USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 25
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On the IIth of June, 1876, just one hundred years from the last meeting of the members of the English Church, the descendants gathered together, and listened to a rehearsal of this story. A portrait of the Rev. William Clark, brought by his son, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, adorned the front of the pulpit; after Mr. Huntoon's historical address, remarks were made by the Rev. W. H. Savary, Dr. John Spare, and Hon. Charles H. French.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE NEUTRAL FRENCH.
TN 1744 war was declared by Great Britain against France, and the following year Governor Shirley formed the project of taking Louisburg. In this expedition Reuben Tupper enlisted. He appears to have been a valiant soldier; for in 1752 it was asserted that he had done considerable in the late war, and in 1754 he had his taxes remitted for his services. He was a son of Thomas and Remember Tupper, and brother to Benjamin. He died at Sharon in 1776.
William Coney also appears on the roll of Louisburg soldiers. James Wentworth, the son of Shubael; James Bailey, the son of Richard, of Packeen; Uriel Lyon, the son of Elhanan, then seventeen years of age; John Hixson, Ben- jamin Warren, Elijah Pitcher, and Joseph Jordan, - were all absent in 1746 on his Majesty's service; and Thomas Rog- ers, the son of Thomas and Joanna, never returned, but died
in the war. During the year 1755 a war broke out between France and England; and in many old towns documentary reference is made to the Neutral French. They inhabited the province of Nova Scotia, then called Acadia. Emi- grants from France had early formed settlements along the Bay of Fundy, and had enjoyed in contentment, until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the delights of rural and agri- cultural life. They were attached to the religion and gov- ernment of their native land and refused to take the oath of allegiance to the British Crown, and on account of this neutrality were known as the Neutral French.
Raynal has thus pleaded their cause before history :-
" A simple and a kindly people, who had no liking for blood. Agriculture was their occupation ; they had been settled in the low
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grounds, forcing back by dint of dykes the sea and rivers wherewith those plains were covered. The drained marshes produced wheat, rye, oats, barley, and maize. Immense prairies were alive with nu- merous flocks ; as many as sixty thousand horned cattle were counted there. The habitations, nearly all built of wood, were very commo- dious, and furnished with the neatness sometimes found amongst our European farmers in the easiest circumstances. Their manners were extremely simple ; the little differences which might from time to time arise between the colonists were always amicably settled by the elders. It was a band of brothers, all equally ready to give or re- ceive that which they considered common to all men."
War and its horrors broke in upon this peaceful scene. On the 5th of September, 1755, four hundred and eighteen heads of families were summoned to meet in the church of Grand-Pré. The same order had been given throughout all the towns of Acadia. The anxious farmers had all obeyed. Colonel Winslow, commanding the Massachusetts Militia,1 repaired thither with great array. "It is a painful duty which brings me here," he said. "I have orders to inform you that your lands, your crops, and your houses are all con- fiscated to the profit of the Crown; you can carry off your money and your linen on your deportation from the prov- ince." The order was accompanied by no explanation; nor did it admit of any. All the heads of families were at once surrounded by the soldiers. By tens, and under safe escort, they were permitted to visit once more the fields which they had cultivated, the houses in which they had seen their chil- dren grow up.
"Soon o'er the yellow fields, in silent and mournful procession, Came from the neighboring hamlets and farms the Acadian women, Driving in ponderous wains their household goods to the sea-shore, Pausing and looking back to gaze once more on their dwellings, Ere they were shut from sight by the winding road and the woodland. Close to their sides their children ran, and urged on the oxen, While in their little hands they clasped some fragments of playthings."
On the Ioth they embarked, passing, on their way to the ships, between two rows of women and children in tears.
1 See Appendix XVI.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
". . . On a sudden the church-doors
Opened, and forth came the guard, and marching in gloomy procession Followed the long-imprisoned, but patient, Acadian farmers. Even as pilgrims, who journey afar from their homes and their country, Sing as they go, and in singing forget they are weary and wayworn, So with songs on their lips the Acadian peasants descended Down from the church to the shore, amid their wives and their daughters. Foremost the young men came; and, raising together their voices, Sang with tremulous lips a chant of the Catholic Missions: 'Sacred heart of the Saviour! O inexhaustible fountain ! Fill our hearts this day with strength and submission and patience !' Then the old men, as they marched, and the women that stood by the wayside
Joined in the sacred psalm, and the birds in the sunshine above them Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spirits departed."
As we read the tender words of the poet, our minds wander back to that primitive people, and their story falls with a new and fresh pathos into our hearts. The words are indeed fulfilled, . "One generation passeth away, and another cometh." Their cries of anguish reach not our ears, but the memory of their sufferings appeals to the soul with an eloquence transcending that of words. We seem to be standing with these simple Acadians on the shore.
" We see the sun o'erflow
With gold the Basin of Minas, and set over Gaspereau."
We seem to see Charles Leblanc among that unhappy throng, pleading that his wife and family may not be sepa- rated from him, and rejoice with him as he obtains the con- sent of the commander that on account of his weak and sickly condition, his family may embark in the same vessel with him. We seem to see him, as on the deck of the out- ward-bound ship he watches the slowly retreating coast-line of his home, and thinks of the dear friends that are now, like him, torn from all they hold dear, and soon to be seek- ing from town to town, among the Anglo-Americans, the charity New England has always been ready to give. In the cool of a November evening the vessel entered the harbor of Boston, and moved slowly to her anchorage.
Of the one thousand that landed at Boston about this time, seven persons had been assigned by the Great and
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General Court to the town of Stoughton, - Honoré Burbin; Ann, his wife, and Peter, his son; Charles Leblanc, whom I judge to have belonged to the village of Laudry, having been while there the owner of four oxen, six cows, six young cattle, thirty-five sheep, twelve hogs, and one horse; his brother James, their wives and children. They arrived, under charge of Jeremiah Ingraham, within the borders of the town, and stopped at the house of Mr. William Royall, under Blue Hill, where they were taken in and tenderly cared for. Were they sick, Dr. Nathan Bucknam was im- mediately sent for; and he made them many "vizets, " and "medacines " he gave them in good quantity. Were their wives in anticipation of adding one Franco-American to the population of the town, Mr. Richard Hixson was ready, in the town's behalf, to fetch a midwife from Roxbury. Houses were provided for their occupation rent free, and an abun- dance of mutton, chickens, pigeons, pork, potatoes, corn, and milk was given them for their sustenance, as the following ancient account, kept by the selectmen in pursuance to an order of council, shows. We quote from the original faded yellow documents.
PROVINCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY. )
In Council, January 21, 1757.
RDERED, That the Selectmen or Overfeers of the Poor of the feveral Towns wherein any of the French Inhabitants of Nova Scotia are placed, be directed, whenever they fhall offer an Account of their difburfements for the Support of them, to annex thereto a lift of the feveral French Perfons in fuch Town, with an Account of their Age and Sex, and the Circumftances of their Health and Capacity for Labour ; and that a Copy of this Vote be printed and fent to the feveral Towns and Diftricts where any of the faid Inhabitants are placed.
Sent down for Concurrence,
A. OLIVER, Secr. In the Houfe of Reprefentatives, January 21, 1757. Read and Concur'd,
T. HUBBARD, Speaker.
Confented to, S. PHIPS.
Copy Examined,
Per THOS. CLARKE, Dep. Sec.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
In January, 1758, seven of the French were brought from Needham to this town, three of whom were transferred to Wrentham. From Feb. 13, 1758, to Jan. 2, 1760, the ex- pense of supporting the French was £18 16s. 2d. The following is a copy of the original bill of the charges to the following August : -
An account of ye Charge that ye Town of Stoughton has been at in Providing for the French Neuteralls affigened to faid Town by the Great & General Court from ye 2d Day of Jan'ry, 1760, to ye 28th of Auguft Laft, (Viz.) Charles and Jeams Blanc, alious Liblon, with their wives & Children.
€ S. D. F. To Mr. William Smith's ac't., paid by him & Delivered by order of ye Selectmen for ye year paft for ye Soport of ye Neuteralls from ye 2d of Jan'ry, 1750, to ye 27th of Febr laft. For four Pounds of Beef & 3 piftereens 0- 4-6-3
For Cafh to provide for their Wives lying in & for eight weeks
For half a bufhel of Corn & Seven pound of Beef . 0- 3-2-3
3- 4-0-0
To Daniel Richards, his ac't., paid out of ye Town Treafre in Cafh to Charles, he being a weekly man, not able to work ; from the above ye 27th of Febr to ye 28th of Auguft, 26 weeks, four fhillings per week, to provide provifion for himfelf . 5- 4-0-0 For Cafh to pay for twelve pounds of theep's wool 0-16-0-0 To Cafh to James when he was Lame to provide for himfelf 0-10-8-2 To Doct. Bucknam, his ac't. for ye Neuteralls in Sicknefs . 1-18-0-0 To fifteen Cord of firewood for ye Neuteralls 2-10-0-0
To Houfe Rent about eight months 0-17-9-3
Total 15- 8-3 -- 3 DANIEL RICHARDS, ) NATH'L MAY, Select- men.
JOB SWIFT, JOSEPH BILLING,
STOUGHTON, Septm ye 8th, 1760.
On the 22d of August, 1760, the selectmen received a letter from Samuel Watts, one of the committee appointed by the General Court to dispose of the French Neutrals in the county of Suffolk, directing that four of those allotted
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to Stoughton - namely, James Leblanc, his wife, and two children -were to be removed to the town of Dorchester, and there to be taken care of and supported, agreeable to the order of the Great and General Court; and the select- men were further ordered to transmit to Watts the names of all the French Neutrals who should remove from the town, the time of removal, etc. The order was executed on the 28th, Mr. Joseph Billings and Nathaniel May carrying Leblanc, his wife, and two children to Dorchester.
So these Acadians sought among strangers a home. Some, indeed, returned to France, the land of their ances- tors, and settled in the vicinity of Bordeaux, where their descendants still form a prosperous community. Others went to the far south, and on the banks of the Mississippi founded settlements which, in honor of their lost home, they designated Acadia. The King of France, Louis XV., in spite of the declaration of war, begged that he might be allowed to send ships along the American coast to pick up these expatriated people. But the inexorable Grenville re- plied that France could not send ships among our colonies. "I know not," says Bancroft, "if the annals of the human race keep the record of sorrows so wantonly inflicted, so bitter and so perennial as fell upon the French inhabitants of Acadia."1 So were these inoffensive people, whose only care had been their flocks, scattered from their homes and from one another. In their land -
" Dwells another race, with other customs and language. Only along the shore of the mournful and misty Atlantic Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile Wandered back to their native land, to die in its bosom."
During the time of war, whenever our arms were victo- rious, festivals and thanksgiving of praise were offered to God; and on the other hand, when a squadron of French were in our northern waters, or disaster seemed about to overtake us from Indians, from earthquakes, drought, and insects, days of solemn fasting, humiliation, and prayer
I It will be remembered that Parkman gives this affair quite a different aspect. - Ens.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
were held, in which the divine guidance was sought and the covenant with God and with one another renewed.
On June 17, 1745, Mr. Dunbar makes the following record :-
"This day our forces against the French at Cape Breton (for the success of which expedition there were two days of public fasting and prayer) had the city and fortress all surrendered to them, and they have taken possession of them. Blessed be God, who heareth prayer !"
On the following day, public thanksgiving was held on account of the successes at Cape Breton and Louisburg. Mr. Dunbar preached from Judges v. 12.
On Nov. 27, 1745, a public thanksgiving was held in the church, and "particular notice taken in the proclamation of God's great goodness in his wonderful defeat of the French fleet in these Northern seas, by a dreadful mortal sickness and by repeated storms." Mr. Dunbar preached on this occasion from Ex. xv. 4.
On August 28, 1755, " A general fast was held on account of the defeat of General Braddock's army at the Ohio;" and again, on June 30, 1757, there was a public fast on account of war and drought, and Mr. Dunbar makes an especial record of the answer which was received from a prayer-hearing God. He says :-
" A private fast was held on June 22, 1757, on account of God's Judgment upon the land, especially war and drought. The very next day God sent us in the morning and towards evening showers of rain. On June 30 the same thing was tried again ; a public fast was held on account of war and drought, and on the Tuesday following God gave a plentiful rain, and the next day plentiful showers of rain, by which he abundantly watered the earth."
"Thanks," says the old pastor, "to a prayer-hearing God." Another instance occurred in 1762, July 28, when a general fast was held " on account of a very severe and distressing drought; and two days after, God gave us a moderate and plentiful rain, - a gracious answer to our prayers." A pub- lic thanksgiving was held in the church, Oct. 25, 1759, "for the success God has given our armies, especially for the
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reduction of Quebec, the capital of Canada," and again, Oct. 9, 1760, "for the reduction of Montreal and all Canada to the British arms."
In 1754 John Trask, George Forrest, and Benjamin Rogers appear in the roll of Capt. Nathan Perry's company, who marched to the eastward. This year Benjamin Esty, in consequence of services in the late war, had his taxes re- mitted by the town. He was at the eastward from April 10, 1750, to the end of the year. Benjamin Blackman was in Capt. William Pierce's company. He returned to Stough- ton on the 28th of September, and came very near dying from fever contracted in the service. He was the son of Deacon Benjamin Blackman, and was born May 4, 1712; he died in 1761.
Although the expedition to Acadia had proved successful, the troops engaged in 1755 in the expedition to Crown Point had a very trying time.
The Rev. Samuel Dunbar, on the 26th of September, 1755, having obtained the consent of his parish, set out on his journey to Lake George, as chaplain in the regiment of Colonel Brown. He remained in this position until Decem- ber of the following year, when he returned to his people in good health.
Col. Samuel Miller, whose military district embraced the town of Stoughton, says that in 1755 (and two years later we have a list of his alarm-men, both young and those over sixty1) the town had three hundred and twenty enlisted sol- diers; that the stock of ammunition consisted only of four half-barrels of powder, and lead and flints accordingly, which was but half of what the town should possess. The selectmen accordingly ordered a tax of £40 to be assessed to make good the deficiency.
An article appeared in the warrant for the town meeting to be held December 6, "To see, if the town desire Mr. Treasurer Hixson to prosecute the respective captains in this town who refuse to give him a reasonable and satis-
1 See Appendix XVII.
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factory account of the fine received of persons impressed for the late intended expedition against Crown Point." Passed in the affirmative.
The story of some of the Stoughton men who enlisted in his Majesty's service in the expedition to Crown Point is substantially the same.1 Elijah Esty (son of Jacob), Na- thaniel Clark, Thomas Billings, John Wadsworth, William Patten, of Stephen Miller's company, James Bailey, Michael Woodcock, and James, son of Joseph Everett, were all taken sick in camp at Lake George. Some of them remained for weeks in the hospital at Albany, but for each of them a horse was purchased by their friends, and some one from Stoughton went out and brought them liome. Joseph Tucker, a minor, was brought home by his brother Uriah.
John Redman took a wagon to go from Lake George to Albany; and for some reason the driver put him out of the vehicle in the wilderness, where, he affirms, he must have perished had not Sergt. Ralph Houghton, of Milton, hap- pened to pass that way, who took pity on him, hired another wagon to carry him to Albany, and also lent him money to buy such things as were necessary.
Daniel Talbot and his son Amaziah both engaged in the Crown Point expedition. The son was taken sick at Half Moon, and the father hired a horse to bring them home; but at the house of one Isaac Davis, in "No. 1," he died, and the father returned home alone. Amaziah was born Sept. 7, 1737, and was only seventeen at the time of his death. He was a grandson of Deacon Isaac Stearns.
Edward Curtis was a captain in Colonel Thacher's regi- ment, and was engaged in raising troops which he marched to Albany.
Josiah Perry re-enlisted in Major Miller's company, Col. Jonathan Bailey's regiment, December, 1756. He was dis- charged at Albany by reason of lameness, and was obliged to hire a horse to bring him to Stoughton.
Steward Esty, son of Edward and Elizabeth Esty, born
1 See Appendix XXV.
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June 18, 1730, went in the expedition to Crown Point in Colonel Brown's regiment, in the company of Capt. Edward Harrington. On his return home, he was taken sick at Springfield; and his father went after him, hired a horse, and brought him home. Mahew and Simeon Tupper were soldiers in Stephen Miller's company in the expedition to Crown Point.
Jonathan Kenney, Jr., of Stoughton, who died, 1756, in the hospital at Albany, in the service of his country, was the son of Jonathan and Grace (Liscom) Kenney, and was baptized May 13, 1726. He married Sarah Redman about 1750. He addressed, before leaving home, April 16, 1756, a letter of "advice " to his two children, Jonathan and Chloe. This was sealed with eight seals, and the gold ring of his wife, who had died some sixteen months previous, was en- closed. The "advice " was considered so excellent that it was printed; and a copy, yellow with age, and badly torn, is before me as I write. The writer urges his children "to mind the one thing needful, to beware of bad company, to avoid all sin, to read your books, especially the Bible, and be frequent at the public worship of God, especially when performed according to the rites and usages of the Church of England, etc." Samuel Lyon and - Badcock died at Lake George in February, 1756. William Jordan and Ben- jamin Tolman died at Halifax the same month and year.
In 1757 William Wheeler, Jr., and John Tolman were troopers in the troop commanded by Capt. Thomas Vose, and went with him to the relief of Fort William Henry.
Joseph Adlington (son of Mathew), went to Louisburg under Captain Chadburn, in Colonel Bayley's regiment. Ru- fus Hayward went to Crown Point in Samuel Jenks's com- pany, and was taken down with small-pox. Simeon Fisher was a private in Capt. Sylvester Richmond's company, in Capt. John White's regiment, and died soon after the expiration of his time of service.
David Lyon enlisted in the campaign against Montreal in Samuel Richmond's company. At Ticonderoga he was
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
attacked with small-pox, and did not return to Stoughton until January.
Benjamin Tupper was born in Sharon, on the IIth of March, 1738. In 1754 he marched to the eastward in the company commanded by Capt. Nathan Perry. He entered the military service of the Revolution at the breaking out of the war, and received the appointment of major in the regiment of Colonel Fellows. Nov. 4, 1775, he was com- missioned lieutenant-colonel of Ward's regiment, and ap- pointed colonel of the Eleventh Regiment, July 7, 1777. He was present at the siege of Boston, was active and vigilant in the battles with Burgoyne, and at Monmouth had a horse shot under him. He rose by his own merits to the rank of brigadier-general by brevet, some time before the Con- tinental army was disbanded. Ever active, vigilant, and brave, he was one of the enterprising and effective officers of that illustrious army which achieved our national inde- pendence. An incident which happened July 31, 1775, has been handed down to us by tradition. A number of work- men having been sent down to the lighthouse in Boston Harbor to repair it, under a guard of twenty-two marines and a subaltern, Major Tupper marched his men to Dor- chester and there informed them that they were about to proceed down the harbor to drive the British troops off the islands. "Now," said the major, addressing his company, which consisted of about three hundred men, "if there is any one of you who is afraid and does not want to go with us, let him step two paces to the front;" and turning to the sergeant, he said, sotto voce, "If any man steps two paces to the front, shoot him on the spot." It is need- less to add that every man kept his position. The troops, commanded by Major Tupper, proceeded from Dorchester down the Neponset River in whale-boats. They arrived at the lighthouse about two o'clock in the morning and attacked the guard, killing the officers and four privates. The remainder of the ministerial troops were captured, together with ten Tories, who were immediately sent to
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Springfield jail. Being detained by the tide, the major on his return was himself attacked by several boats, but hap- pily escaped with the loss of one man killed and one wounded. After the close of the Revolution he resided at Chesterfield, Mass., until 1788, when he removed to Ohio. The following year he was chosen judge of the Quarter Sessions, and presided in that court until his death, which occurred June 7, 1792. His history belongs to Sharon, and has been written by Mr. Solomon Talbot, of that town.
As early as 1730, I find David Thompson working on the bridge that crossed the brook near what is now the works of the Kinsley Iron and Machine Company. The next year he owned the covenant, was baptized, and in 1740 removed from Canton to Stoughton. In 1736, on the 18th of March, he was married to Mary, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Houghton) Blackman, who lived nearly opposite the bury- ing-ground in Stoughton. This Mrs. Blackman's mother had a curious and interesting history. It is said that she married Ralph Houghton, Jr., and that at the age of twenty- eight she was at Jamaica, in the West Indies, at the time of the great earthquake in that island. The history of Dor- chester gives the following extract from an old manuscript :
" In 1692 Mrs. Mary Horton, widow of Ralph Horton, was sunke iu ye earthquake at Jemeco the seventh day of June, between Eleven and twelve a clock at nune. Ye above named person was then 28 years of age from March ye last past."
Another account says she heard and felt the earthquake, and rushed to the door; and as the place sunk in the water, she clung to the sill of the house, which separated from the building. She remained in the water three days and three nights, when a vessel passed by and she was taken on board. Her trunk of clothing floated within her reach and was saved. She afterward lived at a tavern in Dorchester, and waited on travellers. One day a stranger entered the tavern to put up for the night; she recognized him as her hus- band, and the shock was such that they both fainted, -he
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having supposed that she was lost in the earthquake, and she that he was lost at sea, being gone on a voyage at the time of the disaster. Another version of the story is that he was lost with her at Jamaica, and was picked up by another vessel.
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