USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 32
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2 Deceased.
property. As individuals had sufficient enterprise to build houses for the education of their children before the town assumed that work, we may sup- pose they had sufficient enterprise to erect schools before the town, in a corporate capacity, provided for that want.
The first appropriations for the support of schools were very small, being sometimes only £12. But the range of studies to be taught was extremely narrow, and the wages of teachers cor- respondingly low. The schools were called " Read- ing and Writing Schools," and, until the present century, nothing but the simplest rudiments of knowledge were taught in the schools. We have said the wages of teachers were low. A master in the winter received but little more per week than a day-laborer, and the head of a "woman's school" but little more than a servant-girl. As late as 1760 an order was drawn to pay a master fifteen shillings for keeping school two weeks and a half, and another order drawn for his board to the amount of half that sum. One of the most aged residents of the town related a short time since that when she was a girl the lady who taught their school in the summer had $1.00 per week for her services, and her mother received $1.00 per week for boarding her.
It was undoubtedly the case that the grant of the town for schools was considerably supplemented by individual donations for private schools. For many years such a school was supported in the autumn at the centre of the town, and the late President Asa D. Smith, of Dartmouth College, was one of the teachers of that school.
The appropriations for schools have been gradu- ally increased by the town until they are now sufficient to procure an average yearly school instruction of nearly eight months. The town has in the three principal villages graded schools, though, on account of the peculiar division of the town into somewhat isolated villages, no high school has been established. This want is sup- plemented, as far as possible, by giving a consider- able latitude to the range of studies allowed in the grammar schools, and by the enterprise of indi- viduals in sending their children to academies and high schools in other towns. During the period of a little more than a century four styles of school- houses have been erected in this town. In 1771 seven houses were built or bought, costing about $80 each; from 1870 to 1875 six were built or repaired, costing from $3,000 to $8,000 each.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Every district in the town is provided with a com- fortable and handsome school-house.
The following are some of the names of natives of Acton who have received a college education : Nathan Davis, John Swift, Asa Piper, Solomon Adams, Daniel Brooks, Thomas Noyes, Luther Wright, William Emerson Faulkner, Moses Adams, Josiah Adams, Luther Faulkner, Jonathan E. Scott, Joseph Adams, John R. Cutting, Henry Durant, Josiah W. Brown, William G. T. Shedd, James Fletcher, George S. Parker, Henry L. Parker, Henry Skinner, Ephraim Hapgood, Julian A. Mead.
MILITARY HISTORY.
Under the date of March 21, 1744, it is recorded that the town voted to procure powder and bullets as a town stock : under a later date is the record of an order for money to replenish the town's stock of ammunition. These records show that the town was, in some sense, a military organization from the very beginning of its history.
The first war in which this town had any im- portant part was " the French and Indian War" (1756- 63). Just what part the inhabitants of this town had in that war it is impossible to deter- mine, because of the lack of any record. There is a tradition that Captain Gershom Davis led out a company from Acton in 1759, and that Captain J. Robbins led another company four years later, near the close of the war. If these reports are correct, we may suppose that Acton had a com- pany, raised by voluntary enlistments, in the service during nearly the whole period of the war; for, if the town was thus represented during the latter part of it, we may suppose it was similarly repre- sented during the earlier part.
The next war in which the men of Acton had a prominent part was that of the Revolution. The records show, as we have seen, that, as early as 1770, the citizens of this town begin to feel serious concern as to the result of the conflict which had begun to arise between the interests of the Province of Massachusetts and the British ministry, and the later records, which we cite in another place, show that this concern grew rather than diminished in the minds of the people of this town, and the result was, that in the winter of 1774-75 the town had three military companies regularly enrolled. Two of these were militia companies, and the third was a company com- posed of young men who were the pride of the town, under the command of Captain Isaac Davis,
a young man in the flush of early manhood, being only thirty years of age, courageous and beloved. This company was paid by the town for drilling twice a week, and was to be ready for duty upon a moment's notice, and was known as the company of minute-men.
Week after week, during those long winter months, these young men met, in some barn it may be, and practised the art of war, to be ready to stand in the breach and do honor to their town if the awful arbitrament of arms should come, but probably having little thought that a tilt at arms with the troops of King George was really immi- nent. But in the morning of April 19, 1775, before the dawn of day, and hours before the Brit- ish troops entered Concord, a horseman, whose name is to us unknown, rode at full speed up to the house of Captain Robbins, the commissioned officer of Acton who lived nearest to Concord, and the commander of a militia company, and with a heavy club, as it seemed to those within, struck the corner of the house and cried at the top of his voice, " Captain Robbins ! Captain Robbins ! Up! up! the Regulars are coming to Concord. Quick as possible aların Acton !" In a very few minutes Captain Robbins's son was on horseback, and hastened to the house of Captain Davis, who lived a mile and a half away, with the thrilling message, so mysteriously given. Captain Davis's children were all sick, and he seemed to have a presentiment that if he went to Concord he would never return alive; but, nothing daunted, he be- stirred himself so energetically that when the sun was but a little more than an hour high he had his company together and was on the march for Concord, the fifer, Luther Blanchard, playing, as tradition says, the tune of the White Cockade. Davis reached the vicinage of the old North Bridge at about nine o'clock, and led his men to the left of the line of provincial troops (he was the youngest captain), which were marshalled on the heights overlooking that spot. At this point we can do no better than to refer to the inscription upon the stately monument which was erected in 1851 on Acton Common, by the state of Massa- chusetts and the town of Acton, over the remains of the three citizen soldiers of Acton who fell on that memorable day.
A detailed account of the Concord Fight will find a place most naturally in the armals of the town where it occurred. We attempt no descrip- tion of this historic event, except so far as is neces-
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ACTON.
INSCRIPTION.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Town of Aceton. co-oporsting to per- petuate the fame of their glorious deeds of patriotism, bave erected this monument in honor of Capt. ISAAC Davis, and privates AGNES HOSMER and JAMES BAYWARD, citizen soldiers of Acton, and Provincial Minute Men, who fell In Conrord Ggbt, the 19th day of April, A. D. 1775. On the morning of that eventful day, the Provincial officers held a council of war near the old North Bridge in Concord ; and as they topa- rated, Daris exclaimed, " I haven't a man that Is afraid to go ! "" and immediately marched his company from the left to the right of the line, and led in the Gret organ- ited attsek upon the troops of George III. in that memorable war which, by the help ef God made the thirteen colonies independent of Great Britain, and gave political being to the United States of America.
Acrox, April 19th, 1851.
Davis Monument.
sary to bring ont the honorable part which the men of Acton had in the achievements of that occasion. The occasion of the immediate advance of the pro- vincial troops was the apparent design of the royal- ist soldiers to take up the planks of the bridge and thus cut them off from the village, which, from the appearance of smoke in that direction, they thought might be in flames.
The time for action had come, but who would take the post of danger? This was to take a step which had been long talked about and threatened, but which never had been taken. It was to cease to be mere remonstrants and become actual rebels. It was to expose one's self not simply to the peril of the battle-field, but to the ignominy of the scaffold. Colonel Robinson, Major Buttrick, Captain Davis, and the Acton minute-men led the provincial sol- diers as they assumed this position.
The principal facts of the fight at the Bridge are these, as given by Josiah Adams in his Acton Cen- tennial Address, delivered in 1835: 1. Two or three shots from the enemy, followed by a volley, by which Luther Blanchard, a fifer in Captain Davis's company, was wounded ; 2. A general fire from the Americans, by order of Major Buttrick,
by which one of the enemy was killed and several were wounded; 3. A return of the fire, which killed Captain Davis and Abner Hosmer of his company, and wounded others. When Captain Davis was killed he was in the act of taking aim, as he carried a gun as well as a sword. (He was a gunsmith by trade, and fitted bayonets to the guns of his men. Some suppose the Acton com- pany was the ouly one present at the Concord Fight that had bayonets).
At this point we insert a deposition of the wife of Captain Davis, which was taken with others in 1835, to substantiate Acton's claim, as regards the part her citizens had in the historical event which we are now considering : -
"I, Hannah Leighton of Acton, testify that I ain eighty-nine years of age. Isaac Davis, who was killed in the Coucord Fight in 1775, was my husband. He was then thirty years of age. We had four children, - the youngest about fifteen months old. They were all unwell when he left me in the morning, some of them with the canker-rash. The alarm was given early in the morning, and my husband lost no time in making ready to go to Concord with his company. A considerable num- ber of them came to the house and made their car- tridges there. The sun was from one to two hours high when they marched for Concord.
" My husband said but little that morning. He seemed serious and thoughtful, but never seemed to hesitate as to the course of his duty. As he led the company from the house he turned himself round, and seemed to have something to communi- cate. He only said, "Take good care of the chil- dren,' and was soon out of sight. In the afternoon he was brought home a corpse. He was placed in my bedroom till the funeral. His countenance was pleasant, and seemed but little altered. The bodies of Abner Hosmer, one of the company, and of James Hayward, one of the militia company, who was killed in Lexington in the afternoon, were brought to the house, where the funeral of the three was attended together."
In setting forth what we believe to be the just claims of the town of Acton, as regards her part in the critical contest of the Revolution, we wish to say nothing in disparagement of the valor of the citizens of other towns: before the eventful 19th of April was over the royal troops learned that the valor of none of the yeomen of old Middlesex was to be despised. But whatever body of men volun- tarily assumed the post of greatest danger on that
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
occasion was entitled to the highest mecd of praise ; and as Acton, in the person of her sons, took that position, apparently as a volunteer, simple justice demands that she should receive the honor which is her due; and her claims are so well es- tablished and so generally conceded, that we have no doubt the final verdict of history will be just to her. Acton soldiers were not ouly active at the Old North Bridge, but joined in the pursuit of the British to Cambridge; and at Lexington, James Hayward, a member of Lientenant Hunt's militia company, was killed while in the act of firing at a British soldier. The ball which killed him passed through his powder-horn, - a relic which is now held in the town. Acton had a most honorable part in the struggle of the Revolution, from the begin- ning to the end. We have a roll of one hundred and eighty names of men who had some part in the struggles of that war, and there are probably thirty or forty more names which are lost. One member of Captain Davis's company, Thomas Thorp, went through the whole war. He stood near Davis when he was shot, and some of his blood fell upon his clothes ; and he used to say that wherever he went during the whole war he seemed to see that blood urging him to do his duty. The town not only sent her sons to battle, but bought clothing and beef for the army, to the full amount of her proportion, and sent all the provisions she could spare to Boston when that town was in distress.
As we have studied the old records of this town covering this period, we have been reminded of the spirit of Sparta among the states of Greece, and have been led to exclaim, " If Acton was not the Sparta of Middlesex, she was a Sparta in every respect ! "
The War of 1812, as is well known, was very unpopular throughout New England ; but near the beginning of the war eight or ten Acton men enlisted into the army, and in 1814 the military company called the "Davis Blues " was ordered into service as a body, and was despatched to Boston to assist in the defence of that place against an apprehended attack.
At this point we quote from the letter of Mr. John C. Park, a native of Acton, and a grandson of Rev. Mr. Adams : " I well remember the com- motion in Acton, on the day when the Blues met to take up their march to Boston. We boys were wild with excitement; but when the large doors of the meeting-house were thrown open, and it was understood that the company would have
prayers offered for them, we were sobered at once. I thought the prayer was very earnest and appro- priate, and was indignant, when, afterwards, among the gathered knots of men in front of the porch, I heard some criticising it as being too much tinc- tured with the good old minister's anti-war senti- ments. In a few days the fifer returned and gave glowing accounts of their enthusiastic reception, and the march of the Blues through Boston. It seems that at every street corner the men and boys would cheer, and the drum and the fife were expected to respond with a triple roll and salute. The poor fifer was so exhausted with his untiring efforts to pipe shrill for the honor of his corps and the town, that he was taken with spitting of blood and had to return home. This, I believe, was the only blood shed during the campaign." It is need- less to state, what is well known, that the enemy kept aloof from Boston ; otherwise, doubtless, the "Davis Blues" would have given as good an account of themselves as did the minute-men thirty years before. This company, the " Davis Blues," was a very fine one, and for many years was the pride of the town. Two of its members, who went to Boston, Captain John Fletcher and Abel Forbush, are still living.
We come now to a brief statement of Acton's part in the war of the Rebellion. There was in Acton, prior to this war, a military company called the "Davis Guards," under the command of Cap- tain Daniel Tuttle.
As the clouds thickened over the Southern hori- zon, this company was called together quite fre- quently to drill, though few, if any of its members, thought their services would be really called for. But in the evening of April 16, 1861, the order came for Captain Tuttle to report with his company . at the regimental headquarters in Lowell the next morning at seven o'clock. The order was merely a telegram, without any particulars respecting the equipment of the men. Messengers were at once sent in all directions to notify the men to be at the armory the next morning at four o'clock (some of the men were twenty miles away). Captain Tuttle then hastened to Lowell for further instruc- tions, and was so expeditions in his movements, that he made the journey to Lowell and back, made all his private arrangements, and had nearly all his men at the armory the next morning at four o'clock, ready to start for the seat of war. It was a dark, cold, and rainy morning. The bells were rung at half past three o'clock, and the citizens
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ACTON.
met in large numbers to see their soldier brothers off. They all assembled, and the minister, Rev. A. Morton, offered prayer to Almighty God for his blessing upon the soldiers, and their safe re- turn. Said the Acton Sentinel of that date: " At the appointed time forty-five men in full uniform responded to the call, and departed for Lowell amid the cheers of the assembled friends. The captain of the company, though a Breekinridge Democrat, will be found trne to the Union, as was the commander of the minute-men almost eighty- six years ago. God speed the right !"
The company was at the place of rendezvous in Lowell before the appointed hour. It is thought by some that the Aeton company, leaving their armory at five o'clock on the morning of April 17, was probably the first really to start for the seat of war; and had their place of rendezvous been Bos- ton instead of Lowell, this honor would have been conceded.
A detailed account of the service of the Old Sixth regiment doubtless appears in this work, in its proper phee, and any reference to it by us would be a repetition. We will simply say, that in passing through Baltimore every window of the car which bore the Acton company was broken by missiles thrown by the mob, and one bullet passed through it. During the whole campaign the Acton company (Co. C) shirked no hardship and evaded no danger, and were a credit to the town in every respect.
That the reader may have some idea of the patriotic feeling which pervaded the town at this time, we give a few extracts from one of many let- ters which were sent to the captain of the " Davis Guards " after he left home.
Under date of April 21, Hon. John Fletcher, Jr., wrote: " Our citizens are alive with entlin- siism and praise of the company, and of the readiness with which they responded to the eall to march. . ... Aeton gets compliments from all sources, on account of the Guards. I was in Lowell Thursday, and heard many speak in their praise. Many in town who have not been favorable to the military are wide awake and ready to vote for any appropriation that may be needed for the company and their families. Tell the Guards not to borrow a moment's trouble with reference to the wants of their families, as we are to have a town-meeting on Saturday especially for the pur- pose of making an appropriation, as a contingent fund, to be applied, as needed, for the comfort of
their families. . . .. We keep the flag flying from the monument, and intend to until the Guards return. Rev. Mr. Morton made allusion to the company in his morning prayer, which brought tears from his own and most of his hearers' eyes. The Guards have the prayers and best wishes of all. Tell the boys to keep up good courage, and take good aim when in sight of the enemy. God bless you all."
When the " Davis Guards " returned they had a grand reception, and they and their families were given a public dinner at the town-hall.
It must suffice to say, with reference to the whole matter, that the spirit which characterized the people of this town at the outbreak of the Rebellion continued with them until the end of the war.
Acton furnished one hundred and ninety-five men for the military service, and thirty over all demands. Twenty of these were commissioned officers. The amount of money raised and ex- pended for war purposes, exelusive of state aid, was $13,072; the amount expended to aid soldiers'. families, which has been refunded, $8,737.03.
Aeton has inangnrated and participated in several celebrations, which have been occasions of rare interest. April 19, 1825, she united with Con- cord in celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Concord Fight. In this celebration the Aeton military under the command of Colonel W. E. Faulkner was a great credit to the town.
July 21, 1835, the town celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of its history. A valuable historical address was delivered by Josiah Adams ; quite a number of the members of Captain Davis's Company were present; there was a grand dinner, and a most successful celebration in every respect.
In November, 1851, the massive monument which stands on Aeton Common was dedicated with most interesting services, which were listened to and witnessed by a great throng of people. Gov- ernor Bontwell delivered the address, and Rev. John Pierpont contributed a poem, and there were all the elements of a most interesting celebration.
April 19, 1875, Acton united with Concord and Lexington in the celebration of the one hundredthi anniversary of the Concord Fight and the Battle of Lexington. Both Concord and Lexington extended to Aeton most cordial invitations to participate in the celebrations in the respective towns, and Acton was represented in both. She contributed
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
largely to the brilliant pageant at Concord by sending a fine company of minnte-men, under the command of Captain A. C. Handley. Speeches by Luther Conant, prepared for the Lexington celebration, and by Rev. Franklin P. Wood, pre- pared for the Concord celebration, are in the pub- lished exercises of the two towns, as representa- tions of Acton sentiment respecting the important events which were celebrated on that day.
July 4, 1876, this town observed the one hundredth national anniversary by a historical address at the Town Hall by Rev. Franklin P. Wood, by the reading of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and other appropriate exercises.
This simple statement of public celebrations shows that this town has not only been distin- guished for her achievements, but has been suffi- ciently aware of their importance to have the memory of them preserved.
Our space permits us to refer to only two natives of Acton who have been distinguished for literary attainments.
Rev. William G. T. Shedd, D.D., born June 21, 1820 ; graduated at the University of Vermont in 1839. at Andover Seminary in 1843; pastor at
Brandon, Vermont, 1843 - 1845; professor of English Literature in University of Vermont, 1815- 1852; professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology in Auburn Seminary, 1852 - 1854; pro- fessor of Ecclesiastical History and Pastoral The- ology in Andover Seminary, 1854-1862; co-pastor of Brick Church, New York, 1862 - 1863 ; profes- sor of Sacred Literature in Union Seminary, New York, 1863- 1874; professor of Systematic The- ology in Union Seminary since 1874. His publi- cations are : History of Christian Doctrine, Theo- logical Essays, Literary Essays, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, Sermons to the Natural Man, Translation of Gueriche's Church History, Trans- lation of Theremin's Rhetoric.
Rev. James Fletcher, A. M., was born Septem- ber 5, 1823, prepared for college at New Ipswich, N. H., graduated at Dartmouth College in 1843, and at Andover in 1846; he was pastor of the Maple Street Church, Danvers, Mass., for fifteen years ; principal of the Danvers High School, five years ; principal of the Lawrence Academy, Groton, seven years; and is now principal of the Burr and Burton Seminary, at Manchester, Vermont.
ARLINGTON.
BY WILLIAM R. CUTTER.
A
The ancient or aboriginal name of the locality was Menotomy, from the name of the river which for a long period was the boun- dary line between the old First and Second Parishes in Cambridge, and afterward between the towns of West Cambridge and Cambridge, which river in the earliest times, and even to a comparatively recent period, was known as the Menotomy River.
RLINGTON was formerly the | The stream is now usually called the Alewife town of West Cambridge, the Brook. name having been changed by legislative act April 13, 1867. The westerly or Second Parish in Cambridge was incorporated as a town by the name of West Cambridge, February 27, 1807.
Farms were granted to inhabitants of Cambridge in the territory now embraced in Arlington in 1635. A highway to Menotomy from the present Old Cambridge existed prior to 1636. In the proprie- tors' records of Cambridge mention is made of the " new lots next Menotomy " as early as 1638. A road was laid out from the Watertown line to Cooke's mill at Menotomy in 1638.
This mill, probably erected in 1637, or the year previous, was the first in the place now Arlington, and the earliest in the old town, with the exception of a windmill mentioned in Paige's History of Cambridge. Colonel George Cooke, its owner, who is styled "Captain," was slain in Ireland in the wars, in 1652. He had one dwelling-house with
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