USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 7
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One event during the war may have had its minor impact upon Acton namely, the removal of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in September of 1755, so sympathetically portrayed in Longfellow's Evangeline. Some nineteen hundred and more of these pathetic and harmless folk were needlessly scattered over the face of the earth to such distant places as Florida, the mouth of the Mississippi, and the Falkland Islands. Approximately eleven hundred were literally dumped on the wharves at Boston just at the beginning of winter. No organized arrangements had been made for their care but fortunately toleration had grown a bit since the days of the witchcraft scare and so, even though there were obsolete laws on the books prohibiting the admittance of Papists, certain families took in the refugees as a matter of Christian duty. Whether or not any of these unfortunates came to Acton is not a matter of town record but both Westford and Littleton had dealings with the General Court relative to families that came to them.2
As has been pointed out the first seating of the meeting house took place in 1744. By March of 1757 it was deemed advisable to do it anew and Deacon Brooks, Capt. Fletcher, Lt. Billing, and Nathan Robbins were chosen for the thankless and ticklish duty. Apparently
1 Fletcher, p. 264.
2 Hodgman, History of Westford, pages 57-61. The history of Chelmsford lists seventeen by name; see Hurd, History of Middlesex County, p. 254.
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their efforts were not satisfactory in view of the fact that on May 20th the town voted "to do it all over again" and pitched the job back into the collective laps of the same committee after adding to it Samuel Jones, Ensign Hayward, John Davis, Jr., Ephraim Hosmer, Ephraim Hapgood and Nehemiah Wheeler. Furthermore the committee was specifically instructed to consider "age and personal and real estate".
The last qualification is illuminating. Despite the well known diffi- culties attendant upon the efforts of the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven such were at least to be accorded an advantage in hearing the message of salvation. A certain wag of the period is reputed to have put forth at one town meeting the droll proposition, which he defended with considerable ability and some support, that the out- standing sinners should be allotted the nearest seats since they most needed to hear the preacher. He did concede, however, that he could see no way in which his proposal would diminish the tribulations of the seating committee.
For the sake of completeness it should be here noted that the report of this augmented committee was in due course accepted.
The details of the next dozen years contain only items of small import if taken singly but in toto they give evidence of the develop- ment of the town. For instance, the May meeting of 1757 set up six school districts which same action was repeated in 1759 at which time the sum of two pounds was allotted to each district presumably for expenses other than teaching. In 1761 the office of Warden appears for the first time and continues for several years. No inkling is given as to the duties involved but in the first election Deacon Brooks was chosen for the southwest part of the town and Lt. Billing for the northeast. In the March meeting of 1763 Jonathan Billing (not to be confused with the Lt. Billing just mentioned) Josiah Piper, John Craigin, Joseph Robbins and Joseph Brooks were chosen as a com- mittee to build a pound.1 The same meeting gave permission to Jonathan Billing to build a "horsestable" on the town land near the meeting house. Since Mr. Billing lived at that time on what is now Esterbrook Road this item almost certainly refers to erection of a shelter for the horse of the honorable town treasurer during such periods as he was attending church or other sessions of consequence. Until the automobile became fully established as a means of convey-
1 In a letter to the author dated August 13, 1950, Mr. Horace Tuttle states that he remembers the Old Pound distinctly. It was located between the present Centre School and Main Street and just to the east of the old school house which preceded the present one (built in 1871-72). This old school house was close to the big elm which now stands near the point of intersection of the school driveway and Nagog Hill Rd. The pound was an enclosure 40 or 50 feet square surrounded by a high and substantial stone wall with a gate at one corner. Mr. Tuttle does not recall that it was used for impounding cattle in his day or that there was a pound keeper. In his opinion it was removed at about the time the present school building was erected.
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ance whole rows of such sheds were a common adjunct to all New England churches. Eventually they not only became useless as well as costly to maintain but were even suspect to the more pious of the community since they provided a decided invitation to surreptitious parking. Even so, for reasons of sentiment or public inertia, they can yet be found in isolated localities. The area around the church at the Centre had some dozen or more strung along the north and east boundaries until 1935.
Also during this period we find Acton credited with 611 inhabi- tants in the provincial census of 1765, which same by the way, was a suspect affair to many of the citizens since they saw it merely as a scheme on the part of England to manipulate the taxes; we find Micah Robbins and William Barker receiving payment as caretakers of the meeting house; and we find the town voting to allow those who served in the war against the French permission to work out their taxes if they so desired. In addition we find the appointment in 1767 of a committee to again arrange with Rev. Mr Swift concerning a new salary scale; the prosecution of Thomas Blanshard for refusing to serve as constable; and lastly, the election of Capt. Daniel Fletcher as Acton's first representative in the General Court.
As a matter of fact the question of sending a representative had been first considered and turned down in 1754. Similar action had been taken upon several subsequent occasions. Now, however, the posture of Massachusetts politics was such that the citizenry wanted to have a larger voice in events. In June of 1767 the British Parliament had entertained a bill to put a tax on glass, painters' colors, and tea, together with a scheme to establish at the port of Boston a customs official to collect the same. This agent met with short shrift and various meetings were held in Boston to draft letters of complaint which same were presented to Governor Bernard and to Parliament. Through the machinations of Bernard and lieutenant governor Hutchinson, acting in secret with secretary Hillsborough and other short sighted politicians in London, and in spite of the warnings of ex-governor Pownall, who immediately preceded Bernard,1 the act was sustained, and the Romney and other ships of war were sent to Boston. The governor dismissed the General Court and made it known
1 Speech delivered in the House of Commons, May 15, 1767. "Believe me, there is not a province, a colony, or a plantation that will submit to a tax thus imposed. Don't fancy that you can divide the people upon this point. You will by this conduct only unite them more inseparably. The people of America, universally, unitedly, and unalterably, are resolved not to submit to any internal tax imposed upon them by any legislature in which they have not a share by representatives of their own election. This claim must not be understood as though it were the visions of speculative enthusiasts; as though it were the ebullition of a faction which must subside; as though it were only temporary or partial. It is the cool, deliberate, principled maxim of every man of business in the country."
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that he was expecting ample military aid to enforce any acts that Parliament might see fit to pass. Furthermore an officer appeared with authorization to arrange matters so that these soldiers upon arrival should be billeted upon the townspeople.
Immediately a town meeting was called at which a committee was appointed to await upon the governor and inquire the reason for his anticipation that additional troops would be stationed in the town. The governor refused to reply to the question or even the right of the people to ask it and likewise refused to call a general assembly to discuss the state of the province. In consequence the adjourned town meeting was reassembled and it was decided that there be a convention of all the towns to be held in Faneuil Hall in the near future. Boston chose as its representatives Thomas Cushing, James Otis, Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The selectmen were directed to write to the several towns, informing them of this design; and it was recommended that all the inhabitants should be provided with firearms and suitable ammunition. 1
In consequence of these strained relations we find Acton voters assembled in town meeting on September 11, 1768 to choose a man to attend the convention at Boston on September 22nd "in order to consult His Majesty's Service & the Interest of this Province and pass any vote thereon". As might have been expected Capt. Daniel Fletcher was the logical choice for the town's representative.
On March 5th, 1770 considerable debate was occasioned in town meeting over a motion to enlarge the meeting house. It failed of passage by a vote of 50 to 41 but a committee consisting of Capt. Hayward, Joseph Robbins and Josiah Mansfield was chosen to make certain necessary repairs. This action, however, was not the high point of the session. Much more important matters of greater scope were before the house. The affairs of the colonies overshadowed every public meeting and this one more than any to date. In con- sequence the setting sun of that day saw the following votes passed by the men of Acton:
"Taking into consideration the distressed circumstances that this Province and all North America are involved in by reason of the Acts of Parliament imposing duties and taxes for the sole purpose to raise a Revenue, and when the Royal ear seems to be stopt against all our humble Prayers and petitions for redress of grievances, and considering the Salutary Measures that the Body of Merchants and Traders in this province have come into in order for the redress of the
1 J. S. Barry, History of Massachusetts, vol. ii, p. 366. Ninety six towns and eight districts responded by sending delegates, a practically complete repre- sentation. The convention lasted six days.
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many troubles that we are involved in, and to support and maintain our Charter Rights and Privilege and to prevent our total Ruin and Destruction, taking all these things into serious Consideration, came into the following votes:
"Ist. That we will use our utmost endeavors to encourage and support the body of merchants and traders in their endeavors to retrieve this Province out of its present Distresses to whom this Town vote their thanks for the Constitutional and spirited measures pursued by them for the good of this Province.
2. That from this Time we shall have no commercial or social connection with those who at this time do refuse to contribute to the relief of this abused country-especially those that import British Goods contrary to the Agreement of the body of merchants of Boston or elsewhere, that we will not afford them our Custom, but treat them with the utmost neglect and all those who countenance them.
3. That we will use our utmost endeavors to prevent the consumption of all superfluities, and that we will use our utmost Endeavors to promote and encourage our own manufactures.
4. That the Town Clerk transmit a copy of these votes to the Committee of Merchants of inspection at Boston.
" A true copy attested.
Francis Faulkner, Town Clerk."
As the men of Acton passed these votes, thereby putting themselves in the vanguard of those who stood for personal rights and communal self respect, they little suspected that before the next sunrise blood would run in the streets of Boston and that Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Meverick, and Patrick Carr would give up their lives in what has gone down in history as the Boston Massacre. With the passage of the years it has become evident to historians that these men were most certainly not Boston's leading citizens. As a plain matter of fact they were waterfront bruisers of established reputation, and diverse Tories may not have been far amiss when they referred to them as "Sam Adams' cudgel boys". In any event they went out on the night of March fifth looking for trouble and found it (noble cause to the contrary notwithstanding) and thereby augmented the conflict that eventually caught up Acton in its toils and put our imposing monument on the common.
Two months later the voters of Acton took an educational step that was forward-looking for that day and age. They decided to apply one third of the school money toward a "women's school".
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In order to appreciate this innovation one must be acquainted with the status of arithmetic in the common schools of the era. Bronson Alcott (born 1799) states that even as late as his time spelling, reading, and writing constituted the complete curriculum for the day schools but that upon occasion arithmetic was taught two nights a week by those rare teachers who had the ability, vitality, and in- clination to do so.
During the colonial period "ciphering", when taught at all, con- sisted of the most elementary operations with whole numbers. It was the exceptional teacher who possessed even a fair knowledge of fractions1 and the intricacies of simple proportion, then known as the "rule of three". If some pupil of rare genius managed to master fractions and proportion thoroughly he was adjudged a finished mathematician.
School appliances in those days, other than the ferule and the birch rod as implements of discipline, were wholly wanting. Slates were unknown until some years after the Revolution and blackboards were non-existent even in the colleges, until introduced by the Rev. Samuel J. May of Boston who had seen them in France in 1813. Paper was so costly that as a result old letters, blank pages taken from ledgers and day books, and even birch bark, were requi- sitioned.2
In two of the most forward schools of Philadelphia of the period the boys were taught reading, writing and arithmetic and the girls spent their time on reading, writing, and sewing. Warren Burton in his book entitled, "The District School as it was by one who went to it", says that "a school mistress would as soon have expected to teach Arabic as the numerical science".
The idea of the women's school had as its objective two things. In the first place the subjects could be chosen in accord with what was then considered proper for young ladies to know. Secondly, the pupils, being all girls, a woman could handle the instruction and the discipline and give to the enterprise an atmosphere of gentility and decorum quite impossible in the more typical school operated under the aegis of a well muscled and determined schoolmaster chosen primarily for his ability as a manhandler of obstreperous and husky youths endowed with mere vestigial inclinations toward learning but enormous penchants for malicious mischief.
Now and then young boys in the beginning classes, if of delicate
1 Florian Cajori, The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States, page 9.
2 Cajori, ibid., p. 10. In this connection the Acton records themselves bear witness. The town clerks in many instances filled in the bottoms of pages with minor notations in complete disregard of chronological sequence. Some items appear as much as forty years out of place.
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health or sensitive disposition, were allowed to attend the women's school until such time as it became embarrassing for them.
Evidence that other notions were stirring in school affairs is given by the fact that a special town meeting was held on November 13, 1771 to ascertain whether or not a grammar school should be main- tained for a portion of the current year. Even though the single article in the warrant was dismissed and the meeting immediately adjourned it was significant that the townspeople were even willing to convene to consider such a proposal.
It will be recalled that the first schools in Acton were "moving schools" that functioned progressively at the homes of citizens in various parts of the town. Subsequently four schoolhouses were built by private funds and these sufficed until 1771 at which time the town built one in the Center just down the hill from the meeting house on the northeast side of Nagog Hill Road. Apparently it was no more than erected before certain persons desired that it be moved since we find an article to that effect in the town warrant for March of 1772. The vote when taken was in the negative as was another taken the following May. The May meeting did, however, vote "To see if the town will agree upon a new place for the school house to stand for the center of the town or pass any vote that may be thought proper". As a result of the discussion Lt. Billing, Capt. Davies and Simon Hunt were selected as a committee "to pitch upon a new place for the school in the middle of the town". The committee recom- mended that the school house be built on the north side of the high- way that leads from the west end of the town to the meeting house near to the corner of Rev. Swift's wall. The meeting voted so to do.
This same meeting made educational history by voting that the existing school houses be assessed by a disinterested judge and purchased by the town. In consequence Mr. Jonathan Patch made the valuation estimates and the town treasurer was ordered to pay fourteen pounds eight shillings for the building standing near the meeting house, fifteen pounds fourteen shillings eight pence for the one at Strawberry Hill, and seven pounds nine shillings four pence for the one near Deacon Heald's, this latter being about halfway between the old north burying ground and the Carlisle line on what is now Carlisle Street.
Since the time of the Boston Massacre the estrangement between the crown and the colonies had gone from bad to worse. Men elected to the governor's council were constantly being rejected by Hutchinson, British war ships in considerable numbers had been sent to Boston harbor (twelve in the summer of 1771), the General Court had been either prorogued or called upon to sit in Cambridge rather than Boston, and finally the word had come that the salaries of
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the king's officials in the province were to be paid by the Crown. Since this included the stipends to the local judges it was beheld with amazement and considered a barefaced scheme for prostituting the courts.
On October 28, 1772 a huge town meeting, presided over by John Hancock, convened in Boston and an address was prepared for his excellency requesting the truth of the matter. The request was dismissed as improper. In consequence a new petition was drafted declaring "such an establishment contrary, not only to the plain and obvious sense of the charter of the province, but also to some of the fundamental principles of common law, to the benefit of which all British subjects, wherever dispersed, are indubitably entitled", and requesting the matter to be referred to the General Court.1
This petition was likewise rejected and in addition Hutchinson refused to convene the General Court for the December session as had been previously agreed. The reason given was that by so doing he would not only be acting contrary to the wishes of the king but would also be encouraging other towns of the province to assemble from time to time in the effort to unlawfully influence the crown officers in the discharge of their duties.
Naturally such a reply fanned the animosities already only barely under control. As a result a committee of twenty one, known as a committee of correspondence, was set up for the town of Boston the purpose of which was to set forth the rights of the colonists, to point out the infringements that had been made upon these rights, and to publish the said state of affairs to the several towns of the province in the hope of receiving from them "a free communication of your sentiments".2
Pursuant of the letter sent to Acton a special town meeting was convened on December 21, 1772 the chief purpose of which was
"To see if the town will hear the Letter of Correspondence with the other papers directed to this town by the Town of Boston Relating to the Late Measures of the British Ad- ministration in the violation of our rights and Privileges which will be communicated to the Town in order to act thereon as the Town shall think proper".
On this item the Acton voters registered a decided affirmative as might have been expected and proceeded immediately to appoint Capt. Daniel Fletcher, Francis Faulkner, Ephraim Hapgood, Capt. Samuel Hayward, Simon Tuttle and Daniel Brooks as a committee to draft a proper reply to be laid before the town at an adjourned
1 Boston Post Boy for November 2, 1772.
2 On this point Hutchinson states (Hist. iii, 368, note) that there was such concern to obtain universal consent that even a district of two hundred Indians, called Mashpee, was not omitted.
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meeting on the following January eighteenth.
The townspeople assembled again on the date specified and since the meeting was of such great importance the clerk's report will be given herewith in detail
"At a meeting of the freeholders and other votable inhabi- tants of the Town of Acton Legally Assembled on Monday the 18th Day of January 1773 by adjournament from the 21st Day of December Last to Consider the State of the Rights of the Colonists and the violation and Infringements of the Rights and report a Draft of Such votes as they mey think Best for the Town to come into, report in the words following:
"Taking into Serious Consideration the Allarming Curcum- stances of the Province Relating to the violations of our Charter Rights and Privilidges as we apprehend by the British Administration are of the Oppinion that the Rights of the Collinests, Natural, Ecletiasticle and Civil are well stated by the Town of Boston and it is our opinion the Taxing of us without our Consent, the making the Governor of the Province and the Judges of the Superior Court independant of the People and Dependent on the Crown by Having there Salarys Paid by the Crown out of the money Extorted from us and Many other Instances of incroachments upon our Said Charter Rights are In- tolerably Grevious and Have a Direct tendency to overthrow our Hapy Constitution and Bring us into a State of Abject Slavery but we have a Gracious Sovereign who is the Father of America as well as of Grate Britian and as the man in Whom we had no confidence is Removed from Before the throne and another in whom we hope to have the cause to put Confidence Placed in His Stead we hope that Petition will be forwarded and heard and all our Grevences Redrest."
The foregoing was an exact summary of the sentiments of the Acton committee and moreover of the townspeople since it was immediately passed. It was a restrained and sober document written by men of wisdom who still wished solemnly to adhere to their king and country but who, nevertheless, knew their rights as Englishmen and intended to continue to state their case as they saw it with dignity and deter- mination.
At this same meeting the town went still further on record by voting that
"as we have no representative in the House of Represent-
atives we Earnestly Recommend to the Representative
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Body of this Province that you Gent. Inspect with a Jealous Eye our Charter Rights and Privledges and that you use every Constitutionally Method to Obtain the Redress of all our Grevences and that you Strenuesly En- deavor in Such ways as you in your wisdom think fit that the Hon. Judge of the Superior Court may have their Support as formerly agreeable to the Charter of this Province."
The meeting was adjourned after it had been voted that "the sincere thanks of this town be given to the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston for their Spirited Endeavor to Defend our Rights and Priviledges Inviolate when threatened with Destruction".
At just about this time Governor Hutchinson convened the legisla- ture and took occasion to comment with considerable severity upon the establishment of the committees of correspondence and in par- ticular their attempt to call in question the authority of Great Brit- ian. This attitude in itself was enough to cause strained relations between the governor and the legislature but before long it became known that certain secret letters from Hutchinson to Whateley, his friend in England, made it perfectly clear that the sympathies of the governor were completely with the King. How these letters were ob- tained remains a mystery even to this day but in any event they were forwarded to Boston by Dr. Franklin the agent of the province, and were soon the common knowledge of the committees of corres- pondence and the assembly.
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