USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 68
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" The petition of Jonathan Tyng Humbly Shew- eth : That yr Petitioner living in the uppermost house on Merimac River, lying open to ye enemy, yet being so seated that it is as it were a watch house to the neighboring towns, from whence we can easily give them notice of the approach of the enemy, and may also be of use to the publique in many respects ; also are near unto the place of the Indians ffishing, from which in the season thereof they have great supplies, which I doubt not but we may be a great means of preventing them thereof, there being never an inhabitant left in the town but myself :- Wherefore your Petitioner doth humbly request that your Honors would be pleased to order him three or four men to help garrison his said house, which he has been at great charge to ffortify, and may be of service to the publique : . your favour herin shall further oblige me as in duty bound to pray for a blessing on your Councils and remain Your HIonrables humble servant, JONATHAN TYNG. "DUNSTABLE, Fcb. 3d, 1675 -6."
The soldiers sent to defend Mr. Tyng's house were detached from the company of Captain Sam- uel Moseley, and for their support Mr. Tyng presented, in 1676, this account : " 18 of Capt. Moseley's men from Aug. 13 to Sept. 10, £ 16 16s .; for 9 men from Sept. 11 to Jan. 17, £47 188 .; for 6 men from Jan. 18 to May 25, £ 25 3s. and for 3 men from May 26 to July 14, £888. also for 20 1bs. of powder at sundry times at 18d. per lb. and 250 bullets, 5s. delivered for scouting." Also, " for 2 horses to Pennycook out 3 days, 1s. 6d."
At the close of the war about sixty of the Pray- ing Indians were removed to Wicasuck Island, and placed under the care of Mr. Tyng, who had Robert Parris, afterwards slain by the Indians, for an as- sistant. It was probably for this service that the court granted to Mr. Tyng, December 5, 1683, " the island in Merrimacke River called Weikeset."
Mr. Tyng was the largest laudholder in Dun- stable. In consideration of £ 23 due to him by the town, three thirty-acre rights were granted to him, which were equal to about 1,800 acres. " This, with large accessions, has continued in the Tyng and Brinley families to the present day, and extends from the Merrimack River about six miles westward, by one mile wide to the Massapoag Pond, forming a large part of the town of Tyngs- borough." 1
The Waldo farm extended northward from Tyng's farm as far as Holden's Brook ; and Cap- tain Thomas Wheeler's farm extended theuce into what is now Nashua, New Hampshire. A part of Wheeler's land subsequently became, and still is, the Bancroft farm. Joseph Perham, Joseph But- terfield, and others took up lands, and settled on the easterly side of the Merrimack River as early as 1711.
The first birth mentioned on the records of Dunstable is that of William, son of Jonathan and Sarah (Usher) Tyng, born April 22, 1679. Of Jonathan Tyng's other children, John (11. U. 1691) was born September 11, 1673, and Eleazer (H. U. 1712), April 30, 1690.
In 1697 the garrisons in Dunstable were under the supervision of the brave Jonathan Tyng, and he was allowed £20 for keeping the friendly sachem, Wannalancet, at Wicasuck Island. Early in this year the celebrated heroinc, Hannah Dus-
! " July 21, 1729, Joseph Blanchard and his wife Rebeecah sell to Ebenezer Tyng, Esq., for £ 160 in good publiek bills of eredit in the Province two full and whole thirty acre allot- ments." Deed acknowledged before Benjamin Thompson, J. P., April 16, 1741.
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TYNGSBOROUGH.
tan, who, with her assistants, Mary Neff and the boy Leonardson, had taken the scalps of ten In- dians at Coutoocook, New Hampshire, was kindly entertained at the house of Colonel Tyng, as she was on her way to her desolate home in Haverhill.
In the winter of 1703 Captain William Tyng, commanding a company of "snow-shoe men," made a successful expedition to the headquarters of " Old Harry," near Lake Winnipiseogee. They succeeded in killing six of the enemy, among whom was the traitor, " Old Harry himself," who had led the assaults on Dunstable. For this act of bravery the General Court subsequently granted to the heirs of those composing this company a tract of land, at first called " Old Harry's Town," then Tyngstown, and afterwards Manchester.
In the winter following, Captain John Tyng, with another company, made an expedition to Pequaw- kett, or Pigwacket, and took five Indian scalps, for which 'they received £200. In 1710 the gal- lant commander of this company was mortally wounded by the Indians between Concord and Groton, and was buried, August 18, at the former place.1
The celebrated Joe English, grandson of Mas- conomo, sagamore of Ipswich, was shot by the Indians, near Holden's Brook, in what is now Tyngsborough, on the 27th of July, 1706. He was acting as a guard to Captain Butterfield and wife, who were travelling on horseback. Killing the horse and taking Mrs. Butterfield captive, the Indians then pursued Joe English, firing at him and wounding him while attempting to shelter himself behind a clump of trees. To escape the torture of the savages, he insulted them with taunting words, when they at once despatched him with their tomahawks. His widow and his two children received a grant of money from the gov- ernment, because " he died in the service of his country."
In 1711 there were as many as seven garrison- houses in Dunstable, and two of them, Colonel Jona- than Tyng's and Henry Farwell's, were within the limits of the present town of Tyngsborough ; but the Indian depredations were mostly made in other sections of the settlement. The name of Tyng was a terror to the enemy. There is a tradition, how- ever, that as Jolin Anthony, afterwards of Dracut, Black Tom, and Elisha, a friendly Indian, were re- turning with hay from Tyng's meadow, in what is
now Hudson, New Hampshire, Elisha, being in advance of the other two, was shot by the hostile savages, who were lying in ambush. His com- panions, coming up, found his - dead body lying in the stream since known as "Elisha's Brook." Three guns were fired and the drum was beaten at the garrison of Colonel Tyng on this occasion, to give warning that the enemy was in the neighborhood. It is said, also, that Church Hill was so named because a Mr. Church, on seeing the Littlehale family who resided there, and whose two sons had been carried into captivity by the Indians, ex- claimed, " Let this place be called Church Hill forever ! "
On the 31st of December, 1722, Ensign Joseph Farwell, who with his son, Henry Farwell, had - settled on a part of the Waldo farm, died, and was buried in the old cemetery at Little's Station. His son, Henry Farwell, held a captain's commis- sion, and was a deacon of the church. Oliver, another son of Joseph Farwell, was killed by the Indians near what is now Thornton's Ferry, on the 5th of September, 1724. His uncle, Josiah Far- well, born August 17, 1698, was the only one who escaped from that fatal ambuscade.
On the Sth of May, 1725, occurred the famous fight between Captain Jolin Lovewell and the Pe- quawkett Indians under Paugus, in what is now the town of Fryeburg, Maine. In this fight Lieutenant Josiah Farwell received a wound, and subsequently perished in the wilderness. The news of the en- counter was brought by Benjamin Hassell, a de- serter, to Colonel Eleazer Tyng, who, in a letter to Governor Dummer, dated Dunstable, May 11, 1725, says : -
"Capt. Lovewell fell at the first Volne the In- dians shott, & Groand : this man [Hassell] being clost by him, & then he saw several of Capt. Love- well's men get behind trees. Upon this, seeing such a great number of Indians, thought it best to return to some men they had left with a sick man at a Fort they had made, about thirty miles back, by Ossipee Pond, & he got to the Fort the next morning abont nine oclock.
"Your Hours Most Humble Servant,
" ELEAZER TYNG. "And if your Honor thinks fitt, I will march up to the place."
Colonel Tyng left Dunstable on the 17th of May with a company of men, and proceeded to the scene of Lovewell's fight. Here they identified and buried
1 Sze Reminiscences of Old Dunstable, by John B. Hill, Esq., p. 80.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
the bodies of Captain John Lovewell, Ensign Jona- than Robbins, Ensign John Harwood, and Robert Usher, of Dunstable ; Sergeant Jacob Fulham, of Weston ; Jacob Farrar and Josialı Davis, of Con- cord ; Thomas Woods, Daniel Woods, and John Jefts, of Groton ; Ichabod Johnson, of Woburn ; and Jonathan Kittredge, of Billerica. They also found the body of the chieftain Paugus.
The house of Colonel Eleazer Tyng seemed to be a kind of rendezvous for the friendly Indians, as that of his father had been before him, and it is not without interest that we read this record in the journals of the General Court : -
" Nov. 6, 1725, Col. Tyng presented an account for Expences in Keeping old Christians Squaw and young Christians Squaw from June 9 to Nov. 5, £ 10, 10s. he was allowed £5, 5s. - and the next year, he was allowed for keeping old Christians Squaw from Nov 6 to Jan 28, 1726."
The name of " Christian " was Joseph. He was a Mohawk Indian, and long acted as a guide to the English in their marches through the wilderness. He died July 10, 1725, at Dunstable.1
By the state line, established in 1741, the pres- ent territory of Tyngsborough was thrown into Massachusetts, and the people for a while acted in church affairs with those of Dunstable, Massachu- setts, forming, as they did, a part of this munici- pality. The Indians had long since ceased to molest them, and nothing of consequence occurred to interrupt the even tenor of their way.
In the expedition under Sir William Pepperell to Cape Breton, in 1745, Benjamin, son of Lieu- tenant Joseph Butterfield, was lost.
Lieutenant Timothy Bancroft, a farmer of note, settled in what is now Tyngsborough about the year 1730, married for his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Deacon Henry Farwell, and died November 4, 1772. Two of his sons, Ebenezer (born April 1, 1738) and Jonathan (born Au- gust 11, 1750), settled in Dunstable and became prominent in public affairs. Ebenezer married, May 5, 1753, Susanna, daughter of Deacon Joseph Fletcher, of Dunstable, and in 1755 entered the provincial army and served through five campaigns. His brother Jonathan was a deacon of the church and soldier in the Revolutionary army. Soon after the organization of the parisli in 1755 a meeting was held, the proceedings of which are thus re- corded : -
" August 20, 1755. At a loyal Meeting held in
1 Kidder's Expeditions of Captain John Lovewell, p. 8.
the first Parish in Dunstable, voted that the Place for a Meeting House for the Publick worship of God, in this precinct be on the west of Merrimack River, near Mr. James Gordons mills, where a fraim is erected for that Purpose. Also Voted to accept the Fraim that is Now on the spot. Messrs. John Tyng & Jonathan Tyng came to the meeting, and gave the Precinct, Glass for the meeting house. Voted to raise twenty-seven pounds to finish the meeting house, also voted the precinct Committee to see the work done.
" ELEAZER TYNG, Moderator."
The meeting-house was erected, having two porches and a tall steeple, near the site of the present Unitarian Church. Of it the Hon. Jolin Pitts is said to have written : -
" A very small meeting-house, A very tall steeple, A very proud parson, A queer sort of people."
In 1756 Eleazer Tyng, Simon Thompson, and Oliver Farwell were appointed a committee " to sett off the pew ground to those that have given & Payd most toward building Said house." In 1757 the parish raised £14 "to hire preaching "; and recent graduates of Harvard College were gen- erally employed to occupy the pulpit. The elders sat upon an elevated seat in front of the pulpit, and tithing-men were employed to keep the young people in order.
The selectmen for 1760 were Eleazer Tyng, Major John A. Tyng, and Joseph Danforth, all of whom were of the First Parish in Dunstable, - that is, the present Tyngsborough. The members of this parish, in 1762, were : Eleazer Tyng, John Tyng, Jolın A. Tyng, James Tyng, William H. Prentice, William Gordon, Robert Fletcher, Sam- uel Gould, Joseph Butterfield, Reuben Butterfield, John Perham, Joseph Perham, James Perham, Jacob Fletcher, Elijalı Fletcher, Zaccheus Spaulding, Samuel Gould, Thomas Jewell, Benoni Jewell, John Ingles, Jonathan Perham, Samuel Fletcher, John Littlehale, Abraham Littleliale, Timothy Ban- croft, Jonathan Butterfield, Jonathan Farwell, Joseph Winn, Eleazer Farwell, Benjamin Farwell, Simon Thompson, Nathan Thompson, Ezra Thomp- son, Silas Thompson, Asa Thompson, Jolin Alls, Thomas Estabrook, Thomas Estabrook, Jr., Timo- thy Barron, William Barron, Robert Scott, Jacob Reed, John Scott, Willard Hale, John Lewis, Reuben Lewis, Archibald Robinson, Joseph French, Esq., Lieutenant John Varnum, James Littlehale,
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TYNGSBOROUGH.
Daniel Fletcher, Jolin Didson, Samnel Howard, Oliver Colburn, Ezra Colburn, Joseph Ayres, John Haddock, John Hamblet; total, 58. The Butterfield, Fletcher, Gould, Colburn, Perham, Hamblet, and Varnum families dwelt on the easterly side of the Merrimack River, which they crossed. by means of a ferry-boat owned by the town. The mill of William Gordon, on Bridge Meadow Brook, and the tavern were the general places of resort. Several slaves were held in easy bondage, and some person was annually chosen to protect the deer which were still occasionally found in the extensive forests.
It was voted in 1768 "to build a bridge with stone over Biscake Brook," a little stream which enters the Merrimack River near where the railroad depot now stands. William Henry Prentice and Jonathan Holden were appointed to assist Jolm Perham, highway surveyor, in constructing it.
In the War of the Revolution the First Parish of Dunstable took a patriotic and active part. The Hon. John Tyng was chosen in 1768 to represent the town of Dunstable in the convention held in Boston that year for the preservation of the public peace and safety. Ou the 23d of January, 1775, the town of Dunstable made choice of John Tyng and James Tyng to represent it in the Provincial Congress, and on the Ist of February following it appointed those two gentlemen, together with Joseph Danforth, Nathaniel Holden, William Gor- don, the miller, Joel Parkhurst, Reuben Butterfield, Jacob Butterfield, and Leonard Butterfield as a committee of inspection.
Minute-men were soon enrolled, the old mus- kets used in the French war put in order, and pow- der and ball provided. The sentiment of liberty was deeply imbedded in the hearts of the people, and all were agreed that British aggression must be sternly met. Soon after the battle of Lexing- ton the town " voted to accept of ye Powder James Tyng, Esq., bought for this town," and on the 12th of June Abel Spaulding, Lemuel Perham, Elijah Fletcher, and Asa Kendall were chosen to join the committee of correspondence.
At the battle of Bunker Hill a Dunstable com- pany, with Ebenezer Bancroft captain, Nathaniel Holden lieutenant, and Samuel Brown ensign, performed effective service. The narrative given by John B. Hill, Esq., of the gallant Captain Ban- croft's part in the action is remarkably interesting. It was taken from Captain Bancroft in 1825, and then reduced to writing. In it that gallant officer says : -
"Col. Prescott came to me and said, 'If you can do anything with the cannon, I wish you would. I give you the charge of them.' I directed the men to dig down the bank [of the redoubt] in order to form an embrasure, which they were forced to do with their hands, for the party that had car- ried off the intrenching tools had not left us a sin- gle shovel or mattock. Men never worked with more zeal. To loosen the earth, I loaded the can- non and fired into the gap, and they dug again, and I fired again a second time. Both these balls fell in Boston, one near the meeting-house in Brattle Square, the other on Cornhill, as I was afterwards informed by Boston gentlemen. By this time the British had landed. They learned that we had cannon on the right or most westwardly part of the fort, which was probably the reason they did not attempt to flank us on that quarter till the close of the action. We were not able to use these cannon in the action, because the enemy advanced and the firing commenced before we had time to dig down the bank far enough to use them against the enemy. Still, as the few shots that were fired gave the enemy notice that we had artillery, and prevented their attempting to turn our right flank, it must be regarded as a very important circum- stance; for, had they attempted it, they would have succeeded, and we should not have had more than a shot or two at them. . . . . The British troops had begun their march. They were steadily and confidently advancing directly in our front. Our men turned their heads every minute to look on the one side for their fellow-soldiers who had gone off with the tools, and for the reinforcements which were expected ; and on the other to see a sight which was to most of them new, - a veteran army marching on firmly to the attack, directly in their front.
" It was an awful moment. The enemy had ad- vanced, perhaps, half the way from their station toward us, and our men, seeing no reinforcements, began by a simultaneous movement to draw off from the east side of the redoubt. This, in my opinion, was the very crisis of the day, the mo- ment on which everything depended. Col. Pres- cott hastened to them, and I followed him. We represented with earnestness that they must not go off ; that if they did, all would go; that it would disgrace us to leave at the bare sight of the enemy the work we had been all night throwing up; that we had no expectation of being able to hold our ground, but we wanted to give them a warm
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
reception and retreat. It is but justice to | these men to say that they cheerfully took their places again, and maintained them as bravely as any that fought that day. As the enemy were ad- vancing within gunshot, Col. Prescott and the offi- cers gave orders to the men to take particular notice of the fine coats, and to aim as low as the waistbands, and not to fire till ordered. A firing of eight or ten guus commenced before orders, at the left of the redoubt, but was immediately stopped. We wished the fire to be held till the enemy were within six rods. Our first fire was shockingly fatal. There was scarcely a shot but told. The enemy were thrown into confusion, and retreated a short distance. Their lines were bro- ken, and it was some minutes before they had con- veyed their dead and wounded into their rear. A
scattering fire was still kept up by our men. They formed again and advanced, and were a second time driven back in the same confusion. They formed a third time, and flanked us. A body of reinforcements, which had come up in the rear of the redoubt, gave them a fire. At this moment, as I understood, Gen. Warren fell. Our ammuni- tion was now nearly expended, which the enemy probably learned by those who had fired away all their powder throwing stones, which were abun- dant in the trench. We were soon surrounded on all sides. The day was over, and we had nothing more but to retreat as well as we could.
" As I was loading my gun the last time, and just withdrawing the ramrod, an officer sprang over the breastworks in front of me, and presented "his piece. I threw away the rammer which was.in my hand, and instantly placed the muzzle of my gun against his right shoulder, a little below the collar-bone, and fired, and he fell in the trench. This was my 27th fire that day. The wound it gave was in the same place as that by which Pit- cairn died, and, as near as I can recollect, the per- son .I shot answered the description of that officer, who was found mortally wounded in our trench.
" I had then a severe struggle to escape out of the fort, the gateway of which was completely filled with British soldiers. I hield my gun broadwise before my face, and rushed upon them, and at first bore some of them down ; but I soon lost my gun, a remarkably long one, which I had taken from the French at Chamblee, in the old French war. I leaped upon the heads of the throng in the gateway, and fortunately struck my breast upon the head of a soldier, who settled down
under me, so that I came with my feet to the ground. Directly as I came to the ground, a blow was aimed at me with the butt of a gun, which missed my head, but gave me a severe con- tusion on the right shoulder. Numbers were try- ing to seize me by the arms, but I broke from them, and with my elbows and knees cleared tlie way, so that at length I got through the crowd. The last man I passed stood alone, and the thought struck me that he might kill me after I had passed him. As I ran by him I struck him a blow across the throat with the side of my hand. I saw his mouth open, and I have not seen him since. A shower of shot was falling all around me as I ran down the hill. One struck off my hat, several marked my clothes; one struck me in the left hand, and carried off the forefinger. Our men were all in advance of me, and I was almost, if not entirely alone from the time I left the fort till I came to Charlestown Neck, on which there was not a man to be seen. I thought it might be some pro- tection from the fire of the floating batteries, to go behind the buildings. . . . . By this time I grew very faint with fatigue and loss of blood. There was a horse tied by the side of the Common, and I made towards him. Col. James Varnum saw me, and came to me. He took me by the arm, and led me to the horse. While he was with me the ball of the last cannon I heard that day passed within a foot or two of me, and struck the ground a short distance before me. We found the owner of the horse by him, and he cheerfully offered him to me to ride to Cambridge. Our loss was principally on the retreat ; very few were killed in the fort."
Captain Bancroft continued in the service during the war. He was at the battle of Bennington, and was major in the regiment of Colonel Brooks in the campaign at White Plains. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, July 1, 1781, and served that year in Rhode Island. He also held many civil offices, and in 1776 reported strong resolutions, which the town adopted, in favor of the Declara- tion of Independence.
Among others of the First Parish who served in the Revolutionary War may be mentioned Sergeant Jonathan Bancroft, Captain Reuben Butterfield, Captain Nathaniel Holden, whose house is still stand- ing on the left bank of ITolden's Brook, Captain Jon- athan Fletcher, Eleazer Farwell, Nathaniel Ingalls, Lieutenant John Farwell, Levi Butterfield, Salathiel Frost, William Perham, Robbin Skinner, John Mer- rill, Daniel Jaques, Benjamin Swan, Asa Emerson,
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TYNGSBOROUGH.
Noah M. Gould, and Sergeant Reuben Butterfield, Jr., who was killed in the battle of White Plains, October 7, 1777. Jumping upon a fence, he cried, "I'll give them one firing more !" when a shot from the enemy struck him, and he fell dead in the presence of his comrade, Nathaniel Ingalls. Daniel Jaques died September 2, 1835, and on his head- stone, in the cemetery near the Thompson place, in Tyngsborough, is written, "To die is to go home"; and also, " A soldier of the Revolution." Benja- min Swan was stationed at Saratoga, New York.
The Precinct Committee in 1776 were Ebenezer Bancroft, Captain Reuben Butterfield, and Lieu- tenant Nathaniel Holden ; the treasurer was Lieu- tenant Nathaniel Holden, the collector, Reuben Lewis, and the elerk, Ebenezer Bancroft.
The parish voted, June 17, 1777, "to pay the soldiers for 8 months service in the war at Cam- bridge, £8. to each man that performed it belong- ing to the parish." It also voted " For 2 months at Cambridge or Dorchester £2; for 12 months at York £18; for 5 months at Ticonderoga £12; for 2 months at Rhode Island, £ 5"; and July 3, 1780, " Voted to allow Noah M. Gould and Nathaniel Ingles 300 dollars in lieu of so much corn at 15 dollars pr bushel." This last vote shows not only the depreciation of money at that period, but also that reckoning by the federal currency had already come into use.
Some time during this war three British prison- ers, while crossing the river in a boat near Wi- casuck Island, were upset and drowned. Their bodies were buried on land now occupied by Mr. Solomon Spaulding.
The parish lost a valuable citizen in 1782 by the death of Eleazer Tyng, Esq., who had served it, as well as the state, in various civil offices. He was buried in the Tyng cemetery, about a mile south of the village. A horizontal tablet has been placed over his remains, bearing the following inscription :-
" Underneath are Entombed the Remains of Elcazer Tyng, Esq. who died May 21, 1782, aged 92 : Mrs. Sarah Tyng, who died May 23, 1753, aged 59: John Alford Tyng, Esq. who died Sept. 4, 1775, aged 44; John Wins- low, Esq. who died Nov. 3, 1788, aged 88; Mrs Sarah Winslow [the last surviving child of the said Eleazer Tyng & the truly liberal Benefactress of the church of Christ & Grammar School in this place, in honor of whose name & family it is called Tyngsborough], who died Oct. 29, 1791, aged 72."
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