256 HISTORY OF COHASSET. 



It Stands upon King Street at the west end of the lot 

 that formerly reached to the site of the Norfolk House. 



Thomas James, who built as we supposed in 1705 

 where the Norfolk House now is, gave to his oldest son, 

 Thomas, the upper end of his lot, and there in the year 

 1729 the young Thomas James built his home that still 

 remains in the family name. 



If only some one could discover the tax lists that have 

 been lost previous to the list of 1737 several more ancient 

 houses could be traced back. 



There is one on North Main Street which has an 

 Indian legend connected with it going back to a very 

 early date. It is the home of Thomas Lincoln Bates and 

 of the late John Bates, his brother. The widow of Heze- 

 kiah Lincoln used to tell her little grandson, Thomas 

 Bates, the father of the two brothers named, that the 

 Indians long ago used to glide unseen up to the door, and, 

 pushing it open, they would ask in a gruff tone for some 

 corn. The grandmother told many times how startL'd 

 she had been by the stealthy savages, whose camp was in 

 some neighboring hollow, and whose indolent ways made 

 begging for corn a necessity. The father of this grand- 

 mother was Hezekiah Lincoln, whose boyhood was men- 

 tioned in our chapter on "The First Homes" ; and if he 

 built this house when he married, it would date back to 

 the year 171 1. 



Of the fifty houses in the tax list of 1737 some others 

 are supposed now to be standing in Beechwood : Prince 

 Joy's, Ebenezer Kent's, Stephen Stoddard's, Isaac Bates', 

 and perhaps others named in the list. 



One or two of the old houses on King Street near to 

 the railway station of that name were Beal houses, and 

 may be followed back to a date much earlier than 1737. 



To any one that will study the list of fifty dwellings of 

 that year there may come the discovery of still further 

 ancient dwellings, but enough have been mentioned to 



