USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 71
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A garrison-house, in which Captain Pearson of Rowley and twenty of his soldiers were posted, was assaulted July 3, 1706, by two hundred and sev- enty Mohawk Indians, who killed Mrs. Jolin Cum- mings, took her husband captive, and then rushing into the house met the soldiers, who were off their guard, and a bloody fight ensued, during which several on both sides were killed. The savages then attacked the house of Daniel Galusha on Sal- mon Brook, killed Rachel Galusha, and would have killed another woman had she not made her eseape through a window, and concealed herself in the bushes till they were gone. On the same day they entered the garrison-house of Nathaniel Blanchard, killed him, his wife Lydia, his daughter Susannah, and also Mrs. Hannah Blanchard. On the 27th of the same month the faithful Joe English, grand- son of Maseonomo of Ipswich, was shot near Hol- den's Brook, in what is now Tyngsborough. He was acting as guard to Captain Butterfield and his wife, when the enemy came up and took Mrs. Butter- field captive, while her husband had the good fortune to escape. They then fired, and wounded Joe English ; but knowing the exquisite torture to which they would subjeet him, he dared them by taunting words to kill him on the spot, which they immediately did. It is not easy for us in these days of peace to imagine the hardships and sufferings of the early settlers of this town. Every house was a watch-house ; every man a soldier with his gun in readiness for action. Every woman and every child was day and night upon the lookout for the skulking and the merciless foe.
The number of garrisons in 1711 was seven ; namely, Colonel Jonathan Tyng's, Henry Farwell's, John Cummings', Colonel Samuel Whiting's,
Thomas Lund's, Queen's Garrison, and John Sol- lendine's. They had in all thirteen families and nineteen soldiers.
During these troublesome times the town was unable to support a minister. It said in a petition to the General Conrt, March 8, 1703-4, that the inhabitants " can never hear a sermon without travelling more than twelve miles from their prin- cipal post." For several months the Rev. Samuel Hunt (H. C. 1700) supplied the pulpit ; but he was. dismissed April 23, 1707, to go as a chaplain to Port Royal. In the autumn of 1708 the Rev. Samuel Parris, in whose family witchcraft eom- menced at Salem Village in 1692, began to preach here, and remained until 1712. He was followed by the Rev. Ames Cheever (H. C. 1707), who supplied the pulpit from 1713 to 1715, at a salary of £40 per annum. The Rev. Jolm Pierpont of Reading, the Rev. Enoch Coffin of Newbury, and other ministers officiated here until August 20, 1720, when the town voted to call the Rev. Na- thaniel Prentice (H. C. 1714) to settle as its minister. He continued in office here until his decease, which occurred February 25, 1737. He was greatly beloved by his people, and was buried in the old cemetery near his church. His grave- stone bears the following inseription : -
" REV. NATHANIEL PRENTICE, Born December 1698, Settled as the second minister in Dunstable 1720. Died Feb. 25th 1737 Æt. 39."
He was succeeded by the Rev. Josiah Swan (H. C. 1733), December 27, 1738, and who con- tinued in the pastorate until 1746, when he re- signed, and subsequently became a noted school- teacher in Lancaster. A new meeting-house, which stood near the burial-place at Little's Station, was ereeted during his ministry.
The Treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 1713, silenced for several years the war-whoop, and the people of Dunstable consequently increased in numbers and in property. Roads were laid out, mills erected, and the farms improved. But, instigated by Se- bastian Rale, a Jesuit priest at Norridgewock, the Indians began in 1720 to commit depredations on the eastern frontier, and early in 1724 menaced the town of Dunstable. A company under Lieutenant Jabez Fairbanks, having in it Joseph Blanchard, Ebenezer Cummings, Jonathan Coombs, Thomas Lund, Isaac Farwell, and John Usher, was sent out to seout the woods in search of them. On the 4th of September of that year a party of French
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
. and Indians came to the town and took captive Nathan Cross and Thomas Blanchard. A small band of men under Lieutenant Ebenezer French pursued them as far as Thornton's Ferry, but fall- ing into an ambush were mostly killed or carried into captivity. Judge Samuel Peuhallow gives this account of the event: "Sept. 4, the Indians fell on Dunstable and took two in the evening. Next morning Lieut. French with fourteen men went in quest of them ; but being waylaid, both he and one half of his men were destroyed. After that as many more of a fresh company engaged them; but the enemy being much superior in number, overpowered them with the loss of one man and four wounded." Eight of the bodies of those killed at this time were recovered and buried in one grave, still to be seen in the burial-place at Little's Station. This quaint inscription is on the stone at the head of it : -
" Memento mori. Here lies the body of MR. THOMAS LUND who departed this life Sept. 5th, 1724 in the 42d year of his age. This man with seven more that lies in this grave was Slew All in A day by the Indians."
Three other stones of the same date near this bear the names of Benjamin Carter, aged twenty-three years; Ebenezer Cummings, aged twenty-nine years; and Mr. Oliver Farwill, aged thirty-three years.
It was thought best to prosecute the war more vigorously, and the General Court voted, Novem- ber 17, 1724, that John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, and Jonathan Robbins "be allowed 28. 6d. per diem each and also the sum of £100 for each male scalp." Lovewell raised a company of thirty men, pressed into the wilderness, and on the 19th of December struck an Indian trail about forty-four miles "above Winnepisockee Pond," and soon came to a wigwam, where they killed and scalped an Indian and took a boy captive. For these scalps they received " £50 over and above £150 allowed them by law."
Raising another company, embracing his brother Zaccheus Lovewell, Thomas Colburn, Peter Pow- ers, Josiah Cummings, Henry Farwell, William Ayres, Samuel Fletcher, and others of Dunstable, the intrepid Captain Lovewell set out on a second expedition on the 30th of January, 1724-25, and, coming to a sheet of water, since known as Love- well's Pond, now in the town of Wakefield, New llampshire, and falling in with a party of ten Indians, killed the whole of them, and brought their scalps, stretched on poles, into Boston.
Elated by his success, Captain Lovewell started
with another company of forty-seven men, April 15, 1725, on an expedition against the Pequawketts, whose chief was Paugus, and whose headquarters were on the Saco River, in what is now the town of Fryeburg, Maine. It was a bold adventure; the march was through a wilderness, the distance more than two hundred miles. On arriving at Great Ossipee Lake, Captain Lovewell erected a stockade fort and left in it a sick soldier, with eight others as a guard.
On the 7th of May the main body arrived at the margin of a beautiful pond, now in Fryeburg, Maine, and encamped for the night. On the fol- lowing morning, Saturday, May 8, the men were startled at the report of a gun, proceeding from the opposite shore of the pond. They then per- ceived an Indian, about a mile distant, standing on a point of land extending into the pond. Sup- posing him to be acting as a decoy, they held a consultation as to whether it were better to pro- ceed or not; when their gallant chaplain, Jona- than Frye, exclaimed : " We came out to meet the enemy ; we have all along prayed God that we might find them ; and we had rather trust Provi- dence with our lives, -yea, die for our country, - than try to return without seeing them, if we may, and be called cowards for our pains !" His advice prevailed, and, moving forward, the com- pany soon arrived at a plain, with here and there a pine-tree, and laid down their packs, supposing the enemy to be in front of them. Proceeding thence about one mile, they came suddenly upon the hunter whom they had seen in the morning, and, discharging several pieces, killed him on the spot ; not, however, until he had seriously wounded Captain Lovewell and Samuel Whiting with beaver- shot.
The party then turned back towards the spot where they had left their packs; but in the mean time Paugus, at the head of about eighty warriors, returning from an excursion down the river, found the packs, and, inferring from the number that the English force was inferior to his own, determined to engage in battle. He concealed his men, and when the English came up for their packs, the Indians, raising the war-whoop, rushed upon them and a desperate fight ensued. The gallant Captain Lovewell and eight of his brave men were soon left dead upon the field. The English, now under Ensign Seth Wyman, fearing they should be sur- rounded by the enemy, fell back to the margin of the pond, where their right was protected by a
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brook, their left by a rocky point, and their front by a deep morass. Here they stood against their enemy for the remainder of the day. About three o'clock in the afternoon the brave Chaplain Frye received a shot from which he subsequently died. Near the close of the day the redoubtable Paugus, chief of the Pequawketts, fell, and probably by a shot from Ensign Wyman.
There is a tradition, that, being near each other on the margin of the lake, Paugus, forcing down his bullet, said to Wyman, " Me kill you quick !" When the latter, whose gun primed itself, reply- ing, " Maybe not !" fired, and brought the chief- tain down.1 Soon after sunset the Indians, for some cause, withdrew, and then the remnant of the brave Lovewell's band retreated, leaving their wounded chaplain, Lieutenant Josiah Farwell, Eleazer Davis, and Josiah Jones on the way 2 to the stockade fort on Ossipee Lake. They found the post aban- doned, and, marching homewards, arrived at Dun- stable about the middle of May. Colonel Eleazer Tyng immediately proceeded with a company of eighty-seven men to the fatal battle-ground, and there identified and buried the bodies of Captain Lovewell, Paugus, Ensign Jonathan Robbins, En- sign John Harwood, Robert Usher, Sergeant Jacob Fullam, Jacob Farrar, Josiah Davis, Thomas Woods, Daniel Woods, John Jefts, Ichabod Johuson, and Jonathan Kittridge. A sergeant and twelve effec- tive men were detached from Colonel Flagg's regi- ment for the defence of Dunstable during the absence of Colonel Tyng. They were to be posted at the garrisons of Joseph Blodgett (near Massa- poag Pond), Nathaniel Hill, John Taylor, and John Lovewell, near " the harbor " on Salmon Brook.
Captain John Lovewell, son of John Lovewell, was born in Dunstable, July 24, 1691. He left three children, John, born June 30, 1718, Hannah, born July 24, 1721, and Nehemiah, born January 9, 1726.3 He was a courageous and experienced
Indian hunter, and died with his gun directed towards the foe. His death was not in vain. A treaty of peace with the Indians was made soon after the Pequawkett fight, and the town of Dun- stable was not afterwards troubled by the aborigi- nes.
The exploits of Lovewell and his brave company were recounted in a famous ballad, written soon after the Pequawkett fight, which was sung at the fireside on winter evenings through the province. It is one of our earliest and hest compositions of the kind. It commences : --
"Of worthy Captain Lovewell, I purpose now to sing, How valiantly he served his country and his king ; He and his valiant soldiers did range the woods full wide, And hardships they endured to quell the Indians' pride."
In 1730 the whole number of families in Dun- stable was about fifty, and £90 were appropriated for the salary of the Rev. Mr. Prentice. On the 4th of January, 1732- 33, certain families living east of the Merrimack River were set off to form the town of Nottingham, which was subsequently called West Nottingham, and, on July 1, 1830, received the name of Hudson. In 1734 another section of Dunstable was incorporated under the name of Litchfield; and that part of this town lying west of the Merrimack River was subse- quently formed into another town, called at first Rumford, and now Merrimack. In 1739 that section of the town called by the Indians Nissi- tisset, was incorporated under the name of the West Parish, and soon afterwards Hollis. The westerly part of this town was subsequently incor- porated under the name of Roby, now Brookline. By the divisional line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, established in 1741, these towns, together with the territory which for some time bore the name of Dunstable, then Nashville, and which is now the city of Nashua, were included in the latter commonwealth. The easterly part of Dunstable, Massachusetts, was incorporated as the town of Tyngsborough, February 23, 1809. The territory thrown into Dunstable, by the divisional line in 1741, embraced the Tyng estate, extending from the Merrimack River about six miles west- ward, by one mile wide, to Massapoag Pond. It was mostly given to Jonathan Tyng, Esq., in con- sideration of £23 due to him by the town, and now forms a large part of the town of Tyngsborough ; and it also contained an extensive tract, known as the Brattle Farm, which extended from Massa- poag Pond northeasterly towards the present city
1 The tradition is usually applied to John Chamberlain of Groton, having first appeared in print in an edition of Rev. Zechariah Symmes' account of the fight. The authority for connecting Wyman's name with the exploit narrated is from a ballad of unknown origin. - ED.
2 After travelling some distance, Chaplain Frye, from whom the town of Fryeburg was named, sank under his wounds; Lieu- tenant Josiah Farwell died on the eleventh day after the fight ; Eleazer Davis reached Berwick, May 27, in a miserable state ; Josiah Jones, after wandering fourteen days in the wilderness, arrived in Saco. He was severely wounded.
a For a more extended account of him and of his last fight, see Kidder's Expeditions of Captain John Lovewell, and Nason's History of Dunstable, Mass.
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of Nashua. Captain Thomas Brattle of Boston bought this land July 14, 1671, of Kanapatune and Patatucke, Indians of Wamesit, and it was described as being two thousand acres "in the wilderness on the west side of Merrimack, between the river and Mashapopog Pond, on the line of Chelmsford." It was formerly owned by Cuttah- huno-a-muek, the original proprietor of what is now the town of Dunstable. This land in 1788 belonged to Thomas and Nathaniel Cummings, Jacob Kendall, Abraham and John Taylor, and James and Thomas Jewell.
The first recorded town-meeting in Dunstable was held at the inn of Ebenezer Kendall, March 5, 1743, when Eleazer Tyng, John Kendall, and John Woodward were chosen selectmen ; and it was then voted that Josiah Blodgett " shall be a Dear Reave to prevent ye Killing of Dear out of season."
The names of the tax-payers of this period (1744) are Eleazer Tyng, Esq., John French, John Cum- mnings, Jonathan Taylor, John Kendall, Abraham Taylor, Ebenezer Parkhurst, Nathaniel Cummings, Henry Farwell, John Woodward, Abraham Ken- dall, Andrew Foster, Ebenezer Proctor, Ebenezer Butterfield, Samuel Taylor, Isaac Colburn, Josiah Blodgett, Thomas Chamberlain, John Steele, Oliver Colburn, Joseph Eaton, Robert Scott, Adford Jaquith, Ebenezer Kendall, Thomas Frost, Oliver Farwell, Benjamin Scott, Timothy Bancroft, Ben- jamin Farwell, John French, Jr., Jonathan Taylor, Jr., Noah Tarbox, Stephen Adams, James Whitney, Jonathan Robbins, Samuel Howard, Samuel Roby, Thomas Estabrook, Thomas Estabrook, Jr., Wil- liam Scott, Robert Blood, Moses Estabrook, Zacha- riah Adams, David Taylor, John Woodward, Jr., William Blanchard, John Kendall, Jr., Thomas Iloward, Joseph Taylor, John Buek, George Addi- son, Thomas Adams, Ephraim Adams, and Timothy Taylor. Total, fifty-four.
By the division of the town, 1741, the meeting- house came on the New Hampshire side, and some disagreement arose in respect to the adjustment of claims which the people on the Massachusetts side had on the building. A few persons continued to worship over the line, but the majority preferred to have preaching nearer to their homes. Hence it was voted, May 2, 1744, " that the Select Men, with Mr. Abraham Taylor and Mr. Timº Ban- crafte be a committee to tak Cair to hier the Gospel to be preached among us"; and in order that the ministry might be the more easily sup- ported, it was voted, July 23, "to except som
of ye pcopell of Groton Living in ye Northeaste parte of it Called joynt Grass to be enexed to us." The town at this time petitioned the General Court " for fortifications to defend us." One of them was erected in front of the house of Robert Blood, and another eastward of the house of Mr. James Bennett. On the 14th of March, 1744-45, it was voted "yt Decon Abraham Taylor's Hous shall be ye place to preach in for the present." Who the preacher was at this period is not known.
A notable contention now ensued in respect to the location of the meeting-house. The town, extending from Dracut on the east as far west as the Nashua River, could not easily convene in one place for public worship, and hence the people in the eastern section strove for several years with those of the western as to which should have the building nearer to them. This vexed question was referred to a committee from the neighboring towns, and to the General Court; many town- meetings were held respecting it, and many hard words spoken; but it was finally agreed, in 1753, to set the meeting-house "by ye Highway Side which Leads from ye house of Mr. Temple Ken- dall to Mr. Robert Blood's house." The spot selected is about one mile easterly of the present church edifice, and commands a very fine prospect of the surrounding country, and of Wachusett Mountain in the distance. Nothing now, save the old burial-place, marks the locality. The meeting- house was raised with " spike poles," July 18, 1753; but the day was signalized by a sad ca- lamity. While the frame was going up Mr. Abiel Richardson fell from a spar, and, striking on a rock, was instantly killed. The building was finished and furnished by degrees, as the people could com- mand the time and means to do it. Various clergy- men, as the Rev. Josiah Goodhue, Rev. Elizur Holyoke (H. C. 1750), Rev. Josiah Cotton (H. C. 1722), Rev. Joseph Perry, and Rev. Timothy Minot supplied for a time the pulpit ; at length, on the 12th of May, 1757, a church was organ- ized, and on the 8th of June following the Rev. Josiah Goodhue (H. C. 1755) was ordained as its pastor. The names of the original members of the church are as follows: Josiah Goodhue, Joseph Pike, John Kendall, Ebenezer Sherwin, Ebenezer Butterfield, Samuel Taylor, Josiah Blodgett, Eben- ezer Kendall, Adford Jaquith, Timothy Read, Ste- phen Adams, Joseph Taylor, Samuel Cummings, Benjamin Robbins, John Swallow, Susannah Ken- dall, Alice Butterfield, Susannalı Taylor, Jemima
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Blodgett, Hannah Kendall, Olive Taylor, Sarah Cummings, Elizabeth Robbins, Elizabeth Goodhue, Joseph Fletcher, Abraham Kendall, John Cum- mings, Robert Blood, Sarah Swallow, Elizabeth Fletcher, Ruth Kendall, Elizabeth Cummings, Sarah Blood, Sarah Parkhurst, Mary Cummings, Hannah Taylor, Susannah Haywood, and Abigail Blood.
Not satisfied with the location of Mr. Good- hue's meeting-house, the people in the easterly part of the town (now Tyngsborough) were formed into a precinct, and erected a small church on the right bank of the Merrimack River near the spot now occupied by the Unitarian Church edifice.
The earliest mention in the records of a public school is December 27, 1748, when the town voted "to Raise £30 old Tenor for the Suport of a school."
Wolves were at this period very troublesome, and it was voted, 1749, to pay 12s. 6d. to any person in Dunstable or the towns adjoining " that shall kill any Grone Wolf within one year within the bounds of their Respective towns or shall tak the tracte in any of their townes and follow it till thay kill it where they will if ye hed be produced by way of evidence and ye Ears cut off as the Law directs."
The following curious paper will show that one negro slave at least was held and sold in Dunsta- ble : -
" DUNSTABLE September ye 10 1756.
" Received of Mr. John Abbott junior of An- dover, Fourteen pounds Thirteen shillings and Two pence. It being the full value of a Negrow Garl, Named Dinah, about five years of Age of a Healthy. Sound Constitution, free of any disease of Body and I Do hereby Deliver the same Garl to the said Ab- bott and Promise to Defend him in the improve- ment of hear as his Servan forever. Witness my hand. ROBERT BLOOD.
JOHN KENDALL.
TEMPLE KENDALL."
Endorsed : " Oct. 28, New Stile, 1756. This day the Within Named Garl was Five years old."
It appears that each member of the parish built his own pew in the meeting-house, and that the people were seated according to their age and the amount each paid for the support of the minister.
The town was well represented in the old French War, and many of its men were therein trained for service in the War of the Revolution. Ensign John Cheney and William Blodgett were present at the surrender of Louisburg, 1758. Their pow-
der-horns are still preserved. Others in the ser- vice were Ebenezer Bancroft, Simeon Blood, James French, Ebenezer French, John Harwood, John Gilson, Joshua Wright, Ephraim and Benjamin Butterfield, Jonathan Woodward, "the miller of Massapoag Pond," Thomas Woodward, killed by the Indians in Canada, and Samuel Taylor, who died at Lake George, November 14, 1755. In August, 1760, some of the family of Peter Lande- rée, a Frenchman from Acadia, were brought into town for support. They were kindly cared for by the inhabitants, and busied themselves in making baskets, wooden shoes, and sugar-bowls. In the division of the family, Peter Landerée, his wife Sarah, and their son Peter were sent to Dunstable, Mary and Elizabeth Landerée to Dracut, and Mary Magdalene and Jane Landeree to Tewksbury. Some of the Landerées were also sent to Billerica.
On the 23d of February, 1764, it was voted that " Brother Abraham Kendall, Brother Josiah Blodgett and Brother Sam" Cummings be Queres- ters in ye congregation." The Psalms were still " lined out " by the pastor or one of the deacons. In the year ensuing Robert Blood and Josiah Blodgett were chosen " to inspect the Salmon and Fishery according to law." The streams and ponds were then teeming with salmon, shad, and alewives, which the dams on the Merrimack River have long since mostly prevented from as- cending.
By the census of this year Dunstable had 90 dwelling-houses, 98 families, 138 males and 143 females above 16 years old, and a total of 559 in- habitants, of whom 16 were colored, and probably held as slaves. On the 25th of May, 1767, the town voted "to Raise and assest £36 28. for the use of a school, Repairing the pound, Building one pair of Stocks and other Town charges."
In the War of the Revolution Dunstable bore an active and honorable part, and as early as 1768 chose the Hon. John Tyng as a delegate to the convention held in Boston, September 22, " to de- liberate on constitutional measures and to obtain redress of their grievances." On receiving the news of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770, the old firelocks were put into order, and the peo- ple began to look forward to an open contest with the mother country.
There was now a growing disaffection towards the Rev. Mr. Goodhue, and on the 8th of March, 1773, the parish voted not to be assessed for his salary. In August, 1774, he issued a writ against
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
the town for £175 and 872 cords of wood then due to him, and on the 28th of September follow- ing he was by a mutual council dismissed from his pastorate. Ilis claims on the parish were subse- quently paid, and the only apparent reason for his dismissal was " that the people were weary of him." HIe was afterwards settled in Putney, Vt., where he died in November, 1797. In a sermon preached at his funeral, November 16, of that year, the Rev. William Wells said of him that " piety to God and benevolence to man were leading features of his character."
On the Ist of March, 1775, twenty-eight men signed a paper in which they "voluntarily en- gage with each other in defence of our country," and their names are as follows : Edward Butter- field, Nathaniel Holden, Lemuel Perham, George Bishop, Ebenezer French, Jonathan Bancroft, John Cheney, Reuben Lewis, John Cummings, John French, Zebedee Kendall, Joseph Farrar, John Marsh, John Cockle, Samuel Roby, Eleazer French, Philip Butterfield, Jeralmeel Colburn, William French, Jonathan Sherwin, John Man- ning, Jacob Davis, Jesse Butterfield, Hezekiah Kendall, Henry Shephard, William Glenn, Jona- than Woodward, and Thomas Trowbridge. On the 4th of April the town voted " to have menite men." A committee of correspondence was early chosen, and the Dunstable company, composed of fifty men under Captain Ebenezer Bancroft, partici- pated in the battle of Bunker Hill. The captain was severely wounded in the engagement ; Eleazer French had an arm shot off, and his brother, San- uel French, was shot through his right ear. Jona- than, William, and Jonas French, Ebenezer and Temple Kendall, fought bravely on that day. Isaac Wright, sitting exhausted on a bank, saw a cannon-ball come rolling along at his feet, and was asked why he did not stop it. "I should then," said he, " have come home with but one leg!" Captain Oliver Cummings, being ill at the time, was not present with his company. Many town- meetings were held, patriotic resolutions were adopted, and men and money raised to meet the exigencies of the war. The town's stock of am- munition was stored in the meeting-house, and this, or Asa Kendall's tavern, was the " alarm post " of the town. While the town of Boston was held by the British troops in 1775, several of its citizens repaired to Dunstable, and it was voted by this town, November 20, that " Ye Poor and Indigent inhabitants of the town of Boston which are now
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