History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 184

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 184

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Boxborough's military history must necessarily be somewhat brief, as, not having been incorporated until 1783, she has no Colonial or Revolutionary record of her own. But, like some other towns not having a record of their own because not incorporated at the time, and therefore swelling the record of some neigh- boring town or towns, so Boxborough has a real though not a separate record of the Revolution with Acton and the neighboring towns. In this connec- tion we wonld pay a passing tribute to the memory of Luther Blanchard, who, together with his brother Calvin, joined the Acton compauy, and was the first man to shed his blood at the fight at Concord Bridge. The old homestead and the family estates were within the limits of what is now Boxborough, and the de- scendants still own and occupy them. I quote from the centennial speech of a grandson of Calvin Blanch- ard,-the late Joseph K. Blanchard, of this town :

" The neighboring town of Acton had formed a company of Minute-men, to be ready at a minute's notice to meet the British soldiers; Calvin and Lu- ther Blanchard, of Boxborough, were members of this company. These brothers inherited the spirit of pat- riotism from their father, who was killed at the Heights of Quebec. This company of men had pledged themselves to stand by each other in resist- ing the British foe. On the morning of the Nine- teenth of April, seventeen hundred and seventy-five, word came to Acton that the British soldiers were en route for Concord. This company of minute-men were quickly assembled on the Acton Common, with Calvin Blanchard for orderly sergeant, and Luther Blanchard as fifer. As there was a little delay here, and the soldiers were anxious to meet the enemy, Luther Blanchard struck up 'The White Cockade,' and then Capt. Davis started off, saying to his men that if any of them were afraid to follow him they might go home. When they reached the old north bridge, at Concord, the British were already on the point of coming over to this side to destroy stores of the Colonists on this side the river.

"The officer in command asked for volunteers to meet the foe. Capt. Davis, knowing his men, said, ' I have not a man who is afraid to go.' As they ad- vance to meet the British, they receive their fire, and Luther Blanchard is the first man wonnded. The Captain then asked if they fired balls. 'Yes,' was the reply, 'for Luther Blanchard is wounded.'" He went into the house of Mrs. Barrett, close by, to have the wound dressed. "A little more and you'd have been killed," said Mrs. Barrett mournfully. "Yes, and a little more and it would not have touched me," replied Blanchard brightly, and hastened to join his comrades. The wound appeared slight, but he died three days later in consequence of it. His body was brought to Littleton and laid in the old cemetery there.

In 1787 the town voted to " Provide Stock of Pow- der and Leds, also flint," which were kept in a maga- zine, provided for the purpose, under the stairs in the meeting-house ; and record is also made of muster- days and the ordinary military organizations, but nothing more of importance until Aug. 18, 1794, when they called a special town-meeting, " to see what the town will do about raising the eight men, in compli- ance with the request of Congress, and give any in- structions to Capt. Whitcomb about the same." They voted " to give some incoragement to the men that shall list as soldiers, and voted that each man that lists is a soldier agreeable to Resolves of Congress Shall have the publick pay as wages made up by the Town ; to each man the sum of Two pounds, Eight shillings pr. month for the time they serve in the army; and that they shall have six shillings in part of their pay paid them when they do List and ingage if they do not march out of Town, and the sum of eighteen shillings more when they march in order to join the army." Three years later, in October, 1797, at an- other special meeting they " Voted to give the Soldiers one Dollar each to engage, to give the men ten dol- lars each at marching, and to make their wages equal to laboring men the time they are in the service, in- cluding the ten dollars above mentioned and Govern- ment pay." In 1800 they voted "that Each soldier who goes to the review at Concord and does his duty shall have one dollar for the two days' service and $ 1b. of powder for each soldier." The town was again called on for men in 1812 and 1814, and bounties were offered, viz. : In 1812, " Voted to make up the Soldiers $10 per month when they are called into actual service, and two dollars a day when called out of Town, and to re- ceive it before they march into actual Service or when desmissed." In 1814, " Voted to make up the soldiers $18 per month with the national pay and five dollars bounty if they volunteer their services." The town abated the taxes of her soldiers while in the service. In 1832 it is recorded that the town " voted to author- ize the Treasurer to pay the amount of their Poll Taxes to each of the training Soldiers who kept them- selves uniformed and equipped and performed all Mil-

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itary duty required of them." With the exception of muster-days and militia-rolls, nothing further is re- corded until the late War of the Rebellion.

There were no town-meetings held until July 23, 1862, when they " voted to pay bounty to five persons that will volunteer to go to war, voted $100 to each of the five, and immediately voted $5 each to those who will enlist within three days and be accepted." Aug. 23d, "Voted town pay bounty of $100 to those who will volunteer to fill town's quota of nine months' men, to six or seven, whichever it may be." In Octo- ber of the same year the town voted $150 to each drafted man, and also to each volunteer, "enough to fill our call," to be paid after they were mustered into service. A month later the same bounty was extend- ed to the substitutes of drafted men.

The highest bounty offered was Sept. 19, 1864, when the town " Voted to pay $125 in Gold to each recruit to fill the town's quota." The advance of gold was from 85 to 165 during that month, so that, even at the average, the bounty was a large one. The young men of Boxborough responded willingly to their country's call, and "five persons came forward and enlisted " at one time. Of the fifty-one men-seven more than required-furnished by the town, none were commissioned officers. We quote the following from Schouler's " Massachusetts in the Civil War :" "The whole amount of the money appropriated and expend- ed by the town for war purposes, exclusive of State aid, was $7046.87. The amount of money raised and expended by the town during the war for State aid to soldiers' families, and which was repaid by the Com- monwealth, was $1347.53. About $200 was raised by the ladies of the town for the Christian Commission."

We give below names of the soldiers who went from Boxborough to take part in the War of the Re- bellion, so far as we are able to give them :

Mesers. Samnel Borrongha, E. L. Battles, James Bryant, E. D. Battles, Monroe Clement, George Draper, Wm. Edwards, Luther H. Ewings, Lucius Holden, Chas. Jenkings, A. A. Richardson, S. E. Smiley, Paul Hayward, George Sargent, Waldo Littlefield, John Fletcher, Peter W. H. Perry, F. H. Stevens, Tim. L. Wood, Abraham Rodgers, A. W. Wether- bee, James H. Whitcomb, John Griffin, Joseph Moren, Wm. F. Stevens, A. G. Whitcomb, Alonzo M. Woodward.

Of these, George Sargent was wounded ; Alonzo M. Woodward died Oct. 6, 1862, at Suffolk, Va., of fever; John Fletcher was killed at the battle of Winchester, Va., Sept. 19, 1864; and James H. Whitcomb died at Cotton Wood Springs, Neb., of typhoid fever, Aug. 31,1865.

We come now to the history of our public schools. Boxborough has never enjoyed the advantages of either an academy or high school within her own boundaries, although her sons and daughters have reaped the benefits of the higher institutions of learning of other towns or cities near or far. The town fathers evidently had the cause of education at heart, for in the town warrant, Sept. 22, 1783-the same year of her incorporation-we find this article : "To see what the town will do about Providing School

this Present Year and act anything they Shall Think Proper when met ;" and when legally met they "voted to have four months' schooling this year and voted that the Selectmen provide and proportion the same." - The "proportion " seems to refer not to different sections of the town, but to the boys and girls who appear to have been educated separately for some time, as in 1787 money was appropriated for "four months of man's school and four months of Woman's School."

At the 30th of August meeting, 1784, it was de- cided not only to have "four months of Woman's School," but also "to have a school-master six months," the town thus charging themselves with de- ciding as to whether a gentleman or lady should be the instructor of their youth. But in 1794 they trans- ferred the grave responsibility to the shoulders of a committee, who should " provide & hire a school- master or masters and mistress or mistresses as shall be most convenient for the town's good." Also, this year, the boys and girls shared equally in the ten months' schooling, as appears from the vote for " five months of man's school and five months of women's school." From 1783 to 1794 the selectmen seem to have had charge of the schools. In that year a special committee was appointed, but it was not until a number of years later, in 1820, that the School Committee's office became an established fact. In the mean time the schools were often in charge of the selectmen, as at the first.

Work in school, in the days of "auld lang syne," in Boxborough, was evidently not as popular as in many schools to-day, for, in 1794, action was taken to the effect that " no work should be done in or at the woman's school, as there usually hath bin ; but the time to be spent in instructing the children to Read and wright." No special record is made of teachers' wages in those early days. In 1783 there was " voted and granted the Sum of 24 lbs. to pay town debts and schooling ;" and in 1787 the sum of fifteen pounds was granted for "schooling " alone. A few entries such as these would seem to indicate such wages as would be no great temptation to the teacher of the present day.

No doubt the pay of the Boxborough teachers com- pared favorably with that of surrrounding towns, and in some of these, one hundred years ago, the school- master received $2 per week, where now he requires $10 or $20 for the same service. We do not know if there was even a school-house in the new district at the time of its incorporation, in 1783, although rumor says there was such a building many years ago sit- uated upon "Liberty Square," the common in front of Mr. Henry T. Taylor's present residence. This same Liberty Square is said to have been noted as a gathering-place for amusement on the Fourth of July and election days. Some seventy years ago the people celebrated the national independence by raising a liberty pole 100 feet high and providing a dinner free

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for all. The voice of the cannon spoke of freedom and independence to all around, and various amuse- ments rendered the day pleasurable. But to return, it is suggested that the children may have all come together to one school until 1786, when it was voted " to choose a committee to divide the town into quar- ters, that each may build them a school-house if they please." But the committee for some reason failed in the performance of this duty, for in the latter part of 1790 a new committee was invested with power for the work and instructed to "accomplish the busi- ness," which was done and the report made in March, 1791. The division of the town into quarters, as then made, with slight variations, has always remained. The number of districts has always remained the same, although efforts were made in 1816, and again in 1842, to reduce it to three. Convenience of families and equalization of district taxes have caused some slight changes in the boundaries. Unsuccessful efforts have also been made, from time to time, as they have grown smaller, to reduce the number of schools to one or two.

No great difference is observable in the location of school-buildings. The greatest change seems to be in the Northeast or No. 3 District, whose building is now more centrally situated at the intersection of several roads. The Southeast or No. 4 house, has also under- gone a slight change in location. A vote was passed in 1790 to build a school-house or houses, and again in 1791 to build three houses, and the sum of forty-five pounds was granted for the purpose. It seems proba- ble that the Southwest District, No. 1, had already reared their educational structure, as only three houses are spoken of at this juncture, for which the sum of forty-five pounds was to be equally divided, and as special provision was made that the First Dis- trict should receive their part of the money. Refer- ence is continually made to items of business in con- nection with the building of these school-honses until toward the close of the century, and it is probable that they were not all fully completed before that time.

In 1807, an appropriation was made by the town to build a school-house in the Northwest Quarter, No. 2, in room of one burnt, and the next year the dis- trict itself voted a sum of money for the same pur- pose. There is no further record until 1843, when a house was built in No. 3 District. Separate schools for boys and girls are last mentioned in 1797. Beyond a few items, such as the condition of the schools, money appropriated each year, committees chosen, questions concerning re-districting the town, or set- tlement of bounds requiring the occasional transfer of an estate, there is nothing more of interest until 1840. In 1813, '14, '16, '25, '29, '42, '66 and '77 various ap- propriations are made for singing-schools.

A hundred years ago $60 was the amount paid for building a school-house ; now, twenty-five times that sum would, perhaps, be deemed no more than suf- ficient. The methods of teaching have greatly

changed, also, since those early days. The essential elements have always been the " three R's-Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic,"-but the methods of instruc- tion in thesc branches have widely changed. We quote from the Centennial speech of Mr. George F. Conant, a former superintendent of our public schools, upon this subject : "Reading then meant a drawling drill in the alphabet and its combinations, a-b, ab ; e-b, eb ; o-b, ob, etc .; our children are now inducted at once into the reading of words, and led on, by easy gradations, through selections from the best masters of English prose and verse. Writing then involved a long preliminary struggle with pot-hooks and tram- mels; now the child is taught to read and write script from the outset. Arithmetic was then a sealed science beyond the Rule of Three-even the master was not required to have explored farther ; now a child of ten or twelve years is expected to have reached that ultimatum. Mental arithmetic was a thing unknown. Grammar was then a tedious task, encumbered with the six Latin cases, and numberless unintelligible rules. Our boys and girls, with their ' Language Lessons,' half work, half play, little know what their forefathers endured. Perhaps none of our text-books have changed more than the geographies. This is strikingly apparent in a comparison of maps of the different dates. Central Asia was terra incognita. Africa consisted of a narrow strip along the shores, surrounding the great unknown ; as for Australia and the isles of the sea, they were not; our own country west of the Ohio was an impenetrable forest and howling wilderness." Modes of discipline have also changed, and the famous " birchen-rod " is a thing of the past.

The first report of schools is, recorded in 1840. Number of scholars, 92 in summer, 143 in winter. Length of schools : in summer, 11 months ; in winter, 102. "Number of teachers : in summer, 4 females ; in winter, 4 males." Average wages per month, includ- ing board : females; $9.50 ; males, $24. The school year was divided into two terms at this time, but later, as the terms were lengthened, it became the cus- tom to have three, which is the present arrangement. The schools have now grown considerably smaller. The district system, which had prevailed so long, was abolished Feb. 28, 1867, by vote of the town. The superintending School Committee first received pay for their services in 1842. Their recorded reports at this time are full of interest. We give a sentence from the report of 1842, earnest and to the point: "Young men can parse or analyze sentences with a great deal of skill when they leave school, but it is very rare that you can find ouc that has confi- dence enough in his own abilities to compose a piece of reasoning and recite it before an audience." One report, in 1846, so brief we beg leave to give it entire, is as follows : " Your commit- tee would report that in their opinion the schools, with one or two exceptious, have been wisely and ju-

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diciously managed the past year." The annual re- port was first printed in 1853. In 1843 two school libraries were established, and the following year a sum of money was appropriated to carry on the good work. In 1842 the work of erecting school-buildings was again entered upon by the Northeast District, which event called forth the following from the School Committee : "Your committee hail with joy the erection of a new school-house in town, after a lapse of about half a century, a period when a school- house might have some good claims to exemption from further service." Some time later the other dis- tricts followed suit, and from that time forward the houses have been rebuilt -- Nos. 1 and 2 some time from 1852 to 1857, No. 4 in 1868, and No. 3 in 1870 -or repaired as was thought necessary, until at the present time there is a comfortable school-building in each of the four quarters of the town. Only four of Boxborough's young men have received a college edu- cation. Two sons of Rev. Joseph Willard, the first pastor, graduated at Harvard in 1793 and 1809, Mr. J. Quincy Hayward at Amherst in 1882, and Mr. Charles H. Conant, Dartmouth, 1871, bar in 1873. Mr. Conant has been a lawyer in Lowell for quite a number of years.

As stated in our opening paragraph, the old Har- vard meeting-house was purchased in 1775. The old volume, which contains all the account that is left to us of these early days, bears on the fly-leaf this inscrip- tion : " Record Book. The Gift of Bennet Wood to the Society Building a Meeting.House in North- west- erly part of Stow. Littleton, August 31, 1776." Re- ligion was the primary cause of the union of the peo- ple on the outskirts of these three towns. They banded themselves together for convenience in pub- lic worship, and thus the " New Society " was formed which afterwards became, first, the district, and then the town. The religious phase of her history is the essential element of all her history ; for religion was the fundamental principle-the foundation-on which the town was built. For almost half a century the town and the parish were identical, and her history in this connection is not only valuable to us who now study it, but it is full of interest also. Our Puritan ancestors recognized then, as we do now, in what the true public good consisted, and they sought to place on their hill, as their initial act, that in which all their thoughts and deeds should centre-the church of the living God. The town-meeting and the parish- meeting were one for a long time, and for a still longer period, more than half a century, even, after the sep- aration of town and parish business, the town-meet- ings were held in the meeting-house. Questions con- cerning the church and church affairs were made the annual business of the town.

In the warrant for the second meeting, held in April, 1783, was this article : "To see if the Town will grant money to hire Preaching, or act anything Relating the same they shall think Proper or choose a com-

mittee to do so; " and they voted to hire preaching, agreed upon the sum of forty pounds for that pur- pose, and chose a committee of three to hire it, viz., Bennet Wood, Oliver Taylor and Moses Whitcomb. September 22, 1783, we read this unique article in towu warrant: "To see if the Town will Take any measures for to Regulate Singing on the Lord's Day or apoint Quiristers for the same." And they "voted to choose four Quiristers as followeth :" And even seven years before, in 1776, the good people were not unmindful of this phase of public worship, for they " voted and chose Abel Fletcher, Abel Whitcomb and Jonathan Patch to tune the Psalms." In 1796 the town " voted that Dr. Belknap's Books should be used in the Congregation of Boxborough in the Room of Dr. Watt's Books." It seems the town voted also where a person should sit in church, for, the same year, it "voted and seated Ens. Samuel Wetherbee in the fore-seat below, and Samuel Dra- per in the fore-seat of the side gallery;" in 1792 "Voted that the Dr. sit in the fore-seat of the front ; " apparently as a mark of respect to those gentlemen. Deacon's seats were also provided. In 1798 the same authority "Voted that the Methodist preacher may preach in the meeting-house iu said Boxborough on the week-days, during the town's pleasure, but not to molest or interrupt the Rev. Mr. Joseph Willard when he shall apoint any lecture or time to preach in said meeting-house at his pleasure." The town- meeting voted the taxes for the payment of the min- ister, for, a month later, that body " voted not to have the persons that have dogs taxed for their dog's polls, and voted to tax all persons to the minister's Rate agreeable to the Constitution." Sometimes a person wished to attend church out of town, and then he was released from his minister's rate in town upon bring- ing certificate from the clerk of the neighboring town, stating that he worshiped with some other church, and paid his dues there. The town corporate evi- denced in all her proceedings her desire to do every- thing according to righteousness and justice, and she was no less careful to bring her citizens up to the same standard.

It appears that the church was in an unfinished state at the time of the incorporation of the district, for, October 27, 1783, it was voted "to sell the Pue ground in the meeting-house below, and take the money to finish the house." It took several town - meetings to settle the business, but it was finally de- cided that " the persons that purchase the Pue ground build the pews on their own cost, and take them for their Seates for themselves and families in the Meet- ing-house until they Sell or Dispose of the same." The ground-plan was for twenty-two pews, and when they were sold it was " voted that the first twenty-two highest payers have the first offer of the Pews as is Dignified and Prized according to their pay, and voted that the highest pew be offered unto the High- est Payer, giving him or them the choice of that or

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any other Pew they or he Likes Better at the Same Price, and if the first twenty-two highest Refuse to take the Pews, then they are to be offered to the next twenty-two higliest payers, and so on in proportion till all have had the offer if Need be." Again, in 1786 and 1795, votes were passed "to seat meeting- house according to age and pay." These items would seem to show that deference to property is not con- fined to our own time, but was also a characteristic of bygone days.

The church was organized the 29th of April, 1784, and it was voted to have the house finished the fol- lowing November. The 18th of that month the town " voted to concur with the church of Boxborough in giving Mr. Joseph Willard a call to settle with them as a Gospel Minister in sd town." They also discussed the subject of salary as to "what they should give the Rev. Mr. Willard for encouragement; " voted " to think about it," and, finally, after various meetings to settle the business, December 27th, they voted "not to give Rev. Mr. Willard half-pay so long as he in- dureth his natural life, but to pay the Rev. Mr. Jo- seph Willard £75 of money annually, in silver money, at six shillings, eight pence per ounce, and find twenty cords of wood for his fire annually, so long as the Rev. Mr. Willard shall supply the Pulpit in said town of Boxborough and no longer." The furnishing of the wood was let out to the lowest bidder annually. An- other quaintly-worded article in warrant this year read as follows : " To see if the Town will Sell the two hind Seats Below on the men's and women's Side and Let them be cut up for Pews, and get the outside of the meeting-house Painted with the money."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 184

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