^^,w "^ \»\,\ N ^ I * is- IRISH ^^^ VV ^^^ "^ ^^vl. ..^ 1+ il0757e? LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. r-mr UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A HISTORY The Clapboard Trees THIRD PARISH DEDHAM, MASS. Now THE Unitarian Parish, West Dedham 1736 1556 BV / GEORGE WILLIS COOKE RECENTLY MINISTER OF THE PARISH BOSTON GEO. H. ELLIS, 141 FRANKLIN STREET 1887 >\^^*- Tl-r COPYRIGHT HY GEORGE WILLIS COOKE, 1S87. PREFACE. The four sermons delivered in January and June, 1886, have now been entirely rewritten and the matter rearranged. The parish records have been carefully studied, and what is of interest in their contents is here reproduced. The town records, as well as those of the first and second parishes and the Baptist church and society, have been also made use of, whenever pos- sible. The aim has been to save from destruction whatever can have any value in connection with the history of the parish. When the Clapboard Trees parish records have been copied, the original spelling and phraseology have been retained ; but no attempt has been made to copy the minute details of the town and second parish records. The illustrations have been intro- duced with the hope of adding to the interest of the volume. The picture of the Summer Street house is a very good repro- duction of a slight sketch made by Dr. Frances Howe. The plot of 1754 and the map of 1807 are from rude outlines found among the parish papers. The picture of the meeting-house is after a pen-sketch made from a photograph. It may be added that these pages have been written for those who live or have lived in the parish, and who have again and again talked over the incidents in this history. The following letter explains why these pages appear in print : — West Dedham, April 25, 1SS7. Rev. George Willis Cooke: Dear Sir,— At a very full meeting of the members of the congregation of the Third Parish, held yesterday after morning service, it was unanimously voted,— " That the thanks of the congregation be extended to our pastor for the able discourses preached by him in commemorating our one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and that a Committee of three be appointed to request a copy of thtse historical sermons for publication." In accordance with the above vote, the undersigned were appointed as that action of the Committee ; and we take pleasure in sending you a record of the meeting and to ask of you to furnish a copy of the historical discourses for PREFACE publication. Allow the Committee to add their belief that the society as well as many strangers interested in this old parish were much pleased by the care- ful and able manner in which you had "searched the records" in the prepara- tion of these sermons. Some misunderstanding between us seems to have thus far prevented your acting in this matter, but the Committee feel it is not too late to act now ; and especially, in view of the publication of the addresses at Dedham's anniversary last September, it is desirable that our history be printed. The Committee desire to co-operate with you in any way you may suggest. Awaiting your reply, we arc yours sincerely, JAS. M. ELLIS, ) Committee ERASTUS E. GAY, of MARY E. FISHER,) Third Parish. Postscript.— Since the following pages were in type, additional information about the Rev. Andrew Tyler has been found in the Genealogy of the Richards Family, compiled by the Rev. Abner Morse, the substance of which has been given in a paragraph on page 43, at the risk of its conflicting with other statements in the same chapter. The same work gives additional information about Dr. Joseph Richards. In George L. Hosmer's Historical Sketch of the Town of Deer Isle, Maine, will be found an account of Joseph, Belcher, and George Tyler, who settled in that town. The portrait of Warren Colburn has been kindly furnished free of charge by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the publishers of his Intel- lectual Arithmetic, a work now used in a majority of Massachu- setts towns. CONTENTS. Page I. Formation of the Parish, 7 II. Locating the Meeting-house, 16 III. Rev. Josiah Dwight, the First Minister, 26 IV. Rev. Andrew Tyler, the Second Minister, 39 V. The Parish in the Revolutionary War, 61 VI. Settling a New Minister, 70 VII. The New Meeting-house, 76 The Ministerial Fund, 90 VIII. Rev. Thomas Thacher, the Third Minister, 94 Mr. Thacher's Will, 106 IX. Rev. John White, the Fourth Minister, no X. The Baptist Society, 120 XI. The Parish in Recent Years, 125 ILLUSTRATIONS. House where Dr. Cutler preached in 1731, 22 Autograph of Josiah Dwight 36 Plot of the Land given Mr. Tyler, 40 Autograph of Andrew Tyler, 43 Autograph of Thomas Thacher 72 Map of the Parish in 1807, 77 Meeting-house built in 1S08, 8i Portrait of John White 112 Bust of Warren Colburn, 126 THE CLAPBOARD TREES PARISH. FORMATION OF THE PARISH. Nothing of thrilling interest can there be in the history of a quiet country parish,— only the simple story of lives faithfully lived and God truly served. When we remember, however, the influence of the New England meeting-houses in developing the character of her people and in fostering the spirit of liberty, even one of the most unpretentious of them obtains a new significance. At the present time, his- when there is a great interest in everything that has a doings of a tory, it may not be out of place to consider the country parish through a century and a half. The growing interest in every phase of the history of our country is full of promise, for the life of the present is the product of the life of the past. No myths and traditions of a primeval time cluster about the origin of our country, and there are no legends of chivalry and romance anywhere along its annals. It is all plain history from first to last, with only here and there a bordering touch of sentiment and poetry. The history of a people struggling for liberty and equal rights, however, love is never one that can be uninteresting to those who their fellow-men. When that struggle is for freedom of soul and for manly independence, every phase of it is writ- ten with promise. It is well, therefore, that we should be curious about the simple history of the religious, political, dur- and social life that has been forming on this continent ing the last two centuries and a half. The more carefully 8 THE CLAPBOARD TREES PARISH of and we study it in the light of the growing spirit mental political liberty, the more cause shall we have to admire it and to believe it providential. The history of a country parish in New England to those who now compose it is a history of their ancestors. From the first settlement of the Clapboard Trees parish to the present time, the same names constantly appear. Nearly every one of the first settlers now has descendants living in the parish. If the homely facts set down in the parish records can have little interest for whoever is concerned only with the large events and ideas that affect mankind, not so with those who care for the names of the persons from whom they are descended. The lives of men are not made up from great events, but from the small concerns of the home and the routine of daily vocations. In the homes, the schools, and the meeting-houses of Massachu- setts, the simple, sturdy, and true life of its people has been developed. It cannot be out of place, therefore, to look on any spot where that life is in the process of formation, and see how it goes on. Nearly fifty years passed, after the settlement of Dcdhani in 1636, according to Mr. Thacher, before any effort was made to settle the western part of the town. The causes lay in the necessity for a compact settlement so long as there were any threatenings from the Indians, and in the desire that each community should be within reach of a very strict government. The earliest mention of this part of the town is an entry in the town records of 1640, when a grant of land in Rock Meadow was made to the Rev, John Allin, the first minister of the town ; and it would seem that other persons had already located land in that vicinity. In 1663, Nathaniel Colburn received a grant of land at Pond Plain ; and Joseph Ellis one on Fox Hill in 1694. It is probable that the first house was built not far from 1675 or 1680, for the first of these dates would agree with the statement made by Mr. Thacher. In 1682, the town made a rule that no one was to remove to a greater distance than two miles from the meeting-house without a special license ; and this ; FORMATION OF THE PARISH 9 would indicate that such removals had been made or were contemplated. At about this period, the houses of the first inhabitants of the town began to decay ; and there was a necessity for building new ones. The tendency was, as this occurred, for the sake of more land to remove farther from the meeting-house to the farms which had been already im- proved in the western part of the town. At a meeting of the selectmen, held Dec. 31, 1663, they decided to lay before the next town meeting the following " proposition : It is agreed to propose to the town that the proprietors in the clapboard trees would renew their lines some time this winter." This would indicate that the hill where the meeting-house has always been located was already granted to different persons, who made use of it for the cutting of the timber growing there.