History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 153

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 153

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His son, Isaac Morse, succeeded him in the owner- ship of the mill property, and was residing here at the time the railroads were built. He lived on the southerly side of Shirley Street, where Alfred Page's tenement-house now stands. The well at this place is known as the old Morse well, and is a monument mentioned in many deeds of land in that vicinity.

There are few names in colonial history more worthy of an enduring fame than that of Simon Wil-

lard. In him were combined the qualities of mind and body calculated to foist the civilization of Europe upon the unbroken wilderness, against the prejudice of the savage. We cannot claim Simon Willard as all our owu. We must share the honors of his resi- dence and labors with Cambridge, Concord and Lan- caster. The histories of these towns are not com- plete without more than a passing mention of this distinguished man. While his residence here was brief, being but little more than five years, it was dur- ing the most stirring and critical days of the Colony's history, and was the last and most eventful of our hero's life.

Simon Willard was born at Horsmonden, in the County of Kent, England, in the early days of 1605. He came to New England in 1634, and settled in Cam- bridge, where he continued to reside about six years.

He was early rated as a merchant, probably on ac- count of his dealings with the Indians, which, while it gave him a valuable knowledge of the interior of the country, and the advantages that the different lo- calities afforded for settlements, also gave him an ac- quaintance with the individualities of the most prom- inent chiefs and leaders among the Indians, and the strength and peculiarities of the different tribes-a knowledge that proved of great advantage in the stormy days of his residence in our vicinity.

September 2, 1639, the General Court of tlie Col- ony granted to Rev. Peter Bulkeley, Simon Willard, merchant, and twelve other families authority " to be- gin a town at Musquetaquid to be called Concord." This little colony pushed out into the wilderness, on to the then frontier, and, until his removal to Lancas- ter, in 1659, Simon Willard was the foremost man of the new colony. A stone tablet set into the wall on the northerly side of Elm Street, in Concord, a short distance westerly of the Sudbury River, indicates the farm upon which he lived. It would not be permit- ted, in an article of this character, to dwell to any extent upon his public acts that are a part of the his- tory of Concord, further than to speak of some of the positions he filled. While he resided there he was chosen "Clerk of the Writs," not uulike that of jus- tice of the peace, an office he held for nineteen years. In 1636 he was made "surveyor of arms," which was the beginning of that military record, on account of which he is often spoken of as "a Kentish sol- dier." In December, 1636, he was chosen represen- tative to the General Court, and with the exception of three years was re-elected for fifteen years. Dur- ing these terms of service he was identified with many of the most important acts of the Colony. In 1653 he was a member of a commission appointed to establish the northerly line of Massachusetts, thus be- ing prominently identified with a controversy that the present generation witnesses as still unsettled. The northerly line of the Colony was then claimed to be much farther north than to-day, and the grant to the Colony was presumed or claimed to extend to the

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

head-waters of the Merrimack. At the southerly cx- tremity of Lake Winnipiscogee there was discovered, some years since, a large rock upon the face of which is the following inscription :

EI WP

IOHIN

ENDICVT GOV

which being interpreted, rcads (EI) Edward Johnson; (SW) Simon Willard, (WP) Worshipful John Endi- cott, Governor. It is said that this is the earliest sculptured inscription of Massachusetts Colony. It was made by Edward Johnson and Simon Willard, joint commissioners, and establishes what was at that time claimed to be the northern limits of the patent of the Colony. In 1653 Simon Willard was. elected sergeant-major, the chief military office of the county, and next in rank to sergeant-major-gene- ral, who had command of the military forces of the Colony. In 1654 he was chosen assistant, a homo- geneous office, combining the honors and burdens sus- tained by State Senator, Councilor and justice of the Superior Court.

On October 3, 1654, Major Willard was placed in command of an expedition set on foot by the commis- sioners of the United Colonies against the Niantics- a tribe of the Narragansetts-whose sachem was Nin- nigret. Their chief seat was what is now embraced in the towns of Westerly and Charlestown, in the State of Rhode Island. The expedition was an im- portant one and Major Willard's appointment to the command provoked some feelings of jealousy among the military men of the day. While the expedition cannot be considered as a great military success, the government of Massachusetts considered that the main design of it was accomplished.

In the discharge of his official duties Major Willard was called to Lancaster from time to time to advise the inhabitants and superintend the management of the concerns of that plantation. The inhabitants finding it difficult to conduct the business of the town, and needing assistance from without, sent a letter of invitation to Major Willard "to come and inhabit amongst" them, "with such measures concerning accommodations as have been formerly propounded." It would appear from the records that these "accom- modations" were certain gifts of land in the second and every subsequent division of the common lands. He accepted the invitation, sold his mansion-house, homestead and a part of his other land in Concord, and in the course of the year 1659 removed to Lan- caster. His residence in Lancaster was near the opening of the present "Centre road," so called, in the middle of the town, and his estate was bounded on two sides by the Nashua River. His house was one of the principal garrisons in King Philip's War. Major Willard resided in Lancaster not far from twelve years, removing to Groton probably some time in 1671. The precise time of his removal cannot now

be determined. The proprictors' records of Lancas- ter establish the fact that the selectmen met at his housc January 30, 1670. The first mention made of him in the Groton Records is the following vote :

" At a Generall towne meeting held Janevary 13 1672 Thisday agreed vpon and hy vot declared that their shallbo a conimit chossen for to seat the persons in the meeting house according to their best discretion and at tho sain time a commitee chosen and their names are thes

" Major Wilard Sergent Parker and sergent Lakin

James ffiske

Jolın Lakin."

(Early records of Groton, p. 42.)

At the session of the General Court beginning May 6, 1657, on account of his public service, Major Willard had granted to him five hundred acres of un- appropriated land wherever he could find it. One year later, at the session beginning May 19, 1658, after the tract had been selected by him, a definite grant was made which appears to have been in satis- faction, in part, at least, of debt due Major Willard through John Sagamore, an Indian living at Paw- tucket, in the present city of Lowell, though he is sometimes mentioned as of Groton. The debt was recovered in the County Court in Middlesex, June, 1657, but the grant was made directly by the General Court.

The entry in the General Court was recorded as follows :

"In Answer to the petition of Major Symon Willard the Court Judgeth it meete to graunt his Request viz a farme of five hundred acres on the south side of the Riuer that Runneth from

Courts Graunt to Nashaway [Lancaster] to Merremack betweeue

Major Sy Lancaster & Groten & is In satisfaction of a debt of

mon Willard forty fower pounds Jnº Sagamore of Patuckett doth owe to him Provided he make ouer all his Right title & Interest in the execution. ohtayned agt the said Saga- more to the countrje wch was donne."

At the adjournment of the October session, 1659, Thomas Noyes returned his survey of the tract, which was duly approved by the Court as follows:

" In Obedience to the act or Graunt of the Honnored Generall Court of the Massachusetts, in New England lajd out & exactly measured major Symou willards farme . contey ning fiue hundred acres scittuate lying and heing for the most part, on the East side of Groaten Riuer=hetwixt the plantation . graunted to

Major Willards farme of 500 acres by Groaten &c.

the Inhabitants of Lancaster and the now In- habitants of Groten at the place wch is Called by the Indians nanaj- coyijens . heginiug at the great riuer side . about one hundred rodds to the Nortward of nanajcoyijcus brooke hegining weo say at the riners sido runing a duo east ljne uinety fower rodds thero making an angle varying forty fiue degrees . to the southward thon Runing one mile and a halfe and forty Rods . vpon a southeast point there making an Angle varying twenty degrees from the old Ljue . Runing on that point sixty Rodds . there making an Acute Angle of sixty degrees. Runing on a west & by South point halfe a mile there making an angle varying two & tweuty degrees . to the Northward Runing on a west & hy North point one mile . there making an Angle . varying thirty-three degrees from the cld Ljne . Runing on a northwest point to the River It heing seven Score Rods . and from thence vpon a stroight line to the place . where woe heganu . which last line doth Crosse Groten River twico. this by mo

" THOMAS NOJES."

"Tho Court Allowos and Approves of this Returno providod the thirtjo acres lajd out ouer the North East side of the River ho left ont & takon on some othor part of the lines & that there be not ahoue one hundred acres of meadow lajd out in this farme."

645

AYER.

The territory embraced within this grant com- prised the larger part of that at present occupied by our village, and, consequently, it was a part of the territory claimed by the proprietors of Groton under their previous grant from the General Court in 1655. But as the Groton proprietors had not, in accordance with the terms of their grant, returned a description of the land taken by them, the Court had no means of knowing that Major Willard's farm embraced the same territory. There consequently arose conflicting claims regarding the territory embraced within the Vonaicoicus farm, which were not settled until 1681, when the territory was conceded to Hezekiah Usher and Samuel Nowell, assigns from Major Willard's heirs. This territory, being principally meadows, was particularly valuable on account of their natural yield of grass. It was upon this farm that the major erected his mansion-house, destined to become one of the most important garrisons of Groton.

In the summer of 1674 Major Willard conveyed one-fourth part of the Nonaicoicus, grant to his son Henry, and in the following year another quarter to his son Simon. Both of these sons afterwards recon- veyed their respective interests to the mother, then a widow, and administratrix of her husband's estate. The original deed of Major Simon Willard to his son Henry is now in the possession of Hon. Samuel A. Green, of Boston.

At time of his death Major Willard owed the estate of Hezekiah Usher. a merchant of Boston, the sum of £272. 28. 3d., and on June 20, 1679, the widow Wil- lard, in payment of the debt sold the farm to the Usher heirs-three-quarters to Hezekiah Usher, Jr., and one- quarter to Samuel Nowell, who had married the widow of the elder Usher. Both of these parcels of land were afterwards conveyed, on May 11, 1687, to Jona- than Tyng, of Dunstable, in trust for his son John, a nephew of Hezekiah. On December 3, 1713, Tyng in his own name transferred the farm to William Far- well (supposed to be the father of Henry Farwell, of Revolutionary fame) and John Sollendine, both of Dunstable. From that time the chain of title can be readily traced.

As has been before stated, the controversy between the owners of the farm and the proprietors of Groton, respecting the title to this farm, was not settled until 1681, and at that time a survey of the farm was taken and a plan made by Jonathan Danforth, of Cambridge a noted surveyor, who ran the lines of the Groton plan- tation. This map of Nonaicoicus farm is drawn upon parchment, and is now in the possession of Mrs. Sarah J.S. (Nutting) Bennett, wife of Charles Curtis Bennett, of this town, having come into her hands through the owners since Hezekiah Usher's time. Upon the face of it, in the handwriting of Mr. Danforth, is the fol- lowing memorandum :

" Maj. Willards farme at Groaton. The bounds of it renued & a plat- forme of taken at the request of ye worthfall Sanall Newell, Esq., & Mr. Hezakiab C'eher, owners. the bounds of ve a holl were shewed by Sorj.

James Knapp and James. Prescott appointed by ye selectmen of that towne. Also Capt. James Parker and Mr. Henre Willard shew ye bouuds who knew them of old. & it was agreed of all hands that these were the exact bounds known & owned in ye Majars days. a record of ye wholl was drawn up & Subscribed by bothe parties & agred ye same should be entered in groaton towne booke & in ye County Re- cords. 8 . 4m 1681. Jonath Danforth, Suver. "this is commonly called ye 400 acres."

Upon this map is shown the location of the major's .mansion-house, as it stood at the time of its destruc- tion by the Indians, March, 1676. It stood about one-eighth of a mile almost directly north from the westerly end of Robbins' Pond, and consequently must have been very near the Harvard line. It prob- ably stood upon the ridge or elevation just east of the brook that flows from Robbins' Pond to the Nashua River. As the westerly half of our southerly bound- ary is presumed to follow the southerly boundary of the farm, and it is bordered on the west by the Nashua River, and on the east by what has since been known as the Calvin Fletcher farm, we are thus able to locate three sides of this farm with tolerable accuracy. The northerly line began at the river on the Holden farm, a short distance northerly of the dwelling-house now occupied by Asa S. Burgess, and ran southeasterly in a somewhat irregular course to a point not far from the easterly end of Spaulding's Pond, between the Fitchburg Railroad and Main Street. On account of purchases and sales along the northerly line of the farm by subsequent owners, the location of that line has become lost.

It is to be regretted that the translation of the word Nonaicoicus cannot be had, as a knowledge of its meaning would add a renewed interest to our history, by enabling us to appreciate whatever geographical or perhaps religious significance the aboriginal prede- cessor upon this soil attached to what he saw about him. The word has come to us from its connection with Major Willard's farm. To what cxtent we have it in its original Indian pronunciation cannot now be de- termined, as in its transition from the unwritten Indian to the written English it has been subjected, not only to the discrepancies found existing between the tongue of one language and the ear of another, and the un- conscious liability of perversion, by likening it to sounds with which the bearer is familiar, but, in this instance, to the additional and not inconsiderable risk of distortion through the abominable spelling of those hardy frontiersmen of two hundred years ago. Our connection with the word, while it lacks a variety of original spellers that might, by a system of general average, assist us to arrive at a general result, comes to us from a reliable source. Major Willard was a scholar for his day, and possessed more reverence for orthography than the average of his cotemporaries in America.

The high position of trust and importance he oc- cupied in the Colony shows him to have been a man of learning, while his extensive acquaintaintance and dealings with the Indians gave him a knowledge of

646

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

their language and an ability to correctly understand and render it. The earliest use I can find of the name is in the original grant to Major Willard of his Gro- ton farm, and the word "Nanajcoijcus" indicated about how well the Colony officials were able to trans- late its sound into writing. It is there spoken of as a placc, "the place which is called by the Indians Nanajcoyjcus." At one time the locality now known as the old mill district, in the northerly part of Har- . vard, was included as Nonaicoicus. It was there that Jonas Prescott built his first'corn-mill. John Pres- cott, of Lancaster, in his will dated October 8, 1673, and now on the files of the Middlesex County Pro- bate at East Cambridge says, in reference to his third son Jonas : "he has received a full child's portion at nonecoicusin, a corn-mill and other goods."",

In the conveyance of Major Willard to his son Henry of the one-quarter of his Groton farm, herein- before referred to, which is in the handwriting of Rev. Samuel Willard, the name of the farm is spelled " Nonaicoiacus," thus adding another syllable, and in this instrument it is still spoken of as a place. In the conveyance by Major Willard's widow to the Usher heirs, it is spelled Nonaicoicus, which spelling has since been retained. The will of Hezekiah Usher, Jr., is dated "Nonaicoicus, August 17, 1689." In the original grant of the farm to Major Willard, above referred to, the name of the locality is also given to the brook. Danforth, in his survey of the farm, in 1682, spells them both "Nanaicoicus." Since that time the word has been variously spelled and dis- torted. As good an authority as Caleb Butler ought to have been, spelled it "Nanicanicus." The same error appears in the Atlas of Middlesex County, pub- lished by Beers & Company (New York), 1875, it be- ing undoubtedly copied from Caleb Butler's map of Groton of 1829. The word is sometimes contracted to Coicus, Coycus, Coiacus and Coyacus.

In the decd of John Sollendine to James Park, dated on May 18, 1738, the farm conveyed is spoken of as "at Nonaicoucus," and the hill in the south- west part of the town is called "Coicus Hill," speak- ing of it as if the name was at that time a well-known one for that eminence.

In the description of the land of John Farnsworth, recorded December 9, 1680, the bridge across James Brook, near the house of George H. Brown, is men- tioned as "the bridge that goes to Nonaicoicus."

These Indian names are in link, connecting us with those pre-historic days, and there is about them a euphony that is more pleasing as time wears on ; and it is to be hoped that Nonaicoicus, the only Indian name that is exclusively our own, may be attached to some landmark of pleasing importance.

One of the reasons that induced Major Willard to remove to his Groton farm was undoubtedly that he might be nearer his son, the Rev. Samuel Willard, then minister of that place. Samuel Willard, whose portrait, a gift of Hon. Samuel A. Green, of Boston,

is hung in our public library, was the minister of Groton from 1663 to 1676. He removed to Boston at the time of the abandonment of the town, in the latter year, and never returned. He was subsequently pastor of the South Church, and as such baptized Benjamin Franklin, who was born on Milk Street, nearly opposite the church edifice, the rite being administered when Franklin was but a few days old. Subsequently Samuel Willard was president of Harvard College. He died on September 12, 1707.

For nearly forty years immediately following the Pequot War the Colonies remained substantially at peace with the various Indian tribes among them and on their frontier. It was the policy of the English to encourage the petty jealousies between the different tribes, and thus prevent a coalition of any serious magnitude. In the mean time the Colonies were rapidly increasing in wealth and population.

Philip, the Sachem, commonly known as King Philip, was the ruler of the Wompanoags, an incon- siderable people numbering scarcely 300 warriors. The amount of territory possessed by this tribe was small, as Philip's father, Massasoit, had conveyed nearly, if not all, their territory to the Colonies. Philip was a man of remarkable sagacity and judg- ment both as a statesman and warrior. He perceived with alarm the rapid increase of the English, and appreciated the existence and cause of the jeal- ousies that prevented the union of the Indians against what he considered to be their common enemy. He foresaw that a conflict of race was in- evitable, and determined to strike the blow before his people became hopelessly in the minority. Had his plans been perfected, the calamity known as King Philip's War would have been far more serious than it was ; but by a coup d'etat, the murder of Sassamon, he precipitated the conflict. The execution of the murderers revealed the rising cloud of the conspiracy, and forced Philip to take the field with unperfected plans. The first attack was made at Swanzey, June 24, 1675, and the second at Mendon, July 14th. Au- gust 2d, Captains Hutchinson and Wheeler, with their party of horse, and accompanied by several of the principal inhabitants of Quabaog (now Brookfield) were attacked about four miles from that place and eleven of the party killed. The rest retreated and barely succeeded in reaching the town; the Indians following closely, and burned all the dwelling-houses and most of the other buildings in the place, except the one in which the soldiers and inhabitants had taken refuge. The alarm in which these calami- ties placed the unprotected towns on the frontier may well be imagined. Every one naturally ex- pected that their home would be the next place of attack, and immediate measures were taken to organ- ize the best forces that their limited means and dis- tance from each other would permit. Military regi- ments and companies were organized, and moved from place to place, according as they apprehended

647

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danger of attack. At this time Major Willard had been in command of the Middlesex regiment for more than twenty-one years, and, being second in command in the Colonies, his services were imme- diately demanded, and although well advanced in years, he immediately responded.

One of his first acts was to march to the relief of Brookfield, accompanied by Captain Parker, of Gro- ton, with forty-six dragoons and five Indians, the latter being employed as guides. They reached the besieged town shortly before light on the morning of August 4th, and after a stormy fight relieved the gar- rison, who had been closely pressed, the house hav- ing been set on fire several times. I here append the earliest account of this rescue-that written by Capt. Thomas Wheeler, of Concord, who was in command of the besieged town at the time. After narrating the preceding events, and the dangers to which they were exposed, he proceeds :

"Onr danger would have been very great that night (Aug. 1; had not the only wise God (blessed for ever) been pleased to send to us, abont an honr within night, the worshipful Major Willard, with Cap- tain Parker, of Grouton, and forty-six men more, with five Indians, to relieve us in the low estate into which we were brought. . .. And God, who comforteth the afflicted, as he comforted thic holy Apostle Paul by the coming of Titns to him,-so he greatly comforted ns, bis distressed servants, both sonldiers and toun inhabitants, by the coming of the said honoured Major and those with him. His coming to us so soon was thus occasioned : He had a commission from the Honoured Council (of which himself was one) to look after some Indians to the westward of Lancaster and Gronton (where he himself lived). and to secure them, and was npon his march towards them on the aforesaid Wednesday, in the morning. Angnst 4th, when tydines coming to Marlborough by those that returned hither, as they were going to Connecticut, concern- ing what they saw at Brookfield, as aforesaid, some of Marlborongh, knowing of the said Major's march from Lancaster that morning, pres- ently sent a post to acquaint him with the information they had re- ceived. The Major was gone before the post came to Lancaster; but there was one speedily sent after him, who overtook him about five or six miles from the said town. He being acquainted that it was feared that Brookfield (a small town of abont fifteen or sixteen families) was either destroyed or in great danger thereof, and conceiving it to require more speed to saccour them (if they were not past help) than to pro- ched at present, as he before intended, and being also very desirous (if it were possible) to afford relief to them (he being then not above thirty miles from them), he immediately altered his course, and marched with his company towards na, and came to us ahont an hour after it was dark, as aforesaid ; though he knew not then either of our being there nor of what had befallen us at the swampe and in the house two days before.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 153

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