HISTORY OF YARMOUTH



HISTORY OF YARMOUTH

[Description of the Volume]

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. Description of Old Yarmouth, 13-15

What comprised Old Yarmouth — Geographical Limits — Geology — Soil — Rivers and Great Ponds — Hills — Harwich, Chatham and Brewster formerly a part of Yarmouth — English origin of the People — Post Offices, Churches, Population, Voters, Schools.

CHAPTER II. Before the Settlement, 16-19

Mattacheese or Mattacheeset, Hockanom, Nobscusset, Quivet and Sesuet — Iyannough's and Mashantampaine's Lands — How Mattacheeset Missed being the landing Place of the Pilgrims — Visit to Iyannough — Capt Hunt's Perfidy — Gov. Bradford at Mattacheese —Capt Standish's Visit and Difficulty with the Natives — Slaughter of Wattawamat and Pecksuat and its Influence on the Cape Indians — Death of Iyannough.

CHAPTER III. The Settlement, 20-26

Rev. Stephen Bachilor's attempt at Settlement — Stephen Hopkins permitted to pasture Cattle at Mattacheese — Whelden and Armstrong permitted to locate here — Permanent and authorized settlement by Thacher, Howes and Crow and their associates — Division of the Planting Lands — Mr. Andrew Hallet and his "Assumption” of Lands — Mr. Callicut and his Grant — The First Deputies to the Colony Court — Court orders respecting Yarmouth — The name of Yarmouth — First Settlers and their Localities — The First Highway — Earliest experiences of the Settlers — First Church — Rev. Marmaduke Matthews — First Meeting House — Fort Hill.

CHAPTER IV. Form of Civil Government, Courts, etc., 27-32

Change in the Form of Government — The Laws — Towns in the Colony —The First Local Court — General Court held in Yarmouth — Report of the Proceedings —Eastern Boundary of the Town — Boundary Line between Yarmouth and Barnstable — Judicial Decisions.

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CHAPTER V. Secular Affairs and Church Troubles, 33-39

Town Officers and Assessments — Freemen admitted — Apportionment — A Law Case — Indian Hostilities Apprehended—list of Persons Capable of Bearing Arms — list of Freemen — Charges of the Troops — Nauset a Town — Indians Complained of by Mr. Sears — Church Troubles — Mr. Matthews and Wm. Chase — Chase, Starr, Nickerson and others complained of, as Jeerers and Scoffers — The Hull Schism — Mr. Miller's Settlement—Church Council called — John Elliott, the Apostle to the Indians, in Yarmouth — His Labors and Trials — Christianity Taught Here, by a Shipwrecked French Crew.

CHAPTER VI. Settlement of Land Titles. 40-43

The seven! Committees appointed to Divide the Lands — Capt Standish in Yarmouth — He acts in his usual decisive manner — Provisions for Future Difficulties.

CHAPTER VII. The First Comers. 44-71

Anthony Thacher — John Crow — Thomas Howes — Andrew Hallet — Andrew Hallet, Jr. — Marmaduke Matthews — Edward Sturges — Edmund Hawes — Richard Sears — Thomas Starr — William Chase — Samuel Rider — John Gorham — Robert Dennis — Wm. Nickerson — John Hall — James Matthews — Richard Taylors — William Hedge — Francis Baker — Peter Worden, Sr. and Jr. — John and Joshua Barnes — William and Robert Eldridge — John Joyce — Richard Kerry — Philip Tabor — Samuel Arnold — Thomas Boardman — Thomas Falland — William Palmer — Gabriel Whelden — Thomas Payne — Rev. John Miller — Richard Hore — John Gray — Nicholas Simpkins — Yelverton Crow.

CHAPTER VIII. Who and What They Were. 72-82

Pasturage and Planting Lands sought for — Cattle Raising — Religions Freedom — Toleration not professed, but practised —Theological Differences accounted for — Pilgrim and Puritan Traits combined — Domestic and Every-day Life — Character of their Amusements — Business Pursuits — Fishing, Trading, Agriculture, Manufactures — Food and Beverages —First Dwellings—Style of Dress—The Settlers not in Indigent Circumstances — Money, and Corn as Currency — The Professions, Legal and Medical — Not Seeking for Honor or Fame — Duty, their Governing Motive.

CHAPTER IX. Further Progress of the Town. 83-96

Uneventful Annals — Eel River Bridge — Drift Whales — Military Consultations — Death of Rev. John Lothrop of Barnstable — Expedition against the Dutch — Marriages by Magistrates — Mashantampaigne summoned to Court — Janno's Complaints against the Grantees — Freemen in 1656 — The Quakers — The People Admonished to Support the Ministry — Drift Whales, again — Fatal Results of a Wrestling Match — Warning out of Town — Mr. Thornton

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Commences his Ministry — Consumption of Liquors — A Wild Lark — Disciplining Scoffers — Monomoyick to be "Within the Liberties of Yarmouth" — Selectmen Appointed — Punished for Disturbing meetings and making Opprobrious Speeches of Mr. Thornton — Freemen in 1670 — Collecting the Ministerial Rates — End of the Controversy with William Nickerson — Death of Gov. Prence and Accession of Josias Winslow — Monomoyick and Satucket set off to Eastham — Difficulties with Mashantampaigne — Yarmouth Acquittance to the Grantees — The Cape Indians Renew their Covenant with the English.

CHAPTER X. Philip's War. 97-106

Premonitions of Trouble with the Indians realized — Massasoit, Alexander and Philip — Murder of a Renegade Indian — War, from Maine to Rhode Island — Extent of Loss of Life and Property — The Cape Towns exempt from Hostilities — Capt. Gorham and Company march for Mount Hope — Operations without Results — Letter from Capt. Gorham to the Massachusetts Council — Second Expedition — Narragansett Swamp Fight — Death of Capt. Gorham — Third Expedition under Capt. Thomas Howes — Other Expeditions— Names and Pay-rolls of the Companies — Pecuniary Burdens of the War — Friendship of the Cape Indians — Contributions of Christians in Ireland — Fraternal Spirit among the Towns — War Rate for 1676.

CHAPTER XI. From Philip's War to the Union with Massachusetts. 107-115

Death — Warning to Sawtucket People — Black-birds and Crows — Freemen in 1678 — Pensions — Minister's Salary — Whales cast on Shore — Half-Way Covenant — The White Family — Indians — Repairing the Meeting-House — County of Barnstable — Division of Sesuet — William and Mary's War — The Whale Fishery, and Zachariah Paddock — Sir Edmund Andros’s Administration — Union of Plymouth with Massachusetts.

CHAPTER XII. Under the Provincial Charter. 116-123

First Provincial Representatives — Mr. Thornton's Removal — Schools — "Seating" Congregations — Deaths — Various Town Meeting votes — Whale Boat Fleets — Mr. Cotton's death — Mr. Greenleafs Settlement — Deaths of Mr. Basset and Mr. Miller — Mr. Jaquesh the Schoolmaster.

CHAPTER XIII. Division of the Common Lands. 124 -132

The Committee's Grants — Votes for Dividing the lands — Committees chosen — Tenement, Personal and Property Rights — List of the Proprietors and their several proportions — Third and Final Division — The Indian and other Reservations.

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CHAPTER XIV. From the French Wars to the Revolution, 133-149

Proposed Legislation about Wolves — Death of Col. John Thacher — Romance of his Life

— The Thacher Cradle — Enlargement of the Meeting House — Provincial Loan — A Marvelous Occurrence — Difficulties with Mr. Greenleaf — Eastern Emigration — Division of "Crocket" Neck — Expedition to Louisburg — Hard Times and the French Wars —Rev. Messrs. Smith and Rawson —Church Enlargement — Mr. Green's Settlement and Death — Rev. Timothy Alden's Settlement

CHAPTER XV. The Revolutionary War, 150-166

The Patriotic Record of the Town — Unjust Aspersions — Action of the Committees of Correspondence, Observation and Prevention — Obstruction of the Courts — Rally to Dorchester Heights — Preparations and Precautions — The Lexington and Concord Alarm — Votes by the Town and Parishes for raising Troops — Vote in favor of Independence — Action of the Precincts — Wreck of the Frigate Somerset — Distress of the People — Peace declared — Capt. Isaac Sears — Wreck of British war ship Cumberland— Education — Small Pox — Suit against Thomas Greenough — Shipwrecks and other Casualties — Division of the Town, and Incorporation of Dennis.

CHAPTER XVI. The Native Indians, 167-176

Their Numbers and Character Before the Settlement — The Pestilence — Purchase of Lands — Their Subjection to the English — Efforts to Christianize the Natives, by Elliott and Others — Their Love for Spirituous Liquors — Statistics — Deacon Nauhaught, and His Wonderful Encounter with a Snake — Whittier's Poem —The Closing Scene.

CHAPTER XVII. Division to the War of 1812- 15, 177-185

Meeting House at South Sea — First Post Office — Small Pox — Business Statistics of South Sea — Death of Hon. David Thacher — Academy asked for — Rev. Dr. Samuel West — The Embargo — War Declared against Great Britain — Attitude of the Town

— Incidents and Events — Peace Proclaimed.

CHAPTER XVIII. From the War of 1812 to the Southern Rebellion, 186-201

Post-Office — Bridge across Bass River —Temperance Movement — Rev. Nath'l Cogswell's Ordination — Death of Judge George Thacher — Burning of the County House — Death of Rev. Timothy Alden — Alms House and Town House Built —Deaths of Charles Hallet and Henry Thacher — Surplus Revenue — Death of Capt. Samuel Taylor — Terrible Gale of 1841 — Cape Cod Association Celebrate Here — Death of Hon. John Reed.

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CHAPTER XIX. War of the Rebellion to Our Own Times, 202-217

The Guns of Sumter — First War Meeting — Yarmouth's Opinions — Meetings of Voters and Citizens — Money voted for Warlike Purposes — Other Local Events — Fire — Ordination —Camp Meeting — Railroad Opened — New Church Edifice — The Packets and Stage Coaches — Deaths of Gen. Joseph Hamblin and Capt. Isaiah Crowell — New Library Building — Deaths of Capt John Eldridge, Capt Allen H. Knowles, Dr. Geo. Shove, and Others — Some Recent Events, Etc

CHAPTER XX. The Mails, Telegraph and Telephone, 218-220

Early Transportation of Letters — First Post Office — Further Putt Office Facilities — The Telegraph and Telephone.

CHAPTER XXI. Education, 221-231

Common School System not of English Origin — Parental Education the Earliest System — Action of the Colony Court — The Cape Cod Fisheries the Earliest Educational Fund —Advanced School Established — Mutual Improvement and Lecture Funds — Town Libraries, etc., — College Graduates.

Appendix, 232-238

Slavery — Missionary Work, by Yarmouth Captains — State, County and District Officers Deputies, Representatives, Selectmen, Town Clerks and Treasurers.

Dennis since Separation

Chapter I. From Separation to War of the Rebellion, 240-259

The East Parish — Rev. Mr. Dennis— Organization of the New Town — Manufacture of Salt — Rev. Nathan Stone — Bass River Bridge— The Commercial Distress — War of 1812 —Great Temperance Revival — Cranberry Culture — Great Gale of 1841 — Various Local Occurrences, etc

CHAPTER II. The Rebellion to our own Times, 260-272

Proceedings of the Town — Men and Money Voted — Expression of Public Sentiment — Union of the School Districts — Tragedy on board brig Lubra — Deaths of Seth Crowell, Prince S. Crowell, Luther Child, Nehemiah Crowell, M. S. Underwood, and other Prominent Citizens — Recent Local Events.

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CHAPTER III. Statistics of Population, etc., 273-278

Various Census Tables — Change of Business Enterprises — Emigrations from the Town — Closing Reflections.

Appendix, 278-281

Education — State and District Offices — Representatives, Selectmen, Clerks and Treasurers.

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