USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Dunstable > History of the town of Dunstable, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to the year of Our Lord 1873 > Part 3
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Capt. Thomas Brattle, Capt. James Parker, Sergt. John Cummings, and Robert Parris were this year chosen select, or town's men, and an order was passed that the lots of those neglecting or refusing to pay their taxes " be sould at an out- cry [auction] on the next public meeting day after such neglect or refus." It seems, also, that a pound had been erected, since John Ackers was then "appointed and Imployed to pound, youke and Ringe such hogs " as might not be kept according to law.
Although the town had at this time laid out as many as eighty " thirty-acre house-lots," and had as many as thirty fami- lies, the following land-owners only were then residents of the
* A small tributary of Howard's Brook is called Weld's Brook, probably from the circumstance of its running through his land.
28
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1687
place, viz., John Acres, John Blanchard, John Cummings, Sr., Thomas Cummings, Joseph Hassell, Thomas Lund, Joseph Parker, Sr., Abraham Parker, John Sollendine, Jonathan Tyng, Widow Mary Tyng, and Joseph Wright. Of these, the largest landholder was the gallant Jonathan Tyng, who, in consideration of £23 due him by the town, received three thirty-acre rights, equivalent in all to about 1,800 acres. This land, with large accessions, has continued in the Tyng and Brinley families to the present day, and extends from the Mer- rimack River, about six miles westward by one mile wide, to the Massapoag Pond, forming a large part of the town of Tyngsborough. It is, perhaps, the only instance in Massa- chusetts where such an extensive territorial domain has remained so long undivided and under the control of the descendants of the original proprietor.
The first birth mentioned on the town records, and this under the caption, "Lambs born in Dunstable," is that of William, son of Jonathan and Sarah (Usher) Tyng, born April 22, 1679 ; and the first marriage is that of John Sollendine, Aug. 2, of the year ensuing.
In 1684 a new meeting-house was built after the dimen- sions of that in Groton, and on the 16th of December, 1685, a church was organized, consisting of the following male mem- bers : viz., John Blanchard, John Cummings, Sr., Samuel French,* Obadiah Perry, Jonathan Tyng, and Cornelius Waldo. The first and last man named were chosen deacons, and on the same day the Rev. Thomas Weld was ordained pastor.
Previous to the formation of the church, a road was laid out from the meeting-house to Groton Centre, probably on the old Indian trail, as far as Massapoag Pond, at least; and in 1687 the town was assessed £1 12s. 3d. to aid in building
* Samuel French was a son of Lieut. William French, who came in the " De- fence " from London, 1635, and settled in Cambridge, then in Billerica. He was born in Cambridge, Dec. 3, 1645, removed to Dunstable, where he married Sarah, daughter of John Cummings, Sr., Dec. 24, 1682. One of his sons, John, born in May, 1691, was the father of Ebenezer French, of Revolutionary memory ; another son, Ebenezer, born April 7, 1693, was killed by the Indians, at Naticook, Sept. 5, 1724. Still another, Jonathan, born Feb. 1, 1704, was a deacon, and died Nov. 17, 1757.
29
AN ASSAULT AVERTED.
1689]
what was long called " the Great Bridge" over the Concord River near " the Fordway " in Billerica, this being then on the main route of travel to Boston. At a town meeting held on the 2Ist of May of the year ensuing, Samuel Gould was chosen " dog-whipper for the meeting-house," - an office then almost indispensable, since the country was infested with wild ani- mals as well as Indians, and for defence the settler used to take his dog and gun with him to church. The Bay Psalm Book was at this time the manual of song. The words of the psalm as,
" O all yee servants of the Lord Behold the Lord bless yee ; Yee who within Jehovahs house l' the night time standing bee,"
were "lined out " by one of the deacons, and sung to some such tune as " Hackney " or " York Tune " by the congrega- tion standing.
The great English Revolution came on in 1688, the house of Stuart fell, and in consequence a contest between France and England followed, known in history as " King William's War." Instigated by the French Jesuits, the Indians again set out upon the war-path, and committed many ravages upon the towns along the frontier. On the 7th of July, 1689, they commenced their bloody work by assaulting Dover, killing Major Richard Waldron, together with twenty of his men, and carrying about thirty of the inhabitants into captivity.
An attack on Dunstable was at the same time intended, but it was fortunately averted by information seasonably given by two friendly Indians to Major Thomas Henchman, then commander of the little garrison at Pawtucket Falls, and two companies of twenty, subsequently reinforced by fifty men, were promptly sent to scour the country from Lancaster to Dunstable and defend the people .* Major Henchman also ordered forty men from the towns exposed to danger to scout the wilderness for the enemy for a brief period, and asked the government for twenty more to guard the houses of Messrs.
* See the order for this, Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CVII, p. 169.
30
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1691
Varnum, Howard, and Coburn, which were prominently ex- posed to an assault. The garrisons at this time were at or near the dwelling-houses of Jonathan Tyng, Edward Colburn, Nathaniel Howard, on Holden's Brook ; Sergt. Varnum, on the left bank of the Merrimack River ; and one was in the vicinity of the church. The danger to which the few settlers in this frontier plantation were then exposed, and the sufferings they experienced, may be inferred from the following petition in Vol. CVII, page 230, of the Massachusetts Archives : -
DUNSTABLE, ye July 23, 1689.
To the Honorable, Gouernor and Councill & Company of Represent- atives now assembled at Boston, the Petition of the Inhabitants of Dunstable humbly sheweth that wee are much obliged to your Honors for your last Supply of Men notwithstanding finding ourselves still weak and unable both to keep our Garrisons, and to send men out to get hay for our Cattle, without doeing which wee cannot subsist ; we doe therefore, humbly Intreat your Honours to send and supply us with twenty footmen for the Space of a month to scout about the towne while we get our hay ; and the towne being very bare of provision by reason of billeting soul- diers all the last winter, we doe therefore, intreat your Honours to send a supply of meat, for bread we can supply, and without this help we cannot subsist, but must be forced to draw of and leave the towne. Hoping your Honours will Consider us in this request, wee Remaine your ser- vants ever to pray for you. Subscribed by the select Men in the name of the towne.
JOHN BLANCHARD, JOHN LOVEWELL, ROBT. PARRIS, CHRISTOPHER READ, SAMUEL WHITING.
Although four Indian spies were seen lurking around one of the garrisons at Dunstable about the time of the massacre at Dover, such was the promptitude of Major Henchman, Jonathan Tyng, Sergt. Varnum, and others, that no attack was then made on the town; yet the enemy was bent on its destruction, and on the evening of the 2d of September, 1691, suddenly appeared and murdered five of the inhabitants. The atrocious deed is thus recorded : -
" Anno Domini 1691. Joseph Hassell senior, Anna Hassell, his wife, Benj. Hassell, their son, were slain by our Indian enemies on Sept 2nd in the evening. Mary Marks, the daughter of Peter Marks, was slain by the Indians also on Sept. 2nd day in the evening."
31
MRS. HANNAH DUSTON.
1697]
On the morning of the 28th of the same month, the foe again appeared in Dunstable, and murdered two more of the people, one of whom, Obadiah Perry, as we have said, had been allowed to hire a house in Billerica during King Philip's War. The brief record of the tragedy is :-
" Obadiah Perry and Christopher Temple dyed by the hand of our Indian enemies on September, the twenty-eighth day, in the morning."
It does not appear that Dunstable was disturbed by the Indians in the summer 1694, when they made their great assault on Groton. The following letter from Gov. William Stoughton to Capt. James Converse, of Woburn, dated Boston, Sept. 5, 1695, evinces the danger to which Dunstable and other frontier settlements were exposed, and the desire of the gov- ernment to protect them : -
" I order That at your next passing over Merrimack with your Company towards Dunstable etc That you advise with Majr Henchman and Mr. Jona Ting concerning the posting of yor men in the several Frontiers of Dunstable, Bilrica Chelmsford Groton, Lancaster and Marlboro for the better inforcemt of the Garrisons there & maintaining a good brisk Scout for the discovery of the Enemy to prevent their annoying of those Towns during the Harvest Season." *
Brave and hardy as the original settlers were, such was their exposed situation, and such the havoc of the Indians in other towns, that by the year 1696 nearly two thirds of them had abandoned the place, and on this account the State made an abatement of £50 to the town for the taxes of such as had deserted it. For the same reason £30 were granted by the State to help the town support the minister. The State also voted, Oct. 28, 1697, £20 " towards ye mentainance of the min- istry at ye Garrisons & Towne."} The garrisons were now under the care of the brave Jonathan Tyng, and he was allowed £20 for keeping the friendly sachem Wannalancet, who had again returned to his favorite abode at Wicasuck Island.
In April, 1697, the celebrated heroine, Mrs. Hannah Duston, on her way to Boston from Contocook, N. H., where she had, with Mary Neff and a boy, taken the scalps of ten Indians,
* Dr. Samuel A. Green's Historical Address at Groton, July 4, 1876, p. 78.
t Massachusetts Archives, Vol. XI, p. 126.
32
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1698
passed through the town in a canoe, and was kindly enter- tained by Col. Jonathan Tyng.
Another friendly Indian, Joe English, returned from cap- tivity to his home in Dunstable in 1698, and was allowed £6 by the General Court for services "in giving intelligence of the motions of the enemy."
The first grist-mill in town was owned by Samuel Adams, and was established at " The Gulf" at Massapoag Pond prior to July, 1689, as may be seen from the following petition for men to defend it from the Indians : -
" July ye 31, 1689. The humble petission of the Towne of Dunstable, To the honerable gouernor & Councill & Company of the Representatives now assembled : in behalf of Samuell Addams owner of a Corn mill with- out the use of which mill the Towne Cannot subsist And therefore we doe intreat your honers to allow such a number of men as may be able to secure it. And so we remain your humble devotes ever to pray. By the selectmen in the name of the towne, John blanchard, John Lovewell, Chris- topher Reed, Samuel Whiting, Robert Parris." *
The town raised this year a small sum of money to join with other towns in rebuilding " the great bridge " over Con- cord River in Billerica ; and in the year ensuing, the minister's rate was £17 25. 2d., in addition to which he was to be sup- plied with nineteen cords of wood. The names of those who contributed to " the wood rate," or of all the heads of families then in town, are, Joseph Blanchard, Nathaniel Blanchard, Thomas Blanchard, Abraham 'Cummings, John Cummings, Nathaniel Cummings, Thomas Cummings, Samuel French, Daniel Galusha, William Harwood, Joseph Hassell, John Lovewell, Thomas Lund, Robert Parris, Mr. Samuel Searles,
* See Massachusetts State Archives, Vol. CVII, p. 242; see also Butler's History of Groton, p. 246.
t Father of Capt. John Lovewell, the famous Indian fighter, and also of Col. Zaccheus Lovewell, who served in the old French War. He is said, but not on good authority, to have been an ensign in Cromwell's army about 1653, and to have died about 1754, at the remarkable age of one hundred and twenty years. He is known to have served in King Philip's War, but I find no proof of his having lived one hundred and twenty years. He was a good man, and was intrusted with many town offices. When or where he was born, or where buried, I have not been able to ascertain. - See Kidder's Expeditions of Capt. John Lovewell, p. 89.
33
A GARRISON ESTABLISHED.
1702]
John Sollendine, Major Jonathan Tyng, Robert Usher, Mr. Thomas Weld, and Mr. Samuel Whiting .*
In point of population Dunstable was at this time the smallest town in the province, and but for the indomitable perseverance and courage of Major Jonathan Tyng, Lieut. Samuel French, John Lovewell, Samuel Whiting, and the Rev. Mr. Weld, must have been again abandoned.
In 1702 the town was called to deplore the loss of its hon- ored pastor, the Rev. Thomas Weld, who died on the ninth day of June, and was buried in the old cemetery near his church. His first wife, Elizabeth, is buried beside him, and a rude, flat stone, placed above her grave, bears this inscription : " Here Lyeth the body of Mrs. Elizabeth Weld, the wife of Mr. Thomas Weld, aged about 31 years, who died on July the 29th, in the year 1687." A similar stone, without any inscrip- tion, lies over the remains of the Rev. Mr. Weld. There is no proof that he was killed, as Mr. John Farmer in his Gasetteer has asserted, by the Indians. Mr. Weld was noted for his piety, and highly respected by his people. He married, for his second wife, Widow Hannah Savage, daughter of the Hon. Edward Tyng. His son, Habijah Savage Weld, born in September, 1702, H. C. 1723, was ordained in Attleborough in 1727, and died in that town in 1782, at the age of eighty years. His mother, Hannah Savage Weld, died at his house in 1731.
King William's War, closed by the treaty of Ryswick in 1698, was followed by a brief interval of peace ; but desirous of sustaining the cause of Charles Stuart, the Pretender, Louis XIV again became embroiled with England, and what was called " Queen Anne's War" commenced in 1702, and con- tinued ten years, involving the colonists in many sanguinary conflicts with the Indians, who, as usual, took part with the French. Another garrison was established for the defence of Dunstable, and manned Dec. 25, 1702, by the following soldiers, viz. : " William Tyng, Lieutenant, John Bowers, Ser-
* His father, the Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Billerica, had received from his father, the Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Lynn, an extensive tract of land in Dunsta- ble, and this was probably the reason of his coming to live in the town.
3
34
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1704
geant, Joseph Butterfield, Drummer, John Spalding, John Cummings, Joseph Hassell, Ebenezer Spalding, Daniel Galu- sha, Paul Fletcher, Samuel French, Thomas Lund, Jonathan Tyng, Lieut .- Colonel."
During the month of August, 1703, the French and Indians assaulted various settlements along the northeastern frontier, and either killed or led into captivity more than two hundred people. In consequence of these aggressions the government offered a reward of £40 for every Indian scalp brought in. Capt. John Tyng, with a small band of followers, proceeded to Pequawket, through the deep snows of winter in 1703-4, and succeeded in obtaining five scalps, for which he received £200. He was the oldest son of the brave Col. Jonathan Tyng, and had grown up in immediate contact with the Indians, and in August, 1710, was waylaid and killed by them.
In the early part of this war Mr. Robert Parris, his wife and oldest daughter, were massacred by the enemy. His two other daughters escaped by creeping into a hogshead in the cellar and remaining quietly concealed until the savages had left the house. One of them afterwards married Mr. Goffe, father of the celebrated Col. John Goffe .*
On the 3d of November, 1704, the sum of £24 was ordered by the General Court to Jonathan Tyng, Esq., for building four block houses on the Merrimack River, "one in Billerica, two in Chelmsford, and one in Dunstable." }
In a petition of William Tyng to the General Court, Nov. 18, 1704, he says :-
" That just before the Mischief was done at Lancaster yor Petitioner was in Boston & by his Excellency was ordered down forthwith to his Post, to go by Dunstable & thence to Lancaster which yor Petitioner accordingly did, and rode thither upon his own Horse which he turned into a pasture there, & the next morning the Horse was by the Indians taken out of the said pasture & driven into the woods where they killed & ate the sd Horse. And farther yor Petitioner showeth that one John Spalding who was a soldier under his command was killed in that action, & his gun taken by the Indians, & he being a very good soldier (tho' a youth) & the gun being his ffathers who is very poor - yor Petitioner therefore humbly prays this great & General Assembly to take the prem-
* Farmer and Moore's Historical Collections, p. 306.
t Massachusetts Archives, Vol. LXXI, p. 83.
35
1142861 A SURPRISE.
1706]
ises into consideration & that he may have such satisfaction & recompents made him for the loss of his Horse and the ffather of the young man for the loss of his Gun as this great & Generous Assembly shall Deem meet, - and yor Petitioner shall ever pray.
"WM. TYNG."
He petitioned the Court again, June 26, 1705, for pay for expenses of his march to Norridgewock the preceding winter, where he lost several men, among whom was Eleazer Parker, who left a widow and several children .*
Among those taken captive in this war were Richard Has- sell, son of Joseph Hassell, Samuel Butterfield,; who was; cruelly treated, and who killed one of the Indians after being; captured, and Samuel Whiting, son of the Rev Samuel Whit- ing, of Billerica. He made his escape from Canada, whither he had been carried, and in consequence of wounds and suffer -. ings, received in June, 1713, a grant of f10 from the Assembly.
On the night of the 3d of July, 1706, a party of two hundred and seventy Mohawk Indians suddenly assaulted a garrison house,¿ in which Capt. Pearson, of Rowley, and twenty of his " troopers," who had been ranging the woods, were posted. The company was taken by surprise, for the door had been left open and no watch appointed. Mr. Cummings and his wife, it is said, had gone out at the close of the day for milk- ing, when the Indians shot Mrs. Cummings dead, wounded
* See Massachusetts Archives.
t John Shepley, of Groton, petitioned the General Court, Oct. 25, 1704, for some compensation for killing an Indian from a party of about twenty, who, taking advantage of the absence of the troops, made an assault upon some men who were reaping or warding in a field at Groton. In his petition Mr. Shepley says : " The sd Indians made several shott at the English, but amongst the rest, one lusty stout Indian with a Holland shirt on ran about 8 or 10 Rodd side by side with yr Petitioner & the other 3 men in his company, about 10 Rodd to the right hand of them when he upon us, and as soon as he had fired yor Petitioner fired, being loaded with a slugg & another of the company at the same time fired a bullet at him whereupon the sd Indian fell down and cryd out : Those men 3 of our first Company killed or carryd away. Afterwards ye sd Indian was found dead & a slugg & Bullet in his Body, his scalp being sent up to his Excellency by Major Taylor."
The General Court, Oct. 27, 1704, granted £4 to John Shepley, and the same sum to Samuel Butterfield, "who, this House is informed, did assist in the killing of the Indian mentioned in the petition." (Massachusetts Archives, XXX, 496, 497.)
¿ Probably that of John Cummings, which stood on the right hand of the road from Dunstable to Tyngsborough, about one half-mile from the former place.
36
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1706
her husband and took him captive. Rushing into the house, they were amazed to find it filled with soldiers, as these in turn were astonished to see themselves thus suddenly in the presence of the savages. After a bloody fight, during which several of Capt. Pearson's men were either killed or wounded, the savages attacked and burned the house of Daniel Galusha, a Dutchman, living on Salmon Brook. Here one woman was killed, and another made her escape from the flames by loosen- ing the stones around a small window, pressing herself through it, and concealing herself in the underbrush until the enemy had withdrawn. It appears, also, that a party of these Indians on the same fatal day entered the garrison house of Nathaniel Blanchard, and murdered himself, his wife Lydia, his daughter Susannah, and also Mrs. Hannah Blanchard. These tragic events are but thus briefly noticed in the records of the town : -
" Nathaniel Blanchard dyed on July the 3rd at night, 1706. Lydia Blanchard, wife of Nathaniel Blanchard, and Susannah Blanchard, daughter of Nath'l Blanchard, dyed on July 3rd at night in the year 1706. Mrs. Hannah Blanchard dyed on July the 3rd at night in the year 1706. Goody Cummings, the wife of John Cummings, dyed on July the 3rd at night. Rachael Galusha died on July the 3d, 1706."
What terrible days and nights were these! The Rev. John Pike, of Dover, wrote in his journal, " The whole number said to have been slain in Dunstable at this time was nine persons."
The celebrated Joe English was shot by the enemy near Holden's Brook on the 27th of July of the same year. He and another soldier were acting as a guard to Capt. Butterfield and his wife, who were making a journey through what is now Tyngsborough. The Indians shot the horse on which these people were riding, and then taking Mrs. Butterfield captive, while her husband made his escape, pursued Joe English, firing upon him as he attempted to gain a woody covert until he fell, wounded and exhausted, into their unpity- ing hands. Knowing the exquisite torture to which they would subject him, he at once provoked them by some taunt- ing words to anger, when they immediately despatched him with their tomahawks. His widow and two children received a grant of money from the government because " he died in the service of his country." He was daring, intelligent, of manly
37
HOUSES FORTIFIED.
1711]
bearing, and always faithful to the English people. His grand- father was Masconnomet, Sagamore of Agawam, now Ipswich.
During this long, and, to the colonists, exhausting war, the few families of Dunstable lived in garrison houses ; that is, dwelling-houses surrounded with palisades, or with a wall of stone or timber rising to the roof Through this wall there was a gate made of plank and secured with iron bolts. Port- holes were made in various places, and the underbrush was cleared away from the vicinity of the garrison in order that the approach of the enemy might be seen.
Ensign Farwell, Thomas Lund, and Joseph Blanchard, se- lectmen in 1710, petitioned the Assembly for aid in supporting the ministry ; and in 1711, the selectmen, Joseph Farwell, John Cummings, and Joseph Blanchard, received fio from the Assembly towards the payment of the salary of Mr. Parris .*
In the year 1711 there were seven fortified houses in Dun- stable, and they were named as follows :- +
No. of
Families.
No. of
Males.
No. of
Soldiers.
Total.
I. Col. Jonathan Tyng's
I
I
6
8
2. Mr. Henry Farwell's
3
3
2
28
3. Mr. John Cummings's .
2
2
2
21
4. Col. Samuel Whiting's
3
O
I
8
5. Mr. Thomas Lund's
I 1
.6. Queen's Garrison
2
I
4
2I
7. Mr. John Sollendine's .
I
O
4
Total .
13
7
19
86
The people, now reduced to this small number, lived in con- stant dread of the lurking and insidious foe. They spent much of their time shut up in the garrisons, and but little improvement was made in the aspect of the town. They
* Massachusetts Archives, Vol. II, p. 326.
t See Massachusetts Records, Military, 1711.
38
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1715
dressed in plain garments of their own making ; they lived on frugal fare, and had but slender opportunity for the cultivation of their minds. They carried the loaded musket with them as they ventured forth to labor in the fields ; they carried it with them to the church. They had but little time for tillage, but little land in tilth ; their crops were consequently very slen- der, and they themselves most sadly destitute of the common supplies of life. Had not fish, game, nuts, and berries been abundant, they must have been compelled to relinquish the lands which had been granted to them and to return into the older settlements.
But peace was at length insured by the treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 1713 ; the doors of the garrisons at Dunstable were thrown open, and the hope of general prosperity began again to animate the breasts of the people. The town rapidly in- creased in numbers. Some of the large tracts of lands, origi- nally granted, were sold in sections for the accommodation of small farmers, and other inducements were held out for increasing the number of the inhabitants.
At the time of the death of the Rev. Mr. Weld, the town was so reduced in respect to population as to be unable then to settle another minister. In a petition to the General Court, March 8, 1703-4, it is said that the inhabitants " can never hear a sermon without travelling more than twelve miles from their principal post." In answer to this petition, which was signed by Samuel Whiting, William Tyng, and Joseph Blanchard, selectmen, the Court granted £20 towards the support of the ministry. The Rev. Samuel Hunt, H. C. 1700, supplied the pulpit for many months, until April 23, 1707, when he was dismissed to go as chaplain to Port Royal. The Rev. Samuel Parris, in whose family the Salem witchcraft commenced by the accusation of Tituba in 1692, began to preach in Dunstable as early as Oct. I of the year ensuing, and he remained here about four years.
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