History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 206

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 206

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868

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

There is a tradition that Mr. Rogers was deseended fron John Rogers, the martyr, but that is denied by so good an authority as Mr. John Ward Dean, of the New England Historie Genealogieal Society. Mr. Rogers was, however, a grandson of Rev. John Rogers, president of Harvard College, and great-grandson of Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, who came from England about 1636, and settled in Ipswich, and was born in Ips- wich October 17, 1706, and graduated at Harvard College in 1725. His first marriage was in 1734-35 to Mary, daughter of Rev. John Whiting, of Coneord. She died three days after the death of her ehild in February, 1738. In May, 1739, Mr. Rogers married for his second wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Dummer, widow of Samuel Dummer, of Wilmington, and daughter of Rev. Samuel Ruggles, of Billerica, -- they had nine children.

One of his sons, Jeremiah Dummer Rogers, a law- yer, was one of the addressors of Hutchinson in 1774, and removed to Boston. He was a Tory, and, after the battle of Bunker Hill, was appointed commissary to the Royal troops that continued to occupy Charles- town, and lived in a house on the present site of the Unitarian Church, corner of Main and Green Streets. At the time of the evaeuation of Boston he went with other Royalists to Halifax, where he died in 1784. His son, of the same name, became a elassical tcaeher in England, though a Harvard graduate, and had Lord Byron for one of his pupils. Daniel Rogers, another son of Rev. Daniel Rogers, continued to live in Lit- tleton, and ended his days there.

An ordination in those days must have been quite an affair. The town entertained liberally and paid bills for the same to the amount of £41, for Mr. Rogers' ordination.

The meeting-house question came up again in 1738, and the question was whether to move the old one or build new. June 12th the town voted not to move the old meeting-house, and, on December 25th, voted to build a new one, and chose a committee of seven to see what to do with the old one and deeide on di- mensions of the new onc. No money appears to have been appropriated for the meeting-house until No- vember 5, 1739, and probably nothing definite was done until then, when £250 was voted in part. No- vember 19th, £350 more was appropriated, and de- cided that the building should be forty by fifty feet with twenty-three feet posts. The Building Commit- tee were Maj. Eleazer Lawrence, Deacon John Wood and Benjamin Hoar. £300 more were voted in De- cember, 1740, to complete the meeting-house, making £900 in all. The building was not completed until 1742. Those who had private pews built them at their own eost, except Mr. Rogers and Mr. Shattuck, for whom and their families, the town built pews. Mr. Rogers had his at the foot of the pulpit-stairs and Mr. Shattuck in the rear, on the women's side.

This meeting-house had a gallery, which the former one probably had not, but I have no reason to sup-

pose there was any great change in the arrangement of pews from that in the old one.

About the time of which I am writing, a serious trouble arose between the proprietors of Littleton and the town of Stow about the boundary between the two towns, and quite a traet of land, in what is now Box- borough, was elaimed by Stow, but finally relinquished after a long lawsuit lasting many years, and after at- tempts to get action in favor of Stow by the Legisla- turc. I find records referring to the matter in 1732, 1740 and in 1750.

In this suit Littleton Proprietors' Reeord-Book was used as evidenee, and by mistake was not returned to the town until Mr. Richard H. Dana, the second of that name, found it among some old papers, a century or more afterward. Littleton's counsel was Mr. Ed- mund Trowbridge, and I have been told that Mr. Dana married into the Trowbridge family.

An addition to the territory of the town was made January 4, 1738-39, when the General Court granted the petition of Peleg Lawrence and others, of Groton, so far as that they and their estates be set off to Lit- tleton, thereby probably establishing the present line. Groton did not oppose that part of the petition, but opposed and prevented the establishment of the line as originally asked for, which they claimed would in- clude part of their proprietors' land. Peleg Law- rence lived near the brook by North Littleton Station, where the cellar-hole may yet be seen.

A eurious entry oeeurs in the town records under date of May 27, 1751, as follows :

". Voted to accept Jacob negro, son of Caesar. for an inhabitant of this town in case Mr. Peter Reed give up the bill of sale of sd negro to the town and write a discharge."

That gives the town an anti-slavery record of early date. Slaves were owned in town, however, mueh later.

Within the first thirty-five years of the existence of the town a great many roads were laid out and re- corded in the town-book. Most of them were merely paths, marked by blazed trees, following very tortu- ous routes, quite different from the present roads.

For instance, the road from Chelmsford to Groton was through the Old Common, turning beyond Mr. Shattuek's (now Mrs. Eliza Hartwell's) to the right through Turkey Swamp and aeross Beaver Brook to the Farr place, where Mr. Chas. P. Hartwell now lives, then through the New Estate, turning eastward to Saml. Dudley's, near the mill pond, from wlienee it went to Pingreyville; a braneh probably turned to the left past Saml. Hunt's tavern, near Mr. Peter S. Whitcomb's housc.

The first road to Newtown started from the Old Common, a short distance east of the house of the late Capt. Luther White.

The road to the south part of the town passed Joseph Baker's, which was at a spot now marked by a large elm, inidway between Mr. W. H. Tenney's and the Haley plaee, from whenee it went past a cellar-

869

LITTLETON.

hole and spring in the woods which locates the house of Capt. Joseph Harwood, and thence on through the valley to the place now owned by Mr. J. A. Priest, then owned by one of the Powers family, and so on.

Under the system of representation in the Legisla- ture which was in force a century and a half ago the members of the lower House werc elected by the towns, and Littleton was obliged to send a Repre- sentative once in a certain number of years, and also obliged to pay him.

The result was that the town very frequently failed to send a Representative and was repeatedly fined by the General Court therefor. The year following the fine the town would elect a Representative for the sole purpose, apparently, of getting the fine remitted. A fine or some question before the Legislature re- garding Littleton's territory seems to have been the only incentive to representation. On one occasion the town voted to send a Representative if any one would go for half- pay, and on another if for £12. In this last instance Captain Isaac Powers accepted the offer and was elected without opposition.

In the year 1749 the town offered, in connection with some of the adjoining towns, a bounty for wolves' heads in addition to that offered by the Province, with the condition that the ears be cut off to prevent a second claim for bounty on the same head.

Almost invariably previous to the year 1800, and frequently after that, it was customary to vote every March meeting that the swine be allowed to go at large the year ensuing.

Hog-reeves were chosen, whose duty it was to insert a ring in each swine's nose to curtail the amount of damage he could do by rooting.

Littleton was represented in the French and In- dian War, as she has always been in every struggle in behalf of the State and the nation, by brave and able men.

Colonel John Porter, when only sixteen years of age, enlisted as a captain's waiter and was at the bat- tle of Ticonderoga. He was taken with the small- pox, and his mother, on hearing of it, hired a man to go and care for him. This person took the money, but soon reported that young Porter was dead. The rascal had, in fact, never been near him, but in spite of neglect Porter recovered, and great was the sur- prise and joy of his family, who lived where Deacon Manning now lives, to see him appear one day, weak after his sickness and tired, sitting to rest on a log Gear the house.

The 19th of April, 1775, found him returning from Beverly through Lexington. The British troops had just marched out toward Concord. Porter procured a gun and ammunition of a Lexington farmer, leav- ing his horse as security, and joined the minute-men who fought the regulars on their return from Con- cord.

He served all through the Revolution, enlisting as ensign and working up to be lieutenant, captain,

adjutant and major. At one time he was a recruiting officer, and also served on the staff of Gen. Lafayette. He was at the battle of Bennington and afterward sent home three or four of the Hessians there cap- tured, to work as laborers on his farm, while he re- mained at the front. He was present at the surren- der of Cornwallis.

His title of colonel was acquired in the militia, after the war. Colonel Porter was a man of great force of character, but had only such education as he picked up himself.

It is said that his wife taught him to read.

Previous to the outbreak of the French War, on July.14,.1748, Jonathan Lawrence, Jr., and Ephraim Powers, of Littleton, were in a squad of seventeen men, who were traveling from Northfield to Fort Dummer and Ashuelot. They were attacked by In- dians, who captured Lawrence and took him to Can- ada. Powers was stripped of clothing, arms and ammunition and wounded in the head. In the latter part of the war we find Jonathan Lawrence in Capt. Leonard Whiting's company in 1760-61 in the "ex- pedition for the total reduction of Canada," and with him the following other Littleton men : Sergt. Peter Procter, Sergt. Peter Fox, Ephraim Corey, Jonathan Hartwell, who died in the expedition, George Hiber, Joseph Hartwell, Robert Procter, Josiah Procter, Moses Shattuck, David Stimpson, Samuel Tredwell, David Trull, Abel Whitcomb, Silas Whitcomb and Benjamin Worster. Captain Whiting then lived in Westford, but soon after moved to Littleton, where he kept tavern and was living here from 1764 to 1772 at least. He afterwards lived in Hollis, N. H., and was a Tory during the War of the Revolution.

By the courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society I am enabled to copy from the original jour- nal of Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow, dated Bason of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, May 28, 1755, the names of many residents or natives of Littleton. It reads :

" A Return of Lieutenant Colo John Winslows Company in the First Battallion of his Excellency, Govr Shirley's Regiments, raisd for the re- moving the French Encroachments from his Majesty's Government of Nova Scotia, Showing the names of the non-Commishd officers and Priv- ate men their station age Place of Birth Last residence and occupa, tion. . .

"John Trainer, Private, 19, Leyth, Scotland, Littleton, Baker.

Capt. Humphrey Hobbs Compa.

Ephraim Warrin, Private, 18, Littleton, Littleton, Labr.

Captain Osgood Company.

Isaac Lawrance, Serjant, 24, Littleton, Littleton, Cooper. David Powers, Corporal, 30, Littleton, Littleton, Husbandman. Walter Powers, Private, 23, Littleton, Littleton, Husbandman. Isaac Whitcombe, Private, 21, Littleton, Littleton, Cordwainer. Abel Hunt, Private, 22, Littleton, Littleton, Husbandman. Peter Hunt, Private, 26, Littleton, Littleton, Cordwainer. John Robins, Private, 28, Littleton, Littleton, Cooper. Charles Robins, Private, 25, Littleton, Littleton, Brickmaker. Timothy Cobleigh, Private, 17, Littleton, Littleton, Laborer. Ephraim Wheeler, Private, 20, Littleton, Littleton, Cordwainer. Abner Whitcombe, Private, 21, Littleton, Littleton, Husbandman.

870

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Benja Munrow, Private, 19, Lexington, Littleton, Laborer. Phineas Parker, Private, 21, Groton, Littleton, Husbandman. James Miller, Private, 20, Billerica, Littleton, Brickmaker. Thomas Whitcomb, Private, 19, Littleton, Littleton, Laborer.

Major Joseph Fryes Company.

John Adams, Private, 19, Littleton, Andover, Cordwainer.

Major William Bourne Company. Tho mas Edwards, Private, 22, Littleton, Oxford, Carpenter.

Captain Elijah Willards Company.

Aaron Taylor, Corporal, 25, Littleton, Lunenburgh, Husbandman. Timo Baker, Private, 24, Littleton, Petersham, Taylor. John Taylor, Private, 25, Littleton, Lunenburgh, Laborer.

Captain Ephraim Jones Company.

Oliver Edward, Private, 20, Littleton, Stow, Laborer. Eliot Powers, Private, 22, Littleton, Acton, Husbandman."

Capt. John Fox, of Littleton, was also in the French War. He returned sick from the expedition on the Kennebec River, and after six weeks' illness died.

Others of his family took the same disease from him, and on petition from his wife the Legislature granted money in aid of herself and family. Capt. Fox kept tavern in the Centre, and after his death his wife continued the business.

As we approach the period of the War of the Revolution, it is well to take, as far as we are able, a general view of the town. What was Littleton in those days, we ask ? Not so very different from the Littleton of to-day.

The population varied not more than one hundred from the present, though the territory was larger, in- cluding a large section of Boxborough, and therefore the people were rather more scattered. In the year 1776 the population was 918.

The church stood on the same spot as the present Unitarian Church. The town had just bought a new bell, and had hung it not on the church, but on a convenient frame near by. The committee to buy it, reported that it was made in "this Province," and cost £78 0s. 9}d. Very many of the names now famil- iar were then in town, such as Robbins, Lawrence, Whitcomb, Tuttle, Taylor, Hartwell, Jewett, Harwood, Tenney, Sanderson, Reed, Brown, Proctor, Warren, Hoar, Dodge, Kimball, Patch and others. Even the farms are in many cases held in the same families now as then.

It is very interesting to trace the growth of public sentiment in town concerning the relations of the colonies with the mother country.

The indignation at the exactions and oppressive acts of the British government was spontaneous and unani- mous ; but later on, when protests, entreaties and de- mands had not availed, and matters wore a more serious aspect, when it began to dawn upon the colonists that their only hope for justice lay in revolution, then it was that a difference of opinion was evolved, which in- creased with the progress of events until the linc between patriot and Tory was clearly drawn.

When we think of how the colonists, with their scanty resources and slight preparation, resisted, made war on and finally vanquished the greatest power on earth, it seems as if they accomplished impossibilities, which it would be madness to attempt.

It was not strange, then, that there were many con- servative and intelligent people, who considered it folly to attempt to resist the government of England; they deprecated the state of affairs, but saw no pros- pect of relief in war, and in most cases were further influenced in their opinions by ties of friendship and relation to the mother country. That class was rep- resented in Littleton by Rev. Daniel Rogers and at least one of his sons, also by Capt. Joseph Harwood, and his son of the same name, as well as by others. Mr. Rogers was then an old man, had been pastor for many years, and was universally loved and respected. He was a cultured and refined gentleman, a graduate of Harvard College, and connected with some of the best families in the Province. His sons were able and educated men, and took an active part in town affairs. Others of the Tory sympathizers were prominent men in town and, with Dummer Rogers, had been the lead- ers so long as matters had drifted along in the old way ; but when the issue came, and feeling began to run high, they found themselves a small minority, and had to suffer the consequences at the intense feel- ing which prevailed against them.

They were suddenly dropped from the list of town officers and vigorously dealt with, Many of them were put under guard, including one of the writer's ancestors, and even Rev. Mr. Rogers was summoned by an armed squad to come out of his house and de- clare his principles. When he hesitated, perhaps considering it beneath his dignity to comply with such a demand, a volley was fired into his front door. The bullets passed through the door and entered the casing just below the stairs upon which Mr. Rogers was standing. He then complied. He lived where Mr. George Whitcomb now lives, in the house which has since been moved down the hill toward Mr. Frost's. Many persons, including the writer, have seen the bullet-lioles in the old door, which has since been replaced by a new one, and those in the casing may be seen to-day.

Of the patriots, William Henry Prentice seems to have been one of the leaders. He kept a tavern at or near where Mr. Everett E. Kimball lives, and we may readily imagine that as the headquarters where each evening the earnest patriot farmers, many of them minute-men, gathered to hear the latest news from Boston and to discuss it excitedly over mugs of flip.

To go back now to 1770. The following article, copicd from the Boston Gazette of March 12th, of that year, the same issuc in which appeared an account of the Boston Massacre, so called, gives an idea of the unanimous fccling in the town over tlie taxes imposed by Parliament on imported goods :

LITTLETON.

871

" At a Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Litttleton, in the County of Middlesex, on Monday, Mar. 5, 1770, a Committee was chosen to prepare certain Votes to be passed by the Town relating to the Impor- tation of British Goods who after retiring a Short Time iuto a private Room, returned and reported the following which was unanimously Voted.

"The grievous Impositions the Inhabitants of the British Colonies have long suffered from their Mother Country, strongly claim their At- tention to every legal Method for their Removal. We esteem the Meas- ure already proposed, viz. : the withdrawing our Trade from England, both œconomical and effectual. We do therefore Vote

"1. That we will not (knowingly), directly or indirectly, purchase any Goods which now are or hereafter may be imported contrary to the Agreement of the Merchants of the Town of Boston.

"2. That if any Inhabitant of the town of Littleton shall be known to purchase any one Article of an Importer of Goods contrary to the be- fore mentioned Agreement or of any one who shall buy of any such Im- porter he sball suffer our high Displeasure and Contempt.

"3. That a Committee be chosen to inspect the Conduct of all Bnyers and Sellers of Goods in this Town, and report the Names of all (if any such there should be) who shall violate the true Spirit and Iutention of the above-mentioned Votes and Resolutions.

"4. That we will not driuk or purchase any foreign Tea howsoever Imported until a general Importation of British Goods shall take Place."

The committee who reported these resolutions were Samuel Tuttle, Leonard Whiting, Samuel Rog- ers, Robert Harris and Nathan Raymond.

Matters went on from bad to worse throughout the Colonies, and in November, 1772, when Boston under the leadership of Samuel Adams came to an issue with Governor Hutchinson about the stipendiary judges, and the rights of towns to discuss such mat- ters, and the Boston Committee of Correspondence was chosen, with instructions to appeal to all the towns in the Province, " that," as they said, " the col- lected wisdom and fortitude of the whole people might dictate measures for the rescue of their happy and glorious Constitution." A letter and pamphlet were received from the Boston Committee of Corre- spondence, and at a town-meeting in Littleton, De- cember 31st, it was voted to choose a committee of five to consider the same and make a report to the town. The committee consisted of J. Dummer Rog- ers, Jona. Reed, Captain Joseph Harwood, Sr., Cap- tain Josiah Hartwell and Samuel Reed.

From this time we must date the division of this town into patriots and Tories. The committee was divided in their report, which was made at au ad- journed meeting for that purpose on February 1, 1773.

The majority of the committee, which we can confi- dently assume included Dummer Rogers and Captain Harwood, reported verbally "not to have the town act any further upon that article." That was the con- servative view, represented by those who must thence- forth be called Tories. They feared a conflict with the authorities, and tried to smother the correspondence with Samuel Adams and the Boston patriots.

The town rejected the majority report, and then ac- cepted the draft of a paper laid before them, and chose a Committee of Correspondence.

At the annual meeting, March 1, 1773, the draft, amended by the addition of more grievances, was ac- cepted and ordered to be transmitted, with a respect-

ful letter of thanks, to the Boston Committee of Cor- respondence.

This amended paper was as follows :

" The British Constitution appears to us to be the best calculated to answer the ends which mankind proposed to themselves in forsaking the natural stato of Independence and entering into Society than per- haps any form of Government under Heaven, as here we find a more perfect union of the three Great Qualities of Government than could he expected in any other form ; it is therefore of high Importance that those who live under this Constitution should in all proper ways en- deavor to preserve it Inviolate ; it was the Happiness of our forefathers who came into this Land to bring with them the Liberties and Immuni- ties of Englishmen and to be entitled to the Privileges of the British Con- stitution, under which they and their Descendants have enjoyed great Security and Happiness. But in consequence of some acts of the Britishi Parliament, which are daily executing by officers and men unknown in the Charter of the Province, whereby a Revenue is imposed on this as well as the other Colonies, and extorted from us and appropriated to miost destructive purposes, the establishing the salaries of several of the first men in this Province, and also of the Judges of the Superior Court, thereby making them iudependent of the people, and making them de- pend on the Crown for their support, the great extension of the power of the Courts of Admiralty, the unlimited authority of the Board of Com- missioners of his Majesty's Custonis ; all which wo look upon to be great grievances ; the quartering of soldiers upon us in time of peace, without our consent ; the demanding and giving np Castle William, our chief fortress, into the hands of those over whom our Governor has declared he has no control, is a great violation of one of our Charter Rights-for tlereby the Governor for the time being has full power to erect Forts, and to furnish them with all things necessary, and to commit the cus- tody of the same to such person or persons as to him shall seem meet. The frequent alterations of the Boundaries between this and the other colonies we think we have just reason to complain of ; for thereby the property of many hundreds of the inhabitants of this province are in- vaded.

" We are greatly alarmed by a late act of the British Parliament en- titled An Act for the hetter preserving his Majesty's Dock Yards, Maga- zines, Ships, Ammunitions and Stores ; By this act any person may be apprehended on the most groundless pretence and carried to any part of Great Britain for trial ; the thoughts of which is enough to make any person having the least sense of the freedom of an Englishinan tremble. By this act we are deprived of one of the most essential of our Charter Privileges, that of Trial by our Peers in this Vicinity.

" We are further of the opinion that if the measures so justly com- plained of by the Provinces and the other Colonies on this continent are persisted in and enforced by fleets and armies, they will, in a little time we fear, issue in the total dissolution of the Union of the Mother Conn- try and the Colonies, to the entire loss of the former, and regret of the latter-as the General Assembly is now sitting, who are the constitu- tional guardians of the rights of the people, we hope that Assembly will take every reasonable measure to obtain removal of all our grievances ; we shall always be ready to join with the towns of this province in a regnlar and constitutional method in preserving our liherties and privi- leges."

Note how carefully the town considered the matter and of what importance it was deemed.

It was the decisive step in the policy of the town, and took three town-meetings to settle it, covering nearly the whole winter.

There was no wavering or vacillation, but no haste.

At the Middlesex Convention, held in Concord, August 31, 1774, Littleton was represented by Captain Josiah Hartwell, Oliver Hoar and Daniel Rogers, Jr., and in the first Provincial Congress by Abel Jewett and Robert Harris.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 206

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