USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 3
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envisioned had been established in Massachusetts, albeit with the reluctant consent of the General Court. The closest of these to Concord was the aforesaid Nashoba, six miles to the westward and hard by the growing white settlement familiar to us as Concord Village.
At this point it seems opportune to give a brief history of Nashoba and clear up a misapprehension of long standing as to its location. Shattuck is responsible for the assertion that it lay partly in Acton.1 In this he is in direct contradiction with Mr. H. J. Harwood of Little- ton who, in his meticulous researches on the Indians of Nashoba2 establishes conclusively that the Indian Plantation, which approxi- mated a rough square about four miles on a side, lay completely outside the boundaries of Acton as now delineated. In fact Harwood goes so far as to say that he hopes that Mr. Shattuck is nearer correct in his assertions respecting the beneficial effects of Christianity upon the Indians than he is regarding the location of their village. Har- wood's exact words are as follows:3
"Let us hope that the last part of the quotation from Mr. Shattuck is more trustworthy than the first; he gives no authority for saying that Nashobah was "partly in Acton" and I am inclined to think that he drew on his imagination for the statement, as I am unable to find any authority for it whatever, while, on the contrary, I have been able to locate the original Nashobah with tolerable accuracy, as I shall show hereafter, and am morally certain that the town of Concord never had a valid title to one inch of the land where the Indian town was laid out, and consequently that it was never "partly in Acton" which, as we all know, was set off from Concord"
Eliot had established his village at Nonantum (Natick), and Taha- tawan, the sachem of the Indians living to the west of Concord, had visited there and had been sufficiently impressed by the English way of life to induce his own people to draw up a set of rules with the help of the Indians:
"In answer to the petition of Mr. Jno. Eliot on behalf of seuerall Indians the Court grants his request viz; liberty for the Inhabitants of Nashop (Nashoba) and to the inhabit ants of Ogkoontiquonkames (Marlboro) and also the in- habitants of Hasnemesucuchoth (Grafton) to erect seuerall injan tounes in the places propounded with convenient accomodation to each provided they prejudice not any former graunts, nor shall they dispose of it without leave
1 Shattuck, History of Concord, p. 27.
2 The Indians of Nashobah, H. J. Harwood, Littleton Historical Proceedings, No. 1.
3 History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, vol. 2, p. 858 (1890).
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first had and obtained from this Court."
For a time it seemed as if the experiment might succeed. There was a church and an Indian choir which, according to white visitors, gave acceptably melodious renditions of a Psalm set to Indian words by Eliot.1
The village consisted of twenty five or thirty families and according to Harwood, Indians lived in Nashoba from 1646 or earlier to 1675. Finally, due to the disturbed state of mind of the whites, as a result of King Philips War, and in particular the killing of Jacob Shepard in Littleton2 they were herded into prisons in Boston over the violent objection of Simon Willard. Eventually the few who were able and cared to return, were placed on what is known as the Proctor farm between Littleton and Groton.3 The last survivor, an aged and feeble squaw named Sarah Dublet, resided there when the farm was sold in 1734. Legend has it that she spent her last days in the locality of the present village of Newtown.
Thus ended the great vision of Eliot. By the turn of the century it was obvious that avarice was to triumph over exalted ideals. The white man persistently thrust himself on to the lands promised to the red men by the authorities. In 1702 the town of Stow petitioned the General Court for all of Nashoba, claiming that the town of Groton, as well as freelance settlers, were enroaching upon it. The petition was not granted just then but the color of the future was all too clear. By the time Acton was incorporated, the Nashoba project was a thing of the past.
In all these Indian difficulties Thomas Wheeler, well beyond middle age when they commenced, showed himself to be a citizen of sound judgment and great integrity. He died in 1676 from wounds received at Brookfield. Such was Acton's first householder. As time unrolled its limitless scroll, others were to take up the torch of honor and likewise carry it with vigor and distinction.
The second owner of the Wheeler land was Nathan Robbins, whose descendants have been in possession of it ever since. A century later another Robbins, dwelling on the same land at the site now marked by the inscribed boulder located just east of the cemetery, was to be awakened by couriers in the night bearing news that caused him to rise and march his company to Concord Fight.
After the cessation of the hostilities it was deemed expedient to legalize the purchase of the land lying within the New Grant. We have already given in detail the agreement of 1660, and hence it is
1 James Spear and his Indian choir performed May 14, 1654.
2 Harwood, History of Littleton. The site of the Shepard incident in which the child, Mary, distinguished herself, is marked by an inscribed stone at the junction of Power Road with Route 2 in Littleton.
3 The Proctor farm is the first on the left after crossing the Beaver Brook Bridge as one goes from Littleton Common toward Groton. See, The Indians of Nashobah, H. J. Harwood Historical Proceedings, #1.
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not necessary to exhibit here the long and carefully drawn formal deed signed in 1684 by representatives of the Indians and the town of Concord. The document is in two parts, or is two distinct deeds if you will. One on May fifth conveys one thousand acres in the south- erly portion of the grant and another on August fourteenth refers to a tract of eight thousand acres.1
Henceforth the citizens of Concord and its associated grants were busy with the building of a thriving community. Inherent in the process was the framing of the various laws and policies that emerge from the experiences of any growing society. Among those that came into being was one which stipulated that none could vote, hold office, or even serve on a jury, who were not freemen and church members. In the spring of 1689 the selectmen made the following return of non- freemen who were freeholders possessing houses and lands of the yearly value of six pounds. The list is given here because many of the persons subsequently to initiate the incorporation of Acton were descended from those mentioned. By virtue of the vote herewith recorded, they were invested with the status of freemen.
In Concord ye 3 of 1st munth 1689-90
An acount taken of the nonfreemen which are free holders, whose housing and Lands do amount to the uallew of six pounds rant by the year Mr. James Minerd Nathaell Harwood
Danell Dane
Eliphelet fox
Thomas gobile, S(enior)
John Ball
Robord Blood, S.
Samuel flecher
John Wheler, S.
Timithy Ries
Nemiah hunt, S.
Samuell Stratten
Samuell Davis, S.
Johnethen habord
John Shaperd, S.
Joshua Wheler
Abraham Tempel
James Smadly
Isaq Isaac Tempel
Nathanell Buse
Recherd Tempel
John Wood
Simon Davis
Abraham wood
Roberd Blood
Obadiah wheler
Simon Blood
John Haward
Josiah Blood
Thomas Wheler
Judath poter
Steuen Hosmer
John Jones
John Hartwill
Nathanell Stow
Thomas: Wheeler: Steuen Hosmor Eliphelet ffox
Homphary Baret Nathaniel: Billing: Selectmen
2lo March 1689. Voted by the Court to be ffremen Consentd Ebenezer Prout, Clerk. Jsa. Addington Secry.
1 It is an idea to conjure with that possibly the one thousand acres mentioned makes up a part of the mysterious extra area.
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THE FIRST MEETING HOUSE. 1738.
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WHITE'S TAVERN
From Water Color by A. F. Davis
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This action relating to freeholders was of particular interest be- cause ever since the arrival of Sir Edmund Andros in December of 1686 there had been growing tension between the royal governor and the citizenry of the province. Modern competent historical judgment gives Sir Edmund a much cleaner bill of health than did his con- temporaries. Nevertheless, being the immediate representative of a bad government, and attempting to carry out loyally and fully the orders of that government, he was doomed to turmoil and ultimate defeat. From 1686 to 1689 the governor and his council had laid taxes without consulting the tax payers, fees for the transaction of public business were unduly increased, and town meetings, except once a year for the election of officers, were prohibited.
All these practices and edicts were flagrant violations of the old charter. Even so it is possible that open insurrection might have been avoided had not Andros, undoubtedly acting under orders from the home government, declared all land titles null and void. In vain did the colonists argue purchase from the Indians. In vain did they assert that those who had cleared the land and defended it with their lives had the most just claim to it. He replied that he cared no more for an Indian signature than for "the scratch of a bear's paw". To the claim of long occupation he answered that no length of possession could validate a grant from one who had no title.
Just when the colonists were seething under this crowning in- dignity word came that Andros' master, James II, was being pushed from the throne by Willian of Orange with the backing of England's Protestants. Here indeed was a rare opportunity to liquidate the detested Andros. Accordingly on the morning of April nineteenth, 1689 (prophetic day in American history) the Concord military company under the command of Lieutenant John Heald started for Boston to assist in the revolt.
The insurrection was an immediate success. Andros and his sup- porters became prisoners of old Simon Bradstreet, last governor to be elected under the charter. King William, although continuing the practice of appointing a royal governor, restored to the General Court its former functions regarding financial and political matters. The experiment in absolute autocracy was over and the men who were later to found the town of Acton had a prominent part in it.
With the resumption of more normal living conditions the grant settlements grew apace and took on more and more characteristics of communal life. In 1698 the Village held its own March meeting. It was in the form of a special session immediately following the Con- cord town meeting, on the same day and in the same building, but the proceedings were recorded separately by the Concord town clerk. The custom continued until 1710 at which time the Village began electing a clerk of its own. As soon as these independent sessions
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were initiated the question immediately arose as to what persons were entitled to vote. Obviously those who resided therein or who owned land therein had rights in the matter. Accordingly at the meeting on March 7, 1697 a committee consisting of Corporal Fletcher, John Jones, Jonathan Hubbard, Lt. Prescote, Sergt. Wood, Nathaniel Jones, Lt. Davis, William Wilson and Thomas Brown was appointed to make investigation and determine a list of proprietors for the town's New Grant.1 The report was submitted and accepted at a town meeting held on May 3, 1698. While it does not give definite inform- ation as to who lived in the New Grant on the above date it does specify those who had a vital interest in the territory eventually to become Acton.
A perusal of the old records brings to light every now and then the fact that human nature runs true to form regardless of political or religious pressures that may be imposed upon it. Avarice, shiftless- ness, laziness, stupidity, carelessness and contentiousness cannot be legislated out of mankind and if the incentive be of more than aver- age potency neither will they succumb to prayer, terror or imminence of punishment. It would appear that certain of the folk who obtained the right to cultivate and improve the land in the New Grant were not overzealous concerning some of the terms of agreement, par- ticularly with respect to payment and industry. On July 17, 1700 we find the selectmen agreeing to "call ye proprietors together about September 1 to decide what to do about Jno. Law & his son Stephen who do neglect & refuse to agree and hire land & meadow that they do now improve in ye village".
The meeting mentioned above was convened on the third of Sep- tember and voted -
To empower the selectmen to use such methods with Stephen Law as may effect some absolute conclusion as to his eregular improvement of ye premises.
Also voted to empower selectmen to set bounds to lands which Jno. Law doth improve to prevent him from en- croaching father upon the Townes New Grant.
Although we are not in possession of the details of the difficulty here mentioned we can glean some light from the term "improve". It meant that the landowner was to clear a fixed portion of the land of trees and put it into condition for crops and in addition presumably, if he lived on it, build a house and barn and perform such other labors as might be expected of one seeking to establish a home and family.
The Law land was located round about the present junction of School Street and Laws Brook Road. It would appear from the
1 The report is given in detail in Appendix II.
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record that Stephen Law was not overly inclined to work himself into a decline and that his father was prone to edge over into territory not included in his grant. After all pulling stumps and clearing brush is not congenial employment. It is easy to put it off or to move over into open meadow if it lies close at hand. The point was, however, that it was the custom for the town to rent the meadowland to the highest bidder and if certain bidders found that part of the hay crop had been harvested from their specific area they doubtless made their grievances known to the selectmen in no uncertain terms. If one reads between the lines one can see much in the following vote taken at a town meeting held in June of 1702
voted that a committee be appointed to let out village meadows & treat with Stephen Law.
Simultaneously the famous feud with the occupants of the Willard Farms was merrily stewing since at the same meeting a committee was appointed to settle the line between the Village and the Farms. The committee acted with expedition but without success since on June 25th the following report was submitted
Committee on Willard line notified sons of Robt. Blood & ye two Buttricks that married his daughters they gave meeting to y committee but were so unreasonable in their propositions that ye meeting broke up after much time was spent & nothing done.
The embroglio went on interminably apparently since three years later we find the town voting to empower the selectmen to levy taxes to defend any suits that might arise between the town and the suc- cessors of Robert Blood. In taking such action they were merely being canny since the controversey persisted for at least another generation.
All this agitation over boundaries led to one sound New England custom which continues to this day. At an early date it became the practice for contiguous towns to appoint joint committees whose function it was to perambulate the bounds and see to it that they were well defined. In the beginning the markers were merely stone cairns but eventually, with the opening of the several granite quarries in what is now Acton, cut stone monuments were set up. Each five years the joint representatives of the towns inspect the corner posts and paint thereon the date of the visitation.
Two entries in the Concord town records respecting this custom are of interest, the first because it throws some light on the signifi- cance of Berry Corner and the second because it bears on the question of the Stow corner.
April 9, 1702 Lt Davis, Thomas Brown sr & Sam'l Jones being appointed by ye selectmen to renew ye line between y Old Bounds & ye new grant or village. They in observance
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of sd order from ye selectmen on ye day above did attend sd service & began at Bery Corner & carried on ye line marking trees and laying stones to ye merkers generally untill they came to ye north river near ye southerly corner of ye old Town Bounds.
Here is additional evidence to support the assertion previously made that Berry Corner was the original northwest corner of the square grant made to Concord in 1635. One cannot be certain from the wording of the report whether or not they actually reached the old corner. They speak of the north river by which they must certainly mean the Assabet.1 Since the line crosses the Assabet three times within half a mile of the old corner they may have stopped at the river rather than try to cross it, particularly if the day were cold and raw and the river at high or even medium stage. Any Acton boy that has roamed the countryside knows that the Assabet can be forded in places but there are others where one would have to swim at low water.
The second entry is as follows
May 14, 1706 Voted Abraham Temple, Jno. Barker & Thomas Brown a committee to perambulate the lines between sd village & ye town of Stow also with other neybour adjacent thereto & where lines are dark and dubeous then to be impowered to settle ye line.
Here is adequate evidence that all was not well with the lines in the vicinity of Stow corner. It emphasizes the fact that if any error, unin- tentional or otherwise, occurred at the time of the Beers and Noyes survey it was still unleavened and pregnant with future possibilities concerning which more will be heard anon.
One more case will be cited since it not only brings to light inter- esting boundary matters but in addition establishes the presence of another early family within the grant.
Nov. 7, 1707 The selectmen being cited in ye behalf of Mr. Leverett to join with a committee appointed by the sd Leverett in renewing ye bounds with ye Indian Planta- tion called Nashoby. The sd selectmen appointed Thomas Brown Sr. to take Abraham Temple and Jno. Barker Jr with him and attend that service the wch was done so far as to meet with ye committee at Jno. Witherbyes at Stow but cold not effect ye business by reason ye committee did not all appear. And upon ye twenty f --- day of sd november they were cited again upon ye same account and only Thomas Brown then was employed who met sd com- mittee at Nashoby on ye 25th day and on ye 26th we ran the line between ye Indian plantation & ye Powerses from
1 Spelled Asibath and Isabaeth on documents dated about 1650.
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nagog pond at ye westerly end thereof to ye line of Chelms- ford toward Tadmuck & renewed that line all along there.
The Powers land above mentioned appears to have been located within an area subsequently ceded to Littleton. In 1707 the town of Westford was not in existence but was later set off from Chelmsford and was known locally as Tadmuck before its incorporation.
At the town meeting a year later we find an interesting action taken respecting the iron works already mentioned in connection with the mill of Thomas Wheeler. It was recorded that
Sam'l Jones with ye rest of ye owners of the New Iron- works put in a petition to the proprietors of the village to give them liberty to Improve ye pine trees yt were blooded for to make cole for their forge. The which liberty was freely granted to them by said proprietors only reserving such trees as were suitable for board logs as also prohibiting sd owners from falling other green timber that grows upon sd village for that purpose.
Apparently at that time the way to improve a pine tree was to cut it down. More important, however, is the fact that we learn that it was the custom to eliminate the pitch, probably by girdling, and leave the tree to die before making the charcoal for the smelters. The large logs were, by the above edict, reserved for the saw mills.
At the conclusion of the regular Concord town meeting of June 7, 1710 the proprietors of the Village met and agreed that the time had come for the Village to have a separate clerk to take charge of its particular affairs, thereby relieving the Concord town clerk of that portion of his duties. Ensign Thomas Brown was nominated by the moderator and chosen by a show of hands. By that action Thomas Brown, although he cannot be called Acton's first town clerk, can be recorded as the first to be entrusted with the transaction of the matters that led up to its birth as a town. According to Shattuck (p. 280) the succeeding Village Clerks1 were Jonathan Prescott (1715 - 1728), John Flint (1728 - 1745), Stephen Hosmer (1745 - ?), John Robbins (1786 - ? ). Just what the duties of these clerks could have been after the incorporation of Acton in 1735 is a mat- ter of conjecture.
The events of the next decade or two are not of special interest except in so far as they indicate indirectly a growth in population, an accelerated sense of security and homogeneity among the settlers, and the concommitant emergence of the notion that the time was ripening for the setting off of a new town. As soon as mills and iron works and cultivated fields, together with other characteristics of communal life, had developed, the urge for distinct political status followed inevit-
1 See Appendix III for complete list of Selectmen, Town Clerks and Town Treasurers from 1735 to 1950.
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ably. Equally potent were the factors of religion, climate and geo- graphy. The church was still the supreme force in the scheme of things. No new town could be granted an act of incorporation by the General Court unless the citizens thereof solemnly agreed to erect within a specified time a proper meeting house and arranged for the dignied support of a qualified minister. In most instances this was a serious strain upon the resources of the petitioners.
The residents of the Village eventually reached the conviction that they were equal to the challenge. For years they had taken the five, six, or even eight mile trek in some cases, to the Concord church despite the elements. Now they concluded that to wrestle annually and simultaneously with sin and the rigors of a viscious New Eng- land winter was no longer a necessary hardship. They were well aware that the Lord chastened those whom He loveth but they sensibly decided that the errant sinner might take his punishment conviently close to home. He would still get enough to remain humble and cognizant of the power of the Creator.
According to Shattuck (p. 280) the residents of the Village peti- tioned the town in vain in 1731 to be set off as a separate precinct. He further states that three other requests of the same nature met a similar fate and points out that evidently the petitioners preferred precinct to township status.
It is difficult to reconcile this assertion with the record of the following vote taken from the town meeting minutes of May 22, 1732:
Propounded whether the town would sett of the Village
or town's New Grants to be a separate township and it passed in the negative.
Certainly nothing could be more definite than the words "separate township". If four attempts for precint status were made they must have been put forward previous to the above date unless one is re- signed to the conclusion that the petitioners oscillated between the two desires. In any event the voters of Concord in meeting assem- bled on March 4, 1735 voted
to set off the village or town's New Grant a sep. town together with Major Willard's farm the inhabs. and pro- prietors petition the gen'l court for sanction.
Here is an amazing right about face. After repulsing four attempts at independence on the part of the citizens of the Village the Concord electorate have a suden change of heart and not only grant the re- quest but throw in the Willard Farms for good measure. If one chose to be cynical one might conjecture that there had been some un- published but slick politics by means of which the potential residents of Acton obtained considerably more territory than they requested in return for which Concord was enabled to dispose of an old and
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pestiferous problem.
Samuel Hunt and others appeared at the General Court to make the necessary pleas and on June 30 the final action was taken and the petitioners were instructed to proceed with the organization of the Town of Acton,
and the Grate and General Court Did Set off the village Together with the Farms caled the Willard Farms a sepa- rate Town by the name of Acton and ordered the Town to be Assembled In order to Chuse Town officers in the words following
In the House of Representatives June ye 27, 1735 ordered that John Heald one of the Principle Inhabitants of the Town of Acton In the County of middlesex be and hereby is fully authorized and Impowered to assemble the freeholders and other qualified voters In ye Town as soon as may be in some convenient Place in said Town to make Choice of Town officers to stand till the anni- versary meeting in March next
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