USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Boxborough > Boxborough: a New England town and its people > Part 2
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In 1791 the district voted to invite all within the bounds of Boxborough who had not joined with the said town to become members of the same. And they came from time to time, until there were only two farms - those of H. T. Taylor and David Hall-which were still assessed in Littleton in 1889. Edmund Lawrence's estate was accepted April 6, 1807, widow Rachel Cobleigh's property, May 27, 1818, and George Jeffon's estate, April 2, 1821. In 1827 the town voted to choose a committee
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Borborough : a New England Town and its People.
to converse with all those who still paid their taxes in Littleton, though within the bounds of Boxborough, to see if they would not in future attach themselves to their own town ; and April 24 of that year five (the largest number at any one time) signified their desire to become inhabitants of Boxborough, and were transferred to said town ; viz., John Hoar, John Blanchard, Simon Blanchard, Mrs. Abigail Blanchard and Moses Whit- comb. Two more, Carshena Wood and Mrs. Lucy Wood, came May 23, 1831, and one more, Isaac Patch, April 2, 1838. Measures were taken in 1890 to see if the taxes of the remaining two farms might not be required to revert to the town to which the estates belonged. The petition to the Legislature failed, however, and Littleton having filed a counter-petition, praying for a new boundary between the said towns, their petition was granted, and a bill, according with it, passed. The new line between the two towns leaves the greater part of the farms, with their buildings, in Littleton, so that the question of trans- fer is no longer possible and the difficulty is settled once for all.
The boundaries on the Harvard and Stow sides are probably somewhat changed; that toward Acton seems to be the same and the south-east corner, on Flagg's Hill, appears to be unaltered. The boundary on the Littleton side, as we have said, although the source of much dispute and threatened prose- cution, was finally fixed by act of the Legislature in 1890. No definite descriptions of the corner bounds and boundary lines are recorded whereby we can mark the exact changes; the bounds themselves - heaps of stones, stakes, trees - are objects which the vicissitudes of a hundred years might well render uncertain, and now they cannot be determined with any degree of accuracy.
It is interesting to follow the working of the newly organized district and to note that which seemed most to occupy their hands and hearts. So far as we can judge from the records left us, after having thrown in their lot together each one worked for the common good. Destined never to become a large town, its citizens gave to it, and found in it,
-
THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH NOW THE TOWN HALL. )
THE OLD PARSONAGE. NOW MR. JEROME PRIEST'S.
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Gift of Town Hall.
whatever of active, energetic enterprise it possessed. The warrants for the early town-meetings are full of articles for action, touching the church, the school and the highway, - three of the most important factors in the common town or state life, for without religion at the outset, the foundation must have been unstable : without education the future processes of self-government, personal and general development in intelligence and strength. must have halted; and without communication with the outside world, common interchange of ideas and methods. and also transportation, would have been at a standstill. The citizens of the district seem to have been much interested in these things at the very first. The meeting- house was the place not only for holding the religious gatherings of the people, but also for all town-meetings until 1835, and in April of that year they assembled at Bigelow's Hall. situated directly opposite. Early this year they " voted to build Town Hall under the contemplated New meeting- house on the Common, and voted to raise $250 to build the same," and then a reaction came and they " voted to reconsider " their vote. In March of the same year they voted to build a town-house on the old Common and voted to raise $400 for the same. and again the reaction came and they reconsidered the vote; but later in the season a town hall was built near the southern end of the Common and opened for use in October, 1835. This remained until 1874. Early in 1870 they voted to "examine Town Hall," and also chose a committee to see if the Universalist meeting-house " on the hill " could be procured for a town hall. This was found by the committee to be impracticable at that time, and the town voted to enlarge and thoroughly repair the old hall. But in November of that year a committee was again chosen to confer with regard to obtain- ing the old church for town use, and in December, 1870, the town " voted to accept the Report of Committee," and "voted to accept the meeting-house as a gift from a majority of the pew owners." They immediately went to work to make the needed alterations and repairs and to furnish in a neat and comfortable manner for the transaction of town business. When the old
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Boxborough : a New England Town and its People.
Puritan Church of one hundred years ago was divided in 1829, the Universalist Society, as it was thereafter called, retained possession of the old church. This society after a time discon- tinued their meetings, the house was closed, and in 1870, as before stated, was presented to the town for a town-house. The old hall was sold at auction in 1874 to H. E. Felch, and was subsequently torn down.
In the early part of Boxborough's history, there seem to have been a great many extra meetings for town, or district purposes rather,-the words town and district being used inter- changeably all through the records,-questions with regard to the church and church property, schools, roads, disposition of poor, boundaries, town buildings, town prosecutions and the like. They discussed the questions and voted pro and con. and considered and reconsidered these local items as only men inter- ested in the true welfare of the town would have done. But they seem at times to have arisen to that pitch of earnestness and enthusiasm where their "No" was no, and their " Yes," yes, irrevocably.
A perusal of old writings brings some minor items to light, like the following, which may interest the rising generation if no other :- In 1789, Wm. McKay, convicted of swearing one (or more) " profain oaths," paid a fine of six shillings, and such fines were not infrequent. They were careful to guard the morals of the young. An incident is told of an old resident which illustrates this. He had been trying to impress upon his son the importance of temperance in speech, and at the close of the lesson,-" I swear if you swear, I'll whip you," said the old man emphatically. Unique auctioneer's licenses are recorded : -" We the Subscribers, Selectmen of the Town of Boxborough, at a meeting holden for the purpose, have licensed and do here- by Licence Major Ephm Taylor of sd Boxborough to sell at public Vendue or Outcry any Goods or Chattles whatsoever, pursuant to a law of the Commonwealth, passed June the 16, 1795." Boys were often bound out to service by vote of the town, for example, in 1807 they "voted to bind David Green to Christopher Page to learn the carpenter's trade upon the
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Roud-making.
same terms respecting clothing and schooling as though he staid with his old master."
In 1837 the town "voted to allow a bounty of twenty cents each on Crows young and old taken in the limits of Boxborough between April and November " and granted one hundred dol- lars for the purpose. It was voted in 1838 "to have the bell rung at nine o'clock in the evenings each day in the year (Sundays excepted) five minutes at a time." Doubtless in our forefathers' time this was a reminder to have " all the children in." Nowadays such a note pealing out over these hills and valleys would perhaps be more likely to find the people of all ages just gathering together.
The old town folk evinced a good deal of interest in the highways, and roads were laid out here and there and accepted from time to time ; but the vague descriptions, vivid as they may have seemed then, leave us in obscurity as to their exact trend. The next year after the incorporation of the district, in 1784, several highways were laid out; in 1785 the town voted fifty pounds to repair highways, and the following year an appropriation was also made. And so on down through her history, such items as the laying out of roads, acceptance or rejection of them as the case might demand, appropriations, setting up guide posts or building walls, are frequent. In the early days each poll worked out his highway tax; in 1791 it was voted, " that Every Ratiable Pole shall work on the County Road one Day this year." Record is made showing that some of the roads were mere bridle-paths at first : in 1790 the town " voted to accept the Bridle road," and in 1819 " Gave an order to Prince J. Chester, it being in full for a road or Bridle way through his land." Some were private or half-private ways, as we find such entries as these : 1814. "Voted to shut up the road through Dn Jacob Fairbanks' land for one year if Dn JJacob Fairbanks will cause a road to be opened that will commode the town as well." In 1815 " Committee report they are dissatisfied with a road fenced out as it cuts them off from water, but are willing that Mr. Sargent should have a road with two gates, which they will agree to support one." In 1814 a vote was passed " to
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Boxborough : a New England Town and its People.
keep the Turn-pike road in repair as far as it lies in Boxborough for one year, provided the Corporation will admit the inhabi- tants of said Boxborough passing the gates toll free." This same " Boston Road " or " the old turnpike " as it is now called, was laid out through the southerly part of the town from Har- vard to Acton, and is the main thoroughfare. We. find what answers to the same road on Silas Holman's map of 1794. It was accepted in 1806 as the " Union Turnpike " by the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, at its September term. In 1830 a petition was sent in to the county commissioners, and April 7 of that year the Union Turnpike, so far as it lies in the county of Middlesex, was declared a publie highway, the town granting $300 for repairs. The road over the hill, east of Guggin's Brook, was discontinued in 1868.
The Fitchburg Railroad, which was opened in 1845, skirts along the level. northeastern border of the town for quite a dis- tance. Whether or no this new invention was hailed by the farmers with delight, or whether they considered it an intrusion upon their sacred solitudes, and a trespass on their farming rights, history tells us not. At any rate, no mention is made of a desire for a station until a special town-meeting in June, 1849, when they "voted to choose a committee to petition the President and Directors of the Fitchburg Railroad for a depot or stopping-place in the town of Boxborough, near the house of Mr. John Hoar." The petition was not granted. During the years of which we have been speaking, West Acton had been growing up and had become a thriving village. Nov. 30, 1868, record is made of the adoption of the following resolution : " Resolved that the town of Boxborough unite with that part of Aeton called West Acton in the formation of a new town." The votes upon the resolution stood 49 to 11 in favor of the new town and a committee was chosen and instructed to use every effort in the annexation of Boxborough and West Acton, but the scheme planned to benefit both town and village for some reason failed. In 1873 another petition was sent to the Fitchburg Railroad Company for a station, but this also failed. The station for Boxborough is one with that of West Acton,
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Becoming a Town.
" West Acton and Boxborough " being the name given to it. West Acton is also the post-office, and the nearest business point for Boxborough, although for a small part of the town West Littleton is more convenient.
The record of Presidential votes shows that, for many years, the town was pretty evenly divided as to its political sympa- thies, with a slight leaning to the Democratic side. In more recent years the lines dividing politics and religion have grown less marked, until they have somewhat nearly coincided. The records speak of Boxborough as both town and district through- out the early years, and we have done the same in order better to represent them ; but strictly speaking Boxborough was a district until May 1, 1836, when it became a town, not by any special act of the Legislature, but under a clause of the Revised Statutes of that year. But in the November following it still . voted with Stow for representative to the General Court, so that, if this date be the correct one it did not at once enter into its full privilege as a town. In the more recent years of the Representative union, when sending two representatives it was customary to send one from Stow and one from Boxborough. Record of the votes was always made at Stow only.
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Boxborough : a New England Town and its People.
CHAPTER III.
MILITARY HISTORY - LUTHER BLANCHARD - 1812 - WAR OF THE REBELLION - SOLDIERS' NAMES - SCHOOLS - DIVISION OF TOWN - SCHOOL-BUILDINGS - REPORTS.
BOXBOROUGH's military history must necessarily be somewhat brief, as, not having been incorporated until 1783, she has no Colonial or Revolutionary record of her own. But, like some other towns not having a record of their own because not incor- porated at the time, and therefore swelling the record of some neighboring town or towns, so Boxborough has a real though not a separate record of the Revolution with Acton and the neighboring towns. In this connection we would pay a passing tribute to the memory of Luther Blanchard, who. together with his brother Calvin, joined the Acton Company, and was the first man to shed his blood at the fight at Concord Bridge. The old homestead and family estates were within the limits of Littleton (that part which is now Boxborough), and the descendants still own and occupy them. Luther is said to have been " a favorite young man, tall, straight, handsome and athletic." At the time of the Concord fight he was learning the mason's trade of Abner Hosmer, who resided on the Herman A. Gould place in Acton. I quote from the centennial speech of a grandson of Calvin Blanchard,- the late Joseph K. Blanchard of this town: " The neighboring town of Acton had formed a company of minute-men to be ready at a minute's notice to meet the British soldiers ; Calvin and Luther Blanchard of Boxborough were members of this company. These brothers inherited the spirit of patriotism from their father, who was killed at the Heights of Quebec. This company of men had pledged themselves to
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Luther Blanchard.
stand by each other in resisting the British foe. On the morn- ing of the Nineteeth of April, 1775, word came to Acton that the British soldiers were en route for Concord. This company of min- ute-men were quickly assembled on the Acton Common, with Calvin Blanchard for orderly-sergeant and Luther Blanchard as fifer. As there was a little delay here, and the soldiers were anxious to meet the enemy, Luther Blanchard struck up . The White Cockade,' and then Capt. Davis started off, saying to his men that if any of them were afraid to follow him they might go home. When they reached the old north bridge at Concord, the British were already on the point of coming over to this side to destroy stores of the Colonists on this side the river. The officer in command asked for volunteers to meet the foe. Capt. Davis, knowing his men, said, 'I have not a man who is afraid to go.' As they advance to meet the British, they receive their fire and Luther Blanchard is the first man wounded. The Captain then asked if they fired balls. . Yes." was the reply, . for Luther Blanchard is wounded."" He went into the house of Mrs. Barrett, close by, to have the wound dressed. "A little more and you'd have been killed," said Mrs. Barrett, mournfully. .. Yes, and a little more and it would not have touched me," replied Blanchard, brightly, and hastened to join his comrades. The wound appeared slight, but he died three days later in consequence of it. His body was brought to Littleton and laid in the old cemetery there. Today the spot is unmarked and unknown.
In 1787, the town voted to " Provide Stock of Powder and Leds, also flint," which were kept in a magazine, provided for the purpose, under the stairs in the meeting-house ; and record is also made of muster-days and the ordinary military organiza- tions, but nothing more of importance until August 18, 1794, when they called a special town-meeting, " to see what the town will do about raising the eight men, in compliance with the request of Congress, and give any instructions to Capt. Whit- comb about the same." They voted " to give some incoragment to the men that shall list as soldiers, and voted that each man that lists as a soldier agreeable to Resolves of Congress Shall have
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Borborough : a New England Town and its People.
the publick pay as wages made up by the Town; to each man the sum of Two pounds, Eight shillings pr. month for the time they serve in the army ; and that they shall have six shillings in part of their pay paid them when they do List and ingage if they do not march out of Town, and the sum of eighteen shil- lings more when they march in order to join the army." Three years later, in October, 1797, at another special meeting they " Voted to give the Soldiers one Dollar each to engage, to give the men ten dollars each at marching, and to make their wages equal to laboring men the time they are in the service, including the ten dollars above mentioned and Government pay." In 1800 they voted " that Each soldier that goes to the review at Concord and does his duty shall have one dollar for the two days service and 1-2 1b. of powder for each soldier." The town was again called on for men in 1812 and 1814, and bounties were offered ; viz .: In 1812, " Voted to make up the Soldiers $10 per month when they are called into actual service. and two dollars a day when called out of Town, and to receive it before they march into actual Service or when desmissed." In 1814, "Voted to make up the soldiers $18 per month with the national pay and five dollars bounty if they volunteer their services." The town abated the taxes of her soldiers while in the service. In 1832, it is recorded that the town " voted to authorize the Treasurer to pay the amount of their Poll Taxes to each of the training Soldiers who kept themselves uniformed and equipped and performed all Military duty required of them." With the exception of muster-days and militia-rolls, nothing further is recorded until the late War of the Rebellion.
There were no town-meetings held until July 23, 1862. when they "voted to pay bounty to five persons that will volunteer to go to war, voted $100 to each of the five, and immediately voted $5 each to those who will enlist within three days and be accepted." August 23, " Voted town pay bounty of $100 to those who will volunteer to fill town's quota of nine months men, to six or seven, whichever it may be." In October of the same year the town voted $150 to each drafted man, and also to each volunteer, "enough to fill our
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Names of Soldiers.
call," to be paid after they were mustered into service. A month later the same bounty was extended to the substitutes of drafted men.
The highest bounty offered was September 19, 1864. when the town " Voted to pay $125 in Gold to each recruit to fill the town's quota." The advance of gold was from 85 to 165 during that month, so that, even at an average, the bounty was a large one. The young men of Boxborough responded willingly to their country's call, and " five persons came for- ward and enlisted " at one time. Of the fifty-one men -seven more than required - furnished by the town, none were com- missioned officers. We quote the following from Schouler's " Massachusetts in the Civil War": "The whole amount of the money appropriated and expended by the town for war purposes, exclusive of State aid, was $7046.87. The amount of money raised and expended by the town during the war for State aid to soldiers' families, and which was repaid by the Commonwealth, was $1347.53. About $200 was raised by the ladies of the town for the Christian Commission."
We give below names of the soldiers who went from Box- borough to take part in the War of the Rebellion, so far as we are able to give them :
Messrs. Samuel Burroughs, E. L. Battles, James Bryant, E. D. Battles, Monroe Clement, George Draper, Wm. Edwards. Luther H. Ewings, Lucius Holden, Charles Jenkings, A. A. Richardson, S. E. Smiley, Paul Hayward, George Sargent, Waldo Littlefield, John Fletcher, Peter W. H. Perry, F. H. Stevens, Tim. L. Wood, Abraham Rodgers, A. W. Wetherbee, James H. Whitcomb, John Griffin, Joseph Moren, Wm. F. Stevens, A. G. Whitcomb, Alonzo M. Woodward.
Of these, George Sargent and Luther H. Ewings were wounded ; Alonzo M. Woodward died Oet. 6. 1862. at Suffolk. Va., of fever; John Fletcher was killed at the battle of Winchester, Va., Sept. 19, 1864; and James H. Whiteomb died at Cotton Wood Springs, Neb., of typhoid fever, Aug. 31, 1865.
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Boxborough : a New England Town and its People.
We come now to the history of our public schools. Box- borough has never enjoyed the advantage of either an academy or high school within her own boundaries, although her sons and daughters have reaped the benefits of the higher institu- tions of learning of other towns or cities near or far. The town fathers evidently had the cause of education at heart. for in the town warrant, Sept. 22. 1783 - the same year of her incorporation - we find this article: " To see what the town will do about Providing School this Present Year and act any- thing they Shall Think Proper when met; " and when legally met they " voted to have four months' schooling this year and voted that the Selectmen provide and proportion the same." The - proportion " seems to refer not to different sections of the town, but to the boys and girls who appear to have been edu- cated separately for some time. as in 1787 money was appro- priated for " four months of man's school. and four months of Woman's School."
At the 30th of August meeting. 1784, it was decided not only to have " four months of Woman's School." but also " to have a school-master six months," the town thus charging themselves with deciding as to whether a gentleman or lady should be the instructor of their youth. But in 1794 they transferred the grave responsibility to the shoulders of a com- mittee, who should " provide & hire a school-master or mas- ters and mistress or mistresses as shall be most convenient for the town's good." Also, this year, the boys and girls shared equally in the ten months' schooling, as appears from the vote for " five months of man's school and five months of women's school." From 1783 to 1794 the selectmen seem to have had charge of the schools. In that year a special committee was appointed, but it was not until a number of years later, in 1820. that the School Committee's office became an established fact. In the mean time the schools were often in charge of the select- men, as at the first.
Work in the school in the days of "auld lang syne," in Boxborough, was evidently not as popular as in many schools today, for, in 1794, action was taken to the effect that " no
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Pay of Teachers and Division of Town.
work should be done in or at the woman's school, as there usually hath bin : but the time to be spent in instructing the children to Read and wright." No special record is made of teachers' wages in those early days. In 1783 there was " voted and granted the Sum of 24 lbs. to pay town debts and school- ing : " and in 1787 the sum of fifteen pounds was granted for " schooling " alone. A few entries such as these would seem to indicate such wages as would be no great temptation to the teacher of the present day.
No doubt the pay of the Boxborough teachers compared favorably with that of surrounding towns, and in some of these, one hundred years ago, the school-master received $2 per week, where now he requires $10 or $20 for the same service. We do not know if there was even a school-house in the new dis- trict at the time of its incorporation, in 1783. although rumor says there was such a building many years ago situated upon ". Liberty Square," the common in front of Mr. Henry T. Tay- lor's present residence. This same Liberty Square is said to have been noted as a gathering place for amusement on the Fourth of July and election days. Some seventy years ago the people celebrated the national independence by raising a liberty pole 100 feet high and providing a dinner free for all. The voice of the cannon spoke of freedom and independence to all around, and various amusements rendered the day pleasurable. But to return, it is suggested that the children may have all come together to one school until 1786, when it was voted "to choose a committee to divide the town into quarters. that each may build them a school-house if they please " But the committee for some reason failed in the performance of this duty, for in the latter part of 1790 a new committee was invested with power for the work and instructed to " accom- plish the business," which was done and the report made in March. 1791. The division of the town into quarters, as then made, with slight variations, has always remained. The number of districts has continued the same, although efforts were made in 1816, and again in 1842, to reduce it to three. Convenience of families and equalization of district taxes have caused some
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