USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 64
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"Cap. Aaron Haynes company 60 men, well provided with arms, the most of them provided with Bagonits or hatehits, about one Quarter part with cartridge Boxes.
"Cap. Joseph Smith's company consisting of 75 able bodied men, forty well aquipt, twenty Promise to find and aquip themselves emedately, fifteen no guns, and otherwise unaquipt.
" The Troop. Capt, Isaae Lover, 21 Besides what are on minit Role well aquipt.
" Returned by Ezekiel Howe Left Col."
And so all through the war Sudbury was ready to respond to every call from the government for men and treasure, and the course of the town in that glorious struggle was most honorable. Her sons were scattered, in the army, all over the coun- try, and many of them laid down their lives in attestation of their deep and burning patriotism. This chapter of Sudbury's conduet in the War of Independence might be extended to almost any length, and as thus extended would be as brilliant and thrilling as the record of any town in Massa- chusetts during that struggle for civil and relig- ious liberty against the oppressive demands of the mother country.
In Shattuck's History of Concord (page 99) is the following : " On 29 March 1775, a report was circulated that British troops were coming to Con-
cord, which ereated great excitement. The Pro- vincial committee of safety met in Concord 14 and 17 April, and gave orders for the removal of some of the stores from Concord. These were ordered to 9 different towns. 5 barrels beef, 100 of flour, 20 easks of rice, 15 hogsheads of molasses, 10 hogsheads of rum, 500 pounds of candles are ordered to Sudbury." The government powder- house or storehouse in Sudbury was near the gravel- pit on the west side of the river. This storehouse was under guard of a small company of soldiers.
" Sep. 2, 1777.
" Agreeable to an order of court directing me to enlist 1 corp' and 6 privates to serve as guard to the stores belonging to the state deposited at Sudbury, I have enlisted
Corp1 Robert Eames Silas Goodnow jr.
Philemon Brown
Elisha Harrington
Jonª Graves
Lemuel Goodnow
Jona Clark
"All of Sudbury, & returned the enlistment to Capt. Isaac Wood Comdr of the Continental Guard in said Town. THOR PLYMPTON."
Guards as above were returned January 1, 1778, of the same number of men, though not all the same men ; also, January 1, 1779, of eleven men.
In the War of Rebellion of 1861 Sudbury's record was highly honorable. The following is taken from A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War, by William Schouler, late Adjutant- General of the Commonwealth, published in 1871. It should be premised that during this war a part of what is now Maynard belonged to Sudbury, which accounts for the difference between the pop- ulation and valuation of Sudbury, as returned by General Schouler in 1871, and as returned by the eensus taken about two years ago,
" Sudbury. Population in 1860, 1,691; in 1865, 1,703. Valuation in 1860, $1,043,091; in 1865, $1,052,778. The selectmen in 1861 and 1862 were James Moore, John H. Dakin, George Parmenter ; in 1863, A. B. Jones, George Goodnow, H. H. Goodnough ; in 1864 and 1865, Thomas P. Hurlbut, Charles Hunt, Walter Rogers.
" The town-clerk during all the years of the war was J. S. Hunt. The town-treasurer during the years 1861, 1862, and 1863 was Edwin Har- rington ; in 1864 and 1865, S. A. Jones.
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SUDBURY.
"1861. The first legal town-meeting to act upon matters relating to the war was held on the 29th of April, and it being expected that the Wads- worth Rifle Guards, - the same being Company B of the Second Battalion Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, - belonging to Sudbury, would be called into active service, it was voted to furnish a new uniform and a revolver to each private and non- commissioned officer, and a sword to each of the commissioned officers ; also to pay each member while in active service an amount which, added to government pay, would make twenty dollars a month ; also ' that the families of those who may leave shall be furnished with all necessary assist- ance at the expense of the town, and their business shall be cared for by the town, and not allowed to suffer by their absence.'
" 1862. July 28, Foted to pay each volunteer who shall enlist in the military service for three years, and be credited to the quota of the town, a bounty of $125." The number required was four- teen, and the selectmen were instructed to enlist the men, and to provide, at the expense of the town, for any siek or wounded volunteer belonging to Sudbury. August 19, the bounty to volun- teers for nine months' service was fixed at $100. 1863, December 7, the selectmen were authorized "to use all legal and proper means to fill the town's quota, in compliance with the call of the President, dated Oct. 17, 1863, for three hundred thousand men." 1864; June 4, it was voted to raise a sufficient amount of money to pay a bounty of $125 to each volunteer who shall enlist and be credited to the quofa of Sudbury, in anticipation of any subsequent call of the President for more men. This amount of bounty was continued to be paid until the close of the war.
" Sudbury furnished one hundred and sixty-eight men for the war, which was a surplus of eleven over and above all demands. Four were commis- sioned officers. The whole amount of money ap- propriated and expended by the town on account of the war, exclusive of state aid, was seventeen thou- sand five hundred and seventy-five dollars. The amount of money raised and expended by the town during the war for state aid to soldiers' families, and repaid by the commonwealth, was $6,199.18."
Ecclesiastical History. - The First Church was organized in 1640, but four years after the plant- ing of the First Church in Cambridge, which is the oldest Congregational Church in Middlesex County, the First Church in Sudbury being the
next. Rev. Edmund Brown was the first pastor, being inducted into office at the time the church was or- ganized. Mr. Brown was a man of rare excellence, able, discreet, and a sound preacher. The first meet- ing-house was erected in 1642, and was located on the east side of the river, in the old burying-ground. It was a rude structure, and was built by Sergeant John Rutter for the sum of £6, to be paid in articles of produce. It was 30 x 20 feet, and 6 feet high, having four windows with three lights apiece, and two windows with four lights each. It was without floor or seats for two or three years. The second meeting-house was built on the site of the first, was 40 x 25 feet, and 12 feet high, -a framed house designed for galleries. This meeting- house served not only as the place of public worship, but as a town-house and arsenal. In front of it was an arrangement for punishing eriminals, and in the time of King Philip's War it was surmounted with a stockade, and so answered the purpose of a forti- fication. This building remained thirty-four years, when it was sold, except the seats, for £6.
Mr. Brown died January 22, 1678, and was succeeded by Mr. James Sherman. The third pastor was Rev. Israel Loring, a man eminent in all the region as a powerful preacher. Mr. Loring died in the ninetieth year of his age, and the sixty- sixth of his ministry. He died on Tuesday, and would have preached on the Sabbath immediately preceding, but for the providential arrival on Satur- day of a brother. On Monday, the day before his death, he opened town-meeting with prayer.
This story of him is well authenticated : He had refused to baptize children born on Sunday. At length Mrs. Loring gave birth to twins on the Lord's Day, when Mr. Loring publicly confessed his error, and in due time administered the ordinance to his own Sabbath-born children.
In 1722, eighty-two years after its organization, the. church was divided, when Mr. Loring took charge of the new church on the west side of the river, which, with the consent of those who remained on the east side, was designated the First Church, and the parish, the First Parish in Sudbury.
There are now three places of public worship in Sudbury, located in the centre of the town, belong- ing, in order, to the old First Society, which is Uni- tarian, to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to the Orthodox, designated as the Union Evangelical Church.
The Goodnow Library is a great centre of in- terest and profit in Sudbury. It now has on its
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
shelves nearly seven thousand volumes, and fur- nishes a great variety of reading matter, of which the citizens very generally avail themselves. The library building has recently been enlarged, and in the course of a few years it will be necessary to enlarge it again ; when, undoubtedly, it will be made an imposing and beautiful structure. On the first page of the catalogue is the following : -
" John Goodnow, son of John Goodnow, Jr., and Persis Goodnow, his wife, was born at Sudbury, September 6, 1791, and died in Boston, December 24, 1861. By the first two clauses in the last will and testament of the above-named John Goodnow was founded a public library for the benefit of the inhabitants of the town of Sudbury, a true copy of said clauses being hereby recorded as follows, viz. :
" First : I give, devise, and bequeath unto my native town of Sudbury, in the County of Middle- sex, the sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars, to be appropriated for the purpose of purchasing and keeping in order a Public Library for the benefit of the inhabitants of that town.
" Second : I also give, devise, and bequeatlı three acres of land, in the northerly part of the Sudbury Tavern Estate, adjoining the land of Howe Brown, beginning at the meeting-house road, and running with equal width with Brown's line to the brook, for the purpose of erecting thereon a suitable building for a Library, and the further sum of Twenty-five Hundred Dollars for the erection of said building : and whatever portion of said land shall not be needed for the purposes of said Library Building, the said Town of Sudbury shall have full power and authority to apply to other town pur- poses, but without any power of alienation.
" At a legal town-meeting held at Sudbury, on the 7th day of April, 1862, the town voted to ac- cept the bequest contained in the first and second clauses of the last will and testament of John Goodnow, late of Boston. And Messrs. James Moore, John H. Dakin, and George Parmenter, selectmen of the town, were appointed and author- ized to receive and receipt for the said bequests."
Sudbury River rises in Westborough, flows through Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Sud- bury, Concord, Billerica, and at Lowell empties into the Merrimack. On this stream arc factories of note in Ashland, Saxonville, Billerica, and in Lowell, the city of spindles. The river is tapped in Framingham for the purpose of furnishing Bos- ton with water. As it flows between Sudbury and Wayland it has no fall sufficient for a mill privilege.
Wash-Brook rises in Marlborough, and after flowing very circuitously through Sudbury, empties into Sudbury River near the lower causeway. On this stream are C. I. Howe's tack-factory and grist- mill, Pratt's and Willis' grist and saw mills, and the factory of S. B. Rogers and Company. There . used to be a grist and saw mill on this stream near the Dutton place.
The large woollen factory and the paper-mill in Maynard, before that town was organized, were on the Sudbury side of the Assabet River, by the water of which those mills are carried, and which unites with the Sudbury River in Concord.
In 1871 about 1,900 acres of land were set off from Sudbury for the purpose of forming, with land set off from Stow, what is now the busy and flourishing town of Maynard.
The New Bedford and Lowell Railroad, lately leased for ninety-nine years to the Old Colony cor- poration, passes through South Sudbury, Sudbury Centre, and North Sudbury, having a depot at each of these places.
The Massachusetts Central passes through South Sudbury, and crosses the New Bedford and Lowell Railroad near the depot of the latter road.
The Wayside Inn. - This famous resting-place for man and beast, so long associated with the name of Howe, was built and opened as a tavern in the year 1700 or 1701, by David Iowe. It was first known as "The Howe Tavern in Sud- bury," to distinguish it from the tavern of Jolin Howe, two miles west in Marlborough. As early as 1746 Colonel Ezekiel Howe, son of David, took the house and put up the sign which gave it the name of the " Red Horse Tavern," which it con- tinued to hold. It was the common halting-place for soldiers in the French and Indian wars as they passed from the Bay to Crown Point. Colonel Ezekiel Howe died in 1796, when the house passed into the hands of his son, Adam Howe, who kept it for forty years. At his decease his son, Lyman Howe, took it, and kept it till his own decease in 1860, when it passed out of the family and ceased to be an inn.
The Wayside Inn is one of the historic places not only of Sudbury, but of Middlesex County and the state. The poet Longfellow has made the world acquainted with it by his Tales of a Wayside Inn, one of his most fascinating poems. Most of the characters in this poem are real, and the story told by each will be read by thousands with delight ¡ for ages to come.
1
- NNT FOISTIM Hle
DET . 5HS
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
4
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TEWKSBURY.
Longfellow's picture of this famous tavern, as quoted by Professor Young and others, is as fol- lows :
" As ancient is this hostelry As any in the land may be,
Built in the old colonial day, When men lived in a grander way. With weather stains upon the wall, And stairways worn and crazy doors, And creaking and uneven floors, And chimneys linge and tiled and tall."
The Wayside Inn, as a building, was small at first ; from time to time additions were made to it as was needed, till it became a tavern, for such a locality, of large dimensions. It is on the great | so many years ago were wont to make merry.
road from Boston to Worcester, about midway be- tween the two cities, and in the days before rail- roads was usually thronged by travellers of all classes, while many were drawn there by the repu- tation of the house for fine entertainments.
The most important parts of this building re- main in the exact style of the olden times. The rooms are as they were, most of them, when Wash- ington and Lafayette were entertained there over night. The oaks still standing around it, very large, sparsely supplied with limbs, and with hollow trunks, are evidently very aged. Even now many come from a distance to take a look at this ancient structure and be conducted through its rooms and up into the dancing-hall, in which the visitors of
TEWKSBURY.
BY LEONARD HUNTRESS, ASSISTED BY J. C. KITTREDGE.
A
LL that territory lying between Andover and Wilmington on the east, Wilmington and Bil- lerica on the south, the Con- cord River on the west, and the Merrimack River on the north, was taken from Biller- ica in 1734, and incorporated into a new township, bearing the name of Tewksbury. It is supposed to have derived its English name from Tewksbury in the county of Gloucester, in Eng- land. Its Indian title was Wamesit, from the tribe of that name whose camping-ground was at the confluence of the above-named rivers. The area of the town is much less now than when in- corporated ; for in 1834 nearly one thousand acres, embracing the village of Belvidere, and in 1874 another considerable tract adjoining, were added to Lowell. It now comprises some 13,200 acres, and sixty-five miles of roads lying east of and adjoining Lowell, and abont twenty miles north from Boston. It is separated from New Hampshire only by the Merrimack River and the town of Dracut.
The soil for the most part in the central, eastern, and southern portions of the town is sandy ; still,
there are a few exceptions to this rule, where the land is of the best quality. As we approach the northern part the ground rises, and assumes a better character. The beanty of the scenery is also superior in that part. The surface of the town is also somewhat nneven, there being several considerable hills, of which the most conspicuous is Prospect Hill, near the Andover line, which much adorns the town ; also Snake Hill, near the line of Wilmington. In addition to the Merrimack and Concord rivers, washing its western and northern banks, the Shawshine runs through the southern and easterly sections, and with Strongwater and Beaver brooks, and Long and Round ponds, fur- nish a good variety and quantity of the small fish that usually inhabit our New England streams.
There are two saw and grist mills; one in the north part of the town, near the Merrimack River, and the other in the southeast part, on the Shaw- shine. There are also an extensive tannery, expen- sive and successful chemical works, and a foundry and machine-shop doing a large business in the manufacture of cotton machinery. Both of these last-named establishments are owned and operated by Lowell parties.
There are two villages : one in the centre, where
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
the town-hall, post-office, stores, and Congrega- tional Church are situated ; the other at the north, where the Baptist Church is located.
The town has good railroad facilities. The Lowell and Lawrence and Salem and Lowell rail- roads pass through the Centre. By a branch from the Salem and Lowell Railroad, near Wilmington Junction, at a short distance from the limits of the town, a through connection is made over the Bos- ton and Lowell Railroad to Boston. In the latter part of the year 1874 the Lowell and Andover Railroad was completed, and leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad. This road passes through the town, the depot being situated about one mile from the Centre Village, and two miles from the North Village, and trains run quite frequently be- tween Lowell and Boston.
In the old times the two sections (southern and northern) were distinguished by the significant names of Pigeon End and Shad End; the former on account of the numerous flocks of pigeons cap- tured in that part, and the latter because of the immense quantities of fish (shad and salmon) taken in the spring of the year in the Merrimack, before the days of Lowell and Lawrence, and when the river was unobstructed by dams.
In the way of phenomena we have to note a Sandy Desert situated near the Billerica line. It is a barren, sandy tract of nearly a mile in extent. In some portions of it not even a scrub-pine, twig, or blade of grass is to be seen. It is truly a min- iature Sahara. Tradition says that part of it was at one time an Indian burying-ground, which is indeed probable, as some arrow-heads, hatchets, and other appurtenances of the red man have been ex- humed here.
No gold-mines have yet been found within our borders, nor silver, nor even copper ; but rarer, if not as valuable, a bed of real Scottish heath has been discovered; and we believe in only one or two other localities in this whole country has it been found.
Agriculture has always been the principal occu- pation of the inhabitants. In the early part of the present century many of the farmers were engaged in the cultivation of hops, which proved to be quite profitable. As large forests abounded in several parts of the town, the cutting and sale of wood and timber have also been a source of profit to many. Formerly the farmers cultivated wheat, corn, rye, oats, etc., as well as hops ; but since the cities of Lowell and Lawrence came into existence,
market-gardening and small fruits have, to a large extent, usurped the place of the crops previously enumerated, on account of the ready markets for them.
Tewksbury is practically free from debt. All the expenses of the late war have been cancelled. The town's property consists of seven good school- houses, a new, convenient, and suitable town-hall, an excellent farm, with substantial and sufficient buildings for the shelter, comfort, and support of the poor. Its cemetery is well, appropriately, and tastefully laid out, and the proprietors and inhabi- tants keep it in excellent order. A public library has been recently established, and is proving a complete success.
The State Almshouse. - This great charitable institution was founded May 1, 1854. Since then it lias been much enlarged and greatly improved by the annexation of various buildings. This town was selected for its location, perhaps, on account of the cheapness of land, and, still more, because it can be so easily reached from so many of the great cities of the commonwealth, being at short distances, with direct railroad communication, from Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Newton, Som- erville, Salem, Lynn, Newburyport, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, and many other places. The number of inmates averages from eight to nine hundred in summer, and about one thousand in winter. It has, for more than twenty years, been under the kind, discreet, and judicious management of Captain Thomas J. Marsh, whose watchfulness and vigilance have secured to these multitudes of poor and abandoned ones, under the liberal pro- visions of the commonwealth, a quiet home, a well- supplied table, clean and comfortable beds, with many civilizing, moral, and Christian influences surrounding and restraining them from evil, and helping them to attain to a better life.
A large farm, of some two hundred and fifty acres, is connected with this institution, on which the inmates - such of them at least who have the requisite strength - are employed. And the soil being light and easily tilled, many are able to do something towards their own support. At any rate, with the wise management bestowed upon it, and a few men employed to assist and direct, the farm yields most abundantly, supplying great quantities of vegetables for the house inmates, and great quantities of field crops, hay, grain, roots, etc., for the barn stock. Without being precise, of hay nearly 200 tons, of cabbages more than 1,400
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TEWKSBURY.
heads, of potatoes 3,400 bushels, were grown last year; milk produced, more than 25,000 gallons ; besides large crops of roots of all kinds, sweet corn, beans, pease, squash, tomatoes, etc. The number of acres in hoed crops is usually about sixty.
The population of the town, including the in- mates of the State Almshouse, is about 2,000. Valuation of property, excluding State Almshouse and Farm, $834,000. Number of horses, 296; number of cows, 546; number of houses, 256.
The earlier history of Tewksbury -that part which dates back of 1734, when it was part of Billerica - is exceedingly limited. Indeed, all that is known is in the history of Billerica, and therefore the history of that town and the general incidents related up to the date of the separation are Tewksbury's as well.
From the date of the organization and incorpora- tion of the town in 1734 to the beginning of the struggle for independence, the chief matters of in- terest to the inhabitants, as shown by the records, were laying out and constructing roads, and the building, care of, and alterations in their meet- ing-house. Scarcely a town-warrant was issued for a meeting during that time that did not contain one or more articles relating to these matters. The people seemed to be deeply interested in them. But how little appears in the records upon these subjects from 1774 to 1784 ! All controversies as to alterations and improvements in their house of worship cease ; all petitions for new highways, town roads, or even bridle-paths are laid aside. War, grim and terrible, absorbed all their energies. And while the town was not one whit behind her neighbors in valor, on account of her scanty num- bers, and because no leading military commander was found within her borders, her fame, perhaps, was not as high as theirs.
The " old French and Indian War" records are meagre indeed ; only a few references are found touching those perilous years from 1750 to 1760.
In the list of deaths are recorded the names of four men, who died in 1756 " in ye service at Fort Wm. Henry," also " one man died in ye service at Lake George in 1760." One or two are recorded as dying in New York, near Oswego.
It is believed there were six or seven more from Tewksbury who served in the provincial armies in that war. And as this struggle began about twenty years after the incorporation of the town, when there were only a few inhabitants, it was perhaps her full contribution to that early conflict.
" Tewksbury, June the 2d 1757. Rec'd of Mr. Isaac Gray thirteen pounds ten shillings and six pence lawful money in full of the wages due to Benjam Hoagg for the town while he was in the country service in the expedition formed against Crown Point in the year 1756. It was in Capt. Butterfield's company. Pr we
" THOS. MARSHALL Selectmen ABRAHAM STICKNEY of
JOHN NEEDHAM Tewksbury."
No traditional incidents relating to that early struggle have been found by us, and we give the above scraps from the early records as all we know of Tewksbury in the French and Indian War.
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