was followed by Edward Lyons, who will be remembered for peculiarities not altogether ministerial. Under the last two men there were revivals which considerably increased the church membership. At this time a parsonage was bought. It was the house which, though remodelled, is now owned by Jonathan A. Keith, and is not far north of the meeting-house. In 1842 Joel Steel was appointed for Easton. This was at the time of the great Second Adventist excitement, then com- monly known as Millerism. Mr. Steel took strong ground against this doctrine, and it did not affect many in his church. The revivals of one and two years before were followed by a period of depression, and the society passed through discourag- ing vicissitudes, not being fortunate in some of its preachers, and losing some of its influential members by a division that occurred in 1843, which will be considered in its proper place. The next appointment after Mr. Steel was William Holmes ; but the more Mr. Holmes preached, the stronger the conviction grew in the minds of his hearers that he had mistaken his call- ing,— an impression they contrived to impart to him in so unequivocal a manner as to lead to his departure before the year was out. Stephen Palmer, a local preacher, was hired to fill out the year, and on the last day that he tried to preach made a most embarrassing failure. But his failure at preaching was as noth- ing to his failure to practise, and it will be as well to drop him here and forget him. In 1844 Mr. Fisk was appointed for Easton ; and he was fol- lowed by Nathaniel Bemis, whom, however, the society refused to receive, exercising upon this and some other occasions, not- withstanding their denominational rules, a sort of veto power upon the appointing authorities, a power they could enforce by cutting off supplies. Various occupants filled the pulpit during 1845, among whom Mr. Worcester will be remembered for the scolding and scathing sermon with which he shook off THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 329 the dust of his feet against the people. A new bell was pur- chased during the year 1845. For about eleven years after this time the church had almost no connection with the Conference. During these eleven years, according to the records of the Washington Street Society, “the church experienced rather turbulent times.” There was a steady decline of interest. James Hall, an English Methodist preacher, was engaged, and occupied the pulpit until 1849. During this time he joined the Wesleyan Methodists. In 1849 John B. Clough took charge for a year, and he was followed by Lorenzo White. In 1851 Paul Townsend, an old retired minister who lived in West Bridgewater, preached here, and continued to con- duct Sunday services for about’three years. In March, 1856, the Rev. Mr. Sheldon, who in 1855 had retired from the active ministry of the Congregational Society at Easton Centre, was engaged to preach in this Methodist church, and did so until the autumn, when the keeper of the church records says: “ The life of the Society became so nearly extinct that the house was closed for the winter.” During this year Gurdon Stone, Avery Stone, and Joel Randall dissolved their connection with the so- ciety, though Avery Stone continued to act with it. In the spring of 1857 another rally was made, and the Confer- ence was applied to for a preacher. The result was the appoint- ment of John B, Hunt, who proved to be a very efficient minister. By his efforts a great revival began, which added many mem- bers to the church and placed it in a better condition than it had enjoyed for many years. This was for Easton the last of the great revivals that used to thrill whole communities, and which were carried on amidst excitements such as would astonish the young people of this generation. For this reason, we propose as clearly and truthfully as possible to describe it. To originate and promote this revival, strong preachers were engaged, who addressed the feelings, appealing to hopes and fears. They selected such themes as the dread certainty of death, the awfulness of hell, the amazing love of Jesus bleeding upon the cross for the salvation of guilty sinners; and with flowing tears, violent gestures, and excited tones, preached with thrilling effect. From every part of the house responses of ‘‘Amen,” “Glory,” and similar ejaculations, mingled with groans 330 HISTORY OF EASTON. and sighs, gradually wrought up the feelings of the listeners. Stirring hymns were sung with kindling effect ; loud and frenzied appeals for mercy, as of those who were on the brink of an abyss that might at any moment open to receive them, were heard. And when this was over, or even while it was in progress, earnest Christians, themselves deeply moved, appealed to friends as they passed from pew to pew, urging them to flee from the impending doom and accept the gracious call that would open to them the gates of heaven. The effect was often indescribable. Sometimes persons were actually prostrated upon the floor in the intensity of their feelings; it was only strong natures that could resist the influence. Many who went to scoff, would soon be seen kneeling at the altar to pray. At one of the very meetings we are speaking of, a woman prayed so loud and long as to be too exhausted to rise from her knees. Serious results some- times followed with sensitive natures. While Mr. Collier, of Cocheset, whose piercing black eyes seemed to threaten judg- ment to come, was preaching, a man was seized with a nervous spasm, his head thrown back, his limbs rigid, his face like death itself. He was supported by friends on either side, who were forced to stretch him out at full length upon a seat or the floor. Many of the audience were terrified and left the house ; but the preacher, accustomed to such scenes, perhaps elated with this evidence of his power as an exhorter, made the house ring with his shouts of “Glory” and “Hallelujah.” Similar results oc- curred here and in South Easton village several times. Tempo- rary and even permanent insanity was not wholly unexampled. The entire work of conviction, repentance, and conversion was supposed to be compressed into an hour. Services sometimes began at nine o’clock in the forenoon, and with little intermission lasted until nine o’clock in the evening. We have already seen, by the testimony of the Rev. Joseph Snelling, that at Oliver Howard’s, in 1800, the meeting lasted until three o’clock in the morning. These “four days’ meetings,” as they were called, sometimes lasted several weeks. All this is a simple statement of facts. They are not men- tioned for the sake of criticism. No criticism could be so telling now as the statement of the facts themselves ; but truth to his- tory demands that such a record be made as a picture of the ‘THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 331 times. Great good was sometimes done to hardened natures that could not otherwise be aroused; but many who rose on the flood-tide of feeling were carried back on the ebbing current and settled into their ordinary state of feeling. The number of “backsliders” was usually proportioned to the urgency and ex- citement of the revival that awakened them. There was one frequent accompaniment of such meetings that was painful to those earnestly participating in them, and dis- graceful to those causing it; we refer to the rowdyish attempts to disturb these religious exercises. Young fellows often attended them solely to make disturbance. Copious quantities of dry beans were brought in their pockets and snapped singly or thrown by handfuls among the audience, or even at the preachers themselves. Their shouts and cat-calls added to the confu- sion, and altogether their disorderly conduct sorely vexed the brethren. Round bits of steel were punched out, polished, blasphemously marked, and dropped into the contribution-box. On one occasion several of these persons pretended to be under conviction, went forward for prayers, and were said to have passed a bottle of drink about while on their knees. Unruly fellows upon the outside sometimes added to the disturbance. All manner of derisive shouting was heard. At one time a team was driven so that it grated horribly against the side of the church. At another, wood was piled against the doors so as to prevent any one from coming out, and then the bell was rung furiously. Some of these disturbers were once arrested and taken before Justice Selee, but nothing was done to punish them ; it was difficult to make out a case against them. Happily these things are of the past. Religious meetings are so con- ducted now as to give no provocation for such gross misconduct, and if it Should be attempted it would not be tolerated to-day. John B. Hunt, during whose ministry the great revival oc- curred, died while in service here, in October, 1858, and his remains were buried in the cemetery on the corner opposite the church where he preached. The pulpit was supplied by different persons during the rest of the year. The society records furnish us with one incident of this year which deserves to be noted here. In December, 1858, a subscrip- tion paper was circulated which was prefaced as follows :— 332 HISTORY OF EASTON. “We the undersigned agree to pay the sum set opposite our names for the purpose of buying a pew to enlarge the free pew, so we can warm ourselves without being in danger of scorching our clothes.” Twenty-seven ladies subscribed, and the space about the stove was thereby enlarged. When it is remembered that this was at the time when hoopskirts had attained a circumference which would be incredible now were the dimensions to be given, we can appreciate the desire of the twenty-seven ladies to en- large the standing-room around the stove, and thereby lessen the “danger of scorching our clothes.” In the spring of 1859 Lewis B. Bates received the Confer- ence appointment to Easton. It was during the ministry of Mr. Bates that the division of the society occurred. The account of this division will be more appropriately given when we treat of the history of the Methodist Society in North Easton village, as this society originated in the division alluded to. Passing that interesting episode by therefore for the present, it is suffi- cient to state here that Mr. Bates, by order of the bishop, ceased preaching at the Washington Street church soon after his ap- pointment in 1860. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Spilsted, who was followed in 1861 by the Rev. Franklin Gavitt. The Rev. Abel Allton was appointed for 1862, and the Rev. H. S. Smith in 1863, the latter serving for three years. In 1866 this church united with the Northwest Bridgewater church, and the Conference sent the Rev. Freeman Ryder for that year, and the Rev. J. B. Washburn in 1868, each of them serving for two years. The interest of the religious services in the Wash- ington Street church was increased in 1866 by the purchase of an organ. In the year 1870 the church stood alone again, arid it was served for three years with singular devotion by the Rev. Elisha Dunham. Mr. Dunham is now a minister in the Orthodox Congregational communion. The church was very fortunate also in its next minister, the Rev. M. M. Kugler, a man whose spiritual face was the index of a consecrated heart. He re- mained two years, from 1873 to 1875. The Rev. S. Hamilton Day was appointed in 1875, and was returned for a second year. He married a daughter of James Dickerman. The Rev. J. H. THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 333 Nelson was sent in 1877, and the Rev. M. F. Colburn came in 1878. In the year 1879 it was deemed advisable to unite with the North Easton village church in supporting a pastor, who should preach half the time in each church and have the care of both parishes. The ministers under this arrangement have been the Rev. S. E. Evans, in 1879, who has since joined the Ortho- dox Congregationalists ; the Rev. William Kirkby, a genial and friendly man who served for two years, and left many friends be- hind him ; the Rev. J. S. Thomas, who also remained two years ; and, in 1884, the Rev. Merrick Ransom, who is now serving for the third year, and who when he leaves will carry away with him the respect and good-will of all who know him. In the spring of 1885 it was deemed advisable to discontinue regular services in the Washington Street church; and they have not yet been resumed. 334 HISTORY OF EASTON, CHAPTER XxX. THE REV. LUTHER SHELDON, D.D., AND THE DIVISION OF THE PARISH. Mr. LUTHER SHELDON RECEIVES A CALL. — His YoUTH AND Epuca- TION. — KINDNESS OF THE PARISH TO THEIR MINISTER. — DIvVER- GENCE OF THEOLOGICAL OPINIONS AMONG THE PARISHIONERS. — MR. SHELDON CEASES TO EXCHANGE WITH NEIGHBORING ‘ LIBERAL” MINISTERS. — THE PARISH REQUESTS HIM TO CONTINUE FRATERNAL RELATIONS WITH THEM. — HE FAILS TO RESPOND TO THE REQUEST. —An EX-PARTE COUNCIL SUMMONED BY THE PARISH. — THE PAR- ISH EXCLUDES HIM FROM HIs PuLPiT. — MR. SHELDON’S FRIENDS ORGANIZE AND BEGIN TO BUILD A MEETING-HousE. — AN EXCITING CONTROVERSY. — LAWSUITS. — Mr. SHELDON RE-ENTERS HIS PULPIT. — VARIOUS ATTEMPTS AT AGREEMENT. — A SETTLEMENT FINALLY EFFECTED. ' URING the year following Rev. Mr. Reed’s death, August 13, 1810, the church and parish extended a call to Mr. Luther Sheldon. They offered him a salary of four. hundred and fifty dollars, and agreed to give him five cords of wood an- nually until he became “a housekeeper,” when it was to be in- creased to twelve cords ; and it was to be cut and corded for him ‘in the woods. Mr. Sheldon accepted the call in a well written letter, in which, however, he regrets the short acquaintance they have had, remarks upon the evils likely to result from precipi- tancy in such important affairs, is not willing to agree to the proposition made to him that the pastoral connection may be dissolved without a council, and asks for the privilege of “four weeks yearly for the purpose of visiting my friends at a distance,” etc. The parish granted him the yearly vacation he asked for, and agreed with him that “in case any root of bitterness shall arise among us so that the minds of two thirds of the members of the parish shall be alienated from their minister, by giving him a year’s notice that they do not desire his continuance with them as a minister any longer, he may be discharged with a mutual council.” REV. LUTHER SHELDON. 335 In preparing for the ordination the church was repaired, the supports of the galleries strengthened, and a committee ap- pointed to wait upon strangers. “The Band” was invited to at- tend and furnish music, if they would do it with no compensation except the entertainment. It was voted that “all the council and their ladies, and all the gentlemen of Public Education and their ladies” may attend the entertainment. Joel Drake agreed to provide the collation for eighty dollars, provided not over sixty persons attended it. The Rev. Holland Weeks preached the ordination sermon. This was October 24, 1810. The Rev. Luther Sheldon, D.D. was born in Rupert, Vt., February 18, 1785. He was the fourth child of the Hon. David and Sarah (Harmon) Sheldon, the oldest son, Thomas, being the first child born in Rupert. David Sheldon in early man- hood, leaving a young wife and infant in Suffield, Conn., had emigrated, axe in hand, alone and on horseback to the primeval forest, driving a couple of cows before him. There, at what is now Rupert, he made his clearing, built his log house, put in his crops, and then brought to this lonely spot his wife and infant son. Soon some of his former neighbors and relatives joined him, and a settlement. was formed. He improved his land, and gradually made an extensive and beautiful farm in a pleasant valley between high hills, owning land nearly to their summits, where his large flocks found a cool retreat in the heat of summer. A beautiful trout-stream ran through the intervale, and furnished many a sweet morsel for the farmer’s table. About three years after he settled here his son Luther was born. It was the desire and intention of the parents that this fourth son should inherit the farm and care for the “old folks,” and his early training and education were directed to this end. He acquired a practical knowledge of every kind of farm-work, and developed a robust constitution and physical strength and endurance. But several years before he reached his majority he became particularly interested in religion, and urged his parents to give him a more liberal education in order that he might pre- pare for the ministry. They however did not feel willing to give up their cherished plans, and held him to the homestead until he was nearly twenty-one. At that age he began to fit for college under a private tutor; and he applied himself with such 336 HISTORY OF EASTON. diligence and enthusiasm that in a little more than a year he not only mastered the Preparatory studies, but also those of the Freshman and Sophomore years, and entered college in the Junior class, graduating with honor in 1808. Forty-three years after this his Alma Mater gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He began the study of theology with the Rev. Holland Weeks, of Pittsfield, Vt., and was licensed by the Rutland Association May 30, 1810. He preached his first sermon on the first Sun- day in June, in Rupert, the next on the second Sunday in Suffield, Conn., the home of his ancestors for several genera- tions, and his third sermon he preached in Easton, where, after preaching for about two months, he received a call, and where he was ordained in the following October, as already narrated. He at once purchased a small farm with a residence a few rods northeast of the church. September 26, 1812, he married and brought to his parish and home Miss Sarah Johnson Harris, who was born in Canaan, New Hampshire, January 30, 1790. She had gained quite a reputation as a teacher, and afterwards materially aided her husband in the family school which he kept in his own house, to eke out the slender salary of four hundred and fifty dollars and twelve cords of wood. She was an intelli- gent, Christian lady, well read, entertaining in conversation, no mean opponent in argument, devoted to the interests of her home and the welfare of the parish. She became in the latter part of her life deeply interested in the abolition of slavery. It was at a day when “ Abolitionist” was a term of reproach; but she never shrank from declaring her sympathy for the down- trodden slave, and avowed her faith in his ultimate redemption from bondage. She died October 10, 1853, sixty-three years of age. Her funeral sermon was preached by Richard S. Storrs, of Braintree, from Acts ix. 36, 37. October 24, 1855, two years after the death of Mrs. Sheldon, Dr. Sheldon was married to Mrs. Elizabeth A. Keith, a widow, daughter of Bernard and Elizabeth Alger. She was an intelli- gent and estimable lady, an especial favorite of Dr. Sheldon’s first wife, and greatly beloved by the family. There was con- siderable disparity in their ages, but this increased rather than lessened her endeavors to render his life pleasant and fruitful REV. LUTHER SHELDON. 337 of good. She endeared herself to his friends by her watchful care for his comfort as the infirmities of age came upon him. She died October 14, 1863. When the youthful pastor began his ministerial labors in Easton, his work was hard. The parish included all the town except those who belonged to some other society, and there was then no other society in town but the Methodist, which was small. Two written sermons must be prepared for Sunday, and there was a Sunday evening “lecture” expected, with occasional week-day services in schoolhouses or private dwellings in vari- ous parts of the town. There were extended religious services at funerals, and a good deal of parish work. All this made the life of the young minister full and crowded; and here his vigor- ous constitution proved a great blessing. In 1815 the subject of building a new church was agitated. January 29, 1816, it was voted “to set it north of the old meet- ing-house,” and additional land was purchased of Capt. Oliver Pool. Josiah Copeland and Captain Pool were given the con- tract for building it, and they were not to exceed an expense of seven thousand dollars. Wade Dailey was the master carpenter. The frame was raised June 10, 1816, the day after a great frost, when the frost could be scraped from the timbers. This was the “year without a summer,” when there was a frost every month, and corn and vegetables were destroyed in August. The church was finished in 1817, and was dedicated on the third Wednesday of September, Mr. Sheldon preaching the dedication sermon. The sheds were built the next year. At this time there were no stoves in church, though the now antiquated foot-stove, being a perforated tin or sheet-iron box in a wooden frame with a pan inside for receiving coals, was in general use, and was pushed from one person to another in the pew in order that at least the feet might have the chill taken from them for a few minutes. The cold was sometimes so in- tense that there would be quite a general knocking of the feet together and rubbing of the hands; the minister’s breath would be frosty, and one might suppose that his allusions to nether fires would lose their force upon those whose chattering teeth and shivering limbs made fire a welcome thought. Why it took our ancestors nearly two hundred years to discover that comfort 22 338 HISTORY OF EASTON. was not a sin, and that a stove might be a means rather than a hindrance to grace in our churches, it is difficult to understand. But it is quite certain that it was not until late in the winter of 1822 that this innovation was timidly and not without protest introduced. Even then it was tried on the plea of merely mak- ing an experiment. In May, 1822, it was voted “ to continue the stove in the meeting-house until the effects of it can be fairly proved.” The “effects of it” appear to have been satisfactory, and we find that in 1826 the parish accepted the gift of a stove from Gen. Sheperd Leach. The spirit of innovation was abroad, and the parish, after setting up the new stove, voted to paint the meeting-house. It was also voted to procure a new bell that should weigh twelve hundred pounds. The cost to the worshippers for church expenses of every kind must have been quite small, as the parish fund had an income sufficient to pay the minister’s salary, and other expenses were light. Mr. Sheldon was a prudent and careful manager, and was able by means of his farm and his family school, in addi- tion to his salary, to provide for and educate his children well, and to save money besides. The kindness and generosity of his people made many substantial additions to his income in various ways. General Sheperd Leach for years presented him with fifty dollars credit on his store account, a quarter of beef, a huge cheese, and various other articles as occasion offered. Many others were equally generous in proportion to their means. From the time of his settlement it was the custom of the people to make the minister and wife annually a “donation visit.” At such times substantial presents of money and of many useful articles were freely bestowed. After a hearty repast the evening would be spent in pleasant social intercourse by the older ones, while the youth and children enjoyed a merry bout at their games. They were seasons of real old-fashioned social enjoy- ment, — the pastor, who was no gloomy ascetic, entering with much zest into the innocent pastimes of the children, greatly to their delight. These happy occasions were closed with hymn and prayer. All these things show the strong hold which Mr. Sheldon had upon the affections of his friends. The material aid which their generosity provided formed no small part of his yearly support. DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 339 We come now to a consideration of the controversy which led to a division of the parish and church. A few of the par- ticipants still live, and many descendants of those who took part on either side have often heard the story of that long and dis- tressing contention, It is natural that they should justify the party which they or their parents and friends espoused. The stories and traditions that have come down to us need careful sifting because they were colored by strong feelings, which necessarily distort and misrepresent. The writer has availed himself of every means known to him to get at the exact facts, and, what is quite as important, to put upon those facts the cor- rect interpretation. It is well known that early in this century there had grown up a decided divergence of opinion among the ministers and people of the Massachusetts Congregational Churches. There was a silent, steadily growing modification of the extreme Cal- vinism that had been prevalent. This made two parties in nearly all the churches,— parties that came to be known as Orthodox and Unitarian. In many of the churches this diver- gence of opinion caused an open rupture and separation. When this occurred there was usually a secession of the minority from the parish, and the formation by them of a separate church. In most parishes the Unitarians were found to be in the majority when the division took place, and they therefore held the old churches and church property, and the Orthodox with- drew and built anew. In Plymouth County, for instance, all but one or two of the original Pilgrim churches were found to be Unitarian. A majority of the voters in these parishes sym- pathized with the new movement, and their votes- controlled the issue. The church, strictly speaking, was the body of the church-members, a voluntary association not legally recognized, and having no separate voice in the control of the business affairs of the parish. Probably in most cases the majority’ of the church-members remained Orthodox. The division of most of the churches occurred during the early years of Mr. Sheldon’s ministry. Of course there were two parties in Easton as elsewhere. There was the same fer- ment of opinions. It was less marked here because, notwith- standing an impression to the contrary, the Rev. Mr. Reed, the 340 HISTORY OF EASTON. last minister, had not espoused the new views, and his preaching seems to have ignored all these controverted questions. Never- theless there was a steady growth of Arminian and Unitarian opinion in the parish. This was perhaps more marked because of the decided conservatism of the minister, Mr. Sheldon. “In his religious belief he was notoriously Evangelical, rigidly Or- thodox, as most would say from the present stand-point. He called himself a Hopkinsian, though he differed on some doc- trinal points from Hopkins, and coincided with those called Cal- vinistic.” This is the statement of his son, the Rev. Luther H. Sheldon. The two parties in the parish ardently espoused their own particular views, and were gradually developing into decided dis- agreement. But it deserves especial notice that Mr. Sheldon had ministered to the parish for the long term of twenty years before there was any open contest. June 8, 1830, the first action was taken, according to the parish records, which recognized the existence of any trouble. It was then “ voted that it is the wish of the Parish that neighboring Congregational ministers in regu- lar standing should minister with this society as was formerly the practice.” This vote needs explanation. When the division of the Congregational churches into Orthodox and Unitarian took place, a considerable number of the neighboring churches took the Unitarian position. Taunton, Norton, and the Bridge- waters were examples. It was natural that Mr. Sheldon, regard- ing the views of the ministers of these churches as heretical and dangerous, should not wish to have these views presented in his pulpit, and hence that he should drop these preachers from his list of exchanges. It was equally natural that the majority of the parish who favored these views, or who at least desired that the old friendly relations between these parishes should be con- tinued, should be aggrieved by the position of Mr. Sheldon. The vote just noted had no effect. The parish waited for a year and a half, and then in Novem- ber, 1831, voted “to request the Rev. Luther Sheldon to ex- change pulpit services with the neighboring Congregational ministers indiscriminately, agreeable to the practice that pre- vailed at the time of his settlement.” Elijah Howard, Daniel Wheaton, and John Pool were appointed a committee to inform DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 341 Mr. Sheldon of this vote, and to request an answer of him in writing. In a parish meeting held April 16, 1832, this com- mittee reported that they had served him with a copy of the vote alluded to, and “that he has not seen fit either to make the reply or the exchanges, agreeable to the vote of the parish.” In their report they complain that by the course he has adopted, the society is “entirely cut off from all intercourse with a large majority of the societies with whom we have had connection.” They complain that all communications with Mr. Sheldon on this subject “have been met only by studied neglect or taunting rebuke,” and they thus continue : — “Upon a view of his whole conduct in relation to this subject, the Committee are fully convinced that it is his intention not to comply with the vote of the Parish. Under these circumstances, it becomes a question of importance what measures it is advisable for the Parish to adopt. That a refusal of Mr. Sheldon to conform to the known and long established customs and usages of all former ministers of this Parish is such a breach of his duties as will exonerate the Parish from the obligations on their part, there can be no doubt.” This brings us to the gist of the whole controversy. The main point at issue was this: Did the refusal of a Congrega- tional minister to exchange with neighboring ministers at the request of his parish constitute a breach of his covenant, ex- onerate the parish from the payment of his salary, or form a sufficient ground for his dismissal? The committee of the society answered this question in the affirmative. The Court, as we shall see, ultimately decided it in the negative. In regard to his complying with the request of the parish, it should be noted that a large minority of the parish and a de- cided majority of the regular church-goers joined with him in op- posing such exchanges. The contest waxed warmer. May ‘12, 1832, a committee of twenty persons, representing both parties, were appointed to consider and report upon the situation ; but they could come to no agreement and made no report. June 4 the parish instructed the trustees to propose to Mr. Sheldon that he continue to officiate as pastor, provided he would ex- change with Congregational ministers in the vicinity according to custom; and in case he would not do this, to ask him to join 342 HISTORY OF EASTON. in calling a mutual council to dissolve the connection between him and the parish; and if he refused to join in calling a mutual council, the trustees were instructed to call an ex-parte council for that purpose. They were also authorized to supply the pulpit until further notice. June 11 the trustees informed Mr. Sheldon of the action of the parish; he took no notice of their communication. July 24 they requested him to join with them in calling a mutual council; he paid no attention to their request. This persist- ent silence was, of course, exasperating ; the trustees and their adherents interpreted it as an intentional slight. His silence was, however, maintained by legal advice; but some notice might, it would seem, have been taken of such official commu- nications without compromising him in a legal point of view. This question also arises: Knowing that at least half the voting parish, among whom were many leading men, were decidedly opposed to him, why did not Mr. Sheldon consent to call a mutual council and dissolve the connection? This would have stilled the strife, and his friends might then have rallied about him and formed a new church. Several considerations help us to answer this question. Foremost of all, no doubt, was that of the parish fund. The adherents of Mr. Sheldon were members of the parish, and therefore had a claim upon this fund. If they withdrew from the parish to form another society they would lose this claim, and the fund would fall wholly under the control of their opponents. Mr. Sheldon’s friends had, in fact, proposed a peaceable settle- ment in the May preceding. They proposed that the meeting- house and all the parish property should be sold, and the proceeds divided among the members of the parish corporation in propor- tion to the amount of taxes they severally paid. They suggested, if this plan failed, two other propositions: (1) That the income of the parish property should be annually divided among all the religious societies that were or should be organized in Easton and which should be provided with a place of worship; (2) That the parish property should be sold and be divided among such societies. But these propositions were all voted down in parish meeting. This will answer the question, Why was not Mr. Sheldon willing to call a mutual council and accept a dismissal ? DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 343 To do this, and form a new society of his adherents, would forfeit their claim to any share in the parish funds. The two parties were so nearly equal in numbers that Mr. Sheldon’s friends might hope by holding on to gain a voting majority, when they would be able to control the parish organization and manage the fund. ' Another reason for this refusal was that the Orthodox Asso- ciation to which Mr. Sheldon belonged desired him to test, and thereby to settle, the question whether or not the refusal of a Con- gregational minister to exchange with certain other ministers at the request of his parish, formed a valid legal reason for his dismissal. The question of the non-payment of Mr. Sheldon’s salary had not yet arisen, for this was in July, 1832, and June 4 the parish had voted to pay him his salary to October 24. In August the trustees of the parish issued letters-missive, calling for an ex-parte council. Then Mr. Sheldon first broke the silence, sending a letter in which he declined to assist in calling a mutual council, and declaring that the trustees had no authority in the matter. September 6, 1832, the ex-parte council assembled. The specifications against Mr. Sheldon were read. They were, first, his refusal to comply with the request of the parish to exchange with neighboring ministers, by which “clergymen of the liberal denomination” were excluded from the pulpit ; second, that he had never deigned to answer any of the communications ad- dressed to him by the parish ; third, that he had endeavored to drive from the parish individuals opposed to him; fourth, that he had neglected the duty of making pastoral visits; fifth, that owing to want of confidence in him his usefulness,as a pastor was impaired ; sixth, a want of confidence in his moral honesty and integrity by many in the parish. At this conference the Rev. Pitt Clarke, of Norton, was mod. erator, and the Rev. Mr. Farley, of Providence, Scribe. Mr. Sheldon was invited to appear, and he came and presented a paper objecting to the jurisdiction of the Council. This Council adopted a resolution to the effect that his refusal to exchange with neighboring ministers, his neglect to reply to the communications officially made to him by the parish, “and his loss of the confi- dence of a large portion of his parishioners in his moral honesty 344 HISTORY OF EASTON. and integrity, having been substantiated by the evidence offered by the committee on the part of the parish, require a dissolu- tion of the ministerial connection now subsisting between him and the parish, there appearing to be no ground for a belief that peace and harmony can otherwise be restored to said parish.” As justice is the highest of all considerations, it should not be forgotten that this was an ex-parte council, where evidence upon only one side was given. No proof of a “want of honesty and integrity” in Mr. Sheldon was declared to exist, but only of a “loss of confidence” by a part of the parish in his possession of those qualities. The Council resolved that the situation was such as to “require the dissolution ;” but they did not venture to pronounce the pastoral relation dissolved. Their word was advisory rather than decisive. The Council was held on the 6th of September, 1832. On the 8th the trustees reported the result to Mr. Sheldon, and no- tified him that after the following Sunday his services would be dispensed with, It is difficult to understand why the trustees committed so obvious an error as this. It would seem that they must either have misunderstood the action of the Council, which, while it resolved that the circumstances of the case “re- quired” a dissolution, did not venture to pronounce the pastoral relation dissolved, or they supposed the Courts would, if appealed to, confirm their action. Mr. Sheldon was neither ecclesiastically nor legally dismissed, and the action of the trustees therefore in dispensing with his services had no validity whatever, as they had no authority to dismiss him. He was still the minister, was en- titled to preach, to draw his salary, and to perform all the duties and claim all the rights and privileges of his position as minister. Sunday, September 16, 1832, the circumstances occurred which led to the open and final breach between the friends and the opposers of Mr. Sheldon. It was the second Sunday after the session of the ex-parte council. The trustees having noti- fied him that his services would be dispensed with, engaged another minister to preach. Perfectly confident of the validity of his position, Mr. Sheldon, with characteristic determination, prepared to maintain it. Accordingly, on the Sunday morning in question he entered the church fifteen minutes earlier than had been his custom, and took possession of the pulpit. He DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 345 began the services early and conducted them to the end without interruption. But his opponents determined that he should not preach in the afternoon. They took care that the clergyman whom the trustees had hired was in the pulpit before the time of beginning service, and they prepared to prevent, forcibly if necessary, its occupancy by Mr. Sheldon. It was understood’ that some one should guard the head of each aisle. When Mr. Sheldon appeared, Daniel Wheaton rose and told him that the pulpit was occupied. Paying no heed to this, he passed up the aisle; whereupon Elijah Howard stepped in front of him and informed him that there was already a minister in the pulpit. The pulpit being so high as to conceal the occu- pant, Mr. Sheldon said, “I see no one there,’ and endeavored to force his way past. “The pulpit is occupied,” rejoined Mr. Howard, and pushed him back. Another effort to pass was equally unsuccessful. Meantime great excitement prevailed. Loud murmurs were heard, and not a few women sobbed aloud. “Don’t let them hurt my minister!” one of them cried out. William Rotch, much excited, started up as if to take some part in the affair, but the towering form of Horatio Ames confront- ing him, made him feel that discretion was the better part of valor. From the singers’ seats in the gallery rose the gigantic Solomon Leach, six feet, six inches in height. Looking down into the body of the church he shouted, ‘“ Look out what you do down there, or I’ll be amongst you.” Finding that he could not gain his pulpit without violence, and that the excitement was increasing, Mr. Sheldon stepped back into his own pew and said, “If those who wish to hear me preach will retire to my grove, I will speak there.” Immedi- ately a large majority of the church-members and of the audi- ence followed Mr. Sheldon out of the meeting-house and into his grove, one woman taking her pew cushion with her. After this he conducted services in the chapel until the new meeting-house, already begun, was completed, which was in June of the next year. This chapel was a small two-story building, standing near the meeting-house. Neither the upper nor the lower room was, however, large enough for the audience that gathered to hear Mr. Sheldon. To remedy this defect a novel expedient was adopted. About eight feet in front of the desk go ag 346 HISTORY OF EASTON. where he preached upstairs, a hole about six feet in diameter was cut through the floor; this was surrounded by a little rail- ing. The male portion of his audience convened in the lower room, and the female, with the choir, in the upper. “ Faith comes by hearing,” not by seeing ; and the ground-floor audience might therefore hope for spiritual advantage, though they were deprived of the sight of their pastor’s face. This building is now occupied as a shoe-factory by Lackey & Davie, but was for many years a barn and work-shop of the late Daniel Reed, behind whose house it now stands. After Mr. Sheldon and his friends had left the church, as be- fore narrated, a slim audience was left; but the services then proceeded. It is not, however, to be supposed that these ser- vices were very edifying, considering the excitement that pre- vailed. Henceforth the trustees supplied the pulpit by transient preachers, though a Mr. Damon served some time, and was much liked. Meantime through the week the sound of axe, hammer, and saw was heard, and a new church was steadily rising but a stone’s throw to the east. Mr. Sheldon was not allowed to preach in the old church, though he was satisfied that he was illegally excluded from its pulpit. Party feeling ran high, and unpleasant things were said on both sides. Though the parish held out against Mr. Sheldon, it will be remembered that the church—that is, the organization of the church-members — adhered to him. It was therefore proper that he should retain the church (not the parish) records, and transmit them to his successors. But the church was not a business organization; and as Mr. Sheldon’s friends began, even before this rupture, to build a meeting-house, it was necessary for them to have some kind of business organization. They accordingly organized as early as May 7, 1832, choosing Lincoln Drake for secretary,—a position he held for many years. They called them- selves “ Proprietors of the Easton new Meeting-house,” and they began at once to make arrangements for building such a house. The land was purchased in the summer of 1832, subscriptions were received, shares taken, and the work proceeded with vigor. In about a year from its first inception, — that is, June 20, 1833, —the new church was dedicated. This association of “Proprietors” continued its existence, holding and managing DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 347 the church property. Prior to the organization of the ‘‘ Evan- gelical Congregational Society of Easton,” in January, 1839, the association did business like any other religious society. It voted concerning Mr. Sheldon’s salary, negotiated as another organization with the old parish, and acted for the material and other interests of the new society, of which it was to all intents and purposes the business organization. Its existence continued down to 1882, when it transferred to the Evangelical Society its ownership and right to such property as was left after the burning of the church, its members being members of that society, and then dissolved. It was quite an anomaly in eccle- siastical arrangements, and arose out of the complications of the contention we are considering. Early in the controversy Shepard Leach, after consultation with Mr. Sheldon’s friends, made this proposition to the other party, —to buy all the property of the latter in the church, pews, sheds, etc., and pay one hundred per cent on its value, or to sell out all the interest Mr. Sheldon’s friends held in the same property for fifty cents on the dollar. But the parish who were opposed to the minister did not care, by thus sed/zg, to turn themselves out of doors ; and it was no object to them to dzy at any price, as they already had more room than they needed, if they were left to themselves. We come now to an exciting stage of the contest, and one that has been generally misunderstood. September 2, 1833, a parish meeting was held, and when the vote for moderator was taken, Elijah Howard, the clerk of the parish, refused to receive the votes of Lemuel Keith and others who were active in sup- port of Mr. Sheldon. This unexpected action caused intense excitement. These men had previously always voted, but now they were persistently refused the right. To their demands Mr. . Howard said, “If you think I am wrong, you have your rem- edy at the law. You can sue me and obtain your rights.” It has been represented that Mr. Howard saw that the majority of those present were Mr. Sheldon’s friends, and that he arbi- trarily excluded enough of them from voting, to give the ma- jority to the opposing party. In the suit which Lemuel Keith entered against Mr. Howard, he charged him with “ maliciously, fraudulently, and injuriously” intending to deprive the plaintiff 348 HISTORY OF EASTON. “of his privilege of voting for the moderator of said meeting, and him to disfranchise,” etc. But the facts show that Mr. Howard acted according to the instructions of the parish, and not on his own personal authority. The position taken by the parish proved to be illegal, but until so proved, he as clerk felt bound to maintain it. In the parish meeting of April 1, 1833, the trustees were instructed “to revise and correct the list of par- ishioners ;” and before the meeting of September 2 they had at- tended to the work. From the old list were dropped the names of Lemuel Keith and others, active friends of Mr. Sheldon. Why was this done? At first sight it appears to have been an arbi- trary and unjust proceeding, and has always been so regarded by Mr. Sheldon’s friends. But the leading men in the parish had too much character to commit an act of obvious injustice, an act for which they did not suppose they had sufficient justification. The reader may judge for himself concerning the soundness of their position, but if he carefully attends to the explanation of their action in the following paragraph, he cannot help allowing that it must have seemed sound and honorable to them. In the Act of Incorporation of the parish it was provided that “all the inhabitants of the town of Easton, who now usually attend public worship with the Congregational Society of which the Rev. William Reed is the present minister,” shall be made a corporation, etc. Now, however justified the adherents of Mr. Sheldon were in the course they were pursuing, it is evident that they did not at this time, 1833, “ usually attend worship with the Congregational Society,’ that is, the First Parish ; they did not attend there at all. It was therefore natural that those who did thus attend should think that these non-attendants had forfeited their rights as parishioners according to the terms of the Act of Incorporation. Moreover, these non-attendants had actually formed another organization, which was substantially another religious society, or parish, though they carefully avoided calling it such, As before stated, they assumed for their organization the title of “ Proprietors of the Easton new Meeting-house;” but their opponents regarded this as a mere evasion, for they were doing business as a regular religious society, were building and furnishing a meeting-house, were raising money to support a minister, and were transacting all other business necessary to the DIVISION OF THE PARISH, 349 maintenance of a religious society. Now, as the Act of Incor- poration did not allow any persons to belong to two religious societies at the same time, and as Mr. Sheldon’s friends had not only absented themselves from the parish church, but had in fact, if not in form, organized a new society, it was natural that the majority should regard them as having forfeited the rights of members, or parishioners, of the old parish. It was for this reason that their names were dropped from the parish roll. That this is the true explanation of this transaction is proved beyond question by the fact that the revision of the list of parishioners adopted in September, 1833, consisted simply in erasing from the old list the names of the “ Proprietors of the Easton new Meeting-house.” They had all been omitted from the new list because they were members of the new corporation, which the parish committee naturally looked upon as a new so- ciety. What seemed to the committee to be a sufficient reason for dropping these names did not prove to be sufficient in law; but the unbiassed reader will concede that Mr. Sheldon’s opponents believed that their action was justified by the circumstances. It is at least perfectly evident that Mr. Howard’s refusal to take the vote of Mr. Keith, and of others whose names had been dropped by order of the parish committee who had been author- ized to revise the list, was not, as has been alleged, the prompt- ing of the moment to secure a majority for his party, but was merely the enforcing of the decision made by the majority vote of the parish taken six months before. He simply did his duty as the parish clerk. By a lawsuit Mr. Keith established his legal right, and there- by that of the others whose names had been dropped, to vote in parish meetings. But the Court’s opinion of the essential justice of his case may be inferred from the fact that while Mr. Keith sued for one thousand dollars damages, the verdict allowed him one dollar and costs. It is worth telling here that when the right to vote had been conceded to the excluded members, Joseph Hayward, familiarly known as “Deacon Joe,” came forward holding up his vote to Mr. Howard, and in his piping voice, tremulous with triumph, said, “I guess you’ll have to take my vote this time;” and the i Superior Judicial Court Records, vol. v. p. 215, at the Court House in Taunton, Massachusetts. 350 HISTORY OF EASTON. quick-witted clerk responded: “Yes, we’ve got short of deacon-. timber, and thought we would let you in.” An unprejudiced judgment will probably concede that both parties believed that their respective courses of action were justified by the situation, and will allow that in this, as in most similar cases, there is something to be said upon both sides. The men arrayed thus earnestly against one another were most of them men of too much character consciously or deliberately to do an act of injustice or unfairness. The excitement was now at a high pitch, and an incident soon occurred which did not tend to allay it. A short time after the parish meeting of September 2, 1833, the worshippers of the old society were amazed, on entering the meeting-house, to find that some of the pews belonging to Mr. Sheldon’s friends had been securely fastened with padlocks. One afternoon of the previous week a blacksmith had come from the Furnace Village with an assistant, and called at Mr. Sheldon’s house. He read a list of names of persons who desired to have their pews fast- ened up, and asked Mr. Sheldon to go to the church with him and point out their pews, which he did. It was easy, of course, for the men attending church the next Sunday to step over into the pews. It was also easy to unlock and remove the padlocks ; and this was done. But this was not the end of it; for not long afterward a lad was driving his cows to pasture in the morning, and on return- ing, as he neared the meeting-house, he heard the clinking of tools within. Looking inside he saw two men at work appar- ently under the direction of Mr. Sheldon, this time fastening up the pews with iron straps, which were securely riveted. Only a few pews had been fastened up in the first instance, but now a large number, probably nearly all those belonging to the friends of the minister, were thus secured. Though there is no evidence that Mr. Sheldon instigated this proceeding, his pres- ence at the church makes it certain that he sympathized with it. It was alleged as a reason for this transaction that one or two of the pews had been shamefully used ; but if so, it was by some rascal whose conduct was sure to meet the disapproval of all respectable persons. This second fastening was done very early in the day, for it was just at sunrise when the lad referred to, DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 351 who is now living and whose memory is perfectly clear about this circumstance, stood and looked in at the door! Mr. Shel- don waved him away, and fastened the door behind him. This second pew-fastening greatly increased the excitement. It was not long, however, before the Furnace Village iron straps were cut away by North Easton cold-chisels, the head of the hammer used being covered with leather to prevent making any noise. January 13, 1834, the parish party appointed a committee consisting of Howard Lothrop, Daniel Wheaton, and Roland Howard, with whom any one might confer in the endeavor to bring about a just and equitable settlement of affairs. Howard Lothrop had contended from the first that in law Mr. Sheldon was entitled to his salary, and he desired that some accommoda- tion of differences might now be made. But Mr. Sheldon’s friends at this juncture were in no mood to accept an overture of this kind. In April this committee “to receive propositions from the friends of Luther Sheldon for a settlement of all diffi- culties existing between him and said parish,” reported that no propositions, either verbally or in writing, had ever been made by Mr. Sheldon or his friends. It was then voted that the trustees should be associated with this committee for the purpose already specified. Evidently, the parish felt that its position was legally weak, and hoped for some proposition for settlement. The other party knew that its position was legally strong, and were already taking steps to punish the parish for its blunder of September, 1832. In the March term of 1834 Mr. Sheldon sued the parish for a year’s unpaid salary, due October 24, 1833, including the twelve 1 The impression has gained ground that this work was done by candlelight, before daybreak. But there is no good reason to doubt that it was done during the early morning by the two blacksmiths before mentioned, who finished it soon after sunrise. The impression referred to has been strengthened by a statement in a stanza of a satirical poem written during this controversy by the eccentric James Adams, — a poem which purports to be a “ New Year’s Address” of Mr. Sheldon to his parishioners. The statement that access was gained by the window is untrue, and the holding of the light may be regarded as a poetic license. The stanza alluded to is as follows : — “ With iron plates some two, three score, With iron bolts as many more, We from the window gain’d the floor At dead of night ; Then firmly fasten’d each pew door : T held the light.” 352 HISTORY OF EASTON. cords of wood promised annually. The salary was $450, and the wood was rated at $36. The interest was carefully computed, and the claim for salary was $500.03. There was an additional claim for $500, the suit being for $1000. In the Court of Common Pleas Mr. Sheldon’s plea was pronounced “ bad and insufficient in law,” and the Court awarded the parish the cost of the suit. Mr. Sheldon appealed, and the case was finally settled in the Superior Court of April, 1836. He sued for $1,000, but the Court awarded him $563.65 and the costs at $141.44.2 He in- stituted another suit in September, 1835, for his salary for 1834, including the twelve cords of wood and interest due, — the whole amounting to $500.59. This suit, like the first one, went against him in the Court of Common Pleas,’ but in the Superior Court in April, 1836, he recovered $546.27 and costs of suit at $46.95.4 These appear to be the only suits recorded in the Bristol County courts. The two suits for unpaid salary resulted in his favor ; the additional claim of $500 made in the first suit was not allowed him, the Court merely deciding that the parish was still bound to pay his salary. Incidentally, of course, it was decided that the refusal of a minister, for conscientious reasons, to exchange with neighboring ministers at the request of his parish was not a suffi- cient ground for his dismissal, and hence that Mr. Sheldon was neither ecclesiastically nor legally dismissed. The suits having been decided against the parish, Mr. Sheldon claimed the salary allowed by the Court. The parish declined to pay it, notwithstanding the Court’s decision ; and here a sin- gular complication arose. It was obvious that if his salary were to be paid by a general parish tax, it would fall proportionally upon his friends who had already supported him during the time for which he sued. But the original contract provided*that when the parish fund had an income equal to his salary, which was now $450, that income should be used for its payment. The income had once exceeded this amount, and Mr. Sheldon be- lieved that it did so at this time, especially as a large amount of wood had recently been sold from the parish land. If the parish . could be forced to pay his salary from this income, then the 1 Court of Common Pleas (Bristol County), vol. xxxi. March term. 2 Superior Judicial Court, vol. v. p. 214. 3 Court of Common Pleas, September, 1835. 4 Superior Judicial Court, vol. v. p. 220. DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 489 members of his society, already paying large sums for church expenses without a fund to assist them, would not have to share this additional burden. He therefore appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court, asking that the trustees of the parish be sum- moned to disclose the facts relative to the amount of annual income from this fund, and of the disposition made of the same. The appeal was allowed, and the disclosure ordered. But it was found that the annual income for the years in question was less than the amount of the minister’s salary; and this being the case, the salary was, according to the original contract, to be paid by a tax upon the parish. This the parish were in no mood to allow ; besides, it would have been burdensome to Mr. Sheldon’s friends, who had already, as has just been stated, borne a heavy expense. What was to be done now? How could the Court's decision be enforced? Mr. Sheldon was obliged to avail himself of the law which made individual corporators liable for the debts that their corporation failed to pay. The individual selected to be levied upon in this case was Howard Lothrop. In theology Mr. Sheldon and Mr. Lothrop were in agreement. Moreover, Mr. Lothrop had assured the parish from the start that they would have this salary to pay; he thought, however, that Mr. Sheldon did wrong to stay and divide the parish, and averred that he had heard Mr. Sheldon say that he would never be the means of dividing it. But the latter doubtless considered that circumstances alter cases; that the divergence between the two parties was deeper than any personal question; and that the changed condition of things justified a change in his decision. However this may be, Mr. Lothrop’s property was sold under the sheriff's hammer in order to pay Mr. Sheldon’s claim. Mr. Lothrop then, in order to recover what had thus been wrung from him, attached the property of two other mem- bers of the parish, Lemuel Keith and Bernard Alger, friends of Mr. Sheldon. Mr. Keith had instituted two lawsuits to prove that he was still a legal member of the parish; and now Mr. Lothrop, in his practical way, reminds him of one of the re- sponsibilities of the situation. This unexpected counter-move by Mr. Lothrop created consternation ; it seemed to open an end- less vista of legal contentions. In fact the ball was kept roll- ing; Mr. Lothrop having recovered of Bernard Alger, Mr. Alger eS 354 HISTORY OF EASTON. instituted a suit against Alson Gilmore ; and if the difficulty had not been settled, Mr. Gilmore would have retaliated upon some one else, —he had, in fact, selected the next victim. If Mr. Sheldon’s friends remained in the parish, therefore, they were liable to be taxed to defray the costs of defending lawsuits, even though these should be decided in favor of their party. The situation was very peculiar. There seemed to be no way out of the difficulty, no thoroughfare for either side. Here were two meeting-houses, side by side. Here were practically two societies. One of them wanted the minister, and the other did not. The courts had decided that under the pres- ent arrangement the society that did not want him must pay his salary. The question naturally arises here, Why did not Mr. Sheldon at this time make some proposition for settlement? The legal question, for the decision of which the Orthodox As- sociation had urged him to make a stand, had been settled, and settled in his favor. The courts had decided that he was entitled to his salary. He could no longer hope that his friends would get the control of the parish. What could be gained by delay? Perhaps he thought the parish were in no mood for propositions of settlement. Besides, he could afford to wait; he was in a situation now to dictate terms. He might argue that it was as much their duty as his to make the first advance. Above all, they had persisted in refusing to pay his salary though the courts awarded it to him. Instead of any attempt at pacifica- tion being made at this juncture, the parish, April 21, 1837, in- structed its committee “to direct Luther Sheldon to supply the pulpit of the parish.” This was an extraordinary measure. It was just four anda half years since the trustees had excluded him from the pulpit. It had now been decided by law that the exclusion was legally unsound, and that he was yet minister of the parish. But those who still worshipped in the old church did not wish to hear him preach ; they regarded his connection with them as a vexatious misfortune. Nevertheless, they directed him to come and preach to them. What could have been their reason? Did they hope to break up the new society by taking its minister away? Did they expect the new society would follow him back to the old church? Or did they hope to weary Mr. Sheldon and his friends DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 355 by this arrangement, so as to obtain more favorable terms of settlement? If the latter, they underrated the staying and en- during power of the minister, and failed to see that if it were a question of wearying, he would under the new arrangement have the advantage, and would be sure to get the best of it in the end. Therefore their summons did not in the least intimidate Mr. Sheldon. One is filled with amazement, not unmingled with admiration, at the nerve and resolution which enabled him to face this unfriendly audience, knowing that they entertained to- wards him feelings of dislike and hostility, — and to do this, not merely on some one decisive occasion that might be met and soon passed, but week after week, for more than a year. Howhe could conduct religious services, preach and pray, in the presence of an unsympathizing congregation,is a problem difficult to solve. Not more than one minister in a thousand could have done it ; but the parish had yet to learn that in this regard Mr. Sheldon was this one in a thousand. It was, indeed, a critical and mo- mentous occasion when for the first time, after four and a half years, he stood up again in his pulpit in the old church to con- duct religious services. His sermon is foreshadowed by his text, which was from Acts x. 29: “ Therefore came I unto you with- out gainsaying as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?” This new arrangement did not prevent Mr. Sheldon from con- tinuing to minister to his own flock, nor did any of his people follow him back to the old church. For a time he conducted services in both houses,—four services a day, besides evening meeting. In order to do this he shortened the services in the parish church. This provoked his unfriendly hearers, not be- cause they desired his long services, but because they did not wish the other society to profit even by what they might other- wise esteem an advantage to themselves. They therefore in- sisted that if they must pay his salary they were entitled to his full services, long sermons and all. They soon had cause to regret this demand. They were handling a two-edged sword, and were dealing with a man who could give as well as take. Mr. Sheldon’s sermons thenceforth gave no cause of complaint because of brevity; and his opponents soon found that they could not annoy him without equally annoying themselves. To 356 HISTORY OF EASTON. accomplish their purpose, however, they were willing to submit to considerable discomfort. Daniel Wheaton, Sr.,a tall man and not very well, used occasionally to stand during the latter part of a long sermon, not to show disrespect, but to rest his long legs, which were cramped by sitting through lengthy discourses. Some of the more impatient ones would take out their news- papers and letters and read them. Bernard Alger on the turn- pike, and Daniel Wheaton at the south end of the Bay road were postmasters, and they or their neighbors used to bring mail matter to church on Sunday mornings to distribute, — which explains the presence of papers and letters at church. Mr. Sheldon soon employed a licentiate from Andover Theo- logical Seminary to act as his colleague, who preached half a day in each church. The parish complained of this arrange- ment; they renewed their demands for exchanges with neigh- boring Congregational ministers; they also charged Mr. Sheldon with restricting his parish visiting to the members of the other society. He however insisted on his right to provide this sub- stitute for half the time; the matter of exchanges had already been disposed of ; and as for visiting them in their homes, he might urge that this could be pleasant and profitable neither to them nor to himself. But the parish even went so far as to vote to hire a man to come and do the parish work which they al- leged Mr. Sheldon neglected. Doubtless some of them found new cause for vexation in the fact that Mr. Sheldon under the new arrangement was actually having an easier time of it than before, in regard to the preparation for the pulpit at least; for, preaching but half the day in each meeting-house, he had now but one sermon a week to write, instead of two as formerly. The weapon his opponents had used proved to be to them a boomerang. This state of things could not continue indefinitely. A meet- ing of the parish was called for April 7, 1838. It was known that important action relative to existing difficulties might be taken, and there was a full meeting. There were one hundred and ninety-six votes cast for moderator, of which Oakes Ames had one hundred and thirty-two. This was after the once ex- cluded members were again allowed to vote. It was proposed and voted that the parish were willing to leave the whole case {DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 357 out to the arbitration of three disinterested persons, to be agreed upon by the two parties, whose award should be final. Five days after this the “ Proprietors,” acting as a society, at a meet- ing held in the chapel, appointed a committee “to carry the Rev. Luther Sheldon’s communication to the parish trustees.”1 The same Proprietors, May 7, proposed, if pending negotiations failed, that “we will all attend at the old house, and fill the house up and stick to them.” This proposition was not adopted. They then proposed that ‘every person withdraw his name from the parish list, and Mr. Sheldon to leave the old house and preach in the new house, and in case the parish bring a suit against Mr. Sheldon for damages, we will defend the suit and leave him harmless.” This proposition was “accepted by a small majority, but finally not put in practice until further consideration.” A committee, consisting of Capt. Lewis Williams, Dr. Caleb Swan, Capt. Isaac Lothrop, Capt. Tisdale Harlow, Bernard Alger, Esq., Martin Wild, Joel Drake, and Lincoln Drake, was chosen to meet the trustees and make propositions for settlement. They proposed to be satisfied if the parish would pay Mr. Sheldon what was due on his salary. May 21 they voted “that in case the trustees will not accept of the proposition that is presented by the Committee by the last day of May, that we will attend meeting at the old house.” The negotiations between the rival societies made very slow progress, and June 25 the Proprietors “voted to go back to the old meeting-house one week from next Sabbath.” It seems that pending these negotiations Mr. Sheldon had not been required to preach there, for the Proprietors vote also to inform Mr. Shel- don “that negotiations are closed, and request him to notify the parish clerk that he shall resume preaching in the old house.” The day proposed for going back to the old house was July 8. For some reason this intention was not carried out. On Mon- day the Proprietors held a meeting, at which “ various subjects were discussed and much said about returning to the old house.” Capt. Lewis Williams and Joel Drake were appointed a com- mittee to call on Daniel Wheaton and Oliver Ames, Esq., and 1 This quotation and those that follow are taken from the Proprietors’ records, now in the possession of L. S. Drake, by whose courtesy the writer was permitted to examine them. 358 HISTORY OF EASTON. see if there was not some misunderstanding relative to the pro- position for settlement. The Proprietors met again the next day, and their committee reported “that the other committee would give three thousand dollars and no more.’ The Proprie- tors asked that in addition to this they should pay the “cost that has been made on account of Mr. Sheldon’s claim.” The parish would not agree to this. Subsequently Mr. Sheldon agreed to relinquish all claims of whatever kind upon the parish if the parish would pay to him the sum of three thousand dollars. November 19, 1838, Mr. Sheldon and Lemuel Keith signed an agreement releasing the Congregational parish from all charges, liabilities, contracts, etc., “from the beginning of the world to this day.” Neither in this settlement nor in the negotiations preceding it is anything said about any division of the parish fund. A large part of the three thousand dollars paid to Mr. Sheldon seems to have been due on his salary. It was almost six years since the parish had voted him any salary, and there is no record of his receiving any from the parish during that time. The parish, therefore, in this settlement did little if anything more than pay the salary due to Mr. Sheldon. The parish fund, moreover, was not divided ; the debt for salary was largely paid by sales of the parish land. The contest had cost both parties heavily. The parish, in addition to lawyers’ fees, had the court costs to pay, which in the two suits of Mr. Sheldon amounted to $188.39. They had also paid for the supply of the parish pul- pit while Mr. Sheldon was preaching in the new meeting-house. But of course the pecuniary expense was far more burdensome to Mr. Sheldon’s friends than to the parish, because the latter could pay charges with the parish fund, while the former must pay from their own pockets. Their willingness, however, to bear so heavy a burden is sufficient indication of their earnest- ness and devotion to their position. It was one of great sacrifice, involving not only the payment of the legal charges referred to, but also the erection of a new meeting-house at a cost of about six thousand dollars. As the new society had since October, 1832, been paying Mr. Sheldon a salary, they had a just claim to the three thousand dollars paid him by the old society. DIVISION OF THE PARISH. 359 And thus ended the memorable controversy. ‘It dates from a vote passed by the parish June 8, 1830, and continued over eight years. It awakened a strong party spirit, caused hard feeling, separated friends, and divided families. Its unhappy effects were felt for many years. Outsiders and thoughtful young persons were heard to say, “If this is what churches come to, we will get along without them.” There can be little doubt that the cause of true religion would have been the gainer if either party had yielded enough at the beginning to prevent this unfriendly strife. In the account of this controversy the writer has done his best to place the exact facts before his readers, only indulging in such comments as seemed necessary to the elucidation of the facts. His statements are based mainly upon the parish and court records, the records of the “Proprietors of the Easton new Meet- ing-house,” and upon such personal testimony as appeared, after careful sifting and comparison with other sources of informa- tion, to be entirely trustworthy. Nearly fifty years have elapsed since the settlement of the contest. Most of the contestants have passed away, and those who remain can talk calmly together about those exciting events of long ago. Before his death, Dr. Sheldon was a welcome guest and friend in the families of those who once were arrayed against him. Many unfounded or distorted traditions have grown up regarding the controversy in question, which do injustice to both parties. It is hoped that this account may do something to silence such traditions, to pro- mote a better understanding, and thus to serve the interests of justice and charity. 360 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXI. EASTON CENTRE CHURCHES. — SPIRITUALISM. THE First CONGREGATIONAL PARISH AFTER THE DIVISION: SUCCESSIVE Pastors, — WILLIAM H. TAyLor, PAUL DEAN, WILLIAM WHITWELL, GEORGE G. WITHINGTON; SERVICES DISCONTINUED; THE MEETING- HOUSE BURNED. — THE EVANGELICAL SocIETY: Rev. Dr. SHEL- DoON’s RESIGNATION; HIS CHARACTER; THE CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS SETTLEMENT IN EASTON; SUCCES- SIVE PASTORS OF THE EVANGELICAL SOCIETY; THE NEw MEETING- HOUSE; SUNDAY SCHOOLS.— SPIRITUALISM IN EASTON: ITS ORIGIN ; ITs PaTRONS; THE “ First SPIRITUAL SOCIETY OF EasToN;” THE “EASTON SOCIETY OF PROGRESSIVE SPIRITUALISTS.” THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL PARISH. HEN the Rev. Mr. Sheldon was notified in September, 1832, that his services would be dispensed with, the par- ish made arrangement for the supply of the pulpit. No new minister of course was settled, but supplies were provided prob- ably for most of the time until Mr. Sheldon, having by law es- tablished his right to the pulpit, was directed to occupy it, which was in April, 1837, four and a half years after he had been excluded from it. In November, 1838, affairs were ad- justed between the contending parties, as we have seen, and ‘both societies were henceforth entirely independent of each other. On the 29th of April, 1839, the parish voted “that the committee for supplying the pulpit be instructed to employ some person, if practicable, who will not make doctrines or sectarian- ism a leading feature in his discourses, but will insist mainly on the moral duties and obligations of his hearers.” June 8 they extended a call to the Rev. William H. Taylor to become their minister, at a salary of five hundred and fifty dol- lars. Their past experience led them to make it a condition that after the first year the connection of minister and parish EASTON CENTRE CHURCHES. 361 might be dissolved by a three months notice being given in writing by either party. Mr. Taylor accepted the call in a letter written the next day after the call was given. He came here from Lynn, the parish paying the expense of his moving. It was immediately voted to build a parsonage, which was done at an expense of about a thousand dollars, and it was situated a few rods west of the church. Mr. Taylor did not long remain : he was thought to be more interested in phrenology than in re- ligion ; and he excited considerable amusement in the course of a lecture at North Easton by examining the head of the ingen- ious and witty rhymster James Adams, and pronouncing him decidedly deficient in the poetic faculty. But he had the grace afterward, when some of Adams’s stanzas were recited to him, to acknowledge that they had a true poetic ring. About this time the pulpit was supplied for a few months each by the Rev. Stephen A. Barnard and a Rev. Mr. Dudley. There was some disposition to hear Universalist preaching ; and at a parish meeting in April, 1841, a vote to engage such preach- ing was passed, but it was so strenuously opposed by the minority that it was reconsidered. In April, 1843, with a glance back at the past, the parish instructed their committee to have any min- ister who may supply for more than four Sabbaths exchange pulpits with ministers of societies in adjoining towns. This remained a sensitive matter with the parish, and was made prominent at various times. In 1845 the meeting-house under- went thorough remodelling. A second floor was built, making a church-audience room above, and a hall below. This hall was hired by the town, and was used for town-meetings, until the building was destroyed by fire. The church was re-dedicated on the 24th of December, 1845, and at the same service a newly chosen pastor was installed, of whom mention will now be made. In April, 1845, the parish expressed a wish that the Rev. Paul Dean be employed to supply the pulpit. He was accordingly engaged by the parish committee, and continued pastor for five years. Mr. Dean was a man of character, refinement, and ability. He was born in Barnard, Windsor County, Vermont, on the 28th of March, 1783. He had been connected with the Universalist denomination, but was so disgusted with the ultra opinions of 362 HISTORY OF EASTON. the then dominant wing of that sect, — who denied any future retribution, and affirmed the immediate salvation of all men at death, and were therefore styled “death-and-glory” Universal- ists, —that he with Adin Ballou and others left them and be- came known as Independent Restorationists. His theology was more conservative than that of the conservative Unitarianism of to-day, and except in his pronounced restorationism he stood on fully as conservative ground as that which gives promise of be- coming the dominant Orthodoxy of this time. He was eminently a Christian gentleman, dignified and courteous, of comely figure and pleasant countenance, and was noted for a graceful and per- suasive pulpit oratory, making practical piety and morality the substance of his preaching, and treating other denominations with candor and charity. Mr. Dean became well known and highly respected, preaching numerous occasional discourses, in- cluding an annual Election sermon before the General Court in 1832; he also left a volume of lecture sermons on Universal Restoration. His connection with Masonry is well known in this town, as the Masonic lodge is named for him, — Paul Dean Lodge; in the lodge-room may be seen an excellent crayon pic- ture of him. He died at Framingham, Massachusetts, on the 18th of October, 1860. ; Soon after the Rev. Paul Dean left Easton, which was in April, 1850, the parish engaged the services of the Rev. William Whitwell, who remained as an acting pastor for about seven years, his ministry being quiet and uneventful. He was a good man and a cultivated scholar. He was afterward settled at Chestnut Hill. At the conclusion of Mr. Whitwell’s ministry the Ames families discontinued attendance upon the First Parish Church, as a Unitarian Society had been formed at North Easton village, where they resided. A proposition was made to unite with the latter society in the support of a minister who should supply both pulpits, but the proposition was not carried into effect. In May, 1858, the parish extended a call to the Rev. George G. Withington, who accepted it and remained as pastor for over twelve years, retiring from the parish and from the active minis- try in November, 1870, Mr. Withington was the son of George R. Withington, Esq., a lawyer in Bolton, and afterwards in Lan- EASTON CENTRE CHURCHES. 363 caster, Massachusetts, and was born in Bolton on the 26th of July, 1831. He graduated at the Meadville Pennsylvania Theo- logical School] in the class of 1854, and for the succeeding year was engaged in the West as a missionary, acting under the auspices of the Western Unitarian Conference. He was or- dained at Hillsboro, Illinois, as pastor of the Unitarian society in that place in 1855, remaining there two years, and afterward, as already stated, settling in Easton. On the 22d of January, 1860, Mr. Withington married Ellen Jeannette, daughter of the Hon. Elijah Howard, of Easton. In the years 1868 and 1869, besides attending to his ministerial duties, Mr. Withington was master of the High School in Easton. Since his retirement from the ministry, Mr. Withington has engaged in the druggist business in North Easton. He served the town as a member of the school committee from 1859 to 1871, and has held the office of town clerk and treasurer for ten consecutive years, discharging its duties with exceptional ability, his clear head and painstaking thoroughness giving him a special aptitude for such work. He has been Master of Paul Dean Ma- sonic Lodge, and now holds the office of Justice of the Peace. , The Rev. Mr. Withington was the last settled pastor of the First Parish of Easton. Preaching was discontinued after his resignation. As there seemed to be considerable doubt about the parsonage being any longer needed, it was sold in 1872, and was bought by Albert A. Rotch for one thousand dollars. Dur- ing the summer months of 1874 and 1875 the church was opened for afternoon services, the pulpit being supplied by the Rev. Edward C. Towne, who was then living at North Easton. For another season it was opened for afternoon services, the preacher being the Rev. Mr. Beal, of Brockton. The society is at present quite small, and perhaps owes its continued existence to the parish fund, which however is not large. On the morning of January 27, 1886, the meeting-house of this old First Parish of Easton was destroyed by fire. The town subsequently bought the parish lot of land on which it stood, and has erected upon it a town hall,—a building which, though not especially orna- mental, is likely to be useful. 364 HISTORY OF EASTON. THE EVANGELICAL CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY. When the First Congregational Parish, as before narrated, had made a settlement with Mr. Sheldon, forty-one members withdrew from it. Others soon joined them, and on the 28th day of January, 1839, these friends of Mr. Sheldon formally organized themselves into a religious society, adopting the name of the Evangelical Congregational Society of Easton. April 8, the society entered into an agreement with Mr. Sheldon in re- gard to his becoming their permanent minister. Some such agreement was necessary, because his connection with the old parish had terminated and a new society had been formed. He was given a salary of five hundred dollars payable semi-annually, was allowed a vacation of four weeks, and it was agreed that in case a dissolution of the pastoral connection were desirable it should be effected by means of a mutual council. It was further agreed that an installation was unnecessary. There is nothing of special interest to record during the remaining years of Mr. Sheldon’s active ministry over this society. In March, 1855, it was voted that a committee be appointed to confer with Mr. Sheldon in regard to a dissolution of the con- nection between him and the society. It had for some time been thought desirable that this change should be made; and after a conference of two committees with him, on the 3d of May, 1855, he-resigned his connection as active pastor of the society, which resignation was accepted. Subsequent to this action there was some doubt as to the precise nature of the relation which Mr. Sheldon sustained to the church and society. He always maintained that he resigned merely his active charge and labors and salary, but still stood in the relation of senior pastor. This gave rise to some discussion. His successor, before accepting a call, desired the opinion of the committee “as to whether Mr. Sheldon does or does not stand in any connection with this church or society which might render the position of another minister embarrassing.” The committee replied “that so far as the society was concerned, all connection with him had been dissolved.” This was obvious, as the society had entered into a business contract with him which was now cancelled. Whether or not Mr. Sheldon retained the connection of senior pastor to EASTON CENTRE CHURCHES. 365 the church is an interesting problem. The church had origi- nally, in 1810, joined with the parish in settling him: the church had taken no action to dissolve its connection. The church committee, when asked for “information respecting his pastoral relation to the church,” answered ambiguously “that all matters relating to Mr. Sheldon’s connection with the church might and would be amicably adjusted, so that there would be no occasion for anything to arise that would be unpleasant.” Mr. Sheldon’s own mind was clear upon the subject, and in the church records he states that “by mutual understanding, also, the relation of pastor and minister, with its appropriate privileges, was to remain unchanged.” Thus closed an active and eventful ministry of forty-five years. The account that has been given of the great controversy has shown us one side of Mr. Sheldon’s character, — his conserva- tism, his unwavering adherence to his principles, his strong will and inflexible resolution, But his conservative views did not prevent his manifesting a cheerful disposition. His prayer- meetings he tried to make social and cheerful. He was accus- tomed to say, “If any person in the world ought to be happy, it is the Christian.” Mr. Sheldon was very fond of children, and might often be seen chatting pleasantly with them, or allowing them to “catcha ride” in his wagon as he drove along the road. He could engage in a hearty laugh as well as any one, and even the “ Minister’s Wooing ” was not too heretical for him heartily to enjoy reading. He had a fondness for pets; and in addition to the usual fowls of the homestead, one might see upon his prem- ises turkeys, guinea-hens, peacocks, pigeons, rabbits, and dogs. Sometimes gray squirrels having a home in his attic would sit on his shoulder, pry into his pockets, or run about his grounds. The noisy martins were comfortably provided for, and the air was vocal with the hum of honey-bees, many swarms of which he delighted to keep in the latter part of his life. Mr. Sheldon never lost his love for farm-life, and enjoyed grappling with the roughest labor of the season. He was very skilful in the use of farming-tools, as the following statement of his son will show :— “T shall never forget a laughable incident which I witnessed in my boyhood, which will illustrate his activity and cleverness in this 366 HISTORY OF EASTON. respect. The neighbors, some eight or ten of them, had generously turned out to cut his grass one hot July morning. Among them was a young giant, who boasted of his ability to cut any one of them out of his swath. Said an old resident who lived across the road from the minister, — “¢T can give you a man who can cut a neater and wider swath than you, and do it quicker too.’ “* Bring him on!’ said the young boaster. “Just then Mr. Sheldon came into the field with his study-gown on, and the neighbor handed him his scythe, saying, — “*You have not forgotten how you used to mow; now give the boys a lesson.’ “Mr. Sheldon laid aside his robe, put an edge on the scythe, and started in. Turning to Argyle, Mr. D. said, — “There ’s your man ; now let us see you mow around him.’ “ All stood by to see the fun; soon the young man was left far in the rear. He complained bitterly of his dull scythe ; it would not cut, although he vigorously applied stone and rifle. Mr. Sheldon came in many rods ahead, amid the shouts of the lookers-on.” In the winter of 1853 Mr. Sheldon was sent by the citizens of Easton to Boston as their delegate to the Constitutional Conven- tion ; for eleven years he served upon the board of school commit- tee. July 14, 1860, he celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his settlement in Easton. In the little grove at the foot of his garden, surrounded by his children and two or three hundred friends who were seated at well-loaded tables, he recalled with them the events of the past, and they sang together the hymns of the olden time. On that occasion he stated that he had preached six thousand written sermons, solemnized four hundred marriages, and declined eight calls to other parishes offering larger salaries than Easton. In speaking of the trying times through which he: had passed in conflict with men whom he honored, he said that he did not now recall one who if alive would not welcome him to his home and hospitality ; they had outlived and outgrown their hostility. He expressed his strong affection for the home of his life-ministry, and said that though often solicited to go and live with his children, he preferred to spend the remnant of his days here, and to have his body laid at rest beside those of his friends in the cemetery near at hand. Mr. Sheldon died September 16, Rev. LUTHER SHELDON, D.D. EASTON CENTRE CHURCHES. 367 1866. He was really oneof the strongly marked characters of Easton, and has made a permanent impression upon its life and institutions. In preparing this sketch of his life in Easton, the writer has labored under the great disadvantage of never having any per- sonal acquaintance with Dr. Sheldon; and therefore to those who did know him and who read what is here written, this ac- count may seem inadequate. The writer, however, has endeav- ored to give as faithful a narrative as the circumstances of the case admit, and in the account of the parochial controversy he is conscious of having written without bias. October 1, 1855, the Rev. Lyman White received and ac- cepted a call to settle as minister of the Evangelical Society. He was voted a salary of seven hundred and fifty dollars, and it was agreed that if either party desired a dissolution of the con- nection, a three months notice from that party would be suffi- cient to accomplish it. In October, 1862, the society gave such notice to Mr. White, assuring him, however, that the only reason for their action was their inability to raise a sufficient sum to pay the present expenses of the pulpit. Mr. White was very highly esteemed as a minister. His resignation was given Feb- ruary 19, 1862, a council being called to dissolve the connection. It was found difficult at this time to pay the necessary expenses. The Ladies’ Benevolent Society rendered generous assistance, and instead of depending entirely upon subscriptions for the support of worship, the society voted to raise about two thirds of the needed amount by a tax upon the pews. June 3, 1863, the Rev. Charles E. Lord was installed pastor of the society on a salary of five hundred and fifty dollars; the Rev. Lyman Whiting preached the sermon of installation. Mr. Lord remained less than two years, resigning March 26, 186s, because his wife’s health demanded his removal to a dryer climate. He was the last minister of this society regularly settled by a council with an installation service. Since his time the society has been ministered to by “acting pastors.” -The Rev. Charles L. Mills served from December 8, 1865, to Feb- ruary 24, 1868. The Rev. D. W. Richardson, in October, 1869, accepted the offer of preaching for an indefinite time to the society for one thousand dollars a year, either party to close 368 HISTORY OF EASTON. the engagement by a two months notice. Mr. Richardson re- signed in 1872, his resignation taking effect the last Sunday in November. The Rev. M. B. Angier then preached for a few months. The Rev. A. S. Hudson served as acting pastor from Septem- ber 4, 1873, to April, 1875. He was followed by the Rev. Luther H. Sheldon, son of Dr. Sheldon, who served with great acceptance from August, 1875, until October, 1878, when he was called to be the superintendent of the State Reform School at Westboro. Rev. S. D. Hosmer supplied from October, 1878, to July, 1879. He was succeeded by Rev. L. H. Angier, who had charge until April, 1881. The Rev. W. H. Dowden was acting pastor from July, 1881, to December, 1884. The society in voting him a call also voted to settle him with a council. On being conferred with concerning a council, Mr. Dowden postponed the matter to a more “convenient season,” which season never arrived. The parsonage of the Evangelical Society was built in 1879, and stands nearly opposite the church. On the evening of Sep- tember 6, 1882, the meeting-house was entirely consumed by fire; there was no insurance upon it. The society henceforth, until the vestry-room of the new church was ready for occu- pancy, worshipped in the Unitarian church at Easton Centre. September 27, 1882, it was authoritatively pronounced a legally organized corporation by the Secretary of the State. A new church building was begun in the autumn of 1883, and was completed in March, 1885; it was erected at a cost of about $11,500, The organ, built by Mr. Holbrook, of East Medway, cost $1500, and the furnishings $700. The audience-room will seat about three hundred, and a gallery affords accommodation for about fifty more. There is a convenient vestry under the audience-room. The new church was dedicated March 19, 1885, the Rev. Luther H. Sheldon preaching the sermon. Besides the Orthodox Congregational ministers invited to assist in these services, the Rev. Merrick Ranson (Methodist) and the Rev. W. L. Chaffin (Unitarian), both of North Easton, took part in the exercises. July 1, 1885, the present acting pastor, the Rev. F. P. Chapin, began his work here, and still continues. He is the son of yy Hj THE EVANGELICAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, EASTON CENTRE. EASTON CENTRE CHURCHES. 369 Ebenezer and Sarah Chapin, and was born in Gill, Massachu- setts, August 14, 1827; he graduated at Amherst College and Bangor Theological Seminary, was settled ten years in Camden, Maine, three years in the East Parish of Amherst, Massachu- setts, and twelve years at North Weymouth. Mr. Chapin was ‘first married to Sarah S. Wallace, of Hadley, Massachusetts, December 3, 1857. She died at Amherst, January 14, 1868, leaving four children, three sons and one daughter. He was married the second time to Margaret Macfarlane, of Camden, Maine, January 12, 1871. She died at North Weymouth, Octo- ber 25, 1882, leaving one child. There have been three Sunday-schools connected with this church. Until recently there was but one, which appears to have been organized by Mr. Sheldon about 1815; it was held at the Centre. But this arrangement was so inconvenient for many of the children of the parish that it was thought best to organize a Sunday-school in two other sections, —one at South Easton, and one at the Furnace Village. White’s Village Sunday-school was organized in White’s Hall by the Rev. A. S. Hudson, June 14, 1874, assisted by members of the Evangelical Congregational Church, of which he was the pastor. It began with seven teachers and fifty-three scholars. Francis Homes was superintendent of the school for the first six years. In 1850 Deacon J. O. Dean took charge of the work till the building was destroyed by fire in 1884. The success of the work is indicated by a few statistics: the record for 1878 gives the total membership as one hundred and five, average attend- ance fifty-five, largest number on any one Sunday seventy-four ; families represented, forty-two. A library of several hundred volumes was in constant use. Papers, both weekly and monthly, were supplied to every family. A temperance society called the “ Anti Society” was organized in 1876, which received the written pledge of nearly all the members. The Furnace Village Sunday-school was organized in Harmony Hall by members of the Evangelical Church, November 18, 1877. Andrew Hamilton was the first superintendent. In 1884 he was succeeded by George Sylvester, who is still in charge. The school began with sixty members, and has now about eighty. Nearly every Protestant family in the vicinity is represented in 24 370 HISTORY OF EASTON. it. Papers of different grades are given to each family, and all the members have access to a library of nearly five hundred volumes, —a privilege which they highly prize. SPIRITUALISM IN EASTON. Although the Spiritualists are not, strictly speaking, a religious denomination, they represent a certain phase of speculation up- on religion and some of its related topics, and it is desirable that there should be some record of the various efforts made in Easton by Spiritualists to form some permanent organization of those holding their views. The central idea of Spiritualism is that there is a vital connection between the seen and the unseen worlds by which communication between the two can be maintained, and that departed spirits can manifest themselves by means of what are usually termed “mediums.” It is not claimed that this idea is new; it is indeed generally admitted to be one that in some form has been entertained by many persons in all Christian denominations, who have fondly believed that their departed friends did not lose sight of them, and that in times of special need they might influence them for good. This comforting belief is stiil held by multitudes of persons who can conscientiously entertain it without renouncing their present re- ligious and denominational connections. In this country modern Spiritualism dates from the “ Roch- ester knockings” in the village of Hydesville in Rochester, New York, in 1848, where the Fox sisters attracted so much notice by the strange phenomena alleged to take place by their medi- umship, In Easton, interest in this subject first appeared on the Bay road. In 1850 Asahel Smith, Amos Hewett, Willard Lothrop, and others became much interested in the matter. Several Easton people soon displayed mediumistic powers. Cir- cles were held. There were knockings and table-tippings and experiments in the production of musical sounds, etc. It was not found necessary to import trance speakers, for native talent in that direction was soon developed. Much attention was given to this subject in nearly all parts of the town. There were strong believers and equally strong disbelievers in the theory offered to explain the phenomena produced. Lectures were given upon the subject by persons who claimed to be trance-speakers con- SPIRITUALISM. 371 trolled by disembodied spirits. In 1852 or 1853 the Protestant Methodist Church in North Easton village was opened for such a lecture, and in 1854 there were several given in White’s Hall, South Easton, attracting great attention. In 1859 and 1860 public meetings were held in Ripley’s Hall, North Easton, and about the same time in Harmony Hall at the Furnace Village. Meetings for the same purpose were held in 1862, and for several years afterward, in No. 1 Schoolhouse. Public interest then flagged for several years. But after a series of meetings in White’s Hall.an organization was effected in November, 1872, and was known as the “ First Spiritual Society of Easton,” — N. W. Perry, President; Fred C. Thayer, Vice-President ; Ellen F. Thayer, Secretary. Meetings were held in the Easton Uni- tarian Church in the afternoon, and at White’s Hall in the eve- ning. These meetings continued for only a short time, and but little notice was taken of the subject for several years. In District No, 8, in the year 1877, there was a revival of in- terest. Private circles were held, and in January, 1878, another organization was effected. It was called “The Easton Society of Progressive Spiritualists.” Its total membership was twenty- two. Its first president was Charles R. Dickerman; its vice- president, William B. Webster; and its secretary, Mrs. David Wade. Mr. Dickerman resigned in a few weeks, and was suc- ceeded by F. G. Keith. A few public meetings were held, private circles met weekly for about four months, when this transient interest died out, and the “Easton Society of Pro- ‘gressive Spiritualists” vanished from sight. March 31, 1880, there was at the G. A. R. Hall in South Easton village a celebration of the thirty-second anniversary of the birth of modern Spiritualism. The exercises consisted of a lecture by Mrs.N. J. Willis, of Cambridgeport, music, recitations, tableaux, a free supper and dancing, and was attended it is said by about five hundred persons. Since that time no public meet- ings have been held in Easton. One of the most intelligent Spiritualists in Easton assigns as the reason why these organizations here are so short-lived, that “there is some expense and some sacrifice to be made, and no one is willing to assume the leadership and take the re- sponsibility.” If this be true, it would appear to indicate a lack 372 HISTORY OF EASTON. of sufficient inspiring power in the cause itself to prompt the requisite sacrifice. It seems plainly evident that there is a basis of fact beneath the so-called “ manifestations,” that a belief in the occasional presence and influence of the departed gives great comfort to many sorrowing hearts, and that it has saved many souls from making shipwreck of their faith in immortality. Spiritualists have, however, as we have already intimated, no monopoly of this belief in spiritual influence from the unseen world. It is held by many Christians of every name, and is as old as belief in immortality. How many Spiritualists there are now in Easton cannot be accurately estimated. LIBRARIES. 373 CHAPTER XXII. LIBRARIES. THE First SocIAL LIBRARY. — THE WASHINGTON BENEVOLENT SOCIE- TY AND LIBRARY. — THE SECOND SocrIAL LIBRARY. — THE METHO- DIST SOCIAL LIBRARY. — THE No. 2 DISTRICT LIBRARY. — THE AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY. — THE NORTH EASTON LIBRARY ASSOCIA- TION. — THE AMES FREE LIBRARY. THE FIRST SOCIAL LIBRARY. LIBRARY association with the above name existed in Easton as early as 1800. It was located in the south- east part of the town. The books were kept at the house of Roland Howard, who appears to have been the librarian. An informant speaks of the strong impression made upon her mind by the reading of the “ History of Cain,” one of the books of this library. About fifty of the books are still at their old headquarters in the Roland Howard house, now Mr. Collins’s home. They are mainly of an agricultural character, and are of course considerably dilapidated. THE WASHINGTON BENEVOLENT SOCIETY AND LIBRARY. At the time of the War of 1812 the country was divided between the Federalist and Anti-federalist parties, the latter being sometimes called Republican. Party feeling was intense and bitter. In New England the opposition to the war was very strong on the part of the Federalists. The latter were in a minority in Easton, and felt the need of union for sym- pathy and counsel. They therefore organized themselves into a society with the name given above. The name of Washington was used because he had sympathized with Federalist principles, and because his name was held in high honor. But why the so- ciety was called “Benevolent” does not appear. There seemed to be no better reason for its adoption than that it sounded well; 374 HISTORY OF EASTON. it certainly laid the society open to the ridicule of the Republi- cans, who did not spare its members. This society was more like a political club; it had meetings for political purposes, addresses sometimes being given upon subjects in which its members were interested. Melvin Gilmore gave one address in the meeting-house. He felt it to be a momentous occasion, and therefore fortified himself for it in a way customary in those days. He had engaged a friend also to watch him and give him a sign of warning if anything went wrong. When in the full tide of his speech, which was written, he accidentally turned two leaves of his manuscript at once. His friend noticed the mishap and endeavored to signal him ; but it was in vain, for Mr. Gilmore was under too great momentum to be checked in his course. Afterward he asked, “ How did it go?” “Go!” responded his friend, “you made an outrageous blunder; you turned two leaves at once.” Somewhat chagrined, Mr. Gilmore said, “ Well, I thought there was one place where it did n’t hitch on very well, but I did n’t know what the trouble was.” As the name indicates, this society owned a library, which was doubtless composed principally of political works and peri- odicals. The society appears to have been organized about 1812, and it continued in existence nearly ten years. The members were charged an initiation fee of two dollars each. As it may be of interest to their descendants and others to know who were the Federalists of that day in Easton, their names are appended here: — Thomas Britton. Asa Howard. Alpha Crossman. Edwin Howard. James Dean. Elijah Howard, Esq. Bartholomew Drake. Elijah Howard, Jr. James Drake. Nathaniel Howard. Simeon Drake. Thomas B. Drake. John Gilmore. Joshua Gilmore, Esq. Melvin Gilmore. Joseph Hayward. Joseph Hayward, Jr. Nahum Hayward. Solomon Hayward. Roland Howard, Esq. Isaac Kimball. James Lothrop. John Lothrop. Solomon Lothrop, Jr. Ichabod Macomber. Nathaniel Perry. John Pool, Esq. Capt. Oliver Pool. LIBRARIES. 375 Ziba Randall. Daniel Wheaton, Esq. Calvin Seaver. Alanson White. Wendell Seaver. Capt. Joshua Williams. Asa Waters. Capt. Lewis Williams. Otis Williams. This list does not include the names of all the Federalists of Easton. Oliver Ames was an ardent Federalist, but his name does not appear here, perhaps because he was living in Plymouth when the society was organized. After the War of 1812 was over, and when the Hartford Convention had given the Federal party its death-blow, this Washington Benevolent Society and Library languished. Its affairs were not entirely settled, how- ever, until 1823. Lewis Williams was then its treasurer, and from a carefully written paper which he prepared we learn that its membership was thirty-seven ; its amount of fees, $73.00 (one member paying only a half fee); the amount realized from the sale of books, $25.25; the amount of assessments all told, $33-75; and that the total amount finally disbursed among exist- ing members was $70.65. Should a descendant of any member of the Washington Be- nevolent Society and Library chance to find among the relics of olden times a small black cockade, he will then behold the emblem by which these members distinguished themselves ; for they all wore a black cockade, so fastened as to reach above the crown of the hat on the left side. THE SECOND SOCIAL LIBRARY. Before 1823 there was formed a Library Association in Easton named as above. In order to form themselves into a “legal so- ciety’ as they termed it, a meeting was regularly called at the request of five members, and was held February 6, 1823, “at the chapel near the Congregational meeting-house,” where it was legally organized. Israel Turner was made clerk ; Daniel Reed, librarian; and Welcome Lothrop, treasurer. Dr. Samuel Deans, James Dean, and John Pool were chosen to inspect and superintend the concerns of the library. Among the members were Joseph Hayward, Sr., Lewis Williams, Dr. Caleb Swan, Alanson White, Sheperd Leach, Oakes Ames, Lincoln Drake, and twenty-five other citizens of Easton. At the second quar- 376 HISTORY OF EASTON. terly meeting a share (which included membership) was pre- sented by the proprietors to the Rev. Luther Sheldon. The first book in the little catalogue was the “ Theory of Agreeable Sensations.” Then came Bacon’s Essays, Burns’s Works, Plu- tarch’s “Lives,” the “Scottish Chiefs,” Hume’s “England,” and a few other standard works. But most of the books are no longer read and are seldom heard of. This library existed until about 1840. THE METHODIST SOCIAL LIBRARY. In 1831 a Library Association similar to the one last men- tioned was organized in the northeast part of the town. It was called the Methodist Social Library. Its first meeting for or- ganization was held May 3, 1831. Dr. Zephaniah Randall was chosen president ; Joel Randall, vice-president ; William Sawyer, clerk ; Henry R. Healey, treasurer ; and John A. Bates, librarian. The standing committee were Phineas Randall, Oakes Ames, John Bisbee, Francis French, and James Dickerman. A closet was built in the then new Methodist meeting-house to hold the books of the library. There were fifty-six shareholders. The first book on the list was Wesley’s “ Sermons,” and the next the “ American Constitution.” Then followed “ Pilgrim’s Progress,” Opie on “Lying,” Hervey’s “ Meditations,” etc. A large propor- tion of the books were theological and religious. It was not, however, a long-lived society, its last meeting being held May 1, 1837. Its records are still preserved. THE NO. 2 DISTRICT LIBRARY. ‘ as In 1838, as Guilford White informs the writer, the Rev. Mr. Upham, of Salem,a member of the Board of Education, lectured in schoolhouses, with a view to establish district libraries. Such a library was formed by individual subscription in District No. 2, and about one hundred books, some of them excellent in charac- ter, were collected. After about twenty-five years there was very little interest taken in it, and when the Sunday-school in White’s Hall was organized, such books of the district library as re- mained, — about forty or fifty, —were turned into the Sunday- school library. This school collected at last about three hundred - volumes, but when the hall was burned, August 25, 1884, they / \ were all consumed. : LIBRARIES. 377 THE AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY. In 1860, under the direction of John Raynolds, of Concord, Massachusetts, who was connected with the “New England Far- mer,” an agricultural library was organized in Easton. Its first president was Oliver Ames, Jr.; its vice-president, George W. Hayward ; its secretary, Henry Daily ; and John-R. Howard was chosen its treasurer and librarian. The committee for the selec- tion of books was Charles B. Pool, Oliver Ames, Jr., and David Hervey. There were one hundred and thirty-five very carefully selected books, besides duplicates. These books treated of the various branches of agriculture, horse and cattle breeding, and kindred subjects, and they were well studied and of great service. After the death of the librarian the books were removed to Mr. Manahan’s, where most of them remain to-day. The associa- tion is now practically dead, however. THE NORTH EASTON LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. January 25, 1869, the above named association was organized at North Easton village. Joseph Barrows was chosen president ; Cyrus Lothrop, vice-president ; F. L. Ames, secretary and treas- urer; and A. A. Gilmore, Reuben Meader, Michael Macready, W. L. Chaffin, and P. A. Gifford, were elected directors. Per- sons became shareholders by the purchase of one or more shares, each costing five dollars. There were fifty shareholders, and ninety-five shares were sold. Any one might become a subscri- ber and have the use of the library and reading-room by paying at the rate of two dollars per year. There was an annual assess- ment of one dollar on each share. This library was located in the same building with the post-office, and George B. Cogswell was chosen librarian. A convenient reading-room was fitted up there, papers and magazines provided, and it became for eleven years a place of pleasant resort which will long be remembered - by those accustomed to frequent it. In 1880, in anticipation of the opening of the Ames Free Library, the association voted to appraise and sell its property, to close up its affairs, and to dissolve. This it did about the end of the year. 378 HISTORY OF EASTON. THE AMES FREE LIBRARY. The Ames Free Library of Easton, Massachusetts, originated in a bequest of the Hon. Oliver Ames, the second of that name, who died March 9, 1877. The following is the bequest copied from the will: — “Clause 10. I give and bequeath to my executors hereinafter named the sum of fifty thousand dollars, in trust, for the construction of a library building and the support of a library for the benefit of the inhabitants of the town of Easton. The building is to be located by my executors at such place in School District No. 7 in Easton as will in their judgment best accommodate its users. Not more than twenty-five thousand dollars of the above sum of fifty thousand dollars shall be expended in the purchase of the land and in erecting the library building, and ten thousand dollars only shall be in the first place expended for books, maps, and furniture for the library ; and the remaining fifteen thousand dollars shall constitute a permanent fund to be invested in stock of the Old Colony Railroad Company, the in- come of which shall be devoted to increasing the library and keeping the building and its appurtenances and contents in repair. When the building is completed and the library purchased as aforesaid, I direct my executors to convey the same, by a suitable deed of trust securing the purposes above set forth, to five trustees, to be appointed by the Unitarian Society at North Easton ; and the said trustees shall have charge and control of the building and land under and belonging to the same, and the library and its funds. Any vacancy in the board of trustees shall be filled in the same manner the original appointment is made.” The amounts for the several purposes named in the bequest were largely increased by the heirs of Mr. Ames. The cost of the building, books, appurtenances, the cataloguing of the books, etc., up to the date of the opening of the library, was upwards. of eighty thousand dollars. The permanent fund was increased from fifteen thousand dollars to forty thousand dollars by a gift of Mrs. Sarah L. Ames, widow of the donor. The library was. opened to the public March 10, 1883. In accordance with a condition prescribed by the will, a board of five trustees was chosen at a meeting of the Unitarian Society of North Easton, held February 17, 1883. The following persons ‘NOLSVY] HLUON ‘AUVUAIT AANA saAWY A Ee LIBRARIES. 379 were chosen trustees: Frederick L. Ames, William L. Chaffin, Lincoln S. Drake, Cyrus Lothrop, and George W. Kennedy. There are now over eleven thousand books in this library, which were very carefully selected in order to form the basis of a first-class collection. The catalogue is thoroughly and elaborately prepared. A large number of papers and periodicals supply the needs of the beautiful reading-room. The library is an inesti- mable advantage to the town, furnishing the means of extending and elevating the knowledge and increasing the rational enjoy- ment of its residents, by whom it is liberally patronized. The library building is a handsome edifice, built of sienite from a quarry a stone’s throw distant, and has red sandstone trimmings. It is elaborately finished inside, the waiting-room and reading- room being of black walnut, the latter having a massive and beautifully carved fireplace of red sandstone, the stone-work on each side of and above the fireplace reaching to the ceiling, with a medallion of Mr. Ames in the centre. The library-room proper has two tiers of alcoves, and the exquisite wood-work is of polished butternut. In the second story of the building is a tenement for the librarian. The accompanying picture of this building makes further description of it unnecessary. H. H. Richardson was its architect. Charles R. Ballard was appointed librarian on the opening of the library, and he still occupies this position. 380 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXIII. PUBLIC SCHOOLS. SCHOOL MANAGEMENT OF THE LAST CENTURY. — THE SCHOOL—COMMITTEE SYSTEM. — SUPERINTENDING COMMITTEE SINCE 1826. — MEN AND Wo- MEN TEACHERS. — TEACHERS’ WAGES. — THE HIGH SCHOOL. — THE PERKINS ACADEMY. — THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOLHOUSES OF ALL THE DISTRICTS. — THE OLIVER AMES FUND FOR SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS. — THE OAKES AMES FUND FOR NORTH EASTON VILLAGE. — LATE STATISTICS. HREE children of the Rev. Matthew Short were unable to write their names when far along in their “teens.” Quite a number of the early settlers of Easton, especially of the wo- men, had to “make their mark.” This appears not only in wills which might have been signed in sickness when the signer had no strength to write, but also in deeds, surveys, etc., made in full health. Our early ancestors were much more interested in churches than in schools, and were far more liberal in providing for the former than for the latter. The importance of education was however recognized by the General Court. Section 2 of the Act of Incorporation of the town of Easton reads as follows :— “And that the inhabitants of the said town of Easton do, within six months from the publication of this Act, procure and maintain a schoolmaster to instruct their youth in writing and reading ; and that thereupon they be discharged from any payments for the maintenance of the school at Norton.” This was December 21, 1725. No notice was taken of this requirement until fifteen months after Easton became a town. Attention was then called to it, and the people felt that some- thing must be done. The town voted for a schoolmaster; but some opponent of the scheme, evidently wishing to defeat it, proposed a salary for the master equal to that of the minister. The following votes on the subject will illustrate the animus of the voters in this matter : — PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 381 “Easton, March the thirty-first day, 1727, at a Leagall meeting of the Inhabitants of said town for to make choice of a schollmaster, and to rais money to pay him, and to appoint a place for the school to be Keept, ... ,— “rt. We made choice of Josiah Keith, moderator for said meeting. “aly. A vote was called for to give fourty pounds to a schollmaster for one year to keep scholl, but not voted. “3ly. A vote was called for to give twenty pounds to a schollmas- ter to keep scholl one year, but not voted. “aly. A vote was called for to give ten pounds to a schollmaster to keep scholl for one year, but not voted. “sly. A vote was called for to give five pounds to a schollmaster to keep scholl for one year, but not voted. “6ly. Voted and agreed to give three pounds to a schollmaster for one year to teach youths to Read and to write, and to keep it at his own House, and to find himself diete.”? This action illustrates the sentiment of the small community of early settlers on the subject of education. Yet this vote of three pounds for the salary of the schoolmaster, who must use his own house for a schoolhouse and board himself, was the most liberal school appropriation made in Easton for thirteen years ; in fact, it was the only one. This was in March. The people talked the matter over, and the opposition even to so small an appropriation increased. It seemed a useless waste of treasure, and the town repented such extravagance. In the next November in town-meeting they “Voted and Dismissed paying the Schoolmaster.” This vote seems ambiguous; it looks like a refusal to pay the master. There is no subsequent record of any payment having been made, and Thomas Pratt, Jr., the first schoolmaster, dropped the birch rod, and quietly accepted the situation. For the next nine years nothing was done toward maintain- ing a school in Easton. One might conjecture that for love or money the minister might have done some teaching, were it not that several of his own children, as before stated, could not write their names. Of course, some private attention must have been given in the homes of the more intelligent to reading and writing and arithmetic; but no public action was again taken 1 Town Records, vol i. p. 5. 382 HISTORY OF EASTON. until March, 1736, when, no doubt fearing that a legal fine would be imposed for such neglect, it was “voted and agreed that the Town shall be provided with a schoolmaster.” But no appropriation was made to cover expenses, and nothing was done to carry the vote into effect. In 1740 it was again voted to have a schoolmaster, and it was “voted to raise fourty pounds for to support and uphold a school in Easton in ye 1740.” Ap- parently this appropriation lasted two years; for the next action was in March, 1742, when, seized with another economical spasm, the town “ voted not to raise any money to support school.” But the remissness of Easton in regard to education had been made a subject of complaint, and in 1743 an action was begun in the Bristol County Court of Common Pleas against the town for not providing for the instruction of its children according to law. Now, at last, a stir was made, a town-meeting called, and it was “voted to Raise money for ye support of a school for ye Instructing of children in Reading and writing one quarter of a year.” A schoolmaster was immediately hired, and then Benjamin Drake, one of the selectmen, hastened to Bristol (now of Rhode Island, but then our county seat), assumed an innocent manner, and stated that there waz a schoolmaster in Easton. The fine was therefore remitted, the town however paying the costs of the prosecution. But, alas! in November of the same year, though voting money for a school for one quarter, the town also voted “ not to keep any school for the present ;” and foreseeing the penalty, but knowing that it was cheaper to pay the fine than to pay the schoolmaster, it was “ voted to Raise teen shillings in money to pay Mr. Benj* Drake for His paying ye fine yt ye town was likely to pay for want of a schoolmaster.” Prosecutions of this kind were brought against the town in 1747, 1750,and 1756. Either being thus so sharply looked after by the law, or, let us hope, being more alive to educational needs, the town henceforth showed more regard for the maintenance of schools. Until 1746 there had been but one school for the whole town at any time, and in some years, as we have seen, none at all. But at this date it was decided to keep school in three parts of the town, — the southwest, southeast, and north- east parts. Evidently the same master had charge of them all, teaching alternately in these several localities. In 1754 -the PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 383 town was divided into four school quarters, and we see the be- ginning of the district system, in the fact that at this date the town voted that the inhabitants of each of the four quarters should determine where their school should be kept. The town then voted to pay for the boarding of the schoolmasters. No schoolhouses were as yet erected. In 1768 the plan of 1754 was still further developed. Each quarter of the town was to draw its proportion of the school money, the whole amount raised being thirty pounds. This was to be done by a person chosen in each one of the four quarters of the town. This was for Easton the beginning of the prudential committee plan that so long prevailed in New England towns. There was no super- intending committee then, as in later years. In addition to the four quarters alluded to, there was set apart in 1768 a centre district or “school rick,” as it was called, which centred at Benjamin Pettingill’s (now L. K. Wilbur’s), where had been erected “the monument,” —a stone post that indicated the exact centre of the town. Ten years before this there was established a Grammar School, which was independent of the common English schools. This was in accordance with an old law of 1647, which required that every town of one hundred families, in addition to the elementary schools, should establish and maintain a Grammar School, where pupils might fit for Harvard University. This was in fact a High School, where at least the Latin and Greek languages might be studied. From 1759 the Grammar School is frequently referred to on our town records. For many years of its early history it was taught by a Mr. Joseph Snell, of Bridgewater, a Harvard graduate. In the arrangement of 1768 the selectmen were instructed to draw from the appropriation for schools the amount needed to support the Grammar School, and the amount left was to be divided among the five “school ricks” in proportion to the amount of the school tax respec- tively paid by these districts. Only thirty pounds were appro- priated ; as a result schools were kept for a short time only, and the pay for teachers was very small. Mr. Snell received six pounds per quarter, and the masters of the English schools rather less. The town usually paid their board. Widow Mary Kingman, who kept an inn a few rods northeast of Ebenezer 384 HISTORY OF EASTON. Randall’s house on the Bay road, received five shillings a week for boarding Schoolmaster Webb; and the town also voted her “four shillings for finding him an hors to ride to meating,” so careful were they to have their schoolmasters set the good ex- ample of church-going. The inn alluded to was, by the way, the same in which General Washington stopped over night when he journeyed between Boston and New York during the Revolutionary War. As already indicated, under the new system of 1768 each dis- trict chose its own committee. The first prudential committee ever chosen in town were Benjamin Pettingill for the Centre, Henry Howard for the southeast quarter, Joseph Crossman for the northeast, Silas Williams for the southwest, and Joseph Gilbert for the northwest. For a time the Grammar School seems to have been under the charge of the selectmen. In 1772 the northeast quarter, which extended south to the Green, was divided into two school districts by a line running east and west. In 1779 the district now called No. 3 was made. Before 1800 there were eleven districts ; but their numbers did not in all cases correspond to the numbers as finally settled, and the limits frequently changed, because families were set from one district to another for convenience’ sake. About this time also the name “school rick” was changed to “school wards.” In April, 1790, it was voted to have the Grammar School kept in the four quarters of the town, and it was put in charge of a special committee, — Elijah Howard, Abisha Leach, Macy Tisdale, and Samuel Guild. This was a general committee ; but it did not have charge of the district schools, and after some years this committee was not chosen with much regularity. The arrangement was in consequence of a law passed in 1789. In the year 1810 the town began the practice of choosing one committee-man for each district. These men were probably nominated by the districts to which they severally belonged, each district managing its own school affairs. The system of having a superintending school-committee was adopted in con- sequence of an Act of the Legislature passed in 1826, requiring towns to choose a school committee of not less than five persons to “have the general charge of all the public schools in their respective towns.” They were to examine and approbate teach- PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 385 ers, visit schools, and have a general oversight ; they were also required to make an annual report to the Secretary of the Com- monwealth. They were not required to make any report to the town until after 1838, at which date a law was passed making this also a part of their duty. All the business details, such as hiring teachers, care of schoolhouses, etc., were managed by the district committees. This plan continued until the district sys- tem was abolished in 1869, when the entire management of all school matters was put into the hands of the superintending committee. The number of this committee was at first not less than five; but the law was subsequently changed, making the required number either three, or some multiple of three. In Easton the number continued to be five until 1840, when it was changed to three, and remained so until 1875 ; it was then in- creased to six, but after four years it was restored to three. The following is the list of members of the superintending school- committee of Easton, the first being chosen in 1827 :— Rev. L. Sheldon, 1827, 1841-1847, 1852-1855, 1857, — eleven years. Daniel Wheaton, 1827-1832, — five years. Dr. Caleb Swan, 1827-1840, 1841, — fourteen years. Cyrus Lothrop, years. Dr. Samuel Deans, 1827-1838, 1840, 1843-1846, — fifteen years. Perez Marshall, 1828-1836, — eight years. Oliver Ames, Jr., 1833-1840, 1841, 1842, — nine years. Joshua Britton, 1837. Jonathan Pratt, 1837. Tisdale Godfrey, 1838. George W. Hayward, 1838-1841, 1844, 1846, — five years. Tisdale Harlow, 1838-1841, --- three years. H. B. W. Wightman, 1842. William Reed, 1843. Rev. Paul Dean, 1845, 1846, 1848- 1851, — five years. 1827-1837, — ten 25 Isaac Perkins, 1845. Eugene W. Williams, 1847, 1848, — two years. Thomas F. Davidson, 1847, 1850, 1856, — three years. Joseph Barrows, 1847, 1854, 1856, — three years. Hiram A. Pratt, 1848. Amos Pratt, 1849-1852, 1855, — four years. George L. Torrey, 1849. Guilford H. White, 1851. Erastus Brown, 1851. Rev. William A. Whitwell, 1852- 1855, — three years. Rev. Lyman White, 1858, — three years. Charles E. Keith, 1853. Daniel H. Pratt, 1855, 1858, 1861- 1864, — five years. Anson E. York, 1855. Harrison Pool, 1856. L. S. Greenleaf, 1857. Oliver Ames, 3%; 1858, 1866-1869, 1870-1878, — twelve years. 1852, 1857, 386 HISTORY OF EASTON, Rev. G. G. Withington, 1859-1871, — twelve years. : Rev. L. B. Bates, 1860-1862, — two years. H. J. Fuller, 1862-1866, — four years. Rev. C. C. Hussey, 1864-1867, — three years. E. R. Hayward, 1867-1870, — three years. Rev. William L. Chaffin, 1869 to date, -— eighteen years. Oliver Howard, 1871. A. A. Rotch, 1872-1877, — five years. Sarah W. Barrows, 1873, — elected, but resigned. Rev. Francis Homes, 1875-1878, — three years. J. O. Dean, 1875-1880, — five years. L. S. Drake, 1875 to date, — twelve years. George C. Belcher, 1875-1879, — four years. Rev. L. H. Sheldon, 1878. James Rankin, 1879-1886, — seven years. E. B. Hayward, 1886. In early days in Easton the teaching was done only by men. It was not thought possible that women could maintain discipline. Those were more unruly times, and large, rough boys attended the winter sessions, who were supposed to respect the authority of no one who had not a strong arm to wield the rod. Not until 1762 is there any mention of hiring a lady to teach school. The proposal was then made that permission so to do be granted, if a sufficient number of persons asked for it. But the matter was not felt to be of sufficient importance to be acted upon, and we merely have the record, “ Nothing done on the article relating to hiring a scool-dame.” Another allusion is made to the subject in 1768 ; but no school-mistress is yet employed, though the experiment was soon tried. When women came to be regularly employed it was only for the sum- mer terms. During the winter terms, when grown-up young men often attended in order to learn reading, writing, and a little arithmetic, the schools were taught by masters. As late as 1845 the school-committee of Easton refer to the employ- ment of female teachers for winter schools as having been tried only “within a few years past,” and state that the experi- ment had met considerable opposition, though it had become a decided success. At the present time women are not only very generally employed in our schools, but they are continued throughout the year, thus avoiding the constant change of teachers in summer and winter as under the old system, It is difficult to realize the changes that have occurred in all matters pertaining to schools since those olden times of which PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 387 we have spoken. Then the schooling was frequently confined to a few weeks in the winter, and sometimes there would, in some districts, be no school for many months. The instruction, save in what was called the Grammar School, was almost entirely confined to reading, spelling, writing, and sometimes “ciphering to the rule of three.” Occasionally enough grammar was taught to burden the minds of the few older children with technical and unfruitful definitions ; but this was exceptional and comparatively modern. There was not work enough with text-books to fill the whole time of school sessions, so the girls brought their sewing and knitting and fancy work, in which the teacher, if a woman, sometimes gave assistance. It was not thought of much importance to teach arithmetic to girls. The teachers tried to fill the spare time of the boys with long “sums.” The text-books were very few, and as a rule, com- pared with present standards, poor and uninteresting. Brains however are better than text-books, and intelligent teachers often taught with marked success within their limited range of instruction. The pay of the teachers was, of course, smal]. Before the Revolutionary War schoolmasters received the equivalent of about one dollar and a half a week, besides their board, which was paid for by the district. In 1776 Samuel Randall’s ‘school rick” hired Solomon Randall to teach school at six dollars a month, and “ye said Sol’n Randell to bord himself.” In 1808 the pay of a lady teacher was not over a dollar and a quarter a week, besides board, which was seventy-five cents a week; and in one case a lady taught for a dollar a week and boarded her- self! A.A. Gilmore began his teaching about forty-five years ago on twenty dollars a month and board. It is to be noted, however, that expenses are very different now from what they were then; and the whole method and style of living are so much more costly, that the difference of wages between the old time and the present is much less than the figures seem to indicate. THE HIGH SCHOOL. The Easton High-School was established by a vote of the town in November, 1867, and the school-committee were then 388 HISTORY OF EASTON. instructed to open such a school on the first Monday of March, 1868. The first term was held at Easton Centre, the second at South Easton, the third at Furnace Village, and the fourth at North Easton village, being terms of ten weeks each. For the first three terms the teacher was the Rev. George G. Withington ; and for the fourth, which was held in the hall over the Ames store, Edward H. Peabody was teacher. Mr. Withington taught this school through its second year, two terms being at North Easton, one at South Easton, and one at the Furnace Village. The disadvantage of this system of having the High School on wheels as it were, holding its different terms in localities so dis- tant from one another, was very apparent; and it was seen that only by establishing it permanently in one locality could it be- come a success. In 1870 it was voted to have it so established at Easton Centre; but this vote was rescinded at a subsequent town-meeting, when, after a warm discussion, it was decided to establish it at the new schoolhouse at North Easton for twenty- six weeks, and at the Furnace Village for fourteen weeks. This was accordingly done; but the masters hired for each place . were continued through the year there, so that the studies could be pursued without interruption in both places. This system practically furnished the town with two High Schools. At the Furnace Village, when scholars desired to graduate, the same course of study was pursued to the end as at North Easton, and some scholars graduated there, receiving their High School diplomas. Latterly, however, this plan has not been continued. The scholars now prefer, when wishing to complete the full course, to attend the regular High School at North Easton. C. M. Barrows taught this school two terms in 1870-1871, and C. C. Sheldon taught the spring term in 1871. In September of that year Charles R. Ballard, a graduate of the University of Vermont, accepted the position of master here, holding the po- sition for six years, when he resigned on account of defective hearing. He was succeeded in 1877 by Maitland C. Lamprey, a Dartmouth College graduate, who still remains. The High School of Easton is well equipped with apparatus and means of instruction. Besides mechanical and chemical apparatus it has an excellent skeleton and a costly manikin im- ported from Paris. It has also a cabinet of increasing interest. PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 389 This school has been of great service in the education of the children of Easton. That its advantages are appreciated is evi- dent from the fact that in few towns is there so large a propor- tion of High School graduates as here. SCHOOLHOUSES, Tradition has located the first schoolhouse in Easton at South Easton village; but this tradition proves to be three years too late. There is documentary evidence going to show that the first schoolhouse in South Easton village was built in 1773. But a document written by Timothy Randall, long a selectman of Easton, narrates some account of a school trouble in the southeast part of the town, and contains this statement: “The S. E. Quarter raised their schoolhouse near Mr. Seth Lathrop’s on ye 14th day of December, a.p. 1770.” Other docu- ments confirm this statement. This schoolhouse was located on the north side of Purchase Street, a little east of where William Henry Lothrop now lives, and just west of the site of Isaac Lo- throp’s house. Prior to this the school had been kept in the house of Mark Lothrop part of the time, and at Nehemiah How- ard’s part of the time. As this district was a very large one, another building was erected farther south, on the west side of the turnpike, a little below where Robert Ripner now lives. This appears to have been built somewhat before 1808, for at that date it was called the ‘new schoolhouse.” These were not re- garded as two separate districts, nor were schools kept in these two schoolhouses at the same time. The money for the whole quarter was divided, and the terms of school were kept alter- nately in the two schoolhouses, This arrangement better ac- commodated those living in the extreme north and south parts of the whole quarter; but scholars who chose so to do were allowed to attend school in both schoolhouses in turn. This arrangement continued until 1818. June 1 of that year, Asa Howard sold land for a schoolhouse where the Branch Turn- pike intersects the Taunton and South Turnpike, the site now occupied by the present building. The schoolhouse first erected there was superseded in 1869 by the present building. The second schoolhouse in Easton was built in 1773, in what is now South Easton village. An assessment was made August 390 HISTORY OF EASTON. 14 of that year, when the building was nearly done; and the statement is made in the assessors’ document that “The School House cost Twenty pounds & three shillings lawful money.” It was not however finished at that date, and not until No- vember 7, 1774, was it decided to complete it. The building was very near or upon the spot now occupied by Copeland’s store. It was very small, with a hip roof, and very low in the walls; and if it was like the other schoolhouses that were soon afterward built, it had high windows to prevent the children’s attention from being attracted by anything that occurred out- side, and the seats were parallel to the sides of the building, with the aisle running through the centre. After this house was discontinued as a schoolhouse it was occupied as a dwell- ing by “Old Bunn,” or Benjamin Benoni, who is spoken of in another chapter, and who seems to have lived in nearly all the deserted and tumble-down buildings of this date. The second schoolhouse built in South Easton was quite near the location of the present No. 1 schoolhouse, but not so far from the road. It was built in 1794 on land then owned by John Randall, and was superseded about 1821 by a brick schoolhouse built on about the same spot. Dr. Caleb Swan, September 13, 1821, sold a piece of land to enlarge the school lot, and Nathaniel Guild sold an additional piece for the same purpose in 1825. The tax for this new brick building was levied on the district in 1822. This schoolhouse stood until 1848, when the present building was erected. The third schoolhouse built in town appears to have been erected in 1783, in North Easton. A paper still preserved begins as follows : — “We the subscribers, Inhabitence of the Town of Easton, do each of us Volentarily agree to build a School House in our Rick, which was formerly called Samuel Randall’s School Rick, and to build said house about fifteen feet squar, and to set said house near the corner where one Road leads to Mr. Ferguson’s and the other Road to the Widow Stacey’s,” etc. They agreed “to go about building said house forthwith.” This was February 8, 1783. The agreement was signed by William Manley, Isaac Stokes, John Mears, Solomon Randall, PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 391 and nine others. The place named was not far from the present site of Unity Church. The Widow Stacey lived where Simeon Randall now lives ; and the old road to George Ferguson’s left the other road alluded to, now Main Street, south of where Can- ton Street intersects it, so that the corner alluded to could not have been far from Unity Church. This little schoolhouse, “fifteen feet squar,” was perhaps too small in 1795, because, February 16 of that year, fourteen persons “ belonging to, the Middle School Rick in the north part of said Easton” agree to build a schoolhouse, and “to go on with the Building said house fourth with.” Ephraim Randall, Capt. Elisha Harvey, Caleb Carr, Sr., and other familiar names are appended to this agree- ment. The house was to stand on its old site. It was not built at once, however, for two years afterward only the frame had been erected. Perhaps the old house was still in use. Some difference of opinion had developed as to the best place for the new house to stand, and in a meeting of the district, held Feb- ruary 17, 1797, it was “voted to move the school-house frame. Voted to have the frame at the corner by the button-wood tree.” This was just in front of the house where Ziba Randall now lives. The “button-wood tree” has left successors on the same spot to testify of its former presence. Caleb Carr, now living (1886), remembers attending school in this little schoolhouse. In 1808 the northwest district was divided ; and that part of it that was on the Bay road and on the west end of Lincoln Street was “set to the Randall district (so called),” now No. 7. This change excited much hard feeling. The Bay-road people and those near that road counted it a hardship to have their children go so far as the old schoolhouse at the north end of the village. After much discussion it was voted to move this building to the centre of the district. It was accordingly taken to Lincoln Street, and at first was carried to the middle of the plain on the south side of the road opposite Lincoln Spring; but after considerable alter- cation it was moved to the side of the road near where Mr. Mahony now lives. Its location is still observable, and there are several persons now living who remember attending school there. It was finally purchased by Oliver Ames, was hauled by oxen to the hill-side where Lewis Smith lives, was let down the hill, the oxen holding it with ropes from above to prevent 392 HISTORY OF EASTON. its sliding down too fast, was then moved to the corner opposite the old Lockup on Pond Street, an addition made to it, when it was occupied as a tenement house by a Mr. Barlow, —a very pious man, who charged Mr. Ames for handling more shovels in a given time than Mr. Ames had in that time manufactured. The third schoolhouse built in North Easton village stood at the lower part of the open space in front of the Cairn. It was built in 1819, was subsequently moved to the place where it now stands, next east of Ripley’s store, and has since been oc- cupied as a dwelling-house. A little above the old location of this schoolhouse a new building was erected in 1844, at a cost of twelve hundred dollars, which is referred to in the elaborate school-report of the next year as “an honor to the district, and well worth the imitation and rivalship of other districts in town and out of town.” How strange it would seem to-day to hear a small one-story schoolhouse thus spoken of! Some years after- ward the increasing population of the district made it necessary to provide more room, and it was voted to raise up this building, turn it around, and add a new story to it. The matter was left to the discretion of a committee, who added a furnace and “ Boston desks,” and who created much excitement by spending double the amount appropriated. Some of the tax-payers for a time refused to pay their assessments, one of them on the ground that they had voted to turn the schoolhouse around, and the committee turned it only Zalf around! But all of them were soon grateful to the committee, who saw so much better than they what was needed, and were not afraid to take the responsi- bility of providing it. This two-story building was in use until 1869. It was then moved next north of the shoe-factory close by, and became a tenement house. In 1868 work was begun on the three-story schoolhouse that now crowns the hill in the centre of the village, a conspicuous object for miles around. The Ames Company agreed to erect a large and well appointed building, provided the district would purchase the land and build the cellar, the Company paying their proportion of the same. This proposition was accepted by the district. The expense of the cellar was heavy, owing to the amount of blasting necessary to be done. The building was only partially completed, when by the close vote of one PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 393 hundred and one to ninety-nine the district system was abol- ished, and it was no longer possible to make what had been District No. 7 the owner of the property. Here an interesting complication occurred. The law pro- vided that when the district system was discontinued in any town, that town should take possession of all the school property of the several districts which the districts might lawfully sell and convey. The property so taken was to be appraised, and a tax levied upon the whole town equal to the amount of said appraisal, and from the tax of each district was to be deducted the appraised value of its own school property. Two simple statements will show how the matter was arranged, so far as the gift of the new schoolhouse was concerned. 1. It was no longer possible to fulfil the original purpose of presenting the schoolhouse to District No. 7, since there no longer was any such district. But the intent of that agree- ment was fully carried out by the Ames Company paying such a proportion of the assessment of the tax-payers of No. 7 as would cover their part of the cost of the new building above the underpinning. 2. When the town assessment was made to pay the districts for the school property which the town had taken, it was found that the appraised value of the school property of No. 7 exceeded the tax due from No. 7 by $7,304. This amount would therefore have to be paid to No. 7 by the tax-payers in other parts of the town, unless some other arrangement was made. It was natural that those living in other parts of the town should feel it a burden to help pay for an expensive building at North Easton. Fore- seeing this, the Ames Company, August 21, 1869, volunteered to pay this amount, so that no one outside of No. 7 should pay anything towards the expense of the school property in North Easton village. The following is the text of the Ames Com- pany’s proposition : — Nortu Easton, August 21, 1869. To the Selectmen of the town of Easton: GENTLEMEN, —It being our desire that no portion of the cost of the new schoolhouse in District No. 7 should fall on any other part of the town, we hereby authorize you to remit the sum of seventy-three hundred and four dollars ($7,304) on the tax assessed on all persons 394 HISTORY OF EASTON. residing in Easton outside of School District No. 7, said sum being the surplus which would otherwise come to District No. 7 over and above the tax assessed on said district, on account of the appropriations made by the town for schoolhouse purposes. Yours respectfully, OLIVER AmMEs & Sons. For some reason, accountable only on the supposition that it was wholly misunderstood, this proposition was rejected at the town-meeting where it was first proposed. A subsequent meeting was held, when the Hon. Oliver Ames, in clear and forcible language, showed the town that they were simply vefus- ing a gift of $7,304. When thus explained, the town decided by unanimous vote to accept the proposition. The double effect of the whole transaction was that no one outside of No. 7 was taxed to pay for the school property of this district, and no one in No. 7 was taxed to pay for school property out of this district. The fourth schoolhouse built in Easton was probably the one southwest of the Furnace Village, on the site afterward occupied by the “old brick schoolhouse,” now destroyed. September 21, 1790, James Perry deeded to the southwest “school rick” a quarter of an acre of land asa site for a schoolhouse. A small wooden building was put up and served for a schoolhouse until about 1820, when it was removed to the brook west of the old Nathaniel Perry place, where it served as a tack-mill and paint- shop, and then being moved again, became a shed or carriage- house, as elsewhere described. About 1820 four brick school- houses were erected in town, and one of them was on the site of the old one just described. This served as the schoolhouse for most of the children in the Furnace Village, then a part of District No. 5, which reached to the Norton and Mansfield line. School was discontinued in this building in 1869, and after re- maining unused for some years, this “old brick schoolhouse,” as it was called, was torn down. The first schoolhouse in District No.8 stood close to the pres- ent site of Augustus Bird’s house, on the east side of Washington Street. It was probably built about 1793. This was the date of the erection of several of the schoolhouses in town, and their PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 395 being built about the same time seems to be explained by the following vote in town-meeting, passed April 1, 1793:— “Voted to appropriate eighty pounds of this ‘Town’s unappropri- ated property for the use of an English school in this Town the present year, and that each School Rick shall have the liberty to appropriate a part or the whole of their proportion of the said eighty pounds for building Schoolhouses as they shall agree.” Several of the districts availed themselves of this privilege, and spent the money raised for keeping the school to help pay for their school buildings. This first little schoolhouse in District No. 8 was used until 1822, when the brick schoolhouse was built a few rods north of Abijah Buck’s house on the east side of Washing- ton Street. The yard in which it stood may yet be seen, as the stone wall that surrounded it is still standing. This school was open to scholars from that part of Stoughton near the town line in this section, and was supported in part by both towns. This arrangement, however, no longer exists. The present school- house at No. 8 was built in 1860. June 6, 1793, Job Randall, “ yeoman, for the consideration of six shillings paid by the inhabitants of the Westerly English School District in the Southeast Quarter of the town of Eas- ton,” sold “a lot for a Schoolhouse lot,” containing five rods of land. This was in what was afterward known as District No. 3. June 17 of the same year, fourteen residents of that district had begun a subscription paper and had raised about twenty-five pounds, or in the then value of money about eighty dollars, for the purpose of building a schoolhouse, “said House to be set on the land of Jobe Randall on the westerly side of the Rode, Near the North corner of the old Sixty-acre lot formerly belonging to Israel and Ephraim Randall.’ This location was a few rods south of the present schoolhouse and on the opposite side of the road. The schoolhouse was therefore built here in 1793, about the same date as others in different parts of the town. The second and present schoolhouse of this district was built in 1845 on the site where it now stands, at a cost of five hundred dollars above the underpinning. About 1793 it was decided to build a schoolhouse in Poquan- ticut, a few rods north of the house of Thomas FE. Williams. 396 HISTORY OF EASTON. Work was begun, and the schoolhouse frame was hewed out, when a division arose. It was thought more convenient for the whole district to have the building located farther to the west. Accordingly the site just named was exchanged for one about a quarter of a mile westward. The timbers were carried there and the house built. But after thirty years the centre of popu- lation had somewhat changed, and it was determined to locate the house farther northwest. Land was bought October 6, 1827, of Archippus Buck, and not long afterward the old school- house was moved across the fields to the new school lot. An addition of about ten feet was made to the building, and though in its last days it was in a dilapidated condition, it continued in use until 1871, when a new one was erected better suited to the needs and comfort of the scholars. The old one was purchased by Solomon Foster, and moved to the so-called Solomon Foster road, where it now serves as the dwelling-house of Cornelius Harvey. The Centre district, now No. 9, was different at first from what it is now. It extended farther west and not so far east, having its centre at Benjamin Pettingill’s, now L. K. Wilbur's. It was however afterward changed so as to make the meeting- house the central location. The first schoolhouse in this district stood about two rods northeast of the present site of Charles Reed’s barn. It was a small wooden building, and was probably erected about 1793. It stood until 1818, when a brick school- house was built upon the same spot. The new building was thought to be a grand affair, as were probably the other brick schoolhouses built about the same time. It had a central aisle running lengthwise from the door to the teacher’s desk; on either side of this were several rows of desks, each row being a step higher than the one in front. The boys sat on one side, and the girls on the other, directly opposite each other, thus facili- tating the interchange of such facial expressions as school boys and girls from time immemorial have been happy to indulge in, The fireplace of olden times had given way to a stove, which occupied the centre, before whose red-hot sides the scholars roasted their cheeks, scorched their clothes, and burned the toes of their boots and shoes. The older scholars sat in the “back row” of desks, which were high enough to enable their occu- PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 397 pants to look out of the high windows, where the glances they stole at the outside world excited the envy of the small scholars, who considered it a rare treat to be occasionally allowed to visit “a big scholar” in a back seat. About 1845 this house was sadly out of repair, the floor being so decayed that there was danger of its falling through. The building was thoroughly repaired, and new desks provided, all facing the same way; and with its new coat of paint inside, the house outshone its ancient glory. It continued in use for a score of years afterward. In 1856, after several exciting district meetings, and some dissatis- faction with the town, the district built the schoolhouse now standing opposite the Evangelical church. It has already been stated that the arrangement and number- ing of the districts was different at different times. So late as 1825 the north half of what is now District No. 10 was a sepa- rate district by itself, being known as No. 11. In 1803 $65.64 was raised by taxation, and this with the lumber and labor fur- nished by the district was sufficient to build a small schoolhouse. It was situated at the junction of Lincoln Street and the Bay road, on the northeast corner, the small cleared space where it stood being still visible. In the summer the school was taught there for some time by a daughter of Ebenezer Kinsley, who lived a little north of this corner. In 1808, as previously stated, the Bay-road section of this district was united with No. 8 (now No. 7), and this school discontinued, though not without exciting much hard feeling. The limits of District No. 10 have varied at different times. At the time of the building of its first schoolhouse it extended south to the Furnace Village, and did not take in the north part of the Bay road. Its first schoolhouse was built in 1806, and was located on the east side of the road between the present houses of Charles E. and Thomas Keith. Like others built about that date, it was of wood, and very small. It remained at the above mentioned location until 1840, when the district bounds were made to extend farther north; at which time it was moved to where the present schoolhouse now stands, and an addition made to it. There it remained for thirty years. In 1869 an attempt was made to unite districts No. 6 and 10, and to have a schoolhouse near James Britton’s house. But the plan 398 HISTORY OF EASTON. was not carried out; and in 1870, after the abolishing of the dis- trict system, the town voted to move the old schoolhouse from the Furnace Village to the school lot in No. 10. The old No. 10 house was moved to Day Street in North Easton, where it is now used as a dwelling-house. The Furnace Village schoolhouse was moved to take its place, and still does service for the Bay- road scholars. The old District No. 4 was in the Williams neighborhood. It had no schoolhouse until 1828; previous to that time school had been usually kept in private houses when kept at all. In 1827 there stood west of Daniel Wheaton’s, and on the west side of the stream, a small house probably built by Joshua Williams. Daniel Wheaton then owned it, and he volunteered to present it to the district if the district would move it and fit it up for use as a schoolhouse without taxing him therefor. This they agreed to do. In the winter of 1827-28, this house was moved over the snow and set upon the east side of the Bay road, south of where Edward D. Williams’s saw-mill now stands, but for nearly a year was not made into a schoolhouse. The first school was kept in it in 1829. This building was enlarged in 1850, and continued in use twenty years longer, at which time school was discontinued there, as it was at No. 5, and the schol- ars sent to the school in Furnace Village. This old building was then purchased, moved to North Easton village, and located on Day Street, where it degenerated from a school of knowledge to a.school of vice, having been used for years as an unlicensed groghouse. The district lately known as No. 11 was set off from No. 5, of which it had long formed a part, in 1846. Previous to this time most of the Furnace Village scholars had tramped out to the Four Corners to the brick schoolhouse, or in earlier days to. its predecessor. After considerable contention the division was made, and a school for the village was held in Harmony Hall for a time. In 1869 a schoolhouse, then the largest in town, was erected, standing north of Lincoln Drake’s house. March 1, 1869, districts No. 4, 5, and 11 were consolidated under the name of the Union District; and during that year the two-story building now in use was built, and the scholars were graded into two schools, answering to primary and grammar grades, though PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 399 for some years High School studies were taught by competent teachers, and several scholars regularly graduated from it after completing substantially the same course of study as that pur- sued in the Easton High-School. SCHOOL FUNDS. In pecuniary means for educational purposes Easton probably ranks first among the towns of the State. By the will of the Hon. Oliver Ames, who died in 1877, the town was endowed with a bequest of fifty thousand dollars, the income of which is to be appropriated for the support of schools. In order that such a fund might not tempt the town to reduce its own appropriations for schools, the terms of the will provide that the bequest shall be forfeited unless the town shall every year appropriate for the support of schools an amount per scholar equal to the average amount per scholar appropriated for the preceding year by the towns of the State. The income of this fund is at present four thousand dollars annually. This with the regular appropriation enables the school-committee to hire teachers of exceptionable ability, to provide supplementary books and apparatus, and fur- nishes means for conducting the schools in the most efficient manner. The following is the text of Mr. Ames’s bequest : — “I give and bequeath, upon the conditions hereinafter set forth, to the town of Easton, to be held in trust as a permanent fund for the purposes herein named, $59,000 of the ‘eight per cent sinking-fund bonds of the Union Pacific Railroad Company,’ at their par value, the income of which shall be used for the support of the public schools of the town of Easton, as follows: Three fourths of said income shall be appropriated to the support of the common schools and High School kept in the schoolhouse built by Oliver Ames & Sons, in North Easton, or any schoolhouse built on the same site designed to accom- modate the scholars of School District No. 7 in North Easton, or High- School scholars ; and the other quarter of said income for the support of the other public schools of said Easton. Provided, however, that if said town of Easton shall in any year fail to raise by taxation, for the support of its public schools, an amount of money per scholar equal to the average amount per scholar raised by the several towns in the State of Massachusetts in the preceding year for the same pur- pose, or if the amount appropriated by said town from its money raised 400 HISTORY OF EASTON. by taxation for the schools kept in said schoolhouse, or other build- ing on the same site, shall in any year be less per scholar than the average amount per scholar appropriated by said town from its money raised by taxation for the support of ALL its schools, then the said bonds, or other proceeds constituting said fund, shall revert to and become the property of my heirs-at-law, to be by them donated to some charitable purpose, one half of the amount to be given for the support of the above-named schools in North Easton.” Eminent legal authority has decided that by the word “towns” in the bequest may be meant either towns exclusive or inclusive of cities, either definition being legally admissible. The execu- tors and school-committee have agreed upon the first definition, as this gives an appropriation adequate to the school needs of the town. The conditions named in the bequest have been found to be eminently wise and just. It became available in 1878, and has been of very great benefit to the schools. Besides this, there is another fund of fifty thousand dollars be- queathed by the Hon. Oakes Ames. This bequest was written before the district system was abolished, and it was intended, and can only properly be used for, the benefit of the children of No. 7. The following is the text of the bequest : — “T give Fifty thousand dollars in seven per cent Railroad Bonds, the income of which shall be used for the support of schools in, and for the benefit of the children in, what is now School District No. 7, in North Easton.” It will be observed that the income of this fund is not all necessarily applied to school purposes. It may be used for whatever is “for the benefit of the children” of North Easton village, and it furnishes an opportunity of good which is deserv- ing of careful study. It has been used for various purposes hitherto. By means of it, illustrated and scientific lectures are given weekly through the winter months in Memorial Hall, in- tended more especially for the children, but open to all without admission fee. Magazines have been subscribed for and sent, one to each family of all North Easton scholars ; and one of the executors of this fund, Lieut.-Gov. Oliver Ames, in order that all the scholars of the town may have magazines, has sent them for several years at his own expense to the school children of Easton PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 401 outside of No. 7. Besides lectures and magazines, supplemen- tary books have been furnished and apparatus has been bought, including the skeleton and manikin already spoken of. The teachers of industrial classes, including sewing for the girls and the use of wood-working tools for the boys, and latterly mechani- cal drawing, are paid by this fund. A Kindergarten school is also supported by it in North Easton. It opens a field of use- fulness which will be occupied as time goes on and the best way to use it becomes clear. There are now in Easton nineteen schools, including the High School, seven of these being mixed or district schools. Two, those at Furnace Village, are partially graded. The ten at North Easton village are thoroughly graded, and include four Primary, four Grammar, one High School, and also the Kinder- garten school just alluded to. There are about eight hundred children in town between five and fifteen years of age. Nearly nine hundred and fifty different scholars are annually enrolled upon the school registers, and nearly nine thousand dollars is annually appropriated for support of schools, besides an appro- priation for repairs. In attendance of scholars, Easton ranks considerably above the average of towns in the State. The liberal means applicable to educational purposes and for the benefit of the young in this place ought to make Easton, and particularly North Easton village, in some respects a children’s paradise. Its exceptionally low taxes, its excellent public library, beautiful residences and grounds, together with the school ad- vantages already described, render it a desirable place for those who have children to educate. In 1886 the town, in order that nothing might be wanting to raise the schools to the highest point of efficiency, wisely voted to employ a superintendent. The committee appointed William C. Bates, who is also super- intendent for Canton, and our schools were never so well con- ducted as now. Mr. Bates is a graduate of Harvard College, and has had excellent success as a teacher in Hingham, Massachu- setts, and as a school superintendent in Canton and Walpole. THE PERKINS ACADEMY. There have been in Easton a few private schools, but none that require special notice. The Rev. Dr. Sheldon at one time 26 402 HISTORY OF EASTON. had such a school. Miss Sarah Barrows kept a private school for small scholars in North Easton village for some time, and was succeeded by Miss Alice Lynch. The private school best known, however, was the Perkins Academy. In 1844 Isaac Perkins, who had kept Day’s Academy at Wrentham for many years, went to Easton Centre and opened a term of school in the Chapel. It was managed like the old-time academy. He had at one time about forty pupils, among whom was the Hon. Edward L. Pierce. A certain number of town pupils was guaranteed to Professor Perkins. The school was never in a very flourishing condition, and at the end of the first year the number of town pupils decreased and continued to do so until 1847, when the Academy closed. 1 These facts are kindly communicated by Miss M. E. Perkins, of East Walpole, Massachusetts, daughter of the above named principal of the Academy. NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. 403 CHAPTER XXIV. NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. METHODIST PROTESTANT SOCIETY. — METHODIST EPISCOPAL MOvVE- MENT; ITS FAILURE. — DIVISION OF THE WASHINGTON STREET METHODIST SOCIETY. — FORMATION OF THE MAIN STREET METHO- Dist Episcopal SocieTY; REUBEN MEADER AND OTHERS BUILD A MEETING-HOUSE FOR IT.—LEwis B. BATES AND SUCCESSORS.— ORIGIN OF UNITY CHURCH; C. C. HUSSEY, ITS FIRST SETTLED MINISTER; HE IS SUCCEEDED BY WILLIAM L. CHAFFIN; Hon. OLIveR AMES BUILDS A NEW CHURCH AND PRESENTS IT, TO THE SoclETY. — THE CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. — THE SWEDISH CHURCH.— THE ADVENTISTS. — DENOMINATIONAL STATIS- TICS OF EASTON. — STATISTICS OF CHURCH-GOING. “THE population of North Easton village steadily increased after the building up of the shovel business in its midst. It seems, at first thought, surprising that no religious society should have sprung into existence here until more than fifty years after the old Baptist Society had disappeared. The reason for it was, that societies were already established in other parts of the town, and many of the North Easton village people had become connected with them. Some of them at- tended the Unitarian Society and some the Orthodox Society at the Centre, and many were in the habit of worshipping at the Methodist Church on Washington Street. But this con- dition of things became in time very inconvenient, and it was found necessary to establish societies in this village. THE METHODIST PROTESTANT SOCIETY. In 1843 there developed in the Washington Street Society much dissatisfaction with the form of government of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. One cause of this dissatisfaction was the fact that several unsatisfactory ministers had been sent to this society, and some of its members believed that the laity ought to be represented in the Conference, thus giving them 404 HISTORY OF EASTON. some influence in the selection of ministers and in the govern- ment of the Church, The most prominent man in the society, James Dickerman, Sr., asked the privilege of having some Methodist Protestant preaching in their meeting-house at such an hour in the afternoon as would not interfere with the regular services. Much as he had done for this church his request was refused. Thereupon he withdrew from the society, and invited Methodist Protestant ministers to preach during pleas- ant weather in the grove behind his house. When the weather became unfavorable for open-air meetings, services were held at Torrey’s Hall in the village. This hall stood just west of Ripley’s store, and was destroyed many years ago by fire. During the winter of 1843-1844, services were conducted by the Rev. Mr. McLeish. He was a fluent, rhetori- cal speaker, and is described as having “a remarkable flow of words.” Before coming here he was minister and doctor at the same time, and thus both preached and practised, which some ministers fail to do. But it was medicine rather than religion that he practised, for he went to California, fell into dissipated ways, and became a wretched drunkard. He was succeeded by the Rev. N. R. Parsons, an excellent preacher and a Chris- tian gentleman. The Rev. Thomas Latham was the next min- ister, his services beginning in 1845. The need of a church building was now felt, and it was thought that the erection of one would secure the permanent success of the society. Liberal aid was contributed by the village people, and work was at once begun. In the spring of 1845 the corner-stone was laid with appropriate exercises. The Rev. Stephen Lovell, editor of the Boston “Olive Branch,” preached the sermon, and a full band, composed of citizens of the place, furnished the music for the occasion. It was built at a cost of $2,200. The Rev. Mr. Latham preached here for about two years. In 1847 the Rev. John M. Mills of the New York Conference, who had previously preached at Milford, New York, and Carver, Massachusetts, was minister here for a time. He soon ceased preaching, and took up the practice of medicine in town, and died here May 17, 1871. A Rev. Mr. Shedd tried the experiment next, but with poor success. He was suc- ceeded by the Rev. Stephen Lovell, who gave general satisfac- NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. 405 tion. While he preached here there was trouble in the choir, —a not wholly unprecedented event in ordinary church life. On the Sunday following this trouble only one singer was in the gallery. Mr. Lovell rose, announced and read his hymn, closed the book and laid it upon the desk, saying, “When the choir is ready to sing, I shall be ready to preach, but not before.’ He then sat down with the air of one who meant to abide by his word. An awkward silence ensued, which every moment grew more oppressive. Finally Edwin Russell came down from the gallery, and beckoned to three young girls, one of them his daughter. They followed him to the gallery, and with this extemporized choir the hymn was sung. The oldest of these girls was but eleven years of age. Mr. Lovell paid them a well deserved compliment for their courage. He re- mained here until the summer of 1850, when the interest in the Protestant Methodist movement was found to be so feeble that it was abandoned, and services were discontinued. THE CENTRAL METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. After the failure of the Methodist Protestant Society, the church in which it had worshipped was for a year or two seldom used. At last the people in the village, thinking it too far to go to Washington Street to church, took measures to have Methodist Episcopal services in the meeting-house now vacant. The Rev. A. B. Wheeler, then of North Bridgewater, a man of more ability as a preacher than integrity or at least ability as a financier, conducted services for about two years, long enough to get considerably in debt to some of his too confiding fel- low-worshippers. The latter used to meet him at annual Con- ferences, and were sometimes able by various species of pressure to extract from him small portions of the debts he owed them. After he left, a Rev. Mr. Harlowe supplied the pulpit for a few months; but little is remembered of him, except that in making parish calls at certain dwellings on the Bay road he was ac- customed, when about to pray, to spread his handkerchief under his knees upon the floor,—a practice that did not put the housekeepers he visited in a very devotional mood. These two preachers did not serve to make the cause of Methodism prosper in the village, and most of those who had 400 HISTORY OF EASTON. hoped to form a society here returned to the Washington Street church. Nothing further was done about forming a Methodist Society in North Easton village until 1859. This was the first year of the Rev. Lewis B, Bates’s appointment for Easton. The village members of the Washington Street church, still dis- satisfied to go so far to attend services, began once more to agitate the question of having a preacher sent to them. Before the Conference of 1860 assembled they quietly consulted together, and decided to send a committee to the Conference to say that if Mr. Bates could be returned to them and preach in the village, they would guarantee the payment of his salary. With this movement it soon appeared that Mr. Bates and the presiding elder were both in sympathy. But the Washington Street people, learning what was on foot, despatched a com- mittee of their own to ask that the preacher be returned to them, as before; and they also guaranteed that he should be paid. The Conference made a compromise between the con- testing parties, and returned Mr. Bates with the understanding that he should preach half the time at one place, and half at the other. But this arrangement, like most compromises, had the effect of not being agreeable to either of the two parties for whom it was made. The question immediately arose as to the manner of dividing the ministerial service. The village people proposed that Mr. Bates should preach six months in one place and six months in the other. This plan was not accordant with the wishes of the rest, who preferred preaching half a day, each Sunday, at each place. A meeting was held immediately after service, on the first Sunday following the return of Mr. Bates to the old church, at which the question was discussed ; and as the village people had the majority in the Board of Stewards, they carried the day, and it was de- cided to hold the services six months in one place and six months in the other. It was then agreed by the stewards to canvass the town for subscriptions to support the preaching. South Easton agreed to raise twenty-six dollars; North Easton village four hundred and thirty-three dollars, provided the ser- vices could be held six months continuously there, as voted. But the people on Washington Street objected “to the smallest sub- scription under the present arrangement for division of services,” NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. 407 that arrangement being made in opposition to their wishes. Thereupon the presiding elder, who was in sympathy with the village people, without informing the other party of what he was about to do and thereby-giving them an opportunity to explain their position, wrote to the Bishop concerning the result of the subscription. The Bishop at once ordered the removal of Mr. Bates to the village to preach there all the time. On the third Sunday after his return to the Washington Street church, Mr. Bates exchanged with a neighboring minister, who after the ser- vice read the letter of the presiding elder ordering the change aforesaid. This action came upon the Washington Street people with stunning effect. They were ignorant of what had been going on, and could therefore take no measures to prevent it. But the order of the Bishop must be obeyed, and those who were discontented were forced to submit. Mr. Bates henceforth preached at the village; but though a popular man and a good preacher, he did not succeed in drawing after him the Washington Street people, who determined to sustain wor- ship and keep their own church alive. They accordingly ob- tained supplies for the rest of the year,—among the ministers preaching for them being Mr. Winchester and Mr. Spilsted. At first both parties claimed to be the old church, and to have a right to its property, under which claim the village portion of the society removed some of the church property. But the Washington Street party continued the old organization, elected new officers, and went on as before. At the Conference of 1861, the Rev. Franklin Gavitt was appointed to the old church and the Rev. W. V. Morrison was appointed for the village; and Mr. Morrison was informed by the bishop that if the village people wished to go on with preaching, it would be necessary for them to form a new church organization. Disliking to relinquish their claim to be the old church, the village people for a while declined to receive Mr. Morrison. Their objections to this they finally withdrew, however, and the organization of a new church was completed by Mr. Morrison. At the Quar- terly Conference at North Easton, August 31, 1861, he reported as follows: “I have completed the work of organizing the church on the plan proposed by the Bishop.” It was called the North Easton village Church. In 1872, at a Providence Conference, 408 HISTORY OF EASTON. the name was changed to the Main Street Church. Two years before that, the name of the old society had been changed to the Washington Street Church, After the division under Mr. Bates, the village people wor- shipped in Ripley's Hall until 1864, when Messrs. Reuben Meader, Joel Randall, and others built the Main Street church, now owned and occupied by the Swedish Society. It was dedi- cated July 8, 1864, and was occupied by the Methodist Society for twelve years. In 1875 the Unitarian Society began to wor- ship in the new church built and presented to them by Oliver Ames, and in 1876 Mr. Ames made a present of the meeting- house vacated by that society to the Methodist Society, on condition that they would move it and fit it up without running into debt by so doing. This condition they gladly complied with; and in November the house was moved to its present convenient location, where it was reopened December 28, the sermon being preached by the Rev. L. B. Bates. The name of the church was changed after occupying this building, and it is now known as the Central Methodist Episcopal Church. The ministers of this society since its organization have been as follows: the Rev. Lewis B. Bates in 1860, one year; the Rev. William V. Morrison in 1861, one year; the Rev. Charles Hammond, the Rev. C. C. Adams, the Rev. F. A. Loomis, each serving a year. In 1865 the Rev. Edward Edson came, and in 1867 the Rev. J. B. Husted, each serving two years. In 1869 the Rev. George H. Bates was appointed, and stayed three years. He was followed in turn by the Rev. J. H. Humphrey, the Rev. Charles W. Dreese, the Rev. Joseph Hammond, the Rev. John Faville, the Rev. John Jones, and the Rev. W. J. Hodges, each serving a year. From October 11, 1878, until April 21, 1879, the Rev. J. S. Davis acted as a supply. At this time, as noticed in a previous chapter, it was thought best to unite with the Washington Street Church under the ministry of the same preacher. The Rev. S. E. Evans was the first preacher under this arrangement. The Rev. William Kirkby followed him in 1880 and remained two years, as also did the Rev. J. S. Thomas, who came in 1882. The present pastor, the Rev. Merrick Ransom, was appointed in 1884, and still remains pastor, but of the village church alone. NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. 409 THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY: UNITY CHURCH. It has already been shown that an attempt was made prior to 1855 to establish a Methodist Protestant Society, and also a Methodist Episcopal Society, in North Easton village, and that both attempts failed. The church building erected for the former society was now unoccupied, and the field was open. Accordingly it was agreed by numbers of the village people that they would hear candidates from several denominations; and that when these had been heard, those interested should take a vote and sustain the kind of preaching desired by the majority. They further agreed to support such preaching for a year, the minority setting aside all personal preferences so far as possible. This was certainly a democratic method of establishing religious worship. After hearing several preachers a meeting was held, and a vote was taken, first, upon a Rev. Mr. Farnum, Orthodox, who failed to have a majority. A vote for Methodist preaching shared the same fate. A. A. Gilmore then moved that inasmuch as the Rev. Mr. Farnum had had the largest number of votes, they should agree to ask him to preach for a year. The motion prevailed. But it is easier voting to spend money than it is to raise it; and a subscription paper proved to be a touchstone, which showed that while the people were not unwilling to listen to uncongenial preaching, they were not quite ready to pay for it. A sufficient amount could not be raised to pay for Mr, Farnum’s services, and this plan was therefore abandoned. John H. Swain then said to Oliver Ames, Sr., “ Why can we not have Unitarian preaching? How much will you give towards it?” Mr. Ames, who had been giving a hundred dollars a year to assist in carrying on worship in the village church, responded, “T will give three hundred dollars.” This was the beginning of the movement that resulted in the formation of the North Easton Unitarian Society, now known as Unity Church. A subscrip- tion paper was passed about, and a sufficient sum was guaran- teed to support Unitarian preaching, which from that time to the present has continued without interruption. This was in the autumn of 1855. The first Unitarian preacher who offi- ciated under this arrangement was the Rev. Charles Brooks. 410 HISTORY OF EASTON. He supplied the pulpit for about a year. The Rev. Joseph Angier preached nearly a year; and for the rest of the time previous to 1860 the pulpit was occupied by transient supplies, during which time many of the most gifted Unitarian ministers brought their choicest intellectual and spiritual treasures to the worshippers who gathered in the little church from week to week, As many as eighty different preachers were heard in this way. Among others, the Rev. Charles Briggs was a fre- quent and welcome supply. But it was evident that this method of pulpit supply was not for the best interest of the people, and an attempt was made to settle some one permanently as minister. The result of this at- tempt was the engagement, in 1860, of Christopher C. Hussey as pastor. There being then no society organization, Mr. Hussey’s call was made by a unanimous vote of the congregation taken on Sunday. He was installed by services in which the Rev. James Freeman Clarke preached the sermon, and the Rev. Messrs. Withington of Easton, Brigham of Taunton, and Water- ston of Boston took part. Mr. Hussey was born June 19, 1820, on the island of Nan- tucket, and was of Quaker ancestry through several generations. He was descended from Christopher Hussey, who came from Dorking in Surrey, England, in 1632. He began his public life as a minister among the Quakers, but afterward became a Unitarian. His ministry at North Easton was successful. One especial feature of it was the inauguration of the Vesper Service, which, being then a novelty, attracted many from Easton and the surrounding towns. In 1866 he removed to Billerica, Massachusetts, where he became pastor of the First Parish, a position he still holds. In 1874, under the adminis- tration of his parishioner Governor Talbot, he was made a member of the State Board of Education, serving a term of eight years. April 16, 1843, Mr. Hussey married Lydia C., daughter of William B. and Deborah Coffin of Nantucket. After Mr. Hussey’s departure the North Easton Unitarian Society was without a pastor for nearly two years, when it ex- tended a call to William L. Chaffin. Mr. Chaffin was the son of William Farwell and Louisa (Shattuck) Chaffin, and was born in Oxford, Maine, August 16, 1837, but early removed to Reo a en aie) al ede use aay cas Sere o> Ned er eae ea ee Tlasnrsay fo eerensstte NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. AII Concord, New Hampshire. Hegraduated at the Meadville (Pennsylvania) Theological School in 1861, married August 12, 1862, Rebecca Huidekoper, daughter of Michael Hodge and Margaret (Hazlett) Bagley, of Meadville. He was pastor for about three years and a half of.a Unitarian Society in Phila- delphia. His engagement at North Easton began January 1, 1868, and he still continues the minister of the Unitarian Society in that place. In 1874 the Hon. Oliver Ames, the second of that name, be- gan the erection of a-new-and beautiful church for this society. It is located on the gentle slope just north of where Mr. Ames himself lived, is Gothic in design, cruciform in shape, has a chapel connected with it which is used for the Sunday-school, and has rooms for social purposes below the auditorium. Its walls are of the native sienite from the quarry west of the schoolhouse, much of the stone having a warm pinkish hue. The rear walls are mainly built of the hard, dark trap-rock taken from a wide dike a few rods southwest of the same quarry. The.trimmings came from Randolph. The spire is built of bluish sienite from a quarry in Storey’s Swamp, west of Long Pond, and is surmounted by a large stone cross. The beautifully finished wood-work of the interior of the church is of black walnut, and of the Sunday-school room it is of cherry. The organ and choir are at the right of the pulpit as one faces it. The window at. the right, in the east transept, —a large and beautiful one designed by John A. Mitchell, the architect of the church, —is in memory of the Hon. Oakes Ames. This window is in three vertical sections. The central and main section has in it a representation of the archangel Michael at the moment of his victory over Satan, The side sections are composed of geomet- rical figures, which both in form and coloring produce an excel- lent effect. The window opposite, in the west transept, which is most exquisite in its design and workmanship, is in memory of Helen Angier Ames. There are three figures in the lower part of the window. The central one is standing, and represents the angel of Help. The-other two figures are seated; the one at the right of the central. figure -personating Want, and that at the left, Sorrow. To both of these the angel of Help is kindly 412 HISTORY OF EASTON. ministering. Above these figures angels are pointing to a beauti- ful urn, upon which are inscribed the words “In Memoriam.” No words can fittingly describe the graceful symmetry of form and grouping, and the richness and harmony of color in this window. It is the work of Lafarge, and is regarded as his masterpiece. A large white marble tablet in the transept at the left, near the window, perpetuates the memory of the founder of the Society, the first Oliver Ames, and was placed there by his son, the builder of the church. After the death of the latter, a marble bust with a large and exquisite tablet of Mexican onyx, appropriately inscribed, was placed by his family near the memorial just named, and it will not cease to remind the worshippers who gather there of their generous benefactor. The church was dedicated August 26, 1875, the Rev. Rush R. Shippen, then Secretary of the American Unitarian Associa- tion, preaching the sermon. The Revs. C. H. Brigham, Joseph Osgood, John Snyder, and the pastor also took part in the exercises. At the following annual meeting in January, 1876, Mr. Ames presented the church to the society,—a generous gift, costing not far from one hundred thousand dollars. At the same meeting the society, which though its existence dates from 1855 was not organized until the beginning of the min- istry of the present pastor, assumed the name of Unity Church. By his will, Mr. Ames bequeathed money for the erection of a parsonage, which was completed in 1878. It is built of stone, and of a style to harmonize with the church. He left a sum of money sufficient to keep the church and parsonage in repair. The accompanying picture will give the reader some idea of the beauty of the church and its surroundings. The Sunday-school of this society was organized in 1856 under the Rev. Charles Brooks. Its first superintendent was Joseph Barrows. William Higginbottom was chosen for that office in 1865, and served with great constancy and fidelity for twenty years. He then resigned, respected and beloved by all who knew him. John H. Swain was appointed his successor. The library of this Sunday-school has been selected, and is managed, with great care. It contains over fifteen hundred books, and has a printed catalogue. NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. 413 THE CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. In 1840 there were only a few Roman Catholics in Easton. The first audience that gathered numbered fifteen. The first Mass was celebrated by the Rev. Father Riley, an American convert. Services were held for a time in private houses ; but soon the dining-room of the “Boarding-House” owned by the Ames Company was offered and used for services, which how- ever were only occasionally held, as the missions were large and the priests few. This boarding-house stood where the coal pile for the shovel works is now located. Its dining-room was spa- cious enough for a good audience, so that it was sometimes occupied for lyceum meetings and lectures. In 1849 the audience of Roman Catholics had increased to forty-five; in 1852 it was one hundred and fifty; in 1860 it numbered four hundred; and at this date (1886) the Roman Catholic Church in Easton embraces within its fold nearly fourteen hundred members, including children. Among the earliest officiating priests, besides Father Riley, were the Rev. John O’Beirn and the Rev. Richard A. Wilson. They are all dead, — the first dying in Providence, the second in Boston, and the last in Cuba, whither he had gone for his health. About 1848 the Rev. Thomas Fitzsimmons had charge. The audience was fast increasing, and it became necessary to provide better accommodations for holding services. In 1850 the Ames Company gave the Roman Catholics a piece of land near the Shovel-shop Pond, and work was begun upon a chapel. It was completed and occupied in 1851 under the direction of Father Fitzsimmons. He continued in charge of the church for about five years from the time of his first coming here, and was fol- lowed by the Rev. A. F. Roach, who stayed three or four years. In 1856 the Rev. T. B. McNulty, of North Bridgewater, took possession, and was in charge for fourteen years. They were years of rapid increase in the Roman Catholic population. Father McNulty put an addition to the chapel, bought the lot and established the Roman Catholic cemetery, and in 1864 bought a lot on Main Street and began the erection of the church which was finished and occupied in 1865. His labors closed here in 1870. In January, 1871, the Rev. Francis A. AI4 HISTORY OF EASTON. Quinn was sent to take charge of the church, and he was the first parish priest of Easton. He purchased the homestead place of Elbridge G. Morse, had the house remodelled, and occupied it as a parsonage. Father Quinn, in 1872, caused the church to be thoroughly remodelled and decorated at con- siderable expense. He was here until the beginning of 1873, being subsequently stationed at Fall River and elsewhere, but finally dying in France, whither he went for the benefit of his health. Father Quinn’s successor in Easton was the Rev. Michael Fitzgerald, who came in January, 1873, and remained until June. Though here for only a short time he gained the respect of all who knew him, as also the sincere affection of his own people. He was followed by the Rev. Thomas F. Carroll, who held the office until October 25, 1882, when he was succeeded by the present priest, the Rev. William J. McComb, who took charge November 1 of the same year. From 1840 to 1850 Mass was held in Easton but once in three months. From 1850 to 1860 it was conducted every second Sunday; and from that day to this it has been held every Sunday. There are several services on Sunday in this church, all of which are very fully attended. There is an early Mass at eight o’clock, which is followed by instruction to the children at nine o'clock. At half-past ten the principal Mass is held; and in the afternoon is the Sunday-school, which is followed by Vespers, — making Sunday a day of hard work for the officiating priest. There are also many occasional services in celebration of holy days and festivals. THE SWEDISH EVANGELICAL EBED MELECH CHURCH. There is a steadily increasing Swedish population in Easton, and they make a welcome addition to our inhabitants. In 1880 their number was one hundred, but it is considerably more now. Until recently there was no Swedish church nearer than Brock- ton, but on the 29th of December, 1883, a meeting was held for the organization of a church in North Easton village. John Rhoden was chosen president; Augustus Anderson, vice-presi- dent; C. A. Larson, secretary ; A. B. Anderson, Charles Sand- gren, Andrew Anderson, Charles Dahlborg, and William Borg, NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. 415 trustees ; and Charles Dahlborg was made treasurer. This church is regularly incorporated according to the laws of the State. January 16, 1884, they bought the Main Street meeting- house, once occupied by the Methodist Society, paying for it fourteen hundred and fifty dollars, being helped by liberal sub- scriptions from North Easton people. The Swedish church called the Rev. Axel Mellander to their service as minister, and he came here to reside September 1, 1884. The Rev. Mr. Mellander left on account of ill health in April, 1886, and was succeeded by the Rev. Emil Holmblad, who came to Easton May 15. He preaches to this church every other Sunday, and on two Wednesdays of each month. THE ADVENTISTS. For the last fifteen years a small but earnest and faithful band of Adventists have held meetings with more or less fre- quency in North Easton village. Adventist meetings were held at an earlier time on the Bay road; but regular meetings began to be held about 1871 in the ante-room of Ripley’s Hall, where they continued for six or seven months. In 1873 ser- vices were conducted in Good Templars Hall for a little over a year. Since that time they have been occasionally held in private houses and in the ante-room above mentioned. About fifteen or twenty different preachers have at various times officiated here. The Adventists are feeble in numbers but strong in faith, and some of them set examples of a good life which their critics might profitably imitate. RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF EASTON. Care was taken during the collecting of the census statistics of May, 1885, to ascertain the denominational connections of the families of Easton. The results, which are given below, are not a part of the authorized State census, but they have been care- fully gathered by our accurate census-taker, and may be trusted as approximately correct. The statistics are of families, and are as follows :— 416 HISTORY OF EASTON. Number of Roman Catholic families . . . . ... . 274 »» 9 Orthodox Congregational families . . . . . . 103 gt LUTMEABIATE 2222 Aen ok RO ay Se eee ae F9 C190: 55 4a Methodist: @ <6. 2% @ a) ay ew ae ee OF - 9 OWedish? 2 6 wo we Se Bs Heke. cht AD » 5 Adventist . . . . .. bed ft ceed “ibaa Sie 6 9 », Non-Churchgoing? . . . . . 2. 1 ee e302 Total number of families May 11,1885 . .. . . . . + 900 STATISTICS OF CHURCH ATTENDANCE, In the statistics just given most readers will be surprised at the large proportion of non-churchgoing families among the Protestant? portion of our population. The Roman Catholics are nearly all church-goers; they are therefore not included in the following estimates. In May, 1885, there were 626 Protes- tant families in Easton. Of these, 302 families were non-church- goers. This is forty-eight per cent of the entire Protestant population. If we deduct from the total 626 the 42 Swedish families, we have a total of 584 native American families. Our statistics show that over half of the latter, or nearly fifty-two per cent, are non-churchgoers, are connected with no religious society, and seldom if ever attend church. Even these figures do not give us the full proportion of non- churchgoers, because many of the families classed as church- going are inconstant in their attendance upon worship, and some of their members never attend. A careful canvass made some years ago throughout the southern half of the town elicited the fact that only about one third of the people in that section were in the habit of attending public worship. The proportion of church-goers among the Protestants is larger in North Easton village than it is elsewhere in town. A careful 1 Part of the Swedish families are Lutherans, and part are members of the two branches of the Swedish Evangelical church, — the progressive and the conservative. At least one of the families is Unitarian, and a few should be classed among non- churchgoers. 2 Including some Spiritualists. Many church-goers, however, believe in occa- sional spiritual communications from departed friends, and they are not the less Orthodox, Unitarian, or Methodist on that account. 8 Many families are Protestants only in the negative sense of not being Roman Catholics. They are not Protestants in any positive religious or even denomina- tional sense. NORTH EASTON VILLAGE CHURCHES. 417 canvass which the writer, assisted by one of the town-assessors, made of this village in 1878 resulted in finding 421 families, — of whom there were 242 Roman Catholic, 68 church-going Uni- tarians, 34 church-going Methodist, 7 Second Adventists, and 7o non-churchgoing families. (These figures do not include the Swedish families.) Just about forty per cent of the Prot- estant families were non-churchgoing. But in the so-called church-going families of North Easton village there are indi- viduals who never attend church, and there are others who attend so seldom that it is a stretch of courtesy and truth to call them church-goers. Still, the attendance is proportionately larger in this village than elsewhere in Easton, mainly perhaps because the churches are in the centre of population, which is not true of other parts of the town. A church at South Easton village and another at the Furnace Village, instead of one at the Centre answering for both places, would probably increase the church attendance for the southeastern and southwestern parts of the town. The disadvantage, however, of having that church so far from the two villages where so many of the worshippers dwell is in part compensated for by having a separate Sunday- school and special meetings in each of those places. It appears from what has now been stated that fully fifty per cent of the American Protestant families of Easton are non- churchgoers ;! and the proportion of individuals in town who do not attend worship is even larger. It is probable, however, that in this regard Easton is neither worse nor better than are New England towns generally. Many reasons besides irreligion combine to produce this state of things, for some of those who neither attend nor help to sup- port worship are persons of good character and honorable con- duct. Among the explanations offered for non-churchgoing are the following: (1) The expense of hiring a pew and sup- porting the church; (2) The trouble and difficulty of going the long distance sometimes required; (3) The entertaining reading available at home, especially the Sunday newspaper ; (4) Some of the poor cannot dress as well as others, and do not have the courage to let their poverty thus appear; (5) The hard-working 1 It is to be noted, however, that some of the children of these families attend Sunday-school ; and but for this they would have no definite religious instruction. 27 418 HISTORY OF EASTON. claim that they need to stay at home and rest; (6) The natural reaction against the strictness of former Sabbath observance has not spent its force; (7) Some persons declare that churches are nurseries of sectarianism, and that the ministers are too dogmatic and unpractical in their preaching. Undoubtedly churches might do much to make themselves more worthy of support. They might encourage a more social and democratic spirit, be more solicitous to do good, might preach a more rational and practical faith. But instead of standing aloof from them until such a high ideal is reached, why do not non-churchgoers do what they can by attendance and otherwise to hold the churches to this ideal? Much more money is usually expended for superfluities than is needed to support the church; one may read and rest sufficiently and attend church besides ; the benefit of having the Christian faith in God, duty, immor- tality, and the high ideals of Christian disposition and conduct presented as they are done in the Sunday worship is incalcu- lable; and it will be found that in New England towns a fairly even ratio exists between the morality and true prosperity and the church-going habits of their inhabitants. Churches could not die out of any community without causing a drift towards lower ideals, conduct, and character, and a consequent increase of immorality and crime. This fact, evident enough to those who have studied its practical illustrations, proves that it is the duty of all to help maintain churches and make them effi- cient instruments in benevolent, social, intellectual, moral, and religious work. SHADOWS. 419 CHAPTER XXV. SHADOWS. RoucGH LIFE IN THE EARLY PIONEER Days.—A NOTORIOUS GANG OF THIEVES ; GEORGE WHITE THE LEADER. — THE BANK ROBBER. — SLAVERY. — INTEMPERANCE. — PAUPERISM. O picture is perfect without shadows or contrasts. It is not, however, for artistic reasons that the writer has in- troduced them into his picture of Easton life of the last two centuries; it is for the sake of correct impression. It would be pleasanter as well as more gratifying to town pride to omit all reference to the darker side of the subject; but this would not conduce to the only end we have kept in view, — the pro- duction of an accurate historical sketch. These shadows will, however, be drawn in such a manner as neither to offend against a reasonable sense of propriety, nor to bring shame upon the living. ROUGH LIFE IN THE EARLIER DAYS. It is a mistake to regard the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth as the true type of the early settlers of all our New England towns. There is plenty of evidence accessible to show that there was in the early history of many of these towns consider- able of that rough life which is a usual accompaniment of new settlements ; this at least was true of Easton. There was little opportunity then to enjoy the innocent diversions and varying interests that are so abundant now. Intellectual cultivation was comparatively low ; for the first twenty-five years after its settlement, as we have seen, the town did almost nothing for the maintenance of schools. There were at first no news- papers and few books; and the demand for recreation must sometimes, in the absence of better things, have led to evil in- dulgences. This will partly account for the greater intemper- 420 HISTORY OF EASTON. ance in those days among our native-born inhabitants as compared with this time,—a subject that will be treated fur- ther on. It may account also for the apparently more frequent misdemeanors and sins in the relations of the sexes; for the court records of Taunton and the cases of church discipline seem to show that there was a larger proportion of such immo- ralities in those early times in our town than at present. Sev- eral of our early settlers, although men of prominence, were exceedingly lawless characters ; and both men and women were exposed in the stocks, and were fined, and condemned “to receive ten [or twenty] stripes upon the naked back, well laid on,” for these sins against purity and virtue. The town stocks were several times repaired, or new stocks provided ; and they must have had considerable use. It is not desirable to go into more specific statement of this matter; but the writer is of the opinion, as the result of his investigations, that in this regard the sentiment and practice of the present time is superior to that of the last century in the town of Easton. At the same time, it may be true that there were not then so many means of concealment ; conduct was under more rigid inspection ; mis- demeanors were more ruthlessly exposed and rigorously dealt with. And it should be added also that great caution is needed in instituting comparisons of this kind, since we are very prone to make confident generalizations from too few facts. Cases sometimes occurred that are amusing to read of now, though they caused much trouble at the time. For instance, January 2, 1769, George Ferguson lost a “bever Hatt” worth twenty shillings, which was found and apparently kept by Nathan Woodward. Mr. Ferguson took the case to Esquire Daniel Williams, who fined Woodward twenty-five shillings. The latter appealed, and the Superior Court sustained the appeal; and Mr. Ferguson had a bill of costs to pay after two court trials, all about a hat! Isaac Lothrop in 1778 lost “a fat red steer & reddish white ox,’ which George Howard of Bridgewater found and sold, “well knowing that the said ox and steer belonged to the said Isaac, yet minding to defraud the said Isaac of his said ox & steer,” etc, The case on the first trial went against Howard, who appealed to the Superior Court. SHADOWS. 421 Israel Woodward, about the time he became a citizen of Easton, was arrested, with his brothers Caleb and David and others, for travelling on the Sabbath day. The indictment however was quashed. Woodward was a Quaker, and on that ground refused to qualify himself for the office of constable, —for which he was fined five pounds and costs. Elsewhere in this History some account is given of the case of John Austin, who in 1738 was sentenced by Esquire Edward Hayward to pay a fine of ten shillings “for prophaine cursing, for the use of the poor of the town of Easton.” Jacob Leonard accused another citizen of detaining Leonard's “sorrel white-faced gelding horse with a light-colored tail and mane, at a place called Willis’s shed in Easton.” Thé plaintiff sued for one hundred dollars. The case went from court to court, and finally Mr. Leonard received one cent damages ! These are samples of cases that were constantly occurring. There were many suits for assault and battery, for thefts, for slander, and other offences ; and when allowance is made for the much fewer inhabitants in Easton a century ago, one cannot resist the impression that there is a smaller proportion of such offences now than there were then. Persons were more ready, fifty and a hundred years ago than now, to resort to the law for the settlement of differences and quarrels. This is evidently true concerning cases of a civil character. There was a sur- prising number of lawsuits growing out of uncertain boundaries, trespass, and business troubles of every kind. There seemed to be a decided appetite for litigation on the part of certain persons whose names are constantly seen in these court cases. Law- suits were fought with extraordinary stubbornness, and hundreds of dollars were sometimes spent merely to postpone yielding a point whose final surrender was inevitable. It was truly a mil- lennium for the lawyers. In the year 1800 the total population of Easton was fifteen hundred and fifty, but the lawsuits for the preceding year numbered thirty-five, and in 1798 they num- bered thirty-four. This was in the Bristol County courts alone, and probably does not represent the whole number actually engaged in. The practice of imprisonment for debt was in full force in the last century, and in the earlier part of the present; and there 422 HISTORY OF EASTON. are numerous instances in which payment was forced from un- willing and impecunious debtors by lodging them in jail until their debts were paid, payment sometimes being thus extorted from the unfortunate at a great sacrifice to them. The unpleasant story of Easton church quarrels has been told in other chapters, and it is hardly possible to understand the in- tensity of passion and animosity that divided the opposing par- ties in the long contention beginning about 1750, which gave rise to slander, recrimination, to excited church councils, court trials, legislative hearings, social, and even domestic strife. Be- ginning with the Rev. Matthew Short, there were during the first century after the incorporation of Easton seven ministers of the parish church, and all but two of these were obliged to extort their salaries from the town by legal process ; and these two, Mr. Short and Mr. Reed, were patient enough to endure long and embarrassing delays. Several others who preached as temporary supplies had a similar experience with the town. These facts seem to disprove the commonly made assertion, at least so far as Easton is concerned, that the clergy were once regarded with special reverence. It must be confessed, however, that some of them did not deserve to be so regarded. True ministers may well be thankful that they are now judged as other men are, not by some artificial standard of official respect, but solely on their personal merits and their fidelity to their chosen calling. The following action of the town which was taken in town- meeting in 1810, is a plain indication of the existence of con- siderable vagabondism here early in this century : — “Voted that the selectmen post up all persons who are likely to be- come chargeable to the town by means of idleness and excessive drinking, headed Vacazonp List.” This list was exhibited at stores and other conspicuous places. Mr. Simpson remembers being in Elijah Howard's store when a man whose name was thus posted entered, and tried to buy some liquor. “See there!” thundered Mr. Howard, as he pointed to the Vagabond List where the man’s name appeared ; and he slunk away in shame. Store-keepers and retailers of liquor were forbidden to sell to such persons. SHADOWS. 423 At the date referred to, the town also “ Voted that the select- men commit Idle Vagabond persons to the house of Correction, there to be detained and imployed till they pay all charges which have been made to the town on acount of their Idleness and imprudent conduct.’ It was also “Voted that those persons going to gaol for debt and making expense for the town should be excluded from the pauper list.” CRIMES AND PENALTIES. The fact has already been explained that Easton did not have a very enviable reputation among her neighbors during the latter part of the last century. One thing that contributed to this result was the existence here, about 1800, of an organ- ized gang of thieves. They were mainly located in the west part of the town, and carried on their nefarious business by wholesale. The names of about a dozen of them and of some of their confederates are known, but these names, with one ex- ception, are for obvious reasons not given here. This gang is reported by tradition to have been one link in a chain of evil conspirators reaching to Canada; they are represented also as a band of horse-thieves. The writer's acquaintance with their doings has been made chiefly through the court records at Taunton, this thieving organization having been unearthed in 1803, and its members arrested, tried, and sentenced. In those trials there is no case of horse-thieving reported; but as these criminals stole nearly all other kinds of merchandise, they are not likely to have made an exception of horses; in fact there are authentic traditions of their horse-thieving. East of the Bay road, in the then thick woods not far south of the Stoughton line, this gang is said to have had a secret ex- cavation, or cellar, far enough from the road to prevent risk of discovery by persons travelling past; and in this place of con- cealment there were once found seven stolen horses. The thieves were well organized, and carried on their work so shrewdly as to secure a vast amount of booty before they were finally brought to punishment. They had skilful means of con- cealing stolen goods. At one place was a house the cellar of which is said to have been so arranged as to enable one to 424, HISTORY OF EASTON. drive a horse and wagon into it, so that if pursued a team might suddenly disappear. Some distance southwest of the Tisdale Harlow house may be seen the old Fuller place. The dwelling-house that once stood there long since disappeared ; but the site it occupied at- tracts special notice from its having two cellars, unconnected with each other, with several feet thickness of earth between them. One of them was a secret cellar. At one time there was the strongest evidence that stolen goods had been taken to this house ; but when the officers came and made a thorough search from cellar to garret, nothing was found. The housekeeper was washing clothes when they came, and it was afterward remem- bered that her tub was stationed upon a trap-door which formed the entrance to the secret cellar. This gang of thieves had their confederates in other places, by whom they were enabled to dispose of their stolen goods, They had their passwords and secret signs, and were the terror of the neighborhood for miles around. The stores of Easton, Norton, and Mansfield, as well as the mills and foundries of the vicinity, were robbed of large amounts of goods at different times. At length a young man who had set up a store and been robbed of many things, vowed that he would do no more work until he had rooted out this gang of thieves. He drove to the double-cellared house before alluded to, and represented that he had some goods he would like to have concealed. As he had acquainted himself already with some of their secret signs he was welcomed, and joined the gang, and even accompanied them on some of their thieving excursions. Meantime, not being in good health, he occasionally went to Dr. Samuel Guild at South Easton, ostensibly for medical consultation, but really to com- municate with him on this business, Dr. Guild being then justice of the peace. When the plans and operations of the thieves were thus fully disclosed, it was determined to arrest them ; but here a difficulty presented itself. The Easton constable to whom they would have applied was himself a member of the gang, and the deputy sheriff was a receiver of stolen goods. With some trouble other officers were procured, a raid was made upon the thieves, and a large amount of stolen goods recovered. This was in 1803. Several of the gang, including at least one woman, were SHADOWS. 425 arrested, and were charged with numerous thefts. They had stolen from Jonathan Smith, Edward Kingman, and Abiezer Alger, of Easton; Isaac Barrett, George Gilbert, and others, of Norton and Mansfield. Indictment after indictment was pre- sented against them, nearly all of which resulted in conviction. The matter had been so thoroughly worked up that the num- ber of cases finally tired out the district attorney, and several of them were therefore not presented at all. Many kinds of goods were included in the stealing; there were broadcloth, linen, towels, shirts, spoons, crockery, cutlery, combs, brandy, rum, razors, nail-rods, cast-iron ware, meal-bags, corn, etc. The woman alluded to was convicted of stealing from Edward King- man, July 1, 1802, thirteen earthen plates, one half-dozen cups and saucers, and one mug. She was fined five dollars and costs, and also made to pay Mr. Kingman $3.42, the treble value of the goods. In 1842 she and two of her daughters were prisoners in Taunton jail in punishment for various offences. They were there seen by Easton visitors, showing no shame whatever, but appearing to feel perfectly at home. The sentences of some of the gang were severe. The leader was on several different counts, as will soon be more particularly described, condemned not only to pay costs and damages, but also “to sit on the gallows for the space of one hour with the rope about his neck, and one end thereof cast over the gallows, and be whipped twenty stripes, and that he be confined to hard labor for five years.” These convictions show that public expo- sure of criminals upon the pillory or gallows, and public whip- ping for ordinary crimes have been practised in our vicinity during the present century. It must have been felt by some to be a terrible disgrace to sit thus exposed to public view, sneered at and insulted by lookers on, a rope ignominiously hanging from the neck to the ground, at which doubtless those so disposed might give many a vicious jerk. The sheriff before alluded to was sentenced to this punishment, but presented a powerfully backed petition to the Governor and Council asking that so much of his penalty as related to sitting on the gallows and the whipping be remitted. The petition was granted. A promi- nent confederate of this gang by means of suicide transferred the scene of his trial to a higher court. 426 HISTORY OF EASTON. | The ringleader of this band of thieves was so remarkable a man in his way as to call for a more extended personal notice here. As he was unmarried and left no descendants to blush for his crimes, and as his kindred have seemed proud to narrate his achievements, and as, moreover, his name is an open secret known to many citizens of Easton, there is no impropriety in stating that the ringleader under notice was George White. He was a most ingenious and notorious scamp, to whom stealing was a profession, and whose biography, if written, would rank with that of the shrewdest and boldest of his class, delighting the hearts of dime-novel readers. White was once fleeing on horseback from two mounted offi- cers ; finding that they were gaining on him, and coming to a turn in the road he hastily dismounted, gave the horse a cut with the whip so as to start him on, threw away his hat and donned a small cap, assumed other disguises kept ready for such occasions, and then coolly started back on foot. He was im- mediately met by the officers, but was not recognized by them. In answer to their question, ‘Did you see a man on horseback running away?” he replied, “Yes, I saw him going as though he thought the Devil was after him.” White escaped this time, and had another good story to tell. There was no audacity of which this artful rogue was not capable. At one time he stole a horse, trimmed his mane, shortened his tail, and painted or dyed his hair in such a skilful way as thoroughly to disguise the animal, and then led him innocently to the man from whom he had stolen him, and, saying that he had heard he wanted a horse, actually sold him to his owner. The horse appeared so much at home and showed such evident acquaintance with his master that suspicions were soon aroused, and the fading out of the colored spots revealed the trick. But the quickwitted thief found some easy way out of his unpleasant situation. George White was at one time on a journey in search of profitable adventure, and turned up at a tavern in New York State. He was out of money, and being a great gambler tried to make something by this occupation, but found no victims. He began to look about him for means whereby to pay his tavern- bill, — though why he had any scruples about leaving it unpaid SHADOWS. 427 does not appear. The innkeeper had taken him to a pasture and showed him a noble black horse of which he was very proud, and which suggested a stroke of business to the fertile mind of the guest. Telling his landlord he was going to a neighboring place for a day or two, he left his things behind him, having first secreted a bridle in a wood near the pasture. He stayed in the wood until early daybreak, when he bridled the horse and was soon far away. He sold the horse during the day, stole him again the same night, and repeated the operation the next day and night, coming back a few days afterward with the horse, which he restored to his pasture. He then paid his bill with the money thus acquired, the owner in the mean time not having missed the animal. Before leaving, White said to the innkeeper that he would like one more sight of his fine horse; and they went to the pasture together, talked over the good points of the horse, and bade each other farewell. Such is the story, and it is implicitly believed by elderly people who heard it in their younger days. The only serious doubt of its truth lies in the character of the original story-teller, who was probably the thief himself. He loved to boast of such achievements, and _ his kindred took great pride in repeating the story of his deeds. White was a hard man to catch, and a harder one to keep when caught. Handcuffs were purely ornamental to him, for his wrists were large and his hands were small, so that he could slip off these steel bracelets at pleasure. He had a perfect understanding also with jail-doors, or with their keepers. He was regarded as so dangerous a person that in order to ad- vertise his character his forehead was branded with the letters H. T.; that is, horse-thief. To conceal this brand he wore his hair low on his forehead, and was thus perhaps the first person to in- troduce into Easton the fashion of wearing “banged” hair. At the October term of the Superior Judicial Court at Taunton, for 1803, George White was convicted of theft on six several indictments, sentenced on each to be whipped and set on the gallows, “confined to hard labor in our State Prison for the terms in the aforesaid sentences expressed, making an aggregate number of twenty-five years.”! He was confined in 1 See “Commissions, Proclamations, Pardons,” etc., 1799-1813. The pardon from which the above quotation is made makes a mistake of a year in stating that his trial was in 1802; it was in 1803. 428 HISTORY OF EASTON. the State Prison at Charlestown, Massachusetts. His first term of five years ended October 22, 1808; he served nearly three years on his second term, and was then on supplication for mercy pardoned, and “the residue of the punishment which by the sentences aforesaid he is still liable to suffer” was remitted. The date of the pardon is June 4, 1811, and it took effect June 26. Thus he served for only one third of the time for which he was sentenced. To secure his pardon White had made many promises of amendment, and for some time he either really kept those promises or managed to escape detection for his crimes. But five years afterward we find him again in the Superior Court, and this time at Greenfield, Massachusetts, where he was tried for larceny and condemned “to be punished as a common and notorious thief by solitary imprisonment for a term of twenty- one days, and by confinement afterward to hard labor for the term of ten years.” This term he served out, and was dis- charged July 5, 1827. But this man was too inveterate a thief to reform. Choosing a new field of operations where he was not known, we next hear of him in the Superior Court at Plymouth, where on the second Tuesday of May, 1830, he was tried and convicted of larceny, and was sentenced to two days of solitary confinement and one year of hard labor in the State Prison. The danger of having such an inveterate criminal at large in the community induced some one to take advantage of a law then in force, which rendered a per- son who had served three terms of years in State Prison liable to imprisonment for life. In the Municipal Court of Boston, therefore, May 12, 1831, only one day before his term of impris- onment had expired, White was sentenced for life for having served three terms. To all appearance he now had a dreary enough prospect before him ; but after being in prison for a little over two years he was taken out on a writ of habeas corpus, and June 27, 1833, was discharged by the Superior Court of Boston and set at liberty. He petitioned for this on the ground that his last sentence was for one year alone and not for “a term of years,” and hence that he had not served for “three terms of years.” This point, verbal and technical as it seemed to be, was nevertheless sustained by the court, which is said to have ad- SHADOWS. 429 monished him to leave the State. Not much more is heard of him until finally (at what date cannot be determined) he wrote from the Ohio Penitentiary, where he had been imprisoned for another crime, requesting some of his relatives in Easton to visit him, as he was on his dying bed. But they did not go, for they distrusted any word coming from him, and he died alone and in misery. He must have taken another name when he went West, for application by the writer to the clerk of the Ohio Penitentiary brought the answer that no George White had been imprisoned and died there since the time of his discharge from the State Prison at Charlestown, Massachusetts. Thus ended the strange career of this notorious criminal. The persistence of family traits through several generations has been painfully illustrated in the fact, that several of the descendants of this gang have been notoriously immoral, being guilty of similar thieving operations in later times; and only recently one of them ended his days in jail. To relate here the miserable career of some of them, of the women especially ; to describe the wretched end of several and the foul mischief they have caused, — would make a revelation of depravity unfit for these pages. It would not be just to give the impression that such charac- ters as have been described lived in the west part of the town only. December 2, 1774, there was born, probably not far north of Easton Centre, an innocent babe who was destined to do the most scientific act of stealing ever accomplished by any son of Easton. In 1818 he had become a junk-dealer in Portland, near the head of Long Wharf. He was one day in Ellis’s blacksmith shop, and saw there the locks of the Cumberland Bank, which the directors had sent to Ellis for repairs. Our Easton man was a shrewd fellow, and he went to Joseph Noble’s foundry, borrowed some moulding sand, and succeeded in getting a good impression of the keys. At this point we will allow another to continue the narrative : — “One Monday morning not long after, when Joseph Swift the cashier [of the bank] opened his vault, he was surprised to find all the valuables gone, absolutely nothing left in the way of money but a little loose change. The excitement ran high throughout the town. The bank had not failed, but had been cleaned out. Who did it ? 430 HISTORY OF EASTON. “From the fact that no violence was shown upon the doors, it was evident that the entrance had been made by false keys. Suspicion turned to the blacksmith, but he was found to beinnocent. It occurred to one of the directors that some one had possibly cast a key, and by inquiry at the foundries in town it was ascertained that the unsavory. M. had borrowed a little moulding sand a short time before at Joseph Noble’s foundry. Everybody who had a Cumberland bank-bill was looked upon with suspicion ; if a person had several such bills he had to give an account of where he got them. From one and another cir- cumstance it was evident that M. would bear watching. A canvas bag, such as was used to hold specie, was found in M.’s back-yard, and strengthened suspicion. He had with him a man whose reputation was not good; and this man, Rolf, was connected with M. in some way with the robbery. Some of the managers of the bank persuaded Rolf that he was in danger of being arrested for the burglary. They told him if he would turn State’s evidence they would shield him. Accordingly, he started off in secrecy with one or two of the directors, promising them that he would show them where the money was buried. M.had got a hint that all was not right, and he started ahead and dug up the money. Rolf goes with his party down to a spot between the present location of the Portland Company’s Works and Fish Point, and tells them to dig up the buried treasure ; when, lo! the hole is empty and the game is gone! Rolf had not been without distrust of his confederate. He had doubtless feared that M. would beat him, and thus his story would have no proof. Seeing his position and find- ing that he was in a very sorry plight, he takes a small pistol from his pocket, puts it to his head and shoots himself, falling lifeless over the vempty spot where in a dark night they had put all the valuables of the Cumberland Bank. “The case now looked more dark for the recovery of the money. But the quick-witted old men who managed the case for the bank went at once to M. before he could in any way hear of Rolf’s death, and told him that Rolf had confessed all, and that to save himself he might as well own up, which he did. The bank had offered a considerable reward for the stolen treasure, and M. was bargained with that if he would deliver the goods he should receive the reward. Accordingly he informed the directors that if they would accompany him to a place in Scarborough, they might possibly find something valuable. They went along the road until they came to a spot where M. remarked that it looked to him as if this would be a good place to bury money. There were some men named Libby, who living near were attracted by the strangers, and hearing the remark remembered some recently upturned SHADOWS. 431 earth which they had not been able to account for, hastened to the spot and unearthed the buried treasure before M. could reach the place. One screamed out to his father, ‘Dad, I’ve found it!’ Of course the Libbys claimed the reward. But it was afterward divided, so that M. received one half as the reward of his own wickedness. The bank recovered all but one small bag of pistareens. M. was afterward tried and sentenced to the prison at Charlestown, Massachusetts, for twelve years. His latter days were spent in this city, where he lived for years apparently quite unmoved by his former career.””? This man whom we have designated as M. is said to have built the Thatcher Pierce house, so called, opposite the home- stead of the late Edwin Russell. An exciting incident occurred there when Samuel Wilbur, a sheriff of Raynham, came to arrest him for some offence against the law. He had secreted himself upstairs, and his wife, who was a congenial mate for such a man, was to oppose the sheriff's progress if he attempted to ascend the staircase. When he insisted on going up and endeavored to force his way, she stoutly opposed his passage, and hanging by her hands on a cross-piece over the staircase, she suddenly planted both her feet against the sheriff's chest and knocked him down. Before he could manage to overcome this Amazon and make his way upstairs, M. had let himself down from the east chamber window and made his best paces towards the Stoughton line, which he reached in advance of the sheriff ; and being then in another county, this officer could not arrest him. Penalties for crime were not only different in character a cen- tury ago from what they are now, they were also more severe. On another page is given some account of Benjamin Benoni, or “Old Bunn” as he is known by tradition. One of his children, Benjamin Benoni, Jr., in November, 1782, stole a silk handker- chief from Eliphalet Leonard, for which theft he was sentenced 1 The above is from an historical sketch of the Portland (Maine) banks, written by William E. Gould, Esq., and printed in the Portland “ Weekly Advertiser,” December 21, 1883. The records of the Massachusetts State Prison at Charlestown show that on October 7, 1818, at Portland, this thief was convicted of “ robbing the Portland Bank” and was sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment. He was par- doned March 5, 1829. The reader will not fail to note the surprising and painful fact, that this Mr. Gould is the man who recently proved to be a bank defaulter in Portland. See Bos- ton “Globe,” September 20, 1886, and other Boston papers of about the same date. 432 HISTORY OF EASTON. to pay treble the cost of the handkerchief (eighteen shillings) and “to receive ten stripes on his naked back, well laid on.” As he could not pay the fine, he was bound out to serve Mr, Leonard “the full and compleat space of time of four years and six months!” He had enlisted for three years’ service in the Re- volutionary War only eighteen months before, and had been discharged. His sister Judith had stolen a quilted petticoat from Daniel Alger’s house, and was sentenced to pay treble damages and cost of prosecution; but having nothing to pay with, she was bound out to serve Mr. Alger five years.} SLAVERY. The Boston papers of the last century have numerous refer- ences to the existence of slavery in New England. There are notices of arrivals of slaves who are for sale, advertisements of runaways with their description and the offer of a reward for their capture, and announcements also of young negro children to be given away, their owners wishing to avoid the expense of bringing them ‘up, because their speedy emancipation was a foregone conclusion. The first notice of slaves in Massachusetts is one concerning their importation from Tortugas in 1637, A stringent law was passed in 1641, prohibiting any “bond slave- rie, villinage, or captivitie among us.” But the law quoted con- tained a qualification which practically nullified it; namely, “unless it be lawfull captives taken in just warres, and such strangers as willingly sell themselves, or are sold to us.” We are not therefore surprised to find that soon afterward, in 1654, there were 4,489 slaves in Massachusetts (including Maine). Easton was once a slaveholding town. The first authentic record of the existence of slaves here is found in the inventory of the estate of Elder William Pratt, the first man who served the people at the “East End of Taunton North-Purchase” as a minister. Among other items was this: “two young negroes, 450.” He probably brought them with him from Charleston, S.C. These young negroes were named Heber and Hagar, a boy and a girl. They became the property of Mr. Pratt’s widow, and lived with her until she gave them their freedom. This she 1 Records of the Court of Sessions, at Taunton, vol. from 1777-1801. SHADOWS. 433 did in February, 1722; and in a deed bestowing upon them a portion of land she speaks in high terms of them. When we consider that these slaves, valued when young at 450, were now adults and might have been sold for a large sum of money, this act of Mrs. Pratt in manumitting them, and providing them with a homestead of their own, is seen to have been a very kind and gracious one, and confirms the truth of the high estimate of her character given by the Rev. Mr. Short. The deed runs thus: To all people to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Know ye that I, Elizabeth Prat, widow, living in the East End of taunton north-purchase, in the county of Bristol, in the Province of the massa- chusetts Bay, in newengland, for & in consideration of the good and faithfull service of my negro man-servant, whose name is heber, and of my Negro maid-servant, whose name is hagar, — both Now dwell- ing with me in sd. East End of Taunton north-purchase, — in considera- tion of their tender and Dutifull affection towards me, & their Ready & willing & faithfull service done for me in my age & widowhood, & for their Incouragement in well doing, have given, granted, aliened, conveyed, & confirmed, & by these presents do fully, freely, clearly, & absolutely give, grant, alien, enfeoff, convey, & confirm unto my abovesd negro servant, mr. heber and hagar, one tract or parcel of land, scituate, being, and Lying in sd East End of taunton North-purchase, containing by Estimation ten acres, be the same more or Less, which Land I purchased of Daniel owen, Long since the Decease of my honored & Beloved husband william pratt, of sd East End of taunton North-purchase, Being part of the home Lott of the sd. Daniel owen, as by his Deed of sd Land to me may appear. [Here follow the boundaries. ] This twenty-eighth day of febuary, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two. her Signed, Sealed, & Delivered in presence of ELIzABETH E PRart. MaTHEW Suort, mark. DANIEL OWEN. Mrs, Pratt, it will be noticed, “makes her mark.” She may have been too sick at the time to write. It is probable that Heber and Hagar were married, as this land is given to them both in one deed. Evidently Heber fol- lowed the good examples of Elder and Mrs. Pratt, for he got the name of Heber Honesty, or Honestman, — this being the name 28 434 HISTORY OF EASTON. by which he is several times referred to in the North-Purchase records and in old deeds, and it shows the estimation in which he was held. He is always spoken of as a “free Negro man.” This grant of land was just north of the Littlefield road, and not very far east of the Bay road, —the Littlefield road being part of the “ way” leading through the town from the old meet- ing-house to the Selee place. If Hagar was Heber’s wife, she must have died previous to 1735, as June 26, 1735, he married Susanna Cordner, of Bridgewater. He had a son Adam, born December 23, 1736. In 1740 Heber appears to have sold his place to Josiah Pratt, of Norton. There are various incidental allusions that assert or imply the existence of slaves in Easton in the last century, though the number seems to have been quite small at any time. Thus among the recently discovered Leonard papers is one in the handwriting of Thomas Leonard, the town clerk of the Taunton North-Purchase, as follows: “June ye 30, 1721, Then lent to Edw. Hayward of T. N. P. ten pounds in money, he then going to buy a negro and some sheep’s wool.” James Leonard by his will gave to Eliphalet, who settled in Easton, “my negro woman and the child born of her body, which I value at thirty pounds.” He also willed to his son Stephen a negro girl then in Stephen’s possession. Stephen was not of Easton, but Eliphalet was ; and he no doubt had with him here the two slaves thus bequeathed him, and perhaps others. In the inventory of the estate of Thomas Manley was “one negro, £38.” In his will, made in 1743, we read: “ And further my willis that my negro boy George shall be at the disposal of my executrix and executor, as other movable estate.” In the inventory of the estate of John Williams, dated 1757, a “negro woman” is valued at forty pounds. Her name was Affaba. In the town valuation of 1771, Joshua Howard and Matthew Hayward are each credited with a “servant for life,” between fourteen and fifteen years old. Five years afterward the servant of the former gave birth to an infant that was found dead under suspicious circumstances. The following death-record will explain it: “Jan. 1. Lieut. Joshua Hayward’s [Howard’s] Negro child, a servant, Deceased January 1st Day, 1777, a Jury passed & agred it was over Laid in the night, it Being found Dead in the morning.” The slave owned by Matthew Hayward SHADOWS. 435 took his master’s name, and was known as Antony Hayward, though he was usually called Antone. He enlisted in Capt. Macey Williams’s company in 1775, for the Lexington alarm. Sometimes masters offered slaves their liberty if they would enlist in the Continental service. Antony Hayward returned to Easton and lived here. He died sometime previous to 1803, and his wife Abigail became a town charge. Another Antony, who lived northwest of Mrs. Francis E. Gilmore’s house, at a place now called Antony’s Acre, was a black man who moved here from Stoughton. The tradition that he was an Indian arose from the fact that one of his wives was an Indian; the other (Margaret) was a negro. He himself was a negro, and his grave and those of his two wives are numbered 31, 32, and 33 of the numbered graves in the Pine Grove Cemetery. John Dailey, the first of that name in town, was the owner of at least one slave. Daniel Manley, Jonathan Hayward, and others were slaveholders also. In the old church records, under date of Jan. 31, 1773, the Rev. Mr. Campbell notes the fact that he “baptized London, a negro servant, who owned the covenant.” He was the property of Capt. Benjamin Williams, who refers to him in his will as “my negro man, London.” London, com- monly called “ Lonon,” died September 6, 1776, not long after the death of the master whom he loved and served. Jones Godfrey states that his grandfather Joseph used to come up with his slaves from Taunton and cultivate his lands in summer in the south part of the town near the Bay road, and then take them back with him to spend the winter. Silas Williams, Jr., was the owner of at least one slave. This was Kate, who just after the death of her master, and when five years old, was baptized. The baptism was September 23, 1764. It is to be noted that slaves were admitted to the full privileges of the church. Kate served her mistress six years following the date just given, when she was sold to James Dean, and we are indebted to the antiquarian instincts of Edward D. Williams for the preservation of the bill of sale. The bill of sale for a slave in Easton is a valuable curiosity. The following is a copy :— This Bill of Sail, Made this first Day of September, a. D., 1770, Witneseth that I, Lidiah Williams, of Easton, in the County ot Bristol, 436 HISTORY OF EASTON. Wedow, for an in Consideration of thirty Pounds lawful money to me in hand Paid by James Dean of sd Easton, in the County aforesd, yeoman, the Recept Where of [is hereby acknowledged], I the sd. Lidiah Williams Do Set over and Convey to him, the sd James Dean, a Certain Negro girl, a Slave about Eleven years of age, Named Cate, to him the sd Dean, his heirs and assigns, for ever. And also Warrant her to the sd. Dean against the lawfull Clams and Demands of any Parson or Parsons Whatsoever. In Witness Whereof I have set my hand and seal the Day and year above mentioned, being in the tenth year of his Majestes Reign. ‘ . : Lypia WILLIAMS. Signed, Sealed, and Delivered in presence of NaTHL. PERRY, MaTHEW Haywarpb. Kate remained the property of James Dean as long as slave property could be legally held. By a decision of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in 1783, the Declaration of Rights, that “All Men are born free and equal,’ was so interpreted as to make slavery illegal. Kate, however, had a pleasant home, and did not care to seek another; she therefore continued to live with Mr. Dean until hig death. In his will of March 2, 1790, he directs that his executor shall “free and discharge my negro woman Cate from all future service to me, my heirs and assigns, forever. I also give to the sd Cate all her wearing aparil ; also the bead she has generally lain on, with furniture for sd bead sofi- cient for Summer and Winter. It is also my will that my execu- tor Pay & Deliver to the sd Cate out of my estate a number of Sheaps, to the value of five dollars.” The will was probated March 30, 1803. Her freedom Kate was entitled to by law, and could long before have claimed it; but she had all the freedom she cared for. The settlement of this provision of the will was made by Edward Dean, the son of James and the executor of the will. The following is a copy of his discharge : — Know all Men by these presents, that I, Cate Dean, of Easton, in the County of Bristol, Spinster, a Black Woman, have received of Edward Dean, Executor of the last will and Testament of Deacon James Dean, late of Easton, Deceased, all my wearing apparil ; also, the Bed that I have usually lain upon, together with Furniture for said Bed Sufficient for Summer and Winter, and a number of Sheep, to SHADOWS. 437 the value of five Dollars, and all other Articles and Things in Full as given or Bequeathed to me in and by said last will and Testament ; And two Chests and two Dollars in Money, in full of all Demands against said Deceased’s Estate, and in full of all Demands against said Executor as Such, or of or from him in said Capasity or any other. In witness Whereof, I have hereunto Set my hand and Seal the Ninth day of May, Anno Domini, 1803. her Signed, Sealed, and Delivered in presence of Cate + Dean. ELyaH Howarpn, mark, ELIsHA DEAN. In the Lieut. John Williams grave-yard, near Daniel Wheaton’s and in the west row of graves, may be seen to-day the grave of the last slave in the town of Easton; and it cannot but be re- garded as an object of peculiar interest. The gravestone is in good preservation, and is inscribed with the name of Catherine Miller, who died January 1, 1809, forty-nine years old. She never married. She died at the house of Edward Johnson, a colored man in Easton. INTEMPERANCE, The growth of the temperance sentiment of this country is only about half a century old. Previous to that time it was con- sidered proper to furnish liquor for social occasions, for all fes- tivities, and even for ordinations and funerals; and it was almost universally used. No person lost caste by being occasionally ‘‘a little the worse for liquor.” It was not considered hospitable unless the decanter of spirits was offered to callers and visitors. Ministers sometimes fortified themselves for long sermons by a good potation, endeavoring to supply the defect of the spiritual by the use of the spirituous. The Rev. Solomon Prentice, it will be remembered, was thought to have been a little too happy on a training day, and the Rev. Mr, Campbell’s wife to have been so free with the bottle as to create scandal, and finally to be enslaved by her appetite. An Easton resident writing from a neighboring town reports that the minister of that town was away on exchange, and “at noon the preacher's wife, as was the custom, set some spirits before him and invited him to drink, which he did to such an extent that he could not preach in the 438 HISTORY OF EASTON. afternoon, and the people had to go home.” After ordination dinners, spirits, pipes, and tobacco were in order, and the clergy did full justice to them. Ordination expenses nearly always in- cluded a bill for spirits. Bearers at funerals were invited to drink ; this was often done within the recollection of many per- sons now living. Samuel Simpson remembers that when a boy he was a bearer at the funeral of a child, the daughter of one of the leading citizens of Easton; and the young bearers were taken upstairs by the person in charge of the exercises, and were shown a table with decanters containing various kinds of liquor. This person no doubt considered that he took very radi- cal ground when he offered this caution: “Now, boys, I would advise you not to take anything stronger than wine.” Even as late as 1826 the Rev. Luther Sheldon, who soon be- came a strong temperance man, furnished New England rum to the company of merry huskers who met to husk his corn. At the same date Oliver Ames, who very soon gave up the practice, carried a supply of spirits daily to the workmen who were build- ing the upper dam. Wood-chopping, harvesting, house-raising, and all work of this kind seemed to make spirits a necessity, while extraordinary occasions called for more generous sup- plies. Macey Randall remembers that when the coal-house east of the hoe-shop was burned, about seventy years ago, a pail of rum and a bucket of sugar were furnished to those who had taken part in extinguishing the fire; and in his account of it he adds: “As I was the smallest boy there the men nearly all gave me the sugar at the bottom of their tumblers. My head soon began to grow dizzy, when I put for home, and after some lofty circus tumbling over fences and in the road I reached there; but I knew nothing about the fire for the next twenty- four hours.” It is almost superfluous to add that when the sentiments of the community favored such a free and generous use of spirituous liquors, intemperance must have been more prevalent than now ; this is known to be a fact so far as the native population is con- cerned. There is, alas! considerable drinking at the present time. Weak and bad men, enslaved by this disgusting and now disgraceful habit, may be seen sneaking into the three unlicensed grog-shops and the more than a dozen grog-houses that curse this SHADOWS. 439 town, where rum-selling men and rum-selling women ply their corrupting traffic. Still, it is true that the sentiment and prac- tice of the earlier times among our people were considerably lower than among their descendants now. How many persons there are in this town who remember that class among our now departed citizens who were called “old topers,’” — men who were steeped in New England rum! How common it was for what were called respectable men to congregate at the stores or in the bar-rooms of the inns where liquor was freely sold, and spend their time and money together! This was the case at David Manley’s store, for instance. Some curious scenes have been described to the writer by the late Martin Wild, who was once a clerk in this store. He told of a stormy day when neighbors thus met in the store and drank together, on which occasion William Manley filled the water-pitcher with gin. They poured from this pitcher supposing they were diluting their drams, and were soon so tipsy that they could not get away, and had to be carried home,—one well-known citizen of North Bridgewater being stretched upon his wood-cart that had been long standing before the door. The misery and degradation caused by these habits are be- yond description. There is one fact which the writer has often had occasion to consider in his careful study of the genealogies of Easton, —and that is the deterioration of certain families con- sequent upon intemperance and the evils necessarily accompa- nying it. It would not be proper to publish specific illustrations of this fact, although many might be given. Intemperate parents in Easton have bequeathed to their innocent children moral, in- tellectual, and physical infirmities, predisposing them to the appe- tite for strong drink, and robbing them in advance of the power to resist. Partial idiocy has sometimes resulted from the same cause, and some families have thus died out altogether. From the earliest times in New England it was necessary to obtain a license in order to become an innkeeper with the privi- lege of selling liquor, or to become a retailer, Down to 1749 there was an average of three innkeepers and liquor retailers in Easton. In those days of bad roads and slow travel these country inns were a necessity. In 1726, the year after the in- corporation of the town, and for the three following years, there 440 HISTORY OF EASTON. were only two in town,—one kept by Benjamin Williams on the Bay road near Norton, and the other by Thomas Manley, Jr., south of Lincoln Street, at what is now nearly the extreme south limit of Flyaway Pond. In 1730 John Williams undertook the business, his brother Benjamin having discontinued it, and Daniel Owen who lived near the Harlow place began it also. In 1732 Eliphalet Leonard was added to the list as a retailer merely. In 1744 Daniel Williams, of South Easton, who began a saw-mill at the now Morse place, opened an inn. In 1747 James Stacey, living at the present Simeon Randall place, was a retailer. Josiah Kingman had a licensed inn close by Eben- ezer Randall's in 1749; and so also, the next year, had Joseph Gilbert, on the Bay road near the Stoughton line: the Bay road was then coming to be a frequented stage route. It is not neces- sary to complete the list down to the present time, but among the licensed inn-holders we notice such familiar names as Mat- thew Hayward, Abiel Mitchell, John Dailey, Henry Howard, Josiah Keith, James Perry, Isaac Lothrop, Ebenezer Tisdale, John Pool, Isaac Kimball, Josiah Copeland, Joshua Gilmore, Charles Hayden, Isaiah Packard, and many others who might be named. Sometimes as many as eight licensed inn-holders did business in town at the same time. The following is a copy of a petition to authorize James Perry to retail liquor : — To His Majestyes Justiceses of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace Now Setting at Taunton for and within the county of Bristol: We the subscribers Do apprehend That James Perry of this town of Easton is a Person of a Sober Life and conversation Suteably Qualified to Keep a House to Retail Liqurious Spirits, and we Desire that he may be Licensed for that purpose ; and as in Duty Bound shall ever pray. ABiAL MITCHELL, Selectmen TimMoTHY RANDELL, of SrerH Loturop, Easton. EAsTon, September 23, A.D. 1773. It is very curious to note that one was recommended for the position of a liquor-seller on the ground that he was “a person of a sober life and conversation.” There was, however, another class of dealers who were allowed SHADOWS. 441 to sell liquor in larger quantities, but were not allowed to retail it. Thus in 1762 an action was preferred against James Gilmore, of Easton, a “ set-work cooper,” “that sd. James did contrary to law by selling less than thirty gallons of Rum to a single per- son.” The case was not made out, and Gilmore was acquitted ; but the incident proves the existence of these two kinds of li- cense. Temperance motives had nothing to do with this system of license, which was not intended to check the freest use of in- toxicating spirits, Licenses for the sale of groceries and other kinds of goods were also required. Reference has been made to the free use of spirits as late as 1826, at which time there was no real temperance sentiment existing except what was indicated by the fact that church- members were sometimes admonished by the church for in- temperance. Soon after 1826, however, the attention of the public was called to the folly, wickedness, and disastrous con- sequences of the drinking habit. Oliver Ames, Jr., and others took decided ground. The Rev. Mr. Sheldon and Oliver Ames, Sr., decided not to furnish liquor to their farm-hands and work- men. The former once at the close of a week’s toil called in his hired men, stated to them his convictions as to the needlessness and injury of the common drinking practices, and proposed to add to the usual wages of the men the value of the liquor fur- nished them if they would abstain from the use of all intoxi- cants while in his employ. To this they assented; and they soon proved to others that there was no necessity for the use of alcoholic drinks while at work. Oliver Ames adopted the same plan, and others followed it; so that this rule came to be es- tablished in town with farm-hands, and coffee was substituted in the place of spirituous liquors. Mr. Sheldon and others dis- couraged the use of liquor at weddings, and reform in that re- spect resulted. Dr. Caleb Swan became an earnest advocate of the new movement, as also did Howard Lothrop, Lincoln Drake, and other good men. Meetings were held, discussions engaged in, and the whole community was stirred up on the subject. The first public meeting especially devoted to this cause was held somewhere between 1830 and 1840, and was addressed by Charles Jewett. It was a large meeting. At its close Mr, Jewett presented the temperance pledge, and urged his 442 HISTORY OF EASTON. hearers to sign it; but of the large number present only three persons signed the pledge. These persons were Oliver Ames, Jr. (probably the first person in Easton to take the total abstinence pledge), E. J. W. Morse, and a Mr. King who subsequently moved to Mansfield. In 1840 the school children of Easton were organized into a Cold Water Army and held a grand pic- nic in Lucius Howard’s grove, marching there with banners, wearing badges, singing songs, listening to addresses, and having an interesting celebration. The effect of the temperance agitation was soon apparent in the votes of town-meetings. As early as March, 1830, the town “voted that the selectmen shall not approbate any persons to sell any distilled spirits in town.” In 1832, ‘‘voted not to have any licensed houses to sell distilled spirits or wine,” and also to “disapprobate the County Commissioners for licensing pub- lic houses in Easton where liquor might be retailed.” Subse- quently the town undertook to manage and control the sale of liquor by appointing an agent who was licensed under certain restrictions to carry on the business. It was for a time done at the Almshouse. Temperance agitation was kept up for years, and occasionally some action in town-meeting indicates how much it occupied public attention. Thus in 1847 it was voted “to procure a blank book for the registration of temperance men, women, and children’s names, together with the total-abstinence pledge.” At the same meeting a committee of one person in each school district was chosen to circulate the book and obtain signatures to the pledge. It has meant much for temperance in Easton that it early gained the support of men of character and ability. Their strong and steady adherence to temperance principles, and their practice of total abstinence have been mainly instrumental in fostering temperance sentiments and encouraging temperance habits. Among people of education and character it is no longer respectable here to indulge in the drinking habit ; and even occasional drunkenness, which was once regarded with easy indulgence or as a good joke, is now justly considered as a real disgrace. Among some classes, however, there is consider- able drinking yet ; though the town annually votes “no license,” SHADOWS. 443 there are usually over a dozen places where beer, cider, and stronger drinks may be had. Occasional convictions and pay- ment of fines present some check to this illegal sale, but do not stop it. The rascals who sell usually keep selling until death calls them to account, and relieves the community of their bane- ful presence. Eternal vigilance on the part of parents, teach- ers, churches, Sunday-schools, and other means of influence in implanting temperance sentiments in the young and fostering temperance principles in the town, will prove the only effective means to cope with this debasing evil, and hold in check its de- grading and ruinous power over health, personal industry and integrity, over domestic peace and the general welfare. PAUPERISM. Another shadow must now be added to the picture, — that of pauperism. It may properly follow our last topic, since pauper- ism is a common sequel to intemperance. It conjures up a sad spectacle to think of the poor, crippled, friendless, diseased, de- mented, and idiotic persons who from generation to generation have had to depend upon the town for their maintenance. Sadder even than this is it to think of some who were tenderly reared, and who by misfortunes they could not prevent were forced to bear the misery and shame of a pauper’s life. The pauper history of Easton does not differ materially from that of other New England towns. The early practice was to bid the poor off at auction to the lowest bidder, who agreed for the sum named to provide for them. This may naturally re- mind us of a slave auction. To those who had any sensitiveness it must have been exceedingly painful to be thus disposed of from year to year. It is easy to see that under this system they must often have fared extremely hard. The prices paid for this keeping were very small. In 1791 Hopestill Randall received but £5. 14s. 8d. for keeping a poor widow for a year ; even this was in depreciated currency, and amounted to not over twenty dollars. Of course in some instances the poor could render some return to their keepers by labor. The bills of charges for their maintenance were voted in town-meetings, and this served to keep the names of the poor unpleasantly prominent. When the town was not in good humor these bills were sometimes set 444 HISTORY OF EASTON. aside; and this was likely to exasperate those to whom they were due, and make them more indifferent to the comfort of the paupers in their charge. Some of these accounts go into minute details. At one time salt was voted to Widow Lucy Randall, and a winding sheet for Jonah Drake’s wife. In May, 1799, the town “voted to Abiel Kinsly Nine Pounds, foure shillings, for shoger and Rum for David Randall’s famely. Voted to Thomas Manly foure Pounds, ten shillings, for a coffin and diging the grave for Seth Hogg. Voted to Israel Woodward foure Pounds for a grave clooth for Seth Hogg, and two quarts of Rum ex- pended about the time of his death.” As a fitting sequel to an appropriation for rum for David Randall’s family, the following, recorded a few months later, speaks for itself: “Voted to Abner Randall nine Pounds for a coffin for David Randall. Voted to Paul Lincoln seven Pounds, ten shillings, for diging a grave for same.” It should be noted that these apparently large sums of money are in the much depreciated Continental.currency. Paul Lincoln had to wait nine years for his pay, and then his 47. 10s. had shrunk to two shillings of good money. Seth Hodge, whose name is misspelled above, was son of James Hodge, one of the early settlers, and he was for many years a town charge. It was probably of him that we have the record as a person who was “none come posements,” which we shall understand better by abbreviating to ov compos mentis David Randall lived in the Old Castle, close by which his grave was dug, near a rock on the east side of it. This Old Castle is in ruins, which ruins may yet be found in a pine-grove not far south of Lincoln Street, and southeast of the old Israel Woodward cemetery. In the latter days of this Castle, long after the Randalls left it, it became a disreputable place, —a scene of drunkenness and associated vices. Fortunately it was destroyed by fire. In 1785 an attempt was made “to come into some more regu- lar method of supporting the poor of the town.” te , 8, 5 ee | 3 ak i et i i x CG me SUE 2 et: of » res + Re sx oO = nay dB VYniane 2% Wiha seen omy Aa, AA QAR ECA AOA ‘otestl @ ORB wae aA tes HIGHWAYS. 465 was continued westerly to the Bay road by the Sheperd place. Complaint of this discontinuance was made to the Court of Sessions, and in 1773 the town was required to relay this part of the road to the Gilberts, thirty feet wide; and it was in use as a road for many years afterward. In 1853 Lincoln Street was made forty feet wide from the Bay road to Woodward’s Spring, so called. CENTRE STREET connects North Easton village with Easton Centre. A very small section of this street, that from Daniel Clark’s to Short Street, was laid out in 1738, and was, as before stated, the connecting link between what are now Summer and Short streets. But just after the building of the new meeting- house at the Centre in 1752, it was extended both south from Short Street and north to Samuel Phillips, Jr.’s, west of the DeWitt farm. This was a part of what was known as the old Meeting-house road. The north part of this old road was laid out in 1764. It began “south of the Cart-bridg near John Randall's” (that is, near the Ames store), went up the hill, then westerly a short distance on Lincoln Street, and then south to join that part of the road laid out in 1752, There were then living along the line of this proposed road Mrs. Whitman, widow of John Whitman, whose house was on Lincoln Street ; and also about a quarter of a mile south, Nahum Niles. Some distance below him lived Benjamin Phillips, and still farther south Samuel Phillips, Jr., where the new road formed a connection with the old. This road may still be traversed from end to end. The writer drove through it with a horse and buggy in the summer of 1886. It was discontinued in 1828, though a little money has been expended on it just above Daniel Clark’s, where Patrick Menton now lives. This discontinuance was in consequence of the laying-out of the new road, now Centre Street, in 1828. There was considerable disagreement about this laying-out, but it was finally accomplished. There have been some changes in the grading, etc., but the road remains substantially the same as when laid out. Howarp Street, from Norton line to Prospect Street, past No. 3 Schoolhouse, was laid out in 1753. In 1845 it was changed and straightened. 30 466 HISTORY OF EASTON. Union STREET, sometimes called Pleasant Street, and also the North road to Brockton, was laid out thirty feet wide in 1753, and voted in 1754. It was relaid April 18, 1855. GROVE STREET, from South Easton to Brockton, was laid out in 1757, and corrected in 1761. It was widened near Washing- ton Street in 1884. PoguantTicuT AVENUE was laid out in 1763. At that time South Street was apparently a part of it, judging from the laying-out as recorded in the town book. On or very near this street, north of the Hayward place, lived William Hack, Robert Randall, Jr, Thomas Drake, David Gurney, and Edmund Andrews, the latter’s house standing about where Henry Buck now lives. Like other streets this has undergone considerable alteration, Britton STREET, formerly known as the Allen road, was laid out in part, — that is, from the old Benjamin Harvey place to the Bay road, —in 1766, and, with some alteration, remained a town way. The extension west and south to Rockland Street was several times voted and discontinued before its final adoption. Cross STREET, leading from the Bay road south of Beaver Street, southwesterly to Depot Street, near Black Brook, was laid out in 1766. BEAVER STREET, from the Bay Road north of Furnace village to Poquanticut Avenue, was first laid out in 1766. It took the place of a road running in the same direction and connecting the Bay road and Poquanticut Avenue, the discontinued road being south of Guilford Newcomb’s. RANDALL STREET runs from the Bay road southeast, past Nathan Randall’s, to Summer Street. It was laid out thirty feet wide, and adopted in 1768. It went past Josiah and Phineas Allen’s houses. DEAN STREET connects the extension of Howard Street in Norton with the Bay road, skirting a part of the south limits of the town. It was laid out in 1785. HIGHWAYS. 467 CHESTNUT STREET leads from Poquanticut Avenue near Macey Record’s westerly to Mansfield line, and was laid out in 1803. CENTRAL STREET extends from Washington Street near Morse’s factory westerly to Short Street. At the request of Samuel Guild and others it was laid out by the selectmen in February, 1809. But the town several times refused to grant the road. Mr. Guild then headed a petition to the Court of Sessions, asking that the town be compelled to build the road. The court appointed a committee, who met and were sworn at the house of Josiah Copeland, June 9, 1810. The matter was carefully canvassed, the committee reported favorably, and the petition was granted. The town was therefore obliged to con- struct the road. March 9, 1874, that part of the road curving to the north just west of the factory was discontinued, a more direct road having been made to take its place. Ex STREET, in North Easton village, was laid out September 16, 1820, as far as Washington Street. Its extension to the North Bridgewater line, once called the Quaker Leonard road, was voted in 1822, rejected, and then subsequently adopted. MassapoaG AVENUE extends from Poquanticut Avenue, past No. 6 Schoolhouse, to the Sharon line. The part north of Rock- land Street was laid out in 1824, and after some delay was adopted. The rest of it was finally laid out in 1834. HicH STREET connects Pine Street with the Turnpike, and was laid out apparently first in 1830, and relaid in 1875. Mitt Street, leading from east of Mr. Selee’s southwest to Mansfield, was laid out at two different times by the County Commissioners, — the north end of it in 1836, and that part from Preston Drake’s, near the schoolhouse, to the town line in 1843. The newer streets in North Easton village are as follows :— OLIVER STREET— east section-——was voted in 1857, It was extended to Main Street in 1863, and this was widened in 1886. 468 HISTORY OF EASTON. BaRRows STREET was laid out in 1862, and extended or relaid in 1871. OAKLAND AVENUE was voted in 1862, and widened in 1882. WILLIAMS STREET was in part voted in 1870, and extended south and west in 1877. Day STREET was adopted in 1871, and altered in 1878. MEcHANIC STREET and ANDREWS STREET were voted in 1873, Jenny Linp STREET in 1875, and extended in 1883; Ponp STREET in 1881, and BRIDGE STREET in 1884. The town of Easton is especially favored in the matter of roads as in other ways. The Hon. Oliver Ames, dying in 1877, left a fund of fifty thousand dollars to the town, the in- terest of which is to be devoted to improvements of highways, the town to raise annually the sum of two thousand dollars for the same purpose. This will enable Easton to have in time roads unsurpassed by those of any country town in the Commonwealth. The improvement, where permanent road- beds of crushed stone are laid, is already very marked. The following text of the bequest is copied here for convenient reference : — THE OLIVER AMES BEQUEST FOR PUBLIC HIGHWAYS. “J give and bequeath to the trustees of the Unitarian Society afore- said, and their successors in said trust appointed under the provision of said deed, $50,000 in the ‘eight per cent sinking fund bonds of the Union Pacific Railroad Company,’ to be held by them and their suc- cessors in said trust as a permanent fund, the income thereof to be applied annually for the repair of public highways in the town of Easton, — but upon condition that said fund shall be exempted from taxation by said town, and that said town shall annually raise by tax- ation not less than $2,000 in money, and apply the same to the repair of its public highways. The said trustees and their successors shall in each year, upon receiving from the town treasurer a certificate to the effect that said sum of $2,000 has been voted by the town, to be raised by taxation in money and applied to the repair of its public highways, pay over to the treasurer aforesaid the income of said fund then on hand (but not exceeding $4,000 in any year), to be expended for the repair of the public highways in said town, under the direction of the Selectmen or Road Commissioners, as the town in open town- HIGHWAYS. 469 meeting may direct. In case of the failure by said town to raise in any one year, by taxation, said sum of $2,000 and apply the same to the repair of its public highways, I direct the said trustees and their suc- cessors to pay over the income of said fund to my heirs-at-law during such year ; and in case such failure shall be repeated for three suc- cessive years, then I direct the said trustees and their successors to terminate this trust, and pay over the balance of the trust fund then in their hands to my heirs-at-law.” It is proper to refer at the end of this chapter to the proposi- tion of Lieutenant-Governor Oliver Ames, made in town-meeting, March, 1886, and then accepted by the town, to give two thou- sand dollars annually for the purpose of planting shade-trees along the public highways, on condition that the town appro- priate annually fifty cents per poll for the same purpose, which will add about five hundred dollars to the gift of Mr. Ames. This benefaction will continue until all the highways have shade- trees; and by means of it the town will be much improved and beautified. 470 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXVII. BURIAL-PLACES. BuRIALS IN PRIVATE GROUNDS IN EARLY TIMES. —THE OLD Bury- ING-GROUND. — OTHER GRAVEYARDS IN THE ORDER OF THEIR LAYING- ouT.— ABANDONED GRAVEYARDS. — INSCRIPTIONS AND EPITAPHS. — UNMARKED AND NEGLECTED GRAVES. — PROPOSED REMEDY FOR THEM. MINISTER’S WIFE, somewhat nervous, who had re- cently settled in Easton and had already seen much of the town, when asked if she would like to take a drive, replied, “Yes, if you will promise not to choose a new road; for on every one we have travelled I have seen graveyards, and I don’t care to see any more.” The force of her remark will be seen when it is known that in Easton there are thirty-one burying-grounds. In this chapter the writer intends to give some account of their origin, and to state the most interesting facts concerning them. In the early days of the town it was quite common for the dead to be buried in some quiet corner of an orchard or field be- longing to the homestead where they had lived. Deaths some- times occurred when the roads, always bad, were nearly impassa- ble. It was natural that such burial-places should be chosen. In many cases there were no chiselled headstones erected, a few rough stones only being piled upon the grave. Time served to obliterate the traces of such graves, or the farms on which they were located passed into the ownership of those who had no interest in the graves, and the ploughshare soon destroyed all traces of them. Timothy Marshall, when a boy, found upon his father’s farm, which is now owned by O. A. Day, a flat square stone which was marked with the letters D. W.,? all other indications of a grave having disappeared. There have doubtless been many such graves scattered over the town that have left no traceable signs behind them. There is one solitary 1 It was probably in memory of David Watkins, who once lived there. BURIAL-PLACES. 471 grave— that of Dr. Seth Babbit, who died February 18, 1761 — which the writer, by the aid of a friend who had once known the spot well, found with difficulty. It is on the southern slope of a hill northwest of the old Dwelly Goward place; but un- less care be taken to mark the place, it will soon be forgotten. There was once a small family burying-ground where Albert Hayward built his house; but the remains buried there were removed to the Dr. Edward Dean cemetery when the house was built. There are three graves near the edge of Flyaway Pond, a few rods northeast of the Maliff house. This house was once the home of Perez Packard, and the three graves contain his remains and those of a very young son and of a daughter about twenty years old. The mounds may still be seen, having been respected by the present owners of the place; but unless care be taken to preserve them, all traces of them will soon disappear. There were once two graves near or on the site of Andrew Erickson’s house in North Easton village, on Andrews Street. John Barlow lived in the low house on the corner of Pond and Andrews streets, and his garden extended south, taking in the Erickson lot. The remains of two children were buried there. One of them, a young daughter, died July 23, 1819, and at the funeral young girls acted as bearers. This novel arrangement was according to the advice of an English family who had moved into the house, and who stated that this was the way they did it in England. Perhaps it is the only instance of girls acting as bearers in Easton. Two long towels were twisted about the coffin, one at each end, and the bearers carried it by means of them. On the brow of a hill west of the Bay road near the Sharon line, and just south of the Ansel Alger house, a small gravestone stands alone, recording the death of Mary Howard, daughter of Ansel and Polly Alger, who died August 11, 1819, in the third year of her age. A solitary rosebush growing near seems to emphasize the epitaph upon this stone, which is as follows: — The blooming rose that bids so fair, From parents ’s gone & is no more. There are still in town several such small family graveyards ; and in some cases, as in that of the Copeland yard on the Bay 472 HISTORY OF EASTON. road and the Wilbur yard on Peter McDermott’s farm, the land where they are located has passed into the ownership of individ- uals who have no personal interest in them. It would be better for the remains in such places to be removed to some of the larger cemeteries, where the graves will be cared for. It would also be a gracious thing for the town to make such removals when no kindred of the dead remain who are able to bear the expense. THE OLD BURYING-GROUND. The oldest cemetery in Easton is situated on Church Street, once called the Cynthia Drake road. The first action of the Taunton North-Purchase proprietors in regard to the setting apart of land for burial purposes at the east end of their territory was taken April 2, 1705, at a meeting held by them on that date at the Taunton meeting-house. It was there “voted and granted that the land lying between Benjamin Drake’s and Israel Randall’s shall lie as perpetual Common for a burying- place or training-place, or some other publick use, not exceeding six acres.” 4 Although this grant was not surveyed until fourteen years after this date, it was used for burial purposes. The first meet- ing-house was built, and several burials doubtless occurred there before the survey. One burial, that of the remains of Elder William Pratt, was made as early as 1714 (1713, O. S.), and al- though this is the earliest one known, there may have been a few earlier still of which time has left no trace. The survey in accordance with the above vote is as follows : — Fune the eleventh day, 1719. Then we the subscribers who are Impowered to lay out Land in Taunton north-purchase have laid out six acres of Land according to pitch in said north-purchase for some publick use, between Benjamin drakes house and Israel Randals house, round the meeting-house. The Bounds is as followeth: we began at a stake set for a corner with stones about it; thence we ran south forty degrees east twenty-eight rods to a corner stake with stones about it ; thence we ran east forty degrees north thirty-eight rods to a corner stake with stones about it; thence north forty degrees west twenty- eight rods to a corner stake with stones about it; thence west forty degrees south thirty-eight rods to the first corner stake that we began 1 Taunton North-Purchase Book of Votes, p. 28. BURIAL-PLACES. 473 at. Note that there is Land allowed within said bounds for a high. way forty futs wide to lead from said Israel Randals house towards said Benjamin drakes house. Joun PHILLIPS. Recorded march the 17th, 1719/20 THomas RANDALE. by SAMUEL LEONARD, Clerk. Joun WuitTE, Surveyors It will be seen by the above that six acres of land are to be perpetually reserved for some public use. This land was recently surveyed and landmarks set up, but some of them are torn away. The boundaries ought to be carefully re-established and preserved, in order to prevent encroachment upon this public land. Most of the interments at this place were made in the last century. The writer was able several years ago to collect the death-records from fifty-seven headstones, but some of these stones have disappeared since their inscriptions were copied. Even this most venerable of our cemeteries, where the ashes of some of the most honored and worthy of our ancestors rest, has not escaped that churchyard vandalism which has desecrated other sacred enclosures in Easton, but none so disgracefully as this. Gravestones have been stolen from this burial-place and put to commonest uses, and a cart-path has been made among and over the very graves themselves. This has been done even since the place was cleared and put in order in accordance with a vote of the town. Such disregard of common decency as well as contempt of town authority deserves severe punishment. Among those whose dust reposes in this most ancient of our burying-grounds may be mentioned Elder William Pratt and wife, the first John Dailey and wife, Deacon Ephraim Randall and wife, Edward Hayward, Esq., Elder Joseph Crossman and his son Joseph (who died within a month of each other), Joshua Howard and wife, Captain Eliphalet Leonard and wife, Benja- mim Fobes (for many years town clerk), Ebenezer Ames, and others well and honorably known in their day. This cemetery extends on both sides of the road, and although some mounds that once marked the resting-places of the dead are now levelled, the location of many more than the fifty-seven graves already noted may be easily traced. 1 Taunton North-Purchase Surveys, vol. i. p. 93. 474 HISTORY OF EASTON. THE THOMAS MANLEY CEMETERY. The level plain east and southeast of the old Philip Willis place always went by the name of Lathrop’s Plain in the last century. East of that plain is a small hill, the summit of which is a plateau; this is the location of a now unused graveyard, one of the oldest in town. It is about one hundred yards from Lincoln Street, and about two hundred yards southeast of Lin- coln Spring. It may be found by following the cart-path south from Lincoln Street a hundred yards, and then striking due west through the bushes about twenty-five yards. It is now entirely overgrown with a mass of shrubbery, and there are no means of ascertaining its exact boundary lines. There are nearly forty ancient mounds marked with stones piled upon them. In a few cases there are flat stones that serve as headstones, but no stone has any inscription upon it. The stones were so well placed that after more than a century the graves may nearly all be dis- tinctly made out. It is pathetic, however, to consider that all these are nameless graves; and whose remains are buried there is, in many cases, a matter of conjecture merely. About a quar- ter of a mile westward lived Thomas Manley, Jr., and Israel Wood- ward the Quaker, the latter being on what is now known as the Macomber place. Thomas Manley’s daughter Elizabeth died in 1736, and quite probably this cemetery was begun by the burial of her remains there, where the low sighing of the pines made a mournful requiem over her solitary grave. Eleven years after- ward her mother died, and her grave and others were soon added to this place. It is said that Thomas Manley, Jr., gave a quarter of an acre of land here for burial purposes, and the statement is probably correct, though no deed of it appears. This cemetery was used by some of the Lincoln families. Paul Lincoln’s body was placed there about seventy-five years ago ; also the body of Nathaniel Lincoln. Paul’s daughter Jemima, with her husband (whose name was Gilman) and their daughter Caroline have their graves here, the burial of the body of the latter occurring as late as seventeen years ago. Only nine years ago the remains of an infant child of Henry James were buried there, this being the last burial at this spot. There must be over fifty graves in this place. In 1802 this graveyard is referred BURIAL-PLACES. 475 to in a deed given by Jacob Leonard, as follows: “A quarter of an acre is reserved for a public Burying-place to the road,” etc! The grave of at least one Revolutionary soldier, Hugh Washburn, is here, and can still be identified. It ought to be marked in some way, or it will soon be forgotten forever. This is probably the second oldest cemetery in the town of Easton. THE LIEUT. JOHN WILLIAMS BURYING-GROUND. On the south side of Prospect Street, a few rods from the Bay road, is a small cemetery, which is second or third in order of age among the burying-grounds of Easton. It is uncertain whether this or the one just described is the older. The land was originally owned by John Williams, of Taunton, whose son Lieutenant John, as he came to be called, inherited this part of the estate, living where Daniel Wheaton now resides. De- cember 16, 1739, his infant daughter, Abigail, a year old, died, and he then no doubt first set apart this little spot of land upon a gently sloping mound beneath the pine-trees. It is certain that this was the first interment at this place. It was followed the next year by the burial of the remains of a son John, five years old. A large portion of the burials in this grave- yard were of members of the Williams families. It is a plot of land containing about fifty square rods. Some of the gravestones have disappeared, but doubtless there were originally over fifty, which is about the number of graves that can now be counted. Some of the stones were moved to prevent being injured, when the trees that had grown up among them were cut down a few years ago. These stones need replacing; and this should be done while there are those living who know where they belong. One of the most interesting of these graves is that of Margaret Miller, the last slave of Easton, who is spoken of in another chapter. One notes here the graves of two captains, father and son, both named Benjamin Williams, —the father dying in 1775, and the son in 1776. It is sad to think of the affliction that visited the family of Lieut. John Williams, in which, as the record of the tombstones shows, there occurred four deaths in the month of October, 1756, and anothersin the next month. 1 See Bristol County Deeds, book Ixxxiii. p. 286. 476 HISTORY OF EASTON, Conspicuous among the old and dilapidated slate-stones in this graveyard may be seen a beautiful marble tombstone, which was erected in memory of a young woman whose last days were spent in a house near by, and about whose closing life there hung the shadow of some inconsolable sorrow, disappointment, and perhaps tragedy. Fading away under that shadow, she wished for nothing so much as for death, which alone she felt could bring her rest. The following is the inscription upon her tombstone, the first sentence being her own words of sorrow and despair :— / Bury me among the Pines. Their sighs will soothe my troubled spirits. MOTHER. EmMA A. GRIGGS. DIED AUGUST 19, 1866. AGED 31 YEARS. PEACE! PEACE! PEACE! THE FERGUSON BURYING-GROUND. At the foot of the lane leading to the Picker field in North Easton village, close by the stream and upon a small natural mound, there is a cemetery now over one hundred and twenty years old. It owes its origin to the fact that John Ferguson, the son of George and Katherine, who lived in the so-called Ferguson house, died in 1764 of small-pox ; and as at that time it was not allowable to carry the body of one who had died of small-pox past a dwelling-house, George Ferguson selected this spot for the grave of his son, it being close by his mill. The next in- terment here was that of the body of “ Jane, ye wife of James Woodside, Esq., who died July 20, 1775, in the 78th year of her age.” A strong stone marks this grave, at the top of which may be seen the familiar inscription, Sic transit gloria mundi. Two other stones record the fact that George Ferguson and his wife Katherine died, the first in 1787, the second in 1794, aged respectively seventy-eight and eighty-seven years. A tomb was built here by George Ferguson, Jr.,and David Manley. A marble slab was once attached to it bearing the words, “George Fer- guson and David Manley’s Tomb: 1801.” This slab has been BURIAL-PLACES. 477 torn away and broken by brutal hands. Besides this tomb, there are nine or ten graves. Here is the grave of Ziba Randall, who died Aug. 10, 1843, and others of his family. But the con- dition of these graves and of their headstones is such as to excite the indignation and disgust of all persons of right feeling. An entrance has been forced into the tomb, and its contents disturbed. The headstones were of slate of the best quality and nicest finish, but they have been broken and smashed in a most outrageous manner by unfeeling scoundrels. The writer first saw this place in 1880, and the indications then were that this gross and sacrilegious outrage had been recently perpetrated. He carefully gathered the fragments together, fitting them to place, and copied the inscriptions of such as could be deci- phered. One is at loss to understand the state of mind and heart that can find pleasure in such desecration of the sacred memorials of the dead. THE OLD BAY-ROAD CEMETERY. Previous to 1772 several interments had been made on the undivided land on the east side of the Bay road just south of Joseph Randall’s place. December 22, 1772, at a meeting of the North-Purchase Company, it was voted by the proprietors “ that a piece of Jand sixteen rods square shall be laid out in Easton, on the easterly side of the road that leads towards Boston on Crook- horn Plain, where several people have been buried already, for a perpetual burying-place forever hereafter,” } The same company, May 26, 1788, “voted to enlarge the burying-ground on Crookhorn Plain, so called, in Easton, so as to make it in the whole twenty rods square.” 2 The addition was made on the north and east sides, and the bounds, both of the original grant and of the addition just named, are preserved to-day, and ought to be carefully perpetuated. The Bay road was straightened in 1797, and in the laying-out of it, as reported in the town records under date of June 16, 1797, occurs the following: “A straight line to the northwest corner heap of stones of the burying-place, thence south six degrees east on the west line of said burying-place 21 rods and 1 Taunton North-Purchase Book of Votes, p. 96. 2 Tbid., p. 118. 478 HISTORY OF EASTON. 10 links to the southwest corner heap of stones of said burying- place.” The extra rod and ten links were thrown in perhaps to make a generous measure, land then being very cheap. It is impossible to discover exactly how many interments were made in this ancient cemetery. About one hundred and twenty-five graves are visible there now, and probably others once existed all signs of which have disappeared. There were originally here a good number of headstones, but they have been smashed to fragments by the villanous vandalism of low-minded fellows. Some of this outrageous desecration, it is said, was done by certain recruits enlisted in 1813 at Captain Hodges’s tavern (now the Sheperd place), just above, who were inflamed by the liquor which gave them the courage to enlist. No stone in this ceme- tery is uninjured, and only two are standing in such shape as to leave the inscription legible. One of them is as follows: — ERECTED IN MEMORY oF Mrs ABIGAL, THE WIFE OF Mr JosHua SHAW, WHO DIED APRIL THE 8, A.D. 1801, IN THE 7IST YEAR OF HER AGE. Housed in the dust my partner lies, Secure from mortal strife ; Released from all the cares and ties Of this distracted life. Another stone is — IN MEMORY OF SARAH, WIFE oF MR. JosEPH TINKHAM, WHO DIED FEB. 27TH, 1796, IN THE 22ND YR OF HER AGE. Stop, kind reader! drop a tear, Think on the dust that slumbers here ; My tender years and life’s' Gay flower From death would not exempt one hour. There are two rough flat stones over two other graves, — one marked “1789, A.r.S.;” the other, “A.n.S.” These were over the graves of Archippus Selee and his half-sister Annie, children of Nathan, — one of whom died in 1789, and the other in 1809. The writer was able to collect the fragments of another stone, which was in memory of Nathan Harvey, who died 4th, 1797, eighty-four years old. A foot-stone of another grave was BURIAL-PLACES. 479 lettered “F.H.” These are the sum-total of all the inscriptions at this cemetery. This was the burial-place of the Harveys, Shaws, and others living in this section. There was once a tomb here, which has now fallen to ruin. Eliphalet Shaw and his wife and two of their sons, Ezra and Silas, were buried in this yard. Here the body of Captain Samuel Hodges was laid ; but it was afterward exhumed and carried to Stoughton. Here also the town’s poor who died at Alby Willis’s poor-house (the Sheperd place), and who died too fast there, were brought for burial. A comparatively small portion of the old cemetery is occupied by graves ; and it is not very likely to be used again for this pur- pose. The graves are on the front part of it near the road, and the whole place was until recently a mass of crowded scrub-oak ; but in obedience to the vote of the town passed in 1885 it has been cleared, and the enclosure surrounded by a wire fence, with iron rods for posts, — wood being likely to be burned by brush fires, which are constantly occurring in this vicinity. THE ELIJAH HOWARD CEMETERY. Not many rods east of the Asa'‘R. Howard place and on the south side of the road is a burying-ground, fifty by eighty feet in dimensions. It was carefully made, and is on a level with the top of the front stone-wall. The land was given by Elijah Howard, Esq., the first of that name. The first interment was that of Elijah, a son of Mr. Howard, who died October 5, 1775, _aged 2 years. The grave of this son as well of some other chil- dren is unmarked. The first adult whose remains were placed there was Abiah Randall, who died November 20, 1815, 76 years old. Most of the graves are of connections of the Elijah Howard family, Elijah himself dying and being buried in 1831, aged 86 years, and his wife Keziah in 1836, aged 85 years. There seem to be twenty-six graves in all in the yard; one of them has the G, A. R. soldier's stick, marked E. Hudson. THE PINE-GROVE CEMETERY, January 4, 1796, Joseph Hayward presented to the inhabitants of Easton forty-two rods of land “to be occupied by them as a burying-field,” they to “keep the same well fenced,” etc. The land had probably been devoted to this purpose a little earlier, 480 HISTORY OF EASTON. as we find there the grave of John Howard, who died February 27, 1795. This was the first interment. John was father of Roland Howard. A strong old-fashioned headstone marks the grave, and on it is an inscription beginning thus: “In memory of Mr. John Howard, in whom Prudence, Economy, Benevo- lence, & Generosity were happily united.” September 24, 1858, H. M. Pool and twelve others organized the Pine-Grove Cemetery Corporation, and on the 2d of Oc- tober the cemetery was extended by purchasing land on the northwest side from George W. Hayward, and on the east from H. M. Pool. The present area of the cemetery is 274 feet by 177 feet, or about one acre and eighteen rods. E. R. Hayward has charge of it at present. There are two hundred graves in this yard, of which thirty- nine are without inscribed headstones ; but nearly all the latter have a small marble stone upon which is chiselled a number ; this number corresponds to a record made in a book by the secretary of the Cemetery Corporation, which gives the name of the per- sons over whose graves these numbered stones stand. This is an excellent arrangement, inexpensive and simple, and deserves to be adopted by the managers of all the other cemeteries in town. One of the most noticeable inscriptions in this yard is that on the gravestone of Israel Alger, which gives a condensed biography of his life. On the inscribed gravestones we meet the name of Pratt twenty-four times; Howard, nineteen ; Pool, seventeen ; Hayward, thirteen; Alger, twelve; Ripley, ten; and Randall, Gilmore, and Williams, nine times each. Among those whose graves are in this yard may be mentioned Joshua Gil- more, Dea. Samuel Pool (who lived to be ninety-four years old), Roland Howard, Asa R. Howard, Joseph Hayward (who gave the original lot to the town), George W. Hayward, Lieut. Jona- than Pratt and his son Capt. Jonathan, John Pool, and Horace M. Pool. WASHINGTON STREET CEMETERY. It has already been stated that the land upon which the Methodist church on Washington Street stands, and also that now included in the old part of the cemetery, was purchased of Thomas Drake, October 13, 1795, by the trustees of the Metho- BURIAL-PLACES. 481 dist Society. Part of it was set apart very soon afterward for a burying-ground. This cemetery contained, before the addition to it was made by Jason Tinkham, over one hundred and twenty square rods; but some of it was cut off on the east side by a change in the running of the road. It was and is under the control of the trustees of the Methodist Society. The first interment was that of Isaac Stokes, who died April 19, 1796; his grave is in the extreme southeast corner of the yard. The gravestone is inscribed with an epitaph which was written by the Rev. Joshua Randall, who married a granddaughter of Mr. Stokes. It is as follows :— THE FIRST PARSON BurRI£D IN THIS YARD. Here Isaac Stokes doth Lay. The time he died is fix’d In April the twentieth Day, Seventeen Hundred ninety-six, Seventy-ninth year of his age. He went his trial through, So left this mortal stage, And bid the world adieu. You that are now in health, And puting far a way The solemn hour of Death And the great Judgment day, Consider this I pray, That soon or late you must God’s solemn word obey, And strait return to Dust. This burying-ground contains the graves of many persons who were prominent citizens of Easton, among whom may be named Capt. David Wade, James Dickerman, the Bartletts, and Thomas Drake. The mortal remains of several clergymen here find their resting-place. One was the Rev. John Tinkham, who died January 29, 1824. His tombstone has the follow- ing epitaph :— My message I declared. My pilgrimage is o’er ; I cannot stay, I must away To Canaan’s happy shore. 31 482 HISTORY OF EASTON. This stone may just remind That such a man did live, And now lies here. Then drop one tear, For I have none to give. Another clergyman’s grave is that of the Rev. John B. Hunt. A monument erected over his grave has the following inscrip- tion : — wpe YE ALSO Reg) Rev. Joun B. Hunt Lrrt EARTH FOR HEAVEN ' Ocr. Io, 1858, AGED 39. Servant of God, well done! ' Thy glorious warfare ’s past ; The battle ’s fought, the race is won, Thou art crowned at last. This monument was once overthrown by a man who was said to have been incensed at the refusal of the widow of Mr. Hunt to receive any attentions from him! It was subsequently re- placed, but shows the damage caused by its fall. The old portion of this cemetery contains also the remains of the Rev. Ephraim Randall,— Uncle Ephraim as he was famil- iarly called. An excellent marble headstone marks the spot where his ashes rest. Had he foreseen its costliness he would have made a desperate effort to live; for he left orders that his coffin should not cost over ten dollars. There is a tomb in this yard built by E. Bartlett and H. Crooker, which is in rather a dilapidated condition at present. As the old yard was about full, in May, 1868, Jason Tinkham made an addition of sixty-four square rods on the west side. Most of the lots in this new part are now taken. THE ISAAC LOTHROP CEMETERY. On Purchase Street, near the corner by Joseph Towne’s, is a burying-ground whose dimensions are on the front one hundred BURIAL-PLACES. 483 and twenty-one feet, on the back line one hundred and seven- teen feet, on the east line sixty-two feet, and on the west line sixty-seven feet. This land was owned by Isaac Lothrop and his brother John, and was set apart by them as a graveyard in 1796 no doubt, as that was the date of the first burial here, which was of Ruth, daughter of Isaac Lothrop, who died March 23, 1796. Isaac Lothrop’s grave is here; he died suddenly while in the field ploughing, May 11, 1814. In this cemetery are about seventy graves. Among those without headstones is that of John Lothrop, which is marked only by a stake of the G.A.R. Among the other unmarked graves, Joshua Towne remembers Caleb Lothrop and wife, Mrs. Simeon Leach, Leonard Ayers, Oren Packard, Michael Egan, the wife of a son of Samuel Lothrop, a Mr. Gleason and wife, a Mr. Drake from the Alms- house, and others. When Jarvis Lothrop bid off the town’s poor, at a time when they were left to the care of the lowest bidder, he buried in one corner of this yard such as died while with him. Among the noticeable inscriptions here may be mentioned that on Jotham Ames’s tombstone, an inscription which traces his genealogy back to the first comer, William Ames, who settled in Braintree in 1640. In this yard lie the remains also of several members of Lothrop families. Here are the tombstones of Dea. Abijah Reed, Rufus Ames, Simeon Leach, Enoch P. Towne, and others well known in their day. THE COL. JOHN WILLIAMS GRAVEYARD. On the north side of Prospect Street, nearly opposite the old Williams graveyard, is another small cemetery. At first sight one might suppose it to be an extension of the older cemetery opposite, and that the street had been cut directly through, separating these two parts. In fact, however, an old cart-path anciently ran where the road is now located, and the burying- ground on the north side was never connected with the one on the south. The land was originally set apart for burial uses by Col. John Williams, son of Silas ; it has been somewhat enlarged since, and is now controlled by his grandchildren. It contains at present about twenty square rods. There are over sixty graves in it, and there have been apparently several removals. 484 HISTORY OF EASTON. The oldest gravestone here is that of Marcy, wife of Samuel Kimball, she having died January 12, 1797. Possibly there may have been a few even older graves, the stones of which have perished. ' This yard contains the remains of Capt. Tisdale God- _frey and other Godfreys, besides a number of the descendants of Col. John Williams. It is much to be regretted that on the east side of this yard a gravel bank has been opened, for this serious- ly injures the looks of the place. A fence once, in part at least, enclosed this burial-ground, and it ought to be replaced. THE SETH PRATT CEMETERY. The land first set apart for burial purposes south of the Pratt homestead in South Easton on the east side of the road, was the gift of Lieut. Seth Pratt. It was given most probably in 1800, for the first interment was in March, 1801; this was of Martin, a son of Samuel Guild, Esq., who died at the age of fourteen years. In 1865 an addition was made to this burying- ground by Isaac L. Pratt, who now controls it, selling lots for his remuneration; the business is in the charge of Dea. Harri- son T. Mitchell. This yard now contains about one hundred and forty square rods. There are as many as two hundred and fourteen graves here, one hundred and twenty-four of which have headstones; and ninety, or over one-third of the whole, are un- marked, which is much to be regretted. There are probably a few other unmarked graves, all signs of which have now disap- peared. Among the graves with headstones there are twenty with the name of Randall, ten of Mitchell, nine of Howard, eight of Pratt and of Wild, and seven of Brett. Among well-known persons whose remains lie here may be mentioned Daniel Ran- dall, Seth Pratt, Sever Pratt, Samuel Guild, Lyman Wheelock, Col. Abial Mitchell, Richard and Martin Wild, Calvin Brett, and Solomon Stone. It seems desirable that the names of persons buried in un- marked graves should not be forgotten, and the following partial list has been furnished the writer by Dea. H. T. Mitchell: Mary, wife of William Randall, Polly Randall, and Eva, daughter of Levi C. Randall; Nathaniel Guild, and Harriet, his wife; Jonathan Drake, and his wife Hannah; Eleazar Clark, and his wife Susan ; Mrs. Lizzie Ludden; Charles Howard; Kate, the wife of Peter BURIAL-PLACES. 485 Lunn ; Solomon Stone and wife, Chester Stone, Solomon Stone, Jr., Georgiana, Albert, Harland, and Vesta Stone. Grave- stones may yet be placed over a few of these graves. There are besides these nearly fourscore, perhaps more, that will soon be numbered among the myriads of forgotten graves, every trace of which will soon be lost forever. In the southeast corner of. this cemetery the Swedes of Easton have been accustomed to bury their dead. There is one inscription in this yard which perhaps deserves record here. It is that on the gravestone of Dr. Seth Pratt, and is as follows :— One eye on death and one full fix’d on heaven, Becomes a mortal and immortal man. THE CENTRAL CEMETERY. The cemetery north of the Centre dates back to April, 1803. Its origin is thus described by Seth Reed, of Baltimore : — “The first person there buried was Mrs. [Bethuel] Drake, the grandmother of Charles Henry Reed. When she died, a grave was being dug to place her remains in, in a field on the south side of a wood-lot close to the fence. When it became known to Uncle Bates where the deceased was to be buried, he said, ‘ Bury the deceased in my field’ This was the beginning of the Centre Cemetery.” The “Uncle Bates” referred to was Benjamin Bates, who built and lived in the Sheldon house at the Centre. He gave a small piece of land for burial purposes, which forms the older part of the present cemetery. Mrs. Drake, whose body was the first to be buried there, died April 17, 1803. In 1854 the yard was about full, and twenty persons petitioned William Reed to call a meeting for the purpose of organizing a cemetery corpo- ration. The meeting was held April 1, 1854, and a corporation was organized under the name of the Central Cemetery Corpo- ration. They bought additional pieces of land on the north, west, and south sides of the old cemetery, making the whole area an acre and a half. Soon after these additions were made there were several removals of remains to this place from other cemeteries. Joseph Drake’s remains were removed from the oldest burying-ground. The remains of Jacob Reed and of an- j 486 HISTORY OF EASTON. other Reed were taken from a field west of Morse’s factory on the old Bela Reed place and reinterred here. The remains of the infant daughter of the Rev. William Reed were taken from under a walnut-tree which stood between the house once used as the Unitarian parsonage and the road, and placed beside those of her father, who was buried in the front part of the old yard. When the yard was enlarged, the remains of the Rev. Mr. Reed and of his wife and daughter and others were removed to the new ground. The remains of the Rev. Matthew Short were taken from the first cemetery of Easton and brought here, to secure the grave from the abuse which befell the graves in that neglected spot; the original gravestone may be seen in the Central Cemetery. When the removal was made, William Reed who took charge of it found that the hair of the old minister was perfectly preserved, although this was over one hundred and twenty years after his death. He took some of it and sent it to the Rev. Wm. P. Lunt, Unitarian minister of Quincy, who was a descendant of the Rev. Mr. Short. The remains from the graves in the Howard Lothrop lot in this yard have been re- moved te the Village Cemetery in North Easton. There are over two hundred and seventy graves in the Central Cemetery, of which ninety-five are unmarked. There are no very striking epitaphs in this’ yard, the most interesting one perhaps being that for Wade and Ruth Dailey, — United on earth for 60 years, reunited in heaven for eternity. THE OLIVER HOWARD BURYING-GROUND. On the south side of Short Street, east of the railroad track, there is a small family cemetery which was laid out in 1803 by Oliver Howard. It is in the shape of a trapezoid, being about one hundred feet on the front, forty feet on the rear, seventy- five feet on the east side, and sixty feet on the other, and is surrounded by a stone-wall. The first interment here was that of an infant child of Oliver and Rebecca Howard, which died unnamed November 22, 1803, five days old. There appear to be eighteen graves in the yard, all but four of which have headstones with inscriptions. Buried here are the remains of Oliver How- ard, who died December 27, 1835, eighty years old; of Rebecca BURIAL-PLACES. 487 his wife, who died August 17, 1825, sixty-five years old; also of Asaph, Marza, Amasa, Thomas and Oliver Howard, the latter twenty-two years, and of others mainly children of the Howards. This yard was pleasantly located, but its surroundings have been rendered unpleasant because of the gravel-bank opened on the west side of it, which leaves exposed a rough and unsightly mass of stones and bowlders. When the farm here was sold, a reservation was made of this burying-ground, which is still the property of the descendants of Oliver Howard. THE WILBUR GRAVEYARD. In the extreme northwest corner of the town, on the farm-land of Peter McDermott, and about fifty rods northeast of his house, is a small graveyard thirty by seventy feet in area, walled in on three sides. On the west side there is an excavation where apparently it was the purpose to build a tomb; but the attempt was abandoned and the wall was not finished, so that the little enclosure is open to the incursion of cattle from the surrounding pasture. It contains three graves, one of a child which has no inscribed headstone. Of the other two, which have strong and well made headstones, one is in memory of “ Mrs. Bessey, wife of Mr. George Wilbur, who died May the 3d, a. D. 1807, in the forty-ninth year of her age,” having upon it the following couplet : — Death is a debt to Nature due: As I have paid it, so must you. The other stone is “in memory of Mr. George Wilbar. He died June 11, 1813, in his fifty-sixth year.” Depart my friends, wipe off your tears, Here I must lie till Christ appears. It will be observed that the name is spelled differently upon the two gravestones, and Mitchell, in his “ History of Bridge- water,” spells it Wilbor, differing from both these inscriptions. This George Wilbur moved into town just a century ago, and built the house now the property and home of Peter McDer- mott. He was father of Joseph Wilbur, who was for many years Register of Deeds at Taunton, and whose son, Joseph E. Wilbur, now holds the same position. 488 HISTORY OF EASTON. THE KEITH GRAVEYARD ON THE BAY ROAD. This cemetery is just south of Thomas Keith’s, and a little distance north of Beaver Street, on the east side of the Bay road. It was first laid out in 1812 by Eleazer Keith, on his own land. It was afterward enlarged by the Dunbars, Mr. Keith giving additional land on condition that they would extend the front wall, Two sides of the yard are as yet not walled in. No deed of the land has been given to any one, and it is therefore the property of the heirs of Mr. Keith. The dimensions of this cemetery are five rods on the front by six rods deep, and it con- tains about sixty graves. The first interment was that of the body of Mrs. Sally Keith, wife of Eleazer, who died September 17, 1812, aged twenty-nine years. The graves of two other wives of Mr. Keith are there, and his own tombstone records the fact of his death May 6, 1863, aged eighty-two years, eleven months, and twenty-four days. The grave of Ebenezer Randall is alsc there, he dying June 9, 1850, aged eighty-four. His wife’s grave is unmarked, as also those of Joseph Randall and his wife and daughter, and others. Here is the grave of Henry James and some of his children, as also of Alfred Gibbs and two children, and Galen Randall, seve- ral Crocketts, and others, all unmarked save by rough round stones. Here too are the graves of several Littlefield families, all with inscribed headstones, except that of Ebenezer Little- field, Sr., who provided for the erection of one for his own grave, but which provision has never been carried out. In this ceme- tery are the graves of Kingmans and Dunbars. One headstone records the fact that Jesse Dunbar, who died in Boston Septem- ber 28, 1834, aged twenty-one years, was first officer of the brig “ Pandora.” THE WILLIAM DEAN CEMETERY. Opposite the Archippus Buck place in Poquanticut is a small cemetery, fifty by eighty feet in dimensions, which is well laid out and carefully walled in. It now contains twenty-eight graves, some removals having been made from it. The land was given by William Dean. The first interment was that of the remains of Nathan Selee, who died in 1815, which gives us the date of BURIAL-PLACES. 489 the laying-out of this burying-ground. Nathan Selee’s remains were subsequently removed to the new cemetery which his son John Selee laid out. Here are the remains of Benjamin Buck, who died in 1852, ninety-one years old, and of his wife Milly, who died fifteen years later, being a century old lacking ten months. Capt. Archippus Buck’s remains also lie here; and those of his wife, familiarly known as Aunt Sylva, were recently placed beside her husband’s. On the stone over the grave of Cynthia B. Dean, a child seven years old, is this inscription :— Cropp’d as a bud from yonder tree; From death’s arrest no age is free. On the stone dedicated to William Dean and Keziah his wife are the words: “ They always made home happy.” THE DR. EDWARD DEAN CEMETERY. On a gravelly knoll at the Furnace Village, just south of the schoolhouse and on the south side of the road, is a burying- ground with a front of about two hundred and seventy-five feet and a width of one hundred feet, a parallelogram in shape. The land was given originally by Dr. Edward Dean, and an addi- tion on the west end of it was subsequently made by Edward Williams. In this yard there are two hundred and fourteen graves that have headstones with inscriptions, and there are others unmarked save by some rough stones or a mound of earth. It is a noteworthy fact that the first interment at this place was that of the body of Dr. Dean, who made the gift of the land for the cemetery. He died September 26, 1816. Two other physicians, Dr. Samuel Guild, and Dr. Seth Pratt, had died in Easton the same year, and two in the neighboring towns, — Dr. Godfrey of Taunton, and Dr. Bryant of Bridgewater. These facts are alluded to in the inscription upon the stone at the head of Dr. Dean’s grave. It is as follows:— ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF DOCTOR EDWARD DEAN, WHo DIED SEPT. 26, 1816, AGED 68 YEARS. The third physician Easton ever lost, Those Guild and Pratt not five months past. 490 HISTORY OF EASTON. A short time since we lived as friends, — Godfrey, Guild, Pratt, Bryant too. Physicians, all our labor ends, We ’ve bid the world adieu ; To brighter worlds our spirits rise, And view at distance there The vain results of busy Man, And smile at human care. The first person buried in this yard. There are the remains of persons buried here who died earlier than Dr. Dean, but they were removed from other places. Thus when Albert Hayward built his house opposite the old site of the Hayward carriage-shop, he removed the remains of Jonathan Hayward and his wives Rebecca and Mary, which had been buried where he desired to build his house. Other similar re- movals were of the remains of Dr. Samuel Deans and his wife Hannah LeBaron, of Daniel Wheaton, Esq., Rebecca and Thomas Kimball, and a few others. One stone here is in memory of Capt. Nathaniel Perry, who died June 15, 1756, in Nova Scotia, while serving in the French and Indian War. In this yard is the grave of the eccentric George Washington Drake, who so long lived a hermit’s life, and who died March 1, 1883, over eighty-three years old. It deserves to be recorded that his relative, Hiram P. Drake, has erected over his grave a beautiful and substantial headstone, as he has done in the case of other relatives, whose graves but for his thoughtful kindness might soon have been nameless and forgotten. | Among the noticeable inscriptions on the headstones of graves in this cemetery several deserve, for one reason or another, to be recorded here. On the gravestone of an infant which died at the age of seven months is the inscription, — Joyless sojourner was I, Only born to weep and die. Of Simeon Woodward, who died in 1865, at the age of three- score years and ten, and who had mourned the death of his wife for thirteen years, it is said : — The lids he so seldom could close, By sorrow forbidden to sleep, Sealed up in a lengthy repose, Have now forgotten to weep. BURIAL-PLACES. 491 Sometimes a little theology gets carved in the marble, as in this case : — Ten thousand talents I did owe, But Jesus Christ hath paid the debt; Believe, and sure you ’ll find To glory Death is but a step. The writer's observations lead him to think that regard for rhythm and poetry is better shown by selected than by origi- nal inscriptions. The following seems to be a combination of original and selected lines :— Friends and physicians could not save Her mortal body from the grave ; Sleep, dear Harriet, in thy peaceful tomb, ‘We hope to meet thee in the world to come. On another stone we read the words, — An angel’s arm could n’t save me from the grave ; Legions of angels can’t confine me there. Of a little boy eleven years old the simple but expressive praise is given, — Always so pleasant. A widow who had parted in turn from two husbands is repre- sented on her tombstone as saying with suggestive ambiguity, — I go to them that are at rest. In this cemetery are the graves of Capt. James Perry, Dr. James Perry, Daniel Wheaton, Esq. Lewis Williams, Isaac Kimball, Gen. Sheperd Leach, and other well known citizens of Easton. THE ELIJAH COPELAND GRAVEYARD. South of the old Copeland place on the Bay road, just opposite the end of Beaver Street and some distance from the road, is a small family graveyard containing four graves. One of them is of Elijah Copeland; who died September 8, 1817, seventy-eight years old; another is of Rhoda his wife, who died October 5, 1825, aged eighty-two years. The remains of Martin Copeland’s wife, who died in 1835, lie in an unmarked grave in the same place, and also the remains of one of his children. This burying- 492 HISTORY OF EASTON. ground is but twenty feet square, and is enclosed by chains stretched from eight stone-posts. THE NEHEMIAH HOWARD GRAVEYARD. Just north of the Horace Howard place is a cemetery which was set apart by Nehemiah Howard as early as 1818. It con- tains about twelve square rods, and is surrounded by a neat and substantial fence of iron railings. It contains thirteen graves with headstones; and there are two, perhaps more, unmarked graves. The first interment was that of Olive W., daughter of Asa Howard, who died November 25, 1818, two years and two months old. The remains of Nehemiah Howard, who died in 1825, and of his wife, who died in 1820, lie here. There is an excellent granite monument near the centre of the yard, about twelve feet high, erected in memory of Horace D. Howard, which serves as his family monument. THE CAPT. JEDEDIAH WILLIS GRAVEYARD. In the southeast corner of the field, next south of the Sheperd house on the Bay road, is a small cemetery which seems to have been entirely devoted to a branch of the Willis family. It is about forty feet wide and fifty feet deep, well walled, and with an open gateway in front about six feet wide. It has in it ten or twelve graves. Only two of them have regular gravestones, the rest being marked by round headstones and footstones. One of the two stones alluded to has this inscription: ‘‘ In mem- ory of Capt. Jedediah Willis, who died January 30, 1820, in his seventy-seventh year.” The other records the fact that “ Mrs. Susanna Willis, wife of Capt. Jedediah Willis, died November 22, 1818, in her sixty-third year.” Both the poetical seléctions carved upon these stones reflect the strange belief that the per- sons whose names these stones perpetuate lie sleeping beneath the sod, waiting there for the final resurrection. THE ASA NEWCOMB GRAVEYARD. On the north side of Maple Street, in the extreme southwest corner of the town, there is a small private burying-ground care- fully enclosed and well cared for. There are but two tombstones in it. One records the fact that Asa Newcomb died January 27, BURIAL-PLACES. 493 1827, aged sixty-seven years; and the other that Sally, his wife, died April 3, 1836, sixty-five years old. It is pleasant to notice that small and isolated as this little enclosure is, it does not suffer from the neglect of forgetful relatives and friends, but is always kept in good order, and presents an example worthy of imitation. THE ASAPH HOWARD BURYING-GROUND. On the west side of Pine Street, a short distance south of High Street, is a small cemetery containing about five hundred square yards of land. It was set apart by Asaph Howard at the time of the death of his infant son, who died April 9, 1831, twelve days old. There is, it is true, an older stone here over the grave of Charles T., son of Thomas and Hannah Dunbar, which is dated September 16, 1824; but this was a removal from the small yard just over the line of West Bridgewater. The remains of Thomas Dunbar, Jr., were brought from the same place. The grave marked only by a soldier’s post and flag is that of old Thomas Dunbar, who was known far and near as “the old fifer,” and was called into service in the War of 1812. There are ten graves here with headstones, among them being several members of the Asaph Howard and Thomas Dunbar families. There are also three or four unmarked graves, two of them being the graves of Abijah Knapp and Chloe his wife. THE APOLLOS CLARK BURYING-GROUND. About fifty rods south of the Littlefield road, now named Summer Street, and a little west of Abiel Littlefield’s, there is a small burying-ground. It is a few rods south of the old home- stead place of Apollos Clark, who had a house, barn, and nailers’ shop there, only the cellar being now visible. This burying- ground is thirty feet square, surrounded by a shallow trench filled with stones, the intention evidently having been to build a wall; but this was not done. There are two good headstones there, — one over the remains of Apollos Clark, who died Jan- uary 2, 1832, aged sixty-one years. He fell from his team when out in the woods, and was run over and killed. Capt. Ziba Ran- dall’s record had it as follows: “ Apolous Clark, Killd with a wheel January 4, aged sixty-one.” The date here given is two A494 HISTORY OF EASTON. days too late. When the body of Mr. Clark was found, his dog was faithfully watching and guarding it. The other gravestone mentioned is sacred to the memory of Phcebe, the wife of Caleb Gifford, who died January 12, 1835, aged twenty-four years, six months, and eight days. There are four other graves here that are unmarked save by small uncut stones,—one being the grave of a child, one of a youth, and the other two apparently of adults. THE RECORD CEMETERY. On the street running west from Macey Record’s is a small cemetery, which was originally intended, no doubt, for the Record family only. It is a little east of Josiah Woodbury’s house, and on the north side of the road. The oldest gravestone is that of Fanny D., daughter of Macey and Mary Record, who died January 13, 1834, nearly eleven years old. On the headstone of Macey Record, who died in 1856, is the inscription, “May we meet again!” and on the headstone of his wife, who died in 1869, is the happy response, “We meet again.” There are eighteen or nineteen graves here, half of them having no carved headstones. The yard is sixty feet square, neatly laid out, and surrounded by a stone-wall. THE JOHN SELEE CEMETERY. The above-named burying-ground is on the west side of Mill Street, a few rods from Rockland Street. It is about one hun- dred and fifteen by one hundred and fifty feet in size. The land was given by John Selee, son of Nathan, and father of John A. Selee ; the right of ownership in lots is now conferred by the last-named person. The first burial in this yard was that of the body of Joseph Ward, who was probably the Ward dying in 1836; his grave has no stone over it. That year seems to be the date of the setting apart of this land for burial purposes. There are now about ninety graves in it, thirty-five of which are unmarked. The remains of Nathan Selee and of his wife Sabrina, which were once in the William Dean yard near by, were reinterred here; and there were also two or three other removals. The unmarked graves are of Mrs. Catherine S. Willis and three children; an infant child of N. P. Selee; Zeno, Har- riet, Jane, Thankful, and Ruth Buck; Susan, Floyer, Frank, BURIAL-PLACES. 495 and Charles Britton; Joseph Ward, Eben Allen and wife Helen, Mrs. Laban Drake, Ida and Charles Johnson; a child of Azel Snow, and Joseph Washburn, wife, and child ; two children of Wesley Smith, three of Martin Williams, and four grandchil- dren of James and Rachel Reed; Lewis Lane, Edwin West, James Reed, G. A. Boodry, and the soldier B. F. Boodry. Suf- ficient pains has not been taken in this cemetery to keep the lots distinct ; where there are many unmarked graves there is always danger of the boundary lines being obliterated, and lots overlapping. THE SILAS PHILLIPS GRAVEYARD. On the north side of Depot Street, west of the old Silas Phillips place, is a small burying-ground about fifty by eighty feet in area, which was set apart by Silas Phillips, Jr.,in 1842. The first inter- ment in this yard was of the remains of Miss Louise Phillips, a sister of Silas, Jr., who died July 11, 1842, sixty-four years old. The remains of Silas Phillips, Sr., who died in 1821, were removed to this place from the old cemetery near by. On his gravestone are the words, “ He was a soldier of the Revolution.” His grave deserves special honor, because he was one of the very few Easton men who were in service through the terrible winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. He was at that time a sergeant in Capt. Ephraim Burr’s company. Amasa and Asa Phillips were with him, — Amasa dying in service in June, 1778. This yard was intended for use as a Phillips family cemetery; but in 1848 Capt. Barsillai Dean bought it, and began to build upon it a family tomb. As it is level ground there was but little excava- tion, the tomb being mostly above ground. On the 2gth day of June, 1848, Captain Dean was at work in the tomb, when one of the cross-stones at the top gave way and fell upon him, causing his death. His remains were deposited in this yard; but when the tomb was finished,— which was about two months after- ward, —his body was placed in it, and remained there about fifteen years. It was then removed to the Easton cemetery on Washington Street. In this Silas Phillips cemetery there appear to be eight graves. One of them is unmarked, and one has a soldier’s stake with the name of J. Legrow. The yard has a stone-wall upon two sides, 496 HISTORY OF EASTON. and a fence upon the other two. A few beautiful pines grow in and near it, and the wind through their branches makes a peace- ful requiem over this home of the dead. It is now the property of the heirs of Silas Phillips. THE ALMSHOUSE BURYING-GROUND. It frequently happens that inmates of the Almshouse, before dying, express some wish as to burial, — perhaps desiring that their bodies may lie near the graves of relatives or friends, These wishes are generally respected, and the town’s poor have been buried in different cemeteries. But there are cases in which no such wish is expressed, the dying poor having no rela- tives or friends here. It was therefore desirable that some special burial-place should be provided by the town for such cases. This was done some years after the purchase of the present Almshouse property. A lot of land sixty by forty-five feet was laid out three hundred yards southwest of the present site of the Almshouse. It is surrounded by a good stone-wall, is shaded by fir-trees, and is neatly kept. There are nineteen or twenty graves in it, all of which are unmarked. Would it not be well for the town to provide inexpensive but substantial headstones, upon which the names and dates of birth and death might be inscribed ? One of these graves—that of old Mrs. Rebecca Allen, who died in 1881, aged eighty— deserves this consideration. The writer once observed a funeral procession approach the Central Cemetery, and this poor demented lady, seeing a fallen branch of a tree obstructing its entrance, thoughtfully removed it, and then stood at the gate, like the figure of Old Mortality, bowed in re- spectful and reverent courtesy, while the procession passed in. It was an act as good in its way, and as gracefully done, as that of Sir Walter Raleigh when he spread his cloak in the mud for the Queen to walk upon. THE FURNACE VILLAGE CEMETERY. In the year 1849 Lincoln Drake gave to Daniel Belcher and others a piece of land on the east side of South Street in the Furnace Village, four hundred and twenty-nine feet long by one hundred and fifty-two wide. This they were to manage for BURIAL-PLACES. 497 burial purposes for the benefit of the village. No corporation has at this date (1886) been formed, though one is contem- plated. It is at present under the management of Daniel Belcher. The yard is surrounded by arbor-vite trees, whose perpetual evergreen may well symbolize our immortality. An addition of the same length as the old yard, and of one hundred feet in width, has just been made upon the south side by Daniel Belcher. The first interment in the yard was that of Charles Francis, son of Lincoln and Caroline Drake, who died July 16, 1849. There appear to be one hundred and forty graves here, of which forty-three are unmarked. Among once well-known citizens whose remains are buried in this yard may be men- tioned Lincoln Drake, Tisdale Harlow, Emory Goward, Nahum Williams, Francis and Dwelly Goward, Albert A. Rotch, Henry Hamilton, and Greenfield Williams. One notices here the graves of John Gardiner and Catherine his wife, who Feb. 1, 1880, were burned in their house from an accident caused by two fiery fluids, — rum and kerosene. And those familiar with the place will look at another grave with tragic interest, for they will remember the suspicious circumstances of a woman’s death, — the investigation ordered, the exhuming of the body, the dis- covery of poison in the stomach, the flight of the husband, the reinterment of the body, and its being afterward stolen from the grave. Though the law was foiled, however, justice will yet be done. No man can escape that conscience whose retributive lash will sooner or later wield heavier and sharper strokes than legal justice can possibly inflict. This dreadful affair was not the only instance in which poison was employed by the guilty parties, though in the other instances known to the writer the poison was given to animals as a means of revenge against their owners, THE EASTON CEMETERY (SOUTH EASTON). Under date of September 4, 1850, Jason G. Howard and eleven others made application to Joseph Barrows, Esq., to issue a war- rant to call a meeting for the purpose of organizing a corpora- tion to be known as the Easton Cemetery Corporation. The organization was accomplished September 11, 1850, Elijah How- ard being chosen president. The first purchase of land was made 32 498 HISTORY OF EASTON. of Dr. Caleb Swan and David L. Pratt in 1850, consisting of two acres and one rod, and costing $86. In 1875 a purchase of thirty-two acres was made of Palmer Newton, for $350. Only a small part of this latter purchase has been fenced in. This cemetery is situated above South Easton village on the west side of Washington Street. It is a level tract of light sandy soil, has been planted with evergreen trees, and is neatly kept. The first interment here was that of Catherine Lothrop, wife of Thomas J. Johnson, “who died at Newtonville, together with an infant son,” May 27, 1851, thirty-five years of age. At the date of this writing (November, 1885) there can be counted two hundred and seventy-one graves, forty-four of which are unmarked ; of these latter, however, many are new graves, to which headstones will probably be supplied. The following are names of most of those buried in these unmarked graves : Dean Ramsdell, Lizzie Ramsdell, and Emma, wife of Dean Ramsdell, Jr.; Joseph Heath, a soldier, and Fred H. Greenleaf; a child of Fred Clapp, also one of Lucius Darling, of James Willis, of H. Y. Mitchell, of Fred C. Thayer, and of Warren Jones; two children of Eugene Willis and others of Martin Willis; Mrs. Carrie Kilburn and child ; Rosanna, wife of Thomas James ; Re- becca, wife of John Bailey, and the wife of John Bailey, Jr. ; Ella, wife of F.C. Thayer ; Tyler F. Clapp, a soldier ; Hattie Bosworth, Caleb S. Lothrop, Frank Nelson, and Asa Packard. There are a few others whose names are not easily ascertainable. Among the well-known citizens of other days whose graves are here may be mentioned those of E. J. W. Morse, Solomon W. Morse, Elijah Howard, Dr. Caleb Swan, Capt. Barzillai Dean, Larnard Williams, Capt. Milo Williams, Col. John Torrey, and John Bisbee, the latter well deserving the inscription upon his tombstone, “ An honest man ; the noblest work of God.” Among inscriptions worth copying is the following : -— God doeth all things well; And so long as I think so, I am content with what his hand brings forth. An epitaph upon the gravestone of a lad of nine years, who was drowned by breaking through the ice, bears evident marks of being original : — BURIAL-PLACES. 499 Bright, cheerful, and gay, o’er the ice did I play, Not aware of the dangerous road ; When sudden as thought my life’s thread was cut, And straight I ascended to God, One notices here with interest the graves of several soldiers who served in the War of the Rebellion, some of them dying far from home, on battle-field, in hospitals, or in Rebel prisons. Among these are Sergt. George Davis, who died at Annapolis from disease contracted in the Salisbury (N. C.) prison; Sergt. Charles A. Morse, died at Falmouth, Va.; D. Jackson, wounded at Iuka, Miss.; and Linton Waldron, J. F. Clapp, C. H. Willis, and Joseph Heath. There have been some removals from this cemetery, among which were the remains of several members of the Ames fam- ilies. The family lot of Edward N. Morse is beautifully laid out, and adorned with an excellent and appropriate statue in the centre. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY. On the 7th of September, 1857, the Rev. Thomas B, McNulty, who then conducted Roman Catholic services in North Easton, purchased of Oliver Ames & Sons about two acres of land to be used by the Roman Catholics for a burying-ground. This land is on the north side of Canton Street, just west of the old Fer- guson place, and is very pleasantly situated, sloping up from the road and extending over the crest of the hill. The cemetery was dedicated by Father McNulty, and shortly afterward occurred the first interment,—that of a child of Patrick Hefferman. There are now about three hundred and forty graves here, of which over two hundred are unmarked. The first monument was erected by Michael O’Beirne. With one exception there is probably no cemetery in Easton where the headstones and monu- ments average so costly as here. This yard is divided into small lots, most of them having room for only two graves. The lots have nearly all been taken, and an addition of another piece of land will soon be needed. A strong handsome wall was built on the street side in 1881, and a good deal has lately been done in the way of improving the premises. The site of this burying- ground is pleasant, and by the planting of trees and by sufficient 500 HISTORY OF EASTON. care it may be made a beautiful spot. It is to be regretted that the lots are raised considerably above the general level. It is very difficult to keep such raised lots in good order, as the ter- races are continually wearing down; and they detract from, rather than add to, the beauty of a cemetery. There are twenty soldiers’ graves here, of which a record will be found in the account given further on of the G. A. R. Post of Easton. THE VILLAGE CEMETERY. The Village Cemetery of North Easton was begun in Sep- tember, 1875, a month after the dedication of Unity Church, near which this cemetery is located. The ground it occu- pies was then crowded with stones and bowlders, and a large force of men was engaged for about a year in digging out and removing them. The expense of this work was borne by Oliver Ames, the donor of the church, by F. L. Ames, Oakes A. Ames, and Oliver Ames, 2d. It contains about five acres, and is nearly surrounded by a stone-wall which is about four feet thick at the base, and has an average height of seven feet. It is carefully laid out in drives and walks, and contains one hun- dred and fifty-three lots. There is an excellent tomb here for the temporary deposit of the remains of the dead. A large ledge of sienite, which is the underlying rock at this place, crowns the highest part of the cemetery. East of this is the Ames family lot. It is a noteworthy and affecting fact that the first burial-service held here was at the grave of Oliver Ames, under whose lead this cemetery was laid out and prepared. The only remains that were deposited here previous to this were those removed from another burying-ground. Near by the grave of Oliver Ames repose the ashes of his father and his brother Oakes, and of other members of the family ; and just beside his own grave is that of his daughter, Helen Angier Ames, who died suddenly in the prime of a life of thoughtful and generous service, deeply honored, loved, and lamented by all who knew her. A tall granite shaft records the names of Oakes Ames, and of his wife and his son Henry. Large granite sarcophagi stand on the lots of the first and second Oliver Ames and of E. W. Gilmore. There are now (October, 1886) ninety-three graves in this cemetery, twenty-six of them being as yet unmarked. BURIAL-PLACES. SOT Most of the latter are the graves recently made, and some of them will in due time be provided with tombstones. Forty-four of the graves are of those whose remains have been removed from other cemeteries. The management of this cemetery is in the hands of the Village Cemetery Corporation, which was incorporated in 1878, and of which all proprietors of lots are members, A printed set of by-laws prescribes the rules according to which the cemetery is managed. Among these it is provided that no one shall build therein any fence, hedge, or curbing. This excellent rule pre- vents the burying-ground from being cut up into numerous small enclosures, and gives it an open, lawn-like appearance, which is much more agreeable to the eye. A fund of ten thou- sand dollars, bequeathed by Oliver Ames, who died in 1877, provides for the perpetual care of this cemetery. Those who have an interest in this beautiful spot have the satisfaction of knowing that it will always be neatly kept, and not be allowed to run to the dreary, neglected waste that is the fate of many of our country burying-grounds. In addition to the burying-grounds now noticed, there were at least two others that have been not only abandoned, but that have left no trace of their former uses behind them. One of them was just west of a large bowlder on the Alonzo Marshall (now O. A. Day) place, not far east of the railroad-track. It contains three Manley graves, one of a child of Peter Bartlett, and three other graves. All are now indistinguishable. There was also a graveyard in the field owned by E. W. Gil- more, near where his hinge-factory stands. About fifteen graves were here. Among them were those of the Rev. Eseck Carr and wife, Caleb Carr, Sr., and wife, whose remains were removed by their son Caleb when the factory was built, and deposited in the Washington Street Cemetery. The remains of Capt. Elisha Harvey and his wife still lie in the field alluded to, and are only a few feet from the northwest corner of the factory. It is due to the memory of this old hero that his and his wife’s remains should be disinterred and deposited elsewhere, with some fitting gravestones to mark the spot and perpetuate their memory. The others whose remains were buried in this place 502 HISTORY OF EASTON. were Elizabeth Simmons, John Simmons, and Jeremiah his son; an old Mrs. Packard; John and Tiley Carr, children of Caleb, Sr.; Horatio Packard, and also his mother, who was wife of Jedediah Packard. Two of her children were buried here. Elizabeth Simmons died as early as the Revolutionary War, and hers was the first burial in this yard. She was the daughter of Mrs. Eseck Carr by her first husband. One notices in reading the inscriptions upon the tombstones in some of our burying-grounds a strange confusion of thought concerning the condition of the soul after death. This results from the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. The spiritual imagination of most persons is feeble. It is difficult to conceive of the spirit as separate from the body ; and the belief that the body was to be raised up again at the last day made it quite natural to think that the dead really were slumbering in the grave in a state of unconsciousness, from which the last trump would wake them. For example :— Kind angels watch the sleeping dust Till Jesus comes to raise the just. Then may he wake with sweet surprise, And in his Saviour’s image rise. In this stanza, found on one of our tombstones, it is plainly implied that the just man, whom this stone commemorates, is sleeping below the sod. On another stone we read : — Underneath this stone doth lie As much virtue as could die 1 This couplet was doubtless suggested by the famous “ Epitaph on Elizabeth L. H.,” written by Ben Jonson, a part of which reads as follows : — “ Underneath this stone doth lye As much beauty as could dye ; Which in life did harbour give To more virtue than doth live.” To the couplet quoted above in the text two original lines were added, and they make the whole stanza upon the tombstone a medley at which old Ben Jonson would have stood aghast. The stanza is as follows: — “ Underneath this stone doth lie As much virtue as could die; With earnest prayer they sought to God To wash them in Christ Jesus’ blood.” ' BURIAL-PLACES. 503 Another inscription begins : — Housed in the dust my partner lies. There are many inscriptions of like tenor, all plainly teaching that the persons over whose graves they are written are really sleeping beneath. There are some of a different kind, which seem to fluctuate between the idea of personal unconsciousness in the grave and that of the soul’s present existence.in heaven. For example: Sleep on, dear child, and take thy rest ; God called thee home, — He thought it best. In the first line of this couplet the child is thought of as sleep- ing quietly in the grave, while in the second the words “ God called thee home” would suggest the contrary supposition, — that the child is now living with God in heaven. Thus the doctrine of the physical resurrection confuses the thought, and tends to hold it down to the grave in expectation of the time when the body shall rise again. But on the later tombstones we find that the resurrection of the body is more seldom alluded to. The inscriptions now are, as a rule, those that suggest, not a future, but an immediate rising to God. It is difficult to conjecture by what principle people were sometimes guided in their selections of Scripture or poetry for inscriptions upon the tombstones of their friends. These often show poor judgment as well as wretched taste. What, for in- stance, could induce one to choose a stanza like the following, which is carved upon the headstone of a young man well known in his time:— In the cold grave this frame must rest, And worms shall feed on this poor breast ; These hands will then be useless grown, And I, alas! no more be known. It is a dishonor to the departed to represent them as uttering any such shocking and comfortless doggerel as this. How, too, shall we account for the selection of the following passage of Scripture for the motto upon the tombstone of one whom the writer is informed was an excellent woman : — “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” 504 HISTORY OF EASTON. Probably those who chose this considered it the right thing to have some Scripture on the gravestone, and were careless about the inevitable suggestions of this passage. The burying-ground gives us painful illustrations of the weak- nesses of human nature. One of them is an amiable weakness, — that of the over-praise of the dead, as shown by the inscriptions the living cause to be carved upon the headstones of deceased friends. It is no wonder that Charles Lamb, walking when a boy with his sister in a graveyard, and noticing the saintly char- acters given to the dead by these inscriptions, asked, ‘ Sister, where are the Jad people buried?” It is not needful, though it might sometimes be salutary, to publish the sins of the wicked upon their gravestones ; but it is quite shocking to the sense of truth to read laudatory epitaphs which are known by some to be monumental falsehoods concerning the dead. “ God's acre” ought not to become a field of lies. It is also painful in the extreme to see neglect of family-lots and of individual graves on the part of many of the living. This is no sure proof of real forgetfulness of the dead, but it is, to say the least, most reprehensible thoughtlessness. There are cases in this town where the family quarrels of survivors, or other selfish reasons, have led them wholly to neglect the grave per- haps of a worthy and affectionate parent, over whose remains filial duty demands the raising of some memorial stone. Attention has been called to the numerous unmarked graves in our cemeteries. Sometimes duty to the living may make it diffi- cult, perhaps impossible, to spend money for a gravestone. But such cases are rare, and these unmarked graves show how easily agonized grief may be comforted or forgotten. In the case of graves that have no inscribed headstones, it is very desirable that the method adopied by the managers of the Pine Grove Cemetery should be followed, — that of putting a small num- bered stone at the head of such graves, and having the names of the dead recorded in a book opposite the numbers of the graves. This method would be inexpensive and easy, and its advantages are obvious. The desirability of this plan was re- cently illustrated by the fact that though Asa Drake, an inmate of the Almshouse, had made a special request to be buried beside his parents, it was found, after the interment had been made, BURIAL-PLACES. 505 that he was buried in the wrong place. This mistake was recti- fied, but it would not have occurred if some such plan of desig- nating graves had been in operation. It is very sad to look upon toppling gravestones that a few hours’ labor might set upright, or to see neglected lots over- grown with weeds, perhaps bushes, that a little labor would clear away. Care should always be taken that the foundation for a gravestone be laid well below frost ; then the stone will remain erect. The town has recently cleared up two ceme- teries ; it would be well occasionally to do the same to all the cemeteries that the town has any right to improve. This was formerly done. In October, 1772, it was voted to choose a com- mittee to clear the burying-places in town. Similar action was taken again in February, 1783, and at later times. It is pleasant to note, in conclusion, that a great change of feeling has taken. place regarding the care of cemeteries. In- stead of being the most forsaken and uncared for spots, as they formerly were, they are fast becoming, in many towns and cities, most beautiful places, The same change is noticeable in Easton. May her citizens show their respect for the dead and their ten- der appreciation of the sacredness of the associations connected with death, by protecting and improving the burial-places within her borders. 506 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXVIII. MILITIA AND MILITARY HISTORY. OxLp MiLirARY Days.— First MILItrIA COMPANY OF EASTON. — THE West Company. — THE East Company.— THE Easton LicutT In- FANTRY. — THE CAVALRY COMPANY. — CoMPANY B, EASTON LIGHT INFANTRY. — CAPTAINS AND HIGHER MILITARY OFFICERS OF EASTON, WITH THE DATES OF THEIR COMMISSIONS. — MAJOR-GENERAL SHEP- ERD LEACH. HE military days with which some of us were familiar in our youth have passed away. The fife and drum no longer wake the echoes as of yore. The ununiformed com- panies of militia which sometimes were irreverently spoken of as the “ String Beans” or “ Cowyard Company,” clad in home- spun of every variety, parade our streets no longer. The mus- ters, with their several days of encampment upon the field, their gingerbread and cider booths, their sham-fights, at which timid women shrieked and young urchins grew pale, their drunken- ness, gambling, fighting, and wrestling, — these, fortunately, are no more. “Major” A., “Captain” B., “Lieutenant” C., and “Ensign” D. are dignitaries whose cheaply earned titles are no longer familiar to our ears. But in earlier days military matters excited much interest and received great attention in our coun- try towns; and Easton was no exception to the rule. FIRST MILITIA COMPANY OF EASTON. There was a military company in the North Purchase twenty- five years before the incorporation of the town of Easton. But it did not extend its limits to the east part of the Purchase ; and if any of the settlers living in this part cared to unite with any company, they no doubt served with Bridgewater men. Easton had its own company, however, very early. Its captain was John Phillips, and its lieutenants were Edward Hayward and Eliphalet Leonard. Edward Hayward served as captain in 1732 and afterward, with Eliphalet Leonard as his successor in 1744. MILITIA AND MILITARY HISTORY. 507 Benjamin Williams was the next captain. Sometime before the Revolutionary War this company was divided into two com- panies of militia, — one in the east, and one in the west part of the town. We have under date of April 7, 1757, an authentic record of the first military company of. Easton. As this is the most com- plete list now extant of the male residents of the town of so early a period, it is desirable for purposes of reference to publish it in full here. It does not however include all who were then residents, as Capt. Benjamin Williams and others were away on military service in other companies. A Rooll or List of the Soldires in Easton under the command of the following offisers, April 7, 1757: Eliphalet Leonard, Capéazn. Joshua Hayward,! Lieutenant. Matthew Hayward, Zusign. Thomas Manley, Sergeant. Silas Williams, i Robert Drake, Private. Thomas Drake, 95 Thomas Fling, as Benjamin Fobes, Jr., ,, Nathan Fobes, ai Joseph Fobes, Drummer. Daniel Keith, i Joseph Crossman, Corporal. Joseph Gilbert, Josiah Keith, Jonathan Lathrop, Ebenezer -Ames, Edmund Andrews, Adam Arnolt, Simeon Babbitt, Nathan Bryant, Thomas Butler, Ebenezer Campbell, Samuel Churchill, Daniel Dailey, Abial Drake, Benjamin Drake, 3d, Ephraim Drake, Hezekiah Drake, John Drake, Joseph Drake, Jr., Joseph Drake, 3d, Joseph Drake, 4th, 1 This was Joshua Howard. confounded. ” ” ” Private. The names Hayward and Howard were often Nathan Gibbs, ” Jonathan Goodspeed, ,, Ebenezer Hadon, 8 Jacob Hanks, ” Benjamin Harvey, ” Edward Hayward, ,, Henry Hayward, _ Jonathan Hayward, ,, Ephraim Hewitt, iy Solomon Hewitt, ” Benjamin Keith, ” Edward Keith, ” Mark Keith, ” Mark Keith, Jr., ” William Keith, Pn Zephaniah Keith, 55 Nathan Kinsley, ” Silas Kinsley, ” Josiah Kingman, ” Eliphalet Leonard, Jr., ,, John Lincoln, Jr., ” Nathan Lincoln, ” James Linsday, ” 508 HISTORY OF EASTON. Jacob Macomber, Private. Ephraim Randall, 3d, Private. David Manly, John Manly, John Manly, Jr., Seth Manly, oa Thomas Manly, Jr., ‘5 Timothy Manly, William Manly, Jr., William Morrison, i John Nape [Knapp?],_ ,, Daniel Niles, Daniel Niles, Jr., ‘S Daniel Owen, John Owen, 5 John Packard, ‘9 Joseph Packard, Jr, ,, Benjamin Pettingill, ,, Joshua Phillips, 5 Samuel Phillips, Jr., _,, Ephraim Pratt, 5 Jonathan Pratt, a0 Seth Pratt, ‘is William Pratt, Pf William Pratt, Jr., $5 Abiah Randall, ‘iy Beriah Randall, 3 Ebenezer Randall, 3 Ephraim Randall, Jr., ,, Israel Randall, John Randall, Jr., Joseph Randall, Nehemiah Randall, Robert Randall, Jr., Samuel Randall, Samuel Randall, Jr., Thomas Randall, Timothy Randall, Nathan Selee, Benaijah Smith, Walter Solard [Sullard], James Stacy, Samuel Stone, Benjamin Tupper, John Turner, Dennis Tyler, Zachariah Watkins, Antony Weldland (?), John Whitman, Jr., Ebenezer Williams, Paul Williams, Seth Williams, Silas Williams, Jr., Timothy Williams, Seth Willis, John Howard Winslow, Israel Woodward, Private. t A true list of the training Soldires by me ApiAH Manty, Clark! Following this is a supplementary list which includes some who were not regular “ training soldires,” but who were obliged to serve in an emergency. In this list are the exempted men, such as deacons, justices of the peace, and others who were then not obliged to do ordinary military service. A list of those under sixty years of eage that are obliged by law to appare upone An alarm that are not training soldiers. Nathaniel Babbitt. John Daily, Zxsign. James Dean, Deacon. Richard Drake, deaf. George Ferguson. Timothy Gilbert. 1 State Archives, vol. xcv. p. 273. MILITIA AND MILITARY HISTORY. 509 David Gurney. Samuel Phillips. Moses Hayward. John Randall. Ebenezer Jones. Robert Randall, Deacon. Ichabod Manly. John Stacey. Joseph Packard. David Stone. Ebenezer Phillips. Peter Sullard. Daniel Williams. ABIAH Manty, CZark.! THE WEST COMPANY OF MILITIA. The Easton company was not divided until after 1762. March 25 of that year Eliphalet Leonard was captain, Matthew Hayward lieutenant, and Eliphalet Leonard, Jr., ensign.2 The company belonged to the Third Regiment of Militia. Sometime afterward, and prior to 1771, this company was large enough to divide. The division was made by a north and south line run- ning through the town. The company in the west part of the town was called the First Company, and afterward the West Company; it continued the organization of the original militia company, and kept its place for a time in the Third Regiment. In 1771 Capt. Zephaniah Keith had command of it, Nathan Kinsley being lieutenant, and Macey Williams ensign. In 1775 Macey Williams had been promoted to be captain, Josiah Keith to be lieutenant, and Elijah Howard ensign. Thus organized, this company marched on the Lexington “alarm.” Not long after this, Captain Williams enlisted another company; and the command of the West Company of Easton militia devolved upon Josiah Keith, with David Keith as lieutenant. Josiah Keith remained in command of this company until the end of the Revolutionary War, being occasionally summoned with it to an “alarm” in Rhode Island. He appears to have been succeeded in command by the following captains in the order given: Jonathan Pratt, John Williams, Abijah Wetherell, Nathaniel Wetherby, Sheperd Leach, Edward Kingman. The latter was commissioned in 1809. During the War of 1812 this company was not called into service. The successors of Captain Kingman were as follows: Tis- dale Godfrey, Bartholomew Drake, Jonathan Pratt, Archippus Buck, Frederic Fuller, Perez Marshall, Tisdale Godfrey, Jr., 1 State Archives, vol. xcv. p. 272, 2 Ibid., vol. xcix. p. 48. 510 HISTORY OF EASTON. Elbridge G. Reed, and John R. Drake. Captain Drake was the last captain of this company. At one of the trainings, for rea- sons less obvious to himself than to others, he gave the exact opposite of the order intended ; and the company, though seeing the folly of it, obeyed with military precision, and brought up at last in a cowyard. This gave it the name of the “ Cowyard Company.” It disbanded about 1840. During that year Captain Drake surrendered his commission. THE EAST COMPANY OF MILITIA. When the old militia company of Easton was divided, the new or second company was made up of the residents in the east part of the town. It was the fifth company of the Third Regiment, Bristol County Militia. In 1771 it was commanded by Capt. Eliphalet Leonard, Jr.; Abiel Mitchell was lieutenant, and Seth Lothrop ensign. In 1775, at the time of the Lexington “alarm,” Abiel Mitchell was captain, Jacob Leonard lieutenant, and Silas Kinsley ensign. Captain Mitchell was soon promoted to be major and afterward colonel, and the command of this company was given to Matthew Randall, with Seth Pratt first lieutenant, and Edward Hayward, 2d, the second lieutenant. Ephraim Burr was first lieutenant in 1776. In 1777 Nathan Hack was first lieutenant, and John Godfrey second lieutenant. Seth Pratt became acting captain of this company in 1780, though after- ward known only as lieutenant. Matthew Randall had mean- time raised another company. The militia company of which we are speaking continued in existence many years afterward, constantly changing its officers, parading on training days, going to musters, etc. Among its captains after the Revolution were Jacob Leonard, Edward Hayward, 2d, Jedediah Willis, John Tisdale, Eliphalet Leonard, Jr., David Wade, and Timothy Mitchell. At the time of the breaking out of the War of 1812, Noah Reed was the captain of this company, and Simeon Drake was lieutenant. As already noted, it did guard duty at New Bed- ford. Captain Reed was succeeded by Capt. Elijah Smith, after whom came David Manley, John Gilmore, Asa Bartlett, Gurdon Stone, Henry French, Barzillai Dean, George Washington Hay- ward, and Edward W. Dean, the latter being the last captain. MILITIA AND MILITARY HISTORY. SII Its last annual training was in May, 1835. Captain Dean or- dered another inspection in the following year, but by this time the whole matter began to be considered useless; the interest had died out, and the organization fell to pieces. It has been stated that the militia appeared in ordinary cloth- ing without regular uniform. But the contrast presented be- tween the two militia companies and the Light Infantry was too unpleasant to the former, and the militia therefore adopted dark (usually dark-blue) coats and white pantaloons. They also wore the tall hats that were then in almost universal use, each hat having in it a small cockade. This gave a decided military appearance to these two companies of militia. THE EASTON LIGHT INFANTRY. February 27, 1810, Leonard Perry and others petitioned for leave to raise a Light Infantry Company in Easton. A special committee recommended that this petition be granted, “ provided it shall not reduce any of the established companies in said town of Easton below the number prescribed by law.”! It was therefore “Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor, with the advice of his council, be and hereby is authorized to raise by voluntary enlistment a company of Light Infantry in the town of Easton, in the county of Bristol, in the Fourth Regiment of the Second Brigade and Fifth Division of the Militia of this Commonwealth.” ? This company was immediately raised, and it organized with the choice of Isaac Lothrop as captain, Seth Williams lieuten- ant, and Melvin Gilmore ensign. These three officers were commissioned May 17, 1810.2 John Williams had in 1808 been lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Regiment to which this company was assigned, and he was succeeded August 9, 1809, by Capt. Sheperd Leach, who was commissioned lieutenant-colonel at this date, holding the position nine years. He was promoted to be colonel and brigadier-general, and February 16, 1827, he 1 Council Records, vol. xxxv. p. 405. 2 General Court Records, vol. xlvii. p. 235. 8 The dates of appointments have been gathered from official communications from the United States War Department, the Regimental Rosters, and the Adjutant- General’s office in Boston, and from the books of the company, which were loaned to the writer by L. S. Drake. 512 HISTORY OF EASTON. was elected to the office of major-general. Under Capt. Isaac Lothrop, in the autumn of 1814, this company went to Boston on guard-duty and remained there about two months. Captain Lothrop was succeeded in his command by Oliver Pool, who was commissioned May 22, 1815, and held the place about three years. George Alger was made captain, May 5, 1818. Other captains serving were Lewis Williams, Lincoln Drake, Alanson White, Welcome Lothrop, Jarvis Lothrop, Henry Day, and Tis- dale Harlow. The latter was the last captain, and was commis- sioned April 18, 1833. The Easton Light Infantry dissolved March 28, 1834. Before 1790 there was a squadron of cavalry belonging to the Fifth Division, which was composed of men from Norton, Easton, Mansfield, and perhaps a few other towns. Among the Easton men belonging were Cyrus Alger, Simeon Leach, Bezer Keith, James Guild, Josiah Copeland, Cyrus Williams, James Keith, and James Dean. Thomas Williams was commissioned lieutenant, December .16, 1793. Joshua Williams was appointed cornet in 1801, lieutenant in 1806, and captain April 28, 1809. They expected to be called out for service in the War of 1812, and had orders to the effect that if when summoned any one was without a horse, he must impress one into the service. They were not however called for. COMPANY B, EASTON LIGHT INFANTRY. After the dissolution of the companies whose history has been given above, the interest in military matters had a lull for atime in Easton; a few residents, however, were members of organizations in neighboring towns. The military spirit began to revive again in 1852. A charter for an infantry company, signed by Governor Boutwell, was secured December 3, 1852, and the company organized on the 22d. The following officers were chosen: William E. Bump, captain; Francis Tilden, first lieutenant; Oliver Ames, 3d, second lieutenant; John Carr, third lieutenant; Rufus Willis, fourth lieutenant. This com- pany and one then recently formed at Canton were organized as the second battalion of light infantry, second brigade and first division, the Easton company being known as Company B. Of this battalion Oliver Ames, 3d, was chosen adjutant. He was MILITIA AND MILITARY HISTORY. 513 afterward promoted to be major, and then lieutenant-colonel ; and Frank M. Ames was made quartermaster and then major. The State furnished this company with fifty guns, bayonets, and other accoutremerfts, besides swords for the officers. The record book states that the State also forwarded “1 Brass Kittle drum in good order, and 1 Fife, crooked and unfit for use.” By the end of 1853 about fifty men had joined the Easton Light Infantry. The first parade of the company was on the 25th of May, 1853, with music by the North Bridgewater Band. Inspections, train- ings, musters, etc., were attended at various places from time to time, the company gratefully acknowledging treats of lemonade and other refreshments from persons here and elsewhere. In 1856, beginning August 20, there was a notable muster on the plain south of Lincoln Street. Companies were present from various places, and encamped on the ground. The first two days were rainy, and there was no parade until the third day, when Governor Gardner and Brigadier-General Pierce were present. This muster had the usual accompaniment of such occasions, — rioting, gambling, and drunkenness. Company B attended the famous encampment at Concord, the State Muster of 1859. June 16, 1859, Milo M. Williams was elected captain, and Linton Waldron first lieutenant. October 18, 1860, the company attended a reception in Boston given to the Prince of Wales, before whom they passed in review. This company, however, was destined to do something more than play at sol- diering. The war clouds of rebellion were gathering, and soon the thunders of cannon were sounding in Charleston Harbor. The remaining history of this company will be found in the chapter on Easton in the Rebellion. CAPTAINS AND HIGHER MILITARY OFFICERS OF EASTON. The list below contains the names of those military officers who have risen to and above the rank of captain. It has been impossible to ascertain the exact date of the commissions of some of the earlier officers; but the dates after 1781 are nearly all official, as are a few of those before this time. The others are based upon the town records, tax-lists, and other documents where titles are given, and may be depended upon as approxi- mately correct. 33 514 HISTORY OF EASTON. John Phillips Edward Hayward Eliphalet Leonard Benjamin Williams . Nathaniel Perry . Eliphalet Phillips Matthew Hayward Eliphalet Leonard, Jr. Zephaniah Keith . Benjamin Williams, Jr. Abiel Mitchell Macey Williams , James Keith James Perry Matthew Randall Josiah Keith Ephraim Burr . ait Ah cis Ebenezer Tisdale 4 . before Seth Pratt? . «© « «6 + « June 6, Abner Hayward 8 - about Elisha Harvey # - about Jacob Leonard Jonathan Pratt so aed John Williams April 30, Edward Hayward, 2d. June 9, Abijah Wetherell . April 8, Jedediah Willis June 12, John Tisdale Feb. 3, Eliphalet Leonard, Jr. April 14, Nathaniel Wetherby April 1, David Wade Sheperd Leach Timothy Mitchell Nov. 4, Joshua Williams . April 28, Edward Kingman Oct. 9, Noah Reed April 9, Isaac Lothrop, 2d. May 17, « March 28, 1803 « March 25, 1805 Captains. 1726| Tisdale Godfrey . May 2, 1732 Oliver Pool gigs “225 1744 | Elijah Smith Sept. 27, 1749 | George Alger . May 5, 1754| David Manley . jai Ss 1760 | Bartholomew Drake . » 19, 1765 | Seba Howard . Oct. 4, 1770 | John Gilmore . hy 1771 | Lewis Williams June 5, 1774 | Jonathan Pratt #26, 1774 | Lincoln Drake 33, 20, 1775 | Asa Bartlett May 7, 1775 | Gurdon Stone June Io, 1775 | Alanson White May 23, 1776| Archippus Buck . Aug. 18, 1776| Henry French » 23, 1777 | Frederic Fuller 24, 1779 | Welcome Lothrop Oct. 9, 1780 | John Torrey . May 30, 1780 | Jarvis Lothrop . March 4, 1781 | Barzillai Dean AS 1781 | Perez Marshall a” 4b 1786| Henry Day . . . May 1, 1788 | Tisdale Godfrey, Jr. ee 1788 | Geo. W. Hayward June 3, 1789| Tisdale Harlow April, 18, 1789 | Elbridge G. Reed 18) 1794 Edward W. Dean ay 18) 1794| John R. Drake Jan. 25, 1802 | William E. Bump Dec. 22, Milo M. Williams, Jr. June 16, 1803} Ward L. Foster » 15; John Fitzpatrick . Nov. Io, 1809| Robert Dollard Dec. 14, 1809 | Frank A. Mitchell Feb. 1810] William E. Reed ® . April 1, 1810 1815 1815 1816 1818 1818 1818 1819 1819 1820 1820 1821 1822 1823 1825 1825 1826 1826 1826 1827 1828 1828 1828 1830 1830 1831 1833 1833 1833 1834 1852 1859 1861 1862 1863 1865 1865 1 Was captain before he moved to Easton from Stoughtonham (Sharon), in 1778. 2 Always known, however, as Lieut. Seth Pratt. perhaps not commissioned. 8 Moved to Easton from Bridgewater in 1793 or 1794. . 4 Served as lieutenant to the end of the war, getting his title of captain prob- ably by brevet. 5 A native of Easton though not enlisting here. He served as a captain, but was In his second enlistment his effects were sent to his father’s at Easton, and he considered this town his home. He is son of William G. Reed. MILITIA AND MILITARY HISTORY. 515 Adjutants. Anselm Tupper. . . . « 1781|Cyrus Lothrop . . July 15, 1816 Charles Hayden . . Jan. 6, 1806] Oliver Ames, 3d. . March, 1853 Regimental Surgeons. Samuel Deans . . Aug. 25, 1825 George B. Cogswell . Aug. 7, 1862 Majors. Zephaniah Keith . . probably 1774 | George Wheaton - Sept. 23, 1825 Benjamin Tupper . . (May) 1775|Alanson White . . » 9, 1828 Abiel Mitchell . . May 19,1775|John Torrey . . . Oct. 3, 1829 James Keith . . . . March, 1780] Oliver Ames, 3d. . Dec. 25, 1854 Anselm Tupper . . . about 1789|Frank M.Ames . . July 10, 1857 John Williams . . Oct. 8,1793|Robert Dollard? . . Oct. 25, 1864 Noah Reed . . . April 9, 1810| Joseph W. Hayward? March 13, 1865 John Gilmore. . . »> 5, 1822|John Fitzpatrick . . May 10, 1866 Seba Howard. . . Oct. 20, 1824 Lieutenant-Colonels. BenjaminTupper. . Nov. 4,1775|Alanson White . . Feb. 12, 1827 Zephaniah Keith . . March, 1776/John Torrey . . . Sept. 22, 1831 John Williams . . Aug. 1, 1803] Oliver Ames, 3d... July 10, 1857 Sheperd Leach . . » 7, 1809| Henry L. Dickerman, March 30, 1883 David Manley . . Sept.17, 1819] George F. F. Wilde,? Sept. 25, 1885 John Gilmore . . Aug. 23, 1823 Colonels. Abiel Mitchell . . . Feb., 1776|Sheperd Leach . . June 20, 1816 Benjamin Tupper* . . July 1,1777|John Torrey . . . Oct. 31, 1832 Brigadier-Generals, Benjamin Tupper... . 1782 Sheperd Leach . . July 8, 1819 Major-General. Sheperd Leach, Feb. 16, 1827, discharged March 10, 1830. 1 Captain Dollard was appointed major by General Butler on the battle-field in front of Richmond, September 29, 1864. The above is the date of his commission. 2 He was then assistant-surgeon. He was appointed “ major by brevet .. . to rank as such for faithful and meritorious service.” ® Commander Wilde’s name appears here because a commander in the United States Navy ranks as lieutenant-colonel. * This is not the exact date of Colonel Tupper’s commission; it is the date at which he succeeded to the command of a regiment. It was the eleventh regiment in the Continental Army, and at this time was at West Point. 516 HISTORY OF EASTON. It will be appropriate to close this chapter with a brief sketch of the man who acquired the highest military title of any son of Easton.} Major-GENERAL SHEPERD LEACH was a descendant in the fifth generation from Giles Leach, of Weymouth. He was son of Abisha and Patience (Woods) Leach, and was born in Easton, April 30, 1778. He was early instructed in the business fol- lowed by his father, which was the iron-foundry business, in which the son became quite celebrated. His ambition was to have a monopoly of it in New England ; therefore he purchased all the foundries of which he could get possession. In Cyrus Alger he recognized a dangerous rival, and when he bought out his interest in the business in Easton he stipulated that Mr. Alger should not have a foundry within twenty miles of the town. Mr. Alger obeyed the letter of this stipulation, but started at South Boston the iron foundry that later became a flourishing competitor of General Leach’s business. This busi- ness ambition of General Leach was the cause of his final disaster. He acquired the ownership of more property than he could profitably manage, and at his death his business affairs were in a bad condition. - General Leach took much interest in military matters. “My earliest recollection of him,” writes the Rev. Luther H. Sheldon, “was of his fine appearance on his dapple-gray parade horse on the muster-field, —a horse which he kept solely for this purpose. The General was large, fleshy, of a commanding appearance, a fine officer on the field, and seemed to enjoy his position as general.” He was commissioned captain November 4, 1803, lieutenant-colonel August 7, 1809, colonel June 20, 1816, brig- adier-general July 8, 1819, and major-general February 16, 1827. General Leach was sincerely attached to the new society formed in the first years of the controversy during the Rev. Dr. Sheldon’s ministry; but he was careful not to be drawn into any angry disputes in those exciting times. He thoughtfully matured any propositions he wished to make in any of the parish meetings of that day, and submitted them in writing. The 1 The Rev. Luther H. Sheldon has kindly supplied most of the facts and incidents here given, and the estimate of General Leach’s character is also his MILITIA AND MILITARY HISTORY. 517 \ Evangelical Society had in him a stanch and liberal friend. On stormy Sundays he would get out an immense covered wagon that he owned, and drive from house to house until it was filled with church-goers, and then drive to meeting. When doing business in Boston, he would drive out to Easton to attend the Thursday evening meeting, changing horses on the way, and then drive back the next morning. When the church-bell was broken, he was asked to start a subscription for a new one, and responded by at once subscribing enough to cover the cost of exchanging the old bell for a new one. The Rev. L. H. Shel- don gives this illustration of his generosity : “ J remember start- ing out one Monday morning with the Rev. Mr. Beckwith on a tour round town to get a donation for the Peace Society. We called first on the General, and he said, ‘I was interested in your discourse yesterday. How much do you expect to get in town?’ ‘I was in hopes to get about fifty dollars,’ said Mr. Beckwith. ‘Well,’ said General Leach, ‘ you ought to get that ; but our people have been pretty well taxed lately, and as your time is valuable to you, I might as well hand you the fifty dol- lars and let you go back to Boston.’ And he gave him the money.” Mr. Sheldon further writes, “He would frequently come to my father and say, ‘I have been quite prosperous in my business of late. Here is a little money for the poor and sick in town. You know better than I who are the needy ones: distribute it for me.’ My father would take the package of bills, one hundred dollars, or two hundred dollars, and send him the names of those helped, and the amounts given each. This was of frequent occurrence.” General Leach used to have men dig bog-iron ore in this vicinity. He once gave a man a certain sum for the privilege of digging over his pasture for the ore. More ore was found than was anticipated, and the man came to General Leach with a pitiful story. “I happened to be in the General’s office,” Mr. Sheldon states, “ when the man came and said, ‘My cow-pasture is spoiled, and I ought to have a good deal more than you agreed for the damage.’ The General smiled and said, ‘Did I not give you all you asked?’ ‘Yes,’ was the reply, ‘but I did not think you were going to get so much,’ The General then said, ‘I guess we wont have any hard feelings about it; how 518 HISTORY OF EASTON. much more do you want?’ The man brightened up and named the sum, which was given him on the spot.” General Leach’s generosity to his minister has been referred to in another chapter, but something on that subject may be added here. The Rev. Dr. Sheldon’s sleigh broke down near the General’s house. The latter asked Mr. Sheldon to hitch his horse into a new sleigh and leave the old one with him, saying that he would send for the new one when he wanted it. When he was spoken to about it afterward, he replied with a smile, “I told you I would send for it when I wanted it.” The reader anticipates the result: it was never sent for. Few ministers were ever more fortunate in a parishioner than Dr. Sheldon was in this generous helper. Though not much of a singer himself, General Leach was very fond of singing, and would lead the choir, standing with his back to the audience and beating time in the most approved style. He hired a Boston teacher, Mr. Coburn, to come to Eas- ton at ten dollars per evening to give singing lessons and drill the choir. The Evangelical Society had the name of having the best choir of any country church in this vicinity. One Sun- day while singing during the noon intermission at church, one of his men came galloping up, his horse white with foam, and told the General that the flume of the great pond had broken away and the flood was pouring through, sweeping away bridges and doing immense damage. The General calmly said, “ You can't stopit,can you?” “Why, no!” said the excited horseman. “Well, then, let it run,” said General Leach; “let us sing an- other tune.” The General was fond of children, though he had none of his own. He was accustomed to adopt young girls and keep them until they were married. “He was a great friend to the chil- dren,” Mr. Sheldon-writes, “and always had a pleasant word for any little one who chanced to be near. I well remember his can- tering by the guard on the muster-field up to where a squad of Easton boys were watching the parade, and saying, ‘ Here, Luther, take this money and treat all the boys to cake and lemonade.’” General Leach married Phoebe Torrey, daughter of Joseph Torrey, of Hanover. He was thrown out of his chaise in 1832, MILITIA AND MILITARY HISTORY. 519 and sustained, it was thought, some internal injuries, in conse- quence of which he died. His death occurred September 109, 1832. He was reputed in his day to be the wealthiest man in Easton ; he was certainly a man of mark, with popular and engaging qualities, and will long be honorably remembered in town. His widow, April 10, 1837, was married to Dea. Dwelly Williams. She was born in 1784, and died December 22, 1851. 520 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXIxX. THE CIVIL WAR. OPENING OF THE WAR. — DEPARTURE OF ComMPANY B, FOURTH REGIMENT, FOR FortTRESS MONROE; ITS RETURN. — ENLISTMENTS IN THE SECOND REGIMENT.— COMPANY G, SEVENTH REGIMENT. — OTHER ENLISTMENTS FROM EASTON IN 1861.— ToWN ACTION IN 1861. — EASTON VOLUNTEERS IN 1862.— ARTILLERY SERVICE.— TOWN AC- TION IN 1862, ENLISTMENTS AND SERVICE OF SOLDIERS IN 1863. — THE Drafts. — DIsTRICT SUBSCRIPTION PAPERS. — TOWN ACTION IN 1863. — VOLUNTEERS IN 1864. — TowN ACTION IN 1864. — THE SOL- DIERS RETURN IN 1865.— EASTON SOLDIERS IN THE Navy. — TOWN ACTION IN 1865. — DESERTERS AND SHIRKERS. — WOMAN’S SERVICE AND TRIALS. —SUMMARY OF ENLISTMENTS. — Major Roserr DOL- LARD. — MAJor JOHN FITZPATRICK. — COMPLETE RECORD OF EASTON SOLDIERS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. T hardly needed a prophet’s vision to foresee that the exist- ence in our free country of a system of slavery, in which human beings were bought and sold like cattle, must lead to an irrepressible conflict. For many years preceding the Rebellion, the antagonism between the North and South had increased and intensified. Various measures, among others the infamous Fugi- tive-Slave Law, which the Slave-power, aided by Northern allies of both parties, forced upon the country, had roused a spirit of opposition which refused to be quieted, and it soon became evi- dent to the more clear-sighted that if the Union was to be pre- served, Slavery must go. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was followed by the formal secession from the Union of several of the Southern States. Andrew Jackson years before had squelched a similar movement by one stamp of his foot. But President Buchanan, unmanned by his divided sympathies, faltered. The conspiracy gained rapid headway, and immediately organized itself for action, —the purpose of the Southern States being to withdraw from the Union and form a separate and rival nation, with Slavery as its corner-stone. The first open act of war was the firing upon the United States national transport THE CIVIL WAR. 521 the “Star of the West,” in Charleston Harbor. This was Jan- uary 9, 1861. The bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Rebels began April 12, and they intended to follow up this blow by seizing the national capital. April 15, President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand troops for three months’ service. The call met a swift response; thousands of loyal men were soon on the move, and Washington was saved. But the long and bloody conflict had begun. 1861. Among the first regiments called into the field was the Fourth Massachusetts, composed in part of companies in the Old Colony. Within twelve hours after being summoned, all the companies of this regiment reported for duty at Faneuil Hall in Boston. This was April 16, only three days after the surrender of Fort Sumter and the next day after President Lincoln issued his call for troops. The regiment was quartered for the night with other troops in Faneuil Hall. On the next day they were fitted out with overcoats, blankets, knapsacks, and haversacks, with three days’ rations, and the old guns were exchanged for new Spring- field rifled muskets. Before starting, the regiment was addressed in the following eloquent terms by Governor Andrew: — “Tt gives me unspeakable pleasure to witness this array from the good Old Colony. You have come from the shores of the sounding sea, where lie the ashes of Pilgrims, and you are bound on a high and noble pilgrimage for liberty, for the Union and Constitution of your country. Soldiers of the Old Bay State! sons of sires who never disgraced their flag in civil life or on the tented field! I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this noble response to the call of your State and your Country. You cannot wait for words. I bid you God speed and an affectionate farewell!” The march to the Old Colony Station was made amid intense excitement. At ten P.M. on the 17th the regiment had em- barked on the steamer “State of Maine,” at Fall River, reaching New York at five o’clock on the afternoon of the 18th. While waiting at the wharf they witnessed the landing of Major An- derson, the hero and defender of Sumter, who was received with indescribable enthusiasm. That evening a row-boat came along- 522 HISTORY OF EASTON. side the vessel with whiskey for sale. The venders were said to be Rebel sympathizers, who had poisoned the liquor. The story is doubtful, though it is certain that some who drank of it were made sick; and one of them, an Easton man, died from the effects of it in great agony. At four o’clock on the morning of the 19th the steamer started for Fortress Monroe. Considerable anxiety was felt by those on board, as it was not known who was in possession of the fort; but at sunrise on Saturday, April 20, the soldiers on the steamer had the satisfaction of seeing the Stars and Stripes unfurled to the breeze on the fortress walls. For over a month the Fourth Regiment remained on duty at Fortress Monroe, and then with a regiment from New York and one from Vermont they took possession of Newport News. A portion of this regiment, not however including Company B of Easton, took part in the attack on Big Bethel, which ended dis- astrously in the repulse of our troops. After being encamped at Hampton until July 11 they marched to Fortress Monroe, and on the 15th they embarked on the steamer “S. R. Spaulding,” arriving at Boston after a pleasant passage. They landed on Long Island and remained there until the 22d, when they came up to Long Wharf, from whence they marched to the Common, where they had an enthusiastic reception. The Fourth Regi- ment was the first to leave Massachusetts, and the first to land on the soil of Virginia. On their return home the citizens of Easton gave their patriot soldiers a most cordial reception. This reception took place in a little grove just north of Unity Church parsonage, to which the returned volunteers were escorted by a juvenile military com- pany and by the town’s people, and where speeches were made by citizens of Easton. The following is the muster-roll of Company B, Fourth Regi- ment, omitting those who were not from Easton : — Milo M. Williams, Capzazn. George Richards, Corporal. Linton Waldron, 1s¢ Lieutenant. James N. Mackay, ais William E. Bump, Jr., 2d Lzeut. Albert Tilden, is John A. Lynch, Sergeant. William H. Willis, Musicéan. Rufus H. Willis, i Charles Baker, Private. Robert Clifford, 6 Charles Bellows, or Alfred B. Richmond, ,, Daniel B. Blaisdell, ,, John W. Gerry, Corporal. Oliver H. Blaisdell, _,, THE CIVIL WAR. 523 William Crockett, Private. Charles Maguire, Private. George H. Davis, Pr James T. Morley, i Robert Dollard, <5 James H. Motherwell, ,, John Duffy, i David Mulhearn 2 43 David Fisher, 3 Jacob J. Randall, 5 Bernard Galligan, 9 Michael F. Sheehan ,, Reuben Harlow, 7 William F. Story, 53 William H. Keenan ,, Robert Watts, 45 Of these all returned except Charles Bellows, whose death has been noted, and who was not mustered into service. Most of them re-enlisted, and saw much more service in the war. In Company A of the same regiment, which was composed of men mainly from Canton, Sharon, and Stoughton, were the following Easton men: Ellis B. Hewitt, William R. Roberts, Frederick A. Smith, and Hiram White. They were in the second detachment, which reached Fortress Monroe, May 19. The second enlistment of men from Easton were those who joined Company H of the Second Regiment, and were mustered into service on the 25th of May, 1861. This regiment deserves special notice, because it was the first loyal regiment raised for three years, or the war. It went into camp in West Roxbury, at Brook Farm, the property of the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, who offered it free of charge for that purpose. It was there thoroughly drilled by experienced officers. The ladies of Boston presented it with its regimental colors. On the 8th of July the regiment broke camp, and under orders from General Scott started southward, arriving at Hagarstown, Maryland, July 10, and joined General Patterson at Martinsburg on the 12th. Sub- sequently they went to Harper’s Ferry, and were afterward under command of General Banks, who removed them to Sandy Hook. The regiment did picket and other duty, having some skirmishes with the enemy. In January, 1862, it encamped near Frederick. We shall follow its fortunes further in succeeding years, but give here the names of the men who enlisted in it from Easton at this time for three years. They were in Company H. 1 Incorrectly given as John Motherwell in Adjutant-General’s reports. ? Mulhearn was left behind at Boston and went to Fortress Monroe afterward with the Eighth Regiment. He was received by his comrades with three hearty cheers. 524 HISTORY OF EASTON. David A. Middleton, Corforal. John Murphy, 2d, Private. Vernon Randall, 5 Hugh S. O’Donnell, 8 Jeremiah Murray. ay James Powers, 5 Thomas Murray, Musician. Richard Powers, a5 Thomas Duffy, Private. Patrick Reynolds, ” Patrick J. Healan. ” Silas K. Ripley, ” James Lehane, ath Richard Seavers, 8 James McCready, a3 John S. Smith, a John Motherwell, + John Welsh, ” Ezra G. Whittemore, Private. In Company K of the same regiment the name of Michael McMullen of North Easton is given, and Hugh S. O’Donnell is of Company H, but is incorrectly credited to North Bridgewater. Richard Powers is credited to Boston, but by mistake. David A. Middleton and Richard Powers left the infantry and enlisted in the navy. Vernon Randall and Jeremiah Murray, for reasons best known to themselves, left the service in mid-summer.! The third enlistment of volunteers in Easton was in Company C, — Captain Ward L. Foster,—in the Seventh Regiment. This regiment was commanded by Colonel Couch, of Taunton, a West Point graduate. It was sworn into service June 15, 1861, left camp July 12, arrived in Washington on the evening of the 15th, and encamped on Kalorama Heights near Georgetown. In August it moved to Camp Brightwood, District of Columbia, and went into winter quarters. Company G recruited in April and May. The town of Eas- ton paid each member of this company fifteen dollars bounty, and fifteen dollars per month. The Easton men in it were as follows : — Ward L. Foster, Captazn. Eustis E. Burt, Private. Augustus W. Lothrop, 1s¢ Lieut, Daniel Donovan, 95 Munroe F, Williams, 2d Lzeut. Jason F. Eldridge, ss George W. Andrews, Sergeant. Philip Fay, ” Philander W. Fecto, 8 Billings Fisher, 5 Seth T. Dunbar, Corforal. Matthew F. Flaherty, ,, Freeman E. Wells, __,, Samuel H. Gilmore, _,, James A. Humphrey, Musician. Frederic E. Healy, _,, Edward W. Hansell, 39 Caleb R. Holbrook, ,, James Wells, Wagoner. James H. Keenan, 55 1 Record of Massachusetts Volunteers, vol. ii. pp. 43, 49, 50, 54, 57: Sk THE CIVIL WAR. 525 Albert A. Lincoln, Private. Charles O’Brien, Private. Charles F. Lothrop, Ks William O’Rourke, 35 Michael McCool, 35 William W. Packard, ,, James McCullough, 7 Henry W. Peck, o John McKeehan, 9 Asaph W. Phillips, 45 Thomas McNamara, 9 Howard W. Phillips, _,, James P. Middleton, 53 Nathan P. Randall, a George M. Murphy, ” Charles ‘S. Torry, a James H. Murphy, 5 Samuel R. White, 33 Charles E. Williams, Private. There were a few later enlistments in this company that will be mentioned in giving an account of it in successive years. The above are those who were mustered in during 1861. In Company H of this Seventh Regiment there enlisted from Easton Josiah Williams, corporal, Francis Drake and Mason A. Hill. The last two named were privates, but both were pro- moted to be sergeants. Thomas McNamara, William O’Rourke, Charles E. Williams, and Philip Fay, after a few days, repented their rashness in be- coming soldiers, and concluded to serve their country by remain- ing at home. This statement is rather a free paraphrase of the record as reported on the regimental rolls. The Eleventh Regiment had in 1861 but one Easton volunteer ; this was Simeon Randall, who enlisted December 12, and was discharged in August, 1862, for disability, having very badly sprained his knee, from which injury he has never recovered. The Twelfth Regiment had during the first year of the war but six Easton men ; they were mustered in June 26 for three years’ service, and were as follows : — Co. F, George G. Smith. Co. I, Charles A. Gilmore. Co. I, John Goulding, Corporal. » Peleg F. Randall. » Hiram F. French. », John Watts. Seth L. French, of Easton, enlisted in Company E, and is credited to Natick. Henry R. Packard, of Easton, was musician in Company E. This regiment was commanded by Col. Fletcher Webster ; it reported for duty at Harper's Ferry, July 27, and remained in Maryland during the winter. 1 For this Seventh Regiment, see Record of Massachusetts Volunteers, vol. ii, P. 63 et seg. 526 HISTORY OF EASTON. In the Eighteenth Regiment there enlisted in 1861, in Company B, two Easton men, — Martin Cunningham and John Mullen; and in Company K, Virgil Bird and Benjamin F. Boodry. In the Twentieth Regiment Reuben Harlow, who had just been discharged from the Fourth Regiment, re-enlisted August 24, in Company G. This regiment took part in the battle of Ball’s Bluff, at which Harlow was taken prisoner. He was dis- charged for disability December 20. In the 7wenty-third Regiment Robert Dollard re-enlisted Sep- tember 28 as sergeant in Company E. In Company A, of the Twenty-fourth Regiment, Charles Baker re-enlisted September 12, and Charles H. McGuire! September 13; and in Company G there enlisted in 1861 — . George N. Blanchard, Sept. 24. Denison S. Drew, Sept. 23. Irving Dickerman, Uct. 12.— Henry T. Drew, Sept. 24. In Company C of the same regiment Ellis R. Holbrook served as musician, and in Company H William S. Mitchell enlisted September Io. The Zwenty-sixth Regiment was recruited at Camp Chase, Lowell. The colonel and many officers and men of this regi- ment were of the gallant Sixth M.V.M. Company C, Capt. E. W. Thayer, of Pawtucket, had the following Easton men, who enlisted in September and October :— John A. Lynch, 1s¢ Lieutenant. James L. Howard, Private. Albert Tilden, 2d Lieutenant. William H. Keenan, a William Crockett, Sergeant. Addison A. Lothrop, ay Elijah G. Howard, Corporal. David Middleton, 4 George H. Davis, ry Charles Mitchell, on William E. Cole, Private. Theodore Mitchell, +9 Major Crockett, 55 Timothy Murphy, ” Joshua Hardy, $9 George B. Randall, % Phineas A. Randall, Przvate. This regiment sailed from Boston on the 21st of November, and went to Ship Island, Louisiana. We shall see in the ac- count of it for 1862 that Lieutenant Lynch became captain of Company C, and that this regiment saw active service. In the 1 The middle initial H. was an unauthorized addition, but McGuire concluded to let it stand. THE CIVIL WAR. ee printed muster-rolls the name of William H. Keenan is incor- rectly reported on the quota of Attleborough. He happened to be at work there ; but he was a resident of Easton, paid his taxes here during the war, received no bounty from Attleborough, and enlisted as an Easton soldier. This is his own statement, made personally to the writer. In the Twenty-eighth Regiment, which was composed princi- pally of Irishmen, there enlisted in 1861 Cornelius Slattery in Company D, and James McEvoy in Company F. Other Easton recruits joined the latter company after this year, and will be re- ported further on. This regiment did not leave for the seat of war until January 11, 1862. The Twenty-ninth Regiment had seven companies that had seen previous service in the Massachusetts Third and Fourth regiments. These seven companies, without returning home, had been organized for three years’ service ; and after the other companies of the Third and Fourth left the seat of war, July 16, 1861, this being the expiration of their term of service, these seven companies were placed under the command of Captain Barnes, of Company K, and were known as the Massachusetts Battalion, performing valuable services. In December, three other companies were added to the battalion, and it was then organized as the Twenty-ninth. Of the Easton men who en- listed in this regiment in 1861 there were — Dr. George B. Cogswell, Ass’¢-Sur. Daniel B. Blaisdell, Prévate. Alfred B. Richmond, Sergeant. Willard Drake, 9 Robert L. Watts, 3 Solomon R. Foster, _,, Lemuel Capen, Corporal. Minot E. Phillips, 2 James H. Ladd, Wagoner. Nelson M. Randall, _,, John Bartlett, Private. Charles Roberts, ¥ Charles H. Smith, Private. These twelve men were in Company G. Others afterward joined them, and this regiment saw a good deal of hard service. In the First Massachusetts Cavalry, Horace F. Pool was mus- tered in as a member of Company I, December 11, 1861. Rufus H. Willis had previously enlisted, and was credited to Bridge- water. 528 HISTORY OF EASTON. TOWN ACTION IN 1861. In the year 1861 the town of Easton took all needful means to do its part in the opening conflict of the great Civil War. On the 29th of April the first legal town-meeting to act upon matters relating to the war was held, and it was then voted to pay each inhabitant (except commissioned officers) of Easton, when called into the military service of the country, fifteen dollars as a gift, and “fifteen dollars a month for each month he shall remain in said service.” It was voted that the soldiers who had already gone should have the same pay as those who might go. The town treasurer was authorized to borrow ten thousand dollars in aid of those who should enlist. Oliver Ames, Jv., A. A. Rotch, and Lincoln Drake were appointed a commit- tee to disburse funds, and to aid soldiers’ families if needed. This prompt action shows that the town was fully alive to the exigencies of the great crisis. July 11 the town voted to raise by taxation three thousand dollars to defray expense already incurred, and to fulfil contracts made with volunteers who had been mustered into the service of the United States. The same amount was voted in aid of soldiers’ wives and families as State aid, to be reimbursed to the town as provided by a law of the Commonwealth. 1862. In the account of Easton volunteers for 1862, instead of fol- lowing the precise order of time of the several enlistments, it will be more systematic to notice the regiments in their numeri- cal order. In the Second Regiment there were already at the beginning of the year thirteen Easton men. This regiment participated in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Mountain, and Antietam, be- sides sharing in many minor engagements. It saw hard fight- ing; and at Cedar Mountain and Antietam its casualties were one third of the number engaged in action. There were no new enlistments. from Easton in this regiment in 1862. Thomas Duffy was killed August 9 at the battle of Cedar Mountain, and November 19 James McCready was discharged for disability. THE CIVIL WAR. 529 September 29 four men enlisted from Easton in the Third Regiment, M.V.M. for nine months. This regiment left camp October 22 and went to Newbern, North Carolina, where it en- gaged in arduous service in an active campaign, sometimes marching with the thermometer one hundred and seven degrees in the shade, and sometimes bivouacking on the ground without shelter when the water froze in the canteens. It was mustered out June 26, 1863, at the expiration of the term of service. The Easton men were Henry H. Delano, Cyrus S. Howard, George A. Lackey, Issachar K. Snell. The Fourth Regiment had already served in 1861 at and near Fortress Monroe. When the call was made in 1862 for nine months’ regiments it again volunteered. The Easton men en- listed September 23; the regiment left camp December 27, and sailed for Louisiana. It saw severe service, participating in the labors and hardships of the siege of Port Hudson, and taking part in the assault ; but as this was in 1863, it will be spoken of further on. The Easton men who enlisted in the Fourth Regiment were as follows :— Co. A, John Duffy. Co. K, Michael Milrick. » Michael E. Roach. 35 Enoch O’Shea. Co. C, William C. Ashley.2 » George E. Packard. Co. E, Ichabod Dean. » William M. Packard. Co. K, James H. Leach, Corporal. » Daniel Quane. » Daniel W. Burrill. » John Rigney. » David Howard. » Henry E. Strout. »» Daniel Murphy. » George A. Tilden. David Whalen. The Seventh Regiment was in winter quarters in the District of Columbia in 1861 and 1862. March 29 it arrived at Fortress Monroe. April 5 it participated in the engagement before Wil- liamsburg. May 31 and June 1 it was in the battle of Fair Oaks, took some part at Antietam, and also in the battle of Fredericksburg, and performed difficult and dangerous service 1 Ashley was a temporary resident, perhaps only a visitor, in Easton. Our very imperfect Town Rebellion Record reports him as sick when the regiment left camp, and states that he was furloughed, but was never called for. The Record of Massa- chusetts Volunteers credits him with service and with a regular discharge. See Record of Massachusetts Volunteers, vol. i. p. 185. 34 530 HISTORY OF EASTON. during the year. This regiment contained a large number of Easton men, already reported as enlisting in 1861. There en- listed in 1862, in Company G, Edward E. Randall and Charles H. Willis. George E. Willis enlisted in Company B, and Albert M. Hayward enlisted for Boston in Company H. Munroe Wil- liams was commissioned first lieutenant, November 1 ; George Andrews was made second lieutenant, August 11; Augustus W. Lothrop resigned July 17; Charles H. Willis died at Fort- ress Monroe, October 10; James A. Humphrey died at David’s Island Hospital, September 30, and not at Alexandria, as re- ported in the official record ;1 Jason F. Eldridge died at Bellevue. Hospital, Virginia, August 27; and Matthew T. Flaherty and Josiah Williams were discharged for disability. Albert A. Lin- coln and William W. Packard no longer put in an appearance. Samuel H. Gilmore had returned home and died at Easton, January 4, 1863. In the Twelfth Regiment six men from Easton, as before re- ported, enlisted in 1861. In 1862 Franklin H. Godfrey, Web- ster Howard, and Tyler F. Clapp enlisted in the same; the latter was discharged for disability, December 6. This regiment in 1862 was engaged in the battles of Cedar Mountain, second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. In the Eighteenth Regiment Hiram A. Randall enlisted Au- gust 13. Martin Cunningham was killed at Bull Run, August 30; and Virgil Bird was discharged for disability, September 28. This regiment was in the battle of Bull Run, Fredericks- burg, and other engagements. At Bull Run it lost in killed, wounded, and missing one hundred and sixty-nine men; and at Fredericksburg, one hundred and thirty-four. This indicates the perilous and active service in which it engaged. In the Twenty-third Regiment Robert Dollard was made second lieutenant, December 29. The Twenty-fourth Regiment served in the expedition of General Burnside in North Carolina, seeing arduous service ; but no changes were made among the few Easton men in the 1 Humphrey belonged to the band, and ought to have been released when the band was mustered out ; but in order to oblige Captain Foster he agreed to serve temporarily as a corporal. He was not allowed to leave, was taken sick, and died soon after his father found him at the hospital. THE CIVIL WAR. 531 regiment, except that November 24 Denison S. Drew was dis- charged for disability. There were no new enlistments in the 7wenty-sixth Regiment, but there were several changes. John A. Lynch was promoted to be captain, September 30; Albert Tilden became first lieutenant, July 22; Joshua Hardy was discharged for disability, October 13, and also George B. Randall, September 17. Theodore Mitchell died at New Orleans, July 5; and on the next day at the same place Phineas A. Randall breathed his last. This regiment served in Louisiana. From November 28, 1862, to June 20, 1863, it remained on provost duty in New Orleans. Seth L. French was discharged for disability, December 30. The Twenty-eighth Regiment, with six Easton men in it, saw service near the coast in Georgia and South Carolina, and later came northward and participated in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and other important engagements. The changes for the year among the Easton men were James McEvoy, dis- charged for disability, September 25, having been severely wounded in the head; Cornelius Slattery, killed at Fredericks- burg, December 13; Thomas Conway enlisted January 1 and vanished before August 25; Nicholas Murphy enlisted January 1, and Timothy Murphy enlisted August 12. The Zwenty-ninth Regiment at the beginning of 1862 con- tained twelve Easton men. January 1, Charles S. Packard en- listed ; and June 20, Alfred Lincoln. Charles F. Roberts also joined in 1862; he and Alfred Lincoln enlisted in 1861, but were rejected as being too young; they were however taken as orderlies to Newport News, and afterward placed on the rolls of Company G. August 7, Dr. George B. Cogswell was promoted from assistant-surgeon to the rank of surgeon. Minot E. Phillips was taken by the Rebels near Richmond, became sick, and died at Belle Isle in July. Alfred B. Richmond and James H. Ladd were discharged for disability, — the former, September 20; the latter, November 20. Daniel B. Blaisdell was reported a deserter, July 2, but the case needs explanation. Colonel Pierce engaged him for a body servant to serve him while he was at the front; in order to do this it was necessary for Blais- dell to be enrolled as a soldier, but it was with the understanding that he was to act only in the capacity named. When Colonel 532 HISTORY OF EASTON. Pierce came home, Blaisdell came with him, and was naturally unwilling to return and serve as soldier, contrary to contract ; hence the report of his desertion. This excuse for Blaisdell came to the writer from apparently good authority. The Twenty-ninth served at Newport News, Norfolk, Ports- mouth, and other places in Virginia early in 1862. June 9g it was assigned to the “Irish Brigade,” commanded by General Thomas F. Meagher, and was engaged in the battles of Gaines’s Mills, Savage’s Station, Malvern Hill, Antietam, and Fredericks- burg. It would be very interesting to follow in detail the excit- ing account of the marches, battles, and various experiences of this regiment, but to do so would too much extend the limits of this chapter. The well-written ‘‘ History of the Twenty-ninth Regiment” gives full and interesting details. Linus W. Drake’s record is not reported, but the town-book states that he was discharged March 15. The other enlistments for 1862 were as follows :— Nathaniel B. Lincoln enlisted, August 9, in the Zhzrty-fifth Regiment; but his record is blank, for he did not go to the front, an extemporized colic serving to get him left behind. Edward E. Randall, January 31, enlisted in Company I, of the Thirty-seventh Regiment. In Company A of the Thirty-ninth Regiment, August 18, George J. Boodry, Jr., and Thomas Bean enlisted. Gustavus Alden joined Company F, of the fortieth Regiment, September 3. Frank A. Mitchell, September 12, joined Company F of the Fortyfourth Regiment, and served for nine months. John McCready enlisted in Boston in Company I of the Forty- fifth Regiment, October 15, but soon after was missing, and en- listed in the Navy as explained further on. In Company G, Forty-eighth Regiment, John Richards en- listed October 1. Hosea S. Packard May 30, and Wilson P. Packard June 16, enlisted in the Zighth Light Battery-of sixth months’ troops, the 1 The Record of Massachusetts Volunteers, vol. ii. p. 328, incorrectly states that he served to the expiration of his term of enlistment, September 3, 1863. In fact he died at the United States Hospital at Albany, August 31. His widow is in posses- sion of letters from hospital officers proving this, and his body was sent on and buried at Randolph. THE CIVIL WAR. ee former enlisting for North Bridgewater. This battery left Bos- ton for Washington June 25. A melancholy accident occurred a short distance south of Trenton, New Jersey, the train being thrown from the track, and Hosea Packard and another man killed. Wilson Packard was discharged November 209. In the Minth Light Battery, August 10, Peter Fisher, Jr., Thomas Fisher, and John W. McDonald enlisted. Thomas McGrath of Easton enlisted, October 22, in the Twelfth Battery, and is credited to Boston. October 8, ten Easton men enlisted at Providence in Battery H, First Rhode Island Light Artillery. (In the town-book this is incorrectly reported as Battery Eighth.) Their names were as follows :— Job Randall, Corporal. Luther A. Phillips. Warner Alden. Uriah Houghton Reed. Charles E. Elison. Silas K. Ripley. Henry A. Phillips. Asahel Smith. John Phillips. Frederic A. Smith. They were mustered into service on the 14th of October. The battery to which they belonged was stationed at Washing- ton much of the time during its service, but it saw some active campaigning in Virginia. Though these men did not enlist for the town of Easton, an attempt was made to have them credited to the town as part of its quota. On this account they claimed a bounty from Easton in addition to the bounties they had re- ceived from Providence. Similar claims were made by other Easton men who enlisted elsewhere, but were reported as part of Easton’s quota ; but as their claims were not valid they were not allowed. Residents of Easton who enlisted to the credit of other towns could not of course rightly be claimed as a part of the quota of Easton. To report them as such would be to credit two towns with the same men, and this would make the actual number of soldiers enlisted throughout the State to be much smaller than the aggregate number reported from the several towns of the State. TOWN ACTION IN 1862, During the year 1862 Easton took active and generous meas- ures to encourage enlistments. July 19 the town voted to pay 534 HISTORY OF EASTON. each volunteer who should enlist for three years’ service, and be credited to the quota of the town, a bounty of one hundred dol- lars, “in addition to the pay and bounty of the Government.” The selectmen were authorized to act as recruiting officers. Oliver Ames, Jr., Charles L. Swan, and H. J. Fuller were appointed a committee to draft a series of resolutions; they reported the following, which were adopted in town-meeting with enthusiasm :— Resolved, That the brilliant success that has attended our efforts in crushing this wicked rebellion inspire our hearts with gratitude and nerve our hands to strike heavier blows for the triumph of Freedom. Resolved, That we heartily respond to the call of the President for Volunteers, believing that an overwhelming force now put into the field will make short work with the Rebellion, cover our army with glory, and make our glorious Republic the strongest as well as the freest government of the world. Resolved, That we the inhabitants of Easton, deeply sensible of the importance of a speedy compliance with the President’s late call, al- though we have already made heavy contributions to the army, yet we will spare no efforts to place our quota promptly in the field. Resolved, That the preservation of the Union and the Constitution, and the crisis of the hour call upon us to sacrifice with a military heart our lives and our fortunes upon the altar of our Country. August 11, the town voted to give seventy-five dollars to each volunteer in addition to the one hundred dollars already voted. On the 19th it was voted to pay a bounty of one hundred and fifty dollars to each volunteer for nine months’ service, who en- listed and was credited to the quota of the town. December 6, to fill the quota of the town, the bounty was raised to two hun- dred dollars to each volunteer, “whether he is an inhabitant of the town of Easton or otherwise.” Meantime the ladies of the town were very active in organ- izing circles to prepare and forward lint, bandages, garments, and many other things needed for the comfort of the sick and wounded in camp and hospital. 1863. At the beginning of the year 1863 eleven Easton men were still serving in the Second Regiment of three years’ men. This ‘THE CIVIL WAR. cae regiment took part in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettys- burg, and was on duty at New York City from August 22 to Sep- tember 5 for the suppression of riots; September 27 it left the Army of the Potomac to reinforce the army of General Rosecrans, and when the year closed was stationed at Elk River Railroad Bridge in Tennessee on guard duty. The changes among the Easton men in this regiment were as follows: Patrick Reynolds was discharged for disability March 4, and Silas K. Ripley July 7 ; Richard Seavers was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, July 3; John S. Smith was transferred to another arm of service, Octo- ber 1; December 31 Ezra G. Whittemore re-enlisted. The names of the Easton men in the Fourth Regiment have already been given. It arrived in Louisiana early in 1863, and was actively engaged in the campaign there. It took part in the siege and assault of Port Hudson. Company K, in which were fourteen Easton men, was one of the five companies de- tailed to carry hand-grenades in the advance of the storming column; and Captain Bartlett, who led these companies, fell mortally wounded on the very breastworks of the enemy. In the attack on Port Hudson of June 14, 1863, this regiment lost in killed and wounded sixty-eight men. There was later con- siderable difficulty with some members of this regiment, who demanded to be released from service when their term of enlist- ment expired ; but as this was a critical time and their services were much needed, they were required to remain. Incensed at this, many of them refused to obey orders, and a part of the regiment was put under arrest ; but no Easton man was included in this number. Of the Easton men in this regiment, John Duffy was killed in the attack on Port Hudson, June 14, 1863; Michael E. Roach was wounded in the foot on the same date, and died July 5 at New Orleans ; Michael Milrick died June 21 at Brashear City ; William M. Packard died July 12 at Baton Rouge; and George A. Tilden died at Port Hudson July 30. The others were mus- tered out of service August 28, 1863, having served over eleven months though enlisting as a nine months’ regiment. Its entire loss was upwards of one hundred and twenty-five men. The Seventh Regiment had thirty-three Easton men when the year opened, all but three being in Company G, commanded 536 HISTORY OF EASTON. by Capt. Ward L. Foster. It served in 1863 in several engage- ments, — the most important being at Marye’s Hill May 3, at Gettysburg July 3, and at Rappahannock Station November 7. It saw hard fighting at the first named battle near Fredericks- burg, where out of about five hundred men its losses in killed and wounded were one hundred and thirty-seven, of whom twenty- three were killed. The following changes among Easton men in this regiment occurred this year: Munroe F. Williams, first lieuten- ant, was severely wounded in the shoulder at the battle of Marye’s Hill; he resigned, and August 14 was discharged. George W. Andrews was promoted to be first lieutenant February 2, and re- signed June17. James Wells was discharged for disability Janu- ary 3, Norman L. Dunbar November 14, Henry Peck January 3, and Francis Drake February 19. Charles O’Brien was trans- ferred November 16 to the gunboat “ Benton,” and James Murphy was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps September 1. In the Zwelfth Regiment nine Easton men were serving, and they were at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Thomas Flood, who enlisted October 10, was transferred to the Thirty-ninth. George B. Randall re-enlisted October 13. Three men were discharged for disability, — Webster Howard, April 29; Hiram F. French, February 10; and Peleg F. Randall February 3. Tyler F. Clapp enlisted August 13, and was discharged for disability December 6. The Eighteenth Regiment saw about the same service as the last named. It had three Easton men, one of whom, John Mul- len, died at Camp Parole, Maryland, February 5. From the 7wentieth Regiment George H. Howard disappeared in August. Charles L. Britton, Jr., enlisted in the Zzwenty-second Regi- ment July 16. The Zwenty-fourth Regiment had four Easton men. It was in service in North and South Carolina and Florida, with very interesting experiences in the harbor of Charleston, South Caro- lina. Henry T. Drew died November 15, at Port Royal. William S. Mitchell, April 23, and Ellis R. Holbrook, August 28, were discharged, the former for disability. The Twenty-sixth Regiment had fourteen Easton men in January of this year. It was on provost duty at New Orleans THE CIVIL WAR. 537 until June 20. Its active service in Louisiana during the rest of the year was inconsiderable. Corporal Elijah G. Howard died May 27 at New Orleans. The following were discharged for disability: Major Crockett November 16; David Middleton July 24; and William E. Cole May 18. December 31 Sergeant William Crockett, Corporal George H. Davis, and Timothy Murphy were discharged to re-enlist, which they did at once. This Timothy is not to be confounded with Timothy W. Murphy, who distinguished himself only by conspicuous absence. In the Twenty-cighth Regiment the enlistment of Daniel E. Sanderson, a temporary resident in town, is credited to Easton for November 11. Nicholas Murphy was discharged for disa- bility January 9. Timothy W. Murphy’s record has just been alluded to. The Twenty-ninth Regiment served in 1863 in Kentucky, Mis- sissippi, and Tennessee. It was in the siege of Vicksburg from June 17 to July 4, the siege of Jackson from July 11 to the 16th, the battle of Blue Springs October 10, the battle of Campbell’s ‘Station November 16, and the siege of Knoxville from Novem- ber 17 to December 5. Solomon R. Foster was discharged for disability, February 10, and Nelson M. Randall, March 109. Edward E. Randall was serving in the 7hirty-seventh Regi- ment. Thomas Bean and George J. Boodry were serving in the Thiriy-ninth Regiment. Frank A. Mitchell was discharged from the Forty-fourth Regi- ment in June. John D. Haney re-enlisted in the Third Battery, Light Artil- lery, December 28. Peter Fisher enlisted in the Minth Battery December 26. James T. Morley, who enlisted in the Fourth Regiment in 1861, re-enlisted December 26, 1863, in the Fourth Regiment of Cavalry. George H. Drake was discharged June 3 from the Sixth Regi- ment of Cavalry, this being the limit of his term of enlistment. From the Rhode Island Battery H, which had ten Easton men, Uriah H. (best known as Houghton) Reed was discharged in February. When Mr. Reed was about to enlist, he was remon- strated with by Oliver Ames, Jr., for he then had a lame knee, 538 HISTORY OF EASTON. for which, in fact, he was subsequently discharged. But Mr. Reed, who had once been a circus performer, turned three somersaults in quick succession as a sufficient answer to Mr. Ames’s doubt of his physical ability. When later he applied for a discharge for disability, the sceptical surgeon gave him severe tests of cupping, etc., that made him almost repent of his appli- cation; he was, however, discharged. John Phillips died in camp near Fairfax Station, Virginia, March 1, and his body was sent home for burial. Henry A. Phillips was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps September 12, and did not again go into service. Asahel Smith was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps and sent to the hospital at Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island, and discharged March 13, 1863. At the battle of Chancellorsville, which occurred May 2 and 3, Patrick McCourt of Easton, who was in the Sixty-sixth New York Infantry was killed. The evidence of this seems to be conclu- sive, although an application to the Adjutant-General of New York brought back the statement to the writer that he was reported as a deserter on the rolls of the New York Sixty-sixth Regiment. But the writer has carefully questioned several persons who conversed with one of McCourt’s comrades who saw him shot through the body, and who endeavored, though in vain, to get him off the field. The evidence of his death was con- clusive enough to secure a pension for his mother; and though this was subsequently withdrawn, the withdrawal was owing to the discovery that she had a husband, and had not been depen- dent upon her son for support. This particular statement is due to the memory of a man who died fighting for his country. These facts have been communicated to the Adjutant-General of New York State, who has acknowledged their receipt ; and the record of McCourt will probably be changed, so that this stain upon his memory may be wiped out. It was not uncommon for missing men to be reported as deserters, and gross injustice was sometimes unintentionally done in this way. THE DRAFT, In July, 1863, occurred the draft for soldiers, — the volunteer enlistments failing to furnish a sufficient number of troops. The first draft that included Easton was made at Taunton, under THE CIVIL WAR. 539 charge of Capt. J. W. D. Hall, then provost-marshal. It was a time of intense anxiety to men liable to military service, and many held their breath ; for the drafted must either enter the army, provide substitutes at considerable cost, suddenly become invalids, or emigrate to Canada. Seventy-seven men were drawn at this time as the quota for Easton. It has long been understood that health was endangered by getting in a draught. This opinion was confirmed by the result of the draft of July, 1863. One third of our Easton drafted men suddenly found themselves invalids. Like Saint Paul, they could say, “I take pleasure in my infirmities.” Hitherto unsuspected disabilities were now immediately developed. The medical ex- aminers were now able to discover radical physical defects of which their possessors were before unconscious. These dis- coveries were sometimes said to be stimulated by substantial considerations secretly given to the examiners ; but of course this is the envious slander of those who could not afford, or were not mean enough, to givea bribe. Undoubtedly, however, many persons —say, one third of those drafted——were not strong enough for hard military service, and were properly enough ex- empted. Of the remaining two thirds, a few suddenly found that they had important engagements elsewhere, though most of them either provided substitutes or went into the army themselves. There was a second draft in May and June, 1864. But it was found that the town of Easton was at that time only six men short of its full quota. This deficiency was at once made up, so that it was not necessary to draft any more Easton men. Great exertions had been made by collecting money in town to fill the quotas ordered in 1863 and 1864; and the liberal sums subscribed enabled Easton to send into the field more than her needed proportion of soldiers. The writer has seen a curious document which was prepared about the beginning of 1864. It is a printed copy of the “ Easton Subscription List,” and contains the names of all persons in Easton who subscribed toward filling the town’s share of the quotas under the call of October 17, 1863, and that of February 1, 1864. The town was canvassed by districts. Four hundred and forty-two men subscribed. In several districts — Nos. 4,6 and 9—the paper was circulated among the ladies, forty-seven 540 HISTORY OF EASTON. of whom gave their aid. In the ladies’ list it is pleasant to see the names of several little girls, two of whom subscribed five cents each, doing it with real pride, no doubt, and not without a little self-sacrifice, — for five cents means much to a child. The whole sum collected was $7,969.90. The most interesting particulars of this subscription paper are the observations of the committee that had it in charge. They publish the names of those “ who have not given anything for the filling of the quota,” enlivening the list with some pointed comments. After several names of those who in the committee’s judgment ought to pay but would not, they have the words, “ Not excusable.” There are some who have “nothing to give ; are excusable.” One man, whose name is given, “subscribed $5, but will not pay it; not excused.” Another subscribed $35, and then repented of his generosity ; and a note gives his name, and states that he “refuses to pay more than $10 of his subscription.” A note at the end of the list of names in District No. 11,—a list headed by the name of Lincoln Drake, who subscribed $100 —is as follows: “ N. B.— This subscription was for the quota in December, 1863 ; some people in this district being a little ‘copperish’ did not wish to have the last list printed ; and as it could not be obtained of the committee, could not be printed.” TOWN ACTION IN 1863. No special action was necessary to be taken by the town in 1863 to fill its quota of volunteers for the year. Up to February 1, Easton had furnished 37 three months’ men, 147 three years’ men, and 23 nine months’ men, — making a total of 207. The whole number required of the town, exclusive of three months’ men, was 190, and 170 of this number had been furnished. The deficiency was speedily supplied, the town becoming active in the enlistment of troops. December 1, 1864, the Adjutant- General’s report shows that Easton had, according to the report of the selectmen, furnished thirty-two more men than were really needed to fill the town’s quota. 1864. In the Second Regiment, at the beginning of 1864, there were left but seven Easton men out of the eighteen who had at THE CIVIL WAR. 541 various times enlisted. This regiment, after a month’s furlough, reported, March 1, in Tennessee for active duty; it was busily engaged in forcing the enemy southward, and took part in the battle of Resaca. But the term of enlistment for six of our men was then ended, and on the 28th of May Patrick J. Heelan, John Motherwell, John Murphy, 2d, Thomas Murray, Hugh S. O'Donnell, and John Welsh were mustered out. At the battle of Resaca John Murphy, 2d, was shot through the left arm with a grape-shot, and the arm was subsequently amputated. If any one would have proof of the arduous and dangerous service of this regiment, let him go to the rotunda in the State House and see the three battle-flags of the Second Regiment, — two of the flag-staffs broken, and all the flags tattered and riddled with shot. The Sixth Regiment was mustered in for one hundred days’ ser- vice, July 20. Most of its time of service was at Fort Delaware, Maryland, guarding Rebel prisoners. The following Easton men enlisted July 16: Lucius Howard, Oliver Howard, Henry L. Reed (in Adjutant-General’s report incorrectly credited to Boston),! and Robert Ripner,—all in Company F; Charles W. Holmes enlisted July 19. They were mustered out of service at Readville, Mass., October 27. Henry L. Reed re-enlisted in Company C, Sixty-second Regiment, March 31, 1865. The Seventh Regiment was engaged in hard and dangerous duty during its term of service this year, being in the bat- tles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna River, Cold Harbor, etc.,—a severe campaign. It would be interesting to follow its experience more in detail, but the necessary limits of this chapter forbid it. John Johnson enlisted in this regiment January 4. June 27, the term of service of many of the men ex- pired, and the following were then mustered out :— Ward L. Foster, Captain. Charles F. Lothrop, Private. Philander W. Fecto, 1st Sergeant. Michael McCool, ” Freeman E Wells, Sergeant. John McKeehan, ” Frederic E. Healey, Corporal. James P. Middleton, ,, Eustis E. Burt, Przvaze. George M. Murphy, _,, Billings Fisher 43 Asaph W. Phillips, 53 James H. Keenan, _,, Samuel R. White, 2 1 The ease with which the names Boston and Easton were mistaken for each other led to several mistakes on the muster-rolls as printed. 542 HISTORY OF EASTON. Sergeant Fecto had the end of his nose clipped off at the battle of the Wilderness. The piece hanging by the skin, he replaced it and got the surgeon to sew it on, making his nose in the end as good as new. Edward E. Randall, Howard W. Phillips, and John Johnson were transferred to the Thirty-seventh Infantry, June 14, and ~ George E. Willis on the 15th. Frederic E. Healey was dis- charged June 15. James H. Murphy and Nathan P. Randall were reported as deserters ; but the former had served out his three years with the exception of a few days, and the latter was discharged and had re-enlisted at Philadelphia, and then de- serted. James McCullough died, May 15, of wounds at Fred- ericksburg ; Daniel Donovan was killed at the battle of the Wilderness, May 6; Mason A. Hill was killed at Spottsylvania, May 8; and Seth T. Dunbar was killed at Cold Harbor, June 12, The death of Dunbar was particularly sad, both because he was about to be discharged and go home, and because it was in consequence of his own rashness. The regiment was pre- paring to leave the rifle-pits where they were lying, closely watched by the foe. Dunbar rose and stood exposed to view. Two bullets whizzed past him. ‘ Get down, Dunbar!” shouted Sergeant Fecto, “or you will be shot!” Dunbar delayed a fatal instant, for a ball from a sharpshooter’s rifle passed through his neck, severing his jugular vein and resulting in speedy death. Charles S. Torrey, of this same regiment, died in the Rebel prison at Andersonville, Ga, August 17. Albert M. Hayward was discharged June 27, his term of service having expired. This finishes the record of Easton men in the Massachusetts Seventh, —a record that deserves the highest praise. In the Lighth Regiment of one hundred days’ men, the follow- ing Easton men joined Company I, July 17: Michael F. Sheehan, corporal; Joseph Bump, John Toal (Towle), William A. Watts, and Sanford N. Whiting. They served out their time, and were discharged November Io. The Twelfth Regiment served in the same campaign and par- ticipated in the same battles as the last-named regiment, and was also at the battle of Petersburg, where it suffered severely. Its term of service expired June 25, when it proceeded to Bos- ton, and was mustered out July 8. The changes to Easton THE CIVIL WAR. 543 men were as follows: George B. Randall, May 15, was trans- ferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, as also was George G, Smith, February 20; Franklin M. Godfrey died January 23, at Richmond ; Seth Ramsdell was killed in action at Cold Harbor, June 18; John Goulding died at Alexandria, March 22; Charles A. Gilmore, John Watts, and Henry R. Packard, musicians, were mustered out July 8, their three years’ term of service having expired. The two Easton men who were left at the beginning of 1864 in the Eighteenth Regiment, — Hiram A. Randall and Benjamin F. Boodry, — were discharged September 2; this date complet- ing their term of enlistment. They had been in over twenty battles. In the Twentieth Regiment, Howard W. Phillips enlisted Jan- uary 21. In the Ywenty-second Regiment, Charles L. Britton, Jr., died at Washington, July 9, in consequence of wounds. On the Ist of June Lieut. Robert Dollard, of the Tzwenty- third Regiment, was promoted to be captain of the Second U.S. Colored Cavalry. A more particular account of his ser- vices will be found later on in this chapter. George N. Blanchard and Irving Dickerman were serving in the Twenty-fourth Regiment. They were discharged, to re- enlist January 3,— the latter re-enlisting for Berkeley, and serv- ing until January 20, 1866. The Twenty-sixth Regiment, after a furlough, returned to Louisiana, whence after a short service it embarked for Virginia and took part in the famous Shenandoah campaign, participat- ing in the battles of Winchester and Cedar Creek. Sergts. William Crockett and George H. Davis, Corp. Addison A. Lothrop, Timothy Murphy, and George H. Richards re-enlisted January 1. Corporal Lothrop was killed at the battle of Win- chester, September 19. At the same battle Timothy Murphy lost an arm, Sergeant Crockett was wounded, and George H. Davis was taken prisoner. Lieut. Albert Tilden was shot through the lungs at the battle of Cedar Creek, October 19. He lay on the battle-field until late in the afternoon, while it was in the possession of the Rebels, and was then found stripped of every- thing but his underclothing. He was taken to a hospital, and 544 HISTORY OF EASTON. died of the wound on the 21st. His remains were sent home and buried at Stoughton, as were also those of his brother George. Lieutenant Tilden had served throughout the war up to this date, was for a time connected with General McMillin’s staff, and was reported a brave and efficient officer. Captain Lynch, James L. Howard, and Charles Mitchell were discharged November 7, because of the expiration of their service ; and there were then left but four Easton men in this regiment. The Twenty-ninth Regiment had seven Easton men in it at the beginning of this year. It served early in the year in Ten- nessee, and afterward in Kentucky, —the earlier service being one of hardship. January 1, Lemuel Capen, Charles F. Roberts, and Charles H. Smith were discharged, to re-enlist, — the latter on this re-enlistment being credited to Mansfield. Dr. Cogs- well, the surgeon of the regiment, was discharged for disability the 15th of March, and John Bartlett December 30, his term of service having expired. Thomas Flood was in the Thirty-ninth Regiment, but he con- cluded, May 31, to take a vacation, and went into safe seclusion with friends living conveniently near the Canada line. In the Fifty-sixth Regiment Frank A Mitchell was promoted first lieutenant, March 17, In this regiment Ansel B. Randall, a native of Easton, but credited to East Abington, served as captain. Some account of him may be found on another page. Early in this year fourteen Easton men enlisted in the Fzfty- eighth Regiment. This regiment was formed late in 1863, and was completed April 25, 1864. It reported at Alexandria, Virginia, April 30, went immediately to the front, and was as- signed to the Ninth Army Corps. It was engaged in the most active and dangerous service, taking part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Peters- burg, Weldon Railroad, Poplar Spring Church, etc. At Peters- burg it shared in the terrible assault on the forts. The following Easton men were in this regiment: February 8 there enlisted in Company B Matthew Fisher, John Fisher, William A. Lothrop, and John M. Randall; and in Company C, February 20, Orin S. Marshall. On the rst of March there enlisted in Company D Charles A. Crocker, sergeant ; George A. Lackey, sergeant; Nelson M. Randall, Peleg F. Randall, and THE CIVIL WAR. 545 Berlin White. April 18, George E. R. Leighton enlisted in Company H ; and on the 20th, Hiram A. Monk in Company C, and Calvin A. Marshall in Company F. Nathaniel H. Talbot was second lieutenant in this regiment, and on the 8th of August was promoted to be first lieutenant. June 7, at Wash- ington, Peleg F. Randall died of wounds. On the roth, Calvin A. Marshall died at White House Landing; and September 15, William A. Lothrop breathed his last in the prison pen at Andersonville. In the Sirtceth Regiment, of one hundred days’ men, Herbert A. Hewett enlisted in Company A, July 18; and Abbot B. Bar- rows in Company G, on the 19th. Both men were discharged November 30. This regiment was stationed at Indianapolis. In the Third Battery Light Artillery Join D. Haney was killed June 4 at the battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia. Taking advantage of a time when not engaged in action, he had seated himself under a tree for the purpose of writing to his wife; and while thus engaged a ball pierced his temples, and he died be- fore he could be conveyed to the hospital. His last thoughts were thus turned lovingly homeward to the wife he was not to see again on earth. In the Minth Battery William D, Forsyth and George Mc- Farland enlisted January 14, and Patrick Conlan February 9. Richard M. Davis, corporal, joined the Twelfth Battery Janu- ary 13; Bernard McDermott, November 9; and Timothy Cotter, December 12, — the latter, however, December 20, is registered as a “rejected recruit.” Thomas McGrath was already serving in this battery. May 27, Jason Manley Tinkham joined the Fourteenth Battery. He was severely wounded in the side by the explosion of a shell at the battle of Petersburg, August 22. Several men were killed at the same time, among them Charles Taylor, of Stoughton. Mr. Tinkham was carried to a hospital in Washington, and died there from the effects of his wounds September 21. His remains were buried in the hospital cemetery and the grave properly marked. It was identified twelve years afterward, and probably may still be seen. James Roberts enlisted in Company B of the First Regiment of Cavalry, November Io. 35 546 HISTORY OF EASTON. Three Easton men were in the fourth Regiment of Cavalry at this time. James T. Morley was a bugler in Company A of this regiment. Horace F. Pool was in Company I, and Rufus H. Willis was sergeant in Company I. The record of the latter shows continual promotion. He was in Company B, Fourth Regiment of three months’ men; re-enlisted for Bridgewater in First Cavalry September 14, 1861; September 24, 1864, he was appointed quartermaster’s sergeant ; December 27 was made ser- geant-major, and June 5, 1865, second lieutenant, being through 1864 and to the close of the war in the Fourth Cavalry, with which the First Cavalry was consolidated. He was detailed at the time of the struggle about Petersburg in April, 1865, as act- ing aide-de-camp on the staff of Maj.-Gen. John Gibbon, com- manding the Twenty-Fourth Army Corps, and had the satisfaction of standing within twenty feet of Generals Grant and Lee when they had their talk together after the surrender. He speaks thus of the interview: “I shall never forget the fine personal appear- ance of General Lee, and the rather slovenly one of General Grant. Lee did nearly all the talking, and while doing so tears rolled down his manly face. I was one of the first party to go inside the Rebel lines to ‘shake hands across the bloody chasm,’ which I assure you was done in earnest, as the officers were nearly all acquainted with each other. I had command of a de- tail of cavalry to go inside the Rebel lines to collect the battle- flags, which was done to the number of seventy-three.” Lieut. Rufus H. Willis returned to Easton after the war, and followed the occupation of a shoemaker. He has been a com- mander of Post Fifty-two Grand Army of the Republic, was fora long time chief presiding officer of Bristol Lodge of Good Tem- plars, and held the office of deputy-sheriff of Bristol County for thirteen years. About nine years ago he moved to New Bedford. At present he is much interested in the new labor movements, and his standing among the workingmen, as well as the confidence reposed by them in him, may be inferred from the fact that he is master workman (the chief officer) of Equality Assembly No. 3,542 of the Knights of Labor in New Bedford, to which Assembly belong about eight hundred members. To this office he was appointed when the Assem- bly was organized, January, 1885, and he has since been re- THE CIVIL WAR. 547 elected. At the last State election (November, 1886) he was chosen to be a member of the legislature. December 7 Franklin Buck, Zeno F. Buck, Laban W. Drake, Jesse Fowler, and Henry M. Willis volunteered, and were as- signed to the Highteenth Unattached Company. John B. Wilson enlisted in the same company on the day before. All the above were on the quota of Easton. This quota being now full, the following who enlisted in the same company were credited to other towns, as will be specified in the alphabetical list. Decem- ber 6 Samuel H. Gooch, Simeon H. Leach, and Zeri B. Martis enlisted, and December 7 Theodore H. Hunnewell. These ten men were in camp at Readville, were not called to the front, and were discharged May 12, 1865. Stillman D. Eddy enlisted for Taunton in the Zhird Regi- ment of Heavy Artillery August 29; discharged June 17, 1865. Tisdale F. Drake, James H. Keenan, and Charles E. Osgood enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Company of Heavy Artillery August 29, and were discharged June 16, 1865. TOWN ACTION IN 1864. During the year 1864 various town-meetings were held to meet the pressing exigencies of the situation. April 18 the town voted to refund to the contributors three fourths of the money paid by them to assist in filling the town quotas of volunteers for military service, under the calls of the President for October, 1863, and February, 1864; also, to raise by taxation ten thousand dollars for recruiting expenses, and the payment of bounties to volunteers to fill: the quota of Easton under the then recent calls of the President for more men. July 26, it was voted to raise money by taxation, and to pay a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each volunteer who should enlist to fill the quota of the town under the call of the President, dated July 18, 1864, 1865. The closing year of our great struggle had now begun. After hard fighting about Richmond, General Lee surrendered to the immortal Grant, and the Rebellion was practically at an end. The great conflict, so memorable for its fearful waste of blood 548 HISTORY OF EASTON. and treasure, and so prolific in sorrows and agonies that never will and never can be described, did nevertheless, under the good Providence that presides over human destinies, prove an instrument of blessing. It struck the chains from four million slaves, indissolubly cemented the Union of the States, and _blot- ted out the stain from our national banner ; so that henceforth it may really be true that our country is “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” It was now the pleasant duty of the town to welcome back the scarred and toil-worn heroes who had done their part to achieve this glorious result; to welcome again to pleasant homes and thankful hearts the brave men who had fought in our stead. And ever shall it be ours to hold the priceless services of these gallant men in fitting remembrance. Taking the regiments in their order, we find in the Second the only remaining Easton soldier was Ezra G. Whittemore, who was discharged July 14, at the expiration of his term of service. In the Twentieth Regiment there were no Easton men at the beginning of the year, but Howard W. Phillips and John Johnson were both transferred to it June 21,and were discharged July 16. In the Zwenty-fourth Regiment, George N. Blanchard was wounded in the left arm, and was mustered out of service for disability October 9. In the Zwenty-sixth Regiment there remained but three Eas- ton men out of the eighteen who were once connected with it. This regiment was sent south to Savannah. Sergeant William Crockett and George H. Richards were discharged August 26, at the expiration of their term of service. George H. Davis had lost his health in consequence of privation and ill treatment in Rebel prisons, where he had been confined since the battle of Winchester. Though exchanged, the poor fellow had not strength to reach home, and died an the way at Annapolis, Maryland. Timothy Murphy continued in service until Septem- ber 9, when he was discharged for disability. Daniel E. Sanderson was mustered out of the Zwenty-cezghth Regiment June 30. Only two Easton men remained in the Twenty-ninth Regt- ment, and they after hard service in Virginia were mustered out July 29. They were Alfred Lincoln and Charles H. Smith. THE CIVIL WAR. 549 Edward E. Randall was discharged from the Thzrty-seventh Regiment June 30. June 16, Gustavus Alden was mustered out of the Fortieth Regiment. Frank A. Mitchell, March 11, was commissioned assistant-quartermaster, with rank as captain, and discharged March 13 for disability, caused by a gunshot wound received at Cold Harbor. In the Fifty-eighth Regiment there were, at the beginning of ‘this year, eleven Easton men. This regiment was posted near Petersburg, and held a dangerous and exposed position. It par- ticipated in the battles of Fort Sedgewick and Fort Mahone. John M. Randall died January 10 in the Rebel prison at Salis- bury, North Carolina. May 11 Sergeant George A. Lackey was discharged for disability, caused by a severe wound in the foot received at Spottsylvania Court House,—a wound which has necessitated two amputations of the leg below the knee and several minor surgical operations, and has caused him great pain and serious inconvenience ever since. Berlin White was, May 31, discharged for disability; also Nelson M. Randall on the 25th, and Orin S. Marshall on the 8th of June. George E. R. Leighton was mustered out June 10, and Matthew Fisher June 19. First Lieut. N. H. Talbut, Second Lieut. Charles A. Crocker, and John Fisher were discharged by reason of expira- tion of service July 14, and also the following day Hiram A. Monk. It deserves notice that Matthew and John Fisher, twins, were sons of Peter Fisher, who was a volunteer with two other sons in the Ninth Battery of Light Artillery, Mrs. Fisher re- maining at home and carrying on the farm in the absence of her husband and sons. From the Mxth Battery just alluded to there were discharged June 6, after active service before Petersburg in the closing campaign: Patrick Conlan, Peter Fisher, Peter Fisher, Jr., Thomas Fisher, William D. Forsyth, George McFarland, and John W. McDonald, —all Easton men. From the Twelfth Battery, July 25, Corporal Richard M. Davis and Bernard McDermott were mustered out. June 26, James Roberts was discharged from the First Regi- ment of Cavalry. In the Fourth Regiment of Cavalry were three Easton men. 550 HISTORY OF EASTON. One of them, Lieut. Rufus H. Willis, resigned June 13; James T. Morley was mustered out November 14; and Horace F. Pool, after having been a prisoner in the Rebel prison at Salisbury, died March 1 at Smithville, North Carolina. It is erroneously stated in Adjutant-General Schouler’s reports that he died at Andersonville, Georgia. There were in Battery H, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, at the beginning of 1865 five men, and one in Battery G. They were all mustered out in June. Other Easton men served in organizations outside the State. John Fitzpatrick, Michael F. Sheehan (who had once enlisted also for Easton), and Patrick McCourt were serving, or had served, in New York regiments. Hiram W. Copeland was in the First Rhode Island Cavalry, and had also served for North Bridgewater in the infantry. George H. Kelley was in the Zhérteenth Ilinois Cavalry. The military record of all these men may be read in the alpha- betical list at the end of this chapter. Here ends the brief and inadequate sketch of the history of the Easton men who enlisted to subdue the Rebellion. It is at best only a bare outline, but it could not well be otherwise without exceeding the proper limits of this chapter. It would be highly interesting to give the experiences of our men on the march and on the battlefields, and repeat their stories of hardship, danger, and hairbreadth escapes, or of suffering in the Rebel prisons ; but to do so would require a book instead of a chapter. The writer reluctantly avoids entering further into this tempting field, and must leave to tradition the task of transmitting to generations yet to come the memory of those personal experiences. EASTON SOLDIERS IN THE NAVY. The town of Easton was well represented in the United States Navy during the Rebellion. Warren Packard, Charles H. Samp- son, and Elijah Smith served for about a year on the United States Steamship “ Colorado.” John McCready, dropping for pru- dential reasons his own surname and substituting for it that of McDonald, concluded to leave the infantry, thinking he might serve himself and perhaps his country better in the navy, and he THE CIVIL WAR. 551 enlisted in the “ Alabama” and the “Santiago de Cuba.” A similar conclusion was reached by David A. Middleton and by Richard Powers, the former serving on several different vessels, the latter enlisting and then vanishing into oblivion. Edward McCready served a year on the “Flag.” James Donovan and Daniel E. Sullivan were firemen on the “ Aries” forayear. The latter believed himself credited to Easton, but the muster-rolls credit him to Gloucester. Other instances of this apparent mis- take occur; and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the re- cruiting officers, taking advantage of the inexperience of the new recruits, sometimes themselves pocketed the sums offered by different towns for recruits, and then without their knowledge assigned them to the quotas of those towns. The war, in fact, afforded many opportunities for stealing on the part of town offi- cials and recruiting officers, the poor soldiers as well as the Gov- ernment being the victims of such rascality. Oliver H. Blaisdell, served on the steamships “ Niphon” and “ Sunflower.” James F, Gooch was a seaman on the “ Honduras,” and Benjamin T. Nye was a carpenter’s mate on the same vessel. John McCafferty left college at Worcester, and entered service in April, 1861, on the ‘“ Cairo,” and afterward on the “ New Era,” and has remained in the navy most of the time since. William Hepburn was armorer’s mate for a year on the “ Massasoit.” David Mulhern served on the ‘“‘San Jacinto” and “Hendrick Hudson.” Charles O'Brien was transferred from the Seventh Regiment to the gun- boat ‘ Benton,” where he completed his three years, and then re-enlisted in the navy. In addition to these Easton men, the town had thirty-one other navy enlistments credited to it. Six of these were voluntarily furnished by Easton men, who paid the recruits large bounties. Four of this six and ten of the whole thirty-one deserted. The exact particulars of the record of Eas- ton men in the navy may be seen in the list at the end of this chapter. TOWN ACTION IN 1865. “June 17, Voted, to refund all money contributed by individuals during 1864, in aid of recruiting men to fill the quota of the town, pro- vided the claim shall be presented in writing to the selectmen before the first day of January next, and persons who have served one year in the military service shall not be taxed to pay any part of said amounts. 552 HISTORY OF EASTON. “The whole amount of money appropriated and expended by the town on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was forty thousand five hundred and three dollars ($40,503.00). The amount of money raised and expended by {the town during the four years of the war for State aid to soldiers’ families, and which was afterwards repaid by the Commonwealth, was as follows: In 1861, $2,052.53; in 1862, $5,947-40; in 1863, $4,905.56; in 1864, $4,800; in 1865, $2,800. Total amount in four years, $20,505.59.” + DESERTERS. It is not pleasant to record the fact that of the two hundred and seventy-seven residents of Easton who volunteered in the service eighteen were deserters ; but of these only four were natives of Easton. It was the intention of the writer at first to publish the complete record of all the Easton soldiers, not withholding the fact of any one’s desertion, but letting the muster-rolls tell their own story; for it would be a falsification of history to give the impression that Easton furnished no deserters. But the writer has found by careful examination that the muster-rolls were especially liable to error on this subject of desertion. Men were sometimes taken prisoners, or were missing for good rea- sons, and were reported deserters merely because their absence could not be accounted for. There were five men of Company G, Twenty-ninth Regiment, wrongly reported as deserters? It would be a gross injustice therefore to record any one as a de- serter unless his desertion were proven true beyond any shadow of doubt, and the writer prefers to give those thus accused the benefit of the doubt where any exists. Besides, there are various degrees of guilt in the matter of desertion. From a military point of view, to desert to the enemy is justly regarded as a heinous crime. But there were no Easton deserters in this sense of the word ; our men did not go over to the enemy when they deserted from our ranks. Two Easton men deserted because they had trouble with an officer whom they regarded as overbearing. But they immediately enlisted in the navy, and served the country there. Two left for home only a few days before their time was 1 See Schouler’s “ Massachusetts in the Rebellion,” vol. ii, pp. 129, 130. This account was written by Joseph Barrows, Esq. 2 See History of the Twenty-ninth Regiment,.M. V., pp. 260, 261. THE CIVIL WAR. BR out, and when no more fighting was to be done. There were two or three cases also where another bounty tempted men to desert, — not to leave the service, but to re-enlist. In other instances “the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak ;” so that in sight or prospect of battle-smoke or leaden hail, men took to their heels, —men born for peace and not for war, — who are good citizens now, and who would be more severely punished by being branded “ deserter” in these pages than their misdoing seems to warrant. There was, however, one Easton man who boasted of having deserted eleven times. He lied as to the number of his desertions; but it is safe to say that he deserted whenever he had a good opportunity. The desertion of non-resident volunteers who were hired to fill the quota is spoken of elsewhere in this chapter. But there were men among our Easton volunteers whose conduct was quite as blameworthy as that of these deserters, and truth to history demands at least a general statement of the facts about them. There was one case of an Easton man enlisting for a bounty, who knew that he had a physical disability that unfitted him for active service, but who intended to conceal it for a time and then secure his discharge on account of it, —a plan which he carried out to the letter. There were others who, so to speak, kept sickness “on tap,” and could turn it on at once when the prospect of battle loomed up ahead. Such convenient maladies, made to order at the slightest notice, were by no means confined to private soldiers, as some of our Easton men can well remem- ber. There was one instance of an Easton volunteer who was taken (apparently) with an acute attack of some gastric trouble a few hours before the regiment he belonged to was to start for the front, and who was left behind on the presumption that such an invalid would be an impediment, but who was seen the same day at the railroad station on his way home curing this dangerous attack by a copious dose of mince-pie and hot coffee! On the strength of this illness he afterward went to some kind of a gathering in an adjoining town, and there played the part of an invalid soldier so cleverly as to excite sympathy enough to collect over sixteen dollars for his aid. To omit all reference to such facts ; to say that all men enlisted solely for loyalty and patriotism, and not for bounties ; to imply 554 HISTORY OF EASTON. that every Easton man was a hero, and none was a sneak ; to conceal the fact that men were known here in town secretly to rejoice over Union defeats, and even to chuckle clandestinely over the assassination of the immortal Lincoln,—this would be to flatter a shallow town pride, but it would also be to leave a false impression, and to omit those shadows which belong to a faithful picture of the times. And yet these were hardly more than spots on the sun. Easton nobly responded with money and with men to the supreme needs of the hour; and she has no reason to be ashamed of the record her sons made on the many bloody battle-fields where they met the foe. Many of them left us never to return, and their ashes rest to-day in quiet forest glades of the South, or on the hills and plains or beside the murmuring streams where they poured out their blood in defence of the flag they loved, —their graves undecorated save by the wild flowers dropped by Nature’s kindly hand, and un- celebrated by any requiem save that sung by sighing winds and rustling leaves, and by the sweet songsters of the sunny land. But the honor and gratitude we owe to the dead should not blind us to the equal debt due to the living, who were spared to return. They blistered under the fierce Southern sun or shivered in the winter’s cold. They trod wearily in dust or mire through toilsome marches, often fainting beside the way. They faced the ranks of glittering bayonets or lines of murder- ous fire. They lay bleeding on the field, or languishing in the hospital, or starving in Rebel prisons hopeless of safe return. And many of them, by wounds and sickness that have enfeebled them for life, are living martyrs still for the cause of Union and Liberty, and are deserving the ceaseless gratitude of those for whom they have made this costly sacrifice. This chapter would not be complete if it did not recognize the trials borne and the services rendered by the women of Easton during the painful crisis in our country’s history which we have been considering. It was easier for men who were nerved by the excitements and moved by the stirring sentiments of the hour to go to the scene of struggle, than it was for their wives and mothers to bid them farewell, knowing they might never see them again. Brooding over their separation from husbands, THE CIVIL WAR. 555 sons, and brothers, and harassed by torturing anxieties in the quiet of their homes, the women sometimes had a heavier burden of pain and self-sacrifice to bear than did the men whose absence was deplored. But they bore it with patience and with a patri- otic spirit. They did not stop to repine, but took an active part in rendering such services as lay in their power. They or- ganized societies and circles for making garments, for preparing lint and bandages, and for collecting such delicacies and neces- sities as would alleviate the condition of the sick and wounded in field and hospital. In all such efforts our Northern women were indefatigable, and many a life was thus saved; many a soldier’s heart was animated with new courage, and beat with grateful love as he received from the home he had left these tokens of thoughtful affection, these comforts and blessings which made his hard lot so much easier to bear. SUMMARY OF ENLISTMENTS. In Schouler’s “Massachusetts in the Rebellion,” vol. ii. Pp- 129, 130, is the statement that the number of enlistments for the town of Easton was three hundred and thirty-four. This number is too small by fifty-one. The actual number, ascer- tained by thorough examination, is three hundred and eighty- five. Of these, two hundred and forty-two were residents of Easton at the time of enlistment, and one hundred and forty- three were non-residents, who were hired at various times to fill the town’s quotas. But besides these there were thirty-five residents of Easton who enlisted and were credited to other towns. aston therefore contributed two hundred and seventy- Seven citizens as soldiers to enter the ranks of loyal men, and in addition to this hired one hundred and forty-three non-residents. These non-residents, though credited to Easton, were many of them anything but a credit to the town. More than one third deserted of the seventy-one whose record it was possible to follow. Some of them skipped away with their bounty a few days after enlistment. One Isaac H. Baker enlisted and deserted on the same day. Most of these “bounty jumpers” were cunning enough to enlist under assumed names, and therefore several dif- ferent names upon the military rolls often represent but one man, — who was in fact not aman, but a sneak and a thief. Some 556 HISTORY OF EASTON. shrewd fellows by their successive enlistments and desertions made small fortunes. It was impossible to hold them in our poorly guarded recruiting camps if they really were determined todesert. At the front they were sometimes a source of weak- ness rather than of strength, for there were cases where one regiment was needed to guard a regiment of these bounty men and keep them from running away. Several thousand dollars of Easton money went into the pockets of these rascals ; and yet the town’s duty was fulfilled in hiring them. MAJORS ROBERT DOLLARD AND JOHN FITZPATRICK. The two Easton soldiers who gained a higher rank than any other of our volunteers were Robert Dollard and John Fitz- patrick. Of these the former was an Irish-American, born in Fall River; and the latter an Irishman, born in Ireland. Both were living at the Furnace Village, and both were in the employ of the Belchers at their foundry. Both also were brave soldiers, and after other service were officers of colored troops. Both at- tained the rank of major, though the second named had his only by brevet. The first is still in the prime of life, an influential citizen of: Dakota; the second fell a victim to disease contracted in the service, and thus died a martyr to the cause: his ashes sleep in the quiet of the Roman Catholic cemetery in this town. It is fitting that these two brave and efficient officers should have a prominent notice in this chapter. RosperT DoLiarpD is the son of Thomas and Mary (Colyer) Dollard, and was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, March 14, 1842. Thomas Dollard the father came from the county of Kil- kenny, Ireland, which, if common tradition about that county be true, may help to account for the excellent fighting qualities of the son. At the age of sixteen years Robert was obliged to depend upon his own exertions for a living; he worked on a farm for two years, and then in 1860 became an apprentice to Daniel Belcher at his foundry in Easton. While in the employ of Mr. Belcher, an incident occurred which well illustrates the brave spirit that early animated him. The chimney of the fur- nace was about ninety feet high, having a square flue about two feet in diameter and very smooth. At the chimney-top, over- THE CIVIL WAR. 557 hanging the flue, were some loose bricks that it was very desir- able to have removed, as they endangered the safety of workmen below. The melter remarked: “I will give twenty-five dollars to any man who will remove those bricks.” “ Will you make that offer to a boy?” asked young Dollard. Being answered affirmatively, he began to work his way up the smooth flue. By incredible exertions he reached the top and removed the bricks. The descent now threatened to be even more perilous than had been the ascent; while at the same time the intrepid youth began to realize that his strength was giving way. Several times, in attempting the descent, he slid down rapidly perhaps ten feet, bruising his hands and knees; but by a desperate effort he was able to check himself, and bracing against the sides of the flue, to gain a moment’s breathing spell. At last, lacerated and bleeding, and covered with soot and dirt, he emerged from the bottom and presented himself to the view of the amazed workmen and villagers who had rapidly collected to witness the daring feat. The twenty-five dollars was fairly won, but the boy declined it. Dollard was a member of Company B of the Fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, and started with them April 16, 1861, for Fortress Monroe. From this service he was mus- tered out July 22. He joined the Havelock Guards at Boston, September § ; and this company disbanding, the members were assigned to companies of their choice in the Twenty-third Mas- sachusetts Infantry, in which, September 28, Dollard was made sergeant of Company E. This regiment served in the Burnside expedition, was at the battles of Roanoke Island, Newbern, Golds- borough, etc. It served also in General Foster’s expedition to co-operate with General Hunter’s attack on Charleston, South Carolina. Dollard returned to North Carolina in April, 1863. He had now become second lieutenant, and on recommendation of his superior officers was made a captain in the Second United States Colored Cavalry, which it was then understood would be- come a part of the regular army. In March, 1864, this regiment was ordered to Suffolk, Virginia ; and shortly afterward his com- pany with three others, numbering about two hundred men with two small howitzers, were drawn into an ambush and attacked by over three thousand Rebel infantry and a regiment of cavalry, 558 HISTORY OF EASTON, with six pieces of artillery. With the memory of the massacre of colored troops at Fort Pillow in mind, where no quarter was given, Captain Dollard and his companions struggled desperately, and succeeded in extricating themselves with a loss of thirty men, fifty horses, and one howitzer. In this fight Captain Dol- lard made a charge in which he drove the enemy’s cavalry into Suffolk. Later in the struggle, in order to shield himself from the thickly flying bullets, he was obliged to escape Indian fash- ion, throwing himself on the nigh side of his horse, holding by the right leg to the saddle, and by the right hand to the breast- strap. By a plunge of his horse he was thrown to the ground, but lay still for a few seconds, being screened by a board fence near which he had fortunately fallen, and then in the general confusion made good his escape. After the battle of Suffolk, Virginia, Captain Dollard was en- gaged with others at the battle of Jones’s Bridge, on the Chick- ahominy. No impression had been made upon the enemy’s works, until Captain Dollard, who had been ordered to take a squad of men on skirmish duty on the enemy’s extreme left, came close to them under cover of the timber. Here he planned a piece of strategy. Arranging with his men that he should shout, “ Second Battalion, charge!” loud enough for the Rebels to hear it, so as to give the impression that instead of a small squad there was a battalion, he led on the attack. The ruse was successful, and the enemy retreated so hastily as to leave horses, arms, and equipments behind them, Captain Dollard and his little band occupying the works, and this at the very moment when the Union headquarters’ bugle was sounding a retreat. Through the spring and summer of 1864 Captain Dollard and his little squadron of cavalry saw much active and dangerous service; and it is said that an advance which he made April 9, 1864, drew the first fire from the Petersburg works, this being just a year before the last shot on the Petersburg line. We cannot go into detail in this narrative sufficiently to describe all the engage- ments in which our captain took part. September 29, 1864, he led the advance of the Union right at Deep Bottom, Virginia, where, after driving the enemy out of his rifle-pits, he was dan- gerously wounded. General Butler, then commanding, in prais- ing officers and men for their gallantry in this engagement, said : THE CIVIL WAR. 559 “Capt. Robert Dollard, Second United States Cavalry, acting as field officer and in charge of the skirmish line at New Market Heights, inspired his command by his great personal bravery, coolness, and ability, until he fell severely wounded near the enemy's main line ; and he is hereby promoted to be major.” Though kept out of service for a time by his wound, Major Dollard assumed command of his regiment before Richmond in December, 1864, being one of the youngest regimental officers in the army of the James and Potomac. He remained in active service until the close of the war, although suffering from the open wound in his head, where he continued to carry a portion of the bullet that struck him down at New Market. At the close of the war in June, 1865, Major Dollard was ordered to place his regiment on board transports at Hampton Roads preparatory to sailing for the Rio Grande, this being at the time when Maximilian was in Mexico. But a report got abroad among the colored.troops that they were to be kept in service for five years to raise cotton to pay the national debt. This led them to mutiny, and soon they became a dangerous mob ; but by prompt and decisive action, and with the aid of a white regiment, the Major succeeded in getting them under con- trol, arrested thirty of the ringleaders, and a few days later pro- ceeded to sea, notwithstanding threats from the colored troops that they would overpower the thirteen officers and take the ship. This command soon formed a part of the United States army in Texas, who were there to vindicate the Monroe Doctrine, threatened with violation by the presence of a French army in Mexico, February 12, 1866, Major Dollard was discharged, after a nearly continuous service of four years and ten months. The Major shortly afterward located at Galesburg, Illinois, where he engaged in the grocery and provision business, which however he soon abandoned, spending the following year in the South. He returned to Galesburg in 1868, began the study of the law, was admitted to the Bar in 1870, and has been engaged in a general law practice ever since. In 1875 he married Caroline E. Dunn, of Yates City, Illinois, daughter of Imri Dunn, Esq. ; they have no children. In 1879 Major Dollard located at Da- kota, and since 1880 has resided at Scotland, Bon Homme County, in that territory. He was one of the leading members 560 HISTORY OF EASTON. of the Constitutional Conventions of South Dakota in 1883 and 1885, was unanimously elected district-attorney of his county in 1884, and then attorney-general of the proposed State of South Dakota in 1885. This extended notice of Major, now Attorney-General, Dol- lard seems justified by his character and ability, by the eventful career through which he has passed, and the bright promise that is yet before him. The town of Easton may weil feel proud of having sent into the war so brave a soldier and so true and able a man. Joun FirzpatRick was born in Ireland, October 20, 1834. He came to this country with his widowed mother in 1851, and settled in Easton, Mass., where he served an apprenticeship as moulder with Daniel Belcher. He was a member in 1861 of Company B of Easton, and in January had voted “yes” in an- swer to the question to the members of that company asking if they were willing to go into active service if called for. John however did not go with his company in April as his friend Dollard did, for he was not ready on so short notice to leave his widowed mother. But when he saw that war had begun in ear- nest, he arranged his affairs and went to New York, and there, September 5, he enlisted as sergeant in the New York Sixty- third Regiment,—this regiment forming a part of the Irish Brigade, so well known for its excellent fighting qualities. Fitz- patrick was then twenty-seven years old, having a fair education, possessing very good skill as a penman, and with the qualities altogether of a man of character and ability. He soon secured the position of second lieutenant. In a letter written from Vir- ginia to Daniel Belcher, dated January 3, 1862, he describes the journey of his regiment from New York to Washington. He says: “From the time of our departure at the pier in New York until we reached Washington, two thirds of the regi- ment were in a beastly state of intoxication. One man jumped overboard and two others died in the cars from the effects of rum. When we reached Philadelphia our appearance beg- gars description, —all covered over with blood and filth, black eyes and cut faces, and hats caved in, and so on was the order of the day. I never saw, and hope never again to see, such THE CIVIL WAR. 561 a degraded and God-forsaken crew.” In this condition they reached Washington, November 30, and much to Fitzpatrick’s chagrin, were sent at once to the front. He expresses a strong and wholesome indignation against the many forms of miscon- duct he saw in the army, and says: “ We have about fifty incar- nate fiends in our regiment, who are not fit to live in the same sphere with decent people.” He had exciting personal encoun- ters with some of them in the way of enforcing discipline. Like a loyal Irishman, Fitzpatrick expresses great disappoint- ment at the Government giving up Mason and Slidell. “TI had great hopes,” he writes, “that we should have a war with the bastards of Great Britain. With me it would be an individual war, a squaring up of old accounts, an outlet for the pent-up revenge of five hundred years handed down from sire to son.” March 27, 1862, our young soldier was appointed first lieu- tenant in the Fourth Regiment New York Volunteers. Under date of September 19 of this year, he wrote to his mother a very interesting description of the battle of Antietam, where he says, “I had the honor of being under fire in action on the 17th from six in the morning until five in the afternoon.” The following excellent description of the work in front of the Irish Brigade deserves to be perpetuated in print : — “Max Webber, though a very fine fellow, made an atrocious blun- der in bringing us into action. Instead of throwing out skirmishers to feel our way, he brought us up within two hundred yards of the Rebel line before we could see their dirty, ashy uniforms, while the scoundrels were leisurely waiting our nearer approach and drawing a bead on every blue jacket. Notwithstanding this advantage over us, we gave them the first round and immediately they returned fire. The scenes of carnage and murder that followed without a moment’s interval for the next ten hours I will not attempt to describe. My company broke in two halves after the first fire; the captain and myself tried to close them up again in line in order to keep a firm front. In doing this, Captain Downs was shot through the groin and died within an hour. About the same time my sword scabbard was torn off by a bullet, and another struck the toe of my shoe between the sole and welt, doing no further injury than to rip the sole from the the point. As we fired our eighty rounds the order was given to charge. We did so, and took out eighty-five prisoners ; and filed out of 36 562 HISTORY OF EASTON. action with a loss of two hundred men, two officers killed, and four wounded. In coming out I was struck on the shoulder by a piece of shell, bruising me a very little, in fact not worth speaking of. However, it left me minus a shoulder-strap. I had a narrow escape from death on several occasions, for which I can never be too grateful to God. After we filed out, the second line came up, in which was the Irish Brig- ade, going exactly over our ground. I can never forget that glorious charge of our countrymen. Their line was solid, every man in his place ; and without a word they fired one round. Then the green, bat- tered, powder-stained, riddled flag was thrown to the breeze. A wild yell and brilliant charge followed. The Sixty-ninth and Sixty-third came off the field, each having but one hundred men left.” For meritorious service Fitzpatrick was commissioned, Novem- ber 10, a captain of Company H of the Fourth New York Vol- unteers, then known as Scott’s Life Guards, with rank dating from October 23, he having been already in command of Com- pany A. Under date of December 20, 1862, he writes to his mother, giving her a spirited account of the battle of Fredericks- burg, which he says the soldiers truthfully called “ Burnside’s slaughter-house.” He describes the charge of the brigade to which he belonged, and says that — “Colonel McGregor stepped in front with an expression of anger when our men faltered under the terrible fire; but his features relaxed when he saw how quick the men closed up. ‘Follow me, Life Guards!’ he said, and away we went double-quick with a cheer, over the level plain, under a murderous fire of artillery. Every few moments a man would scream and fall down. We reached the first line of rifle-pits ; the sharpshooters retreated. Colonel Andrews, our acting Brigadier- General, ordered us to lie down in shelter. He stuck his nose in the mud like a hedgehog, and there we would have remained ever since had not Hancock’s division come up in the second line and passed right over us. There walked the intrepid Hancock and fearless Meagher (the only general officers on the field) in the rank of file closers, with captains and lieutenants, cheering the men onward. Where are Couch and French? Where are our three brigade generals? Nobody knows ; everybody knows. ‘Get up! forward, everybody!’ roared Hancock. Up we jumped and on we went.” The letter goes on to describe the terrific carnage which fol- lowed, compared to which Fitzpatrick speaks of Antietam as THE CIVIL WAR. 563 askirmish. ‘Yes, we are back again,” he writes, “after being whipped, beaten, disheartened, disorganized, demoralized.” On the 25th of May, 1863, Captain Fitzpatrick was discharged, and returned to Easton to his old employment. But he could not remain content at home while brave men were needed at the front. Mr. Belcher interested Oakes Ames, then in Congress, in the Captain, and through him he received the appointment of second lieutenant in Company C of the Thirtieth Regiment of Colored Volunteers, with the understanding that this regiment would form part of the regular army. Fitzpatrick at this time passed the West Point examination. The date of this second enlist- ment was February 13, 1864. In this organization he rose to the command of captain, and saw plenty of hard service, of which ‘the writer has hardly any data at hand to give a narrative. Robert Dollard has however furnished one very interesting in- cident of Fitzpatrick’s experience, as the latter related it to him. July 30, 1864, at the mine explosion in front of Petersburg, the division in which Fitzpatrick was a captain led the charge, and it was mercilessly slaughtered. Chief among the commands opposed to it was that of General Mahone, now United States Senator from Virginia. After the battle an armistice to bury the dead was arranged. The ground was strewn with the bodies of the black soldiers who had fallen by hundreds. Captain Fitzpat- rick met General Mahone, and they engaged in conversation on war topics, during which Mahone, pointing with his foot to the dead bodies of the negro troops, said indignantly, “ Mert, you will be fighting us with dogs.” He did not foresee the day when he himself would solicit, and be elected by, the votes of negroes! Captain Fitzpatrick was at one time in command of Roanoke Island. At that place he was discharged December 10, 1865. May 10, 1866, he was appointed major by brevet, “for faithful and efficient services,” his appointment having the autograph signatures of Andrew Johnson and Edwin M. Stanton. His health being much impaired by his military service, he removed to Chicago and did some light work, having charge of a foundry in that city ; but his strength gave way to such an extent that he returned to Easton to his mother’s, where he lived only about a year, dying December 8, 1869. No green turf in town rests over the remains of a braver soldier or more loyal man than 564 HISTORY OF EASTON. that which covers the grave of Major John Fitzpatrick. Let us hold his name in honored and perpetual remembrance ! EASTON SOLDIERS IN THE WAR OF THE UNION. The following alphabetical list gives the record of Easton men who served their country in the suppression of the Rebellion. Great care has been bestowed upon it, and errors so far as pos- sible avoided. Where no rank is given, that of private is to be understood ; and the enlistments are for Easton, unless otherwise designated. Some persons whose names are below will notice that the dates and other statements here given do not, in all cases, harmonize with those they have reported to the writer. He has, however, copied directly from official documents, deviating from them only when they have been proved to be incorrect. Alden, Gustavus, Company F Fortieth Regiment ; mustered in Sep- tember 3, 1862 ; discharged June 16, 1865. Alden, Warner, Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery ; mustered in for Rhode Island October 14, 1862 ; discharged June 28, 1865.! Andrews, George W., first sergeant Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861; promoted second lieutenant August 11, 1862 ; promoted first lieutenant February 2, 1863; resigned June 17, 1863. Ashley, William C., Company C Fourth Regiment; mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862 ; discharged August 28, 1862. Baker, Charles, Company B Fourth Regiment; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22; re-enlisted, corporal Company A Twenty-fourth Regiment, September 12; discharged for disability September 2, 1862. Barrows, Abbott B., Company G Sixtieth Regiment ; mustered in July 19, 1864; discharged November 30. Bartlett, John, Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment ; mustered in No- vember 9, 1861 ; discharged December 30, 1864. Bean, Thomas, corporal Company A Thirty-ninth Regiment ; mustered in August 18, 1862 ; discharged June 2, 1865. Bellows, Charles, Company B Fourth Regiment; enlisted April 16, 1861 ; died at New York on steamboat, April 19. Was not mus- tered into service. 1 One authority gives the date of discharge of Warner Alden and his comrades as July 3. The above date of June 28 is however official, being furnished the writer by the Adjutant-General of Rhode Island. THE CIVIL WAR. 565 Bird, Virgil, Company K Eighteenth Regiment ; mustered in August 24, 1861 ; discharged for disability September 28, 1862. Blaisdell, Daniel B., Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted Company G Twenty- ninth Regiment, October 31, to serve as body-servant of Colonel Pierce ; came home with him, and declined, as explained on a pre- ceding page, to return to the front. Blaisdell, Oliver H., Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted first-class fireman on gunboat “ Niphon,” March 30, 1863, and served also on the “ Sun- flower ;” discharged June 1, 1864. Blanchard, George N., Company G Twenty-fourth Regiment; mus- tered in September 24, 1861; discharged January 3, 1864; re-enlisted in Company D January 4; wounded in left arm; discharged for disability October 9, 1865. Boodry, Benjamin F., Company K Eighteenth Regiment ; mustered in August 24, 1861 ; discharged September 2, 1864; died at Easton. Boodry, George J., Jr.. Company A Thirty-ninth Regiment; mustered in August 18, 1862; discharged June 2, 1865. Britton, Charles L., Jr. Company A Twenty-second Regiment; mus- tered in July 16, 1863 ; died of wounds at Washington, D. C., July 9, 1864. Buck, Franklin, Eighteenth Unattached Company ; mustered in De- cember 7, 1864; discharged May 12, 1865; in camp at Readville. Buck, Zeno F., Eighteenth Unattached Company ; mustered in Decem- ber 7, 1864 ; discharged May 12, 1865 ; in camp at Readville. Bump, Joseph, Company I Eighth Regiment ; mustered in July 17, 1864 ; discharged November 10. Bump, William E., Jr., second lieutenant Company B Fourth Regi- ment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22. Burrill, Daniel W., Company K Fourth Regiment ; mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862 ; discharged August 28, 1863. Burt, Eustis E., Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864. Capen, Lemuel, Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment ; mustered in November 1, 1861; discharged January 1, 1864; re-enlisted for Sharon, corporal, January 2 ; discharged July 29, 1865. Clapp, Tyler F., Twelfth Regiment; mustered in August 13, 1862; discharged for disability December 6 ; unassigned recruit. Clifford, Robert, sergeant Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22. 566 HISTORY OF EASTON. Cogswell, George B., assistant-surgeon Twenty-ninth Regiment ; mus- tered in December 14, 1861; promoted surgeon August 7, 1862 ; discharged for disability March 15, 1864. Cole, William E., corporal Company K Twenty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in September 10, 1861; discharged for disability May 18, 1863. Conlan, Patrick, Ninth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in Febru- ary 9, 1864; discharged June 6, 1865. Conway, Thomas, Company F Twenty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in January 1, 1862; deserted August 25, 1862. Copeland, Hiram W., second lieutenant Twelfth Regiment ; mustered in for North Bridgewater June 26, 1861 ; resigned January 8, 1862 ; re-enlisted in First Rhode Island Cavalry October 10 ; transferred to Troop A December 21, 1864; discharged June 6, 1865. Copeland, Horatio F., acting assistant-surgeon United States Army in January, 1865, with Twenty-third Regiment Colored Troops ; afterward had charge of Post and small-pox hospital at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, and resigned about June 1, 1865. Cotter, Timothy, Twelfth Battery Light Artillery; mustered in Decem- ber 12, 1864; discharged as rejected recruit December 20. Crocker, Charles Ay sergeant Company D Fifty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in March 1, 1864; promoted second lieutenant May 3, 1865 ; discharged July 14. Crockett, Major, Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in October 5, 1861; discharged for disability November 16, 1863 ; and died at New Orleans. Crockett, William, Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22; re-enlisted, sergeant, in Company C Ponty stetl Regiment September 28; discharged December 31, 1863 ; re-enlisted, sergeant, January 1, 1864; wounded at the battle of Winchester ; discharged August 26, 1865. Cunningham, Martin, Company B Eighteenth Regiment ; mustered in August 24, 1861; killed at Bull Run, Virginia, August 30, 1862. Davis, George H., Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted, corporal Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment, October 25 ; discharged December 31, 1863 ; re-enlisted, sergeant, January 1, 1864; taken prisoner at the battle of Winchester and sent to Rebel prison at Salisbury, North Carolina; died March 19, 1865, at Annapolis, Maryland, after ex- change of prisoners, being too sick to reach home. Davis, Richard M., corporal Twelfth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in January 13, 1864; discharged July 25, 1865. THE CIVIL WAR. 567 Dean, Ichabod, Company E Fourth Regiment ; mustered in Septem- ber 26, 1862 ; discharged August 28, 1863. Dean, William A., Company A Thirty-fifth Regiment ; mustered in August 9, 1862 ; discharged June 9, 1865, — absent and sick. Delano, Henry H., Company K Third Regiment ; mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862; discharged June 26, 1863. Dickerman, Irving, Company G Twenty-fourth Regiment ; mustered in October 12, 1861 ; discharged January 3, 1864; re-enlisted for Berkeley, January 4; discharged January 20, 1866, in Company D. Dollard, Robert, Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted September 5, in Have- lock Guards at Boston, which was disbanded ; assigned as sergeant in Company E Twenty-Third Infantry, September 28 ; promoted first sergeant May, 1862 ; promoted second lieutenant December 29 ; promoted captain, Second United States Colored Cavalry, Jan- uary 1, 1864; promoted major September 29 on battle-field, com- mission dated October 25; discharged February 12, 1866, after nearly continuous service of four years and ten months. Donovan, Daniel, Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; killed at the Wilderness, Virginia, May 6, 1864. Donovan, James, second-class fireman ; mustered in July 13, 1863, on the gunboat “Aries ;” discharged August 9, 1864. Drake, Francis, sergeant Company H Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged for disability February 19, 1863. Drake, George H., Company C Sixth Regiment; mustered in for Lowell, August 31, 1862; discharged June 3, 1863. Drake, Laban W., Eighteenth Unattached Company; mustered in December 7, 1864; discharged May 12, 1865; in camp at Readville. Drake, Linus Willard, Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment ; mustered in November 5, 1861 ; discharged for disability March 15, 1862 (so the town book: Record of Massachusetts Volunteers is blank on discharge). Drake, Tisdale F., Twenty-ninth Unattached Company Heavy Ar- tillery ; mustered in for Stoughton September 3, 1864; discharged June 16, 1865. Drew, Dennison S., Company G Twenty-fourth Regiment ; mustered in September 24, 1861; discharged for disability November 24, 1862, Drew, Henry T., Company G Twenty-fourth Regiment ; mustered in September 23, 1861 ; died at Port Royal, South Carolina, Novem- ber 15, 1863. 568 HISTORY OF EASTON. Duffy, John, Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22; re-enlisted in Company A September 23, 1862; killed at Port Hudson, Louisiana, June 14, 1863. Duffy, Thomas, Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; killed at Cedar Mountain, Virginia, August 9, 1862. Dunbar, Norman L., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in September 4, 1861 ; discharged November 14, 1863, for disability caused by a shot through the left thigh at the battle of Marye’s Hill, May 3, 1863. Dunbar, Seth T., Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861; killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 12, 1864. Eddy, Stillman D., Company H Third Regiment Heavy Artillery ; mustered in for Taunton August 29, 1864; discharged June 17, 1865. Eldredge, Jason F., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861; died at Bellevue Hospital, Virginia, August 27, 1862. Ellison, Charles E., Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery ; - mustered in for Rhode Island October 14, 1862; discharged May 22, 1865. Fay, Philip, Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; left the service June 20. Fecto, Philander W., first sergeant Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864. Fisher, Billings, Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864. Fisher, David, Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22. Fisher, John, Company B Fifty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in Febru- ary 8, 1864; discharged July 14, 1865. Fisher, Matthew, Company B Fifty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in February 8, 1864; discharged June 19, 1865. Fisher, Peter, Ninth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in December 26, 1863 ; discharged June 6, 1865. Fisher, Peter, Jr., Ninth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in August 10, 1862 ; discharged June 6, 1865. Fisher, Thomas, Ninth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in August 10, 1862; discharged June 6, 1865. Fitzpatrick, John, sergeant Company E Sixty-third Regiment New York Volunteers ; mustered in September 24, 1861 ; soon pro- moted second lieutenant ; discharged February 26, 1862 ; re- enlisted, first lieutenant Fourth Regiment, March 27 ; promoted THE CIVIL WAR. 569 captain Company H, November ro, with rank from October 23 ; discharged May 25, 1863; re-enlisted, second lieutenant Com- pany C Thirtieth Regiment Colored Troops, February 13, 1864; promoted captain; discharged December 10, 1865; promoted major by brevet May 10, 1866. Flaherty, Matthew T., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged for disability February 19, 1862. Flood, Thomas, Company C Twelfth Regiment ; mustered in October 10, 1863 ; transferred, October 16, to Company E Thirty-ninth Regiment ; deserted May 31, 1864. Forsyth, William D., Ninth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in Jan- uary 14, 1864; discharged June 6, 186s. Foster, Solomon R., Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment; mustered in December 9, 1861; discharged for disability February 10, 1863. Foster, Ward L., captain Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864. Fowler, Jesse, Eighteenth Unattached Company ; mustered in Decem- ber 7, 1864 ; discharged May 12, 1865; in camp at Readville. French, Hiram F., Company I Twelfth Regiment; mustered in June 26, 1861 ; discharged for disability February 10, 1863. French, Seth L., Company E Twelfth Regiment; mustered in for Natick June 26, 1861; discharged for disability December 30, 1862. Galligan, Bernard, Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22. Gerry, John W., corporal Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22; re-enlisted Company F First Regiment, February 21, 1862 ; deserted in December. Gilmore, Charles A., Company I Twelfth Regiment ; mustered in June 26, 1861 ; discharged July 8, 1864. Gilmore, Samuel H., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; died at Easton January 4, 1863. Godfrey, Franklin M., Company F Twelfth Regiment ; mustered in August 14, 1862 ; died at Richmond, Virginia, January 23, 1864. Gooch, James F., seaman on gunboat “Honduras ;” mustered in August 10, 1864; discharged June 30, 1865. Gooch, Samuel H., Company H Seventh Regiment; mustered in for Mansfield, June 15, 1861; discharged June 27, 1864: re-enlisted for Foxborough, in Eighteenth Unattached Company, December 6 ; discharged May 12, 1865. 570 HISTORY OF EASTON. Goulding, John, corporal Company I Twelfth Regiment ; mustered in June 26, 1861; died at Alexandria, Virginia, March 22, 1864. Haney, John D., Third Battery Light Artillery; mustered in for Charlestown August 13, 1862; discharged December 27, 1863 ; re- enlisted for Easton December 28 ; killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 4, 1864. Hansell, Edward W., band, Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861; discharged by order of War Department August 11, 1862; died at Stoughton. Hardy, Joshua, Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment; mustered in October 5, 1861; discharged for disability October 13, 1862. Harlow, Reuben, Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in May 6, 1861; discharged July 22 ; re-enlisted, Company G Twentieth Regi- ment, August 24; taken prisoner at Ball’s Bluff; discharged for disability December 20 ; re-enlisted for Middleborough, Company C Fourth Regiment, September 23, 1862 ; discharged August 28, 1863. Hayward, Albert M., Company H Seventh Regiment ; mustered in for Boston August 30, 1862; discharged June 27, 1864. Hayward, Joseph W., appointed medical cadet United States Army, March 13, 1863 ; served at Washington General Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, to February 11, 1864; at Brown General Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky, until March 11 ; appointed assistant-surgeon United States Volunteers July 5, 1864; served as acting operating- surgeon of Artillery Brigade Tenth Corps, then as staff-surgeon at Headquarters of the Department, and then assistant medical- director ; brevetted major March 13, 1865 ; discharged November, 1865. Healey, Frederic E., corporal Company G Seventh Regiment ; mus- tered in June 15, 1861; discharged June 15, 1864. Heelan, Patrick J., Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 25, 1861; discharged May 28, 1864. Hepburn, William, armorer’s mate on gunboat “ Massasoit ; tered in August 10, 1864; discharged June 27, 1865. Hewitt, Ellis B., Company A Fourth Regiment ; mustered in May 22, 1861; discharged July 22. Hewitt, Herbert A., Company A Sixtieth Regiment; mustered in for Abington July 18, 1864; discharged November 30. Hill, Mason A., sergeant Company H Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 1s, 1861; killed at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, May 8, 1864. ” mus- THE CIVIL WAR. 571 Holbrook, Ellis R., musician, Company C Twenty-fourth Regiment ; mustered in September 23, 1861; discharged August 28, 1863 ; re-enlisted, corporal Company D Fifty-eighth Regiment, for West Bridgewater, March 1, 1864; discharged July 22, 1865. Holmes, Charles W., Company F Sixth Regiment; mustered in July 19, 1864; discharged October 27. Howard, Cyrus S., Company K Third Regiment; mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862; discharged June 26, 1863. Howard, David, Company K Fourth Regiment ; mustered in Septem- ber 23, 1862; discharged August 28, 1863. Howard, Elijah G., corporal Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in October 5, 1861; died at New Orleans, Louisiana, May 27, 1863. Howard, George H., Company A Twentieth Regiment; mustered in August ro, 1861; left the service August, 1863. Howard, James L., Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in October 5, 1861 ; discharged November 7, 1864. Howard, Lucius, Jr.. Company F Sixth Regiment; mustered in July 16, 1864; discharged October 27. Howard, Oliver, Company F Sixth Regiment; mustered in July 16, 1864; discharged October 27. Howard, Webster, Company F Twelfth Regiment ; mustered in August 14, 1862; discharged for disability April 29, 1863. Humphrey, James A., musician, Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861; died at David’s Island Hospital Sep- tember 30, 1862. Hunnewell, Theodore H., Eighteenth Unattached Company ; mustered in for Foxborough December 7, 1864; discharged May 12, 1865. Johnson, John, Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in January 4, 1864; transferred to Company A Thirty-seventh Regiment June 14; transferred to Company C Twentieth Regiment June 21, 1865 ; discharged July 16. Keenan, James H., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864; re-enlisted for North Bridge- water, Twenty-ninth Unattached Company Heavy Artillery, August 29; discharged June 16, 1865. Keenan, William H., Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22 ; re-enlisted for Attleborough, 1 So on muster-rolls; he claims that he enlisted on the quota of Easton, as already explained. 572 HISTORY OF EASTON, Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment, October 5; discharged No- vember 7, 1864. Keith, Jonathan W., musician Third Brigade Band, First Division Sixth Army Corps; mustered in for Stoughton January 1, 1864; discharged July 1, 186s. Kelley, George H., Company G Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry ; mustered in for Geneseo, Illinois, December 30, 1861 ; transferred to Com- pany C; discharged December 30, 1864. Lackey, George A., Company K Third Regiment; mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862 ; discharged June 26, 1863; re-enlisted, sergeant Company D Fifty-eighth Regiment, March 1, 1864; discharged for disability (amputation of leg) May 11, 1865. Ladd, James H., Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment ; mustered in December 2, 1861 ; discharged for disability November 20, 1862. Leach, James H., corporal Company K Fourth Regiment; mustered in September 23, 13862 ; discharged August 28, 1863. Leach, Simeon H., Eighteenth Unattached Company ; mustered in for Taunton December 6, 1864; discharged May 12, 1865. Leahy, Daniel, Company G Second Regiment ; mustered in May 2s, 1861; deserted July 9 ; never returned to Easton. Lehane James, Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 2s, 1861 ; discharged May 28, 1864. Leighton, George E. R., Company H Fifty-eighth Regiment; mus- tered in April 18, 1864; discharged June 10, 1865. Lincoln, Albert A., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861; deserted December 11, 1862. Lincoln, Alfred ; enlisted in Twenty-ninth Regiment, 1861; rejected as being too young, but served as orderly ; transferred January 20, 1862, to rolls of Company G; discharged July 29, 1865. Lothrop, Addison A., Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in October 5, 1861; discharged December 31, 1863; re-enlisted, corporal, January 1, 1864; killed at Winchester, Virginia. Septem- ber 19, 1864. Lothrop, Augustus W.., first lieutenant Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861; resigned July 17, 1862. Lothrop, Charles F., Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861; discharged June 27, 1864. Lothrop, Willard, Company B Nineteenth Regiment; mustered in for Lynn August 28, 1862 ; discharged for disability December 23. Lothrop, William A., Company B Fifty-eighth Regiment; mustered in February 8, 1864; died at Andersonville, Georgia, September 15, 1864. THE CIVIL WAR. 573 Lynch, John A., first sergeant Company B Fourth Regiment; mus- tered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted, first lieutenant Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment, September 17 ; promoted captain September 30, 1862; discharged November 7, 1864. McCafferty, John; mustered in April, 1861, on gunboat “Cairo ;” served as ship’s cook from April 4, 1862, on gunboat “ New Era;” discharged April 3, 1865 ; re-enlisted August 11, and has served in the United States Navy nearly all the time since. McCool, Michael, Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861; discharged June 27, 1864. McCourt, Patrick, corporal Company G Sixty-sixth Regiment, New York ; mustered in September 19, 1861; killed at battle of Chan- cellorsville, Virginia, May 3, 1863. McCready, Edward, landsman on gunboat “Flag,” mustered in for Braintree December 12, 1863 ; discharged January 26, 1865. McCready, James, Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; discharged for disability November 19, 1862. McCready, John, Company I Forty-fifth Regiment ; mustered in Octo- ber 15, 1862 ; disappeared October 27; mustered in December 15, for Rowley, under the name of John McDonald, as coal-heaver on gunboat “ Alabama ;” discharged September 18, 1863, and trans- ferred, but did not report on the receiving-ship; re-enlisted for Attleborough May 31, 1864, as first-class fireman on gunboat “Santiago de Cuba;” discharged June 17, 1865. McCullough, James, corporal Company G Seventh Regiment ; mus- tered in June 15, 1861; “died of wounds at Fredericksburg, Vir- ginia, May 15, 1864;” so reported on muster-rolls. McDermott, Bernard, Twelfth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in November 9, 1864; discharged July 25, 1865. McDonald, Daniel F., Company A Sixtieth Regiment ; mustered in for Abington July 19, 1864; discharged November 30. McDonald, John W., Ninth Battery Light Artillery; mustered in August 10, 1862; discharged June 6, 1865. McEvoy, James, Company F Twenty-eighth Regiment; mustered in December 20, 1861; severely wounded in the head 3 discharged for disability September 25, 1862. McFarland, George, Ninth Battery Light Artillery: mustered in Janu- ary 14, 1864 ; discharged June 6, 1865. McGrath, Thomas, Twelfth Battery Light Artillery; mustered in for Boston October 28, 1862 ; discharged July 25, 1865. 574 HISTORY OF EASTON. McGuire, Charles H., Company B Fourth Regiment; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22 ; re-enlisted for Sharon, Com- pany A Twenty-fourth Regiment, September 13, 1861; discharged December 20, 1863; re-enlisted for Roxbury, corporal, December 21 ; discharged January 20, 1866, having served four years seven months and seven days. McKeehan, John, Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864. Mackey, James N., corporal Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22. McMullen, Michael, Company K Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; discharged October, 1863. McNamara, ‘Thomas, Company G Seventh Regiment ; enlisted June 15, 1861, and remained a soldier ten days. Marshall, Calvin A., Company F Fifty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in April 20, 1864; died at White House Landing, Virginia, June ro. Marshall, Orin S., Company C Fifty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in February 20, 1864; discharged for disability June 8, 1865. Martis, Zeri B., Eighteenth Unattached Company; mustered in for Foxborough December 6, 1864 ; discharged May 12, 1865. Middleton, David, Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in October 23, 1861; discharged for disability July 24, 1863. Middleton, David A., Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 25, 1861, but took leave July 7, and enlisted in the navy ; served on gunboats “Ino,” “Sea Bird,” and “Hibiscus ;” re- enlisted as John Logue, October 23, 1864, on the “ Roebuck ;” serving also on the “San Jacinto,” from which he was discharged September 23, 1865. Middleton, James. P., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864. Mills, John A., Company F Sixth Regiment ; mustered in for Lawrence, April 22, 1861; discharged August 2; resided then in North Easton, but re-enlisted for Somerville, Company B Fifth Regiment, September 19, 1862 ; discharged July 2, 1863. Milric, Michael, Company K Fourth Regiment ; mustered in Septem- ber 23, 1862 ; died at Brashear City, Louisiana, June 21, 1863. Mitchell, Charles, Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in October 11, 1861; discharged November 7, 1864. Mitchell, Frank A., Company F Forty-fourth Regiment ; mustered in September 12, 1862 ; discharged June 18, 1863 ; re-enlisted, second - lieutenant, Fifty-sixth Regiment, September 5, 1863 ; promoted first lieutenant May 17, 1864; promoted assistant-quartermaster, THE CIVIL WAR. 575 with rank of captain, February, 1865 ; discharged March 13 for dis- ability caused by gunshot wound in the side at Cold Harbor. Mitchell, Theodore, Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment; mustered in September 30, 1861 ; died of scurvy at New Orleans, Louisiana, July 5, 1862. Mitchell, William S., Company H Twenty-fourth Regiment ; mustered in September 10, 1861 ; discharged for disability April 23, 1863. Monk, Hiram A., Company C Fifty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in April 20, 1864; discharged July 15, 1865. Morley, James T., Company B Fourth Regiment, mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22; re-enlisted, bugler, Company A Fourth Cavalry, December 26, 1863 ; discharged November 14, 1865. Motherwell, James M., Company B Fourth Regiment; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22. Motherwell, John, Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; discharged May 28, 1864. Mulhearn, David, Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted in gunboat “San Ja- cinto,” October 7, 1862, and served also on the “ Hendrick Hud- son ;” discharged from the “ Ohio,” October 6, 1863. Mullen, John, Company B Eighteenth Regiment ; mustered in August 24, 1861 ; died of wounds at Camp Parole, Maryland, February 5, 1863. Murphy, Daniel, Company K Fourth Regiment ; mustered in Septem- ber 23, 1862; discharged August 28, 1863. Murphy, George M., Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; diseharged June 27, 1864. Murphy, James, Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, September 1, 1863. Murphy, James H., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; deserted May 5, 1864. Murphy, John, 2d, Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; shot through the arm at the battle of Resaca, and the arm was amputated ; discharged May 28, 1864. Murphy, Nicholas, Company F Twenty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in January 1, 1862 ; discharged for disability January 9, 1863. Murphy, Timothy, Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in October 23, 1861 ; discharged December 31, 1863 ; re-enlisted January 1, 1864; lost an arm at the battle of Winchester ; dis- charged for disability September 9, 186s. Murphy, Timothy W., Company B Twenty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in August 12, 1862 ; deserted November, 1863. 576 HISTORY OF EASTON. Murray, Jeremiah, Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; deserted August r. Murray, Thomas, Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 25, 1861; discharged May 28, 1864. Nye, Benjamin T., carpenter’s mate ; mustered in on gunboat “ Hon- duras,” August 10, 1864 ; discharged June 30, 1865. O’Brien, Charles, Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; transferred to gunboat “Benton” November 16, 1863 ; served out his three years and then re-enlisted in the navy. O'Donnell, Hugh S., Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in for North Bridgewater, May 25, 1861 ; discharged May 28, 1864. O’Rourke, William, Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; deserted June 25. Osgood, Charles E., Twenty-ninth Unattached Company Heavy Ar- tillery ; mustered in for Norton August 29, 1864 ; discharged June 16, 1865. O’Shea, Enoch J., Company K Fourth Regiment; mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862 ; discharged August 28, 1863. Packard, Charles S., Company F Twenty-ninth Regiment ; mustered in January 1, 1862 ; discharged February 1, 1863. Packard, George E., Company K Fourth Regiment ; mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862; discharged August 28, 1863. Packard, Henry R., musician, Company E Twelfth Regiment ; mus- tered in June 26, 1861; discharged July 8, 1864. Packard, Hosea S8., Eighth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in for North Bridgewater May 30, 1862; killed on railroad, Trenton, New Jersey, June 25. Packard, Warren, landsman on gunboat “Colorado ;” mustered in August 12, 1862; discharged September 8, 1863. Packard, William M., Company K Fourth Regiment; mustered in September 23, 1862; died at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 12, 1863. Packard, William W., Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861; deserted December 11, 1862. Packard, Wilson P., Eighth Battery Light Artillery; mustered in June 16, 1862; discharged November 29. Peck, Henry W., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861; discharged for disability January 3, 1863. Phillips, Asaph W., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864. THE CIVIL WAR. 577 Phillips, Henry A., Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery : mustered in for Rhode Island, October 14, 1862; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps September 12, 1863; did not return to active service. Phillips, Howard W., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged January 20, 1864; re-enlisted January 21; transferred to Company E Thirty-seventh Regiment, June 14; transferred to Company C Twentieth Regiment, June 21,1 1865 ; discharged July 16. Phillips, John, Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery ; mus- tered in for Rhode Island, October 14, 1862 ; died in camp near Fairfax Station, Virginia, March 1, 1863. Phillips, Luther A., Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery ; mustered in for Rhode Island, October 14, 1862 ; discharged June 28, 1865. Phillips, Minot E., Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment; mustered in November 26, 1861 ; died at Belle Isle, Virginia, July, 1862. Pool, Horace F., Company I First Cavalry ; mustered in December 11, 1861 ; transferred to Company I Fourth Cavalry ; made pris- oner, and confined in Salisbury Prison ; died at Smithfield, North Carolina, March 1, 186s. Powers, James, Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; discharged for disability June 30. Powers, Richard, Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861; left July 9, and supposed to have enlisted in the navy ; never heard of again. Quane, Daniel, Company K Fourth Regiment 3 mustered in Septem- ber 23, 1862 ; discharged August 28, 1863. Ramsdell, Seth, Company G Twelfth Regiment ; mustered in August 15, 1862 ; killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 18, 1864. Randall, Ansel B., sergeant Company G Forty-third Regiment ; mus- tered in for Abington, September 12, 186 2; discharged July 30, 1863; re-enlisted for Abington, first lieutenant Company A Fifty-sixth Regi- ment, November 21 ; injured at the battle of the Wilderness ; pro- moted captain May 7, 1864; furloughed to recover from wound ; soon returned, and was killed at Hatcher’s Run, Virginia, April 2, 186s. Randall, Edward E., Company A Seventh Regiment; mustered in January 31, 1862; transferred to Company I Thirty-seventh Regi- ment, June 14, 1864 ; discharged June 30, 1865. ’ Erroneously given as June 20 on the rolls of the Twentieth and Thirty-seventh regiments. 37 578 HISTORY OF EASTON. Randall, George B., Company C Twenty-sixth Regimént ; mustered in September 28, 1861 ; discharged for disability September 17, 1862 ; re-enlisted Company D Twelfth Regiment, October 13, 1863; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, May 15, 1864. Randall, Hiram A., Company K Eighteenth Regiment ; mustered in August 13, 1862; discharged September 2, 1864. Randall, Jacob J., Company B Fourth Regiment; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22. Randall, Job, corporal Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery ; mustered in for Rhode Island, October 14, 1862; discharged June 28, 1865. Randall, John M., Company B Fifty-eighth Regiment; mustered in February 8, 1864; died at Salisbury, North Carolina, January 10, 1865. Randall, Langdon H., landsman on gunboats “ Hendrick Hudson,” “ Stars and Stripes,” and “ Fox ;” mustered in August 10, 1864; discharged June 29, 1865. Randall, Martin, Seventh Regiment ; mustered in January 31, 1862 ; discharged as rejected recruit April 11, he being too old for service. Randall, Nathan P., Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861; discharged March 17, 1864; re-enlisted for Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, March 18 ; deserted June 3. Randall, Nelson M., Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment; mustered in November 26, 1861; discharged for disability March 19, 1863 ; re-enlisted Company D Fifty-eighth Regiment, March 1, 1864; dis- charged May 25, 1865. Randall, Peleg F., Company I Twelfth Regiment; mustered in June 26, 1861; discharged for disability February 3, 1863 ; re-enlisted Company D Fifty-eighth Regiment, March 1, 1864; died of wounds at Washington, District of Columbia, June 7. Randall, Phineas A., Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment’ mustered in October 25, 1861 ; died at New Orleans, Louisiana, July 6, 1862, of intermittent fever. Randall, Simeon A., Company D Eleventh Regiment; mustered in December 12, 1861 ; discharged for disability (a severe sprain of his knee) August 17, 1862. Randall, Vernon, Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 25, 1861; deserted August 1. Reed, Henry L., Company F Sixth Regiment; mustered in July 16, 1864 ; discharged October 27 ; re-enlisted Company C Sixty-second Regiment, March 31, 1865 ; discharged May 5. THE CIVIL WAR. 579 Reed, William E., sergeant Company H Thirty-second Regiment ; mustered in for Framingham August 19, 1862; promoted second lieutenant September 13, 1863 ; discharged January 4, 1864; re- enlisted first sergeant, January 5; promoted first lieutenant July 21; promoted captain April 1, 1865 ; discharged June 29. While serving as lieutenant and captain he is credited on the muster-rolls to Easton. Served as sergeant after appointment of second eu- tenant only because no vacancy in the latter office had occurred.’ Commanded the company at the battle of Cold Harbor, where he was severely wounded. Reed, Uriah H., Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery ; mus- tered in for Rhode Island, October 14, 1862 ; discharged for dis- ability in February, 1863. Reynolds, Patrick, Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; discharged for disability March 4, 1863. Richards, George H., corporal Company B Fourth Regiment; mus- tered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment, January 1, 1864; discharged August 26, 1865. Richards, John, Company G Forty-eighth Regiment; mustered in October 1, 1862; died at United States Hospital, Albany, New York, August 31, 1863. Richmond, Alfred B., sergeant Company B Fourth Regiment; mus- tered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted, sergeant Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment, November 14, 1861; dis- charged for disability September 20, 1862. Rigney, John, Company K Fourth Regiment; mustered in September 23, 1862; discharged August 28, 1863. Ripley, Silas K., Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 15, 1861; discharged for disability July 7, 1863 ;! re-enlisted Com- pany C First Rhode Island Light Artillery October 13, 1862; assigned to Battery G December 23, 1864; wounded in heel at battle of Cedar Creek October 19, 1864; discharged June 24, 1865 ; has served in the Regular Army seven years since. Ripner, Robert S., Company F Sixth Regiment ; mustered in July 16, 1864; discharged October 27. Roach, Michael E., Company A Fourth Regiment 3 mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862; wounded in the foot at Port Hudson; died at New Orleans, Louisiana, July 5, 1863. Roberts, Charles F., enlisted in Twenty-ninth Regiment 1861, rejected as too young, but served as orderly, and in 1862 transferred to 1 Ripley states that he was discharged June 20; the Record of Massachusetts ~ Volunteers has it July 7, as above, 580 HISTORY OF EASTON. Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment ; discharged January 1, 1864; re-enlisted, corporal, January 2; discharged July 29, 1865. Roberts, James, Company B First Cavalry; mustered in November 10, 1864 ; discharged June 26, 1865. Roberts, William R., Company A Fourth Regiment; mustered in May 22, 1861; discharged July 22. ” mustered Sampson, Charles A., landsman on gunboat “Colorado ; in August 12, 1862; discharged September 8, 1863. Sanderson, Daniel E., Company E Twenty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in August 11, 1863; discharged June 30, 1865. Seavers, Richard, Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; killed at Gettysburg July 3, 1863. Sheehan, Michael F., Company B Fourth Regiment; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22 ; re-enlisted, sergeant Company E Sixty-third New York Volunteers, September 17 ; served about three years ; dropped by consolidation of regiments ; re-enlisted, corporal Company I Eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, July 17, 1864; discharged November to. Slattery, Cornelius, Company D Twenty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in December 13, 1861 ; killed at Fredericksburg, Virginia, Decem- ber 13, 1862. Smith, Albert D., Company A Sixtieth Regiment ; mustered in for Abington July r9, 1864; discharged November 30. Smith, Asahel, Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery ; mus- tered in for Rhode Island, October 14, 1862 ; transferred to Vet- eran Reserve Corps, and discharged March 13, 1863. Smith, Charles H., Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment ; mustered in December 9, 1861; discharged January 1, 1864; re-enlisted for Mansfield January 2; discharged July 29, 1865. Smith, Elijah, landsman on gunboat “ Colorado ;” mustered in for Lowell August 15, 1862; discharged September 8, 1863. Smith, Frederic A., Company A Fourth Regiment ; mustered in May 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted as corporal Battery H First Rhode Island Light Artillery October 14, 1862 ; discharged June 28, 1865. Smith, George G., Company F Twelfth Regiment; mustered in June 26, 1861; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps February 20, 1864; discharged June 26. Smith, John S., Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps October 1, 1863. Snell, Issachar K., Company K Third Regiment ; mustered in Septem- ber 23, 1862; discharged for disability March 12, 1863. THE CIVIL WAR. 581 Story, William F., Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22. Strout, Henry E., Company K Fourth Regiment ; mustered in Sep- tember 23, 1862 ; discharged August 28, 1863. Sullivan, Daniel E., second-class fireman on gunboat “ Aries ; tered in for Gloucester July 11, 1863 ; discharged July 17, 1864. a mus- Talbot, Nathaniel H., Company D Forty-third Regiment ; mustered in for Dedham September 12, 1862 ; discharged July 30, 1863 ; re- enlisted for Easton, second lieutenant Company B Fifty-eighth Regiment, June 4, 1864; promoted first lieutenant August 8; dis- charged July 14, 1865. Thayer, Hiram. Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22. Tilden, Albert, corporal Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22,1861; discharged July 22 ; re-enlisted, second lieutenant Company C Twenty-sixth Regiment, September 25 ; promoted first lieutenant July 22, 1862; wounded October 19, 1864, at Cedar Creek, Virginia ; died October 21. Tilden, George A., Company K Fourth Regiment ; mustered in for Taunton September 23, 1862; died at Port Hudson, Louisiana, July 30, 1863. Tinkham, Jason M., Fourteenth Battery Light Artillery ; mustered in February 27, 1864; fatally wounded at battle of Petersburg by ex- plosion of a shell, August 22 ; died of this wound at Washington, District of Columbia, September 21. Toal, John, Company I Eighth Regiment ; mustered in July 17, 1864 ; discharged November tro. Torrey, Charles S., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; died at Andersonville, Georgia, August 17, 1864. Waldron, Linton, first lieutenant Company B Fourth Regiment ; mus- tered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22. Watts, John, Company I Twelfth Regiment ; mustered in June 26, (1861 5 discharged July 8, 1864. Watts, Robert L., Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22; re-enlisted, sergeant Company G Twenty-ninth Regiment, November 1 ; left without leave May 5, 1863. Watts, William A., Company I Eighth Regiment ; mustered in July 17, 1864; discharged November 10. Welsh, John, Company H Second Regiment ; mustered in May 25, 1861 ; discharged May 28, 1864. 582 HISTORY OF EASTON. Wells, Freeman E., sergeant Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864: Wells, James, wagoner Company G Seventh Regiment, mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged for disability January 3, 1863. Whalen, David, Company K Fourth Regiment ; mustered in Septem- ber 23, 1862 ; discharged August 28, 1863. White, Berlin, Company D Fifty-eighth Regiment ; mustered in March 1, 1864; discharged for disability May 31, 1865. White, Hiram, Company A Fourth Regiment ; mustered in May 22, 1861; discharged July 22. White, Samuel R., Company G Seventh Regiment; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged June 27, 1864. Whiting, Sanford N., Company I Eighth Regiment ; mustered in July 17, 1864; discharged November ro. Whittemore, Ezra G., Company H Second Regiment; mustered in May 25, 1861; discharged December 30, 1863 ; re-enlisted De- cember 31; discharged July 14, 1865. Williams, Charles E., Company G Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; disappeared June 20. Williams, Charles T., Company H Seventh Regiment ; mustered in for Norton August 8, 1862 ; wounded by a minnie ball in the leg at the battle of the Wilderness,; discharged June 27, 1864. Williams, Josiah, corporal Company H Seventh Regiment ; mustered in June 15, 1861 ; discharged for disability March 18, 1862. Williams, Milo M., Jr., captain Company B Fourth Regiment ; mus- tered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22. Williams, Munroe F., second lieutenant Company G Seventh Regi- ment; mustered in June 15, 1861; promoted first lieutenant November 1, 1862 ; resigned August 14, 1863, being disabled by severe gun-shot wound in left shoulder at the battle of Marye’s Hill. Willis, Charles H., Company A Seventh Regiment; mustered in Janu- ary 31, 1862 ; died at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, October ro. Willis, George E., Company B Seventh Regiment ; mustered in Feb- ruary 26, 1862 ; transferred to Company K Thirty-seventh Regiment June 15, 1864; discharged January 27, 1865. Willis, Henry M., Eighteenth Unattached Company; mustered in December 7, 1864; discharged May 12, 1865; in camp at Read- ville. Willis, Rufus H., sergeant Company B Fourth Regiment ; mustered in April 22, 1861; discharged July 22; re-enlisted for Bridgewater Company I First Regiment Cavalry September 14; discharged THE CIVIL WAR. 583 December 31, 1863 ; re-enlisted for Easton January 1, 1864 ; trans- ferred to Company I Fourth Cavalry; promoted quartermaster- sergeant September 24; promoted sergeant-major December 27 ; promoted second lieutenant January 5, 1865 ; served for a time as acting aide-de-camp on Major-General John Gibbon’s staff, and resigned June 13, 1865. Willis, William H., musician, Company B Fourth Regiment; mus- tered in April 22, 1861 ; discharged July 22. Wilson, Eliphalet Selwyn, Company F Fifty-sixth Regiment ; mustered in for Foxborough, January 12, 1864; discharged while absent because of wounds, July 12, 1865. Wilson, John B., Eighteenth Unattached Company; mustered in De- cember 6, 1864; discharged May 12, 1865 ; in camp at Readville. 584 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXX. INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. FURNACES AND FOUNDRIES AT THE FURNACE VILLAGE: SHEPERD LEACH, THE DRAKES AND THE BELCHERS. — OTHER INDUSTRIES IN THAT VICINITY. — SUCCESSIVE ENTERPRISES AT THE MORSE PRIVILEGE. — Morse’s THREAD Factory. — INDUSTRIES AT THE GREEN; ON THE TURNPIKE. — NortH EASTON VILLAGE INDUSTRIES: AMES SHOVEL WorkKS; GILMORE’S HINGE FACTORY, ETC. — VARIOUS OTHER ENTERPRISES. — LATEST INDUSTRIES. OME account of the industries of the town down to the year 1800 has already been given. This chapter will con- tinue the subject to the present time, giving as much detail as is consistent with the scope of this History. We learned that the Furnace, founded in 1751, passed through several different ownerships, being longest held by Capt. James Perry, from whose hands it passed by mortgage sale, becoming in 1798 the property of John Brown, of Providence. The latter appears to have willed or deeded it to his daughter, who was the wife of James Mason, of Providence; and of him Cyrus Alger bought it, March 6, 1804. Mr. Alger was an iron-worker, a trader, and an able business man. At this time a young man of character and ability was mak- ing some headway in business enterprises at the Furnace Vil- lage; it was Sheperd Leach, son of Abisha. His name first appears on the tax-lists of Easton as a poll-tax payer in 1800. August 24, 1804, he bought an interest — probably a half inter- est —in the furnace of Cyrus Alger. May 6, 1805, Mr. Alger sold his interest to Ichabod Macomber, who, December 12, 1808, sold out to Mr. (then Captain) Leach; before this, in 1802, the latter had bought the forge and furnace-dam of his father. At the beginning of 1810 he was the sole owner and manager of forge and furnace, and he at once made preparations for doing an extensive business. He built the large reservoir west of the furnace; and in order to get the bog-iron ore, upon which INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 585 he depended for his supply of the raw material, he bought sev- eral hundred acres of land in Easton where that ore was to be found, or bought the privilege of digging out ore. He owned furnaces in other places besides this town, and was engaged in other industries here, which will be noticed when we consider the business enterprises at the various localities in town. In 1823 he was running seven furnaces in Easton, as the tax-lists show ; in 1832 the number was four. After his death, which occurred in 1832, the business passed into the hands of his brother-in-law, Lincoln Drake. Mr. Drake carried it on under such changing conditions as trade demanded, until his death in 1872, though during his later years it was in the charge of his two sons, L. S. and A. L. Drake; they now own it and doa successful foundry business, making castings for schoolhouse furniture, hot-water heating apparatus, machinery, etc. Opposite the Drake foundry are the Daniel Belcher Malleable Iron Works. This business was started in 1837 by Lincoln Drake, under the firm name of A. Boyden & Co., Mr. Boyden acting as superintendent for about two years. Daniel Belcher then took charge of the business for Mr. Drake. Brass-castings were for a time made there. In 1849 Daniel Belcher bought the business, which has been prosecuted ever since, except for a few weeks after the works were destroyed by fire. The castings are for agricultural implements, carriage and saddlery trimmings, cotton and woollen machinery, and many similar things that take the place of difficult forgings. These things are sent all over the country, and the firm enjoys a high reputation for the excellence of its work. On the south side of the same street where these works are situated, and a little west of them, in a building now standing, Edward J. W. Morse in 1834 engaged in the business of mak- ing cotton thread. Mr. Morse had about the same time six places in Easton where thread-making was in some of its pro- cesses carried on, from spinning the cotton down to the making of the finished thread. A little way down the stream from the last named works is the privilege now used for saw-mill purposes, bought by James Belcher about 1878. As stated in a previous chapter, a saw- mill was erected there in 1742 by Eleazer Keith and others, 586 HISTORY OF EASTON. Mr. Keith eventually becoming the sole owner. Prior to 1765 it was changed to a grist-mill, and at this date was given by Mr. Keith to his son Lemuel. The latter, April 2, 1801, sold it to his son Lemuel Keith, Jr. Sometime before 1823 the latter had added to it an oil-mill, of which Isaac Lothrop had a half ownership. The oil-mill was given up in 1830, and in 1834 a shingle-mill took its place. Ata later time Mr. Keith went into partnership with A. A. Rotch and another man, in order to manufacture thread, and after his death in 1859 his son Hiram was in the firm, as also William Davidson. This business is said to have been discontinued in 1861. For some years the building was unused, but was purchased at last by Isaac L. Pratt, of Illinois, and a thread factory was started by Pratt, Belcher, & Co. Amos Pratt owned the property for a few years, and manufactured cotton-batting and shingles. It was bought by James Belcher in 1878, and is now used for a saw-mill. Tanning continued to be carried on at the old Edward Williams tannery, referred to in a previous chapter, for many years after this century opened. We must not pass by the little industry that once existed on the brook just beyond the old Nathaniel Perry place, west of the Furnace Village, and which succeeded the old saw-mill built there prior to 1772. When the No. § schoolhouse was moved away, about 1820, to give place to the brick one, it was taken to the locality just named, and was for a time used as a mill for cutting tacks. It afterward became a paint-shop, and now serves the humble purpose of a carriage-house for Michael Mulligan. South of the Furnace Village and on the turnpike, there was erected in 1844 the first belt saw-mill built in this vicinity. The builders and owners were Lewis Williams and his son Edward D. Williams. It has been in operation ever since, being now owned by the last named gentleman. Just before 1840 Alonzo A. Fuller, of Raynham, set up the wheelwright business on the Bay road in a building owned by Bravo C. Dunbar. He continued in the business about twelve years. The blacksmith shop in which he worked was afterward changed to a dwelling-house, and is now occupied by James Gooch. INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 587 In or about the year 1841 Guilford Godfrey put up a small saw-mill on Leach’s stream, a few rods below Highland Street. It was however bought not long afterward by the owners of the privilege next above. In 1852 he built a small dam on the same stream southwest of Edward D. Williams’s mill, erected a saw- mill there, and used it more or less until his death in 1863. His son Nahum Godfrey ran it for about two years afterward, when it was discontinued. Close by his dwelling-house at the corner of Prospect and Howard Streets, Asa R. Howard had years ago a shop where he used to make hoes. When a sufficient number were ready, he was accustomed to take them to Calvin Brett’s mill to have them polished. Not long after 1800, Oliver Pool put up a building at the Centre in which to manufacture cards for carding wool. It was located east of the church; but the enterprise was abandoned, and the building used for a store. We have seen that the saw-mill privilege at what is now the. Morse place, first improved by Daniel Williams, Esq., about 1745, was bought by Josiah Copeland in 1797. He owned the saw- mill there until about 1825, when Hiram Copeland owned it for atime. To this place in 1802 Josiah Copeland moved a build- ing which he used for some years as an oil-mill, and in which also he had a card-wool machine. This building had originally stood on Windmill Hill, where it was erected and owned by Samuel Guild, Calvin Brett, Josiah Copeland, and Edward Hayward, who intended to use it for an oil-mill; but their ven- ture proving unsuccessful, they sold it to Mr. Copeland, on con- dition that he would move it away within eight months. May 1, 1810, Josiah Copeland, Nathan Reed, Bela Reed, Bezer Keith, and Rufus Fuller formed a co-partnership, agreeing to provide buildings and machinery for the manufacture of cotton yarn at this same place. Instead of erecting a new building they enlarged the oil-mill, adding a story to it, and set up five frames in it, each frame containing sixty spindles. Rufus Fuller was made superintendent of the work, receiving for his services a dollar and a half a day. Josiah Copeland was to have any sur- plusage of water there might be from October 15 to June 1, for the use of his saw-mill, and the wool-carding machine might 588 HISTORY OF EASTON. have such surplusage for the rest of the year. The business prospered for a time, but ran down after the war, the firm ceas- ing to exist after 1817. The property was purchased by, or came into the possession of, David Manley, acting probably as agent for the Easton Manufacturing Company, whose factory was at North Easton village. Ata later date, probably 1826, Sheperd Leach bought one half of it, and in 1830 he purchased the remainder. E. J. W. Morse first came to Easton in 1829, and not long after that time he engaged in the cotton-thread business at the Furnace Village. February 27, 1837, he purchased one quarter of the property at the Morse privilege of Lincoln Drake, the latter holding it probably as executor of the estate of Gen. Sheperd Leach. December 22, 1840, Mr. Morse bought of Mr. Drake another quarter of the same property. The other half Mr. Drake sold June 21, 1845, to Robert Lunn and Daniel W. Heath. Mr. Lunn sold his quarter interest May 14, 1853, and Mr. Heath his quarter April 14, 1856,—both selling to Edward N. Morse. E. J. W. Morse at the time of his first purchase began the manu- facture of cotton thread, having in other sections of the town already conducted some branches of this work. The thread was manufactured from combed sea-island cotton. In 1844 a steam- engine was added as supplementary to the usual water-power ; it was the first steam-engine used in Easton. This firm keep the name of E. J. W. Morse & Co., and claim to be the oldest cotton- thread company in the United States now in operation. They employ about fifty hands, producing an article in general use, which is manufactured on as expensive and complete a sys- tem of machinery as is now used in any similar business. The view of the Morse thread-factory here given is from the north, overlooking a part of the pond. In this connection may be mentioned the interesting fact that in 1882, Alfred B. Morse, then eighteen years of age, built a steam yacht, which he launched in Easton waters June 21. In the summer of 1883 it was run in Massachusetts Bay, and was found to have a speed of ten miles an hour. At the Green there was in 1800 a grist-mill, owned by Timothy Randall, the second of that name. In 1803 he sold his mill- property to Ichabod Macomber, who bought it for himself and _THREAD Mitts or E. J. W. Morse & Co., Sout Easton. INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 589 partner, Cyrus Alger. It was said to have been their intention to enlarge the pond, put up a forge, and perhaps also a furnace, and to start an extensive iron business. This move was checkmated by Josiah Copeland, Calvin Brett, and others, who bought the privilege below this dam, and who also bought land so near as to prevent the enlargement of the pond as proposed. What might have been the result upon the prosperity of South Easton had Alger & Macomber not been defeated in their plan, is mat- ter of interesting conjecture. Being thus balked they deeded back the property to Timothy Randall, who took it because the parties opposed to Alger & Macomber agreed to buy it of him. Accordingly, February 23, 1804, it was bought by Josiah Cope- land, Bezer Keith, Calvin Brett, and James Guild, — Copeland and Keith taking three fourths of it, and Brett and Guild taking the other fourth. In 1807 Joseph Hayward, Roland Howard, Josiah Copeland, and Elijah Howard, Jr., entered into a partnership under the name of Elijah Howard & Co. In 1809 the Company expended twenty-eight hundred dollars in building a forge. Cyrus Alger, Nathaniel Howard, and Willard Babbitt were for a time con- nected with the Company ; but Alger’s interest was bought out in 1810, and the Company’s connection with Nathaniel Howard and Willard Babbitt also soon ceased. In August, 1810, Calvin Brett and James Guild sold out their interest in the grist-mill to the Company. About a year after this Elijah Howard & Co. lost by fire a coal-house and coal worth about fifteen hundred dollars. They had engaged in the manufacture of bar-iron, nail- rods, etc.; but the forge business proved worthless, entailing a loss of more than the original capital paid in, which was two thousand dollars. The Company then began here the manufac- ture of cut nails, a business which they had already started at the Red Factory location at North Easton village. They also engaged in the manufacture of cotton yarn and of cloth. Dur- ing the War of 1812-1815 they did a large business; but the losses by depreciation of currency and bad debts just after the war left them for a time in a bankrupt condition. In 1823 the cut-nail business was moved to Braintree, where it flourished. The Company ran two factories in town, that at South Easton being called the Village Factory Co., and that at the Red Factory 590 HISTORY OF EASTON. the Federal Factory Co. They manufactured yarn, bed-ticking, apron-check, and other goods. About 1840 the Village Factory Co. sold out to Capt. Barzillai Dean, who manufactured cotton- print goods of a light texture. Captain Dean was killed by a distressing accident in 1848, and from that time this factory, since enlarged, has been a machine-shop, and with the grist-mill has been the property of T. H. and J. O. Dean. They manu- facture pianoforte machinery, wooden slipper-heels, and other articles. For the manufacture of wooden slipper-heels new ma- chinery has lately been introduced, and the work is very ingen- iously done. This Company own a valuable patent for the manufacture of leather slipper-heels, and are doing an increas- ing business in this line. On the South Boston and Taunton Turnpike, east of the Green, there is a very ancient mill-privilege. In 1757 it is spoken of in the perambulation of Easton and Bridgewater as the “Old Saw-mill Dam.” The dam, and doubtless also the mill, were there early in the last century, perhaps even before 1700; the sills of the old mill were laid bare by the recent wash- out. A long and careful search among the Bristol County deeds failed to elicit any information regarding it, and it is evident that the ancient mill was not within the limits of Easton, but must have been just far enough east to bring it within the Bridge- water boundary. This conclusion is necessitated by convincing evidence. One of the Bridgewater Bretts owned this mill about 1780. It has been already stated that Calvin Brett and others bought this privilege at the time that Alger & Macomber started the forge business at the Green. In 1814 was formed the firm of Solomon Stone & Co., who had a carding-mill at this place on the Turnpike, the dam and buildings being reconstructed, bringing them within the Easton line. After Mr. Stone’s death the firm was reorganized, and several kinds of business in the course of time were done there. They hada cotton factory as well as carding mill. Calvin Brett had also a fulling-mill there. There were two buildings, and yarn was made in one of them. Brett and Guild at one time manufacured satinet, and afterward John C. Brett made shoe-pegs at the same place. In 1848 Solo- mon W. Morse bought the whole privilege, and changed it into a mill for the manufacture of cotton cloth. It finally came into the INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 591 possession of E. J. W. Morse. During the Civil War Franklin Keith made shoddy there, since which time it has been called the Shoddy Mill. It was not in use for some years, and in 1879 the buildings were burned,—a year, by the way, in which so many fires occurred in the south half of the town as naturally to suggest the presence of an incendiary, a suspicion since that time strongly confirmed. Farther south on the Turnpike Guilford White in 1850 be- gan the manufacture of shoes, and continued it for six years. For several years afterward the same business was carried on by Horatio Thayer and Nathaniel R. Packard. In 1858 Lewis Thayer built a factory north of Mr. White’s, and continued in the shoe-business until 1870. Irving and Emory Packard began the manufacture of shoes in West Bridgewater in February, 1868, but January 1, 1869, they moved into Mr. White’s build- ing in Easton. They continued in the business there until they were burned out, August 25, 1884. They then moved to North Easton into the building opposite Memorial Hall, where they still remain. Not long after the century opened, Cyrus Alger and Ichabod Macomber built and carried on a furnace a short distance north- east of the Thaxter Harvey place; but the business did not prove a success. The ruins, at least the foundations, of this old furnace may still be seen. In the south part of the town, in the year 1828, J. and H. M. Poole began the manufacture of mathematical instruments on a small scale. A strong prejudice for foreign-made instruments was only slowly overcome. Poole’s work was said not only to equal but even to excel the imported. In 1878 John M. Poole, who had for twenty-five years been foreman, succeeded to the business. He manufactures surveyors’ transits, builders’ levels, land and telescopic compasses, and many other instruments of this kind. The saw-mill at Cranberry-Meadow Pond was owned in 1800 by Dr. Edward Dean. Dr. Dean deeded it to his son James, who deeded it to his son Edward W. Dean in 1850. It after- ward passed into the hands of Dr. Caleb Swan, and subse- quently became the property of Oliver Ames. It is now owned by F. L. Ames, and is no longer used as a mill. 592 HISTORY OF EASTON. The saw-mill built by George Ferguson about 1750 at the location now known as the Picker place, and rebuilt about 1786, was owned in 1802 by Captain Elisha Harvey and Ziba Randall, the latter having charge of the work, which was discon- tinued about 1815. One of the first enterprises to follow it at the same location was a cut-nail factory started by Col. David Manley, in which Oliver Ames and Asa Waters both had some interest. Several such factories were built about the same time in town. Colonel Manley’s enterprise proved unlucky, because just as he had a large stock of nails packed the mill was burned to ashes, and the nails and machinery spoiled. Another nail-factory was then built at this old Ferguson dam. A grist-mill was also erected, and the grindstones for it were brought up from the Jonathan Randall mill at the Ames office location. In 1830 David Manley sold to Sheperd Leach “his right and title to the grist-mill near Ziba Randall's.” About this time E. J. W. Morse hired the nail-factory building and put up in it a cotton-picking machine, or else hired a picker previously set up, which he worked as late as 1835 ; it was from this business that the place became known as the Picker place. It became the property of Oliver Ames, Sr., not long after Sheperd Leach’s death, and about 1835 he set up his brother John Ames there in the manufacture of knives, a business that was continued about ten years. After that a trip-hammer was put up, and used in the welding of straps upon shovels. The building was subsequently destroyed by fire, and since that time this privilege has not been used. Next below the last named place is the Hoe Shop privilege. In April, 1804, Nathan Pratt, blacksmith, bought of Jacob Leonard a tract of land which included this privilege, and May 26 he bought also a large lot of George Ferguson. Mr. Pratt began at once to build the Hoe Shop dam, and in less than a year he had completed it and had also erected a trip- hammer shop, where he began the manufacture of hoes, Lewis Drake being connected with him in the business. Mr. Pratt moved to Plymouth with Oliver Ames soon after the latter went there, which was in 1807, and returned with him several years later. Obed Harlow was in the Hoe Shop for a time. Asa Waters manufactured shovels at Mr. Ames’s Shovel Shop for INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 593 several years before Mr. Ames returned from Plymouth, though the latter as already stated had begun that business soon after buying the Shovel-Shop Pond privilege, in August, 1803. After his return from Plymouth in 1814 the Hoe Shop place became his property, and has since been used for Shovel Shop purposes. There was a repair or wheelwright shop just below, and still farther east a blacksmith shop which was long occupied by Na- than Pratt, and which was a delightful resort for young children, who felt at home with the good-natured blacksmith, and had rare fun in his shop. In 1815 the Easton Manufacturing Company was organized, Col. David Manley being the leading man in the concern. They built their factory for the manufacture of cotton cloth on the present location of the Ames Machine Shop. They had con- siderable capital and a large amount of property, owning two fac- tories, a saw-mill, a grist-mill, and two blacksmith shops; they also carried on “the store,” which was at the present location of the Ames store. About 1817 their building was destroyed by fire, and another was erected. In 1826 the Company found themselves heavily involved. At this time Sheperd Leach ac- quired some claim to the Company’s property; and in 1830 he became the owner of it, having possession of their two factories, —the one just mentioned, and the Copeland, Fuller, & Co. Fac- tory, —and also of the saw-mill and grist-mill. The grist-mill was in or adjoining to the North Easton factory building. Shortly after this Martin Bliss made spool cotton there. A nailer’s shop was for a time connected with it, and also a cot- ton picker, which was run by E. J. W. Morse. About 1836 it was purchased by Oakes Ames, who set up David Barlow, of New York, in the manufacture of covered bonnet-wire. Six hands were employed in this business, ten thousand dollars in- vested, and twenty thousand dollars worth of wire manufactured in one year.! This factory building was finally purchased by Oliver Ames & Sons, and in 1857 they erected the machine shop that now stands there. Before Oliver Ames, the founder of the great Shovel Works in Easton was born, his father, Capt. John Ames, had begun in West Bridgewater the manufacture of shovels. This was as 1 Branches of Industry in Massachusetts, J. P. Bigelow, pp. 134, 135. 38 594 HISTORY OF EASTON. early as 1776. His son learned the business, and shortly after he became of age began to look about for a good place in which to start business for himself. At just this time Eliphalet Leonard, the third of that name, had become bankrupt. He had, about 1793, built the Shovel-Shop Pond dam, and erected there a forge with a trip-hammer and a nailer’s shop. He was unsuccessful, and in 1801 failed in business, his property going into the possession of Abiezer Alger, of Bridgewater. Mr. Ames came and inspected the property, and August 1, 1803, purchased it for sixteen hundred dollars, several other pieces of land being included in the same purchase. He at once and with energy prepared to engage in the manufacture of shovels. In the “ Atlantic Monthly” of September, 1870, Azel Ames, Jr., dated the origin of this business inthe year 1812. This is a mistake of nine years. The following items of the account between Ziba Randall and Mr. Ames, copied verbatim from Mr. Randall’s original account book, are conclusive as to this point. The last two items, it will be observed, are first in the order of time : — a May 1804, Oliver Ames, dr., for plank &ahub. . . . . $1.20 may 21, for bringing up Iron from Gibsons, boston . . - 5.00 Novr., tor two pounds of wool . . . . 56 april 17, 1805, for Carting 6 Dousin of Stovels to besten - 1,00 April 28, 1806, for bringing one log from Jonathan Howards 2.25 oct., 1806, for Carting iron & Ctel from boston. . . . . 4-40 April 21, for Carting Iron from Boston to the tip Shop . . 5.00 1807, for timber for 2 Scale beams, AugustyeI2 . . . .« -62 Novr., 1803, for father’s Joists . 2. 2. 2. ee ee “75 forsawing timber. . . . .....-s FS The shovels which Mr. Ames made before those carted in April, 1805, he probably took to Boston himself. He converted the nailer’s shop at the Shovel-Shop Pond dam into a shovel- handle shop, as it is reported in a subsequent deed, indicating that at that date he manufactured the handles here also. In 1807 he moved to Plymouth, thinking the business might be more favorably conducted there, but he did not give up his enter- prise at Easton; it seems to have been managed during part of the time of his absence by Asa Waters. Either at the Hoe Shop, INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 595 or at the place where he began, he was, even when absent at Ply- mouth, interested in the manufacture of hoes, and in the space of three months in 1808 sent about eight hundred to Boston. In 1814 he returned from Plymouth, and for a year was in partnership with the firm name of Ames, Waters, & Co. This partnership was probably concerned only with the Hoe Shop business, and lasted but one year. Mr. Ames by various purchases added largely to his ownership of real estate, buying in 1813 the land on which the office and his house are situated. His business increased, but it had its vicissitudes; and there was a period when only his known business character and ability saved him from complete financial disaster. Gradually, however, he was relieved from embarrassment, and his business became a marked success. In 1844 he gave his property to his sons Oakes and Oliver, reserving a life interest in it and one third of the profits of the business. It was then that the firm of Oliver Ames & Sons was formed. In 1863 Oliver Ames, Sr., died, and his one third interest was divided between F. L. Ames, Oakes A. Ames, and Oliver Ames, 2d, they being then taken into the firm. In 1876 the firm reorganized as a corporation, with the name of the Oliver Ames & Sons Corporation. Prior to 1852 the business was carried on mainly in the shops at the lower end of Shovel-Shop Pond. March 2 of that year the buildings were destroyed by fire. Immediately the firm sent into neighboring towns and collected a large number of car- penters, and in three weeks had temporary shops erected and work begun. These temporary shops were constructed with reference to being divided and made into dwelling-houses. Several of the tenement houses on the “Island” were made from these works, and in the following winter of 1852-1853 the two houses now standing on the north side of Oliver Street, east of the railroad, were moved across the pond on the ice from the Shovel-Shop Pond dam. In 1852, soon after the temporary works were occupied, the Long Shop was built, which is five hundred and thirty feet long, two stories high, and made of stone. The large wing now known as the Machine Shop was put up in 1857, the wooden factory building having been bought of Oakes Ames by the Company, and moved to the north side 596 HISTORY OF EASTON. of Oliver Street west of the track, and made into the two houses now standing. there. Other shovel shops were added as need occurred. The Red Factory privilege was bought of Elijah Howard by the Company in 1851. In order to provide for a larger storage of water for manufac- turing purposes the owners of the various privileges on Queset River, both in Easton and farther down the stream, united as early as May, 1825, and greatly enlarged the dam at the foot of what was afterward, more appropriately than before, called Long Pond. The original dam there was built in 1763 by Stoughton parties, to flow the meadows above. The Hammer Shop at this dam was built soon after the dam was finished. The other reservoir, called Fly-away Pond, was made in 1845, The Trip-hammer Shop was built in 1853, the Antrim Shop in 1865, the Handle Shop in 1866, and the New Shop east of the Long Shop in 1870. Besides these numerous buildings in North Easton, the Ames Corporation have other shops in Canton, West Bridgewater, and South Braintree. If all the stone shops in use by the Corporation were placed end to end, they would reach about twenty-five hundred feet, or nearly halfa mile. The view of the Shovel Shops here presented is perhaps as good a general view as can be taken. The point of view is the railroad track south of the bridge, under which runs the street. About five hundred employees work for the Corporation. They manu- facture from 110,000 to 125,000 dozens of shovels a year. Tak- ing the average of these figures, 117,500 dozens, it makes the almost incredible number of 1,410,000 shovels a year, or 27,115 a week, 4,519 a day, and over 451 each working hour. From 1,200 to 1,500 tons of Swedish iron, and from 1,200 to 1,400 tons of steel are annually used in this manufacture. The Ames Company’s vast interests at North Easton, the large number of hands employed, and of shovels manufactured and shipped away, the care of machinery, buildings, tenements, etc., require careful and diligent oversight. This responsibility rests upon Oakes A. Ames, the authorized superintendent. Having perfect knowledge of all the details of the manufacture, being shrewd, conservative, sound in judgment, and what is especially important, being a man whose conduct and character command respect, he is remarkably well fitted for his position, ‘NOLSVQ] HLUON ‘SHYOAA TAAOHS SUNY INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 597 to which he gives very close application; he is one of the super- intendents who superintends. What is called the Red Factory privilege is at the foot of Stone’s Pond, near F. L. Ames’s farm-house. There, as narrated already, the forge business was begun about 1720. Late in the century a grist-mill had been added. After passing through the hands of Jacob and Isaac Leonard it became the property of Giles Leach and Timothy Mitchell in 1802, and February 15, 1805, Mitchell became sole owner. Several years afterward it became the property of Elijah Howard & Co. This Com- pany began here the cut-nail business about 1808, and contin- ued it four years, when they moved their nail machines to the Green. December 13, 1814, they sold a part interest in this privilege to William G. Andrews, and the firm of William G. Andrews & Co. began at once the manufacture of cotton yarn, and at a later date of cotton sheeting, which they continued to make until Mr. Andrews died, in 1828. Gurdon Stone & Co. succeeded this firm for two years, and the business then became known as the Federal Cotton Factory, being owned and managed by Elijah Howard & Co. and Gurdon Stone. In 1837 Jason G. Howard bought out Mr. Stone. In ‘1839 nine tack-machines were put in, and the manufacture of tacks was begun. E. J. W. Morse about 1840 to 1850 rented a part of the factory and manufactured knitting cotton, Timothy Kaley being the superintendent. Mr. Morse had also a cotton-picker there. Except the tack business, which was very profitable, the various enterprises of Elijah Howard & Co. in Easton were not prosperous. Mr. Howard ina review of the whole subject wrote: “So far as manufacturing cotton has been carried on by the Company, they have in every instance lost money by it, and in some cases to the extent of thousands of dollars.” Their business at Braintree proved very remunerative, and alone saved the Company from ruin. In 1851 the Company had lost two of its members by death, — Joseph Hayward in 1843, and Roland Howard later, which left Elijah Howard as principal owner. He sold the Red Factory privilege in 1851 to Oakes and Oliver Ames, who have used it for various purposes connected with the shovel business, latterly for the grinding of shovels. When 598 HISTORY OF EASTON. there is water-power to spare at this privilege it is used for running the stone-crusher owned by the town. The industry of next importance in town to the shovel business is the manufacture of hinges by E. W. Gilmore. In 1854 the firm of E. W. Gilmore & Co., the other partners being Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames, began in a small way the manufacture of strap- and T-hinges, ship-scrapers, wrought iron-washers, and other articles. This business was started in the building at the Shovel-Shop Pond dam formerly used by the Ames Company for the manufacture of shovels. In 1871 E. W. Gilmore bought out the Ames interest in the business first named ; he then built the large works which he now occupies, and moved into them in Jan- uary, 1872. His power is furnished by a sixty horse-power Cor- liss engine. Mr. Gilmore is a practical and ingenious machinist, and from time to time has invented and introduced important im- provements in the way of machinery and labor-saving processes. By this means, by hard work of brain and hand, and by excellent business ability, he has achieved success. When full of work he employs about seventy-five men and boys, making about fifteen thousand strap- and T-hinges per day, besides other articles. In 1884 Mr. Gilmore added another industry to his business, that of making wire picture-cord. A view of the Hinge Factory is here given. In 1851 there was organized in North Easton the firm of A. A. Gilmore & Co., the other members of the firm being Elisha T. Andrews and Oakes A. Ames. They manufactured fine calf-skin boots in a building owned by Cyrus Lothrop. Oakes Ames succeeded to the interest first owned by Oakes A. Ames. In 1870, Messrs Gilmore and Andrews bought out Oakes Ames. This firm, which for some time did quite an ex- tensive business, gave up the manufacture of boots in 1879; but the firm did not dissolve until death broke up the long partner- ship, Mr. Andrews dying in 1883. In 1855 William Andrews built what is known as the Brett Shop (now Middleton’s Market), and went into the business of shoe-manufacturing with Ward L. Foster; but the business crisis of 1857 made this attempt a failure. The firm of Pratt, Foster, & Co. manufactured for a time in the same building. In 1863 George Brett made ladies’ shoes in this building for E. W. Gitmore’s HINGE Factory AND House, Nortu Easton. INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 599 E. H. Johnson, of Lynn. In 1855 he went into business in the same place for himself, and continued in it for ten years, when it closed. Captain John A. Lynch once carried on the shoe business in the village, as also did John Bailey. In 1865 John B. King, with P. A. Gifford as partner, began to make boots and shoes, In 1871 Mr. King bought out his partner’s interest, and has conducted a successful business ever since. He now employs about fifty hands in his work; his goods go chiefly west and northwest. The mill on the north road to Brockton has never been an important enterprise, the water-supply being inadequate. It is probable that the supply was larger here and in other localities in town acentury and a half ago. As stated already, this mill was sold by the heirs of Samuel Stone in 1776 to George Monk, then of Stoughton, but living near the mill. July 30, 1812, Mr. Monk sold the mill and privilege to Edward Capen, it being then “an old corn-mill.” Mr. Capen carried it on as a grist-mill, and in 1829 he sold it to Merrit and Francis French. For two years it was regarded as too insignificant a piece of property even to be taxed. It was then repaired and set to work again. The mill is now the property of Simeon French, and is at present (1886) the tenement of a solitary resident. At the so-called Marshall place on the Quaker Leonard road Eliphalet Leonard, 2d, owned a forge and steel furnace in 1800. The first steel furnace was erected at the beginning of the Rev- olutionary War; and Jonathan Leonard, son of Eliphalet, had built a second at this place in 1787, and he was living there at this time. The old Leonard house was just west of where the Box Factory now stands, and had an immense central chimney. This whole property, March 1, 1804, was deeded to Jonathan, though the latter then lived in Canton. In 1808 he built another furnace in the same place capable of making at first ten, and then twenty, tons of steel at a batch. Here for a time was also operated a machine for breaking flax. Jonathan Leonard re- tained the ownership of this place until nearly 1827, when it passed into the possession of Amos Binney, of Boston. But prior to this a great excitement was made by the supposed dis- covery of lead-ore at this place. A company was organized, and 600 HISTORY OF EASTON. in 1824 mining was begun. A large amount of capital was sunk, one or two lives lost, and nothing was left to show for it at last but a dismal hole in the ground. February 8, 1825, Joel White was injured by a premature explosion here, and lived but ten days afterward. About 1833 this old Leonard place became the property of Calvin Marshall, and he soon sold the right of the mill-privilege to Jeremiah Kelley and Samuel B. King, who built a stone fac- tory here, intending to manufacture cotton batting. They put in two machines and began work, but soon became financially embarrassed and were unable to carry on the business. Not long afterward Nathaniel Hayward, assisted by his brother, man- ufactured in this building rubber sheeting, which was made up into ladies’ rubber aprons by women who worked in a shop on the east side of Washington Street, not far above the church. This manufacture also was not long continued; and then the mill fell into disuse, suffering meantime from the depredations of boys, who smashed the windows and did what damage they could. Not far from 1860 William Morse obtained possession of the property, and Isaac Merritt began in it a box-factory. There was soon some disagreement with Mr. Marshall, leading to long and costly lawsuits, which ended by Mr. Marshall buying the building of Mr. Morse. He put a new wheel into it, and it has since been run as a box-factory. Near it are now the commodi- ous ice-houses of the Brockton Ice Company, who do an exten- sive business. At South Easton, Samuel Simpson, February 4, 1828, began the business of blacksmithing, and continued working at it until age and failing strength obliged him to desist. The wheel- wright business was added in 1852, and the painting and trim- ming business in 1881. In 1884 the business firm was reorgan- ized under the name of S, D. Simpson & Sons, Simpson’s Spring has already been spoken of. Though the water of this spring had long been known to be especially good, it was not until 1878 that it was analyzed and became an article of sale. Since that time there has been an increasing demand for it, the water being sold all over the country, and even sent to South America. Considerable business is done in bottling and carbonizing this water, which being flavored in various ways INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 601 makes a pleasant and wholesome beverage. The proprietor of this growing business is Samuel D. Simpson. As early as 1830 four Hayward brothers — Nathaniel, Daniel, Albert, and Charles— began the wheelwright business in the old shop now standing on Poquanticut Avenue, south of the intersection of Beaver Street. Within five or six years of that time Daniel and Nathaniel, who were interested in trying to make improvements in the manufacture of rubber goods, left the business. Subsequently Charles also gave up his interest in it, and it was conducted alone by Albert until 1872, when he took his son, Albert M. Hayward, into partnership. In 1882 the latter bought out his father’s interest, and still continues the business. In the spring of 1886 he moved his factory to the Furnace Village, placing it on the corner opposite Joel S. Drake’s old store stand. Daniel Hayward, after leaving the partnership as above said, built a shop for the manufacture of carriages. The canvas for them was prepared by a process of his own invention, being made with what he called friction cement. He continued this business until about 1850, without, however, making it a success. He was greatly interested in the rubber manufacture, and experi- mented a good deal with it, showing remarkable intelligence, perseverance, and inventive genius. He was the first person to make a success of the glazed rubber cloth. He went into partnership with Dr. Hartshorn, of Providence,—the latter fur- nishing the money for the business, the former supplying what is scarcer than money; that is, brains. This was about 1853. At the time of his death he was entertaining the idea of putting up large rubber works in Easton, locating them south of Tisdale Harlow’s. His brother Nathaniel was in the rubber business also, finally settling in Colchester, Connecticut, making consider- able money. Daniel was with him there for a short time. The Hayward Rubber Company, at present a great success, was an outgrowth of the perseverance, inventiveness, and enterprise of these Easton Haywards. About twenty-five years ago Jephtha Buck built a small grist- mill at the southeast end of the little pond near the intersection of Rockland and Mill streets. It had in it a saw for cutting wood. It has been occasionally used by Mr. Buck until recently. 602 HISTORY OF EASTON. Cider was sometimes made there. It is now occupied by El- bridge Williams, who manufactures baskets in it. The great gale of September 8, 1869, levelled to the ground many acres of forest in Easton. More than twenty-five acres of some of Edward R. Hayward’s largest timber in the swamp south of his residence thus suffered. Mr. Hayward immedi- ately decided to erect a steam saw-mill at this locality,—the only steam saw-mill in town, and the largest one in the vicinity. He put in a thirty-five horse-power engine, with a fifty horse- power tubular boiler, and provided a large circular-saw for saw- ing long timber. He runs also a circular-saw for sawing wood, slabs, and the like. This mill was in operation before the close of the year 1869, and in twelve months thereafter it had sawed out more than one million three hundred thousand feet of lumber. Mr. Hayward sometimes markets more than one thousand cords of wood a year, and gets out a large quantity of posts and rails for fencing. He also gets out ties for the Old Colony Railroad. This Rail- road Company has built for him at its own expense a private track. Mr. Hayward also runs a large farm, paying considerable attention to the cultivation of hops; he has a building on his premises for curing, drying, and bailing hops for the market. An excellent example of success in farming in Easton has been given by Mr. James Rankin. He has also invented an incubator which is rapidly displacing other incubators in the market, and the business of manufacturing them is steadily in- creasing. At the request of the writer Mr. Rankin has pre- pared a statement descriptive of his business experience in town, and it is here given in his own words :— “In April, 1874, I bought a farm in Easton known as the Deacon Reed farm, and moved. on in September of the same year. I found it very much run down, keeping with difficulty three or four cows and a horse. The buildings also, both house and barns, were in a very bad condition. I repaired the house, built a new barn, and started in confidently. I had bought the place for its possibilities, it being a fine plot of loamy land, free from stone and sloping gently to the south- east. By utilizing all the fertilizers at my command with scrupulous care in composting them, also by the judicious application of ground INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 603 bone, some three or four tons each year, with the component parts of potash and nitrogenous salts, the farm cut more than sixty tons of hay and easily kept twenty-five head of cattle with provender to spare. “Previous to locating in Easton I had been growing poultry on a large scale, and found it by far the most profitable part of farm in- dustry. I had also been experimenting somewhat with incubators, and became convinced that if the artificial system could be made a success it would greatly enhance the profits of the business. In 1879 I con- structed a machine with a hot water circulation and an automatic reg- ulation, relying upon the expansive and contractive force of the water in the tank to regulate the heat in the egg chamber, — thus making the very principle which generated the superfluous heat provide for its own escape. The thing worked admirably, and I was enabled to dis- continue the use of hens entirely for purposes of incubation. Others wished me to construct machines for them. The demand for them became so great that I eventually patented it, put it out in public competition with all other machines whenever opportunity offered, in- variably winning by its meritorious work all honors and the first pre- miums over all the first class machines in the country. The past winter we employed some fifteen or sixteen hands in the manufacture of incubators, and could hardly fill the orders we received.” There are a number of cranberry meadows in Easton. The names Cranberry Meadow and Little Cranberry Meadow were given to localities in Easton already spoken of, which proves that our early settlers found cranberries growing here. They are now carefully cultivated in several places in town. Avery Stone and Levi C. Fitton have meadows northwest of their homes. Samuel K. Kelley, who has for some years culti- vated them east of the Bay road in Stoughton, has lately, in company with Edward R. Hayward, prepared and planted some ‘fine meadows in the valley of the Whitman Brook west of the railroad, near the town line. They are already yielding a crop. Oliver A. Day is also engaging in the same industry just below Kelley and Hayward’s meadows. Other persons have small cranberry meadows in town. The swampy lands and numerous small watercourses of Easton offer favorable opportunities for this important business. For many years William King, in a small building west of his dwelling-house, has manufactured awls, and has added to this 604 HISTORY OF EASTON. business the making of various kinds of cement and some other goods, In 1880 at Easton Centre, in a building that was once the old Chapel and subsequently a coffin manufactory, Reed & Lincoln began the manufacture of a variety of shoes. There has been an addition made to the building, and the industry is now carried on by Lackey & Davie, who employ about twenty-four hands and are doing an increasing business. In the fall of 1880 D. H. Packard began the manufacture of shoes in North Easton but soon gave up the business. In March, 1880, A. J. Leavitt established a business which goes under the name of the New England Specialty Company. He manufactures a large variety of such articles as screw- drivers, can-openers, sewing-machine trimmings, steel-keys, etc. His shop is the former hinge-factory of E. W. Gilmore east of Shovel-Shop Pond. In March, 1883, W. B. Drew and J. W. Keith formed a co- partnership for the manufacture of boot and shoe heels. In October, 1884, they erected a building just north of the No. 8 schoolhouse on Washington Street, and have since done a thriving business, employing about twelve workmen. In January, 1885, the Howard Shoe Company began business in White’s Village. Its members are J. M. Howard, J. E. How- ard, and M. H. Willis. This Company has been doing business on a small scale for a year, but has just erected a building sixty by twenty-two feet, where they will employ more hands and in- crease the amount of goods manufactured. December 22, 1885, Walter Hill, of Easton, patented a cart- ridge-loading machine, which is named the Acme Cartridge Loader. It is a very ingenious but also a simple contrivance by means of which, though working by hand, one person can load two hundred cartridges in an hour. It is thus described by Mr. Hill : — “ The machine consists of a powder and shot reservoir, also a recep- tacle for supplying wads, which are fed and driven automatically by the use of a lever. It is so constructed that by the simple turn of a thumb-screw any desired charge can be used. Sufficient powder, shot, and wads for the loading of one hundred shells can be placed in the receiver. A glass is placed in front of each receiver, so that INDUSTRIES AFTER 1800. 605 at any time the amount of powder and shot in them can be seen. The shell is placed in a brass sleeve, and with one motion of the hand it is placed in position ready for the charge. Three quick motions of the lever, and the shell is loaded; one motion of the hand tips back the sleeve containing the cartridge and puts it in position to be crimped ; two turns of the crimper, and the cartridge is ready for use.” These machines are at present manufactured at Drake's foundry and machine works. In September, 1886, there was organized in North Easton vil- lage a corporation under the title of the North Easton Boot & Shoe Manufacturing Company, with a capital stock of not less than thirteen thousand dollars. The corporation was formed, not for the purpose of manufacturing boots and shoes, but in order to provide a building where such manufacturing could be done, — this building being specially designed for D. B. Closson & Company, shoe manufacturers, previously located at Brock- ton, Mr. Closson’s partner being N. S. Gould. Mr. Closson is well known in North Easton, having for a short time carried on the shoe business here. The corporation chose for directors Josiah Goward, Henry Carr, Hiram Williams, L. L. Berry, and P. A. Gifford. Mr. Goward was elected president, E. B. Hay- ward secretary, and Mr. Gifford treasurer. A lot of land on Mechanic Street a few rods east of the rail- road was purchased ; the first spadeful of earth was removed October 7, and on the 14th the first stone of the foundation was laid. The building is expected to be ready for occupancy in the coming winter of 1886-1887. Its dimensions are to be one hundred and fifty feet long and thirty-five feet high, with two projections. The front projection will be fifty-four by thirty-two feet, and the boiler-house thirty-three by thirty-two feet It will be four stories high. It is hardly desirable to go into further and more minute details in regard to the business interests of Easton. The town has its carpenters, masons, painters, and paper-hangers, market- men, butchers, milliners, tin-men, tailors, cobblers, livery-stable keepers, druggists, store-keepers, etc. like other towns; but they would be more properly specified in a town business directory. 606 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXXI. BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. THe First NATIONAL BANK.— THE NorRTH EASTON SAVINGS BANK. — MILITARY BANDS oF Easton. — PAuL DEAN LODGE OF FREEMA- SONS. — MIzPAH CHAPTER, ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR. —A. B. RANDALL Post, G. A. R. No. 52.— THE GooD TEMPLARS. — SONS OF TEMPERANCE. — THE ROMAN CATHOLIC LycEUM.— THE KNIGHTS oF Honor. — THE RoyaL ARCANUM. — THE QUESET CLUB. — THE NortH Easton ATHLETIC CLuB. — THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR. BANKS. HE First National Bank of Easton was organized in March, 1864, and opened for business on the rst of July fol- lowing. Its first board of officers was as follows: President, John H. Swain; Cashier, Pardon A. Gifford; Directors, Oliver Ames, Reuben Meader, John H. Swain, E. W. Gilmore, Oakes A. Ames, and Frederick L. Ames. Mr. Swain held the office of president for three years, and was succeeded by Oliver Ames in January, 1867, who filled the position until his death in March, 1877. Frederick L: Ames was then elected president, and still retains the position. The death of Oliver Ames made a vacancy in the board of directors, and this was filled by the election of Oliver Ames, the son of Oakes. George Barrows succeeded Reuben Meader in 1880, on the same board. The capital stock of this bank when it organized in 1864 was $100,000 ; and twice in that year it was voted to increase it by the addition of $100,000 more, — making a total of $300,000, which is the amount at this date (August, 1886). The surplus earnings are over $100,000. This bank has been very successful from the start. Pardon A. Gifford still remains cashier. The North Easton Savings Bank was incorporated February 2, 1864, on petition of Oliver Ames, A. A. Gilmore, and John H. Swain. It was approved by the Governor, February 8. The original petitioners associated with themselves P. A. Gifford, BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 607 Oakes Ames, C. C. Hussey, Cyrus Lothrop, Henry W. French, Oakes A. Ames, Horace M. Pool, Daniel Belcher, Edward N. Morse, and Thomas H. Dean as members of the corporation, which organized in August, 1864, by the choice of the following officers : President, A. A. Gilmore ; Vice-Presidents, J. H. Swain, George W. Kennedy, F. L. Ames ; Secretary and Treasurer, P. A. Gifford ; trustees, Oakes Ames, Reuben Meader, Henry J. Fuller, John Kimball, Lincoln Drake, Oliver Ames, Oliver Ames, 2d, Henry McArdle, E. W. Gilmore, Thomas H. Dean, T. M. Porter, and Joseph Barrows. Only three of the original trustees remain, except the officers, who also act in that capa- city. The vacancies have been filled, and four additional trus- tees are added to the board. The Savings Bank opened for business in October, 1864. In January, 1867, F. L. Ames was chosen president, A. A. Gilmore having declined re-election. The bank has always done a good business. In 1879 its deposits had reached the sum of $320,000. This was at the time of alarm, when there was a great run upon savings banks. The North Easton Savings Bank paid out at that time about $90,000. It did not then ask, nor has it ever asked, for a day’s previous notice in order to meet any calls made upon it. It does a safe and prosperous business, and its present deposits amount to about $480,000. It has considerable influence in promoting thrifty habits among the working people, who frequently deposit portions of their earnings therein, and who place in its security a confidence that is well deserved. MILITARY BANDS OF EASTON. 1. The first military band of Easton was organized at the Furnace Village, September 8, 1841. Albert A. Rotch was chosen first leader, Daniel Belcher second leader, and William P. Howard, clerk. The original members were Albert A. Rotch, George L. Torrey, Daniel Belcher, S. W. Morse, Clifford Belcher, B. F. Johnson, George Williams, William P. Howard, Ira C. Root, Robert Lunn, Guilford White, Zenas Packard, Ezekiel Dicker- man, Isaiah Packard, Abner Drake, Jr., Charles Briggs, and Lysander White. Others afterward joined at different times, but the above are the names first entered as members upon the band-book of records. These records were begun by William P. 608 HISTORY OF EASTON. Howard, and present a fine specimen of beautiful penmanship. The band adopted the name of the Easton Brass Band. The first engagement of the Band to play was at Norton, May 25, 1842, for the Norton Artillery, and their remuneration was one dollar each, the band members paying their own expenses! The next month they played at Stoughton, for a dollar and a half each, and expenses paid. They were enough in demand by July 4 to charge four dollars each. But on other days than the Fourth of July their pay averaged about a dollar and a half each day. September 15, 1842, Brig.-Gen. Henry Dunham of the Second Brigade, first division, authorized Albert A. Rotch to organize a band for his brigade, which Mr. Rotch did; and the Easton Brass Band thus became the Second Brigade Brass Band. There were some changes, however, the following being the names of original members: A. A. Rotch, Daniel Belcher, William P. Howard, William R. Hayward, Clifford Belcher, Jr., Ezekiel Dickerman, S. W. Morse, Edward Williams, Abner Drake, Jr., Benjamin T. Johnson, George Williams, Robert Lunn, George T. Bliss, Lysander White, Abijah W. Packard, Joel S. Drake, and George W. Belcher. On their records they call themselves the Easton Brigade Band. November 17, 1843, Daniel Belcher was chosen first leader, A. A. Rotch second leader, and Abner Drake, Jr., clerk. This band was reorganized in 1860, under the direction of Mr. Humphrey. It was again reorganized at a later date. With a somewhat changing membership, of course, this band continued in existence until about 1878, and was known in later days as the Easton Brass Band. It had an excellent reputation, and was sometimes sought for from a distance. 2. About 1845 a band was organized at North Easton village. It was taught by Jesse Holmes, and Jason G. Howard was for some time its leader. It played at the laying of the corner-stone of the Protestant Methodist Church, — afterward the Unitarian, and now the Methodist Church of the village. It was not very long lived. 3. The South Easton Band was organized in April, 1868, and Emory Packard was appointed leader, holding the position for five or six years. This band continued in existence twelve years, and gained a good reputation. BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 609 4. In 1872 a band was organized in Unionville, North Easton, under the leadership of Jonathan W. Keith, which was trained by Alonzo Bond, the veteran band-teacher. It participated in the great Bunker Hill Centennial procession in Boston in 1875, and dissolved in 1879. 5. In October, 1871, the Irish Band of North Easton was formed. It was, and still remains, under the leadership of D. J. Connell. It has played on several Decoration Days, including the last (1886), when it gave good satisfaction. It is the only military band now in Easton, and it is hoped that it will long continue. PAUL DEAN LODGE OF FREEMASONS. On the 18th of February, 1867, a meeting of Master Masons favorable to establishing a Masonic Lodge in the town of Easton was held, at which meeting it was voted to petition the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for a dispensation to work as a Lodge. A dispensation was obtained March 29, 1867, authorizing George B. Cogswell and twenty-eight others to form and open a Masonic Lodge. The Grand-Master appointed the following officers : — George B. Cogswell . . . . . « Worshipful Master. Alfred Pratt 2 2. 2. 1. 1. e . Sentor Warden. Nathaniel B. Phillips . . . . . . Funtor Warden. The Lodge continued to work under dispensation until March II, 1868, at which time a charter was granted, and Paul Dean Lodge was duly constituted by the most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, March 24, 1868. There were twenty- four charter members, namely : — William F. Baldwin. John A. Lynch. George Barrows. Hiram A. Monk. L. L. Berry. Nathaniel B. Phillips. Benjamin G. Blaisdell. Alfred Pratt. Lucien Bonney. M. W. Ripley. George Brett. Leonard Selee. Daniel W. Burrell. Lewis H. Smith. George B. Cogswell. E. P. Spooner. N. B. Dana. N. H. Talbot. William H. Frost. Francis Tilden. Edw. R. Hayward. Henry P. Waite John B. King. George G. Withington. 1 This sketch was kindly prepared for this book by John H. Swain. 39 610 HISTORY OF EASTON. The Lodge was named after the Rev. Paul Dean, a Unitarian clergyman, who was settled over the Unitarian Society at Easton in 1845, and continued their pastor for five years. He wasa prom- inent Mason, having served in almost every official position, being grand- master of Masons in Massachusetts in 1838, 1839, and 1840. Paul Dean Lodge first met in the building now occupied by the post-office, which then stood on the land now used as the schoolhouse yard. On the ist of January, 1868, they removed to the upper hall in E. P. Spooner’s building. The hall was dedi- cated and the officers publicly installed by the officers of the Grand Lodge, March 24, 1868, the installation, however, occur- ring in the Methodist Church. The Lodge occupied this hall until the completion of the Ames Memorial Hall, elegant apart- ments having been provided for them in the upper part of that building, and secured for fifty years at a rental of one dollar per year ; they were dedicated by the officers of the Grand Lodge, November 22, 1881, in the presence of a large number of the brethren and of ladies and gentlemen. After the dedication exercises were over, while sitting in the ante-room, the record- ing grand-secretary, Tracy P. Cheever, remarked: ‘“ My record is finished ; it will read right a hundred years hence.” Within half an hour he was taken suddenly ill, and was carried from the hall in an unconscious state. He died of apoplexy about three o’clock the following afternoon, without having recovered his consciousness. The Lodge has grown to a membership of one hundred, and is now in a prosperous condition. The following brothers have served as masters : — Geo. B. Cogswell, 1868, 1870, and 1871. | John H. Swain, 1877 and 1878. George G. Withington, 1869. J. D. Atwood, 1879 and 1880. Lewis H. Smith, 1872 and 1873. Luther Sisson, 1881 and 1882. Edward R. Hayward, 1874. George K. Davis, (883. Samuel K. Kelley, 1875 and 1876. L. B. Crockett, 1884, 1885, and 1886. MIZPAH CHAPTER, ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR. The order of which the local organization known as the Miz- pah Chapter formed a part, is an association composed of the wives, daughters, mothers, widows, and sisters of Master Masons, who unite for purposes of friendship, sympathy, and aid, similar BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 611 to some of the objects of Freemasonry. This order is not in any proper sense a branch of Masonry, and its members cannot therefore with propriety be called Lady-Masons, as they have been. The presiding officer, however, is a Master Mason. Mizpah Chapter was instituted in North Easton, September, 1874. The first list of officers was as follows :— Mr. Henry P. Waite . . .. . Worshipful Patron. Mrs. Mary A. Smith . . . . . « Worshipful Matron. Mrs. Joan B. Waite . . . . . . Assistant Matron. The second board of officers was — Mr. Frank P. Keith . . . . . . Worshipful Patron. Mrs. Sarah M. Sisson . . . . . Worshipful Matron. Mrs. Nellie M. Pinkham . . . . Assistant Matron. The meetings of this Chapter were discontinued in December, 1882. A. B. RANDALL POST, G.A.R., NO. 52. The A. B. Randall Post of Easton was organized at North Easton, March g, 1868. .The charter members were Dr. George B. Cogswell, A. W. Thompson, R. H. Willis, N. H. Talbot, John A, Lynch, William H. Willis, M. F. Williams, William E. Bump, Jr., Charles S. Packard, and R. F. J. White. It was styled A. B. Randall Post, in honor of the brave cap- tain of that name, who, though serving on the quota of Abing- ton, was born and brought up in Easton. He enlisted first in a nine months’ regiment, and served out his full time. After being mustered out he found that he could not be contented to stay at home. He converted his dentist’s office into a recruiting station, and was soon at the front again. He received an injury at the battle of the Wilderness and came home, but was un- willing to wait for perfect recovery before returning to duty, and was soon participating in the siege of Richmond. Randall had first enlisted, a sergeant, in Company G, Forty-third Regiment ; was commissioned first lieutenant of Company A, Fifty-sixth Regiment, and afterward promoted captain, May 17, 1864. Cap- tain Randall was mortally wounded in the attack on Petersburg, being shot in the head by a sharpshooter, surviving the wound 612 HISTORY OF EASTON. only five hours. He was rightly named Ansel, which means “an heroic defender.” The Post had its headquarters at North Easton until January, 1878, at which time the interest had so declined that it was thought advisable to surrender the charter. But the suggestion was made to establish its headquarters at South Easton in the hope of adding to its membership soldiers from the borders of neighboring towns on the east. The experiment proved a sub- stantial success, for there has been a constantly enlarging mem- bership ever since, the number at the present time being over eighty. White’s Hall became the Post headquarters, and was so used until August, 1884, when the building was destroyed by fire, in which was consumed nearly the entire property of the organization. Since that time the meetings have been held in the upper hall of Spooner’s building, at North Easton. Aided by subscriptions from non-members, and generously contributing themselves, the Post has just erected a new hall at White’s Village, upon which there still remains a considerable debt, which it is hoped will be liquidated by further contributions. The following is the list of different commanders in the order of their service: John A. Lynch, John W. Allen, Thomas Bean, Oliver H. Blaisdell, S. Herbert Bates, Willard Lothrop, R. H. Willis, William L. Chaffin, William A. Linehan, George A. Lackey, and Ellis R. Holbrook, the present commander. The present organization of the Post is as follows : — Commander. . . . . . . « . Ellis R. Holbrook. Sentor-Vice Commander . Junior-Vice Commander . George G. Smith. Luther H. Clark. Adjutant. John N. Lufkin. Quartermaster . David Howard. Surgeon... . John A. Freese. Chaplain. . . . Daniel W. Burrell. Officer of the Day . Cyrus A. Freeman. Officer of the Guard . William Crockett. Sergeant-Major Emory Packard. Quartermaster-Sergeant . Charles S. Packard. The following is the list of the present members of the Post in alphabetical order :— BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 613 Willard Ames. Frank H. Amsden. Ansel T. Bartlett. Samuel D. Bartlett. Thomas Bean. Clark T. Berry. George N. Blanchard. Luther Blood. William H. Bosworth. John Brown. Daniel W. Burrell. Oscar Calkins. Dennis Callahan. James S. Card. William L. Chaffin. Luther H. Clark. William E. Cobbett. George B. Cogswell. William E. Cole. Patrick Conlan. Charles F. Cook. Thomas Cox. William Crockett. Theodore Darling. Marcus F. Delano. Thomas Donahue. James Donovan. Patrick Dorgan. George H. Drake. Lucius Dunbar. Philander W. Fecto. Peter Fisher. Andrew H. Frame. Cyrus A. Freeman. John A. Freese. Bernard F. Galligan. Andrew N. Grady. Linus E. Hayward. Herbert A. Hewitt. Ellis R. Holbrook. David Howard. William H. Jennings. James H. Keenan. William H. Keenan. George A. Lackey. Maitland C. Lamprey. James K. Lashure. Jacob Leason. Augustus J. Leavett. William A. Linehan. Augustus W. Lothrop. Azel Lothrop. Willard Lothrop. John N. Lufkin. James N. Mackey. John W. McDonald. Thomas McGrath. Charles H. McGuire. Thomas Mason. Henry G. Mitchell. Charles T. Morse. Thomas Murray. Charles S. Packard. Emory Packard. George T. Packard. Henry A. Phillips. William W. Prince. Simeon A. Randall. Alfred A. Rhodes. Charles E. Simmons. Ansel Small. George G. Smith. William B. Smith. John Sweeney. Oliver Thompson. Luther C. Turner. Clinton B. Webster. Berlin White. Ezra G. Whittemore. Munroe F. Williams. Rufus H. Willis. Since the organization of Post No. 52 it has expended about two thousand dollars for relief and charity, the recipients being sick comrades, or widows and orphans of soldiers. Efforts to increase its charity fund deserve the hearty support of all our townspeople, and also of the friends of the members of the Post. This fund at present consists of less than three hundred dollars, and it is steadily decreasing, as there are more calls than usual upon it at the present writing. From the date of its organization in 1868, A. B. Randall Post has faithfully observed Memorial Day. Its members, either in a body or by special detachments, have strewn the graves of their fallen comrades with flowers, placed a flag over each, and some- times in the larger cemeteries have held appropriate services. Since the erection of the soldiers’ monument, however, the graves are decorated without religious services, and a single service is celebrated at the monument, there being at that place a prayer, 614 HISTORY OF EASTON. addresses, an oration, and music. The floral and flag decora- tions are not restricted to the graves of those who served in the Rebellion ; the graves of those who fought for their country in other wars are also remembered. This is especially appropriate in the case of Capt. Nathaniel Perry, who died in the French and Indian War, and also of the Revolutionary heroes ; but it does not seem so fitting for the Easton soldiers in the War of 1812, since scarcely one of them saw any active service, their military experience being confined to a few weeks of guard duty with no Redcoat in sight. Moreover, this decoration has been limited to a few graves of those soldiers, while there are many other graves equally entitled to this notice. It would be better either to discontinue decorating any graves of these 1812 sol- diers, or to decorate them all. The chapter on the War of 1812 in this History will furnish the information necessary, if the latter alternative is accepted. Below is given a list of soldiers whose graves are in our several cemeteries at this date (November 1886.) It should be distinctly noted that this is not intended as a complete list of Easton soldiers who died in the Civil War, but only of those whose remains are buried in this town, — although in a few in- stances graves have been made in honor of soldiers whose re- mains were not brought here. Easton Cemetery (South Easton). Tyler F. Clapp. Charles A. Morse. Eleazer B. Clark.3 O. Marshall Phillips, Arthur Clifford. Edward E, Randall. George H. Davis. John M. Randall. Willard Drake.} Peleg F. Randall. Joseph Heath. Linton Waldron. Jackson D. Mitchell. Milo M. Williams. John W. Mitchell. Charles H. Willis. The Roman Catholic Cemetery (North Easton). John Connell. John Finnigan. Patrick Conroy. John Fitzpatrick. Edward A. Cotter. Edward Galligher. Daniel Donovan, John Johnson. 1 The graves of Clark and Drake are on the east side of the road, in the older Seth Pratt Cemetery. : BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 615 Michael McCool. David Mulhern. Patrick McCourt.! John Mulhern. Daniel F. McDonald. Nicholas Murphy. James McEvoy. Timothy Murphy. David Middleton. James Powers. James P. Middleton. Cornelius Slattery.! The Village Cemetery (North Easton). William Hepburn. James A. Morse. George McFarland. Ansel B. Randall. Jacob J. Randall. Washington Street Cemetery. Charles E. Ellison. Oren S. Marshall. David Fisher. John A. Mills. Solomon R. Foster. Job Randall. Calvin A. Marshall, J. Manley Tinkham. James Wells. The Central Cemetery. Billings Fisher. Minot E. Phillips. William M. Packard. Henry L. Reed. John Phillips. Uriah H. Reed. The Furnace Village Cemetery. Dennison S. Drew. Mason A. Hill. John A. Henry. Benjamin W. Price. Wallace W. Smith. Dr. Edward Dean Cemetery (Highland Street). Franklin M. Godfrey. Josiah Williams. Pine-Grove Cemetery. William S. Henrys. H. Frank Pool. William A. Lothrop. Bernard L. Ripley. 1 Patrick McCourt and Cornelius Slattery were both killed in battle, and their remains were not recovered. But graves have been made here in their memory, and their names are accordingly included in the above list in order that they may not be overlooked in the annual decoration of graves. The same is true of Timothy Mur- phy, whose remains are still in the Canton burying-ground. 616 HISTORY OF EASTON. Elijah Howard Cemetery (Prospect Street). Edward Hudson. Isaac Lothrop Cemetery (Purchase Street). Frank Lambert. Silas Phillips Cemetery (Depot Street). Joseph Legro. Keith Cemetery (Bay road near Beaver Street). Major Crockett. Selee Cemetery. Benjamin F. Boodry. The Soldiers’ Monument was erected in accordance with a vote of the town in March, 1881, and was ready for dedication on Memorial Day, 1882. The picture here presented renders any detailed description of it needless. It is made of a very fine granite, and stands at Easton Centre where Centre Street joins Depot Street; the excellent statue at the top faces the southeast. The monument is twenty-five feet high including the statue, which is eight feet, and is inscribed with the names of forty-seven Easton men who enlisted in the Civil War and died before its close. It was dedicated with appropriate exercises May 30, 1882. Dr. George B. Cogswell was President of the day. The Rev. William H. Dowden offered prayer. Introductory remarks were made by the President of the day ; Joseph Barrows, Esq., gave the Historical Address, and William L. Chaffin the Ora- tion. Charles R. Ballard recited an original Memorial Poem, and addresses were made by Capt. Nahum Leonard, of Bridge- water, and Capt. A. C. Munroe, of Brockton. The vocal music was furnished by the Gilbert Quartette, and the instrumental music by Martland’s Band, of Brockton. A platform erected in front of the Unitarian church was occupied during the exer- cises by members of A. B. Randall Post, of Easton, and Post No. 13, of Brockton, besides the speakers and singers. Seats were arranged in front of the platform in a semicircle, and more than two hundred carriages were in the rear of them. About two thousand persons were present. The day was pleasant, BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 617 excellent order prevailed, and nothing occurred to disturb the harmony and interest of the occasion. The monument is re- garded by many as exceptionally fine and satisfactory. As the a | “Gat ie 2 TY LMT ii THE SOLDIERS’ MONUMENT. observer gazes at it and considers the sacred purpose for which it was erected, he may well repeat the prayer expressed on the day of its dedication by Charles R. Ballard in his Memorial Poem, — 618 HISTORY OF EASTON. s Heaven guard it! and let no rude hand Deface or mar this sacred Shrine ; But in its beauty let it stand, While suns unnumbered rise and shine. While Spring arrays the fields in green, While Summer lends her ruddy glow, While Autumn spreads her mellow sheen, While Winter robes the earth in snow ; By day, by night, in weal or woe, When sun shall parch or torrent pour; Mid calm or storm, ’mid rain or snow, When lightnings flash and thunders roar, — Safe may it stand, where three ways meet, To catch the traveller’s peering eye, To check betimes his hurrying feet, And prompt him meekly to draw nigh, And read the names recorded here Of those who once War’s havoc braved, And offer thanks and praise sincere For home and friends and Nation saved ! GOOD TEMPLARS, On the 16th of May, 1872, there was organized at North Eas- ton a temperance lodge of Good Templars. The leading spirit in inaugurating this movement was David S. Hasty, editor of the “Easton Journal.” This society took the name of Bristol Lodge, No. 136. It organized of course on the total abstinence basis, rapidly acquired a large membership, and became vigorous and full of life. It united people socially, and had a decided influ- ence in quickening a temperance sentiment in the minds of many young persons whose attention might not otherwise have been drawn to the subject. Both ladies and gentlemen were eligible to its offices. Its meetings were lively, interesting, and help- ful; and it was for some time considered to be one of the brightest and most flourishing lodges in the State. It met in Spooner’s Hall, which was pleasantly fitted up. But the his- tory of this organization was like that of most of its kind, — speedy growth, lively interest, prosperity, and then, when the novelty was gone, a slow decline and death. It did a good work, however, and afforded much pleasure to its numerous members, many of whom will recall with great satisfaction the evenings BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 619 spent in the literary and social exercises of the lodge-room. For the last year or two Rufus H. Willis was the presiding officer. Bristol Lodge disbanded early in 1879, having lived nearly seven years. It left a fund of about one hundred dollars, which was finally given to A. B. Randall Post 52, of Easton, to assist in building their new hall. SONS OF TEMPERANCE, In February, 1883, there was organized a division of the Sons of Temperance in North Easton. It took the name of Arcana Division No. 4, and met in the upper hall of Spooner’s building. It acquired a membership of about forty persons, and held weekly meetings devoted to social, musical, and literary entertainment, with special reference usually to the cultivation of the temper- ance sentiment. It had its day and ceased to be, disbanding late in 1885. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC LYCEUM. In May, 1871, under the lead of the Rev. Father Quinn, there was organized in North Easton a society called the Catholic Lyceum. William Twohig was the first president; Cornelius Doherty, vice-president; M. D. Schindler, treasurer. It attained a membership of about two hundred. Its headquarters were the chapel by the pond, in which it had a reading-room, a library, and the appointments for social games of draughts, cards, etc. There were debates and dramatic entertainments, and the society was the means of much pleasure and benefit to its members. It is now discontinued. The chapel, however, is occasionally used by the young people for dramatic performances and other purposes. KNIGHTS OF HONOR. This organization is for insurance purposes, the amount of insurance in each case being two thousand dollars. The lodge in Easton was instituted November 5, 1879, Dr. George B. Cogswell, William Robinson, and twelve others being the char- ter members. It took the name of Easton Lodge of Knights of Honor, No. 1,859, and hired for its headquarters the old Masonic Hall in Spooner’s building, which hall it now controls. The 620 HISTORY OF EASTON. chief officer is called the dictator. The list of officers first chosen was as follows: G. B. Cogswell, past dictator; S. K. Kelley, dic- tator; George K. Davis, vice-dictator; L. B. Crockett, assistant dictator ; Lewis H. Smith, chaplain; S. W. Hall, reporter ; W. H. Clements, financial reporter; William Robinson, guide; L. C. Southard, treasurer; M. M. Packard, guardian; A. E. Pinkham, sentinel, These officers include all the charter members except J. D. Atwood, E. R. Hayward, and I. L. Miller. The several dictators have been S. K. Kelley, George K. Davis, L. B. Crock- ett, J. D. Atwood, S. W. Hall, and W. H. Clements, who now holds the position. The present membership is thirty-three. One member, A. E. Pinkham, has died, and one, Otis Lincoln, has removed to Iowa. ROYAL ARCANUM. The North Easton Council, No. 866, of the Royal Arcanum was instituted November 24, 1884. This organization is for purposes of life insurance, and, to some degree, of charity among its members, —the insurance paid at the death of a member be- ing three thousand dollars, or half that sum, according to the amounts paid in by the members. There is also a widow’s and orphan’s fund connected with it. There were seventeen charter members, the list being headed by the name of George K. Davis. The presiding officer is termed the regent. The regents have been the following: Samuel M. Rennie, William F. Baldwin, and Augustus J. Leavitt, the latter serving for the present year. There are now about twenty members of the North Easton Council. THE QUESET CLUB. On the 8th of June, 1882, there was organized in North Easton an association of men named as above, whose object was “to provide rooms for the benefit and amusement of the members thereof.” Rooms were hired and pleasantly fitted up in Spooner’s building ; newspapers were provided, and billiard tables also, for the use of the members. The first board of officers consisted of E. P. Spooner, president ; A. J. Leavitt, vice-president ; J. M. Williams, secretary and treasurer; Clayton Packard, warden; L. B. Crockett, L. L. Berry, and C. J. Clark, executive committee. BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 621 In July, 1883, Lewis H. Smith was elected president ; A. Frank Pratt, vice-president ; S. W. Hall, secretary and treasurer, Mr. Hall, however, having already served fora time. In July, 1884, L. B. Crockett was chosen president, and Messrs. Pratt and Hall were re-elected. In 1885 L. B. Crockett was again chosen ; George G, Withington was elected vice-president, and Mr. Hall re-elected secretary. There is at present a membership of about seventy-five, who greatly enjoy the Club privileges. THE NORTH EASTON ATHLETIC CLUB. The North Easton Athletic Club, whose object is the promo- tion of the health and physical development of its members, was organized January 22, 1886, and the following officers elected : President, E. H. Kennedy ; vice-president, C. B. Carr; secretary, F. H. Carr ; treasurer, H. L. Porter ; executive committee, S. M. Rennie, E. F. Rice, D. A. Miller, Hobart Ames, R. C. Randall, E. H. Kennedy, F. H. Carr, and H. L. Porter. The Club leased the building owned by the North Easton Skating-Rink Company, and fitted it up with all the necessary gymnastic apparatus, completirfg these arrangements March 1, 1886. The gymnasium contains thirty-two hundred square feet of exercising space, besides dressing-rooms ; it is well ventilated, and presents an attractive appearance. The Club consists of a board of stockholders, or charter mem- bers, who own all the Club property, elect all its officers, and direct and control all its business, and a list of special mem- bers, who upon the payment of a certain fee and monthly dues are entitled to the use of all the property of the Club, and to admission to all entertainments, but who are not entitled to vote nor liable to assessment. The affairs of the Club are managed in a business-like way, and its rules are all in the interest of good order and right conduct. Societies of this kind, which provide innocent and wholesome recreation for the young, deserve the sympathy and approval of all. The Club has now about forty names on its list. It has already given two exhibitions, and intends to have one quarterly. 622 HISTORY OF EASTON. KNIGHTS OF LABOR. Early in the spring of 1886 a movement was started looking to the establishment of an Assembly of the Knights of Labor in North Easton village ; but this occurred at the time when an in- junction had been issued from the headquarters of the order for- bidding, until further notice, the instituting of any new assemblies. The organization of the Assembly in North Easton was therefore delayed until the evening of May 26, when it was effected under the charge of an officer from the Assembly in Brockton. Its name is The Workingmen’s Assembly of North Easton, No. 7,627. The master-workman (the chief officer) of this Assembly of Knights is Patrick Costello, and it has a large membership, there being at this date (September 10, 1886) two hundred and eighty members. The interest now attaching to the Knights of Labor organiza- tion in this country is so great that it seems desirable to state here the essential principles for which it exists. The Knights of Labor demand the public lands for actual settlers ; the enactment of laws to compel corporations to make weekly payments of wages to their employees; the abolition of the contract system on public works; the prohibition of the im- portation of foreign labor under contract; the prohibition by law of the employment of children under fifteen years of age in work-shops, mines, and factories ; the prohibition of hiring out convict labor ; the levy of a graduated income tax; the abolition of banking corporations, and the issue of a circulating medium direct to the people. They demand that no interest-bearing bonds shall be issued by Government, but that when need arises, the emergency shall be met by the issue of legal tender, non-interest bearing money; that the Government shall organize financial exchanges, safe deposits, and facilities of deposit of the savings of the people; that the Government shall purchase and control all telegraphs, telephones, and railroads, “and that hereafter no charter or license be issued to any corporation for construction or operation of any means of transporting intelligence, passen- gers, or freight.” The Knights of Labor advocate also the es- tablishment of co-operative institutions to supersede the wage system, the giving of equal pay to both sexes for equal work, BANKS AND ORGANIZED SOCIETIES. 623 the adoption of the eight-hour system, and the regulation of differences between employers and employed by arbitration. On the face side of their blank form of “ Proposition for Mem- bership” is printed the following sentence, which is condensed from their Declaration of Principles: “N.B. No proposition [for membership] can be received from a lawyer, banker, rumseller, or professional gambler.” 624 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXXII. POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. EARLY Poritics. — FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS. — EASTON, ONCE ANTI-FEDERAL, BECOMES A WHIG TOWN. — THE HARRISON CAMPAIGN. — THE Know-NoTHinG Party. — EASTON BECOMES REPUBLICAN. — Town Moperators: ELIjAH Howarp, A. A. GILMORE.— TOWN _ CLERKS. — TOWN TREASURERS. — SELECTMEN. — REPRESENTATIVES TO THE GENERAL CoURT.—STATE SENATORS, AND OTHER HIGHER OFFICERS, — BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: HowarD LOTHROP, OLIVER AMES, SR., OAKES AMES, OLIVER AMES, JR., GOVERNOR OLIVER AMES, LINCOLN S. DRAKE, FRANK M. AMES, — POST-OFFICES AND POSTMASTERS. FTER the adoption of the Constitution of the United States two opposing political tendencies were developed. One favored a strong central government; the other greater independence of the States, as well as local State governments less subordinate to national control. The first tendency was finally crystallized into the Federal Party, the second into the anti-Federal or Republican Party. Though not a partisan him- self, Washington was by sympathy and conviction a Federalist, as also were Hamilton and John Adams. Jefferson was the leader of the opposition. The Federal Party had control of the government until 1800, when it met a defeat in the choice of Jefferson for the Presidency. Its power was irretrievably lost in 1814 by its action in the famous Hartford Convention ; and six years later on the election of Monroe it expired, and the “era of good feeling” began. From the first the town of Easton was decidedly anti-Fed- eralist, or Republican. In 1794 and the two following years it voted for Samuel Adams for governor. It voted six years for James Sullivan, six for Elbridge Gerry, three for Samuel Dexter, and one for Levi Lincoln, for governor, —all prior to 1817, these men being anti-Federalists, Dexter separating from the Federal Party in 1812 on account of its attitude toward the war with Great Britain. There was no decided change in POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL, 625 the sentiment of the town for many years, though the repre- sentatives to the State Legislature elected in Easton from 1823 to 1835 were Howard Lothrop, Oliver Ames, and Elijah How- ard, Jr., whose sympathies were Federalist and Whig. Party lines were however nearly obliterated in 1820, and for the next decade personal politics had the field. William Eustis, for governor, had a majority of votes in Eas- ton for five years; Levi Lincoln (the second of that name) for the next nine years, or until 1833, received very large majorities for the same office. The two parties, afterward known as Whig and Democrat, were then taking shape, the former being first known as National Republican. The opposition to Jackson in Easton was decided, but it was not until 1834 that a candidate for governor opposed to the traditional Republican, anti-Federal- ist, or new Democratic principles received the largest vote here. At that date “honest John Davis,” the Whig candidate for governor, received 125 votes, John Barclay 109, Marcus Morton 20, and Samuel C. Allen 6. Even then, Davis received only a plurality and not a majority of all the votes cast in the town. Easton had not yet gone over to the Whigs, though in 1835 Edward Everett received 78 votes for governor against 66 for Morton, and 18 for Samuel T. Armstrong. In 1836 Morton for governor polled 122 votes aginst 68 for Everett; and he re- ceived majorities for the next four years, and in the two follow- ing years pluralities only. The Liberty Party, afterward known as the Free Soil Party, was now growing, and the votes they polled gave the plurality in 1843 to George N. Briggs, the Whig candidate for governor. The first year that Easton cast a ma- jority vote contrary to its traditional position was in 1844, when Governor Briggs was re-elected, with a majority of 4 votes in this town,—he having 206, George Bancroft 145, and Samuel E. Sewall, the Free Soil candidate, 57. It is necessary to retrace our steps here for a moment to no- tice certain local influences which tended to affect and change the political complexion of the town. The abduction and presumed murder of Morgan in New York for betraying the secrets of the Masonic order, led to the formation of a National anti-Masonic party with William Wirt as its Presidential candidate. A meeting of the anti-Masons of 40 626 HISTORY OF EASTON. Easton was held in the old town halla short time before the election for President in the Fall of 1832, and so intense was the antagonism between the parties here that this meeting was assaulted by a mob. The assailants gathered outside, making noisy and riotous demonstrations. The door being closed against them, they procured a stick of timber and broke it in, and not without some violence dispersed the meeting. This mob was not instigated by the Masons, of whom there were very few in town; a leading Whig was understood to have incited it, or at least to have been its leading spirit. It was at just this time that the ecclesiastical contest in the Congregational parish was at its height. The whole town was di- vided on the issue of fvo or anti Sheldon. Beginning about 1830, this division existed more or less for the next ten years. Its in- fluence affected the town-meetings, candidates for town offices being selected with reference to their position on the church quar- rel, and the voting determined by sectarian considerations. This unpleasant condition of things was greatly changed by the absorbing political canvass that took place in 1840, with “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” as candidates. This was the fa- mous “ Log Cabin and Hard Cider” campaign. The Whigs of Easton entered into the contest with zeal and vigor. They or- ganized an association called the Democratic Republican Whig Association of Easton, a sufficiently comprehensive title. Oliver Ames, Sr., was president. They met weekly in the old chapel ; they formed a glee club to sing campaign songs, that fell from the press as thick as snow-flakes. The Democrats did what they could to stem the swelling tide of enthusiasm. They ac- cused their opponents of stealing their name, and called them Federalists and British Whigs., The Whigs retaliated by throw- ing at them the name of “ Loco-focos,” which was all the more offensive because its meaning was not understood. On the Fourth of July the Whig Association turned out to at- tend the Whig celebration at Bridgewater. The old stage-driver, John Taylor, drove an omnibus with six horses gayly decked with flags. About one hundred carriages were in the procession. Elisha Page, the chief marshal, and his assistants wore white sashes and Harrison badges, and carried batons. The procession was over a mile in length. As they wheeled round Asa Howard's POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 627 corner, a squad of Democrats stood on the opposite side of the road with an effigy of Harrison dressed as an old woman, in red petticoats ; they called Harrison the “old granny candidate.” Soon after this the Association got up a meeting at Easton Centre. Speaking began in the Unitarian Church ; but the crowd was larger outside than inside, and so the windows were taken out, and some of the speakers stood in the windows as they addressed both the out-door and in-door meeting. John H. Clifford and T. D. Eliot of New Bedford, Thomas Prince Beal of Kingston, and John C. Park of Boston were among the speakers. Great excitement was caused by Oliver Ames read- ing letters from fifteen Easton Democrats, who renounced their party and cast in their lot with the Whigs. The “Boston At- las” published these letters ; and the “ Boston Post,” to offset the effect of them, charged that they were obtained by fraud, that the men who signed them were “of no account any way,” etc. Soon after this the Democrats got up a great meeting at the same place, with John A. Bates, Col. Seth J. Thomas, of Boston, and other eminent speakers. The Whig Association made a fine show in attending a celebration in Boston on the 1oth of September, Col. Alanson White being marshal. Party feeling ran high in town; exciting discussions often occurred in stores and shops, where Macey Randall, Linus Manley, Alva Holcomb, Daniel Randall, and scores besides, measured swords with one another in political discussion. The Whigs, though eighty votes behind the Democrats in Eas- ton the year before, had now, in 1840, made such gains that they had some hope of electing a representative to the Legislature. The Democrats nominated their strong man, Jonathan Pratt, father of the late Jonathan A. Pratt. He was a member of the Orthodox society. In order to counterbalance any advantage arising from that fact, it was desirable for the Whigs to nominate a man from the same society. But how would that suit the Uni- tarians? Shrewdly then, the leading Whigs got all their followers pledged to vote for any one whom the Whig Association might nominate. It then nominated Lincoln Drake, also a member of the Orthodox society, who was personally very popular, and was sure to secure the votes of some Morton men. On the vote for governor, Marcus Morton, Democrat, had a majority ‘ 628 HISTORY OF EASTON. of seventeen votes, George W. Johnson, then of Easton, receiv- ing three votes as a candidate of the Liberty Party. The voting for representative excited the most intense interest. It resulted in one hundred and eighty-eight for Pratt, one hundred and eighty-seven for Drake, and ‘three scattering. There was no choice; and neither party feeling confidence enough to risk a second ballot, there was no representative elected from Easton for that year. The next year, 1841, Morton had a plurality only, and not a majority. Lincoln Drake was the Whig candi- date for representative, Moses C. Dunbar the Democratic, and Martin Wild the Liberty Party candidate. Drake had a plu- rality, but not a majority, and there was no choice on the first ballot. On the second ballot he was chosen; and for the first time Easton elected a Whig representative. This marks the turning point in the politics of Easton, which was hereafter to be a Whig town. The Democrats foresaw this, but postponed the result one year by combining with the Lib- erty Party men and electing the candidate of the latter, Lewis Williams, for representative. There was only one other Liberty Party man in the State Legislature that year, and there was so nearly a tie between the Whigs and Democrats that the latter nominated Lewis Williams for speaker, who failed of election by only three votes. In 1843 Mr. Drake, Whig, was elected repre- sentative from Easton by a majority vote, and was re-elected for the succeeding three years by increasing majorities. The Presidential canvass of 1844, Henry Clay and James K. Polk being candidates, was an exciting one in town. Clay awak- ened an ardent personal attachment, and the Whigs worked for him with a hearty will. They attended a great convention at Taunton, September 10, which was presided over by Daniel Webster. The ladies of Taunton had promised to give a silk banner to the Whigs of any town who would send to the Con- vention the largest delegation proportioned to their vote for governor in 1842. The vote of Easton for John Davis in 1842 was one hundred and fourteen, and its delegation to Taunton consisted of two hundred and fifty men, showing a larger propor- tional gain than any town there represented. The banner was therefore bestowed upon the Easton Whigs, Daniel Webster himself proposing three cheers for Easton, which were heartily POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 629 given. Oliver Ames, Jr., was chosen to make the response to the presentation. The banner is now in Memorial Hall; on one side of it is a portrait of Henry Clay. As Easton cast only two hundred and two votes for Clay, one wonders what became of the forty-eight other Whigs who were in the delegation. Many interesting incidents occurred in town in this exciting campaign. The result of the election was for some time in doubt, inasmuch as the returns from New York, on which State the final decision depended, came in slowly. On the Turnpike were two shoe-shops, one hired by Samuel R. Clark and Israel Randall, the other by the Clapp brothers, the former being a rallying place for Whigs, the latter for Democrats. It seems that the coon figured largely in this campaign as a Whig sym- bol. In a Democratic song modelled after “Old Dan Tucker” occurred this stanza :— “ High on a limb that same old coon Was singing to himself this tune, — ‘Get out of the way you old Sir Harry, That coon ticket we don’t carry.’” When the first fall State elections, prior to the national elec- tion, appeared unfavorable to Clay, Cyrus Alger procured a dead woodchuck, in default of a coon, and hung him on a stick nailed on a front corner of the Clapp shop, projecting towards the street. The woodchuck was fastened by the legs to the stick so as to hang below it, back downward. When news came of a State going Democratic, Mr. Alger would draw the legs closer to- gether, and the woodchuck soon presented a sorry appearance. It hung there until the November Presidential election. When it was finally known that everything depended upon the vote of New York State, a copy of the “ Boston Atlas” came out reporting that New York had gone for Clay, and he was therefore elected. Whereupon A. A. Gilmore and two companions took away the woodchuck from Clapp’s shop, and set it right side up on the top of a pole ten feet above the roof of the Whig headquarters, where it appeared to bein much better spirits. But the “ Atlas” was mistaken; Clay was not elected, and the woodchuck made an ignominious descent from his high perch. This was a sample 630 HISTORY OF EASTON. of the practical jokes that were quite common in those exciting election times. In the mean time the Free Soil movement was growing, and in this town it received many accessions from the Democrats. Dr. Caleb Swan was their candidate for member of Congress. Several elections resulting in no choice were held ; but Artemas Hale, the Whig candidate, was finally chosen. In 1852 the vote for President was one hundred and seventy-one for Winfield Scott, one hundred and forty-three for John P. Hale, forty-nine for Franklin Pierce, and four for Daniel Webster, who was dead. This vote shows the political complexion of the town, and con- firms the statement of the adoption of the Free Soil position by many Democrats. Horace Mann, the Free Soil candidate for governor, received one hundred and eighty-eight votes in Easton, one more than the Whig candidate, John H. Clifford; and ona second ballot, and with the help of Democrats, the Free Soil candidate for representative, Wade Daily, was elected. Hiram Keith was chosen for the same office in 1853. At the same time the Rev. Mr. Sheldon was elected a member of the consti- tutional convention soon to be held, having a majority of seventy- nine over Elijah Howard, the Whig candidate. This date marks the vanishing point of the Whig party in Easton, as elsewhere. It is related that when Mr. Sheldon was speaking in the conven- tion alluded to, he addressed the audience as “ My hearers.” He was called to order by N. P. Banks, the president of the conven- tion, for not addressing the chair. Mr. Sheldon made a neat apology, in which, referring to the inattention with which his remarks had been received, he said: “I have been accustomed to address an audience in which I have had, at least, hearers.” In 1854 occurred the Native American fanaticism, which by secret lodges was organized into the Know Nothing Party, —a party which though claiming to be distinctively American was, both in its principles and methods, out of harmony with the real spirit of American institutions. But this fanaticism swept over Easton like wildfire. Henry J. Gardner received in this town two hundred and forty-seven out of a total of four hundred votes, and Dea. Harrison T. Mitchell was elected to the Legislature. In 1855 Easton gave Governor Gardner two hundred and thirty- four votes, and elected William Barrows representative by two POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 631 hundred and forty votes. In 1856 Governor Gardner had two hundred and forty-two votes here, and by avote of two hundred and eighty-nine John Kimball was sent to the Legislature. The National Republican party had already been organized, and in 1856 nominated John C. Frémont for a Presidential candidate. The Know Nothings kept up their State organization in 1856, but voted for the Republican National ticket. Frémont’s vote in Easton was very large, being three hundred and forty-nine out of a total of four hundred and sixty-five votes. Soon afterward the Know Nothing Party collapsed. It will be remembered for one good thing its Legislature did, which was the enactment usually called the “Know Nothing Station,” which obliges rail- road trains to come to a full stop before crossing another railroad. Since 1856 Easton has been strongly Republican, though its vote in 1883 was cast for General Butler as Democratic candidate for governor; and L. S. Drake, a Democrat, by the help of Republican votes, was sent to the Legislature for one year. VOTES FOR GOVERNORS, The votes of Easton for governors are here given, and they are a good index of the political changes of the town for successive years. The name first recorded in the vote of each year is that of the successful candidate. When there was no election by pop- ular vote, the name of the governor chosen by the General Court is given in italics. For some unaccountable reason, the votes of Easton for governor for the first six years are not given in the town records ; the first vote recorded was that of 1787. Ina few instances but one name occurs, the vote being in some years unanimous, and in other cases so nearly so that the town clerk may have thought it unimportant to report the minority vote. Until 1831 the election was in April, and the governor was inaugurated on the last Wednesday in May. The State Con- stitution was then amended, so that the election should be held in November and the governor be inaugurated the first Wednes- day in the January following. After 1831, therefore, the dates are for the years of service, not the date of election. 632 HISTORY OF EASTON. 1787. John Hancock . 1788. John Hancock Elbridge Gerry . 1789. John Hancock . John Hancock . John Hancock . 1792. John Hancock . 1793. John Hancock . 1794. Samuel Adams . William Cushing 1795: Samuel Adams . 1796. Samuel Adams . Increase Sumner Scattering . 1797. Increase Sumner James Sullivan . Moses Gill 1798. Increase Sumner . 1799. Increase Sumner William Heath . Elbridge Gerry . 1800. Caleb Strong Elbridge Gerry. Moses Gill 1790. 1791. 85 35 58 78 61 39 56 50 46 49 Ww 14 113 32 1801. Caleb Strong Elbridge Gerry . 1802. Caleb Strong Elbridge Gerry . 1803. Caleb Strong 1804. Caleb Strong James Sullivan . 1805. Caleb Strong James Sullivan . 1806. Caleb Strong James Sullivan . William Heath . 1807. Caleb Strong James Sullivan . Levi Lincoln. James Sullivan . Christopher Gore . 1809. Christopher Gore . Levi Lincoln 1810. Elbridge Gerry . Christopher Gore . Scattering . 1811. Elbridge Gerry . Christopher Gore . Caleb Strong 1812. Caleb Strong Elbridge Gerry . 1808. 35 79 49 79 82 27 Ilo 29 117 42 103 46 114 108 34 43 139 150 150 45 69 150 POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. My 633 1813. Caleb Strong Joseph B. Varnum . 1814. Caleb Strong Samuel Dexter . 1815. Caleb Strong Samuel Dexter . 1816. John Brooks . Samuel Dexter . 1817, John Brooks . Henry Dearborn William King 1818, John Brooks . . Benjamin W. Crowninshield Benjamin Crowninshield 1819. John Brooks . Benjamin W. Crowninehield Scattering 1820. John Brooks . William Eustis 1821. John Brooks . William Eustis . Scattering 1822. William Eustis . John Brooks . 1823. William Eustis . Harrison G. Otis 107 144 107 122 116 134 78 117 73 100 67 79 76 106 86 87 63 99 93 45 127 74 1824. William Eustis . Samuel Lothrop 1825. Levi Lincoln . 1826. Levi Lincoln . 1827. Levi Lincoln . Marcus Morton 1828. Levi Lincoln . Scattering 1829. Levi Lincoln . Scattering 1830. Levi Lincoln. Marcus Morton Scattering 1831. Levi Lincoln. Marcus Morton. William Ingalls . 1832. Levi Lincoln. Samuel Lothrop Marcus Morton James L. Hodges . 1833. Levi Lincoln. Samuel Lothrop Marcus Morton 1834. Fohn Davis . 3 John Quincy Adams Marcus Morton 162 102 120 106 135 I4I 122 Iol 47 212 197 114 182 115 II 123 146 17 634 HISTORY OF EASTON. 1835. John Davis . John Barclay Marcus Morton Samuel C. Allen 1836. Edward Everett Marcus Morton Samuel T. Armstrong 1837. Edward Everett Marcus Morton 1838. Edward Everett Marcus Morton 1839. Edward Everett Marcus Morton 1840. Marcus Morton Edward Everett 1841. John Davis Marcus Morton George W. Johnson 1842. John Davis Marcus Morton Lucius Boltwood 1843. Marcus Morton John Davis ; Samuel E. Sewall . 1844. George N. Briggs . Marcus Morton Samuel E. Sewall . . 125 T09 | 20 78 66 18 68 122 128 143 112 156 210 130 178 215 148 161 26 153 114 44 181 133 49 1845. George N. Briggs . George Bancroft Samuel E. Sewall . 1846. George N. Briggs . Isaac Davis . 3 Samuel E. Sewall . Henry Shaw. 1847. George N. Briggs . Isaac Davis. . Samuel E. Sewall . Francis Baylies . 1848. George N. Briggs . Caleb Cushing . Samuel E. Sewall . Francis Baylies . 1849. George N. Briggs . Stephen C. Phillips Caleb Cushing . 1850. George NV. Briggs . Stephen C. Phillips George S. Boutwell 1851. George S. Boutwell George N. Briggs . Stephen C. Phillips Francis Cogswell 1852. George S. Boutwell Robert C. Winthrop John G. Palfrey . 1853. John H. Clifford Horace Mann : Henry W. Bishop . 206 145 57 189 120 211 181 37 179 137 44 36 198 185 Io 49 192 179 187 188 45 POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 635 1854. Emory Washburn . Henry Wilson . . Henry W. Bishop . Scattering ‘ 1855. Henry J. Gardner . Henry Wilson Emory Washburn . H. W. Bishop 1856. Henry J. Gardner Julius Rockwood Erasmus D. Beach Samuel H Walley. 1857. Henry J. Gardner . Erasmus D. Beach George W. Gordon Scattering 1858. Nathaniel P. Banks Henry J. Gardner . Erasmus D. Beach Caleb Swan . 1859. Nathaniel P. Banks Erasmus D. Beach Amos A. Lawrence 1860, Nathaniel P. Banks Benjamin F. Butler George N. Briggs . 1861. John A. Andrew Amos A.Lawrence. Erasmus D. Beach. Benjamin F. Butler 1862. John A. Andrew Isaac Davis . 181 180 64 247 7O 69 13 234 180 42 13 180 142 47 II 250 29 135 46 280 50 45 134 36 1863. John A. Andrew Charles Devens 1864. John A. Andrew Henry W. Paine 1865. John A. Andrew Henry W. Paine 1866. Alexander H. Bullock Darius N. Gooch . 1867. Alexander H. Bullock Theodore H. Sweetser 1868. Alexander H. Bullock John Quincy Adams 1869. William Claflin . John Quincy Adams Scattering 1870. William Claflin . Edwin M. Chamberlain John Quincy Adams Scattering 3 1871. William Claflin . Wendell Phillips John Quincy Adams 1872. William B. Washburn John Quincy Adams . Edwin M. Chamberlain . Robert C. Pitman . 1873. William B. Washburn Francis W. Bird 251 130 138 45 355 97 15 202 20 254 102 357 70 199 140 68 270 86 52 335 203 636 HISTORY OF EASTON. 1874. William B. Washburn William Gaston. 1875. William Gaston Thomas Talbot . 1876. Alexander H. Rice William Gaston. John I. Baker 1877. Alexander H. Rice Charles Francis Adams . John I. Baker 1878. Alexander H. Rice William Gaston Robert C. Pitman . 1879. Thomas Talbot . Benjamin F. Butler Josiah G. Abbott A. A. Miner . 1880. John D. Long .. . Benjamin F. Butler John Quincy Adams . Daniel C. Eddy 92 42 144 217 120 14 322 217 39 152 85 14 286 230 26 283 216 17 1881. John D.Long .. . Charles P. Thompson Charles Almy 1882. John D. Long 5 Charles P. Thompson Charles Almy . . 1883. Benjamin F. Butler Robert R. Bishop .- Charles Almy . 1884. George D. Robinson . Benjamin F. Butler Charles Almy 1885. George D. Robinson . William E. Endicott . Julius H. Seelye : Matthew J. McCafferty 1886. George D. Robinson . Frederic O. Prince Thomas J. Lothrop 1887. Oliver Ames. John F. Andrew Thomas J. Lothrop Moderators of Annual Town Meetings. Josiah Keith, 1726-1731, 1732, 1757, — seven years. Benjamin Drake, 1731. 301 230 220 142 - 292 193 293 291 283 227 17 Capt. John Phillips, 1733, 1734, 1737, 1740, 1741, 1744, 1751, —seven years. Capt. Edward Hayward (also called Esquire & Deacon) 1735, 1738, 1739) 1742, 1743, 1746, 1747, 1752-1756, 1758, — twelve years. Lieut. John Williams, 1745, 1756, — two years. Capt. Eliphalet Leonard, 1736, 1748, 1750, 1768-1771, 1772, — seven years. POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 637 Benjamin Kinsley, 1749. Seth Williams, 1759. Daniel Williams, Esq., 1761-1764, 1767, — four years, and probably for 1760, where record is wanting. Capt. Benjamin Williams, 1764. Zephaniah Keith, 1765, 1766, 1771, — three years. Col. Abiel Mitchell, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1785) 1795-1799, 1800, 1802, — ten years. Lieut. Seth Pratt, 1776-1783, 1784, 1786-1791, — thirteen years. Thomas Williams, 1792-1795, — three years. Abisha Leach, 1799. Elijah Howard, 1801. . Joshua Britton, 1803, 1805-1808, 1809, 1810, 1813-1820, 1822, 1824- 1827, 1830, 1837, — nineteen years. Calvin Brett, 1804, 1812, — two years. Samuel Guild, 1808. Roland Howard, 1815, 1821, 1823, — three years. John Pool, 1820. Elijah Howard, Jr., 1827-1830, 1833-1836, 1840-1850, 1856, — seven- teen years. Jonathan Pratt, 1831, 1832, 1839, — three years. Dr. Samuel Deans, 1836. Lewis Williams, 1838. Tisdale Harlow, 1850, 1851, — two years. Alson A. Gilmore, 1852, 1858-1863, 1865-1875, 1876, 1880-1887, — twenty-four years. Guilford White, 1853. Albert A. Rotch, 1854. William Barrows, 1855. William S. Andrews, 1857. Henry J. Fuller, 1864. David S. Hasty, 1875, 1877, — two years. Joseph Barrows, 1878, 1879, — two years. Among the moderators of Easton during the present century there are two who have served with signal ability and who deserve especial notice in this connection. The Hon. Etyan Howarb, Jr., the first of these, was the son of Elijah and Keziah (Hayward) Howard, and was born in Eas- ton, May 30, 1787, being a descendant in the fifth generation from John Howard, who came from England about 1643. Elijah 638 HISTORY OF EASTON. Howard, Jr., was for half a century one of the leading business men of Easton, and one of the earliest in the country to manufacture cotton cloth by power looms; he was also one of the first to engage in the manufacture of cut nails, buying some of the machines invented and patented by Jesse Reed. His business experience has been considered in the chapter on in- dustries in Easton since 1800. He served on the board of se- lectmen during the years 1824, 1825, and 1830, and in the State Legislature for five successive years, beginning with 1827, and also for the year 1835. In 1832 he was chosen by joint conven- tion of the two houses of the State Legislature to the office of State senator, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Eben- ezer Daggett, being qualified for this office March 8, 1832. About the same time he was nominated by the Whig Party “as a candidate for representative to Congress, which honor how- ever he declined. Mr. Howard was a noted parliamentarian. His clear head, strong will, force of character, and perfect self-possession emi- nently fitted him to preside over public assemblies. As we have seen, he was chosen moderator of annual town-meetings for seventeen years ; he also presided over other public assemblies in Easton forty-nine times. Few persons had the temerity to dispute his authority as presiding officer. There are persons living now who remember the resolute tone of command, which it was impossible to disobey, with which in town-meeting Mr. Howard once spoke to Howard Lothrop when he continued speaking after being called to order. “Sit down, Mr. Lothrop, sit down, I tell you!” he ordered in resolute tones, and did not desist until he was obeyed. Mr. Howard was a decided Unitarian in religious belief. He was, in fact, the leading spirit in the party opposed to the Rev. Mr. Sheldon during the memorable controversy that resulted in the division of the town parish. This leading position was recognized by both parties, and he was accordingly blamed by Mr. Sheldon’s friends more than he deserved. The writer has shown by convincing evidence that the main reason given for this censure, — namely, his refusal to allow Mr. Sheldon’s ad- herents to vote at a certain parish meeting, —is groundless, and that Mr. Howard did only what any parish clerk under the cir- POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 639 cumstances was bound to do. But the feeling towards him is illustrated by the following dialogue which some jocose “ Liberal” declared was taught as a part of the catechism in the Evangelical Sunday-school :— Ques. Who is the worst old man? Ans. Daniel Wheaton. Q. Who is the worst young man? A. Oliver Ames. Q. Who is the worst man? A. Elijah Howard. Decided and persistent as Mr. Howard was in promoting any cause in which he was interested, those who knew him best say that he was eminently a just man, and would not knowingly wrong any one. He was a man of mark and character, a good type indeed of a strong, able, high-minded man. March 6, 1810, Mr. Howard married Susanna, daughter of Dr. Samuel and Elizabeth (Ferguson) Guild. By her he had Jason G., who was born January 4, 1813, and two other children. Jason G. Howard married May 10, 1838, Mrs. Martha (Bartlett) Brett, daughter of Benjamin Bartlett and widow of Jonathan Brett, and had three children, of whom two survive him,— Davis W. and Emogen B., the latter being the wife of Commander George F. F. Wilde of the United States Navy. Jason G. Howard died September 8, 1885. His brother Frederic is still alive. Mrs. Elijah Howard died September 30, 1818; and Novem- ber 23, 1819, Elijah Howard married for a second wife Fidelia Williams, daughter of Edward and Sarah (Lothrop) Williams, who was born in Easton in 1799. They had two sons. Mrs. Howard died April 15, 1822; and September 18, 1823, Mr. Howard married for a third wife Nancy, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth (Harris) Johnson, of Enfield, New Hampshire. She was born July,1796. Eight children were the issue of this marriage. It is a very remarkable circumstance that Elijah Howard and his third wife celebrated their golden wedding. He died universally respected, July 4, 1874. She died, December 16, 1882. Atson AucGustus GILMoRE, the second of these moderators, was the son of Alson and Rachel (Alger) Gilmore, and though a lifelong resident of Easton, was born in New Bedford, June 12, 640 HISTORY OF EASTON. 1822. He graduated from the Bridgewater Normal School in 1842, and spent several years afterward in teaching. In 1851 he engaged in the boot and shoe manufacture with Elisha T. Andrews, continuing this partnership long after suspending the business, and until the death of Mr. Andrews, in 1883. In 1863 he was a member of the Legislature, as also in 1885. He will chiefly be remembered in town as the “ model moderator,” hav- ing served in that capacity in twenty-four annual town-meetings, and seventeen special town-meetings, besides other public as- semblies, —including that which dedicated the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, and the famous “ Love-feast” of Lieutenant- Governor Ames soon after he was made lieutenant-governor, at which meeting nearly every phase of Massachusetts State politics was represented. Mr. Gilmore has been president of the Unitarian Society in North Easton most of the time since its organization in 1855, was president of the North Easton Savings Bank for the first three years of its history, and is vice-president of the Unitarian Plymouth and Bay Conference. March 22, 1848, Mr. Gilmore married Hannah, daughter of Jotham and Meriel Lincoln, of Hingham. They had three chil- dren, of whom one only is now living. Mrs. Gilmore died Feb- ruary 13, 1867; and March 18, 1868, Mr. Gilmore married Clara M., daughter of Humphrey and Rhoda (Nash) Welsh of Bath, Maine. They have one child. Town Clerks. [Before their office was united with that of town treasurer.] Captain John Phillips, 1726-1732, 1734-1739, 1753, — twelve years. Benjamin Fobes, 1732, 1733, 1739-1751, 1760, — fifteen years. Daniel Williams, Esq., 1751, 1752, — two years. Timothy Williams, 1754-1759, — five years. Mathew Hayward, 1761-1788, — twenty-seven years.! Town Treasurers. [Before their office was united with that of town clerk.] Ephraim Randall, 1726. Edward Hayward, Esq., 1727, 1733, — two years. Eliphalet Leonard, 1728-1730, 1736, — three years. 1 From 1788 the offices of town clerk and town treasurer were merged in one. POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 641 Benjamin Drake, 1731. Thomas Manley, Sr., 1732. Daniel Owen, 1734. Benjamin Kinsley, 1735. Thomas Pratt, Jr., 1737. John Dailey, Sr., 1738-1742, 1744, — five years. Henry Howard, 1742, 1743, — two years. Joshua Howard, 1745, 1746, — two years. Joseph Crossman, 1747. Thomas Manley, 1748-1751, 1759-1771, — fifteen years. Joseph Gilbert, 1751. Lieut. John Williams, 1752, 1753, —two years. Capt. Benjamin Williams, 1754, 1755, — two years. Joseph Drake, Jr., 1756. Josiah Keith, 1757, 1758, — two years. Lieut. Samuel Coney, 1771-1774, — three years. Jacob Leonard, 1774, 1775, — two years. Rufus Ames, 1776-1782, — six years. Abisha Leach, 1782. Seth Littlefield, 1783-1788, — five years. Town Clerks and Treasurers. [After the two offices were united.] Elijah Howard, 1788-1799, — eleven years. John Pool, 1799-1811, — twelve years. Howard Lothrop, 1811-1827, 1833-1836, — nineteen years. Isaac Lothrop, 1827-1833, — six years. Tisdale Harlow, 1836-1841, 1845-1849, — nine years. Martin Wild, 1841. William Reed, 1842-1845, — three years. Joel S. Drake, 1849-1853, — four years. John Kimball, 1853-1855, 1856-1873, — nineteen years. Albert A. Rotch, 1855. Sanford Strout, 1873-1876, — three years. George G. Withington, 1876 to date, — eleven years. The town records give ample proof that the town has usually shown excellent judgment in the choice of its clerks; the books have, as a rule, been kept with remarkably good care. Selectmen. John Phillips, 1726, 1734, 1744, 1746-1749, — six years. Josiah Keith, 1726, 1727-1731, 1732, 1738, — seven years. 41 642 HISTORY OF EASTON. Benjamin Drake, 1726, 1728, 1731, 1733-1736, 1738, 1743-1746, — ten years. Thomas Pratt, 1727. John Dailey, 1727, 1745, — two years. Ephraim Randall, 1728. Joseph Snow, 1729. Mark Lothrop, 1730, 1732, 1736, 1737, — four years. Eliphalet Leonard, 1730-1734, 1736, 1737, 1739-1743; 1746-1751, 1761, 1764, 1765, eighteen years. Dr. James Hayward (Howard), 1731. Lieut. John Williams, 1733-1736, 1739-1743, 1744, 1745, 1749-1757) — seventeen years. Thomas Manley, Sr., 1735, 1738, — two years. Samuel Kinsley, 1736, 1737, 1743, — three years. Edward Hayward, Esq., 1739-1743, 1746-1749, — seven years. Henry Howard, 1743. Benjamin Kinsley, 1749. Joshua Howard, 1750, 1755, 1756, 1764, 1765, — five years. Timothy Williams, 1751-1755, — four years. Josiah Keith, Jr., 1751-1755, 1756, — five years. Robert Randall, 1755, 1757, 1761-1764, 1766, — six years. Nathan Kinsley, 1757. Abiah Manley, 1757. Silas Kinsley, 1757. Benjamin Pettengill, 1757, 1777, 1778, — three years. Daniel Williams, Esq., 1758, 1760-1764, 1767, — six years. Matthew Hayward, 1758, 1766, 1767, 1770, 1775, 1776, — Six years. Samuel Stone, 1758. James Dean, 1759, 1761, 1762, — three years. Josiah Kingman, 1759. Ebenezer Ames, 1759. George Ferguson, 1760. Thomas Manley, 2d, 1763, 1768, — two years. Zephaniah Keith, 1764-1767, 1770, — four years. Capt. Benjamin Williams, 1767. Timothy Randall, 1768-1777, — nine years. Col. Abiel Mitchell, 1768, 1769, 1771-1775, 1779, 1783-1786, 1787- 1798, — twenty-one years. Seth Lothrop, 1769, 1772, 1773, — three years. Samuel Coney, 1771. Abisha Leach, 1774, 1790-1799, —ten years. 1 There were five selectmen this year. POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 643 Ephraim Randall, 2d, 1775. Jacob Leonard, 1776, 1778, 1787, — three years. Seth Pratt, 1777, 1780-1785, 1786-1790, — ten years. Dr. Samuel Guild, 1777, 1785, — two years. Joseph Gilbert, 1778. Elijah Howard, 1779-1782, 1785, 1786, — five years. Dea. William Pratt, 1779. Lieut. Jonathan Pratt, 1780-1785, — five years. Joseph Drake, 2d, 1782. Rufus Ames, 1786, 1788, — two years. John Howard, 1789-1793, — four years. Seth Littlefield, 1794-1803, — nine years. Ephraim Randall, 3d, 1798-1802, — four years. - Edward Williams, 1799-1802, — three years. Josiah Williams, 1802-1811, — nine years. Daniel Macomber, 1802-1813, — eleven years. Calvin Brett, 1803-1821, — eighteen years. Josiah Copeland, 1811-1816, — five years. Moses C. Dunbar, 1813-1817, 1819, 1820, 1823-1829, 1845, — thirteen years. Elijah Smith, 1816-1819, 1822, — four years. Isaac Lothrop, 1817-1828, — eleven years. Richard Wild, 1821. Roland Howard, 1821, 1822, — two years. John Pool, 1823, 1833-1836, — four years, Elijah Howard, Jr., 1824, 1825, 1830, — three years. Capt. Jonathan Pratt, 1826-1830, 1831, 1832, 1845-1849, — ten years. Joel Drake, 1828-1833, — five years. Thatcher Pierce, 1829. Daniel Wheaton, 1830. Wade Dailey, 1831, 1832, — two years. Henry French, 1833. John Selee, 1833. Nathaniel Howard, 1834, 1835, 1841-1844, — five years. Perez Marshall, 1834, 1835, — two years. Lewis Williams, 1836-1839, — three years. Nathaniel Guild, 1836. Nathan Willis, 1836, 1837, — two years. Bernard Alger, 1837, 1838, — two years. Seba Howard, 1838. Daniel Randall, Jr., 1839, 1840, — two years. Horatio Copeland, 1839-1843, — four years. 644 HISTORY OF EASTON. Archippus Buck, 1839, 1840, — two years. Albert A. Rotch, 1841-1845, — four years. Seneca Hills, 1843, 1844, — two years. Linus Manley, 1844. Galen Sylvester, 1845, 1846, — two years. Daniel B, Wheaton, 1846-1853, 1855, — eight years. Tisdale Harlow, 1847. Jason G. Howard, 1848. Alson Gilmore, 1849, 1850, — two years. George W. Hayward, 1849-1855, 1856, — seven years. Horace D. Howard, 1851, 1852, 1854, 1855, 1857-1873, — twenty years. Nahum Williams, — 1853. Cyrus Alger, 1853. Elbridge G. Morse, 1854. Ward L. Foster, 1855. Joel S. Drake, 1856-1860, — four years. Hiram Williams, 1856-1860, 1874, to date, — seventeen years. John Kimball, 1860-1873, — thirteen years. Dan W. Heath, 1860. ‘Joseph Barrows, 1861-1874, — thirteen years. William C. Howard, 1873-1882,— nine years. Jonathan A. Pratt, 1873-1886, — thirteen years. George Copeland, 1882 to date, — five years. Henry W. Heath, 1886. By the above list it will be seen that one hundred and four different men have served the town of Easton as selectmen, many of them holding the office for only a year or two. The ten- dency lately has been to retain them longer in service than for- merly. The wisdom of this is obvious. The duties of the office are so varied, important, and sometimes perplexing as to require considerable experience in order to do them well. When such experience has been gained, it is desirable for the town to reap the advantage of it. Until 1790 the assessors were a separate board of officers, but from that date the selectmen appear to be chosen for that office also. It was not formerly the custom for the selectmen to present reports to the town of their doings. Most of the business now done by them was once done in town- meetings, the town acting as a body even in minute and ludi- crous details. The first printed town report of the selectmen was for the year ending March 1, 1844, when Nathaniel Howard, POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 645 A. A. Rotch (then spelled Roach), and Seneca Hills were select- men. It is printed upon one side of a single sheet, which is nineteen by twenty-four inches in size, and is elaborately done. The report is surrounded by a heavy ornamental border, in which at the top is a picture of a sheaf of grain with a sickle, rake, pitch- fork, and spade, and at the bottom an old-time hip-roofed house. It bears the imprimatur of “ Butts, Printer, School Street, Bos- ton,” and must have been unfolded with immense pride by the selectmen to the astonished gaze of congregated citizens. REPRESENTATIVES TO THE GENERAL COURT. Until 1772 the town of Easton chose a representative to the General Court only four times. The first one was Capt. Elipha- let Leonard, who was elected in 1746; the second, Capt. John Phillips, in 1754; the third, Daniel Williams, Esq.,in 1755; and Captain Leonard was chosen again in 1760. The years when the town does not appear to have had any representative are 1726-1746, 1747-1754, 1756-1760, 1761-1772, 1774, 1776, 1779, 1780, 1815-1823, 1836, 1837, 1841, 1848, 1849, 1851, 1854. Some of the last seven omissions were cases in which there were several candidates, none of whom received a majority. In 1856 a new representative system was adopted, and Raynham was united with Easton in one district, — Easton being entitled to three representatives every five years, and Raynham to two. In 1886 Mansfield was united in one district with Easton and Raynham. Following this is the list of Easton representatives to the Gen- eral Court, drawn from the records of the Court at the State House. It is to be noted that for some of the years when Easton was represented, no account of an election appears upon our town records ; these are several of the blank years when the town ap- pointed what was called an “agent” to present some special town interest to the General Court. Thus in 1774 Capt. Elipha- let Leonard served as “agent,” and was a delegate to the Pro- vincial Congress. In 1776 Capt. Zephaniah Keith served in the same capacity. For the years 1778, 1810-1814, 1828, 1838, 1839, there were two representatives from the town. The dates following the names below represent the years of service, not the time of election : — 646 HISTORY OF EASTON. Eliphalet Leonard, 1746, 1760. Wade Dailey, 1853- John Phillips, 1754. Dea. Harrison T. Mitchell, 1855- Daniel Williams, Esq., 1755. William Barrows, 1856. Matthew Hayward, 1772, 1773, 1777. John Kimball, 1857. Benjamin Pettengill, 1775. Horace D. Howard, 1858. James Perry, 1778, 1781-1784. Hiram A. Pratt, 1860. Col. Abiel Mitchell, 1778, 1785-1806. Charles B. Pool, 1862. Capt. John Tisdale, 1806-1812. Alson A. Gilmore, 1863, 1885. , Charles Hayden, 1810. Dr. Caleb Swan, 1865. Calvin Brett, 1811-1814. Joseph Barrows, 1867. The Rev. John Tinkham, 1812, 1813. John H. Swain, 1868. Howard Lothrop, 1823-1827. Thomas Bean, 1870. Elijah Howard, Jr., 1827-1832, 1835. The Rev. Geo. H. Bates, 1872. Oliver Ames, Sr., 1828, 1833, 1834. George Copeland, 1873. Nathaniel Guild, 1838, 1839. Alpheus Fobes, 1875. Martin Wild, 1838, 1839. William C. Howard, 1877. Jonathan Pratt, 1840. George C. Belcher, 1878. Lincoln Drake, 1842, 1844-1848. Hiram Williams, 1880. Lewis Williams, 1843. L. S. Drake, 1882. Alanson White, 1850. George A. Lackey, 1883. Galen Sylvester, 1852. Louis C. Southard, 1887. In addition to the town officers and members of the State Legislature already noted, there are those who attained higher positions. The first Easton man who was elected to the office of State senator was Howard Lothrop, who was chosen in 1827, and served four years. Elijah Howard, as already stated, was chosen to the same office in 1832, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Senator Ebenezer Daggett. The next senator was Oliver Ames, Sr., who without seeking the office, and even contrary to his wishes, was elected in 1845. In 1852 his son, Oliver Ames, Jr., was chosen State senator by the Legislature, there being no choice by the people, and in 1857 he was chosen by popular vote to the same office. In 1867 Dr. Caleb Swan was elected to the same position. In 1872 it was filled by Frederick L. Ames ; and in 1880 and 1881 by Oliver Ames, the son of Oakes. In 1882 L. S, Drake, a Democrat of Easton, having many Re- publican friends, was chosen State senator, and held the office fora year. Frank M. Ames, a native of Easton but a resident of Canton, was elected senator in 1884. Two Easton men have been members of the Governor’s coun- cil, — Howard Lothrop from 1832 to 1836, and Oakes Ames, who POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 647 in 1861 and 1862 was in the council of the able and honored war governor, John A. Andrew. He has also the honor of being the only citizen of Easton who has been elected to the National Congress as representative, to which position he was chosen in 1862, and served therein for the ten succeeding years. Oliver Ames was elected lieutenant-governor in 1881, be- ing chosen on the Republican ticket, though General Butler, the Democratic candidate for governor, was also elected. For the three years following Mr. Ames continued in the same office, George D. Robinson being governor. In September, 1886, he was nominated for governor almost unanimously on the first bal- lot in the Republican convention; and Tuesday, November 2, the town of Easton rejoiced to see one of its citizens elected to the highest office within the gift of the people of Massachusetts. The most conspicuous office in some respects ever held by an Easton man is that of United States Minister to Russia, —an office now filled by George Van Ness Lothrop, who was appointed to this position by President Cleveland in 1885. It is fitting that there should follow here brief sketches of those citizens of Easton who have held the positions of trust and honor which have just been mentioned. Some of them are, how- ever, more appropriately given in other chapters. The Hon. Howarp Lortsrop, son of Edmund and Betty (Howard) Lothrop, was born in Easton, December 17, 1776. After becoming of age he invested in a furnace in Pittsford, Vermont, and managed in time to make it a real success, be- coming its superintendent and sole owner. He sold it in 1809, the failure of his father’s health leading him to settle perma- nently upon the old homestead in Easton, where he spent the remainder of his life. Mr. Lothrop was town clerk of Easton for nineteen years, as long a term of service as held by any one in town except Mat- thew Hayward, who continued in the office for twenty-seven years, from 1761 to 1788. Mr. Lothrop served from 1811 to 1827, and from 1833 to 1836, being a very accurate and com- petent officer. He was also for many years the clerk of the Taunton North-Purchase Company. From 1823 to 1827 he was a member of the State Legislature, and for the next four years 648 HISTORY OF EASTON. he was in the State senate. For four years following this, from 1832 to 1836, he was a member of the Governor’s council, — thus serving four years each successively in the three official positions just named. He was also one of the candidates for presidential elector on the Webster ticket in 1836. He was conservative in his opinions; for though opposed to the Rev. Mr. Sheldon during the great controversy already described, he remained Orthodox in his religious views. ‘Although Mr. Lothrop called himself a farmer, he did considerable business of a partially legal character, being often called upon to prepare and to ex- ecute wills and make the settlement of estates, for which work his superior business qualities and excellent judgment especially fitted him. June 13, 1805, Mr. Lothrop married Sally, daughter of Ed- ward and Sarah (Lothrop) Williams, of Easton, who was born May 9, 1787. He died August 23, 1857, and she May 15, 1864. They had a family of ten children, of whom only four now sur- vive, — namely, Sarah, who married the Hon. Oliver Ames, Jr. ; George Van Ness, now minister to Russia; Howard Augustus, who resides in Sharon; and Cyrus, who lives in North Easton. The Hon. OLIveR Ames, founder of the great manufacturing firm of Oliver Ames & Sons, was born in West Bridgewater, Mass., April 11, 1779, being the youngest son of Capt. John and Susanna (Howard) Ames, and a lineal descendant of William Ames, who came to this country in 1638 and settled in Brain- tree, Mass. His early education was gained by ordinary com- mon-school instruction, and by the practical experience of hard work in his father’s blacksmith shop. These furnished him the groundwork of a sober judgment, industrious habits, and a stable and energetic character. In April, 1803, he married Susanna Angier; and by this marriage two distinct branches of the English family of Ames, which had sent representatives to this country, were united,—for Susanna. Angier was a de- scendant of Dr. William Ames, a famous author and professor. Very soon after his marriage Mr. Ames removed from Bridge- water to Easton, and began the manufacture of shovels and hoes. He bought the Shovel-Shop Pond privilege August 1, 1803. He continued here for three years, and then moved to POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 649 Plymouth to manufacture shovels for Messrs. Russell, Davis, & Co. Mr. Ames did not however give up his property or his business in Easton, but carried on here the manufacture of hoes and shovels, the work being done by others under his over- sight... He was also one of the partners in the cotton factory managed by Col. David Manley. Difficulties and embarrass- ments that would have disheartened and defeated any one but a man of persistent energy and great ability beset him in those early days. The effect upon business of the War of 1812 was still felt ; the cotton factory had been burned; he was endeavoring to restore the business of his father to a prosperous condition, and had made great outlays in getting established at Easton. But his credit was good and his courage strong; his character and ability alike inspired unlimited confidence, and he worked steadily on to a sure and lasting success. With only an humble beginning, shovels being made by hand and carried to market upon a one-horse wagon, the business steadily grew, shop being added to shop, workmen increasing by scores, until the business became by far the largest and most prosperous shovel business in the world. Mr. Ames would not allow any work to be sent to the market that was imperfect, and he thus laid the foundation for the great reputation which the Ames shovel has borne and which it continues to bear. In 1828, 1833, and 1834 he represented his town in the Massa- chusetts Legislature, serving with marked ability upon the com- mittee on manufactures. In 1845 he was elected, contrary to his desires and by a large vote, to the Massachusetts senate. He was however no lover of office, being only ambitious to have the charge of the highways of his town intrusted to him, —a charge he took pride in and faithfully fulfilled. He was aman of strong and resolute will, of great force of character, indomitable energy, and persevering industry. He was the possessor of a splendid physique, and easily bore off the palm in all feats of strength and skill, especially in wrestling, of which he was very fond. His manly and dignified bearing gave every one who saw him the impression that they looked upon a man of mark. He was such a man as a Stranger, meeting him upon the street, would turn to look at a second time. Born of the people, he was 1 For particulars concerning his early business enterprises see chapter xxx. 650 HISTORY OF EASTON. always very simple in his tastes, as well as democratic in his feelings and principles. In his likes and dislikes he was equally decided; but his judgments of persons were based upon what he believed to be the real worth of any one, without reference to station or condition. He was consequently greatly respected and beloved by his neighbors and fellow-townsmen. Mr. Ames was enthusiastically fond of farming, and like Dan- iel Webster was especially fond of fine oxen, always obtaining the best, and taking great pleasure in their management. He took an early stand, both as a matter of principle and practice, in favor of temperance, bringing up his family according to total abstinence principles. He was a decided Unitarian in his reli- gious convictions, having a cordial dislike to the rigid tenets of the Calvinism of his day, and was liberal in his aid to religious institutions ; to the church he gave the sanction of his personal attendance. His charities were large; nor were they bounded by the limits of his sect or neighborhood. His defects were such as pertained merely to his limited culture and to the stern conflict and discipline of his early life. Mr. Ames lived to the ripe old age of eighty-four years, dying in North Easton, September 11, 1863. His wife died March 28, 1847. Their remains now repose in the Ames family lot in the Village Cemetery near Unity Church in North Easton. Their children were as follows: Oakes, born January 10, 1804, died May 8, 1873; Horatio, born November 18, 1805, died January 28, 1871; Oliver, Jr., born November 5, 1807, died March 9, 1877; Angier, born February 19, 1810, died July 27, 1811; William L., born July 9, 1812, died February 8, 1873 ; Sarah A., born September 9, 1814, died June 5, 1886; John, born April 18, 1817, died May 14, 1844; Harriet, born September 12, 1819, and still survives. * The Hon. Oakes Ames is the most widely known of any of the citizens of Easton, and the one who has had the greatest in- fluence upon the fortunes and affairs of the country. To him more than to any other man belongs the credit of accomplish- ing one of the grandest enterprises of this generation, — the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. For that work, which has been of incalculable benefit to the country in many ways, AMES. OAKES POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 651 he deserves the gratitude of all its citizens, and his name will always be associated with that splendid achievement. Oakes Ames was the oldest son of Oliver and Susanna (Angier) Ames, and was born in Easton, Massachusetts, January 10, 1804. He passed his youth here, acquiring a common-school education, and assisting his father in the workshop and on the farm. He gained a thorough knowledge of the shovel business, in which his father was engaged, and devoted to it for years a laborious industry and great energy, early becoming its overseer. In 1844 his father, having reached the age of sixty-five, withdrew from active participation in the business, turning it over to his sons Oakes and Oliver ; and from this date the firm bore the name of Oliver Ames & Sons. The discovery of gold in Cali- fornia and Australia, and the vast increase of railroad building, gave a new impetus to the shovel business, so that it rapidly grew to extensive proportions, and became very profitable. It was managed with great enterprise, weathered the financial storm of 1857 without serious disturbance, and went on to increasing success. In 1860 Oakes Ames was elected councillor from the Bristol district, serving as one of the cabinet officers of Governor An- drew, by whom he was highly esteemed. He was soon solicited to become a candidate for Congress from the Second District. On the informal ballot at the nominating convention he received two thirds of all the votes cast, was then formally nominated, and was elected by a large popular vote. This was for the Thirty-eighth Congress; and to the four succeeding Congresses he was continuously elected, serving ten years altogether. Dur- ing these ten years*he was a member of the several committees on manufactures, on the Pacific railroad, on Revolutionary claims, and on roads and canals, his business experience and sound practical judgment making his services especially valu- able in all these positions. He was a warm friend of President Lincoln, and enjoyed his personal confidence. It was as a member of the committee on railroads that he first became interested in the Government project of building a road to the Pacific. In July, 1862, Congress passed an Act au- thorizing and making some provision for the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Vv 652 HISTORY OF EASTON. slope. Scarcely anything, however, was done about it. In July, 1864, the need of such a line of communication between the East and the West was imperatively felt, and Congress passed a second Act more liberal than the first, doubling the land-grant, authoriz- ing the issue of mortgage bonds to the same amount as the Gov- ernment bonds, making the latter a second mortgage, and offer- ing to withhold only one half the money the road might earn for Government transportation. One attempt to construct the road under this new arrangement signally failed. Oakes Ames was then looked to as the man competent to undertake and com- plete this gigantic work. Many prominent men, among them President Lincoln, urged him to undertake it for the public good. After nearly a year of such solicitation, and after careful deliber- ation, he decided to do it, and thus to connect his name with one of the greatest works of the century in this country. It is impossible in the necessary limits of this brief sketch to trace even in outline the progress and successful completion of that great work, or to do more than allude to the famous Crédit Mobilier affair, which engaged such general attention and created such absurd excitement. The building of the Pacific Railroad once undertaken, Oakes Ames gave to the work all his accus- tomed energy. He invested a million dollars outright, and hazarded his entire fortune in the enterprise. He invited his friends to join him and invest their capital,— men in and out of Congress being invited to engage in it on the same terms. The obstacles to be overcome in this work, both physical and financial, were immense. But they were overcome, and on the 1oth of May, 1869, the rails of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific were joined at Promontory Point, and the Pacific Railroad was complete,— the East and West were united ; and this was seven years earlier than the terms of the contract required. As to the Crédit Mobilier affair, it is noticeable that those were freest to condemn it who knew least about it. It is safe to assert that not one in a hundred of those who used that term as a symbol of business iniquity really understood what it meant. It was for this very reason a convenient and powerful weapon to wield in a time of great political excitement, inas- much as it suggested unknown horrors and depths of wicked- ness. In fact, however, it was merely a construction company. POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 653 Roads had been built by the same method before; they are com- monly built in the same way in the West to-day. It was not until this matter was given a political turn that anything wrong was suspected. It was found that several Con- gressmen had a financial interest in it, and it was asserted that Mr. Ames had interested them with corrupt intent in order to influence their legislation ; in short, he was accused of hav- ing bribed these men. Yielding to popular clamor, Congress demanded an investigation. Two committees were appointed to make it. They sat for months, made their reports to Congress, and on the 28th day of February the House passed a resolution condemning the conduct of Mr. Ames “in seeking,” — so reads the resolve, — “to procure Congressional attention to the affairs of a corporation in which he was interested,” etc. He alone was made to bear the brunt of the storm and be offered up as a scapegoat, when in reality no sacrifice was needed. He was charged with bribery when it did not appear that any man had been bribed. The charge rested upon the assertion of one man, and that man an interested party, whose word was good for nothing in the face of Mr. Ames’s denial. In fact, no special legislation for the Union Pacific Railroad was desired or even looked for. Mr. Ames, for the good of the enterprise, endeav- ored to enlist the influence of prominent men in different parts of the country. There was no more reason why ownership in the stock referred to should embarrass a congressman than his ownership of stock in a national bank, an iron furnace, a woollen- mill, or even in government bonds. Those congressmen who openly declared their ownership in the Crédit Mobilier stock and regretted that they had so little, are held in honor to-day; but those who, fearful of the result of such confession upon their * political chances, sought to evade the matter, have been perma- nently disgraced. From that day to this, in proportion as the case is understood and his services appreciated, Oakes Ames has risen in popular regard. As to the censure passed upon him, Massachusetts, where he was best known, has spoken unequivocally ; for in the spring of 1883 her Legislature passed the following resolution : — “ Resolved, In view of the great services of Oakes Ames, represen- tative from the Massachusetts Second Congressional District for ten 654 HISTORY OF EASTON. years ending March 4, 1873, in achieving the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, the most vital contribution to the integrity and growth of the National Union since the war ; “In view of his unflinching truthfulness and honesty, which refused to suppress, in his own or any other interest, any fact, and so made him the victim of an intense and misdirected public excitement, and subjected him to a vote of censure by the Forty-Second Congress at. the close of its session ; “ And in view of the later deliberate public sentiment, which upon a review of all the facts holds him in an esteem irreconcilable with his condemnation, and which throughout the whole country recognizes the value and patriotism of his achievement, and his innocence of corrupt motive or conduct, — “ Therefore the Legislature of Massachusetts hereby expresses its gratitude for his work and its faith in his integrity of purpose and character, and asks for like recognition thereof on the part of the National Congress.” Oakes Ames was a man of large and powerful frame, “the broad-shouldered Ames,” as Mr. Lincoln called him. He was courageous and enterprising in business affairs, with a special aptitude for large undertakings. The Pacific Railroad suited his liking and capacity for great and adventurous tasks. He was very temperate, a total abstainer from all intoxicating drinks, simple and democratic in his tastes, caring little for the luxuries that usually accompany great wealth. His busi- ness integrity was unquestioned. Under a rugged exterior he carried a kind heart; and after his death scores of letters from various quarters told his friends of numerous kindnesses done by him, but until then unknown to them. His bequest of fifty thousand dollars for the benefit of the children of North Easton village has been considered in the chapter on Schools. November 29, 1827, Oakes Ames married Eveline O., daughter of Joshua and Hannah [Lothrop] Gilmore, of Easton. Of this union there was born Oakes Angier, April 15, 1829; Oliver, - February 4, 1831; Frank Morton, August 14, 1833; Henry G., April 10, 1839, who died in September, 1841 ; and Susan Eveline, May 12, 1841, who on January 1, 1861, was married to Henry W. French, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Oakes Ames, while suffering from an attack of pneumonia, was May 5, 1873, stricken with paralysis, and died three days POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL, 655 afterward. His remains lie in the Village Cemetery at North Easton, where a tall shaft of beautiful granite perpetuates his memory. His wife was born in Easton, June 14, 1809, and died July 20, 1882. The Hon. Oxtver Ames, the second of that name, was the third son of Hon. Oliver and Susanna (Angier) Ames. He was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, November 5, 1807. In 1813 he became a resident of Easton by his father’s removal to this place, after which time Easton was his home. In his youth his time was divided between attending school and working in the Shovel Works. He became an expert and thorough workman in every branch of the shovel manufacture. He also showed great aptitude for study, and in 1828, being disabled for active labor by a severe fall, he entered an academy at North Andover, Massachusetts, intending to prepare for college, and ultimately to study law, for which pursuit his talents peculiarly fitted him ; but after spending a year and a half at the academy, he entered as a law student the office of William Baylies, Esq., of West Bridgewater. The confinement of the office proving unfavorable to his health, together with the increasing demands of business at home, led him to cast in his lot with that of his father and his brother Oakes. In 1844 he entered into copartnership with them, forming the house of Oliver Ames & Sons, and becom- ing the efficient colaborer of his brother in the management of their great business. As early as 1826 he was much inter- ested in the temperance movement, supporting the cause of total abstinence, of which from that time he was a consistent and earnest advocate, serving it actively, contributing to it largely, and being the first man in Easton to sign the total abstinence pledge. ' Mr. Ames was a member of the Whig Party, and at its disso- lution joined the Republican Party, taking a lively interest in its principles and measures. In 1852 he was elected to the senate of Massachusetts by the Legislature, there being no choice by the people, and did excellent service upon several important committees. In 1857 he was elected to the same office by popu- lar vote. In some of the campaigns he made effective speeches upon the issues of the hour. In 1855 the Messrs. Ames built 656 HISTORY OF EASTON. the Easton Branch Railroad, and after this became interested in those important railroad enterprises in which the two brothers were so deservedly famous. Though Oakes Ames, as we have said, with characteristic courage took the initiative in con- structing the Union Pacific Railroad, yet the prosecution and completion of this magnificent undertaking was owing to the united efforts of the two brothers. In 1866 Oliver Ames was elected president of that railroad, an office he held with sig- nal ability until March, 1871. During this time the road passed through some of its stormiest days and severest trials, His sound judgment, great business capacity, and inflexible integrity were of immense service in carrying this great enterprise safely through difficulty and peril to final success. Oliver Ames held many positions of trust and responsibility, of which a few may be mentioned. Besides his service as State senator he was a trustee in the Taunton Insane Asylum for about twenty years ; was president of the National Bank of Easton, of the Ames Plow Company and the Kinsley Iron and Machine Company; a director of the Union Pacific, Atlantic and Pacific, Kansas Pacific, Denver Pacific, Colorado Central, Old Colony and Newport, and other railroads; also of the Bristol County National Bank, and other corporations. His public spirit led him to take great interest in enterprises of education, philan- thropy, and reform. He was identified with agricultural, histor- ical, and other societies, and willingly served for years on the board of school committee of Easton. He was always interested in the Unitarian churches of Easton and North Easton, was very constant in his attendance upon religious service, and for several years was a Sunday-school superintendent. He died at North Easton, March 9, 1877. Oliver Ames stood among the foremost in his reputation for a manly and unblemished character and for business ability, — a reputation he well deserved. No one could be with him with- out seeing that he was a strong, substantial, able, and honorable man. His name was felt to be a sufficient indorsement of the worth and promise of any enterprise. Business cares were not allowed to engross all of Mr. Ames’s attention. He continued to the last his interest in literature, kept himself familiar with the great questions that agitate Forbes Albertype—Boston. MONUMENT IN MEMORY OF OAKES AMES AND OLIVER AMES, Erected by the Union Pacific Railway Company, at Sherman, Wyoming Territory,— the highest point reached by its railroad. Base, 60 feet sq Height, 60 feet. Summit, 8,350 feet above level of the s POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 657 thought and life, enjoyed the society of cultivated persons, and often surprised them by the clearness and comprehensiveness of his carefully formed opinions. In his character there were blended an admirable simplicity and a most cordial fellow-feel- ing, with a real dignity and refinement. He was noted for his generosity. No help was denied any object that commanded his confidence ; but he shrank from all publicity in his benefactions. He had a high sense of honor, that was prompt to rebuke any- thing mean and dishonorable. He was not only a philanthropic, but also a religious man, with a strong faith in God and in im- mortality, — a faith that at the last ripened into glad anticipation. Many of his benefactions have not been disclosed, but those he was known to have bestowed were most wisely made, and are doing a good that is incalculable. Reference has already been made to some of his large bequests, —to his gifts of a fund of fifty thousand dollars each for the schools, the roads, and a free public library, as well as that of a beautiful and costly church to the Unitarian Society. Besides these may be mentioned his gift of about thirty-five thousand dollars for the Plymouth monument, ten thousand dollars for building Unity Church parsonage, and two other bequests of the same amount to keep the church, par- sonage, and cemetery in repair. The picture of the monument erected by the Union Pacific Railway Company in commemoration of Oakes and Oliver Ames at Sherman, Wyoming Territory, is here presented. June 12, 1833, Oliver Ames married Sarah, daughter of the Hon. Howard and Sally (Williams) Lothrop, of Easton. Their children were Frederick Lothrop Ames, born June 8, 1835; and Helen Angier Ames, born November 11, 1836, and died December 13, 1882. The Hon. OrIver Ames, now (November 4, 1886) Governor- elect of Massachusetts, is the second son of Oakes and Eveline (Gilmore) Ames, and was born in Easton, February 4, 1831. His early education was received in the public schools of his native town, and in the academies of North Attleborough and Leicester; he then served an apprenticeship of five years in the Shovel Works, where he gained a practical knowledge of the shovel manufacture in all its branches, At the age of twenty 42 658 HISTORY OF EASTON. years he entered Brown University, pursuing there only a par- tial course of study; after which he continued to work in the shovel shops at home, and was also employed for a short time as travelling agent for the firm. Governor Ames has always been heartily interested in the local affairs of his native town. He was elected in 1852 second lieutenant of the Easton Light Infantry, afterward Company B of the Massachusetts Fourth Regiment ; in 1853 he was chosen adjutant, in 1854 major, and in 1857 lieutenant-colonel. He also served for twelve years upon the school committee of Easton. Governor Ames enjoys a well deserved reputation as a busi- ness man and financier. At the time of his father’s death the management of the great enterprises and of the large estate left by him devolved upon his two sons, Oakes A. and Oliver, as executors, and the manner in which they conducted these affairs is sufficient evidence of their uncommon business ability. The estate was then burdened with immense obligations; the times were unpropitious, and men of large experience and careful judg- ment in financial matters advised them to hand the estate over to the creditors. This the executors determined not to do; and after years of energetic struggle against seemingly insuperable ob- stacles, they succeeded not only in discharging all the obligations involved, but also in paying all the legacies and having a hand- some fortune left besides. Oliver Ames is interested in many extensive business enterprises, and has been able by means of them to acquire a large fortune. Governor Ames’s connection with politics began with his ser- vice as a member of the Republican town committee of Easton, of which committee he has been chairman and treasurer. In 1880 he was elected to the State senate, and was re-elected to the same position in 1881, serving during both years on the committees on railroads and education. In 1882 he received the republican nomination for lieutenant-governor on the ticket headed by the name of the Hon. Robert R. Bishop. Mr. Bishop was defeated by General Butler, the Democratic candidate for governor, but Mr. Ames was elected lieutenant-governor by a plurality vote. He was re-elected to the same office for the three years following, with George D. Robinson as governor. In 1886 he received an almost unanimous vote on the first ballot of the delegates to the Republican State convention as candidate POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 659 for Governor of Massachusetts, and after a campaign which was signalized by its freedom from abusive personalities, he was on Tuesday, November 2, elected to that office. March 14, 1860, Mr. Ames married Anna C., daughter of Obed and Anna W. Ray, of Nantucket, Massachusetts. They have had six children, all of whom are living. Mr. Ames makes his home in North Easton and in Boston, residing at the former place dur- ing the summer months, and living for the rest of the year at his elegant city residence on Commonwealth Avenue. In 1885 he was chosen president of the Merchants’ Club in Boston, and was re-elected to the same office in 1886. He is also president of the Boston Art Club. One of Governor Ames’s most marked traits is his devotion to the memory of his father, Oakes Ames, in whose perfect integ- rity he has absolute confidence, whom he believes to have been grievously wronged by the Congressional vote of censure, and the vindication of whose honor he has made the most cherished purpose of his life. The Hon. Lincotn S. Drakg, son of Lincoln and Caroline (Torrey) Drake, was born in Easton, April 8, 1840. He is now serving his twelfth consecutive year as member of the school committee, has been member of the prudential committee of the Evangelical Society for about fifteen years, and clerk of the church since 1882. In politics Mr. Drake is a Democrat, but his well-known independence has made him popular outside his party, and the two principal offices he has held were secured by the aid of Republican votes, more particularly in Easton. In 1882 he was a member of the Legislature, and in the autumn of that year he was elected to the State senate, — his sound temperance principles, and his popularity in Taunton and at home, securing his election in a Republican district. In the senate he was on the committees on manufactures, printing, and woman’s suffrage. He has served many years on the Easton Democratic committee, has for ten years been a member of the Second District Congres- sional committee, and its chairman since 1882, and was a mem- ber of the State Democratic committee in 1882 and 1883, being on the executive committee in the latter year. In 1880 he was appointed justice of the peace by Governor Long. For twenty- nine years he has been organist of the Evangelical Society. He 660 HISTORY OF EASTON. is engaged in the foundry business in Easton with his brother, Abbott L. Drake. May 9, 1861, Mr. Drake was married to Sarah L., daughter of Adonijah and Sarah (Dean) White. They had five children, three of whom are living. Mrs. Drake died June 25, 1882; and March 4, 1885, Mr. Drake was married to Ellen M., daughter of Charles T. and Margaret French. The Hon. Frank M. Ames, youngest son of Oakes and Eveline (Gilmore) Ames, was born in Easton, August 14, 1833. He was educated at the Leicester and Andover academies, after leaving which he entered the Shovel Works at North Easton, remaining there several years and gaining a thorough practical acquaint- ance with the varied details of the manufacture, and with much of the management of the extensive business interests involved in it. July 10, 1857, he was appointed major in the Fourth Regi- ment, M.V.M., having previously served as sergeant-major and as quartermaster. His commission as major he resigned in 1860. In 1858 Mr. Ames moved to Canton, Massachusetts, to take charge of the business of the Kinsley Iron and Machine Com- pany, of which he is now the principal owner. He has also other business interests; was for several years the trustee and man- ager of the New Orleans, Mobile, and Texas Railroad, and now owns and manages a large plantation on the east side of the Mississippi River, opposite New Orleans, cultivating about fif- teen hundred acres of sugar-cane and many acres of rice, besides having a large amount of land for grazing. Mr. Ames is much interested in politics, and is an ardent Re- publican. In 1869, and also in 1882, he was a representative to the General Court, serving on the committee on railroads. In 1884 he was elected to the State senate, was appointed a member of the committee on drainage and manufactures, and was chairman of a special committee on the metropolitan police bill for the city of Boston. He was a delegate in 1884 to the National Republican Convention held at Chicago. November 13, 1856, Mr. Ames married Catherine Hayward, daughter of Hiram and Lurana (Copeland) Copeland. They have had seven children, all but one of whom are living. Mr. Ames’s summer home is in Canton, and his winter residence is on Com- monwealth Avenue, Boston. POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 661 POST-OFFICES. The accepted tradition regarding the first post-office in Easton is that it was in the southwest part of the town, that Daniel Wheaton was the first postmaster, that he received his commis- sion from President George Washington, and that therefore he was appointed as early as 1796. This tradition is wrong in all four particulars. The first postmaster of Easton was Na- thaniel Wetherby. His office was at his inn on the Bay road at the location known as the Sheperd place, where he had been a licensed innkeeper for several years. His appointment was dated July 1, 1800,— and he must therefore have received his commission from President John Adams. These facts, as well as those relating to the establishment of the post-offices in Easton and the appointment of postmasters, are all official, be- ing obtained by the writer, with the kind assistance of the Hon. John D. Long, directly from the Post-office Department at Washington. This first post-office was designed to accommodate the three towns of Norton, Mansfield, and Easton ; it was not until about 1817 that Norton had a post-office of its own. Mr. Wetherby held his office for only a little over six months. It was prob- ably found that his location would not accommodate Easton and Norton as well as some situation farther south. Accordingly, January 27, 1801, Daniel Wheaton was appointed postmaster in place of Mr. Wetherby, and he kept his office in a cottage below where Daniel B. Wheaton now lives. In 1815 it was removed to Daniel Wheaton’s house. About 1828 the office was re- moved to Dr. Samuel Deans’s in the Furnace Village; but Daniel Wheaton continued postmaster, holding the office for forty years and six months. His successor was Henry W. B. Wightman, who was appointed July 24, 1841. The post-office was located in Lincoln Drake’s store, and was kept there until the appointment of John Kimball. Mr. Wightman held the posi- tion for nearly nine years. He was succeeded by Thomas F. Davidson, the date of whose appointment was February 22, 1850. Mr. Davidson was in office for over eleven years, and was followed by Lincoln S. Drake, who was appointed Novem- ber 14, 1861, and was postmaster one year and six months. April 2, 1863, John Kimball received his commission, and the 662 HISTORY OF EASTON. office for the succeeding nineteen years was kept in his store. April 4, 1882, Mrs. Helen E. Goward received the appointment for this office, which was then transferred to the old stand of Lincoln Drake’s store near the foundry. Mrs. Goward still holds the position. The second post-office was first known as Easton No. 2, and was established January 28, 1811, at which date Israel Alger was made postmaster, the post-office being located at his house, in the southeast part of the town. Mr, Alger held the office un- til his death, which occurred in 1825, when John Gilmore, Octo- ber 27, 1825, received the appointment, holding the position for three years and a half. April 27, 1829, Easton No. 2 post- office received a new name. The Post-office Department christ- ened it Easton Four Corners post-office, and it was located on the Turnpike at the Four Corners, in the Alger neighborhood. At the date just named, when this change was made, Matthew Bolles was made postmaster. He was a Baptist minister, who preached at Cocheset, but lived in Easton on the west side of the Turnpike, just north of the Four Corners. He held the position scarcely more than a year, being succeeded May 29, 1830, by Bernard Alger. Exactly eleven years from this date, May 2a, 1841, the Easton Four Corners post-office was discontinued, Bernard Alger remaining postmaster to the end. Two years before the discontinuance of the last named office the North Easton post-office was established. This was June 20, 1839. Previous to this time the North Easton residents, whose business was growing fast, had suffered considerable in- convenience in regard to the mails. One line of mail coaches ranon the Bay road and one on the Taunton and South Boston Turnpike, and North Easton village was between them both, the post-offices being four miles away. At the corner of Wash- ington and Main streets a large box with a cover was set upon a post, and mail (at least newspapers and heavy mail) was put into and taken from this box by the drivers of the passing mail-coaches. On the date of the establishment of the North Easton post-office, June 20, 1839, John Ames, 2d, was appointed postmaster. Mr. Ames died May 14, 1844, and Augustus O. Howard succeeded him, receiving his commission June 7, 1844. He held the office for twelve years, and his successor, David L. Pratt, was the next postmaster. Mr. Pratt did not POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL. 663 give good satisfaction ; many persons preferred to send their let- ters to Boston by other means than the mail, and a lawsuit was brought against Conductor Tilden and A. A. Gilmore for carry- ing them. Such transmission of letters was illegal; but the offence did not involve, as one of the lawyers expressed it, any “ reat moral turpitude,” and the prosecution did not have much sympathy. It was abandoned because of some technical infor- mality about it; and when another suit was preferred against Conductor Tilden, it shared a similar fate. It was ascertained that if the words “transmitted on,” with the date attached, were written or printed on letters, they might be legally transported and mailed in another place. Accordingly, the Ames Company and various individuals procured envelopes thus lettered, and regularly sent their mail to Boston. David L. Pratt was succeeded in his office January 19, 1860, by Jonathan A. Pratt, who held the position about fifteen months. On the incoming of Lincoln’s administration, Dr. George B. Cogswell received the appointment, his commission being dated April 8, 1861. During his absence in the war several different persons performed the duties of postmaster, among others John B. King, who seemed in some magical way to anticipate the entrance of letter-seekers, as they were sure to find their mail on the counter ready for them when they entered, though Mr. King was busily engaged at his work. Dr. Cogswell held the office over twenty-four years. His successor, the present postmaster, is William J. Twohig, who was appointed September 17, 1885. The fourth post-office of Easton (the second, however, having been discontinued) was established under the name of the South Easton post-office, at South Easton village. The first postmaster was Luke S. Greenleaf, who was appointed August 16, 1849, the date of the establishment of this office. The second postmaster was Joseph B. Sandford, who was commissioned November 28, 1853, holding the office however only four months. March 31, 1854, Horatio Copeland succeeded him, and served seven years and a half. October 4, 1861, George Copeland received the ap- pointment, and still holds the place after a service of a quarter of acentury. Fora time the South Easton post-office was located in the counting-room of E. J. W. Morse & Co., but for many years past it has been in Mr. Copeland’s store. 664 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXXIII. STATISTICS OF POPULATION AND INDUSTRY. POPULATION : COMPARATIVE AGES OF Boys AND GIRLS; CONJUGAL CONDITION ; NATIONALITY; PARENTAGE ; LONGEVITY. — STATISTICAL TABLE OF PoLLs, HOUSES AND BARNS, AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS. — VOTERS OF EASTON IN 1749. — TOWN VALUATIONS. — STATISTICS oF INDUSTRY IN 1837.— STATISTICS IN 1845 AND IN SUCCEEDING DECADES. ‘ POPULATION, lie regard to the population of Easton, no exact census seems to have been preserved earlier than the year 1765. The following table, compiled from advanced sheets of the State Census report of 1885, will show the successive changes for the last one hundred and twenty years : — Ae By Population. a. D. Population. 176 6 ee wo wn | 6BBz PSEC ey cel wae Qe BES 1796) go oe we Se 1855 - ee we ww 2,748 1790. ww we ee 1,466 1860... . 1... 3,067 1800.4, ae 2 ¥ & «© sso T8OG oe nds Aa ee AC BORE 1810 » Of personal estate forone year . - - + + es + = 9,754 Total increase sn Wee Lae SS Oe Ge ah ae ly. G> Re Se £19,339 Rate of taxation, $5.50 on $1,000. Number of polls, 1,039. Poll tax, $2. Total tax for State, County, and Town purposes . . - ~ ~ $20,821.77 Number of dwelling-houses taxed . 2. - - + + 2 es 754 e acres of landtaxed . . . . - ee ee 3 15,833 Fs horses taxed 5. 2 4 owe 8 Se ee ee Ss 455 Cows taxed. <. &. © oao es OE ee 421 STATISTICS OF INDUSTRY. The statistics which follow have been taken from the reports made by assessors to the State for the several periods named. They may be of interest to only a few persons, but it is desirable that they be recorded here for purposes of reference. There are a few obvious errors in them, but the writer has no means of rectifying them, and has copied verbatim from the State reports. Considerable experience with such statistics destroys one’s con- fidence in their absolute accuracy. Some manufacturers, for instance, now refuse to give the statistics of their products and industries, being very naturally unwilling to make public the details of their business affairs. There are at least two note- worthy omissions in the following records. Many of the figures also are mere guesses, made sometimes with a bias towards the largest possible showing of results. Statistics of Industry for the year ending April 1, 1837. Cotton mills, 4; cotton spindles, 1,824; cotton consumed, 77,000 pounds; cotton goods manufactured, 180,000 yards, — value of same, $32,400; males employed, 11; females employed, 45; capital, $31,000. Sperm oil consumed in the manufacture of woollen goods, 1000 gallons (no other particulars stated in regard to woollen manufacture). Common sheep, 350; average weight of fleece, 2 pounds; value of wool, $300. . STATISTICS OF POPULATION AND INDUSTRY. 677. Hands employed in the manufacture of boots and shoes, 141 males and 40 females ; “56,200 pairs of boots, and 26,400 pairs of shoes bottomed.” Furnace for manufacture of pig-iron, 1 (no particulars stated). Air and cupola furnaces, 4; iron-castings made, 250 tons, — value of same, $20,000 ; hands employed, 20; capital, $10,000. Manufactory of cutlery, 1, — value of cutlery manufactured, $5,000; hands employed, 8; capital, $1000. Manufactories of shovels, spades, forks, and hoes, 2, — value of same, $108,000; hands employed, 84; capital, $51,000. Straw bonnets manufac- tured, 15,000, — value of same, $14,000. Wire manufactory, 1, — value of wire, $20,000; capital, $10,000; hands employed,6. Manufactory of surveyors’ instruments, 1, — value of instruments, $4,500 ; capital, $3,000; hands em- ployed,6. Manufactory of pegs, 1, — value of pegs, $3,200; capital, $1,100 ; hands employed, 14.1 Statistics for 1845. Cotton mills, 5; spindles, 2,256; cotton consumed, 112,023 pounds ; print- ing cloth manufactured, 110,000 yards, — value, $6,500; cotton yarn manu- factured and not made into cloth, 45,061 pounds, —value, $10,979; cotton thread, 19,000 pounds, —value, $11,750; cotton batting, 2,575 pounds, — value, $154; cord, 9,000 pounds, — value, $2,520; twine and wicking, 6,525 pounds, — value, $976; capital, $24,000; males employed, 22; females em- ployed, 37. Furnaces for the manufacture of hollow-ware and castings other than pig- iron, 2; hollow-ware and castings made, 350 tons, — value, $36,250; capital, $35,000; employees, 35. Establishments for the manufacture of cutlery, 1, — value of cutlery manufactured, $11,000 ; capital, $5,000; employees, 20. Tack and Brad manufactories, 1,— value of tacks and brads manufactured, $6,000 ; capital, $4,500; employees, 8. Shovel, spade, fork, and hoe manufactories,1,— value of articles manufac- tured, $136,000 ; capital, $40,500 ; employees, 72. Saddle, harness, and trunk manufactories, 1, value of articles manufactured, $400; capital, $100; employees, 2. Establishments for manufacture of railroad cars and other vehicles, 3, value of vehicles manufactured, $2,000; capital, $700; em- ployees, 5. Boots manufactured, 36,637 pairs; shoes, 42,810 pairs,— value of boots and shoes, $87,716 ; males employed, 91; females employed, 50. Straw bonnets and hats manufactured, 4,611, — value, $1,150; value of straw braid manu- factured and not made into bonnets and hats, $500; females employed, roo. Value of mathematical instruments manufactured, $4,250 ; employees, 6. Lumber prepared, 200,000 feet, — value, $2,000; employees, 10. Firewood prepared, 1,917 cords, — value, $5,751; employees, 6. Box factories, 1; boxes manufactured, 3,000, — value, $875 ; capital, $200 ; employee, I. Sperm-oil consumed in manufacturing, 668 gallons, — value, $668 ; whale- oil, 32 gallons, — value, $30; anthracite coal consumed in manufacturing, 500 tons, — value, $3,350; foreign bituminous coal, 350 chaldrons, — value, 1 Industry of Massachusetts, 1837, by John P. Biglow, pp. 134, 135: 678 HISTORY OF EASTON. $2,925; value of all other articles of American production consumed in manu- facturing, excepting cotton, wool, and iron, $16,150; value of all other arti- cles of foreign production consumed, excepting as above, $14,000. Sheep, 189,— value, $189 ; wool produced, 524 pounds, — value, $157. Asses and mules, 1, — value, $50; horses, 193, — value, $9,650; neat cattle, 734,— value, $12,000; swine, 234, — value, $2,500. Indian corn or maize raised, 4,974 bushels, — value, $3,730; rye, 378 bushels, — value, $284 ; bar- ley, 159 bushels, — value, $118; oats, 790 bushels, — value, $276 ; potatoes, 29,896 bushels, — value, $5,979 ; other esculent vegetables, 6,400 bushels, — value, $1,600 ; hay, 1,423 tons, — value, $14,769. Fruit raised, 10,155 bushels, —value, $2,031. Butter, 16,073 pounds,— value, $1,928; cheese, 8,307 pounds, — value, $498; honey, 100 pounds,—value, $12; beeswax, 18 pounds, — value, $4.3 Statistics for 1855. Cotton mills, 6; spindles, 2,390; cotton consumed, 132,800 pounds ; yarn manufactured, 82,000 pounds, —value of yarn, $16,500 ; thread manufactured, 36,700 pounds, —value of thread, $27,600; batting manufactured, 4,050 pounds, — value of batting, $524; capital, $43,500; males employed, 21; females employed, 48. Furnaces for manufacture of hollow-ware and cast- ings other than pig-iron, 2; hollow-ware and other castings manufactured, 554 tons, -— value of hollow-ware and castings, $44,500; capital, $11,000; employees, 50. Establishments for the manufacture of cotton, woollen, and other machinery, 1,—-value of machinery manufactured, $2,000 ; capital, $2,500 ; employees, 4. Manufactories of shovels, spades, forks, and hoes, 1, — value of shovels, etc., $600,000; capital, $200,000 ; employees, 330. Daguerreotype artists, 1 daguerreotypes taken, 500 ; capital, $600; employee, 1. Establishments for manufacture of railroad cars, coaches, chaises, wagons, sleighs, and other vehicles, 4, value of the same manufactured, $46,000; capital, $4,675 ; employees, 23. Boots of all kinds manufactured, 38,000 pairs ; shoes of all kinds manu- factured, 87,000 pairs, — value of boots and shoes, $153,200 ; males employed, 215; females employed, 92. Charcoal made, 9,190 bushels, — value of same, $1,003 ; employees, 5. Lumber prepared for market, 202,500 feet, — value of lumbey, $2,680; em- ployees, 28. Firewood prepared for market, 2,577 cords, — value of firewood, $9,807 ; employees, I15. All kinds of sheep, 51, — value of all sheep, $125 ; all wool produced, 135 pounds. Horses, 230, — value of horses, $20,252 ; oxen over three years old, 157; steers under three years old, 33, value of oxen and steers, $9,176 ; swine raised, 352, — value, $3,137; milch cows, 451; heifers, 59, — value of cows and heifers, $14,965. Butter, 18,440 pounds, — value of but- ter, $4,610; cheese, 6,980 pounds, — value of cheese, $837; honey, 160 pounds, — value of honey, $32. 1 Industry of Massachusetts, 1845, by John G. Palfrey, pp. 272, 273- STATISTICS OF POPULATION AND INDUSTRY. 679 Indian corn, 252 acres ; Indian corn per acre, 26 bushels, — value, $6,552. Wheat, 14 acres; wheat per acre, 10 bushels, — value, $30. Rye, 44 acres; rye per acre, 9 bushels, — value, $590. Barley, 224 acres ; barley per acre, 12 bushels, — value, $270. Oats, 29 acres ; oats per acre, 164 bushels, — value, $310. Potatoes, 187} acres ; potatoes per acre, 84 bushels, — value, $11,780. Onions, 1 acre ; onions per acre, 560 bushels, — value, $336. Turnips culti- vated as a field crop, 5 acres; turnips per acre, 350 bushels, —value, $440. Carrots, 3 acre ; carrots per acre, 200 bushels,— value, $12. Beets and other esculent vegetables, 1 acre,— value, $100; all other grain or root crops, I acre ,— value, $120. Millet, 3 acres, — value, $40. English mowing, 1,581 acres ; English hay, 1,144 tons, — value, $22,880. Wet meadow or swale hay, 639 tons, — value, $6,390. Apple-trees cultivated for their fruit, 11,044, — value, $3,488. Pear-trees cultivated for their fruit, 619, — value, $85. Fruit of various kinds raised dur- ing the year, 1,750 bushels. Cranberries, 78 acres, — value, $1,109. Bees- wax, 17 pounds, — value, $6. Gross value of all other articles manufactured in the town during the year, $24,152; capital, $9,600; employees, 51. Said articles are reported to be ‘* wooden hoops, philosophical instruments, mathematical instruments, shoe- makers’ awls, cord, twine, and wicking, castors, piano-forte tools, spools, deck scrapers and washers.’’? Statistics for 1865. Cotton mills, 3; spindles, 2,270 ; cotton consumed, 39,240 pounds, — gross value of stock used, $32,800. Thread manufactured, 32,200 pounds, — value, $55,400; capital, $15,000; males employed, 9; females employed, 22. Es- tablishments for the manufacture of shoddy, 1, — value of stock used, $200 ; shoddy manufactured, 1,800 pounds, — value, $594; capital, $2,000 ; employees 1. Furnaces for the manufacture of hollow-ware and castings other than pig-iron, 3, — value of stock used, $35,956; hollow-ware and other castings manufactured, 279 tons,— value of same, $58,426; capital, $6,000 ; employees, 38. Establishments for the manufacture of butts or hinges, 1, — value of stock, $40,000 ; butts or hinges manufactured, 30,000 dozen ,— value, $60,000 ; capi- ta., $20,000 ; employees, 35. Establishments for the manufacture of shovels, spades, forks, and hoes, I, — value of stock used, $575,000; shovels, spades, forks, and hoes manufac- tured, 65,500 dozen, — value, $982,500; capital, $280,000 ; employees, 250. Establishments for the manufacture of detached parts of piano-fortes, 1, — value of instruments manufactured, $3,000; value of stock used, $1,200; capital, $5,000; employees, 5. Daguerrian and photographic establishments, 1, — value of stock used, $80; daguerreotypes and photographs taken, 1,000, value, $166 ; capital, $200; male employed, 1. Railroad cars, coaches, chaises, wagons, sleighs, and other vehicles, 1 ; wagons manufactured, 10, — value, $600; value of stock used, $200 ; capital, 1 Industry of Massachusetts, 1855, pp. 75, 76, 77- 680 HISTORY OF EASTON. $400 ; employee, 1. Blacksmith shops, 3, — value of stock used, $300; value of work done, $1,220; capital, $700; employees, 3. Flouring mills, 4; corn ground, 6,400 bushels, — value, $8,000; capital, $3,000 ; employees, 2. Boots of all kinds manufactured, 19,332 pairs ; shoes of all kinds manufac- tured, 44,500 pairs, — gross value of stock used in the manufacture of boots and shoes, $95,000,— value of boots and shoes manufactured, $146,000 ; capi- tal, $23,900; males employed, 65 ; females employed, 7. Straw-braid manu- factured and not made into bonnets or hats, — value, $4,000. Establishments for the manufacture of philosophical, nautical, astronomi- cal, and mathematical instruments, 2; instruments manufactured: 3 theodo- lites, 6 engineers’ transits, 15 surveyors’ compasses, 12 portable compasses, 12 gas protracters, 30 engineers’ levelling rods, 6 ektroponuters, Ioo land chains, 125 levels, g pendulum gun-sights, 15 gun calipers, 100 chain- pins, 9,000 thermometers, — value, $5,500; value of stock used, $1,300; employees, 7. Establishments for the manufacture of boxes, 1,— value of stock used, $300; value of wooden boxes manufactured, $500; capital, $700; males employed, 2. Establishments for the preservation of ice for market, 1; ice preserved, 600 tons, — value, $250; capital, $1,000; employee, 1. Saw-mills, 2; lumber prepared for market, 33,000 feet, — value, #480; capital, $1,000 ; employees, 2. Firewood and bark prepared for market, 1,216 cords, — value, $3,650; capital, $1,520; employees, 2 (?). Charcoal manufactured, 3,000 bushels, — value, $405 ; capital, $300; employee, 1. Farms, 91 ; acres, 4,108, — value, including buildings, $194,508 ; land im- proved, 3,893 acres ; employees, 91. Unimproved land, 1,484 acres. Unim- provable land, 106 acres. Woodland, 6,113 acres, — value, $121,379. Indian corn, 190 acres; Indian corn, 4,842 bushels,— value $7,463. Wheat, 2} acres ; wheat, 22 bushels, — value, $44. Rye, 28 acres; rye, 286 ‘bushels, — value, $429. Barley, 25 acres; barley, 10 bushels, — value, $400. Buckwheat, 3 acre; buckwheat, ro bushels, — value, $10. Oats, 24 acres ; oats, 315 bushels,—value, $250. Potatoes, 161 acres; 12,986 bushels, — value, $9,090. Turnips cultivated as a field-crop, 7 acres; 1,615 bushels, — value, $505. Onions, # acre; 75 bushels, —value, $75. Carrots, 4 acre; 104 bushels; — value, $25. Cabbages, 2 acres,— value, $720. Beets, and other esculent vegetables, 1 acre; 500 bushels,— value, $250. Hops, 3 ‘acre; 1,350 pounds, — value, $550. Tobacco, 3 acre; 800 pounds, — value, $200. Cranberries, } acre ; 10 bushels, — value, $20. English mowing, 1,436 acres ; English hay, 958 tons, — value, $19,160. Wet-meadow or swale hay, 1,436 acres ; wet-meadow hay, 423 tons, — value, $3,807. Apple-trees cultivated for their fruit, 8,300, — approximate value, $2,866. Pear-trees cultivated for their fruit, 910, — value, $131. All other trees culti- vated for their fruit, 96, — value, $45. Value of nuts and berries cultivated for market, $50. Merino sheep of different grades, 2; all other grades, 22, — gross value of all sheep, #176; merino wool, 6 pounds, — value, $6; all other wool, 63 STATISTICS OF POPULATION AND INDUSTRY. 681 pounds, — value, $57. Horses, 225,— value, $15,985. Oxen over four years old, 84; steers under four years, 20, — value of oxen and steers, $7,550. Milch cows, 381; heifers, 108, — value of cows and heifers, $19,490; value of neat stock not embraced above (10 goats and 9g bulls), $400. Milk sold, 13,498 gallons, -— value, $2,700. Butter sold, 4,500 pounds, — value, $1,800. Cheese sold, 220 pounds, — value, $44. Beef dressed, 76,104 pounds, — value, $14,088. Pork dressed, 83,650, — value, $8,365. Mutton dressed, 600 pounds, —value, $90. Veal dressed, 10,500 pounds, — value, $1,050. Swine, 2c7,— value, $3,100. Value of poultry sold, $1,693; value of eggs sold, $850. Honey, 75 pounds, — value, $20. Value of unenumerated articles of farm produce, $325.1 The following estimates have been condensed from the Massa- chusetts Census Report of 1875, made under the charge of Col. Carroll D. Wright. One looks in vain among them for any ac- count of two very important Easton products; namely, hinges and cotton thread. Such noticeable omissions vitiate the value of such reports. The writer has for the sake of saving space passed over a few unimportant items. Statistics for 1875. MANUFACTORIES.? — One awl manufactory ; capital, $1,000, — value of goods made, $400 ; 2 boot manufactories ; capital invested, $10,000, —value of goods made, $110,000. Two boot and shoe manufactories ; capital, $3,500, — value of goods made, $30,900. One carriage manu- factory ; capital, $3,000, —value of goods made, $1,700. One car- riage, wagon, and cart manufactory ; capital, $600, — value of goods made, $1,840. One clothing manufactory; capital, $600,—value of goods made, $2,500. One cotton-batting and shingle manufactory ; capital, $2,000, — value of goods made, $3,000. Two iron casting manufactories ; capital, $4,500, — value of goods made, $5 3,469. Two lumber manufactories; capital, $5,000, — value of goods made, $2,751. One lumber and box manufactory ; capital, $1,000, — value of goods made, $1,700. One meal manufactory ; capital, $20,000, — value of goods made, $62,000. One shoe manufactory ; capital, 6,500, —value of goods, $40,000. One shovel and spade manufactory ; capital, $400,000, — value of goods made, $1,500,000. One soft-soap manufactory ; capital, $250, value of goods made, fsoo. One sur- veyors’ and engineers’ instruments manufactory ; capital, $1,000, — value of goods made, $3,700. One thermometer manufactory ; capital, $900, — value of goods made, $2,800. 1 Industry of Massachusetts, 1865, pp. 85, 86, 87. 2 Massachusetts Census Report, 1875, vol. ii. p. 21. 682 HISTORY OF EASTON. OccupaTion.! — of goods made, $2,020. of productions, $9,100. value of goods made, $5,000. —value of work done, $400. value of work done, $so. value of goods made, $1,000. — value of goods made, $1,320. Capital invested in manufactures Total yearly wages estimated Stock used in manufacturing . Z Value of goods made and work bos . Males employed in manufacturing Females employed in manufacturing Three of blacksmithing ; capital, $3,630, — value Four of butchering ; capital, $6,000, — value One machinists’ works ; capital, $10,000, — One of house-painting ; capital, $1,000, One of paper and wood hanging,— One of tinsmithing ; capital, $1,000, — Two of wheel-wrighting ; capital, $270, $500,750 7 $575,683 $232,501 $1,836,150 763 85 The following are the principal farm products : * — Butter 13,567 pounds. Value, $5,045 Cider. 12,353 gallons. 5 1,987 Firewood 2,601 cords. ss 8,266 Charcoal . 9,650 bushels. of 1,590 Apples . 4,013 bushels. i 2,320 Beef. . 9,707 pounds. 3 839 Corins s. & 1,055 bushels. sy 1,049 Cranberries . 409 bushels. in 879 Eggs ... 11,960 dozen. 95 35310 Hay, English . 1,076 tons. » 26,514 Hay,meadow. . . . 419 tons. is 55341 “Hops . . . 4,300 pounds, 5 1,588 Milk. . . . . . . 100,887 gallons. 320,208 Pork. . . . . «. . 32,145 pounds. . 3,186 Potatoes 7,708 bushels. » _-5,806 The total value of farm products is reported to be £100,979. There were three farms under ten acres in extent, and seventy- seven above ten acres. Their value was given as $312,437. 1 Massachusetts Census Report, 1875, vol. ii. p. 21. . 2 Tbid., vol. ii. pp. 759, 862. The hinge and cotton-thread statistics are not in- cluded in these figures. 8 Ibid., vol. iii. p. 37. The items noted include both those that were sold and those that were used by home consumption. 4 For the estimates relating to value of farms and farm property, see Massachusetts Census Reports, vol. iii. p. 440. STATISTICS OF POPULATION AND INDUSTRY. 683 They had upon them one hundred and nine houses, and one hundred and seven barns; and these with all other buildings were valued at $141,165. The land was valued as follows: Land under crops . . . 1,899 acres. Value, $70,785 Orchards . ..... 14 ” » 57:910 Unimproved land . . . 2,629 ,, ” 43,533 Unimprovable land. . . 24° 4, a IIo Woodland . . . . . . 2,975 4, ” 559734 There were 1,951 apple-trees valued at $5,852 ; pear-trees, 291, —value, $566; peach-trees, 20, — value, $50. The total value of domestic animals on the farms was $34,301 ; of agricultural implements in use on farms, $10,650. This History is issued too soon for the publication of the in- dustrial statistics of Easton for the year 1886; they have not yet been published by the State Bureau of Statistics. While this necessary omission is to be regretted, it is of less impor- tance than it would otherwise be, because there has not for the last decade been any considerable change in the business of, the town. 684 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXXIV. EASTON IN 1886. THE OLD TIMES AND THE NEW. — NorTH EASTON VILLAGE AS IT IS To-pay. — THE AMES MEeMoRIAL HALL. — SOUTH EASTON VILLAGE AND THE GREEN. — A TRIP THROUGH EASTON CENTRE, AND A GLANCE AT FURNACE VILLAGE. WE. have now nearly completed our survey of the history of Easton. Howthe Wampanoag Indian sachems, Massa- soit and Philip, sold the land, and the fifty-three purchasers thereof organized a great Land Company; how the lands were divided and settled ; how Clement Briggs, the Randalls, Capt. John Phillips, the Manleys, and others came here from Wey- mouth and elsewhere nearly two hundred years ago, built their log houses, cleared away the forests, erected their mills, organ- ized a church and incorporated the town; how ministers came and went, church controversies arose, and the clamor of tongues waxed loud and then grew still; how, led by stirring fife and drum, our fathers proudly marched the streets on training days, or faced the foe on bloody battle-fields; how industries have risen and prospered, log cabins given place to beautiful homes and stately mansions, and the old stage-coach been banished by steam-cars; how friction matches have succeeded flint and tinder-box, and the pitchpine torch and tallow dip given way to gas and kerosene; how our fathers were content with letters once a week, and the newspaper was to them a curiosity, while we may now read the daily papers at breakfast and get our letters thrice a day ; nay, how we annihilate time and space, and stand- ing at the telephone may actually converse with friends who are miles away,— all this is but part of the story of the last two hundred years in Easton. We have as yet made no attempt to describe the town as it is to-day. For residents such description is needless; but for those who once lived here and have long been absent, and for ‘NOLSV HINON ‘NOILVLS AVAVTIVY ANOTOD AIO EASTON IN 1886, 685 others who have not been here, an attempt at a description must be made, although the result will necessarily be inadequate. Carefully prepared maps of the town are given, showing the location and ownership of dwelling-houses and other buildings, as also the location of highways, streams, and ponds. In order to secure sufficient space for names, it was necessary to give the map of North Easton village on a separate sheet. The visitor who came to Easton a few years ago by cars and stopped at North Easton, received an unpleasant impression of the place at once by alighting in a dark and smoky station, and seeing only dismal waiting-rooms and surroundings singularly unattractive. He would now, however, in alighting find himself upon the platform of one of the most beautiful small railroad stations in the country. It is the generous gift to the Old Col- ony Railroad of F. L. Ames; but the real intent of it is to beautify and benefit the village where it stands, and its giver has laid the whole community under obligations for his kind- ness. It is the work of the noted architect, the late H. H. Richardson ; is built of Braggville granite, so-called, and brown sandstone, and has spacious and elaborately finished waiting- rooms. A heliotype print of it is presented to the reader’s at- tention ; it is a view taken from the southeast, and gives some idea, though an imperfect one, of the well laid-out grounds about the station. All the surroundings have been greatly improved. Concrete sidewalks are laid on Oliver Street, which is north of the station, and which has recently been widened and straight- ened. The large Hinge Factory of E. W. Gilmore and the long substantial stone shops of the Ames Shovel Works give a de- cided business aspect to this locality. A little way east of this building are the spacious grounds owned by Governor Oliver Ames and F. L. Ames. These grounds are finely laid out. The large stone house at the left, not far from the entrance, is that of Governor Ames. A few minutes’ walk, leading across the pond by the stone bridge, brings us in sight of the stately residence of F. L. Ames; and beyond this we may see his roomy and handsome stable, beautifully finished with furniture maple; and still farther on his extensive greenhouse, which is justly esteemed one of the most interest- 686 HISTORY OF EASTON. ing objects of the village, it being kindly open to visitors, who may find themselves in a moment transported to the tropics, feasting their eyes upon the sight of the richness and luxuriance of tropical vegetation, — graceful palms and ferns, wonderful fo- liage-plants and orchids, exciting constant surprise and admira- tion. One room in this greenhouse, called the fernery, is so ex- quisitely beautiful that it brings a strain upon one’s vocabulary if he attempts to give adequate expression to his feelings at the sight of it. Many tons of porous limestone brought here from New York State are piled in masses in this fernery, are covered with mosses, ferns, and vines, and from among them rise tall palms and Australian tree ferns. The collection of orchids in this greenhouse is with one exception the most extensive and valuable in this country. Leaving the greenhouse and going north by the carriage-way, we soon arrive at the very unique and interesting Gate-lodge which stands at the northern entrance of Mr. Ames’s grounds. The view as we approach it is the same as that seen in the picture which serves as the frontispiece of this book. The ob- server will notice that it is built of large, roundish, moss-covered stones solidly cemented together. The circular section at the right, with its conical roof, contains a lofty room, which is used for the storage of plants in winter, while the part at the left serves the purpose of a dwelling, the two sections being connected by a massive arch of Longmeadow sandstone. H. H. Richardson was its architect, and it is greatly admired by the many persons who see it. Passing under the arch of the Gate-lodge, we are facing the north, and find ourselves on Elm Street. At the right we may see the Washington Street Methodist church in the distance, now unused for regular services. If we went that way we should find on Washington Street, north of the church, almost a village of thrifty looking houses. This section is known as the Other Neighborhood, as Unionville, the Dickerman Neighbor- hood, the Dark Corner, and Square-top, the last name being given with reference to the shape of the tower on the church. Departing from the Gate-lodge and approaching North Easton village by Elm Street, we pass the tenement houses that bear the suggestive name of Battle Row,—a name they do not appear ‘NOLSV] HLUON “TIvy TvNIOWNA SUNY EASTON IN 1886. 687 to deserve at the present time,—and leaving E. W. Gilmore’s Hinge Factory and house upon.the left, we enter Main Street opposite the beautiful vine-covered parsonage of Unity Church. From this point Canton Street diverges to the northwest, while Main Street extending northward terminates in the woods, — suggesting that Western road, so wittily described by Emerson, which was first a cartpath, then a footpath, then a squirrel-track, and then ran up a tree. We shall, however, turn to the left and go south on Main Street. Unity Church is at our right, standing: upon ground that is just one hundred and forty-five feet above sea-level, Schoolhouse Hill: being forty-seven’ feet higher. Beyond the church, which has been described in another chapter, we go down Main Street, passing several dwelling-houses; including the large residence with the beautifully kept garden of Mrs, Oliver Ames, Sr., and also the old Ames homestead, when we have the Shovel Works on our left, and the attractive grounds and residence of O. A. Ames on the right. In the valley, on one side.of the street, are the large store and small : post-office, both. more useful ‘than ornamental. But we shall strive to keep the visitor's gaze fixed upon the other side of the street, where he may see the beautiful Public Library building, which has been spoken of also in another chapter, and the noble and massive Memorial ‘Hall, also elsewhere mentioned, before which we must pause for: a few moments. ' This’ Hall was built in memory of Oakes Ames by:his children, and was ‘presented by them to the town. It:stands on the solid foundation of a natural ledge, from the northeast! corner of which rises the beautiful octagonal tower, on whose frieze are carved the twelve signs of the zodiac. For the entire length in front the building is ornamented with an arcade. having five arches, which rest upon low strong columns with carved capitals. .The material used in the construction of the first story of this. building is the’sienite stone from a quarry only a few rods distant, the second story being finished in hand- some brick; the trimmings are of ‘red sandstone, and the steep imposing roof is covered with red tiles. Over the front dormer window. appears a monogram formed’ of the letters O. A. The Hall stands at a high elevation above the road, though near to it, and is approached by wide stone staircases, terminating on stone platforms, and so combined with the natural stone-work 688 HISTORY OF EASTON. as to present a grand appearance. On the first floor of the build- ing are two small halls; on the second floor is the main hall, which, exclusive of a large stage, is fifty-nine feet in length, forty-seven in width, and twenty in height, — the stage measur- ing twenty-six by eighteen feet. The upper room is beautifully finished as a Masonic Hall. The whole building outside, exclud- ing the tower, is ninety-six and one third feet in length. The architect of this noble building was H. H. Richardson. Memorial Hall was dedicated November 17, 1881, with inter- esting exercises ; and on that occasion it was formally presented by Oliver Ames to the chairman of the Board of Trustees, who were to hold and manage the building for the benefit of the town of Easton. The chairman was Lewis H. Smith, who made an appropriate response to the presentation address of Mr. Ames. The trustees alluded to are members of a legal corporation called the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall Association. This corporation has entire control of all the property, and of its management. The town can have “the full and free use of said premises, without payment of rent for all the ordinary purposes of a Town Hall,” } if it chooses todo so. But the building is not centrally enough located for town-meeting purposes, and is not likely to be used for them, the town having just built a new town-hall at Easton Centre. A fund of two thousand dollars has been given to the trustees of Memorial Hall, the interest of which may be applied to the payment of insurance, and the unexpended balance used for repairs. For several years the Hall has realized about one hundred dollars annually above expenses, and this sum has been paid into the town treasury. In front of this building, in the large triangular piece of ground enclosed between Lincoln Street and the two branches of Main Street, has been built by the Ames Corporation, from designs by Fred Law Olmstead, an extensive rockwork, or cairn. It is two hundred and fifty feet long, twenty-five feet high at one end, and wide enough at the top for a carriage to drive upon it and turn around. Underneath it is an arch, and from the highest part of it rises a tall flag-staff. The whole is nearly covered with vines and shrubbery in the summer-time, and pre- 1 Quoted from the Deed of Trust, which is printed in full in the Town Report of Easton for 1881. “AOVTITIA NOLSVT HLUON EASTON IN 1886. 689 sents a striking appearance. At the east end Centre Street diverges from Main Street, running southerly, its northern part being the location of Carr's market, several stores, Spooner’s building, and John King’s boot-shop, beyond which point the street presents a very neat and attractive appearance. Near the cairn Main Street curves to the east, crossing the railroad bridge above the track. In 'the hollow, northward, on Mechanic Street, will soon rise to view the new boot-shop, built for Gould and Closson. -On the hill at the right is the residence of Dr. Cogswell] ; the Methodist church is seen a few rods to the left of the street, and farther on is the Roman Catholic church and its parsonage. The visitor will hardly fail to notice the nicely kept grounds of Lucius Seaver, and next it the new dwell- ing-house of George W. Kennedy. From just beyond this the view looking northward up the pond to the stone bridge, and across the lawn and grounds of F. L. Ames, is one of the most attractive in town. Before taking leave of North Easton village a word of explana- tion concerning the picture here given is desirable. The point of view is the tower of Governor Ames’s house, with a portion of his premises in the foreground. The central object in the dis- tance is the schoolhouse. rising conspicuously above the other buildings, and the large edifice at.the right will be recognized as Memorial Hall. The long roofs and high chimneys of the Shovel Shops show plainly at the right, and Shovel Shop Pond is seen ‘at the left. It may seem strange to have a picture of a New England village with no church in sight, but Unity Church is too far to the right, and the Methodist and Roman Catholic churches too far to the left, to come within the range of this view. This village is now furnished with street lights, and con- crete walks are added every year; it will soon also be provided with water-works. North Easton must not, however, longer claim our time, and we therefore pass on to Washington Street, by which we shall soon reach South Easton village. Any one who has been to this village before, and who visits it now, will notice a striking change re- cently made. Edward N. Morse has taken the Dr. Swan house for his home, has thoroughly remodelled it, cleared the land, built about it a strong and handsome wall, secured the straight- 44 690 HISTORY OF EASTON. ening of the highway, and is making of the place an extensive and fine looking homestead. At the right as we continue south- ward we see the Thread Factory, of which a picture has already been presented to the reader; and farther down, at the most ancient mill-site in town, T. H. and J. O. Dean have their grist- mill and machine shop. This locality, where Washington and Depot streets cross each other, is the Green, so called for many years, the exact site, as already told, of the Rev. Solomon Pren- tice’s Presbyterian meeting-house, part of the lot of land he deeded for that purpose being now taken for highways. Several new and excellent houses have recently been built near by. Just below is Mr. Simpson’s wheelwright shop. Depot Street leads easterly to the Turnpike, where we find the recently built Grand Army Hall which was dedicated December 9, 1886; also a new shoe-shop, and a cluster of houses up and down the street known as White’s Village. Taking Depot Street westward, we pass the head of Church Street, with the old cemetery just in sight, and about a mile beyond cross the Old Colony Railroad track near the Easton railroad station. Continuing farther we soon come to the Evan- gelical church, of which a picture has been given, and we suc- cessively pass the Soldier’s Monument, the new Town Hall, and the Almshouse. This locality, with about fifteen dwelling-houses, a railroad station, and the boot-shop of Lackey & Davie, is known as Easton Centre. Pursuing our journey nearly two miles southwest of the Centre we arrive at the Furnace Village, a pleasant and enterprising place. Depot Street terminates at the Bay road, where it is crossed by Foundry Street. At this spot is the old corner store long the property of Joel S. Drake, and just opposite is the new carriage factory of Albert M. Hayward. A short distance west- ward from this corner may be seen the foundries of the Drakes and Belchers, which we do not expect to find ornamental in their appearance, but which have long added and continue to add materially to the prosperity of the village. Farther south on the Bay road is the Kimball store-stand where once stood the old Kimball tavern, and westward may be seen the two- story schoolhouse. This neighborhood is enterprising and thrifty, the village is pleasant, and its inhabitants boast with EASTON IN 1886. 691 “ apparent good reason that no intoxicating liquors are retailed within their borders. We must here close our very imperfect survey of the town, having noticed the several centres of population. As a whole, Easton has no reason to shun comparison with the average New England town ; while its excellent roads, several of its industries, its educational advantages, and some of its public buildings and private residences give it pre-eminence over other towns of its class. 692 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXXV. MINISTERS. IsRAEL ALGER. — JARvis A. AMES. — MATTHEW BOLLES.— SILAS BRETT. —NELson W. BRITTON. — CHARLES H. Buck. — DANIEL LEBARON GoopwWIN. — FRANCIS HoMES. — WILLIAM KEITH. — JASON LOTHROP. — Rue. Lorurop. — EPHRAIM RANDALL. — JosHUA RANDALL. — Davip REED. — WILLIAM REED. — NATHAN P. SELEE.— LUTHER H. SHELDON. — SIMEON WILLIAMS. — BRADFORD WILLIS. — MARTIN W. WILLIs.— HENRY Woop. — RoMAN CATHOLIC CLERGYMEN: JAMES W. ConLIN. — WILLIAM T. DoHERTY. — EDWARD FARRELL. — MICHAEL J. Lone. —Joun W. McCartuy. — DENNIS J. MENTON. — JOHN D. O’ KEEFE. HE present chapter and the three that follow it will be made up of brief biographical sketches of natives and resi- dents of Easton who have been devoted to the professions of the ministry, medicine, or the law, or who were college graduates. It is customary in town histories to give sketches of such pro- fessional men as belong to the town; but while the writer fol- lows the accepted custom, he recognizes the fact that there have been many citizens of Easton whose natural abilities and ster- ling character render them more deserving a biographical notice than some persons who are written about in the following four chapters of this History. The Easton reader, as he finds here some account of men of scarcely average worth or ability, may feel inclined to complain, and not without reason, that better and abler men, his kindred perhaps, are not brought into at least as prominent notice. Yet completeness in the treatment of these chapters on the professions demands that no omissions should be made, however little some of the persons treated of may de- serve to be considered. The deficiency complained of will be remedied, so far as the writer can do it, in another book, which will be distinctly genealogical and biographical. The settled ministers of Easton are not noticed in this chap- ter, for the reason that they have already been written about in MINISTERS. 693 the accounts of the churches to which they have severally min- istered. For convenient reference, the names in this chapter are given in two lists: the first are the Protestant, the second the Roman Catholic clergymen. The Rev. IsrarL ALGER,! son of Israel and Rachel (Howard) Alger, was born in Easton, June 3, 1787. He became early in- terested in religion, and began to preach in the Baptist church at West Bridgewater when only nineteen years old. He then fitted himself for Brown University, from which he graduated in 1811, receiving later the degree of A.M. He returned home to preach, but was not strong enough to discharge the duties of a minister. He therefore removed to Boston and established a private school, being for a few years master also of the old Mayhew School. He was, with one exception, more of a lite- rary character than any other son of Easton, though his books were not very original, being mainly adaptations of school- books, chiefly grammatical and linguistic. He published a new “Practical Book-Keeper,” and in 1821 the “ Elements of Or- thography.” In 1823 and 1824 he published a number of Lind- ley Murray’s works, which he revised and improved; among them were “The Pronouncing Introductor,” “The Pronouncing English Reader,” “The English Teacher or Private Learner’s Guide,” “ Murray’s English Exercises,” and “ Alger’s Murray.” The latter is highly spoken of. In 1825 he published “ Alger’s Perry,” which was a revised spelling-book according to “a new scheme, containing also moral lessons, fables, and much useful matter for the instruction of youth.” In the same year he also published “The Pronouncing Bible,” a copy of which the writer now has before him. The pronunciation is according to Walker, all the words of the Bible that could present any difficulty, and many that presented none, being so accented as to make the pronunciation easy. The first words thus accented in this book are, in their order, earth, spir'tt, divided, and wére. Foot- notes on various pages explain that sazd should be pronounced séd ; aprons, a'pirnz; fruit, froot; “w« long after r sounds like oo.” One is not allowed to go astray regarding victuals, laugh (“ pronounced laf”), women, riband (“rib'bin”), etc. And 1 See Memorial of the Descendants of Thomas Alger, p. 19. 694 HISTORY OF EASTON. lest such words might be forgotten, the pronunciation of sazd, furnace, leopard, mirth, guard (gyard), vineyards (vin'yerdz), girl, watch (wédtsh), sky (skei), and woman (“wim'in, 2. woom'tin”) are constantly repeated as foot-notes. This work ended our author’s literary career. He died in Easton, Septem- ber 23, 1825. The Rev. Jarvis Apams Ames, son of Jotham and Polly (Lo- throp) Ames, was born in Easton, November 8, 1826. At the age of fourteen years he went to Boston to seek his fortune. In a window on Washington Street he saw a placard, on which were printed the words, “ Boy wanted ;” he entered the store, secured the situation, and remained there nine years. It was Partridge’s millinery store in Boston, where he became a partner in the busi- ness when twenty years old. He left the store about 1850, studied at Wilbraham Academy, Mass., and was licensed to preach as a Methodist, February 28, 1852. From 1853 to 1855 he was at the General Biblical Institute, Concord, N. H., where he graduated. He preached during this term of study in Goffstown, Canter- bury, and Salisbury, and later for a time in Townsend, Mass. Mr. Ames was ordained deacon by Bishop Jaynes at Salem in April, 1856, and as elder by Bishop Scott at Worcester, April 11, 1858. He was stationed at Townsend in 1856; Woburn in 1857 and 1858 ; Maple Street Church in Lynn for the next two years ; at Medford for the next two; at the Purchase Street Church in Newburyport for the next two years; at Rockport from 1866 to 1868; at the City Mission, Boston, for three years, and at the Hanover Street Mission two years; afterward at Cam- bridgeport and West Medford ; at Sudbury in 1880; and at Ruggles Street Church, Boston, in 1881 and 1882. He be- came superannuated in 1883, and died at Bellevue, Florida, July 18, 1885. Mr. Ames married, April 14, 1856, Ruby M. Sedgwick, of Palmer, Mass., who proved a helpmeet indeed in his labors, oc- casionally lecturing in his pulpit and otherwise assisting him. They have had four children, three of whom are now living. An extended notice of him may be found in the “Minutes of the M. E. N. E. Conference” for 1886, which gives him a most ex- cellent character. MINISTERS. 695 The Rev. Matruew Bo.ues was for several years a resident of Easton, though he preached in the Baptist church at Cocheset. He lived on the west side of the Turnpike, just north of Alger’s Four Corners, and was postmaster there in 1829. Mr. Bolles was the second child of the Rev. David Bolles, and was born at Ashford, now Eastford, Connecticut, April 21, 1769. He mar- ried Anna, daughter of Eliphaz and Jerusha (Pride) Hibbard, of Mansfield, Connecticut, September 15, 1793; was in active business life until he became a Baptist preacher ; was ordained at Lyme, Connecticut, and afterward preached in Fairfield, Connecticut, Milford, New Hampshire, Marblehead and West Bridgewater (Cocheset), Massachusetts ; and died in Hartford, Connecticut, September 26, 1838. He had nine children, among whom were Matthew, now a prominent banker of Boston, and John Augustus, who will be spoken of in another chapter. The Rev. Sitas BRETT, though not a native of Easton, was a resident here during the latter part of his life, and is entitled to a notice in these pages. He was the son of Seth and Sarah (Alden) Brett, and was born in Bridgewater, February 29, 1716. Mitchell states that “Silas entered college, but left it and be- came a preacher, and was settled in Berkeley.”! Records of Free- town, where he was afterward settled, state that he was educated at Yale College, and studied divinity with the Rev. Mr. Angier, of Bridgewater. November 6, 1744, the Church of Christ in Easton gave him a call to become their pastor; but already the contest over the location of the meeting-house was taking shape, and the church and parish were not in accord on this subject. The contention thus started will probably account for the follow- ing vote of the town, taken January 31, 1745: “ Voted in ye Negative not for to concure with ye Churche’s vote in giveing of Mr. Silas Britt a call.” December 1, 1747, Mr. Brett was ordained as pastor of the Congregational Church of Freetown, the Rev. John Porter, of Bridgewater, preaching the sermon. The church was small, and at the opening of the Revolutionary War violent dissensions arose in it which interfered with the support of the pastor, and he was accordingly dismissed May 1,1776. There is no record 1 History of Bridgewater, p. 120. 696 HISTORY OF EASTON. that the church, then consisting of twenty-two members, ever met again. After living nearly twenty years in Freetown Mr. Brett settled in Easton, where, though he occasionally supplied pulpits elsewhere, he remained a resident until his death, fifteen years later. He was paid forty-five dollars for providing for the council at the ordination of the Rev. William Reed in 1784. May 10, 1747, Mr. Brett married Thankful, daughter of Lieu- tenant Joshua and Susanna (Hayward) Howard. They had sev- eral children, the best known of whom was Calvin Brett, who was a prominent man in town. The Rev. Silas Brett died April 17, 1791, and Thankful, his wife, March 26, 1822. Their remains lie in the Pine Grove Cemetery. The Rev. NELSon W1Lu1ams BritTon, son of William Britton, Jr., and his wife Maria B. (Williams), was born in Easton, August 10, 1830, from which place his family removed to Mansfield when he was about nine years old. He was educated at the Mansfield Academy, and at the East Greenwich, R. I., Academy, after- ward teaching school at West Bridgewater and Norton. In January, 1855, he received a license to preach from the Meth- odist Protestant Church, and joined the Boston District Confer- ence of that Church, receiving deacon’s orders March, 1858, and elder’s orders in August of the same year. From this time until 1866 he preached first at Marion and then at Pocasset, both in Massachusetts, remaining at Pocasset five years. Being a dele- gate to the Annual Conference of Non-Episcopal Methodists held at Cincinnati in 1866, he was at his own request transferred to the New York district. He was then stationed at Norwalk, Conn., where he labored two years, going thence to Peekskill, N. Y., where a bronchial trouble obliged him to give up public speaking, and consequently the ministry. He then removed to East Providence, R. I. May 31, 1857, Mr. Britton was married to Sarah H. Case. In 1870 he was appointed station agent of the Boston and Provi- dence Railroad at East Providence, a position he still holds. He has also been postmaster about twelve years, is a mem- ber of the Board of Trade of Providence, of the Cavalry Com- mandry, Knights Templars (Masonic), and has held several town offices. MINISTERS. 697 ' The Rev. Cuartes H. Buck, son of Benjamin and Clarissa (Bryant) Buck, was born in Easton, January 10, 1841. When a boy his parents moved to Dorchester (now Boston), where he graduated from the Washington Grammar School in 1858. He graduated from the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham in 1860, and from the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., in 1864, and then joining the New York East (Methodist) Con- ference, began to preach in Simsbury, Conn., where he re- mained two years. May 29, 1866, he married Julia O. Foy, of Simsbury. He preached in 1866 at Westville; for the next three years at Bristol; the next three at New Britain; the next three at New Haven, in the St. John Street Church; and again three years at Bristol. For a second time also he preached for three years at the large Methodist Society in New Britain, and for the next three years he was in New Haven at the First Church. He is now (1886) preaching for the third year at Brooklyn, N. Y., over a very large church. His three years’ stay in important places, and his being returned afterward to the same churches, justify his reputation as an able and eloquent preacher and an efficient pastor. The Rev. DanreL LeBaron Goopwin, son of Daniel and Polly (Briggs) Goodwin, was born in Easton, July 28, 1800. His grandfather was Benjamin Goodwin, who bought land in Easton in 1783, moving here from Boston late in 1784 or early in 1785, and two of whose daughters were wives of Daniel Wheaton, Esq. Daniel Goodwin, Sr., moved to Norton about 1802, where he had three other sons, all of whom became ministers. The Rev. Daniel LeBaron Goodwin was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., graduated from Brown Uni- versity in 1822, and May 3, 1825, was ordained a deacon in St. Paul’s Church in Boston. On the 15th of July following he took up his residence in Sutton as an Episcopal clergyman, where he remained till April, 1854, when he removed to Providence, R. L, and was employed as “church missionary” for that city. Decem- ber 12, 1825, he married Rebecca, daughter of William Wilkinson, Esq., of Providence, and had ten children. He died at Provi- dence, December 25, 1867. Mrs. Goodwin, now eighty-five years of age, is still alive, and resides at Bristol, R.I. Five of the chil- 698 HISTORY OF EASTON. dren are also living ; namely, Miss Sarah W. Goodwin of Bristol, Rev. Daniel Goodwin, rector of St. Luke’s Church, East Green- wich, R. I., Mrs. Hannah W. Drury of Bristol, Mrs. Anne D. Deane of Fairhaven, Mass., and Mrs. Susan W. Munro, wife of Wilfred H. Munro, the president of De Veaux College, Suspen- sion Bridge, New York. The Rev. Francis Homes, though not a native of Easton, has been a citizen of the town for fifteen years. He is the son of Henry and Isabella Homes, of Boston, long the residence of his ancestors, where he was born July 17, 1826. He was educated at Phillips Academy in Andover, graduated at Amherst College in 1848, and subsequently passed through the Andover Theo- logical School. He preached some time in the State of Missouri, and then in Massachusetts, in the latter State serving as pastor in Congregational Orthodox churches in Granville, Westfield, Marblehead, and Lynn. In the year 1871 he settled in Easton, where he has engaged in farming. Mr. Homes is a man of intelligence, and of straightforward decided character, much interested in morals and religion, and long served as superintendent in the Sunday-school at White’s Hall. He takes much interest in education also, and was for three years an efficient member of the Easton school committee. In 1864 he was married to Sarah Hooper Broughton, of Marble- head. She soon died, and in 1867 he married Mary Angelina Tuck, of Lynn. The Rev. WiLt1Am KEITH was born in Easton, Mass., Septem- ber 15, 1776. He was converted in 1794, and soon after joined the Methodist Church. His mind was greatly exercised in re- gard to becoming a preacher, and after sore conflicts of spirit he entered, in 1798, into the work of the ministry, being first sta- tioned on the Albany circuit. “ Having to ride,” he says, “three hundred miles in four weeks, and preach forty-three times, and sometimes travel on foot through storms and snows, I was so worn out that in the month of April, 1799, I returned home un- able to ride any more.” Soon after this he became dejected, lost his religious fervor, and being harshly reproved for it by preachers from whom he had a right to expect sympathy, he MINISTERS. 699 “withdrew from the connection” in 1801. After a year and a half of darkness (a consequence no doubt of ill-health, though his biographer fails to see it) he had so improved in health and spirit that he felt it his duty to join the Methodists again. On this occasion he writes: “As soon as I consented to bear the cross and join the Methodists again, I felt a return of the favor of God, and could truly say, ‘My Jesus is mine and I am his,’” Mr. Keith labored as a local preacher about two years, and then entered the itinerant connection again. In 1806, 1807, he was on the Newburgh circuit, in 1808 on the Montgomery, and in 1809 he was stationed at New York City. There he ended his days, September 8, 1810, aged thirty-three years, eleven months, and twenty-three days, leaving a widow and three children. His biographer speaks of his character, and of his ability and success in the work of the ministry, in terms of high praiseJ “Sound in doctrine, deep in experience, uniform in practice, he was able to look a congregation in the face while he denounced the terrors of the law to sinners and administered the promises of the gospel to mourners and believers.” It would be gratifying to know who were the parents of the Rev. William Keith; for it is not to be presumed that, like Melchisedek he was “without father, without mother, without descent.” The most painstaking efforts have not, however, suc- ceeded in discovering his parentage. The Rev. Jason Loturop, son of John and Sarah (Cook) Lothrop, was born in Easton, May 16, 1794. His father moved to Easton in the year 1782, or early in 1783, and lived here twenty-five years, when he moved to Cornish, New Hampshire. All his children were born in Easton, except the oldest, Calvin, who was born in Stoughton, though the “ Lathrop Family Me- moir” states erroneously that he was born in Bridgewater. In accordance with the well known notion that the seventh child is especially endowed with the healing gift, the subject of this sketch was named Jason, which is the Greek for healer or doctor ; 1 See Minutes of Methodist Conferences, vol.i. p. 509. His biographer speaks of certain “ Experiences ” written by the Rev. William Keith, referring to them by Pages, as if a printed book. The writer has searched the Boston and New York libraries, and even the Congressional Library at Washington, but no trace of such a book appears; it may have existed only in manuscript. 700 HISTORY OF EASTON. and he states that with this destiny marked out for him by fate he was permitted to go to school at sixteen years of age. Mr. Lothrop studied medicine at an early age, and is said to have been fora time in Yale College. At the age of eighteen he taught school in New Hampshire, and later applied himself so closely to the study of medicine as to impair his health, being forced to devote himself to recreation in the effort to restore his physical powers to a good condition. In the year 1815, being then twenty-one years of age, he went to Utica, New York, where for a time he was engaged in the editorial management of the “Baptist Register” published in that city, showing marked ability in the work. He went to Newport, Herkimer County, New York, in 1818, and preached there for about ten years as the minister of the Baptist church; was then settled for a time at Pulaski, and from there went to Oswego, where he had a large and intelligent congregation. He afterward became principal of an academy in Hannibal. In 1834 Mr. Lothrop was one of a company that organized at Hannibal, New York, a Western Emigration Society, the mem- bers of which proceeded at once to settle in what became Keno- sha, Wisconsin. In this society he was quite prominent, being one of five to draw up its Constitution. He established the first school in Kenosha, acting as its teacher. In 1838 Mr. Lo- throp organized the first Baptist church in the same place, and was for nine years thereafter its pastor, resigning, according to his own account, because of ill health, but according to another account because he differed from his church upon some car- dinal points of doctrine.! “Mr. Jason Lothrop, who while living East had been many years a Baptist minister and afterward a school teacher, was next found in September, 1835, in the ‘far West’ engaged in keeping a boarding- house at Kenosha. He was a man of considerable talent, and of some eccentricity of character. Having no part of his family with him, he had necessarily to perform all the duties which pertain to such an establishment, such as cooking, washing, and general housewifery, and also the accustomed duties of ‘host.’ Notwithstanding the Elder was a°man of fine education, and of more than average natural abilities, 1 See Mr. Lothrop’s account of the Western Emigration Society, in Wisconsin Historical Collections, vol. ii. p. 450 e¢ seg. MINISTERS. 7OI and had been accustomed at one time of his life to elegance of living, and for these reasons not familiar with such avocations, yet he performed all the diversified offices which his new occupation demanded, with aptness in one department and with good address in another.” The writer has a photograph of Mr. Lothrop before him. It is a face of marked character and strength, resolute, sturdy, and indicative of superior common-sense. When it is considered that he was six feet one and a half inches in height, and must have weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds, it would touch our pity, if it did not more decidedly appeal to our sense of the ludicrous, to think of him with apron on and rolled-up sleeves, mixing dough, rolling out doughnuts, making pies, washing dishes, and attending to all the little details of housekeeping. He was however apt at anything he put his hand to. He had a domestic printing-office, the second in the State of Wiscon- sin, in which he first printed a small pamphlet, and then two hundred and fifty copies of a volume of about one hundred and thirty pages. He also made a rude printing-press himself, and worked it “placed upon a stump.” In addition to this he acted as a land-surveyor, and after asthma prevented his preaching he turned his attention to horticulture. Jason Lothrop should be of interest to Easton readers, not only on account of the vigor and originality of his mind and char- acter, but because he was perhaps a more prolific author than any other native of the town. His own account of his literary work is as follows :— “T first published the ‘ Poetical Precepts,’ a little book for children, which went through five editions ; then the ‘History of Almera; Or the Advantages of a good Education,’ which died as it ought with the first edition ; then ‘ Letters to a Young Gentleman,’ a book of about two hundred pages, which is defunct; then, in Utica, New York, the ‘Juvenile Philosopher’ which went through three or four editions, but I sold the copyright and have not heard much of it since. This was extensively used in Western New York and in Canada.” 2 1 Wisconsin Historical Collections, vol. iii. p. 405. 2 From a letter to his nephew David W. Lothrop, West Medford, written in 1865. 702 HISTORY OF EASTON. Jason Lothrop was married February 16, 1817, to Susan Jud- kins, who was born in New Hampshire, August 3, 1797. By her he had four children, — Lucius, born in 1818 and died young ; Jason, born January 13, 1820, married Jane Burnside, had six children, and is now living in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Susan Har- riet, born August 25, 1824, married to David Barton Burr, had three children, and is living with her brother Jason; Lucian, born September 1, 1827, married Sarah J. Haggerty, had three children, and died in 1875. In 1841 Jason Lothrop married for a second wife Ruth Belinda Foster, who died in 1863. He died in Kenosha, September 2, 1870, highly honored as a man of varied learning, great ability, and excellent character. The Rev. Ruet Loturop, son of John and Sarah (Cook) Lo- throp, was born in Easton, July 7, 1789. He became a Baptist minister, preaching in Sutton, New Hampshire, from 1816 to 1819.1 Very little definite information can be gained about Ruel Lothrop, except that he was married twice, — the first time, No- vember 6, 1821, to Sally, daughter of Jesse and Hannah (Clark) Spaulding ; and the second time to a lady whose name is un- known to the writer. By his first wife he had a son, James Win- chell Lothrop, born in December, 1823, and died June 9, 1849.” The Rev. EpHraim RANDALL, son of Hopestill and Submit (Bruce) Randall, was born in Easton, November 29, 1785. He graduated at Brown University in the class of 1812,3 and was or- dained a minister at New Bedford, October 26, 1814. Several years prior to this date “unhappy divisions began to appear” in the North Congregational Church of that city. The majority of the church-members adhered to the more conservative views, and the minority of the church, with a majority of the society, preferred the new and milder views then becoming prevalent. They were not then known as Unitarian views, but gradually developed into them. The ordination of Mr. Randall was pro- tested against by the conservative part of the church, although 1 See the Rev. E. E. Cummings’s “ History of the Baptist Churches in New Hampshire.” 2 So given in the Spaulding Genealogy. 8 The History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, is in error in stating (vol. ii. p. 479) that the Rev. Ephraim Randall graduated at Harvard Uuiversity, MINISTERS. 703 they had three years before formed another society and settled a minister. They still claimed, however, to be the old church, and objected to Mr. Randall because “he did not, in the opinion of the church, speak the things that become sound doctrine,” etc.! He was ordained, notwithstanding, October 26.? Mr. Randall married, soon after his settlement, Eliza Bryant. His marriage for some reason tended to weaken his hold upon his parish, and he resigned his position in less than two years. He then went into the business of storekeeping at New Bed- ford, but did not make a success of it. Being an excellent singer, after he ceased preaching he sang in the choir of the church of which he had been pastor. From New Bedford Mr. Randall returned to Easton, where he had a little store on the Turnpike, selling drugs and various small goods, sparing no pains to save all the money he could. Not succeeding in this enter- prise to realize his hopes, he turned to the ministry again, preach- ing for a time at Stoughton, and was soon settled at Saugus, Massachusetts, October 3, 1826, from which place he was dis- missed August 7, 1827. April 30, 1829, he was settled at West- ford, but his connection with this church closed in two years. An infirmity that may be mildly characterized as excessive economy became a ruling passion with Mr. Randall, and was sure to create a speedy opposition to him wherever he went. But the writer is informed that this propensity, while it sub- ordinated nearly all his feelings and purposes, never tempted him to overstep the limits of honesty. His abilities were excel- lent, and but for the reason already assigned he might have been an able and useful minister. After his regular settlements, Mr. Randall preached in differ- ent places as he had opportunity, not being particular where it was, or what kind of doctrine was demanded. He taught school for atime in Easton. While being examined by the school com- mittee for the position, he failed to answer some questions re- lating to certain details with which a teacher was expected to be 1 See History of Bristol County, p. 75. 2 Another authority gives the date of the ordination August 25. But the state- ment in the text is that of the Rev. William J. Potter, of New Bedford, who kindly examined the records of the church of which Mr. Randall was pastor. 3 The authority for this is the “History of Middlesex County,” as above. 704 HISTORY OF EASTON. familiar, and getting a little excited, he said, “It isn’t to be expected that a man of my abilities should know about these little things!” The latter years of his life were spent in South Easton village, where he lived almost a hermit life in the little house opposite Mr. Lackey’s. There he died December 16, 1871, over eighty-six years old. His remains lie buried in the Washington Street Cemetery, and over them stands, in spite of his expressed desire for a cheaper memorial, a beautiful marble gravestone. The Rev. JosHua Ranpatt, son of Timothy and Zerviah (Bruce) Randall, was born in Easton, April 28, 1771, and was, as this sketch will prove, one of the most marked characters the town has produced. He married, July 25, 1792, Elizabeth, daughter of George and Sarah (Stokes) Robbins. Her mother, Sarah Stokes, was daughter of Isaac Stokes, of Easton ; her father was a sea captain. Captain Robbins was away on a voyage when his daughter was born, and as his wife died at the child’s birth, the little infant was sent to her Grandfather Stokes, at Eas- ton. The Captain remained away for twelve years. When he came to Easton to see his daughter for the first time, as he passed the window of Mr. Stokes’s house she happened to be looking out of it, and he recognized her from her resemblance to her mother. She lived with her grandfather until her marriage. Joshua Randall became interested in Methodism quite early, and decided to devote himself to the ministry. He lived in Easton until after the death of Isaac Stokes, which occurred April 19, 1796, soon after which he removed from Easton to Sutton, Massachusetts, where he lived until about 1800, when he went to Dixfield, Maine, taking with him his wife and four children. He settled in what is now Wilton, going ten miles from the settlement in Dixfield through an unbroken wilderness, by marked trees, carrying his then youngest child, Eseck, in his arms. He began the work of the itinerant ministry, and it is concerning his ministerial and theological experience that we are most interested. In 1808 he was ‘admitted on trial” to the New England Methodist Conference. In 1810 he was ordained deacon, and in 1811 ordained elder. He preached by appoint- ment in different towns, in Maine and afterward in Vermont. MINISTERS. 705 Joshua Randall believed it to be every one’s serious duty to test for himself by Scripture and reason the traditional opinions he had inherited. He therefore entered into a careful and thorough examination of the doctrines of Methodism; and the result of this examination was a view of the Atonement which seemed to relieve it from the objections growing out of man’s sense of justice and goodness. His heart glowed with enthu- siasm as the light of Scripture and reason revealed this new and better way. Waiting, however, until he had carefully tested and matured his opinions, he published them in a sermon entitled “The Universality of the Atonement.” In this sermon he maintained that Christ made a full and complete atonement for Adam’s transgression, so that Adam’s sin and guilt could no longer be imputed to his posterity, and so that thenceforth all men were born not under a curse, as had been commonly taught, but in a justified state, and that they remained justified until they had themselves sinned; that therefore infants were saved, as they could not consistently be under the old view; that the atonement was not made for the actual transgressions of men under the new covenant of the gospel, but that “every man is to stand or fall by his own personal obedience or disobedience,” being under a covenant of forgiving grace which freely pardons upon sincere repentance. Such in brief is the theory, carefully thought out and strongly and clearly stated by this born theologian. It is certainly re- markable that a man of very limited education should be so close, careful, and comprehensive a thinker as Mr. Randall proved himself to be, and should have expressed himself in such terse and vigorous language. This sermon was printed in Windsor, Vermont, in December, 1821. He was immediately suspected of heresy; and the Methodist Conference of 1822 appointed a committee to examine his sentiments, who soon summoned him to meet a council of preachers in Gorham, at the dwelling-house of Elkanah Hardings, to answer to the charge of disseminating, “directly or indirectly, in said sermon, doctrines which are contrary to the articles of our religion; that is, that Christ made no atonement for actual sins.”! In 1 Quoted from the summons, which Mr. Randall printed in his “ Defence,” a copy of which is in the hands of the writer. 45 706 HISTORY OF EASTON. his defence, Mr. Randall admits the truth of the charge of his teaching that the atonement does not apply to actual sins under the new covenant, reiterating the view that has already been given. The decision of the Council was thus stated : — “The Council, after examining his Sermon and Defence, are of opinion that if he will engage not to disseminate said doctrine in public or private, he may be borne with until the next Annual Conference ; but if he do not so engage, he shall be suspended from all official services in the Church until the next Annual Conference. ‘“‘ Brother Randall refusing to so engage, is suspended from all offi- cial services in the Church until the ensuing Annual Conference.” ? In 1824 Joshua Randall’s case came up for definite action, and he was “left without an appointment until he complies with the order of the Conference.” But when he had once carefully and conscientiously adopted opinions, Mr. Randall was very tena- cious of them, and would neither deny nor suppress them. More- over, he knew that Bishop Soule and other able preachers of the Methodist body favored his views. He consequently appealed to the General Conference. It met in Pittsburg, Ohio; and Mr. Randall saddled and bridled his spirited three-year old colt, and actually travelled on horseback to Ohio in the hope of vindicat- ing his favorite doctrine from the charge of heresy. This action speaks well for the strength, resolution, and faith of this noble son of Easton, of whose devotion to what he deemed the cause of truth his native town may well be proud. The writer is informed that after due consideration the General Conference, unwilling to expel so evidently earnest, able, and consecrated a preacher, “remanded him back to the New England Conference.” The result of this action was, however, equivalent to a dismissal, since the latter Conference had voted to leave him without ap- pointments until he renounced his views, which he would never do until convinced that they were erroneous. It is unnecessary to blame the Conference. It could do no less perhaps than dis- countenance and dismiss him ; its creed was thought to be final, and no radical divergence from it could be tolerated. Mr. Ran- 1 Quoted from Mr. Randall’s printed “ Defence.” 2 Minutes of the New England Methodist Conference, 1824. MINISTERS. 707 dall had to pay the penalty of originality and independence, and became an outcast from the religious communion he devotedly loved. But it was not possible for a man like Joshua Randall to be idle, and refrain from preaching the gospel as opportunity oc- curred. Making his home upon his farm, he yet sought occa- sions where he might preach and minister in the duties and offices of religion. A sermon by Elder Benjamin Randall, the founder of the Free-Will Baptists in New Hampshire, fell into his hands, and he noticed a correspondence between its doctrine and his own. He was drawn to this Free-Will Baptist Elder also by a similarity of experience: both had advanced original “ conceptions of Christian doctrine, and both had suffered the penalty of exclusion. In 1828 he applied to the Free-Will Baptist body for admission to their ranks as a preacher. A committee was appointed at their second General Conference held in October of that year at Sandwich, New Hampshire, “to set with and examine the doctrine of Elder Joshua Randall as contained in his pamphlets, and make report to the Confer- ence.”! By the “pamphlets” are meant his sermon originally published in December, 1821, at Windsor, Vermont, and re- published in 1824 and also in 1826, there being added to the latter a Vindication, and other documents defending his views, making a pamphlet of ninety-six pages; there was also a sermon on the doctrine of Election published in 1822. The committee appointed “to set with” Elder Joshua Randall reported that they could see nothing incorrect in his doctrine of the Atone- ment.? He was therefore admitted to the fellowship of the Free- Will Baptists, remaining with them nearly seven years. About this time the seventh General Conference of Free-Will Baptist churches published a treatise on their faith. It was character- istic of Mr. Randall that he should immediately subject this treatise to a thorough examination, the result of which showed him that he was not in harmony with the doctrine of the Atone- ment therein stated. Unwilling to compromise his associates, or to be himself compromised by a false position, he frankly stated his disagreement, and manfully withdrew from the Free- 1 Minutes of the Second General Conference of Free- Will Baptists. 2 See “Morning Star,” vol. iii. no 32, December 10, 1828. 708 HISTORY OF EASTON. Will Baptist Church in Wilton, and from the denommmation itself, —his dismissal from the church in Wilton, bearing date of November 11, 1835, highly recommending him to any church to which he might be disposed to apply. But our veteran theologian was now sixty-four years old, and though he lived nearly twenty years longer he did not feel like continuing in the active ministry, especially as he found no denomination wholly sympathizing with his own views. His desire for a larger and freer fellowship is indicated by his pres- ence at North Easton village in 1845 at the dedication of the new Methodist Protestant meeting-house, at which time he took part in the Conference held on that occasion, and seems to have been admitted to the fellowship of that religious body. Making his home in Wilton, Maine, he still preached occasionally until the close of his life. The Rev. Joshua Randall was a vigorous and telling preacher, a hard and successful worker in the organization of new societies, riding far and near and preaching by day and night. He had an astonishing memory, quoting whole chapters of the Bible at once, and, what is more remarkable, being able to give chapter and verse of any passage repeated to him; and he knew the Methodist hymn-book almost by heart. He was very social and companionable, and his house was a home where ministers of all denominations were welcome, Orthodox and Universalists some- times meeting together there. Mr. Randall had seven children, of whom two, Barron and Rachel, were born in Easton; two, Joshua L. and Eseck, were born in Sutton; and the remaining three, George Robbins, Eliza- beth, and Isaac, in Wilton. All five of these sons taught school ; two of them, Joshua and Isaac, were college graduates, and be- came successful lawyers. Barron, the only son native to Easton, became a noted surveyor, was often chosen as referee in impor- tant disputes, and did a large amount of probate business, being frequently engaged in the execution of wills and settlement of estates. The father’s vigor of mind and strength of character descended to his children, and were in fact the richest bequest that he could leave them. His independence and liberalism found a further development in the children, some of whom were pronounced supporters of what is called the Liberal theology. MINISTERS. 709 The only remaining son, Isaac, now nearly seventy-eight years old, resides at Dixfield, Maine, and is one of the principal sup- porters of the Unitarian Church in that place. June 19, 1846, Elizabeth the wife of Joshua Randall died. A few years afterward he married Mrs. Margaret, widow of Jason Hall, of Wilton, whose farm was adjoining his own. He himself died February 13, 1853, aged eighty-one years, nine months, and sixteen days. On his tombstone is the appropriate inscription, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” The Rev. Davip REED, son of the Rev. William and Olive (Pool) Reed, was born in Easton, February 6, 1790.1 Under the happy influences of his home his mind developed, and until he was fifteen years of age he pursued his studies of Latin and Greek under the care of his father. These studies were con- tinued in his preparation for college with his uncle, the Rev. David Gurney, of Titicut; and he entered Brown University, where he graduated in 1809, the youngest man in his class, with its highest honors. His father had died in 1809, and with a large family of younger brothers dependent upon him he as- sumed the charge of the Bridgewater Academy, at the same time pursuing a course of theological study with the Rev. Dr. Sanger. In 1813, encouraged by the Rev. Dr. Kirkland, he went to Cambridge as a resident graduate, and was licensed to preach in 1814, his first sermon being delivered from his father’s pulpit in Easton. He afterward supplied pulpits at Wayland, Sterling, Lunenberg, and Salem, Mass., and at Bennington, N. H., and although never regularly ordained as a clergy- man, during the five years which followed he supplied various pulpits throughout New England. During the years from 1815 to 1820, while residing in Boston, with the temporary absences noted above, he formed a close intimacy with the leaders who were engaged in revolt from the old Orthodox creeds, in the well known Unitarian controversy. Channing, Ware, Kirkland, Norton, and Everett were his friends. “These noble companion- ships and precious intimacies had a lasting influence upon him. 1 This sketch of the Rev. David Reed is contributed by his son, William Howell Reed, of Boston. 710 HISTORY OF EASTON. During these years of preaching in Boston and in many New England parishes, few men had better opportunity to study the drift of religious opinion and to notice the extent of the revolt from Calvinism than Mr. Reed, and this suggested to him the need of a journal that should be the organ of the Liberal faith ; and in 1821, in pursuance of this thought, he established the “Christian Register.’ The enterprise began without any visible constituency, and a support from it seemed precarious enough ; but with an enthusiasm that never was quenched, and a per- severance that never quailed, he carried it forward through half a century of tireless labor and sacrifice. The history of the “Christian Register” for fifty years was his history. His life and thought went into it; and the reputation it made in its fear- less discussion of the highest themes, always conducted with candor, courtesy, and with a gentle spirit, was due to the impress of his own mild temper upon it. Its motto was, “ Liberty, Holi- ness, Love;” and this well characterized the spirit of the paper during his long connection with it. Mr. Reed retired from all active pursuits in 1870, and died on the 8th of June of that year in his eighty-first year. In those sa- cred years which bring threescore and ten up to fourscore, one saw in him a rounded life, the Christian gentleman, so truly gentle and so simply Christian. Always ready to maintain his opinions, always tolerant of his neighbor’s, more careless of controversy as he grew older, and more single and simple in the definitions of his faith, his was a life which made those who knew him sure of the value of that faith and hope which can make old age, even after storms, so serene and brave. May 2, 1836, David Reed married Mary Ann, daughter of Capt. Howell Williams, of Brooklyn, Conn. They had three children, of whom William Howell alone survives. The Rev. Witt1AM REED, ‘son of the Rev. William, of Eas- ton, was born December 12, 1787. He graduated at Brown University in 1810. In November, 1812, he married Betsy Drake, daughter of Bethuel Drake, of Easton. Their children were (1) William Gurney, born in Plymouth, September 25, 1813 ; (2) Lieuphemia Eustatia, born in Easton, September 13, 1815; (3) Charles Henry, born in Milton, February 5, 1818. MINISTERS. VII His wife died in Milton, August 9, 1821. He married for his second wife Abigail, widow of Calvin Howe, of Boston, in No- vember, 1822. On leaving college he spent several years as a teacher, first in Plymouth and then in charge of the Milton Academy, being popular and successful in both places. He afterward completed a course of study at the Divinity School, Cambridge, and preached for several years, but never took per- manent charge of a parish. In middle life he settled on the homestead of his father in Easton, where for many years he held the commission and performed the duties of a justice of the peace.” ! The Rev. NatHan P. SELEE, son of John and Catherine (Pierce) Selee, was born in Easton, September 25, 1829. He graduated at the Wesleyan University in the class of 1856, and studied theology at the Methodist Biblical Institute, Con- cord, N. H. He had however been licensed to preach before he went to college, and when only twenty years old. He was ordained in 1854 by Bishop Morris, preached one year at Amherst, N. H., and two years each in the towns of Truro, Hanson, and East Harwich, all in Massachusetts, when he was compelled by ill health to give up active ministerial work. Mr. Selee then turned his attention to the manufacture of hair- dye, tooth-wash, lung compound, etc., in which he has gained a business success. He is located at Melrose, Mass. Mr. Selee married in 1856 Annie Maria Case, of South Manchester, Conn., and they have had six children, three of whom are living. His daughter Lucy is a graduate of Boston University, and teaches Latin in the Malden High School. His wife, after having had six children, studied medicine in the Medical School of the Boston University, from which she graduated; she has now a large medical practice in Melrose. Mr. Selee taught several terms of school in Easton, Sharon, and Mansfield. The Rev. LutHer Harris SHELDON, son of the Rev. Dr. Luther and Sarah J. (Harris) Sheldon, was born in Easton, No- vember 22, 1815, and was educated at Middlebury College, graduating there in 1839. He studied divinity at the Andover 1 From the History of the Reed Family, p. 329. 712 HISTORY OF EASTON. Theological Seminary, graduating in the class of 1842. He preached for a time in Washington, D.C. July 24, 1844, he mar- ried Sarah H. Flagg, of Andover, and August 1 following he was settled in Townsend, Mass., remaining a pastor there about twelve years. He was next settled over the Evangelical Church and Society in Westborough, Mass., where he remained over eleven years. During the last year of the war he went to labor among the sick and wounded soldiers in the Army of the Potomac. In March, 1867, Mr. Sheldon was invited by the trustees of the State Reform School of New Jersey to inaugurate and superin- tend a school for criminal boys in Jamesburg ; the school began in July. A new and interesting feature in it was the keeping of these vagrant and criminal boys upon an open farm of six hun- dred acres, without any of the usual prison restraints. They were to be held, if possible, by kind and watchful parental inter- est. There was only one other school of the kind in the United States ; that being at Lancaster, Ohio. Doubtful as the experi- ment was at first considered, it has proved one of the most successful schools from the start; and the principles of its man- agement have been introduced into most of the reform schools founded since, the idea of a well ordered family being the con- trolling thought. After serving seven years in this position, Mr. Sheldon preached with great acceptance for nearly two years in the pulpit of the Evangelical Church of Easton, so long oc- cupied by his father. He was then called to the superintend- ency of the State Reform School at Westborough, Mass., where he remained about three years. Since that time he has made his home in Andover, Mass. Mr. Sheldon is a preacher of more than average ability, earn- est, practical, and sympathetic, very decided in his convictions, but free from narrowness. His warm social feelings, clear-sighted common-sense and wise tact make him an admirable pastor. He has three children, two sons and a daughter. The Rev. SimEon Wixuiams?! was born in Easton in 1743. He graduated at New Jersey College in 1765, and was ordained at South Weymouth, Mass., October 26, 1768, as the second pastor of the Second Church in Weymouth, his first and only 1 See Historical Sketch of the town of Weymouth, p. 179. MINISTERS. 713 pastorate. He was minister there over half a century, and died there May 31, 1819. Mr. Williams was married in the autumn of 1770 to Mrs. Anna Crocker, of Eastham, Mass., by whom he had seven children ; she died August 10, 1823, aged seventy- four years. A monument perpetuates his memory, and on it is the following inscription : — “Though earthly shepherds dwell in dust, The aged and the young ; The watchful eye in darkness closed, And mute the instructive tongue, — The eternal Shepherd still survives, New comfort to impart; His eyes still guide us, and Tis voice Still animates our heart.” The Rev. BrapForp WILLIs, son of Thomas and Hannah (Dean) Willis, was born in Easton, June 8, 1802. His father was four times married, had twenty-one children, and was de- scended from Dea. John Willis, of Duxbury, then of Bridge- water. Bradford secured enough of an education to become a schoolmaster, and after that a Methodist minister; not much education, however, was required for either in his time. He did not preach long, for he died quite young; and his name does not appear upon the “Minutes of the Methodist New England Conference.” The Rev. Martin WymMANn WILLIS, son of Thomas and Fran- ces Willis, was born in Easton, December 1, 1821. He was half-brother to Bradford, who has just been mentioned. His mother removed to Boston in his infancy, taking her children with her. Martin was educated in the public schools and in the Chauncy Hall School at Boston, graduated from the Harvard Di- vinity school in 1843, and was ordained in Walpole, N. H., over the Unitarian society there, December 6 of the same year. After a ministry of five years in Walpole, he preached for some years in Petersham, Mass., and in Bath, Maine. In 1853 he hada unanimous call to settle in Nashua, N. H., which call he ac- cepted, remaining there nine years. The writer heard Mr. Willis preach on exchange in Concord, N. H., about 1884, and remembers him as an acceptable and popular preacher. 714 HISTORY OF EASTON. Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion Mr. Willis accepted the position of chaplain, and was with the expedition of Sherman to Hilton Head. He was however disabled by sickness, granted a furlough, and afterward honorably discharged. Subsequently he settled as pastor of the Unitarian Church in Quincy, Illinois, where he was elected Grand Orator of the Masonic Lodge of Illinois. After four years of service in Quincy, he was ap- pointed by the Governor of Missouri as Commissioner of Im- migration for that State, his office being to encourage the filling of the waste places of Missouri, rent and desolated by the war, with loyal Northern people. This he aided in doing by writing for the press and by lecturing through the Northern States. In 1866 he removed to St. Louis, where he has since contri- buted to leading journals and devoted himself to literature. In 1857 he received from Harvard College the degree of Master of Arts. In 1884 the St. Louis University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and in 1886 that of Doctor of Laws. Perhaps no Easton name can claim a longer appendage of alphabetical symbols than that of the Rev. Martin Willis, A.M., Ph.D., LL.D. He is vice-president of the Post Graduate Society of the St. Louis University, — a society of about seventy gentlemen, who are devoting themselves to the study of phi- losophy, science, philology, and history. June 1, 1845, Mr. Willis married Miss Hannah Ann Mason, of Chichester, N. H. They have sons and daughters comfort- ably settled in life. Of his wife, himself, and family, Mr. Willis writes as follows : — “For forty years she has won the love of all who knew her. With a wonderfully even temper and a rare common-sense, she has brought up to honor and usefulness an excellent family. Mr. Willis has won recognition both East and West as a man of letters and varied cul- ture. Hundreds of families like that of Mr. Willis are carrying into the ‘wild West’ the culture, the thrift, and the sound principles that have made New England rich in history and powerful in influence.” The Rev. Henry Woop, son of Robert and Elizabeth Wood, was born in the town of Coole, Westmeath County, Ireland, Oc- tober 31, 1857, and came to Easton in September, 1869. He graduated from the Easton High School in the class of 1878, MINISTERS. 715 from Tufts College in 1882, and from the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass., in 1885. He was ordained deacon, June 17, 1885, and was called to the rectorship of St. James’s Parish, Amesbury, Mass., July 10. He was ordained priest, June 8, 1886. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGYMEN.! The Rev. James W. Contin was born in Easton, Septem- ber 6, 1856. After due consideration he resolved to study for the Church, and in March, 1873, entered the Jesuit College in Boston. In September, 1874, he went to Montreal College, where he spent four years. In 1878 he completed his prepara- tory studies for theology at the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, Niagara Falls, New York. In 1879 he began the study of theology at the Montreal Grand Seminary, —a celebrated in- stitution, and a nursery for aspirants to the priesthood, — and three and a half years subsequently, December 23, 1882, was or- dained priest by the Right Rev. E..C. Fabre, Bishop of Montreal. St. Lawrence Parish, New Bedford, has been the scene of his labors since he began his ministry. The Rev. Witt1am T. Donerty was born in Easton, July 7, 1858. In order to secure the advantages of the classics, so ne- cessary for the clerical state, he entered in the fall of 1873 St. Charles’s College, Maryland, founded by Charles Carroll of Car- rollton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His six years at St. Charles’s were years of close study, untiring preparation, and self-culture for his chosen vocation. In 1879 he began the study of philosophy and theology at St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, and December 22, 1883, received from the hands of Archbishop Gibbons the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Returning to the Episcopal city of the diocese, Providence, he was made chaplain at the celebrated Seminary of Elmhurst, — a young ladies’ academy situated in the suburbs of Providence, under the supervision of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. Epwarp FarreELt, another of Easton’s sons, was born No- vember 22, 1859, and having completed his school education so 1 The sketches of the latter have been kindly prepared for the writer by the Rev. John W. McCarthy of Providence, Rhode Island. 716 HISTORY OF EASTON. far as the district school afforded opportunity, entered the Sem- inary of St. Sulpice, Montreal, Canada, in 1874. His college education ended within a year; for having contracted a cold, which in the severe Canadian climate quickly developed into consumption, he returned home to North Easton, where he died May 8, 1875. MicuaEL J. Lone was born in Easton, March 2, 1860. In September, 1874, he entered the college of St. Sulpice, Montreal, Canada, and having passed two years at that institution entered Boston College, where he graduated and received the degree of A.B. in June, 1881. Entering Montreal Grand Seminary, Sep- tember, 1881, he began immediate preparation for the Catholic priesthood. His fond hopes were however never realized, for scarcely six months had elapsed before he died, February 27, 1882, at the Seminary Hospital, Montreal. His death was rendered most sad, not alone from the fact that it was unexpected, but also because he was separated from the loved ones at home. His body was brought from Montreal, and lies buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery in North Easton village. The Rev. Jonn W. McCartuy was born in New Bedford, but early removed with his family to North Easton. His parents were both natives of Ireland. He studied in the class in the Easton High School some of whose members were among the first to receive diplomas of graduation, Dr. F. E. Tilden being for a time member of the same class. Of a well balanced char- acter, a quiet, thoughtful boy, he early gave promise of unusual reliability. Desiring to become a priest, he entered the Jesuit College in Boston, Mass., in the spring of 1874, with a view to making the necessary preparatory studies. After spending six years in this college he was graduated in June, 1880, receiving the degree of A.B. Making known to the Bishop of the dio- cese his intention of entering the clerical state, he was sent to the Grand Seminary, Montreal, Canada, and for three years and three months earnestly and successfully pursued the higher ecclesiastical studies. Being ordained priest by Bishop Fabre, December 22, 1883, he was immediately sent by Bishop Hen- dricken as assistant pastor to the church of the Immaculate MINISTERS. 717 Conception in Providence. Blest with excellent health and a good constitution, he gives promise of many years of usefulness in the work of his choice. The Rev. Dennis J. MENTOoN was born in Easton, February 22, 1859. In 1870, at the age of eleven years, he entered the High School at North Easton. He there showed an intellectual ability, a sound judgment, and resolute self-reliance much beyond his years, and was in most respects the best student of his class. He graduated there with high honor in 1874, fifteen years old. In September of the same year he entered St. Charles’s College, Maryland, where his schoolmates Doherty and O’Keefe had en- tered the preceding year. As time passed on he gave full scope to his love for knowledge, and ranked the first among many bright and intellectual youths. His constant application, however, tended to impair his health. Advised to secure a change of climate, he entered St. Michael’s College, Toronto, Canada, in 1877, and completed his philosophical studies with extraordinary honors. As from the beginning, he still persevered in his inten- tion of becoming a priest, and for this purpose entered upon the study of theology at the Grand Seminary of Montreal, Septem- ber, 1878. After a brilliant course of three and a half years he was elevated to the priesthood at Mount St. Mary’s Convent, December 26, 1881. But years of unceasing toil had shattered his once powerful frame, and his declining health rendered the days of his priesthood few. He passed quietly away to his re- ward on the morning of July 19, 1882. To unusual knowledge for his years, Father Menton added an admirable humility, simplicity, and virtue. The Rev. Joun D. O’KEEFE was born in Easton, March 2, 1856. At an early age aspiring to the priesthood, he was sent together with his friend Doherty to St. Charles’s College, Mary- land, where he pursued the study of the classics for six years, graduating in 1879. While in this institution he developed ex- cellent qualities, and the edifice of true manhood quickly assumed proportions, He then spent a year on philosophy at St. Mary’s, Baltimore, entered upon the study of theology at the same in- stitution, and was ordained a priest April 19, 1884, at Wood- 718 HISTORY OF EASTON. stock, Maryland, by Archbishop, now Cardinal, Gibbons. He was appointed immediately after his ordination to the vacant chaplaincy at Bay View Seminary, on Narragansett Bay. After remaining at this place a year, he was promoted to be assistant pastor at St. Mary’s church, Fall River, Mass., a position he still holds. PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 719 CHAPTER XXXVI. PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. SETH BABBITT. — CHARLES H. COGSWELL. — GEORGE B. COGSWELL. — Horatio F. CopELAND. — EpGAR E. DEAN. — EDwarD DEAN. — James B. DEAN.— SAMUEL DEANS. — HENRY L. DICKERMAN. — JASON W. DrRakeE.— DANIEL GOODWIN.— SAMUEL GUILD.— SAMUEL GUILD, Jr. — ELisoa HAywarp. —JosePpH W. Haywarp.— JAMES HOWARD. — Ernest W. KEITH. — EDwIn MANLEy. — JoHN M. MILLs.—J AMES PERRY. — WILLIAM F, PERRY. — SETH PRATT. — SETH PRATT, JR.— DANIEL L. RANDALL, — MENZIES R. RANDALL. — ZEPHANIAH RAN- DALL. — FREDERIC J. RIPLEY.— W. P. SAVARY. — CALEB SWAN. — GEORGE W. J. Swan. — JAMES C. Swan. — JESSE J. Swan. — W. E. CHANNING Swan. — Byron H. Strout. —F. ELMER TILDEN. — GEORGE BRETT. — ASAHEL SMITH. — WILLIAM B. WEBSTER. — JOHN P. WILson. HE present chapter is devoted to brief biographical sketches of the physicians (including dentists) who were natives or residents of Easton. They are given in alphabetical order, but in two series, —the second series, near the end of the chapter, be- ing sketches of those who, though not regularly educated for the profession, have nevertheless engaged in their own way, and with more or less success, in the practice of the healing art. Several even of those in the first list did not receive the degree of M.D., and had no diplomas of graduation to show; but they had some regular instruction, and practised by the usual and regular methods. The title of M.D. is therefore given to them here by courtesy, and because the confidence it naturally inspires was accorded them on account of their experience. SetH Bassitt, M.D., was the son of Erasmus and Abigail Babbitt, and was born in Easton, April 20,1730. He was a vol- unteer in the French and Indian War, and served at Louisburg. In 1759 he was surgeon’s mate in Colonel John Thomas’s Regi- ment, stationed at Halifax; served about two years, contracted the 720 HISTORY OF EASTON. small-pox, and came home to die, his death occurring Febru- ary 13, 1761. Mr. Babbitt married Elizabeth Vinton, of South Hadley, and had two daughters.’ CuarLtes Hate Cocswet, M.D., son of George B, and Catherine (Brown) Cogswell, was born in Bridgewater, Massa- chusetts, March 23, 1859. He graduated at the Easton High School in 1876, and from Dartmouth College, June 24, 1880, studied medicine in the Harvard Medical School, graduating June 27, 1883, and soon afterward received the appointment of assistant port-physician of Boston, a position he still holds. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Grorce BapGer Cocswett, M.D., son of Dr. George and Abigail (Parker) Cogswell, was born September 15, 1834, in Bradford, Massachusetts. He fitted for college at the Gilmanton Academy, and entered Dartmouth College in 1851, but did not complete the college course. From 1853 to 1855 he followed a sailor’s life before the mast, going around the world. After returning home he attended lectures at the Harvard Medical School, and in 1857 received the degree of M.D. from Dart- mouth Medical College, New Hampshire. He was resident phy- sician at the State Almshouse in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, from June 1857 to July 1859, and removed to North Easton village in 1860. He was mustered into service in the war of the Union as assistant-surgeon of the Twenty-ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, December 14, 1861, and promoted to be surgeon August 7, 1862. He was discharged for disability March 15, 1864. Dr. Cogswell was for a time on the staff of General Wilcox, as acting medical inspector of the Ninth Army Corps, gave himself up as a prisoner in order to be of service to the Union sick and wounded men who were prisoners, and was on service at Libby Prison in Richmond. During an exchange of prisoners, knowing that the lives of some members of his regiment depended upon their immediate release, Dr. Cogswell presented himself to the guard of the prison with the air of one having authority, and ordered two members of the Twenty-ninth away with him. The young officer on guard questioned his au- 1 For further particulars concerning Dr. Seth Babbitt, see p. 167. PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 721 thority, and was met with well assumed indignation on the part of the Doctor for his presuming to question an alleged order from the superior officer to whom the Doctor referred by name. The ruse was successful, and the two men followed their liberator, and were exchanged. One of them, who is a citizen of Easton, has declared to the writer that but for this move of his surgeon he would not be alive to-day. Dr. Cogswell liberated others of his regiment in the same way, and probably saved some of their lives thereby. February 18, 1858, Dr. Cogswell married Catherine B. Brown, daughter of Addison and Catherine B. (Griffin) Brown, She was born August 13, 1835, in West Newbury, Massachusetts. They have had two children, — Charles Hale and Kittie Badger. The former is noticed in this chapter. The latter married, September 25, 1883, Charles W. Welch, of Stoughton. Dr. Cogswell was postmaster of North Easton from 1861 to 1885. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Dartmouth College in 1880. North Easton is still his home, and he has an extensive practice here and in the vicinity. The Doctor is a member of the Massa- chusetts Medical Society. HoraTio FRANKLIN CopELAND, M.D., son of Horatio and Delia (Howard) Copeland, was born in Easton, November 15, 1842. He fitted for college in Thetford Academy, Vermont, but instead of entering, decided to study medicine, which he did with Dr. Caleb Swan. He studied also in the Harvard Medi- cal School, graduating there in 1865. He served as assistant- surgeon in the United States Army at Chapin’s Farm, near Richmond, Virginia, and subsequently had charge of the post and small-pox hospitals at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia. On his discharge from the United States service he entered upon his profession at South Abington (now Whitman), Massachus- etts, where he has a large practice. EpGar Everett Dean, M.D., son of Charles and Lydia (Wilbur) Dean, was born in Easton, December 17, 1837. He was a student at Bristol Academy for three years, leaving there in 1856; studied medicine with Dr. Luther Clarke, of Boston ; graduated from the Harvard Medical School; practised for a time 46 722 HISTORY OF EASTON. in Boston, but in June, 1861, removed to North Bridgewater, succeeding to the business of Dr. Alexander Hichborn. He afterward spent a year in Europe in order to perfect his medi- cal knowledge. Since his return he has acquired a large and successful practice in his profession. In 1883 he was appointed by the Governor a member of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity, retaining this position until June, 1886, when the Health Department was made a separate board. He still, however, holds his place as a commissioner of Lunacy and Charity. January 17, 1866, Dr. Dean married Helen Amanda Packard, of North Bridgewater (now Brockton). They have had three children, all of whom are living. Epwarp Dean, M.D., son of Deacon James and Hannah (Hayward) Dean, was born in Easton, June 30, 1748. On the 6th of March, 1768, he married Joanna, daughter of Daniel and Rebecca (Hunt) Williams. They had two children, and she died March 1, 1772. He then married, December 25, 1788, Anne Hayward. He was, until his death, a practising physician, though he did not have a regular medical education. He died September 26, 1816, and his remains were the first to be buried in the old cemetery south of the schoolhouse at the Furnace Village. Four physicians who were fast friends died that year, and the fact is appropriately recorded in rhyme on Dr. Dean’s tombstone.! James B. Dean, M.D., son of James and Polly Dean, was born in Easton, April 6, 1809. He studied medicine with Dr. Caleb Swan, and took a two years’ course in the Harvard Medi- cal School at the same time with Dr. Seth Pratt, Jr., graduating in 1832. He then entered upon the practice of his profession in Taunton, where he has remained until the present time, ex- cept about a year, when he was in practice in North Easton village. James B. Dean married Elizabeth Holmes, of Plymouth. SaMuEL Deans, M.D., was the son of Elijah and Irene Deans, of Eastford, Connecticut, where he was born August 27, 1794. 1 See the Dr. Edward Dean Cemetery, in the chapter on Cemeteries. PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 723 His father was a farmer with thirteen children, and Samuel's education was gained mainly by his own efforts after he had at- tained his majority. He studied medicine in the New Haven Medical School, and came to Easton to practise his profession, locating at the Furnace Village. He was a man of character and ability. His interest in education was warm and constant, being a member of the Easton board of school committee for fifteen years, and serving in that capacity with efficiency and zeal. He was very particular to give his children a good edu- cation. November 14, 1821, Dr. Deans married Hannah LeBaron, daughter of Daniel Wheaton, Esq., and had six children, two of whom, Fidelia and Charlotte, died when two years old. His oldest daughter, Elizabeth, and his youngest, Hannah, were edu- cated at the Wheaton Seminary in Norton. Elizabeth taught school very successfully many years in Easton, and afterward in Medway, where she died October 15, 1870. Hannah has also devoted her life to teaching. The two sons, George Wheaton and Charles Henry, both became lawyers, and will be noticed in the proper place. Dr. Deans died in Easton April 22, 1872. His wife died December 29, 1879. Henry Lez Dickerman, DD.S., son of Zophar and Nancy (Webster) Dickerman, was born in Easton, July 29, 1849. He studied dentistry in Taunton in 1868 and 1869 with his kins- man Dr. D. S. Dickerman, and December 13, 1869, entered the office of Dr. James Utley of the same city, remaining there one year. He entered the Harvard Medical School November 2, 1870, and completed his studies there in 1872. In 1871 he opened an office in Stoughton, and also practised a short time in North Easton and Fall River. After finishing his studies, Dr. Dickerman practised in Taunton several years. In 1879 he took charge of Dr. George H. Ames’s office in Providence, R. I., and July 1, 1880, opened an office for himself in the same city. He claims to use neither wedges, engine, gas, nor ether. March 30, 1833, Dr. Dickerman was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Slocum Light Guards, holding the office for two years. November 26, 1885, he married Louise, the second daughter of William Gorner, of Providence. 724 HISTORY OF EASTON. Jason WiriraAms Drake, M.D., son of Jason G. and Mary W. (Record) Drake, was born in Easton, January 29, 1835, and was educated at Pierce Academy, in Middleborough, Mass. He enlisted in the quota of Fitchburg as private in Company B, Fifty-third Regiment, nine months’ men, October 17, 1862, and was discharged September 2, 1863, having served under General Banks in Louisiana. In 1865 he removed to Dover, New Hamp- shire, and began the practice of medicine. In 1867 he gradu- ated from the New York Homceopathic Medical College, and returned to Dover, where he continued in the practice of medi- cine until his death, which occurred November 20, 1885. Dr. Drake was a coroner, a justice of the peace, and prominently identified with the public schools of Dover. He is spoken of as “a noble-hearted, manly man, and his death was universally regretted. He gave to the poor his best services without hope of pay as freely as where compensation was assured. He had many personal friends, and the death of no one could be more sincerely felt than his.’ 1 December 20, 1857, Dr. Drake married Phebe J. Keith, of Easton, by whom he had one daughter. DaniEL Goopwin, M.D., was son of Benjamin Goodwin, first of Boston, and then of Easton, who came to the latter place about 1785. He succeeded to his father’s estate in Easton about 1794; this was said to be the old Kingman tavern, located close by Ebenezer Randall’s, on the Bay road. In the old Town treasurer's book he is paid for doctoring the poor in 1801 and 1802, He soon moved to Norton, and probably abandoned the practice of medicine, as Mr. Clark in the “History of Norton” does not include him among the physicians of that town. He was brother-in-law of Daniel Wheaton, Esq. Dr. Goodwin mar- ried Polly, daughter of Deacon Timothy and Abigail (Patten) Briggs, of Norton. SAMUEL GuILD, M.D., son of Nathaniel and Mary (Boyden) Guild, was born in Walpole, October 23, 1746; studied medi- cine with Dr. Daggett, of Medfield, and settled in Easton in 1768, where he had a good practice for forty-eight years. He officiated at the births of over a thousand children. During the 1 Letter of O. A. Dodge, Esq., of Dover. PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 725 earlier part of his life here he taught school for several years, his pay in 1771 being £1 16s. per month, and he to board himself. He was justice of the peace for more than thirty years. Gov. Elbridge Gerry appointed him also Judge of the Court of Ses- sions. He was very active as a member of the Easton “Com- mittee of Correspondence and Safety” in the Revolutionary War, and served for a while as surgeon in the army. Dr. Guild was descended from John Guild, who came to this country from Scotland in 1636, and settled in Dedham,—the descent being John, Samuel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Jr.. Samuel. December 25, 1770, he married Elizabeth, daughter of George and Catherine (Starrett) Ferguson, and by her had five children. She died August 20, 1784, when he married Catherine, daughter of Elipha- let and Silence (Hayward) Leonard, by whom he had five chil- dren. The Doctor himself died May 11, 1816, after an active, useful, and influential life. SAMUEL GUILD, JR., M.D., son of the preceding, was born July 19, 1775, studied medicine, and became a practising physi- cian. He married May 28, 1799, Vesta, daughter cf John and Mercy (Fobes) Howard. He left town about 1806, and in 1813 his wife sued for and obtained a divorce on the ground of deser- tion. He is said to have taught school for twenty years. He died in Maryland, April 3, 1821. EisHA Haywarp, M.D., son of Joseph and Lydia (Barrows) Hayward, was born in Easton, June 26, 1791. He graduated at Brown University, studied medicine with Dr. Ebenezer Allen of Randolph, and settled in Raynham, where he practised his pro- fession. In 1821 he married Betsy Townsend, of Middleborough, and died March 16, 1866. JosEpH W. Haywarp, M.D., son of George W. and Sylvia (Pratt) Hayward, was born in Easton, July 11, 1841 ; graduated at the Bridgewater Normal School in the spring of 1860, and taught school two winters. He began the study of medicine with Dr. Edgar E. Dean, of North Bridgewater, in 1861, and entered Harvard Medical School in the fall of 1862. March 13, 1863, having passed the examination of the Regular Army 726 HISTORY OF EASTON. Board of Philadelphia, he was appointed medical cadet of the United States Army, and was soon on duty at the Washing- ton General Hospital at Memphis, Tenn., where he served un- til February 11, 1864; and for the balance of his year — until March 11 — he was on duty at the Brown General Hospital at Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Hayward then returned home and entered the Medical School at Bowdoin, Maine, from which, having passed the required examination, he graduated in June, 1864. A few days later he passed the examination of the United States Medical Board at New York City, and was appointed assistant-surgeon United States Army by President Lincoln. He was ordered to report to General Butler in Virginia, and was sent to the Second Division of the Tenth Corps, in front of Petersburg. In a few days he was made operating surgeon of the Tenth Corps Artillery Brigade, making his headquarters with the Fourth New Jersey Battery. After Butler was superseded by General Ord, Dr. Hayward was assigned to the position of staff-surgeon, serving in this capacity until after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Reaching Richmond April 12, 1865, he was retained upon the Department Staff as assistant medical director, which position he held until his resignation in November following. March 13, 1865, he was brevetted major United States Volunteers. In the winter of 1865-66 Dr. Hayward attended lectures at the Bellevue Medical College in New York City. April 1, 1866, he formed a copartnership with Dr. George Barrows, of Taun- ton, the copartnership continuing six years. In 1867 he was commissioned surgeon of the Third Regiment Massachusetts Vol- unteer Militia, and in 1874 was made medical director of the First Brigade, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, holding this position until an Act of Legislature discharged all its military officers “ for the good of the service.” In 1877 he was appointed United States pension surgeon, and still holds that position. In 1878 he was added to the full faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine as special lecturer upon “fractures, dislo- cations, and gunshot wounds,” and still acts in this capacity. He has served for nine years on the school board at Taunton, is a member of the Massachusetts Homceopathic State Medical Society, and has been vice-president of the American Institute PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 727 of Homeopathy. He still resides at Taunton, and has a large and successful practice. June 9, 1866, Dr. Hayward married Lemira Harris, daughter of John R. Drake, of Easton, by whom he had four children. James Howarp, M.D. — The first physician named in records relating to the town of Easton was Dr. James Hayward, who was elected as one of the selectmen in 1731. The names “ Hayward” and ‘‘ Howard” were once pronounced Howard, and were con- sequently often confounded, which is a source of much perplexity to the genealogist. This physician was probably James Howard, son of James and Elizabeth (Washburn) Howard, who was born in Bridgewater in 1690. Mitchell? states that he married Eliza- beth Wallis (Willis) in 1710, and had Mercy, 1741, and Huldah, 1716, and that he was said to have moved to Stoughton and then to Woodstock. His name does not appear upon the tax-lists of Stoughton. He probably lived in Easton a few years after 1731, as in 1738 he makes charges in Stoughton for medicines and visits, showing a continued residence in this vicinity. Ernest W. Keitu, M.D., the son of F. Granville and Mercy (Wardwell) Keith, was born in Easton, August 7, 1862; gradu- ated from the Easton High School in 1878, and from the Medical School of the Boston University, June 2, 1885. He is now resi- dent physician and surgeon in the Homceopathic Department of Cook County Hospital at Chicago, Illinois, receiving the appoint- ment September 1, 1885. Epwin Mantey, M.D., was born in Easton, May 3, 1818. He did not study medicine early in life, but was a workman in the Ames Shovel Works. Having injured his hand so as to make work difficult for him, he turned his attention to the med- ical profession, studying first at the Tremont Medical School, and then, from 1856 to 1860, taking a full course of study at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Manley practised for a time at Stoneham and then at Easton, locating in North Easton village. From here he went to Taunton, where he was for several years librarian of the Taunton Public Library. He had a decided taste 1 History of Bridgewater, p. 193. 728 HISTORY OF EASTON. for reading and study, and it is said would become so absorbed in the study of chemistry and in making experiments, that the night would sometimes be far spent before he sought rest. Edwin Manley married, first, Faustina Smith, of Maine, an ac- complished lady ; and after her death he married Emmeline Le- land Hatch, of Kennebunk, Maine. The last eight years of his life were spent in California. He died in San Francisco, June 4, 1884. (Rev.) Joun M. Mitts, M.D., was the son of Ralph and of Sarah Mills, and was born December 21, 1800, in Lancaster, England. He came to this country when young, and studied medicine in New York City. He did not at once complete his medical course, but returned to England, where he married Sarah, daughter of John and Martha Potter, of Edinburgh. Coming back to the United States, he finished his medical edu- cation in the Homceopathic College in New York City, from which he graduated and received a diploma. In that city he practised medicine for over ten years, and then went to Buffalo. Not long afterward, urged by his family and friends, he became a preacher in the Methodist Protestant Church, preaching first in Milford, New York, and then, in 1841, going to Carver, Mas- sachusetts, where he preached for three years. For the next three years he preached in Milford, Massachusetts, and then settled over the Methodist Protestant Church in North Easton village, coming here March 25, 1847. He soon began to have serious trouble with-his eyes, and suffered considerably with a bronchial difficulty, but was able to preach for about two years, at the end of that time being obliged to give up the ministry on account of his failing sight and voice. He had always practised medicine somewhat during his ministerial work, and after ceas- ing to preach he devoted himself entirely to the profession of medicine, practising in Easton during the rest of his life, except when prevented by failing health and almost total blindness. He lived in the house next east of James N. Mackay’s, on Lincoln Street. Dr, Mills died in Easton, May 17, 1871. James Perry, M.D., son of Captain James and Zerviah (With- erell) Perry, was born in Easton, October 12, 1767. He studied medicine, and was for many years a prominent physician in PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 729 town. James Perry married, April 9, 1793, Adah Sheperdson, of Mansfield, and they had six children, one of whom, next to be mentioned, became a distinguished physician. He died May 2, 1825. WituiaM F, Perry, M.D., son of Dr. James, was born Decem- ber 9, 1809. At the age of sixteen years he decided to study medicine ; but having to depend upon himself, he worked and studied alternately with Dr. Caleb Swan, of Easton. He at- tended one course of medical lectures at Bowdoin College, in 1831, one at the Harvard Medical School in 1832, and in 1833 another at Bowdoin, where he received his diploma. In 1835 he settled in Mansfield, Mass., where he became a skilful and suc- cessful physician. Dr. Perry had a laborious practice for thirty- eight years, never except for two days being prevented by illness from visiting his patients, and being absent only twice,-—once for ten days in 1858 on a trip West, and again in 1873 for a few days in New York. He was a man of decided convictions, strong character, and wide reading in his special department of study. The Doctor died suddenly, October 17, 1873, while visiting a poor family who needed his services. An interesting and much more extended notice of him may be found in the cumbersome “ History of Bristol County,” pp. 458-460. SetH Pratt, M.D., son of Lieutenant Seth and of Mindwell (Stone) Pratt, was born in Easton, March 8, 1780; studied medicine with Dr. Issachar Snell, of North Bridgewater, and was a practising physician in Easton until his death. He lived in the house built about 1745, and used as a residence .by the Rev. Solo- mon Prentice. It was on the east side of Washington Street, just above Grove Street, in South Easton village, on the exact site of the house of Mr. Snell. April 7, 1807, Dr. Pratt married Re- becca, daughter of Lyman and Mercy (Williams) Wheelock, and left three children, — Seth, Erasmus D., and Sarah M., who married Captain Seneca Hills, of Franklin, Massachusetts, and is now living with her children at Taunton, Massachusetts. Dr. Seth Pratt died August 12, 1816; he is spoken of in terms of high praise as a man and a physician by the Rev. Mr. Sheldon, who preached his funeral sermon. His widow survived him fifty- 730 HISTORY OF EASTON. six years, dying October 13, 1871. Dr. Caleb Swan succeeded to his practice. SetH Pratt, Jr. M.D., son of Dr. Seth and Rebecca (Whee- lock) Pratt, was born in Easton, January 12, 1809; studied med- icine at the Harvard Medical School, and received his diploma February 25, 1832. He at once located at Myricksville, Massa- chusetts, and remained there two years. In 1834 he removed to Assonet village, three miles from his first location. Dr. Pratt was much interested in the temperance cause, aud delivered lec- tures upon the subject. His health soon failed him, and he abandoned his business and returned to Easton, where he died October I0, 1836. DanieL L. Ranpatt, M.D., the son of Daniel and Hannah (Ingalls) Randall, was born in Easton, January 12, 1842. He attended medical lectures at the Harvard Medical School for three successive winters, beginning in 1862-63, studying mean- time with Drs. Caleb Swan and George W. J. Swan. He re- ceived his diploma from the Medical School July 10, 1865, and began the regular practice of medicine in Easton shortly after the death of Dr. George Swan, which occurred January 10, 1870, and has continued in practice here ever since. Menzies RayNER RANDALL, M.D., son of Daniel and Molly Randall, was born in Easton, June 10, 1794. He studied medi- cine with Dr. Caleb Swan, and became his partner, but moved from Easton to Rehoboth early in the year 1825, and practised medicine there until a short time before his death. He did not receive his medical diploma until 1832, when one was given him by the Harvard Medical School, where he had passed an examination, Dr. Randall married, first, Eliza Edson, July 3, 1823, who died January 8, 1833; and March 27, 1834, he married Almira Guild, who died April 15, 1873; he himself died July 23, 1882. The Doctor had three children. One was Eliza, who was born in Easton June 15, 1824, and died in Taunton March 18, 1874; she was the wife of William G. French. Two sons, born in Rehoboth, are both physicians, — Dr. George A. Randall, who PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS, 731 lives in Rehoboth; and Dr. D. Fordyce Randall, who follows his profession in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. ZEPHANIAH RANDALL, M.D., the son of Ephraim and Louise (Stone) Randall, was born in Easton, September 24, 1783, and was practising medicine as early as 1816, at which time the town pays him for doctoring certain poor people. He lived in the house on the corner of Canton and Main streets, now occupied by Ziba Randall. Dr. Zephaniah was an eccentric man. If one went at night to call on him for some medical service, he would probably be found lying on a buffalo robe on the floor, with his feet towards the fire, and dressed as in the day-time. Being called, he would rouse himself, take his large handbox of medi- cine, and, if not required to go very far, would trudge along on foot with his summoner. Otherwise he would harness his horse into his sulky, put on his gray surtout, which was as famous in a small way as Horace Greeley’s old gray coat, and would soon present himself for action. He was an old-time physician, who believed in medicines both strong and copious. One soon got used to the snuff that he sprinkled about as he freely regaled himself. But it was as well for the patient under his care not to watch him as he made his pills and rolled them under his snuffy hands up and down his pantaloons’ leg. Unfortunately Dr. Zephaniah Randall took something stronger than snuff, and a good deal of it too. In this he found a meet com- panion in his second wife. His first wife, Hannah Bullard, was an excellent woman, and one cannot help thinking that had she lived she might have made an altogether different man of him. Many a man in Easton, as elsewhere, has owed his character and success to a good wife ; and here, as elsewhere, some have been undone by a bad one. Hannah had died in 1822, and ten years later, September 23, 1832, Dr. Randall married Lucy Gilbert, who was nearly thirty years his junior, but was older than he in in- temperate depravity. A sorry couple they looked as they drove about, —he, full, but self-controlled ; she, maudlin, and redolent not only with rum, but with essence of peppermint, with lauda- num, and especially with ether, which the Doctor could not keep away from her. This bad habit and his filthy ways did not, how- ever, prevent his having a good practice. People often tolerate 732 HISTORY OF EASTON. irregularities in a physician that would ruin the reputation of any one else. They are only “ eccentricities,’ which are supposed by some persons to add a certain piquancy and interest to a doctor, but which are sometimes disgraceful moral depravities. The pure and high-minded regard these eccentricities in their true light as sins, and would not tolerate them were there other medical service available. If any man ought to be pure, tem- perate, and good, it is the physician, who often comes nearer to the real heart of persons and of homes than even the min- ister, and who might be a helper not only to the body, but to the spirit, in noble and Christian ways, in those pathetic scenes of sickness and sorrow where his duty often calls him. Dr. Zephaniah would, however, when he had a severe case un- der treatment, keep sober. There were persons who regarded him as very skilful, and said that the sight of his old gray sur- tout did them more good than the learned practice of more edu- cated doctors. “Dr. Zeph.” will long be remembered, and not without pity, as one of the “characters” of Easton. He died June 5, 1855. FREDERIC J. RipLtey, M.D., was born in Easton, November 10, 1858, and is the son of Samuel B. and Rebecca (Bisbee) Ripley. He graduated from the Easton High School in June, 1876, entered Dartmouth College, and graduated there June 24, 1880. He studied medicine in the Harvard Medical School, graduating June 27, 1883, and began practice as a physician in the city of Brockton, September 12; was elected city physician in January, 1884, and re-elected in January, 1885 and 1886, and served on the Brockton Board of Health as clerk for 1884 and 1885. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and is one of the censors of the Plymouth District Medical Society. Dr. W. P. Savary, son of Charles P. and Sarah H. Savary, was born in Groveland, Massachusetts, April 10, 1852. He began the study of dentistry with Dr. H. E. Wales, of Haver- hill, Massachusetts, in 1878. In 1881 he was employed as as- sistant in the office of Dr. Packard, of Brockton, and took up his residence at North Easton, December 30, 1884, where he still PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 733 continues in the practice of his profession. August 3, 1879, Dr. Savary married Alice M. Richardson, of Haverhill; they have now three children. Cates Swan, M.D., the youngest child of Caleb and Sarah (Semple) Swan, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Sep- tember 22, 1793. He entered Harvard University in 1811, and graduated in 1814, maintaining while there, it is said, a credit- able standing for talent, behavior, and application. Among his classmates were Dr. James Walker, later president of the Col- lege, and William H. Prescott the historian. At the age of twenty-one Caleb Swan began the study of medicine under the instruction of Dr. Jonathan Wales, Jr., of Randolph, Massachu- setts, and after obtaining his degree settled in Easton, in the year 1816, continuing here in the practice of medicine, never interrupted for more than a week or two by sickness or travel, for fifty-four years. He died March 18, 1870. On coming to Easton Dr. Swan began at once to inspire confi- dence as a physician, and to build up a medical practice that grad- ually extended beyond the limits of the town, he being often called for consultation in cases of serious illness for many miles around. In his later years he showed decided leanings towards Homeeopathy, and for this reason his name was dropped from the membership rolls of the Massachusetts Medical Society, which he had joined in 1833. He was one of the founders of the Bristol North District Medical Society in 1849, of which, March 10, 1852, he was made president for one year. Four of his sons have become physicians, His reputation drew many students into his office, and few doctors have had so large a number of young men for medical pupils as he. Dr. Swan became very early identified with various humani- tarian enterprises. In the great temperance movement of 1826 and the following years he was an active participant, encour- aging it in every way, being accustomed to make public addres- ses upon it, — addrésses characterized by vigor, point, and good sense. He was always interested in education, and frequently spoke upon this topic; and while he steadily refused all other offices, he was willing to serve upon the board of school com- mittee of Easton, in which position he rendered efficient service. 734 HISTORY OF EASTON. At one time Dr. Swan was interested and prominent in politics, being in 1840 an earnest supporter of the election of General Harrison, at the same time declaring that if Harrison was elected he would join the Liberty Party, afterward known as the Free ‘Soil Party. This he did, and became a very pronounced Anti- slavery man. He was a candidate on the Free Soil ticket for representative to Congress, his principal opponent being Ar- temus Hale, of Bridgewater, who, after several elections result- ing in no choice, was finally chosen. Dr. Swan, on the same party’s ticket, ran for governor against N. P. Banks. In 1865, being chosen on the ticket of the Republican Party which had grown out of the Free Soil Party, Dr. Swan served as repre- sentative in the State Legislature, and in 1867 was chosen a State senator. He was intensely opposed to the Know Nothing movement, which swept the State like an epidemic, and had a most surprising and not yet understood means of knowing what went on in the secret meetings of that party. In his intercourse with others Dr. Swan was suave, genial, and agreeable, a companionable man, and as welcome in a social as in a professional way in the homes of those who knew him. But with all his suavity he never yielded a hair’s breadth in discus- sion or action in matters of political principle. In religious views he was a Swedenborgian. His brother-in-law, the late George W. Johnson, of Buffalo, New York, under date of 1839, wrote of him as follows :— “ His heart is in his profession. Like most others of his profession he possesses great knowledge of men, and tact in managing their weaknesses. He possesses also a placable and generous temper, is fond of wit and humor, which he has displayed from a child, and has few or no enemies. His mind delights in the investigation and dis- covery of truth. He rejects no theory till he has sounded it and found it wanting, examining everything for himself. Yet he is no visionary. His mind is characterized by activity, love of research, and caution. I believe he had one of the best of hearts.” Caleb Swan was three times married, first to Ruth Barrell, of East Bridgewater, October 3, 1816, who died January 13, 1830. He was again married, February 14, 1831, to Louisa S. John- son, of Enfield, New Hampshire, who died September 6, 1860. PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 735 He had four children by his first, seven by his second, and none by his last marriage. Four of the children died before coming to maturity, and two afterward. Four of his sons became phy- sicians, and one a lawyer. Of the two daughters now living, Ruth Barrell was married September 17, 1851, to the Hon. Justin S. Morrill, so long and still honorably known as United States Senator from Vermont; the other, Louisa S. Swan, makes her home with her sister just named. Grorce W. J. Swan, M.D., son of Dr. Caleb and Louisa S. (Johnson) Swan, was born in Easton, September 8, 1836; studied at Exeter Academy, took several courses of lectures at the Harvard Medical School, and some at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. He settled in Easton, and engaged here in the practice of medicine. November 13, 1856, he married Elizabeth E. Hayward. Dr. George Swan died in Easton, Jan- uary 10, 1870; his wife died December 6, 1880. James Cates Swan, M.D., son of Dr. Caleb and of Ruth (Barrell) Swan, was born in Easton, June 2, 1828; studied medicine with his father, attended lectures at the Harvard Medical School in 1847-49, and other lectures at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, but graduated from neither. Settling finally at Cocheset Village, in West Bridgewater, he has built up a large. practice, — having also an office in Brock- ton. June 9g, 1850, James C. Swan married Harriet A. Copeland. They have had three children, one of whom, Caleb, became a Homeeopathic physician, and settled in Taunton. Mrs. Swan died December 7, 1880, — the Doctor marrying for a second wife Ada Hervey. JEssE Jounson Swan, M.D., son of Dr. Caleb and Louisa S. (Johnson) Swan, was born in Easton, December 14, 1849; studied at Bristol Academy, Taunton, and at the Stoughton- ham Institute at Sharon. He read medicine two years with his father, and one with his brother Channing; attended two courses of lectures at the Harvard Medical School in 1869-71, and one course at the Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago, from which he graduated in March, 1882. He began in April, 736 HISTORY OF EASTON. 1872, the practice of medicine in Easton, where he still resides, although he has at times practised elsewhere. WILuiam E. Cuanninc Swan, M.D., son of Dr. Caleb and of Louisa S. (Johnson) Swan, was born in Easton, June 14, 1842 ; studied at the Thetford Academy, and attended lectures at the Harvard Medical School, receiving his diploma March 8, 1865. He had, however, settled in Stoughton in 1863, where he began practice, and attended the medical lectures afterward. November 27, 1866, he married Estelle J. Parker, of Stoughton, and they have one son, Charles L., born December 17, 1867. Dr. Swan still resides at Stoughton, and has a large practice there and in the vicinity. Byron H. Strout, DD.S., son of Sanford B. and of Melvina (Torrey) Strout, was born in Easton, July 28, 1861. He gradu- ated from the Boston Dental College in 1882, began the practice of dentistry in Boston in March of that year, and continued there until October, 1883, during which time he was also de- monstrator in charge of the mechanical department of the Den- tal College. He removed to Taunton in October, 1883, where he still follows his profession. Dr. Strout was married June 2, 1881, to Alice H. Mertins, of Evergreen, Alabama, whither he had removed with his parents from Easton, in 1875. FRANK ELMER TILDEN, M.D., son of Francis and Alvira M. Tilden, was born in Easton, April 13, 1853, received a High School education in Easton, and took a full course of study in the Medical School of Harvard University, from which he re- ceived the degree of Doctor of Medicine, June 28, 1876. Fora short time he was assistant in the Free Dispensary for Women in Boston, and began practice in Easton in the fall of 1876, locating in North Easton village, where he still follows his profession. November 12, 1884, Dr. Tilden married Ellen L. Leonard. The foregoing physicians are those who have had a more or less complete medical education, and have practised their pro- fession according to the regular methods. But in addition to PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 737 these regular practitioners there are others who have devoted themselves to the art of healing, carrying it on by methods of their own, and not without success. There is no sufficient rea- son why, because they have not followed the customary standards of medical practice, they should not have a notice here; brief sketches of them are accordingly given. Dr. GrorcE BretTT, son of Jonathan and Martha (Bartlett) Brett, was born in Boston, December 3, 1829. His father died . September 30, 1834, and his mother then returned to Easton, where May 10, 1838, she was married to Jason G. Howard. George Brett became a shoe-manufacturer, carrying on busi- ness for some years in North Easton village. Since he was twenty-five years of age he has cured headaches and neuralgia by manipulation. In 1875 he was induced to try his power upon a rheumatic patient in’ East Stoughton, who had suffered severely, and who had not been able for two months to move his swollen ankle. The patient experienced immediate relief. “TI went home,” said Mr. Brett, “never dreaming there was busi- ness in it.” The result of his success in this case was that the halt, lame, and sick of East Stoughton began a pilgrimage to him. “What will you go to East Stoughton and see ten sick people for?” some one asked him. “Ten dollars” he answered. He went, receiving his first money as a practitioner, and in one year thereafter did a business worth three thousand dollars. His fame increased. He opened an office in Brockton and East Stoughton. Some Boston people induced him, in the spring of 1876, to open an office in that city. Patients come to him now from nearly every State in the Union, and from the Provinces also. Dr. Brett claims to possess the “gift of healing, without medicine or liniment,” but makes no pretension to clairvoyance . or “spirit influence” or “ Faith-cure.” He says that he can di- agnose accurately seventy-five per cent of the cases presented to him, and does it merely by taking the patient by the hand. Twenty-five per cent do not respond, and he tells them he can- not help them. He also claims that he can do as well in one disease as in another, and that he can treat forty patients in a day, and suffer no exhaustion therefrom. The Doctor has a very extensive and lucrative practice. 47 738 HISTORY OF EASTON. Dr. ASAHEL Situ, son of Michael and Betsy (Crane) Smith, of Canton, was born in Bradford, New Hampshire, July 25, 1814. He began to practise the healing art in Easton, in the year 1850. His method is called clairvoyance, a species of trance, by means of which he claims to diagnose diseases. His remedies are chiefly botanical specifics. Dr. Smith married Almira Gilbert, of Sharon, and they have had ten children. Dr. Witt1am B. WessTER, son/of Isaac and Betsy (French) Webster, was born in Stark, Maine, June 11, 1832. His parents removed to North Bridgewater in 1838, where he continued to live, though they subsequently returned to Maine. Mr. Webster was for several years a shoemaker ; but fourteen years ago he began the practice of medicine in Easton, claiming to diagnose diseases by means of clairvoyance. His remedies are mainly botanical, and he is said to prepare them with great care. March 31, 1858, he married Mary Jane, daughter of Levi and Rachel (Sumner) French, of North Bridgewater, who was born August 12, 1836. They have one child, a son. Dr. Joun P. Witson, son of Eliphalet and Almira (Randall) Wilson, was born in Easton, October 19, 1837. Mr. Wilson became quite early a clairvoyant physician. During a sick- ness, in which he was treated by Dr. Asahel Smith, the latter suggested to him that he might develop this clairvoyant power and make his living by its exercise. The suggestion was adopted. Mr. Wilson practised upon the West Bridgewater people for a short apprenticeship of six months, in 1857. In 1858 he began the same treatment in Easton, living in Poquan- ticut until about twelve years ago. He then moved to Mansfield, where he set up a drug store, which he carries on in connection with his practice. December 6, 1864, he enlisted as a soldier, and went into camp at Readville; was not however called to the front, but was discharged May 12, 1865. November 25, 1858, Mr. Wilson married Susan L. Buck. They have had seven children, four of whom are living. Before concluding this chapter four other persons ought to be briefly mentioned, inasmuch as they have assumed or acquired the title of doctor. PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS. 739 One of them was Dr. JosEPH BELCHER, a son of the Rev. Joseph Belcher, of Easton. Doctor Belcher early became a resi- dent of Stoughton, was a volunteer in the French and Indian War, and gained what little reputation he enjoyed as a physician “by preparing eye-water and a medicine for rickets, either of his own invention or from a recipe which he got from some one else. His daughter, Mrs. Israel Guild, continued to make eye- water until within my time.” + On page 458 of the “ History of Bristol County” the statement is made that James L. Perry, son of Dr. James Perry, was a doctor of dental surgery. The writer can discover no sufficient evidence that this statement is true. The real fact is that James Leonard Perry was what would now be designated as a veteri- nary surgeon, but what half a century. ago was plainly called a “horse doctor.” He kept an inn on the Bay road, south of Easton, and afterward lived in Mansfield, near Easton, at both of which places he carried on his business with success, and gained high repute in his art for many miles around. He was born in Easton, March 9, 1802, married November 20, 1825, Phebe N. Hodges, of Norton, who died April 18, 1848. He died March 8, 1878. Wasuincton L. Ames, now of Bridgewater, prefixes to his signature the title of doctor. This is assumed on account of his having practised as a veterinary surgeon. Mr. Ames, the son of Jotham and Polly (Lothrop) Ames, was born in Easton, July 20, 1812. He has made his home in Bridgewater for many years. There is one other native of Easton, claiming the title of doctor, to whom we ought perhaps at least to allude before clos- ing this chapter. This person was a woman, who practised one branch of medical science, but whose career is clouded with infamy, and whom it will be better to leave nameless. Residents of Easton have no doubt observed that the writer has maintained a judicious silence in regard to more than one person who has been noticed in this chapter. Let not his silence, however, be interpreted as indifference concerning the gross immoralities he has left unmentioned, for such things cannot be thought of by any true man or woman without deep sorrow and indignation. 1 From a letter of Newton Talbot, Esq., of Boston, to the writer. 740 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXXVII. LAWYERS. Epmunp ANDREWS. — JAMES P. BARLOw. — JoHN AuGusTUS BOLLEs. — Daniex F. BuckLey.— CHARLES H. DEANS. — GEORGE W. DEANS. — FREDERIC V. FULLER. — HENRY J. FULLER. — Cyrus LOTHROP. — GEORGE VaN NeEss_ LoTHRopP. — JOHN J. O’CONNELL. — JASON REED. — EDWARD SELEE. — Louis C. SoUTHARD. — CHARLES L. Swan. — DANIEL WHEATON. — GEORGE WHEATON. — HENRY G. WHEATON. — GUILFORD WHITE. HIS chapter will give some account of the lawyers who were native to or have practised their profession in Easton. They are mentioned in alphabetical order. Epmunp ANDREws is the first resident of Easton who is positively known to have practised the profession of the law, being the attorney chosen by the Baptists to defend their cause when several of them were arrested and imprisoned in 1764 for refusing to pay the ministerial rates for the support of the town church. Edmund was a son of Capt. Edmund Andrews, of Taunton, and in October, 1742, he married Keziah Dean and moved to Norton, where he resided until after 1746, coming to Easton probably not long after 1750. He saw some service in the French and Indian War. Mr. Andrews did not have much legal business, but turned his hand to farming and innkeeping, being licensed for the latter from 1761 to 1773. His house was on what is now Poquanticut Avenue, not far from its northern end. His name is found on the tax-lists for the northwest quar- ter of the town until 1784, when it no longer appears, and he must then have died or moved away, — probably the latter, as no record of his death appears, and none of his family were left here. LAWYERS. 741 James P. Bartow was born in Easton, February 22, 1863, and graduated from the Easton High School in June, 1879. For five years afterward he was working most of the time in shoe-shops in Brockton. October 1, 1884, he entered the Boston University Law School, from which he graduated June 2, 1886. He took the Suffolk Bar examination June 19 of the same year, and was admitted to practise law July 20. Joun Aucustus BoLLes was a resident of Easton while a member of Brown University, for a time taught school in the No. 2 schoolhouse, and in 1831 was librarian of the Methodist Social Library. He was the eighth child’ of the Rev. Matthew and Anna (Hibbard) Bolles; was born in Ashford, now Eastford, Connecticut, April 16, 1809; graduated at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 1829; Master of Arts, 1832; subse- quently made LL.D.; admitted to the Boston Bar in 1833; Sec- retary of State of Massachusetts, 1843; member of the Board of Education ; Commissioner of Boston Harbor and Back Bay, 1852; and Judge-Advocate Seventh Army Corps, 1862, He was on the staff of his brother-in-law, Maj.-Gen. John A. Dix, until the close of the Civil War, and then went into the Navy Department as Judge-Advocate, remaining there until his death, which oc- curred May 25,1878. Mr. Bolles was the author of a prize essay on a Congress of Nations, published by the American Peace Society; of an essay on Usury and Usury Laws, published by the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and which led to the suspen- sion of the usury laws on short bills of exchange; of various articles in the North American Review, Christian Examiner, Christian Review, New England Magazine, and other periodicals, and was the first editor of the Boston Daily Journal. November 11, 1834, Mr. Bolles married Catherine Hartwell Dix, daughter of Col. Timothy Dix, of Boscawen, New Hamp- shire; they had six children, one of whom, Timothy Dix, is lieutenant in the United States Navy, and another, Frank, is connected with Harvard College. DanreL F. BucKLEy was born in Easton, December 3, 1864, and graduated from the High School of Easton in 1881; studied 1 The above facts were kindly furnished the writer by Matthew Bolles, Esq., of Boston, brother of John A. Bolles. 742 HISTORY OF EASTON. law at the Boston University Law School, from which he grad- uated in the class of 1885. Mr. Buckley was admitted to the Bar at Taunton, April 30, 1886. Cuarces Henry Deans, son of Dr. Samuel and of Hannah LeBaron (Wheaton) Deans, was born in Easton, May 2, 1832. He pursued a course of classical study in the Academy in New Hampton, N. H., for four years, and entered in 1854 the Sopho- more class of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. At the close of this year his health failed, and he was obliged to leave college without graduating, — his class graduating in 1857. Subsequently to leaving college he studied law with Samuel B. Noyes, Esq., and with Ellis Ames, Esq., of Canton, Mass., being admitted to the Bar of Bristol County in 1858. He immediately opened an office in West Medway, where he has continued in the practice of his profession to the present time. Mr. Deans served the Government two years during the Civil War as commissioner on the Board of Enrollment, has held the office of trial justice for twenty years, and served on the school board for eighteen years, being still a member. He is also a trustee of the Med- way Savings Bank, being one of its original petitioners for a charter, and for fourteen years has been president of the New England Awl and Needle Company, a position he still holds. He has also been president of the Evergreen Cemetery Asso- ciation since its incorporation in 1871. November 21, 1861, Mr. Deans married Mary M. Harris, of Westborough, They have had five children, all of whom are living. The eldest, who is their only son, Harris Wheaton Deans, is now in business at Jamaica Plain. GrEoRGE WHEATON Dkeans, son of Dr. Samuel and Hannah LeBaron (Wheaton) Deans, was born in Easton, May 29, 1827. He was two years in Brown University, studied law in the Har- vard Law School, went to California in 1849, where he stayed about four years, having some success in mining. He returned to Taunton about 1855 and practised law, but after two years went into the hardware business in Boston, and made money. In the hard times beginning in 1872 he suffered reverses, and finally abandoned mercantile pursuits and returned to his profes- LAWYERS. 743 sion, which he practised in Jacksonville, Florida, whither he went on account of his health. George W. Deans married, January 25, 1855, Nancy Shaw Richards, of Dedham. Of their three children, one alone, George DeWolf Deans, survives, who lives in Boston. Freperic V. FULLER, son of Henry J. and Rebecca (Vincent) Fuller, was born in Easton, September 9, 1863. He studied one year at Harvard College, and then left it to enter the Law School of the Boston University, from which he graduated in 1884. He was admitted to the Bar September 9, 1884, the day he became twenty-one years old. Mr. Fuller is associated with his father in the practice of the law in Taunton. February 2, 1886, he married Ettie C. Strange, of Taunton. Henry J. FuLier, son of Harrison and Mary (Morse) Fuller, was born in Mansfield, May 5, 1834. He fitted for college at the East Greenwich Academy, entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., in 1853, and graduated with one of the honors of the class in 1857. He had intended to enter the min- istry, but was induced by his room-mate to study law; spent some time in the law-office of Mr. Hyde, at Worcester, studied a year in the law school at Albany, N. Y., and completed his stud- ies in the office of Ellis Ames, Esq., of Canton. Mr. Fuller was admitted to the Bar April 10, 1860, in the Supreme Court at Dedham. At the urgent request of Ellis Ames he then went to Easton to assist him in closing up some cases in which Mr. Ames had engaged with Edward Selee, who had practised law here a short time and had just died. Mr. Fuller remained in Easton seven years, removing to Taunton April 13, 1867, where he has since followed his profession. Both in Easton and Taunton Mr. Fuller served several years on the school board, and at least at the former place was the terror of back- ward scholars, whose intellects under his close questioning were soon put to hopeless confusion. He has been a trustee of the Public Library at Taunton, and has been a member of the city government for several years, but has held no other important official positions, wisely deeming it best for him to attend strictly to his profession. This will account for his high standing therein 744 HISTORY OF EASTON. and the excellent success he has secured. Mr. Fuller is a man of character and ability, and one of the leading citizens of Taunton. November 9, 1862, Henry J. Fuller was married to Rebecca J. Vincent, of Edgartown. She died March 31, 1872. He has two children, both sons, and natives of Easton; the older one has just been spoken of; the younger one, Albert, is now a senior in Harvard College. Cyrus Loturop, the son of Edmund and of Betty (Howard) Lothrop, was born in Easton, in 1789, graduated from Brown University in 1810, and subsequently graduated from the Litch- field Law School. He married, probably in 1814, Abby W., daughter of Dea. John Seabury, of Taunton, Mass. She was born May 22, 1795, and died in her native town, Nov. 22, 1851, a lady of great personal excellence and worth Mr. Lothrop was a lawyer of ability. The elaborate and eulogistic inscription upon his tombstone, however, is to be read with caution. His death was the result of an accident by which he was thrown from his carriage; this accident occurred in Taunton, May 21, 1854. GEORGE Van Ness Loturop, attorney-at-law, Detroit, son of Howard and Sally (Williams) Lothrop, was born in Easton, August 8, 1817.2. His early years were spent on his father’s farm. After an academical course he entered Brown University, and graduated in the year 1838. In the fall of the same year he entered the Law School of Harvard University, then in charge of Judge Story and Professor Greenleaf. In the summer of 1839, being somewhat out of health, Mr. Lothrop came to Prairie Ronde, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, where his brother, the Hon. Edwin H. Lothrop, a man of note in the State politics and government of Michigan, owned and cultivated an extensive and productive farm. Here intermitting his studies, he spent most of his time for two or three years in practical farming, and in building up his health. 1 Lathrop Family Memoir, p. 342. 2 For this admirable sketch of the life and character of Mr. Lothrop, the writer is indebted to D. Bethune Duffield, Esq., of Detroit, Michigan. LAWYERS. 745 In the spring of 1843 Mr. Lothrop came to Detroit, and resumed the study of the law in the office of Joy & Porter, then prominent members of the Bar of that city. The first case he ever argued was before the Supreme Court of the State, prior to his admission to the Bar, special leave being granted by the court for the purpose. It was the celebrated case of the Michi- gan State Bank against Hastings and others.! So ably was the case presented by the young student, that the members of the court did not hesitate openly to express their admiration of the effort, and to predict for him that brilliant career which he has since realized. In the spring of 1844 he began to prac- tise in Detroit as a law partner of D. Bethune Duffield, Esq., under the firm name of Lothrop & Duffield, which continued until 1856. In April, 1848, Mr. Lothrop was appointed attorney-general of the State, —the former attorney-general, Hon. Edward Mun- day, having been appointed to a seat on the Supreme Bench of the State, and held the office until January, 1851. Some excitement occurring about this time, in consequence of a real or supposed purpose on the part of the Roman Catholics in Detroit to secure a portion of the school funds for the benefit of their schools, Mr. Lothrop enlisted earnestly in a popular move- ment to counteract the scheme. An independent ticket for city officers was the result, and he became the nominee for recorder of the city, being triumphantly elected to a position for which he certainly could have no personal ambition. Mr. Lothrop has two or three times received the vote of the Democratic members of the State Legislature for United States Senator, and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1867, the records of which bear abundant evidence of his position and influence in that body. The Legislature of 1873 authorized the appointment of a committee to prepare amendments to the Con- stitution of the State ; and the Governor, Hon. John J. Bagley, looking to both political parties for members of the commission, recognized Mr. Lothrop’s position in his party by appointing him to a seat in the body. This, however, was respectfully declined. For twenty-five years Mr. Lothrop has been general attorney of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, and still continues 1 See 1 Douglass’s Michigan Reports, p. 225. 746 HISTORY OF EASTON. to be their adviser, besides being also a trusted adviser of many other corporations. He is essentially a man of work, — idleness is unknown to him; and as the fruit of such a life of industry he enjoys a moderately large fortune. From the time of his entrance upon active professional life (1844) Mr. Lothrop has enjoyed a wide celebrity throughout Michigan as a lawyer, politician, and cultured, courteous, and honorable gentleman. His legal record runs through the entire catalogue of Michigan Reports, embracing a period of more than thirty-five years. Mr. Lothrop very early became a representative man in the Democratic party ; and had that party remained in power, a seat in the Senate of the United States would have been tendered him, unsolicited. Indeed, he has, by a prevailing sentiment, been looked upon as having a right to the best positions, and has been the standard by which other public men have been measured in the field of legal learning, eloquence, and general attainments. No man in the State is his superior as an orator. He possesses a peculiar charm of voice and manner; and that which with some advocates would in the energy of forensic appeal seem bitterness, with him is simple earnestness. A true chivalry seems to inspire Mr. Lothrop’s every act. Without ever being time-serving, but always obeying conviction regard- less of consequences, he yet has never been unpopular, — al- though this species of valor would appear to be fatal to most public men. If ambitious, ambition has been his servant, not his master. A change of political profession with the turn of political tide would have secured for him the highest honors; but he believed in the principles of the Democratic Party, and his views must change before a shred of his political gar- ment could change. Mr. Lothrop twice led the forlorn hope of his party as their candidate for Congress in his district, when the power of the opposition was so overwhelming that defeat was a foregone conclusion. He led the Michigan dele- gation at the Charleston National Convention, in 1860; and it may also be said that he led the Douglas sentiment in that body, where he was pitted against the ablest as well as the most inveterate and malignant champions of that political schism which was the first really audible muttering of the storm that in less than a year burst upon the country. In LAWYERS. 747 that emergency Mr. Lothrop maintained his ground with a courage and constancy that would have suffered martyrdom rather than yield a principle. He believed that a vital principle was at stake, and did not hesitate to characterize the disorgan- izing element in the convention as the premeditated secession and treason which it subsequently proved to be. Mr. Lothrop gave a cordial support to all just and necessary measures of the Government during the war, but not to those that he considered unjust. At the time of Mr. Vallandigham’s arrest Mr. Lothrop addressed a public meeting in Detroit in protest against it, not that he would shield Mr. Vallandigham from the just consequences of his acts, but that all should be done according to law and not in defiance of it. He understood the professional bearing of the case, and regarded the occasion as seriously imperilling the most sacred rights if a citizen could be arrested by a mere military order, and subjected to pains and penalties without even being permitted the benefit of a remedial writ. Many a man in his position would have shrunk from taking this stand at a time when not only partisan spirit ran high, but when to oppose the popular sentiment was deemed little short of treason. But personal considerations were prob- ably not regarded by Mr. Lothrop. He was a sentinel on the watch-tower of the law; the law was everything,— he was nothing in comparison. In 1885, after Mr. Cleveland’s administration came into power, Mr. Lothrop was appointed United States Minister to Russia, — a position which his ability and learning, his known worth of character and the dignity of his bearing, qualify him to fill with exceptional honor to the country he represents. He now resides at St. Petersburg with his wife and daughters. May 13, 1847, Mr. Lothrop married Almira, daughter of Gen- eral Oliver and Anna (Chapin) Strong; they have had six chil- dren, — George Howard, Charles Bradley, Henry Brown, Annie Strong, Cyrus Edwin, and Helen Ames. Their first child, George Howard, died in infancy. Joun J. O’ConNnELt was born in Easton, October 2, 1860. In September, 1875, he entered the college of St. Sulpice, Mon- treal, Canada, a preparatory seminary for those desiring to enter 748 HISTORY OF EASTON. the clerical state. Here he spent three years, when in Septem- ber, 1878, he entered Boston College, where he graduated and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, the third of Easton’s sons to receive the honor from the same institution of learning. In October of the same year he began to read law at the Boston University Law School, and after three years of study received a diploma from that institution and was admitted to the Bar. He was admitted to practise at the Bristol County Bar in June, 1885. June 19, 1886, Mr. O’Connell received an appointment to a clerkship in the Law division of the Treasury department at Washington. Jason REED, son of the Rev. William and Olive (Pool) Reed, was born in Easton, October 14, 1794. Evincing a taste for study quite early, his father began fitting him for college, but was interrupted by death, after which Jason’s preparation was completed by his uncle, the Rev. David Gurney, of Middlebor- ough; and entering Harvard in 1812 he graduated in 1816. Hav- ing chosen the law for a profession, he began a course of study with the Hon. William Morton Davis, of Plymouth, Massachu- setts, completing it with the Hon. Frederic Allen, of Hallowell, Maine, and was admitted to the Bar in 1820. He began law- practice in Jefferson, Maine, soon afterward, but the climate proving too severe for his health he removed to Lexington, Massachusetts. Mr. Reed married, May 19, 1824, Nancy Eliza- beth Coates, of Milton, daughter of Ezra Coates, Esq. His health declining, he was forced to engage in a more active out- of-door life and abandon the profession which he loved. In 1836 he went to Milton, purchased the estate of his late father- in-law, and lived there the remainder of his life. Mr. Reed held several offices in Milton, —was town clerk for over thirty years, and town treasurer for seventeen years; was a member of the school committee, and for several years a member of the Legislature. He was also for many years secretary and treas- urer of the Milton Unitarian Society, and was universally loved and respected by his townsmen as a man of unswerving integ- rity and kindly courtesy. Only a year or two ago in his memory they named a road cut through his estate the “ Reedsdale” road. Mrs. Reed died February 18, 1873. Mr. Reed was stricken with LAWYERS. 749 sickness a week later, and died July 13 following. He left one daughter, Elizabeth Lyman Reed, who now resides in Milton. EpwarpD SELEEg, son of John and Catherine (Pierce) Selee, was born in Easton, May 2, 1831. Edward taught school for some time, as did all his brothers except John. He entered Amherst College, but did not remain long enough to graduate ; studied law with Ellis Ames, Esq., of Canton, and was admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1859. He opened a law-office at North Easton village and continued in practice here until his death. Mr. Selee married June 23, 1860, Mary L. Hartwell. He was sick with typhoid fever at the time, and hopeless of recovery ; the marriage was to enable her to inherit his prop- erty. He died five days afterward. Mr. Selee was spoken of as diligent, hard-working, and likely to win a good success in his profession. The inscription upon his tombstone reads: “He was a zealous member of the Bar, with a strong mind, a warm heart ; and was a true friend.” Louis C. SouTHARD was born in Portland, Maine, April 1, 1854; studied law in the office of the Hon. W. W. Thomas and Clarence Hale in Portland, and was in the class of 1877 at the Boston University Law School, but was prevented by a serious illness from graduating with his class. He was ad- mitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court at Portland, in July, 1877, and located at North Easton village on the ist day of November following. Mr. Southard had already begun law practice in Portland, was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in December, and remained local attorney in North Easton for two years, since which time he has had a law-office, with increasing business, in Boston. June 1, 1881, Mr. Southard married Nellie, daughter of Joseph and Lucy Ann (Keith) Copeland. Cuarces L. Swan, son of Dr. Caleb and Louisa S. (Johnson) Swan, was born in Easton, February 2, 1840. He entered Har- vard College in 1855, and graduated in 1859 at the age of nine- teen years, being the fifth in rank in a class of one hundred. He studied law in the Harvard Law School, from which he gradu- ated in 1862, taking the second prize. Continuing his studies € 750 HISTORY OF EASTON. in the office of Ellis Ames, Esq., he finally settled in the prac- tice of his profession in Stoughton, Massachusetts, where he was appointed a trial justice and a commissioner of insolvency. He was prominent also in the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Swan died November 29, 1865, and his funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. St. John Chambré of the Universalist Church in Stoughton. He was regarded as very promising, and his early death was much lamented. DanizEL WHEATON was the son of Dr. George and Elizabeth (Morey) Wheaton, of Norton, where he was born, September Io, 1767. Dr. George was the son of Ephraim, Jr., the grandson of Ephraim, both of Swansea, and great-grandson of Robert Wheaton, who was of Rehoboth as early as 1643. Daniel Wheaton graduated at Harvard University in 1791, studied law, and moved to Easton in April, 1796, locating on the Bay road near where his son Daniel B. Wheaton now lives. He practised law throughout his life, being often employed by the town in its lawsuits, which were frequent; but he seldom held any town office. Mr. Wheaton was made postmaster January 27, 1801, and held that position over forty years. He married Hannah LeBaron Goodwin, February 3, 1794, and had six children. She died July 31, 1831. He then married her sister, Mary R., Sep- tember 20, 1832, who died November 14, 1834. November 13, 1836, he married Hannah LeBaron, who died December 6, 1852. Mr. Wheaton died September 1, 1841, the date on the tombstone, September 11, being incorrect. GEORGE WHEATON was the oldest son of Daniel and Hannah (Goodwin) Wheaton, and was born in Easton, May 10, 1796. He fitted for college with the Rev. David Gurney, of Middle- borough, and graduated at Harvard University in 1814; studied law in the Cambridge Law School, and practised the profession for one year at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, about 1822. He then removed to Taunton, Massachusetts, and practised there until his death, or about three years. Mr. Wheaton married Frances Willard, of Taunton, He is said to have been a very able lawyer and a popular man; was much interested in military matters, and September 23, 1825, was appointed major of the Second LAWYERS. 751 Brigade, Fifth Division, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. Mr. Wheaton died in the autumn of 1826. Henry G. Wueaton, son of Daniel and Hannah (Goodwin) Wheaton, was born in Easton, December 13, 1799; fitted for college with his father, and graduated from Harvard Univer- sity in 1820. He then studied law with William Baylies, Esq., of West Bridgewater, and subsequently located at Albany, New York, where he practised law for about thirty years. Novem- ber 6, 1825, he married Rachel Lush, of Albany. Later in life Mr. Wheaton removed to New York City. His death was caused by an accident on the Harlem Railroad, August 26, 1865. Stepping at night from the wrong side of the cars, he was struck by a passing train and instantly killed. His neck was broken, although no sign of injury appeared on his body except a slight bruise on one shoulder. GuILForD WHITE, son of Alanson and Rebecca (Billings) White, was born in Easton, August 17, 1822. He attended the North Bridgewater Academy and Mr. Perkins’s school in the old chapel at Easton Centre. In January, 1857, he began the study of law in the office of J. H. & T. L. Wakefield at Boston ; was examined for admission to the Bar in August, 1858, by Pliny Merrick, one of the Supreme Court Judges, and was admitted in the Supreme Court at Boston,in September. In October, 1867, he was admitted in the United States Circuit Court at Boston, on motion of George S. Hilliard, then United States District Attorney, and opened an office in Boston, and still has one there. Mr. White married, September 14, 1845, Olivia J. Jack- son. He has always made his home at South Easton. 752 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER XXXVIII. COLLEGE GRADUATES. FREDERICK L, AMES. — OLIVER AMES, 2d. —- CHARLES R. BALLARD. — MAITLAND C. LAMPREY. — EDWIN Howarp LoTHROP. — COMMANDER GEORGE F. F. WILDE. HIS chapter is not intended, as its title might imply, to give a sketch of all the college graduates of Easton, inasmuch as many of them have already been spoken of in pre- ceding chapters; it will merely include those natives or citizens of Easton who have graduated from college, and have not devoted themselves to either one of the three professions of divinity, medicine, or law. The Hon: FrepERIcK LorHrop AmMEs, son of Oliver and of Sarah (Lothrop) Ames, was born in Easton, June 8, 1835. He was prepared for college by three years’ study at Concord, Mass., and by finishing the full course of study at Phillips Exeter Acad- emy. He entered Harvard University as Sophomore in 1851, and graduated in 1854. Mr. Ames soon entered business life not only as a member of the great firm of Oliver Ames & Sons, but also on his own account ; and long before he became an heir to a portion of his father’s estate, he had amassed a large fortune of his own by the exercise of extraordinary business abilities that leave him few rivals and perhaps no superiors among the business men of New England. Oliver and Oakes, his father and uncle, it is well known, had become interested in great railroad enterprises, notably among them being the Union Pacific, and F. L. Ames soon engaged largely in such interests himself ; and although he has organized and carried on many other successful enterprises, he is best known in the business world as a railroad man. His extensive undertakings, experience, and success in railroad affairs will COLLEGE GRADUATES. 753 account for the fact that his advice and co-operation in all such matters are eagerly sought and highly valued. Mr. Ames is vice-president of the Old Colony Railroad Com- pany and the Old Colony Steamship Company ; he is also a director in the Western Union Telegraph Company, the Union Pacific Railway Company, the Missouri Pacific, the Texas Pa- cific, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad Companies, and many others. In 1884, in the United States, Canadian, and Mexican Directory of railroad directors, he is recorded as a director in fifty-two different railroad companies, and he has been elected to similar positions since that time. Although he cannot, of course, take an active part in the management of so many railroads, the fact that he is thus connected with them shows the recognized weight of his influence and the strength of his name in this direction. All this is too well known to need any further statement here. Mr. Ames is also president of the First National Bank of Easton, and of the North Easton Savings Bank, and also of the Hoosac Tunnel Dock and Ele- vator Company. It is not desirable here to extend the list of the numerous official positions he is solicited to fill, or at least to allow his name to be connected with. Mr. Ames was in 1872 a member of the State senate, and served while there on the committees on manufactures and agri- culture. He does not however cherish political aspirations, and his tastes disincline him to seek for positions that will bring him into public notice. Mr Ames’s judgment is clear, cool, and sound, unmoved by mere hope, enthusiasm, or excitement of any kind, but going straight to the mark. Neither elated by success, nor depressed by failure, he keeps an even mind amid the distractions of a crowded business life. Finding a keen delight in farming, and especially in floriculture and the cultivation of rare plants, main- taining also a decided and intelligent interest in literary matters, which he will allow no pressure of business to prevent him from cultivating, and delighting in the pleasures and blessings of a happy home, he is able to stand as firmly under the burden and to bear as evenly the friction of great business affairs as any man. He combines reserve and dignity with gentlemanly cour- tesy ; and while he is exceptionally strong in his convictions and 48 754 HISTORY OF EASTON. independent in his character, he is willing others shall enjoy their own convictions undisturbed and be as independent as himself. June 7, 1860, Mr. F. L. Ames married Rebecca C., daughter of James and Nancy Blair, of St. Louis. They have had six chil- dren, of whom all but the first-born are living. He and his family divide the year between their home on the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street, in Boston, and their large and beautiful place at North Easton. OLIVER Ames, 2d, son of Frederick L. and Rebecca C. (Blair) Ames, was born in Easton, October 21, 1864. He was prepared for college at the Adams Academy at Quincy, and at George W. C. Noble’s school in Boston, entering Harvard University in 1882, and graduating in 1886. At present, and before entering upon an active business life, he is enjoying the pleasure and receiving the benefit of a trip round the world, —visiting Japan, China, India, Egypt, as well as several European countries. CuarLes R. BaLLarpD was born in Tinmouth, Vermont, in 1827, fitted for college at Castleton (Vermont) Seminary, en- tered the University of Vermont, at Burlington, in September, 1850, and graduated in August, 1854. He taught school seven winter terms previous to graduation. In the September after graduation Mr. Ballard began teaching as assistant principal in Castleton Seminary, remaining there three years. He was then principal for ten years of academies in Vermont and New York, and after that of normal and high schools in Vermont. While in charge of the Woodstock (Vermont) High School, he received and accepted an invitation to take charge of the Eas- ton High School, coming to Easton and beginning work in Sep- tember, 1871. For six years he did faithful and successful ser- vice in the High School here, and after resigning this position he engaged for about three years in teaching private pupils. March 15, 1880, he began work as the librarian of the Ames Free Library of Easton, a place which he holds at the present time. MairLanp C, Lamprey, son of Ephraim and Bridget (Phelps) Lamprey, was born in Groton, New Hampshire, September 30, 1838. His boyhood was spent in hard farm-work, alternating COLLEGE GRADUATES. 755 with short terms of school in the winter. He prepared for col- lege at New Hampton, N. H., and entered Dartmouth College in the class of 1863. But the demands of the country being urgent, Maitland in 1862 enlisted in Company D, Sixteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers, which went South with General Banks’s expedition, and reached the mouth of the Mississippi River on the last day of 1862. This regiment par- ticipated in the dreary and exhausting campaign in Louisiana, and was so affected by the poisonous malaria of surrounding swamps as seldom to have more than one hundred men fit for duty. Mr. Lamprey was at the engagement at Butte a la Rose, and was with his regiment at the siege and capture of Port Hudson. Like so many of his comrades, he was attacked with chills and fever, and this was followed, after the capture of Port Hudson, with a serious form of dysentery. After a week of this sickness, which greatly reduced him, news came that his regiment was ordered North. He was carried on board the steamboat with what seemed a slim chance of reaching home, was twice singled out at Vicksburg by the surgeons to be left behind, but begged for the privilege of being taken at least as far North as Cairo. The surgeons shrugged their shoulders as they granted his request. For weary, painful days and sleepless nights, kept up by force of will and the hope of reaching home and a mother’s care, he managed at last, more dead than alive, to alight at the railroad station in Concord, New Hampshire, then his father’s residence. It was nearly two years before Mr. Lamprey recovered his health sufficiently to enable him to undertake any serious occu- pation. Though intending to study law after leaving college, he was induced to open a private school while on a visit at Solon, Ohio, and this determined his future calling. He taught four years in Iowa, filled for a time the Chair of languages at the Normal School in Emporia, Kansas, was principal of the Academy in South Berwick, Maine, and of the high schools of Ellsworth, Maine, and Rochester, New Hampshire. He became principal of the Easton High School in 1877, and still holds the position, doing in it thorough and successful work. Mr. Lamprey married, July 12, 1869, Abbie C., daughter of Capt. John Davis, of Yarmouth, Maine ; they have two children. 756 HISTORY OF EASTON. Epwin Howarp Loturop, the son of Howard and of Sally (Williams) Lothrop, was born in Easton, March 22, 1806. He graduated at Amherst College in 1828. “In 1830 he went into the territory of Michigan and purchased a tract of wild land, on which he settled. He married, December 22, 1831, Hannah R., daughter of the Rev. Benjamin and Mary Taylor, who was a native of Swansea, Massachusetts. He removed from his farm to Three Rivers, Michigan, in 1855, where he resided until his death. Mr. Lothrop was considerably employed in public life, and represented his town in the State Legislature, in which in 1844 he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was also President of the State Board of Internal Improve- ments. Mr. Lothrop died February 17, 1874.”1 The citizens of Three Rivers turned out ez masse at his funeral, fifteen hun- dred persons being estimated as in the procession that followed his remains to the grave. CoMMANDER GEORGE Francis Faxon WILpg,? U. S. Navy, son of William Reed and Mary (Thayer) Wilde, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, February 23,1845. After preparation in the Hollis Institute and High School, he entered the U. S. Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, November 30, 1861, having won the cadetship at a competitive examination of eighty applicants. At the semi-annual examination of Febru- ary, 1862, the first forty in this class were selected to complete the entire four years’ course in three years, in order the sooner to supply the great demand for officers in the Civil War, then go- ing on. Thirty-two of the forty succeeded in accomplishing the difficult task, among whom was the subject of this sketch. He graduated in November, 1864, and from December of that year until February, 1865, he served on the war vessel “ New Hamp- shire,” and for the rest of the year on the flag-ship “ Susquehanna,” in the Brazil squadron. He was on the “ Nipsic” during most of 1866, but December 1, 1866, was promoted to be Master on the steamer “ Kearsarge,” South Pacific station, and March 12, 1868, was commissioned lieutenant, serving on the flag-ship “ Contoo- 1 See the Lathrop Family Memoir, pp. 358, 359, where further details are given. 2 Commander Wilde is properly included in this list of college graduates, because the Naval Academy curriculum ranks as a regular University course. COLLEGE GRADUATES. 757 cook” during that year. December 18, 1868, Lieutenant Wilde was commissioned lieutenant-commander, and was on duty on the United States Steamer “ Tennessee,” from 1869 to 1871, on special service connected with the St. Domingo annexation scheme. In 1872 he was on the flag-ship “Wabash” and the steamer “ Plymouth ;” commanded the iron-clad “ Canonicus ” in 1873 and 1874; was at Torpedo station 1875, and at the Navy yard, Boston, 1875 to 1877. During 1878 Commander Wilde was Inspector of Ordnance at the South Boston Iron Com- pany’s works, superintending the constructing of rifled cannon, and afterward, until 1881, served on the United States steamer “Vandalia,” twice receiving while on this vessel the thanks of the Secretary of the Navy for cool and courageous conduct. From 1882 to 1885 he was Commandant at the Key West naval station, and also was light-house inspector of the Seventh Dis- trict. September 25, 1885, he was commissioned Commander. November 26, 1886, Commander Wilde received the high honor of being appointed to the finest command in the U. S. Navy, —that of the new United States steamship “ Dolphin,” a command entirely unsolicited on his part. The “Dolphin” is built of American steel, is 256 feet in extreme length, 32 feet beam, with 2,300 horse-power, 1,485 tons displacement, and a speed of 15 knots, or 1738; miles per hour. She has collision bulk-heads, and properly fitted water-tight compartments. She is the fastest vessel in the navy, has every modern improvement, and is sumptuously fitted out. Her battery is one six-inch breech-loading rifle cannon in pivot, and four Hotchkiss can- non in armored towers. The bow is ram-shaped, and espe- cially strong. In battle she would have the Admiral and Staff on board, as it is considered essential that the commanding admiral should be on board a swift vessel, in order to move rap-- idly from one part of his fleet to another. The governing con- dition in the design of the ‘“ Dolphin” has been the attainment of a high rate of speed that could be maintained for several days. Commander Wilde and his vessel are every way worthy of each other. February 13, 1868, Commander Wilde married Emogen B., daughter of Jason G. and Martha (Bartlett) Howard. Their only child, George H., was born December 8, 1868. He was an 758 HISTORY OF EASTON. interesting boy, frank and generous in disposition, and full of promise; but after a long sickness, borne with wonderful pa- tience and courage, he passed away, November 6, 1885, to the life and joy of another world. Commander Wilde is “a man without fear and without re- proach,” who harmonizes in himself the soldier and the gentle- man. Long may Easton have him for a citizen, and our country claim him as one of her defenders ! MISCELLANEOUS. 759 CHAPTER XXXIX. MISCELLANEOUS. RAILROADS. — NEWSPAPERS. — THE GREAT FLOOD oF 1886.— DAVID THOMPSON, JR., THE ONE-ARMED SOLDIER. — JAMES ADAMS THE POET. — JONATHAN LAWRENCE AND HIS GREAT EXPECTATIONS. — Has EAs- TON AN ENOCH ARDEN CASE? —A SEARCH FOR A SLAVE-TRADER’S ForTuNE. —“ OLD Bunn.” — THE DEvIL’s VisITr TO Easton. — WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. — BIRD-HUNTING. — EAR-MARKS. — SINGULAR DEATH-RECORDS. — CONCLUSION. RAILROADS. HE first railroad connection with Boston enjoyed by Eas- ton people was by the Boston and Providence Railroad, a stage-coach running from Easton to Canton, where the cars were taken. Subsequently, on the completion of the Stoughton Branch of the Boston and Providence line, the stages ran from Easton to Stoughton to make connection with the cars. Early in 1854 “Oliver Ames, Oakes Ames, Howard Lothrop, and their associates and successors” petitioned the Legislature for leave to incorporate a railroad company under the name of the “ Easton Branch Railroad Company.” March 3, 1854, this peti- tion was approved by the Governor; work was at once begun on the new road, and in less than a year it was completed, the first passenger train arriving at North Easton May 16, 1855. The next morning, when the train first started on its return, the rails spread and the engine got off the track. After it was again on the track, Green Hodsdon the conductor, who was much disinclined to come to North Easton at all, said to David Standish the engineer, “ Get on to the engine David, and we ’ll leave this place zo once.” In 1866 the Old Colony Railroad Company, which had pre- ‘viously run trains to Fall River and Newport only by the line through the Bridgewaters, built a new road, which passed through Stoughton, Easton, Taunton, etc., and has become the main line 760 HISTORY OF EASTON. for the New York boat-express trains. The first passenger train to North Easton arrived September 24, 1866. This, of course, superseded the Easton Branch Railroad Company, although the connection with Stoughton by the old line is still maintained for convenience in transporting freight to connect with the Boston and Providence Railroad. NEWSPAPERS. Easton has never published a local newspaper, but has relied upon Stoughton to keep her informed as to what was passing within her borders. The first time the name of the town figured in a newspaper heading was December 10, 1864, when the initial copy of the “ North Easton Budget ” was issued from the press of Wood & Co., in Stoughton. Its principal contributor was Jeremy Lake, who wrote in an easy and vivacious style. One of the local items of this first issue is worth quoting, as it illus- trates a phase of “ progress’? now happily extinct. The item is as follows : — “Mrs. Dr. Cox, who proposed giving a course of lectures here last week, but failed for want of hearers, gave cause of considerable merri- ment by promenading the streets dressed in male attire, — her usual costume.” The “North Easton Budget” continued in existence about one year and a half. At the beginning of 1872, David S. Hasty, a young man of excellent abilities and of independent character, began the pub- lication of the “Easton Journal.” Mr. Hasty lived in North Easton village, but published the paper in Stoughton, conduct- ing it successfully until his death, which occurred April 24, 1877: Some time afterward A. P. Smith was the owner and proprietor. At present it is in the hands of L. W. Standish, of Stoughton. THE GREAT FLOOD OF FEBRUARY, 1886. Until 1886 it had hardly entered into the calculations of Eas- ton people that a serious flood was possible in their town. But on the evening of February 12, after hours of heavy pouring rains which filled the ponds to overflowing, considerable anxiety was felt regarding the dam at Long Pond. The flood-gate had been MISCELLANEOUS. 761 opened, but it did not allow an escape equal to the increase of water in the Pond ; and after eleven o’clock at night it was found that the water was not only flowing over the dam, but eating out channels that threatened swift destruction to the whole structure. If that dam had given way and the whole body of water been let loose at once, the mischief would have been most serious. It would have swept the lower dams away, would have swiftly washed out Main Street near the store, and perhaps near the sta- ble, would have floated off the store, probably have undermined the Hammer Shop, and have swept “the Island” clear of dwellings. Though the torrent might have previously divided near Long Pond, and a portion of it gone by William King’s, the streams would all have united at the Red Factory, taking away the buildings near there, carrying the Morse and Dean Factories away at South Easton, and then rushing on its work of destruction through West Bridgewater, Bridgewater, and lower down the stream. Under the circumstances, therefore, it was of incalculable importance to prevent the dam from breaking away. Oakes A. Ames, who was on the-ground, ordered an alarm. The shop-bell was rung ; men were aroused, to the number of fifty or sixty ; several loads of hay were carted to the spot from the Ames barn, and then in a pouring rain began the fight to save the dam. The hay was thrown into the channels which the water was rapidly cutting out, and stones, earth, ashes, and other materials were heaped upon it, until after several hours of the hardest work the streams were stopped and the dam was made secure. But there was a large overflow of water notwithstanding, and a part of it cut across Canton Street above Picker lane, and down through Edwin Russell’s land into William King’s brook, causing a very bad railroad wash-out a few rods above Elm Street crossing. The various streams met again in Stone’s Pond, and poured thence in a flood over Main Street by the Red Factory, washing it out so as to render it impassable to vehicles. The upper end of the arch of F. L. Ames’s stone bridge was under- mined. Mr. Morse’s bridge at South Easton was carried away, houses were flooded there, and the road between Mr. Morse’s and Mr. Dean’s made impassable. On the Turnpike there was a wash-out of about thirty feet in width and over ten in depth, this being the most serious damage inflicted at any one place. 762 HISTORY OF EASTON. On Saturday and Saturday night great anxiety was felt lest Leach’s reservoir at the Furnace Village should give way; but the same preventive measures were taken that had been success- ful at North Easton, and the reservoir was saved. Great damage was however done the road by the overflow, which washed it out and made it impassable to teams. The dam at the old Pond at Drake’s foundry had already given way, causing much damage. All over the town roads were overflowed, bridges washed away, small rills became rivers, and little pools became broad lakes. In North Easton half the cellars were flooded, some of them having three or four feet depth of water in them. The damage to the public highways and bridges was estimated at not less than three thousand dollars. There was a serious wash-out not only just above Elm Street on the railroad, but also near the railroad bridge above the town, and no train ran between Easton and Boston from Friday night until the following Wednesday. It was an occasion unprecedented in the history of the town. About seven inches of water fell, the melting of the snow add- ing three inches more; as the ground was frozen it could not soak away, but gathered rapidly into powerful streams. It is noteworthy that on Saturday morning song sparrows were abundant, and bluebirds and robins were seen. The sweet notes of the song sparrow seemed a prophecy of swift-coming spring, — a prophecy soon proved false, for not long afterward came four days of steady and powerful northwest gales, intensely cold, being the most inclement weather known for years. DAVID THOMPSON, JR., THE ONE-ARMED SOLDIER. The following interesting obituary of an old resident of Eas- ton is presented to the reader, not only on account of the inter- esting information it gives concerning him, but also because of its romantic story concerning his grandmother. This obituary was written by Isaac Stearns, of Mansfield, and printed for dis- tribution : — “Died in Easton, Mass., on the 5th of August, 1836, Mr. David Thompson, aged 98 years, 6 months, and 22 days. Mr. Thompson during his long life was much respected. He belonged to the Con- gregational Church and Society at the time of his death, having been MISCELLANEOUS. 763 a communicant forty-four years. He left at his death six children, thirty-eight grandchildren, and one hundred great-grandchildren. Mr. Thompson at the age of sixteen enlisted in the old French War, and lost his left arm by a bomb in the storming of Fort Henry by the French in 1757. He received a pension until his decease, and was the last surviving pensioner who took part in that war. His grandmother, Mrs. Mary Houghton, was one of the three whose lives were saved at the sinking of Port Royal in Jamaica by an earth- quake in June, 1692. She heard and felt the shock, and rushed to the door. As the place sunk in the water she clung to the sill of the house, which separated from the building. She remained in the water three days and three nights, when a vessel passed near her and she was taken on board. Her trunk of clothing floated near her and was also saved.? She afterwards lived at a public house in Dorchester, and waited upon guests. Several years had elapsed since the occurrence of the earthquake, when her husband entered the house in which she re- sided to obtain lodgings for the night ; they immediately recognized each other, and the surprise was so great that Mary fainted. The hus- band supposed she had perished at the time of the earthquake, and she believed he was lost at sea, he being absent on a voyage at the time of the disaster. She died in 1768 at the advanced age of ros.” David Thompson, Jr., the subject of the above obituary, was the oldest son of David and Mary (Blackman) Thompson, of Stoughton, where he was born January 14,1738. The fact of his being in the French and Indian War has been mentioned. He became a pensioner January 25, 1758, as he himself states in a petition for an increase of pension made in 1777.2, The writer has found several such petitions presented by Mr. Thomp- son for the same purpose, on account of the continued deprecia- tion of the currency.2 April 7, 1760, David Thompson married 1 This narrative appears to be intended as a sober statement of facts; yet one knows not which most to wonder at, —the readiness with which the door-sill de- tached itself from the house to serve for a raft, the accommodating disposition of the trunk, apparently packed for the occasion, in floating so conveniently near as to be ready for an emergency, or the unparalleled endurance of the woman who could live three days and three nights in the deep upon a door-sill ! 2 State Archives, vol. clxxxii. p. 93. 8 Ibid., vol. clxxx. p. 99, vol. ccxvii. p. 134, vol. ccxxili, p. 351, vol. ccxxix. P. 379, etc. 764 HISTORY OF EASTON. Sarah Osgood, of Stoughton, with whom he had seven children, several daughters marrying in Easton. He bought land in Easton in 1783 and soon moved here, although his name does not appear on the town tax-lists before 1786. His house was on Mill Street, on the line separating Easton and Mansfield. JAMES ADAMS THE POET. One of Easton’s marked and eccentric characters was James Adams the poet. By trade a blacksmith, he was for many years employed in the Ames Shovel Works, being a skilful workman and very ingenious, making several improvements in machin- ery. His was a keen and vigorous mind. In a debating society, of which Dr. Caleb Swan, Oliver Ames, Jr., Joseph Barrows, and others were active members, Mr. Adams was a ready debater. He was best known however for his poetical gifts, for he was more than an ingenious and prolific rhymester, — he was a poet of real merit. It is to be regretted that his nature was not of a higher grade, otherwise he might have produced some poems that would have deserved to live. But he seldom attempted any- thing higher than personal satire ; his lampoons were witty, but sarcastic and even abusive. Reference has already been made in the note on page 351 of this History to the satirical poem which took for its subject the exciting church controversy, be- ginning in 1832. It was printed in January, 1835, but its per- sonal character makes it unfair to reproduce it here; three stanzas not thus personal may however be given to show its style and spirit :— “This sacred truth they ’ve all denied, That God begat Himself, then died All men to rescue from the tide Of God’s fierce wrath : And will with Nick at last divide, And scarce get half. “ How God, by absolute decree, Foredoom’d that all should damnéd be In Hell to all eternity, — Their righteous due ; And us ordained joint heirs to be A chosen few. MISCELLANEOUS. 765 “ When sweeping vengeance from above, Cloth’d with vindictive wrath and love, Shall o’er a cursed creation move With vengeful ire, You then your heresies may prove ? Mid flames of fire.” The severest lampoon that James Adams wrote was entitled “Our Hero: a Descriptive Poem,’ — the subject of it being Col., John Torrey. It is published in a pamphlet seven inches long, contains over sixteen pages of forty-six lines each, and is not merely satirical, but derisive and scathing. It has considerable poetic merit, but cannot be quoted here without manifest im- propriety. It is matter of sad regret that talents of so high an order as our poet possessed could not have been inspired by a better spirit and devoted to nobler ends. Mr. Adams followed the ruinous path of many a bright genius, becoming a victim of that ruthless destroyer that respects nothing human or divine, — the drinking habit. This kept him poor, dulled his wits, and de- graded his character. His latter days found him travelling about the vicinity as a clock-tinker, making his home at the Almshouse, where he died May 11, 1883, at the age of eighty years and eleven months. JONATHAN LAWRENCE, AND HIS GREAT EXPECTATIONS. Many readers of this History have heard of the celebrated Lawrence Townley and Chase Townley Estate case, which has excited great interest in this country and in England,—the Law- rences and the Chases both claiming to be descendants of Mary Townley, who became heiress to a vast and still unsettled estate in England. From a “ History of the Lawrence Townley and Chase Townley Estates and Families,” and from other sources, the following statements have been derived :— 1. Mary Townley married John Lawrence and emigrated to America, and had but one son, Jonathan. 2. Jonathan married, 1738, Hannah Robbins, of Walpole, and they had two sons, Jonathan, Jr., and William, — Jonathan, Sr., being by English law heir to his mother’s estate. 3. Jonathan, Jr., “married Rachel Smith of Easton, Massa- chusetts, in 1762. This fact is proved by the town records of 766 HISTORY OF EASTON. Easton and by official documents in the possession of the present Jasiel Lawrence.” 4. This Jonathan Lawrence, Jr., and Rachel his wife had two sons, one of whom, Jasiel, was born in Easton, in 1772, and died in Durhamville, New York, in 1842. 5. Jasiel left a Jasiel, Jr., born September 30, 1808, oldest sur- viving son and heir to the estate. In reference to these statements the writer presents all the facts he can discover after careful examination of the town books and other documents. 1. There is nothing in the town records, notwithstanding the positive assertion to the contrary quoted above, to show that Jonathan Lawrence married Rachel Smith, of Easton, in 1762. Bridgewater records show that Jonathan Lawrence married Rachel Smith in Bridgewater, May 22, 1765. Easton had a Rachel Smith at this time ; she was daughter of Benaijah. But on the Bridgewater records the Rachel spoken of is not called “of Easton ;” and Easton’s Rachel, November 11, 1767, married Jonah Drake. 2. There is no record of the birth of Jasiel Lawrence on the town books of Easton, though this omission is no proof that he was not born in town, as omissions of birth records were then very common. 3. In the first treasurer’s book of Easton a “Mr. Larrence” is alluded to as follows: “ June 3d., 1762. — Paid to Mr. Samuel Kinsley as Adminst’r of the Estate of Mr. Larrence Disceased, for what he was over Rated in yr 1757, in full, the sume of 7s. 5d.” This was not Jonathan Lawrence, Jr., who appears in town later. No Lawrence appears upon the list of persons in town liable to do military duty in 1757. This would suggest the prob- ability that the Lawrence whose estate was settled was Jona- than, Sr., who may have been too old for military service; the date of his birth however does not seem to be given in the statements first quoted. 4. Jonathan Lawrence is on the valuation list of Easton for 1771, and he seems to be quite poor, owning only one cow and six sheep. 5. In the second volume of the town records, page 100, we have the following, under date of October 9, 1775: “Voted to MISCELLANEOUS. 767 Thomas Manley, Jr., six shillings and six Pence, one farthing, for Jonathan Lawrance’s Rates which he could not collect.” Easton records furnish no further information relative to the supposed heir of the Townley estates, and such information as is here furnished is not likely either to make the Lawrences very jubilant or the rival aspirants for this vast fortune, the Chases, very despondent. HAS EASTON AN ENOCH ARDEN CASE? On page 11 of the book written concerning the “ Townley and Chase Townley Estates and Families,” already referred to, may be found the following interesting narrative : — “ Among the romantic incidents connected with the family efforts to reach the estate now in question is the following: In 1774 Jonathan Lawrence, Jr., grandson of John and Mary Lawrence, then a man of thirty-five, reared like his father in the rough ways of a sailor and rover, conceived it necessary to go to England to secure his rights by proving his loyalty. He was a British subject, and partly from dread of the Revolution, as well as with a certain undefined notion of his in- heritance, for which he was in the main indifferent, he left Nova Scotia, brought his wife and her two sons to her Massachusetts home [mean- ing Easton], and set sail for England, but was shipwrecked and reported to have been lost at sea. He was however picked up by a vessel bound for the East Indies and carried to its destination. It was three years later when he reached England, and in his sailor-like listless- ness — especially while the war was in active progress—he seems to have made no effort to communicate with the family in America. Upon the declaration of peace, however, he determined to return to America to look after them. On his arrival he learned that his wife, supposing him to have been lost at sea, had married again, and had re- moved to the western part of the State, having children by this second husband ; and without communicating with her he returned by the same ship which had brought him over, succeeding, however, in gaining pos- session of his youngest son, whom he now took with him.” This is very romantic and interesting, and the writer is pained to throw any discredit upon so good a story. But if its author were at hand, he would ask him how this roving sailor, Jonathan, . could have been so wonderfully far-sighted as to anticipate the 768 HISTORY OF EASTON. Revolutionary War over four years before it broke out; for by the author’s own previous statement this return of Jonathan to bring “his wife and her two sons to her Massachusetts home” must have occurred prior to 1771, since at that date he had moved from Nova Scotia and become a resident of Easton, as the town valuation shows. Moreover, as Jasiel, the second son, is not born until 1772 according to our author, and is then born in Easton, Jonathan could only be spoken of in a prophetic sense as coming with “his two sons” from Nova Scotia. And furthermore, why is it that the marriage of Mrs. Lawrence, above asserted, does not appear upon the records of Easton, after the departure of her husband ?— for the marriage records, unlike the town birth and death lists, are very complete. How is it, indeed, that Jonathan is able to take his youngest son from home “ without communicating with” the boy’s mother? It is exceedingly interesting also to note, that in order to make the claim of Jasiel, Jr., to the great Townley estates perfectly valid, Libbeus, Jasiel Sr.’s older and only brother, and John A., the only son of Libbeus, kindly take themselves out of the way, having no longer an interest in any title except that “to man- sions in the skies.” A SEARCH FOR A SLAVE-TRADER’S FORTUNE. On the second day of May, 1766, Isaac Phillips, a son of Dea. Ebenezer Phillips, was born in Easton. March 15, 1786, he married Rachel Hayden. They had one child, but finally separated. It is said that about 1813 he went South, engaged in the slave-trade, acquired a fortune, gaining an estate and having a large deposit of money in the Manhattan Bank in New York City, and died about 1834, leaving no family to inherit his property. In 1871 the relatives of Isaac Phillips living in Easton and elsewhere, hearing of these facts or supposed facts, made strenuous exertions to obtain further information in the hope of getting possession of the property left. They were able to learn from an official in St. Stephens, the county-seat of Washington County, Alabama, that an Isaac Phillips from the North had lived in that county and died there about 1834, leav- ing an estate which was held by a person who was thought to have a very imperfect title or right to it. Application was MISCELLANEOUS. 769 made to the Surrogate Court at New York for authority to oblige the Manhattan Bank to disclose any facts relative to a deposit of money there by Isaac Phillips; but the Judge of the Surrogate decided that this could not be done until those mak- ing the demand should furnish information of the time and place of death of said Phillips. This they had no means of doing, and nothing further was done about the matter. While these proceedings were going on, it was thought desira- ble to get the authentic record of the birth of Isaac Phillips and also of his family connections, whose descendants might claim some share in the fortune that was supposed to have been left. Then the question arose as to where was the old family Bible. Deacon Phillips, pious Baptist that he was, was sure to have had one, and to have made a careful family record. It was remem- bered that his son Jacob had inherited this Bible ; that Jacob fell from a load of hay July 17, 1812, and broke his neck; that his widow was dead, and the Bible had descended to the daugh- ter Susanna, who was second wife of Mr. Macy Randall, and who died June 4, 1866. It was remembered also that at her earnest request this family Bible had been laid under her head in her coffin and buried with her in the Washington Street cemetery. Permission to open the grave was applied for and obtained of the selectmen. The grave was opened and the Bible removed, whch was found somewhat, but not seriously, decayed. The birth and death records were thus obtained ; and the Bible is now in the possession of Lewis Randall. No progress has been made toward recovering the fortune supposed to have been left by the slaveholding Isaac Phillips. The statements made are however sufficiently probable and well authenticated to warrant further investment in the attempt to regain it. The story is interesting, and when first given to the papers by D. C. Lillie, of Easton, it excited much comment and inquiry. “OLD BUNN.” Few persons have left a more marked impress upon the traditions of Easton than the singular character whom our fathers called Old Bunn. Probably no one was known by more various names. The first documentary reference to him is in 49 770 HISTORY OF EASTON. the warrant ! warning him out of town. This warrant begins as follows: “ Whereas Benjamin Brewer, also called Eddy Benna- wine, and his wife Thankful, and their two sons Oliver and Benjamin, whose last place of residence was Raynham,” etc. This warrant shows that he was a contribution to Easton from Raynham, and it also gives the exact date of his coming here, which was July 14,1759. The writer has found him bearing not only the three names already given, but also Bunedy, Ben- jamin Benoni, Benjamin Edy, Eddy Beniway, and Edy Benoy. He is said to have come from Canada with returned troops, after the French and Indian War, and to have been a half-breed, or Canadian-Indian. In a list of death-records he is called a Frenchman.2_ He appears to have made Raynham his home, and to have found some Raynham woman simple enough to marry him. He brought with him to Easton also two sons, as already noted, and not long after coming here a daughter, Judith by name, was added to the family. Old Bunn supported him- self by two kinds of business, — wood-carving and stealing. At the first he was an adept ; a good specimen of his work being a well-wrought wooden sugar-scoop belonging to Mrs. Bernard Alger, of North Easton. But his energies were frequently employed, as we know by trustworthy traditions, in his second line of business, and many stories are told of his petty thefts of vegetables, fowls, wood, etc. Considering his reputation, it was quite natural that he should be charged with thefts perpetrated by other parties. On one occasion he was justly indignant at being arrested on a charge of which he was innocent, and then made the significant remark, “A good many people in this town are stealing on my credit.” He was usually, in regard to thieving habits, the dread of the neigh- borhood in which he happened to be living; and sometimes his neighbors clubbed together, made him a visit, took him to the woods, and gave him a good thrashing. When one locality be- came too warm for him he would find his home in another part of the town, so that all sections had an opportunity to form his acquaintance. Whether his children learned his trade of wood- " Records of the Court of General Sessions at Taunton, vol. fr. 1746-1767, p. 424. 2 The record isas follows: ‘‘ Eddy Beniway ye frenchman child, Deceased may 29, 1776.”- MISCELLANEOUS. 771 carving or not cannot now be determined, but he transmitted to them his thieving propensity. We have already referred to the arrest and conviction of Benjamin Benoni, Jr., and Judith Benoni for larceny, — the former of a silk handkerchief, and the latter of a quilted petticoat. Old Bunn was a nomad. The writer has found him living in various localities at different times. Perhaps his first residence was in the old unfinished Presbyterian meeting-house at the Green, whose bare walls were profaned by frequent ejaculations of God’s holy name that would have deeply shocked the Rev. Solomon Prentice and his pious though somewhat belligerent followers. Women and children were afraid to pass by his hab- itation, for Bunn’s swarthy countenance struck terror to timid hearts. We hear from him again in a cabin near Edward D. Howard’s, in another cabin northwest of Mr. Sharp’s, in the old Hugh Washburn or Snell place, at the Thomas Randall, 3d, place, east of the DeWitt farm, and in other localities. The Randall place was owned by Oliver Howard when Bunn was there, and Mr. Howard ordered him to vacate the premises. Bunn paying no attention to his order, Mr. Howard sent Hope- still Randall with his ox-team to move him and his family away. The latter tried to do it, but Bunn resisted, and Hope- still did not care to stir too deeply his Indian blood. The re- sult was reported to Mr. Howard, who said, “Come to-morrow, and I will go with you.” Early the next day they went together to the house. Bunn was absent. His wife was willing to com- ply with Mr. Howard’s demand, but the daughter Judith was in bed and refused to get up. Mr. Howard flourished his whip over her and said, “ Get up, Jude, or I’ll horsewhip you!” She obeyed, and the whole household furniture was soon heaped upon Hopestill’s cart. Bunn meantime had returned, and they then began a weary pilgrimage about the town in search of another home. Different places were asked for, but Bunn’s reputation made his applications unsuccessful. They finally became wearied and discouraged, and Hopestill, who did not at any time excel in patience, became thoroughly provoked. The level rays of the sun showed that the day was nearly done, and they were then in the southwest part of the town, far from Hopestill’s house. The jeers of bystanders, who laughed to see this forlorn 772 HISTORY OF EASTON. caravan, did not serve to soothe his troubled spirit; and in a sudden flash of temper he tipped up his cart and dumped the goods in a heap by the wayside. Being asked the next day by Mr. Howard where he had left Bunn’s family and furniture, Hopestill answered evasively that he had “ tipped them up,” and being pressed for exact information as to where he had “ tipped them up,” he angrily named a locality where gcods of that de- scription would speedily be converted into smoke. Bunn at one time, it seems, essayed to be a householder, as would appear from the following : — Easton, Nov. 22, 1776. These may certify that I the subscriber have sold and do by these Presents sell unto Edy Benoy my hous standing on the common land, at what is cauled Rocky Playin, for a consideration of Twelve shillings, for his own Proper use for Ever. As witnes my hand. her DeEzorAH XX Hicerns.! Attest : SAMUEL GUILD. mark This place was on the east side of Randall Street, just south of the ancient cartway that ran from behind the old Bay-road Cemetery past the Macomber place to Lincoln Street, near the Spring. There is now no vestige left of this old dwelling- house, which was hardly more than a shanty, and had no cellar. On page 240 of this History we have a record of the enlist- ment in 1781 of Bunn under the name of Benjamin Eddy, and he is there said to be forty-four years of age. His two sons also: enlisted, and they were all allowed the very large bounty of three hundred dollars in silver. The record of the ages of the sons presents a difficulty. Benjamin, Jr., is stated as twelve, and Oliver as fourteen years old, which if true would show that one was born in 1767, and the other in 1769. But sons of the same names were brought with him from Raynham to Easton in 1759. Either the record is incorrect or, what is not wholly improbable, the first sons may have died and others born later may have been given the same names. The nine hundred silver dollars do not prevent the family from becoming paupers as early as 1785. The town refused to provide for their maintenance, whereupon Bunn makes a 1 First Town Book of births and deaths, p. 378. MISCELLANEOUS. 793 figure in the General Court of Massachusetts, as we see by the following : — “Benjamin Edy petitioned the General Court that the Overseers of the Poor in Easton be authorized and directed to take charge of the said Benjamin, his wife and children, the same as though they were the poor of Easton. Passed, and sd. overseers directed so to provide, and present their accounts for the same to the General Court for allowance and payment.” ! This was passed June 27, 1785. The town does not appear to have presented any bill of expenses on Bunn’s account to the State, as it did of other State paupers living here. Two years afterward, however, Dr. Edward Dean was allowed 47 16s. 8d. “for medicine and attendance on account of Benjamin Eddy and family, poor of the State, from September 5, 1785, to May 18, 1787.”? At this date the Bunns vanish from sight. THE DEVIL’S VISIT TO EASTON. Easton appears to be the only town in New England that has no “ Devil’s Den.” This is not because it has no place romantic or beautiful enough for his resort, — the loveliest nooks and dells being usually christened with his name. The deficiency noted would indicate a sterility of imagination in our ancient residents, were it not that they have left us a genuine story of a visit of the character aforesaid to our town. The following is an old legend that has been handed down from our Easton ancestors. It was condensed into this interesting narrative by Mrs. F. E. Gilmore : — In the days when the Devil amused himself with “ going to and fro upon the earth and walking up and down in it,” his travels brought him, so our traditions tell us, to the spot known as the Great Cedar-Swamp, lying in the southern part of Easton. Tradition assigns no motive for his acts; but we may infer the “ Devil had business on his mind,” for the legend states that he set to work picking up the stones lying about till he had filled his apron, and then continued his travels northward. About two miles north of the swamp, on one of the farms of 1 Massachusetts Resolves, vol. vi. pp. 344, 345: 2 Tbid., vol. vii. p. 387. 774 HISTORY OF EASTON. Easton, there is, or was, a barren field formerly called the “ Hop Field.” We are told that this field, lying directly in the Devil’s way, attracted his attention, and he took pains to hop completely round it: hence the name and the barrenness. Still on business intent, the Devil turned his steps a little more to the west, and we hear of him next in the neighborhood of Easton Centre, where the prints of his hoofs, we are told, may be seen in the solid rock to this day. In the field belong- ing to the Town Farm and known as the “ox-pasture,’ may be seen two rocks, one near the eastern side of the field and the other near the western side, with the plain print of a cloven hoof deeply imbedded in each. The legend tells us that when the Devil reached that spot, and as he was stepping from one of the stones that bears the print of his hoof to the other, his apron-string broke and he dropped all the stones. Discourage- ment must have seized upon him then and there, for we have no further account of him or his travels. But the stones and the footprints remain to this day to prove the truth of this story. Among the people of that region the footprints have always been called the prints of the Devil’s foot ; and within the memory of the * oldest inhabitant” the belated cow-boy, if forced to drive his herd by the “ ox-pasture” after dark, or when the “ shades of night were falling,” would urge the luckless cattle on at as mad a gallop as Tam O’Shanter’s mare Meg took past “ Allo- way’s auld haunted kirk,” with a kindred terror of “ Auld Nick,” of whose visit to that place there was such visible proof! WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. No New England town history is complete without a witch story. Fortunately the writer does not need to invent one, as 1 These so-called “ footprints ” are still plainly visible. On one large rock in the pasture behind Charles H. Reed’s house there are two such footprints several inches deep, one bearing a near resemblance to the impression of a cloven foot. It has been commonly supposed that these deep concavities were hollowed out by the Indians to be used as mortars in which to grind corn. That they were thus used is very probable, but there is no sufficient reason to suppose that they were made by the Indians. By careful search in the same field the writer found similar cavities in other rocks in positions that could not be made available for human uses. In fact, there are soft shaley spots in some of these rocks, and natural causes sufficiently explain the hollows in them. The Indians were very willing to avoid all labor they could get Nature to do for them. MISCELLANEOUS. 775 he finds several ready made, the truth of which is most firmly believed even to-day. Poquanticut seems to have been the favorite locality for the operation of the “black art.” What is now called clairvoyance, and all that is akin to it, was at that time supposed to betoken the possession of familiar spirits from the nether regions. A century ago Nathan Selee, an able and worthy man, was supposed to possess something of this myste- rious power, in which belief he himself devoutly shared. Allu- sion has already been made to the belief that Satan came at night to run his saw-mill. He was thought to be ambitious to delve in the dangerous mysteries of supernatural things. Mr. Selee was a clairvoyant, and many stories are current of what he saw and foretold. He was in Stimson Williams’s house on one occasion, and knowing his gifts in that direction, one of Mr. Williams’s daughters asked him to tell her fortune, but he declined ; and after leaving the house, he said to a man who came out with him that if she could see what the next week would bring her, she would not have asked to have her fortune told. She died the next week. The story is still believed also, that, having sought long for a certain book on magic which he thought would perfect him in the art, the door of his shop opened one day and a stranger handed him the book and vanished. Directly upon the de- parture of this strange visitant a wild storm began to rage; the winds howled, the lightnings flashed, the thunders roared, and destruction seemed to impend. Mr. Selee took the book and all other books of the kind that he possessed, and threw them into the fire; and then going to the door and looking out he saw the sun shining, and everything beautiful and peaceful. This deter- mined him to have no more to do with the dangerous subject. ‘His sister Thankful (Selee) Buck was reputed a witch, though there is no tradition of her having done anything especially wicked. She is said to have performed her incantations at mid- night with her daughters, one of whom inherited her name and reputation, by pouring water from one pan into another. Loads of hay were sometimes stopped in front of her house, and could not move until she gave the signal, when a black cat was seen to come out from under the hay and glide away. She once sent her husband to some distance to get a certain kind of wool she 776 HISTORY OF EASTON. particularly desired. He failed to procure it, and on his return found it impossible to enter his own door; nor could he do so until he had returnedand procured the desired wool. A neigh- bor was said to have caught a black cat doing some mischief, and to have given her a severe beating on the head; the next day it was observed that Thankful Buck had lost an eye. Why she did not use her magic power to save her eye is a question only a carping sceptic will ask. The above are samples of numerous stories that are told, and which the writer has ample evidence are by some persons still believed, concerning the magical powers and even witchcraft exercised in Poquanticut many years ago. It is not improbable that in Easton as elsewhere, when hanging was no longer to be feared by witches, some shrewd persons practised upon the credulity of others, and enjoyed the sense of power which the. reputation of being a little uncanny gave them. BIRD-HUNTING. At different times in the history of the town rewards were offered for killing crows and blackbirds, which were supposed to be very destructive to corn. In the town treasurer's accounts there are occasionally entries of payments of bounties for these birds. In 1793, for instance, the town voted to give sixpence a head for crows killed before the first of July. Scarcely two generations ago the custom prevailed of young men choosing sides, and each side on a given day starting out and killing all the birds they could. The day chosen was the old “Election day” so called, the last Wednesday in May, once the time for the convening of the State Legislature, and which came to be known as “ Nigger ’lection.” It was one of the greatest holidays of the year for the boys. The sides having been pre- viously chosen, those taking part in the shooting started out at daybreak and killed as many birds as possible. They usually met at some appointed place before dinner, to count the birds and see which side had won the victory. In North Easton, the rendezvous was Howard’s store, now the small house next west of the railroad bridge on the north side of Main Street, occupied by Mrs. Pinkham. The understanding was that only harmful birds should be killed; but it was easy to include nearly all birds MISCELLANEOUS. 777 in this category, because, it was argued, bobolinks and swal- lows destroyed bees, and robins stole cherries, etc. In some places the party beaten paid for the dinner and drinks of all, and oftentimes a large number were engaged in the sport. Now, the law wisely protects the birds from such thoughtless and cruel slaughter. EAR-MARKS. The generally unfenced condition of the early lands in town made it unavoidable that cattle should run at large. It was therefore necessary that their owners should have some means by which to distinguish them and prove their own property. This they usually accomplished by cropping, slitting, or brand- ing their cattle’s ears, and having the particular marks they adopted recorded by the town clerk. A few specimens will suffi- ciently illustrate this custom. The earliest ones in the old town records are the first two following, to which others will be added : — “ April ye 20, 1727. — A mare of Samuel Phillipses, of Easton ; of a mouse-culer black, branded with a P on the Left shoulder; one white foot on the near side behind ; a black List on the back ; four year old; no eare mark, so described.” “ April the 20, 1727.— A redish hors of Joshua Phillipses, of Eas- ton ; a white strak in the face, branded with a P on the near shoulder ; a bout foure years old ; no ear mark, so described.” “The Earmark that Joseph Pettengill Marks his sheep with is a Wier in each Ear. Easton, Janawary 22nd, 1768, Recorded by Mat- thew Hayward, Town Clark.” “The Earmark that Stephen Brigs marks his creaturs with is an Ell in the left Ear, a small swallos tail in the Right Ear, a halfpenney the under side of the Right Ear, and a hole through the same. Easton, May 25, 1767.” “The Eare mark that Ephram Drake eare-marks his creatures with is a hapeny upon the uper side at the Left, and slit Betwene the head and the hapeny. Ephraram Drake, Easton, febuary ye 11th, 1758.” “Thomas Drake of Easton ear marke wherewith he marks his crea- turs withall is to cut off the top of the Left ear, and a gad on the uper side of the same ear. January 23d, 1754.” “The Eare mark which Seth Williams Earemarks his catel is a hole thrue each Eare. Easton, July ye 3, 1753.” 778 HISTORY OF EASTON. Animals were sometimes taken up and their description re- corded in order that owners from whose vicinity they had strayed might appear and recover them. Samples of such records are here given :— “Taken up and impounded by me ye subscriber a white farow pidg of about 6 month groth. Easton, aprill 16, 1743, Daniel Williams.” “September the 4th 1776. — This Day Taken up a black Ram; the marks are as followeth: as to the artifycial marks, it has two half- penneys on the under side of the left Ear and one the uper side of the same Ear, and one halfpenney the under side of the Right Ear; and as to his Natural Marks, the Ram is all over black Except a few white hars on the End of his Nose, with one Very Short horn, These are to Request you forthwith to Post the Ram as the law Directs. Pr me, Daniel Wood. Entered by Matthew Hayward, Town Clark.” SINGULAR DEATH RECORDS. The following are quotations from death records kept by dif- ferent individuals : — “ Joseph Randall son James Deceased April 7, 1753; also said Joseph R. Two Daughters, Mary and Charity Randall, Dec’d April 8, 1753; all three Buried in one day &c! and in one grave.” “‘Mercy and Content, Both Being ye 2 of his 3 twines, Daughters, yt. is Mr. William Haywards, ye deceased, may 7, 1763.” “Mr. Edward Haywards wife Named Zilpha, Deceased by mur- dering herself as supposed, June 3 day, at 10 or 11 o’clock forenoon, 1776.” “Old Mis Mercy Manley Deceased January ye 6, 1777; aged about 100 years. The oldest person in Town. Also Mr. Jacob Macomber, Jr., child, ye third day after it was born. Deceased January 6, 1777. The youngest person in town. Both died amonday.” “Mr. Daniel Keith Deceased on Friday ye 12 Day of November, A.D. 1779. An Engeanous Bonsetter and other usefullness.” “One man killed in Boston digging a grave august 10, 1796, with lightning.” “Beriah Randall kild. with a tree falling, Novr. 11, 1800 ; aged 61.” “ Avery, son of Matthew harlow, hung himself July 12, 1805 ; aged 13.” “ Mazy howard taken up out of his grave Nov. 2, 1809.” “Jacob Phillips died July 17, 1812; Fell of from a lode of hay and broke his neck.” MISCELLANEOUS. 779 “Tsaac Lothrop fell dead aplowing, may 11, 1815.” “Tsaac Shepard kild with a wheel by Isaac Davenport, January 15, 1817.” “Samuel Clap kild by a waggon’s wheels running over his body, august 17, 1817; aged 33.” “ Thomas Cushing hung himself at Easton manfactory July 13, 1823 ; aged 13.” “Joel White blowd up at Leonards, 8th of feb. 1825, and died 18, aged 24.” “Thomas frenches Con Drowned in punkypog thanksgiving day, 1827 ; aged 14.” CONCLUSION. The writer’s task is now accomplished. He lingers here only to express a thought that has often occurred to him during the progress of this work, —-that while the true wel- fare of a town depends as much upon women as upon men, the former are almost unnoticed in a town history. There is an apparent, perhaps a real, injustice in this fact. But town his- tories are largely records of public, or at least of noteworthy, actions and events, — of war, politics, business, municipal and ecclesiastical affairs, and these have not come within the range of women’s hitherto recognized sphere ; for even in the church, in which she manifests a greater interest than does man, she has had no vote and no controlling voice. But if this History were intended to enshrine the memory of private virtues and of guileless and noble character, half its pages at least would pay homage to the women of Easton. In the home-life, where are the real springs of public welfare as well as private blessing, woman’s influence is more potent than man’s; and while town historians may narrate the deeds and herald the fame almost alone of man, her praise is written in the grateful affections that will survive when the printed page shall moulder to dust, and may be safely intrusted to the Recording Angel who writes for Eternity as we do but write for time. APPENDIX. APPENDIX. A THANKFUL MEMORIAL OF GOD’S SPARING MERCY. [A SERMON OF THE REV. MATTHEW SHORT, PREACHED IN EASTON IN SEPTEMBER, 1728.] THE Lord hath chastened me sore; but he hath not given me over unto Death. Open to me the Gates of Righteousness ; I will go into them, and [ will praise the Lord. — PSALM cxviii. 18, 19. HIS Psalm was most probably composed by the royal Prophet, David, after the Wars and Troubles between the Houses of Saul and David were ended, and when David was newly settled in the Kingdom over all Israel, and had newly brought up the Ark of GOD to his royal City. But tho’ this seemed to be the Occasion, yet there seems to be a further and higher Design in it, especially in the latter Part of it, which was to carry the Readers’ Thoughts beyond the Type to the Antitype, the Messiah and his Kingdom, who was chiefly intended in it, which is apparent from the Testimonies produced out of the new Testament to this Purpose. Matt.xxi.g; Actsiv.11. But to consider the Words particularly, — Zhe Lord hath chastned me sore; but he hath not given me over unto Death. Open to me the Gates of Right- cousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord. These Words doubtless refer to David, though the latter Part of the Psalm seems ulti- mately to refer to Christ. Zhe Lord hath chastened me sore, either by Enemies or by some other great Troubles and Dangers ; but GOD mer- cifully spared him in those great Dangers, and did not then give him over unto Death, upon which he said, Ogen to me the Gates of Right- cousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord. Open to me. 784 HISTORY OF EASTON. This seems to imply that they had been some time shut against him, as in Saul’s Time, when he was debarred from the publick Worship and Ordinances of GOD, which he so greatly delighted in. Zhe Gates of Righteousness; i.e. The Gates of the Lord’s Tabernacles, which might be called the Gates of Righteousness, because there was the proper and usual Place for the Performance of the Duty here follow- ing, vzz., of praising GOD for his great Mercies, which is an Act of Righteousness ; and partly because the Rule of Righteousness was kept and taught there, the Sacrifices of Righteousness were offered there, and because these Gates were to be opened to righteous Persons, of which number Davzd professed and proved himself to be ; upon which Account he looked upon it as his great and just privilege, whereas those that were apparently unclean and unrighteous were to be ex- cluded. 2 Chron. xxiii. 19: And he set Porters at the Gates of the Ffouse of the Lord, that none which were unclean should enter in. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but hath not given me over unto Death. Open to me the Gates of Righteousness: [ will go into them, [ will praise the Lord. From hence we may note several Doctrines. DOCT. I. THE Afiictions or Chastisements whith the Children of . Men do meet withal, are sent by GOD. He wisely orders our Afflictions and Punishments, both to the godly and ungodly, when and how he pleaseth, though in a very different manner: to the one in Wrath; to the other in great Love and Mercy, to purge away their Sins, and to prepare them for himself. But all the Afflictions that come either on the godly or ungodly are sent and ordered by GOD. ‘He wisely orders the Kind, Time, Measure, and Continuance of all the Troubles Men meet withal. A/fiiction cometh not forth of the Dust. Jobv.6. Thus in Isaiah xlv. 7, 7 form the Light, and create Darkness: I make Peace, and create Evil: I the Lord do all these Things. By evil here is meant only the Evil of Punishment or Affliction, with which GOD visits the Children of Men when he pleaseth. Thus in Amos iii. 6, Shall there be Evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? Which intends only the Evil of Punishment which GOD justly brings upon a People for their Sins. But I need not further insist to prove this, but will improve it as GOD shall help. And — 1. ARE all Afflictions sent by GOD? Let this forever silence all Murmurings against GOD under Afflictions. Are they sent by a gra- cious, wise, just, holy, sovereign GOD, who is oly im all his ways and righteous in all his Works, and whose way is perfect? Let this forever stop our Mouths against all Murmurings under Afflictions ; APPENDIX. 785 considering also how exceeding vile we are, and deserve to be utterly rejécted by GOD, and are punished far less than our Iniquities have deserved. 2. ARE Afflictions sent by a wise and holy GOD? They must needs then be sent for some wise and holy end, for the infinitely wise GOD doth nothing in vain. We should, therefore, labour that Afflic- tions may have a good Effect upon us ; that by them we may be made more holy and humble, more lively and diligent in all Acts of Duty and Obedience towards GOD; and that the Rod and Reproof may teach us Wisdom ; that we may learn Righteousness by the afflictive Dispensation of GOD towards ourselves and others. 3. WE may hence see Reason to admire the Wisdom and Goodness of GOD in causing Afflictions to be so accomodable and serviceable to those glorious and holy Ends for which he sends them on his people. He visits them with Affliction to prepare them for special Mercies, and that they may be Partakers of his Holiness. Heb. xii. 10, 11. And that they may be prepared for Eternal Happiness. 2 Cor. iv. 17: for our light Affliction, which is but for a Moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory. DOCT. II. THAT “Ke gracious, holy, righteous, sovereign GOD doth sometimes sorely chastise his own children. Indeed, Chastisements are common to all GOD’S Children, and there are none of them all ex- empted. Heb. xii.6, 7,8: Far whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth. If you endure Chastening, GOD dealeth with you as with Sons; for what Son ts he whom the Father chast- eneth not? But if ye be without Chastisement, whereof all are Partakers, then are ye Bastards, and not Sons. But though all the Children of GOD are visited with Afflictions, yet are they not all chastised alike. Some are more dull and slothful than others in the School of Christ, and may, therefore, be visited with heavier Afflictions. Others may be designed by GOD for some special and eminent Services, for the Glory of his name; and therefore GOD may purifie them by Afflictions, to prepare them for it. It might probably be thus with holy David. GOD designed him for, and improved him in, very eminent Services, for the Glory of his Name and the good of his People. But before this high Honour of being improved in very eminent services for GOD, he must be disciplined a long Time in the School of Affliction, without doubt, to fit and prepare him for the signal and glorious Services which afterwards he was employed in. Even David could say, Zhe Lord hath chastened me sore,as in the Text. Andin Psalm xviii. 5, Zhe Sor- rows of Hell Compassed me about. And in the verse immediately fol- lowing: Jz my Distress [called upon the Lord, and cried unto my GOD: 50 786 HISTORY OF EASTON. he heard my voice out of his Temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Now this may be improved. 1. ZO excite the Children of GOD toa chearful, patient bearing of Affliction ; Seeing they came from so kind and loving a Hand, and are sent also with a gracious Design of great good to them, for the purging away their Sins, and for the further fitting them for the serving GOD here and for the Enjoyment of him forever. 2. THIS should excite the Children of God to use their best Endeavour to improve A ffictions aright, and to profit under them, as Means appointed by GOD for their good and sent to them for that End, and to be fruitful under Affictions. Surely this may be justly expected from them. 3. THIS may serve for the just Reproof of those that censure and condemn Persons as wicked, because they are greatly afflicted. Yod’s three Friends were not clear in this Matter, and therefore we find them reproved for it. Job xlii. 7, 8. DOCT. Ill. WHEN it pleaseth GOD sorely to chastise his own children, and bring them nigh unto Death, his wonderful Power, Mercy, and Goodness doth sometimes appear in sparing them, and not giving them over unto Death. Thus in Psalm ix. 13: Zhou that liftest me up from the Gates of Death. Psalm lxviii.20: Unto GOD the Lord belong the Issues Jrom Death. Indeed, GOD sometimes spares the ungodly when they are brought nigh unto Death, and recovers them from Sickness ; so that it is not peculiar to the godly to be spared when brought very low. Nevertheless, there are peculiar Favours shown to the godly herein which are not shown to the wicked. When GOD thus spares the godly, he does it out of fatherly Pity, Kindness, and Compassion towards them; or for the sake of others which they stand in some relation to ; or because GOD hath further work for them to do in the World. The wicked may be spared that they may have further Time of Trial, and that GOD may magnify the Riches of his forbearing Goodness and Patience towards Sinners, that they may have a further space for Repentance ; that they may either repent, or fill up the meas- ure of their Sins, and fit themselves for an amazing and dreadful Damnation ; whereas the Children of GOD, by sickness and by other Afflictions, are more fitted for the Enjoyment of eternal Happiness. BUT I need not further insist on the Proof of the Doctrine: it is a truth which needs not so much to be proved as to be improved, and it may concern myself as much or more than any one in the Assembly to mprove it. And I desire your fervent Prayers for me, that GOD will help me to improve it aright. The holy, righteous, sovereign GOD has of late (as you well know) been pleased, in his wise and holy APPENDIX. 787 Providence, to visit me with a sore sickness,! whereby I was brought nigh unto Death ; but GOD in his wonderful Goodness spared me, and did not give me over unto Death, for which I would now humbly and heartily praise his holy Name. I acknowledge the new Obligations that are hereby laid upon me to honour GOD, and serve him in the best Manner that possibly I can, even to the Day of my Death. I freely acknowledge the Justice and Holiness of GOD in bringing that sore chastisement upon me. I acknowledge my Sins deserved it. I acknowledge the unerring Wisdom of GOD in sending it seasonably. I plainly see that I needed it, and therefore I hope I heartily thank GOD for it, in that he has dealt with me herein as he deals with his own dear Children, of which Number I own myself one of the mean- est and most unworthy, if I may lay claim to that high and glorious Privilege. And as GOD hath been graciously pleased to spare me from Death, and to give me as it were a new Life, So I would gladly be serving the Interest of your Souls with new and fresh Strength, Vigour, and Activity, as knowing that the very best and utmost that I can do for you is your just due, and what you may justly expect from me. My Time is in some respects yours ; my Talents, such as they are, yours, and should be improved in the best Manner and to the utmost in the Service of your Souls ; and I would chuse to spend the most of my time for you in my Studies, Visits, Catechisings, &c., unless by a very pressing Necessity I should at any time be called off from my Studies to get my Bread, & even then I should be serving of you while I am laboring to support my Life to spend for you. I hope I can truly say that I am willing to spend and be spent for you. And besides the great Obligations lying upon me from the Relation I stand in to you, I am laid under a new Obligation to you by the endearing Kindness which GOD helped you to show to me in the Time of my late distressing Sickness. May the Kindness shown to me by you be rewarded into your Bosoms with the blessed influences of the Spirit and Grace of GOD in this Life, & with an unfading Crown of Glory in the Next! I hope I have with some sincerity laboured for the good of your Souls, ever since my coming among you, though in much Weak- ness and Infirmity, and under great Discouragements. And that which I now desire is, that my Love for your Souls, and my Concern and Labours for you, may be increased and strengthened ; and I hope you will be willing to encourage my Endeavours this Way. But al- tho’ you should fail ever so much in your duty towards me, yet I shall endeavour, I hope, thro’ the gracious Help of GOD, to serve the Interests of your precious Souls in the best Manner I possibly can. 1 Of about two months’ Continuance, from July 15, 1728. 788 HISTORY OF EASTON. And in Case I should grow apparently Negligent in my Duty toward you, Do you, O my dear People, put me in mind of it, observing the Rule in 1 Zim. v. 1. And let us all unite in our Endeavours to pro- mote the Honour of GOD and the good of each other’s Souls. Let us endeavour to be religious. to Purpose, that we may not decieve our own Souls. Let us consider the loud Calls of GOD to us to turn to him, and to seek and serve him with our whole Hearts. And let us atten- tively and obediently hearken to the Voice of the glorious GOD by his holy Providence in the late Sickness and Deaths among us. GOD hath taken away several from among us of late by Death, emptying a House hard by us, and sweeping it clean, as it were, by Death, and taking away the principal Person ;1in another, whose Death we have great Reason to lament, who was, I trust, a Person of excelling Piety and un- common Prudence, — one of a very strict and religious Conversation, a great Lover of GOD’S House, one of a charitable Spirit, and knew how to communicate to others, and when there was real Occasion for it would do it chearfully. O that these eminent Virtues that were appar- ent in her may be imitated and practised by us! And I would ac- knowledge, to the Honour and Glory of GOD, the Righteousness and Equity of his dealings with myself, in the Breach he has made in my Family of late, in taking away one of my Children by Death. O, may we all from hence see the Uncertainty of our worldly Enjoyments, and be excited the more firmly to trust in, and the more diligently and faithfully to serve, the everliving JEHOVAH, who is the everlasting Portion and Happiness of his People! And let us by the repeated Warnings that are given us be excited to prepare for our own Death. Let us labour to avoid every thing which is displeasing to GODs and that would make a Death-Bed un- easy tous. And let us be careful to observe and do the Things which he has commanded us. Let us have a tender and sincere Regard to the holy Sabbath, and take special Care to observe and sanctify it. And let us diligently instruct our Children in the Ways of GOD, and lead them therein by our own Examples. And let the Truth and Reality of our Love appear towards GOD, and to his House, Worship, and Ordinances ; that so, after our joining together in worshipping and praising GOD here on Earth, we may, with the general Assembly and Church of the first born, which are written in Heaven, unite in praising GOD to all Eternity. DOCT.1V. ZHAT to wait upon GOD in his House, Worship, and Ordinances is very amiable and desirable to the Children of GOD, and 1 Mrs, Elizabeth Pratt. APPENDIX. 789 particularly to those who have for some time been debarred from them. 1 might speak to this doctrine in two propositions. PROP. I. ZHE Children of GOD are sometimes visited with the Affiiction of being for some time debarred from the House and Ordinances of GOD. Thus David, and thus many of the Saints of GOD, have been exercised with the sore trouble of being kept from the House of GOD. Many instances might be given hereof; but I proceed to the second Proposition. PROP. Il. THAT to wait upon GOD in his House and Ordinances is very desirable and amiable to the Children of GOD, and particularly to those who have sometime been debarred there-from. Thus the holy royal Psalmist expressed his Love to the House of GOD. Psalm xxvi. 8: Lord, J have loved the Habitation of thy House, and the Place where thine Honor dwelleth. And in Psalm Ixxxiv. 1, 2: How amiable are thy Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My Soul Zongeth, yea, even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord: my Heart and my Flesh crieth out for the living God. But here we may inquire, Whence is it that the House, Worship, and Ordinances of GOD are so amiable and desirable to the Children of GOD, or for what Reasons? For Answer, — 1. And principally, BECAUSE GOD does graciously manifest him- self there, affording his Special Presence, as in that forementioned Psalm xxvi. 8. The Gracious Presence of GOD in and with his Ordi- nances is that which renders them exceedingly sweet, amiable, and desirable to the Children of GOD. They love to meet with GOD, to enjoy his gracious Presence & sweet Communion with him in his House. Therefore, they love GOD’S House, and highly prize the Ways of his Appointment. 3. The House, Worship, and Ordinances of GOD are very amiable and desirable to the Godly, because there they expect and hope to have their Souls comforted. For there the Word of GOD, the Rule of Righteous- ness, is dispensed, and the precious Doctrines and Truths of the Gos- pel delivered. There the godly expect to receive Light and Direction in the Ways of GOD. There they hope to have their doubts solved, their Darkness dispelled, and their Fears removed and their burdened Souls eased. There it is that they hope to have their Graces in- creased, as their Faith, Hope, Love, &c., whereby they become more ripe for Heaven. 3. THERE ts the Fellowship and Communion of Saints, in their pub- lick assembling, worshipping, and praising GOD together. This is an Emblem and Representation of the Saints uniting and joining in the Praises of GOD in Heaven, and therefore must needs be amiable to 790 HISTORY OF EASTON. the Saints‘and Children of GOD, who shall be united in the Praises of GOD unto all Eternity. 4. THE House and Worship of GOD is very amiable and desirable to the Saints, and should be so to all, because there the Means are afforded and enjoyed for the fitting Persons for the greatest Good and Happiness. For there ordinarily it is that Persons are thorowly awakened, effect- ually convinced, and savingly converted. And this, we would think, were enough to endear the publick Worship and Appointments of GOD to every one that desires to be saved. Is it not desireable to be at the Place where the greatest Good is to be enjoyed, that we are capable of enjoying while in this Frail and Mortal State? Is it not desireable to be at the Place where GOD doth ordinarily bestow the rich Blessing of Converting Grace and a new Heart; and where GOD does vouchsafe to visit and refresh the Souls of his People with his special Grace, with the sweet Fruits of his Love and Favour, and the joyful foretastes of Heaven? But to improve this, — 1. WE may from hence infer the sad and doleful State of those that have no true Love to the House, Worship, and Ordinances of GOD. For if the Doctrine be true, it hence necessarily follows that such are not the true children of GOD; and if not, there is but one Denomina- tion that can belong unto them, and that a very dreadful one! 2. TALS may be improved to excite our Endeavours to obtain such a sincere undessembled Love to the publick Worship and holy Appointments of GOD, as may be a good and comfortable Evidence that we are the Chil- dren of GOD. Merly to attend the publick Worship, though in a constant Course, is not such an Evidence. Oh, let us labour for some- thing further than a Meer Attendance on publick and private Duties of Religion! and let us see to it, that our Love be not in Word and Tongue only, but in Deed and in Truth, that so we may. not miss at last of entering into GOD’S House and Kingdom above. DOCT. V. LAHAT signal and eminent Mercies and Deliverances should be followed with publick and hearty Praises to GOD. Psalm cvii., throughout, particularly Ver. 31, 32: Oh that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness, and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men! Let them exalt him also in the Congregation of the People, and praise him in the Assembly of the Elders. Tt would be a great Stupidity, or at least a great Neglect of Duty, not to render hearty and publick Praises to GOD for signal and eminent Mercies received from him. And here we may consider, — 1. THAT GOD is infinitely worthy to have the Honour of being pub- lickly acknowledged and praised for signal and eminent Mercies. Praise is justly due to GOD, even for the least Mercy. Surely, then, for great APPENDIX. 791 and signal Mercies and Deliverances we should express our hearty Gratitude to him as he requires. We are utterly unworthy in our- selves to receive the least Mercy. How thankful, then, should we be when very signal and remarkable Mercies are freely and graciously granted to us! And how ready should we be to render publick and hearty praises to GOD, as he hath required ! 2. BY rendering publick and hearty Praises to GOD he is glorified. Psalm 1. 23: Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me. Surely it becomes us in this Way to give Glory to GOD. But here we may consider some of the signal and eminent Mercies for which publick and hearty Praises are due to GOD. 1. THE happy Deliverance of elect and believing Souls from eternal Death by JESUS CHRIST is a signal and eminent Mercy for which publick and hearty Praises are due to God. Tf this eminent and unpar- allel’d Mercy had not been granted to us, we must have been Fellow- Commoners and Fellow-Prisoners with Devils forever. Oh, what great Reason have we, heartily and publickly and perpetually, to praise GOD for the unparallel’d Mercy, and with Hearts full of Gratitude to say, with the blessed Apostle, 2 Cor. ix. 15: Zhanks be unto GOD Sor his unspeakable Gift/ But then — 2. TO enjoy the Gospel and the holy Ordinances of GOD in their Purity and Order, with a free Liberty of attending them, is a Mercy for which publick and hearty Praises are due to GOD. Something of the worth of this Mercy was sometimes seen by the want of it in our Nation, when this precious Liberty was prohibited unto many hun- dreds of christian Assemblies. Oh that NEW ENGLAND may prize their precious GOSPEL-Privileges, and beware that they do not provoke GOD to deprive them of their most valuable Liberties ! Let us prize and improve such rich Mercies and Privileges while we enjoy them. 3. THE restoring Persons to the sweet and desirable Enjoyments of GOD'S Worship and Ordinances in his Hlouse, that have been some- time detained therefrom, is a Mercy that is worthy to be heartily and pub- lickly acknowledged, and celebrated to the Honour and Praise of GOD. And for this Mercy I would now renew my Thanksgivings to GOD, 4. WHEN Persons are recovered from avery sore and dangerous Sickness, or experience some great Deliverance from great and imminent Danger. Such a Mercy and Deliverance should be sincerely and pub- lickly acknowledged, to the Praise of GOD. But to improve this, — 1. FOR the just Reproof of our great Ingratitude toward GOD, for the signal and eminent Mercies bestowed upon us. How little affected 792 HISTORY OF EASTON. are the Hearts of the Generality of Men with the greatest of Mercies! How few are there that prize a precious CHRIST, and the Wonderful Offers of Life and Salvation through him! How many are guilty of crucifying him afresh by their shameful and horrible Continuance in Sin! and how few are there, comparatively, that prize a precious Gospel and the Ordinances of it! And what a great Occasion for the renewal of that awful Complaint, Isaiah lili. 1: Who hath believed our Report? and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? Alas! How many persist in their Impenitency and Unbelief under the Gospel, notwithstanding the repeated Calls, Warnings, and Reproofs that are given them! how ill do we requite the Lord for his distinguished Kindness to us in favour- ing us with the blessed Gospel, when this Blessing is denied to vast Empires and Nations in the World! O that we might be humbled for our great Ingratitude to GOD, and that we might be more thankful to him for his Mercies! Those that live in known Sins under the Gospel are highly ungrateful towardsGOD. They are not truly thank- ful to GOD for GOSPEL-Mercies, and therefore are worthy to be reproved for their great ingratitude to GOD. 2. THTS may be improved to lead and excite us to a holy Contempla- tion and just Admiration of the glorious Ferfections of GOD. The great and wonderful Mercies & Deliverances which GOD sometimes grants to his People do plainly show forth his Glory and Greatness, his infinite Power and Goodness, which should be admired and cele- brated by us. 3. THTS should excite us to fear GOD. Surely we should be afraid to sin against a GOD of infinite Power and Goodness, agreeable to that Expression, Hosea ili. 5: And shall fear the Lord and his Goodness. THE next Use is of Exhortation: Let us be exhorted heartily to praise GOD for his Mercies, especially for great and eminent Mercies. And for motives, consider — 1. LHAT it is most just that we should acknowledge GOD in the Mercies we receive from him, and heartily praise him for them. It is that which GOD expressly requires in his written Word, and it is that which the Light of Nature teacheth, even to be thankful to our Benefactors. 2. IT is a very delightful, pleasant, and comely Thing to praise the Lord. Psalm cxxxv. 3: Praise ye the Lord; for the Lord is good: Sing Praises unto his Name ; for it is pleasant. And Psalm cxlvii. 1: Praise ye the Lord; for it is good to sing praises to our GOD; for it is pleasant ; and Praise is comely. 3. PRAISING GOD is our heavenly Employment : it is that which the Saints are employed in for ever in Heaven; and a right praising APPENDIX. 793 GOD on Earth is one of the Means to prepare us for Heaven. Let us, therefore, be much in the holy and heavenly exercise of praising GOD. Let us be heartily thankful for the Common Mercies we receive from GOD, and praise him for them. Especially let us praise GOD for special and eminent Mercies. Let us praise GOD, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us, that we might be delivered from the Pains of Hell, and enjoy those Pleasures which are at GOD’S right hand for ever more. Let us praise GOD for Gospel-Mercies, and labour to evidence our Thankfulness by a Life of Obedience, doing the Things which GOD hath Commanded, and avoiding those things which he has forbidden, that so GOD’S favour may be towards us, and the sweet Light of his Countenance shining upon us in Christ, that we may be saved. Amen. II. THE EASTON CHURCH COVENANT OF 1747. Tue following covenant and the preliminary statement are from the oldest church records in Easton : — The First Pastor in Easton, Rev. Mr. Mathew Short. Died ap. 16, 1731, aged 43. The Second Pastor, Rev. Mr. Joseph Belcher. Dissmiss’d from his pastoral office A Dom: 1744. After which the chh, perceiving that there was no Covenant to be found that ever this Chh had Subjected too, they thot itt Expedient to procure a Covenant agreeable to the Scripture, and Sighn and Subject themselves unto which accordingly they did, which is as follows : — Easton CHH COVENANT. We, the Subscribers, Members of the Chh of Christ in Easton, Mett together the Sixth day of April, A Domini 1747. Apprehending itt our duty, under our present Circumstances, Solemnly & Explicitly to renew our Covenant with God, Do therefore personally pressent our- selves this day in the holy prescence of God to transact with him this important affair of his Kingdom & Glory, And humbling ourselves before the Lord for all our Sins and the Sins of Ours ; Earnestly pray- ing for pardoning Mercy & Reconcilliation with God thro the Blood of 794 HISTORY OF EASTON. our Lord Jesus, And for the gracious prescence and assistance of his holy Spirit, Under a deep Sense of Our Own Weakness & Unworthy- ness, and with an Humble Confidence of his faviourable Acceptation ; Each of us for ourselves, and all of us jointly together, do Renewedly Enter into Covenant with God and One with Another in the terms following ; that is to say: — First of all, we do Solemnly avouch the Lord of Jehova Father, Son, & Holy Ghost for our portion & cheife good, and give up ourselves, Body & Soul, to him to be his Servants; promissing (by his aid & assistance) to love him & fear him, trust in him, & yeild obedience to him in all things, all y* days of our Lives. 2ly. Wher’as the Son of God in our nature is Exalted as a prince & a Saviour, the only Mediator of y* New Covenant and Means of Coming unto God, We do therefore, thro Grace, accept of him accord- ing to the Tennor of y* Gospel offer, —that is to say, as the Prophet, Preist, & King of our Immortal Souls, — purpossing & promissing to attend his teaching by his Word & Spirit, to Lean upon his Merritt and Intersesscion with the Father as the only way for y* obtainment of y* pardon of our Sins, the faviour of God, & Continuance therein ; And, finally, the Subduing all our Enemies, and working all his works in us and for us. 3ly. Wher’as there are different apprehensions among those that profess Christianity with respect to y* Doctrines of Religion, We do declare our Consent & Adhere to the West Minster Assembly’s Shorter Chatechism, Apprehending in our judgment & Conscience that itt is agreeable to the Word of God. 4ly. Wher’as God has promiss? to be a God unto his People and their Children after them, We do therefore Dedicate our Children to the Service of God in Jesus Christ, Promissing that we wil Season- ably bring those of them that are Unbaptized to Jesus Christ in the Ordinance of Baptism ; and as they grow into years of Understanding, Instruct them in y® Nature, use, and End of that Ordinance, and Into the Principles of y® Christian Religion (So far as need is). That we will Sett good Examples of Righteousness, Piety, and Sobriety before them ; Restrain them, as we are able, from being carry? away with ye Temptations of their age and time ; Endeavouring that they may be prepar* for the Enjoyment of Christ in all his Ordinances ; And, finally, be much in Prayer to God for their Conversion and Salvation. sly. We promiss that we will (by the help of God) avoid all y° Superstitions & Inventions of men in the Worship of God, as Deroga- tory from the Sovereighnty and Wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Supreme head of his Chh ; that we will not Scandalously absent our- APPENDIX. 795 selves from any part of Instituted Worship ; Do what in us lies to prepare ourselves for, uphold, & Improve all the Ordinances of Christ, to the Scriptural benefitt & advantage of our Souls, Leaning upon the promiss that God will meet those that Rejoyce and work Rightiousness and Remember him in his ways. 6ly. We promiss (by the help of God) that we will, with as much frequency as may be, Read, or Cause y* Word of God to be Re’d, in our houses or families, that so the Word of God may dwell Richly in us; Seasonably and Constantly upholding the Worship of God there, & attending the same with Sincerity and affection. 7ly. Wher’as we have given up ourselves to y* Lord & to One another in the Lord, We purposs and promiss that we will live to- gether in holy fellowship and all holy watchfullness over Each other, to the prevention off, or Recovery from, any Scandalous Evils that, thro’ y* Temptations of Satan or Corruptions of our own heart, we may at any time be overtaken with: That we will be as Spedy as may be in making up any difference that may arise in some Orderly way ; En- deavouring also the Temporal & Spiritual good one of another. 8ly. We promiss that, by the help of God, we will have Respect unto all the Dutys Enjoined in the 2* Table as being Necessary parts of a right Ordered Conversation ; Particularly be true and faithfull to all our Civil Contracts and agreements with one another and all men we have to do with, that so none may have Occascion to speak Evil of our profession. gly. And, finally, wher’as there is a Strong Propensity in our Na- tures to what is Evil and Sinfull, we purpose and promiss that, by the help of God’s Spirit, We will keep our hearts and Mortify those Lusts that dwell in us ; Avoiding all such Temptations as our Sinfull hearts are wont to be drawn aside withall, and that we may keep this Cove- nant Inviolable for Ever in all the Branches of itt ; We desire to Deny Ourselves, not trusting in our own Wisdom or Strength, humbly and beleivingly Depending upon God in and thro’ Jesus Christ and the prescence of his holy Spirit with us, and where we Come Short, there to wait on him for pardon and healing, for his Names Sake. SoLomon PRENTICE, pasr. Josiah Perry. James Stacy. Joseph Randall. Thos. Randall. James Dean. Ephraim Randall. John Kinsley. ' Israel Randall. George Keyzar. Thos Randall. Benajah Smith. Sam! Phillips, Junt Nath! Perry. tEben: Ames. 796 HISTORY OF EASTON. tDavid Newland. John Drake. tHenry Howard. Benj? Pettingill. {Samuel Briggs. {Daniel Niles. Mathew Hayward. Nath! Allger. Tho: Randall, Junt Sam! Phillips. Presbyterians admitt4 ; — +W® Pratt, Junt Sam! Randall. Tho’ Drake. Sam! Drake. James Pratt, Jun John Whitman, Junt Jos. Crossman, Junt Jonath. Lothrop. Nehemi Randall. Jos. Lothrop. John Drake, Jun Abrah: Drake. John Selle. Wetherell Wittum. James Pratt. Robert Randall. Ephriam Randall. Israel Randall. Edward Hayward. Joseph Crossman. Seth Babbitt. John Phillips, Junt Thos’ Pratt. Joseph Drake. Eliphalet Leonard. Tho: Allger. Benj? Drake. Eben! Phillips. Joshua Phillips. Israel Randall, Junt Solomon Hewitt. Nore. — Those who joined after April, 1747, are marked thus, t. The others were no doubt the original signers. The names of the Women Members of the Chh of Christ in Easton follows ; viz. : — . Hannah Hayward. - Mary Daily. . Sarah Allger. . Hannah Lothrop. . Rebecca Phillips. Ruth Leonard. . Sarah Babbitt. . Damaris Phillips. . Hannah Pratt. . Mary Pratt. - Mehittable Perry. . Martha Randall. . Hannah Dean. . Mercy Randall. . Sarah Manley. . Elizab. Phillips. . Mary Keith. . Eliza Keyzar. . Abigail Williams, . Lydia Howard. Os An RW DN 4 0 0 Nee eee ODO OA ANP WN 21. Elizab: Drake. 22. Susanna Hewitt. 23. Mary Williams. 24. Martha Pratt. 25. Hepzibeth Pratt. 26. Lydia Randall. 27. Mercy Drake. 28. Hannah Selle. 29. Mary Smith. 30. Mary Randall. 31. Mary Perry. 32. Tamar Drake. 33- Sarah Whitman. 34. Mary Whitman. 35- Hannah Woodward. 36. Susanora Lincoln. 37. Mary Turner. 38. Anna Randall. 39. Mary Randall. 40. Experience Hudson. APPENDIX, 797 41. Sarah Ames.t 51. Sarah Drake. 42. Prudence Drake. 52. Mercy Manley. 43. Experience Randall. 53. Lydia Manley, Widow. 44. Rachel Gilbert. 54. Bettie Kinsley. 45. Abigail Crossman. 55. Mary Pettingill. 46. Jane Allger. 56. Kezia Hayward.t 47. Mary Crossman.f 57. Abigail Newland.t 48. Sussanna Lothrop. 58. Sarah Phillips.t 49. Bethiah Sullard.t 59. Hannah Fobes.t 50. Mehitable Stacy.t 60. Sarah Jordan.t Note. — Those who joined after April, 1747, are marked thus,f. THE SECOND CHURCH COVENANT, 1764. There is a gap in the church records of about eight years (1754- 1762). A new book is bought in December, 1763, but the records begin June 25, 1762. The book begins with a new covenant and list of church-members, — probably drawn up after Mr. Campbell was settled (1764). COVENANT OF 1764. We, the Subscribers, Each of us for ourselves and all of us Joyntly, Do Enter Into Covenant with God and with one another in y* manner Following ; viz. :— I. First of all, we Do Avouch y* Lord JEHOVAH, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for our Portion and Cheife good ; and give up our selves, Bodys & Souls, to him, to be his servants, promising, by his ade & assistance, to love, Fear, Trust in, & yeald obedience to him In all things all the Days of our lives. II. We Do accept of Jesus Christ (through grace), according to the Gospel offer (viz.), as a Prophet, Priest, & King ; Purposing by his grace to Attend his Teaching by his word and Spirit, Relying upon: his Merrits & Intercession with the Father as the only way for ob- taining y* Pardon of Sin, y* favour of God, and our Souls Everlasting Salvation. III. Where as there are Different Apprehensions among those that Profess Christianity with Respect to y* Doctrines of Religion, We Declare our assent to y° Assemblys Shorter Catechism, as Containing those Doctrines that are agreeable to the word of God. IV. We Do Promise to Dedicate our Children to God In Jesus Christ In y® ordinance of Baptism, & as they grow to years of under- standing we will Instruct them Into the Principles of the Christian 798 HISTORY OF EASTON. Religion ; and that we will set good examples of Piety before them, & Restraine them as far as we are able from y* prevailing Sins of their age & Time, & Indeavour that they may be prepared for the Injoy- ment of God in all his ordinances, and, finally, be much In prayer for them ourselves. V. We Do Promise, by y® help of God, that we will, with as much frequency as may be, Read the word of God In our famelys, that So y* word of God may Dwell Richly among us, & that we will Constantly uphold y* worship of God therein. VI. We Do promise, by the help of God, to avoid all Superstitions and inventions of men In the worship of God, that we will not scandel- ously absint ourselves from any part of Instituted worship, and Do what In us lies for the upholding of all y* ordinances of Christ to our Spiritual benifits, and we will make Choice of two or more Elders in ye Chh. VII. Where as we have given our selves to the Lord, & to one another In y* Lord, we Do promise to live together In holy fellowship & watchfulness over Each other to y* prevention of, or Recovery from, any Scandalous Evils that we may be overtaken with ; that we will be as speedy as may be In making up any Difference that may arise In some orderly way; and if any Ecclesiastical Differences shall arise which y* Chh Cannot Issue among themselves, the said Difference or Differences shall be Referred to such a Number of ministers & Chh* In Regular standing as the Chh: shall chuse, and the Determination of y® major part of them shall be the final Decision of all Differences of Ecclesiastical Controversies Referred to them. VIII. And, lastly, that we may keep this Cov! Inviolably In all y° Bratiches of It, we Desire to Deny ourselves, not Trusting In our own Wisdom or Strength, & Believingly Depending upon God In & through Jesus Christ & the Influences of his holy Spirit on us, where we Come Short, there to waite on him for Pardon and healing for his Name Sake. The following Persons Signed upon y* Renewal of the Covenant: Robert Randall. James Pratt. James Deane. Israel Randall. Joseph Drake. Joseph Randall. Benjamin Drake. Thomas Pratt. Benjamin Drake, 2. Benjamin Pettingell. John Selee. Jonathan Lathrop. Thomas Drake. Nehemiah Randall. Joseph Crossman. Mathew Haward. Samuel Phillips. Joseph Gilbert. APPENDIX. 799 William Pratt, 2"4, Ruth Keith. Joseph Crossman, Jun. Hannah Brittain. Samuel Randall. Hannah Fobes. Sarah Drake. Susannah Lathrop. Elizabeth Keyzar. Sarah Drake. Hannah Lathrop. Martha Randall. Abigail Williams. Mercy Randall. Mary Manley. Hannah Deane. Elizabeth Drake. Rebeka Williams. Damerus Phillips. Hannah Williams. Coziah Haward. The small number of these signers as compared with those who signed in 1747 is noteworthy. It betokens the decrease of regard for the institutions of religion consequent upon the bitter contentions that had meantime occurred. Thus religion ever suffers most in the house of its friends. INDEX. INDEX. A. ApAms, Rev. C. C., 408. Adams, Charles Francis, 638. Adams, James, 294, 351, 2ote, 661, 669; men- tion of, with extracts from his poetry, 764. Adams, John, 624. Adams, Deacon John, 96. Adams, John Quincy, 633, 635, 636. Adams, Samuel, 216, 624, 632. Adams, William, 211, 213, 215, 218, 284, 293. Alden, Gustavus, 532, 549, 564. Alden, John, 54. Alden, Warner, 533, 564. Alger, Abiezer, 280, 425, 594. Alger, Ansel, 12, 471. Alger, Benjamin, 297. Alger, Bernard, 336, 353; 356, 357: 643; 662, 670. Alger, Bernard, Mrs., 770. Alger, Cyrus, 44, 285, 297, 512, 516, 584, 589, 591, 629, 644. Alger, Daniel, 432. Alger, Elizabeth, 336. Alger, Capt. George, 311, 512, 514. Alger, Mrs. Hannah, 669. Alger, Israel, 461, 480, 662, 693. Alger, Rev. Israel, brief biographical sketch of, 693. Alger, Jane, 797. Alger, Mary Howard, 471. Alger, Nathaniel, 673, 796. Alger, Polly, 471. Alger, Rachel Howard, 671, 693. Alger, Sarah, 796. Alger, Thomas, 673, 796. Allen, Abijah, 235. Allen, Eben, 495. Allen, Dr. Ebenezer, 725. Allen, Mrs. Experience, 672. Allen, George, 184. Allen, Helen, 495. Allen, Jacob, 211. Allen, Capt. John, 168, 219, 232. Allen, John W., 612. Allen, Josiah, 145. Allen, Paul, 246. Allen, Phineas, 212, 220, 224. Allen, Rebecca, 496, 669. Allen, Samuel C., 625, 634. Allen, Turell, 184, 293. Allen, Thompson, 300. Allton, Rev. Abel, 332. Almy, Charles, 636. Ames, Angier, 650. Ames, Mrs, Anna C., 659. Ames, Azel, Jr., 594. Ames, Catharine Hayward, 660. Ames, Ebenezer, 473, 507, 642, 672, 673, 795- Ames, Ellis, 307, 742, 743, 749- Ames, Eveline Gilmore, 657, 660. Ames, Eveline O., 654. Ames, Frank M., 513, 515, 646, 6543 brief bio- graphical sketch, 660. Ames, Hon, Frederick Lothrop, 3, 4, 40, 44,47, 54, 123, 278, 286, 377, 379, 500, 591, 595, 606, 607, 646, 657; the new station presented by him to the Old Colony R. R., 685; his house and grounds, 685; his early business life, 752; positions of honor and trust held by him, 753; his personal characteristics, 753. Ames, Dr. George H., 723. Ames, Harriet, 650. Ames, Helen Angier, 411, 500, 657. Ames, Henry G., 500, 654. Ames, Hobart, 621. Ames, Horatio, 345, 650. Ames, Rev. Jarvis Adams, brief sketch of his early life and later labors in the ministry, 694. Ames, Capt. John, 593, 648. Ames, John, 592. Ames, John, 2d, 650, 662. Ames, Jotham, 483, 669, 694, 739. Ames, Nathaniel, 74, 277. Ames, Hon. Oakes, 280, 326, 356, 375, 376) 5931 5951 597, 598, 607; 646, 650, 657, 660, 759; his bequest to town for school fund, 400 ; with his brother assumes control of his father’s business, 651 ; his political life, 651; his connection with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, 651-654; the Crédit Mobi- 804 INDEX. lier affair and its outcome, 652, 653; resolu- tion of the Mass. Legislature in his honor, 653; strong points of his character, 654; his family, 654; his death, 654; the Memorial Hall built by his sons, 687. Ames, Oakes Angier, 500, 595, 596, 598, 606, 607, 654, 687. Ames, Hon. Oliver, Sr., 53, 280, 283, 375, 391, 409, 438, 441, 592, 593, 595, 626, 627, 646, 651, 655, 670; his birth and parentage, 648; establishes his shovel factory at Easton, 648 ; his political service, 649; striking points of his character, 649, 6503 his family, 650. Ames, Hon. Oliver, Jr., 357,377; 3853 500, 528, 534, 591, 595, 597, 598, 606, 607, 629, 646, 648, 650, 752, 759, 764; his bequest for a free library at Easton, 378; assists to build a schoolhouse for North Easton, 393}; his be- quest to the town for a school fund, 399; builds a new church for the Unitarian So- ciety, 411; his efforts for temperance, 441; bequeaths fund for improvements on public highways, 468; bequeaths fund for care of village cemetery, 501 ; his early life at Easton, 655; his political affiliations and services, 655; his co-operation with Oakes in the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, 656; positions of trust and responsibility, 656; his private life and character, 656; as a philanthropist, 657. Ames, Gov. Oliver, 385, 400, 512, 515, 595, 606, 607, 640, 646, 647, 654, 685, 688, 754; his bequest to the town of Easton for plant- ing trees along the highways, 469; brief biographical sketch, — his birth and early education, 657; as a business man and finan- cier, 658; his connection with politics, 658; his marriage and home life, 659. Ames, Oliver, 2d, 754. Ames, Parmenas, 211, 220, 232. Ames, Polly Lothrop, 694, 739. Ames, Mrs. Rachel, 671. Ames, Rebecca Blair, 754. Ames, Ruby Sedgwick, 694. Ames, Rufus, 483, 641, 643, 671. Ames, Sarah Lothrop (Mrs. Oliver), 378, 648, 657, 687, 752, 797- Ames, Susanna Angier, 648, 650, 651, 655. Ames, Susanna Howard, 648, 670. Ames, Washington L., 739. Ames, Willard, 613. Ames, William, 74, 669. Ames, William, 483. Ames, Dr. William, 648. Ames, William L., 650. Amsden, Frank H., 613. Anderson, A. B., 414. Anderson, Andrew, 414. Anderson, Augustus, 414. Anderson, James, 227. Anderson, Major, 521. Andrew, Gov. John A., 521, 635, 647- Andrew, John F., 636. Andrews, Edmund, 170, 182, 224, 507; brief biographical sketch of, 740. Andrews, Capt. Edmund, 740. Andrews, Elisha T., 598, 640. Andrews, Lieut. George W., 524, 530, 536, 565- Andrews, Henry, 20. Andrews, Capt. James, 163, 228. Andrews, John, 238. Andrews, Keziah Dean, 740. Andrews, Lemuel, 212, 220, 230, 232. Andrews, William G., 597. Andrews, William S., 598, 637- Angier, Rev. Joseph, 410. Angier, Rev. L. H., 368. Angier, Rev. M. B. 368. Anthony, Mrs. Polly, 669. Armstrong, Samuel T., 625, 634. Arnolt, Adam, 507. Ashley, William C., 529 and mote, 565. Aspinwall, Col. Thomas, 307. Atwood, Isaac, 164. Atwood, J. D., 610, 620. Austin, Deborah Caswell, 53. Austin, Elizabeth Briggs, 53- Austin, John, early settler in Easton, prior to incorporation, 20, 53, 76, 145, 673. Austin, Jonah, 53. Austin, Priscilla, 53. Austin, William, Sr., 296. Austin, William T., 669. Avery, Rev. Joseph, 143. Axtel, Lady, 69. Axtel, Thankful Pratt, 69. Axtell, Daniel, 69. Ayers, Leonard, 483. B. BawsittT, Abigail, 719. Babbitt, Benjamin, 234. Babbitt, Edward, 20. Babbitt, Elizabeth Vinton, 720. Babbitt, Erasmus, 719; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 49, 304. Babbitt, Isaac, 234. Babbitt, Nathaniel, 159, 508. Babbitt, Sarah, 796. Babbitt, Seth, 673, 796; early settler in Eas- ton prior to incorporation, 44, 49, 84, 168, 174. Babbitt, Dr. Seth, 49, 165, 167, 303, 471; brief biographical sketch of, 719. Babbitt, Simeon, 145, 507. Babbitt, Thomas, 159. Babbitt, Willard, 589. Babbitt, William, 673. INDEX. 805 Babcock, Adam, 246. Backus, Rev. Isaac, quoted, 176. Badlam, Ezra, 100. Badlam, Hannah Belcher, 100. Badlam, Stephen, roo. Badlam, Deacon Stephen, roo. Bagley, Rebecca Huidekoper, 411. Bailey, Guido, 48. Bailey, John, 498. Bailey, John, Jr., 498. Bailey, Col. John, 214, 226, 235, 251. Bailey, Rev. John, 328. Bailey, Rebecca, 498. Bailey, Roland, 232. Bailey, Seth, 231, 232. Baker, Charles, 522, 526, 564. Baker, Isaac H., 555. Baker, John I., 636. Balch, Rev. Mr., 106. Baldwin, William F., 609, 620. Ball, James, 228. Ballard, Charles R., 379, 388, 616; his poem at the dedication of the soldiers’ monument, quoted, 617; brief biographical sketch of, 754. Ballou, Adin, 362. Bancroft, George, 625, 634. Bands, military, their organization and mem- bers, 607-609. Banks in Easton, organization and officers of, 606, 667. Banks, N. P. 630, 635. Barclay, John, 625, 634. Barclay, William, 169, 284. Barden, John T., 449. Barlow, David, 593. Barlow, James P., brief biographical sketch of, 741. Barlow, John, 471. Barnard, Isaac, 193. Barnard, Rev. Stephen A., 361. Barrett, Isaac, 425. Barrows, Abbot B., 545, 564. Barrows, C. M., 388. Barrows, George, 606, 609. Barrows, Dr. George, 726. Barrows, Joseph, 377, 385, 412, 497; 607, 616, 637, 644, 646, 764. Barrows, Miss Sarah W., 386, 402. Barrows, William, 630, 637, 646. © Bartlett, Anse] T., 613. Bartlett, Capt. Asa, 510, 514. Bartlett, Benjamin, 639. Bartlett, Ebenezer, 307, 323. Bartlett, Elijah, 292. Bartlett, John, 527, 544, 564. Bartlett, Joseph, 307. Bartlett, Peter, sor. Bartlett, Samuel D., 613. Bartlett, Mrs. Susanna, 669. Bartlett, William, 168. Bass, Samuel, 457. Bates, Benjamin, 485. Bates, Rev. George H., 408, 612, 646. Bates, John A., 376, 627. Bates, Rev. Lewis B., 332, 386, 408; his appointment to the Methodist Episcopal Church at North Easton, 320, 406; division of the church during his ministry, 406-408. Bates, William C., 401. Baylies, Francis, 634. Baylies, William, 655, 751- Beach, Erasmus D., 635. Beal, Rev. Mr., 363. Beal, Thomas Prince, 627. Bean, Thomas, 532, 537, 564, 612, 613, 646. Beaver Brook, formerly called Little or Coop- er’s Brook, 12. Beaver Dam, 15. Beaver Pond, 15. Beebe, Eliphalet, 223, 227. Belcher, Clifford, 607, 608, 671. Belcher, Daniel, 496, 556, 560, 585, 607, 608. Belcher, Madam Deborah, 96. Belcher, Elizabeth Ruggles, 96. Belcher, Gregory, 1st, 96. Belcher, Gregory, 2d, 100, 168. Belcher, George C., 386, 646. Belcher, George W., 608. Belcher, James, 585, 586. Belcher, Jonathan, 99. Belcher, Dr., Joseph, 100, 160, and mote, 218, 739: Belcher, Rev. Joseph, of Dedham, 96. Belcher, Rev. Joseph, 106; called to his first settlement at Easton, 94; the terms of his settlement, 94, 95; his acceptance of the call, 95; his parentage and early life, 96; his ordination at Easton, 97; his difficulties with the parish, and is finally dismissed from his pastorate, 98; his reported insanity, 98 ; continues to reside in Easton after his dis- missal, 99; his subsequent difficulties and law-suits with various townsmen, 99; con- demned to jail, but escapes, roo; final dis- position of his property and his children, 100}; uncertainty as to his subsequent career, 100, 101, 739. Belcher, Samuel, roo. Belcher, Solomon, 312. Belcher, William, 100. Bellows, Charles, 522, 564. Bemis, Rev. Nathaniel, 328. Benoni, Benjamin (“‘ Old Bunn”), 390, 431. Benoni, Benjamin, Jr., 431. Bent, Capt. Lemuel, 166, 169. Benton, Sandford, 325. Berry, Clark T., 613. Berry, L. L., 295, 605, 609, 620. Binney, Amos, 140, 327, 599+ Bird, Augustus, 394. 806 INDEX. Bird, Francis W., 635. Bird, Virgil, 526, 530, 565. Bisbee, Mrs. Betsey, 670. Bisbee, Ebenezer, 212. Bisbee, John, 326, 376, 498, 670. Bishop, Henry W., 634, 635. Bishop, Hon. Robert R., 636, 658. Blackman, Timothy, 669. Blair, James, 754. Blair, Nancy, 754. Blaisdell, Andrew, 312. Blaisdell, Benjamin G., 609. Blaisdell, Daniel B., 522, 527, 531, 565. Blaisdell, Oliver H., 522, 551, 565, 612. Blake, Rev. Ebenezer, 325. Blake, Capt. Edward, 170, 224. Blake, Mrs. Rachel, 672. Blanchard, Gcorge N., 526, 543, 548, 565, 613. Bliss, George T., 608. Bliss, Martin, 592. Blood, Luther, 613. Bolles, Anna Hibbard, 695, 741. Bolles, Catherine Hartwell Dix, 741. Bolles, Rev. David, 695. Bolles, Frank, 741. Bolles, John Augustus, 695 ; brief biographical sketch of, 741. Bolles, Matthew, 662, 741, zo7e. Bolles, Matthew, Jr., 695. Bolles, Rev. Matthew, 741; sketch of, 695. Bolles, Timothy Dix, 741. Boltwood, Lucius, 634. Bond, Alonzo, 609. Bonney, Josiah, 312. Bonney, Lucien, 609. Bonney, Mrs. Parnell, 671. Bonney, William, 212, 221, 228, 233. Boodry, B. F., 495, 526, 543, 565, 615. Boodry, G. A., 495. Boodry, George J. Jr., 532, 5375 565- Booth, Mrs. Sally, 671. Borg, William, 414. Boston Gazette, quoted, 207, 208, 209. Bosworth, Hattie, 498. Bosworth, Jonathan, 233. Bosworth, William H., 613. Boutwell, George S., 634. Boyden, A., 585. Boyle, Mrs. Bridget, 671. Bragdon, Mrs. Sarah, 671. Brazier, Benjamin, 227. Brett, Calvin, 288, 321, 484, 587, 589, 590, 637, 643, 646, 670, 696. Brett, Ebenezer, 233. Brett, Dr. George, 598, 609; brief biographical sketch of, 737. Brett, John C., 5go. Brett, Jonathan, 639, 737. Brett, Martha Bartlett, 737. Brett, Olive, 671. Brett, Sarah Alden, 695. Brett, Seth, 695. Brett, Rev. Silas, 60, 102, 263; brief biographi- cal sketch of, 695. Brett, Silas H., 311. Brett, Mrs. Thankful, 672. Brett, Thankful Howard, 696. Briggs, Abigail Patten, 724. Briggs, Charles, 607. Briggs, Rev. Charles, 410. Briggs, Clement, 21, 33, 654; first settler in Easton, 39, 42, 43, 74, 276, 281, 297- Briggs, George N., 625, 634, 635. Briggs, Jabez, 230. Briggs, Jonathan, 20. Briggs, Samuel, 21, 32, 796. Briggs, Thomas, 21; first settler within the Taunton North Purchase, 22. Briggs, Thomas, Jr., 21. Briggs, Timothy, 724. Brigham, Rev. C. H., 410, 412. Britton, Charles, 495. Britton, Charles L., Jr., 536, 543, 565. Britton, Mrs. Cynthia, 670. Britton, Floyer, 494. Britton, Frank, 494. Britton, Hannah, 799. Britton, James, 397. Britton, John, 221, 233. Britton, Joshua, 385, 637. Britton, Maria B., 696. Britton, Nathaniel, 224. Britton, Rev. Nelson Williams, brief biographi- cal sketch of, 696. Britton, Pendleton, 17, 160, 221, 224, 670. Britton, Philip, 221. Britton, Sarah H., 696. Britton, Susan, 494. Britton, Thomas, 313, 374. Britton, William, 224, 229, 277. Britton, William, Jr., 696. Britton, Zachariah, 304, 672. Bromfield, Richard, 169. Brook, Black, 13. Brook, Beaver, 12. Brook, Cooper’s, 12. Brook, Cranberry Meadow, 13. Brook, Gallows, 13. Brook, Little, 12. Brook, Long Swamp, 9. Brook, Manley’s, 11. Brook, Mulberry-Meadow, 11. Brook, Poquanticut, 11. Brook, Rocky-Meadow, to. Brook, Spring, 13. Brook, Whitman’s, 11. Brooks, Rev. Charles, 409, 412. Brooks, John, 633. Brown, Addison, 721. Brown, Catherine B. Griffin, 721. INDEX, 807 Brown, Erastus, 385. Brown, Rev. E. C. L., quoted in reference to the ruins of the old religious settlement at Dorchester, S. C., 65. Brown, Gen. Jacob, 308. Brown, John, 286, 584, 613.. Bruce, Ebenezer, 165, 169, 212. Brumige, Richard, 168. Bryant, Dr., of Bridgewater, 489. Bryant, John, 20. Bryant, Nathan, 162, 166, 168, 169, 507. Bryant, Seth, 164. Buck, Abijah, 395. Buck, Archippus, 12, 396, 449, 489, 509, 514, 644, 670. Buck, Barnabas, 671. Buck, Benjamin, 489, 671, 672, 697. Buck, Clarissa Bryant, 697. Buck, Chester, 304. Buck, Rev. Charles H., brief biographical sketch of, 697. Buck, Franklin, 547, 565. Buck, Harriet, 494. Buck, Mrs. Hannah, 671. Buck, Mrs. Horace, 12. Buck, Jane, 494. Buck, Jeptha, 6or. Buck, Julia O., 697. Buck, Milly, 489. Buck, Mrs. Melatiah, 672. ks Buck, Nathan, 309; unfortunate shooting of Charles Gilbert at New Bedford, 309; his indictment and trial, 310. Buck, Ruth, 494, 670, 671. Buck, Ruth Thompson, 304. Buck, Mrs. Sylvia, 489, 671. Buck, Tarteus, 12, 304, 669. Buck, Thankful Selee, 494, 775. Buck, Thomas, 230, 233. Buck, Zeno, 494. _ Buck, Zeno F., 547, 565. Buchanan, President, 520. Buckley, Daniel F., biographical sketch of, 741. Buckley, Jerry, 297. Bullock, Alexander H., 635. Bullock, Hon. Stephen, 460. Bump, Joseph, 542, 565. Bump, Capt. William E., 512, 514. Bump, William E., Jr., 522, 565, 611, Bundy, John, his grant in the Taunton North- Purchase Territory, 21. Burial Places, former custom of having family graves in private grounds, 470; the action of the Taunton North-Purchase Company in regard to granting land for burial purposes, 472; the Old Burying Ground, 472; the Thomas Manley Cemetery, 474; the Lieut. John Williams burying-ground, 475; the Ferguson burying-ground, 477; the Old Bay-road Cemetery, 477; the Elijah Howard Cemetery, 479, 616; the Pine Grove Ceme- tery, 479, 615; Washington Street Cemetery, 480, 615; the Isaac Lothrop Cemetery, 482, 616; the Col. John Williams graveyard, 453; the Seth Pratt Cemetery, 484; the Central Cemetery, 485, 615; the Oliver Howard burying-ground, 486; the Wilbur graveyard, 487; the Keith graveyard on the Bay road, 488, 616; the William Dean Ceme- tery, 488; the Dr. Edward Dean Cemetery, 489, 615; the Elijah Copeland graveyard, 491 ; the Nehemiah Howard graveyard, 492; the Capt. Jedediah Willis graveyard, 492; the Asa Newcomb graveyard, 492; the Asaph Howard graveyard, 493; the Apollos Clark burying-ground, 493; the Record Cemetery, 494; the John Selee Cemetery, 494, 616; the Silas Phillips graveyard, 495, 616; the Alms- house burying-ground, 496; the Furnace Village Cemetery, 496, 615; the Easton Cemetery, 497, 614; the Roman Catholic Cemetery, 499, 614; the Village Cemetery, §00, 615; abandoned graveyards, 501; pro- posed remedy for unmarked and neglected graves, 504; names of soldiers buried in the town cemeteries, 614-616. Burr, David Barton, 702. Burr, Capt. Ephraim, 184, 227, 282, 292, 514; brief sketch of his military career, 250, 510. Burr, John, 250. Burr, Jonathan, 224. Burr, Joshua, 238. Burr, Mrs. Nabby, 671. Burr, Rufus, 239. Burr, Seth, 219, 225, 298. Burr, Simeon, 213, 235, and xofe, Burr, Susan Harriet, 702. Burr, Sylvanus, 239. Burrell, Daniel W., 529, 565, 609, 612, 613. Burroughs, Stephen, 198. Burt, Alexander, 220. Burt, Daniel, 312, 313. Burt, Eustis E., 524, 541, 565. Burt, James, 20. Burt, Richard, 20. Burt, Samuel, 228. Butler, Gen. B. F., 558, 631, 635, 636, 647, 658, Butler, Thomas, 292, 507. Butler, William, 292. C. CAHILL, Mrs. Margaret, 670. Calkins, Oscar, 613. Callahan, Dennis, 613. Cameron, John, 220, 235, 237- 808 INDEX. Campbell, Rev. Archibald, 435; called by the church of Christ at Easton, 190; his accept- ance and ordination, 191; brief sketch of his parentage, birth, and education, 191-193; reorganizes the Easton Church, 193; his difficulties begin, 194; his unhappy family relations, 195; slanderous charges preferred against him, 195; requests and obtains his dismissal with a recommendation, 196, 197 ; his later ministry in Charlton, 197; further domestic trouble and disgrace, 198; extract from one of his sermons, 199-202 ; his expe- riences subsequent to dismissal from Char]- ton, 202, 203; his children, 203; ‘‘ The Vale of Tears,” quoted, 205. Campbell, Archibald, Jr., 198, 204, 232, 233- Campbell, Barnard, 203. Campbell, Ebenezer, 507. Campbell, Esther Fairchild, 192. Campbell, Hannah Barnard, 193. Campbell, Rev. John, 192. Campbell, Susanna, 203. Campbell, Capt. William, 202. Capen, Edward, 312, 313, 599. Capen, Lemuel, 527, 544, 565. Card, James S., 613. Carpenter, Col. Thomas, 224, 228, 230, 232. Carr, Mrs. Amity, 669. Carr, Caleb, 189, 391, 501. Carr, Caleb, Jr., 189, 391. Carr, Mrs. Chloe, 669. Carr, C, B., 621. Carr, Rev. Eseck, called by the Baptist Society at Easton, 183; is drafted, but claims ex- emption from military duty, 186; his death, 189; removal of his remains, 501, 502. Carr, F. H., 621. Carr, Henry, 605. Carr, John, 502. Carr, Lieut. John, 512. Carr, Lydia Grinnell, 186. Carr, Tiley, 502. Carroll, Rev. Thomas F., 414. Carver, John, 42. Cary, Joshua, 230. Caswell, Thomas, 20. Census Statistics: table showing the rate of in- crease of population in Easton since 1765,, 664; proportion of male and female popula- tion, 665 ; ages of boys and girls, 665; con- jugal condition of Easton inhabitants, 666; statistics of nationality, 666; of parentage,’ 667 ; statistics of longevity, with names of. the oldest living inhabitants of Easton, 668- 672; list of voters in Easton in 1749, 672, 673; statistical table of polls, houses, ani- mals, etc., 673-675; town valuations, 675 ; statistics of industries since 1837, arranged, mainly by decades, 676-682 ; farm-produce, 682, Chaffin, Rebecca Bagley, 411. Chaffin, Rev. William L., 377, 379, 386, 411, 612, 613, 616. Chamberlain, Edwin M., 635. Chamberlain, Rev. J. T., 324- Chambers, Philip, 227, 235. Chambré, Rev. St. John, 750. Chandler, Roger, 22. Chapin, Ebenezer, 369. Chapin, Rev. F. P., 368. Chapin, Margaret Macfarlane, 369. Chapin, N., 315. Chapin, Sarah, 369. Chapin, Sarah Wallace, 369. Cheever, Tracy P., 610. Chipman, Jacob, 669. Church and Parish distinguished, 94. Churchill, Ephraim, 317, 322. Churchill, Jabez, 285. Churchill, Josiah, 285, 673. Churchill, Philley, 316, 317. Churchill, Samuel, 163, 507. Churches in North Easton: Methodist Pro- testant Society, 403-405 ; Methodist Epis- copal Society, 405-408; origin of Unity Church, 409-412; the Church of the Imma- culate Conception, 413, 414; the Swedish Church, 414; the Adventists, 415 ; denomi- national statistics, 415 ; statistics of church attendance, 416-418. Civil War, The: early response of Massa- chusetts to the call for troops, 521 ; Eas- ton’s representation in the Fourth Mass. Regiment, 522; the second enlistment from Easton in the Second Mass., 523; third en- listment in Seventh Mass., 524, 525; other enlistments from Easton during the first year, 525 ; early town action taken in regard to the war, 528; Easton volunteers in 1862, and their service, 528-533; town action in 1862 to encourage enlistments, 533; enlist- ments and service of Easton men in 1863, 5343 the drafts in 1863-1864 and Easton’s ready response, 538 ; canvass of the town in 1863 for subscriptions, 539; town action in 1863, 540; enlistments and service of Easton men in 1864, 540-547; town action in 1864, 547; the end of the war, 547; return home of the Easton volunteers, 548-550; Easton’s representation in the navy, 550; town action in 1865, 551; deserters or shirkers, 552-554 ; the women of Easton during the war, 554 ; summary of enlistments for Easton, 555 ; brief sketches of Majors Robert Dollard and John Fitzpatrick, 556-564 ; alphabetical list of Easton soldiers, 564-583. Claflin, William, 635. Clapp, Capt, Abiel, 116, 224. Clapp, Mrs. Esther, 672. Clapp, Fred, 498. INDEX. 809 Clapp, J. F., 499. Clapp, Stephen, 232, 233. Clapp, Thomas, 240. Clapp, Tyler F., 498, 530, 346, 565, 614. Clark, Apollos, 493, 300. Clark, C. J., 620. Clark, Eleazar, 484. Clark, Daniel, 10, 136, 307. Clark, Luther H., 612, 613. Clark, Samuel, 281. Clark, Samuel R., 457, 629. Clark, Susan, 484. Clarke, David, 212, 232. Clarke, Eleazer B., 614 and xofe.” Clarke, Rev. James Freeman, 523, 410. Clarke, Lemuel, 307. Clarke, Dr. Luther, 721. Clarke, Rev. Pitt, 343. Clarke, Capt, Samuel, 162. Clay, Henry, 628, 629. Clements, W. H., 620, Clifford, Arthur, 614. Clifford, John H., 630, 634 Clifford, Robert, 522, 565. Closson, D. B., 605. Clough, Rev. John B., 329 Coates, Ezra, 748. Cobb, Alanson, 311. Cobb, John, 20, 22. Cobb, Lieut. Morgan, 109 Cobb, Rufus, 228. Cobbett, William E., 613. Cochran, John, 228. Coffin, Deborah, 410. Coffin, J. C., 85. Coffin, William B., 410. Cogswell, Abigail Parker, 720. Cogswell, Catherine Brown, 720. Cogswell, Mrs, Catherine B. Brown, 721. Cogswell, Dr. Charles Hale, brief biographical sketch of, 720, 721, Cogswell, Francis, 634. Cogswell, Dr. George B., 377, 515, 527, 531, 544, 566, 609, 610, 611, 613, 616, 619, 620, 663, 689; brief biographical sketch of, 720. Coke, Rev. Thomas, 314. Colburn, Rev. M. F., 333. Cole, Benjamin, 168. Cole, Capt. Joseph, 228. Cole, William, 228. Cole, William E., 526, 537, 566, 613. College Graduates: brief sketches of those not in professional life, 752-758 ; Hon. F. L. Ames, 752-754; Oliver Ames, 2d, 754; Charles R. Ballard, 754; Maitland C. Lam- prey, 754, 755; Edwin Howard Lothrop, 756; Commander George Francis Faxon Wilde, 756-758. Collins, Mr., 43. Colonists, the French and English, their hos- tility towards each other, 158; their injustice towards the Indians, 159. Colwell, John, 227. Cook,, Francis, 260. Cook, Gamaliel, 229. Cooke, Charles F., 613. Cooper, Timothy, early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 8, 12,15, 45, 46, 48, 84, 87, 276, 280, 297. Conant, Nathan, 227, 235. Conant, Roger, 211. Coney, Lieut. Samuel, 13, 288, 641, 642. Conking, Fortune, 219 and ote, 221. Conlan, Patrick, 545, 549, 566, 613. Conlin, James, 671. Conlin, Rev. James W., 715. Connell, D. J., 609. Connell, John, 614. Conroy, Patrick, 614. Conway, Thomas, 531, 566. Copeland, Delia Howard, 721. Copeland, Elijah, 194, 221, 228, 233, 238, 491. Copeland, George, 644, 646, 663. Copeland, Hiram, 587, 660. Copeland, Hiram W., 550, 566. Copeland, Horatio, 311, 643, 663, 721. Copeland, Dr. Horatio Franklin, 566; brief biographical sketch of, 721. Copeland, Joseph, 749. Copeland, Josiah, 284, 288, 337, 512, 587, 589, 643, 670. Copeland, Lucy Ann, 749. Copeland, Lurana Copeland, 660. Copeland, Martin, 308, 491. Copeland, Mrs. Rhoda, 491, 669. Copeland, Mrs. Susanna, 670. Cordner, Samuel, 670. Cordner, Mrs. Tamar, 671. Cornipsus (River and Hill), 9. Costello, Patrick, 622. Cotter, Edward A., 614. Cotter, Timothy, 545, 566. Couch, Colonel, 524. Cox, Thomas, 613. Coye, Rev. Nehemiah, 319. Crane, Benjamin, 80. Crane, Joshua E., 60, 69. Crane, Dr. Silas Axtell, 69. Crimes and Penalties in Easton in olden times, 423-432. Crocker, Lieut. Charles A., 544, 549, 566. Crockett, L. B., 610, 620, 621. Crockett, Major, 526, 537, 566, 615. Crockett, Mrs. Sally, 672. Crockett, William, 523, 526, 537, 543, 548, 566, 612, 613. Crooker, H., 482. Crossman, Abigail, 797. Crossman, Alpha, 374. 52 810 INDEX. Crossman, Benjamin, 232. Crossman, Daniel, 232. Crossman, Joseph, early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 48, 52, 57, 98, 106, 193, 384, 463, 473, 507, 641, 673, 796, 798. Crossman, Joseph, Jr., 796, 799. Crossman, Mary, 797. Crossman, Robert, 20. Crossman, Seth, 234. Crossman, William, 219. Crosswell, Benjamin, 218, 225. Crowninshield, Benjamin W., 633. Cunningham, Martin, 526, 530, 566. Curtis, Capt. Calvin, 214, 229. Cushing, Caleb, 634. Cushing, William, 632. Cushman, Samuel, 312. Cutler, Rev. Dr. Manassah, 254 ote; extract from his diary, 255. Cutler, Rev. Samuel, 320. D.. DaccETT, Hon. Ebenezer, 638, 646. Daggett, Col. John, 221, 227, 228, 249. Daggett, Hon. John, 31, zofe. Dahlborg, Charles, 414. Dailey, Daniel, 219, 224, 239, 507. Dailey, Daniel, Jr., 235. Dailey, Daniel M., 2, 52. Dailey, David, 220. Dailey, Henry, 377. Dailey, John, 17, 36; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 47, 57, 74, 84, 91, III, 112, 212, 218, 276, 280, 298, 299, 435, 440, 473, 641, 642, 673. Dailey, Ensign John, 508. Dailey, Lewis, 299. Dailey, Mary, 57, 796. Dailey, Nezer, 235. Dailey, Mrs. Ruth, 486, 669. Dailey, Mrs. Sarah, 671. Dailey, Wade, 311, 337, 486, 630, 643, 646, 671. Dana, N. B., 609. Dane, Rev. Francis, 324. Darling, Lucius, 498. Darling, Theodore, 613. Davidson, Thomas F., 385, 661. Davidson, William, 586. Davis, Sergt. George H., 499, 523, 526, 537, 543, 548, 566, 614. Davis, George K., 610, 620. Davis, Isaac, 634, 635. Davis, Rev. J. S., 408. Davis, John, 625, 628, 633, 634. Davis, Capt. John, 755. Davis, Richard M., 545, 549, 566. Davis, Hon. William Morton, 748, Day, Mrs. Dorcas, 671. Day, Capt. Henry, 512, 514. Day, Oliver A., 292, 470, 603. Day, Rev. S. Hamilton, 332. Dean, Alice, 20. Dean, Anne Hayward, 722. Dean, Capt. Barzillai, 495, 498, 510, 514, 590- Dean, Benjamin, 40. | Dean, Benjamin, Jr., 163. Dean, Charles, 312, 721. Dean, Charlotte, 723. Dean, Cynthia B., 489. Dean, Mrs. Deborah, 670. Dean, Capt. Ebenezer, 163, 225. Dean, Dr. Edgar Everett, brief biographical sketch of, 721, 725. ; Dean, Dr. Edward, brief biographical sketch of, 436, 456, 489, 491, 722. Dean, Edward W., 591. Dean, Capt. Edward W., 510, 514. Dean, Elisha, 221, 670. Dean, Elizabeth Holmes, 722. Dean, Elizabeth Nicholson, 143. | Dean, Fidelia, 723. Dean, Hannah, 796, 799. Dean, Hannah Hayward, 722. Dean, Helen Amanda Packard, 722, Dean, Ichabod, 529, 567. Dean, Isaac, 163, 238. Dean, Israel, 20. Dean, J. O., 97, 275, 369, 386, 590, 696. Dean, James, 13, 118, 120, 126, 144, 150, 155, 193, 281, 286, 287, 289, 374, 375, 435) 436, 508, 591, 642, 670, 673, 722, 795, 798. Dean, Dr. James B., brief biographical sketch of, 722. Dean, Joanna Williams, 722. Dean, Josiah, 286. Dean, Kate, 437. Dean, Katharine, 47. Dean, Mrs. Keziah, 489, 670. Dean, Lydia Wilbur, 721. Dean, Mrs. Mary, 669. Dean, Nathan, 143. Dean, Rev. Paul, 361, 385, 610. Dean, Polly, 722. Dean, T. H., 275, 590, 607, 690. Dean, Thomas, 47, 160. Dean, Walter, 20. Dean, William, 488, 489. Dean, William A., 567. Deane, Mrs. Annie D., 698. Deans, Chas. Henry, brief biographical sketch of, 723, 742. Deans, Elijah, 722. Deans, Elizabeth, 723. Deans, George DeWolf, 743. Deans, George Wheaton, brief biographical sketch of, 723, 742. Deans, Hannah, 490, 723. INDEX: Sir Deans, Hannah LeBaron Wheaton, 669, 723, 742. Deans, Irene, 722. Deans, Mary M. Harris, 742. Deans, Nancy Shaw Richards, 743. Deans, Dr. Samuel, brief biographical sketch of, 375, 385, 490, 575, 637, 661, 722, 742. Dearborn, Henry, 633. DeBeauez, Baron, 240. Delano, Henry H., 529, 567. Delano, Marcus F., 613. Delopatogui, Manuel, 163. Demmond, Martha Campbell, 203. Demmond, William, 203. Desilvia, William, 227, 235. Devens, Charles, 635. Devins, Richard, 215. DeWitt, Messrs., 15. Dexter, Samuel, 624, 633. Dickerman, Charles R., 371. Dickerman, Dr. D. S., 723. Dickerman, Daniel, 298, 311. Dickerman, Ebenezer, 213, 228, 232, 461. Dickerman, Ezekiel, 607, 608. Dickerman, Dr. Henry Lee, 515; brief bio- graphical sketch of, 723. Dickerman, Irving, 526, 543, 567. Dickerman, James, 325, 332, 374, 461, 481. Dickerman, Mrs. Joanna, 669. Dickerman, John, 53, 178. Dickerman, Louise Gorner, 723. Dickerman, Nancy Webster, 723. Dickerman, Mrs. Sally, 671. Dickerman, Zopher, 723. Dix, Col. Timothy, 741. Doherty, Cornelius, 619. Doherty, Rev. William T., 715. Dollard, Mrs. Caroline Dunn, 559. Dollard, Mary (Colye), 556. Dollard, Major Robert, 514, 515, 523, 526, 530, 543, 567; his parentage and early life, 556; his military service, 557-559; his home and occupation since the war, 559. Dollard, Thomas, 556. Donahue, Thomas, 613. Donovan, Mrs. Ann, 672. Donovan, Daniel, 524, 542, 567, 614. Donovan, James, 551, 567, 613. Dorgan, Patrick, 613. Doty, Col. Thomas, 163, 168. Dow, Lorenzo, Methodist pioneer preacher in Easton, 316-318. Dowden, Rev. William H., 368, 616. Downe, Moses, 213. Downing, Deborah, 669. Downing, Warner, 308, 313. Drake, Abiah, 166. Drake, Abial, 163, 169, 507, 672. Drake, Abner, Jr., 607, 608. Drake, Abraham, 796. Drake, Adam, 228, 234, 669. Drake, Alvin, 449. Drake, A. L., 585. Drake, Capt. Bartholomew, 374, 509, 514. Drake, Benjamin, early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 17, 42, 44, 45, 56, 74) 84, 90, 91, ITI, 112, 228, 282, 636, 641, 642, 673, 796, 798. Drake, Benjamin, Jr., early settler in Easton prior to incorporation,’36, 42, 45, 52, 74, 120, 164, 166, 168, 170, 212, 220, 232, 233, 746, 798. Drake, Benjamin, 3d, 220, 507. Drake, Mrs. Bethia, 672. Drake, Bethuel, 710. Drake, Mrs. Bethuel, 485. Drake, Caroline Torrey, 497, 659. Drake, Mrs. Charity, 672. Drake, Clement, 211, 213, 224, 230, 233. Drake, Cynthia, go2. Drake, Ebenezer, 281. Drake, Edward, 232, 300. Drake, Edward, Jr., 299. Drake, Elijah, 308, 309. Drake, Elizabeth, 52, 796, 799. Drake, Ellen M., 660. Drake, Ephraim, 507. Drake, Ephraim, Jr., 232. Drake, Francis, 221, 497, 525, 536, 567. ‘| Drake, George H., 537, 567, 613. Drake, George Washington, 490, 670. Drake, Hannah, 669. Drake, Mrs. Hannah, 42, 484, 670, 672. Drake, Hezekiah, 159, 160, 169, 211, 213, 228, 232, 294, 507. Drake, Hiram P., 490. Drake, Isaac, 312. Drake, James, 374. Drake, Jason G., 724. Drake, Dr. Jason Williams, brief biographical sketch of, 724. Drake, Mrs. Jemima, 671. Drake, Joel, 335, 357, 643- Drake, Joel S., 250, 601, 608, 641, 644, 690. Drake, Jonah, 211, 214, 223, 227, 232, 235, 240, 766. Drake, Jonathan, 308, 309, 484. Drake, John, 42 ; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 45, 74, 293, 298, 507, 796. Drake, Mrs. John, 45. Drake, Capt. John R., 510, 514, 727. Drake, Joseph, early settler in Easton before incorporation, 15, 56, 164, 224, 239, 266, 294, 461, 485, 796, 798. Drake, Joseph, Jr., 56, 233, 507, 641. Drake, Joseph, 2d, 643, 670, 673. Drake, Joseph, 3d, 163, 211, 213, 220, 294, 507. Drake, Joseph, 4th, 507. Drake, Laban W., 547, 567. 812 INDEX. Drake, Mrs. Laban, 495. Drake, Lewis, 592. Drake, Lincoln, 311, 346, 357, 3751 398; 441, 496, 497, 512, 514, 528, 540, 585, 588, 607, 627, 628, 646, 659, 661, 671. Drake, Hon. Lincoln S., 379, 386, 631, 661; brief biographical sketch of, 659, 660. Drake, Linus W., 532, 567. Drake, Lot, 225, 228, 231, 234, 239. Drake, Mrs. Mary, 672. Drake, Mary W. Record, 724. Drake, Melzar, 299. Drake, Mercy, 796. Drake, Millicent, 42. Drake, Nathan, 252. Drake, Noah, 211, 213, 224, 233. Drake, Oliver, 239. Drake, Phebe J. Keith, 724. Drake, Prudence, 797. Drake, Rachel Smith, 766. Drake, Reuben, 311. Drake, Richard, 300, 508, 673. Drake, Robert, 220, 227, 507, 673. Drake, Robert, Jr., 232, 264. Drake, Mrs. Sally, 672. Drake, Samuel, 107, 162, 164,170, 796. Drake, Mrs. Sarah, 672, 797, 799. Drake, Sarah L., 660. Drake, Seth, 214. Drake, Lieut. Simeon, 308, 374, 510. Drake, Mrs. Susanna, 670. Drake, Tamar, 796. Drake, Thomas, one of the early settlers prior to 1696, 36, 42-45, 74. Drake, Thomas, 2d, 120, 164, 166, 168, 170, 212, 220, 232, 233, 234, 241, 318, 480, 481, 507, 673, 796, 798. Drake, Thomas B., 374. Drake, Timothy, 239. Drake, Tisdale F., 547, 567. Drake, Titus, 669. Drake, Warren, 669. Drake, Willard, 527, 614 and xote. Drake, William, 233, 669. Drake, Zachariah, 211, 221, 233. Drake, Zenas, 311. Dreese, Rev, Charles W., 408. Drew, Dennison S., 526, 567, 615. Drew, Henry T., 526, 536, 567. Drew, John, Jr., 308, 312, 796. Drew, Levi, 303. Drew, W. B., 604. Drury, Mrs. Hannah W., 698. Dudley, Rev. Mr., 361. Duffield, D. Bethune, 744 20fe, 745. Duffy, John, 523, 529, 535, 568. Duffy, Thomas, 524, 528, 568. Dummer, William, 81, 83, 86. Dunbar, Bravo C., 586. Dunbar, Charles T., 493. Dunbar, David, 133, 211, 213,°220, 228, 233, 239. Dunbar, Francis, 449. Dunbar, Mrs. Hannah, 493, 670. Dunbar, Jesse, 488. a7 Dunbar, John, 211. Dunbar, Capt. Josiah, 168, 170. Dunbar, Capt. Lemuel, 169. Dunbar, Lucius, 613. Dunbar, Nathaniel, 235. Dunbar, Norman L, 536, 568. Dunbar, Moses C., 628, 643, 670. Dunbar, Rev. Mr., 191. Dunbar, Seth T., 524, 542, 568. Dunbar, Simeon, 234. Dunbar, Thomas, 493. Dunbar, Thomas, Jr., 493- Dunham, Caleb, 229. Dunham, Rev. Elisha, 332. Dunhan, Brig.-Gen. Henry, 608. Dunn, Imri, 559. E. Easton, its present boundaries, 1. Geology, 2; indications of glacial action, 3-7. Bog- iron ore, 7. Swamps, 8; streams and ponds, 9-15 ; meadows and plains, 15, 16; animals, 17. Early Indian ownership of Jands, 28- 32. Earliest settlers, 39-57. Origin of the first church, 58; calls William Pratt as min- ister, 59, 60. Final incorporation as town, 81, 82; origin of its name, 83 ; calls its first town-meeting, and records of the same, 83, 843 calls Matthew Short, 87. First meeting- house, 90; early dissatisfaction with its loca- tion, 91. Attempted annexation of a part of Bridgewater, g2. On the death of Mr. Short, Mr. Belcher is called, 94; Solomen Prentice is called, 102-104. Contention over the loca- tion of the meeting-house, 108 ; petition to the General Court in the matter, and their order to build it at the Centre, 109, 112; di- vision of the church and parish on this sub- ject, 112; interference of the General Court, 114, 117; council of churches called by the town party for the settlement of the difficulty, 118; a meeting-house begun by the Prentice party, 119; the Prentice party holds a coun- cil of churches which effects a temporary rec- onciliation, 123~125 ; an unsuccessful attempt at dividing the town, 125, 126; councils and meetings for the settlement of the difficulties, 126, 127; a Presbyterian church established by the Prentice party, 128-131. The call of Mr. Farrar occasions further trouble between the Presbyterians and town party, 1444146 ; new appeals to the General Court, and their re- sult, 147, 151-153 ; attempted adjustment of INDEX. 813 difficulties after the death of Mr. Farrar, 155, * 156; religion at a low ebb, 156; the Presby- terians give up the contest, 157. French and Indian War, 159-170; a place of refuge for the French outcasts from Acadia, 171. Pop- ular opposition to the ministerial tax, 173- 182; growing dissent from the established Congregationalism, 173 ; a Baptist Society is organized, and settles Ebenezer Stearns, 177, 178; the Baptists dispute right of town to collect from them the ministerial tax, 180- 182; the Baptist Society calls Eseck Carr as its second minister, 183 ; the Society declines, and dies, 187-189. ‘The town church calls the Rev. Archibald Campbell, 190; his ac- ceptance and ordination, 191. Excitement over the Stamp Act, 207; the use of British articles of manufacture discouraged, 207; “ Daughters of Liberty,” 209 ; military prep- arations, 209; minute men, 210; the Lexing- ton Alarm, 210-212; enlistments in 1775, 210-216; enlistments in 1776, 216-222; De claration of Independence, 217; Rhode Isl- and Alarm, 219; enlistments in 1777, 1778, 222-230; scale of prices for labor and mer- . chandise at this time, 222; later enlistments, 230-240; “Tiverton Alarm,” 232; Tories, 242; commissioned officers, 242-257; Valley Forge, 257. Return of peaceful times for the Easton Church, 258; William Reed be- comes pastor, 258; enforcement of church _, discipline, 267; incorporation of the parish, 267, 269; the church bell, 270; pecuniary struggles and complications in the new parish, 270-273. Industries prior to 1800, 275-289. Old town homesteads now abandoned, 290- 305. Military companies during the War of 1812, and their service, 307-313 ; unfortunate shooting of Charles Gilbert by Nathan Buck, , 308-310, Beginning of Methodism, 314; visits of Jesse Lee, 315 ; organization of the Methodist Society and building of first Meth- odist meeting-houses, 318; early ministers, 319; John Tinkham’s ministry, 320-324 ; his immediate successors, 324, 325; Father Bates, 325 ; new meeting-house the occasion ' « of serious trouble, 326 ; revival meetings, 327, ~~ 329-331; later ministers, 327-329, 332, 333; Luther Sheldon called by the First Church . and Parish, 334; a new church built, 337; ., dissension in the parish over his refusal to exchange with neighboring ministers, 339- 342; he is excluded from the pulpit, 343); incidents of the controversy, 347-357. The First Congregational Parish after the divi- sion, and its successive pastors, 360-363; its services discontinued, and the meeting-house , destroyed by fire, 363. Organization of the Evangelical Congregational Society, with Mr. -_ , Sheldon as its minister, 364; his successors, 367-370; new meeting-house built by this Society on the destruction of the old one by fire, 368 ; Sunday-schools connected with the Society, 369. The development of Spiritual- ism, 370-372. Libraries, 373-379. Early action of the town in regard to schools, 380— 384; the school-committee system, 384 ; mem- bers of the superintending committee since 1826, 385; men and women teachers, 386 ; teachers’ wages, 387; the High School, 387- 389; the town school-houses, past and pres- ent, 389-398 ; the Oliver Ames and the Oakes Ames funds for school purposes, 399, 400 ; late school statistics, 401; private schools, 4o1. Churches of North Easton village, 403- 418; statistics of denominational connection and church attendance, 415-418. Rough life in the early pioneer days, 419 ; cases of church and court discipline, 420-423; « notorious gang of thieves, 423-425; George White, leader of the band, 426-429; the bank-robber and other criminals, 429-432. Slavery in the town, 432-437. ‘The free use of liquor by early inhabitants, 437-441; the Temperance reform, 441. Pauperism, 443; early dispo- sition of its poor, 445; establishment of an almshouse, 448; its wardens, 449. Town highways, past and present, 450-469; old roads now abandoned, 450; the Bay road and others laid out before the incorporation of the town, 451-461; the Taunton and South Boston Turnpike controversy, 454- 458; roads since incorporation of the town, 461-468; the Oliver Ames bequest for public highways, 468; Governor Ames’s gift for planting of trees along the roadsides, 469. The several burial-places in the town, 470- 500; old custom of burial in private grounds, 470; abandoned burying-grounds, 501. Mili- tia and military history, 506-519; list of captains and higher military officers, 513- 519. Opening of the Civil War, 520; enlist- ments in 1861, 522-5273 early town action, 528; volunteers in 1862, and their service, 528-533; town action in 1862 to encourage enlistments, 533; enlistments in 1863, 533- 538; the drafts in 1863 and 1864, 538-539 ; town action in 1863, 340; enlistments and service in 1864, 540-547; town action in 1864, 547 ; return of soldiers at the close of the War, 348-550; enlistments in the navy, 550; town action in 186s, 551; deserters and shirkers, 552-554; service rendered by the women at home during the War, 554; sum- mary of enlistments, 555: brief sketches of Majors Robert Dollard and John Fitzpat- rick, 556-564; alphabetical list of soldiers, 564-583. Industries since 1800, 584-605. Banks, 606. Military bands, 607-609. A. B. Randall Post, G. A. R., No. 52, 611-613; 814 INDEX. List of soldiers of the Civil War buried in town, 614-616. The Soldiers’ Monument, 616-618. Various organizations, including Knights of Labor, 618-622. Politics: town anti-Federal, but becomes Whig, 624-630; Free Soil and Know Nothing movements,630, 631 ; votes since 1787 for Governor, 632-636 ; moderators since 1726, 636-640; other town officers, 640-644 ; representatives and higher officers, 645-660; post-offices and post-mas- ters, 661-663. Population as shown by census statistics since 1765, 664-667. Statis- tics of longevity, 688-672. Voters, polls, property, 672-675. Industries since 1837, 676-682. The town in 1886, 685-691. Bio- graphical sketches: of ministers, 692-718 ; of physicians, 719-739 ; of lawyers, 740-751 ; of college graduates, 752-758. Railroads and newspapers, 759, 760. The great flood of 1886, 760-762. Miscellaneous facts and anec- dotes of interest, 762-779. Easton, Gov. Nicholas, 83. Eaton, Simeon, 231. Eaton, Col. Theophilus, 224. Eddy, Benjamin (*‘ Old Bunn’’), 240. Eddy, Benjamin, Jr., 240. Eddy, Daniel C., 636. Eddy, Capt. Jonathan, 168. Eddy, Oliver, 240. Eddy, Stillman D., 547, 568. Edson, Abiel, Jr., 669. Edson, Rev. Edward, 408, Edson, Mrs. Hannah, 672. Edson, Josiah, 159. Egan, Michael, 483. Eldridge, Jason F., 524, 530, 568. Eliot, T. D.,627. Elliott, John, 29. Ellis, Richard, 41. Ellison, Charles E., 533, 568, 615. Emerson, Rev. Warren, 327. Endicott, William E., 636. Eustis, William, 625, 633. Evans, Charles W., 670. Evans, Rev. S. E., 333, 408- Everett, Edward, 625, 634. F. Far ey, Rev. Mr., 343- Farnum, Rev. Mr., 409. Farr, Henry, 220, 293. Farrar, George, 142. Farrar, George, Jr., 142, 143+ Farrar, Rev. George, 138, 287; a candidate for settlement at Easton, 142; his ancestry and early life, 142-144; his courting, 143; preaches his first sermon, 144; called by the Easton town church, 144; his call to Easton the occasion of further trouble between the conflicting church parties, 144, 145; his let- ter of acceptance, 146; Presbyterians and Baptists protest against his ordination, 147; ordination, 148; sickness and death, 153, 154; suit against the town to recover salary, 154. Farrar, Jacob, 142. Farrar, Mary Barrett, 142, 143. Farrar, Mary Howe, 142. Farrar, Dr. Robert, 144. Farrar, Sarah Dean, 143. Farrell, Edward, brief biographical sketch of, 735. Faville, Rev. John, 408. Fay, Philip, 524, 525, 568. Fecto, Philander W., 524, 541, 542, 568, 613. Felch, Abijah, 221, 223, 224, 225, 242. Fellows, Capt. John, 166, Felt, Joshua, 230, 235. Ferguson, Catherine Starrett, 476, 725. Ferguson, George, 111, 154, 221, 230, 232, 282, 287, 294, 391, 420, 464, 476, 508, 592, 642, 671, 673, 725- Ferguson, George, Jr., 287, 476. Ferguson, John, 476. Fernald, Lieutenant-Colonel, 243. Field, John, 79, 80. Field, Seth, 449. Fitton, Kay, 294. Fitton, Levi C., 603. Finney, Charles, 165. Finney, Daniel, 160. | Finney, John, 145, 175. Finney, Nathan, 219, 221, 229. Finnigan, John, 614. | Fisher, Billings, 524, 541, 568, 615. Fisher, David, 523, 568, 615. Fisher, John, 544, 549, 568. Fisher, Matthew, 544, 549, 568. Fisher, Peter, 537, 549, 568, 613. Fisher, Peter, Jr., 533, 549, 568. Fisher, Mrs. Peter, 549. Fisher, Mrs. Rebecca, 670. Fisher, Thomas, 533, 549, 568. Fitzgerald, Rev. Michael, 414. Fitzpatrick, Major John, 514, 515, 550, 568, 614; his birth and early life in Easton, 560; enlists for the civil war, 560; brief sketch of his service, with extracts from his letters, 561-363. Fitzsimmons, Rev. Thomas, 413. Flaherty, Matthew F., 524, 530, 569. Fling, Thomas, 164, 168, 170, 220, 229,.230, 233, 507, 672. Flood, Thomas, 536, 544, 569. Fobes, Alpheus, 646, Fobes, Benjamin, early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 53, 148, 220, 280, 447, 473, 640, 669, 673- INDEX. 815 Fobes, Benjamin, Jr., 507. Fobes, Daniel, 211, 213, 220. Fobes, Edward, 25, 53. Fobes, Ephraim, 26. Fobes, Hannah, 797, 799. Fobes, Jesse, 231, 233. Fobes, Jonah, 211, 213, 224, 234. Fobes, Joseph, 148, 507. Fobes, Joseph, Jr., 233. Fobes, Nathan, 163, 164, 507. Fobes, Rev. Peres, 263. Fobes, Simeon, 233. Ford, William, 42. Forsyth, William D., 545, 549, 569. Foster, Solomon R., 291, 292, 396, 527, 537, 569, 615. Foster, Capt. Ward L., 514, 524, 536, 541, 569, 598. Fowler, Jesse, 547, 569. Frame, Andrew H., 613. Franklin, Capt. Joseph, 231. Freelove, John, 214. Freeman, Cyrus A., 612, 613. Freeman, Jeremiah, 92. Freese, John A., 612, 613. Frémont, John C., 631. French, Charles T., 660. French, Dependence, 670. French, Eliza Randall, 730. French, Francis, 376, 599. French, Mrs, Hannah, 672. French, Capt. Henry, 510, 514, 643. French, Henry W., 607, 654. French, Hiram F., 525, 536, 569. French, Howard, 293. French and Indian War, the, Easton’s repre- sentation and service in, 159-170. French, Jonathan, 233, 312. French, Levi, 738. French, Margaret, 660. French, Mrs. Mary, 670. French, Mrs. Olive, 671. French, Rachel Sumner, 738. French, Seth L., 525, 569. French, Simeon, 599. French, Capt. Stephen, 74. French, Susan E., 654. French, Thomas, 225, 231, 235 French, William G., 730. Frost, William .H., 609. Fuller, Albert, 744. Fuller, Alonzo A., 586. Fuller, Mrs. Betsy, 669. Fuller, Ettie C. Strange, 743. Fuller, Capt. Frederic, 509, 514. Fuller, Frederic V., brief biographical sketch of, 743. Fuller, Harrison, 743. Fuller, Henry J., 386, 534, 607, 637; brief bio- graphical sketch of, 743. Fuller, Ichabod, 225. Fuller, Lieut. Isaac, 211, 214, 231, 251. Fuller, Capt. Jacob, 229. Fuller, Mary Morse, 743. Fuller, Rebecca Vincent, 743, 744. Fuller, Rufus, 587. Furnace Village, 709. G. GALLIGAN, Bernard F., 523, 569, 613. Galligher, Edward, 614. Galliway, James, 160. Gardiner, Catherine, 497. Gardiner, John, 497. Gardner, Henry J., 630, 635. Gardner, Mrs. Nabby, 671. Gaston, William, 636. Gavitt, Rev. Franklin, 332, 407. Gay, David, 282. Gerry, Elbridge, 624, 632. | Gerry, John W., 522, 569. Gibbon, Maj.-Gen. John, 546. Gibbs, Alfred, 488. Gibbs, Cornelius, 214, 218, 225, 233. | Gibbs, Ebenezer, 213, 218. | Gibbs, Nathan, 212, 213, 214, 233, 507. Gibbs, Thomas, 218, 225. '} Gifford, Caleb, 494. Gifford, Pardon A., 377, 599, 605, 606, 607. | Gifford, Phebe, 494. Gilbert, Charles, 309, 310. Gilbert, Eleazer, early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 52. : Gilbert, George, 425. Gilbert, Jane, 20. Gilbert, Joseph, 187, 217, 223, 224, 384, 440, 444, 452, 507, 641, 643, 672, 673, 798. | Gilbert, Judson, 670. | Gilbert, Lemuel, 160, 213. Gilbert, Lewis, 212, 213. Gilbert, Nathaniel, 212, 229, 233. Gilbert, Rachel, 797. | Gilbert, Samuel, 211. Gilbert, Timothy, 166, 169, 213, 218, 508. Gill, Col. Benjamin, 218, 225, 226. Gill, Moses, 632. Gilman, Jemima Lincoln, 474. Gilmore, Alson, 36, 354, 458, 639, 644. Gilmore, Alson Augustus, 377, 387, 409, 598, 606, 607, 629, 637, 646, 663: town modera- tor of Easton, brief biographical sketch of, 639, 640. Gilmore, Andrew, 234, 239. Gilmore, Charles A., 525, 543, 569. Gilmore, Clara Welsh, 640. Gilmore, E. W., 184, 500, 598. 606, 607, 685, Gilmore, Mrs. F. E., 435, 773+ Gilmore, Mrs. Hannah, 672. ‘ 816 INDEX. Gilmore, Hannah Lincoln, 640. Gilmore, Hannah Lothrop, 654. Gilmore, James, 673. Gilmore, Col. John, 374, 457; 458, 510; 514, 515, 662. Gilmore, Joshua, 374, 449, 454, 4575 480, 654. Gilmore, Melvin, 311, 374, 457, 511. Gilmore, Rachel Alger, 639. Gilmore, Samuel H., 524, 530, 569. Glover, Capt. Samuel, 165, 169. Goddard, Rev. Mr., 106. Godfrey, Mrs. Abigail, 672. Godfrey, Mrs. Eliza, 671. Godfrey, Franklin M., 530, 543, 569, 615. Godfrey, Brig.-Gen. George, 225. Godfrey, Guilford, 587. Godfrey, James, 285. Godfrey, Lieut. John, 227, 251, 510. Godfrey, Jones, 435. Godfrey, Joseph, 232, 245, 670. Godfrey, Joseph, Jr., 233. Godfrey, Nahum, 587. Godfrey, Capt. Richard, 162. Godfrey, Rufus, 228, Godfrey, Mrs. Sally, 669, 672. Godfrey, Capt. Tisdale, 484, 509, 514. Godfrey, Capt. Tisdale, Jr., 385, 509, 514. Goffe, Oliver, 163, 164. Gooch, Darius N., 635. Gooch, James F., 551, 569, 586. Gooch, Samuel H., 547, 569. Goodspeed, Jonathan, 165, 507. Goodspeed, Lydia, 669. Goodwin, Benjamin, 697, 724. Goodwin, Daniel, 697. Goodwin, Dr. Daniel, brief biographical sketch of, 724. 3 Goodwin, Rev. Daniel, 698. Goodwin, Rev. Daniel LeBaron, brief bio- graphical sketch of, 697. Goodwin, Polly Briggs, 697, 724. Goodwin, Rebecca Wilkinson, 697. Goodwin, Sarah W., 698. Gordon, George W., 635. Gore, Christopher, 632. Gorman, Mrs. Mary, 672. Gorner, William, 723. Gould, N. S., 605. Gould, William E., 431 mote. Goulding, John, 525, 543, 570. Goward, Dwelly, 16, 303, 497. Goward, Emory, 497. Goward, Francis, 49, 183, 211, 228, 233, 497, 672. Goward, Mrs. Helen E., 662. Goward, Israel, 312, 313. Goward, Josiah, 605. Goward, Mrs. Mary, 670, 672. Grady, Andrew N., 613. Grant, Donald, 227. Greaton, Col. John, 230. Green, Capt. Jeremiah, 169. Green, Joseph, 227, 235. Green, Thomas, 286. - Greenleaf, Fred H., 498. Greenleaf, Luke S., 385, 663. Gridley, Colonel, 162, 214. Griggs, Emma A., 476. Guild, Catherine Leonard, 725. Guild, Elizabeth Ferguson, 639, 725- Guild, Harriet, 434. Guild, Mrs. Israel, 739. Guild, James, 461, 512, 589. Guild, John, 725. Guild, Mary Boyden, 724. Guild, Nathaniel, 311, 390, 484, 643, 646, 724, 725. Guild, Nathaniel, Jr., 725. Guild, Dr. Samuel, 217, 225, 239, 240, 243, 269, 384, 424, 455, 467, 484, 489, 587, 637, 639, 643; brief biographical sketch of, 724, 725. Guild, Dr. Samuel, Jr., brief biographical sketch of, 725. Guild, Vesta Howard, 725. Gurney, Charles, 671. Gurney, David, 509, 673. Gurney, Rev. David, 709, 748. H. Hack, Lieut. Nathan, 227, 251, 510+ Hack, William, 239. Hadon, Ebenezer, 507. Hale, Artemus, 630. Hale, John P., 630. Hall, Bezaleel, 670. Hall, George, early settler in Easton, prior to incorporation, 20, 46, 53, 66, 74, 80, 84, 252, 277. Hall, Capt. J. W. D., 539. Hall, Rev. James, 329. Hall, Jason, 709. Hall, John, 20, 240. Hall, Katharine Dean, 252. Hall, Lydia Dean, 47. Hall, S. W., 620, 621. Hall, Samuel, 20, 47. Hamilton, Alexander, 624. Hamilton, Andrew, 369. Hamilton, Henry, 497. Hammant, Capt. Timothy, 170. Hammon, Caleb, 312. Hammond, Rev. Charles, 408. Hammond, Rev, Joseph, 408. Hancock, John, 632. Haney, John D., 537, 545, 570+ Hanks, Benjamin, 214, 224, 231, 297,671. Hanks. Ebenezer, 220, 228, 231. INDEX. 817 Hanks, Jacob, 163, 507, 673. Hanks, Joseph, 211, 213, 216. Hanks, Mrs. Mary, 669. Hanks, William, 221, 224. Hansell, Edward W., 524, 570. Hardy, Joshua, 526, 531, 570. Harlow, Asa, 311. Harlow, Rev. Lemuel, 327. Harlow, Obed, 592. Harlow, Reuben, 523, 526, $70. Harlow, Capt. Tisdale, 17, 47, 304, 311, 357, 385, 497) 512, 514, 637, 641, 644. Harris, Elizabeth Bailey, 43. Harris, Elizabeth Irish, 43. Harris, James, 66, 74, 298, 454; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 43. Harris, Jonathan, 211, 213, 216. Hartshorn, Dr., 601. Hartwell, Samuel, 133. Harvey, Benjamin, 17, 155, 180, 182, 183, 184, , 189, 300, 507, 673. Harvey, Cornelius, 396. Harvey, Capt. Elisha, 183, 287; brief sketch of his military career, 242, 291, 391, 592, 501, 514. Harvey, Joel, 228. Harvey, Jonathan, 291, 670. Harvey, Nathan, 478, 670. Harvey, Rufus, 228. Harvey, Ruth, 670. Harvey, Mrs. Sarah, 672. Harvey, Thomas, 20, 37, 51, 458. Harvey, William, 19, 20. Hasty, David S., 618, 637, 760. Hatheway, Colonel, 231. Hatheway, John, 20. Hayden, Mrs. Anna, 672. es Charles, 297, 440, 446, 457, 515, 46. Hayden, Ebenezer, 170. Hayes, Jeremiah, 449. Hayward, Capt. Abner, 235, 239, 514. Hayward, Albert, 471, 490, 601. Hayward, Albert M., 530, 542, 570, 601, 690. Hayward, Anthony, 212 and mote, 214, 435. Hayward, Betsy Townsend, 725. Hayward, Charles, 601. Hayward, Daniel, 601. Hayward, E. B., 386, 451, 605. Hayward, Capt. Edward, 2d, a 229, 224, 232, 251, 510, 514, 587. Hayward, Edward, Esq., 26, 37,49) 53) 57, 81, 99, 106, 107, III, 112, 115, 118, 120, 122, 126, 129, 144, 187, 195, 217, 239, 252, 255, 280, 281, 473, 506, 514, 636, 640, 642, 673, 796. Hayward, Edward R., 386, 480, 602, 603, 609, 620. Hayward, Elijah, 269. Hayward, Dr. Elisha, brief ener sketch of, 725. Hayward (Howard), Ephraim, 26, 27. Hayward, George, 132. Hayward, Capt. George W., 59, 377, 385, 480, 510, 514, 644, 725. Hayward, Hannah, 796. Hayward, Hannah Kinsley, 45, 49, 57. Hayward (Howard), Henry, 507. Hayward, Isaiah, 224. Hayward (Howard), Dr. James, 642. Hayward, John, 168. Hayward, Jonathan, 40, 163, 166, 167, 280, 435, 490, 507- Hayward, Dea. Joseph, 74, 211, 220, 224, 255, 349) 374) 375, 479, 480, 589, 597, 672, 725. Hayward, Joseph, Jr., 308, 374. Hayward, Dr. Joseph W., 515, 570, 725. Hayward, Kezia, 797, 799. Hayward, Lemira Harris, 727. Hayward, Linus E., 613. Hayward, Mrs. Lydia, 669. Hayward, Lydia Barrows, 725. Hayward, Mary, 490. Hayward, Capt. Matthew, 120, 178, 181, 182, 195, 207, 212 mote, 218, 248, 266, 269, 285, 286, 287, 434, 440, 452, 507, 509, 514, 640, 642, 646, 647, 796, 798. Hayward, Moses, 214, 509. Hayward, Nahum, 311, 374. Hayward, Nathaniel, 600, 601. Hayward, Nehemiah, 233. Hayward, Panthia Nye, 255. Hayward, Rebecca, 490. Hayward, Capt. Rotheus, 255. Hay ward, Ruth, 4o. Hayward, Samuel, 228. Hayward, Sarah, 4o. Hayward, Simeon, 235. Hayward, Solomon, 374. Hayward, Sylvia Pratt, 725. Hayward, William, 42, 51, 297; one of the early settlers in Easton prior to 1696, 40. Hayward, William, Jr., 40, 113, 114, 673; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 50. Hayward, William, 3d, 163. Hayward, William, 214, 219, 224, 232, 297. Hayward, William R., 608. Healey, Frederic E., 524, 541, 342, 570. Healey, Henry R., 376. Heath, General, 243. Heath, Daniel W., 8, 277, 288, 588, 644 Heath, Henry W.., 644. Heath, Joseph, 498, 499, 614. Heath, William, 632. Heelan, Patrick J., 524, 541, $70. Hefferman, Patrick, 499. Hefferman, Thomas, 671. Henry, John A., 615. Henrys, William S., 615. Henshaw, Walter, 13, 55, 303 53 818 INDEX. Hepburn, William, 551, 570, 615. Hern, John, 160, 166, 169. Hervey, David, 377, 449 Hervey, Thaxter, 44, 297, 591. Hewett, Amos, 370. Hewett, Bartimeus, 213, 215, 228. Hewett, Henry, 230. Hewett, Herbert A., 545, 570, 613. Hewett, Nathan, 162. Hewett, Silence, 174. Hewins, Jacob, 283. Hewitt, Ellis B., 300, 523, 570. Hewitt, Ephraim, 45, 74, 84; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 44. Hewitt, Ephraim, 164, 232, 233, 238, 302, 507, 673. Hewitt, Solomon, 156, 507, 796. Hewitt, Susanna, 796. Hibbard, Elephaz, 695. Hibbard, Jerusha Pride, 695. Hichborn, Dr. Alexander, 722. Higginbottom, William, 412. Higgins, Timothy, 166, 168, 169. Higgins, William, 164, 169. Highways in Easton: old roads in common use, but now abandoned, 450; the Bay road, its original laying-out and subsequent repairs, 451-453; the first recorded laying-out of a highway by the North-Purchase proprietors, 453; the Taunton and South Boston Turn- pike controversy, 454-458; Prospect Street, Purchase Street, and other roads laid out before the incorporation of the town, 458- 461; other old roads, 461-467; the newer roads, 467; the Oliver Ames bequest for public highways, 468; Governor Ames’s gift for planting trees along the roadsides, 469. Hill, Abijah, 166. Hill, Mason A., 525, 542, 570, 615. Hill, Robert, 214. Hill, Walter, 604. Hills, Sarah M. Pratt, 729. Hills, Capt. Seneca, 644, 645, 729. Hinds, Ebenezer, 178. Hoar, Hezekiah, 20, 52. Hoare, John, 29. Hobson, Triscom, 449. Hodge, James, early settler in Easton, prior to incorporation, 45. Hodge, Seth, 444. Hodges, Capt. Isaac, 221, 231, 452. Hodges, James L., 633. Hodges, Capt. Samuel, 283, 307, 452, 479. Hodges, Capt. Samuel, Jr., 307. Hodges, Rev. W. J., 408. Holbrook, Ellis R., 526, 536, 571, 612, 613. Holcomb, Alva, 627. Holmblad, Rev, Emil, 415. Holmes, Charles W., 541, 571. Holmes, Jesse, 608. Holmes, John, 169, 211, 213, 219, 225, 233- Holmes, Joseph, 669. ‘ Holmes, Rev. William, 328. Holt, Mrs. Jane, 669. Homes, Rev. Francis, 369, 386; brief bio- graphical sketch of, 698. Homes, Henry, 698. Homes, Isabella, 698. Homes, Mrs. Mary A., 698. Homes, Mrs. Sarah H., 698. Honesty, Heber, 433. Hoskins, Samuel, 228. Hosmer, Rev. S. D., 368. Houghton, Mrs. Mary, 763. Houghton, Mrs. Phebe Shattuck, 668. Howard, Abraham, 214. Howard, Amasa, 487. Howard, Mrs, Anna, 671. Howard, Asa, 374, 389, 457, 461, 492, 626. Howard, Asa R., 480, 587. Howard, Asaph, 312, 487, 493. Howard, Augustus O., 662. Howard, Capt. Barnabas, 226, 312, 313. Howard, Col. C., 312. Howard, Calvin, 461, 669. Howard, Mrs. Catherine, (?) 672. Howard, Charles, 311, 449, 484. Howard, Mrs. Chloe, 669. Howard, Cyrus S., 529, 571. Howard, Daniel, 230, 231. Howard, David, 44, 287, 529, 571, 612, 613. Howard, Davis W., 639. Howard, Ebenezer, 233. Howard, Edwin, 671, 374. Howard, Capt. Eliakim, 221. Howard, Elijah, 211, 225, 251, 269, 374, 384, 479, 497, 498, 509, 511, 641, 643, 71. ; Howard, Hon. Elijah, 42, 340, 345, 347, 349, 363, 422, 455, 589, 596, 597, 625, 630, 643, 646, 671; his birth and parentage, 637; his business and political life, 638; his family, 639; celebrates his golden wedding with his third wife, 639. Howard, Elijah G., 526, 537, 571. Howard, Elizabeth Washburn, 727, Howard, Elizabeth Willis, 727, Howard, Ephraim, 74, 79, 80. Howard, Ethan, 311. Howard, Fidelia Williams, 639. Howard, Frederic, 639. Howard, George, 311. Howard, George H., 536, 571. Howard, Henry, 107, 111, 112, 129, 133, 134, 163, 180, 207, 211, 213, 227, 235, 384, 440, 641, 642, 673, 796. Howard, Henry L., 299. Howard, Horace D., 492, 644, 646. Howard, Huldah, 727. Howard, J. E., 604. “ INDEX. 819 Howard, J. M., 604. Howard, James, 727. Howard, Dr. James, brief biographical sketch of, 727. Howard, James L., 526, 544, 571. oe Jason G., 497, 597, 608, 639, 644, 737 as Howard, John, 239, 269, 480, 643, 725. Howard, Jonas, 298, 672. Howard, Lieut. Joshua, 13, 113, 119, 120, 139, 141, 149, 221, 252, 288, 434, 473, 507, 641, 642, 670, 673, 696. Howard, Keziah Hayward, 479, 6375 670. Howard, Mrs. Lavinia, 670. Howard, Lucius, 442, 541, 571. Howard, Lydia, 796. Howard, Mark, 669. Howard, Martha Bartlett, 639, 757. Howard, Marza, 487. Howard, Mercy Fobes, 725. Howard, Mrs. Nancy J., 639, 671. Howard, Nathan, 671. Howard, Nathaniel, 374, 589, 643, 644. Howard, Nehemiah, 225, 239, 389, 492, 670. Howard, Olive W., 492. Howard, Oliver, 233, 319, 486, 669, 771. Howard, Oliver, Jr., 386, 541, 571. Howard, Peter, 168. Howard, Mrs. Phebe, 670. Howard, Rebecca, 486. Howard, Roland, 43, 297, 351, 373, 374, 461, 480, 589, 597, 637, 643. Howard, Capt, Seba, 514, 515, 643. Howard, Susanna Guild, 639, 669, 671, 696. Howard, Thomas, 311, 487. Howard, Warren, 311. Howard, Webster, 530, 536, 511. Howard, William, 221, 607, 608. Howard, William C., 43, 66, 297, 644, 646. Howe, Calvin, 711. Hubbard, Rev. T. S., 198. Hudson, Rev. A. S., 368, 369. Hudson, E., 479. Hudson, Edward, 615. Hudson, Experience, 796. Humphrey, Rev. J. H., 408. Humphrey, James A., 524, 530 and note, 571. Humphrey, John, 298. Hunnewell, Theodore H., 547, 571. Hunt, Ephraim, 74, 99- Hunt, Hannah, 671. Hunt, Rev. John B., his ministry over the Methodist Society at Easton, 329-331; his grave and epitaph, 482. Hussey, Rev. C. C., 386, 410, 607. Hussey, Mrs. Lydia Coffin, 410. -iusted, Rev. J. B., 408. Hutchinson, Governor, 104. I. INDUSTRIES: the Randall saw-mill, 275; the Keith saw-mill, 277; Eliphalet Leonard builds the Brummagem forge, 277-279; claim that Easton produced the first steel made in America, 279; other iron industries, 280; miscellaneous industries, 281-289; origin and history of the furnace business at Furnace Village, 285, 584, 585; other in- dustries in this vicinity, 585-587; successive enterprises at the Morse privilege, 587; the Cotton-Thread Factory belonging to E. J. W. Morse & Co., 587, 588; manufacturing en- terprises at the Green and on the Turnpike, 589-591; industries in the village of North Easton, — notably the Ames Shovel Works and the Gilmore Hinge Factory, 592-599 ; miscellaneous industries, 600-602; farming enterprises, 602, 603; latest enterprises, 603-605. Ingalls, William, 633. i. Jacxson, Andrew, 520. Jackson, D., 499. Jackson, Col. Michael, 243. Jacob, Col. John, 229. James, Henry, 488. James, Rosanna, 498. James, Thomas, 498. Jarvis, Mrs. Mary, 671. Jay, Rev. Murray, 324. Jennings, William H., 613. Jewett, Charles, 440. Johnson, Andrew, 563. Jobnson, Benjamin T., 607, 608. Johnson, Charles, 495. Johnson, E. H., 599. Johnson, Elizabeth Harris, 639. Johnson, George W., 628, 634, 734+ Johnson, Ida, 495. Johnson, Jesse, 639. Johnson, John, 541, §42, 548, 57%, 614. Johnson, Oliver, 312, 313. Johnson, Thomas J., 498. Jones, Ebenezer, 145, 159, 509- Jones, Rev. John, 408. Jones, Joseph, 145, 159, 160. Jones, Mrs. Mary, 672. Jones, Warren, 498. Jonson, Ben, quoted, 502 vote. Jordan, Jonathan, 185. Jordan, Josiah, 219. Jordan, Sarah, 797. Justin, Ezra, 223, 227. 820 INDEX. K. Katey, Timothy, 597. Keen, Capt. Abel, 170. Keenan, James H., 524, 543, 547, 571, 613. Keenan, William H., 523. 526, 527, 571, 613. Keith, Alexander, 211, 221, 224, 233. Keith, Benjamin, 164, 507. Keith, Betsy, 671. Keith, Bezer, 512, 587, 589. Keith, Charles E., 2, 385, 397. Keith, Daniel, 218, 224, 284, 312, 313, 507. Keith, David, 164. Keith, Lieut. David, 194, 211, 213, 214, 221, 225, 232, 233, 235) 251, 509+ Keith, Edward, 165, 212, 507. Keith, Eleazer, 672, 673. Keith, Eleazer, 2d, 183, 277, 283, 585, 670. Keith, Eleazer, 3d, 449, 669. Keith, Dr. Ernest W., brief biographical sketch of, 727. Keith, Eunice, 669. Keith, F. Granville, 727. Keith, Mrs. Frank P., 611. Keith, Franklin, 591. Keith, Freeman, 221. Keith, Hiram, 630. Keith, Jacob, 219. Keith, Major James, 74, 214, 251, 512, 514, 515; brief sketch of his military career, 243. Keith, Rev. James, 34, 50, 60, 249. Keith, Japhet, 213, 218, 227, 231, 235. Keith, John, 221, 234. Keith, Jonathan, 211. Keith, Jonathan W., 328, 572, 604, 609. Keith, Josiah, 37, 47, 81, 83, 84, 91, 109, 164, 277, 302, 381, 440, 447, 636, 641, 673; set- tled in Easton prior te incorporation, and built the oldest house now standing, so. Keith, Capt. Josiah, 159, 211, 220, 221, 225, 230, 232, 233, 238, 243, 285, 507, 509, 514, 642; his military career, 249. Keith, Josiah, Jr., 301. Keith, Mrs. Keziah, 672. Keith, Lemuel, 284, 311, 586. Keith, Lemuel, Jr., 347, 353, 358, 586, 670. Keith, Luke, 170. Keith, Mark, 163, 283, 303, 507, 673. Keith, Mark, Jr., 165, 507. Keith, Mrs. Mary, 671, 796. Keith, Mary Kingman, 165. Keith, Matthew, 212, 213. Keith, Mercy Wardwell, 727. Keith, Nehemiah, 230, 233. Keith, Mrs. Nehemiah, 669. Keith, Ruel, 213, 224. Keith, Ruth, 169, 799. Keith, Mrs. Sally, 488. Keith, Samuel, 221. Keith, Mrs. Sarah A., 671. Keith, Scotland, 233. Keith, Seth, 212. Keith, Simeon, 211, 213, 221, 224, 225, 230, 233: Keith, Mrs. Susanna, 669. Keith, Thomas, 168, 169, 397- Keith, Unite, 213, 225. Keith, William, 195, 168, 170, 303, 507. Keith, Rev. William, brief biographical skeen of, 608, Keith, Col. Zephaniah, 181, 218, 251, aor 507% 509, 514, 515, 637, 642, 645- Kelley, George H., 550, 572. Kelley, Jeremiah, 600. Kelley, Samuel K., 603, 610, 620. Kennedy, E. H., 621. Kennedy, George W., 379, 607, 689. Kennedy, John, 132. Kerley, Mrs. Bridget, 671. Kerley, Constantine, 672. Keyzar, Eliza, 796. Keyzar, Elizabeth, 799. Keyzer, George, 17, 98, 112, 120, 673, 795. Kilburn, Mrs. Carrie, 498. Kimball, Ammiruhami, 212. Kimball, Isaac, 374, 440, 452, 491. Kimball, John, 607, 631, 641, 644, 646, 661. Kimball, Marcy, 484. Kimball, Rebecca, 490. Kimball, Samuel, 484. Kimball, Thomas, 490. King, Benjamin, 313. King, D. S., 327. King, Isaac, 233. King, John B., 599, 609, 663. King, Philip, Jr., 163. King, Mrs. Polly, 671. King, Samuel B., 600. King, William, 283, 603, 633. Kingman, Benjamin, 212, 230, 235, 669. Kingman, Edward, 168, 169, 170, 212, 218, 303, 425- Kingman, Capt. Edward, 509, 514. Kingman, Mrs. Jeannette, 669. Kingman, Josiah, 440, 452, 507, 642, 673. Kingman, Mrs. Martha, 672. Kingman, Widow Mary, 383, 670. Kinsley, Abiel, 224, 231, 233, 239. Kinsley, Adam, 233. Kinsley, Azel, 225, 227, 228, 231, 235. Kinsley, Benjamin, 49, 84,132, 211, 220, 283, 637, 641, 642, 673; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 53. Kinsley, Bethuel, 228, Kinsley, Mrs. Betsy, 669, 797- Kinsley, Mrs, Drusilla, 672. Kinsley, John, 795. Kinsley, Lieut. Nathan, 507, 509, 642, 673. Kinsley, Priscilla Manley, 53. Kinsley, Samuel, 49, 53; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 44. INDEX. 821 Kinsley, Samuel, Jr., 642; early settler in Eas- ton prior to incorporation, 50. Kinsley, Silas, 163, 180, 211, 251, 507, 510, 642. Kinsley, Stephen, 44. Kinsley, Zebediah, 221, 228, 233. Kirby, Rev. William, 333, 408. Knapp, Aaron, 228. Knapp, Abijah, 267, 493, 669. Knapp, Chloe, 493. Knapp, Jonathan, 213. Knapp, Joseph, 233. Knapp, Joseph, Jr., 233. Knowles, Jonathan, 672. Kughler, Rev. M. M., 332- L. Lackey, George A., 529, 544; 549) 5721 612, 613, 646. Ladd, James H., 527, 533, 572. Lafayette, General, 255. Lake, Jeremy, 760. Lamb, Charles, quoted, 504. Lambert, Frank, 615. Lamprey, Abbie Davis, 755. Lamprey, Maitland C., 388, 613; brief bio- graphical sketch of, 754. Lane, Lewis, 495. Langdon, Rev. Solomon, 319. Lapham, Abiel, 229. Lashure, James K., 613. Lathrop, Jonathan, 507. Lawrence, Amos A., 635. Lawrence, Hannah Robbins, 765. Lawrence, Jasiel, 766, 768. Lawrence, Jasiel, Jr., 766, 768. Lawrence, John, 765, 767, 768. Lawrence, John A., 768. Lawrence, Jonathan, 796, 798; his expecta- tions from the Townley estate, 765-767. Lawrence, Jonathan, Jr., 765, 767. Lawrence, Libbeus, 768. Lawrence, Mary Townley, 765, 767. Lawrence, Rachel Smith, 765. Lawrence, William, 765. Lawson, William, 211, 213, 219, 221, 234. Lawton, Mrs. Melancy, 669. Lawyers: Edmund Andrews, 740; James P. Barlow, 741; John Augustus Bolles, 741; Daniel F, Buckley, 741; Charles Henry Deans, 742; George Wheaton Deans, 742; Frederic V. Fuller, 743; Henry J. Fuller, 743; Cyrus Lothrop, 744; George Van Ness Lothrop, 744-747; John J. O’Connell, 747; Jason Reed, 748; Edward Selee, 749; Louis C. Southard, 749; Charles L. Swan, 749; Daniel Wheaton, 750; George Wheaton, 450; Henry G. Wheaton, 751; Guilford White, 751. Leach, Abisha, 183, 217, 230, 233, 269, 286, 287, 384, 4531 584, 637, 641, 642. Leach, Mrs. Elizabeth, 669. Leach, Giles, 278, 516, 597. Leach, James H., 529, 572. Leach, Patience Woods, 516. Leach, Phebe Torrey, 518. Leach, Samuel, 74. Leach, Maj.-Gen. Sheperd, 7, 12, 14, 338, 347, 375: 491s 509, 514, 515, 584, 588, 592, 5935 his birth and parentage, 516; his early occu- pation, 516; his interest in military matters, 516; his open-handed generosity and interest in church matters, 517; anecdotes showing his fondness for music and children, 518; his marriage and his death, 519. Leach, Simeon, 218, 311, 483, 512. Leach, Mrs. Simeon, 483. Leach, Simeon H., 547, 572. Leach, Solomon, 345. Leahy, Daniel, 572. Leason, Jacob, 613. Leavitt, Augustus J., 604, 613, 620, Lee, Jesse, the pioneer of Methodism at Eas- ton, 315. Lee, William, 281. Legro, Joseph, 495, 616. Lehane, James, 524, 572. Leighton, George E. R., 545, 549, 572- Leonard, Rev. Mr., 106. Leonard, Capt. Eliphalet, ro, 48, 57, 106, 111, 115, 123, 132; 137, 144, 147, 149, 150, 155, 159, 166, 167, 216, 278, 281, 434, 440, 447, 463) 473, 506, 507, 509, 514, 636, 640, 642, 645, 646, 670, 673, 725, 796; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 54. Leonard, Capt. Eliphalet, Jr., 183, 209, 246, 278, 279, 284, 431, 507) 509, 510, 514, 599- Leonard, Capt. Eliphalet, 3d, 280, 514, 594. Leonard, Col. Ephraim, 162, 163, 214. Leonard, Major George, 25, 27, 78, 126, 277, 458. Leonard, Rev. George, 30. Leonard, Capt. Ichabod, 228. Leonard, Isaac, early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 48. Leonard, Isaac, 278, 597. Leonard, Jacob, early settler in Easton, 43. Leonard, Capt. Jacob, 211, 217, 239, 248, 251, 278, 288, 298, 421, 473; 510, 514, 592; 597, 641, 643. Leonard, Capt. James, 16, 20, 27, 48, 161, 434; purchases “iron mine” in Easton and builds forge, 54. Leonard, John, 671. Leonard, Jonathan, 9, §5, 167, 279, 280, 461, 599. Leonard, Mary Bailey, 48. Leonard, Mehitable, 16. Leonard, Capt. Nahum, 616. Leonard, Nathaniel, 227. Leonard, Nehemiah, 230, 231. 822 INDEX. Leonard, Mrs. Ruth, 37, 669, 796. Leonard, Samuel, 234, 286. Leonard, Silence Hayward, 725. Leonard, Solomon, 43, 48. Leonard, Thomas, 434; testimony in reference to the Taunton North Purchase, 19, 20; be- comes clerk of Taunton North-Purchase Com- pany, 33. Library, The Agricultural, its organization and officers, 377. -Library, The Ames Free, its origin and fund, 378. Library Association, The North Easton, its or- ganization and board of officers, 377. Library, The First Social, 373. Library, The Methodist Social, its organization and officers, 376. Library, The No. 2 District, its origin, 376. Library, The Second Social, its organization and officers, 375. Library, The Washington Benevolent Society, and, its organization and object, 373; its membership, 374; its discontinuance 375. Lillie, D. C., 769. Lincoln, Abraham, 520, 652. Lincoln, Albert A., 525, 530, 572. Lincoln, Alfred, 531, 548, 572. Lincoln, Amasa, 238. Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, 308. Lincoln, Daniel, 228. Lincoln, Mrs. Hannah, 671. Lincoln, Isaac, 211, 213, 219, 221. Lincoln, John, Jr., 446, 507. Lincoln, Jotham, 640. Lincoln, L. A., 303. Lincoln, Lemuel, 307. Lincoln, Levi, 228, 624, 625, 632, 633- Lincoln, Meriel, 640. Lincoln, Nathan, 165, 507. Lincoln, Nathaniel, 227, 474. Lincoln, Nathaniel B., 532. Lincoln, O. F., 303. Lincoln, Oliver, 213, 230, 231, 233, 240. Lincoln, Otis, 620. Lincoln, Paul, 212, 228, 295, 444, 474- Lincoln, Samuel, 47. Lincoln, Susanora (Susanna), 796. Lincoln (Linkon), Thomas, 20, 224. Lindell, Mrs., 301. Lindsay, James, 32, 507. Lindsay, James, 2d, 233. Lindsay, William, 211, 221, 225, 233. Linehan, William A., 612, 613. Linnehan, Cornelius, 671. Littlefield, Mrs. Abiah, 669. Littlefield, Abiel, 300. Littlefield, Abiel A., 671. Littlefield, Dea. Daniel, 193, 671. Littlefield, Ebenezer, 300, 488, 671. Littlefield, Praisever, 281. Littlefield, Sarah, 672. Littlefield, Seth, 211, 230, 233, 453, 641, 643, 672. Long, Hon. John D., 636, 661. Long, Mrs. Julia, 671. Long, Rev. Michael J., brief biographical sketch of, 716. Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, quoted, 172. Loomis, Rev. F. A., 408. > Lord, Rev. Charles E., 367. Lord, Joseph, 61. Loring, Hon. George B., 254 note. Lothrop, Abby W., 744. Lothrop, Addison A., 526, 543, 572. Lothrop, Almira Strong, 747. Lothrop, Annie Strong, 747. Lothrop, Lieut. Augustus W., 524, 530, 572, 613. Lothrop, Azel, 613. Lothrop, Mrs. Betty, 669. Lothrop, Betty Howard, 647. 744. Lothrop, Caleb, 483, 670. Lothrop, Caleb S., 498. Lothrop, Calvin, 699. Lothrop, Charles Bradley, 747. Lothrop, Charles F., 525, 541, 572. Lothrop, Mrs. Content, 669. Lothrop, Cyrus, 312, 313, 379, 385, 515, 598, 607 ; brief biographical sketch of, 744. Lothrop, Cyrus, 648. Lothrop, Cyrus Edwin, 747. Lothrop, Capt. Daniel, 214, 218. Lothrop, David W., 7o1 note. Lothrop, Edmund, 13, 16, 228, 647, 744. Lothrop, Edwin Howard, 744; brief biograph- ical sketch of, 756. Lothrop, George Howard, 747.. Lothrop, Hon. George Van Ness, 647, 648; biographical sketch of, 744-747. Lothrop, Mrs. Hannah, 669, 796, 799. Lothrop, Hannah Alden, 54. Lothrop, Hannah Taylor, 756. Lothrop, Helen Ames, 747. Lothrop, Henry (William Henry), 54. Lothrop, Henry Brown, 747, Lothrop, Hon. Howard, 36, 194, 301, 311, 351, 3531 441, 486, 625, 638, 641, 669, 744, 756, 759; his birth and parentage, 646, 647; his political and public service, 647; his family, 648, 657. Lothrop, Howard Augustus, 648. Lothrop, Capt. Isaac, 194, 221, 224, 297, 306, 307; 311, 357) 389, 420, 440, 461, 483, 511, 512, 514, 586, 643, 669. Lothrop, James, 374. Lothrop, James Winchell, 702. Lothrop, Mrs. Jane Burnside, 702. Lothrop, Capt. Jarvis, 483, 512, 514. Lothrop, Rev. Jason, brief biographical sketch of, 699, 702. INDEX. yom Lothrop, Jason J., 702. ha Lothrop, Corporal John, 228, 374, 461, 483, 672. Lothrop, Jonathan, 120, 233, 796, 798. Lothrop, Joseph, 670, 796. Lothrop, Joshua, 311, 670. Lothrop, Lucian, 702. Lothrop, Mark, 87, 91, 389, 447, 642, 671, 673; early settler in Easton prior to incorpora- tion, 54. Lothrop, Mrs. Martha, 672. Lothrop, Mrs. Mary, 671. Lothrop, Nathan, 221, 233. Lothrop, Rev. Ruel, sketch of, 702. Lothrop, Ruth Belinda, 702. Lothrop, Sally Spaulding, 702. Lothrop, Sally Williams, 648, 657, 744, 756. Lothrop, Samuel, 633. Lothrop, Samuel, Jr., 74. Lothrop, Mrs. Sarah, 670, 672. Lothrop, Mrs. Sarah Cook, 699, 702. Lothrop, Mrs. Sarah J., 702. Lothrop, Ensign Seth, 236, 389, 510, 642. Lothrop, Solomon, 43, 48, 228, 231, 235, 669. Lothrop, Solomon, Jr., 374. Lothrop, Susan Judkins, 702. Lothrop, Susanna, 797, 799. Lothrop, Capt. Welcome, 375, 512, 514. Lothrop, Willard, 370, 572, 612, 613. Lothrop, William A., 544, 545, 572, 615. Lothrop, William H., 297. Lothrop, Zephaniah, 212, 213. Lovejoy, Rev. John, 327. Ludden, Mrs. Lizzie, 484. Lufkin, John N., 612, 613. Lunn, Kate, 484. Lunn, Peter, 485. Lunn, Robert, 588, 607, 608. Lunt, Rev, Wm. P., 486. Luscomb, Capt. Francis, 212, 215, 249, 250. Lynch, Miss Alice, 402. Lynch, Capt. John A., 522, 526, 531, 544, 572, 599, 609, 611, 612. Lyons, Rev. Edward, 328. Lyons, Mrs. Ellen, 669. M. Macey, George, 20. Mackey, James N., 522, 574, 613. Macomber, Benjamin, 41. Macomber, Daniel, 219, 221, 229, 232, 233, 295, 643. Macomber, David, 311. Macomber, Edmund, 221, 233, 238. Macomber, Mrs, Esther, 670. Macomber, Hannah, 670, Macomber, Ichabod, 297, 374, 584, 588, 59t. Macomber, Jacob, 225, 508, 670. Macomber, John, 20. Macomber, Seth, 218, Macready, Michael, 377. Mahoney, Mrs. Honora, 669. Makepeace, Seth, 224. Makepeace, William, 224, 231. Manley, Abiah, 184, 213, 219, 223, 227, 283, 295, 298, 508, 642, 673. Manley; Daniel, 292, 435, 463, 673. Manley, David, 189, 241, 476, 671. Manley, Col. David, 439, 510, 514, 515, 588, 592, 593, 649. Manley, Dr. Edwin, brief biographical sketch of, 727. Manley, Elizabeth, 474. Manley, Emmeline Leland Hatch, 728. Manley, Faustina Smith, 728, Manley, Ichabod, 184, 292, 509, 673. Manley, James, 214. Manley, John, 164, 166, 283, 508, 673. Manley, John, Jr., 166. Manley, Josiah, 225, 228, 233. Manley, Linus, 627, 644, 670. Manley, Widow Lydia, 797. Manley, Lydia Field, 45. Manley, Mary, 799. Manley, Mehitable, 669. Manley, Mrs. Mercy, 672, 797. Manley, Nathaniel, 54, 277, 294; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 47, 48. Manley, Reuben, 220, 224, 233. Manley, Samuel, 213, 220, 232. Manley, Sarah, 496. Manley, Seth, 163, 168, 211, 213, 235, 282, 296, 508. Manley, Thomas, 84, 91, 277, 278, 434, 444, 507, 641, 642, 643, 673; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 45. Manley, Thomas, Jr., 112, 163, 217, 281, 300, 440, 473, 508; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 56. Manley, Thomas, 2d, 642. Manley, Timothy, 166, 508, 672. Manley, William, 33, 36, 39; 42, 45, 47, 48, 66; 74; 75) 458, 670, 673 ; one of the early settlers in Easton, qo. Manley, William, Jr., 508, 671 ; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 45. Mann, Horace, 630, 634. Mann, Oliver, 214. Manning, Marshall, 669. Marsh, Caroline Crane, 69. Marsh, Hon. George P., 69. Marshall, Alonzo, 15, 292, 297. Marshall, Benjamin, 670. Marshall, Calvin, 9,.323, 445, 600. Marshall, Calvin A., 545, 574, 615. Marshall, Joseph H., 294. Marshall, Orin S., 544, 549, 574, 615. 824 INDEX. Marshall, Capt. Perez, 385, 509, 514, 643. Marshall, Col. Thomas, 218. : Marshall, Timothy, 48, 294, 470. Martin, John, 229. Martis, Zeri B., 547, 574- Marvel, Ephraim, early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 46, Mason, James, 584. Mason, Thomas, 613. Massachusetts, the State military archives of, 158. Massasoit, evidence of his early ownership of the Taunton North Purchase, 29, 30. Mather, Cotton, quoted, 89. Mayberry, Richard, 224. McArdle, Henry, 607. McCafferty, John, 551, 573. McCafferty, Matthew, Jr., 636. McCarthy, Rev. John W, 715 ote; graphical sketch of, 716. McComb, Rev. William J., 414. McCool, Michael, 525, 541, 573, 615. McCourt, Patrick, 538, 550, 573, 615 and mote, McCready, Edward, 551, 573. McCready, James, 524, 528, 573. McCready, John, 532, 550, 573- McCullough, James, 525, 542, 573- McDavitt, John, 671. McDermott, Bernard, 545, 549; 573. McDermott, Peter, 487. McDonald, Daniel F., 573, 615. McDonald, John W., 533; 549, 573; 613. McEvoy, James, 527, 531, 573, 615. McFarland, George, 545, 549) 573) 615- McGrath, Thomas, 533, 545, 573, 613- McGuire, Charles H., 523, 526, 574, 613. McKeehan, John, 525, 541, 574- McKeysey, Alexander, 227. McMullen, Michael, 524, 574. McNamara, Thomas, 525, 574. McNulty, Rev. Thomas B., 413, 499. McReady, Mrs. Margaret, 669. Meader, Reuben, 377, 606, 607, 671. Meader, Mrs. Sarah, 670. Meadows: Cranberry, 15; Hockomock, 16; Evin’s, 16; Cold Spring, 16 ; Granny, 16; Little Cranberry, 16; Nicholas’s, 16. Meagher, Gen. Thomas F., 532. Mears, John, 165, 169, 170, 211, 213, 219, 220, 228, 230, 235, 291, 390 Mears, Samuel, 220. Mears, Thomas, 224. Medberry, Isaac, 153. Mehurin, David, 214, 233. Mehurin, Jonathan, 224, 232, 233. Mellander, Rev. Alexander, 415. Menton, Rev. Dennis J., brief biographical sketch of, 717. Menton, Patrick, 296. Merriam, William, 282. brief bio- Merrifield, Benjamin, 212. Merritt, Isaac, 600. Merry, William, 169. Middleton, David, 526, 537, 574, 615. Middleton, David A., 524, 551, 574. Middleton, James P., 525, 541, 574, 615- Militia and military history: first militia com- pany, 506-509; the West Company, 509; the East Company, 510 ; the Light Infantry, 511 ; Company B Easton Light Infantry, 512; military officers, 513-519 ; names of soldiers buried in the town, 614-616; the Soldiers’ Monument, 616-618. Miller, Catherine (Margaret), last slave in Easton, 437, 475+ Miller, D. A., 621. Miller, Lieut. Francis, 169. Miller, I. L., 620. Mills, Rev, Charles L., 367. Mills, John A., 574, 615. Mills, Dr. John M., brief biographical ea of, 728. Mills, Ralph, 728. Mills, Sarah, 728. Mills, Sarah Potter, 728. Milrick, Michael, 529, 535, 574. Miner, Rev. A. A., 636. Ministers : brief biographical sketches of, 692- 718; Rev, Israel Alger, 693; Rev. Jarvis Adams Ames, 694; Rev. Matthew Bolles, 695; Rev. Silas Brett, 695; Rev. Nelson Williams Britton, 696; Rev. Charles .H. Buck, 697; Rev. Daniel LeBaron Goodwin, 697; Rev. Francis Homes, 698; Rev. Wil- liam Keith, 698; Rev. Jason Lothrop, 699- 702; Rev. Ruel Lothrop, 702; Rev. Ephraim Randall, 702-704; Rev. Joshua Randall, 704-709; Rev. David Reed, 709, 710; Rev. William Reed, 710; Rev. Nathan P. Selee, 711; Rev. Luther Harris Sheldon, 711; Rev. Simeon Williams, 712 ; Rev. Bradford Willis, 713; Rev. Martin Wyman Willis, 713; Rev. Henry Wood, 714; Rev. James W. Conlin, 715; Rev. William T. Doherty, 715; Edward Farrell, 715; Michael J. Long, 716; Rev. John W. McCarthy, 716; Rev. Dennis J. Menton, 717 ; Rev. John D. O'Keefe, 717. Minot, James, 116. Mitchell, Colonel Abiel, 210, 211, 217, 225, 237, 247, 248, 249, 251, 269, 288, 440, 455, 456, 461, 484, 510, 514, 515, 637, 642, 646, 671; brief sketch of his military career, 244) 245+ Mitchell, Charles, 526, 544, 574. Mitchell, Col. Edward, 221. Mitchell, Eliphalet, 311, 670. Mitchell, Experience, 245. Mitchell, Captain Frank A., 514, 532,537) 544» 549) 574: INDEX. 825 Mitchell, Mrs. Hannah, 671. Mitchell, Deacon Harrison T., 484, 630, 646. Mitchell, H. Y., 498, 613. Mitchell, Jackson D., 614. Mitchell, John A., qrz. Mitchell, John W., 614. Mitchell, Leonard, 311. Mitchell, Mrs. Mary, 671. Mitchell, Nahum, 50. Mitchell, Theodore, 526, 531, 575. Mitchell, Thomas, 228, 235, 245. Mitchell, Timothy, 245,278, 597, 669. Mitchell, Capt. Timothy, 510, 514. Mitchell, William S., 526, 536, 575. Monk, George, 282, 318, 599. Monk, Mrs. George, 670. Monk, Hiram A., 545, 549, 575; 609. Monk, Ramoth, 293. Monroe, Lieutenant-Colonel, 163. Morley, James T., 523, 537, 546, 550, 575: Morrill, Hon. Justin S., 735. Morrill, Ruth Barrell Swan, 735. Morris, Lewis, 246. Morrison, Rev. W. V., 407, 408. Morrison, William, 508. Morse, Alfred B., 588. Morse, Charles A., 499, 614. Morse, Charles T., 613. 7 Morse, Edward J. W., 442, 498, 585, 588, 591, 592, 593) 597- Morse, Edward N., 499, 588, 607, 689. Morse, Elbridge G., 414, 644. Morse, Mrs. Esther, 670. Morse, James A., 615. Morse, Joseph, 461. Morse, Sion, 292, 312, 313. Morse, Solomon W., 498, 590, 607, 608. Morse, William, 600. Morton, Marcus, 625, 627, 633, 634. Motherwell, James M., 523 and ote, 575. Motherwell, John, 524, 541, 575. Mulhern, David, 523 and mote, 551, 575, 615. Mullen, John, 526, 536, 575. Mullen, Mrs. Mary, 669. Mulligan, Michael, 586. Munday, Hon. Edward, 745. Munro, Mrs. Susan W., 698. Munro, Wilfred H., 698. Munroe, Captain A. C., 616. Murphy, Daniel, 529, 575. Murphy, George M., 525, 541, 575. Murphy, James, 536, 575- Murphy, James H., 525, 542, 575. Murphy, John, 2d, 524, 541, 575. Murphy, Nicholas, 531, 537, 575, 615. Murphy, Timothy, 526, 531, 537, 543, 548; 575) 615- F Murphy, Timothy W., 537,575. Murray, Jeremiah, 524, 575. Murray, Thomas, 525, 524, 541, 576, 613. N. NaPeE (Knapp/?), John, 508. Nason, Elias, 83. Nelson, Frank, 498. Nelson, Rev. J. H., 333. Newcomb, Asa, 492. Newcomb, Asa, 2d, 51, 303. Newcomb, Guilford, 301. Newcomb, Sally, 493. Newcomb, Capt. Thomas, 224. Newland, Abigail Babbitt, 51, 797. Newland, David, 796. Newland, Jabez, 228, 229, 231. Newland, Joanna Harvey, 51. Newland, Jonah, 673; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 51. Newton, Palmer, 40, 498. Nichols, John, 228. Niles, Daniel, 164, 166, 174, 177, 180, 182, 184, 211, 213, 215, 673, 796. Niles, Daniel, Jr., 160, 508. Niles, Elijah, 166, 295. Niles, Elizabeth, 215.- Niles, Ephraim, 224. Niles, Hannah, 670. Niles, Nahum, 164, 465. Niles, Stephen, 184. Noble, Joseph, 429. Norton, set apart from the town of Taunton, 77; unsuccessful attempt at organization of the “East End” as separate town, 78; peti- tions for setting apart the “ East End” as separate precinct and their final success, 78- 81 ; incorporation of the “ East End” as Eas- ton, 82. Nowell, Increase, 29. Noyes, Samuel B., 742. Nye, Anselm Tupper, 256 ote. Nye, Benjamin T., 551, 576. Nye, Mrs. Mary, 671. O. O’BEiRN, Rev. John, 413. O’ Beirne, Michael, 499. O’Brien, Charles, 525, 536, 557, 576. O'Connell, John J., brief biographical sketch of, 747. . O'Donnell, Hugh S., 524, 541, 576. O’Keefe, Rev. John D., brief biographical sketch of, 717. O'Rourke, William, 525, 576. O’Shea, Enoch, 529, 576. “Qld Bunn” (Benjamin Eddy), anecdotes of, 769-773- Olmstead, Fred Law, 688, Orr, Hugh, 284. 54 826 INDEX. Orrell, Mrs. Ann, 669. Osgood, Charles E., 547, 576. Osgood, Rev. Joseph, 412. Otis, Harrison G., 633. Owen, Anna Lincoln, 47. Owen, Daniel, 60; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 47. Owen, Daniel, Jr., 87, 281, 304, 440, 508, 641; early settler, 47. Owen, John, 162, 163, 164, 166, 508. Owen, Robert, 218. P. PackarD, Abijah W., 608. Packard, Asa, 498. Packard, Mrs. Betsy, 671. Packard, Charles S., 531, 576, 611, 612, 613. Packard, Clayton, 620. Packard, D. H., 604. Packard, Daniel, 235. Packard, Emory, 591, 608. 612, 613. Packard, George E., 529, 576. Packard, George T., 613. Packard, Hannah Manley, 165. Packard, Henry R., 525, 543, 576. Packard, Horatio, 502. Packard, Hosea S., 532, 533, 576. Packard, Irving, 591. Packard, Isaiah, 440, 607. Packard, Jacob, 222. Packard, James, 211, 213, 220, 224, 233. Packard, Jedediah, 231, 234. Packard, Jedediah, 2d, 448, 502. Packard, Job, 234, 239. Packard, John, 165, 227, 235, 508. Packard, Joseph, 673. Packard, Joseph, Jr., 160, 165, 166, 184, 239, 240, 292, 508. Packard, M. M., 620. Packard, Miss Lucy, 671. Packard, Mrs. Mary, 671. Packard, Capt. Nathan, 189, 230. Packard, Nathaniel, 74, 211, 214, 276. Packard, Nathaniel R., 591. Packard, Oren, 483. Packard, Paul, 169, 184. Packard, Perez, 471. Packard, Samuel, 41, 220, 224, 669. Packard, Warren, 550, 576. Packard, William M., 529, 535, 576, 615. Packard, William W., 525, 530, 576. Packard, Wilson P., 532, 533, 576. Packard, Zenas, 607. Page, Elisha, 626. Paine, Henry W., 635. Paine, Judge Robert Treat, 198. Palfrey, John G., 634. Palmer, Rev. Stephen, 328. Park, John C., 627. Parker, John, 20, 227. Partridge, Henry, 162. Paule, Samuel, 20. Pauperism, its management in Easton, 443- 449; early method of disposing of the town poor at auction, 445; final maintenance of an almshouse, 448. Payne, Rev. Nathan, 328. Payne, Hon. Nathaniel, 109. Peabody, Edward H., 388. Peck, Henry W., 525, 536, 576. Peck, Rev. Phineas, 325. Perkins, Isaac, 385, 402. Perkins, Miss M. E., 402 note. Perkins, Mrs. Susanna, 672. Perry, Abner, 161. Perry, Adah Sheperdson, 729. Perry, Benjamin, 161. Perry, Dinah, 161. Perry, Edward, 161. Perry, Eliakim, 161. Perry, Elizabeth Burge, 161. Perry, Ezra, 161, ' Perry, Hannah, 669. Perry, Capt. James, 13, 16, 183, 214, 218, 231, 237, 286, 288, 394, 440, 491, 514, 584, 646, 728; brief sketch of his military ca- reer, 245; unjustly accused of complicity in Shays’s Rebellion, and imprisoned, 246- 249. Perry, Dr. James, 491, 739; brief biographical sketch of, 728, 729. Perry, Capt. James A., 161. Perry, James L., 739. Perry, Josiah, 161, 795. Perry, Leonard, 511. Perry, Commodore M. C., 161. Perry, Mary, 796. Perry, Mrs. Mehitable, 161, 672, 796. Perry, Capt. N. H., 161. Perry, N. W., 43, 46, 160 mote, 236, 371. Perry, Nathan, 230. Perry, Capt. Nathaniel, 15, 16, 98, 107, 133, 218, 245, 252, 374, 490, 514, 586, 614, 673, 795; serves in French and Indian War, 159 ; extracts from his own mention of his military service, 160; his death, 161; brief sketch of, 165. Perry, Nathaniel, Jr., 160. Perry, Commodore O. H., 161. Perry, Phebe N. Hodges, 739. Perry, Capt. Raymond H. J., 161. Perry, Samuel, 160, 168, Perry, Rev. Thomas, 320. Perry, Dr. William F., brief biographical sketch of, 729. Perry, Zerviah Witherell, 728. e INDEX. 827 Pettengill, Benjamin, 110, 120, 163, 207, 216, 217, 218, 221, 383, 384, 396, 508, 642, 646, 673, 796, 798. Pettengill, Benjamin, Jr., 221. Pettengill, Mary, 797. Phillips, Abner, 220. Phillips, Amasa, 211, 213, 215, 223, 227, 235, 312, 495- Phillips, Asa, 227, 234, 235, 495- Phillips, Asaph W., 525, 541, 576. Phillips, Benjamin, 296, 465. Phillips, Damaris, 56, 796, 799. Phillips, Dea. Ebenezer, 53, 178, 180, 182, 184, 188, 213, 508, 509, 768, 796. Phillips, Capt. Eliphalet, 514. Phillips, Elizabeth, 41, 796. Phillips, Henry A., 533, 538, 577) 613: Phillips, Howard W., 525, 542, 543, 548, 577- Phillips, Isaac, search for his supposed fortune gained in the slave-trade, 768. Phillips, Jabez, 163. Phillips, Jacob, 211, 233, 293- Phillips, James, 20. Phillips, John, 533, 538, 577, 615. Phillips, John, Jr., 178, 228, 233, 796; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 53- Phillips, Capt. John, 33, 36, 42, 43, 52, 56, 59 66, 74, 75, 81, 84, 87, 92, 110, 473, 506, 514, 636, 640, 641, 645, 646, 673, 684; one of the early settlers in Easton prior to 1696, 41. Phillips, Joshua, 187, 193, 217, 671, 796. Phillips, Louise, 495. Phillips, Luther A., 533, 577+ Phillips, Mrs. Mary, 669, 672. Phillips, Minot E., 527, 531, 577, 615- Phillips, Nathaniel B., 609. Phillips, Oliver, 211, 214. Phillips, O. Marshall, 614. Phillips, Rachel, 768. Phillips, Rebecca, 796. Phillips, Samuel, 193, 281, 509, 796, 798; early settler in Easton prior to its incorporation, 56. Phillips, Samuel, Jr., 180, 182, 190, 282, 296, 297; 465, 508, 795. Phillips, Mrs. Sarah (?), 671, 797- -Phillips, Silas, 211, 213, 227, 233, 235, 495- Phillips, Silas, Jr., 308, 457, 495- Phillips, Stephen C., 634. Phillips, Mrs. Susanna, 672. Phillips, Thomas, one of the first settlers of Ashfield, 41. Phillips, Wendell, 635. Phillips, William, 56, 281; early settler in _. Easton prior to incorporation, 52. Phipps, Rev. William, 191, 192. Physicians and Dentists: Seth Babbitt, 719; Charles Hale Cogswell, 720; George Badger Cogswell, 720; Horatio Franklin Copeland, 721; Edgar Everett Dean, 721; EdwardDean, 722; James B. Dean, 722; Samuel Deans, 22; Henry Lee Dickerman, 723; Jason Williams Drake, 724; Daniel Goodwin, 724; Samuel Guild, 724; Samuel Guild, Jr., 725; Elisha Hayward, 725 ; Joseph W. Hayward, 725; James Howard, 727; Ernest W. Keith, 727; Edwin Manley, 728; John M. Mills, 728; James Perry, 728; William F. Perry, 729; Seth Pratt, 729; Seth Pratt, Jr., 730; Daniel L. Randall, 730; Menzies Rayner Randall, 730; Zephaniah Randall, 731; Frederic J. Ripley, 732; W. P. Savary, 732; Caleb Swan, 733; George W. J. Swan, 735; James Caleb Swan, 735; Jesse Johnson Swan, 735; W. E. Channing Swan, 736; Byron H. Strout, 736; Frank Elmer Tilden, 736; George Brett, 737; Asahel Smith, 738; Wil- liam B. Webster, 738; John B. Wilson, 738; Joseph Belcher, 739 ; James L. Perry, 739; Washington L. Ames, 739. Pickering, Rev. George, 325. Pierce, Hon. Edward L., 402. Pierce, Eliphalet, 232. Pierce, Franklin, 630. Pierce, Thatcher, 312, 431, 643. Pinkham, A. E., 620. Pinkham Mrs. Nellie M., 611. Pitman, Robert C., 635, 636. Pitts, Peter, 20. Pitts, Seth, 228. Plains: Lathrop’s, 16; Rocky, 16 ; Crookhorn, 16; High, 16; Meeting, 16; Ragged 16; Badcock’s, 16; Stone House, 16. Politics: early politics of Easton, 624, 625; change of politics, 625; the Harrison cam- paign, and election of first Whig represen- tative from Easton, 626-628; the Clay campaign and growth of the Free Soil move- ment, 628-630; the Know Nothing party in Easton and the later politics of the town, 630, 631; voters of the town for Governor since 1787, 632-636. Pool, Charles B., 377, 646. Pool, Harrison, 385. Pool, Horace F., 527, 546, 550, 577, 615. Pool, Horace M., 480, 591, 607. Pool, John, 340, 374, 375) 440, 460, 480, 591, 637, 641, 643, 672. Pool, John, Jr., 313. Pool, John-M., sor. Pool, Mrs. Mary, 672. Pool, Capt.. Oliver, 311, 337, 374, 512, 514, 587. Pool, Mrs. Ruth, 672. Pool, Samuel, 265, 480, 672. Polk, James K., 628. Pollard, Sophia Campbell, 204. Pollard, Walter, 204. 828 INDEX. Ponds: Cranberry-Meadow, 14; Wilbur’s, 14; Horse-Grass, 14; Lily, 14; Round, 15; Ragged-Plain, 15; Beaver, 15. Pope, Ichabod, 671. Porter, H. L., 621. Porter, Rev. John, 191, 695. Porter, T. M., 607. Potter, John, 728. Potter, Martha, 728. Potter, Rev. William, J., 703 zo/e. Powers, James, 524, 577, 615. Powers, Richard, 524, 551. 577- Pratt, A. Frank, 621. Pratt, Alfred, 46, 609. Pratt, Amos, 46, 385, 586. Pratt, Azel, 317. Pratt, Caleb, 46. Pratt, Daniel, 228. Pratt, Daniel H., 385. Pratt, David L., 498. 662, 663. Pratt, Elijah, 219, 220, 229, 231, 235. = Pratt, Elizabeth Baker, widow of Elder Wil- liam, 57, 70, 433- Pratt, Enoch, 235 Pratt, Ephraim, 508. Pratt, Erasmus D., 729. Pratt, Hannah, 796. Pratt, Widow Hannah, 42. Pratt, Hepzibeth, 796. Pratt, Hiram A., 385, 646. Pratt, Isaac L., 46, 484, 586. Pratt, James, 301. et James, Jr. 114, 132, 137, 673, 796; 799. Pratt, John, 228. Pratt, Capt. Jonathan, 385, 509, 514, 614, 627, 637, 646. Pratt, Lieut. Jonathan, 211, 224, 233, 286, 480, 508, 643. Pratt, Jonathan A., 47, 644, 663. Pratt, Joshua, 669. Pratt, Martha, 796. Pratt, Mary, 796. Pratt, Mrs. Mindwell, 671, 729. Pratt, Nathan, 592, 593, 669. Pratt, Nathaniel, 227. Pratt, Philip, 232, 233. Pratt, Mrs. Rebecca, 671, 729, 730- Pratt, Seaver, 250, 461, 484. Pratt, Dr. Seth, 250, 461, 485, 489; brief bio- graphical sketch of, 729, 730. Pratt, Dr. Seth, Jr., brief biographical sketch of, 729, 730- Pratt, Lieut. Seth, 180, 183, 187, 213, 217, 220, 225, 228, 232, 248, 484, 508, 510, 514, 637, 643, 729. Pratt, Mrs. Susanna, 671. Pratt, Thomas, of Weymouth, 59, 61. Pratt, Thomas. 59, 91, 642; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 46. Pratt, Thomas, Jr., 381, 641, 646, 673, 796, 798. Pratt, Thomas, 2d, 160. Pratt, Veranes, 312. Pratt, Elder William, 43, 46, 294, 297, 298, 4733 early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 56; receives grant of land as minister, 59; his parentage and early missionary journeys to the South, 61-64; settles in Easton, 66; his piety, 66, 67; extracts from his notebook, 67,68; his death, 68; inventory of his estate, 69; a slaveholder, 432. Pratt, William, 163, 211, 220, 228, 508. Pratt, William, Jr., 193, 796. : Pratt, William, 2d, 508, 669, 673, 799- Pratt, William, 3d, 213. Prentice, Henry, 140. Prentice, Martha Howard, 139. Prentice, Mary, 136, 140. Prentice, Nathaniel, 139. Prentice, Sarah Sartell, wife of Rev. Solomon, 134-136; becomes a Baptist, 135 ; her death, 139. Prentice, Rev. Solomon, 49; called as minister to the church at Easton, 102; his salary, 103; letter of acceptance, 104 ; parentage and pre- vious labors, 104; a zealous “ New Light’’ and disciple of Whitefield, 104, 174; minis- terial experience at Grafton, 105; installation at Easton, 106; reorganization of the church, 107; his enforcement of church discipline, 107; first favors and then opposes the building a new church at the Centre, 110; the Society divides on this question, 113-117; his friends propose building a separate meet- ing-house, 116; interference of the General Court, 117 ; demands a dismissal consequent on the order of the General Court releasing the town from payment of his salary, 117, 118; personal charges against his character preferred by his opponents, 120; councils of churches called, 119-128; with his party adopts Presbyterianism, 128-132; involved in law-suits, 134, 137; his liberality towards the Baptists arouses the opposition of his church, 136; summoned before a council of the Presbytery and suspended from his min- istry, 137; brief summary of his character, 138; his subsequent experience, 139; his children, 139. ‘ Prentice, Solomon, Jr., 135, 140. Presbury, John, 227. Prescott, William H., 733. Price, Benjamin W., 615. Prince, Frederic O., 636. Prince, Gov. Thomas, 19, 20. Prince, William W., 613. Purington, Mrs. Abigail, 671. Pursho, Joseph, 307, 308. Putnam, Rufus, 254 note. INDEX. 829 Q. Quane, Daniel, 529, 577. Quincy, John, 27. Quimley, George W., 670. Quinn, Rev. Francis A., 414, 619. R. RAILROAD FACILITIES of Easton, 759. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 496. Ramsdell, Dean, 498. Ramsdell, Emma, 498. Ramsdell, Lizzie, 498. Ramsdell, Seth, 543, 577. Randall, Abiah, 163, 479, 508, 670. Randall, Mrs. Abigail, 671. Randall Abner, 184, 188, 189, 220, 232, 444. Randall, Alvin, 312. Randall, Almira Guild, 730. Randall, Ambrose, 301. Randall, Anna, 796. Randall, Ansel B., 544, 577, 611, 615. Randall, Barnabas, 312. Randall, Barney, 461, 670. Randall, Barron, 708. Randall, Elder Benjamin, 707. Randall, Beriah, 160, 168, 233, 508. Randall, Mrs. Betsy, 670, 671. Randall, Caleb, 307, 312, 313, 670. Randall, Cyrus, 240. Randall, Daniel, 284, 461, 484. Randall, Daniel, Jr., 627, 643, 730- Randall, Dr. D. Fordyce, 730. Randall, Dr. Daniel L., 43; brief biographical sketch of, 730. Randall, David, 165, 295, 444. Randall, Ebenezer, 1st, 508. Randall, Ebenezer, 2d, 488, 670. Randall, Ebenezer, 3d, 461, 670. Randall, Ebenezer, 4th, 13, 300, 384, 461, 724. Randall, Edward E., 530, 532, 537) 542: 549 577, 614. Randall, Elijah, 177, 312. Randall, Mrs. Eliza Bryant, 703. Randall, Eliza Edson, 730. Randall, Elizabeth, 708. Randall, Elizabeth Robbins, 704. Randall, Ephraim, 57, 59, 84, 120, 150, 276, 291, 473, 640, 642, 673, 795; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 46. Randall, Ephraim, 2d, 159, 187, 211, 215, 218, 283, 299, 395: 508, 643, 796. Randall, Ephraim, 3d, 188, 189, 224, 228, 233, 282, 391, 508, 671, 731. Randall, Rev. Ephraim, 482, 671; brief bio- graphical sketch of, 702-704, Randall, Eseck, 704, 708. "| Randall, Macey, Jey 187 note, 295, Randall, Eva, 484. Randall, Experience, 797. Randall, Galen, 488. Randall, Dr. George A., 730. Randall, George B., 526, 531, 536, 543, 578. Randall, George Robbins, 708. Randall, Hannah Bullard, 731. Randall, Hannah Ingalls, 730. Randall, Hiram A., 530, 543, 578. Randall, Hopestill, 170, 183, 211, 220, 228, 443, 461, 702, 771. Randall, Ichabod, 221, 228. Randall, Isaac, 224. Randall, Isaac, 708. Randall, Isaiah, 224, 228, 233, 318. Randall, Israel, 59, 84, 90, 113, 120, 276, 508, 673, 795; early settler in Easton prior to in- corporation, 43. Randall, Israel, Jr., 299, 395, 508, 796, 798. Randall, Israel, 2d, 313, 629. Randal, Jacob J., 523, 578. Randall, James S., 301. Randall, Jarvis, 220. Randall, Jesse, 221. Randall, Job, 221, 224, 395, 533, 615. Randall, Joel, 329, 376. Randall, John, 111, 165, 211, 220, 232, 282, 390, 463, 509, 673- Randall, John, Jr., 508. Randall, John M., 544, 549, 578, 614. Randall, Jonathan, 220, 233, 283, 592. Randall, Joseph, 120, 488, 508, 795, 798. Randall, Rev. Joshua, 481; his birth and par- entage, 704; enters the ministry as an itiner- ant Methodist preacher, 704; is charged with heresy, 705; applies to the Free-Will Bap- tists for admission to their ranks as a preacher, 707; his later years, 708; his family, 708. Randall, Joshua L., 708. Randall, Mrs. Keziah, 669, 671. Randall, Langdon H., 301, 578. Randall, Levi C., 484. Randall, Louise Stone, 731. Randall, Mrs. Lovina, 670, Randall, Lucy Gilbert, 731. Randall, Lydia Cooper, 46, 57, 796. Randall, Macey, 669, 769. 438, 451, 627. Randall, Mrs. Mareanel, 709. Randall, Martha, 796, 799- Randall, Martin, 578. Randall, Mary, 43, 796. Randall, Mrs. Mary, 669. Randall, Mary Willis, 43. Randall, Capt. Matthew, 187, 194, 211, 233, 215, 219, 220, 222, 225, 227, 234, 244, 250, 510, 514. Randall, Dr. Menzies Rayner, brief biographi- cal sketch of, 730. 830 INDEX. Randall, Mercy, 796, 799. Randall, Mindwell, 670. Randall, Molly, 730. Randall, Nathan, 224, 229, 231, 300, 312. Randall, Nathan P., 525, 542, 578. Randall, Nehemiah, 116, 120, 163, 211, 213, 235, 297, 318, 508, 796, 798. Randall, Nelson M., 527, 537, 544) 549; 578+ Randall, Mrs. Olive, 672. Randall, Olive L., 671. Randall, Oliver, 229, 235. Randall, Patty, 671. Randall, Peleg F., 525, 536, 544, 545, 578 614- Randall, Phineas, 376, 461, 670. Randall, Phineas A., 526, 531, 578. Randall, Polly, 484. Randall, Rachel, 708. Randall, Rachel Lincoln, 41. Randall, Rebecca, 177. Randall, Robert, of Weymouth, 41, 42. Randall, Robert, 113, 133, 155, 163, 166, 195, 249, 252, 509, 642, 796, 798. Randall, Robert, Jr., 508. Randall R. C., 621. Randall, Samuel, 184, 282, 387, 463, 508, 673, 796, 799- Randall, Samuel, Jr., 508. Randall, Mrs. Sarah, 671. Randall, Simeon, 291, 391, 525. Randall, Simeon A., 578, 613. Randall, Solomon, 213, 215, 219, 230, 234, 292, 295) 313) 387, 39° Randall, Mrs. Submit, 672, 702. Randall, Susanna, 769. Randall, Mrs. Susanna, 671. Randall, Mrs. Tamar, 672. Randall, Thomas, 1st, 33, 34) 37) 459 47, 48; 58; 59, 275, 276, 297; one of the early settlers in Easton prior to 1696, 40, 41. Randall, Thomas, 2d, 34, 37, 75, 87, 91, 92, 275, 276, 282, 297, 473, 673; 795} one of the early settlers in Easton prior to 1696, 41, 42. Randall, Thomas, 3d, 220, 224, 234, 296, 508, 796. Randall, Thomas, 4th, 48. Randall, Timothy, 180, 181, 187, 215, 221, 276, 389, 642, 674 note, 704. Randall, Timothy, Jr., 276, 588, 589. Randall, Vernon, 524, 578. Randall, Vesta, 669. Randall, William, 211, 218, 230, 484. Randal, Dr. Zephaniah, 376 ; brief biographical sketch of, 731. Randall, Mrs. Zervia Bruce, 704. Randall, Ziba, 1st, 183, 225, 228, 233, 287, 375, 477; 592) 594- Randall, Ziba, 2d, 391, 731. Rankin, James, 386, 602-603. Ranney, Charles, 227, 235. Ransom, Rev. Merrick, 333, 368, 408. Ray, Anna W.. 659. Ray, Obed, 659. Record, Amasa, 212, 224, 229, 231. Record, Lieutenant Dominicus, 211, 213, 220, 222, 228, 234, 236, 247, 251. Record, Fanny D., 494. Record, Macey, 494. Record, Mrs. Mary, 669. Record, Mrs. Mary, 494, 670. Record, Nathan, 224, 225, 229, 232, 233. Record, Simon, 228, 233. Reed, Mrs. Abigail, 670, 711. Reed, Abijah, 266, 483. Reed, Alice, 672. Reed, Bela, 461, 587. Reed, Betsy Drake, 710. Reed, Mrs. Catherine, 670. Reed, Charles Henry, 396, 485, 710. Reed, Daniel, 263, 297, 346, 375, 669. Reed, Rev. David, brief biographical sketch of, 709-710. Reed, Capt. Elbridge G., 510, 514. Reed, Elizabeth Lyman, 749. Reed, Esther Thompson, 260. Reed, Ezekiel, 270. Reed, Henry L., 541, 578, 615. Reed, Isaiah, 228. Reed, Jacob, 260, 485, 669. Reed, James, 495. Reed, Jason, 98 ; brief biographical sketch of, 748. Reed, Jesse, 638. Reed, Lieuphemia Eustatia, 710. Reed, Mrs. Mary Ann, 710. Reed, Nancy Elizabeth Coates, 748. Reed, Nathan, 587. Reed, Major Noah, 306, 307, 308, 510, 514, 515. Reed, Mrs. Olive, 265, 274, 670, 709, 748. Reed, Rachel, 495. Reed, Mrs. Sarah, 672. Reed, Sarah Hersey, 260. Reed, Seth, 485. Reed, Silence Nash, 259. Reed, Rev. Solomon, 102, 262, 263. Reed, Uriah Houghton, 533, 537, 579, 615. Reed, William, 259, 312, 385, 485, 641, 669. Reed, Rev. William, 98 ; receives and accepts a call to the church at Easton, 258 ; his birth and ancestry, 259; relation of his early reli- gious experience, 261; his early life before entering the ministry, 262; his ordination at Easton, 263-265 ; story of his marriage, 265; his home life in Easton, 265 ; his experiences with the parish in regard to salary, 270-273 ; as a preacher, 273; his death, 274. ~ Reed, Rev. William, 2d, 265, 485, 486; brief biographical sketch of, 710. Reed, Capt. William E., 514, $79. INDEX. 831 Reed, William Gurney, 514 mate, 710. Reed, William Howells, 260 noe, 710. Rennie, Samuel M., 620, 621. Revere, Paul, 210. Revolutionary War, the, England’s policy which culminated in its outhreak, 206; the Stamp Act and its reception, 207; general disuse by the colonists of British articles of manufacture, 207; popular encouragement of home. manufactures, 208 ; military prepara- tions and organization, 209, 210; Easton’s response to the Lexington alarm, 210-212; enlistments from Easton in 1775, 210-216; the Rhode Island alarm, 219; enlistments from 1776-1778, 222-230; arrival of French troops at Newport, 231; later enlistments from Easton, 230-240; the ‘ Tiverton Alarm,” 232; continental currency and its depreciation during the war, 236-238. Reynolds, Patrick, 524, 535, 579- Rhoden, John, 414. Rhodes, Alfred A., 613. Rice, Alexander H., 636. Rice, E. F., 621. Richards, George H., 522, 543, 548, 579. Richards, John, 532 and note, 579. Richardson, Rev. D. W., 367. Richardson, H. H., 685, 686, 688. Richmond, Alfred B., 522, 527, 531, 579. Richmond, Ephraim, 227. Richmond, John, 20. Rigney, John, 529, 579. Riley, Rev. Father, 413. Ripley, Bernard L., 615. Ripley, Dr. Frederic J., brief biographical sketch of, 732. P Ripley, Mrs. Hannah H., 670. Ripley, Joseph, 669. Ripley, M. W., 609. Ripley, Rebecca Bisbee, 732. Ripley, Robert, 276, 283, 452. Ripley, Samuel, 224, 229, 234, 239. Ripley, Samuel B., 732. Ripley, Silas K., 524, 533, 535 579+ Ripner, Robert S., 541, 579. Rivers : Dorchester, 9; Queset, 10; Mill, 10. Roach, Rev. A. F., 413. Roach, Michael E., 529, 535, 579+ Robbins, Capt. George, 704. Robbins, Moses, 312. Robbins, Mrs. Sarah Stokes, 704. Roberts, Charles F., 527, 531, 544) 579- Roberts, James, 545, 549, 580. Roberts, William R., 523, 580. Robinson, Gov. George D., 636, 646, 658. Robinson, Increase, 20. Robinson, Capt. Samuel, 229. Robinson, William, 619, 620. Rochambeau, Count de, 231. Rockwood, Julius, 635. Root, Ira C., 607. Rotch, Albert A., 363, 386, 497, 528, 586, 607, 608, 637, 641, 644, 645. , Rotch, Hiram, 586. Rotch, William, 345. Rue, Edward, 20. Russell, Edwin, 405, 431. Russell, Francis, 308. Russell, Mrs, Hannah A., 670. Russell, Mrs. Rebecca, 671. Ryder, Rev. Freeman, 332. S. SaFERY, Solomon, 27. Sampson, Charles A. 550, 580. Sampson, Joel, 449. Sanderson, Daniel E., 537-548, 580. Sandford, Joseph B., 663. Sandgren, Charles, 414. Sargent, Col. Paul D., 214. Sargent, Winthrop, 254. Sartell, Nathaniel, 134. Sartell, Sarah, 134. Savage, Mrs. Annie, 672. Savary, Alice M. Richardson, 733. Savary, Dr. W. P., brief biographical sketch of, 732. Sawyer, William, 376. Schindler, M. D., 619. Schools: early action of Easton in regard to, 380-384; introduction of school committee system, 384; members of the superintending committee since 1826, 385; men and women as teachers, 386; teachers’ wages, 387; the High School, 387-389; the town school- houses, 389-398 ; Oliver Ames & Sons erect a schoolhouse for North Easton village, 392— 394; the Oliver Ames fund for support of schools, 399; the Oakes Ames fund for North Easton village, 400; late statistics, 401 ; the Perkins Academy and other private schools, 4ol. Scott, Elias, 325. Scott, Gen. Winfield, 308, 630. Seabury, Dea. John, 744. Seaver, Calvin, 375. Seaver, Lucius, 689. Seaver, Wendell, 375. Seavers, Richard, 524, 535, 580. Seelye, Julius H., 636. |Selee, Anna Maria, 711. Selee, Annie, 478. Selee, Archippus, 478. Selee, Benjamin, early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 51. Selee, Catherine Pierce, 711. Selee, Edward, 51, 743; brief biographical sketch of, 749. 832 INDEX. _Selee, Hannah, 796. Selee, John, 1st, 120, 287, 671, 673, 796, 798; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 51. Selee, John, 2d, 489, 494, 643, 711. Selee, John A., 51, 304, 494- Selee, Leonard, 609. Selee, Mrs. Love, 671. Selee, Miss Lucy, 711. Selee, Mary L. Hartwell, 749. Selee, Nathan, 163, 287, 304, 478, 488, 494, 508, 669. e Selee, Rev. Nathan P., 494; brief biographical sketch of, 711. Selee, Sabrina, 494. Sewall, Samuel E., 625-634. Sexton, Rev. Night, 190. Shaw, Eliphalet, 301, 479. Shaw, Eliphalet, Jr., 301. Shaw, Ezra, 479. Shaw, Henry, 634. Shaw, Rev. John, 191, 263. Shaw, Capt. Jonathan, 223, 458. Shaw, Joshua, 478. Shaw, Mrs. Patience, 672. Shaw, Silas, 479. Sheehan, Dennis, 669. Sheehan, Michael F., 523, 542, 550, 580. Sheldon, C. C., 388. Sheldon, Hon. David, 335. Sheldon, Elizabeth Alger, 336. Sheldon, Rev. Luther, 329, 376, 385, 401, 438, 630, 669, 711; receives call to preach at Eas- ton, 334; youth and education, 335; first settlement, 336: hardships of his settlement at Easton and the kindness of his parish, 337, 338; divergence of theological opinion among his parishioners, 339; refuses to ex- change services with the neighboring liberal ministers, 340-342; his exclusion from the pulpit, 343; the parish divided in the matter, 345-347; his friends build a new meeting- house, 345 ; incidents of the controversy, 347- 351; law-suits growing out of the trouble, 351-354; he re-enters the pulpit, 355 ; contin- uation of the difficulties in spite of the various attempts at agreement, 355-357; a settle- ment finally effected, 357; installed as the pastor of the newly organized Evangelical Congregational Society, 364 ; his resignation, 364; brief sketch of his character, 365 ; his successors, 367-370. Sheldon, Rev. Luther Harris, 368, 386; cited, 516 zote; brief biographical sketch of, 711- 12, Sheldon, Sarah Harmon, 335. Sheldon, Sarah H. Flagg, 712. Sheldon, Sarah J. Harris, 336, 711. Sheldon, Thomas, 335. Sheperd, John, 227. Sheperson, Abigail, 669. Shippen, Rev. Rush R., 412. Shirley, Governor, 159. Short, Anne Longfellow, 85. Short, Glover, 93. Short, Henry, of Newbury, 85. Short, Margaret Freeman, 86, 92. Short, Mary Whipple, 85. Short, Rev. Matthew, early settler in Easton before incorporation, 56, 57; minister of the first legally organized church iu Easton, 69 ; his birth and parentage, 85 ; settled in Attle- borough, 85; gives up his parish there on ac- count of difficulty with his people, and later is settled at Saco, Maine, 85, 86; is called to the East Precinct of Norton, 86, 87; the town’s generous treatment of him during sickness, 87; his two sermons on recovery, 88, 89, — preface to same, 89; his death, 92; his remains removed, 486; “ A Thankful Memorial of God’s Sparing Mercy ” (a ser- mon), 783-793. Short, Matthew, Jr., 92. Shove, Edward, 27. Shute, Samuel, 79, 80. Simmons, Charles E., 613. Simmons, Elizabeth, 502. Simmons, Jeremiah, 502. Simmons, John, 219, 228, 233, 502. Simmons, Mrs. Ruth, 669. Simms, James, 227. Simpson, Samuel, 279, 284, 600, 601. Sisson, Luther, 610. Sisson, Mrs. Sarah M., 611. Slattery, Cornelius, 527, 531, 580, 615 and note. Slavery, records of its early existence in Eas- ton, 432-437. Small, Ansel, 613. Smith, A. P., 760. Smith, Albert D., 580. Smith, Alexander, 228. Smith, Almira Gilbert, 738, Smith, Asa, 231, 303. Smith, Dr. Asahel, 299, 370, 533, 538, 580; brief biographical sketch of, 738. Smith, Benaijah, 166, 174, 177-184, 292, 508% 673, 766, 795. Smith, Betsy Crane, 738. Smith, Charles H., 527, 544, 548, 580. Smith, David, 170. Smith, Ebenezer, 221. Smith, Elijah, 550. Smith, Capt. Elijah, 312, 323, 461, 510, 514) 580, 643. Smith, Ephraim, 227, 231, 235, 239. Smith, Frederic A., 523, 533, 580. Smith, George G., 525, 543, 613. Smith, Rev. H. S., 332. 580, 632, INDEX. Smith, Henry, 235. Smith, Hezekiah, 460. Smith, Job, 228. Smith, John, 20. Smith, John, 162. Smith, John S., 524, 535, 580. Smith, Jonathan, 425. Smith, Josiah, 228, Smith, Laban, 228. Smith, Lewis H., 391, 609, 610, 620, 621, ~ 688. Smith, Mary, 52, 796. Smith, Mrs, Mary A., 611. Smith, Michael, 738. Smith, Mrs. Rhoda, 670. Smith, Rufus, 219, 220. Smith, Samuel, 20, 36; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 52, 184. Smith, Simeon, 227. Smith, Solomon, 165, 166, 169, 184. Smith, Rev. Theophilus, 324. Smith, Wesley, 495. Smith, William B., 613. Snell, Issachar K., 529, 580. Snell, Joseph, 383. Snelling, Rev. Joseph, 319, 330. Snow, Azel, 495. Snow, Mrs. Calvin, 670. Snow, David, 294. Snow, Joseph, 91, 97, 642. Snow, Nathan, 312. Snow, Mrs. Philinda, 669. Snow, William, 294, 313. Snyder, Rev. John, 412. Southworth, Constant, 20, Southworth, Capt. Thomas, 19, 20. Southard, Louis C., 620, 646; biographical sketch of, 749. Southard, Nellie Copeland, 749. Societies: Paul Dean Lodge of Freemasons, 609; Mizpah Chapter, order of the Eastern Star, 610; A.B. Randall Post, G. A. R. No. 52, 611-613; Good Templars, 618 ; Sons of Temperance, 619; Roman Catholic Ly- ceum, 619; Knights of Honor, 619; Royal Arcanum, 620; the Queset Club, 620; the North Easton Athletic Club, 621; Knights of Labor, 622. Spaulding, Hannah Clark, 702. Spaulding, Jesse, 702. Spilsted, Rev. Mr., 332. Spiritualism, its origin and development in this country, 370; its appearance in Easton, and its patrons there, 370-372. Spooner, E..P., 609, 610, 620. Sprout, Col. Ebenezer, 256. Spurr, Robert, 27. Stacy, Amos, 228. Stacy, Job, 228. Stacy, Mehitable, 391, 797. 833 Stacey, James, 180, 184, 228, 291, 440, 463, 508, 795+ Stacey, John, 509. Standish, L. W., 760. Stanton, Edwin M., 563. Staples, John, 169. Stearns, Ebenezer, ordained and settled as min- ister over the Baptist Society at Easton, 178 ; his parentage and family, 179. Stearns, Elizabeth, 179. Stearns, Isaac, 179, 238, 762. Stearns, Jean Phillips, 179. Stearns, Joshua, 212, 213, 233. Stearns, Simon, 184. Stearns, Thankful Clapp, 179. Stebbins, Artemas, 324. Steel, Rev. Joel, 328. Stetson, Rev. Thomas, 327. Stewart, Duncan, 227. Stock, John, 223, 227, 235. Stokes, Isaac, 183, 188, 189, 315, 390, 481, 704. Stone, Albert, 485. Stone, Mrs. Anna, 670. Stone, Avery, 48, 290, 329, 603. Stone, Chester, 485. Stone, David, 293, 509. Stone, Georgiana, 485. Stone, Capt. Gurdon, 294, 329, 510, 514, 597- Stone, Harland, 485. Stone, James, 213, 233. Stone, John, 211, 213, 220. Stone, Nathaniel, 214. Stone, Samuel, 282, 293, 508, 599, 642, 673. Stone, Samuel, Jr., 211, 213, 220, 224, 233, 282, Stone, Solomon, 155, 484, 485, 590, 670. Stone, Solomon, Jr., 485. Stone, Mrs. Sylvia, 672. Stone, Vesta, 485. Storrs, Rev. Richard S., 336. Story, William F., 523, 581. ‘ Strong, Caleb, 632, 633. Strout, Alice H. Mertins, 736. Strout, Dr. Byron H.., brief biographical sketch of, 736. i Strout, Henry E., 529, 581. Strout, Melvina Torry, 736. Strout, Sanford B., 641, 736. Sullard, Bethiah, 797. ’ Sullard, Peter, 145, 163, 164, 174, 177, 509. ; Sullard, Walter, 508. f Sullivan, Daniel E., 551, 581. j Sullivan, James, 624, 632. Sullivan, John O., 671. Sullivan, Major-General, 246. Sumner, Increase, 632. Sumner, Capt. Job, 230. Swain, John H., 409, 412, 606, 607, 609 Mote, 610, 646. : 55 834 INDEX. Swamps: Great Cedar, 8; Rocky, 8; Pine Bridge, 8; Grassy, 8; Cooper’s, 8; Little Cedar, 8; Tusseky, 9. Swan, Ada Hervey, 735. Swan, Dr. Caleb, 357, 375, 385, 39% 441, 498, 591, 630, 635, 646, 721, 722, 729, 730; brief biographical sketch of, 733-735. Swan, Charles L., 534, 736; brief biographical sketch of, 749. Swan, Elizabeth E. Hayward, 735. Swan, Estelle J. Parker, 736. Swan, Dr. George W. J., 730; brief biographi- cal sketch of, 735. Swan, Harriet A. Copeland, 735. Swan, Dr. James Caleb, brief biographical sketch of, 735. Swan, Dr. Jesse Johnson, brief biographical sketch of, 735. Swan, Louisa S., 735. Swan, Louisa S. Johnson, 734, 735, 736, 749- Swan, Capt. Robert, 219, 225. Swan, Ruth Barrell, 734, 735. Swan, Sarah Semple, 733. Swan, Dr. William E. Channing, 736. Sweeney, John, 613. Sweeting, Lewis, 162. Sweetser, Theodore H., 635. Sylvester, Galen, 644, 646. Sylvester, George, 369. Sylvester, Mrs. Nabby, 671. T. TAILER, William, 78. Taunton North Purchase, negotiations for, 19 ; deed of sale for same, 20; previous grants of land excepted from the North-Purchase sale, 21-23; repeated controversies in regard to the boundary line, 23-28; efforts for the preservation of timber, 32; division of the lands, 33-36; interesting books and records of, 36-38; proposed formation of precinct, 71, 72; contention as to the location of church, 72; petitions to General Court for making whole North-Purchase one township, 73-75; compromise in the precinct division and establishing of church, 75, 76; incor- poration of Easton, 78-82; the ministerial land, 268; setting aside land for graveyards, 472, 477+ Taylor, Rev. Benjamin, 756. Taylor, Charles, 545. Taylor, Daniel, 240. Taylor, David, 213, 219, 221, 224, 229, 232, 295. Taylor (Tyler), Dennis, 292, 508. Taylor, George, 235. Taylor, John, 626. Taylor, Mary, 756. Taylor, Col. Nathan, 231. Taylor, Rev. William H., 360. Talbot, Nathaniel, 671. Talbot, Lieut. Nathaniel H., 545, 549, 581, 611. Talbot, Newton, 739 ote. Talbot, Solomon, 251 mote, 254 note, 256 mote. Talbot, Thomas, 636. Thacher, Capt. Josiah, 168. Thaxter, Samuel, 25, 27, 78, 80. Thayer, Elijah, 228. Thayer, Ella, 498. Thayer, Ellen F., 371. Thayer, E. W., 526. Thayer, Fred C., 371, 498. Thayer, Hiram, 581. Thayer, Horatio, 591. Thayer, Capt. Isaac, 218. Thayer, Jacob, 213, 218, 232, 233. Thayer, Jonathan, 281, 672; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 51. Thayer, Jonathan, 2d, 228. Thayer, Lemuel, 233. Thayer, Lewis, 591. Thayer, Nathaniel, 20, 302. Thayer, Philip, 229. Thayer, Samuel, 232. Thayer, Simeon, 312. Thayer, ‘Sol,’ 294. Thayer, Stephen, 212, 213, 228, 231, 235, 240. Thayer, Tabitha Cooper, 51. Thayer, William, 40, 52, 54, 281; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 51. Thomas, Enoch, Jr., 312. Thomas, Isaac, 232, 234, 240. Thomas, Capt. John, 45. Thomas, Col. John, 167. Thomas, Rev. J. S., 333, 408. Thomas, Col. Seth J., 627. Thompson, A. W., 611. Thompson, Charles P., 636. Thompson, David, 763. Thompson, David, Jr., 304, 672; brief sketch of his life, with his obituary, 762-764. Thompson, David, 3d, 312. Thompson, Jacob, 25, 80, 81. Thompson, Mary Blackman, 763. Thompson, Oliver, 613. Thompson, Sarah Osgood, 764. Thrasher, Christopher, 20. Tiffany, Dr. Gideon, 154. Tilden, Lieut. Albert, 522, 526, 531, 543, 544, 581. Tilden, Alvira M., 736. Tilden, Ellen L. Leonard, 736. Tilden, Francis (Conductor), 512, 663, 736. Tilden, Dr. Frank Elmer, 716; brief biographi- cal sketch of, 736. Tilden, George A., 529, 535, 581. | Tinkham, Jason, 481, 482. Tinkham, Jason Manley, 545, 581, 615. INDEX. Tinkham, Rev. John, Methodist preacher at Easton, 320; his birth and parentage, 320; his ministry at Easton, 320-324; his succes- Sors, 324; his epitaph, 481, 646. Tinkham, Joseph, 452, 478. Tinkham, Zervia Blish, 320. Tirrell, Lemuel, 304. Tisdale, Abijah, 12, 299. Tisdale, Capt. Ebenezer, 189, 440, 482, 514. Tisdale, James, 460. Tisdale, Capt. John, 20, 456, 510, 514, 646. Tisdale, Macy, 384, 452. Tisdale, Seth, 312, 314. Toal, John, 542, 581. Tobey, Samuel, 460. Torry, Charles S., 525, 542, 581. Torrey, George L., 385, 607. Torrey, Col. John, 498, 514, 515, 765. Town, Joseph, 297, 518. Towne, Rev. Edward C., 363. Towne, Enoch P., 483. Towne, Joshua, 483. Townsend, Rev. Paul, 329. Trumbull, Governor, 104, Tuckerman, John, 234, 238. Tupper, Maj. Anselm, 161, 515 ; brief biographi- cal sketch of, 255. Tupper, Brig.Gen. Benjamin, 161, 163, 164, 166, 169, 508, 515; brief biographical sketch of, 251-255; the real inventor of the screw- propeller, 254. Tupper, Huldah White, 252, 255. Tupper, Remember Perry, 161, 251. Tupper, Thomas, Jr., 161, 251. Turner, Bethuel, 238, 295. Turner, Elijah, 214, 228, 231, 235. Turner, Israel, 375. Turner, John, 20. Turner, John, 2d, 133, 213, 216, 300, 508, Turner, Lemuel, 227, 231, 235. Turner, Luther C., 613. Turner, Mary, 796. Turner, Shion, 219, 220. Turner, William, 219. Tuttle, Levi, 233. Twinney, Seth, 164. Twohig, William, 619. Twohig, William J., 663. U. UTLEY, Dr. James, 723. V. VARNUM, Joseph B., 633. Vesey, Rev. Samuel, 141. Vinal, Rev. Mr., 141. 835 Vining, Ebenezer, 213. Virgin, Rev. Charles, 324, 325. Vokentrugeri, Daniel, 160. W. Wabpek, Allan, 52. Wade, Asahel, 670. Wade, Charles T., 449. Wade, Capt. David, 221, 481, 510, 514. Wade, Mrs, David, 371. Wade, Mrs. Mary, 670. Wade, Mrs. Rebecca, 670. Wade, Mrs. Rhoda, 670. Wadsworth, Rev. John, ro2. Waite, Mrs. Joan B., 611. Waite, Henry P., 609, 611. Walden, Rev. Hiram, 324. Waldron, Lieut. Linton, 499, 513, 522, 581, 614. Wales, Dr. H. E., 732. Walker, Eleazer, 229. ‘Walker, James, 20. Walker, Dr. James, 733. Walker, Col. Timothy, 214, 250. Walley, Samuel H., 635. Ward, Artemas, 28. Ward, Ebenezer, 175. Ward, Joseph, 229, 235, 238, 311, 312, 494; 495- Ward, Mrs. Sarah, 672. War of 1812, its cause, 306; New England’s comparative lack of enthusiasm in, 306; Eas- ton’s military companies in, 307-313. Washburn, Calvin, 307. Washburn, Emory, 635. Washburn, Hugh, 214, 220, 228, 230, 300, 307, 475+ Washburn, Joseph, 495. Washburn, Rev. J. B., 332. Washburn, Nehemiah, 224. Washburn, William B., 635, 636. Washburn, Zephaniah, 307. Washington, George, 624. Waters, Asa, 53, 375 5921 594 Waters, Bethia Thayer, 51, 53. Waters, Samuel, 53. Waters, Samuel, Jr., 51, 2813 early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 53. 'Waterston, Rev. Mr., 410. Watkins, David, 470 note. Watkins, Capt. Philip, 168. Watkins, Seth, 211, 214, 218. Watkins, Lieut. Zachariah, 165, 184, 224, 251, 292, 508, Watson, George, 20. Watts, John, 525, 543, 581. Watts, Robert L., 523, 527, 581. 836 INDEX. Watts, William A., 542, 581. Webster, Betsy French, 738. Webster, Clinton B., 613. Webster, Daniel, 628, 630, 650. Webster, Col. Fletcher, 52%. Webster, Isaac, 738. Webster, Mary Jane, 738. Webster, Dr. William B., 371; brief biographi- cal sketch of, 738. Weeks, Rev. Holland, 335, 336. Welch, Charles W., 721. Welch, Kittie Badger Cogswell, 721. Weldland, Antony, 508. Wells, Freeman E., 524, 541, 582. Wells, James, 524, 536, 582. Welsh, Humphrey, 640. Welsh, John, 524, 541, 581. Welsh, Rhoda Nash, 640. Wesley, John, 314. West, Edwin, 495. West, Peleg, 303. West, Capt. Robert, 256, 303. Wetherby, Capt. Nathaniel, 452, 509, 514, 661. - Wetherell, Capt. Abijah, 230, 509, 514. Wetherell, Tisdale, 313. Whalen, David C., 529, 582. Wheaton, Daniel, 271, 280, 340, 345, 356, 357; 375, 385, 398, 452, 456, 490, 491, 643, 661, 697, 724, 750) 751. Wheaton, Daniel B., 8, 55, 303, 351, 475, 644, 661, 750. Wheaton, Elizabeth Morey, 750. Wheaton, Ephraim, 750. Wheaton, Ephraim, Jr., 750. Wheaton, Frances Willard, 750. Wheaton, Major George, 515 ; brief biographi- cal sketch of, 750. Wheaton, Dr. George, 750. Wheaton, Hannah Goodwin, 750, 751. Wheaton, Hannah LeBaron, 671, 750. Wheaton, Henry G., brief biographical sketch of, 751. Wheaton, Mary R. Goodwin, 750. Wheaton, Rachel Lush, 751. Wheaton, Robert, 750. Wheeler, Rev. A. B., 405. Wheelock, Lyman, 183, 285, 296, 461, 484, 671, 729. Wheelock, Mrs. Mercy, 671, 729. Whipple, Capt. Stephen, 168. Whitcomb, Col. Asa, 221. —— White, Adonijah, 303, 660, 670. White, Lieut.-Col. Alanson, 303, 312. 375, 512, 514, 627, 646, 672, 751. White, Asa, 312. White, Berlin, 545, 549, 582, 613. White, Edward, 225, 252. White, Elijah, 162. White, George, leader of a gang of thieves at Easton, 426 ; anecdotes of his career, 426-429. White, Guilford, 376, 385, 591, 607, 637; brief biographical sketch of, 751. White, Hiram, 523, 582. White, Howe, 671. White, Joel, 600. White, John, 24, 37, 79, 80, 473- White, Josiah, 229, 234, 669. White, Keziah Hall, 252, 255. White, Rev. Lyman, 367, 385. White, Lysander, 607, 608. White, Nicholas, 20. White, Olivia J. Jackson, 751. White, Rebecca Billings, 751. White, R. F. J., 611. White, Samuel R., 525, 541, 582. White, Sarah Dean, 660. White, Timothy, 228. White, Willis, 312, 313. Whiting, Rev. Lyman, 367. Whiting, Sanford N., 542, 582. Whiting, William P., 457. Whitman, Abiah, 11, 23, 36, 43, 45, 47, 48, 66. Whitman, John, 11, 47, 291, 465, 673; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 48. Whitman, John, Jr., 184, 508, 796. Whitman, Mary, 796. Whitman, Rebecca Manley, 48. Whitman, Sarah, 796. Whittemore, Mrs. Anstress, 671. Whittemore, Ezra G., 524, 535, 548, 582, 613. Whittemore, Rev. Thomas, 326. Whitwell, Rev. William A., 362, 385. Wightman, Henry W. B., 385, 661. Wilbore, Joseph, 20. Wilbore, Captain Joshua, 218. Wilbore, Meshack, Jr., 163. Wilbore, Shadrach, 20. Wilbur, Mrs. Bessey, 487. Wilbur, Charles, 311. Wilbur, George, 487. Wilbur, Isaiah, 312. Wilbur, Jason, 312. Wilbur, Joseph, 312. Wilbur, Joseph, 2d, 487. Wilbur, Joseph E., 487. Wilbur, L. K., 110, 383, 396. Wilbur, Mrs. Mary, 670. Wilbur, Samuel, 431. be Martin, 9, 315, 357, 439 484, 628, 641, 46. Wild, Richard, 278, 283, 484, 643. Wilde, Emogen Howard, 639, 757. Wilde, Commander George Francis Faxon, 515, 639; brief biographical sketch of, 756 758. Wilde, George H., 758. Wilde, Mary Thayer, 756. Wilde, William Reed, 756. Willard Capt. Aaron, 165. . INDEX. 837 Wille, Christian, F. (alias Arthur Hardcastle), 240. Willett, Capt. Thomas, 19, 20, 30. Williams, Lieut. Abiel, 224, 251. Williams, Abigail, 55, 796, 799- Williams, Alfred, 35. Williams, Mrs. Amanda L., 670. Williams, Mrs. Anna, 671, 713. Williams, Benjamin, 55. Williams, Capt. Benjamin, 91, 112, 146, 162, 181, 207, 283, 435, 440, 475, 514, 637, 641, 642, 673; early settler in Easton prior to in- corporation, 55. Williams, Capt. Benjamin, Jr., 164, 168, 285, 4755 514+ Williams, Charles E., 525, 582. Williams, Charles T., 582. Williams, Cyrus, 512, 671. Williams, Daniel, 207, 284, 285, 420, 440, 509, 587, 637; 640, 642, 645, 646, 673, 722. Williams, Dwelly, 311, 519. Williams, Ebenezer, 232, 234, 238, 508. Williams, Edward, 212, 221, 241, 269, 288, 489, 586, 643, 648. Williams, Edward D., 6, 15, 36, 50, 277, 301, 398; 435, 586, 587. Williams, Elbridge, 602. Williams, Elijah, 212, 213. Williams, Eugene W.., 385. Williams, Francis, 672. Williams, George, 607, 608. Williams, Col. George, 220, 223. Williams, George E., 303. Williams, Greenfield, 312, 313, 497- Williams, Hannah, 799. Williams, Hiram, 605, 644, 646. Williams, Capt. Howell, 710. Williams, Jacob, 219, 221, 225, 229, 234. Williams, Jairus, 234, 238, 302. Williams, Col. James, 232, 277, 460. Williams, J. Frank, 300. Williams, J. M., 620. Williams, Capt. Job, 168, 169. Williams, John (of Taunton), 475. Williams, Lieut. John, 112, 113, 121, 149, 285, 434, 440, 452, 475, 636, 641, 642, 673; early settler in Easton prior to incorporation, 55. Williams, John, 3d, 212, 221, 224, 236. Williams, Col. John, 483, 509, 511, 514, 515. Williams, Capt. Joshua, 375, 398, 512, 514,672. Williams, Josiah, 250, 525, 530, 582, 615, 643. Williams, Larnard, 498, 512. Williams, Mrs. Lavina, 672. Williams, Capt. Lewis, 311, 357, 375,448, 491, 512, 514, 586, 628, 637, 643, 646, 670. Williams, Mrs. Lydia, 436. Williams, Capt. Macey, 183, 211, 212, 213, 221, 229, 230, 232, 234, 241, 249, 446, 509, 514; his military career, 250. Williams, Marlborough, 211, 213. Williams, Martin, 495. Williams, Mary, 796. Williams, Capt. Milo M., 498, 513, 514, 522, 582, 614. Williams, Lieut. (Munroe F., 524, 530, 536, 582, 611, 613. Williams, Nahum, 497, 644. Williams, Nathaniel, 20. Williams, Otis, 375. Williams, Paul, 302, 502. Williams, Rebecca Hunt, 722, 799. Williams, Richard, 20, 55. Williams, Richard, 2d, 463. Williams, Samuel, 20. Williams, Sarah Lothrop, 648. Williams, Seth, 211, 213, 229, 311, 508, 637. Williams, Lieut. Seth, 511. Williams, Silas, 277, 283, 302, 303, 384, 507, 673. Williams, Silas, Jr., 163, 164, 169, 229, 232, 4351 483, 508. Williams, Simeon, 285, 287. Williams, Rev. Simeon, brief biographical sketch of, 712. Williams, Stimpson, 12, 288, 304, 670. Williams, Thomas, 20. Williams, Corporal Thomas, 228, 233. Williams, Lieut. Thomas, 512, 637. Williams, Thomas E., 395. Williams, Timothy, 153, 285, 508, 640, 642, 673. Willis, Alby, 445. Wiis, Rev. Bradford, 713. Willis, Catherine S., 494. Willis, Charles H., 499, 582, 614. Willis, Ephraim, 461. Willis, Eugene, 498. Willis, Experience Byram, 43. Willis, Mrs. Frances, 713. Willis, George E., 530, 542, 582. Willis, Mrs. Hannah Ann, 714. Willis, Hannah Dean, 713. Willis, Henry M., 547, 582. Willis, James, 461, 498, 670. Willis, Captain Jedediah, 12, 263, 267, 299, 492, 510, 514. Willis, Jeremiah, 25, 52, 252, 299. Willis, Jesse, 670. Willis, Joab, 218. Willis, John, 43, 713. Willis, John, 2d, 16, 161. Willis, John, 3d, 228. Willis, John, Jr., 313. Willis, Josiah, 234. Willis, Lemuel, 187, 217, 220, 227, 232. Willis, Mrs. Lydia, 670. Willis, Martin, 498. Willis, Rev. Martin Wyman, brief biographical sketch of, 713-715. Willis, Nathan, 9, 16, 66,643, 672. 838 INDEX. Willis, Mrs. N. J., 371. Willis, Philip, 56, 252, 295, 299, 445. Willis, Lieut. Rufus H., 512, 522, §27, 546, 550, 582, 611, 612, 613, 619. Willis, Mrs. Sarah, 671. Willis, Seth, 164, 299, 300, 508. Willis, Solomon, 299. Willis, Stoughton, 212, 234. Willis, Susanna, 492. Willis, Thomas, 669. Willis, Thomas, 2d, 213, 283, 318, 461, 672, 713. Willis, Thomas, 3d, 300. Willis, William H., 522, 583, 604, 611. Wilson, Almira Randall, 738. Wilson, Eliphalet S., 583, 738. Wilson, Henry, 635. -Wilson, John, 162. Wilson, Dr. John B., 547, 583; brief biographi- cal sketch of, 738. Wilson, Rev. Richard A., 413. Wilson, Susan L. Buck, 738. Winslow, Colonel John, 159. Winslow, John Howard, 162, 163, 164, 166, 508. Winslow, Josiah, 281. Winslow, Major Josias, 20. Winthrop, Robert C., 634. Witherell, Abijah, 233. Witherell, Mrs. Abijah (?), 666. Witherell, John, 451. Withington, Ellen Howard, 363. Withington, Rev. George G., 362, 386, 388, 410, 610, 621, 641. Withington, George R., 362. Withington, Mrs. L.G., 670. Wirt, William, 625. Wittum, Wetherell, 796. Wood, Elizabeth, 714. Wood, Ephraim, 228. Wood, Rev. Henry, brief biographical sketch of, 714. Wood, Capt. Isaac, 262. Wood, John, 170. Wood, John, Jr., 170. Wood, Palmer, 229, 232. Wood, Robert, 714. Woodbury, Josiah, 304. Woodcock, John, 211, 213, 216. Woodcock, Nathan, 211, 223, 224, 233. Woods, Amariah, 212, 221. Woods, Daniel, 212, 213, 223, 235- Woods, Ebenezer, 211, 230. Woods, Francis, 211, 218, 221. Woods, James, 227. Woods, John, 211, 214. Woods, Joseph, 221, 224, 234. Woodside, James, Esq., 476. Woodside, Jane, 476. Woodward, Abijah, 234. Woodward, Caleb, 421. Woodward, David, 421. Woodward, Ebenezer, 227. Woodward, Hannah, 796. Woodward, Israel, 282, 295, 421, 464, 474, 508, 673- Woodward, Nathan, 420. Woodward, Nathaniel, 27. Woodward, Noah, 230. Woodward, Simeon, 301, 490. Wright, Col. Carroll D., 665 xote. Wright, James, 162. Y. York, Anson E., 385. University Press: JoHN Witson & Son, CAMBRIDGE. SF * as sa 4 « oe eee = ee