Dexter Grist Mill in Sandwich Owned by Seth Pope (1689-1744)

I’ve stopped to take photos of Dexter Mill in Sandwich before but never timed it right to visit when it was open for tours until recently. It’s situated in the picturesque Sandwich Village on Shawme Pond, complete with a herring run that’s busy each spring and a pair of beautiful swans paddling about.

In 1640 Plymouth Colony granted Thomas Dexter six acres in Sandwich to build a water-powered grist mill to grind corn grown by the citizens of town. The operation was expanded to include fulling mills and a weave shop. 

According to tradition, my 9th great-grandfather Seth Pope was a peddler who was warned out of Sandwich. He settled in Dartmouth where he became a wealthy man—owning a wharf and warehouse in New Bedford. As an act of revenge for his earlier snubbing by Sandwich officials, he purchased substantial properties there, setting his sons up with beautiful homes. He also purchased Dexter’s mill for his son Seth to run. Seth is my 8th great-grandfather. 

According to our knowledgeable guide, the current mill building has gone through many renovations and reconstructions over the years. It was rebuilt in the 1960s using Dexter’s building plans. It is operational and the cornmeal ground there is available for purchase.

I’ve been fortunate now to visit three mills, or replicas of early mills, owned by my direct ancestors. The others are the Plimoth Grist Mill owned by John and Sarah Jenney and the Nye Mill in Sandwich owned by Benjamin Nye and then his son Jonathan. The mechanics of grinding are impressive. The stones are huge, weighing up to a ton, and are cut from a single block of stone. They are used in pairs, with a stationary bedstone and a top stone, called the runner stone, that rotates. They are carefully designed so they never actually touch each other and the distance is adjusted for different types of grain. There are grooves that allow air to pass through to allow the heat from the friction of grinding to escape so the grain would not burn. The heavy runner stone would have to be lifted to allow for dressing the stones on a regular basis, which involved cutting the furrows and shaping the surface.  

Mills were incredibly important in the colony as they provided a main food source and saved individuals much manual labor—towns granted land to millers who were typically upstanding citizens and also oversaw their work to ensure they were treating citizens fairly.  Millers would be paid by collecting a toll, a portion of each customer’s grain bought to the. Mill for grinding. Going to the mill was an important social activity as well. The miller in Plymouth told us that many folks would go to the mill themselves rather than send servants or children because they didn’t want to miss out on milling about and chatting with their neighbors. 

I also enjoy learning the idioms we still use that originated from the old water and wind mills:

Been through the mill

Run of the mill

Grist for the mill

The daily grind

Nose to the grindstone

Fair to middling

Three sheets to the wind

Rule of thumb

First come, first serve

Millstone around your neck

Seth had a quick commute—his home was just across the street from the mill at 10 Grove Street. The house is still standing and is gorgeous.  

I wrote more about Seth Pope here.

Francis Small (abt 1625-abt 1713) of Bideford England, Kittery Maine and Truro Massachusetts

 Francis Small (sometimes Smalley or Smale) has been an interesting man to research—as a child he came from England with his father to live in the Maine wilderness. He grew up to be a fisherman, a trader with the Indians, and reportedly the largest private landowner in the history of Maine. He learned to speak the Abenaki language so was hired to communicate between European settlers and Native Americans. He escaped a murder plot by local Native Americans who owed him money. Long court battles by Francis as well as his descendants over his land brings to mind Bleak House by Charles Dickens as they seem to have been never ending. Because of a lack of vital records in the early District of Maine, much of this sketch does not meet the genealogical proof standard. Francis is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.

Francis Small was baptized 6 October 1625 at St. Mary’s, Bideford, Devonshire, the son of Edward Small. [Hoard] His mother’s name was Elizabeth and her maiden name is unknown. 

Baptismal font where Francis was baptized

St. Mary's Bideford; only tower remains of original building

Some time about 1635 Francis migrated to New England with his father, Edward, settling in the District of Maine, then part of Massachusetts. It does not appear his mother ever joined them as she died in Bideford in 1665. It is also not known whether his father Edward died in Maine or returned to England at some point. [Underhill]

In 1647 Edward was among the first settlers of Piscattaqua Plantation which later became the town of Kittery. He became a large landowner and was an important citizen, elected a Magistrate and Counsellor. There is no definitive proof that the Edward and Francis Small in the Bideford baptism record are the ones who were in Maine but it seems very likely and is generally accepted. [Underhill]

The earliest record of Francis Small is on a Dover, New Hampshire 1648 tax list, where he is rated 10 pounds, a considerable amount. [Wentworth]

About 1651 Francis married a woman named Elizabeth whose maiden name is not known. Some people identify her maiden name as Leighton, daughter of Thomas and Joahanna (Silsby) Leighton, but without a source.  

Elizabeth and Francis had at least eight children, birth order uncertain. First three likely born in Falmouth (now Portland) Maine. 

1. Edward born about 1652; married Mary Woodman and had eight daughters; lived at Oyster River (now Durham, New Hampshire) and later was one of the first settlers at Chatham on Cape Cod; was a boatyard carpenter; died April 1702

2. Francis born about 1654; married a woman named Elizabeth and had at least two sons; was a boatyard carpenter; removed to Truro on Cape Cod where he died in the winter of 1709/10

3. Mary born about 1656; married Nicholas Frost and had at least seven children; lived at Kittery

4. Benjamin born about 1660 possibly at Sabascodegan, Maine; removed to Eastham on Cape Cod where he married Rebecca Snow about 1694 and with whom he had 10 children (she was a descendant of Mayflower passengers Constance Hopkins and her father Stephen Hopkins); later moved to nearby Truro and then to Lebanon, Connecticut where he died before 4 June 1721

5. Samuel born about 1666; was a carpenter; stayed on at his father’s homestead in Kittery; did not have children and have not found any indication of a marriage

6. Alice who married a man named Wormwood

7. Elizabeth; married John Pugsley; lived Dover and Kittery and had at least three children

8. Daniel who was a carpenter and later a whaler appears to be the youngest; had at least five children but his wife’s name is not known; removed to Truro where his parents lived with him in their later years; received a good deal of his father’s Maine land

None of their births were recorded but they are shown to be their children in a variety of records. Newspaper notices in 1774 were signed by some of Francis’ descendants including Samuel Small and Benjamin Small. Samuel and Daniel were deeded land by their father. Squire Paine recalled a conversation with Francis where the latter mentioned his sons Edward, Francis, Samuel, Benjamin, and Daniel. Alice was remembered in her brother Francis Small’s 1709 will. In a 1677 deposition Mary Frost identified her father as Francis Small. Daniel deeded to his sister Elizabeth Pugsley 20 acres of the hundred that was granted to his father. I descend from Benjamin whom I wrote about here.

Places in Maine and New Hampshire where Francis lived and/or owned trading camps include: Sturgeon Creek (later North Precinct of Kittery; currently Eliot); Piscattaqua/Pascataway (now Kittery but at the time comprised what is now also Eliot, South Berwick, Berwick); the fishing village of Pemaquid; Casco Bay (encompassed 13 coastal towns including current day Portland); Falmouth and Capisic (in what is now Portland); a fishing place called Ammomingan; Sebascodegan Island (then called Great Island or Small’s Island and now part of the town of Harpswell). Also lived in Oyster River (now Dover New Hampshire) where he was on the 1648 tax list and the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Portsmouth. 

source: wikisource

In a 10 May 1683 deposition, Francis Smale states he was about 56 years old and his wife Eilzabeth Smale was about 49 years old. [Underhill]

In a 8 September 1685 deposition Francis Small states he is age 65, but perhaps he was exaggerating. He stated that he helped drive yellow cattle to Boston about 40 years earlier—probably the first major cattle drive from Maine to Boston. Yelllow cattle came from Denmark and were very large. [Libby, Genealogical Dictionary]

It would seem, like most white men of that time period, that Francis tried to take advantage of Native Americans in his business dealings as he paid seemingly little for vast amounts of land. Francis purchased large parcels of land from Native Americans. In 1657 he purchased from Indian Sagamore Scitterygussett of Casco Bay a tract of land at Capissicke (now Portland) and Ammoningan where he built a house. [Underhill]

In 1663 he purchased a large tract of land comprising the northern and some of the middle part of the present County of York. It contained land 20 miles square lying and being between the rivers of Great Ossipee and Little Ossipee. [Bartlett citing York County Deeds vol 42, folio 239]

Lora Underhill’s book contains her extensive research into Francis’ land transactions and the court battles over his land. She relays an interesting story about one such purchase, from old papers once belonging to Major Nicholas Shapleigh: “In the summer of 1668, Francis Small sold goods to the Newichewannock tribe of Indians on credit, for which they were to pay in furs during the autumn; but, when the time of payment drew near, the red men deemed it easier to kill Small than to pay him, and they decided to fire his house and shoot him when he came out to escape the flames. Captain Sandy, the chief of the tribe, was friendly to Small and told him what the Indians were to do; and, as he could not control them int he matter, he advised Small to flee for his life. Small thought the tale a cunningly devised fable to frighten him away in order to avoid payment; but, when night came on, thinking it wise to be on the side of safety, he secreted himself in some pines on a hill near by and watched through the long November night. With the coming of the dawn, a flame of fire shot up from the burning house, whereupon Small took to his heels with all possible speed, and did not pause until he had reached the settlement.” 

Captain Sandy made good on the loss caused by debt and fire, conveying to Francis Small of Kittery, Indian trader, the entire Ossipee great tract which was twenty miles square (256,00 acres!), between the two rivers of great Ossipee and little Ossipee, the same land where Francis Small’s trading house stands and from the River Nechewanock near Humphrey Chadborn’s logging camp and to extend northerly and easterly to Saco River. The chief signed by his mark (his ancestral totem of a turtle) on 28 November 1668. It was not recorded until 28 August 1773. Probably no deed in the entire current state of Maine has caused so many lawsuits as this conveyance. Francis’ payment for this giant parcel of land was two large Indian blankets, two gallons of rum, two pounds of powder, four pounds of musket balls, 20 strings of Indian beads with several other articles.

In 1671 Francis was granted 100 acres of land in the Parish of Unity (now South Berwick) by the Kittery Selectmen. [Underhill] Presumably Francis would have also received land from his father.

In a meeting at Boston of the proprietors of “The Pejapescot Company” on 24 May 1716, it was “voted that a town be laid out at Small Point.” This place “was on the shore of Small Point Harbor, near where Francis Small had had a trading-house, from which, with John Hanson and probably others, he was driven out by the Indian War, about 1690.” [Trask]

The area of Maine where the Small’s lived was decimated by the Indian Wars, in particular King Philip’s War of 1675-8. Of course the Native Americans had many reasons for reacting with violence toward the European settlers, but that wouldn’t have made it any less terrifying to experience. During the height of that war the Smalls lived with their neighbors at the garrison house of Major Shapleigh. Their daughter Mary Frost and two of her children were captured by Indians in 1693 but apparently escaped. 

Likely weary of the dangerousness of living in Maine and the court cases about land ownership, Francis and Elizabeth removed to Cape Cod in the early 1700s. Francis was at Truro at the time it was incorporated in 1709. Francis and Elizabeth lived with their son Daniel. [Deyo] Francis and Daniel were the first to own cattle in town; perhaps they brought yellow cows from Maine. 

Francis died circa 1713 at Truro at about 88 years of age. Elizabeth’s death date is not known but she was alive about 1711. In a 1781 deposition, Francis’ granddaughter Anna Dyer (daughter of Daniel Small) stated Francis had severe palsy in his lands late in life that he was not able to hold a coal of fire to his pipe for several years before a 1712 deed from Francis to Daniel was executed. She felt sure he wasn’t able to sign his name for near seven years before. When questioned further, she said it was at least two years that he could not sign his name, causing him to sign with his mark. Francis died within two or three years after he deeded the land in question to Daniel. The deposition was concerning the legitimacy of Francis’ mark on the deed, as he was a man who could write. [Libby, The Ossipee Townships]

Squire Paine, a Truro lawyer, recalled Francis telling him about a year before his death that “his Son Edward was dead, and his son Francis was dead, his son Samuel was then Liveing at Piscataqua on his Home Place, and his son Benjamin had moved to Coneticut, & his son Daniel had maintained him and his Wife Six or Seven Years and Must Maintain them as Long as they lived.” 

While learning about Francis, I kept thinking of what a challenging life Elizabeth led. She followed her husband from town to town in the Maine wilderness, creating a life for herself and her children while her husband was away from home for long periods of time. She lived through years of intense danger, sometimes staying in a garrison, crowed in with other families for long periods of time, as protection during the Indian wars. She experienced the fear of her daughter and grandchildren being taken by Native Americans. The Cape has always felt like a calming refuge to me, so I’m glad that it is in that peaceful place Elizabeth lived out her final days. 

Sources:

Simeon L. Deyo, editor, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1890: 

Charles T. Libby, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, 1928, p 640

Ralph S. Bartlett, NEHGS Register, “Alexander Shapleigh of Kittery Maine and Some of His Descendants,” 95:184 (April 1941)

George T. Wentworth (communicated by), NEHGS Register, “Extracts from the Old Town Records of Dover NH,” 4:31 (1850)

Lyon J. Hoard, The American Genealogist, “The Jackson and Small Families of Canterbury NH,” 53:138 (1977)

Charles T. Libby (communicated by), NEHGS Register, “The Ossipee Townships—Deposition of Anna Dyer,” 35:336-7 (1881)

William Nickerson (1646-1719) and His Wife Mercy Williams of Yarmouth and Chatham, Massachusetts

William Nickerson was baptized 1 June 1646 at Barnstable on Cape Cod. [NFA; I haven’t found the primary document] He was likely born  at Yarmouth, one of the ten children of William and Anne (Busby) Nickerson. His father was the founder of Monomoit (later Chatham) on Cape Cod, first illegally buying 4,000 acres from Native Americans but eventually working things out with the Colony leaders. Sometimes Nickerson is seen as Nicholson in records. I wrote about William and Anne Nickerson here. Because William and Mercy lived in new settlements, there is a lack of vital records pertaining to the family. 

About 1670 William Nickerson married Mercy Williams, whose name is sometimes spelled Marcy. [NFA] Mercy and William are my 10th great-grandparents on my grandmother Milly Booth Rollins’ side of the family. Mercy was born about 1644, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Tart) Williams of Eastham. William Nickerson’s brother John married Mercy’s sister Sarah.

William and Mercy raised their children in Chatham, birth order uncertain [Hawes & NFA]:

1. Thomas married Mary Bangs, the daughter of Jonathan of Harwich; was a Lieutenant in the militia 

2. William married first Deliverance Lumbert/Lombard the daughter of Caleb and second Hannah/Anna Atwood, probably daughter of Eldad of Eastham; was an Ensign in the militia 

3. Nathaniel married Katherine Stuard/Stuart, the daughter of Hugh

4. Robert marred Rebecca Jones, the daughter of Jeremiah of Yarmouth

5. Mercy married first William Mitchell and second James Griffith

6. Elizabeth married William Cahoon of Swansea, son of William and went to Duck Creek

7. Judith married Nathaniel Covell, son of Nathaniel

They may have also had an older daughter Judith who died young. I descend from William and Deliverance; I wrote about them here.

In 1663 William Nickerson signed a letter asking the court to give his father the land at Monomoit that he wanted to give to his children (Plymouth Colony Records, 4:153). 

On 3 June 1668 William Nickerson [Senior] and his sons, presumably including William, were sentenced to time in the stocks for resisting Yarmouth constable Thomas Howes in performing his duty. [PCR, 183-184] 

On 6 July 1686 the Plymouth Court Records show that William was sued by Samuel Hall of Yarmouth.  Samuel's complaint against William Nickerson, late of Yarmouth, was for £12 which he refused or had forgotten to pay for earlier services.  The issue was resolved before the case was heard.  Another suit was brought by Thomas Fallen Jr. of Yarmouth, in the same court, for William's failure to pay him.  This case was also resolved before it reached court.  [Plymouth Colony Records, Judicial Acts, 299]

Mercy is shown to be the daughter of Thomas Williams when she is mentioned in the 10 May 1692 will of Thomas Williams of Eastham. His probate record also proved her marriage to William. Thomas left his homestead to his grandchild John Smith, one shilling “and no more” to his grandchild William Nickerson the son of John,  and the rest of his estate to be divided equally by his four daughters Sarah, Marcy, Elizabeth, Mary and the children of his daughter Sarah Mulford. Thomas Williams’ inventory was taken 12 October 1696 and totaled over £106. On 26 October 1696 the heirs signed a document that they received their just proportion from Jonathan Sparrow and Joshua Bangs executors of  the estate of “our father Tho Williams Deceased,” included Marcy Nickerson (her mark) and witnessed by two men named William Nickerson. [Barnstable County Probate 2:25-28]

Before a Chatham Church was built, William was a member of the Eastham Church. When in 1700 the Chatham citizens voted to construct a meetinghouse, George Godfrey and William Nickerson were selected to oversee the construction. They also agreed to the following; "that every man that had a team should drag one load of the timber.” In 1701 the building had no shingles, clapboards or glass for the windows, rough benches were placed inside for women to sit on one side and men on the other.  On 7 September 1712 Mercy Nickerson was dismissed from the Eastham Church to the Harwich Church. Since a church had been built in town, I’m unsure why Mercy wasn’t attending church in Chatham. Perhaps a suitable minister had not been found. 

William Jr. was a soldier in King Philip's War under Capt. Henry Gold. I also read that William Nickerson was paid 2 pounds, 14 shillings for service on the fourth expedition with Capt. Pierce. I am not sure refer to same William. 

William Nickerson took freeman’s oath on 24 June 1690. [PCR 257]

William served the town of Chatham in a variety of ways, although it is sometimes challenging to differentiate between him and his father William. He was grand juryman in 1681 [PCR 60], appointed constable in 1683 and 1700 [PCR 107], appointed inspector of whales in 1690 [PCR 251], was the first Town Clerk,  a position he held for 15 years, treasurer for six years, Selectman for six years [Chatham Town Records, Deyo’s History of Barnstable Co.], and assessor in 1702. 

In 1712 William Nickerson signed a petition as a Selectman asking the state House of Representatives and Gov. Dudley to exempt townsmen from military service so they could protect the town from the threat from French privateers; petition was denied. 

Ca 1700 Chatham Settlers' Map; William's homestead on top right (source: Nickerson Family Assocation)

William was a large land owner in Chatham, not surprising since his father founded the town. Some of the land transactions he was involved in:

• By a deed of 2 December 1687 he received title from his father and sister Sarah Covell to one-half of all the undivided and unpurchased lands at Monomoit and full title to Monamesset Neck which was between Crow’s Pond and Pleasant Bay. [Hawes]
• On 29 August 1689 he bought from the three grandsons of Mattaquason land at Old Harbor in Chatham where he constructed a home and is known to have resided there for some time. [Smith]
• On 5 December 1692 John Freeman and Jonathan Sparrow of Eastham laid out to him and Sarah Covell the bounds of the un-purchased lands to which they were entitled from their late father William Nickerson. [Plymouth Colony Deeds 109] 
• By deeds dated 6 Oct 1693 and 5 July 1697 he and Mrs. Covel conveyed to Samuel Sprague of Marshfield a part of the land they received in 1692 and an undivided one-third interest in the rest. [Plymouth Colony Deeds, 500-501] On 27 June 1694 he and Samuel Smith bought of John Quason Jr a tract of land at Old Harbor. [Smith] 
• On 13 October 1702 William Nickerson, Nathaniel, William and Ephraim Covel and Samuel Sprague conveyed a portion of land in West Chatham to Michael Stewart. [Hawes citing Thomas Doane Papers]  
• On 13 Oct 1702 William gave land at Monamesset Neck and other property to son William. [Hawes citing Osborn Nickerson Papers] 
• On 11 July 1706 William and Mercy conveyed her land at the Old Harbor to their son Thomas. 
• On 13 October 1707 he conveyed his homestead and other land to his son Robert, reserving a life interest for his wife and himself. 
• On 23 Feb 1709/10, he gave more undivided Chatham land including land north of Muddy Cove to his four sons.  [Smith] 
• In 1713 he was allotted nine shares in the division of Chatham common lands. [Hawes citing Proprietors’ Book]

William died intestate at Chatham probably not long before 7 April 1719 when his widow Mercy Nickerson was appointed Administratrix. [Barnstable County Probate 3:332]

Mercy survived her husband by 20 years but did not remarry, dying 7 April 1739. She was in her 90s, an incredible age for a woman in that time period.

From Diary of Rev. Joseph Lord, printed in the Yarmouth Register 17 Dec 1846: "7 (2) 1739 [second month, old style, is April] died here Mrs. Mercy Nicholson aged ninety years or more (as is judged) and some say ninety-five (for she could not tell her own age). She was born in Eastham and has left a numerous posterity, 146 being now living in this land. Beside which there was a daughter of hers that above twenty years ago went to a place called Duck Creek in Pennsylvania or West Jersey of whose posterity her relations here cannot inform who are living; but she carried seven children with her when she went. I was afterwards informed by her son that he had found 157 of her posterity living here in this county. And Duck Creek I am informed is in Pennsylvania on ye borders of Maryland."

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

The Nickerson Family Association (NFA), The Descendants of William Nickerson 1604-1689 First Settler of Chatham, Massachusetts, 1973

Charles Swift, History of Old Yarmouth, 1884

William Smith, History of Chatham: Formerly the Constablewick or Village of Monomoit, 1909

CCGS Bulletin, Summer 2001, article on Chatham History re-printed from the Yarmouth Register 30 April 1858

Torrey’s New England Marriages

James W. Hawes, Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy No 91: Children of William (1) Nickerson, 1912