USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 83
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
himself was present, in his Roderick Random. For this fatal expedition Hopkinton furnished eleven men and a boy. They enlisted under Cap- tain Prescott of Concord. Their names are Henry Walker, Henry Walker, Jr., Edward Caryl, Gideon Gould, Francis Pierce, Thomas Bellows, Eleazer Rider, Cornelius Claflin, Samuel Frale, Samuel Clemons, Ebenezer Collar, and Samnel Rousseau. They are said to have been among the most robust men of the town ; but they all perished in the ex- pedition, except Gideon Gould and the boy, Henry Walker, both of whom returned to Hopkinton.
In 1743 the town appropriated £30 for a stock of ammunition. This was probably in anticipation of war between England and France, which was declared June 2, 1744, in Boston. Mr. John Taylor was the innholder at this period, and at his tavern the Mellens, Denches, Joneses, Gooches, Wilsons, Walkers, Woods, Bixbys, and Claflins met to discuss over the foaming cup the stirring questions of the day. Dr. Simpson Jones was the practising physician, and the town-clerk was some- thing of a scholar, as appears from an occasional quotation, like the following, on the records : Qui agricolis benefacit ingrate remunaretur.
The town was largely represented in the war that followed. Isaac Whitney and one other " were impressed (drafted), July 2, 1745, and hired Samuel Speen to go to ye western froutier in their name ; Edmund Bowker, seu'. and Josialı Bowker were impressed and went into his Majesty's service on the western frontier. John Kelley was im- pressed at the same time and went with the said Bowker ; Sergeant John Devine, Gideon Gould, and James Cloyce were in the 2nd company, Ist Mass. regiment under Sir Gen. William Pepperell at Louisburg this year." Sammel Walker, Sr., and Timothy Tounling's servant Jeffers, " were both impressed into his Majestys service at the eastward and went -they having £20 each, old tenor, and so went four and a half terms; the money was paid by Dea. Mellen £10, Richard Kimball £10, Peter Barnes, £5, Samuel Woodhull, £5, Joseph Haven, Jr. £5 and Ebenezer Rider, £5. Nathan Jeffers had Samuel Woodhulls gun and Walker had Richard Kimballs gnn. David Foster was impressed, May 28th, into his Majestys service to the western frontier, he having £10 and it goes for half his turn. John Nutt paid the £10 and J. Pratt his gun and so it goes for half his turn." 1
Captain Charles Morris had a company which 1 Papers of Colonel Johu Jones.
458
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
served in General Waldo's regiment at Annapolis, from August 25, 1747, until the 24th of October following. In it were the men named below, per- haps others, from llopkinton : Ebenezer Ifall, Jr., and Robert Wark, sergeants; Micah Bowker, Jon- athan Fairbanks, John Galloway, Ebenezer Hall, Isaac Jones, Elisha Kenney, Isaac Morse, Benja- min Stewart, Edmund Shays, Patrick Shays (father of Daniel Shays, the rebel), Sampson Twamuch (an Indian), John Watkins, Joshua Whitney, John Wilson, Sr., and John Wilson, Jr., privates; and Jacob Hayden, corporal.
The Rev. Roger Price, rector of King's Chapel, Boston, came to Ilopkintou in, or about, 1745, and took up a tract of land embracing seven hun- dred and nine acres, to which were added one hundred and forty-two acres of the common land. Ile built a small church edifice, and endowed it with a glebe of one hundred and eighty acres, the deed of which is dated July 9, 1748. After preaching here three or four years, he returned to England, and the ineumbent was then for several years the Rev. John Troutbeck. On his return to England Mr. Price became incumbent of the parish of Leigh, where he died poor, December 8, 1762. Two of his children, Major William Price and Elizabeth, known as " Madam Price," remained in Hopkinton, - the former dying here, December 7, 1802, and the latter in Boston, July 3, 1826. The Episcopal Church, erected about 1752, was de- stroyed by the great gale of September, 1815.
In 1752 the following persons were allowed a discount on their taxes, by reason of their being churchmen : Sir Henry Frankland, £1 88.1d .; Thomas Higgins, the same; Julius Chase, the same; William Wesson, 78. 9d. ; Captain David Ellis, 10s. 3d. ; James Devine, Is. 8d. ; Thomas Valentine, 58. 1d. ; Patrick White, 5s. 10d. 2 qrs. ; John Mastick, 33. 3d. 3grs. ; Robert Barrett, Gs. 9d. 1 gr. ; James Fanning, 2s. 8d. ; Thomas C'hadock, 5s. lld. 2grs .; William Brown, G8. 2qrs. ; Patrick Shays, 48. 1d. ; Ilugh Demp- sey, 28. ; Richard Kelley, 58. 7d. 3grs. ; Rebecca Wilson, 23. 9d. 3qrs. ; Peter Vialas, 5s. 6d. 3 grs. ; John Kelley, 38. 10d. 1gr .; Mrs. Dench, 28. 8d. 3qrs.
Mr. Troutbeck says, January 23, 1755, in a letter to Mr. Price, " I am far from thinking Hop- kinton the paradise it was described to be; but, however, I shall not complain of it, if I can have my health in it." He was appointed chaplain of the Rose Frigate, 1769, and in 1775 went to
IIalifax, and thence to England. His property was confiscated, and his widow, returning to this country, died at Ilingham in August, 1813, at the age of seventy-seven years.
Sir Charles Henry Frankland, a lineal descendant of Oliver Cromwell, and collector of the port of Boston, came to Hopkinton in 1751, and purchased four hundred and eighty-two acres of land in what is now Ashland. Hc erected a commodious man- sion on the southern slope of Magunco Hill, and resided there for several years, having with him the celebrated Agnes Surriage, whom he had found in humble circumstances at Marblehead, and whom he had cansed to be educated in the schools of Boston. He had many slaves, and lived in sump- tuous style, diverting himself in fox-hunting, in decorating his grounds, and in entertaining his friends from Boston. He subsequently returned with Agnes Surriage to Europe, and was buried in the ruins occasioned by the earthquake at Lisbon on the Ist day of November, 1755. A writer in the Boston Gazette, January 12, 1756, says, " Sir Henry Frankland, I am told, escaped miraculously ; he was in his chaise, and the moment he stepped out, a house fell on it and buried the chaise, beasts, and servants; he and lady are now at Belem." He, himself, says in his journal, " I was buried in ruins." With his own statement most of the other accounts agree. He was extricated from his peril by the exertions of Agnes Surriage, and, in to- ken of his gratitude, soon led her to the hymeneal altar. After serving as consul-general of Portugal, he died at Weston, near Bath, England, January 11, 1768, aged fifty-one years. His widow returned to Ilopkinton in June of the same year, and with her sister, Mrs. Mary Swain, Henry Cromwell, and a few servants, remained here until the Revolution. On the 18th of May, 1775, it was resolved in the Provincial Congress, "That Lady Frankland be per- mitted to go into Boston with the following articles, viz., seven trunks, all the beds and furniture to them, all the boxes and crates ; a basket of chick- ens and a bag of corn ; two barrels and a hamper ; two horses and two chaises and all the articles in the chaises ; excepting arms and ammunition ; one phaeton, some tongues and ham and veal, sundry sınall bundles, which articles having been exam- ined by a committee from Congress, she is permit- ted to have soldiers attend her out of Boston." Here she soon afterwards witnessed the battle of Bunker Hill. With Henry Cromwell she then re- turned to England, and in 1781 was married to
489
HOPKINTON.
John Drew, Esq., a wealthy merchant of Chiches- ter, where she died April 23, 1783, aged fifty-seven years.1
On the 3d of March, 1755, the town appropri- ated € 20 " to purchase guns, powder, and bullets," and this ammunition was stored in the meeting- house. At this time the town had fifteen slaves over sixteen years of age. They were held in easy bondage, and some of them were members of the church. Sarah, wife of Tobias, negro, was ad- mitted to Mr. Barrett's church June 6, 1731; Jackee, a negro, November 22, 1741, and Cato, a negro, on the Sabbath following.
Many of the Hopkintonians were now absent from the town as soldiers in the army. In Sep- tember, 1755, Joseph Cody, Jr., George Ware, Daniel Gassett, and George Stimpson were hired to go to Crown Point. Daniel Gould, Jason Rice, and Solomon Walker were wounded in the service. In Captain Jolm Jones's company were Pelatiah Bixby (at Fort George), Jolin Evans, Cornelius Claflin, twenty-three years old; Joseph Cody, twenty-nine ; James Pierce, twenty ; Samuel Bow- ker, twenty-nine; Benjamin Watkins (deceased), and Daniel Evans, Thomas Webster, John Evans, and John Walker were at Fort William Henry in August, 1756. Joseph Cook was in Captain Da- vid White's company. Micah Bowker, March 9, 1759, petitioned the General Court for indemnifi- cation for his loss in the war. Ile reached home with great difficulty, and was laid up by a long sickness occasioned by exposure in the army. Captain Elisha Jones presented, about the same time, a bill for mustering one hundred and sixty men for the expedition against Crown Point, for his journey to Boston, etc., amounting in all to €+. Ebenezer Rider, February 15, 1760, peti- tioued Governor Pownal for indemnification for loss by sickness, in the expedition against Canada in 1738. He was taken sick at Lake George; in about ten days he came to Fort Edward, and so by the aid of others, eventually made his way to Hop- kiuton. George Ware and James Hiscock were with him, and made affidarit to the facts in the case before Simpson Jones, Esq., justice of the peace. The sum of 40s. was granted to him. Sergeant James Nutt was killed at Ticonderoga. Solomon Walker, son of Henry Walker, who was in the expedition at Cuba, had a thigh and three ribs broken in battle. After many adventures in
1 A memoir of Sir C. H. Frankland by the Rev. Elias Nasou was published in 1865. - ED.
the war he returned to Hopkinton, where he died at the age of nearly one hundred years.
The town voted, November 9, 1759, to " sundry young women liberty to build a pew behind the hind seat the whole length of the women's gallery." Abijah Stone had for a long time kept the tavern. His widow, Anne Stone, petitioned the General Court, March 5, 1759, for license to keep her late. husband's tavern, which "is on the main road through said town and is very accommodable for travellers."
The passage of the Stamp Act and of other odious measures by the British Parliament aroused the indignation of the people of Hopkinton, and it was voted, November 27, 1767, " that this town will take all prudent and legal measures to en- courage the produce and manufactures of this province and to lessen the use of superfluities ; particularly the following enumerated articles, im- ported from abroad, namely : loaf sugar, cordage, anchors, coaches, chaises and carriages of all sorts, horse furniture, mens' and women's hats, mens' and women's apparel, ready made household furniture, gloves, mens' and women's shoes, sole leather, sheeting and duck, nails, gold, silver, and thread lace of all sorts, gold and silver, buttons, wronght plate of all sorts, diamonds, stone and plate ware, snuff and mustard, clocks and watches, silver-smith and jewellers ware, broad cloaths that cost above 10s. per yard, muffs, furs, tippets and all sorts of millinery ware, starch, women' and childrens' stays, fire engines, china ware, silk and cotton, velvets, gauze, pewters, linseed oil, silks of all kinds for garments, malt liquors and cheese." This resolve awakened the spirit of industry, and converted almost every household into a busy workshop. Captain Joseph Mellen, an ardent patriot, was chosen, September 21, 1768, to represent the town in the convention to be held in Boston.
The health of the Rev. Mr. Barrett in 1771 had become so much impaired that he was unable to supply the pulpit, and the town then voted him £33 6s Sd. per annum, for the remainder of his life. On the 9th of December of this year, it " voted to concur with the church in the choice of Mr. Elijah Fitch for a pastor "; with £ 133 68 8d. for his " settlement," and £60 per annum with the use of the ministerial land for his salary. He was ordained as colleague with Mr. Barrett, January 15, 1772. The death of Mr. Barrett occurred on the 11th of December following, and for the expenses of his funeral the town appropriated £5 58 4d.
490
ILISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
He was born in Boston in 1700 (H. C. 1721), and is said to have been a good preacher, " sensible, orthodox and exemplary." He left one son, Sam- uel, born in 1726; married Mary Caswell, Febru- ary 9, 1758, and died March 10, 1800, leaving two children, John, the famous teacher, and Anna.
As the disaffection towards the mother country deepened, and a resort to arms appeared to be in- evitable, the town made preparation for the im- pending crisis. It voted, September 5, 1774, £12 "to buy a town stock of powder, bullets, and tents." September 12, it "voted to send Captain Dench and James Mellen as delegates to attend a Provincial Congress at Concord." It also close a committee to " draw up a bill of regulations in this time of confusion and non-operation of the civil law." It voted, January 9, 1775, " to choose a committee to take care of the collections for the sufferers at Boston." Also, February 20, " to have three companies in this town, and chose Roger Denchi captain for the East Company, John Holmes captain for the West Company, and John Jones captain for the Alarm Company." It moreover voted " that every man train under that captain he liketh best, and that every man equip himself with arms and ammunition according to law." On the 17th of April, it was voted to have a company of minute-men, numbering forty, and " that these men have £1 each at their enlistment." It was also voted to raise £50 to pay the minute- inen, and £6 13& 4d. for powder and other pur- poses.
The town was intensely excited at the news of the advance of the British soldiers on Lexington, and the minute-men were at once mustered and sent forward to aid in arresting their progress. The town subsequently voted £30 5s. " to pay the soldiers that went down on the alarm of the 19th of April last." Five days after that battle, - for so the skirmish is now called, - the town voted " that the selectmen provide the blankets to fur- nish the men as they shall enlist at the cost of the town of Hopkinton." It voted, May 4th, " that the town furnish the soldiers of this town, now enlisted under Captain J. Mellen, with guns." On the 22d of the same month, it " voted that every man that does not equip himself with arms and ammunition according to law, shall be deemed as an enemy to his country and shall be recorded as such without giving a sufficient reason for the being not equipped." The town was honorably represented by its soldiers at Lexington, Bunker
Hill, and in other battles of the Revolution. But details cannot be given here.1
The town voted, March 4, 1776, " that any per- son may have liberty to make saltpetre from the dust under the meeting-house." It then chose these men as a committee of safety : Samuel Park, Colonel John Jones, Samuel Bowker, Peter Barnes, Phineas How, Samuel Haven, and Barachias Morse. In May following, Captain John Holmes was sent to represent the town in " the great and General Court or assembly to be held the 29th of May at Watertown "; and on the 17th of June it was put to vote, " to see whether the town will declare themselves independent of the kingdom of Great Britain in case the continental congress should de- clare the same, and it passed in the affirmative by a very unanimous vote." It was also voted to support with their lives and fortunes the repre- sentatives " who made a resolve at the state house on the 10th of May last."
A committee, consisting of Walter McFarland, Captain Holmes, Captain Dench, Ensign Chamber- lain, Samuel Parks, Deacon Haven, and Col. John Jones, was appointed, July 8th, "to enter into agreement with men that are disposed to enter the expedition to Canada"; and it was voted "to give £ 10 to each soldier that should enlist." On the 5th of August £10 were voted to each soldier of the second draft to Canada, also " £10 to each inan that shall go into the Boston expedition."
The population of the town at this time was only 1,134, and the strain upon it for meeting the exigencies of the war was great ; still most patrioti- cally it not only furnished its full quotas of men and money, but also sustained its educational and religious institutions. Meeting after meeting was held for consultation and for the raising of sup- plies. Many of the men were absent in the army ; but those at home of every age, as well as the wives and daughters, made noble sacrifices for the cause of liberty. The Rev. Mr. Fitch was a zcal- ous patriot, and preached and published an eloquent sermon this year, on the evacuation of Boston by the British army. On the 3d of March, 1777, Deacon Haven, Henry Mellen, E. Adams, Pelatiah Bixby, Abraham Tilton, Seth Gassett, and Jacob Chamberlain were chosen a committee of corre-
1 Samuel Snell, who married Mary, daughter of Dr. Sigismund Bondley, in May, 1777, Joseph Tombs, Ebenezer Tombs, Joseph Freeland, and Timothy Walker went down to Lexington under Captain James Mellen, who became n colonel during the war. Mr. Snell was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and also in that of Long Island. ITis gun after the war was struck by lightning.
491
HOPKINTON.
spondence and safety. Afterwards the town voted £1 10s. " for those axes provided for the soldiers that were down towards New York by order of the General Court in last December"; also to give each " soldier £ 24 that shall enlist out of this town into the continental army for three years or during the war." April 7th, £1,800 were granted " to carry on this unnatural war "; May 5th, £25 "for a stock of powder "; also, May 14th, it was voted to " give every man that shall enlist in the conti- mental service for 8 months £15."
A few men in this, as in almost every town, op- posed the war, and bore the opprobrious name of " tory "; and so, on the 2d of June, Dr. John Mauney was chosen " to procure evidence and lay the same before two of the justices of the peace of such persons whose dispositions have been, and still are, inimical to these American United States." Complaint was made against Mr. David Cutler, but in November following his name " was struck out of the tory list."
The victory, in which several Hopkintonians participated, over General John Burgoyne's army in 1777, and which virtually broke down the British strength in the colonies, was hailed with joy by every advocate of freedom; still the war went on, and call after call was made for men and money. The town voted, February 23, 1778, “ to furnish each soldier now in the continental army, being an inhabitant of this town, with one good tow shirt, one pair of shoes, and a pair of stock- ings," and on March 4th, " to provide for soldiers' wives and families agreeable to an act of court made for that purpose." On the 1st of March, 1779, Matthew Metcalf, John Rockwood, and Cap- tain Townsend were chosen a committee of safety and correspondence ; the sum of £600 was granted for the improvement of the highways; 48. an hour were to be paid to a man, and the same for a cart and oxen. The sum of £500 was, on the 24th of May following, appropriated for the support of schools that year; but it will be remembered that continental money had now, by reason of the war, depreciated more than four-fold, and that the tendency was still downwards.
On the 13th of December, the town voted "to grant £6,000 for the war and other emergencies, and also £8 to Dr. Jeremy Stimpson for service done in the war." Captain Holmes, Captain Mel- len, James Bowker, Samuel Haven, and L. Clark were chosen March 3, 1780, as a committee of safety and correspondence. On the 1st of May
following, the town voted "to comply with the constitution, or form of government for the com- monwealth agreeable to a resolve in convention of March the 2d, 1780, with some amendments." Captain Gilbert Dench was chosen May 22d as representative, and £20,000 were voted June 19th for carrying on the war. A committee was chosen August 14th, " to estimate the service done by the men that went in the late alarm to Tiverton." And it was then voted "to grant £35,000, in ad- dition to the £20,000 already granted, to the carrying on the war the present year." The town assembled, September 4th, to choose state officers under the new state constitution, and gave sixty- seven votes for John Hancock as governor, and forty-two votes for Samuel Adams as lieutenant governor. It voted, December 9th, "to grant £11,000 to furnish beef for the army." On the 25th of the same month, it voted "to grant £ 17,000 to purchase beef for the army, now called for." The town voted, February 26th, 1781, " to hire 1,400 silver dollars to pay those soldiers now called for." Deacon Haven, Jacob Gibbs, and John Nutt were chosen March 12th as a com- mittee of safety, and the town voted, August 29th, " to grant 170 dollars in silver to purchase beef and clothing for the army.".
Having made so many sacrifices to sustain the cause of liberty, the town received with great re- joicings the proclamation of peace in 1783, warmly welcomed the return of its soldiers from the war, and raised the salary of its minister from £60 to £70, lawful money.
Of those who served actively in the war, it may be mentioned that Nathaniel Pike was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and in the expedition to Rhode Island. Dr. John Wilson and Dr. John Manney were surgeons in the army at the time of the sur- render of General Burgoyne. Nathaniel Moulton served three years. Ebenezer Tombs, son of Dan- iel Tombs, was killed in the service. Lieutenant William Freeland was under Captain Holmes at Dorchester Heights, when the British were driven from Boston, and also at the capture of Gen- eral Burgoyne's army. Dr. James Freeland was appointed a surgeon in Colonel Learned's regi- ment, August 9, 1775. Nathaniel Chamberlain was in the army and drew a pension. Robert North was wounded in the war. Thomas Mellen held a captain's, and his brother James Mellen a colonel's, commission. Daniel Shays was wounded in the battle of Bunker Hill, and became a captain
492
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
during the war. Isaac Burnap was in the army in 1776. Joseph Frale was at the battle of White Plains. Elisha Snell, a brother of the Samuel Suell already mentioned, served in the army. John Young, son of Joseph Young, and born in Hop- kinton, March 7, 1763, enlisted at the age of thir- teen years, and served throughout the war. Ile married, 1785, Nabby How, daughter of Phineas and Susannah (Goddard) How, and in January, 1801, removed to Whittingham, Vermont, where Brigham Young, the Mormon, was born on the 1st of June of the same year. John Young sub- sequently returned to Hopkinton, and lived on the sonthern slope of Saddle IIill.
'The heavy burden of the seven years' war was seriously felt by the rural towns of the common- wealth, and in 1786 conventions were held in several places by the discontented, and efforts were made to arrest the proceedings of the courts. It was alleged by the disaffected that the fees of the lawyers were exorbitant; that a circulating medium was needed ; that the General Court ought not to sit in Boston; that the servants of the administra- tion were too numerous and their salaries too large ; that the courts of common pleas should be abol- ished, and that the state had no right to grant monies to congress while its own debts remained unpaid. The spirit of discontent continued to in- crease until the number of insurgents, under Cap- tain Daniel Shays, Luke Day, and Eli Parsons had arisen to as many as 1,800; and on the 25th of January, 1787, a demonstration was made by them against the arsenal at Springfield, then defended by about 1,000 troops under the command of Gen- eral Shepard. Unsupported by Day and Parsons, Captain Shays approached to within about fifty yards of General Shepard's line, who then ordered his cannon to be discharged, and four or five of the insurgents fell. Shays then immediately retreated to Pelham, and thence to Petersham, where the insurgents were routed February 4th, and about 150 of them taken prisoners by the state forces under General Benjamin Lincoln. This broke up the insurrection. Hopkinton raised a company of men for its suppression; but voted July 19, 1787, " to petition his excellency, the governor and the honorable council, for a pardon for Job Shattuck (leader of the insurgents in Middlesex County) now in Concord Jail under sentence of death for high treason against this commonwealth."
As the tenants of the quit rent lands found it difficult to pay, and generally ceased to pay, their
rents after 1773, the legislature, on a petition of Gilbert Dench, Esq., in 1787 passed a resolve that they should be taxed "in the same manner as though the said lands were held by them in fee simple, and that the monies arising therefrom be paid to the treasurer of the commonwealth." This resolve, reaffirmed in 1796, relieved the town of a burden which had caused it considerable anxiety and contention.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.