USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
It would appear that although all present at Doty's tav- ern were unanimous and firm and determined to resist the encroachments of Great Britain, the delegates did not deem themselves especially authorized to negotiate the affairs of a County Congress. They therefore adjourned, and at a subsequent meeting passed the celebrated "Suffolk Re- solves," which, drafted by General Warren, and carried to Philadelphia by Paul Revere, were approved by the Conti- nental Congress at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, on the 17th of September, 1774, and which, in the words of Gal- loway, "contained a complete declaration of war against Great Britain."
During the siege of Boston the old tavern was occupied by refugees, and one of the exiled town officers sought its secure retreat.
Beneath the roof of the Doty tavern the Marquis de Lafayette, on his first visit to America, rested while jour-
341
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
neying from Taunton to Boston; it was during the war, and the news spread quickly that the gallant Frenchman was a guest at the old inn. In the morning, when he had paid his reckoning and was ready to depart, he found the townspeople gathered in the road before him, who with cheers and good wishes bade him Godspeed.
The County Congress met according to adjournment at the tavern of Mr. Richard Woodward at Dedham, which was situated directly opposite the present Court-House, on the 6th of September, 1774. In the mean time a warrant had been issued in Stoughton for a town meeting, the second article of which was : -
"To see if the town will choose a committee of correspondence, to correspond with the other committees in this Province, and to meet the committees of the other towns in this County at Mr. Rich- ard Woodward's, innholder in Dedham, on the sixth day of September next, at two o'clock in the [forenoon], and so from time to time as they shall think proper, until our annual meeting next March."
The town had voted on the 29th of August that a committee be chosen to represent the town at the meeting at Dedham, and that they have full power to act and do anything in county convention, as may appear of public utility in a time of public and general distress. This committee con- sisted of John Withington, Theophilus Curtis, John Ken- ney, Jedediah Southworth, and Josiah Pratt.
John Withington, Jr., as he was called until the death of his father, but more commonly known as "Judge," was the son of John and Elizabeth Withington, and was born March 7, 1717, and died Jan. 16, 1798. For his first wife he mar- ried, Jan. 22, 1746, Martha, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Bailey) Wentworth, and for his second, Dec. 19, 1751, Desire, daughter of Philip, Jr., and Desire Liscom. He probably removed from Stoughton to Boston, where he re- sided some years. About 1760, Withington's Corner is mentioned; later he appears as one of the committee to audit the accounts of the Canton Precinct. The next year he joined the church. In 1760 he is described as trader,
1
342
HISTORY OF CANTON.
and buys the right of the heirs of Deacon Joseph Tucker in an old saw-mill and the stream and landing-place which belonged to Tucker. This property appears to be in his possession on the map of 1785. In 1764 he owned a female slave named Violet; she died in June of the following year, - "a very terrible time," says a diarist. In 1764 he was a lieutenant in the militia, and in 1769 promoted to captain. He served the town as its treasurer in 1766. He was a delegate to the Second Provincial Congress at Cambridge, and to the Convention at Dedham, in 1775, one of the Com- mittee of Correspondence, and actively engaged in the affairs of the town during the war. He purchased, in 1761, from David Tilden, the estate on the southwest corner of Pleas- ant and Washington streets, on which stood an old house which he removed to Dedham road, where it was a part of the house known to many as the Leeds house, because Nathaniel Leeds, who came to Canton in 1805, lived in it. He erected the house now standing, owned and occupied by George J. Leonard. This house was probably built about 1762, and remodelled by Dr. Stone in 1827. Mr. With- ington appears to have been a trader, and not only sold groceries, dry and wet goods, but carted posts, planks, barrel-hoops, and knees for ships, to Boston or Milton Landing. In 1785 he boarded the candidates who preached at the Corner. In 1786 he provided the entertainment for the Council that ordained Mr. Howard. One hundred and twenty-four persons sat at the tables.
Capt. Josiah Pratt was from Foxboro'. He commanded one of the companies of minute-men in 1775, was a member of the Committee of Correspondence in 1776, and was sub- sequently for many years selectman at Foxboro'.
The committee, consisting of Withington, Kenney, Cur- tis, and Pratt, were desired to endeavor to obtain a county indemnification for such persons as might suffer, by fine or otherwise, from a non-compliance with the recent arbitrary acts of the British Parliament. The delegates from Stough- ton attended the meeting at Dedham, and it was decided to adjourn this County Congress until the 9th of September,
343
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
the delegates to meet at the house of Daniel Vose in Mil- ton. At this meeting were passed the celebrated "Suffolk Resolves." The house where the resolutions were passed is still standing in Milton, next north of the railroad sta- tion at the Lower Mills, and can be distinguished by a marble tablet, recording the fact that in that "mansion on the 9th of September, 1774, were passed the Suffolk Resolves."
To attend this meeting, the town of Stoughton sent Thomas Crane, at this period of our history one of its most energetic and influential citizens. He was the son of Deacon Silas and Experience (Tolman) Crane, and was born / in Milton, Jan. 6, 1726-27. He was the great-grandson of Henry, of Dorchester, the immigrant ancestor. His parents died within a day or two of each other and were buried in the Canton Cemetery in June, 1753. Thomas came to Can- ton in 1748, and the following year married Mary Fenno. At one period of his life, about 1763, he resided at Ponka- poag. He was a justice of the peace and quorum, and a major in the militia. He was a delegate to the Second Provincial Congress at Cambridge held in February, and at Watertown in July, 1775.
He was selectman for many years, and served as Repre- sentative to the General Court during five of the most try- ing years of the war. He was actively engaged in hiring men and procuring money during the Revolution. He en- gaged the soldiers, saw them mustered into the service, and paid them their bounties. As will hereafter appear, he was selected by the government as the proper person to take charge of the powder-mills, and was ever active and vigilant in the patriot cause. When the demands of the mill upon his time were not imperative, it was his custom to go about from house to house soliciting clothing and money for the families of the Continental soldiers. His manner is said to have been so impressive, and his persistency so great, that many who had never been known to give a penny for the good cause, deposited with him their contributions. It is related that in his enthusiasm the tears rolled down his
344
HISTORY OF CANTON.
cheeks and spattered on the contribution-paper like rain. A favorite remark of his when soliciting subscriptions was, "My friend, the child Independence is about to be born; be liberal and give him an easy delivery." He continued to reside in Canton until 1774, when he removed to Stough- ton, where he owned a large tract of land between Belcher's Corner and West Stoughton. He left there, and was resid- ing in 1787 at the house now owned by J. Huntington Wol- cott in Milton. Here he died on the 7th of October, 1804.
On the 7th of October, 1774, the Great and General Court was convened at Salem, and the citizens of Stough- ton, with those of the District of Stoughtonham, decided that Thomas Crane was the man to represent them; and they voted him certain written instructions. He was ad- monished to adhere firmly to the charter of the province which had been granted by their Majesties William and Mary, and under no consideration to acknowledge the valid- ity of any Act of the British Parliament tending to alter the government of Massachusetts Bay; at the same time his constituents did not disguise the fear that in their opinion a conscientious discharge of duty would cause a dissolution of the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, should such an emergency arise, their representative was instructed to join the other towns in the province for a General Provin- cial Congress, and do those things which were requisite and necessary to conduce to the true interests of the town and province, and take such measures as should be most likely to preserve unimpaired the liberties of all North America.
It was at a session of this body held at Cambridge, Wednes- day, Oct. 26, 1774, that the committee that had been pre- viously appointed to consider what was necessary to be done for the defence and safety of the government, reported a resolution that the field officers forthwith endeavor to enlist one quarter at least of the number of the respective com- panies, and form them into companies of fifty privates, who shall equip and hold themselves in readiness, on the shortest notice from the Committee of Safety, to march to the place of rendezvous; and that each and every company so
345
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
formed choose a captain and two lieutenants to command them on any necessary and emergent service, and that the officers form the companies into battalions to consist of nine companies each. Within a month from the time of the publi- cation of these resolutions, these companies were designated as minute-men.
On the 17th of November, 1774, the citizens of Canton Corner, then called "Old Stoughton," beheld for the last time the conjoined crosses of Saint George and Saint An- drew on a blue canton, floating on the breeze. The ancient national flag of the mother country, that had sustained on many a hard-fought field the honor of old England, and which from infancy they had been taught to honor and respect, was furled, never again to be regarded as an object of love and veneration. On the open field near the old meeting-house his Majesty's troops were drawn up in line; one by one the officers surrendered their commissions and immediately re-enlisted under the new government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
And now the year 1775 opens, -a year fraught with in- tense interest. This was the last year that the town war- rants were to have the old heading that had for so many years greeted the eyes of loyal citizens. They were no longer summoned to convene "In His Majesty's name," and the warrants no longer ended, "In the fifteenth year of His Majesty's reign," but instead, we read in 1776, "In the name of the Government and People of ye Massachusetts State;" in 1782, "In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," and ending "In the sixth year of the Inde- pendent States of America."
On Feb. 1, 1775, the Second Provincial Congress was held at Cambridge, and on the 9th of January, the town of Stoughton made choice of Thomas Crane to represent them in that body. During the same month, on the 16th, it was voted to send "all of our Province money to Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stow." This was in conformity to a recommenda- tion of the Provincial Congress, and the money was there- fore sent to him in preference to Harrison Gray, Esq., the
346
HISTORY OF CANTON.
royal treasurer; the town agreed to indemnify the consta- bles for not carrying the money to Gray. The resolves adopted by the Continental Congress were heartily ratified at this meeting, and it was voted to choose a committee who should use their interest that "the Resolves and the asso- ciations of the Continental Congress should be closely adhered to." This committee was called a committee of inspection, and consisted of nineteen persons, as follows: John Withington, John Kenney, Adam Blackman, James Endicott, Jeremiah Ingraham, Abner Crane, Peter Talbot, Jonathan Capen, Robert Capen, Jedediah Southworth, Sam- uel Shepard, David Vinton, Theophilus Curtis, Josiah Pratt, Eleazer Robbins, Samuel Tucker, Benjamin Gill, Robert Swan, and Peter Gay.
The Committee of Inspection or Correspondence was vigilant and energetic. Four persons, acting under its orders, stopped a load of iron passing through the town. It belonged to John McWorther, of Taunton, who immedi- ately brought an action against the committee. The fol- lowing was the expense attending the defence of the suit :
Lieut. J. Withington
£13 18 0
Samuel Tucker
900
Peter Talbot
9 10 0
Jonathan Capen
13 8 0
Adam Blackman .
6
0
Peter Gay .
6 O
Samuel Shepard .
II
8
O
Robert Swan
9
O
0
Abner Crane
13
O
0
Benjamin Gill .
47
I 6
John Kenney .
24 0 6
James Endicott
7 16 0
£170 2 0
The town reimbursed the above-named parties. An arti- cle was inserted in the warrant: "To see if the town will take any measures to encourage the raising and instructing of a number of minute-men as recommended by the Provin- cial Congress." It was deemed inexpedient by the town to
347
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
take any action in this matter, but to postpone until later the raising of men who might be called upon at a "min- ute's " notice to march against the enemy; nevertheless, the young men of the town voluntarily devoted themselves to the manual-at-arms, and were in the habit of meeting for purposes of drill, officered by men selected by themselves. When the time arrived to which the decision of this matter had been postponed, March 6, 1775, it was voted to raise one quarter of the militia as minute-men, as had been ad- vised by the Provincial Congress. One shilling was the sum each man was to receive for one day's training, the training to be on two half-days of each week, and the mat- ter of raising the men was left to the field officers and the selectmen. Nor were proper and efficient drill-masters wanting. The young men of Stoughton were instructed by Robert Swan, Samuel Capen, and Nathaniel Wales; the young men of Sharon by Samuel Billings, Eleazer Robbins, Josiah Pratt, and Benjamin Rhodes; and the young men of what is now Canton by Benjamin Gill, John Davenport, and Asahel Smith, all of whom had held commissions under the old regime in the Third Massachusetts Regiment, of which Nathaniel Hatch had been colonel.
348
HISTORY OF CANTON.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION (continued).
T HE first notice that the people of ancient Stoughton re- ceived that hostilities had actually begun between the king's troops and the patriots, was on the afternoon of the 19th of April, 1775. It was lecture-day, and Parson Dunbar was exhorting his people and preparing them for the next Sunday's service, when suddenly the door was thrown open and Henry Bailey marched up the broad aisle and said there was a'larum. In an instant, all was confusion. A small boy, Lemuel Bent, seized the bell-rope, and soon the jangle reached the ears of the neighboring farmers. Israel Bailey conversed for a moment with Capt. James Endicott, and then the captain said, "Take my colt that is fastened outside, ride through the town, and warn the company to meet at May's tavern with arms and ammunition ready to march toward Boston at a moment's notice." Captain Endicott returned to his home, obtained his accoutrements, and started down the road toward Boston, leaving his company to follow as soon as they could be collected.
And so from the towns which composed ancient Stough- ton,1 stalwart men, with sturdy sons, left their homes at the sharp clang of the alarm-bell, or the hurried words of the orderly, "To arms! To arms! The war has begun," and hastened to the rallying-place. These minute-men marched directly to the coast, and their fellow-townsmen followed them with provisions and supplies. Abel Puffer, Roger, John, and Isaac Billings, Ebenezer and William Shaller, Abner Crane, Jonathan Kenney, Israel Bailey, and Lemuel Davenport did all they could to make them comfortable.
1 See Appendix XX.
349
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
James Endicott, captain of one of the companies that marched from Stoughton at the first alarm, was born in Stoughton in 1739, and died in Canton, April 4, 1799. He was the son of James and grandson of Gilbert Endicott, one of the first settlers. March 5, 1761, he was married by Rev. Samuel Dunbar to Abigail Puffer. During the war, Captain Endicott was several times called into active service; on the afternoon of the 4th of March, 1776, he went to the assistance of the Continental troops when they fortified Dorchester Heights. They made a lodgement on the ground unmolested, but were drenched with a most dreadful storm of rain. Endicott led his company to Ticonderoga, and in 1778 was again in the service at Roxbury, nor were his patriotic services confined to the field only. In 1778 he made frequent journeys to Boston to enlist and muster soldiers into the Continental army. By order of the town, he employed Hannah Endicott to weave thirty-seven yards of blanketing and to spin thirty- two skeins of yarn. Mrs. Lemuel Stone, Mary Goodwin, and Mrs. Deborah Patrick were also employed in making the soldiers comfortable. In 1780 Mr. Endicott was chosen Representative to the General Court, but refused to serve, although he accepted the trust during the years 1784, 1785, 1786, and 1790. He served the town as its treasurer two years before his death. From ancient documents in the possession of his descendants, it would appear that he was commissioned by John Hancock, Feb. 11, 1785, as justice of the peace for the county of Suffolk, and on Sept. 24, 1793, as one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Norfolk. He was a very prominent man in town affairs, and was universally respected. He occupied a house which formerly stood on the spot where the Endicott home- stead now stands, but which was destroyed by fire, Oct. 29, 1806.
When the captain, afterward known as Judge Endicott, left his home to join his company at the time of the Lexing- ton alarm, his son John-born Feb. 4, 1764, died Jan. 31, 1857 - was in his twelfth year. The following day, this lad started with a supply of food for the support of the company, all the
350
HISTORY OF CANTON.
able-bodied men being in service. In time, he reached Rox- bury with his load of provisions; meanwhile his father had been ordered in the direction of Cambridge. Not discour- aged, the lad proceeded after him, and delivered the pro- visions at the encampment at Prospect Hill. So successful was this enterprise that in after years, during the continuance of the war, he was sent on expeditions to a greater distance, - to Hartford and Norwich in Connecticut, and other places. In the winter of 1780, when John Endicott was only six- teen, the roads being obstructed by snow and the cold intense, he started for Boston with an ox-team loaded with wood, and entering on the Neponset, which was hard frozen, at Milton Mills, he followed the course of the stream down, and crossing over the harbor near William Castle, now Fort Independence, entered the town near the point where Craigie's Bridge was afterward erected. Discharging his wood, he thence crossed over to Cambridge and took a load of damaged gunpowder, which he was to carry to Canton, to be worked over at the powder-mill then in operation here. On his return over the Neck, such was the condition of the road that he repeatedly overset, - four times, he said, - and was obliged to re-load. He reached Roxbury near mid- night, where he stayed until next morning.
On the opposite side of the street from the May tavern, in the house built by John Withington, Jr. lived one Arm- strong, a tailor, who had recently taken an apprentice, named Henry Perley, to learn the trade. The young man came from Boxford, and was a steady and industrious youth. As he beheld from the shop-window the uniforms and bris- tling guns of the patriots, a desire seized him to go with them; and business being dull, with no prospect of im- provement, his master consented, whereupon the young hero, approaching the officer in command, said to him, "If you will get me a gun, I will go with you." The supply of guns being limited, the officer was not able to furnish him with one like those carried by the soldiers, but gave him what was called an "Indian gun." Perley made prepa- ration and started with two companions toward Boston, the
35I
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
company being an hour in advance. On the way down, they met a gentleman in citizen's dress, riding a beautiful horse, and followed by a servant, also well-mounted. No sooner had this gentleman passed our three friends than one of them said to the others, " That was a Britisli officer." Simul- taneously they turned, followed, and overtook him, and ordered him to dismount and surrender. The officer in- quired in forcible language: "Who in h-1 are you, ban- ditti?" " We'll let you know who in h-1 we are," said the recent apprentice, and forthwith began to pull the officer from his horse. The servant, seeing this, immediately drew his pistol from his holster, and was in the act of cocking it, when a well-directed blow from the butt-end of Benjamin Bussey's queen's-arm sent him sprawling on the ground. Deeming discretion the better part of valor, the young Englishman gracefully surrendered, and the twain were escorted to Boston in triumph, - Bussey on the officer's horse, Dickerman on the servant's, while Perley, with the Indian gun, marched as rear-guard. The arrival of the prisoners created a sensation among the troops encamped in the vicinity of Boston, and praise was showered upon the three raw recruits.
Henry Perley was soon lost sight of. He served faithfully throughout the war, and that was all that was known of him. About the year 1825, a stranger entered the village store at Canton Corner. His form was bent, and his hair silvered by the snows of many winters. Around the stove were gathered, as was usual fifty or sixty years ago, all the men in the neighborhood, - some smoking, some drinking, and some talking of the crops, the state of the farms, the political situation, and such topics as were in vogue before the daily newspaper entered every household. After looking around for a moment, the venerable stranger approached Joseph Downes and said to him, " I have lived down in Maine almost all my life, and I am getting to be a very old man ; but I thought before I died I would like to return and see some of my old comrades that were with me in the army, and so I have come back to Canton to see them. Where is Jim Fadden?"
352
HISTORY OF CANTON.
" Oh! " said Mr. Downes, " he died forty years ago." " And where is Bill Currill?" "Oh, he has been dead over twenty years." And so the old man went on enumerating the names of those who, half a century before, had assembled with him, to fight for liberty; but of all the early companions whose names he could remember, not one was left. Death had ushered them into the hereafter, and this weary old man 110w stood alone upon its threshold. He was turning sadly away, when one of the idlers suggested that he might know Elijah Crane. "Yes, yes," said the veteran with enthusiasm, " take me to him!" The next morning he was taken into the pres- ence of the general. "Do you know me?" said the stranger. " You are Henry Perley," replied the general. "Thank God !" said Perley, while the tears trickled down his cheeks ; "I am paid for coming."
Benjamin Bussey, one of the young men mentioned in con- nection with the exploit of Henry Perley, was in due time to be remembered as one of the most distinguished philan- thropists of his time.
William Bussey, the first of the name, was an early immi- grant. Here he found his sweetheart in the person of Olive Jordan, and on the 6th of June, 1728, they were married. We hear no more of him for some years; he probably fol- lowed the sea. He conveyed land near the present Turnpike in 1731. In 1756 he built the little house now standing near Reservoir Pond, which he sold to Dr. Crosman in 1763. His son, Benjamin Bussey, born in 1734, bought twenty acres of a farm at Ponkapoag, originally owned by Elias Monk, but at that time unoccupied, its owner, Shubael Wentworth, having died in 1759. Bussey received the deed from Philip Liscom, Jr., in 1760. He also bought at the same time one acre from Eleanor Shippy adjoining his Wentworth land, "with an old dwelling-house upon it." This was the rear part of the house that was burned, Nov. 5, 1882. Deacon Samuel Andrews built it in 1711.
Benjamin Bussey, the rich Boston merchant, was not born in this house, but here he spent his early life, from the age of three to that of nineteen, when with his knapsack on
353
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
his back, he stood on the step and bade good-by to the mother he was never to see again. While he was fighting for his country, the cold form of the loved one was borne by tender hands through the narrow doorway, a victim to that scourge of those days, the small-pox. To this house, in the days of his wonderful prosperity, Bussey returned. It was old, low-studded, and forlorn, but he did not want it destroyed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.