USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Dunstable > History of the old township of Dunstable: including Nashua, Nashville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimac, N. H.; Dunstable and Tyngsborough, Mass > Part 6
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Tyngsborough > History of the old township of Dunstable: including Nashua, Nashville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimac, N. H.; Dunstable and Tyngsborough, Mass > Part 6
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hudson > History of the old township of Dunstable: including Nashua, Nashville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimac, N. H.; Dunstable and Tyngsborough, Mass > Part 6
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the old township of Dunstable: including Nashua, Nashville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimac, N. H.; Dunstable and Tyngsborough, Mass > Part 6
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Litchfield > History of the old township of Dunstable: including Nashua, Nashville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimac, N. H.; Dunstable and Tyngsborough, Mass > Part 6
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashville > History of the old township of Dunstable: including Nashua, Nashville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimac, N. H.; Dunstable and Tyngsborough, Mass > Part 6
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hollis > History of the old township of Dunstable: including Nashua, Nashville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimac, N. H.; Dunstable and Tyngsborough, Mass > Part 6
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Merrimack > History of the old township of Dunstable: including Nashua, Nashville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimac, N. H.; Dunstable and Tyngsborough, Mass > Part 6
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(1.) 1 Belknap, 173, note.
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English, a friendly Indian, who had rendered him- self peculiarly serviceable to the English. Him they took prisoner and sent to Canada, where he pretended to be highly exasperated against the white men, and said he meant hereafter to be a good Indian ; that the whites had deceived him and he would not trust them in future.
" After these professions of fidelity to their in- terests, he told them that if they would let him have the command of a party of Indians, he would go and surprise Deerfield, one of the fron- tier towns of Massachusetts. They accordingly furnished him with a party, and he soon com- menced his march. He also persuaded the In- dians to let one of the English prisoners accom- pany him. On their arrival at the mountains which surrounded Deerfield, Joe told them that he was afraid that they had not provisions enough for the expedition, and that previous to the attack it would be better to hunt one day. To this the company assented. Joe told them they must go around the mountain, and drive the deer towards where they were, and that he and the English- man would remain where they were, and kill them as they approached.
" Joe had purposely taken his station at a place where he could reach the town, and sent the In- dians around the mountain so that he knew he should not be interrupted in his attempt to join the English. The Indians having gone in pur- suance of his directions, he and his comrade fled to the settlement and apprised the inhabitants of Deerfield of their danger. The Indians soon dis- covered the deception of their commander, by the firing of guns and beating of drums which were heard from the town, and the attempt was aban- doned.
He soon after returned to his duty as a soldier
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at Dunstable, in which employment he took much pleasure, and felt no little pride in the perform- ance of it. The Indians of course felt an invet- erate hostility against him, and determined upon securing him. They therefore waylaid all the places where they should be likely to take him, but still he escaped their stratagems."(1.)
Whether this story be authentic or not I cannot say ; " I tell the tale as 'twas told to me." That he was captured, however, and that he escaped from captivity, we do know, but how or where no record discloses. It appears from a grant made by the General Court of Massachusetts, June 14, 169S, to " Joseph English an Indian es- caping from French Captivity," that he had just returned, and the sum of £6 was allowed him as a "recompense for his services" in "giving in- telligence of the motions of the enemy with in- tent to do mischief upon the frontiers at this time." (2)
It was also during this war, in 1697, that the celebrated Mrs. Duston was captured at Haver- hill, and escaped by killing her captors, ten in number, at the mouth of the Contocook river in Concord, N. H .- This was considered as one of the most remarkable and heroic exploits on re- cord. In her lonely wanderings down the Mer- rimac homeward, the first house she reached was that of old John Lovewell, father of "worthy Capt. Lovewell," which stood on the north side of Salmon brook a few feet north-east of the Allds bridge. The cellar is still visible.
Although Dunstable suffered little during the war from actual injuries, yet the continual expo- sure to the tomahawk and scalping knife, and the
(1.) Indian Anecdotes, 161.
(2.) Mass. Military Records, 169S Journals, 590.
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frequent alarms prevented its growth. Such was its effect, indeed, that though as early as 1680 there were thirty families or more in the town, in 1701 the number did not exceed twenty-five fam- ilies. (1.) The settlement had more than once been nearly deserted, and very few improvements were made. A saw mill had been erected at the earliest settlement, and others followed at " Mine Falls" and on Salmon brook, but no grist mill had been built, the inhabitants resorting to Chelmsford. In 1695, Daniel Waldo set up a grist mill at the mouth of Stony Brook, several miles down the Merrimac, and was " to grind the corn and malt of the inhabitants of Chelmsford, except on the fourth day of each week which is ap- propriated to the use of Dunstable." He agreed to grind "according to turn as much as may be."(2.)
Oct. 4, 1697, every inhabitant was ordered "to bring half a cord of wood to Mr. Weld by the first of November, or forfeit five shillings for each neglect." This was in addition to his salary.
As silver was then worth ten shillings an ounce, five shillings would be equal to half an ounce of silver, or 50 cents of our currency. This would make the value of wood about a dollar a cord.
In 1698 the town joined with other towns in rebuilding Billerica bridge, and raised for that purpose and other town expenses, £6 7s. Of course it could not have been a very splendid or expensive structure.
June 29, 1699, it was voted that John Lollen- dine " build a sufficient cross bridge over Salmon
) Petition 1701 supra.
(2.) Allen's Chelmsford, 30.
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brook, near Mr. Thos. Clark's ffarm house, pro- vided that the cost thereof do not exceed the sum of FORTY SHILLINGS." The town was to pay one half and Mr. Clark the other. The bridge was to be warranted " to stand a twelvemonth, and if the water carry it away, he is to rebuild it at his own cost."
In 1699 the " woodrate " was increased, and assessed according to the ability of the inhabi- tants, who were required to furnish him nineteen cords. The " minister rate " assessed upon the proprietors of Dunstable, including inhabitants, was £17 2s. 2d. (perhaps $50.00,) and was prob- ably the amount of his salary.
It is a singular and instructive fact, and one that might lead to useful reflections, that Mr. Weld was assessed, like any other inhabitant, both to the wood-rate and minister's rate, -to the former one cord and to the latter eleven shillings. I had supposed that the respect "paid the pastor in those days was so great, as to exempt him from all such burdens, but it seems that the prin- ciple of equality was carried into rigorous prac- tice. Nor did the "minister " receive any title except that of Mr., not even that of Rev., for this was an "innovation of vanity " upon puritan simplicity, of a much later date. D. D. and S. 'T. D., and such like, are quite of modern intro- duction. It should be remembered, however, that even the title Mr. was not in 1699 applied to " common people."
'The following is a list of all the inhabitants who were heads of families and contributed to the woodrate in 1699. The number of inhabi- tants did not probably exceed 125.
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"Maj. Jonathan Tyng, Mr. Thomas Weld,
John Lollendine, Robert Usher,
Robert Parris,
Nath'l Cummings,
Nathaniel Blanchard, Joseph Blanchard,
Abraham Cummings,
Thomas Cummings,
John Cummings, John Lovewell,
Thomas Blanchard,
Joseph Hassell,
Mr. Samuel Searle, Samuel Ffrench,
Mr. Samuel Whiting,
William Harwood,
Tho's Lunn, [Lund,] Daniel Galeusha."
In 1700, the town voted that they would " glaze the meeting house," which was done ac- cordingly, at a cost of £1 1s. 6d. Probably it had never been glazed before, and from this we may learn the narrow means of the settlers, and how different were the rude houses in which they worshipped from the costly edifices which now occupy their places. The windows could have been neither very large nor very numerous.
In 1701, the selectmen of the town prayed the General Court for further assistance in the sup- port of the ministry, and set forth, as was custo- mary, their condition and sufferings, at considera .. ble length. As showing the situation of the town at this period, and the customs of the times, the petition is inserted entire.(1.)
" 'To his Majesty's most Honorable Council and Repre- sentatives in the Great and General Court now assembled in Boston by adjournment.
The Petition of the Selectmen of Dunstable in behalf of the inhabitants there settled, Humbly Sheweth : - that whereas the wise God, (who settleth the bounds of all our Habitations,) hath disposed ours, but an handful of his peo- ple, not exceeding the number of twenty-five families, in an outside plantation of this wilderness, which was much de- populated in the late war, and two third parts of them,
(1.) Mass. Ecclesiastical Records, 1701.
7
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though living upon husbandry, yet being but new begin- ners, and their crops of grain much failing of wonted in- Grease, are in such low circumstances, as to be necessitat- ed to buy their bread eorn out of town for the support of their own families, whenee it comes to pass that they are capable of doing very little or nothing towards the main- tenance of a minister here settled : and our Non-resident Proprietors being far dispersed asunder, some in England, and some in several remote places of this country, and making no improvement of their interest here, most of them for divers years past have afforded nothing of assistance to us in so pious a work ; there having also in some years past been some considerable allowances for our help here- in out of the Public Treasury, (for which we return our thankful acknowledgments,) the continuance whereof was never more needful than at this time :
These things being duly considered we think it needful hereby to apply ourselves to your Honors. Humbly to re- quest the grant of such an annual Pension out of the Coun- try Treasury, for the support of the ministry in this place. as to yourselves may seem most needful, until our better circumstances may render the same needless.
Moreover having been lately informed, by a Representa- tive from a neighboring town, that Dunstable's proportion in the Country rate newly emitted was £6, coming from the multiplication of 20s. six times, but finding by the print- ed paper lately come to us that we, the smallest town in the Province, are assessed £9, being £3 beyond Stow which we deem in respect of the number of inhabitants may ex- ceed us at least one third part : We humbly hereupon de- sire that the original assessment may be revised, and if there be any mistake found in the proportion assigned to us, (as we judge there may be,) that it may be rectified ; and we shall remain your Honors' Humble Servants,
ever to pray for you. Joseph Farwell, Robert Parris, William Tyng."
Dunstable, July 28, 1701.
In answer to this petition the sum of $12 was allowed from the Treasury in September, 1701.
June 9, 1702, died Rev. Thomas Weld, first minister of the town, aged 50 years. A tradition has long been current that he was killed by the
NASHUA, NASHVILLE, &C.
Indians in an attack upon his garrison. (1.) But this must be a mistake, for "In the year 1702," says Penhallow, who lived at this time and wrote the history of the war, "the whole body of the Indians were in a tolerable good frame and tem- per," and there is no mention of any attack until August, 1703.(2.)
Mr. Weld was a native of Roxbury, Mass., and grandson of Rev. Thomas Weld, the first minister of Roxbury, who came from England in 1632, and was one of the most distinguished among the eminent men of that day. He was one of the three who made the famous first "translation of the Psalms into metre for the use of the churches of New England," which has been the occasion of' no little merriment; the translators being se- lected, not because they possessed any poetic ge- nius whatever, but because they were the " most pious and godly men."
Mr. Weld graduated at Harvard College in 1671, and probably studied divinity with his un- cle, Rev. Samuel Danforth, a celebrated minister, and came to Dunstable in 1678 or 1679. Nov. 9, 1681, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John Wilson, of Medfield, son of the first minis .. ter of Boston, and both of them very eminent meu. She died July 29, 1687, aged 31, and is buried in the old burying ground near the southerly line of Nashua, where a large horizontal slab of granite records her death. Some years afterwards he married widow Hannah Savage, daughter of Hon. Edward Tyng, who was admitted an inhabitant in 1677. She survived him many years, and died
(1.) N. H. Gazetcer, Dunstable.
(2.) Penhallow's Indian War. \ N. HI. Hist. Coll. 20, 23.
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at the house of their son, Rev. Habijah Weld, in Attleborough, Mass., in 1731.(1.)
But little is known respecting the character of Mr. Weld. He was much beloved by his people, and is said by Farmer to have been a distinguish- ed man. (2.) Alden says that Mr. Weld " was esteemed in his day a man of great piety, an ex- emplary Christian, and a very respectable clergy- man."(3.) He is supposed to be the author of the verses in Mather's Magnolia, upon the death of his uncle, Rev. Samuel Danforth, who died in 1674.(4.) He is buried beside his wife, and over his grave is a granite slab similar to that of his wife, but without any inscription.
(1.) N. H. Historical Collections, 57-64. Farmer's Genealogi- cal Register. Alden's Epitaph : Dr. Alden was a descendant of Mr. Weld.
(2.) Historical Catechism.
(3.) Alden's Collections, 111.
(4.) Mather's Magnolia.
CHAPTER V.
INDIAN WARS FROM 1703 TO 1713.
In the summer of 1702, it was proposed by the General Court to build a trading house for the Indians, and a fortified garrison "at Wataa- nuck," (1.) as the settlement at Salmon brook was then called, but owing to the lateness of the sea- son the intention was not accomplished.
Oct. 24, 1702, Governor Dudley informed the House that he was going to Dunstable on Mon- day, to meet several of the Penacook Indians there. "who were come down to speak with him." He was absent until Oct. 29th., but the results of his interview, whatever they might be, did not allay the fears of the General Court. Be- lieving from the movements of the Indians that preparations for the defence of the frontiers should be made, they passed the following order : (2.)
" November 10, 1702. The winter being too far advanced for the crecting of a trading house for the supply of the Indians at Penacook, and for fortifying the garrison at Wataanuck in the county of Middlesex - Resolved, that a conve- nient house next adjoining thereto, such as his
(1.) This name, or rather Watana'nuck, was the one given by the Indians to the Falls in the Merrimac, near " Taylor's Falls Bridge ;" to the little pond in Hudson about a mile easterly of these Falls; to Salmon brook and Sandy pond; and to the whole plain upon which Nashua Village in Nashua now stands. It is the same word as Outanic.
(2.) Military Records, 1702, page 336.
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Excellency shall direct, be fitted up and fortified for that purpose with hewn timber and a suitable garrison posted there for the defence thereof; the fortification not to exceed forty feet square."
This was probably the old fort, or " Queen's Garrison,"(1.) as it was called, which stood about sixty rods easterly of Main street, in Nashua, and about as far northerly of Salmon brook, near a cluster of oaks. Some traces of the fort were to be seen until within a few years. Here a small garrison was posted, as appears by the following return to the Governor and Council, dated Dec. 25, 1702, which contains the list of the soldiers then at the garrison. (2.)
" William Tyng, Lieutenant ; John Bowers, Sergeant ; Joseph Butterfield, Drummer; John Spalding, John Cummings, Joseph Hassell, Ebe- nezer Spalding, Daniel Galusha, Paul Fletcher, Samuel French, Thomas Lund."
" Jonathan Tyng, Lt. Colonel."
In 1703 war was renewed between France and England. It lasted until 1713, and was called " Queen Anne's War." The Indians, as usual, took part with the French, and in August 1703 a general attack was made upon all the frontier settlements. Terror and devastation reigned ev- ery where. Within a few weeks more than two hundred whites were either killed or captured .- The General Assembly being sensibly affected by these massacres, offered a bounty of £40 for every Indian scalp. "Captain Tyng was the first who embraced the tender. He went in the depth of winter, (1703-4,) to their head quarters, [at Pe-
Queen Anne.
2 Mass. Military Records, 1702.
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quawkett,] and got five, for which he received two hundred pounds." (1.)
He afterwards became a Major, and it is said " was a true lover of his country, and very often distinguished himself as a gentleman of good val- or and conduct." (2.) The Indians did not for- get the slaughter of their friends, or their nation- al law of blood for blood, although its execution might be long delayed. In 1710 he was waylaid by them between Concord and Groton, and so severely wounded that he soon after died.(3.)
It was probably soon after the commencement of this war that the garrison of Robert Parris was surprised, and himself and family massacred .- He lived in the southerly part of Nashua, on the Main road, on the farm which adjoined that of Rev. Mr. Weld on the north. (4.) He was a large landed proprietor, and had been selectman and representative of the town. "The Indians in one of their predatory excursions attacked his house, and killed him, his wife, and oldest daughter .- Two small girls who composed the rest of his family, ran down cellar, and crawled under an empty hogshead. The savages plundered the house, struck with their tomahawks upon the hogshead, but neglected to examine it, and de- parted leaving the house unburned, probably fearing that the flames would alarm the neigh- bors. The orphan girls were sent to Charlestown, Mass., and there brought up. One of them mar- ried a Richardson, and the other a Goffe, father of the celebrated Col. Goffe. whose posterity are numerous in this vicinity."(5.)
(1.) Penhallow. 1 N. H. Hist. Coll. 27. This was Capt. John Tyng, eldest son of Col. Jonathan Tyng of this town.
(2.) Penhallow. 1 N. H. Hist. Coll. 60.
(3.) Allen's Chelmsford, 35.
(1.) Proprietary Records of Dunstable.
(5.) 2 Farmer &. Moore's Historical Collections, 306. Parris is
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In March, 1704, the town was again compelled to seek aid from the Colonial Treasury for the support of the ministry, and for defence against their enemy, and presented the following moving petition. Upon the consideration of the petition the sum of £20 was granted to the town for these purposes. (1.)
" To the General Court in session, 8 March 1703.(2.) The most humble Petition of the inhabitants of the Town of Dunstable in the County of Middlesex, Shewith :
That whereas your distressed Petitioners, through the calamities of the several Indian rebellions and depredations, are much reduced in our estates, and lessened in our num- bers, (notwithstanding the addition of many desirable fan- ilies when there was a prospect of a settled peace,) so that we are not capable whoily to support the ministry of the Gospel, after which Ark of God's presence our souls la- ment, and the want of which, more than all other great hardships, and hazards, doth discourage us, and threaten the ruin of this desirable plantation, but the enjoyment of such a rich mercy will animate us still to stand, (as we have long done,) in the front of danger :
" Inasmuch also as his Excellency, in his great wisdom and providence for the security of this eminently frontier place, and of this part of the Province so much exposed to the invasion of the bloody salvages, hath been pleased to post a considerable force of soldiers here, the great advan- tage whereof bath been experienced in these parts, but they can never hear a sermon without travelling more than twelve miles from their principal post, which is to them no small discouragement : (3.)
"We are therefore humbly bold to lay before the wise and compassionate consideration of this Great and Gener- al Assembly the sorrowful circumstances of her Majesty's good subjects in said town, and! do most humbly implore that such a supply may be ordered, out of the Treasury of
not improbably the same name as Pierce, since, January 8, 1702, we find recorded the marriage of " Jane Pierce, alias Parris."-Town Records.
(1.) Mass. Ecclesiastical Records, 1704, page 191.
(2.) This was 8th. March, 1703-4, or 1701.
(3.) This garrison was at Salmon brook, and the nearest meeting house, (except in town,) was at Chelmsford, then twelve miles dis- taul.
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the Province, towards the support of the ministry in Dun- stable, as to your great wisdom and candor shall appear meet, we being found, (as we are in duty bound,) to contri- bute to such a service for our souls to the uttermost of our ability, and much beyond the proportion of others in greater congregations for the ordinances of God's worship among themselves ;- And your poor Petitioners are the more en- couraged thus to pray in hope, since their former applica- tions of this kind have ever been compassionately regarded and bountifully answered by former Great and General Assemblies of this Province."
" Your obedient and humble servants. SAMUEL WHITING, Selectmen WILLIAM TYNG, in behalf of JOSEPH BLANCHARD, of the Town."
In 1704 a block house was erected somewhere in town by Col. Tyng, by the direction and at the expense of the colony, but the place of its loca- tion is not designated.(1.)
It may be a matter of some interest and curios- ity, as illustrating the manners and customs of the times, to insert the following account of the expenses of the funeral of James Blanchard, who died in 1704. He was a farmer in tolerable cir- cumstances.
" Paid for a winding sheet, £0-18s .- 0d.
Paid for a coffin, 0"10 " 0
Paid for digging grave, 0" 7 "6
Paid for the use of the pall, 0"5"0 Paid for gloves, (to distribute at the funeral, ) 1 " 1"0 Paid for wine, segars, and spice, (at the funeral, ) 1"5"9
Paid to the Doctor, 0"14 " 9
Paid for attendance, expenses, &c. 1 " 17 " 5
£6 " 19 "5"
(1.) Mass. Military Records, 1704.
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In January 1706, " the trading house at Wata- anuck in Dunstable, being now useless, they [the House of Representatives, ] were not willing to continne to support a garrison there. To which his Excellency returned answer, that he made no further use thereof than as a convenient post for lodging some of the persons being under pay and at hand for the relief of Groton and the near parts upon an attack, and for scouting, and not as a fortress or garrison." (1.) From this circum- stance, at this time probably little danger was anticipated.
In April 1706 the sum of £10 was granted, by the General Assembly, to Samuel Butterfield who had been " taken captive by the Indians, cruelly treated, and stripped of all, having killed one of them, and knocked down two others, after they had seized him." (2.) No hint is given of the time or place of capture.
Early in the summer of 1706, Col. Schuyler of Albany gave notice to Governor Dudley of New Hampshire, that a party of Mohawks, 270 in number, were marching to attack Piscataqua .- " Their first descent was at Dunstable, July 3, 1706, where they fell on a house that had twenty troopers posted in it, who by their negligence and folly, keeping no watch, suffered them to enter. which tended to the destruction of one half their number."(3.) This was, it is said, at " the Weld garrison."
A more particular account of this attack has been preserved, which is as follows. These troop- ers, who were mounted scouts, " had been rang-
(1.) Mass. Military Records, 1706.
(2.) Mass. Military Records, 1706.
(3.) Penhallow. 1 N. H. Hist. Coll., 48, 49.
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ing the woods in the vicinity, and came towards night to this garrison. Apprehending no danger, They turned their horses loose upon the interval, piled their arms and harness in the house, and began a carousal to exhilarate their spirits after the fatigues of the day. A party of Indians had lately arrived in the vicinity, and on that day had designed to attack both Weld's and Galusha's garrisons. One of their number had been sta- tioned to watch each of these garrisons, to see that no assistance approached and no alarm was given. A short time previous to the approach of the cavalry the Indian stationed at Weld's had retired to his party, and reported that all was safe.
" At sunset a Mr. Cummings and his wife went out to milk their cows, and left the gate open .- The Indians who had advanced undiscovered, started up, shot Mrs. Cummings dead upon the spot, and wounded her husband. They then rushed through the open gate into the house with all the horrible yells of conquering savages, but started with amazement on finding the room filled with soldiers merrily feasting. Both parties were completely amazed, and neither acted with much propriety. The soldiers, so suddenly interrupted in their jovial entertainment, found themselves called to fight when entirely destitute of arms, and incapable of obtaining them.
" The greater part were panic struck and una- ble to fight or fly. Fortunately all were not in this sad condition. Some six or seven courageous souls, with chairs, clubs, or whatever they could seize upon, furiously attacked the advancing foe. The Indians, who were as much surprised as the soldiers, had but little more courage than they, and immediately took to their heels for safety : thus quitting the house defeated by one quarter
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