USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Historical address, bi-centennial and centennial, delivered at Groton, Massachusetts, July 4, 1876, by request of the citizens > Part 1
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Gc 974.402 G916grd 1774385
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 9500
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AN
HISTORICAL ADDRESS,
Bi-Centennial and Centennial,
DELIVERED JULY 4, 1876, AT GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1876
BY REQUEST OF THE CITIZENS.
BY
SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, A NATIVE OF THE TOWN.
,
GROTON: 1876.
TADMOT2IH
10
1774385 A'N
HISTORICAL ADDRESS,
Bi-Centennial and Centennial,
DELIVERED AT GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS,
JULY 4, 1876.
BY
SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D.
-
·
.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
GROTON BURNED BY THE INDIANS, 1676. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1776.
F 84432 . 45
Green, Samuel Abbott, 1830 - %.
An historical address, bi-centennial and centennial, de- livered July 4, 1876, at Groton, Massachusetts, by request of the citizens. By Samuel Abbott Green ... Groton, 1876.
86. 15, p. 26.".
ENYU CARD
J another copy.
58323 Inserted: Order of exercises.
. 371
1. Groton. Mass .- Hist.
20084, cop.1
Library of Congress
F74.G9G77 1-11417
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TO
THE INHABITANTS OF GROTON, AND TO
THIE NATIVES OF THE TOWN LIVING ELSEWHERE, This Address,
A WILLING TASK, IMPERFECTLY DONE, IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY
THE WRITER.
1.
15530-
The superior figures scattered through the Address refer to the Appendix.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
THE first century of our national existence is completed this day, and we meet to commemorate the event. A hundred years have passed away since the Declaration of Independence was adopted and a nation was born, that is destined to flourish as long as piety, religion, and morality shall prevail in the land, and no longer. Modern times have been full of great deeds ; but none of them is greater than that which declared the American colonies to be free, and put them in the rank of independent nations. The rapid development of the United States during this hundred years has been watched by thoughtful men throughout the world, - by some with jealousy, by others with sympathy ; and their success has made them an example for other coun- tries to follow. They have stood the test of a century ; and to-day, throughout the land, the great birthday of the nation is commemorating with joy and exultation never before equalled.
The question may occur, Why is this notice taken of a century? Why is a celebration more fitting now than next year or last year? It is because there is a tendency in the human mind to divide time into round periods. At the end of a century comes a stopping-place, from which to look back upon any event that marked its beginning. In our decimal notation, the number ten plays an important part, and is a kind of unit. Originally connected in meaning
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with the fingers of the hand, a hundred, in its primitive sig- nification as well as numerically ten tens, is a large unit, - a natural division of duration. If man had been endowed by Nature with six fingers on each hand, we should now have a duodecimal system of numbers instead of a decimal system ; and it would seem just as easy and natural. This tendency in the human mind is strikingly illustrated by the last census returns of the city of Boston. The number of its inhabitants who gave their ages as just forty-five is more than twice as large as the number of those who were just forty-four or just forty-six. The number of those who were just fifty is more than three times as great as the number of those who were just forty-nine, and about five times as many as the number of those who were just fifty-one. According to these returns, there are nearly twice as many persons who are fifty-five as either fifty-four or fifty-six ; and there are four times as many who are sixty as either fifty-nine or sixty-one. The tens have a stronger attraction than the fives, and these, in their turn, than the other numbers. This example, besides showing the untrustworthy character, in some respects, of the census returns, - a point not now to my purpose, - shows how widely pervading is the feeling about round periods ; and in this universal feeling is found the answer to the question, why we have the celebration at this time.
The present year has also a bi-centennial anniversary that brings us together. It was in the year 1676 that this town was destroyed by the Indians, and the inhabitants, with all their available effects, were forced to leave it. A contempo- raneous account of the removal says that there were sixty carts required for the work, and that they extended along the road for more than two miles. It was a sorry sight to see this little community leaving their homes, which they had first established twenty-one years before. What bitter pangs they must have felt, and how dark their future must have seemed, as they turned to look for the last time at famil- iar places, - their rude but comfortable homes, their humble meeting-house, and the graves of their kindred whom they
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had tenderly laid in God's acre, yonder burying-place ! As they made their way along the rough and muddy roads, the hearts of all were heavy with grief; and the mothers' eyes were dimmed with tears, as the thoughts of their blighted prospects filled their minds, for no one could see the end of their misfortunes. Their bitter experiences, however, af- fected more than one generation. Fortitude is the logical result of hardships : brave parents will breed brave chil- dren. Our fathers little thought that these trials were mak- ing them the ancestry of a strong people, who themselves, a century later, were to contend successfully with the strong- est power in the world. At this late day we cannot know all their sufferings, but we do know that they were a God- fearing community ; and on this occasion it is fitting that we should commemorate their virtues. They were plain folk, with homely traits; and their best memorial is the simple . story of their lives. For this reason, I purpose to give a plain, unadorned narration of some of the more important events with which they were connected from the very begin- ning of the town, with a brief account of some of the actors ; bringing the narration down through the last century, and touching lightly upon the present one.
In the spring of the year 1655, the township of Groton was granted by the General Court to a number of petition- ers. It was situated on the frontiers, fourteen miles from the nearest settlement ; and at that time there were but eight other towns in Middlesex County. What inducements were held out to gain settlers for the new town, it is impossible now to ascertain. Probably, however, the country in this neighborhood had been reconnoitred by adventurous men from other settlements; and it is likely that such persons had followed the Indian footpaths, and penetrated to what then seemed a great distance into the country. These per- sons knew the rivers and the hills, and the lay of the land generally ; and, after coming home, they talked about the good farming country. It would take but a few years thus to establish traditions that might draw a few families to desir-
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able places. It happened then, as it sometimes happens now, that large fires had run through the woods in dry weather, and had burned until they were put out by some rain-storm ; leaving a track of black desolation that would last for many a year. And, moreover, there were small patches that had been planted by the Indians with corn, beans, and squashes, and therefore ready for cultivation by whosoever should take possession of them. In this way, a few places had been more or less cleared ; and the wild grasses had caught-in sufficiently to furnish fodder to the cattle. This last con- sideration was a matter of considerable importance to the settlers. In planting towns, it undoubtedly weighed with them in selecting the sites. In fact, it is recorded that, in some of those early years, feed was so scarce that the cattle had to be slaughtered to save them from death by hunger. It should be borne in mind that grass was not then cultivated as it is now ; nor was it for more than a century after this period. In the winter, cattle had to be kept on corn-stalks, and the native wild grasses which the settlers had gathered wherever they could; and it required rigid economy, even on these, to keep them till spring.
It was amid such and other difficulties that our fathers founded their settlements. Prompted by interest or enter- prise, families would plant themselves in the wilderness and make new homes away from neighbors and far from friends. As these settlements increased in numbers, they were consti- tuted towns without much formality. The only Act of Incor- poration of Boston, Dorchester, and Watertown, was an order of the General Court " that Trimountain shall be called Boston ; Mattapan, Dorchester; and the town on Charles River, Watertown."
Towns thus informally established have grown up with certain rights and privileges, as well as duties and obliga- tions, and have developed into fixed municipal corporations, as we find them to-day. They did not spring into existence full grown and clothed, like Minerva from the head of Jupi- ter, but they have been creatures of slow growth. They should be compared rather to the old homestead that has
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Yognel Indi .esosle afde
II
been receiving additions and improvements during several generations, in order to accommodate the increasing and constantly changing family, until finally the humble house has expanded into the roomy structure.
The prominent idea in the minds of the founders of New England appears to have been the support of the gospel ministry. After this came the management of their political affairs and the support of free schools. Captain Edward Johnson, in his quaint and instructive book, " Wonder-Work- ing Providence of Sion's Saviour, in New England," says that it was " as unnatural for a right N. E. man to live with- out an able Ministery, as for a Smith to work his iron with- out a fire; therefore this people that went about placing down a Town, began the foundation-stone, with earnest seeking of the Lord's assistance, by humbling of their souls before him in daies of prayer." The College, which was established so early in the history of the colony, was dedi- cated "to Christ and the Church"; and to the present time this motto is kept on the College-seal.
Mr. Butler, in his " History," says that " the original peti- tion for the plantation or town of Groton is not found, or any record of it " (page 11). Since this statement was made, however, one of the petitions - for it seems there were two - has been found among the papers of the late Captain Samuel Shipley, by Mr. Charles Woolley, formerly of this town, but now of Waltham. A copy of it was printed in " The New England Historical and Genealogical Register," for January, 1860 (xiv. 48). It is as follows : -
" To the honored Generall Courte assembled at Boston the hum- ble petion of vs whose names ar here under written humbly shoeth
That where as youre petioners by a prouidence of God haue beene brought ouer in to this widernes and liued longe here in : and being sumthing straightned for that where by subsistance in an ordinarie waie of Gods prouidence is to be had and Considering the a lowance that God giues to the sones of men for such an ende : youre petioners request therefore is that you would be pleased to grant vs a place for a plantation vpon the River that runes from Nashaway in to merimake at a place or a boute a place Caled
Anivioou1 1
od
Divor I vini
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petaupauket and wabansconcott and youre petioners shall pray for youre happy proseedings
WILLIM MARTIN RICHARD BLOOD JOHN WITT
WILLIM LAKIN
RICHARD HAUEN
TIMOTHY COOPER
JOHN LAKIN Jony BLOOD
MATHU FARRINGTON
ROBERT BLOOD"
On the third page of the document, the decision of the General Court is given, which runs thus : -
" In Ans' to both theise peticons The Court Judgeth it meete to graunt the peticon's eight miles square in the place desired to make a Comfortable plantacon weh henceforth shall be Called Groaten formerly knowne by the name of Petapawage: that M' Danforth of Cambridge wth such as he shall associate to him shall and hereby is desired to lay it out with all convenient speede that so no Incouragement may be wanting to the Peticone's for a speedy procuring of a godly minister amongst them Provided that none shall enjoy any part or porcon of that land by guift from the selectmen of that place but such who shall build howses on theire Lotts so given them once w'hin eighteene months from the time of the said Tounes laying out or Tounes graunt to such persons : and for the p'sent M' Deane Winthrop Me Jnº Tinker M' Tho : Hinckly Dolor Davis W" Martin Mathew Farrington John Witt and Timothy Couper are Appointed the selectmen for the said Towne of Groaten for one two yeares from the time it is lay'd out, to lay out and dispose of particular lotts not exceeding twenty acres to each howse lott. And to order the prudentiall affaires of the place at the end of which time other selectmen shall be chosen and appointed in theire roomes, the selectmen of Groaten giving M' Danforth such sattisfaction for his service & paines as they & he shall agree ;
The magist' hane past this with reference to the Consent of theire bretheren the depu's hereto
EDWARD RAWSON Secrety 25 May 1655 The Deputies Consent hereto WILLIAM TORREY Cleric"
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A religious temper pervades the whole petition, which in its language has the flavor of the Old Testament. It speaks of their having been brought over "by a providence of God," and of their living long in the wilderness. In answer to it, the Court grants a tract of land to make "a comfortable plantation," and provides for its survey and prompt location ; naming as the chief end the " speedy procuring of a godly minister amongst them," and foreshadowing in its action some of the features of the modern Homestead Acts of Con- gress. From these expressions we may learn the guiding thoughts of the first settlers of the town; and it is a pious duty we owe them to commemorate their virtues and their deeds. They were men and women in every way worthy of all the respect and honor we can pay them ; and I congratu- late those of my audience who trace back their family line to that stock. The names of Parker, Prescott, and Blood, of whom there are so many descendants still among us ; of Farnsworth, Lawrence, and Shattuck, names not to be omitted in any historical record of the town; of Gilson, Nutting, and Sawtell, worthy forefathers of worthy progeny ; of Stone, Moors, and Tarbell, - all these are familiar to you as the names of citizens descended from the founders of the town ; and there are others equally worthy to be mentioned, that will readily suggest themselves.
Mr. Deane Winthrop, who stands at the head of the list of selectmen appointed by the Court, was a son of Governor John Winthrop, and it is to him that we are indebted for the name of the town. A native of Groton in Old England, it was natural for him to wish to keep the name fresh and fra- grant on this side of the Atlantic. Groton, in Connecticut - younger by half a century, and famous as the scene of the heroic Ledyard's death - owes its name to the same family. Groton, in New York, was settled, in part, by families from this town. New Hampshire and Vermont both have towns named Groton, though they are comparatively of recent origin. Why they were so called I have been unable to find out, unless it was that the fair fame and reputation of the one in Massachusetts had made the name auspicious.
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There was a place in Roxbury, a hundred and thirty years ago, that was sometimes called Groton .* It was a corrup- tion of Greaton, the name of the man who kept the " Grey Hound " tavern in the neighborhood.
The word Groton, the same as the Grotena of Domesday Book, probably means Grit-town, or Sand-town, - from the Anglo-Saxon, grcot, grit, sand, dust; and tun, village or town. The locality of the English Groton is in fact a sandy one. A proper pride of birth would suggest that the name was doubtless also appropriate by reason of the GRIT or pluck, now as well as then, characteristic of the people of any town so named.
Groton, in Suffolk, England, is an ancient place, - there being a record in Domesday Book of its population and wealth, in some detail, at the time of William the Conqueror, and also before him, under the Anglo-Saxon King, Edward the Confessor. A literal translation of this census-return of seven hundred and ninety years ago is as follows : -
" In the time of King Edward f saint Edmund held Groton. for a manor, one carucate # and a half of land. Always [there were ] S villeins and 5 bordarii [a rather higher sort of serfs ; cotters]. Always [there was] i plough in demesne. Always 2 ploughs of homagers" [tenants] "and i acre of meadow. A mill, for winter. Always I work-horse and 7 cattle and 16 swine and 30 sheep and 2 free men of half a carucate of land and they could give and sell their land. Seven bordarii. Always i plough & Laere of meadow" [belonging to these 7 bordarii. ] " Then " [i.e., under King Edward] " it was worth 30 shillings, and now 40. It has in length 7 furlongs and 4 in breadth. In the same, 12 free men and they have i caru- cate and it is worth 20 shillings. All these could give and sell their land in the time of King Edward. Saint Edmond has the
* New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXIV. 56 note, 60.
+ Some idea of the condensed character of the entries in Domesday Book may be gathered from the following transcript of the Latin beginning of the account of Groton, in which the matter within the brackets is what the Norman scrivener omitted : " Grotena[m] [[empore ] r[egis] E[dwardi ] ten[uit] Sanctus] e[dmundus] [[ro| manferio]," etc.
# The carucate was a " plough land," and is variously set at from twelve to one hundred acres.
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soc, protection and servitude " [i.c., the lord's legal rights]. "7 pence of gelt" [i.e., Dane-geld], " but others hold there."
Such were the census returns, made nearly eight hundred years ago, of the place from which our good old name is taken, and which on that account will always be of interest to us.
It is curious to note the different ways which our fathers had of spelling the name ; and the same persons took little' or no care to write it uniformly. In those days, they paid scarcely any attention to what is now regarded as an impor- tant branch of education. Among the documents and papers that I have had occasion to consult and use in the preparation of this address, I find the word spelled in fourteen differ- ent ways; viz., Groton, Grotton, Groten, Grotten, Groaton, Groatton, Groaten, Grooton, Grauton, Grawten, Grawton, Growton, Groughton, and Croaton.
Dictionaries of our language were hardly known at that · time and there was no standard for spelling ; and it seems as if every one spelled according to his feelings at the moment. In many cases the odder the form, the better. As an in- stance of orthographic license then prevalent, it may be mentioned that there are sixty-five different modes in which the name of Shakespeare was written.
Yonder river, familiar to us as the Nashua, is spoken of, in a record by Thomas Noyes, in 1659, as the Groaten River, and is so called in more than one place. While this would have gratified our local pride, I am not sorry that the name Nashua was finally kept. It is to be regretted that so few of the Indian words have been retained by us to desig- nate the rivers and the hills and other localities. However much such words may have been twisted and distorted by English pronunciation and misapplication, they furnish us now with one of the few links that connect us with pre- historic times in America. The word Nashua," in its ful- ness and before it was clipped, meant the land between, and referred to the tract on which Lancaster was settled, because it was between the branches of the river ; the name, however,
* Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, 11 33
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was afterward transferred from the territory to the river itself.
Among the earliest papers at the State House, relating to the town, is a request for a brandmark. Joseph Parker represents to the Governor and magistrates, in a writing dated May 31, 1666, that he has been chosen constable, and asks that the letters GR. - or monogram, as we should call it - be recorded as the brandmark of the town. This was wanted probably for marking cattle. "In answer to this mo- tion the Deputies approve of ye letter GR. to be ye brand marke of groaten." 1
Very soon after the settlement of the town, there was a complaint of improper management on the part of the pro- prietors, and the General Court appointed a committee to look into the subject. This committee visited the place, and re- ported on " the entanglements that have obstructed the plant- ing thereof," giving at the same time their opinion that there was land enough here to furnish subsistence by husbandry to sixty families. When we consider that this opinion was the result of deliberate calculation, on the part of disinterested men, before the town was shorn of its original dimensions, it shows the vanity of human prophecy, and should serve as a warning to us all to abstain from prediction in regard to a century hence. There are now nearly ten thousand persons in the territory of the original Groton Plantation, living mainly by the products of the land.
For some years before the destruction of the town, the Indians began to threaten the inhabitants. They were troublesome neighbors at the best, and their movements required careful watching. Some of them were friendly, but others were hostile and treacherous. They had already acquired the taste for strong drink, and, on more than one occasion, drunken brawls and fights, wich ended in murder, had taken place between them and the settlers. In May, 1668, Captain Richard Waldron built a trucking or trading house at Pennicook, now Concord, New Hampshire, where a few weeks afterwards Thomas Dickinson was murdered by an Indian ; and "rum did it." The affair created great
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excitement, and it has been supposed that it prevented a settlement of the place at that time ; at any rate, none was made until 1726. A warrant was issued to the constable of Groton to summon John Page, Thomas Tarbell, Jr., Joseph Blood, and Robert Parish, all of this town, to appear before the General Court at Boston to give their testimony, which they did under oath. It appeared in the evidence that there had been a drunken row, and that Tohawnto, the chief, de- sired them, if they had brought any liquor, to pour it on the ground ; for, said he, it will make the Indians "all one Divill." From this it would seem that rum in those days was about the same as it is now, - no better and no worse, - for it still makes people all one devil .?
Many of the Indians had now been supplied with fire- arms, which made them bold and insolent, and it is not strange that the natural tendency of events should have been toward open hostilities. We can readily understand how the fears of the colonists were excited when they thought of their own helpless families and their exposed situation. It betokened no cowardice to entertain this feeling, and it was the part of wisdom to prepare for the worst. At an early day there was a military organization in the town, and we find the following order in the Massachusetts Records, passed Oct. 15, 1673, in relation to it : -
" The millitary company of Groaten being distitut of military officers, the Court judgeth it meet to choose & appoint James Parker to be theire captaine, Wm Lakin to be leiftennant, & Na- thaniel Lawrence to be their ensigne."
The thunder of the distant storm now began to be heard, and the colonists were asking for protection. They little thought that the lightning was to strike so soon and with such fatal violence; but in the providence of God it was thus ordained.
Captain Parker writes to Governor Leverett, under date of Aug. 25, 1675, that the inhabitants "are in a very great strait," and "are very much discouraged in their spirits "; that they want ammunition and twenty good muskets for
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their picked men. The letter * itself, with the quaint expres- sions of two centuries ago, will give you a better idea of their narrow circumstances than any extracts from it; so I read it entire : -
"To the honourd John Leueret Esquir Gouernour of the Massechusets collony
" Honoured Sir with the rest of your counsell I have made bold to enform your worships how the case stand with us that the Indians are aproachs near to us our scouts have discovered sey- erall tracks very near the habitable parts of the town and one Indian they discouerd but eseapt from them by Skulking amongst the bushes and som of the Inhabitants of our town have heard them in the night singing and halloeing. which doe determin to us their great height of Insolency : we are in a very great strait our In- habitants are very much discouraged in their spirits and theirby dissuaded from their callings I have received 20 men from the worshipfall Major Willard and Captain Mosselly men to help secur our town, but notwithstanding we are in a very weak capacity to defend ourselves against the Insoleney and potency of the enemy if they shold apear in number and with that violene that they did apear at quahog [Brookfield] the which the good lord forbid if it be his good pleasur, much honoured and respected the good lord be with you In your consultations that you may understand what to doe for your new england Israel at such a tim as this and in par- ticular ourselves and for our dear neighbours at Lancaster upon whom the enemy have made an Inraid 6 persons are already found and buryed the 72 which they doe expect is kild is not as yet found you may be pleased to tak notice that we shall want ammunition spedily by reason that we have parted with som to Capt Mosselly men and som we spent in the fight at quabog as also I have sup- lyed the souldiers with ammunition that were sent to me that was Imployed in the service they having spent their ammunition If you could help us with 20 good muskets for our pik men and I will return them again or else give a valluable price for them in such pay as we can produce among ourselves not else at present but leave you to the guidance of the God of heaven who is the only wise counsellor and remaine
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