History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 130

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 130

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The repeal of the "Stamp Act," soon after, brought a brief period of relief. But new grievances call forth further action. A circular was received from a Committee of Correspondence in Boston, setting forth their character, and action thereon was taken as follows :

"The unanimous proceedings of the inhabitants of the District of Shirley, being legally asssembled upon adjournment, January tho 11, 1773. Having received from the metropolis of this Province their votes and proceedings at the late town-meeting, and having taken the same into consideration, we are of the opinion that our rights are properly stated by their committee, and that they are infringed in those instances mentioned by them ; and we are fully persuaded if the Judges of the Superior Court of this Province have their salaries from the king-from whose substitutes their appointment originates, and without whose con- sent (let them hold the scules of justice ever so uneven) they cannot be removed-that our liberties are greatly infringed thereby, and that we shall have no better chance for justice, no better security of life und

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property, than the people have in the most despotic country under heaven.

"We, therefore, with due deference to the opinion of our fellow- electors, do express to our representative our desire that he use the ut- most influence that the judges of the superior court of this province be placed upon a constitutional basis, and their salaries be raised to such a sum as will support them in a manner suitable to their dignity. And we would further say that it is our fixed determination to join with the people through the colonies, and of this Province in particular, manfully and constitutionally to oppose every stride of despotisin and tyranny, and that we will not sit down easy and contented until our rights and liberties are restored to us, and we enjoy them as at the be- ginning.

"Voted, the above be entered upon the records of the District, and an authenticated copy thereof be sent by the District Clerk to the Commit- tee of Correspondence of Boston, and another to James Prescott, Esq., our representative. Voted, also, that our grateful acknowledgments are due to the inhabitants of the town of Boston for their vigilnoce upon this and many other occasions of like nature.

"JOHN LONGLEY, Dis. Clerk."

During this year the act putting a tax upon the tea brought into the country, passed the British Parlia- ment. This fact was communicated to the selectmen of Shirley by the Committee of Correspondence in Boston by a letter dated November 23, 1773. On this, action was taken at the town-meeting in March following, when it was voted unanimously :

"1st. That we will neither buy. nor sell, nor drink (nor suffer it to be drunk in any of our families) any tea that is subject to an American duty. 2d. That we will stand ready to unite with our brethren through the Colonies in every proper measure to retrieve our liberties, and to es- tablish them upon such a firm basis that it will be out of the power, at least of our present enemies, to wrest them out of our hands, 3d. That the thanks of the District be, and hereby are, given to the town of Bos- ton and to the towns in that vicinity for every rational and proper measure they have pursued in order to prevent our inestimable rights aod privileges being torn from us by the artifice and cunning of our en- emies, who are endeavoring to rob us of the fruits of our honest indus- try, that they may riot in idleness and luxury themselves. 4th. That the District enter the above votes on the district book of records, and transmit an attested copy of the above votes to the Committee of Corre- spondence in Boston. A true record of the votes of the District of Shir- ley or the inhabitants thereof.

"Attest, OBADIAH SAWTELL, District Clerk."

When the time for something more than expres- sions of sympathy and promises came, there was an equal readiness for active duty. A town-meeting was called January 18, 1775, immediately after the pas- sage of the "Boston Port Bill," at which it was voted, "That we make some provision for the suffer- ing poor in Boston and Charlestown, on account of the Boston Port Bill, so-called, and that the same be done by subscription. Francis Harris, John Ivory and Obediah Sawtell were chosen a committee to receive the donations , of said district for said poor, and ordered to forward said donations to Boston or Charlestown as soon as may be." A still more de- cisive and important step toward severing the allegiance to the mother country was taken at this meeting, in the vote to withhold the " Province Tax" and to stand firmly with the " association of the Grand American Congress," held in Philadelphia, in October of the previous year. The following is the record : "We, the subscribers, having seen the association drawn up by the.Grand American Continental Con- gress, respecting the non-importation, non consump-

tion and non-exportation of goods, etc., signed by the delegates of this and the delegates of other colonies of this continent, and having attentively considered the same, do hereby approve thereof, and of every part of it; and in order to make the same association our personal act, do, by these presents, under the sacred ties of virtue, honor and the love of our country, firmly agree and associate, fully and com- pletely, to observe and keep all and every article and clause in said association contained, in respect to ex- portation, importation and non-consumption, accord- ing to the true intent, meaning and letter of our said delegates, and will duly inform and give notice of every exception and contravention of said agreement as far as we are able; and that we will, so far as we can, encourage and promote a general union herein ; as witness our hands, this 18th day of January, A. D., 1775."

Nor was this all. Measures having a somewhat compulsory appearance were taken to bring all the inhabitants into this agreement. This is the record additional :

"At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of the District of Shirley, held on the 18th of January A.D. 1775, Resolved and voted, that the above draught of an association is npproved of, and that the same be entered in the District book of records, and that the same be signed by the several inhabitants of said. district, and that the committee of correspondence see that the same is done, or inform the district at their next meeting of every person who shall delay or refuse to sign the same, so that the dis- trict may take such further order thereon as they may think proper.

"Attest, OBADIAHI SAWTELL, District Clerk."

Only two months and one day from this date came the alarm from Lexington ringing through the country. Shirley, in common with other towns, was stirred intensely by this hostile advance, and its patriotism aroused. Every man old enough to bear arms, but seven, "volunteered his services and marched to Cambridge." And these seven were pre- vented, not by any reluctance on their part, but hy the necessities of their families, or their age and phy- sical condition. One of them, William Longley, famil- iarly known as " old Will the miller," bent with age and supporting himself with two staves, wanted to join the company. In response to an allusion to his infirmity, "True," he said, " I cannot handle a mus- ket, bnt I can fight the red-coats with my two canes," brandishing these vigorously. Eighty names are on the roll of the Shirley minute-men, who, on the alarm of that day, April 19th, marched to Cambridge. Immedi- ately after this came the enlistment of eight months men. Thirty-eight from Shirley responded to this call. From this time to the opening of the memorable cam- paign of 1777 many volunteers went for indefinite periods. Then came the enlistment for three years, when thirteen entered the service for that term. And when the Legislature of the State decided that one-seventh of all the male inhabitants over sixteen years of age, capable of bearing arms should he en- listed, the district promptly made its number twenty- two. And as an encouragement to the service, it

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"voted, to give each man twenty pounds as an ad- ditional bounty." Besides the call for men, there was a call for muskets, military coats, provisions of food, etc., "all of which were readily contributed." In the schedule of apportionment among the towns of the State, of the thirteen thousand coats required by the Provincial Congress for the patriot army en- gaged in the siege of Boston in the summer of '75, twenty-five were asked of Shirley. The response to this request was conveyed to the Committee of Sup- plies in the following letter :

"To the Gentmen Commitee of Suplies appoynted by Congress, etc., To see to the Providing Clothing for the army. Gentmen : These Are to Inform you that the Dist. of Shirley have agreed to provide the Parte vf Cvats, Shirts, Stockins and Britches to them Assigned and thirty Pare uf Shoes for the Benefit of the Continentle army, etc.

" By order of the Selectmen,

" ODADIAH SAWTELL, Dist. Clerk. " Shirley, Angust ye 10th, A.D. 1775."

The most of the three years' men enlisted in the early part of '77 served in the Fifteenth Continental Regiment, which was recruited from Worcester and Middlesex Counties, under command of Colonel Tim- othy Bigelow. It was a regiment distinguished for its discipline and valor, and was in many of the hard- est-fought battles of the war. It had part in the capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga, in the trials and sufferings of Valley Forge at the battle of Mon- mouth, and in the crowning glories of Yorktown, A call was made for additional men for the service for a given time in 1780, and the district "voted to give each soldier one, one hundred silver dollars, including the forty shillings per month, allowed by the state. It was also voted to give them, each forty pounds additional in hard money, for three months' additional service." The next year, 1781, at the March meeting an appropriation was made for paying the three-years' soldiers, whose term had expired, the amount due them from the the dis- trict. It was " voted to raise twelve hundred silver dollars, or the value thereof in other money, to be immediately assessed on the inhabitants of the dis- trict and others owning property therein, as soon as may be." This is the last record of the action of the district in relation to the Revolutionary War with which we have met. There is mention of a commit- tee appointed by the district, to see that the families of the absent soldiers were provided for, and we have reason to believe that this matter received faithful at- tention. The muster-roll of Captain Henry Has- kell's company of " minute-men " in Colonel James Prescott's regiment, which marched from Shirley, April 19, 1775, contained the following names :

Henry Marshall, captain ; Sylvanus Smith, first lientanant ; Ebenezer Gowing, second lieutenant; John Wason, sergeant; Jobn Davis, ser- geant ; Ephraim Smith, sergeant; Thomas Bennett, sergeant ; Joseph Dodge, corporal ; John Kelsy, corporal ; Aaron Bennett, corporal ; Jo- seph Longley, corporal; Thomas Burkmar, drummer ; William Bolton, drummer ; William Bartlett, Eleazar Bartlett, Timothy Bolton, Abel Chase, Titus Colburn, Jonathan Conant, Daniel Chatman, Antes Dule, Silas Davis, Jonathan Davis, James Dickerson, Jobn Dwight, John Edgerton, John Gordon, Asa Holden, Amos Holden, Amos Holden, Jr.,

Sawtell Holden, Stephen Holden, Zachariah Holden, Lemuel Ilolden, Simeon Holden, As Harris, Simeon Harrington, John Haskell, Benja- min Haskell, Paul Hale, Setb Harrington, Samuel Ilazen, John Ivory, John Jupp, Moses Jenisen, Daniel Keazar, Joshua Longley, John Long- ley, Jr., Edmund Longley, Jobu Longley, Jours Longley, Jonas Long- ley, Jr., William Little, Wallis Little, David Pratt, Abel Parker, Abel Parker, Jr., Phinehas Page, Daniel Page, Thomas Peabody, Simeon Page, Jr., Jonas Page, Peter Parker, James Parker, Obadiah Sawtell, Jr., Ezra Smith, William Sampson, David Sloan, David Wilson, Ephraim Warren, William Williams, Ivory Wilds, Aaron Woodbury, Samuel Walker, Jonas Parker, Jr., Oliver Livermore, Oliver Fletcher, Joseph Brown, Thomas Nichols, Francis Mitchell.

SHAYS' INSURRECTION .- The great indebtedness incurred by the War of the Revolution left a heavy burden upon the State and upon all the towns. Taxes became onerous, and yet were hardly sufficent to meet the current expenses of the government and pay the interest of the public debts. Many were impatient and restive under the difficulties and embarrassments with which they were encumbered. Out of this condition, which was but an effect from the war, sprang the insurrectionary movement, which obtained no little notoriety under the leadership or command of Daniel Shays, a captain in the war. Men from Shirley joined the insurgents. But of the number there is no record. While there was an al- most nnanimous feeling in favor of some movement to ameliorate the existing condition of things, it is a matter of grave doubt if this resort to forcible meas- ures received the countenance of any considerable proportion of the people. Among those who took an active part in it, were two brothers, Sylvanns and Nathan Smith, both of whom had been officers in the late war. In company with others from the district and parties from other towns, they gathered at Con- cord to the number of about one hundred. Their object was to suppress the court and stay the flood of executions that were wasting their property and making desolate their homes, until some action should be taken for their relief: It was Nathan Smith who made the somewhat famons address to the people, as related by the historian of Concord, "declaring that any person who did not follow his drum and join his standard, should be drove out at the point of the bayonet, let them be court, town committee, or what else. 'I am going'- he said-to give the court four hours to agree to our terms, and if they do not, I and my party will compel them to it. I will lay down my life to suppress the govern- ment from all tyrannical oppression, and you who are willing to join ns in this ere affair may fall into our ranks." Smith was a good soldier in the war, and without doubt thought he was doing his duty in this affair, and defending the freedom that had been se- cnred against unwise and oppressive measures. He died in Shirley in 1834, at the age of ninety-six years. A company from Shirley went with the insur- gents in January, 1787, in a movement for the suppres- sion of a court in Springfield. The town records give the best indication of the prevailing sentiment among the people at this time. In a town warrant dated

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

" January ye 29, 1787," there were two articles which read as follows : . "1st. To see what the town will do in regard to sending provision to those men that are gone, or about to go (as they say) in defence of their rights and privileges. 2d. To see if the town will take into consideration the present depressing cir- cumstances of our public affairs, and consnlt upon means for a settlement of those disturbances that are subsisting in this Commonwealth."

Upon these articles it was voted : "1st. Not to send provisions to the men gone from this town under arms. 2d. Voted to choose a committee, agreeably to the second article." This committee was chosen, and reported, recommending a petition to the Gen- eral Court, "praying that all disturbances subsisting in this commonwealth may be settled." The report was adopted and petition sent.

Shirley furnished its required quota for service in the War of 1812, raising it by draft. No note of any action or incident worthy of mention appears in the records or can be gathered from tradition. There was only one enlistment from the town in the Mex- ican War-Nathan King (2d). He was in two bat- tles, in one of which he was wounded.

THE CIVIL WAR OR WAR OF THE REBELLION .- The startling intelligence flashed over the country, on Monday, April 15, 1861, of the attack on Fort Sumter, aroused the people of Shirley, as it did the whole North. Informal meetings were held, projects discussed and services tendered by persons of all ages. Immediately a town-meeting was convened. Ac this meeting, crowded with those of every age and grade of life, the following resolutions were presented and unanimously adopted :

" Resolved, That the town of Shirley pay to all volunteers who have enlisted, or who may enlist hereafter for the present war (the same being residents of said town at the date of their enlistment), the sum of twelve dollars per month, in addition to the compensation now made by gov- ernment ; said sum to be paid to the families of any such volunteers, in their absence, at the discretion of the committee hereafter named. And should they fall in battle, the same sum to be paid to their families during the term of enlistment. And, if any such volunteers are single men, the said snm to be paid to them at the expiration of their respec- tive enlistments, or to their legal representatives. Also to furnish them with all suitable and necessary outfits, not furnished by the State or General Government, at the discretion of said committee.

" Resolved. That the town raise the sum of five hundred dollars for the purpose above mentioned, and that the same be assessed the present year ; and that the town treasurer be and is hereby authorized to bor- row any sum or sums of money for the purposes specified, not to exceed ten thousand dollars."

Measures were taken at this meeting for raising a company for the Fifty-third Massachusetts Regiment. This company, when organized, took the name of "Munson Guards," in honor of N. C. Munson, from whom it received the generous gift of five hundred dollars. At a meeting held April 28, 1862, further action was taken in behalf of the families of those in the service. It was voted "to raise and assess one thousand dollars for the relicf of the families of vol- unteers in the federal army, and that the same, or such part thereof as may be necessary, be paid out

by the selectmen to families where they are certain the same will be refunded by the State."

In July of this year, in response to the call of the President for more soldiers, the quota of the town was sixteen. This was soon filled, the town vot- ing, at a meeting held on the 23d of the month, a bounty of one hundred dollars to each soldier, and authorizing the treasurer to secure a loan of sixteen hundred dollars for this purpose. When, a year later, another call came from the President for still more men, to fill the ranks that were being depleted by losses and expirations of terms of service, volunteer enlistments had reached their limit, and it became necessary to draft the number required. To meet its duty to these, the town voted, at a meeting held July 27, 1863, to " pay one hundred dollars to each of its quota of drafted men, or their substitutes, who go into the service under the late call of the President of the United States, and also to furnish State aid to their families according to law." Other action, of record, for maintaining its part, by the town, in this crisis of the nation's life, was on July 5, 1864, when it was voted "to raise two thousand dollars, to pay volunteers that have been enlisted for this town, or may hereafter be obtained to fill the quota next called for by the President." Also, "that the selectmen, after expending the two thousand dollars raised for the purpose of recruiting, be further authorized to pay one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each and every recruit they may obtain, in order that our full quota be kept up." And then, a month later, it was voted, "that the town pay one hundred and twenty- five dollars in gold to each and every volunteer who will enlist, or to any enrolled mian who will furnish a substitute, to fill this town's quota under the call of the President for five hundred thousand men." A few months later a rumor was prevalent of an ex- pected call for additional recruits, and on November 8th it was voted "that the selectmen be constituted a committee, and authorized immediately to borrow a sum not to exceed two thousand dollars, and pro- cure recruits to fill an anticipated call for three hun- dred thousand men." One more item completes the record of municipal appropriation and activity for this important and trying period. January 24, 1865, but a little more than two months before the note of final victory rang exultingly through the land, a meeting was convened, at which the selectmen were " anthorized to procure and put into the service of the United States, fifteen men, in addition to those already in." Also, "to borrow a sum of money suffi- cient to pay the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to cach of the men who have been put in or may he put in before the 18th of March, 1865-who have not been paid according to a previous vote of the town."

The whole number of men mustered into the ser- vice from the town, and credited to it on the rolls, was one hundred and thirty-eight-about one-tenth

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of the full number of its population during these years. Two of these served in the navy. The loss by death on the field, or from wounds, and disease caused by the hardships and exposures of army life, was twenty-one.

During all these intensely anxious years, those who remained at home were, in common with all the towns, constantly engaged in procuring and furnish- ing supplies for the needs and comforts of the sick and wounded iu camp and hospital. The full appro- priation and expenditure of the town for the men it put into the service by enlistment and draft amonnted to abont eight thousand dollars. The complete list of the names of these men is here given :

Army .- Johu H. Alger, Michael T. Ames, James Armstrong, Octave Auedette, George W. Baker, Oliver Balcolm, Horace A. Balcolm, Frank Balcolm, Thomas Baley, George V. Barrett, George II. Beard, Frank M. Boynton, Audrew Blood, Christoff Brockennan, Charles H. Brown, Joseph Brooker, Norman H. Bruce, Henry Bunnell, Henry S. Butler, Medard Bourcard, Edward E. Carr, Norton E. Chamberlain, Charles P. Chandler, Andrew J. Clough, Philip Conners, Charles H. Cowdrey, Moses Cram, John R. Cram, Thomas Daley, Michael Danlon, Granville C. W. Davis, Chas. B. Davis, Henry A. Dixon, Edward Donahue, Percy H Dnukins, Joseph Duprey, Estes Elliott, Heury Elmore, Owen Elmore, Geo. A. Farmer, W. II. Farmer, Joseph A. Farnworth, John W. Farren, Simon Fields, Jeremiah Flyun, George F. Fuller, Patrick Gately, John Gately, Rock St. Goah, John Goodhne, John Goss, William Greenalgh, Benjamin Grovner, James Haley, William L. Harris, Albert L. Hart- well, James Hawksworth, George Haynes, Alvin Henry, George C. Hill, William Hodgman, Charles Hoffman, Robertns F. Holden, Stephen Howard, Henry Johnson, Josephus Jones, Albert Kilburn, Charle, E. Kilburn, Clessou Kenney, Daniel L. King, Peter King, Thomas Kit- tredge, Thomas Kelley, Carle Lamerlain, Sammuel Lane, Geo. A. Lancey, John B. Lapine, Joseph Lasier, Peter Lavily, George F. Lawrence, James H Little, John H. Lineban, Stephen W. Longley, Harriman Longley, Frank Lovely, Wm. McGill, Phelix McGovern, Isaac A. McDaniels, John McCarty, James McGill, Daniel Mahoney, George H. Mason, William MeLelland, Walter Mitchell, David Morrell, William M. Moses, George Munyon, Emery Munyou, Thomas McGovern, Joel C. Neat, Harrison Nelson, Alexander Nelson, Ahel Nickless, Daniel O'Heru, Michael O'Neal, George F. Parker, Marcus M. Parmenter, Sidney Parris, John Peterson, Charles W. Richards, John Roach, Charles F. Robbins, Har- riogton W. Sanders, Otis Sartell, Charles P. Sartell, James Sawtell, E. M. Smith, Marcus M. Spaulding, Lorenzo Spaulding, Henry B. Story, Henry Taylor, Walter Taylor, Grauville P. Travis, James Taylor, Wal- ter l'uderwood, William W. Uuderwood, William F. Warren, Henry A. Waters, Stephen Wheeler, John Wheeler, John G. White, Henry K. White, Wellington S. White, Walker Wright, Frederick Wilson, John Zimmernman.

Nury .- Charles Love, Charles E. Richards.

MILLS, MANUFACTURERS AND MANUFACTORIES .-- Like all newly settled communities, Groton, of which the present Shirley then formed a part, in the early part of her settlement lacked the means of supplying the wants and needs of her early settlers.

While the newly cultivated land yielded rich harvests of golden grain to the worker, he was unable to convert this grain into meal without the aid of a mili, and there was none in Groton, nor, in fact, did such a mill exist for a period of seventeen years from its first settlement ; hence we are led to suppose that the colonists were obliged to use hand-mills or samp- mortars to grind their corn, but no record of their use exists, either written or traditional.

Mr. Butler says, in his " History of Groton," that the first corn-mill erected within the territory of

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 130

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034