USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 63
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The great events of the future were hurrying on
and must soon be met. On the 11th of Jannary, 1773, a public meeting assembled "to know the Sentiment of the town Respecting the many Griev- ances we at Present Labour under." A committee chosen to consider the affairs, at an adjourned meeting ten days later, presented the following re- port, which was adopted unanimously : -
" We are fully of oppinion that the Inhabitants of this province are Justly entitled to all the Privi- lieges of Englishmen and to all those Rights in- separable from them as members of a free commu- nity. We are also sensible that Some of those Rights are at present endangered. The only Ques- tion that can be made is this - what method is most suitable to obtain a Redress.
" Whatever doubts may arise about the perticuler mode, this we are clear in, that all Rash, unmean- ing passionate Proceedures are by no means Justi- fiable in so Delicate a crisis."
The instructions given to their representative, Mr. Simeon Spaulding, at this meeting were re- plete with sterling sense and loyalty, and the town carefully advised him " not to trample on majesty while you are firmly but Decently Pleading the Liberties of the Subject."
The Boston Port Bill again aroused the indig- nant enthusiasm of the people, and at a large meet- ing of the freeholders and other inhabitants, on the 30th of May, 1774, a committee of correspondence was chosen, consisting of Mr. Jonathan William Austin, Captain Oliver Barron, Mr. Samuel Per- ham, David Spaulding, Mr. Benjamin Walker, Deacon Aaron Chamberlain, Captain Moses Parker, Mr. Samuel Stevens, Jr., and Mr. Simeon Spauld- ing.
Immediately after the closing of the port of Bos- ton, the people voluntarily contributed a flock of sheep, which was sent as a gift to their suffering brethren in that town. Again, on the 29th of Sep- tember of the same year, the inhabitants assembled and chose Mr. Simeon Spaulding to be their repre- sentative to the General Court to be held at Salem on the 5th of the following month, and instructed him "to do no act which could Possibly be con- strued into an acknowledgement of the validity of the act of the British Parliment for altering the government of the massachusetts bay," and, further, in anticipation of the speedy dissolution of the court it authorized him to join with the other members in the formation of "a general provincial congress," and to act as might appear "most likely to pre- serve the Liberties of all America."
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The action of Governor Gage regarding this Court, and the consequent organization of a con- gress are historical. At the congress which as- sembled at Concord, October 11, the town was rep- resented by two delegates, Mr. Jonathan William Austin and Mr. Samuel Perham. A few days later the congress, having adjourned to Cambridge, " adopted a system of measures to put the province in a state of preparation and defence." Plans were perfected for organizing and equipping the militia, and for raising new companies of minute-men, who could be called into action in an emergency.
In accordance with these orders the military of this town was placed on a better footing, and a company of minute-men was formed, to be com- manded by Captain John Ford, a veteran of the French and Indian War.
On the 1st of February, 1775, the second Pro- vincial Congress assembled at Cambridge, at which, and at the subsequent Watertown congress, the town was well represented by Colonel Simeon Spaulding. The slumbering fire could not be longer repressed, and on the 19th of April, 1775, it broke out into the flame of revolution.
The inhabitants of Chelmsford were aroused on the morning of the eventful day by the firing of alarm-guns and the beating of drums, that called the minute-men to assemble on the village green. The men responded nobly, and the preparations for immediate departure were quickly made. Mr. Bridge, the wise and good pastor, was early on the scene, exhorting and blessing the departing train. He desired to have all gather in the meeting-house before they set out, that he might attune their hearts to prayer and Christian trust ; but Captain Ford, with natural impetuosity, insisted on hasten- ing away, declaring they had more important busi- ness to take care of than praying.1
Two companies were soon on the way to join their fellow-countrymen at Concord, one company of sixty-one men, under the command of Captain Oliver Barron, - in which, at the time, Captain Ford acted as sergeant, - and another of forty- three men, commanded by the gallant Colonel Moses Parker. They arrived at Concord in season to participate in the fights at Merriam's Corner and at Hardy's Hill. At the last place Captain Ford showed great bravery. He is said to have killed five British soldiers in the course of the en- gagements. Among the wounded on this day were Captain Oliver Barron and Deacon Aaron Cham-
1 H. S. Perham's Centennial Oration.
berlain. On the evening of this day Rev. Mr. Bridge writes in his diary : "The civil war was begun at Concord this morning ! Lord, direct all things for his glory, the good of his church and people, and the preservation of the British colonies, and to the shame and confusion of our oppressors." Again on the following day he writes : "In a terrible state by reason of ye news from our army . . . . a constant marching of soldiers from ye towns above toward ye army. . ... We are now involved in a war which Lord only knows what will be the issue of; but I will hope in His mercy and wait to see His salvation."
The battle of Bunker Hill found the men of Chelmsford ready and eager to act in the hour of duty. The regiment under the command of Colonel Ebenezer Bridge - son of the liberty-loving cler- gyman - was called into action. Captain Ford, commanding a company of sixty men from this town, was with General Artemas Ward at Cam- bridge, but received permission to march to the relief of the men at Charlestown. On his arrival at the foot of the hill, where his countrymen were intrenched, he was ordered by General Putnam to take charge of the cannon lying there. Accordingly he " moved with the cannon and the General him- self to the rail-fence" just in time to witness the onset. As the enemy advanced, the artillery under Ford's command opened upon them with telling effect. General Putnam personally directed some of the shots. The soldiery were ordered to reserve their fire until the enemy were within eight rods. The excitement proved too great for the obedience of a member of Captain Ford's company, - Joseph Spaulding. Upon his gravestone in the old burial- ground at Chelmsford are these words : " He was at the battle of Bunker Hill, where he opened the battle by firing upon the enemy before orders were given."
During the engagement Captain Ford exhibited his customary intrepidity and greatly assisted in the defence. Of his company thirteen were wounded, among them Benjamin Pierce, a native of this town, afterwards Governor of New Hamp- shire, and father of President Franklin Pierce. In another company, under the lead of Captain Benjamin Walker, were ten Chelmsford soldiers. The captain, a native of this place and an old Indian-fighter, was captured. At the same time Lientenant-Colonel Moses Parker, renowned for his gallantry in previous wars, who had been mor- tally wounded in the battle, was taken prisoner.
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Both were conveyed to Boston, where, after a short imprisonment, they died.
From this opening period of the Revolution the history of the men of Chelmsford is incorporated with that of the continental army. They were ever faithful, and laid down their lives at Ticonderoga, White Plains, and elsewhere, where it was their fate to die for their country. The names of John Bates, David Spaulding, Jr., Lieutenant Robert Spaulding, Peletiah Adams, Noah Foster, and Henry Fletcher will live in history through all coming time.
The records of the town give evidence that the people at home were fully sensible of the great importance of the conflict. The town raised much money and provided many munitions of war. Company after company was sent out through the long seven-years struggle, and the good people never gave up the hope of ultimate success. They were represented at the different congresses by such men as Colonel Simeon Spaulding, Captain Oliver Barron, and Captain Samuel Stevens. Their feeling for liberty culminated in the following strong resolution, passed on the 13th of May, 1776 : -
" If it Should be the Pleasure of the Honorable Conti- mental Congress to Declare an Independent State with Great Britain, that said town will stand by them to the Expence of Life and fortunes."
More than three quarters of a century after the battle of Bunker Hill -on the 22d of September, 1859 - the people of Chelmsford reared a sub- stantial granite column to the memory of their brave fathers. It stands on the pretty green of the old village, and bears this legend : -
" Let the children guard what the sires have won."
Meanwhile in its ordinary affairs the town, not- withstanding many discouragements, had been slowly progressing. A Baptist society was formed in the south part of the town as early as 1771, and a meeting-house was built there the following year. Two years after, October 5, 1774, the first pastor, the Rev. Elisha Rich, was ordained. He was succeeded in a few years by the Rev. Abishai Crossman, and by the Rev. John Perkins, who was the settled minister in the early part of this century. The desire of certain residents to be united to the people of Carlisle was granted in 1780, when Chelmsford lost some seventeen families and their farms. In 1793 the old parish ordained as its pastor, to succeed the Rev. Mr. Bridge, the Rev.
Hezekiah Packard, one 01 purest and best ministers the town has ever known. The same year a new meeting-house was erected, and a new and larger bell was purchased and hung in the tower. In the wise administration of Mr. Pack- ard the ancient society prospered, and the new century found him still the reverend head of the town.
After the close of the Revolution, and when the final and constitutional settlement of the govern- ment of the state was accomplished, the increasing population and prosperity of the country, and par- ticularly the growth of the maritime cities and towns, attracted the attention of men of business and capital. To meet the large and growing de- mand for building materials, the waters of the Merrimack were proposed as offering a natural highway to the vast forests of toe almost unex- plored north. The only grave objection to the- navigation of this stream proved to be the Paw- tucket Falls, and therefore to overcome this obsta- cle it was suggested that a canal be built around them. . A company of gentlemen, chiefly from Newburyport, was organized, and received a char- ter from the legislature, June 25, 1792, under the title of the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River. The canal was built at Pawtucket Falls, was about one and one half miles in length, and was completed in October, 1796. The canal thus originated was the beginning of that great and expensive system of works which, by distributing the magnificent power of the Mer- rimack River, has developed the wealthy manufac- turing city of Lowell.
The advantage of water communication with the great northern country was not to be the monopoly of one company. A charter was obtained incor- porating the proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, June 22, 1793. The canal was soon surveyed from the waters of the Merrimack above Paw- tucket Falls at East Chelmsford to the Mystic River. Subsequent acts authorized the company to clear the rapids near Wickasee Island, in Tyngsborough, to render the Concord River navi- gable, and to extend the canal to the Charles River. Operations were begun in 1794, the por- tion of the canal in Chelmsford and Billerica being first constructed. The whole route was opened for travel in 1804.
Although the business of the company continued slowly to increase until 1835, after the building of the Boston and Lowell Railroad in that year the
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receipts annually began to be much less than the expenses. On the Ist of June, 1853, the business of the company was suspended, and in 1859 the rights of the proprietors as granted by charter were deelared forfeited.
During the continuance of the canal the little hamlet of Middlesex Village, situated at its june- tion with the Merrimack, gre .. to be a place of considerable note. Several hotels, a church, and two or three manufactories, including a glass factory and the hat factory of Messrs. Bent & Buslı, a weekly paper, the Chelmsford Courier, all showed that a healthy industry was well planted. In those days a trip to Boston in one of the com- fortable " paeket-boats " of the canal was a pleas- urable event. It took some, seven or eight hours, and nothing eonld be more agreeable than glid- ing smoothly among green fields, or in passing through lofty aqueducts, over rushing streams, which relieved the monotony of the passage.
The history of manufacturing enterprise in the town of Chelmsford dates, in fact, from the begin- ning of the settlement ; but a great and decided impulse was given this branch of business life in the first part of the present century. To Moses Hale of West Newbury much eredit is due for an early movement to improve the natural water- power of this town. He came to Chelmsford in 1790, locating in the eastern part of the town, where he built a fulling-mill on River-Meadow Brook, since known as Hale's Brook. Ten years later he erected larger structures for saw and grist mills ; and in the following year, 1801, introduced into his fulling-mill, where he dyed and finished cloth, a carding-machine, which was the first put in operation in Middlesex County.
It is related that the first domestie suit worn in Congress, from this district, was of eloth made by Mr. Hale in 1806, and presented to General Var- num, at that time the representative.
A powder-mill was started in 1818 by Mr. Hale, the buildings being not far from his other works. Subsequently William. Tileston and Oliver M. Whipple were associated in the business, which was successfully prosecuted for a number of years.
In 1812 John Goulding began the business of cotton-spinning in a mill built for his use in the eastern part of the town not far from the mouth of the Concord River. He also had a carding- machine for carding wool spun by hand, making what was called homespun cloth. Machinery for weaving suspenders and boot-webs was likewise
introduced by him. The property, which after a few years passed into the hands of Thomas Hurd, a manufacturer of satinet, is now owned by the Middlesex Mills.
The high price of cotton goods imported during the War of 1812 induced some of the leading commercial men of the country to inquire into the expedieney of establishing manufactories of that fabric in New England. The cotton factories of Rhode Island and of Waltham in this state were the immediate results.
Their success strengthened the belief that Amer- iea eould produce her own cottons. In the autumn of 1821 a company of gentlemen visited the Paw- tueket Falls and viewed them, and the Pawtucket eanal, with regard to the employment of the vast power running to waste there. The gentlemen comprising the party were Patrick T. Jackson, Kirk Boott, Warren Dutton, Paul Moody, John W. Boott, and Nathan Appleton, the honored founders of one of the most successful enterprises of modern times, - the creation of the wonderful cotton industry of Lowell.
The result of this observation was that in the following February, 1822, the Merrimack Manu- facturing Company was incorporated, the majority of the stock and the property of the Proprietors of the Loeks and Canals on Merrimack River having been purchased in the mean time.
The Pawtucket Canal was immediately enlarged, another canal built, and in September, 1823, the first wheel of the Merrimack Company was put in motion.
The history of the succeeding growth of this and of the other companies that soon followed, with the remarkable inventions that have so greatly increased the quantity and improved the quality of the fabrics manufactured, is of interest the world over.
In 1824 the residents of East Chelmsford peti- tioned to be separated from the mother town. Their request was granted in 1826, and the new town, named in honor of Francis Cabot Lowell, Esq., of Boston, was duly incorporated. Although by this aet Chelmsford was deprived of mueh ter- ritory and great prospective wealth, she has ever held dear the prosperity of her daughter.
It is not the purpose of this article to review the origin, development, and present condition of each and every business of the town, but rather to glance briefly at the general progress.
The greater part of the manufactories in town
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
are located at the village of North Chelmsford, where the means of communication with centres of trade are secured by the Nashua and Lowell and Stony Brook Railroads. The principal factories situated at this thrifty place, which owes much to the natural advantages of Stony Brook, are the works of the Baldwin Manufacturing Company (George S. Sheldon proprietor), who make many articles of worsted goods, besides supplying the material for carpet factories ; the mills of Silver & Gay, manufacturers of worsted machinery; and the iron-works of the Chelmsford Foundry Com- pany, who make many articles both for use and ornament. Gray, Palmer, & Co. and G. C. Moore are interested in different branches of the woollen business.
At West Chelmsford a little group of houses is clustered around the Eagle Mills on Stony Brook, where L. M. Heery is engaged in the manufacture of woollen goods. The files and knives made by the Hiscox File Manufacturing Company of this place have already a national reputation.
Not to particularize further, the manufactures of Chelmsford may be thus succinctly summed up, the statistics being those of the recent census and probably varying but little from the real condition of to-day. The whole number of establishments of all kinds in town is thirty-two, ten being dis- tinctively manufacturing, and twenty-two related occupations, - giving employment to four hundred and four persons of all ages, who receive in wages $167,668 annually.
The capital invested amounts to $363,098, the stock used, to $449,513, and the value of the goods made and work done each year reaches the sum of $823,561.
In religious matters the history of the century thus far is one of general development, with the changes incident to modern life and thought. The First Parish, after ordaining the Rev. Hezekiah Packard, continued in his charge for nearly nine years, when he was dismissed by his own request. Dr. Packard was the founder of a family that has become eminent for its learning. The now vener- able and esteemed Professor Alpheus S. Packard of Bowdoin, his son, was born in this town.
Following Dr. Packard, the Rev. Wilkes Allen was ordained minister of the ancient parish No- vember 16, 1803. He remained with the society until 1832, when he was honorably dismissed. Mr. Allen was the author of a history of Chelins-
ford, mainly compiled from the town records, and displaying much patient research. It was pub- lished in 1820.
Since his resignation the church has been in charge of a number of pastors, among whom may be mentioned Rev. Amos Blanchard, Rev. William Morse, and Rev. Horace W. Morse. At present the society is under the care of the Rev. J. J. Twiss. The edifice now in use by this parish is the fourth, the previous structure, built in 1793, having been destroyed by fire in 1842.
In 1824 a society was organized in the north part of the town, at Middlesex, over which, a few years later, the Rev. John A. Albro was ordained pastor. A meeting-house was built by the society.
The excitement occasioned in religious life dur- ing the early part of this century disturbed both this new church and the old parish, and both were more or less changed in character. The old society became Unitarian, and has since so continued. A part of Mr. Albro's parish adopted that faith, and, retaining the meeting-house, called to their service the Rev. Dr. Packard, who was ordained in 1830. This society has long been discontinued.
The Trinitarian members, with Mr. Albro, wor- shipped for a time in a hall in Middlesex Village ; but removed to North Chelmsford in 1836, where a meeting-house was erected in the course of two years. On the 1st of August, 1839, the society engaged the Rev. Benjamin F. Clark, who was edu- cated at Miami University and at Lane Seminary, under Dr. Lyman Beecher. Mr. Clark was the pastor for nearly thirty years, closing his services January 31, 1869. The ministers of this church since then have been the Rev. Daniel Phillips, the Rev. J. Lewis Merrill, and the Rev. William P. Alcott, who is the present acting pastor.
In March, 1824, while the territory now Lowell was still a part of this town, religious services were held there, after the order of the Episcopal Church, for the first time, by the wise direc- tion of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company. The quaintly picturesque edifice of St. Anne's Church, owned by the parish which thus had its origin, is now one of the oldest landmarks in the heart of the city ; while the venerable and es- teemed rector, the Rev. Theodore Edson, S. T. D., who for more than half a century has fought the good fight faithfully and well, is still the first and only pastor.
The Baptist society, which was formed in the southern part of the town early in the Revolu-
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tionary era, has had a number of pastors. Rev. John Parkhurst was the minister for many years. The Rev. Mr. Phillips has recently been installed as pastor. A second church of this faith was organized February 14, 1847, and worships in its beautiful modern Gothic building near the pleasant Common of the centre village. The Rev. J. M. Burtt is the acting pastor at the present time.
Services of the Episcopal faith have been held for several years of late in this village, at a chapel in connection with the rector's residence. There is, however, no settled rector at this mission.
A Trinitarian Congregational society was formed in 1876. It has no church-edifice, and is under the pastoral care of Rev. F. M. Sprague. Other religious organizations in town are the societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church at West Chehins- ford, and of the Roman Catholic Church at the village of North Chelmsford.
The following substantial facts are gathered from a late report of the secretary of the State Board of Education. The whole number of schools in town is thirteen, two of them being high schools. They are taught by seventeen teachers, one male ; and of the number more than half received their education at the state normal institutes. The whole school organization is under the charge of a gen- eral superintendent ; the schools average in length of session eight months, and the average atten- dance at all schools of scholars between the ages of five and fifteen is three hundred and seventy-nine. The direct appropriation of the town for public instruction averages $ 5,000 annually, Chelmsford standing one hundred and thirty-fourth on a com- parative table of the three hundred and forty-two towns in the state, viewed with regard to their liberality of appropriations, the sum for each pupil being $ 10.508; while on a similar table for the county of Middlesex she stands thirty-eighth on the list of fifty-four towns.
Considered with regard to the proportion of tax- able property appropriated for public schools, her situation is one of much greater gratification, as she ranks ninety-sixth in the state and seventh in the county.1
In the early days of Mr. Packard's pastorate over the first parish he succeeded in organizing a library association, which was incorporated in 1812,
1 While the statistics qnoted are liable to annual revision, the nsual variation would not materially affect the record of the present year, as giveu.
as the Social Library of the Town of Chelms- ford. In 1820 it contained three hundred and fifty volumes, among them Rees' Encyclopedia, then the most expensive work ever printed in the country.1 At present there are two libraries owned by associations, and three connected with Sunday schools, making a total of 3,472 volumes, with a yearly public circulation of 9,710 volumes.
An historical article on Chelmsford would not be complete without reference to the part of the town in that great Rebellion which drenched our country in fraternal blood. The call of the President for volunteer troops was heard and answered, even as the stirring summons of Revere had been. Through all the glorious old county rang
" The voice of free broad Middlesex, -of thousands as of one, -
The shaft of Bunker calling to that of Lexington !"
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