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 9
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With their enlarged privileges under the act of incorpora- tion the settlers were met with heavy burdens in the form of taxes. The land tax for 1764 and 1765, amounting to £255,
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
a province tax of £30, a county tax £1-11-0, and a tax of £6 to defray town expenses, must have placed them on familiar terms and close relations with the collector of taxes.
Scarcely had the town been organized and the inhabitants become familiar with their new duties and privileges when several families and fifteen hundred acres of land were joined to another township. Ashby was incorporated March 5, 1767, but the proceedings in which the inhabitants of Ash- burnham participated occurred at an earlier date. Until 1764 the territory included within the present towns of Townsend, Lunenburg, Ashburnham, Fitchburg and Ashby was embraced by the three towns first named. In 1764 Fitchburg was set off from Lunenburg and at that time included the southern part of Ashby. The incorporation of Ashburnham in the following year did not change boundary lines. Very soon after, Ashby was formed from portions of Townsend, Fitchburg and Ashburnham. Thus John Fitch and others, living in 1763 in the vicinity of the present resi- dence of Paul Gates in the southern part of Ashby, were residents of Lunenburg ; in 1764 they were in Fitchburg, and in 1767 they were in Ashby. With bewildering sud- denness and without a change of residence they were citizens of three towns and attended town meetings in as many places in this brief space of time. The original petition, for the creation of Ashby, was before the General Court several months before Ashburnham was incorporated. While a part of the petitioners for Ashby were pressing a solicitation to become inhabitants of one town they were included within another. They continued, however, to pursue their original project and joining with the other petitioners an organization was effected and a committee, consisting of John Fitch of Fitchburg, Jacob Schoffe of Ashburnham and James Locke, Jr., of Townsend, was chosen to appear before the General
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Court in support of their petition. At a meeting of the pro- prietors only a few days after the incorporation of Ashburn- ham a committee was chosen to remonstrate against the loss of the most thickly settled portion of the town. The follow- ing year the subject was laid before the town at a special meeting called for that purpose. The petitioners in the northeast part of the town joined by the Germans were a clear majority of the town. Conscious of their power, they proposed to carry with themselves a very considerable por- tion of the township, including the Cambridge and Lexing- ton farms and all that part of Ashburnham cast of a line running from the northwest corner of Lexington farm across the summit of Great Watatic to the province line.
This liberal proposition included a majority of the inhabi- tants and about one-fourth of the area of the township. Immediately following the record of the meeting is recorded a protest against the measure, signed by Samuel Fellows. Tristram Cheney, Samuel Nichols, Jonathan Gates, George Dickerson, Nathan Melvin, Elisha Coolidge, William Joyner, Samuel Foster and Enos Jones. No reason is found for the absence of the names of Benjamin Whitcomb. Moses Foster, Jeremiah Foster, Deliverance Davis and others who were then living west of the proposed line and wbo very naturally would be in sympathy with the remon- strants. This proposition, however, was very materially modified by the General Court. When Ashby was finally incorporated only about one-fourth of the proposed area was severed from Ashburnham. Many years later another tract was joined to Ashby, but the original division line between the towns in 1767 left the castern boundary of Ashburnham alinost a straight line, extending very nearly due north from the northeast corner of Westminster to the State line. The corner of the two towns at the State line was very nearly a
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mile east of the present corner. In this form the town of Ashburnham remained until after the Revolution, when a second donation to Ashby and the incorporation of Gardner cut off two areas from the opposite corners of the town.
Among the settlers included within the town of Ashby were several town officers who were chosen only three days before that town was incorporated. Captain John Jones, residing on the Amos Wellington farm then in Ashburnham, was a selectman here in 1766 and again elected in 1767. The same year he was chosen a selectman of Ashby.
James Coleman had been elected one of the constables, an office theu including the collection of taxes. Notwith- standing the change in town lines, the assessors of Ashburn- ham committed to him a tax list for collection and in November of the following year " ye town voted to Defend ye Town Treasurer in a Trial with James Colman for to get ye money that was assest in ye year 1767 which assessment was Delivered to sª Colman to Colect." It is probable that both towns claimed the taxes assessed this year on the estates set off to Ashby and that Mr. Coleman found it diffi- cult to serve two masters. By this change in town lines, in addition to John Jones and James Coleman, Ashburnham lost Thomas Stearns, Zimri Heywood, John Bates, David Taylor, Henry Selham, Benjamin Spaulding, Sammel Derby, Samuel Rice, Levi Houghton and perhaps a few others. Several of these became prominent in the affairs of Ashby. The only German was Mr. Selham whose name is generally written Sellenham in the Ashby records.
Unless there were two persons of the same name, Ben- jamin Spaulding returned to Ashburnham in 1768 and in 1769 as will appear joined in a petition to be set off to Ashby a second time. Had he succeeded and continued the process he would have whittled away the entire township.
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1366. The new names appearing in the proceedings of this year are Henry Hall, John Conn, Zimi Heywood, Moses Foster. Jr., Samuel Salter, Simon Rodamell, Henry Selham and Joseph Perry. Some of these had been here several years but were not named in the records of the pre- ceding year. In addition to the land and province tax, the town raised twenty pounds for town charges and appropriated sixty pounds of the land tax for the support of roads. This year the town also voted not "to choose a man to Represent them at the great and general Coart or assembly to be held at Boston on Wensday the twenty eight Day of may Current at Nine of the Clock in the morning." But more mindful of internal improvement, the town voted to build a pound of stone or timber, two rods square inside, to be located near the barn of Christian William Whiteman, but this vote was reconsidered soon after and a pound was not built for several years. The records assert that this year "the town chose Mr. Timothy pane Esquier regeister for the County of Worcester." Mr. Paine was elected this year, leaving us to infer that either the remainder of the county magnanimously conentred in this action on the part of Ashburnham, or that the record is a simple assertion that Mr. Paine was the choice of the voters of this town. The custom of warning out all new arrivals is mentioned in another connection ; the names of the men summoned to remove during the first two years of the existence of the town, were Samuel Salter, Joseph Perry, Oliver Wetherbee, Daniel Merrill, Daniel Harper, Timothy Farley, Amasa Turner and George Hewitt.
1767. Early in the year 1767, a special meeting was called to make some arrangements concerning the salary of the minister. When the town assumed control of public affairs, Mr. Winchester had been settled several years. It only devolved upon the town to pay him the amount of
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salary stipulated by the proprietors at the time of his settle- ment. By the terms of the act of incorporation this sum was to be paid out of the land tax. It only remained for the town to conduct the assessment and collection of this tax. The result of this meeting indicates that the only issue raised at this time related to the time when the salary of the minis- ter should be paid. A committee was chosen " to discourse with Rev. Mr. Winchester relating to his salary." At a subsequent meeting the town acted upon the report of their committee by a vote " to pay Mr. Winchester one half of his salary at eight months' end."
The records of this year introduce the carliest reference to schools in a vote to raise eight pounds for that purpose, and voted that "yt ye school should be a moveing school and to leave it ye Select men to make ye Quarters where ye school shall be Cept. Voted it to bee a free school."
The increasing burden of taxation and the inability of many of the settlers to meet these increasing demands upon their limited resources find frequent expression in the records. In June the town chose John Moffat of Boston, Rev. Jonathan Winchester and Tristram Cheney, to apply to the General Court for an abatement of the province tax. In connection with this effort the following petition was made to the General Court :
To His Excellency Francis Bernard Esq. Captain General and Governor in Chief of IJis Majesty's Provence of the Massa- chusetts Bay, to the Honnorable his majestys Commeil & the IIonble House of Representatives, In General Court assembled.
December 30 1767
The Petition of the Inhabitants of Ashburnham humbly Sheweth :
That whereas a Provence Tax for a number of years Past has been Laid on your Petitioners no Part thereof has been paid, that your Petitioners Labouring under great poverty think them selves
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FROM THE INCORPORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 121
utterly unable To make any such payment, that the soil we Possess is very Stubborn Requiring much hard Labour before any profit can be resped from it. That the greatest part of your petitioners have been in said Town but a short time and are unable to raise provisions sufficient for the support of our families. And as there is far from being enough produced in the Town to maintain the Inhabitants we have not only nothing to Convert into money ; but are at much annual expense for the necessays of Life or be desti- tute of them ; or else contract debts unpayable without the for- feiture of our Lands.
That ye growth of ye said Town has been much obstructed by Je said tax as many persons have of Late gone over ye Provence Line to avoid a burden which seams so likely to be unsupportable and fatal. That your Poor petitioners are unable to keep our few cattle alive in ye winter season without driving a considerable proportion of them out of town for subsistence. That your Petitioners House of Public Worship has lately been struck by a Hurricane and ye cost to repare Cannot be less than £30. Lawful money. With all that can be done to said House it must be Re- built in a few years. That the Death of our very worthy Pastor ye Reverend M' Winchester your Petitioners must needs be exerted to a very great additional expence.
Therefore your Humble Petitioners very earnestly beseech your Excellency & Hloners to considerate our unhapy circumstances by Removing ye grievous Tax or to Releive us in such way as in your great wisdom you shall Think fitt. And your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray &c.
TRISTRAM CHENEY in behalf of sd Town. Dated at Ashburnham, December ye 23d 1767.
The petition was kindly received by the General Court and all the province taxes then due from this town were forgiven. Qualifying the petition with the reflection that it is an argument for effect, it is true, however, that it presents a view of the poverty and distress of a new settlement and
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from it we learn much of the situation of the town at this date.
November 30, 1767, the inhabitants were warned to assemble on the tenth of the following month "to see if the town will comply with the town of Boston in not purchasing any of the articles mentioned in the paper sent to the select- men." The paper referred to was the historic letter of the selectmen of Boston, dated October 28, and sent to the selectmen of the several towns in the province, respecting the sale and use of certain foreign articles upon which Par- liament had laid a tax. At the meeting in Ashburnham it was voted " to comply with the request of the selectmen of Boston respecting the articles in a paper they sent to us." Here is found the first and a very early act relating to the Revolution. It was one of a series of events which foretold the approaching storm, truthfully reflecting the progress of publie sentiment while the smouldering fires of discontent were being fanned into the flame of open revolt. Other towns actuated by an equal patriotism passed similar votes, but very few of them at this carly date were prepared to speak with equal emphasis and promptness.
The death of the first minister occurred this year. A meet- ing was promptly called at which the town voted to defray the expenses of the funeral and to pay to Mrs. Winchester, a suin equal to the stated salary for the remainder of the year. No item of the expense of the burial of Mr. Winchester has been preserved, but in accordance with the customs of the times, it is probable that gloves, weeds and other insignia of mourning, were procured for the bereaved family and for the bearers. All were mourners and all followed the remains of their beloved pastor to the grave. The measure of their sorrow at the death and their respect for the character of Mr. Winchester were continually reflected in the kind con-
FROM THE INCORPORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 123
sideration in which they always regarded the widow and the children of their first minister.
1768. This year, Rev. John Cushing was settled. An account of the ordination and of a prolonged and successful ministry will be found in another chapter. Other proceed- ings of less magnitude complete the record of the year. In the warrant for the annual March meeting appears an article "To see if ye town will vote yt there shall be no ox sled Drawed in ye Privet Roads in Ashburnham less than four feet and a half wide on Penalty such as ye town shall think Proper." "Passed in ye negative." The highways in this connection were styled private roads to distinguish them from the county roads which had been constructed, and in some measure were under the supervision of the court.
It was also ordered this year that "y" Dutch should draw their school money" upon condition it was used for its legitimate purpose.
The increasing discontent of the colony in regard to the continued acts of oppression by the British government, and the promptness in which each infringement of their charter rights was resisted by the watchful spirit of democracy, again invite the citizens of Ashburnham to assemble in town meeting. Immediately following an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Royal Governor of the province to convene the General Court, letters were sent to all the towns inviting them to send delegates to join in a conference over public affairs. The citizens of this town unanimously instructed their selectmen to send in writing their desire to join with the assembled delegates "in all proper way to defend our rights and privileges which was granted to us in our charter."
1769. It will be remembered that while the inhabitants were thus assembling in town meeting from year to year and
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adopting measures concerning the prudential affairs of the town, the proprietors were still an active organization. Under the laws of the province, the town assumed the control of the roads, the support of the ministry and the general management of all municipal concerns, while the propriety, owning the undivided lands, was still an organized corporation. The proprietors surrendered the meeting- house to the town without any formal vote, and in 1770 at a meeting convened in Boston, there was a proposition under consideration to surrender to the town " the meeting house square with the reservation that the whole of it remains a common forever." This subject was dismissed without action and it is possible the proprietors considered that the cominon already belonged to the town under the title of public domain. If any consideration less friendly prompted the failure to relinquish their claim to the common, the inhabitants of the town had very little concern about it, and were masters of the situation. They had already disposed of one-fourth of it and were holding the remainder with grim complacency. Under an article to see if the town would sell a part of the common to Rev. John Cushing, the town in May, 1769, voted to make him a present of two and one- half acres at the east end and instructed the selectmen to give him a deed.
Benjamin Spaulding, and a few others residing in the northeast part of the town, petitioned the General Court to be annexed to Ashby. The town promptly expressed its dissent and submitted the matter to Samuel Wilder who successfully opposed the measure.
The questions arising in town meeting and the methods of treatment, are continually suggesting the changes which have attended the progress of years. One hundred and twenty- five years ago, as a source of revenue, the town voted that
FROM THE INCORPORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 125
"every inhabitant that takes cattle to run in the woods shall pay to the town four shillings per head." The same year, not having paid their minister the sum due for settlement, the town borrowed the money of Colonel Caleb Wilder and agreed to pay it in elcaring land for him. For several years the town accepted labor on this account in payment of taxes.
1770. The annals of this year introduce very few subjects not anticipated in a general view of a town in the transaction of the ordinary business. The year preceding the town voted not to choose a committee "to see where the town's money had gone." They probably concluded it had never been gathered in, since this year a number of parcels of land belonging to non-residents were sold at anction in payment of taxes. From this source the town realized nearly fifty pounds. One of the purchasers at this sale was Rev. Mr. Cushing, who bought six and one-half acres between the common and Upper Naukeag lake. This year the court had under consideration the location of a county road from Winchendon to Westminster, passing through a corner of this town, now in Gardner. The town of Ashburnham instructed Samuel Wilder to oppose the project and "if need be, to employ an attorney." This road was built soon after, but the part of it within this town was inconsiderable.
In accordance with an aet of the General Court, an inven- tory of the province tax for the year 1770 was returned by the assessors. Fortunately, the original is preserved in the State archives. This rate assessed on the polls had no con- nection with the land tax. The list preserves the names of the men residing in this town December 14, 1770. The names followed by the figures 2 or 3 paid the tax of as many persons, who might be either sons above sixteen years of age, or young men in their employ. Ebenezer Conant, Sen., was probably residing here at this time ; later
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
in life he was a town charge, but no reason appears for the omission of his name. It was probably accidental. The omission of the name of Rev. John Cushing was probably intentional. The number of names in the list is seventy- four, which would indicate a population of less than four hundred.
John Adams
Moses Foster (2)
Samuel Salter
Stephen Ames
Samuel Foster
Aaron Samson
William Benjamin
Henry Gates
John Samson
Moses Beonett John Bigelow
Henry Hall (2)
Jacob Schoff'e
Nathan Bigelow
Jacob Harris
Benjamin Spaulding
Jo shua Billings
Ebenezer Hemenway
Ephraim Stone (3) Oliver Stone
Abraham Blodgett
Joseph Holden
Jonathan Taylor
Jeremiah Bridge
Enos Jones
Philip Vorback
Peter Brooks
Abijah Joslin
Caleb Ward
Tristram Cheney (3)
James Joslin
Jacob Wenneg
David Clark
l'eter Joslin
Oliver Wetherbee
Job Coleman
John Kiblinger (2)
Plnnehas Wetherbee
Ebenezer Conant, Jr.
Benjamin Kemp
Benjamin Whitcomb
John Conn
Nathan Melvin
Oliver Whitcomb
Elisha Coolidge
Daniel Merrill
Christian Win. White- man Samuel Wilder (2)
Deliverance Davis
Joseph Metcalf
Amos Dickerson
Samuel Nichols
Hezekiah Willard
Salmon Dutton
John Oberlock
John Willard
Thomas Dutton
Joseph Perry
Oliver Willard
Elijah Edson
Daniel Priest
Andrew Winter
Samuel Fellows (3)
John Rich
Timothy Wood
Jeremiah Foster
Simon Rodamell
Abijah Worcester
1771. In addition to specific legislation regarding schools and the meeting-house, which will appear in other chapters, this year the town sold the right of land reserved for the benefit of schools.
From the incorporation of the town to this date there had been little change in the price of labor and many articles of merchandise. The depreciation of the currency a few years later introduced fictitious values in all business transactions. The town at this time continued to allow the selectmen and other town officers two shillings and eight pence per day. The rate of labor upon the highways for several years is
Jonathan Gates (2)
Jonathan Samson
Isaac Blodgett
Moses Johnson
David Dickerson
Simeon Nutting
FROM THE INCORPORATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 127
recorded in stated form : "three shilling per day from now to the last of September, one shilling and four peuce for oxen and eight pence for a cart and after September two shillings per day." From an account of sales made in an adjoining town at this date it appears that upland hay sold at £1-5-0 per ton, rye at four shillings per bushel and butter from six to eight pence per pound.
1772. "Voted to buy some grave stones in memory of Rev4 Mr Jonathan Winchester and that M' William Whit- comb be the man to get the above stones." This act com- memorating, at once, the virtues of the dead and the serious impulses of the town resulted in the erection of the plain slate stone which yet marks the grave of the first minister. Future generations may erect at this grave a monument of far greater pretension, but none can ever express a more fitting devotion to the memory of him whose virtues are inscribed upon this ancient stone in language of sincere respect and love.
1773. Having built a pound the preceding year the town chose Benjamin Bigelow and Jacob Willard to conduct the business at that station. Field drivers, or hog reeves as they were formerly called, have been chosen every year since the incorporation of the town. This year, with a new adjunct to the office, the selection was made with due deference to ability and regard to place of residence. The location of the first pound is not certain. The pound at the southwest corner of the common was not built until 1794, but time and the elements appear to have been unusually active in hastening its destruction.
The manner in which our fathers regarded the obligation of contracts and the attention they paid to their proper fulfil- ment are reflected in a vote to "advance thirty pounds to the Reyd M' Cushing's Sallary to be assessed this year to make
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up the Damage in his not giting his Sallary according to agreament."
1774. In prophecy of the political revolution near at hand and reflecting the sentiment of the people a town meeting is called for the first time without invoking the name of the king. In former years the people had been warned to assemble "in his Majesty's nanie." A meeting was called in September, 1774, in the simple terms, "You are requested to meet." Later the people were warned "in the name of the government and the people of the state of Massachusetts Bay," until the new constitution of the State introduced "the commonwealth of Massachusetts." These terms clearly indicate the progress of public sentiment during radical changes in the forms of government.
The incorporation of Gardner was almost consummated this year. The project was suffered to sleep during the Revolution but it scarcely failed at this time. The petition was signed by residents of Westminster, Templeton, Win- chendon and Ashburnham who desired to be included in the proposed town. In answer to the petitioners, the town voted May 23, 1774, that the portion of Ashburnham south- west of a line extending from Samuel Kelton's lot to the lot of William Ames "be set off with portions of other towns to form a new town or district." The line described in this vote is substantially the same as the one established eleven years later. The Revolution caused a delay and introduced a name for the town, but the boundaries first proposed were not materially changed when the town eventually was incorporated.
Commencing with the date of incorporation and extend- ing a few years beyond the limits of this chapter, the town continued the custom of warning out a majority of the arri- vals in town. It was a precautionary proceeding suggested
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