History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog

Documentary History 57
warned him, for the British in possession of the Island of
Rhode Island doubtless knew of his operations. He took no
heed, however, the result was his capture in April 1779.
Died in Jersey Prison Ship.
Obadiah Slade
Josepli Brown
Theophilus Luther
of Swansea.
(See Tablet in Town Hall.)
Pioneer Schools
Dec. 19, 1673. "It was voted and ordered, nemine contradicente, that
a school be forthwith set up in this town for the teaching of grammar,
rhetoric, and arithmetic, and the tongues of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew;
also to read EngUsh and to write, and that a salary of forty pounds per
annum in current country pay, which passeth from man to man, be duly
paid from time to time, and at all times hereafter, and that John Myles, the
present pastor of the church here assembhng be the schoolmaster."
1698. Jonathan Bosworth was employed as teacher at £18, onefourth
in money and the rest in provisions at money prices.
1702. The town was fined £5 for not having a school, and employed
John Devotion at £12 and diet, and £20 for keeping a horse. (Terms of
school were kept in diflferent parts of the town.) The next year his pay was
£16; in 1709 he was employed for six years; in 1715 for twenty years
more."
(See Districts later, etc.)
Miles' Bridge— Lottery
One of the earliest bridges erected in this section of Bristol County was
the one at this point. It is impossible at this late day to ascertain the exact
date of the building of the first bridge at this point, but it was doubtless in
the early part of the last century, for the Provincial statutes of 1736-37
refer to a bridge called Miles' Bridge in a country road had theretofore been
constructed and had fallen into decay, and the towns of Swansea and
Barrington were ordered "to build a good and substantial cart bridge
across the said river in the country road aforesaid where the said bridge did
stand."
The present iron bridge was built in 1878. It is seventy-five feet long,
and rests on two abutments with wing walls.
In 1749 an act was passed allowing the town of Swansea to raise funds
by lottery for the rebuilding of this bridge, as follows:
—
"The Province of the Massachusetts Bay.
Dec. 11, 1749.
"An act to allow the town of Swansea, in the county of Bristol, to set
up and carry on a lottery for the rebuilding and keeping in repair Miles*
Bridge in said town
'* Whereas, by a law of this province mad in the sixth year of the reign
of his late Majesty King George the First, entitled, 'An act to suppress
lotteries', and another law made in the sixth year of his present Majesty's