Dartmouth Town (part 2 of 3)

On the other hand. Carver and Bradford and Winslow and Brewster and Standish, the men of the " Mayflower," came from far diflerent motives, - not from gain, adventure, or novelty, but to plant a colony which should be permanent and enduring; to carry out, heedless of privations and suiferings, heedless of the scorn and oppression behind and the uncertainties and dangers before, their ideas of a government founded upon equality, justice, and religion. The colony at Plymouth, conquering all obstacles, achieved permanency and growth, and from thence came the early founders of Dartmouth. We are proud of our ancestry, proud that the men of Dartmouth were Puritans. Those " stout-hearted and God-fearing men" were our fathers. Never can they be mentioned but with honor, for none ever did more or suffered more for the human race. Oppression did not intimidate nor privations turn them. They were stern and unyielding in their convictions of the right, and thoroughly fixed and resolute in their purpose to ibund a Christian commonwealth. Inspired with the one grand idea of a government resting upon liberty and religion, they thought not of policy, expediency, or compromise, but listened only to the dictates of conscience and duty. Under their sturdy and unconquerable wills the wilderness yielded, and the New World was open to a nation of freemen.

In the history of New England not enough prominence has been given to the pioneer colony of Plymouth. The settlement of the Massachusetts Colony seems to have overshadowed in history the importance of this first civil body politic. The Plymouth Colony led the van, and in the years in which they were alone rested the whole problem. Encouraged by the success of the Plymouth settlement, the Massachusetts colonists were emboldened, under the protection and guidance of the former, to apply for a royal charter. We would not detract from the merit of Winthrop, Dudley, Saltonstall, and their associates, "gentlemen of figure and estate," for they were men of faith and fortitude, men of uncommon wisdom and heroism ; but let us not be forgetful of those earlier men who smoothed the way and opened to the men of Massachusetts Bay and Boston, even though for a short distance and in a rude manner, the path which led to civil and religious liberty.

On the 29th day of November, 1652, the Indian chief Wesamequan (better known as Massasoit) and his sou Wamsutta (who was sometimes called Alexander by the English) conveyed by deed to William Bradford, Capt. Standish, Thomas Southworth, John Winslow, John Cooke, and their associates all the tract or tracts of land lying three miles eastward from a river called Cushenegg to a certain harbor called Acoaksett to a flat rock on the westward side of the said harbor. In this conveyance was included all the land within these boundaries, " with all the rivers, creeks, meadows, necks, and islands that lie in and before the same, and from the sea upward to go so high that the English may not be annoyed by the hunting of the Indians in any sort of their cattle."

The metes and bounds of this grant do not appear to be very definitely or clearly stated. More attention seems to have been given by the conveyancer to the consideration which the Indian chieftains were to receive. The price paid was thirty yards of cloth, eight moose-skins, fifteen axes, fifteen hoes, fifteen pair of breeches, eight blankets, two kettles, one cloak, two pounds in wampan, eight pair stockings, eight pair shoes, one iron pot, and ten shillings in other commodities. Even in those early days, when the forests and meadows and streams apparently were not valued very highly, dissensions and disputes arose concerning the title. A younger son of Wesamequan, Philip, sagamore of Pokannockett, afterwards known as one of the most bloody and remorseless of all the Indian warriors under the name of King Philip, had not been consulted or had not given his written assent to the original conveyance. He soon began to annoy the settlers by frequent acts of trespass, and to question the correctness of the boundary lines. We find by the records that agents (referees) were appointed "to set out and mark the bounds," and in ll3G5 Philip gave a quit-claim which quieted the title.

This large tract of land, comprising the limits of old Dartmouth, was divided into thirty-four parts or shares. Two of these were sub-divided, so that the original proprietors numbered thirty-six persons, of wliom three were women, - Sarah Brewster, Miss Jennings, and Sarah Warren.

Not all of the thirty-six original pi'oprietors settled here. Some undoubtedly bought the land as a speculation or investment rather than for a home, but an inspection of the names convinces us that many of them located permanently within our borders. We find in the list the names of Howland, Morton, Manasses Kempton, Dunham, Shaw, Soule, Faunce, Sampson, Delano, Bartlett, Palmer, Doty, Hicks, Brown, and Bumpass, names familiar to us even in this day, and constantly recurring in the history of the town.

It has always been stated that the old township of Dartmouth included and comprised the present townships of Dartmouth, Westport, New Bedford, Fairhaven, and Acushnet. The grant of land from the

Indians embraces these towns. But the records of the colony of Rhode Island show that a part of the present towns of Tiverton and of Little Comptou were, prior to 1746, a part of Dartmouth.^

The origin of the name of this town is a matter of conjecture, yet the inference is an easy and natural one. The " Mayflower" and " Speedwell," the latter having taken on lioard her priceless freight at Leyden, in Holland, sailed from Plymouth, in Old England, and that name was given to the spot wliere they landed in New England. After the vessels left Plymouth, England, a disaster occurred to the " Speedwell" which compelled both vessels to put back, and they made a harbor in the seaport town of Dartmouth, in the British Channel. Many of the original purchasers and some of the early settlers of the town came in the "Mayflower," and the name of Dartmouth was so associated in their minds with the home left behind that it may naturally be presumed it furnished them with the name for their new home. There is a further coincidence connected with the name. The little vessel, the "Concord," which brought Bartholomew Gosnold to our shores in 1602 belonged to Dartmouth, in England. There can be no doubt but that we derive our name from this fishing town on the river Dart in the English Channel. How wonderful the change since then ! While the present old Dartmouth has an aggregate population of thirty-seven thousand, with a commerce known over the whole globe, the old town in England, with a population of less than five thousand, is as little known to-day as it was two hundred years ago.

The inquiry naturally suggests itself. What were the prominent causes which led to this settlement? It might have been due in part to the spirit of emigration and change of locality which displayed itself even in those days as a trait in the New England character; it might have been the rich and fertile soil in the valleys of our rivers, fertile certainly when compared with the sand-hills around Plymouth, enticing to agricultural labors; it might have been the accessible and capacious harborsof the Acushnet and Apponegansett, and the safe and sheltered anchorage they afforded, giving promise of future commercial importance ; and attractions, perhaps, were found in the W'inding beauties of the Paskamansett and Acoaksett. However much these and kindred influences may have contributed to the early settlement of Dartmouth, there is, in my opinion, a cause beyond them all, and which a careful reading of the records of the colony and the town forces me to adopt as the chief reason for the removal from Plymouth to Dartmouth. I have said our fathers were Puritans. They were more than that, - they were the Protestants of the Puritans. They were in sympathy with the established government at Plymouth in everything except the one matter of compulsory taxation for religious purposes. Fully believing in freedom of conscience, they had early conceived a strong aversion to the arbitrary imposition of taxes by the civil power for the support of a ministry with which they were not in unison, and over which they had no control. The early records of the town, imperfect and fragmentary as they are, in connection with the history of the colony, plainly tell us how earnestly and even bitterly this controversy was waged, and how for many years it was the source of discord and of persecution. The Plymouth Colony court annually apportioned to the town a tax for the support of ministers in addition to the province tax, but the Baptists and Quakers of Dartmouth were inflexible in their resistance to it, and while the province rates were faithfully met, those for the maintenance of ministers were refused. It also troubled our good rulers at Plymouth that our fathers were so negligent in providing stated preaching according to the established Puritan faith. We find this order of the court, passed in 1671, -

" In reference unto the town uf Dartmouth it is ordered by court, that whereas a neglect the last year of the gathering in of the Bum of fifteen pounds according to order of court to be kept in stock towards the support of such as may dispense the word of God unto them, it is again ordered by the court that the sum of fifteen pounds be this year levied to be as a stock for the use aforesaid, to be delivered unto Arthur Hathaway and Sergeant Shaw, to be by them improved as opportunity may present for the euds aforesaid."

But this order, like others, seems to have been of no avail, for three years afterwards, when the inhabitants of Dartmouth had met together for the settling of the bounds of the town, the occasion was seized upon for haranguing the people, " at which time the Governor, Mr. Hinckley, the treasurer, Mr. Walley, Lieut. Morton, and John Tomson did engage to give meeting with others to propose and endeavor that some provison may be made for the preaching of the word of God amongst them."

Even the calamity which came among them at this time from the violence and cruelty of the Indians, in the destruction of their homes and the loss of their property, did not soften the displeasure of the government at Plymouth, but rather served as an opportunity for renewed complaint and upbraiding. This appears by the order of court, passed in October of the following year:

"This court taking into their serious consideration the tremendous dispensation of God towards the people of Dartmouth in suffering the barbarous heathen to spoil and destroy most of their habitations, the enemy being greatly .idvantaged thereunto by their scattered way of living, do, therefore, order that in the rebuilding and resettling thereof that they so order it as to live compact together, at least in each village, as they may be in a capacity both to defend themselves from theassault of an enemy, and the better to attend the public worship of God, and ministry of tlie word of God, whose carelessness to obtain and attend unto we fear may have been a provocation of God thus to chastise their contempt of His gospel, which we earnestly desire the people of that place may seriously consider of, Lay to heart, and be humbled for, wiHl a solicitous endeavor after a reformation thereof, by a vigorous putting forth to obtain an able, faithful dispenser of the word of God amongst them, and to encourage them therein ; the neglect whereof this court, as they must and God willing, they will not permit for the future."

However earnestly the Plymouth court were determined to subdue the rebellious and heretical spirit of the early settlers, it does not appear that much success attended the effort. The Quakers and Baptists of Dartmouth were from the same stern, unyielding stock, and they were animated by a sense of religious duty as sincere and exacting as that which influenced the rulers at Plymouth.

Stringent laws were from time to time enacted, but mucli of tiie legislation was inoperative, as the people of the town, while comi'.lying with the letter of the law, would give no heed to its spirit. Laws were passed in 1692 and 1695 requiring the towns to provide able, learned, and orthodox ministers to dispense the word of God. Dartmouth did elect a minister, but the question of orthodoxy then arose. In 1704 the town was indicted for non-compliance with the law. At the town meeting held Jan. 4, 1705, this indignant reply was sent back to the court:

" To the quarter sessions to be holden at Bristol the 8th day of January, 1705, we understand that our town is presented for want of a minister according to law, to which we answer that we have one qualified as the law directs, an honest man, fearing God, conscientious, and a learned, orthodox minister, able to dispense the word and gospel to us."

In order to meet this question of orthodoxy the Assembly passed a law in 1715, in which the prevention of the growth of atheism, irreligion, and profaneness is suggested as a reason of its enactment, in which it was provided that the determination of who should be ministers should rest ultimately with the General Court or Assembly. Dartmouth still refused obedience, and claimed the selection of her own minister. At the March town-meeting, 1723, in defiance of an act of that year, Nathaniel Howland was chosen minister, receiving fifty-five votes, while Samuel Hunt, a Presbyterian or Independent, and the first preacher of that sect in our town, received twelve votes.

The struggle culminated in 1724. In the year 1722 the Assembly of Massachusetts passed an act to raise one hundred pounds in the town of Dartmouth and seventy-two pounds eleven shillings in the town of Tiverton (then a part of Massachusetts) for the support of ministers, whose selection was subject to the approval of the General Court. These two towns were the only ones in the Province that had not received any Presbyterian ministers. To blind the eyes of the people this sum was put with the province tax, and was afterwards to be drawn out of the treasury. The spirit with which this was met by the inhabitants of Dartmouth can best be seen by quoting the record of the town-meeting held Nov. 26, 1722. The record says, - province tax, he made hy the selectmen, it passed in the negative. And it was put to vote whether eighty-one pounds twelve sliillinys, being as we are informed hy our representative to lie our just proportion of our province tax, he forthwith made hy the selectmen of said nartrnouth. Voted that it shall he made. Thirdly, Voted that the charges arising or set on the selectmen of said Dartmouth, either hy execution on their liodies or estates or in apjjealiiig to His Majesty for relief, be raised hy town rates. Fourthly, Voted that seveTi hundred pounds he raised on the inhabitants of said Dartmouth by a town rate, for securing the selectmen for not making the rate of one hundred pounds, and also for all exjienses arising in our sending to England to His Majesty in the above premises. Fifthly, Voted that the selectmen are to be allowed - shillings, each of them, a day for every day they lie in jail on the town account."

The town was thoroughly in earnest. Only five tax-payers protested against this appropriation of the seven hundred pounds. This sum, large for those days, was to be met by the tax of that year, and was not bequeathed to posterity in the form of a town debt. Prior to this, in 1696, the town had instructed the selectmen not to make the rates sent for by the general treasurer for this purpose, and in the same year it was voted that Recompence Kirby and Mark Jenne should have fifty shillings apiece, part of the money they paid to Capt. Pope, upon the account of their being " pressed ;" and it was also voted that there should be a rate made of twenty-four pounds for a town fund.

The bold and defiant attitude taken by the town could not be overlooked by the province rulers. Tlie refusal of the selectmen to assess the tax was followed by their imprisonment in Bristol jail, where they remained about eighteen months. The persons who were imprisoned were Philip Taber and John Akin, selectmen of Dartmouth, and Joseph Anthony and John Sisson, selectmen of Tiverton, a part of whom were Baptists and a ])art Quakers. An embassy was sent to England. Thomas Richardson and Richard Partridge, who were Quakers, interceded in their behalf. Their petition, addressed to the King in Council, was an able document, and nobly did it jilead for freedom of conscience and security of religion, civil liberty, and property. The ijetition was considered at the court of St. James on the 2d day of June, 1724, when were present the King's most Excellent Majesty and all the lords of the Privy Council, and it was ordered that the obnoxious taxes be remitted, and that Philip Taber and liis fellow-sufferers be immediately released from their imprisonment, and the Governor and all other officers of the province of Massachusetts Bay were notified to yield obedience to these orders.'

This brief but brilliant record of the sacrifices and sufferings, the persistent fidelity and the triumphant success of the humble fathers of the old town of Dartmouth in the great struggle for the rights of conscience, which is still going on throughout the Christian world, entitles them to a high place in the veneration and gratitude of their posterity. They share, with Roger Williams, the exalted honor of declaring to their rulers and to the world that, having fled from ecclesiastical oppression in the Old World, they would resolutely maintain their resistance to it iu the New; and that through the confiscation of their goods, the incarceration of tlieir persons, amidst all the hardships of a new settlement in the wilderness, and under all the horrors of savage warfare, they would uever falter in the assertion and maintenance of the great principle of " perfect liberty in all matters of religious concernment."

The larger portion of the early settlers were Friends, and we find them recognized as a religious body in the town as early as 1683. Their first meeting-house was built in 1699, and was located upon the spot now occupied by them at Apponegansett. Their influence as a .sect can be plainly seen and felt even now, and much of the high-toned morality, generous and practical philanthropy, and pure-minded Christianity which have blessed and developed our people is owing to their religious teachings.

Next to the Friends in numbers and influence stood the Baptists. John Cooke, whose name we meet with on the first and on nearly every page of the early records of the town as a deputy and a selectman, filling various offices of trust and honor, was a Baptist minister for many years. But this same town official, Oct. 29, 1670, was fined ten shillings " for breaking the Sabbath by unnecessary traveling thereon." If the record of the case had been preserved it would have appeared, we think, that Elder John Cooke was not a Sabbath-breaker, but traveling upon his circuit as a Baptist preacher.

Nowhere upon the face of the globe has the principle of self-government, the capacity and right of men to make laws for themselves and regulate their municipal aftairs, been so fully illustrated as in the early history of New England. The most perfect democracies that mankind has ever known are found in the early New England towns. Their town-meetings were the places where the whole body of the citizens met, and where were discussed with equal freedom by every one all topics of importance, whether local or national, moral or political. Here they learned to understand their rights and privileges as citizens, and acquired moral and intellectual strength to defend them. In those days there was no centralization of official duties and responsibilities as now, the government did not rest upon a few, but every man was compelled to give his time and judgment to the administration of the town affairs. In order to secure that full and prompt attendance upon the deliberations of the town which the business required, Dartmouth voted, in July, 1674, ten years its organization, " that all town-meetings shall

No wonder that with such rules our early municipal affairs were ably administered. True, some of the legislation of the town may seem to us trivial, for example, that every householder shall kill twelve blackbirds between the months of January and May or pay a penalty for the neglect, and that a crow should count for three blackbirds, but yet every inhabitant became most thoroughly a part of the town and identified in its prosperity and well-being.

This close attention to public business, as might be supposed, was at times annoying and irksome, and eflTorts were sometimes made by individuals to avoid these duties. In 1751 this article was inserted in the warrant of the annual meeting: "Whereas the Easterly and Westerly villages in said town, experience teaches, have often neglected and omitted their duty in coming to said meetings to help carry on and manage the affairs of said town, especially in the difficult seasons of the year and foul weather (and not in danger of being chosen to troublesome offices), and so have at such times trusted and almost entirely relied and depended on the Middle village, of which the body of the people therein inhabiting live remote from said house, to do all the business of said town, which said Middle village is obliged to do though a hardship, otherwise said town would have incurred many a fine for neglect of duty, the want of grand and petit jurymen, and other ways suffered."

In order to meet this difficulty it was voted to move the town-house. But the removal of the town-house did not remedy the evils complained of, or, if this end was attained, new evils arose, for the next year the selectmen inserted an article in the warrant, " To see if the persons who caiTied away the town-house will bring it back again and set it up in the same place where they took it from, in as good repair as it was when they took it away, and for the town to act on the affair as they should think proper."

This town-house I infer was the one voted in 1739 to be built, the dimensions of which were to be " nine feet between joints and twenty-two feet wide and thirty-six feet long, with a chimney at one end, with a suitable roof and windows at the same."

The mode of conducting the town business was similar to that now adopted, but the style of some of the warrants would not be tolerated in these days. It was customary for the selectmen in calling a townmeeting not only to state the business to be considered, but also very elaborately to discuss the several subjects, thereby furnishing to the people not only the question but the arguments in favor of or against it. It might have been that this full presentation of the merits of the case and the reasons for action elicited more attention, and, in the language of the old town clerks, was productive of " large debate." As an illustration of this peculiar and amusing feature, let me quote from the records.

" That whereas such course dues niucli abound witliin said town, many running about from house to honae to supply their own present want, miserably neglecting their families at home, which is the only cause of many's suffering who are not capable of hibor, whicli practice is to the great detriment of that part of the inhabitants that are industrious and laborious, which pernicious practice, together with spending idly what they have or earn, is a great if not the only cause of Bcurcity of bread iu said town, now to pass a vote at said meeting for the building a workhouse in said town foi- the setting and keeping to work all such persons who misspend their time as above stated, which said vote is thought by all those that request the same cannot be spoken against, except by those which are in danger of Vireaking into said lionse themselves."

Another example of this presentation of reasons in the warrant of the selectmen occurs in 174G, when an effort was made to divide the county or create a new county-seat. This question both before and after this date engaged the attention of the people of Dartmouth for many years. At one time it was proposed to divide the county and join Tiverton and Little Compton with us as a new county. At another time it was proposed to change the county-seat to Assonet as more central than Taunton. The question was finally settled in 1828, after an agitation of over one hundred years, by making New Bedford a half-shire town. The article in the warrant for the town-meeting held in 1746 is as follows :

"To consult and vote something with respect to petitioning the General Court that wo may have a county taken off or made on this side of Assonet Kiver, otherwise we must unavoidably lie expressed to go and our children after us, for what we know, to Taunton, which will be upwards of thirty-five miles distance for many of said inhabitants, which will be in the journey extremely tedious and expensive, it being too far to set out from our homes to get there before the court setts, as likewise the largeness of the county aggravates the case by reason that one case must wait for another, and is at times the occasion of adjournment. In the whole, it will be tedious and expensive to plaintiff, defendant, jurymen, and evidences, but more especially to poor widows, who are ofttimes obliged to go several times before an estate can be settled with the judge of probate."

It was certainly very convenient for the people to have the arguments all arranged for them before they were called upon to vote. That our fiithers took no offense at this course is evident from its constant recurrence.

Chapter Xvi Documentajiy History

At the June term of the Plymouth Colony Court, in the year 1664, it was ordered that " all that tract of land commonly called and known by the name of Acushena, Ponagansett, and Coaksett, is allowed by tjie courts to be a township, and the inhabitants thereof have liberty to make such orders as may conduce to their common good in town concernments, and that the said town be henceforth called and known by the name of Dartmouth,"

Territorial Limits of Dartmouth. - Dartmouth was thus described in the original grant : " A tract or tracts of land known by the name of Accushena, alias Aquset, entering in at the western end of Nakata, and to the river Cookset, alias Ackees, and places adjacent, the bounds of which tract fully extend three miles to the eastward of the most easterly part of the river or bay Accushenah aforesaid, and so along the sea-side to the river called Cooksett, lying on the west side of Point Pirril, and to the westermost side of any branch of the aforesaid river, and extending eight miles into the woods with all marshes, meadows, rivers, waters, woods, appurtenances thereto belonging."^

It was further agreed at the said Town Meeting the 29'*' May 1685 that for the repairing of the highways the village of Conset shall extend so far as Peleg Slocums and ponagansett village from thence to Hezekiah Smiths and that Cokset village shall repare the rodways from the westermost sid of this township to the east sid of Nocachak river and ponagansett from thence into the east std of the next swamp to the east of the next swamp which is about the midway between the mill and Cushnet and acushnet village to repare from thence to the east side of this township, it is further ordered at the town meeting the 29'^ May 1685 that whereas it doth appear that indian Kobben living at Saconet did kill a wolf some time this last year witliin the township of Dartmouth that he shall have six shillings paid unto him out of the town rate by the constable at some convenient time after the making of this year's rate and that any indian or Indians that ^hall kill any wolves or bares hereafter within this township and bring the heads of said wolf or bare to the consta^ble shall have six shillings paid unto him or them for etch wolf or bare so killed. Also ordered that the English shall have teen shillings for the killing of a wolf or a bare within this township paid out of the town rate by the constable.

Feb. 4, 168-i. At a town meeting held in Dartmouth 4'" of Feb. 1685 John Cook, Seth Pope and Joseph Tripp are rfiosen A jants to apear at month Court Next to be halden at New plymot and there to male answer to said Court in the Town's behalf for the Towns not making of a Eate of twenty pounds this year for the incorregment of a minister to preach the words of God amongst them.

May 24, 1686. At a town meeting the 24 May, 1686, John Cook chose Debity Joseph Seth Pope and four others, Deline, Selectmen, James Sisson Constable Recompense Grand jury men. John Spooner, John Shearman and George Cadman surveyors of the highways. It is also ordered that all our Town n)eetings shall be held at or near the mill in Dartmouth until the town sees cause to order it otherwise.

May 22, 1674. At a town meeting the 22'"' of May in the year 1674 John Cook was chosen debity Arthur Hathaway Grandjuryman William cad Constable John Russell iams Shaw'and William Palmer selectmen. Daniel Willcox, Peleg Sharman and Samuel Cudbard surveyors and James Shaw Clerk.

July 22, 1674. At a town meeting 22'"' July 1674 it is ordered that all our town meetings doe beginne at ten of ye clocke and to continue untill ye moderator doly release the town not exceeding four of ye clock.

It is all so ordered that all such persons as doe necklectt to a yeer all the town meetings shall forfitt to the town 1 shilling and six pence a pcce and for coming to meeting to Catt three pence an hour.

It is also ordered that the town clarke shall gather up all a for said flnnes and shall have ye on hullfe of them for his pains and in ceace any doe refuse to pay them returne the neame to ye town.

June 7, 1728. David Shej^herd to have " ten pounds for the year's service to be p^ 50' a quarter." Persons that " improve the respective that are provided by the general court shall pay them their wages, and all the others are hereby exempted." Christopher Faunce was presented for a '"grammar schoolmaster" and accepted.

(That part of the warrant for the meeting Dec. 16, 1746, that has reference to the county matter is as follows.) To consult and vote something with respect to petitioning the General Court q' we may have a County Taken off or Made on thisside Assonet River, otherwise we must unavoidably be obliged to go and our children after us for what we know to Taunton which will be upwards of thirty-five miles distant for many of said Inhabitants, which will be in the extreme tedious and expensive, it being too far to set out from our Homes to get there before the Court setts, as likewise the of the County agravates the case by reason that one case must wait for another and is at times the occasion of adjournments.

In the whole it will be tedious and expensive to Plat, defend Jurymen and Evidences. But more especially to poor widows who are oft times obliged to go several times before an estate can be settled with the judge of probate.

1732, February the ninth day 1731 or 1732, then rec'd of Robert Kirby, of Dartmouth, in New England the sum of five hundred and fifty pounds of current money of New England, or bills of credit from him, due to me and in full payment and being in full for a bond of five hundred and fifty pounds in money, baring date February in the year of our Lord 1731 from R. Kirby to me the s'' Wate, in witness whereof I the s'' Wate have hereunto set my hand and seal this ninth day of February in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-one or thirty-two & the fifth year of the reign of George the Second King of Great Britain &c. signed, sealed and delivered in presence of majesties name to require you to notify all the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town afores'' that are qnalified as the law directs to vote in town meetings that they meet together all the town house in So. Dartmouth on Tuesday the second of July then and there to act on the following particular. First to agree with the town treasurer what he shall have for his service this ensuing year. Secondly to call the committee to an account that was chosen to make up accounts with the trustees & town treasurer and former selectmen. Thirdly to conclude wether or not to return Stephen Peckham's fine for not serving.

The Rev. Samuel Wat and the Honorable Walter Spooner, Esq., are unanimously chosen delegates for the town of Dartmouth to represent them in convention convened to meet at Boston the first Wednesday in June next. The foregoing Report of the committee was accepted by a unanimous vote of one hundred and fifty-two persons present.

March 23 1734 Ye 2.3" of ye month called March 173} voted, that such vilage shall have free toleration to elect a school master for each vilage, to be paid by a rate upon each vilage if the said vilages see cause to elect one, & that vilage which shall clear the town of being fined for want of a grammar school master, by procuring a lawfuU one, shall receive ten pounds to be paid by the whole town in general & that every person or persons in each of s'' vilages shall have free access or liberty to send their children to s"* master for benifitt of the lattin tongue but no other: at an annual meeting in March 1738, voted - That William Lake as grammar school master at forty five pounds pr annum : Voted, - That all people who receive benifitt of ye s* schoolmaster, by sending their children, shall frankly give s'' master their proportionable part of his dqet, washing & lodging - also he shall be removed by order of the selectmen.

William Palmer is accepted off by a vote of the town as a school master at fifty pounds a year in the old tenor and the town shall find him and he to have liberty to teach the art of navigation.

Slavery. - Dec. 24 1735 July 9 1770 Wheras Elnathan Sampson of Dartmouth in the County of Bristol, & Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Blacksmith did on the Eighth Day of November A.D. 1869, at public auction purchase, buy and become possessed of a negro man, slave named Venter aged about forty five years as may appear by a Bill of Sale of said negro, given to the said Elnathan Sampson, by Job Williams a Debuty Sheriff, in said County of Bristol, who was tlien taken and sold by virtue of a Writ of E.xecution wherein one Daniel Russell was creditor and one .Teremiah Child debtor, as the proper Estate of the said Jeremiah Cliilds, before the said sale - and the said Elnathan Sampson did afterwards

These are therefore to certify whomsoever it may concern, that be the said Elnathan Sampson & John Chaflee for and in consideration of the sum of twenty one pounds - six shillings & five pence, lawful! money of s"" Province to us in hand paid by the said negro man Venture, the receipt whereof we hereby acknowledge, have acquitted & renounced all Right, Title or Interest, whatever in and to said negro, & do hereby set him at full liberty to act his own will from the rate hereof forever. In whereof we have hereunto set our hand and seal this 170| 22 day of January - Daniel Shepherd was agreed with to be one town school master for the year following and to have £18, and his did for his services for the year.

It is also ordered at said meeting that every householder being a planter, shall kill 12 black bird, between the first day of January and the middle of May yearly on pain of forfeiting three half pence for every bird they shall neglect killing of s*" number, s'' forfeitures to be added to such persons town rate yearly, to be paid into the town stock, and further it is ordered, that every black bird that sliall be killed within the town, within the times limited over the number of 12 to each planter as above, shall be paid 1 peny out of the town stock, or be abated out of the rate in the next town rate. It is also ordered that each crow that shall be killed within said time yearly, shall be scorred for three black birds. It is also ordered that Joseph Tripp, Matthew Wing, Nath. Howland, John Russell, and Isaac Spooner be the persons to take account of what birds are killed in the town and give an account yearly to the Selectmen so that the penaltie may be paid on such as are negligent and money may be raised to pay them that kill more than their number.

Francis Rotch Elnathan Sampson John Chaffee I July 9"" 1770 Personally appeared Elnathan Sampson and John Chaffee & acknowledged this Instru- ; ment to be there act and deed before me, Elisha \ Tobey Just, of the Peace.

Ben.tamix Aikin, Town Clerk. August 9"", 1780. - Warrant for voting for Gov. & L't-Gov. & Councillors & Senators. This is the first warrant under the new constitution.

Sep't. 4, 1780. - Votes. Jn" Hancock Gov' 79. Th" bushing .54. L't Gov. Walter Spooner & The Durfee, sen & coun. 66 votes. George Leonard 62. There was of Coun. no opposition ticket.

December y' - day 1788. - For the choice of Representatives for to go to Congress : Plianual Bishop eight votes. George Leonard had six votes, also at said meeting choose Electors (viz.) Holder Slocum had nine. Phanual Bishop nine votes. David Cobb had three votes. Walter Spooner had 3 votes. William I I had 2 votes.

Chapter Xvii

Firet Action of the Town - Tlio Town-Meeting of 1774 - Tlie Besolves - Patriotic Women - Tliey Resolvo to Discontinue the Use of Tea - Interesting Incident - Revolntiunary Soldiers - Extracts from Town Records.

Dartmouth was in no respect behind her sister towns of Massachusetts in devotion and sacrifice to the cause of liberty. She contributed freely in men and money, and although we find in the military annals of the period no names of distinction belonging to the town, yet we know that her people were thoroughly in sympathy with the Revolution. On the nineteenth day of September, 1768, Walter Spooner was appointed by the town to represent it in Faneuil Hall, Boston, to consider what wise and prudent measures should be adopted to prevent the distress and misery which were likely to come upon them by reason of the number of regular troops to be quartered in Massachusetts. In 1774 a town-meeting was called " to take into the most mature and serious consideration the melancholy and distressing situation of public aflairs of this province, and to adopt and pursue all those rational and justifiable methods which, by the blessings of heaven attending our endeavors, will have the greatest tendency to remove from us and our fellow-sufferers those troubles we feel and fear under the present frowns of the British administration."

The town-meeting was held July 18, 1774. Hon. Walter Spooner, Benjamin Akin, Esq., William Davis, William Tallman, Maj. Ebeuezer Willis, Jireh Willis, Seth Pope, Seth Hathaway, and Hannaniah Cornish were appointed a committee to prepare and draw up what they should deem most proper as expressing the sense of the meeting, and report in the afternoon for the town's consideration. The report of these gentlemen was accepted. It was voted, " That we are grieved at being necessitated to act a part which at first view appears unfriendly with respect to our manufacturing brethren and friends in Great Britain and Ireland ; but we trust we shall readily be excused by them when they consider that this part of our conduct is wholly designed, and in our judgment will have the greatest tendency of anything in our power, to save both them and us from bondage and slavery, for upon mature consideration we judge the several late unconstitutional acts of the British Parliament have a direct tendency to destroy the harmony which has subsisted among all the British subjects, and to entirely abolish the English Constitution and form of government ; and therefore, as the most probable means to prevent those destructive purposes, we unite with our American brethren, and

" Bcsoli'e, That we will not purchase any goods manufactured in Great Britain and Ireland which shall be imported from thence after this day ; that we will not purchase any English goods of any hawker or peddler; that we will not purchase any foreign teas whatever; that we will not export any flax-seed to any foreign market; that we do acquiesce iu the nature and necessity of raising our proportion of money to pay the Congress and to raise the same by subscription, and that these resolves do remain in force so long as the present grievous acts of the British Parliament remain unrepealed."

At this meeting a committeeof correspondence was chosen to act with other committees in America. And also a resolve was passed advancing " the town's proportion of the money to pay the committee of Congress."

In the county congress, held at Taunton, the same year, " to devise and act on such measures as the exigencies of the times require," the town was ably and patriotically represented.

Not the men alone, but the women of Dartmouth fully entered into the resolutions of non-intercourse with Great Britain. They had their League Society, which was more exacting in the observance of its principles than the Ladies' League Associations of the present day. In January, 1774, fifty-seven ladies of Bedford village had a meeting at which they entered into an agreement not to use any more India tea; and having heard that a gentleman there had lately bought some, they requested he would immediately return it. This request he complied with, whereupon the ladies treated him with a glass of " this country wine" and dismissed him, highly pleased with his exemplary conduct. A number of gentlemen present gave him three cheers in approbation of his noble behavior.

This occurred six months prior to tlie action of the town-meeting, and doubtless contributed much in forming the public sentiment of the town.

Revolutionary Soldiers. - The following list of soldiers, etc., is taken from Daniel Ricketson's excellent " History of Xew Bedford," published in 1858. These lists were furnished Mr. Ricketson by Thomas Kempton.

under the command of Capt. Thomas Kerapton, in Col. Danielson's regiment, to the 1st of August, 1775 :" Thomas Kempton, captain ; AmasaSoper, first lieutenant; John Chadwick, second lieutenant; .John Swift, George Brovvuell, Thomas West, John Snilings, sergeants; James Spooner, Robert Crosman, Elijah Allen, Paul Weston, corporals ; Obed Cushman, fifer ; Simeon Fuller, drummer; Benjamin Adams, Eleazer Allen, Joshua Austin, David Babcock, Noah Ball, Jabez Bennet, Thomas Bennet, Jonathan Bradshaw, Prince Brownell, Gamaliel Bryant, Jessey Burt, John Coggeshall, William Counts, Kobert Crosman, Jr., Louis De Moranville, Thomas Eskridge, John Gammons, Phineas Hammond, Roger Hammond, George Haskins, David Hathaway, John Hathaway, Lemuel Hathaway, David Kentch, Silas Kirby, Robert Knowlton, David Lewis, Humphrey Macomber, Preserved Merrihew, Jonathan Mosher, Jacob Mott, Isaac Noble, John Ormsby, Silas Perry, Peter Phillips, Peter Sands, Daniel Sherman, John Sherman, Lemuel Sherman, John Solomon (Indian), John Spooner, Giles Tallman, Joseph Trafford, Lettice Washburn, Nathan Waste, privates; amounting to fifty-eight, all from Dartmouth, with the exception of three, - Louis De Moranville, Freetown ; Phineas Hammond, Rochester; and David Lewis, Rhode Island. The time of enlistment was in the month of May, 1775. The time of service, with a few exceptions, was three months ; the shortest, one month and twelve days. Their headquarters was Roxbury ; the allowance, one penny per mile for travel ; greatest distance of travel, sixty-nine miles ; least, fifty-seven. The amount the captain received for this campaign was £18 10.0. IW. ; the first lieutenant, £12 16s. id.; the second lieutenant, £10 18s. 9rf. ; the four sergeants, £1 15s. 7<l., £5 9s., £5, 15s. Id., £5 2s. Lid. ; the four corporals, £4 VIx. 2d., £2 18s. 8'/., £5 3s., £3 Is.; the fifer, £4 10s. lOrf. ; the drummer, £5 3s. These were the amounts paid after deducting what had been charged for supplies. The difference in the amounts paid to the officers, as well as the privates, was mainly owing to the greater or less supplied them. This old muster-roll contains twenty-tliree columns under the following heads, viz.: "Men's names," "Towns whence they came," " Rank," " Time of enlistment," " Travell," "Amount at IcZ. a mile," "Time of service," " Whole amount," " Guns," " By whom supplyed," " Price," " Bayonets," " Of whom received," " Price," " Cartridge-boxes," " Of whom received," "Price," " Cloathing," "Of whom received," "Amount," "Advance Wages," " Blankets received more than entitled to by enlistment," " Amount of deduction," " Balance." The amount paid for travel, £14 OS. lOd. The whole amount allowed each private before discount ranged from a little more than £4 lo £6 lOs. The number of guns supplied was twentysix, - amount for same, £41 10.s. ; four bayonets, with sheaths and belts, supplied by Jireh Swift, amounting to 8s. 2d. ; thirty cartridge-boxes, supplied by Jireh for his grandfather, William' Almy, and Christopher' named for his maternal grandfather, Christopher Unthank. From all the information the writer can gather he thinks the line of descent from William the emigrant to William', the subject of our notice, is through Christopher' Almy. The line is as follows: William', Job^, Christopher', Job*, Christopher*, Thomas'^, and William'. Job* Almy died July 27, 1877, aged eighty-one. His wife, Lydia. died Dec. 30, 1774, aged seventy-four. They are both buried on the farm of the late William Almy. Christopher^ Almy was born in 1735, and died in 1812, aged seventy-seven years. His wife, Naomi, died in May, 1817, aged seventynine year.s. Their son, Thomas", was born in Dartmouth, Mass., April 22, 1775, and died Nov. 23, 1868, in his ninety-fourth year. He married Sarah, daughter of William and Patience GiBbrd.' Sarah (Giftbrd) Almy was born in Dartmouth, June 10, 1779, and died June 13, 1848. Their children were William Silence, born Oct. 9, 1801, and died Nov. 10, 1872; Frederick^ and Henry, who died at eight. Tiiomas" Almy was one of the most remarkable men physically that ever lived in old Dartmouth. In his youth he was a carpenter by trade, subsequently a merchant at Russell's Mills, but finally a farmer, and the farm he owned, and where his children were born, is now owned by his grandsons, John P. and William F. Almy, of Boston.

Mr. Almy was a man possessed of good common sense, sound judgment, keen foresight, and withal, a happy disposition. He had much to do with town ati'airs, and took great pride in the annual gatherings and drills of the State militia. He took pride in a good horse, and was always seen on horseback, which recreation he continued till within a short time of his death. He was a birthright member of the Society of Friends, and lived and died in that faith. He retained his faculties till within a short time of his death, and his name is still held in grateful remembrance not only by the grandchildren, but by those wlio knew him in New Bedford and Dartmouth.

William' Almy, son of Thomas and Sarah (Gifford) Almy, was born on the old Almy farm in Dartmouth, Mass., Oct. 10, 1798, and died in Boston, Dec. 25, 1881. His youth was spent on his father's farm, and he received such advantages for an education as the district schools of his time afforded. From the New Bedford Mercui-ij, of Dec. 28, 1881, we clip the following notice :

" He early determined to become a merchant, and at the age of thirteen he walked from his home near Horse Neck, carrying his shoes in his hand as a matter of economy, to Russell's Mills, where he began his career in the store of the late Abraham Barker. In a few years he removed to this city, and was employed as book-keeper in the store of William H. Allen and the late Gideon Allen, and in the counting-room of the late John Avery Parker. Graduating there, he went to Boston, and found employment in the best school possible for a merchant, the counting-room of the late A. & A. Lawrence. Soon after attaining his majority, and doubtless under the kind auspices of his employers, he formed a partnership with a fellow clerk, named Dexter, establishing the business (importing and jobbing of white-goods), which under the firm-names of Dexter & Almy, Almy, Blake & Co., Almy, Patterson & Co., Almy, Hobart & Co., and Almy & Co., he successfully pursued for nearly fifty years. Cool, clear-headed, and sagacious, no man stood higher in the confidence and esteem of his fellows than William Almy. He achieved a handsome fortune for his time, but secured something far better, a reputation for spotless integrity and unblemished honor."

For many years he was a director in the Eagle Bank, Boston, and for a number of years his firm was selling agents for various cotton and woolen-mills, among which we mention that of the well-known Wamsutta Mills of New Bedford. Politically, he was a Whig and Republican. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert and Deborah Brayton, of Nantucket, in Novenber, 1828. She was born June 19, 1803, and died May 11, 1879.

(9) Alice B., born April 14, 1843, who died Jan. 5, 1871. She was wife of Frederick Grinnell, of New- Bedford, and had one daughter, - Alice A.

About 1830, Mr. Almy purchased a part of the old Almy farm, near Horse Neck, in Dartmouth, a delightful summer residence, which he greatly improved and beautified. But soon a gradual failure of sight obliged him to give up in a measure his business care, and in company with one of his daughters he went to Europe to seek the cure of his threatened blindness. He, however, received no benefit from the advice and treatment of the most eminent foreign oculists, and in a short time (1858) he became totally blind, - a terrible affliction for a man so self-reliant and independent as he had been, so full of activity and so fond of social life. In 1868 he retired from business. He bore his trouble with something better than a stoic's resignation, and keeping up his interest in aflTairs, sought to minister as well as be ministered unto.

William Barker, Jr., son of William and Susannah (Potter) Barker, was born in Dartmouth, Mass., Dec. 25, 1820. He comes of a family long settled in the old town of Dartmouth. Lemuel was son of Jabez, married Maria Tripp, was a farmer and lumberman, and died in 1818, aged fifty-five years. His father, William Barker, was son of Lemuel, and one of a family of six children, and was born in 1794. He was twice married, first to Susannah, daughter of Abner and Sarah (Wood) Potter. By her he had five children, - Abner (died an infant), William, Elizabeth (Mrs. Charles W. Potter), Abner P., and Charles O. He next married Rebecca Potter, .sister of his first wife. Their children were Susan (Mrs. David Sisson), Sarah (Mrs. Henry C. Baker), Ann M. (Mrs. Lemuel M. Potter), Abby E. (Mrs. Edward Hides), George F. (deceased), Caroline (Mrs. H. Damon), Henry H.,Emma F., Avis H. (Mrs. Fenner Brownell), and Warren S. He lived between Russell's Mills and Smith's Mills ; was a member of the Friends' Society. He was a man of integrity and justice, was universally esteemed, served his town as selectman and assessor several year.s, and brought up his large family of children well. He died in 1863.

William Barker, Jr., was educated at the Friends' School at Providence, R. I., where he remained four years. When fifteen years old he was put to learn the trade of tanner and currier with his uncle, Lutham Potter. He spent four years in acquiring his trade, and. after eighteen months' work at his trade for his uncle after his trade was learned, he established himself in business at Smith's Mills, and continued in this for ten years. From about this time Mr. Barker commenced attending to public business, and such was the satisfaction he gave that his services were so occupied as to cause him to relinquish private business and attend altogether to that coming to him from outside. In 1851 he was chosen clerk, treasurer, and collector of taxes of Dartmouth, and held those positions for sixteen consecutive years. From about 1852 he held the office of deputy sherift', with only one year's interruption till 1876. He was about the same time commissioned justice of the peace, and still holds that office. He represented Dartmouth in the Lower House of the vState Legislature in 1868, 1870, 1871. He was elected State senator in 1881. He is Republican in politics. In all the varied and multitudinous duties of his years of office Mr. Barker has been quick, accurate, and courteous. He has been called to administer on many estates, and in all capacities has well discharged his trusts. Plain and unpretending in personal appearance, he accomplishes business with a conciseness and brevity of detail which shows

William A. Gordon. M.D.

Among the leading successful and representative physicians of Bristol County who began active practice more than half a century ago, and to-day are living in unimpaired vigor of mind and comfortable physical health, must be mentioned Dr. William A. Gordon. Coming of vigorous Scotch ancestry, he inherited much of the vitality of that hardy Caledonian race. He was son of Dr. William Gordon and Helen Gilchrist, his wife, and is a lineal descendant of Alexander Gordon, a scion of the loyal Gordon family in the Highlands of Scotland. This young Alexander (first generation) was a soldier in the Royalist army of Charles II. when but eighteen. He was captured by Cromwell, confined for a time in Tuthill Fields, London, and sent to America in 1651 as a prisoner of war. He was held at Watertown, Mass., until 1654, when he was released. He afterwards went to Exeter, N. H., where, in 1663, he married the daughter of Nicholas Lysson. The next year the town voted him a grant of twenty acres of land, and he became a permanent resident. The locality where he settled still retains the name of " Gordon's Hill." He had eight children, of whom Thomas (second generation), born 1678, married Elizabeth Harriman, settled in Haverhill, Mass., was father of eleven children, and died in 1762. His son Timothy (third generation) had a son Timothy (fourth generation), who was grandfather to Dr. William A. Gordon. This last-mentioned Timothy was a farmer and a Revolutionary soldier of bravery in the battles of Bunker Hill, Bennington, Saratoga, etc. He married Lydia Whitmore, lived in Newbury, Mass., and had a family of eight children, of whom William (fifth generation) was oldest. William, born about 1783, was educated at Phillips' Exeter Academy, studied medicine with Dr. Kittridge, in Andover, Mass., and began practice as a physician in Schoodic, Me., afterwards settling in Hingham, Mass., where he lived manj' years, and finally settled in Taunton (taking his son's practice after he went to New Bedford), and was in practice there at the time of his death, .Tune 17, 1851. His wife Helen was daughter of Gordon and Mary (Goodwill) Gilchrist, who were natives of Sutherlandshire, Scotland, and residents of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, where she was born about 1786. She died, aged eighty -six, in 1872. This worthy couple had seven children, William Alexander, Charles (deceased), Helen (widow of George A. Crocker, of Taunton), Joseph R., Edwin, Ann B. (wife of Adolph Kielbock, of Boston), and Timothy.

Dr. William A. Gordon (sixth generation) was born in Newburyport, Mass., March 17, 1808. His parents moved to Hingham when he was but two months old. He was prepared for College at Derby Academy, in Hingham, and was graduated at Harvard, class of 182(5, when but eighteen years old. He at once commenced the study of medicine with his father, and was graduated at Harvard Medical School in 1829. Being in poor health, he went with his father to the home of his grandfather, in St. Andrews, and by the solicitation of friends began practice in Robbinstovvn, Me., where he remained four months. Going then to St. Stephens, he stayed there four months, and then settled permanently in Taunton, Mass., July, 1830. From that time he has been identified with, and taken a high stand among, the best and most successful physicians of this county. He remained in Taunton eight years and a half, when, yielding his practice to his father, who was worked too hard at Hingham, he,- in December, 1839, moved to New Bedford, where he was in active practice until 1877, when he removed to his pleasant seaside home in Dartmouth, and has since resided there.

He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, in which he has held llie ofBce of counselor ; is also a member of South Bristol Medical Society,, has been its president aad for years its treasurer. By request of this society a communication, prepared by him and read before the society., on "Puerperal Tetanus," was published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences. Republican in politics, he has not sought political honors, but, soon after moving to New Bedford, was elected oterseer of the poor, which, position he held for seventeen consecutive years. He is liberal in religious belief, and an attendant of the Unitarian Church. He married, iii October, 1S33, Maria, daughter of Hon. John M. Williams, of Taunton. She died July 11, 1875, aged sixty-one. They had eight children. Their second daughter, Anne M., married Henry Johnson, M.D., of New Bedford. She had three children who survived her, - Holma'n Gordon, Theodora, and Elizabeth Gordon. Their four surviving children are Elizabeth, William Gilchrist (now in charge of a private school in Burlington, Iowa. He has three children, - Mabel, Helen, and William Alexander), Helen, and Emily, wife of Professor Thomas E. Pope, of State Agricultural College, Iowa. (She has two children, - Mary R. and Ethel.)

Avilliam R. Slocum

AVILLIAM R. SLOCUM. The family of Slocum has been from its settlement prominently connected with the town of Dartmouth. The history of the town will show the name among the first proprietors and settlers. Holder Slocum was of the stock of the original settlers, and from him, in the fifth generation, is William R. Slocum, now a resident of Dartmouth. Peleg Slocum, his son, born in Dartmouth, was twice married, his second wife being a sister of John and James Howland, of New Bedford. He had four sons, Peleg, Holder, Christopher, and Cook, and two daughters, Alice and Amy. He, like his immediate ancestors, was of the Society of Friends, a quiet person of influence in the community, and a large land-owner, and he attained the patriarchal age of ninety years. His son Peleg, born 1763, was a farmer, succeeding to a generous share of the paternal acres. He married Elizabeth, daughter of .John Ricketson, and had children, - Ricketson, Otis, William, Amy, Rebecca, Eliza. He lived to be ninety-three. He was an energetic man, of positive nature, a representative farmer, standing high in the esteem of the community, and successful in business. He was much interested in politics, and was prominent in the councils of the Whig party. He died in 1856. His memory reached back distinctly to the events of the Revolution. His son Ricketson, born April, 1790, succeeded to one of his father's farms on Slocum's Neck, of about two or three hundred acres. He married Jemima, daughter of John and Mercy Wing (see biography of B. F. Wing), when but a young m;in. He Was an energetic man, taught school in his youth, and in various ways impressed himself upon his generation. He was two years selectman, was representative to the General Court, and was highly esteemed as a good citizen and a man of excellent judgment and worth. He died July 11, 1854, aged sixty-four years and two months. Mrs. Slocum was an energetic, robust woman, with a strong -' will of her own," and a fit mate for her husband. She was a kind mother, bringing up a large family to honor her memory. Many of her children died in infancy. The following attained maturity : WiUiani R. ; Frederick (deceased); Charles; Almy, married Howland Holder ; Lydia, married Israel Brightman; Joseph W. ; Frederick (2d), deceased; Mary A., married Giles J\ Allen ; Elizabeth, married W. W. Allen.

. William Ricketson Slocum, eldest son of Ricketson and Jemima (Wing) Slocum, was born in Dartmouth, Mass., June 14, 1811. From very early life he has led the laborious life of a practical New England farmer, following the teachings of Poor Ricliard's maxim, " Whoever by the plow would thrive, himself must either hold or drive." With limited common school advantages, he acquired sufficient education to successfully teach nine consecutive winter terms of school, beginning at his nineteenth year. These were all taught in his native town, and five in his home district. In this avocation he acquired quite a reputation as a disciplinarian. He received little property from inheritance, and marrying. May 22, 1834, Elizabeth, daughter of Pardon and Lydia Cornell (who was born May 29, 1811, in Dartmouth), commenced housekeeping on Naushon I.-iland, and lived there nine years, the first three as a hired man on a farm. In 1843, in company with his brother-in-law, E. Browning, he purchased a farm, on which they gave a mortgage for three thousand dollars, the purchase money, for six years. Hard work and economy were faithfully persisted in, and a satisfactory evidence given that agriculture on a New England farm can be made a very remunerative business. Every payment was made promptl3'on time, the mortgage lifted wlien due, and after nine years had passed Mr. Slocum sold his half-interest for five thousand dollars, and the partners then had in addition eleven hundred dollars in cash, and eleven hundred dollars in land that they had bought.

Mr. Slocum then (1852) purchased the farm of about two hundred acres where lie now resides. By the continuation of the same industry and thrift he has attained to the po.ssession of a handsome property, and stands high in financial as well as social circles. Republican in politics, he has served his town acceptably three times as selectman. He is a stockholder of the "yarn-mill" of New Bedford, and of Boston and Albany and other railroads. He has one daughter, Cornelia R., born June 12,1842. She married John W. Howland, June 12, 1868, and has five children, - William R., born July 14, 1869; Rodolphus W., born Nov, ?,, 1870; Elizabeth T.,born May 10, 1872; Margaret E., born Dec. 20, 1873; Alma S., born April 5, 1879. Pardon Cornel! was a farmer in Dartmouth, had eight children, - Phebe P., Godfrey, Joseph W., Mercy A., Elizabeth, Lydia W., Gideon, and Alfred. He died in his eighty-fourth year, June 1, 1859. Lydia, his wife, died April 9, 1803, aged eighty-two. They were Friends. The father of Pardon Cornell was Gideon, who was son of William. Gideon was a farmer, married a Dilly Giftbrd, who lived to be very old, and is remembered by Mrs. Slocum. Gideon also died at an advanced age.

Capt. Benjamin F. Wing

CAPT. BENJAMIN F. WING. John Wing was the original progenitor of nearly all who bear the name in America, so far as they are known to the writer. Nothing is known of him before his arrival at Boston in June, 1630, and his residence at Sangus (Lynn), Mass., except that lie had married Deborah, the second daughter of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, the first minister to Lynn, as early as 1632. (For an extended history of the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, we would refer the reader to our history of Hampton, Rockingham Co., N. H.) It ai>pears from the records that Mr. Wing was a man of limited circumstances, hence left Lynn, Mass., for cheaper lands, and was probably one of Rev. Mr. Bachiier's party, who made a journey in the dead of winter from Lynn, or Ipswich, to " Mattucheese," about 1634 or 1635, and though that enterprise failed, he then perhaps became ac- (piainted with the region afterwards known as the peninsula of Cape Cod. As early as April, 1637, the General Court at Plymouth gave to Edward Freeman and nine others the right to form a plantation, and they in turn had the right to receive as many others as they .saw fit, but in regular order. Some fifty persons called " Associates" joined them, and the name of John Wing appears as the forty-fifth in said list. Nearly all had families, and in order to become a freeman their characters must be acceptable to the Governor. Church membership and a regular attendance upon and a proper support of public worship at authorized places were indispensable requisites to becoming a freeman. The town was incorporated as early as 1639, and the Indian name of "Shawnee" was exchanged for that of Sandwich. The old traditional home of John Wing was situated about one mile from the present village of Sandwich, near a stream of water between two beautiful ponds, and on a highland overlooking the lower sheet of water and the town. Mr. Wing appears to have been a plain man, of ordinary intelligence, never aspiring to political distinctions, and only ambitious to cultivate his land and decently to rear his children. In a few instances, however, his name occurs on the records of the General Court as one well qualified for public business. All reliable accounts mention only three sons, - Daniel, John, and Stephen, - who came with him in the same vessel and accompanied !iim until his settlement in Sandwich. The date of the death of John Wing and his wife Deborah are not known, as the early records are so imperfect and some are lost.

Daniel Wing, the eldest son of John and Deborah (Bachiler) Wing, of Sandwich, Mass., came with his father from England, and accompanied him until he settled at Sandwich. They resided near each other. June 28, 1640, Andrew Hallett conveyed certain landed property to Daniel Wing, the instrument being witnessed by John Wing and Edward Dillingham. In 1643, Daniel Wing was enrolled with his brotliers among those who were at that time between the ages of sixteen and sixty, and therefore liable to liear arms. In 1652 we find his name among those appointed to take charge of the fishing interests of the place.

In 1654 a mill for the accommodation of the inhabitants, costing twenty pounds, was paid for by Daniel Wing and twenty-one other inhabitants. In 1655 the name of Daniel Wing and a number of tlie prominent citizens of Sandwich are first mentioned in connection with a serious religious dissension in the town. In 1657 the people called Quakers made their iirst appearance in Sandwich, and Mr. Wing early became an adherent to that faith. In March, 1658, he was fined twenty shillings for entertaining Quakers at his home. Mr. Wing refused to take the " oath of fidelity" because this particular oath pledged him to assist in the execution of an intolerant enactment. He was therefore fined twenty pounds.

In December, 1658, he was excluded from the number of freemen. He married Hannali, a daughter of John Swift, of an old and honorable family in the western part of the town, Sept. 5, 1641.

Tliey had eleven children, of whom Daniel was the youngest, born Nov. 28, 1664. The descendants of Daniel Wing have nearly all been connected with tlie Society of Friends. Daniel, Jr.^ (Daniel-, John'), ' was entered as townsman of Sandwich in 1691, and married, in 1686, Deborah, a daughter of Henry Dillingham, "in Friends' way." His residence was near his father's. He appears to have been the owner of a considerable amount of property. " On the 13th of May, 1717, he deeded half of his undivided interest in some lands which he owned in Dartmouth, Bristol Co., Mass., to his son Edward. In the deed Daniel speaks of himself as a cooper and of Edward as a husbandman. They had seven children, the eldest of whom was Edward, born July 10, 1687, in Sandwich, where be resided until he removed to Dartmouth and followed the occupation of a farmer. He was married three times; first to Desire Smith, of Dartmouth, November, 1713; second, to Sarah (daughter of Abraham and Hannah) Tucker, June 1, 1714; and third, to Patience Ellis, October, 1728. By his second marriage he had Edward, born in Sandwich in 1720; Abraham, born at Dartmouth, Aug. 4, 1721 ; Jeremiah, and perhaps Jedediah.

Matthew, - Daniel, and John. John married Jemima Shepherd at the Friends' meeting-house in Dartmouth Oct. 5, 1753. At an early period he became a resident, with Abraham, Edward, and Jedediah Wing, of Dutchess County, N. Y. Jemima died Nov. 28, 1816. They had three children, - Catharine, Dorcas, and John, who was born May 4, 1756 ; married Mercy Almy in Dartmouth May 4, 1780 ; died Jan. 1, 1832. His wife was born March 5, 1755, and died Jan. 5, 1850. They had nine children, viz., Lydia, Joseph, Catharine, Pardon, Patience, Abigail, Jemima, John, and Almy.

Pardon, son of John and Mercy (Almy) Wing, was born March 22, 1788, and died October, 1860. He married, about 1808, Almy, daughter of Peleg and Elizabeth (Ricketson) Slocum, of Dartmouth. Their children are Joseph, Catharine, Peleg S., Eliza, Benjamin F., Caroline, William E., and .John.

Benjamin Franklin Wing, son of Pardon and Almy (Slocum) Wing, was born in Dartmouth, Mass., Oct. 22, 1822. He was reared in the quiet industry of a farmer's home, and was early imbued with those qualities of economy, diligence, sobriety, and perseverance that are always the stepping-stones to success. His advantages for education were the meagre ones of the country schools of the period. In 1840 he commenced a maritime life on whale ships, and continued it for ten voyages, six of which he was master. His seafaring was fortunate and successful. Captain Wing has erected a beautiful residence, and made by its surroundings a pleasant home on the farm in Dartmouth, which he purchased in 1855, at the head of the Apponegansett River, and where he now resides. He married March 20, 1851, Emily, daughter of John and Charity Gilford, of an old New England family. She was born in Westport, Mass., April 9, 1825. Their children are Laura A., married Abraham Tucker, and has one child ; Joseph F. ; John Franklin, graduated at Amherst, June, 1882, now a student of mineralogy and chemistry at Gottingen, Germany ; Herbert, attending commercial college at Providence, R. I.

Capt. Wing has several times had important trusts confided to him by his fellow-citizens. He has been selectman seven successive terms, six times being chairman. Republican in politics, he represented Dartmouth in the Legislatures of 1872-73, and his senatorial district in 1876. His duties were discharged with ability in the interests of his constituents. He is in harmony with the better elements of society, and is one of the substantial men of Dartjuouth.

Abner H. Davis

ABNER H. DAVIS. Abner Hicks Davis, son of Philip and Clarissa (Macomber) Davis, was born in Dartmouth, Sept. 20, 1819. His father, being of intemperate habits, did not properly provide for his family, and his earliest years were passed in poverty, relieved only by the energy and industry of a faithful mother, - a woman of undaunted courage and sterling worth. When young Abner was but ten years old the prospect of a cheerless and unprovided-for winter made it an act of necessity for both mother and son to leave their socalled home and earn their own living. Abner went to Newport, R. I., to work on a farm for George Armstrong. His father did not know his whereabouts for a month, when he discovered where he was and came to see him. The young lad was fearful he would be carried back to the poverty from which he was escaping, but his father gave him his choice of staying or returning. Mr. Armstrong told him if he remained with him he must be indentured as an apprentice for seven years, and he would like to have him stay. Much depended on the boy's decision, but even at that youthful period he had the good sense to go into the apprenticeship. He was to receive his board and clothes and three months' schooling each year. Faithfully and well he served his master, and at the conclusion of his time, in the winter of 1836, went to New Bedford and attended school three months, " doing chores'' for his board for Nehemiah Leonard, and for his tuition sawing the school-house wood and sweeping the room. We may easily conceive that the advantages thus secured were appreciated and diligently improved. The next summer was spent as farm-hand for the son of Mr. Armstrong at Newport. Realizing the importance of education in the struggle of life, he attended school in New Bedford during 1838-39, boarding with Cajit. Daniel

Wood. Here he made friends, and in the spring of 1840 secured a clerkship in the employ of Ivory H. Bartlett, with a salary of two hundred and seventyfive dollars per year, hoarding himself. Here he remained two years, the second year receiving fifty dollars advance.

In the spring of 1842 he engaged with Charles E. Tucker in same capacity, - three hundred and seventyfive dollars salary. After one year he entered the employ of the well-known house of Isaac Howland, Jr., & Co., the largest whaling shippers in the country, as outside clerk or overseer. Such was the faithful service given, and such was the appreciation thereof, that for twenty-two years he remained with this house, receiving at various periods from three hundred and seventy-five dollars to one thousand dollars, which for .several years was paid him. His economy and thrift had during this period accumulated some money, which in a small way he adventured in various vessels, the first being one-eighth interest in^ mereliant brig "Osceola," which he helped to build. This investment proved remunerative, and he afterward had interests in the merchant vessels schooner " Boxer," sloop " New York," schooners " Naiad Queen," ".Tames H. Ashmead," "Henry Gibbs," " Eveline," barkentine " Jane A. Falkenburgh," ships " Otseonta," "Hibernia," and "John Coggswell," and the whalers "John Dawson," " Elizur F. Mason," "Mary," "Charles W. Morgan," "Triton," "Kathleen," "Sunbeam," etc. In 1881, Edward M. Robinson withdrew from the firm of Isaac Howland, Jr., & Co., and joined that of William T. Coleman & Co., of New Y'ork City, becoming the capitalist of the firm. This house did an immense busine.ss, and was the largest Californian shipping house in the city. In 1862, Mr. Davis followed Mr. Robinson and became outside superintendent of the firm, with a salary first of fifteen hundred dollars, then of two thousand five hundred dollars. He remained here three years, and in 1865, at the death of Mr. Robinson, with Henry A. Barling, a fellow-employg, as partner, commenced business for himself under firm-name of Barling & Davis, as commission merchants, at 163 Pearl Street, New York City. This partnership continued for thirteen years, with satisiiictory success and the most friendly feelings, Mr. Barling being a gentleman of superior business ability and highest integrity, as well as valuable and pleasant social qualities. Whatever Mr. Davis has acquired in business matters he ascribes to the valuable experience secured under Mr. Robinson, a business man of the highest qualities and tireless indu.stry. The steady application to business and the intensity of the life'of the city steadily wore upon Mr. Davis' constitution until, on account of failing health, in 1868, he withdrew from the partnership, and for two years devoted himself to the recuperation of his prostrated nature. This he succeeded in accomplishing. In 1879 he removed to the farm in Dartmouth which he had purchased in 1867, and has since devoted himself to its improvement and the out-door exercise connected therewith. From an ordinary farm of fifty-four acres, under his administration it has increased to one hundred and eighty acres, and wonderfully changed its appearance. No expense nor labor has been spared to make it both beautiful and productive, and with an unsurpassed natural location, in full view of the city of New Bedford, it presents a series of fertile fields, artistically laid out, and each surrounded by a beautiful stone wall. This has grown up under Mr. Davis' own eye, and from his own designs.

The writer has traveled in many of the United States, and has never seen so nice a combination of nature and art in developing a farm, nor so really convenient farm buildings ,as those constructed by Mr. Davis. The view from the back of the house to the east is especially noticeable. In doing this great labor' Mr. Davis employs many persons, and may be considered truly a benefactor, and is also a pattern and bright example to the thoughtful young .agriculturists of the period. Mr. Davis married Eunice T., daughter of John and Jane (Finkham) Shurtled', Aug. 13, 1844. She was born in Rochester, Mass., Feb. 4, 1821. She claims descent from the old and honored English Carver family, so noted in the annals of Plymouth Colony. Their family consists of Sarah C, born Feb. 2, 1850, and Clarissa H., born Sept. 4, 1869. Sarah married Joseph K. Upham, of New Y''ork City, and has two children, Eunice and Leroy.

Mr. Diivis is a self-made man in the highest sense, a courteous and amiable Christian gentleman. Of great energy and perseverance, he has risen by his own industry and good habits to an independent and gratifying position, and is respected by all the better portion of community. He has been Whig and Republican in politics ; as such was a member of the Common Council of New Bedford in 1862. Both himself and wife are members of the North Christian Church of New Bedford, and are liberal to all deserving causes. The lesson of his life may well be studied, and with advantage by every poor and friendless boy struggling toward a higher life.

.JOSEPH TUCKER. The family of Tuckers now living within the original limits of the township of Dartmouth trace their ancestry to Henry Tucker, who, according to tradition, came from the County of Kent, England. He first settled in the town of Milton, in this State, probably as early as 1650. It is related that he not approving of the proceedings of tlie colonial government at Boston respecting the severe laws passed and judgments enforced against the Quakers, left Milton and finally settled in Dartmouth, within the limits of the Plymouth Colony. This was a short time-subsequently to 1660. The following was copied from an who died 1C94 succeeded by sod John who died 1751, aged 95 Slice* by son Joseph who died 1790 aged 94 Bucc** by son Jolin wlio died 1S20, aged 88."

In 1669 he bought of William Allen, of Sandwich, one-third of the original shares into which the township as then held was divided. In 1679 he made another purchase of James Sampson, of Portsmouth, R. I., of a limited number of acres in the undivided .lands of the town. By these, and perhaps other acquired rights, when the town was afterwards surveyed and divided among the proprietors in severalty, his two sons, Abraham and John (their father being then deceased), became entitled to and received several hundred acres of land adjoining their respective homesteads. This land mostly remained in the possession of their descendants until within some fifty or sixty years. It has now, however, all passed out of the name, excejit the homestead and some out-lots belonging to J. and S^ Tucker, which form part of the original tract settled by Henry, and laid out to his son John.

These first settlers and their descendants down to a late period were mostly farmers, and worthy and exemplary members of the Society of Friends. Living on their paternal farms, they pursued the even tenor of their ways in quietness and peace. Having the respect and confidence of their neighbors and the community, they were called occasionally by their townspeople to places of trust in town affairs, and more often by the society of which they were members to fill important stations and perform various duties therein. The impression left upon the minds of their living descendants is that they were earnestly engaged to live a life " void of offense towards God and towards men."

Joseph Tucker resides in the central part of the town, and is the oldest living representative of the Tucker family. The farm which he occupies was the homestead of his father and grandfather, and though not included in the original survey made to the sons of Henry, has, however, been in the family of Joseph and his ancestors over a century.

He is an example of a sagacious and successful farmer, and is much respected by his friends and acquaintances. He is the fifth in descent from Henry, as the following list of his ancestors' names will show : His father, Edward, died 1832, aged sixty-seven years. His father, Joseph, Jr., died 1827, aged eightyseven years. His father, Joseph, died 1790, aged ninety-three years, eight months. His father, John, died 1751, aged ninety-five years. His father, Henry, died lt)94, aged sixty-seven years.

Since the commencement of the present century several of the descendants have engaged in other pursuits, in which they have been in some cases more than or

Source changes here: from A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts (Vol. 2), by Hutt, Frank Wolcott, published 1924; 2,784 words in this source stream.

Dartmouth Town

Township of many prosperous farms of the county, of substantial and quaint homes of natives, and attractive residences of newcomers, as well as of the century-old Quaker meeting, Dartmouth alone retains the first English name given the extensive territory that once comprised New Bedford, Westport, Fairhaven and Acushnet. Like Westport, among the southern towns its scenery is greatly diversified both as to farmlands and shoreward property; and because of its sightly rural and inland districts, and its harbors and seashore, it has become both the permanent home of . numbers of New Bedford business men, and the summer resort of prominent families from New York and other large cities. For generations, too, townspeople here have in many instances retained and increased the productive values of property; and here, again, as elsewhere in the county, thrifty foreign-born have bought up old lands and by intensive farming restored and kept up such parts of the town. The approximate population of Dartmouth as a whole in 1923 was 6,500, and the valuation of the personal property within the town was placed at $1,172,125, and the real estate at $7,466,975.

North Dartmouth and Smith's Mills within recent years had been having a building boom of new residences, and are numbered among the progressive sections of the town. All that portion north of Allen street has been placed in No. 3 fire district, with the purchase and location there of a new combination Maxim fire engine. South Dartmouth includes Padanaram, Bliss Corner and Smith's Neck, mostly the summer resort part of the town, where are located the town hall, the central library, the high school, and the New Bedford Yacht Club. Russell's Mills is residence of many Quaker descendants, and the location of the old Friends' meetinghouse. It was from that meetinghouse and its group of Friends that one of the principal scenes in the play "Down to the Sea in Ships" was obtained. The town has excellent fire and police service. J. W. Baxter is first chief of police. Benjamin J. Potter, town clerk and treasurer for thirty-two years, died in September, 1923.

Dartmouth lands, when first purchased of the Indians in 1652 had for original proprietors thirty-six persons, most of. whom were from Plymouth and its neighborhood, and a number of whom, although the land was apparently bought for speculation, settled here. Hon. William W. Crapo in an historical address concerning Dartmouth in its beginnings stated that the records of the Colony of Rhode Island show that a part of the present towns of Tiverton and Little Compton, prior to 1746, were a part of Dartmouth. Massasoit and his son, Wamsutta, on November 29, 1652, conveyed by deed to William Bradford, Captain Myles Standish, Thomas Southworth, John Winslow and John Cooke and their associates "all the tracts of land lying three miles eastward from a river called Cushenegg to the harbor of Coaksett, to a flat rock on the westward side of said harbor," and the price paid was thirty yards of cloth, eight moose-skins, fifteen axes, fifteen hoes, fifteen pairs of breeches, eight blankets, two kettles, one cloak, two pounds in wampum, eight pairs of stockings, eight pairs of shoes, an iron pot, and ten shillings in other commodities.

No doubt exists that Dartmouth was so called from the town of the name in England, and Mr. Crapo contends that the original causes for the settlement of the town were those that had to do with compulsory taxation for religious purposes, the Baptists and the Quakers stoutly and successfully resisting the tax apportioned for the support of ministers, in addition to the province tax - even to the extent of the imprisonment of four of the selectmen for the disobedience of the town in relation to the tax. The town was incorporated in 1664, and the struggle for religious freedom continued until 1724. The first town house was built in 1739, and the town records show that the town house was removed on two different occasions to and from the easterly and westerly villages. Larger questions territorially than those relating to the town were brought up at that period, notably that in 1746, when it was proposed to divide the county and join Tiverton and Little Compton with the town as a new county; later the proposition was brought up to change the county seat to Assonet rather than to Taunton. Town meeting rules were exact and strict as to attendance, and fines were exacted for neglect. General road repairing was begun

First Settlers - Concerning the first white men's homes in Dartmouth, called by the Indians Apponegansett, Henry B. Worth, Esq., has stated in his paper "The Homes of Apponegansett Before 1710," that the earliest settlement was on the east side of the Acushnet river, between its head and Fort Phenix. Here were the farms of Jenney, Hathaway, Cook, Shaw, Palmer, Cuthbert, and east of Nastatucket brook Lieutenant Jonathan Delanose, and still farther east, next to the Mattapoisett line, the farm of Samuel Hicks. But he states, so far as known, there was no settlement on the west side of the Acushnet river before 1700. The pioneer settler, states Mr. Worth, was probably Ralph Earle, by whom the Dartmouth lands were brought to the attention of the Portsmouth people. His farm comprised over four hundred acres. With the exception of the northeast corner of Clark's Cove that was assigned to Abraham Tucker, and the northwest corner laid out to Nathaniel Howland, the whole of Padanaram Neck north of Bush street was comprised in the homestead of John Russell. The house of the latter was located near the shore in the swampy pasture, and was defended as a garrison by English soldiers. He came to Dartmouth in 1663, and, not long after, Matthew Allen became his neighbor on the south. The extreme end of the neck was owned by William Durfee. On the north side of the cove road was the homestead of Nathaniel Howland, who settled here not far from 1690. West of the Slocum road was the farm of John Sherman, who came from Portsmouth before 1660. In 1710 there were seven long narrow farms extending from the Pascamansett river on the west to the Apponegansett river on the east. They were those of Eleazer Smith, John Briggs, Jireh Reed and Captain William Penn Briggs; the farm of the sons of John Sherman. Ezra and Ensign Baker; and of William and Peleg Sherman.

About the year 1800, continues Mr. Worth, emigration from Cape Cod came to this section, the Bakers from Dennisville settling in Bakersville, hence the name. On the south side of the Smith Neck road and including the Holder Brownell farm, was the homestead of Judah Smith, and to the south the farm of his brother Gershom; while next south, and fronting on the Potomska road, was the homestead of Edmund Sherman. West of the last three farms was the homestead of John Lapham. The farms of Judah and Gershom Smith constituted the homestead of their father, John Smith, as early as 1672. In the conveyances before the Revolutionary War, Smith's Neck is always designated as Namquid Neck. The extreme end of that neck is Mischawum Point, laid out to John Russell about 1690. The end of Smith's Neck is called Salter's Point, but two hundred years ago, says Mr. Worth, this name was written Salt-house point and L. A. Littlefield states there was a saltworks. Other early settlements were those of Captain John Akin, Thomas Briggs, Hezekiah Smith, Deliverance Smith, Benjamin Howland, Giles Slocum. And the historian concludes with the statement: The names of the early settlers are no longer found in the old locations. All of the thirty farms have been divided into smaller homesteads, and on several are large and populous villages with costly mansions and villas occupied by prominent people from every section of the land.

Edward T. Tucker in "Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches" states that the home of Job S. Gidley, prominent Friend and townsman, and former town clerk, was built about the year 1720. On its site stood, about the year 1680, the stone house of Henry Tucker, whose son John occupied it at the opening of the eighteenth century. A guest at this house in 1699, at a time of the Apponegansett Friends meeting, was Thomas Story, associate of William Penn, and first recorder of Philadelphia. Among other Friends who had located in this neighborhood were Adam Mott, Abraham Tucker, Jr.. Henry Tucker.

The best recollections of early Dartmouth history are contained in the "Old Dartmouth Historical Papers," and in one of these L. A. Littlefield has said concerning the naming of Padanaram: As nearly as can be ascertained, it originated with Laban Thatcher, who came from Harwich, this State, about 1805, and had a shipyard here. The first mention of Padanaram occurred in a deed given by him in 1828, and it is supposed that the circumstances of his life corresponded with the Bible story of Laban, who lived in Padanaram, and prompted him to give the place that name. Mr. Littlefield continues interestingly to say that during the British invasion of September 5 and 6, 1778, several buildings owned by Elihu Akin at this place were burned. Among the early settlers was Captain John Akin, who was in Colonel Benjamin Church's company, and he was also town clerk, selectman and representative. His sons James and Elihu owned a vessel that the British burned on the stocks when they raided the town. Benjamin Akin, also a son of Captain John, was town clerk in 1789, and lived at the head of Apponegansett river.

The resolve made at town meeting July 18, 1774, in Dartmouth, voiced the sentiment of the patriots with regard to the stand that should be taken against the unjust taxation imposed by the English king upon the Colonists. It was to this effect: 'that we will not purchase any goods manufactured in Great Britain and Ireland which shall be imported from thence after this day; that we will not purchase any English goods of any hawker or peddler; that we will not purchase any foreign teas whatever; that we will not export any flax-seed to any foreign market." The town was well represented at the patriotic gathering of county men at Taunton. There were fifty-five men from Dartmouth in Captain Thomas Kempton's - company, of Colonel Danielson's regiment, to the first of August, 1775, the time of enlistment having started in May, and the time of service, with few exceptions, being three months. The committee of correspondence and safety for the township in 1776 consisted of General Church, Seth Pope, Abraham Shearman, James Soule, Nathaniel Richmond, Philip Taber, Pardon Brownell, William Wood.

The military record of the men of Dartmouth in the Civil War was in keeping with loyalty to country exhibited and proven at country's call, more than 140 men enlisting in various regiments. In service for the World War, 175 men were enrolled; four died in the regular service, and ene in Red Cross service.

Churches and Schools. - The town had been set apart but thirty-five yeats when the first record of Friends' meetings was made, in 1699, and the deed of their first meetinghouse has the date 1706, the building having been constructed upon the same lot of the present Apponegansett meetinghouse. The first yearly meeting of record was held at the house of John Lapham in 1699. Before 1788 this meeting was in charge of the Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, but from that time onwards it was connected with the Sandwich Quarterly Meeting: Quarterly meetings are still held there. Later, meetinghouses were built at Smith's Neck, Smith's Mills and Allen's Neck. The Gurneyite Friends form the larger body of the Quakers in this section today, the separation having taken place in 1845.

A branch of Elder Jacob Hix's church of Rehoboth was organized here as the First Baptist Church of Dartmouth in May, 1780, and on October 10, 1781, Elder Daniel Hix was installed as pastor. This church identified itself with the Christian denomination in June, 1807, when all church creeds were set aside, and the Bible alone was accepted as the standard of faith and practice.