History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 120

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 120

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504

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

" lis farme of Groton." The sale is duly recorded in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds (I. 57).

Groton in Connecticut-younger than this town by just half a century, and during the Revolution the scene of the heroic Ledyard's death-was named in the year 1705, during the Governorship of Fitz-John Winthrop, out of respect to the Suffolk home of the family.

New Hampshire has a Groton, in Grafton County, which was called Cockermouth when first settled in the year 1766. Subsequently, however, the name was changed by an act of the Legislature, in accordance with the unanimous wish of the inhabitants who ap- proved it, on December 7, 1796. Some of its early settlers were from Hollis, New Hampshire, and others from this town.

Vermont, also, has a Groton, in Caledonia County, which received its charter on October 20, 1789, though it was settled a short time before. A history of the town, written by General Albert Harleigh Hill, ap- peared in Miss Abby Maria Hemenway's "Vermont Historical Gazeteer" (IV. 1145-1168). Taken bodily from this work, a pamphlet edition was also pub- lished, with some slight variations, but with the same paging. The author says:

"It received the name of Groton through the influence of its earliest settlers, who were born in Groton, Mass. These sterling old patriots who, mid all the stirring activity of those days, forgot not the old birthtown, but hallowed its memory by giving its name to their new settlement and town in the wilderness " (page 1145).

New York, too, has a town called Groton, situated in Tompkins County ; and Professor Marvin Morse Baldwin, in an historical sketch of the place, pub- lished in the year 1858, gives the reason for so nam- ing it. He says :

" At first, the part of Locke thus set off was called Division ; but the next year [1818] it was changed to Groton, on the petition of the in- habitants of the town, some of whom had moved from Groton, Mass., and some from Groton, Ct., though a few desired the name of York " (page 8).

There is also a Groton in Erie County, Ohio. It is sit- uated in that part of the State known as the fire lands, and so called after the Connecticut town. The name was originally Wheatsborough, and its first settlement was made in the year 1809.

The latest place aspiring to the honor of the name is in Brown County, South Dakota, which was laid out six or eight years ago on land owned by the Chi- cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. I am informed that various New England names were selected by the company and given to different town- ships, not for personal or individual reasons, but be- cause they were short and well sounding, and unlike any others in that State.

In the middle of the last century-according to the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (XXIV. 56 note, and 60) for January, 1870-there was a place in Roxbury sometimes called Groton. It was a corruption of Greaton, the name of the man

who kept the "Grey Hound" tavern in that neigh- borhood.

Groton, in England, is an ancient place; it is the same as the Grotena of Domesday Book, in which there is a record of the population and wealth of the town, in some detail, at the time of Williamn the Con- queror, and also before him, under the Anglo-Saxon King, Edward the Confessor. A literal translation of this census-return of the year 1086 is as follows :

" In the time of King Edward [the Abbot of ] Saint Edmund held Gro- ton for a manor, there being one carucate and a half of land. Always [thero have been] eight villeins and five bordarii [a rather higher sort of serfs ; cotters]. Always [there has been] one ploungh in demesne. Al- ways two ploughs bolonging to homagers [tenants], and one acre of mead- ow. Woodland for ten hogs. A mill serviceable in winter. Always ono work-horse, six cattle, and sixteen hogs, and thirty sheep. Two free men of half a carncate of land, and they could give away and sell their land. Six bordarii, Always one plough, and one acre of meadow [belong- ing to these bordarii]. It was then [i. e., under King Edward] worth thirty shillings, and now valued at forty. It is seven furlongs in length and four in breadth. In the same, twelve free men, and they have one carncate ; it is worth twenty shillings. These men could give away and sell their land in the time of the reign of King Edward. [The Abbot of ] Saint Edmund has the soc, protection and servitude. Its gelt is seven pence, but others hold there."

This extract is taken from the fac-simile repro- duction of the part of Domesday Book relating to Suffolk (page CLVIII), which was published at the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, in the year 1863. The text is in Latin, and the words are much abbreviated. The writing is peculiar and hard to de- cipher. The same entry is found, in printed char- acters, in the second volume of Domesday Book (page 359. b.), published in the year 1783.

Some idea of the condensed character of the record may be gathered from the following copy of the beginning of the description of Groton, in which the matter within the brackets is what the Norman scrivener omitted : " Grotenā. [m] t.[empore] r.[egis] e.[dvardi] ten[uit] S.[anctus] e.[dmundus] p[ro] man. [erio] " etc. A carucate was " a plough land," or a farm that could be kept under tillage with one plough. It is variously estimated at from twelve acres to a hundred.

It is curious to note the different ways which the early settlers had of spelling the name; and the same persons took little or no care to write it uniformly. Among the documents and papers that I have ex- amined in collecting material for a history of the town, I find it spelled in twenty-one different ways. viz : Groton, Grotton, Groten, Grotten, Grotin, Groa- ten, Groatne, Groaton, Groatton, Grooton, Grorton, Grouten, Grouton, Groughton, Growton, Growtin, Groyton, Grauton, Grawten, Grawton and Croaton. From the old spelling of the word, it may be inferred that the pronunciation varied; but at the present time natives of the town and those "to the manner born " pronounce it Graw-ton. This method appears to hold good in England, as the Reverend John W. Wayman, rector of the parent town, writes me, under date of August 13, 1879, "That the local pro- nunciation is decidedly Gráw·ton. The name of the

505

GROTON.

parish is described in old records as Grotton, or Growton." I learn from trustworthy correspondents in all the American towns of the name, that the common pronunciation of the word in each one of them is Graw-ton. With the exception of the town in South Dakota, I have visited all these places, in- cluding the one in England, and my observation con- firms the statement.

The following paragraph is taken from the Gro- ton Mercury, of June, 1851, a monthly newspaper edited by the late George Henry Brown, postmaster at that time :

" We have noticed amongst the mass of letters received at our Post Office, the word GROrox spelled in the following different ways: Grot- ton, Grawton, Graton, Grotown, Groutown, Growtown, Growtan, Grow- ten, Growton, Gratan, Grattan, Grewton, Grothan, Graten, Groten, Gronton."

The daily life of the founders of Massachusetts would be to us now full of interest, but unfortunately little is known in regard to it. The early settlers were pious folk, and believed in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures. They worked hard during six days of the week, and kept Sunday with rigid exactness. The clearing of forests and the breaking up of land left little leisure for the use of pen and paper ; and letter-writing, as we understand it, was not generally practiced. They lived at a time when printing was not common and post-offices were unknown. Their lives were one ceaseless struggle for existence ; and there was no time or opportunity to cultivate those graces now considered so essential. Religion was with them a living, ever-present power ; and in that channel went out all those energies which with us find outlet in many different directions. These con- siderations should modify the opinions commonly held in regard to the Puritan fathers.

The sources of information relating to the early history of Groton are few and scanty. It is only here and there in contemporaneous papers that we find any allusions to the plantation ; and from these we obtain but glimpses of the new settlement. The earliest document connected with the town after its incorporation is a petition now among the Shattuck Manuscripts, in the possession of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which contains some interesting facts not elsewhere given. All the signa- tures are in the same handwriting as the body of the document ; but those of the committee signing the re- port on the back of the petition are autographs. The report itself is in the hand of Joseph Hills. The doc- ument is as follows :

" Bost' : 16 : 3 mº : 165€

"To the Right Worll the Gournot the wo,rll Depnt Gornor and Magis- trates with the Worthy Deputies of this Honord Court

" The humble Peticon of Certein the intended Inhabitants of Groten, " Humbly Sheweth

"That yor Peticon" haning obteined theire Request of a Plantacon from this honored Conrt, they have made Entranc thervppon, and do Resolue by the Gracious Assistants of the Lord to proceed in the same (though the greatest Number of Peticon's for the Grant haue declyned the work) jet because of the Remotenees of the place, & Considering

how heavy and slowe it is like to be Carried an end and with what Charge and difficultie it will he Attended yor Peticon's humble Requests are

"1 That they be not nominated or included in the Country taxes vntil the full end of three years from these p,Ints : (in which time they Account theire expenc will be great to the building a house, procureing and maintaining of a minester &c, with all other nessessary Town Charges : they heing but few at present left to Carry on the whole worke) and at the end of the term, shall he redy by gods help to yeald their Rates according to their Numher & abillitie & what shall he im - posed, vppon them

"2 That they may hane lihertie to make Choyce of an other then Mr Danford for the Laying out their town bounds hecause of his desire to he excused hy reason of his vrgent ocations otherwise, & that they be not strictly tyed to a square forme in their Line Laying out

"So shall yor Peticon.'s he incoridged in this great work, and shall as, duty hindes pray for yor happiness and thankfully Rest yor humble Servants

" DEAN WINTHROPP DOLOR DAVIS WILL. MARTIN JNO. TINKER RICHARD SMITH ROBERT BLOOD JNO. LAKIN AMOSE RICHENSON

"In Ans. to this Peticon wee Conceiue it needfull that the Town of Groton he freed from Rates for three years from the time of their Grant as is desired.

" 2ª That they may Imploy any other known Artist in the room of Mr Daufort as need shall he.

"3d That the forine of the Towne may A little varie from A due Square According to the discrecon of the Comitte.

"21. 3d mo. (56)

" DANIEL GOOKIN JOSEPH HILLS

JOHN WISWALL

" The Deputyes approue of the returne of the Comittee in answer to this petitio & desire the Consent of or honerd magists. hereto

" WILLIAM TORREY Clerke

"Consented to by the magists

"EnWARD RAWSON Secret "[Indorsed for filing :] Grotens Peticon [ Entrd & x8 secured pd 8 | 1656"

The next document, in point of time, connected with the history of Groton is a petition to the Gen- cral Court from John Tinker, one of the original se- lectmen of the town. It is dated October, 1659, and preserved among the Massachusetts Archives (CXII. 120) at the State-House. In this petition Tinker makes some indirect charges against his townsmen, of which the real nature can now be learned only by inference. It would seem that they had taken land in an unauthorized manner, and their proceedings in other respects had obstructed the planting of the town; and that he felt aggrieved in consequence of such action. Evidently the new plantation did not prosper during the first few years of its settlement. The petition reads thus :

" Boston To the Honord Genrll Court Assembled at Boston

8 mo The humble Petition of Jno Tinker

1659 Humhly Sheweth that

" With vnfained Respect to the good and welfare of Church and Com- monwealth yor Petitiouer hath endeauored to answer the expectation and desires of this honord Court and the whole Countrey In erecting set- ling and Carying an End tlie Afaires of Groaton, Granted and intended by this honord Court for a plantation, which notwithstanding (all in vaine) it Continueth vnpeopled and soe Like to remaine vnless hy this honord Court some wise and Juditious Comitte he impowered to order and dispose of all things there ahout, after which no doubt it will goeon and prosper, which is the humble desire and Request of yo." Petitioner that soe it may be, and that yor Petitioner he admitted and appoynted

506

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

faithfully to doclare vuto and informe the said Comitte, 1 what hath allredy hin done, 2 what are the Grounds and Reasons wherefore it Re- maineth at the stay it doeth. being so much desired by so many and such Considerable persons as it is, and 3 what hee Conceuith neodfull to the further Confirming what is done according to Right to every person & Causo, and the setleing such dne order as may Ineoridg the Carying on of all things to a prosperous effect, vuto which yor Petitioner shall redyly adress himselfe, as willing to submitt to the good pleasure of this honrd Court & such Authorized by thom for such due satisfacon for all his Care time eost & paines in and about the said plantation as shall he thought meete and humbly hegging the good fauor of god to Rest vppon you shall ever Remaine to the honord Court and Country

" Yor humble Servt JNº, TINKER

" The comittee haveing prsed this peticcon, do Judge yt it wilbe very convenient that a Comittee of 3 : or more meet persons be nominated & impowrod ;to Examine the pticulars therein mencconed, and mako returne of wt they find to the Court of Eleccon.

" THOMAS DANFORTH ANTHONY STODDARD ROOER CLAP

"21. (8) 59. The Deput approue of the ret. of ye Comitee in answ : hereto & haue Nominated Mr Danforth Mr Ephraim Child Capt. Edw : Johnson to he their Committee desireing or Honord magists [consent] hereto

" WILLIAM TORREY Cleric.

"Consented to by ye magists

EDW RAWSON Secrety "

It appears from the writing on it that Tinker's peti- tion was referred to a special committee, who recom- mended that the whole matter be considered by another committee with larger powers, who should report to the Court of Election. In accordance with this recommendation, Mr. Thomas Danforth, Captain Edward Johnson and Ephraim Child were appointed such a committee. I have here given their names in the order in which they are mentioned in the General Court Records (IV. 324), and not as they appear in the approval of the committee's return on the petition. The original report, made eighteen months afterwards and duly signed by them, is now among the Shattuck Manuscripts of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. It is dated May 23, 1661 (" 23 (3) 1661"), and bears the official action of the House of Deputies and of the magis- trates. Edward Rawson, the secretary, made his entry on the paper May 29, 1661. In copying the document I have followed the General Court Records, as this version of the petition contains fewer abbre- viations and contractions. The record-book has been paged differently at three separate times; and the paging marked in red ink has been taken in this copy. The "Committees Returne abt Groaten & Courts ordr " are as follows :

"Wee whose names are subscribed being Appointed & impowrd by the Generall Court in october 1659 for the examination of the proceed- ings about Groten plantation & the Intanglements that haue obstructed the planting thereof hitherto=hauing taking pajnes to travajle vnto the sajd place & examino the Records of former proceedings in that plase as also the Capacity of the sd place for the enterteining of a meet noumber of persons that may Carry on the affairs of a Toune, doe Apprhend (ac- cording to wt Information we have had) that the place will Affoord a comfortable accommodation for sixty familjes at least that may subsist in a way of husbandry=And for such familyes as be there already planted weh are not aboue four or five acres1 wee doe not finde theire Interest in such

lands as they claime is legall & Just nor yet consistant wtb the Courts ends in their grannt of the sajd plantation.

" And for the further encouragement of such as hane now a desire &c doe present thomselvs as willing to plant themselves in that place,

" Weo crane leane humbly to leaue our poore apprhentlons wth this Honored Court as followetl

" 1 That the old planters & their Assignes whose names aro John Tincker Rich : Smith. Wu Martju. Ri : blood Robt Blood & Jnº Lakin that they reteine & keep as theire propriety, (of such lands as thoy now clajme an Interest in) each of them only twenty acres of moadow twenty acres for the house lott ten acres Intervale land & tenn acres of other vplands & that the same be sett out by a Committee so as may not vn - equally prejudice such as aro or may be their Neighbors

" 2 That the neere lands & meadows, be so diuided as may accomodate at least sixty familjes & for that end That the first dinision of lands be made in manner following vizt such as hane one hundred & fifty pounds estate be allowed equall wth the old planters aboue & that nono exceed & that none haue lesse then tenn acres for theire houselott & five acres of meadow two & a halfe acres of Intervale & two & a half of other lands for planting lotts in their first divission & that none be admitted to haue graunts of lotts there but on Conditions following vizt

"1 That they Goe vp. wtb theire familjes wthin 2 years after theire graunts, on penalty of forfeiting theire graunts againe to the Towne & so many tenn shillings as they had acres Graunted them for theire houselotts & that the like Injunction be putt vpon those ahoue named as old planters.

"2 That all towne charges both Civil & Eccleasiasticall be levyed ac - cording to each mans Graunt in this first divition of lands for seuen years next Ensuing Excepting only such whose stocks of Catle shall exceed one hundred & fifty pounds estates.

"3 That the power of Admission of Inhabitants & Regulating the af- faires of the sajd place be referred to a Comittee of meete persons Im- powred by this Court thereto, Vntil the plantation be in some good meas- ure (at least) filled wth Inhabitants & be enabled regularly & peaceably to Carry on ye same themselves

"4 That this honoured Court be pleased to graunt them Imunitjes [from] all Comon & Ordinary Country charges not exceeding a single rate or a Rate & a half p Annu for three years next ensuing.

"5 That in Graunting of lotts children haue theire due Consideration wth estates theire parents giving securitje to defray yr charges of the place as is before prmised.

" THO DANFORTH EDWARD JOHNSON EPHR. CHILD

" The Court Approoves of & doe Confirme the returne of the Comittee & doe hereby further order & Impower the aforesajd Comittee for the ends aboue mentioned vntill meete men shall be found amongst such as shall Inhahit there & be approved of by a County Court "

(General Court Records, IV. 371.)

The next document, in point of time, found among the Archives (I. 21) at the State House and relating to Groton, is the following request for a brandmark, which was wanted probably for marking cattle

"The Humble Request of Joseph Parker to the Honoured Governor the Honourd magistrates & deputyes, Humbly Requests in hehalfe of the towne of Grawton that the letter GR may bee Recorded as the brand mark belonging to the towne I being chosen Counstible this year make bolde to present this, to the Honoured Court it being hut my duty, in the townes behalfe thus Hopeing the Honored Court will grant my request I rest yor Humble Servant :

" JOSEPH PARKER "BOSTON : 31th : may : 1666 1

"In answer to this motion the Deputies approue of the letters : GE to he ye brand marke of groaten

" WILLIAM TORREY Cleric. " or Hono,rd magists consentinge hereto

"Consented by the magists "Enw : RAWSON Secrety"

Joseph Parker, before coming to Groton, had lived at Chelmsford, where his children were born. He

1 The word "acres" occurs at the end of a line in the manuscript records, and appears to be an interpolation. The sense does not require it, and the original copy in the library of the New England Historic,

Genealogical Society does not contain it, though the printed edition of the Geueral Court Records gives it.

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GROTON.

was a brother of James, another of the early settlers of the town.

During this period the town was paying some at- tention to the question of marks for trees as well as for cattle. At a general meeting held on March 5, 1665-66, it was voted that "there should be trees marked for shade for cattell in all common hy wayes :" and furthermore that " the marke should be a great T." From various expressions found in the early town records, it would seem that the country in the neighborhood was not densely wooded when the settlement was first made. At a meeting of the selectmen held in the winter of 1669, an order was passed for the preservation of trees, but the writing is so torn that it is impossible to copy it. At another meeting held on January 13, 1673-74, it was voted that all trees of more than six inches in diameter at the butt, excepting walnut and pine, growing by the wayside, should be reserved for public works, and that the penalty for cutting them down, without authority, should be ten shillings a tree.

At a general town-meeting on December 21, 1674. leave was granted to William Longley, Jr., to cut down three or four trees standing in the road near his farm and shading his corn, on condition that he give to the town the same number of trees for mending the highways.

The early settlers of Groton encountered many trials and privations in planting the town. The men worked hard in felling trees and breaking ground, and the women toiled faithfully in their rude houses. They were used to hardships, and they took them with Christian resignation. Their daily life taught them the true principles of philosophy. They lived on the rough edge of civilization, and nothing stood between them and an unbroken wilderness. These pioneers were a devout people; and the strength of their religious belief is shown in no way so clearly as in the fortitude with which they met their lot in life. The prowling Indians were their neighbors, whose constant movements required careful watching. There were families of savages scattered along the interval land of the Nashua valley, from Lancaster to the Merrimack River, who at times annoyed the settlers by killing pigs and stealing chickens. Judging from the number of stone implements found in the neighborhood, there was an Indian village just above the Red Bridge, on the west side of the Nashua River. It probably consisted of a few families only, belonging to the Nashua tribe, as they were called by the English. Like all their race, these Indians were a shiftless peo- pie, and often changed their abodes, going hither and thither as they found good hunting-grounds or fish- ing-places. They bartered skins and furs with the planters ; and so much business was carried on in this way, that the government sold to individuals the right to trade with them. As early as July, 1657, John Tinker, one of the original selectmen of the town, appointed by the General Court, paid eight

pounds for the privilege of trafficking with them at Lancaster and Groton. A few of these natives knew a little English, which they had picked up from con- tact with the whites. Gookin refers to them in liis " History of the Christian Indians," when he speaks of " some skulking Indians of the enemy, that formerly lived about Groton, the principal whereof was named Nathaniel, he and his party did this and other mis- chief afterward, in burning several houses at Chelms- ford." 1 This Nathaniel was taken subsequently at Cocheco (now Dover), New Hampshire, and hanged in Boston. Some of these vagrants took an active part in the burning of Groton during Philip's War. The leader of the savages at this assault was John Monaco or Monoco, nicknamed " One-eyed John," from the loss of an eye. After he had taken by strat- agem a garrison-house, he entered into a long conver- sation with Captain Parker, who was stationed in another house near by, and called him his old neigh- bor. From this fact I infer that "One-eyed John" knew Captain Parker, and had previously lived in the vicinity. Warfare among the aborigines did not require generalship so much as knowledge of places; and the head of an assaulting party was one familiar with the clearings and the lay of the land in the threatened territory. During the ensuing autumn this leader was brought to the gallows in Boston, where he suffered the extreme penalty of the law.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 120

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226