USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Hardwick > History of Hardwick, Massachusetts, with a genealogical register > Part 7
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The comparative influence of the Hardwick element in the affairs of Bennington and of Vermont is indicated by the ac- tivity of its representatives in the pioneer work of the town and church, and in the long and bitter territorial controversy with New York ; moreover, when the civil government of the State was organized, John Fassett was the first representative of Ben- nington in the General Assembly (two of his sons representing other towns at the same session) ; Jonas Fay was a member of the first Council ; Joseph Fay was the first secretary of state; and Moses Robinson was the second governor, and also was the first senator in Congress after the State was admitted into the Union, - all Hardwick men. In 1781, while Vermont was refused admission into the Union, and was contending single- handed with New York and New Hampshire for jurisdiction over its own territory, to avoid invasion by the common enemy, a plan was adopted by a few leading individuals to deceive the British officers " by feigning or endeavoring to make them believe
1 Vermont Hist. Mag., i. 171. 2 Jennings' Memorials of a Century, p. 258.
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that the State of Vermont had a desire to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain;" the proceedings were necessarily concealed from the public; the managers, however, signed a " certificate for the protection of Colonel Ira Allen," their agent in the negotiation : "We are of the opinion that the critical circumstances this State is in, being out of the union with the United States and thereby unable to make that vigorous defence we could wish for, -think it to be a necessary political man- œuvre to save the frontiers of this State. Jonas Fay, Samuel Safford, Samuel Robinson, Joseph Fay, Thomas Chittenden, Moses Robinson, Timothy Brownson, John Fassett."1 Of these diplomatic leaders, all except Safford, Chittenden, and Brown- son, were Hardwick men. One more case may be cited : " A special term of the Superior Court was held at Westminster, Sept. 11, 1782, for the trial of the prisoners. The court con- sisted of Moses Robinson, chief judge; and Dr. Jonas Fay, John Fassett, and Paul Spooner, side judges," 2 - all Hardwick men.
A second emigration commenced in the spring of 1775, under the leadership of Asa Whitcomb, which laid the foundation of Barnard, Vermont. That town " was chartered July 17, 1761, to William Story, Francis Barnard, and their associates. James Call chopped the first timber here, in 1774, but left in the fall. The settlement was commenced in March 1775, by Thomas Freeman, his son William, and John Newton. The same season, Lot Whitcomb, Nathaniel Paige, William Cheedle, and Asa Whitcomb, moved their families into town. Thomas Freeman, Jr., came into town June 7, 1775." 3 All these were from Hard- wick, with the possible exception of William Cheedle. They were very soon followed by many others. Asa Whitcomb had been appointed by the proprietors of the township as their agent to make sale of the land and bring forward the settlement. He first secured an energetic man, Thomas Freeman, as a leading pioneer, who removed in 1775 with at least four stalwart sons, (though yet in their minority), William, Thomas, Joshua, and Elisha, and his son-in-law, John Newton. He then induced many of his own relatives, both by blood and marriage, to em-
1 Coll. Vermont Hist. Soc., ii. 135. " prisoners " were political adherents of
2 Hall's History of Vermont, p. 396. New York, who resisted the authority of Paul Spooner was probably born in Vermont.
Hardwick, but was young when his $ Thompson's Hist. of Vermont, art. father removed to Petersham. The "Barnard."
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bark in the enterprise of building a new town in the wilderness ; among whom were his brother, Lot Whitcomb ; his cousin, Joshua Whitcomb ; his brother-in-law, Solomon Aiken, with his sons James, Nathaniel, Solomon, and Elijah; Steward South- gate, whose wife was sister to the wife of Whitcomb ; his neph- ews Nathaniel, Asa, and George Paige, and his nephews Seth, Robert, and Nathaniel Dean. Besides these were Timothy and Gideon, brothers of John Newton, and Thomas Martin Wright, who married their sister; Joseph Byam; Captain Benjamin Cox, with his sons George, Benjamin, and Ebenezer ; Prince Haskell, and his brother Nathaniel ; Captain Edmund Hodges ; Elkanah Steward and his son Samuel; and Thomas W. White. A few of these persons were then minors, but all were in Barnard very soon after the emigration commenced, and all remained and reared families. Within ten years after the town was organized, it received further accessions from Hardwick : James Byram ; Shiverick Crowell, and his brother Nathaniel (their sister Salvina had married Nathaniel Paige); Aaron Fay, and his .. brothers Moses and Eliakim ; Jacob Lawton ; Sylvanus Wash- burn ; and perhaps others. How much the population was in- creased by arrivals from other towns I know not; but the Hard- wick men had almost all the important offices at the organization of the town. The first town meeting was held at the house of William Cheedle, April 9, 1778, by virtue of a warrant issued on the 4th of the same month, by " Thomas Freeman and Lot Whitcomb, Committee of Safety." The officers then elected were Thomas Freeman, Moderator; Thomas W. White, Town Clerk ; Thomas Freeman, Asa Whitcomb, Solomon Aiken, Se- lectmen ; Captain Edmund Hodges, Thomas W. White, Captain Benjamin Cox, Assessors ; Thomas Freeman, Treasurer ; Wil- liam Cheedle, Grand Juror; Joseph Byam, Joseph Bowman, Constables ; Henry Curtis, John Newton, Surveyors of High- ways ; Ebenezer Caul, Tythingman ; and "at a meeting of this Town, July 7, 1778, chose Asa Whitcomb, Justice Peace."
Although this emigration was not, like that to Bennington, a distinctively religious movement,1 the pioneers evinced their re- gard for religion by erecting a meeting-house at an early day. I quote from the Town Records : "July 5, 1779. " Met agreeable to adjournment, and made choice of Capt. Hodges, Moderator. Voted, to build a meeting-house at the spruce tree where the
1 The emigrants to Bennington were removed for the purpose of gaining greater connected with the Separate Church, and freedom in ecclesiastical affairs.
- -
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town made the centre. Voted, to build a log meeting-house, and to meet at the centre the 15th of this month with axes, in order to peel bark and cut timber for the said house." When they had become more able to do so, they voted, March 18, 1782, to build a meeting-house, 40 × 30 feet, and 16 foot posts, with a con- venient gallery.
In order to show the perils, as well as the hardships encountered by these emigrants, one fact is added : " On the 9th of August, 1780, this town was visited by a party of twenty-one Indians, who made prisoners of Thomas M. Wright, Prince Haskell, and John Newton, and carried them to Canada. Newton and Wright made their escape the spring following, and Haskell was ex- changed in the fall. They suffered many hardships while prison- ers and on their return ; but they arrived safely at Barnard, and were all living in 1824 upon the farms from which they were taken." 1
1 Thompson's Hist. of Vermont, art. in the Genealogical Register at the end " Barnard." A more particular notice of of this volume.
the emigrants to Barnard may be found
CHAPTER VI.
CIVIL HISTORY.
American Revolution. - Taxation without Representation. - Stamp Act. - Congress at New York. - Brigadier Ruggles, its President, refuses to sign its Petitions ; his Reasons therefor unsatisfactory to the Representatives, who reprimand him, but satisfactory to his Townsmen. - Riot in Boston. - The Town refuses, but afterwards consents, that the Damage may be paid "out of the Province Treasury."- Brigadier Ruggles stands alone in Opposition to a Bill ostensibly designed to encourage Domestic Manufac- tures, and renders his Reasons publicly. - The Town instructs its Repre- sentative in 1773, to stand fast in Defence of its Chartered Rights and Privileges. - Final Departure of Brigadier Ruggles from Hardwick. - Form of Association prepared by him; his Letter of Explanation; he refuses to bear Arms against his Country, and retires to Nova Scotia. - Post of Honor assigned to him in an Act of Banishment. - His Death, Public Ser- vices, and Character.
IN this history of a small town, it may not be expected that all the causes of the American Revolution should be enumerated and discussed, or the various events recounted, which occurred during its progress. Some of those causes and events, however, should be mentioned, in which this town was more or less actively engaged ; especially because its most eminent citizen was among the foremost actors on one side of the controversy, in its early stages, while the town itself, though for a few years apparently following his leadership, stood manfully and almost unanimously on the other side, when the struggle came to a crisis.
One very prominent question at issue, in the commencement of this political and ultimately sanguinary controversy, was whether or not the British Parliament had a legal right to impose taxes on the American Provinces without their consent. In the exer- cise of this pretended right of supremacy, among other methods for raising a revenue from the provinces, Parliament enacted a law, styled the " Stamp Act," and directed that it should take effect November 1, 1765. It does not appear that the town took any action on this subject in town meeting; but the House of Representatives acted promptly and decisively. They sent a cir-
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cular to the other Provinces, or Colonies, proposing concerted action : -
" Boston, June, 1765. Sir, the House of Representatives of this province, in the present session of the General Court, have unanimously agreed to propose a meeting, as soon as may be, of committees from the House of Representatives, or Bur- gesses of the several British colonies on this continent, to consult together on the present circumstances of the colonies, and the difficulties to which they are and must be reduced by the opera- tion of the acts of parliament for levying duties and taxes on the colonies ; and to consider of a general and united, dutiful, loyal, and humble representation of their condition to his majesty and to the parliament, and to implore relief. The house of repre- sentatives of this province have also voted to propose that such meeting be at the city of New York, in the province of New York, on the first Tuesday in October next, and have appointed, the committee of three of their members to attend that service, with such as the other houses of representatives or burgesses, in the several colonies, may think fit to appoint to meet them ; and the committee of the house of representatives of this province are directed to repair to the said New York, on the first Tuesday in October next, accordingly ; if, therefore, your honorable house should agree to this proposal, it would be acceptable that as early notice of it as possible might be transmitted to the speaker of the house of representatives of this province.
"SAMUEL WHITE, Speaker." 1
Governor Hutchinson remarks, that " the delegates from Mas- sachusetts Bay were James Otis, Oliver Partridge, and Timothy Ruggles. The two last named had the character of friends to government. Mr. Ruggles accepted the trust, expecting nothing would be required of him that was not expressed in the vote of the assembly, and left the house in order to prepare for his jour- ney. He was afterwards informed that the house of representa- tives had passed a set of instructions to their delegates, in which they were required to insist upon an exclusive right in the colon- ies to all acts of taxation. He determined, thereupon, to excuse himself from serving; but, being urged by his friends, he changed his mind, and went on to New York." 2
The several committees assembled in New York " on Monday the 7th of October, 1765," and exhibited their credentials. " Then
1 Journal of the Continental Congress of
2 Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass., iii. 118. 1765, pp. 7, 8.
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the said committees proceeded to choose a chairman by ballot ; and Timothy Ruggles, Esq., on sorting and counting the votes, appeared to have a majority, and thereupon was placed in the chair." On the next day (the day fixed for the meeting), " the Congress took into consideration the rights and privileges of the British American colonists, with the several inconveniences and hardships to which they are and must be subjected by the oper- ation of several late acts of parliament, particularly the act called the stamp act ; and after some time spent therein, the same was postponed for further consideration."1 The Congress met from day to day until October 24, 1765, when it adjourned without day. During this time a Declaration of Rights was adopted, to- gether with an address "to the King's most excellent majesty," a memorial to the House of Lords, and a petition to the House of Commons, of Great Britain ; in all which the Congress professed allegiance to the King, but protested against the recent enact- ments of Parliament. To the House of Commons it was said that " it is with the most ineffable and humiliating sorrow that we find ourselves of late deprived of the right of granting our own property for his majesty's service, to which our lives and for- tunes are entirely devoted, and to which, on his royal requisi- tions, we have been ready to contribute to the utmost of our abil- ities. We have also the misfortune to find that all the penalties and forfeitures mentioned in the stamp act, and divers late acts of trade extending to the plantations, are, at the election of the in- formers, recoverable in any court of admiralty in America. This, as the newly erected court of admiralty has a general ju- risdiction over all British America, renders his majesty's subjects in these colonies liable to be carried, at an immense expense, from one end of the continent to the other. . . . By this means we seem to be, in effect, unhappily deprived of two privileges essen- tial to freedom, and which all Englishmen have ever considered as their best birthright, - that of being free from all taxes but such as they have consented to in person or by their representa- tives, and of trial by their peers." 2 For these and similar reasons an earnest appeal was made for the repeal of the objectionable and oppressive laws.
President Ruggles refused to affix his official signature to these documents, for reasons which he afterwards formally presented to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. By their printed
1 Journal of the Cont. Congress of 1765, pp. 25, 26.
2 Ibid., p. 38.
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journal it appears that on the 26th of January, 1766, the House then being in session, " the following letter was signed by the Speaker and directed to be forwarded to Brigadier Ruggles, viz., Sir, the House of Representatives have this day resolved to take into consideration the services of their committee at the late Con- gress at New York, and some things having been mentioned in general relating to your conduct which the House think proper to inquire into, - they direct your attendance on Thursday the 6th day of February ensuing." The subsequent proceedings were published in the printed journal as follows : February 6, 1766. " The House, according to the order of the day, entered into the conduct and services of the committee at the late Congress at New York ; and after a debate, the question was put, whether the rea- sons offered by Brigadier Ruggles for his not signing the petitions prepared by the late Congress at New York be satisfactory to this House ? It passed in the negative. Then the question was put, whether the reasons offered by Brigadier Ruggles for leaving the late Congress at New York before they had completed their busi- ness,1 be satisfactory to this House ? It passed in the negative. Resolved, unanimously, that the account given by James Otis and Oliver Partridge, Esquires, of their conduct at the late Con- gress at New York, is satisfactory to this House." February 12, 1766. " Resolved, that Brigadier Ruggles, with respect to his conduct at the Congress at New York, has been guilty of neglect of duty, and that he be reprimanded therefor by the Speaker." February 13, 1766. " Brigadier Ruggles appearing in the House, Mr. Speaker said to him as follows, viz., -
" Brigadier Ruggles, the House last evening voted, that with respect to your conduct at the late Congress at New York, you were guilty of neglect of duty, and thereupon ordered, that you should receive a reprimand from the Speaker of this House. Therefore
"Sir, in discharge of my duty as Speaker of this House, and in pursuance of their order, I do reprimand you accordingly. Sir, it gives me very sensible pain, that a gentleman who has been heretofore in such high estimation in this House, should fall under their publick censure.
" I hope, Sir, that by your future conduct, you will not only regain the good opinion this House have heretofore entertained of
1 The only business which remained sign, he did not choose to wait for his as- unfinished was the signing of the docu- sociates. ments by the committees ; as he would not
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you, but also the good opinion of all those whose displeasure you may have fallen under on this occasion."
A vote was then passed by the House permitting the publica- tion in their Journal of the reasons which he offered in justifica- tion of his conduct ; but, February 19, 1766, " Brigadier Rug- gles (according to order) laid upon the table his reasons for his conduct at the Congress at New York, which being read, after a debate, the question was put, whether the paper offered as con- taining his reasons be printed in the Journal of the House ? It passed in the negative." Having thus been denied the priv- ilege before promised to him, he caused his Reasons to be pub- lished in the " Boston Post Boy and Advertiser," May 5, 1766 : -
" Brigadier Ruggles's Reasons for his dissent from the Resolu- tions of the Congress at New York, as given into the House, Feb- .. ruary 19, 1766.
" The Honourable House having on my motion been graciously pleased to indulge me with adjoining the Reasons in justification of my conduct to a publication of the Proceedings of said Con- gress, ordered by the House to be inserted at the end of the Jour- nals of the present Sessions, first laying them before the House, -- I beg leave to offer the following : -
" First. My instructions from this honorable house, conceived in the following words, viz., ' It is the expectation of the house that a most loyal and dutiful address to his Majesty and his Par- liament will be prepared by the congress, praying as well for the removal of the grievances the colonies labor under at present, as for the preventing others for the future ; which petitions, if drawn up as far as you shall be able to judge agreeable to the mind of this house, you are empowered to sign and forward.' The peti- tion agreed upon by the congress to be presented to his majesty not being conceived in terms clearly enough expressive of that duty and loyalty which are due to the best of sovereigns, and con- sequently not agreeable to my above instructions from this house, left as a mere matter of judgment and discretion, if I had signed it I must have acted in direct opposition to those instructions, and thereby have exposed myself not only to the censures of this house, but to the reproaches of my own conscience, a tribunal more awful to me than this (however great) by which I have been condemned.
" 2dly. That it is more regular, constitutional and conformable to the constant practice of the colonies to have their petitions and remonstrances to the King and Parliament of Great Britain signed by the Speaker of their House.
-
-
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CIVIL HISTORY.
" 3dly. That the signing said addresses by the committees of the several colonies which attended the congress, and who were empowered to sign the same, could by no construction come up to a general address from the colonies, as the committees from the colonies of South Carolina, Connecticut, and New York, were not empowered, and therefore could not sign, and the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Caro- lina, and Georgia, did not send committees to the congress, and some had no regular appointment, so that in this respect it was but a very partial signing; and therefore it was more agreeable to the instructions of this house to their committee, after having, conformable not only to the spirit but to the very words of their instructions, ' to unite in sentiments and agree upon such repre- sentations as may tend to preserve our rights and privileges,' to return the same to the house for their approbation ; especially as we knew the house was then sitting, and as I then apprehended, and in fact would have been the case, little or no time would have been lost.
" 4thly. A matter of so great importance to the colonies and of so delicate a nature as the open and avowed claim of an ex- clusive right of taxation (however true) to be asserted in ad- dresses to the King and Parliament for relief from an Act made by this very Parliament was a measure I could not bring myself to adopt, as at my appointment to this service, upon motion made, I could not obtain an explanation on that point, nor did I think it was then the sense of this house ; I therefore thought it my duty, and most respectful to the house to report the draughts agreed upon for their acceptance.
" 5thly. In my apprehension those addresses would have had greater weight, and would have been more favorably received by the King and Parliament, had they been authenticated by the suffrages of the various houses of representatives and burgesses throughout the continent, and signed by their respective speakers.
" As to the charge of leaving the congress before the business was completed, I beg leave to say, that after the draughts were completed, and the petition to his Majesty was laid before me, such difficulties arose in my mind as that in its present form I could not bring myself to sign ; and the reasons for reporting the draughts to the several assemblies operating so strongly on my mind I made some exceptions to the gentlemen of the congress on the address to his Majesty and offered some general reasons for the expediency of reporting the draughts to our respective
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assemblies, in which I was seconded by divers members, and which occasioned a long and warm debate ; upon which it was determined by a vote that the address to his Majesty, which was at that time in a fair draught, together with those to the Lords and Commons, should be laid on the table the next morning, in the form they had before passed the congress and been entered upon the journal, to be signed by such of the members as thought proper. I then acquainted the congress that I proposed to go out of town early the next morning ; and after the congress was adjourned to the next morning I took my leave of the members, which was on Thursday evening the 24th October, when I con- cluded all the business of the congress was entirely finished, except the bare signing, which, for the reasons given, I had re- fused.
" MR. SPEAKER, This honorable House have adjudged my reasons insufficient to support my conduct ; and I feel the weight of their indignation. I have, Sir, more than once trembled under a sense of my own insufficiency to support the dignity of the high trust, with which my country unasked has honoured me; and to answer their just expectations in the discharge of them. Their candour has heretofore estimated my services rather by the integrity of my heart than the clearness of my head ; this up- rightness they have not only been pleased to accept, but bounti- fully to reward. When this house honoured me with this appointment, in undertaking it I promised myself the same indulgence. I have exercised the same freedom of judgment, I have attended the duty with the same diligence, I have been actuated with the same love to my country and its liberties, I have acted with the same singleness and uprightness of intention, and with the same ardent desire to serve the publick weal, which I have ever made the rule of my conduct : But alas ! I meet with a very different reward."
Before printing these reasons, Brigadier Ruggles submitted them to his immediate constituents at a town meeting, March 3, 1766 ; and it is not surprising that " after Brigadier Ruggles' read- ing the reasons he exhibited to the General Court for not signing the petitions drew at the late Congress at New York to his Majesty &c. the town voted [that they were] in their opinion sufficient to vindicate his conduct." They did not lose their confidence in him as a patriot, and a true friend to his country -
as well as to his king ; and for four years longer, continued to elect him as their representative in the General Court.
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