USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 2 > Part 10
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O'CALLAHAN, EDMUND B., editor .- Documentary History of the State of New York (4 vols., Albany, 1849-1891)-Vol. II contains the Leisler papers, valuable for the interrelations of the colonies in 1690.
O'CALLAHAN, EDMUND B., and FERNOW B .- Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York (15 vols., Albany, 1856-1887) -Valuable for New York and Iroquois policy.
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
OSGOOD, HERBERT LEVI .- The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century (3 vols., N. Y., Macmillan, 1904-1907).
OSGOOD, HERBERT LEVI .- The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century (N. Y., Columbia Univ. Press, 1924).
PALFREY, JOHN GORHAM .- History of New England (5 vols., Boston, Little, Brown, 1858-1890)-Based on colonial records and some re- search in the Public Record Office.
PARKMAN, FRANCIS .- Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV (Boston, Little, Brown, 1920)-The classic account of these wars, with special emphasis upon the major episodes.
PENHALLOW, SAMUEL .- The History of the Wars of New England with the Eastern Indians (Boston, S. Gerrish, 1726; reprinted Cincinnati, W. Dodge, 1659)-The best contemporary account of Queen Anne's and Governor Dummer's Wars, written by a member of the New Hamp- shire Council.
SCHUYLER, GEORGE W .- Colonial New York (2 vols., N. Y., Scribner's, 1885)-Useful for the relations of the Schuyler family with New England during the French and Indian wars.
SEWALL, SAMUEL .- Diary (3 vols., Mass. Historical Society, Collections, Fifth Series, Vols. V-VII, Boston, 1878-1882).
SHELDON, GEORGE .- A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts with a special study of the Indian Wars in the Connecticut Valley (2 vols., Deerfield, 1895-1896)-The best account of the Indian wars on the western frontier ; contains many documents.
SPRAGUE, JOHN FRANCIS .- Sebastian Ralé (Boston, Heintzemann Press, 1906)-Perhaps the best defence of Ralé.
TURNER, FREDERICK JACKSON .- The Frontier in American History (N. Y., Holt, 1921) .- See Chap. II, "The First Official Frontier of the Massa- chusetts Bay."
WALKER, SIR HOVENDEN .- A Journal or Full Account of the Late Expedi- tion to Canada (London, D. Browne, 1720)-Walker's defence of his conduct during the ill-fated expedition of 1711.
WATKINS, WALTER K .- "The Expedition against Port Royal in 1710 and Quebec in 1711" (Society of Colonial Wars, Publications, No. 3, Boston, 1897)-Includes a transcript of an anonymous journal, and of official documents.
WATKINS, WALTER K .- "The Expedition to Canada in 1690 under Sir Wil- liam Phips" (Society of Colonial Wars, Publications, No. 4, pp. 111- 232, Boston, 1898)-Includes transcripts of Major Walley's journal and other documents.
WILLIAMSON, WILLIAM D .- History of the State of Maine (2 vols., Hallo- well, Glazier, Masters, & Co., 1832) -Useful for the numerous military operations in that region.
WILSON, JAMES GRANT .- "Lord Lovelace and the Second Canadian Cam- paign-1708-1710" (American-Historical Association, Annual Report, pp. 267-297, Washington, 1891).
WINSOR, JUSTIN :- Narrative and Critical History of America (8 vols.,. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1889)-Vol. V, chapter VII, pp. 512-525 has a valuable bibliographical note by the editor about the authorities on the French and Indian wars of New England and Acadia.
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
WINTHROP PAPERS .- (Parts IV-VI, Mass. Historical Society, Collections, Fifth Series, Vol. VIII; Sixth Series, Vols. III and V; Boston, 1882, 1889, 1892)-Correspondence of John Winthrop, Jr., of Wait and of Fitz-John Winthrop, and of John Winthrop, F.R.S., up to 1728.
WISE, JOHN .- "Narrative of Phips's Expedition against Quebec" (Mass. Historical Society, Proceedings, Second Series, Vol. XV, pp. 283-303, Boston, 1902)-See pp. 304-319 for a reprint of an anonymous journal of the same expedition.
WRAXALL, PETER .- An Abridgement of the Indian Affairs Contained in Four Folio Volumes, Transacted in the Colony of New York from the Year 1678 to the Year 1751 (Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press, 1915)- Edited by C. H. McIlwain. The transaction of the Albany Indian Commissioners with the Five Nations, showing the hostility of the Commissioners to the giving of aid by the Five Nations to New Eng- land.
CHAPTER IV
GEOGRAPHICAL EXPANSION AND TOWN SYSTEM BY JOHN F. SLY
Lecturer on Government, Harvard University
FORMATIVE PERIOD (1630-1684)
The two centuries succeeding 1630 marked the formative period of town government in Massachusetts. From the famous Body of Liberties (1641)-the first code of laws that the colony had-through the legislation of the Colony, Province and early Commonwealth, there is, with few excep- tions, little more than a development of institutions that had their beginnings in the early years. Even when the first char- ter of the colony was taken away in 1684, the principal regula- tions pertaining to local government remained in force. Dur- ing the seventeenth century they became increasingly numer- ous. The statutes near the opening of the period show some thirty-three orders, penalties, and permissive regulations of various kinds enacted by the General Court pertaining to the towns : and more than sixty others relating to the duties of the selectmen.
Nevertheless the essential of framework government was unaltered,-comprising the town meeting, the principal officers, and a host of minor officials that increased as the social and commercial needs became more urgent,-all those remained much as they had been in the days of the first settlements.
In October, 1684, the charter under which the Massachusetts Bay Colony had been governed for over half a century was annulled. The Crown had become increasingly dissatisfied with what were thought to be unwarranted acts of the colo- nists. Especially unsuccessful was the claim that they were a "body corporate and the politique," under which claim they exercised far more political power than had ever been intended. Without the charter Massachusetts became a crown colony,
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT
that is, a colony deprived of many of the privileges of self- government previously enjoyed : and they were expected hence- forth to be much more directly accountable to the English crown. Under such conditions, it became the duty of the King to appoint the Governor; and his first choice (although a temporary one) was Joseph Dudley,-son of that Joseph Dudley who was four times Governor of Massachusetts dur- ing the days of the charter.
Even so the public life of the people was altered very little. The new Governor gave assurance that there would be but few changes in the forms and methods of administration; and in his proclamation at the close of the first meeting of the colonial assembly under the new order, he recognized and ap- parently approved the existing organization of the towns. During his term of office, few attempts were made to interfere with local affairs. Land tenures, town boundaries, political structures, and taxing privileges were confirmed, with few re- strictions. Except for the fact that towns chose no deputies to the General Court during this time, their political procedure was much as in the life of the charter.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE ANDROS PERIOD (1688-1689)
On Sunday, December 19, 1686, there arrived in Boston a new "Captain General, and Governour in Chief" to take the place of President Dudley. This was Sir Edmund Andros, a man of wide military and administrative experi- ence, but with an imperious disposition that had at times led him into difficulties. While it seems that he was "received with ... acclamations of joy, and ... escorted by a great number of merchants and others, to the Town House," his arrival was the beginning of a period of increasing disturb- ance; and because of his unwillingness or inability to foster the traditional institutions of the colonies, many of his principal difficulties clustered about the Massachusetts town system.
Among the first acts of the new governor was an order that "Selectmen, Constables, Overseers of the poor and all other Town officers for manageing the Prudentiall Affaires thereof be Continued and elected and are to act in all Town Affaires in their Severall bounds as formerly." But unfortunately
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further acts did not bear out the promises contained in this measure. A tax was levied that compared to sums previously charged in the colony was a heavy burden,-"A penny in the pound on all Estates personal or real, twenty pence per head as Poll Money, a penny in the pound for goods imported, besides an Excise on Wine, Rum and other Liquors." The towns remonstrated. Many petitioned to be exempt from pay- ment, and some even refused to collect the new taxes.
The question of land titles became annoying. Andros in- terpreted the instructions given him by the King to mean that he was to take control of all ungranted real property in the country : and that it was to be disposed of in such manner as the King might see fit to prescribe. This developed into a claim that new patents (that is, titles) must be taken out by every land owner at the expense of a heavy fee for the service, if he wished to enjoy unrestricted ownership of any disputed lands. The Governor went even further : he told the colonists that, inasmuch as their former charter had given them no right to establish local communities for the purpose of govern- ment, no such thing as a town had a legal existence in the colony. A still greater offence was the enactment that: ". . From henceforth it shall not be lawful for the in- habitants of any town within this Dominion to meet or con- vene themselves together at a town meeting, upon any pre- tense or color whatsoever, but at the time before mentioned [i.e., the third Monday in May] and appointed for the choice of town officers as aforesaid."
TOWN GOVERNMENT REVIVED (1689-1692)
This was a grave mistake. At a time when the people were particularly anxious to utilize their town meetings for the purpose of making complaints that seemed to them to set forth real grievances, the meetings were reduced to one a year. Such an attitude must inevitably arouse the bitterest opposi- tion. The flight of King James before William of Orange in England served as a pretext for open revolt. As is related in a previous volume of this work, the colonial government was overthrown and Andros imprisoned. A "Council for Safety of the People and Conservation of the Peace" recom-
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TOWN GOVERNMENT
mended that town meetings be held, to choose not to exceed two persons from each town, to meet together to determine what was best to be done. In May, 1689, such a meeting took place,-61 representatives from 44 towns and villages; and these subsequently voted in favor of reviving the old charter. The acting governor and magistrates accepted this suggestion until "an Orderly Setlement" arrived from Eng- land; and before the middle of the summer of 1689, nearly every trace of the unhappy Andros regime had vanished.
The new charter granted under date of October 7, 1691 was a very different document from that of 1629,-a distinct de- cline from the freedom of the colonial days. The charter did confirm the titles to all lands held in the colony : and it recog- nized the town system by providing a General Court to be held at least annually, each town to elect two representatives. Nevertheless no guarantee was included of the institutions for local self-government such as the towns had built for them- selves during the days of the colony. Indeed, it seems that such privileges were not contemplated,-for the entire super- vision of local communities was placed under the control of the Province.
TOWN GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED BY STATUTE (1692)
The first recorded act of the new government was designed to continue the local laws then in force. While for technical reasons this revival was set aside by the Privy Council in England, in November of the same year (1692), a general statute was enacted which was in effect a charter of town government. It confirmed the ancient town boundaries, ap- proved, with few exceptions the old political methods, and included detailed provisions for carrying out many local func- tions. Under the statute, town meetings were to be held annually in the month of March; warrants were to be issued by the selectmen and served by the constables or such others as the selectmen or "townsmen" might appoint. The election of town officers was to be by the majority of the qualified in- habitants assembled, and the officials to be chosen were fully enumerated,-three, five, seven or nine selectmen : overseers of the poor (where the selectmen did not assume that duty) ; a
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clerk, a "commissioner of assessments", constables, surveyors of highways, tythingmen, fence-viewers, clerks of the market, sealers of leather, and "other ordinary town officers."
CONTROL OF THE TOWNS BY THE PROVINCE
Compared to its famous predecessor of 1635-36 (the first town act under the colony) the law was basically much the same : It recognized the earlier provisions but it went further. Under the new Province law (as under the later colony law) the suffrage was defined to be in "the freeholders and other inhabitants of each town, rateable at twenty pounds estate" who were qualified to vote in town meetings. The statute also contained instructions to the selectmen pertaining to the as- sessment of town and county charges, as well as provisions concerning idle persons, care of the poor, the admission of in- habitants and the treatment of intruders.
A most important addition was the clause requiring that all town orders and by-laws (made either by the town or by the selectmen under instructions) before becoming valid must be approved by the Court of Quarter Sessions-a group of justices of the peace appointed by the governor and council; and that all town officers from whom an oath was required by law be sworn before the same body or before a single justice.
Supplementary legislation bore out the expectations of the early period, indicating a policy of close supervision and even compulsion in town affairs. During the days of the colony the precise legal status of the town was always in doubt. This condition was partly adjusted by a law enabling towns, villages, and proprietors in common and undivided lands to sue and be sued. Penalties were provided for refusal by towns to pro- vide a school master; for neglecting to elect selectmen or as- sessors; for injury caused by defective ways; and for the failure of constables to collect a tax.
Lapses of town meetings were prevented. A justice of the peace was given authority to call town meetings when the selectmen unreasonably refused. The same officials were em- powered to fine the selectmen for neglecting to provide the town with a sufficient stock of arms and ammunition, or, if necessary, to appoint others for the same service. In addition,
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they were to act in conjunction with the colonial officials in assigning sites to slaughter houses in certain towns; in ap- pointing watchmen; and either with the selectmen or overseers of the poor in setting the indigent to work and in binding out apprentices.
PROPRIETARY TOWN MEETINGS
The Province found it necessary, moreover, to take cogniz- ance of an auxiliary type of town meeting. In the early days of settlement, lands were granted to groups of colonists who became thereby "proprietors" of the town. In most communi- ties they included at first practically all of the inhabitants, so that a town meeting and a proprietors' meeting were substanti- ally the same thing. On some occasions the townsmen would decide questions of general political importance; on others, they would dispose simply of matters pertaining to the division and regulation of the undivided or "common lands" in the com- munity,-that is, lands that had formed part of their original grant, and were not yet apportioned among members of the town. The growth of population naturally altered this simple arrangement. Many new inhabitants appeared. A rapidly extending suffrage allowed them to participate in town meet- ings ; and the original proprietors found themselves in a situa- tion where they had difficulty in controlling the disposition of their own property.
Towards the close of the seventeenth century the General Court, accordingly, found it necessary to protect proprietary rights by regulating so-called proprietors meetings,-gather- ings that in the eighteenth century became distinct from town meetings and were composed only of town inhabitants owning a share in the common lands. In December, 1715, a law was passed for their better regulation. The preamble set forth that, because of the disorderly conduct of some of the members business was much retarded. It required, therefore, that moderators be chosen, with powers to impose fines for speak- ing without permission; that ten or more freeholders might compel the insertion of articles in the warrant; and that "no matter or thing whatsoever shall be voted or determined but what is inserted in the warrant for calling said meeting."
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CONSTITUENT TOWNS (1685-1695)
On the first tax list under. the new charter, (September 14, 1695) eighty-three towns were listed. They were distributed throughout the state as follows: Suffolk County, thirteen; Essex, seventeen; Plymouth, six; Barnstable, seven; Middle- sex, seventeen; Hampshire, seven; York, (Maine), four; Bristol, eight; Nantucket (incorporated in 1695), one; Mar- thas Vineyard (which in 1695 became the Country of Dukes), County), three. Tiverton in Bristol County (lost to Rhode Island in 1747) was included,-the first town incorporated under the Province charter. If to this list be added Dun- stable, Deerfield and Woodstock, described in this period as "frontier towns," and Brookfield and Worcester which had been abandoned after King Philip's War, the total would have been at that time eighty-nine towns that existed within the boundaries of Massachusetts.
Some of these were very old. Twenty of them were estab- lished in the Massachusetts Bay Colony before 1640. They numbered such distinguished communities as Salem, Charles- town, Watertown, Dorchester, Boston, Roxbury, Medford and Marblehead. Some represented the first twenty years development under the Plymouth colony,-Plymouth, Scituate, Duxbury, Sandwich, Yarmouth, Barnstable, and Taunton. The remainder were scattered throughout the seventeenth century. The English names of many new towns were continued tes- timony to the local affection that the colonists held for the home land that they had left. Of some sixty towns named before 1690 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, not one retained the previous Indian name. In the Plymouth colony there were only two,-Scituate and Monomoy; and although the religious fervor of the Puritans is supposed to have been their chief characteristic, Salem and Rehoboth are the only scrip- tural names on the list.
NEW TOWNS (1692-1715)
The years of the Province from 1692 to 1715 saw some twenty-three new towns established. Their location does not, however, show such expansion as their numbers might indicate.
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MOTHER TOWNS SETTLED BEFORE 1644
· OFFSHOOTS OF MOTHER TOWNS TO 1690
SETTLEMENTS 1690 TO 1740
SETTLEMENTS 1740 TO 1765
GENERALIZED FRONTIER OF MOTHER TOWNS
GENERALIZED FRONTIER ABOUT 1690
GENERALIZED FRONTIER ABOUT 1740
0
NEW SETTLEMENTS AND SUCCESSIVE FRONTIERS
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ORIGIN OF TOWN NAMES
The western confines of the state attracted a few settlers. Four towns were set off in what was later to become Wor- cester County (1731),-viz: Leicester, Oxford, Rutland and Sutton, all formed from common lands. Two more, North- field and Sunderland, lay in the area later to be made into Franklin County (1811) : Northfield was established from the plantation of Squakeag and Sunderland from common lands. Most of the new communities were in the more populous eastern sections.
Middlesex County included six new towns. Dracut, Little- ton and Hopkinton were laid out from common lands, the latter with the addition of the plantation called Moguncoy. Framingham was erected from a former plantation of the same name. Two were formed from parts of older communities, -Weston, from the west precinct of Watertown; and Lexing- ton from the north precinct of Cambridge.
In addition, five other counties representative of the older settled areas contributed new communities. Truro and Chat- ham were incorporated within the area of Barnstable County, -Truro from the common land of Pawmett (although it appears to have been known as Dangerfield,-part of East- ham-for several years previous to that time) and Chatham from the former district of Manamoit. The new communities in Bristol County were each sub-divisions of older towns. They included Norton and Dighton, both formerly parts of Taunton. Chilmark made the third town in Dukes County, the two others, Edgartown and Tisbury being incorporated in 1671. Plympton, part of Plymouth, and Pembroke, part of Duxbury, added two new communities to Plymouth County. Abington, formerly part of the old settlement of Bridgewater, added a third. While Medway, set off from Medfield, Brook- line from Muddy River, a part of Boston, and Needham from part of Dedham, furnished three new towns in what was to become (1793) the county of Norfolk.
ORIGIN OF TOWN NAMES
The naming of these early towns under the Province gov- ernment seem to have a little more diversity of origin than those of the colonial period. William H. Whitmore years ago
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prepared a very careful study on this subject in which he tells us that: ". .. for about a century our ancestors gave names which may be divided into the following classes: one or two Scriptural and Indian names; certain descriptive words origin- ating here, as Marblehead, Westfield, Deerfield, Westborough, &c .; the names of English or Welsh counties ; one or two names of Colonial celebrities. Lastly, a large number of places of little importance in England were remembered here, and the strong presumption is that these names were given by emi- grants from those parishes."
Under the Province the sources of town names seem to have received a little different emphasis. A few names, such as Brookline, Weston, Northfield and Littleton, appear to be of New England origin. Pembroke, Rutland, and Leicester were county names in England. Some were apparently named for individuals,-Hopkinton, Bellingham, Holliston and Digh- ton. The small English village seems to have suggested Tiverton, Attleborough, Framingham, Abington, Dracut, Needham, Lexington and Sutton; and a few seem to refer to great names of the English peerage,-Pembroke, Leicester, and Rutland, Abington, Lexington and Sutton, although the explanations given above in these instances seem to be the more reasonable.
NEW TOWNS (1715-1742)
The next few years saw a marked increase in new communi- ties. The period succeeding the Peace of Utrecht (1713) was the first of comparative peace that the colony had enjoyed since the outbreak of King Philip's War in 1675. At times, indeed more than once, all that could be expected of the older settlements was to maintain themselves. The General Court was even impelled to pass rigid legislation to prevent the deser- tion of frontier towns, under penalty of forfeiture of estates held there, or in place of this, penalty of a heavy fine. From 1715 to 1742 settlements progressed at a more rapid rate. Not only did they appear in the older established portions of the colony, but the western sections showed unusual activity. Worcester County added fifteen new towns. They originated in the diverse ways that characterized the eighteenth century municipal development. Sturbridge and Shrewsbury (men-
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NEW TOWNS
tioned in 1722 as a frontier town) were incorporated from common lands. Brookfield is listed as "reincorporated" in 1718,-although the original grant to certain inhabitants of Ipswich appears to run back as far as 1660. Others had been plantations. Grafton was formerly known as the plan- tation of Hassanamisco and Hardwick as the plantation of Lambstown. The remainder, except Lunenburg, were divisions of older towns.
Southborough and Westborough were formed from parts of Marlborough; Uxbridge from the west part of Mendon; Upton, from portions of Hopkinton, Men- don, Sutton and Uxbridge. Bolton and Leominster were sub- divisions of the old town of Lancaster,-itself a plantation as early as 1641. Holden was formed from part of Worcester ; Harvard, from various portions of Groton, Lancaster, and Stow; Western, later (1834) to be called Warren, from parts of Brookfield, Brimfield and Kingsfield (now Palmer) ; Dudley from part of Oxford and certain common lands; and Lunenburg was set off from "the south park of Turkey Hill."
What was destined to become Berkshire County (1761) was earlier a part of Hampshire. Two towns developed within its area,-Sheffield, formerly part of the lower plantation called Houssatonnock, and Stockbridge, established from the plantation known as Indian Town. Brimfield and Blandford added two additional communities to what was then the south- ern section of Hampshire County,-later (1812) to become the Hampden County of today. Springfield and Westfield, -the former organized as a town as early as 1636, the latter, in 1669-were the only other incorporated communi- ties in the area. Brimfield was established from common land ; Blandford, from a tract of land known as New Glasgow,- a grant confirmed for service in the Canada Expedition of 1690.
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