history of the town of carver massachuse

8/16/2019 History of the Town of Carver Massachuse

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HISTORICAL RE1637 TO 9 i


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HISTORYOF THE

TOWN OF CARVERMASSACHUSETTS

HISTORICALREVIEW1637 TO1910

HENRY S . GRIFFITH

NEW BEDFORD, MASS.E. ANTHONY & SONS,I n c . , PBINTIBB

1 9 1 8


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FH

PKEFACE

In the course of a conve rsat ion about threeyears ago I was urged to write the history ofCarver. I t was pointed out that the character

of our populationi s rapidly changing,that amongthe new residents there are no t i e s reachingbackto Old Colonyancestors, and that should any oneundertake to write the story a f ew years hencethere wouldbe no sentiment among the peoplethat wouldinsure i t s publication. At the presenttime, t o o , there are descendantsof Carver scattered betweenthe two oceans and these might

appreciate such a memento of their New Englandancestors. And acting upon the abovesuggestionmuch of the data had been gatheredwhen at theannual town meetingin 1912, Frank E. Barrows,DonaldMcFarlinand myself were delegated toarrange for i t s publication.

One engagedin historical research appreciatesthe importanceof comprehensiverecords. Our

e a r l i e s tsociety re cor ds a re not complete. Manyof them weref i r s t kept on loose leaves whichlaterwere copied in books, while our ancestors havescarcely l e f t a mark concerning the incidentswhichso strongly appeal to our fancy. The earlierrecords were unsigned, in the case of churchesthey werekept by the ministers, and the 19th century was well under way wnen the practice of

i i i


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i v PREFACE

making clerk signed records came into vogue. Insome of the records double dating was not invariably practiced, and whereI have used singledates during that period the Julian calendar datei s to be understood.

Our t ownrecords are in a good state of preservation, the older volumesh av ing b ee npreservedby the Emory process. The f i r s t books containv i t a l re cor ds copi edfrom the records of Plymp-

ton, but generally speakingour v i t a l records begin w i t h 'the year of the town ' s incorporation. Wehave duplicates of the f i r s t two volumesof thetown records made by Ir a Murdock.

The Precinct records in the custodyof the Con-gregationalist Churchare not in goodcondition,and these with the records of the Proprietors ofthe So ut h Me e ti ngHouse and the f i r s t volumeof

the Baptist Society records, in consideration oftheir historical value, should be carefully preserved. Unfortunately the church records ofRe ve re nds Ca mp be lland Howland of the f i r s tchurchare missing, and t h i s removesfrom viewthe baptisms from 1732 to 1804 (the period oftheir greatest value) and doubtless other factsthat wouldbe of i n t e r e s t . The records of the

Proprietors of the Congregationalist Church(1823) and of the Baptist Church(1824) are alsomissingwith whateverof interest they may havecontained.

As there was no at temptat a systematicrecordof v i t a ls t a t i s t i c spreviousto 1842, the gravestoneinscriptions are importantand the date of deathof some who werenot thus honoredi s l o s t . The


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PREFACE » v

writer, assisted by young friends, copied theseinscriptions in 1900, and these transcribed in abook, form a valued record now in the possessionof the town. A few mistakes weremade in theprocess of copying, but in view of the fact thatthe inscriptions are fast becomingindecipherableon some of the older stones, t h i s record w i l l preserve some dates that otherwisemight be l o s t .

The compulsoryreturn of v i t a l s t a t i s t i c swasnot required u n t i l 1850, and t o make up for thedeficiency the State o f f i c i a l shave entered upon apolicy that w i l l ultimately put the State Libraryin possessionof copies of the olderrecords andalso insure their publication. The writer furnished the State with a copyof the v i t a l recordsof Carver, and t h i s copy, with additions from thecemeteryrecord abovereferred to and from private records, has been published, thus relievingthis work of anythingin the l i n e of genealogy.

In a work of t h i s kind mistakes are easy tomake. To take the imperfect records and evolvea c om ple testory withoutan omission,a repetitionor a contradiction requires a mind more proficientin the art of deduction, and with more patiencethan the writer happens to possess. The h i storian of a community rich in traditional legendswho in the course of his researches becomesacq ua int ed w it hthe s o c i a land industrial past, andwho i s thus in a position to compare the paintedpicture with the barren f i e l dof history, must f e e la sense of dissatisfaction with h i s work. Espec i a l l yi s t h i s true when we attempt t o picture thesocial conditions of the f i r s t s e t t l e r s . We know


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v i PREFACE

their experiences as pioneers were replete with

dangers and romances,the s imple na rr at ion ofwhichwouldmake a t h r i l l i n gstory, but when weask of departed t ime arevelation of her secretsour question re-echoes across a barren waste.

I fancy I see the smiles of satisfaction— f notof vanity— n the faces of the residents of thef i r s t half of the eighteenthcenturyas they reviewthe progress they had made not only in material

things, but in the realm of c i v i l and religious l i be r t y. And i f we comparethat record with thatof some of their European contemporarieswe mayconcede their right to boast over their achievements. And when I review the progress madein the Colonyfrom the ascensionof Will iamandMary to the middle of the succeedingcentury Iam forced to hold the opinion that we gained

more in the cause of liberty by the English thanwe did by the American Revolution.Unfortunatelyl o c a l records are s i l e n t regard

ing the personnelof the RevolutionaryArmy andthe only glimpsewe ge t of the individual recordsof our patriotic s i r e s i s in the more or l e s s conf l i c t i n g r ol lson f i l e in the ArchiveDepar tmentatthe State House. These r o l l s have been c l a s s if i e d , indexed and published, and anyoneseekingthe record of an ancestor i s referred to these volumes. Int h i s story I have only sought to givea general idea of what our mothertown did inthe cause of national independence. My l i s t i sso unsatisfactory that I f e e l l i k eapologizingfori t , and the danger of doing an injustice to someenthusiastic patriot impelsme to refer to the pub


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PREFACE v i i

l i c a t i o nmentionedabove as an appeal from mye f f o r t s . There was no dividing l i n e betweenthet wo Precincts so far as the Revolutioni s concerned, and i t wouldbe an endless genealogicaltask to make a separate l i s t of the soldiers whoresided i n the South Precinct, so I have made al i s t of a l l who served to the credit of the town ofPlympton. In the enthusiastic march to dislodgethe enemy from the town of Marshfield, f r u i t l e s sexcept as an indica tion of the unanimoussentiment of the town, those militia men who servedunder Captains Will iamAtwood and NathanielShaw were mainlyfrom the South Precinct. Isuspect the soldier who appears on the r o l l s asSwanzea Murdock may havebeen a negro knownl o c a l l yas .Swanzea. He was employedby BartlettMurdock,and with only one name of his own hisposterity w i l l excuse h im for borrowingthat ofhis employerin sucha patriotic cause. The various ways of spelling names as they appearon ther o l l s i s a handicap,and I have followedthe modern way of s p e l l i n g .

At the t ime t h i s i s written there appearsno wayof obtaining a r e l i a b l el i s t of the soldiers whoserved in the secondwar with Great Britain, in

consequenceof whichthose veterans are deniedtheir place in t h i s s t o r y. The State has begunthe task of rescuing these names from their tombin the War Depar tmenta t Washington,and whilethe Adjutant Generalof the State has completedhis part the publ icat ionw i l l not be made beforet h i s work i s published.


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v i i i PREFACE

In my l i s t of volunteers of the Civil War I haveincluded two names who, while residents of thetown, did not f i l la quota of Carver. Albert T.Shurtleff, the f i r s t to e n l i s t ,joined a Rhode Islandregiment,andEzra Pearsonsenlisted to the creditof the State of Maine.

I express gratitude to the memory of the lateLewisPratt, who gave me so much from a goodmemory relating to the old t ime furnaces; also

to the l a t e Will iamT. Davis, an authority on OldColonyhistory. In my story of the natural conditions of the town I give credit to Miss HelenaMcFarlin, who furnished me with a l i s t of thebirds and wild flowers.

H. S. G.South Carver, June 1 9 , 1913.


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CONTENTSPage

Natural Conditions 1Indians 13The First Speculators 19A Few Ear ly Laws 31The First Separation 43Ear ly Settlers 51The SouthPrecinct of Plympton 65Plympton in the Revolution 91The CongregationalistChurch Il lThe SouthMeetingHouse 12 1The SecondSeparation 135The Temperance Movement 15 5The Baptist Church 163The MethodistChurch 175The Advent Christian Church 181The UnionSociety 185Furnacesand Foundries 19 1The CranberryIndust ry 2 17Military History 2 2 3Carver in the Rebellion 231War of 1812-14 . V . . . 241

i x


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i HISTORY OF CARVER

Page

Post O f f i c e s 243SmallPox 244Cemeteries 245Population 25 0MiscellaneousIndustries 251ChronologicalEven t s 25 7Landmarks 2 65Biographical Sketches 271Precinct O f f i c e r s 293Parish O f f i c e r s 30 2ChurchMembers 30 5State and CountyO f f i c e r s 32 6Town O f f i c e r s 32 8Index of Names 341


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ILLUSTRATIONSFacing

PageThe So ut h Me et ingHouse . FrontispieceA View of Sampsons Pond v i i i

A View of E a s t Head Woods 8Barretts Pond 16A Corner on Hemlock Island 24The Shurtleff Homestead 26The Sturtevant House 30Residenceof FinneyBrothers 32

The G r i f f i t hHomestead 40The Waterman House 48The CarverPrimary Schoolhouse . . . 50The Wenham Schoolhouse 54The Popes Point Schoolhouse 58The Bates Pond Schoolhouse 62The So ut h Ca rv erSchoolhouse 72Benjamin W. Robbins 80The SecondChurch 88The CongregationalChurch 96Hon. Benjamin E l l i s 10 6Huit McFarl in 110Henry Sherman 112

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xi i HISTORY OF CARVER

Facing

PageThe Town Hall 12 0The North CarverSchoolhouse . . . . 12 2The High SchoolBuilding 12 6Thomas Hammond, Jr 136The Baptist Church 144The Hammond Homestead 15 2The MethodistChurch ; . . 160The MethodistChapel 168The AdventChristian Church 176The UnionChurch 178LewisPratt, Jr 182The Charlotte FurnaceBuilding 186Hon. Peleg McFarl in 19 0Hon. Jesse Murdock . . . . . . . 200Eben D. Shaw 208Fe de ra l Sc re e nHouse 210Sectionof Federal Village 214A Section of the Wankinco Bog 218Albert T. Shurtleff 222Capt. WilliamS. McFarlin 2 24Maj. Thomas B. G r i f f i t h 232The Soldiers Monument 234Thomas Southwor th 238Lakenham Cemetery 2 48


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ILLUSTRATIONS x i i i

FacingPageHarrisonG . Cole 256

GeorgeP. Bowers 264HoratioA. Lucas 272A Section o f East Head Game Preserve . 274Andrew G r i f f i t h 278WilliamSavery 280Mrs. RosaA. Cole 288Dea. ThomasCobb 296J oh n Ma x im ,Jr 304Mrs. P r i s c i l l aJane Barrows 312E l l i sH. Cornish,M.D 320


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History o f Carver


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HISTORY OF CARVER

NATURAL CONDITIONS

The town of Carver, comprisingabout twenty-four thousandacres, i s located midway betweentidewater in Plymouth and tidewater in Ware-ham. The centre of the town wouldf a l l near 41degrees52minutesnorth latitude while a meridian70% degreeswestfrom Greenwichwouldintersectthe parallel near the centre of the town. TheWeweantic river separates a short section in thesouthwestfrom Middleboro,the Wankinco aboutthe same distance of the southeastern borderfrom Plymouth,otherwisethe town has no naturalboundaries. Generally speaking the town i sboundedon the north by Pl ym pt o n, o nthe east byKingston and Plymouth,on the south by Ply

mouth and Wareham, and on the west by Ware-ham and Middleboro.The northern and southern sections are rolling

interspersed with ponds and swamps with thecentral section mainly l e v e l . Several thousandacres in the southeastern section i s made up ofbarren h i l l s , s t e r i l e except for scattering scruboaks and pines and occasionalf e r t i l e spots. The

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2 HISTORY OF CARVER

conditions surroundingthe swamps are peculiarly

adapted to cranberry culture, and the upland,worthless i n a commercialsense, i s noted for i t sscenic beauty. The mostdesirable land for agricultural purposes i s in the north section wherethe e a r l i e s tsettlements weremade.

Whilethe town i s generally noted for i t s sandys o i l , there are marks of a g l a c i a ld r i f t and occasional spots of rich deposits. Stretching across

the central section in a southeasterly course awindrow of boulde rs separatesthe better s o i l ofthe north from the sandy s o i l of the south. Thewidest deviation in t h i s windrow i s in the t e r r itory from Sampson 'spond to Cedarbrook, whichi s made up of bowlders. One extensionwhichhasacquired the sobriquet of The Ridge protrudesfrom the main d r i f t in a southerly direction and

separates the pond from the large cedar swampwhichappears t o be in the same depression.Tillson's brook, whichunites the cedar swampwith the pond, makes i t s connectionaround thesoutherlyend of the ridge.

Threestreams, dignified in l o c a lhistory by thename of r i v e r s , form the basis of the town'sdrainage system,v i z .: The Winatuxet,the Wewe-

antic and the Wankinquoah. Lakenham brook,running northerly from i t s source in Lakenhampond, in i t s junction with Mahutchettbrook, givesr i s e to the Winatuxet . Thisriver i s also fed byAnnasnapet brook, whichflows westerly acrossthe north end of the town. In turn t h i s brooki sswelled by two smaller streams, Huntinghousebrookand anotherto the e a s t ,both runningnorth


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NATURAL CONDITIONS 3

erly and emptyingtheir contents into Annasnapet

brook.The Weweantic rising at Swan Hold andflowingacross the t own in a southwesterlycourse, withi t s great tributary, the Crane brook, drains thelarger half of the town. Wenham brook, whichflows from Wenham pond southerly; Horseneckbrook, f lowingfrom the Centre swamp easterly;Causeway brook, f lowingfrom a swamp on the

Wenham road southerly; BeaverDam brook, flowing from BeaverDam pond westerly; Cedarbrook,running westerly from the cedar swamp; t wobrooks flowingout of New Meadows westerly; ablind brook flowing westerly from No-Bottompond, and Atwood brook, f lowingsouthwesterlyfrom Bates' pond, a l l add to the majestyof theWeweant ic .

With the exceptionof E as t Head,West Headand the swamps on the Wareham-Carver townl i n e , the Crane brook drains the territory southof the cedar swamp, including the southerly section of the swamp i t s e l f . This s t reamflows fromFederal ponds southwesterly, pouring i t s accumulatedwaters into the Weweantic just before i tleaves the town. Dunham's pond sends i t s surplus water down the Cranebrook either direct lythrough a short brook that connects i t s easterlyshore, or indirectly through Tillson's brook,whichflows from the cedar swamp southwesterlyinto Sampson'spond. This pond also receiveswater from the New Meadows country throughabrook t hat crosses Rochesterroad east of Unionchurch, and sends i t s surplus to the Cranebrookthrough i t s southerly o u t l e t ,Sampson 'sbrook.


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4 HISTORY OF CARVER

Cedarpond and Clear pond are closely related

and connect with Crane brook through the westerly o u t l e t ,more or l e s sb l i n d ,that makes throughthe swamp southwesterly. Indian brook, rising i nIndian swamp and running southerly, fed i t s e l fby a br oo k r un ni ngfrom near the southwesterlypoint of Sampson 'spond, adds to the waters ofthe Cranebrook.

Eas t Head brook, running from Eas t Headand West Head brook, running from Whitesprings, give r i s e to the Wankinquoah,whichdrains the swamps i n that region and empties i t swaters in Tihonet pond. The swamps i n the ext reme southerly section of the t own also draininto Tihonetpond throughMosquitobrook. Rosebrookhas i t s source in these swamps ,but drainsbut a small part of them.

Cooper's, John's, Triangle, Gould'sBottom andBarrett 's po nds h av eno o u t l e t s .

The large area of the town, sparsely populated,with-numerousponds, streamsand jungles, uniteto make the territory a favored breedinggroundof the f i s h , animals and birds that thrive i n t h i sl a t i t u d e .

Fish formed a staple a r t i c l e of food for theearlier s e t t l e r sand in the days of the f i r s t r e s idents the industry developed three f i s h weirs.Sampson 's and Doty's ponds were breedingplaces for herrings u n t i l their egress and ingresswas closed by the developmentof manufactur inga lo r i f fthe Weweantic r i v e r . Th e se p on dswerealsostockedwit h wh it eperch, a v al ue d f oodf i s hu n t i lthe species becameland locked, since whichi t has


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so far degeneratedas to becomenearly worthless.

During the latter half of the 19th century someof the ponds were stocked with black bass andthat species has becomethe most valuable forfood. The l i s t of fresh waterf i s hthat havealwaysthrived wouldinclude pickerel, red perch, shiners,white f i s h , roaches, hornpouts and brook t r o u t .

Deer, the largest of our wild animals, f i n dfavorable conditions. Through persistent hunting

they were exterminatedin the l a t t e r half of the19th century but under the protection of the lawthey regained a foot hold and the openingdaysof the 20th century found them so numerous asto be actually depredatious.

The f i r s t s e t t l e r sfound beavers and wolvesi nabundance. The former were highly prized forcommercialreasons and quickly exterminatedwhilewar was declared on the l a t t e r also for wellknown reasons and they too disappeared. Foxesand skunkshave ever been regarded with suspicion and while they havenever had the pro tect ionof the law they s t i l l t h r i v e . Being valued fortheir furs there i s a doublemotivefor destroyingthem and the persistency in whichthe y h oldtheirown i s creditable t o their cunning. Otheranimalswhich are valued for their f u r s , but whichappear to be disappearing are o t t e r s , minks, raccoons, muskratsand weasels.

The woods once t eemedwith hareand r a b b i t s ,but these are l i a b l eto be e x t i n c t . The destructionof their breeding places i n the process of cranberry bog construction i s the main cause of theexterminationof t h i s game,with increasing popu


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6 HISTORY OF CARVER

l a t i o n ,f o r e s tf i r e sand p e r s i s t e n thuntingas con

t r i b u t i n gf a c t o r s . Gray s q u i r r e l s ,red s q u i r r e l s ,and chipmunksare undiminished.The f i r s t s e t t l e r sdeclared war on crows, crow

blackbirds and red b i r d s (brownthrashers) i nthe i n t e r e s t so f t h e i r corn f i e ld s ,but i n s p i t eofthese inconveniencest h e b i r d sare with usyet anda s we get b e t t e racquaintedwith themwer e j o i c et h a t they havenot beenexterminated.

Followingi s a l i s to f t h e b i r d so f t h e town:LandBirds

Americancross b i l l sBlue birdsBlue jaysBobolinksBrown creepers

Brown thrashersCat birdsCedarwaxwingsChatsChebecsChewinks(tohee)ChickadeesChimney swiftsCow birds

CrowsCuckoosDovesGold finches (yellow

birds)GoldencrownedkingletsGrackles (purple and

bronze)

HawksHumming birdsIndigo birdsJuncosKingbirds

King f i s h e r sMartinsMarylandyellowthroatMeadow larksNight HawksNut hatches (red breasted

and white breasted)OriolesOspreys

OvenbirdsOwlsPeweesPhebebirdsPurple finches ( l i n n e t s )QuailsRailsRed wingedblackbirds


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Redstarts Swallows

Robins ThrushesRosebreasted grosbecks VierosRuffedgrouse Warblers (myrtle, c h e s t -Sandpipers nut s i d e d ,e t c . )Scarlet tanagers Whip-poor-willsShrikes (bu tche rbirds) WoodpeckersSnow buntings WrensSparrows

WadersBitterns SnipePlovers YellowlegsBlue herons

WaterBirdsBlack ducks Mallard ducksGrebes Wood ducksLoons

Beinglocated on the l i n ebetweenLabradorandthe South, and havingampleresting and feedingplaces in the l a k e s ,we are annually visited bymigrating b i r d s . When a s torm i s approachingfrom the northeast myriadsof gulls retreat inland and our lakes are made l i v e l yby these playf u l habitants of the deep. The l i s t of birds whichwe can claim only as t rans ient visi tors in additionto gulls and t e r n s ,wouldinclude:Blue wing t e a l MergansersBrant PintailCoots Red head ducksCormorants(shags) ShelldrakesGadwalls(gray duck) South Southerlys (OldGeese Squaws)Goldeneye (whistlers) SpoonbillsGreenwing t e a l Widgeon


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8 HISTORY OF CARVER

Crows,blue jays, juncos, meadow l a r k s ,q u a i l s ,ruffed grouse, chickadees, woodpeckers, baldeagles, tree sparrowsand occasional robins areyear aroundb i r d s .

The town i s noted for i t s growth of lumber,soft pine, cedar and oak being staple productsdown to the 20th century, and i t i s evident thisgrowthmust have been gigantic before i t s s e t t l ement. In digging ditches in the process of bogconst ruct ion charcoalhas been found imbeddedthree feet belowthe surface, indicating the growthof t imber and also the prevalenceof forest f i r e sin pre-his tor ic t imes. In point of commercialvalue the oak takes third place being precededonly by white pine and cedar. South Meadowcedar swamp comprising about one thousandacres; Doty's swamp, New Meadows swamp andother smaller patches were dense with a virgingrowthin memory of those now l i v i n g ,whilemanyacres of original growthof white pine has beencut in the memory of the present generation. Theearly records mentionlarge whi tewoodt r e e s ,butt h i s s pe c i e s ,i f i t has prevailed in the past, hasbecome e x t i n c t . The followingspecies have beenand are now thriving:

White pine, cedar, oaks, pitchpine, maples,heml o c k ,white birch, black birch, hornbeam,poplar,cherry, l o c u s t ,sassafras, elm, willow and beech.

The attractions of nature are perpetual. Nosnow so deep that the pines and cedars do notwave their gr ee n br anch esabove i t ; no winterso bleak as to hide the beauties of the h o l l y, thelaurels and winterberries. The scrub-oakh i l l s of


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NATURAL CONDITIONS

sandare famousf o r t r a i l i n garbutus t h a tappears

even before the snowhas l e f t t h e v a l l e y s ,and i nno clime or s o i l do t h e water l i l i e s ,s a b b a t i a s ,goldenrodsand a s t e r sreach a moreperfect s t a t eo f development. Inthe season t h e swampsarefragrant withthe blossomso f t h ehoneysuckleandsweet pepper bush, and the variegated autumnl e a v e sc l o t h et h e drivewaysand hi l l s with i ndescribable beauty.

That t h i s townhas i t s share o f t h e decorationst h a t give i n s p i r a t i o nt o country s c e ne ry , t hef o llowingl i s t , s t i l lincomplete,may t e s t i f y:

WhiteAlder (smooth)Arrowhead ( s a g i t t a r i a )Arrow woodsAsters

BaneberryBayberryBe ar be rr y ( mo unt ai n

cranberry)BeechplumBlackalder (winterberry)BlackberryBlack huckleberryBlueberryBunchberryButtonbushCat brierCheckerberry(winter-

green)ChokeberryCinquefoilClover

CreepingsnowberryDangleberryDodderElderberry

EveninglychrisFalse Solomon'ss e a lFalse spikenardFloating heartGall of the earthGoldthreadGoldenrodHoUyIndian pipeInkberryLady's tobaccoLady's t r e s s e sLeather l e a fMayweedMeadow rueMeadow sweetMountainholly


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10 HISTORY OF CARVER

MountainlaurelNight floweringcatch f lyOx-eyeddaisyPartridge vinePearl everlastingPlantainQueenAnne's l a c eRattlesnake plantainRattlesnake rootShad bush (wild pear)

ShinleafSnapwoodSpotted wintergreenStar flowerSwamp honeysuckle

( a z a l i a )Swamp huckleberrySweeteverlastingSweetfern

SweetgaleSweetpe ppe r bus hThoroughwortTrillium (painted)Turtle headViburnumVirgin's bowerWater c r e s sWater l i l yWhitefringed orchis

Whitev i o l e tWild l i ly of the valleyWild sarsaparillaWild strawberryWind flower (anemone)Wintergreen(pipsissiwa)WithwoodYarrow

YellowBellwortBlack eyed SusanButter and EggsButtercupCinquefoilCommon S t . John's wortCynthia (dwarf dande

l i o n )DandelionFall DandelionEveningprimroseGerardiaGoldena s t e rGoldenragwortGoldenrod

Hawk weedHedge hyssopHorned bladderwortIndian cucumberrootJewelweedLooses t r i f eMarsh marigoldMoth mulleinMulleinMustardPoverty grassPurslaneStick tightSundropTansv


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Toad f l a x

Wild indigoWild parsnipWild sunflowerWild yellow wood s o r r e l

( o x a l i s )

Witch hazel

YellowcloverYelloweyedgrassYellowpondl i l yYellowStar grass

PinkAmphibeousknot weed

ArbutusArethusiaBouncingBetBurdockBush cloverCalopogonCloverCommon milkweedCranberry

DogbaneFireweedHog peanutJoe-pye-weedKnotweed (polyganella)Lions heartMarsh S t . JohnswortMeadow BeautyMilkwort

Moccasinflower

MotherwortMusk MallowCoreopsisFleabanePogoniaPurple geradiaRhodoraRound leaved mallowSabbatia ( s e a pink)

SheeplaurelSteeple bushSiindewSweetbriar roseSwamp l o o s es t r i f eTick t r e f o i lWild roseYarrow

Blue or PurpleAsterBird-foot v i o l e tBlue curlsBlue eyed grassBluetsBlue f l a g ( I r i s )

Blue toad f l a xBlue Vervain (verbena)CatnipCommon speedwellCow vetchCommon v i o l e t


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Gill-over-the-ground

Indian tobaccoIron weedLobelia (water)LupineMad dog's skull capMeadow v i o l e tPennyroyal

Cardinal flowerPitcher plant

Peppermint

Pickerel weedRobin's plantainSelf healSheep's b i tSpiderwortThistleVenus ' looking g l a s s

Red

Wood l i l y

Greenor GreenishWhiteCow whea tDockGrape (wild)Horseradish

Poison sumachWeeds:Carpet weedChickweedGround cherryGoosefootPig weedPin weed

Butterfly weedCypress spurgeC a t - t a i lGround nutHoary peaJack-in-the-pulpitLousewort

Poison ivyStaghornVirginia cree per (wood

bine)

PipewortSandwortTrumbleweedVelvet weed

Wildpeppergrass

MiscellaneousLiveforeverRabbits foot cloverScouringrushSweetf l a gSkunk cabbageSouth Se a w at erbubbleTrumpet honeysuckle


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INDIANS

Unfor tuna te ly ourmain source of knowledgeofour predecessors on t h i s s o i l i s f ounde d ontrad i t i o n ,which i s often a libelous story, for the

human mind i s not apt t o minimizean event thatstruck terror to i t s infant conceptions. Novoice of the Pawtuxetscomesdown to us in l i t e r at u r e , noneof their architecture stands as a monument to their a r t , yet we have many s i l e n t remindersof their handiwork. A walkaroundtheshores of our l a k e s ,or across some newlyplowedf i e ld ,i s frequently r e wa rde d b ysome a r rowhead,

pestle or war club upturnedfrom i t s resting p l a c e .Thousands of these mementos are scatteredthroughour homes andtoo often perhapsnot fullyappreciatedfor these are the only tokensthat linkour c i v i l i z a t i o nwith the l i v e s of the children ofnature that once inhabited t h i s region.

And when we read of the cruelties of the Indiansi t i s well to remember that t h i s i s the whiteman s

story. The red man i s s i l e n t . And l e s t we beundulyimpressedwith our own case we may r e c a l lthat in 1698 the white man placed a bounty off i f t y poundson the scalp of an adult Indian andten pounds on the scalp of a child under t e n .Five years later the sport of hunting and scalping children was abolished, while the pract ice ofcapturing them a l i v eand s e l l i n gthem as slaves

13


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was substituted. Thus was the process of ex

terminating an inferior race turned to a sourceof p r o f i t t oi t s superiors.Th ere w ereno Indians permanentlylocated i n

the limits of the future t own of Carver in 1620or thereafter although roving bands strolledthrough the region occasionally. Th is r ende re dsettlementshazardousand one Ephraim Tinkhamwho had squatted near Lakenham i n 1650 was

warned that unless he returned within the dangerl i n e he could expect no protection from theColony.

After the close of King Philip's war Indianswho s e t t l e dhere, with certain exceptions,enjoyedthe rights conferred upon the whites, and theirrights were looked after by Commissionersappointedby the Governor. In 1702-03the t ownof

Plymouth voted a grant of land to SamuelSonnett, an Indian, and his wife, Dorothy. Thisland, forming the basis of the Indian lands inCarver, was located on the southerly side ofSampson 'spond, and boundsa nd m ea su re me nt snot being d e f i n i t e ,i t must have inc luded considerably more than the area named,for i t took i n al lthe land betweenthe Caseyswamp and the pond,and extended from the Indian lo t , s o - c a l l e d ,toSampson 's brook. The bounds were mored e f i n i t e l yestablished twoyears later by SurveyorWill iam Shurtleff. The only incumbrancewasthe general law providing that land of Indiansshould not besold without a permit f rom theGeneralCourt. Under the condi tionsof the votethe grantee and his heirs were guaranteed the


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INDIANS 15

right to f i s h in the ponds and streams and to

gather tar and turpentine on the common lands.The Seipets appear in town a f ew years l a t e r ,possibly marry ing into the Sonnett family.Bartlett Murdock,who had inherited the farm onthe east side of the pond, employedone of theseSeipet boys, who seemsto havebeenendowed withthe traditional cunning of h i s r a c e . Among theanecdotesthat i l l u s t r a t ethe character of the boyi s

one that concernsthe t ime when the SouthMeeting house was erected. The building had beenf r amedand raised, when Murdock was horrifiedone early morning on beholdingh i s Indian boyclimbingcarelessly over the skeleton. Ascendingto the plate by the ladder, he walkedup one ofthe outside r a f t e r s , thence the entire length ofthe ridge-pole, and down another rafter to the

p l a t e , from which he skipped nimbly to theground. On another occasion young Seipet wassent out on an early morning to bring in a yokeof oxen for the day's work. His return was notexpected promptly, for c a t t l e ran at large andoften st raye d a long ways from the c lear ing; butnot returning l a t e in the afternoon, Murdock became alarmed and started out on horsebacktolearn the fate of his trusted employee. Aftercovering a longdistance he met Seipet returningwith his c a t t l e and with a good excuse for histardiness. He had traced the oxen as far asCranebrookpond, a distance of f i v emiles, and asthe ground was crossed and counter-crossedbyc a t t l e tracks, the master asked how he had f o llowedthe track, for in Murdock ' s eye there was


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no difference betweent he t racks of his own oxen

and those of his ne ighbors . Se ipe texpressedsurprise at the ignorance of his employer, as hereplied: You think Seipet not know h i s own oxtracks'?

In 1780 t h i s land was owned solely by theSeipets, and the Plymouth County Commissionerswere authorized to s e l l as much of i t as wasnecessaryto pay the debts and give a comfortable

support to Desire Seipet in her old age.The s a l e , effected in 1783, transferred a largepart of the t r a c t , and that on which thevillage of South Carve rnow stands, to Lieut.Thomas Drew. In 1810 Launa Seipet, alsoan aged woman, resided on the reservation.By special act of the General Court she wasplaced in the care of the Selectmenof Carver,

and for her support another section of the Son-nett land was sold to Benjamin E l l i s . This saleincluded what was l e f t of the Indi an la nd northof Bodfish Bridge road. I t wouldappear thatshe was the l a s t survivor of the family, and residing with her were two daughters, Betsey andHannah. Betsey married, but died c h i l d l e s s .Hannah marr iedAugustusCasey, with whom she

lived on the old clearing, wherewere born andreared Frank, Thomas, William, John, JosephYoung, Augustus Green, Hannah (marriedTurner), Betsey (married Phillips), and Sarah(married Jackson). Joseph and Thomas enl i s t e dand saw service in the navy in the Civil war.

For the aid of some of the Caseyheirs othertracts havebeensold from the Sonnett land, u n t i l


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J lIr ^— —

X ~x ~< 5P C =


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INDIANS IT

about forty a c r e sremain, and t h a t now knownas The CaseyPlace.On t h e name our predecessorsgave t h i s regionwe can only s p e c u l a t e ,f o r students and i n t e rpreters o f Indian languaged i f f e r. By one i t i sgiven a s Warkinguag;by another a s Mahootset.

Whilewe havea fewIndian monumentsi n theway o f landmarks, t h e i r meaningi s v e i l e d mmystery, and our e f f o r t stowardsan interpreta

t i o no f theml e a v e sus s t i l lunrewardedregarding;the i n d i v i d u a lexperienceso f t h ered men who*t i l l ed t h e s egroundsbefore us . Weweantici s i nterpreted a s a wanderings tr eam; Wina tuxet t,the newfound meadows;Quit iquas, the i s l a n dp l a c e ;Annasnapet,the small s h e l lbrook; SwanHold, possibly a corruption o f Sowhanohke,meaningt h e South land; Polypody, a place o f

brakes; Mahutchett,the p l a c eon the t rai l .There are a l s o many other namessuggestiveo f history or mythology. King P h i l i p ' sspringcomesdown t o us with a bloody pedigree; thePokanet f i e l d s i n g sthe fame o f Pokanet, whoprospered a s the s l a v e o f the S h u r t l e f f s ,andwhosecampwasnear t h e r i v e ri n t h e f i e ld thatnow bears h i s name; Wigwam swamp; Indian

burying ground; Indian brook, and Sampson'spondare suggest ivenames.


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THE FIRST SPECULATORS

To comprehend the groundwork of our presentstructure i t i s necessaryto go back to the beginning and note throughwhat various processesourancestors came into possessionof their land. Theauthority of the body that granted i t i s not inquestion, and who owned i t previous to the whiteman's assumptionhas no place in the calculation.And so in our own language our history beginsin the year 1620.

The f i r s t land systemof the Colonists consistedin pa rceling out the land at the openingof the

season, but t h i s method so soon gave r i s e to d i ssatisfaction that in 1624permanentgrants beganto be made, and as the Colonygrew the home-seekers began to branch out into the wilderness .Whilethe town of Plymouth was never formallyincorporated, i t s corporate l i f e dates from 1636,and the region now within the limits of the townof Carver, being in the jurisdiction of the Pil

grim town, al l land grants of t h i s territory weremade by the town of Plymouth.Connectingthe Indian village of Pawtuxetwith

Agawam and Nemasket werethe two t r a i l s , Aga-wam path and Nemasket path. The formerleading over barren h i l l s offered no attractions to thehome-seekers, but the l a t t e r leading throughf e r t i l e v a l l e y s ,over running brooks and waving

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2 0 HISTORY OF CARVER

meadows, early caught the eye of the hardy souls

that werecrowdedout of the settlement. Beginning in 1637and endingwith the incorporationofthe t own of Plympton,a l l of the land now inPlympton and Carverwas granted by the mothertown.

The marsh meadows were the chief attraction,and many of the grants were of the meadowsalone, the grantees holding their residences in

Plymouth. These grants were located at SouthMeadows,* Doty's meadows,Six-Mile brook,Mahutchett , Swan Hold, Beaver Dam brook,and Cranebrook. By the e nd of the period several settlements had been made.

The f i r s t to take the Nemasket path was JohnDerby, who in 1637 took up a claim of sixty acresat Mounts hil l , near the l i t t l e lake that later be

came known as Derby pond. The followingyearhe was joined by Thurs tonClark, Edward Dotyand GeorgeMoore,while StephenHopkinswents t i l l further into the woods and took a grant atSix-Milebrook. I t i s probable that t h i s grant ofDoty's was the f i r s t grant of land within themunicipallimits of Carver, although the grant ofone hundredand f i f t y acres i n 1637-38 to JohnJenney

oneither

side of the brookwas the germof t h i s town in the woods. By the terms of t h i s

*The term South Meadows originally included al l of themeadow land on the Weweant icr i v e rf romSwan Holt to Rochester,the lower meadows being referred t o as the Lower SouinMeadows. The name was afterwards applied t o the v i l l a g eofCentre Carver, whichwasknown by no other name up t o the t imeof the C i v i lwar.


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THE FIRST SPECULATORS 2 1

grant i t was constituted a farm within the jurisdiction of Plymouth and to be known as Laken-ham.

The bounds of Plymouth were not d e f i n i t e l ylocated u n t i lafter the endof t h i s period. A courtorder of 1640 adjusting the bounds betweenPlymouth and Sandwich provided that theboundsshouldextendso far up into the woodlandas to include the South Meadows towards

Agawam, l a t e l y discovered, and the convenientupland thereto. For many years the westernbounds w erein dispute, and var ious confe renceswith the Proprietors of South Purchase werenecessary before the dividing l i n e was d e f i n i t e l y- e s t a b l i s h e d .

Nor were t he individual grants d e f i n i t e l yl ocated and described. The records are evidence

of the fact that many of the grants included amuch larger area than their te rmswouldi n d i c a t e ,and also of the frequent disputes among individual grantees over ranges. In the l a t t e r part ofthe period town surveyorswereannually e l e c t e d ,who were kept busy making surveys of earlier.grants and placing their surveys on record.

I t wouldbe d i f f i c u l tto resurvey some of these

grants from the recordeddescriptions. The heapof stones and the red oak tree have long sincepassed from the stage, but out of these humblebeginnings has grown our more exact method,;and petty disputes, thoughnot unknown,are notas frequent as of o l d .

The main grants before the year 1640, in addition to those previous lymentioned,weret o John


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P r a t t , a t Wenham; Bridget F u l l e r , a t Doty's;

John Barnes, a t Six-Mile brook ( i n c l u d i n gupland) ; John Dunham,a t Swan Hold (includingupland); RichardSparrowand John Atwood,a tLakenham; andGoodman Watson,GeorgeBonumand Andrew Ring, a t SouthMeadows.

During t h e succeedingforty years grants o fvarious dimensionswere made along t h e SouthMeadow r i v e r t o Andrew Ring, Abraham Jack

s o n , Jonathan Shaw, William Nelson, GeorgeBonum, Ephra im Tinkham, L i e u t . Morton,Will iam Harlow,Nathaniel Morton,Hugh C o l e ,Joseph B a r t l e t t , John C o l e , Daniel Dunham,JohnF f l a l l o w e l ,SamuelDoty, JohnLucas, JohnJourdan, Joh n Wat erma n,John Barrows, Nat h a n i e lWood,WilliamRing, Jonathan Barnes,BenonyLucas, SamuelHarlow,RichardCooper,

Ephra imTi l l s o n ,ThomasPopeand GeorgeWatson; a t Lakenhamt o JohnRickard, JamesC o l e ,JonathanShaw,RobertRansom,GeorgeWatson,Daniel Ramsden and BenejahPratt; a t Doty'st o Thomas L e t t u c e ,JohnRickard, GylesRickard,J r. , and John Pratt; a t Mahutchettt o Ephra imTi l l s o n ,Willi am Haskinsand Peter Risse; a tJohn's pondt o SamuelSavery; a t BeaverDam

brookt o GeorgeWatson; anda t Wenham t o JohnDunham.By the dawn o f the 18th century t h e pioneers

had a w e l le s t a b l i s h e dsystemo f farms; grantswereenlarged t o take i n nearly all o f t h e upland,and t h e t i d e o f populations e t i n .

Before 1705 grants a t Swan Hold were madet o JosephDunham,John P r a t t , Nathaniel Dun


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THE FIRST SPECULATORS 23

ham, MicagerDunham, BenejahPratt, Jeduthen

Bobbins, Eleazer Pratt, Joseph Pratt, JosephDunham, S r . , andAbial Shurtleff. Thesegranteeswere also given authority to construct a damfor flowing their meadows. Small tracts weregranted at Popes Point to Joseph Churchill,GeorgeMorton and Edmund Ti l l s o n ,while landformerlyof GeorgeWatson was better describedfor the b e n e f i tof his grandson, JonathanShaw.

Land that had be e n gr ant edto Abraham Jackson,Will iam Harlow and George Morton in NewMeadows in 1698 was also more d e f i n i t e l ydescribed.

As these years mark the end of the individualgrants by the t ownof Plymouth,and the granteeshad reached the point where they wouldbreakaway from the parent town of the Old Colony,

i t i s well to note how their destinies wereswayedby two importantevents of the f i r s t century. Thef i r s t s e t t l e r sof Plymouth werekept within a limited area on account of marauding bands of Indians, but after the s p i r i t of the natives had beenbrokenby the disastrous endingof King Philip'swar, the drawbackfrom that source was ended.And a f ewyears later when the dethronementof

James I I . disposed of their twin enemy, Si rEdmond Andros, t he Coloni st s rap idly increasedunder their new charter, meeting-housessprungup in the f o r e s t s ,and New England entered enthusiastically upon i t s remarkablecareer. I t i salso well t o remember in considering these twinenemiesof the early c o l o n i s t s ,that the whitemanand the red man broke even.


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The indivadual grants, mostly of whichhavebeennamed,with t wogeneral grants made beforePlympton was incorporated, l e f t the new townwithoutany common land i n i t s j u r i s d i c t i o n .Theproprietors of the cedar swamp, as also the proprietors of the rest of the common land, henceforth had jurisdiction in the division of theselands. A large portion of t h i s common tract waslocated in the future town of Carver, consistingof the cedar swamp and the land south of i t asfar westas the easterly shore of Sampson 'spond.I t includedabout one-fourthof the modern town ' sarea.

At a town meet ingin Plymouth in 1701-02anordinancewas passeddividing the cedar swamp,*and Jacob Thompson was chosen surveyor tomake the division withJohn Bradfordand SamuelSturtevant as assistants. Under the provisionsof the ordinanceevery freeholder was to have ashare; every male child born in the town whohad reached the age of twenty-oneand who resided in town one-half of a share; any residentwho succeededan original proprietor, one share,unless said proprietor l e f t a son; children to inherit a share i f the father was entitled to one;but underno conditions should anyonehold morethan one share. Non-residents, except childrenas above noted, were prohibited from holding

*This vote included al l of the cedar swamp i n the town ofPlymouth, which at that t ime embracedthe future towns ofPlympton, Halifax and Carver. Only the South Meadow andDoty swamps were i n the future Carver, whichaccounts for theomissionof Gre at Lot s1 9 , 20 and 21 i n t h i s s t o r y.


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A CORNER ON HEMLOCK ISLAND


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THE FIRST SPECULATORS 2 5

shares unless being the ownerof at least one hundred acres of t i l l a g e land occupiedby a tenant.

As t h i s tract had so long been u t i l i z e dascommon property, t h i s vote to end the cus tomprovokeda contest that could not be avoidedby a town v o t e . Commit teeswere namedto watch poachers; any proprietor convictedof cutting cedars pending the division forfeited his claim; and any poachernot beinga proprietor was to pay a f i n e of twentys h i l l i n g sfor each t r e e . While the plan lookedwell on paper, the surveyorwas in a sea of constant commotion. Some l o t s werebetter locatedthan others ; some had a superior growth; everyproprietor had a choice; and i t was several yearsbefore the division was made among the propriet o r s , while the disputes had not ended two centuries l a t e r.

Under the Thompson plan the swamp was divided into eighteen Great Lots, and these GreatLots subdividedin the process of div is ion amongthe proprie tors. Great Lots were intended tocontain forty acres each, but they were notsymmetricalin shape. Some beganat a commonpoint and extendedin long triangles across theswamp; some were generally rectangular, andothers cannot be described in geometricalterms.I t would seem to a modern engineer that theswamp could have been divided with more regul a r i t y, but the ragged general form of the tractwithout including upland presented a problemthat taxed the c i v i l engineering of the times.


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Therewas s t i l l a greater disparity in the shape

and s i z eof the subdivisions. I t i s apparent thatthe surveyorplaceda broad interpretation on thete rms of h i s instructions and undertook toequalize the disparity in values by varying thes i z eand form of the l o t s .

In 1828SylvanusBourne resurveyedthe swampand pointed out inconsistencies in the Thompsonplan, and f i l e d a plan of his own. Modern sur

veyors consult both plans as a basis of surveys.Doty's Cedar Swamp, situate in the Northerlysection of the town, also came under the generalgrant, although independentof the large swamp.This was known as Great Lot No . 22 in the div i s i o n . The original ownerswere John Gray,John Holmes, Samuel Rickard and JosiahRickard.

At a t own meet ingin Plymouth,February9 ,1701-02,the followingordinancewas adopted: That every freeholder That hath ben soe for

six years l a s t past That hath not had 30 ackers ofland Grantedto them by the Inhabitants of theTown within 20 years l a s t past s h a l l have 30acrees of land l a i d forth to them out of the Commons belongingto sd Town (by the personshere

after Named that are the Towns Committy orTrustees to act in ye Affare) or soe much land asto Make i t up 30 acrees with what they have a lready had Grantedto them sience sd Tirme ofyears & i t s further voted That a l l Town bornChildren now Inhabitants in sd Town that havebeen Rated towards defray publick Charg in sdTown for 14 years l a s t past s h a l l have 30 acres


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< a wO « ga « s

X

as £ ~c« S

P g OB- -

2> - c=4 S

«


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THE FIRST SPECULATORS 27

apece of land laid out to them out of sd TownComons as abovesd& that None s h a l l Take upaneyMeadow groundor sedor swamps by vertueof t h i s Grantand i t further voted that everymanMay take up his share abovesdas ner to his ownland as may be: and noe man s h a l l take up sdland agnst an other mans Land u n t i l the ownerof sd land doth Refusethi t & i f twomen doe pitchon one pece of land the Committy have herebypower t o determinewhose i t s h a l lbe.

The Commit teechosenat the meetingto e f f e c tthe division was composedof Capt. John Bradford, Capt. James Warren , Left. Shurtlef, Left.Nath; Southworth,Insign: Nath: Morton andSamuel Sturtivant.

Beforethe town commit teehad progressedfarwith the division, the town of Plympton was incorporatedand the common lands located in thet wo townspassed to th e control of the Propriet o r s , two hundredand one, who organizedby thechoice of a clerk and adopted the s t y l e of TheProprietors of Plymouth and Plympton Commons. Thomas Faunce was the f i r s t c l e r k , andthose who served in tha t posi tion before the Proprietors work was finished in 1790were SamuelBartlett, John Cotton and Rossiter Cotton.At a general meet ingof t he proprietors, Capt.Warren , Benjamin Warren ,Lieut. Shurtleff andSamuel Lucas w erechosenas surveyors to makethe d i v i s i o n . The tract was located in the Easternsection of the present town of Carver and theSouthern section of Plymouth. Under the planof operations as devised by the surveyors i t was


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f i r s t divided into ten Great Lots, and these sub

divided. The f i r s t Great Lot was cut up into 21small parcels, the secondinto 2 2 ,t he third into 2 2 ,the fourth into 2 1 , the f i f t h into 2 0 , the sixth into2 0 ,the seventhinto 1 9 ,the eighth into 1 8 ,the ninthinto 1 8 , and the tenth into 2 0 . These t o t a l 201parcels to be divided among the proprietors.

The next step i n the division was t o assign thefreeholders to the several Great Lots. This was

no small t a s k ,as each proprietor had a choice ofposition. And after the Great Lots had been assigned to the individual ownersthe question ofalloting the parcels to the individuals was takenup for solution, and another perplexingproblemfaced the surveyors. The proprietors of eachGreat Lot held meetingsby themselvesto drawfor their parcels. The subdivisions were num

bered and each proprietor drew a number whichin theory was t o be the number of h i s lo t . Thedrawingswere not altogether satisfactory, andt ime was extendedfor the proprietors t o trade,and i t was upwards of eighty years before thework of the proprietors was f i n i s h e d .

The f i r s t Great l i n e was described as follows: Beginningat two pine trees marked numbered

1 - 2 standing at ye going overbetweenye GreatWest pond and a l i t t l e pond at ye head of i trainging Eas t Sou th E ast180 rodsfrom two pinetrees marked with a heapof stones betweenthemat Cobb h i l l by SouthMeadow path and from thetrees f i r s t mentionedthe l i n e extendeth South15 Westerlyby a rainge of trees t o a mapletreemarked numbered 1 - 2standing at Pratts meadow


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Oj .

6 . 2

X PS< a ,^- —a * •E -aa : S

- f f l


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A FEW EARLY LAWS

I t i s not the purpose of t h i s work t o deal ingeneral history, but there are some t imbers inthe general structure so closely related to l o c a ldevelopmentthat a brief reviewi s j u s t i f i a b l e .

Our starting point in c i v i l governmentwas inthe compactsigned on boardof the Mayflowerin Provincetownharbor. In the wave of enthusiasm in whichthe Pilgrims l e f t their nativecountry they made no calculation on the cost ofthe venture, but before l anding theyadjudgedi tprudent to make an agreementas a safeguardagainst a clashing of authority that might jeop

ardize the peaceof the Colony,and on the wisdomof such a course their posterity has recordedtheverdict t h e y builded better than they knew.And in our own day these wordsmay be acceptedas the basis of al l just governments: In ye nameof God amen. We whose names are under-writt e n , the l o y a l l subjects of our dread soveraigneLord, King James,by ye grace of God, of Great

Britaine, Franc, Ireland king, defender of yef a i t h , & c . ,haveing undertaken, for ye glorie ofGod and advancementeof ye Christian f a i t h , andhonorof our king and countrie, a voyageto plantye f i r s t colonie in ye Northerneparts of Virginia,doe by these presents solemnlyand mutualyin yepresenceof God,and one of another, covenantandcombineour selves togeather into a c i v i l l body

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p o l i t i c k ,for our better ordering and preservationand furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and byvirtue hereof to enact, constitute, and f r amesuchjust and equall laws, ordinances, a c t s , constitut i o n s ,and o ff i c e r s ,from t ime to time, as s h a l l bethoughtmostmeeteand convenientfor ye generallgood of ye c o l o n i e ,unto whichwe promisea l l duesubmissionand obedience. Such was the constitution of the Plymouth Colony, and on t h i sbasis was made the laws that governedour ancestors u n t i l the union of the colonies in 1690. Theleading town o f f i c e r sunder the compactwerese le ct me n ortownsmen,a town c l e r k ,constables,raters, jurymen,tithingmenand surveyors.

Much of the land of the future townsof Plymp-ton and Carverwas grantedunderthe Ol d Co lo nyalthough but l i t t l e of i t was occupied. A few

scattering fa rmsdotted the t r a c t , and respectableclusters of residences appear at Colchester,Lakenham and Wenham, but t he res ident s were

- a l l freeholders of the old town whencetheyjourneyedon town meet ingdays, holidays, courtdays and sabbaths. I t i s not pr obabl ethat anythoughtof establishing a new town had i t s inception before the union.

The charter of Will iamand Mary was grantedas a basis for the governmentof the united NewEngland colonies, and as t h i s charter was thefoundationfor a l l laws precedingthe constitutionof the United States, i t i s a do cu me nt w or th yofconsideration.

In consideringthe charter no comparisonshouldbe made with modern theories, but in comparison


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o=


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A FEW EARLY LAWS 33

with c o nt e mp or a ry go v er nm e nt si t w i l l be found

to be l i b e r a l . And when we notice that liberty ofconscience was guaranteed to al l s e c t s exceptPapists, we may compare i t with the chronologicaledicts of Louis XIV. ; and perhapsour judgmentwouldbe temperedby recalling that the charterwas granted by a king and queenwho had justascendedthe throne througha revolution and thepassions engenderedhad not abated. Even at

that moment the exiled Stuart was intriguing toworm his way back to the throne from which hehad been ejected by the uprising of his subjects.

Under t h i s instrument, the executive authoritywas vested in a Gove rnor anda LieutenantGovernorappointed by the crown, advised andassisted by twenty-eightcouncillors or assistants.

The law making power was vested i n the Gov

ernor and Council, and two representatives fromeach town elected by the property holding freeholders. To t h i s l e g i s l a t i v ebody was given thename of the Great and GeneralCourt, and afteri t s organization i t was vested with authority forthe annual election of the twenty-eight councill o r s , also of regulating the number of representatives to whicheach County, Town or place

should be e n t i t l e d .Sheriffs, provost marshals, Justices of thePeace, Judges of Oyer and Terminer, were appointed by the Go ve rno r byand with the consentof the Council;, probate matte rs, including th eappointment of executors and administrators,were l e f t with the Governorand Council. Theacts of incorporationof townsand parishes under


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precedinggovernments ,with certain limitations,wereconfirmed,and the adoption of laws governing l o c a la f f a i r srested with the GeneralCourt.

Appeals could be had from the judgmentsofthe courts, and also from the decrees of theGovernor,to the crown. The Governorheld thepower of proroguing the General Court at anytune, and the Court couldnot legally adjourn formore than twodays at a time, withouthis consent.The crown held the veto power over both theGovernorand the GeneralCourt.

The authority of the Governorto proroguetheGeneral Court, and the veto power held by thecrown, were the cause of no l i t t l e clashing ofauthority in after years, but under the charterthe colonies developedrapidly, both in numbersand prerogatives, and when they reached' t h epoint of abolishing the veto power the t i e thatheld them to the mothercountrywas representedby a b r i t t l e cord. And even after the rebelliouscolonies had won the right to l e g i s l a t efor thems e l v e s , unhampered by any veto power fromacross t he s e a , they foundedtheir l i b e r t i e sin theforms, regulations and theories that had grownup under the charter.

The democratic theoryof permitt ing eachlocal ity to control i t s domestica f f a i r swas recognized by the charter and the adoption of lawsregulating l o c a l a f f a i rswas the subject of theconstant considerationof the GeneralCourt. Therecognition of t h i s theory eventually led to theRevolution, f or as each colony added to i t sprerogativesi t becamej ea lous ofoutside interf er


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A FEW EARLY LAWS 35

ence, and bound together by t h i s theory, they

combatedfor the principle i n war.In November,1692, before providing for towngovernments ,the GeneralCourt made provisionfor ministers and school masters, making i t compulsory upon towns to provide themse lveswith an a b l e ,learned orthodoxminister of goodconversation to dispense the word of God to them,also a schoolmasterto teach children and youth

to read and write, both to be supported by atown t a x . The same month the New Englandtown meetingwas confirmed,each town being required to hold an annual t own meeting in themonth of March for the election of town o f f i c e r sand the transaction of town a f f a i r s . The necessary o f f i c e r sconsisted of a board of three, f i v e ,seven or nine selectmen ortownsmen,a town

c l e r k ,constables, surveyorsof highways,t i t h i n g -men, fence viewers, clerk of the market, and asealer of l e a t h e r. The Selectmenserved as overseers of the poor unless a separate board waschosen, also as assessors. Their warrant wascommit tedto a constable and required him to c o ll e c t and pay to the Selectmenor their agent.

In order to be e l i g i b l efor a place on the Boardof Selectmenthe candidate must be able andd i s c r e e t ,of goodconversation, and a freeholdermust have property to the amount of twentypounds to e n t i t l e him to v o t e . The duty of aclerk of the marketrequired him to v i s i t , at l e a s tonce a week, the bakeshopst o guard against thes e l l i n gof short weightloaves. The price of whea twas regulated by the Selectmen,and the s i z e of


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the loaf accordingly. The sealer or searcher of

leather was a busy o f f i c e runder compulsionto i nspect and seal a l l leather tanned i n h i s jurisdict i o n .

Towns were authorized to make by-laws regulating their a f f a i r sand subject to the approvalofthe court in quarter sessions ; they must perambul a t e their town l i n e sonce in three years; Selectmen must see that there were noloafers in town,

and i f any child or other person was found misspendingh i s t ime he must be sent to the Houseof Correction there to receive ten lashes on thebare back; the Selectmen were vested withauthority to b ind out minors; and anyoneenjoyingthe hospitality of the t ownthree monthsunquest ioned, obtained asettlement. In the caseof an undesirablec i t i z e nthe constable orderedthe

person out of town, and in the event of a refusalto move, the person was taken by force to theplace of l a s t abode.

Every male resident betweenthe age of sixteenand s i x t y,with certain exceptionswas forced intothe m i l i t i a ,andunderstatute compulsionto attenda l l musters and exercises of h i s company. Allpersonsl i a b l eweresubject to beingcalled to dutyin times of danger and they wereexpectedt o havetheir equipmentready at al l times. The equipment whichevery one l i a b l eto military duty wasunder compulsionto provide for himself, consisted of a f i r e l o c kmusketwith the barrel not l e s sthan three and one-half feet i n length, a snapsack,a colar with twelve bandoleers orcartouch box,one pound of goodpowder,twentyb u l l e t s ,twelve


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The reckless method of granting and staking out

land— erhaps mainlythrough the unscientificmethod of surveys— alled for l e g i s l a t i o n . Thef i r s t act for the quieting of possessionsprovidedthat the possessiondat ing previousto October1 9 ,1652, and not que st ione dbefore May 2 0 , 1662,should be s u f f i c i e n tt i t l e ; while three years unquestionedpossessionfrom October1, 1692,shouldconstitute a s u f f i c i e n twarranty. An exceptionclause gave infants, persons non compos mentis,and those in prison or captivity three years extrain whichto prove a claim; while persons beyondthe seas had seven years of grace. The privycouncil objected to t h i s act for the reasons thatthe rights of the c rownwere not protected andfurther that the t ime of three years was insuff i c i e n t . To meet these objections, the act wasamended saving the rights of the crown andrequiringunquestionedpossessionfrom October1 ,1692, to October1, 1704, necessary to guaranteepossession to the holder or those claiming underhim.

Statutes wereenacted i n 1692and 1693.Establishingand guaranteeingt r i a l by jury.Establishingweightsand measures.Requiringintentions of marr iageto be posted

in some conspicuousplace at l e a s t two weeksbefore the event.

Establishinghabeascorpusproceedings.Establishing 6 per c e n t , as the legal r a t e , con

tracts calling for a larger rate to be void.Establishingpost o f f i c er u l e s .Establishingsystemsof highway improvements .


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A FEW EARLY LAWS 39

Thanksgivingcus tomreaffirmed.Hogs runningat large t o be yokedfrom April1st to October1 5 t h ,and ringed a l l the year.Sheepnot to run at large unaccompaniedby a

shepherd.No strong liquor to be sold or given an Indian.Idiots and lunatics must be cared for by the

Selectmen.In these same years :

Th e re w e rethirteen crimespunishableby death.Laws against witchcraft were adopted.The exportation of raw hides was forbidden.The cord of marketablewood must be cut in

four feet lengths, and when piled must be eightfeet long and four feet high. If a delivery did notcome up to these regulations, the injured partymust s u e ,and in case of convict ion thewood was

forfeited, one-half to the complainantand one-halffor the use of the town's poor.The penalty for one offence compelledthe con

victed party to s i t upon the gallows with a ropetied around the neck and the other end th rownover the gallows. On the march from the gallowsto the j a i l , he should be givennot l e s s than fortylashes, and forever after he must wear the l e t t e r

A twoinchesin length cut from cloth of a differentcolor than the clothing either on anarm, the backor some conspicuousplace about the person. Conviction of a neglect in wear ingthe l e t t e r waspunishablewith f i f t e e nl a s h e s .

Tnn holders were l i c e n s e d ,and regulationsgoverningthem adopted:

Lodgingsand a supply of refreshmentsmust

be constantly on hand.


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An apprentice, servant or negro should not beentertained withoutan order from his master.

No one shouldbe permittedto remainin the innabove one hour, except t r a v e l l e r s .

No one shouldbe permi tt edto drink to excess.No one admittedSundaysexcept t r a v e l l e r s .For any conviction, one-half of the f i n e went

to the informant, and one-half to the use of theTown's poor.

Inn holders wererequired to furnish bondswithsureties for the keepingof the regulations.

And as a further guarantee Selectmenwereburdenedwith the duty of seeing that Tythingmenwereannuallyelected and q u a l i f i e d .The duty ofthe Tythingman was to inspect the taverns andinformon al l violations of the laws; also to informon a l l i d l e r s ,disorderly persons,profaneswearers,Sabbath breakers and law breakers in general.The legal badgeadoptedfor the Tythingman wasa black s t a f f t wo feet i n length with a t hre e inchbrass t i p on oneend.

Anyone convicted of receiving stolen goodsfrom an Indian, was to restore the goods to therightful owner with an equal amount in value ofs p e c i e ,or i f the goodshad beendisposedo f , doublethe value in s p e c i e .

This brief resumecovers onlyt he start ing oflegislation under the charter, and from thesebeginningswas b u i l tup and perfected, by repeals,amendments and additions, the s o c i a lsystemthatwas in voguewhen the Coloniesbandedthemselvestogether for the purposeof moving the vetopowerfrom London to some point on the American con-


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A FEW EABLY LAWS 41

t i n e n t . If some of these statutes seem unaccount

able to u s , perhaps i f we compare these laws ofthe pioneers, with some of the legislation whichwe proposeto meetmodern conditions, and witht wo centuries of experienceand educationto ourd e b i t ,the comparison,after a l l may not be verydamaging to the f i r s t dreamersin the world ofc i v i ll i b e r t y. James I . was on the throne of GreatBritain when the Pilgrims sailed and the following

monarchs reigned during our colonial l i f e , theyear named being the t ime they ascended thethrone:

1625 Charles I .1648 The Commonwealth, or Olive r Cromwell.1660 CharlesH.1685 James EL1689 Will iamand Mary.

1694 Wi ll iam HE .1702 Anne.1714 GeorgeI .1727 GeorgeI I .1760 GeorgeI I I .


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THE FIKST SEPAEATION

Isaac Cushman, grand son of Robert thePilgrim, was Plympton's god-father. Thomas,son of Robert and father of Isaac, had long beenthe notedRuling Elde rof the Pi lgr im churchwhenhe died in 1691, and Isaac was slated as hissuccessor.

To be a Ru li ng E l de rin the Plymouth churchwas only the second ambit ionof Isaac Cushman —perhaps the third— and he kickedover the s l a t e .Residing i n the west end of the town wheretwogroups of settlements had begunto nourish, Colchester and Lakenham, Cushman ' s heart was withhis neighborsand eight miles from the old churchhad begotten notions in their heads that theproper step under the circumstanceswouldbe tohave a church of their own and to have theirneighborand friend for a minister. Such was thedream that laid the foundation for the uppersociety.

But there wereobstacles to overcomebefore thenew society could legally have the minister ofi t s choice: there were dead branches to lop o f f

*In addition t o the ca l l of Isaac Cushman t o s e t t l eove r the newchurch, he waswantedas successorto Bev. Mr . Fuller of the FirstChurchof Middleboro. But the bond of sympathybetweenhimand the residents of the new society could not be broken by themoretemptingo f f e r sf romthe larger parishes.

43


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THE FIRST SEPARATION 45

JonathanBryantJohn EversonRichardsonEversonBenjaminEatonJohnBryantJohnBryantJamesBryantPeter WestSamuelBryantJosephPhinngyJamesBearceSamuelSturtevantRobertWaterman

BenjaminCurticeDavidBosworthNehemiahSturtevantSamuelSturtevant, J r .EbenezerStandishWilliamSturtevantJosephKingPeter ThompsonJob SimmonsIsaac KingWilliamChurchillIsaac Cushman,J r .GeorgeSampson

Group B

Lieut. WilliamShurtleffEdmund WestonJosephKing, J r .JohnWrightAdam WrightIsaac SampsonBenjaminSouleNathanielHarlow

SamuelFullerDea. John RickardEleazurRickardJosiah RickardJohn PrattJeduthenRobbinsJabez EddyHenry RickardEdmund T i l l s o n

JohnDotenRobert RansomSamuelWatermanEphraim T i l l s o nJohnTillsonJonathanShawBenoniShawJohn ColeJohn CarverGeorgeBonumBe no ni Lu ca sJohn BarrowsDea. NathanielWoodEleazerKingThomas ShurtleffAbial ShurtleffCalebLoring


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THE FIRST SEPARATION 47

taken up by the town and the law invokedfor theirprotection.

Undesirablec i t i z e n swere warned out of townaccordingto law. In 1711 the Selectmenexercisedtheir jurisdiction f or the f i r s t time, when the boardissued i t s warrant to John Coal, requiring h im towarn Marcy Donham to depart said town. Thenature of Marcy ' s offence does not appear, butshe evident ly did not meetwith the approval ofthe town fathers.

The t own i n compliance withthe s t a t u t e s ,started i t s school system in 1708 through anordnanceins truc ting the Selectment o employaschool master. This was the l i m i t of the town'sduties in t he matt er, and after the masterhadbeenemployed,the p l a c e 'for holdingthe schoolwas l e f twith i t s patrons. Many of the young obtained

their education in their own homes from booksprovided by themselves, while the master waspresent as a guide and guest.

Human nature was the same in those days as wefind i t in the dawn of the twentieth century, butmethodsof controlling i t have changed.' Youngpeople were obliged to attend church Sundaysunderpenalty of a pokefrom the tythingman,but

once in the MeetingHouse they wereyoung folkss t i l l and the t ownoccasionallyfoundi t necessaryto choosea committeet o occupyseats among themin churchand watchtheir conduct, to insure theminister an undisturbedopportunity.

But, the questionthat furnishedthe voters withtheir constant agitation, was the continual e f f o r t sto divide th e town. The town of Plympton was


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EARLY SETTLERS

I t i s easy to s e e ,why the struggling farmersofPlymouth placed such a high valuation on thefresh meadows,in the days before the cultivationof f i n e top, clover and t imothy; equally as plainwhy the luxurious meadows foundin the limits ofthe future t ownof Carver, shouldreceive the nameof the SouthMeadows. In the e a r l i e s tcolonization of t h i s region, the grants of land weremadeand the f i r s t s e t t l e r slocated in relation to thesemeadows.Thus, in our e a r l i e s thistory, we findour pioneers at South Meadows, Lakenham

(adjacent to Winatuxet tMeadows), Mahutchet tMeadows, CranebrookMeadows, Doty ' s Meadows,Fresh Meadows and New Meadows.

Therewerelarge landowners— romotersin thet rue sense— mong t he early s e t t l e r s . The Shaws,Ransoms,Watsons and Coles at Lakenham; theCobbsat Mahutchet t ;the Rickards and Wate r -mans at Snappit; the Dunhams and Pratts at

Wenham; the Shurtleffs, Lucasesand Tillsons atSouth Meadows; the Barrows and Murdocksaround Sampson 'spond, and the Atwoods atFresh Meadows.

The dangers and privations that alwaysfollowthe pioneers of a new country, gave romancetothe l i v e s of our f i r s t s e t t l e r s . The unsanitarystate of the country made up of h i l l s and un

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EAHLY SETTLERS 53

terminatedi n t h i smanner. Beaverwereplentiful

in . the e a r l i e s tdays, but they wereexterminatedon accountof the value of their f u r s . But whilebirds and animals diminishedthe means of subs i s t e n c e ,there werecounteradvantagesof no l i t t l econsideration. The pondsteemedwith f i s h ,Sampson' s , Doty's and probablyCle ar be ingbreedinggroundsfor herring, and t h i s was a large i tem ontheir b i l l of f a r e . The woods were f u l l of deer,

rabbits and edible birds and t h i swentfar towardssupplying the farmers with meat. The onlyspecies that diminishedunder free hunting andtrappingweredeer, and laws to protect them wereearly enacted. Suchin brief were the condi tionsthat confronted the fa rmer s e t t l e r s in the year1700.

But a wonderfuladvancewas on the s l a t e for

the new century, l i t t l e foreseen by the lonelyfarmerswho witnessedi t s dawn and, perhaps, notfully appreciatedby their descendantsw h o, h av in gwon their independence,battled with i t s vexatiousproblemsin the century's closing t w i l i g h t . S t i l lwonderfulas we now behold i t was the centurythat t ransformedour community from a few scattered farmers, living upon their crops andwarr ing

on blackbirds, to atown

of s o c i a land

industrialenthusiasm. Saw mills and grist m i l l s ,twomeeting houses,three iron manufactories,forges, acresof t i l l a g elands, taverns, schoolhouses, s tagel i n e s ,a new precinct and a new town, were the l o c a lachievements,while in the larger f i e ld , we weret ransformedfrom a group of struggling coloniessleeping on their arms in constant fear of Indian


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EARLY SETTLERS 55

population. Even the millers were not rushed,

and many stories could be told while the saw wasplowingi t s way slowly but surely along and themanufactureof boards was a pleasure and aprocess that often entertained the farmer's wifeand children.

On a Winterday when the snow precludedanyother duty, the fa rmershoulderedh i s bagof grainand st art ed f or th e m i l l . He carried no orders tohurry back, for his wife attended to the milking,while the boys had been trained t o do the ir part .Thereappearedto be no reason why he co uld no tproperly loaf aroundthe mills and forge a l l day,picking up b i t s of news andgossip for the amusement of his family when he returned. And manywere the debates around the mills on questionsthat related to their farms, their church, theirneighborhood,or their rights so nobly conferredupon them by the charter of good King William.Practical jokes had their place in the exerc ises ofthe day, and wheneveran extra large log must berolled down upon the carriage, there wereplentyof spare handsto give a l i f t just for the fun of i t .And when night endedthe fun aroundthe m i l l ,thefa rmercould shoulderh i s bag of f l o u r— inus thet o l l— nd wade home throughthe snow in the l i g h tof the rising moon. If the mill happenedto betoo far away, the horse could be u t i l i z e das ameans of transportation.

Thinkyou, after such a vigorousday with l i t t l eor no food, did the suppersteamingon the crane ors immeringi n the c o a l s , tempt the fa rmer toexclaimthat he lived i n the best days the world


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everknew ? Yeta f ewyears later what an advance

in the f a c i l i t i e sthat catered to the wants of thepeople, for in t h i s better day the housewifecouldburn a roaring f i r e for an hour i n a large brickoven, rake out the ashes, insert her pot of beans,rye bread, pumpkin pies and fowl, and then whileher cookingwas going on she couldgo about herother work,stoppingoccasionallywe may be sureto take a peek through the l i t t l e aperture in the

oven, to see her pies and beans gradually assuming their famous brown.The g i r l s made their own d o l l sand d o l l ' scloth

i n g ,and nol i t t l e pleasurewas foundin learning todo the dut ie s that f e l l to the l o t of women. Theboyswerefree to hunt and t rap the game. Theymade their own boats and fishing poles, their crossbows,c a r t s , sleds and cornstalk f i d d l e s ,and theytold stories at night in the l i g h t of the openf i r e ,while their older brothers and s i s t e r sgathered inthe larger houses and taverns for s o c i a levents,wherethe village f i d d l e rsawedinto i mm or ta l s ongthe old ki tchen spree.

Anotheri tem of hallowedmemory in the societyof the t imes clustered around the swing. Everyhamlethad i t s village swinglocated in some c lumpof gigantic t r e e s ,whereonholidaysand in the longsummer t w i l i g h t s ,the young gathered for s o c i a ljoys and there has alw ays be ena suspicion tha tCupidhad a perch in the branchesof the sameold t r e e s .

Of course there were disadvantages in thosedays, l i t t l e inconveniencesthat in souls of fun andcourage, only served to develop a rugged char


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EARLY SETTLERS 57

a c t e r . To get out of bed in an old farm house

when the the rmometeroutside hovered aroundzero, go shivering down to the kitchen t o find thatthe high wind had completely extinguished thef i r e , called into action no l i t t l e sand and s e l f -r e l i a n c e ,for an extinct f i r e couldnot easily be rekindled. Whilethe others remainedin bed, oneof the olderboysmust donh i s boots, s t i l l s t i f f andcold from the baptismof the precedingday, and in

the face of the biting wind wade across th e f i e l d sthrough snow that buried the fences, to borrowf i r e from a neighbor. And then to get the coalsback throughth e gale with l i f e enoughin them tostart a b l a z e ,was no small t e s t on the boy's ingenuity. Such in part was th e t raining of theboys who l e f t their beds in darkness to dig thetrenches at Bunker H i l l .

WhileEdward Doty*,the hot t emperedpassenger of the Mayflower,may have been the f i r s t tot i l lthe s o i l of Carver, there i s not satisfactoryevidencethat he resided on his possessions, andto Jona thanShaw f a l l s the honorof beingthe f i r s tpermanentresident of the territory embracedinthe present municipallimits of the town. Shawhad a house at Lakenham as early as 1660, andJohn Pratt, who had a residence south of Doty'spond in 1675, was a close second. The exact s i t eof these housesmay not go unquestioned, butthere

*Edward Doty's f a rm was the land now owned and occupiedbyPinney Brothers. Thus the nameswas given to Doty's cedarswamp and Doty's pond, which l a t e r acquired the name ofWenham pond.


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are reasons for stating that Shaw's house stood

on the s i t e of the present Sturtevanthousesouthof the Green. The present house was b u i l t asearly as 1750 (possibly e a r l i e r ) ,and a traditionsays i t was the third houseb u i l ton that s i t e . ThePratt house probablystood on the s i t e of the present residence of Allerton L. Shurtleff.

Ear ly neighborsof Shaw and Pratt wereJohnDunham at Wenham, Benony Lucas at SouthMeadows and John Benson a t Fresh Meadows.At that time the main traveled road from Plymouth to Middleboro,led throughAnnasnapetandParting Ways, t h i s road being referred to by oldres idents as t he old way as l a t e as the l a s t ofthe l a s t century. The road th roughDarby was inuse, however,at the same time. Shaw'sresidencestood about midway between Plymouth andMiddleboro,Mahutchet twas a mile to the southwest, Popes Point two miles to the south andSouthMeadows t hree mile sto the southeast.

Among those who joined the Lakenham s e t t l ement by the year 1700 or soon after were theBonums, Watsons, Kings, Robbins, Watermans,Bickards, Wrights a nd Ra ns oms. There was aboom in the settlement of t h i s region at the t imethrough the division of the common lands. The

Shaws and Watsons held possessions in the westsection wheretheir descendantss e t t l e d . Watsonheld land on Rocky Meadow brook, and ThomasPope owninga grant at the junction of t h i s brookwith SouthMeadow r i v e r ,gave the name of PopesPoint to the land, whichlater became the l o c a lname of the village that grew up around thefurnace.


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EARLY SETTLERS 59

The Rickards and Watermans located at Anna-

snapet; the Ransoms owned the large tract betweenthe Doty farm and Lakenham brook; andthe Pratts and Crookersthe tract betweenPlymouth street and Wenham road.

Whilethe earlier s e t t l e r sof Lakenham patronized the mills at Plympton,the s e t t l e r s of t h i sregion soon had such f a c i l i t i e sof their own andmills were in operation at Lakenham, SouthMeadows and probablyWenham. The industriala c t i v i t i e sof the people were confined to agricultural pursuits u n t i l the decade 1730-40,when thePopes Point furnace was established and a remarkableimpetusgiven to the s o c i a land indust r i a l l i f e of t h i s region. The building of the f i r s tiron furnace, the f i r s t meeting house and theestablishmentof the f i r s t three school d i s t r i c t s ,marks t h i s decade as a memorable one in thedevelopmentof the settlement.

The Shermans joined the Prec inc t be fo re theRevolution, purchasing a large tract from theRansoms. John Sherman conducteda tavern onthe s i t e of the residence of James S . McKay*.

Fresh Meadows was a thriving village beforethe Revolution. Fifty years after PlymouthRock, there was a bridge across the river nearwherethe wide bridge i s now located known asBenson's bridge. The Benson property must

*Thebusinessof the tavern wasmoved i n 1815t o the John Shawhouse, near the Green, now owned by Mrs. HoraceC . Bobbins. Int h i s tavern waslocated Shermanh a l l ; wherepublic meetings,b a l l s ,e tc . , wereh e l d . I t was a l i v e l yc e n t e r ,especially on must erdays,when the m i l i t i amade i t i t s headquarters.


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haveincludedmuch of the land betweenthe Ware-ham road and the r i v e r , the original homes teadbeing a shor t distance back from the N. S . Cushing farm, where the spot i s now located bystraggling remnantsof apple t r e e s . The buryinggroundwas on a hi l l easterly from the Cushinghouse, whichi s now marked by a lone headstone,the r

history of the town of carver massachuse

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