History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 156

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 156

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570

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Hampshire, are distinctly visible and stand out in bold relief, resembling turrets in the sky belonging to the walls of some ethereal world. The farm-build- ings situated on the summit of this bill are in plain sight of portions of several towns situated at the west and northwest.

WEST HILL, situated west and nearly opposite the hill just described, and of about the same elevation, lies also in the northern part of the town, extending farther into New Hampshire. It, however, does not, take up so much of the territory of the town as Nis- seqnassick Hill. It contains, ledgy, waste lands, in which are wild ravines and swamps, caused hy rocky barriers, which impede the natural course of the riv- ulets. Two or three farms on its summit constitute all the soil on this hill suitable for cultivation ; and it is generally covered with a growth of young forest trees of different sizes and ages, for which purpose it is best adapted. Closing up to this hill on the west, comes

BARKER HILL is sometimes called " Walker Hill," it being the place of residence at one time of Deacon Samuel Walker. The eastern brow of this hill con- tains some good soil, on which are two or three well- cultivated farms. The balance of its territory is quite rough and ledgy and is the largest tract of uninhab- ited land in Townsend. Some parts of this hill are covered by a nice growth of chestnut timber.

BATTERY HILL is a name applied to a part of an unbroken spur of the Turkey Hills which extend from Pearl Hill, in Fitchburg, north to New Ipswich, New Hampshire, bordering the whole western line of the town. The name was applied to that part of this range over which passes the old county road from West Townsend to Ashby, extending, perhaps, a mile both north and south of this thoroughfare. It was so called from a garrison-house which stood on its eastern slope in the town of Ashby, on which a can- non was placed by the settlers to give an alarm in case of the incursions of Indians. A few farms on this hill, at the west and northwest of Ash Swamp, are of excellent quality, the soil containing just enough argillaceous matter to prevent the cultivated fields from being washed by heavy rains, and to hold moisture during the drouths of summer. Some heavy erops of grass have been taken off from these farms.

BAYBERRY Ilill, in the southwest part of the town, has nearly half of its territory in Lunenburg. On the north and west sides of this hill its ascent is quite steep, and the approaches to it are somewhat difficult. Two or three hundred acres on its top are comparatively level. The land here is rocky, cold and backward in the spring. Formerly there were several farmers who produced large and valuable crops of peaches on this hill, but for the last few years there has been a small amount of this fruit sent to market from this town. There is a standpoint on the summit of this hill from which a prospect of panoramic beauty may be seen, having the three villages of Townsend

in the foreground situated about equidistant in an elongated basin, widening from the northwest to the southeast and shut in hy these hills, dotted with white dwellings, pastures, fields and forests. Five brooks which drain parts of Mason, Ashby, New Ipswich, Fitchburg and Lunenburg converge into Ash Swamp, situated in the west part of the town.

SQUANICOOK RIVER is the product of these streams, and it takes its course through Townsend from north- west to southeast, turning to the right on leaving the town and in its onward course forms the boundary line between Groton and Shirley till it empties into the Nashua. It is the largest tributary to that river, and has furnished motive-power which has been utilized, since 1734, at several places in this town.

WORDEN POND, a small sheet of clear water, situ- ated in the southwest part of the town, near Ashby line, is the only natural pond worthy of notice. It has no visible outlet, and the probability is that it has some subterranean connection with Pearl Hill Brook, whereby it becomes replenished, while other streams, during a drouth, afford a small flow of water. It is considerably freqnented in early winter for fishing through the ice.

As a farming town, Townsend is inferior to Lu- nenburg and some other towns in Worcester County, but compared with the other joining towns, it is naturally as good and better than some of them. The farms have been neglected, so that agriculture is not a branch of industry of which the people are particularly proud. Too much attention has been given to the coopering business, to the detri- ment of good cows, cleanly cultivated fields and well- filled barns ; yet its inhabitants regard their lines as having "fallen in pleasant places, and that they have a goodly heritage." The situation of the town is com- paratively favorable for genial climatic influences. The first precursor of winter, in earnest, is seen in the powdered crests of the hills at the west and north- west, on the mornings which follow the cold Thanks- giving rain-storms. Snow appears in that direction, occasionally, two or three weeks before it is seen on Townsend soil. Certain changes in the air are notice- able in traveling to the northwest from Boston. In spring, vegetation at Concord, a little outside of the ocean air, is different from that at the tide-water. Commencing at the hills bordering on Townsend on the west, another atmospheric change is noticeable ; while at the distance of twenty-five miles farther at the northwest there is considerable ditl'erence in the climate. At the same time the extremes of heat and cold are greater on the plains here than either on our own hills or those at the northwest. The cold waves of air, following up the Nashua and Squanicook to the Harbor Pond, cause that locality and its surroundings to he the coldest of any part of Townsend.

The provincial Governor assumed the responsibility of giving names to towns and counties, which were generally called for one of his intimate friends or

571

TOWNSEND.

some person of rank or of the nobility. The Gov- ernor named this towu in honor of Viscount Charles Townshend, His Majesty's Secretary of War, and his contemporary. About 1780 the town clerk and others began to spell Townshend by omitting the h and giving it its present orthography. Thence till about 1800 the custom was to spell the word both ways, since which time the correct method of spell- ing has been abandoned, perhaps contrary to the principles of good taste or justice. The town has three postal centres, known as Townsend Harbor, Townsend and West Townsend, each situated about two miles from the other and clustering on both banks of the Squanicook. The Peterborough and Shirley Railroad, a branch of the Fitchburg Railroad (completed in 1849), passes through the town, touch- ing the three villages daily with three regular pas- senger trains each way.

The first paper title to any land in Townsend was made on the 6th day of September, 1676, which conveyed to William Hathorn a mile square, of which the following is a copy :

" Layd out to the Wor pff"1" William Ifanthorn, Esq., six hundred and forty acres of land, more or less, lying in the Wilderness on the north of Groaton river, at a place called by the Indians, Wistequassuck, on the west side of sayd hill. It begins at a great Hemlock tree standing ou the west side of the sayd bill marked with 11, and ruons oorth and by east three hundred and twenty pole, to a maple tree marked wib H ; from thence it runns West and by north three hundred and twenty pole to a stake and stones ; from thence it ruuns sonth & by west three hun ured and twenty pole to a great pine in a little swamp, marked with II ; from thence it rouns east & by south to the first hemlock. All the lynes are rvnue & the trees are well marked. It contaynes a mile square and is layed exactly square, as may be easily demonstrated by ye platform inserted voderneath & is ou file.

" JONATHAN DANFORTH, Survejor.

" The court allows & approves of this returne, so it interferes not wth former grants."

William Hathorn was a magistrate in Salem when the Quakers commenced their eccentric and indecent proceedings "against the peace and dignity " of the Colony ; and a captain of the Salem militia during the Indian war, afterwards promoted to the rank of major. He was a deputy to the General Court two or three times, Speaker in 1661, and a man of promi- nence. "Hathorn's farm," so-called, was situated on the western slope of what was formerly known as Wallace Hill, including the meadows at its base, and was undoubtedly selected from the unbroken wilder- ness on account of the spontaneous growth of grass which this meadow produced. The Indian name in this grant has been found spelled quite differently in different records. In both the town and the proprie- tors' records the word is almost invariably Nissequas- sick. This word translated signifies the two pine place (nissi, two; roos, pines; and ick, a locative par- ticle). This word has never been applied to any other locality. There is no evidence showing that the Indians ever made Townsend a permanent place of abode. There might have been two large or pie- culiarly situated pines on this bill which served them as a guide in their journeys from Lancaster to Dun-

stable, where the Nashua River joins the Merrimac, which was one of their favorite fishing-grounds.

In 1702 the Colony of Massachusetts Bay com- menced issuing paper money to pay debts which ac- cumulated from the expense of the Indian wars and other canses. The inflation of the currency, together with a strong passion and greed for landed estates, brought to the surface a class of speculators who were anxious to have new towns granted and sur- veyed.

In 1719 a certain number of men, the most promi- nent of whom belonged to Concord, petitioned the General Court for the grant of two towns at the " Westerly side of Groton." This was soon after Groton had been re-surveyed by Samuel Danforth, who established the north west corner of Groton on the easterly side of " Wistequaset Hill," thereby giving to Groton the gore of land between the north line of that town and the south line of old Dunstable, hav- ing the east lines of Lunenburg and Townsend as they now are for its western boundary. By this sur- vey Groton obtained large portions of land which are now included within the limits of the townships of Pepperell and Shirley. On the 7th of December, 1719, the General Court made the following grant which is of great importance, for it is not only the foundation of the municipal rights of the town, but it is the base upon which rest the titles to all the real estate in Townsend except Hathorn's mile square. It is here given entire from an exact copy of the co- lonial records :

"Anno Regni Regis Georgii Magna Brittannie Sexto. At a great and Gen- eral Court or Assembly for his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, begun and held at Boston, upon Wednesday, tbe twenty-seventh of May, 1719, and continned by Prorogation to Wednes- day, the fourth of November, 1719, and then met, being their second session."

"Monday, December 7, 1719.

"In the house of Representatives, the vote for granting two new towns was brought down from the board with Amendments, which were read and agreed to. And the said vote is as follows, viz .: Voted, That two new towns, each containing a Quantity of land not exceeding six miles square, be laid out in as regular Forms as Land will allow ; to be settled in a defeasible manner on the Westerly side of Groton West line, and that William Tailor, Samnel Thaxter, Francis Fullam, Esqrs., Capt. John Shipley and Mr. Benjamin Whittemore be a committee fully em- powered to allot and grant out the land contained in each of the said towns (a lot not to exceed Two hundred und fifty acres), to such per- sons, and only such as will effectually settle the same within the space of three years next ensning the laying out und granting such by the Committee, who are instructed to admit eighty families or persons in cach town at least who shall pay to the said Committee for the use of the Province, the sum of five pounds for each allotment, which shall be granted and allotted as aforesaid ; and that each person to whom such lot or lots shall be granted or laid out, shall be obliged to build a good Dwelling House thereon, And inhabit it ; and also to break up and fence in three acres of land at the least, within the term of three yeurs; and that there be laid out and reserved for the first settled minister a good, convenient Lot ; also'a Lot for the school, and a ministerial lot and a Lot for Harvarit College, of two hundred and fifty acres each ; and the Settlers be obliged to build a good, convenient House for the worship of God, in each of the said Towas, within the term of four years ; and to pay the charges of the necessary surveys, and the Committee for their service in and abont the premises ; and that the Committee give public notice of the time and place when and where they will meet to grant allottmente.

"Consented to

SAML. SHUTE."

572

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The townships of Lunenburg and Townsend, by this order or grant of the General Conrt, were called into existence from the " countrie land " of the Prov- ince and from a territory previously called Turkey Hills. From the date of the grant till each of these towns was surveyed and received its respective char- ter, Lunenburg was called Turkey Hills, and Town- send was called The North Town, sometimes Turkey Hills North Town. The committee named in the grant called their first meeting at the inn of Jona- than Hobart, of Concord, on the 11th of May, 1720, when seventy-two of the eighty shares in North Town were taken up, some subscribers paying the five pounds, others paying only a part, and others noth- ing at that time. Twenty-four of these seventy-two shareholders belonged to Concord. At a subsequent meeting the other eight shares were taken, but the names of those who took them do not appear on the mannscript record of Francis Fullam, the clerk of the committee. This manuscript is preserved in Harvard College Library. It was impossible for the original proprietors of the town to conform to the strict letter of the grant. The Indian war of those days delayed the settlement of the town for some time and men hesitated to leave the older settlements for fear of In- (lian incursions. The "convenient house for the worship of God" was not built (in part) till 1730. It was a rude, cheap house and the only one in town that was built of sawed Inmber. Only a few of the men who met at Concord with the committee to sub- scribe for an eightieth part of the town in 1719 ever saw the town, the settlement was so long delayed. The first birth in Townsend was in 1728, during which year a few families came here from Chelmsford, Gro- ton and Woburn. Some men from Groton, who had land here, came up and cleared the land in the fall of the year for two or three years previous and returned home and spent the winter. The petitioners of the North Town for a charter, in 1732, signed by the set- tlers of the North Town, represented " that the town was completely filled with inhabitants," when prob- ably there were less than two hundred people in town. One of the conditions in all land grants was, " Pro- vided it doth not interfere with any former grant." Dunstable received its charter in 1673, or about fifty years before any man except Major Hathorn owned any Townsend soil. The North Town men found their east line, bounded on Groton, running north 173º east from Lunenburg corner, was less than six miles long; so they interfered with a former grant by pushing their northeast corner up into Dunstable, fearing that they would not get their six miles square, as was promised by the act of 1719. They desired and expected their east line, running northerly from Lunenburg northeast corner, to continue " north seven- tecn and one-half degrees east," after reaching Groton northwest corner, and penetrate the town of Dunstable in that direction. This created a bitter controversy between the two towns, the settlement of which has

never been explained and no one knows much abont it from the fact that the Dunstable records of that period are lost. In 1732 the General Court settled the matter partly in the charter for Townsend by di- viding the territory claimed by Townsend between the two towns ; but until the Province line was estab- lished, in 1741, as will be seen by the charter, Town- send had no northeast corner.

CHARTER OF TOWNSEND.

" Whereas the northerly part of Turkey llills, so-called, is completely filled with inhabitants, and who are now about settling a learned and or - thodox minister among them, and have addressed this court that they may be set off a district and sep(a)rate town, and be vested with all the pow- ers and privileges of a town ; Be it therefore enacted by his excellency the governor, council and representatives in General Court assem bled, aud by the authority of the same, -

" That the oortherly part of Turkey Hills, as hereafter bounded and described, be and hereby is set off and and constituted a sep(a)rate town- ship by the name of Towosbend, the bounds of said township to he as followeth, vict. : Beginning at a beap of stones at the northwest corner of Lunenburg ; so running east thirty-two degrees and one-half sontlı, three thousand and fifty rods, to a heap of stones in Groton line ; then bounded oo Groton line, north seventeen degrees and an half east one thousand four hundred and forty rods to a heap of stones at Groton northwest corner; from thence running due north, leaving eighty acres out of the plan to the town of Dunstable; then running from Dunstable west line on province land, west thirty-one degrees and an half north two thousand two hundred and forty rods, to a tree marked ; then running south, thirty-six degrees west to the northwest corner of Lunenburg, where the bounds first began, one thousand nine hundred and twenty rods. Provided, That nothing herein contained be construed to effect the rights of the proprietors of the land called Hathorn's farm, aod the inhabitants of the said lands, as before described and bounded; be and hereby are vested with the powers, privileges and immunities that the inhabitants of any of the towns of this province are or onght to be vested with. Provided, That the said town of Townshend do, within the space of two years from the publication of this act, procure and settle a learned orthodox minister of good conversation, and make provision for his comfortable and honorable support. In the House of Rep. resentatives, June 29, 1732, ordered that Mr. Joseph Stevens, one of the principal inhabitants of the town of Townsbend, be and liereby is fully impowered to assemble and couvene the inhabitants of said town to chose town officers to stand until the anniversary meeting in March next, any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

" Seut up for concurrence,

"J. QUINCY, Speaker. " In council June 30, 1732, Received and concured, "J. WILLARD, Secretary. J. BELCHER."

"June 30, 1732, consented to

From the grant it appears that Townsend acquired, in 1732, about forty-two square miles of land instead of thirty-six, as contemplated by the act of 1719. Perhaps this liberality is traceable to the fact that some of the members of the General Court were part owners of the North Town and assisted in making the survey of the town. Its northeast and southwest lines were parallel, the northeast line being somewhat shorter than the southwest line. The southwest cor- ner of Dunstable was abont two miles farther west than a line drawn due north from Groton northwest corner, so that the northeast line of Townsend must have been more than nine miles long, and the south- west line more than nine miles and one-half. Prob- ably it was the intention of the General Court that the proprietors of Townsend and Dunstable should agree upon a point for a northeast corner of Town- send which was to be legalized at a future period.

The running of the Province line, in 1741, settled

573

TOWNSEND.

many disputes about land titles, and certainly was a great benefit to New Hampshire, which received a fresh impetus in civilization by acquiring from Mass- achusetts twenty- eight townships which were chartered by that Province, besides large tract of land never incorporated into towns. Dunstable (then in Middle- sex County) was severed in twain, the larger and more eligible part being left iu New Hampshire. Town- send lost about one-third of its territory by this line but found a northeast corner of the town located con- siderably south of the point for which it contended. Parts of Brookline, Mason and New Ipswich, in New Hampshire, were then taken from Townsend. The proprietors of Townsend felt much uneasiness, on account of their loss of land caused by this new line. Jasher Wyman, who was clerk of the proprietors, not only lost his land, a part of which was under cul- tivation, but his improvements, including a mill which stood near the spot where the mill situated nearest to the State line in Brookline now stands. Colonel William Lawrence, of Groton, lost about four hundred acres of non-resident laud, and John Farrar was forced away from his home by a writ of eject- ment.

Jonas Clark and John Stevens were also losers. These lands are now in Brookline. These losers of land petitioned the General Court at different times for grants of land to make themselves whole, and the court responded favorably, and granted tracts of land at three different times, none of which were ever any benefit to the proprietors. The fourth grant was made in 1785, when a township marked No. III, on Rufus Putnam's plan of a set of towns in the extreme east part of Lincoln County (now Washington), iu the district of Maine, was granted to the proprietors. The Townsend people never received any profit from this grant, and the township itself (which is now Charlotte) was not settled till 1810, or about sixty years after the lands in Townsend were lost.

The town of Ashby was chartered in 1767. It was taken from Fitchburg, Ashburnham and Townsend, the last-named town contributing more than one-half of the territory to make the new town. The only alterations in the boundary-lines of Townsend since it was chartered were caused by the establishing of the Province line in 1741, and the creating of the town of Ashby in 1767.

There were, at first, two divisions of land out, running northerly from the river, by the line of Groton, across the east end of the town. In 1733 a third division was made which extended nearly two miles west from Groton line. The east end of the "House Lots " abutted on a "six rod way, run- ning nearly north and south," which is now the road leading over Nissequassick Hill. The west end of the second division also abutted on this road, which was the longest and widest highway laid out by the proprietors, now in use. The proprietors made ample reservations for roads. Almost every

deed closed with these words: "There is also an allowance for a way whenever the town shall think it necessary." No matter how rugged and precip- itous, marshy or ledgy, whether the laud was on Rat- tlesnake Hill or the rough peaks which are now in Northern Ashby, that ubiquitous "allowance for a way " was sure to be present. The road entering the northeast corner of the town, running nearly south for a short distance, then turning easterly and running about half-way from the State line to the harbor, to the point where one road turns to- ward Pepperell and another westerly, was the road between the first and second divisions then laid out. No original proprietor, according to the terms of the court's committee, could hold more than 200 acres in one body, although he had a right to onc- eightieth of all the land in the town. Lots in these divisions contained about fifty acres, and are designated in the proprietors' records as "original house lots." There were more than 100 lots in these three divisions, and was it determined by lot or chance where each man's lot should be located, nothing could be more fair than this method. After this drawing, when the fourth and fifth divi- sions were laid out, the second fifty aeres or more would be exchanged by these men with each other, so that their lands would become more in one body. Sometimes, if a proprietor were not present at a drawing, a committee, composed of men of their number and choice, and sometimes a committee ap- pointed by the General Court, would designate the lot. At this distance from that period, not much being a matter of record, it cannot be expected that the precise location of the lands and houses of many of the first settlers can be designated; and if it were practicable, from the necessity of the case, any description that would be quite intelligible to peo- ple now living would perhaps be obscure and with- out meaning to the future men and women of Town- send. Some of the first settlers are worthy of partic- ular notice.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 156

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