History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 183

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 183

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As we have already remarked, it was for conveni- ence of public worship, not the desire for a new town, that first led the residents of these remote portions of three other towns to band themselves together. The purchase of a church building has also been alluded to. 'In an ancient record purporting to be "The Town Book for Births and Deaths and Strays and Poor Persons for Boxborough," we find the follow- ing :

" At a meeting Held on the 31 Day of January, 1775, By a Sartain Society part Belonging to Stow and part of Littleton and part of Har- vard, at the house of Ena Abel Fletcher, In order to Erect a meatting- house for the publick worship of God-lly. chose Mr. Coolidge Modera- tor, 2ly. Chose Mr. Bennet Wood, of Littleton, and Mr. Joseph Stone, of Stow, a Committee for purchasing Harvard Old meatting-House. " A Covenant to indemnify sd Committee :

" This may certify that we the subscribers Do Covonant and engage with Each other that we will pay our subscriptions as is hereafter set Down towards purchasing the Old meatting hous of Harvard, for which purpose we have chosen Mr. Bennet Wood of Littleton and Mr. Joseph Stone of Stow to Represent and act for ns at a vandue in order for Sail of gd House on the Second Day of February next and Do engage hereby to fulfili according as they the sd Bennett Wood and Joseph Stone Shall bid or otherways agre at sd vandue, In testimony thereof we Do here- unto set our hands this 31 Day of January, 1775.

"Silas Wetherbee, one-quarter part.

Edward Brown, one-sixteenth part.

£ ø. d.

Joseph Stone

2 0 0

Samuel Wetherbee

3 0 0

Phinehas Wetherbeo . 1 10 0

Abel Fletcher . 200

Reuben Wetherbee

1 4 0

John Taylor

1 12 0

Ephraim Whitcomb

200

Oliver Taylor

0 18 0

Solomon Taylor .

0 18 0

Henry Cooledge .

200

Levl Wetherbee .

0 18 0

James Whitcomb, Jun 0 18 0

Abel Whitcomb

200

Boston Draper

200

Lieut. Daniel Wetherbee

1 10 0

Edward Wetherbee, 2000 of shingles. 3ly. Voted to adjourn to meating hous Spot."

Then the society met and voted to accept the Com- mittee's report, and farther " voted to take down sª Old meatting house and move it to the spot agreed upon By sª Society and Raise the Same." Mr. Silas Wetherbee is recorded as making a present to the so- ciety of three acres of land " for the use of a meat- ting hous Lot." Record is also made of the pecuni- ary aid rendered by each member of the new soci- ety, and of the work performed upon the newly pur- chased house of worship. November 25, 1776, the society

" voted to Except of the Report of the Committee Chosen to Examine accounts for work done which is as followeth :

£ s. d. q.

Daniel Wetherbee

26 17 9 2

Abel Fletcher

17 12 1 2

Ephraim Whitcomb

25 13 1 2

Samuel Wetherbee

19 7 10 2

James Whitcomb, Jr.

26 17 10

Abel Whitcomb .

19 0 10 2

Phinehas Wetherbee

12 12 1 2

Henry Cooledge

9 15 1 2

Bennett Wood 31 13 8 2

Oliver Taylor

21 19 7 2

Solomon Taylor

34 1 1 2

Boston Draper

11 16 7 2

old ten.

"We the subscribers Being appointed a Committee to Examine the ac. counts of the Society of Stow, Littleton, and Harvard have accordingly Examined the Same and we find Due for Each man above Named to pay the sum as set against his Name in the List above written."

In 1777, November 24th, the society again met and " voted to chuse a Committee to Petition the General Cort to Sett of sd Society," and they accordingly chose Mr. Silas Taylor, Mr. James Whitcomb and Mr. Bennet Wood a committee for this purpose. The new society seems to have been unsuccessful in their efforts in this direction at the first, but commit- tees were repeatedly chosen from among her citizens to present the petition to the General Court, and June 14, 1779, they voted to apply to Mr. Francis Dana, attorney, of whom Hon. Richard H. Dana was a grandson, "to Carry on our Memorialist Petition and Present it to the General Court, and voted $100 for that purpose." But the attorney's efforts, even, must have failed, or the $100 was too small a sum to

771

BOXBOROUGH.

attract him to the cause for a sufficient length of time, for during the next four years the names of commit- tees from among the citizens are often recorded. In 1780, when a committee was again chosen to apply to the General Court to be set off, they also voted " to chuse a committee to treat with the obstinate part of Our Society in Littleton." The " obstinate party " is referred to again a little later. It is not strange that the towns called upon to yield up a part of their own territory to form a new town should make objection, but there is no record of any demur on the part of either Stow or Harvard. Littleton seems to have been opposed to the transaction from the beginning. Three times more-December, 1780, January, 1782, and January 21, 1783-the same petition is presented to the General Court, and at last, after a six years' struggle, on the 24th of February, 1783, the petition is granted. The following is a copy of the Act of In- corporation :

"Commonwealth of Massachusetts, In the year of our Lord One thou- sand Seven hundred and Eighty-three. An act for Erecting a District in the County of Middlesex hy the name of Boxborough. Whereas a number of Inhabitants living in the Extreme Parts of the Towns of Stow, Harvard and Littleton, Labour under many Inconveniences by Reason of their grate distance from any Place of Publick Worship, and have Requested this Conrt that they May be Incorporated into a Dis- trict with all the Privileges of a town, that of sending a Represen- tative to the General Court Excepted-Be it therefore Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled, and hy the anthority of the Same, That a Part of Stow, a Part of Harvard and a Part of Littleton, all which are Included within the Boundarys following, viz. : Beginning at the Road Southerly of John Robins' Buildings, and Running Southerly in Acton line to a Place called Flag hill, being two miles, three Quarters and ten rods to a heap of Stones ; from thence Westerly in Stow, Two miles and a quarter to a Stake and Pillar of Stones in the Harvard Line, then turning Northerly through part of Harvard to a white oak tree by a Causeway ; from thence to the Place first Set out from, be and hereby is incorporated into a District by the Name of Boxborough. And all the Polls and Estates that are Included within the said Boundaries shall belong to the said District, Except those of such of the Inhabitants of that Part Set off from Littleton as Shall not, within the Term of twelve months from the Passing of this act Return their Names into the office of the Secretary of this Commonwealth, Signifying their Desire to become Inhabitants of the said District. And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that the said District be and hereby is invested with all the Powers, Privileges and Imunities that Towns in this Commonwealth do or may Injoy, Except the Privilege of Sending a Representative to the General Conrt, and the Inhabitants of the said District Shall have leave, from time to time, to join with the Town of Stow in Choosing a Representa- tive, and shall be notified of the Time and Place of Election in Like manner with the Inhabitants of the said Town of Stow by a Warrant from the Selectmen of the said Town to a Constahle or Constables of the said District, Requiring him or then to warn the Inhabitants to at- tend the meeting at the time and Place appointed, which warrant shall be Seasonably Returned by the said Constable or Constables of the said District, and the Representative may be Chosen Indifferently from the said Town or District, the Pay or allowance to be borne by the town and District in proportion as they shall, from time to time, Pay to the State Tax; and be it further Enacted that Jonathan Wood, Esq., of Stow, be and hereby is impowered to Issue this Warrant, directed to »mne Principal Inhabitant within the said District, Requiring him to warn the Inhabitants of the said District, Qualified to vote in Town affaire, to assemble at rome Suitable time and Place in the said District to Chuse Sach officers as Towns and Districts are required to Chuse in the month of March annually, Provided, Nevertheless, that the Inhabit- aute of the said District Shall Pay their Proportionahle Part of all Such Town, County and State Taxes as are already assessed hy the said Re- epective Towne from which they are taken, and their proportionahle part of all Publick Debts Due from the said Towns, and also Provide for

the Support of all the Poor who were Inhabitants within the said Dis- trict before the passing of this Act, and Shall be Brought hack for main- tenance Hereafter. And whereas it is fit and Necessary that the whole of the said District should belong to one and the same County, he it therefore further Enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that that Part of the Said District which is set off from the Town of Harvard, in the County of Worcester, shall be and hereby is annexed and set to the County of Middlesex, and the line established hy this act as the Boun- daries betwixt the said Town of Harvard and the said District, shall hereafter be the boundary Line betwixt the said County of Middlesex and the said County of Worcester."

This instrument bears the signatures of Samuel Adams, president of the Senate, and John Hancock, Governor.

Accordingly, Jonathan Wood, justice of the peace, of Stow, issued the warrant-notifying and warning all voters to assemble at the meeting-house that they might perfect their organization by the election of the customary officers,-to Bennet Wood, one of the prin- cipal inhabitants of the new District of Boxborough. To the people of to-day the officers chosen and the offices filled, on that 10th of March, 1783, may not be without interest, and we give them entire. Jona- than Wood, Esq., presided as moderator.

Capt. Silas Taylor was chosen clerk of district ; Capt. Silas Taylor, Mr. Silas Wetherbee, Ens. Ahel Fletcher, Lieut. James Whitcomb, Lieut. Ephraim Whitcomb, selectmen ; Capt. Phinehas Taylor, treas- urer ; Capt. Silas Taylor, Mr. Abel Whitcomb, Lieut. Ephraim Whit- comb, assessors ; Mr. Joseph Howe, Lieut. James Whitcomb, Mr. Ben- net Wood, constables ; Mr. Bennet! Wood, Mr. Paul Hayward, ward- ens ; Mr. Judah Wetherbee, Capt. Eleazer Fletcher, tithingmen ; Mr. Oliver Meed, Mr. Ephraim Taylor, Mr. Bennet Wood, Mr. Oliver Tay- lor, highway surveyors and collectors ; Mr. Oliver Wood, sealer of leather ; Mr. Edward Brown, Mr. Thomas Lawrence, fish-reeves ; Capt. Phinehas Taylor, Lieut. Nehemialı Batchellor, deer-reeves ; Mr. Joseph Raymond, Mr. Boston Draper, hog-reeves; Mr. Richard Wetherbee, Mr. Ebenezer Phillips, fence-viewers ; Mr. Phinehas Wetherbee, Mr. Ephraim Wetherbee, fire wards ; Mr. Jonathan Wetherbee, Mr. Joseph sawyer, field-drivers ; Mr. Edward Brown, Mr. Solomon Taylor, sur- veyor of boards and shingles; Mr. Jonathan Wood, justice of the peace.

From time to time other officers were chosen, as pound-keeper, surveyor of lumber, hoops and staves, vendue master, sexton, etc.

The disinclination, on the part of Littleton, towards the new district, was a difficulty which did not seem to adjust itself in later years, and down through the century, even to the present time, the disagreement may be traced. There was a great deal of trouble about the boundaries, although they were described and established by the letter of the act of incorpora- tion already given. All the polls and estates within the given limits were to belong to the uew district except those of such of the inhabitants set off from Littleton as should not return their names to the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth within a year from the passing of the act. So, although the boundary was designated between Littleton and Box- borough, the people of the Littleton part were left to go or come-as they chose-to pay their taxes to the mother town as before, although residents of the new district. The towns were continually in trouble over the boundary line. It was at last referred to the General Court, and an act fixing the boundary was passed February 20, 1794. This act also gave per-

772

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

mission to those of Littleton who had not returned their names, "their polls and their estates," who still voted and were assessed in Littleton, "to be- long to said Littleton" so long as this state of things continued ; that such persons might at any time apply to said Boxborough to become member. thereof, and, upon vote of her inhabitants, be ac- cepted as citizens of Boxborough, with their polls and estates.

In 1791 the district voted to invite all within the bounds of Boxborough who had not joined with the said town to become members of the same. And they have come from time to time until there are only two farms-those of H. T. Taylor and David Hall-which are still assessed in Littleton. Edmund, Lawrence's estate was accepted April 6, 1807. Widow Rachel Cobleigh's property, May 27, 1818, and George Jef- fon's estate, April 2, 1821. In 1827 the town voted to choose a committee to converse with all those who still paid their taxes in Littleton, though within the bounds of Boxborough, to see if they would not in future attach themselves to their own town, and April 24th of that year, five (the largest number at any one time) signified their desire to become inhabitants of Boxborough, and were transferred to the said town, viz: John Hoar, John Blanchard, Simon Blanchard, Mrs. Abigail Blanchard and Moses Whitcomb. Two more, Carshena Wood and Mrs. Lucy Wood, came May 23, 1831, and one more, Isaac Patch, April 2, 1838. Measures are being taken at the present time to see if the taxes of the remaining two farmns may not be re- quired to revert to the town to which the estates belong.

The boundaries on the Harvard and Stow sides are probably somewhat changed; that toward Acton seems to be the same, and the southeast corner, on Flagg's Hill, appears to be unaltered. The boundary on the Littleton side, as we have said, although the source of much dispute and threatened prosecution, was finally fixed by act of the Legislature, in 1794. No definite descriptions of the corner bounds and bound- ary lines are recorded whereby we can mark the ex- act changes ; the bounds themselves-heaps of stones, stakes, trees-are objects which the vicissitudes of a hundred years might well render uncertain, and now they cannot be determined with any degree of accu- racy.

It is interesting to follow the working of the newly- organized district and to note that which seemed most to occupy their hands and hearts. So far as we can judge from the records left us, after having thrown in their lot together, each one worked for the com- inon good. Destincd never to become a large town, its citizcus gave to it, and found in it, whatever of active, energetic enterprise it possessed. The warrants for the early town-meetings are full of articles for action, touching the church, the school and the highway,- three of the most important factors in the common town or State life ; for without religion at the outsct, the foundation must have been unstable ; without

education the future processes of sclf-government, personal and general development in intelligence and strength, must have halted ; and without communi- cation with the outside world, common interchange of ideas and methods, and also transportation, would have been at a standstill. The citizens of the district seem to have been much interested in these things at the very first. The meeting-house was the place not only for holding the religious gatherings of the peo- ple, but also for all town-meetings until 1835, aud in April of that year they assembled at Bigelow's Hall, situated directly opposite. Early this year they "voted to build Town Hall under the contemplated New meeting-house on the Common, and voted to raise $250 to build the same," and then a reaction came and they " voted to reconsider" their vote. In March of the same year they voted to build a town- house on the old Common and voted to raise $400 for the same, and again the reaction came and they re- considered the vote, but later in the season a town hall was built near the southern end of the Common and opened for use in October, 1835. This remained until 1874. Early in 1870 they voted to " examine Town Hall," and also chose a committee to see if the Universalist meeting-house "on the hill " could be procured for a town hall. This was found by the committee to be impracticable at that time, and the town voted to enlarge and thoroughly repair the old hall. But in November of that year a committee was again chosen to confer with regard to obtaining the old church for town use and in December, 1870, the town " voted to accept the Report of Committee," and " voted to accept the meeting-house as a gift from a majority of the pew owners." They immediately went to work to make the needed alteratious and re- pairs and to furnish in a neat and comfortable man- ner for the transaction of town business. When the old Puritan Church of one hundred years ago was divided in 1829, the Universalist Society, as it was thereafter called, retained possession of the old church. This society after a time discontinued their meetings, the house was closed, and in 1874, as be- fore stated, was presented to the town for a town- house. The old hall was sold at auction in 1874 to H. E. Felch, and was subsequently torn down.

In the early part of Boxborough's history, there seem to have been a great many extra meetings for town, or district purposes rather,-the words town and district being used interchangeably all through the records-questions with regard to the church and church property, schools, roads, disposition of poor, boundaries, town buildings, town prosecutions and the like. They discussed the questions and voted pro and con, and considered and reconsidered these local items as only men interested in the true welfare of the town would have done. But they seem at times to have ariseu to that pitch of earnestness and enthusiasm where tlicir "No," was no; and their "Yes," yes, irrevocably.

773

BOXBOROUGH.

A perusal of old writings brings some minor items to light, like the following, which may interest the rising generation if no other :- In 1789, "Wm. Mckay, convicted of swearing one (or more) profain oaths," paid a fine of six shillings, and such fines were not infrequent. They were careful to guard the morals of the young. An incident is told of an old resident which illustrates this. He had beeu try- ing to impress upon his son the importance of tem- perance in speech, and at the close of the lesson,-"I swear if you swear, I'll whip you," said the old man emphatically. Unique auctioneer's licenses are re- corded :- " We the Subscribers, Selectmen of the Town of Boxborough, at a meeting holdeu for the purpose, have licensed and do hereby Licence Major Eph™ Taylor of sª Boxborough, to sell at public Ven- due or Outcry any Goods or Chattles whatsoever, pursuant to a law of the Commonwealth, passed June the 16, 1795." Boys were often bound out to service by vote of the town, for example :- In 1807 they " voted to bind David Green to Christopher Page to learn the carpenter's trade upon the same terms re- specting clothing and schooling as though he staid with his old master."

In 1837 the town " voted to allow a bounty of twenty cents each on Crows young and old taken in the limits of Boxborough between April and Novem- ber," and granted one hundred dollars for the pur- pose. It was voted in 1838 " to have the Bell rung at nine o'clock in the evenings each day in the year (Sundays excepted) five minutes at a time." Doubtless in our forefathers' time this was a reminder to have " all the children in." Nowadays such a note pealing out over these hills and valleys would perhaps be more likely to find the people of all ages just gather- ing together.

The old town folk evinced a good deal of interest in the highways, and roads were laid out here and there and accepted from time to time; but the vague descriptions, vivid as they may have seemed then, leave us in obscurity as to their exact trend. The next year after the incorporation of the district, in 1784, several highways were laid out; in 1785 the town voted fifty pounds to repair highways, and the following year an appropriation was also made. And so on, down through her history, such items as the laying out of roads, acceptance or rejection of them as the case might demand, appropriations, setting up guide posts or building walls, are frequent. In the early days each poll worked out his highway tax ; in 1791 it was voted "that Every Ratiable Pole shall work on the County Road one Day this year." Record is made showing that some of the roads were mere bridle-patbs at the first; in 1790 the town " voted to accept the Bridle road," and in 1819 " Gave an order to Prince J. Chester, it being in full for a road or Bridle way through his land." Some were private or haif-private ways, as we find such entries as these ; 1814. " Voted to shut up the road through Dª Jacob

Fairbanks' land for one year if D" Jacob Fairbanks will cause a road to be opened that will commode the town as well." In 1815 "Committee report they are dissatisfied with a road fenced out as it cuts them off from water, but are willing that Mr. Sargent should have a road with two gates, which they will agree to support one." In 1814 a vote was passed "to keep the Turnpike road in repair as far as it lies in Box- borough for one year, provided the Corporation will admit the inhabitants of said Boxborough passing the gates toll free." This same "Boston Road," or "the old turnpike," as it is now called, was laid out through the southerly part of the town from Harvard to Acton, and is the main thoroughfare. We find what answers to the same road on Silas Holman's map of 1794. It was accepted in 1806 as the "Union Turnpike," by the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, at its September term. Iu 1830 a petition was sent in to the county commissioners, and April 7th of that year the Union Turupike, so far as it lies in the connty of Middlesex, was declared a public highway, the town granting $300 for repairs. The road over the hill, east of Guggins Brook, was discontinued in 1868.

The Fitchburg Railroad, which was opened in 1845, skirts along the level northeastern border of the town for quite a distance. Whether or no this new invention was hailed by the farmers with delight, or whether they considered it an intru- sion on their sacred solitudes, and a trespass on their farming rights, history tells us not. At any rate, no mention is made of a desire. for a station until a special town-meeting in June, 1849, when they " voted to choose a committee to petition the President, and Directors of the Fitchburg Railroad for a depot or stopping-place in the town of Boxborough, near the house of Mr. John Hoar." The petition was not granted. During the years of which we have been speaking, West Acton had been growing up and had become a thriving village. November 30, 1868, rec- ord is made of the adoption of the following resoln- tion : " Resolved that the town of Boxborough unite with that part of Acton called West Acton in the formation of a new town." The votes upon the resolution stood 49 to 11, in favor of the new town, and a committee was chosen and instructed to nse every effort in the annexation of Boxborough and West Acton, but the scheme planned to benefit both town and village for some reason failed. In 1873 another petition was sent to the Fitchburg Railroad Co. for a station, but this also failed. The station for Boxborough is one with that of West Acton, " West Acton and Boxborough" being the name given to it. West Acton is also the post-office, and the nearest business point for Boxborough, although for a small part of the town West Littleton is more convenient.

The record of Presidential votes shows that, for many years, the town was pretty evenly divided as to

774

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

its political sympathies, with a slight leaning to the Democratic side. In more recent years the lines di- viding politics and religion have grown less marked, until they have somewhat nearly coincided. The rec- ords speak of Boxborough as both town and district throughout the early years, and we have done the same in order better to represent them ; but strictly speaking, Boxborough was a district until May 1, 1836, when it became a town, not by any special act of the Legislature, but under a clause of the Revised Statutes of that year. But in the November following it still voted with Stow for representative to the Gen- eral Court, so that, if this date be the correct one, it did not at once enter into its full privilege as a town. In the more recent years of the representative union, when sending two representatives, it was customary to choose one from Stow and one from Boxborough. Record of the votes was always made at Stow only.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 183

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