Norfolk County, Massachusetts - Chapter 54: Chronological Summary, 1918

Chapter 54: Chronological Summary

The history of every country is made up of a series of events, each one of which is dependent upon and the sequence of those that preceded it. As a fitting conclusion to this History of Norfolk County the following summary of events leading up to the county's settlement and organization, as well as many events that have occurred since its establishment, has been compiled for the ready reference of the reader. At first glance it may appear that some of the events have only a remote or indirect connection with the county's history. And while this may be true, to some extent, each one is a link in the chain, the first link of which was forged when Christopher Columbus discovered America. Without any one of these links the chain might have been differently forged and this history would have been differently written.

The Summary

March 5, 1496. Henry VII of England granted a patent of discovery and trade to John Cabot and his sons. This patent afterward became the basis of English claims to territory in the New World.

July 3, 1620. Sir Thomas Coventry ordered to prepare a patent for the Plymouth Company. This patent passed the seals on November 3, 1620, and is known as the "Great Patent for New England."

November 9, 1620. The Mayflower sighted the cliffs of Cape Cod. About this time Peregrine White was born on board the Mayflower - the first white child claiming New England as his birthplace.

July, 1622. A grant of land made to Thomas Weston, who sent a company to found a colony. The company landed at Wessagusset (now Weymouth) and began the first settlement in what is now Norfolk County. It was short-lived.

September, 1623. A company brought over by Robert Gorges settled at the place where the Weston Company had attempted to open a plantation the year before. This was the second permanent settlement in Massachusetts.

April 10, 1634. News received in Boston that the Massachusetts charter had been recalled and a governor-general appointed to administer the affairs of the colony.

May 10. 1643. Massachusetts was divided into four counties - Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk and Suffolk. (The Norfolk County then established was not the present county bearing that name.)

April 14, 1680. William Nahaton and his brothers and sisters, Indians, deeded to the white men a tract of land by the Great Falls of the Charles River.

April 18, 1685. Charles Josias (Wampetuck) a grandson of the old chief, Chickatabot, executed a deed confirming the grant of his grandfather.

April 24, 1704. First issue of the Boston News Letter - the first newspaper in the British colonies in America. It ran for seventy-two years. The New York Historical Society has the only complete file.

March 18, 1762. A Dedham town meeting chose a committee to build a powder house "on a great rock in Aaron Fuller's field near the Charles River."

December 12, 1780. A convention met at Timothy Gay's Tavern in Dedham to discuss the advisability of dividing the County of Suffolk and establishing a new county.

February 6, 1788. Massachusetts ratified the Constitution of the United States by a convention in Boston, of which John Hancock was president.

September 24, 1793. First term of the Court of Common Pleas in Norfolk County was held in the Dedham meeting house. The Court of General Sessions of the Peace met the same day.

April 17, 1861. The Fourth Massachusetts left for the seat of war. In this regiment - the first to leave the state - were three companies from Norfolk County.