USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 36
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 36
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The following named persons of Braintree enlisted in the war- ship King George, under the command of Capt. Benjamin Hal- lowell, Jan. 10th, 1758, this ship being stationed on the coast for its protection : Jonathan Crosby, (mate) ; Jonathan Crosby, (2d mate); Benjamin Gleason, (armorer); Winter Besson, Gregory
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Bass, Richard Brackett, Thomas Cleverly, Nathaniel Gallop, Ephriam Graves, Moses Penniman, Joseph Sanders, William Spear."
Jotham Gay's company went to Halifax in 1759, and was in service from March 31st to November 30th of this year. The following named Braintree men enlisted in this company: "Na- ham Belcher, Sergeant; John Noyes, Corporal ; Clement Crane, Winter Besson, Benjamin Baxter, Thomas Belcher, John Boyles, Nehemiah Blanchard, Joseph Blake, Nathaniel Capen, Thomas Fenton, Adam French, David French, Jonathan Green, Jon ?- than Hollis, David Horton, Isaac Hayden, Benjamin Hunt, Wil- liam Hobart, Clement Hayden, Daniel Hayden, Jonathan Niles, John Niles, Stephen Pain, Isaac Smith, Paletiah Stephens, Zac- cheus Thayer, Simeon Thayer, Noah Thayer, Abel Thayer, John Tower." As the time of service of the companies was short, many of the men reinlisted in other companies on their return, which causes the repetition of the names of a number of those who went again into the army.
The following served under the command of Captain Nathan- iel Blake : "Jonathan Fessenden, Lieutenant; Moses Marsh, Corporal; Daniel Ames, Drummer, (pay to Dr. Miller, as his servant) ; Jacob French, Jonathan Bishop, Jacob Goldwaite, Peter Hubbard, Timothy French, James Puffer."
Capt. Samuel Thaxter's company. The following named per- sons from Braintree were members of this company for the Crown Point expedition in 1756: " William Whitmarsh, Lien- tenant; Nathaniel Bagly, Ensign ; Thos. Gill, Sergeant; Ben- jamin Baxter, Sergeant ; John Pratt, Jr., Sergeant ; Thomas Hearsey, Clerk; John King, Hosea Dunbar, Thomas Hollis, L. Lincoln, Corporal; Edmund Crane, Drummer; Samuel Joy, Nehemiah Blanchard."
The following named Braintree people were in Capt. Joseph Hodges' company, made up mostly from Taunton and Norton : " Mathias Cheesman, 26; Benjamin Nash, 24." Crown Point expedition, 1756.
In Byfield Lyde's, Esq., company. Ezra Niles, 22; Elisha Hayden, 21; Clement Hayden, 19." Vol. IV, p. 436.
In Capt. Wm. Arbuthnott's company, 1758, not in the capitu-
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lation, "Jacob French, Seth French, Samuel Lee, Ephriam Pray, Joshua Russell, Nemiah Blanchard."
In Capt. Wm. Arbuthnott's company, of Marlborough, there were at the capitulation of Fort William Henry, " William Cor- nell, William Hubbard, Jonathan Blanchard."
In Capt. Samuel Robbin's company, "Joseph Nichols (killed or taken), Silas Warner, Zephaniah Batchler."
In Capt. Jeremiah Richard's company, of Roxbury, 1759, " David Hayden, Wilson Marsh, Joseph Nightingale, Ephriam Pray," for the reduction of Canada.
In Capt. Asa Foster's company, for the reduction of Canada, 1759, "Jonathan Walker, Joseph Walker."
In Capt. Simeon Cary's company, of Bridgewater, 1759, "Wil- liam Nightingale, Joseph Niles, Gideon Thayer, from 14th of May to Jan. 2d, following."
In Capt. Benjamin Beale's company, 1759, " Benjamin Diah, Jonathan Diah, Christopher Dyer, Eliphalet Hinckley, from May 12th, 1759, to Feb. 23d, 1760." Crown Point.
In Capt. Jabez Snow's company, "Thomas Chevers, Josiah Sanders, Joseph Ruggles Pain, from July 2d to Dec. 15th, 1760."
In Capt. Josiah Dunbar's company, of Bridgewater, "John Downing (deserter), Silas Clark, Enoch Hayden, from Feb. 14th to Dec. 28th, 1760."
In Capt. Thomas Penniman's company, of Stoughton, " Barash Jordan, Sergeant ; Jonathan Clark, Drummer; William Hub- bard, Enoch Hayden, Joseph Man, Hezekiah Ludden, Daniel Hayden, Benjamin Dyer, Joseph Nyles, Samuel Jordan, Isaac Allen, Thos. Hollis, Lemuel Veasey, Silas Nyles, Elijah Thayer, Isaac Dunham, Joshua Thayer, Samuel Jones, Richard Hayden. Feb. 7th, 1761." Vol. XCVIII, p. 292.
In Capt. Stephen Whipple's company, of Ipswich, "Christo- pher Thayer. 1761." Vol. XCVIII, p. 381.
In Capt. Timothy Hament's company, " Abijah Neil, Peter Newcomb, Ebenezer Niles, John Perry, Benj. Stetson, Christo- pher Thayer, Lemuel Thayer, Abel Thayer. Mar. 19th, 1762." Vol. XCVIII, p. 418.
In Capt. Samuel Dunbar's company, 1763, " Moses Littlefield,
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Levi Ludden, John Niles, Jonathan Niles, James Niles, Ebene- zer Niles, Jacob Nash, Daniel Pratt, Benjamin Stutson, Thomas Sever, John Stoddard, John Thayer, William Thayer, Paul Thayer."
REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
We now come to the Revolutionary Period. The home gov- ernment had completed a peace at Paris, in 1763, which created great rejoicing in the Provinces, as they looked forward to a long period of prosperity. Young King George the Third had just ascended the throne, and the Provinces placed great confi- dence in his expected just administration ; but they were soon doomed to disappointment. The king was under the influence of a corrupt ministry, led and controlled by Burt, a designing demagogue and an unprincipled Scotchman, who soon showed their hatred to the Provinces by having onerous and oppres- sive laws enacted, such as the Writs of Assistance and the Stamp Act. Mr. Pitt, afterwards Earl Chatham, an able States- . man and a brilliant orator, who was opposed to the taxation of the Provinces, was succeeded by Burt, the king's favorite. But a revenue they must have, and the Provinces must pay it. So Parliament, in the year 1765, passed an act for this purpose, called the Stamp Act, which was instrumental in producing that spirit of opposition to the parent government that, ten years after, burst forth into open hostilities. This bill was brought into Parliament by Mr. Grenvill, and ad- vocated by Mr. Townsend. Colonel Barre opposed it in his well-known eloquent and powerful speech, which availed noth- ing, as the bill passed the House of Commons by a vote of two hundred and fifty in favor and fifty against it. So strong was the sentiment in the House of Lords in support of the bill that there was not a word spoken against it. It took its final passage on the 22d of March, 1765. Dr. Franklin wrote to Mr. Charles Thompson (afterwards secretary of Congress), on the night after its passage :- " The candle of liberty is set ; you must set up the candle of industry and economy." He said to Mr. Ingersoll,
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who asked his advice about accepting the agency to distribute stamps :- " Go home and tell your countrymen to get children as fast as they can." Intimating by this assertion that war was inevitable, and that suitable material was wanted in the Colonies to establish an army for active warfare.
The passage of this impost tax on the Colonies was received in Massachusetts with indignation and sorrow, thinking as they did, that this action of the parent government in imposing such excessive taxes upon them, would result in a dreaded, uncalled- for and internecine war.
The newspapers ardently regretted the Provinces' loss of lib- erty, and urged the people to organize into associations for their mutual protection against the tyranny of the home government. Upon this call of the press, the inhabitants in many of the towns came together and formed patriotic societies, which were called "Sons of Liberty." These associations in a number of towns set out liberty trees,1 under which these sons of freedom used to assemble and proclaim those carnest, patriotic sentiments for liberty and an active aggression against the crown, that set the Colonies in a blaze, and ultimately consummated in the war of the American Revolution.
The sentiment of the inhabitants of Braintree at this time, cannot be better illustrated than by giving the following extract from Mr. John Adams' interesting Diary, Vol. I, p. 185, in which he gives an account of a town meeting of that year, stat- ing that it was "the first popular struggle of the Revolution in the town of Braintree."2
1. 1766, "May 4th, Sunday. Returning from meeting this morning; I saw for the first time a likely young button-wood tree, lately planted on the triangle made by the three roads, by the house of Mr. James Brackett. The tree is well set, well guarded, and has on it an inscription, 'The tree of Liberty, and cursed is he who cuts this tree !' Q. What will be the consequences of this thought ? I never heard a hint of it till I saw it, but I hear that some persons grumble, and threaten to girdle it."-Adams' Diary, Vol. II, p. 194.
Tradition says that this tree died a natural death in eight years. It was located at the junction of Hancock, Elm and School streets, where the reservoir now is, and was then called Brackett's corner, now called Williams' corner.
2. "Mar. 1st, Saturday. Spent a part of last evening with Mr. Jo. Cleverly. He is a tiptoe for town meeting ; he has many schemes and improvements in his head,-namely, for separating the offices of constable and collector ; collect-
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The repeal of the Stamp Act, in 1766, was received in Boston on the 16th of May, and general rejoicing was had in most of the towns of the Colony, by the firing of guns, ringing of bells and beating of drums. But in Braintree the Tory element was
. ing taxes has laid the foundation for the ruin of many families. He is for five selectmen, and will vote for the old ones, Mr. Quincy and Major Miller. He lears they are for turning ont all the old selectmen, and choosing a new set ; they for having but three, &c.
" The only way is to oppose schemes to schemes, and so break in upon them. Cleverly will become a great town meeting man, and a great speaker in town meeting. Q. What effect will this have on the town affairs ? Brother tells me that William Veasey, Jr., tells him he has but one objection against Jona- than Bass, and that is, Bass is too forward. When a man is forward, we may conclude he has some selfish view, some self ends. Brother asked him if he and his party would carry that argument through. It holds stronger against Captain Thayer and Major Miller than it ever did against anybody in this town, excepting Colonel Gooch and Captain Mills. But I desire the proof of Bass's forwardness. Has he been more so than Major Miller? Come, come, Mr. Vea- sey, says Master Jo. Cleverly, don't you say too much; I an't of that mind. Ego. Bass is an active, capable man, but no seeker by mean begging or buy- ing of votes.
"3d, Monday. My brother Peter, Mr. Etter and Mr. Field, having a number of votes prepared for Mr. Quincy and me, set themselves to scatter them in town meeting. The town had been very silent and still, my name had never been mentioned, nor had our friends ever talked of any new Selectmen at all, excepting in the South Precinct; but as soon as they found there was an at- tempt to be made, they fell in and assisted ; and, although there were six differ- ent hats with votes for as many different persons, besides a considerable number of scattering votes, I had the major vote of the assembly the first time. Mr. Quincy had more than one hundred and sixty votes. I had but one vote more than half. Some of the church people,-Mr. Jo. Cleverly, his brother Ben and son, &c., and Mr. Ben. Vesey, of the middle precinct, Mr. James Faxon, &c., -I found were grieved and chagrined for the loss of their dear Major Miller. Etter and my brother took a skilful method ; they let a number of young fellows into the design, John Ruggles, Peter Newcomb, &c., who were very well pleased with the employment, and put about a great many votes. Many per- sons, I hear acted slyly and deceitfully ; this is always the case. I own it gave me much pleasure to find I had so many friends, and that my conduct in town has been not disapproved. The choice was quite unexpected to me. I thought the project was so new and sudden that the people had not digested it, and would generally suppose the town would not like it, and so would not vote for it. But my brother's answer was, that it had been talked of last year and some years before, and that the thought was familiar to the people in general, and was more agreeable than anything of the kind that could be proposed to many, and for these reasons his hopes were strong. But the triumph of the party was very considerable, though not complete; for Thayer and Miller, and the late
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so strong and influential that no public demonstration was held. And Mr. Adams relates, "A duller day than last Monday, when the Province was in a rapture for the repeal of the Stamp Act, I do not remember to have passed. And the town of Braintree insensible to the common joy."
In 1765, the noted Braintree instructions to their Representa- tive were drawn up by Mr. John Adams, and presented to the .
lessees of the north commons, and many of the church people, and many others had determined to get out Deacon Penniman; but, instead of that, their favor- ite was dropped, and I, more obnoxious to that party than even Deacon Penni- man or any other man, was chosen in his room, and Deacon Penniman was saved with more than one hundred and thirty votes-a more reputable election than even Thayer himself had.
"Mr. Jo. Bass was extremely sorry for the loss of Major Miller; he would never come to another meeting. Mr. Jo. Cleverly could not account for many things done at town meetings. His motion for choosing collectors was slighted; his motion for lessening his fine was thrown out; and he made no sort of figure as a speaker; so that I believe Mr. Cleverly will make no hand. Elisha Niles says, ' set a knave to catch a knave.' A few days before a former March meet- ing, he told Thayer that he had a mind to get in Deacon Penniman. Thayer asked him who he would have with him. He answered, Capt. Allen. Thayer made him no answer, but when the meeting came, was chosen himself.
"Mr. Thomas Faxon, of this end of the town, told my wife he never saw anybody chosen so neatly in his life,-not a word, not a whisper beforehand. Peter Newcomb gave him a vote; he had one before for Miller, and had heard nothing of me; but he thought I should have one. So he dropped that for Mil- ler. Jo. Nightingale asked my wife, ' Mr. Adams will have too much business, will he not; the courts to attend, selectman and representative at May, &c?' Mr. John Baxter, the old gentleman, told me he was very well pleased with the choice at the north end, &c. Old Mr. John Ruggles voted for me; but says that Thayer will (be chosen) at May. If I would set up, he would vote for me, and I should go, but Mr. Quincy will not. Lieut. Holbrook, I hear, was much in my favor, &c. Thus the town is pretty generally disputing about me, I find. " But this choice will not disconcert Thayer, at May, though it will weaken him. But, as I said before, the triumph was not complete; Cornet Bass had the most votes the first time, and would have come in the second, but the north end people, his friends, after putting in their votes the first time, withdrew for refreshment, by which accident he lost it, to their great regret.
" Mark the fruits of this election to me. Will the church people be angry, and grow hot and furious, or will they be cooler and calmer for it? Will Thayer's other precinct friends resent it and become more violent, or will they be less so? In short, I cannot answer these questions; many of them will be disheartened, I know; some will be glad.
" 10th, Monday. Last week went to Boston and to Weymouth, &c. I hear that Mr. Benjamin Cleverly has already bespoke Mr. John Ruggles, Jr., against
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inhabitants of the town at a legally assembled meeting, on the 24th of September, and unanimously voted, " that instructions should be given their Representative for his conduct in General. Assembly on this great occasion." The active part that Mr. Adams took in these instructions can be better understood by giving it in his own language :-
"I drew up a petition to the Selectmen of Braintree, and pro- cured it to be signed by a number of the respectable inhabitants to call a meeting of the town, to instruct their Representative in relation to the stamps. The public attention of the whole continent was alarmed, and my principles and political connec- tions were well known. I prepared a draught of instructions at home, and carried them with me. The cause of the meeting was explained at some length, and the state and dangers of the country pointed out ; a committee was appointed to prepare in- structions, of which I was nominated as one. We retired to Mr. Niles' house, my draught was produced and unanimously adopted without amendments, reported to the town and ac- cepted without a dissenting voice. These were published by Draper's paper, as that printer first applied to me for a copy. They were decided and spirited enough. They rang through the State, and were adopted in so many words, as I was in- formed by the Representatives of that year, by forty towns, as instructions to their Representatives. They were honored suffi- ciently, by the friends of the government, with the epithets of inflammatory."1
May meeting,-promised him as much as he could eat and drink of the best sort if he will vote for Captain Thayer; told him he would not have acted as he did, at March, if it had not been for Thomas Newcomb, and that he would vote for Thayer, at May, if it was not for Thomas Newcomb. By this, the other side are alarmed; the craft, they think, is in danger; but I believe their fears are groundless, though I wish there was good reason for them.
"Drank tea at Mr. Etter's. He says all the blame is laid to him, and that a certain man takes it very ill of him. By the way, I heard to-day that Major Miller and James Brackett, Jr., were heard, since March meeting, raving against Dea. Palmer, and said he was a knave, &c. Q. About this quarrel ?"
1. " To Ebenezer Thayer, Esq. :-
"SIR: In all the calamities which have ever befallen this county, we have never felt so great a concern, or such alarming apprehensions, as on this occa- sion. Such is our loyality to the King, our veneration for both houses of Parli-
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The French and Indian War had caused such a severe drain upon the resources and limited means of the Province, that the town was obliged to make the following law in regard to econo- my, industry and the protection of home manufacture, viz. :-
" Whereas, the well-being and happiness of all civil commu- nities depend on industry, economy and good morals. And this town takes into serious consideration the great decay of the trade of the Province, the scarcity of money, the heavy debt con- tracted in the late war, which still remains on the people, and the great difficulties to which they are by these means reduced.
ament, and our affection for all our fellow-subjects in Britain, that measures which discover any unkindness in that country towards us are the more sensi- bly and intimately felt. And we can no longer forbear complaining, that many of the measures of the late ministry, and some of the late acts of Parliament, have a tendency, in our apprehension, to divest us of our most essential rights and liberties. We shall confine ourselves, however, chiefly to the acts of Par- liament, commonly called the Stamp Act, by which a very burthensome, and in our opinion, unconstitutional tax, is to be laid upon us all; and we subjected to numerous and enormous penalties, to be prosecuted, sued for and recovered, at the option of an informer, in a Court of Admiralty, without a jury.
" We have called this a burthensome tax, because the duties are so numerous and so high, and the embarrassments to business in this infant, sparsely-settled country so great, that it would be totally impossible for the people to subsist under it, if we had no controversy at all about the right and authority of im- posing it. Considering the present scarcity of money, we have reason to think, the execution of that act for a short space of time would drain the country of its cash, strip multitudes of all their property and reduce them to absolute beg- gary. And what the consequence would be to the peace of the Province, from so sudden a shock and such a convulsive change in the whole course of our business and subsistence, we tremble to consider. We further apprehend this tax to be unconstitutional. We have always understood it to be a grand and fundamental principle of the Constitution, that no freeman should be subject to any tax to which he has not given his own consent, in person or by proxy. And the maxims of the law, as we have constantly received them, are to the same effect, that no freeman can be separated from his property but by his own act or fault. We take it clearly, therefore, to be inconsistent with the spirit of the common law, and of the essential fundamental principles of the British Consti- tution, that we should be subject to any tax imposed by the British Parliament; because we are not represented in that assembly in any sense, unless it be by a fiction of law, as insensible in theory as it would be injurious in practice, if such a taxation should be grounded on it.
" But the most grievous innovation of all, is the alarming extension of the power of Courts of Admiralty. In these Courts, one judge presides alone! No juries have any concern there! The law and the fact are both to be decided by
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Therefore voted, that the town will use their utmost endeavors, and enforce their endeavors by example in suppressing extrava- gance, idleness and vice, and promote industry, economy and good morals, in the town. And in order to prevent the unnec- essary exportation of money, of which this Province has of late been so much drained. It is further voted that the town will, by all prudent means, discontinue the use of foreign superflui- ties, and encourage the manufactures of the Province, and par- ticularly those of this town."
May 25th, 1770. Protest of the town against a meeting at Cambridge :- " Whereas, the present precept directing us to choose one or more representatives, requiring our sending such
the same single judge, whose commission is only during pleasure, and with whom, as we are told, the most mischievous of all customs has become estab- lished, that of taking commissions on all condemnations; so that lie is under a pecuniary temptation always against the subject. Now, if the wisdom of the mother country has thought the independency of judges so essential to an impar- tial administration of justice, as to render them independent of every power on earth-independent of the King, the Lords, the Commons, the people, nay, independent in hope and expectation of the heir-apparent, by continuing their commission after a demise of the crown, what justice and impartiality are we, three thousand miles distant from the fountain, to expect from such a Judge of Admiralty? We have all along thought the acts of trade in this respect a grievance; but the Stamp Act has opened a vast number of sources of new crimes, which may be committed by any man, and cannot but be committed by multitudes, and prodigious penalties are annexed, and all these are to be tried by such a judge of such a court. What can be wanting, after this, but a weak or wicked man for a judge, to render us the most sordid and forlorn of slaves? We mean thie slaves of a slave of the servants of a Minister of State. We can- not help asserting, therefore, that this part of the act will make a great change in the constitution of juries, and it is directly repugnant to the Great Charter itself; for by that Charter, 'no amerciament shall be assessed, but by the oath of honest and lawful men of the vicinage'; and, 'no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or desseized of his freehold or liberties of free customs, nor passed upon, nor condemned, but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.' So that this act will 'make such distinctions, and create such a difference between ' the subjects in Great Britain and those in America, as we could not have expected from the guardians of liberty in ' both.'
" As these, sir, are our sentiments of this act, we, the freeholders and other inhabitants, legally assembled for this purpose, must enjoin it upon you, to comply with no measures or proposals for countenancing the same, or assisting in the execution of it, but by all lawful means, consistent with our allegiance to the King and relation to Great Britain, to oppose the execution of it, till we can hear the success of the cries and petitions of America for relief.
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person or persons to Cambridge; but the law positively directs that the General Court shall meet at the Town House in Boston. We do protest against said requirements for the General Court to meet at Cambridge as illegal, and an infringement of. our rights and privileges, and that our compliance with the precepts aforesaid is through necessity, and shall not hereafter be drawn into precedents. Dea. Joseph Palmer, Dea. James Penniman, Capt. Benjamin Beal, Dea. Jonathan Webb, Dea. Jonathan Wild, a committee on Pamphlet."
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