USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Douglas > History of the town of Douglas, (Massachusetts,) from the earliest period to the close of 1878 > Part 5
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Prior to 1832 the territory lying west of Douglas, now Web- ster, was known as "Oxford South Gore," and a road crossing the turnpike in the south part of the town was known as the " Gore road." In 1814 there stood at the junction of these two roads a building, then showing marks of age, which was known as the Coffee House, and had in former times been kept as a hotel. This was the last house on the turnpike before reaching the Rhode Is- land line. Joseph Hunt and John Adams, two old residents of Douglas, can distinctly remember every family living on the turn- pike at that time, and have related to us the following : James Tilley tenanted the Coffee House near Badluck Pond. Then, going towards the Center, came the farms or residences of two Chase families, Philip Howell, Barnabas F. Howell (a hatter), Levi Morse, Minor Morse and Pliny Johnson, the latter living upon what is known as the "Stoddard place." Then came Paul Dudley's hotel, the parsonage and church, and the residences of David Dud- ley, Oliver Hunt, Samuel Balcom, Henry Ridell, Joseph Emerson and Stephen Southworth, all at the Center. Edmund Carpenter and Nathaniel Carpenter lived at Centerville, the latter a tanner. The only houses on that part of the turnpike running through East
62
HISTORY OF DOUGLAS.
Douglas were those of Moses Holbrook and Benjamin Cragin (at. the Lovell Southwick place), Caleb Hill (at the old tavern stand), Emory Taft ( present residence of Rev. Wmn. T. Briggs), Capt. Joseph Hunt, Samuel Legg, James Farwell, Isaac Gale (near the Axe Company's office ), widow Sprague (at the Nahum Legg place), and Widow Harwood (at the Noah Taft place). Aaron Hill, a one-armed man, whose chief occupation was pigeon-catching, lived on the place now occupied by G. W. Manahan, just in the edge of the village. Noah Taft lived on the Howell farm, in the hollow, formerly known as the " Sprague house," and where once stood a blacksmith shop. Widow White's was the last residence on the turnpike before reaching the Uxbridge line. Other families, of course, there were in town, but they did not live on the turnpike. A distillery formerly stood upon the site of Anderson Hunt's pres- ent residence, and was torn down in 1822, when John Adams built the house now standing.
Lovell Pulsipher represented the town in the General Court in 1789, and also in the year following. Under instruction from the town he took charge of a number of the State's poor whom the Leg- islature had ordered to be removed from the town of Boston.
All officers of the State or town, before assuming the duties of their respective positions, were required to renounce and abjure all allegiance, subjugation and obedience to the king, queen or gov- ernment of Great Britain, and to declare that no foreign prince, person or potentate ought to have any jurisdiction over them.
· The bridge over the Mumford river, near Caleb Hill's, was built. in 1787. Persons from all parts of the town were allowed to work out their highway taxes upon it, and they were credited as though the same amount of work was performed in their own districts.
Aaron Marsh was chosen Representative in 1792, receiving forty- four votes, the whole number cast.
Several cases of small-pox appeared in that year, but the town voted not to allow inoculation to prevent the spread of the disease. In the winter of 1825 this terrible disease again made its appear- ance, attended with a fearful mortality. The first case was a daughter of John Aldrich, and within the next few weeks the fol- lowing-named persons died of the disease : John Aldrich ; Joseph Aldrich ; the wife, son and daughter of Paul White ; Willis Walker ; Joshua Fairbanks ; James Lee and wife ; Mrs. Tiffany ; Joseph
63
FROM 1754-1791.
Richardson, Jr. ; Mrs. Harwood, and a child named Aldrich. The persons above mentioned included some of the most respected residents of the town, and the ravages of the pestilence in sweep- ing them away caused great sadness and gloom throughout the entire community. About thirty cases existed at this time, some of them taken in the natural way, and others by inoculation.
The meeting-house, having become rusty with age, in Septem- ber, 1793, it was voted to have it "colored," and Mr. Aaron Marsh was instructed to procure the materials and superintend the work. In the following year the windows were repaired. To meet the expense of these repairs it was voted to sell the pew ground that belonged to the town, and apply the proceeds to this purpose.
In 1799 Jeremiah Whiting led off in a proposition, which the town adopted, respecting the pastor's salary. Afterward some doubt arose in regard to the import of this vote, when it was made. clear by the following explanation :
WHEREAS, In my proposal to the town of Douglas, dated June- 27, 1799, I proposed that the town should pay to the Congrega- tional teacher of piety, morality and religion of the town of Douglas, fourteen dollars annually, and as doubts arise respecting the meaning of said proposal in that case, therefore I would mean to be understood that the town of Douglas shall make use of said fourteen dollars annually for to pay the public teacher as aforesaid for his services in the ministry of said town of Douglas.
The town was not represented in the General Court in 1793, but. in the following year Aaron Marsh, who was also town clerk, was chosen representative. A resolve of the Legislature called for an accurate map of each township, and Mr. Marsh was chosen to make such a map, with the assistance of two of the Selectmen.
In 1794 the town voted to make up the pay of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, enlisted or detached by order of Congress, to ten dollars per month, and to pay a bounty of nine dollars upon passing muster.
Massachusetts was divided into Congressional Districts in the year 1794, and Douglas was one of the towns constituting the Third Western District. Dwight Foster was elected Representative to Congress. A memorial from the inhabitants of Douglas, addressed to him at Philadelphia, was replied to as follows :
6-1
HISTORY OF DOUGLAS.
Pun.ADELPIA, May 12, 1796.
GENTLEMEN : I had the pleasure on Monday last to receive the Memorial of the Inhabitants of Douglas relative to the appropria- tions for defraying the expense of carrying the treaty lately nego- tiated between the United States and Great Britain into effect. I immediately presented the Memorial to the House of Representa- tives, and it is, with others of a similar kind, laid on the table. Happily, previous to that time a bill for the purpose had passed both houses of Congress, and had been approved by the President. This subject has caused great anxiety and agitation. It was highly momentous and important to our country. That the people at large should have been alarmed was not surprising. Their good sense and the information generally diffused enabled them to judge what would have been the consequences of a refusal on the part of the legislative body to make the necessary provisions. Consequences would have ensued which appeared dreadful in the extreme, and which were most devoutly to be deprecated. I con- gratulate you on the happy result, and must confess I feel a pleasure in reflecting that, in the discharge of what I considered to be my duty, I have conducted it agreeably to the sentiments of so great a proportion of my respected fellow citizens.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, gentlemen, your most obed. servt.
DWIGHT FOSTER.
Selectmen of Douglas.
The above letter, in a good state of preservation, is filed away with miscellaneous documents in the office of the town clerk.
The following " balance sheet " of the town Treasurer, nearly a hundred years ago, may serve as an excellent model in simplicity and economy for contemplation in these days :
TOWN TREASURER'S ACCOUNT IN 1791. The Town of Douglas to Lt. Benjamin Wallis, Jr., Town Treasurer :
To paid Selectmen's orders, Two orders from Abel Foster, Paid on Nath'l Brown's note, John Gould, remitted rates, Four Selectmen's orders,
.Dr.
£289 1 11
2
1
15 6 0
0
12 6
0
0
7 50
10
1 9
1
Sum total,
301
19 1 : 3
65
FROM 1754-1791.
Cr.
By received town taxes,
£248 13
7 3
John Whiting, note for pew,
6
0
0 0
Benj. Wallis, Jr., note for pew,
5
10 0 0
Caleb Whiting, note for pew,
5
14 0
0
5
6
0
0
Capt. John Brown, note for pew, Aaron Hill, note for pew, Samuel Wallis, part of note,
0
15
8
0
Eli Stockwell, note and interest,
4
4
5
2
Lt. Elijah Moore, interest,
1
17
2
0
Josiah Humes, interest,
1
0
7
0
Lt. David Wallis, interest,
4
12
6
0
John and David Balcom, interest,
2
14
6
0
Benj. Dudley, for nails, '
0
3
8
0
Lt. Sam'l Amidon, on note,
10
1
9
1
Total,
£299
8 11
2
Balance due the Treasurer, .
£2
10 2
1
At the presidential election in 1792 the whole number of votes cast was 22, although, according to the Assessors' enumeration, there were 66 legal votes in the " north part of Douglas." The following table shows the gradual increase of the number of voters from time to time :
Number of voters in 1797,
145
Number of voters in 1804,
130
Number of voters in 1806,
152
Number of voters in 1807,
153
Number of voters in 1816,
218
Number of voters in 1817,
· 246
June 27, 1791, the town voted to procure a new stock of am- munition, and a place was provided for it in the attic of the meet- ing-house. It was voted at the same time to build a " Virginia rail fence on the east side of the cemetery, at an expense of 20s."
Ebenezer Marsh asked permission to set a house on the com- mon land, but was refused, and it was decided to purchase a piece of land at a cost of £3, which he was allowed to occupy during his natural life. We cannot understand the reason for this unusual generosity, unless it was to reward Mr. Marsh for faithfully per- forming the duties of church sexton.
In November, 1794, the Selectmen of Douglas, Uxbridge and Sutton met, and established the boundaries between the respective towns by branding trees with a marking iron.
5
2
15 0
0
CHAPTER VI.
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
HE part enacted by the inhabitants of Douglas in the severe and long-protracted struggle of our country against the tyranny of England in the Revolutionary War is worthy of all praise. Considered as a desperate resist- ance by a mere handful of recruits, who had to learn the art of whipping the regulars of Great Britain, a wealthy nation of cultured and well-drilled warriors, on the sea as well as on the land, this struggle ranks among the grandest of all such popular uprisings in the world's his- tory. But when we add to this view of it the hardships which had already been encountered by the settlers in their wearisome toil in subduing a new and rigorous country, superadded to all which must be cited the fearful and bloody atrocities perpetrated against them by the Indians and their white allies for almost a hun- dred and fifty years, the fact of their final triumph over this apparently invincible array of antagonisms assumes a grandeur difficult of comprehension.
From the fact that it is not often referred to, it may be well at this point briefly to call attention to the singular fatality attending the repeated and long-continued attempts which had been made from time to time to inaugurate on our continent some of the Euro- pean forms of government. The wonderful discoveries by Colum- bus naturally had the effect of arousing an unwonted spirit of en- terprise among these nations for the expansion of their possessions as well as power. Spain and Portugal were among the first to ven- ture forth on their schemes of cupidity and conquest, a papal bull by Alexander VI granting them "all the heathen and undiscov-
67
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
ered countries of the globe !" John and Sebastian Cabot are soon in quest of new dominions for England, and Labrador comes imme- diately under Anglo-Saxon rule. Verrazzano in 1523 enters the list of explorers, starting off in search of a western passage to Cathay, but is strangely led into New York and Newport harbors. Twenty years later Ferdinand De Soto through Florida reaches the Mississippi. The Marquis de la Roche, forty years after this, re- news Cartier's attempt to colonize new France on the St. Law- rence, but realizes only a temporary success. Champlain subse- quently founds a settlement there, but does not find a foothold for a nation, though a patent is given him for "the whole Atlantic coast, from Montreal to Philadelphia !" The tragic fate meted out to Coligny's attempt to establish himself in Florida and the Caro- linas is equally significant. Nor ought we to omit from this brief but suggestive epitome the futile attempt, as late as 1569, under a royal charter, to transplant bodily the monarchial regime of Eng- land to Virginia, where it was deliberately proposed that the immi- grant colonists, without representation in any form, should be sub- jected to " the arbitrary will of a governor appointed by a com- mercial corporation," as Bancroft states it.
We shall be pardoned for saying that the utter failure of all these schemes, so enthusiastically proposed, and backed by such an array of authority and financial ability in their prosecution, would surely serve to dishearten utterly the early colonists, as they con- templated the terrible disparity in their numbers and resources as compared with the alarming array of military and naval power which Great Britain, grown haughty by past conquests, could bring against them. Nevertheless, with a firm and unyielding trust in that wise Providence which they so clearly recognized as having reserved a goodly heritage for their occupation, they began their heroic struggle against both monarch and corporation.
. In this gallant contest Douglas had the honor of being repre- sented doubtless by the maximum percentage of volunteers, com- paring her small number of inhabitants with that of the remaining towns in the State. As far as can now be ascertained, her avail- able population, at the commencement of the war, did not reach three hundred in all! And few towns probably can boast of a bona fide representation of seventy-five men in the army at the lowest computation, out of as small a community. And to the
68
HISTORY OF DOUGLAS.
honor of the citizens of Douglas it must also go upon the record that they contributed most generously of their means to help on the struggle, as will appear in the facts which we shall be enabled to give in these pages. Nor were they lacking in those elements of statesmanship which could detect an infringement of the rights of freemen in a proposed article of State constitution, and that by professed Republicans too, as well as in the bolder but not less de- testable oppressions of Parliament.
In 1774 the militia was reorganized, and Douglas was assigned to the Seventh Regiment, together with the towns of Mendon, Uxbridge, Northbridge and Upton - Sutton and Oxford being in the Second Regiment. At this time the Selectmen were Caleb Hill, Joshua Fairbanks, Edward Aldrich, Robert Humes and Nathaniel Snow, all of whom were among the active participants in the various measures devised for opposing the arbitrary cxac- tions of Great Britain.
In the month of March a letter was received by the town clerk, William Dudley, from the committee of correspondence at Boston, setting forth that the administration had, by imposing certain taxes, set aside the chartered rights of the people, and showing clearly that the repeated usurpations of the officers of the crown had a manifest tendency to draw them into slavery and bondage. A letter of similar import was also received from Worcester, accompanied by suggestions as to the advisability of appointing committees in the various towns of the county, to whom should be entrusted the duty of seeking to secure concerted action in the emergencies which were likely to arise, and which could only be properly met by some such prudential arrangement.
In accordance with these suggestions a committee was chosen to co-operate with those of other towns in devising the best methods for carrying out the plans which should from time to time be adopted. This committee for the town of Douglas was com- posed of William Dudley, Jedediah Bigelow, Caleb Whiting, Elijah Moore and Samuel Balcom.
On the 19th of August, 1774, it was deemed important to call a convention of representatives from the different towns in the county, so threatening had the aspect of the affairs of the colonists become, and this gathering was appointed to be at the inn of Mrs. Mary Stearns, in the town of Worcester. The convention
69
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
was well attended, and the condition of the country was earnestly and candidly considered, and resolutions of a most thoroughly patriotic nature were enthusiastically adopted. Samuel Jennison was chosen to represent Douglas in this convention, and it will be seen that he took a very prominent part in its deliberations, for we find him one of the committee on public affairs, and also as a mem- ber of the committee on resolutions. In the course of the business
HOUSE OF REV. WM. T. BRIGGS.
brought before the convention a proposition was made to take some measures that would check the judges of the courts in their willing and obsequious enforcement of the harsh and irritating exactions of the British government, and after mature discussion it was decided to request these judges to refuse any farther co-operation with Par- liament by declining to sanction its unconstitutional demands. Mr. Jennison was selected by the convention to repair to the court-
70
HISTORY OF DOUGLAS.
house and communicate to the judges the decision that had been reached in this matter, which duty he promptly discharged, and with such ability and vigor that he returned to the convention with an assurance from twenty-one of them that they would comply with the request which had been sent them.
Mr. Jennison was also appointed as a member of a committee. to propose some plan for securing a more acceptable administra- tion of justice in general, in view of the many and well-nigh intol- erable oppressions that had been endured at the hands of the law officers of the crown. Here again the practical good sense and energy of the representative from Douglas is seen in the fact that, as the result of his voice and vote, the judges that were subse- quently appointed were from those who had the interests of the colonists at heart, and who would perform their magisterial duties on this line, whether in accordance with existing arbitrary laws or otherwise - a long stride towards the goal of independence, for which the hearts of the people were now daily coming to be more and more prepared. A very suggestive incident, showing the progress already gained in this direction, is given among the occurrences of these times : The order of the convention above alluded to seems to have been deliberately ignored by one of the clerks, whose name was Samuel Paine. In compliance with a law of Parliament, this clerk procceded to issue venires to the con- stable of the county, whereupon Mr. Jennison was appointed to bring him before the convention. He soon made his appearance with the contemptuous clerk, when, after listening to an apology from him, and in consideration of his being somewhat young and in- experienced, he was allowed to depart without further molestation.
It ought not to be omitted in this connection, for it is a fair ex- ponent of the good sense and comprehensive views of the leaders among the people in those days, that at this convention measures were taken to establish a printing office in the county, and by special vote it was agreed to make vigorous efforts to secure the necessary support for such an enterprise from all the towns within the county limits. Encouraged in the highest degree, as he must. have been by this prompt and decided action on the part of the citizens of the county, what wonder that ISAIAH THOMAS, the vete- ran patriot printer who had so defiantly and successfully maintained his opposition to the loyalists of Boston, removed his press to Wor-
71
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
cester? Mr. Thomas took this course simply because lie could no longer remain in safety in Boston, and on the third of May follow- ing the battle of Lexington, in which he was personally engaged, he issued the first number of the Massachusetts Spy from its new quarters in Worcester.
When the Provincial Congress of deputies from the towns in the Province of Massachusetts Bay assembled at Salem, on the 7th of October, 1774, Mr. Jennison was again selected as the represent- ative from Douglas. Among his associates from this vicinity were Samuel Baldwin of Northbridge, Capt. Joseph Reed of Uxbridge, and Capt. Henry King and Edward Putnam of Sutton. At this time the British troops were in complete possession of Boston, but so ominous had the demonstrations of patriotic feeling become in many quarters that the loyalists had already begun the erection of defensive works on the Neck, in the direction of the town of Dor- chester. This was construed as an earnest of the intention of the British authorities to press their measures against the peace and prosperity of the people, and a message was forwarded to Governor Gage, in which he was politely assured that the colonists had not the least intention of doing any injury to the king's troops ; but the message also proceeded to say that, if he regarded the dignity and happiness of the empire, and the peace and welfare of the Province, "that fortress commanding the south entrance to the town of Boston must be demolished, and the pass restored to its natural state ! "
How much of the audacity characterizing the above peremptory message may have been attributable to the rapid growth and im- portance which had been acquired by the town where the Congress had assembled, may be inferred from the fact that there were sent out from Salem during the war that so soon followed one hundred and fifty-eight privateers, mounting two thousand guns, carrying not less than six thousand men, and capturing in all four hundred and forty-five prizes, nine-tenths of which were brought safely into port ! A sense of the absolute justness of their title to independ- ence must have pervaded the hearts of such a people, and, forti- fied with such a conviction, they may well be pardoned for having thought themselves to be equal to the emergency they encountered so bravely ; and they would doubtless have triumphed over even very much greater impediments.
72
HISTORY OF DOUGLAS.
But in all the deliberations at this rendezvous of patriotic men at the Salem Congress, which were watched by the people every- where with intensest solicitude, Mr. Jennison felt himself to be so fully sustained by the patriotic constituency which he repre- sented that his vote was always given for the people, no matter how adverse to the crown ; and on returning home he found his course so fully approved that he was promptly sent to represent the town in the Second Congress, which assembled in Cambridge in the following February.
CHAPTER VII.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR - CONTINUED.
XCITEMENT in public affairs was now fast culmina- ting to its only issue, that of overt resistance to any and every form of British domination ; and, as Gen- eral Gage expressed it at the interview between him and the Boston boys, whose snow-forts and skating- grounds on the Common had been repeatedly and wantonly destroyed by the soldiers, " the very chil- dren drew in a love of liberty with the air they breathed." The inhabitants of Douglas so eagerly shared in the general feeling, on the breaking out of hostilities, that from the warlike preparations carried on in their midst it would almost seem that they felt their own town to be in danger of invasion. The captains of all the military companies were ordered to assemble their commands at the earliest moment practicable. On the 9th of January, 1775, a grand muster and inspection took place, when the enlisted men were provided with as many muskets as could be procured, and all the ammunition which could be prudently spared. Minute-men were chosen by the town, who were ordered to keep themselves in readiness to appear for active service at any moment when called upon. In the magnanimity of their hearts it was at the outset decided to pay these men for their time and services in this capacity, but after fully canvassing the matter in town meet- ing, in which all mercenary motives were spurned, and the men had declared themselves ready to make any sacrifice for the good of the country, the vote placing them under pay was finally, though not without reluctance on the part of the great proportion of the voters, rescinded.
The king's troops had at this time committed no act of blood-
74
HISTORY OF DOUGLAS.
shed, their leaders standing in salutary fear of adding this to their numerous other outrages. But such were their mimbers, backed . by the power behind the representatives of the crown resident in Boston, that the mere presence of such a well-organized band of military was a source of perpetual terror to the great body of peo- ple outside of Boston, as well as to those still remaining there. In addition to the many and burdensome levies upon private property by the Governor and his officials, which were ahnost con- tinually occurring, all business had come to an alarming degree of stagnation, necessitating a large amount of suffering and want. In the midst of this distressful state of things an arrangement was finally consummated whereby those who desired to leave the town were permitted to do so. Those availing themselves of this- opportunity, however, were for the most part possessed of so little, either for their support or journey away from the town, that they were obliged to throw themselves upon the charity of their com- patriots. It was estimated that not less than five thousand peo- ple were thus rendered almost entirely destitute, and unable to bear the expense to which they were subjected. As soon as the facts became known, the Provincial Congress recommended that the different towns extend such aid as was in their power to these refugees. On the 23d of January, 1775, a town-meeting was called in Douglas to take this matter into consideration, when it was with commendable promptness voted that these sufferers by British depredations in Boston and Charlestown should receive such relief as the inhabitants of the town were able to offer ; and it appears that twenty-two of these exiles from their homes, their business, and their possessions, were provided for by the Douglas people until they could arrange for themselves.
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