USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Lancaster > History of the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts : from the first settlement to the present time, 1643-1879 > Part 18
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The letter which follows is of no great historical impor- tance, but it gives a glimpse of things at Louisburg after the capture of the city and fortress. It is dated October 2,. 1745, and is addressed to Gov. Shirley.
" This is to inform your excellency that my regiment is not. settled so as to be in any capacity of doing duty, as they ought to do ; and it is by reason of the company's being very much broke. And in order for the settlement of the com- panies in my regiment, and for the peace and quietness of the soldiers, I shall take it as a great favor done to me, if your- excellency would see cause to commission those gentlemen hereafter named : John Huston, James Fry, John Fry, Na- thaniel Pettengill, to be the officers over the men that belong to Lt. Col. Chandler's company, and Capt. James Stevens' company. Jonathan Hubbard, Benajah Austin, and Elisha Strong to be officers over the men belonging to Major Pom- roy's company, and Capt. Miller's. Ephraim Hayward, and John Bell and Dudley Bradstreet to be officers over the men that are left of Capt. Warren's company, and Capt. Olm- sted's. In so doing you will oblige your most obedient and. humble servant."
223
CAPTIVITY OF MR. JOHN FITCH AND FAMILY.
After his return from Louisburg Col. Willard was engaged in the public service till the close of the war. Through the dim twilight of the past, we catch here and there a glimpse of him, riding to and fro amid primeval forests in search of the skulking enemy. Between March and October, 1748, he was scouting westward through Nashewog, [Petersham] Payquage, [Athol] and Rutland, with men bearing Lancas- ter names. July 19, he wrote to Capt. White : "Hearing repeated accounts of the Indians shooting, and being track- ed above you, you are hereby directed to send six able-bodied men to scout constantly above Lunenburg and Leominster until further order. Yours to serve." The party probably consisted of the following men : Capt. Jonathan White, Joseph Beaman, Oliver Carter, Gershom Houghton, Na- thaniel Carter, Joshua Walker. They were out till the twelfth of August.
The active colonel seems to have extended his scouting as far as Fort Dummer, whence he wrote as follows : July 15, four days preceding the date of the last order. The letter is addressed to Gov. Dummer. " Our circumstances have become most difficult and melancholy,-the enemy are so numerous and constantly around us. They take up abode among us. They came to Ashuelots and killed ten or eleven cattle, and carried off almost all. They waylaid nineteen soldiers between Northfield and Fort Dummer, and only two or three got in." He writes also of the distressed condition of Northfield and Winchester. His soldiers were too few to guard the fort and to furnish necessary scouts.
In February, 1748-9, the Indians came into the north- western part of Lunenburg, and killed two soldiers, Jen- nings and Blodgett, who were stationed there. They carried into captivity Mr. John Fitch and his family. Whitney's History states that this took place in the summer, but ac- cording to the Records, Col. Samuel Willard, February 2, sent Capt. Jonathan Willard, on hearing the " extroydnery news of Mr. Fitch's family being taken from Lunenburg by
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
the enemy." The Indians escaped with their captives, but Mr. Fitch and all his family except his wife, who died in Canada, after suffering "incredible hardships and fatigues, returned in safety." The men who scouted under Col. Willard's command in July and August, bore the following names, many of them familiar to Lancaster :
Jonathan Willard, Samuel Stow, Ezekiel Wyman,
Jonathan Page,
Samuel Pool, Samuel Johnson,
Timothy Bancroft,
Thomas Stearns, Zachary Wyman,
William Porter,
John Dunsmore, Isaac Gibson,
Amos Kendall,
David Goodridge,
Nehemiah Gould,
Ephraim Kimball,
Thomas Brown,
Paul Wetherby.
Ebenezer Kimball, J. Wood,
The war was now drawing to its close, nor did Col. Willard long survive. His death occurred suddenly, at Lancaster, in November, 1752, when he was in the sixty-third year of his age. He seems to have inherited much of the ability, public spirit and military capacity of his grandfather, Major Simon Willard. He was the son of Henry Willard and Dorcas Cutter ; his wife was Elizabeth Phelps, daughter of Edward Phelps, who came to Lancaster before the close of the seventeenth century ; and his connections were with the first families in this section of the province. He had been a member of the church from his youth, as his name is sub- scribed to the Covenant which was renewed in 1707, when he was seventeen years old. He filled an honorable place in the annals of the town, and left the legacy of a good name to his children.
During a long series of years there was an intimate con- nection between Lancaster and Fort Dummer. The connec- tion began prior to the old French war, and continued till after its close ; but it will be convenient to give a connected narrative of this episode in our town's history in this place.
Fort Dummer was located in what is now Brattleborough, Vermont. It was in the southeast corner of the present town, about a mile and a half from the village. The fort was on the river bank, just above the reach of the high floods
225
FORT DUMMER.
which often overflow the broad intervale between the river and the plateau which rises on the west. The house of Mr. Wells S. Brooks [1877] stands on the site of the fort. The situation was admirably chosen for commanding the river both above and below. The modern visitor is not attracted to the spot by its historic interest, merely, but charmed by the beauty of the scenery, mingling intervale and river, plateau and mountain, adorned with every variety of foliage.
The fort was built in the year 1723-4, by the Province of Massachusetts, and named after the acting Governor, Wil- liam Dummer. The work was done by Lieut. Timothy Dwight of Northampton, under the command of Col. Stod- dard. The enclosure was one hundred and eighty feet square. The eastern side of the fort was close upon the river bank, which descends steeply to the water side. Remains of the foundation can still be found in piles of stone. The fort was built of large yellow pine logs, squared on two sides, and locked or framed together at the angles. It had mounts, or square towers, from fourteen to twenty feet high, made of heavy timbers framed and boarded up; and the upper story was planked. These were for sentries or watchmen.
There was a row of houses built on the inside, against the wall, with a single roof sloping outward. There are wells now within the space enclosed, and probably were when the fort was first occupied. Water could be easily obtained from the river, subject however to the danger of Indian shots from the eastern bank. This old fort was doubtless known to the scouts of Lancaster, as we know that Capt. John White and others who went scouting to the north of New Hampshire, used to return by the Connecticut river, and Northfield, as the region was then called, before the town was reduced to its present limits.
In the time of the Spanish war, 1740-1, the fort was re- paired, -in a sense, rebuilt. Two bastions were added, on which two swivels and two other guns were mounted. At this time four houses, each two stories high, were erected, besides several smaller houses containing a single room.
15
226
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
Four depressions in the ground, within the circuit of the fort, still show where the four larger houses stood. At this time a line of pickets or palisades was extended round eight acres of land, enclosing the fort on three sides, and connecting with the fort on the east, or river side. These pickets were twenty feet high, and enclosed land enough to supply the garrison with a large quantity of the necessaries of life.
During the long interval of peace preceding the Spanish war, the fort seems to have been neglected ; but the exigen- cies of this war, and of the French and Indian war, 1745-8, caused it to be strengthened. Another fort was built at Will- iamstown, called Fort Massachusetts, or No. 2. These two forts, with a chain of block-houses, several miles apart, from Fort Dummer to Dunstable, formed a barrier below which the enemy seldom came after the middle of the century. Charles- town was styled No. 4, and the region from Keene to Hinsdale was called the Ashuelots, because it bordered the Ashuelot river. Northfield was on both sides of the river, and included Gill and the Vernons, as far north as Fort Dummer, and per- haps Brattleboro'.
From the year 1740, Fort Dummer appears to have been a Lancaster "institution." Kept in repair, armed and manned by Massachusetts, it was under the special charge of men born and bred in Lancaster, and the adjoining towns. In 1740, between May 21 and November 20, we find Col. Josiah Willard, and his son Capt. Josiah Willard, jr., with a small complement of men at the fort. Another bit of record proves that they were there till the following March. This Josiah Willard was a son of Henry and grandson of Major Simon Willard, and a brother of Col. Samuel Willard, the hero of Louisburg. The famous "good Secretary," Josiah Willard, was his cousin. Col. Josiah was born in Lancaster in 1693, and about 1723, married Hannah, daughter of John, and granddaughter of the first Thomas Wilder. He removed to Lunenburg, but continued for many years to attend meet- ing in his native town, where several if not all of his children
227
THE DISGUISED INDIAN.
were baptised. He was a captain and led expeditions against the Indians, while yet a young man. When a commander was needed at Fort Dummer, he was sent to that post, and his name, or that of his children appears in connection with the fort during fifteen years. For example, Capt. Josiah Willard, jr., and his brother Nathan, afterwards captain, were at the fort in 1742. Repeated entries show that Josiah Wil- lard, - father or son, or both, - was at Fort Dummer be- tween 1745 and 1748. Letters, bills, receipts and orders, preserved in the State Archives are the evidence. During these years there was need of constant vigilance, as the In- dians were on the watch to break in at any unguarded hour. Scouts were sent out frequently to scour the woods in search of the enemy. In May, 1746, the French and Indians at- tacked No. 4, in considerable force, and "were driven off by the spirited behavior of Major Willard, at the head of a small party of soldiers."
Major Josiah Willard was at the fort from February 1 to July 12, 1748, with the following men under his command : Lieut. John Sergeant, Sergeant and Lieut. Nathan Willard, Sergeant William Willard, Joseph Willard, Wilder Willard, Andrew Gardner, chaplain ; Simon Willard ; Oliver Willard, clerk. Four of these Willards were brothers of the Major, and sons of the colonel. In these days the colonel would be liable to the charge of nepotism.
On the fourteenth of July, 1748, Sergeant Taylor was marching up the east side of the river, when his party of sixteen men were attacked by a company of ambushed In- dians, and four men were killed. One escaped, and by run- ning along the east bank of the river, reached a point oppo- site the fort. He was saved; the rest were missing.
At another time the Indians came near capturing the fort by an ingenious ruse. The side of Chesterfield mountain, op- posite the fort, was covered with dense woods, with opening intervals. One day an Indian, disguised as a bear, was seen on the hill-side, and the occupants of the fort were tempted
228
HISTORY OF LANCASTER ..
to cross the river and pursue him. Bruin seeing them ap- proach, withdrew gradually up the mountain, while his com- rades were watching to make a rush for the fort; and it is said that the trick was discovered only just in time to foil the enemy.
The same hill-side was fruitful in strawberries, and when the families residing in the fort ventured over the river to pick them, they were liable to attack from Indians who came down from the inaccessible wilds that extend far to the east and north. At times also it was unsafe to get water from the river, the Indians sending dangerous shots, from bow or gun, from the bushes on the eastern bank. In 1748, Janu- ary 5, Col. Samuel Willard, having been informed by Capt. Stevens, of No. 4, who also was of Lancaster stock, being a grandson of Major Simon Willard, that Indians were coming between the rivers, [probably the Connecticut and Merrimac, ] sent out a detachment to meet the enemy. Sergeant James Houghton was leader of the party, and he was followed by John Wilder, Asa Whitcomb, afterwards colonel in the French war, and the Revolution, Hezekiah Whitcomb, John Hidley, Joseph Kilborn, Nathan Burpee, and Jonathan Powers.
From July 7 to 12, 1748, the following men were in some public service, but whether scouting between Lancaster and Fort Dummer, or in some other direction, it is impossible to determine. The names are given because most of the men be- longed to this town. Capt. Ephraim Wilder, jr., Lieut. John Whitcomb, of Bolton ; cornet Hezekiah Gates ; qr. ms. Heze- kiah Whitcomb; corporals Nathan Wilder, Samuel Burpee and Thomas Fairbanks ; sentinels or soldiers, Thomas Sawyer, Aaron Dresser, Ebenezer Buss, William Richardson, Elijah Sawyer, Ephraim Osgood, Stephen Johnson, James House, Joseph Rugg, Hezekiah Ballard, John Dupee, John Farrar, Hezekiah Hunt, Phineas Willard, Abijah Houghton, John Prentice. John Whitcomb became distinguished in the next French war, and in the Revolution. Several other names
229
DEATH OF COL. JOSIAH WILLARD.
in the above list, reappear in later years, in honorable ser- vice. This Capt. Ephraim Wilder scouted in 1746 in the western towns as far as Athol, and perhaps to the river. Capt. Samuel, son of Col. Willard, was in the public service from March to October 1848.
In 1749 Col. Josiah Willard was at the fort, and his son now major, was in the Ashuelot country. In December of this year, he petitioned for pay as sub-commissary for all the forts, and garrisons, and marching forces on the line of the Prov- ince since the commencement of the war. The next year, the colonel died when on a journey from home, in his fifty- eighth year. He was a man of high character, and in his private and public capacity, sustained a good reputation. Willard quotes from a public journal as follows. "He was grandson to the renowned Major Simon Willard, and was a gentleman of superior natural powers, of a pleasant, happy and agreeable temper of mind; a faithful friend; one that paid singular regard to ministers of the gospel ; a kind hus- band and tender parent. His death is a great loss to the public, considering his usefulness in many respects, particu- larly on the western frontiers, where, in the late wars, in his be-trustments, he has shown himself faithful, vigilant and careful. Of late years he has had the command of Fort Dummer, and always used his best endeavors for the protec- tion of our exposed infant towns ; and his loss will be greatly regretted by them." He was succeeded in the command of the fort by his son, Lt. Col., now become Col. Willard, to whom the secretary wrote, "I heartily join with you and your family in mourning for the death of your father, esteem- ing it a great public loss."
In 1750 Col. Josiah Willard, jr., had under his command at the fort the following men :
Lieuts. Nathan and William Willard, Oliver and Simon Willard, Moses Wheeler, John Alexander, Ebenezer Alexander, Daniel Sergeant, Simeon Knight, Wilder Willard, Valentine Butler, Fairbanks Moor, John Sergeant, Elias Alexander, John Moor, Nathan Fairbanks.
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
The same force was continued in 1751, with slight changes of men.
The fort appears to have been in the hands of the Willard family during the interval between the old and the last French and Indian wars. The latter began in 1755, when we find Capt. Nathan Willard in command with the following men : Will- iam, Oliver, Wilder and Joseph Willard, Jacob Ball, John Sergeant, and Uriah Morse. It was during the command of Capt. Nathan that complaints of his mal-adminstration reached the general court. The fort had been in charge of the family so long, that possibly the younger sons of Col. Wil- lard presumed to manage matters for their own benefit and pleasure. Nor is this singular, taking human nature as it is in all ages and generations of men. As early as 1740, when the fort was in a defenceless condition, and the Indians were hostile, the senior Col. Willard, offered, with those under him, at their own expense, "to put the garrison into a posi- tion of defence, and erect two sufficient bastions," if the government would furnish the materials. From that time the fort appears to have been the home of the sons, and it is quite possible that they became careless and grasping in their mode of doing things. However this may have been, such was the opinion of others in and about the fort. Capt. Fairbank Moore and ten others, made complaint to the gen- eral court, while Nathan was the superior officer, that the de- fence of the place was neglected ; that guns were left in ex- posed places, and were growing rusty ; that the locks were in one place and the stocks in another ; and generally that the state of affairs was very much out of order. They go on to state that the Willards were false to the Province, and ready to swear in favor of New Hampshire ; that they sold stores to outsiders ; that in addition to the number of soldiers allowed, he had put in Oliver and Wilder Willard ; that there were four large houses in the fort, and he had given each of the Willards one, and taken a fifth to himself, and turned all the rest of the families into two small rooms, and finally, that the Wil-
231
EXPOSED CONDITION OF THE FORT.
lards had appropriated all the lands to themselves, allowing but a small garden spot to the rest of the soldiers. The com- plaint is in the Archives, but there is no record of any action by the general court, in reference to the matter. The proba- bility is that the authorities in Massachusetts had confidence in their men. In 1755, Capt. Willard represented his ex- posed condition to the court. During the summer, nineteen persons had been killed near the fort by the Indians, who " were constantly lurking in the woods around and near." If attacked, he said, the fort "must fall." Partial relief was granted. The next year another petition was presented, and a few more soldiers were added to his force.
The fort had now become a kind of thoroughfare, soldiers constantly going and coming between the Province and the frontiers by lakes George and Champlain. During the last French war, troops passed up through the routes by No. 4, Fort Dummer, and Fort Massachusetts, to meet the enemy on and near the lakes, and thus Fort Dummer was often crowd- ed with passing soldiers, while the war was removed to a greater distance. By degrees, as the country was settled, and the seat of conflict was changed, and the Indians were driven far to the north and west, the need of Fort Dummer became less pressing. Soon all interest in it became histori- cal. But whatever interest attached to the locality, as con- nected with Indian wars, or with the sad fortunes of Mrs. Rowlandson, its history has a peculiar connection with the town of Lancaster. Fort Dummer closed the path by which the French and Indians came down from the north in the year 1704, and assaulted Lancaster ; and it was fitly manned by her soldiers.
CHAPTER XI.
THE CHURCH DURING THE MINISTRY OF REV. JOHN PRENTICE.
THE settlement of Mr. Prentice in 1708 was followed by a long, harmonious and successful pastorate. The Covenant renewed by the church at the beginning of his ministry re- mained unchanged. The only change in the manner of ad- mitting to the church, made in 1734, allowed a written instead of an oral relation of experience and confession of faith, at the option of the candidate. Mr. Prentice must have had enduring qualities, which enabled him, during a long term of years, to keep his hold of the confidence and esteem of his people. In this, however, he was aided by the habitual respect for the ministry which characterized our fathers. He was a native of Newton, and was the son of Thomas and Mary [Staunton] Prentice. The father, (together with Capt. Thomas Prentice, who had been a " brave and distinguished commander of a corps of cavalry in Philip's war," and another relative of the same name,) is famed, by tradition as one of Oliver Cromwell's body guard. As he died in 1722 at the great age of ninety-three, he was eleven years old, at the outbreak of the revolution of 1640 ; and had reached the age of twenty-nine, at the time of the Protector's death. Mr. Prentice, the minister, was admitted to the church, in New- ton, March 14, 1708, and dismissed the same day. His re- lation was then, according to the conjecture of the historian Willard, transferred to the church in Lancaster, over which he was ordained on Monday, March 29, 1708. Among his classmates at Cambridge, where he took his first degree in 1700, we find the names of Winthrop, Bradstreet, Hooker,
232
233
INCREASE OF POPULATION.
Whiting, and Robert Breck. Probably he had preached in other places before coming hither. Perhaps his marriage with Mrs. Gardner, the widow of his predecessor, conciliated the good will of his parishioners.
Before giving in brief detail the incidents of his ministry, it will be well to glance at the state of his parish, and get some notion of the families to whom he ministered. A tax list made out in the last year of his life, helps us in our in- vestigation.
The town was still agitated by the later horrors of queen Anne's war. The church had been twice bereaved, within a few years, of two excellent and esteemed ministers. But the war soon came to a close, and with the exception of Lovewell's war, was followed by a lasting peace. The breach caused by the death of Messrs. Whiting and Gardner, was healed by the acceptable and permanent ministrations of their successor.
At the same time, population was beginning to increase rapidly, not only by the excess of births over deaths, but by the coming of families from the eastern towns. If the people had increased from about three hundred and sixty in the spring of 1708, to four hundred and fifty before the close of 1711, as was computed in a former chapter, Mr. Prentice soon had a large congregation, and an extensive parish. There is no reason for doubting that the ratio of increase continued substantially as above for a period of twenty-five years, when the population of this town was lessened by the formation of Harvard. In rapid succession, Bolton includ- ing Berlin, and Leominster were incorporated. The process was completed by 1742, leaving the old town somewhat re- duced in numbers. Still there were more people in Lancas- ter in 1749 than in 1711, as is proved by a tax list for the year 1749. In an old book are found the "Province Rate " and the "Town and County Rate" for 1749 and the two following years. The Province Rate including " Polls, Real Estate and Personal Estate," numbers about one hundred
234
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
and five names. The list includes two or three widows, and probably a few minors. Supposing the minors who paid a poll tax were ten, there would be left about ninety-five families ; and allowing five and a half souls to a family, the population would amount to five hundred and twenty-five. In 1751 the "Province Rate " contains one hundred and thirty- five names, including widows and taxable minors. This (making the proper deduction for minors,) would give as the total population not far from six hundred and sixty, or an increase of one hundred and thirty five in two years. This seems incredible, at first sight, but it must be remem- bered that this was the period between the two French and Indian wars. When the war of 1745 closed, there was a rush of settlers from nearly all the lower towns towards the interior. Many of the towns west of Lancaster witnessed incipient efforts at settlement just at this time. Things were so unsettled however that these settlements went on slowly. Some of them were abandoned till after the battle of Quebec in 1759. But Lancaster was, ever after the old French and Indian war of 1745-8, so far from the frontier that it was considered secure. This may account, in part, for the rapid increase of the population. Besides, the estimates must be taken with many grains of allowance. There is no exact way of finding the number of souls in any town or country but by actual enumeration. The ratio of individuals to a family is subject to some variations, and the tax lists are not always correct. It will be safe to say that there were, in 1751, about six hundred and fifty people, in the town, includ- ing the second precinct, or Sterling.
A list of the names of those taxed in 1751 will show the families which made up the congregation of Mr. Prentice till the year 1742, (when the church in Sterling was formed) which was only five years before his death. It contains the names of some of the thirty-three male members who renewed the Covenant in 1708; as Joseph Wilder, Samuel Willard, and probably others. Some were children when Mr. Prentice
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