USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Address delivered at Groton, Massachusetts, July 12, 1905, by request of the citizens, on the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its settlement > Part 3
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We know thut Deane Winthrop was at the head of the first Board of Selectmen of Groton a few years earlier, and that he went to reside at Pullen Point, now called Winthrop, not many years after.
I am strongly inclined to think with you that this note of Decamber, 1662, was written at Groton.
Yours very truly, ROBT. C. WINTHROP.
SAMUEL A. GREEN, M. D.
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During my boyhood I always had a strong desire to visit Groton in England, which gave its name to this town and indirectly to six other towns in the United States. Strictly speaking, it is not a town, but a parish; and there are tech- nical distinctions between the two. More than fifty years ago I was staying in London, and as a stranger in that great metropolis. even after many inquiries I found much difficulty in learning the best way to reach the little village. All my previous knowledge in regard to the place was limited to the fact that it lay in the county of Suffolk, near its southern border. After a somewhat close study of a Railway Guide, I left London by rail for Sudbury, which is the only town of considerable size in the immediate neighborhood of Groton. After changing trains at a railway junction, of which the name has long since faded from my memory, I found myself in a carriage alone with a fellow passenger, who was both cour- teous and communicative, and thoroughly acquainted with the country through which we were passing. On telling him the purpose of my visit, he seemed to be much interested, and told me in return that he was, very familiar with the parish of Groton; and he had many questions to ask about our good old town, which I was both able and glad to answer. It soon 'turned out that my hitherto unknown friend was Sir Henry E. Austen, of Chelsworth, Hadleigh, who, on reaching Sud- bury, gave me a note of introduction to Richard Almack, Esq., of Long Melford, which I used a day or two afterward with excellent results. From Sudbury I drove in a dog-cart to Boxford, where I tarried over night at the White Horse Inn, and in the morning walked over to Groton, less than a mile distant. This place, -the object of my pilgrimage, - I found to be a typical English village of the olden time, very small both in territory and population, and utterly unlike any of its American namesakes. Its history goes back many generations, even to the period before Domesday Book, which was ordered by William the Conqueror more than eight hun- dred years ago, and which registers a survey of the lands of England made at that early date. The text is in Latin, and the words are much shortened. The writing is peculiar and
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hard to read; but it gives some very interesting statistics in regard to the place.
On reaching the end of my trip I called at once on the rec- tor, who received me very kindly and offered to go with me to the church, which invitation I readily accepted. He ex- pressed much interest in the New England towns bearing the name of Groton, and spoke of a visit made to the English town a few years previously, by the Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, which gave him great pleasure. We walked over the grounds of the old manor, once belonging to John Winthrop, first Governor of Massachusetts; and Groton Place, the residence of the lord of the manor at that time, was pointed out, as well as a solitary mulbury tree, which stood in Winthrop's garden, and is now the last vestige of the spot. In strolling over the grounds I picked up some acorns under an oak, which were afterward sent home to my father and planted here, but unfortunately they did not come up. I remember with special pleasure the attentions of Mr. R. F. Swan, postmaster at Boxford, who took me to a small school of little children, where the teacher told the scholars that I had come from another Groton across the broad ocean. He also kindly made for me a rough tracing of the part of the parish in which I was more particularly interested; and as I had left the inn at Boxford when hecalled, he sent it by private hands to me at the Sudbury railway-station. All these little courtesies and many more I recollect with great distinctness, and they add much to the pleasant memories of my visit to the ancestral town, which has such a numerous progeny of muni- cipal descendants in the United States.
Of this large family our town, now celebrating the two hun- dred and fiftieth anniversary of its birth, is the eldest ; and as the " first-born, higher than the kings of the earth."
The next child in the order of descent is the town in Con- necticut, - younger than this town by just half a century, and during the Revolution the scene of the heroic Ledyard's death. It was so named in the year 1705; during the Gov- ernorship of Fitz-John Winthrop, out of respect to the Suffolk home of the family. In population this is the largest of the
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various towns bearing the name, and contains several thriv- ing villages. It is situated on the east bank of the Thames River, in New London County.
The next town in age is the one in Grafton County, New- Hampshire, which was originally granted by the Legislature of that State as early as July 3, 1761, under the name of Cockermouth, and re-granted on November 22, 1766; but the present name of Groton was not given until December 7. 1796. It was chosen by certain inhabitants of the place, who were connected either by birth or through kindred with this town. The population is small, and the principal pursuit of the people is farming, though there are eight of ten saw-mills within its limits. Mica is found in great abundauce, and forms the basis of an important industry. There is a Spec- tacle Pond, lying partly within the town, of which the name may have gone from this neighborhood. There are two vil- lages in the township, the one known as North Groton, per- haps the more important, and the other situated near the southerly border, and known as Groton. Between these two villages, in the centre of the territory, are the town-house and an old burying ground where fifteen years ago I exam- ined many of the epitaphs and found a few family names that are still common here in our burying-ground.
The fourth child in the municipal family is the town of Groton, Caledonia County, Vermont, a pretty village lying in the Wells River Valley, and chartered on October 20, 1729, though the earliest settlers were living there a few years before that date. The first child born in the town was Sally, daughter of Captain Edmund and Sally ( Wesson) Morse, who began her early pilgrimage on September 2, 1787. The father was a native of our town, and principally through his influence the name of Groton was given to the home of his adoption among the foot-hills of the Green Mountains. Wells River runs through the township in a southeasterly direction, and with its tributaries affords some excellent water-power along its course. The stream rises in . Groton Pond, a beautiful sheet of water, and empties into the
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Connecticut at White River Junction, a railway centre of some importance.
My visit to the town was made on July 26, ISgo, and while there I called on the Honorable Isaac Newton Hall, one of the oldest and most prominent citizens of the place, who kindly took me in his buggy through the village, pointing out by the way the various objects of public interest. The Methodist Episcopal church, situated at one end of the vil- lage street, had some memorial windows, of which two had inscriptions, as follows :-
Capt · Edmund . Morse Born . Groton . Mass : 1764 Died . Groton . Vt . 1843
Sally . Morse . Hill Born : 1787-Died . 1864 The . First . Person . Born . in . Groton
Before leaving the place I walked through the burying- ground and examined some of the epitaphs, but none of the names reminded me particularly of the parent town.
The next town of the name is Groton, Erie County, Ohio. which was settled about the year 1809. It was first called Wheatsborough, after a Mr. Wheats, who originally owned most of the township. It lies in the region known as the Fire Lands of Ohio, a tract of half a million acres given by the State of Connecticut in May, 1792, to those of her citizens who had suffered losses from the enemy during the Revolu- tion. Like many other places in the neighborhood, the town took its name from the one in Connecticut.
Late in the autumn of 1889 I happened to be in Nashville, Tennessee, as a member of a committee on business con- nected with the Peabody Normal College in that city, of which ex-President Hayes was chairman. On telling him incidentally that I proposed on my return homeward to stop for a short time at Groton, Erie County, Ohio, he kindly in- vited me to make him a visit at his home in Fremont, which
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was very near my objective point; and he said furthermore that he would accompany me on my trip to that town, which offer I readily accepted. On the morning of November 27, we left Fremont by rail for Norwalk, the shire town of Huron County, -a county in which the township of Groton formerly came, -where we alighted, and at once repaired to the rooms of the Firelands Historical Society. Here we were met by several gentlemen, prominent in the city as well as in the His- orical Society, who showed us many attentions. We had an opportunity there to examine various objects of interest con- nected with the early history of that part of the State. Then taking the cars again on our return, we proceeded as far as Bellevue, where we left the train. Here at a livery-stable we engaged a buggy and a pair of horses, without knowing ex- actly to what part of the township I wished to go, as I was then told there was no village of Groton, but only scat- tered farms throughout the town. One man, however, said that there was a place called Groton Centre, which seemed to me both very natural and familiar, and so thither we directed our course. After driving over very muddy roads for five or six miles, we inquired at a farm-house the way to Groton Centre, where we were told that a school-house in sight, half a mile off, was the desired place. " There was no village what- ever to be seen in any direction; and the building was the public voting-place, on which account the neighborhood re- ceived the name. The town is entirely agricultural. in its character, and the land is largely prairie with a rich soil. It is small in population, and does not contain even a post-office. The inhabitants for their postal facilities depend on Bellevue and Sandusky, adjacent places.
Another town bearing the good name of Groton, which I have visited, is the one in Tompkins County, New York. More than eighteen years ago I found myself at Courtland, Courtland County, New York, where I had gone in order to see the venerable Mrs. Sarah Chaplin Rockwood, a native of this town. She was a daughter of the Reverend Dr. Chaplin. the last minister settled by the town, and at that time she was almost one hundred and two years old. By a coincidence she
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was then living on Groton Avenue, a thoroughfare which leads to Groton, Tompkins County, a town ten miles distant. Taking advantage of iny nearness to that place, on May 4, 1887, I drove there and was set down at the Groton Hotel, where I passed the night. Soon after my arrival I took a stroll through the village, and then called on Marvin Morse Baldwin, Esq., a lawyer of prominence, and the author of an historical sketch of the place, published in 1868. The town was formed originally, on April 7, 1817, from Locke, Cayuga County, under the name of Division; but during the next year this was changed to Groton, on the petition of the inhab- itants, some of whom were from Groton, Massachusetts, and others from Groton, Connecticut. The principal village is situated on Owasco Inlet, a small stream, and is surrounded by a rolling country of great beauty. The population is small, and the business chiefly confined to a machine-shop and foundry, several carriage-shops, and the making of agri- cultural implements. The town supports a National Bank and also a weekly newspaper, and has railway communica- tion with other places.
In all these visits to the several towns of the same name, I have interested myself to learn the local pronunciation of the word. I have asked many persons in all ranks of life and grades of society in regard to the matter, and without excep- tion they have given it "Graw-ton," which every "native here, and to the manor born" knows so well how to pro- nounce. It has never been Grow-ton, or Grot-ton even, but always with a broad sound on the first and accented syllable. Such was the old pronunciation in England, and by the con- tinuity of custom and tradition the same has been kept up throughout the several settlements in this country bearing the name.
The latest town aspiring to the honor of the name of Groton is in Brown County, South Dakota. It was laid out about twenty-two years ago on land owned by the Chicago, Mil- waukee and St. Paul Railway Company. I have been in- formed that various New England names were selcteed by the Company and given to different townships along the line,
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not for personal or individual reasons, but because they were short and well sounding, and unlike any others in the Terri- tory of that period.
At some future day, if my life be spared long enough, I may pay my respects to this youngest child of the name and visit her township. In that case I will describe her person- ality and place her in the family group with her elder sisters. During two centuries and a half, -the long period of time now under consideration, - many changes have taken place in the customs and manners of our people. Some of these are entirely forgotten, and traces of them are found only in the records of the past ; and I purpose to allude to a few. In this way a survival of their knowledge may be kept up, which. will help the present generation in some degree to catch the attitude of its ancestors.
In the early days of New England marriages were per- formed by magistrates only, and by other officers appointed for that particular purpose. It was many years before minis- ters of the Gospel were allowed to take part in the ceremony. At a town meeting held here, on December 15, 1669, the selectmen were authorized "to petition to the [General] Court for one to marry persons in our towne"; and it is probable that before this time persons wishing to be joined in wedlock were obliged either to go elsewhere in order to carry out their intention, or else a magistrate or other officer was brought for the occasion. At that period the population of the town was small, and the marriages were few in number ; and before this date only eight couples are found as recorded of.Groton. Perhaps these marriages were solemnized by a Commissioner of Small Causes, who was authorized equally with a magistrate to conduct the ceremony. These officers were empowered to act in all cases within the jurisdiction of a magistrate, and were approved, either by the Court of As- sistants or the County Courts, on the request of any town where there was no resident magistrate. They were three in number in each of such towns, and were chosen by the freemen.
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Another instance of a change in early customs is found in connection with funerals, which formerly were conducted with severe simplicity. Our pious forefathers were opposed to all ecclesiastical rites, and any custom that reminded them of the English church met with their stern disapproval. And, furthermore, prayers over a corpse were very suggestive of those offered up for the dead by the Roman church; and to . their minds such ceremonies savored strongly of heresy and superstition. A body was taken from the house to the grave, and interred without ceremony; and no religious services were held. Funeral prayers in New England were first made in the smaller towns before they were in the larger places. Their introduction into Boston was of so uncommon occur- rence that it caused some comment in a newspaper, as the following extract from "The Boston Weekly News-Letter," December 31, 1730, will show :-
Yesterday were Buried here the remains of that truly honourable & devout Gentlewoman, Mrs. SARAH BYFIELD, amidst the affectionate Respects & Lamentations of a numerous Concourse. - Before carrying out the Corpse, a Funeral Prayer was made, by one of the Pastors of the Old Church, to whose Communion she belong'd; which, tho' a Custom in the Country-Towns, is a singular Instance in this place, but it's wish'd may prove a leading Example to the general Practice of so chris- tian & decent a Custom.
At a funeral the coffin was carried upon a bier to the place of interment by pall-bearers, who from time to time were re- lieved by others walking at their side. The bearers usually were kinsfolk or intimate friends of the deceased; and they were followed by the mourners and neighbors, who walked two by two. After the burial the bier was left standing over the grave ready for use when occasion should again require.
Two centuries ago, writers of poetical compositions in memory of the dead were more common in New England than they are today. They gave utterance to their feelings in a form of verse known as the Elegy. Occasionally such pro- ductions were printed on single sheets, and circulated among the friends of the family. They were generally crude in their
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Retrícal construction, but they afforded a certain kind of sad satisfaction to the mourners. Sometimes manuscript copies were made from the printed sheet, and these, too, were sent. round to the friends of the departed. An entry in Judge. Sewall's Diary, under date of June 9, 1685, would seem to show that such verses were sometimes pinned or placed on. the coffin. as in modern times flowers are laid on the graves. It is found in the paragraph describing the funeral of the. Reverend Thomas Shepard at Charlestown, as follows - " It seems there were some verses ; but none pinned on the Herse. Scholars [from Harvard College] went before the Herse" (1.82). The meaning of the old form "herse" is coffin. grave, tomb, etc., and the word has its modern representative in "hearse," a carriage for conveying the dead to the grave.
Many years ago an old citizen of the town told me that once he served as a pall-bearer at the funeral of a friend who died in Squannacook Village ( West Groton). It took place near midsummer, in very hot weather: and he related how the procession was obliged to halt often in order to give a rest to the bearers, who were nearly prostrated by the heat. during their long march.
· Hearses were first introduced into Boston about 1796, and into Groton a few years later. In the warrant for the Groton town meeting on April 4, 1803, Article No. 7 was
To see if the town will provide a herse for the town's use, and give such directions about the same as they shall think fit.
In the Proceedings of that meeting, after Article No. 7. it is recorded : -
Voted that the town will provide a berse for the Town's use.
Voted and chose James Brazer, Esqr Jacob L. Parker, and Joseph Sawtell 3d a Committee and directed them to provide a decent herse at the Town's expence.
From the earliest period of our Colonial history training- . days were appointed by the General Court for the drilling of soldiers; and at intervals the companies used to come to-
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. gether as a regiment and practise various military exercise's. From this custom sprang the regimental muster, so common before the War of the Rebellion.
During a long time, and particularly in the early part of the nineteenth century, many such musters were held. here. A training-field often used for the purpose was the plain. situated near the Hollingsworth Paper-mills, a mile and a half northerly from the village. Sometimes they were held on the eastern side of the road, and at other times on the westerly side. During my boyhood musters took place, twice certainly, on the easterly slope of the hill on the south side of the Broad Meadow Road near Farmers' Row ; and also, once certainly, in the field lying southeast of Lawrence Acad. emy, near where Powder House Road now runs.
Musters have been held on land back of the late Charles Jacobs's house, and in the autumn of 1850, in a field near the dwelling where Benjamin Moors used to live, close by James's Brook, in the south part of the town. The last one in Groton, or the neighborhood even, took place on September 13-14, 1852, and was held in the south part of the town, near the line of the Fitchburg Railroad on its northerly side, some distance east of the station. This was a muster of the Fifth Regiment of Light Infantry, and occurred while Mr. Boutwell was Governor of the Commonwealth; and I remember well the reception which he gave to the officers on the intervening evening at his house, built during the preceding year.
Akin to the subject of military matters, was a custom which formerly prevailed in some parts of Massachusetts, and per- haps elsewhere, of celebrating occasionally the anniversary of the surrender of Yorktown, which falls on October 17. Such a celebration was called a " Cornwallis"; and it was intended to represent, in a burlesque manner, the siege of the town, as well as the ceremony of its surrender. The most prominent generals on each side would be personated, while the men of the two armies would wear what was supposed to be their peculiar uniform. I can recall now more than one such sham fight that took place in this town during my boy- hood. In Io Cushing, 252, is to be found a decision of the
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Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, enjoining a town. treasurer from paying money that had been appropriated for such a celebration.
James Russell Lowell, in his Glossary to " The Biglow Papers," thus defines the word : Cornwallis, a sort of muster in masquerade ; supposed to have had its origin soon after the Revolution, and to commemorate the surrender of Lord Corn- wallis. It took the place of the old Guy Fawkes procession." Speaking in the character of Hosea Biglow, he asks,
Recollect wut fun we hed, you'n' I an' Ezry Hollis
Up there to Waltham plain last fall, along o' the Cornwallis?
He further says in a note: "i hait the Sight of a feller with a muskit as i du pizn But their is fun to a cornwallis I aint agoin' to deny it."
The last Cornwallis in this immediate neighborhood came off about sixty years ago at Pepperell; and I remember wit- messing it. Another Cornwallis on a large scale occurred at Clinton in the year 1853, in which nine uniformed companies of militia, including the Groton Artillery, took part. On this occasion the burlesque display, both in numbers and details. far outshone all former attempts of a similar character, and. like the song of a swan, ended a custom that had come down from a previous century. At the present day nothing is left of this quaint celebration but a faded memory and an uncertain tradition.
The first settlers of Massachusetts brought with them from England a good supply of seeds and stones of various fruits, grains, and vegetables, which were duly planted. In this way was begun the cultivation of apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, wheat, rye, barley, oats, beans, peas, potatoes, hops, currants, etc., and in the course of a few years they raised fair crops of all these products.
As early as 1660 all inn-holders and tavern-keepers were required to have a license in order to be allowed to carry on their business ; and they were obliged to be approbated by the selectmen of the town and to be licensed by the County Court. At the same time a restriction was placed on makers
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of cider, who were not allowed to sell by retail, except under certain conditions ; "and that it be only to masters of families of good and honest report, of persons going to Sea, and they suffer not any person to drink the same in their houses, cel- lars or yards." This reference, found in " The Book of the General Lawes and Libertyes" (Cambridge, 1660), shows that at an early date in the history of the Colony the pro- hibitory principle was recognized by legislative enactment, and that it is by no means a modern idea. The reference shows furthermore that cider was made by the settlers at an early period. Few persons of the rising generation are aware of the great quantities of cider made fifty or seventy-five years ago on almost every farm in an agricultural commu- nity. I am placing the estimate within moderate bounds when I say that every good-sized farm in Groton had an apple or- chard and a cider-mill on the premises. Many a farmer would make all the way from ten to thirty barrels of cider for home use, besides what he would sell elsewhere or make into vinegar; and this large stock was kept in the cellar. There are now in this audience men and women who remem- ber how years ago they used to suck sweet cider through a long rye straw, as it ran from the press. At such times the children were often as thick as honey-bees round the bung- hole of a hogshead of molasses in summer time.
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