History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 85

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 85

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

So large is the space in history which this tribe has filled that one is surprised to learn upon investigation how very small was their number. The Pawtuckets, with all their subordinate tribes, numbered only about one thousand souls, a number which appears truly insignificant when we reflect that it equals only one-seventieth part of the present population of Lowell.

The mystery which hangs about the origin and early history of the American Indians, their wild, nomadic life, their humiliating retreat, before the advancing hosts of civilized men, and the cruel wrongs which they have too often suffered, have aroused the sympa- thies of mankind and have been a fruitfui theme of poetry and song. But this kindly sympathy has been too often undeserved. The Pawtuckets were an indo- lent and stolid people. They were very poor husband- men ; they were very poor Christians. The devout Eliot could never form among them a Christian church. The Bible translated by him in the Indian dialect with infinite labor, has had, for generations, probably not a solitary reader. They have left not a single monument, unless the rude implements ex- humed from the soil and the few remaining indications of the ditch which once separated the village of the Indians at Pawtucket Falls from the possessions of the English settlers, may deserve the name of monu- ments.

The aversion of the American Indian to the arts and manners of civilized life, is one of the most re- markable phenomena in the history of the human race. The Caucasian presses forward with eager zeal to reach a higher plane of living, in which his intel- lect may be cultivated, his manners refined, and the comforts of home enjoyed; but the Indian has not only shown to all these blessings a stolid indifference, but has even rejected the proffered boon when pre- sented by the hand of benevolence.

The Indians of the United States at the present time about equal in number the inhabitants of the single city of Boston. The country, with generous hand, has lavished upon them millions of money, and secured to them the possession of immense tracts of

359

TINGSBOROUGH.

land. In an official report by the late General Sheri- dan, they are pronounced the richest people, per cap- ita, in the Nation ; faithful missionaries have been sent among them ; poets have sung their praise; sen- timental writers innumerable have proclaimed their wrongs and cursed the heartlessness of American statesmen, and yet a United States Senator, an advo- cate of the Indian's cause, has confessed that if farms should be allotted to the Indians in severalty, they are not yet sufficiently enlightened to cultivate them and maintain themselves without further aid. An- other member of Congress, also an ardent friend of the Indian, recently, upon exhibiting at one of his lectures, some photographs of Indians taken on his visit among them, remarked to his audience that this method of looking at an Indian was far preferable to seeing him face to face, because the beholder was thus saved from the intolerable odor of the living speci- men. Such is the American Indian after a contact with civilization of more than 200 years.

Doubtless the fertile lands of Tyngsborough, like those of other towns along the Merrimack, had from remote ages in the past been subject to the rude til- lage of the Indian. What that tillage was history af- fords abundant testimony. I will quote here a brief extract from the writings of Jacques Cartier, who sailed up the St. Lawrence in 1535, as given by Haklnyt: "They digge their grounds with certaine peeces of wood as bigge as a halfe a sword, on which ground groweth their corn, which they call 'offici.' It is as bigge as our small peason (peas). They have also great store of Muskemilions, pompions, Gourds, cucumbers, Peason and Beanes of every colour, yet differing from ours." We are told by Cartier, in speaking of the tobacco-plant, that "they fill their bodies full of smoke till it cometh out of their mouth and nostrils, even as out of the Tonnell of a chimney. We ourselnes have tried the same smoke, and having put it in our mouths it seemed almost as hot as pep- per." Roger Williams also tells us that the Indians cultivated a vegetable called " Askutasquash." From this we derive (for short) the name of the squash. The vegetables cultivated by the Indians appear to have been of diminutive size, the seeds of some of which were brought, in a manner unknown to history, from southern climes.

But the earliest civilized settlers on the banks of the Merrimack belonged to the sturdy class of men brought to America by that remarkable movement of the English people in the early part of the reign of Charles I., known in history as the "Puritan Migra- tion." Of this great enterprise John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was the truest and noblest exponent. To understand the character of the earliest settlers of Tyngsborough, it is important, first, to learn the principles which governed and the spirit which moved this remarkable movement of the English people. Before this migra- tion two Colonies had been planted in America by

the English people. The first Colony, planted at Jamestown in 1607, consisted to a very large extent, of enthusiasts misguided by visions of untold wealth, of " broken men " who hoped to retrieve their fortunes, and of adventurers, who loved the excitement of this novel and untried enterprise. Religion was scarcely one of the impelling motives. Adventure was the most potent factor. To command success something better was required. To bear the inevitable hard- ships of this new life in the wilderness there were needed a firm religious faith, and an intelligent and heroic devotion to some great and sacred cause. These were wanting at Jamestown, and the enterprise failed.

The colony planted by the "Pilgrims of Plym- outh," in 1620, possessed precisely what that at Jamestown wanted-a sublime, religious faith and a courage and self-denial which do eternal honor to the human race. But they did not come to colonize America. Their purpose and aim were almost purely religious. They came not with the aggressive spirit of those who dream of empire and renown. They sought a home for their faith, a refuge from persecu- tion, a place to worship God. They were an isolated sect, Brownists or Separatists, not Puritans. Their object was a noble object, and it was nobly attained ; but compared with the great Puritan migration of which we shall now speak, the Plymouth Colony was but a small factor in the settlement of the towns of the New England States.

The Puritan migration had its origin in the dissat- isfaction and disgust of the middle class of English- men with the government of the Stuarts, and the cor- ruption both in church and state which pervaded the kingdom. After the long and brilliant reign of Queen Elizabeth, the English people were not elated at the accession of James the First. It wounded their pride, that a pedantic Scotchman should fill the throne of their glorious Queen. His first appearance in London disgusted his new subjects.

The author of "The History of the English Peo- ple," says of him : "His big head, his slobbering tongue, his quilted clothes, his rickety legs stood out in as grotesque a contrast with all that men recalled of Henry or Elizabeth, as his gabble and rodomon- tade, his want of personal dignity, his buffoonery, his coarseness of speech, his pedantry, his personal cow- ardice." King James and the English people never understood each other. The King had his merits, but the people could not see them ; the people had their rights, but the King never acknowledged them." The King demanded higher prerogatives, the people de- manded greater liberties. As time passed on the breach grew wider. The twenty-three years of his reign were years of comparative peace, but " the King oc- cupied them industriously in rendering monarchy odious and contemptible." The King impoverished his exchequer to enrich his parasites and degrade the pre- rogatives of the Crown by the sale of titles. The ac-

360

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

cession of his son, as Charles the First, did not restore to the Crown the love or confidence of the people. There sprang up on every side among thie inen of the middle class, especially among the Puritans, a pro- found conviction that merit and wortli were no longer rewarded in England. This sentiment pervaded the minds not alone of the poor men and artisans, but of the professional classes, " men of large landed estate, zealous clergymen, shrewd London lawyers, and young scholars from Oxford."

The leader of this great enterprise was John Win- throp, a man of whom it has been said : "He had more influence probably than any other man in form- ing the political institutions of the Northern States of America." Hc was born in Groton, Suffolk County, England, and was bred to the law. When only eighteen years of age he was commissioned jus- tice of the peace. On account of the excellence and piety of his character he was elected Governor of the Company of Massachusetts Bay. This office he held by annual re-election for nineteen years. He died in Boston, in 1649, at the age of sixty-one years. His home was on Washington Street, in Boston, near the site of the Old South Church. The excellence and greatness of his character have been honored by the people of Boston, who have placed his statue in one of the public squares of the city.

Governor Winthrop was a man of no ordinary lit- erary attainments. His numerous writings, still pre- served, give us a clear insight into the motives which led to the great Puritan Emigration. A few extracts will suffice : "It will be a service to the church of great consequence to carry the Gospell into those parts of the world, to helpe on the cumminge of the fullnesse of the Gentiles." "This land [Eng- land] grows weary of its Inhabitants, soe as man, who is the most pretious of all creatures, is here more vile and base then the earth we treade upon, and of less prise among us then an horse or a sheepe." " We are grown to that height of Intemperance in all ex- cesse of Riott, as noe man's estate almost will suffice to keepe saile with his equalls; and he whoe failes herein must live in scorne and contempt." "Men straine at Knatts and swallowe camells, use all sever- ity for mainetaynance of cappes and other accomply- ments, but suffer all ruffianlike fashions and disorder in manners to passe uncontrolled."

Soon after his election in 1630, Governor Winthrop came to America with 800 colonists. A company of 200 had gone before, and before the close of the first year of his Governorship another company of 700 fol- lowed him. These colonists all landed at Salem. During the first eleven years of this emigration 200 emigrant ships had crossed the Atlantic, bringing with them 20,000 Englishmen, very many of whom were men of devout religious character, inspired with a high purpose of founding in America institutions free from the corruptions which had impelled them to leave the land of their birth.

Of these 20,000 colonists a very large portion set- tled in Charlestown and Boston. Boston soon became the residence of the Governor and the scat of govern- ment. It had its name from the English Boston (St. Bodolphi's town), from which many of the colonists had comc. Among the settlers in Boston there were men of wealth and enterprise. The rapidly increas- ing colony spread out into the neighboring country. Especially were the fertile meadows that lay along the rivers sought for new plantations. Haverhill was planted on the Merrimack, and the lands lying far- ther up the stream were eagerly sought for settle- ment. And at this point the history of the settle- ment of the town of Tyngsborough claims our atten- tion.

In performing my task I am greatly aided by the valuable histories of the town of Dunstable by Charles J. Fox, Esq., and the Rev. Elias Nason, and by the article upon Tyngsborough written by Mr. Nason for Drake's "History of Middlesex County." I also am es- pecially indebted to the Hon. William A. Richard- son, chief justice of the Court of Claims at Wash- ington, a native of Tyngsborough, who has gener- ously put into my hands very valuable documents pertaining to the history of the town.

In August, 1652, the valley of the Merrimack, as far north as the outlet of Lake Winnipiseogee, was sur- veyed by Captain Simon Willard and Captain Ed- ward Johnson. This survey was made by the order of the General Assembly of Massachusetts to deter- mine the northern boundary of that Colony. The re- port of this survey brought to public notice a knowl- edge of the rich alluvial lands in the valleys of the Merrimack and Nashua Rivers. The Indians had al- ready cultivated fields all along these valleys, and thus had invited the more enterprising white man to "go up also and possess the land." It was a time of peace between the two races, and no fear of hostile foes deterred the English settlers from pressing north- ward. In 1655 grants of land were made by the gov- ernment of Massachusetts Bay to those who belonged to the exploring expedition of Willard and Johnson. In the next year a large tract including the greater part of the town of Litchfield, New Hampshire, was granted to William Brenton, which was known as Brenton's farm. Other grants rapidly followed, among which were large grants on the Souhegan River, the meadows in Amherst, New Hampshire, 500 acres to Captain William Davis, of Boston, and Cap- tain Isaac Johnson, of Roxbury ; 500 acres to Mrs. Anna Lane, 1000 acres in 1659 to Captain Thomas Savage ; Captain Francis Norton, William Hudson and Jeremiah Houston, to each 250 acres; 300 acres to John Wilson, of Boston; 1000 acres on the Souhegan in Milford, to the town of Charlestown, Massachusetts, for a school farm; 500 acres "adjoining thereto " to Mrs. Anna Cole, and 400 acres, embracing a part of the village of Nashua, to John Whiting. In 1662, 500 acres in Litchfield

361

TYNGSBOROUGH.

were granted to the town of Billerica for a school farm, and 300 acres adjoining to Phinehas Pratt and others "for straights and hardships endured by them in planting at Plymouth of which he was one." Four hundred acres in the town of Pelham were granted to Governor Endicott. A large tract of land in Hudson and Pelham was granted to Henry Kimball, known afterwards as "Henry Kimball's Farm." Samuel Scarlet also had a farm on the north side of Merri- mack River, perhaps in Tyngsborough.

In 1673 a tract of 1000 acres in Nashville was granted to "The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston," embracing the village of Nash- ville and known as the " Artillery Farm," the little pond in it being since known as "Artillery Pond." As early as 1673 various individuals had received grants of 14,000 acres on both sides of the Merrimack and lying north of Chelmsford. These latter grants must have included a large part of the town of Tyngs- borough.

So many separate and independent grants had now been made that it became evident that the common welfare demanded that they should be consolidated into a single plantation, thus securing to them all the advantages of mutual interest and reciprocal aid. To secure this end the proprietors of these grants and others who proposed to settle on adjacent lands, in 1673 addressed a petition to the General Assembly of Massachusetts, the closing clause of which and the names of the subscribers are here transcribed :

"Your Petitioners therefore humbly request the favour of the Honora- ble Court that they will please to grant the said tract of land to your Petitioners and to such as will join with them in the settlement of the lands before mentioned, so that those who have improved their farms there and others who speedily intend to do the same, may be in a way for the support of the public ordinances of God, for without which the greatest part of the year they will be deprived of, the farms lying so far remote from any towns; and further that the Honorable Court will please grant the like immunities to this plantation, as they in their favours have formerly granted to other new Plantations :- So shall your Petitioners be ever engaged to pray :

" Thomas Brattle, Jonathan Tyng, Joseph Wheeler,

James Parkerson, Robert Gibbs, John Turner, Sampson Sheafe,

Thomas Edwards, Thomas Wheeler, Sen. Peter Bulkley, Joseph Parker, John Morse, Sen.

Samuel Combs, James Parker, Jr.,

William Lakin,

John Parker, Josiah Parker,

Abraham Parker,

Nathaniel Blood,

James Knapp,

Robert Parris,

Robert Proctor,

John Jolliffe,

Simon Willard, Jr.,

Zachariah Long."

A charter was granted containing in substance the following conditions : that a minister should be pro- cnred within three years; that there should be twenty or more actual settlers, who should build houses cap- able of defence, at least eighteen feet square; that the owners should live on and improve their lands, and that a meeting-house should be erected.

The closing clauses of the charter, which are not without obscurity, are these : "The court judgeth it meet to grant their request, provided a farme of 500

acres of up land and medow be laid out of this tract for the country's use, aud that they shall in settling the plantation endeavor so to finish it once within three years, and procure an able and orthodox minister amongst them."

A large tract of land thus grauted contained about 200 square miles, or 128,000 acres. The villages of Nashua and Nashville, N. H., are near the centre of the plantation, which included also the towns of Hudson, Hollis, Dunstable and Tyngsborough, as well as parts of Amherst, Milford, Merrimack, Litch- field, Londonderry, Pelham, Brookline, Pepperell and Townsend. The plantation received the name of Dunstable in honor of Mrs. Mary Tyng, wife of Hon. Edward Tyng, one of the magistrates of the State, who came from Dunstable in England.

The high character of many of the grantees of this plantation is worthy of especial notice. John Endi- cott was a man severe, devout and stern, a valiant leader in Indian warfare, and Governor of Massa- chusetts for fifteen years. Joseph Dudley was a graduate of Harvard, president of New England, having the noted Andros as his successor, Governor of Massachusetts and chief justice of the State of New York. Wm. Brenton was Governor of the State of Rhode Island, and once a noted fur-trader. Thomas Brattle was a graduate and treasurer of Har- vard College, and a writer on Astronomy. Peter Bulkley was Speaker of the House of Deputies. Jon- athan Tyng was a highly honored man, distinguished for his courage, and the man most renowned among the early settlers of Tyngsborough. Thomas Weld was the first minister of Dunstable, and Sampson Sheafe was a member of the Provincial Council of New Hampshire. Many of these grantees belonged to Boston, having among them " Assistauts aud Mag- istrates," and men who held honorable positions in life.

This large plantation, when it received its charter, was covered with a heavy growth of pine, oak, wal- nut, maple, birch and other kinds of timber. There were fertile valleys lying along the Merrimack, the Nashua and Souhegan Rivers and their many tribu- tary streams. Wild fowl and fish abounded. The forests were tenanted by bears, wolves and cata- mounts. Here and there were Indian trails leading to their favorite waterfalls and fishing-grounds, around which were their scattered and humble wig- wams. Also, far apart in the wilderness, a few trad- ing-posts had been established by venturesome and enterprising men. Sixteen years before the planta- tion received its charter the General Court had sold the exclusive right of trading with the Indians to Mr. Simon Willard, Mr. Wm. Brenton, Ensign Thomas Wheeler and Major Thomas Henchman, for £25. These trading-posts reached out into the forests far in advance of the dwellings of the ordinary settlers. Of these four traders, Major Henchman, resided in Chelmsford. Eight years later came another "In-

Samuel Scarlet,

362

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

dian trader," John Cromwell, who established his trading-post in Tyngsborough, and who thus became probably the earliest inhabitant of that town. Of this Cromwell there are sundry traditions more or less apocryphal. He was said to have been one of that numerous class of traffickers whose foot weighed just a pound. The Indians who sold him furs and accepted his method of weighing began at length, it was said, to suspect that his foot actually weighed considerably more than a pound, and so, to adjust matters, they drove him away and burned his house. Rev. Mr. Lawrence, in his account of Tyngsborough, 'as given in vol. iv, p. 192 of the second serics of the Massachusetts Historical Collections, tells us that "the present owner of the place was plowing near the spot and found his plow moving over a flat stone which gave a hollow sound," and that "on removing the stone he discovered a hole stoned about six inches in diameter, from which he took a sum of money."

In more recent years a doubt has arisen in regard to the truth of the tradition of the burning of the house, and it is asserted that the inventory of Crom- well's property indicates that he had suffered no such disaster. But Daniel Perham, Esq., of Tyngsbor- ough, a gentleman better versed in the history of Tyngsborough, probably, than any other person, as- sures the writer that the tradition of the house-burn- ing is well founded, and has never till recently been questioned. He has often' heard the story from his mother, whose ancestors were among the early set- tlers. The tradition is that a friendly Indian in- formed Cromwell of the proposed attack, and that Cromwell took care of his treasures, and escaped to a place of observation where he witnessed the burn- ing of his house. . The kettle which contained the buried silver was long kept and used in a family in Tyngsborough. It is somewhat difficult to see how the burning of a trader's log shanty, from which everything valuable had been removed, could so af- fect the trader's property as to show the effect of the disaster long afterwards. The tradition seems reliable.

What seems to be authentically known of John Cromwell, the fur-trader, is this, that he came from Boston to what is now Tyngsborough, prior to 1661, . for the purpose of trading with the Indians; that he purchased of Captain Edward Johnson, of Wo- burn, 300 acres of land on the right bank of the Mer- rimack, and built a house and improved his farm; that he died in 1661, leaving a widow, and an estate valued at £608 2s. 8d. He had two servants, Thomas Williams and Walter Shepherd, who, more than forty years after, testified in respect to this estate. The estate subsequently fell into the possession of Henry Farwell, and afterwards into that of the Ban- croft family. But in regard to Cromwell there is a discrepancy of dates ; for while one author says that he dicd in 1661, another records that "about 1665"

he built a trading-house in the town of Merrimack, near the falls which have since, from him, been called "Cromwell's Falls."

The date of the first settlement of the plan- tation of Dunstable is not given.in history. It is evident that there were settlers established at a period earlier than 1673, the year in which the charter was granted, for Farmer, in his "Catechism of the His- tory of New Hampshire," says: "This town had been settled several years before the date of the char- ter." And in the charter, farms belonging to the plan- tation are mentioned and the names of farmers given. . Two years after the date of charter, orchards are mentioned as already existing on the plantation. The house of Lieutenant Wheeler is designated as a place for the meeting of the proprietors of the plan- tation. Lieutenant Wheeler was a fur-trader and has been thought to be the earliest settler on the plantation. He was evidently a young man, for Cap- tain Thomas Wheeler, of Groton, the noted Indian- fighter, was his father, and at one time resided with him.

The extensive plantation, chartered in 1673, with the name of Dunstable, and embracing a territory of about 200 square miles, included within its bounds several townships and parts of townships, which, subsequently, one by one, as their increasing popula- tion enabled them to do it, withdrew from the plan- tation and received charters of incorporation as inde- pendent towns. And here, perhaps, is the proper place to speak of these towns in the order of their in- corporation. Hudson, N. H., was set off as a town- ship by the General Assembly of Massachusetts, in 1732, under the name of Nottingham. In 1830 the Legislature of New Hampshire changed its name to "Hudson." It was settled thirty-seven years after the plantation was chartered, and became a township fifty-nine years after that date. The open fields ly- ing on the banks of the Merrimack, which the In- dians had cleared of the forest for their planting- grounds, were the first parts of the town to be set- tled. The town is mainly devoted to agriculture. In the Revolutionary War it took a patriotic part.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 85

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