USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Norfolk > History and directory of Wrentham and Norfolk, Mass. for 1890 : containing a complete resident, street and business directory, town officers, schools, societies, churches, post offices, etc., etc. > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wrentham > History and directory of Wrentham and Norfolk, Mass. for 1890 : containing a complete resident, street and business directory, town officers, schools, societies, churches, post offices, etc., etc. > Part 7
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This report was signed by Capt. John Goldsbury, Dea. Jabez Fisher and Ensign Lemuel Kollock.
This act, so odious to our patriotic sires, signed March 8, 1765, by a commission on account of the King's insanity, rendered invalid every written instrument which was not drawn upon stamped paper, to be pur- chased of the agents of the British Government at exorbitant prices, and punished every violation with severe penalties, suits for which were to be brought in any Admiralty or King's Marine Court throughout the colonies. The excitement extended throughout the province. The foregoing report was read to the town on the very day the act was to go into operation. Boston had assumed an attitude of defiance; its people had determined that stamped paper should not be used ; had hung Oliver, the distributor, in effigy upon the old Libetry tree, and made him swear that he had not
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56
HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
and would not distribute the odious stamps ; shouted liberty, property and no stamps; demolished the stamp office, and, making a bon-fire of its materials on Fort Hill, had consigned the images of Oliver, Bute and Grenville to the flames, calling themselves Sons of Liberty and rending the air with hurrahs for Pitt and liberty, even going so far as to ransack the house of Hutchinson, the Chief Justice, spoiling his furniture and throwing his books and manuscripts into the street. At a meeting in Faneuil Hall these riotous proceedings were denounced, but Boston's re- sistance to the Stamp Act was sustained by numerous towns in the province, among which Wrentham's voice was heard in the emphatic yet temperate words of the manifesto above written.
Jabez Fisher, the representative to the General Court, was instructed the following year to vote against charging the province for any of the damages caused by the riotous proceedings above mentioned, and also against extravagant grants for superfluities ; but to join in measures de- signed for the detection and punishment of the riotors. At this same time he was instructed to vote for a statue in honor of the most patriotic Pitt, without any limitation annexed as to its cost.
But in November following a committee reported to the town that " con- sidering his majesty's gracious recommendation and the application of the sufferers, the vote passed in August last be reconsidered, and the follow- ing instructions be given to our representative ": To Mr. Jabez Fisher, Sir, we, your constituents, his majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, in town meeting assembled, considering the gracious desire of his majesty that a veil be cast over the late times of tumult and disorder, and considering it as a point of prudence and true policy, instruct you that you give your vote to the purport of the bill which is prepared by the Hon. House of Representatives at their last session intitled, " An act for granting com- pensation to the sufferers and of free and general pardon, indemnity and oblivion to the offenders in the late times, and that you use your influence accordingly." This report being read twice before the town, after consid- eration and some debate was unanimously voted and accepted. The town chose a delagate to a convention to be holden in Faneuil Hall on the 22d day of September, 1768, to consult and advise such measures as his maj- esty's service and the peace and safety of his subjects in the province may require.
In 1771 Jabez Fisher was chosen representative to attend a General Court, to be held at Harvard College. The House was convened at Salem and Cambridge to avoid the influence of the people of Boston upon that assembly. The quarrels with the governor at every session of the Court tended to make clearer and clearer the fact, that the British government intended to coerce the colonies. The House protested against being ad- journed from Boston ; and learning that the government officials were re- ceiving salaries from the crown, it passed a tax bill including these officers in the list of persons to be taxed, which the governor rejected om the ground that he was expressly forbidden from given his consent to such an act upon any pretence whatsoever, which so roused the ire of the members of the House that they declared they knew of no commissioners of his
57
HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
majesty's customs, nor of any revenue his majesty had a right to estabiish in North America. The governor also rejected the grants made to the agents of the Province in Europe. Vessels of war, twelve in number, ar- rived and anchored in the harbor, and Sam Adams declared " that America must under God work out finally her own salvation." The clergymen of Boston refused, with one exception, to read the governor's proclamation for Thanksgiving, but "implored Almighty God for the restoration of lost liberties. In April, 1772, the governor convened the assembly at Boston, and here the quarrel was renewed. A resolve having been passed denounc- ing the payment of salary to the governor of Great Britain, he was inform- ed by the secretary for the colonies that the king had made provision for the support of his servant in the Massachusetts' Bay. A town meeting was called,- the Court not being in session. John Hancock was moder- ator. The governor was asked by this meeting "if stipends had been fixed to the offices of judges. He refused to answer. A message con- demning the measure as contrary to the charter and the common laws was sent to him and requesting that the subject might be referred to the Gene- ral Court. This request was also refused, and the General Court was not permitted to meet in December, the time to which it had been prorogued. The governor in his reply denied the right of the town to debate such matters. Upon which it was voted that the inhabitants of Boston have ever had and ought to have the right to petition the king for the redress of such grievances as they feel, or for preventing of such as they have rea- son to apprehend, and to communicate their sentiments to other towns. And Samuel Adams then proposed that step which it has been said " in- cluded the whole Revolution," viz .: a committee of correspondence to consist of twenty-one persons to state the rights of the colonies and of this province in particular as men and Christians and as subjects, and to communicate and publish the same to the several towns, and to the world as the sense of this town, with the infringements or violations thereof that have been or from time to time may be made." This was the origin of the famous committee of correspondence, and it is in answer to their letter that the inhabitants of Wrentham, on the IIth day of January, 1773, re- turned the following spirited and patriotic reply :
First, Resolved that the British constitution is grounded on the eternal law of nature, a constitution whose foundation and centre is liberty, which sends liberty to every subject that is or may happen to be within any part of its ample circumference ; that every part of the British dominions hath a right freely to enjoy all the benefits and privileges of this happy con- stitution and that no power of legislation or government upon earth can justly abridge nor deprive any part of the British dominions of those liberties without doing violence to this happy constitution and its true principles ; that every part of the British dominions in which acts of the British parliament are exercised contrary to the true principles of the constitution have and always ought to have a right of petitioning and re- monstrating to the king, lords and commons of Great Britain, that all such acts of parliament may speedily be removed, abrogated and repealed ; that the province of the Massachussetts Bay have a right, not only by nature
58
HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
and the laws of England, but by social compact to enjoy all the rights, liberties and immunities of natural and freeborn subjects of Great Britian, to all intents and purposes whatsoever ; and that acts of the British parlia- ment imposing rates and duties on the inhabitants of this province while they are unrepresented in parliament are violations of those rights and ought to be contended for with firmness.
Resolved, that is the opinion of this town that the act of the British parliament in assuming the power for the legislation of the colonies in all cases whatsoever, and in consequence of that act have carried into execu- tion that assumed power in laying duties and divers articles in the colonies for the express purpose of raising a revenue without their consent, either by themselves or their representative, whereby the right which every man has to his own property is wholly taken away and destroyed ; and what is still more alarming is to see the amazing inroads which have been made, and still are making, on our charter rights and privileges by placing a Board of Commissioners among us and so large a commission with a train of dependents to sap the foundation of our industry ; our coasts surround- ed with fleets ; standing armies placed in free cities in time of peace with- out the consent of the inhabitants whereby the streets of the metropolis of this province have been stained with the blood of its innocent inhabitants ; the governor of the province made independent of the grants of the Gene- ral Assembly ; large salaries affixed to the Lieut. Governor, the judges of the Admiralty, etc. ; the amazing stretch of the power of the courts of vice-admiralty in a great measure depriving the people in the colonies of the right of trial by jury and such like innovations which are intolerable grievances, tending wholly to deprive us of our charter rights and privileges, pull down the constitution and reduce us to a state of abject slavery. An- other resolve against fixed salaries for the judges of the Courts of Com- mon law follows, and another showing the tendency of these measures thus denounced to produce absolute government. The last one acknow- ledges the care and vigilance of Boston and assures them " that as this town hopes never to be wanting in their duty and loyalty to their king so they are ever ready to do everything in their power in a constitutional way to assist in carrying into execution such measures as may be adopted to remove those difficulties we feel and to prevent those we have reason to fear. In the name of the Committee,
DAVID MAN.
These resolves were unanimously adopted by the town. The following year a committee of correspondence was chosen, viz. ; Samuel Lethbridge, Jabez Fisher, Doctor Ebenezer Daggett, Mr. Lemuel Kollok, Captain John Smith, Joseph Woodward and David Mann. A committee was also chosen to attend a convention of the county at the house of Mr. Wood- ward, innholder in Dedham, “ to deliberate and determine on such mat- ters as the distressed circumstances of the province requires." And on Sept. 30th, 1774, the town voted that a provincial congress was necessary ; it also voted to purchase two pieces of cannon. Jabez Fisher was chosen delegate to a convention at Concord, Oct. 2, 1774. Previous to this, viz. on Sept. 15, 1774, Mr. Fisher had been chosen to represent the town in a
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59
HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
General Court at Salem. But in the meantime Governor Gage becoming alarmed at the tone of the resolves and votes passed in town meetings and county conventions, issued his proclamation on the 28th day of Sept. dispensing with the attendance of members and putting off the session until some more distant day.
The instructions given to Mr. Fisher, the delegate to the Provincial Congress at Concord, were drafted by Ebenezer Daggett and Lemuel Kollok. They allude to the fact that he is chosen at a time when the pro- vince is in consternation and confusion, briefly advert to the causes there- of and instruct him to make the charter of the province the rule of his conduct, refusing to acknowledge any mutilations or alterations of the charter as valid ; and that he should acknowledge those counsellors who were elected by the General Court, as the only constitutional council of this province, and if the congress should consequently be dissolved, then to join with members from this and other towns in a general provincial congress.
Capt. Peres Cushing and Mr. Joseph Spear were appointed chief gun- ners of the two field pieces, and directed to see that each piece is fixed and kept with a carriage and utensils fit for action as soon as may be. It was voted also to increase the town's stock of ammunition. The constables were ordered to pay all province taxes in their hands or to be collected by them to Henry Gardner of Stow, instead of Harrison Gray, the royal . treasurer, and it was voted that the town would indemnify them against any consequences of such payment. This was decidedly a revolutionary step. The attitude of the town was unmistakable. No wonder they got their guns ready for immediate use and laid in more powder and ball. If King George had prevailed in the war against the colonies our patriotic , predecessors might have been hung for treason. In September, 1776, these guns were at Boston.
In January, 1775, the town proceeded to create a military establishment providing for the enlistment of minute men, and proposed to send beef, pork, grain and other provisions for the poor of Boston.
MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT.
The committee of correspondence, chosen March 4, 1776, were Samuel Fisher, Doct Ebenezer Daggett, Dea Theo. Man, Mr. Jos. Fairbanks, Mr. John Craig, Mr. Daniel Holbrook, Mr. Hezekiah Fisher, Mr. Joseph Hawes, Capt. Asa Fairbanks, Capt. Peres Cushing and Mr. Joseph Whit- ing, Jr.
ALARM, APRIL 19, 1775.
At the first alarm Wrentham was ready to send men to the battle field. Her patriotism was not confined to words. Witness the muster rolls which proclaim this fact. " A muster roll of the Minute Company in the Colony service, which marched from Wrentham in the alarm on the 19th of April, under the command of Capt. Oliver Pond."
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
NAMES.
RANK. Captain.
NAMES.
RANK. Private.
Oliver Pond.
Timothy Hancock,
Wiggleworth Messinger,
1st Lieut.
David Everett,
Hezekiah Ware,
2d Lieut.
Jeremiah Hartshorn,
Noah Pratt,
Sergeant.
Ebenezer Kollock,
David Ray,
George Mann,
Nathan Blake,
Benj. McLane,
Nathan Hancock,
Corporal. 3.
James Newhall,
Beriah Braston,
John Porter,
Aguilla Robbins,
Abijah Pond,
Hezekiah Hall,
Drummer.
Oliver Rouse, Jr.,
Christopher Burlingame,
Fifer.
Benj. Rockwood,
Joseph Adams,
Private.
Jacob Mann,
66
Wm. Wetherbee,
66
Joseph Raysey,
James Blake,
66
Deodat Fisdale,
66
Benj. Day,
66
Daniel Ware,
John Druce,
60
-- Ware,
Alarm 19 April. 1775. In council Feb. 23, 1776, read and allowed and ordered that a warrant be drawn on the treas- urer for £33 3s. 8d. 1 in full of the within Roll. PEREZ MORTON,
Secretary.
Also a muster roll of the company in the Colony which marched from Wrentham, on the alarm on the 19th of April, 1775, under the command of Captain Benjamin Hawes in Col. John Smith's regiment.
NAMES.
QUALITY.
NAMES.
QUALITY. Soldier.
Benjamin Hawes,
Captain.
John Kingsbury,
Timothy Guild,
2d Lieut.
Samuel Brastow,
John Everett,
Sergeant.
Daniel Holbrook,
66
Abijah Blake,
James Holbrook, Jr.,
Daniel Guild,
Jeremiah Cobb.
Elijah Farrington,
Corporal.
Henry Holbrook,
Joson Blake,
Drummer.
Jacob Holbrook,
Daniel Cobb,
Fifer. Soldier.
David Holbrook,
Benj. Pond,
Samuel Baker,
Jacob Blake,
Turil Gilmore,
John Needham,
Nathan Kingsbury.
Oliver Ware,
John Hawes,
' Moses Craig,
Samuel Pettee,
66
William Green,
Jason Richardson, Ephiain Knowlton, David Man,
Jacob Daggett,
Oliver Harris, Samuel Wood, Ebenezer Field,
Stephen Pettee, Suffolk. ss. : Wrentham, December ye 8th, 1775. Captain Benjamin Hawes came before me and made solemn oath to the truth of the above written muster roll according to his best skill, know- ledge and judgement. Sworn before me, Ebenezer Fisher, Justice of Peace. A true copy, compared and examined by Ephm. Starkweather, Edward Rawson,
Committee. Jas. Turner. In council, Feb. ye 16th, 1776, read and allowed and thereupon ordered that a warrant be drawn on the treasurer for $29 4s. 6d. in full discharge of the within roll. PEREZ MORTON. D. Secretary.
NOTE. Daniel Hawes, who was an early comer to Wrentham, had a son, Benjamin, born March 14th, 1695. He married Abigail Fisher, Dec. 9th, 1724. One of their sons was Benjamin, who was born June 11, 1731, and was therefore about forty-four years of age when he commanded the company whose names are enrolled above. He was con- spicious in the controversy with the Rev. David Avery hereinafter related. Until within a few years a portion of the land originally laid out to the ancestor by the proprietors of lands in Wrentham was in the possession of his decendants.
Capt. Lemuel Kollok, who also commanded a company of minute men in April, 1775, was a conspicious and influential citizen, and his name often appears in connection with the patriotic measures discussed in the town meetings. His death was occasioned by a fall from his horse on the 14th day of July, 1795, in the 67th year of his age.
Capt. Samuel Cowell, the son of Joseph was born in 1737. He commanded a company of minute men at the time of the alarm in April, 1775, and probably at other times was commanding officer of men who were destined for the Contenental army, as was Captain . Samuel Fisher.
Captain David Holbrook of the northerly part of the town had command of a company at the time of the alarm in April, 1775.
66
Jonathan Everett,
Jonathan Felt,
Joseph Field,
16
Samuel Frost,
John Fisher,
60
. Elias Bacon,
Theodore Kingsbury,
66
‹ .
John Blake,
Peter Robeshaw,
Benj. Ray,
Isaac Clewly,
Asa Day,
60
Samuel Richardson, Jr.,
Stephen Blake,
6 I
HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
Also a muster roll of the company in the Colony service which marched from Wrentham on the alarm on the 19th of April, 1775, under the com- mand of Captain Lemuel Kollock in Co !. John Smith's regiment.
NAMES.
QUALITY.
NAMES.
QUALITY.
Lemuel Kollo k,
Captain.
Benjamin Shepard,
Private.
Joseph Everett,
1st Lieut.
Joseph Cook, Jr.,
Swift Payson,
2d Lieut.
John Bates,
John Whiting,
Sergeant.
Nicholas Barton,
William Puffer,
John Dale,
Jesse Everett,
Ralph Freeman,
66
Timothy Pond.
Samuel Bolkom,
Joseph Ware,
Private.
Ephraim Hunt,
Ebenezer Gilbert,
James Blake.
Jeremiah Day,
66
Jonathan Shepard,
Daniel Mumm,
6.
Benjamin Guild, 2d,
Stephen Harding,
Ebenezer Fisher, Jr.,
Aaron Hall,
66
Joseph Hancock,
66
Daniel Messinger,
Elisha Turner,
Lm Messinger,
David Ware,
Isaac Richardson,
Ebenezer Allen,
66
Isaac Fisher,
Nathan Moss,
Obediah Man,
Ebenezer Blake,
Sworn to and examined and compared with original and £24 7s. 11s. allowed for pay in full.
There were also companies commanded by Captain John Boyd, Asa Fairbanks and Elijah Pond respectively that marched from Wrentham on the 19th day of April, 1775, in the Colony service. Captain Thomas Bacon commanded a company that marched from Wrentham, April 30th, 1775. Captain Samuel Cowell also had command of a company about the same time. It also appears from the military rolls at the State House, that a number of men of the company called the north company in the west precinct enlisted into the Continental Army in 1778. Also a com- pany under the command of Captain Samuel Fisher, composed largely of Wrentham men, enlisted for three years or during the war ..
Captain Oliver Pond of Wrentham, enlisted in the eight month's ser- vice in the Continental Army in Col. Joseph Read's regiment, April 27th, 1775. He was first captain of this the Sixth Mass. ; the regiment was afterwards called the 13th Mass. Regt. Upon the expiration of the time, eight months, he again enlisted for one year. He went with the army from the neighborhood of Boston to New York and thence to the "Jerseys," and participated in the battles of Trenton and Princeton and other contests of the campaign.
In 1777, in consequence, it is understood of some acts or of some pur- posed acts of the Continental Congress in regard to the army and its officers which were displeasing to him, he resigned his office of captain and left the army.
But when Shay's rebellion broke out he took command of the military company which marched from Wrentham and vicinity to Springfield, where the rebels refusing to lay down their arms, and having been fired upon fell into confusion and soon dispersed. The roll of that company was almost the only paper of Captain Pond's that escaped the fire when the house in which he was residing was burnt.
NOTE. Ephraim Pond, the ancestor of Captain Oliver was one of the members of the first church in 1692. He married Deborah Hawes in 1685. His son, Ephraim, born in 1686, had a son, Ephraim, who married in 1736, Michal Man, the daughter of William Man, and a grand- daughter of the Rev. Samuel Man. Their second son born July 29, 1737, was Oliver Pond.
Daniel Gould,
Jesse Ballou,
Joseph Hawes, Jr.
Jeremiah Pond,
Ichabod Turner,
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
He was often honored by his fellow-townsmen by appointment to places of trust and responsibility. A soldier of the Revolution who had known him well summed up his opinion of the hero in these two lines of his epitaph :
" None more wise, more fit for duty
"None more faithful to his trust."
INDEPENDENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Upon the 5th day of June, 1776, among other instructions given to their representatives in General Court, the inhabitants in open town meeting adopted the following : " We your constituents therefore think that to be subject or dependant on the crown of Great Britain would not only be im- practiable but unsafe to the State. The inhabitants of this town there- fore, in full town meeting, unanimously instruct and direct you to give your vote that if the Honorable American Congress, in whom we place the highest confidence under God, should think it necessary for the safety of the United Colonies to declare them independent on Great Britian, that we, your constituents, with our lives and fortunes will most cheerfully support them in the measure." We should look in vain in any history of the war of the Revolution, for a more decided manifestation of spirit. It was indeed the spirit of the times. Every man who voted for these in- structions was a traitor to his king,- a rebel against the government to which he owed allegiance. But alarming as was the prospect, fearful as might be the consequences our patriotic fathers did not hesitate to assume this attitude. We know not the history of the struggle until we examine recorded acts and opinions of the little revolutionary towns whose spirits sustained the courage of assemblies and congress. This vote it will be observed was passed one month before Congress declared independence of Great Britian. His majesty's name was omitted for the first time in the warrants in 1775 ; and the freeholders were summoned in the name of the Government and People of the Massachusetts Bay for the first time May 6th, 1776.
PROVISIONS FOR SOLDIERS.
The town voted that the soldiers who enlisted for three years should re- ceive forty shillings per month from the town, and in obedience to an act of the General Court the selectmen fixed a list of prices for articles com- monly sold.
REPRESENTATIVE TO VOTE FOR STATE CONSTITUTION.
In May, 1777, the instructions to Benjamin Guild, the representative, contains the following : "New scenes of horror and devastation present themselves, while the fleets and armies of the tyrant of Great Britain are on our coasts and around our dwellings we are disturbed by internal enemies," and they direct him to give his vote for a Constitution and Frame of Government. And a committee was chosen to inform the government against loyalists ; and another to hire men to complete this
63
HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
town's quota. It was also voted that the families of those who have gone to the war be provided for. In 1778 the town voted to accept the articles of confideration.
NUMBER OF SOLDIERS ENLISTED.
A report of the committee to hire soldiers for the war stated that a seventh part of the male inhabitants were enlisted in the war as soldiers, and the sum of {1800 was voted to defray the expenses of raising the town's quota of the Continental Army.
On the 20th of May, of the same year, the inhabitants gave their votes in favor of the first Constitution and Frame of popular Government in Massachusetts. But the people of the colony rejected it. At the same time provision was again made for the families of non-commissioned officers and soldiers who had gone to the war.
VOTES FOR CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AND FOR SOLDIERS AND THEIR FAMILIES, FOR HIRING AND PAYING SOLDIERS AND FURNISHING CLOTHING.
In 1779 a committee against monopoly and forestalling was chosen ; and ninety-two votes were cast for a constitutional convention, none against it. The town notwithstanding the straits to which it was reduced did not forget the men who had gone to the battle fields as appears by the frequent votes passed in aid of their families. An instance occurred this year in a vote of twenty pounds to the heirs of John Druce " as a bounty for his enlisting into the Continental Army." They also still resolved to maintain the war by hiring and paying men to enlist into the service and exempted them from taxation.
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