Turner, Stephen, House

Settlements were made here at an early day, and among the prominent namés here in 1795 were David Holbrook, Josiah Ware, Moses Mann, Samuel Richardson, James Holbrook, Asa Ware, Elisha of Wrentham, and following in an easterly course the present line of division between Wrentham and Medfield to Stop River; thence running southerly along said river, and separated by the thread of its stream from Walpole, to a point forty rods north of the mouth of the first brook running into said river, below Campbell's Mills, on the easterly side; thence from said point, by a straight line, ranning to the junction of Back and Bird streets, in Walpole; thence to the easterly side of said Bird street to its junction with West street; thence westerly by the northerly side of West street, twenty-five rods; thence southerly, and near to and westerly from the barn belonging to the home estate of Charles Bird, until said line strikes Stop River, one hundred and twenty rods southerly from West street; thence along said river as far as Wrentham and Walpole are separated by the thread of its stream; thence by a straight line, running westerly of the Walpole almshouse and easterly of the farm | buildings of Patrick Reardon, and easterly of the Dupee Blake | place, so called, to a point on the line between Walpole and Fox- | borough, one bundred and twenty-five rods north-easterly from | Dedham Rock; thence from said point, following the present line of division, between Wrentham and Foxborough, to Dedham Rock; thence southerly from said rock along the present | line of Wrentham and Foxborough to a point on said line on | the southerly side of Pine street; thence by a straight line to a | point on the westerly side of Everett street, northerly of the | house of Edmund T. Everett, and southerly of the Pondville Cemetery, to a point on the westerly side of North street, five rods southerly of the farm buildings of Samuel J. Benn; thence through the Stony Brook reservoir, near to the house of H. 8. Nash, to a point on the line between Franklin and Wrentham, | ninety rods southerly of the house late of Eliphalet Lawrence; thence running northerly, by a straight line, near to and west of the farm buildings of the home estate of J. E. Pollard, near the Elliot Felting Mills, near to and thirty-five rods west of the present residence of Saul B. Scott, to the southern extremity of Populatic Pond; thence along the western shore of said pond, at | low-water mark, to Charles River; thence in an easterly course upon Charles River, and separated by the thread of its stream from Medway to the centre of the iron bridge over said river; thence upon the thread of said river to the bridge of the Med- | way branch railroad; thence along the southerly side of said south-easterly of and near to the village of Deanville, near to and south of the old barn belonging to John Barber, to a point | on Baltimore street, two rods from said barn; thence by a straight line to the easterly side of the great bend in Charles River and near the old fording place; thence upon said river, and separated by the thread of its stream, from Medway to the point of beginning ; - is hereby incorporated into a town by the name of Norfolk ; and said town of Norfolk is hereby invested with all the powers, privileges, rights, and immunities, and is subject to all the duties and requisitions to which other towns are entitled | and subjected by the constitution and Jaws of this Commonwealth.

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

Josiah (5) was brought up on the farm, but also learned shoemaking. He married Mehitable Richardson, daughter of Eli Richardson, of Franklin (now Norfolk), and removed to Oxford, Mass. There their when he was but six years of age, Mrs. Ware died. Mr. Ware then went west to New York State, where he married again, and a few years later died. Young Josiah was adopted into the family of his uncle, Daniel Cook, of Wrentham, where he received a commonschool education, and was brought up to work on the The abundance of out-door exercise in his youth assisted in laying the foundation for a very vigorous constitution, and to-day, at upwards of seventy years, he looks as though he had cheated old Father He is one of the best-preserved men of his years in Norfolk County, or

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Norfolk Town - 357,341 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.