A Fort in the Wilderness: Pearson and Hobbs Town

By 1755, the settlement of Pearson and Hobbs Town—present-day Standish—was home to approximately thirty men, women, and children. Life on the frontier was difficult, and the settlers faced the constant possibility of conflict with Native Americans in the surrounding region. For these early families, the fort was more than simply a defensive structure; it was an essential part of their survival.

According to a petition filed by Moses Pearson with the General Court of Massachusetts, the fort was equipped with a carriage gun and several smaller wall pieces. Nine of the men living there were supplied with arms and ammunition for the protection of the settlement. The large carriage gun and smaller wall pieces were intended to provide a formidable defense in the event of an attack.

Guns for the Garrison

The Massachusetts Archives contain a notice dated August 27, 1757, concerning additional weapons and supplies sent to the fort:

“Boston, August 27 1757 Moses Pearson, Esq., Sir, By order of his excellency you have sent you pr. Mr. Weeks two Swivel Guns, half barrel of powder and shot proportionable for ye use of the garrison at Pearson and Hobbs Town. You are accountable for ye same agreeable to ye Governor's order being ye present needful, from ye Humble servant Jno. Wheelwright.”

The letter provides a tangible reminder of the importance placed on the defense of Pearson and Hobbs Town. Two swivel guns, along with powder and shot, were sent to the settlement for the use of the garrison.

Local tradition tells us that the guns remained an important part of the community for many years. According to town lore, they were fired every Fourth of July until about 1840. By that time, perhaps only one of the original swivel guns remained.

Legend holds that around 1840, a member of the Tompson family—possibly Squire Tompson—buried one of the swivel guns in a disused well on the corner of the family's property where Routes 25 and 35 meet in Standish. The circa-1801 Tompson family home and tavern still stand today, not far from the location of the original fort, across the street.

Whether the buried cannon remains in the well is another question, but the story has become part of the local lore surrounding Standish's earliest settlement.

Land Around the Fort

The fort provided protection, but the settlers still needed to grow food. This presented a serious problem during times of conflict. Planting, tending, and harvesting crops required settlers to leave the relative safety of the fort and travel to their outlying lots. Small groups of settlers working in isolated fields could become easy targets.

Recognizing this danger, the proprietors of Pearson and Hobbs Town met on March 12, 1755, to make land available close to the fort in an effort to attract and retain settlers. Eighteen five-acre lots were laid out and offered to “sundry settlers to prevent their leaving the town in time of war.”

These lots gave families living in or near the fort land where they could cultivate crops and raise food without having to travel as far into the surrounding wilderness. All but two of the lots were eventually given to people living in the fort.

The arrangement was especially important because attacks on frontier settlements often occurred when settlers were away from the protection of their forts. Native American war parties sometimes targeted small groups of settlers while they were planting or harvesting crops on distant lots, or while men were away on scouting or hunting expeditions.

There is no record of a raid or attack on the fort at Pearson and Hobbs Town. The fact that the settlers could raise crops relatively close to the protection of the fort may have helped keep them safe.

A Garrison for the Settlement

The fort at Pearson and Hobbs Town became one of a series of frontier fortifications established inland to help protect the coastal communities from the dangers and conflicts of the frontier. As tensions and conflicts continued during the 1750s, the Massachusetts government recognized the need to provide additional support to the settlement.

On April 20, 1756, the General Court of Massachusetts authorized pay and subsistence for ten inhabitants who had families living with them at the settlement. One of these men would serve as sergeant. These men formed the garrison responsible for guarding the fort.

A year later, in April 1757, the General Court voted that the duties of sergeant should be alternated among the men. The pay and subsistence received from the province were to be divided equally among the inhabitants.

The garrison included Samuel Knowles, John Walker, Thomas Morton, James Candave, Thomas Stevens, and others. Although the men received pay for their service, the compensation was low, especially considering the dangers and hardships they faced while protecting the settlement.

The modest pay gives some indication of the sacrifices these men and their families made to remain in the settlement. Their lives were not simply difficult; at times, they faced the very real possibility of hunger.

“Suffering and at Times Starving”

Perhaps the clearest picture of life at the fort comes from a petition submitted to the General Court in the name of the inhabitants on July 20, 1757. The settlers described their situation in stark terms:

“That the live more exposed to the Indian enemy than any other part of the Eastern Country and that there is no settlement so far removed into the wilderness by eight miles as they are by reason whereof they could by no means subsist in Time of War unless they were helped by the Government the last year as well as this…; but as their number is now increased to Sixteen Families and the honorable Court have been pleased to put but ten of the said inhabitants into pay, and being quite a new country and they not being able to cultivate and improve their lands in Time of War., have not had nothing or very little else to subsist on this spring or summer than what those ten inhabitants in pay of the Province have received from the Province divided among the Sixteen Families, by means whereof most of their families have been in suffering and at times starving condition and must inevitably quit the settlement to avoid perishing from hunger.”

The petition reveals just how precarious life had become. By 1757, the settlement had grown to sixteen families, but the inability to safely cultivate their land during wartime meant that there was very little food available. The wages and provisions given to the ten men serving the province were being divided among all sixteen families.

The settlers warned the General Court that their families were suffering and, at times, starving. Without additional assistance, they believed they would have no choice but to abandon the settlement rather than perish from hunger.

Their appeal was apparently heard. On June 15, 1758, the General Court granted pay and subsistence to fifteen privates at Pearsontown, probably as a result of the inhabitants’ earlier petition. Government support for the settlement continued for several years, with additional pay authorized for the men responsible for its defense.

A Fort and a Community

The story of the fort at Pearson and Hobbs Town is about more than guns, walls, and military defense. It is the story of families attempting to establish permanent homes in what was still a remote frontier. The fort provided protection, but it could not eliminate the hardships of frontier life. The settlers still needed to find food, cultivate their land, raise their families, and endure periods of fear, isolation, and hunger.

The records preserved in the Massachusetts Archives allow us to hear the voices of those early settlers themselves. Their petitions reveal the difficulties they faced and the determination required to remain in Pearson and Hobbs Town. Despite those hardships, they stayed, and their settlement survived.

The fort is long gone, and the swivel guns have disappeared into the realm of local legend, but the story of those first families remains an important part of Standish history. Their struggle to establish a community in the wilderness helped lay the foundation for the town that would eventually become Standish.

Taken from the unpublished History of Standish by Dana E Edgecomb