USA > Massachusetts > History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and honorable artillery company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Vol. II > Part 8
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His son, Thomas Tilestone, a carpenter, was one of the guard over the tea ships on the night of Nov. 30, 1773.
Josiah Waters (1747), painter, of Boston, son of Josiah and Mary Waters, of Woburn, was born July 26, 1721, and married, Aug. 25, 1743, Abigail Dawes, daughter of Dea. Thomas Dawes, and sister of William (1760) and Rebecca, who married William Homes (1747). She was an aunt of Sarah Dawes, who married Benjamin Goldthwait (1740). Capt. Josiah (1747) and Abigail (Dawes) Waters had three children, one of whom, Col. Josiah Waters, Jr., joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1769.
Capt. Waters (1747) joined the Old South Church July 19, 1741. Abigail, his wife, with her sister Rebecca and her brother William (1760), joined the Old South Church Feb. 8, 1735. Josiah (1747) and his wife continued in active membership in that church until their decease. Both were active in church work, and were held in the highest esteem. Capt. Waters (1747) died suddenly, of apoplexy, Sept. 30, 1784,1 and Mrs. Waters, born Jan. 13, 1721, died Nov. 22, 1816. The residence and place of business of Capt. Waters (1747) were in Ann Street.
Capt. Waters (1747) was somewhat active in town matters, and, prior to his becoming engrossed in military affairs, held town office. He was a constable of Boston in 1740 and 1751, viewer of boards and shingles in 1746 and 1747, clerk of the market in 1753, 1754, and 1763, and warden in 1772. He made a "general visitation " of the town, Feb. 18, 1766, and visited the public schools (when he is first called " Captain " in the Boston records) July 5, 1770. In 1776, he received one hundred and seventy pounds for repairs which he made on Faneuil Hall.
He was also identified with the military. He was captain of a Boston company at the beginning of the Revolution, and Gen. Heath (1765), in his memoirs, names Capt. Josiah Waters (1747) as one of the officers who assisted Col. Richard Gridley in deter- mining and erecting the works about Boston in 1775. Capt. Waters (1747) was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1751 and 1754, ensign in 1760, lieutenant in 1763, and its captain in 1769.
Josiah Waters (1747). AUTHORITIES: Hill's Ilist. of Old South Church; Massachusetts Centinel, 1784; Boston Records.
1 " Last Thursday [Sept. 30, 1784] evening died of an apoplectic fit, Josiah Waters, Esq., the elder, of this town, aged 63. Six hours before his death he was in good health. A tender husband,
a kind father, an inflexible friend, a good member of society, and a worthy, honest man. A good character after death is common enough : but the propriety of this will not be disputed. Funeral Mon- day next from his dwelling house in Ann Street." -- Massachusetts Centinel.
48
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1747
The record of the Artillery Company for 1747 is as follows : -
" 1747. April 6th. The Company being under arms, voted, that the Rev. Mr. William Hobby be desired to preach the next Election Sermon, and that the field officers of the Regiment of the town of Boston, with the present commission officers of this Company be a committee to wait on him and desire the same.
" May 8th. Friday. Last Monday proving foul weather, we by our Charter were obliged to appear this day, and being under arms, the Captain being one of the Com- mittee appointed to wait on the Rev. Mr. Hobby to desire him to preach the next Election Sermon, reported that he accepted the same. In the evening, it was voted, that what money is due for interest, that shall be received by the Treasurer, together with what shall be in the Clerk's hands, shall be applied for defraying the charge of the members dinner next Election day, and the balance that shall be left, shall be for the benefit of the commission officers, towards defraying the rest of the charge.
" June ist. The evening being spent at Capt. John Phillips' [1725], it was voted, That the old commission officers of this Company, and the new commission officers this day chosen, be a committee to wait on the Rev. Mr. Hobby, and return the thanks of this Company to him for his sermon preached this day.
"September 7th. The evening being spent at Lieut Hugh McDaniels [1729], it was there voted, that the five hundred and thirty pounds, old tenor, in Col. Downe's [1716] hands belonging to this Company be let out for the benefit thereof at the dis- cretion of the committee formerly appointed for that purpose.
"October. At Lt. Thomas Edwards' [1724], the evening being spent there, voted, that it is the desire of this Company that every member of it appear upon training days with a gold laced hat on. Also, that the Standing Committee be impowered, if Mr. Holyoke [1714] is not like soon to finish transcribing the Company's Books, to get it otherwise done."
Rev. William Hobby, of Reading, delivered the Artillery election sermon of 1747.1 He was a son of John Hobby, who was a brother of Sir Charles Hobby (1702), and was born Aug. 17, 1707. He graduated at Harvard College in 1725. In 1733, the town of Reading invited him to settle as minister of the First Parish at a salary of one hundred and twenty pounds. Mr. Hobby was ordained in that town in September, 1733. The bill of expenses of ordination (sixty-five pounds six shillings and one penny) includes one barrel of wine, - thirteen pounds and eight shillings. In 1741, Rev. Mr. Whitefield preached on Reading Common. Rev. Mr. Hobby went to hear him, and it is said he afterwards remarked, " that he went to pick a hole in Whitefield's coat, but that White- field picked a hole in his (Hobby's) heart."
Tradition says he was a learned and pious man, an able writer and forceful speaker. He wore a big wig, large knee buckles, and other showy sacerdotal vestments, "espe- cially on the Sabbath, when he entered the temple of the Lord and ascended to the pulpit with dignity and majesty." He died, June 18, 1765, in Reading, after a ministry of thirty-two years.
Rev. William Hobby. AUTHORITY : Eaton's Hist. of Reading.
1 " Monday last [June 1, 1747], being the An- niversary Day for electing of officers in the ancient and honorable Company of this Province, they had a Sermon preach'd by the Rev. Mr. Hobby of Read-
ing from Psal. 78, 9, 10, and in the afternoon they made choice of John Phillips Esq [1725] for their Captain, Mr Hugh McDaniel [1729] Lieutenant and Mr. Thomas Edwards [1724] Ensign for the ensuing year." - The Boston Evening Post, June 8, 1747.
John Carnes_
49
1748]
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1748. The officers of the Artillery Company elected in 1748 were : John Carnes1 (1733), captain; Jonathan Williams, Jr. (1729), lieutenant, and Samuel Pratt (1734), ensign. Jeremiah Belknap, Jr. (1745), was first sergeant ; John West (1745), second sergeant ; John Wendell, "Tertius" (1745), third sergeant ; Samuel Swift (1746), fourth sergeant, and Caleb Phillips (1742), clerk.
The first Bibles printed in America were printed about this time. It was a violation of law for any one to print Bibles in the colonies. It was therefore done secretly, and a false imprint was inserted. They were, however, printed by Kneeland & Green for Daniel Henchman (1712), who soon after issued a Testament. Col. Henchman (1712), in January, 1728, effected the organization of a company for paper making. His partners in the enterprise were Gillam Phillips (1714), Benjamin Faneuil, Thomas Hancock, and Henry Deering, son of Henry (1682). They were granted the exclusive right, by an act of the General Court, to this manufacture in the province for a term of fifteen years. Their paper mill, "believed to have been the first paper mill in this country," was situated in Milton, "below the bridge, on the Milton side of the river."
So tenacious had the Artillery Company been of their privileges, that few instances are found of interference. April 1, 1748, was appointed for a town meeting in Boston ; but, it appearing that that day was one of the charter field days, "the meeting was declared null and void, as being contrary to the Artillery charter." A similar instance " like to have occurred during the mayoralty of President Quincy, the warrant having been made out; but that efficient officer, discovering the coincidence, immediately countermanded it." 2
The member of the Artillery Company recruited in 1748 was Edward Cowell, Jr.
Edward Cowell, Jr. (1748), cooper, of Boston, son of Edward, married, (1) Dec. 5, 1745, Hannah Martin, and, (2) Jan. 8, 1746-7, Susanna Gedney.
He was fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1751, and second sergeant in 1753. He was chosen scavenger in 1749, and culler of staves, hoops, etc., in 1750 and 175r, from 1755 to 1757 inclusive, 1760, and from 1763 to 1777 inclusive, - a service of more than twenty years. April 2, 1771, he was drawn as a juryman in town meeting, to serve at the April court.
The record of the Artillery Company for 1748 is as follows : --
"April Ist, 1748. In the field, the Company being under arms, chose the Rev. Mr. Samuel Dunbar, of Stoughton, to preach the next Artillery Election Sermon ; & voted, the commission officers of this Company and the field of the Regiment, a committee to wait upon him and desire the same.
"N. B. There was a Town Meeting called at Boston upon this day, which being contrary to the Artillery Charter was declared null and void.
"To he Sold, for the Benefit of the Heirs, having obtained Leave from the Great and General Court for that End, The Real Estate of John Carnes [1733], late of Boston, Esq; deceased; Consisting of a Stone-House, with a good Garden; Two Brick Tenements and a large Shop, fronting Ann-Street, with a Blacksmith's Shop and several Stores back, two good Wells of Water with Pumps, very con- venient for a Merchant or Shop keeper; also two Tenements in Sun-Court, so called, near the Old
North Meeting-House. Also a young Negro Man capable of any Business, a Marble Table, and a Mahogany ditto. Inquire of Arthur Savage in Ann- Street.
"N. B. All that are indebted to said Estate, are desired to make speedy Payment; and all to whom the Estate is indebted, are desired to come and receive their money." - Boston Gazette, July 21, 1760.
2 Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company.
50
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1748
"May 2d. At Sergeant Greenough's [1744], Voted, that seventy pounds, old tenor, be allowed the present commission officers next Artillery Election Day ; and seventy pounds to go towards defraying the soldiers' dinner on same day. The whole to be paid out of the interest money in the Treasurers hands & the money which shall be in the Clerk's hands next October.
" June 6th. At Capt John Carnes's [1733], the evening being spent there, Voted, That the old commission officers of this Company, with the new commission officers this day chosen, be a committee to wait on the Rev. Mr. Samuel Dunbar, and return the thanks of this Company to him for his sermon preached this day.
"September. The Artillery Company trained at Chelsea ; the Ensign living there."
Rev. Samuel Dunbar, of Stoughton, delivered the Artillery election sermon of 1748. He was a son of John and Margaret (Holmes) Dunbar, and was born in Boston, Oct. 2, 1704. He graduated at Harvard College in 1723, and was ordained pastor of the church in Stoughton (Canton), Nov. 15, 1727. He continued in this work until his decease, which occurred June 15, 1783, aged seventy-nine years. He was a true patriot. In 1755, he was chaplain in the expedition to Crown Point, and he supported the colonial cause during the war of the Revolution. He lived to see the war close trium- phantly, and the return of peace. At the celebration held in Stoughton in honor of that event, June 2, 1783, he was present, and offered a public prayer. This was his last public service.
" Mr. Bancroft speaks of his prayer at the Doty Tavern, in Canton, where the first Suffolk County Congress was held, in 1774. When the British fleet, under Lord Howe, was reported off the coast, meditating a descent on Boston, Mr. Dunbar prayed that God would ' put a bit in their mouths and jerk them about, send a strong northeast gale, and dash them to pieces on Cohasset Rock.' Again, in a season of great anxiety, he prayed that God would let the Redcoats return to the land whence they came, 'for Thou knowest, O God, that their room is better than their company.'"
The following-named members of the Company are given in the record book as " Artillery soldiers under the fine of 6/ per diem for non-appearance " : -
John Adams (1740), John Austin (1746), Thomas Baxter (1740), James Butler (1739), Jonathan Cary (1740), Isaac Cazneau (1744), John Comrin (1744), Edward Cowell, Jr. (1748), John Dixwell (1741), Thomas Edes (1739), John Edwards (1747), John Franklin (1739), Joseph Gale (1744), Newman Greenough (1740), Thomas Greenough (1744), Alexander Hill (1746), John Hyland (1740), Thomas Johnson, Jr. (1742), Eneas Mackay (1745), John Nichols (1740), Caleb Phillips (1742), Joseph Sherburne (1745), William Simpkins (1739), Thomas Snow (1741), Samuel Swift (1746), John Wendell, Terts. (1745), John West (1745), John Wilson (1745), Kenelm Winslow, Jr. (1743).
The above list was prepared probably in 1748-9.
Rev. Samuel Dunbar.
AUTHORITY : Huntoon's IIist. of Canton.
Eleverer forero
51
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1749]
The officers of the Artillery Company elected in 1749 were : Ebenezer 1749. Storer (1732), captain ; Joseph Jackson (1738), lieutenant ; John Symmes (1733), ensign. Joseph Gale (1744) was first sergeant; Joseph Sherburne (1745), second sergeant; Alexander Hill (1746), third sergeant; Thomas Lawlor (1746), fourth sergeant, and Samuel Swift (1746), clerk.
The Artillery Company found themselves embarrassed by the assessors of Boston taxing the Company funds. Having reluctantly paid taxes for three years, they, by their committee, all venerable past commanders, petitioned the Legislature to direct their taxes to be refunded, and that in future their property should not be subject to taxation. This petition expresses much spirit in claiming their rights, and much patriotism in the public service. It was thereupon, "in Council, June 15, 1749, read and ordered, that the prayer of this petition be granted and that the aforesaid taxes, imposed on the Treasurer of the Artillery Company aforesaid, be remitted ; and it is hereby declared that the donations made, or to be made, to said Company, shall be exempt from all taxes whatsoever, until this Court shall order otherwise."
The member of the Artillery Company recruited in 1749 was William Moor.
William Moor (1749), son of William and Mary (Dawes) Moor, of Boston, who were married March 28, 1728, was born in Boston, May 9, 1730. Mary Dawes (born Dec. 10, 1709) was a sister of William Dawes (1760). Mr. Moor (1749) married,1 July 10, 1759, Sarah Williston, of Boston. His mother, Mary (Dawes) Moor, united with the Old South Church April 16, 1727, and his father joined it Aug. 12, 1759. William, Jr. (1749), became a member of it Dec. 21, 1760.
Dec. 14, 1764, William Moor (1749) became a member of Engine Company No. 8, Capt. Obadiah Curtis. He served as sergeant of the Fifth Company, First Massachusetts Regiment, in the Cape Breton expedition, under Sir William Pepperell. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and a member of the Society of the Cincinnati of Massachusetts. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in Col. Crane's regiment, Sept. 9, 1778, and served to the end of the war. Re-entering the service, he was commissioned a lieutenant May 1, 1787, and a lieutenant of artillery Sept. 29, 1789. He died in 1791, at the River St. Mary's, in Georgia, leaving no descendants.
The record of the Artillery Company for 1749 is as follows : -
" April 3d, 1749. The Company being under arms, made choice of the Rev. Mr. Ellis Gray, of Boston, to preach the next Artillery Election Sermon; and it was then Voted, that the commission officers of this Company, and the field officers of the Regi- ment, be a committee to wait on him and desire the same.
" May Ist, 1749. The Company being under arms and the Capt. viz : Captain John Carnes [1733] being one of the committee appointed to wait on the Rev. Mr. Gray to desire him to preach the next Election Sermon, reported that he accepted the same. And, in the evening of said day, being at the house of Mr. John Wendell, Tertius [1745], it was then and there voted, that seventy pounds, in old tenor bills, so called, be allowed to the Captain and other officers to help defray the Artillery Election charges of dinner &c, said money to be paid out of the first interest and fines.
William Moor (1749). AUTHORITIES: Boston Records; Drake's Biog. Notices of the Cincinnati of Massachusetts.
1 A William More, of Boston, married Jane McCastleen, April 20, 1753.
52
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1749
" PROVINCE OF
" MASSACHUSETTS BAY.
"To His Excellency WILLIAM SHIRLEY Esq. Captain General Governor and Commander in Chief in and over said Province : To the Honorable, His Majesty's Council & Hon'ble House of Representatives in General Court assembled at Boston on the last Wednesday in May 1749.
"The petition of Jacob Wendell [1733], William Downe [1716], Daniel Hench- man [1712], John Wendell [1733] and John Phillips [1725], in behalf of the Artillery Company of the Massachusetts Bay Humbly sheweth That on the 24th day of April, A. D. 1638, the then General Assembly did incorporate the Military or Artillery Company of said Province, and did then grant unto said Company certain priviledges & immunities as per their Charter, and for their further encouragement the General Assembly have, at sundry times, made liberal donations unto them, as per Record may fully appear ; the main end and design of said Company being to advance and excel in Art Military, and to be a Nursery of good soldiers; of all which this Province have had experience for more than a century of years, and from their first incorporation down to this day, strict military orders have always been duly observed and complied with, and the great charge attending the same has been, from time to time, cheerfully bourne by the respective officers and soldiers of the said Company, who are now ready upon any emergency, at the command of their Captain General.
"Now, May it please Your Excellency & Honors ; In consequence of those dona- tions, &c, and of the prudent management of said Company, they have a small annual income, but not amounting to near half of the publick and other necessary charges, which they are annually at : but so it is, May it please your Excellency and Honors, that the assessors of the town of Boston, in the conscientious discharge of the trust reposed in them, have for these three years past continued to tax the Treasurer of said Company to the amount of forty-five pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence, old tenor ; which your petitioners considering the great and heavy charge annually borne by said Company, look upon to be burthensome; Wherefore, as this Company have ever been so happy as to have the countenance, aid & assistance of this Hon'ble Court, upon all occasions when applied to, & hope they have done nothing to incur their displeasure, are embol- dened humbly to pray your Excellency & Honors, who have a great sense of the absolute necessity of the Military Art being upheld and encouraged, that you would be pleased to direct & order the Assessors of the town of Boston to remit the taxes imposed as afore- said, the time of abatements for this year being lapsed notwithstanding, &c, that for the future, no tax be imposed on said Company ; or otherwise to relieve them in the premises as your Excellency and Honors shall deem meet; and as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c.
" JACOB WENDELL, " WILLIAM DOWNE, " DANIEL HENCHMAN " JOHN WENDELL " JOHN PHILLIPS " Committee for said Company.
" In Council, June 15th, 1749. Read and ordered that the prayer of this' petition be granted ; and that the aforementioned taxes, imposed on the Treasurer of the Artillery Company aforesaid be remitted. And it is hereby declared, that the donations made or
53
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1749]
to be made to said Company, shall be exempt from all taxes whatsoever, until this court shall order otherwise. Sent down for concurrence. J. WILLARD, Secretary.
" In the House of Representatives June 15, 1749. Read and Concurred.
" J. DWIGHT, Speaker.
" Consented to S PHIPS.
" Copy examined by THOMAS CLARK, Deputy Secretary.
"June 5th. Voted, that the committee aforesaid, who waited on the Rev. Mr. Gray to desire him to preach on this anniversary, be also a committee to return him thanks in the name of this Company for his sermon this day preached :- this being done under arms.
Attest. SAMUEL SWIFT, Clerk.
" October 2d, 1749.1 Capt. John Phillips [1725] was chosen Treasurer in the room of Col. William Downe [1716], who resigned that trust, and desired the Company would excuse him. They then voted, that the thanks of the Company be returned to Col. Downe [1716] for his extraordinary trouble during the time of his being Treasurer. Also, voted, that the money paid by Mr. Collector White [1722], being about eight pounds, old tenor, be repaid by the Treasurer. Attest SAM'L SWIFT, Clerk."
Rev. Ellis Gray, of Boston, delivered the Artillery election sermon of 1749. His father was Edward Gray, of Boston, who came to America from Lancastershire, and in 1686, a youth, was an apprentice as a rope-maker in Boston. Edward married, (1) in 1699, Susanna Harrison, by whom he had several children, one being Harrison Gray, the distinguished loyalist and treasurer of the province. Edward married, (2) in 1714, Hannah Ellis, by whom he had, with others, Ellis Gray, born Sept. 7, 1715, who gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1734, and was ordained as colleague pastor at the New Brick Church, Sept. 27, 1738. He married, Sept. 20, 1739, Sarah Tyler, by whom he had one daughter and two sons. Mr. Gray retained this relation with the New Brick Church until his death, which occurred very suddenly, on Sunday, Jan. 7, 1753, in the thirty-seventh year of his age and the fifteenth of his ministry. His senior colleague, Rev. William Welsteed, who delivered the Artillery election sermon in 1729, survived Mr. Gray but four months.
For Mr. Gray's funeral expenses eight hundred and sixty-eight pounds were subscribed ; six hundred and fifty-three pounds were expended. Some of the items were : "Wine, rum, pipes, tobacco, ten pounds. Shoes and cloggs. Hose and gloves. Necklace for the negro. A large beaver hat for Mr. Welsteed. Three ditto for Mr. Gray's two sons and negro. Fifteen candles. Black shoe buckles. A light gray bob wig for Mr. Welsteed. Tolling six bells," etc.
Rev. Chandler Robbins, in the history of the Second Church, Boston, says of Mr. Gray, "He was honest and firm in his principles, kind and obliging to all, and univer- sally respected by the friends of piety and virtue."
1 As evidence that the record written in 1680, and the transcript written in 1743, are still in the possession of the Company, it may be stated that this record of 1749 is given in the original book (1680), except that part referring to Oct. 2, 1749, which is given in the transcript (1743) in Mr. Swift's (1746) handwriting. He evidently made an error in the original, as the last two lines have been
erased, and, as there was not room enough left on that page for the correction, he wrote it out in full in the transcript.
The original hook, subsequent to 1680, was continued as an original record book until its pages were full, and the transcript was also continued. The transcript of 1743, when first written, ended with June, 1749.
54
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1750
The officers of the Artillery Company elected in 1750 were : Hugh 1750. McDaniel (1729), captain ; Thomas Edwards (1724), lieutenant ; John Ben- nett (1734), ensign. John Comrin (1744) was first sergeant ; John Wilson (1745), second sergeant; Jonathan Lowder (1747), third sergeant ; Thomas Ray- mond (1747), fourth sergeant, and Samuel Swift (1746), clerk.
May 15, 1750, "the town entered upon the consideration of the petitions of Messrs. Joseph White [1722], John Staniford, and William Larrabee, praying they may be abated the taxes they had paid for Harvard College and the Artillery Company, as the same were remitted by the General Court," etc. The taxes were abated by the town. At the same meeting, Abiel Walley (1710) was chosen chairman of a committee to memorialize the Great and General Court, praying them to repeal the law lately passed laying a duty on " tea, coffee, coaches, chaires," etc.
Joseph Wadsworth, Esq., for many years town treasurer, having declined to serve longer, his accounts were settled by Capt. John Wheelwright (1714). The town there- fore voted, "that the thanks of the town be, and hereby is, given to the Hon. John Wheelwright [1714] for his great Pains, Care and Labour in Settling the Accompts of the late Treasurer Wadsworth and transferring them into new Books."
In 1750, the colonial troops returned in triumph from the capture of Louisburg, which was, in fact, an anti-Catholic crusade. The French had failed to restore Charles Edward to the British throne, and the supremacy of the Church of Rome upon British soil was at an end. The struggle was then transferred to America, and the Protestant troops went to capture the stronghold of France under a flag for which the Rev. George Whitefield had furnished the motto : "Nil desperandum Christo duce." The French, whose possessions extended from Louisburg around by the banks of the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi to New Orleans, had to retire in defeat. It was in these French wars, as they are called, that the Massachusetts officers became trained soldiers, displaying their indomitable bravery, unfaltering energy, personal courage and ability, and were prepared, a few years later, to enter upon the task of securing the independence of the colonies.
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