History of the town of Oxford, Massachusetts with genealogies and notes on persons and estates, Part 2

Author: Daniels, George Fisher, 1820-1897
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Oxford : Pub. by the author with the cooperation of the town
Number of Pages: 916

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west of the river at the west boundary of Howarth's estate.

3 Mass. Col. Rec .. V., 467.

4 Cox's copy of this deed has recently come to light. It was in the possession of Ezra Taylor, Esq., of Southboro, attorney of Cox's heirs, who resided in New Jersey, and is now in the library of the Am. Antiq. Soc. at Worcester. See also Wor. Co. Rec .. XXIX., 228.

5 This name, though not as pleasing as the lake itself, should be retained. The river which runs through it should also be known as the Maanexit, the appellation "French " being inappropriate, as no. French settled near it.

LAND PURCHASES AND GRANTS.

rough and hilly but the hundreds of acres of warm alluvial soil embraced in the village plot were specially suited to the main crop of those early times, Indian corn. Gookin said of it, " it is situated in a fertile country for good land," and he asserts he had seen in the region fields yielding 40 bushels to the acre. The country was not unbroken forest, but on the plains especially were open areas planted over by the natives.

"There is no underwood, save in swamps and low places; for it being the custom of the Indians to burn the woods in November . . . it consumes all the underwood and rubbish. There is good fodder in the woods where the trees are thin; and in the spring the grass grows rapidly on the burnt lands. . . . The woods are open and the forests penetrated without difficulty. The only obstructions are streams, hills and swamps." 1

Meadows. These were considered as of great value on account of their yielding hay.2 Water power available and fitting was at hand.

Game. Wild game in plenty, especially deer, important as a means of living, roamed the forests, and the ponds and rivers abounded in fish.3

Roads. The grant was easy of access. A road from Boston to Springfield crossed it on the north, and through the southern part ran the thoroughfare from Boston to Hartford and vicinity, called in the records the Great Trail and the Connecticut Path.

Undoubtedly the first white man to tread Oxford soil was John Oldham, who, in 1633, having learned of the "trail" from the inci- dent of the Indians of Wabquasset carrying corn to the Bay colonists when in need in 1630, passed over it westward to Windsor.

In July, 1675, Ephraim Curtis was employed to conduct "Uncas his six men " from Boston home. He says "I conducted [them] safly while I com in sight of Wabquesesue new planting fielde ; first to Natuck, from thenc to Marelborrow, thenc to Esnemisco, thenc to Mumchogg [Oxford], thenc to Chabanagonkomug, thenc to Mayenecket thenc over the river to Seneksig, while wee cam nere to Wabaquasesu wher they were willing that wee should leve them." 4 This indicates the line of travel at that time.

1 Wood's New Eng. Prospect.

" Sudbury, Concord, Lancaster and Brookfield, early settled, all were chosen for their productive meadows. Robinson's Pond in the east part of Oxford covers "Mendon Meadow," so called from the fact that the people of Mendon came here for hay before the settlement.

3 Mr. Stephen Davis, recently deceased, æ. 87, said on the authority of his father that at the time of the settlement of his ancestors in the southeast part of Oxford, with a dog and a gun one could go to the woods near by and bring in a fawn as certainly and almost as quickly as a farmer could go to his sheepfold and prepare a lamb for the table.

Bears and wolves were not uncommon. Mrs. Lee in her history of the Huguenots says, quot- ing from the manuscript of Mr. John Mayo, "I 3

heard Joseph Rockwood, who served in the fort, tell of having got lost in the woods when out for the cows. He heard at a distance the cries of wild beasts, and ascending a tree for safety was surrounded during the night by half famished, howling wolves."

Mrs. Isaac Moffitt, b. 1738, dau. of John Larned, living west of the river in the southwest part of the town, said she had lain awake many a time in her childhood and heard the night-long sere- nade of the wolves from a knoll a short distance from the dwelling.

At Jonathan Ballard's, who bought in 1735 (now Howarth's), it was necessary at times to house the sheep and calves for safety, and on a certain winter morning tradition says seven wolves were counted on the ice of the mill pond.

4 Mass. Arch., LXVII., 214.

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CHAPTER II.

THE HUGUENOT COLONY.

THE HUGUENOTS. MILL. HOSTILE INDIANS. JOHNSON MASSACRE. THE

DESERTION. RE-SETTLEMENT. FRENCH AND INDIAN INTRIGUES. QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. SECOND ABANDONMENT. HUGUENOT CHARACTER. PER- SONAL. RELICS. BERNON'S TROUBLES. BERNON'S SALE. PROPRIETORS' PROCLAMATION. ENGLISH SETTLERS. TOWN INCORPORATION.

Huguenots as Colonists. In the spring of 1686 no progress had been made toward occupying the grant, and on petition of the grantees, the stipulated time for settlement was extended three years.1 Before the expiration of that time, the requisite number of families of a strange nationality and a remarkable history were here as settlers. These were French Protestants who a short time before had been driven out of their native land on account of their religion and had taken refuge in London. Mr. Thompson, one of the grantees then resid- ing there, entered into negotiations with Gabriel Bernon, an influential man among them, which resulted in an agreement with him and his agent, Isaac Bertrand DuTuffeau, to bring over and settle 30 families upon the Oxford lands.2

A grant of 2,500 acres was made by Dudley and Company to Bernon and DuTuffeau in common, Bernon's portion thereof being 1,750 acres in his own right, and 750 in co-partnership with Du Tuffeau. This tract was laid out in the southeast corner of the village plot, and was 352 rods on the south line, and ran north "as far as will complete the full quantity of 2,872 acres."3 DuTuffeau after a time left the colony while indebted to Bernon, who by legal process came into possession of the whole. This he sold in the spring of 1721, eight years after the permanent settlement, for 1,200 pounds to Thomas Mayo, Samuel Davis and William Weld, all of Roxbury.4

1 Mass. Col. Rec., V., 469.

2 In 1720, Bernon represented to the authorities at Boston, that he was " one of the most ancient families in Rochel, France ; that upon the breach of the Edict of Nantes, to shun persecution he fled to London; that on his arrival, - Tuf- fereau, Esq., treasurer of the Protestant churches of France, presented him to the honorable soci- ety for propagating the gospel among the In- dians in New England; that Mr. Thompson the governor [President] offered to 'instal him in the society' and offered him land in the govern- ment of the Massachusetts Bay; whereupon Isaac Bertrand du Tuffeau desired him * to assist him to come over to New England to settle a

plantation for their refuge,' that he did advance him such sums, as, 'with the exchange and inter- est from that time would amount to above one thousand pounds,' etc. ... and that he shipped himself, his family, and servants, with other families and paid passage for above forty persons."

3 In the deed a reserve was made of 172 acres of meadow for the settlers, and 200 acres for Daniel Bondet, the minister.

4 Weld soon sold his share to Mayo and Davis. John, son of Thomas Mayo, settled upon the southern part of the tract including Fort Hill, and Davis owned and occupied the central part, lying on both sides of the present Sutton road.

HUGUENOT COLONY.

1687

During the summer and autumn of 1686 and the winter following most of these emigrants arrived at Boston, and according to Rev. Charles W. Baird, D.D., author of "History of the Huguenot emi- gration to America," came to Oxford in 1687.1 The settlement was made near the stream easterly of the present Main Street, the houses having been built on its higher banks, mostly on the westerly side, from near the present Sutton road on the northeast, down one mile to the Webster road and Johnson's Plain on the southwest, the most thickly settled part having been near the "old mill" at the south end of the Plain.

Chapel. Southeasterly from the central portion of the village on the Humphrey farm upon a rise of land about 100 rods from the stream, on the road to the fort, stood their church building, and near it was their burying-ground, and a stockade for refuge in case of an attack during religious service.

Fort. Still farther to the southeast about three-fourths of a mile, rising to an eminence overlooking the country for many miles, was their fort or stronghold, and a short distance from it westerly on Bondet Hill, within the village limits, was a building called in the records the " Great house," supposed to have been the home of the minister, Daniel Bondet.

Mills. On the stream near the south end of the Plain, was built the first mill, a sawmill, and three-fourths of a mile above at the northeastern extremity of the settlement on Bernon's land, stood the grist-mill, built by Mr. Church in 1689.

Progress. Concerning the progress of the colony, but little can be known, as all official papers were carried away by the pastor, Daniel Bondet, when he left, and have never been recovered.2 A few mis- cellaneous papers, petitions, letters, etc., remain, chiefly in the State archives and among the Bernon papers now in the possession of William D. Ely, Esq., Providence, R. I., quotations from which will give indications of the state of affairs from time to time. A letter from a French refugee in Boston, dated Nov., 1687, recites as follows :

" The Nicmok country belongs to the President himself and the land costs nothing. I do not know as yet the precise quantity that is given to each family ; some have told me it is from fifty to a hundred acres according to the size of a family. ... It lies with those who wish to take up lands whether to take them in the one or the other plantation-on the sea board or in the interior. The Nicmok plantation is inland, at a distance of twenty leagues from Boston and equally distant from the sea; so that when the settlers wish to send anything to Boston or to obtain anything from thence, they are obliged to transport it in wagons. In the neighborhood of this settlement there are small rivers and ponds abounding in fish, and woods full of game. M. Bondet is their minister. The inhabitants as yet number only fifty-two persons." 3

1 Dr. Holmes in his " Annals " gives the time as in 1686.

2 Whitney, referring to the early records of

Oxford, says they were kept in Boston, and burned in the old State House.

3 Bulletin Soc. His. Fr. Protestantism, XVI., 69.

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HISTORY OF OXFORD.

1689-93

Mill Contract. A contract dated March, 1689, between Caleb Church of Watertown and Mr. Bernon, by which the former agrees to build a grist-mill at Oxford, appears among the Bernon papers. This mill was completed prior to Feb., 1690, as before stated.

The Rum Traffic. In 1691 the peace of the settlement was seriously disturbed by some " incorrigible persons " therein who were carrying on a pernicious traffic with the natives. The following is a memorial from the minister, Mr. Bondet, on this subject, dated 6 July :-

" It is an occasion which fills my heart with sorow and my life of trouble, but my humble request will be at least before God, and before you a solemn protestation against the guilt of those incorrigible persons who dwell in our place. The rome is always sold to the Indians without order or measure, insomuch that according the complaint sent to me by master Dickestean with advice to present it to your honours. The 26 of last month there was about twenti indians so furious by drunkness that they fought like bears and fell upon one called remes who is appointed for preaching the gospel amongst them he had been so much disfigured by his wonds that there is no hope of his recovery. If it was your pleasure to signifie to the instrumens of that evil the jalosie of your authoriti and of the publique tranquility, you would do great good maintaining the honour of God in a Christian habitation, conforting some honest souls wich being incompatible with such abomina- tions feel every day the burden of afflixon of their honorable perigrination aggravated. Hear us pray and so God be with you and prosper all your just undertakins and applications tis the sincere wish of your most respectuous servant.

" D. BONDET minister of the gospell in a French Congregation at newoxford."

No action upon this petition appears.

Sigourney's Affirmation. Several years later the same evil continued, " to the great shame and danger of all the company," the agent now being one of the Huguenots, as appears from the following document, the original of which is in the possession of Peter Butler, Esq., of Quincy, a descendant of André Sigourney :-

" André Sigourney aged of about fifty years doe affirme that the 28 day of nouembr last past he was with all the others of the village in the mill for to take the rum in the hands of Peter Canton and when they asked him way hee do abuse soe the Indiens in seleing them liquor to the great shame and dangers of all the company hee sd Canton answered that itt was his will and that hee hath right soe to doe and asking him further if itt was noe him how make soe many Indiens drunk he did answer that hee had sell to one Indien and one squa the valew of four gills and that itt is all upon wch one of the company named Ellias Dupeux told him that hee have meet an Indien drunk weh have get a bott(le) fool and said that itt was to the mill how (who) sell itt he answered that itt may bee trueth.

" ANDRÉ SIGOURNEY. [Constable. ] " BOSTON, Dec. 5, 1693."

Representative. In the early part of 1693 the plantation, having been by a general law of 1692 empowered thereto, chose as

HUGUENOT COLONY.

1693-94

representative to the General Court, Daniel Allen of Boston. Little can be learned of this first representative of the town, but it can hardly be doubted that he was half-brother of Dudley, and son of Rev. John Allin of Dedham, by his wife Catharine, who had been previously wife of Samuel Hagborne and of Thomas Dudley, and was mother of Joseph Dudley. He was born 5 Aug. 1656 ; grad. Harv. Col. 1675 ; physi- cian at Boston ; died 7 Nov. 1693. His kinship to Dudley explains his having been elected to the office, and the fact attests Dudley's continued interest in the settlement.1

Hostile Indians. In the summer of 1693 the northern Indians became a source of alarm. At Brookfield a band of 40 made an assault, 27th July, killing six persons and carrying away three others, one an infant, which was killed soon after the capture. Both Oxford and Woodstock having fears that unless precautionary measures were taken like disasters might come to these places, the case was laid before the authorities, and on 1 Aug., 1693, in Council, it was advised and ordered that the Indians of the Plantation of Tohkokomoowadchunt [Kekamoochong, adjoining Oxford] " as well for their own security as that the Enemy may be better known," be drawn into the town of Woodstock to be under the watch of the English.2 Nothing further appears to show that the settlement was not in a fairly prosperous condition up to 1694, seven years from the beginning. At this date the community numbered probably 70 or 80 persons.

In the summer of 1694 the colonists first learned by experience the cruel and sanguinary nature of the people among whom their lot had been cast. A daughter of one Alard, with two younger children of the family, left their home one day to return no more. Search was made, the body of the murdered girl was found but the children had been captured and carried away to Quebec.3

Sigourney's Memorial. The effect of this occurrence was greatly to dishearten the villagers, as will appear from the following document. In October, 1694, a warrant having been sent to Andrew Sigourney, the constable, for the collection of £8. 6s. taxes, he replied as follows :-

" . . . Now whereas the Indians have appeared several times this summer, we were forced to garrison ourselves for three months together and several families fled, so that our summer harvest of hay and corn hath gone to ruin by the beasts and cattle which hath brought us so low that we have not enough to supply our own necessities, many other families abandoning like- wise so that we have none left but Mr. Bondet our minister and the poorest

1 Corroborative evidence of his identity is found in the names of his children, among whom were John, Catharine and Benjamin. [See Savage.] The choice of a representative not an inhabitant of the town was in accordance with English usage. 2 Council Rec.

3 Tradition gives us this story, and says these children were a daughter and two sons, and fixes

the location of Alard's dwelling as at the south end of the plain, about three rods westerly of the railroad track on the northerly side of the road to the fort. The Bernon papers give -"The daughter of Sr. Alord was killed, and the two children of Alord taken prisoners and taken to Quebec."-Baird, II., 274.

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HISTORY OF OXFORD.

1696

of our plantation, so that we are incapable of paying said Poll unless we dis- pose of what little we have and quit our plantations. Wherefore humbly entreat the Honorable Council to consider our miseries and incapacity of pay- ing the poll, and as in duty bound we shall ever pray." 1

In Province Laws of 1698, p. 341, we find an act remitting taxes to Oxford for £33. 6s.

Bondet leaves. For nearly two years afterward we have very little by which to judge of the condition of affairs. Soon after the date of the above memorial, according to Laborie's representations, hereafter given, Bondet, the pastor, doubtless with a feeling of hope- lessness as to the future, and to the regret and discouragement of the people, left and returned to Boston.

Johnson Massacre. On 25 Aug., 1696, occurred the Johnson massacre. This deed was perpetrated under the instigation of the Canadian authorities and the Jesuits by a willing servant of theirs, Toby, a Nipmuck Indian, dwelling at Woodstock, and was a precur- sor of the long series of atrocities later enacted on the frontier.2

The house of Johnson stood on the southern outskirts of the village, near the Woodstock trail, on the plain which bears his name. Toby and his band stealthily approached it on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 25th of August, 1696, and entering, seized his three children, Andrew, Peter and Mary, and ruthlessly crushed their heads against the stones of the fireplace. With the help of Andrew Johonnot, her cousin, the mother fled toward Woodstock, whither her husband had gone on business. Tradition runs that in parts of the way there were two paths and that in going and coming the husband and wife passed each other, she going on to Woodstock and he coming to his home, where he was met by the assassins and shared the fate of his children.3

A rough stone monument was raised on the site of the Johnson house by an assembly of the people of Oxford on 25 Aug., 1875. Dr. O. W. Holmes, replying to an invitation to be present, wrote : " The occasion you propose to celebrate is a very interesting one, in an exceptional kind of way, and deserves an orator quite as much as many more widely known events of history . . . I must content my- self with sending my most cordial good wishes to my friends of the

1 Mass. Arch., C., 502.

2 In a letter dated at New London, 29 Jan., 1700, from Gov. Winthrop to Bellomont at Boston, he refers to "one Toby, formerly belonging to the Indians that live at New Roxbury, who had a particular hand in killing one Jolmson, near the same town, in the last war with the Indians."- N. Y. Col. MSS., IV., 612.

3 A fifth victim, John Evans, is named in a cer- tificate of Stoughton, Increase Mather and others, in favor of Bernon, presented to the authorities 20 Sept., 1696. We find no other mention of him. " Daniel Johonnot, Boston, a Huguenot youth, b. about 1668, came from Rochelle, France, attend-

ing his uncle Andrew Sigourney, probably in 1686, lived at Oxford with those other noble ex- iles, until driven away by the Indians in Aug., 1696, when he saved, says tradition, that may in this case be nearer the truth than common, his cousin, Susan Johnson, whose husband and three children were then killed." [Savage.] Johnson came as an attendant of DuTuffeau. He was b. at Alveton or Alton, Staffordshire, Eng. [Dr. Baird.] Suzanne, his widow, who was the daugh- ter of Andrew Sigourney, the constable, m. 18 Apr., 1700, in Boston, her cousin, Daniel Johon- not. Sigourney Gen.

HUGUENOT COLONY.

1699

lovely town which records so touching, beautiful and romantic a story in its annals." In another connection he says :

"My father visited the site of the little colony in 1819 and 1825. He traced the lines of the fort, and was regaled with the perfumes of the shrubbery and the grapes then hanging in clusters on the vines planted by the Huguenots above a century before. I visited the place between twenty and thirty years ago and found many traces of the old settlement. After Plymouth, I do not think there is any locality in New England more interesting. This little band of French families, transported from the shore of the Bay of Biscay to the wilds of our New England interior, reminds me of the isolated group of magnolias which we find surrounded by the ordinary forest trees in our Massachusetts town of Manchester. It is a surprise to meet with them and we wonder how they came there, but they glorify the scenery with their tropi- cal flowers and sweeten it with their fragrance. Such a pleasing surprise is the effect of coming upon this small and transitory abiding-place of the men and women who left their beloved and beautiful land for the sake of their religion. The lines of their fort may be obliterated, 'the perfumes of the shrubbery ' may no longer be perceived, but the ground they hallowed by their footsteps is sacred, and the air around their old Oxford home is sweet with their memory."1

This event filled the settlement with consternation, and after bury- ing in one grave the murdered husband and " ses trois enfans," the inhabitants gathered their small stores of movables and hastened away to a place of safety.2

The Departure. Tradition says that early in the morning of their leaving-each family having bade adieu to its plantation and home-they assembled at the little church, where they had a season of worship. They afterward repaired to the burying-ground to take leave of the graves of departed friends, and thence in a procession, moved onward over the rough forest road, toward Boston.

Second Settlement. As early as the spring of 1699, eight or ten families returned and occupied their plantations. But of the fortunes of the second colony we know little. The facts however set forth in the citations which follow, indicate clearly that with the rum traffic with the resident natives and the plottings of the neighboring tribes, there could have been but very little of growth or quiet.

1 Introduction to the "Huguenots in the Nip- muck Country."

2 The news of this disaster spread speedily through the Province, and a band of 12 soldiers from Worcester, accompanied by 38 friendly Indians, hastened to the protection of the frontier towns of Oxford and Woodstock. The woods were ranged for days, and some fresh tracks were found at a place called Half-way River north of the French settlement. Captain Daniel Fitch, the leader of the expedition, made a report to Lieut. Gov. Stoughton, and asked for a supply of provisions and ammunition in order that the search might be pursued. It does not

appear that any clue to the perpetrators was discovered. Lincoln's Hist. of Worcester, p. 37. This Half-way River was undoubtedly the Maanexit, which is about midway between Bos- ton and Springfield. Sixty years or more ago, George Alverson while ploughing on the inter- vale near the river on the land of Luthier Stone, N. Gore, turned up a brass kettle, a drauglit chain and a mattock, which had evidently been a very long time buried, and which it is thought the marauders may have taken with them from the scene of the murder and finding them cum- bersome secreted them here.

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HISTORY OF OXFORD.

1700

Laborie Memorial. A petition of the second Minister, James Laborie, in behalf of the settlers, dated Oct. 1, 1699, is as follows : 1 " James Laborie tou his Excellencie and tou the Honorable Council." " MY LORD AND MOST HONORABLE COUNCIL."

" Mr. Bondet, formerly minister of this town, not only satisfied to leave us almost two years before the Indians did commit any act of hostility in this place, but carried away all the books which had been given for the use of the plantation, with the acts and papers of the village, we most humbly supplicate your Excellency and the most Honorable Council to oblige Mr. Bondet to send back again said books, acts and papers belonging to said plantation.

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History of the town of Oxford, Massachusetts with genealogies and notes on persons and estates, Part 2

Author: Daniels, George Fisher, 1820-1897 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Oxford : Pub. by the author with the cooperation of the town Number of Pages: 916

Author: Daniels, George Fisher, 1820-1897
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Oxford : Pub. by the author with the cooperation of the town
Number of Pages: 916