History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 190

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 190

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The prime cause of the dissolution of the district, which, having existed as such for less than two and a half years, was what proved to be the perplexing duty of "Prefixing " a place on which to build a house for public worship. Meeting after meeting of the inbab-

itants of the district had been called, and plans of various kinds had been resorted to with the hope that unity of desire and action might be the result ; but such was not the case, and a spirit of dissatisfac- tion and discouragement pervaded the district to such an extent that they longed for the peace and freedom of circumstances that they enjoyed previous to being set off as a distinct corporation.

During the existence of the district three sets of officers, as already noted, had been chosen, and sums of money raised for various purposes beside actual necessities -for instance, some for keeping school for "reading and writing," some to support preaching, which, although they had no building especially dedi- cated to the worship of God, yet they made provi- sion and had public worship at the private residences of the inhabitants of the district as circumstances and ability allowed. During the existence of the ex- tinct district the inhabitants appeared several times before the General Court with petitions, which were unsuccessful, and therefore have not been mentioned in their proper place. But after their being finally set back to the town of Concord, no attempt to dis- turb the settlement thereby effected occurred for a period of sixteen years ; but application was made to the General Court at the first session in 1772-73, by certain inhabitants of Concord, Billerica, Chelmsford and Acton living near together, and far distant from the place of public worship in their respective towns, who prayed that they might be erected into a sepa- rate town or district according to certain bounds con- tained in the petition, and which would include in all about seventy-six families, and that a committee of the Legislature might be appointed at the expense of the petitioners to view their situation and circum- stances, and render their decision in regard to the expediency of the plan. The petitioners alleged, as reasons for their prayer, the distance that many of them lived from the regular places of worship in their respective towns, some of whom were as far as seven miles away, and those who lived nearest were about three miles distant, which prevented many from at- tending except when the weather and traveling were the most favorable, and also stated that out of a just regard to the religious education of their children, they had, at their own expense, erected a place of public worship among themselves, not more than two and a half miles distant from any of their homes, which, and the "hiring preaching " from time to time, added to the province taxes, and their full propor- tion of the minister rates in the towns they now be- long to, proved a burden extremely heavy.

This petition, after due consideration, was, how- ever, finally dismissed.

After a lapse of a little more than six years a sim- ilar petition of John Green and others, praying that a part of said towns of Concord, Acton, Chelmsford and Billerica may be set off and made into a sepa- rate town, district or parish, occupied the attention of

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the Legislature, which sent a committee to the sev- eral towns to view the situation and hear the parties interested. A surveyor was employed and a plan of the territory to be incorporated was prepared at the expense of the petitioners, which plan the legislative committee submitted with their report, which was favorable for the petitioners, and recommended that they be allowed to bring a bill embodying the request of their petition, which they did, and which, after certain amendments, was finally passed April 28, 1780, establishing the second District of Carlisle.

By the provisions of this act the district was to join with the town of Acton in the choice of a repre- sentative ; pay one-sixth part of the charges for main- taining the North Bridgein Concord, until the inhab- itants of said district shall build a bridge from said district over said river, and support a pauper named Sarah Fletcher ; also the inhabitants of said district were entitled to demand and receive from the several towns to which they formerly belonged their just pro- portion of arms and ammunition to which they were entitled. .

On April 29th, the day following the passage of the foregoing bill, William Stickney, Esq., issued his warrant, directed to Asa Green as one of the princi- pal inhabitants within said district, requiring him to warn the inhabitants of said district, qualified by law to vote in town affairs, to assemble at the meeting- house on Monday, the 8th day of May, 1780, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to choose such officers as are necessary to manage the affairs of said district for the ensuing year. Phineas Blood was chosen moder- ator, and the following is a full list of all the officers chosen to conduct the affairs of the newly incorpor- ated district, for the first year of its existence :

District Clerk : Zebulum Spaulding.

Selectmen : Zebulum Spaulding, Phineas Blood, Lieut. John Heald. Committee of Safety : Capt. John Green, Thomas Spaulding, Capt. Israel Heald, Thomas llodgman, Nathan Monroe.

Constables : Timothy Wilkins, Sergt. Simon Barrett.

Surveyors of Highways : Jonas Robbins, John Robbins, Jr., Edward Brown, Isaac Wilkins, Simon Blood, Jr., Ebenezer Hardy. District Treasurer : Capt. Samuel lleald.

Tythingmen : Nathan Munroe, Lient. Isachar Andrews.

Feuce-Viewers: Lieut. Nathau Parker, Sergt. John Robbins.

Hog-reeves : Amos Fliut, Josiah Heald, John Nickless, Edmond An- drews.

Sealer of Leather : Henry Fletcher.

Sealer of Weights and Measures . Lient. Asa Green.

Field-Drivers : Christopher Barritt, Samuel Davis, Jonathan Robbins, Phineas Blood.

Deer-Reef: Jonas Robbins.

Surveyor of Boards and Timber : Thomas Spaulding. Sealer of Hoops and Staves : Samuel Green.

By an act of the General Court, passed in the year 1775-76, all existing districts in the Colony were con- verted into towns. Now it is worthy of note that Carlisle was the first district incorporated after the passage of the above act, and also that it was the only district in Massachusetts at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the Commonwealth.

The second district-meeting was called for Thurs-

day, June Ist, to be held iu the meeting-house also. At. this meeting a committee of three persons were chos- en to see that the district be supplied with preaching for the ensuing year, and it was also voted to raise the sum of two thousand pounds for the support of the Gospel during said time, and before the close of the year it was voted to raise another sum of equal amount, in addition, for the same purpose; it was also further voted to build the body-seats and ceil up the meeting-house as high as the bottom of the windows, and the sum of one thousand pounds was raised to be applied towards completing the work, and a committee of five were chosen to superintend same.

Sums varying in value were raised for various pur- poses-for instance, two thousand pounds was raised to support the poor and defray the necessary charges that may arise in the district during the year; also two thousand pounds was raised to be laid out for schooling, two thousand pounds to amend and repair the highways and district roads; also under the head of this article it was voted that the sum of thirty dollars a day be allowed each man who shall work on the highways and perform his duty to the acceptance of the surveyors, and that a man with team (which probably implied an ox-team) shall be paid at the rate of sixty dollars per day.

The various sums mentioned above doubtless appear to the casual observer to be extravagant in the ex- treme, and if they really meant what they purport to mean, such would be the case ; but it must be remem- bered that these claims were paid in Continental bills, which had been gradually depreciating in value since the year 1777, when, in the month of January, one hundred dollars in gold or silver would purchase one hundred and five dollars in bills of credit of the United States, until the month of April, 1780, when one hun- dred dollars in gold or silver was equal to the enor- mous sum of four thousand dollars in bills.

So it will appear that the man who worked on the highways with his ox-team during the year last named, and received for the same the sum of sixty dollars in bills per day, really got but one dollar and fifty cents in solid cash.

The district was incorporated just in time to vote for the first Governor under the State Constitution, and the record of a meeting called for that purpose and held Sept. 4, 1780, reads as follows :

" Voted and Chose for Governor the Honble John Hancock, Esqr., of Boston, by 28 votes.

" Voted and Chose for Lieutenant, James Bowdoin Esqr., of Boston, by 28 votes."

Considerable attention was given during the first two years of the existence of the district to the laying out of new roads, and repairing and straightening some that had previously existed.

As early as Dec. 21, 1780, it was voted by the in- habitants that the "district be divided by the Select- men into six squadrons in order for the schools." For

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

many years this division was adhered to, and the money raised by the district was equally divided be- tween them. There is a school fund amounting to the sum of $500, given by will of the late Simon Blood, Jr., the interest of which can only be used, and is annually applied toward the support of schools.

The following is a copy of the first order found in the records for paying for schooling, viz .: " CARLISLE, February 27, 1781.

" To Capt. Samuel Heald, Treasurer :

"SIR,-Please to pay out of the money raised to support schooling, to Samuel Emery, the Sum of one Hundred and fifty Pounds to answer bis Demands for keeping a writing school in said Carlisle, one month and boarding himself, £150. 0. 0.

"By order of the Selectmen.

" ZEBULUM SPAULDING, District Clerk."

The first money that was paid for taking care of the meeting-house, of which any record was made in the town-books, was the sum of twelve shillings and two pence, which was paid out of the town treas- ury to Mr. Timothy Wilkins, Jr., for sweeping and taking care of the meeting-house for one year, which ended the 1st of March, 1784; other payments of sim- ilar amounts were made to various persons for the same service in subsequent years.

In early times it appears to have been the duty of the selectmen to guard against the possibility of any person coming into the district to reside who would be likely to become a pauper, and instances are of com- mon occurrence where persons thus suspected were warned by the constable to depart out of the district.

One order drawn on the district treasurer, and dated March 2, 1786, is for the sum of seventeen shillings, to be paid to Deacon John Robbins for service done the district in warning out seventeen persons.

The following is a copy of a summons taken from the town-records, and will serve as a sample of many others that are to be found there :

"Middlesex SS. To Dea. John Robbins, one of the constables of the District of Carlisle, in the County of Middlesex Greeting. Whereas, Saralı Crosby, who is an inhabitant of the Town of Billerica, Came last from Westford on the Eighth of November instant to Reside in the Dis- trict of Carlisle, the circumstances of the above Named person is such it is Suposed She will Soon be Chargeable to Some place, and the Selectmen of Said Carlisle do Refuse to admit her, the above-named person, of be- coming an inhabitant, or any way Chargable to Said Carlisle or any of the inhabitants thereof.

" These are therefore in the Nanie of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, to Require you immediately to warn the above-named person forthwith to Depart out of Said District and Stay no longer within the Bounds of the Same. Hereof fail not, etc.

" ASA PARLIN, JONATHAN HEALD, È Selectmen.

" Carlisle, November 12, 1885."

At the annual April meeting in the year 1790 it was voted to have a collector for the whole district to col- lect the district rates, and that the office should be given to the lowest bidder, providing he shall be re- quired to furnish satisfactory bondsmen.

Previous to this date the service had been per- formed by the constables, two of whom were an- nually appointed, one for the east and the other for

the west side of the district, and the rates for that part of the district for which they were chosen con- stable were committed to them to collect.

Mr. Amos Blood's bid for collecting on the above- mentioned date was four-pence half-penny on the pound, and as he was the lowest bidder was chosen as the first collector under the provisions of the preced- ing vote.

The custom of venduing the collection of taxes pre- vailed for years ; the lowest bidder, providing he could furnish sufficient bonds, held the office, and was usu- ally chosen constable.

The price paid by the town for this service was usually four or fine cents on a pound, but two in- stances appear on record where the collector paid the town for the privilege of the office, viz., in years 1807 and 1808, on the former of which Mr. Nathaniel Hutchinson, Jr., offered to give one farthing on the pound, and on the latter-named year it was struck off to the same person, he agreeing to give the town four and a half cents on the pound to be collector and con- stable.

The explanation of the above occurrence may be deduced from the fact that the custom prevailed of appointing the collector constable also, which, in . those times, was a remunerative office, and might have been sufficiently so to justify the paying of a moderate amount in order to secure the two compan- ion offices.

At the annual meeting held March 7, 1803, it was voted that the selectmen serve gratis the ensuing year. Since it was customary, on various occasions, connected with their duties, to provide drink, there might have been to some a temptation to aspire to the office even under these conditions.

Previous to the year 1790 it had been the custom for the selectmen to commit the warrant for calling district-meetings to the constable, who personally warned the inhabitants, one taking the east side and the other the west side of the district, the dividing dine being the road from Chelmsford to Concord, which at that time went past the meeting-house, the southern part of which is now known as the Old Con- cord Road.

At a meeting held on the 4th day of October, 1790, it was voted that the annual meetings in March and April be warned in the future by posting up a copy of the warrant at the meeting-house the number of days required by law previous to said meeting.

Thus was inaugurated the more modern method practiced until the present day.

The first record that is found relating to guide- posts, is recorded under the proceedings for the year 1796, and is as follows :

"The Selectmen of Carlisle have agreed that it would be convenient to have Guide Posts Set up at the following places in Said Carlisle, viz. : one near Mr. Timothy Wilkins, Jun'. House, to Direct to Chelmsford & Bedford; one near the School House

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CARLISLE.

in the East part of Carlisle, to Direct to Concord and Bedford; one near the School House in the South- west part of Carlisle, to Direct to Concord, Chelms- ford and Carlisle."

The following year several sums were paid out of the treasury for guide-boards and expenses in procur- ing and erecting same, and it would seem that quite a number were erected in the district.

In the year 1801 the district made their first appro- priation for music, when it was voted to raise the sum of twenty-five dollars for the purpose of hiring a singing-master. In subsequent years larger amounts were often raised and appropriated for the same pur- pose.

In the year 1802 the district voted that a premium of twenty-five cents a head on crows be allowed to any inhabitant of the district who should kill them within the limits of the district. Lieutenant Daniel Wheat was authorized to pay for same on presenta- tion, and, as subsequently appears, seventy-three crows were carried to him and paid for, at an expense to the district of $18.25.

Another similar offer was subsequently made by the town when, in the year 1872, it voted that the sum of twenty-five cents be paid out of the town treasury for each wood-chuck killed within its limits. A commit- tee of five located in different parts of the town were chosen to receive them and keep the account. The result was the destruction of 560 animals, for which the town paid the sum of $140.

The largest number credited to any one person was forty-three, for which Mr. C. H. Hutchinson was paid the sum of $10.75. Mr. Amos Baldwin re- ported the next largest number and received the sum of $9 for the destruction of thirty-six animals.

By the act which incorporated the district of Car- lisle it was debarred of the privilege of sending a rep- resentative annually to the General Court from among its own citizens, and while enjoying all the other privileges usually granted to towns, it was compelled to join with the town of Acton in the choice of a rep- resentative.

Several times during the past twenty years the question of making application to be incorporated as a town had been agitated by the inhabitants of the district, but it was not until June 11, 1804, that final action was taken.

On the above-named date the inhabitants were as- sembled agreeable to a warrant for that purpose, the first article in which was as follows :

"To me if the district will agree to choose agents to petition to the General Court to have said district of Carlisle separated from the town of Acton, and that they may have appalation of town instead of district, agreeable to a request of a number of the inhabitante of said district, and pass any voter respecting the matter which they may think proper when met."

The action taken on this article was that the dis- trict make choice by ballot of an agent to petition the General Court to have the change brought about, and

to have the district incorporated as a town. Jonathan Heald, Esq., received the appointment as agent, and the result of the petition was the following act of the Legislature, which incorporated the district as a town, after having existed as a district for the space of nearly twenty-five years :

" COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

" In the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and five. An Act to incorporate the District of Carlisle, in the County of Middlesex, into a Town by the name of Carliele.

"SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the district of Carlisle, in the county of Middlesex, be, and hereby is incor- porated into a town by the name of Carlisle: And the said town is hereby vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities to which other towns are entitled by the constitution and laws of this Common- wealth.

"SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, that the said town of Carlisle shall be liable to be assessed for the pay of Representatives heretofore chosen, in the same manner and in the same proportion ae if this Act had not passed."

The foregoing act was approved and signed by His Exceliency Caleb Strong, Governor of the Common- wealth, February 18, 1805.

By the foregoing act the boundaries of the district of Carlisle as incorporated in the year 1780 remained unchanged. Very little in point of privilege appears to have been gained thereby, and yet it gave to the inhabitants a degree of independence, a prerogative which it was their privilege to enjoy, and which it is much to their credit that they saw fit to avail them- selves of; beside, it marks an eventful era in the history of the town, the time when it outlived its minority, and put . on the full garb of manhood, standing shoulder to shoulder with her sister towns, in point of privilege as well as responsibility.

It appears by the town record that an order was drawn on the town treasurer on the 25th of the succeeding March in favor of Jonathan Heald for the amount of $47.00, it being for his attending the General Court twenty-one and a half days for the purpose of getting the act of incorporation passed, and for cash paid the clerk of the Senate, and a jour- ney to Acton. The above amount probably covered the expense for the act of incorporation.

In the early history of the town an article which annually appeared in the town warrant was as fol- lows, viz .: " To see if the town will agree that horses, neat cattle, and swine may run at large in the district." It was usually voted that this privilege be granted in the case of swine, but a vote in the negative was usu- ally passed in relation to horses and neat-cattle, ex- cept in the case of some poor persons who were re- quired to get a permit from the selectmen in order to continue the practice. This article, as far as it relates to swine, appeared for the last time in 1831, and to horses and neat-cattle in the year 1836. Another custom which has become obsolete at the present day is that of annually choosing fish and deer-reeves.

The practice of choosing a sexton at the annual town-meeting appears to have originated in the year

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

1805. James Kemp was the first to hold this position by vote of the town, and his duties consisted in tak- ing care of the burying-place, digging the graves for all persons and taking charge of the meeting-house.

This service was, after a few years, let out by auc- tion to the lowest bidder.

There appears to have been a pound erected by the district soon after its incorporation, and by vote of the town its walls were used in preparing the foundation for the new meeting-house erected in 1811; and in the year 1812, at a town-meeting held on the 4th day of May, the selectmen were chosen a committee to procure a location for a new pound, and also to let out the contract for building same to the lowest bid- der. Said contract was given to Mr. Nathaniel Par- ker, for which he was paid the sum of twenty-five dollars.

This was probably the last pound erected by the town, and was located a few rods from the village, on the Westford road, and was recently removed by con- sent of the town.

A little inconvenience appears to have heen expe- rienced hy the inhabitants of the town from the fact that the grant of land from Mr. Timothy Wilkins, men- tioned subsequently, did not include quite all of what is at present known as the Common, and in response to an article in the warrant for the annual town-meet- ing, held Monday, March 1, 1813, a committee of three persons, viz., Mr. Frederick Blood, Mr. Nathan Green, Jr., and Mr. Thomas Heald, were chosen " to buy the land around the meeting-house within the roads, if they can agree with the owners thereof."

The above-mentioned land appears to have be- longed to Mr. Reuben Duren, from whom the Com- mittee chosen by the town purchased a half-acre, more or less, for the sum of thirty dollars, which, according to a plan of the purchase, included three small strips of land located respectively on the south, west and north sides of the said Wilkins grant, and took in all between the roads.

Several times during its existence the town has appropriated money to be expended upon the Com- mon. The largest sum appropriated at any one time was one hundred and twenty dollars, raised in the year 1828, and laid out in labor on land around the meeting-house.

In later years a modern organization, known as the Carlisle Improvement Association, has done much to improve the Common, beside building sidewalks, erecting street-lamps and otherwise beautifying the general appearance of the village. This society was organized April 8, 1878, with the following list of officers : President, Prescott Nickles ; vice-president, Thomas A. Green ; secretary, Albert S. Day; treas- urer, Marshall Lee; executive committee, Gilman Nickles, I. F. Duren, J. F. Carr, Mrs. E. J. Green and Mrs. D. W. Robbins.

Considerable money which this society has received from various entertainments given under its auspices,

and from membership fees, has been judiciously ex- pended for improving the village.

The bounds on the southeast corner of the town, or the line separating that portion of the town of Carlisle from the town of Concord are very irregular, because of the unwillingness of certain inhabitants of that locality to have their farms set off from the town of Concord when the new district of Carlisle was incorporated.

An effort was made by the town of Carlisle, in the year 1826, to effect a straightening of the lines, or removal of the bounds. A committee of three persons were appointed to confer with the town of Concord in relation to the affair. This effort, however, proved ineffectual.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 190

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