Joseph Y. Jeanes

Philadelphia

EDWARD WING JR

4 HELEN ST

5 DARTMOUTH MA
02748

THE

IIISTOEY OF NEW BEDFORD,

BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS:

INCLUDING

A HISTORY OF THE OLD TOWNSHIP OF DARTMOUTH

AND THE PRESENT TOWNSHIPS OF WESTPORT,

DARTMOUTH, AND FAIRHAVEN,

FROM THEIR SETl^LEMEXT TO THE PRESENT TIME.

BY DANIEL RICKETSON.

NEW BEDFORD:

I*XJBT-.ISI3:Kr) BY THE ^XTTHOR.

1 858.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858,

BY DANIEL EICKETSON,

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

B. Lindsey, Printer,
21 Hamilton street, Kew Bedford.

PEEEACE.

Twenty-seven years ago, when a youth of sev-
enteen years, I conceived the idea of writing a
history of my native place in the form of a lec-
tm-e, for om* then small and newly organized Ly-
cemn. I entered upon my task with the ardor of
youth, diligently searching every book and record
that I could obtain for the earlier portion of my
history. I then betook myself to the oldest inhab-
itants ; a large number of those who had grown up
with the place from its earliest history, as a village,
being still alive. From these interesting and in-
telligent old people, some of whom had reached
their ninetieth year, I obtained a good store of rem-
iniscences. These, with what I gathered from the
records of the old township of Dartmouth, (which
township it will be seen originally included New
Bedford, Fairhaven, Westport and the present
township of Dartmouth,) and such books as con-
tained any mention of our place, with a succinct
account of the voyage of Bartholomew Gosnold
to these shores in 1602, I compiled, and delivered

IV

before the said Lyceum, on Tuesday evening,
March 6th, 1831.

This was the day of small things, it is true, for
our now flourishing Lyceum. We then depended
altogether upon home productions for our weekly*
entertainment; and many quiet, pleasant times we
used to have of it, in those ante-railway, ante-
electric-telegraph days.

Such is the brief history of the origin of my
undertaking; and now, at a time of life when
it may be reasonably concluded that most of the
effervescence of youth has passed off, with subdued
feelings and moderate expectations of success, but
with a heart none the less warm from the lapse of
time in its interest for the spot of my birth, I
again enter upon the task, with a sense of pleas-
urable duty of putting together what information
I have from varied sources been enabled to collect,
gathering up the fragments lest nothing be lost;
so that those who come after us may have a nucleus
round which to form a more full and complete his-
tory, when our youthful city shall take its place,
as it is evidently destined at no very distant day to
do, if it has not already, among the chief cities
of this country.

I have endeavored to make this history ti'uthful,
and, in order to effect this primary object, have
rejected everything which I was not fully convinced
as beinof authentic. To the friends who have af-
forded me assistance in the preparation of my task,
I would return my warmest thanks.

The following is the introductory sketch to the
lecture before alluded to, as it originally appeared.
Youth is the only apology that will be required for
its faults.

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION.

The fondness with which we are inspired for the
spot of our nativity seems to have been generated
with ourselves; nor can time or distance eradicate
it. Whatever fortune attends us, or whatever cir-
cumstance may induce us to leave our natal soil,
whether we traverse foreign countries, or have set-
tled in another clime, still we are neither withdrawn
nor estranged from it, but turn with pleasure to
the scenes of our childhood and companions of
our youth. Poets of all ages have sung its bless-
ings, and the sympathetic muse delights to wander
over its joys and scan its beauties. This enthusi-
astic fire, this glowing flame, that burns within the
heart of every one, neither age nor circumstance
is able to quench. The Frenchman, w^hen far
away from his native land and winged retrospec-
tion brings him to his own sweet home, sighs for
"the blushing vine-hills of his delightful France;"
and the rude inhabitant of the Emerald Isle, driven
from his country by the extremest necessity, still
bears the latent spark within his bosom ; and, too,
the illiterate Laplander, having seen the light of the
civilized world, gladly returns to his sledge and deer.

VI

It behoves every American to be acquainted with
the history of the place which gave him birth. The
history of this country is neither wrapped in ob-
scurity, nor hidden in uncertainty: there are no
fictitious names, no fabled account of heroes; every-
thing is authentic, and much within the memory
of people yet living.

While other nations are boasting of their an-
tiquity, and exulting in the mysterious deeds of their
ancestors, we pride ourselves in the recency of our
origin, and the well-known achievements during the
struggle for liberty, as well as for the rapidity of
our increase.

Scarce two . centuries ago, this spot was one
forest wild, the abode of the tawny Indian and
wild beast; its vast wilderness had never been
penetrated by civilized man, nor the peace of its
people injured; the smoke arose free from the un-
molested wigwam, and the woods re-echoed to the
shrill war-whoop; the wild deer bounded through
the glade, and the light canoe was swiftly paddled
over the Acushnet. Then the Indian with a light
heart roved over the soil where our town now rests,
and with careless joy, through the forest that once
crowned yon hill, pursued the animated chase.
Oft this has been the scene of the feast, the dance,
and the song of fearless, thoughtless joy.

But these have all departed: our mansions have
succeeded the Indian's hut, and he is now known
but by a few mouldering bones turned up by the
plough-share, and we daily tread above the graves
of his once mighty race. The same ethereal vault

Vll

o'erarches this land, the seasons roll on as before,
and the waves break upon the same shores, but not
to the Indian : he has long since been gathered to
his fathers, and we are now the undisputed lords
of the land.

New Bedford, March 1, 1831.

I am aware that much of the material of this
history is wanting in arrangement, but it should be
remembered that I have been obliged to collect my
information from a great variety of sources, and at
different times during a period of many years. The
labor of an original work of this kind is much more
arduous and difficult than of many more important
works of history where the labors of others can be
brought into requisition. I trust, therefore, my
readers will make all due allowance should the want
of a more regular method be sometimes observable.
It has been my chief object to snatch from the
oblivion to which a large portion of our early his-
tory was fast hastening, and to collect together, as
much as possible, for preservation. In a good de-
gree I feel the assurance of having accomplished
this purpose.

The first number of my historical sketches ap-
peared in the New Bedford Daily Mercury, on Sat-
urday, September 27th, 1856. This was followed
by others on the succeeding Saturdays, which, with
some alteration and considerable addition, com-
prise this volume.

VI 11

Although I do not claim to have performed my
task thoroughly or to my own satisfaction, I have
been gratified at the generous reception my labors
have met with from my friends and'the public of
our vicinity, and, for the want of a better history
of my native place, have undertaken to embody
these hastily written sketches in the form of a book.

Trusting that this volume, with humble preten-
tions, will meet in some measure the want of a bet-
ter performance, I submit it to the public.

D. R.

Brooklawn, near New Bedford,
May 1st, 1858.

CONTENTS.

Page
Preface, iii

Chapter

I. The Old Township of Dartmouth— Discovery of the Coast by
Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 — Early Settlement — Deed
from the Indian Sachem Massasoit to GoAernor Bradford

and others — The Original Survey of Dartmouth, 13

II. The Indians of Dartmouth — Troubles of the Early Settlers —
Order of Court relative to the Support of the Ministly —
Difficulty of Enforcing the Same — Origin of the Name of
Dartmouth — Ralph Kussell, and the Russell Family —
Joseph Rotch — Origin of the Name of New Bedford —
Early Quakers — Gosnold"s Settlement at Cuttyhunk —
Identification of the same by Dr. Belknap — Survey of the
Township by Order of King Philip- List of the Original
Purchasers, 20

III. Character of the Early Settlers of Dartmouth — Destruction

of their Property by the Indians- Order of Court, 1678,
for More Compact Settlements — Old Colony Records —
Freemen of Dartmouth — Names of the Original Proprie-
tors — Proprietors" Records — Old Houses — Indian Relics,.. 30

IV. The Early Friends or Quakers — First Meeting-House, built

in 1699 — Visit of Early English Friends — Joseph Russell,
Sen. — Causes of the Decline of the Society of Friends —
Record of Meetings — Early Business — Joseph Russell, Jr.
— His Ancestor Ralph Russell, 37

V. The First Representative to the Old Colony Court, John Rus-

sell—Names of those who had Taken the Oath of Fidelity,
1684 — Old Record — Early Land-Owners — Longevity of
Early Inhabitants— First House in the Village of Bed-
ford—First Ship — Her Part in the Boston Tea-Party, 44

Chapter

Page
VI. The Whale-Fishery- Burke's Tribute to the Early Whalemen -
. Early Enterprises -The Effects of the Revolution -The
Old Ship Kebecca-Anecdote of the Early Strictness of
Friends — Kelics of Whaling in the Olden Time 53

VII. The Village of Bedford -Statistics by Abraham Shearman',"'
Jr. — Captain William Gordon's Account of the Invasion
by the British Troops during the Revolutionary War-
Schedule of Property Destroyed -Anecdote of the Intre-
pidity of a Woman -First Candle-Works -Causes of

Prosperity,

VIII. March of the British Troops 'to *A'c'ushn'e't"and "Fairhaven- " '
Destruction of Property on the Way-New Bedford and
Fairhaven Bridge -Light-House at Clark's Point -The
Bedford Bank -Notice of John Pickens, Joseph Ricketson

and George Howland — Reflections upon those Times, 78

IX. The Acushnet River, from its Rise to the Harbor of New Bed-
ford -Islands in the River -The Native Indians -The

Last of the Wampanoags — Settlement of Fairhaven, 88

X. The Whale-Fishery, continued from Chapter VI — Biograph-
ical Sketches-Architecture of Older and More Modern

Buildings, &c, ^^^

XI. Buzzard's Bay -Its Discovery by the Northmen, afterwards by
Bartholomew Gosnold — Origin of its Present Name — The
Elizabeth Islands — Naushon and the Bowdoin House-
Trip to Naushon in 1856, hq

XII. Early Newspapers- Sketches of an Old Ship-Master and Mer-
chant—Old Editors of the New Bedford Press, 137

XIII. Recapitulation in Part of Former Matters — Partial GeneaVogy

of the Russell Family — Old Proprietors — Cases of Lon-
gevity, &c., jg2

XIV. The Mode of Travelling in Olden Times -Sketches of Two

Journeys on Horseback, one of which breaks off rather

suddenly —Reminiscences of Old Citizens, 166

XV. Old Settlers— The Original Surveyor of Dartmouth — Genea-
logical Sketches of several Old Families -Reminiscences
of the Indians, j-g

XVI. Early Intercourse Avith England — Letter of Introduction Giv-
en to a Merchant of this Place by a Firm in Loudon pre-
vious to the Revolutionary War— A Stray Leaf from the
Diary of said Merchant — Old Houses — Genealogical

Sketches of Old Families — Historical Reminiscences, 195

XA^I. An Old Pensioner's Story, 213

XVIII. Preliminary Remarks upon the Mercantile Profession — Views
in relation to 3Iercantile Character — The Value of Probity
and Integrity in Commercial Pursuits — Sketches of Two
Old Merchants, drawn from life, 227

XIX. The Writer's Views in regard to the Title of his Production —
Reminiscences of Elisha Thornton and James Davis. Two

XI

Chapter Page

Distinguished Ministers of the Society of Friends in New
Bedford, and General Remarks upon their Characters and

Influence, 236

XX. The Early and Continued Anti-Slavery Character of New
Bedford — Biographical Sketch of Capt. Paul Cuffee —

Lines Written by Phillis Wheatley, 252

XXI. The Topography of Old Dartmouth, continued from a previ-
ous chapter — The Villages in the Vicinity of New Bedford :
Kussell's Mills, "NVestport, Smith's Mills, Acushuet, Long
Plain, and Padauaram or South Dartmouth Village: with
General Observations interspersed, 265

XXII. The Destruction of Property by the Britii^h Troops — Extracts

from the Official Letters of General Grey, the Commander of
the Expedition, to Sir Henry Clinton — Letter of Robert
Fanshawe to Sir Henry Clinton — Doctor Dwighfs Account
of the Invasion, during a visit to New Bedford, from in-
formation obtained of Judge Pope's Incidental Obser-
vations — Additional Account of the same, of a later date,
by Judge Pope — Further Reminiscences of the Revolution,
from a retired ship-master of Fairhaven, 278

XXIII. Retrospective View— List of Vessels Registered for 1818 and

1819 — State of the Whale-Fishery in 1830— Capture of a
British Brig-of-War by the Armed Sloop Providence —
The Old Ship Maria — Memorandum of Samuel Rodman,
Sen.: Abstract of her Voyages — A Reminiscence of In-
terest to the Votaries of Mammon — Narrow Escape — The
September Gale, and its Effects upon the Shipping of New
Bedford, 300

XXIV. Ecclesiastical, Legal, and Medical Reminiscences — Dialectic

Society — Fragment Society — New Bedford Lyceum —
Friends' Academy — Climate — Public Roads and Streets,. .314

XXV. Separate Notices of Westport, Dartmouth, and Fairhaven —
Freemen of Dartmouth, 1686 — Warrants of Colonel Samuel
Willis for the Impressment of Soldiers — Extracts from the
Plymouth Records relative to the Early Affairs of Dart-
mouth—Further Reminiscences of Naushon — Note relat-
ing to the Northmen's Visit to this Coast — Prize Brought
into New Bedford by Lieutenant Thomas Truxton, 1776,. . .340

XXVI. Incorporation Act of New Bedford and Fairhaven as a Town-
ship, 1787 — Act of Separation of New Bedford and Fair-
haven, 1812 — Orthography of Acushnet — List of the Light-
Houses in Buzzard's Bay — Old Advertisement relating to
the New Bedford Bridge, from the Columbian Courier,
1798 — First Whaling Voyage to the Pacific Ocean from
Nantucket — Notice of Captain William Claghorn — Cap-
tain Edmund Gardner's Account of a Portion of jhis Sea-
faring Life — The Progress of New Bedford — Statistics of
the Whale-Fisherv 360

xn

Chapter Page
XXVII. Visit to Cutty hunk and Gosnold's Islet, August 9th, 1858 —
Mustcr-Eoll of the Company of Captain Thomas Kempton,
1775 — Additional List of Revolutionary Soldiers of Dart-
mouth— Lines by Doctor Daniel Hathaway on the Death
of Daniel Kussell, 1772 — Records from Old Burial-Places —
Letter of Jabez Delano, 1727 — Synopsis of the Natural
History of this Vicinity — Conclusion, 374

IlfDEX,.

.409

HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.

CHAPTER I.

THE OLD TOWNSHIP OF DARTMOUTH— DISCOVERY OF
THE COAST BY BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD IN 1602 —
EARLY SETTLEMENT — DEED FROM THE INDIAN SACHEM
MASSASOIT TO GOVERNOR BRADFORD, AND OTHERS —
THE ORIGINAL SURVEY OF DARTMOUTH.

New Bedford was originally a part of the old
township of Dartmouth, from which it was set oft'
and incorporated into a separate township in the
year 1787. The old township of Dartmouth for-
merly included the present townships of Dartmouth,
Westport, New Bedford and Fairhaven, and was
purchased of the Indians in 1652. That part of
the old township of Dartmouth which includes the
present township of New Bedford was known to
the Indians by the name of Act^U-shnet, or Accoos-
net, and sor^etimes Accushena; Fairhaven as Scon-
ticut; Dartmouth as Apponeganset, and Westport
as Acoaxet.. The Acushnet River, and the adjoin-
ing shores upon which New Bedford stands, were
first discovered in 1602, by Bartholomew Gosnold,
who sailed from Falmouth, Eno:land, on the 26tli

14

of March of that year. The names of the persons
who embarked on this voyage, as far as they have
been ascertained, are as follows: Bartholomew
Gosnold, Commander; Bartholomew Gilbert, 2d
officer; John Angel; Robert Saltern, who was af-
terwards a clergyman; William Streeie; Gabriel
Archer, gentleman and journalist; James Rosier,
who wrote an account of the voyage and presented

it to Sir Walter Raleigh ; John Brierton ; and

Tucker. There were thirty-two persons in all, eight
of whom were mariners.

" The design of the voyage was to find a direct
and short course to Virginia, and upon a discovery
of a proper seat for a plantation, twelve of the
company were to return to England till further
assistance and supplies could be sent them."

The fine group of islands known as the Elizabeth
Islands was first discovered by Gosnold, and so
called in honor of the Queen of England. The
island now known as Cuttyhunk they called Eliza-
beth. Here they made their place of rendezvous,
and upon an islet in a small fresh-water pond built
a place of defence and a store-house.

" While some of Gosnold's men labored in build-
ing a fort and store-house on the small island in the
pond, and a flat-bpttpmed boat to go to it, he crossed
the bay in his vessel and discovered the mouth
of the river on the west shore of whicl) New Bed-
ford is now built. On the shore he was met by a
company of natives, men, women and children, wl)p
with air courteous kindness entertained him, giving
him skins of wild beasts, tobacco, turtles, hemp,
artificial strings colored (wampum,) and such like
things as they had about them. The stately groves,

15

flowery meadows and running brooks afTorded
delightful entertainment to the adventurers." Bel-
icnap.

Their original intention, as will be seen from the
preceding extract, was for twenty of the company
to remain, and for the others to return to England
with the vessel, and bring or send them supplies.
But they suddenly changed their minds, and after
having loaded their vessel with sassafras root and
furs, on the 17th of June they set sail for England,
and arrived at Exmouth, Devonshire, after a pleas-
ant passage of five weeks.

Bartholomew Gosnold died in Virginia on the
22d of August, 1607, whither he had gone with
Captain John Smith.

About 30 or 40 years after this, the country began
to be settled by the English, and owing to the hos-
tility of the Indians they were under the necessity
of living in garrisons. In the year 1676, Capt.
Church, in his History of the Indian War, speaks
of a fjarrison at Russell's Orchard, which was sit-
uated near the head of the Apponeganset River,
in Dartmouth. In this garrison was born Joseph
Russell, a son of whom, by the same name, I shall
have occasion to mention hereafter. There was
also another garrison on the east side of the
Acushnet River, about one mile north of the village
of Oxford, the remains of which are still to be
seen.

The following is a copy of the deed from Mas-
sasoit or Woosamequin, and his son Wamsutta,
or Moanam, who was also called by the English

16

Alexander. Philip of Pokanoket, whose true name

was Pometacom, was also a son of Massasoit, and

younger than Alexander. #

**3i>ra[lrforU CSobernour.

1654. A deed appointed to be recorded.

New Plymouth, November the 29th, 1652.

Know all men by these presents, that I, Wesam-
equen, and Wamsutta my son, have sold unto
Mr. William Bradford, Captain Standish, Thomas
Southwortl), John Winslow, John Cooke and their
associates, the purchasers or old-comers, all the
tract or tracts of land lying tln-ee miles eastward
from a river called Cushenagg, to a certain harbour
called Acoaksett, to a flat rock on the westward
side of the said harbour. And whereas the said har-
bour divideth itself into seyerej branches, the west-
ernmost arme to be the bound, and all the tract or
tracts of land from the said westernmost arme to
the said river of Cushenagg, three miles eastward
of the same, with all the profits and benefits within
the said tract, with all the rivers, creeks, meadows,
necks and islands that lye in or before the same,
and from the sea upward to go so high that the
English may not be annoyed by the hunting of the
Indians in any sort of their cattle. And I, Wesam-
equen, and Wamsutta, do proniise to remove all
the Indians within a year from the date hereof that
do live in the said tract. And we, the said Wesam-
equen and Wamsutta, have fully bargained and sold
unto the aforesaid Mr. William Bradford, Captain
Standish, Thomas Southworth, John Winslow,
John Cooke, and the rest of their associates, the
purchasers or old-comers, to have and to hold for
them and their heirs and assigns forever. And in
consideration hereof, we the above-mentioned are
to pay to the said Wesamequen and Wamsutta
as foUoweth : thirty yards of cloth, eight moose-
skins, fifteen axes, fifteen hoes, fifteen pair of

17

breeches, eight blankets, two kettles, one cloak, 2 X
in wampan, eight pair stockings, eight pair of shoes,
one iron pot, and ten shillings in another cornodi-
tie. And in witness hereof we have interchangeably
set to our hands the day and year above written.

J ,, ,. JOHN WINSLOW.

In the presence of j^^^ COOKE.

JONATnAN bHAW, > His

Samuel Eddy. ) WAMSUTTA. A\.m.

mark."

A fine picture of the landing of Gosnold upon
our shores has been painted by our fellow-towns-
man, William A. Wall. Froin a notice of this
})icture made by the writer of this history at the
time of its exhibition in 1842, the following extract
is taken: " The artist has combined the authentic
accounts of the event with the natural scenery in a
most happy manner. The conception of the wdiole
affair is exceedingly beautiful. The time is early
morning — the sun not yet risen; but his strong
light is breaking from the east across the water
and the Elizabeth Islands in the distance, the light
clouds are flying away before the gentle breeze, and
the dewy freshness of early day is seen upon all
things around, while a thrush, from his seat upon
a neighboring tree, is chanting his sweet salutation
to the hardy adventurer. Gosnold, with his first
officer, Bartholomew Gilbert, Gabriel Archer, 'gen-
tleman and journalist,' and several of his men, are
seen upon the shore, which, together with a group
of Indians with whom they are trading, forms the
chief attraction of this beautiful picture. The fig-
ure of Bartholomew Gosnold well represents the
* active, intrepid and experienced mariner,' as he is

18

called by an old historian. The boat from which
they have apparently just landed is held by a sailor
with a boat-hook, while another, leaning over the
gunwale, is musingly looking up the river. A
sweet quiet pervades the whole scene; and the re-
flection of the British flag, drowsily hanging from
its staff" at the stern of the boat, is seen upon the
glassy water. The ' small bark ' which bore them
across the Atlantic, with her sails loose, is seen in
the offing. The mind is involuntarily carried back
to that beautiful morning ; and the sweet serenity
of the scene must awaken the pleasantest reflec-
tions in the mind of the spectator."

Below is a copy of the record of the settlement
of the bounds of Dartmouth made with Philip.
Kecord of Deeds, Plymouth Colony, Book 3d,
page 323.

" Whereas, according to an order of court, held
at Plymouth, bearing date the third day of October,
Anno Domini 1664, wherein Phillip, Sagamore of
Pokannockett, &c., was desired to appoint an agent
or more to set out and mark the bounds of Acushna,
Coaksett, and places adjacent, the said Sachem sent
John Sassamon, on the 19th day of November, in
the year aforesaid, to act in his behalf in the prem-
ises, whoe hath set the bounds of the said tract and
tracts as followeth, viz.: at Acushena three miles
to the east according to the deed bearing date
November 29th, 1652, from a black-oak marked on
four sides, running upward north into the woods
eight miles, and downward south with so much of
the island Nakata as falls within the said line ; at
Akoaksett, from a white-oak marked on four sides,
standing on the west side of the head of the cove,
ranging up into the woods north six miles and an

19

half to a great pond, unto a wliite-oak marked,
standing upon the west side of the pond, near the
south end of the said pond ; by reason of the run-
ning of the pond, one mile on the east side upward
to a black-oak marked on four sides, standing near
a maple tree on the side of the said pond, about
the middle of it, which pond is called "Watuppa;
the upper bounds to run from tree to tree upon a
strait line, and at the head of the westernmost
arm from the said white-oak to the flat rock ex-
pressed in the deed aforesaid."

:20

CHAPTER 11.

THE INDIANS OF DARTMOUTH— TROUBLES OF THE EARLY
SETTLERS — ORDER OF COURT RELATIVE TO THE SUPPORT
OF THE MINISTRY — DIFFICULTY OF ENFORCING THE
SAME — ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF DARTMOUTH — RALPH
RUSSELL AND THE RUSSELL FAMILY — JOSEPH ROTCH —
ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF NEW BEDFORD — EARLY QUAK-
ERS— GOSNOLD'S SETTLEMENT AT CUTTYHUNK — IDEN-
TIFICATION OF THE SAME BY DR. BELKNAP — SURVEY
OF THE TOWNSHIP BY ORDER OF KING PHILIP — LIST
OF THE ORIGINAL PURCHASERS.

In my former chapter was given the original deed
of the purchase of the old township of Dartmouth
of Massasoit or Woosamequiii, as he is called in
the deed, and his son Wamsutta, alias Moanam
and Alexander. Massasoit was also the father of
Philip, or Pometacom, the great Indian warrior
and chieftain. He, as well as his brother Alexan-
der, who succeeded their father, were denominated
"kings" by the early settlers. Their home was at
Montanp, or Pokanoket, now known as Mount
Hope, near Bristol, Rhode Island.

The Indians who inhabited this section of country
(Dartmouth,) the Acushnets, Apponegansets, and
Acoaxsets, were a part of the great tribe of Wampa-
noags, over w^hich Woosamequin, or Massasoit, was
the chief Sachem. The early settlers of Dartmouth
as well as those at Plymouth, found in Massasoit sL
firm and devoted friend, and he has been called
"the good Masssaoit." Although his dying injunc-

21

tions to his sons Alexander and Philip, (so named
by the English from the great Macedonian gener-
als,) were to continue in friendly relations with the
English, his counsel was little heeded by the former,
and violated in the most savage manner by the latter.

The early settlers of Dartmouth suffered greatly
from the depredations and violence of the Indians ;
and at one time they were completely broken up,
and obliged to forsake their homes and resort to
garrisons for protection.

This fact reaching the government at Plymouth,
the following order of court was passed :

"1675, 14th October." This court taking into
their serious consideration the tremenduous dispen-
sations of God towards the people of Dartmouth,
in suflering the barbarous heathen to spoil and de-
stroy most of their habitations, the enemy being
greatly advantaged thereunto by their scattered way
of living, do therefore order that in the rebuilding
and resettling thereof, that they so order it as to
live compact together, at least in each village, as
they may be in a capacity both to defend them-
selves from the assault of an enemy, and the better
to attend the public worship of God, and ministry
of the word of God, whose carelessness to obtain
and attend unto we fear may have been a provo-
cation of God thus to chastise their contempt of
his gospel, which we earnestly desire the people of
that place may seriously consider of, lay to heart,
and be humbled for, with a solicitous endeavour
after a reformation thereof, by a vigorous putting
forth to obtain an able, faithful dispenser of the
word of God amongst them, and to incourage him
therein, the neglect whereof this court, as they must
and God willing, they will not permit for the
future." Book 5t/i. Court Orders, page 102.

22

As Plymouth was so called from the fact of that
being the name of the last port the Pilgrim Fathers
left, so I conclude that our old township of Dart-
mouth was named from the circumstance of the
two vessels, the Mayflower and the Speedwellj,
which it will be remembered sailed together, put-
ting back to the port of Dartmouth on the British
Channel, for repairs upon the latter vessel, and
consequently it is reasonable to conclude that Dart-
mouth was early settled by some of the passengers
that came over in the Mayflower, as the Speed-
well was abandoned on account of unseaworthi-
ness.*

One of the earliest settlers of Dartmouth was
Ralph Russell, who came from Pontipool, England,
and had been engaged in the iron business with
Henry and James Leonard of Taunton. He set
up an iron forge at "Russell's Mills," which place
received its name from him. Ralph Russell was
the progenitor of the Russell families of New Bed-
ford, and the ancestor in the fourth remove of
Joseph Russell, from whom New Bedford received
its name. In the year 1765, Joseph Rotch, grand-
father of the late William Rotch, Jr., moved from
Nantucket to this place, then known as Dartmouth,
for the purpose of pursuing the business of the
whale-fishery. Here he became acquainted with Jo-
seph Russell, before mentioned, a substantial farm-
er, who included in his broad domain a large part

* As no name of those who came over in the Mayflower appears
among those of the early settlers, the name of Dartmouth was proba-
bly adopted by the original purchasers, all of whom were passengers
in the Mayflower.

. 23

of the most valuable portion of the land on which
New Bedford now stands. His residence, a large
old-fashioned farm-house, stood at the head of
William street, and near the mansion of Charles
W. IMorgan. Uiiion street was his cart-path to
the shore, at the head of which, on the County
road, was a red gate. This way was afterwards
called " King street," and subsequently " Main
street," a name familiar to the ears of many of
•our citizens ; and one which it is to be regret-
ted has been set aside for the less agreeable and
no more appropriate one now adopted. " Bridge
street " was about the same time changed to
" Middle street," a name far less characteristic of
its origin, as well as that of old Main street, the
latter having been the original main street of the
place, and the former leading to the New-Bed-
ford and Fairhaven bridge — proving that changes
are not always improvements. The name King
street, as the one in Boston formerly so called,
was undoubtedly abandoned from patriotic mo-
tives.

As a little village had already begun to appear, it
was thought necesSary to give it a particular desig-
nation from the rest of the old township; and upon
a public occasion Joseph Rotch suggested that the
name should be "Bedford," in honor of Joseph
Russell, who bore the family name of the Duke of
Bedford, which was readily adopted by the rest of
the inhabitants, and the old gentleman was after-
wards known as '' tlie Duke." This, it will be re-
membered, was in "the Old Colony days, when we

24

lived uiicler the King." It being afterwards ascer-
tained that the same name had been previously
given to a town in the state, it was called New
Bedford. Many of the early settlers of Dartmouth
were Quakers, who probably sought this then
sequestered region as an asylum for the enjoyment
of their peculiar religious faith.

In the year 1671, the following order of court
was passed, which probably grew out of the scruples
of the settlers, as Quakers or Friends : •

" 1671. In reference unto the town of Dartmouth,
it is ordered by court, that whereas a neglect the
last year of the gathering in of the sum of fifteen
pounds according to order of court to be kept in
stock tow^arcls the support of such as may dispense
the word of God unto them, it is again ordered
by the court that the sum of fifteen pound be this
year levied to be as a stock for the use aforesaid,
to be delivered unto Arthur Hatheway and Ser-
jeant Shaw, to be by them improved as opportu-
nity may present for the ends aforesaid." Book
5th, Court Orders, page 41.

This order of court does not appear from the
following one passed several years afterwards to
have proved effectual. The good people at Ply-
mouth appear to have been particularly exorcised for
the spiritual interests of our early settlers.

" 1674. Wednesday, the 24th of this instant, is ap-
pointed by the court for the inhabitants and purchas-
ers of Dartmouth to meet together for the settling of
the bounds of their town, at which time the Gov-
ernour, Mr. Hinckley, the Treasurer, Mr. Walley,
Lieut. Morton and John Tom son did engage to
give meeting with others to propose and indeavour

25

that some provision may be made for the preaching
of the word of God amongst them." Book oth^
Court Orders, page 102.

Capt. Gosnold, in 1602, named a round hill in
the present township of Dartmouth, " Hap's Hill,"
lying between two good harbors, which fall within
the limits of the said town, being Pascomanset and
Apponeganset. The hill is unquestionably one of
those now known as the "Round Hills," near
" Dumpling Rock."

In my last chapter I made mention of the occu-
pation of the island Cuttyhunk by Gosnold. On
the 20th of June, 1797, Dr. Belknap, the historian,
visited this island, and saw the cellar of a store-
house, built by Gosnold in 1602. The authenticity
of this important relic has been doubted by some;
but the writer of this history has the authority of
several eye-witnesses in corroboration of this im-
portant fact. " It is a vestige of the first work per-
formed by Europeans on the New England shores.
Here they first penetrated the earth ; here the first
edifice w^as erected. And from this humble begin-
ning have arisen cities, numerous, large and fair, in
which arc enjoyed all the refined delights of civil-
ized life." Although Bartholomew Gosnold cannot
be considered as the founder of New Bedford, yet,
as he was the first Englishman or European who
visited our shores, our history may with much pro-
priety take its date from the time of his visit. Here,
during the last of May or the first part of June, A.
D. 1602, this "active, intrepid, and experienced sea-
man, from Ihe west of England," landed upon our

26

shores, eighteen years before the landing of the

Pilgrim Fathers upon Plymouth Rock. A more

permanent settlement was intended, and had not

the slight disagreement before alluded to taken

place in the company, it would undoubtedly have

been made.

<'3,3^ince CSobetnour.

1660. A writing appointed to be recorded, as
followeth :

At a general meeting of the purcha-sers, at Ply-
mouth, the seventh of March, 1652, it was ordered
and fully agreed unto and concluded by the whole
that all that tract of lands lying from the purchas-
ers' bounds on the west side of Acoughcusse to a
river called Accusshaneck and three miles to the
eastward of the same, with all islands, meadows,
woods, waters, rivers, creeks, and all appurtenances,
thereunto belonging, should be given to those whose
names are hereunder written, containing thirty-four
shares, and was then given, allotted, assigned and
set over to them by the whole, to have and to hold
to them and their heirs and assigns forever, to di-
vide and dispose of the same as they should see
good ; and they are to satisfy the Indians for the
purchase thereof, and to bear all other due charges
that shall any way arise about the same, according
to their several proportions.

WILLIAM BRADFORD, a moie- EDWARD HOLMAN.

ty. MisTRis JENNEY.

Captain STANDISH. JOSHUA PRATT.
Me. colly are and SARAH Mr. HICKES.

BREWSTER. THOMAS SOUTHWORTH.

Mr. ALDEN. JAMES HURST.

Mistris WARREN. EDWARD DOTY.

ROBERT BARTLETT. JOHN SHAW.

JOHN FAUNCE. FRANCIS COOKE.

MANNASSES KEMPTON. JOHN COOKE.

GEORGE MORTON. SAMUEL dUTBERT.

JOHN DUNHASL JOHN CRACKSTON: the one-

AVILLIAM PALMER. half of John Crackston land,

THOMAS MORTON. which was Mr. William Brad-

27

ford, Senr. His land was passed CONSTANT SOTJTHWORTH.

over to the said William Brad- GEORGE SOULE.

ford, to Mr. John Howland. PHILLIP DELANOY.

STEPHEN TIIACYE. IVIOSES SIMONS.

FRANCIS SPRAGUE. EDWARD BUMPAS.

HENERY SAMPSON. FRANCIS EATON.
PETER BROWNE.

Whereas these purchasers, who by agreement of
the whole had their proportions of purchase land
falling unto them in the places above mentioned,
who by agreement had their several names entered
into a list together, with some other old-comers,
under the hand of the Hon'^ Gov^ late, deceased,
they did desire that the list of their names might
be recorded, but the above-written original list of
names, and the agreement, could not be found in
some years, so that it was judged lost, these pur-
chasers notwithstanding still desiring that what
was their right might be recorded, whereupon order
was given by the aforesaid Governour that it might
be done, in which record, for want of the original
list, the names of some are entered contrary to the
original grant and agreement of the purchasers, as
appears by it, and also by divers otljer* purchasers
as well as themselves, which is an occasion of
some difference already, and may be of more, there-
fore it is ordered by the General Court held at Ply-
mouth, the 8th June, 1660, that the abovesaid orig-
inal list should be entered, and the other to stand
in the book not defaced, but to be void, null and
of none effect."

The following record, although nearly a recapit-
vilation of the survey made by order of King Philip,
as published in the first chapter, is interesting and
valuable, as containing a full list of the names of
the original purchasers of Dartmouth. This list
was for several years lost, and the preceding rec-
ord from memory was made; but the original being

28

afterwards found, it was recorded, and the other
made null and void. Record of Deeds, Plymouth
Colony, Book 2d, page 107.

"The names of those who by order of the pur-
chasers met at Plymouth the seventh day of March,
1652, who by joint consent and agreement of the
said purchasers are to have their parts, shares or
proportions, at the place or places commonly called
and known by the names of Acushena, alias Acques-
sent, which entereth in at the western end of Weeck-
atay, and. to Coaksett, alias Acoakus, and places
adjacent, the bounds of which tract fully to extend
three miles to the eastward of the most easterly
part of the River or Bay called Acusshna aforesaid,
and so along the sea-side to the river called Coak-
sett, lying on the west side of Point Pritt,* and to
the most westernmost side of any branch .of the
aforesaid river, and to extend eight miles into the
woods, the said tract or tracts of land so bounded, as
abovesaid, which is purchased of the Indians, which
were the right proprietors thereof, as appears by a
deed unde? tl\eir hands, with all marshes, meadows,
rivers, waters, woods, timbers and other profits, priv-
ileges, emunities, commodities and appurtenances
belonging to the said tract or tracts above expressed,
or any part or parcel thereof, to belong unto the
parties whose names are underwritten, who are in
number thirty-four whole parts or shares, and no
more, to them and their heirs and assigns forever:

Mr. WILLIAM BRADFORD, one whole part or share.

Captain STANDISH, one whole part or share.

Mr. JOHN ALDEN, one whole part or share.

Mr. COLLYER and SARAH BREWSTER, one whole part or share.

Mr. HOWLAND and WILLIAM BASSETT, one whole part or share.

GEORGE MORTON, one whole part or share.

MAN ASSES KEMPTON, one whole share.

JAMES HURST, one whole share.

JOHN DUNHAM, Senr., one whole share.

JOHN SHAW, Senr., one whole share.

* Gooseberry Neck (Point Peril. )

•29

FflANCTS COOKE, one whole share.
J( >HN COOKE, one whole share.
JOSHUA PRATT, one whole share.
GEORGE SOULE, one whole share.
CONSTANT SOUTHWORTH, one whole share.
THOMAS SOUTHWORTH, one whole share.
Miss JENNINGS, one whole share.
STEVEN TRACYE, one whole share.
JOHN FAUNCE, one whole share.
HENRY SAMPSON, one whole share;
PHILIP DELANO YE, one whole shdrc.
Miss WARREN, one whole share.
R0J5ERT BARTLETT, one whole share.
WILLIAM PALMER, one whole share.
EDWARD DOTYE, one whole share.
SAMUEL HICKES, one whole share.
PETER BROWNE, one whole share.
FRANCIS SPRAGUE, one whole share.
MOSES SIMONS, one whole share.
SAMUEL EATON, one wbole share.
THOMAS MORTON, one whole share.
SAMUEL CUTBERT, one whole share.
EDWARD HOLMAN, one whole share.
EDWARD BUMP ASS, one whole share.

In all thirty-four parts or shares."

So it appears that the whole township of Datt^

mouth in 1652 belonged to thirty-six persons;

30

CHAPTER III.

CHARACTER OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF DARTMOUTH—
DESTRUCTION OF THEIR PROPERTY BY THE INDIANS —
ORDER OF COURT 1678, FOR MORE COMPACT SETTLE-
MENTS—OLD COLONY RECORDS — FREEMEN OF DART-
MOUTH—NAMES OF THE ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS—
PROPRIETORS' RECORDS — OLD HOUSES— INDIAN RELICS.

The last chapter closed with the list of the names
of the original purchasers of Dartmouth, but few
of whom, however, settled here ; and I have been
able to trace but five or six out of the whole num-
ber, which was thirty-six, in the early records of
the town. The land appears to have been taken
up by a class of people not particularly identified
with the Puritans, and many of them Quakers,
whom the government at Plymouth, as will be seen
by their Court orders, found it difficult to control.
A frugal and industrious people, busily engaged in
agriculture, the early settlers of Dartmouth do not
appear to have been guilty of any other offense
than the want of obedience to the rigid requisitions
of the Court, in regard to the support of a minis-
try, and the observance of the Sabbath, according
to the views of the government. But the sturdy
Dartmouthians, with their strong admixture of the
nonconformity of the disciples of George Fox,
.baffled their efforts with a steady perseverance, and
in the year 1691 refused the payment of taxes, and
sent no Representative to the Court.

The people of Dartmouth having suffered a great
deal in tlie loss of property destroyed by the Indi-
ans, owing to their scattered way of living, the fol-
lowing Order of Court was passed:

"1678. To John Cooke, to be communicated to
such of the former inhabitants of Dartmouth as
are concerned herein. The Councell being now
assembled, considering the reason and necessity of
that order of the General Court made the 14th Oc-
tober, 1675, respecting the rebuilding or resettling
the Town of Dartmouth, a copy whereof is here-
with sent, and considering withall that all the peo-
ple of that place, by their deserting it, have left it
to the possession of the enemy, which through the
good hand of God on the endeavours of this Col-
ony is now recovered again out of the enemies'
hand, do so much the more look at it as a duty in-
cumbent on this Councel to see the said order ef-
fectually attended, do therefore hereby prohibit all
and every of the former inhabitants of the said
town of Dartmouth, or their or any of their as-
signs, to make any enterance or building or settling
in any part of the said former Township of Dart-
mouth untill satisfactory security be first given to
the Court or Councel by some of the principle per-
sons heretofore belonging to that place that the
said Court Order shall in all respects be attended
by them, as the transgressors of this prohibition
will answer the contrary at their peril." Book 5,
Court Orders^ page 124.

For a copy of the order referred to, see the pre-
vious chapter.

With the following orders, I shall close my ex-
tracts from the Old Colony Records. They are
valuable as addition to the scanty materials afford-
ed for my history of this early period.

32

" 1664, June. At this Court all that tract of land
commonly called and known by the name Acush-
ena, Ponagansett and Coaksett is allowed by the
Court to be a township, and the inhabitants there-
of have liberty to make such orders as may conduce
to their common good in town concernments, and
that the said town be henceforth called and known
by the name of Dartmouth." Book -ith, Court
Orders, page 72, Colony Records.

"1665, June. Dartmouth proportion of the rates
or taxes, 10 <£." Book 4, Court Orders, page 103.

"1667, June. Serjeant James Shaw and Arthur
Iiatherway are appointed by the Court to exer-
cise the men in armes in the town of Dartmouth."
Book 4th, Court Orders, page 104.

"1667, July. John Cobke, of Dartmouth, is
authorized by Court to make contracts of marriage
in the town of Dartrbouth, and likewise to admin-
ister an oath to give evidence to the Grand In-
quest, and likewise to administer an oath to any
witness for the trial of a case as occasion may re-
quire ; and in case any person or persons residing in
this jurisdiction shall have occasion to commence a
suit against any stranger br foreigner, it shall be
lawful for the said John Cooke to issue out war-
rants in His Majestie's name, to bind over any per-
son or persons to answer the said suit at His Maj-
estie's Court, to be holden at Plymouth at any time,
by attachment or summons, as occasion may re-
quire, and that he shall give forth suppoenies to
warn witnesses." Book 4, Court Orders, page 163.

"An exact list of all the freemen in Dartmouth on
the 29th May, 1670:

JOHN COOKE, WILLIAM SPOONER,

. JOHN RUSSELL, SAMUEL HICKES,

JAMES SHAW, WILLIAM PALMER."
ARTHUR HATHEWAY,

Court Orders, Book 5, page 205.

33

"1671, July. Arthur Hathcway, of Dartmouth,
is appointed by Court to administer an oath to any
witness, to give evidence to the Grand Inquest in
that town, as occasion may require." Book 5,
Court Orders.^ page 48.

"1673,4th March. John Smith, of Dartmouth,
is appointed to be Lieutenant of the military com-
pany of Dartmouth, and Jacob jMichell to be en-
sign-bearer of the said company." Book 5, Court
OrderSj pag-e 96.

But few of the original purchasers of Dartmouth
settled here, as will be seen by comparing the fol-
lowing list of the names of the proprietors in the
confirmatory deed of William Bradford, Novem-
ber 13th, 1694 :

MANASSEH KEMPTON,
SETH POPE,
JOHN RUSSELL,
ARTHUU HATHAWAY.
PELEG SLOCUM,
STEPHEN WEST,
JAMES SISSON,
JOHN RUSSELL, Je.,
ABRAHAM TUCKER,
JOHN TUCKER,
THOMAS BRIGGS,
JONATHAN RUSSELL,
JOHN HATHAWAY,
GEORGE CADMAN.
JACOB MOTT,
ELEAZER SMITH,
RETURN BAB COCK,
BENJAMIN HOWLAND,
WILLLIM SHEARMAN,
THOMAS TABER,
JONATHAN DELANO,
JOSEPH RUSSELL,
STEPHEN PECKHAM,
ISAAC POPE,
ELEAZER SLOCUM,
JOHN LAPHAM,
JOSEPH RIPLEY,
DANIEL SHERMAN,

MARY DAVIS,
THOMAS TABER, Jr.,
LETTICE JENNEY,
SAMUEL ALLEN,
VALENTINE HUDDLESTONE,
EDMUND SHEARMAN,
SAMUEL JENNY,
MARK JENNY.
AARON DAVIS,
GILES SLOCUM,
RALPH EARLE, Jr.,
WILLIAM EARLE, son of R. E,
JOHN SHEARMAN,
SAMUEL SPOONER,
WILLIAM SPOONER,
JOHN SPOONER, Jr.,
JOHN SPOONER,
THOMAS MITCHELL,
JOHN TINKHAM,
JOSEPH TRIPP,
JAMES TRIPP,
WILLIAM MACOMBER,
SAMUEL CORNWELL,
SAMUEL SHEARMAN,
GERSHOM SMITH,
SAxMUEL HICKES,
ELIZABETH RECKETSON,
JOSEPU TABER.

By this it appears that Dartmouth at the date of
this deed was owned by fifty-six persons, called
proprietors.

The land was afterwards surveyed by Benjamin
Crane, and divided, apportioning 800 acres to each
proprietor — called in the old records "the eight-
hundred-acre division." Crane held a commis-
sion in the reign of Queen Anne, as surveyor, and
became quite celebrated. His name is familiar to
all who have consulted the " Proprietors' Records."
These records are of much value in establishing
the original boundaries of land, and are often
brought into court for that purpose.

There, are still standing several of the houses built
by the original settlers, dating back to the time im-
mediately succeeding " King Philip's War," which
commenced in the year 1675. During the war the
inhabitants of Dartmouth were completely dispersed
by the Indians, and it is probable that most of the
houses, except such as were used as garrisons, were
destroyed. One of these old houses, now an in-
teresting ruin, is owned by Thomas Wood, and
stands about a mile to the northeast from the vil-
lage of Acushnet, another in Oxford Village, Fair-
haven, built by the ancestor of the late John Taber,
still older. These are in the present township of
Fairhaven. The next is in Dartmouth, about three
miles from New Bedford, and on a cross road about
one mile northeast from the village of Padanaram,
lately occupied by David Howland, who died a few
years since at an advanced age. The other, still in
good preservjition, and occupied, stands about four

35

miles to the south-west of Russell's Mills,, owned
by Peleg Sherman, and known as the " old Ricket-
son house," which was built by William Ricket-
son, who died in 1691. His wife was Elizabeth
Rieketson, whose name appears in the list of pro-
prietors. William Rieketson was one of the orig-
inal proprietors of Dartmouth, and the ancestor of
those who bear his name. All these houses, except
the one in Oxford, were substantial two-storied
buildings, with huge stone chimneys and capacious
fireplaces with ovens, seen only in the oldest
houses, capable of receiving several feet of wood,
from four to six feet long, so that the children used
to sometimes sit upon the ends of the logs, and
look up the chimney at the stars. These houses
were severally built by the ancestors of families
still living upon or near the homes of their fathers.

The old stock of people of Dartmouth was an in-
dustrious, as well as a hardy and vigorous race ; and
to this day a good share of these qualities remains,
giving enterprise and endurance to their possessors.

Besides the garrison at "Russell's Orchard," near
the head of the Apponeganset River, there was an-
other on the east side of the Acushnet River, a
short distance northeast of the Isle of Marsh. The
locations of both these garrisons are discernible,
and there is a spring of water near each, the spot
having probably been chosen w4th reference to
them. Several Indian burial-places have been dis-
covered in the vicinity of New Bedford within a
few years, near the shores of the Acushnet, upon
high and dry ]:>laccs. The remains of a large num-

36

ber of these once noble possessors of our soil have
been exhumed, and at one time the writer examinee!
the skulls of a number. In most of these, every
tooth was preserved, and sound, both upon the up-
per and lower jaw, and many of them indicated an
advanced age, the back or molar teeth being much
worn and grooved. On some of these skulls the
coarse black hair still remained, Arrow-heads,
stone hatches, adzes, gouges, &c., have been from
time to time turned up by the plough-share. The
writer has in his possession a handsome and curi-
ously wrought tobacco-pipe, manufactured from a
dark-colored soft stone, taken from one of the Indi-
an graves^ also a quaint glass bottle and some
trifling brass ornaments, indicating the burial to
have taken place after the arrival of the white peo-
ple. The bottle undoubtedly contained the Indians'
great curse, "fire-water," as it was found with its
nose resting upon the mouth of the skeleton. How
great must have been the fall and degradation of
the poor native, thus to desire the companionship
of his greatest betrayer and destroyer, beyond the

37

CHAPTER IV.

TEE EARLY FRIENDS OR QUAKERS— FIRST MEETING-
HOUSE, BUILT IN 1699 — VISIT OF EARLY ENGLIS^I
FRIENDS — JOSEPH RUSSELL, SEN.— CAUSES OF THE
DECLINE OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS — RECORD OF
MEETINGS — EARr.Y BUSINESS — JOSEPH RUSSELL, JR.—
HIS ANCESTOR RALPH RUSSELL.

As I have before stated, the Friends early found
their way to Dartmouth. Their first meeting-house
was built in the year 1699, but a monthly meeting
had been established previous to this time, which
was held at a private house. This meeting-house
was very large, and occupied the spot where the
])resent Apponeganset meeting is held. The old
house, having become somewhat dilapidated, and
larger than was needed, was taken down many
years ago, and the present, a smaller one, erected
upon the same place. A yearly, or half-yearly
meeting was at one time held here. The land, con-
taining six acres, was given to the society by Peleg
Slocum, in the year 1698. The name of this an-
cient Friend is mentioned in the journals of trav-
elling ministers of the society at this time.

The Friends of Dartmouth were a numerous and
influential people, and in the early part of the last
century comprised a considerable portion of all the
inhabitants. The influence of th(Mr ])rincip](^s and
peculiarities are observable among the people gen-
erally of this quarter even at this day. Living at

c

pence with all men, of frugal but hospitable hab-
its, the F.vicnds soon became a prosperous and
happy body. Devoted to agricnlture and other
simple and honorable pm'suits of life^ their homes-
became the abodes of comfort and cheerfulnessy
and so they continued until the unfortunate schisms
entered among them, \vhicb, as has proved the case
with other large Christian bodies, have broken and
weakened their numbers and iniiuence. Many of
the early distinguished ministers of the society from
Great Britain, as well as those from other parts of
this country, visited the Dartmouth Friends. Al-
though the devoted founder of the sect, George
Fox, was in New England, and at Newj^ort^ in the
year 1672, it does not appear that he reached Dart-
iuouth, or the other meetings in this quarter. But
Thomas Story and Samuel Bownas, who were
among the original Friends, were here; the former
as early as 16i^9, and again in 1704; the latter
was in America as early as 1702, but did not reach
Dartmouth until his second visit, in 1727. Samuel
Bownas was a man of vigorous intellect, and an
eloquent minister. He appears also to have been
of a liberal spirit and a peace-maker, as the follow-
ing extract from liis journal shows. S])eaking of a
circumstance which occurred at that time in the
meeting at Dartmouth, he says*,

" A narrowness of spirit did some hurt amongst
them, and produced some uneasiness, which 1 en-
deavored to remove; it was chiefly occasioned by a
young man's being, as some thought, too much in
the fashion, altliough plain compared with some

89

others; yet some thought this reason sufficient to
refuse his proposal of marriage among them, al-
though well recommended from the monthly meet-
ing where he was a member; upon which I shewed
them that as he was so w^ell recommended by certif-
icate, they could not reject his proposal according
to our discipline. The meeting, after we had some
further conference about it, let the young people
proceed, and matters grew easy, and the cloud of
difference dispersed and vanished, which was like
to have hurt both monthly meetings.

From thence [he adds] I went five miles to
Joseph Russell's, in order to take shipping to Nan-
tucket."

This Joseph Russell was the father of Joseph
Russell, Jr., before spoken of as the founder of New
Bedford. His house stood near the head of Wal-
nut street.

The first Friends' meeting-house in New Bedford
was built in the year 1785; this too was the first
house built expressly for religious worship in New
Bedford. A school-house had previously been their
place of meeting. This building stood on the
east side of Third street, between School and Wal-
nut. The old meeting-house, having become too
small for the society, was removed, and the pres-
ent large and commodious brick edifice was built
upon the lot the other had occupied, on Spring
street, about thirty years ago. The land, compris-
ing nearly half an acre, was given them by the afore-
said Joseph Russell, who was a member of the
society.

Until within a short time previous to this, the
society of Friends in New Bedford as well as in

40

Dartmouth bad continued to prosper, and among
its members were still included a large portion of
the most respectable and enterprising inhabitants.
But the palmy days of the society were fast passing
away, and even as early as 1807, a writer on Nan-
tucket says:

" The number of the Quakers [there] is probably
diminishing, for many are driven from their society
by the strictness of their discipline.'^

But the great schism, principally on doctrinal
grounds, which commenced about thirty-five years
since, gave the destructive blow to the society, and
here as well as elsewhere its influence was severely
felt. Many who had long been among the most in-
fluential and exemplary members withdrew, or were
disowned upon grounds of a difference of opinion
on doctrinal points. Those who adhered to the
doctrine of the Unity were denominated by the
one party, " Hicksites," and those who adhered to
the doctrine of the Trinity (although they repudi-
ate this term) were called by the other. Orthodox.
These distinctions still remain; but each party has
suffered still further divisions in its ranks.

The society of Friends has done a good work;
and the cause of truth and humanity will ever be
indebted to them for their support and promotion.
Could they but exercise still further the true spirit
of Christian liberality, their usefulness in the cause
of human progress would be greater ; but the rigor
of their ruh^s and regulations ("the discipline" of
the society, so called) is thought to be unfavorable
to their increase as a sect.

41

The early Friends were a plain and self-sacrific-
ing people, and the testimonies which they bore
with so much heroic fortitude against the bitterest
persecution, were not without their influence upon
many not members of their society.

It is fervently to be hoped, then, that a society
on the perpetuity of whose peaceful principles so
much of the well-being of mankind depends, will
once more, forgetting all minor differences of opin-
ion, become, in the language of the poet Cowper,
''like kindred drops united into one."

There are at present 14 meetings of Friends
within the limits of the old town of Dartmouth, —
two at Apponeganset (the oldest,) one each at
Smith's Neck and Allen's Neck, two in Westport,
two at Newtown (Smith's Mills,) two in New
Bedford, and one each at Acushnet, Long Plain,
Rochester and Fairhaven. These are divided into
three monthly meetings, so called. According to
a pamphlet published in 1849, Dartmouth had at
that time 202 members, Westport 178 members,
New Bedford 445 members — the aggregate 825
members. There are two quarterly meetings hc;ld
annually in New Bedford, viz., on^ the first 5th-
day in the 4th and 12th months, forming a part of
the Sandwich quarterly meeting. The other two
quarters are held at Sandwich and Falmouth.

The early business men, and many of the me-
chanics, were members of the society of Friends,
and to their industry and enterprise the present
prosperity of New Bedford is much indebted.
They laid the foundation on which the superstruct-

42

ure of our great commercial establishment has
been built, now the third seaport in the tonnage of
sailing vessels in the United States. Though the
war with the mother country crushed the business
of New Bedford, a portion of the place, as well as
the shipping, having been burnt by the British troops,
still they persevered, until finally, by the beginning
of the present century, the village of Bedford had
become next to Nantucket in number of vessels
and amount invested in the whale-fishery. It is to
be hoped that the example of these worthy men of
business for probity will be respected and emulated,
so that we may reasonably hope for a continuance
of that prosperity which their honest enterprise did
so much to produce.

It is my intention in this history to make a
few biographical notices of some of the early set-
tlers of New Bedford and the old township of
Dartmouth, and of a few of the more prominent
ones of a later date, — those identified with the
growth and prosperity of our place. In these rec-
ords I shall endeavor to be just and true, "nothing
extenuate or set down aught in malice." Should I
therefore givei offence to any friend or relative of a
subject under notice, it will be unintentional.

Joseph Russell, of whom I have before spoken
as the founder of New Bedford, was born in the
old township of Dartmouth, near the head of the
present Walnut street, September 8th, 1722, O. S.,
and died at his house, which, as before stated, stood
at the head of William street, September 16th,
1840, aged 82 years. He was descended from

Ralpli Russell, before mentioned, whose name ap-
pear^ the earliest among the settjers of Dartmouth,
having established an iron-forge at " Russell's
Mills," so called from this circunastance, and who
had previously been connected with the Leonards
in the iroii business at Tauiiton, as will appear by
the followini?- record:

" In 1652, the first extensive iron-works in North
America were erected at Taunton by James Leon-
ard, Henry Leonard, and Ralph Russell, who came
from Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Eijgland, and
settled first at Braintrce. It was at a town meet-
ing conferred and agreed upon between the i;iihab-
itants of Taunton and Henry Leoiiard of Brain-
tree :

'"Imprimis. It was agreed and granted by the
town to the said He^iry Leonard, and James Leon-
ard his brother, and Ralph Russell, free consent to
eome hither and join with certain of our iiihabit-
ants to set up a bloomery-work on the " Two
Mile River." '

Ralph Russels removed to Dartmoutk and was
the progenitor of a numerous and respectable pos-
terity."" Bdz/Uey IILstojy Pli/motUh Colonij^ part
IL page 26a

44

CHAPTER V.

THE FIRST REPRESENTATIVE TO THE OLD COLONY COURT,
JOHN RUSSELL — NAMES OF THOSE WHO HAD TAKEN
THE OATH OF FIDELITY, 1684 — OLD RECORD — EARLY
LAND-OWNERS — LONGEVITY OF EARLY INHABITANTS—'

• FIRST HOUSE IN THE VILLAGE OF BEDFORD — FIRST
SHIP — HER PART IN THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY.

1665. The township of Dartmouth was rep-
resented at the Old Colony Court, Plymouth, for
the first time, by John Russell, who was probably
a son of Ralph Russell, before mentioned, who
established the iron-forge at Russell's Mills. This
Tillage was at that time and for many years after-
wards the head-quarters of Dartmouth. It is
pleasantly situated upon the west side of the Pas-
camanset or Slocum's River, and the scenery
around is remarkable for its picturesque beauty.
This river takes its rise in the north part of the
township of New Bedford, at the beautiful little
lake near the residence of Jonathan Tobey, about
eight miles from the city. This lake or pond is
generally known as " Myles's Pond," but the Indian
name for it was " Sassaquin." * The stream affords
valuable water-power in its course, particularly at
the pleasant and thriving little village of Smith's
Mills, North Dartmouth, where there is a substan-

* Sassaqtiin "was probably the name of a chief who resided upon
thie shore of this lake; as Tispaquin, a small lake in Plymouth
County, "was so called from the sachem of ihaX name — so2»etiiaes in
the old records written Watuspaquin..

45

tial stone grist-mill and a factory, owned by Messrs.
William & John Cummings.

John Russell represented the town of Dartmouth
from 1665 to 1683, with the exception of two
years, 1666 and 1673, when John Cooke, whose
name, as well as that of John Russell, is among
those of the original proprietors mentioned in the
confirmatory deed of 1692, was chosen. 1685,
Joseph Tripp was the representative; 1686, John
Cooke; 1689-90, Seth Pope. It is probable for
several of the first years the representative made
his journey to Plymouth on foot and by the old
Indian paths. The distance from Russell's Mills
to Plymouth could not have been less than forty
miles. This journey in the winter season must
have been quite a formidable affair, as the snow
would be deep in the woods and render snow-shoes
necessary. We can imagine one of these sturdy
yeomen, warmly wrapped up in his home-manu-
factured wool, perhaps with a friendly Indian as
guide, plo'dding his way through the narrow forest
path, his mind possessed with the importance of
his office and his mission. The number of rep-
resentatives would undoubtedly be satisfactorily
small to the closest economist if such a mode of
reaching the seat of government were now required.

" 1684. Here follows the names of those that
have taken the oath of fidelity:

JOHN COOKE. RTCTTARD KIR BY,

JOHN RUSSELL, JOSEPH 'iRlPP,

.JOHN S^HTH, JONATHAN DELANO,

ARTHUR HATHAWAY, THOMAS TABER,

SAMUEL , JONATHAN RUSSELL,

C...

46

JAMES LAWSON, WILLIAM WOOD,

JOHN SHEARMAN, SAMUEL CORNELL."

Darlmoulh Records.

The books in which these early records were
kept are in a very dilapidated state, and a con-
siderable portion on separate leaves, without any
order or arrangement. They have evidently been
consulted a great deal, appearing much worn, and
in some parts quite illegible. Those descended
from the early settlers who are desirous of making
a genealogical record will iind these old books of
value for reference.

The " Proprietors' Records"* are quite volumin-
ous, and contain records of the original purchases,
and the surveys made by "old Crane," as he is
familiarly termed, who held his commission, as
before stated, under Queen Anne. I shall for the
present leave these old records for future reference,
and make such extracts from them from time to
time, as may be necessary for my object.

Previous to the Revolution, the land of New
Bedford lying between the " Cove" and the " Head
of the River" was mostly owned by a few families;
commencing south with the Aliens, thence north,
the Russells, Kemptons, Willises, Peckhams,
Hathaways, and the Wrightingtons. These peo-
ple were substantial farmers, and the old large and
comfortable farm-houses of each of these families
generally stood upon the west side of the County
road, and within the memory of many now living.

* These are now iu the safe of the Register of Deeds office, New
Bedford.

47

I'lieir farms exteiulod to the river on the cast, and
about the same distance on Ihe west^ embraeinir
extensive fields, pastures, and woodlands. The
observer will be surprised to ascertain upon survey
how large a portion of this section was arranged
into farms more than a hundred years ago, regularly
walled, with the stone in their natural state, and in
many places standing as firmly at the present day
as when first built The amomit of labor done by
these worthies in clearing, fencing, and bringing
into a state of culture these large tracts of land,
must have been very great. There was no com-
plaint of poor soil in those days; large faarulies
were reared: and the products of the soil supplied
all the necessaries and many of the comforts of
life. A more robust, haj)py, and prosperous people
than the old yeomanry of Dartmouth could hardly
be found. The original stock of the people of
New Bedford was a long-lived race, many of them
reaching ninety years ; and one case of extreme
longevity, that of Patience Kempton, who died in
the year 1779, aged one hundred and five years
six months. She was a daughter of Elder John
Faunce, of Plymouth, who died in 1745, aged
ninety-nine years. It is my intention hereafter to
make a record of those of our inhabitants remark-
able for longevity.

"In the winter of 17G0, John Loudon of Pem-
broke purchased of Joseph Russell an acre of land,
the first lot that was sold from his homestead farm,
a few rods South of what is now called the Four
Corners, on which he erected a house in the sum-

48

mer of 1761. The deed of the land was drawn
by Jireh Willis, Esq. This was the first house
erected within the limits of the then contemplated
village. Several other houses had been erected
previous to the year 17(35, when Joseph Rotch made
his purchase."

The older houses upon the farms along the
County road were not included in the village.

In the year 1767 the first ship was launched.
She was built under some buttonwood trees, near
where Hazard's wharf now lies. Her name was
the Dartmouth, and belonged to Francis,* son of
Joseph Rotch. The first voyage she made was to
London, with a cargo of whale oil, and while
going out of the bay struck upon a ledge of
rocks, but was not materially injured. This was
one of the vessels that carried the tea into Boston
harbor which was thrown overboard.

The following account of this afiair, so important
in its consequences, is from Gordon's History of
the American Revolution, the oldest record of the
circumstances I have been able to obtain, and
written by a cotemporary. The author, William
Gordon, D. D., although an Englishman, appears
in this sketch, as well as in his other historical
records of the events of the Revolution, to have
been free from undue bias against the Americans.

" The day before the last meeting [the meeting
of the Giovernor and his Council, 29th November,
1773] Captain Hall, in the Dartmouth, came to an

* The widow of this gentleman is still living ^in this city at an
advanced age, by whom I am informed that it was* her husband, and
not his father, who owned the Dartmouth.

49

anchor near the castle, having on board one hun-
dred and fourteen chests of tea; and on the day of
their meeting couies into the harbor. On the same
day a notification is posted up in all the parts of the
town, inviting every friend to his country to meet
at nine o'clock to make united resistance to the
most destructive measures of the administration.

The meeting of the people at Boston and the
neighboring towns is continued by adjournment to
the next day (November 30th,) when it is deter-
mined that the tea shall be returned. Faneuil
Hall being too small for the assembly, they adjourn
to the Old South meeting-house, and confirm the
former determination by voting 'that the tea shall
not be landed, that no duties shall be paid, and
that it shall be sent back in the same bottom.'
They further vote 'that Mr. Rotch, the owner of
the vessel, be directed not to enter the tea at his
peril, and that Captain Hall be informed, and at
his peril not to sutler any of the tea to be landed.'
They also appointed a watch of twenty-five men
to be a guard upon the Dartmouth, lying at Grif-
fin's wharf. A letter is received from the con-
signees, offering to store the teas till they can write
and receive further orders, but the proposal is re-
jected. Mr. Grecnleaf, the sheriif, appears, and
begs leave to read a proclamation from the Govern-
or, which requires the people forthwith to disperse,
and to surcease all further proceedings. He is
allowed to do it; and upon finishing, there is a
loud and general hiss. The people afterward vote
'that Captain Bruce on his arrival do conform to
the votes respecting Hall's vessel; that no tea from
Great Britain be landed or sold till the act impos-
ing the duty is repealed; that the captain of the
present watch be desired to make out a list for the
next night, and so on until the vessels leave the
harbor; that should the watch be molested, that
the inhabitants be alarmed by the tolling of the

50

bells at night, and the ringing of them in ihe clay;
that six persons be appointed to give notice to tlie
country towns upon any important occasion; that
every vessel with tea have a proper watch ; and
that their brethren in the country be desired to
afford their assistance on the first notice.' "

"December 14th. The people of Boston and
the neighboring towns that have agreed to act in
concert with Boston meet at the Old South meeting-
house, and conclude upon ordering Mr. Rotch to
apply immediately for a clearance for his ship.
Meanwhile the Governor receiving intimation that
she would be sent to sea, and that it might not be
through the ordinary channel by the castle, ac-
quaints Admiral Montague, and desires him to
take the proper precautions ; on which the Admiral
orders the Active and King Fisher to be fitted for
sea, and to fall down and guard the passages out
of the harbor. The Governor likewise renews in
writing his orders to Colonel Leslie to suffer no
vessel, coasters excepted, to pass the fortress from
the town w^ithout a permit signed by himself. A
sufficient number of guns are loaded on this special
occasion."

" The assembly are acquainted that the Collector
cannot give Mr. Rotch a clearance until the vessel
is discharged of dutiable articles.

November 16. Mr. Samuel Phillips Savage,
of Weston, is chosen moderator. The number
assembled from town and country is thought to
be some thousands. Upon the present crisis sev-
eral gentlemen deliver their sentiments ; and Mr.
Josiah Quincy, Jr.^ his, to the following purpose:'

'.It is not, Mr. Moderator, the spirit that vapors
within these walls that must stand us in stead.
The exertions, of this day will call forth events
w4iich will make a very different spirit necessary
for our salvation. Whoever supposes that shouts

51

and hosannas will terminate tlie trials of this day
(nitertaiiis a childisli fancy. We must be grossly •
ignorant of the importance and value of the ])rize
for which we contend; we must be equally ignorant
of the power of those who have combined against
us; we must be blind to that malice, inveteracy,
and insatiable revenge, which actuate our enemies,
public and private, abroad and in our bosom, to
hope that we shall end this without the sharpest
conflicts — to flatter ourselves that popular resolves,
popular harangues, popular acclamations, and pop-
ular vapor, will vanquish our foes. Let us consider
before we advance to those measures which must
bring on the most trying and terrible struggle this
country ever saw.'

About three o'clock in the afternoon the ques-
tion is put : ' Will you abide by your former
resolution with respect to not suffering the tea to
be landed ? ' It passes in the affirmative, nem. con,
Mr. Rotch is ordered to make a protest and pro-
cure a pass "^or his vessel. He waits upon the
Governor at Milton, who offers to give him a letter
to the Admiral for protection, which he declines,
fearing in that case the rage of the people, and
being in no concern about his ship, as that is not
the object of resentment, but the tea. He inti-
mates to the Governor that some of the leaders of
the people wish the ship to go down and be stopped
at the castle, 'for then they will be rid of the affair,
and may say they have done all in their power.'
While Mr. Rotch is a,bsent, the speakers in the
meeting keep the peo])le together by engaging
their attention till he returns, which is before six
o'clock, when he informs the body that upon apply-
ing to the Governor for a pass,* he received for an
answer, 'I cannot give you a pass consistent with
the laws and my duty to my King, unless the
vessel is properly qualified from the Custom-
House.' Upon this there is a great deal of dis-

52

putiii^, when a person disguised like an Indian gives
^he war-hoop in the front gallery, where there are
few if any besides himself. Upon this signal it
is moved and voted that the meeting be imme-
diately dissolved. The people crowd out and run
in numbers to Griitin's wharf. At the same in-
stant a number of persons, chiefly masters of
vessels and ship-builders from the north end of the
town, about seventeen, though judged to be many
more as they run along across Fort Hill, dressed
as Indians and repair to the tea-ships, and in about
two hours hoist out of them and break open three
hundred and forty-two chests of tea, and discharge
their contents into the salt water. They are not
in the least molested. The multitude of spectators
upon and about the wharf serve as a covering
party. The whole business is conducted with very
little tumult, and no damage done to the vessels
or any other property; when finished, the people
return quietly to their own towns and habitations."

I have made an extract of this full and particular
account of that famous event sometimes styled
the " Boston Tea-Party," for the purpose of show-
ing the part which one of our early citizens and
his ship held in the matter.

ho

CHAPTER VI.

THE WHALE-FISHERY — BURKE'S TRIBUTE TO THE EARLY
WHALEINIEN — EARLY ENTERPRISES — THE EFFECTS OF
THE REVOLUTION — THE OLD SHIP REBECCA — ANEC-
DOTE OF THE EARLY STRICTNESS OF IRIENDS — RELICS
OF WHALING IN THE OLDEN TIME.

The beautiful and eloquent tribute of Edmund
Burke to the early whalemen of New England* in
his noble speech before the British House of Com-
mons in behalf of the American colonies, has been
often quoted ; but 1 do not know of a more appro-
priate introduction to the sketch of this most im-
portant branch of commercial enterprise, in which
our history is so intimately interested, tlian by
bringing it before my readers in this place.

" Look at the manner in which the people of
New England have carried on the whale-fishery.
Whilst we follow them among the tumbling
mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into
the deepest recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis'
Strait — whilst we are looking for fhem beneath
the Arctic Circle, we hear that they have pierced
into the o])j:)osite region of polar cold — that they
are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen
serpent of the south. Falkland Island, which
seemed too remote and romantic an object for the
grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and rest-
ing-place in the progress of their victorious industry.
Nor is the equatorial heat more discouraging to
them than the accumulated winter of both the
poles. We know that whilst some of them draw
the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Af-

riori, others run the longitndc, and pursue their c^i-
gantic game along tlie coast of Brazil. No ocean
but what is vexed with their fisheries ; no climate
that is not witness to their toils. Neither the per-
severance of Holland, nor the activity of France,
nor the. dexterous and firm sagacity of English en-
terprise, ever carried this perilous mode of hardy
enterprise to the extent to which it has been pushed
by this recent people, — a peo])le who are still, as
it were, in the gristle, and not yet hardened into
the bone of manhood."

And this people, so justly eulogized for their
hardy and noble daring and enterprise, were natives
of Nantucket and New Bedford, — men whose
youth and manhood were spent upon the ocean,
and in whose declining years many of us remember
as among our most useful and honored citizens.
The debt our nation, as well as ourselves, owes to
them is very great, and their virtues and sacrifices
should ever be duly remembered.

The whale-fishery is of a very ancient origin, and
dates back even before the time of Alfred the Great.
But the information in regard to it at this early
period, as well as for several centuries afterwards,
is merely incidental, yet sufficient to establish the
fact that it was an enterprise early engaged in by
those adventurous pioneers upon the ocean, the old
Northmeii. The whale was not only sought after
by these hardy seamen for the oil it produced, but
also for the food which they obtained from the
tongue. And even at the present day the wiiale is
nearly as important and necessary to the natives of
the Northwest Coast, as a means of livelihood, as

55

the buflalo is to the Indian beyond the Rocky
Mountains, or the reindeer to the Laplander.

At this early period it is not probable the whale-
bone was deemed of much importance ; but in the
fifteenth century it became an article of commerce,
and was estimated at an enormous value ; and the
tail of every whale taken by her subjects was re-
served for the especial use of the Queen of England.

The Portuguese, during the same century (the
15th,) were noted for their marine adventures, push-
ing their hopeful enterprises beyond the stormy
cape of Africa, which in their enthusiastic confi-
dence they named " the Cape of Good Hope."
The Portuguese as well as the Spaniards, those
upon the maritime districts, have ever evinced a
strong love for the ocean ; and for many years the
former have been more or less to be found among
our whalemen, many of them excellent seamen,
but unfortunately too often of a violent and re-
vengeful nature. A part of New Bedford at the
south end of Water street is now known as Fayal,
from the large number of the Portuguese from
that and other ports in the Portuguese dominions.
In fact our city is a microcosm. Not only the
Portuguese and Spaniard, but Dutch, Swedish,
Norwegian, German, French, English, Scotch,
Irish, and other natives of Europe, as well as of
Asia and Africa, the Sandwich-Islanders, New-
Zealanders, &c., &c., are to be found among our
seamen, and more or less of them in port the
greater part of the time.

The Dutch were also early famous for their mar-
itinu*. exploits, and the wlifilolishery was for a

56

long time prosecuted by them with great vigor.
To them is attributed the improvement if not the
invention of the harpoon, the use of the reel and
line and the lance. At one time the Dutch had
a fishing settlement, or place of rendezvous, on the
island of Spitzbergen.

The attention of the early settlers of New Eng-
land was early called to the whale-fishery, from
the unyielding nature of the soil, which rendered
it necessary for them to look to the sea for their
sustenance. As early as 1690 they had reached
the banks of Newfoundland in their pursuit of
whales. But the voyages of the early whalemen
of Nantucket and New Bedford were upon the
coast, and for several years did not reach beyond
the capes of Virginia and Cape Hatteras. The
"right whale," balxvna mysiicelus^ was the only
species known to the first adventurers. The
"sperm whale," the cachelot or physeter macro-
cepliahis^ was not found until they had reached
more southern latitudes.

In the 16th century the Biscay fishermen, fol-
lowing in the track of Sebastian Cabot, had pur-
sued the whale-fishery to the banks of Newfound-
land, and probably farther south, for in the abstract
made by Dr. Belknap from the journal of the
voyage of Gosnold to this coast, is recorded the
following passage:

" From a rock which they called ' Savage Kock,'
a shallop of European fabric came off to them, in
which were eight savages, two or three of whom
were dressed in European habits. From these
circumstances they concluded that some fishing-

5^

vessel of Biscay had been there, and that the crew
were destroyed by the natives."

The war with England completely broke Up the
whale-fishery, for, notwithstanding the noble effort
of the great statesman before quoted, the govern-
ment of Great Britain turned a deaf ear to all the
advice and remonstrance of her friends.

The mother country, not satisfied with having
so completely frustrated the business of our fore-
fathers by the war of the Revolution, after peace
had been declared, continued to ofier the bounty,
equal to forty dollars for each man employed,
which they had done previous to the war. But
few Americans, however, accepted this bribe; and
notwithstanding the efibrts of the King of France,
Louis XVI, who fitted out several vessels on his
own account, and offered a bounty of nine dollars
to every American wdialeman wdio should emigrate
to France, the whale-fishery here continued to in-
crease, and in the year 1789 an average of one
hundred and twenty-two vessels was employed.

The whale-fishery has claimed the attention of
many literary and scientific men, and the works of
Scoresby and other English writers upon the Arctic
regions and the Northern whale-fishery,* are full of

* An Account of the Arctic Regions; with a History and Description
of the Northern W hale-Fishery. By William Scoresby, Jr., F. R. S. E.
2 vols. Edinburgh, 1820.

Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale-Fishery, &c., in the
Summer of 1822. By William Scoresby, Jr., &c. Edinburgh, 1823.

•'Death of Dr. Scoresby. Dr. Scoresby, the veteran of Arctic
enterprise, died at Torquay, England, on the 21st of March, 1857,
after a lingering illness. Science loses a great deal by his death.
His father was one of the most daring and successful seamen in the
northern whale-fishery, when that service was among the chief sources

68

interesting and instructive matter. The speech of
the Hon. William H. Seward before the United
States Senate in 1852 is a valuable compendium
of all the most important statistics of this great
branch of commerce. And to these productions
I am indebted for many of the most important
facts and statements herein made.

To Joseph Russell, the founder of New Bedford,
is also attributed the honor of being the pioneer of
the whale-fishery of New Bedford. It is well
authenticated by the statements of several cotem-
poraries, lately deceased, that Joseph Russell had
pursued the business as early as the year 1755.
As early as 1765, "the sloops Nancy, Polly, Grey-
hound, and Hannah, all from forty to sixty tons,
owned by Joseph Russell, CalebR ussell, and Will-
ia)n Tallman, were employed in the whale-fishery."

These vessels made their voyages during the
warm weather, and the w^hales were taken olF the
capes of Virginia, so that but a few weeks' ab-
sence was required for the accomplishment of the

of the commercial wealth of the nation and one of the best nurseries
of the British navy; and the deceased, from his youth, was inured to
the hardships and perils of the Arctic seas. After his retirement from
active service at sea, says the Literary Gazette, he resolved to enter
the church; and after holding appointments in less congenial localities,
he found in the maritime town of Hull a sphere which afforded full
scope for his benevolent eiforts for the social and spiritual welfare of
sailors.

His scientfic career in the latter years of his life is well known.
His reports to the British Association, and his numerous observations
on the influence of the iron of vessels on the compass, were connected
with inquiries of the utmost importance to navigation. It was in
prosecuting these researches, and with a view to determine various
questions of magnetic science, that Dr. Scoresby undertook a voyage
to Australia, from which he returned in 1856, with his constitutiun
much enfeebled from the arduous labors to which he had subjected
himself. ' '

voyage. The process of trying out the oil was
deferred until their arrival home, when the vessels
were brought as near as possible to the shore upon
the broadside, and the butts containing the pieces
of the whale called blubber were drawn to the
try-house near the shore by ox teams. The place
of landing, with the original try -works, was near
the foot of Centre street.

The account-books of pur first merchant as
well as the founder of New Bedford, Joseph Rus-
sell, are now in the possession of his grandson,
William T. Russell, of this city. They were kept
Avith great accuracy, in sterling currency of course,
and the penmanship very handsome. They com-
mence in the year 1770 and continue to 1777.

Other vessels were added by Mr. Russell, viz.;
the brig Joseph & Judith, the la:tter name for his
wife, whose maiden name was Judith Rowland ;
the brig Patience, for one of his daughters ; the brig
No Duty on Tea ; and the brig Russell. These
vessels were all employed in the whale-fishery,
wiiich had now reached to the West Indies, the
Bay of Mexico, Western IslandvS, and even to the
coasts of Brazil and Guinea.

The war with the mother country, as before stat-
ed, put a stop to the business, but it was again re-
sumed immediaiely after the declaration of peace.
The voyages now became more arduous, and were
extended to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

" The ship Rebecca, Joseph Kersey, master, is said
to have been th(; first American whaler that doubled
Cape Horn and obtained a cargo of oil in the Pa-

(50

cific Ocean. She was owned by Joseph Russell
& Sons, and Cornelius Howland, and sailed from
New Bedford the 28th of September, 1791, and
returned the 23d of February, 1793, with a full
cargo of oil."

The late Captain Joseph Wheldon of North
Fairhaven was a boatsteerer in the Rebecca on
this voyage. On a visit to him a short time pre-
vious to his death, he stated to the writer that he
received two hundred dollars in silver from the
late Gilbert Russell in the settlement of his voyage,
and that he never felt richer in his life than at this
time.

The Rebecca was built in New Bedford by
George Claghorn, and was launched in the month
of March, 1785, near the spot now occupied by the
wharf of the late firm of Wilcox & Richmond.
Col. Claghorn was also the builder of the United
States frigate Constitution.*

A handsome female figure-head had been made
in Philadelphia for the Rebecca, and was placed
upon her previous to launching; but there being
considerable objection made to it on the part of
members of the society of Friends, of which the
owners were members, it was removed. A mock
funeral was held over it by a few gay young men,
one or more of them sons of Joseph Russell, when
it was buried in the sand upon the shore.

* The following advertisement appeared in *' Kussell's Commercial
Gazette," Boston, Sept. 11, 1797:

NAVY YARD, BOSTOX^.

TUE Constructor has the honor to inform liis Fellow-Citizens that the
Frigate Constitution is to be launched into her destined Element ou
Wcdnesc/ai/, the 20th iust., at 11 o'clock. GEUliOE CLAGllOJtiN.

61

Although the Rebecca was only of 175 tons, she
was considered a very large vessel, and was visited
as an object of wonder. It was no small matter to
obtain a captain sufhciently experienced to take
charge. At length Capt. Haydon, who had made
several foreign voyages, was engaged, and the late
Capt. Cornelius Grinnell was her first mate. The
ship proceeded to Philadelphia, and thence took a
cargo to Liverpool. The captain on the return
passage was taken ill, and rendered incapable of
continuing the command, which devolved upon the
first mate, who conducted the voyage so much to
the satisfaction of the owners that the command
of her was given to him on the next voyage. Capt.
Grinnell was one of our most successful ship-mas-
ters, a gentleman of the old school, and one of that
class of worthies with which the rise and progress
of New Bedford is inseparably connected. The
Rebecca was finally lost on her homeward passage
from Liverpool in the winter of 1803-4. She is
supposed to have foundered during a severe gale
which occurred on the coast of England soon after
she left port.

The Rebecca was so named from the eldest
daughter of Joseph Russell, the wife of Daniel
Ricketson. She died 3d mo. 1st, 1836, aged 90
years, at the house of her son the late Joseph Rick-
etson.

The following reminiscences of the whale-fiish-
ery, furnished by William C. Maxfeld of this city,
and previously published in the New-Bedford Mer-
cury, are interesting and valuable:

D

62

"The first, a license issued from the Custom-
House at Newport, bearing date the 4th day of
September, 1770, to the sloop called the Wren, is
signed by Joseph Wanton, Esq., Governor and
Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Colony of
Rhode Island, &c., and countersigned by Charles
Dudley, Collector, and bears the broad seal of the
Colony of Rhode Island, and also the seal of the
Customs of the port of Newport. Stephen Davis,
of Dartmouth, in the Province of Massachusetts
Bay, is master of the Wren, and takes the neces-
sary oath. She is a square-sterned vessel of eight-
een tons burthen, was built in Dartmouth in 1770,
and was owned by the master, Caleb Tripp, and
William Davis of Dartmouth. By indorsements on
the back, we find that she was afterwards command-
ed by William Tillinghast, Fortunatus Shearman,
Jonathan Soule, Daniel Tripp and William Smith.

We have next a journal of the whaling-voyage
of the sloop Betsey, of Dartmouth. The first page
of this is missing. The first date is July 27th,
1761. We give the following extracts from the log.
It will be seen that the names of the captains spok-
en with are given, but not those of their vessels.

< August 2d, 1761. Lat. 45 54, Ion. 53 57, saw
two sperm whales; killed one.'

< August 4th. Lat. 44 27, Ion. 51 36, sounded on
the Grand Bank, in 45 fathoms. Saw humpbacks.'

* August 6th. Spoke with John Clasbe; he had
got 105 bbls.; told us Seth Folger had got 150 bbls.
Spoke with two Nantucket men ; they had got one
whale between them; they told us that Jenkins
& Dunham had got four whales between them,
and Allen & Pease had got 2 whales between them.
Lat 42 57.'

' Sunday, August 9th. Saw sperm whales ; struck
two and killed them between us,' (naming their
consort.)

(33

^ August 10th. Cut up our blubber into casks ;
filled 35 hhds.; our partner filled 33 hhds. Judged
ourselves to be not far from the Banks. Finished
stowing the hold.'

' August 14th. Sounded ; got 45 fathoms. Tried
for codfish, but got none.'

'.August 20. Lat. 44 deg. 2 min. This morning
spoke with Thomas Gibbs: had got 110 bbls.; told
us he had spoke with John Akin and Ephraini
Delano and Thomas Nye ; they had got no oil at
all. Sounded; got no bottom. Thomas Gibbs told
us we were but two leagues off the Bank.'

' August 22. This morning saw a spermaceti and
killed her. Saw a sail to leeward, standing west-
ward.'

' August 23. Went to work on the head; filled
six hhds. Went on board Capt. Shearman and
rafted blubber.'

' August 28. This morning saw^ a sloop; spoke
v/ith her; it was Wilmot West; had got 65 bbls.
Saw a spermaceti ; it set in foggy ; lost sight of him.
Lat. 43 deg. 22 min.'

* August 30. Saw a spermaceti, but could not
strike her. Lat. 43 deg. 14 min.'

'August 31. Squally; thunder and lightning.
Saw^ spermaceties plenty.'

' Sept. 2. Saw a spermaceti spout. It set in thick
and foggy.'

'Sept. 3. This morning at 8 saw a spermaceti;
got into her two short warps and the tow-iron; she
drawed the short warps and the tow-iron, and ran
away. In the afternoon came across her.; got an-
other iron in, but she went away. Judge ourselves
to be nigh the Banks.'

'Sept. 5. Saw spermaceties; chased, but could
not strike.'

64

' Sept. 6. Yesterday afternoon saw whales ; struck
one, but never saw her again.'

' Sept. 7. Saw a school of small spermaceties;
Captain Shearman struck one out of the vessel and
killed her; brought her alongside of our vessel; cut
in her body. Lat. 43 deg.'

On the 17th Sept. they made the land, and sup-
posed to have ended the voyage. The rest of the
log for that voyage is missing. The captain's name
of the sloop Betsey does not appear. No estimate
is given of the oil taken.

This journal shows that sperm whales were tak-
en near the Newfoundland Banks, and that several
vessels cruised about that ground as early as 1761.

We now give the following abstracts from the
journal of a whaling voyage dated 1762, in the
same hand-writing as the preceding journal. The
journal of the commencement of the voyage, and
while they were on the cruising-ground for whales,
is missing. The first date of the journal is 2d
Sept., 1762; at this date it appears they had put
away for home; oil obtained not stated.

' Sept. 2, 1762. This day judged ourselves to be
abreast of Cape Race. Spoke wdth Shubel Bun-
ker and Benjamin Paddock; they told us that we
were 15 leagues to the westward of the Bank.'

' Sept. 3. Kept her W. by N. | N.; wind east;
moderate, but a bad sea. Knocked down try- works.'

' Sept. 15. Spoke Henry Folger and Nathan Cof-
fin; they judge they came off of Brown's Bank
yesterday, and off George's this morning.'

' Sept. 17. Made land, the Highlands of Cape
Cod.'

Here the journal ends, without giving the name
of the port they arrived at.

We have next the following, illustrative of what
would be called a poor voyage in these days:

65

SETTLEMENT OF SLOOP BETSEY's WHALE VOYAGE, 17G7.

Tuns. Bbls. Gals.
8 6 2ii body oil, at £150 per tun, £1313 17 6

1 7 head matter, at £l!00, 375

Sundry charges for settling the voyage.

£1688 17 6
56 19 8

Men's shares,

£1631 17 10
709 19

Sundry bills against the sloop for outfits.

£921 18 10
1140 12 1

Leaving a loss to the owners of £218 13 3

Upon the back of the log we find some figure-
work, headed ' What we judge we owe Joseph
Kotch & Sons for sloop Betsey,' which throws
some light upon the cost of fitting a whaler at
that time. It is as follows :

£ s. d.

Before we began to fit for whaling,
4 bbls. of Pork,
60 lbs. of Tallow,
60 lbs. of Butter,

1 Tow-line,

45 bushels of Corn,

3 cwt. of Bread,
66 qr. of Flour,
Leather and sundries,
Coffee — 1 Cheese,

2 bushels of Beans,

1 cwt. of Cordage,

2 lbs. of Twine and Breeks,

We then have the following additional
memoranda of expenses:

Tallman & Russell, to 5 lbs. tea,
Two pails, and 1 shovel, and boards,
Tabour, for mending boats,
Richard Dilno and Abisha Dilno,
Jonathan Smith & Sampson, blacksmith,
Louden & Hudson,
"William Claghorn, sundries.

45 00

103 10

15 00

20 10

53 00

50 12 6

14 00

17 10

15 00

18 00

4 00

84 00

11 18

£402 00 6

Carried over,

10 12 6

9 10

12 00

22 10

35 00

10 00

134 00

£035 13

£ s. d.

635 13 Q

150 00

40 00

238 00

23 00

14 00

66

Brought over,
David Shepherd, new cask,
Sundries put in,
John Slocum, sundries,
Cheese,
Jethro Hathaway, beef. 166 lbs.,

£1100 13
Thus it will be seen that when our fathers began
to do business upon the great waters, it was by no
means upon the scale of our present great coni-
mercial enterprises. It does not become us, how-
ever, to forget the debt we owe so entirely to their
enterprise, bravery and hardihood."

The following is a description of the interesting
picture of " The Origin of the Whale-Fishery," by
William A. Wall, made by the author of this work
at the time of its exhibition in 1853: "Upon the
shore lies keeled over on her side one of the small
vessels then employed for whaling; the model of
the craft, a sloop, indicates a primitive idea of
naval architecture, and was undoubtedly the work-
manship of some old Dartmouth mechanic. By
the side of this sloop, but otherwise concealed from
view, is seen the sail of another little vessel, with
the union jack of old England drooping from the
mast-head. The river lies peacefully outstretched,
with a view of the west side of Palmer's Island and
the shore along by the ' Smoking Rocks,' and Nau-
shon in the distance. Where now stand our
wharves and ware-houses, the primeval forest trees
are seen extending their roots to the water's edge.
In the foreground of the picture, and that which
will be to most its chief interest, is seen a group
of the early inhabitants of New Bedford, or rather

67

Bedford, as it was then called, busily employed.
Under an old shed is seen the try-pot, with its at-
tendants; also the jaws of a whale thrown upon
the roof. More conspicuous, and nearer the be-
Iiolder, stands one man in a red flannel shirt, with
a patch on the breast, pouring oil from a long-
handled dipper into a wooden-hooped barrel; an-
other handling over the blabber; and still more
prominent, a fine-looking fellow is coopering a bar-
rel, in conference with an Indian, who, with his
baskets and moccasins for sale or barter, is seated,
upon a broken mast. Further on, seated upon the
frame of a grindstone, and giving directions to a
colored man (evidently one of the old stock of
Guinea negroes, some old ' Pero,' ' Quash,' or ' Pom-
pey'.) who is holding his master's horse by the bri-
dlcj is seen in his broad-brimmed hat and Friendly
coat, the founder of New Bedford and the father
of her whale-fishery, Joseph Russell."

Previous to the Revolutionary War, a sloop from
New Bedford commanded by Captain John How-
land captured a whale in the Strait of Belle Isle,
which yielded 215 bbls.

I would refer those desirous of further informa-
tion relative to the sperm whale to the valuable
work of Lieut. Maury, U. S. N., on the Winds and
Currents of the Sea. Washington, 1851.

I. shall conclude this chapter with the following
old Whaling Song, probably the oldest extant.
The author. Dr. John Osborn, was born in Sand-
wich, C. C, in the year 1713. He was educated
at Harvard College, and was afterwards a })hysi-
cian in Middletown, Ct.

68
A WHILING SONG.

"When spring returns 'with western gailes-,,

And gentle breezes sweep
The ruflGling seas, we spread our sails

To plough the wat'ry deep.

'For killing northern whales prepared^

Our nimble boats on board,
With craft and rum, (our chief regard,)

And good prorisions stored.

We view the monsters of the deep.
Great whales in numerous swarms;

And creatures there, that play and leapj,
Of strange, unusual forms.

Cape Cod, our dearest native land.

We leave astern, and lose
Its sinking cliffe and lessening sands,

AVhile Zephyr gently blows.

Bold, hardy men, with blooming age,.

Our sandy shores produce ;
With monstrous fish they dare engage.

And dangerous callings choose.

Now towards the early dawning east

We speed our course away.
With eager minds and joyful hearts,

To meet the rising day.

Then as we turn our wandering eyes.

We view one constant show ;
Above, around, the circling skies,

The rolling seas below.

When eastward, clear of Newfoundland^

We stem the fx'ozen pole.
We see the icy islands stand.

The northern billows roll.

As to the north we make our way.

Surprising scenes we find;
We lengthen out the tedious day,

And leave the night behind.

Now see the northern regions, where

Eternal winter reigns ;
One day and night fills up the year;,

And endless cold maintains.

When in our station we are placed^,

And whales around us play,
We launch our boats into the main

And swiftly chase our prey.

69

In haste we ply our nimble oars.

For an assault designed ;
The sea beneath us foams* and roars,

And leaves a wake behind.

A mighty whale we rush upon.

And in our irons throw:
She sinks her monstrous body down

Among the waves below.

And when she rises out again,

We soon renew the fight.
Thrust our sharp lances in amain.

And all her rage excite.

Enraged she makes a mighty bound;

Thick foams the whitened sea ;
The waves in circles rise around,

And widening roll away.

She thrashes with her tail around.
And blows her redd'ning breath;

She breaks the air, a deaf'ning sound,
While ocean groans beneath.

From numerous wounds, with crimson flood

She stains the frothy seas,
And gasps, and blows her latest blood,

While quivering life decays.

With joyful hearts we see her die.

And on the surfixce lay;
While all with eager haste apply

To save our deathful prey.

D.r.

70

CHAPTER VII.

THE VILLAGE OF BEDFORD— STATISTICS BY ABRAHAM
SHEARMAN, JR. — CAPTAIN WILLIAM GORDON'S AC-
COUNT OP THE INVASION BY THE BRITISH TROOPS
DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR — SCHEDULE OF
PROPERTY DESTROYED— ANECDOTE OF THE INTRE-
PIDITY OF A WOMAN— FIRST CANDLE-WORKS— CAUSES
OF PROSPERITY.

Our place was for a long time known as the vil-
lage of Bedford; and to many, even at the present
time, the sound of this time-honored designation
is much more familiar than that of the City. In
fact, a considerable portion of the natives of New
Bedford, those who have reached the meridian of
life or older, usually omit the prefix (which as be-
fore stated was not originally adopted) when speak-
ing of the place, and call it only Bedford. Oifices
have been and still are held under the present city
organization by those even the names of whom are
not known to many of the older portion of the in-
habitants, and to whom the name of City is as
though it were not; and Bedford is the only place
they recognize or know. This may be considered
a fitting prelude to the following interesting sketch
from the 13th volume 2d series of the Massachusetts
Historical Collections, supposed to have been writ-
ten by one of our most estimable fellow-citizens,
the late Abraham Shearman, for many years a
prominent member of the Society of Friends,

whose sterling virtues, and the important part he
contributed to the early history of our place, will
deserve a more extended notice amonsf our worthies.

•t=>

" The village of New Bedford stands in a pleas-
ant situation, upon the west side of Acushnet
Eiver, in latitude 41 deg. 37 min. 30 sec. north,
longitudo 70 deg. 52 min. 30 sec. west from
Greenwich, according to Knight's Survey. It lies
north and south, upon a gradual ascent from the
water, and exhibits a pleasing view of the harbor.
The streets (three running north and south, and
twelve east and west) are of good width, and cross
each other at right angles. The houses, which are
with few exceptions built of wood, are in general
well finished, and possess an air of neatness. In
the year 1765, there were two or three small ves-
sels employed in the whale-fishery. In the course
of ten years, at the commencement of the year
1775, when a period was put to business, the num-
ber of whalemen increased to forty or fifty.

According to the valuation of 1801, the number
of dwelling-houses in the village was a hundred
and eighty-five. The public buildings are a meet-
ing-house for Friends, one for Congregationalists,
two large school-houses, one for each of those
societies, an alms-house, and a small market-house.
The principal dependence of the inhabitants is on
commerce. In 1790 there were only two or three
square-rigged vessels; there are now [1802] nearly
twenty sail of ships. During the late w^ar they
have principally been employed in the freighting
business from New York and the southern ports
of Europe. Voyages have also been made to
Europe and the East and "West Indies directly
from this port. Since the peace they have been
returning in some measure to whaling. Ship-
building, the manufacture of cordage, for which
purpose there are two ropewalks, and the manu-

72 .

facture of spermaceti candles, are advantageously
pursued.

In 1796 a company was incorporated to biiild a
bridge across the Acushnet River, to connect Bed-
ford with the villages of Fairhaven and Oxford;
which has since been accomplished at the expense
of about thirty thousand dollars. The bridge, in-
cluding the abutments and the space taken up by
two islands which it crosses, is upwards of four
thousand feet in length." ' '

I also find in said volume the following addi-
tional "note of July 24, 1807," probably by anoth-
er hand:

"In Bedford there are seven wharves; between-
ninety and a hundred ships and brigs, containing
each on an average two hundred and fifty tons; and
between twenty and thirty small vessels: twelve
of the ships are whalemen. In 1805 there were be-
longing to this place seventy-three ships and
thirty-nine brigs. A lot of a quarter of an acre of
land sells for five hundred dollars to two thousand
dollars. Bedford contains a little short of three
hundred dvv^elling-houses; Fairhaven about one
hundred. There are three ropewalks in Bedford,
and one in Fairhaven. The depth of water in the
harbor is from three to four fathoms. Common
tides rise five feet. The lighthouse, which stands
on Clark's Point, shows one light. The bridge
mentioned above was this year in the month of
March swept away by the tide. It is now rebuild-
ing and will soon be finished."

The following interesting account of the prep-
arations for defence of our place during the Rev-
plutionary War, and its burning by the British
troops, I received in the year 1831 from the late

73

Captain William Gordon, who was an eye-witness
of the events :

"During the early part of the Revolution, the
inhabitants of Bedford and Fairhaven, thinking it
necessary to have a fortress to protect them from
the depredations of the British privateers, erected
the small fort at the entrance of the harbor, on the
east side of the river, upon the rocky prominence
called by the native Indians Nobscot. It contained
ten iron cannon of different calibre, namely : one
eighteen -pounder, three twelve- pounders, five nine-
pounders, and one six-pounder, mounted on garri-
son carriages. The garrison consisted of a captain,
one lieutenant, several non-commissioned officers,
and about twenty privates. It had sundry com-
manders during the interval between its erection
and demolition.

In the early part of the Revolution, when many
privateers were fitted out of Boston and Provi-
dence, Bedford harbor became a receptacle for the
prize vessels which they captured, it being the
only port this side of the Chesapeake that was not
in the power of the British. On this account, the
government of Massachusetts, thinking it proper
to aid in its protection and defence, sent a detach-
ment from the Massachusetts Train Artillery, fur-
nished with four field-pieces and an ammunition
wagon laden with munitions of war, from Boston,
which arrived at Bedford March 1st, 1778. At
this time the town was stored with prize goods of
every description, which being discovej-ed by the
British, Sir Henry Clinton dispatched an expedi-
tion under the couuTiand of General Gray against
it. On the 5th of September the fleet entered
Clark's Cove, and formed a bridge of boats to
the shore, on which landing between four and five
thousand men, they marched into town. When
they arrived, most of the inhabitants, having been

74

alarmed by a discharge of cannon at the fort, had
fled. They immediately began their work of
plunder and conflagration, and in a short time
most of the town was in flames. About seventy
sail of shipping, beside a number of small craft,
were destroyed. The damage done at this time
amounted to the value of $422,680. After having
committed their spoliation at Bedford and about
the town, they marched to the head of Acushnet
River, and down the east side into Sconticut Neck,
where they encamped until Monday. While sta-
tioned here, a party of their troops entered the
fort, which the garrison had abandoned on the
arrival of the British, knowing their number, which
was but a handful of men, unable to cope with so
strong a force. Here they spiked up the cannon,
knocking off their cascabels and trunnions, burnt
the platform and gun-carriages, and totally dis-
mantled it. After this they reembarked on board
their shipping.

The night after their embarkation, they attempt-
ed to land a large number of troops at Fairhaven,
in order to burn that village; but when they were
beginning to land, and had set fire to two or three
stores, Major Israel Fearing, who had the command
of about one hundred or one hundred and fifty
men, fired upon them and they immediately re-
treated aboard their ships, taking their dead and
wounded with them.

On Tuesday following they departed, and pro-
ceeded to Martha's Vineyard, from which they
took off a large number of oxen and about ten
thousand sheep."

The following is a copy of a list of the property

destroyed at this time by the British troops, made

at the time by the late Gilbert Russell :

*' Ship Harriet. Ship Fanny (French prize.)

Ship Mellish (Continental.) Ship Hero.

Ship Leopard.

Ship Spaniard.

Ship Caesar.

Barque Nanny,

Snow Simeon.

Brig Sally (Continental.)

Brig Rosin.

Brig Sally (fish.)

Schooner Adventure.

Sehooner Loyalty (Contineptal.)

Sloop Nelly.

Sloop Fly Fish.

Sloop (Captain Lawrence.)

Schooner Defiance.

Schooner Captain Jenny.

Brig No Duty on Tea.

Schooner Sally (Hornet's prize.)

Sloop (Bowers.)

Sloop Sally (12 guns.)

Brig (Ritchie.)

Brig Poye.

Brig Holland.

Sloop (Joseph R.)

Sloop Bociron.

Sloop Pilot Fish.

Schooner (the other side.)

Brig Sally.

Sloop Retaliation.

Sloop (J. Brown's.)

Schooner (Eastward.)"

Amounting to 7 ships, 1 barque, 1 snow, 8 brigs,
7 schooners, 10 sloops — 84 sail.

•' DWELLING-HOUSES.

Benjamin Taber,
Leonard Jarvis,
J. Lowden,
J. Gerrish,
W. Claghorn,

2 V. Childs,
1 Joseph Roteh,
1 Joseph Roteh, Jr.,
1 Joseph Russell,
1

1
1
1
1

SHOPS, &c.

Isaac Howland's distilhouse.

Cooper's shop,

Warehouses,

Joseph Russell's barn,

Joseph Russell's shop.

Church's shop (shoe,)

Store, ^ Joseph

Warehouses (old,) 5 Russell's,

1 Shops (small,) > Joseph

1 Candle-house, S Russell's,

8 L. Kempton,

1 Roteh & Jarvis's shop,

1 Warehouses,

1 Joseph Rotch's barn,

1 Chaise-house,

2

2
1
1
1

2
1
1

Ropewalk, and one house ; A. Smith's blacksmith
shop ; Benjamin Taber' s shop."

In all 11 houses 20 shops, &c., and 1 ropewalk.

The intrepidity of a woman, who remained in
her house while the British soldiers were perform-
ing their work of destruction, is worthy of note. A
company of the plunderers entered the house, and
after having stripped her pantry of its stores, such
as doughnuts, apple dumplings, &c., came into the
room, where she sat unconcernedly knitting, and,

76

taking the fire from the hearth, were preparing to
burn the house, when she, not being able to retain
her patience any longer, seized a pail of water, and
dashed the fire out. They again set fire to the
house, and she again extinguished it. The maraud-
ers then threatened her with death if she still per-
sisted, and were preparing to fire the building the
third time, when orders came for their march, and
they departed without accomplishing their design.
Thus this courageous woman preserved the house
for its owner, who, being a wealthy man, .gave her
the exorbitant recompense oi five pounds of rice.

A short time previous to the Revolutionary War,
a wealthy merchant of this place (Joseph Rotch, or
his son, William Rotch, Sen.) was concerned with
Aaron Lopez, an eminent Jew of Newport, in a
fleet of about fifteen sail, most of which was fitted
here. These vessels were to assemble at the Falk-
land Islands, and thence pursue the whale-fishery.
A part of the fleet was to be employed in taking
the oil, and the remainder in transporting it to
London. They intended to have settled at Port
Egmond, or to have made this their place of ren-
dezvous ; but the intervention of the war frustrated
the undertaking, and but one vessel of the whole
fleet arrived at the destined port. The remainder
was supposed to have been captured by the British
cruisers.

When we contemplate the discomfitures and
heavy losses of our early merchants by the war of
the Revolution, the embargo, the last war with
England, and by French privateers, our admiration

77

is excited at the composure with which these ad-
versities were met, and the renewed corn-age with
which they entered upon the work of repairing
their broken fortunes.

Previous to the Revolutionary War a candle-
house, the first in the place, was built by Joseph
Russell ; and Capt. Chafee, who had been engaged
in manufacturing spermaceti in Lisbon, was em-
ployed by Mr. Russell at the then large "salary of
^v500 per year. This building stood near the corner
of Centre and Front streets, and was burnt by the
British during the general conflagration of the pluce.

To the industry, enterprise, and above all to the
honorable commercial character of our early mer-
chants and men of business, are we indebted for
that foundation upon which all the future success
and prosperity of New Bedford is built. No doubt
but the principles of the society of Friends, of which
order was a large proportion of our predecessors,
coutributed greatly to the support of that character
for honesty, prudence, and morality, which so much
distinguished them. That our continued prosperity
and future success depend upon the support of
such a character among our men of business, no
one who has been a careful observer of the real
causes of success or failure in a commercial com-
munity can doubt.

78

CHAPTER VIII.

MARCH OF THE BRITISH TROOPS TO ACUSHNET AND
FAIRHAVEN — DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY ON" THE WA^
— NEW-BEDFORD AND FAIRHAVEN BRIDGE — LIGHT-
HOUSE AT CLARK'S POINT — THE BEDFORD BANK —
NOTICE OF JOHN PICKENS, JOSEPH RICKETSON AND
GEORGE HOWL AND — REFLECTIONS UPON THOSE TIMES.

The last chapter contained a list of the buildings,
shipping, &c., destroyed at " Bedford " by the Brit-
ish troops on the 5th of September, 1778. The
vessels, which besides our own numbered several
privateers and prizes, were lying up the river, from
Oxford point to the old wharf at Belville, then
known as " McPherson's wharf."

After having finished their work of destruction
in the village of Bedford, the troops marched up
the County road to Acushnet, and on their way
stopped at Belville. Here they burnt a large two-
story house, barn, and cooper's shop, the property
of Walley Adams. They also burnt a large ware-
house of John McPlierson, the owner of the wharf,
a Scotchman by birth.

Previous to the Revolutionary War, there was
considerable business done at this place, and the
number of whalemen owned and fitted here was
about as many as at Bedford. A village was at
one time laid out here by Capt. William Gordon,
under the name of Belville. The name of Glasgow
had been proposed, in honor of Mr. McPherson.

Here, and farther up the river, were the sliip-yards
of the noted ship-builders, the Stetsons, by whom
Several of the best of our earliest ships were built.

But the village of Oxford at this period fairly ri-
valled her neighbor across the river. Here were
owned and fitted out several large vessels, — ships,
brigs, &c., owned by the Bennetts, Hiiddlestones,
and others. The substantial old houses still there
evince a state of prosperity at that period.

But the New-Bedford and Fairhaven brids^e so
altered the current of the river as to fill up their
channel, and, in the words of one of the present
residents, " completely ruined the business of the
place." We suppose, like other corporations, " hav-
ing no souls," they, are remorseless at such baleful
consequences. The elements of nature, however,
seem to have waged a warfare against this bridge.
The act of incorporation was granted in 1796, and
in 1807 the bridge was w^ashed away by a great
tide. It was soon after reconstructed, and destroyed
again by the September gale of 1815. The present
structure was built in 1819, and has been the source
of much contention, on account of the injurious
effect it has upon the harbor, by filling up the
channel, as well as lieing a great obstacle to that
portion of our business above the bridge. Although
great improvement has been made by the construc-
tion of a wider draw within the past two years,
the bridge is still thought by many to be a great
public damage. It is undoubtedly a great con-
venience on many accounts; but it is questionable
whether it accommodates the public better than

80

might be done by ferry-boats; and that the value of
our harbor and of property above the bridge, as well
as the beauty of the river, is much impaired by it,
few will question. Our object is not, however, to
make an attack upon this concern; and as the
"bridge question," since the repairs made by the
Company, seems to be, for the time at least, in a
settled state, we shall leave it.

About the time the first bridge was constructed,
a wooden lighthouse was built at Clark's Point;
at the raising of which, to induce the people to
assist, and for the sake of a general jollification at
so important an event, a hundred gallon try-pot of
chowder, with other entertainment, was prepared,
Much to the credit of the sobriety of our prede-
cessors, no one became intoxicated on this occasion.
This lighthouse occupied the same spot where the
present one stands. It was burnt during a severe
thunder-storm in the night, either by lightning or,
as some suppose, by a sea-fowl which, being attract-
ed by the light, flew through the glass and overturned
the lamps.

In the year 1803, the business having much in-
creased, a bank was incorporated, with a capital
of $60,000, styled "The Bedford Bank." Even
this amount was supposed to be more than could
be loaned, but after the bank had been in operation
a few years, it was found insufFicient, and the
capital was increased to $160,000. The charter
expired in 1812, and was renewed, but this country
then being at war with England, the new charter
was not accepted, and it was determined to conclude

81

the affairs of the institution. I have not been able

to find the business records of the "old bank," but

so far as I have ascertained, the officers were as

follows :

THOMAS HAZARD, PrQsident.
JOHN ROWLAND, ^

CORNELIUS GRINNELL, |
WILLIAM ROTCH, Jr., V Directors.
THOMAS NYE,
And others, J

JOHN PICKENS, Cashier.

The Bedford Marine Insurance Company was

established in the year 1805, with a capital of

$150,000. The following is a list of the officers

of this institution:

JOSEPH RICKETSON, President.
CORNELIUS GRINNELL,
JOHN H. ROWLAND,
WILLIAM ROSS,
THADDEUS SWAIN,
STEPHEN HATHAWAY, Je.,
JAMES HOWLAND,

It was at first intended to occupy %e "hall" of
the Bedford Bank; and Cornelius Grinnell, who
had been duly authorized, had procured the consent
of the directors of the bank for this purpose ; but
this intention was finally abandoned, and the Com-
pany afterwards purchased of Joseph Austin the
old house at the corner of Elm and Water streets,
and the office of the Company was in the "two
south rooms." The remainder of the house (with
the garden and barn) was occupied by Asa Russell,
at the rent of eighty dollars per year. The com-
pany paid four thousand dollars for the lot and
buildings. I am thus particular in this affair,
thinking it may be a pleasant reminiscence to
those who can look back to those days, as well as

Directors.

82

to many of a later generation. The operations of
this institution, owing to great losses during the
war, were closed 11th mo. 23d, 1818. The date
of the charter was February 11th, 1805. Joseph
Ricketson was the President during the whole
time. His salary was $500 per year.

From the close of the affairs of the " old bank "
in 1812, until the year 1816, there was no bank in
New Bedfordj when the Bedford Commercial. Bank
was established, with a capital of $100,000, which
was soon increased to $150,000, and in 1831 the
amount had reached $250,000. The present capi-
tal, 1858, is $600,000.

As this bank has held an important position in
the business affairs of our place, the following No-
tice, and the proceedings in pursuance of said No-
tice in the choice of the first board of directors, and
the subseqi^nt choice of president and the appoint-
ment of a cashier, copied from the business records
of the time, are interesting reminiscences :

NOTICE.

THE Subscribers to the Capital Stock of the Bedford Commercial
Bank are notified that their first meeting will be held on Seventh-
Day, the 23d instant, at 2 o'clock, P. M., at the Office of the Bedford
Marine Insurance Company, for the purpose of establishing By-Laws
and Regulations, for the orderly conducting the affairs of the Corpo-
ration ; for the choice of nine Directors, and such other officers as
they may see fit to choose ; and also to transact any other business
they may deem necessary. "WILLIAM ROTCH, Jr.,

JOSEPH RICKETSON,
JAMES HOWLAND,
GIDEON HOWLAND, Jr.,
JOHN A. PARKER,
OLIVER CROCKER,
New Bedford, 3d mo. 1; 1816. SETH RUSSELL, Jr.

" At a meeting of the Directors of the Bedford
Commercial Bank, held at the office of the Bedford

88

Marine Insurance Company, 5 mo. llth, 1816, John
A. Parker, Cornelius GrinncU, Gideon Rowland,
Jr., George Rowland, Setli Russell, Jr., James
Arnold, Joseph Ricketson, Thomas Nye, and Sam-
uel Rodman, Jr., were chosen Directors of the
Bedford Commercial Bank, by the Stockholders on
the 23d day of 3d month last, who are all present,
except the two last named. Having proceeded for
the choice of a President by baJlot, George How-
land had six votes, and is accordingly chosen. Ad-
journed to meet at this place on the 13th inst., at
half-past 7, P. M. In behalf of the Directors.
JOSEPH RICKETSON."

"5th mo. 13th, 1816. Met by adjournment.
Present, George Howland, Cornelius Grinnell, John
A. Parker, Gideon Howland, Jr., Joseph Ricket-
son. Appointed Joseph Ricketson Cashier of the
Bank, who has agreed to serve at and after the
rate of Five Hundred Dollars per year, it being
understood that the Bank shall be opened every day
in the week, (First-days excepted,) from 9 o'clock
A. M. till 1 P. M, JOSEPH RICKETSON."

The old bank building* was taken down in the
year 1833 to make way for the present building of
the Bedford Commercial Bank, which occupies
the same location, but is considerably larger upon
the base. The old building was a quaint, substan-
tial-looking affair, and deserves a passing notice.
The foundation, or first story, which included the
vaults, was of stoncj and laid in solid masonry;
above this arose two more stories of brick, paint-
ed a dark red and the lines of the brick obliterated

* The building of tiie old bank was conveyed to the President and
Directors of the Bedford Commercial Bank 8th mo. 30th, 1816, by
John Howland, Isaac Howland, Jr., Samuel Rodman, "William Rotch,
Jr., Trustees.

84

by the paint; the windows were fortified with
heavy cased shutters. A flight of substantial
stone steps at the north and the south mounted to
a wooden portico, within which was a huge heavy
iron-cased door, the peculiar creaking of which is
probably remembered by many even at the present
day; which door opened into the main room, a
large square old-fashioned place, a counter running
around three sides, and desks — three in number —
protected by railings on the top of them. Behind
the front counter, and opposite the entrance door,
was the fireplace for wood, which in the earlier
days and up to 1826 was the only method of
warming the room, and on the cold days of winter
usually a cheerful fire was to be seen within it,
sputtering and singing away to the chime of the
jingling gold and silver. On the south side a
flight of stairs, with handsome and substantial
balusters, led to what was originally the directors'
room, but, as the writer remembers it, a dark, cob-
webbed place, the shutters being kept constantly
closed, and no longer used except as a deposit for
old books, papers, &c. This room was also fur-
nished with a fireplace, and to his boyish fancy
afforded a nice and cosy place in the winter time,
when well warmed and lighted, for the good old
directors to meet together in, and after the busi-
ness of the day was done to have a social chat
upon some subject of local interest or national
gossip. But to return to the room below: on the
south side was suspended a block-tackle for hoist-
ing up a heavy wooden trap-door, and a still

85

heavier one beneath, opening to the steps that
led to the subterranean vaults where the specie
was kept. This iron door was fastened by a long
tongue-bolt running lengthwise with the door, and
drawn by a secret process in another part of the
building. There is probably no vault or patent
safe of the present time with their wonderful locks,
that offers a surer defiance to the attempts of bur-
glars. Behind the desk, upon the left hand of the
bank room, might usually be seen busily employed
in writing a tall and elderly gentleman, his cropped
gray hair brushed back from his forehead, with a
white neck-cloth closely drawn about his throat, a
pepper-and-salt-colored suit, the coat long-skirted,
with large pockets on the sides, one row of buttons,
and of Quaker curve, but with a collar, and small*
clothes, with knee-buckles, which, with the style of
shoes worn by the older men of that day, complete
the personal appearance of the venerable and worthy
ex-cashier of the old Bedford Bank, John Pickens,
Esquire.* At the desk next west, and in the win-
ter time to be near the wood fire, stood a man of
small stature, with a care-worn but a benignant
countenance, a true index of his character, dressed
in a kind of half- Quaker style; this was the first

* The following are tlie inscriptions taken from a wliite marble
shaft in the old graveyard at Acushnet village :

"John Pickens, of New Bedford, died July 31st, 1825, aged 82
years. He was an oflScer in the army of the Revolution, and after-
wards served the town in various offices. He was