USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Ashburnham > History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts : from the grant of Dorchester Canada to the present time 1734-1886 with a genealogical register of Ashburnham families > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
172
HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
The five soldiers who were recruited in the summer for three years according to tradition were hurried on to New York and from thence immediately proceeded with the army under Washington to Virginia, and there is ample evidence to sustain the assertion that some of the men enlisting this year remained in the service until near the close of the year 1783. The discharge of David Clark signed by General Knox is dated December 24, 1783.
The name of Jacob Winter appears in Captain Wilder's company in 1775. His subsequent service is not known, but he died a prisoner at Halifax in the autumn of 1777. The death of Samuel Mason, mentioned in the annals of 1778, is recorded by Mr. Cushing in September, 1777, and Jacob Lock who was in the same service died a few weeks later. He was a son of John Oberlock whose children assumed the name of Lock. The same year Francis Ken- dall died, as stated by Mr. Cushing, "on his way from the army."
And now after these years of carnage in the field and of denials and endurance at home, the curtain falls at York- town. The campaign of 1781 is ended. The nation's hope gleams in the bayonet and flashes in the sword of the return- ing soldier, while the hardships of the campaign are witnessed in his weary progress and the results of an exhaustive war are felt on every hand.
In the pursuit of the narrative through the foregoing pages, the burdens of taxation and other incidents of the home life of our fathers during the Revolution have been suffered to remain for mention in separate paragraphs. At the beginning of the war the colonists were not without resources but were unskilled in the art of finance. The colonial wars in which the people had been engaged had been maintained by a paper currency which though depreciated in
173
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
some measure was eventually redeemed by allowances from the treasury of England in the payments for service rendered by the colonies. The paper money of the Revolution had no such foundation. After a brief season of apparent solidity it gradually depreciated in value until in 1781 it utterly failed and suddenly went out of circulation by general consent. The experience of the people of Ashburn- ham from this source was probably no greater and certainly no less than that of other towns. Sums of money voted by the town for specific purposes so rapidly depreciated in value before the tax could be assessed and collected that the appro- priation became inadequate for the purposes proposed and frequent disputes concerning balances arose between the debtor and the creditor. Explanatory of the intrinsic value of sums of money mentioned in the preceding and subse- quent pages, the following table commencing with the year 1777 when the depreciation in earnest began will represent for each succeeding month the number of pounds that were equivalent to one hundred pounds of standard value :
1777
1778
1779
1780
1781
January
100
325
742
2934
7500
February
101
350
868
3322
7500
March .
106
375
1000
3736
7500
April
110
400
1101
4000
7500
May
114
400
1215
4800
7500
June
120
400
1342
5700
12000
July
125
425
1477
6000
.August .
150
450
1630
6300
September
175
475
1800
6500
October
275
500
2030
6700
November .
300
545
2308
7000
December
310
634
2393
7300
The burden of taxation is seen in the following excerpts from the town records. Other sums were assessed for war purposes under command of the General Court, of which no entry was made in the current volume of records.
174
HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
1778 December 16. We have assessed the inhabitants and estates in said town in the sum of £401-19-6 and have committed the lists to the constables for collection.
1779 February 18. Town and county rate committed for col- lection £357-9-11.
1779 Angust 30. Voted and granted £6150 to defray the charges of the war.
1779 September 13. We have assessed the inhabitants and es- tates in Ashburnham in the sum of £26364-7-0 and have committed the same to the constables for collection.
1780 January 27. Committed for collection state and county rate amounting to the sum of £4328-9-0. 1780 June 14. Voted and granted £2500 to defray town charges.
1780
June 27. Committed State tax for collection amount- ing to £6966.
1780
July 3. Voted and granted £7000 to defray the charges of the war and that the committee give security for any money that may be hired.
1781 1781
March 5. Voted that each man be allowed fifteen pounds per day for labor on the highway. August 20. Voted and granted £300 silver money for town charges.
Voted that the constables take four shil- lings in lieu of one hundred dollars old emission from those persons who are be- hind in rates.
By a resolve of the General Court adopted in September, 1780, Ashburnham was required to supply the army with three thousand one hundred and twenty pounds of beef. The new obligation was promptly met by the town.
.
175
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
1780 October 5. Voted that Amos Lawrence buy 3120 lbs. of beef for the army.
In December following the General Court made a second requisition for beef and again the inhabitants of Ashburnham are assembled in town meeting prepared to second the pro- visions of the Legislature for the support of the army.
1780 December 27. Voted and granted £7200 for buying beef for the army.
Probably on account of the depreciation of the currency, this sum proved inadequate for the purpose. The proportion of Ashburnham was five thousand nine hundred and ninety- two pounds.
1781 January 15. Voted and granted £1800 to be added to £7200 granted at the last meeting and voted that Capt. Francis Lane purchase the beef.
In June following came another demand from the Legisla- ture and another town meeting was the natural sequence. This meeting was convened July 11, and after listening to the requisition, the town chose Captain Lane "to buy the beef wanted," and at the same meeting instructed their agent to procure the beef for which the town was in arrears on the former requisitions. Either reminded of their delinquency, or prompted by a sense of duty, the town are assembled again in August and pass the final vote on the subject in choosing Benjamin Lane to buy all the beef that is wanted for the army. The last requisition was for twelve thousand four hundred and seventy-three pounds.
Among the cumulative burdens of the Revolution, and another item in the extended list of the demands upon the resources of a patriotic and uncomplaining people, was a second requisition for clothing which came simultaneously
1
176
HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
with the third and last requisition for beef. It was a renewed appeal to the patriotism of the times. Our worthies neither faltered nor complained but promptly paid every demand upon their slender means and every tithe upon their daily toil. In addition to the meeting for the choice of State officers, there were seven town meetings in the year 1781, and the burden of them all was to raise money and consequently to increase the lien upon their future crops and the future labor of themselves and their families. During the closing years of the war the experience of the patriot at home, oppressed by poverty and met by the vigilant demands of increasing taxation, is a sublime exhibition of patience and courage. Frequently compelled to surrender to the oft- returning tax-gatherer the choicest of his herds and the ripening product of his fields, making contributions of beef from the needs of his family and dividing his garments with the soldier in the field, he teaches posterity the sacrifices made and the price paid for national existence. Ever prominent in the annals of Ashburnham and seen in the light of the lustre of the achievements in the field will be the home trials and the saeritiees which attended the daily life of the patriot citizen.
CHAPTER VI.
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. -- CONTINUED.
PERSONAL NOTICES. - ERENEZER MUNROE. - ABRAHAM LOWE. - JOSEPH JEWETT. - SAMUEL KELTON. - REUBEN TOWNSEND. - ISAAC STEARNS .-- WILLIAM STEARNS. - ISAAC WHITMORE. - CHARLES HASTINGS. - DAVID WALLIS. - CYRUS FAIRBANKS. - EBENEZER WALLIS. - THOMAS GIBSON .-- JONAS RICE. - REUBEN RICE. - ELIAKIMM RICE. - JABEZ MARBLE. - LEMUEL STIMSON. - ABRAHAM TOWNSEND. - JOHN BOWMAN. -- JOSHUA FLETCHER. - JOSEPH MERRIAM. - ASA BROCKLEBANK. - JONATHAN GATES. - JONATHAN SAMSON. - EZEKIEL S. METCALF. - DAVID CLARK. -- DAVID CHA FFIN. - EBENEZER B. DAVIS. - ISAAC MERRIAM. - DAVID MERRIAM. - JOHN WINTER. - WILLIAM WARD. - EDWARD WHITMORE. - PLUBEN RICE. - ABRAHAM LOWE. - JOSEPH JEWETT. - REUBEN TOWNSEND. -- LEMUEL STIMSON. - JONAS RICE. - JABEZ AND OLIVER MARBLE. - THOMAS GIBSON. - CHARLES HASTINGS. - JOSEPH GIBBS. -- DAVID WAL- LIS. - CYRUS FAIRBANKS. - JOSHUA FLETCHER. - JOSEPHI MERRIAM. - NAMES OF PENSIONERS RESIDING IN ASHBURNHAM 1840.
A CONSIDERABLE number of the citizens of this town who removed hither during the last years, or soon after the close of the Revolution, had previously served in the army. While their service constitutes no part of the history of Ash- burnham in the Revolution, these men subsequently became . so intimately connected with the affairs of this town that the events of their lives are a part of its general history and their service in the war, even if performed while they were residing elsewhere, claims admission in this record of the lives and services of the citizens of Ashburnham.
EBENEZER MUNROE, who removed to this town about 1782, where he lived highly respected until his death May
12
177
1
178
HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
25, 1825, was a prominent actor in the engagement at Lexington, which is clearly established by the depositions of those who were engaged on that occasion. Replying to a remark made by a comrade as the British began firing that they only fired powder, Ebenezer Munroe exclaimed, "They have fired something besides powder now for I am wounded in the arm." He then discharged his gun receiving two balls from them in return, but neither did serious harm. His deposition was taken April 2, 1825, only a short time before his death in which he says, "After the first fire (of the regulars), I received a wound in my arm ; as I turned to rum I discharged my gun into the main body of the enemy. Another ball passed between my arm and my body and just marked my clothes, one ball cut off a part of my ear-locks which were pinned up. The balls flew so thick I thought there was no chance of escape and that I might as well fire my gun as stand still and do nothing." He claimed that he fired the first gun on the American side. Being wounded he mounted a horse and rode from town to town alarming the people and carrying with him the convincing proof that the war in earnest had begun.
ABRAHAM LOWE, while a resident of Lunenburg, was in the service two months at the siege of Boston, two months commencing December 1, 1775, and five months in New York in 1776. He was also a volunteer at the Bennington alarm in 1777.
JOSEPH JEWETT, then residing in Bolton, enlisted for eight months in the spring of 1778, and served in New York. Enlisted again in 1779 in Colonel Denney's regiment ; also served at West Point three months in 1780 in Colonel Rand's regiment.
SAMUEL KELTON, then of Needham, was a sergeant in Captain Aaron Smith's company, at Lexington alarm, and a
179
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
captain in Colonel Patterson's regiment in the siege of Boston. He was known in Ashburnham as Captain Keltou from the date of his removal hither.
REUBEN TOWNSEND, then a citizen of Shrewsbury in 1776, served in New York five months and nine months in 1777. His first enlistment was in Colonel Smith's regiment and the second in Colonel Bigelow's regiment.
ISAAC STEARNS, previous to his removal from Billerica, was a soldier in the siege of Boston eight months and par- ticipated in the battle of Bunker Hill.
WILLIAM STEARNS, a brother of Isaac, was in the same company and for the same length of time. He removed to this town soon after this service.
ISAAC WHITMORE, while a resident of Leominster, was in Captain Maxwell's company in Colonel William Prescott's regiment for one year commencing January 1, 1776, and was discharged at Peekskill, New York. No record of service after his removal to this town has been found. The war record of Edward Whitmore, being performed after his removal to this town, is found in the preceding chapter.
CHARLES HASTINGS, then living in Princeton, served two months in 1776 in Rhode Island, also six months in 1777 in Colonel Keyes' regiment, and this service was also in Rhode Island. Enlisted again in 1778, and was a guard over prisoners from Burgoyne's army at Watertown and later at Rutland. This service was three or four months. Immedi- ately after he enlisted in Colonel Wade's regiment and served six months again in Rhode Island and was in the engage- ment at Newport; also was in the continental army six months commencing July, 1780, and serving a part of the enlistment in Colonel Greaton's regiment he was transferred to Captain Haskell's company of Light Infantry under General Lafayette. This service was at West Point.
180
HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
DAVID WALLIS, then a resident of Lunenburg and a youth of seventeen years, was in the service one month in Captain Bellows' company and was at Fort Edward. In 1778 he was three months at Castle William, again in 1779 he served three months in Captain Martin's company stationed at Governor's island and Castle William.
CYRUS FAIRBANKS, then residing in Harvard, was a volun- teer at the Lexington alarm and subsequently a drummer eight months in Captain Jonathan Davis' company; was stationed at Cambridge and at Prospect Hill. In 1776 was a drum-major in the army near the Hudson, was also at Fort Edward one month in 1777.
EBENEZER WALLIS, at the age of fourteen years, was in the service three months at West Point in 1780. The fol- lowing year he enlisted again for three months and was at or near West Point. The first service was in Colonel Rand's regiment and the last service was in Colonel Webb's regi- ment. After the war he resided in Lunenburg and in Vermont, removing to Ashburnham about 1830. In 1835 he started for New York and died on the way.
THOMAS GIBSON, then of Fitchburg, served five months in the siege of Boston and two months in 1776 in New York. In 1777 he served in Captain Thurlo's company and in 1780 he again enlisted for three months and joined the Northern army at and near West Point. He also served a few months at Boston harbor. Removed to Ashburnham very soon after his last term of service.
JONAS RICE, then residing at Salem, was a volunteer at the alarm at Lexington and served eight months in the siege of Boston. He then removed to Sterling and from there enlisted in 1776 for five months and was assigned to the army in New York. In 1777 he served two months in Rhode Island. Removed to Ashburnham in 1779.
181
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
REUBEN RICE was drafted at Lancaster December, 1776, for a term of three months and served the time in New Jersey. While temporarily residing in Winchendon in 1777 he served in Captain Boynton's company in New York. In the spring of 1780 he removed to this town and was subse- quently in the army at West Point.
ELIAKIM RICE removed to this town in 1779 or 1780. He resided here several years and removed to Hartland, Vermont. While a resident of Salem he served two or more enlistments. He was at the siege of Boston in Colonel Bridge's regiment. His company, in which was his brother Jonas Rice, was engaged at the battle of Bunker Hill.
JABEZ MARBLE, then of Stow, served from October, 1775, to March, 1776, at the siege of Boston in Captain Brooks' company, Colonel Dyke's regiment. This service was per- formed for his twin brother Oliver, who had previously served three months of an enlistment for eight months. Only the name of Oliver Marble is found, as Jabez Marble answered to that name while completing the term of his brother. IIe served terms of two months each in 1777 and 1779, both in Rhode Island, and in a later campaign in the saine locality he served three months in 1780. The two brothers removed to Ashburnham from Stow, 1780.
LEMUEL STIMSON, who removed to this town near the close of the war, had previously served two or more enlist- ments. He was in the siege of Boston and was engaged in the battle of Bunker Hill. Ilis second service was at Ticonderoga in 1776. He was a native of Weston and resided in that town until he removed to Ashburnham.
ABRAHAM TOWNSEND removed to this town about 1778, where he resided many years. Later he removed to Berlin, Vermont. He was in the service eight months at Fishkill in 1778. No further record has been found and there is no
182
HISTORY OF ASBBURNHAM.
reason to presume that he was not in the service at other times during the war.
JOHN BowMAN, who resided in Lexington until after the Revolution, removed from Andover to this town about 1810, served four enlistments and is found on the rolls of service in New York and Rhode Island.
JOSHUA FLETCHER, then of Westford, served an enlist- ment of seven months in Boston harbor and again three months at Boston. He then in February. 1777, entered the continental army for three years and was in Captain Thomas' company, Colonel Marshall's regiment. He was at the battle of Stillwater, the surrender of Burgoyne, and passed the winter at Valley Forge. Following the army in 1778 to New York on account of disability he was granted a leave of absence August 29, 1778, but was unable to rejoin the army. Ile removed to Ashburnham about 1810.
JOSEPH MERRIAM, then of Lexington, served two months in Rhode Island in 1779. In the following year he was one of the six months' recruits in the continental army, being assigned to Colonel Marshall's regiment. This service was in New York. In 1781, he again enlisted by agreement with the town of Bedford, and counted on the quota of that town and was again assigned to the Northern army on the Hudson. He removed to Ashburnham at the close of the war and subsequently to Templeton.
ASA BROCKLEBANK, while residing in Rindge, served two enlistments. He removed to this town in 1777 and returned to Rindge after a residence here of several years.
It is possible, and the conjecture is reasonable, that the names of some revolutionary soldiers, who resided in this town during the war or soon after removed hither, are not included in these pages. Indeed, it has been shown that there were demands for men and quotas were filled in
183
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
several instances where only a part of the names could be ascertained.
The fact that there were more enlistments than are here recorded is additional credit to the town and augments its patriotic record. In the preceding chapter and in the fore- going record of service, nothing has been assumed. If service in the army was not sustained by the record it has been neither disputed nor asserted. It has now become a fact that the men of the Revolution who did not win the laurels of war by personal service have had them thrust upon them by the generous and applauding lips of tradition. The missing rolls of many Massachusetts . regi- ments give unusual license to conjectural statements, but affirmative testimony is the prime requisite of historical statement. In every instance an honest effort has been made to obtain all the available record on any subject, and while employing every established fact, the more fanciful narrative of tradition has always been heard with many grains of allowance ; and if for these substantial reasons the history of Ashburnham is not as extended as might be desired, it is mainly correct.
The following statements made by the actors in the great drama of the Revolution were secured through the generous favors of Hon. Henry W. Blair, United States Senator from New Hampshire. These papers were received after the material for the preceding chapter collected from many sources had been arranged in the order of events. Of great interest in themselves they also sustain the outlines of the narrative to which they are subjoined. These papers, being the sworn statements of the revolutionary soldiers in support of their several applications for pension, are authentic accounts of their service. It is a matter of regret that the personal statement of all who bore arms in the war for
184
HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
independence are not preserved. It is suggested at once that only the younger soldiers were living at the time these appli- cations for pension were made. It also appears that some of the applicants gave only a partial account of the service performed. In such cases, doubtless, it was not deemed necessary to assert and prove more than one or two enlist- ments, and, seizing upon those terms of service which could be most easily proved, no mention was made of additional service. Others, it will be observed, present a full account of each enlistment.
JONATHAN GATES, whose affidavit introduces these interest- ing accounts of personal service, was a son of Captain Jona- than Gates. When an infant, and previous to the date of incorporation, the family removed to this town. September 11, 1832, at the age of seventy years, he says :
I. He enlisted at Cambridge in April, 1775, in Captain David Wilder's company, of which Jonathan Gates, Sen., was lieutenant, in Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regiment, and marched from Cambridge to Prospect Hill where he remained during the eight months of his enlistment, and after the expiration of his time he volunteered to stay until new recruits came, and stayed there three months longer, making eleven months in all.
II. In September, 1777, a short time before the taking of Burgoyne, enlisted at Ashburnham under Captain Jonathan Gates, Sen., for one month. Colonel Bellows commanded the regiment and we marched for the place when Burgoyne was taken near Beaman's Heights.
III. Enlisted at Ashburnham soon after the taking of Bur- goyne, thinks it was in 1777, under Captain Whitney ; marched to Castle William and was there three months on guard over prisoners from Bargoyne's army.
IV. Enlisted at Ashburnham in 1778 or 1779 [it was in December, 1777] for three months under Captain Jonathan Gates, Sen., marched to Bound Brook, New Jersey, and remained there for the full term of his service.
185
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
V. In 1780, or 1781 [it was in 1779], enlisted for six months at Ashburnham in Captain Fiske's company, in Colonel Jackson's regiment and remained there for his term of service.
In 1833 Mr. Gates gives additional particulars of his last service and says, "That orders were received for a certain number of men to go to Rhode Island ; thought the number required of Ashburnham was seven, and he turned out as one of the seven. No officer but a sergeant went out with them. The sergeant was Joseph Stone. When they reached Providence, he was requested to go into Captain Fiske's company. He thinks that Captain Fiske's first name was Jared. He was not sure he had given the year correctly but it was when the British lay on Rhode Island. After about two months' service he was detailed with seventeen others, a lieutenant, one corporal and sixteen privates, to go on board a prison ship in which were thirty-two British prisoners ; the ship lay at Fox Point, below Providence. He was on this ship about six weeks and received a wound on his head by the breech of a musket. The prisoners rose upon them one night and got possession of some of the guns. He was struck on the head in coming up the hatchway and bore the marks then (1833) of the blow. They succeeded in getting the mastery over the prisoners without the loss of any lives on the part of the guard, but two of the prisoners were missing. Soon after this he was detailed with twenty others to go to Bristol after hay for the continental horses. The hay was brought upon three boats, seven men to a boat, the whole under command of Lieutenant Nestle."
He further alleges, "that he was born at Harvard Septem- ber 27, 1762, and lived at Ashburnham during the war." He moved to Salisbury, New York, 1798, to Antwerp, New York, 1815, and to Champion, New York, 1818.
.
186
HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
JONATHAN SAMSON, eldest son of Jonathan Samson, was born at Harvard, May 7. 1759. The family settled in this town previous to date of incorporation. His statement was made in this town September 6, 1832, in which he says :
.I. He enlisted in December, 1775, for six months and went to Roxbury, Massachusetts, and was put into the militia company of Captain Hill of Harvard. Thomas McBride of Boston was lieutenant and Samuel Sawin of Westminster was ensign.
II. Again enlisted in carly part of summer of 1776 for four and a half months and went to Dorchester, Massachusetts, and was put into militia company of Captain Manasseh Sawyer of Sterling. Samuel Sawin of Westminster was lieutenant and the ensign was Carter. He was employed the whole time in building forts at Dorchester Heights.
III. Again enlisted in December, 1776, for three months in the last named company, and was stationed during this service at Dorchester Point near Boston.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.