History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 146

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 146

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Rev. Charles Stearns, son of Thomas and Lydia (Mansfield) Stearns, was born in Lunenburg, July 19, 1753; graduated Harvard University 1773; Mr. Tutor 1780-81 ; D.D. 1810; married January 3, 1782, Susan- na, daughter of Jonathan and Rachel (Grcen) Cowdry, of Reading. They had six sons and five daughters.

Dr. Stearns' successor in the ministry was Rev. Elijalı Demond, born in Rutland, March 1, 1790 ; Dart- mouth College, 1816, and the Theological Seminary in Andover, 1821, and ordained at West Newbury, March 7, 1821, and was installed at Lincoln, November 7, 1827. After a ministry of nearly five years lie was dismissed at his own request, and was installed at Holliston, 1833, and Princeton in 1836.

Mr. Demond was a gentleman of good abilities, of dignified and courteous manners, and great firmness and decision of character-as thoroughly furnished unto knightly service in the church militant as in the church triumphant. His call was not without oppo- sition, and he was installed in a violent snow-storm -. emblematic, if not prophetic, of his ministry.

During his ministry the First Parish was organized, and ecclesiastical affairs ceased to be managed by the town.

Mr. Demond married, March 29, 1821, Lucy, daughter of Aaron Brown, Esq., of Groton, and died in Westboro', July 20, 1877.

Mr. Demond was succeeded by Rev. Ebenezer New- hall. He was born in New Ipswich, N. H., August 5, 1789; graduated at Harvard in 1818, and at the An- dover Theological Seminary in 1820, and was ordained at Oxford, December, 1823, and installed at Lincoln, January 16, 1833, and was dismissed, April 22, 1847, to accept a call at Willsboro', N. Y., and was subse- quently pastor of the churches in Chesterfield, N. H., and Litchfield, N. H. He was a man of very method- ical habits, of discreet life and conversation, and dili- gent and faithful in all things pertaining to pastoral duties.

He married, Sept. 16, 1824, Miss Sarah Burr Clark, daughter of Stodard Adams Clark, of New York, and died in Cambridge, August 15, 1878.

Rev. William C. Jackson, the fifth pastor of the church, was born in Madison, N. H., February 17, 1808, and graduated, D. C., 1831, and was ordained a missionary at Lancaster, N. H., October 14, 1835, and soon afterwards sailed, under appointment of the A. B. C. F. M., for Turkey, where he successfully labored for about ten years, returning to this country in December, 1845.

He was installed at Lincoln, April 15, 1848, having

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supplied the pulpit from July, 1847. He remained pastor of the church until October 13, 1858. His next field of labor was at Dunstable, where he remained about nine years, and was subsequently, for eleven years, pastor of the church in Brentwood, N. H., where he still resides.

" Mr. Jackson, in all his ministerial labor, has been recognized as an able, judicious, and devout minister of the gospel. His work was, for many years, prose- cuted under peculiar difficulties, owing to ill-health in his family ; yet in addition to his pastoral work while in Lincoln, he wrote for many months regularly for the Congregationalist."

Mr. Jackson married, September 9, 1835, Miss Mary A. Sawyer, of Westminster. One of his sons, Edward Payson Jackson, born Erzeroom, Turkey, March 15, 1840, was for a time a member of the class of 1863 in Amherst College. He erlisted in the fall of 1862 in the Forty-fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, and in 1864 was commissioned second lieutenant in the Fifth Regiment. He subsequently received the degree A.M. from Amherst College. After the war he engaged in teaching, and for the last ten or twelve years has been engaged as master in the Boston Latin School. He has also been engaged in literary work, and is successful as an author.

Another son of Rev. Mr. Jackson, George W., born in Lincoln, November 10, 1853, has been for several years a clerk in Hollis' apothecary store in Boston.

Rev. Henry J. Richardson, the present pastor of the Congregational Church, was born in Middleton, June 23, 1829; graduated at Amherst College in 1855, and at the Theological Seminary in Andover in 1860, and was ordained in Lincoln, September 6, 1860, the pres- ent church edifice being dedicated at the same time. He is now in the thirtieth year of his ministry, and the oldest clergyman, in point of service, in the asso- ciation to which he belongs.

He married, June 26, 1864, Mrs. Harriet Amelia (Colburn) French, of St. Paul, Minn., a daughter of Deacon William Colburn, of Lincoln.

In 1798 a Methodist Episcopal Society was formed in Weston, and a small house for worship was built in the northerly part of that town, near the Lincoln line, some Lincoln families joining in the movement. The society grew and prospered, and in 1828 a new church edifice was built on the North road, as it is called in Weston, or South county road, as it is called in Lin- coln. From 1830 to 1850 a large percentage of those worshiping there were from Lincoln. Since 1850 the number of Lincoln families belonging to the society has materially decreased.

In 1841 a Unitarian Society was formed in Lincoln, and a house of worship built and dedicated Novem- ber 2, 1842. The following persons have been its min- isters or preachers : Rev. Samuel Ripley, five years ; Rev. Seth Alden, five years ; Rev. Chas. C. Sewall, seven years ; Rev. Edward F. Stone, one year; Rev. Wash- ington Gilbert, four years ; Rev. James C. Parsons,

five years; Rev. Joseph H. Allen, five years; Rev. Francis B. Hornbroke, three years; Rev. Henry Wes- cott, one year ; Rev. Edward J. Young, eight years. Since 1877 the services have been held in the after- noon, and discontinued during the winter months.

In 1873 a church was built by the Episcopalians, but the legal organization of the society appears not to have taken place until April 6, 1874, when a meeting was held under a warrant issued by Frank W. Bige- low, Esq., of Weston, to Mr. Howard Snelling, di- recting him "To notify the qualified voters of the Episcopal Society worshiping in Lincoln to meet at the church for the choice of officers and parish organi- zation." At this meeting Ogden Codman, Esq., was chosen moderator, and F. W. Bigelow, Esq., clerk. A constitution and code of by-laws was adopted, and a name-St. Anne's-selected for the church. Messrs. Howard Snelling and George G. Cheney were chosen wardens. Ogden Codman, James Farrar, John Tasker, Albert Griffiths, James E. Baker, Charles E. Smith and George H. Smith, vestrymen, and Howard Snel- ling, treasurer and collector.

The church was consecrated by Bishop Paddock, June 3, 1874. Rev. William M. Groton was rector from July, 1876, to November, 1878. Rev. Dr. P. H. Steinstra was for several years minister in charge. Rev. James S. Bush, D.D., and others, have also offi- ciated as minister in charge.

In 1882 the society received the gift of a bell from Mr. John H. Hubbell, and a tower was erected wherein to place it.

After detailing the incidents attending the incor- poration and and organization of the town, Mr. Shat- tuck goes on to say, " The proceedings of the town were conducted with great harmony, and no occur- rence worthy of notice marks its history until the great question of opposition to England was agi- tated." Within a year after its incorporation the town was engaged in active preparations for war. The year 1755 is memorable for the defeat and death of General Braddock, the battles of Lake George, the devastation of Acadia, and the deportation of its in- habitants, and the great earthquake. In this year Massachusetts alone raised an army of nearly seven thousand nine hundred men "For the defence of His Majesty's dominions in North America," being nearly one-fifth part of the able-bodied men of the Province. To this force Lincoln contributed fifteen or sixteen men, being the town's full proportion.

The central expedition was designed for the cap- ture of the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and incidentally to prevent the French sending any reinforcements to Forts Duquesne and Niagara. Capt: William Pierce, of Stow, commanded a com- pany in Col. Ephraim Williams' regiment, and Judah Clark, who had removed from that part of Lexington which became a part of Lincoln at its incorporation, was his lieutenant, and Robert Munroe, said in the muster-roil to be of Lincoln, was the cusign. In this

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company were also Robert Wilson, sergeant, Simon Pierce, corporal ; Jonathan Barnard, Patrick Disney and Nathan Willington were privates. Elisha Cutler, Silas Fay and Gershom Flagg were in Captain Sam- uel Dakin's company ; Jonas Cutler, of Lincoln, was clerk of Captain Timothy Houghton's company ; Robert Angier, Cornelius Melony, Jonas Jones, Charles Lee and Nathaniel Stearns were in the east- ern expedition ; Joseph Blanchard was also in the service. All the above, except Jonas Cutler, had their poll-taxes in the country rate for the year 1755 abated, " they being in His Majesty's service."

Of the soldiers of Captain Pierce's company, Simon Pierce and Jonathan Barnard were killed in battle at Lake George, September 8, 1755. Joseph Bulkley, of Littleton and Robin Raymond, of Lexington, were killed in the same battle, and Lieutenant Clark was severely wounded.

The eastern expedition was designed for the con- quest of Acadia. The provincial troops had for their commander Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow, who was a major-general in the militia of the Prov- ince, and Lieutenant-Colonel Monckton commanded the regulars or British troops, and as the British offi- cers outranked the provincial, Monckton was in com- mand of the expedition.

The expedition left Boston on the 22d of May, and reached Chignecto on the 2d of June. The reduc- tion of Forts Beau-Sejour and Gaspereaux took but fifteen days, and cost the English but twenty men killed and as many more wounded, and the Acadians were at the mercy of the English. No one can read the story of the devastation of that beautiful country without recalling the declaration of the wise man : "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." The French had landed on the shores of Cape Breton and effected settlements there before the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. By the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland had been ceded to England, and in 1730 the French inhabitants of the Province, who composed more than nine-tenths of the population, had taken an oath of fidelity and sub- mission to England, and had beeu promised indul- gence in the exercise of their religion and exemption from bearing arms against the French or Indians. Hence they were known as " Freuch Neutrals."

From 1730 to 1755 they had increased and pros- pered. They were at peace among themselves, and were not the enemies or a menace to any people or nation. But the English ministry had resolved upon their destruction. Upon flimsy pretexts and false accusations, without any regard to law or equity, justice or humanity, they were hunted from their homes and driven at the point of the bayonet on board crowded transports and cast abandoned on the shores of the Colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia, the object being to scatter them as far or as wide apart as possible. Of these, one thousand were landed on the shores of Massachusetts, and an equal

or greater number in South Carolina. In this crime of the centuries a Massachusetts general led, and some Lincoln men assisted. Of those landed in Bos- ton, Joseph Hibert, aged twenty-nine years, Nanny, his wife, aged twenty-four years, Mary and Modlin, their children, were quartered on the town of Lincoln and supported at the expense of the Province. From the official documents we learn that "This family is of a healthy constitution. Joseph can do some kinds of work, can reap, chop wood, &c. Nanny can sew, spin, weave, and do housework." The town paid for building an oven in the Southwest School-house, for a coffin and for digging a grave for the French family.

History shudders over the cruel fate of the Acadi- ans. The lament of the Jews, " who wept by the rivers of Babylon," which has come down through the centuries, is not sadder than the Lay of Long- fellow. The number of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity was not so great or their captivity more hopeless than that of the Acadians. The horrors of the Libby and Andersonville Prisons were lesser afflictions compared with those of the French exiles. Hoary men and aged women, separated from their children, mothers and maidens, innocent children and little babes, were not the victims of rebel barbarity. The children of Bethlehem and its lovely coasts, which the soldiers of Herod went forth and slew, were not subjected to hunger and cold and lingering deaths. "I know not if the annals of the human race keep the records of sorrows so wantonly inflicted, so bitter and so perennial as fell upon the French inhabitants of Acadia."1

Although war had raged on the Canadian frontier for more than two years, no formal declaration of war between England and France was made until May 17, 1756,-the forces before that time being raised " For the defence of His Majesty's domin- ions in North America" and after that date, for "The Reduction of Canada," and Lincoln contributed men for that purpose every year from 1756 to 1763. In 1757 a new impulse was given to the zeal of the Col- onies, and Massachusetts alone raised an army of nearly ten thousand men, of which Lincoln contrib- uted seventeen, viz .: W. Bond, sergeant, and J. Adams, J. Billings, A. Darby, Saml. Farrar, Jonas Whita-' ker and Joseph Winkley, privates in Capt. Thomas Adams' company ; John Thorning, Samuel Whitaker and Israel Underwood, in Capt. William Angier's company ; William Hartwell, Francis Arpin, Isaac Billings, Joshua Pierce, Eliakim Robinson and Jona- than Wellington, in Capt. Salmon Whitney's com- pany ; and David Hagar and Ephraim Parks, in Capt. Henry Spring's company.

The events which led to the Revolutionary War belong to the history of the whole country. The part performed by the people of the town collectively in its municipal capacity, and by its men individually,

] Bancroft's " History of U. S.," Vol. V. p. 206.

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is what we have to record, and is highly creditable to its citizens.

March 15, 1770, the town "Voted, That we will not purchase any one article of any person that im- ports goods contrary to the agreement of the mer- chants of Boston." And in answer to a circular dated February 8, 1773, they say, " We will not be wanting in our assistance according to our ability, in the prosecuting of all such lawful and constitutional measures as shall be thought proper for the continu- ance of all our rights, privileges and liberties, both civil and religious; being of opinion that a steady, united, persevering conduct in a constitutional way, is the best means, under God, for obtaining the redress of all our grievances."

November 2, 1773, Dea. Samuel Farrar, Capt. Eleazar Brooks and Capt. Abijah Pierce were chosen a Committee of Correspondence. The first letter emanating from this committee is datcd December 20, 1773, and was in answer to a letter from.the Commit- tee of Correspondence of Boston. It is as follows :

"GENTLEMEN :- Wo have read your letter enclosing the proceedings of the town of Boston at their late meeting ; as also another letter en- closing the proceedings of a collective body of people, not only of Boston, but of the adjacent towns; in which, after some very pertinent observa- tions on the alarming situation of our public affairs, you desire our ad- vice and to be acquainted with the sense of this town respecting the pres- ent gloomy situation of our public affairs. We rejoice at every appear- ance of public virtue, and resolution iu the cause of liberty, inasmuch as upon our own virtue and resolution, under Divine Providence, depends tbe preservatiou of all our rights and privileges.

" We apprebend that we in America have rights, privileges and prop- erty of our own as well as the rest of mankind, and that we have the right of self-preservation as well as all other beiugs. And we are con- strained to say that after the most careful and mature deliberation, ac- cording to our capacities, weighing the arguments on both sides, we ap- prehend our rights and privileges have been infringed in many glaring instances, which we mean not to enumerate, among which the late min- isterial plan, mentioned in your letter, is not the least.

"The act imposing a duty on tea is alarming, because in procuring the same our enemies are dealing by us like the great enemy of mankind, viz., endeavouring to enslave us by those things to which we are net necessitated but by our own contracted evil habits ; although if tea were properly used it might be of some advantage. When we speak of our enemies, as above, we mean those persons on either side of the water, whe, by many ways, either secret or open, are sowing the seeds of strife and discord between Brittain and her colonies; or are in any way the active instruments of our distress.

"Now, since it must be granted that our rights and privileges are in- fringed, and that we have the right of self-defence, the important ques- tion is by what means to make such defence. Doubtless, in all cases the means of defence ought to quadrate with the nature of the attack ; and since the present plan seems to be to enslave us, we necd only (had we virtue enough for that) to shun the bait, as we would shun the most deadly poison. Notwithstanding considering se many are so habitnated to the use of tea, as perhaps inadvertently to ruin themselves and their country thereby ; and others so abandoned to vice, expecting to share in the profits arising from the ruin of thoir country, as to use all nieaus in their power to encourage tlie use of tea ; we cannot, therefore, but com- niend the spiritcd behaviour of the town of Boston in endeavouring to prevent the sale of the East India Company's teas, by endeavouring to persuade the consignees to resign their office, or any other lawful incans, and we judge the consignces, by refusing to comply with the just desire of their fellow.citizens have betrayed a greater regard to their private interest than the public good and safety of their country, and ouglit to be treated accordingly.

" The situation of our public affairs growing more alarming. and hav- ing heretofore tried the force of petitions and remonstrances and finding no redress, we, the inhabitants of this town, have now come into a full

determination and settled resolution not to purchase nor use any tea, nor suffer it to be purchased or used In our families, so long as there is a duty fald on such tea by an Act of the British Parliament. And will hold and csteem such as do use such tea enemies to their country ; and will treat them with the greatest neglect. And we beg leave to recom - mend it to the several towns within this province, who have not done it, to go and do likewise.

" Ilow easy the means ! How sure the event | But be the event what It may, suppose this method should not obtain a repeal of the Act which we judge to be unrighteous, but the event should be a total disuse of that destructive article, we might thien (if we inay so express ourselves) bless God that he ever permitted that act to pass the British Parliament.

" We trust we have courage and resolution sufficient to encounter all the horrors of war in defence of those rights and privileges, civil and religious, wbich we esteem more valuable than our lives. And we do hereby assure, not only the town of Boston, but the world, that when- ever we shall have a clear call from Heaven, we are ready to join with our brethren to face the formidable forces, rather than tamely to surren- der up our rights and privileges into the hands of any of our own species, not distinguished from ourselves except it be in a disposition to enslave us. At the same time we have the highest esteem for all lawful authority, aud rejoice in our connexion with Great Britain so long as we can enjoy our charter rights and privileges."

At the annual town-meeting, March 6, 1775, it was Voted, That £52 4s. be granted to provide for those persons who have enlisted as minute-men, each one a bayonet, belt, cartridge-box, steel rammer, gunstock and knapsack, and that they attend military exercises four hours in a day, twice a week, till the 1st of May next. In case any one refuses to attend, 2s. for each four hours, and in proportion for a less time, shall be deducted from their wages.

These votes show that the men had already enlisted as minute-men, and that many of them were destitute of proper accoutrements, and the payments from the treasury of the town show that sums varying from 33. 10d. to 18s. were paid to forty-five men for furnishing themselves with equipments, and £12 143. 10d. paid the committee to provide equipments for the soldiers, the whole amount paid being £48 53. 5d. At what time the minute-men of Lincoln were enlisted or their officers chosen, cannot be ascertained. Mr. Shattuck says, "There was at this time in this vicinity, under rather imperfect organization, a regiment of militia and a regiment of minute-men. The officers of the militia were: James Barrett, col .; Ezekiel How, of Sudbury, It .- col. ; Samuel Farrar was captain, and Samuel Hoar was lieutenant of the Lincoln company. The officers of the minute-men were: Abijah Peirce, of Lincoln, colonel; Thomas Nixon, of Framingham, lieutenant-colonel ; John Buttrick, of Concord, major." William Smithi was the captain of the min- ute-men of Lincoln, and Samuel Farrar and Samuel Hoar were lieutenants. The officers of the minute- men had.no commissions and derived their authority from the suffrages of their companics.

Such was the condition of things in the spring of 1775. The Provincial Congress had collected a quan- tity of military stores at Concord, and an attempt to seize them was not unexpected, and measures had been taken to give a general alarm in case an expedi- tion should be sent out for that purposc.

The main road from Charlestown, through Lexing- ton, to Concord and Groton, passes through the north-

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erly part of Lincoln, the distance from Lexington line to the point where the road becomes the dividing line between Lincoln and Concord being about two miles. In the northeasterly part of Lincoln, within a few rods of Lexington line, dwelt Mr. Josialı Nelson. He was an ardent patriot, and the men of Bedford had arranged with him to give them warning in case an expedition should be sent out. Awakened in the night by the noise of horsemen riding along the road, he rushed out half-dressed to ascertain the cause of the riding, and on asking what it meant he was struck with a sword, gashing his head, and told he was a prisoner. At the same moment he was surrounded by several men, some of whom were British scouts, and the others, evidently Tories, acting asguides. After detaining him awhile the scouts left him in charge of the Tories, who soon released him, telling him to go into his house, and threatening, if he gave any alarm or showed any light, to burn his house over his head. Nevertheless, after dressing himself and his wound, he started to give the alarm at Bedford. He had not two miles to go to reach some of the Bedford patriots. About the same time and near the same place Paul Revere was captured on his midnight ride-immortal- ized in song.

On the same road, about midway between the boun- daries of Lexington and Concord, lived Capt. William Smith. He must have received very early the intel- ligence that the British troops were in motion. Mounting his horse, he assisted in alarming his com- pany, and then rode to Concord. He, with a part of his men, reached Concord about seven o'clock in the morning. Being directed by a field officer to parade his men on the hill, he left his horse at the tavern and obeyed the order. When the British troops left Concord his horse was taken to carry off one'of their wounded, and he lost his horse and his equipments. When the British troops approached the town the provincials retreated over the North Bridge. When Majo: Buttrick sent a request to Capt. Brown to dis- lodge the British troops who were guarding the bridge, Capt. Smith offered to lead with his company in the attack.1

The British soldiers passed up the road between the hours of six and seven in the morning. The re- treating column re-entered the town soon after noon. From the foot of Hardy's Hill, the first considerable

ascent on the returning march, to the foot of the next hill the road is the dividing line between Concord and Lincoln. At the southwest corner of the tan-yard the line of the town leaves the road and turns north- ward. Eastward from the tan-yard the road ascends a steep acclivity and bends northward also. To re- duce the grade of the hill and get material for the re- pairs of the road an excavation had 'been made in the brow of the hill. Through this excavation the road passed, and on the easterly side of the road was a dense forest which afforded a covert for the provin- cials, while the curves of the road exposed the British to a raking fire from front and rear. It was here that the retreat first became a rout-here that the trained warriors of England's haughty King first paled in wild dismay and then fled in dire confusion before an impromptu army of enraged and embattled farmers.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 146

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