Briefly...

Commotion, Massachusetts?

It may he hard to believe, but when Divisionists, George Clapp, Washington Reed and other East Abingtonians wanted to break away from the town of Abington and incorporate as their own community...they met in January 1874 to decide the name of the new town and two people petitioned for "Commotion".   Others suggested "Aberdeen", "Highland", "Albion", "Glenwood", "Rock", "Benton", "Alton", "Underwood" and "Aalberg", one even voted to keep the name, East Abington.  In the end, 19 voted for Andrew, 69 chose Hatherly and 114 selected Rockland.   When they filed their petition to the State to form a new town on January 21, 1874 - the same day the residents of South Abington filed to form their own town of Whitman - the name on the document was Rockland and on March 10, 1874, Rockland as it is, was born.

The history of East Abington began well before the village's separation from Old Abington.   The first settlers of the area that became Rockland took advantage of the selling off of the Hatherly Grant, a nine square mile tract of land deeded to merchant-adventurer Timothy Hatherly and others in 1656 in compensation for "problems" with another tract in Cohasset.  The land delineated as Hatherly's made up two-thirds of present day Rockland and the Northern end of Town still retains the neighborhood name (there's a historical marker up in the swampy acres off North Union Street, on private property so wait for a tour...).   

The settlers on Hatherly's Grant and then Cornet Robert Stetson's purchase to the south, cut down virgin Pine stands that covered the area to feed the great new shipbuilding yards on the North River in Hanover.    These yards were churning out hulls for well-known vessels like Columbia, the first ship to circumnavigate the globe under the American flag and Beaver, of Boston Tea Party fame.  The Thaxter family came from Hingham in 1703 to build the first sawmill on Cushing's Pond on East Water Street.  Stephen French constructed and operated a mill on Market Street about 1705.

When lumber production slowed, the local settlers looked out across the expanse of cleared land and adopted the next logical vocations, herding and farming.   Out in those fields, the seeds of Rockland were planted.   In 1712, the General Court in Plymouth recognized the incorporation of the town of Abington.  The village of East Abington began to grow as Weymouth residents moved over the northern border and settlers of West Hanover moved in from the East.   Farming remained the major industry of East Abington until Thomas Hunt, a traveling shoemaker, arrived with a handful of tools in 1793.   Hunt soon established a shop in the northern section of East Abington village. From this simple act grew the spirit of a community. By 1832, six full-fledged factories were producing twice as many shoes as neighboring Brockton. By 1865, East Abington shoe manufacturers were producing $3.5 Million worth of shoes & boots, supplying most of the Union Army, employing 3,000 workers.

By 1874, disagreements arose between Old Abington and East Abington over tye spending of tax dollars on local schools.  The people of East Abington were ready to strike out on their own.   In 1886, the town of Rockland adopted the Hatherly  family coat of arms as the official town seal and never looked back.

Certain wonderful anecdotes did not make it to print but remain in lore, such as the P.T. Barnum balloon that crashed in town and the tale of the Confederate soldier who hung around the Grand Army Hall but was always asked to disappear when cameras appeared. Since there was no photography to be shown, those stories can only be told at length.

 - Donald Cann and John Galluzzo, from the introduction in "ROCKLAND", images of America series.

The living history of our town of Rockland, our collective past, we intend to present here in photographs, documents, media and hundreds of shared items from all of you, our neighbors.   

Continued