Fairhaven Town (part 1 of 2)

Fairhaven Town

children, one of whom died in infancy. Thomas was next to the youngest child. He received a commonschool education, and worked on the farm and in the ship-yard during his minority, part of the time in New Bedford. He has been a man of unusual energy and perseverance, having acquired by his own exertions all that he possesses. His father becoming insolvent through losses when he was quite young, he managed to purchase the homestead and kept it in the family, paying for portions of it from time to time, as he could earn the means by working at ship-building.

Dec. 17, 1843, he was united in marriage to Cynthia Briggs, daughter of George Briggs, of Dighton. Her mother's maiden name was Cynthia Jones. Mrs. Standish was born Nov. 12, 1821. They have had four children, one son and three daughters, of whom James C. and Delia T. are living, the former married and living on the adjoining homestead farm, the latter living with her parents.

Chapter Xxi

Not unworthy of a name so suggestive is the pleasant town which lies at the southeastern corner of Bristol County. Originally a portion of the township of Dartmouth incorporated in 1664, it was included in a grant of lands from their Indian owners to the colonists dated Nov. 29, 1652. The eastern boundary of this grant was three miles eastward from the Acushnet River. The Indian name of the vicinity was Sconticut, an appellation now confined to the neck of land which stretches from the southeastern part of the town into the bay. In 1787 the town of New Bedford, including the present city of that name, together with the towns of Fairhaven and Acushnet, was incorporated. In 1812, when political feeling ran high, the Jeffersonian Democrats of Fairhaven, derisively called " Corsicans" by their opponents, the Federalists, on the opposite side of the river, on account of the attitude of the former towards Napoleonic affairs, effected a division of the township. In 1860 Fairhaven was in turn divided by the setting off of its northern portion as the town of Acushnet. As at present constituted, the town is apparently three miles square, exclusive of Sconticut Neck. From its northern limit at Acushnet it stretches along the river until it reaches its southwest corner at Fort Phomix, where the river broadens into an arm of the bay, forming the lower harbor of New Bedford and Fairhaven. This western water-line is broken by the marshes connecting the Isle of Marsh with the mainland, and by the peninsula on which is situated the village of Oxford. On the opposite bank of the river is the city of New Bedford. The southern shore-line, after extending nearly due east from Fort Phu?nix, is indented by a cove, and beyond this is broken by Sconticut Neck, which extends out into the bay. The eastern boundary is formed by the town of Mattaposett, in Plymouth County. The surface is generally level. Fort Phoenix stands on a rocky prominence overlooking the harbor and bay. This headland was called by the Indians Nolscot, and the ledge of which it forms a part extends up into the village, and crops out in Centre Street in front of the Congregational Church. A rocky bluff overlooks the river near the Acushnet boundary, and the land rises towards the northern and eastern sections of the town.

The village of Fairhaven is in the southwestern corner of the township, on the river, directly opposite New Bedford. Just north of the village, but with no dividing line between, is the little village of Oxford, generally known as the " Point." In the eastern part of the town are the hamlets of New Boston and Naskatucket. There is a considerable amount of wood and farming land, and along the southern boundary, at the head of the cove, an extent of salt marsh. Probably the village of Fairhaven grew up almost simultaneously with the village of Bedford, on the opposite side of the river, beginning near the middle of the last century. It remained, however, very small for a long period, for we find no record of the lay-out of a street until 1790, no church established until 1794, and the village remained confined to the wharves and a few short streets up to about the year 1832. The following-named persons, proprietors of lands granted by William Bradford, deputy governor of Plymouth Colony, in a deed dated Nov. 13, 1694, probably settled in this vicinity : Seth Pope, Thomas Taber, Jonathan Delano, Isaac Pope, Lettice Jenny, Samuel Jenny, Mark Jenny, Valentine Nuddlesene, Samuel Spooner, William Spooner, John Spooner, Joseph Tripp, Daniel Sherman, Edmund Sherman, John Davis. The first settlers probably scattered themselves over the limits of the town from Sconticut Neck to Acushnet, not uniting in villages for some years. There was a garrison on the bank of the river, just above the Isle of Marsh, in the old days of Indian warfare. The site of the ancient block-house, above theIsleofMarsh,ison landofMr. John M. Howland. Tradition relates that a man and woman by the name of Pope were murdered by the Indians in the locality of the Frog Pond while on their way to a fortified place of refuge. The Frog Pond occupied land which now borders the south side of Spring Street, between William and Walnut. Mr. Howland has gathered an interesting collection of relics from the ruins of the structure previously mentioned, consisting of household utensils, implements of Indian warfare, and among the rest an old key, supposed to be that belonging to the fortification, the name of which was Cook's Garrison. The old Cook house

One of the earliest purchasers of land was William Wood, who removed here in 1700 from Little Compton, R. I., and purchased of Philip Taber a tract extending from the Bread and Cheese road, at Oxford village, on the north to the land of Elnathau Pope on the south. The southern boundary of this tract was the northern limit of the twenty-acre lot afterwards laid out for the original village of Fairhaven, and must be a short distance north of the present line of Washington Street. Some of the oldest houses probably dated back to the period immediately succeeding King Philip's war, and a few possibly antedated these. We are told that the old house back of Mrs. Paul Burgess' was probably the first house in Oxford village, and was the homestead occupied by William Wood after the purchase of his farm. Mr. Wood bought the house of Philip Taber, who probably built it soon after the close of the Indian war. The remains of the old house are still to be seen at Oxford village, and are an object of interest to the antiquarian. The house was built of wood and stone combined. It contained a huge fireplace and was furnished with two outside doors, one opposite the other, in order to enable the horse to get in the logs to burn. It was the custom to cut down the logs, hitch on the horse, draw them into the house, then roll them into the fireplace, and drive out at the opposite door. The body of the house was blown down in the great gale, but the south end and chimney, built of rough stone rudely cemented together, still withstand the severity of storm and gale.

The earliest record found by the writer of the lavout of a road within the limits of the town is that of the opening of a way on to Sconticut Neck in 1730, from which it is inferred that this was one of the first settled portions of the township. On March 28, 1745, a road was laid out from " Abraham Russell's wall to the county road a little northward of the Friends' meeting-house." This is supposed to be the road which runs from Naskatucket northwesterly towards Acushnet. There is no record of the lay-out of a road in the village previous to the Revolution. The old road from Fairhaven to Oxford, previous to the construction of the Mill Bridge about 1795, rambled off to the northeast from a point near the residence of Capt. Joseph Taber, corner of Centre and Green Streets, and opened into what is now Rotch Street, thus necessitating a roundabout course in order to go a short distance. The village of Oxford was at this early period, doubtless, the most important point on the river, as may be seen by reference to our chapter on the whale fishery. A deed conveying land from William Wood to Elnathan Eldridge bears date of Dec. 12, 17G0, and covers a large portion of the territory at the point. Thirty building lots were laid out west of Cherry Street, including one for a common.

Elnathan Eldridge & Co. kept a store for the sale of West India goods, groceries, etc., near the Point Wharf, from 1765-1780. There have been two taverns in this village. One stood on the corner of Main and Oxford Streets, the other near by. Hat-making was carried on hereby Cornell Wilkey, and continued by Bartholomew Taber, plane-making by Nicholas Taber & Sons. Reuben Jenney was a shipping merchant, and tanning and currying was carried on by Joseph Hathaway.

When Lewis Taber moved to Oxford in 1764, we are told that there were very few neighbors in the place, and there were, we should judge, but limited opportunities for obtaining the conveniences of the times, as, when Capt. Taber moved his family down river in a boat and neared the shore at the point, one of the ladies of Salathiel Eldridge's family, watching the debarkation, and observing a. reel among the household effects, remarked that she was more pleased to see that implement than to see the woman herself. It is related of one of the young ladies of Oxford that she spun the linen of which her wedding-dress was made, and produced a texture so fine that five hundred and sixty threads could be drawn through an old-fashioned, no-top thimble. Another ladyresident was accustomed to make two cakes of tallow, hang them one upon each side of her horse, mount, and ride to Newport in order to dispose of them and purchase her laces and other articles of finery. Newport was one of the principal business centres in this section of country at that time.

One of the earliest real estate transactions in Fairhaven village of which we have knowledge is of the sale of a lot, with the eighth part of a wind-mill, from Richard Delano to Isaiah Eldridge, the price paid being one hundred and twenty pounds, also the house and lot formerly owned by Kelley M. Huttlestone, part of a warehouse and lot, and wharf at what is now the foot of Washington Street.

The oldest house in the village is supposed by some to be the Caleb Church house, also known as the Wrightington house, now situated on a high bank above the railroad track, just east of Green Street. The house formerly stood on the line of the street, but was removed to make a way for the railroad. In early days this building was considered as outside the village. The master of the house died of smallpox in 1771, and was the first person whose body was interred in the old cemetery. Another ancient building is the Proctor house, which stands on the corner of the lot laid out for the original village. It is situated just west of Middle Street, on the bank of the river. The oldest portion is said to have been brought from the Copeland farm, at Naskatucket, and fitted as a residence and cooper-shop. Two additions have since been built on at the east, giving it altogether a unique appearance. On Water Street the house occupied by the late Charles Damon, and the rear portion of the residence of the late Tucker

Damon, are of early date. The house on Eldridge lane, between Water Street and the river, formerly occupied by Harvey Caswell, is of Revolutionary date. Into this building it is that a ball was fired at the time of the British attack on the village. The ball entered one of the chambers, passed through the room, and imbedded itself in the opposite wall.

There are standing on Main Street two old houses. One of these is the Tabey house, a small old-fashioned building, nearly opposite the Union Hotel. The rear portion is the older, and was said to have been brought from New Bedford on the ice, though there was some contradiction to this story. The second building is the gambrel-roofed house, the only one of that style in town, on the corner of Main and Centre Streets, opposite Phoenix Hall. It is related of the master of this house that he declared seeing in a dream the approach to the village of a squadron of armed vessels, and that when the British fleet appeared and took up its position east of outer Egg Island its appearance corresponded exactly with the previous vision. It is even asserted that it was no dream at all, but that from some marvelous cause he, looking from his east chamber window, actually saw the fleet long before its arrival. Another story of this man, whose name was Taber, is that one day as he was about to step from his house in going to his shop, he beheld standing in the shop-door Joseph Francis, a man whom he well knew, who had a few days before sailed on a whaling voyage. As Mr. Taber approached, Francis turned, and walking towards another door, disappeared, all search for him proving vain. Mr. Taber was troubled, but kept the matter quiet until, ten days later, the news came of the loss of the "Thetis," with twenty-nine of those who sailed in her, Francis being among the number. Though the supernatural element in these events may have been an illusion, and a belief in the marvelous may have been more readily entertained then than at present, yet the workings of certain phenomena upon certain minds seem almost unaccountable.

One of the older houses at Naskatucket was the Copeland house, which has been torn down. Sconticut Neck was the place of residence of several of the old families of the town, and here some of the older houses were built. Among the dwellers on the Neck was Samuel Hathaway, of whom it is related that, after the labors of the week, when Sunday came, he would hoist sail and away to Falmouth in order to attend divine service there. Here also lingered the last remnant of the Indians who remained in this vicinity. Will Simon, a well-known Indian, died in 1817, and Martha, the last of her race, some twentyfive or thirty years ago. It seems to be well established, though not extensively known, that the people of this village, then a portion of Dartmouth, may claim the honor of the first naval capture in the Revolution. On May 14, 1775, Lieut. Nathaniel Pope and Capt. Daniel Egery, commanding the sloop " Success," captured two tenders of the British sloop-ofwar "Falcon," off West Island. A council was held to determine what disposition to make of the captives, but the captors, fearful for the result, marched them off hurriedly to Taunton ere the decision was reached. A rusty swivel lashed to a timber-head was the only carriage-gun on the craft. The men added two or three buckshot to the bullet in each charge of their muskets. The first verbal report of the transaction before the Provincial Congress gave the number of prisoners as fifteen, although, when the question of disposition finally came up, but four were mentioned. The account of the British movement against Fairhaven during the Revolution is substantially as follows: On Saturday, Sept. 3, 1778, the troops landed at Clarke's Cove, marched up to the Head of the River, destroying property in the village of Bedford, and passed around down on to Sconticut Neck, avoiding the village, but making some depredations and burning a few buildings on their way, including a schoolhouse where the house of George H. Taber now stands. The fleet dropped over from Clarke's Cove to a position near outer Egg Island. Many of the terrified inhabitants, appalled at the presence of such an armament in our waters, snatched up what could conveniently be carried off, and fled to the woods.

Fort Phoenix was captured by the British on Sunday or Monday, and on Monday night, the enemy having re-embarked from the Neck, an attack was made upon the village, of which the following account was given by President D wight, of Yale College, as found in Ricketson's History of New Bedford :

" The militia of the neighboring country had been summoned to the defense of this village. Their commander was a man far advanced in years. Under the influence of that languor which at this period enfeebles both the body and the mind he determined that the place must be given up to the enemy, and that no opposition to their ravages could be made with any hope of success. This decision of their officer necessarily spread its benumbing influence over the militia, and threatened an absolute prevention of all enterprise and the destruction of this handsome village. Among the officers belonging to the brigade was Israel Fearing, Esq., a major of one of the regiments. This gallant young man, observing the torpor which was spreading among the troops, invited as many as had sufficient spirit to follow him and station themselves at the post of danger. Among those who accepted the invitation was one of the colonels, who, of course, became the commandant; but after they had arrived at Fairhaven, and the night had come on, he proposed to march the troops back into the country. He was warmly opposed by Maj. Fearing, and finding that he could not prevail, prudently retired to a house three miles distant, where he passed the night in safety. After the colonel had withdrawn, Maj. Fearing, now commander-in-chief, arranged his men with activity and skill, and soon perceived the

British approaching. The militia, in the strictest sense raw, already alarmed by the reluctance of their superior officers to meet the enemy, and naturally judging that men of years must understand the real state of the danger better than Maj. Fearing, a mere youth, were panic-struck at the approach of the enemy, and instantly withdrew from their post. At this critical moment Maj. Fearing, with the decision which awes men into a strong sense of duty, rallied them, and, placing himself in the rear, declared in a tone which removed all doubt that he would kill the first man whom he found retreating. The resolution of their chief recalls theirs. With the utmost expedition he led them to the scene of danger. The British had already set fire to several stores. Between these buildings and the rest of the village he stationed his troops, and ordered them to lie close, in profound silence, until the enemy, who were advancing, should have come so near that no marksman could easily mistake his object. The orders were punctually obeyed. When the enemy had arrived within this distance the Americans rose, and with a well-directed fire gave them a warm and unexpected reception. The British fled instantly to their boats, and fell down the river with the utmost expedition. From the quantity of blood found the next day in their line of march it was supposed that their loss was considerable. Thus did this heroic youth, in opposition to his superior officers, preserve Fairhaven, and merits a statue from its inhabitants."

In regard to this affair a letter from Maj. -Gen. Grey to Sir Henry Clinton, dated on board the "Carysfort" frigate, off Bedford harbor, Sept. 6, 1778, says, "The only battery they had was on the Fairhaven side, an inclosed fort with eleven pieces of cannon, which was abandoned and the cannon properly demolished by Capt. Scott, commanding officer of the artillery, and the magazine blown up." Among the incidents of this attack was the killing, on Sconticut Neck, of a British guard by an American prisoner named Pease. The story goes that Pease crept stealthily up to the guard, and as the soldier turned in pacing his beat struck him over the head with a stake, killing him instantly. It was supposed that the deed was witnessed from the fleet by the British, as the report of a gun was heard soon after, and it is certain that the body was buried and afterwards disinterred by an Indian, in order to obtain the gilt buttons on the uniform. It is said that Pease afterwards lost his life by an accidental blow upon the same portion of the head. A few words relative to the history of the old gun which stands muzzle down at the corner of Main and Centre Streets will be of interest. On March 2, 1777, Ezekiel Hopkins, commander of ship "Alfred," carrying twenty-eight guns, while on a cruise in Southern waters for the purpose of intercepting and capturing British vessels, visited Nassau, made the Governor a prisoner, took one hundred guns or cannon, and a quantity of military stores, and arrived at New London, Conn., March 17th. Several of these guns were sent here and placed on the fort. At its capture by the British they were spiked and rendered almost useless. This gun, the only one remaining of the original number, was soon after taken from the fort by Nathaniel Pope and placed at what is now the foot of Union Street for the defense of the village. Here it remained until Union wharf was built. It was then removed and planted muzzle down near the old church. About the time that the church was altered to a public hall it was again removed, but has now been restored to its position on the corner.

In the year 1790 was made the twenty-acre purchase, from land of Elnathan Pope, on which the older part of the village was laid out. The following streets were surveyed within this tract : Water, Middle, Main from Washington to the south end of the purchase, Centre from Middle to Main, Union from Main to Water, Washington from Main to the river. It is possible that some of these names were not applied until a later date. Centre Street from Main to Green was probably already in existence, forming a part of the old road to the Head of the River.

The proprietors of land on these streets were as follows : On the west side of Middle Street, crossing Water to the river, Abisha Delano, Reuben Delano (two lots), Noah Allen (three lots), Ephraim Delano, Jonathan Negus, Thomas Taber, Isaiah Eldridge (two lots), Richard Delano, Caleb Church, Thomas Nye, John Wady (three lots), Jonathan Hathaway, Eleazar Hathaway, Nathaniel Delano; on the west side of Main Street, extending to Middle, Abisha Delano, Isaiah Eldridge (two lots), Ephraim Delano, Jonathan Hathaway, Nathaniel Delano, Eleazar Hathaway, Noah Allen, John Wing, and Thomas Nye ; on the east side of Main Street, Thomas Taber, Jonathan Negus, John Wady (two lots), Caleb Church, Reuben Delano (two lots), Noah Allen (three lots). The old high-water line, it is thought, crossed Water Street near the foot of Centre Street, and approached Middle Street at the southern end. In 1795 a street leading from Fairhaven to Oxford was constructed, beginning at the north of Samuel Proctor's garden. This was of course that part of Main Street which crosses the Mill Bridge and leads north. In this year, therefore, it is probable that the Mill Bridge was built. The old church on the corner of Main and Centre Streets was erected about the same time. The New Bedford Bridge was incorporated in the next year, 179(3. The laud east of Main Street, from the millpond to the old cemetery, was owned by William Rotch, of New Bedford, remained in the possession of his family for a number of years, and no streets were laid out within its limits for a long period. The people of Fairhaven at the beginning of the century were, in contrast to their present political status, ardent supporters of the ultra Democratic views of Mr. Jefferson, and on July 4, 1801, had quite a lively celebration in honor of the doctrine of enlarged liberty. In early days the liberty-pole stood on the lot where now stands the residence of Hon. E. R. Sawin, corner of Middle and Centre Streets. As years went on the result of the political antagonism between Fairhaven and New Bedford was the incorporation, in 1812, of the town of Fairhaven. The New Bedford Gazette of Feb. 21, 1812, contains the following: " The bill for establishing the town of Fairhaven was taken up and passed to be engrossed, in concurrence with the Senate, two hundred and thirty-three to one hundred and eighty-eight." The first Fourth of July after the incorporation was celebrated at the Head of the River with the reading of the Declaration of Independence and President's message, singing of an ode composed by Lieut. Henry Whitman, U.S.N., and an oration by James L. Hodges, Esq., of Taunton, at the meeting-house, followed by a dinner at Pratte tavern, presided over by Hon. Nathaniel Morton, Jr., Capt. Noah Stoddard, and John Hanes, Esq. There was published in New Bedford about this time a strongly Democratic paper called the New Bedford Gazette. The political climate, however, becoming too hot for its comfort, it was transplanted to the more congenial soil of Fairhaven, and flourished here under the name of the Bristol Gazette about the year 1813. Daniel Gleason, Jr., was publisher for a time, but he having beeu appointed to a government office at the fort, retired and was succeeded by Paul Taber. The editorial sanctum was, we believe, near the head of the old South wharf. The war of 1812 interfered with the business of Fairhaven, but this temporary cloud soon passed.

On Sept. 23, 1815, occurred one of the most terrific gales ever known on this coast. It is said that the tide rose ten or eleven feet higher than had ever been known before, inundating, of course, stores and dwellings in the village. Two stores on the Old South wharf and one on the Union wharf were carried away, also B. Church's barn and contents, and Samuel Borden's ropewalk, which extended from the main land to Crow Island. Several dwellings were more or less injured. It is related that a long boat put off from the store of John Delano, on Union wharf, containing Stephen Merrihew, Asa Swift, William P. Jenney, and others. They landed at Capt. Samuel Borden's, above the bridge, and stopped until the tide ebbed. " Capt. Borden's horse was in the keepingroom, tied to the crane, and barrels of oil, stored in the cellar, floated up and thumped heavily against the floor, caused by the wind and tide rushing in through the cellar windows." Two or three persons from this town, we believe, lost their lives in this storm. Few events of interest, aside from the successes and subsequent decline of the town's peculiar branch of industry, have marked its later history. Previous to the financial crisis of 1857 the town increased greatly in population, wealth, and business enterprise, while the moral worth and general excellence of the community was and is a source of gratification to the people. The records of the first few years of the

| town's existence are said to have been lost in the great gale of 1815. Some of the earliest town-meetings were held in the Methodist meeting-house at the Head of the River. In 1818 meetings were held in the old Congregational meeting-house at the Head j of the River, and continued to be held there until about 1831-32, when they were transferred to the Academy Hall, on Main Street, between Fairhaven and Oxford village. There seems to have been some objection to holding the meetings here, probably on the part of people from the northern portion of the town, who were obliged to come a considerable distance. Here, however, they continued to be held until, in 1813, the town house was built, on the road to the Head of the River, near the Woodside Cemetery, over a mile north of the village. This building was destroyed by fire in 1858.

For a few years meetings were held in Sawin's Hall, on William Street, and the division of the town, in I860, removed further objection to the holding of them within the village. Since 1864 they have been held in Phoenix Hall. In 1825 it was voted to petition the Legislature for the opening of a passage from Long Pond, in Middleborough, to the Acushnet River, by means of which a valuable fishery could be secured to the towns along the banks of the river. This, however, was, we think, not accomplished. In 1828 money was raised for the purchase of a buryin°-- ground and building one-half of the stone bridge at the Head of the River. The bridge is a substantial reality, but the cemetery project seems not to have been so successful, a fact for which, in view what has transpired since, we can only be grateful. In 1830, to the credit of the town, be it known that it was voted, " That it is the sense of the inhabitants of Fairhaven that there be no licenses granted to retailers or taverns for the sale of spirituous liquors for the ensuing year. In 1832 and 1833 there was a great advance in building operations in the village. In the latter year William, Walnut, and Green Streets were accepted, as well as Washington and Union as far east as Green. Numerous substantial residences were built in various parts of the village at this time. In 1836 we find the first vote authorizing the purchase of a fire-engine, and in 1842 the first one authorizing the construction of a sidewalk. This was the plank walk which formerly crossed the Mill Bridge. Since that date flagged sidewalks have been laid on a large part of Main and Centre Streets, as well as flagged and brick walks on other streets. Recently a considerable amount of concreting has been done.

In 1850 Riverside Cemetery, a beautiful restingplace for the dead, presented to the people of the town by Warren Delano, Jr., was consecrated. Its natural beauties were greatly enhanced by the donor in the lay-out and adornment of the grounds, which have been still further embellished by the care and taste of owners of lots. The Fairhaven Branch Railroad, opened in 1854, passed through a portion of the old cemetery at the foot of William Street. The northern part was allowed to remain, and has since been an unsightly disfigurement to the village. Happily, a number of removals have of late been made from here, and it is to be hoped that soon few vestiges of its former use may remain.

Up to the beginning of the war the village was a busy place, in consequence of the whale fishery and industries connected, therewith. With the sudden decline of whaling the town was left with almost nothing of business enterprise. Population and wealth decreased, and the future looked dark indeed. Two manufacturing companies have, however, started up since that period, and with the increasing prosperity of New Bedford and slight gains in population better days have already dawned. The increase in building operations within the last ten years over the amount during the previous decade has been marked. On Sept. 8, 1869, the town was visited by a furious gale, which, besides inflicting a large amount of minor damage, tore off" the tall steeple of the Congregational Church, which had been a prominent landmark for over twenty years. It also carried away a large portion of the New Bedford bridge, thus rendering Fairhaven people dependent upon a ferry-boat for transportation to and from New Bedford. Previous to the opening of the bridge, about the beginning of the present century, the village of Fairhaven and Bedford had, we think, been connected by a rude sort of ferry. This first bridge was destroyed by a storm in 1807. The bridge was rebuilt and again destroyed in the great gale of 1815, while the next structure, after enduring for a half-century and more, met with the disaster mentioned above. Up to this period it had been customary to collect toll from passengers. The removal of this burden has proved to be a great convenience to the people of the town since the reopening of the bridge in June, 1870. In former days, and especially after the destruction of the bridge in 1869, there was some opposition on the part of New Bedford people to its present location. The advantages of its present situation are, however, so great that the question may now be considered as a thing of the past. About 1833 a ferry-boat was put on the route between Fairhaven and New Bedford, in order more effectually to accommodate traffic between the two growing places.

The New Bedford and Taunton Bailroad was opened about 1840, and for some time a coach was run to accommodate Fairhaven passengers. In 1854 was opened the Fairhaven Branch Railroad, connecting with the Cape Cod Railroad at Tremont, opening a through line from Fairhaven to Boston, and connecting New Bedford with Cape Cod and Plymouth County. A new and more commodious steam ferry was at this time put on the New Bedford route by the railroad company. At about this time,

R. A. Dunham put on his line of omnibuses, which continued to run to New Bedford, with the exception of periods when the bridge was impassable, until 1872. In October of that year was opened the Fairhaven Branch of the New Bedford and Fairhaven Street Railroad, a convenience which is greatly appreciated by the people. In 1873 the ferry-boat " Union" was disposed of, and since that time regular traffic has been given over to the street railroad company. The Fairhaven Branch Railroad was sold to the New Bedford and Taunton some years after its completion, and since that time has passed into the hands of the New Bedford Railroad Company, Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg, and New Bedford Company, and in 1879 was leased by the Old Colony. A telegraph office is maintained at the railroad station, and telephonic connection with the New Bedford central office is availed of by a number of residents. Aside from the wharves and some buildings in the older portion of the village there is little of the appearance of the decayed seaport about Fairhaven. The streets are more regular than in many places, and some of them are beautifully shaded. Centre Street, in particular, beneath its arch of waving elm branches, forms a lovely vista during the warm season. Tasteful and substantial residences scattered about the village add to its good appearance.

It is to be regretted that the town possesses no common or park, and that many of the houses stand close together and very near the street, since its beauty might have been greatly increased by large public or private grounds. In Riverside Cemetery stands a neat and tasteful monument erected by the town in 1867 in memory of her citizens who lost their lives in the rebellion. The monument bears the following names : Bart. Aiken, Charles H. Austin, Joseph S. Caswell, Benjamin F. Cowen, Edward H>. Dillingham, Lewis Albert Drew, Charles Eldridge, Barnabas Ener, Jr., John Arthur Fitch, Ebenezer B. Hathaway, Charles N. Jenney, James Merrihew, Harvey C. Morse, Ebenezer Parsons, Jr., Phineas Peckham, Jr., George F. Rogers, Francis H. Stoddard, Loring P. Taber, John M. Thompson, Amos S. Tripp, William B. Watterson, William A. West.

Within the last few years Fairhaven has been steadily growing in favor as a pleasant but unpretentious summer resort. The heat is tempered by the southwest winds from the bay, and our beautiful river and harbor afford facilities for boating and fishing. Fort Phoenix, now dismantled, affords, with its adjacent rocks and beaches, a delightful resort for the rambler on a summer's afternoon. The view of the river dotted with sailing craft, the compact mass of roofs of the neighboring city, sprinkled with towers and spires, forming a charmingly variegated picture along the opposite bank ; the wooded shores of Clark's Point and Sconticut Neck below on opposite sides of the harbor, the bright waters of the bay fading far off" at the south into the blue shores of Falmouth, Nau- shon, Nashawena, and Cuttylmnk, is a source of delight to the lover of natural scenery. One would like to see more activity about the quiet streets and wharves of Fairhaven. Still, the swift-ebbing tide of business prosperity has begun to rise, and from the advantages of its situation, its proximity to New Bedford, and from the excellence of the community itself, the future outlook for the town is not unfavorable.

The writer would gratefully acknowledge the aid furnished him in the compilation of historical matter by Messrs. Charles Eldridge, Job E. Tripp (of whose historical sketch of the Unitarian Church the following is, in the main, an abstract), Eben Akin, Jr., and Mr. Ingraham, of the New Bedford Public Library. Bicketson's " History of New Bedford," and newspaper sketches written by various persons, have afford e 1 assistance.

Industries and Corporations. - A number of branches of business connected either directly or indirectly with the whale fishery, such as ship-building and repairing, coopering, sail-making, and spermcandle manufacturing, have been carried on in this place. Ship-building early engaged the attention of the people of Oxford village and Fairhaven. About the year 1800, Abner Pease built, near his homestead, several ships and smaller vessels. At a later date the business was continued by John and Joshua Delano at the Union wharf ship-yard. They were followed by Elias Terry and Fish & Nuttlestone. Here were built a number of ships and other vessels, and at times two or three vessels might have been seen in process of construction. Two of the largest ships ever built on the river, the "Sea Nymph" and "John Milton," were built by Fish & Nuttlestone for the late Edward M. Robinson, of New Bedford. Vessels were also built on Main Street in a lot north of the residence of the late Isaac Wood. Messrs. Delano & Co. have built a number of first-class ships and other vessels at the yard of the late Capt. William G. Belackler, on Fort Street. The business has now been discontinued. The Fairhaven Marine Railway, on which vessels are drawn up for repairs, is still in existence. There were two candle manufactories, one at the head of Middle Street, the other on Fort Street. The latter was built by the late William R. Rodman, of New Bedford, in 1831 or 1832. There are now two manufacturing companies established in the town, - the American Tack Company and the Fairhaven Ironworks. A portion of the building now occupied by the iron-works was formerly used as a cotton-mill. The Fairhaven Star, a weekly newspaper, published by C. D. Waldron, was established in 1879.

National 15a nk of Fairhaven. - Incorporated in 1831, reorganized in 1864. L. S. Judd, president; Reuben Nye, cashier; Directors, L. S. Judd, Isaiah West, Cyrus D. Hunt, Phineas E. Terry, Charles H. Morton, Levi M. Snow, James V. Cox. Capital, one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

Fairhaven Iron- Works were incorporated in 1879. (Successor to Boston and Fairhaven Iron- Works, incorporated 1863.) President, 1882, Edwin S. Thayer; Directors, Edwin S. Thayer, Lewis S. Judd, Thomas H. Knowles ; Treasurer, Job C. Tripp ; Superintendent, William C. Lincoln.

American Tack Company was incorporated in 1867. President, 1882. J. A. Beauvais; Directors, J. A. Beauvais, C. P. Brightman, C. D. Hunt, L. S. Judd, Loum Snow, Jr. ; Treasurer, J. A. Beauvais. Capital, one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

This company made use of a stone building on Fort Street, erected for the purpose of manufacturing sperm candles. They have since built a two-story and French-roof building at the west, and during the past year (1882) have added a three and one-half story stone addition to the main building.

The Whale Fishery. - In Starbuck's " History of the American Whale Fishery" we read : In the vicinity of New Bedford whaling probably begun but little prior to 1760. In that year William Wood, of Dartmouth, sold to Elnathan Eldridge, of the same town, a certain tract of land located within the present town of Fairhaven, and within three-quarters of a mile of the centre of the town, on the banks of the Acushnet River, "always excepting and reserving . . . that part of the same where the try house and Oyl Shed now stands." This tract of land was in the village of Oxford, and we are informed that there can be no doubt that the first whaling-vessels were fitted at this place. The earliest voyage of which the writer has any knowledge was that of the sloop " Phoenix" in 1743, the proceeds of which amounted to nine hundred and sixteen pounds, eighteen shillings, and four pence. She was followed by sloops " Diamond" in 1744, "Speedwell" in 1745, "Speedwell" and " Rainbow" in 1746-47. The " Rainbow" also sailed in 1750 and 1751. Thomas Nye, Judah Paddock, Bartholomew Taber, James Hatheway, or Hathaway, were among those interested in the business at this early period. From Oxford, in 1765, came sloops " Industry" and " Dove," and in 1767 sloops " Myriad," "Sea Flower," "Rover," and "Supply." In 1758, during the French and Indian war, sloop "Industry," Isaiah Eldridge master, was captured by a French privateer, but concerning the result of the capture we have ho information. Of the early days of Oxford, Ricketson's "History of New Bedford" says, "The village of Oxford at this period fairly rivaled her neighbor across the river. Here were owned and fitted out several large vessels, - ships, brigs, etc., - owned by the Bennetts, Huddlestones, and others. The substantial old houses still there evince a state of prosperity at that period." It is stated that two ships and a brig have been seen building at Oxford ship-yard, and four ships lying at the wharf at the same time. The names of some of the early whaling captains are as follows : Thomas Nye, Ephraim Delano, John Delano, Elnathan Delano, Joseph Tripp, Isaiah Eldridge, Salathiel Eldridge, and Benjamin Jenny. Of Lewis Taber it is related that he was once engaged to sail from Mattapoisett. While his vessel was fitting it was his custom to traverse the five miles or more between the two hamlets of Oxford and Mattapoisett on foot. His employer perceiving this, informed him that if he would return with one hundred barrels sperm, he should be provided with a horse with which to go back and forth. In due time Capt. Taber sailed, and returned from a successful voyage in one week, having taken a large whale, and received his promised reward.

The prosperity of Oxford as a separate community was checked by the construction of the New Bedford bridge, incorporated in 1796. Business activity soon passed almost entirely to the lower village. The distance between the villages being, however, less than a mile, there has been for many years practically no dividing line between them, and with the increase of population their interests became mutual. In the early days of Fairhaven village the try-works were located near the northeast corner of the land of William N. Alden, corner of Main and Washington Streets. Concerning them Capt. Delano writes, " North of the Proctor house were the try-wrorks, where the blubber from the whalers was boiled out. It was the custom invariably to bring in the catch - ings and extract the oil on the land. Just to the northeast of the try-works is the entrance to Herring- River, up which the whaling vessels went to get their water, which they obtained at a well, said to be that attached to the John Milan house, between which and Herring River was a fresh-water pond, known as the Frog Pond, with flags growing in it." Herring River is much better known as the Mill Pond, and the John Milan house is the house on the corner of Walnut and Spring Streets. The first wharves constructed are said to have been the Old South and the old pier at the foot of Washington Street. Union Wharf was built about 1802 or 1803, the names of the proprietors being as follows: William Rotch, Silas Allen, Noah Stoddard, Nicholas Stoddard, John Sherman, Thomas Nye, Benjamin Church, Jr., Stephen Merrihew, Nathaniel Proctor, John Price, Kelley Eldridge, Asa Swift, Elias Terry, John Delano, Joseph Tripp, Levi Jenney. Some of the ships owned in Fairhaven previous to the war of 1812 were as follows : " Juno," " President," " Columbia," " Exchange," and " Herald." The latter vessel was owned by Capt. Samuel Borden. Capt. Jabez Delano writes, concerning her, " It was a gala day to us boys when the old ' Herald' came in with her cargo of oil from the Brazil Banks, which she performed annually for many years. The peculiar olden-time habits so indelibly impress the mind that they live as though of yesterday's occurrence. Capt. Borden had his oxen on hand, by which the heavy hoisting was done, while the light casks and barrels were hoisted out by hand." Other vessels probably belonging in Fairhaven and Oxford in the latter part of the last century were schooner "Lively," Capt. Rowland Gibbs; brig "Atlantic," Capt. Parker; schooner "Swan," Capt. May hew; " Sally," Capt. Cunningham ; and " Industry," Capt. Taber. Among the ship-owners or agents of this date may be mentioned Messrs. Samuel Borden, Samuel Proctor, and John Alden.

The war of 1812 inflicted a temporary check upon maritime pursuits, but after its close the business grew with unprecedented vigor, and during the quarter of a century beginning with 1830 Fairhaven saw the flood-tide of its business prosperity. During this period its wharves were alive with workmen fitting vessels for sea, or discharging the cargoes of those newly arrived. Bustle and activity reigned. At certain periods it was difficult to find men enough to perform the work required. In 1821 three vessels arrived with 2200 barrels sperm and 800 barrels whale oil. In 1830 the number had increased to eleven, with 3062 barrels sperm, 11,093 whale, and 57,300 pounds bone. In 1834 sixteen vessels arrived, with 12,953 barrels sperm, 12,601 barrels whale, and 56,500 pounds bone. Some of the largest aggregate annual catches of sperm and whale oil were made as follows: In 1837, 28,521 barrels; 1841, 26,730 barrels; 1842, 27,680 barrels; 1845, 32,040 barrels; 1846, 27,524 barrels ; and 1849, 29,804 barrels. The largest reported amount of bone brought into this port in one year was 477,900 pounds in 1850. The number of whalers hailing from this port was in 1840 forty-four. In 1845 this number had increased to forty-eight, and in 1847 to fifty. The amount of tonnage reached its maximum limit, 16,840, in 1857. In 1837 the amount of money invested was about $945,000; in 1850, estimating $26,000 to each ship, about $1,350,000. One of the most successful voyages recorded of a Fairhaven vessel is that of the bark " Favorite," Capt. Pierce, F. R. Whitnell, agent, which arrived June 19, 1853, with 84 barrels sperm, 2211 barrels whale, and 31,900 pounds bone, having sent home 300 barrels sperm, 4484 barrels whale, and 41,000 pounds bone, the aggregate value being over $100,000. The " Favorite" was gone about three years. Successful voyages of vessels whose agents were Gibbe & Jenney, Nathan Church, and other Fairhaven merchants are also found on record.

Fair Haven

Although the whale fishery was greatly conducive to the prosperity of the town, and spread abroad her name and fame, yet it had, as is well known, its dark and tragic side. In 1837 ship "Clifford Wayne" returned in consequence of a mutiny among the crew, and caused thereby a loss of ten thousand dollars to those who had invested in her. In the same year ship "Oregon" was lost on a reef near Tahiti. In 1838 ship "Pactolus" was burned in the Pacific. On Dec. 22, 1842, ship "Sharon" put into Sydney, the crew having mutinied and killed Capt. Norris. Capt. Jenney, of the "Albion," was killed by a whale in March, 1844. In 1847 ship " Acushnet" lost her third mate and four men in consequence of a boat being stove, and in 1852 the " Heroine" lost her second mate, C. Fuller, and five men in a severe gale. In 1863 brig " Pavilion," Capt. Handy, was lost, with seven of her crew, in Hudson's Bay, and the survivors endured severe sufferings. On June 27, 1865, occurred a disaster which from its character is one of the most noticeable that ever befell a Fairhaven vessel. On that date bark " Favorite," Capt. Thomas G. Young, F. R. Whitnell, agent, was captured by the rebel cruiser " Shenandoah," after a bold but ineffectual effort at resistance on the part of the gallant captain.

With the commercial crash of 1857, the increasing use of petroleum for illuminating purposes, and the coming on of the Rebellion, the peculiar industry of the town rapidly declined. The number of whaling vessels decreased from forty-three in 1859 to nine in 1863, causing, of course, a great diminution in the amount of business done. A few vessels, principally brigs and schooners, were sent out in succeeding years, bur at the present date not a single Fairhaven vessel is engaged in the business, and the town must look to other sources for future prosperity. The last whale-ship to arrive at this port was the "General Scott," Capt. William Washburn, Tripp & Terry, agents,, which arrived Oct. 5, 1869. In concluding this sketch the mention of the names of Gibbs & Jenney, Warren Delano, Atkins Adams, F. R. Whitnell, Nathan Church, Jenney & Tripp, Bradford & Faller, Fish & Robinson, Ezekiel Sawin, and Lemuel Tripp will recall to the minds of many the names of the prominent shipping merchants of the town, who, with others, contributed by their business enterprise to its wealth and prosperity.

Schools. - On April 13, 1798, a number of citizens of the town met, and agreed to build "an academy between the villages and Oxford, fifty feet and half by twenty-four feet and half, two story high." The agreement is signed by Isaac Sherman, Benjamin Lincoln, Levi Jenne, Noah Stoddard, Nicholas Stoddard, Killey Eldridge, Thomas Delano, Jethro Allen, Joseph Bates, Robert Bennet, Reuben Jenne, Nicholas Taber, and Luther Willson. In 1802 the school was taught by Richard Sawyer, and later in the same year by John Nye and Abiah Haskell. For a number of years this building was the principal place of instruction for the young people of the town. It also served as a public hall and place for religious meetings during a portion of its existence. The last recorded meeting of the trustees is dated April 5, 1836. The building is now the property of Capt. Johu A. Hawes, and in the upper portion there are a handsome music hall and a billiard-room.

Rev. Mr. Gould, for a number of years pastor of the Congregational Church, established a young ladies' boarding-school, which had an excellent reputation, and attracted pupils from other places in this part of the State as well as from town. The building stood on Main Street, but was removed and divided in order to make way for the railroad. The High School was established in 1851, and made use of the church edifice on Main Street previously occupied by the Methodist Episcopal Society.

The First Congregational Church. - Previous to the year 1794 there existed within the present limits of the town no church organization. People from Oxford, Fairhaven, and Sconticut Neck who wished to attend the services of the Lord's day made weekly pilgrimages over such roads as were then in existence to the old church at the Head of the River. The following description of the walk to meeting was narrated by one of the ladies of this village : " It was our invariable rule during the pleasant season of the year to form groups and walk to meeting. We took our dinner with us. We put our shoes and stockings in our pockets. The road then was round Herring River (now known as the Mill Pond) ; thence by the homestead of John and Bartholomew Taber. When we got a little north of the residence of the late Alfred Nye we got over a wall, where was a path that led direct to the meeting-house. Near the house and to the south of the road is a long, low, flat rock ; here we sat down and put on our stockings and shoes and went into meeting."

In 1794, however, was organized the Second Church of Christ in New Bedford, which organization became later the First Congregational Church in Fairhaven. The churches represented at the Council were the First Church, at the Head of the River, New Bedford; the Second Church, in Rochester; and the church in Little Compton. The covenant is signed by Lemuel Williams, Benjamin Church, John Aiden, Eunice Paddoe, Phebe Jenne, Abigail Church, Keturah Church, Elizabeth Landers, Bethiah Delano, Sally Alden, Ruth Shearman, Patience Jenne, Jeremiah Mayhew, Isaac Tompkins, Abel House, Peggy Mayhew, Joseph Damon, Jethro Allen, Henry Jenne, Joseph Bates, Isaac Wood, Isaac Shearman, Joseph Church, Pardon Taber, twenty-four in all. The original church edifice was erected at about the same time, and was an old-fashioned wooden structure, well remembered by our older citizens. It stood on a rise of ground, on what is now the corner of Main and Centre Streets. The upper portion and belfry are still in existence, forming a part of Phoenix Block.

On Feb. 4, 1795, Isaiah Weston was ordained pastor, the sermon being preached by the Rev. Joseph Barker, of the First Church in Middleborough. In the year 1802 we find that the use of a fiddle in the church service was productive of mental if not of musical discord. It is certainly to be hoped that the notes of the instrument were more harmonious than the feeling roused by its use.

The church, as at first constituted, was Arminian in doctrine, as were many at that period. In the year 1807, however, there came a powerful revival of religious interest, which was productive of results greatly affecting the future of the church.

Mr. Weston was dismissed in 1808. It soon became apparent that there were antagonistic elements within the church, and finally certain members who came into the church after the great revival withdrew in 1811, and were instrumental .in forming a new society called the Third Church. The services of this church were held in a small building occupied both as church and school-house, and which stood on Main Street, opposite where the Union Hotel now stands. Happily, however, the. two churches united harmoniously about the year 1820. On May 26, 1813, the old church voted to call Mr. Abraham Wheeler, and he was duly ordained on June 30th of the same year, and remained about five years. On Nov. 24, 1820, they voted to install Paul Jewett.

Mr. Jewett, however, remained but a short time, and on Jan. 9, 1823, the church voted to ask Rev. William Gould to continue as their minister. Mr. Gould remained as acting pastor, without installation, for about seventeen years after this date, and during his long pastorate the church became greatly strengthened in numbers, influence, and material prosperity. In 1839, Mr. Jacob Roberts was ordained as colleague with Mr. Gould, whose health had begun to fail. An unhappy complication of affairs, in regard to Mr. Gould, resulted in the division of the church in 1841. The members who withdrew formed themselves into an organization styled the Centre Congregational Church, and erected the neat church edifice on the corner of Centre and Walnut Streets, now occupied by the Methodist Episcopal Church. This society disbanded in 1848 ; their pastors were the Rev. Mr. Gould and his colleague, Rev. Mr. Poor. In 1844-45 the old church erected the substantial edifice of brick which they have since occupied. It is a fine specimen of Gothic architecture. The interior walls are finished in a tasteful pattern of blocking in shades of brown, while pulpit, galleries, pews, and organ front are adorned with elaborate Gothic ornamentation. The exterior walls were unfortunately covered with stucco, which, under the action of the weather, came off in patches, giving the building for some years an unsightly appearance. The lofty steeple, the tallest in this vicinity, and a landmark for sailors in the bay, was overthrown in the great gale of Sept. 8, 1869, but, providentially, with little damage to the church. In

1879 the building was painted and the tower finished by the addition of four pinnacles, improvements which added materially to its appearance. Slight alterations have also been made within the building, such as the lowering and widening of the pulpit, and the removal of the old desk from the vestry and substitution of a platform. Mr. Roberts was succeeded by Mr. John Willard, ordained in 1853, dismissed in 1867. Later pastors have been Rev. Avery S. Walker, 1868-71; Rev. Winfield S. Hawkes, 1873-76; and the present pastor, Rev. William Carruthers, who was installed in June, 1878. The society, in common with the town, suffered with the decline of business and consequent loss by removals, but amid all material changes the vital force which inspired its founders still remains, and with the future growth and prosperity of the village it is to be hoped that its usefulness may be further extended. Present membership of the church (1882), one hundred and seventy-five. The Washington Street Christian (Unitarian) Church. - On Nov. 28, 1819, a few persons in town, dissatisfied with the prevailing Calvinistic doctrines, gathered at thehouseof Elizabeth Taber, in Oxford village, and decided to hold a series of religious meetings under the leadership of Elder Moses Howe, with the view, probably, of forming a church of the Christian order, whose doctrine is mainly Unitarian, but whose practice is somewhat similar to that of the Baptists. The Bible was taken as the only rule of faith and duty. The Academy Hall was engaged for the purpose of holding meetings, and under Elders Moses How and Frederick Plummer a considerable degree of interest was manifested. On Nov. 30, 1820, a church was organized with forty-five members, and on Sept. 4, 1821, Elder Charles Morgridge was ordained pastor. Mr. Morgridge was followed by Simon Clough, James Taylor, Frederick Plummer, George Kelton, and others until 1830. On evening of Jan. 11, 1832, a meeting of subscribers to a fund for building a church was held at the residence of Capt. Warren Delano. On Dec. 7, 1832, the church was organized as the Washington Street Christian Church, at the house of Elizabeth Adams, and on December loth of the same year the meeting-house was dedicated. Elder William H. Taylor was the first pastor. In 1834 a great accession was made to the number of members, eightysix uniting with the church in that year. About this time there was some discussion in regard to baptism, and a vote that no person should be allowed to join the church unless baptized by immersion, is on record. This was, however, rescinded soon afterward. The church was careful to take notice of the indulgence of its members in questionable amusements, and to deal with them accordingly; but it seems to have been inclined to deal with delinquents in a kindly spirit. Mr. Taylor left in 1838, and was followed on June 9th of the same year by Elder John H. Currier, who was followed by Elder C. Bernett, in November, 1839, he being dismissed at the end of three months.

In April, 1840, Elder Joseph H. Smith was engaged for three months. In July of the same year Elder David Millard took charge of the church. In this year renewed activity and interest was manifested. In 1841, Elder Charles Galligher was invited to preach for three months. Within the next few years there was brought about an important change in the history of the society. In 1841 the use of the pulpit was i granted to Elder William Miller, the exponent of Second Advent doctrines. Mr. Miller's preaching produced such results that thirty-three persons left the church, most of whom united with a number from the Methodist Episcopal Church and formed the nucleus of the Second Advent Society. In July, 1841, Elder Charles Morgridge was chosen pastor. He was followed by Elder Stephen Fellows. The old church had from various causes become much weakened at this period. It was now decided to employ an educated ministry, and to put itself more in harmony with the spiritual wants and intelligent thought of the age, and in March, 1844, it was voted, twelve to four, to invite a Unitarian minister to come and preach on trial. No change was made in the covenant, and the new element which came in found a well-established foundation upon which to build.

In August, 1844, Thomas Danes was unanimously chosen pastor. At this time, or soon after, a new front was put on the building, a vestry put underneath, and the pulpit was removed from the north to the south end, and the pews changed to conform with the alteration. Meantime Sawin's Hall was used for a short period, and later the Centre Congregational Church was occupied in union with the society worshiping there, each society occupying the church for half a day. Mr. Danes' ministry closed in 1853, after a useful pastorate. From 1853 until 1856 the society had no settled pastor. In the latter year a call was extended to Rev. C. Y. De Normandie, who was duly installed on September 10th of that year. The church was greatly quickened by the religious revival of 1858, which resulted in the addition of forty members to its roll. In the year 1865 a reorganization of the church was effected, in which the Christian Scriptures were declared to be the sufficient rule for faith and practice. In 1868 the society reluctantly complied with a request of their pastor for his dismission, and in April, 1869, Mr. De Normandie left, after having served the society for nearly thirteen years. Ellery Channing Butler was ordained Oct. 26, 1869, but was called away after a short pastorate of nearly three years. The next pastor, Alfred Manchester, was ordained Jan. 9, 1873. In 1874 various improvements were made upon the building, the interior being newly frescoed and carpeted, thus giving to thesociety a beautiful and attractive audience-room. In 1877, Mr. Manchester was dismissed, after a successful pastorate, and was followed by James M. Leighton, the present pastor, who was ordained April 10, 1878. In 1881 a new organization of the church was made, which changed somewhat the basis of fellowship. Members are required to sign their names to a compact pledging themselves to the worship of Almighty God, and the study and practice of pure religion as manifested in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. To this compact seventy-two members signed their names. Such is a brief abstract of the history of a church whose unseen influences have striven to add to the moral excellence and religious power of the community in which it is planted.

The Methodist Episcopal Church. - In the year 1820 a Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in New Bedford. A number of persons in Fairhaven united with this church, attended its services, and the preacher in charge sometimes preached on this side of the river. On Dec. 28, 1829, the brethren residing in Fairhaven requested that a chapel be erected for their accommodation. It was resolved that their request ought to be complied with, and that such a step will tend to the glory of God and the enlargement of the kingdom of our common Saviour. In June, 1830, the meeting-house was opened for worship, and dedicatory sermons were preached by Rev. Orange Scott and Rev. John Lindsey. This was the building now occupied by the town as a high school, and stands on Main Street north of Bridge Street. Rev. William Livesey was in that year appointed to this station. Once in two weeks Mr. Livesey exchanged with Rev. Mr. Merritt, of New Bedford, and Rev. James Porter, of the Head of the River. The society continued to be a branch of the one in New Bedford until 1832, when it was deemed expedient that the Fairhaven

On Aug. 30, 1832, the male members met and proceeded to organize a board of trustees, consisting of the following-named persons: Joseph Millett, James Tripp (2d), John P. Winslow, Joseph P. Swift, Joseph B. Morse, Dennis McCarthy, and Warren Maxfield. The society continued to occupy their house of worship until the spring of 1849, when the subject of purchasing the edifice left vacant by the Centre Congregational Society was considered. On April 16th the trustees reported that they had obtained a title to the church for the use and behoof of the Methodist Episcopal Church.- Their report was accepted, and the building occupied in that year. The last of the notes due by reason of the purchase of this building was paid in March, 1867. Extensive improvements have been made within the church edifice since its present occupancy, and the church is now in a highly prosperous condition.

The Second Advent Society. - In 1841, Elder William Miller preached in the Christian Baptist Church in this village. A number of persons became converts to the Second Advent faith, and in 1842 began to hold meetings. The first meetings were held in a private house on Main Street. Afterwards they were held in the building formerly occupied by Rev. Mr. Gould as a young ladies' boarding-school, and in Fountain Hall on Main Street. The building on William Street, formerly known as Sawin's Hall, was purchased and converted into a chapel, and a new organization effected about seventeen years ago. Present pastor, Elder George F. Haines.

Friends' Meeting. - Since the early settlement of Old Dartmouth the Friends or Quakers have been an important element in the history of the town. In Fairhaven, however, they have not been so influential as in New Bedford and Dartmouth. There was no meeting-house in the present limits of the town until 1849, when the plain but neat building on Bridge Street was erected. The number of worshipers here has always been quite small, and number at present about ten or twelve families. Meetings are held on first days and fourth days, and a Bible-class is sustained. The Friends do not recognize the pastoral relation in the manner that other denominations do, and their method of church government differs also from that of other societies. The Fairhaven Meeting belongs to the New Bedford Monthly Meeting, which is the principal organization in this vicinity.

Civil History. - The records of the first few years of the town's existence have been lost, and filenames of the officers during that period have not been definitely ascertained. The following-named persons have held the office of town clerk since 1816 : 1816-17, Levi Jenney ; 1817-19, Jabez Taber; 1819-34, Bartholomew Taber; 1834-42, Nathaniel Church ; 1842-55, Eben Akin, Jr. ; 1855-75, Tucker Damon, Jr. ; 1875, Eben Akin, Jr.

Source changes here: from History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, by Hurd, Duane Hamilton, [from Old Catalog] Ed, published 1883; 9,320 words in this source stream.

Fairhaven Town

Daniou, are of early date. The house on Eldridge lane, between Water Street and the river, formerly occupied by Harvey Caswell, is of Revolutionary date. Into this building it is that a ball was fired at the time of the British attack on the village. The ball entered one of the chambers, passed through the room, and imbedded itself in the opposite wall.

There are standing on JIain Street two old houses. One of these is the Tabey house, a small old-fashioned building, nearly opposite the Union Hotel. The rear ])ortion is the older, and was said to have been brought from New Bedford on the ice, though there was some contradiction to this story. The second building is the gambrel-roofed house, the only one of that style in town, on the corner of Main and Centre Streets, opposite Phoenix Hall. It is related of the master of this house that he declared seeing in a dream the apjiroach to the village of a squadron of armed vessels, and that when the British fleet appeared and took up its position east of outer Egg Island its appearance corresponded exactly with the previous vision. It is even asserted that it was no dream at all, but that from some marvelous cause he, looking from his east chamber window, actually saw the fleet long before its arrival. Another story of this man, whose name was Taber, is that one day as he was about to step from his house in going to his shop, he beheld standing in the shop-door Joseph Francis, a man whom he well knew, who had a few days before sailed on a whaling voyage. As Mr. Taber approached, Francis turned, and walking towards another door, disappeared, all search for him proving vain. Mr. Taber was troubled, but kept the matter quiet until, ten days later, the news came of the loss of the " Thetis," with twenty-nine of those who sailed in her, Francis being among the number. Tliough the supernatural element in these events may have been an illusion, and a belief in the marvelous may have been more readily entertained then than at present, yet the workings of certain phenomena upon certain minds seem almost unaccountable.

One of the older houses at Naskatucket was the Copeland house, which has been torn down. Sconticut Neck was the place of residence of several of the old families of the town, and here some of the older houses were built. Among the dwellers on the Neck was Samuel Hathaway, of whom it is related that, after the labors of the week, when Sunday came, he would hoist sail and away to Falmouth in order to attend divine service there. Here also lingered the last remnant of the Indians who remained in this vicinity. Will Simon, a well-known Indian, died in 1817, and Martha, the last of her race, some twentyfive or thirty years ago. It seems to be well established, though not extensively known, that the people of this village, then a portion of Dartmouth, may claim the honor of the first naval capture in the Revolution. On May 14, 1775, Lieut. Nathaniel Pope and Capt. Daniel Egery, commanding the sloop " Success," captured two tenders of the British sloop-ofwar " Falcon,", oft' West Island. A council was held to determine what disposition to make of the captives, but the captors, fearful for the result, marched them ofi" hurriedly to Taunton ere the decision was reached. A rusty swivel lashed to a timber-head w-as the only carriage-gun on the craft. The men added two or three buckshot to the bullet in each charge of their muskets. The first verbal report of the transaction before the Provincial Congress gave the number of prisoners as fifteen, although, when the question of disposition finally came up, but four were mentioned. The account of the British movement against Fairhaven during the Revolution is substantially as follows : On Saturday, Sept. 3, 1778, the troops landed at Clarke's Cove, marched up to the Head of the River, destroying property in the village of Bedford, and passed, around down on to Sconticut Neck, avoiding the village, but making some depredations and burning a few buildings on their way, including a schoolhouse where the house of George H. Taber now stands. The fleet dropped over from Clarke's Cove to a position near outer Egg Island. Many of the terrified inhabitants, appalled at the presence of such an armament in our waters, snatched up what could conveniently be carried off', and fled to the woods.

Fort Phcenix was captured by the British on Sunday or Monday, and on Monday night, the enemy having re-embarked from the Neck, an attack was made upon the village, of which the following account was given by President Dwight, of Yale College, as found in Ricketson's History of New Bedford :

" The militia of the neighboring country had been summoned to the defense of this village. Their commander was a man far advanced in years. Under the influence of that languor which at this period enfeebles both the body and the mind he determined that the place must be given up to the enemy, and that no opposition to their ravages could be made with any hope of success. This decision of their officer necessarily spread its benumbing influence over the militia, and threatened an absolute prevention of all enterprise and the destruction of this handsome village. Among the officers belonging to the brigade was Israel Fearing, Esq., a major of one of the regiments. This gallant young man, observing the torpor which was spreading among the troops, invited as many as had sufficient spirit to follow him and station themselves at the post of danger. Among those who accepted the invitation was one of the colonels, who, of course, became the commandant; but after they had arrived at Fairhaven, and tlie night had come on, he proposed to march the troops back into the country. He was warmly opposed by Maj. Fearing, and finding that he could not prevail, prudently retired to a house three miles distant, where he passed the night in safety. After the colonel had withdrawn, Maj. Fearing, now commander-in-chief, arranged his men with activity and skill, and soon perceived the

British approaching. The militia, in the strictest sense raw, already alarmed by the reluctance of their superior officers to meet the enemy, and naturally judging that men of years must understand the real state of the danger better than Maj. Fearing, a mere youth, were panic-struck at the approach of the enemy, and instantly withdrew from their post. At this critical moment Maj. Fearing, with the decision which awes men into a strong sense of duty, rallied them, and, placing himself in the rear, declared in a tone which removed all doubt that he would kill the first man whom he found retreating. The resolution of their chief recalls theirs. With the utmost expedition he led them to the scene of danger. The British had already set fire to several stores. Between these buildings and the rest of the village he stationed his troops, and ordered them to lie close, in profound silence, until the enemy, who were advancing, should have come so near that no marksman could easily mistake his object. The orders were punctually obeyed. When the enemy had arrived within this distance the Americans rose, and with a well-directed fire gave them a warm and unexpected reception. The British fled instantly to their boats, and fell down the river with the utmost expedition. From the quantity of blood found the next day in their line of march it was supposed that their loss was considerable. Thus did this heroic youth, in opposition to his superior officers, preserve Fairhaven, and merits a statue from its inhabitants."

In regard to tliis affiiir a letter from Maj. -Gen. Grey to Sir Henry Clinton, dated on board the " Carysfort" frigate, off Bedford harbor, Sept. 6, 1778, says, " The only battery they had was on the Fairhaven side, an inclosed fort with eleven pieces of cannon, which was abandoned and the cannon properly demolished by Capt. Scott, commanding officer of tlie artillery, and the magazine blown up." Among the incidents of this attack was the killing, on Sconticut Neck, of a British guard by an American prisoner named Pease. The story goes that Pease crept stealthily up to the guard, and as the soldier turned in pacing his beat struck him over the head with a stake, killing him instantly. It was supposed that the deed was witnessed from the fleet by the British, as the report of a gun was heard soon after, and it is certain that the body was buried and afterwards disinterred by an Indian, in order to obtain the gilt buttons on the uniform. It is said that Pease afterwards lost his life l)y an accidental blow upon the same portion of the head. A few words relative to the history of the old gun which stands muzzle down at the corner of Main and Centre Streets will be of interest. On March 2, 1777, Ezekiel Hopkins, commander of ship "Alfred," carrying twenty-eight guns, while on a cruise in Southern waters for the purpose of intercepting and capturing British vessels, visited Nassau, made the Governor a prisoner, took one hundred guns or cannon, and a quantity of military stores, and arrived at New Condon, Conn., March 17th. Several of these guns were sent here and placed on the fort. At its capture by the British they were spiked and rendered almost useless. This gun, the only one remaining of the original number, was soon after taken from the fort by Nathaniel Pope and placed at what is now the foot of Union Street for the defense of the village. Here it remained until Union wharf was built. It was then removed and planted muzzle down near the old church. About the time that the church was altered to a public hall it was again removed, but has now been restored to its position on the corner.

In the year 1790 was made the twenty-acre purchase, from land of Elnathan Pope, on which the older part of the village was laid out. The following streets were surveyed within this tract: Water, Middle, Main from Washington to the south end of the purchase. Centre from Middle to Main, Union from Main to Water, Washington from Main to the river. It is possible that some of these names were not applied until a later date. Centre Street from Main to Green was probably already in existence, forming a part of the old road to the Head of the River.

The proprietors of land on these streets were as follows: On the west side of Middle Street, crossing Water to the river, Abisha Delano, Reuben Delano (two lots), Noah Allen (three lots), Ephraim Delano, Jonathan Negus, Thomas Taber, Isaiah Eldridge (two lots), Richard Delano, Caleb Church, Thomas Nye, John Wady (three lots), Jonathan Hathaway, Eleazar Hathaway, Nathaniel Delano ; on the west side of Main Street, extending to Middle, Abisha Delano, Isaiah Eldridge (two lots), Ephraim Delano, Jonathan Hathaway, Nathaniel Delano, Eleazar Hathaway, Noah Allen, John Wing, and Thomas Nye; on the east side of Main Street, Thomas Taber, Jonathan Negus, John Wady (two lots), Caleb Church, Reuben Delano (two lots), Noah Allen (three lots). The old high-water line, it is thought, crossed Water Street near the foot of Centre Street, and approached Middle Street at the southern end. In 1795 a street leading from Fairhaven to Oxford was constructed, beginning at the north of Samuel Proctor's garden. This was of course that part of Main Street which crosses the Mill Bridge and leads north. In this year, therefore, it is probable that the Mill Bridge was built. The old church on the corner of Main and Centre Streets was erected about the same time. The New Bedford Bridge was incorporated in the next year, 1796. The laud east of Main Street, from the millpond to the old cemetery, was owned by William Rotch, of New Bedford, remained in the possession of his family for a number of years, and no streets were laid out within its limits for a long period. The people of Fairhaven at the beginning of the century were, in contrast to their present political status, ardent supporters of the ultra Democratic views of Mr. Jefferson, and on July 4, 1801, had quite a lively celebration in honor of the doctrine of enlarged liberty. In early days the liberty-pole stood on the lot where now stands the residence of Hon. E. R. Sawin, corner of Middle and Centre Streets. As years went on the result of the political antagonism between Fairhaven and New Bedford was the incorporation, in 1812, of the town of Fairhaven. The New Bedford Gazette of Feb. 21, 1812, contains the following : " The bill for establishing the town of Fairhaven was taken up and passed to be engrossed, in concurrence with the Senate, two hundred and thirty-three to one hundred and eighty-eight." The first Fourth of July after the incorporation was celebrated at the Head of the River with the reading of the Declaration of Independence and President's message, singing of an ode composed by Lieut. Henry Whitman, U.S.N. , and an oration by James L. Hodges, Esq., of Taunton, at the meeting-house, followed by a dinner at Pratte tavern, presided over by Hon. Nathaniel Morton, Jr., Capt. Noah Stoddard, and John Hanes, Esq. There was published in New Bedford about this time a strongly Democratic paper called the New Bedford Gazette. The political climate, however, becoming too hot for its comfort, it was transplanted to the more congenial soil of Fairhaven, and flourished here under the name of the Bristol Gazette about the year 1813. Daniel Gleason, Jr., was publisher for a time, but he having been appointed to a government office at the fort, retired and was succeeded by Paul Taber. The editorial sanctum was, we believe, near the head of the old South wharf The war of 1812 interfered with the business of Fairhaven, but this temporary cloud soon passed.

On Sept. 23, 1815, occurred one of the most terrific gales ever known on this coast. It is said that the tide rose ten or eleven feet higher than had ever been known before, inundating, of course, stores and dwellings in the village. Two stores on the Old South wharf and one on the Union wharf were carried away, also B. Church's barn and contents, and Samuel Borden's ropewalk, which extended from the main land to Crow Island. Several dwellings were more or less injured. It is related that a long boat put off from the store of John Delano, on Union wharf, containing Stephen Merrihew, Asa Swift, William P. Jenney, and others. They landed at Capt. Samuel Borden's, above the bridge, and stopped until the tide ebbed. " Capt. Borden's horse was in the keepingroom, tied to the crane, and barrels of oil, stored in the cellar, floated up and thumped heavily against the floor, caused by the wind and tide rushing in through the cellar windows." Two or three persons from this town, we believe, lost their lives in this storm. Few events of interest, aside from the successes and subsequent decline of the town's peculiar branch of industry, have marked its later history. Previous to the financial crisis of 1857 the town increased greatly in population, wealth, and business enterprise, while the moral worth and general excellence of the community was and is a source of gratification to the people. The records of the first few years of the town's existence are said to have been lost in the great gale of 1815. Some of the earliest town-meetings were held in the Methodist meeting-house at the Head of the River. In 1818 meetings were held in the old Congregational meeting-hou.se at the Head of the River, and continued to be held there until about 1831-32, when they were transferred to the Academy Hall, on Main Street, between Fairhaven and Oxford village. There seems to have been some objection to holding the meetings here, probably on the part of people from the northern portion of the town, who were obliged to come a considerable distance. Here, however, they continued to be held until, in 1843, the town house was built, on the road to the Head of the River, near the Woodside Cemetery, over a mile north of the village. This building was destroyed by fire in 1858.

For a few years meetings were held in Sawin's Hall, on William Street, and the division of the town, in 1860, removed further objection to the holding of them within the village. Since 1SG4 they have been held in Phcenix Hall. In 1825 it was voted to petition the Legislature for the opening of a passage from Long Pond, in Middleborough, to the Acushnet River, by means of which a valuable fishery could be secured to the towns along the banks of the river. This, however, was, we think, not accomplished. In 1828 money was raised for the purchase of a buryingground and building one-half of the stone bridge at the Head of the River. The bridge is a substantial reality, but the cemetery project seems not to have been so successful, a fact for which, in view what has transpired since, we can only be grateful. In 1830, to the credit of the town, be it known that it was voted, " That it is the sense of the inhabitants of Fairhaven that there be no licenses granted to retailers or taverns for the sale of spirituous liquors for the ensuing year. In 1832 and 1833 there was a great advance in building operations in the village. In the latter year William, Walnut, and Green Streets were accepted, as well as Washington and Union as far ea.st as Green. Numerous substantial residences were built in various parts of the village at this time. In 1836 we find the first vote authorizing the purchase of a fire-engine, and in 1842 the first one authorizing ' the construction of a sidewalk. Thi« was the plank walk which formerly crossed the Mill Bridge. Since that date flagged sidewalks have been laid on a large part of Main and Centre Streets, as well as flagged and brick walks on other streets. Recently a considerable amount of concreting has been done.

In 1850 Riverside Cemetery, a beautiful restingplace for the dead, presented to the people of the town by Warren Delano, Jr., was consecrated. Its natural beauties were greatly enhanced by the donor in the lay-out and adornment of the grounds, which have been still further embellished by the care and taste of owners of lots. The Fairhaven Branch Railroad, opened in 1854, passed through a portion of the old cemetery at the foot of William Street. The northern part was allowed to remain, and has since been an unsightly di.sfigurement to the village. Happily, a number of removals have of late been made from here, and it is to be lioised that soon few vestiges of its former use may remain.

Up to the beginning of the war the village was a busy place, in consequence of the whale fishery and industries connected therewith. With the sudden decline of whaling the town was left with almost nothing of business enterprise. Population and wealth decreased, and the future looked dark indeed. Two manufacturing companies have, however, started up since that period, and with the increasing prosperity of New Bedford and slight gains in population better days have already dawned. The increase in building operations within the last ten years over the amount during the previous decade has been marked. On Sept. 8, 1869, the town was visited by a furious gale, which, besides inflicting a large amount of minor damage, tore off the tall steeple of the Congregational Church, which bad been a prominent landmark for over twenty years. It also carried away a large portion of the New Bedford bridge, thus rendering Fairhaven people dependent upon a ferry-boat for transportation to and from New Bedford. Previous to the opening of the bridge, about the beginning of the present century, the village of Fairhaven and Bedford had, we think, been connected by a rude sort of ferry. This first bridge was destroyed by a storm in 1807. The bridge was rebuilt and again destroyed in the great gale of 1815, while the next structure, after enduring for a half-century and more, met with the disaster mentioned above. Up to this period it had been customary to collect toll from passengers. The j removal of this burden has proved to be a great convenience to the people of the town since the reopening of the bridge in June, 1870. In former days, and especially after the destruction of the bridge in 1869, there was some opposition on the part of New Bedford j people to its present location. The advantages of its present situation are, however, so great that the question may now be considered as a thing of the past. About 1833 a ferry-boat was put on the route between Fairhaven and New Bedford, in order more effectually to accommodate traffic between the two growing places.

The New Bedford and Taunton Railroad was opened about 1840, and for some time a coach was j run to accommodate Fairhaven passengers. In 1854 , was opened the Fairhaven Branch Railroad, connecting with the Cape Cod Railroad at Tremont, opening a through line from Fairhaven to Boston, and connecting New Bedford with Cape Cod and Plymouth County. A new and more commodious steam ferry was at this time put on the New Bedford route by the railroad company. At about this time,

R. A. Dunham put on his line' of omnibuses, which continued tn run to New Bedford, with the exception of periods when the bridge was impassable, until 1872. In October of that year was opened the Fairhaven Branch of the New Bedford and Fairhaven Street Railroad, a convenience which is greatly appreciated by the people. In 1873 tlie ferry-boat " Union" was disposed of, and since that time regular traffic has been given over to the street railroad company. The Fairhaven Branch Railroad was sold to the New Bedford and Taunton some years after its completion, and since that time has passed into the hands of the New Bedford Railroad Company, Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg, and New Bedford Company, and in 1879 was leased by the Old Colony. A telegraph office is maintained at the railroad station, and telephonic connection with the New Bedford central office is availed of by a number of residents. Aside from the wharves and some buildings in the older portion of the village there is little of the appearance of the decayed seaport about Fairhaven. The streets are more regular than in many places, and some of them are beautifully shaded. Centre Street, in particular, beneath its arch of waving elm branches, forms a lovely vista during the warm season. Tasteful and substantial residences scattered about the village add to its good appearance.

It is to be regretted that the town possesses no common or park, and that many of the houses stand close together and very near the street, since its beauty might have been greatly increased by large public or private grounds. In Riverside Cemetery stands a neat and tasteful monufnent erected by the town in 1867 in memory of her citizens who lost their lives in the rebellion. The monument bears the following names : Bart. Aiken, Charles H. Austin, Joseph S. Caswell, Benjamin F. Cowen, Edward H. Dillingham, Lewis Albert Drew, Charles Eldridge, Barnabas Ener, Jr., John Arthur Fitch, Ebenezer B. Hathaway, Charles N. Jenney, James Merrihew, Harvey C. Morse, Ebenezer Parsons, Jr., Phineas Peckham, Jr., George F. Rogers, Francis H. Stoddard, Loring P. Taber, John M. Thompson, Amos S. Tripp, William B. Watterson, William A. West.

Within the last few years Fairhaven has been steadily growing in favor as a pleasant but unpretentious summer resort. The heat is tempered by the southwest winds from the bay, and our beautiful river and harbor afford facilities for boating and fishing. Fort Phoenix, now dismantled, aftbrds, witlj its adjacent rocks and beaches, a delightful resort for the rambler on a summer's afternoon. The view of the river dotted with sailing craft, the compact mass of roofs of the neighboring city, sprinkled with towers and spires, forming a charmingly variegated picture along the opposite bank ; the wooded shores of Clark's Point and Sconticut Neck below on opposite sides of the harbor, the bright waters of the bay fading far off at the south into the blue shores of Falmouth, Nau- shon, Nashawena, and Cuttyhunk, is a source of de- ! light to the lover of natural scenery. One would like to see more activity about the quiet streets and wharves of Fairhaven. Still, the swift-ebbing tide of business prosperity has begun to rise, and from the advantages of its situation, its proximity to New Bedford, and from the excellence of the community itself, the future outlook for the town is not unfavorable.

The writer would gratefully acknowledge the aid furnished him in the compilation of historical matter by Messrs. Charles Eldridge, Job E. Tripp (of whose historical sketch of the Unitarian Church the following is, in the main, an abstract), Eben Akin, Jr., and Mr. Ingraham, of the New Bedford Public Library. Eicketson's "History of New Bedford," and newspaper sketches written by various persons, have aftbrded assistance.

Industries and Corporations. - A number of branches of business connected either directly or indirectly with the whale fishery, such as ship-building and repairing, coopering, sail-making, and spermcandle manufacturing, have been carried on in this place. Ship-building early engaged tlie attention of the people of Oxford vilhige and Fairhaven. About the year ISOO, Abner Pease built, near his homestead, several ships and smaller vessels. At a later date the business was continued by John and Joshua Delano at the Union wharf ship-yard. They were followed by Elias Terry and Fish & Nuttlestone. Here were built a number of sliips and other vessels, and at times two or three vessels might have been seen in process of construction. Two of the largest ships ever built on the river, the "Sea Nymph" and "John Milton," were built by Fish & Nuttlestone for the late Edward M. Kobinson, of New Bedford. Vessels were also built on Main Street in a lot north of the residence of the late Isaac AVood. Messrs. Delano & Co. have built a number of first-class ships and other vessels at the yard of the late Capt. William G. Belackler, on Fort Street. The business has now been discontinued. The Fairhaven Marine Railway, on which vessels are drawn up for repairs, is still in existence. There were two candle manufactories, one at the head of Middle Street, the other on Fort Street. The latter was built by the late William R. Rodman, of New Bedford, in 1831 or 1832. There are now two manufacturing companies established in the town, - the American Tack Company and the Fairhaven Iron- Works. A portion of the building now occupied by the iron-works was formerly used as a cotton-mill. The Fairhaven Star, a weekly newspaper, published by C. D. Waldron, was established in 1879.

National Bank of Fairhaven. - Incorporated in 1831, reorganized in 1864. L. S. Judd, president;. Reuben Nye, cashier; Directors, L. S. Judd, Isaiah West, Cyrus D. Hunt, Phineas E. Terry, Charles H. Morton, Levi M. Snow, James V. Cox. Capital, one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

Fairhaven Iron- Works were incorporated in 1879. (Successor to Boston and Fairhaven Iron- Works, incorporated 1863.) President, 1882, Edwin S. Thayer; Directors, Edwin S. Thayer, Lewis S. Judd, Thomas H. Knowles ; Treasurer, Job C. Tripp; Superintendent, William C. Lincoln.

American Tack Company was incorporated in 1867. President, 1882, J. A. Beauvais; Directors, J. A. Beauvais, C. P. Brightman, C. D. Hunt, L. S. Judd, Loum Snow, Jr. ; Treasurer, J. A. Beauvais. Capital, one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.