USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 32
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In private life General Gridley's character was ex- emplary. Correct morals, unimpeachable integrity, un-' sullied honesty, strict veracity, habits of temperance to abstemiousness in an age when every one drank liquor, a
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RICHARD GRIDLEY.
freedom from every vice, and the practice of the virtues that adorn and dignify human nature were the distinguish- ing traits of his character. He possessed equanimity of temper, and as a friend and companion was cheerful, agree- able, and instructive. The Hon. William Eustis, Dr. Town- send, and many others, having begun their studies with General Warren, and being by his death deprived of their patron, looked with almost filial affection upon General Gridley as their guide, companion, and friend, and passed much of their time with him during his residence at the house of Governor Brooks in Cambridge, with whom he passed many happy hours. His elegance of deportment was noticed and admired. He was equally charitable to individuals and to the public.
In stature he was tall, of commanding presence, with a frame firm and vigorous. His constitution was like iron. He rarely suffered from illness, and his death was not in consequence of the general decay of nature, such as usually attends advanced age, but was caused by blood-poisoning induced by cutting dogwood bushes. He died on the 21st of June, 1796. On Thursday, the 23d, he was buried in a small enclosure near his house. Soon after, his effects were sold. The portrait of his Majesty George II. and the picture of Blenheim were carried to the house of Dudley Bailey. Jesse Pierce bore away the portrait of the Duke of Cumberland and the silver-hilted sword. The silver and the old tankard remained in the family. The Rev. John Murray preached his funeral sermon, and crowds from far and near came to Canton to pay their tribute of love and respect to his memory. In this neglected spot his body rested until Saturday, Oct. 28, 1876, when the committee, consisting of · · Elijah A. Morse, Oliver S. Chapman, Edward R. Eager, Wil- liam E. Endicott, Daniel T. V. Huntoon, appointed to erect the Gridley monument, began the disinterment. A few strokes of the pick revealed that an error of about a foot had been made in the location of the grave; a second attempt proved successful, and at the depth of seven feet the sides of the coffin were reached; from this time the work
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
was conducted with greater care, a trowel taking the place of a spade. A part of the skull of the veteran was lifted from its bed of sand and gravel, and to it was attached a quantity of gray hair, ending in a braided queue; this suffi- ciently identified the body. Portions of the bones of the arms and legs were soon after exhumed, and everything found in the grave, except the queue, was placed in a box, which the committee conveyed to the cemetery, where the remains were reinterred, each member of the committee and a delegation of the Canton Historical Society assisting. On the 24th of October the monument had been brought from Milton and placed in position upon the site previously selected by the committee, and given by the town at its annual meeting, for that purpose. The base of the pedestal is of hammered Quincy granite; the dado is of Randolph granite with polished tablets, which bear the following inscriptions : -
"This monument is erected by the citizens of Canton to the mem- ory of Richard Gridley, as a tribute of honor and gratitude to one whose life was spent in the service of his country. Born Jan. 3, 1710. Died June 21, 1796.
" A veteran of three wars, he commanded the artillery of His Majesty's army at the siege of Louisburg ; he stood by the side of Wolfe at the fall of Quebec, and as Major General and Chief Engi- neer of the Patriot army he planned the fortification on Bunker Hill, and on the day of the battle fell wounded.
" I shall fight for justice and my country.
" I love my God, my country, and my neighbor as myself."
" Washington wrote : -
"I know of no man better fitted to be Chief Engineer than General Gridley."
The tablet on the southeast side facing Washington Street bears the American shield with the name "GRIDLEY" in large letters. The whole is surmounted by a cannon in exact imitation of the " Hancock " or " Adams,"-one of the guns Gridley served with his own hand at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Thus, life's duties well performed, passed away one of the
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RICHARD GRIDLEY.
most distinguished military characters of New England,- renowned for personal bravery, a skilled artillerist, a scien- tific engineer, a prominent actor in the great events of our country's history; the companion of Sir William Pepperell, of Lord Amherst, of Earl St. Vincent, of Cook the navi- gator, of Gage, Montgomery, and Wolfe; in later days, of Prescott and Putnam and Knox, of Thomas and Ruggles and Frye and Warren and Washington.
A writer in the "Columbian Centinel," issued a few days after his death, in speaking of General Gridley, says :-
" To sketch the usefulness of the deceased, to delineate his services as a citizen, a soldier, and mason, are unnecessary. They have repeat- edly been acknowledged by his countrymen, and live in the memory of every one acquainted with the history of our country."
NOTE. - Major Scarborough Gridley is said to have procured his appoint- ment as second major of the First Regiment of Artillery in the place of Benja- min Thompson, afterward Count Rumford, through parental partiality. On the morning of the battle of Bunker Hill, he had been ordered to proceed with his battalion from Cambridge to the lines, but advanced but a few rods beyond the Neck when he halted, determined, as he said, to cover the retreat, which he con- sidered inevitable. Colonel Frye, seeing Gridley the younger in this position, said to him, " What are you waiting here for?" " We are waiting to cover the retreat." " Retreat 1" cries the veteran ; "who talks of retreating ? This day thirty years ago, I was present at the taking of Louisburg, when your father with his own hand lodged a shell in the citadel. His son was not born to talk of retreating. Forward, to the lines1" Gridley proceeded a short distance with his artillery, but overcome with terror, ordered his men back upon Cobble Hill, to fire with three-pounders upon the "Glasgow" and the floating batteries. This order was so absurd that Captain Trevett refused to obey it, and proceeded to the scene of action with two pieces of artillery; this little fragment of Grid- ley's battery was the only reinforcement that the Americans received during the battle. For his conduct at the battle, Scarborough was tried by court- martial, Major-General Greene presiding. The sentence of the court, Sept. 24, 1775, was, that for "being deficient in his duty upon the 17th of June last, the day of the action upon Bunker's Hill, the court find Major Scarborough Gridley guilty of a breach of orders. They do therefore dismiss him from the Massa- chusetts service ; but on account of his inexperience and youth, and the great confusion that attended that day's transactions in general, they do not consider him incapable of a Continental commission, should the general officers recom- mend him to his Excellency." Several persons, living and dead, have con- founded Scarborough with Richard Gridley. Samuel Gridley was also a son of the general.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE POWDER-MILLS.
W E now come to the building of the powder-mill. ] In
order to make our narrative complete, it will be necessary to go back to the year 1673. On the 22d of August of that year we find the Rev. John Oxenbridge, pastor, and the Rev. James Allen, teacher, of the First Church in Bos- ton, with Robert Sanderson, one of the deacons of the church, entering into a partnership with Capt. John Hull and Freegrace Bendall, both engaged in trade in Boston, to purchase a piece of land for the purpose of erecting a powder-mill. Two years after, they took in, among others, Mr. John Wiswall, Sr. These gentlemen entered into a sort of stock company, organized for the purpose of "erect- ing a building and improving a powder mill at Neponset, in the township of Milton." This mill was situated just south of the bridge that crosses the Neponset River in Mil- ton; but the watch-house, which was of stone, and the house occupied by the workmen were on the northerly side of the river, in what is now known as Ward XXIV. of the city of Boston. The company appointed one Walter Everendon (now Everton) - a Kentish man, "who had made powder in England as he saith "-as overseer. In less than three months from the beginning of the enterprise, the work had been so vigorously prosecuted that the General Court, con- sidering the danger of the destruction of the buildings hy fire or otherwise from King Philip during the time of his war, ordered that a constant watch be kept at "Unkety" for the preservation of the powder-mill and the grist-mill in its immediate vicinity, and watchmen were appointed to look after them. The General Court also signified its
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THE POWDER-MILLS.
interest in the undertaking by allowing the proprietors, who were about to erect a stone watch-house, authority "to re- pair to any magistrate by the law empowered to give war- rants to impress workmen to carry on public works, of which sort this is."
In 1701 Walter Everendon bought out Joseph Wiswall's interest, and from time to time purchased the interests of others, so that in 1722 Everendon and Israel Howe owned all the property, and divided it, Everendon taking all on the Dorchester side of the river. In 1724 Howe retired; and Walter Everendon, having been in the business for nearly half a century, sold out to his son, Benjamin, and the following year died. In 1744 the original mill, on the Milton side of the river, blew up. Benjamin Everendon continued the business of manufacturing powder on the Dorchester side of the river until 1749, possibly until 1757, when he sold out and removed to Canton.
Mr. Everendon's attention was called to the fact that an excellent mill privilege at Canton was for sale at a low price. He purchased, in 1749, from Richard Hall and Mary, his wife, - the heirs of Ebenezer Maudsley, -a seven-eighths part, and in 1753, of Timothy Jones, one- eighth part of what was then known as "ye old iron works," with two acres of land adjoining the site of the former works, lying on the southerly side of the stream. Here he erected buildings suitable for the purpose of manu- facturing powder. He also erected, as he had done in Mil- ton, a grist-mill; and before the year 1753 the buildings were completed and the works in running order, and so continued until the time of his death, in 1766. Nor is it probable that the manufacture of powder at these mills then ceased; for Benjamin Everendon, by his will, devised his powder and corn-mills, with the privilege of the stream, to his son, Abijah Everendon. The works were discon- tinued before the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, but we are unable to ascertain the exact time. In speaking of the estate as it existed in 1784,- it being then the prop- erty of Thomas Everendon, grandson of Benjamin and great-
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
grandson of Walter, -the Hon. Elijah Dunbar says, "There was no mill then standing on the spot."
At the beginning of the Revolution, prudence demanded that some provision be made to procure ammunition for the approaching contest. The first and most important duty was to procure an ample supply of powder.
In 1774 Canton had been selected as a fitting place for the Suffolk County Congress, because it was retired, yet within easy access of Boston. The same reasons undoubt- edly influenced those at the head of affairs two years after- ward in selecting this town as the most suitable place to begin the manufacture of powder. The distance from the sea was great enough to render it safe from the attacks of an enemy landing on the coast, and yet transportation was easy. But besides these advantages, the town of Can- ton possessed a skilled workman who understood the manu- facture of powder. The Everendon family, powder-makers for generations, were still resident here, and were designated in legal documents as "powder makers " by vocation. These considerations undoubtedly influenced the government in determining the location of the mill. The immediate cause may have been an anonymous letter received by Dr. Joseph Warren, as follows :-
May 31, 1775.
SIR, - I shall just take the liberty to give you a friendly line, which I have often mentioned in conversation, but perhaps it will arrive so late as to merit no higher honor than just to light your pipe. . . .
There is now living, or rather pining in poverty, one Everton in Stoughton, that by proper encouragement might at this day become a most useful member of society. He perfectly understands making gunpowder and reviving that which is damaged, and he is the only one in the Province that has the practical skill. What pity the art should die with him ! But what am I about? Sat verbum, &c.
A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY.
To Dr. JOSEPH WARREN,
President of the Congress at Watertown.
The November following the receipt of this letter, the contents of which without doubt General Warren had com-
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THE POWDER-MILLS.
municated to parties interested, the House of Representa- tives appointed a committee to consider a proper place to erect a powder-mill. The committee were authorized in December "to purchase the remains of a powder-mill in the town of Stoughton, with so much of the land and stream as may be sufficient to prepare said mill for the manufacture of powder." This vote was subsequently reconsidered, and a committee appointed to visit Andover, Sutton, and Stough- ton, to take a view of the place in each of the towns where it was proposed to erect a mill.
The town of Stoughton was considered to have the most advantages; but the colonial government did not deem it best to purchase the property formerly occupied by the Everendons, but bought the privilege next above on the same stream. This site was owned by one Samuel Briggs and his son, who on the 20th of February, 1776, conveyed about three quarters of an acre and fifteen rods of land, part upland, part mill-pond, to the Colony of the Massa- chusetts Bay, for £100, - the grantors agreeing not to dam- age any water-works that might be built by the colony. This land was near the house occupied by the late Joseph Warren Revere, and still in the possession of the Revere family. On the 19th of January, 1776, the House of Rep- resentatives ordered the committee appointed to erect the powder-mill for the use of the colony, "to commence the building of the mill at Stoughton, and to exert themselves to hurry on this important and necessary business without delay," and cause the same to be constructed in such manner as shall appear to them most advantageous.
The historian of Andover, Mass., informs us that as early as the Ist of January, 1776, Mr. Samuel Phillips, Jr., ob- tained an order from the General Court, permitting him "to employ the master workman of the powder mill erecting for the Colony in Stoughton one Mr. Harling," and adds, "The mill at Andover was completed nearly three months before the one at Stoughton was ready for work." In February the building of the mill was progressing. On the 9th of May Major Thomas Crane was appointed to carry on
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
the manufacture of powder at the colony mill at Stoughton, and "employ such skilful persons as manufacturers as may be sufficient for the purpose;" and on the roth of the same month it was-
" Resolved, That there be paid to Thomas Crane and Daniel Vose, Esq., 6300 to enable them to pay and discharge the debts they have already contracted for labor and materials in building a powder mill at Stoughton for the Colonys use."
The " Massachusetts Spy," in its issue of May 3, says, "The powder-mill at Stoughton will begin to go in a few days." Everything was ready to begin operations. The building where the powder was stored was protected by a high post and rail fence, behind which, night and day, guards were posted with orders from the government "to fire upon any persons who shall attempt, upon being three times forbid by such guards, to enter the said lines."
So successful was the enterprise that in the September following 37,962 pounds of powder and 34, 155 pounds of saltpetre were in the storehouse of Major Crane; and dur- ing the first three years of the war the Canton powder-mill furnished the greater part of the powder that was used by the provincial army. A writer of the time says that "not only was a large quantity of gunpowder manufac- tured at this mill, but it was of an excellent quality, made from saltpetre, the product of the towns in the vicinity." Upon a requisition from the board of war, the powder was placed in wagons, and under the protection of a guard, conveyed by night over the rough roads to its destination, and distributed as the military necessities of the army de- manded. On Sept. 12, 1776, 350 pounds were sent on board the schooner "Langdon." During the years 1777-79, 7,600 pounds were used on the Continental frigate "The Boston." Forty barrels, containing one hundred pounds each, were sent, on Oct. 20, 1777, to "the Castle," for which Paul Revere, the commanding officer at the time, gives his receipt to Major Crane. Large quantities were also at various times deliv- ered at the Castle and at the powder-house in Boston. In
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THE POWDER-MILLS.
February, 1777, six Indians, delegates from the Six Na- tions, visited Massachusetts. The story had been circu- lated among their tribes that the Americans were not able to manufacture powder, and could not, therefore, contend for any length of time with the mother country. In order to prove to the Indians how false these British stories were, the council ordered that in case the Indians visited any pow- der-mills, the powder-makers were directed to give them all the information they were able about the making of powder, in order to convince them that powder was really made in this State, and was good, and to present them with a small sample. The Indians were escorted to Canton, where they witnessed the process of making powder, and were given a portion of the stock in hand.
On the Ist of March, 1779, the General Court resolved that a committee, consisting of George Partridge, Lemuel Kollock, and Samuel Phillips, Jr., should have power to sell by auction or private sale the powder-mill at Canton, with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging. They further instructed their committee that an express condition should be made with the purchaser or his successor, that during the succeeding four years he should be obliged to manufacture for the State all the gunpowder that the General Court shall from time to time order to be made, providing the quantity is not greater than the capacity of the mill. The State was to furnish the materials, but the owner was to be at the expense of procuring sulphur and coals. The compensation the owner was to receive for his powder was "as much per pound as shall be equivalent to what eight pence was at the time the mill first began to work."
On the 17th of April following, the committee con- veyed the land and mill-pond with stream of water, the powder-mill, together with all the utensils of whatever kind that had been purchased by the State for the accommoda- tion of the powder-mill, to Samuel Osgood, of Andover, he paying therefor the sum of £3,200. From Osgood, in July, 1779, the powder-mill passed into the possession of Samuel Phillips, Jr., of Andover.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
On the 30th of October, 1779, the powder-mill at Canton was blown to atoms. One diarist says : "Oct. 30, 1779, Powder mill blew up ex parte; one Pettingill very much burnt .- 31, Pettingill dies." Another diarist records the event as follows: "Oct. 31, Benjamin Pettingill dies in thirty-five hours after being burnt in the powder mill."
The large stones which had been used to grind the pow- der were carried to the grist-mill afterward owned by Major- Gen. Richard Gridley, and standing near where the old road crosses the Massapoag Brook, opposite to what is now the factory of the American Net and Twine Company. Within the memory of persons now living, these stones have been used for the purpose of grinding corn.
The property, in June, 1792, was conveyed by Samuel Phillips, Jr., to Jonathan Leonard and Adam Kinsley, ironmongers; but this time the description is changed, and in place of."a powder mill " we find "the remains of a powder mill standing thereon."
On the 14th of March, 1801, Col. Paul Revere, of Revo- lutionary fame, purchased the property and other real estate in its immediate vicinity. Upon the ground there was then standing a dwelling-house, trip-hammer shop, and "cole" house. Colonel Revere soon began to erect new buildings and refit the old. From this time forward until his death, the gallant patriot was a resident of Canton during the sum- mer months, and was ever active in promoting the best in- terests of the town. By his diligence and perseverance he laid the foundation of a large business which has been suc- cessfully continued by his son and grandson to the present day, and which bears his name.
As in the days of the Revolution the old powder-mill manufactured powder for the supply of the army, in later times, upon almost the same site, the Revere Copper Com- pany turned out brass fieldpieces for the use of the artillery during the War of the Rebellion.
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INDEPENDENCE.
CHAPTER XXIV.
INDEPENDENCE. - THE SALT-WORKS.
T HE opening of the year 1776 brought little encourage- ment to the American provinces. The tone of the debates in Parliament were antagonistic. The hiring of German mercenaries to shoot Anglo-Americans at so much a day, the rejection of the petition prepared by the Conti- nental Congress, were matters which did not tend to appease the anger of our ancestors. Redress for past wrongs was no longer thought of; a separation from the mother country was the only solution of their difficulties. Those who loved the House of Hanover, or feared the sword of Brunswick, threw aside their prejudices and joined the common cause.
On the 2d of February, Capt. Abner Crane and Isaac Billings enlisted twenty-three men. Abner Crane was the son of Silas and Experience (Tolman) Crane, who are both buried in the same grave. He was born in Canton, May 27, 1737, and died Jan. 23, 1819. He resided in the Royall house on Doty's Plain, and was a prominent man in town affairs. He was frequently chosen to preside over the an- nual town meetings. Captain Abner was out from Decem- ber, 1777, to October, 1778, in Rhode Island, in Colonel Jacobs's regiment, and at another time he marched to Clav- erack on the Hudson with fifty-eight men.
Capt. Asa Waters, who was born in Stoughton, Feb. II, 1760, entered the service at the age of sixteen. He says he was a soldier in Capt. Jedediah Southworth's company, Colonel Robertson's regiment, and was stationed at Dor- chester in February and March of 1776. He relates that they quartered in the Town-House on Meeting-House Hill; that they were sent to guard Fox Point and Roxbury; that
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
Captain Southworth's company erected a fort on the night of the 25th of March, on what is now City Point, nearest Castle William, which was bombarded in the morning by the British, but no one was injured. They were on guard- duty until April, 1776, when they returned home.
Captain Waters lived the latter part of his life in a house still standing on the old Bay Road, near to the colony line. I visited the house and saw the widow, a Revolu- tionary pensioner, in the summer of 1883.
On the 29th of February Col. Benjamin Gill ordered the companies to be ready at a minute's warning to come together with three days' provisions, ready dressed. On the 3d of March the colonel received orders to alarm the people, and on the 4th Endicott's company went down. On the 22d of the same month Capt. Simeon Leach went with his company to guard the shores of Braintree, when the British ships-of-war lay in Boston Harbor; and on the following day Capt. Theophilus Lyon's company of forty- seven men joined them, in the midst of a severe snow- storm.1 Capt. Theophilus Lyon was the son of Elhanan and Hannah (Tilden) Lyon, grandson of old Elhanan, the man who was always in difficulty with the minister. The- ophilus resided in the Priest Howard house, and was the owner of a tan-yard on the north side of the bridge over Pequit Brook. He was born March 26, 1745, and was con- sequently at this time thirty-one years of age. Those who remained at home were equally active. Elijah Dunbar, on the 25th of March, attended a county meeting at Brown's in Milton. On the 4th of April the Committee of Corre- spondence and Inspection, consisting of Elijah Dunbar, Peter Talbot, Josiah Pratt, Theophilus Curtis, John Kenney, and Christopher Wadsworth, met at the May tavern; again on the 9th. On the 8th Esquire Dunbar went to a county conven- tion at Gay's tavern in Dedham; on the Ioth came the report that Quebec was taken; on the IIth he hastened to Boston to preserve the County Records, and received a promise from Mr. Goldthwait that he would remove them to his country-
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