USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Chelmsford > History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts > Part 56
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Webb doubtless purchased the right of the other grantees to this tract, as their names do not appear in any later transfers. A. C. Varnum, Esq., in his article upon Dracut, in J. W. Lewis & Co.'s History of Middlesex County, states in relation to the residence of Webb, "It was on the river bank below the old 'Captain Blood Place,' later owned and occupied by William H. Durkee, and now owned by Dr. George W. Clement, formerly of Dracut, now of Boston."
Webb's highway must, then, have passed through the J. C. Ayer farm, purchased by him from the Howards. An old path is still to be seen leading, under the railroad, down to the river. A ferry was maintained at this point within the memory of persons now living.
*Groton Indian Wars.
tState Archives, Plans and Maps, Book 1, p. 7.
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Webb, before coming to Chelmsford, was a merchant in Boston, and the honors bestowed upon him soon after his settlement here argue that he was regarded as a person of consequence. Webb came to this country in the ship James, which sailed from England in April, 1635, and arrived June 3rd. In the list of passengers his name is given John Webb alias Evered, laborer or husbandman, Marlboro in Wiltshire. The humble occupation given and the alias may both have been for the purpose of deluding the English authorities who sometimes prevented persons of prominence from embarking for America. There is some evidence that he was in this country at an earlier date and after returned to England, as John Webb, then a single man, was admitted to the church of Boston Feb. 9, 1634. He was admitted a freeman Dec. 7, 1636, and a member of the Artillery Company in 1643. This was the famous organization now known as the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company."
His residence in Boston was upon that historic spot now known as the "Old Corner Book Store." A former occupant of the property was the gifted but unfortunate Anne Hutchinson, who was banished from the colony because of the disturbance in the church caused by the promulgation of her peculiar religious views. Some time after the banishment of the Hutchinsons Mr. John Evered, alias Webb, bought the property, consisting of a house and half an acre of land, of a relative of the family, Richard Hutchinson of London. At that time what is now Washington Street was known as the road to Roxbury, and School Street was "School-house Lane." The brick building now standing upon that corner was built about 1712, and is one of the oldest brick buildings now standing in Boston. Webb sold a portion of this estate in 1661, probably about the time of his removal to Chelms- ford. He made several other transfers of real estate in Boston. One of these, Oct. 30, 1665, was to William Alford, and is described as "Land & ware houses upon the townway down upon the flats"; another in May of the same year, to Thomas Deane, of a dwelling house and land on "the broad street."
The Town of Chelmsford granted several parcels of land to "Mr. John Webb," under date of November 9, 1661. All of these were near to Merrimack River. He was chosen, by the Town of Chelmsford, deputy to the General Court in 1663, 1664 and 1665. In the list of members of the General Court in 1663 his name is given Ensigne John Webb, and for the session of 1664 it appears as Ensigne Jno. Euered. In 1664 he and Samuel Adams were "empowred to joyne persons in marriage that shall be duely published according to lawe wth in the toune of Chelmsford."
But alas for human frailty. While Webb was attending a session of the General Court at Boston, in May, 1665, he was convicted of unchaste conduct, at the tavern of Jno. Vialls, where he was staying, and the court acted in the case with true Puritan rigor. His sentence was:
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"To pay twenty pounds as a fine to ye country & be discharged the Court and his comissions for civil and millitary trust, and to stand disfranchised, & all during the pleasure of this Courte, & give bond wth sufficjent suretjes to the value of one hundred pounds for his good abearing during the pleasure of this Court, & stand comitted till the sentence be performed."
The next year:
"The Court being informed that Mr John Euered aljas Webb hath payd his fine, & carried it humbly & submissively, & under a due sence of his sinne, the Court Judgeth it meete to sett him at liberty from the rest of the sentence of this Court," and the Town of Chelmsford were given liberty to "make chojce of military officers as they shall see meete."
Webb obtained, by purchase from the Indians, Wickisuck Island (now called Tyng's Island) in the Merrimack River. This was, in 1665, released to Wannalancet and other Indians, by order of the Court, and Webb was granted five hundred acres elsewhere in compensation.
In 1664 Webb disposed of a portion of his land. The following is the description of the conveyance (Mdx. Deeds, Vol. III, p. 347):
"John Evered alias Webb, of Drawcutt upon Merrimack (Co. of Norfolk) to Richard Shatswell and Saml Varnum of Ipswich, for £400 One halfe of the farme of Drawcutt aforesaid, except the field with the houses barnes, struc- tures, edifices & Buildings & the garden, the field mentioned to be called the upper field, and three acres of the lower field below the the log fence next the barne to containe 1100 acres. 10 Jan. 1664."
This is the earliest mention of the name Dracut. Webb, as we have seen, came from Wiltshire, England, where Dracut, or Draycote, was a local name.
Webb came to his death in a singular manner. The date given in the Chelmsford records is Oct. 1, 1668. Rev. Simon Bradstreet's journal contains the following account (Gen. Reg., Vol. IX, p. 44) :
"1668 Mr. Jno. Webbe, who sometime liued at Boston was drowned Octob. catching a whale below the Castle. In coiling vp ye line vnad- visedly he did it about his middle thinking the whale had been dead, but suddenly shee gaue a Spring and drew him out of the boat. he being in ye midst of the line, but could not bee recouered while he had any life. (Mr. Webb's death, as after I was better informed was not altogether so as related.)"
After Webb's death his widow sold the estate to Jno. Faire- weather, Sept. 4, 1669. And in 1671 Thomas Hinchman sold the Shatswell portion of the eleven hundred acres bought of Webb, to Edward Coburn. All the transfers of property in Dracut previous to 1700, are given in an article by E. W. Thompson, in the Lowell Journal of April 1, 1887.
Edward Coburn and Samuel Varnum were the first actual settlers to follow Webb. They both came from Ipswich, and were the ancestors of families which have always been prominent in Dracut and vicinity.
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In speaking of people upon the north side of the river I have called them citizens of Chelmsford, and, previous to the incorpora- tion of Dracut, in 1701, they were so regarded, although the Chelmsford grant never extended beyond the Merrimack River. The people living there voted, paid taxes and attended meeting in Chelmsford. In the Chelmsford minister's rate, March 30th, 1671, are the names of at least six persons who lived on the north side of the river. They were Samuel Varnum, John Coborn, Robert Coborn, Edward Coborn, Thomas Coborn, and Edward Coborn, Sen. When some of the people attempted to escape from their responsibilities to Chelmsford the court established their relations by the following order (Records of Mass., Vol. IV, Part 2, p. 351) :
"Vpon information of sundry ffarmes erected aboue the Farmes abt toune of Chelmsford, about Merrimack River, whose Merremack to inhabitants pretend their sajd farmes to be out of the belong to County of Midlesex, & possibly be not conteyned in any - Chelmsford & county, it is therefore ordered by this Court & the authority Midlesex thereof, that all & euery the inhabitants of such farmes as Courts there are or shall be improoued shall, in all points, haue their dependances vpon, & performe services, & beare chardges wth the sajd toune of Chelmsford, & that the sajd ffarmers repaire to the Courts of Midlesex for justice, & all, till this Court take further order, any lawe or custome to the contrary notwthstanding. 1667 Oct 9.
The following action by the town of Chelmsford, in 1706, terminated the relationship: "Voted that Draw Cutt shall not voat in Chelmsford."
Edward Coburn, Jr., was killed by the Indians, at Brookfield, July 14, 1675. He was a soldier in Captain Wheeler's company of horsemen, who were waylaid by the Indians near that place, and thirteen of their number killed or mortally wounded. The remnant of the company then took refuge in a garrison house in the town, where they repelled the assaults of the foe for two days and nights, when they were relieved by a force under Major Willard. There were three other Chelmsford soldiers in that engagement, viz., James Richardson, John Fiske and John Waldo, the latter of whom was wounded. Captain Wheeler, when he became incapacitated by reason of his wounds from continuing the command, "appointed Simon Davis of Concord, James Richardson and John Fiske of Chelmsford, to manage affairs for our safety," etc.
Of those who settled within the present limits of the City of Lowell, prior to the year 1700, Maj. Thos. Hinchman was, without doubt, the most influential person. He was often selected by his townsmen, and also by the General Court, for the most delicate and responsible services. And whether he was called upon to negotiate with the Indians or to act as a committee to seat the meeting-house, his conclusions were accepted with confidence; and as seating the meeting-house meant the assignment of the different families to the seats to which by their relative consequence
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they were entitled, it is uncertain which of those two kinds of service would call for the most skillful diplomacy. A study of the history of the town at that period cannot fail to inspire a genuine respect for the character of this man. He was withal a very modest man. He shrunk from accepting the office of deacon of the church because of want of confidence in his fitness. (Fiske Records.)
As trustee for the Indians he seems to have held the entire confidence of the Pawtuckets, both before and after the breaking out of hostilities. This is the strongest evidence that his actions were governed by principles of justice. The fact that Chelmsford suffered less from Indian depredations than most of the frontier towns was doubtless due, in a great measure, to his wise manage- ment. Thomas Hinchman was admitted an inhabitant of Concord in 1654. The name is spelled in various ways in the records. Farmer says that he spelled it Hinchman, and that it was pro- nounced as if spelled Hinksman. He was a magistrate, a major of the Middlesex regiment, and a representative to the General Court in 1666, 1667, 1671 and 1676.
Upon the breaking out of King Philip's war, in 1675, several garrison houses were built in different parts of the town. Hinch- man erected one for this neighborhood of which the following account appears in the Records of Massachusetts, Vol. V, p. 54:
"Whereas Left. Thomas Hinchman hath been at great charge in providing ffor the diet of serteine souldjers appointed to garrison his house upon Merre- macke Riuer, where sundry Englishmen, his neighbours, are concerned, which is a very apt place to secure that frontier, and besides, the sajd Hinch- man hauing, vpon all occasions, binn very serviceable, and hath expended much time and charge to put in execution sundry orders and directions sent to him from the council, this Court doe order, that the souldiers of that garrison be maintayned both for diet at the toune of Chelmsfords charge for the time to come, and vntill the Court or council take further order; and further more, that tenn pounds be allowed him for his extraordinary expense and labor out of the country tresury."
The tradition in reference to this garrison house is that it stood upon the bank of the river about opposite to what is now Wood Street. Judge Samuel P. Hadley states that, when the water in the river was low, he has seen what was evidently an old well laid up with brick. The bricks were wide at the outer end so that they would fit together when laid in a circle. He also found near it the skeleton of an Indian woman.
The atrocities of Philip's war excited the greatest animosity in the minds of the people towards the Indians, and when some of Eliot's Christian Indians were found among the parties that were burning and pillaging the exposed settlements, popular feeling toward all Indians became very bitter. The court enacted very severe measures, which it is not pleasant to dwell upon. Eliot and Gookin, and some others, who were more intimately acquainted with the Indian character, exercised their influence in favor of more moderate measures, but without avail. Several
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of the peacefully disposed Pawtuckets were wantonly shot because they were suspected of having burned a barn and haystack. The state of the public mind at the time may be inferred by the language of the order of the court for the investigation of the affair (Mass. Records, Vol. V, p. 57):
"13 Oct. 1675. Whereas the Wamesit Indians are vehemently suspected to be actors and consentors to the burning of a haystack at Chelmsford, this Court judgeth it meet that such Englishmen as cann inform or give evidence in the case be forthwith sent for, and those Indians now at Charls Toune, and the case to be heard by this Court, then and there to consider and conclude what wth the sajd Indians."
The following spring, 1676, the Pawtuckets withdrew into the wilderness; not however until they had retaliated upon the English (Drake's Hubbard, Vol. I, p. 222):
"At Chelmsford the said Wamesit Indians about March 18th before fell upon some Houses on the North side of the River, burnt down three or four that belonged to the Family of Edward Colburn: the said Colburn with Samuel Varnham his Neighbor being pursued as they passed over the River to look after their Cattel on that side of the River; and making several Shots against them who returned the like again upon the said Indians (judged to be about forty) what success they had upon the enemy was best known to themselves; but two of Varnham's sons were slain by the Enemies Shot before they could recover the other side of the river. April 15 also were fourteen or fifteen houses burnt there."
The author of this account was Rev. William Hubbard of Ipswich. He was a former neighbor of Coburn and Varnum at Ipswich, and he doubtless obtained his information from them. I think buildings was what was meant when he gives the number as fourteen or fifteen. There could not have been that number of separate dwellings on that side of the river at the time.
This conduct of the Pawtuckets occasioned great alarm. Wannalancet must be won back if possible, and who could better accomplish this desirable object than the just and moderate Hinchman. The court directed Lieut. Thomas Hinchman and Cornet Thomas Brattle as follows:
"You are to endeavor either one or both of you (if it may bee) to gain the Indian Sachem Wannalanset to com in againe and live at wamesit quietly [and] pecabley: you may promise him in the councills name yt if hee will returne & his people and liue quietly at Wamesit hee shall susteyne no pruidise by the English; only you are to ppose to him yt he deliuer for a hostage to the English his sonne who shalbe wel vsed by vs. & in case hee come in and can bee gained then you are to impour him to informe the Pennakooke and Natacook indians and all other indians on the east side of Merrimack River, that they may liue quietly and peacably in yr places and shall not be disturbed any more by the english provided they do not assist or ioyne with any of or enimiy nor do any dammage or periudice to ye english."
Later, in 1685, Hinchman reminded the court that Wannalancet and other Indians had received no acknowledgement for their services in the treaty with the Indians at Pennacook; and in
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answer the court ordered ten pounds in money and clothing to be distributed among them by Captain Hinchman and Mr. Jonathan Tyng.
One other notable instance, showing Hinchman's influence with the Indians, deserves to be mentioned. In June, 1689, two Indians from Pennacook came to Major Hinchman and reported a plot against the life of Major Waldron of Cocheco, now Dover. Hinchman immediately sent a messenger to notify the authorities at Boston, and a courier was dispatched by them, to Major Waldron. But the warning came too late. Upon the fatal night of June 27th, while the courier was detained at Newbury Ferry, the squaws who had been allowed to lodge in the garrison houses, opened the doors at midnight and the savages rushed in. The story of the gallant defence of Major Waldron, is familiar; how, being overpowered by numbers and weak from loss of blood, he at length fell upon his own sword which was held under him.
Major Hinchman died in 1703. The inscription upon his gravestone, in the old cemetery at Chelmsford, reads as follows:
HERE LYETH YE BODY OF MAJOR THOMAS HINCHMAN AGED 74 YEARS DECD. JULY YE 17 1703.
His will does not disclose the amount of his property. It was doubtless large, as he was a very extensive land owner. He left the bulk of his estate to his wife, Elizabeth. There were two other bequests, one of five pounds and an interest in his lands at Nashoba, to his minister, Rev. Thomas Clark; and another to Joseph Warren, "my kinsman (by marriage), and Ruth, his wife, my dear kinswoman, ye house and all those Lands, at my tenement at Blanchards (as commonly called)," &c. This farm bequeathed to Joseph Warren, is the one now owned by Joseph E. Warren at Chelmsford Centre. It has been continuously in the Warren family. It is pleasant to know that the memory of Thomas Hinchman is still kept green in the Warren family. Mr. E. H. Warren, the present town treasurer of Chelmsford [1892], was named in his honor, E. Hinchman Warren.
It would be interesting to trace the development of this section from the year 1700 to the introduction of cotton manu- facturing in 1823, which resulted in the development of this prosperous city. Some writers have hardly done justice to the enterprise of the people who occupied this section when P. T. Jackson and his associates came and diverted the waters of the Merrimack to serve the purpose of human industry. "The History of the People of the United States," by John Bach McMaster, in speaking of the condition of the people in 1820, says (Vol. I, p. 61) :
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"When, in 1820, the fourth census was taken the country around Lowell was a wilderness where sportsmen shot game. The splendid falls which now furnish power to innumerable looms, were all unused, and the two hundred needy beings who comprised the whole population of the town, found their sole support in the sturgeon and alewives taken from the waters of the Concord and Merrimack."
It is unnecessary to prove to the members of the Old Residents' Association, the falsity of this picture of poverty. The canals, bridges, schoolhouses, and manufacturing establishments of various kinds then in operation, gave ample evidence of the presence of an intelligent, thrifty and enterprising people.
The social condition of the other parts of the town may be inferred from the fact that Dr. John C. Dalton was engaged in the practice of his profession at the centre of the town; Willard Parker, one of Chelmsford's sons, who later acquired more than a national reputation in the medical profession, was teaching the district school; Joel Adams, A. M., was practicing law; Rev. Wilkes Allen, at his handsome residence, had just completed his "History of Chelmsford"; and only five years later, in this territory which the historian would have us believe was something of a wilderness, Ralph Waldo Emerson was teaching the Chelmsford Classical School, and among the youth of the town who were his pupils, were Benjamin P. Hunt and Josiah G. Abbott.
THE FOLKS AT THE NECK (NOW LOWELL), IN YE OLDEN TIME. READ BEFORE THE OLD RESIDENTS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIA- TION, LOWELL, MASS., DECEMBER 21, 1897, BY HENRY S. PERHAM, CHELMSFORD.
In a former paper* I gave some account of the early settlers of Chelmsford, who located near the borders of the Indian reserva- tion upon land now included within the limits of the City of Lowell. Their homes were scattered along the Merrimack inter- vale and upon the easily cultivated plain about Mt. Pleasant. This section included what is now Middlesex Village and extending along up the river, to the Stony Brook and as far south as the No. 2, or North Row, schoolhouse, came to be known as the North End.
The Indians' land passed to an association of individuals in Chelmsford in 1686, by what is known as the Wamesit Purchase; it included practically the whole of original Lowell. The period embraced in this paper is from the opening up this tract to settle- ment up to the time of the revolution.
The section from the North End eastward between the Merri- mack and River Meadow brook was called the Great Neck in distinction from Concord River Neck, which lay between the River Meadow brook and the Concord River. But the simple name Neck came to be more generally adopted. The name Wamesit also clung to this entire tract for some time.
*The Early Settlers of that part of Chelmsford now Lowell.
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The people who occupied this section performed their political duties in Chelmsford and attended meeting there, although no formal act of annexation was passed until 1826 .*
This step was brought about by the refusal of the General Court to seat the representative of Chelmsford, Stephen Pierce, whose home was in Wamesit, on the ground of his not being a resident of Chelmsford.
Rev. Wilkes Allen, the historian of Chelmsford, states that "His [Stephen Pierce's] house, the cellar of which is now [1820] visible, was between Capt. Isaac Chamberlain's and Mr. Samuel Marshall's houses." Chamberlain lived at what is now called the Jenness place on Chelmsford street, and Marshall at what is known as the Noah Spalding house on Parker street. Chelmsford street passes diagonally across the site of the old road between those two points. The house was near the corner of Forrest and Chelmsford streets. The place continued in the Pierce family for several generations. That spot has especial interest as the early home of Gen. Benjamin Pierce, the father of President Franklin Pierce. Stephen deeded to son Robert March 3, 1730, land "within the now improved general field in Wamesit ajoining to Chelmsford."į Robert was the uncle of young Benjamin and furnished the latter a home after the death of his father in 1764, and until the alarm guns upon April 19, 1775, called young Benja- min to the stern duties of a soldier. A school was kept in Robert's house in 1755, and probably at other times before a schoolhouse was built in this section. The first of the Pierce family who settled in Chelmsford was Stephen, a tailor. He was granted land at the center of the town in 1671, "a small parsill to sett a house upon, 20 rods - - - south west side of beaver brook bridge." The line of descent from him to Benjamin is 'Stephen Pierce, son of Thomas of Woburn, married Tabitha Parker dau. of Jacob Parker, Nov. 8, 1676. 2Stephen m. Esther Fletcher, Jan. 5, 1707 d. Sept. 9, 1749. 3Benjamin b. Nov. 25, 1726, m. Elizabeth Merrill of Methuen, pub. Aug. 2, 1746; he d. June 16, 1764. 4Benjamin baptised Dec. 12, 1756.
Allens states that "The first English settlements made on the Indian plantation were on the borders of Concord river, upon a plot of ground much resembling a heater, which gave rise to the name Concord River Neck." Here lived Solomon Keyes, (son of Solomon and Frances, b. June 24, 1665,) as early as 1714, || and his hardy son Solomon (b. May 11, 1701,) who later was one of the heroes of the famous Lovewell's fight.
Among the original proprietors of the Wamesit Purchase, Benjamin Parker was the only one whose possessions there have continued in the hands of his descendants to the present time. He was a son of Jacob and Sarah Parker, (b. July, 1663). In
*See "The Wamesit Purchase."
tAllen's Chelmsford, p. 45-Note.
*Benj. Parker Papers.
§ Page 15.
Il Wamesit Proprietors' records.
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1732, March 21, he and wife Sarah deeded, "to sons Benjamin and Jona. lands and buildings in Wamesit Purchase" and other property .* This son Benjamin extended this Wamesit property by the purchase of adjoining lots. His brother Philip lived upon an adjoining farm. Perhaps they occupied a barn in common as the minister Rev. Ebenezer Bridge mentions in his diary: "was invited to a barn moving by Benjamin and Philip Parker."
A barn moving in those times was a work performed by the united efforts of the neighbors and their oxen, and the minister was invited whenever the people gathered for any laudable purpose. His diary frequently mentions attending barn and house raisings. At the raising of Oliver Barron's tavern at the center of the town, to take the place of one that had been burned, the 34th Psalm was sung. The liquors which were freely served at such occasions were frequently the cause of conduct which brought a sharp reproof from the parson.
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