USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > Celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Westminster, Mass. > Part 3
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January 16, 1761, married, 1788, Elizabeth Rand, and had John and Thomas, and three daughters ; Hannah, born December 18, 1762 ; Martha, born September 18, 1764 ; Susanna, born Febru- ary 9, 1767.
Lieutenant Samuel Whitney not only contributed his full share to people the town, but he filled some of the first offices in the place- being Selectman, &c. a number of years. He died January 1, 1782, aged sixty-three.
About the same time (1742) JOHN HADLEY came to Narraganset, and settled on lot No. 5. His house was situated a little north of Mrs. Esty's barn. He was probably the ancestor of the Hadleys which were afterwards in Westminster.
WILLIAM BALDWIN settled on lot No. 14. His residence was a few rods south of Mr. Horatio Eagar's.
DAVID DUNSTER, of Cambridge, settled about the same time. He was a descendant of Henry Dunster, the first President of Har- vard College, but the family was never prominent in this place, and they have left a very imperfect record.
SAMUEL SMITH was in the place before 1745, but, like his name- sake John, is not easily traced.
About the same time DANIEL WALKER, of Sudbury, became a settler, and fixed his residence where Mr. Isaac Seaver now resides. He had a wife and two children. His wife, who was a sister of Deacon Nathan Wood, and one child, died in 1756; and he died the year following.
JOSEPH HORSLEY was an early settler. He had a wife, and four sons and three daughters, born between 1745 and 1761.
ISAAC STEDMAN was also an early settler. By his wife, Huldah, he had nine children, born between 1738 and 1756, seven of which died before 1764. He died 1757. Of the last five settlers, but little is known.
The seven years allowed in the grant for settling sixty families, expired June 1, 1741, when not one sixth of that number had settled. The Proprietors, fearing that they should be deprived of the grant, met at Cambridge, the day following, and levied a tax of thirty-three dollars upon each share, to enable them to offer a generous bounty to settlers. At this meeting they raised the bounty to ninety-eight dollars, and allowed the same to those who had already settled. This bounty was at first offered to those who should settle in one year, but was subsequently extended to ten years.
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The settlers, on the fourth of August, 1742, made choice of Mr. Elisha Marsh for their minister. This choice was concurred in by the Proprietors, in September of the same year. They fixed his salary at one hundred and fifty dollars, in addition to the land to which he was entitled by the grant. On the 20th of October, 1742, Rev. Mr. Marsh was publicly ordained to the work of the ministry in this place. One of the first settlers,* in a family record, with which we have been favored, says : " After the ordina- tion of Mr. Marsh, the church proceeded to organize itself, and chose Joseph Holden first, and Joseph Miller second Deacon, who served in their offices till death put an end to their services."
Mr. Marsh appears to have been a man of considerable talent, but of much eccentricity of character, not comporting with what was then regarded as ministerial dignity. Soon after his settlement, an unpleasant controversy arose between him and his people, which ended in his dismission, in 1757. During a large part of this period, their relations were any thing but happy. His conduct and sayings were laid before the Association, and before Councils, which were induced at last to sunder the ties which bound him to the Parish. Some of these charges were characteristic of the times. One of them was for " stumping one of his church members to swop powder-horn strings with him." It was also thought that he was heretical ; and hence he was arraigned for being unsound in the faith. We find the following charges preferred against him :
" For saying, that obedience is the condition of salvation."
" For saying, that he would as soon worship the devil, as wor- ship such a being as requires more of his creatures than they are able to perform ; and for saying, in the presence of the church, that he did not worship such a being ; for it was the devil which required more of his creatures than they were able to perform."
" For saying, that if all that was required of a man, was to believe, then the condition of salvation was easy and pleasant to fools."
Whether they failed to prove these serious charges, or whether the Association at Lancaster, before which they were brought, failed to see heresy in them, is uncertain ; but one thing is sure ; they did not dismiss him in 1747, when these charges were pre- ferred.
After Mr. Marsh was dismissed from his pastoral office, he re-
* Abner Holden, Esq. 4
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mained some years in the township, and filled several secular offices. He at length removed to Cheshire County, New Hamp- shire, and became Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in Lancaster, when on a journey.
From the first settlement of the township, some fears were ap- prehended from the Indians, who, in small numbers, were occa- sionally seen lurking about the place. But it was not till 1742, or '43, that they gave the settlers much uneasiness. Instigated by the French, in Canada, these children of the forest began to assume a hostile attitude. About 1743, the General Court granted thirteen hundred dollars to enable the settlers to erect such fortifications as would secure them against the savages. Ten forts were accord- ingly erected. These were placed around the dwellings, in differ- ent parts of the town, so as to secure, if not every dwelling, at least every neighborhood. They were constructed of wood- some of them of square timbers, laid one upon another, after the manner of a log house, and locked together at the angles ; and others were built with stockades, that is, with timbers standing perpendicularly, with one end planted in the earth.
The fortifications, or garrisons, as they were generally called, were distributed about the town as follows : One inclosed Captain Hoar's dwelling ; one the house of Rev. Mr. Marsh, which was a few rods easterly from the present residence of Mr. George Gibbs ; one at Deacon Holden's ; one at Richard Graves's ; one at Seth Walker's ; one at Deacon Miller's ; one at Thomas Stearns's ; one at Philip Bemis's ; one at the place now known as the Wiswall place, then owned by Samuel Hagar, and occupied by a tenant by the name of Flagg ; and one at the house of Joseph Gibbs, who came early into the town from Sudbury, and located himself in the south-easterly part of the town, about half a mile easterly of the house now occupied by Mr. Wheeler Benjamin. Besides these, there were a few temporary forts, in other parts of the town, some to guard dwellings, and some for the protection of laborers, when at work far from their houses.
A few soldiers were sent by the government, and a portion of the inhabitants were put under pay as a town scout. A sentinel was posted at each fort in the night time, and the soldiers alter- nately patrolled the township by day, whenever the enemy were supposed to be lurking within their borders. From 1744 to 1749, the settlers experienced many discouragements. Savages were fre-
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quently seen prowling about in the woods. At night, the inhabi- tants repaired to the garrisons for safety, leaving their own dwell- ings to the mercy of the savage foe. By day, the laborers repaired to their fields with their muskets, to guard themselves against the insidious savage who might ambush their path.
It is impossible for us, at this day, to enter fully into the feelings of people thus circumstanced. If immediate destruction, or what is worse, a death by torture, or hopeless captivity, did not actually take place, it was constantly haunting their imaginations. Painful indeed must be the situation, where the laborer is liable to be captured in the field, and his family massacred and scalped in his absence ; and where the hours of darkness and repose may invite the enemy, and his slumbers may be broken by the sound of the war-whoop, and the darkness of night be dispelled by the blaze of his dwelling.
But although the savages gave the settlers much anxiety, no one ever fell a prey to the merciless enemy, nor were any battles ever fought between them. The only well authenticated incident that has come to my knowledge, occurred in 1748 or '49. Wil- liam Bowman, from Lexington, who had been in the township five or six years, and who garrisoned, if not resided, with Captain Hoar, was one day mowing in the field, near the present residence of Mr. George Miles, when he discovered some Indians in the ad- joining woods. They had placed themselves in such a position as to cut him off from his fort, and no doubt felt sure of their victim. Bowman very adroitly concealed his agitation of mind, and as though he had made no discovery of the enemy, kept at work, but moving at the same time from his fort and his insidious enemy, until he had gained the declivity of the hill, when he dropped his scythe, and made for Graves's fort with such speed as to elude the grasp of his fleet-footed pursuers. When he arrived at Graves's fort, an alarm was immediately fired, which was answered through the settlement, and called every man to his post. The alarm being given, messengers were dispatched, which brought troops from Lancaster and Rutland.
The savages, finding that they were discovered, and that prepara- tion was making to give them a warm reception, quietly and stealth- ily left the place, and so permitted the troops to return to their quarters, and the citizens to their employment. Bowman, soon after this occurrence, left the place, having no desire to continue
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his hand with adversaries trained to every art of guile, and every method of torture. This was one of the last incursions of the savages. A treaty of peace between France and England, in October, 1748, gave rest to the infant settlement. And though the war was renewed in 1754, there was but little apprehension from the Indians during this last war-the field of action being for the most part transferred to the Lakes and the borders of Canada, where the Indians acted under the direction of the French officers. There were a few incursions into some of the towns on the north, but I find no account of their having penetrated as far as West- minster. On the contrary, some of the citizens of the district were detailed for the frontier, and served at the Lakes, as we shall have occasion to mention hereafter.
From 1743 to 1749, the settlement went on slowly. Though a bounty of about one hundred dollars was offered by the Proprietors, only about nineteen families had settled at the beginning of 1750 ; and of these, most had settled before 1743. There were but few who came to the place while apprehensions were entertained of attacks from the Indians.
In 1745 or '46, Joshua Child, from Waltham, came to the place, and located himself on the farm where Captain Harrington now lives. In 1750, the meetings of the Proprietors were trans- ferred to the township, where they were ever afterward held. At their first meeting, Andrew Darby, then of the place, was chosen Proprietor's Clerk-an office which he held for years.
The halcyon days of peace gave a new spring to their affairs, and the settlement went on with considerable rapidity. In 1750, as near as can be estimated, the population was a little short of one hundred souls. In a petition presented to the Legislature, in 1759, they say they have nearly sixty families. From a full view of the subject, it is highly probable that the population in 1760 would not vary materially from three hundred. Hence there must have been a considerable accession to the settlers during this decen- nial period.
I shall not attempt to state the order in which they came to the place, but will mention some of the principal families. I cantot better enumerate the substantial men of the district in 1759, than to give the names of the citizens who petitioned for the incorpora- tion, together with those who constituted the first jury. These were the prominent citizens who figured through the Revolution-
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ary period, and who gave tone and character to the place ; and the descendants of these families constitute a considerable propor- tion of the population of Westminster at this day. The petition- ers are as follows :
Abner Holden,*
Samuel Whitney,
John Wheeler,
Andrew Darby,
John Brooks,*
Elijah Gibbs,
Richard Baker,*
Nathan Wood,*
Daniel Walker,*
John Stearns,
Nathan Whitney,*
Joseph Holden, Jr.,
Jonas Whitney,*
William Edgell,*
Nathan Poorc,
Richard Graves,
Seth Harrington,*
Joshua Bigelow,
James Cowec,
Josiah Jackson,
John Rand,*
John Woodward,*
Joseph Holden,
Josiah Cutting,*
Thomas Stearns,*
James Winship,*
David Bemis,
Ebenezer Taylor,
Joseph Miller,
Nathaniel Wheeler,
James Taylor,
Benjamin Horsley.
If we add to this list those who were selected in 1760 to fill the first jury-box, we shall have a list of the principal men in the dis- trict at that time. Those petitioners whose names are marked with a star, (*) and the following gentlemen, comprise that list. Thomas Conant, Nicholas Dike, James Walker, Reuben Miles, John Miles, Noah Miles, Philip Bemis, Benjamin Butterfield, Stephen Holden, Elisha Bigelow, William Bemis, Jolm Estabrook.
ANDREW DARBY, who was several years Selectman and Clerk, under the district organization, came from Acton, about 1749 or '50. He was probably the father of Andrew Darby, Jr., who married, December 20, 1763, Elizabeth Sawin, and had Abijah, Isaac, Asaph, Aaron, Moses, and three daughters, born before 1787 ; and of John Darby, who married, May 1, 1766, Hannah Garey, of Lancaster, and had William, John, Joseph, Abel, An- drew, and two daughters, and died 1818; and of Nathan Darby, who married, March 30, 1762, Abigail Pierce, of Lexington, and had Jonas, Ezra, Joel, Abraham, Levi, and six daughters. Andrew Darby was probably the ancestor of all the Darbys in Westminster. He died March 23, 1783, in his seventy-seventh year.
JOSIAH CUTTING came to No. 2 from Waltham, where he mar- ried, March 27, 1755, Lydia Merriam, of Lexington. He was
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married as " of Narraganset." They had John, Josiah, Nathan, Asa, Abraham, and three daughters. Abraham Cutting married Phebe Howard, and settled in Princeton, where he died. His sons returned to Westminster, and settled. Among them was Flavel, who was a practicing physician in the place for more than twenty years.
There were several families of Mileses, who settled in West- minster before 1759. They came from Concord. John Miles was in Concord as early as 1640. He had two sons, John and Samuel. John married Mary Prescott, and had among other children, John, who married Elizabeth Brooks, and had John, Noah, and Abner, all of whom settled in Narraganset.
JOHN MILES, born 1727, married Martha Warren, a widow, and had Levi, John, Isaac, Thomas, and two daughters. He was a surveyor, and was often in public office. He died April 30, 1808, aged eighty-one. She died April 26, 1808, aged eighty-three. Their son John, born in 1765, was for many years a settled clergy- man in Grafton, and the father of Rev. Henry A. Miles, D. D., of Boston.
Captain NOAH MILES, by his wife Huldah, had Noah, Stephen, Joel, Ephraim, and Oliver. He died October 21, 1811, aged eighty-one ; and she died March 10, 1809, aged eighty.
ABNER MILES married, 1769, Margaret Trowbridge, of New- ton, and had Trowbridge, and three daughters. He died of small pox, July 23, 1778.
REUBEN MILES, though from the same stock, was of another family. We have already said that John Miles, the original settler in Concord, had two sons, John and Samuel. Samuel married, 1706, Sarah Foster, of Littleton, and had among other children, Reuben, who settled in Westminster, and by his wife, Anne Rice, had Nathan, Reuben, Jonas, Asa, and five daughters. Asa, born July 11, 1760, graduated at Dartmouth College, studied medicine, and married Elizabeth C. Rice, daughter of Rev. Asaph Rice, of Westminster. Dr. Miles practiced in this town. His wife died 1796, and he married Ruth Henshaw, of Leicester, February 14, 1804. He died April, 1805, in his forty-fifth year, and his widow married, in 1806, Rev. Ezekiel L. Bascom, of Phillipston. Dr. Miles had but one child, Clough Rice, born May 31, 1796. He graduated at Harvard College in 1817, read law, and established himself at Millbury, where he now resides.
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The Mileses in town were quite numerous and influential, for a long period.
Deacon NATHAN WOOD came into the place in June, 1756, His ancestor, William Wood, emigrated from England, 1638, and settled at Concord. He died 1671, leaving an only son, Michael, who died three years after his father; and left, among other sons, Abraham, who removed into Sudbury, where he died in 1742 or '47 .* He had Samuel, Cornelius, Hannah who mar- ried Daniel Walker and settled in Narraganset, Rebecca, Ruth, Abigail who married Deacon James Walker and settled in Nar- raganset, and Nathan. Nathan, the youngest son of Abraham, was born in Concord, March 24, 1723, where his father resided till about 1729, when he removed to Sudbury. Nathan Wood, then of Sudbury, married, March 2, 1750, Rebecca, daughter of Ahijah Haynes, of that place. Soon after his marriage, he settled at Stow, where he resided till 1756, when he removed to this place with his family, consisting at that time, of one daughter and three sons. He had fifteen children, all of whom were living at the time of his death, June 17, 1777, and able to follow him to the grave. After his death, in his fifty-fifth year, his widow married Nathan Howard, with whom' she lived more than forty years, and died March 20, 1819, aged eighty-seven. The size, longevity and prominence of this family, will justify the following full account of them.
1. Lucy, born April 10, 1751 ; married, January 6, 1774, Benjamin Barnard, and died, aged 98.
2. Nathan, born November 7, 1752; was twice married, and died January 1, 1841, aged 88.
3. Ahijah, born February 15, 1754; was twice married, had eleven children, and died July 24, 1840, aged 86.
4. Abel, born December 27, 1755; married, November 21, 1780, Phebe Holden, and had nine children. He was a prominent citizen, filled various town offices, and was many years a Justice of the Peace. IIe died March 23, 1846, aged 90.
5. Rebecca, born December 5, 1757 ; married, December 26, 1780, Levi Graves, and died May 8, 1795, aged 37.
6. Hannah, born April 4, 1759 ; married, 1780, Stephen Hoar, and died October 24, 1831, aged 72.
7. Samuel, born January 26, 1761 ; died October 28, 1828, aged 67.
* There were two Abraham Woods, that died in Sudbury ; one in 1742, and the other in 1747.
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8. Moses, born October 18, 1763, drowned December 11,
twins, 1777, aged 15.
9. Aaron, born October 19, 1763, died July 4, 1815, aged 53.
10. Abraham, born August 2, 1764 ; died December 8, 1812, aged 48.
11. Israel, born March 15, 1766, died September 26, 1846, aged 80.
12. Ruth, born June 1, 1768, died February 2, 1820, aged 52.
13. Abigail, born June 9, 1770, now living and insane, aged 90.
14. Ezekiel, born November 25, 1772; died May 30, 1812, aged 40.
15. Nahum, born April 5, 1776 ; died July 3, 1825, aged 49.
This family, remarkable for numbers, were also remarkable for age. The aggregate age of the family, including the parents, is 1,106 years. The Wood family have been one of the most influential and popular in the place, both in church and state.
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JOHN ESTABROOK was in Narraganset in 1755. He married about that time, and by his wife, Anna Bemis, who died in Westminster, 1832, aged ninety-two, he had fourteen children ; John, Joseph, Isaac, Samuel (killed by lightning), Thomas, Joseph, Isaac, Samuel, and six daughters. Their first Joseph and Isaac died in 1772. John was the ancestor of the Westminster Esta- brooks. The original emigrant, Joseph Estabrook, came to the country in 1660, was settled as a clergyman in Concord, 1667. His son Joseph settled in Hingham, and removed to Lexington about 1709. He had a son John, born 1690, who married Pru- dence Harrington. John, who settled in Westminster, was their oldest son, and was born October 20, 1729.
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JOHN RAND was in Narraganset in 1753. His first wife, Elizabeth, died December 14, 1756, and he married, 1766, widow Tabitha Stedman. He had Zachariah, John, Thomas, William, Samuel, and four daughters. He was the ancestor of those of the name in Westminster. He sustained important town offices, and rose to the rank of Colonel in the militia. He also served as Colonel in the Revolution. He died December 11, 1789, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. The stone erected to his first wife and two children, who died about the same time, is among the oldest in the grave-yard.
HANANIAH RAND was in Westminster about the same time. He is said to have been a brother of John. He came to West- minster from Lancaster.
JOHN WOODWARD was in the place, 1754. It appears by the record of his family, that John and Nathaniel, his two oldest chil-
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dren, were born 1741, and 1743, in Tewksbury ; the two next in Nottingham ; and his fifth child was born in Narraganset, in 1753. From this fact it appears that he came to this place from Notting- ham. From Nathaniel, the Westminster families descended. John Woodward was Adjutant in Colonel Doolittle's regiment of eight months' men, in the Revolution.
JAMES and EBENEZER TAYLOR were in town about the same time, but they have left no record of their families. It is probable that Asa Taylor, who married, 1768, Sarah Williams, and had John W., Charles, Ebenezer, and Asa ; and Joseph, Samuel, and Ezra Taylor, were their descendants.
THOMAS CONANT came to the township about the same time, and probably had a family, as we find in due time Thomas Conant, Jr. ; but he has left no family record.
NICHOLAS DIKE came to the place probably about the same time. According to the record, he had but three children born in Narra- ganset ; Mary, born 1757; Nicholas, born 1760; and Samuel, . born 1763. He died July 29, 1812, aged ninety, and hence was born 1722. He was for a long period among the prominent and influential men of the place, filling, for a number of years, the first offices in the gift of the people. He was also one of the principal magistrates of the town, and held a commission as Colonel. He came from Beverly.
RICHARD BAKER was in the place as a citizen before 1759. By his wife Mary, he had Jonadab, born 1759; Thomas, born 1761; Joanna, born 1763; Manasseh, born 1765; Bezaleel, born 1768; John, born 1770 ; Luke, born 1772 ; Judith, born 1774, and Joel, born 1777. He died December 13, 1808, aged eighty, and she died August 1, 1813, aged seventy-eight. He was a member of the first list of Jurors in the District. He came from Lancaster. His wife was Mary Sawyer, grand-daughter of Thomas Sawyer, who was captured by the Indians, 1705, and carried to Canada, where he built the first Saw Mill in that country, and so obtained his freedom.
WILLIAM EDGELL was in the place in 1759, and petitioned for the Act of Incorporation. By his wife Eleanor, he had Joseph, William, and Samuel, and two daughters, born between 1754 and 1762. William Edgell was frequently elected to town office, and commanded a company in the Revolutionary service, in Colonel Stearns's regiment.
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JOHN EDGELL, probably brother to William, married, in 1762, Rebecca Winship, of Lexington, and had Ephraim, John, Levi, and two daughters.
JOSIAH JACKSON was in Narraganset before 1759, and by the record, had Oliver and Isaac, and five daughters, born before 1772. He was born April 23, 1730, and his brothers were born, Elisha, February 12, 1737, and Edward, September 3, 1739, both of whom settled in Westminster. ELISHA had Sullivan, Elisha, Josiah, and Ebenezer ; and EDWARD had John, Oliver, Edward, Joseph, and Josiah. They were sons of Isaac Jackson, of Newton, who by Will, in 1765, gave them land in Westminster. Isaac was son of Edward, who was son of Sabus, (or Seaborn,) who it was said was born on the passage from England, about 1644.
NATHAN WHITNEY, born March 12, 1727, and JONAS, born June 25, 1733, sons of Ensign David Whitney, of Waltham, and distant relatives of Lieutenant Samuel Whitney, who previously settled here, came to No. 2, before 1756. NATHAN, by his wife, Tabitha Merriam, of Lexington, had Nathan, David, and John, born in 1765, 1767, and 1769, beside six other children who died young. Of these, Nathan married, 1786, Eunice Puffer, and had Nathan, Leonard, and other sons who died young. Nathan first, died August 10, 1803, aged seventy-seven, Nathan second, died February 14, 1851, aged eighty-seven, and Nathan third, died December 10, 1831, aged forty. David married, November 25, 1791, Elizabeth Barnes, of Princeton, and had David, Aaron, Reuben P., Isaac, Calvin, and five daughters. John married, 1793, Elizabeth Stearns, and had Jolin, born 1797.
JONAS WHITNEY married, September 27, 1757, Sarah Whitte- more, of Lexington, and had Jonas, Joel, Benjamin, and one daugh- ter. Jonas married, 1785, Elizabeth Raymond, of Princeton, and had Joseph, Charles, Jonas, Harrison G., and six daughters. Joel married, first, Lucy Holden, and second, widow Abigail Merriam, daughter of Abner Holden, and had Joseph H., Horace, Theodore, and four daughters. The Whitneys in Westminster have been quite influential, and so numerous, and so attached to the military, that it has been said, sportively, that it would be safe for a stranger coming into town to salute every third man he met, with the title and name of " Captain Whitney."
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