USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 31
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March 5, 1770, the following votes were passed :
" Voted, That we will use our utmost endeavors to en- courage and support the body of merchants and traders, in
their salutary endeavors to retrieve this Provinee out of its present distresses ; to whom the town owe their thanks for the constitutional and spirited measures, pursued by them, for the good of this Province.
" Voted, That from this time, we will have no social or commercial connection with those who at this time do re- fuse to contribute to the release of this abused country ; especially those who import British goods contrary to the agreement of the body of merchants in Boston, and else- where; that we will not afford them our eustom, but treat them with the utmost contempt and all who countenance them.
" Voted, That we will use our utmost endeavors to pre- veut the consumption of all foreign superfluities, and that we will use our utmost endeavors to promote and encour- age our own manufactures.
" Voted, That the town clerk transmit a copy of these votes of the town to the Committee of Inspection at Boston."
In December, 1772, a committee of nine of the principal men of the town was appointed to con- sider the rights of the colony and the violation of said rights, and draft such votes as they thought proper. In January the following report of this committee was accepted and adopted : -
"Taking into serious consideration the alarming eircum- stanees of this Province, relating to the violation of our charter rights and privileges, (as we apprehend) by the British administration, we are of opinion, That the rights of the colonists, natural, ecclesiastieal, and eivil are well stated by the town of Boston. And it is our opinion that the tax- ing of us without our consent, the making the Governor of the Province and the Judges of the Supreme Court inde- pendent of the people and dependent on the Crown, out of money extorted from us, and many other instances of en- eroachments upon our said charter rights, are intolerable grievances and have a direct tendency to overthrow our happy constitution, and bring us into a state of abject slav- ery. But we have a gracious sovereign, who is the Father of America as well as Great Britain; and, as the man in whom we have had no confidence is removed from before the Throne, and another, in whom we hope to have reason to put confidence, placed in his stead, we hope that our petitions will be forwarded and heard and all our griev- anees redressed.
" Voted, also, That, as we have no member in the House of Representatives, we earnestly recommend it to the Rep- resentative Body of this Province, that you, gentlemen, in- speet, with a jealous eye, our charter rights and privileges, and that you use every constitutional method to obtain the redress of all our grievances ; and that you strenuously en- deavor, in such ways, as you, in your wisdom, think fit, that the Hon. Judges of the Supreme Court may have their sup- port, as formerly, agrecable to the charter of this Provinee.
" Voted, That the sincere thanks of the town be given to the inhabitants of the town of Boston, for their spirited endeavors to preserve our rights and privileges inviolate, when threatened with destruction."
In March, 1774, resolutions were passed with
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reference to paying duty on tea belonging to the East India Company, but these resolutions were not recorded.
In August, 1774, three of the principal citizens of the town were appointed delegates to a county convention to be holden in Concord the 30th of that month. In October of the same year two of the three delegates referred to above were clio- sen to sit in a provincial congress which was to as- semble at Concord soon, and at the same meeting a committee of correspondence was appointed. In December of the same year £25 was voted for the use of the province, and a vote passed to indem- nify the assessors for not making returns to the British government; it was also voted to join the association of the Continental Congress, and a com- mittee was appointed to see that all inhabitants above sixteen years of age signed their compliance, and that the names of those who did not sign should be reported to the committee of correspondence.
In November, 1774, the town raised a company of minute-men, and voted to pay them each eight pence every time they met for drill. In 1775 Josiah Hayward was twice chosen a delegate to the Provincial Congress at Cambridge. In June, 1776, the following instructions were given to Mark White, the representative of the town in the General Court : -
" Sir, -Our not being favored with the resolu- tion of the Hon. House of Representatives, calling upon the several towns in this colony to express their minds, with respect to the important question of American Independence, is the occasion of our not expressing our minds sooner. But we now cheerfully embrace this opportunity to instruct you, on that important question.
" The subverting our Constitution ; the many injuries and unheard-of barbarities which the col- onies have received from Great Britain, confirm us in the opinion that the present age will be deficient in their duty to God, their posterity and them- selves, if they do not establish an American Re -. public. This is the only form of government we wish to see established. But we mean not to dic- tate. We freely submit this interesting affair to the wisdom of the Continental Congress who, we trust, are guided and directed by the Supreme Governor of the world; and we instruct yon, Sit, to give them the strongest assurance that if they should declare America to be a Free and Indepen- dent Republic, your constituents will support and defend the measure with their lives and fortunes."
The foregoing instructions were given June 14, three weeks before the Declaration of Indepen- dence was signed, and an apology is given for not presenting similar instructions sooner.
In October, 1776, when the town was consulted as to whether the executive and legislative branches of the provincial government should not frame a constitution for the state, the town passed the fol- lowing resolutions, showing most conclusively that the people of Acton in those days thought for themselves : -
" Resolved, That as this state is at present destitute of an established form of government, it is necessary one should be immediately formed and established."
" Resolved, That the supreme Legislature, in that ca- pacity are by no means a body proper to form aud establish a constitution, for the following reason, viz: Because a con- stitution properly formed, has a system of principles cstab- lished to secure subjects in the possession of their rights and privileges, against any encroachments of the Legisla- tive, part; and it is our opinion that the same body which has the right to form a constitution has the right to alter it; and we conceive that a constitution, alterable by the Supreme Legislative power is no security to the subjects against the encroachments of that power, on our rights and privileges.
"Resolved, That the town thinks it expedient that a convention be chosen by the inhabitants of the several towns and districts in this state, being free to form and establish a constitution for the state.
" Resolved, That the Hon. Assembly of this state be desired to recommend to the inhabitants of the state, to choose a convention for the above purpose, as soon as possible.
" Resolved, That the convention publish their proposed constitution, before they establish it, for the inspection and remarks of the inhabitants of this state.
At a meeting in February, 1778, "The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union " were read twice and adopted.
In May, 1778, a constitution for the state, formed by the General Court, was laid before the town for approval, and was emphatically rejected.
April 28, 1780, the present constitution was laid before the town and read; the meeting was adjourned until May 15, that there might be time to consider it ; on that day it was considered, and there was another adjournment until May 29, when it was approved by a majority of more than two thirds.
No one can read the above extracts without ex- periencing a feeling of the greatest surprise that there should have been, not only such patriotism, but such independent statesmanship and such a high order of intellectual talent among a people
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whose laborious toil and hand-to-hand conflict for the means of subsistence apparently left them little time for thought upon the important and compli- cated subjects which they treated so well.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
We have spoken already of the location of the first meeting-house, and have mentioned the fact that it was nearly three years after it was located before it was so far completed as to be ready for occupancy ; but when this house was finally occu- pied, it was so devoid of every element of architec- tural adornment that it would seem at the present time more like a barn than like a church. Its dimensions were forty-six by thirty-six feet, and twenty-one feet " between joynts," and had no steeple. Until about twenty years after it was built, the middle of the house was occupied by what were called the " body seats," and a suffi- cient space on each side of the house next to the walls was allotted to pews and was called the " pew ground." Nearly all the "pew ground " was given to the citizens of the town who paid the highest rate, with the condition that they should erect pews upon it and plaster up to the girth within a specified time. The part of the pew ground which was not assigned in the manner above indi- cated was the subject of frequent action by the town for several years afterwards, and all of it was finally disposed of to the highest bidders, ex- cepting the room for one pew, which was voted to the minister and his heirs. The body seats and also the seats in the gallery were free ; but at cer- tain intervals a committee was appointed " to seat the meeting-house," according to the age and pay of all the inhabitants, the women being seated on the one side of the house and the men on the other ; there were also two sets of stairs leading into the gallery known as " the men's stairs " and the "women's stairs." We noticed one vote to this effect : "The committee were instructed to seat the negroes in the hind seat of the side gallery."
This meeting-house was used by the town for all the purposes for which it was constructed, until 1807, when the second meeting-house was con- structed, at an expense of more than $ 13,000, and, for the times, was a very elegant structure. These were the only houses of worship which were built by the town. The second meeting-house was destroyed by fire in November, 1862.
After the meeting-house was sufficiently fin-
ished to be occupied (it was not called finished until ten years later), of course the next thing to be desired was the settlement of " a learned, orthodox minister of good conversation." To this end the town sought advice of neighboring minis- ters, and had a day of fasting and prayer for divine guidance, and in May, 1738, united in giving a call to Mr. John Swift of Framingham. We have no record of the organization of a church, though un- doubtedly one had been organized previous to that time.
Mr. Swift was offered, as an inducement to set- tle in Acton, an equivalent of £ 117 settlement and £70 salary, though nominally the settlement and salary were nearly twice those sums, and his salary was to rise and fall with the value of breadstuffs ; and we are happy to be able to publish the fact that, however other towns may have done during this period, this town was true to her agreement.
Mr. Swift graduated from Cambridge in 1733, and was twenty-five years of age when he began his labors in Acton. He was ordained November 8, 1738, and died thirty-seven years and one day afterwards, November 9, 1775. He was an earnest, practical minister, and was evidently much beloved by his people. As was the custom with ministers in those times, he received scholars into his family to be fitted for college. In one year he presented five young men at Cambridge for examination, and they were all admitted. Rev. Mr. Swift lived to see the opening struggles of the Revolution, and it may have been owing largely to his influence that the people of Acton were prepared to take such an honorable part in that long conflict.
January 8, 1777, the church in Acton invited Rev. Moses Adams of Framingham to become their second pastor, and on the 15th of the same month the choice was confirmed by the town. In looking over the records relating to this transaction, the extreme deliberation and caution of the church are very noticeable. The deacons were instructed to seek the advice of the president of the college and the neighboring ministers, and to engage four candidates to preach four successive Sabbaths; of these four doubtless Mr. Adams was preferred, and on the 29th of Angust it was voted "to hear Rev. Moses Adams eight Sabbaths more on pro- bation," and it was voted again, December 20, to hear him four Sabbaths more; and then, after a solemn fast, and public services conducted by neighboring ministers, Mr. Adams was called.
The invitation to Mr. Adams was accompanied
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by an offer of £200 settlement and £80 salary in lawful money, according to silver at 6s. Sd. per ounce ; it was also voted to provide him with fire- wood the first year after his settlement. The Rev. Mr. Adams, like Rev. Mr. Swift, was a native of Framingham, where he was born Octo- ber 16, 1749, and graduated at Cambridge in 1771. He was very much beloved by all his people, and their treatment of him throughout his long ministry was most honorable. In consequence of the heavy draft upon the town, on account of the war, there was a delay in the payment of his settlement, and in 1783 they were delinquent in the payment of his salary to the amount of £123; but they made up his settlement in full in buildings and land, and acceded to a proposition made by Mr. Adams with reference to his salary, and the most perfect har- mony seems to have subsisted between pastor and people through the whole of this pastorate of forty- two years.
The next and last minister, settled by the town, was Mr. Marshall Shedd, of Newton, Mass.
Mr. Shedd, iu preaching as a candidate, seems to have aroused the enthusiasm of the inhabitants of the town to the highest pitch, so that they voted him a settlement of five hundred dollars and soon increased it by subscription to seven hundred dollars and a salary of six hundred dollars, which for those times, considering the amount of the set- tlement and the purchasing power of money, was a very generous offer; and, for several years after Mr. Shedd's ordination, his ministry was acceptable and useful. But at length the religious agitations and controversies which had resulted in the divis- ion of churches and congregations in other towns began to arise in Acton, and Mr. Shedd labored in vain to harmonize them. He appeared to be too liberal to please some and not liberal enough to suit others ; and the result was, that, Providence opening to him, as he thought, a more hopeful field for himself and his family in what was then the " new settlements " in Northern New York, he decided to enter it, and, in May, 1830, the corpo- ration, which was now called a parish, concurred with the church in granting Mr. Shedd's request that his connection with them might be dissolved, and in the same month that action was confirmed by an ecclesiastical council.
This may be said to close the religions history of the town, so far as the town, in a corporate capacity, had any part in the maintenance of religious institutions ; but, as a part of the history
of the people of the town, we insert the following sketches of the religions churches and incorporated societies which now exist.
The Congregational Church .- We mention this church first, because nearly all the members of the old church united with it. This church was organized by a council, March 13, 1832. The first pastor, Rev. James Trask Woodbury, was ordained and installed August 29, 1832. After preaching twenty years he was dismissed, at his own request, June 23, 1852, and was afterwards settled in Milford, Massachusetts, where he died January 15, 1861, aged fifty-cight years. Rev. Benjamin Dodge, of Wilton, Maine, was his suc- cessor. He was installed October 28, 1852, and dismissed April 17, 1855.
Until September, 1855, the church was sup- plied by Rev. Messrs. Alvord and Francis Horton. Rev. Charles Rockwell then commenced his labors as a stated supply. On his leaving, in July, 1856, Rev. Martin Moore, of Boston, and others supplied the pulpit until January, 1857, when Rev. Joseph Garland was hired for two years.
From January, 1859, to May of the same year the pulpit was supplied by various clergymen. Rev. Alpha Morton was then engaged for four years successively, resigning May 1, 1863, to accept an engagement with the church at West Auburn, Maine. Rev. George Coleman was ordained and installed November 12, 1863, and was dismissed in May, 1869. The present pastor, Rev. Franklin P. Wood, was ordained in this church July 24, 1871, and was installed as pastor October 10, 1872.
The pastorate of Rev. James Trask Woodbury was, relatively to the others, so long, and Mr. Woodbury was so much interested in the history of the town, and did so much to give an extended publicity to its honorable features, that we cannot resist the inclination to give to him more than a passing notice. He was a member of the house of representatives in 1851-52, and it was very largely through the influence of his eloquence that the massive monument which adorns the Common at Acton Centre was erected.
Mr. Woodbury did invaluable service in the cause of temperance, and made an abiding impres- sion upon all the people of the town. During Mr. Woodbury's pastorate two houses of worship were erected. The following is a description of the present house, as found in the church records in Mr. Woodbury's handwriting : -
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" 1847, January 1. - The new meeting house erected on the spot where stood the former one was duly dedicated to Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, December 16, 1846, Wednesday, at one o'clock P. M. House 75 feet by 50, with a basement story of stone, with 82 pews. Cost about $ 6,000, exclusive of the fresco painting of the interior, and the cushions, carpets, lamps, eloek, and communion table and chairs, Bible and hymn books, which all cost near $ 700, and were all absolute gifts to the Church, and the house, not to be put on to the pews. The building committee were Dr. J. M. Miles, Samuel Hosmer, 2d, Simon Tuttle, John P. Buttrick, and Col. W. C. Faulkner, and they did their duty faithfully and are entitled to the lasting gratitude of this Church."
More than six hundred different persons have been members of this ehureh.
Besides the Congregational Church and Society at Acton Centre, there is an unincorporated Congre- gational Society at South Aeton, worshipping in a chapel, under the pastoral care of Rev. N. Thomp- son. This enterprise was begun in 1876, and gives promise of success.
Universalists. - We make the following ex- traets from an able sermon, preached by Rev. I. C. Knowlton, at the dedication of the new meeting- house at South Acton :-
" The first Universalist sermons were preached in Acton by Rev. Hosea Ballou, as early as 1814 or 1815. January 19, 1816, the First Universa- list Society of Acton was organized, consisting of eleven members. In 1821 and 1822 Rev. Dr. Benjamin Whittemore preached one half the Sab- baths in Aeton in halls, school-houses, and private residenees. January 27, 1821, the First Univer- salist Society of Acton was legally incorporated. It consisted of fifty paying members; two years after of sixty-one, and eventually of over eighty paying members. In 1833 Rev. Joseph Wright became pastor of this society, and, as a result of his labors, December 17, 1833, a church of thirty- mine members was formed. October 4, 1834, the Boston Association of Universalists met at Aeton.
" During the next six years the religious services were in the First Parish Church, and well attended. June 29, 1836, Rev. Isaac Brown became the resi- deut minister of the society, and continued in this relation three years. July 4, 1837, Rev. Isaac Brown was formally installed as pastor of this church with appropriate services.
"In 1842 an attempt was made to resuscitate the First Parish by uniting all the elements not affiliating with the Evangelical Church. [At about this time there was a Methodist church organized, and there was Methodist preaching for a few years.] About 1850 our interest there (at Acton Centre) peacefully expired."
From 1850 to 1858 there was no regular Uni- versalist preaching in Aeton. In 1858 halls were provided in South and West Aeton, and Rev. J. M. Usher preached in these two places for a period of six years. In 1864 Rev. Edwin Davis became the resident pastor of the parishes at South and West Acton, and continued in that relation until March, 1870.
In January, 1871, Rev. W. W. Hayward became pastor of both these societies, and continued until April, 1872. The next pastor was Rev. N. P. Smith, who began his ministrations in April, 1873, and ended them early in 1874. The present pas- tor, Rev. I. C. Knowlton, assumed his charge in October, 1875.
In 1868 the West Aeton society built, furnished, and paid for a very pretty and pleasant meeting- house, which it has used and greatly enjoyed ever sinee.
In 1861 the South Acton society moved into Exchange Hall, a large and handsome auditorium, where it worshipped for seventeen years.
In the spring of 1876 a eliurch of more than thirty members was organized at West Aeton.
February 21, 1878, a handsome and completely furnished church edifice was dedicated, with appro- priate services, at South Aeton. We regret that our space does not enable us to give a full descrip- tion of this church, that the reader may mark the contrast between it and the "first meeting- house."
Baptists. - The Baptist Church is located at West Acton. It was organized July 10, 1846, with a membership of twenty-three persons. The present membership is one hundred and seven. Since the organization of the church one hundred and nineteen have been added to it by baptism and the profession of their faith. During this period the church has enjoyed five special seasous of revival. This church has had two meeting- houses ; the first was dedicated July 19, 1847, and was burned July 2, 1853. The present house was dedicated September 19, 1854. It is a well- planned edifice, adapted to its purpose in every respeet, and an ornament to the village.
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The following is a list of the pastors of this church and the length of their pastorates : -
Rev. Horace Richardson,1 seven years; Rev. W. H. Watson, seven years; Rev. Jacob Tuck,2 three years; Rev. Walter Rice, three years; Rev. W. K. Davey, five years ; Rev. J. C. Boomer, four years ; Rev. J. R. Haskins, now in his second year.
EDUCATION.
The first attempt to secure a grant of money from the town for educational purposes was in 1740, five years after the town was organized, but the town voted not to erect schools for reading and writing. The next year, however, at the March meeting, it was voted that a reading, writing, and moving school be kept for six months. It is uncertain whether such a school was kept, as in the May meeting it was propounded " how they will order the schools and support the same," and the article was dismissed. But in 1743, at a special meeting in December, a grant of £18, old tenor, was procured for a reading and writing school, and the town was divided into three parts. This divis- ion continued until 1751, when the districts were increased to six, and in 1771 another was added ; for a few years, from 1790-1800, there seem to have been five districts, and then there were four for about thirty years, when the present division into six districts was brought about.
During the period that there were only four districts, the inhabitants of the southeast part of the town received their school money from the town, and united with certain inhabitants of Con- cord and Sudbury, and had a school in a house which was located just across the Sudbury line. This was called " the School of the Three Friends." At this time, also, the north and east districts were one.
As we have seen, the town took no decided action in relation to schools until about ten years after its incorporation ; but from this we are not to infer that the inhabitants of the town were destitute of schools. The first schoolmasters were, with few exceptions, residents of the town, and they undoubtedly had private schools before they were employed by the town. It was more than a quarter of a century after the first appropriation for schools before there was any town appropria- tion for school-houses; and at that time (1771) there were four school-houses which were private
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