Mr. Bean died Dec. 12, 1784. The kind offers of several clergymen, who had tendered each a day's preaching for the late Mr. Bean's family were accepted. Mr. Bean's publications were a century sermon, preached Oct. 26, 1773, one hundred years after the town was incorporated, and printed by request in 1774, and a sermon preached before the congregation of the First Church and parish of Wrentham on a day of Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, A. D. 1755, published in 1837.
Of Mr. Bean's ancestry but little is known. It seems that he was established in business in Cambridge, Mass., and was converted under the preaching of Whitfied and Tennant. He left his business and entered college, and was graduated at the age of thirty years in 1748.
He was ordained Dec. 5, 1750, and married Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Henry Messinger, his predecessor in the ministry at Wrentham.
The epitaph on his gravestone is as follows.
Among his flock ye shepherd passed his days,
The friend, the comfort of ye sick and poor.
Want never knocked unheeded at his door;
Oft when his duty call'd, disease and pain
Strove to confine him, but they strove in vain.
All mourn his death; his virtures long they tri'd,
They knew not how they lov'd him till he dy'd."
Mr. Avery's reply to the invitation of the church and town was as follows: "To the Congregational Church and society of the town of Wrentham. Brethren and Gentlemen, as you were pleased on the tenth of Oct. last to unite in inviting me to settle in the gospel ministry, I have taken your proposals into serious and mature consideration and do now in the sincerity and cheerfulness of my heart declare my accepance of your call. And I do also engage, without reserve, in the strength of Christ, carefully and faithfully to exercise my office amongst you for your spiritual advantage and highest interest as long as divine wisdom shall see fit to continue me with you. And may God Almighty grant that we may be mutual comforts and blessings to each other, that we may rejoice together in each other at the appearing of Jesus Christ to whom be glory in the churches throughout all ages world without end. Amen."
Note.--The Rev. David Avery was born April 5, 1746, in Franklin, Conn. His father's name was John. He was converted by the preaching of Whitefield; fitted for college at D. Wheelock's school. Conn.; entered Yale college and was graduated in 1769. He engaged in teaching Indian schools. He studied theology with Rev. Dr. E. Wheelock of Dartmouth college; preached on Long Island, and in 1771 was ordained as missionary to the Oneida Indians. Leaving the field he returned to New England and was installed at Gageboro. now Windsor, Vt., March 25, 1773, and dismissed April 14, 1777, to go as chaplain in the army. In his return he was settled at Bennington, Vt., May 3, 1780,and dismissed June 17,1783, and settled at Wrentham, May 25, 1786, and dismissed April 21, 1794. He preached afterwards to a congregation at North Wrentham, where a church was organized in1795, until sometime in 1797, when he removed to Mansfield Ct. He engaged in missionary labor under the Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society, going into New York and Maine. He afterwards, from 1798 to 1801, preached in Chaplin, Ct., having gathered a new church and society there called the Union Church. In 1817 he visited his daughter, Mrs. Hewett, in Shepardstown, Va. He received a cordial and unanimous call to settle in Middletown, in the vicinity of Shepardstown, but was taken ill and died there and was buried on the week of intended installation, the clergy of the invited council officiating as his bearers. His voice was so clear and sonorous and his articulation so distinct that it was a common saying in the army that every soldier in a brigade could hear all that he said. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Gageboro, Mr. Avery's parishioners assembled in arms, formed themselves into a company, elected him for their captain and marched for Cambridge on the 22d April. Mr. Avery preached at Northampton the next day from Neh. 4, 14. They arrived at Cambridge Saturday 29th and were honorably received and congratulated by the troops assembled. Mr. Avery preached on Sunday afternoon to the troops from a temporary stage erected in the college area from Neh. 4, 14,and on Monday he began a regular course of morning and evening prayer with the regiment to regulars in the hospitals. May 11th, Fast day, he preached on Cambridge Common. May29th, he volunteered with an expedition to Noddles Island, where there was a brisk skirmish, standing guard two hours July 20th, having preached to the troops again, it being a Fast day ordered by the Continental Congress; he on the 29th, read to the troops the declaration of war against General Gage. The people of Gageboro consented that he might engage in the next campaign, the neighboring ministers agreeing to supply his pulpit two-thirds of the time while he was absent. Mr. Avery often acted as physician and assistant surgeon. He was at the taking of Burgoyne, the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, and in the battle of Princeton. When settled at Bennington, at the request of the governor and council he took the field with General Allen, and was in the battle of Bennington and assisted in dressing the wounds of the soldiers. --History Mendon Association.
The vote was nearly unanimous. It seemed to be hearty. Yet the dawn was soon overcast and a violent ministerial quarrel commenced destined to end only with the disruption of the pastoral and ministerial relation.
In 1791 the warrant for town meeting among things contained an article "to see if the inhabitants .... are satisfied with the Rev. David Avery as a gospel minister," and "provided the major part of the town are satisfied with the Rev. David Avery to see if the town will consent that any persons that are dissatisfied may go to any other society to do duty and receive privilege, " and "to see if it be the mind of the town to recommend the Rev. David Avery to call a church meeting agreeable to the request of Dea. David Holbrook and others presented to him October 15, 1790." Although no action was taken at this meeting, yet the fact that such a one was called was equivalent to a declaration that war had begun. It is true that in the scanty memorial of that controversy we find no record of its severity or bitterness in hostile speeches and partisan manifestos preserved, yet tradition says it was marked by unusual asperity that not only the community but families were divided into Averians and anti-Averians. A few years since people were living whose memory went back to that time, who in their young days had their ears stunned with the din of the conflict, and whose eyes saw the veteran combatants go to the field with as much zeal as the crusaders of former days went against the infidel. Meeting after meeting was held, council upon council convened, war-warn veterans were appointed to guard the door of the church to keep out that minister whom they had so unanimously called. The division was so wide and so deadly that reconciliation became impracticable. In the progress of the controversy Mr. Avery and his adherents withdrew or were forced from the meeting house, and the pulpit was supplied by a committee. Eventually as a result of this unfortunate division the church at North Wrentham was organized largely from those who had adhered to Mr. Avery.
On the 14th Dec. 1795, Dea. Man was dismissed from his office as treasurer. Afterwards in August, 1796, it was voted to hear and confer upon any proposals that one, any or all of the church, lately adhering to the Rev. David Avery have to make respecting a reunion with the church. June, 1797, the deacons were instructed to supply the pulpit if the town's committee do not; and a committee was chosen to help the deacons settle their accounts relative to law suits. It appears by an account of the deacons presented to the church in 1797, that a suit was commenced by Thomas Man against Aaron Hawes. It was tried in 1795. The trial took up a good deal of time. Mr. Avery was the mover and prosecutor in the action which was brought to try the validity of the vote dismissing Dea. Man, as if that was valid the vote dissolving his pastoral relations was valid also, and the town having concurred his salary was gone from the time of the dismission. So that Mr. Avery was on trial. The judges were of opinion that Mr. Avery's principles of church government were arbitrary and erroneous; that the vote for dissolving his pastoral relation was regular and valid; that the vote of the church given by a majority dismissing the plaintiff from the office of deacon was regular and effectual and that he could not maintain the action.
"To the original Congregational Church of Christ in Wrentham---Having received from you brethren an invitation to take the pastoral care and charges of you as a church, and to settle with you in the work of the gospel ministry, I do by this declare my acceptance of it.
The town had in November of the year 1798 concurred with the church in the settlement of Mr. Fisk on condition that he be supported by the Congregational Society then projected. This society was incorporated in February, 1799. A number of the inhabitants of Wrentham petitioned the General Court to incorporate them into a religious society by the name of the Congregational Society in Wrentham. They set forth that they have raised by subscription three thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars as a fund, the interest of which is to be appropriated to the support of a Congregational minister, and pray to be incorporated for the purpose of holding grants or devices of lands of tenements, bequests, donations, etc. By this act of incorporation, and the proceedings of the society under its provisions in connection with the church, the relations between minister and town, which had so long subsisted, were terminated.
Mr. Fisk thus entered upon a pastorate which reached to more than fifty years. At the date of his ordination, June, 1799, the church is said to have been reduced to ten members. Such was the force and bitterness of the Averian controversy. In his semi-centennial discourse he says he was the forty-ninth candidate, only one other of forty-nine having received a call. He has been thus described (it is said by Dr. R. S. Storrs) with reference to that period: "Of an observing mind, careful and conciliating in his conversation and manners, interesting and popular in his pulpit performances, he succeeded, as few other men would, in uniting and holding together very discordant materials, not only at the commencement of his ministry, but through the vicissitudes of more than fifty years. He gained and kept the enviable reputation of peace maker."
Note:--- Mr. Fisk was a descendant of William, brother of John Fisk, minister of Chelmsford, where in died Jan. 14, 1676. William arrived 1637; admitted Freeman 1642; member of the church at Salem July 2, 1641; removed to Wenham, where he was Town Clerk and representative from 1647 to 1650, and died 1654. His widow married a Rix, of Salem. His grandson, Daniel, removed from Wenham to Upton in 1748, and died about 1761. He had eight children. Samuel, one or the sons, removed to Shelburne, and was ancestor of Rev. Pliny Fisk. Daniel, the oldest son, born about 1723, married Telpah Tyler, and had five children. Of them Robert, born Feb. 24, 1746, married Mary Hall, and had five children. The eldest was Elisha Fisk.---Hist. Mendon Association
The account given in the History of Norfolk County of the Arvenian controversy was taken by the writer, so far as the action of the church is concerned, from the church records more than twenty years ago; and it has been repeated there at length precisely as it was on the occasion for which it was originally prepared, because it probably exists nowhere else but in the writer's possession -- the church records having since that time been lost. At the time referred to those church records were in good condition, including even one small volume in the hand-writing of Rev. Sam'l Man.
Note:--- There is a tradition that Mr. Man's house was destroyed by fire in 1699; which may account for the absence of the earliest volume.
The congregational churches in Foxborough, in Franklin (once West Wrentham), and in the north parish of Wrentham, now Norfolk, have been formed by those who were formerly members of the original church here, organized on 1692. Since the incorporation of the society for the support of the minister no tax has been assessed for that purpose. At the time of Mr. Fisk's settlement the house of worship had neither bell, clock nor organ. A bell and clock, however, were added probably some time before 1806, as we find the parish assuming at that date the expense of taking care of them. An organ was purchased by ladies of the town by the manufacture and sale of straw and chip bonnets. This instrument was formally dedicated, the Rev. Mr. Fisk preaching from the text, "Praise him with stringed instruments." In his sermon Mr. Fisk defended the use of musical instruments in public worship. That modest organ has been succeeded by others, until by the munificence chiefly of one of our citizens the fine and large one now used was placed in its present position.
After the final settlement of the religious and society disturbances which had existed so long, and which were so happily extinguished in the fortunate choice of Mr. Fisk, the people here were peaceable and prospeous.
The population of the town was by the census of 1800 two thousand and sixty-one (2,061), and was chiefly agricultural.
After the introduction of the power loom in the manufacture of cotton and woolen fabrics a rush seems to have been made into the business of manufacturing, and a very large number of companies were chartered in Massachusetts to carry on this branch of industry. The Stony Brook Manufacturing Company was also in incorporated in 1814, and is to be added to the list of our manufactories. The business which these companies were organized to carry on was conducted by various owners, agents and lessees, and with various success. At first they were employed in the manufacture of cloth, and the noise of the looms could be heard proclaiming the power of the stream, if not the profit of the manufacturers. Eli Richardson, Esq.; Allen Tillinghast, Esq., and Maj. Thos. S. Mann are remembered as energetic and intelligent manufacturers, who for many years were engaged in business on this old mill brook. It is apprehended that the business was not over successful, and that none of the numerous mill owners became wealthy in the prosecution of their calling.
The factory which was first built on or near the site of the present one in South Wrentham, or Shepardville, so-called, is supposed to have been the first mill in this vicinity in which water power was applied to the spinning of cotton or wool. And by some this mill is supposed to have been one of the earliest in the county in which such application was made, it being said to have been the third. It seems that as early as 1795 Mrs. Susannah Shepard was manufacturing goods at that mill. In confirmation of this statement reference is made to an organized agreement between herself and Stephen Olney, of Providence, R. I., dated Nov. 13, 1795, as follows, viz:
"Agreed with Mrs. Susannah Shepard, of Wrentham, to make her a chaise by the first of March next for £55, she finding the harness, the wheels, leather for top and lining, remainder to be had in goods at wholesale cash price of her manufacture. Signed, STEPHEN OLNEY."
The first bonnets were made of oat straw flattened, and contained from sixteen to eighteen yards. So popular were these bonnets that no lady was thought to be in style without one, and the demand for them gave a vigorous impulse to the trade, and the sale extended throughout the country. This demand added much to the business of small trading stores, by exchange of their goods for straw braid. The braid thus collected was converted into bonnets, and this led to special manufactories of straw goods.
Messrs. Fisher, Day & Co. entered into this business about the year 1804, and continued until 1816. In the neighboring town of Franklin the Messrs. Thayer carried on the business from about 1810 to 1816, and subsequently Major Davis Thayer continued in the business many years, and it is still carried on in the factory of Davis Thayer , Jr. on or near the old site, and by Mr. Snow at his factory, with greatly enlarged facilities and success. This latter account of the rise and progress of the straw braid industry may be found in substance on Dr. Blake's history.
The principal manufacturer of straw bonnets in Wrentham was Amariah Hall, familiarly known as "Bonnett Hall." He began the business about 1802, at the house known as the White house, that being the name of its former occupant. This house stood on the site now occupied by our almshouse. The room in this house was appropriated to this purpose---so small was the business then. There were braiders in almost every family. Mr. Hall continued in the business for some years at this place.
Afterwards, about 1812, or a little later, Mr. Hall built the house now owned by Daniel Brown and used as a boarding-house for the employees of Mr. Brown. This was built for a hotel by Mr. Hall, and occupied by him as such. An addition to the main building was used by him for the manufacture of straw goods, which he continued to carry on. A few years after this Mr. Hall failed in business, and returned to Raynham, which was his native place. Mr. James Ware took this building and kept a store therein, dealing also in straw goods. He had also in company with Asa Day dealt in straw goods at their store afterwards known as the "Green store," on the Norfolk and Bristol turnpike in Wrentham.
Others engaged at later dates in this business, notably Robert Blake, Esq., who acquired a handsome competency for those days and retired. He was one of the unfortunate passengers of the ill-fated steamer "Lexington, " which was destroyed by fire on Long Island Sound in 1840, and was among the lost. Howard Mann, Esq. ., also made straw goods in Wrentham, occupying after his business became large the same buildings that Mr. Hall, his predecessor had done. The business done by Mr. Mann and by the co-partners, Mann, Swift & Co., was probably larger than had been done by any one individual or firm before in this place in the same line of business. It is not recollected that any of the manufacturers of straw goods had previously organized factories or shops with machinery used and shop hands regularly employed. The old custom of trading straw braid at the stores in exchange for goods was abandoned. People who worked in it in a moderate way either sold their braid to the manufacturers or made it up into hats or bonnets, and then sold to them in its new shape. We have now no means of knowing the number or value of the goods made at the time when Fisher, Day & Co. and Amariah Hall were in the business. They probably made a few thousand hats and bonnets annually.
After Mann, Swift & Co. left the business there was a manufactory of straw goods in the westerly part of the town at Sheldonville, of which Alonzo Follett was the proprietor and manager. This was actively continued until the building was destroyed by fire.
Note:-- The facts stated in this note are furnished by J. W. D Hall, of Taunton, Mass. "Amariah Hall was 6th in descent from George Hall, one of the first settlers in Taunton. He was born in Raynham, and after giving up business in Wrentham, returned thither." He was exceedingly fond of music, and composed several of the old tunes which are remembered and sung to this day. This was 70 or 80 years ago; they were as follows: "Morning Glory," "Summer," "Canaan," " Falmouth," "Massachusetts," "Raynham," "Restoration," "All Saints New," "Crucifixion," "Solitude," "Contemplation," "China,' " Civil Amusement," "Harmony," "Devotion," " Hosanna," " Lion,": and others. When he visited Raynham, during his residence at Wrentham, "the choir would get together and sing his tunes in honor of the composer, and old vocalists say that many of his old-fashioned tunes of real harmony were much appreciated." Another composer and teacher also lived in Wrentham, Samuel Billings. He resided in the house formerly occupied by Dea. Elijah and Dea. Smith Pond in Pondville, where, as my informant, Mrs.J. M. Pond, says, "he wrote his beautiful music." He would compose a tune, perhaps an anthem, and perhaps finish it late at night; and then awaken his wife, get her to dress at midnight and sing it over and over with him. He taught singing schools five evenings in a week for three months at a time. The late General Preston Pond, a well-known teacher and singer, said he found no music so sweet as Billings'. His musical talents were highly appreciated, and for a long time he was a very popular teacher. Dea. Handel Pond, also a native of Wrentham, where he spent most of his years, was an eminent teacher and composer.
Mr. B. H. Guild also and F. N. Sheldon & Co. subsequently at different times engaged in the manufacture of straw goods at Sheldonville. After a long interval the business was again revived in the Central village by Messrs. John C. and Lyman A. George, and afterwards was carried on for some years by William E. George, under whose energetic administration, supplemented by the increased use of machinery and other facilities, a much greater amount was done than ever before.
Mr. George was succeeded by Messrs. Brown & Cowell, who began their work in the factory buildings which had been erected by Mr. George. They had hardly commenced when the buildings were destroyed by fire. Mr. Brown erected another building near the site of the former one a few years since, and by the introduction of the sewing machine large quantities of goods are manufactured in the shop, which before its use in making this kind of goods were made by people at their own firesides in this town and vicinity. It should have been stated that the Messrs. Ide succeeded Messrs. Mann, Swift & Company, continuing the business for a few years. A straw manufactory was for a short time in operation in that part of Wrentham which is now Norfolk, under the management of Mr. Allen and afterwards of Mr. Perry.
The market value of the goods denominated straw goods now made in this town is estimated at $250,000 for the year.
From the census report of 1880 we learn that the number of establishments in the straw business in Massachusetts was 33, having a capital of two millions three hundred and sixty-one thousand, nine hundred and sixty dollars (2, 361, 960). The average number of hands employed was, of males above 16 years, 2,531; of females above 15 years, 5,185; children and youth, 93. The total amount paid in wages in the year was $1,968,232; value of materials, $4,117,162; value of products, $6,898,628.
It is not known that any other person engaged in the business at Plainville either while Messrs. Shepardson and Richards were there or subsequently, until Joseph T. Bacon, Esq., purchased the property and demolished the old mill and built the large shop now (with important additions) occupied by Lincoln, Bacon & Company.
The firm of Bacon, Hodges & Mason followed next after Messrs. Shepardson and Richards in 1844. They continued together the business for three or four years, when Mason retired. Then Messrs. Bacon and Hodges were the partners until 1850. At that date Mr. Hodges left and Josiah Draper and John Tifft united with Joseph T. Bacon in the firm name of Draper Tifft & Bacon and conducted the business under this style until Mr. Tifft died in 1851, when another change took place, and Frank S. Draper, son of Josiah, and Frank L. Tifft, son of John, and Joseph T. Bacon and James D. Lincoln formed a copartnership under the style of Draper Tifft & Company, which continued until July, 1860, when Frank S. Draper retired and the firm took the name of Lincoln, Tifft & Bacon. In 1863 or 1864 the manufacturing business at Plainville was carried on in the name of J. T. Bacon & Co., and the wholesale business in New York in the name of Lincoln, Tifft & Co., the same gentlemen constituting both firms. In July, 1882, Messrs. Harland G. Bacon, son of the senior member, and Daniel O. Schofield, of New York City, became copartners, the style of the firm being Lincoln, Bacon & Company both in New York and in Wrentham.
Another large factory building was erected some years since by Mr. J. T. Bacon and his partners, which is occupied by the Plainville Stock Co. and by Messrs. Wade, Davis & Co. and others. A large number of hands are employed by the companies engaged in the manufacture of jewelry and goods in that line, the ten or fifteen hands of Mr. Shepardson in 1843 having increased to hundreds. And in place of his eight thousand or ten thousand dollars worth of products the amount now manufactured in that village alone, by the opinion of a competent judge, cannot be less than five hundred thousand dollars worth annually.
In 1880 the number of establishments in this line in Massachusetts was 105; the amount of capital, $1,936,800; number of males employed above 16 years,2,485; number of females above 15 years, 743; children and youth, 37; total amount paid in wages during the year, $1,464,993; materials, $1,681,034; products, $4, 265, 525.
Instead of a few scattering buildings that might have been seen some years ago at Plainville there are now more than two hundred. A fine, large school-house has recently been built and finished, so as to serve not only for the schools in that village, but with a hall convenient for public meetings and other purposes, The G. A. R. have also a commodious building for the purposes of their organization.
The spacious workshops can employ five hundred hands. The number actually employed varies as the business varies, "ranging probably from three hundred and seventy-five (375) in dull times to five hundred when business is good." Very marked progress has been made in this village in recent years, and the indications point to future prosperity.
It may be remarked here that before 1860 the manufacture of jewelry was commenced by Messrs. J, H, Sturdy & Co. at Sheldonville, and afterwards by the same firm at Wrentham village, where it was continued some few years, employing a large number of hands and doing a large business. Quite recently the firm of Cowell & Hall have established the business again in this village.
The manufacture of cotton and woolen fabrics, of straw goods, of jewelry and of other things by water power or by steam power, began long after the occurrence of the facts narrated in the early portion of this compilation. The usual mechanic arts have of course been prosecuted always; and in former days a considerable amount of business was done in the line of carriage building.
But one eminent man we know went from this town as a surgeon and served as such throughout the war,---Doctor James Mann. He was born in Wrentham and was a son of the David Mann, who was a son of Pelatiah, who was a son of the Rev. Samuel Mann. He was born in 1758, graduated at Harvard University in 1776 and received the degree of M. D. At his Alma Mater and also at Brown University and at Yale College. He was a practicing physician in his native town at the breaking out of the war. He enlisted as a surgeon in the Army of the United States, and it is understood was on the Niagara frontier in 1814 and in the performance of his duty as a surgeon at the battles of Chippawa and Lundy's Lane, and continued in the service until the end of the war and for many years afterwards. He died in 1832.
Sumpter was fired upon on the 13th of April, 1861. Soon afterwards viz. on May 6th 1861 a town meeting was held at the old vestry of the centre-meeting house, so called, which was very fully attended. At this meeting after warm and patriotic utterances, a preamble and resolutions were passed. The first resolution was as follows, viz: Resolved, By the legal voters of the town of Wrentham, in town meeting assembled, that the sum of ten thousand dollars be and the same is hereby granted for the support. encouragement and relief of those of our fellow townsmen who have gone, and of those who may hereafter go, into the service of the United States as soldiers and of their families.
Second. That the money thus appropriated be expended by the Selectmen to be assisted by a Committee of three, if necessary, of whom the Treasurer shall be one.
Third. That each volunteer shall receive from the town while in active service an amount sufficient, with the government pay, to make his monthly pay twenty-five dollars; and the further sum of one dollar a week be paid to the wife and for each child under fifteen years of age, and one dollar a day for each day spent in drilling previous to being mustered into the United States Service.
Fourth. To provide suitable uniforms and all necessary equipments and clothing not furnished by the government to each citizen of Wrentham who shall enlist in the Military Service.
Fifth. That the Treasurer be authorized to borrow on the credit of the town such sums of money as shall be ordered by the Selectmen, not exceeding ten thousand dollars.
After this meeting the citizens held a number of impromptu meetings in different parts of the town, which were enlivened by music and patriotic songs and by occasional speeches, volunteers began to come forward and soon a Company was under drill upon the Common. This Company was joined with others and organized as the 18th Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, and soon were away in the vicinity of Washington. Some Wrentham men had previously enlisted in the three months' regiments.
In March, 1862, the military committee made a report, and in July, 1862, the town voted that " the selectmen be authorized to pay a bounty of one hundred dollars to each volunteer who should enlist for three years and be credited to the quota of the town; also that the treasurer be authorized to borrow money to pay said bounties, and the clergymen, selectmen and all other good citizens are earnestly solicited to encourage and stimulate by public meetings and otherwise the prompt enlistment of the requisite number of volunteers from the town, that our fellow citizens already in the service may be cheered and sustained by accession of numbers and strength, the rebellion crushed and peace and prosperity soon smile upon our common country."
August 28, 1862, the selectmen having paid the sum of one hundred dollars to each volunteer in addition to the bounty voted by the town in July, the town at this meeting ratified that proceeding, and voted to pay a bounty of two hundred dollars to each volunteer who shall enlist for nine months, and be credited to the quota of the town on or before the second day of September next. The treasurer was authorized to borrow money.
On December 8th ,the vote restricting the time for enlistment was reconsidered and the doings of the selectmen and treasurer were approved. In 1863 there were no votes passed by the people in town meeting in relation to the war.
At the March meeting in 1864, the town voted that payment of State aid should be continued. In April it voted to raise by direct taxation eight thousand dollars for recruiting purposes and to refund to citizens money which they had contributed for the encouragement of recruiting.
In August the bounty to each volunteer for three years' service who should thereafter enlist and be credited to the quota of the town was one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The treasurer was authorized to borrow money to pay the same.
In January, 1865, the same bounty was voted, and it was also voted to pay the recruiting officers of the town two dollars a day and ten cents a mile for travel while they have been or shall be engaged in procuring volunteers for the town.
August 14th, the town voted to reimburse to the citizens such sums as they have paid for the purpose of filling the quotas of the town during the past year.
Wrentham furnished three hundred and thirty-six men for this war, which "was a surplus" as appears by a report of the adjutant general "of seventeen over and above all demands." Ten were commissioned officers. The whole amount of money, exclusive of State aid, expended by the town on account of the war was $31, 531, 23.
In 1790 the number of houses was two hundred and forty-three, the number of families was two hundred and seventy-eight, the number of free white males sixteen years of age and upwards was four hundred and seventy-one, the number of free white females was nine hundred and seven, the number of free white males under 16 years was 387, the number of all other persons was two. In 1800 Wrentham was the third town in the county in population, being exceeded by Roxbury and Dorchester only; and in 1810 and in 1820 it held the same relative mark.
In 1832 a bank was incorporated with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and in 1836 this was increased to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Philo Sanford, Robert Blake, John Tifft, Calvin Fisher, Jr. Daniel A. Cook, Otis Cary and Samuel Warner have been its presidents. Calvin Fisher, Jr. and Francis N. Plimpton have been its only cashiers. Its capital has been twice reduced and is now $52, 500.
Some years since, the town erected a large and convenient building in Wrentham village for the accommodation of the High School, a Grammar and a Primary School. It was also provided with a spacious and convenient hall for the transaction of its public business; and the town bade adieu to the vestry of the meeting house in which, and its predecessors, it had held its town meetings for more than one hundred and fifty years. School houses have also been built at Sheldonville and Plainville and at West Wrentham within recent periods and the accommodations are ample throughout the town for children and youth who go to them for instruction. The first school house of the fathers which was to be "sixteen foot" with allowance of a "chimney" and was also to be for a "watch house" would be regarded as a myth did not the sober record fully attest it.
Twice since the incorporation of the town have the events above related been commemorated, once in 1773 by the century sermon, so-called, of the Rev. Mr. Bean, and again in 1873 by the historical address of the late Judge Wilkinson. The sermon was delivered Oct. 26, 1773, and "printed at the earnest desire of the hearers for the preservation of ancient things to future posterity." This was not on the Sabbath day, and it may be presumed was honored by a large attendance.
In the second case, notwithstanding the day was very stormy, a large audience gathered in the meeting house which succeeded that in which Mr. Bean preached his commemorative discourse one hundred years before. The interesting event had induced a good number of people from other towns and places to brave the violence of the storm, one of these Professor George P. Fisher of Yale College, a native of Wrentham, participated in the exercises. The address was delivered from short notes and was not published.
The fiftieth anniversary of the ordination of the Rev. Elisha Fisk was celebrated on the 12th day of June, 1849. In the sermon preached by Mr. Fisk on that occasion he reviewed the events of his ministry of fifty years, incidentally speaking of events of the history of the town. The sermon was published together with an appendix, prepared by Mr. Fisk's colleague, the Rev. Horace James, giving an account of the celebration. One passage is quoted: "The Day of Jubilee arrived. The weather was delightful. The church was filled to its utmost capacity. A multitude of the sons of Wrentham and many connected with them by marriage or other agreeable associations were gathered in their childhood home to do honor to him who from their earliest recollection had ministered at the altar of God."
The subjoined list contains the names of persons who were mustered into the Military Service of the United States in the Civil War of 1861, for Wrentham. It includes the names of both citizens and others who enlisted as part of the town's quota.
It is hardly to be expected that the foregoing list is strictly accurate, notwithstanding much time and labor have been expended in trying to make it so. Some of our townsmen served in the Military Companies of other States and that service is not recorded in Massachusetts. I append the names of those known to me, undoubtedly there were others.
John E. Austin, Norman K. Barnes, Edwin H. Barnes, Warren Butman, Frank P. Ray served in Rhode Island Regiments.
Names of those who served in the Navy : John Baxter, Thomas E. Chapin, Gardner A. Churchill, James E. Hawes, John F. Hawes, George A. Hawes, John A. Haselton, Wm. A. Messinger
Hon. Jabez Fisher was born in Wrentham, Nov. 19, 1717. He received only a common school education, but was distinguished for ready and strong common sense, and for intuitive perceptions of the proper adaptation of means to the ends proposed. He was sound and practical, at the same time able to detect sophistry, and baffle cunning. He was remarkable for an inflexible adherence to principle. He was courteous in manner and strongly desirous of being useful. He represented the town of Wrentham for a number of sessions in the Provincial Assembly. In 1774, in October, he was a member of the house of Delegates, which met at Salem and formed themselves into a provincial Congress, also of the second Congress which met at Cambridge, and also of the third of which Dr. Warren was President. This last Congress remained in session until July 19, 1775 when the representatives who had been elected under the provisions of the Province charter assembled. Mr. Fisher was also a member of this body, and was one of the renowned twenty-eight who were then elected Councilors to act as a distinct branch of the Legislature, and to exercise the executive powers of the Government. John Adams, Sam'l Adams, Thomas Cushing, Robert Treat Pain and John Hancock were among those elected. Mr. Hildreth from whose biographical sketch of Mr. Fisher the foregoing is condensed continues: "No member of that honorable board was in labors more abundant than he. No one's judgment was more highly estimated, no one's firmness less distrusted." He was regarded as the special watchman of the country part of Suffolk (then including Norfolk) and relied upon to bring into action all the force, moral and physical, of that section. He never disappointed expectation, nor failed in any purpose which he deliberately formed. No man knew better what was practicable, and no man deliberated more thoroughly. He was a delegate to the Convention of Massachusetts for the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, in 1788 for which he labored and voted. He died in 1806 aged 89 years.
Let it be hoped that this attempt "to preserve (in the language of Mr. Bean) these ancient things" may not be altogether unsuccessful.