USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Townsend > History of the town of Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from the grant of Hathorn's farm, 1676-1878 > Part 13
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After the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, a copy of the same, printed at Salem, was by order of the council sent to every town in the state, where they were
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
read from the pulpit, and then copied into the town book of records-there to remain as a perpetual memorial. This document is very neatly copied into the Townsend records, done by James Hosley, who was town clerk many years.
In October, 1776, the question was submitted to all the towns in this state, whether they were willing that the House of Representatives and Council, then existing, should frame a form of government for Massachusetts Bay. Townsend expressed an unwillingness to that measure.
At a town meeting, October 15, 1776, upon this subject, chose a committee of three men, consisting of Lieut. James Lock, Samuel Manning, and Major Henry Price, who submitted the following, which was adopted as the opinion of the town :-
"Voted that it is the opinion of this town, that although government is essential to the happiness and well-being of a people, and the powers of forming states and setting up governments is essential in the people, and that a govern- ment ought to be set up in this state as soon as possible with safety and propriety, yet, we cannot at present give our consent that the present house form a constitution or form of government for the reasons following (viz).
"That the act made by the late house respecting rep- resentation, by which the privilege of many towns is much enlarged, which we think gives the maritime towns a material advantage over the country towns, as the court is held at that side of the state, by which we think the mer- cantile part of the state has a dangerous advantage over the landed part ; we therefore judge it of consequence that representation be reduced nearly to the former mode before government is set up."
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WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
In 1776, Oliver Prescott, of Groton, was appointed a brigadier-general, and in that capacity he organized the militia of Middlesex county into eight companies, consti- tuting a regiment of drafted soldiers under fifty years of age, and appointed its officers. Eleazer Brooks was colonel, and Micah Stone, of Framingham, lieutenant- colonel. Co. No. 8: Thomas Warren, of Townsend, captain ; James Lawrence, of Pepperell, Ist lieutenant : Joseph Rockwood, of Groton, 2d lieutenant.
There were sixty men in this company, from different towns. The names of the thirteen men* from Townsend, in this company, were :-
THOMAS WARREN, Capt.
DANIEL HOLT.
SAMUEL MAYNARD, Corpl.
WILLIAM CLARK.
ROBERT WAUGH, Corpl.
ASA MERRIL.
WILLIAM MANNING.
HINCHMAN WARREN.
JOEL DAVIS.
EPHRAIM WARREN.
SAMUEL WYMAN.
TIMOTHY WARREN.
JONATHAN BOWERS.
It will be easily comprehended that, under the severe pressure of a harassing war, when all resources were heavily drawn upon to furnish arms, ammunition, clothes and provisions for the army, to supply funds for the payment of the soldiers, and to meet other expenses incident to the state of public affairs, money, among the inhabitants, was not only exceedingly scarce, but that, in consequence of the successive drafts for soldiers, laborers were in great demand, and their services commanded exorbitant prices. The result of this was that prices of all commodities, and articles of consumption, rose in proportion. There was a
*Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls, vol. 24, page 55.
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
peculiar state of affairs. Every kind of goods was held at a high price, although no one had money to buy with. The General Court felt the pressure, and attempted to effectually apply a remedy. This body passed an act dividing the state into districts, and ordering that a com- mittee should be chosen in each district, to fix upon the prices of labor and provisions. The prices when thus established, it should be unlawful for any one to exceed. This law operated for only a short time, and was given up by common consent. It operated unequally, and the peo- ple would not submit to it.
The towns of Groton, Shirley, Townsend, Lunen- burg, and Fitchburg, composed one district, and the following are some of the prices which were affixed to some of the most important articles, by a committee of these towns :-
Labor of men in summer, per day, $ .50
Labor of men in winter, per day, .25
Labor of a carpenter, per day. .50
Wheat, per bushel,
I.II
Rye, per bushel,
.73
Corn, per bushel,
.56
Oats, per bushel.
.33
Pork, per pound,
.06
Butter, per pound,
.121/2
Beef, per pound,
.06
Potatoes, per bushel,
.I7
Good sheep's wool, per pound,
. . 33
Men's stockings, first quality,
1.00
Men's shoes, per pair,
1.33
Lamb, Mutton and Veal, per pound,
.04 1/2
Hay, per ton,
10.00
Pine boards, per thousand feet, 3.65
Clapboards, 10.67
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WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
Wheat flour, per 100 lbs.,
$3.67
For a dinner, boiled and roasted, .17
For a dinner, only one of these, .14
For mug of West India flip,
.151/2
For mug of New England flip,
.12 12
Good cider, per barrel,
1.83
Men tailors, per day,
.42
Women tailors, per day,
.15 1/2
Yard wide cotton cloth, .58
House maids, per week, .42
Horse for one person to ride a mile, .031/8
At this time the people began to feel the heavily pressing burdens of the war, and to devise means to equalize the same among themselves. At the March meeting, 1777, the town "Voted to choose a committee of five men to estimate all the past services done in the war by the men of this town ; Thomas Warren, James Hosley, Daniel Adams, Richard Wyer, and Levi Whitney were chosen for said committee."
These five men had all been in the service, and were as well qualified to discharge this duty as any persons in town. The report of this committee was adopted the next month. Some idea of the magnitude of the enterprise in which they were engaged, in daring to assert their rights, as well as the pay which the continental troops received, may be obtained from the report of this committee. It must be borne in mind, that these several sums, here ex- pressed in English money, had more intrinsic value than the same figures would express three or four years after- ward :-
Voted £6 to the eight months men at Cambridge.
Voted 12 shillings to each of the six weeks men ditto. Voted 16 shillings to each of the two months men.
25
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
Voted £13 6s. 8d. to each of the three years continental men.
Voted £10 to each of the five months men in the western army.
Voted £2 16s. to each of the four months men for Boston service.
Voted £6 to each of the two months men for York ser- vice.
Voted £6 to each of the three months men for York service.
Voted £23 to each of the men that shall enlist into the ' continental service for three years or during the war, or to such as shall procure a man, or men for said service.
Voted that all the above estimates be made into a rait on the several inhabitants of this town, and that the polls pay one-half of said rait.
Voted that all such as have done more in the war service than their proportion of said rait shall have credit for what they have done, but shall have no right to call for any money out of the treasury till the further order of the town.
JAMES LOCK MModerator. JAMES HOSLEY Town Clerk.
In addition to all other embarrassments under which the patriotic citizens were laboring, was the discouraging influence of about a dozen men in this town, who were known as tories. These men for more than two years. had clandestinely opposed all measures which tended to
191
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
resist the authority of Great Britain. They were intelli- gent men, most of them, and they lived on what is known as Wallace hill, also called by an Indian name in this work. During the time the minute-men were absent, after the alarm was made on the 19th of April. 1775, they were offensively outspoken and disagreeable. It was during this year that it was necessary for every man to "screw his courage up to the sticking point." Public opinion de- manded that every able-bodied citizen should give an undivided support to the American cause, or be exposed to popular indignation, to prosecutions before a special Court of the Sessions of Peace, to imprisonment, or to a coat of tar and feathers. From that time such persons were watched. Occasionally they were obliged to uncover their heads, and, in presence of the assembled majesty of the town, to promise greater love for the American cause, and a strict conformity to the popular will.
The patriots were determined to remove every obstacle in the way of success and to ferret out every loyalist, who might utter a word against their cause. Accordingly a committee was chosen "to collect evidence of inimical and unfriendly persons agreeable to an act of the Great and General Court," which attended to that duty.
On the eighth of July. 1776, "Voted that the select- men lay before the town a list of such persons as they think dangerous or unfriendly to this or the United States, or have been so since the 19th of April, 1775 ; and it was done.
"A List of the persons names taken by us the Sub- scribers and presented to the town of Townshend at a legal town meeting, agreeable to an act of the General Court, entitled an act for securing internal enemies as persons
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
whom we consider dangerous and unfriendly to this and the United States of America, is as follows, viz.
ISAAC WALLIS.
JOSHUA SMITH.
WILLIAM WALLIS.
REUBEN TUCKER.
DAVID HOLDEN.
SETH JOHNSON.
ERASED BY THE TOWN.
JONATHAN WALLIS.
EBENEZER GILES.
Townshend July 8 1777 Again August II 1777.
JAMES HOSLEY
Select-
RICHARD WYER men
ZACHERIAH EMERY of LEVI WHITNEY Town-
THOS. WARREN shend.
JAMES HOSLEY, Town Clerk."
In this record a pen was drawn across the names of Jonathan Wallace and Ebenezer Giles, and in the margin opposite their names are these words: "erased by the town."
As a matter of policy, rather than principle, these two men, whose names are erased, "came to time" and in every particular contributed their share of wealth to assist in the American cause, rather than lose their property by confiscation. They were governed by the same advice which Polonius gave his son,
"Give thy thoughts no tongue.
Nor any unproportioned thought his act."
Some of these tories were arrested, taken to Townsend Harbor, and confined in a cooper-shop, which stood nearly opposite the leather-board mill at that place, where they
193
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
were guarded by a detachment of soldiers from Capt. Douglas' company. They were fed by their friends and families, during their imprisonment, which continued more than a month. It is said that as some troops from New Hampshire were passing through town, while viewing the situation of these prisoners, overheard one of them calling them rebels, which so excited these patriots, that it was with much difficulty that the guard restrained them from firing on the inmates of the shop.
Seth Johnson, whose name appears in this list, was a blacksmith, and had a shop on or near the southeast corner of Hathorn's farm. He also came over to the patriots and worked with them. Jonathan Wallis was a man of strong intellectual powers, a good judge of human nature, and he filled many important offices before and after the revolution. He outlived his unpopularity and came down into the present century, in his old age much respected. Ebenezer Giles was a large land holder, and a man of intelligence and influence. He resided on the farm now owned by Mr. Hamor Lewis. A part of the Townsend tories, when the excitement was at its height. who were not land owners, precipitantly left the town. The patriots were after them on all sides.
It is in tradition, that one night, while they were sur- rounding a house, after a man by the name of Searles, who lived on the northerly side of the hill, near the old burying ground, a younger brother to the man whom they were after, knocked a board off the back side of the house, jumped out, and ran in a westerly direction. The patriots immediately gave chase and came up with him near the Goss bridge, when they discovered the ruse. During the chase, the person sought for made good his
194
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
escape, and was followed in a few days by his wife. At the close of the war, a correspondence disclosed the fact, that several persons of the tory stripe, among whom were two men and their wives, belonging to Townsend, took refuge in the forests, near the Saco river, where they suffered extremely both for food and clothing, in this their self-constituted exile.
Joshua Smith was a trader, the first one in town of which there is any account. He lived at the Harbor, and occupied for a store the old house painted red, now stand- ing on the north side of the road, nearly opposite the mill- yard. He was very obnoxious to the patriots, so much so that he was about the first man "to leave his country for his country's good" for fear of being handed over to the board of war. He had no real estate subject to confisca- tion.
The most prominent Townsend man, who was loyal to the crown and British ministry, was Joseph Adams, a physician. The fact appears in the Middlesex county records, that in 1774. he bought sixty-five acres of land, "situate about a mile north of the meeting house," of one, Josiah Burge. The house he lived in is the same building now occupied as a dwelling by Mr. Daniel Dix. This was just before the road was made, running nearly diago- nally through the Hathorn farm, which passes by this house. The name of Dr. Adams appears only once in the town records (except in the tax-lists), and then in con- nection with the making of this road. His name appears in the list of Middlesex county absentees, in the Massachu- setts Archives, volume 154, page 332 ; James Locke being appointed agent, by the Judge of Probate, to take care of the property.
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WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
Dr. Adams probably fled from town before the ap- pointment of the committee to look after the tories. From the Boston Gazette, February 14, 1780 :-
"Public notice is hereby given, that there will be a Lett at Public Auction, to the highest Bidder, on Thursday the 16th day of March next at One of the Clock afternoon at the house of Nathan Conant, Innholder in said Town- shend; the real Estate of Joseph Adams, Physician, an absentee, consisting of a good Farm in Townshend, about I mile from the meetinghouse conveniently situated, with good buildings thereon, with a Pew in the meetinghouse- Also a House and about 12 Acres of Land in Pepperell. lying on the County Road. Said premises to be Leased for one year from the First Day of April next.
"Townshend Feb. 8, 1780.
JAMES LOCKE Agent."
After the close of the war, the real estate of Dr. Adams, under the confiscation act, was sold by the agent, and James Prescott and others were appointed a committee to settle with his creditors, consisting of Rev. Samuel Dix, Captain Joseph Adams, and others, of this town .*
Lorenzo Sabine, author of the History of the Loyal- ists, "supposes" that this Dr. Adams was a graduate of Harvard College, in 1743. The Joseph Adams of that class died at Barnstead, New Hampshire, in 1803, but thus far nothing can be traced which goes to show, beyond a doubt, that he was once the tory of Townsend.
At the close of the war, there was considerable pres- sure on the part of absentees, or runaway tories, from all parts of the country, for the privilege of returning to the places that were once their homes. To this the patriots never consented.
*Archives, volume 155, page 53.
196
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
On April 17th, 1783, the town of Boston sent the fol- lowing letter and a copy of the proceedings of a meeting at Faneuil Hall, concerning the absentees :-
"To the committee of correspondence &c. the selectmen of the Town or Plantation of Townsend to be commu- nicated to the Town or Plantation.
"GENTLEMEN : By the enclosed Resolve, transmitted to you by the directions of this town at their late meeting, you may form some judgement of their sentiments respect- ing the absentees, and your Wisdom and Patriotism will determine as to the Propriety and Usefulness of coming into the same or similar Resolves.
" This town does not presume to dictate to any of their Sister Towns, but they always received with pleasure, their Sentiments with respect to what concerns the public Good. The advantages that have been derived from thus freely communicating the sentiments of each other, during the late Struggle with our most inveterate internal and ex- ternal Enemies, are of too great Magnitude to need point- ing out.
"We sincerely congratulate you that through the Favor of Providence, we are now like, if not wanting to our- selves, to reap the glorious Fruits of the Blood and Treas- ure we have freely offered, by a Peace, in all its particulars, fully answerable to our most sanguine Expectations.
"Our Happiness as a Nation, will, however, under GOD, depend principly upon preserving our Morals and our Manners, and maintaining good Faith and Friendship with our natural and generous Allies, the French, who reached out to us their supporting Hand in the Hour of our Distress, and whose interest it is to maintain the
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WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
Independence of our Country and the Freedom of our Fishery and Navigation.
"In order to this we must timely and cautiously guard against the Machnations and influence of our late Enemies the Britons ; and surely the British King cannot have more Subservient Tools and Emmessaries amongst us for the purpose of sowing the Seeds of Dissention in this. infant Nation, and disaffecting us to our magnanimous and faith- ful Ally, the Monarch of France, than the generality of the Refugees, whose inveteracy to him, and deceit and cruelty to their Countrymen have been manifest as the Light.
"The inhabitants of this Town do, therefore, in general, most heartily depricate their return. Alarmed by a late attempt of a number of the obnoxious Refugees to land at Dartmouth, and by Reports that interest was making for the return of others to their Estates, the Rights of citizen- ship and the enjoyment of that Happiness they had been the main instruments of making us thus long sorely toil and bleed for, has excited this vigilence and care to pre- vent their Return.
"They have, therefore, requested the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety, to keep a watchful Eye, in order to discover such intruders, that Informations may be immediately given to proper authority, that they may be dealt with as the Law directs. They have not presumed to draw the line between any Classes of Con- spirators and Absentees, as that will be the Business of Government: they have only directed the committee to pursue the directions of Congress. and the Laws of this Commonwealth, as it was before their duty to do. till this line shall be drawn.
26
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
" And we cannot but flatter ourselves that it will appear to you, that this town have herein discovered that Judge- ment, Firmness and Patriotism in the common Cause of their Country, which early distinguished them in their Opposition to the Measures pursued by Britain for their slavery and Ruin. We shall feel happy to be informed that your Town will so far approve of our conduct, as to adopt similar Measures for the Interest, Quiet and Safety of this and the other United States, and we have the honor to subscribe ourselves your most obedient Humble Servents
NAT'L BARBER Chairman Per Order."
"BOSTON, April 10, 1783.
"At a meeting of the freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, duly qualified and legally warned in public Town Meeting, assembled at Faneuil Hall, by adjournment, April 7, 1783.
"Whereas by a Resolve of the Legislature of this Commonwealth, passed on the 13th of February, 1776. the several Towns were directed and empowered, at their annual meetings in March, to choose Committees of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety, whose business (among other things) is to communicate Matters of Im- portance to Committees of the same Denomination, to any other town, county or state, or to the General Assembly or Council.
"And Whereas the present circumstance of the United States requires, that committees so appointed should use
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WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
their utmost Industry and Care to effect the great and im- portant Purposes of their appointment. at a time when Interest is making for the readmitting Absentees and Con- spiritors, to return into this and other of the United States : Therefore-
"RESOLVED, That this Town will at all times, (as they have done) to the utmost of their Power, Oppose every Enemy to the just Rights and Liberties of Mankind : And that after so wicked a Conspiricy against those Rights and Liberties, by certain Ingrates, most of them Natives of these States, and who have been Refugees and declared Traitors to their Country,-it is the Opinion of this Town. that they ought never to be suffered to return, but be ex- cluded from having Lot or Portion among us.
"And the Committee of Correspondence are hereby requested, as by the law of this Commonwealth they are fully empowered to write to the several Towns in this Commonwealth, and desire them to come into the same, or similar Resolves if they shall think fit.
Att. WILLIAM COOPER Town Clerk."
Townsend, at a town meeting on the twelfth of May following, voted not to allow the return of the absentees, and that the selectmen communicate the vote of the town to the town of Boston. All the towns on the coast, as well as Boston, had more interest in the return of these tories than the inland towns, for more of them belonged to these towns .*
It is in history, that on the thirtieth of April, 1775. Gen. Gage made a proposal, "that those persons in the
* From the Boston Gazette, Sept. 1, 1783: "Joseph Adams. Physician, and John Smith, Trader, both of Townshend, were forbidden to return."
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
country who inclined to move into Boston with their effects, might have liberty to do so without molestation." To this the Provincial Congress assented, and "officers were ap- pointed to grant permits, and a large number of 'tories,' as they were called by the patriots, availed themselves to seek the shelter of the British guns."
There are good reasons for supposing, that two or more of the Townsend tories took advantage of this chance of escape, for their names, as far as is known, never after- ward appeared on any records of the town.
We now resume the account of the labors of the patriots.
It is impossible for the people of the present day, being removed a century from "the time that tried men's souls," to realize how completely that struggle called into exercise every resource, and the entire energy of every individual throughout the town. No matter how low his condition, and how limited his means for supporting him- self and his family, every man was called upon to act- to exert himself to the extent of his ability, or be con- sidered a tory. Poverty was no shield against liability to engage in the common cause. The poorest day laborer, though clothed in rags, was required to arouse and render his help in the defence of his country. Men of money were obliged, by law as well as by public opinion, to open their purses, as well as to give neat cattle for beef, salt pork, rye meal, commissary stores, and everything neces- sary for army supplies.
The women of that period were equally patriotic and strained every nerve in the American cause. One instance, among thousands, of the devotion of the fair sex to the cause of freedom, displayed by the New England women,
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which occurred in Townsend, is worthy of record. The narrator was a daughter of James Lock, Esq. :-
"Late one afternoon of one of the last days in May. 1777, when I was a few months short of fifteen years old, notice came to Townsend, where my father used to live, that fifteen soldiers were wanted.
"The train band was instantly called out, and my brother, next older than myself, was one that was se- lected. He did not return till late that night when all were in bed. When I arose in the morning, I found my mother in tears, who informed me that my brother John was to march the day after to-morrow, at sunrise. My father was at Boston, in the Massachusetts Assembly. Mother said that though John was supplied with summer clothes, he must be away seven or eight months, and would suffer for want of winter garments. There was at this time, no store, and no articles to be had, except such as each family would make itself. The sight of a mother's tears always brought all the hidden strength of the mind to action. I immediately asked her what garments were needful. She replied, 'pantaloons.' 'Oh. if that is all,' said I, 'we will spin and weave him a pair before he goes.
"""Tut,' said my mother, 'the wool is on the sheep's back, and the sheep are in the pasture.'
"I immediately turned to a younger brother, and bade him take a salt-dish and call them to the yard.
"Mother replied, 'Poor child, there are no sheep shears within three miles and a half.'
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