USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 75
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I am
Your Honors most ob servt
JOS. BUCKMINSTER.
A considerable part of our militia were out this year in one or other of the " alarms " about Fort William Henry.
In 1758 seventeen men were out in Colonel Ruggles' regiment, mostly in Captain Nixou's com- pany, on the New York frontier; Ensign Thomas Trowbridge and fifteen men were in Captain John Taplin's company for the reduction of Canada ; and ten men in Captain Aaron Fay's company for the same destination.
In 1759 twenty-six men were out with Captain
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Nixon in Colonel John Jones' regiment, for the invasion of Canada. Captain Jonathan Brewer commanded a company of rangers in the expedi- tion against Quebec this year.
Captain Nixon's company was in service from April 18 to November 17, 1761. It numbered thirteen officers and eighty-eight privates. Eight of the officers and twenty-three of the men were from Framingham. Micajal Gleason and Thomas Drury, who commanded companies in 1775, were corporals in the Canada expeditions of 1759 and 1760.
War of the Revolution. - October 21, 1765, the town " voted to instruet their representative in the General Court. 1. To promote aud readily join in such dutiful remonstrances and humble peti- tions to the King and Parliament, as have a di- rect tendency to obtain a repeal of the Stamp Act. 2. That you do not give your assent to any Aet of Assembly, that shall imply the willingness of your constituents to submit to any taxes that are im- posed in any other way than by the Great and General Court of this Province, according to the institution of this Government."
September 26, 1768, Mr. Thomas Temple was chosen to join the committee in convention at Fan- euil Hall in Bostou, " to consult upou such meas- ures as may be for the safety of the Province."
May 28, 1770, the town declared unanimously against " the pernicious practice of purchasing and drinking foreign Tea, and also of trading with the Importers of English Goods "; and March 25, 1774, it was resolved, " That we ourselves, or any for or under us, will not buy any teas subject to Duty ; nor knowingly trade with any merchant, or country trader, that deals in that Detestable Com- modity." And the declaration was made : " And since such means and methods are used to Destroy our Privileges, which were purchased by the dear- est Blood of our Ancestors -Those that Stand foremost in a proper Defence of our Privileges, shall have our greatest Regards; And if any shall be so regardless of our Politieal Preservation and that of Posterity, as to Endeavour to Counteract our Determination, We will treat them in that Man- ner their conduct Deserves."
May 18, 1774, the town chose the follow- ing committee of correspondence : Joseph Haven, Esq., Captain Josiah Stone, Deacon William Brown, Ebenezer Marshall, Lieutenant David Haven, Joseph Buckminster, Esq., and Major John Farrar.
Captain Josiah Stone, Joseph Haven, Esq., and Deacon William Brown were appointed delegates to the Provincial Congress, which met at Coneord in October. Captain Josiah Stone, with Deacon William Brown as his substitute, was sent to the second congress ; and Joseph Haven, Esq., and Captain Josiah Stone were sent to the third con- gress.
September 9, 1774, the town voted " to pur- chase at the town's expense five barrels of powder, and 5 cwt. of bullets or lead, for an addition to the town stock."
September 30, 1774, voted, "to purchase a chest of 25 Fire Arms, and two field pieces, of such size as the Committee shall judge proper." Joseph Winch, Daniel Sanger, James Glover, and Captain Benjamin Edwards were the com- mittee. This meeting was adjourned for four days ; and public notice was given requesting that " every person above the age of sixteen years shall attend, to consider and determine with regard to the Militia as the whole body shall judge proper." A very full meeting convened, and it was voted, " that there be two Militia Companys beside the Troop in this town ; and that each company choose such officers as they judge best to have command in this day of distress in our Public Affairs." This action of the town led to the formation of two companies of minute-men. The first company, consisting of seventy men, organized December 2, 1774, by the choice of Simon Edgell, captain ; Thomas Drury, first lieutenant ; Lawson Buek- minister, second lieutenant. The second com- pany, consisting of sixty men, organized soon after by the choice of Thomas Nixon, captain ; Micajah Gleason, first lieutenant ; John Eames, second lieutenant. Both companies turned out and took part in the affair of the 19th of April, 1775. Captain Edgell took seventy-seven men to Concord that day, thirty-eight of whom returned at the end of four days ; the others continued in service from ten to nineteen days. Captain Edgell was out twenty-two days. The second company marched under Captain Micajah Gleason, Captain Nixon having been promoted. This company numbered forty-nine men, who were in service from three to twenty-eight days. Captain Gleason resigned the command April 23, and at once organized a eom- pany for eight months' service. His first lieutenant was James Kimball of Haverhill; second lieutenant, William Ryan of Salem ; first sergeant, Jonathan Temple of Framingham. The company numbered
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
fifty men, eight of whom were from this town. Captain Thomas Drury organized a company for the eight months' service, April 24: first lieu- tenant, William Maynard ; second lieutenant, Jo- seph Mixer; sergeants, Samuel Frost, Ebenezer Eaton, Joseph Nichols. The company numbered sixty-four men, mostly belonging to Framingham. Five of our men enlisted in Captain Aaron Haynes' company. In all, eighty-nine Framingham men were out in the eight months' service in 1775.
April 24, Colonel Jonathan Brewer, a native of Framingham, then living in Waltham, volunteered his services, and received from the Committee of Safety ten sets of enlistment papers, and at once proceeded to beat up for recruits. When organ- ized, the officers of the regiment were Colonel Jona- than Brewer, Lieutenant-Colonel William Buck- minster, Major Nathaniel Cudworth of Sudbury, Adjutant John Butler of Peterborough, Quarter- master Charles Dougherty.
April 27, the Committee of Safety ordered that Colonel John Nixon have nine sets of beating papers. When organized, the regimental officers were Colonel John Nixon, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Nixon, Major John Buttrick of Concord, Adjutant Abel Holden, Jr., of Sudbury, Quarter- master John White of Haverhill. By returns of June 17 Colonel Brewer's regiment comprised eight companies and three hundred and seventy-one men. Colonel Nixon's regiment had eight companies and three hundred and ninety men. Both these regi- ments took a leading part in the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17. Colonel Brewer was ordered by General Ward early in the morning to go to the support of Colonel Prescott. About one half his regiment were absent on leave, or in camp at Brookline, so that he went upon the hill with only about one hundred and eighty men. The regiment took a position at the left of the redoubt, in the open field, which it held through the day, leav- ing the line of battle only when General Warren, who stood at the head of the rail-fence breast- work, - between the regiments of Brewer and Nixon, -deemed it prudent to retire. Colonel Brewer received a painful wound; Lieutenant- Colonel Buckminster, just before the retreat, re- ceived a dangerous wound from a musket-ball entering the right shoulder and coming out in the middle of his back, which made him a cripple for life ; Adjutant Butler was wounded in the arm. Seven of the regiment were reported killed, and cleven wounded.
Colonel Nixon's regiment was sent to the sup- port of Prescott about the same time as Colonel Brewer's. His men helped to build the hay breastwork, took position behind it next to Colo- nel Brewer, and held their ground till the British got possession of the gap. Swett states that Colonel Nixon marched upon the field with three hundred men; and this is believed to be sub- stantially correct. The two Framingham compa- nies, Captain Drury's and Captain Gleason's, had respectively sixty-three and fifty men. A part of Captain Drury's company was sent to the redoubt, to support Colonel Prescott, just before the British charge. One of them, Peter Salem, is said to have killed Major Pitcairn. A part of the same com- pany was with Colonel Brewer's men at the head of the rail-fence. Sergeant Ebenezer Eaton, who was near General Warren, started to leave the defences with him, was close to him when he received the fatal shot, and, with some com- rades, attempted to carry him off the field; but the British onset forced them to leave the body. Colonel Nixon was severely wounded during the third attack, and had to be carried off the hill. His regiment deserves honorable mention among those that were the last to leave the line of battle. Three were reported killed, and ten wounded, - all during the last attack or while on the retreat. As one of Captain Drury's inen stated, "The British fired over our heads ; the tops of the young apple-trees where we stood were cut all to pieces by their bullets."
During the summer Colonel Brewer's regiment was stationed at Prospect Hill. After the re- arrangement of the army he resigned his command as colonel, and November 16, 1776, received the appointment of barrack-master. After the 17th, Colonel Nixon and his regiment went into camp on Winter Hill, where he remained till the army moved to New York. He was commissioned briga- dier-general August 9, 1776, and was put in com- mand of Governor's Island. His brigade moved up the North River, and took a leading part in the campaign of 1777 against Burgoyne ; was at. Still- water September 19, and at Saratoga October 11. General Nixon was a member of the court-martial for the trial of General Schuyler, October 1, 1778. He resigned his commission in 1780.
On the promotion of Colonel John Nixon his brother Thomas Nixon was put in command of the regiment. He took an active part in the cam- paign against Burgoyne, and was stationed at vari-
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ous points on the North River from 1777 to the close of the war. Captain Micajah Gleasou fol- lowed the fortunes of his colonel, and died at White Plains in the fall of 1776.
On the order in council, dated December 1, 1775, calling for 5,000 men to defend the fortifi- cations around Boston, Captain Simon Edgell and twenty-eight men of the militia marched to Rox- bury, and were in service six weeks.
In the campaigns of 1776, Captain Edgell and his company of seventy-four men were in service at Ticonderoga from August to December; and there were not less than eighty-three others from this town out for longer or shorter terms.
Including the men with the Nixons, Framing- ham furnished for various services, in 1777, nine commissioned officers and forty-nine privates. Captain Joseph Winch, with a company of ninety- one militia, was in service from August 16 to November 29. This company was at the surren- der of Burgoyne, October 17. In the campaigns of 1778, fifteen men from this town were in Cap- tain John Holmes' company, of Colonel Jonathan Reed's regiment of guards, April 2 to July 4, and sixteen men in Captain Amos Perry's com- pany, in the Rhode Island service. Twenty-one men were out in 1779.
In Colonel Abner Perry's regiment of militia, or- dered, on an alarm, to Rhode Island, July 27, 1780, out to August 7, were Lieutenant-Colonel John Trow- bridge, Major John Gleason, Adjutant James Mel- len, Jr., and Mr. Frederick Manson ; also ordered for the same service were Captain Nathan Drury and thirty-six men, Captain David Brewer and twenty-three men, Captain Lawson Buckminister and forty-nine men. Lientenant John Mayhew and thirteen men were in service at Rhode Island from June 30 to September 30.
Captain Peter Clayes and ten Framinghamn men served during the last years of the war in Colo- nel Thomas Nixon's regiment. Lieutenant James Mellen and thirty-four men were in Captain Sta- . ples Chamberlain's company on a forty days' expe- dition to Tiverton, Rhode Island, in the spring of 1781. Most of the recruits in these last years of the war were young men from sixteen to twenty years old ; and they were obtained only by the payment of large bounties.
In addition to the above-named soldiers, drafted or enlisted from the militia to meet emergencies, there were what was known as the three-years men, who were incorporated in the regular army. The
| first three-years men were called for in January, 1777; the last were called for December, 1780. Under the first call a small bounty was offered, and the men readily enlisted. Framingham raised, as her quota, sixty-two men. This was in addi- tion to nine commissioned officers in the Continental Army. Under the last call this town raised forty- three meu. Of these, twenty-seven were re-enlist- ments, or those who originally enlisted for the war. The difficulty of raising these last men is seen from the fact that the town voted to grant £50,000 to hire soldiers. And the following receipt shows the large bounties paid : -
" We the subscribers having enlisted ourselves into the Continental Army for the term of three years, and do hereby acknowledge to have received of the town of Framingham for that service the sum of one hundred dollars hard money per year. We say received by us : -
ABEL BENSON JOHN FREEMAN JAMES DOSE SOLOMON NEWTON EPHRAIM NEWTON NATHANIEL PRATT JOHN PRATT EPHRAIM PRATT
" April 16, 1781." .
Owing to imperfect company and regimental returns, it is impossible to make out complete lists of the killed and wounded in the different cam- paigns of the war. The number of Framingham men known to have died of discase, or to have been killed in battle during the war, is twenty- five.
The number of pensioners belonging to this town, as near as can be ascertained, was sixty-five, of whom, or their widows, fifteen were living in 1840, as follows : Jacob Belcher, age seventy-nine; Han- nah Belcher, widow of Joseph, age eighty-three; Abel Benson, age seventy-four ; Joel Coolidge, age eighty-one; Ebenezer Eaton, age ninety ; Luther Eaton, age seventy-eight ; Betsey Fisk, widow of Moses, age eighty-one ; Sally Greenwood, widow of Abel, age seventy-eight ; Ezekiel How, age eighty-four; Nathan Knowlton, age eighty ; Nathan Kendall, age eighty-three; Thomas Nixon, age seventy-eight ; Phinehas Rice, age seventy-eight ; Uriah Rice, age eighty-three ; Mary Trowbridge, widow of Colonel John, age eighty- five.
After the War. - The population of the town at the close of the war was about 1,500; and from
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
the loss of many of its young men, and the unset- tled habits of those who survived, the increase was slow for the next twenty years.
The minister, Mr. Bridge, died September 2, 1775, and Mr. David Kellogg began to preach in Framingham in the spring of 1778, though he was not ordained till January 10, 1781. The ministry was a power in society at that day ; and one of the important influences which counteracted the at- tendant evils of war, and helped to tide over its effects, was the broad conservatism and high char- acter and Christian labors of these two pastors. Mr. Kellogg continued the only settled minister in town till 1807, when Mr. Charles Train com- menced preaching for the Baptists; from which date the two held contemporary pastorates for about a quarter of a century. To these two men Framingham owes directly, in a large degree, her present high standing in intelligence, morals, and that general thrift which is not found except in connection with culture and virtue.
Industries. - Next to dwellings and cultivated fields, the prime necessity of a new settlement is corn and saw mills. John Stone built a corn-mill at the falls of Sudbury River as early as 1662, and his son Daniel put in a saw-mill there a few years later. In 1707 Savil Simpson built grist and saw mills on the Hopkinton River, north of his house (the spot can be seen a few rods above where the Boston and Albany Railroad crosses the stream), and three years later put in a fulling-mill at the same point. In 1712 John How bought this privilege and the buildings, and removed the mills down to the point known as the Shepard Paper-Mill site. Colonel Joseph Buckminster built a grist-mill on the brook near his house very early. These mills met the wants of the people for many years.
The mechanical trades were introduced by the first settlers. Isaac Learned, the cooper, was here in 1679; John How, carpenter, 1689; Isaac Clark, carpenter, 1692 ; Caleb Bridges, bricklayer, 1693; the wife of Joseph Trumbull, weaver, 1693 ; Jeremiah Pike, spinning-wheel maker, 1696 ; Jona- than Rugg, blacksmith, 1704: Jonas Eaton, tan- ner, 1706; Ebenczer Hemenway, weaver, 1711; Ebenezer Boutwell, tinker, 1721. Forges were established by Andrew Newton, on Hopkinton River, in 1745 ; by Ebenezer Marshall at the site of Cutler's mills, 1747, where he inade axes, hoes, scythes, etc.
It was not till after 1800 that the water-power
of Sudbury River and its affluents was fully util- ized. The Framingham Manufacturing Company was incorporated February 6, 1813, and built a cotton factory on Cochituate Brook, near the site of Deacon Brown's grist-mill. The Saxon Factory Company, for the manufacture of woollen goods, was incorporated February 4, 1824. The com- pany built mills at the old site of Stone's mills, at the falls in Sudbury River. The successor of this company was the Saxon Cotton and Woollen Fac- tory, incorporated June 11, 1829; and February 16, 1832, the name was changed to the Saxon Factory. The statistics of this company, April 1, 1837, were : woollen mills, 5; sets of machinery, 11 ; wool consumed, 744,000 pounds ; cloth manu- factured, 268,640 yards ; value, $ 311,800; males employed, 105; females, 141; capital invested, $415,000.
In 1837 the New England Worsted Company purchased this property, and removed hither their worsted machinery from Lowell. The main busi- ness since then has been the manufacture of wors- ted carpet-yarns and woollen blankets. In 1858 this entire property was bought by M. H. Simpson and Nathaniel Francis, and the name changed to the Saxonville Mills. No change was made in the kind of goods manufactured. During the late civil war the company filled large orders for blue kersey army cloth. 'The statistics for 1865 were : num- ber of mills, 4 ; sets of machinery, 25; pounds of scoured wool consumed, 2,000,000; gross value of stock used, $800,000 ; yards of blanket- ing manufactured, 1,500,000, value $900,000; pounds of yarn manufactured and not made into cloth 600,000, value $300,000 ; yards of army cloth manufactured 150,000, value $200,000; capital, $129,000; males employed, 393; fe- males, 390. Statistics for 1875 : mills, 2; capi- tal, $800,000; value of goods manufactured, $850,000; males employed, 263: females, 268. In 1878 the company commenced the manufacture of hair-cloth, in imitation of seal-skin.
Paper Mills. - In 1817 Dexter and David Bigelow erected a mill on the Hopkinton River for the manufacture of writing-paper ; and in 1828 Calvin Shepard and son purchased the site of the Dench Mills, on the same stream, and put in paper- making machinery. These privileges are now in Ashland. In 1837 the stock manufactured was 278 tons; value of paper, $46,000; males employed, 12 ; females, 11; capital invested, $50,000.
Carpet Factory. - In 1830 Mr. William H.
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FRAMINGHAM.
Knight purchased of Colonel James Brown the old fulling-mill privilege on Cochituate Brook, and commenced in a small way the manufacture of carpets. In 1839 Mr. Knight bought a privilege on the same stream at the highway crossing, eighty rods below his first site, whither he removed his factory and put up new buildings and greatly en- larged his business. Five years later he bought the old cotton-mill privilege, where he put in machinery for spinning woollen yarn. In 1845 Mr. Knight owned three mills ; wool consumed, 465,000 pounds; yards of carpeting, 199,037, value, $149,530 ; males employed, 191; females, 41. All the privileges on this brook have been sold to the city of Boston.
Villages. - The geographical centre of the town possessed no natural advantages to make it desirable to settlers. The steep northerly declivity of Bare Hill, and the swamps to the northwest and east, were the reverse of attractive. All the early roads shunned it, and the location of the meeting-house alone centralized interests here. Except Buck- minster's tavern, just west of the old cemetery, 110 business enterprise was initiated here till the estab- lishment of the Academy in 1792, and the simul- taneous coming, a few years later, of the Wheeler brothers, Isaac Warren, and Martin and Nathan Stone. The opening of the Boston and Worcester Turnpike, in 1809, with this village as the central stopping-place, gave a new impetus to mechanical and mercantile business.
The falls in Sudbury River and the falls in Hop- kinton River are the only two points in the original town limits marked by Nature for business cen- tres. The upper site was early set off to Hopkin- ton, and was late in attracting enterprise, because of the difficulty of constructing a strong dam, owing to the width of the valley. The lower falls were taken np early, as already noticed. The later enterprises, which have built up the flourishing village of Saxonville, and made it a centre of social, educational, and religious influences, seem to have the elements of permanency, though the water- power is destroyed by the seizure of the Sudbury River as an additional water-supply for the city of Boston. The South Village owes its existence to the fact that it is the central station on the Boston and Albany Railroad, which was opened in 1835. Its importance has since been increased by the junction here of the Milford Branch Railroad, and still later by the entrance of the Fitchburg and Clinton and the Framingham and Lowell roads
from the north, and Framingham and Mansfield Road from the south. The earliest general indus- try of the village was the manufacture of straw bouncts. This was commenced in a small way by Captain J. J. Clark as early as 1815. Lovell Eames engaged in the business about 1830. Alexander Clark opened a shop in 1838 for making straw bonnets, and in 1853 added the manufacture of palmleaf goods. Franklin Manson started in the business in 1840. Messrs. George Richardson, Augustus Richardson, Curtis H. Barber, and George P. Metcalf have since engaged in the busi- ness. The statistics of this industry for 1875 were : manufactories of straw goods, 3; capital invested, $255,000 ; value of goods made, $830,000. Most of the mercantile and mechanical pursuits are now carried on upon a large scale in this vil- lage.
Education. - Fortunately for the town there were, among the early settlers, men and women who had received a good common education, and were qualified to teach others. Joshua Hemenway re- ceived scholars at his own house, and was employed as schoolmaster early. The Learned girls were noted schooldames, and women's schools were es- tablished as early as 1713. Edward Goddard, a teacher from Boston, removed hither in 1714, and at once began to teach in his own house, and in 1716 was put in charge of the grammar school. After 1724 this school was commonly taught by college graduates who were natives of the town. In 1750 the town was divided into five school-dis- tricts, and school-houses were built in the outskirts. In 1798 a superintending school committee was chosen.
Framingham Academy. - In 1792 Rev. David Kellogg and twenty-four other citizens organized a society " to disseminate piety, virtue, and useful knowledge"; built a brick school-house on the west side of the Common, at the cost of £176. 98. 6dl. ; and established a school under the re- striction that " the preceptor shall have received a collegiate education." The school was opened No- vember, 1792, under Mr. James Hawley (H. C. 1792). In 1798 the town voted a grant to the school of $60 per annum, which continued till 1824. In 1799 the school was incorporated as the Framingham Academy, and received from the legislature a grant of half a township of land. This grant comprised 11,720 acres; was located on the northerly line of the present state of Maine ; was sold in 1803, and the avails invested as a per-
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
manent fund, the interest of which should be used for the benefit of the school. In 1851, by leave of the legislature, the academy was merged into the town high-school.
State Normal School. - The first normal school established in Massachusetts - and the first school devoted exclusively to the education of female teachers - was opened at Lexington, July 3, 1839. This school was removed to West Newton, Septem- ber, 1844; and was transferred to Framingham, December, 1853. The names of the principals since the last date are Mr. Eben S. Stearns, Mr. George N. Bigelow, Miss Annie E. Johnson, and Miss Ellen Hyde. Length of term of study, two years ; total number of pupils who have been con- nected with the school, 2,106; number of grad- uates, 1,466.
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