USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Proceedings of the centennial celebration at Groton, Mass., July 4th, 1876, in commemoration of the destruction of the town, March, 1676, and the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776. With an oration by Samuel Abbott Green > 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
Gc 974.402 G916grg 1779093
EVI. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GENE 974. G916
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 9534
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
AT GROTON, MASS.,
JULY 4TH, 1876,
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE
DESTRUCTION OF THE TOWN, MARCHI, 1676, AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, JULY 4TH, 1776.
carith an Oration
BY SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D.
GROTON : 1876.
--
1779093
84432 . 503
Groton, Mass.
Proceedings of the contennial celebration at Groton, Mass., July 4th, 1876, in commemoration of the destrue- tion of the town, March, 1676, and the Declaration of in- dependence, July 4th, 1776. With an oration by Samuel Abbott Green, M. D. Groton, 1876.
xi, (31, 171-89 p. 243"".
SHELF CARD
1. Groton, Mass .- Hist. 2. King Philip's war, 1675-1676. Samuel Abbott, 1:30-
I. Green,
10-3139
371128
Library of Congress
F74.G7GS
-
PROCEEDINGS.
€
1
.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofcen00grot_0
Drder of Exercises ..
I.
ORGAN VOLUNTARY Selections from Batiste. C. H. GERRISH. II.
ANTHEM : "I was glad when they said unto me." . Gould.
III. SCRIPTURE READING. Rev. JOSHUA YOUNG. IV. INVOCATION. Rev. B. A. ROBIE. V.
WHITTIER'S CENTENNIAL HYMN . . . Music, J. K. Paine.
VI. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. Rev. DAVID FOSDICK. VII.
ANTHEM. - " Strike the Cymbal" Pucitta.
VIII. ORATION. Dr. SAMUEL A. GREEN.
114990
IX. O DE. Rev. J. M. L. BABCOCK. X.
AMERICA.
[ The audience are invited to join in singing the 2d and 3d stanzas only.]
II.
My native country, thec --- Land of the noble, free - Thy name I love ; 'I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills ; My heart with rapture thrills Like that above.
III.
Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom's song ; Let mortal tongues awake ; Let all that breathe partake ; Let rocks their silence break -- The song prolong.
XI. PRAYER OF BENEDICTION. Rev. B. F. LAWRENCE.
Salutes for the Day.
SUNRISE. National Salute, thirty-eight guns. Ringing of bells, fifteen minutes. MERIDIAN. Colonial Salute, thirteen guns. SUNSET. State Salute, thirty guns. Ringing of bells, fifteen minutes.
procession.
The Procession will be formed on Main Street, opposite the Town llouse, at S 1-2 o'clock, A.M., and move under escort of the
E. S. CLARKE Post, No. 115, G. A. R.,
through the principal streets to the FIRST PARISH CHURCH, where ser- vices will commence at 10 o'clock.
ORDER OF PROCESSION.
Ist Division. Escort : Grand Army of the Republic.
2d Division. Executive Committee, Town officers.
3ª Division. President of the Day and Orators, Invited Guests.
Ath Division. Fire Department.
5th Division. Grangers.
Gth Division. Citizens of the Town.
At the conclusion of the Church Services. the procession will re-form and march to the Town House, where Dinner will be served ; after which, Speeches and Music will be the order of the afternoon.
ANDREW ROBBINS, CHIEF MARSHAL.
Aids.
JAMES LAWRENCE.
A. S. LAWRENCE.
COURTLAND HILL. ANDREW SPAULDING.
FRANK GERRISH. WILLIAM MOORE.
WILLIAM HOAR. FRANK PORTER.
EDWARD GRAVES. FRANK SANDERSON.
GEORGE CUMNOCK.
Fireworks at S 1-2 o'clock, P.M.
PROCEEDINGS.
AT a town-meeting of the citizens of Groton held, March 6, 1876, the sixth article of the warrant calling said meeting was in language following ; to wit :-
" To see if the town will commemorate in any way the 13th of March, 1676, or the 4th of July, 1776, or take any action in relation thereto."
Under this article of the warrant it was voted, " That a committee of three persons be appointed by the chairman to consider the matter of this article; and C. H. WATERS, DANIEL NEEDHAM, and ANDREW ROBBINS were appointed the committee.
On the 3d day of April, 1876, the committee appointed at the previous meeting made a report, which report was in substance as follows : -
" That the town commemorate the 13th of March, 1676, and the 4th of July, 1776.
" That an executive committee consisting of five persons be ap- pointed to have in charge all matters pertaining to such commemo- ration, and that they may compile and publish, and cause the same to be recorded in the Town Records, all such subjects of interest as may be thought expedient and necessary to perpetuate and com- memorate the occasions.
" That an appropriation of five hundred dollars be made.
" That Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL be President of the day.
"That Dr. SAMUEL A. GREEN, of Boston, be invited to deliver an Oration.
viii
" That this commemoration take place on the 4th of July, 1876. " That salutes be fired during the day at specified times.
" That a dinner be provided, and also a band of music."
This report was accepted and adopted by the town, and a committee to carry out the plan recommended was appointed ; consisting of C. H. WATERS, DANIEL NEEDHAM, ANDREW ROBBINS, A. S. LAWRENCE, and GEORGE S. GATES.
Dr. SAMUEL A. GREEN was invited by the committee to deliver the address, and accepted the invitation.
On the 4th of July, 1876, the day was ushered in by the ringing of bells and the firing of salutes, and at ten o'clock a procession was formed at the High-School House, and with invited guests and citizens generally, preceded by the Groton Cornet Band, marched to the First Church, where the presid- ing officer, the Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL called upon the Rev. BENJAMIN A. ROBIE to invoke the divine blessing ; after which the Rev. DAVID FOSDICK read the Declaration of Independence, and Dr. SAMUEL A. GREEN pronounced the Oration, and the Rev. J. M. L. BABCOCK read a poem.
. After the exercises at the Church, the procession re-formed and marched to the Town Hall, where a dinner was provided for some six hundred persons.
At the table, the divine blessing was invoked by the Rev. B. F. LAWRENCE.
. At the conclusion of the dinner, the company was called to order by the presiding officer, Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, who delivered the following address : ---
MY FELLOW-CITIZENS : --- I am authorized by the inhabitants of this ancient town to welcome all who are to-day within our bor- ders ; and now in their behalf and to all of you, whether bound to this spot as the place of your nativity, to this people by the ties of friendship and kindred, or by the more numerous and enduring ties of citizenship in a common country, I extend a full, a hearty welcome.
ix
We are met to celebrate the two hundred and twenty-first anni- versary of the incorporation of the town, and the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence.
In the longer period since the settlement of the town, eight gen- crations of men have cultivated these fields, now rich with the wealth and resplendent with the glories of the summer harvest, and gazed with delight upon this landscape of beauty, stretching over the valley of the Nashua River and its tributaries to the Wachusett, the Watatick, the Monadnock, and their associate mountains which mark our Western and Northern horizon.
Our town was founded and settled by the Puritans. Deane Win- throp, a son of the first Governor Winthrop, was one of the incor- porators ; and the name of the family home in England was transferred in affection and faith to the wilderness upon the Nashua River, in America. Our history begins with the first efforts for the spread of Puritan civilization upon this continent ; and, in all the long period that has intervened, this town has been true to the prin- ciples of political and religious freedom. Honored names have illustrated our history, and honored families of the earlier genera- tions have continued to the present time. On every side there are daughter towns that are indebted to us for lands and families, and whose fame and fortunes are, and always are to be, identified with our own.
In every part of the country there are eminent persons who are connected with us by birth, by blood, or by training in our institu- tions of learning. There is a glory in the antiquity of the older towns in America, of which we may fairly boast. In every gener- ation they have contributed to the growth and greatness of the Re- public. Their men and principles have gone out to other fields ; and now that the older States are no longer the governing force of the Republic, we may claim to have decided already what the character of the governing force shall be.
Groton is thirty-five miles from the Atlantic coast, and for forty years it was a frontier town ; but now the territory of the Union encircles one-fourth of the habitable globe upon this parallel of latitude, and more than one twenty-fifth part of the inhabitants of the earth are dwelling within the jurisdiction of the Republic, and west of our meridian.
The present greatness of the Republic seems to dwarf its begin- nings ; but the greatness of the Republic was in its beginnings, - in
x
the ideas, principles, and policy of the founders of the colonies of English origin.
We stand at the close of the first century in our national carcer, and at the commencement of the second.
If in imagination, and with the helps which history furnishes, we can picture the condition of the colonies one hundred years ago, we shall be able to comprehend the value of the changes which have taken place.
In each generation we have advanced in power, in population, in wealth, and in capacity for self-government. The condition of the people is improved in every important particular. The comforts of domestic life, then enjoyed by a few only, are now diffused gener- ally. Individual rights are better understood and more respected, distinctions arising from adventitious circumstances are less heeded, the general public intelligence is more comprehensive and more exact, personal judgment in religious matters is more regarded, the law has been simplified, its administration quickened, justice made more secure, and the equal rights of all men are now recognized as the fundamental rule of the Republic. This representation is true in full measure of the old free States, and in a considerable degree even of the States that were cursed with the institution of slavery.
The old century was full of growth and progress. The new cen- tury is full of promise. We welcome it without fear, and in the faith that the generations which are to be marshalled in it will succeed wherein we have failed, perfect what with us is incomplete, preserve what has been won, avoid wasting and brutal wars as un- necessary and unbecoming a great people, and close the century which we now hail, with such triumphs of peace, progress, power and justice, that the nations of the earth shall accept joyfully the truth that all men by nature are equal, and should be so recognized before the law.
At the conclusion of the address of the presiding officer, he announced that Col. DANIEL NEEDHAM had been ap- pointed Toast Master, and that upon him would rest the carrying out of the farther post-prandial exercises.
Col. Needham congratulated the town that these great an- niversaries and events which they commemorated occurred at
xi
a time when the nation was celebrating its hundredth anni- versary by an in-gathering of people from all nations, and by an exhibition not only of its own industries, but the re- sults of the industries of all other nations.
He congratulated the town upon its prosperity and growth, and gave statistics which indicated the progress which the town had made from time to time in population and wealth.
After these expressions of congratulation, he announced the first regular toast : " The President of the United States." Responded to by the Band.
The second regular toast : " The Governor of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts." Also responded to by the Band.
He then announced several toasts which were responded to by invited guests and citizens of the town : Hon. JAMES DANA; Hon. C. B. FARNSWORTH; EZRA FARNSWORTH, Esq. ; Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL ; CHARLES H. WATERS, Esq. ; Dr. SAMUEL A. GREEN; Rev. J. M. L. BABCOCK; Hon. JOHN A. GOODWIN.
Letters were read from the Hon. AMos A. LAWRENCE and other distinguished gentlemen. The exercises were inter- spersed with music by the Band, and singing ; and after sev- eral hours at the table the exercises were brought to a close, with the feeling that the results of the day's commemoration had met the most sanguine expectations of all the people.
.
The superior figures scattered through the Oration refer to the Appendix.
ORATION.
----
GROTON BURNED BY THE INDIANS, 1676. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1776.
ORATION.
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
------
8
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
-
-
-
9
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-
2
-
IO
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 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
II
Mon receiving additions and improvements during several iterations, in order to accommodate the increasing and wistantly changing family, until finally the humble house 1. is 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 II). 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 Shepley, 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 Riuer that runes from Nashaway in to merimake at a place or a boute a place Caled
I2
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
JOHN 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 wch henceforth shall be Called Groaten formerly knowne by the name of Petapawage: that M' Danforth of Cambridge with 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 wthin 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 M' Jnº Tinker MY Tho : Hinckly Dolor Davis Wm 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' haue 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 "
I3
A religious temper pervades the whole petition, which in i. language has the flavor of the Old Testament. It speaks at 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 ¡ Juintation," 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 dreds. 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.
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.