Peter CRAPO

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1790, Freetown, Bristol Co., Mass.
• Census: 1800, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts
• Census: 1820, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts
• Death: 10 Mar 1822, Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA

Notes:

Excerpt from "Certain Comeoverers": Peter Crapo, the second of the name, the son of John, the son of Peter, was born in 1743. He seems to have been a stirring sort of man of strong character, great energy and considerable achievement. There are many stories of his forceful methods and abounding vitality. When fifteen years of age it would appear that he volunteered from Rochester in the French and Indian War. At all events there was a Peter Crapo who was one of the company that met at Elijah Clapp's in Middleboro on the morning of May 29, 1758, and at a little afer sunrise commenced its march to and participated in the bloody and disastrous battle of Ticonderoga in which their General, Lord Howe, was slain. It certainly seems more probable that the Pter Crapo who wewnt on this expendition was this Peter, the son of John, born in 1743, rather than his uncle, the only other Peter then existant, who was born in 1709 and would consequently have been almost fifty years of age.
With such an experience in his boyhood it is not surprising that in the alarm of the nineteenth of April, 1775 (the battle of Lexington of which Paul Revere gave warning on the evening of the eighteenth), Peter Crapo as a private, and his brother Consider as Sergeant, marched under Captain Levi Rounseville from Freetown to the camp at Cambridge, as is set forth in the muster rolls at the State House in Boston. How long he served at this time I know not. It is possible, although not likely pehaps, that with Benedict Arnold he again traversed the road to Ticonderoga, leaving Cambridge May 3, and, joining Ethan Allen, assisted in the capture of the fortress on May 10. It is somewhat interesting that in response to this same alarm of April 19, 1775, men contains these two names in sequence, "William Crapo, corporal, Caleb Coombs, private." In the records of Rochester's quotas throughout the war the name of Crapo appears many times.
Peter again appears on the muster rolls as a private, his brother Consider as a sergeant, and his brother Joshua as a corporal, in Lieutenant Nathaniel Morton's company of militia from Freetown belonging to the regiment commanded by Edeard Pope, Esquire, which marched out on the alarm of December 8, 1776, "agreeable to the orders of the Honorable Council thereon." On this occasion Peter was given twenty days' pay, to wit: L2. 10s. 8d.
It was, however, as an active man of business that he has left his footsteps on the sands of time. You will remember that the first Peter was something of a lumberman, since he bound himself to deliver those "one thousand good merchantable rails at Acutshnet landing," and his grandson Peter's greatest effort in life was as a lumberman, logging the cedar and pine trees of Dartmouth and Freetown and sawing them at his mill at Babbitt's Forge at the head of the Quampanoag River. Afterwards his grandson, Henry H. Crapo, by a somewhat curious turn of fortune, became a lumberman and logged the pine forests of Michigan, sawing the lumber at Flint.
At what date Peter, the second, moved from Rochester to Freetown is not certain. I find a deed of land in Freetown from Bigford Spooner in 1770 to Peter's brother Joshua. This land was in the vicinity of the land which Peter later occupied. Joshua did not remain in Freetown. He is said to have imigrated to Maine. Peter and his brother Consider were settled in Freetown in 1773. They were engaged in the lumber business. In 1774 and for nearly twenty years thereafter Peter and Consider Crapo were actively engaged in logging and sawing as appears by the numerous recorded deeds to them. Their sawmill was "partly in Freetown and partly in Dartmouth" at the place called "Quampog where a forge formerly stood called Babbitt's Forge." At one time an Abraham Ashley and a Mereba Hathaway, a widow, were partners in their business. John Crapo, their father, conveyed several tracts of land to them and seems to have been interest with them in their business and may have lived with them for a time. He is always described, however, as "of Rochester." Some after 1790 Consider withdrew from the business and moved to Savoy, Massachusetts. The deeds of partition between the brothers are dated in 1797. Both brothers were owners of considerable tracts in Dartmouth, owning salt meadows on Sconticut in Troy, now Fall River. In 1793 Consider sold his homestead farm to Thomas Cottle of Tisbury, Dukes County, who removed thither. This was in the immediate vicinity of the sawmill since he reserved to his brother Peter a right of flowage appears to have taken in Richard Collins as a partner in the business. In 1793 the sawmill burned down but it apears to have been rebuilt. Down to the time of his death in 1822, Peter Crapo, as abundantly appears by the land and court records, was actively engaged in business.
Peter had a large family of children, fourteen in all, and it would seem that his manner of caring for them was distinctly patriarchal. As each child came of age and was about to be married, he summoned all the other children, the married and the unmarried, to undertake some special work whose profit might be devoted to settling the child to be married. In the case of a daughter with a dowry, in the case of a son with a homestead farm. It was in this way that by the united efforts of the whole family your great great grandfather Jesse was given his home and farm on the Rockadunda Road near the home of his wife's father, Henry Howland.
Peter kept the title of the various farms acquired for his sons in his own name, and when he died left them severally by his will, dated February 20, 1822, to their occupants, devising his own homestead fram, which, as appears by the inventory of his estate, was much the most valuable, to his youngest son Abiel, the baby of the family, on whom he placed the duty of caring for his widow. To his widow he also gave fifty dollars, one cow, and "the use and improvement of the south front room in my dwelling house with a privilege to pass and repass through the kitchen and porch and to the well to draw water, as well as a privilege in the cellar and the use and improvement of all the household furniture during her life." Considering her somewhat limited domain all the furniture may have been too liberal, but it is to be hoped that Abiel really did do his duty and made his mother comfortable. He gives to his "seven daughters" three hundred and fifty dollars each, and all of his household furniture after his widow's death. His estate was inventoried at something over $10,000, which was in those days a considerable estate.
Peter Crapo married Sarah West. The "intention of Marriage" is recorded in the Rochester town records, whereby it appears that Peter Crapo of Rochester and Sarah West of Dartmouth were "published" May ye 18th, 1766. They were married by Doctor Samuel West on NOvember 13, 1766, as appears by Doctor West's notes, which were found by the Rev. William J. Potter in an old attic in a house in Tiverton belonging to one of the famous old gentleman's descendants. It is not probable that Sarah West was related to Doctor West. She may have been an unrecorded daugher of one Charles West, originally of Middleboro, who doubtless descended from the Duxbury Wests. He lived in Bristol County at one time, and he was to some extent connected in business relations with the Crapos. Or, she may have belonged to one of the numberous Dartmouth Families of West, who were for the most part descended from Matthew West, who was in Lynn in 1636 and was subsequently of Portsmouth.. the fact that she was married by Doctor West leads me to suspect that she lived in that part of Dartmouth, now Acushnet, near the Rochester line. If so, she may have been a descentant of Stephen West who married one of John Cooke's daughters. When Sarah died, Peter married Content Hathaway of Dartmouth, and again the marriage ceremony was performed by Doctor West on October 13, 1789. At that time Peter was in Freetown and it may be that he chose for his second helpmeet a relative or friend of the the first. Many of the descendants of Stephen West and Arthur Hawthaway, both sons in law of John Cooke, lived in the northeasterly part of the town of Dartmouth not far from Rochester bounds. Sarah died May 6, 1789, in the forty-second year of her age. Her gravestone of grey slate with carved cherubims and a scriptural verse stands on the right side of Peter's stone. He died March 3, 1822, aged seventy-nine years. On his left is the stone of Content Hathaway, who died October 27, 1826, in the sixty-eighth year of her age. All three stones are well preserved and are placed in an old private burial ground, where many of Peter's descendants lie buried, in North Dartmouth, not far from Braley's Station, and near the dwelling house formerly of Malachi White.

Peter married Sarah WASTE on 13 Nov 1766 in Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. Sarah (daughter of Charles N. WASTE and Deborah WILLIAMSON) was born on 04 Sep 1748 in Freetown, Bristol Co., Massachusetts; died on 16 May 1789 in Freetown, Bristol Co., Massachusetts; was buried in Crapo Cemetery, Freetown, Bristol Co., Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Peter married Content PECKHAM on 13 Oct 1789 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Content (daughter of James PECKHAM and Deborah HAMMOND) was born in 1754 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 27 Oct 1826; was buried in Crapo Cemetery, Freetown, Bristol Co., Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Azubah married Job SHERMAN on 12 Oct 1788 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. Job was born on 07 May 1763 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 06 Apr 1852 in Collins, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1800, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts
• Census: 1820, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts

Richard married Elizabeth CROSSMAN on 18 Dec 1796 in Westport, Massachusetts. Elizabeth was born in Aug 1772 in Westport, Massachusetts; died on 24 Jul 1861 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Mary SHERMAN on 29 Jun 1789 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. Mary was born in 1773. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Peter married Peace WOODLE on 1 Mar 1793 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Peter married Mary Clark SPOONER on 05 Sep 1802 in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Mary (daughter of Caleb SPOONER and Sarah CRAPO) was born on 29 May 1783 in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 27 Mar 1856 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: Abt 1776
• Census: 1810, Freetown, Bristol Co., Mass.
• Census: 1820, Freetown, Bristol Co., Mass.

Charles married Sarah LUCAS on 26 Jun 1802 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. Sarah was born on 06 Oct 1782 in Carver, Massachusetts; died on 20 Aug 1878 in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1800, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts
• Census: 1820, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts

Reuben married Deborah WOOD on 01 Oct 1797 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Reuben married Cynthia DEVOLL on 01 Nov 1812 in Westport, Massachusetts. Cynthia (daughter of Abner DEVOLL and Lydia MILK) was born in 1788 in Westport, Massachusetts; died in 1853. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Elijah WORDELL on 08 Jul 1793 in Westport, Massachusetts. Elijah was born in 1770; died on 17 Nov 1833 in Westport, Massachsuetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John HILL. John was born about 1775. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married John HASKELL on 28 Jan 1796 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. John (son of Josiah HASKELL and Margaret WESTCOAT) was born about 1768; died on 09 Jun 1857 in Fall River, Bristol County, Massachustts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1820, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts

Notes:

Excerpt from "Certain Comeoverers"; In 1798, Peter Crapo purchased from Thomas Russell a farm of ninety acres extending from Buzzard's Bay westerly to the Bakertown Road half way between the road from Smith's Neck to Russell's Mills and Macomber's Corner, near the "Gulf Road." It may be that Jesse was sent by his father to cut the hay off the salt meadows and perhaps he boarded with Henry Howland. If so he must have found the accommodations somewhat limited in a little farm house with fifteen children more or less. However it happened, he picked out Phebe Howland as his helpmeet, and she proved, in deed, his better half.
After they were married they lived for a time with Jesse's father, Peter Crapo, in Freetown near the Dartmouth line, or in Dartmouth near the Freetown line, I know not which. It was there that your great grandfather Henry Howland Crapo was born, May 24, 1804. Evidently the plan arranged for the newly married pair was that they should acquire a farm on the Rockadunda Road not far from the bride's birthplace. Soon after the marriage the work on the new home must have commenced. It was very soon after 1804 that Jesse Crapo and his wife with their little son Henry Howland moved into the new house. The deed of the property from Barnabas and William Sherman to Peter Crapo was given in 1807, and not recorded until 1826. Perhaps Jesse Crapo with the aid of his father and his brothers and sisters did not finally pay for his property until 1807. It seems clear, however, that he was living on the Rockadunda farm soon after 1804. In 1822, he purchased of Silas Kirby five acres adjoining. In 1830, he purchased of Reuben Kelley seven acres adjoining. He also owned the "Barbary Mash" purchased of Barbary Russell, and an undivided fourth part of the marsh at the "Great Meadows" which his father had left to him and his brothers Charles, Reuben, and Abiel.
Jesse Crapo was a kindly, lovable man, whose gentle nature and recognized rectitude led him to be chosen on several occasions as an arbitrator in the disputes of the neighborhood. In him the restless ambition which distinguished his father and his great grandfather lay dormant, in order, perhaps, that he might transmit it in redoubled intensity to his eldest son. It is characteristic of him that he should have been a private in the militia company of which his son, who had not reached his majority, was the Captain. Hard, unremitting labor brought from the farm a mere subsistence. He would not, indeed, have been called poor as Dartmouth farmers went. It was a good sized farm with considerable land in tillage. He had stock, and doubtless a horse and chaise. The farm buildings were substantial. The dwelling house unusually ample and comfortable for its day. Yet surplus money and the opportunities and luxuries which money may bring were never within his achievement. He died January 11, 1831, in the fiftieth year of his age. Just before he passed away he asked to have your grandfather, William Wallace Crapo, who was a baby of eight months, placed on his bed beside him.

Jesse married Phoebe HOWLAND between 23 Apr and 10 Jul 1803. Phoebe (daughter of Henry HOWLAND and Rhoda CHASE) was born on 29 Mar 1785 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 22 Dec 1870 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Deborah married Silas KIRBY, Jr. on 18 Sep 1808 in Westport, Massachusetts. Silas was born on 09 Jun 1784 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 16 Mar 1861 in Shirley, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Content married Malicha WHITE on 08 Sep 1811 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Malicha was born on 07 Oct 1785 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA; died on 15 Jul 1865 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Excerpt from "Certain Comeoverers": In 1886 an enterprising reporter of the Boston Globe found an interesting subject for a character sketch which I happened to glance at. Near Jucketram Furnace in East Freetown, on the shore of Long Pond, he found an old lady ninety-four years old on the twenty-fifth of September, 1886, named Susanna Howland. According to the reporter she was a most remarkable old lady, being a tireless worker at all manner of farm labor in the fields and woods, and in the farm kitchen, hoeing, digging, chopping, berrying in the swamp, planting the garden and harvesting. In her later years she had, as a pastime, woven three thousand yards of homespun cloth. The neighbors told queer stories about finding this ninety-four year old woman in the woods chopping wood with an axe, clad in men's attire, trousers, vest and blouse, with stout top boots, working away for dear life with all the grit and abandon of a backwoodsman. Just why I persisted in reading this long tale of vigorous old age I know not, but as I read, I gradually came to the realization that this remarkable old woman was your great great grandfather Jesse Crapo's sister. Alive in 1886, just think of it! And she bore the name of her great great great great grandmother Susanna White who came over in the Mayflower. The reporter describes her as saying: "My father's name was Peter Crapo. He owned a great deal of property. The Indians used to say 'Old Peter Crapo's jacket hung in the woods was worth more than all the eel-spearing in Long Pond at sunrise.' When I was a girl on my father's farm I remember how he would go out with the neighbors and search in the old fields for the corn the Indians were always stealing from the settlers. The Red Skins would plant it just below the surface of the ground in big pits that would hold bushels and bushels and then they would turn the ground up all around so that no one could tell where the pits were. The white men would go out with their horses and ploughs and plough these fields until the corn pits were found, and sometimes the Indians would be prowling round in the woods and when they say the corn was found, sometimes there would be a skirmish and somebody killed." Susanna Howland seems to have been the daughter of her father. She may have inherited all the energy and grit which should have been the share of her brother Jesse.

Susanna married Jedediah HOWLAND on 04 Jun 1815 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Jedediah (son of Ebenezer HOWLAND and Hope ALLEN) was born about 1788 in Middleborough, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; died on 28 May 1847 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Orinda married Lemuel ROBBINS on 22 Sep 1817 in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. Lemuel was born on 13 Jun 1795 in Middleboro, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; died on 10 Nov 1877 in Lakeville, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1820, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts

Abial married Phebe DEVOLL on 30 Jun 1816 in Westport, Massachusetts. Phebe (daughter of Abner DEVOLL and Lydia MILK) was born in Feb 1792 in Westport, Massachusetts; died on 06 Nov 1862 in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1810, Lynn, Essex Co., Mass.