History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 205

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 205

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"And said Comite are of the opinion that ther may [be] a township in that place, it lying So remote from most of the neighboreng Towns, provided this Conrt Shall Se reson to continew tbe bounds as we do judg thay have been maid at the first laieng out, And that ther be sum addi- tion from Concord & Chelmsford which we are redy to think will be complyd with by Sd Towns, And Sd Comite do find a bought 15 famelys Settled in Sd plantation of Nashiobe, (5) in Groton claimed, aud ten in the remainder, and 3 famelys which are already settled on the powerses farm, were convenient to joyn w sd plantation and are a bought Eaight mille to any meting-house. (Also thier are a bought Eaight famelys in Chelmsford which are allredy setled neer Nasliobe line & six or Seven miles from their own meeting-house.

"JONATHAN TYNG, "THOMAS HOW, "JOHN STEARNS.

" In the House of Representatives Noym 2, 1711, Read.

" Octo. 23, 1713. In Council Read and accepted; And the Indian native Proprietors of the Sd Plantacon, Being removed by death Except two or Three families only remaining, Its Declared and Derected Tbat the said Lands of Nashoba be preserved for a Township.

" And Whereas it appears That Groton, Concord and Stow hy Several of their Inhabitants have Encroached and] Setled npon the Said Lands ; This Court sees not reason to remove them to their Damage, but will allow them to he and remain with other Inhabitants that may be ad- mitted into the Town to be there setled ; And that they have full Lib- erty when their Names and Number are determined to purchase of the few Indiaus there remaining, for the Establishment of a Township ac- cordingly.

" Saving convenient Allotments and portions of Land to the remain- ing Indian Inhabitants for their Setling and Planting.

" Isa. ADDINGTON, Secry.

" In the House of Representatives, Octor. 23th, 1713. Read."

It will be noticed that this report was not acted on by the Council for nearly two years after it was made and acted on in the House.

By this action the General Court decided that Nashobah should be a town for English people, and for the first time committed itself on the question.

The act of incorporation followed about a year later, that is, on November 2, 1714, under which datc the following entry is found in the General Court Records :

" The following Order Passd by the Representvos, Read & Concur'd, viz. : Upon Consideration of the many Petitions & Claims relating to the Land called Nashoba Land ; Ordered that the said Nashoba Laud be mado a Township, with the Addition of such adjoining Lands of the

Neighbouring Towns, whose Owners shall petition for that end, & that this Court should think fit to grant. That the said Nashoba Lands having been long since purchased of the Indians by Mr. Bulkley & Henchman, one-Half, the other Half by Whetcomb & Powers, That the Said purchase be confirmed to the children of the said Bulkley, Whetcomib & Powers, & Cpt. Robert Mcers as Assignee to Mr. Hench- man according to their respective Proportions ; Reserving to the Inhab. itants, who have settled within these Bounds, their Settlements with Divisions of Lands, in proportion to the Grantees, & such as Shall be hereafter admitted ; the said Occupants or Pr-sent Inhabitants paying in Proportion as others shall pay for their Allotments; Provided the said Plantation shall be settled with Thirty-five Families & an orthodox Minister in three years time. And that Five hundred Acres of Land be reserved and laid out for the Benefit of any of the Descendants of the Indian Proprietors of the Said Plantation, that may be surviving ; A Proportion thereof to be for Sarah Doublet alias Sarah Indian. The Rev. Mr. John Leverett & Spencer Phips, Esqr, to be Trustees for the Said Indians to take Care of the Said Lands for their Use.

" And it is further Ordered that Cpt. Hopestill Brown, Mr. Timothy Wily & Mr. Joseph Burnap, of Reading, be a Committee to lay out the said Five hundred Acres of Land reserved for the Indians & to run the Line between Groton & Nashoba, at the Charge of both Parties, & make Report to this Court ; And that however the Line may divide the Land with regard to the Township, yet the Proprietors on either side may be continued in the Possession of their Improvements, paying as aforesaid ; And that no Persons legal Right or Property in tbe Said Lands shall [ be] bereby taken away or infringed.

" Consented to J. DUDLEY."

From this act of November 2, 1714, we date the present town, afterwards, as we shall see, named Lit- tleton.

The report of the committee finally establishing the bounds and laying out the Indian reservation was as follows :

"The following Report of the Committee for Running the Line be- tween Groton & Nasboba Accepted by Representves Read and Con- cur'd ; viz.

" We the subscribers appointed a Committee by the General Conrt to run the Line between Groton & Nashoba & to lay out Five hundred Acres of Land in said Nashoba to the [sic] Descendants of the Indians ; Pursuant to said Order of Court, bearing date Octobr 20th [the open- ing of the session] 1714. We the Subscribers return as follows: That on tlie 30th of November last, we met on the premises, & heard the Infornid- tion of the Inhabitants of Groton, Nashoba & others of the Neigh bonr- ing Towns, referring to the Line that has been between Groton & Nash- oba & seen several Records, out of Groton Book, & considered other Writings, that belong to Groton and Nasboba, & We have considered all and We have ruu the Line (Which we account is the old Line between Groton & Nashoba ;) We begau next Chelmsford Line, at a Heap of Stones, where, we were informed, that there had been a great Pine Tree, the Northeast Corner of Nashoha, and run Westerly by many old mark- ed Trees to a Pine Tree standing on the Southerly End of Brown Hill mark'd N and tbose marked Trees had been many times marked or re- newed, tho they do not stand in a direct or strait Line to said Pine Tree on said Browu Hill; And then from said Brown Hill we turned a little to the East of the South, & run to a White Oak being an old Mark, and so from said Oak to a Pitch Pine by a Meadow, being an other old Mark ; & the same Line extended to white oak near the North East Cor- ner of Story : And this is all, as we were informed, that Grotou & Naslio- ba joins together ; Notwithstanding the Committees Opinion is, that Groton Men be continued in their honest Rights, tbo thoy fall within the Bounds of Nashoba ; And we have laid out to the Descendants of the Indians Five hundred Acres at the South East Corner of the Planta- tion of Nashoha ; East side, Three hundred Poles long, West side threo hundred Poles, South & North ends, Two hundred and eighty Poles ' broad; A large white Oak marked at the North west Corner, and many Live Trees we marked at the West Side & North End, & it takes in Part of two Ponds.

"Dated Decemr 14, 1714.

" HOPESTILL BROWN

"TIMOTHY WILY

" JOSEPH BURNAP

" Consented to J. DUDLEY."

865

LITTLETON.

The two ponds referred to in the part laid out for the Indians were Fort Pond and Nagog Poud.

The town having been duly incorporated, we find, as in all the old towns, two record books started, the Proprietors' Record-Book and the Town Records.

The proprietors continued their meetings and records until the last of the common lands were di- vided in the part of the town known as "New State Woods," or more properly New Estate, a name I sup- pose applied about the time of the division of it into individual holdings. The last entry in the Proprie- tors' Record-Book was in 1755. The first entry begins by reciting the act of the Legislature of November 2, 1714, then follows

" No (2)

" To all Christian People before wbome tbese presents shall Come Greeting Know yee yt we whose names are underwritten having obtain- ed ye General Conrts grant of a certain tract or parcel of Land comonly cald Nasboba which was long since purchased of ye Indian Proprietors of sd Land, by our selves & predisessors as may appear by our several Deeds. Do by these presents mutualy agree to throw all in Comon for ye good of ye Town, & so to draw onr several proportions according to onr several intrests & former agreements-& yt we do further agree to admit as associates according to former agreements, Paul Dudley Esqr, Addington Davenport Esq? & Mr John White all of Boston-& also to reserve two or three Lots wbere it is most convenient for ye ministry Scoole or such other Public uses as may be thought Propper to be at ye disposition of ye major part of ye Propriety also to bare our proportion of all ye Charge yt hath or may arise on ye premises.

"To ye confirmation of which we find & obliege our selves our heirs executors and Administrators firmly by these presents in witness where- of we have hereinto set our hands and seales this 15th of Decenir 1714. Note that ye lands cald Powerses farm is not by this instrument in- clnded

"Addington Davenport,* Jnº White,* Joseph Bulkely,* Robert Rob- bine, * Marah Wheeler,* Increas Powers,* Jona Prescott,* John Han- cock, * Daniel Powers,* Robert Mears,* Isaac Powers,* Tbos Powers, Walter Powers," Josiah Whitcomb,$ Willm Powers," John Bulkeley,* Panl Dudley,* Eliezer Lawrence .*

" Signed & scald in presence of us

" DANI. LAWRENCE " SAMI. LONG."

The admission as associates of Paul Dudley, Ad- dington Davenport and John White, "according to former agreements " shows that influence was requir- ed to get the measure through the Legislature.

A curious error seems to have been made in the act of incorporation which made the following action necessary, under date of

" SATURDAY, Decr. 3, 1715.

" Upon Reading the Petition of Josiah Whitcomb of Lancaster, im- portiug

"That whereas the Great and General Court or assembly at the Ses- Eion in Oct 1714, in consideration that the Land called Nashoba Land then ordered to be made a Township was purchased of the Indians, one Half by M' Bolkley & M Henchman, & the other half by Wbitcomb (tbe Petitioner, who was supposed to be dead as he is informed) and that one Powers did Order that the said Purchase be confirmed to tbe Children of the said Bulkley Whitcomb & Powers & to Capt. Robert Mears asignee of Mr Henchman according to their respective Propor- tions, as by the copy of the Order of Confirmation of the General Court will more fully appear Humbly Praying tbat the General Court will please to revoke the Confirmation or Grant made to his Children & confirm to him his fourth part of the said Land, that he may enjoy what he honestly purchas'd & that he may have Liberty to make Disposition thereof according to his own Will & Pleasure.

"In Conncil, Read & Consented that the Prayer of the within Peti- tion be granted, And Ordered that the name of the Township he hence- 55-ji

forth called Littleton. In the House of Representatives Read & Con - curd.

"Consented to Wm TAILER."

The date December 3, 1715, has been erroneously used for the date of the incorporation of the town, but the reader can see for himself that the former act of November 2, 1714, is the correct date, and that the new town bore the name Nashoba for one year.

It is said that the name Littleton was given as a compliment to Hon. George Lyttleton, M.P., one of the commissioners of the treasury, and that in ac- knowledgment he sent from England a church-bell as a present to the town ; but on account of the error in spelling by substituting "i" for "y," the present was withheld by the person having it in charge, who gave the excuse that no such town as Lyttleton could be found, and sold the bell.

The first recorded town-meeting was held March 13, 1715-16.

The record begins somewhat abruptly, and it is by no means certain that the record-book, which is quite loose in the covers from age, has not lost a few pages bcaring previous records. Isaac Powers was modera- tor, Samuel Dudley was chosen town clerk and first selectman, and the other selectmen were John Per- rum, John Cobleigh, Moses Whitney and William Powers. The other town officers were : Samuel Corry, constable; Samuel Barret, tythingman ; Tho- mas Power and John Wheeler, surveyors of highways; Ebenezer Robbins and Jacob Powers, hog constables ; John Barrett and Thos. Farr, fence-viewers, and Isaac Powers, sealer of weights and measures and treasurer.

Of these men, Isaac Powers lived first in the sec- tion of the town we call Nashoba, and afterwards in the Centre, where George Whitcomb now lives. Samuel Dudley lived beside the mill-pond, on land now owned by John A. Kimbali and used by him for a pasture. A magnificent elm having a peculiar long horizontal limb a short distance above the ground, stands by the Dudley cellar-hole. He probably own- ed land extending from there to Fort Pond.

Moses Whitney lived where Frank Ford now lives, in the south part of the town. John Perrum or Per- ham lived probably in the southeast part of the town. Wm. Powers lived in Pingreyville; Jacob Powers lived at the Old Common.

One of the first things for the new town to do was to procure and settle a minister, and a town-meeting was held April 17th in regard to the matter, at which time it appears that Rev. Benjamin Shattuck was a candidate. A committee consisting of Joha Cob- leigh, John Perham and Eleazer Lawrence were chosen to confer with the ministers of the neighbor- ing townes, the Reverend Messrs. Eveleth, Stoddard, Trowbridge and Whitney, and get their advice in regard to Mr. Shattuck.

Their report is not recorded, but on May 9th, at a meeting called for the purpose, Mr. Shattuck was chosen minister, and the sum of £70 was appropriat-

866

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ed towards his settlement to be "added to his lot." His salary was fixed at £55, to advance 20 shillings a year until it amount to £70 a year.

Rev. Benj. Shattuck accordingly took up his resi- dence as the first minister of the town and completely identified himself with it. Hc had several daughters who married in town, and the Hartwell, Tuttle and Taylor families all trace their ancestry back to him. Mr. Shattuck was born in Watertown, July 30, 1678, graduated at Harvard college in 1709, and for the fol- lowing six years was teacher of the grammar and English school in Watertown, at the same time study- ing for the ministry. He was ordained at Littleton, on Christmas day, 1717, and continued as the minister of the town until August 24, 1730, when it was agreed by mutual consent that a council be called for his dis- mission. He continued to live in town, however, until his death, in 1763.

His residence was the house now owned by Mrs. Eliza Hartwell.

The first meeting-house was located on the Com- mon, in front of John B. Robinson's present resi- dence, where it was located to accommodate people from the borders of Chelmsford and Concord, who helped bear the cost of the building, and attended church here, and who, it was hoped, would be set off to this town by the General Court, which was peti- tioned to that effect for several years in succession, the people in question and Littleton citizens joining in the petition. There were six families from Chelmsford, and Walter Powers, John Powers, Da- vid Russell and John Merriam, of Concord, living on Nashoba Farm, who were for several years freed from their minister's rates in those towns, and allowed to pay in Littleton, and I find that at several of our early town-meetings, at which the town acted in its parochial capacity, a vote was passed allowing Concord, Chelmsford and Groton men to vote in the meeting, and at one time two Concord and Chelmsford men were chosen assessors to assist in making the rates.

Finally, in 1725, the General Court granted the petition for annexation so far as related to Concord families, and a large tract of land extending from Nagog Pond nearly or quite to the Old Common, was added to the town, enlarging the bounds in that direction, probably to their present position.

Mention is made of the meeting-house as early as 1717, and it was probably in an unfinished condition at the time of Rev. Mr. Shattuck's ordination, but was not completed until 1723.

It had entrances on three sides, after the custom of those days, with probably square pews all around the walls at least. No mention is made of bell, stecple nor gallery, and I am of the opinion it had neither.

The building committee appear to have taken mat- ters rather leisurely, and the following vote was passed August 26, 1723 :

" To accept the meeting-house on condition that previous committee

finish seats and clapbord what is wanting as soon as possible, this fall & the cealing [sic] by next fall, or make allowance of - to have it done. Committee to be acquitted when work done."

It looks as if the committee did the work them- selves.

The meeting-house being finished, the great ques- tion was how to apportion the seats in a manner satis - factory to all.

It was decided in assigning the family pews, first, to have respect to age, and then the one having the highest income to have choice and so on. A com- mittee having the matter in charge made a report which is recorded in full, giving location of the seats assigned to various persons as follows : Eleazer Law- rence, the pew on the left of the west door; Walter Powers, second pew from the pulpit, that is, as I un- derstand it, at the side of the pulpit, and probably to the east; Joshua Fletcher, on the right of the east door ; Major Prescott, the pew next Mr. Shattuck's, that is, probably on the west side, the minister's being next to the pulpit; Samuel Dudley, the pew on the east of the pulpit; Joseph Baker, the northeast corner pew; Isaac Powers, the pew at the right of south door ; Moses Whitney, the pew at the left of south door ; Robert Robbins, the pew at the right of Isaac Powers', which was given up to Robert Rob- bins by Thomas Powers, who took Robbins' seat, the "fore seat below," that is, front seat in the main body; John Perham, the pew at the right of west door; Samuel Hunt, the northwest corner pew ; John Wheeler, the pew at the left of Moses Whitney's ; Deacon Caleb Taylor, the pew at the left of the east door.

For years the seating of the meeting-house, that is, of those not having family pews, seems to have been a troublesome duty, which had to be done annually, and it was no uncommon thing to have the first at- tempt of the committee rejected. The women sat on one side of the house and the men on the other. In 1760 the rear seats were assigned to negroes by vote of the town.

An incident occurred in 1720 which made quite a sensation in town at the time. It was no less than a witchcraft accusation which might have proved still more sensational had it not been for the death of the person accused.

Joseph Blanchard, who lived on or near Mr. Elbridge Marshall's place, had at that time three young daugh- ters-Elizabeth, aged about eleven, Joanna, about nine and Mary, about five or six years. These children, first the eldest, then the next, and finally the young- est, began to act in a very strange and unaccountable way. Elizabeth began by telling very strange stories of things happening at the time, or supposed to, and of strange dreanis; she would also swoon into a trance and appear dead; slic performed sleight-of- hand tricks and told fortunes ; she would be found in strange places, such as in the top of a tree, or in a pond of water, asserting she flew to the tree or was

867

LITTLETON.

forced into the water, and in danger of drowning, at which she would cry out in distsess. She also com - plained of pinches and prickings of the flesh, and showed wouuds, and reuts in her clothes, asserting she was bewitched, and accused Mrs. Dudley, wife of Samuel Dudley, town clerk, of bewitching her. When put to the test of reading Scripture she would read, but fall down apparently lifeless when she came to the words "God," "Christ," or "Holy Ghost." She would bite people, excepting Rev. Mr. Shattuck, whom she appeared to have no power to hurt.

About four months after Elizabeth began to act in this way, Joanna also began to do the same things, and once was found on the top of the barn, a place apparently impossible for her to reach by her own exertions, and whither she said she was carried up through the air. About two months later Mary be- gan the same actions.

Elizabeth would often cry out, "There she is ! there's Mrs. Dudley !" when Mrs. Dudley was no- where visible. Once she told her mother there was a little bird in a certain part of the room; her mother, having something in her hand, struck at the place, at which Elizabeth cried out, "Oh, mother, you have hit it on the side of the head." It was afterwards found that Mrs. Dudley was at the same time hurt on one side of her face. Another time Elizabeth said to her mother, "There's Mrs. Dudley; she is just there; coming to afflict me!" Her mother struck the place with something and Elizabeth cried out, " You have hit her on the bowels."

It was found that Mrs. Dudley, at the same time, felt a pain, took to her bed and died in a few weeks.

On the face of this story it appears very mysteri- ous and inexplicable by natural causes. Blanchard and his wife believed the children sincere and guile- less, and though some wiser ones including, it is thought, Mr. Shattuck, advised separating the chil- dren by taking one or more to their homes, the parents would not consent to it, and the majority believed them bewitched. A few days after the death of Mrs. Dudley the strange actions of the two older children ceased.

It proved however, that Mrs. Dudiey's death was perfectly accountable ; she was in a delicate condition, and on riding horseback behind her husband at a rapid rate felt something break within her.

Though the children for a long time persisted that their stories had been true, and Elizabeth did not weaken, even when, requesting baptism, she was questioned by Mr. Shattuck about the circumstances, and told that some of her neighbors suspected her of falsehood ; yet eight years after the girls confessed to Rev. Mr. Turell, minister of Medford, to which place they had moved, that their stories were all false and that their strange actions, begun in a playful spirit of mischief, had been continued because they were ashamed to own up.

When they heard of Mrs. Dudley's death, who, by the way, was a most estimable woman and against whom the children had no cause for ill-feeling, the two oldest children were thoroughly frightened, and for a long time lived in fear of a ghostly retribution.

Elizabeth told Mr. Turell that she got her idea of acting in the strange manner from reading about witchcraft, and the other children picked it up from her.

There appears to have been some friction between the town and Rev. Mr. Shattuck, the cause of which is not apparent on the records, but which led to his retirement from the ministry in 1730. For a year or two previous there was a growing opposition to him, manifested in the opposition to the customary vote of £10 to him annually, in addition to his salary, in lieu of paying the same into the Province treasury, and finally, at the April meeting in 1730, the town refused to appropriate his salary. Mr. Shattuck made a pro- position to the town through Joseph Underwood, and in accordance with that a committee consisting of Capt. Isaac Powers, Robert Robins, Samuel Corey, Dea. David Russell and Dea. John Wood were chosen at a meeting May 11, 1730, to treat with Mr. Shat- tuck concerning his dismissal, and the meeting ad- journed to the first Monday in June, when it was voted to refer the matter to the church, so that a church meeting might be called with Mr. Shattuck's son, for the purpose of calling a council to settle the affair.

The church, however, came to an agreement with the minister without the aid of a council, and upon the report of that fact to a town-meeting August 24th, it agreed to his dismissal by a council to be called, and his salary to the middle of the following May was voted.

The town began immediately, however, to hear candidates preach, and probably Mr. Shattuck did not officiate further.

With the prospect of a new minister the town be- gan to consider building a new meeting-house, and in December, 1730, it was voted that when the town should think proper to build, the location should be on the Ridge Hill, as it was then called, describing the present location of the First Congregational (Uni- tarian) Church.

In the following July the town voted to call Rev. Daniel Rogers, who is previously referred to as "Son of ye worshipfull Mr. Dan1. Rogers, Esq"., which has Lately preached at Byfield." The word "which " here refers, I think, to the son, as I cannot find that his father was a minister.

The town voted £200 for his settlement and a yearly salary of £100, but that does not seem to have been sufficient to secure him, and in October the offer of settlement was raised to £300 and of salary to £140 a year, to rise and fall with silver, the standard to be eighteen shillings per ounce. Mr. Rogers ac- cepted and was ordained March 15, 1731-32.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 205

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