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 4
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Many plants were brought to New England originally from other countries for their medicinal virtues, and many were introduced by chance. Some have multiplied so rapidly and grown so plentifully in the fields and by the roadside, that they are now considered common weeds. Wormwood, tansy, chamomile, yarrow, dandelion, burdock, plantain, catnip, and mint all came here by importation. These exotic plants made their way into the interior, as fast as civilization extended in that direction; though in some instances the seeds may have been carried by birds in their flight.
Dr. William Douglass, in "A Summary, Historical and Political, of the first Planting, progressive Improvements, and present State of the British Settlements in North
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America," published at Boston ( Volume I. in the year 1749, and Volume II. in 1753), says :-
Near Boston and other great Towns, some Field Plants which accident- ally have been imported from Europe, spread much, and are a great Nuasance in Pastures, . . . at present they have spread Inland from Boston, about 30 Miles (II. 207).
According to this statement, the pioneers of some of these foreign plants or weeds had already reached the township of Groton near the middle of the eighteenth century. Dr. Douglass gives another fact about the town which may be worthy of preservation, as follows :-
There are some actual Surveys of Extents which ought not to be lost in Oblivion; as for Instance, from Merrimack River due West to Groton Meeting-House are 12 miles; from Groton Meeting-House (as surveyed by Col. Stoddard, Major Fulham, and Mr. Dwight, by Order of the Gen- eral Assembly) to Northfield Meeting-House W. 16 d. N. by Compass are 41 Miles and half (I. 425 note).
Such surveys, as those given in this extract, were of more interest to the public, before the days of railroads, than they are now; but, as the author says, they "ought not to be lost in Oblivion."
. The greatest advance in social and moral life during the last one hundred and twenty-five years has been in the cause of temperance. Soon after the period of the Revolution there arose an abuse of spirituous liquors, perhaps induced in part by the return home of young men from the army, who while absent had acquired the habit of drinking to excess. There was no public occasion, from a wedding to a funeral, or from the ordination of a minister to the raising of a house or barn, when rum in many of its Protean shapes was not given out. It was set on the festive sideboard, and used freely both by the old and young; and sometimes even the pastor of the church yielded to the insidious seduction of the stimulant. Liquors were sold at retail at most of the trading shops in town, and at the three taverns in the village. The late Elizur Wright, an eminent statistician, and nearly eighty years ago a resident
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of Groton, once told me in writing that, according to an esti- mate made by him at that period, the amount of New Eng- land rum sold here in one year was somewhat over 28,000 gallons. This was not a guess on his part, but was taken from the books of dealers in the fluid, who had kindly com- plied with his request for the amount of their sales during the previous year. We judge of the whole from the specimen.
It is generally supposed that the huge department stores in the large cities are a modern institution, so far as they relate to the variety of articles sold ; but in this respect they are only an imitation of the old-time country store. Fifty years ago the average trading shop kept about everything that was sold, from a pin to a plougii, from silks and satins to stoves and shovels; and from tea and coffee to tin dippers and cotton drill- ing, flour, all kinds of dry goods and groceries, molasses, raisins, bricks, cheese, hats, nails, sperm oil, grindstones, boots and shoes, drugs and medicines, to say nothing of a supply of confectionery for the children; besides a daily barter of any of the aforesaid articles for fresh eggs and butter. The traders were omniverous in their dealings, and they kept on hand nearly everything that was asked for by the customers. In this respect they have set an example to the proprietors of the department stores, who offer for sale an equally mis- cellaneous assortment of goods.
Within the last three-quarters of a century, perhaps the most useful invention given to mankind, certainly one very widely used, has been the common friction match. Appar- ently it is so trifling and inconspicuous that among the great discoveries of the nineteenth century it is likely to be over- looked. This little article is so cheap that no hovel or ham- let throughout Christendom is ever without it, and yet so useful that it is found in every house or mansion, no matter how palatial, and in every vessel that sails the sea. Bunches of matches are made by the millions and millions, and broad acres of forests are cut down each year to supply the wood ; and in every home they are used without regard to waste or economy. "No correct statistics of match making can be given, but it has been estimated that six matches a day for each
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individual of the population of Europe and North America is the average consumption." (The American Cyclopedia, New York, 1883.) Perhaps no other invention of the last century comes so nearly in touch with the family and house- hold in all parts of the civilized world as this necessity of domestic life.
I have mentioned these facts in some detail as the friction match has had such a close connection with country life in New England, as elsewhere. In early days when fire was kept on the domestic hearth, from month to month and from year to year, by covering up live coals with ashes, sometimes from one cause or another it would go out; and then it was necessary to visit a neighbor to "borrow fire," as the ex- pression was. If the distance was short, live coals might be brought on a shovel; but if too far, a lighted candle could be carried in a tin lantern and furnish the needed flame. Often a flint-and-steel was used for striking fire, but some- times even this useful article was wanting. I have heard of instances where a man would fire off a gun into a wad of tow and set it on fire, and thus get the desired spark to start the blaze.
Another invention, which has come into general use within the last sixty years, and has changed the destinies of the world, is Morse's electric telegraph. In the sending of mies- sages it practically annihilates space, and has worked wonders in science and in the every-day affairs of life. By means of it the words of Puck become a reality when he says : .
I'll put a girdle round about the Earth In forty minutes.
If the ocean telegraph had been in operation at that time, the battle of New Orleans, on January S, 1815, would not have been fought. It took place a fortnight after the treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent, though the tidings of the treaty were not received in this country until a month after the action. The chances are that Andrew Jackson would never have been President of the United States if he
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had not gained that battle ; nor would Martin Van Buren have succeeded to the same high office if as Secretary of State or as Vice-President he had not been associated with Jackson. This will serve as an illustration of the influence which the telegraph may have on human affairs.
Little short of fifty years ago I spent an evening with Pro- fessor Morse at his rooms in Paris, and he told me a thrilling tale of the circumstances which led up to his great discovery of the application of electricity to the sending of messages : and how the thought first came to him many years before, when in a packet ship on the voyage from Havre to New York. I have often regretted that I did not then write down at once my recollections of the visit, while they were fresh in my memory; but unfortunately I did not do so.
A telegraph office in this village was opened on Saturday. March 20, 1880, and the first message along its wires was sent to Nashua, New Hampshire. The office was in the railway station, where it has since remained.
The telephone office here was first opened on Friday, April 29, 1881, in the building at the south corner of Main Street and Station Avenue, where it still remains; and there are now more than one hundred and twenty subscribers.
By the side of the investigations connected with this ad- dress I am reminded that the First Parish Meeting-house is now one hundred and fifty years old. During one half of this period it was the only designated place of worship within the limits of the town ; and for these seventy-five years it was the centre .of the religious life of the people. From its walls went forth all the efforts that made for the highest and noblest activities of human nature. It was the fourth meeting-house used by the town, and stands on the site of the third building, a spot which was by no means the unanimous choice of the town when that structure was built ; and the usual contro- versy then took place over the site. It was begun in 1714, and was two years in process of building. In early times there was always much contention in regard to the local position of the house, some wanting it put in one place, and others in another, according to the convenience of their respective
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families. Mr. Butler, in his History of Groton, says : "But the momentous affairs of deciding upon a spot on which to set a public building, and choosing and settling a minister, are not usually accomplished without much strife and con- tention, and are sometimes attended with long and furious quarrels and expensive lawsuits " (page 306). The Rever- end Joseph Emerson, the first minister of Groton West Par- ish, now known as Pepperell, explains the cause thus: "It hath been observed that some of the hottest contentions in this land hath been about settling of ministersand building meet- ing-houses ; and what is the reason? The devil is a great enemy to settling ministers and building meeting-houses; wherefore he sets on his own children to work and make difficulties, and to the utmost of his power stirs up the cor- ruptions of the children of God in some way to oppose or ob- struct so good a work."
With no desire to dispute Mr. Emerson's theory in regard to the matter, I think that the present generation would hardly accept this explanation as the correct one.
For some months, perhaps for one or two years, before the present house of worship was built, the question of a new structure was considered and discussed at town-meetings. It was then in the air, and finally the matter took concrete shape. On May 6, 1754, the town made definite plans for a raising of the frame ; and on such occasions at that period of time rum was supposed to be needed, not only to bring to- gether a crowd to help along the work, but also to give strength to the workers. At that meeting the following vote was passed :--
at a Legal meeting of the Inhabitants at Groton qualleyfied by Law for voting in Town affairs assembled chose Cap' ban- croft moderator for sd meeting
The question was put which way they would face the meet- inghouse and the major vote was for facing sd house to the west.
Voted that The meeting house Comte prouide one hogs- head of Rum one Loaf of white Shugar one quarter of a hun- dred of brown Shugar also voted that Deacon Stone Deacon
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farwell Lt Isaac woods benje Stone Lt John Woods Cap' Sam1 Tarbell Amos Lawrence Ensign Obadiah Parker Cap' ban- croft be a Comtee and to prouide Victuals and Drink for a hun- dred men and If the people Dont subscribe among them the Comtee to purchas the Remainder up on the Towns Cost.
Voted that The Comtet that Got the Timber for The meet- ing house haue Liberty with such as shall subscribe thear to to build a porch at the front Dore of the meeting house up on their own Cost
Then voted that the Select men prouide some conuiant place to meet in upon the Sabbath Till further order.
According to Joseph Farwell's note-book the raising took place on May 22, 1754, -which day fell on Wednesday, - and lasted until Saturday, May 25. It is to be hoped that during these three days no accident happened on account of the liquid stimulant. Probably the work of the building was pushed with all the speed then possible and available; and, probably too, it was used for worship long before it was fin- ished. During this period of interruption in the public ser- vices it is very likely that the Sunday meetings were held at the house of the minister, Mr. Trowbridge, who then lived on the site of the High School building.
According to Farwell's note-book, on August IS, 1754, Mrs. Sarah Dickinson became a member of the church, the first person so admitted in the new meeting-house. She was the widow of James Dickinson, who died only a few weeks before, and was buried in the old grave-yard. According to the same authority, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered in the new building for the first time on Novem- ber 15, 1754.
The early settlers did not believe much in outward cere- mony; and the new meeting-house was never formally dedi- cated by a special service. Perhaps, when the house was first opened for worship, Mr. Trowbridge preached a sermon in keeping with the occasion; and very likely in his prayer he made some allusion to the event. We are told that the prayer of the righteous man availeth much. The homage
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paid to the Creator of the universe each Sunday, both by the pulpit and the pews, would consecrate any such structure to its high purpose. Simple in their religious faith, the wor- shippers had no use for ecclesiastical forms. Not alone by their words, but by their thoughts, they dedicated the meet- ing-house. Sometimes words not spoken have more mean- ing than those which are uttered.
The Common, in front of the present meeting-house, was a place closely connected with the life of the town. Here at an early period the two militia companies used to meet and drill at regular times, known as training-days. On the Com- mon the two companies of minute-men rallied off the morning of that eventful nineteenth of April, and received their ammunition from the town's stock, which was stored in the Powder-House near by. Here they took farewell of friends and families, knowing full well the responsible duties that rested on their shoulders, and the dangers that threatened them. These men marched hence on that memorable day as British subjects, but they came back as independent citizens who never knew again the authority of a king.
In that house Mr. Dana, a young and rising lawyer of Groton, pronounced a eulogy on General Washington, which was delivered on Saturday, February 22, 1800, a few weeks after his death. The military companies of the town attend- ed the exercises. Miss Elizabeth Farnsworth ( 1791-1884) as a little girl was present on the occasion, and Mrs. Sarah (Capell) Gilson (1793-1890), remembered the event, though not present at the exercises; and they both gave me their faint recollections of the day.
The meeting-house was remodelled in the year 1839, when it was partially turned round, and the north end of the build- ing made the front, facing the west, as it now stands. For- merly the road to the east part of the town went diagonally across the Common, and passed down the hill to the south of the meeting-house; and there was no highway on the north side. Before this change in the building was made, the town- meetings were always held in the body of the house; and the
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voting was done in front of the pulpit. In my mind's eye 1 can see now the old pulpit, with the sounding-board hang- ing overhead.
The town-clock in the steeple, so familiar to every man. woman, and child in Groton, was made by James Ridgway, and placed in the tower some time during the spring of Iso9. It was paid for in part, by the town, and in part by private subscription. Mr. Ridgway was a silversmith and a clock. maker, who during the war with England ( 1812-1815) car- ried on a large business in this neighborhood. He afterward removed to Keene, New Hampshire, where he lived for many years. His shop was situated on Main street, nearly opposite to the Groton Inn, but it disappeared a long time ago.
The bell of the meeting-house was cast in the year 1819 by Revere and Son, Boston, and, according to the inscription, weighs 1128 pounds.
On this interesting occasion we are all glad to have present with us the venerable Zara Patch, a native of Groton and the oldest inhabitant of the town. His ancestry in both branches of the family runs back nearly to the beginning of the settle- ment, and in his person is represented some of the best blood of old Groton stock; and we welcome him at this time. He is the last survivor of nineteen citizens who signed the call for the due observance of the Bi-centennial anniversary, on October 31, 1855, which was issued in the preceding May.
Fifty years ago the town had a celebration of the two -. hundredth anniversary of its settlement, similar to the one we are now holding. On that occasion Governor Boutwell was President of the day, and the Reverend Arthur Buck- minster Fuller, a younger brother of Margaret Fuller, -of a family once resident here, -made the historical address, which was delivered in the Congregational Meeting-house. Colonel Eusebius Silsby Clark, who lost his life in the War of the Rebellion, at Winchester, Virginia, on October 17. 1864, was the Chief Marshal. Of his six aids on that day John Warren Parker and myself are the sole survivors, and the only representatives of those who had an official connec- tion with the exercises; and now we are left the last two leaves
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on the branch. At that celebration Mr. Parker was also one of the Committee of Arrangements; and we are all glad to see him present on this occasion.
Groton is a small town, but there are those who love her and cherish her good name and fame. She has been the mother of many a brave son and many a fair daughter, duti- ful children who through generations "arise up and call her blessed." She is the Mount Zion of a large household. Of her numerous family, from the nursling to the aged, by her example she has spared no pains to make them useful citizens and worthy members of society. In former years she was relatively a much more important town than she is now. At the time of the first national census in 1790, in population Groton was the second town in Middlesex County, Cambridge alone surpassing it. In order to learn the true value of some communities, and to give the inhabitants of Groton their proper rank, they should be weighed and not counted; and by this standard it would be found that the town has not been lessened even in relative importance. Bigness and great- ness are not synonymous words, and in their meaning there is much difference between them. In all our thoughts and deeds, let us do as well by the town as she has done by us.
Fellow Townsmen and Neighbors, -the stint you set me is now done. On my part it has proved to be not a task, but a labor of love. If anything that I may have said should spur others to study the history of an old town that was typi- cal of life among plain folk in the early days of New Eng- land, and one that has left an honorable record during the various periods of its existence, my aim will have been reached.
APPENDIX.
The Name of Groton.
I AM indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Edward Mussey Hartwell for the following paper on the origin of the name of Groton. From any other source I could not have obtained such a scholarly essay on the subject ; and it places me under great obligations to him. Dr. Hartwell passed his boyhood in Littleton, where his father's family belonged ; and he fitted for college mostly at Lawrence Academy, so that he has in- herited an historical interest in the neighborhood.
STATISTICS DEPARTMENT. Boston, July 3, 1995.
HON. SAMUEL A. GREEN, Librarian,
Massachusetts Historical Society.
DEAR DR. GREEN, - What follows contains the gist of my notes on Groton. For the sake of conciseness and brevity, I forbear (1) from fully describing the sources whence my citations are derived, and (2) from quotation of authorities regarding the linguistic affinities of the com- ponents of the word Groton. However, I may say that I can support every statement by documentary evidence that seems conclusive to me.
Groton occurs as a place name both in England and the United States. Groton in England, which is situated in the County of Suffolk. appears to be a small parish of some 1560 acres, of which 30 are in com- mon. The "Dictionnaire des Bureaux de Poste " published at Berne in IS95, gives six post offices in various parts of the United States having the name of Groton. Two of them, viz., Groton, Massachusetts, and Groton, Connecticut, date from Colonial times, i. e., from 1655 and 1705 respectively, and numbered among their original grantees or proprietors
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members of the Winthrop family whose ancestral seat was Groton in the Babenberg Hundred, County Suffolk, England, whence it is reasonable te suppose all Grotons in this country have derived their name. Among them Groton, Mass., is the most ancient. The name (spelt Groaten) ap. pears in a vote of the General Court dated May 29, 1655, to grant a new plantation at l'etapaway to Mr. Deane Winthrop and others. In later records of the General Court, e. g., May 26, 1658, the form Grotes ap. pears; and in the same records under date of November 12, 1659, both Groten and Groaten appear.
The Manor of Groton in Babenberg Hundred in the Liberty of St. Ed- mund and the County of Suffolk, England, according to the Domesday Book (1056) belonged to the Abbey of Bury of St. Edmund's in the tini of Edward the Confessor (10.42-1065). In 15 14 the request of Adua Wyn- thorpe to purchase " the Farm of the Manor of Groton (Suffolk ) late of the Monastery of Bury St Edmund's " was granted by Henry VIII. muito whose hands it had come when the monasteries were suppressed for the sum of EloS. ISs. 3d. Governor John Winthrop. grandson of Adam Wynthorpe, was Lord of the Manor of Groon in 1615. In 1630 of 1631 he sold his interest therein for 54,200. I find the name of this mapor spelt variously at different times as follows:
1. Grotena (a) in Domesday Book in 1095. (b) in Jocelin de Brakeload's Chronicle in 1200.
(c) in the Hundred Rolls in 1277.
2. Grotene (a) in Joc. de Brakelond about 1200. (b) in the Patent Rolls, 1291 and 129S.
3. Grotona in Joc. de Brakelond aliont 1200.
4. Grotone (a) in Joc. de Brakelond about 1200. (b) in the Patent Rolls in 1423. (c) in Dugdale's citation of a MIs. of 1533.
5. Groton (a) in Dugdale's citation of a Ms. of 13th Century.
(b) in Records of the Augmentation Office, 1541 and 1511.
Jocelin de Brakelond was a monk of Bury St. Edmund's who, as Chap- lain of the Abbot, wrote the Chromele which bears his name. It covers the period 1173-1203, i. e., the meumbency of Abbot Samson. The fre- quent mention of Groton in this Chronicle, written just at the beginning of the thirteenth century, may be accounted for by the fact that the Ab- bey and certain claimants named de Cokefield had a lawsuit over lands at Groton.
Since 1511 Groton appears to have been the form of the name of the English manor, parish or hamlet. It may be remarked. (1) that "de Grotena " is found as a personal name in the Hundred Rolls 1297. and "de Grotton " in the Scotch Rolls, 1327; while a holding named Grot. ton, "late of the Monastery of Delacres in Staffordshire" is mentioned in the records of the Augmentation Office, 1517; and Grotton, a railway
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station in Lancashire, is mentioned in a "Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales," a recent but undated work.
The Latinized in "Grotena " and " Grotenam " of the Domesday Book give rise to the suggestion that Groten has the force of an adjective (meaning gravelly, gritty, stony or sandy), which served to characterize a tract of land, or perhaps a hill, a pit, a ham, or a ton. I take grot to be one form of the Old English greót, grut (Middle English, greet, gret, and Modern English, grit) meaning gravel.
The following is a series of forms in which variants of grcót seem to have adjectival force:
(1) Greotan edesces lond relating to land in Kent in a charter dated $22 Possibly greotan may stand for greetan, meaning big.
(2) Gretenlinkes, in Hampshire, in a land charter of 966.
(3) Gretindun (later Gretton in Dorsetshire), mentioned in a charter of 1019.
(1) Gretenhowe, the name of Gretna in Scotland, in 13;6.
(5) Grotintune, a manor in Shropshire, Domesday Book, 1656.
(6) Gratenton (?) , a manor in Berkshire, Dome-day Book, 1056.
On the other hand, the form Greotan may be the dative plural of greot (for greatum ?) used in a locative sense "at the gravels," since Grateful and Gravelei occur as place names in Domesday Book and Gratell or- curs in the Hundred Rolls, temp. Edw. I.
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