USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Manchester > History of the town of Manchester, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1645-1895 > Part 5
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1626. William Allen.
Richard Norman. John Norman. William Jeffrey.
1629.
John Black.
1636. Robert Leach. Samuel Archer. Seargent Wolf. John More. George Norton. John Sibley.
1637. Jolın Pickworth. John Galley. William Bennet. Pasco Foote. Thomas Chubbs.
1640. John Friend. William Walton. James Standish. Benjamin Parmiter.
Robert Allen. Edmond Grover.
Rev. Ralph Smith.
1650. Henry Lee. William Everton. Graves. Josephi Pickworth. Nicholas Vincent. John Kettle. Robert Knight.
1651. Robert Isabell. Nath'l Marsterson. Richard Norman.
1654. Thomas Millett.
1660. Moses Maverick. Samuel Allen. John Blackleeche. 1662.
- Pitts. John Elithope.
1664. John Crowell.
1665. John West.
1666. Richard Glass. Rev. John Winborn.
1667. Thomas Bishop. Jenkins Williams.
1668. Oneciphorus Allen.
1670. William Hooper. Nich. Woodberry.
1674. Ambrose Gale. Commit Marston. Elodius Raynolds. John Mason. James Pittman.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
1680.
1684.
1687.
John Lee. William Hosham.
John Norton.
Samuel Lee.
John Foster.
William Allen.
Isaac Whitcher.
Mark Tucker.
Thomas Ayhairse.
John Gardner.
John Knowlton.
Eliab Littlefield.
Robert Leach.
Emanuel Day.
Richard Leatherer.
John Marston.
Elisha Reynolds.
Thos. Tewkesbury. Joseph Woodberry.
John Bishop. Samuel Crowell.
Thomas Ross. James Pitman.
Rev. John Everleth.
Samuel Allen.
Robert Knight, Jr.
Rev. John Emerson.
Manassa Marston.
Epharam Jones.
John Burt.
Walter Parmiter.
John Allen.
Jonas Smith.
James Rivers.
Aaron Bennett.
Felix Monroe.
TABLE OF PRICES.
1657-1661.
Negro Boy
$20.
Swine 20s.
Cow
3.
Cord of Wood
1s.
Horse
10. Yoke of steers £10.
Ox .
5.
Otter skin
10s.
1755-1760.
Indian Corn,
6s. per bu.
Wood, £4 to £4, 15s. 1 per cord.
Rve, 6s. per bu.
Cider, £1, 10s. to £21 per bbl.
Wheat,
10s. per bu.
Eggs, 3s. 6d. per doz.
Pork, 7d. per lb.
Cheese, 4s. per lb.
Beef, 3d. per lb.
Chocolate,
11s. per lb.
Potatoes, 5s. to 17s. per bu.
Wool, 1s. per lb.
Hemp & Flax, 1s. per lb.
Salt, £1, 17s.1 per bu.
Sugar, 5s. 1 per 1b.
Bread, 19s. per cwt.
Iron, £4 per cwt.
Codfish, £1, 10s. to £2, 10s.1 per quintal.,
Turpentine, £2 per bbl.
Laborers, 7s. to 15s. per day. 1 Old Tenor.
MURRAY HOUSE.
CHAPTER V. THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.
" Wise, and brave, and virtuous men are always friends to liberty."
A THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE, Dr. Jona. Mayhew, Boston, 1766. " What constitutes a State ? Not high-raised battlement or labor'd mound, Thick wall or moated gate ; * No : - Men, high-minded Men, * *
Men who their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain ; * * These constitute a State."
Sir William Jones.
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CHAPTER V.
THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.
GATHERING CLOUDS - THE STORM - "FAINT YET PURSUING " - DAYS OF DARKNESS - INVENTORIES - ROMANTIC GLEAMS -THE INSURGENTS - "THE GREAT SICKNESS" - BELIEFS AND MISBELIEFS -"HEROES OF '76."
T HE period which now passes under review in- cludes the War of the Revolution with the causes which more immediately led up to it, and the more immediate results of that struggle for independence. It may be said to begin about the year 1760, and to close about 1800. These four decades were a time of momentous and stirring in- terest. The period of repose which followed the peace of Aix-la-chapelle was not long to continue. The memories of the French war were still fresh in the mind ; the men who fought with Amherst and Abercrombie had hardly beaten their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks ; the exploits of the "Rangers " still formed the theme of many an evening gathering around the wide-mouthed chimney-place, - when ominous signs of an approaching conflict with England appeared in the horizon.
69
70
HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
It were a weary and profitless task to trace all the causes which led up to the War of the Revolu- tion. Successive acts of oppression on the part of the British ministry, matched by a growing spirit of independence on the part of the Colonists, prepared the way for the open rupture. Had Lord North's administration been more politic, had the elder Pitt's counsels been heeded, America might have remained a loyal dependence of the British crown. But with an infatuation that seems difficult of explanation, the whole legislation of the mother country seemed contrived to alienate the affections of her children, and to drive them from her side. The iron hand was not covered with the velvet glove. Gradually at first, and then more swiftly, complications multi- plied. Troops sent to enforce the decrees of the King in Council and to support arbitrary Provincial Governors were quartered upon the people; exaction after exaction strained to the utmost tension the relations between the two parties,1 until it was evi- dent that a conflict was inevitable. The jus divinum of kingship had never been an article of the Puritan creed. The men who had settled America were acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in action, full of resources ; they could " augur misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze." 2 It has been said of them that they had a "high constructive instinct, raising them above
1 The feeling towards England felt by many at this time is illustrated by a story told by Capt. Thomas Leach of his grandfather, Ezekiel Leach, who told his children one day as they were going to school, if the teacher asked them to spell " England," not to do it.
2 Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America, 1775.
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THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.
their age, and above themselves." John Adams gave utterance to a general conviction, when he declared in the Congress of 1775 : " No assembly ever had a greater number of great objects before them ; prov- inces, nations, empires are small things before us." 1
In all the hitherto passive resistance to British oppression, Massachusetts had taken the lead ; her position as a champion of liberty had been recog- nized. Even three-quarters of a century before a contemporary writer had said, " All the frame of heaven moves upon one axis, and the whole of New England's interest seems designed to be loaded on one bottom; and the particular motions to be con- centric to the Massachusetts tropic. You know who are wont to trot after the Bay horse." ?
When things had come to such a pass that it was felt that forbearance was no longer a virtue, the col- onies began to appoint Committees of Safety and Correspondence, and to unite for consultation and mutual assistance. The year 1775 dawned with a dark and troubled sky ; the spirit of resistance was fairly aroused ; no one could foretell just where or how the crisis would come, but men "stood still with aweful eye," and in the silence that precedes the storm watched to see the curtain rise.
Our interest is in the humble part which Man- chester played in this great drama. Year after year the records are chiefly occupied with local municipal
1 Life and Works of John Adams, vol. I, p. 170.
2 Letter of Mr. Wiswall to Governor Hinckley, Nov. 5, 1691. Instances of punning like this are exceedingly rare in the writings of the Puritan age. Our fathers were not without their humor, grim as it sometimes was, but it found expression in other ways.
72
HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
matters, as the " asessing of Rates," " Releife of The Poor," settling of Bounds, raising money to " suport the Hy Ways," voting of appropriations for a " Gramer Choole," directing the selectmen to " Care for those who should Behave themselves disorderly in ye Meeting-house by leaving their Seats and tak- ing others," electing " Haywards and Deer Reaves," and such other business as came " Legaly before the Meeting." But with the historic year, 1775, matters of wider and more public concernment began to find place in the records. Among these are the appoint- ment of Committees of Correspondence, establish- ment of " watches," voting of bounties, and various acts respecting requisitions for the Army, which were sometimes granted and sometimes refused, raising of quotas, appeals to the General Court for abatement of taxes, and dealing with " Internal Enemies."
It was a "storm and stress " period, and not all who were of Puritan ancestry, whose progenitors had fought at Naseby and Marston Moor, were of the stuff to stand the strain. Besides the Tories who openly espoused the royal cause, there were others like the men of Meroz, who " came not up to the help of the Lord," to the weakening and discouragement of the patriots of Israel.1 The disturbed condition of the seaboard during the years immediately pre- ceding the Revolution may be inferred from the emigration which took place to Nova Scotia and
1 One patriotic family - so at least tradition has it - retired from their home to live for a time in the Gloucester woods; anxious probably, in ease of an invasion, to support their friends and neighbors as a sort of rear- guard.
73
THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.
New Brunswick from the eastern towns of Essex County.1 There is a tradition that many of these emigrants before leaving painted the chimneys of their houses white, with the understanding that they would be respected by the British in case of hostil- ities.
The following extracts from warrants and records of town meetings will show something of the temper and condition of the town during these " times that tried men's souls " :
Jan. 8, 1775. To Choose a Committee to agree upon a Certain sum of Money to be raised for the support of the Minute men so-called.
Mar. 20. Voted to keep four Watches : one at Glasses head or Black Cove : to Rang from Chubs Creek to Mars- ters Point one in the Center of the Town to Range from Bennetts Hill to Edward Hoopers Corner : one at the old- Neck to Rang from the Northern End of Glasses Beach to Thunder-Bolt Hill : and one at Kettle-Cove on Great Crow- Island.
May 23. Voted that if Mr Daniel Presson shall refuse to watch or do his turn in Watching that He will greatly Incur the displeasure of the Town.
July 17. Voted to Choose a Committee of Correspond- ence to consist of Nine Men.
The committee of correspondence were, John Lee, Jonathan Herrick, Samuel Forster, Jacob Hooper, Aaron Lee, John Edwards, Isaac Lee, Isaac Proctor, Eleazer Crafts.
Dr. Joseph Whipple, the first physician in Man- chester, was made captain of the Coast Guards ; the following is a copy of his orders.
1 Life of William Lloyd Garrison, vol. I, p. 2.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
" At a meeting of the Committee of Correspondence on Monday, the 25th of September, 1775.
" Captain Joseph Whipple. - As you and the half com- pany of soldiers stationed .in the town of Manchester and under the care of the Committee of Correspondence, we order you to proceed as followeth : -
" Firstly. We order you and your enlisted soldiers to meet on the Town Landing, complete in arms, as directed by the Congress, at two o'clock every day except Sunday, and to discipline your soldiers two hours and a half, and them that don't appear by half after two o'clock shall pay a fine for each default of eight pence to be taken out of their wages.
" Secondly. We order you and your soldiers to carry your arms to meeting every meeting day, according to the resolves of the Congress.
. Thirdly. We order you to keep three watches in town, two in each watch by night, and one by day. One watch on Glasshead, and one watch on Image Hill, and one on Crow Island.
" Fourthly. We order you to go the rounds two nights in each week, to see that there is a good watch kept, and in case any of them should be found deficient that they may be tried by the articles of war, as they are in the army at Cambridge.
" Fifthly. We order you to see that no night-watch leaves the watch till he is relieved by the day-watch, and no day-watch till relieved by the night-watch, and see that the watch-houses are not left destitute the day or night.
" Sixthly. We order that the Town Landing be the Laram port at all times, that in case of any alarm that the soldiers make the best of their way to the Laram port to receive orders ; except as is for Article Eighthly.
" Seventhly. We order that if any shall leave the body and not appear on parade without leave of the officers, they shall pay a fine of six shillings, to be taken out of their wages for each default.
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THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.
" Eighthly. We order that if any alarm should be at Kettle Cove that the men that are there shall keep there, and the rest to appear at the alarm post, and in case the alarm should be at Newport the men that are there shall keep there, and the rest to appear as above."
Jan. 22, 1776. Voted, Firstly to throw up Some In- trenchments In sum Convenent Place In the Town. . . . Forthly voted that the People of Town should work Two Days If they Please on said Intrenchinents.
Mar. 18. To see if the town will Choos a Standing Com- mittee of Correspondence and also To see if the Town will Choos a Committee to Petition the house of Representa- tives for this Colony to obtain Pay for the Town watch- ing.
Feb. 13, 1777.1 Voted to give to Each Person that will Inlist into the Contenental servise Fowerteen Pound Besides the Bountys Given by the Continent and Prov- inces.
Jan. 9, 1778. To Consider or Determin what Efectual meathod shall be Taken towords assesing Leveing and Col- ecting the money Paid as an Extra Bounty to those Solders who Inlisted in to the Continentel service for the terme of three years for the town of Manchester ware as some of the famelys of the solders of the Continentale Service are in a Suffering Condition and for their Emediate Releave.
Att a Town Meeting Leaguly worned for the Porpose mentinoid in the foregoing worant Voated for the Commit- tee of Supplyes to settle with the solders namely that their husbands are in the Continentale Service so Far half of their wages will go agreaible to the Price acct and Refund the over and above Surpresage.2
1 In 1777 the warrant for the town meeting began with : " In the name of the government and people of this colony" instead of " In the name of his Majesty George the Third, etc.," as before.
2 What questions of construction, interpretation and intention might arise, to the delight of lawyers, were acts so expressed in our modern legislation. But want of legal phraseology is a small affliction compared with a " government of lawyers."
·
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
April 13. Att a Town Meeting Leagully assembled In order to Consider of the forme of the Government Consti- tution and Proceeded as folloeth. . . . adjourned the Meet- ing Tell Monday 18 Day of May at 8 In the Morning and Then Meet lly Voted by the whole body at the meeting which was 23 In Number that they Disaprove of the meathod of the Constatutiant.
May 17. Voted Not to send a Representative Judging the Town as a Town Not able to Pay the charge.
[No date] 1779. Att a Towne Meeting Leagully assem- bled to Geather to see if the Town would Proceed to rais six men to Joyne the Continentall Army Voted after Long De- bate Weather The Selectmen should rais ye whole of the six men or Not it passed in the Negitive Voted Not to Rais more than two out of the six 1 Voted to Perfer a Pertishon to Generall Tidcolme 2 to Git of the men To be Raised on the Town Voted that ye Select should try to Hyer two men in the Best manner they Can.
Att a Town Meeting Leagully Assembled on ye Third Day of Janary 1780 To Petishion ye Court for an Abatment of ye Late Tax Layed on this Town. 2ly Voted to Chuse an agent to Represent ye town at Court with a Memorall or a Petishion as the Assessors shall think proper. 3ly Voted that Eleaser Craft for their agent to attend the Court for the Above Purpos.3
[19 June 1780] Voted to Give Twelve Pounds in addi- tion to their wages in Hard Mony Sartan or if the Mediam is More puting the Towns To gather than our Solders is to Receive as Much more as the Mediam amounts To Puting all the Towns To geather.
[26 June 1780] Voted Not to Give more Bounty than the Towns give In Generall Voted to Give 120 IIard Dollars as a Bounty to each solder that shall Enlist To serve for the terme of six Months & No More.
1 No wonder that the raising of six men was opposed, as only twenty- three voters mustered at an important meeting a few months before.
2 Brigadier Benjamin Titcomb.
8 J'ide NOTE A at end of chapter.
77
THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.
Oct. 9. Voted to Rais Seven Thousand Pounds 1 To Pur- ches ye Beef 2 Voted to Reconsider ye Vote Voted Not to Comply with The Orders from the Court sent to this Town Let the Consequance Be what it will. [The town was sub- sequently fined for this recusancy.]
Nov. 21, 1781. Voted to Lay out 1000 Hard Dollers In Hyering Men for three years or During the War as far as that will go.3
[May 7, 1782.] Voted Sam11 Foster & Elezr Craft be a Commett to see if the Two men that was Engaged for the service would Release ther Engagments the Answer Re- turned T'es.
In April, 1775, came the call to arms, on the occasion of the attempt of the British to seize the military stores at Concord. The following men responded and marched for the scene of conflict, but receiving at Medford tidings of the. retreat of the British, they returned home. Their names deserve being put on record :-
Andrew Marsters, Captain ; Sam. W. Forster, First Lieutenant ; Eleaser Crafts, Second Lieuten- ant ; Andrew Lee, John A. Brown, Benj. Crafts, Jona. Herrick, William Brown, Sergeants ; John Baker, Jos. Killam, Daniel Obier, Corporals ; Jacob
1 This must have been in paper, or " Continental " currency.
2 In the Schedule appended to Resolves passed by the House of Rep- resentatives, Dec. 4, 1780, Manchester is assessed 8,626 " weight of beef," or " money sufficient to purchase the same."
3 The original draft of a letter, dated Boston, Oct. 10, 1781, from Israel Hutchinson to " Col. Eleazer Crafts manchister," is on file in the Town Archives, in which the town is warned against men from the " Eastern Contry " who were offering themselves for the army and in some instances proving deserters, and saying that if the town can " Rease the money," "men anuff" can be found who "Stands fare"; the explanation of which is, there were men ready to take advantage of the dire necessities of the time, who after letting themselves to the towns to make up their quotas, were sometimes not to be found. All rascality and meanness do not be- long to the last part of the nineteenth century.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
Allen, Ezekiel Allen, John Allen, Samuel Ayers, Zachari Brown, Wm. Badcock, Sam. Bennett, Simon Baker, Aaron Bray, John Cheever, Thomas Cheever, Thomas Colony, David Carter, Jesse Dodge, Moses Dodge, Joseph Eveleth, Thomas Grant, Nath. Has- kell, Benj. Haskell, John Knowlton, John Knights, Wm. Knights, Edward Kitfield, Aaron Lee, Nath. Lee, Simeon Low, Joseph Lee, James Lee, Aaron Lewis, Israel May, Azariah Norton, Wm. Stone, John Tewksbury, Privates ; John Bailey, Drum- mer. 1
Twenty-one of these men enlisted in the Conti- nental Army. Samuel Ayres was discharged in 1771 from H. M. 64th Regt., in which he had served nineteen years. He served through the war, mak- ing in all twenty-eight years of military service.
Manchester bore her part in the historic conflict by sea and land, from the opening action to the final victory; her sons fought, and bled, and died, sinking often into unknown graves, and leaving their only memorial in the hearts of mourning friends.2
It is easy to see, as we read " between the lines " of the almost illegible records with their quaint spelling and phraseology, that our fathers of the Rev- olution, with all their hardships and poverty and illiteracy, were in the main brave, loyal, determined men, men with whom the liberties of the nation could be safely trusted. These " village Hampdens " made a bold stand when they voted " that Constable
1 " The colors of this company were preserved for many years by Major Forster, and at his death passed into the hands of his grandson, James Knight, a soldier in the War of the Rebellion." W. H. T.
2 A list of the Revolutionary soldiers is given in Appendix F.
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THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.
Brown shall not pay Treasurer Gray [Harrison Gray, Esq., Treasurer of the Province] what of the Province Money he has in his hands," and " that Constable Jonathan Brown pay what of the publick Money he has in his hands forthwith to Henry Gardner, Esq' of Stow." 1 Such were the men who in their humble seaside homes in New England shared the spirit of Cromwell and Pym, " daring to feel the majesty of Right," and loving the liberties of mankind. It is not so easy to realize the "strait- ness and scarcity " which these men and their fam- ilies suffered. It is said that there were times when all the men capable of bearing arms were either in the army, or manning the little earth-works dignified by the name of " forts," or serving on board priva- teers,2 leaving women and children and old men to till the land and to eke out their subsistence from the sea. Added to all other difficulties the Conti- nental money had so depreciated that in 1780, £75 was the common exchange for £1 in silver.3 At this time "four months' pay of a private soldier would not purchase for his family a single bushel
1 Town Records, Nov. 21, Dec. 27, 1774.
2 There was but little objection felt at this time to the profession of privateering. Franklin had not yet published his protest against it. Privateering afforded a vent for the active and restless spirits of the time ; it was not without some creditable associations, and the life of a privateersman was full of the charms of novelty, adventure and risk.
3 In 1781, there " had been issued by Congress a total of about $350,000,- 000 in paper," and this volume had been augmented by various and excessive issues of paper money by the States. These unsecured "promises to pay " were quoted at one time " at the rate of 643 to 1 of gold, and soon after ceased to be quoted at all and were considered entirely worthless." The Spirit of '76, New York. Bancroft (History of the United States, ed. 1885, V, 440) gives the value of the dollar " buoyed up by the French alliance," in 1778, at 20 cents ; it fell to 5 cents the next April, and to 23 cents in December.
80
HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
of wheat ; the pay of a colonel would not purchase oats for his horse "; 1 a leg of mutton was cheap at $1,000.
These inconveniences and sufferings may not have been so great as those experienced in the Jerseys and on the so-called Neutral Ground, in the vicinity of New York, during the occupation of that city by the British : but they were sufficient to put the pa- tience and patriotism of the inhabitants to a severe strain.
The fear of a descent upon the coast by some of the enemy's cruisers was one that was always felt ; people lived in almost constant dread. Persons still living remember " The Old Garden," as it was called, a locality near the present Magnolia station, where families in the easterly part of the town made for themselves a temporary settlement in times of threatened danger.2 The comparative poverty of the people, the almost total destruction of the mari- time and fishing interests, and the demand of the war for men and money, made the years from 1774 to 1784 a decade of almost unparalleled trial and suffering. "The Declaration of Independence was entered in full on the Records of the Town of Man- chester at the time it was made, and throughout the war every nerve was strained and every resource was nearly exhausted in its support. The town called in, and spent in the war, all the money which was at interest for the support of the ministry, and
1 Irving, Life of Washington, iv, 31.
2 The apple-trees were in " a state of decay " in 1816; the wall is still standing.
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THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.
all that could be collected from taxation, and then gave their notes for means to pay the Government drafts and to support the soldiers and their families, in the defence of that Declaration." 1
The spirit of our fathers, their love of freedom and their unselfish devotion to the principles for which the " embattled farmers " stood on Lexington Green and at Concord, were worthy the memories of Thermopylæ, of Marathon, of Runnymede, of the Dutch war for independence.
It will add to our admiration of these men if we remember that the country had not recovered from the strain of the French war, when the Revolution began. Franklin said that the colonies had " raised, paid and clothed nearly twenty-five thousand men during the last war - a number equal to those sent from Great Britain, and far beyond their proportion. They went deeply into debt in doing this, and all their estates and taxes are mortgaged for many years to come for discharging that debt." And nowhere did the burden of the public charges rest upon the people more heavily than in New England. Owing in part to the location of the colonies on the sea- coast, they suffered, both directly and indirectly, to an extent which only the most unflinching devotion and heroic endurance could have enabled them to bear.
We are to make some allowance, no doubt, for the strong language used by John Adams, who was a born aristocrat, in the Debates on the Declaration of Independence, "the condition of the fishermen of
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