Living as I did on Cole’s Hill through my youth, I have a distinct
recollection of Water street and its business as far back as 1832.
During the summer I spent much of my time out of school hours
sculling a boat, or climbing vessels’ rigging. At those times my
special playmate was Winslow Whiting, who during the last years of
his seafaring life commanded the bark Volant, and when the brig
Hannah was in her berth on the north side of Hedge’s wharf we laughed
at the boys crawling through the lubber hole, while we proudly
mounted the futtock shrouds.
At that time there were on Water street fourteen stores, three
counting rooms, two blacksmith shops, two pump and blockmakers’
shops, two painters’ shops, one sail loft, one rigging loft, perhaps
six cooper shops, one carpenter’s shop, a wood carver’s loft, and on
the eight wharves leading from the street, sixteen storehouses. The
stores were occupied by James Spooner, I. L. and T. Hedge, Richard
Holmes, George Cooper, Elkanah Bartlett, William Nye, Josiah Robbins,
Atwood L. Drew, Charles Bramhall, Phineas Wells, Levi Barnes, Scudder
and Churchill, Leander Lovell and Henry Tillson.
James Spooner was the son of Deacon Ephraim Spooner, and lived all
his life in the house on North street, now occupied by the widow
of his grandson, James Walter Spooner. He occupied a store in the
building still standing at the head of what is called Long Wharf.
He owned several schooners engaged in the Grand Bank fishery, among
which were the Swallow, Seneca and Leo. In the last named I was,
though a boy, permitted to launch, and she was commanded for a time
by the late Peter W. Smith. The Swallow had been a fisherman ever
since 1803, but, nevertheless, continued in active business until
1873, when she was lost. Mr. Spooner died, March 5, 1838. He was
succeeded in the store by William Churchill, a native of Duxbury,
and the son of Peleg Churchill, whose daughter, Eliza, married
Joseph Chandler, the father of the late Peleg Churchill Chandler
of Plymouth, who was named after his grandfather. Mr. Churchill
built and occupied for several years the house on Middle street, now
occupied by Charles H. Frink. While in Plymouth he carried on the
mackerel fishery, employing as packers and coopers, his brother, Otis
Churchill, and Winslow Cole. He removed in 1838 to Boston, where on
Long Wharf he continued the same business.
The store of I. L. and T. Hedge, occupied the easterly half of the
building which stood on the northerly corner of Hedge’s wharf. With
James Bartlett they were largely engaged in the whale fishery, having
their counting room upstairs, and their store room below. Mr. Isaac
L. Hedge moved in that year, 1832, into the house built by him, now
owned and occupied by Father Buckley, where he died, April 19, 1867;
Mr. Thomas Hedge was living in the house now owned by his daughter,
Mrs. Lothrop, which he had bought off Thomas Jackson in 1830, and
where he died, July 11, 1865.
John Thomas, who as a lawyer, occupied an office connected with the
Hayward house on Main street, where the engine house now stands, was
admitted to the firm in 1832, but in 1837 he removed to New York,
where he engaged successfully in the wholesale iron business, and
accumulated a handsome property. When retiring from business he
bought an estate at Irvington on the North river, and built a house
which he occupied until his death. He was killed by lightning in the
hay field in July, 1855. He was the father of the late Wm. A. Thomas
of Kingston.
Richard Holmes occupied a store standing immediately north of the
present market of Anthony Atwood. He was a member of one of the
oldest Plymouth families, and lived until 1835 in the house on Cole’s
Hill, now occupied by Anthony Atwood. In that year he bought a lot of
land immediately north of the house of Mrs. Lothrop, extending from
Court street to the shore, and built a house with fish houses and
fish flakes in its rear, where he lived until his death. In 1833, his
son-in-law, Alonzo D. Scudder, became his partner in business, and,
after his death, July 4, 1841, continued with his son, Richard W.
Holmes. After the death of Mr. Scudder, April 5, 1853, Isaac Brewster
became the partner of Richard W. Holmes, after whose death, February
15, 1862, the store was occupied by John Churchill. Holmes & Scudder
and Holmes & Brewster were many years engaged in the Grand Bank
fishery, and general navigation, and their skippers, among whom were
Oliver C. Vaughn, Benjamin Jenkins and William Atwood, regardless of
equinoctial storms remained on the Banks until they had wet their
salt. They owned at various times the schooners Volant, Flash,
Abeona, Medium, Seadrift, Swallow, Challenge, Flora, Anna Hincks and
Palestine, all of which, except the last two, were engaged in the
Grand Bank fishery.
The next building at the head of Davis wharf contained for many years
prior to 1826 the counting room of my grandfather, William Davis, who
died, January 5, in that year. After a short occupation by William
Spooner, it was in 1832 occupied as a store by George Cooper. For
several years before that date, and many years after 1833, Mr. Cooper
was employed as a clerk, and as far as I know, was never concerned
in navigation. His occupation of the store was short, and he was
succeeded by Elisha Whiting and Bartlett Holmes, Jr., and William
Davis Simmons and others, until it came into the possession of Jesse
R. Atwood, whose son, Anthony Atwood, now occupies it for a fish
market. Mr. Cooper died April 29, 1864.
Elkanah Bartlett kept a store at the northerly corner of Carver’s,
now Craig’s wharf, until his death. John Darling Churchill was
connected as clerk, and in other ways with Mr. Bartlett, for many
years, and succeeded him in business. Mr. Churchill, like Mr.
Bartlett, was engaged in the Grand Bank fishery, and with Nathaniel
E. Harlow, owned the schooners Conanchet, Engineer, Oronoco and
Wampatuck.
William Nye had a store a little back from the street between
Carver’s wharf and Barnes’ wharf, where he bought and sold old iron
and junk. My associations with his store are among the pleasantest of
my youth, for there by the sale of old iron, which I most assiduously
picked up for two or three weeks before that holiday which was so
delightful to all boys, the old election day, I found the wherewithal
for the holiday feast, which was held in the barn or carriage house
of some one of our families, and consisted of election cake and
lobster and lemonade in the morning, followed by a stomach ache
in the afternoon. The town baker always made up a good batch of
election cake or buns, for the occasion, and these articles formed as
important a part in the diet of the day as succotash on Forefathers’
day. Mr. Nye would gather for his business at election time, a bag of
bright new cents, and would tempt the æsthetic taste of the boys by
asking them if they would take one bright cent or two dull ones. No
day, not even Thanksgiving day, has such a firm seat in my memory as
the old election day. It was the day of the meeting of the General
Court, which until 1832, occurred on the third Wednesday in May. Mr.
Nye lived in a house at the southerly end of Water street, which
stood on the site of the house built and occupied by the late Rufus
Churchill, who married one of his daughters. Mr. Nye came to Plymouth
from Sandwich, and died February 25, 1849, and after his death, his
house was moved across the street, where it now stands.
Alonzo D. Scudder, who came to Plymouth from Barnstable, began
business in Water street with Lemuel B. Churchill for the sale of
grain and flour, but precisely where their store was I cannot say.
The partnership continued only a short time, and in 1833 Mr. Scudder
became a partner with his father-in-law, Richard Holmes. He died as
already stated, April 5, 1853, and Mr. Churchill died December 30,
1833.
Atwood L. Drew, I think, occupied a store, in 1832, in the basement
of his father’s house, near the corner of Leyden street, and was
quite extensively engaged at various times in the whale and Grand
Bank fisheries, and in general navigation. In 1839 he was associated
as a partner with Leander Lovell, and built the store now standing
at the northerly corner of Barnes’ wharf. In later life he was
associated in some capacity with his brother, William Rider Drew, an
enterprising and prosperous manufacturer, who is still living, and
whose extensive establishment for the manufacture of tacks and rivets
is situated on Smelt Brook at Rocky Nook. Mr. Drew died November 25,
1877.
The store kept by Levi Barnes as early as 1830 was one of two in the
building which stood on the southerly corner of the way leading to
Middle street. In the latter part of his life he occupied the store
which had been occupied by Phineas Wells. He died May 14, 1853, in
the house on North street which he had owned and occupied since 1835.
Chas. Bramhall, who occupied the northerly store in the building
above mentioned, was the son of Benjamin Bramhall, and one of a
family of enterprising sons, five of whom I knew. His brother William
was a prosperous merchant in Boston, and for many years President of
the Shawmut Bank, a position now occupied by our summer townsman,
Jas. P. Stearns, his son-in-law. Mr. Bramhall was actively engaged in
the Grand Bank fishery, and died May 29, 1859, in the house where he
had lived many years, recently occupied by B. O. Strong.
Henry Tillson was a son of Hamblin Tillson, and kept a shoe store on
Water street, as early as 1828, and in 1832 removed to Market street,
and died December 27, 1834.
Leander Lovell’s store on Water street I cannot locate, but he was
there as early as 1827, and on the tenth of November in that year
his store was entered by burglars. In 1839 he was associated in
business with Atwood L. Drew, and in the later years of his life was
a partner with J. H. Harlow in the dry goods business in the store
on Main street, now occupied by H. H. Cole. He was Town Clerk from
1852 to 1878, and as chairman of the Board of Selectmen and Moderator
for many years, I am glad to put on record my appreciation of his
courtesy and fidelity in the performance of his municipal duties.
He came to Plymouth from Barnstable and married a daughter of Capt.
James Bartlett, and died October 1, 1879.
Phineas Wells came to Plymouth from Maine, and married in 1828 Mercy,
daughter of George Ellis. He opened in 1827 a grocery store which
occupied the whole front of the building opposite the head of Hedge’s
wharf. He was a master of his business, prudent, methodical and
industrious, and so far as salesroom and storeroom were concerned,
his store has never been surpassed in Plymouth. In or about 1850 he
moved across the street and fitted up a store on the northerly corner
of Hedge’s wharf, where he remained until 1859, when he again moved
to the store at the junction of Water and Leyden streets, where he
remained until his death, December 8, 1869.
Josiah Robbins occupied a store at the head of Robbins’ wharf. In
looking over the files of the OLD COLONY MEMORIAL to verify my
recollection of Water street, I find that he was there as early as
1827, and in that year advertised the sale of old currant wine.
The temperance movement began in the above year, and I think in
the sale of wines the lines must have been drawn at the product
of currants, as the following officers of the Temperance Society
organized in 1827 were chosen: Nathaniel Russell, President; Zabdiel
Sampson, Vice-President; Wm. Thomas, Secretary; and Ichabod Morton,
Nathan Hayward, Jacob Covington, Josiah Robbins, Thomas Atwood, John
Russell, Thomas Russell and Isaac L. Hedge, Executive Committee.
It is probable that up to that time every grocery store contained
ardent spirits in its stock, and on the 8th of September, 1827, I.
& E. Morton, whose senior partner was one of the above executive
committee, advertised concerning their store at Wellingsley that
“that prolific mother of miseries, that giant foe to human happiness,
shall no longer have a dwelling place under our roof.” The movement
was followed up by temperance lectures delivered in the church at
Training Green by Mr. Daniel Frost, and total abstinence pledges
were signed by nearly one quarter of the entire population of the
town. Though the grocers as a body abandoned the sale of spirits,
obedience to popular sentiment was by no means universal. Family use
and individual consumption were largely diminished, and with the
erection in 1835 of the frame of the double house on the corner of
Howland street, the practice of using liquor at “raisings” ceased.
In the ship yards, however, for some years after that date, work
was regularly knocked off every day at eleven and four o’clock for
the distribution among the men of New England rum. Public opinion,
however, without its re-inforcement by law, finally prevailed, and I
should say that from 1835 to 1840 it would have been impossible to
buy either ardent spirits or wines, except at the hotels, and that
there were less than a dozen houses in which they could be found. I
am inclined to think that even under the operation of stringent laws
there has been a reaction, and that they are now more generally,
though not excessively used than they were sixty-five years ago. It
cannot, however, be denied, that if total abstinence less widely
prevails, intemperance is less common, and more severely condemned.
May it not be true that public opinion is more potent than law?
I have said that in 1832 there were three counting houses on Water
street, meaning such as were engaged in the business of foreign
navigation. These were D. & A. Jackson, Nelson & Harlow, and
Nathaniel Carver. The oldest and most important was that of D. & A.
Jackson, which derived both its business and character from the old
firm of Daniel and Charles Jackson, father and uncle of the members
of the house. It did not immediately follow in chronological order
the old house of Daniel and Charles Jackson, as for a time after
the death of Charles Jackson in 1818 Daniel, the surviving partner,
formed a partnership with his son Jacob, under the firm name of
Daniel Jackson and son, which was dissolved in 1828. In this last
year the firm of D. & A. Jackson had its origin. Though as far as
the public knew only Daniel and Abraham were members of the firm,
that at a later date their younger brother, Isaac Carver Jackson,
became associated with them, there can be no doubt. It is within my
recollection that the ship Iconium, the last ship built by the firm,
was built in 1848 or thereabouts on the Sheepscott river, under Mr.
Isaac C. Jackson’s exclusive supervision.
The Jackson brothers were a remarkable set of men, six in number, all
about six feet in height, gentlemen in bearing and dress, and with
their blue coats and brass buttons, and in summer, white beaver hats,
white trousers, low shoes and white stockings, their appearance in
our streets gave character and expression to the town. They were all
confident, self-centered men, who knew what they wanted and how to
accomplish it, meddling in no man’s business and permitting no man
to meddle in theirs; neither asking for nor offering advice. They
had means sufficient to carry out their enterprises and never sought
outside of their family and their commanders, the contribution of a
timber head to their ships.
The first vessels built by D. & A. Jackson were the Echo and Arno
fishing vessels, which were sold. The Arno was probably the vessel of
that name, which was many years one of the Plymouth fishing fleet.
They next built a topsail schooner named the Janus, which made one
voyage under command of Capt. Daniel Jackson to Russia, and was sold.
In 1829 they built the brig Janus, commanded by Capt. William Holmes,
who died in Valparaiso, May 10, 1831, while in command. They next
built the brig Rhine of which Capt. Frederick Robbins was master a
number of years, and which was finally lost on Fire Island. The brigs
Maze and Autumn followed, engaged in general freighting business, and
the brig Ganges commanded by Capt. Phineas Leach, and also the brig
Cyclops. All of these vessels, including others up to perhaps 1835,
were built in what was afterwards known as Battles’ lumber yard. The
brig Eurotas, one of the Jackson fleet, was bought in Duxbury and
placed in command of Capt. Eleazer Stevens Turner, which he commanded
until he took command of the ship Thracian, when he was succeeded in
the Eurotas by Capt. Ira Potter.
How well I remember those bright waisted brigs, graceful and
weatherly, and especially the Cyclops with her figurehead
representing the mythological giant with a single eye in the middle
of his forehead.
This head was doubtless the work of Samuel W. Gleason, who came to
Plymouth from Middleboro and exhibited much talent as a wood carver.
Two of his sons continued in business in Plymouth as long as ship
building was active in Plymouth and Duxbury and Kingston, when they
removed to Boston, and achieved some very commendable work on the
clipper ships of the California and Australian period.
The Jackson firm were not long content with the building of brigs.
While such vessels were well enough adapted to the iron trade, they
were unsuited to the carrying of sugar from the West Indies to the
North of Europe, and still more unsuited to the transportation of
cotton. It was not an uncommon thing for vessels in the sugar trade
bound from Havana to Cronstadt, to put into Plymouth to take out
a clean bill of health. I remember well the ship Harvest, Capt.
Lawton with George Warren supercargo, belonging to Barnabas Hedge,
anchoring in Saquish cove, and proceeding with a new bill of health.
The complete abandonment of the brig was effected when, at a later
period, coal transportation became extensive on the Delaware and
other rivers. The last full rigged brig in Plymouth was the old brig
Hannah, which was owned by Barnabas Hedge, and commanded many years
by Capt. Isaac Bartlett in the West India trade. Her last service was
on a fishing trip to the straits, commanded by Capt. Ignatius Pierce,
the father of the late Capts. Ignatius and Ebenezer Pierce. The last
American brig ever seen by me was in Salem harbor about thirty years
ago, engaged in the African trade.
The ships Thracian and Persian were built in a yard about where the
foot of Brewster street now is, by James Collins, master carpenter,
who had already built the ships Brenda and Dromo for Arthur French
of Boston, a brother-in-law of Abraham Jackson. The Jackson fleet
of ships was completed by the purchase in Maine of the Tyrian and
the building of the Iconium. Of each of these ships I have something
to say. Many a trenail turned out by me in a trenail machine on a
Saturday afternoon was put into the bottoms of the Thracian and
Persian, and many a cracker and slice of cheese have I eaten in
the ship house at their launchings. Capt. Frederick Robbins was
transferred from the brig Rhine to the Persian, Capt. Eleazer Stevens
Turner from the brig Eurotas to the Thracian, and Capt. Daniel
Lothrop Jackson, son of the senior partner of the house, was given
the command of the Tyrian.
Capt. Turner was eventually transferred to the Iconium, on which ship
he was finally succeeded by Capt. William Davie. These ships were
first class ships in every particular, and for one or each of them
the schooner Capitol was bought in Maine and placed in command of
Capt. Richard Rogers, who was sent to Virginia with wood choppers,
teams and provisions and a gang of carpenters under Benjamin Bagnall,
to get out frames on a tract of timber land, which the Jacksons had
bought or leased for the purpose.
In December, 1846, I was in Marseilles waiting for a steamer to take
me to Genoa and Naples. Having been in Paris away from the sea six
months or more, I have never before or since experienced the pleasure
which a sight of the Mediterranean gave me. My first excursion from
the hotel, after my arrival, was as it would have been at home—down
among the shipping. The new harbor had not then been opened, and
the ships were made fast with their sterns to the mole. Seeing an
American flag at one mast head, I soon read on the stern of the
ship, “Persian of Plymouth.” Inquiring of the ship keeper if Capt.
Robbins, whom I knew was the captain, was on board, and learning
that he was not, I walked along the mole, looking into the various
stores, and soon saw him astride a chair, club house fashion, with
his arms folded on the back, looking at me as I entered. During the
three days I was obliged to wait for my steamer, I spent a half hour
each day with him on board his ship. He was soon to sail for New
Orleans, and as I afterwards learned he died while on the passage,
or soon after his arrival. He was succeeded by Capt. Thomas Appling,
who had commanded the Cyclops, who died at sea of yellow fever, and
was succeeded by Capt. Lewis Robbins. After leaving Capt. Robbins I
walked farther down the mole and read on the stern of a bark flying
the stars and stripes, the familiar name, “Griffin of Boston.” I knew
Capt. Charles Blake, her owner and commander, who lived directly
opposite my grandmother’s house in Winthrop place. His vessel was
half yacht, half trader, and sometimes with guests, and sometimes
without. He was a skimmer of the seas, taking comfort and pleasure,
for which his freight list might pay in whole or in part. While I was
at Naples he came over and anchored his bark directly in front of the
hotel where I was stopping.
But my story of Yankee vessels is not all told. On my way down
the coast of the Mediterranean a fellow passenger on the steamer,
an Englishman named James Buchanan, was constantly boasting of
the superiority of English vessels over all others. Of course I
defended my own, nor was it difficult, in those days at least, to
find fault with the squat sails, short top gallant masts, clumsy
blocks, poorly set up spars, and if at anchor with sails furled,
the untidy bunts which often looked like bundles of rags on the
yards of the Englishmen. As we came to an anchor one morning in the
harbor of Genoa, I pointed out to Mr. Buchanan a very trig looking
bark, anchored near by, which had a familiar look. “She’s a tidy
craft,” said he, “and she’ll be English, of course.” I knew better,
and calling a boatman, directed him to row to the vessel. As we
rowed round her stern I was not very much surprised to read, “Truman
of Kingston,” in hospitable letters. I had often seen the Truman,
Capt. Doane, as well as her sister ship, the Cecilian, Capt. Dawes,
belonging to Joseph Holmes, and I spent a pleasant hour with the
captain in his cabin before going ashore for a day’s stroll before
leaving for Naples in the evening. It was singular that the only
three American vessels visited by me in nearly a year’s absence
from home, should have hailed from Plymouth, Kingston and Boston,
and that all should have been commanded by men whom I knew. Another
American vessel not actually visited by me during my trip to Europe
in 1846, but seen under interesting circumstances, emphasized the
environment enveloping me associated with home. On the second of May
in the above year, Capt. John Eldridge of Yarmouth, Mass., master
of the New York and Liverpool packet ship Liverpool, on which I
was a passenger, sighted a dismasted vessel. She lay ahead of us
directly on our course, and in answer to our hail as we rounded her
stern, we found her to be the bark Espindola of and for New York
from Liverpool, with four hundred steerage passengers, and commanded
by Capt. Barstow of Hanover, Mass., fourteen miles distant from my
house. Capt. Barstow reported that while he was in his cabin at eight
o’clock on the morning before, the ship under full sail with a light
northerly wind, without warning, was struck by a whirlwind, and
completely dismasted. She wanted spars and provisions. The subsequent
scenes were full of interest.
Luffing up into the wind and running close hauled about three miles,
while spare spars were got out and lashed outside, and provisions
were got in readiness, we ran back and layed to to the windward of
the wreck. With a picked crew, under the command of the mate, the
life boat was sent off in a rough sea, the mate holding in his hand a
coil of lanyard attached to a Manila line that would float, fastened
to the spars. When all was ready the lashings of the spars were cut,
and when the boat was near enough the coil was thrown on board the
wreck, and the spars pulled alongside. The mate backing up to the
bark jumped into the chains, when she rolled to windward, and soon
had the supply of meats and other provisions put on board. Capt.
Barstow learning that a Plymouth man was on board the Liverpool,
sent his compliments to me, and after about three hours’ detention,
we were again on our course. I afterwards saw that the Espindola
obtained more spars from the packet ships, Ashburton and Hottinger,
and reached New York after a passage of forty days.
The Tyrian, commanded by Capt. Daniel Lothrop Jackson, met an
untimely fate. During the Irish famine she loaded with corn for
Glasgow, and after her departure from New York no tidings of her
were ever received. Of the Iconium I have a story to tell, as I
received it from Capt. Turner’s own lips on his way from Boston to
Plymouth, the day after his marvelous escape from shipwreck in Boston
Bay. It must have been in the month of March in the early 1850s that
he came round the Cape with a load of cotton for Boston, and with
a strong northeast wind, without rain or snow, he expected to find
his way without trouble into lighthouse channel. But as the day
wore on the wind increased to a gale, while the weather became so
thick that to haul off shore, if possible, was the only safe course
to pursue. With a light cotton ship, the sagging to leeward made
it necessary, as night approached, to come to an anchor. With both
anchors down and a long scope of cable, Capt. Turner hoped to ride
out the gale. As near as he could judge he lay a mile and a half
northeast and by north of the outer Minot’s Rocks. The wind veered a
little to the southeast, but as it veered it increased in intensity
until about midnight one chain parted. He then cut away his spars,
hoping that with an eased ship the other cable would stand by. But at
daybreak the gale still increasing, the last cable parted, and the
ship drifted, stern foremost, toward Strawberry Hill. The wind had
veered at this time still more to the south, so that if the bow could
be twisted to the northward and westward, and steerage way be got
on the ship, it might be still possible to enter the harbor. Capt.
Turner managed to set a piece of canvas on the foremast stump, but
it did no good, and the ship continued to drift stern foremost. At
this time the air had cleared, but the gale had not abated, and as a
last resort he carried his kedge anchor aft, and dropped it over the
stern, thinking it barely possible that it might catch long enough
to turn the ship on her heel and give her steerage way. It worked as
he hoped, and with the wind still veering, and hundreds on the shore
awaiting a final disaster, he crawled along between Hardings and the
breakers and rounded Point Allerton without a fathom to spare. A
station pilot boat lying at anchor in the roads put a pilot on board,
and Capt. Turner, as he told me, went into his cabin and crying like
a child, thanked God for his deliverance. Not long after this he
retired temporarily from the sea to recruit his enfeebled health, and
was succeeded in the Iconium by Capt. William Davie, but in 1861 was
commissioned Sailing Master in the Navy, and while in command of the
storeship Relief, bound to the East Indies, he died at Rio Janeiro,
August 5, 1864. In just appreciation of his seamanship and skill, the
Boston Underwriters made him a present of five hundred dollars.
Daniel Jackson, the senior member of the Jackson house, died July 1,
1852, Abraham Jackson died February 6, 1859, and Isaac Carver Jackson
May 23, 1875.