CHAPTER VII. - NEW BEDFORD
Among the orders of the court concerning the Quakers, was, the following: " If any person or persons called
Quakers, or other such like vagabonds, shall come into any town in this government, the marshal or constable shall
apprehend him or them, and upon examining, so appearing, he shall whip them, or cause them to be whipped, with
rods so it exceeds not fifteen stripes, and to give him or them a pass to depart the government, and if they be
found without the pass and not acting there-unto they shall be punished again as formerly; and in case the constable
shall be unwilling to whip them, and cannot find any one to do it, they shall bring them to Plymouth to the under-marshall,
and he shall inflict it."
Another regulation says, " Whereas, by order of court, all free men of this corporation, as Quakers, or such
as encourage them, or such as speak contemptuously of the laws thereof, or such as are judged by court grossly
scandalous, as liars, drunkards swearers, shall lose their freedom in this corporation."
1651. Ralph Allen, Sr., and wife, George Allen and wife, and William Allen are presented with others for not attending
public worship according to law. Arthur Howland, for not attending public worship. This Arthur seems to have been
a troublesome fellow to the strict Puritans of the colony, Ralph Allen and Richard Kirby are fined five pounds
or to be whipped, for vile sketches against ordinances.
1655. Sarah Kirby sentenced to be whipped for divers suspicious speeches.
1656 Sunday. Persons for meeting at the house of William Allen are summoned to answer for the misdemeanor.
1656. Sarah Kirby whipped for disturbing public worship.
1657. Arthur Howland, for permitting a Quaker meeting in his house, and for inviting such as were under government,
children and others, to come to said meeting, was sentenced by the court to find securities for his good behavior;
in case he should refuse he is fined four pounds. He refused to give bonds, and was fined. "The said Arthur
Howland, for resisting the constable of Marshfield in the execution of his office, and abusing him in words by
threatening speeches, is fined five pounds," And again, Arthur Howland, for presenting a writing in court,
which said writing, on the reading thereof, appeared to be of dangerous consequences, he owning it to be his own,
and for making known the said writing to others, was sentenced by court to find securities for his good behavior.
We have now another Howland upon the stage.
1657. "Henry Howland, for entertaining a meeting in his house, contrary to order of Court, is fined ten shillings."
And still another, Loeth Howland, " for speaking: opprobriously of the ministers of God's word, is sentenced
to set in the stocks for the space of an hour or during pleasure of Court, which was performed and so released
paying the fees.'
1657. Ralph Allen, Jr., and William Allen being summoned, appeared to answer for a tumultuous carriage at a meeting
of the Quakers at Sandwich ; their being admonished in that respect were cleared, not-withstanding irreverently
carrying themselves before the court, coming in before them with their hats on, were fined twenty shillings apiece.
Here is the case of the whipping and fining before spoken of,-
1658. H. Norton and John Rouse were sentenced to be whipped for coming into the jurisdiction contrary to call.
The sentence was executed. "The same day performed," is the language of the record, and the under-marshal
requiring his fees they refused to pay them, and they were again returned to prison until they would pay.
1658. William Allen is fined forty shillings for entertaining Quaker meeting. About this time there was a part
added-demanded, as says the record-because, among other things, "of the letting loose as a scourge upon us
those gangrene-like doctrines arid persons called Quakers,"
1659. We now find upon the records the following: "The Court taking notice of sundry scandalous falsehoods
in a letter of Isaac Robinson's, tending greatly to the prejudice of this government and in-couragement of those
commonly called Quakers, and thereby liable according to law to disenfranchisement, yet at present forbear the
sentence until further inquiry.'
1660. Daniel Butler for rescuing a strange Quaker was sentenced to be whipped. Joseph Allen fined ten shillings
for attending a Quaker meeting. Here we have some wholesale operations, - twenty-five persons were fined ten shillings
each for attending Quaker meeting, and among them were Joseph, Benjamin, William, and Matthew Allen, Richard Kirby
and Richard Kirby (2nd), and Daniel and Obadiah Butler
1661. The obstinate Howlands are again introduced. Henry Howland for entertaining a Quaker meeting in his house
is twice fined four pounds. Loeth Howland breaks the Sabbath and is fined ten shillings.
1662. Another Howland Sabbath-breaker. Samuel Howland, having no meal in the house, went to the mill and took home
his grist. Fined ten shillings, or the whip.
1664, Arthur Howland is again in difficulty. But it is not for new heresy of opinion that he is brought before
the magnates of the land. The following is the record: "Arthur Howland, for inveighling Mistress Elizabeth
Prince and making motion of marriage to her, and prosecuting the same contrary to her parents' liking and without
their consent and directly contrary to their mind and will, was sentenced to pay a fine of five pounds and to find
securities for his good behavior, and in special that he desist from the use of any means to obtain or retain her
affections as aforesaid." He paid his fine, a pretty heavy one for those days, and gave the bonds required
by the sentence of the court. "Arthur Howland acknowledges to owe unto our sovereign lord the king the sum
of fifty dollars; John Duncan, the sum of twenty -five dollars; Timothy Williams, the sum of twenty-five dollars.
The condition that whereas the said Arthur Howland hath disorderly and unrighteously endeavored to obtain the affections
of Mistress Elizabeth Prince, against the mind and will of her parents. If, therefore, the said Arthur Howland
shall for the future refrain and desist from the use of any means to obtain or retain her affections as aforesaid,
and appear at the court of His Majesty, to be holden at Plymouth the first Tuesday in July next, and in the mean
time be of good behavior towards our sovereign lord the king and all his liege people, and not depart the said
court without license, that then, etc."
The next year we find him again before the court, and again coming under a solemn agreement no further to offend
in the premises.
Early in the history of the colony we find the name of Kempton, Manasseh and Julia Kempton are entered upon the
records as sharing in the allotment of the cattle in 1627. These were the ancestors of the present Kemptons, and
the name of Manasseh Kempton is included among the proprietors of the town of Dartmouth in the confirmatory deeds
from Governor Bradford in the year 1694. In that document are the names of all the families mentioned, and many
others which always have been and still are the most common in this vicinity,- John Russell, Manasseh Kempton,
Benjamin Howland. John Spooner, Arthur Hathaway, Samuel Allen, Joseph Tripp, William Shearman, Joseph Taber, Seth
Pope, and Jonathan Delano. Peleg Slocum and Abraham Tucker are names which in the four towns of Westport, Dartmouth,
New Bedford, and Fairhaven are familiar to all the inhabitants.
In the first part of the eighteenth century we find the Russell family upon the soil of New Bedford. At what time
he came is not known, but it was previous to the year 1711, when the Allen and Kempton families, which at the opening
of what we may call the local history of New Bedford, shared with the Russells a large part of the town and all
the territory of the village.
History is almost silent respecting the affairs of Dartmouth from the date of Governor Bradford's administration
to the commencement of the war of the Revolution.
About the middle of the eighteenth century a large portion, of the lands now occupied by the village of New Bedford
was in the possession of two families, the Russells on the south and the Kemptons on the north. To Joseph Russell,
son of the first settler John, and to Manasseh Kempton, Her Majesty's (Queen Anne) justices of the Quarter Sessions
for the county of Bristol gave confirmatory deeds of their respective estates dated May 25, 1714. RusselI was bounded
by a line near Clarke's Cove on the south, and Kempton by a line near Smith Street; the dividing line was between
William and Elm Streets. The occupants of the territory north and south of these boundaries it is impossible to
ascertain. Subsequently we find the Allens holding the land from the cove, the southern boundary of Russell, to
the extremity of Clarke's Point, and the Willis family joining the Kempton on the north. Beyond this were found
the Peckhams and Hathaways. The inhabitants were all farmers with the exception of the Russells.
Joseph Russell, son of Joseph Russell, Sr., and grandfather of the present generation early embarked in the whaling
business. His ships of forty or fifty tons went as far as our Southern coast on their voyages of six weeks' duration.
At the same time, 1751, there were several vessels engaged in the same pursuit from the Apongansett River. Daniel
Wood, a name not unfamiliar to the New Bedford people in connection with whaling operations, was at that time the
owner of some small vessels in the business, and at that period the Acushnet had to give precedence to the Aponegansett
as far as whaling was concerned. At that period a little wharf extending from the shore near the foot of what is
now known as Centre Street, and a shed like erection which was used for trying the blubber brought in by the little
craft in their six week's excursion upon the "summer sea," were all the indications of commercial operations
which our territory exhibited. That little shed was the only building in what we now denominate the village that
was then standing except the houses of the Allens, the Russells, the Kemptons, and the Willis, which were all situated
upon the county road. From this house, which from its elevated situation on the county road overlooked the forest
which covered the whole intervening space between the road and the shore, the first of the Bedford whaling merchants
could take an extensive view of the waters of the bay and the river, and when, shooting in by Hap's Hill, he discovered
his sloop pointing her bows towards the harbor, he could be seen wending his way towards the little wharf over
the cart-path, which was then the only way of reaching the water. The blubber landed, the thick column of smoke
which rose above the street which skirted the shore gave notice to the inhabitants of the heights that one of Joseph
Russell'*s whalemen bad arrived from a successful voyage.
All the purchasers of land from Joseph Russell previous to the year 1664 were mechanics. John Louden, a ship-Carpenter,
bought the first lot disposed of by Mr. Russell from his homestead. This was in the year 1760. The next year he
built a house, which was situated a few rods south of the four corners, and his ship-yard was on the east aide
of the way. Unfortunately for him, and unfortunately for his descendants, he chose an easier mode of life and converted
his dwelling into a tavern. He was the Boniface of the village when it was visited by the British; his house was
burnt, and he returned to his native town of Pembroke.
The same year another mechanic followed Louden. He had formerly been a dweller upon the soil, probably in the north
part of the Dartmouth settlement, but had been to Nantucket, and had there been initiated, in the language of the
indenture, "into the art, trade, and mystery of building whale-boats." His name was Benjamin Taber, and
was beloved by all who knew him as a worthy and venerable member and elder of the Society of Friends, and a most
upright and valuable citizen. Many of his descendants are still here. The young boat-builder from Nantucket took
the old house by the riverside and moved it up the hill.
It was the far-seeing policy of Mr. Russell to encourage such men to settle upon his territory, and accordingly
we find the next settler to be a mechanic. He was a carpenter the name of John Allen, and purchased a lot on the
south side of what was formerly called Prospect Street. It was the corner of Union and Water Streets, extending
from the last-named street to the water, and included the site now and for many years past occupied by the tavern.
Gideon Mosher, another mechanic, purchased opposite to him on the north, his land being that which extends from
the "shop of the apothecary to the shore." This he afterwards sold to Benjamin Taber, next north of Louden.
Elmethan Sampson, a blacksmith, made a purchase, and gave for a lot eight rods in length and four rods wide the
sum of six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence lawful currency. Thus was the infant settlement begun by industrious
and enterprising mechanics. North and east the lot of Sampson was bounded by ways left for streets.
An important event now took place in the history of the new settlement. This was the arrival among the settlers
of Joseph Rotch, and he in one sense furnished no exception to the class who laid the foundation of this thriving
community. He had been a mechanic, and animated by a spirit of adventure he left his residence in one of the inland
towns of Mas-sachusetts while yet a minor, passed through the Dartmouth territory, and look up his abode at Nantucket.
Engaging with characteristic zeal and energy in that pursuit to which the people of the island, and in which, before
the war of the Revolution, they outstripped every other community in the world, he soon saw the many disadvantages
under which the operations of business was carried on from that place. An examination of the neighboring harbors
satisfied him of the superiority of the settlement in Bedford, and in the year 1665 he transferred his business
tram Nantucket to the banks of the Acushnet. Having obtained a "local habitation" he gave the new settlement
a name. It had arrived at a degree of importance which entitled it to a distinctive appellation, and out of compliment
to the original proprietor he called the new village Bedford.
To understand in what way this could be construed into a compliment to the Russells the fact must be known that
the family name of the Duke of Bedford was Russell. Had he called the rising village Russell it would have doubtless
been more grateful, as it would have been more just, and the associations which sire connected with the historical
recollections of the name of Russell are not dependent for their interest upon the title at that time borne by
that branch of the nobility of England.
Joseph Rotch made a large purchase of land of his Russell namesake. One lot comprised ten acres of what is now
and always has been a portion of the most valuable real estate of the town. He built the house immediately north
of the apothecary-shop, at the corner of Bethel Court and Union Street, and another on the spot now occupied by
a house owned by William Rotch, Jr., nearly opposite the Merchants' Bank. The last-named house was among those
burnt by the British. W. Rotch engaged largely in the whaling business, and under the influence which his capital
and enterprise, gave to the operations of the town in rapidly grew in population and importance. But these bright
prospects were soon overcast.
The war of the Revolution found the infant settlement with their vessels upon the ocean and their business wholly
at the mercy of the naval superiority of the mother-country. Joseph Rotch returned to Nantucket, and with the commencement
of the contest for independence all the business operations of the community were brought to an end. At this time
the number of inhabitants had increased, and their dwelling-houses and places of business covered as extent of
territory which gave the town the appearance of thrift and opulence. Besides the stores of the merchants and traders
and the work-shops of the mechanics, a "rope-walk" had been established in the south part of the town,
a distillery occupied a site near the Louden ship-yard, upon the lot now covered by the stone buildings of Howland
& Co., and a spermaceti establishment, whose operations were as carefully guarded from the eye of the multitude,
and were under the immediate care of Chaffee, who had been sent from Boston to carry on the mysterious movement,
was situated on a lane which is now known as Centre Street. Another important accession of capital and business
qualities had been made by the coming to the settlement of Isaac Howland, who, moving here from Newport, brought
with him the means and the enterprise so much needed in every new undertaking. His house was situated on Union
Street, and when erected was by far the most elegant and costly which had been built in the town. It occupied the
land now taken for Cheapside, fronting on Union Street. It was built of brick and was three stories high. W. Howland
vas the proprietor of the distillery. John Rowland, one of the Dartmouth settlers, moved to this place as early
as 1665.
Such was the condition of New Bedford when the opening of the drama of the Revolution cut them off from that field
of operations-the ocean-upon which they so exclusively depended for support. The stories which come to us of the
destitution which fell to the lot of many of the fathers of this community almost surpass belief. Thus ruined m
business, and without the means of a comfortable subsistence, the inhabitants of the village could do nothing but
quietly await the course of events. As they were mostly Quakers, they could not, consistently with the peaceable
tradition of the sect, enter into the contest either in person or in feeling, and in that way to some extent neutralize
those uncomfortable reflections which the loss of property and the breaking up of their honest and wealth-conferring
industry was calculated to produce. But whatever may have been the result to the personal operations of the merchants
and mechanics of the town, it was soon evident that the appearance of activity and bustle in the harbor was destined
to be greatly increased.
The facility with which this harbor could be approached soon attracted hither a large number of the American privateers,
and in a short time the waters of the Acushnet were covered with these crafts, whose appearance at that time, as
it did during the second contest with Great Britain, gave such grievous offense to peaceably -disposed followers
of George Fox, who made up so large a proportion of the inhabitants.
The prizes, too, of these vessels were continually sent to this port, as well as many captured by the American
and French vessels of war, and while the Acushnet was covered with craft of this description, the store-houses
and dwelling-houses, and even the barns and rope-walks, were filled with the valuable cargoes which bad been discharged
from them. Rum, gin, brandy and wine, hemp and sail-cloth, dry-goods and sugars, the produce of every soil was
crammed into every vacant room which could be found in the village. Purchasers and consignees, owners of privateers
and merchants from all quarters were mingled with the officers and crews of both the captured and capturing vessels,
so that the streets of the village and the house of entertainment kept by Louden presented a sight as novel as
it was disagreeable to the peace-loving citizens. Such was the condition of things when, on the 5th day of September,
1778, it was rumored that a British fleet had been seen directing its course towards the Acushnet.
