USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 2
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Given under our hands
Richard Beers Thomas Noyes Surveyer
An extensive analysis of the comparison between the Beers and Noyes meets and bounds the modern Geological Survey map of Acton was made by the author and Highway Superintendent Elmer Joslin of Concord, both experienced surveyors. The details are too involved to be anything but boring to a layman but the crux of the matter is that a discrepancy of several thousand acres exists which has no known explanation. A rigid adherence to the Beers and Noyes survey would move the present boundary line between Acton and Boxborough parallel to itself into a position some eight hundred feet eastwardly of Mt. Hope Cemetery. Under such conditions it would have been impossible for Stephen Hosmer in his survey of Concord Village in 1730 to have obtained an area of twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty five acres which is an exceptionally good approxi- mation to the thirteen thousand and eighty five acres given by the Geological Survey.
The point has been made in the foregoing that the land belonging to Simon Willard was excluded from the territory spoken of as Con- cord Village. There is ample reason to take this position since the Willard tract (also called the Blood tract, since Robert acquired part of it by purchase from the Indians in 1642 and remaining portions through right of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Simon Willard) was for many years in an anomalous status and had not been definitely
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settled as late as 1744. The Bloods described themselves in their deeds as "living neer Concord". The Farms constituted a distinct area outside the confines of Concord but had no separate civil or ecclesiastical government. The occupants paid their rates in Billerica but when the Indian troubles arose they found Concord more convient and paid their rates there. The question of jurisdiction caused embarrassment to such an extent that it was finally decreed by the General Court that towns be required to make an assessment of two shillings per hundred acres for all such lands, "and also to assess all countrye grants of lands called farmes belonging to pecu- liar persons that lye nearest unto such toune or tounes".
The term "peculiar persons" has an ironical import in this connec- tion quite unintended by the drawers of the edict. Concord constables shortly found this out to their chagrin. Armed with tax warrants and supported by a sufficient posse, for reasons presently obvious, they visited the Farms and were met by Robert Blood and his two sons with abusive language, accompanied by actual personal violence. This incipient warfare continued until eventually Robert Blood was fined ten pounds in two successive years for "contumelious speech and for villifying His Majesty's authority." Nevertheless the Bloods, although thus conducting themselves, besought the town to provide roads and bridges for their easement and convenience and felt very scurvily treated when there was no observable alacrity to do so. In any event the impasse persisted for many years and the records show that as late as 1744, when the selectmen met with representatives from adjacent towns to perambulate the bounds, the Bloods were regularly warned to appear at the time appointed in order to scrutinize the lines between the town and the Farms.
The foregoing discussion concerns Acton due to the fact that when in 1656 a grant of land west of the Concord River was made to the town of Billerica it became necessary to define more exactly Blood's Farms and Concord Village. Major Willard's farm, which he gave as a dowry to his daughter, Elizabeth Blood, by a deed dated February 23, 1658, was laid out to the northwest of Concord and on both sides of the present boundary between Acton and Carlisle. A triangular controversy between Concord, Billerica and Robert Blood, concerning the boundary line between this farm and the town of Billerica, arose in 1683 and was not settled until 1701. The point designated as Berry Corner on the map played an important role in this controversy. A century ago it was marked by a stake and a pile of lichen-covered boulders and according to Walcott was pointed out to him by Major B. F. Heald who asserted that he had often heard his father and other ancient men refer to it as the old Concord corner.1
1 Concord in the Colonial Period, Charles H. Walcott, p. 8.
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In any event, whatever the discrepancies in the boundaries of the land grants, there was no lack in the spirit and will of the yeomanry who were demanding additional territory. By 1656 settlement had begun with the arrival of the Shepard and Laws families along with Thomas Wheeler. The fertile meadows soon became attractive, par- ticularly for pasturage, and in consequence the Concord town meet- ing of January 27, 1668 voted to
ley for a ffree Comon; to the psent householdres of Con- cord; and such as shall hereafter, be approved and allowed; except such psell or psells of it as shall be thought met to make farms for the use and benefit of the Towne. At the same meeting it was further stipulated that
all men that have not Comon of there own for there Cattle according to the Towne order shall pay 6d a best to those that have a Comon to lett to them in their querter, and if there be not Comon to let them; they then put there Cattle elcewhere.
On January 12, 1669, a lease was made by Concord to Capt. Thomas Wheeler for two hundred acres of upland and sixty acres of meadow, lying west of Nashoba Brook, in consideration of which he was to pay yearly rental of five pounds after the expiration of the first seven years, and to build a house forty feet in length, eighteen feet wide, and twelve feet stud, "covered with shingles, with a payer of chimnes", also a barn forty feet long, twenty four feet wide, and twelve feet stud. These buidings were to be left at the end of the term for the use of the town, with thirty acres of land in tillage and suf- ficiently fenced.
He further agreed, and this was the main purpose of the lease, to recieve and pasture dry cattle belonging to the town's people, not to exceed one hundred and twenty in number and not fewer than eighty. The cattle were to be marked by their owners and be delivered to Capt. Wheeler at his house, and the price was fixed at two shillings a head, payable one third in wheat, one third in rye or peas, and one third in Indian corn. The owners were to keep herd twelve Sabbath days yearly at the convenience of and in numbers allotted by Thomas Wheeler or his heirs.
Since the agreement was one of the important events to the estab- lishing of what is now Acton the major portion of it is given in Appendix I. It is an interesting document, both in form and content, to those with a real interest in the history of the town. One important clause is to the effect that there shall be allowed "two shillings per defailance" if less than eighty cattle are pastured. Such a situation did come to pass in 1673 and the terms of the contract were so modified that Capt. Wheeler was entitled to recieve one shilling per head.
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FAULKNER HOUSE
To all People to Whom these presents may Come
,Una ye that m! Anne (un of found in,
His Country of Mid: In the Province The Mapachufett Bay in New England, wife of M.Alexanderfuning, Surgeon now abroad, and Attorney of Jal Alexand (ulning, being unpowered and authorig by Ruim either Severally and by for det alone, or Joyntly with William Douglas of for. Con Phy fican, to sell Convey Or Dispop of any part of the Lands of Said alexander fuming wherehowever, a go to Sign Feat and Execute and acknowledge any Des or Dets Arthe Dispoting thereof Doth, here by for good reasons and valuable (interations or Attorney and in the Name and Head of Said Alexand? Plining, fully and absolutely Give Grant, Convey Pap over and Confirm unto the Inhabitants of the Town Ship of Action. In the County aforesaid, their Hours and Surefors for
ever, for the use and convenienty of a Spot for a meet ing House for the Suplich worthid of God, Theo acres of lane in a Second Division Lott in dad Outon; on which two acres of land Stand ethe a Frame For a Meeting Route Said Hund acres of land is Described as Follows, vir Begin- ning at a heap of Stones, then runs well thir teen Degress, South listeen voor to a heap of Stones, then rung South thirlan De gress East twenty Is to a heap of Stones, then last their tion Degrees, North Sixteen rots to a heap of flones. then, hund North Thirteen Degrees, west twenty rods to where it began TO Have and to Hold the above granted und Described land, with the hvilergs and Conveniences thereef unto the Inhabitants of the Town- Ship of action Mir Hours and Juicebors for ever for Whip lise benefit and behoef fores for the ufo and
convenience atorssaid; thi the I have fuming as the true and Legal Attorney of for Elever Pushing roth hereby in the name and Health alexander funing for hish, his fir Esccuts and Ho ming tenant, Grant and
" gree to and with the law In habitants of iter, their first
Horse and laughing for ever that She Said Einne Running hot light, Power and authority to Rio
and Dispose to Had two lives of land as aforesato: and that the Said Inhabitants of Outon, their Hard and Roughs for ever chall and may at all lunes hereafter shave Hod.
Jeffs Improve and Enjoy the abovegrantes land for the we apresto, fic ant fully buquilted and Discharges from all othe gift, Parte Bargains, Contracts Conveychies on In uno frances of any kind whatsoever that might in any meat June oftrust Ki So I Further Joventinting, and Engaging for for boef in Such" in the name und place flaws alexander Coming to Warrant and Defend the above grand land boubio Inhabitants of action, Hour his & Laugh or Cysigns for ever, for the use ofresant, against the lawful claims Jemand Contradiction or Genial of any form by or lower the Jan alerant. (using a any other person or poland whomdocon In withthestars. & the tunnel uning have torunt get my hand & Jeas the Twenty fithe Day of January de 170 6/4 da in the tenho year this in agritur ofsign.
In the preferogus
Inner umming
Join Sealin
Mindre 's january the 25
Veronaly apparis before mevice.
fulpride and countryty acknowled
this inhumans to vont ade and Feed
James Minot Baltic
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and antied in this Regering of the, Book 37 par. 902.3
DEED TO LAND FOR FIRST MEETING HOUSE
CHELMSFORD 1655
D
C
WESTFORD 1729
COUNTY LAND
WILLARD FARM
3
LITTLETON 17 14
-
Ground
Burying
Barry Corner
BILLERICA 1655
E
Fort Pond
Naggy Break
F// Present Concord Line
CONCORD 1635
Whee ler's Mil
Break
Heath
Sinking Fond
Assaber
STOW 1683
SUDBURY 1639
TOWN OF ACTON AT TIME OF INCORPORATION
ONE MILE
Old Concord Line
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Grassy Pond
Barker's
Pend.
Great
Havihner's Mil
River
Lake Nagog
The town of Concord laid out a road to Thomas Wheeler's grist mill, the first in Acton, located just across the present route 2A from the residence of Mr. Henry Doyle. The mill was tended for the most part by women, a Mrs. Joseph Barker being in charge among the last. In 1840, on the same site, Daniel Wetherbee built a second grist mill which was operating sucessfully as such in 1901 under the direction of Mr. Alfred Sanctuary who came to Acton from Essex Junction, Vermont, resided in town only a year or two and removed to Am- herst, Massachusetts. Thereafter the mill stood idle for a time, then was remodelled and used to grind talc. This latter venture was short lived and the structure was subsequently removed completely. The old Whetherbee mill used the same water supply as the ancient Wheeler mill and many still alive can recall the canal which ran along between the highway and the railroad, passing under the tracks just a few yards south of the present grade crossing and letting into the mill pond from the left side of the present dam, which dam by the way served the old saw mill whose foundations now support the unique modern residence of Mr. Stuart Allen, long time resident of Acton and retired president of the Allen Chair Company of West Concord.
Near where the canal let into the pond there were formerly in evi- dence the abutments of the old iron works, called in those days a forge. Here was located a trip hammer and other implements for working iron and here Joseph Harris made the latches and hardware for the first meeting house. The ore, which was smelted with char- coal, was bog iron ore, found some rods to the southwest. The build- ing for storing the charcoal was a short distance up the old road, going west, beyond the old walls. According to Fletcher the charcoal bed was readily determined in 1890 by striking a spade into the ground. Mr. Stuart Allen's garage now marks the spot.
The old road followed along the right side of the little stream which enters the mill pond just at the residence of Mr. Allen. Thomas Wheeler's house was beside the stream, on the west side, at the end of the lane now identified by a historical marker.
Thomas Wheeler's claim to local fame does not rest solely upon the fact that he was the town's first settler. In most rural hamlets history reverberates only in muted tones from a distance. Not so Acton, however. A Satanic connivance has ever seemed diligent to thrust it into the forefront of every crisis. In this connection Thomas Wheeler played an important role. He was a man of initiative and outstanding personal bravery as well as a born leader of men. These qualities were to have ample outlet in the imminent Indian wars, particularly the expedition to Brookfield, so fully described in the reports of Daniel Gookin, Commissioner to the Praying Indians at that period.
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As more settlers, eager for land, preempted the various grants in the new Bay Colony only a decade was required to bring about the inevitable. New towns were incorporated, the frontier was thrust back and the fur traders, among whom Simon Willard was foremost, found that the Indians could no longer furnish pelts in the requisite volume unless they were provided with muskets and gun powder. The laws forbidding the sale of arms to the natives were well known to all and sundry but as usual common sense could not forestall avarice. The buyers as well as the trappers were anxious for profit, and in conse- quence if the Indians could not obtain guns and ammunition from the more scrupulous traders, of which Willard was one, they could always depend upon the French and the Dutch whose settlements were readily accessible.
By 1654 Middlesex County embraced seventeen towns, namely, Charlestown, Watertown, Medford, Cambridge, Concord, Sudbury, Woburn, Reading, Malden, Lancaster, Chelmsford, Billerica, Groton, Marlborough, Dunstable, Mendon and Sherburne. Worcester County was not set apart until 1731. Certain of these towns lay well to the west, sufficiently far to justly stir the apprehension and resentment of the Indians, who became increasingly restive.
By 1667 the whites in turn had become alarmed to such a pitch as to cause the General Court to promulgate an order that every town have a committee of militia and that garrison houses1 be erected under the direction of the selectmen and the committee for use in case of necessity. Concord built several of these at widely separated points and according to Shattuck one was located in what is now Acton on the farm at present owned and operated by the Massahu- setts Reformatory.
On October 13, 1669, a horse company, augmented somewhat by additions from surrounding towns, was formed by the men of Con- cord to supplement the already existing foot company. Thomas Wheeler, Willard's local associate in the fur trade, was chosen captain.
The first news of Indian trouble came to Concord in June 1675. At Swansea in Plymouth Colony the Wampanoags under Philip, the son of the sagacious and friendly Massasoit, had attacked and killed several settlers. A contingent of militia and volunteers sent out from Boston to quell what was assumed to be a sporadic and incipient uprising had recieved not only the surprise of their lives but also a sound whipping at the hands of an enemy both numerous and able.
In consequence the residents of Concord were justly concerned when Capt. Wheeler and certain men of the town were ordered to accompany Capt. Edward Hutchinson to the Nipmuck country, now
1 The older portions of the Faulkner house, known to have been a garrison house, date back to this approximate time.
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approximately defined by Worcester County, to confer with the In- dians there in the hope of preventing, if possible, any extension of Philip's influence in that region.
On July twenty seventh Wheeler, with about a score of his troop, reported at Boston. As they passed through Cambridge the next morning four more were added to their muster roll. Three were pray- ing Indians from Natick, Joseph and Sampson Petuhanit, brothers, and George Memecho, their kinsman. Ephraim Curtis of Sudbury was the fourth. He had traded much with the Nipmucks and was one of the most experienced explorers of the colony. He it was who had brought word of the restlessness among the Indians.
The details of the ill fated expedition are given by Fletcher (p. 239) but can, since Thomas Wheeler played such an important role in the history of Acton well bear repetition. On Sunday, August first, the troop arrived in Quabang (Brookfield). Here they were informed that the Indians whom they had expected to meet had removed to a place about ten miles distant. Wheeler delegated Curtis, together with two Brookfield men and an Indian guide, to contact the tribesmen and arrange for a formal meeting. The messengers returned with inform- ation that the place agreed upon was a field some three miles distant and that the time was to be eight o'clock the following morning. In addition they brought the disquieting report that there was a suspi- ciously large assemblage of excited and armed warriors for a tribe pretending peaceful pursuits. The prominent citizens of Brookfield, however, expressed confidence in the good intentions of the savages and volunteered to be present at the powwow.
Accordingly, at the appointed time, Wheeler mustered his troop and repaired to the rendezvous in company with Sergeant Prichard and Corporal Coy of the Brookfield militia and John Ayres, select- men, with whom the Quabaug chief, Matamap, professed close friendship.
The Indians, however, did not put in an appearance. This fact, together with other disquieting circumstances reported by the scouts, led the sagacious and experienced Wheeler to advise the abandonment of the conference for the time being. Hutchinson nevertheless, loath to return with nothing accomplished, and also unduly influenced by the reasserted faith of the Brookfield men ordered the advance into the swamp country where the Indians were supposed to be loitering through sheer irresponsibility and procrastination.
For a time the route lay in an open valley but eventually the narrowness of the path, with the swamp on one side and a rocky hill on the other, forced the column to proceed in single file. Suddenly a volley of bullets and arrows, discharged from behind perfect cover, killed eight men outright, wounded five and threw the line, aggravated by the difficulty of turning about in the narrow passageway, into dis-
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order. Captain Wheeler spurred his horse up the hillside, but, finding himself unhurt and perceiving that certain of his men had fallen under the fire of the enemy, who were now rushing forward to finish their work, turned about and dashed boldly forward to attack them. As he did so a well directed shot killed his horse and brought the rider to earth wounded. It would have been all over with him directly had not his son Thomas, who had likewise been hit, come to his rescue. Quickly dismounting, he placed his father in the saddle and ran by his side until he caught a riderless horse, thus enabling the two to escape with their lives.
But this was merely the beginning. All three Brookfield men had been killed at the first volley. Hutchinson received a wound of which he died within a few days. The task of extricating the command and of finding the way back to the settlement devolved upon Capt. Wheeler, already well along in years and grievously wounded. It was performed in masterly fashion. Keeping to the open country they retraced their way, with the assistance of the Indian guides, to the village of Brookfield where they took possession of the largest and strongest house and fortfied it as best they could.
Shortly the enemy appeared in superior numbers and attacked the makeshift fort with vigor. Wheeler's incapacity because of wounds brought to the front Lieutenant Simon Davis another Concord man, who conducted himself with extreme credit. To him, acting jointly with James Richardson and John Fiske, both of Chelmsford, the direction of affairs was henceforth intrusted.
Late Monday afternoon Ephraim Curtis took with him Henry Young of Concord and sought to get through for outside help but they were forced to return almost immediately bearing word that the town was surrounded and that most of the outlying homesteads were in ruins. With nightfall the Indians piled various combustibles against the house and started a fire which the English could extinguish only by exposing themselves unduly. To get the combustibles close to the walls the attackers constructed a remarkable contrivance, several rods long, of poles and barrels which they trundled forward to achieve their purpose.
For three days and nights the horrid warefare continued. The be- sieged were compelled to witness the mutilation of their dead com- rades. The deceased Sergeant Prichard's son was killed by a thrown tomahawk as he sought to obtain supplies from their nearby home. In triumph the savages cut off his head and after kicking it about for a time in play set it upon a pole just in front of his house. A second attempt was made by the Indians to kindle a general con- flagration but rain came to the assistance of the defenders. Davis, a man uncommonly gifted in prayer and deeply earnest, exhorted his men to remember that God was on their side, and .to take good aim
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before firing in order to conserve the rapidly diminishing supply of ammunition and powder. The prayers and hymns of the defenders were mimicked by hideous groanings of the heathen.
Twice Ephraim Curtis tried in vain to make his way through the enemy lines to obtain succor. The third time, by almost superhuman exertion and caution, he succeeded in reaching Marlborough, form- erly Okamakamesit, one of Eliot's Praying Indian towns until the white man claimed the meadows, where he gave the alarm.
On the evening of the fourth day the beleaguered garrison was overjoyed at the arrival of their old friend and neighbor Major Willard, with a force of forty-six soldiers and five Indians, who hearing at Marlborough of their distress, had altered his course to come to their aid. During the night the enemy departed after having burned all the buildings except the one which sheltered the whites.
During the next two days the garrison rested while Willard's men did their best to tend the wounded and bury the dead. On Saturday afternoon Captain Thomas Lothrop's troops arrived, the first con- tingent of relief sent from Boston. Hampered by wounds and lack of horses it took five days for Wheeler and his followers to reach Marlborough. There Captain Hutchinson grew worse and died. Wheeler remained for the burial and then pushed on to Concord. Rumors of the Brookfield disaster had prepared the townspeople for the return of the shattered troop. October 21, 1675 was designated as a day of praise and thanksgiving for their remarkable deliverance and return.
During the weeks that followed the reports reaching Concord grew ever worse. Captain Beers and his entire command were wiped out at Northfield. Captain Lothrop and his men were massacred from am- bush at Hadley. Deerfield and Springfield were left charred and stark.
Despite Captain Wheeler's sworn statement that his Praying Indian guide at Brookfield had been instrumental in the escape from the swamp and had acted throughout with faithfulness and courage, it was impossible to eradicate from the general mind a blanket hatred for all redskins. As a natural consequence the Christian Indian village of Nashoba fell under suspicion. Skeptical frontiersmen had ever looked askance at the efforts of such men as John Eliot of Roxbury to Christanize the savages and bring them into the frame work of the life of the white plantations. At the very outset of his missionary career Eliot had seen the advantage of teamwork with Simon Willard and together the pair trod many a mile together bent on profit and the dispensation of salvation.1 Seven such villages as Eliot had
1 If the first European to view the general locality now known as Acton was not one of the Norsemen of Norumbega then David Ingram is a possible candidate. Marooned by the famous Capt. Hawkins in the Gulf of Mexico in 1558, he walked alone to what is now Maine where he was successful in getting passage to England in one of the French fishing ships that frequented those waters each summer.
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