Captains of Shockley Hill

Shockley Hill, which rises above Long Pond and Lake Assawompsett in Lakeville and which was earlier known as both Shingle Hill and Alden's Hill, was home to three families of New Bedford sea captains during the nineteenth century which occupied a farm near its summit. Though this farm, located on the east side of Highland Road, is better remembered for its later owner, Morgan Rotch of New Bedford, it had an equally fascinating history during its ownership by Rotch's immediate predecessors.

In 1798, Captain Christopher Hammond (1753-1825) of New Bedford acquired 85 acres situated at the top of Shockley Hill from Joseph Whelden, a mariner of New Bedford. The property, which had been owned the previous century by Nathaniel White and his grandson, Abiel White, included a Cape Cod style farmhouse which was located upon a large rock near the road. The house faced north towards Lake Assawompsett and from its front door, a view could be had over the nearby ponds.

Hammond was a ship's captain, who was affectionately known as "Captain Kit." He had a large family, including two sets of twins, and was one of a number of mariners making their home in what is now Lakeville at the time.

In November, 1810, Hammond's wife, Desire (Tobey) Hammond died and was laid to rest in the Pond Cemetery near the base of the hill on Bedford Street. Eventually, Captain Hammond moved to Nantucket, selling his farm to his eldest twin sons about the time of their marriages. The first son, Elisha Hammond (1787-1858) married Sally Macomber of Middleborough, April, 1812, and eight months later bought half his father's farm, including a half share of the house, barnyard, cornhouse, orchard and fields. His brother, Samuel, who followed in his father's footsteps as a mariner, purchased the remaining half of his father's homestead, July, 1813, just prior to his marriage to Betsey Spooner of Middleborough.

The Hammonds, with the sea in their blood, were forever a restless family; neither Elisha nor Samuel remained long on their father's farm. Samuel, after just two months, sold his portion of the farm to his cousin, Joseph Shockley (1789-1863) of New Bedford, and moved first to Lund's Corner in New Bedford and later to New York's Mohawk Valley. Elisha sold his share to another family relation, his Uncle Shockley's father-in-law, Captain Humphrey Alden (1763-1844), and relocated to Rochester where he died in 1858.

Alden, also a sailing captain, was well remembered in his last years by his grandson, Andrew J. Shockley (1834-1911), who recalled Alden as a "strong, stocky man who wore knee britches and a wide black felt hat, winter and summer, turned or pulled according to the weather."

Ultimately, in 1821, Alden sold his half of the farm to his son-in-law Joseph Shockley, who had wed his only daughter Sally, in 1811. Alden retained a life estate in the property, living out the remainder of his days there. He is buried in the Pond Cemetery, alongside his wife, Mary (Lord) Kettel Alden, who had fled Boston during the Revolution because of her Loyalist sympathies.

Joseph Shockley was a shipwright by occupation, and he continued to pursue maritime interests while working the farm. In 1817, he, with twenty-six others, leased a New Bedford shipyard in order to construct a whaling vessel. Later, Shockley was part owner of a number of New Bedford vessels, including two barks - Jasper and Peri, and two ships -Liberty and Saratoga. Much of Shockley's time must have been devoted to travel between Lakeville and New Bedford, aand correspondence with his business partners.

Shockley, like his uncle, Captain Hammond, had a large family, and he raised a two story addition to the back of the house to accomodate his fifteen children, all of whom were said to be at least six feet in height, including his seven daughters. One of the sons, Andrew J. Shockley remembered his sisters' Sunday ritual and the problems created by the large number of children: "The first of [my] sisters to get dressed for Church, looked pretty well, but by the time the seventh girl was ready, she was likely to be dressed pretty shabby." Nonetheless, the Shockleys, with their height and dark features, must have made an impressive sight as they filed into the Pond Church at the base of the hill.

Five of the Shockley sons, with their Hammond and Alden ancestry, were inevitably drawn to the sea. Three became captains. Eldest son, Joseph, Jr., served as master of his father's barks Jasper and Peri. Second son Humphrey Alden Shockley was a part owner of the ship Roman, and master of her, as well as master of Two Brothers, William Hamilton, and Lucas, and is said to have circumnavigated the world eight times. Third son, William, also became a whaling captain, and wed, as his second wife, the daughter of one of the builders of the Charles W. Morgan. Sons Ephraim (who was lost at sea) and Andrew also led seafaring careers. It is from Andrew that the Lakeville Shockleys descend.

Joseph Shockley died during the war in 1863, and the farm was left to his unwed daughters - Mary F., Almy J. and Averick T. Shockley - and to his youngest child, Benjamin Shockley, who had been born blind in 1843, and also never married. They sold the farm to their brother Charles in 1869, who continued to farm the property for an additional twenty years until 1889 when he sold the property to Rotch. The Hammond-Shockley farmhouse was destroyed by fire shortly after the turn of the century, and with it one of the last tangible reminders of the sea captains who occupied Shockley Hill.

It is from Shockley and his descendants who lived on the farm until 1889, that the hill, once known as Shingle Hill, and later Alden's Hill, took the name Shockley Hill.

Illustration:

Joseph Shockley gravestone, Pond Cemetery, Lakeville, MA, photograph by Michael J. Maddigan, September, 1997

Green School Color to be Discussed

On Tuesday, July 20, the Middleborough Historical Commission will meet with the Green School Preservation Committee to discuss the color of the Green School. Following mitigation work to remove contaminated soil surrounding the building last fall and winter, the schoolhouse which is located in the historic Green section of Middleborough was structurally stabilized and the exterior primed. The schoolhouse now requires painting. An infomal poll conducted recently on Recollecting Nemasket's sister site Green School History indicates that the majority of respondents prefer the building to remain green, a color with which it has been painted for many years, though it is unlikely to have been the original historic color of the building. The Historical Commission meets at 7.30 pm in Middleborough Town Hall.

Thomas S. Peirce

Most local residents are familiar with the Peirce Trust, the large fund of money which was bequeathed to the Town of Middleborough by Thomas Sproat Peirce (1823-1901) following his death on September 16, 1901. At the time, the bequest received widespread attention, largely due to the sum of money involved - $600,000 - or in today's value nearly $13 million. Newspapers throughout the region, including the august New York Times felt compelled to cover Peirce's death. Below is Peirce's obituary as it was carried in that newspaper. (The misspelling of the family's surname is retained as it appeared in the original article).

LAST OF AN ODD FAMILY
____________________

Thomas S. Pierce, Son of Peter Hoar Pierce, Dies in Middleborough, Mass., Leaving $600,000 to the Town.

MIDDLEBOROUGH, Mass., Sept. 26. - Thomas S. Pierce, who has just died and left this town $600,000 richer than it was, was the last of a remarkable family, which has for nearly half a century been the life of the town, although non of them ever held office or participated publicly in town affairs.

In 1826, when Peter Hoar Pierce erected a store here larger than any this side of Boston, people shook their heads. But Mr. pierce asked no one's advice. He sold everything from cloth and butter to rum and molasses, and the whole Cape came to him to buy.

Mr. Pierce raised eight sons and three daughters. All were extremely eccentric. He knew it, for when he was dying he whispered: "I leave behind me a fortune, equally divided among eleven very queer children." In this country town this man had amassed no less than a million dollars.

Of the eleven children only three married, and none of these had issue. Each, as he died, left his original share, with its accumulations, to the others, so that when Thomas was left alone his wealth was enormous. Though his great white house across the road was well supplied with feather beds, he always slept in a little room back of the meal sacks in the store.

A silk hat was his invariable headpiece and a cheroot was always in his mouth. He was a great reader and in reading he passed his spare time. He made no friends - not because he was selfish, for he was as generous a man as ever lived. His store furnished his work, his books his entertainment, and he needed nothing else. When some one asked him if he made his peace with God, his reply was:

"I will do so when I meet him. I deal with no middlemen."

So much did he love nature that he bought all his firewood, though he owned hundreds of acres of woodlands. Passersby, late at night, occasionally heard coming from the store the notes of a flute. Old airs were played with a feeling and skill that always held the listener until the last note died away. Only when alone did he ever take this instrument from its case.

So this strange man with the fortune of a King and a good education lived out his solitary life in this country grocery store. He was never melancholy and apparently happy, but whether he was in reality happy or not none will ever know.

Source:
"Last of an Odd Family", The New York Times, September 27, 1901.

Illustrations:
Thomas S. Peirce, daguerreotype, mid-19th century.

Peirce Store, North Main Street, Middleborough, MA, photograph, c. 1900.

Summer Mishap

As is the case today, advertising over a hundred years ago relied upon humor to promote products and services. Solomon H. Sylvester, a Center Street dealer in photo albums and frames, jewelry, and other assorted merchandise, and grocer Ira Thomas on North Main Street employed the same set of advertising trade cards to distribute to their customers, both actual and potential. In this set, the hapless man attempts to secure a water lily for his lovely companion. Unfortunately, he plunges into the water below. Though he has retrieved the flower, he has lost his bowler (along with his dignity).

Such advertising trade cards were popular in the last quarter of the 19th century as printing advances made color lithography popular and inexpensive. Sylvester particularly was noted in Middleborough for the wide variety of colorful trade cards he distributed, many of unique design.

Illustrations:

Ira Thomas, Grocer, Middleborough, MA, advertising trade card, late 19th century

S. H. Sylvester, Middleborough, MA, advertising trade card, late 19th century

Making Hay

Before the cranberry, hay was Middleborough’s most valuable agricultural crop, well suited to the general paucity of the area’s soil. During the 1855 season, the town produced over 3,000 tons of English and swale hay, and had some nearly 3,000 acres devoted to mowing. In 1872 it was “admitted by the wisest and most experienced farmers among us, that a grass farm and the production of hay is about the most profitable branch of agriculture in this State.” Accordingly, agriculturalists encouraged the cultivation of hay: “The two principal crops that the dairy farmer here in Massachusetts should raise are Indian corn and grass, each to be liberally fed, both green and dry” [1884].

While haying is today frequently depicted as having been a bucolic pastime reminiscent of a simpler age, in reality, hay-making in the nineteenth century and earlier was back-breaking work, the most grueling and toilsome of the farmer’s tasks and one which was dictated by the weather. Since hay needed to dry and couldn’t tolerate a substantial wetting without getting moldy or musty, farmers frequently scrambled to get the crop in during the heat of late June and early July in between seasonal storms.

In this regard, the Green and Muttock neighborhoods had a unique resource, however, in Captain Nathaniel Wilder (c. 1744-1825), owner of a farm on Plymouth Street near Nemasket Hill Cemetery. Wilder was well-noted as “a farmer of distinction” and more so for his uncanny ability to accurately predict the weather during hay-making time, a most valued skill in planning the harvest of such a commercially valuable crop.

Frequently, Middleborough farmers might be required to engage in haymaking on Sunday, which some in the community found offensive. “Last Sabbath, a number of persons in this place occupied a considerable portion of the day in haymaking,” reported Namasket Gazette editor Samuel P. Brown in July, 1854. “A few men can be found in almost every place,” Brown continued, “who have no regard for the laws, human or divine. Some people consider it necessary to labor on the Sabbath, whenever they can save an extra dollar by it, but we are thankful to know that the mass of people believe in and practice another way.”

Realizing that the weather often dictated this course of action, however, a respondent simply identified as “Frank” wrote Brown that “you censure those farmers who saw fit to spend some of the hours of last Sabbath in making hay. We had had several days of wet weather and their hay was considerably injured by being wet and remaining so for so long a time, and that, no doubt, was their reason for spending the Sabbath as they did. So far as I noticed, they did their work in a quiet way, not disturbing the whole village, or making any more noise or display than was absolutely necessary to accomplish their objective.”

Brown remained unmoved. “When a person takes his hay from the field upon a wagon, and gets on the top of his load, drives it through the main street, gleefully saluting others by the way, and after weighing his load returns in the same way, it looks to us a great deal like ‘more noise and display than is absolutely necessary’”.

To assist in haymaking, Middleborough farmers engaged agricultural laborers, as it was imperative to get the crop in before summer showers ruined it while it was still in the field. In 1869, Simeon M. Pratt paid $550 in wages and board to his hands, a considerable amount at that time, and a large portion of which was undoubtedly expended during haymaking season. Some farmers, like Jack Morey, engaged these laborers months in advance to ensure that they would be on hand at the appropriate time.

Though Nahum M. Tribou (a progressive farmer and former agricultural implement dealer who owned a farm between Muttock and Warrentown) had acquired a Ketchum mowing machine as early as haymaking time in 1859, and though mechanical mowers were exhibited and demonstrated locally the following year, it would be some years before the use of such machines to cut hay would become widespread. Until that time, great scythes (some with cradles attached) would be utilized and a number of Middleborough merchants such as grocer Ira Tinkham and George Waterman could generally be found advertising such implements in the local newspaper in early June, just before haying time. For example, in June, 1866, Tinkham touted “scythes in great variety, from the most celebrated manufactories in the country.”

Once cut, hay would be left where it lay to dry in the field for the day. The following day, it would be turned, and allowed to dry further. Finally, it would be gathered and brought in to the farmstead to store.

The chore of turning and loading hay was one often carried out by boys and young men who would turn the hay to dry, load it into wagons and transport it to barn lofts and hay mows where summer temperatures could well reach 100 degrees. Often the task had to be performed quickly when thunderheads were spotted on the horizon.

Rain was not the only threat to hay at harvest time. Carelessness, as well, could jeopardize a crop as indicated by the following report from July, 1891: “A Middleboro farmer had eight tons of hay vanish into thin air last week. The hay lay in long windrows ready to load, when the men thought to vary their work by burning out a “yellow tails’” nest. They started a fire and lit out. When they turned to see the hornets flying out of the flames with singed antennæ and smoky eyes, they beheld the hay crop burning briskly. The wind had shifted in a twinkling, and saved the hornets’ nest at the expense of the hay”.

The local production of hay remained a commercially important occupation, throughout the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth when the local dairy industry expanded rapidly. The decline of dairying, however, brought with it an equally rapid decline in hay cultivation, a now increasingly rare summer occupation locally.

Illustration:
Loaded Hay Wagon, cabinet card, late 19th century
This cabinet card is believed to depict an unidentified Middleborough farmer and his load of hay. Typically, hay wagons would be heavily loaded with dry hay which would be taken for weighing at scales at Middleborough Center or brought directly into barns where it would be stored for the season.

"Middleboro's Glorious Fourth", 1910

Illustration:
"Middleboro's Glorious Fourth", advertising postcard, 1910
This postal card helped advertise events which were included as part of Middleborough's celebration of Independence Day a hundred years ago. Included among them was a parade of "Antiques & Horribles", a tradition common to many communities in New England and beyond in which costumed participants dressed as horrifying or ridiculous characters. Notice the tower of Middleborough Town Hall just above the patriot's tri-corner hat.

King Philip Tavern History

The Lakeville Historical Commission in conjunction with P. O. L. L. (Preserve Our Lakeville Landmarks) has recently published a new addition to its series of historical booklets entitled Lakeville's King Philip Tavern: An Illustrated History by Michael J. Maddigan.

The King Philip Tavern of Lakeville, Massachusetts, enjoyed but a short-lived existence as an automobile inn in the decade following 1909 catering largely to tourists who traveled by automobile and made only brief stays before motoring on to their next destination. Such inns combining the amenities of the finest resort hotels with modern convenience and practicality were popular in the first quarter of the 20th century and anticipated the rise of roadside motor camps and cabins in the 1930s and motels in the post World War II era. In 1910, the year following its establishment, the King Philip was heralded as a “new breathing spot of the most attractive sort,” and despite the fact that it was leveled by fire nearly a century ago, the King Philip Tavern has become an integral part of Lakeville’s social history.

Originally a private residence owned first by the Washburn family of Lakeville and later by Fred C. Hinds of Newton who transformed it into a summer estate known as “Hindsmere”, the King Philip Tavern embodied the deep history of the vicinity. Today, few physical reminders remain to relate the story of the King Philip Tavern, and its site is now occupied by the United Church of Christ located in the historic Precinct Church at the junction of Precinct, Bedford and Main Streets opposite the equally historic Lakeville Town House. Yet, while the King Philip Tavern is no longer physically present, its tale is one which should not be relegated to history, for the story of this fascinating property and its immediate neighborhood touches upon the most important aspects of Lakeville’s heritage: its Native history and lore, the Federal era growth of the community and its subsequent “secession” from Middleborough in 1853, the incipient social development of Lake Assawompsett and surrounding ponds as a regional summer resort area following 1878, and the role these same lakes assumed as municipal water sources for the cities of southeastern Massachusetts with the incumbent issues and concerns which that status brought. It may in fact be argued that to a certain degree, the story of the King Philip Tavern is the story of Lakeville. [Taken from the book's preface].

Lavishly illustrated with dozens of color images and maps, the 44 page book documents the King Philip Tavern's origins, history and operation, as well as the rise of tourism along Lakeville's Assawompsett shoreline in the last quarter of the 19th century.

Lakeville's King Philip Tavern is available for purchase at the Lakeville Town Clerk's Office and the Lakeville Historical Society Museum on Bedford Street, as well as from the Lakeville Historical Commission. The cost is $10 and all proceeds benefit the programs of the Lakeville Historical Commission. Previous booklets including Historic Pierce Avenue, Salute to Those Who Serve, Old Main Street and Crooked Lane & A Self-Guided Tour of Main Street, and The History of Hill Top Farm in the Words of Lydia W. Rotch are also available and would make a fine addition to your local history library.

Illustrations:
Lakeville's King Philip Tavern: An Illustrated History (Lakeville, MA: Lakeville Historical Commission and P. O. L. L. [Preserve Our Lakeville Landmarks], 2010), cover.

King Philip Tavern, photograph, early 20th century.
Though the tavern itself is no longer extant, the granite and white quartz walls visible in this picture remain and help the modern viewer place the tavern, the site of which is now occupied by the Lakeville United Church of Christ.