USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Marlborough > History of the town of Marlborough, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement in 1657 to 1861; with a brief sketch of the town of Northborough, a genealogy of the families in Marlborough to 1800 > Part 10
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Though the people had been greatly divided, the religious
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element being strong, and their spiritual advisers having recom- mended peace, they at once conquered their prejudices, and received their newly elected minister with open arms; and though he was at that time young, and consequently inexperi- enced, he succeeded in satisfying the wants of his people, and had a happy and successful ministry.
The churches of Concord, Chelmsford, Dorchester, and Men- don, were invited to induct him into his spiritual office. The record of his ordination is as follows :
" The 25th day of ye 8m. 1704, Mr. Robert Breck was or- dained Pastor of ye Church of Christ in Marlborough, no person objecting. Mr. Rawson (of Mendon) carried on the work of the day. Mr. Estabrook (of Concord) gave ye Charge. Mr. Clark (of Chelmsford) ye Right Hand of Fellowship. Mr. Danforth gave a word of Advice unto ye people."
Being settled in the town, Mr. Breck married, September 8, 1707, Elizabeth Wainwright of Haverhill, by whom he had a family of children,* somewhat distinguished.
But though their ecclesiastical difficulties were amicably set- tled, and their religious condition was that of peace and pros- perity, they were exposed to other difficulties and dangers. In what has been denominated " Queen Anne's War," the French and Indians made repeated incursions into the Colony, killing and carrying away many of the inhabitants. And though Marl- borough was not the scene of any battle, the savages in some instances stole into the township, and carried several persons into captivity.
" It will be difficult for us," says Dr. Allen, in his History of Northborough, "who are permitted to dwell in security under the shelter of the domestic roof, to form an adequate idea of the perilous condition of our forefathers at this gloomy period. 'We have indeed heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us ' the story of their dangers and sufferings in the dreary and howling wilderness. But how difficult to enter into the feelings of men who were in constant peril for their lives ; who, like the children of Israel in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, repaired to their work with weapons in their hands, and who were liable to be waked from their midnight slumbers by the savage yell of a pitiless foe? In many instances were they compelled to
* See his Genealogy.
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desert their farms, leaving their lands untilled, while old and young, the strong and the feeble, flocked to the frail fortifica- tions, denominated garrisons, as their only means of safety."
In July, 1704, a body of six or seven hundred French and Indians moved towards Northampton, for the purpose of attack- ing and destroying that town ; but finding the people prepared to give them a warm reception, they gave over their meditated attack, and marched stealthily towards the ill-fated town of Lancaster. On the 31st of that month, Capt. Thomas Howe, of Marlborough, who was an active and influential man in civil and military affairs, gathered in haste whatever force he was able, and marched to the relief of the town, where, united with a small party under Capt. Tyng, they met the foe, and after a severe fight, (in which the English displayed great gallantry, ) owing to the superior numbers of the enemy, the inhabitants and troops were compelled to take refuge in the garrison. The houses and property were thus left to the mercy of the Indians, who burnt the meeting-house, and a half dozen other buildings. In this engagement Capt. Howe had two men, Abraham Howe and Benjamin Hutchins, killed, and others wounded.
In the month following, a small party of Indians entered the westerly part of Marlborough, and committed several depreda- tions,-the principal of which is thus described by Dr. Allen.
" August 8th, 1704, a party of Indians, eight or ten in num- ber, rushed suddenly from the woods, and fell upon a number of the inhabitants of what is now Westborough, while at work in the field ; killed Nahor, son of Mr. Ednund Rice, on the spot, seized and carried into captivity two other sons, Silas and Timothy ; also Ashur and Adonijah, two sons of Mr. Thomas Rice. Ashur was redeemed by his father, and returned in about four years. He afterwards settled in Spencer. Adonijah re- mained in Canada, and cultivated a farm near Montreal. His Indian name was Asaundugooton. The other two lived with the Indians, married Indian wives, acquired their habits, and lost all knowledge of the English language. The puritanical names of Silas and Timothy were exchanged for the heathenish, but not unmusical ones, of Tookanowras and Oughtsorongaugh- ton. The latter is said to have been the third of the six Chiefs of the Cagnawaga tribe, and the one who made the speech to Gen. Gage, in behalf of his tribe, soon after the reduction of
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Montreal. This Chief, in the year 1740, thirty years after his captivity, visited his relations in Westborough, and retained, it is said, a distinct recollection of the circumstances of his cap- ture, and several aged persons then living in Westborough."
Nothing could be more trying to parents than to have their children thus lost to them forever, and doomed to a life worse than death itself. How would Christian mothers at this day feel, to have their children torn from them in such an unexpect- ed manner; and how would this grief be perpetuated by the reflection, that the children they had borne had transferred their affections from them to the wild savages of the desert !
On the 5th of October, 1705, Mr. John Bigelow, of Marlbo- rongh, being then in Lancaster, at the garrison house of Thomas Sawyer, was, with Mr. Sawyer and his son Elias, taken by the Indians and carried to Canada. Sawyer was a blacksmith, and Bigelow was a carpenter-both ingenious mechanics. While they were at Montreal, they turned their mechanical skill to a good account. They proposed to the French Governor that, as there was no saw-mill in Canada, they would build one, if he would procure their ransom. The offer was accepted ; they fulfilled their engagement, and after some delay they were per- mitted to return to their friends. Mr. Bigelow, as expressive of his happiness in having been restored to the bosom of his family, called his first daughter, born to him after his return, " Comfort," and the second, born about two years later, " Free- dom," to manifest his preference for his then present condition over the hardships and fears of a state of captivity.
In 1707, on the 18th of August, a tragical event occurred in Marlborough, in that part of the township now included in Northborough. Among the garrison houses in town at that time, was one known as Samuel Goodnow's garrison, situated on the great road near the stream known as Stirrip Brook. This garrison was designed as the resort of the families of Nathaniel Oakes, Jonathan Forbush and Gershom Fay, as well as that of Mr. Goodnow. As Mary Goodnow, daughter of Sam- uel Goodnow, and Mrs. Mary Fay, wife of Gershom Fay, were gathering herbs in an adjoining meadow, a party of twenty or more Indians were seen issuing from the woods, and making towards them, when they immediately ran for the fort which Mrs. Fay succeeded in reaching, and closing the gate before
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she was overtaken by her pursuers. Fortunately there hap- pened to be one man in the garrison, the rest being at work in the field. The savages attempted to break through the inclo- sure, but were repelled by the heroic defenders within. Mrs. Fay loading the muskets belonging to the place, and handing them to her companion, he was able to keep up a constant fire upon the enemy, till a party of their friends, hearing the report of the muskets, came to their relief, when the enemy fled. Thus was the life of this woman, and her two young children, saved by her own heroism. She was the second daughter of John Brigham, the son of Thomas Brigham, Sen., the ancestor of all the Brighams who settled in this town.
The other unfortunate woman, Miss Goodnow, being lame, was unable to escape from her merciless pursuers, who seized her and dragged her across the brook to a wood on the hill-side, where she was killed and scalped ; and where her mangled remains were afterwards found and buried.
On the same day, the Indians surprised and took two men who were laboring in the field, Jonathan Wilder, a native of Lancaster, and a Mr. Howe of Marlborough, who fortunately made his escape. Mr. Wilder was carried to Lancaster and killed by the Indians, as was their custom, when attacked by the English. On the day after the above tragic scene, Capt. Thomas Howe, of Marlborough, with about twenty men, marched in pursuit of the Indians, and being joined by about the same number from Lancaster, they overtook the enemy in what is now Sterling, where a severe conflict ensued. The affair is thus described in the Boston News-Letter, of the 25th of August, 1707.
" On Monday, the 16th current, thirteen Indians on the fron- tier surprised two men at their labors in the meadows at Marl- borough, about four miles distant from the body of the town, and took them both alive ; and as they passed out of the town, they took a woman also in their marching off, whom they killed. Howe, one of the prisoners, broke away in a scuffle, and brought home the Indian's gun and hatchet, and acquaint- ed the garrison and the inhabitants, who speedily followed, and were joined by twenty men from Lancaster, being in all forty, came up with the enemy, who were also increased to thirty-six, and on Tuesday, at ten o'clock, found them, and in two hours
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exchanged ten shots a man, in which skirmish we lost two men, and two slightly wounded ; no doubt we killed several of the enemy, whose track being dragged away we saw, but recovered but one of them, though it is probably conjectured that we killed ten or twelve at least. We took twenty-four of their packs and drove them off the ground, and they are yet pursued by two parties from Lancaster and Groton. At our forces overtaking and attacking them, they barbarously mur- dered the captives."
In the packs taken from the Indians, as mentioned above, was found the scalp of Miss Goodnow, which was the first intelligence they had of her melancholy fate. In the encounter mentioned above, John Farren and Richard Singletary were slain. The Records of Marlborough give the death of " Jona- than Johnson, slain by the Indians, October 12, 1708; " but no further particulars are stated. In August, 1709, Elisha Ward, son of William Ward of Marlborough, was killed or taken captive by the Indians at Worcester, while riding post from Marlborough to Hadley.
Although this war did not at any time seem to peril the ex- istence of the town, like the Narraganset, or Philip's war, yet from the commencement of the century to the peace of 1713, the inhabitants of Marlborough were kept in a constant state of anxiety and alarm. The stealthy incursions of the guileful foe, the secret ambush, the midnight assault, the murder of the laborer in the field, or the mother and her infant in the cabin- the dread of the scalping knife, and the fear of a hopeless captivity-these are evils more to be dreaded than open war- more " terrible than an army with banners." To evils such as these, the inhabitants of Marlborough were constantly exposed during this lingering war.
The General Court, knowing the exposed condition of the frontier towns, had made some provision for their defense. With this encouragement, guided by their own sense of danger, the people of Marlborough had erected, for the safety of their families, a considerable number of forts in different parts of the township, to which the people could resort in time of danger. But in order to ensure the greatest security, to prevent confu- sion, and to secure to each post a suitable defense in case of attack, it was deemed necessary to assign to each family their
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respective fort. To this end, a committee, consisting of Thomas Howe, Samuel Brigham, Isaac Amsden, Eleazer Howe, Daniel Howe, John Bowker, Jonathan Johnson, Na- thaniel Joslin, Peter Rice, John Maynard, and Jolm Barrett, was appointed to assign to the twenty-six garrisons the appro- priate families. This committee, composed of some of the leading men of the town, recommended that the families be assigned to the respective forts, as follows :-
1. Capt. Howe's Garrison.
Samuel Stevens, James Howe, Jonathan Howe, Samuel Stow, Jonathan Morse.
2. Mr. Breck's Garrison.
3. Cupt. Kerly's Garrison.
Nathaniel Joslin, Joseph Maynard, Dea. Woods, Nathaniel Johnson,
Thomas Amsden, Simon Gates, Joseph Johnson.
4. Capt. Brighum's Garrison.
Peter Plimpton, Benjamin Mixer.
5. Isaac Amsden's Garrison.
Thomas Newton, Sergeant Maynard, James Woods, Adam Martin, Is. Temple,
Deacon Newton, John Amsden.
6. Is. Howe's Garrison.
Moses Newton, David Fay, John Newton, Widow Johnson, Moses Newton, Jr.,
James Cady.
7. Lieut. Williams's Garrison. 'Thomas Beaman, Peter Bent, Richard Barnes, Edward Barnes.
8. Ensign Howe's Garrison. Ensign Bowker, Joseph Wait, David Church, - Benjamin Rice,
Peter Rice, Joseph Rice.
9. Samuel Morrill's Garrison. Sergeant Barrett, John Barnes, Benjamin Bagley, Joseph Ward, Joshua Rice, Thomas Martin, Samuel Bush.
10. Thomas Brigham's Garrison. Jonathan Brigham, Oliver Ward, Increase Ward.
11. John Howe's Garrison. Zach. Eager, Abraham Eager, Daniel Johnson, Samuel Wheelock, Obadiah Ward, Thomas Axtell.
12. Samuel Goodnow's Garrison. Nathaniel Oakes, Jonathan Forbush, Gershom Fay.
15
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13. Lieut. Howe's Garrison. Thomas Ward, Edward Rice.
John Wheeler, Josiah Howe, B- Carly, Sen., James Carly.
14. Nathan Brigham's Garrison.
Joseph Stratton, Henry Bartlett, Alexander Stewart.
22. Mill Garrison. Thomas Barrett, John Banister.
15. Samuel Ward, Sr.'s, Garrison. William Ward, Wid. Hannah Ward, Jonathan Johnson, Sen., Caleb Rice.
23. Simon Maynard's Garrison. Adamı Holloway, Benjamin Whitney, Joseph Newton, John Keyes, Abiel Bush.
16. John Matthews' Garrison.
William Johnson, Samuel Ward.
17. Daniel Rice's Garrison.
Wid. Sarah Taylor, Supply Weeks, Eleazer Taylor.
18. Samuel Forbush's Garrison.
James Bradish, Thomas Forbush, James Gleason,
19. Edmund Rice's Garrison.
David Brigham, Isaac Tomblin, David Maynard.
20. Thomas Rice's Garrison. John Pratt, Charles Rice.
21. Thomas Hapgood's Garrison. John Forbush,
24. John Newton, Jr.'s, Garrison. Eleazer Bellows, James Eager, James Newton, Benjamin Newton, Ephraim Newton, John Woods, Abraham Newton.
25. Jonathan Newton's Garrison. Is. Woods, Thomas Witherbee, Is. Amsden, Moses Lenard, Roger Bruce.
26. Joseph Morse's Garrison. Thomas Bigelow, Samuel Bigelow, Samuel Morse,
John Bigelow, John Sherman, Daniel Harrington.
It would be interesting, if we could give to each of these garrisons a " local habitation," and point out the precise spot where every family resided at that day ; but this pleasure is in a great degree denied us. We are able, however, to give the general location of a portion of them; and knowing them, we
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learn the neighborhoods in which the different families re- sided.
Garrison No. J, was at the old Frank Howe place, where the late Edward Rice resided.
No. 2, was at Mr. Breck's residence, near the old Packard place.
Nos. 3, 4, and 5, were south-easterly of the East Village, on the road to Southborough.
No. 6, was on the Southborongh road, near the Newton Railroad station.
No. 7, was near the old Williams Tavern, by the Pond.
No. 8, was near the present residence of Mr. Tileston Brigham.
No. 9, was near Fort Meadow.
No. 10, was near the Warren Brigham place.
No. 11, was below the Warren school-house, on the Concord road.
No. 12, was near Stirrip Brook, south of the great road to Northborough.
No. 13, was north of the Pond, not far from the present residences of Moses and Martin Howe.
No. 14, perhaps south-easterly of the present residence of Joel Gleason.
No. 15, was south of the Meeting-House.
No. 16, was in what is now Southborough.
No. 17, was some two miles easterly of the Meeting-House.
No. 18, was about a mile northerly of the Old Common.
Nos. 19 and 20, were in Chauncy, now Westborough.
No. 21, was in the Indian Plantation, in the north-easterly part of the town, near the Wesson place.
No. 22, was probably near Feltonville.
No. 23, was on the Indian Plantation, near the Ephraim Maynard place. Nos. 24 and 25, were in what is now Southborough.
No. 26, was upon the " Farm," so called.
Such, as near as we can learn from tradition, was the general location of the garrisons in 1711. As they were mere pickets inclosing the houses, their remains would soon perish after the close of the war; and hence no mark of their location would long remain. But after this assignment of the forts, there was but little use for then, as the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, brought the war to a close.
During the whole of this war, Capt. Thomas Howe acted a conspicuous part. He not only commanded the garrisons and scouts through the town, but led the troops to every place of danger which presented itself. Samuel Brigham acted as his Lieutenant, and received from the Government a bounty for destroying an Indian. Samuel Stevens was wounded in the same service.
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After the close of Queen Anne's war, things moved on smoothly and quietly in Marlborough. In 1711, the town pro- ceeded to finish their meeting-house, which, up to that time, had been but partially done on the inside. Having "set their house in order," they took measures to perform a duty common at that day, and one which proved a source of no small trouble in some towns, viz., "to seat the meeting-house." The good people of Marlborough do not appear to have been as formal, or fastidious, as they were in most of the towns. In many cases the vote was "to dignify and seat the meeting-house ; " and frequently the instructions were to " have regard to the rate, age and honor" of the inhabitants. But to show that " dignity " was not entirely overlooked by them, the people of Marlborough provided, by solemn vote, that the front seats in the gallery should be next in "dignity" to the second seats below, and that the fore seats in the end gallery should be next in "dignity " to the third seats below. They also empowered their committee, clothed with this important trust, "to grant any places for pews around the meeting-house to such persons of 'quality' as they shall see cause; they that have them, to build them at their own cost." They also provided that this seating process should take place every five years. They further manifested the disposition to accommodate those who resided at a distance from the church, by providing that " the outlivers shall have the liberty of the school-house Sabbath days, leaving the fires safe."
We may smile at the simplicity of our fathers, or regard the seating of the meeting-house as the effect of childish van- ity, or mere pride ; but does it become us to bring that accu- sation against them? How are the seats in our meeting- houses selected at the present day ? The man of the longest purse, or the vainest heart, is pretty sure to purchase a pew upon the broad aisle, in the most conspicuous part of the house ; so that the main difference in the two cases is little more than this :- Then the grade of distinction and honor was decided by a committee, and ratified by the town, which was sup- posed to be impartial ; now it is left to the individuals them- selves. And may there not be as much vanity displayed by us as by them ? Pride, which should never be exhibited in a place where man holds communion with his Maker, and where
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humility is a cardinal virtue, is not, we fear, entirely excluded from the house of God at the present age of boasted light and knowledge. The highest seat in the synagogue is coveted now, no less than formerly.
The territory of Marlborough, in the early part of the cen- tury, was becoming unwieldy in size. In 1700, a considerable tract of land on the north of the Indian plantation, bounded on the town of Stow and Dr. Alcocke's* farm, was annexed to Marlborough. The Ockoocangansett, or Indian plantation, was in possession of the Marlborough people; and though it was not at that time annexed, was practically a part of the town; so that the whole area must have been at least 37,000 acres. Such a territory might with propriety be divided. Its very extent proved, as it always does in such cases, a source of alienation. The location of the meeting-house was far east of the centre of the territory, so that the people in the western part of the township were put to great inconvenience in attend- ing publie worship.
Several families had settled, at an early day, west of the Assabet, and near Chauney Pond, and had done so with an assurance given as early as 1688, that they should be erected into a parish as soon as they were able to support a minister ; and the people of Marlborough, in the spirit of liberality, had designated the line for division "at the cart-way at Stirrip Brook, where the Connecticut way now goeth, and to run a parallel line with the west line of the bounds of the town; " the division, therefore, became only a question of time.
But in 1702, not satisfied with the territory that such a division would give, Thomas Brigham, Henry Kerly, Richard Barnes, Samuel Goodnow and nineteen others, preferred a peti- tion to the General Court, praying that Chauncey (as the west- erly part of the town was called) may have an enlargement- " that from the westerly bounds of Marlborough, said settle- ment may be extended to Consigamack Pond, and to a parallel line while it runs to Hassenessett,# the Indian Plantation, and
* This farm of Dr. Aleocke must not be confounded with the "Farm " of which we have already spoken, situated in the south-east part of the town. The Doctor had land in Stow, and elsewhere. The Stow farm is the one men- tioned above.
+ Quinsigamond, or Long Pond, between Worcester and Shrewsbury.
# Now Grafton.
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so run the full breadth of five miles, till it comes to Hassenes- sett, and so butting on that plantation. Also a mile in breadth on the southerly side, from the Indian Reservation to the Indian bounds."
The Court referred this petition to their next session, "that the farmers might be heard."
It does not appear that this petition was granted at that time. But subsequently, about 1716, John Brigham, and thirty others of Marlborough, petitioned for a tract of land, the principal part of which is now included in the towns of Shrewsbury and Boylston. At the same time, a petition was pending from cer- tain inhabitants of Marlborough, to have the westerly part of the town, and certain lands lying west of Marlborough, erected into a town. This latter prayer was granted, and about 13,182 acres were set off from Marlborough, and about 3,000 acres more were added, including what was then known as the " Rice farm " and " Fay farm," lying west of the Marlborough grant. Though this was taking nearly one moiety of their original territory, the inhabitants of Marlborough interposed no serions objection ; so that this might with truth be denominated a " peaceable secession."
'The territory thus set off by the Act of the General Court, passed November 19, 1717, was, from its geographical position, called Westborough. With a territory of 16,182 acres, and population deemed sufficient to maintain municipal institutions, Westborough immediately set about organizing herself as a town. In 1718, she provided herself with that indispensable prerequisite of a prosperous community -a meeting-house. This building was situated near the northern limits of the present town of Westborough, not far from the well-known site of the " Wesson Tavern," on the old turnpike from Wor- cester to Boston. In 1724, a church was gathered, and Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, their first minister, was ordained.
We have no means of ascertaining the exact number of persons thus set off from Marlborough. A friend has kindly favored us with the following memorandum, taken from a man- uscript record of Rev. Mr. Parkman.
" The first inhabitants of Westborough were Thomas Rice, Charles Rice, John Fay, Samuel Fay, Thomas Forbush, David Maynard, Edmund Rice, David Brigham, Capt. Joseph Byles,
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James Bradish, John Pratt, John Pratt, Jr., Thomas Newton, Josiah Newton, Hezekiah Howe, Daniel Warren, Increase Ward, Benjamin Townsend, Nathaniel Oakes, Samuel Good- now, Gershom Fay, Simeon Howard, Adam Holloway, Thomas Ward, and Joseph Wheeler.
" Young Men .- John Maynard, James Maynard, Aaron For- bush, Jacob Amsden, Ebenezer Beaman, and Jotham Brig- ham."
These names indicate a Marlborough origin. And in fact, some of the Rices, the Brighams, the Fays, the Wards, Good- nows, and Forbushes, had located themselves within this terri- tory forty or fifty years before, and had reared large families of children.
The first named twenty-five were probably heads of families ; while the young men were not. This would give a popula- tion of some one hundred and sixty souls, and the excite- ment incident to the creation of a new town, would naturally bring other persons to the place ; so that, in a few years, they were able to erect a meeting-house, gather a church, and settle a minister.
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