Bristol County, Massachusetts - Chapter 44, 1883

Chapter 44

Genealogical Notices of Some of the Early Settlers - List of Representatives of the Town from its Incorporation - Biographies of Daggett, Maxcy, Mann, May, Ide, and Others - List of Graduates in Brown University, etc. - Dr. Hebert Mann's Death, and Wreck of the Brig " General Arnold" - Miscellany - Topography, etc. - Character of Early Inhabitants - Their Condition, etc. - Conclusion.

Genealogy. - A brief genealogy of some of the earliest settlers in the town is annexed, which is intended to include, so far as I have been able to ascertain, the names of those who came into town previous to 1730, with the names of their children of the first generation (space not permitting me to extend it any further), and also the previous place of their settlement when known. This will not contain the names of many who have all either removed from town or whose families have become extinct. These sketches must necessarily be imperfect, from the defects in the records and the general neglect of most families to preserve any knowledge of their remote ancestry. The discovery of many of these facts connected with the history of our ancestors has been the result of fortunate accident.

1 The new boundaries established by this charter took from Massachusetts and annexed to Rhode Island a fine tract of land, including all Bristol County, R. I., Tiverton, Newport Co., and Cumberland, Providence Co. Cumberland comprised nearly half of the original town. Its area is about twenty-eight square miles, and, taken together, is an excellent tract of land. It is good for grain and orcharding, and especially for grass, which is cut in great abundance. Some parts of the town, however, are light and sandy. It was incorporated in 1746. It was previously called Attleborough Gore. It is well adapted to manufacturing purposes, having three streams, Abbott's Bun, Mill and Peter's Rivers, besides the Blackstone, which is its western boundary.

the lands which they had purchased ; but in process of time the cheapness of the land invited many emigrants from various parts of the colonies of Massachusetts and Plymouth, who either became shareholders or purchased rights.2

Allen, Nehemiah, sou of Isaac Allen (1st), of Rehoboth, married Anne Wilmarth, daughter of Thomas Wilmarth (2d), of that town, came to Attleborough about 1710. He had five children, viz., Isaac, John, Nehemiah, Daniel, Annie, who were born between the years 1711 and 1726.

Atwell, Richard, married Sarah Bolkcom, daughter of Alexander Bolkcom, had five children by her, - Sarah, Amos, Anne, Richard, Icbabod, 1728-39. His second wile was Mary Lawrence, by whom he had one son, William, born 1741.

Barrows, Benajah, ancestor of all of that name in this town. He came here about 1708 from Rehoboth, where he had resided for a short time. His wife was Lydia Bucklin, daughter of Joseph Bucklin, one of the early settlers of that town. Had nine children, - John, born in Rehoboth, 1707 ; Deborah, born 1711 ; Joseph, 1713; Nehemiah, 1715; Benjamin, March, 1717-18; Elijah, March, 1719-20; Lydia, 1722; Icbabod, 1724. He died Jan. 5, 1754.

Blackinton, Penticost, the ancestor of all the Blackingtons in town, came to Attleborough previous to 1702, from what place is not known. His wife's name was Mary. He had at least four children, - Penticost, Mary, Benjamin, who came with him, and Hepzibeth, who was born here December, 1702, and John and Penelope, twins, born 1705, and both died 1706. Penticost (1st) died Sept. 24, 1715. His son Penticost married Rebeccali Figgett, had eight children, - Penticost, born 1716; Rebeccah, born 1717; George, bom' 1720; Anne, born 1722; Mary, born 1724 ; Jubn, born 1727 ; Othniel, born 1729; Peter, born 1731.

Blanding, Obediah, came from Rehoboth, son of William Blauding, first of that name in Rehoboth, married Elizabeth Weeks, had five children, - Ephraim, Samuel, Obediah, Elizabeth, Mehitabel, 1719-27. Several others afterwards came here from that town, descendants of William (1st), viz., Daniel, Noah, Lamack, etc.

Bishop, William, appears to be the first, came from Beverly or Salem about 1703. His wife's name was Dorothy. He had eight children, - Edward, Elizabeth, William, Martha, Rebecca, Baily, Dorothy, John, 1701-15. His second wife was Tabitha Hadley, married 1719.

There were several others of this name, some of them, perhaps, brothers of the above, viz., Daniel, who married Elizabeth Brown, 1734; Samuel, married Mary ; Joseph, married Miriam Hodges; Thomas, who

Bolkcom, Alexander (1st), who came to Attleborough previous to 1692, from whom all in town are descended. He married Sarah Woodcock, daughter of John Woodcock, Sr., and had seven children, - William, born Sept. 3, 1692 ; Katharine, born Feb. 7, 1694 ; Alexander, born April 4, 1696 ; John, born April 29, 1699; Baruck, born June 12, 1702; Sarah, born Feb. 8, 1703-4 ; Joseph, born Feb. 23, 1705-6.

He died Jan. 31, 1727-28. His son William married Mary Tyler, Oct. 3, 1713 ; Alexander married Martha Obiuton, May 14, 1725 ; Baruck married Patience Blake; John married Mary Grover, by whom he had five children, and afterward Sarah Grover, by whom he had eight children ; Joseph married Mary Parminter, March 21, 1733-34.

Capron, Banfield, was the first of that name who came to this country From him all the Caprons in this vicinity are descended. The name of his first wife was Elizabeth. His children were Banfield, Joseph, Elizabeth Banfield (born Oct. 22, 1684), Edward, John, Jonathan (born March 10,1705-6), Sarah (born March 11, 1708-9).

His wife, Elizabeth, died March 10, 1735. He married, Dec. 16, 1735, Mrs. Sarah Daggett (relict of Deacon John Daggett), and died Aug. 25, 1752, at a very advanced age. He settled where the late Joab Daggett lived, and laid out the lands there. Tradition says he came to this country alone when he was quite a lad, as a cabin-boy, to seek his fortune.

Carpenter, Josiah, Noah, William, Obediah, etc., came to Attleborough from Rehoboth, and were all descendants of Samuel and William Carpenter, two of the earliest of that name in Rehoboth. William Carpenter was admitted an inhabitant of that town March 28, 1645. He was admitted a freeman of Massachusetts May 13, 1640.

- Usually new-comers, if they could not purchase a share in the undivided lands, bought a right to lay out a definite number of acres in a division already granted.

Noah was the son of William, of Rehoboth, horn March 28,1672, married Sarah Johnson, Dec. 3, 1700, by whom he had thirteen children - Noah, Miriam, Sarah, Stephen, Asa, Mary (born in Rehoboth), Margaret, Simon (died infant), Isaiah, Simon, Martha, Elisha, Amy. He married Kuth Follet, May, 1727, by whom he had one daughter, born May, 1728. Claflin (formerly McClaflin 1), Antipas, came here from Sudbury, Mass. Had three children after his arrival in this town, viz., Hepzeleth (born Nov. 17, 1717), Antipas and Ebenezer, twins (born Feb. 8. 1720-21). His wife's name was Sarah. Other sons probably came with him, Noah, Phinehas, etc.

Cutting. The first and only one of this name who came here was Aaron. His son, Aaron, Jr., married Ruth Pratt, 1749 (who died July 26, 1753), and for his second wife, Sarah Tucker, by both of whom he had nine children.

Daggett, John, ancestor of all the Daggetts here and in Connecticut, came to Attleborough from Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, about 1709, with his wife Sarah and nine children, four sons and five daughters, viz., Mayhew, Elienezer, Thomas, Napthali, Abigail (who married Ebenezer Guild, Oct. 12, 1714), Jane (married Caleb Hall, Nov. 9, 1721), Zilpha (married Nathaniel Robinson, July 18, 1721), Patience (married Noah Robinson, Oct. 4, 1723), Mary (married John Titus, Jan. 18, 1727-28), all of Attleborough. -

John the 1st, of Attleborough, was the son of Thomas Daggett, Esq., of Edgartown, who married Hannah, the oldest daughter of Governor Mayhew, and was brother to Thomas, Samuel, Joshua, Israil, Mercy.

Thomas, the father (who was brother of John the 1st, of Rehoboth), is supposed to be the son of John Daggett the 1st, who came to this country in 1630, and was settled in Watertown in 1642, and probably removed to Martha's Vineyard with Governor Mayhew when he settled the island in 1644. There is reason to believe that John the 1st, of Watertown, had a brother Thomas, who came to New England.

Day, Samuel, appears to be the first, came from Rehoboth. His wife was Priscilla. He had several children, - Samuel, Edward (born June 9, 1705), John (born Sept. 29. 1708), Priscilla (horn Nov. 22, 1711), Benjamin (bom in Attleborough, April 28, 1720), and perhaps others.

Foster, Alexander (another who came to town), whose wife's name was Suanna, had six children, - Elizabeth, Sarah, Alexander, Edward, Suanna, Jane, - from 1734 to 1746.

Freeman, David and Jonathan, inhabitants of Eehoboth, came to Attleborough, probably the ancestors of all the Freemans in this town. The name of David's wife was Mary. Some of his children were Ebenezer (born April 13, 1684), Hannah (born April 24, 1686), Margaret (born Feb. 9, 1688-89).

French, John, son of John French (1st), of Eehoboth, came from that town about 1710, married Martha Williams, had five children, - John (born in Behoboth), Ephraim and Martha (twins, died infants), Hannah, Samuel, 1709-14. His second wife was Abigail White, married May 23, 1728, by whom he had two children, - John (born 1729), Thomas (born 1730).

Thomas, brother of the preceding, also came from Behoboth, married Mary Brown, Jan. 5, 1720-21, had children, - Thomas, Christopher, Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Bridget, Sarah, Hannah, 1722-38. Fuller. This name is numerous. The first are not all known. One

1 Sometimes spelt Meclothlin, and in one place (B. N. P. Bee, p. 336) Mack Cleaulan, a proof of the variation which names undergo in the course of a few generations. Tradition says the family originated in Scotland.

2 By a recent research I am able to trace this family still further back, and give the result for the information of numerous descendants here and elsewhere.

was John, whose children were Ithaman, Abigail, John, Joduthan, Abial, Joanna, 1802-19. His second wife was Mary Follet, had one daughter Sarah, born 1721.

Guild, Ebenezer, came from Dedham, married Abigail Daggett, daughter of Deacon John Daggett (1st), 12th October, 1714, had several children, - Joseph, Naphtali, Ebenezer, 1716-22. John and Benjamin also came with him.

Hall, Edward and John, came from England, soon to Taunton, thence to Behoboth. Ephraim, sou of John, came to Attleborough. John was admitted freeman of Massachusetts 14th May, 1634; Edward, 2d May, 1638. John married Mary Newell, of Boxbury, 18th November, 1684. Edward died 27th November, 1670.

Ide, Nicholas, Lieut., son of Nicholas (1st), of Behoboth, who was there as early as April 9, 1645, was born November, 1654, married Mary Ormsby Dec. 27, 1628, had seven children, - Nathaniel, Jacob, Martha, Patience, John, Benjamin, 1678-93 (all born in Eehoboth), Nicholas (by his second wife, Eliza, horn in Attleborough, July 25, 1697). Nicholas, Sr., died 5th .June, 1723. Nathaniel died 14th March, 1702-3.

Ingraham, Joseph, Benjamin, Jeremiah, Elijah, descendants of Benjamin and of Jarrett, whose name is on the list of purchasers, came from Behoboth. Joseph married Mary Shenardson.

Maxcy, Alexander,3 came from Gloucester, Mass., with his family about 1721, settled on John Woodcock's farm and continued the public-house. His wife's name was Abigail. He died Sept. 20, 1723. His children were Alexander (who died April 2, 1724), Joseph, Josiah, Abigail (who married Jacob Hascall, of Gloucester), Mary (who married William Ware, May 4, 1726), Esther (who married Nehemiah Ward, Dec. 3, 172S), and Benjamin.

Josiah married Mary Everett, daughter of Joshua Everett, had eleven children. His second sou, Levi (whose wife was Ruth, daughter of Jacob Newell), was the father of Jonathan, Milton, and Virgil, graduates of Brown University, eminent in literary and professional life. Levi, another son, who possessed superior talents, though not liberally educa- I ted, died at the South.

Martin, John, Bobert, and Timothy, came from Behoboth. Timothy married Mary, daughter of John Fuller, then of Eehoboth, afterwards of Attleborough, had three children, - Timothy, Sarah, Abel.

Three of tliis name were admitted freemen Massachusetts, - Thomas Martin, 22d May, 1639 ; John and Bobert, 13th May, 1640. John settled in Behoboth.

Newell, Jacob, came here from Boxbury or Dorchester about 1715, bringiug with him his family of several sons, - Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, etc. Jason, born here Dec. 12, 1717. His wife's name was Joyce. He settled near the first meeting-house and bought a part of Willet's farm, and, according to tradition, distributed it among his seven sons, which still remains in seven divisions.

Peck, Hezekiah (sou of Nicholas Peck, of Behoboth), came to Attleborough about 1700, with his family ; married Deborah Cooper, of the former place, had 6even children, - Deborah, Judith, Hannah, Hezekiah, Rachel, born in Rehoboth ; Petronella, Perthenah, 1687-1711.

Several other Pecks came here from Rehoboth, viz , John and Elisha, brothers of Hezekiah ; Daniel and Ichabod, sons of Jathniel, who was the son of Joseph (1st).4

Mr. Joseph Peck and Mr. Robert Peck were admitted freemen Massachusetts March 13, 1638-39. Robert was ordained teacher at Hingham Nov. 8, 1638, and Oct. 27, 1641, returned to England with his family. Joseph's name appears on the Rehoboth records April 9, 1645. On his way from Hingham the following accident befell him:

Attle Borough

Read, Daniel, came from Behoboth about 171G, with five children, - Beriali, Ichabod, Hannah, Abigail, Esther, Daniel (died infant), 1707- 13. His first wife was Elizabeth Bosworth ; his second was Elizabeth Ide, by whom he had eight children, - Daniel, Noah, Elizabeth, Samuel, Abigail, Rachel, Benjamin, Thankful, 1716-34. '

Richards, Edward and Nathan, came from Dedham. From them are descended those of that name in this town. The first in Dedham was Edward, who was admitted freeman 1(341. - U'orlhiiititoH's Hist. Ded.

Richardson, Stephen, John, William, brothers, came to Attleborough. Stephen married Mary Brown. His children were Stephen, Seth (died), Mary, Abigail, Sarah, S>-th, Phebe, 1714-25.

Several others also came to this town, - Timothy, Francis, etc. Ezeki'el Richardson, Freeman Massachusetts May 18, 1631 : Samuel, May 2, 1638.

Nathaniel married /alpha (third daughter of Deacon John Daggett, 1st), July 18, 1721 ; had nine children, - Nathan, Nathaniel, George, Zilpha, Elizabeth, Elihu, Amos, Abigail, Margaret, 1722-39.

Noah married Patience (fourth daughter of John Daggett, 1st), Oct. 4,1722; had seven children, - Zephaniah, Mary, Elijah, William, Hilldab, Enoch, Comfort, 1723-40.

John married Thankful Newell and had several descendants. Timothy married Elizabeth Grant. Samuel married Mary Cooper, first wife; Mary Ide, second wife.

Stanley, Thomas, Nathaniel, Joseph, Samuel, Jacob, John came from Topsfield, Mass., and settled near the Falls. The last three were brothers. Thomas and Samuel were here iu 1707 ; Jacob came about 1717. Thomas married Mary Gould; had twelve children, - Thomas, Mary, Phebe, Nathaniel, Samuel, Daniel, David (died infant), Martha, William, Abigail, Priscilla, David.

Nathaniel married Sarah Blackinton. His children were Servian, Sarah, Hepzibeth, Abner, Amy, Sibula, Israel, Penticost, Anne, Nathaniel, 1721-44.

Starkey, Andrew, came here about 1708. His first wife was Mehitable Waite, by whom he had two children, - Mehitable, born May, 1709; John, born July, 1712. His second wife was Catharine, daughter of Alexauder Bolkcom, by whom he had three children, - Jemima, Andrew, Thomas, 1722-33. Andrew, Sr., died Aug. 16, 1740.

Sucet, Henry, was here about 1690, had five children, - John, Philip (died infant), Thomas, Michael (died infant), Dorothy. He was one of the earliest, if not the first, of that name. Died Dec. 8, 1704. Probably a descendant of John, admitted freeman 1641.

Sweetland, John, came from Marblehead with several others of that name. Three of his children were Benjamin, Deborah, Samuel, 1703- 11. He died June 9, 1711.

time. One Mr. Peck and three others of Hingham, being about with others to remove to Seaconk (which was concluded by the commissioners of the united colonies to belong to Plymouth), riding thither, they sheltered themselves and their horses in an Indian wigwam, which by some occasion took fire, and (although they were all four in it, and labored to their utmost, etc.) burnt three of their horses to death, and all their goods to the value of 50 pounds."

Nicholas, John, Joseph, Jr., are supposed to be sons of Mr. Joseph, who came with him to Rehoboth ; if this supposition be true, then all of the name are descended from him.

1 Thomas Read, admitted freeman Massachusetts April 1,1634; John, May 13, 1640 ; William, Dec. 14, 1638; Esdras, June 2, 1641. John and Thomas (perhaps sons of John) settled in Rehoboth, and were the ancestors of the numerous progeny of Reads in that town and Attleborough.

Samuel married Mary Capron, had eleven children, - Mary (died), Samuel (died), Moses, Samuel, Mary, Nathan, Huldah, Habijah and Elizabeth (twins), Ebenezer, Benjamin (died).

Wilkinson, John, came here about 1700, married Rachel Fales. His children were eight, - John, Joseph, Rachel, Mary, Hepzibeth, Abigail, Sarah, Hannah, 1702-23. He purchased Capt. Willett's share in the undivided lands, probably of his son Andrew. Died Jan. 24, 1724-25.

Wilmarth, Thomas,4 came to Attleborough about 1708, married Deborah Peck, had seven children, - Mary, Thomas, Deborah, Elizabeth, Anne, Ebenezer, Eliphalet, 1709-28.

Several other Wilmarths came from that town, - Samuel (son of Thomas (2d) of Rehoboth), Jonathan, Nathan, Stephen (sons of Jonathan, of that place), Daniel, etc.

It is not expected that the foregoing list includes all who came previous to that period. The names of the original ancestors of some could not be ascertained.

One name was omitted in its proper place. Bourne, Andrew, came (it is supposed from Great Britain) to Attleborough about 1720, and settled in the east part of the town. All of that name in this vicinity are descended from him.

4 Grandson of Thomas Wilmarth, Sr., who came into Rehoboth as early as March 28, 1645, with his wife and children. This name was anciently spelled Wilmot.

5 The reader will perceive that no representative was chosen during the first fourteen years after the incorporation. The reason is given in the extracts from the town records.

6 Sou of Mr. John Brown, of Rehoboth (well known in the history of the Old Colony), came here (1709) from Kingston, R. I., to which he had removed about 1702. In this list the titles generally given, according to the custom of the times, are retained as they appear on record.

Biographical Sketches. - Rev. Naphtali Daggett, D.D., president of Yale College, was the son of Ebenezer Daggett and Mary, his wife, and was born in Attleborough (at the residence of the late Ebenezer Daggett, Esq.), Sept. 8, 1727. He was the second son among eight children. His father dying while he was yet young, he was left under the direction of a mother, who was, however, in every respect peculiarly qualified to discharge the duties which devolved .upon her. He soon after commenced studies preparatory to college. Rev. Solomon Reed became acquainted with him while he was a youth, and forming a high opinion of his talents took him under his patronage, and advised and assisted him in preparing for college. He entered Yale College in 1744, and graduated in 1748, at the age of twenty-one. He was distinguished during his college life for industry and close application.

his settlement on Long Island he married Miss Sarah Smith, daughter of the third Richard Smith, Dec. 19, 1753, by Rev. Ebenezer Prime. She was born Sept. 16 (O. S.), 1728, and died at New Haven, March 25, 1772, aged forty-three years and six months. He says in his memorandum, which the author has, that he was dismissed from his pastoral charge at Smithtown, Nov. 6, 1755, for the purpose of removing to Yale College. In September, 1755, he was elected the first Professor of Divinity in Yale College, which was denominated the Livingston Professorship of Divinity ; this appointment he accepted, and removed to New Haven, and was inducted into office on the 4th of March following, 1756.1 This office he held during the remainder of his life. After the resignation of Mr. Clap, Sept. 10, 1756, he officiated as president till April 1, 1777, about eleven years, when he resigned the office, but still continued to hold that of Professor of Divinity. The learned Dr. Stiles was his successor in the presidency. Rev. Payson Williston says of him, " President Daggett was one of my father's intimate friends. His social qualities were such as to render him more than ordinarily attractive. The college was eminently prosperous under his presidency."

Dr. Stiles delivered a sermon on his death. It is a remarkable circumstance that Dr. Daggett and Dr. Stiles each delivered a funeral sermon on his immediate predecessor.

During the barbarous attack on New Haven by the British army, in July, 1779, he took an active part in the defense of the country, and was distinguished for his resolution and intrepidity.2 He was taken prisoner,

1 The foundation of this professorship was laid in 1746 by a donation from the Hon. Philip Livingston, of New York, and having received a cons derable addition by another donation from Mr. Gershom Clark, of Lebanon, with some appropriations by the cnllege, it afforded a sufficient salary for the support of such an office, which was accordingly established in 1755. A house for the use of the incumbent was erected by subscription, and finished in 1758.

2 He had made himself obnoxious by bis open and active opposition to the British cause. He had often inculcated upon the students under his charge - in the pulpit and in the lecture-room - the duty of resistance to British oppression. He had therefore incurred the special displeasure of the invaders. He had openly preached and prayed against the success of their cause. He knew no difference between preaching and practicing, and when the crisis came he carried his own principles into action. He shouldered his musket and went into the field with the rest to repel the invaders. He was taken prisoner by the enemy. They beat and bruised him, and offered him every indignity in their power. His clerical character in their eyes was no exemption from the most outrageous abuses. They demanded of him what he was doing, and who he was; he unhesitatingly replied, "Exercising the rights of war. lam Naphtali Daggett, of Yale College. I demand of you to release me." But they refused, and detained him as a prisoner, ami marched him back to New Haven, nearly dead with the wounds and abuse be bad received, and from which he never fully recovered.

He was at first left for dead. He was saved by the intrepidity of the lady into whose house he had l>een conveyed. After the British had retired, an officer and a file of soldiers were sent back to convey him a prisoner on board their transports. They came to the house and inquired for him, and were answered by the lady (who appeared at the door, and resolutely refused to admit them) that he was so badly wounded it would be impossible to convey him on board alive " My orders," said the officer, "are positive to take him with me." " But you would and came near losing his life. Dr. Daggett died (in consequence of the wounds he had received on that occasion) Nov. 25, 1780, at the age of fifty-three. He presided over the university about eleven years, and held the office of Professor of Divinity twenty-five years. Possessed of a strong, clear, and comprehensive mind, he applied himself with assiduity and success to the various branches of knowledge, particularly to the learned languages and divinity. Dr. Holmes, in his life of President Stiles, says, " He was a good classical scholar, well versed in moral philosophy, and a learned divine." He received the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity from Yale College, and in 1771 the degree of S.T.D. from Harvard College. He published a sermon on the death of President Clap, 1767 ; another delivered at the ordination of Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin, 1770 ; a third delivered at the ordination of Rev. J. Howe, 1773; a funeral sermon on the death of Job Lane, a tutor in the college, 1768.

Col. John Daggett, an elder brother of the preceding, born Sept. 2, 1724 or 1725, was one of the principal public characters and leading men of the town, especially during the trying period of the Revolution. He and Col. May were the two on whom the town placed the utmost reliance. He was possessed of a strong and sound mind, and was marked by a resolute and decided character. He was a Puritan in the plainness and simplicity of his manners, and was a firm friend to the civil institutions and republican customs of New England. His wife was Mercy Shepard, daughter of the centenarian, John Shepard, then of Wrentham, afterwards of Foxborough.

He was commissioned one of his Majesty's justices of the peace under the provincial government before the Revolution. He took an early and decided stand (with many other patriotic citizens of this town) in the commencement of those proceedings which produced the Revolution. He was a member of the Provincial Congress which assembled at Cambridge. For a long succession of years he was elected a member of the Legislature, and was also a member of the convention which formed the constitution. He was generally called to serve on the most important committees which were raised in town-meeting to consider the many difficult subjects which were then brought before the people during and subsequent to the Revolution. Col. Daggett commanded the regiment from the county of Bristol, both in Spencer's and Sullivan's expeditions on Rhode Island, in 1777 and 1779.

At home he was extensively employed as a survivor, ami was engaged in various other kinds of public business, such as the ordinary transactions of life require between citizens. He died universally respected Jan. 20, 1803, at the age of seventy-nine.

not surely carry away a dying man : lie is now in the agonies of death." After repeated demands and refusals, the officer finally determined to return ami report the case to his superior and ask for further orders. But he never came hack after his prisoner.

A third brother, Dr. Ebenezer Daggett, was a respectable physician, who settled in Wrentham village, where he acquired an extensive practice. He married Miss Susanna Metcalf, daughter of Timothy Metcalf, Esq., of Wrentham, May 25, 1758, by whom he had several children.

His son, Rev. Herman Daggett, graduated at Brown University in 1788, and pursued his professional studies with Dr. Emmons, of Franklin. He was settled in the ministry on Long Island. While there he was pastor first at Southampton. He was there settled in 1791, and in the course of a few years he removed to the parish of Middletown, in the town of Brookhaven, supplying a part of the time the church at Fireplace. This was in 1801. He married Miss Sarah Mathewson, of Providence, who died Nov. 20, 1843. During the eighteen years he resided on Long Island he made four changes. One in giving his character says of him, "Mr. Daggett was a man of sterling talents, respectable acquirements, and peculiar excellence of character. To all his other acquirements as a scholar he added singular neatness of person and an exact, systematic arrangement of all his various duties. He was remarkably dignified in his manners and circumspect in his deportment. All his traits of character are comprehended in Dr. Beecher's remark ' that he was just a fit man to preach to ministers.' " He died May 19, 1832. He was the first principal and teacher of the Indian mission school at Cornwall, and afterwards removed to Ridgefield, Conn., and finally to Cornwall, where he died.

Dr. Bezaleel Mann, a well-known and worthy physician of this town, deserves a notice in these sketches. He was a descendant of Rev. Samuel Mann, the first minister of Wrentham. He studied his profession with Dr. Hewes, of Foxborough, and commenced business in this town some time previous to 1750. Dr. Mann had the reputation of being a skillful physician, and had acquired an extensive circle of practice. His character is justly portrayed in his epitaph, -

" Bezaleel Mann mort die Octo. tert. 1796, an setat. 74. Early imhued with the principles of moral rectitude, he sustained through the diversified concerns of a long and active life the character of an honest man. As a physician, In- commanded, during the period of near 50 years that unlimited confidence and respect which talents alone can inspire. The features of his mind were sketched by the glowing pencil of nature, filled up with qualities that adorn humanity, and shaded with lew infirmities the frequent attendants ou mental excellence.

" Bebe Mann,1 his wife, mort. die Octo. tert. 1793, a-tat. 61. She was a person of bright genius, of few winds, and much reserved in mind. From early youth she marked all her paths with virtue, and timely took the advice Christ gave to his disciples, and made to herself a friend of the mammon of an righteousness, and when she failed could with Christian confidence say that her witness was in heaven and her reward on high.

Dr. Mann had several sons who entered the professions. His son Preston, who was a physician, was graduated at Brown University, and settled in Newport, R. I., where he was living in 1834. Another son, John Milton, was also a graduate at Brown University, became a physician, and removed to the State of New York, where he was drowned in attempting to cross the river Hudson. His daughter Eunice married one of his students, Dr. Seth Capron, of this town, who, with another son, Newton, removed to the State of New York, where they were living, 1833. His second son, Herbert, was educated a physician, and entered as surgeon on board the privateer " General Arnold," Capt. Magee, and was lost in that terrible storm which ensued in Plymouth Harbor, Dec. 26, 1778. The stone which is here erected to his memory contains the following epitaph :

"In memory of doctor Herbert Mann, who, with 119 sailors, with Capt. James Magee, master, went on board the brig General Arnold, in Boston Harbor, 25th Dec, 1778, hoisted sail, made for sea, and were immediately overtaken by the most tremendous snow storm with cold, that was ever known in the memory of man, and, unhappily, parted their cable in Plymouth harbor, in a place called the Cow-yards, and he, with about 100 others, was frozen to death ; sixty-six of whom were buried in one grave. He was in the 21st year of his age. And now Lord God Almighty, just and true are all thy ways, but who can stand before thy cold?"

In Dr. Thacher's " History of Plymouth" is found a graphic description of this most terrific storm and awful wreck known in history, which seems unparalleled in human suffering:

" In 1778, December 26th, 27th, the inhabitants of this town were called to witness a catastrophe truly appalling to humanity. The brig ' General Arnold,' mounting twenty guns, having a crew of one hundred and five men and boys, commanded by Capt. James Magee, of Boston, sailed from that port on Thursday, 24th of December, bound on a cruise. On Friday anchored off Plymouth Harbor, being destitute of a pilot. In the night, a heavy gale, drove on the White Flat. She soon filled with water, and it became necessary to cut away the masts. Unfortunately, a great disturbance was occasioned by intoxication among some of the seamen in the steerage, which was with difficulty quelled by the officers. A tremendous storm of wind and snow came on, and a considerable number of men died on Saturday afternoon and in the night. Three men, not of the crew, being on board, took the yawl and passed eight or ten rods to the ice, and were taken on hoard a schooner that was frozen in. Had the boat been returned as promised many lives would have been saved.

"Sunday morning the vessel was seen in a most distressful situation, enveloped in ice and snow, and the whole shore was frozen to a solid body of ice, the winds and waves raging with such dreadful violence that no possible relief could be afforded to the miserable sufferers. The inhabitants made every effort to reach the wreck in boats, but were obliged to put back, although aware that the seamen were in the arms of death, and when the miserable victims on board saw the boats returning, leaving them in a condition of utter hopelessness, their spirits were appalled, and numbers were seen to fall dead on the deck.

" On Monday the inhabitants passed over the ice to the wreck. Here was presented a scene unutterably awful and distressing. It is scarcely possible for the human mind to conceive of a more appalling spectacle. The ship was sunk ten feet in the sand ; the waves had been for about thirty-six hours sweeping the main deck ; the men had crowded to the quarterdeck, and even here they were obliged to pile together dead bodies to make room for the living. Seventy dead bodies, frozen into all imaginable postures, were strewn over the deck or attached to the shrouds and spars; about thirty exhibited signs of life, but were unconscious whether in life or death. The bodies remained in the posture in which they died, the features dreadfully distorted ; some were erect, some bending forward, some sitting with the head resting on the knees, and some with both arms extended, clinging to spars or some parts of* the vessel. The few survivors and the dead bodies were brought over the ice on sleds and boards, and the dead were piled on the floor of the court-house, exhibiting a scene calculated to impress even the most callous heart with deep humility and sorrow. It has been said that the Rev. Mr. Robbins fainted when called to perform the funeral ceremonies. Those bodies that were to be deposited in coffins were first put into the town book ; a considerable number were seen floating on the water fastened by ropes, that their form might be made to conform to the coffin, but about sixty were thrown into a large pit as they were taken from the vessel. This pit is in a hollow on the southwest side of the burial-ground, and remains without a stone. The greater part of those who were found alive expired soon after. Capt. Magee survived, and performed several profitable voyages afterwards. He abstained entirely from drinking ardent spirits, but was of opinion that he was greatly benefited by putting rum into his boots. Those who drank rum were the more immediate victims, several being found dead in the very spot where they drank it.

" A man named Downs, belonging to Barnstable, was apparently dead, but on being seen to move his eyelids was put into a vessel of cold water for several hours, by which he was resuscitated, but with the most exquisite pain. He lost both of his feet, but lived many years after. Among those who perished were Dr. Mann, of Attleborough ; Dr. Sears, Capt. John Russell, of Barnstable, commander of the marines, and Lieut. Daniel Hall. The last two were buried in one grave on the south side of the burialhill."1

1 It should be observed that when persons are exposed to intense cold there is always a propensity to sleep, but the moment it is indulged it becomes the sleep of death. - Dr. Thacher's Plymouth, 216.

There was one Marchant from the Vineyard, who survived with crippled feet. He was employed many years in the registry of deeds and probate offices in Dukes County. He was living in 1830.

Hon. Elisha May was a distinguished citizen of this town, who was often employed in public office, and whose name is still held in reverence by those who remember him. Courteous and gentlemanly in his manners, and honorable and upright in his principles, he was universally esteemed. Intelligent and active in business, he was well qualified to fulfill the various offices to which he was elected. He discharged the various. duties which devolved upon him with ability and entire satisfaction to his constituents. He was, in fine, one of the most valuable citizens of this town. He died Nov. 15, 1811, in the seventythird year of his age. His character is justly though briefly described by one who was personally acquainted with him. The following extract is from a discourse delivered at his interment by the Rev. John Wilder, then the pastor of the First Congregational Church in this town :

" His memory will lung be precious, not only to his near relatives and friends, but likewise to his intimate acquaintances, to his neighbors, to the religious society in this place, and to the inhabitants of the town, for he is the man whom his fellow-citizens have delighted to honor. Nor was he unworthy theirrespect and confidence; for, blessed with a sound mind, a retentive memory, a quick discernment of men and things, a polite address, an honest heart, and an education considerably above mediocrity, he was singularly qualified for public employment of various kinds. And his worth was early discovered, for at the time of the Revolutionary war he was an active and useful member both in the military and civil departments. Since that period he was employed, without opposition, as a legislator or a counselor until he chose to retire. For about twenty-seven years in succession, one excepted, he was called to a seat in the Legislature, and chiefly in the Upper House. For almost forty years together he has been moderator of the town-meetings in this place, in which office he was equaled by few and exceeded by none. He had the honor of being an elector of the President of the United States. As a magistrate, throughout the commonwealth he did much business, and to very general satisfaction. He was justly celebrated, both at home and abroad, for his wisdom in adjusting and settling differences between contending parties. As a politician, he was a friend and disciple of Washington; as a man, he was prepossessing and engaging; as a friend, he was faithful and constant; as a neighbor, he was kind and obliging; as a husband, he was attentive and tender; as a parent, he was pleasant and affectionate ; as to his religion, he was a firm believer in the Christian system, and a very constant, attentive, and apparently devout attender on public worship all his life."

David Daggett was son of Thomas Daggett and Elizabeth Blake. He was born in Attleborough, Dec. 31, 1764. He was a direct descendant of that John Daggett who emigrated in Winthrop's company in 1630, and of the John Daggett who came to Attleborough from the Vineyard in 1707. He fitted for college, and entered Yale at the age of sixteen, in the junior class, two years in advance, and graduated in 1783 with high honors.

He commenced his legal studies with Charles Chauncy, Esq., of New Haven. In January, 1786, he was admitted to the bar, and settled in that city, where he ever afterwards made his home. He was elected tutor in the college, but declined the appointment in order to devote himself to his profession.

In 1791 he was elected a representative from New Haven to the General Assembly, and was the youngest member, and was re-elected successively for six years. In 1794, three years after his first election, he was chosen Speaker, at the age of twenty-nine. In 1797 he was transferred to the Senate, and retained his seat there for seven years in succession.

In 1813 he was elected United States senator, and filled the office with distinguished ability. At the end of his term he returned to his practice in New Haven. In 1824 he was connected with Judge Hitchcock in the law school there, and in 1826 he was appointed Kent Professor of Law in Yale College. These positions he held till his advanced years induced him to resign.

In 1826, Yale College bestowed on him the honorary degree of LL.D. In May, 1826, at the age of sixty-two, he was chosen judge of the Superior Court of that State, and in May, 1832, lie was appointed its chief justice.

He died April 12, 18j>l, at the age of eighty-six years, three months, and twelve days, honored and beloved for his great abilities, his public services, and his social qualities.

Rev. Jonathan Maxcy, S. T. D., president of Rhode Island, Union, and Columbia Colleges, was one of the most eminent pulpit orators of this country. He was born in this town, Sept. 2, 1768. He prepared for college in the school of the Rev. William Williams, of Wrentham, which was'then the most celebrated institution in the vicinity, and the resort of a great many young men for the pursuit of classical studies. He graduated at Brown University in 1787, and was immediately appointed a tutor. He was ordained pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence Sept. 8, 1791, and at the same time was appointed the first Professor of Divinity in that college.1 After the death of President Manning he was unanimously elected president, a.d., at the early age of twenty-four! He presided over this university for eleven years, with distinguished success and with a splendid reputation for eloquence and learning. His administration was marked by mildness, urbanity, and dignity. Under his guardianship the university acquired a distinguished name for oratory. Guided by his fostering genius it sent forth a constellation of eloquent and accomplished speakers, who have shone in various departments of public life, and whose eloquence has been felt in the pulpit, at the bar, and in the halls of legislation, many of whom have acquired a national renown. He was peculiarly fitted to stamp impressions of his own character on the minds of those around him, and to infuse his own spirit into theirs. He acquired a salutary influence over the youth committed to his charge. He imbued their hearts with a taste for literature and with a love of truth and moral beauty, and excited in their bosoms the most ardent aspirations after excellence. He knew well how to kindle and fan the flame of genius. His memory is cherished by all his pupils with peculiar affection and gratitude. In speaking of the university it has been truly said that he was one "whose name and fame are identified with its reputation, and whose mingled mildness, dignity, and goodness equaled only by his genius, learning, and eloquence, subdued all envy, made all admirers friends, and gave him an irresistible sway over the minds of those placed under his care." *

Though accomplished in every department of learning, he was distinguished more particularly as a belles-lettres scholar. His oratory was in some respects peculiar. There was nothing in it like rant or affectation, no appearance of that popular declamation which is so often employed to captivate the multitude. There was apparently no attempt in it to produce effect, no labored display, but everything appeared easy, natural, and unstudied. It was deep, impassioned, but not declamatory. His voice was not naturally powerful, but he had it perfectly under his control through all its intonations. He usually commenced in a calm and moderate tone, but grew warmer and more animated as he advanced in his discourse, and gradually and imperceptibly gained upon the attention and feelings of his hearers, until every one present was wholly engrossed upon the subject of the speaker. Indeed, he himself seemed completely absorbed in his own subject, and by the influence of sympathy carried his audience with him.

His delivery was remarkably expressive. ' Every sentiment he uttered came from the heart and vibrated through his whole frame. Every cord and muscle was an echo to his soul. His elocution was full of grace; yet his power was not in this, it was in the life, the soul, which he infused into his voice, his gestures, and his countenance, all expressive and harmonious. His eloquence was at once graceful and forcible. In a word, he had in perfection what Demosthenes called action.

He did not neglect to cultivate the minor graces of elocution. He never made a prayer or delivered anything in public, extempore, even on the most ordinary occasions, in which every sentence and every word were not accurately arranged and in their right place. Though his voice was naturally feeble, it was able to occupy a large compass, and every word and every syllable he uttered, in the largest audience, fell distinctly on the ear of the most distant auditor.

He was also a native of Attleborough, and a brother of President Maxcy. He settled in Maryland, held the office of Solicitor of the Treasury, and was killed by the explosion on board the United States steamer "Princeton."

The following extract will show the estimation in which he was held at the South. It was written but a short time previous to his death, and contains a brief but lively description of the impressive effects of his eloquence, even when his powers were impaired by advancing age and feeble health.

"Columbia, 6th July, 1819. " Last Sunday we went to hear Dr. Maxcy. It being the 4th of July, it was a discourse appropriate to that eventful period. I had always been led to believe the Doctor an eloquent and impressive preacher, but had no idea till now that he possessed such transcendent powers. I never heard such a stream of eloquence. It flowed from his lips even like the oil from Aaron's head. Every ear was delighted, every heart was elated, every bosom throbbed with gratitude. Such appropriate metaphor! such grand, such sublime descriptions! such exalted ideas of Deity ! and delivered with all the grace, the force, the elegance of a youthful orator! I was sometimes in pain lest this good old man should outdo himself and become exhausted, but as he advanced in his discourse he rose in animation, till at length he reached heights the most sublime, and again descended with the same facility with which he soared. So tar as I can judge (and your partiality, I know, will allow me to be no mean critic) there was not heard the slightest deviation from the most correct enunciation and grammatical arrangement; all the powers of art seemed sub-ervient to his absolute control. In short, I never heard anything to compare to Dr. Maxcy's sermon in all the course of my life, and, old as I am, I would now walk even twenty miles through the hottest sands to listen to such another discourse I am persuaded I shall never hear such another in this life.'"

His most celebrated performance while he presided over Brown University, regarded as a specimen of pulpit oratory, was his sermon on the existence and attributes of God, delivered at Providence in 1795, which is frequently spoken of even at this day, and produced at the time the most lively and striking effect on the audience. Those who heard it will never forget it. The impression it produced was the result in a great degree of the manner of its delivery. Such a brilliant effort of eloquence has seldom been witnessed in any house of public worship. This discourse, though enlivened by a bold, luxuriant, and brilliant imagination, and a loftiness of conception, is yet characterized by his usual neatness and simplicity of language. Indeed, in his highest flights his style of writing was always remarkable for a pure English idiom and a classical simplicity of language. In fine, he was an eloquent orator and a learned scholar.

In 1802, Dr. Maxcy resigned the presidency of Brown University, and accepted that of Schenectady, N. Y., where he remained till the establishment of the new college in Columbia, S. C, in 1804, of which he was appointed the first president, and immediately removed to that place, where he continued till the day of his death, June 4, 1820, at the age of fiftytwo. He was appointed to the office of president the youngest, and presided the longest, in proportion to his years, of any person in this country. He was connected with some college, either as student or officer, nearly thirty-eight out of the fifty-two years of his life. "

His wife was Susan Hopkins, a daughter of Commodore Esick Hopkins, of Providence, by whom he had several daughters and four sons, all of whom have been liberally educated.

He published a discourse on the death of President Manning, 1792; a sermon on the existence of God, demonstrated from the works of creation, 1795. His published sermons and addresses were numerous. A collection of his writings, in one volume, was published in 1844 by Rev. Dr. Romeo Elton, formerly professor in Brown University. A selection was republished in England.

This is necessarily a brief and, I fear, an imperfect sketch. It requires an abler pen than mine to portray the amiable and brilliant character of Maxcy, and to do justice to his splendid talents as an orator. Those only who knew him in the meridian of life, and who have seen and felt the power of his eloquence, can give an adequate description. His memory demands a tribute of filial affection from some one of his many distinguished pupils, who are so deeply indebted to his example and instructions for the eminence which they now enjoy in public life.

Hon. Ebenezer Daggett, who died recently while a member of the Senate from Bristol district, affords the example of a life worthy of imitation by his fellow-citizens. He was the youngest son of Col. Daggett, whose life has been previously noticed, and was born April 16, 1763. Few men in this town have devoted so large a portion of their time to the public service. He held a commission of the peace for nearly thirty years, and honorably discharged its most important duties. He served the town at various times in the capacity of selectman, and town clerk upwards of twenty years. He represented the town several years in the General Court. A large part of the last thirty years of his life was occupied in some public employment. In various ways he rendered himself serviceable to his fellow-citizens. In the spring of 1831 he was elected a member of the Senate for this district. At the succeeding November election he was rechosen to the same office, and while in the discharge of the honorable and responsible duties of this station, he was called by the order of Providence to close his life, at Boston, on the 4th of March, 1832, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.

The following remarks on the character of the deceased are extracted from a funeral discourse delivered at Attleborough, 22d April, 1832, by Rev. Mr. Ferguson :

" Where is that venerated husband and father, that highly-esteemed and useful citizen, win. scarce four months ago stood bending under the bereavement of Providence, an unexpected yet quiet and submissive mourner1 in the house of the Lord? Alas! he has gone down to the grave unto his son, mourning. The last opportunity which I enjoyed of conversing with our departed friend was on the eve of his leaving home to attend to his official duties in the Legislature as a member of the Senate. I mention this circumstance because it was then abundantly evident that those official honors which are generally sought as the rewards of successful competition may come to be regarded as a burden rather than an honorable distinction. During our conversation he lamented that official duties obliged him at such a time to leave home, anil to mingle in scenes so foreign to the state of his mind. He regretted that the choice of the people had not fallen upon somo other candidate, and remarked that such scenes were better adapted to gratify those who were young and aspiring than the aged ami afflicted. It is known to you all that from that tour of duty he never returned. To an observer it must have been evident that to commune with his own heart, to mingle his sympathies with those of his family, and to prepare himself for his own great change would have been more congenial to his mind than the balls of legislation and the investigation of our political relations. In his ease, moreover, political employments had long ceased to be a novelty. He was emphatically a public man_ Twenty years of his life had been occupied in superintending the interests of the town. Twice he was elected to the Senate, and perhaps no man among us has been more called upon to administer upon the estates of the deceased, and to act as the guardian of the orphan. The general character which he sustained through life was that of uniformity, uprightness, and moderation. In the hottest strife of parties, although a public and a decided man, he never could be regarded as a partisan. He had been an actor, and in some respects a public character from the time of the Revolution, but through all the changes of the eventful times in which he lived, he continued to the last to stand forth before his fellow-citizens in the character of an honest, upright, and consistent man.

"His last sickness commenced on the 23d of February. lie had the day before, in apparent health, attended the centennial celebration of the birth of Washington, and walked in procession with the other members of the Senate, but all beyond was his dying sickness. Early on the succeeding morning he was violently attacked with a fever, which terminated in death on the 4th of March.

" I have felt it my duty, in view of bis public character, to enter into details which in other circumstances might have been inexpedient. In the relations of life, in his intercourse between man and man, in the maintenance of a character for uniformity, uprightness, and self-possession, his works praise him, and he is with us for an example."

There were many other worthy and useful citizens who deserve commemoration in this place, who, though dead, yet live in their works. But at this distance of time it is difficult to ascertain the peculiar traits of their character and the events of their lives. The retired but useful employments in which they were engaged, and the " even tenor of their lives" supply but few prominent incidents for the pen of the biographer. The sketches already given afford a respectable list of public men for a country town like this.

A List Of The Graduates At Brown University From This Town

1787. Jonathan Maxcy, S.T.D., son of Levi Maxcy ; born Sept. 2, 1708 ; president of Providence College, Union, Schenectady, N. V., and Columbia College, S. C ; died at the latter place June 4, 1820, aged fifty-two.

1789. Paul Draper, A.M., son of Stephen Draper; born Sept. 19, 1767 ; entered on board an American man-of-war, and was never after heard of.

1790. Aaron Draper, son of Josiah Draper; born Nov. 29, 1764; never studied a learned profession ; settled in Providence, R. I., where he died.

1803. Jason Sprague, A.M., son of John Sprague; was for some time preceptor of the High School in Newport, R. I.; died in the United States army.

1873. Alvin Grover Sauler, educated a lawyer ; not now in practice. 1876. David Emory Holman, M.D. 1876. Edward Otis Stanley. 1880. Richard Bartlett Esten.

Rev. J. N. Cushing, D.D., son of Alpheus Cushing, a native of this town and a graduate of Brown University in 1802, was a member, and ordained here a foreign missionary to India, and continues in the active and successful duties of his mission.

There have been graduates from this town at several of the other New England colleges. A full list of their names has not been obtained. Among them was John Barrows, who graduated 1766 at Harvard College ; was son of John Barrows. He married his wife in Cambridge, and settled as a schoolmaster in Dighton, Mass., where he died.

At Yale College, in 1748, Naphtali Daggett, of whom a sketch has been already given. In 1762, Philip Daggett, brother of the last named ; was born Sept. 11, 1739; he settled and died in New Haven. Henry Daggett, who graduated at Yale College in 1771, son of Elder Elihu Daggett, was born April 9, 1741 ; settled at New Haven, where he was at first a merchant, subsequently police magistrate, alderman of the city, etc. He died Aug. 11, 1830. In 1783 graduated the Hon. David Daggett, LL.D., the present distinguished and learned chief justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. He was formerly a senator of the United States, and has been for several years Professor of Law in Yale College, etc.

In 1761 graduated Rev. Pelatiah Tingley, A.M., son of Timothy Tingley. He was a Baptist preacher, and was settled in Sanford, Me. About 1780 he became a seceder from the prevailing sect of Baptists, and was the first minister who united with Elder Benjamin Randall, the founder of the new sect, usually denominated Arminian or Free-Will Baptists, who rejected the leading doctrines of Calvinism.1

Names of Several Former Physicians in Attleborough. - Dr. Joseph Daggett, of Rehoboth ; Dr. Joseph Hewes, Dr. Abijah Everett, Dr. Bezeliel Mann, Dr. Richard Bowen, of Rehoboth ; Dr. Joseph Bacon, Dr. Comfort Fuller, son of Noah Fuller; Dr. Comfort Capron, surgeon in the Revolutionary war; Dr. Thomas Stanley, Dr. Phineas Savery.

Miscellaneous, Topography, Statistics, etc. - This town was incorporated in 1694. It derived its name, without doubt, from the town of Attleborough, in Norfolk County, England, whence probably some of our early inhabitants emigrated to America, and settled first at Hingham or Weymouth, thence removed to Rehoboth, and afterwards became purchasers and settlers of this town, and, in remembrance of their native place, selected this name. This origin of the name is confirmed by the circumstance that in the English town there is a river called Bungay, of about the same size as the one of the same name in this town.

At the time of the incorporation it contained upwards of thirty families, which, if we assumed only six as the number in each family (which is probably too low for that period), would make 180 inhabitants. In 1790 the town contained 2166 inhabitants; in 1800, 2480 ; in 1810, 2716 ; in 1820, 3055; and at the last census, in 1830, 3215, exclusive of twelve families, containing about fifty persons, which, since 1820, have been set off to Wrentham by the establishment of a new boundary between the towns, or rather by restoring it to the ancient line. It has already appeared that there was for many years a dispute between Massachusetts and Plymouth respecting the dividing line of the two colonies. It was a straight line from Bound Rock, in the middle of Accord Pond, on the line between the towns of Scituate and Cohasset, to a point on the Rhode Island boundary, " three English miles south of the southernmost part of Charles River." The commissioners in running the line on one occasion found their course quite a distance south of the true line ; therefore, they marked a great white-oak-tree, called "the Angle Tree," and there changed the course farther north, and thus ran to the intended point. This was not a straight line, and it cut off a large quantity of land from the Old Colony. It is now of no practical consequence, but only a matter of historical curiosity. At this station a stone monument has since been erected by authority of the Legislature, under the directions of Attleborough and Wrentham, with the following inscription : On the north is written " Massachusetts Colony ;" on the south, " Plymouth Colony."

"This Monument by order of Government to perpetuate the place on which the late Station or Angle Tree formerly stood. Lemuel Rossick, Esq., was appointed agent to cause this monument to be erected. By order of the General Court.

" The selectmen of the towns of Wrentham and Attleborough were present, viz., Elisha May, Ebenezer Tyler, and Caleb Richardson, Esqs., of Attleborough ; and Samuel Fisher, John Whiting, Nathan Hawes, Nathan Comstock, and Nathaniel Ware, of Wrentham. From this stone the line is east twenty degrees and a half north to Accord Pond.

The whole area of the town, according to a survey ordered by the Legislature, is twenty-nine thousand acres; by valuation, twenty-six thousand. When Attleborough included Cumberland it must have contained sixty thousand acres.

Number acres of woodland, 2158 ; fresh meadow, 1767; tillage lands, including orchards, 1205; pasture lands, 4703; unimproved and unimprovable1 land, 12,740; covered with water, 360 acres.

1 This is a large estimate, doubtless more than truth will warrant. There is strictly but little land in this town which is absolutely unim-

Rivers. - They are worthy of notice not so much for their size as for the valuable water privileges which they afford, and which are now occupied for manufacturing purposes. There are several streams of water in this town, the principal of which is the Ten-Mile River. It rises in the southerly part of Wrentham, on the farm of Mr. John Fuller, and running in a southerly course through this town and through Seekonk, empties into Seekonk Cove, an arm of the Narragansett. Its length in this town is thirteen miles ; its whole length is about twenty-five miles. Its average width is two rods and a half.

There is another stream of considerable size called the Seven-Mile River, which crosses the road near Newell's Tavern, and bearing a southerly direction unites with the Ten-Mile River a little above Kent's factory, near the line of Pawtucket. Its length is about ten miles.

Another small stream, called Abbott's Run,2 rises in the northeasterly part of Cumberland, and crossing the line several times between that town and this, falls into the Blackstone River just below the Valley Falls.

The third or fourth in size is Bungay (or sometimes Bungee) River, which has its source in the northerly part of the town, near Mansfield line, a little below the Witch Pond, and after a journey of about five miles over an unusually level bed, falls into the Ten- Mile River nearly in the centre of the town, between the Farmers' and Mechanics' factories. Originating in a number of springs, it is an unfailing stream at all seasons of the year. This pond (as it is called) is an extensive quagmire, including about fifteen acres, only a small part of which is covered with water. It is rather singular in its appearance, and may be justly considered a curiosity. A hard bottom has never been discovered in any part of it. In some places it will at first bear the weight of a man, but if he stands for a time he will gradually sink till he is unable to extricate himself.

The topography of the town contains nothing peculiar, and it is therefore needless to. enlarge upon it, as is often done in the sketches of our towns. Suffice it to say that, in this respect, it is similar to most towns in this vicinity - that its surface presents the usual diversity of hills and vales, that its soil embraces much land that is poor and considerable that is good, and that its natural and agricultural products are the same as those of neighboring towns.

provable for purposes of agriculture, for tillage or grazing. There is, however, a large quantity which is not actually under constant cultivation ; but there is only asmall proportion of this which is not occasionally cultivated.

2 Said to have derived its name from one Abbott, a boy who was drowned there in the early settlement of the place. It is supposed by some that the Indian name of this stream was Wawepoonaeag, but this is doubtful conjecture.

In the winter and spring of 1816 this town was visited by a strange and the most fatal sickness ever known in these parts. It extended to several other towns adjoining, but did not prove so fatal as here. It swept off in the short space of ninety days about one hundred inhabitants, a large proportion of them heads of families, and many of them the most useful and respectable citizens of the town. It was commonly called the cold plague. It generally terminated in a few days. Very few who were attacked with it recovered. No disease of the same kind has ever been known here either before or since that period.

No bills of mortality have been regularly kept till recently, and the average age of the inhabitants in any given period cannot be ascertained. There have been several instances of very long lives. Deacon Elkanah Wilmarth died at the age of ninety-nine years and seven months. Mary Freeman, relict of John Freeman, died March 4, 1762, aged about one hundred years.

Widow Sarah Claflin, relict of Antipas Claflin, died in September, 1777, supposed to be one hundred years and six months old. Capt. Samuel Robinson lived to approach very near the age of one hundred. Zephaniah Robinson also reached a very advanced age.

John Shepard (who was a native of Foxborough, where he lived till a few years before his death) died in this town on April 5, 1809, at the extreme age of one hundred and five years and twenty-nine days. He retained all his faculties of mind and body, except his eyesight, to the last, and was just able to walk, with a little assistance, till a few days before his death.1 He lived over a hundred years on his native spot. He was a man of pious character, cheerful in disposition, jocose, witty, and of a quick understanding. He was deprived of his eyesight on a sudden during the night, and was not himself aware of it until the next morning, when he sought in vain for the light of day. He could distinctly recollect events which had occurred a century before.

He had one son and several daughters. Two of his daughters lived to upwards of eighty years, and another, Mrs. Mary Mann, wife of Jason Mann, of Wrentham, who died in -1828, lived to the age of ninetyseven years. She retained all her faculties and usual cheerfulness and vivacity till the last fifteen years of her life. She abstained almost wholly from animal food, and never was in the habit of drinking tea or coffee, and wondered how people could relish either. Her most common food was milk. She adhered to the same fashion in dress during life.

The original title to the North Purchase, as already stated, was derived from Alexander, the son of Massasoit, and the elder brother of the celebrated Philip, sachem of Pockanoket. His original name was Moo-

1 It is of him that the well-known anecdote is told, that lie lived in two counties (Suffolk and Norfolk) and four different towns (Dorchester, Stoughton, Wrentham, Foxborough), and yet never moved during that time from the spot where he was born.

anam, afterwards Wamsutta or Wamsitta, and finally Alexander Pockanoket, which last name was bestowed upon him, and that of Philip upon his brother, by the Plymouth Court on occasion of the death of their father, Massasoit. It appears to have been a custom with the aborigines in this part of the country, at least with their chiefs, to assume new names on the decease of any one of the family to which they belonged. This custom may perhaps be traced to some Eastern origin, as many of the Indian ceremonies have already been by historians.

On a visit which these two sons made to Plymouth, June 10, 1660, during a session of the court which commenced June 6th, their English names, by which they were generally known to us, were bestowed upon them.

A record of this ceremony is preserved on the Old Colony Book, which is here copied. This record clearly proves that Massasoit (concerning the time of whose death there has been much controversy) died a short time previous to June 10, 1660 :

" June 10, 1660. At the earnest request of Wamsitta, desiring that, in regard his father is lately deceased, and he being desirous, according to the custom of the natives, to change his name, that the court would confer an English name upon him, which accordingly they did, and therefore ordered that for the future he shall be called by the name of Alexander Pockanoket; and desiring the same in behalf of his brother, they have named him Phillip."

The colonists, during this friendly intercourse with the two sons of the faithful Massasoit, could not have anticipated that, in the course of a few years, the younger brother, upon whom they were then conferring the name of an ancient conqueror, and who possessed all the natural talent and ambition of his great namesake, though not his power or good fortune, would soon become their most dangerous enemy and the terror of all New England.

It appears that among some tribes of the natives the custom prevailed of changing their habitations as well as their names on the decease of a member of the family. I have learned from a reliable source the following instance : On a part of the farm of the late Ebenezer Daggett, previous to its occupation by the whites and for some years after, resided several families by the name of Read, who were said to be of a mixed race, Indian and negro, and who were always observed to change the location of their huts on the death of any one of their number. This occurred several times within the observation of the early settlers. This custom they probably derived from their Indian descent.

The survivors who lived till after the " East Bay road" was laid out, which passed near their dwellings, requested that, when they died, they might be

Their request was complied with, and they were buried a few rods from the route where the old road passed, with their heads iu that direction. The place where they were buried is still pointed out in a small valley, on elevated ground. The hillocks over their graves (four in number) were distinctly visible within the remembrance of the author.

The postman's horn has never disturbed their slumbers, and the " newes" of the great post-stage, for which they longed, has never reached their ears. The plowshare of the husbandman has long since leveled the mounds that covered their graves. The postman's stage has long ago disappeared, and his horn has ceased its echoes over these hills and valleys. The sleepers still wait for the coming of the " newes" from the changed scenes around them.

The circumstance of the bestowment of these names upon these brothers is mentioned by ancient historians, but not the occasion of it, and without fixing any precise date. They have usually assigned a date several years earlier as the period of Massasoit's death ; but modern biographers and historians have generally supposed it several years later than the true period.1

In many of the ancient towns in the colonies there were occasionally found original and eccentric characters, who preferred the wilderness to the more cultivated parts of the country. Among the early inhabitants in this town was one Joseph Chaplin, who became a proprietor and a large landholder. He was of respectable descent. He came here from Rowley, Mass., and was a descendant from Rev. Hugh Chaplin, who came over in 1638, and lived and died in that town.

He was a man of peculiar tastes and habits, and eccentric in his conduct. He laid out a large quantity of land (in the whole about seven hundred acres), including the most of that large tract of land called the "Half- "Way Swamp," and his other lands were located on the " East Bay road" and vicinity. His mania seemed to be the acquisition of land, but he could cultivate only a small portion of his extensive possessions, and could derive no profits from the rest. He lived alone a hermit's life, abjuring all society, especially that of the female sex. The cause of this seclusion is not positively known, but tradition says it was the faithlessness of a young lady to whom he was attached in early life. Chaplin was not morose, but naturally benevolent and kind. He planted sev-

1 B. B. Thatcher, in his " Indian Biography," lately published, maintains that Massasoit'e death must have occurred several years subsequent tolC61. His words are, "Their father not being mentioned as having attended them at the observance of the ceremony (the confirmation of a treaty, etc.) has probably occasioned the suggestion of his death. It would be a sufficient explanation of his absence, however, that he was now an old man, ami that the distance of Sowams from Plymouth was more than forty miles.-' (Vol. i. chap. vii. p. 141.)

eral orchards, and raised a variety of fruits. He would permit the neighboring women to come and partake the abundant fruits of his orchards, but was always careful to retire out of sight on the occasion, and so remained till they were gone. He kept a large stock of cattle, built his own house, cooked his own food, and made his own clothes. His only companions were a number of large cats, who lived luxuriously on his abundant stores. His name is found on several committees relating to the public lands, of which he was a shareholder. He died about 1750 at an advanced age. His property was divided among his heirs-at-law, two nephews and a niece. They sold his estate here, and none of them remained in town.

In the most ancient burying-ground, laid out by Woodcock, and where the first interment was made the last of April, 1676, is the celebrated epitaph on Caesar. He was given by his mother, while he was an infant, to Lieut. Josiah Maxcy. When the latter died, Cresar came into the hands of Levi Maxcy. Being a waiter in the public-house so long kept on the site of the " Old Garrison," and which in those days was the resort of many travelers on that route, he was " known to all the region round." He was a member of the Baptist Church at North Attleborough. Tradition has preserved numerous anecdotes of him. He proved through a long life a remarkably honest and faithful servant in the family where he lived. He survived his first master, and after his own death, Jan. 15, 1780, was buried in the same yard. A decent stone was raised over his grave by his younger master, Levi Maxcy, in whose care he was left, with the following inscription, which, in its graphic lines, will long preserve the memory of "Caesar, the faithful Ethiopian" :

Many of the people of this town have emigrated to other parts of the country. Nearly a hundred years ago a company of young men from our town, called the " Nine Partners," went into the wilderness of Pennsylvania, and purchased a tract of land in Susquehanna County; a number of families from this place soon followed, and thus they founded the township of Harford, and the enterprise and the honorable career of their descendants have done no discredit to the town of their nativity.

Various families at different periods removed to Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Western New York, and some ninety years ago many emigrated to

The first inhabitants of the town were a substantial and respectable class of persons. They were, like most of the settlers of the other towns in the Old Colony, emigrants from England, seldom any of them from Scotland and Wales. They were the right men and women to subdue and cultivate a new country, and plant the civilization of their native land in this wilderness ; to introduce here the institutions, political and religious, in which they had been educated at home. Many of the first planters had been previously living in old Rehoboth. It would be interesting to dwell longer and more in detail on the ancient history of the town, to which I have devoted the most labor, and which is the most valuable to the present generation, and the most liable to perish unless rescued now, but that task must be left to another occasion, and avoid extending this article beyond the limits I had assigned myself.

At the time our forefathers took possession of the North Purchase it was almost destitute of population, there being only a small plantation of Indians at Sinuichitaconet, near the north line of Attleborough Gore, now Cumberland. The first white population were mostly engaged in agriculture, with only the mechanic arts necessary among such a people. There being so much vacant territory within reach of all emigrants, the population of the town at first increased slowly, but since manufactures were introduced and their kindred arts, with the inventive genius of many of its citizens, it has increased rapidly with its valuation and amount of business. But few towns have a more interesting early history, or a more honorable list of useful, learned, and distinguished public men, biographical sketches of some of whom have been already given in this history.