About

History of Silverbrook Farm and a Midlife Farmer

My name is Andy Pollock. My parents bought the farm in 1953 when most of Dartmouth was agricultural and the location considered “way out in the country”. They raised, trained and enjoyed horses, spending many happy hours riding through the adjacent woods and fields. I grew up shoveling horse manure and couldn't wait to go to Penn State for my undergraduate degree in business so I didn’t smell like a horse!

After Penn State, I worked and studied at the University of Maine and completed a MBA in 1989. Soon after graduation, my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and I came back to the farm to lend a much needed hand. After his death I spent two years working in business and also putting things in order on the farm; in a good but dormant state. I bought a house a few towns away, worked for many years in the business side of medicine; and eventually became a partner in a medical services company. After five years, I asked to be bought out of the partnership to start a new venture.

Concurrently, my mother was sliding through Alzheimer’s Disease and eventually succumbed to the disease. My spouse and I moved back to the farm - which was showing  many years of neglect. We spent countless hours over the next few years cleaning out the house, barn and out buildings. We repaired, cleared fields, replanted orchards and toiled to bring the land into production. 

Each year that passes, we add to our endeavors;  more greenhouses, another well, a grain silo, a new roof for the barn, additional equipment, a cooler, etc... We watch the farm expand as we rent more land and add more outlets for our products.

Our commitment is not only to our farm and employees but to the larger agricultural community in Dartmouth. Over the years, development ate away tremendous acres of cultivated land - we are not longer “in the sticks” but in a moderately developed area of town. Forming partnerships with other local farms is key in our business plan - by providing outlets for other farms through our endeavors, brings prosperity to many farms. Successful farms keeps the land in farming:  a positive cycle.

We proudly continue expand our use of renewable energy sources (you may notice our windmill as you drive by) and find ways of cooperation with other local organizations to reduce waste and improve the “greenness” of Dartmouth. We look forward a bright future of this historic farm. I think my parents would be proud.

Past History of Silverbrook Farm:

John Howland, rescued after falling off the Mayflower, landed at Plymouth in 1620. His brothers Henry and Arthur followed soon after on either the Fortune or the Ann. The origin of the family is believed to be in Essex, England and their is evidence that two brothers remained, not emigrating to the New World.

The first mention of Henry Howland is int the allotment of cattle in Plymouth in 1624 when he appears to be the owner of a “black cow”.  In 1633, his name is found on a list of freemen and in the same year he indentured a servant, Walter Harris. In 1633, he was taxed 18 shillings as against a tax of 9 shillings from the previous year. He became one of the early settlers of Duxbury, where he was chosen constable and was described as “one of the substantial landholders and freemen”. In 1640, records show a purchase of 5 acres of upland and an acre of marsh meadow for the price of “twelve bushels of Indian Crone”. For several years, he surveyed roads in the town and served for nine years served of the grand jury.

In the 1650’s in England, Quakerism emerged from a tumultuous religious and political landscape.  Soon Quakers were making their way to the New England Colonies with their new perspective on Christianity which was radical at the time but seems commonplace to us today (equality of all men and women, simplicity, pacifism, education of women etc..). Massachusetts Bay Colony excluded Quakers on pain of death (some were hanged on Boston Common) but the Plymouth Colony remained more lenient.

In 1657 Henry seems to have converted to the Society of Friends and refused to serve any longer on the grand inquest stating that he could not conscientiously perform the duties required of him.  Thereafter, he became and object of persecution by the authorities of the Colony. In October 1657 he was “summoned to appear at the next March Court to answer for entertaining Quaker Meetings at his house”.  The court fined him 10 shillings. In March of 1659, Henry, his wife, his son (ZOETH), his daughter in-law, his brother Arthur, his wife and others were  convicted and sentenced by the court for “frequently absenting themselves from the public worship of God”. In 1659, the court convicted Henry and sentenced him “to be disenfranchised of his freedom in the corporation” for being a abettor and entertainer of Quakers (Friends).  The following year he was yet again convicted and fined for a similar offense. Once, on refusing to pay his fine, his house and fields were seized by the marshal.

In 1652, Henry Howland became one of the original purchasers of Dartmouth, where his son ZOETH and four of his six grandsons were destined to be settlers. He owned a half of a share or one sixty eighth of the purchase which was acquired from the Indians. Subsequently, he and twenty six others bought the land known as Assent, including the present area of Freetown in which his son, Samuel, settled. In 1664, he purchased a large tract of land at Swansea.

It is probable that he lived in the area called Apponogansett, on his share of the Dartmouth Purchase. His sons were involved in building the Apponogansett Friends’ Meeting House. Years later he bequeathed “unto John Howland, my house at Apponogansett.  His old homestead in Duxbury was left to another son, Joseph.

Henry died in Duxbury on January 17, 1671. His wife died on June 17, 1674.  They had four sons and four daughters: ZOETH, John, Samuel, Sarah Elizabeth, Mary and Abigail, all of whom were legates under their wills.

ZOETH Howland:

ZOETH Howland, Henry Howland’s son was born in Duxbury  around 1636 and moved with his wife, Abigail, to Dartmouth there embracing their Quaker Faith. Their wedding was recorded in the Fiends record in Newport RI. He left Duxbury with little esteem for the organized religion and with a scathing retort to the established Church that landed him in the stocks before his departure.

He made his home in Dartmouth on a portion of his father’s holdings where he could worship and live in a freer community with others of like mind.

ZOETH was killed by Indians during the King Philip’s war in Tiverton R.I. near a ferry landing on his way to Newport on his way to or from a Friends Meeting in Newport.  To this day the stream where he was killed is called “Skin and Flesh Brook” noting his unpleasant demise. Abigail applied to the Court for an order in her favor in assisting her to raise her large family and on July 3, 1678 was granted her husband’s entire estate, “lands, goods and chattels.”  Had nine children, eight of whom are recorded in the Friends’ Records in Newport: Nathaniel, Benjamin, Daniel, Henry, Nicholas, Lydia, Mary, Sarah, and Abigail.  After her husband’s death, Abigail Howland married Richard Kirby.

HENRY Howland the grandson of the original Henry.  Built the still standing farm house in 1718.  The farm stayed in the Howland Family for 250 years.