USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historical collections: containing I. The Reformation in France; the rise, progress and destruction of the Huguenot Church. Vol I > Part 22
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" Ye've seen the shadows quit the vale- The foam upon the water fail- The fleeting vapor leave no trace, Such was their path, that faded race !"
The first meeting of the people of Roxbury (as their records show) to consult upon the subject of a grant of land for a town in this country, was on the 6th of October, 1683. Their object,
18
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as stated, was to increase the pasturage for their cattle, and to improve their condition and usefulness to the colony.
These reasons are quite similar to one of those given by the first planters, who went out from Massachusetts in 1635 to found the colony of Connecticut, as related in another place : " the want of accommodation for their cattle, so as they were not able to maintain their ministers, nor could receive any more of their friends to help them."
And it is presumed that the fathers of Woodstock, the parishioners of the Apostle Eliot, knew by him very well, the desirableness of these interior lands, which their venerable minister had but recently often traveled over on his pious mission to the natives then residing here, to hold forth to them the blessings of the Gospel, and were actuated by reasons similar to the second one given by the founders of Connec- ticut-" the fruitfulness and commodiousness of the country." It is not, however, the design here to make invidious criticisms upon the character of these hardy, industrious, and frugal pioneers-the founders of Woodstock, nor to screen their faults, but rather to state facts, let their bearing be what they may.
Their second meeting was on the 10th following, and the third on the 17th instant, when the form of a petition was agreed upon, offered for signatures, and signed by the fol- lowing names :
John Chandler, William Lyon, Jonathan Davis, John Frissell, Joseph Frissell, Thomas Bacon, John Marcy, Nathan Sawyer, Ebenezer Morris, Nathan Gary, John Bugbee, Arthur Humphrey,
James Corbin, John Chandler, Jr., Nathaniel Wilson,
Benjamin Sabin,
John Mayo, Benjamin Griggs, George Griggs, Peter Aspinwall, Jonathan Peak, Jonathan Smithers,
John Ruggles, Samuel May,
Edward Morris,
Samuel Craft,
Samuel Peacock,
Thomas Lyon, James Barrett,
Henry Bowen, John Levens,
Samuel Scarborough. John Hubbard,
John Bowen, Nathaniel Johnson.
John Butcher.
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This petition was presented to the General Court by the selectmen of Roxbury, and received action upon it by that body, as follows :
"At a General Court held at Boston, November 7, 1683, in answer to the petition of William Parker, John Bowles, Joseph Griggs, John Rug- gles, and Edward Morris, selectmen of Roxbury; and in their behalf, dated, 'October 10 and 17, 1683,' for a tract of land for a village, to be laid out about Quantisset, to the quantity of seven miles square; the court grants their request, provided that the grant to Major Thompson, Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Dudley and Company have the first choice before the tenth of June next, and provided thirty families be settled on said plantation within three years of that time, and maintain amongst them an able, orthodox, godly minister.
" Attest,
"EDWARD RAWSON, Secretary."
This grant to the selectmen of Roxbury for the town of Woodstock, which for several years was known as New Rox- bury, was a part of the tract of land conveyed by deed by these Indians, dated, "February 10, 1681," to William Stough- ton and Joseph Dudley, as agents of Massachusetts, referred to in the history of Oxford. It included in its limits mostly three of the Indian villages which Captain Daniel Gookin gives an account of, in relating the incidents of the journey he made with Rev. John Eliot to this country :
"This year again, on the 14th of September, 1674, we both took another journey, Our design was to travel further among them, and to confirm their souls in the Christian religion, and to settle teachers in every town, and to establish civil government among them, as in the other praying towns."
The first of these three towns within this grant was Maanexit, located in the north-east part of the same, and a part of Thompson, on the borders of Mohegan river (the Quinebaug). The second was Quantisset, referred to in the order of court for this grant, about six miles to the south of the first village, and in the south-east part of the grant,
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and extending into the territory now Thompson. The third was Wabquassit, or, as called in the records of the early proceedings of Woodstock, " Wappaquasset," located in the south part of this grant.
Mr. Gookin adds :
"Upon the 16th day of September, being at Wabquassit, as soon as the people had come together, Mr. Eliot first prayed, and then preached to them in their own language out of Matthew, v, 33, 'First seek the kingdom of heaven, and the righteousness thereof, and all things shall be added unto you.' After these services, as was customary, Mr. Gookin, then the Indian agent of the colony, held court upon civil affairs, ap- pointing officers to attend to the well ordering of matters among them, giving these officers special charge to be diligent and faithful in their places."*
These Indian villages were, no doubt, a part of those which John Oldham and his three companions visited in September, 1633 (forty-one years before the visit by Gookin and Eliot), at the time of his excursion to discover the country of the river of Connecticut, as related by Governor Winthrop in his journal.t
On the 21st of January, 1684, the town of Roxbury au- thorized the selectmen to send a committee to view the country where it was intended to locate the grant made to them for a town, and report the best place.
This committee consisted of four persons : Samuel Rug- gles, John Ruggles, John Courtis, and Isaac Morris ; but their report does not appear of record. The selectmen, however, give the result of the discoveries which they made :
" They did find, according to their best understanding, that Wab- quassit and the lands adjacent might afford encouragement for a settle- ment of a township according to the court's grant."
Upon which report, October 27, 1684, the town of Roxbury declared by a vote,
* See Collections Mass. Hist. Soc., vol. 1, 1st series, pp. 190-192.
t See Winthrop, by Savage, vol. I, p. 111.
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" That they did expect of the information from the men sent to view the said tract of land, that liberty was granted, that if any persons had a desire to go to said land, they may do so only upon their own charges, and for such going the town will be at the expense of a pilot."
At the same meeting a committee was appointed consisting of Master Dudley (Joseph), Master Bowles, Deacon Parks, Lieutenant Ruggles, and Edward Morris,
" To draft propositions that may be most equal and prudent for the settlement of the place; and to present them to the town upon the 18th of November next ensuing, which was the same day appointed (so re- corded) to be a town meeting after lecture."
And furthermore, on the same day it was declared by the town,
"That if any of the inhabitants do see good to withdraw from any interest in the grant of land, that they have liberty so to do without offence, provided it be done within three months; and then to be free of any further charges concerning the same, provided they have paid their proportion of the foregoing charges that were necessary before they so withdrew."
At the aforesaid appointed town meeting, the 13th of July, 1685, the committee selected to draft propositions for settling the grant, made report as follows :
" It is agreed and ordered that if there shall appear to the selectmen thirty persons or upwards who shall give in their names, to plant and settle on said lands, so as to fulfill the conditions of the grant of the General Court, referring to the same, they shall have to themselves and their heirs, the full half of the whole tract in one square, at their own choice, to be proportionably divided among them."
" And further, the town do engage to assist the goers and planters with €100, money, to be paid in equal portions in five years, to be laid out in public buildings and charges, as the old town of Roxbury (the grant at this time being known as New Roxbury) shall annually determine. The rest of the inhabitants of the town shall have the remaining half to be equally and proportionably divided to them, to be to them and their heirs forever."
Adjourned eight weeks.
At the adjourned meeting the aforesaid agreement in every
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article and particular having been read, it was unanimously consented to, the contrary being put, not one appeared therein.
" September 8th, 1685.
Voted : "That, as an additional inducement to the £100, allowed the settlers as aforesaid, that the estates which the goers leave behind theni in Roxbury shall be free from the rates for raising this sum, to the num- ber of thirty-five persons."
Also, same day agreed,
" That the £100 be expended on that half of the grant which the goers shall select and sit down upon."
Also,
" That the £100 be raised, and paid £20 per year to such persons as the goers shall depute, and to be expended in public works on that half of the grant, viz., for meeting-house, minister's house, mill, bridges," &c.
It was further agreed,
" That notwithstanding the town of Roxbury (that is to say-the stayers) have engaged £100, money, to those that shall go and take one half of the grant in a square, yet that if any persons or person, by them- selves or others, shall go and sit down on the other half, they shall be liable to bear all public charges with them that go first (in all respects, except the propriety of land), from the time of their improvement on the other half, until such time as the stayers, or old town, shall see good, and desire to be by themselves as a township, and the charges thereof at which time they shall in all respects be clear of payment of any charges in common with the first goers; and that this meeting be adjourned to this day fortnight."
At the adjourned meeting, September 22, 1685,
" It was unanimously declared by the people of Roxbury, for the en- couragement of such as were willing to go up to the Nipmug country in the spring in order to a settlement, they shall have liberty to break up land and plant where they please for the present year without being bound thereby to accept of what land they plant or otherwise improve, as their share or part of the half of the court's grant to this town; and that they shall have liberty at any time between this day and 29th of September next, 1686, to make and declare their choice of the one half of the said court's grant, according to articles agreed to in public town meeting, July 13, 1685. And for the encouragement of the first planters at Wabquassit, at this meeting it was agreed that they should have a
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surveyor to assist them in finding the colony line, or otherwise for fur- ther promotion of their design, upon the charge of the whole town."
The records of the new Roxbury settlers, afterward Wood- stock, show the following :
" APRIL 5, 1686.
" These are the thirteen who were sent out to spy out Woodstock as planters, and to take actual possession : Jonathan Smithers, John Fris- sell, Nathaniel Gary, John Marcy, Benjamin Griggs, John Lord, Benja- min Sabin, Henry Bowen, Matthew Davis, Thomas Bacon, Peter Aspin- wall, George Griggs, and Edward Morris."
This was the beginning of the actual settlement of Wood- stock.
This is the year that the grantees of Oxford began the first settlement of that town, which, unfortunately, after about ten years, was abandoned for a period of seventeen years before a permanent settlement was commenced. Thus the permanent settlement of Woodstock was twenty-seven years in advance of Oxford.
Notwithstanding settlers had gone forward in April to take possession and begin the settlement of the new town, those who remained at Roxbury continued their efforts in behalf of the undertaking.
Their records show that on the 14th of May, 1686, at a town meeting, a committee of the following men were ap- pointed to aid the enterprise :
" Samuel Williams, Senior, Sergeant Timothy Stevens, and John Courtis, whose duty it is to go to the Nipmug country and view the land by the General Court granted for our enlargement of the township and inhabitants of Roxbury, in order to the laying out of the same; who are also empowered to settle the southern bounds of the grant upon or near the colony line; and also to determine the length and breadth of the court's grant as they judge most convenient for the town in general ; that the first goers or settlers may make choice of their half thereof, ac- cording to a grant to them by a vote of the inhabitants of Roxbury, July 13, 1685."
The committee chosen on the 14th of May, 1686, reported
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to the town of Roxbury at a meeting held on the 12th day of June, following :
" We, whose names are here underwritten, being chosen a committee to go to the Nipmug country to view the land and pitch the southern bounds of the grant to the town of Roxbury, did, upon the 25th of May last, go to the place where several of the inhabitants of Roxbury have set up a house and planted several acres of corn, and from that house a mile and a half southward we first marked a white-oak-tree, from which we marked several others, white-oaks and black-oaks, walnuts, chest- nuts, and other trees, both eastward and westward in the sanie line, for the space of three miles and a half or thereabouts. And in case the first goers do chose that side of the township next to the colony line where we have already marked, and do run eight miles from the east end of the line that we have marked westward, and three miles in breadth from this south line, then we lay the whole of the court's grant to Roxbury, eight miles long from east to west and six and a quarter miles (or so much as will make up the complement of the said grant) from south to north."
"But if the first goers should decide contrawise, viz., by a north and south line, then we order that the south line which we have begun shall run further eastward home to Quinebaug river, and be six miles and so much more as will make up the complement from east to west, and eight miles from south to north, as witness our hands.
SAMUEL WILLIAMS, TIMOTHY STEVENS, JOHN COURTIS."
This report, having been read at a meeting of the inhabit- ants of the town of Roxbury, was accepted.
At the same meeting,
"Liberty was granted to the settlers in the new town to propound persons of other places to fill up the number required by the court in their grant for the new town, whose estates or other qualifications shall be referred unto the selectmen of this town for approval, and who may accordingly be admitted with the .goers to settle there, and have like privileges with the other goers."
At a town meeting in Roxbury, June 15, 1686, it was decided,
" That the time be limited to the 29th of September next for the set-
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tlers to decide which half of the grant they will take, being governed by the limits established by the locating committee, as before stated in their report."
And it was decided,
" That the time for entering names to be an inhabitant in that half of the grant to be appropriated for settlers, or goers, shall be limited to the 1st of May, 1687, and their number not to exceed fifty; and all but ten to be inhabitants of Roxbury, and such as are from other towns to be approved by the selectmen of that town."
It was further agreed,
" That the goers at present settled on the grant have liberty to take up their home lots forthwith; other settlers, as fast as they come there; and that Lieutenant Samuel Ruggles, Sergeant Timothy Stevens, and Samuel Williams, senior, shall be a committee for the New Town till the last of next May, to decide any differences that may arise among them."
On the 27th of September, 1686, the settlers at New Rox- bury decided,
" That the division line shall run east and west, and that they would take the south half of the court's grant."
On the same day, September 27, 1686, the town of Rox- bury decided
"That the rule of division of the other, or north half of the court's grant, which now belonged to that town, shall be apportioned according to each man's assessment per head and estate, in the country rates, by the last year's roll ; by which also stayer's share of charges for the pay- ment of the £100 shall be paid. The castle soldiers and troopers are to be added, and all such as are now sixteen years of age, all goers except- ed; and that the selectmen in each and every year for the time being, are hereby empowered to proportion each man's share of said £100, and the constable, in the several years, to collect and gather the same as he doth the other town rates.
" The list of castle men, troopers, and others, not in the last year's roll, are to be brought in to the selectmen within six weeks after the date hereof."
It was further agreed by the town of Roxbury, on the 5th of October, 1686,
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"That each of the inhabitants and proprietors of the town, except such as have rights given them in the first half of the new town in the Nipmug country, do, within one week next coming, bring in to the select- men a perfect list of all their own proper estates, heads, houses, lands, and cattle, which shall be equally appraised and summed up at the rate formerly in usage for country rates; and that the selectmen may levy this year £20 thereupon, towards the payment of the £100 granted to the new town. and the remainder, afterwards according to the same list. which list shall be duly and fairly entered in the records of the town, and be the rule of division of lands in the half of the new town reserved for those of this town who stay, to be to them and their heirs forever ; and that this be instead of the vote taken, September 27th, 1686, that being hereby taken away."
It was voted, March 5, 1687, by Roxbury,
" That if any person or persons see meet to relinquish his or their right in the lands of New Roxbury, he or they shall be quit of any pay- ment to that or any other future charges, he giving the same under his hand to the said constable within seven days next coming ; other persons of the proprietors now present having offered to take such refused rights and pay the past rates and further charges that may be agreed upon, being necessary for the security of the title of the place. And further, they do now agree that the committee of both towns do pursue the obtaining a patent for the same, and do hereby empower the select- men to raise upon the estates of both towns what money may be neces- sary for the defraying the charges for the patent not exceeding £30 money; and that the quit rent be paid for the future by all the pro- prietors, according to their several interests there.
And, further, it is agreed,
" That the inhabitants of the new town make their election, either to have half the charges for the payment for the patent deducted out of the last payment of the £100 promised them, or pay one third part thereof, in common with their neighbors, within one month."
Furthermore, it is agreed, that,
" Whoever desires to enter as a goer to take up in that half of the town granted to the first goers, shall be twenty-one years of age by the tenth of June, 1688."
On the 13th of December, 1686, the selectmen of Roxbury
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met, and made the first assessment upon the polls and estates of that town as a part of the £100, promised the first settlers of Woodstock.
It is stated in their town records as £21 0s. 5d, granted to the goers into the Nipmug country, and was committed to the hands of Samuel Craft for collection.
There is an entry in Roxbury town records of expenses paid parties for services rendered at the plantation in the Nipmug country.
" Paid John Gore for journey to the Nipmug country, eleven days ser- vices at the request of the goers, according to a town vote, £3 0s. 0d."
This Mr. Gore was a surveyor, and was employed by the committee appointed on the 14th of May last, as before stated, for locating the new town.
This committee of location were paid as follows:
S. d.
To Samuel Williams, 1 3 0
" Ensign Timothy Stevens, -
1 3 0
" John Courtis, 1
" Indian Pilot, -
0 6 0
The sums here paid are a valuable index for judging of the value of time and labor at this period ; or of money in pro- curing such service.
There is also recorded the names and sums paid to the town's committee, who went up to the Nipmug country first, to view and to report the best place for a town .*
£ s. d.
To Samuel Ruggles, 1 19 7
" John Ruggles, 1 10 0 1 7 0
" John Courtis, -
" John Mower,
On the 12th of July, 1687,
"It being lecture day (so recorded), the inhabitants of Roxbury being
* See vote of Roxbury, January 21, 1684, before related.
3 0
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desired to stay, there was then read a summons by his Excellency, the governor, signed by William West, dated 'July 11,' wherein was signified that he expected that some of Roxbury would appear before his Excellency forthwith, to make answer to such complaints as were made against them by the Indians, in reference to Nipmug lands, etc. The meeting voted that Lieutenant Samuel Ruggles and John Gore be a committee to attend to his Excellency's request."
At the same time,
" The foregoing were appointed a committee to petition his Excellency and the Honorable Council for a patent or confirmation of the new town in the Nipmug country. The charges to be equally borne by the polls and estates of both towns."
There does not appear upon the records of the town of Roxbury any transaction relating to the new town in the Nip- mug country in the year 1688. But on the 13th of January, 1689-'90, a request was made to the General Court to grant the settlement in the Nipmug country to be a township, and to confirm the same, and to give the town a name. This desire for a name for the new town, came probably from the settlers; as on the 1st of January, 1689, the planters chose a committee of three to petition the General Court for a sub- stitute for New Roxbury, for a name for the town. This committee were Edward Morris, William Bartholomew, and Nathaniel Johnson. The committee, no doubt, applied to the town of Roxbury, which brought out the request to the Gen- eral Court, from the committee of that town appointed on January 3, as above.
The General Court of Massachusetts, it appears, considered the request of the petitioners for a name for the new town, March 18, 1690, when it was voted by the deputies that New Roxbury be called " Woodstock."
At the same time Captain Thomas Thurston and Lieutenant Samuel Barber, of Medfield, and Josiah Chapin, of Mendon, were appointed a committee to advise and assist in the odering and settling the town affairs.
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It is related that a memorandum was found in the diary of Judge Samuel Sewall, of Boston, to wit :
"I gave New Roxbury the name of Woodstock, because of its near- ness to Oxford, for the sake of Queen Elizabeth and the notable meet- ings that have been held at that place bearing the name in England."*
* See Annals of America, by Dr. Abial Holmes, a deseendant of John Holmes, one of the founders of Woodstock, vol. I, p. 420.
The towns of Oxford and Woodstock, granted by Massachusetts in this interior, called the Nipnct, Nipmuck, and in the records of Roxbury, Nipmug country, were names given in honor of the notable towns of those names in Oxfordshire, in England. Oxford is about fifty-five miles from London; its chief celebrity is derived from the university located there, and the Bodleian library. The university dates back in history nearly 1,000 years. The library was founded in 1598, near the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by Thomas Bodley. It has about 300,000 volumes of printed books, and is regarded as one of the best selected libraries for rare and scientific works in Europc. Woodstock is about eight miles from Oxford. The old part of this town is noted as having been the royal residence of the Saxon and Norman kings. King Alfred translated here the " Consolation of Philosophy," by Boetius. Here, also, much to the displeasure of his French wife (Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine), Henry II, founder of the Plantagenct dynasty, kept his mistress, the fair Rosa- mond, daughter of Lord Clifford, about the year A. D., 1173.
It is reported that a conspiracy was formed by his queen and sons for removing this object of his attachment. The fair Rosamond was, as reported, concealed in a labyrinth at this place; her lodgment the queen discovered by a silken thread, when she soon had this mistress brought into ber presence, and compelled her to drink poison, by which she lost her life.
There is a poetic dialogue, by Algernon Charles Swinburne, called " Rosamond, the Maze of Woodstock," between the characters, " Rosamond and Constance," " Queen Eleanor, Robert De Barehard, King Henry," etc., in four parts, which refers to these affairs of gal- lantry, and the queen's indignation and destruction of her rival in the affections of the king.
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