History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 76

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 76

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Mrs. Ansart died in Dracut at the age of eighty-six years, January 27, 1849.

REV. THOMAS PARKER.

Rev. Thomas Parker, the first minister of Dracut, was a son of Josiah Parker, who came from England to America some time prior to 1700, and settled in Cambridge or Dorchester. Thomas, the subject of this sketch, was born December 7, 1700, graduated at Harvard College in 1718, and, in 1719, received a call to settle in Dracut. The town records furnish an ac- count of the call as follows :

"DRACUT, December 28, 1719.

" At a general town-meeting the town made choice of Rev. Thomas Parker as their minister, and voted to give him a call to settle at eighty pounds yearly salary. Voted, that Captain Varnum, Quartermaster Coburn and Ephraim Hildreth, carry the vote of the town to Mr. Parker, and that Quartermaster Coburn be paid six pounds to pay for ye ordina- tion."

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The committee attended to their duty and "car- ried" the vote of the town, as we find by the follow- ing reply from Mr. Parker :

" CHELMSFORD, January 30, 1720.

"To the inhabliants of the town of Dracut : I received your vote the 3d of this instant, January, by the hands of Capt. Varnum and Lient. Hildreth, wherein, I understand, yon havo unanimously made choice of me to be your settled minister. I have perused and considered your offer, also understanding your earnest desire that I should settle amongst yon. I can find no fault with what you have been pleased to offer, alel I do therefore accept the same, provided you do pay mo quarterly.

" As you have been unanimons in your choice, so I hope you will always endeavor to live in peaco and unanimity, that thero be fonnd a spirit of pence in each of yon. I also would beg your prayers to Al- mighty God for me, that I may prove a faithful minister of Christ and instrumental in saving many souls, that you may sit quietly and con- tentedly nnder my ministry, that I may have a comfortable prospect of your being benefitted thereby, and that you and I may so believe and manage ourselves that we may meet with comfort in this life and with peace at death ; and that we may lift up our heads with joy at the last day, shall be the continual fervent prayer of me, one of the unworthiest of God's ministers.

" THOMAS PARKER."

Mr. Parker was only nineteen when settled. The town then purchased a " ministree," on the Dracut side of the river, opposite what is now ealled Mid- dlesex Village.

In a memorial presented to the Legislature, in 1748, in regard to loeating the second meeting-house, built by the town of Dracut, which caused some dis- turbance on aeeount of being placed so far from the parsonage, Mr. Parker is referred to as follows:

" In 1720 the Rev. Thomas Parker was called and ordained to the gospel ministry amongst us, who, together with the assistance of the town, purchased a settlement near the meeting-house, the price being munch enhanced by the sitnation. He has carried on the work ever since to general acceptance."

Mr. Parker remained over this church until his death, March 18, 1765, a period of forty-four years. The day after his deeease a town-meeting was called to grant money to defray the expenses of the funeral, and the following business was transacted :

"Ist, made choice of Jobn Varuum, moderator. 2d, voted to buy Madam Parker a mourning suit. Also voted to buy six rings for ye bearers of ye deceased. Voted to appropriate twenty ponnds for ye mourning snit and ye rings included. Voted to raise four pounds more so that ye whole sum shall be twenty-four pounds."

It is related that Mr. Parker was a musician and played the clarionet. Sometimes he would sit in his doorway on a summer's evening and play, while the Indians would answer him along the banks of the Merrimack.

An old-fashioned slab, said to have been imported from England, marks the spot where this worthy man was laid. The following inscription, although cut in old-style letters, may yet be easily read on the head- stone :

Memento mori. Under this stone is Interred ye Remains of ye REV'n THOMAS PARKER,

A gontleman of shining mental Powers, Adorned with Prudence, Benevolence & Curtesie of maners. A warm & Pathotic Preacher of ye Gospel, A Most watchful and tender Pastor of ye Church In Dracnt for ye space of 44 years. Accomplished with learning, Human & Divine, & endowed and adorned by ye social virtues

& affections, who departed this life March 18th, 1765, in the 65th year of his age.

MICHAEL COLLINS.1

Michael Collins was born in Dudley, Mass., June 6, 1839. His grandfather, John Collins, who had been a manufacturer of woolens near Dublin, Ire- land, emigrated to Worcester County, Mass., in 1830, bringing with him his son, Stephen, then sixteen years of age, who became the father of the subjeet of this sketch. Stephen Collins, for many years, worked at his trade as wool-dyer in various towns in New England.

Michael Collins, having received his elementary education in the common schools, was for one year a student in the College of the Holy Cross, in Worces- ter, Mass. 'During the Rebellion he enlisted for three months in the Third Battalion of Rifles, under Major Devens, of Worcester, Mass. On returning from the war, at the age of twenty-two years, he worked at his trade as wool-dyer in Fitchburg and other places in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

In 1867, when twenty-eight years of age, he formed a partnership with his father and his younger brother, John S. This company, under the firm-name of Stephen Collins & Sons, engaged in the manufacture of woolens in the town of Gilsum, near Keene, N. H., employing new machinery and producing about 100,000 yards of doeskin, beaver and trieot annually. After about four years his brother, John S., became sole proprietor of this enterprise, in which he has met with marked suecess as a manufacturer, and has had the honor four times of representing the town of Gilsum in the State Legislature, once as Senator, and three times as member of the Lower House.

Michael Collins, upon retiring from the firm of Stephen Collins & Sons, entered into a new partner- ship, under the firm-name of Collins, Dillon & Co. This company engaged in running a woolen-mill in Springfield, Vt., employing about forty hands. After three years Mr. Collins returned to Gilsumn, and for one year engaged with his brother in woolen manu- facture in that town.

He then began the manufacture of woolens, with- out a partner, in Harrisville, near Keene, N. H., where, in a seven-set mill, he employed about 120 hands in making beavers, trieot and other varieties of goods.

In 1876 he came to Dracut, and leased the old Peter Lawson Mill, on Beaver Brook, where he at first employed about 125 hands in the manufacture of woolens. After three years he purchased the mill, and four years later, in 1886, he erected a new brick mill, and he is now earrying on a very extensive and very suceessful business, employing about 260 hands. He is known as a skillful manufacturer. His mills,. which are equipped with modern machinery, have

1 By Charles C. Chase.

Michael Collins

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BILLERICA.

for their motive-power a steam-engine and the waters of Beaver Brook, producing annually about 230,000 yards of goods, consisting mainly of beavers and cloakings.

It is a fact of peculiar interest in regard to this es- tablishment that the little village which clusters about it is almost entirely occupied by the employés of the mills, and is almost wholly the property of Mr. Collins himself, having been erected by him for the special accommodation of his workmen. The village is very appropriately called " Collinsville."

It is highly to the credit of Mr. Collins that these tenements, about forty-five in number, have been constructed with the benevolent purpose of securing the domestic welfare and comfort of the tenants. Nor has his generosity stopped with furnishing his workmen with pleasant and comfortable dwellings. He has erected a church at his own expense, in which religious services are held every Sabbath. Though himself an Episcopalian, these services are those of the Catholic Church, in deference to the prevailing religious preferences of his workmen. This little community sustains a temperance society, and much is done to promote the moral purity of the village.

Mr. Collins has no ambition for civil office, though he is a member of the School Board of the town. Outside of his own domain he is known as a gener- ous supporter of every good cause. He takes a lively interest in the general welfare of thetown of Dracut, which is greatly benefited by having within Its bor- ders so thriving a manufactory conducted upon such liberal principles. Mr. Collins enjoys not only the esteem, but the affection of his fellow-townsmen.

CHAPTER XXVII.

BILLERICA.

BY REV. HENRY A. HAZEN.

THE BEGINNINGS.

BILLERICA began life as Shawshin, taking its name from the small river which ran more than twelve miles through the entire length of the early town, reaching the Merrimack in Andover. The dis- placement of this unique and beautiful Indian name was a misfortune.1

The first mention of the place is found in the Colonial Records, 1635-36, March 3d, when the Gover- nor, Deputy-Governor and John Winthrop, Sr., Esq.,

" or any two of them, are intreated to vewe Shawshin, and soe to inform the next Gen'l Court whether or noe it may not be a fitt place for a plantacon."

Concord had been settled in 1635, and this " gover- nor " was John Haynes, who went the next year with Hooker's company to the settlement of Hartford, Ct. Shawshin was not quite remote or attractive enough to turn the Cambridge emigrants aside from their projected Connecticut colony. But it was heard of in England, and in 1636 Mathew Cradock, the Med- ford founder, and the early but never-resident gover- nor of the Massachusetts Company, mentions " a pur- pose to apply myself to tyllidge, . . . having had recourse to a plase called Shawe Shynn, where I hear none comes but myselfe," and asks his correspon- dent's aid in securing a grant of 2000 acres.

In 1637 (Aug.) another deputation was sent by the Court to "viewe Shawshin," but the report, which would have been so interesting, fails to appear. It may have been made and influenced two import- ant grants. Nov. 2, 1637, "The Deputy, Mr. Dudley, hath a thousand acres granted him, wheare it may not piudice any plantation granted, nor any plantation to bee granted, wthout limiting to time of impy'." " The Governor, Mr. John Winthrope, Senior, hath graunted him a thousand acres of land upon the same tearms as Mr. Dudley hath his." The governor's grant was increased, later, by 200 acres, and they pro- ceeded to a location of their grants, which the Court confirmed. Mr. Winthrop tells the story in his "Journal :"' 2

" Going down the River [from Concord] about four miles, they made choice of a place for one thousand acres, for each of them. They offered each other the first choice, but, because the deputy's was first granted, and himself had store of land already, the governor yielded him the first choice. So, at the place where the deputy's land was to begin, there were two great stones, which they called the Two Brothers, in remembrance that they were brothers by their children's marriage, and did so brotherly agree."

There are modern writers who depict the "quarrel " of these eminent men, but this picture of them, standing on the banks of the Concord, thus graphic- ally outlined by John Winthrop, refutes such cal- umnies.

The " Two Brothers " still lie conspicuous on the banks of the Concord, the earliest landmark in town. They are, perhaps, 50 rods south of the brook, where the later line between Billerica and Bedford begins. From them a line was run slightly northeast one mile and a quarter, and another, parallel with this, was run from the river two miles and a half below. Between these Mr. Dudley's farm, increased by the Court to 1500 acres, was located. The north line runs through the south part of the village, Charn-

1 Danforth and all the early clerks of Billerica, spell "Shawshin " uni- formly as here given, with "i" in the last syllable. The new name is that of a town in Essex County, England, about seventeen miles north- east of London. A "y" has been added in England, but the Massa- chusette town has probably preserved the earlier form. It is variously maispronounced "Billerica and Billereca." The first syllable should have the accent, and all the others remain obscure.

2 Winthrop Journal, vol. 1, p. 264.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

staffe Lane being a section of it, and extending just across Ash Swamp. The land running from the Bos- ton Road to the ancient Tompson place is a part of the east line of the "Farme." Winthrop's farm, in the other direction, extended to the old Concord line, the Main Strect in Bedford, being parallel with and sixty-four rods north of it. The east line of the farm crossed the west end of Bedford Street, where it divides into two roads, and ran to a point not far west of the Bedford Springs. It was sold entire, in 1664, to Job Lane, of Malden.

A larger grant was made in 1640,-3000 acres, to " Mrs. Winthrop," the wife of " our late Governor," which was located "about the lower end of Concord Ryuer, near Merrimack," occupying the west part of what is now the town of Tewksbury. And smaller grants were made on the west side of Concord River, of 500 acres each, to Increase Nowell and Mr. Thomas Allen, and 533 acres to Mr. Thomas Welde, pastor of Roxbury. Meanwhile Cambridge was taking note of Shawshin with increasing interest. A second dis- ruption of the town was threatened, by the proposed removal of Mr. Shepherd and a large part of his flock, whom Hooker and his company sought to draw after them to the Connecticut. To prevent this, 1641, June 21st, "Shawshin is granted to Cambridge, pro- vided they make it a village, to have 10 families there settled wthin three years, otherwise the Court to dis- pose of it." Later, as it appeared that Cambridge was not ready to effect a new settlement so far "in the wilderness," the restriction was removed, and 1643-44, March 7th, "Shaweshin is granted to Cambridge wthout any condition of making a village there, & the land between them & Concord is granted to them provided the church & present elders con- tinued at Cambridge." This was successful, and the mother town was saved from a second dismember- ment.

Cambridge could now take her time, and in spite of some efforts of Woburn to secure a part of Shaw- shin, she made no haste. Four years pass, and 1648, April 9th, she sets aside 1000 acres for a church farm and votes that sundry of her citizens who have " no house right in town " may have " farms at Shawshin." Among others, President Dunster and Daniel Gookin received 500 acres each, and Mr. Mitchell, the minis- ter; and in 1652, she granted more than a hundred lots, varying in size from ten to 450 acres, and a total of 9800 acres, to her citizens. A few months earlier, 1651-52, February 28th, Governor Dudley had sold his large farm to four Woburn men, and after ten years of negotiation and effort the way is at last open for settlers in Shawshin. There are hints of an carly " trucking " house near Vine Brook, which may have preceded the actual coming of settlers in 1652. The death of an infant daughter of Henry Jeft's, May, 1653, is the carliest event noted in the records. The first birth, of Samuel, son of George, Farley, occurred the last week in March, 1654, and in October follow-

ing Shawshin has settlers enough to petition the Court for enlargement on the west side of Concord River, and that the " name of Shawshin henceforth may be calª Billericay." Of the fourteen signers of this petition, ouly Gookin, Champney and Robert Parker were probably not then living in the town, The other cleven are worthy of record here, as fathers of the town. They are: William and John French, John and James Parker, Ralph Hill, father and son, George Farley, Henry Jefts, Jonathan Danforth, John Sterne(s) and William Chamberline.

The purchase by Woburn men of the Dudley farm and the lease of the church's farm to John Parker, gave Woburn a leadership in the beginning of the town, seven of these petitioners being from Woburn. Stearns was from Watertown, and Danforth and the Frenehs only from Cambridge.

Four hundred acres in the heart of the town, bounded west by the river and south by the farm, were appropriated " by the Church in Cambridge for a Towneship." It was located north of the Dudley farm, Charnstaffe Lane being the line between them, and the lane leading east from the Lowell road to the old Bridge-Farmer place is very near its north bound. The east line crossed Andover Street between the Kimball place and that of Eben Baker. House-lots of twenty to thirty acres were granted "upon the Township " to most of the early settlers and " they upon the township " held by agreement a prior claim over "those on Mr. Dudley's farm," in the future dis- tribution of the common lands. This grant fixed the site of the village from the beginning-a site well chosen.

The earliest settlers whose house-lots were on the common land, not on the township or the farm, were William Hamlet and William Tay, in 1656. The grant to Hamlet exhibits the common form used, with slight variations, in case of all the early settlers; and I quote :

"They have granted to him and assignes forever, one tenne-acre lot, or one single share ; that is, one hundred and thirtene acres of upland and twelve acres of meadow land, together with all towne priviledges, after additions and divitions of lands and meadows made or to be made, or granted by the towne, acording to any their towne orders, covenants, or agreements, to any free denison amongst them, according to ye pro- portion of a ten-acre lot, and on this account are the following grants."

His first grant is of fifty-six acres, more or less, "on the North-East corner of bare hill, and on ye south of hogrooten meadow." This meadow of unsavory name lies southeast of the Tompson or Tufts place, and the hill is between the Boston and Lexington Roads, southeast of the village, and east of Dr. Noyes' house. Hamlet's house must have stood near the Crosby place. Tay was on the west of the same hill, at Dr. Noyes' place.

A Braintree company came soon after, and, by 1660, had well occupied the line south and east of the village, along Loes1 Plain as far as Fox Hill. North

1 Framingham, in England, the native town of Danforth, was in

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from the township ran another line of the' earliest farms, Paterson, Hubbard, Bird, Durrant and Haile, who was near the Great Bridge, or Fordway, with Toothaker at the extreme point, the old Rogers place of a latter day by the canal.

The allotment of the common lands to the settlers began promptly, and it was almost 100 years before this land fund was exhausted. The earliest assign- ments were made to several of the township proprie- tors in Loes Plain ; but the first general distribution was of meadow land, which was specially important and valuable, before clearing and culture had made higher grounds productive of the needed supply of grass for winter use. The farm settlers did not share in this first meadow distribution, which was intended to equalize the privilege of the township men with these farm purchasers.

Jonathan Danforth was the early surveyor, as well as for many years the careful town clerk. His hand- writing, still beautiful and wonderfully legible, is for the period most remarkable; and the two early vol- umes of " Land Grants"-the earlier and finer almost entirely written by him-afford ample material for pursuing the details of the land distribution of the town. His record of " Births, Marriages and Deaths," a small and well-preserved parchment-bound volume, is believed to be the most complete and convenient record of the kind which any town in New England has to show for that century. His skill as a surveyor brought his services into requisition in all the region, and very many of the early surveys of towns and farms, preserved in the State Archives and elsewhere, come from his hand. He was the younger brother of the eminent deputy-governor, Thomas Danforth, and of the Rev. Samuel Danforth, colleague, of John Eliot, of Roxbury. He was the intimate and life- long friend of Rev. Samuel Whiting, the first pastor, and it is hardly too much to say that he still deserves recognition as the "first citizen of Billerica."

Billerica had also certain land-grants and dealings beyond her own bounds which furnish an important chapter of her early history. The small grants made by Cambridge in the bounds of Shawshin, numbering more than 100 and embracing 10,000 acres, were not easy to dispose of in a way that would not embarrass the settlement. They were not valuable and attrac- tive enough to draw many of these Cambridge fami- lies here to occupy them ; but the owners would natu- rally seek to make as good a sale of them as they could. While these rights were thus held in suspense, the chance that they might be enforced in some un- welcome form would make the rights in Billerica less attractive to persons who might otherwise purchase and settle here. As a measure of relief from this dif- ficulty, application was made to the General Court

for a grant of lands elsewhere, which met with favor, as follows : 1

"In anst to the peticon of the inhabitants of Billirrikey, this Court doth graunt the toune of Billirrikey eight thousand acres of lands, for the ends desired, in any place or places that are ffree, and not capeable of making a toune, provided that the sajd lands be laid out before the next Court of Election, and that the inhabitants of Cambridg doe accept thereof & disingage the lands desired at Billirikey, & also that the toune of Billirrikey be seted wth twenty familyes at least wthin three yeares, yt the ordinances of God may be setled & encouraged in the sajd place of Billirikey ; & it is ordered, yt Major Willard, Capt. Edw. Johnson, Mr. Edward Jackson, or any two of tbem, wth Thomas Danforth, or any other surveyor, shall lay ye same out at tbe peticoners charge, making retourne to the next Court of Election."

The survey was made by Jonathan Danforth. As described and approved by the Court,2 it was located as follows:

Ancient Maps and Plans (in State Archives). Vol. ii, Index, " Billerica." "Layd out to the vse of the inhabitants of Billirrikey, eight thousand acres of land, lying vpon Merremacke Riuer, on both sides thereof, taking in the trucking howse now inbabitted by Jno. Cromwell, the sajd land being lajd out about sixe thousand three hundred acres, on the East side the river, and about seventeene hundred and fivety acres on the west side tbe sajd riuer, and is bounded by the wildernes surrounding the same, as is demonstrated by a plott tbereof, taken and made hy Jonathan Dan- fortb, survejor, and exhibbited to this Court by Major Symon Willard and Capt. Edward Johnson, appointed by this Court, Octoh. 14, 1656, to lay out tbe same.

"SYMON WILLARD.

"EDWARD JOHNSON."

This survey was the earliest ever made, it is safe to say, in the Merrimack Valley beyond Chelmsford, and is the starting-point in the history of Dunstable. The location was in a part of the valley commonly called Naticook, spelled by Danforth "Naticott." The grant began at the Penichuck Brook, which forms the north bound of Nashua, and extends on the west of the river as far north as the Souhegan River. Then it follows the Souhegan, and for nearly a mile the Merrimack, passing two islands, the larger of which received the surveyor's name " Jonathan ;" then runs eastward two or three miles and southward five or six, returning to its starting-point. This Naticott grant remained for a year in the hands of Billerica, when John Parker received authority to dispose of it. (Grants, page 7.)

"9th, 6m., 1658. It is jointly agreed by vs, the inhabitance of Bil- lerica, That Jobn Parker hath given to him (by the towne) full power to make sale and give assurance of tbat eight thousand acres of land granted to us, and for our use, by the Honord Generall Court, which land lyeth at Natticott, upon merimack River. And we do hereby, fully, clearly, and absolutely give up our wbole interest, right, and title in the same unto the aforesaid John Parker, to make sale of and dispose of as he shall see good for himself & his assigns. Provided always, that the aforesaid John Parker shall purchase, for ye vse & behoofe of the Towne of Billerica aforesaid, all the severall lotts, to the vallue of eight thous- and acres (granted by the towne of Cambridge to their inhabitance), which grants are already entered in their towne hooke, wbich land lyeth witbin the bounds and limits of our town. . . . And in case any of yo proprietors of the aforesaid alotments shall refuse to sell or give them, then the said John shall returne vnto the towne of Billerica six pence per acre for so many acres as shall remain unpurchased, to ye vallue of (or short of the number of ) eight thousand acres, wbich money shall remain to Public Towne use."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 76

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