USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880 > Part 30
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NAMES.
AMOUNT.
NAMES.
AMOUNT.
NAMES.
AMOUNT.
Ezra Allen,
$ .69
Abishai Cottle, jr.,
$ .69
Thomas Harbach,
$12.72
Chapin Allen,
.69
Eleanor Dana,
4.13
Thomas Hovey,
12.04
Josiah Bacon,
15.31
Isaac Dana,
4.66
do. for Est. in Brighton, Aaron Hyde,
3.45
Estate of do. do.
16.38
Timothy Davis,
3.87
Stephen Hovey,
11.77
Silas Bacon,
1.00
Widow Mary Durell,
3.49
Nath'l R. Harbach,
1.01
John Bullough,
2.91
John C. Davis,
.96
Edward Hart,
4.25
David Bushee,
2.49
Samuel Floyd,
2.91
John W. Harbach,
.69
Bowen Barker,
1.01
Isaiah Fiske,
10.76
Edmund Haskell,
1.33
Henry Brigham,
.69
Phineas Goodnough,
7.52
Amos Hyde,
.69
Edward D. Brooks,
2.49
Sewell Gray,
.69
John Jones,
.69
Ebenezer Brown,
.69
Jesse Gay,
.69
Antipas Jackson, jr.,
3.14
Michael Bartlett,
1.22
Isaac Hall,
2.38
Robert Jefts,
8.52
Joshua Bartlett, jr.,
.69
William Hobbs,
3.07
Phineas Johnson,
.69
William Bishop,
.69
George Hall, 2nd,
.69
Widow Ann King,
1.76
Amos Blodgett,
1.65
David Hall, 2nd,
.69
Estate of Ebenezer King,
3.71
Chester Bullard,
.69
~Aaron Hastings,
.69
John Kingsbury,
5.25
Jonathan Bowditch,
.69
Seneca Harrington,
Stephen Keyes,
.85
Estate of Isabella Clark,
.79
John Hastings, jr.,
.69
Isaac Keyes,
2.28
do. for Thomas Clark,
.96
Peter Hanson,
2.28
Asa Kingsbury, 2nd,
3.92
do. for Adeline Clark,
1.06
David Hall,
6.63
William King,
.69
do. for Isabella Clark,
1.17
Gilman Hodgeman,
.69
Lauren Kingsbury,
.69
Joshua Coolidge,
8.21
Elisha Hyde,
5.25
Noah King,
8.01
Lucy Cook,
3.98
Elisha Hyde, jr.,
.75
do. for Hall land,
1.33
Seth Colburne,
8.74
James Hyde,
5.25
Charles King,
7.42
Ebenezer I. Colburne,
.69
Elisha Hall,
3.19
6.76
Cyrus Cunningham,
1.75
Israel Hutchinson,
9.56
Peter Lyon,
7.85
Nehemiah Carpenter,
4.61
Gershom Hyde,
3.08
Jesse Lyon,
2.18
Jonathan Bixby,
14.94
Seth Davis,
10.86
1.91
FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY.
307
Peres Lothrop,
.69
NAMES.
AMOUNT.
NAMES.
AMOUNT.
NAMES.
AMOUNT.
James Lentell,
$ .69
Daniel Richards,
$ 9.54
Martin P. Sturtevant,
$ 2.28
William Mead,
1.65
Solomon Richards,
2.76
George Sanderson,
1.12
Dana Manson,
1.96
Enoch Richards,
3.08
Gilman Smith,
Joshua Merritt,
.69
Aaron Richards,
9.76
John M. Smith,
Ebenezer Noyes,
6.68
Asa Richardson,
.80
Ithiel Smith,
Nathaniel Norcross,
9.75
Samuel Ray,
.69
John Sargent,
James Norcross,
4.29
Daniel Rand,
7.48
Samuel Scott,
.69
Thomas McNoah,
5.78
Ira Rand,
1.65
Lot Thayer,
.69
Enoch Noyes,
.69
Jonas Reed,
.69
E. & E. Thayer,
6.10
Benjamin Parker,
2.71
Josiah Stone,
3.29
4.88
Caleb Parker,
3.87
James Simmons,
.69
Samuel Trowbridge, do. for Hyde farm,
3.23
Nathan Pettee,
10.50
Estate of Reuben Stone,
12.03
Sibley S. Turner,
.69
William Palmer,
9.55
do. as guardian to M. A.
John M. Upham,
1.33
Amos Pierce,
4.98
D. Parker,
.48
Thaddeus Whitney , -
1.75
Lemuel Pratt,
4.19
Ebenezer Stone,
.69
Japheth White,
Ellis Prentice,
5.62
Samuel Stone,
10.02
David Wardwell,
.69
Abraham Parker,
2.97
do. for Winchester land,
.58
Barney L. White,
1.01
Enoch Perkins,
.69
Elijah Stone,
3.87
Amasa Winchester,
11.92
Elijah Pratt,
.69
Henry Smith,
4.99
Elisha Wiswall,
4.19
Thomas Richardson,
8.16
Abijah Stone,
2.07
This period was anterior to the colonization of churches from the original hive, and includes persons whose residences ranged over a wide circle. We recognize names belonging in Newton Corner, West Newton, New- ton Upper Falls, Watertown, Brighton, Waltham and Needham, besides those of persons properly recorded as residents in the South and East parts of Newton and Newton Centre.
308
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
CHAPTER XXV.
FREEHOLDERS IN 1679 AND 1798.
THE list of freeholders in the town at various dates brings into view the forms of living men who once tilled the fields, and walked these streets, and debated at town meetings and worshipped together on the Sabbath. The two lists which follow, separated by a period of a hundred and nineteen years, indicate the gradual growth of the town. The first list numbers sixty-three names ; the second, two hundred and eleven. The first belongs to a date after the town had become a fixed fact, forty years after the earli- est settlement ; the second, to a date after the machinery of the government had settled into regularity subsequent to the Revo- lution.
FREEHOLDERS IN NEWTON IN 1679.
NAMES.
DATE OF DEATH.
NAMES.
DATE OF DEATH.
Samuel Hyde,
1689
Nehemiah Hobart,
1712
Edward Jackson,
1681
John Mason,
1730
John Parker (east),
1713
John Woodward,
1732
Jonathan Hyde,
1711
John Clark,
1695
John Fuller,
1698
Joseph Miller,
1697
Thomas Prentice,
1709
William Robinson,
Daniel Bacon,
1691
Abraham Jackson,
1740
Thomas Wiswall,
1683
Sebas Jackson,
1690
John Ward,
1708
John Kenrick, jr.,
1721
Thomas Park,
1690
Elijah Kenrick,
1680
James Prentice,
1710
Joseph Bartlett,
1702
Vincent Druce,
1678
John Smith,
John Spring,
1717
John Mirick,
1706
Isaac Williams,
1708
Simon Ong,
1678
James Trowbridge,
1717
David Meade,
Gregory Cook,
1690
Neal McDaniel,
1694
Humphrey Osland,
1720
John Alexander,
1696
John Kenrick,
1686
Daniel Ray,
1710
Thomas Greenwood,
1693
Isaac Beach,
1735
Samuel Truesdale,
1695
Peter Stanchet,
Henry Seger,
Isaac Bacon,
1684
309
310
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
FREEHOLDERS IN NEWTON IN 1679.
NAMES.
DATE OF DEATH.
NAMES.
DATE OF DEATH.
Jacob Bacon,
1709
Job Hyde,
1685
John Fuller, jr.,
1720
Samuel Hyde, 2d, son of Job,
1741
Joshua Fuller,
1752
Samuel Hyde, son of Jonathan,
-
Jeremiah Fuller,
1743
Thomas Prentice,
1710
Noah Wiswall,
Thomas Prentice, son of James,
Thomas Hammond,
1738
John Parker (south),
1686
Nathaniel Hyde,
Stephen Cook,
1738
Jonathan Hyde, jr.,
1731
Richard Parks,
1725
John Hyde,
1738
Thomas Parks, jr.
1682
FREEHOLDERS IN 1798, WITH THEIR ESTATES AND VALUATION.
The following names, estates and valuations were taken from the Books of the Assessors, who were appointed under an Act of the Congress of the United States passed in 1798, levying a direct tax upon the country of two millions of dollars. Principal assessor of the District, Artemas Ward ; assistants for Newton, Ebenezer Woodward and Joseph Jackson. Property exempted by State laws was not to be assessed, nor dwelling-houses of a valuation of less than one hundred dollars. Taken October 1, 1798.
In the list of owners and occupants, the names of tenants are indented.
OWNERS AND OCCUPANTS.
HOUSES.
VALUE.
ACRES.
VALUE.
TOTAL VALUE.
Adams Joseph, jr.
1
$ 140
18
$ 600
$ 740
Adams Roger,
1
300
16
900
1,200
Adams Smith,
1
65
40
1,030
1,095
Bartlett David and Joshua,
1
300
104
2,498
2,798
Bartlett Elisha,
1
118
118
1,830
1,948
Blake Joseph,
1
4,000
180
5,425
9,425
Tracy Daniel,
1
433
433
Downing John,
1
130
16
130
Beal Thomas,
1
250
19
619
869
Bixby Jonathan,
1
475
19
1,366
1,841
Blanden Francis, heirs,
1
50
14
180
230
Bullough Joseph,
1
105
40
1,000
1,105
Boies John,
1
250
250
Woodcock Nathaniel,
1
Cheney Aaron,
1
160
41
1,170
1,330
Jonathan Fuller,
1722
Joseph Fuller,
1740
Ebenezer Hammond,
311
FREEHOLDERS IN 1798.
OWNERS AND OCCUPANTS.
HOUSES.
VALUE.
ACRES.
VALUE.
TOTAL VALUE.
Cheney William,
1
14
$ 140
$ 140
Cheney Ebenezer,
1
$ 390
50
1,500
1,890
Child Daniel,
1
200
50
1,126
1,326
Coney David,
1
190
46
1,080
1,270
Curtis Obadiah,
1
1,000
80
3,972
4,972
Comey Ezra,
1
250
22
586
836
Cushing Thomas,
1
1,250
57
2,157
3,407
Hyde William,
1
120
14
420
540
Cushing Edward,
1
700
93
2,586
3,286
Norcross Josiah,
1
160
8
336
496
Craft Joseph,
1
245
78
2,612
2,857
Cookson Lydia and Betsey, Hovey Thomas, Maj.,
1
120
50
700
820
Clark Daniel,
1
335
98
2,094
2,429
Clark Norman,
1
685
90
2,830
3,515
Clark Norman,
1
50
100
2,911
2,961
Cook Jonathan,
1
106
65
1.899
2,005
Cook Benjamin,
1
385
4
366
751
Cutler Richard,
1
370
100
2,546
2,916
Curtis Solomon,
1
385
10
1,875
2,260
Curtis Thomas,
1
400
400
Crane Stephen,
1
215
119
2,152
2,367
Deblois Sarah,
1
760
100
2,790
3,550
Daniels Timothy,
1
169
5
225
394
Durell Peter,
2
350
20
836
1,186
Durell David,
350
26
1,048
1,398
Durell John,
1
110
50
944
1,054
Durant Mary,
300
Greenleaf William,
1
390
4
271
661
Dix Samuel,
1
106
35
653
759
Elliot Simon,
1
900
53
6,455
7,355
Elliot Simon,
1
300
3
350
650
Elliot Simon,
1
725
725
Eustis Thomas,
1
500
88
1,731
2,231
Fuller Sarah,
1
360
360
Fuller Josiah,
1
650
1
355
1,005
Fuller Amariah,
1
309
50
1,090
1,399
Fuller Nathan,
1
600
75
1,870
2,470
Fuller Edward,
1
105
70
1,986
2,091
Fuller Joshua and David,
1
212
155
3,544
3,756
Fuller Elener,
11
135
135
Fuller Joseph, jr.,
1
550
63
1,765
2,315
Fuller Nathaniel,
1
1
105
41
837
942
Bartlett Luke,
Greenough Rev. William,
1
23
not taxed. do.
Homer Rev. Jonathan,
1
33
do.
Hall Edward,
1
160
129
2,588
2,748
1
40
40
Curtis and Eliot,
Collins Matthias,
20
320
320
Craft Henry,
545
545
Davis Aaron,
300
249
9,351
9,627
Fuller Joseph,
276
17
314
314
Grimes James,
Grafton Rev. Joseph,
1
9
Durant Thomas,
312
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
OWNERS AND OCCUPANTS.
HOUSES.
VALUE.
ACRES.
VALUE.
TOTAL VALUE.
Hall Samuel,
1
$ 350
60
$1,471
$1,821
Hall Solomon,
1
190
61
350
540
Hyde Thaddeus,
1
200
53
1,828
2,028
Hyde John,
1
375
33
1,129
1,504
Hyde Elisha,
40
24
855
895
Hyde Susanna,
1
105
29
948
1,053
Hyde Mary,
106
38
1,124
1,230
Hyde Amos,
1
900
74
1,500
2,400
Hoogs William, jr.,
1
190
50
1,500
2,052
Coolidge Isaac,
1
775
75
1,688
2,463
Bell William,
1
1,100
26
900
2,000
Stearns Dr. Luther,
1
2,450
10
566
3,016
Hammond William,
1
835
81
789
1,624
Hammond Benjamin and Ben- jamin, jr.,
1
734
141
3,656
4,390
Hammond Thomas,
1
370
60
1,540
1,910
Hastings Thomas, 2nd,
1
830
1
75
905
Hastings John,
1
900
25
561
1,461
Hastings Samuel,
230
Hastings Daniel,
1
200
200
Hastings Daniel,
1
762
21
946
1,708
Learned,
1
1,700
16
1,875
3,575
Jackson Col. Michael,
569
96
2,993
3,562
Jackson Michael, jr.,
560
6
150
710
Jackson Simon,
1
370
49
781
1,151
Jackson Timothy,
1
395
54
2,108
2,503
Jackson Edward,
1
800
89
1,785
2,585
Jackson Samuel,
1
5
270
270
Jackson Daniel and Joshua,
1
370
65
1,190
1,560
Jackson Oliver,
1
40
1
62
102
Jackson Joseph, jr.,
1
300
66
1,348
1,648
Jennison Phineas,
1
149
65
2,023
2,172
Jarvis Caleb and Bemis Luke,
1
250
250
King Dr. John,
1
450
36
99
1,446
King John, jr.,
1
140
92
1,720
1,860
King Noah,
1
105
105
King Henry,
1
470
73
1,102
1,572
Kenrick John,
1
280
280
Kenrick John, jr.,
1
600
85
3,337
3,937
Kenrick Caleb,
1
475
68
2,490
2,965
Kimball Richard,
1
140
72
1,197
1,337
Lenox Cornelius,
1
20
2
10
120
Matthews John,
1
590
130
2,410
3,000
Munroe Oliver,
545
545
Moore Reuben, Glyde Samuel,
1
245
86
3,351
3,596
Murdock Samuel,
1
545
112
3,317
3,862
Murdock Robert,
8
197
197
12
220
220
Hyde Samuel,
22
530
530
Hyde Daniel,
19
260
260
Hoogs William,
190
Hull Gen. William,
₴
552
230
20
656
886
Hunnewell Jonathan,
230
Widow Lois Parker,
300
.300
Moore Reuben,
313
FREEHOLDERS IN 1798.
OWNERS AND OCCUPANTS.
HOUSES.
VALUE.
ACRES.
VALUE.
TOTAL VALUE.
Murdock Elisha,
$ 150
52
$1,275
$1,425
Murdock Widow Esther,
150
23
719
869
Mitchell Edward,
1
715
67
1,912
2,627
Marshall Abigail,
1
720
74
794
Norcross Josiah,
1
550
105
3,829
4,379
Norcross Nathaniel,
1
260
260
Neal William,
312
Nutting Samuel,
1
109
46
1,700
1,809
Parker Samuel,
1
335
54
1,901
2,236
Parker Jonathan,
1
300
93
2,200
2,500
Parker Joseph,
1
230
104
1,603
1,833
Palmer John,
1
275
95
2,006
2,281
Park Joshua,
1
475
15
888
1,363
Park Amasa,
1
375
37
1,120
1,495
Prentice Robert,
1
105
44
1,333
1,438
Peck John,
1
600
84
3,130
3,730
Pigeon John,
1
600
2₺
290
890
Pigeon Henry, Jackson Daniel,
2
850
150
3,461
4,311
Pratt Thomas,
1
1,120
69
2,444
3,564
Rogers John,
1
760
18
1,430
2,190
Rogers John, jr.,
1
830
38
1,681
2,511
Richardson Samuel,
1
285
88
986
1,271
Richardson Jeremiah,
1
475
44
1,457
1,926
Richards Daniel,
1
315
145
3,288
3,603
Richards Solomon,
1
320
100
3,250
3,570
Richards Aaron,
1
550
52
1,665
2,215
Richards Thaddeus,
1
340
35
1,150
1,490
Richards James,
77
1,852
1,852
Richardson Ebenezer,
1
360
30
545
905
Richardson David,
1
120
43
170
290
Robinson Bradbury,
Pritchard Joseph and Town Jonathan,
1
215
40
255
Robbins Solomon,
1
140
22
600
740
Robbins Eliphalet,
1
170
2
150
320
Stone Dea. David,
1
415
56
1,817
2,232
Stone John, heirs of
1
725
78
2,079
2,804
Stone Jonas, jr.,
1
340
52
1,346
1,686
Stone James,
1
400
56
1,575
1,975
Stone Ebenezer,
1
825
100
2,392
3,217
Shepard Elizabeth,
1
600
160
3,240
3,840
Daniels O.,
1
300
118
3,900
4,200
Seaverns Elisha,
1
600
81
1,956
2,556
Starr Dr. Ebenezer,
1
250
250
Smith Enoch,
1
300
6
495
795
Tolman Thomas,
1
106
9
255
361
Trowbridge Edward,
1
200
83
2,164
2,364
Trow bridge Samuel,
1
360
82
1,989
2,349
Thwing Nicholas,
1
208
80
1,527
1,735
Torrey Samuel,
1
200
IA
60
260
Thwing John,
1
390
98
3,180
3,570
1
109.
109
Porter Amasa,
1
400
400
312
Spring Dr. Marshall, Jones A.,
314
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
OWNERS AND OCCUPANTS.
HOUSES.
VALUE.
ACRES.
VALUE.
TOTAL VALUE.
Thwing John, jr.,
1
$ 215
30
$ 886
$1,101
Wellington Ebenezer,
1
200
113
3,668
3,868
Ward Col. Joseph,
1
2,000
132
4,340
5,540
Parks Nathan 3rd,
1
106
63
1,488
1,594
Ward John,
1
225
71
2,100
2,325
Ward Samuel,
140
45
1,700
1,840
White Joseph,
635
88
3,864
4,499
Wiswall Jeremiah,
285
16
587
872
Wiswall William, heirs of,
285
78
2,735
3,020
Wiswall Jeremiah, jr.,
120
77
2,735
2,855
Wiswall Jeremiah, jr.,
300
300
Winchester Amasa,
550
151
4,035
4,585
Whittemore J. W.
312
312
Whitney Thaddeus,
150
25
744
894
Ware John,
1,100
129
2,234
3,334
Hooker Z.,
Ware Azariah,
1
340
340
Woodward Ebenezer,
1
360
117
2,810
3,170
White Benjamin,
1
102
100
1,965
2,067
Welch Michael,
1
169
61
1,095
1,264
Ward Joseph,
1
106
63
1,488
1,594
Weld Nathaniel,
1
139
94
2,000
2,139
Whitney Moses, Cheney David,
1
46
778
778
SUMMARY.
Houses,
175
Valuation of houses,
Tenants,
25
do.
land,
265,439.00
Acres of land,
9,543§
Males in the above list,
197
Females, do.
do.
12
Total Valuation (as taxed),
$337,053.00
11 -- 111-113 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3
Whitney Timothy,
Park Nathan 3rd,
$ 71,614.00
We know not on what principle the assessors determined their estimates of the value of houses in the town of Newton eighty years since. Possibly, they designedly set the value very low, for the purposes of taxation, compassionating the slender resources of their fellow-townsmen and their own. But even if they put upon this kind of property no more than a two-thirds valuation, it seems to us that the dwellings of the fathers of the town, of the fourth generation after its incorporation, were ridiculously cheap. According to the above list, there were only two houses in the town valued above $2,000, one of them being set at $4,000 and the other at $2,450 ; only eleven above $1,000; only thirty-seven above $600; more than two-thirds of the whole number were val-
315
PAST AND PRESENT.
ved at less than $500; sixty-eight, less than $300 ; forty-five less than $200; seven less than $100. The smallest valuations were one house at $80; one at $65; two at $50; two at $40, and one at $20. The three ministers were not required to pay taxes at all, in this levy, though each of them owned both house and land. The largest number of acres of land owned by any individual was two hundred and forty-nine; twenty-seven owned between one and two hundred ; one hundred and forty-one, less than one hun- dred ; four less than twenty ; twenty-two less than ten ; thirty-four, none at all. Five hundred and thirty-one and a quarter acres stood in the names of women.
Such was the day of small things in the period of the fathers of Newton. They had had a continual struggle with the difficul- ties incident to a new settlement. They had passed through the period of peril, when their territory was scarcely better than an un- subdued wilderness, and the exhausting period of the Revolutionary war. For many years, while they were laying the foundations of the infant township, they knew, to the full, the hardships of labor and poverty. But they were gradually coming out of the dark- ness into a broader and a brighter field. Thanks to their indus- try, thrift and enterprise,- their slender possessions, notwithstand- ing all difficulties, had become greatly multiplied, and the few thousands they brought with them had grown, even at the modest valuation of that early day, to more than half a million. If we compare the condition of things in 1639 and 1679, and again at the date of the above assessment, and finally at the period in which our own lot has been cast, we cannot fail to acknowledge the gracious hand of Him who is " wise in counsel and excellent in working," and whose "pillar of cloud and of fire" has been, from the beginning, our refuge and defence.
CHAPTER XXVI.
NEWTON IN THE REVOLUTION .- MILITARY SPIRIT .-- THE FRENCH WAR .- THE STAMP ACT. - TAXATION .- STATUE OF GEORGE III .- NAVIGATION ACT .- INSTRUCTIONS TO THE REPRESENTATIVE .- LETTER TO THE SELECTMEN OF BOSTON.
NEWTON has honored itself from the beginning by a patriotic and military spirit. No call has been made for the defence of the na- tional domain, or the national integrity and honor, which the citi- zens have not been ready to answer. And many are the bold and fearless names, recorded with fervent praise upon her escutcheon.
It is an indication of the interest felt by the people in military affairs that two training-fields were laid out at an early period, as elsewhere recorded. (See pp. 91, 113.) These fields were adapted, by their respective location, to nurse the military spirit of the different parts of the town, giving to the children, east and west, opportunities of witnessing military manœuvres. The first, at Newton Centre, nearly two-thirds of the space having been given by Jonathan Hyde, and upwards of one-third by Elder Wis- wall, or his sons, is known to have been in possession of the town since 1711 ; but no deed of the gift is on record. In 1799, a pow- der house, which stood about fifty years, was built on the easterly side of it. The second training-field, laid out at Newtonville, in April, 1735, by Captain Joseph Fuller, was discontinued by the town in 1787, and the land reverted to the heirs of the donor. Very likely, the military furor incident to the Revolutionary war having abated, and the government being established on a firm ba- sis, the townsmen deemed that one military campus was sufficient, and that the other might be devoted without peril, to the pursuits of peace.
A large number of the citizens, when compared with the popu- lation of the town, have borne military titles. A catalogue of the
316
317
MILITARY SPIRIT.
citizens contained in Mr. Jackson's " Genealogical Register," which reaches to the beginning of the present century, but embraces also a few names belonging to a later period, gives two generals, nine colonels, three majors, forty-one captains, twenty-one lieutenants and eight ensigns. The later history of the town, as shown in the records of the recent war, presents no decline in the number or the valor of the townsmen.
In the expedition to the West Indies in 1740, Massachusetts sent five hundred men, of whom only fifty returned alive. Of the four thousand five hundred men at Louisburg, Massachusetts sent three thousand two hundred and fifty, and Newton was not with- out its representative.
In the war with the French and Indians, some of the men of Newton were in hot engagements, and some were slain. Of these, some of the most distinguished were Samuel Jenks, who served as a subaltern officer in the campaign of 1758 and 1760; Lieuten- ant Timothy Jackson, whose wife carried on the farm and herself worked on the land, while he was in the army ; Colonel Ephraim Jackson, who was also a lieutenant in the same war, and especially Colonel Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College. He displayed uncommon military talents, and was appointed a Cap- tain in the Canada service. He had under his command a fort at Williamstown, under the protection of which the settlers began their improvements. He was shot through the head in the mem- orable battle fought with the French and Indians near Lake George, in September, 1755. He lived a life of single blessed- ness, and died at the age of forty. His will was made on his way to join the army, about two months before his death.
With such antecedents, the people of Newton entered with vigor, as might have been expected, into the spirit of the Revolution, and contributed liberally, both of life and treasure, to the expenses of that great struggle. No town in the Commonwealth can pre- sent a more honorable record. The inhabitants recorded their protest against the Stamp Act in October, 1765, and followed up this movement afterwards by a series of acts well calculated to prove that they understood the exigencies of the times, and would be wanting in no measures which either duty or patriotism de- manded. In the progress of the trying events which preceded and accompanied the Revolution, the people of Newton, " almost to a man," says Mr. Jackson, " made the most heroic and vigor-
318
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
ous efforts to sustain the common cause of the country, from the first hour to the last." Ten days before the Stamp Act was to go into operation, October 21, 1765, the town recorded its first pa- triotic and revolutionary action in the form of instructions to Cap- tain Abraham Fuller, their representative to the General Court.
This first act, as it was the beginning of a series of similar acts, was undoubtedly the result of principles early planted, and now ready to unfold. It was the legitimate fruit of the seed sown, generations before, in the hearts of the Puritan settlers of New England. They had not been nursed in toil and self-denial, in the spirit of independence, decision and self-reliance in vain. And when the oppression from which they had fled, now, after- nearly a century and a half, proposed in a new form to assert its. power to control them and its right to tax them, tyranny found them ready to resist. The fathers had taught well the sons whom. they had brought up ; and the sons showed themselves worthy of the energy, the independence and the faith of such fathers. Eng- lish blood and heart, loving sovereignty and scorning to be ruled, grandly asserted itself in the long perils and the consuming years of hardship which followed. The colonists had right on their side. English lawyers and statesmen were compelled by their convic- tions to assent to the soundness of the principles maintained by the colonists which culminated in the Revolution. And the ends
which the people sought, steadily pursued, could not fail to be crowned at last, by the blessing of God, with success. It is with. the deepest interest that now, after the lapse of more than a cen- tury, every American citizen contemplates the weary years of alter- nating despondency and hope, the depreciated currency, the pov- erty of the people, the lack of resources, the deficiency of men who were too few to meet the emergencies, the severity of nat- ure, and, at the same time, the willing self-denial and the stern decision of the people, and the final triumph of the cause in which. they were engaged.
The revolutionary action of the town above referred to is as follows :
At a town meeting held October 21, 1765, Edward Durant, Moderator.
VOTED, the following instructions to their representative (prepared and re- ported by Edward Durant and Charles Pelham).
319
THE STAMP ACT.
To Captain Abraham Fuller, Representative of Newton :
SIR,-At this most important and alarming crisis, when the British-Ameri- can subjects are everywhere loudly complaining of arbitrary and unconstitu- tional innovations, the town of Newton judge it altogether improper to be wholly silent.
We therefore, the freeholders and other inhabitants, being legally assem- bled in our meeting-house, judge it proper to impart to you our united senti- ments, more especially with regard to the Stamp Act, so called, by which a very grievous and, we apprehend, unconstitutional tax is laid on the colonies ; and, as it is a standing maxim of English liberty that no man shall be taxed but with his own consent, so we very well know that we were in no sense represented in Parliament when this tax was imposed.
By the Royal Charter granted to our ancestors, the power of making laws for our internal government and of levying taxes is vested in the General Assembly ; and by the same charter the inhabitants of this province are en- titled to all the rights and privileges of natural, freeborn subjects of Great Britain. The most essential rights of British subjects are those of being represented in the same body which exercises the power of levying taxes upon them, and of having their property tried by juries; whereas the unconstitu- tional law admits of our properties' being tried by Courts of Admiralty, without a jury. Consequently this at once destroys the most valuable privi- leges of our charter, deprives us of our most essential rights as Britons, and greatly weakens the best security of our lives, liberties and estates.
We therefore think it our indispensable duty, in justice to ourselves and to. our posterity, as it is our undoubted privilege, to declare our greatest dissatis- faction with this law ; and we think it incumbent on you by no means to join in any public measure for countenancing and assisting in the execution of said Act ; but to use your best endeavors in the General Assembly to have the unalienable rights of the people of this province asserted and vindicated, and left on public record, that posterity may never have reason to charge those of the present times with the guilt of tamely giving them away.
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