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 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
498
that have passed ; and those of us who have gone out from her, have returned, on this joyous occasion, to receive your cordial greetings, and to join with you in holding communion with the departed. And may we not hope that by some simple rappings, we may call up our worthy sires, not to trifle with ns by tipping our tables, but, from the rich tables of their annals, to impart that instruction which is more reliable and edifying than the voluble teachings of any trance medium.
Yes, my friends, our worthy ancestors are with us to-day. A long line of the departed here pass in review before ns. Two centuries, " rich with the spoils of time," spread their offerings at our feet. They unroll the scroll of history in which the worthy deeds of worthy men are recorded, and they invite us, in the very language of inspira- tion, " to get wisdom, and with all our gettings to get understanding." In these sacred annals our Fathers' characters stand out in bold relief. Their stern integrity, their untiring fortitude, their patient resignation, shine out in language of living light ; while their devotion to the cause of education, their ardent love of liberty, and their unwavering faith and confidence in God, give us full assurance that they will establish a free Commonwealth, on the broad principles of religion, and so leave a rich inheritance to those who come after them.
They are with us to-day ;- and in their name I welcome you to this goodly heritage, purchased by their toil and industry, sustained by their fortitude and valor, and consecrated by their fervent prayers. What they sowed in tears, you are permitted to reap in joy. Where they struggled, axe in hand, with dark and dense forests, you are per- mitted to put in the sickle, and gather a rich harvest of golden grain. These hill-sides, which to them were at first but trackless wastes, where the wild beasts prowled for prey, and made night hideous by their dismal howlings, to you are green pastures, where your gentle herds graze in safety, or low at the appointed hour, to repay your care with milky rills. And at the House of prayer, where they knelt in devotion, with arms in their hands, to protect themselves against the merciless savages, you are permitted to bow in safety, 'having none to molest, or make you afraid.'
You are exempt from the dangers with which they were surrounded. You repair to your fields by day, without any apprehension of a secret ambush or sudden attack ; you leave your families in the morning, secure from the tomahawk and scalping knife, and the more dreaded evils of a hopeless captivity. You are not required, at night-fall, to leave your houses and your homes unprotected, and herd together like hunted deer, lest you be consumed in the night-time in your burning dwellings. These and other dangers, which made property insecure and life precarious, have passed away ; and we are permitted to enjoy in peace, in quiet, and in safety, the fruits of their toils through days
499
of apprehension and nights of danger. Well, then, may we bless the memory of our Fathers, and mingle in our cup of rejoicing, a tear of grateful sympathy for the manly sufferings they endured.
We have met here, on this occasion, for no vain purpose of self- landation. The day is ours, for higher and nobler purposes. We are to rejoice and be glad ; but our joy is to be drawn from the contempla- tions of the past. I am persuaded that all the pleasures of this joyful meeting will be heightened by the recollections of days gone by. Our memories will recur to the scenes of our childhood, and our happiness will be increased by the fond recollections of a father's care and a mother's love.
And while we stand here, on Ockoocangansett Hill, rejoicing in the success which attended our Fathers' efforts, let us commiserate the fate of the earlier inhabitants who, on this very spot, cultivated their corn and planted their orchards, before these hills and vales were made vocal by the voice of the white man. They have fled before the march of civilization ; and may our superior light and advantages admonishi us not to abuse the bounty of Providence, but be careful to fulfill the high and holy mission of an improved race. Let not the glitter and pageantry of the occasion, or its festive joys, render ns unmindful of the great Source of all our blessings ; but rather inspire us with gratitude to Him who has scattered with such profusion these blessings in our pathway-ever remembering that
" Ilis gifts are only then enjoyed, When used as talents lent ; Those talents only well employed When in his service spent."
The general causes which led to the diffusion of the early settlers of New England, and gave rise to the planting of the towns in the inte- rior, were the love of liberty and the love of land. The Anglo-Saxon race seem to have an innate dread of being surrounded by neighbors. The Rev. Mr. Hooker, who came to New England with his flock, in 1633, left Cambridge, where he first located himself, and performed, in 1636, a long and difficult journey through the wilderness, and com- menced a settlement near Hartford, Connecticut, because he deemed it unwise and impolitic to have settlements as near as Charlestown and Roxbury and Watertown were to Cambridge. The complaint of being " straitened for the want of land," which was put forth by him thus early, appears to have been adopted by many of the early settlers.
The township of Sudbury, of which Marlborough was the offshoot, was granted as early as 1638, and was incorporated the year follow- ing. In May, 1640, on petition of the inhabitants of Sudbury, the General Court granted an addition of a mile in width on the south-
64
500
east and south-west sides of the plantation. The same year, six hundred additional acres were added to Sudbury. In consequence of Indian hostilities and the exposed situation of Dedham, Sudbury and Concord, the General Court, in 1645, ordered, " That no man now inhabiting or settled in either of these towns, (whether married or single,) shall remove to any other place without the allowance of a Magistrate or other Selectman of that town, until it shall please God to settle peace again."
But if the good people of Sudbury could not go out of town in quest of land, they could do that which was practically the same thing -bring land into town. For, on petition of the inhabitants, the General Court, in 1649, passed the following order : "Sudbury is granted two miles westward, next adjoining them, for their further enlargement ; provided it prejudice not William Brown in his two hundred acres already granted."
But not satisfied with the possessions they had already acquired, several of the leading inhabitants of Sudbury, in May, 1656, preferred a Petition to the General Court, in which they set forth "that they had lived divers years in Sudbury, and God had been pleased to increase their children, which had, divers of them, grown to man's estate ; and many of the Petitioners had grown into years, so that they would be glad to see their children settled, before the Lord should take them hence ; and also that God had given them some considerable quantity of cattle, so that they were so straitened that they could not so com- fortably subsist as could be desired ; and as some of them had taken pains to view the country, and had found a place westward, about eight miles from Sudbury, which they conceived might be comfortable for their subsistence :"
Whereupon, they prayed that a tract, eight miles square, might be granted them, and they very generously assured the Court that they would pay the expense of laying it out, and " shall no further trouble this Honored Court."
This Petition, signed by thirteen prominent citizens of Sudbury, was answered by a grant six miles square, which includes the present town of Marlborough. The grantees were-Edmund Rice, John Bent, Sen., John Woods, John Howe, William Ward, Peter Bent, Thomas King, John Maynard, Henry Rice, Richard Newton, Edward Rice, Thomas Goodnow, and John Ruddocke.
But it appears by the Records of the General Court, that a portion of the land thus prayed for by the Sudbury petitioners, had already been granted to the Indians, and hence some alteration was subse- quently made in their boundary, to avoid a conflict with the Indian grant. It seems that the Indians had, for some time before the settle- ment of the place by the English, occupied a field of some two hundred
501
acres, including the spot on which we are assembled, and extending southerly to the main road, which they had cultivated with corn, and on which they had an orchard in bearing. The grant made to them in 1654, extended north from this planting-field, three miles, to a point across the Assabet, and thence to the eastward, to the line of Sudbury ; so that the Indian Plantation, known by the name of Ockoocangansett, included the north-east section of the town, and even embraced the land on which the first meeting-houses were erected.
The English Plantation granted in 1656, lying west and south of the Indian Plantation, included most of the present towns of North- borough, Westborough and Southborough. Having obtained their grant, the Petitioners assembled in 1656, and Edmund Rice, William Ward, Thomas King, John Ruddocke, and John Howe, were chosen a Committee " to put the affairs of said new Plantation in au orderly way." On the following year, William Kerley, John Rediat, Solomon Johnson, Samuel Rice, John Johnson, Thomas Rice, Peter King, and Christopher Banister, were added to the list of proprietors.
On the 31st of May, 1660, old style, being the 12th of June, accord- ing to our present reckoning, the Plantation was incorporated by the name of Marlborough. Having become a body corporate, they pro- ceeded to divide a portion of their lands, and about one thousand acres were laid out as house-lots, to thirty-eight proprietors, according to their interest in the Plantation, varying from fifty to fifteen acres. Meadow lots were soon after granted to the respective proprietors.
True to Puritan instinct and the spirit of the age, our pious ancestors embraced the earliest opportunity to provide for the support of a gospel minister. As early as 1660, a rate was made for Rev. Mr. Brims- mead, their minister, and on the year following a house was erected and presented to him as his residence. This was followed by the erection of a meeting-house, by laying out of highways, and adopting such other measures as were necessary to carry forward the settlement, and provide for their future wants.
I have thus, my friends, introduced your ancestors into this town, and as they have shown themselves perfectly competent to take care of themselves, I shall leave them to manage their own affairs, in their own way; remarking, however, by the by, that they gave early evi- dence that they belonged to the "church militant," and were ready to " contend for the faith once delivered to the saints," and to persevere to the end.
Nothing of moment occurred till the breaking out of Philip's war in 1675,-a war which taxed the energies of the Colony and the courage of the people to their fullest extent. In 1676, the Indians, led on by their bold and daring Chief, spread desolation and dismay through the
502
frontier towns. Groton, Lancaster, Brookfield and Medfield, were laid in ashes, and many of their inhabitants slain. Nor did Marlborough escape the calamities of this war. When assembled in the house of God, in the very acts of devotion, the appalling cry that the Indians were upon them, was heard ; instantly the congregation was dispersed, and scarcely had they arrived safely within their garrison, when the rolling volumes of smoke and flame revealed the fact that not only their private dwellings, but the house dedicated to the holy cause of religion, was to be laid in ashes. This calamity, and the defeat and destruction of Capt. Wadsworth and his company at Sudbury, caused a general dispersion of the inhabitants, many of whom sought shelter in more populous and less exposed towns.
The return of peace brought back the inhabitants ; but from 1690 to 1713, a state of mingled rejoicing and apprehension prevailed. When the people returned, like the Jews from their captivity, they rebuilt their place of worship, and general outward prosperity ensued. But though the Indians never made their appearance in any consider- able force within the township, they kept up a predatory warfare, entering the town stealthily, in small parties, and carrying women and children into captivity. Several thrilling instances of this kind occurred, the tradition of which has been transmitted to the present generation.
I shall not dwell upon the events which transpired from time to time, or note the incidents which are common in every settlement. The loss of their worthy minister, in 1701, cast a gloom over his devoted flock, and was followed by two or three years of distraction in the church ; but the settlement of Rev. Mr. Breck, in 1704, dis- pelled the dark cloud which had hung over them, and brought them to the enjoyment of the mild and genial rays of the Sun of Righteous- ness.
The township of Marlborough being large, and a portion of her inhabitants having settled in "Chauncy," as the westerly part of the town was then called, it became inconvenient for them to attend church at the old temple, and hence, on their petition and with the consent of the people in the central and eastern parts of the town- ship, the western section, in 1717, was erected into a town, taking, from its geographical position, the name of Westborough.
Actuated by similar feelings, and the same mutual good-will, in 1727, the people of Stony Brook, with the consent of all parties, rose to the dignity of a municipal corporation, and took the name of South- borough. Westborough was subsequently dismembered, the northern section taking the name of Northborough.
Thus has old Marlborough been not only the mother of emigrants, but of towns. She has not only sent out her sons and her daughters,
503
by the score, to people other and distant places, but when any of her children have manifested a desire to set up for themselves, she has, like a wise and beneficent parent, given them a liberal slice from the old homestead ; and her children, thus endowed, have neither wasted their substance, like the prodigal, nor, like the unfaithful servant, hid their talent in the earth. Marlborough, instead of repining at her reduced dominion, has had reason to rejoice that, of her abundance of land, she has been able to settle her offspring around her. She has had no occasion to adopt the mournful strain of the Prophet, ' I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me ;' but rather to say with pride, in the language of the same Prophet, ' Behold me, and the children God hath given me.'
The death of the Rev. Mr. Breck, in 1731, was a severe affliction to the good people of Marlborough. He had been an excellent min- ister, and during his labors with them the church had prospered, and the people had dwelt together in peace. But after his decease, divi- sions arose, and matters became complicated, so that those who sur- vived the contest might be said with propriety to have " come out of great tribulation."
But the limits I have prescribed for myself will not permit me to go into details. It must suffice to say that the most trying scenes through which the town has been called to pass, were those connected with the Indian and Revolutionary wars. From 1723 to 1763, the wars of Great Britain with Spain and with France kept the Colony in a state of almost perpetual excitement. In the latter case, the Indians were united with the French ; and their frequent incursions into the settle- ments spread anxiety and alarm through the community, and called for heavy drafts of soldiers. Marlborough, though removed from the immediate theatre of the French and Indian wars, furnished many soldiers, and was subjected to heavy expenditures. Were it not for the more recent trials of the Revolutionary struggle, the difficulties and privations, the dangers and sufferings of the " old French war," as it was formerly denominated, would be handed down to our chil- dren, as furnishing scenes in our history which should be engraven upon the tablets of their memories. In those wars Marlborough furnished some two hundred men, some of whom were called out from year to year, and subjected to all the toils and dangers of Indian warfare. The seeret ambush and the midnight surprise, the torture and massacre attendant upon their warfare, the campaigns in the wilderness in the midst of winter, rendered the service at that period peculiarly trying. This war proved a severe drain upon the town, both with reference to means and to men. But both were offered with an alacrity which showed the devotion of the people to the great cause of civil and religious freedom.
504
But the peace of 1763 brought these trials to a close, and gave, as we might suppose, tranquillity to the Colony. The people had shown their devotion to the crown, and their readiness to expend their treasure and their blood to defend his Majesty's Colonies, and even to extend his dominion upon these shores. In this manner they had laid the Parliament under great obligation to acknowledge their services, and respect their rights. But strange to tell, the ministry embraced this very period of peace to rivet the fetters upon the very people who liad fought their battles, and given success to their arms. It was at this period that Great Britain commenced her odious system of taxa- tion, which finally drove the Colonies to resistance. The ingratitude of the mother country, and the insidious steps taken by the ministry to bring the Colonies to submission, raised a strong feeling of opposi- tion to their measures throughout the Province. In this feeling the people of Marlborough participated. They promptly responded to the calls of patriotism, and adopted the necessary steps to vindicate their rights.
They resolved that they would refrain from the consumption of all articles on which the odious tax was imposed, and withdraw their patronage from those who persisted in importing such articles into the country. And as the controversy progressed, it found the people of Marlborough ready to meet the emergency. When entreaty proved unavailing, and remonstrance was disregarded; when they saw a fixed determination ou the part of Great Britain to enforce her op- pressive and unconstitutional laws at the point of the bayonet ; like the rest of the Colonists, the people of this town prepared, as best they could, for a sterner contest.
And when the blood of their slaughtered countrymen on the plain of Lexington cried to them from the ground, the call was not unheeded. The news reaches Marlborough about eleven o'clock, and the effect is electrifying. The drums are beat; the alarm guns are fired ; messengers are dispatched in every direction. The farmer quits his plow ; the mechanic leaves his shop ; and before two o'clock, about one hundred and ninety freemen are on their way to the scene of action. Nor did their zeal expire with this first effort. They left their business without an hour's warning; they remained in the ser- vice from ten to forty days ; and many of them enlisted into the eight months' service ; being resolved that the lawless band who had com- mitted such outrages at Lexington and Concord, should confine their operations to the peninsula of Boston.
I shall not follow our Fathers through the Revolutionary struggle. It is sufficient to say, that the men who gave this earnest of their devotion to the cause of liberty, persevered to the end. The fields of Bennington, and White Plains, and Rhode Island, and Monmouth,
505
witnessed their fidelity; and the labors and sufferings endured, at home and abroad, prove that freedom had no truer sons than those who were nursed in the lap of old Marlborough.
To describe the war in detail, so far as the town is concerned ; to enumerate the efforts that were made, and the privations that were endured, during the protracted struggle, would carry me far beyond my prescribed limits. Nor have I time to present the exhaustion that was felt, after the excitement of the war was over, bringing a lassitude more trying than the struggle which preceded. But these trials have passed away. Day has dawned upon the land over which the dark night of privation and suffering had long brooded. The busy hum of industry is now heard, where the savage yell and the alarm of war once sounded ; and the smiles of peace light up the hills and vales with which we are surrounded.
But in the midst of the prosperity which we enjoy, let us not forget the toils and dangers, the sufferings and privations to which the fathers and mothers of the Revolution were subjected, and which they bore with unexampled fortitude, that they might leave a priceless inheri- tance to their descendants.
Citizens of Marlborough-Permit me to congratulate you on this joy- ful occasion. You have done well in celebrating this Anniversary. It is our duty, at stated times, to leave our usual occupations, step aside from the strife of business and the bustle of life, to contemplate our origin, commune with past ages, and do honor to those who have gone before us. And surely it is not too much to devote one day in two centuries to the contemplation of the deeds of our Fathers, to whom we are indebted for so many blessings. It is right we should review their history, and recount their noble deeds. With some of their trials and privations, with their patriotic efforts for the State, and their self- sacrificing labors for the church, we have been made acquainted by the written word of history, and the living voice of tradition ; and it is our duty to transmit these records of the past to the generations which shall come after us. The deeds of our ancestors, performed under the guidance and smiles of a benignant Providence, must not be permitted to sleep in darkness and in death.
" Our Fathers taught them to their sons, And they again to theirs ; And we'll convey them safely down To our succeeding heirs."
In the pleasing services and joyful festivities of this day, the present inhabitants of this town, whether native or adopted, delight to join. They rally around the hearth-stone of old Marlborough, and are proud
506
to call her, Mother. The towns which have been set off from the Old Dominion are here to-day, with fond recollections of the past. They have gathered at the old homestead, and with filial emotion, bless the nursery in which they were reared. Though they have set up for themselves, and are " well to live" in the world, they are not ashamed of their origin, or unmindful of the paternal hand which guided their infant feet, or the maternal bosom on which they reclined for protec- tion and repose.
And the individuals who were born upon her soil, and whose for- tunes have been cast elsewhere, have returned on this Anniversary occasion, to interchange cordial greetings with their friends and kin- dred, and to join with them in doing reverence to the place of their birth. Though they have been absent in body, they have not severed the ties which bind them to the scenes of their childhood, and to the companions of their youtliful pastimes. And whatever may be their situation in the future, or wherever their lot may be cast in times to come, I am persuaded that those who are here to-day, and whose hearts have been touched by the spirit of the occasion, will add the fond recollections of this Anniversary to the many pleasing memories of their native town ; and as the years roll round, and time and space separate them more and more from this place, their thoughts will from time to time turn to the abodes of their ancestors, and their early im- pressions, and their first love, will be called up afresh.
And, my Friends, while you are rejoicing in your birthplace, and doing homage at the tombs of your Fathers, will you permit one who has been absent as a resident more than forty years, to bring his humble offering of filial regard, and lay it at the feet of old Marl- borough, " which is the mother of us all." My connections with this town are neither few nor remote. My parents and grand-parents have been residents among you. My maternal ancestors extend back to the first settlement of the township, when Abraham Williams received a grant of land upon the border of your beautiful lake, and became a permanent citizen. And when, more than a century ago, a dark cloud hung over the community, and apprehensions were felt that the sound of the war-whoop might break the silence of midnight, or the blaze of the dwelling might light its inmates to their graves ; when fears were entertained for the safety of the Colony itself, so that " despair was a secret companion, and the sons of little men were afraid," my paternal ancestor, John Hudson, with two of his sons, took the field, in company with other stout-hearted sons of Marl- borough, to guard the homes of the citizens, and defend the Colony against the combined attacks of the French and Indians. And in the glorious struggle for our Independence, the same ancestor, with eight
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.