USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historical collections: containing I. The Reformation in France; the rise, progress and destruction of the Huguenot Church. Vol I > Part 24
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This meeting of November 27, 1690, was their first town meeting after the town received the name of Woodstock; and, at this meeting, it made its first organization of town officers.
The business of the plantation of a public nature up to this time had been transacted by the selection of special com- mittees for the performance of duties assigned to them.
The town organization was as follows :
" Town Clerk, John Chandler, Junior. John Chandler, Senior. William Bartholomew, " Selectmen, Benjamin Sabin, John Levens, Joseph Bugbee, Jonathan Peak, Matthew Davis, Samuel Rice.
" Assessors,
" Also requested and procured John Chandler, Junior, to instruct children and youth to read, write, and cipher.} It was agreed at this
* The first jenny for spinning cotton was invented by Hargreaves in 1767; the water- frame by Arkwright in 1769; the power-loom by Rev. D. E. Cartwright in 1785; the dress- ing-machine by Johnson and Radcliffe in 1804; another by Horrocks, 1813; mule-spinning by Samuel Crompton in 1779; and the self-acting mule by Roberts in 1825. Steam-power first applied as a motor in manufacturing by Boulton and Watt in 1785; bleaching by means of chloride of lime introduced by Tenant, of Glasgow, in 1798; water-power cotton-spinning first introduced into the United States by Mr. Slater in 1790; and the power-loom first operated in this country at Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1814.
+ This request for schooling is the first movement seen on record at Woodstock, for edu- cating their children, 1690.
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meeting that in future the time for the election of town officers should be the last Monday in November, annually.
" Each planter was now ordered to bring in for record the ear-mark for distinguishing his cattle. A large part of their lands lying as com- mon lands, the cattle of the plantation herded together; the ear-mark being necessary to show the ownership of the cattle by different planters."
Another vote passed at this meeting shows the care and prudence the first planters manifested for the protection of their dwelling-houses and other buildings.
Every planter was required to procure a ladder for his house by the 1st of February, 1691, or suffer a penalty of five shillings ; and Jonathan Peak was directed to see that this was done.
This custom of procuring ladders for dwelling-houses, to run from the ground to the top of the roof of each house, to be ready for use in case of fire, prevailed in New England generally, until the system of insurance was adopted. For- merly the ladder and a few spare buckets were the chief means relied on for extinguishing fires, and where loss was sustained by fire the only relief was the generosity of neighbors.
It became a pretty general custom for neighbors to join in procuring material and labor to rebuild and provide for such misfortunes.
This custom continued to a quite recent date, to about 1825 to 1830 ; but when insurance companies became general, and there was opportunity for every owner of property perishable by fire to provide against such loss at a moderate cost, it soon was regarded as a duty each party owed to himself; and, as people generally availed themselves of the opportunity, and kept their property insured, the custom of private contribu- tion ceased, and the party who neglected to insure, and lost his property, was soon regarded as justly punished for negli- gence, and not an object for contribution.
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It can scarcely be realized that the well-regulated system of insurance by joint-stock companies, governed by wise stat- ute enactments for both the insurer and insured, is of so recent origin.
The first system of insurance to provide against fire or ma- rine disaster was by individual agreement. The sum or amount to be protected by insurance was fully stated and explained in writing, setting forth the risk either by fire or water, when persons of known capital would assume a stipu- lated amount of the property at such risk, by undersigning the agreement and stating against their name the sum assured, with the rate that was agreed upon, which rate was paid at the time the risk was taken. From this custom of under. w.iting and assuming such risks originated the name " Under- writers," which is now frequently applied to persons engaged in the business of insurance.
Insurance on ships and cargoes, it is said, had its origin with the Romans, A. D., 43, and was in general use in com- mercial towns in Italy, in 1194; and, to some extent, in Eng- land, in 1560.
The first law in England regulating insurance was enacted near the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth in 1601; but insurance upon houses did not begin in London until after the great fire of 1667. Then it was only by underwriters.
The first insurance company in London was established in 1696, and styled the " Hand-in-Hand." From this name has arisen the custom of denoting insurance by the sign of two hands clasped together, in token of mutual aid and friend- ship, which sign is now frequently seen on insurance signs, or cards, or emblems placed on houses that are insured. It will be noticed that this vote in Woodstock, November 27, 1690, for procuring ladders, was six years before the first insurance company was established in London.
It was their custom to acknowledge their dependence on
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God, and to ask the Divine blessing upon all their doings ; their town and other meetings were opened by prayer. This custom was also general in New England at this period, and continued to a quite recent time. Also it was their custom, after the choice of moderator and town clerk, to have the Riot act read before the meeting, and likewise the statute enact- ment against immorality, profanity, and intemperance.
There were some apparent inconsistencies with these devout Puritans. It has been noticed that at one of their town meet- ings, after reading the law against intemperance, a vote was passed ordering the purchase of eight shillings' worth of drink at the expense of the town .*
These good people of Woodstock, having the previous year provided a house for their minister, they now, in 1691, called a town meeting to take measures for building a meeting-house.
Four citizens were selected for its superintendence : Edward Morris, Jonathan Peak, John Levens, and John Chandler, Junior. The dimensions of this house were thirty feet long by twenty-four feet wide, with fourteen feet stud.
It is traditionary that these pioneers, prior to the erecting this first house for religious worship, held their meetings in a hickory-grove in their neighborhood during summer, seated upon the rocks under the branches of the trees It was their
* There were no total abstinence societies among the Puritans; but, on the contrary, the moderate use of spirituous liquors was habitual in those days.
In October, 1730, there appears a vote on the records of the town of Mendon, directing the purchase of a barrel of rum for the use of the company that were to raise the meeting- house.
There was much opposition to the building of this meeting-house at Mendon, and, as ap- pears, some party of the opposition, after the new meeting-house had been raised, under- took to cut off one of the corner parts, but, for some reason, left the job unfinished. The town took notice of this act as follows : August 21, 1731 -- Voted : " To see whether the town will choose a committee to find out who hath damnified the meeting-house by cutting one of the posts." The vote was in the negative.
Mr. Barber relates in his historical collections, published in 1840, that the work of cutting the post was still to be seen in their present old meeting-house.
The present ideas regarding the use of spirituous liquors, as a beverage, did not com- mence to operate upon public sentiment until about 1830, although the evil effects of their use had been regarded by many persons with much concern, for the general welfare of the people much earlier.
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custom, at this. early period, to keep sentinels to watch the length and breadth of the Plain Hill, and, descending to the valleys on either side through the night, to notice any intru- sion by either brute, or more brutish savage, that at this time not unfrequently lurked about their isolated homes in the neighboring forests ; but, fortunately, they escaped from any disaster of this kind, while their neighbor plantation at Ox- ford suffered severely and was broken up by them.
In this small, first meeting-house, the devout settlers of Woodstock, as also those of the grant for Pomfret, up to the year 1715 (that town had no religious society until that year), came from all parts of the settlement to the Plain Hill, to unite in their religious worship.
The Puritans at this time did not permit any diversity of religious faith ; as set forth in all grants for towns, it was imperative that they should settle among them and maintain (as then styled) a learned, orthodox, godly minister, com- monly called, " of the standing order." The people, as now, were not troubled with selecting a denomination preacher to suit their own ideas of religious faith ; this exercise of thought was provided for by legislative enactments. The ideas of the elder Dudley then prevailed :
" Let men of God in courts and churches watch, O'er such as do a toleration hatch ; Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice, To poison all with heresy and vice."
The workmanship of these early church structures was of the most plain and simple character ; the outside covered in with plain, inclosing boards, and seldom any interior finish upon the walls, neither with plaster nor other ceilings.
The storms of winter not unfrequently brought drifts of snow through the coarsely finished exterior. There were but few, if any, of the nicely arranged works for convenience or comfort in those old meeting-houses.
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Scarcely even a fire-place, or any preparation for warming, except the hot brick or foot-stove. The plain, smooth, board seat answered the place of the casy cushion prepared by their descendants.
Constant attendance of all, unless in sickness, was expected and insisted upon, even in the coldest and most severe weather. Their prayers and sermons were not short, like those in fashion in many modern churches, but consumed hours in discussing hard and knotty questions in theology.
The poetic description of these old houses and church- goers, given by Mrs. Seba Smith , comes quite appropriate here :
" They are all passing from the land, Those churches, old and gray, In which our fathers used to stand, In years gone by, to pray- They never knelt, those stern old men, Who worship'd at our altars then.
" No, all that e'en the semblance bore Of popedom on its faee, Our fathers, as the men of yore, Spurn'd from the holy place- They bow'd the heart alone in prayer, And worship'd God thus sternly there.
" Through coarse gray plaster might be seen, Oak timbers large and strong, And those who reared them must have been Stout men when they were young. For oft I've heard my grandsire speak, How men were growing thin and weak.
" His heart was twined, I do believe, Round every timber there- For memory lov'd a web to weave Of all the young and fair, Who gather'd there with him to pray, For many a long, long Sabbath day.
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" I see it all once more; onee more That lengthen'd prayer I hear-
I hear the child's foot kick the door- I see the mother's fear- And that long knotty sermon, too, My grandfather heard it all quite through.
" But as it deeper grew and deep- He always used to rise- He would not, like the women, sleep- But stood with fixed eyes, And look'd intent upon the floor, To hear each dark point o'er and o'er.
" Aye, pull them down, as well you may, Those altars stern and old-
They speak of those long pass'd away, Whose ashes now are cold, Few, few are now the strong arm'd men Who worship'd at our altars then.
" Hard thinkers were they, those old men, And patient, too, I ween- Long words and knotty questions then But made our fathers keen. I doubt me if their sons would hear Such lengthy sermons year by year."
The remarks upon the character of the Puritans, by Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. D., pastor of the first church in New Haven, included in his thirteen historical discourses, published in 1839, will not, it is believed, be deemed out of place here, while attempting to preserve the acts and memory of some of the class included in the remarks referred to, which planted this old town :
" It is always easy to detract from greatness; for the greatest minds are not exempt from infirmity, and the purest and noblest bear some stain of human imperfection. Let others find fault with the founders of the New England colonies, because they were not more than human; be it ours to honor them.
" We have no occasion to disparage the wisdom or the virtues of the lawgivers of other States; nor need the admirers of Calvert or of Penn
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detract from the wisdom, the valor, or the devotion of the fathers of New England.
"Not to Winthrop and Cotton, nor to Eaton or Davenport, nor yet to Bradford and Brewster, belongs the glory of demonstrating with how little government society can be kept together, and men's lives and property be safe from violence."
"That glory belongs to Roger Williams ; and to him belongs also the better glory of striking out and maintaining, with the enthusiasm though not without something of the extravagance of genius, the great concep- tion of a perfect religious liberty.
"New England has learned to honor the name of Roger Williams, as one of the most illustrious in her records; and his principles of unlim- ited religious freedom are now incorporated into the being of all her commonwealths.
" To Penn belongs the glory of having first opened in this land a free and broad asylum for men of every faith and every lineage. To him due honor is conceded; and America, still receiving into her broad- armed ports, and enrolling among her own citizens, the thousands that come, not only from the British Isles, but from the Alps, and 'from the Rhine, and from the bloody soil of Poland, glories in his spreading renown.
" What, then, do we claim for the Pilgrims of Plymouth, what for the stern old Puritans of the Bay and of Connecticut, what for the founders of New Haven ? Nothing, but that you look with candor on what they have done for their posterity and for the world. Their labors, their principles, their institutions have made New England, with its hard soil and its cold long winters, the glory of all lands.
" The thousand towns and villages; the decent sanctuaries, not for show but use, crowning the hill-tops or peering out from the valleys ; the means of education accessible to every family ; the universal diffu- sion of knowledge; the order and thrift; the general activity and enter- prise ; the unparalleled equality in the distribution of property ; the general happiness resulting from the diffusion of education and of pure religious doctrine; the safety in which more than half the population sleep nightly with unbolted doors; the calm, holy Sabbath, when mute nature in the general silence becomes vocal with praise, when the whis- per of the breeze seems more distinct, the distant water-fall louder and more musical, the carol of the morning birds clearer and sweeter-this is New England ; and where will you find the like, save where you find the operation of New England principles and New England influence ?
" This is the worth of our fathers and ancient lawgivers.
" They came here, not with new theories of government from the laboratories of political alchemists, not to try wild experiments upon human nature, but only to found a new empire for God, for truth, for
20
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virtue, for freedom guarded and bounded by justice. To have failed in such an attempt had been glorious. Their glory is that they succeeded.
" In founding this commonwealth, their highest aim was the glory of God in 'the common welfare of all. Never before, save when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, had any government been instituted with such an aim.
" They had no model before them, and no guidance save the princi- ples of truth and righteousness embodied in the word of God, and the wisdom which he giveth liberally to them that ask him.
" They thought that their end, the common welfare of all, was to be secured by founding pure and free churches, by providing the means of universal education, and by laws maintaining perfect justice, which is the only perfect liberty. All will acknowledge that their labors were not in vain."
No town in New England exhibited stronger proofs of Puritan origin than the people of Woodstock. Their severe ideas of religious observances, the holy keeping of the Sab- bath, their provisions for the education of their children, their great industry and frugality, were nowhere exceeded.
They had heard their fathers, the founders of Boston, Roxbury, and that vicinity, tell the story of the trials which determined them to exile themselves to this inhospitable country, then the abode of a savage race; their hardships encountered in establishing their new homes; the declared object in this severe undertaking; and in emulation of the same spirit, these pioneer settlers fearlessly and cheerfully went forth to found this town; to continue the work so wisely and piously begun, and transmitted to their hands ; and their sons have not proved unworthy children of such devout sires.
By the commencement of the year 1692, these planters had entered an unbroken forest and completed all the usual arrangements for a well organized town, established suitable roads, built a house for their minister, a house for publie religious worship, and provided schooling for their children. And besides erecting houses for their families, subduing the forests, and preparing their tillage lands for producing sustenance for their families and the domestic animals of the
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plantation, they had erected a corn-mill for their common benefit ; all this the efforts of the first five years at this place.
They had a government of their own, with the usual neces- sary municipal regulations customary in New England towns.
Their enterprise partook of the energy and untiring zeal of their former beloved pastor at Roxbury ; it bears evidence that they had profited by his example; they no doubt felt their indebtedness to him for his knowledge of this country, which led them to seek it for their future habitation upon his representations of its richness and beauty.
As has before been mentioned, a settlement of all money transactions existing between them was closed by the joint action of Roxbury and Woodstock in a receipt for the balance due the latter town, given to their agent, Josiah Chapin, dated "April 5, 1696;" but a separation of the north and south half was not accurately defined by an established line run by joint commissioners, until March, 1707.
By the running of this partition line in 1707, it appears that all business interests closed between Woodstock and the mother town ; and by the closing division of lands in the north half of Woodstock by commissioners duly appointed by Rox- bury in 1711, all her interest as a town in the lands of Wood- stock ceased, and henceforth she had no more interest there, except as matter of friendship for her former townsmen who had made Woodstock their future homes, than with other towns in the province.
The proprietary interest continued a distinct matter from that of the political affairs of this town for many years.
These proprietors' records begin with the foundation of the town, and were not closed until a quite recent date, the last entry in their books being the record of the receipt of five dollars paid by Stephen Johnson to Darius Barlow, dated, " March 10, 1824." All the lands in the north half became
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individual property after the closing division by the town of Roxbury in 1711, while some part of the lands in the south half remained many years under the joint management of proprietors, and were either sold to new-comers or divided, according as there was a demand for them at different times, among the original proprietors or their descendants. The foregoing historical facts are taken either from the records of Roxbury or Woodstock; the first are well preserved by new transcripts, and it is hoped that Woodstock will, before too late, follow the commendable example of the mother town.
Woodstock maintained from its commencement an uninter- rupted progress, unlike most of the settlements in the early New England towns, many of which were wholly broken up, and their labors made useless or greatly injured by the depre- dations of the Indians. Although the great Indian war of Philip, the Wampanoog, had the effect to destroy all the principal native nationalities in New England, in 1675-'76, except the Abenakis, or what was known as the Tarrantines of Maine and its vicinity, yet whenever war prevailed between England and France in Europe it soon extended to their American colonies, when each drew the interior native race to their aid. The New England settlements were not free from the deadly attacks of the Canadian Indians, until the colonial dominion of France ceased to exist in North America, as per treaty of 1763 .*
* These wars continued through a period of seventy years. :
First. King William's war commenced in 1688, and closed by the treaty of Ryswick, in Europe, in 1697, but continned in America till 1698.
Second. Queen Anne's war began in 1702, and closed by the treaty of Utrecht, July 13, 3713.
Third. Lovell's war, in Maine and New Hampshire mostly, began July 25, 1722, and closed December 15, 1725.
Fourth. The French and Spanish war began in 1745; the capture of Cape Breton was made, with the fortress of Louisburg, in this war; it was closed by the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle, October 18, 1748.
Fifth. The great French war in America began in 1754, and lost to France all her colo- nies in North America; and was closed by the treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763.
CHAPTER II.
HOW WOODSTOCK BECAME A TOWN IN CONNECTICUT, AND SOME INCIDENTS OF SUBSEQUENT HISTORY.
THE town of Woodstock was changed in its colonial juris- diction, from Massachusetts to Connecticut by a change of the location of the boundary line between these colonies.
This location of the division line was an unhappy difference of views between the parties through a period of over seventy years.
The first boundary line on the south side of the colony of Massachusetts, known for many years as the " Woodward and Safery Line," was run in 1642, about twenty years before Con- necticut received her charter. Previous to this time that colony had claimed its rights, but doubtfully, under the old charter (so-called) by Robert, Earl of Warwick, of March 19, 1631, through the transfer of Fort Saybrook and other prop- erty improvements, under the agreement made with Colonel George Fenwick in 1644.
Many ineffectual attempts at different times through this long period had been made for the amicable adjustment of this line, but it was not accomplished until 1713; and then by an arbitrary line made by an agreement entered into, July 13, of that year.
By the running of this line it was ascertained that the Woodward and Safery line was erroneous ; being from six to seven miles too far south ; when, the territory of Woodstock, heretofore supposed to be within the charter of Massachusetts, proved to be fully seven eighths within the charter of Connec- ticut procured by Governor John Winthrop, Junior, from
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Charles II, April 20, 1662. But nevertheless, by the agree- ment entered into by the commissioners mutually chosen for the purpose of running this line, the town of Woodstock, also two other towns bordering on Connecticut river, Suffield and Enfield, both also found to be south of this new line, were to remain as Massachusetts towns, and to be under the political jurisdiction of that colony ; but for so much of their territory as by survey of the same should be found south of said line of 1713, Connecticut was to receive an equivalent number of acres, to be taken from any unappropriated lands in the prov- ince of Massachusetts, to be selected by the commissioners appointed by Connecticut for that purpose.
This line was established under said agreement, and Massa- chusetts appropriated 107,793 acres of land for these towns, as an equivalent number of acres, for the land in the same and some other grants made by Massachusetts to individuals, that were also found to be south of said new line; and Connecti- cut received the same and appropriated them to her use ; thus making an amicable, and at the time a satisfactory, settlement of this difficult and long-contested question .*
Woodstock did not object (so far as has been noticed in her records) to remain a part of Massachusetts. It is believed that her inhabitants, feeling satisfied with the arrangement made by the colonies for establishing this line, took no action in the matter. They were recently from the towns around Boston, and their relatives and friends were in that vicinity, , with whom they were often having intercourse, making it appear reasonable for them to prefer a continuance under the same jurisdiction from whence they came.
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