USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > An address delivered at Acton, July 21, 1835, being the first centennial anniversary of the organization of the town : with an appendix > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
ADDRESS
FIRST CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY Acton, July 21, 1835,
Josiah Adams.
Geneal Coll 974.44 A188
-0306. Lan.
An actress delivered at HCten, July 21. 1825.
Acton Memorial Library
RATEL
CTON
135
*
0681
IAI LIBRA
974.4
LIBRARY NO.
a214a
ACCESSION NO.
3497
DATE
6/26/90
Gift PURCHASED" of Luther Conant
Help Circulation and Return Promptly
Books not returned or renewed on due date are subject to fines of one cent a day until returned.
(Signed) Board of Trustees Duplicate
V
GIFT OF Luther Conant
Library.
TED 1735. ₭ 0681 181 TED
RY I 974.5 +2142
The 1890
ACTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY 3 2211 00071 0975
Geneal Coll 974.44 A188
Closed_Stacká NOT FOR CIRCULATION Acton Collection Adams, Josiah. First Centennial Anniversary Address.
NOT FOR CIRCULATION
ACTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY ACTON, MASS.
AN
ADDRESS
DELIVERED AT
ACTON, JULY 21, 1835,
BEING THE
FIRST CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
ORGANIZATION OF THAT TOWN;
WITH AN APPENDIX,
'In which the honors of the Concord Fight, claimed, by some late publications, for Major Buttrick and other officers belonging to Concord, particularly so far as they are supposed to belong to the memory of Capt. Isaac Davis of Acton, who was killed in the engagement, are considered ; with some reasons why a proposed monument should not be placed over the two British soldiers who were buried in one grave at the north bridge ; and some notice of the agitated question as to the place where the first resistance was made ; accompanied by the testimony of two of the surviv- ing members of Capt. Davis's company, and of his surviving widow ; and a Map of the scene of the Concord Fight, as it was at the time.
BY JOSIAH ADAMS, Of Framingham, a native of Acton.
PUBLISHED BY THE REQUEST OF A COMMITTEE OF THE INHABITANTS OF THAT TOWN.
BOSTON. PRINTED BY J. T. BUCKINGHAM. 1835.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
https://archive.org/details/addressdelivered00adam 0
ADDRESS.
THIS day completes the Century since the inhabitants of this place met, in town meeting, and were duly organized as a municipal corpo- ration .* Many of the first years have never been reached, by the memory of the living ; the men, who remembered them, have all passed away. The time-worn inscriptions, which history and tradition have written on their monument, are all that remain ; and we are as- sembled to remove the moss, which time has gathered, to decipher its characters, and make them more legible to the centuries which shall follow.
At the request of your Committee, I have, quite unadvisedly, under- taken to perform this duty. The labor of months has been attempted, in as many weeks. To select the facts most worthy to be noticed from the mass of the uninteresting matters, which always crowd the records of a town, has been found a laborious task, and has been but imperfectly accomplished. And, after all, the facts, thus obtained, are comparatively of little interest-little else than the names of town offi- cers, and the result of proceedings, from time to time. The manner of arriving at those results, and the peculiarities of character in the principal actors, are seldom to be learned from the records.
There are a few, still among us, who must still retain, in memory, the last years of some of the men, who assembled in the first town meeting, and who could give particulars, interesting, at least to their descendants, concerning the peculiarities of those, who took the lead in procuring the incorporation, and in conducting the affairs of the new town. I regret that no time has been allowed to glean, from the decaying memories of these venerable survivors, particular traits of character, the knowledge of which will ever grow more valuable by the lapse of time.
For instance, I am only able to inform you that John Heald was appointed, by the Legislature, to call the first town meeting ;- that one hundred years ago he was elected moderator of that meeting, and chairman of the board of selectmen and assessors ;- that he was one of the first deacons of the new church ; and that he filled these, and various other important offices, for many years-some of them as late as the year 1762. A man, who so long retained the confidence of his fellow-townsmen, must have had something in his character to interest,
* The people of Acton chose to consider the century as having elapsed, without waiting for the expiration of the eleven days-the difference between Old and New Style. In doing so, they are not without very good authorities.
4
and instruct ; and his descendants should know something more of him, than that he held those offices, and that his name was John Heald.
It is hoped that some of the many, whose opportunities allow of it, will not let pass unimproved the short time, which remains for supply- ing these deficiences in the biography of the men, who enjoyed the confidence of the first inhabitants of Acton.
It must be now quite evident, that, so far as I shall comply with the request of the Committee to give a historical account of the proceed- ings of the town, the narration, at least what relates to the first years, cannot be made to have much of interest. But I proceed to the narra- tive, with the consolation, that, though many will hear little to amuse or instruct, yet there are others, older than myself, whose sympathies and feelings, even more than my own, will awake at the mere mention of names, which were on the tongues of their mothers from their earli- est recollection, and who will not be insensible to the grateful associa- tions, which always gather around the well-remembered scenes of early life, and the things which our fathers told us of theirs.
The part of the ancient town of Concord, which, on the 3d day of July, 1735, was set off, and incorporated, by the name of Acton, in- cluded the principal part of what is now the town of Carlisle ; so that Acton was originally bounded by Sudbury, Concord, Billerica, Chelms- ford, Westford, Littleton, and Stow, which then included Boxborough ; and the records show that the lines were perambulated, (as it is called,) between Acton and each of these towns, till Billerica and Chelmsford were excluded, by the incorporation of Carlisle, as a district of Acton, in the year 1780. The town of Bedford had been incorporated in 1729, consisting of the easterly part of Concord and the south part of Billerica ; and, in 1754, the southerly part of Concord, and the north- westerly part of Lexington were incorporated as the town of Lincoln ; so that the territory of Acton, as originally bounded, soon became greater than that of the mother town, though much inferior, both in wealth and population.
The territory of Acton, was not originally a part of Concord. A part of it was granted to Concord, a few years after its incorporation, by the name of " the Village," and was subsequently called " Con- cord Village," or "the New Grant." The " Willard Farms," in- cluded in the act incorporating Acton, were also an additional grant to the town of Concord.
There is some apparent confusion in the Records of Acton, in re- gard to the time when Carlisle was first known as a body politic. Lines were perambulated between Acton and Carlisle, and the pro- ceedings are recorded, long before 1780. But it is all explained by the fact, that, in the year 1754, certain inhabitants, residing princi- pally, if not wholly, within the limits of Concord, were incorporated, as a district of that town, by the name of Carlisle. That corporation, now known by the name of " Old Carlisle," was dissolved, in a few years after, on its own petition to the General Court, and the inhab- itants were re-united to Concord.
It has been already said, that, at the first meeting, John Heald was elected chairman of the board of selectmen and assessors ; the other two were Joseph Fletcher and Thomas Wheeler. The latter was also
MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Pendleton's Lithog : Boston.
NORTHWEST VIEW OF THE OLD MEETINGHOUSE IN ACTON, MASS. IN 177 5.
chosen Town Clerk, and John Barker Town Treasurer. The other officers, chosen at that meeting, were two constables, three surveyors of highways, a surveyor of hemp and flax, one tythingmian, two fence viewers and drovers, and three hog-reeves.
Being thus organized, the town seems to have given its attention, first of all, to making provision for the support of public worship. The subject of roads, or town ways, appears very soon to have been deemed a matter of importance ; and the town book, for many years, abounds with the records of ways, and "bits of ways," as they are often term- ed, laid out by the Selectmen, and almost always accepted by the town. The education of youth appears, for some years, to have been but little thought of ; but of this hereafter.
In October 1735, there was an article in the warrant in these words : " To see if the town will begin to build a meeting-house this year, and what way they will do it in." The question was decided in the negative; but it was voted that the house, when built, should stand in the centre. Several attempts were made, at subsequent meetings, to alter this location, but without success. By the centre was under- stood the " knoll," where it was actually built, and where it stood, till after the erection of this house in 1807. The centre of population must have been taken into consideration, as that spot was considera- bly west of the centre of territory. In December following, it was " voted, to begin to build a meeting-house this year." Its dimensions were fixed at 46 by 36 feet ; £70 were granted toward setting up the frame, and a committee, of which Samuel Wheeler was chairman, was appointed to expend the money. It should be observed here, that the currency of the Province had considerably depreciated ; so that £70 was worth but about thirty. And in general it may be said, that, such was the fluctuation in the value of the paper currency, till about the close of the revolutionary war, little can be known of the real value of the grants of money, without ascertaining the state of the currency at the time. Lawful money and old tenor were very different things. In 1782, the difference was as that between one and seventy.
The meeting-house was the work of many years. The facility, and despatch, with which they are finished, in modern times, would have been matter of great wonder to the people of that day. Whether piety and good morals have proportionally increased, will not, on this occa- sion, be a subject of inquiry.
The house was not considered as finished till the year 1747, though it had been used for public worship many years before. When it was called finished, there were no pews, except on the lower floor, adjoin- ing the walls of the house; and these were but sixteen in number. The four pews, which, as many of us remember, were under and over each of the gallery stairs, were built, at intervals, some years after.
Several of the pew-holders, from time to time, obtained leave of the town to make a new window for their own accommodation, and at their own expense. Each seems to have consulted his own fancy, both as to the size and location. It was in this way that the little windows, of different sizes and shapes, were placed near the corners of the building.
In the body of the house, on each side the broad aisle, were con- structed, what were then called the body seats; and these, together
6
with the gallery, were occupied by all, who, through poverty or other- wise, were not proprietors of a pew. Both in the body seats, and in the gallery, the men were arranged on the right of the pulpit, and the women on the left; so that while the pew-holder could sit with his wife at church, all others were obliged to keep at a respectful distance.
The custom of "seating the meeting-house," as it was called, was found necessary, and was well calculated to prevent confusion, and to insure, particularly to the aged, a certain and comfortable seat. To give the better satisfaction, the committee were usually instructed to be governed by age, and the amount of taxes paid for the three pre- ceding years. In the year 1757, they were also instructed to be gov- erned by " other circumstances," at their discretion. The report of that committee was not accepted ; and a new committee was chosen,
with the usual instructions. What the " other circumstances" were does not appear. But it should have been known that any circum- stances, which depended, for their weight, on the estimation and dis- cretion of a committee, would not fail to give dissatisfaction, in a mat- ter of such peculiar delicacy. The new committee, however, seem to have restored harmony, and the same practice was continued during the existence of the old meeting-house.
I forgot to mention that special instructions were given in favor of negroes, who were to have the exclusive occupation of the " hind seat" in the gallery. Well do I remember how my youthful eyes lingered on the heels of Quartus Hosmer, as they disappeared in his passage up the gallery stairs ; and how eagerly they watched the re-appearance, in the gallery, of his snow-white eyes, made more conspicuous by the eel-skin ribbon, which gathered into a queue his graceful curls.
In 1769 " the hind parts," (as they were termed,) of the body seats were removed, and four new pews erected in their place. Many will remember these, by being told that they were occupied by Thomas Noyes, Daniel Brooks, Joseph Robbins, and Jonathan Hosmer. In the same year the house was new covered and glazed. In 1783, four other pews were built, and another portion of the body seats was re- moved. Three of these were sold, and the fourth was assigned for the use of the Clergyman. It was through the banisters of this pew, that " old mother Robbins," (as we reverently called her,) who sat in the body seats, used to furnish me abundantly with marygolds, pionees and pink-poses, decorated and perfumed with penny-royal, southern- wood and tanzy. She was indeed a most interesting old lady.
Soon after the frame of the house was raised, the town turned its attention to procuring a Minister. In October, 1737, the Selectmen were directed to supply the pulpit ; and it was voted that preaching should begin on the first Sabbath in January following. At the next March meeting the town appointed the last Thursday of that month to be observed as a fast preparatory to the settlement of a Minister. They voted to take advice in that matter of five of the neighboring Clergymen, viz. the Rev. Mr. Loring, of Sudbury ; the Rev. Mr. Cook, of East Sudbury ; the Rev. Mr. Gardner, of Stow ; the Rev. Mr. Peabody, of Natick, and the Rev. Mr. Rogers, of Littleton.
In the May succeeding, the town voted to give Mr. John Swift an invitation to settle with them in the ministry. There does not appear to have been any organized church at that time. The Church records
7
commence at his ordination, and the deacons were chosen afterwards. The invitation to Mr. Swift was accompanied with an offer of £250 settlement, and £150 salary during his continuance in the work of the ministry, payable semi-annually in Massachusetts bills, which at that time was equivalent to about £117 settlement, and £70 salary. The contracting committee were John Heald, Samuel Wheeler, John Brooks, Ammiruhammah Faulkner, Simon Hunt, and Joseph Fletcher. The salary offered was to rise or fall with the price of the principal necessaries of life .*
Mr. Swift was ordained on the eighth day of November, 1738. No particulars of the ordination can be gathered either from the town or church records, except that "the Council had entertainment at the house of Mr. Joseph Fletcher."
Mr. Swift was the only son of the Rev. John Swift, of Framingham. He was graduated at Cambridge in 1733, and, at the time of his ordi- nation, was twenty-five years of age. He was a little above the common height ; - rather slender ; - his manners and address agreeable and pleasant. He was somewhat economical in the management of his affairs, but kind to the poor, and a good neighbor. He was opposed to excess and extravagance of every kind, and to promote peace and good feeling was his constant care. He had some singularities of character, but led an exemplary life, and retained the affections and respect of his people, through a ministry of thirty-seven years. As, in those days, there was little dispute about Christian doctrines, it is sup- posed that his gave general satisfaction. His preaching was practical, plain, and serious ; though, it is said, he had occasionally some unu- sual expressions in the pulpit, which were rather amusing. Mr. Swift died November 7, 1775, at the age of sixty-two years, after a long and useful ministry. His literary qualifications were not of the highest order, nor were his talents commanding ; he had, however, an ordina- ry share of both. As was the custom of many clergymen of his day, he used to receive lads into his family, for instruction in the stu- dies preparatory for college. There are a few scraps in his hand- writing, which appear to discover considerable ease in the use of the Latin language, and, in his church records, there are many similar instances ; but they are so attended with abbreviations, and characters, that it is not always easy to discover their import.
To show some of the peculiarities of Mr. Swift's mind and charac- ter, some extracts will be made from his church records. The vol- ume is a very small one. It commences without any caption, or head- ing; and there is nothing to indicate what the contents are to be. The first entry is in the following words :- " Nov. 8, 1738. I was or- dained pastor of the Church in Acton." He speaks of himself, in the same manner, in all parts of the record. His own name nowhere ap- pears, except in one or two notes, in the hand-writing of his successor.
Under date of June 14, 1739, is the following record : - "It being lecture day, after the blessing was pronounced, I desired
* In the year 1754 the following list of articles, considered as principally necessary for consump- tion in a minister's family, were reported by a town's committee, with the current prices in 1735 annexed, and were adopted as a basis for regulating the amount of Mr. Swift's salary. The sig. natures of the parties on the record, show their entire satisfaction.
30 b. Corn at 6s ; 20 b. Rye at 10s ; 500 lb. Pork at 8d ; 300 1b. Beef at 5d ; 25 1b. Wool at 3s 6d ; 15 lb. Cotton at 4s 6d ; 50 lb. Flax at 1s 3d ; 56 1b. Sugar at 1s 4d ; 20 gals, Rum at &s ; 80 lb, But- ter at 1# 4d ; 2 Hats at £3 ; 10 pr. Shoes at 15s.
8
the church to tarry, and asked their minds concerning the remainder of the elements after communion, and they voted I should have 'em."
"Sept. 11, 1744. I made a speech to the church thus : Brethren, I doubt not but you have taken notice of the long absence of brother Mark White, junior, from the ordinances of God, in this place. If you request it of him to give us the reasons of his absence, some time hence, I desire you would manifest it by an uplifted hand. Whereup- on there was an affirmative vote."
" June 7, 1749. Notations of sacraments ceased here, because 1 recorded them in my almanac interlineary."
The book is a curious intermixture of Latin and English accounts of admissions to the church, baptisms, administrations of the supper, dealings with delinquents, and private memoranda. It came, however, into the hands of the successor of Mr. Swift, and was used, by him, for a continuation of the records, during his ministry. Toward the close of it, he entered on a blank leaf, the following note :-
" It is evident that Mr. Swift had little more in view than brief mem- oranda, for his own use. I regret that I did not, at the beginning of my ministry, procure a larger book, and keep a more particular and extensive record. I hope my successor will profit by this hint.
M. A."
The first deacons of the church were Joseph Fletcher and John Heald. They continued in office many years. The precise time does not appear. After them, their places were filled by the election of Jona- than Hosmer, and John Brooks. In Sept. 1775, which was a few weeks before the death of Mr. Swift, Samuel Hayward, Francis Faulk- ner, and Joseph Brabrook were elected deacons. The appearance, in the deacons' seat, of this venerable row, made an impression, on my youthful mind, which is, in no degree, effaced. I can now sce them there, each, in his turn, reading the psalm, a line at a time, and seem- ing to toss it up, for the use of the singers, in the front gallery ; and the peculiar voices of James Billings and Samuel Parlin, which came back as an echo, are still sounding in my ears.
This practice of reading a line at a time, which doubtless had its origin in a want of Psalm-books, became so hallowed, in the minds of many, that its discontinuance was a work of some difficulty. In 1790, the church voted that it should be dispensed with in the afternoon, and, three years afterwards, they voted to abandon the practice.
Notwithstanding the pressure of circumstances, connected with the commencement of hostilities with Great-Britain, which will be noticed in their place, the town seems not, for a moment, to have lost its sense of the importance of public worship. In about a month after Mr. Swift's death, the town instructed the deacons to engage Mr. Sprague to supply the pulpit, till the town meeting in May, of the next year .* At that meeting, a committee was instructed to take advice of the President of the College, and the neighboring ministers, and to engage four candidates to preach four Sabbaths each, in succession.
One of the four was Moses Adams, of Framingham. On the 29th Aug. 1776, it was voted " to hear Mr. Moses Adams eight Sabbaths longer on probation ;" and, on the 20th Dec. " to hear Mr. Moses Ad-
* Afterwards settled in Dublin, N. H. and extensively remembered for his eccentricities of char- aster, as well as for his good sense and piety.
9
ams four Sabbaths longer than is agreed for." These particulars are mentioned to show the great deliberation and caution, with which the town proceeded, and the importance which was attached to the choice of their Minister.
In the mean time, the church, according to custom, had appointed the second day of January for a fast, and had invited the neighboring ministers to attend on the occasion. On the eighth day of January they made choice of Mr. Adams to take the oversight and charge of the church. This choice was confirmed by the town on the fifteenth of the same month. At an adjournment of that meeting, on the 17th of March, an offer was made of £200 settlement, and £80 salary, in lawful money, to be paid during his continuance in the ministry.
This invitation was accepted, and Mr. Adams was ordained on the 25th day of June, 1777-then in his 28th year.
He was the only child of respectable, but humble parents. He was born in Framingham, Oct. 16th, 1749, and, by the death of both pa- rents, was an orphan at the age of seven years. The property left him was sufficient, with economy, to defray the expense of a public education, and he graduated at Cambridge in 1771.
The first years of his ministry were attended with considerable pe- cuniary embarrassment ; for although precaution was taken to make the salary payable in silver, yet the value of that, compared with the necessaries of life, very considerably decreased. The promptness and spirit with which the people of Acton met the calls of the Government for the support of the war, rendered them less able to pay their Minis- ter. His settlement had been relied on to meet the expenses of build- ing a house, which a young and increasing family made a matter of necessity. The settlement was not wholly paid for several years. The subject was agitated at two meetings in 1781, and in February, 1782, the Selectmen were directed to pay the remaining balance. In 1783, Mr. Adams, in a communication which is recorded, made a statement of £123, which he considered his due, for balances unpaid of his three first years' salary, accompanied by an offer to deduct £43, if the re- mainder should be paid, or put on interest. It is not certain whether this was a legal, or merely an equitable claim ; but the town promptly acceded to the proposal. In justice to the town, it should be observed, that, so far as it regards their pecuniary dealings with their two first ministers, (and I have not examined further,) a liberality and sense of justice is manifest, with few exceptions, from the beginning to the end of the records.
There were, afterwards, other negotiations in regard to the salary, which many of you remember, and which it would not be interesting. here to state. It was all, however, in perfect good feeling, and in ac- cordance with the respect and affection, which existed between Mr. Adams and his people, through the whole period of his long ministry. He died on the 13th of October, 1819, and was buried on the 16th, which was the seventieth anniversary of his birth.
In consequence of his request, in writing, which was found after his decease, no sermon was delivered at his funeral. To anticipate the silent tear, was more to him than the voice of praise. With the recol- lection of this prominent trait in his character, I should not feel at lib-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.