Swansea Town (part 2 of 3)

Xatiian Montgomery Wood

The first of the Wood family who came to America of whom there is any authentic record was William1 Wood, who came from England, and after spending some time in the new colonies returned to England, and in 1634 published in London a book entitled " New England's Prospects." Very meagre records were kept in those clays, and it is not positive how many children this William Wood had, or what their names were, but after consulting all available authorities relative to early genealogical data, we feel justified in stating as most probable that he had at least one son, John'1, who came to Plymouth Colony in the early days of that settlement, married and had two sons, John and Thomas*, who were great hunters, and possessed of that hardy adventurous spirit so characteristic of our early pioneers. In search of a country where game was plenty, they first came to Seaconnet or thereabouts, and soon after went to Swansea, where Thomas settled. John, so tradition says, went still farther west into Connecticut, which was then a wilderness. Thomas Wood3 was evidently a man of considerable consequence in his town. He was a surveyor, and divided and surveyed much land. He held in Swansea a large landed estate containing several hundred acres. Records indicate that he had two sons, Thomas and John*.

This John had two sons, Noah and John. By his will he bequeathed the mill-place to his son John5, and to Noah he gave the landed property west of the mill-farm, consisting of three farms, one of which, the homestead, is still in possession of the family. Noah had four sons, - Nathaniel, Aaron, Levi, and Jonathan. He bequeathed the homestead farm and the one adjoining to his son Aaron, and to the others he gave farms in the immediate vicinity.

Aaron, son of Noah, had children, - Nathan, Isaac, Levi, Aaron, Noah, Mason, Freelove, Sarah, Elizabeth, Innocent, Mary, and Polly. In the distribution of his property he bequeathed the homestead to his son Aaron. This Aaron had seven sons, - Levi, John, Nathan, Benjamin, Ira, Hiram, and Pardon, and two daughters, Polly and Sarah. Upon his decease the homestead went to all the sons, and to his wife, Polly, the use of it during her life. She died March 12, 1883, in her ninety-ninth year. The homestead farm is now in possession of Nathan Wood, son of Aaron, and Benjamin N. Wood, grandson of Aaron Wood, and nephew of Nathan M. Wood.

John5 Wood, who inherited the mill place from his father John4, had four sons, - John, Isaac, Nathan, and Seth, and two daughters, - Bethiah and Penelope. Seth6, upon his father's decease, inherited the mill farm. He was a man of consequence in his day ; took much interest in public affairs, and during the war of the Revolution was commissioned directly from the State authorities as collector of taxes. He had three sons, - John, Seth, and Halle, the latter by a second wife. Col. Haile7 inherited the ancestral acres. He was one of the leading men of Swansea, holding various town offices and positions of trust and honor. He was an enterprising man, and one of the original founders of the Taunton Britannia Works, now known as Reed & Barton's Works. He resided in Taunton four years. He was colonel of militia, and took much pride and interest in military affairs. He was said to be the best horseman in the county. He was a man of fine physique, stood over six feet high, and weighed over two hundred pounds. He was a Whig and Republican in politics, and an ardent prohibitionist. He married Mary, daughter of Ebenezer Howard, of Woodstock, Conn., and had eleven children, - Haile N. (married Marian L. Chace, they have one son), Mary A. (deceased ; married E. Brayman, had six children, all of whom are dead), William (deceased; married Harriet Burbank, of Taunton, had three children), Seth (married Mary Carver, of Taunton, had four children), Elizabetli (married Nathan Wood, of Swansea, had two children), Adeline (deceased; married Benjamin B. Wood, of Swansea, had five children),

Walter H. (married Amanda Gardner, has two children), Augusta (second wife of Benjamin Wood, they have one son), Laura (deceased; died unmarried), Nathan M., and Angeline (died in infancy). Col. Haile was born November, 1788, and died May 6, 1860. His wife was born March, 1785, and died October, 1872.

Nathan M. Wood was born in Swansea, Mass., Jan. 16, 1825. His education was obtained at the common schools of his native town. His father was a farmer and miller, and Nathan was brought up to the same business, and, with the exception of about one year passed in Maine, he has always resided at his home in Swansea, which has been in the family so many generations. Nov. 7, 1848, he married Abby M. Kingsley, second child and eldest daughter of Elisha and Mary (Mason) Kingsley, of Swansea. She was born April 10, 1828, and is descended on the maternal side from Samson Mason, who was an Englishman, and an officer in the army of Oliver Cromwell until the latter was made lord protector of England. About 1650 he came to America, and was admitted an inhabitant of Rehoboth Dec. 9, 1657. His children were Samson, Noah, John, Samuel, Bethiah (who became the wife of John Wood), Sarah, Mary, James, Joseph, Isaac, Peletiah, Benjamin, and Thankful. Peletiah had three sons, all of whom were ministers. Job, Russell, and John, all of them resided within a mile of each other. They were blacksmiths by occupation, and it is said used to " preach with their leather aprons on." They preached at a church occupying the site of the present Christian Church near Luther's Corners.

Job Mason had a son Job, who occupied the ancestral home, and who had a son named Gardner, who was a seaman, and was drowned at Providence, R. I., while his vessel lay at that port. His wife's maiden name was Susanna Vinnicum. He left a daughter, Mary G., who was the mother of Mrs. Nathan M. Wood.

Nathan M. Wood is a Republican in politics, but liberal in his ideas in political as in all other matters. He has held various official positions, including nearly all the principal town offices, and some of them for more than twenty years. He was representative to the Legislature in 1875. He is a member of the Christian Church, and is also a member of Washington Lodge, No. 3, F. and A. M., and Webb Council, Warren, R. I.; Royal Arch Chapter, Fall River ; and Cavalry Commandery, Knights Templar, Providence, R. I.

He has five children, - Nathan Howard, born Feb. 15, 1851, died in infancy ; Abby Isabel, born Nov. 16, 1854 (married Hiram E. Thurston, has one child, Louise, resides in Providence, R. I.) ; Mary R. P., born May 28, 1857 (married Nathan Slade, has one child, Mary A., resides in Somerset) ; Angeline II., born June 30, 1859 (married Franklin G. Arnold, and resides with her parents) ; and Eloise K., born Aug.

Mr. Wood is one of Swansea's most prominent and prosperous men, and, aside from his farming and milling business, is largely interested in a manufacturng business in Fall River.

Marcus A. Browx

MARCUS A. BROWX. Marcus Aurelius Brown, son of William and Freelove (Wood) Brown, was born in Swansea, Mass., Dec. 19, 1819, near what is now Cole's Station. He comes from an old New England family of consequence in the days of the first settlements. From .old records and historical documents we ascertain that John Brown, the first of this line of Browns, had acquaintance with the Pilgrims in Leyden, Holland, before the sailing of the " Mayflower" in 1620, in which vessel he probably was financially interested. He was originally from England, where he was born in 1574, but we cannot definitely trace the family in that country. The exact year of his coming to America is unknown, but in 1636 he was living in Duxbury, and in 1643 in Taunton. He was a man of importance in public affairs, and one of the leading men of Plymouth Colony. He was assistant for seventeen years from 1636, served as commissioner of the United Colonies for twelve years from 1644, and died in Swansea, near Rehoboth, where he had large estates. Savage gives the date of his death as April 10, 1662, and says that his will, made three days before his death, provides for the children left to his care by his son John, and names his wife Dorothy and son James executors. This is doubtless the correct date of his death, as his wife Dorothy died Jan. 27, 1673 or 1674, aged ninety. John Brown2, born 1636, died in Rehoboth in 1660. He married a daughter of William Buckland, and had five children, - John?, Joseph, Nathaniel, Lydia, and Hannah, - whom he left, as above mentioned, to the care of his father. He was a strict Puritan and a devout man, standing high in community and colony affairs. John Broivn3 was born about 1657 in Rehoboth, married Ann Dennis, of Norwich, Conn., and had two children, - John'1 and Samuel. He died in 1724. He was a man of positive nature, unflinching in the discharge of everything he deemed a duty. It is said of him that he was so enraged at his son (John) when he joined the Baptist Church that, supposing the latter's residence to be partially on his land, he was going to pull the part to which he laid claim away from the other, thus aiming to destroy the house, but a survey made to ascertain the fact showed that no portion of the house touched his land. Whether the tradition be true or false, it tells the character of the men of that perilous pioneer period. Athletic, strong-minded, and positive in character, they were well fitted to develop civilization from the unpromising and savage surroundings, and to contend ably with its foes. Among these settlers the Browns were leaders, and their different generations were prominent in chinch and local matters. From 1672 to 1692 the deputy for several years was a Brown. John Brown' was born April 23, 1675, in Swansea, married Abigail, daughter of James Cole, July 2, 1696, and died April 23, 1752, leaving at least one son,. Jo hn:\ The lands bequeathed to Mrs. Brown by her father were transmitted from their purchase from the Indians to generation after generation for more than two centuries, and never were conveyed by deed until their purchase by H. A. Gardner. John"' was also prominent, held a captain's commission, and was an earnest and consistent man. We extract from church records in Swansea: "The Church of Christ in Swansea, soon after December, 1719, built a new meeting-house on land given said church by Capt. John Brown and William Wood for that purpose." Lieut. John Brown5 was born in Swansea in 1700, married, in 1722, Lydia, daughter of Joseph Mason. She was born in Swansea in 1704. They had five children, one of whom was William.

John Brown5 was a large farmer, owning slaves. He was well to do, and was honored with various offices. He is recorded as Lieut. John Brown. We extract again from the church records : " June 14, 1753, James Brown was on a committee to receive in behalf of the church a deed of some land which our beloved brother, John Brown, proposes to give to said church for its use and benefit forever." He died May 18, 1754. His wife died Feb. 17, 1747.

William Brown (sixth generation) was born April 14, 1729, in Swansea, was a farmer, and much employed in public matters ; he surveyed land for years, settled many estates, was a man of distinction and ability, and much esteemed by his townsmen. He owned a handsome property in land and slaves. He married in 1753, Lettice, daughter of Hezekiah Kingsley, who was born in 1732. They had eight children, - Elizabeth, married Edward Gardiner (they were grandparents of Mrs. Marcus A. Brown) ; Joseph (died aged twenty, a British prisoner on one of the terrible prison-ships) ; Luranella, married Reuben Lewis; Amy; Betty, married Aaron Cole; Mary, married Benjamin Buttenvorth ; Sarah, William-. Mr. Brown died in 1805. His wife survived him two years. William Brown, Jr. (seventh generation), was born on the old home in Swansea, a short distance south of Cole's Station, Sept. 13, 1776. He was reared a farmer, and inherited the entire landed estate of his father (about one hundred and forty acres). He was an unassuming, hard-working man, very social, with a remarkable memory (a faculty possessed by many of the family in a large degree). He could repeat whole chapters from the Bible, and had no need to refresh his memory of any event by memoranda. He devoted himself to agriculture ; married Freelove, daughter of Aaron and Freelove (Mason) Wood, of Swansea, in 1799. She was born Sept. 28, 1780. They had nine children attaining

Source changes here: from History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, by Hurd, Duane Hamilton, [from Old Catalog] Ed, published 1883; 20,457 words in this source stream.

Swansea Town

Geographiciil - Incorporation of the Town - " Waunamoisett" - Documentary History - Karly InliabitnutB - Division of Lands - King Philip's War - Original Grant - Capt. Thomas Williams' " Proposals" - Adniissiun of Inhabitants - First Deputy Elected - John Allen - Town Officers of 1G70 - Extracts from Early Records - Revolutionary War - Committee of Inspection - Various Votes concerning the Revolutionary Period - Election of 1780 - Pioneer Schools - First Schoolmaster - John Myles - 1702, Town Fined for not Having School.

Swansea lies in the southwestern part of the county, and is bounded as follows : On the north by Seekonk, Rehoboth, and Dighton ; on the east by Dighton and Somerset; on the soutii by Somerset and Mount Hope Bay.

A portion of this town was originally comprehended within the limits of ancient Rehoboth. 'It forms a part of tiie tract called by the Indians " Waijnainoisett," situated in this town and Barrington, R. I. This town was incorporated in 1077, and then included williin its limits the present towns, Somerset, Barrington, and the greater part of Warren, R. I. The town derived its name from "Swan sea," in Wales, and was so spelled in the earliest records. In 1649, Obidiah Holmes and several others, having embraced the Baptist sentiments, withdrew from Mr. Newman's church, and set up a separate meeting of their own. The attempt to break them up, and the persecutions tliey met with, only increased their numbers. In 1603 they were much strengthened by the arrival of Rev. John Myles and his church. In the same year Mr. Myles formed a Baptist Church in Rehoboth (the fourth in America). It was organized in the house of John Butterworth, and commenced with seven members. These and subsequent proceedings were considered such an evil by the rest of the inhabitants that an appeal was made to the Plymouth Court to interfere. Each member of this new church was fined five pounds, and prohibited from worship for a month. They were also advised to remove from Rehoboth to some place where they would not prejudice any existing church. They accordingly moved to Wannamoisett.

Capt. Thomas Willett, a magistrate, and a man of great ability and enterprise, having large possessions at Narragansett, near by, came and settled here. Hugh Cole and some others followed. Capt. Willett became subsequently the first English mayor of New York. He and Mr. Myles may be justly styled the fathers of the town.

In 1670 it was ordered that the lands should be proportioned according to three ranks. Persons of the first rank were to receive three acres ; of the second, two acres; of the third, one acre. In admitting inhabitants, the selectmen were to decide to wliich rank they should be apportioned. This singular division existed nowhere else in New England.

This town is memorable as the place where the first English blood was shed in "King Philip's War."^ On Sunday, June 20, 1675, King Philip permitted his men to march into Swansea and annoy the English by killing their cattle, in hopes to provoke them to commence the attack, for it is said that a superstition prevailed among them that the side who shed the first blood should finally be conquered. The Indians were so insolent that an Englishman finally fired upon one of them, and wounded him. The Indians upon this commenced open war. As soon as tlie intelligence of this massacre reached Boston, a comi)any of foot under Capt. Henchman, and a troop under Capt. Prentice, immediately marched for Mount Hope, and being joined by another company of one hundred and ten volunteers under Capt. Moseley, they all arrived at Swansea June 28th, where they joined the Plymouth forces, under Capt. Cudworth. Mr. Mile-s' house, being gar- l ri.soncd, was made their headquarters. About a dozen of the troop went immediately over the bridge, where they were fired upon out of the bushes, and one killed and one wounded. The English forces then pursued the enemy a mile or two, when the Indians took to the swamp, after having lost about a half-dozen of their number. The troop commenced their pursuit j of the Indians next morning. They passed over

Miles' Bridge and proceeded down the river till they came to the narrow of the neck, at a place called Keekamuit, or Kickaniuit. Here they found the heads of eight Englishmen, that the Indians had murdered, stuck on poles; these they buried. On their arrival at Mount Hope, they found that i)laee deserted.

"Whereas, Liberty Imtli hccn formerly granted by the Cuurt of jurJstUction of New Plymouth, unto Captuin Thuiuiia Willeit and his neighbors of Wannaniuisott, to bocumo a townahip there it' they hUouM see good, and that lately the said Capt. Willett and Mr. Myles, and others, their neighbors, have requiisted of the Court that they nmy be a township there or near thereabout, and likewise to have granted unto them such parcel Is of land as might be accommodate thereunto not disposed of to other Townships; this Court luivo gratited unto them all wmh lands that lyeth between the Saltwater Buy and coming up Tnunton Kiver (viz.), all the Land between the Salt water and river and the bounds of Taunton and Rehoboth not prejudicing any man's particuhir Interest, and forasmuch an lleliobolh hath meadow lands within the line cf Wunnamoisett, and Wannamoisett hath lands within the line of Kehobolh, lying near the South line of Relioboth - if the two townships cannot agree about them amongst themselves, the Court reserves it within tlieir power to deteiniiiie any such controversy.

"16G7, March. The Court hath appointed Oaptaine Willett, Mr. Paine, Senr.. Mr. Brown, John Allen, and Jnhn IJutterwurth, to have the trust of admittance of Town Inhabitants into the said town, and to have the dispnsall of ttic Land therein, and ordering of other the affairs of waid Town. The Court doe Allow and Approve that the Township Grunted unto Capt. Willett and others, his neighbors, at Wannami)isett and parts adjacent, shall henceforth be called and known by the Jiame of Swansea.

"The Knterys above are a Copy taken out of the Court Records at Plymouth. Nath'l Clark. And above Entrys hereof by William lugraliam, Town Clerk.

"Whereas, Capt. Thomas Willett, shortly after the grant of this township, made three following proposals nnto those wlio wore with him, by the Court at Plymouth, empowered for the admission of inhabitants, and of granting lots, viz.:

"Thecliurch here gathered and assembling did thereupon make the following address unto the said Capt, Willett and his associateB, the Trustees aforesaid.

"We being engaged with yon (according to our capacity) in the carrj'ing on of a townsliip according to the grant given us by the honored Court, and desiring to hiy huch a foundation thereof as may effectually tend to God's glor}-, our futun.' peace and comfort, and the real ben«-fit of such as shall hereafter join with u>* herein, as also to prevent all future jealousies and causes of dissatisfaction or disturbance in so goud a work, doe in relation to tiie three proposals made by our much honoured Capt. Willett, humbly present to your serious consideration, before we proceed further therein, that the said proposalls may bo consented to and tHuhscribed by all and every townman under the following explications:

"1. That the first proposal relating to the non-admission of erroneous persons may be only understood under the e.\plications following (viz.), of such as hold damnable heresies inconsistent with the faith of the . Gospel, as to deny the Trinity or any person therein, i the Deity or sinless Humanity of Chi-ist, or the uniun of both natures in him, or his full satisfaction to the Divine justice by his active and passive obedience for all his elect, or his resurrection, or ascension to heaven, intercession, or his second personable coming to judgment, or the resurrection of the dead, or to maintain any merit of works, consubstautiation, trausub-

1 The Toleration Act passed by the British Parliament twenty-two yeai-8 later, while relaxing the stringency of former laws against ilissenters, expressly denied toleration to such as rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. - J. W.O.

stantiation, giving Divine adoration to any creature or any other anti- Christian doctrine, thereby directly opposing the priestly, proidietical or kingly office of Christ, or any pjirt thereof; or seconclly such as hobl such opinions as are inconsistent with the well-being of the place, as lo deny the magistrates power to punish evil-doers as well as to punish those that do well ; or to deny the first day of the week to bo observed by Divine institution as the Lord's day or Christian Subbath, or to deny the giving of honor to whom honor is due, or to offer those civil respects tliat are usually performed according to the laudable custom of our nation, each to other, as bowing the knee or body, etc., or else to deny the office, use, or authority of the ministry or comfortable maintenance to bo due to them from such as partake of their teaching, or to speak reproachfully of any of tlie churches of Christ in this country, or of any such other churches as are of the same common faith with us and them.

" We desire that it be also understood & Declared that this is not understood of any holding any opinion different from others in any disjmtablo pt. Yet in controversy among the Godly Learned, the beleefe thereof not essentially necessary to salvation, such pado-baptism, antipado-bapti>ni, church discipline or the like. But that the minister or ministers of the Town may tjike their liberty to baptise Intants or grown persons as the Lord shall persuade their consciences, and so also the Inhabitants of the town to take their liberty to bring tlu-ir children to baptism or forbear. That the second proposall relating to nonoreception of any of evill behaviour, such as contentious persons, Ac, may be only understood of those truly so called, and not of those who are different in judgment in the particulars last-mentioned and nmy be therefore counted contentious by some, though they are in all fundanientallB of faitii orthodox in . . . and excepting common Infirmities blameless in conversation.

" That the proposall Relating to the non-admission of such as may be a charge to the Town be only understood so as that it may not hinder a godly man from comeing among us, whilst there is accommodation that satisflo him, if some Itesponeible Townsman will be bound to see the town harmless.

"These humble tenders of our desires we hope you will without offence receive, excusing us therein, considering that GodV glory, the future peace and wellbeing, not only of us and our posterity who shall settle Iiere, but also of those severall good and peaceaide-minded men whom you allready know are liked, though with very inconsiderable outward accommodation to come among us are very much concerned therein. Our humble prayers both for ourselves A you is that God would b<; pleased to cause us to aim more & more at his glory and less to our earthly concernment that so wo may improve the lavors that hath been handed down to us by our honoured nursing fathers to the advancement of the glory nf God, the interest of our Lord Jesus Ciirist, & to the common benefitt botli of the Town & Colony, wherein he hath providentially disposed of us to serve our generation. Your Brethren to serve you in Christ. '

" The foregoing proposalls being according to the desire of the church aforesaid, fully A absolutely condescended to, concluded A agreed upon by A between said Capt;un Willett, al his associates aforesaid, A the church under the reservation A explications above written, A every of them, it was sometime after propounded at a meeting of s'' town, lawfully warned on the two A twentieth day of the twelfth month, IGGO, that the said agreement might be by the whole town ratified A confirmed A settled as the foundation order, to which all that then were or afterward should be admitted inhabituufH to receive lands from the town, should manifest their assent by subscription thereunto, whereupon the following order (the said Capt. Willett, al his associates aforesaid being present) was freely passed by the whole town nemine contradiceute.

" At a town meeting lawfully warned, on the two A twentieth day nf the twelfth month, commonly called February, in the year of our Lord 16G9, it is ordered that all persons that are or shall be admitted inhabitanis within this town, shall subscribe to the three proposalls above written, to the severall conditions A explanations therein ex|ires8ed before any lot of land be confirmed to them or any of them.

" We, whose names are hereunder written, do freely, upon our admission to be inhabitants of this town of Swansea, assent to the above written agreement, made between the church now meeting here at

Swansea & Capt. Thomas Willett & his associates, as tlie s'^ agreement is i specified & declared in the tliree proposalls afore written, wjtll tlie several conditions & exi)lanations thereof concerning the present & future settlement of this town. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed."

" At a Town-meeting Lawfully warned y'' !'.>"' of May, 1670, John Myles, juu''., is chosen Clerk for this present year. John Allen, senr., is chosen Deputy, Nath'. Chafy constable, Samuel Luther grandjuryman, Benj. Alby waywarden, for the ensuing year.

"At a Town-meeting Lawfully warned on ye 11"' of May, 1671, Mr. James Brown was chosen Deputy, and Hugh Colegrandjuryman, and John Martin Constable. Nathaniel Peck, Joseph Carpenter, and Zechariah Eddy were chosen waywardens. Mr. James Brown, Hugli Cole, and Samuel Luther were chosen selectmen."

" At a Town-meeting lawfully warned November ye 8'^ 1671, John Allen, Snr., Hugh Cole, Nicholas Tanner, & Nathan' Peck are chosen Eaters for a Town Rate."

"At a Town-meeting Lawfully warned on ye 21 May, 1672, Mr. Brown was chosen Daputy & Thomas Barnes constable. Thos. Lewis grandjuryman, Nath'. Chafy & Jonathan Bozworth, & Hezekiah Luther, surveyors of highways ; Mr. Brown, Thos. Luis were chosen selectmen."

1670. " It was ordered yt whatsoever inhabitant shall absent himself from any Town-meeting to which he shall at any time hereafter be Legally warned, he shall forfeit for every such absent four shillings."

" It is ordered that all lotts & divisions of land that are or shall be granted to any particular person shall be proportioned to the threefold rank underwritten, so tliat wliere those of the first rank have three acres, those of the second rank shall have two, and those of the third rank shall have one."

1671. "Those of ye first rank shall pay three pounds twelve shillings apiece, and those of the second rank shall pay two pounds eight shillings apiece, and those of the third rank one pound four shillings apiece."

Aug. 28, 109.3. " The warrant from ye quarter session was read, requiring the Town to chuse a minister according to law; after sum Debate the meeting was adjourned for half an hour. The church by Lieut"'. Cole returned and replied thus : that they had a minister they apprehended was according to Law, viz., Elder Samuel Luther, and desired the vote of ye Town to see their assent and approbation, and after som debate ye meeting was adjourned for half an hour, and then againe after a considerable debate the Town-meeting was adjourned to ye 3d Tuesday in October, at 9 o'clock in the morning at tlie usual place of meeting."

"John Pain and John Cole, son of Hugh Cole, to look after & to prosecute any breache of ye acte made about Horses, the late act published both civil and military."

1711. Referring to a petition for the division of the town (that a Puritan minister could be supported by taxation) liy inhabitants of the western part, "it passed in y' negative unanimously." " If any persons would supply y' selectmen with money for y° present management of s** aft'airs they should be reimbursed." (£29 2s. were borrowed.)

1712. " Granted a fund or bank of £.500, or as much more as there may be occasion of, to maintain and defend y" Town grant and foundation settlement."

1717. On a petition for a tax of "sixscore pounds" to support a Puritan minister, " after considerable fayer and loveing conference with s*" petitioners, it was agreed and voted and concluded that the inhabitants should enjoy conscience liberty according to the foundation settlement."

1718. " Every householder shall kill 6 blackbirds or six squirreDs, or one crow shall count for two squirrells or blackbirds ;" " or he shall forfeit 2 pence for as many as he comes short of six."

In 1741 the vote of 1708 was reaffirmed, with a proviso that for every one above the required number a premium of fourpence should be paid ; for killing a grown fox, five shillings; a young fox, two shillings, in 1736.

(Capt. Joseph Mason, the Swansea representative, was tlie only member of the General Court who in 1732 voted in favor of fixing a salary for Governor Belcher, as required by the British government.)

1749, Oct. 23. " It being a very rainy day, and but few^ men met, and considerable business to be done, it was tho't proper to adjourn s'' meeting."

"It was voted that town take all the tickets in the lottery granted by the Great and General Court for building the great bridge not sold by Feb. 26."

Chapter Liv

The following chapter was contributed by Hon. George B. Loring, being an ailiiress deliyereii by tiim in this town in 1875, at the two hundredth anniversary of the massacre of the inh.abitants during King Philip's war.

" My Friends and Fellow-Citizens, - I have accepted your invitation to deliver thi.s address on the occasion of the second centennial anniversary of the great tragic event in the history of your town with extreme reluctance and with many misgivings. I cannot expect to share with you all those hallowed memories which spring up in your minds and warm your hearts whose homes are on this spot, whose ancestors repose beneath this sod, whose hearthstones are here, whose eyes have beheld the domestic scenes, and whose hearts have felt the joys and sorrows which make up the story you would most gladly hear to-day. To you who enjoy this spot as home, the church, this village-green, these farm-houses, every field and wooded hill, the highway and the by-path, the valley and the brook, all tell a tale of tender interest, to you who remember the events of childhood here, to you who to-day return from long wandering, to you who have remained and have brought this municipality on to an honorable era in its history, to you who turn aside to linger over the grave of a beloved parent, and to you who still pause and drop a tear on that little mound where your child has lain so long, and from which through all the years that have passed since it left you its sweet voice has been heard, reminding you of your duty in this world, and assuring you of the peace and joy of the world to come. To me, indeed, the domestic record of this town, the most sacred record to you, is, as it were, a sealed volume, open only to my gaze as a member of the same human family with yourselves, and as one feeling that common sympathy which binds as with a silver cord all the sons of God into one great brotherhood. While, therefore, I cannot intrude upon the sacredness of your firesides, nor claim a seat in your domestic circle, nor expect to be admitted within the railing of your altar, I can call to your minds those events in the history of your town which have established its intimate relations with that interesting experiment of society and state which has been worked out on this continent during the last two hundred years.

" In celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of a great historic incident in the history of a New England town, the peculiar and extraordinary nature of a civil organization of this kind should not be forgotten, especially by those who enjoy the high privileges which belong to it. To many nationalities and peoples a town means nothing more than a cluster of houses surrounded by a wall and fortified, or the realm of a constable, or the seat of a church. But to us in New England the town was in the beginning, as it is now, the primary organization, sovereign in itself ' The colonists had no sooner formed a settlement and erected their cabins in convenient proximity to each other than they organized themselves a town, an independent municipality, in which every citizen had a voice and a vote.' The first duty of this organization, in the minds of olir fathers, was the establishment of a church, and the erection of a meeting-house and a school-house received their earliest care and attention. It is remarkable and interesting to see how in the little municipalities of New England all the rights of citizenship were cherished, and how silently and unostentatiously all the elements of a free State were fixed and developed. Starting away from the original colonies, they planted themselves in the wilderness, and assumed at once the duty of independent organizations. Their citizens in townmeeting assembled had the control of all matters relating to their civil and criminal jurisdiction. In the New England colonies the towns were combined in counties long after their establishment and representation as towns, so that the county here was a collection of towns rather than the town a sub-division of a county. This system of town organization is maintained throughout New England to the present day, constituting one of the most interesting features of the civil polity of this section of our country. Says Barry, in his ' History of Massachusetts,' ' Each (town) sustained a relation to the whole analogous to that which the States of our Union hold respectively to the central power or the Constitution of the United States.' Says Palfrey, in his 'History of New England,' ' With something of the same propriety with which the nation may be said to be a confederacy of republics called States, each New England State may be described as a confederacy of minor republics called towns.' Neither in New York, with its great landed properties, at first held and occupied by a kind of feudal tenure and afterward with its counties, nor in the Western States, where the town survey carries with it no local political authority, nor in the South, where the county organization is the one which governs local matters, can be found that form of self-government which gives the New England towns their individuality, and which has enabled them to enroll their names on the brightest pages of American history. How in the olden time they cherished the church and built the meeting-house ! How they fostered education and erected the school-house! How they selected their wisest and bravest men for the public councils ! How they resolved for freedom in open town-meeting! How they hurled defiance at the oppressor, and sprang up an army of defiant communities, each one feeling its responsibility and ready and anxious to assume it! Would you study the valor of your country in its early days '? - go to the town records of New England. Would you learn where the leaders and

" The origin and organization of these New England towns were by no means uniform. In some instances they were founded immediately on the landing of the colonists out of lands conferred upon them by their charter ; in other instances they were made up by grants of land to an offshoot from the parent colony, whose enterprise consisted in organizing a new town ; in other instances grants of land made from time to time to individuals and corporations for farms and other purposes, wbich grants were consolidated into townships.

" The proprietors and settlers on the lands of Swansea, a name derived from the town of Swansea, in Wales, from whence came the Rev. John Miles, the first minister, in 1663, secured their title to the land here from the Plymouth Court, or by Indian deeds confirmed by grants from this court. For a long time this power was exercised by the Plymouth Colony, and it not only extended its possessions in the direction of Mount Hope, whose lands were vastly more attractive than those lying towards Cape Cod, but they were in constant controversy with the colony of Massachusetts Bay with regard to the boundary line separating them along the towns of Hingliam and Cohasset. The lands lying within the limits of Swansea, which then included Somerset and Barrington, were in this manner conveyed to Governor Bradford, Samuel Newman, Peregrine White, Josiah Wiuslow, Governor Prince, and others, and were by them held in joint-stock companies, and sold to those who desired to become actual settlers. It is the record of these sales, kept by the clerk of the court at Plymouth, and constituting each proprietor's title to the lands which he sold and each settler's title to the lands which he occupied, that lies at the foundation of that system of land-holding known now as being peculiar to America, and as the commercial in contradistinction to the feudal tenure, - a system in which our Pilgrim fathers were more than two centuries ahead of the times in which they lived. To this liberal system, through which has grown up the division and sub-division of land in New England from the earliest period of its history, I always tiun with pride, as I do with pride and gratitude to that provision made in every colony for endowing with landed possessions the institutions of religion and learning. But, in addition to this, to Swansea belongs the curious distinction of having organized a division of lands based upon ranks and orders in society. The selection of a committee of five persons to classify society, and to indicate how much land the members of each class shall hold, with power also to elevate and to degrade according to their pleasure, is a novelty in popular institutions confined, I am happy to learn, to this town, and abolished, when its despotic and feudal characteristics became kn -"wn and understood, with more promptness than it was adopted. Possessed, however, of lands in this manner, and undoubtedly drawn together by a catholic and gentle religious sentiment, the Rev. Mr. Miles, Capt. Thomas Willett, James Brown, John Allen, and others, about the year 1667, organized a separate town corporation under the name of New Swansea. Mr. Miles was one of the pure-minded, earnest, liberal religious leaders of his day, - a man full of religious toleration, based upon a firm and abiding religious faith. Thomas Willett was an energetic, brave, intelligent, and cultivated friend of the Pilgrims both in England and Holland, and was considered to be a fit. successor of Miles Standish in the command of the Plymouth militia, - a man equal to any heroic occasion, any emergency calling for high moral and mental powers. John Brown stands by the side of Capt. Willett, his peer in all those qualities which ennoble and dignify mankind. He, too, was brave, intelligent, and pious, - a model of those great men upon whom has fallen from age to age the high duly of founding states and empires. It was these men, with their associates, who erected that first primitive church on New Meadow Neck, and provided liberally for the education of the children of the town, upon whom were to fall the obligations and services of Church and State, and in all these things they did their work well. In church the Rev. John Miles toiled on for more than twenty years, setting an example of fidelity, purity, charity, and honesty worthy of all imitation, and securing for his name such immortality on earth as grateful man can bestow.

" From the simple and unostentatious institution of learning stepped forth Samuel Myles, a graduate of Harvard, and for forty years an able and beloved rector of King's Chapel, Boston. With what thrift and economy were the meeting-house and the school-house of that day erected ! With what slender stipend were the laborers in those vineyards rewarded ! What the Rev. Mr. Miles received does not appear, but, among the schoolmasters, Mr. Bosworth got twenty pounds per annum for his services ; Mr. John Devotion, twelve pounds, agreeing also to pay for his diet, and to allow him twenty pounds for the keeping of his horse.

Of the motives and manners and customs of those who founded this town let me here say a word. They formed a pai't of that large body of dissenters who under various names came to New England and settled the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. They came, it is true, to enjoy religious freedom, but they also sought a civil organization tbunded

I upon the right of every man to a voice in the government under which he lives. In the charter of all the towns granted by the General Court it was provided that the grantees were 'to procure and maintain an able orthodox minister amongst them,' and to build a meeting-house ' within three years.' This was their exercise tbe utmost simplicity, and they voluntarily regulated their conduct by those formal rules which, in their day, constituted the Puritan's guide through the world. We are told, as an illustration of their character and manners, that by the laws of the colony in 16S1 'dancing at weddings' was forbidden. In 1660. ' William Walker was imprisoned a month for courting a maid without the leave of her parents.'

" In 1675, because ' there is manifest pride in appearing in our streets,' the wearing of 'long hair or periwigs,' and also 'superstitious ribands,' used to tie up and decorate the hair, were forbidden under - severe penalties. Men, too, were forbidden to 'keep Christmas,' because it was a ' popish custom.' In 1677 an act was passed to prevent ' the profaneness' of 'turning the back upon the public worship before it is finished and the blessing pronounced.' Towns were directed to erect ' a cage' near the meetinghouse, and in this all oft'enders against the sanctity of the Sabbath were confined. At the same time children were directed to be placed in a particular part of the meeting-house, apart by themselves, and tithingmen were ordered to be chosen, whose duty it should be to take care of them. So strict were they in their observance of the Sabbath that John Atherton, a soldier of Col. Tyng's company, was fined by him ' forty shillings' for ' wetting a piece of an old hat to put into his shoes,' which chafed his feet upon the march, and those who neglected to attend meeting for three months were publicly whipped. Even in Harvard College students were whipped for grave ofl'enses in the chapel, in presence of students and professors, and prayers were had before and after the infliction of the punishment. As the settlers of Swansea are described as being of 'sober and orderly conversation,' we may suppose that these laws and customs were in this town rigidly enforced.

" Perhaps a word upon the subsistence and diet of your ancestors may interest you here. Palfrey tells us that 'in tbe early days of New England wheaten bread was not so common as it afterwards became, but its place was largely supplied by preparations of Indian corn. A mixture of two parts of the meal of this grain with one part of rye has continued until far into the present century to furnish the bread of the great body of the people. In the beginning there was but a sparing consumption of butcher's meat. The multiplication of flocks for their wool, and of herds for draught and for milk was an important care, and they generally bore a high money value. Game and fish to a considerable extent supjjlied the want of animal food. Next to these, swine and poultry, fowls, ducks, geese, and turkeys were in common use earlier than other kinds of flesh meat. The New Englander of the present time, who, in whatever rank of life, would be at a loss without his tea or coftee twice at least in every day, pities the hardships of his ancestors, who almost universally for a century and a half made their morning and evening repast on boiled Indian meal and milk, or on porridge, or broth made of peas or beans and flavored by being boiled with salted beef or pork. Beer, however, which was brewed in families, was accounted a necessary of life, and the orchards soon yielded a bountiful provision of cider. Wine and rum found a ready market as soon as they were brought from abroad, and tobacco and legislation had a long conflict, in which the latter at last gave way.

"Population. - It is diiHcult to realize how feeble and few were the colonists at the time when this town was passing out of its confederation of farms into an organized corporation. There were then probably in New England from forty thousand to forty-five thousand English people. Of this number twenty-five thousand may have belonged to Massachusetts, ten thousand to Connecticut as newly constituted, five thousand to Plymouth, and three thousand to Rhode Island. They inhabited ninety towns, of which four were in Rhode Island, twelve in Plymouth, twentytwo in Connecticut, and the rest in Massachusetts. . . . Connecticut, according to the account sent home by the royal commissioners, had many scattering towns not worthy of their names, and a scholar to their minister in every town or village. In Rhode Island, they said, were the best English grass and most sheep, the ground very fruitful, ewes bringing ordinarily two lambs, corn yielding eighty for one, and in some places they had had corn twenty-six years together without manuring. In this province only they had not any places set apart for the worship of God, there being so many sub-divided sects they could not agree to meet together in one place, but, according to their several judgments, they sometimes associated in one house, sometimes in another. In Plymouth it was the practice to pursuade men, sometimes to compel them to be freemen, so far were they from hindering any. They had about twelve small towns, one saw-mill for boards, one bloomery for iron, neither good river nor good harbor nor any place of strength ; they were so poor they were unable to maintain scholars to their ministers, but were necessitated to make use of a gifted brother in some places. The commodities of Massachusetts were fish, which was sent into France, Spain, and the Straits, pipe-staves, masts, fir-boards, some pitch and tar, pork, beef, horses, and corn, which they sent to Virginia, Barbadoes, etc., and took tobacco and sugar for payment, which they often sent for England. There was good store of iron made in this province. In the Piscataqua towns were excellent masts gotten, ... and upon the river were above twenty saw-mills, and there were great stores of pipe-staves made, and great store of good timber spoiled. In Maine there were but few towns, and those much scattered. They were rather farms than towns. In the Duke of York's province, beyond the Kennebec, there were three small plantations, the biggest of which had not above thirty houses in it, and the.se very mean ones too, and spread over eight miles at least. Those people were, for the most part, fishermen, and never had any government among them ; most of them were such as had fled hither to avoid justice.

" In Boston, the principal town of the country, the houses were generally wooden, the streets crooked, with little decency and no uniformity; and there neither months, days, seasons of the year, churches, nor inns were known by their English names. At Cambridge they had a wooden college, and in the yard a brick pile of two bages for the Indians, where the commissioners saw but one. They said they had three more at school. It might be feared this college might afford as many schismatics to the church, and the corporation as many rebels to the king as formerly they had done if not timely prevented.

" As a part of the social and civil organization which I have described, the old town of Swansea is full of interest and significance; but as the home of the Rev. John Myles, it is connected with some of the most important religious movements of a time made illustrious by its great protests, and by its heroic devotion to freedom of conscience in matters of church and state. John Myles was a Baptist, born in a region which had long attbrded protection to the persecuted and oppressed, and which was the birthplace of Roger Williams and Oliver Cromwell. A leader of his denomination in Wales, he exercised great power among the churches there and in England ; was among the first to sutler from the tyranny of Charles II. after the restoration, and also among the first to seek freedom to worship God on these shores. With Nicholas Tawner, Obediah Brown, John Thomas, and others, he came to America, bringing with him the doctrines of his church in Wales, a devoted heart, and a calm and undying courage. Taught by the experience of Obediah Holmes, who was excommunicated by the church in Salem in 1646, who was cruelly condemned by the court at Boston to suflfer punishment with thirty lashes from a three-corded whip for preaching heresy to the brethren in Lynn, but who when complained of before the Plymouth Court was simply directed to 'refrain from practices disagreeable to the brethren,' taught, morever, by the similar experience of Roger Williams that the rights of conscience were not universally respected even in New England, he betook himself to this region of liberality where we now sit, and founded here the second Baptist Church in America, the first having been gathered not long previous at Rehoboth, in the house of John Butterworth. It was, however, from the church in Swansea that the first Holy Covenant emanated, a broad and liberal document, in which, with profound piety and the warmest Christian charity, it is declared that, " So we are ready to accept of, receive to, and hold communion with all such as by a judgment of charity we conceive to be fellow-members with us in our head, Christ Jesus, though difiering from us in such controversial points as are not absolutely and essentially necessary to salvation." It is difficult to realize in this day the difficulties which surrounded such generous sentiments as these, and the bitter persecution exercised towards their advocates when John Myles sought shelter within the' narrow domain of the Plymouth Colony, and availed himself of the only liberal jurisdiction then on earth - the Plymouth Court - for the protection of himself and his followers. And we are filled with wonder and admiration at the powerful influence exercised through all the ages that have followed by this narrow Pilgrim empire of independent conscience, religious freedom, and human elevation and equality. The pages of history are crowded with records of national power and renown, and of personal heroism, genius, and greatness, but they all surrender now to the immortal force of that little colony which set the first example of self-government, and in an age of various and constant persecution laid down the law of personal freedom and right. What a noble instance of true devotion to the highest principle it was when the followers of John Robinson, of Leyden, Calvinists all, opened their doors to the followers of Roger Williams and John Myles, and manifested their grand conception of the true meaning of religious toleration ! What a lesson they taught the world ! And how, as by the guidance of the Divine Father, who ' raaketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good,' did they secure to themselves an eternal association with the radiant progress of civil and religious freedom ! When the Pilgrim at Plymouth gave the protection of his little colony to the Baptist driven from his home among the mountains of Wales, he took to his heart the pioneers of human progress and assertion, and became one in an immortal copartnership engaged in liberalizing and humanizing and elevating the church and the state; for of their associates in this great work, the friends of Roger Williams and John Myles, Sir Isaac Newton says, ' The Baptists are the only body of Christians that has not symbolized with the Church of Rome.' Of them Bancroft says, ' With greater consistency than Luther, they applied the doctrines of the Reformation to the social positions of life, and threatened an end to priestcraft and kingcraft, spiritual domination, titles, and vassalage. They were trodden under foot with most arrogant scorn, and their history is written in the blood of thousands of the German peasantry, but their principle, secure in their immortality, escaped with Roger Williams to Providence, and his colony is witness that naturally the paths of the Baptists are paths of freedom, pleasantness, and peace.' Of them Mr. Locke has said, 'The Baptists were from the beginning the friends of liberty, just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty.' Of them Dr. Williams says, 'To this Iiody English liberty owes a debt it can never acknowledge. Among the Baptists Christian freedom found its earliest, its stanchest, its most consistent.

or distance, or any other cause, could not readily be sold into an ignominious slavery among the Canadian French. . . . There could not have been less than twenty or thirty of the citizens of Lexington who had learned the art of war in some department or another of the military colonial service. They had tasted its horrors in the midnight surprise of the savage foe, and they had followed the banners of victory under the old provincial leaders, Gridley and Thomas, and Euggles and Frye, up to the ramparts of Quebec. No wonder they started again at the sound of the trumpet; no wonder that men who had followed the mere summons of allegiance and loyalty to the shores of Lake Champlain and the banks of the St. Lawrence should obey the cry of instinct which called them to defend their homes. The blood which was not too precious to be she 1 on the Plains of Abraham in order to wrest a distant colony from the dominion of France might well be expected to flow like water in defense of all that is so dear to man. And so the sons of the old warriors of this town served their country well in the great war of independence.

" But, my friends, while we turn with pride to the high and honorable record of this town in its early hei'oic days, and remember with pride the battle-fields of the Revolution, we are filled with the tenderest emotions as we rehearse the gallant deeds performed by our sons and brothers in defense of the flag during the trials and hardships of the great civil war. The events of this imposing chapter in our national history have passed before our very eyes. We heard the gun which was fired on Sumter; we knew the boys who fell at Baltimore ; we sat down with Grant before Yicksburg, and followed him in his weary and bloody march through the Wilderness ; from our firesides went forth the men who swept through the valley with Sheridan, and traversed the victorious highway from Atlanta to the sea with Sherman, and ascended Lookout Mo""tain with Hooker, and sailed with Farragut and Winslow. The tears shed over the sufferings at Andersonville and Salisbury and the Libby are not yet dry. The widows are not gone ; the orphans yet remain ; the wounded soldier still walks our streets. Around the memory of many who are gone, and around the lives of many who are still with us cluster all the glories of that conflict, all its victories and defeats, all its joys and sorrows, all its gloomy morning hours, all the brilliant achievements for freedom which mark its close, and all the gentle associations which soften the savagery of war, and which especially belong to this great conflict for human right. History has immortalized the generous and self-sacrificing deed of Sir Philip Sidney, as he stayed the hand which would moisten his own parched and dying lip until the agony of his expiring comrade had been relieved. Shall not history also tell of him whose last words were, ' Write to mother, and tell her I behaved well;' of him whose glazed eye was turned upon the picture of his child so far away, held there in his stiffening grasp; of him who, defiant of wounds, rushed on to battle still, and who fell at last with this message on his lips, ' Tell my father I was dressing my line when I was hit ;' of him who clasped to his heart in its last throb the written words of her whom he loved ; of him who rejoiced in death, and only asked that he might be buried in his native town ; of him who preferred death on the picket-line to a surrender; of the thousands who, we are told, rose superior to the agony of the hospital and declared, as the holy light irradiated their pale faces, that they could die without regret in the great and good cause !

" Shall not all this be told of the heavenly voice uttered by Christian heroes bearing to the battle-field all the moral obligations, the kind affections, the pious sentiment, the intelligent devotion of free and educated Christian heroes from their Christian homes?

" I congratulate this town upon the part it performed in the great drama of this continent, perhaps of this age. It is the same story, I know, repeated so often in the thousands of towns throughout the North, but none the less admirable and in.structive.

" You who sit here have not forgotten the prompt and ready response from those men who enrolled themselves for active service almost before the sun which rose on the first day of the conflict had reached midheaven ; those who started forth without counting the cost, obedient to a proud sense of patriotic duty, unmindful of doubt and hesitation, and forgetful of danger and death ; those men who first taught foreign and domestic foes that the Union had its defenders, and who saved the capital of our country until the great armies of the war could be brought into the field.

"Year after year the call was made on you, and year after year the same response was given. A hundred and thirty-four of your men were enrolled in the army and navy. Large sums were expended in bounties to the soldiers, partly contributed by private liberality and partly drawn from the treasury of the town. Your charities were large. Individuals and associated effort was unremitting in smoothing the rugged pathway of the soldier, in providing for those whom he had left behind, and in alleviating his toil on the field and his suflerings in hospital and camp. From your firesides to every battle-field was stretched the silver cord of affection and solicitude, bringing home close to your hearts the great events of the war, and binding your familiar and household names to every far-off spot in our land which the war clothed with immortal renown, for your sons were on every field, your blood was spilled in almost every conflict.

"The sacrifices which you made were great. Of those who went forth twenty laid down their lives in their country's service, defending her flag on many a hard-fought field, and filled by your public declarations with the loftiest principles.

beginning, what a radiant close! Far back through the generations I see them now, those earnest and manly sons of Puritan warriors and teachers, who had filled the pulpits and town-houses and armies of our land during a century of protest and trial and selfsacrifice and defiance, rising higher and higher in their indignant sense of duty as the fierce periods of our popular Declaration were launched forth upon an approving American mind. And can you not feel with them the hot blood of the early pioneers coursing through their veins as the ardent appeals went on? The memory of long and weary trials in the cause of civilization there in the wilderness, of the precepts of those old teachers who were gone, of the bloody seas through which they had been brought to their great assertions of the wrongs of the past, this, and their glowing understanding of the promise of the present hour and of the future, all inspired their minds with wisdom and their hearts with courage for the occasion. From their humble homes they had stepped forth, not to follow but to lead, not to listen alone but to speak, not only to be taught but to teach mankind to be true to the highest demands of a free and independent spirit. It was to the voice of the popular assemblies like these that our fathers of the Revolution listened. It was the wisdom of such assemblies that guided their councils and gave the American people their greatness. It was this spirit that made Swansea heroic when the first shot was fired at Lexington, and true and patriotic when the first gun was aimed at Sumter.

"And now, my fellow-citizens, this brief and imperfect story of the piety and heroism of your town for two centuries is told. I have not explored the deepest recesses of your annals for marks of your eccentricity, or for those personal details which, while they amuse for the hour, make no appeal to those sentiments of pride and satisfaction which should fill the breast of every man who muses by the graves and studies the high qualities of his ancestors.

" I have not forgotten the errors here, the local controversies, the short-comings, the temporary irritations ; but I have passed them by, and have endeavored so to deal with your history as to fill your minds with respect for your ancestors, and with a determination to transmit in more radiant form the blessed institutions which you have inherited to those whose duty it shall be to preserve them, and to celebrate them at the next centennial anuiversary of the tragic period in the history of this town."

Chapter Lv Ecclesiastical Hlstoiiy

The First Baptist Cliurch - The Non-Sectarian Christian Church - Clirist Churcli, Swansea Village - The Six-Principle Baptist Church - The Universalist Church.

The First Baptist Churcli in Massachusetts was constituted at Rehoboth, Bristol County, in the year 1663, in the house of John Butterworth. The names of its constituent members were John Myles, pastor; James Brown, Nicholas Tanner, Joseph Carpenter, John Butterworth, Eldad Kingsley, and Benjamin Alby.

As this is the first Baptist Church formed in this State, and as its origin was peculiar, had the events of its early history been preserved, it would have been a matter of unusual interest to the Baptists of the present time. Hitherto churches of this order had been kept out of every New England colony except Rhode Island. An attempt was made to form one in 16.39 in the town of Weymouth, but it was defeated by the magistrates, and those concerned in it were scattered. After this no further effort seems to have been made for more than twenty years.

The history of this church possesses more than a local and temporary interest, as it relates to the religious and secular interests of all this region of country for a period of more than two centuries. Indeed, its history, with that of some of its pastors, connects it with some of the most important movements in the early annals of these colonies. Several of the contiguous towns, including Warren and Barrington, now in Rhode Island, and Somerset in this State, formed a part of Swansea, and the people were generally interested in the church, many of them as members, and most of them as adherents and coadjutors. Liberal measures were provided for the education of the young, and for the accommodation of all the- people with the means of religious instruction and worship. Among the most active of the men thus employed was Mr. Myles and Capt. Thomas Willett, the latter, who at a later period of life became the first English mayor of New York on its cession from the Dutch. Happy would it have been for the social, educational, and moral prosperity of the town of Swansea if the same principles could have been carried to their maturity which were so nobly acted on in the first period of its history.

It will be seen that the church was, in a manner, the reorganization of an exiled church driven from Swansea, in Wales ; it will therefore be necessary to go to the history of that church. It is known that from the earliest times there were many friends of Christ in that country, who were greatly multiplied after the Reformation. A little more than two hundred years ago a number of men of great power were raised who preached with much success, and many people were turned to the Lord. Among these men was Rev. John Myles, the founder of tliis church. He began his ministry in Soutli Wales about the year 1645, and was instrumental in raising a church in Swansea in 1649. This was the first year of the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, under whose government the Dissenters were indulged with greater liberty than before, the result of which greatly tended to the prevalence of religion. This church was greatly prospered, so that in ten or twelve years between two and three hundred were added to it. Mr. Myles seems to have accepted a support from the government, and his place was registered as thus supported.

After the death of Cromwell, Charles II. came into power, and the " Act of Uniformity" was passed in 1662, by which two thousand of the best ministers were ejected from their places because they refused to conform to the Church of England. Among these non-conformist ministers was Mr. Myles. This act, and afterwards the Conventicle Act and the Oxford Act, in effect, silenced these men. This was a time of terror, and it is said that eight thousand persons were imprisoned and reduced to want, and many to the grave. In this state of things Mr. Myles emigrated to this country ; whether he was accompanied by any members of the church besides Nicholas Tanner is uncertain. By whom and for what reason the records of that church were brought here, as also the circumstances of his departure from Wales, and his arrival in this country, are matters to us unknown. The first knowledge we gain of him in this country is that he was in Rehoboth in 1663, when this church, now known as the " First Baptist Church in Swansea," was organized.

As soon as the fact of its organization and that it was maintaining the institutions of Christianity became known, the orthodox churches of the colony solicited the court to interpose its influence against it. This movement was probably led on by the same persons wlio instigated proceedings against Holmes, Clark, and Crandal, by which they were imprisoned, scourged, and fined in 1651 for holding public worship in the town of Lynn. The same sleepless vigilance which had followed them pursued this little church, and each of its members were fined five pounds for setting up a public meeting without the knowledge and approbation of the court, to the disturbance of the peace of the place. They were ordered to desist from their meetings for the space of a month, and advised to remove their meeting to some other place where they might not prejudice any other church. Upon this order and advice Mr. Myles and his church removed from Rehoboth to New Meadow Neck, a place south of Rehoboth, which is now Barrington, R. I. Then it was not embraced in any town. They appear to have erected a house for worship soon after their removal beyond the bounds of Rehoboth. This house seems to have been about two and a half miles from the present house, west.

In 1667 the Plymouth Court granted to this church, with others, a grant of a town to be called Swansea. The grant of this town, that the Baptists might have a resting-place, shows that the Plymouth Colony was much more tolerant than the Massachusetts Colony. We now find our fathers of this church, with their pastor, free from oppression. On the incorporation of the town the church entered into covenant with each other, as appears by the covenant itself on record. Whether they had a covenant before is not known ; neither have we any means of knowing whether the church increased, diminished, or remained stationary.

In 1675 the Indian war commenced, under King Philip, of Mount Hope. This town and this church first felt the calamities of that war, which spread such devastation over much of New England. Here it first began. While this church was engaged in public worship, the Indians were preparing to attack the people of this new and unprotected town on their return home. They killed one and wounded others. Here its effects fell with great severity, as it is said one-half of Swansea was burned. The house of Mr. Myles was made into a garrison. As to the state and progress of the church, we have nothing to enlighten us. From the nature of the case all must have been gloomy.

Mr. Myles preached much of three years in Boston, previous to 1679, and whether this church was supplied during his absence is doubtful. About this time the town voted to remove the meeting-house to the lower end of New Meadow Neck. It seems this idea was abandoned, and it was voted and ordered, Sept. 30, 1679, " that a meeting-house of forty feet in length and twenty-two in breadth and sixteen feet between joints be forthwith built." From the above and other records it appears the place of meeting was changed, and that the minister went there also.

Feb. 3, 1683, Mr. Myles closed his labors on earth, having been in the ministry about thirty-eight years. His age and the place of his burial are unknown, but he left a character behind that will be honored as long as Palmer's River shall run. He was succeeded by Capt. Samuel Luther, who was ordained July 22, 1685, by Elders Emblen and Hull, of Boston. He was a man of character and talents, and discharged with exemplary fidelity the duties of his oifice for nearly thirty-two years. He died Dec. 20, 1716, and was buried at Kickamuit. During his ministry, probably about 1700, the meeting-house was removed to near Myles' Bridge. Perhaps this might have had some connection with the separation of Barrington from Swansea, and its formation into a separate town. The church seems to have prospered to a considerable extent during the whole of Elder Luther's ministry. We cannot say how large it was with certainty, probably about two hundred, scattered in Rehoboth, Middleborough, Bellingham, Haverhill, Taunton, and what is now Warren .and Somerset.

with Elder Luther, and at his death sole pastor. In 1718 the church records seem to begin. Mr. Wheaton appears to have been a man who exerted a great and good influence on the church, and on others also. His ministry was eminently successful, and the church was highly prosperous. According to the records we have, about one hundred were added to the church. He died April 26, 1734, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was buried in Rehoboth.

In 1733, April 18th, Mr. Samuel Maxwell was ordained associate with Mr. Wheaton, and at his death became sole pastor. He continued till April 15, 1739, when he was dismissed. About fifty were added to the church during his ministry.

For two or three years the church was without a pastor, after the dismissal of their former one, when the labors of Elder Benjamin Harrington was obtained, and he was installed pastor Aug. 1.5, 1742. He was dismissed May 3, 1750.

In 1748, Mr. Jabez Wood, of Middleborough, a member of tliis church, was requested to supply the pulpit. Accordingly he supplied three years and a half, and was ordained pastor Sept. 5, 1751.

At the time Mr. Wood was ordained the church was without deacons. Benjamin Cole died in 1748, and Jonathan Kingsley in 1750. These men served in this office from 1725 till they died in old age, having executed important trusts for the church in their day. The first notice we find of deacons in the records is that John Thomas, Nathaniel Luther, and Richard Harding were ordained deacons in 1718, that the two first named died in the discharge of their holy trust, but when they died we cannot say. To supply the deficiency of these necessary officers, Robert Wheaton and Thomas Peck were chosen Aug. 6, 1752. Deacon Peck served about seven years till the time of his death, in 1770. He was a useful man. His place was supplied by Nicholas Thomas till 1771, when he was removed from his sphere of usefulness on earth to rest with God. At the death of Deacon Thomas, David Kingsley was elected clerk, and served forty-five years. In 1776 he was also chosen to the office of deacon, and served more than fifty years. He died Oct. 25, 1830, aged ninety-two. Thomas Kingsley was chosen deacon in 1771, and served till his death in 1809, aged eighty-three. The two Deacons Kingsley, David and Thomas, were men unusually free from fault, and good men, but not very efficient. Deacon Wheaton lived to a great age, and was highly esteemed. He was the son of Elder Wheaton, and died Nov. 22, 17S0, aged ninety-two years.

The interests of the body seemed to droop and decline for a length of time, when Elder Wood vacated his office in 1778 or 1779, the precise date not being on record. The state of the church was now depressed and low. The number of members when he left is not known, as no list of members had ever been kept, and the alterations, except by baptism, were not kept with accuracy. The Whole country was now in perilous circumstances, being involved in the Revolutionary war. Those nearest the sea-shore suffered the most, and this people was not exempt. On the 25th of May, 1778, the Baptist meeting-house and parsonage in Warren were burned by British troops, and Mr. Thompson, the pastor, taken prisoner. In this afflicted, depressed, and scattered state, the church was unable to sustain public worship. It was proposed to return to the maternal bosom, till they might be able to return to Warren as before. This proposal was accepted, and the brethren in that manner joined this church. Mr. Thompson became the pastor, and settled with the people, Oct. 7, 1779.

The settlement of a minister so deservedly eminent, and the accession of help from Warren, seemed to put new life into this body. The Lord evidently came with the new pastor, as he -baptized one only three days after his election, and two more before the 1st of January, 1780. During that winter following there was a great revival of religion, not only in this church but throughout the country. This has been called the year of the great revival. The number baptized here was sixty-seven, in 1781 five more, making seventy-five since Mr. Thompson became pastor. About this time the remains of the Oak Swamp Church joined here in the same manner the Warren brethren had done. These accessions rendered this church large, and in some respects strong, though there is no means of knowing the exact number. There is probability that it was nearly or quite two hundred.

In 178G the Warren brethren went back, were reorganized, built a house of worship, and again had the institutions of the gospel at home. The number who returned was twenty- eight.

In 1789 the Lord was pleased to appear again to build up Zion, and fifty-four were baptized, which greatly encouraged the hearts of both pastor and people. This was a very interesting revival, and greatly added to the strength of the church.

In 1801 the Lord again visited his people, and twenty-six were baptized. The last baptism in this place by Mr. Thompson occurred Sept. 5, 1802 ; with the year he closed his pastoral relation, after having served with ability, fidelity, and success, a little more than twenty-three years. During his ministry one hundred and seventy-six were baptized by him and added to the church. The first seven pastors occupied a term of one hundred and forty years, averaging twenty years to each. Perhaps this period of the existence of the church is by far the most important, not only for its general historical interest, but for the influence of the church upon all the surrounding community.

Mr. Thompson was succeeded by Rev. William Northrup, probably in the spring of 1804. He continued four years, and baptized twenty-nine and received eight others, in all thirty-seven.

He was followed by Rev. William Barton, who preached two years but without success. He was dismissed at his own request in the spring of 1810.

In 1811, Eev. Abner Lewis became a member and the pastor of this church, and preached here till April, 1819, when he was dismissed. He departed this life July 7, 1826, aged eighty-one, and is interred in the burial-ground connected with this house.

After his dismissal the church was supplied by Elder Benjamin Taylor, a preacher of the Christian Connection, who continued for a part of two years, when he closed in the spring of 1821.

The next minister was Rev. B. Pease, until 1823; Rev. Luther Baker, from 1824 to 1832 ; Jesse Briggs, two and a half years ; O. J. Fisk, from Oct. 1, 1835, to April 1, 1836; Abiel Fisher, from 1836 to 1846; J. J. Thacher, 1846 to 1854; Silas Hall, 1854 to 1857; J. W. Horton, 18.57 to 1864; Rev. A. W. Ashley settled as pastor July, 1864, closed his labors October, 1867; Rev. J. A. Baskwell, settled May, 1868; closed his pastorate September, 1870; January, 1871, called Rev. C. Bray to the pastorate, he closed his labors May, 1874; the church was supplied by R. E. Barrows and others until April, 1876, when Rev. J. W. Horton was settled for the second time; he closed his labors about the 1st of January, 1882.

Up to 1846 this church occupied, probably, the oldest church in this county, and the oldest Baptist house in America. Tradition says it was built the year after Elder Luther's death, - that is, in 1717, and in 1723 an order was passed by the church for raising money to complete the payment for building the meeting-house. It was forty-one and a half feet long and thirty-three feet wide, about twenty-two feet between joints, unplastered, and open to the roof till 1802. It will thus be seen that this church, the first Baptist. Church in Massachusetts and the fourth in America, has maintained its visibility over two hundred years. Four churches have been formed from this.

The church is now in a low state, having been Reduced by deaths, removals, and exclusions, numbering now about iifty. Most of these are elderly persoos, invalids, or on the retired list, unable to do much for the church or cause of Christ. The senior deacon, who for many years had been the leading spirit in the church, died Nov. 29, 1882, at the age of ninety-two. The Non-Sectarian Christian Church.' - Swansea was settled by men who believed in liberty of conscience. Probably it was the only town within the territorial jurisdiction of the Pilgrims, which recognized tiie right of free thought. While all desired freedom for themselves, nearly all in that age would " use the sword of the civil magistrate to open the

John Myles, the first minister of the town, while exposed to persecution in his native land, had learned the lesson of tolerance. Not only did the town in its organic capacity concede freedom of religious opinion, but the church of which he was pastor, although composed of Baptists, admitted to communion all persons who (the original covenant declared), "by a judgment of charity, we conceive to be fellow-members with us in our head, Christ Jesus, although differing from us in such controversial points as are not absolutely and essentially necessary to salvation." The successors of Mr. Myles were Calvinistic Baptists, and the church covenant was changed to harmonize with their views. That church (now under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Bixby) is the oldest congregation of the Baptist denomination in the State of Massachusetts.

Perhaps the erection by the town of the " new meeting-house on the lower end of New Meadow Neck" (in what is now Barrington, R. I.), in 1680, may have been one reason why the inhabitants of the "easternmost part of the town upheld a religious meeting" at a more accessible place. Although services were maintained from "about the year 1680," there was no formal church organization until 1693. In the original record book (very plainly written and still in excellent condition) the church is styled simply a "Church of Christ in Swansea." No doctrinal tests were made conditions of admission, but all Christians were recognized as possessing equal rights in the "household of faith." Perhaps there was then no other church in all the earth which received as members all Christians irrespective of divergent opinions concerning the various points of speculative theology. In 1725, nearly half a century after the " meeting" was established and a third of a century after the church was organized, it was decided to receive members only by the "laying on of hands." The church was then ecclesiastically independent. From the year 1803 to 1819 it was represented by "messengers" in the " Yearly Meeting of the Six- Principle Baptists." After a connection of sixteen years with that body the church withdrew, declaring "the Lord Jesus Christ the great head of the Church to be tlieir leader, and the Scriptures a rule to govern their faith and practice by, and receive their principles and doctrine from." This action was taken Feb. 10, 1820. The church thereby regained tlie freedom, says the record, " which it enjoyed under the pastoral care of Job and Russell Mason before it was considered a branch of the yearly meeting." From that time to the present all persons giving satisfactory evidence of Christian character have been welcomed to the communion, and also to membership in the church. A few years ago the church united with the " Rhode Island and Massachusetts Christian Confer- ence," but this relation does not restrict fellowship, as the Conference discards doctrinal tests in regard to subjects concerning which Christians differ in opinion.

As there was for thirteen years a congregation without a church, so there was a religious service without a clergyman. The record book says, " We upheld a religious meeting partly by some improving their gifts among us and partly by helps from other places." In 1693, Thomas Barnes was ordained pastor. It has been represented that he was a man of some note in Plymouth Colony. He was one of the original proprietors of the town, although a very young man when the first settlement occurred. According to the system of "ranking" adopted soon after the charter of Swansea was obtained, Mr. Barnes belonged to the " second class" of the landed aristocracy, as did also Samuel Luther, who succeeded John Myles as pastor of the Baptist Church. The Colouial Records afi'ord incidental but positive proof that the " court" acknowledged the validity of his claim to be recognized as a clergyman, notwithstanding he was a "Separatist." The church record says, " Our beloved elder, Thomas Barnes, continued with us till June 8, 1706, and then it pleased God to remove him by death." When he assumed the duties of pastor the church consisted of only seventeen members. There is no statement on record of the number received in the thirteen years of his ministry, but nine years after his decease the church had one hundred and twenty-nine members. Making due allowance for losses by death and from other causes, it will be perceived that the increase was remarkable. This growth affords evidence of the efficiency of both Mr. Barnes and his immediate successor.

Among the former soldiers of Cromwell who came to this country at the time of the restoration of the Stuart family to the English throne was one Samson Mason. From him are descended most of the rather numerous families of that name now residing in this vicinity. Six of his sons were living in or near Swansea when the youngest was seventy years old. One of the sons, Isaac, was the first deacon of this church; another son, Joseph, succeeded Mr. Barnes as pastor; a third son of Samson Mason, Pelatiah, was the father of three ministers, - Job, Russell, and John, - two of them serving as pastors of this church, as also did their cousin Benjamin, son of Samson Mason, Jr., these prophets not being without honor in their own country and among their own kin.

There is evidence that a considerable part of the increase in the numerical strength of the church, already mentioned, occurred in the early part of the ministry of Joseph Mason. It is assigned as a reason for the ordination of his colleague, John Pierce, in 1715, that it "had pleased God to increase our numbers."

The first meeting of the voters of the parish of which there is a record took place in 1719, the congregation concurring with the church in the election of Joseph Mason as pastor. He had long served in that capacity, and this action was taken to avoid legal difficulties. The town of Barrington had not long before been set off from Swansea that a Puritan minister might be supported therein by taxation, repeated efforts, beginning about the time of the ordination of Mr. Barnes, having failed to induce or compel the undivided township to conform to the custom which prevailed elsewhere throughout the colony. The inhabitants of the remaining portion of the town disliked both the exclusive spirit of Puritanism and the system of taxation for the support of religious institutions. When Mr. Mason was in due form pronounced the law ful pastor, he publicly declared himself satisfied with the voluntary contributions of the congregation for his subsistence, and expressly waived all claim to support by taxation, while recognizing the duty of all "to uphold and maintain ye ministry and worship of God in ye severall churches or congregations where they respectively belong or assemble," " and not in any other church or congregation." It was while Joseph Mason was pastor and John Pierce his assistant that the meeting-house was built (to be described in a subsequent paragraph), which for more than a century was occupied for public worship.

Joseph Mason died in 1748, John Pierce in 1750, each attaining " the great age of abotU ninety years." They had " in January, 1737-38" (in January, 1738, "new style"), requested the church to provide them a colleague, and Job Mason, a nephew of the senior pastor, was selected. Four months after the choice was made, in May, 1738, he was ordained. A few months after the death of Joseph Mason the legal voters of the parish ratified the action of the church, and Job Mason declared that he was satisfied with such support as his hearers should " freely and willingly" afford him, "also denying any support by way of a tax," regarding the voluntary system "to be most agreeable to the mind of God, contained in the Scriptures."

Favored with the ministry of this judicious pastor and able preacher, the church attained a great degree of prosperity. In later times many of the older members recalled the " days of Job Mason" as the "golden age" in the history of the church. "She sent forth her boughs unto the sea and branches unto the river." In 1753 thirty-three members residing in or near Rehoboth were dismissed at their own request to constitute a church to meet in that town. Daniel Martin, a member of this church, was ordained pastor. It is worthy of mention that the gentleman who now - one hundred and thirty years after - sup|)lies so acceptably the pulpit of that parish is likewise a native of Swansea and a son of this church. In 1763 several members, with others from Rehoboth and some from Providence, R. I., emigrated to "Sackville, a township in the government of Nova Scotia" (now New Brunswick). Before removing to their new home the adventurers met at Swansea to be organized as a churcli, and Nathan Mason, of this place, a son of the second Samson Mason, was ordained pastor.

After a useful ministry of many years, Job Mason died at the .age of fourscore, one month after the battle of Bunker Hill, July 17, 1775. Several of his descendants are members of the church at this time.

Russell Mason was chosen colleague with his brother Job in 1762, and was pastor (and also much of the time clerk of the church) until his death in 1799, at the age of eighty-five years. The period of his ministry comprehended the stirring scenes of the Revolutionary war and all those important events connected with the transformation of the American colonies into a nation. Undoubtedly the church was somewhat depleted, perhaps depressed, in "the time that tried men's souls," and between July 17, 1775, and Dec. 28, 1780, there is not a single entry in the book of records ; but the record last referred to implies that public worship had been regularly maintained. In 1788 members living in Dartmouth were organized "for religious worship," and John Mason (a brother of Job and Russell) was ordained pastor. He died in 1801, aged eighty-five years. The church speedily recovered much of its former strength, for within the year 1789 there were, it is recorded, " eighty-six persons baptized and added to the church." The widow of Russell Mason long survived him, and (in accordance with a vote of the church after her husband's decease) continued to occupy the parsonage until her death.

The oldest son of the first Samson Mason bore his name. He remained unmarried until about seventythree years of age ; when he was eighty the youngest of his four children was born. Like Israel, he called the son of his old age Benjmnm. Like his brother Nathan, already mentioned, Benjamin Mason became a minister. In 1784 he was ordained to assist his cousin Russell, and at his senior's death succeeded him. He died in 1813, at the age of eighty-three years. It will be noticed that the posterity of the sturdy soldier evinced by their longevity the possession of some of the characteristics which gave to the adherents of the Protector the appellation of " Oliver's Ironsides." For more than a century the successive pastors bore his name, and the one who died j'oungest attained the age of eighty years.

Increasing infirmities prevented Mr. Mason from preaching statedly for several years, although he frequently participated in the .services when his colleague preached. An aged member of the church, recently deceased, could recall but one, and that the last occasion on which he addressed the people of his charge. The venerable man, after alluding to that feeling of loneliness which sometimes oppresses the aged pastor when he realizes the changes wrought by death, as he misses so many of the attendants on his early ministry, and to his consciousness of the decay of his own

In 1801, Philip Slade (ordained as an evangelist fourteen years before) became assistant minister ; after Mr. Mason's death he sustained the relation of pastor until the close of 1819. He had been unable, however, to perform all the duties of that position for several years, even the Sunday service being frequently omitted. For some time the church obtained transient "supplies" for the pulpit. Afterward, with Mr. Slade's approbation, Benjamin Taylor, then pastor of the North Christian (_!iuirch in New Bedford, was engaged to preach at a special service on Sunday afternoons, the pastor continuing the stated meeting in the morning. But the great congregations which assembled to hear Mr. Taylor so contrasted with the meagre attendance at the forenoon service that Mr. Slade, who was not aware of the failure of his own mental faculties, became much dissatisfied. Eventually the church, by vote, decided to dissolve the pastoral relation, as the " beloved elder is out of health both in body and mind."

Although this action was taken with much unanimity, at least two members, both deacons, sympathized so much with JMr. Slade that they withdrew from the church. Some others followed their example, but the strength of the parish was not sensibly impaired, for in less than a year afterwards there, were two hundred and ninety-eight members connected with the church.

Soon after the dismissal of Mr. Slade the church (with the concurrence of the congregation) made choice of Mr. Taylor as pastor. The position was a difficult one, and it was with some reluctance that he accepted the call. But his ministry was highly successful. He won the esteem of the entire community, and often officiated in the pulpits of the various denominations in the vicinity. He remained with the parish ten years, in which time one hundred and thirty-three persons were added to the church.