USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Stoneham > History of Stoneham, Massachusetts > Part 5
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About 1734 Reuben Richardson came from Woburn and settled on what is now known as the Thaddeus Richardson Farm, which was retained by his descendants for more than 150 years. His nephew, Oliver, and sons, Elijah and Caleb, occupied farms between his and that of Captain Hay.
From the incorporation of the town to the outbreak of the Revolution but few events of a public nature transpired to vary the monotony which usually prevailed in a thinly-settled community.
From time to time, as expeditions were planned against the French in Canada, volunteers were called for, and soldiers impressed. Many a Stone- ham boy, as he returned from Louisbourg, Fort William Henry and Crown Point, must have been a welcome guest, sitting before the blazing fire and 4
50
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
recounting the thrilling tales of Rogers' Rangers, and Indian warfare. Dur- ing the middle of the century the long-continued peace which had blessed the people for over a generation was broken, and for a period of years savage war poured forth destruction along the northern and eastern frontiers. Stone- ham was called upon to contribute her quotas, and she responded with the same alacrity that has distinguished her in later times. Among her sons en- gaged in the wars, Thomas Gould and Titus Potamia in 1746 were stationed at Fort Richmond, on the Kennebec. In the Crown Point expedition of 1756, in Captain William Peabody's company of Colonel Plaisted's regiment, Peter Hay was lieutenant, Thomas Hadley and Thomas Johnson were corpo- rals. Among the privates were John Cades, Jonathan Griffin, Timothy Hol- den, Nathan Holden, John Carter, Titus Potamia, Jonathan Eaton and Philip Gross. Two or three of these were born in Stoneham and went from other towns. These men were stationed at Fort William Henry, at the head of Lake George, from early in the spring till late in the fall. Nathan Holden died there. The list of soldiers in the French and Indian wars also includes the names of John Hill, Thomas Larrabee, John Converse, Ephraim Brown, Thomas Sprague, Timothy Wright, Aaron Brown, Daniel Connery, Abial Brown, John Geary, Daniel Knight, Michael Negell, Simeon Wyman, Francis Phillips, Oliver Gross and Jonathan Morrison. A few of these were hired from other towns to fill our quota. John Hill was a sergeant in the company of Ebenezer Nichols, of Reading, and was in the expedition of 1757-58. Four Stoneham men were also in the famous Rogers' Rangers, whose exploits about Lake George and along Lake Champlain, in the campaigns of 1757-58, fill some of the most thrilling chapters in savage warfare.
The French and Indian War, which fell like a thunderbolt upon the colo- nists, came as a blessing in disguise, for it prepared them for the greater con- flict which so soon was to loom up in the future. Greater events were casting their shadows before. Three millions of people are girding themselves for a struggle with the mightiest power on the face of the globe. The administra- tion of Chatham had covered the British name with imperishable glory, but the government is now fallen into the weak hands of Lord North, whose ministry is assailing the rights we have enjoyed for five generations. The Stamp Act, the Tea Tax, the Boston Port Bill, the Military and Restraining Acts had aroused and incensed the Colonies. The Reconstruction Acts were intended to effect a complete revolution of the government, transferring the powers of the people to the creatures of the crown. The jurors were to be appointed by the sheriff; the judiciary were to be controlled by the King ; certain classes of criminals could be transferred for trial to a distant colony of the mother country ! the matters considered in town meetings were to be under the direction of the Royal Governor ! the people were alarmed, their liberties were being threatened ; they elected delegates and organized Provin- cial Congresses. Entreaty and expostulation were followed by resistance.
51
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
Military stores were being collected, companies of minute-men raised, and. the genius of Sam Adams and his compatriots was organizing revolt. The towns unanimous, war meetings held, resolves passed, men furnished, sup- plies voted, the first volley fired, and the conflict commenced. Stoneham in the mean time had not been idle. The walls of the old meeting-house re- sounded with the patriotism of our great-grandfathers. It was there that they met and gave utterance to the sentiments that swept like a whirlwind over the Province of Massachusetts Bay and extended to the other English prov- inces in North America. There were held the war meetings of the Revolu- tion, the Committee of Correspondence chosen, and the resolutions adoptec. which declared the rights of the colonists, and pledged to the common cause the lives and property of the freeholders and inhabitants in town-meeting assembled. Meeting after meeting was called to consider the questions which were agitating the country.
In January, 1773, a long communication was adopted in town-meeting, and. dispatched to Boston, which deserves attention, for it is a full description of the political questions of the day, and was probably written either by the minister, John Searle, or else was framed in accordance with a general form adopted by the other towns. It contains these passages : "We fully join in sentiment with you, that the natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, unless justly forfeited by some injurious abuse of it. The right of freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift." "It is a point of undoubted evidence with us that the Commons of Great Britain have no right to seize upon the properties of the colonists ; that the colonists are well entitled to all the essential rights. liberties and privileges of men and freemen born in Britain: In special, we are deeply affected with some late threatening innovations upon our Consti- tution ; that the Governor of this province is made independent of the gen- eral assembly for his support, whereby the ancient connection between him and this people is weakened, the confidence of the Governor lessened, the equilibrium destroyed, and our happy Constitution essentially altered," Again, in August, 1774, was passed the following covenant :
"We, the inhabitants of the town of Stoneham, being legally assembled, sincerely ac knowl. edge our sincere attachment to the Constitution of our nation, and our unfeigned loyalty to our rightful lord and sovereign, King George the Third. Ardently wishing that we might ever live in the utmost harmony with Great Britain. Yet we are driven to the disagreeable necessity to say that, having taken into serious consideration the precarious state of the liberties of North America, and more especially the present depressed condition of this insulted province, embar- rassed as it is by several acts of the British Parliament, tending, as we apprehend, to the entire subversion of our natural and charter rights, among which is the act of blocking up the harbor of Boston. Therefore, we do solemnly covenant and agree with each other
I. That henceforth we will suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain until they shall afford us relief. 2. That we will not buy, purchase or consume any goods or merchan dise which shall arrive in America from Great Britain from and after the last day of September next ensuing. These things we solemnly promise to observe, provided no better scheme shali be devised, to answer the same end, by the Congress who are to meet the next month at Phila-
*
SANBORN & MANN'S LARGE SHOE FACTORY, MAIN STREET. -
*
53
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
delphia to consult the general political interests of America, and provided a majority of the in- habitants of the English Government of North America bind themselves by the covenant above mentioned, or one essentially similar to it; further provided, that we hereafter shall think of no further method that shall be more worthy of our choice."
The population was small, but a common enthusiasm possessed the hearts of the whole community, and a company of minute-men was organized, which comprised nearly all the inhabitants capable of bearing arms. Tradition says the place of rendezvous was in front of the house of Deacon Edward Buck- nam, and that it was arranged they should be called together by firing of alarm-guns in front of the meeting-house. During the winter and early spring of 1775 they drilled and held themselves ready for service at the short- est notice. R.v. Caleb Prentiss, of Reading, under date of February 27th, in his diary, makes the following entry :
"At about 3 o'clock A. M. an alarm was made, the drums beat to arms, the bell was rung and alarm guns were fired in the Parish. The report was that a regiment of the Cambridge troops had landed at Marblehead and marched to Salem to take some cannon there, and that the peo- ple were defending the cannon, and wanted assistance. The people were mustered, and before daylight were upon the march toward Salem. Having marched about five miles we were in- formed by the Lynn End company, who were returning, that the Regulars were retreated with- out the cannon, embarked and set sail, upon which we returned. On our return we met the West Parish company and the Stoneham Company, all which joined together, returned in order to this Parish, and went through the military exercise. The whole were more than two hun- dred."
"It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town."
We may suppose an hour or two later, on the morning of the eventful 19th of April, 1775, a messenger knocked at the door of Captain Sprague and announced that the British troops were on the march to capture and destroy the military stores at Concord. At all events, the alarm was given, the com- pany assembled and they marched to Lexington, reaching there in time to intercept and pursue the British on their retreat from Concord. Before reaching Lexington it is said the company separated and scattered them- selves about in small groups. Ebenezer Bucknam, Timothy Matthews and James Willy were together. A bullet passed close to the head of Bucknam and through the hats of both Willy and Matthews. Another member of the company was Josiah Richardson, of whom Mr. Dean, in his history, says, "Asahel Porter, on the morning of the nineteenth of April, was desired by a neighbor, Josiah Richardson, to proceed with him towards Lexington about three o'clock A. M. Somewhere on the way they discovered some British Regulars. Porter and Richardson were also seen by the Regulars and were taken by them. Richardson requested permission to return and was told by the individual to go to another person who would no doubt give him a re- lease, but in case the second person he went to, told him to run. he was by the first ordered not to run ; being informed that if he did run he would be shot. Richardson did as he was told to do; and though he was told to run, he walked away and was not injured. The reason why he was ordered to run,
54
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
"vas this ! That the guard might think him a deserter and thereby in the lischarge of their duty, shoot him. Mr. Porter not being apprised of their artifice in telling him to run, got permission in the same way as Richardson. Having liberty to go, he set out upon the run. On getting over a wall, a short distance off, he was fired upon and received his death wound." His bones now lie in Lexington with the seven who fell on that morning while lefending their rights as freemen. Samuel Sprague was captain of the com- pany, Joseph Bryant lieutenant, Abraham Gould ensign, John Bucknam and Daniel Bryant sergeants, David Geary and Joseph Geary drummers, and the nen were Caleb Richardson, Josiah Richardson, Charles Richardson, Eph- raim and Samuel Brown, Jacob Gould, Amos Knight, James Steele, Benja- min and David Blodgett, Jacob Gould Sr., Ebenezer Bucknam, David Geary, Thomas Geary, John Holden, James Willy, Thomas Sweetser, Joseph At- well, Elias and Ebenezer Bryant, Timothy and Ezra Vinton, Oliver Richard- son, Moses Hadley, Thomas and John Knight, Jonathan, Daniel and Daniel Green Jr., John Crocker, Benjamin Taylor, Nathan Willy, James Hay Jr., Timothy Wright Jr., Daniel Hay, Peter Hay Jr., David and William Hay, John Wright, Daniel Gould Jr., Samuel Ingalls, John Green, David Gould, John Benjamin, William Person, Joseph Matthews, William Connery, Aaron Putnam, Eben Lawrence, Thomas Vinton, Jacob Cutler, John Geary and Thomas Watson. The British, after retreating to Boston, were beseiged by the Provincial troops, and Captain Sprague's company was probably en- yaged for some time in the seige, for it appears by their muster roll that .nany were in the service at that time during a period varying from a few days .o two or three weeks. The first shot over, the war fairly commenced, and the history of Stoneham was like that of almost every other Massachusetts town. She sent Captain Sprague and Major Joseph Bryant to represent her .n the Provincial Congress and General Court.
Her sons were with Montgomery of Quebec. They witnessed the sur- render of Burgoyne at Saratogo ; were at Rhode Island ; in camp on Winter Hill; and formed part of the Continental army on the Hudson. William Connery was probably in the battle of Bunker Hill, William Deadman was taken prisoner at Fort Washington. Among the soldiers in the subsequent years of the Revolution were Joseph Bryant, William Deadman, Samuel `rown, John Boyd, William Connery, Reuben Geary, Henry Hawks, John Hill, Daniel Holden, Samuel Ingalls, John Knight, John Noyes, David Blodgett, David Geary, Aaron Putnam, Joseph Geary, Joseph Bryant third, ;ohn Bryant, Samuel Call, Elias Bryant, Daniel Bryant, Aaron Parker, Ben- amin Taylor, John Thayer, Benjamin Eaton, Jonathan Farley, Thomas Hay, Eli McIntire, Joseph Matthews, Jacob and George Brown, Peter Hay, Thomas Hadley, Ralph Doyle, John Holden, Daniel Hay, Joseph Holden, Ephraim Woodward. Ebenezer Bryant, Samuel Clapp, John Wright, Jabez Jpton, David Gould, John Bucknam, Richard Holden, Samuel Howland,
55
HISTORY OF STONFHAM.
James Weston, Joshua Geary, Job, John and Titus Potamia, Isaiah Barjona, Cato and Sharper Freeman, and Cato and Pomp Green, of whom the last eight were negroes, and some of them obtained their liberty by enlisting in the army. Some of these men probably were not citizens of Stoneham, but were hired by the town. Among her military officers were Major (afterwards Colonel) Joseph Bryant, Captain Abraham Gould, Lieutenant John Buck- nam, Lieutenant (afterwards Colonel) Joshua Burnham, Lieutenant Daniel Bryant, Captain Josiah Green and Lieut. John Holden. No likenesses are known to exist of any of these men, so it is interesting to read the descrip- tion of some of them and imagine, so far as we may, what was their personal appearance. In 1780 Reuben Geary was nineteen years old, five feet six inches high, light complexion. 1
"Joseph Matthews, 31 years old, 6 feet high, light complexion; George Brown, 17 years old, 5 feet, 3 inches high, light complexion; Joseph Holden, 17 years old, 5 feet, 7 inches, light complexion; John Holden, 19 years old, sandy complexion; Daniel Bryant, 20 years old, dark complexion; Daniel Hay, 38 years old, dark complexion. In 177S-John Hill, 16 years old, 5 feet, 1 inch; Jacob Brown, 2S years old, 5 feet."
John Noyes and Wm. Connery went forth from their homes never to return. Ephraim and George Brown and John Noble were prisoners of war. The names of ninety-eight different Stoneham men appear upon the Revolutionary muster rolls. During these years, the town was constantly purchasing stocks of ammunition, furnishing supplies to the army, raising bounties with which to pay soldiers, and with an unflagging zeal supporting the common cause. In town-meeting, Dec. 22, 1773, it was resolved, "first, that it is the opinion of this town that Great Britain has no right to lay a tax on Tea or any other article imported from Great Britain to raise a revenue payable in America, without our consent. 2. Resolved that the late measures of the East India Company in sending Tea to the colonies loaded with duty to raise a revenue from America, are to all intents and purposes, so many attempts in them and all employed by them to tax the Americans. Therefore, 3. Resolved, that tke proceedings of the inhabitants of Boston and other towns in the Province for opposing the landing of this Tea are rational ; and they are highly hon- ored and respected by this town for their firmness in support of American liberty and that we are ready with our lives and interest to assist them in opposing these and all other measures to enslave our country. 4. Resolved, that we the inhabitants of this town, will purchase no Tea imported from Great Britain so long as it is subject to a duty payable in North America for raising a revenue. Voted that the committee of correspondence of this town be desired to obtain from the town clerk's office an attested copy of this day's resolves and forward the same to the committee of correspondence at Bos- ton." The emoluments of public men during the early days of the Revolu- tion could not have been very tempting if we may judge from the amount voted to Captain Samuel Sprague who had been a delegate to the Provincial
A VIEW IN LINDENWOOD CEMETERY, NEAR THE ENTRANCE,
57
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
Congress. He was allowed four pounds fourteen shillings and four pence lawful money for his time and expenses during twenty-seven and one-half days, or the munificent sum of fifty-seven cents a day.
Under date of September 6, 1775, the town voted "to choose a committee to take care, to get the wood carried to the army which the General Court has ordered the town of Stoneham to furnish." Again in July, 1776, the town voted "to give something in addition to what the General Court had provided to encourage men to enlist to go to Canada. In the expedition against Canada, Stoneham was required to furnish twelve men.
In 1777 Captain Abraham Gould, Lieutenant John Bucknam and Lieuten- ant Daniel Bryant were chosen a committee "to hire men for the war in time to come if men are needed."
On June 29, 1778, two hundred and twenty pounds were raised "to pay those men belonging to the town who have been hired by Other towns to go into the army if we hold them and it is needed." At another meeting later in the same year, eleven hundred pounds were raised to pay soldiers. It must be remembered these large figures represent a currency which had be- come greatly inflated, and was of a constantly diminishing value as resting upon a specie basis. As the war progressed, the country became depleted in men and resources, and provisions became scarce, requiring great economy, as appears from action of the town in April, 1779, when they voted to choose a committee "to make search of the town of Stoneham to see if there be any quantity of grain belonging to any person more than need for his own use." In the same year eighteen hundred dollars were raised to defray the charges of the war already incurred." The people were compelled to exer- cise continual vigilance, there being times when it was feared the enemy might make an attack as is shown by a vote passed in 1778, "that when any of the inhabitants of the town of Stoneham draw ammunition from the town stock upon an alarm, Deacon Edward Bucknam shall fix the price thereof; and if the price be not satisfactory to the receivers, they may after the alarm receive this money again, on their returning as much ammunition as they had taken out if equally good." In 1780 five hundred and fifteen pounds were raised to pay the money that had already been expended to hire men for the war. October 9, 1780, it was voted "to raise three thousand seven hundred pounds for beef for the army." Deacon Daniel Green was authorized to hire money to pay soldiers that may be needed for the war. In 1781 it was voted "to raise thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars of the old emission to pay in part the soldiers that are now called to serve for this year." And so one may go through the town records from 1775 to the close of the Revolutionary War and he will find them filled with the patriotic ac- tion of our forefathers. However much they may have been divided upon other questions, they were unanimous in the support of the government. It was the proudest heritage that could be handed down to their descendants.
58
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
Something of the condition of the town in 1778 may be realized when it is remembered that there were then eighty-seven ratable polls, seventy-five dwelling houses, six hundred and fifty-six acres of upland mowing, orchard- ing and tillage, fifteen hundred and seventy-four acres of meadow, twenty-one hundred and one acres of pasture land, three hundred and forty-eight acres of woodland, ninety-one ounces of plate, fifty-five horses, ninety-six oxen, two hundred and fifty-nine cows, one hundred and fifteen steers and other horned cattle, nine hundred and eighty-nine sheep, one hundred and twenty- eight swine, four chaises, five hundred and twelve bushels of grain, three thousand and eleven bushels of corn and one hundred and seventy-three bar- rels of cider. The inhabitants of 1784 and their comparative wealth ap- pears from the taxes of that year.
Polls. Real Estate. Personal Estate.
£. s. d.
£. s. d.
"Deacon Edward Bucknam
2
14
I II
Lt. John Bucknam.
2
54 10
2 3 4
Ebenezer Bucknam
I
Jonathan Green.
2
12 13 8
I 2
5
Captain Josiah Green
2
19 9
4 1 14
IO
Jacob Gould.
2
29 7 4
4 0
7
Nathan Willey.
I
12 0 0
0 15
O
Anthony Hadley.
2
700
0 5
8
Lt. John Holden.
2
15 0 0
I 5
10
Samuel Holden
2
8 6 8
0 16
4
Elisha Knight.
I
13 10 0
0 12
4
Ebenezer Lawrence
I
IS 15 0
6 18
8
John Green.
I
5 0 0
I 12
IO
Samuel Ingalls.
I
9 3 0
0 8
Captain Samuel Sprague.
I
23 6 4
O IS
II
Thomas Vinton.
I
11 13 4
I I
0
Jacob Gould, Jr.
I
David Gould.
2 II
5 0
I
I 4
John Knight.
2 18 4
Timothy Matthews.
2
6 13 4
O II
5
David Geary, Jr.
I
1 15
0
Peleg Taylor
I
0 8
7
Timothy Vinton.
I
I' 2 8
4 19
6
Ezia Vinton.
I
17 0 0
I 3
8
Ensign Timothy Wright.
11 13 10
Lt. Timothy Wright.
2
IS 13 2
2 0
8
Samuel Call.
I
16 4 0
O
6
3
John Mitchell ...
I
24 13 6
I
3
4
Benjamin Richardson
I
1 00
Thomas Green
I
5 0 0 0 9
II
John Geary
I
Jacob Cutler.
T
14 10 0
2 13
5
Captain Abraham Gould.
2
17 10
8
I
5
9
Lieut. John Geary.
2
28 8 8
I 2 10
David Geary.
2
17 14 8
I
2 IO
Daniel Gould, Jr.
2
40 0 0
I 17
6
Deacon Daniel Green.
2
23 5 8
5 16
O
59
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
Polls. Real Estate. Personal Estate.
£. s. d.
£. s. d.
Captain Peter Hay
I
18 9 10
Robert Converse ..
I
45 16 S
I 16
O
Ebenezer Nichols.
I
Captain David Hav.
I
19 3 4
I 17
3
Captain Peter Hay, Jr.
I
34 3 4
I IS
8
Peter Hay, Third.
I
0 2
4
Caleb Richardson.
I
12 10 0
I
9
II
Oliver Richardson.
I
12 10
O
I
7
I
Elijah Richardson.
1
12 6 0
I
9
5
Thaddeus Richardson
2
9 6 2
I
6
S
John Wright
1
19 2 8
0 15
0
Charles Richardson
1
9 6 2
0 12
Elias Bryant
I
12 13 2
0 19
4
Calvin Dike
I
Col. Joseph Bryant.
I
18 1:
I 6
5
Ephraim Brown.
2
17 19
CO
0 14
5
Joseph Bryant, Jr
I
IS II
0 14
I
William Eaton.
I
Ebenezer Bryant.
I
11 13 I
I 4 0
Nathaniel Wesson.
I
1 5 0
0 5 9
Peter Gould, freeman
I
Daniel Green, Jr ..
I
I2
9 9
0 12
2
Timothy Hadley ..
I
13
8 4
0 13
9
Cato Eaton, freeman.
I
John Hill.
I
Joseph Matthews.
I
Daniel Hay.
I
Jonas Parker.
I
Silas Simons
2
36 S o
I
7 II
Ephraim Pierce
2
37 10 0
I
3
3
James Edmunds
I
Thomas Gould.
I
15 0 0
0 15
2
Daniel Gould, Jr
I
John Hadley.
I
0 3 I
"Elisha Knight,
Timothy Wright, Jr., Ephraim Brown,
David Hay, John Hadley,
"Assessors."
In 1776 the minister John Searl was dismissed and succeeded in 1785 by Rev. John Cleaveland, their being no ordained preacher during the war after the departure of Mr. Searl. As late as 1786 no new highways had been built, in addition to those already described except a road from the meeting-house to Malden (now Melrose), along the general course of Franklin Street, east of Noble's Corner, which was laid out and accepted in 1781 as a particular or private way, and a cross road from the meeting-house to the road near the parsonage (now a portion of Pleasant Street). As has been said, there were many private ways, one extending from Malden (Melrose) line to Woburn line by the house of Capt. Peter afterwards of Captain David Hay. In 1786
3
3'
6 2 4
Samuel Brown.
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, LINDENWOOD CEMETERY.
61
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
it was voted "to divide the town into 4 districts as respects highways, as follows : Captain Samuel Sprague is to mend the road from Medford line and Malden line till it reaches the road from Woburn which passes by Deacon Edward Bucknam's. Captain Abraham Gould is to mend the road from Reading line by Col. Joseph Bryant's house till it comes to Stoneham Meeting House, also the cross-road by the Burying Ground. Ezra Vinton is to mend the road from Malden line near Mr. Cook's house to Stoneham Meeting House, and from thence till it comes to the road that comes down by Lt. John Bucknam's house. Mr. Caleb Richardson is to mend the road from Woburn line near Lt. John Holden's till it comes to Reading line near Lt. John Geary's, and thence till it comes to Woburn line near Mr. Leathe's."
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