History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 94

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 94

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

shillings apiecc." From this time repeated reference is made in the records to schools of a primary or mixed character.

Among the schoolmasters who served before 1750 arc William Brintnal, Joseph Noyes, Nathaniel Picher, Jonathan Hoar, Samuel Paris, Nathaniel Trask, Jon- athan Loring, John Long, John Balcom, Jolin Mel- len, Samuel Kendall, Ephraim Curtis and Zachery Hicks. Some of these taught for a succession of terms or years. William Brintnal taught a grammar school as late as 1733-34, and receipts are found of Samuel Kendall in 1725 and 1736.

Prior to 1700, school-house accommodations were scant. There was no school building whatever. In 1702 "the town agreed that the school should be kept at the meeting-house half a quarter and the other half quarter at the house of Benjamin Morses." But it is a law of progress that improvement in one direction suggests improvement in another; so with better schools better accommodations were sought for. Jan- uary 1, 1702, the "town voted and paste into an act, to have a convenient scool-hous;" also voted "that the scool-house that shall be built by the town shall be set and erected as near the centre of the town, as may be conveniantly set upon the town's land;" also "that it be twenty feet in length, : : : eighteen feet in breadth, seven feet from the bottom of the cell to the top of the plate, a large chimney to be within the house, the house to be a log-house, made of pine, only the sides to be of white oak bord and shingles to be covered cells with. Also the chimney to be of stone to the mortling and finished with brick. This was paste into an act and vote Jan. 15th 1701-2." At another meeting it was decided "that there should be two scool- houses ; " that they should be of the same dimensions; and "that the one on the east side should be set near to Enoch Cleavland's dwelling-house." It was after- wards voted that "the scool-houses should be builte by a general town acte and that the selectmen should make a rate of money of 20 pounds for their erection." One of the houses was to be placed "by Cleafflands and the other near unto Robert Mans." In 1711 the town voted to have but one school-house, and this school-house was to be built at "ye gravel pitt." "Ye scool-house" here mentioncd was "to be 20 foot long, 16 foot wide, six foot studd, nine foot and a half sparrl. Ye sills to be white oak ye outside, to be borded, and ye bords to be feather-edge. Ye inside to be birch and borded with Ruff bords, lower and uper flower to be bord anda brick Chemne, and two glass windows 18 Enches square pe' window, and the Ruffe to be borded and shingled." It was to be ready for a school by the last of May, 1712. Joseph Parmenter was to make it, and have for pay fourteen pounds.

The evidence is that the desire for school privileges spread, and that the extremity of the town soon sought for increased advantages. April 17, 1719, the town was called upon "to see if it will grant the North west quarter of the towns petition, they desir-

ing the school master some part of the time with thein."

DIVISION OF THE TOWN INTO TWO PRECINCTS .- As in educational matters, so in those pertaining to the church, we find the period prolific in change. Great and important events transpired relating to the mecting-house, the minister and the people. The first change was the dismission of the pastor. On May 22, 1705, the pastoral relation between Rev. James Sherman and the people of Sudbury was dis- solved. But not long was the church left pastorless. The same year of Mr. Sherman's removal a town- meeting was held, in which it was voted " yt ye town will chose a man to preach ye word of God unto us for a quarter of a year." The Rev. Israel Loring was chosen for the term mentioned. He began to preach in Sudbury, Sept. 16, 1705; and the result was he was ordained as pastor, Nov. 20, 1706.

After the settlement of Mr. Loring, ecclesiastical matters were not long in a quiet state. A new sub- ject soon engrossed public attention. There was an attempt made to divide the town into two parochial precincts. The west side people doubtless loved the little hill-side meeting-house, about which were the graves of their friends, and whose history was asso- ciated with so much of their own. Their fondness for it had doubtless increased as the years passed by, and there clustered about it memories of things the sweetest and the saddest that had entered into their checkered experience. Here their children had been offered in baptism ; here had been the bridal and the burial, the weekly greetings and partings, the ex- change of intelligence of heart and home. It had been the place for prayer and the preached word ; a place of watch and ward, and a place of resort in times of danger. But notwithstanding their fondness for the sacred spot, they were too practical a people to allow sentiment to interfere with their true pro- gress, and what they believed to be their spiritual good.

With their extremely slow means of transit, and the rough roads of that period when at their best, it was a long and weary way they had to travel every Sab- bath day; but when the roads became blocked with the drifting snow, or the river was swollen with floods, then it was sometimes a perilous undertaking to reach the east side meeting-house and return. In that primitive period the people of Sudbury did not desire even a good excuse to keep them from public worship ; they were Puritanic in both precept and practice. They would allow no small obstacle to cheat their soul of its rights; but if there were hin- derances in the way to their spiritual helps, they re- quired their immediate removal.

Hence, a movement was inaugurated to divide the town, aud make of it two precincts, in each of which there should be a church. A primary act for the ac- complishment of this purpose was to obtain the con- sent of the General Court. To do this a petition was

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SUDBURY.

presented, which, as it tells its own story, and sets forth the entire case, we will present :

"Petition of the West Side people of Sudtury to Governor Dudley and the General Assembly.

"The petition of ns who are the subscribers living on ye west side of Sudhory great River Humbly showeth that wereas ye All wise and over Ruling providence of ye great God, Lord of Heaven and Earth who is God blessed forever moore, hath cast our lott to fall on that side of the River by Reason of the find of watare, which for a very great part of the yeare doth very much incomode us, and often hy extremity of water and terrible and violent winds, and a great part of the winter by ice, as it is at this present, so that wee are shut up and cannot come forth, and many times when wee doe atempt to git over our flud, we are forced for to seek onr spiritual good with the peril of our Lives.

" Beside the extreme Travill that many of us are Exposed unto sum 3 : 4 : 5 : 6 : miles much more that a Sabbath days Jurney, hy Reason of these and many more objections, to many here to enumerate, wherehy many of our children and little ones, ancient and weak persons, can very Rarly attend the public worship. The cons dered premises we truly pray your Excellency and ye Honorable Council and House of Repre- sentatives to consider and compassionate us in our Extreme suffering condition, and if we may obtain so much favor in your Eyes as to grant us [onr presents] as to appoint ns a Commity to see and consider our circumstances and make report thereof to this honorable Court. And your pore petitioners shall ever pray.

"Sndbury, January 15th 170g.

" John Goodnow. John haines.

John haynes, Jr. Robert Man his mark.

John Brigham.

Benjamin wright.

David Haynes.

Prefer haines.

Thomas Brintnal. Edward Goodnow his mark.

John Goodenow, jr.

Ephraim Garfield, his mark.

John brigham. Samuel willis. Juseph willis. Richard Sanger.

Thomas Smith, Junior. Jonathan Rice."

Tho : Smith. Juseph Hayes [Haynes]. timothy gibson, Jr. Joseph F. Jewel (bis mark). Isaac Mellen. Melo C. Taylor (bis mark). John Balcons. Joseph Balcom.

(State Archives, vol. ii., page 221.)

After repeated discussion of the subject, and years had elapsed, permission was given to the west side people to erect a meeting-house and maintain a min- ister. At a town-meeting, December 26, 1721, held at the house of Mr. George Pitts, it was agreed "to grant 24 pounds for preaching for the present on the westerly side of the river." It was also decided at that meeting to choose a committee to present a peti- tion to the General Court, " that ye west side inhabit- ants may have liberty to place their meeting-house on ye rocky plaine;" which request was granted.

The preliminary work of forming two parochial precincts was now completed; it only remained to adjust ecclesiastical relations to the new order of things, and provide whatever was essential to its suc- cess. The church was to be divided, ministers se- cured and a meeting-house built. All these came about in due time. After the decision, in December, 1721, "to have the preaching of the word amongst us," and the granting of money to meet the expense, Rev. Mr. Minot was invited to preach six Sabbaths in

the West Precinct. It may be that about this time Mr. Loring preached some on the west side, since on the town debt, as recorded April 9, 1722, there stands this statement : "To Mr. Israel Loring to ye support- ing ye ministry on both [sides] ye river in Sudbury 80. 0. 0."

But more permanent arrangements were soon made. On the 6th of June, 1722, they extended a call to Rev. Israel Loring, and offered &£100 for his settlement." July 10th Mr. Loring responded to the invitation in the following word>: "To the Inhabit- ants of the west Precinct in Sudbury : I accept of the kind invitation you have given me to come over and settle and be the minister of the Westerly Precinct." A few days after the above invitation the east side invited him to remain with them, and took measures to provide for " their now settled minister, Mr. Israel Loring." The day after replying to the first invita- tion, he wrote to the east side people informing :liem of his decision to leave them and settle in the West Precinct. Mr. Loring moved to the west side, July 25, 1723. (Stearns Collection ) He lived about a mile toward the north part of the town, in what was afterwards an old red house, on the William Hunt place, that was torn down some years since. He sub- sequently lived at the centre, on what is known as the Wheeler Haynes place.

The church records by Mr. Loring state as follows : "Feb. 11, 1723. The church met at my house, where, after the brethren on the east side had manifested their desire that the church might be divided into two churches, it was so voted by majority." At the time of the division of the church, the number of communicants on the west side was thirty-two males and forty-two females. (Stearns Collection.) The church records went into the possession of the West Parish.

While ecclesiastical matters were in process of ad- justment on the west side, they were progressing towards a settlement on the east side also. It is stated that the East Precinct was organized June 25, 1722. When the effort to secure the services of Mr. Loring proved futile, a call was extended to Rev. William Cook, a native of Hadley, Mass., and a grad- uate of Harvard College. The call being accepted, Mr. Cook was ordained March 20, 1723, and continued their pastor until his death, November 12, 1760. The town granted eighty pounds to support preaching on both sides of the river for half a year.

NEW MEETING-HOUSES .- An important matter, in connection with the new order of thing-, was the erection of new meeting-houses. This work re- ceived prompt attention. "At a town-meeting, Jan- uary 22 : 1723 the town granted five hundred pounds to build a new meeting-house on the west side, and repair the old one on the east side, three hundred and eighty pounds for the new, and one. hundred and twenty pounds for the repairing of the old on the east side." The sum for repairing the old house was at a

William Walker. George Parmenter.

David how. George Parmenter, Jr. Joseph Parmenter.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

subsequent meeting inade one hundred and fifty pounds.

The meeting-house in the West Precinct was placed on the site of the present Unitarian Church in Sud- bury Centre. The location was probably selected because central to the inhabitants of the West Pre- cinct.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS .- In the French and Indian Wars the town repeatedly sent soldiers to the field who did valiant service for their country. In the third French war it sent men for the capture of Cape Breton; and in the defence of No. 4, a fort on the Connecticut River, at what is now Charleston, N. H., Captain Phineas Stevens, a native of Sudbury, did conspicuous service. Mr. Stevens was born in Sudbury, February 20, 1700, and a few years later he went with his father to Rutland. About 1740, he went to the New Hampshire frontier, and after the construction of Fort No. 4, he became its commander, and assisted bravely in its defense. In the arduous task he was aided for a time, in 1746, by Captain Josiah Brown, who went from Sudbury with a troop of horse. In the fourth French and Indian War Sudbury soldiers were again at the front, and did ser- vice in the various expeditions of that period.

In 1755 a regiment was raised, and placed under command of Colonel Josiah Brown, of Sudbury, for the purpose of preventing the encroachments of the French about Crown Point and upon " Lake Iroquois, commonly called by the French, Lake Champlain." The regiment belonged to the command of William Johnson. The following is a list of the field and staff officers :

Josiah Brown, Col. Samuel Brigham, Surgeon.

John Cumimiugs, Lt. Col.

Benjamin Gott, Surgeon's Mate.

Steven Miller, Major.

David Mason, Commissary.

Samuel Dunbar, Chaplain.

Joseph Lovering, Adjutant.

Sept. 10, 1755, Samuel Dakin received a commission as captain of foot in this regiment. The muster-roll of his company contains forty-eight names, of which sixteen are supposed to be from Sudbury.

In a second list of Capt. Dakin's men eighteen are supposed to be from Sudbury ; and in a third list are seventeen names supposed to be of Sudbury men. Besides these, there were some who served in other companies. Some were in Capt. Josiah Rich- ardson's company, and some in Capt. John Nixon's.

In one of the expeditions of this war the town sus- tained the loss of Capt. Dakin and several others of its citizens, who were killed by the Indians at Half- Way Brook, near Fort Edward, July 20, 1758. At the time of this event Capt. Dakin and his company were connected with the expedition of General Am- herst against Crown Point. The following brief ac- count of the attendant circumstances are stated in a diary kept by Lieut. Samuel Thomson, of Woburn :

"July 20, Thursday in the morning, 10 men in a scout waylaid by the Indians and shot at and larined the fort and a number of our men went out to assist

them, and the enemy followed our men down to our Fort, and in their retreat Capt. Jones and Lieut. Godfrey were killed, and Capt. Lawrence and Capt. Dakin and Lieut. Curtis and Ens" Davis, and two or three non-commissioned officers and privates, to the number of 14 men, who were brought into the Fort, all scalped but Ens" Davis, who was killed within 30 or 40 rods from the Fort: and there was one grave dug, and all of them were buried together, the officers by themselves at one end, and the rest at the other end of the grave ; and Mr. Morrill made a prayer at the grave, and it was a solemn funeral ; and Nath1 Eaton died in the Fort and was buried ; and we kept a very strong guard that night of 100 men. Haggit [and] Wm Coggin wounded."

Then follows a list of the killed, beginning :

" Capt. Ebenezer Jones of Willmington Capt. Dakin of Sudbury Lieut. Samuell Curtice of Ditto Private Gront of do "

Samuel Dakin was a son of Deacon Joseph Dakin, whose father, Thomas, settled in Concord prior to 1650. In 1722 he married Mercy Minott, daughter of Col. Minott, who built the first framed house in Concord. The farm of Capt. Dakin was in the north- ern part of Sudbury, on the road running northerly to Concord, his house being very near the town boun- dary. As early as 1745 he was appointed ensign of the second company of foot in Sudbury, of which Josiah Richardson was captain and Joseph Buck- minster was colonel. Sept. 10, 1755, he received the commission of captain in Col. Josiah Brown's regi- ment.

Capt. Dakin was a devout Christian. Just before going on this last expedition, he renewed a solemn covenant with God which he had made some years previous. This covenant is still extant.

Among other services rendered by the town was the maintenance of what were termed French Neu- trals, the people whom Longfellow has described in his poem "Evangeline."

One thousand of these French Neutrals arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Province, and were supported at public expense. Different towns, among which was Sudbury, had their quota to care for. Repeatedly is there a record of supplies furnished them by the town. The following is a general statement of some of these :

" An account of what hath been expended by sd Town of Sudbury on Sundry French Persons sent from Nova Scotia to this province and by sd government to town of Sudbury.

"The subsisting of Eighteen persons ten days-six persons three weeks, and four persons twenty-three weeks, the whole amounting to one hundred and twenty-seven weeks for one person charged at four shillings woek for each person £25 - 8s.

Ephraim Curtis Josinh Brown

Ebenezer Roby

Josiah Haynes

John Noyes

Sammel Dakin

Elijah Smith. Selectmen.

"Some of them being sick n great many comers and goers to visit them made the expense tho greater even thirteen or fourteen ut a time for a woek together."

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SUDBURY.

THE WORK-HOUSE .- In 1753, a movement was made to establish a work-house in Sudbury. At the above-named date a vote was taken, when "it passed very fully in the affirmative, that it [the town] would provide a Work House in sd town, that Idle & Dis- orderly People may be properly Employed."

As evidence of further modes of discipline em- ployed in this period, we find that, in 1760, the town allowed payment to Col. Noyes for making stocks, and also for four staves for the tithingmen. In the warrant for a town-meeting in 1757, is the following article : "To see what the town will do with regard to Dido, a Negro woman who is now upon charge in this town." With regard to this Dido the town or- dered the selectmen "to make strict inquiries who brought Dido into town."

Another institution introduced into the town in this period was the pest-house. Tradition points to several localities, which at that time were within the town limits, where pest-houses were situated. The site of one of these is at Nobscot Hill. On the east- ern side of the hill, on land owned by Mr. Hubbard Brown, and a short distance from a small pond, are the graves of the small-pox victims. They are clustered together beneath a small growth of pines that are now scattered over that briar-grown spot; and the wind, as it sweeps through the branches of this little pine grove, and the occasional note of the wildwood bird, alone break the stillness and disturb the loneli- ness of that forest burial-place.

Iu 1760, Rev. William Cook died, and Nov. 4, 1761, Rev. Josiah Bridge was ordained his successor. On March 9, 1772, Rev. Israel Loring passed away, and Nov. 11, 1772, Rev. Jacob Bigelow was ordained for the pastorate.

SKETCH OF MR. LORING .- The service of Mr. Loring in the church at Sudbury was long and fruit- ful. He died in the ninetieth year of his age and the sixty-sixth year of his ministry. It was said of him that "as he earnestly desired and prayed that he might be serviceable as long as he should live, so it pleased God to vouchsafe his request, for he continued to preach 'till the last Sabbath but one before his death, and the next day prayed in the town-meeting, which was on the 2nd day of the month. The night following he was taken ill, and on the 9th of March, 1772, he expired." Mr. Loring had pious parentage. His father, Mr. John Loring, of Hull, came from England, December 22, 1634. It has been said of him that, like Obadiah, "he feared the Lord greatly." His mother was also religious, and "prayed with her family in her husband's absence." Mr. Loring was born at Hull, Ma-s., April 6, 1682. It is supposed he was converted in his youth. He graduated at Har- vard College in 1701. He began to preach at Scituate, Lower Parish, August 1, 1703, and preached first at Sudbury July 29, 1705. On the fidelity of Mr. Loring's ministry we need offer no comments : his works are his meanorials. At the time of his installa-

tiou at Sudbury the church numbered one hundred and twenty,-forty-one males and seventy-nine females. During his ministry four hundred and fifty were added to it; of these, forty-two males and seventy-two females were added before the division of the church, and, after the division, there were added to the West Church one hundred and twenty-nine males and two hundred and seven females. The whole number of children baptized by Mr. Loring in Sudbury was fourteen hundred.

For a time preceding the Revolution, the West Side was divided into the North and South Wards. In 1765, Richard Heard offered to collect the taxes on the East Side the river for three pence per pound if they would appoint him collector and constable ; and Aaron Haynes offered to collect them for the North Ward, West Side, and Jedediah Parmenter for the South Ward at the same rates.

In 1765, the town "voted to build a new stone pound between Lieut. Augustus Moors' dwelling- house at the gravel pit, on Col. Noyes' land which he promised to give the town to set a pound on by Dead." The pound was to be "30 feet square from Endside to Endside, 6 ft. high with pieces of timber locked together round the top 8 inches square, for six pounds and the old pound."

In 1771, the town voted to build a powder-house in which to keep the town's stock of ammunition. It granted for this object "7 pounds 9 shillings and 4 pence, and agreed with Col. John Noyes to build it, and place it near or on Wm Baldwin's land near Major Curtis '." Another record of the same year states that " the town voted to erect the powder-house on the training field near Mr. Elisha Wheelers." In 1773, it " voted to remove the powder-house to some suitable place on or near the gravel pit hill, and chose a committee to remove the same, if the com- mittee should think the house will be sufficient for the use it was built for, and rough cast and underpin said building."

REVOLUTIONARY WAR .- The period from 1775 to 1800, in this country, may truly be termed the period of the Revolution. It witnessed the commencement and close of arined opposition to the Britsh Crown, and the establishment in America of a new nation- ality. In the work of overthrowing the old and es- tablishing a new government, the several provincial towns had a common concern; each supplied its quota and each stood ready to respond to the country's call. Sudbury, on account of its situation and size, bore a prominent part. It was the most populous town in Middlesex County ; its territory was extensive, and for a time in close proximity to the seat of war; for these reasons much was expected of it, and its patriotism was equal to the demand.

The town was usually present, by delegates, in re- sponse to all calls, and her vote was stanch for the Continental cause. In 1770, the people manifested their hearty appreciation of the agreement of

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

merchants in Boston "to stop the importation of British goods, and engaged for themselves and all within their influence, to countenance and encourage the same." At an carly day they chose a committee to ' prepare and present instructions to Peter Noyes, Representative to the General Court, in regard to the Stamp Act, which set forth their opinions very strongly concerning that petty piece of tyranny. Record after record appears on the town-book, of resolutions and acts that show how positive the people were in their patriotism, and how pronounced they were in declaring it. These are of such a character that to give a few of them will suffice.

"1773. The Town being met the committee appointed by the town to take into consideration the affair relating to the Tea sent here by the East India Company, reported as follows, viz. :

" Taking into Consideration the late Conduct of administration, to- gether with an act of Parliament enabling the East India Company to expo t their Teas unto America Free of all Duties and Customs, Regul- lations and penalties in America as are provided by the Revenne Act ; we are justly alarmed at this Detestable Craft and Policy of the Min- istry to deprive ns of our American Liberties Transmitted to us by our Worthy Ancestors, at no less expense than that of their Blood and Treasure. That price our Renowned Forefathers freely paid, that they might transmit those Glorious Liberties, as a free, full, and fair inher- itance to Posterity, which liberties through the Indulgent Smiles of Heaven, we have possessed in peace and Quietness, till within a few years Past (Excepting in the reign of the Detestable Stewarts) but now Behold ! the pleasing scene is changed, the British ministry, assisted by the Inveterate Enemies to American Liberty on this as well as on the other side of the Atlantick, Combining together to Rob ns of our dear bought freedom, have Brought us to this sad Dilemma, either to re- solve like men in defense of our just Rights and Liberties, or sink nnder the weight of their Arbitrary and unconstitutional measures into a State of abject Slavery. Therefore as Freeborn Americans Intitled to all the immuuities, Liberties and Privileges of Freeborn [Englishmen, we look upon onrselves uuder the Strongest Obligations to use our utinost Exertions in defense of our just Rights in every constitutional method within our power, Even though the Cost of the Defense should equal that of the purchase. Therefore resolved

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 94

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