History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 166

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 166

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Among the teachers employed here for longer or shorter periods were several collegians from Harvard, who thus earned in part the means of paying their college expenses. And others, after graduation, came here to prepare for the ministry under the direction of the pastor of the church, and, in addition to their theological studies, taught the grammar school. Some names of young men so employed are found upon our records who afterwards became distinguished preach- ers, scholars and theologians. Among these may be mentioned Jonathan Bowman, Abiel Abbot, Peter Whitney, John Pipon, Pitt Clark, Benjamin Green and many others. For two years or more Rev. John Hancock, sometimes called "Sir Hancock " on the records, was the teacher and fitted young men for college in the Lexington Grammar School. · In 1729 his son, Ebenezer, took charge of the school, and in 1734 was ordained as colleague pastor with his father, but continued to be teacher for some time afterwards. Occasionally the grammar school was discontinued, no appropriation being made for its support, and in two instances the town was presented to the General Court for not complying with the law in failing to maintain it. But the "dame schools " in the different quarters of the town appear to have been steadily kept up. Considering how small the population was at this time, and how little wealth the people pos- sessed, and also that during a portion of the time the salaries of two ministers had to be provided for, the support of the schools must have added materially to their burdens and shows a creditable interest in the education of their children. Some of the votes passed regarding the school arc curious and worthy of notice. Thus, in 1742, it was voted to take up " a contribution for the school-master by reason of his giving so unus- ually dear for his board." This was largely due to the depreciation of the currency. The school was to be dismissed on all public occasions, and if the time

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was not made up, so much was to be taken out of the teacher's salary. Rev. Timothy Harrington teaches the school in 1748, and in his contract with the town it is specified that " lecture days, half a day at funerals, at raisings, at ordinations in the neighborhood and training days to be respected as holidays." " Agreed with John Muzzy to board the school-master for £1 15s. per week and with Deacon Stone to find him in candles at 5d. per pound." In 1750 Rev. Mr. Han- cock's salary is fixed at £55 lawful money, instead of £416, old tenor, showing a depreciation of almost 8 for 1. In 1751 Nathan Robbins teaches the school, and is allowed " half a day a week to preach any- where."

But let ns turn from the schools to notice the action of the town regarding other matters. All persons were required to attend the Sabbath worship unless excused for good and sufficient reasons. In 1720, when Will Chamberlain was complained of for non- attendance, he made the plea that he had no suitable clothes. Wherenpon the selectmen ordered that he be furnished with a full snit "forthwith," and the bill for each article appears accordingly upon the records, amounting to about £2. But Will appears to have still continued remiss in church attendance, and finally he is taken before a justice at Cambridge and convicted of violating the law regarding this mat- ter, reprimanded and ordered to condnet himself in future as became a citizen of a Christian state. Then follow the charges for transporting the obdurate of- fender to and from the court, and for boarding him while awaiting his trial. Whether poor Will was finally brought under the ministrations of religion or not, we are nnable to determine. Ultimately he be- came a public charge, and in 1735 was gathered to his fathers, as we learn from a bill of "16s. 9d. for drink at Chamberlain's funeral." This is the only instance of legal coercion to bring people to church found upon our records. The experiment was costly and not enconraging. But it is by no means the only instance of a charge for "entertainment" furnished at the funerals of paupers for the selectmen and oth- ers. Thus, in 1728, it required "seven quarts and one gill of rhom " to celebrate the obseqnies at the funeral of a MIrs. Paul. Two years later "42s. is al- lowed Mr. Muzzy for rum for father Paul, and at his funeral." And again, in 1747, the selectmen expend " £1 for drink at old Johnson's funeral." On all oc- casions where the town was a party, such as letting jobs of work, or selling public property, or raising public buildings, liquor was provided for the people at the public charge. Thus, when " the old Cushing" of the meeting-house pulpit and "the glass-iron" were sold at auction 10s. were used to treat the peo- ple and stimulate the bidding. At the funeral of widow Mead's child " 6 prs. of gloves and some rnm and sugar " are provided. Also, in 1767, paid "38. 10d. for liquor used at the renting of the town's land." And when "onr. Reverend and Beioved pastor" (Rev.

Jolın Hancock) died, £200 O. T. was voted for the funeral. The charges amounted to £219, including six rings for the bearers, 500 bricks for the grave, gloves and weeds for relatives and friends, and a gen- erous amount of eating and drinking at the taverns. The selectmen seldom met for the transaction of bus- iness without some " entertainment " being provided for them, the cost of which, during the year, amount- ed to several ponnds.

One of the old customs which demands notice, but which has happily long since disappeared, was that of warning people to leave the town who might be- come a public charge or who were objectionable for other reasons. After being officially notified to leave, they were compelled to go, or subjected to imprison- ment. Many instances of this kind are found upon our records, some of which are very curious. Thus, in 1723, 18. 6d. is paid "for running Daniel Ruff out of town." In 1724 four persons are warned to leave at the same time, one of which bears the honored name of John Parker, " who came from Billerica last year." In 1738 all " the Irish are to be warned out of town," consisting of five families. It would not be easy at this time to enforce such a resolve, even if it could be carried in town-meeting, since that nation- ality now forms, probably, one-fourth of the whole population. People warned out, however, were per- mitted to remain if able to give bonds securing the town against liability for their support. Probably the warning was not always enforced and was often given only as a precautionary measure. To this cir- cumstance may be due the fact that the Lexington minute-men were provided with a brave captain on the 19th of April, 1775, and that the town furnished Massachusetts, in the following century, with an ex- cellent and popular Governor, since it is said that the ancestors of both were once warned out lest they might become a public charge.

Stocks were built on the Common, near the meet- ing-house, in 1713, as a terror to Sabbath-breakers, profane swearers and other evil-doers. Nor need we suppose that they remained withont occupants, from time to time, as another pair appears to have been demanded for the preservation of order, and duly added a few years afterwards.

The care of the boys, especially on Sabbath days, seems to have received much attention. Thus it was voted that "the two hind seats in the lower gallery, front and side, are appointed for the boys under six- teen years to sitt in on Sabbath days, and a tything man to sitt near them each Sabbath, and to take turns; and if any above sixteen be disorderly, they shall be ordered into said seats." "That the tything men be desired to attend Sabbath noons to keep the hoys in order in the meeting-house." And that "if they find any playing on the Lord's day, they shall inform their parents, and if they play afterwards, call their names" in meeting. In 1744 six men are chosen to inspect the children at intermission on

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Sabbath day ; and subsequently, "two elderly men to tarry in the meeting-house on the Sabbath in the in- termission season, one below and one ahove, to see that there be no disorder there." And in 1757 a committee is chosen by the town "to draw up a paper to regulate the people coming down-stairs after ser- vice from the galleries and give it to the minister to read, and that they should put something in the paper to regulate the people Sabbath-day noons." In 1734 it was voted that "no writing of a worldly or secular concernment be set up, or allowed on the meeting-house on Sabbath day for time to come." The tythingmen were provided with long poles with which to thump the heads of disorderly boys or im- pious sleepers ; nor is it surprising that there should have been such in the Lexington meeting-house, when we are told that the minister once prayed for an hour, and that his sermons sometimes extended to two hours! It is no wonder, therefore, that when Governor Hancock presented the church with a Bible on condition that it be read in the service (it had not been read up to that time as a part of the service), one of the deacons arose and said that if it was to in- crease the length of the service, he apprehended the people would not want it. Parson Clarke, however, promised that it should not, and so from that time, 1793, the Bible was read in the Sunday worship.

As already stated, the first and the second meeting- houses had no bell-tower or steeple. But "a Tur- riott" was built for the bell, probably a belfry stand- ing by itself on the Common. This, however, fell down in 1733, and a new one was built against the east end of the school-house, where the bell was afterward hung. A bell appears to have been given the parish by the town of Cambridge when the first meeting-house was built, and was in use until 1761. At a town-meeting in June of that year, Isaac Stone presented the town with a new bell, which was "to be for the town's use forever." He received the thanks of the town, through the moderator, for the generous gift, and it was immediately voted to build a new helfry, on what is known as Belfry Hill, and hang it there. Accordingly it was erected, probably on the highest point of land, an elevation of thirty or forty feet above the Common, and as many rods from the meeting-house. But it was not long per- mitted to remain there and send out its summons to the Sabbath worship. The hill belonged to Mr. John Munroe, and he demanded rent from the town for the eighteen feet square of rock on which it stood. This the town stubbornly refused to pay, and so, after two years of bickering, the structure was moved down the hill and left on the west side of the Concord road. But this location awakened bitter opposition, and the belfry was secretly moved across the road to the Common, where, after a spirited town-meeting to de- cide where it should stand, it was finally located near the meeting-house by a committee appointed for the purpose. This bell weighed 463 pounds, as we are

told by the records. Of course, it was a small affair, compared with those now used, weighing five or six times as much; probably its note was sharp and shrill, but it was the bell that rung out the first notes of American Independence, summoning the minute- men to the Common, to resist the invaders, on the 19th of April, 1775. Were it in our possession to- day, Lexington would hardly part with it for its weight in gold. What became of it no man knoweth. The tongue was found many years since in a black- smith shop, and is now in Cary library ; but the bell itself is probably gone past recovery. How little the fathers valued objects so intimately associated with the birth of the nation, but which their descendants to-day regard with the deepest interest! The old bell is indeed lost; but the old belfry in which it bung remains with us to this day. It was bought by John Parker, after the church of 1793 was built, and re- moved to the Parker homestead, in the southwestern part of the town, where it did duty for a long period as a carpenter-shop, and where it still stands. The bell given to the parish by Cambridge was retained by the town long after that given by Isaac Stone had been hung in the new belfry. It was finally sold, in May, 1775, for six pounds, probably to provide means for buying powder and ball to put the town in a proper state of defence. The bell that rung out the alarm on the 19th of April, with mended tongue, did duty for forty years in the belfry, when it gave place, in 1801, to a new one, weighing 800 pounds, and cost- ing $333.33. But there were some extra charges for hanging it, as.we learn from the selectmen's ac- counts, of $9.86, allowed "Rufus Merriam for nine meals of victuals, 27} mugs of toddy and ten mugs of punch supplied the committee when raising the bell." And immediately following, "ten mugs of toddy when letting the poor and the hell," besides "$1.41 for sundries supplied the selectmen by Dudley when Champney was married." The "letting the poor and the bell" refers, no doubt, to the custom of putting the keeping of the poor, and the ringing of the bell for the year, up at public auction, when they were struck off to the lowest bidder. Punch and toddy were supplied to bring people together, and in the excitement following their use obtain the best possible bids for the town. Why the selectmen should have treated "when Champney was married " it is difficult to understand. But while great shrewd- ness was shown in managing the auction to the town's advantage, what shall we say of the charge for "one gallon of brandy and one pound of loaf sugar de- livered to the selectmen and used at Mrs. Fessen- den's funeral !" Surely, municipal junketing is not a modern invention. It prevailed in Lexington a century ago, though, happily, the custom here long since disappeared.

The ministry of Rev. John Hancock extended from 1697 to 1752, a period of fifty-five years. Soon after his settlement, in 1698, he bought of Benjamin Mnzzy

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a tract of land of twenty-five acres lying on both sides of the road leading to Bedford. It extended from the Common, norcherly on what is now Han- cock Street, to the land of David and Joseph Tidd, and was bounded westerly on the eight mile line. Here he built an humble cottage of four or five rooms, probably in 1699, to which he soon brought his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Thomas Clark, of Chelms- ford. And here their five children,-John, Thomas, Ebenezer, Elizabeth and Lucy,-were born and grew up to manhood and womanhood. The eldest, John, graduated at Harvard and became minister of Braintree (now Quincy), where his son, John, Presi- dent of the Continental Congress and the first Gover- nor of Massachusetts, was born. Ebenezer also grad- nated at Harvard and became the colleague of his father over the Lexington Church, dying here in 1740, after a brief ministry of six years. Thomas was ap- prenticed to a bookhinder in Boston, where he became a prosperous merchant and ship-owner, accumulating a large property and attaining political distinction. He bought the Beacon Hill estate and erected the famous Hancock mansion there in 1734. Having no children of his own, he adopted his nephew, John, and at his death left him heir to the principal part of his vast estate. No doubt the possession of this wealth did much to give young John Hancock the great promi- Dence which he had in the events of the Revolution and the subsequent history of the State. The daugh- ters of the second minister, Elizabeth and Lucy, mar- ried clergymen,-the former, Jonathan Bowman, min- ister of Dorchester, and the latter, Nicholas Bowes, the first minister of Bedford. Thus, in the one-story, gambrel-roof house of Rev. John Hancock, the second minister of Lexington, which was twenty-four feet in length by eighteen in width, were born five children who lived to exert a great influence upon the future of the State and Nation. Mr. Hancock's salary ap- pears never to have exceeded £60 a year ; but on this small income, with the products of the farm, he man- aged to support his large family respectably and give his children an education that fitted them for posi- tions of usefulness. There are evidences, however, that it was a hard struggle to make both ends meet in the humble parsonage. Mr. Hancock repeatedly asked for an increase of salary, but it was uniformly voted down in town-mecting, though in a few in- stances something was added to make up the depre- ciation in the currency. But the people were not un- mindful of their pastor's faithful labors, and in 1728 they "voted €85 to purchase a servant for Mr. Han- cock,"no doubt to relieve him from the hard work of the farm after his boys had grown to manhood and enable him to live in a style more becoming the dig- nity of so worthy a family. Evidently he was a man " of great influence in the town and in the neighboring churches. A rigid disciplinarian, ruling with an author- ity that was seldom questioned, and preaching the ter- rors of the law not less than the mercies of the Gos-

pel. An unquestioning believer in the rigid doctrines and observances of the Puritan churches, be brought the great majority of his people up to the same stand- ard in the discharge of their religious duties. In the long record of his ministry he has preserved their confessions of evil doing " made in open meeting," insisting upon them as an indispensable requisite "to the enjoyment of gospel privileges" both for themselves and their children. There could be no admission to the Lord's table and no baptism of their children until their impurity, dishonesty and intem- perance had been confessed before the congregation and the forgiveness of God implored. A large' num- ber of these confessions are found in the church rec- ords. They show how absolute the minister's anthor- ity must have been, or how dull were the sensibilities of the people, that he could draw out such revela- tions in open meeting and make them a matter of public record. For more than half a century he held this stern rule over the town, and there is no evi- dence that it was ever serionsly opposed. He labor- ed faithfully to the last for what he believed to be the interests of true religion and the salvation of the people. A strong, stern, wise and good man, who served God according to the best of his knowledge and ability, and through his descendants has been the means of largely moulding and guiding the affairs of the State and Nation.

But let us return to the story of the Hancock house. It remains in substantially the same condi- tion to-day as when built nearly two hundred years ago, and its subsequent history is most interesting. After Thomas Hancock had become a rich and prosperous merchant in Boston, he built an addition to the humble cottage, in which he was born, for the greater comfort of his father and mother in their old age. This was two stories in height and contained four large, pleasant rooms. In the declin- ing years of his parents, he seems to have taken their support into his own hands and pieced out the meagre salary by adding whatever they needed in food, cloth- ing and money to maintain a style of living befitting so noted a family. The whole estate was conveyed to him and he advanced whatever things were required for their comfort and a generous hospitality. Here they passed their remaining days, "Sir Hancock " dying in 1752, and Madame Hancock in 1760. The old minister was succeeded, in 1755, by a young man destined to hold the pastorate almost as long and to attain an influence in the town and State far more decided and enduring. Jonas Clarke was a native of Newton, and graduated at Harvard in 1752. After completing his studies he was ordained over the church in Lexington, November 5, 1755, where he remained until his death, in November, 1805, in the active service of the ministry. The town agreed to pay him a salary of £80 a year, furnish him with 20 cords of wood, delivered at his door, annually, and £130 as a settlement. In 1757 he married Lucy,

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daughter of Rev. Nicholas Bowes, of Bedford, and granddaughter of his predecessor, Rev. John Hancock. They began their married life in the old parsonage with Madam Hancock, and after her death in 1760, Mr. Clarke bought the estate of Thomas, her son. Here their twelve children, six sons and six daughters, were born and grew up to manhood and womanhood. Here the parents lived until their death, and two unmarried danghters until their decease in 1843. Thus, for nearly a century, the house was occupied by the Clarke family, and, for half a century before them, by the Hancock family. It was a prolific hive of min- isters, no less than twenty-five having been born there, or descended from those who were, or were in some way connected with it. Four of Mr. Clarke's daughters married clergymen-one, Dr. Henry Ware Hollis, Professor of Divinity at Harvard; another Dr. William Harris, president of Columbia College ; another, Dr. Thaddeus Fiske, of West Cambridge, and another, the Rev. Benjamin Green, of West Medway ; from these have descended some of the most distin- guished men in the various professions, in literature, in teaching, and in scientific pursuits which our country has produced.

Jonas Clarke was an ardent patriot, and took an active part in the measures of resistance to British aggression adopted by the town. In the old parson- age of his grandfather, occupied by Mr. Clarke, young John Hancock had passed much of his hoy- hood after the death of his father, the honored min- ister of Braintree. Mrs. Clarke being his cousin, it naturally followed that he often visited there and be- came intimate with the family. Samuel Adams, the leader of the patriot cause in Massachusetts, was an intimate friend of Hancock's and often accompanied him on his visits to Lexington. Thus it happened that the parsonage became the rallying-point of many prominent patriots in this vicinity. Here they gathered for consultation, and here many of their plans were formed and important letters and papers written. We have glimpses of these matters in the manuscript diaries of Mr. Clarke, of which he left five volumes, each covering about ten years of his ministry. Two of these have been lost, but the re- maining volumes are still in existence, carefully pre- served by his grandson, Dr. Henry Clarke, of Boston. They contain brief entries for each day in the year, kept on interleaved almanacs, and covering the period from 1755 to 1805, and containing notices of the weather, of his visitors, of what he was doing and of important occurrences in the town and in the coun- try. They contain a vast amount of information re- garding the customs and occupations of the people, and especially of what transpired from day to day in the parsonage. It was the home of a wide and gen- erous hospitality. The most cultivated people of New England, college presidents and professors, statesmen, politicians and ministers, found genial companion-

ship at Mr. Clarke's fireside. Here came John Han- cock and Samuel Adams from Concord, after the ad- journment of the Second Provincial Congress, which had been in session there. And here they were sleep- ing when aroused by Paul Revere at an early hour on the morning of the ever-memorable 19th of April, 1775, with the intelligence that a battalion of British soldiers were marching for Lexington to arrest them. From the windows of the house Mr. Clarke witnessed the encounter of the soldiers with the minute-men on the Common, where six of his parishioners fell before the murderous fire of the British, and the first blood of the Revolution was shed. These are some of the associations connected with this venerable house which endear it to all patriotic' hearts. It remains substantially as it was a hundred and fifty years ago, a most interesting memorial of the characters and events belonging to the birth of a mighty nation. Long may it be spared to repeat its story of noble devotion to freedom and the most sacred interests of man !

Mr. Clarke was regarded by his people with great respect and affection. He was looked up to as their leader, not only in spiritual matters, but in political and municipal affairs. He served frequently on town committees and drew up important papers relating to the pending difficulties with the mother country, and giving instructions to the town's representative in the General Court. He was among the foremost advo- cates of resistance to the oppressive measures of the British Government, and inspired a lofty enthusiasm in his parishioners. When convinced that there was no hope of obtaining justice trom Parliament or the crown, he was outspoken and firm in advocating na- tional independence. With such a leader, strong, bold, enthusiastic in devotion to freedom, it is no wonder that the people of Lexington were resolute and unflinching in their opposition to the encroach- ments of tyranny, and that here was offered the first sacrifice on the altar of American liberty.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 166

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