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History of Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1656-1894

The history of Brockton has been written, and is at last presented to the public, after an unexpected amount of labor. There is no locality in New England which has undergone more rapid changes than this. In 1866 the author wrote an extended history of the town of North Bridgewater, which has long since gone out of print, containing then about six thousand inhabitants. The rapid growth of the town, the change of name to Brockton, and afterwards its incorporation into a city, rendered the necessity for a new and enlarged narrative work under the distinctive name of Brockton. The work has been subject to unavoidable delay owing to the extra amount of work in its preparation, and it is submitted to the citizens of Brockton and vicinity, with all its imperfections, with the hope that it may not be disappointing to those who are interested in and have by their encouragement and generous subscriptions been the means of its publication. Of the importance of works of this class, we may Vie pardoned for quoting from an eminent writer on kindred works:

"History, by presenting to the mind an authentic retrospect of the origin, progress and vicissitudes of celebrated communities, affords an instructive gratification to human curiosity, and among the various records of the historic pen perhaps none so strongly engages the attention as the topography of great cities, and the biography of eminent individuals.

"It is the high privilege of history to exhibit a retrospective view of mankind, to present to the enquiring mind a faithful representation of characters and manners which have long ceased to exist, reanimate the images of the great, and the wise, and thus conduct the student through the long vista of ages to a retrospection of those interesting scenes, consecrated by the presence of our venerable ancestors."

This work has been a labor of love to one who has long cherished a great regard for his native place, and has been happy to place upon the historic page many things which, in the changes of time, might have been irrecoverably lost.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I.

Situation and Extent — Latitude and Longitude — Distances — Electric Railroad — Steam Railroad — Brockton — Campello — Montello — Salisbury Square — Salisbury Heights — Brockton Heights — Clifton Heights — Leyden Park — Winchester Park — Bellevue Park — Menio Park — Marshall's Corner — Sylvester's Corner — Shaw's Corner — Bumpas Corner — Hills — Natural History — Fruit — Rivers and Brooks — Ponds — Geology — Soil 17

CHAPTER II.

OLD BRIDGEWATER 30

CHAPTER III.

NORTH PARISH OF BRIDGEWATER 40

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY HABITS AND CUSTOMS 49

CHAPTER V.

First Meeting-house in the North Parish — Its Appearance — Second House — Description — Sale of Pews — First Bell — Seating of Colored People — Third Meeting-house—Pew Holders — Clock — First Stoves — Erection of the Fourth Meeting-house in 1854 — Dedication — Description of the Same — Sale of Pews 56

CHAPTER VI.

Capture of Louisburg — Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle — War Renewed in 1754 — Attack on Nova Scotia by the Colonies — Crown Point — Niagara — List of Men in the Crown Point Expedition — Capt. Simeon Cary's Company — Capt. Josiah Dunbar's Company — Expedition against Canada — Capt. Lemuel Dunbar's Company — At Crown Point — Controversy between England and America — Acts of Trade — Sugar Act — Stamp Act — Tea Destroyed in Boston Harbor — Boston Port Bill — Preparations for War — Minute Men — Company Marched on Lexington Alarm — List of Persons in the Various Companies in the Service During the War — Shay's Rebellion — List of Soldiers Called into the Service to Quell the Same at Taunton— War of 1812 — Impressment of Seamen — Embargo—War Declared by the President — Calls for Troops from Militia — Pay-roll of Company from North Bridgewater, now Brockton, Stationed at Plymouth 77

CHAPTER VII.

The Rebellion of 1861 — Election of 1860 — Stale of the Country at the Commencement of the Rebellion — Steamer Star of the West — Secession of South Carolina — Firing upon Fort Sumter — Call for Seventy-five Thousand Volunteers for Three Months — Company F, Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment — Casualties and Changes in the Twelfth Regiment — Narrative of the Twelfth Regiment — Martland's Brass Band — Call for more Troops — Company I, First Massachusetts Cavalry — List of Changes and Casualties in the Same — Companies and Regiments in which Soldiers have been in the Service — One Hundred Days Men — List of Changes, Prisoners, Promotions, Deaths, etc., during the Rebellion 97

CHAPTER VIII.

Militia History — First Militia Company — Officers — Military Division of the Parish — North and South Companies — Plymouth County Brigade — First Cavalry Company, 1787 — North Bridgewater Dragoon Company, 1853 — Militia Districts — Active and Reserve Companies — District Number Sixty — District Number Sixty-one — Cunningham Rifles 134

CHAPTER IX.

Ministry of Rev. John Porter — Rev. Asa Meech — Rev. Daniel Huntington — Rev. William Thompson — Rev. Paul Couch — Rev. Nathaniel B. Blanchard — Rev. Edward L. Clark — Rev. Henry A. Stevens — Rev. Elbridge P. McElroy — Rev. Henry L. Kelsey — Rev. George E. Martin — Rev. Douglas Carlisle — Rev. Louis Van Etten Price 141

CHAPTER X.

CAMPELLO 187

CHAPTER XI.

New Jerusalem Church — Original Members — Doctrines of Charity and Faith — First Meeting-house — Second Meeting-house — Description of the New Church Temple — Fiftieth Anniversary — Ministry of Rev. Warren Goddard — Ministry of Rev. Henry E. Goddard — Memorial Windows — Young People's Society — List of Officers for 1893 — Quakers or Friends — Second Congregational Society — Act of Incorporation — Dedication of Meeting house — Ministry of Rev. John Goldsbury 227

CHAPTER XII.

PORTER EVANGELICAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY 243

CHAPTER XIII.

Early Churches — Rev. Oliver Beal — Pearl Street Methodist Episcopal Society — Organization of Members — Meeting-house — List of Pastors — Re-dedication — Officers for 1893 — Central Methodist Episcopal Church — Original Members — First Meeting-house — List of Pastors — Second Meeting-house — Laying of Cornerstone — Dedication — Officers for 1893 — Semi-Centennial Celebration — Superintendents of Sunday School — Poem — Philip Reynolds — Rev. Azariah B. Wheeler — South Street Methodist Episcopal Church (Carapello) Meeting- house — Description of the New Edifice — Re-dedication — Rev. John Livesey — Rev. Augustus W. Kingsley — Franklin Chapel — Franklin Methodist Episco- pal Church (Montello) — New Meeting-house — Officers for 1893 — Epworth League — Swedish Emanuel Methodist Episcopal Church (Campello) — Officers for 1893 365

CHAPTER XIV.

The First Baptist Church — Original Members — Organization — Dedication of First Meeting-house — Rev. James Andem — New Organization — Ministry of Rev. Oscar D. Thomas — Second Meeting-house — Officers for 1893 — Warren Avenue Baptist Church (Campello) — Description of the Meeting-house — Dedication — Ministryo f Rev. Geo. B. Lawton — First Swedish Baptist Church (Campello) — Description of the Meeting-house — List of Pastors — Officers for 1893 — North Baptist Church (Montello) — Free Will Baptist Church — Description of the Meeting-house — Ministry of Rev. Henry T. Barnard — Original Members — Olivet Memorial Church — Officers for 1893 290

CHAPTER XV.

Bethesda Swedish Lutheran Church (Campello), First Meeting-house — First Clergyman — Madame Nilsson — Officers of the Church — Swedish Evangelical Congregational Church (Campello), First Meeting-house — Description of the Same — Second Meeting-house — Officers for 1893 — Officers of the Sunday School — Ministers of the Church — Unity Church — Organization — Pastoral Organization — First Meeting-house — Description of the Same — Ministry of Rev. A. E. Goodnough — Dedication — Ministry of Rev. John Gorham Brooks —Ministry of Rev. Arthur W. Littlefield — Officers for 1893 — Present Pastor Rev. Pitt Dillingnam — Brockton Tabernacle Free Church — St. Paul's Episcopal Church — Earliest Rectors — Ministry of Rev. Thomas G. Carver — Resolutions — First Meeting-house — Rev. Samuel Hodgkiss — Pastorate of Rev. Geo. Alexander Strong — New Meeting-house — Laying of Corner Stone — Order of Services - Description of the New Church Building — Officers for 1893 305

CHAPTER XVI.

First Universalist Church and Society — Officers for 1857 — Pastors — Original Members of the Society — Dedication of the First Meeting-house — Ministry of Rev. William A. Start — Rev. A. P. Cleverly — Rev. Joseph Crehore — Officers for 1872 — New Universalist Society, 1880 — Rev. J. P. Eastman — Incorporation of the First Universalist Parish of Brockton— Officers for 1883 and 1884— Ministers — Installation of Rev. Albert Hammett — Description of the New Church of 1888 — Dedication of the Same — Services — Re-dedication of 1892 — Order of Exercises — St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church — Meeting-house — Dedication Exercises — Ministry of Rev. Thomas B. McNulty — Ministry of Rev. Michael Doherty — Rev. Edward L. McClure — Church of the Sacred Heart — Meeting-house — Dedication of the Same — Description — Ministry of Rev. George Alphonso Rainville — Advent Christian Church — African Methodist Episcopal Church — Rev. W. N. Berry — Latter Day Saints — First Free Baptist Church 322

CHAPTER XVII.

BIOGRAPHICAL 337

CHAPTER XVIII.

Schools — Free Schools — Old School Districts — School Committee of the North Parish — School Committee of the Towns of North Bridgewater and Brockton and the City of Brockton to 1893 — Annual Appropriations for Schools — New School Districts — Valuation of School Property m 1882 — List of Graduates of the Brockton High School — Historical Sketch of the High School — List of Teachers — List of School Buildings — Parochial School and Convent — Adelphian Academy — North Bridgewater Academy — Private Schools 375

CHAPTER XIX.

MASONIC 420

CHAPTER XX.

ODD FELLOWS AND OTHER SOCIETIES 433

CHAPTER XXI.

MISCELLANEOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIETIES 453

CHAPTER XXII.

MISCELLANEOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIETIES CONTINUED 479

CHAPTER XXIII.

OFFICIAL HISTORY 496

CHAPTER XXIV.

PRECINCT CONTROVERSY AND INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF NORTH BRIDGEWATER, NOW BROCKTON 505 CHAPTER XXV.

MISCELLANEOUS 520

CHAPTER XXVI.

BROCKTON AS A TOWN 542

CHAPTER XXVII.

STATISTICAL 579

CHAPTER XXVIII.

FIRES 601

CHAPTER XXIX.

MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS 631

CHAPTER XXX.

BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE 663

CHAPTER XXXI.

PHYSICIANS 703

CHAPTER XXXII.

CITY OF BROCKTON 713

CHAPTER XXXIII.

CITY HALL 746

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Commercial Club — List of Members — Post-office, Brockton — Post-office, Campello — List of Postmasters — The Old Turnpike — Wales Home — Court House — City Farm 770

CHAPTER XXXV.

PUBLICATIONS 789

ANNEXATION OF A PART OF WEST BRIDGEWATER 801

BIOGRAPHICAL

BIOGRAPHICAL 1-105
INDEX 107
INDEX OF BIOGRAPHIES 120
INDEX OF PORTRAITS 121

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