USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Bellingham > History of the town of Bellingham, Massachusetts, 1719-1919 > Part 9
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A year later another Thomson letter came to Belling- ham: "Fort Cumberland Aug ye 29 1759 I have a short time to Right for the vesel that we ware a going in had got a ground and were forst to stay for the tide we Are a going to a french town abought thurty milds of to take it the Leters that I had I received them the 9 of this month two of them from you and one from Samuel Daniels and I have had one from him since from halifax I begin to think about hom but I am content yet I here that the narers (Narrows) are taken and our Esterd (Eastern) armies are in prospect of doing something. I should be glad to have another Leter if I could but Lay up sum aples for me that I may eat one bely full I here that Aron Holbrook has good fortin and has drawed fifty dolers and I am a going to git sum to if they do not git my skelp for the want of time I must wind of no more at present.
"Remember your friend Daniel Thomson Take good care of my things I hope to com hom this this fall but we are not quit sertin of it."
In 1758 the town of Holliston reminded the General Court that two years before a Nova Scotia family of refugees of eight persons was ordered to be supported half by Holliston and half by Bellingham, but the kindly sheriff brought them all to Holliston to avoid separating them. The town of Bellingham was now ordered there- fore to receive them all and provide for their comfortable support. Three pounds seven shillings was voted for them in 1762 under the name of the family of James Merow.
In early years the school was kept by citizens of the town, and the first one to be named is Michael Metcalf in
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1760. His successor in 1765 and other years was Benjamin Partridge.
In 1762 the bad condition of the old meeting house caused a vote for a committee of men from other towns to recommend a central spot for a new one. The pros- pect of disagreement made this no small matter, and five pounds was voted for the committee's expenses, but the old one and then the house of the Baptists was used for just forty years longer, till the present town house was built. The next year it was voted "that the Knowl over Charles River on the right hand a going to Dr. Corbett's house on this side of the Baptist meeting house be a stated place for this Town if they se cause to build a meeting house on."
In 1764 Benjamin Partridge, the schoolmaster, got his pay for five years' services as town treasurer; it was fifteen shillings. This is written in one of his books:
Benjamin Partridge His Book gave Forme 1742
His son presented another polite bill to the town besides: "The account of Benjamin Partridge for the rent of my house Lett to the French famely viz James Mero the sum which I expect the Town will pay is 1£ 18s. Please to grant the same if you think proper.
BENJ PARTRIDGE JR."
In 1765 there came a strange and complicated quarrel over the town meeting. The regular annual meeting was held on March 6, and it adjourned to March 15. At
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that time it was voted to dismiss the moderator at his request, and for some reason that is not apparent, to dismiss all the other officers who were chosen with him. Others were now chosen in their places, though nineteen voters protested. A petition to the General Court headed by the man chosen treasurer March 6, caused the action of the March 15 meeting to be annulled. The town was ordered to complete the March 6 list of officers. A meeting for that purpose in July started with a dispute about the moderator. The March 6 moderator was chosen again. Eleven men wanted four additional selectmen chosen, to make nine in all; the meeting could not agree on that proposal and had to adjourn without deciding for or against it. In October, however, by order of the Superior Court, another meeting was held and nine men were elected, though twenty-six voters protested. They were upheld by the General Court, which had to interfere the next January to declare that a second annual meeting could not increase the number of selectmen and assessors chosen originally on March 5, but only choose the other town officers required. Caleb Phillips, the March 6 treasurer, won at last, and he was re-elected for four years more; the next year the number of selectmen became five again, as it was before.
"To Mfrs Ioshua phillips David Thomfon Elifha Burr & Elias Thayer Serjeants of the Military Company in Bellingham.
"You are hereby required to make diligent Inquiry into the State of Said Company, and on Thursday next to take an Exact lift of the names and view the arms of Such Soldiers and Inhabitants within the Limits of it as well those on the alarm, as on the training band lift, and to See whether Each of them is provided with a well fixed firelock or mufquet of musquet or bastard
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TOWN AFFAIRS, 1747-1819
musquet bore the barrel not Lefs than three feet and an half a Snapsack a collar with twelve bandaliers or Cartuch box one pound of Good powder, twenty bullets fit for his gun and twelve flints a Good Sword or Cutlafh, a worm and priming wire fit for his Gun and Immediately after make return to me of Said Lift and of any Defects of Arms or otherwife, and the names of Defective persons that they may bee prosecuted as the Law has provided and Such Care may be taken as is proper to Remedy the Same Fail not Bellingham September the 19 1766
John Goldsbury Jun" Capt. of Sd Company"
In 1767 town warrants were to be posted in the three meeting houses in town; besides the old original one and that of the Baptists there was another at the South End never finished, used by Universalists and later by Wright Curtis as a tavern, at Crooks Corner.
"1771 To the Selectmen . . . these are to certefie you one . . came into my house the Ninth Day of this Instant December how Long he will tarey with me I Can not tell he is a poor man & says yt he is 63 years old he behaves well John Corbitt."
"Petition to the Gen Ct We Apprehend that the Town is overburdened in the valuation of 1772 in that there is set to our town more than our Proportion to each $1000. And in being fined £6 in the year 1771 and £8 in the year 1773 for not sending a Representative.
"Our reasons of complaint are: That one third of the Inhabitants are Really Poor and the limits of the Town Small Being two miles a quarter and 8 rods wide in the middle & southward, towards the North a little wider & 5 or 6 miles long. That the greater part of the land is sandy Dry Pitch Pine or hard Barren land. That the assessors who returned our valuation to the General Court in 1772 made a mistake. They set down
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HISTORY OF BELLINGHAM
to us two Iron works when in fact there is not nor ever was any in Bellingham. That sd Assessors set to us 10 Tan houses or shops. That one of these has been Useless for more than 7 years & no profit to the Town. That one of the shops set to us belongs to the owner of a Fullin mill & he uses the shop only to sheer Dye & Press in, And ought not to be added to the Town besides or over & above the fullin mill as a separate building. That several of the shops are Blacksmiths & so little done in it, that it would be as well for the owners & the Town if there was none in it. That one Potash is only a shed & but one small kettell in it & never much Done in it. That in 1772 we had not one Trading shop in the town. That there are four Mills set to the Town; which are all on the same stream & Dont go above four months in a Year By reason of flowing meadows in the spring & want of water in the fall. That we are obliged to go out of Town for most of our Smith work mill work & all our Shop Goods. That Endeavors have been used to obtaine the Oreginal accounts that the Committee of valuation had but have been unsuccessful therein. That we have been favoured by Several Respectfull members with Copys of some of them And by them we find that shops &c are set to Bellingham which is the farthest Town in the County of Suffolk from Boston at a greater sum than in other towns nearer. That Cow Pastures Tuns of English hay Barels of Cyder . are set to us as high as in other towns. All which appears to us Unequal. That it is a grief to us that we are not Able to mainttain a Member with You & Support our families & our Poor & Pay our Taxes. That we hope eir long to Enjoy the Priviledge of a Member with You. That. we acknowledge the favours shown us by the Assembly Perticularly that when we were fined about 20 years ago,
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on our Setting forth our Poverty the then Assembly remitted our fine & we never were fined before or since untill the Year 1771.
("We pray for a lower rate, remission of said fines, and excuse for not sending a Represent this year)
"John Metcalf Robert Smith Samuel Scott Committee.
"This committee did not proffer the above Peti- tion."
It was written by John Metcalf.
"1773 Put to vote to see if the town will send to Court aney more to get the fines of (off) that we are fined for not sending a Representative in years passed. Passed in the negetive."
In 1774 the old first meeting house was finally sold at auction in several lots for £9 4s.
Now come the anxious times of the Revolution. In 1774 Luke Holbrook was a delegate to the Provincial Congress at Cambridge, and the town voted to buy powder. A committee of inspection of fifteen men was chosen to see that each man was prepared for his duty "are a (any) three of them to be a coram" (quorum). The town kept a representative in the Provincial Congress and paid his expenses. It voted a bounty to its soldiers and had its committee of correspondence. Stephen Metcalf was the town's first representative at the General Court in 1775, and went with elaborate and fervid instruc- tions, as the custom was.
England's authority was promptly disowned in the following resignation of the Selectmen: "We the Sub- scribers Whose Names are hereunto affixed do of our own free Will and Accord freely fully and absolutely resign and disclaim any Power or Authority We have held or might have, hold, use, possess or enjoy by Virtue of any Commission we have held under Thomas Hutchinson
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HISTORY OF BELLINGHAM
Esqr late Governor of this Province; And that for the future We Will not Exercise any Power or Authority by Virtue of the Same In Witness Whereof we have hereunto Set our hands this Ninth Day of January Anno Domini 1775.
" Joseph Holbrook Daniel Penniman Jesse Holbrook."
In 1776 the town warrant was under the new name, " The Government and People of Massachusetts Bay."
"July 4 1776 Voted that in case the Honble Conti- nental Congress should think it necessary for the safety of the united colonies to declare them independent of Great Britain, The Inhabitants of this town with their lives & fortunes will cheerfully support them in the measure."
"July 22 1776 Met at 6 A M at Elias Thayer's house and voted to pay four men £11 each" and to borrow money.
In September the Massachusetts House of Repre- sentatives resolved "that the towns consider whether they will give their consent that this House & Council enact a Constitution, and if they would direct that it be made public before being ratified by this Assembly." But when the royal authority came to an end, the towns felt themselves almost sovereign, like the Colonies of the Confederation before the adoption of the United States Constitution. They were not looking for a constitu- tion made by any other authority than their own. Already in May Bellingham had instructed its Representative Stephen Metcalf to try for a more democratic govern- ment, more economical and closer to the common people. In October it chose a special committee to reply to this resolve of the House, consisting of Dr. John Corbet, "Crowner" John Metcalf, Elder Noah Alden, Deacon Samuel Darling and Lieut. Seth Hall, and voted to print
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their report. It was as follows, adopted by the town in Dec 1776:
" We are of opinion that the settling a form of govern- ment for this State is a matter of the greatest Importance of a civil nature that we were ever concerned in and ought to be proceeded in with the greatest caution and deliberation. It appears to us that the General Assembly of this State have well expressed that power always resides in the body of the people. We understand that all males above 21 years of age meeting in each separate town and acting the same thing and all their acts united together make an act of the body of the people. We apprehend it would be proper that the form of govern- ment originate in each town, and by that means we may have ingenuity of all the state, and it may qualify men for public action, which might be effected if the present Hon House of Representatives would divide the State into districts of about thirty miles diameter or less if it appear most convenient, so that none be more than fifteen miles from the center of the district, that there may be an easy communication between each town and the center of its district, that no town be divided, and that each town choose one man out of each 30 inhab- itants to be a committee to meet as near the center of the district as may be; to meet about six weeks after the House of Representatives have issued their order for the towns to meet to draw a form of government, and the same committee to carry with them the form of government their town has drawn to the district meeting and compare them together and propose to their towns what alteration their town in their opinion ought to make, and said committee in each district to adjourn to carry to their several towns and lay before them in town meeting for that end, the form of government each district has
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agreed to, and the town agrees to or alters as they see meet; after which the district committee meets according to adjournment and revise the form of government; after which each district committee choose a man as a com- mittee to meet all as one committee at Watertown at 12 weeks after the order of the House of Representatives for the town, first meeting to draw a form of Government, which committee of the whole State may be empowered to send precepts to the several towns in this State to choose one man out of sixty to meet in a convention at Watertown or such other town as such committee shall judge best. Six weeks from the time of said district's last settling the one man out of sixty, to meet in conven- tion to draw from the forms of government drawn by each committee one form of government for the whole state; after which said convention sends to each town the form of government they have drawn for the town's confirmation or alteration and then adjourn, notifying each town to make return to them of their doings at said convention and at said adjournment said convention draw a general plan or form of government for the State, so that they add nothing to nor diminish nothing from the general sense of each town, and that each town be at the charge of all those employed in the affair."
In the midst of the excitement and distress of the war time a prominent man, Sylvanus Scott, died, and his wife three days later, of smallpox as their grave- stone says. The next month the town voted, "Whereas some people think they have small pox, the constable is to impress the house of John Coombs for a small pox hospital. The selectmen are to provide a doctor and nurse. Each person to pay on leaving after one week after inoculation $8, or $7 if they board themselves. Also voted that the town forbids any Person from having the
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TOWN AFFAIRS, 1747-1819
Small Pox in the house of Daniel Penniman or Silas Pen- niman Except sd Silas who is so bad that it is dangerous to remove him, and if any Person or Persons shall be so Presumptious as to have the Small Pox in either of them Housen they shall forfeit to the town Ten Pounds to be recovered of them by the town treasurer."
Again in May of the next year the Selectmen issued a warrant for a special town meeting, "1 To See if the Town will give Leave that Jabez Metcalf and such others as may Joyn with him in Building a house on the Land of John Metcalf at his New orchard in the wood North of the County Road that the said Jabez Metcalf his Wife and child may have the Small Pox and others in Said house. 2 Or See if the Town will give Leave that the Sd Jabez Metcalf Wife and others May have the Small Pox in Any other house in This Town."
In May 1777 Ezekiel Bates was chosen to procure and lay before a special committee evidence of the inimical disposition of any inhabitant to the United States of America.
"Sep 22 1777 chose a committee of seven to report what more to do for men (of the army) in this town." In May, 1779, a committee was chosen to hire men for the service of the United States at the town's expense.
The following account of a Bellingham soldier's experience is in his own words, somewhat shortened. "I Joseph Frost of Bellingham Enlisted into the American Armie During the War in September 1776, & I was at the taking General Burguine in 1777. it was written on my Enlistment (a Bounty which I Recd) & I was to have five hundred acors of land or five Hundred Dollars at the End of the War and Monthly Wages (& after wards a Bounty of 80 Dollars Granted by Congress) which Bounty I have not Recd.
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HISTORY OF BELLINGHAM
"in August 1778 I was in a Scouting Party at the white Plains when I & one Griffin was taken by four men on the British light horse Who came upon us as we ware Drinking at a well they rushed on us out of the wood, & they carried us onto long Island Put us into Prison in a meeting house there, & two or three Days after we were taken I & P Griffin Dug under the Sell of the Prison in the Night Secreted our Selves on long Island near a week & Got of long Island & Got a Passage unto Sea Brook in Connecticut, from thence I came to Boston and Enlisted on bord the Continental friggit named the Rawlee of 36 Guns this was in September 1778 I then Recd forty Dollars Bounty & was to have ten Dollars per month Wages three Days after we sailed Capt Berry was Drove ashore on the wooden Ball East- ward of Boston By Sr James Wallace on Bord the Expere- ment of 50 Guns & the Unicorn 28 Guns British men of war, Capt Berre with near half his men in Botes Got off in the night, I & the rest of the men were taken & carried to York & I & Eleven more were Put on Bord A British- man of war named the Delleware Friggit Capt Mason on Bord which we remained near 8 months all but 4 of us were over Perswaded to do Duty on Bord, But I & 3 more would not tho striped & thretened to be whiped, the vessell crusing about Came Near Guernsey near old England we 4 were carried on shore and committed to the Goal in Guernsey & there kept untill Peace was Declared we were then set at liberty & we shiped on Bord a vessell Bound to the West Indies & we got to Antego & Now I am Got to Bellingham again September 30 1784."
From 1775 to 1780 the bounties paid to Revolu- tionary soldiers amounted to twelve thousand one hundred and fifty-eight pounds in Continental currency of varying value and two thousand five hundred and sixty-four
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TOWN AFFAIRS, 1747-1819
pounds in solid coin. Three hundred and twenty different payments were made, but some men had more than one term of service. There were only one hundred and twenty-one families in town by the census of 1790, fifteen years later, with one hundred and eighty-seven males over sixteen years of age. In 1905 the town spent seventy-five dollars in marking Revolutionary graves; twenty-one at North Bellingham, thirteen at South Bel- lingham and a few others.
There is no complete list of the soldiers in the town records, but these ninety names have been found:
Amos Adams
Joshua Darling
Nathan Holbrook Sylvanus
Samuel Alvison
Levi 66
Phineas
Ichabod Seaver
Silas
Moses jr
Seth
66
George Slocomb
Peter Albee
Richard
David Jones
Robert Smith jr
Elisha Alden
Ichabod Draper
Joel Leg
David Staples
Noah Alden jr
Stephen Easty
Jabez Metcalf
Elias Thayer
Simon Alvison
Amos Ellis
Joseph Partridge
Ezekiel
John Arnold
Nathan Freeman
Silas Penniman
Nathaniel “
Samuel
Joseph Frost
David Perry
Amos Thomson
James Bailey
Thaddeus Gibson
Joseph 66
Caleb
David Belcher
John Goodman
Lot 66
Cyrus
Ichabod Bosworth
John Hall
Oliver
Daniel Trask
Abel Bullard
Elisha Hayward Ezekiel
Caleb Phillips John
Benjamin Twitchell
William Chase jr John Chilson
Aaron Hill
Joshua ¥
Abner Wight
Benjamin Clark
Moses Hill
Stephen “
Samuel Wight jr
Daniel Cook jr
Abijah Holbrook
Samuel Pickering John Rockwood Joseph jr
Nathan Trask
John Coombs jr
Asahel
Levi
66
John Upham
Levi Daniels
Elijah
David Scott
Stephen Wyman
Dennis Darling
Henry
Jonathan
Eben Darling
Capt Jesse
Nathan
Joseph Ward jr
David Thomson
David Cook jr John Cook
Amariah Asa
Samuel Twist
The town's great interest in the Revolution and improvement in government and the general public welfare was accompanied by an increased demand for public education. In 1777 a public subscription was made, to be "added to the old School Bank money on hand," which was one hundred and ninety-three pounds
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HISTORY OF BELLINGHAM
four shillings seven pence. Seth Arnold gave ten pounds, and thirty-one persons in all raised one hundred pounds, "a permanent fund, the interest to be used for schools on the plan agreed on in 1744."
The General Court in 1778 met as a convention and formed a constitution for the state, which was rejected by a vote of the people of five to one. In Bellingham John Metcalf's diary says: "73 males voted to Disaprove the form of Government & none for it." The next May our town "voted that it is Time to have a New Consti- tution or form of Government Made As Soon as May Bee. They think the General Court Out Not to Be imPowered to Call a Convention to Draw up a form of Government." The General Court called a convention as the towns wished, and the Bellingham minister was a member of it. He wrote to his best adviser and friend, the Baptist minister at Middleborough:
"Our town have chosen me as thare Delegate to go to Cambridge for the Sole purpose of forming a New Constitution or forme of Government for this State the waitest affar of a temporal nature I humbly conceive that Ever this state tuck in hand the vue I have of the matter is that it is Essentially nessary that in the first place thare should be a bill of Rights assertaining what are the natural sivel and Religious Rights of the people and a form of government predecated upon said bill of rights perfectly agreabel thare to and Never Know laws afterwards made Repugnant to said Bill of Rights but as I am sensabel that the delegates will not be all of my mind and the work is grate and my gifts Small and I am inexperienced in a work of this sort Dear brother I pray you to favour me with your mind on the subject Expesualy what are the Rights of the people and how that Bill of Rights ought to be Drawn. I hope my dear
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TOWN AFFAIRS, 1747-1819
brethren will not forgit me in thare prayers to God that I may be Enabled to Contend Earnestly bouldly and wisely for the libertys of the people in general and for the libertys of the Lords people in purticklure."
"Aug 6 1779 To Mr Noah Alden Sir you being chosen By the Inhabitants of this Town to Represent them in a convention at Cambridge next September for the sole Purpose of forming a Constitution for the Massa- chusetts we your Constituants Claim it as Our Inherent right at all times to Instruct those that Represent us But more necessary on such an Important Object which not only So Nearly Concerns ourselves But our Posterity. we Do in the first place instruct you Previous to your Entering upon the framing of a form of Government you See that Each part of the State have Properly Deli- gated their Power for Such a Purpose and that a Bill of Rights Be formed where in the Natural Rites of Indi- viduals Be Clearly ascertained that is all Such Rights as the Supream Power of the State Shall (have) no authority to Controal, to be a part of the Constitution that you use your Influence that the Legislative Power consist of a Senate and House of Representatives, the Representatives to Be Annually Chosen from the Towns as they were in the year 1776. that the Constitution be so framed that Elections be free and frequent, most likely to Prevent bribery Corruption and Influance that the Executive Power be So Lodged as to Execute the Laws with Dispatch . . . the Senators to be annually Chosen by the people That the holding the Court of probate . . . in but one town in the County as hereto fore . has been a grievous burden to us . . . that Each Incorporated Town may have power to hold a Court of Probate . . . and record Deeds in the same Town. We further Instruct you that when you have Drawn a form
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HISTORY OF BELLINGHAM
of government you cause a fair Coppy thereof to be Printed . .. that the Convention Adjourn to some futer Day and the Coppy be laid before your several Towns for their Consideration and Amendment to be returned to the Convention. That the Juditial be So established that Justice may be impartially Demon- strated without Enormous Expense that the Right of Trial by Jury be kept Sacred and Close . . . that Statutes of Old England nor any foreign Law be adopted . . that a County Assemble be Established to Grant County Taxes in each county and settle all the county Matters."
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