History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 142

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 142

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ANDOVER.

to remove, or to be removed, to a French settlement. It was ordered that they be scattered among the English colonies, some to Massachusetts Bay, some as far distant as Georgia. Major Frye was in com- mand of a part of the force under General Winslow, to whom was given the execution of this cruel order. The helpless people, women and children, were forci- bly torn from their homes, gathered up from their separate villages, driven to the place of embarkation, like sheep to the shambles, and thrust promiseuously, at the point of the bayonet, upon the decks of the transports ; thus were separated families, so that pa- rents were taken to one colony and children to another. While they were thus huddled together npon the deeks, wild with grief, the torch was ap- plied to their dwellings, and they sailed away from the land they loved by the lurid light of the homes they had cherished. From country and comfort and fireside freedom they went to exile, poverty and, in some cases, to semi-servitude. If Major Frye was the kind-hearted man that tradition credits him with being, his duty here must have been a far more try- ing one than any that fell to his lot in the morasses or fights around Louisbourg in the winter of 1746. Those of these wretched exiles who were apporti oned to Massachusetts Bay were distributed among the towns with as much regard to humanity, doubtless, as the circumstances and the feelings of the people would admit. They were everywhere received with aversion. They were foreigners of a hostile race,- Papists. Their religion and their nation were alike distrusted, if not abhorred.

In February, 1756, a family of twenty-two Aca- dians were brought to Andover, "Germain Laundry, his wife, seven sons and thirteen daughters, and," says the report of the selectmen, "one born since, making in all twenty-three who came to town." These, and others who followed them, were cared for by the town as they best might be. Changes were made, so that, in the year 1760, some having been " sett off to the County of Hampshire," there remain- ed, according to the return of the selectmen of July 20th of that year, twelve persons, as follows:

Jno. Laundry ......... age 26 (nearly)

Margaret Bear. .. age 1

Amon Dupce. .age 36

Mary, his wife. age 29

Margaret Bear .age 24

Mary Joseph. .age 5

Molly Bear .. age 4

Margaret Dupee. .ago 2

Charles Bear .age 1 Hermon Duper. .. nge 34

" After a time," says Miss Bailey, "houses were provided for the families, and most of the Acadians in Andover became self-supporting. The family of Jacques Esbert and Charles Esbert were placed in a house on the estate of Mr. Jonathan Abbot, re- cently "owned by his grandson," (the late) "Mr. Stephen D. Abbot. The house was empty, Mr. Ab- bot having built a new one for himself. It was, how- ever, a great annoyance to the Puritan farmer to have these tenants-foreigners and Roman Catholics-

quartered near his own residence. But, as his de- scendants relate, the Acadians completely conquered the prejudices of this family and of the community, and gained the good-will of all acquaintances. They were industrious and frugal. The women worked in the fields, pulling flax and harvesting. They prac- tised the rites 'of their religion in an inoffensive manner, and commended it by their good conduct. When they went away from Andover, Mr. Abbot's family parted from them with sincere regret."

From this account it woukl seem that the exiles gradually made their way to the hearts of the people upon whom they were helplessly cast, gained sym- pathy, kind treatment, respect and warm friends.

In the month of August, 1757, we find Major (now Colonel) Frye among the seventeen hundred provin- ciał troops entrenched under the guns of Fort Wil- liam Henry, a small fort situated at the head of Lake George, manned by a garrison of less than five hun- dred English soldiers, under the command of the heroic Lieutenant-Colonel Monro. This fort was besieged by the indefatigable and accomplished Montealm, with a force of six thousand French and Canadian troops, and seventeen hundred Indian al- lies of various tribes. After a gallant resistance, succor being refused by General Webb, the superior officer at Fort Edward, the little fort capitulated on the 9th of August, under a guarantee of protection from the French commander. But, at daybreak the next morning, as the officers and soldiers were leav- ing their intrenchments, they were set upon by the Indians, beaten, hacked, stripped of their clothing, and some twenty or thirty of them massacred. Montcalm would seem to have exerted himself to the utmost, but vainly, to restrain the ferocity of the savages, inflamed, it is said, by intoxicating drink given them by English soldiers the night pre- vions. Some of the officers and men escaped almost naked from the hands of the Indians and fled into the forests. Colonel Frye was one of these. Being dragged into the woods by an infuriated savage, stripped of his elothing, aud about to be dispatched by the tomahawk of his captor, seizing a favorable opportunity, he leaped upon his foe and killed him. Then, hastily, with no clothing but a shirt, he ran for the woods, where he wandered for three days, finally reaching Fort Edward nearly famished from hunger and distracted by the cruelties he had expe- rieneed and the horrors he had witnessed. He lived, however, for greater exploits and higher honors.

It is not certain that there were other Andover men with Colonel Frye at Fort Henry. Nor does it clearly appear how many or who were the Andover men personally engaged in this war of conquest, which terminated on the 8th day of September, 1760, by the surrender to the English of Montreal, Canada, and whatever territory had been hitherto elaimed by France in the Northeast.

But it is reasonably inferred that there were pri-

Mary Laundry. age 26

Charles Bear age 36

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

vati soldiers from this town scattered among the dif- lerent regiments sent by Massachusetts upon two of these expeditions. From a petition of Abiel Abbot, of Andover, for further pay for services in the army, we learn that he " was surgeon's mate of Col. Frye's regment, & in that department of it which garrisoned Annapolis Royal in 1759 & 1766."' Massachusetts Bay contributed more than ten thousand troops, nearly one-sixth of all able to bear arms, for these

dover, of course, must have furnished her propor- tionate number of these, gathered largely as they were from the agricultural settlements; but, enlisted into different regiments and companies, their names have not been handed down to us.

The taxes for sustaining these military operations for so many years bore heavily upon the inhabitants, especially upon those engaged in farming, as they were largely levied upon the land. Money was scarce ; the people were poor; hence much ditliculty was experienced in the collection of the taxes.

The property of the delinquent tax-payer was nut infrequently seized by the officer and sold to meet the requisition of the colony. Thus, in more ways than one, dil trial and grief come to the homes of the humble settlers. We can scarcely imagine the in- tensity of their joy when the news came that Mon- treal had capitulated, and all the French possessions in Canada and Nova Scotia had been surrendered. This was a victory that had the promise of permanent peace. Now the sons, brothers, husbands and fath- ers whom sickness and the bullet had spared, might return to gladden once more the bereft homes upon the hillsides and in the hamlets of New England. Was ever the Thanksgiving more heartily observed than that which followed the closing up of the de- vastating French and Indian Wars? The bells of Massachusetts Bay rang merrily on that day.

The names of Andover men holding military com- mission, from 1745 to 1763, as given by Miss Bailey, are as follows :

Cui Juseph Frye. Capt. Jonathan Poor. Capt. Asut Stevens.

1.1 .. Jaser's Frye Adj .I'll Newly Bruges.

Capt. Junies Stevens.

Hartman Ward Nages. Surgendt Veel Wehot

Capt. John Wright.

Lagt. Isaac Osgood.

Lient. John Peabody.

Toget The as Farrington

Laient Nathan Chandler. lent. Jacob Farrington.

Lieut. Nicholas Holt.

Kusign Nathaniel Lovejny

Ensign decor Albut.

1 1. P.

Ensign John Foster. Ensign Wiham Rust,

th decades of Captain John Abbot, Jr., have In fier bosses in his commission from the hand of Governor > irley, of which the following is a copy :

W 11. LIAM SHIRLEY, EJ .: Captum- Gear dar It NEEN ARInChief in andover HIN Moir Ys Province of the Music home

" Tu JIMIN ABBOTT, JunT., Gento, greeting :

Y virtue of the Power and Authority, in and by His Majes- ty's Royal Commission to Me granted to be C'aptain-Gene- B ral, etc., over this, llis Majesty's Province of the Massachu- sells-Buy, afuresaid; I do (by these Presents) reposing es preval Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty, Courage and good Conduct, constitute and appoint You, the said John Abbott, C'aplain of the second Foot-Company in the Town of Andover, in the fourth Regiment of Mi litia in the County of Essex, whereof Richd Saltonstall, Eggs , is Colonel.

" Given under My Hand and Soul at Arms, at Boston, the Second Day of July, in the twenty-eighth year of the Reign of His Majesty, King GEORGE the Second, Annogi ; Domini, 1754.

" Big His Excelleury's Comment. W. SHIRLEY.

".J. WILLARD."

CHAPTER CXXXI. ANDOVER-(Continued). RESISTANCE TO TAXATION.

WHEN the British government was relieved of its foreign wars by the treaty of Paris, it began to look more carefully after the condition of its American colonies, with the purpose of deriving from them a much-needed revenue.

Various forms of taxation were devised-among them was that of a Stamp Act. This was vehemently resisted by the people of Massachusetts Bay. There were riotous proceedings in Boston when the attempt was made to put the act into operation. Andover was aroused ; a public meeting of citizens was called, and held September 11, 1765, at which a vote was passed unanimously expressing "their utter detestation and abhorrence of all such violent and extraordinary proceedings," directing the selectmen and officers of the town "to use their utmost endeavours to suppress the same" and maintain the supremacy of the laws ; also urging the freeholders and other inhabitants to aid its officers in the discharge of their duty.

While thus strenuous in their purpose to sustain good order and put down rioting, they were equally determined in their opposition to all unjust acts on the part of the mother country. October 21, 1765, at a meeting held in view of the oppressive acts of Parliament, they chose Col. James Frye, Deacon Isaac Abbot, George Abbot, Esq., Mr. Moody Bridges, Capt. Peter Osgood, Col. John Osgood, Capt. Asa Foster, Capt. John Foster, Capt. Peter Parker, Capt. John Farnum "a committee to draw up instructions for the representative of the town, at the great and gen- eral Court of this Province, and report as soon as may be."

The committee reported as follows :

" You are, therefore, carefully and diligently to discharge the Duty ut i t'aptain in leading, ordering and exercising said Company in Arms, both inferiour Officers and Soldiers, and to keep them in good Order and expeditions against Canada and Nova Scotia. An- Discipline; hereby commanding them to obey you as their Captain and yourself to observe and follow such Orders and Instructions, as you shall from time to time receive from Me, or the Commander-in-Chief for the Time being, or other your superiour Officers for His Majesty's service, according to Military Rules and Discipline, pursuant to the Trust re. posed i Yon.

1569

ANDOVER.

" To Samuel Phillips, Esq., Representative for the town of Andover in his Majesty's province of the Massachusetts Bay.

" Sir :- We, the freeboldlers and other inhabitants of said town, legally assembled in towa-meeting, on said day, to consider what may be proper en our part to be done at this critical coajuncture, being a timie, we apprehend, that we and the rest of his majesty's subjects of this prov. ince, as well as those of the other provinces and colonies in British America, are by sundry acts of Parliament of Great Britain, especially by an act commonly called the Stamp Act, ia danger of being not only reduced to such indigent circumstances as will render us unable to manifest our loyalty to the Crown of Great Britain, as upon all occasions we have hitherto done, by cheerfully exhibiting our substance for the defence of the British dominions in this part of the world ; hut of being deprived of some of our most valuable privileges which by Charter and loyalty we have always thought and still think ourselves justly en- titled to.

"Therefore, we take it to be a duty justly due to ourselves and posterity to instruct you. that you do not give your assent to any act of Assembly that shall signify any willingness in your constitueuts to submit to any internal taxes that are under any colour imposed, otherwise than by the General Court of this proviace agreeable to the constitution of this government ; That you joia in such dutiful remoastraaces to the King and Parliament, and other becoming measures, as shall carry the greatest probability to obtain a repeal of tbe Stamp Act, and an alleviation of the embarrassments, the commercial affairs of this province labour under by the rigerons execution of the acts of Parliament respecting the same ;- and we also desire you to use your utmost endeavours that all extraordi- Dary grauts and expensive measures may, upon all occasions, as much as possible, be avoided ; and we would recommend particularly the strictest care and the utmost firamness to prevent all unconstitutional dranghts upon the public treasury ;- that you would use your best en- deavours, in conjunction with the other members of the General Court, to suppress all riotous unlawful assemblies, and to prevent all unlawful acts of violence upon the persons and substance of his Majesty's subjects in this Province."

This report was accepted and unanimously adopted and sent to the representative at the General Court.

It is a clear and firm expression of the inhabitants of the town against all lawless and riotous proceed- ings in opposition to the execution of the offensive acts of Parliament, and also an equally fair and clear expression of their judgment and purpose regarding all unconstitutional and oppressive acts of Parlia- ment. One can read between the lines declaring their loyalty a spirit of independence that will brook no imposition, no oppression, no attempt at coercion. We should recall the fact that, when this resolution was passed in the town-meeting of Andover, the streets of Boston, twenty miles distant, were filled at times with a riotous multitude. This self-restraint, under the circumstances, is as praiseworthy as the settled determination to protect their constitutional rights.

These and similar remonstrances from the colonies secured the repeal of the offensive act, but the right of taxation without representation was not yielded by Parliament. Another act, still more offensive to the colonies, was passed by Parliament, imposing heavy duties on imported articles, such as paper, glass, tea and West India goods. This act, and the attempted forcible imposition of it upon the colonies, especially Massachusetts Bay, aroused the slumbering indigna- tion of the people.

The town of Andover resented this new attempt at unjust taxation. In May, 1770, a meeting, ealled to " take into consideration the distresses this Province is labouring under by the operation of a late act of

Parliament, imposing duties on tea, paper, glass, etc., made and passed for the express purpose of raising a revenue in the American Colonies, withont their con- sent, which act we apprehend is oppressive, repugnant to the natural and constitutional rights of the people, contrary both to the spirit and letter of the royal Charter, granted by their Majesties King William and Queen Mary to the inhabitants of this province, whereby are ordained and established the having and enjoying all liberties and immunities of free and natural born subjects ; and subversive of the great and good designs of our most worthy ancestors, who crossed the ocean, willingly exposed themselves to every dan- ger, parted with their blood and treasure, suffered hun- ger, cold and nakedness, and every other hardship human nature is capable of, to purchase and defend a quiet habitation for themselves and posterity," ___

" Therefore voted, nemini contradicenti,-

"1. That it is the duty of every friend to liberty, and to the British Constitution, to use all legal measures to prevent, if possible, the ex- ecution of said act; and would embrace this opportunity to express our warmest gratitude to the merchants and other gentlemen of Bos- toa, and other trading towns in this province, for the regular, consti- tutional and spirited measures pursued by them, from principles truly Doble and generous, for repelling tyranay aad oppression, and estab- lisbing those rights for themselves and country which they are en- titled to as men and as Englishmen,

"2. That we will, by all legal and constitutional measures in our power, support and encourage the noa-importation agreement of the merchants, and that we will have no commercial or social connexions, directly or indirectly, with those persons who, as enemies to the country, divested of every public virtue, and eveu of humanity itself, regardless of and deaf to the miseries and calamities which threaten this people, preferring their own private interest to the liberty and freedom of the community, are sordidly endeavouring to counteract such benevolent and salutary agreement.

"3. That we will encourage frugality, industry and the manufactures of this country ; and that we will not make use of any foreign tea, or suffer it to be used in our families (case of sickness only excepted), until the act imposiog a duty on that article shall be repealed and a general importation take place."

The spirit which dictated and sustained these re- solves did not abate in its intensity as the contest grew fiercer. When armed vessels appeared in Bos- ton harbor to force the landing of tea upon its wharves, the people did not succumb to the threatened compul- sion. The rather, their sense of the indignity and tyranny of the act, and its method of enforcement, aroused within them a more determined purpose of resistance.

Thus we find the town referring to this same matter again, February 3, 1774, ---

" Resolred, thet no person in this town, who has heretofore been con- ceraed in vending tea, or any other person may, on any pretence what- ever, either sull himself, or be in any way accessory to selling any tea of foreign importation, while it remaine burtheued with a duty, under penalty of incurring the town's displeasure."

The displeasure of the town was more to be dreaded than the displeasure of King and Parliament by the village trader of that day.

A careful examination of these resolves and expres- sions of opinion, on the part of the town, as from time to time they were put upon the town record-book, shows us the gradual growth among the people of a spirit of insubordination, and a weakening of the hold

1570

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of the mother country upon their love and confidence. At first they remonstrated, with the expectation that their complaints would be regarded and their griev- ances redressed, but-gradually they came to feel and believe that they must look out for themselves, and take into their own hands such redress. Thus, step by step, were the people led on to do, in 1776, what few, if any of them, would for a moment have thought of doing when, in 1770, they remonstrated with filial confidence and boldness against an oppressive act of the government they revered and trusted.

CHAPTER CXXXIL.

ANDOVER-(Continued).

REVOLUTION.

Bur, as the spirit of resistance to the oppressive acts of Parliament grew strong in the colonies, the determination of the British King, Ministry, Parlia- ment and people to exercise supreme authority in America became more firmly fixed. It was finally determined to u-e force to subjugate the contuma- cious colonists. Boston, as the most pestilent breeder of sedition, was the first to feel the heavy hand of authority. An act was passed in March, 1774, closing the port of Boston to commerce. This was speedily followed by an act creating General Gage the mili- tary commander of America, the civil Governor of Massachusetts, and four regiments of soldiers were given him to enforce his authority. He was further directed to take immediate measures to bring the ringleaders of the revolt to merited punishment. Samuel Adams was singled out as especially worthy of condemnation.

In order to guard against any interference of the local courts, it was also provided that any revenue officer, magistrate, or soldier indicted for murder should be sent to Nova Scotia or Great Britain for trial. And to make the grip of power doubly sure, the quartering of troops within the town of Boston was sanctioned.

So much of the charter of Massachusetts Bay as gave to the Legislature the election of councilors was abolished; town-meetings, except for the choice of town officers, or by permission of the Governor were forbidden ; sheriff's were placed under executive au- therity, and juries were to be summoned by the sheriff's.

W'Inle Parliament was thus passing its coercive nets, the people of the provinces were not unmindful of the seriousness of the crisis, or inactive. A repre- Betitative gathering by committees of the towns of the province was held in Boston for deliberation and umty of action. A Committee of Correspondence embracing all the edonies, was formed. The cause of one was made the cause of all. Outward pressure

brought inward unity. The thirteen provinces pledged themselves to sustain one another. Other commercial towns engaged to suspend all commerce with Great Britain and the West Indies.

A solemn league and covenant, drawn up by Warren, suspending all commercial intercourse with the mother country, was signed by the great mass of the citizens of Boston, and of many other towns in the province. The signing of this covenant was called traitorous in a proclamation by the Governor, and magistrates were enjoined to seize, and put on trial all such signers. This threat rapidly increased the number of subscribers to the "solemn covenant." At the suggestion of the Legislature of Massachusetts Bay, a congress of the colonies met in Philadelphia the 1st day of September, 1774, and, after long delib- eration and a free exchange of opinion, unanimously resolved not to import any merchandise from Great Britain or Ireland after the 1st day of the coming December, and to export no merchandise (rice ex- cepted) to Great Britain, Ireland or the West Indies after the 10th day of September of the following year, provided the redress of American grievances should be delayed until that time. They also ap- proved the opposition of the inhabitants of Massa- chusetts Bay to the execution of the late acts of Par- liament.

The people of Andover watched with eager interest the action of their own Provincial Congress, but with more intense feeling that of the Continental Congress. After the dissolution of these assemblies, the town of Andover, on the 26th day of December,

" Resolved, That it is the indispensable duty of this town strictly to conform and firmly adhere to the Association of the grand American Continental Congress, and to the resolve of the Provincial Congress of the 5th of December thereto relating, and in order that this may be thoroughly effected, that the inhabitants of the town of the age of twenty-one years and upwards subscribe the following agreement, viz. :

" We, the subscribers, having attentively considered the Association of the giand American Continental Congress respecting the nou-importa- tion, non-exportation and non-consumption of goods, etc., signed by the Delegates of this and the other Colonies on the Continent, and the Resolve of the Provincial Congress of the 5th of December thereto re- Inting, do heartily approve the same, and every part of them, and in order lo make said Association and Resolve our own personal act, Do, by these Presents, under the sacred ties of virtue, honor and love of our country, firmly agree and associate fully nnd completely to observe and keep all and every article and clause in said association and resolve con- tained, according to the true intent, meaning and letter thereof, and will duly inform and give notice of every evasion or contravention of either, as far as we are able ; and we further covenant, that if any person or persons of the age of twenty-one years and upwards shall neglect or refuse to subscribe this agreement when tendered to bim or them, that we will withdraw all commerce, trade or dealing from such, so long as they shall continue thus inimical to the public good, and that their unies shall be entered on the records of this town, and published in the Essex Gazette, as enemies to their country."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 142

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1672

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672