History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 26

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 26

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No census of the town was taken until ten years later, but the population of its centennial year can be fairly estimated from an existing tax-list of 1751, practically a census of the heads of families at that time. Although by the dowering of Harvard, Bolton, Berlin and Leominster it had lost more than half its area, its gain by births, and by immigration from other towns, had fully made up the loss of inhabit- ants. The rate list of 1751 contains two hundred and eighty-five names, representing three hundred and fifty-five polls. The population at that date did not, therefore, fall far short of fifteen hundred souls. That of the towns excised from Lancaster amounted to nearly as many. Provision, generous for the times, was annually made for educating the young. Rev. Josiah Swan was generally the teacher of the Neck School from 1747 to 1760, and Rev. Josiah Brown was schoolmaster at Chocksett for as many years. For the third school the teachers were successively : Ste- phen Frost, Edward Bass, Joseph Palmer, Moses Hemmenway and Samuel Locke-all Harvard grad- uates-the last named a resident of the town, after- wards president of Harvard College.

Seven years of pretended peace between Canadian Jesuit and New England Puritan passed, and again the British colonies were hurrying preparations for a decisive struggle with their alert and aggressive foes. During the autumn of 1754 several mechanics of Lancaster, under Capt. Gershom Flagg, were engaged in the construction of Fort Halifax. Others of her citizens were serving on the eastern frontier in the

May led thirteen soldiers to join Col. Israel Williams at the western frontier.

Of the four great expeditions planned in 1755 to break through the cordon of French occupation that extended from the Ohio to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, Lancaster was represented in two-that against Crown Point, and the Acadian campaign. In the former Samuel Willard, the eldest son of the deceased colonel of the same name, was commissioned to raise a regiment of eight hundred men. John Whitcomb, of Bolton, was second in command; but Col. Willard died at Lake George shortly after joining the army, and Whitcomb was promoted to the va- cancy. In the regiment were seven men of Lancas- ter, including two lieutenants, Hezekiah Whitcomb and William Richardson, Jr. Lieut. Benjamin Wil- der led a mounted troop of thirty-three volunteers from Lancaster and its neighborhood, serving in the regiment of Col. Josiah Brown. But the majority of the Lancaster men, fifty-one in number, fought in the regiment of Col. Timothy Ruggles, under three Lan- caster captains-twenty-four with Capt. Joseph Whit- comb, sixteen with Capt. Asa Whitcomb, and eleven with Capt. Benjamin Ballard. All three companies were in the bloody melee of August 8th, known as "the morning fight," when the valor of the New England rustics snatched victory from what at first seemed defeat. On that day ten of the fifty-one were killed or mortally wounded: Ithamar Bennett, Samuel Fair- banks, William Fairbanks, Isaac Kendall, Peter Kendall, Oliver Osgood, Josiah Pratt, Jr., Phineas Randall, Joseph Robbins, Jr., John Rugg. Others, enfeebled by camp fevers, in the late autumn dragged themselves homeward, or were brought thither by short stages through the wilderness upon horseback. The campaign, a barren one save for the experience and confidence in themselves gained by the colonial officers and soldiers, ended with the year.

The Acadian expedition, though even more in- glorious than that against Crown Point, is far more famous in story, and Lancaster's part in it was a more prominent one than has ever been given it in history. Of the force of two thousand men embarking from Boston May 20, 1755, under Col. John Winslow, for the purpose of dislodging the French from the regions bordering on the Bay of Fondy, one company of one hundred and five men, allotted to the Second Battal- ion, was organized at Lancaster and officered by men of that town. These were: Capt. Abijah Willard, Lieut. Joshua Willard, Second Lieut. Moses Haskell, Ensign Caleb Willard. Thirty-six of the rank and file were credited to Lancaster, of whom William Hudson was killed in the attack made by the Aca- dians upon the force engaged in burning. the "Mass House" at Peticodiac. The company took part in the capture of Beau Sejour. Capt. Willard was se- lected by Lieut .- Col. Monkton, the King's officer in command, to lead a detachment to Tatmagouche.

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

There, opening his sealed orders, to his great surprise and pain he found assigned to him the ungracious task of laying waste that whole fair district to the Bay of Verts, and removing the residents to Fort Cum- berland. Amid the wailing of women and children, and the smoke of blazing cottages, barns and store- honses, Capt. Willard marched from hamlet to ham- let, leaving desolation behind, in accordance with the letter of his orders, but tempering them with such mercy as he could ; his kindly heart, as his journal testifies, bleeding for the distress he was compelled to inflict.

Leaving their families among the smoking ruins of their homes, the Acadian men were marched to Fort Cumberland, and Capt. Willard received the gracious commendation of the British officer. During the rigors of a Canadian winter the Lancaster men, ill provided with food and clothing, remained in bar- racks at the fort, but were allowed to return home the following April. Massachusetts was ordered to care for one thousand of the " French neutrals," and ap- portioned three families-twenty persons-to Lan- caster. There these exiles lived in the wretchedness of squalid poverty, disease and homesickness for ten years, housed, fed and cared for by the town author- ities. The last of them were finally shipped to France.

The general plan of the campaign of 1756 was almost identical with that of the previous year, but Shirley was superseded by pompous and loitering officers of high rank in the British army. Their con- ceit and inactivity gave the daring Montcalm an opportunity to win some glory, and neutralized the enthusiasm and costly preparations of New England. The Lancaster soldiers were in the field as early as the opening of spring would permit military opera- tions, building roads and bridges and transporting stores up the Hudson to Fort Edward, and thence to Fort William Henry. Col. John Whitcomb was one of the Committee of War for Massachusetts. William Richardson and Hezekiah Gates were efficient agents of the committee for procuring and forwarding mili- tary supplies. Twenty soldiers from Lancaster were in the regiment of Col. Jonathan Bagley, mustered in the company of Capt. Benjamin Ballard, and eight or ten others are found serving in other regiments and among the artillerymen of Fort William Henry.

The year 1757 saw a new plan of operations, but the campaign under the same haughty and inefficient gen- erals ended as before in discomfitnre. Several Lan- caster men served in the regiment of Col. Fry, who, with most of his command, were in the massacre which followed the surrender of Ft. William Henry to Mont- calm, and escaped with the loss of everything but life. Nine others were in the regiment of Col. Israel Wil- liams. The fall of Ft. William Henry spread conster- nation through the colonies, for it was expected that the French would follow up their success by an inva- sion of the English settlements. The militia were

hurriedly sent towards Albany. Capt. John Carter with a mounted troop, and Capt. Nathaniel Sawyer with an infantry company-one hundred men in all- marched as far as Springfield whence they were re- called, Montcalm having returned to Canada with his easily-won spoils.

With the year 1758 the inspiration of a new war policy, that of William Pitt, was felt throughout the colonies. They obtained payment for their military expenses and were promised relief from the extortion and insolence they had constantly experienced from Crown officials. The impetuons Wolfe and the chiv- alrous Lord Howe were sent with some of the best troops in England, to infuse energy into the campaign, and the slothful Loudoun retired. The ministerial orders required vigorous assault along the whole fron- tier. The enthusiasm awakened in Massachusetts is apparent in the zeal which Lancaster evinced in the contest.

Col. Jonathan Bagley's regiment in Abercrombie's advance npon Ticonderoga was in the van of the right division, and charged upon the French at the time Lord Howe lost his life. It was also engaged in the assault upon Ticonderoga and met with some loss. Of this regiment John Whitcomb was lientenant-colonel, and his brother, Capt. Asa Whitcomb, served in it with forty of his Lancaster neighbors. Six of them laid down their lives in the service: William Brabrook, Eben Bigelow, Jonathan Geary, Philip Geno, John Larkin, Jacob Smith. In Colonel Timothy Ruggles' regiment, under Capt. Joseph Whitcomb, of Lancaster, and Capt. James Reed, of Lunenburg, were twenty- one more Lancaster men, of whom one, Simon Ken- dall, lost his life; eleven others served in otber organi- zations, making at least seventy-three known to have enlisted in the campaign. Capt. Aaron Willard, who led a light infantry company in the regiment of Col. Oliver Partridge, was shot through the body in the murdercus assault upon Ticonderoga, but survived to take part in the war for independence. After the un- timely death of Lord Howe the imbecility of Aber- crombie had again nullified the sacrifice and bravery of the provincials. The veterans who had fought at Louisbourg in 1745 under Pepperell, and conquered under Lyman at Lake George in 1755 were fast learn- ing to despise as well as hate the supercilious British regular officers, who contemptuonsly spurned the coun- sels of soldiers like Pomeroy, and always were defeated by inferior forces of the enemy.

The campaign of 1759, under Amherst, directed towards the same strategic points as those of two years before, brought to the front once more Capts. Aaron Willard and James Reed, and with them were forty- five Lancaster men, three of whom-George Bush, Stephen Kendall and Reuben Walker -- died during the campaign. These two officers' companies served in Col. Timothy Ruggles' regiment. Abijah Willard also appears again, now as colonel of a regiment of eigh- teen companies; Cyrus Fairbanks was his adjutant

LANCASTER.

and Manasseh Divol his quartermaster. Capt. Thomas Beman, with twenty-two other men of Lancaster, served in Willard's command, and five more were in other companies.

Amherst did nothing to add to his own reputation, and, in disregard of Pitt's positive orders, displayed no energy in the movement to assist Wolfe. The younger general's fame shone the brighter, and all New Eng- land mourned him as their preserver. Col. Willard and his fellow-townsmen marched home before the snows fell and rested by their own firesides through the win- ter, preparing for the final struggle.

With the spring Col. Willard again led his regiment to the frontier. In his staff were most of the old mem- bers, hut Samuel Ward, of Worcester, afterwards to become one of Lancaster's most valued citizens, was made his adjutant. Capt. Beman again accompanied him, with Sherebiah Hunt for his lieutenant, and thirty enlisted men of Lancaster formed a part of his com- pany. Rufus Putnam, who in Revolutionary days became chief engineer and brigadier-general in the patriot army, was his ensign. Six Lancaster volun- teers served in other companies of Willard's regiment. In Col. Ruggles' regiment were Captains Aaron Wil- lard and James Reed, with eighteen Lancaster soldiers.

Col. John Whitcomb also served in the campaign of 1760, and with him were Lieuts. Ephraim Sawyer and Henry Haskell, with eighteen others of Lancaster. Sergt. Josiah Prentice died and Joseph Stewart was drowned during the year. Under Col. William Havi- land, these two regiments leisurely rowed down Lake Champlain in batteaux about the middle of August. Arriving at Isle au Noix, Col. Whitcomb was ordered to throw up defences while the rest of the army moved to attack the fortified post; but the enemy did not await assault, aud Haviland moved on towards Mon- treal. September 8th, orders were read announcing to the troops the closing act in the conquest of Canada, the capitulation of the Marquis Vaudreuil. On the 10th the Massachusetts regiments began the march back to Crown Point, where for two months they were engaged in the construction of earthworks and bar- racks. In November Cols. Whitcomb and Willard led their commands through the wilderness across Vermont to Charlestown, N. H., and by the forest paths to Lancaster, where they were disbanded about December 1st.

For six years the town had, with the coming of each spring, sent forth to the blood-stained frontiers scores of her stalwart sons under their chosen leaders. About seventy-five of her citizens annually were, for at least eight or nine months, in the army. At least thirty- three of these are known to have perished by bullet, tomahawk or disease while on duty. Of the wounded no record was kept.

CHAPTER IV.

LANCASTER-(Continued).

The First Census-Organization for Revolution-Lexington Alarm-Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston-War Annals-Separation of Chocksett -Shuys' Rebellion-Bridge Lotteries.

THE long war between alien races and religions was hardly ended before the domestic "Chocksett War" again broke out. But the town-meeting vote of 1762 proved that the Second Precinct was not yet strong enough to carry its point. It persisted in its endeavors year after year, but whenever the proposition to divide the town gained a favoring vote, it was always upon con- dition that the support of some bridge of vagrant habits should be perpetually borne hy the seceders. To this they refused consent, and the contest was pro- longed until all local questions were forgotten in the turmoil of the struggle for national existence. The two parishes were nearly equal in population. The town-meetings were sometimes held in the Second Precinct meeting-house, and the grammar-school was kept alternately at Ridge Hill and on the Neck-the proportion of the two terms heing decided in town- meeting.

The first colonial census, that of 1764, gives Lan- caster 1999 inhabitants, living in three hundred and twenty-eight families and three hundred and one houses, classified as follows :

Males. Females.

Under 16 years of age

514

421

Over 16 years of age

505

532

Colored

12 14

Indiaus

How many of the twenty-six colored were slaves is not told. Ten years before this there were but five "servants for life" in the town. Seven years later than this five slaves were reported between the ages of fourteen and forty-five. At least ten slaves are known to have died between the two dates. The total population of the four towns included in the original Lancaster grants was four thousand eight hundred and one. Notwithstanding the great waste of human life in the war, the town's growth had heen steady and healthy, and so continued. It will be seen that the average family then numbered over six indi- viduals. In the latest census, omitting the State school, the average family is less than four and four- tenths persons.

The direct descendants of the first proprietors were yet largely in the majority, gave character to the town, and almost monopolized the management of its affairs. But into the procession of the town's life had come several prolific families, and some meu of politi- cal weight and large social influence. John Warner, of Woburn, appeared about 1700; the Osgood family, always prominent in the church, first came in 1710, Hooker Osgood, a saddler from Andover, purchasing the Rowlandson estate of Philip Goss. About the same date, and from the same source, came Edward

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Phelps, the weaver, and bought lands not far from Lane's Crossing. Soon followed John Fletcher, from Chelmsford, progenitor of a sturdy race that peopled a portion of George Hill. Thomas Whitney, of Stow, and his sons John and Jonathan, about 1720 built upon Wataquadock Brook. From Woburn, William Richardson came in 1721, found a wife in Captain Ephraim Wilder's daughter, became a prominent jus- tice and represented the town several years in the Legislature. Samuel Locke, also of Woburo, and connected by marriage with the Richardsons, came to Lancaster in 1742, and kept a famous tavern where Wm. A. Kilbourn now lives. Nathaniel and Abijah Wyman, from Woburn also, about the same time bought homes upon the Neck. Benjamin Ballard, from Andover, a little earlier founded a new home upon the northern portion of the George Hill range and gave his family name to that section of the town. The Dunsmoors appeared first about 1740 and fur- nished the town two physicians, father and son. The last, Dr. William Dunsmoor, in whose veins flowed mingled Sawyer and Prescott blood, developed politi- cal abilities that soon placed him in leadership of the revolutionary spirits of the neighborhood, and gave him prominence even in colonial councils. The Thurstons, Peter and Samuel, second cousins (the first from Exeter, the second from Rowley), appeared about the middle of the century.

In 1768 Lancaster received an addition to its terri- tory-a tract of land at its southwestern corner about three miles long by one and one-half wide, known as "Shrewsbury Leg." It included the site of the present village of Oakdale, but then contained less than a dozen families. The same year a trader came from Groton to form a mercantile partnership with Levi Willard. The store of the firm was at the cross-roads of South Lancaster, and became the widest known and best patronized of any in the region. The senior partner sometimes made a journey to England to buy goods. He lived in a house which stood near the well on the lawn of E. V. R. Thayer's residence. The junior partner, Captain Samuel Ward, already men- tioned as holding a commission in the French and Indian War, purchased an ancient house and lot upon the opposite corner, being a part of the Locke farm, and the eastern end of the original home-lot assigned to John Moore in 1653. Captain Ward was not only a man of unusual business ability, but his rare intel- lectual powers, quick and accurate judgment of character, prudence and shrewd management of men would have given him exalted political place had he not resolutely shunned all official position. He soon became a conservative leader in the town.

It was apparently a season of calm and prosperity. War had left few visible scars. The British govern- ment had reimbursed to the colony the sums con- tributed in aid of the expulsion of the Bourbons from America, and plenteous harvests had gladdened the farmers, But a jealousy of all authority not delegated

by popular suffrage everywhere began to appear, per- vading church as well as state politics. The pulpits about Lancaster were all jarred, and some severely shaken, by a revolt against clerical councils ; and the orators proclaimed the divine right of an anointed king subject to the divine right of the majority. The veteran soldiers had not forgotten the insults they had borne, year after year, from the King's officers, nor the needless campaigning and bloodshed chargeable to the incompetency of the generals set over them. The nagging encroachments of the British ministry upon charter rights found the majority of the colonists already on the verge of rebellion, for which seven years of war had been a practical school of arms.

The first town-meeting record in Lancaster for 1773 anticipates by three and one-half years the lib- erty-breathing sentiments of the Declaration of Na- tional Independence. The action of that meeting took form in written instructions for the guidance of the town's representative, Capt. Asa Whitcomb, and a series of resolutions drawn up by a " Committee for Grievances," as follows :

* * *

* * * *

1. Resolred, That this aod every Town jo this Province have an undoubted Right to meet together and consult upon all Matters inter- esting to them when and so often as they shall judge fit : and it je more especially their Duty so to do when any Infringement is made upon their Civil or Religious Liberties.

2. Resolved, That the raising a Revenue in the Colonies without their Consent, either by themselves or their Representatives, is an In- fringement of that Right which every Freeman has to dispose of his owo Property.

3. Resolved, That the granting a Salary to his Excellency, the Governor of this Province, out of the Revenue nuconstitutionally raised from us, is an Innovation of a very alarming Tendancy.

4. Resolved, That it is of the highest Importance to the security of Liberty, Life and Property, that the publick Administration of Justice should be pure god impartial, and that the judge should he free from every Bias, either io Favour of the Crown or the Subject.

5. Resolved, That the absolute Dependency of the Judges of the Superior Court of this Province upon the Crown for their Support would, if it should ever take Place, have the strongest Teodancy to bias the Minds of the Judges, and would weaken our Confidence in them.

6. Resolved, That the Extension of the Power of the Court of Vice- Admiralty to its present enormous Degree is a great Grievance, and de- prives the Subject in many Instances of that noble Privilege of Eog. lishmeo, Trials by Juries.

7. Resolved, That the Proceedings of this Town be transmitted to the Town of Boston.

These resolutions were signed by the committee : Dr. William Dunsmoor, John Prescott, Josiah Ken- dall, Ebenezer Allen, Nathaniel Wyman, Joseph White and Aaron Sawyer. The instructions to the town's delegate breathe the same spirit, and enjoin him to use his "utmost efforts . to obtain a Radical Redress of our Grievances."

The organization of revolution began the next year, with the plan of establishing permanent Com- mittees of Correspondence in the towns throughout Massachusetts. The members of the first Lancaster Committee, chosen September 5, 1774, were Dr. William Dunsmoor, Dea. David Wilder, Aaron Sawyer, Capt. Asa Whitcomb, Capt. Hezekiah Gates, John Prescott, Ephraim Sawyer. The chairman

LANCASTER.

was the youngest of the number. The next day the patriots of the town marched to Worcester, where an armed convention of the people gathered on the green, prepared to give a warm reception to the force of British troops which Governor Gage had pro- posed to send for the protection of the court. As the regulars did not appear, attention was turned to- wards the royalists. The justices, who recently had sent a loyal address to the Governor, were compelled to sign a recantation, and appear before the assem- blage to acknowledge it. Of these justices were Joseph Wilder, Abel Willard and Ezra Houghton, of Lancaster.

During the same month the town voted "That there be one hundred men raised as Volunteers, to be ready at a minute's warning to turn out upon any Emergency, and that they be formed into two Com- panies, and choose their own officers," and that these volunteers should be "reasonably paid by the Town for any services they may do us in defending our Liberties and Privileges." One company was enlisted in each precinct. The Committee of Cor- respondence was also authorized to purchase two field-pieces, and two four-pounders were at once ob- tained from Brookline, for which eight pounds were paid. One of these was stationed in each parish, with a supply of powder, ball and grape-shot. Capt. Asa Whitcomb and Dr. William Dunsmoor were chosen to represent the town in the First Pro- vincial Convention. The constables were instructed to pay over the taxes, when collected, to a special committee-Aaron Sawyer, Ephraim Sawyer and Dr. Josiah Wilder-who were to account for the same to the patriot receiver-general. The same committee were ordered "to Post up all such Persons as con- tinue to buy, sell or consume any East India Teas, in some Public Place in Town." In the town-meet- ing of January 2, 1775, a committee was chosen to receive donations "for the suffering poor of the Town of Boston, occationed by the late Boston Port Bill." It was also then voted "to adopt and abide by the spirit and sense of the Association of the late Continental Congress, held at Philadelphia," and a committee of fifteen were selected "to see that the said Association be kept and observed hy all."

The whole male population was now training for the conflict seen to be inevitable. The re-organiza- tion of the militia began in 1774, by a popular de- mand for the resignation of all military commissions. The Second Worcester was known as the Lancaster Regiment, and consisted of ten companies and a mounted troop, four companies and the troop being of Lancaster, including all the able-bodied males he- tween sixteen and fifty years of age, save a few by law exempts. With the division of the training- bands into minute-men and militia, new company officers were chosen, young men aglow with the hot temper of the times. These line officers elected the brothers John and Asa Whitcomb, two veterans of

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 26

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576