USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Historical pageant, commemorating the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of the town of Andover, 1646 -1946 > Part 2
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EXAMINER : Next witness.
WOMAN IN CRONO : I see a black man standing beside hort MIRTHA: (to crowd ; You lie, I am wronged . (to Magistrato) It is falco; and it is a chamo for you to mind what these people say. They are out of their witry
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EXAMINER: Next witness. ( PHOEBE CHANDLER steps up. )
CLERC: Your name?
PHOEBE: Phoebe Chandler.
CLERK: Do you swear to tell the truth, etc.
PECARE: 1 do.
EXAKTNER: . You are the daughter of William Chandler? PHOEBE: I am. On the Lord's day a short time . ago, this Goody Carrier tock me by the shoulder and shook me and asked me where I lived, I did not answer for sho Lives next door to me and could not but know who 2 Later the voice of farthe Carrier told me 1 should be poisoned in two or three days. One of my hands became swollen and painful; also part of my faco.
EXAMINER: Now, if it may please the court, I want to say that this woman is the worst witch it has been my duty to prosecute. I ask that a verdict of guilty be made against her and that she be hung before she injects her poison into more of our best citizene. ( Judge writes verdict, hands At to clerk, who stops up and reads it) GLIDE: Martha Carrier, the court finds you guilty of -
witchcraft and orders you reminded to the fall. there to await execution by hanging on the 19th day of this month.
VARIT4: I am wrongeat I am not guilty:
(She is taken but) 1
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Spent 2. Early Town Meeting.
Of course euch a settlement as ouro needed gone gernment. Many at the earliest settlere made great paovifioer in support of the righte of the individual to freedom -- political as well as religiite -- and to some volve in the management of communal affaire. 30 the Town Meeting was a na turul development. Hero, everyone had the right to grenk and everyone would be expected to abide by the decisions of the majority. was diraut descorady at work.
It is regrettable that the earliest Town Meeting reporda, to 1058, are love to ue -- either destroyed ox carried away by the Indiane. Apparently realizing the value of such as were in existence, a Town Meeting In April, 1698, appointed Lt. John Degood and Ensign Juk AGlobe s rummister to repair the recorde. They Sound many interesting iteme on the bookes
For absence from a meeting, citizens would be fin- eA twelve penJe. Those in attendance must govern their behavior ascording to the rules; speaking out of order vog subject to fine. In 1860 a forfeit of twenty shil .. linge was imposed for building on land not specified an a house lot, or building without "express Leave from the town". Do we see that zoning regulations and building permite are not twentieth century Inventivos. Conduot at the meeting house was also a matter of responsibility Do those in town Meeting assembled. OF a dog should
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wander into the church the owner faced a fine of six pence. In 1680 a law was passed requiring every person to sit "where put in the meeting house or be fined twenty pence . "
In 1700, the committos reported back to the Town Meeting. They had done something of greater value por- haps than they realized, Today the Dom Meeting Form of local government remains in Andover, sometimes sho joy and occasionally the dospair, but always the polit- ical sounding board of its citizens.
Pompey Lovejoy.
Slavery existed in Andover for some years after the incorporation of the town. Pompey Nowejoy was che of the most lovable and respected of slaves. He belong- ed on Captain William Lovejoy and according to custom bore his master's last name .. Praysy was more than a
slave and more than a sermant . They used to say, "He was
a town fiztura." Pompey lived with his wife Rose in a listlo cabin near Pomp's Poni, now named for Him. Could we have Looked in on them ono day in the early 180010 we might have found them engaged in one of their favor- The tasks-preparing refreshments for the Town Meeting. for, as was often said, mowa Meeting wouldn't be Trwa Meeting if rol' Pompey' and Rose were not there supply- Ing the citizens with their "grog and "lastlow cake, 's
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Scono 6. Arrival of Acadiens.
In 1756 cortain Acadiana sought shelter in our town. For many years England and Franco had disputed the right to control Acadia, the land now known as Nova Scotia.
Fronch by birth and patriotism, the Acadians row fused to pay allegianco to the British crown, oven after a peace treaty gave this torritory to England. In conso- quence, their homes wore burned and they wors sont in- to exile .. Some of these Acadians, homeless, heartsich, and miserable came to Massachusetts, twenty-two finding their way to our settlement. The twenty-two were Gone man Landry, his wife, sovon sons, and thirtoen daughters:
To avoid taxing the charity of any one porson, the Andover officials wisely divided the group for omploy- icht and placed them in chroo separate locations, The children were "bound out" for service, but so koonly and their parents feet the breaking up of family life that they drow up a petition to the General Court to have their children roturned. This request was Grant- ed. They were then given a house on the Jonathan AbDOUL ostato. The group was at first viowed with distruct because of the differences of inheritance and religion. meir quiet industriousness and good behavior bau . offoet and they were soon accepted in tho community, where they had already made extensive contributions in tho cultivation of flex.
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finally cane for them to leave they presented to Jonathan Abbott a beautifully carved and polished powder horn, an historical relio still treasured by his descendents. This symbol remains os a proof of the gratitude of the Lccdians towards hospitable little Andover.
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EPISODE 2
Through the BOC years of our history, the call to. colors has sounded eight times,
Byens 1. French and Indian Hare." -
The record of the people of Andover in the never- anding fight for the principles of freedon is a long and honorable one. In her early Colonial history, the struggles with the indians provided an almost daily question of survi- val. The people were vioting of frequent roids by murderove bands. of savages, one of whom is recorded to have stolen Timothy Abbott from his home. At the same time his brother Joseph was slain.
ยท Following several short local yars, the long and bitter right between the British and the French for control in these colonies developed into a full scale war with some Indians joining the British, othere the French.
Andover lay in the path of much of the fighting. In these arces were collected the armies which pursued the French and indians through the forest and along the streets to the stronghold in Canada where the English were finally victorious. 1 The colonisto, relieved somewhat from the strain of Indian warfare, were increasingly involved in difficulties with the mother country .
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Steno 2. Revolutionary Ner.
England was heavily in debt and in order to maintain her troops and her position in the colonies, laid burden. some taxes on the colonists, This led to violent resent- mont,'and ultimately to widespread revoit, since the theory was that
"They certainly had no justification
for that maddening plau to impose taxation
'Without any form of representation."
The Revolution had its beginnings at the very door= step of Andover, with the Str ." !! Coston climaxed by the actual outbreak of war at nearby Lexington and Concord:
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world."
In seven and a half years of War that followed,
Andover sent over one hundred men, nine of whom served as officers in the fight for freedom. In 1783, the long struggle ended, and the Colonies were free and independent states.
Scene 3. War of 1812.
A second war with the British arose over the "Stop and seize" orders, which commanded British seamen to board American ships, remove American sailors, and Impress them into British naval service.
"The War of 1812 seems to me ,
About as just as a War could be. How could i hate but come to grips
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With a nation that stippod and searchod our ships , And took off our soamen, for no other reason
Except that they needed crows that season?"
Out of this conflict came our National Anthem .. Francis Scott Key, during the bombardment of Fort McHenry, was detained on board a British vossel, trying to get the release of a British prisoner. During the night, he anxious-
ly watched the progress of the fight. Early the next morn- ing he saw, through the suche of battle, the Stars and Stripes still waving, and this inspired him to write the "Star Spangled Bannor."
Scene 4. Mexican War.
Just a century ago this month, Congress adopted an act "for the promotion of the existing war," at the time when Moxican troops crossed the Rio Grande, the boundary set by the United States for the recently annoxod Texas. Andover shared the feeling of the North that the whole affair was an effort to increase the slave area; was not one to instill pride into the hearts of freedom-loving Americans ; and its conclusion was hailed with relief by the people. Gladly they turned to the great adventure of the "gold rush" to California. You may be sure that Andovor was represented. Scono 5. Civil War,
The next great threat to the unity of our country was the question of slavery. President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to "save the waron, " which was threatened by the
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secession of several of the slavo states. Andover respondod with nearly 500 men.
Shortly before this timo, it had been demonstrated that "the pen is mightier than the sword." Harriet Beecher Stowe had written Uncle Tom's Cabin. As an attack on slavery it made the author world-famous, and was believed to have had : influence in the election of President Lincolno In 1862, Mrs. Stowe went to Washington to meet the President. He held out his hand to the tiny lady. Looking down from his great hoight, he said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war."
Scene 6. -
Spanish-American
Then followed years of peace and growth for the United States,, during which the Monroe Doctrine developed in ua 1 some sense of responsibility for our hemisphere. When the war trumpet sounded again, as the century neared its close; it was for Cuba, struggling to free itself from the tyranny of Spain. The destruction of the battleship Maine, at Havana, was the final act which touched off hostilities with Spain.
of the Andover contingent, only Charles Barney Gould is recorded as having taken part in the most famous of the engagements in Cuba, the Battle of San Juan Hill. There was no spectacular dash up the hill as many believe. The cavalry had been loft behind in Florida, and the men, under the in- petuous leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, crawled up the hill to complete the engagement.
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Scenos 7 & 8. World I & II.
Victory in the Spanish American War saw the country emerge as a great power in international affairs. With the power also went responsibility, and when the security of the world was threatened by the Imperial German Government in 1914, it seemed evident that we could not long remain isolated., In. April, 1917, after months of anxious and fear- ful expectation, the United States was once more at war -- this time with the powers of Contral Europe. Andover sent over 450 men to war, 16 of whom sacrificed their lives to bring, as they thought, an end to all wars-
This "war to end all wars" was a failure. The difficult years that followed it were rarely without signs that trouble was looming again on a world-wide scale. The rise of totali- tarianism in Germany, Italy, and Japan, culminated on Septem- ber 3, 1939, in the outbreak of World War II. Again the United States tried to remain at peace, but again was plunged into the conflict on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
The country mobilizod for the greatest fight in its history, with Andever playing its full part. Nearly 1700 of her citizens, both men and women, served with the armed forces, fighting in Europe and Asia -- in fact, all over the world .
"'In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, roy on row, . That mark our place; and in the sky, The larks, still bravoly singing, FL,
Scarce heard and the guns below. .
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We are the dead./ Short days ago We Lived, felt dawn, raw sunset glow. Loved and were loved, end now we lie in Flanders Fielde. Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, thou poppies grow in Flanders Fielde. " Fifty-eight of the Andover boys gave their lives.
Rer industries were dedicated to the manufacturing of implements of war; citizens of every age became a part of the colossal machinery in the struggle for survival. The war continued with unsbated fury for nearly four years. Ger- many collapsed in May, 1945, and then, almost as abruptly as 16 began, the war was brought to a sudden close with the surrender of Japan in August, 1945.
Once again our victory gave new meaning to the old song"- "When war winged its wide desolation, . And threatened the land to deform, The Ark then of Freedom's foundation, Columbia rode safe through the storm. With gorlande of victory around her, . When so proudly she bore her brave crew, With her flag floating proudly before her .
The coast of the red, white, and blue. "
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MEMORIAL HALL LIBRARY Andover, Massachusetts 475-6960
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