USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Townsend > History of the town of Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from the grant of Hathorn's farm, 1676-1878 > 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 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
TIRDADV
UNIVERSITY OF
GOODELL LIBRARY
R
₣ 74 T7527
of
DA WILLIAM QUODELL
This book may be kept out TWO WEEKS only, and is subject to a fine of TWO CENTS a day thereafter. It will be due on the day in- dicated below.
SEP 2 6 1983 APR 0 10AT 11: 3773659
CARD
HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF TOWNSEND.
MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS,
FROM THE GRANT OF HIATHORN'S FARM.
1676-1878.
BY
ITHAMAR B. SAWTELLE.
Posterity delights in details .- John Quincy Addda
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. PRESS OF BLANCHARD & BROWN, FITCHBURG.
1878.
INTRODUCTION.
I have written a History of the Town of Townsend, embracing most of the incidents worthy of record, covering a period of two hundred years. My task is done. I have presented on these pages no elegant word painting. I have described no battle scenes or heroes ; no . intrigues or crimes of monarchs or their prime ministers ; but I have labored faithfully to portray some of the characteristics of our Puritan ancestors, in the dry details of this local history. They came to found an asylum for religious liberty, without any clearly defined ideas of civil government. Their great aim was a pure religion combined with an independent church. Their hopes all centered on this one object, which engrossed their entire efforts, their muscular forces, their dreams by night, their morning and evening orisons. I have endeavored to exhibit the patriotism of our pilgrim fathers, during the revolutionary struggle, in a manner that will suggest the cost of liberty, the price of which is eternal vigilance. If some of the names of those brave men have been wrested from oblivion, and justice done to those now almost forgotten, then I am well paid for the toil through the many weary, yet pleasant hours, spent among the records and papers made one hundred years ago.
It should be the object of every writer of a town history, to preserve the memory of local events and enterprises ; to record the manners and customs, the
4
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
sacrifices and toils of the fathers; to gather from old records and family traditions all important facts which the county or state historians have omitted. It is only within a few years that any attention has been paid to the preparation of town histories. In 1851, while the history of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, was in preparation, Mr. Kidder was considered almost a lunatic, while he and his artist were making sketches of the meeting-houses, academy, and old mansions of that town. Now, four of the towns adjoining New Ipswich, have ample local his- tories nearly as fully illustrated as is the history of that town.
More than two hundred years ago, Thomas Fuller, D.D., a man of excellent learning and great benevolence, wrote as follows :-
"History is a velvet study, and recreation work. What a pitie it is to see a proper gentleman to have such a crick in his neck that he cannot look backward ! Yet no better is he who cannot see behind him the actions which long since were performed. History maketh a young man to be old; privileging him with the experience of age, without either the infirmities or inconveniences thereof. Yea, it not only maketh things past, present ; but enableth one to make a rationall conjecture of things to come."
In the study of records, I have been brought in contact with some excellent minds. I almost feel acquainted with Samuel Manning, Daniel Adams, James Hosley, and others, who placed on record the acts of the town, through the eventful days of the colonial and revolutionary times. I have almost heard their voices and peered into their pleasant but determined faces. Some of the most interest- ing facts, however, concerning the transactions which occurred during the first hundred years of our history, and even after that time, were gleaned from outside of the town records. The puritans were men of action not
5
INTRODUCTION.
words. They had little time to commit their thoughts to writing. What they wrote was done more from necessity, than the love of perpetuating the remembrance of their acts.
The history of Townsend should have been written long ago, before the third generation from the fathers passed away. Many things, of great interest, can never be known which might have been learned if a timely effort had been made. Even tradition seems to have died out. The farms, on our hill-sides, once occupied by large families, the sons and daughters of which filled the school houses, and wended their way to one common place of worship, on the sabbath, are now in the hands of strangers. The history of the earliest settlers of this town can never be written satisfactorily. It is impossible to point out the exact location where many of them "broke the wilderness" and built their cabins. In this work, with reference to the ecclesiastical affairs of the town, I have aimed to exhibit a complete and impartial history of the church and its ministers, during the period that the church was a town institution. I have studied the characters of these ministers who brought glad tidings to the fathers during the first hundred years of the towns existence, and I hope I have done justice both to them and the subject. The ministers, who followed Mr. Palmer with the Congregationalists, I have described impartially as they appeared to me. Concerning the other clergymen sketched in this work, I have given their characters as I have learned them from other sources, rather than from observation.
Dr. Johnson said that "he who describes what he never saw draws from fancy." If this proposition be literally true, then we have a greater amount of fiction from the pens of Gibbon, Hume or Irving, than was ever placed to their credit. I have given sketches of men more
6
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
fully than most writers of local histories, on the principle laid down by a great writer, that "man is perennially interesting to man." Many persons herein described are now alive. The rule is that men must die before they can be embalmed. If I am not deceived their characters have been accurately drawn.
The records of births, from the settlement of the town to 1800, are incomplete ; so that any account that might be gleaned concerning these interesting statistics would not be very satisfactory. In regard to genealogy, I have not pursued that subject to any extent, because some of our most prominent families are already placed on record. The Spaulding, Giles, Stickney, Richardson, and Ball Memorials, have been for some time in possession of these families.
It is impossible that a work of this description, containing such a mass of facts and abounding in dates, should be free from errors. That errors are herein contained is beyond question. I beg my readers to point them out to the next man who will write the supplementary chronicles of the town.
I have received valuable assistance in my labor, while compiling this work, from many sources : from John Langdon Sibley, ex-librarian of Harvard University ; from the Librarians of the Historical Societies ; from Dr. Strong, who has charge of the Massachusetts Archives ; from the courteous and gentlemanly clerks in the office of the Secretary of State ; and what has been very agreeable, I have made the acquaintance of a class of historians, genealogists, and antiquarians, who have extended to me their friendly aid and sympathy.
ITHAMAR B. SAWTELLE. Townsend, March 22, 1878.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE TOWN.
Hills-Streams and Brooks-Ash Swamp-Wild Animals-Fishes- Birds-Name of the Town-Population. 13-30.
CHAPTER II.
LAND GRANTS AND ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS.
Frequent Grants by the Assembly-Hathorn's Farm-Jonathan Dan- forth-Grant of two Towns on the westerly side of Groton west line-Proceedings of the Committee assembled at Concord to grant out said Townships-Names of the Persons to whom Lots were granted-Some Account of the Disagreement between the Proprietors of Dunstable and the North Town-Report of Sam- uel Danforth concerning the Condition of the North Town in 1730-Charter of the Town of Townshend-Other Land Grants- Cambridge Grammar School Farm-Groton Gore-Location of the Province Line-Earliest Settlers known-Allotment by the Committee of the Proprietors-Account of some Early Settlers- Warrant for calling the First Legal Meeting-Isaac Spaulding- Customs and Fashions of the Early Settlers-Proceedings at the First Meetings of the Proprietors-Proprietors' Clerks-Modera- tors of the Meetings of the Proprietors-Influence of Concord Men in the Settlement of the Town. 31-76.
2
8
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
Settlement of Rev. Phinehas Hemenway, the First Minister of Townsend -Memoir of him by Rev. Mr. Temple-Church Covenant written by Mr. Hemenway-Account of Servants ( negroes ) belonging to the Church-Church Discipline-Owning the Covenant-New Lights-Character of Mr. Hemenway-Ilis Death-Settlement of Rev. Samuel Dix-Account of his Pastorate-Sample of his Eloquence-Action of the Church at the Decease of Rev. Mr. Dix-Ordination of Rev. David Palmer-Character of Mr. Palmer as an Educator-The Unitarian Excitement and Withdrawal of Mr. Palmer from the Town Meeting-house-Account of the Latter Part of his Life-Pastorate of William M. Rogers-Pastorate of Columbus Shumway-Pastorate of David Stowell-Pastorate of Luther H. Sheldon-Pastorate of E. W. Cooke-Pastorate of Moses Patten-Pastorate of George H. Morss-Pastorate of Henry C. Fay-Ordination of Albert F. Newton-Names of the Deacons- The Unitarians and Their Ministers-The Methodists. 77-122.
CHAPTER IV.
THIE BAPTISTS AND UNIVERSALISTS.
Formation of the Baptist Society in 1818-Inauguration of the Church in 1827-Levi Ball Chosen Deacon-Action of the Town in Favor of the Baptists-Pastorate of Rev. James Barnaby-Concise Memoir of Mr. Barnaby-Some Account of the Successors of Mr. Barnaby-Pastorate of Rev. Willard P. Upham-The Uni- versalist Restoration Society-Rev. John Pierce-Committee to Build a Meeting-house-Mention of the Several Pastors of this Society. 123-132.
CHAPTER V. MEETING-HOUSES.
The First Meeting-house and its Location-" Pew Ground "-" Seating the Meeting-house "-Controversy about the Location of the Second Meeting-house-Memoirs of John Hale, Oliver Prescott and John Dunsmoor, the Committee Chosen to Locate this House
9
CONTENTS.
-Names of the Pew Holders in the Second Meeting-house- Action of the Town in Regard to Moving the Second Meeting- house to its Present Location at the Central Village-The First Bell in Town-The Congregational Meeting-house-The Baptist Meeting-house. 133-153.
CHAPTER VI.
MILITARY, CEMETERIES, AND BEQUESTS.
"The Training Band"-"The Alarm List"-Division of the Town into Two Military Companies-The North Company-The South Company-List of the Captains of these Companies-Townsend Light Infantry-Its Captains-Cemeteries-Land Given by Wil- liam Clark-Burying Ground Near the Common at the Centre of the Town-Its Enlargement in 1854-Gift of Land for a Ceme- tery at West Townsend by Levi Warren-The Stocks, an Instru- ment of Torture to the Flesh-Amos Whitney's Will-His Epi- taph. 154-168.
CHAPTER VII.
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
Excitement Previous to the War-A Pamphlet Received from the Selectmen of Boston-Committee of Correspondence and Safety -Action of the Town in 1773-Action of the Town in 1774- Delegates to the Provincial Congress-Assistance Rendered by Townsend to the Citizens of Boston During its Seige-Efforts to Obtain Salt-The Alarm on the 19th of April, 1775-Roll of Capt. James Hosley's Company of Minute-Men that Marched to Defend the Colony-Roll of Capt. Samuel Douglas' Company- Roll of Capt. Henry Farwell's Company-Capt. Thomas Warren's Company-Attempt to Regulate the Prices of Goods and Labor- The Tories of Townsend-Letter from Boston Concerning the Return of the Absentees-Privations and Struggles for Indepen- dence-Story of Eunice Locke-Some Account of Her and Her Brother-Roll of Capt. James Hosley's Company of Volunteers from Townsend. Pepperell, and Ashby, which Went to the Assis- tance of Gen. Gates in 1777-Adoption of the State Constitu- tion, 1778-Depreciation of the Continental Money-Names of the Townsend Soldiers in 1780-List of Prices-Retrospective. 169-212.
10
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SHAYS REBELLION.
Causes which Led to the Revolt-Mob at Springfield-Excitement in Worcester County-The People of Concord in Fear of the In- surgents-Letter from Concord to the Neighboring Towns- Town Meetings and Committees at this Time-Job Shattuck and his Subalterns-Stopping the Courts-Capture of Shattuck- List of the Shays Men Belonging to Townsend-Peter Butter- field-Luke Day the Leading Spirit of the Insurrection-Daniel Shays. 213-222.
CHAPTER IX.
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
Early Action of the Town to Preserve the "Candlewood "-Home Instruction in the Log-Cabins-First Record of Any Effort to Establish a Publie School-First School-House-Account of Several of the School-Houses-Division of the Town into "Nine Squadrons" in 1783-First School Committee in 1796-West Townsend Female Seminary -- Townsend Academy-General In- terest in Education-Names of Some Prominent Teachers- Sketch of Hon. Seth Davis. 223-240.
CHAPTER X.
MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
First Mill in Town at the Harbor, 1733-"Hubbard's Mill" at West Townsend-Hezekiah Richardson's Mill and the Variety of Busi- ness at that Place-James Giles' Mill-Eben Butler's Mill- Daniel Giles' Mill, afterwards Owned by Adams & Powers- Steam Mill of Giles & Larkin-Steam Mill of Walter Fessen- den & Son-Sketch of Walter Fessenden-The Work done by these Mills-Morocco Factory of Abram S. French-Sketch of Abram S. French-Clothiers and Wool Carders-Hezekiah Riell- ardson and his Sons-Samuel Whitney, the Inventor of the Planer-Peter Manning, the Saddler-Townsend Harbor in 1790 -The Tanning Business Carried on by Several Parties-HIats Made of Fur, and Pahn Leaf Hats-Foundry at the Harbor- Statistics of the Manufactures of Townsend, for 1875, taken from the Decemmial Census. 241-258.
11
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Rabidness of the Politicians Previous to the Rebellion-Stupendous Effort of Massachusetts in Suppressing It-War a Terrible Agent in Civilization-Call for a Town Meeting, April 20th, 1861- Patriotic Resolves of the Town-Names of the Men who En- listed in June, 1861, and were Mustered into the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteers-Men of the Twenty-Sixth Massachu- setts Regiment-Account of the Thirty-Third Regiment, and the Townsend men in the same-Re-enlistment of the Nine Months Men in the Old Sixth Regiment, in August, 1862-The Fifty-Third Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers for Nine Months-Sketch of Capt. Anson D. Fessenden-Names and Terms of Service of Townsend Men in Various Regiments- Roll of Townsend Men Belonging to the Twenty-Fourth Massa- chusetts Heavy Artillery-Roll of the One Hundred Days Men who Enlisted July 7, 1864-Patriotism of our Young Men, and the Number of them Killed and who Lost their Lives-Aid Afforded by the Ladies of Townsend to the Sanitary Com- mission. 259-284.
CHAPTER XII.
LAWYERS, PHYSICIANS, AND COLLEGE GRADUATES.
LAWYERS: Walter Hastings-Aaron Keyes-Frederick A. Worcester. PHYSICIANS : Joseph Adams-Samuel Hosley-Isaac Mullikin- Samuel Lovejoy-Moses Kidder-John Bertram-Ebenezer P. Hills-Augustus G. Stickney-John Heard-Royal B. Boynton- Charles J. Towne. COLLEGE GRADUATES: John Hubbard- Abraham Butterfield-Daniel Adams-Joseph Walker-William Farmer-John Stevens-Joel Giles-John Graham-John Giles -Charles Brooks-Warren Brooks-Mark Davis-Charles T. Haynes-John M. Proctor-Randall Spaulding-Eliel S. Ball- Wayland Spaulding. 285-320.
12
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII.
PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS.
Samnel Stone-Ralph Warren-James N. Tucker-James Hosley -Walter Hastings-John Spaulding-Levi Wallace-Stillman Haynes-The Warrens. 321-339.
CHAPTER XIV.
MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS.
Town Library and its Origin-Fire Department-Odd Fellows-Sketch of Albert L. Fessenden-Townsend National Bank-The Ladies' Benevolent Society of the Orthodox Congregational Church- Townsend Cornet Band-Stage Coaches-Post-Offices and Post- masters. 340-355.
CHAPTER XV. TOWN OFFICERS.
Some Remarkable Votes of the Town-Good Sense of the Town About Taxes-Names of the Town Clerks. Moderators, Select- men. and Representatives, from the Time the Town was Char- tered to 1879-Justices of the Peace-County Road Through Groton-Deer Reeves-Hog Reeves-Tithing-Men. 356-384.
CHAPTER XVI.
MARRIAGES.
Marriages of Townsend People from the Incorporation of the Town to the Present Time. 385-428.
CHAPTER XVII.
DESCENDANTS OF DANIEL ADAMS .- THIE WHITNEY FAMILY.
Record of the Descendants of Daniel Adams, who settled in Town- send. in 1742-The Whitney Family as Benefactors and Business Men-Genealogy of some of the Townsend Whitneys. 429-455.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
MAP OF THE TOWN 13
REV. DAVID PALMER 102
REV. LUTHER H. SHELDON 110
HON. SETH DAVIS 237
HON. WALTER FESSENDEN 2445
ABRAM S. FRENCH 248
ANSON D. FESSENDEN 273
FREDERICK A. WORCESTER, EsQ. 288
JOEL GILES, EsQ. 308
ELIEL S. BALL, A. M. 318
RALPH WARREN 326
JAMES N. TUCKER, ESQ. 328 WALTER HASTINGS 331
HON. JOHN SPAULDING 332
HON. LEVI WALLACE 334
STILLMAN HAYNES, EsQ. 336
LEVI WARREN 338
ALBERT L. FESSENDEN 344
ALFRED M. ADAMS 440
Boundary of 1732
NE
L
-
Province Line
BRO
West Hill
I
MAS
issiyudssick Hill
Boundary
Barker
Hill
N
Battery
Hathorn's Meadow
Squannacook
Townsend .
Townsend Cen. ARR Harbor
Harbor
Pond
E
W
Bayberry Hill
S
Boundary of 1782
L ENENBUR
G
PEPPER E L L, GROTON, SHIRLEY.
SHBY
V. Townsend
of 1732
1
NEW IPSWICH Province Line
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE TOWN.
Hills-Streams and Brooks-Ash Swamp-Wild Animals-Fishes- Birds-Name of the Town-Population.
The town of Townsend is situated in the northwest angle of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in latitude +2º 38' north, and longitude 71º 43' west. It is on the northern margin of the State, adjoining New Hampshire, is forty miles northwesterly from Boston. and fifty-six miles southerly from Concord. New Hampshire.
In 1792, the selectmen of Townsend. in company with the selectmen of the seven adjoining towns, each in their turn. caused an accurate survey of the town and a plan thereof to be made. The several boundaries of the town, since that date, have remained unaltered in the least particular. By that survey it is bounded, as follows :- "Beginning at the northeast corner and running south 4º west on Pepperell line 300 rods to Groton old corner ; thence south 14° west on Pepperell line 880 rods to the northwest corner of Groton ; thence south 140 west, on Groton line 270 rods to the northwest corner of Shirley : thence south 14º west on Shirley line 500 rods to the northeast corner of Lunenburg : thence north 62 12º west
3
14
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
1880 rods to the northwest corner of Lunenburg, in the east line of Ashby ; thence north 9º east by Ashby line 1360 rods to the northeast corner of Ashby : thence south 8212° east by the State line and Mason south line 1106 rods to the southeast corner of Mason ; thence by the State line and the south line of Brookline 760 rods to the point of beginning ; and contains by estimation 19,271 acres."
The town contains a trifle more than five and one-half miles square, or thirty and one-ninth square miles.
The surface, except that portion near the river. is highly diversified with hills and valleys. On the banks of the Squanicook, through the entire length of the town. there are areas of level, sandy plains. Some of these, that are only slightly elevated above the natural surface of the river, are fertile and afford good remuneration to the husbandman for his toil.
The rocks are ferruginous gneiss, Merrimack schist and St. Johns group. There are ledges of gneiss. that afford large quantities of stone for building purposes. Some of them can be split and worked to good advantage ; and only the small portion of iron, which is one of their constituent parts, prevents a much more extensive use of them. On the east side of the Nissequassick Hill, a vein of plumbago crops out, which has never been investigated and nothing is known in regard to its quality or value. On the hills are a few large boulders, some of which at a certain period were travellers by iceberg. the most con- spicuous of which is situated on the west side of the Lun- enburg road, on the summit of Bayberry Hill.
The borders of the town, except at the southeastern part are hilly. The principal hills are Nissequassick Hill, West Hill. Barker Hill. Battery Hill and Bayberry Hill.
15
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
"NISSEQUASSICK HILL" embraces the northeastern part of the town from the Harbor to the State line. the northern slope extending into New Hampshire. Since the settle- ment of the town, this hill has been more densely popu- lated than any other portion thereof except the villages. It contains some rough ledges and broken crags on its eastern brow, except which, it has few ravines or abrupt elevations ; and its soil, although some rocky, is generally fit for the plow.
It is a graceful elevation and has many stand points commanding views of scenic beauty. Many charming prospects, worthy of an ascent to behold, may be seen from its summit. The Monadnock, the Watatic, the Wachusett and the bold elevations at the north, including Jo English Hill, together with the mountains of New Ipswich, Peterborough and Lyndeborough in New Hamp- shire, are distinctly visible and stand out in bold relief. resembling turrets in the sky belonging to the walls of some etherial world. The farm-buildings situated on the summit of this hill are in plain sight of several towns at the west and northwest.
WEST HILL, situated west and nearly opposite the hill just described, of about the same elevation, lies also in the northern part of the town, extending further into New Hampshire. It, however, does not take up so much of the territory of the town ; neither is it so well adapted to cultivation as Nissequassick Hill. It contains ledgy, waste lands, in which are wild ravines and swamps caused by rocky barriers, which impede the natural course of the rivulets. Two or three farms on its summit constitute all the soil on this hill suitable for cultivation ; and most of the
16
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
land is covered with a growth of forest trees of different sizes and ages, for which purpose it is best adapted. Clos- ing up to this hill on the west comes :-
BARKER HILL, sometimes called "WALKER HILL," it being at one time the place of residence of Deacon Samuel Walker. The eastern brow of this hill contains some good soil, on which are two or three well cultivated farms. The balance of its territory is very rough and ledgy, being the largest tract of uninhabited land in Townsend.
It is difficult to reach its summit, with a team, from the west. Just before the present lull in business, the high price of lumber caused the removal of the original growth from one hundred acres near its highest point, at the price of ten thousand dollars. Many proud and stately conifers, which withstood the wintry winds of more than a century, yielded to the woodman's axe, falling to the rock bound surface with a crash like a clap of "live thunder." Thus disappeared about the last remnant of the "old growth" in Townsend. It is covered mostly like West Hill with a young growth of timber.
BATTERY ITILL is a name applied to a part of an unbroken spur of the Turkey Hills, which extends from Pearl Hill in Fitchburg, north to New Ipswich, New Hampshire, bordering the whole western line of the town. The name was applied to that part of this range over which passes the old road from West Townsend to Ashby. extending perhaps a mile both north and south of this thoroughfare. It was so called from a garrison-house. which stood near its base, on or in which a cannon was
17
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
placed by the settlers to give an alarm in case of the incursions of Indians.
A few farms on this hill, at the west and northwest of Ash Swamp, are of excellent quality, the soil containing just enough argillaceous matter to prevent the cultivated fields from being washed by the heavy rains, and to hold moisture during the drouths of summer.
BAYBERRY HILL in the southwest part of the town has nearly half its territory in Lunenburg. On the north and west sides of this hill its ascent is quite steep and the approaches to its summit are somewhat difficult. Several hundred acres on its top are comparatively level. The farms here are rocky, and the land is cold and backward in the spring. Some of our best peach orchards, which are a source of much pecuniary profit to their owners, are on this hill. Their northern exposure keeps the buds from too early a start in the spring, thereby preventing injury from late frosts. There is a point on the summit of this hill from which a prospect of panoramic beauty may be seen in the distance, having the three villages of Town- send in the foreground, situated about equidistant in an elongated basin, widening from the northwest to the south- east and shut in by these hills, dotted with white dwellings, pastures, fields and forests.
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.