History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 59

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 59

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The state of feeling in 1675 may be inferred by the following extract from a letter :

"Chelmsford, March ye 20, 1675. Good Sr, I humbly intreat you to pray the Counsell to grant us a stronger Guard, for wee expect the Indians every hour to fall upon us, and if they come wee shall be all cutt off," and a petition from some of the leading citi- zens to the General Court to "Consider o' dangerus Conditions yt we are in in refference to o' lives and estates." 1

The town built several garrison-houses. One of these stood opposite the present house of Henry Hod- son, in District No. 7. (This was the one mentioned by Allen opposite Mr. Andrew Spalding's.) One was on Francis Hill, near the Keyes place. Allen speaks of " one south of the meeting-house." It is uncertain where it stood. It is said that one stood on South Street, between the houses of E. R. Marshall and John S. Shed. The late Mrs. Hezekiah Parkhurst said that one stood on the high point of land between the mill-pond and the South Chelmsford Road. Another was upon the bank of the Merrimack, at Mid- dlesex.

This was Lieut. Thos. Hinchman's garrison. In October, 1675, he was given ten pounds out of the public treasury for his " extraordinary expenses and labour." _The order sets forth that he "hath been at great charge in providing ffor the diet of certaine soul- djers appointed to garrison his house vpon Merre- macke Riuer, where sundry Englishmen, his neigh- bors, are concerned, which is a very apt place to se- cure that frontier."

The withdrawal of the Wamesit Indians into the wilderness occasioned great uneasiness, as it was feared that they had joined the enemy. Some of the Chelmsford soldiers, who were in the more exposed garrisons at Groton, desired to be released because of this new peril at home. These fears fortunately proved to be groundless. In Sept., 1675 Cornet Tho- mas Brattle and Lieut. Thomas Hinchman, who were in command of a company of fifty horsemen, were or- dered " forthwith to march to Chelmsford " to attend to distributing the forces in the garrisons of the more exposed towns, and "you are to endeavor either one

1 F. P. Hill's, " Chelmsford."

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

or both of you (if it may bee) to gainc the Indian Sachem called Wannalansct to com in againe and liue at wamesit quietly [and] pecabley : you may promise liim in the councills name yt if hec will re- turne & his people and liue quietly at Wamesit hee shall sustcyne no priudise by the English ; only you are to ppose to him yt he deliuer for a hostage to the english his sonne who shalbe wel vsed by vs, C in case hce come in and can bee gained then you are to impour him to informe the Pennakooke and Nata- cook indians and all other indians on the east side of Merrimack Riuer, that they may liue quietly and peacable in y' places and shall not bee disturbed any more by the english prouided they do not assist or ioyne with any of or enimiy nor do any dammage or preiudice to ye english." Capt Saml. Moseley sent twelve men to the garrisons in Chelmsford in Aug., 1675. He reported that "Our Major having a cer- tain intelligence of a considerable party of Indians that have gathered together a little above Chelmsford, which I hope we shall be up with this night or to- morrow at furthest, and if please God I come up with tliem, God assisting me, I will closely engage with them, and God sparing my life, I shall, as opportunity gives leave, acquaint your honor of my actions."

In the beginning of 1676 the Indians became more aggressive. Wannalancet informed Mr. Hinchman that a company of about fifteen Mohawks were in the woods above the river. Joseph Parker was way- laid and wounded, as related in the following letter dated at Chelmsford, 12th Feb., 1676, and signed by Samuel Adams, Samuel and William Fletcher, and sent to the Governor and Council at Boston: "This Morning about an hower and Half after sun-rising, Jo- seph Parker of this place with his son, coming for [from ] the Hon'd Major Willard, about fower Mile from o[v ]r Meeting-House, along by some houses pertaining to this towne, now against one house standing nigh the way [were] Way-layed, and had ye indians bullets thick (as they report) about them-They rode fast to escape them. The young Man was wounded in the Shoulder by a Musket Bullet, as cut out on the other side of his Arme, and we conceive by Pistol Bullets. His clothes torn in several Places." This may have been the Joseph Parker who was the first white person born in the town.1 The next month " some part " of Chelmsford was burned. But the people were fortu- nate at sustaining no more serious blow, for the same body of Indians the next day made a furious assault upon Groton, and the town was so nearly destroyed that the survivors abandoned the place altogether.

These acts excited such an intense feeling of resent- ment towards the Indians that any act of lawlessness was apt to be followed by swift punishment, adminis- tered, too often indiscriminately, upon any Indians that could be found, without inquiring very carefully whether they were friends or foes. This was the case

when some of the Wamesits were shot because they werc "vehemently suspected " of having burned a barn and some haystacks. This provoked the hith- erto friendly Wamesits to retaliate. The story is thus told by the historian Hubbard:

" At Chelmsford the said Wamesit Indians, about March 18, before, fell upon some Houses on the North side of the River, burned down three or four that belonged to the Family of Edward Colburn ; the said Colburn, with Samuel Varnham, his Neighbour, being pursued, as they passed over the River to look after their Cattel on that side of the River, and mak- ing several shots against them, who returned the like again upon the said Indians (judged to be about forty). What success they had upon the Enemy was best known to themselves; but two of Varnham's sons were slain by the Enemies shot before they could recover the other Side of the River."

Samuel Varnham lived upon what is known as the Howard farm in Middlesex. His sons who were killed are buried there.

April 15th the savage foe made another descent upon the town, and the startled inhabitants beheld their dwellings in flames. Upon this occasion there " were fourteen or fifteen houses burned."

By midsummer the wily Philip had been hunted to his death and the fury of the war was abated. Nearly a thousand men in the Colony had lost their lives, while the destruction of property had been simply frightful. The frontier towns suffered most, and Chelmsford was among those that were obliged to apply to the General Court for relief. This was granted in the following order : " In ans" to the peti- tion of the selectmen of Chelmsford, &c., it is ordered that Chelmsford bc allowed and abated the sume of fiuety-three pounds seven shillings & one penny out of their last tenn country rates towards theire losses."

The Nashoba Indians, who lived upon the southern borders of the town, suffered great hardships during Philip's War. They were removed by order of the Court to Concord, where they were cared for by John Hoar. Here they were living peaceably. When Capt. Samuel Moseley came he broke into their house, scattered their property and they were hurried to " their furnace of affliction " at Deer Island. In May of the following year they were, with some of the Naticks, removed, by order of the Court, to Paw- tucket. Those who were removed were mostly women and children. It was ordered "that the men be improved in the service of the country." Arms were provided for such as were trusty, and they were placed under the command of Captain Hinchman.

The Pawtuckets did not return, at the conclusion of the war, to their former habitations at Wamesit.

They retired with, perhaps, the remnant of the Nashobas, to Wickasuck (Tyng's) Island, in the Merrimack.2 This island had been granted to Wana-

1 Hubbard, p. 195.

2 Nason's " Duustable."

CHELMSFORD.

lancet and other Indians in 1665. They remained upon this island or its vicinity until their removal to Pennacook in 1686.

The results of King Philip's War were so disas- trous to the hostile Indians that they no longer had the power to threaten the existence of the Colonies. The relations with the survivors were not rendered more cordial, however, by the struggle. Cordial hatred was the feeling between the races. As marauding parties and as allies to the French in the wars with that nation they inflicted great damage to the exposed settlements for many years.

By the wise management of Hinchman Chelmsford continued to have a valuable ally in Wannalancet. His influence with the Indians was always exerted for peace, and when danger could not be averted he warned the people so that they were able to prepare for it. Chelmsford should hold the name of Wanna- lancet in grateful remembrance.

A feeling of insecurity prevailed, however, as is shown by the following extract from the diary of Samuel Sewall, of Boston :

" 7-9th, 1685. When came home heard of body of Indians near Chelmsford, 3 or 400. The fears and Rumors concerning them much increase. The In- dians near Albany ; Wonolanset brings the news to Chelmsford, and mistrusts of their mischevous designs."

Through representations made to the Court by Hinchman the services of Wannalancet "in the treaty late with the Indians at Pennacooke" were recognized, as also his grievance that some of his friends were transported, and it was ordered "that the Treasurer advance tenn pounds in money & clothing, deliver the same to ye major-generall, Capt. Thomas Hinchman & MIr. Jonathan Ting, to be distributed by them amongst sajd Indeans, some writting bein draune vp to be presented to sajd In- deans at the same time to signe, for the rattififcacon of an intire peace and amity betweene them & ye English."

In 1689 the first of the series of French and Indian Wars began, and military preparations again became active.

The following item appeared in a Boston news- paper, under date of Sept. 25, 1690 (the earliest news- paper published in America): "While the barbarous Indians were lurking about Chelmsford there were missing, about the beginning of this month, a couple of children belonging to a man of that Town, one of them aged about eleven, the other aged about nine years, both of them supposed to be fallen into the hands of the Indians." 1

There were eighteen garrison-houses distributed throughout the town, and one on the north side of the Merrimack, in what is now Dracut. To these were assigned, besides women and children, 158 men,

including four soldiers. This was, probably, the entire adult male population of the town. Another instance of the friendship of the Pawtuckets occurred on June 22, 1689. Two Indians, Job Maramasquand and Peter Muckamug, came to Major Hinchman from Pennacook and reported a plot against Major Waldron, of Cocheco (now Dover). Major Hinch- man immediately despatched a messenger to notify the authorities at Boston, and they sent a courier with the information to Major Waldron.

But the news came too late. Upon the fatal night of June 27th, while the courier was detained at New- bury Ferry, at midnight, the squaws, who had impru- dently been allowed to lodge in the garrison-houses, opened the doors and the savages rushed in. The story is familiar of how the major gallantly defended himself with his sword, but was struck down with a hatchet, and then placed in his arm-chair upon the table and taunted by the Indians while they slashed him with their knives until he fell from loss of blood upon his own sword which they held under him. Twenty-two others were killed and twenty-nine cap- tives carried to Canada.

Samuel Butterfield, who was captured in Groton by Indians in August, 1704, had a somewhat romantic experience. With other soldiers he was guarding a man who was at work in a field when the Indians came upon them. He killed one Indian and wounded another, but was overpowered by numbers. As the slain Indian was a Sagamore "of great dexterity in war," his captors proposed to wreak their vengeance upon him by inflicting a death by torture. While lamenting his cruel fate, relief came from an unex- pected quarter. The "squaw widow," when asked to name the manner of his death, replied : "His death won't fetch my husband to life: do nothing to him." His life was spared, and after fourteen months of cap- tivity he returned to his friends. He was probably the Lieutenant Butterfield who again met with a nar- row escape from the Indians two years later, while re- turning with his wife from Dunstable. His horse was shot and the woman taken captive, "and Jo English, a friend Indian, in company with ym, was at the same time slain."

Capt. William Tyng, a young man of promise, who had served the town as representative to the General Court, and filled other positions of trust, was wounded by Indians between Groton and Lancaster. He was taken to Concord, where he died, Aug. 16, 1710.2

Chelmsford was drawn upon heavily for men for the various campaigns of the French Wars, and valu- able lives were sacrificed.

Lieut. Jona. Barron was in the successful siege of Quebec. Upon his return he presented Parson Bridge with a silver cup taken there. Lieut. Barron after- wards lost his life in the campaign against Crown Point in 1755, as did two other Chelmsford soldiers.

1 Copied in London by Hon. Samuel A. Green, M.D., of Boston.

2 Allen.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

viz. : Jacob Parker and James Emcry. This was the campaign in which the English troops fell into an ambush of French and Indians under Baron Dieskau. There were twelve Chelmsford men in the expedi- tion.

In the unsuccessful campaign of 1756, undertaken against the same point, of twelve Chelmsford men in the company of Capt. Jonathan Butterfield, of Dun- stable (a native of Chelmsford), four lost their lives, viz .: Nathaniel Butterfield, Simeon Corey, James Dutton and Isaac Proctor. In the other campaigns the losses were doubtless equally heavy.

In the campaign against Nova Scotia, in 1755, which resulted in despoiling the thrifty Acadians of their homes and property, and scattering scven thou- sand of them as exiles throughout the Colonies, twenty- three Chelmsford soldiers took part. It seems a pity that brave men should be employed in such dishonor- able service.

Seventeen of these Acadians were cared for in Chelmsford. Their names appear in the following account rendered by the selectmen of the town in 1757, as found in the Massachusetts Archives :

" CHELMSFORD, October 24, 1757.

" In obedience and pursuant to order of the Great and General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, made and passed the 21st day of January, A. D. 1757.

"The following is a true list of the several French Persons' names in the Town of Chelmsford, the amount of their age, sex and the circum- stances of their health and capacity for labor.

"The number of [ ] are seventeen, viz. :

NAMES.

AGED.

" Jean Landrie, a man,

62 years.

Maudlin, his wife, 60 Weakly, unable to labor and

laboring under the misfortune of a broken arm and the charges thereof now.

Paul Landrie, his son, 22 able to labor.

Charles Landrie, do. do.

20 sickly and not able to labor.

Simon Landrie, do. do.

18 able to labor.

Asam Landrie, do. do. 16 years, able to labor.

. Charles Trawhorn, a man,

29 years, sickly and ailing and not able to labour.

Tithorne, his wife,

29 years, able to labour.

Mary, their daughter,

612 years.

Maudlin, their daughter,

512 years.

Joseph, their son,

4 years, sickly.

Grigwire, their son,

3 years.

Margaret, their daughter, 0:7 months.

Joseph Landrie, a son of the }

sd. Jean Landrie,

26 years, healthy and able to labour.

Maudlin, his wife,

Jean V., their son,

26 years, healthy and able to labour. 2 years, sickly and weakly.

Murray Maudlin, their daughter, 5 months.

" DAVID SPAULDING,

"DANIEL PROCTOR,

Selectmen

" HENRY SPAULDING,

"JONAS ADAMS,

Chelmsford."

" ANDREW FLETCHER,

Numerous entries appear upon the town records showing the expense of the " support of the French." The charges are mainly for provisions, fuel, house rent, medical attendance, and sometimes for rum (spelled in one case rhumb). In one instance one of the French is paid by the town for assistance ren- dered by him to his less fortunate companions in ex- ile, as appears by the following :- " Joseph Landrie

for time spent in moving Jane Landric and wife with their goods from David Spaulding's to Ephraim War- ren's and for going twice to Dunstable about a nurse for said Jane Landrie and wife when sick, five shil- lings and four pence" and David Spaulding is paid for his "cart and oxen to move the French from his own house to Ephraim Warren's."

As the Indians abandoned their grant at Wamesit, their lands were gradually occupied by individuals, mostly from Chelmsford. In 1686 their remaining lands on the west of Concord River and 500 acres on the north of the Merrimack were purchased by Jonathan Tyng and Thomas Henchman. This was known as the Wamesit Purchase. Henchman bought Tyng's claim for £50, and by him it was sold to forty- six proprietors in Chelmsford, who occupied it as a pasture. As described by Allen, the northwest boundary "began near the head of the Middlesex Canal, and so to the glass manufactory and thence running near the houses of the late Mr. Philip Parker, Mr. Micah Spalding and Capt. Benj. Butterfield, ter- minated at Wamesit Falls, in Concord River, or at the mouth of River Meadow brook."

Philip Parker lived near the present Highland School-house. Micah Spalding at the corner of Lib- erty and School Streets, and Benjamin Butterfield on Hale Street, where the house of the late Benjamin. Edwards now stands. To describe this line by the present streets of the city of Lowell, it would corre- spond to Baldwin, West Pine and Liberty Streets, and thence to the mouth of River Meadow Brook.

This territory now became a part of Chelmsford, although it was not formally annexed until 1726.

The town had now reached its greatest area, and all changes made thereafter were attended by loss of territory.

The town now embraced, in addition to what is now occupied by the town, a large part of Carlisle, the whole of Westford and all of Lowell, with the excep- tion of Belvidere, Centralville and Pawtucketville. Chelmsford also held jurisdiction over the settlements upon the north of the Merrimack, at what is now Dra- cut, and the part of Lowell which lies north of the river. The people voted and paid taxes in Chelms- ford and looked to them for protection. This relation was confirmed by the Court in 1667, that " sundry ffarmes erected aboue the toune of Chelmsford, about Merremack Riuer" "haue their dependances vpon & performe services & beare chardges wth the sajd toune of Chelmsford." The town of Dracut was incorporated in 1702, but the people continued to act with Chelmsford in religious matters till the relation was severed by the following action : "Janawary the : 14: 1705-6" " It was uoated that Draw Cut shall not uoate In Chelmsford."

The fall of Fort William Henry in 1757 occasioned great alarm, and troops were hastily summoned to re- pel a threatened invasion. In a roll of the company of Captain Samuel Bancroft, of Reading, raised to

255

CHELMSFORD.

meet that exigency, are fourteen Chelmsford names. In 1763 the conquest of Canada was completed and peace again smiled upon the land.

WAR OF THE REVOLUTION .- Colonel Samson Stod- dard, a son of the former pastor, was perhaps next to Parson Bridge the most influential person in town and shared with him the social honors. He was a graduate of Harvard College and studied divinity, but relinquished the profession for trade and agricul- ture. He kept a store for the sale of general mer- chandise, and was interested in land operations in New Hampshire. The town of Stoddard, in that State, was named in his honor. His house, which stood upon the site of the Central Baptist Church, was the resort of fashionable and cultured people. The following from Mr. Bridge's diary, under date of June 24, 1763, shows the quality of the company that sometimes assembled there : "Dined at Col. Stod- dard's with his Excellency, the Governor, and Hon. Mr. Bowdoin, and others, and their ladies."

In the disturbances which led up to the Revolu- tion Parson Bridge was at first exceedingly loyal to the home government. The clergy, as a class, were conservative and inclined to favor existing institu- tions. His associations naturally strengthened him in that position. He was a friend of Governor Hutchinson.

In 1771 he records a visit to Dr. Ellis and Governor Hutchinson-the latter of whom received him "very graciously." He was honored by being selected to preach the election sermon May 27, 1767, and in this he expressed strong sentiments of attachment to the mother country. But after the republication of Hutchinson's letters, in this country, his feelings underwent a change and he became an ardent sup- porter of the liberties of the Colonies.

The position of the people of the town in respect to the grievances under which the Colonies suffered was, in the highest degree, creditable to them. While they firmly adhered to their rights as Englishmen, there is not the remotest suggestion of a desire to sever their connection with the existing government.

The riotous opposition excited by the passage of the Stamp Act by Parliament is thus alluded to in the parson's diary :

August 30, 1765 .- "Every day we hear ye news from Boston of ye mobish doings there in which first insurrection they hanged Secretary Oliver in effigy, and then burned him; burned the stamp-office, etc., rifled his dwelling. . . All this is owing to ye stamp act."

Colonel Samson Stoddard, the Representative of Chelmsford at the time, asked of the town instructions as to how he should act in so delicate a crisis. In town-meeting the following resolutions were adopted for his guidance :

"This being a time when, by reason of several acts of parliament, not only this province, but all the Eng- lish colonies of this continent, are thrown into the

utmost confusion and perplexity ; the stamp act, as we apprehend, not only lays an unconstitutional, but also an insupportable, tax upon us, and deprives us, as we humbly conceive, of those rights and privileges to which we are entitled as free-born subjects of Great Britain by the royal charter; wherefore we think it our duty and interest at this critical conjuncture of our public affairs, to direct you, sir, our representative, to be so far from countenancing the execution of the aforesaid stamp act, that you use your best endeavors that such measures may be taken and such remon- strances made to the King and Parliament, as may obtain a speedy repeal of the aforesaid act, and a re- moval of the burden upon trade."

When, upon the accession of Pitt to the ministry in England, the Stamp Act was repealed, hope again revived in the Colonies, and rejoicings were indulged in. Colonel Stoddard's house was illuminated in honor of the event. Bridge writes, "May 22,

1766. Spent the evening at Col. Stoddard's, with abundance of other company. His house being illu- minated, &c., on acct of the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act." It proved, however, that the hope was not well founded.

When, in consequence of the dissolution of the General Court by Governor Barnard, the convention of September 22, 1768, was called by the Committee of Safety of Boston to deliberate on measures to ob- tain redress of grievances, this town was one of the ninety-six there represented, Colonel Samson Stod- dard being their delegate.

A town-meeting was called January 11, 1773, to know the sentiments of the people relative to certain grievances under which the Colony is laboring. And at an adjourned meeting, January 22d, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted :

" We are fully of opinion that the inhabitants of this Province are justly entitled to all the privileges of Englishmen, and to all those rights inseparable from them as members of a free community. We are also sensible that some of those rights are at present endangered. In such unhappy circumstances, the only question that can be made is this : What method is most suitable to obtain a redress ? Whatever doubts may arise about the particular mode, this we are clear in, that all rash, unmeaning, passionate procedures are by no means justifiable in so delicate a crisis. When a community thinks any of its rights endangered they should always weigh consequences and be very cau- tious lest they run into a step that may be attended with the most deplorable effects."

In their instructions to their representative, Mr. Simeon Spaulding, the following language occurs : "Sir, as the present aspect of the times is dark and difficult, we do not doubt but you will cheerfully know the sentiments and receive the assistance of those you represent. The matters that may now come under your cognizance are of great, import- ance. The highest wisdom, therefore, prudence and

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 59

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