USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 61
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
first company of sharpshooters, died at Bolivar, Va., September 17, 1862. Thomas Duren, 33d regiment, died at Madison, Ind., May, 1861. Fran- cis Wiggin died at Memphis, Tenn., October 16, 1863. John M. Esty, 33d regiment, died at Chat- tanooga, Tenn., 1864.
We will now take up the religious history of Carlisle. As has been stated, a meeting-house, that afterward came into the possession of the town, was erected in 1758, but it remained in a rough and unfinished state until 1781, when it was im- proved by constructing twenty-four pews on the lower floor, which were sold at auction for $ 950.50; and, further, in 1793, by putting nineteen in the gallery, which brought $193. In 1798 the meet- ing-house was clapboarded, painted, and received additional windows ; and on the 26th of May, 1810, while the subject of further improving it by adding a tower and procuring a bell was pending, it was struck by lightning and entirely consumed. Its destruction was a serious loss to the town, but no time was suffered to elapse before effectual measures were taken to supply its place. A town-meeting was immediately held on the Common, when it was voted to proceed immediately to the erection of a meeting-house, and Captain Nathan Hayward, a builder of some note in those days, was chosen to prepare a plan and estimate the cost of a suitable edifice. He reported at a subsequent meeting, held in Isaac Blaisdell's shop, a plan and estimate of the cost of a building of the Tuscan order of architecture, which was to be 48 × 48 feet, with a porch 15 × 30 feet, to be surmounted by a tower and steeple, the whole to be 100 feet high; esti- mated cost $5,000. The plan and estimate, with some slight alterations, were unanimously accepted. At a subsequent meeting, held at the same place, a location was agreed upon, provision made for rais- ing necessary funds, and a committee intrusted with full powers was chosen. Asa Parlin, Thomas Heald, and Nathan Green composed the committee. They addressed themselves diligently to the dutics assigned them, and made their final report, includ- ing an account of all expenses incurred and the receipts from the sale of pews, November 1, 1811. From their report it appears that the whole ex- pense incurred, including the cost of preparing the ground, and other incidental charges, was $4,866.81; of which $2,746.50 was derived from the sale of pews, and the balance from a town tax, from which, however, persons belonging to the First Baptist Society in Chelnsford were exempted. The
house contained forty-four square high pews on the lower floor, and sixteen in the gallery. One pew on the left-hand side, " behind the door," was reserved for the use of colored people. Joseph Wyman and John Sawyer of Charlestown were the contractors, and whoever has occasion to examine their work, after a lapse of nearly seventy years, will bear testimony to their skill and faith- fulness. As throwing light upon the custom of the times, it may be interesting to mention a vote, passed by the town, enjoining upon their committee to provide "suitable drink " for all persons engaging in the work on the Common, and all who should assist in raising the meeting-house. A bell costing $350, which became cracked, was replaced by another in 1840, at about the same cost. In 1859 the house was thoroughly repaired without and remodelled within. The old pews gave place to convenient slips, and a pulpit of modern style re- placed the unsightly box that had before been used for that purpose. The audience-room was trans- ferred to the second floor, and a hall convenient for public uses was fitted up below. These repairs and alterations involved an expense of near $1,200, which was paid by voluntary contributions made and obtained by the Ladies' Union, a benevolent association connected with the society. In 1868 the old spire - which, from its exposure to the winds and storms of sixty years, was supposed to have become unsafe - was taken down and a new one substituted, at a cost of $800. After the formation of the second religious society, - the Union Calvinistic Society, as it was named, - they erected a neat symmetrical church edifice 30 by 28 fect, at a cost of about $1,000. In 1837 the church was enlarged, and surmounted by a tower; and in 1848 a parsonage was erected by voluntary contributions. The largest subscribers to the building fund were Simon T. Fletcher, $500; Abel Taylor, $125; Rev. John Lawrence, $ 100. The church stands on leased land, for which an annual rent of one cent is to be paid by the society ; and it is understood that a failure promptly to pay the stipulated rent, or to have the pulpit constantly supplied with preachers of a specified sect, works a forfeiture of the land and church building to the heirs of the lessor.
The erection of the meeting-house in 1758 seems to have been directly followed, if indeed it was not preceded, by the formation of a voluntary associa- tion or society from the surrounding neighborhood, which made it their place of resort for many pur-
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poses. Here on Sundays they met for public worship, and on other days for consultation upon matters pertaining to their political welfare; and here they formed and strengthened those ties that afterward in their municipal affairs made them a unit, religiously, politically, and socially, for half a century. During the twenty or more years that elapsed between the erection of the meeting-house and the incorporation of Carlisle, it is probable that public worship was maintained most of the time. But it is not known that the services were conducted by a regularly settled clergyman, or that there was any church formed until February 28, 1781, nearly a year after the organization of the district. It consisted then of ten male and twenty-four female members, thirteen of whom had belonged to the church in Concord and seven to the church in Chelmsford, whose petition for a dismission from that church was thus indorsed by Mr. Bridge, the pastor : "Twenty years have I been grieved with this generation. I give my most hearty consent to their departure." On the 17th of May following its formation the church unani- mously invited Mr. Paul Litchfield to become their pastor. On the 25th of the same month the town concurred with the church by a vote of forty- three to three. He was to have $ 500 as a settlement, and $ 267 in silver money, payable quarterly, and twenty cords of wood, as an annual s:ilary ; and the town agreed to pay for keeping a horse and two cows for him until such time as he was in a situation to keep them himself, which was for about three years, when he purchased a farm. He was ordained November 7, 1781; the council on the occasion being composed of the pastor and delegates from the churches in Billerica, Bedford, Concord, Acton, Westford, Ashby, Scitn- ate, Abington, Medway, Franklin, Newburyport, and Salem. Rev. Mr. Niles of Abington preached the sermon. Mr. Litchfield was a rigid Calvinist, coinciding in points of theology with the system known at the time as Hopkinsian. Of doctrinal theology he was particularly fond, and preached few sermons in which he did not present some of its peculiar traits to his hearers. Unitarianismn, which had spread somewhat rapidly in Massachu- setts during the later period of his ministry, was his peculiar aversion, and he seldom suffered any proper opportunity to pass without bestowing upon it some heavy blows, and warning his hearers against its baneful influence. With the excep- tion of a few pages of the doings of the church for
two or three of the first years of Mr. Litchfield's ministry, the church records have been cut from the book and probably destroyed. Consequently, with this exception, we have no means of knowing with certainty anything of its history for more than forty years. It is traditional that in 1798 and at other times interesting revivals of religion took place, and that large numbers were converted and added to the church. But this seems hardly prob- able, since the number of communicants was seven less at the close than it was at the commencement of Mr. Litchfield's ministry.
He died November 7, 1827, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and on the forty-sixth anniversary of his ordination. Rev. John H. Church, D. D., of Pelham, N. H., preached his funeral sermon, which was printed, and conveys the information that Mr. Litchfield-was the oldest of twelve chil- dren; that he was born of respectable parents in Scituate, March 12, 1752; that he songht an edu- cation to fit himself for the gospel ministry, and graduated at Harvard in 1775; that he studied theology under the direction of Rev. Stephen West of Stockbridge; and that after preaching to sev- eral congregations, and declining invitations to settle in the ministry, the Lord directed his steps to Carlisle. Of his character as a theologian and preacher Dr. Church says : " He possessed a strong discriminating mind, and was fond of deep thought. The ablest works on theology were his favorite study. His views of the essential doctrines of the Bible were distinct and well arranged in his mind ; and he had the talent of presenting these doctrines with plainness and force to others." Mr. Litch- field was dignified, though kind and charitable in his intercourse with his people, and sernpulously exact in all his business relations. One who sat under his preaching in early life, and who remem- bered him distinctly, thus described his personal appearance : " He was tall, long limbed, broad but thin chested, with silvery hair combed smoothly back and hanging gracefully down over his coat- collar. His usual dress was a broad-skirted, shad- bellied coat, with ministerial bands, long vest, short breeches buckled at the knees, black silk hose, large shoes with silver buckles three inches square, and the whole crowned with a three-cornered hat."
The measures taken by the town soon after the death of Mr. Litchfield to supply his place dis- closed the fact that a large majority of the people did not sympathize in the extreme religious views that he had taught. And when, on the 19th of
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
June, 1828, Rev. Joseph Clarey - who was sup- posed to hold similar sentiments, and who had previously received a call by a majority of the church to become their pastor - was presented for acceptance by the town, he was rejected by a large majority. Upon this action the two male mem- bers of the church, who had voted for the call of Mr. Clarey, and several citizens who sympathized with them, withdrew from their ecclesiastical re- lations with the town and joined a church in Con- cord. After hearing several candidates, November, 1830, the town voted unanimously to invite Rev. Stephen Hull to settle with them in the ministry. The invitation was accepted, and his installation took place December 29, 1830. Dr. Ripley of Concord presided over the installing council, and Rev. Dr. Eaton of Boxford preached the sermon. Mr. Hull was born in Stonington, Connecticut, February 17, 1777, and had been previously set- tled in the ministry at Amesbury and Raynham. He was a man of pleasing address, kind and famil- iar in his intercourse with his people, and an ac- ceptable preacher ; but a lack of care and prudence in business affairs often involved him in unpleasant relations. After a service of four years the con- tract betwen him and the society was cancelled by mutual consent. During Mr. Hull's ministry his parishioners dissolved their ecclesiastical connec- tion with the town, and formed a separate organi- zation under the name of the First Religious Society in Carlisle.
Rev. George W. Stacey succeeded Mr. Hull, and was ordained May 4, 1836. Rev. Dr. Ripley was moderator, Rev. Paul Dean of Boston scribe, and Rev. Adin Ballou of Mendon preached the ser- mon. Mr. Stacey was born in Boston, March 12, 1809. He was left in early life to his own re- sources, and was self-educated, almost without the advantages of schools. Ile was an earnest and effective preacher, and in every relation of life a good man. Ile took an advanced position in the temperance and abolition reforms, which sometimes alienated him from the sympathy of some of his people, but he never forfeited their respect. His pastorate continued five years, when he was dis- inissed at his own request. Since his dismissal no one has been ordained or installed over the so- ciety. Yearly engagements have been made, which in some cases have been renewed for five or six years ; Rev. J. J. Twiss, formerly of the second Universalist Society in Lowell, has supplied during the last three years.
In 1830 a second society was formed by those who had seceded from the first, and had united at the time with the Second Society in Concord, and Rev. Abel Patten was ordained as pastor, May 22, 1833, and dismissed September 29, 1835. He was followed by Rev. Preserved Smith, who was installed August 31, 1836, and dismissed August 28, 1844. Rev. George W. Thompson was in- stalled July 16, 1845, and dismissed November 3, 1848. Rev. Seth W. Banister officiated as pastor from 1852 to 1856, when, in consequence of difficulties between himself and his church, he was dismissed by an ex-parte council called by the church.
Rev. Josiah. Ballard was installed September 15, 1859, and died December 12, 1862. He was a gentleman of rare attainments, liberal in his re- ligious views, and respected by all who knew him.
Next to Mr. Ballard came Rev. William H. Dowden, who was installed February 13, 1866, and dismissed at his own request December 28, 1867. He commeneed his ministry by a series of revival meetings continued for several weeks, which occasioned much excitement, and resulted, it was claimed, in many conversions, as it did in some additions to the church. The latter part of his ministry witnessed considerable dissensions in his church, which culminated in the dismissal of sev- eral members.
Rev. Moses Patten, who succeeded Mr. Dowden, was installed October 27, 1870. He was highly esteemed in the community, and his pastorate was peaceful, and profitable to his people.
Rev. Jesse Mann received a call to settle over the society November 2, 1875; but before its acceptance by him the call was withdrawn, and the society voted to unite for the support of public worship with the Orthodox society in Chelmsford. Since then the Rev. F. M. Sprague has officiated in both societies.
Carlisle is an agricultural town. The resident laboring population, with an exception of perhaps less than twenty, who are engaged in commercial and mechanical pursuits, are employed in farming, and depend for their livelihood upon farm products. The valuation of the town in 1875 was $ 364,170, and the estimated value of farm products $ 89,571. Mechanical products, $ 8,451. The town has very limited natural facilities for manufacturing pur- poses, or for transit and transportation, the rail- road stations being two and a half, four, and five
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miles from its centre. Like many other towns similarly situated, it has declined somewhat in wealth and population for the last twenty or thirty years.
The surface is generally uneven, though there are no high elevations, and, except the section bordering on Concord River and a belt extending across the northwest corner of the town, quite rocky. The soil is generally good, but difficult to cultivate, and much of it is only adapted to the growth of wood. Hundreds of acres once culti- vated or used for grazing are now densely wooded. The principal products sold from the farms are milk, fruit, and wood, with a limited quantity of vegetable products. Hay is also an important crop, but is generally consumed on the farm.
Besides Concord River there are no considerable streams. A brook rising in Heart Pond, in Chelmsford, runs through the north part of the town, furnishing motive-power for a bale-hoop manufactory, and for Adams' grist and saw mill, when it runs again into Chelmsford, and takes the name of River Meadow Brook. A stream rising in Tophet Swamp, and running south and east into Concord River in Billerica, called Page's Brook, supplies water-power for Green's saw-mill and the grist-mill near its month recently owned by Mr. Page. Spencer Brook, rising near the centre of the town and flowing southwardly into Concord River, supplies water in its course for Buttrick's saw and turning mill. On this stream are the relics
of an old mill, of which no known records or tra- dition gives any account.
Schools. - 'The vote which was passed the sec- ond year of the existence of the district, dividing it into six squadrons, as these divisions were then called, for the support of schools, cannot but be regarded as having had, through its whole course of operation, a detrimental influence upon the edu- cational interests of the town. With not pupils enough for three, and not enough appropriated to support that number for a proper length of time, they of course must be comparatively weak and insufficient. This division continued down to about 1839, when a new division took place, and the number was reduced. The usual appropri- ation made by the town, with the income of a fund of $500 held in trust by it, and the in- come annually derived from the state fund, afford the means of keeping these schools in session about half the time. The number of persons in town in 1875 between five and fifteen years of age was seventy-seven, which would give an average of less than sixteen to each school. An effort was made in 1872 to unite the five schools into one, but public sentiment was averse to the change.
Population. - From the incorporation of the town in 1780 up to 1820 there was an increase in the population of 167 ; since that time there has been a decrease of 133. The number in 1780 was 514; in 1800, 634 ; in 1820, 681; in 1840, 556; in 1875, 548.
CHELMSFORD.
BY FREDERICK P. HILL.
HE New England Indians, sepa- rated by natural causes into a score of tribal independencies, differed from one another only in minor matters of speech and custom, and formed, as a whole, the body of the Wabenakies, a component part of the wide- spread Algonquin division.
These tribes, inhabiting the country from the Penobscot to the Hudson, were again gathered into five greater tribes, or nations,
of whom one, the Pawtucket, was seated upon the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers, and held its sov- ereignty over the wild hills and streams of a vast territory far to the north and northeast.
The principal tribes of this nation were the Pawtuckets, or Wamesits, the Pennacooks, Aga- wams, Naamkeeks, Piscataquas, and Accomitas. Subject to its sway were the Sacos, and the various tribes on the coast, at the eastward, while towards the west its power was acknowledged as far as the Wachusetts.1 The grand sachem or ruler of this
1 Gookin's Historical Collections of the Indians.
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IIISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
extensive combination was Passaconaway, the saga- more of the Pennacooks, who were located at what is now Concord, New Hampshire. The residence of Passaconaway was generally at that place, but he frequently passed much time at Piscataqua, and at his " capital " of Wamesit.1
Thus the Pawtucket or Wamesit tribe -for the names seem to be interchangeable - was situated on the alluvial borders of the Concord River at its confluence with the turbulent Merrimack, a short distance below the Pawtucket Falls, when the English settlers began to make themselves homes near the shores of Massachusetts Bay. The earliest sagamore of the Wamesits known was Runnawit.2
Such, in brief, were the Wamesit Indians who dwelt upon these broad Concord meadows, who fished in its placid pools, or at the favorite season repaired to the falls of Pawtucket to spear the sturgeon by the glare of torches held at night from the prow of their light canoes.
There were traditions that the tribe had been much greater previous to a pestilence which swept over the country shortly before the landing of the Pilgrims; yet it is stated that there were still some seventy-five dwellers here when the English first came hither, and that the nation itself at that time numbered about three thousand souls, although it was afterwards very greatly reduced.
Very soon after the settlements began at Salem and Boston the sachem Passaconaway gave in his submission to the English, and from time to time, whenever there appeared to be danger of invasion, the whites called upon him to renew this oath of fealty. It is but just to his memory to say that he was faithful to his pledges, and ever manifested a desire to live at peace with the white race. He was a man of great power among his people, and was believed by them to be endowed with miracn- lous and spiritual gifts, such as the art of causing water to burn, of changing dead serpents into living ones, and other wonderful phenomena.3 . At his death he charged his son, Wannalancet, who succeeded him, to beware of breaking friendship with the English.
The sachem Wannalancet was a sober-minded man, of stern and steadfast principles, and through- out his long intercourse with the whites was friendly and strenuous in his exertions to prevent discord.
1 Allen's History of Chelmsford.
2 Belknap's History of New Hampshire.
8 Winthrop's History of New England.
In his youth he narrowly escaped losing his life, the occasion being when he was taken -with a squaw and children - as a hostage for the good behavior of his father at a time when an uprising was suspected. He was led toward Boston with a rope around his neck ; but, though fired upon, managed to elnde his captors and steal away un- harmed. This act of the English was unauthorized by the government. After a time Passaconaway sent his men to Boston to deliver up the guns which the Indians had in their possession.
Not long after the beginning of his missionary labors at Nonantum (Newton) the Rev. John Eliot, well named the Apostle to the Indians, came to Wamesit and began his efforts to Christianize the natives. Although it is stated that " the In- dians of Wamesit were never very hearty in the cause of Christianity," the good teacher gave much of his time and divine spirit to the holy work, and after many years was rewarded by the conversion of Wannalancet himself. By the influence of Eliot the Indians were intrusted to proper guardians, courts of justice were established, and, as will be seen, their lands were reserved for their use by order of the General Court.
The first settlement of the town of Chelmsford by the English occurred about the beginning of the year 1653, on the territory adjoining the In- dian plantation of Wamesit. A company of some twenty persons living in Woburn and Concord had petitioned the General Court the previous year for leave to examine the lands "lying on the other [west] side of Concord river," which request being granted, the land had been viewed and found to be "a very comfortable place to accommodate a company of God's people upon." Those who thus petitioned were joined, in 1653, by others, to the number of twenty-nine in all, asking that a tract of land might be granted them, to " begin at Merrimacke river at a necke of land next to Con- cord river - and so run up by Concord River south -- and west into the country to make up the cir- cumference or quantity " of six miles square, a portion of which territory was called by the In- dians, Naamkeek. The signers to this request were " Benj. Butterfield, John Parker, Isaac Learned, James Parker, George Farley, Thomas Chamberlin, Joseph Parker, John Hosmer, Jacob Parker, Henry Foster, Wm. Chamberlin, John Nuttinge, Edmund Chamberlin, John Baldwinge, Richard Griffin, James Blood, John Smedley, Roger Draper, Wil- liam Fletcher, Thomas Adams, Wm. Hartwell,
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Robert Proctor, Wm. Butricke, Baptis Smedley, Richard Hildreth, Thomas Briggam, Daniel Blog- gett, John Hall, and Wm. Hall." 1
Eliot also petitioned at about the same time for the land known as " the great neck," lying between the Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack and the Massic Falls on the Concord, that it might be re- served forever to the sole use of the Christianized Indians.
Both requests were granted, the English receiv- ing all the land which they had desired except a small portion near the Merrimack. The amount granted for the Indian town of Wamesit was about twenty-five hundred acres, of which fifteen hun- dred were on the west side of Concord River and the remainder on the east, both portions, the one afterwards in Chelmsford and the other in Tewks- bury, being now included in the limits of Lowell. The land which formed the original territory of Chelmsford was laid out as a parallelogram, one cor- ner only touching the Concord, where the boundary met that of Billerica and Wamesit. Within eigh- teen months after the location a sufficient number of people had already settled upon the farms in the vicinity, generally of the "Concord river neck," to make it necessary to provide some form of gov- ernment for the local welfare. Accordingly a meeting was held at the house of William Fletcher on the 22d of November, 1654, and Esdras Reed, Edward Spaulding, William Fletcher, Isaac Learned, Simon Thompson, William Underwood, and Thomas Adams were chosen to order the affairs of the place for the ensuing year. The inhabitants at the first meeting made such arrangements as were possible for the establishment of the ministerial office among them.
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