USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 11
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Trust are Guided and Directed in these Important affairs by the Supreme Governor of the world and we Instruct you Sir to Give them the Strongest Assurance that if they Should Declare America to be a free and Independent Republick your Constituants will support and Defend the Measure with their Lives and fortunes."
Despite the circumlocution of the above statement, and despite the faulty spelling of the scribe who made the copy, the foregoing bears the certain imprint of sincerity and of a staunch manhood that knew its own mind and was aware of the cost in blood and trea. sure which might be entailed.
Many years later Daniel Webster was to recall this action to Governor George S. Boutwell in a letter written from his home in Marshfield on October 16, 1851.1
"The resolutions of the town of Acton on the 14th of June, 1776, are very remarkable. The general idea of some union among the several colonies, each acting under a separate government, is known, of course, to have prevailed before. The meeting in Albany, in 1753, is proof of this, and other evidences also, to the like effect are spread through our history. But the 480 inhabitants of Acton, with a far- seeing sagacity, by the resolutions referred to, carried their opinions much further, to a much more important result. They appear to have contemplated not a confederacy, or league between the states, but one government, that is to say, an American republic for them all."
As Webster so clearly states, the document of June 14, 1776 mentioned above should command the attention of all residents of Acton. It is one of the town's most impressive actions in matters of politics. It forever places Acton in the forefront of those who were alert enough to foresee the great republic that this nation has become.
Less than a month later while Jefferson and others were sweating out the first days of July in Philadelphia in the attempt to formulate the Declaration of Independence the Province of Massachusetts was voting to increase the price to be be paid for firearms2 in the attempt to encourage their manufacture and Acton was holding a town meeting3 to vote on a single article, namely,
"To see how much money the town will raise to give those men that shall inlist themselves in Col. Jonathan Reed's regiment bound for Canady and Shall Pass muster
1 Daniel Webster, Writings and Speeches (National ed.) - 167 XVIII, 479-80. Webster is in error in citing the population of Acton as 480. The Provincial Census of 1776 set it at 769.
2 Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts Province, vol. XIX, p. 499.
8 July 3, 1776.
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and pass any vote or votes Relating to the Excusing Persons that served in the Last Campain or anything relating to the above affair."
After considering the article the town voted to add the amount of six pounds, six shillings and eight pence to the sum already allotted by the General Court and to raise by the same amount the remuneration to Lt. John Heald, Jr. provided he joined the regiment and went with the Acton men. It was further voted that a committee be chosen to "make allowance for those men that have been person- ally in the army or have hired men to go so as to excuse them from paying their proportion of the above bounty insofar as what they have done will be a sufficient sum therefore." It was further voted that the aforementioned committee consist of the selectmen together with Dea. Samuel Hayward and Capt. Joseph Robbins.
Some such committee was necessary since the levy of 4368 mell demanded by the Province during the previous December had been followed by another of 5000 in June to offset the influx of Hessians hired by the British. In this latter draft Acton had a quota of 22 men, Westford 27, Chelmsford 34, Littleton 23, and Stow 24.1
In the excited state of the popular mind town meetings were fre- quently called when only one or two questions were to be considered. On July 22nd, 1776, for instance it was voted to pay a bonus to any five men who would enlist for the expedition. At the same meeting Capt. Simon Hunt asked to be excused from serving on the com- mittee of correspondence and Lt. Thomas Noyes was appointed in his place. On August 29th the only business to come before a special town meeting was the matter of securing a preacher. Apparently one of the candidates, Rev. Moses Adams, was creating a favorable impression since the decision was to the effect that he be requested to preach for eight additional Sabbaths.
On October 24, 1776 a proposition was brought before the town to the effect that the executive and legislative branches of the Provincial government should framc a state constitution. Francis Faulkner, Simon Tuttle, Ephraim Hapgood, Dea. Samuel Hayward, Ephraim Hosmer, Capt. Joseph Robbins, and Nathaniel Edwards were chosen as a committee to shape the draft of the following resolutions which were unanimously accepted:
1. Resolved that as this State is at present destitute of an established form of Government, it is necessary one should be immediately formed and established.
2. Resolved that the Supreme Legislature in that capacity are by no means a body proper to form and establish a con- stitution for the following reasons, viz:
1 Acts and Resolves of Mass., vol. XIX, p. 462.
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Because a constitution properly formed has a system of principles established to secure subjects in the possession of their rights and privileges against any encroachments of the Legislative part, and it is our opinion that the same body which has a right to form a constitution has a right to alter it, and we conceive a constitution alterable by the Supreme Legislative power is no security to the subjects against the encroachments of that power on our rights and privileges.
Resolved that the town thinks it expedient that a conven- tion be chosen by the inhabitants of the several towns and districts in this State being free to form and establish a con- stitution for the State.
Resolved that the Honorable Assembly of this State be desired to recommend to the inhabitants of the State to choose a convention for the above purpose as soon as possible.
Resolved that the Convention publish their proposed con- stitution before they establish it for the inspection and remarks of the Inhabitant of the State.
At a town meeting held December 20, 1776 it was voted to hear Mr. Moses Adams four more Sundays. Apparently his address and ability met with approval since on the following January 15th it was further voted that "the town Concur with the Church in making choice of Mr. Moses Adams to take Charge over this Church and Congregation to minister to them in Holy things". It would appear that in this meeting there was some difference of opinion because the record goes on to say that it was decided that each man write aye or nay on his ballot and sign his name. Furthermore it is noteworthy that here for the first time the words "church" and "congregation." appear specifically in the records. In addition a committee was chosen to settle upon and suggest a proper salary. Here again there must have been high feeling since the meeting was three times adjourned without agreement. Finally on March 17, 1777, it was decided that Mr. Adams be given two hundred pounds as settlement and eighty pounds lawful money salary plus firewood for the first year.
The above decision was certainly not hasty since the townspeople had now listened to the candidate for a total of sixteen sermons in all. Mr. Adams accepted the call and on the 25th of June the ordina- tion ceremonies took place. This had been arranged at a special meeting on May 26th at which time it was voted that the town unite with the church in the ordination. The committee in charge of the events of the day was composed of Samuel Jones, Lt. Billing, Ephraim
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Hapgood, Simon Tuttle and Samuel Piper.
Mr. Adams, like Mr. Swift before him, was a native of Framing- ham. He was born October 16, 1749, and was graduated from Harvard in 1771. He was the only child of respectable but humble parents both of whom died in the same year leaving him an orphan at the age of seven. The property left to him was sufficient, with economy, to defray the expense of a public education. The first years of his ministry were attended with considerable pecuniary embarrassment since although precaution was taken to pay his salary in silver, nevertheless the value of that compared to the necessities of life decreased very considerably due to the war infla- tion. At the same time the town, struggling under the attempt to meet the requests of the government for support of hostilities, found it difficult to meet its agreement with respect to the settlement of Mr. Adams. The matter of the arrears was the subject of debate at three town meetings. The final decision was to pay the balance in full.
This settlement money had been relied upon to provide for the erection of a house for the new minister, which a young and growing family rendered a necessity. This edifice, known as the "old parson- age" at the turn of the century, still stands in good repair just down the hill a few rods from the present school house, on the west side of Nagog Hill Road. It was completed in 1780. To augment the pastor's salary, which was during the war years usually in arrears, Mrs. Adams, a very energetic and capable lady and notable house- keeper, maintained a store in addition to the duties incident upon the rearing of three sons and three daughters.
In this residence Mr. Adams lived for forty two years until the time of his death on October 13, 1819. Here he prepared the four thousand sermons delivered during his long stewardship and here he lived a life that earned for him the respect, veneration and love of his parishioners.
As the war dragged on with only here and there events that were heartening for the cause of liberty the towns found the raising of enlistment quotas an ever-increasing burden. On March 10, 1777 the annual meeting took under consideration the following article, "To see what bounty the town will give those men that shall enlist themselves in the Continental Army to complete the quota of men for this town for three years or during the present war, also to see if the town will agree to make an average in the town of what has been done in personal service or by hiring men for the public ser- vice during the present war and pass any votes that may be thought proper when met relating to the above affair." On this question it was decided to grant a bounty of twenty pounds to every man that
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had enlisted since the first Monday of the month or should enlist within a week of the date of the meeting. It was further voted that Francis Faulkner, Dea. Samuel Hayward, Lt. John Heald, Ephraim Hosmer, Capt. Joseph Robbins, Dea. Joseph Brabrook, Lt. Ephraim Hapgood, Lt. Thomas Noyes, Nathaniel Edwards, Capt. Simon Hunt, Simon Tuttle, Capt. Isreal Heald, Joseplı Barker, and Lt. Benjamin Brabrook constitute a committee to collect the data concerning the war service of the town.
Apparently even this liberal inducement did not bring satisfactory results since at a later meeting in May the bonus was raised to twenty four pounds. In part inflation was the cause of this necessity as well as reluctance of men to respond.
As a matter of interest it may be mentioned that at this point in the town records (on page 283 of volume 1) there appears a copy in full of the Declaration of Independence. It is done in the excellent handwriting of Francis Faulkner and it is characteristic of the man that he would spend the time and effort to record for all time a document which in his estimation was so supremely worthy of pre- servation. Furthermore he was the type of citizen who would feel that as town clerk it was his solemn duty to make the copy so that it might be available for reference at any future time.
In autumn of 1777 the town took up the matter of aid to the families of soldiers serving in the war. In the light of present day practices the decision reached would seem very harsh and would provide ample political ammunition for hungry candidates seeking office. In any event the vote was a decided nay on an article pro- posing that the town support the families of those men who had enlisted in the Continental Army for the term of three years.
In the early part of 1778 the question of a perpetual union of the states had reached a stage where it was necessary for the citizens to arrive at a conclusion in the matter. Accordingly on the 13th of February Acton voted itself agreeable to the Articles of Confedera- tion and Perpetual Union as proposed by the Congress. In order that there should be ample room for deliberation this action was taken only after two complete readings of all the material under consideration.
At the March meeting of 1778 Jonathan Billing, after thirty-nine years of faithful service as town treasurer, declined the office and Simon Tuttle was elected in his stead. This is but the first instance of a good old Acton custom, namely, the keeping in office of men of ability and integrity so long as inclination and health permit them to serve the town well. It is a custom that persists even up to the present regardless of party lines or the attempts of erstwhile poli- ticians to thrust their way into town affairs.
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By May of 1778 inflation had so far taken hold of events that the bounty for enlistment had risen to one hundred and thirty pounds for nine months service. While the signs had been disceruable to the alert among the financeers and merchants for several months this was the first recorded evidence of a definite plunge in the value of the currency.
A little less than two weeks later, on May 25th, the committee pre- viously chosen to study the war service of the town made its report which was accepted as given below.
"To the four men sent to the Rhode Island area for two and a quarter months the sum of six, pounds per man; to the four men sent to the Northern Army from August to December 24 pounds each; to the four men sent to the Northern Army for six weeks in October and November 9 pounds each; to the four men sent to Cambridge for 5 months from November to April 12 pounds each; to the four men sent to Cambridge three months from April to July 7 pounds 10 shillings each."
At the same meeting the town for the first time in its existence raised the sum of one hundred pounds for the support of the schools. There was added to this vote the permission that each society might spend as much of its share as it saw fit on a women's school.
In June of 1778 a committee consisting of William Barker, Daniel Davis, Ephraim Hosmer, Thomas Noyes, John Adams, John Hayward and John Hunt was chosen to hire men for the public service at such times as the town might be called upon to provide the same. At the same time twenty pounds was allowed for each of five men who would engage for the service in Rhode Island.
About a month later, July 22, 1777, the town voted to reimburse all those who had hired substitutes for service in the Continental Army.
At a town meeting convened on October 6, 1778 the town had under consideration, among other things, this strange article:
"To see if the town will agree to build a house or hut for John Kennedy and his family to live in."
On this unusual proposition it was voted to build for the public use a house thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide, containing two rooms. A committee consisting of Seth Brooks, Daniel Sheperd, Daniel Davis, Samuel Piper and Nathan Parlin was chosen to provide the materials and choose the place of its location. The action just described immediately raises the query as to whether the building mentioned was supposed to function as a poor house of sorts Certainly the town had no intention of launching forth on a program of erecting shelter for each indigent family. On the other
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hand a house of the dimensions described could not possibly serve to accomodate all the town's poor. The question must needs go un- answered since nowhere in the record does the matter appear. We do not even know that it was ever built, and if built there is no mention of the site.
Mention has already been made of the settlement of Rev. Moses Adams and the financial difficulties he experienced at the outset of his ministry. On January 25, 1779 the citizens met to
"See if the town will agree to pay the Rev. Mr. Adams any sum of money to enable him to purchase some land and build him a dwelling house (the price of land and buildings have arisen to that degree since the town voted him two hundred pounds settlement that he is unable to build himself a dwelling house without some consideration from the town) and pass any other votes that may be thought proper."
In this connection it was voted to make the two hundred pounds that was given to Mr. Adams in settlement as good in lands and buildings as that money would have purchased at the time it was granted. A committee composed of Francis Faulkner, Capt. Joseph Robbins, Dea. Samuel Hayward, Seth Brooks, Lt. Thomas Noyes, Lt. Ephraim Hapgood and Lt. Daniel Davis was chosen to assist the minister in purchasing land and buildings to the value of the settle- ment.
At the March meeting of 1779 the town entertained the first petition from certain residents desiring to be set off as a separate town and voted that the selectmen be a committee to oppose "the setting off of a town or district east of the Groton Road so called". In modern parlance this means that all that portion of Acton east of the Great Road (route 2) would now be a portion of another town, in fact Carlisle, as events subsequently developed.
At the same meeting a committee consisting of Samuel Hayward, Josiah Hayward, Lt. Billing, William Cutting and Daniel Davis was chosen to provide for the families of those soldiers serving in the Continental Army "agreeable to the law". This reversal of position from that taken in 1777 seems to imply that the state had passed an act making the care of soldier dependents obligatory.
The matter of inflation reared its head again in diverse ways as the year 1779 elapsed. At the May meeting the school budget was raised to two hundred and forty pounds; the widow Hannah Davis (wife of Capt. Isaac) was excused from taxes; and on July 26th it was voted to concur with the convention held at Concord shortly before respecting the regulation of prices on the necessaries of life. Francis Faulkner, Capt. Robbins, Mark White, Deacon Brabrook,
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Dea. Hayward, John Brooks and Lt. Noyes were chosen as a com- mittee to serve for the purpose. In addition on August 30th the town voted to make good to Rev. Adams his salary for the current year according to the following necessities of life, namely grain, pork, beef, farming labor, sheep wool and flax. It was also decided that the selectmen together with Capt. Joseph Robbins, Dea. Samuel Hay- ward, Dea. Brabrook and Lt. Jonathan Billing constitute a committee to compute the salary on the Christmas day next following.
By the autumn of 1779 the city of Boston was so hard pressed that an appeal for succor had gone out in response to which the voters of Acton on September 21st agreed to send as great a supply of foodstuffs as could possibly be spared. Lt. Samuel Davis, Samuel Jones and John Dexter were chosen as a committee to assemble the materials.
This action apparently brought up the matter of just what con- stituted the necessities of life since we find that Samuel Piper was reprimanded on the floor of the town meeting relative to his reprehen- sible conduct in carrying a load of rum out of the state. It appears that rum was highly regarded as a necessity of life. Furthermore the said necessities could not be taken out of the state since thereby the well-being of the commonwealth was placed in jeopardy. After due and solemn debate it was decided to postpone action until a special town meeting to be held the first Monday in October. Ap- parently the choler of the hard-drinking contingent abated somewhat in the interim since when the day arrived and the meeting was held the article was dismissed without other action.
A short time later, on November 8th, the town voted to agree to the resolves passed by the convention held in Concord on October 6th relative to the prices of the necessities of life, labor etc.
The winter of 1779-80 was particularly severe. One evidence is that the record states that the meeting scheduled for January 31, 1780 adjourned to the residence of Caroline Brooks because of the cold weather. This means that the voters went across the road to the Brooks Tavern because Caroline Brooks was the widow of Daniel, former keeper of the tavern, who had deceased in 1773.
The rate at which inflation was now rampant is made clear by a vote taken at this meeting in which fifteen dollars per day was allotted to artificers working on Mr. Adams' parsonage and ten dollars per day for common laborers. Even more eloquent are two other items, namely, three thousand pounds to make good on the one hunderd pounds promised Rev. Adams at the time of his settlement; and, a vote to pay Rev. Adams a salary of three thousand five hundred and sixty pounds for the current year. It might be added here that at this same time highway laborers received four pounds ten shillings per
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day and the same amount was the going rate for a pair of oxen and a cart. Incidentally the mention of "dollars" above is the first instance of the term in the town records. From here on the words "dollar" and "pound" both appear indiscrimminately until finally the latter drops out of usage.
By May of 1780 the plan for the state government had been formulated and presented to the electorate for consideration. Evi- dently Acton citizens took their responsibility very seriously since there were three long meetings and much debate before minds could meet without dissension. Finally on May 29th every article of the document submitted by the people's convention was accepted.
As a result of the passage of the plan for state organization the first election under the new state constitution took place September 4th. A complete tabulation of the Acton vote is given herewith:
For Governor, 54 votes for John Hancock,
For Lt. Gov. 34 votes for Samuel Nolten,
For Senators, Josialı Stone 35, Abraham Fuller 36,
Eleazer Brooks 32, Nathaniel Gorham 35,
Loami Baldwin 30, John Cumery 7, Oliver Barron 3, Winslow Brigham 1.
On the same day that the above vote was taken there was much other business to transact. For one thing inflation had reached a stage where the cost of supplies for the men in the army was colossal. A Mr. William Baker was engaged to supply clothing at the following prices:
Woolen blankets, each to contain five pounds of wool, $350.00 per blanket; cotton and linen shirts at $31.19 per
shirt; stockings $18.00 per pair; shoes $27.00 per pair.
The town set aside $2600.00 for this purpose and chose Simon Tuttle, Samuel Fitch, Benjamin Hayward, Stephen Law, and Lt. John Heald as a committee to inspect the material supplied.
This business of army supplies was a never ending burden. The same Mr. Baker was contracted with just a month later, on October 3rd, to deliver 6060 pounds of beef at 168 pounds per hun- dred weight for which purpose the town voted the sum of ten thousand six hundred pounds to finance the purchase. Hardly was this done when two more demands were made necessitating on Nov- ember 20th a vote to spend thirty thousand pounds to pay commit- ments to soldiers in the army and another on December 27th to raise sixteen thousand pounds for the purchase of additional beef to feed the army.
Early in 1781 conditions had become so irritated that at a meet- ing convened on February Ist an article was up for consideration having as its objective the classifying of all the males in the town.
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REV. JAMES T. WOODBURY
OLD CHAPEL
WHITNEY MEMORIAL CHAPEL
It was defeated but appeared again at another meeting on February 19th at which time it was decided to defer action until the regular March meeting. When brought up then it was voted to elect a com- mittee to assist the assessors in classifying the inhabitants of the town for the purpose of hiring the town's quota in the army of the United States and Capt. Simon Hunt, Ephraim Hosmer, Simon Tuttle, Sam- uel Piper and Lt. John Heald were chosen for the purpose.
An interesting sidelight on the foregoing action is that a rider was attached to the vote to the effect that, "should any class be so un- fortunate as not to procure their man, after exerting their utmost to hire some, that they shall not be subject to pay any more than their proportion of the fine and the charges the several classes were put to in hiring their men in the town."
The incorporation of Carlisle as a district in 1780 gave rise to certain questions regarding school affairs that are worthy of passing interest. For one thing school houses built before the setting off of the new district and lying near to or on the boundary line' were shortly subjects of debate. The question turned upon who was responsible for their maintenance. One such building was located near the home of Lt. John Heald and in consequence we find that he, together with Nathaniel Edwards and Seth Brooks, were chosen as a committee at the town meeting of March 5, 1781, to either purchase the part of the school house belonging to Carlisle or to sell the portion belonging to Acton.
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