USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Townsend > History of the town of Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from the grant of Hathorn's farm, 1676-1878 > Part 5
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* The land on which John Wallace settled was a part of Hathorn's farm, and he took his deed from one, Thomas Phillips, in 1734. His log-house stood on the west side of "the six rod way, running nearly north and south" (which passed by the east side of Hathorn's mile square), about equidistant from the northeast and southeast corners thereof.
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scendants of the Wallaces are still among and of the most respectable people in this and adjoining towns.
William Lawrence, not only had a considerable part of his father's land (John Lawrence, of Lexington.) in North Town, but he bought and owned extensive tracts in the northern part of the town. No one man, except John Stevens, and Daniel Taylor, possessed so many acres. His name appears first in the list of grantees of the town of Mason, New Hampshire, (granted 1749.) where he owned nine of the two hundred farms into which said town was surveyed and allotted. He served on most every im- portant committee appointed by the North Town proprie- tors. He was born in Groton and always resided there. He was a prominent and popular military man. holding the office of Colonel in the Militia for a number of years. In civil life, he was first a justice of the peace. then justice of the peace and quorum, afterwards promoted to a seat on the bench of the Court of Common Pleas for Middlesex County. He represented Groton, with the districts of Pepperell and Shirley, in the General Assembly of the province of Massachusetts. several times. He possessed excellent judgment, a benevolent disposition, and unfeigned piety.
For some reason unknown to the writer, Joseph Stevens waived his right of calling the first meeting of the proprietors after the incorporation of the town, and this duty devolved on Benjamin Prescott, Esq., of Groton, in manner as follows: -
" MIDDLESEX SS.
"To John Stevens of Townshend in the County afore- said one of the proprietors in the common and undivided
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lands in the Township of Townshend in the County afore- said Greeting.
"Whereas Col. Josiah Willard, Joseph Stevens, Thomas Phillips by his attorney Isaac Farnsworth, Josiah Wil- lard of Boston Esq., by his attorney Josiah Willard Esq., William Lawrence and yourself, one of the pro- prietors of the common and undivided lands in Townshend aforesaid, have made application to me Benjamin Prescott Esq. one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace for the county of Middlesex aforesaid for a Warrent for the calling of a meeting of the proprietors of the common and undi- vided lands to be held at the Public Meeting House in Townshend aforesaid on the last Monday of July current at eleven of the clock in the forenoon, to the end that being duly mett and formed they may then and there elect and choose a clerk for the proprietors aforesaid, Also agree upon and order the laying out into lotts and dividing the land remaining undivided in said town, to and amongst the proprietors aforesaid, or such part thereof and in such a way and manner as may be thought best and be agreed on. and choose and empower proper persons for a committee to manage and perform the same. and give them such instructions and directions for their proceedings therein as shall be thought fit.
"Also to hear and examine the claims of the proprietors aforesaid to any interest in the undivided lands aforesaid. and if they see cause to choose a committee for that pur- pose, and also order proper records to be made up of the grants and rights of lands in said Town.
"Also to hear and examine the accompts of the several committees or persons employed for or in behalf of the proprietors aforesaid for their trouble or expense in or
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about any of the proprietors' business, and of any money resting in their hands due to the proprietors, and order payment of any money that may be found due to any per- son for any service by them done for the proprietors, and choose and empower proper persons to call and oblige any person so employed to render such accompt if need be. Also to agree upon and appoint some proper way and method for calling and warning proprietors meetings in Townshend for the future upon any proper occasion.
"These are therefore in His Majesties name to require and command you to notify the Proprietors of the common and undivided land in Townshend aforesaid that they convene and meet at the time and place above mentioned. then and there when met and formed according to law, to proceed, conclude, determine and finish the several matters and things above mentioned as the occasion and business of the said meeting, and to the end the proprietors afore- said may have the better knowledge of the said meeting you shall post up a Notification in Writing expressing the time, Place and Occasion aforesaid of the said meeting in some public place in Townshend aforesaid, fourteen days before the day appointed for the meeting as aforesaid.
"Hereof fail not, and have you this Warrant with your doings thereon at the said meeting.
"Given under my hand and seal at Groton July 7th in the sixth year of his Majesties Reign anno que dominie 1732.
-
BENJAMIN PRESCOTT Justice of the Peace "
Hon. Benjamin Prescott, was born in Groton, 1696. Butler, in his history of Groton, says : "He was a man of
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superior mental endowments and of commanding appear- ance." He was the father of Col. William Prescott, who was partly in command at the battle of Bunker Hill. He represented Groton most of the time from 1724 till his death. In 1724, he was a justice of the peace, then only twenty-eight years old, afterwards he was a justice of the peace and quorum, and in 1735, he was appointed a judge in the superior court. "In 1738. the year of his death, he was appointed to represent the Province at the court of Great Britain, which office he declined. giving as a reason that he had never had the small-pox. Hon. Edmund Quincy was appointed in his stead and died in his mission, of the same disease which Mr. Prescott so much feared would prove fatal to himself. By over-exertion in saving some hay from a shower, he became surfeited, and died in August. 1738, in his forty-third year."* This gentleman had much influence in encouraging the settlement of North Town. His judgment was almost always con- sulted in matters affecting proprietary interests. His lands were on Nissequassick Hill.
Daniel Taylor lived on the west side of the road leading from the Harbor to Lunenburg. about half a mile southerly of the garrison previously mentioned. The house he occupied during the latter part of his life, which he built, one of the oldest in town, weather beaten and cor- roded by the tooth of time, is still standing and occupied. The lands, on both sides of the road, belonging to this estate have been sold piecemeal, with the exception of about four acres on which this old unpainted house stands.
* Prescott Memorial, page 19.
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Longfellow could see poetry in every decorative moulding attached to these ancient gables.
"In that mansion used to be Free hearted hospitality."
It was once elegant, costly in its finish and eligible in its location. Joy at the advent of the helpless infant, the solemn words " I do" and "I will" at the marriage, and the suppressed moaning of the survivor of the departed, have all been echoed by the shrunken panels on those quaint old rooms. He owned land in fourteen different places in this town, besides being possessed with a good amount of prop- erty. He owned more slaves than any other person in town. There were then here five or six families who had negro servants .*
Capt. Taylor, "of the training band," buried three wives, leaving the fourth a widow at his decease in 1783. One of his daughters, by his second wife. Sarah, married Deacon Daniel Adams, in 1772, and was the mother of Daniel Adams, M. D., author of the Scholar's Arithmetic.
Isaac Spaulding, came from Chelmsford, and bought the proprietary right of his oldest brother. Deacon Andrew Spaulding, who was also one of the original proprietors of New Ipswich, New Hampshire. He settled on the south side of the Harbor pond. He was a man of influence and the first Deacon of the church in Townsend, being one of the selectmen several times. The place where his son Jonathan settled, near the southeast corner of the town, was Andrew Spaulding's second division, and it still remains in the same family, the present being the fifth generation ;
*** Phillis, a servant of John Stevens, born Nov. 26, 1752. Annie, a servant of Benjamin Brooks, born 1756."-Town Records.
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Isaac, Jonathan. Jonathan. Jonathan, Sarah H., the present occupant and one of the heirs. This and the Emery place are the only locations in this town known to have remained in the hands of the descendants of the first settlers. Zackeriah Emery, broke the wilderness. Zackeriah, John, Joel, and Charles, the only male heir. Deacon John Spaulding. (died 1866, aged 72,) was a great-grandson of Deacon Isaac. These Spauldings are and were a robust, intelligent people, honest and upright in every particular, and somewhat noted for their longevity. Without doubt, more persons by the name of Spaulding have been born in Townsend and made it their "continued abiding place." than those of any other name.
"The Spaulding Memorial," a book recently published and in the possession of many by that name, renders it unnecessary to pursue further any notice of persons of that name. The Townsend Spauldings are all descended from Deacon Isaac Spaulding.
It may be considered unimportant by some readers and critics, that so much has been said in this work con- cerning the first settlers of this goodly town. But when distant generations shall come and ask of the past, and search for traces of their pilgrim ancestry, every local history now extant, every sketch in the annals of any town whether small or great, wherever located. and by whomsoever settled, will be perused with fresh interest. In reviewing the poverty and hardships of our forefathers. it would be well to consider some of the advantages within their reach. One thing especially favorable to them was the productiveness of the soil, never before laid under con- tribution by the husbandman. This was "Turkey Hills. North Town." Wild game was abundant, which, together
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with the cattle, swine, and sheep, made our ancestors a carnivorous, rather than a "carnally minded " people. Of wild beasts, the only one particularly inimical to their interests, was the wolf. A price was set upon his head for years. The Indians and the wolves expected no quarter from the settlers, there being considerable difference in the price paid for the heads (or scalps) of each. Capt. Lovewell and his men received one hundred pounds for every Indian scalp wherever taken, while the bounty paid by the settlers was "ten pounds, old tenor, for every wolf killed within the borders of the town, during the year."
Certain persons were chosen annually to fire the woods to destroy the trees, that grass and luxuriant plants might spring up for cattle, sheep, and horses. Swine ran free, preying indiscriminately on nuts, acorns, and berries.
The method of travelling in those times, was somewhat slower and surer than was either pleasant or convenient. Oxen hitched to an awkward, clumsy, two-wheeled vehicle, as an apology for a cart, were used to convey parties to church, to weddings and evening entertainments, when- ever the roads were suitable for that kind of locomotion. Should the objective point be at a distance, and the "way" rough, horseback travel was the style. Two or three persons would go to church riding on the same horse. The husband, wife, and one or two children, would mount from a horse-block, when, all would "go up to worship" in a "tabernacle," rude and uncouth, yet "how amiable" to these parents. The library of most every family, except the "learned orthodox minister of good conversation," con- sisted of the Bible, the Psalter, a few pamphlets, and some well read religious books. As manufacturers, it can only be remarked that the use of the spinning-wheel, brought
10
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over by the settlers of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in 1719, must have been known and used generally by these people. Their implements of husbandry and agri- culture must have been extremely unhandy, and continued so for a long time. The exemplary, moral character, of these descendants of the pilgrims, must not be overlooked. Our ancestors not only believed in integrity of character, but they lived as they believed. * Bancroft bears this testimony to the early character of New England, in whose honor it is our right to share, that "the purity of morals completed the picture of colonial felicity. One might dwell there from year to year and not see a drunkard, or hear an oath, or meet a beggar. I have dwelt," he adds, "the longer on the character of the early puritans of New England. for they are the parents of one-third of the white population of the United States. Their descendants (in 1834), numbered not far from four millions. Each family has multiplied, on an average of one thousand souls."
At the first legal meeting of the proprietors, called by Benjamin Prescott, July 31, 1732, Edward Sherman was chosen moderator, and Jasher Wyman, clerk.
"Voted to proceed to a third division of land in said town and lay out to each proprietor sixty acres of land and qualify the same, excluding all meadows, and that Timothy Heald, Shadrack Whitney, Jasher Wyman. Ens. Jonathan Page, Joseph Baldwin, Amos Whitney, and Daniel Taylor, be a committee to lay out said lands, and that each proprietor draw for his lot when laid out."
It was the intention of these people that there should be as fair and equitable a division, as possible, among the
* Volume 1, page 467.
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propriety, of all the swale lands or meadows in the town. Lands are designated in the records in three different ways : "His original or house lot which bears No .- " &c., "His Second," "Third," "Fourth," &c., "division lot," and "His meadow lot." the last of which were sometimes in parcels as small as three acres. There were one hundred and sixty grantees under the proprietors, some having lands in ten or twelve different parts of the town. There are about seven hundred and fifty titles to land in town to be found among these records. At the same meeting, July 31st :--
"Chose a committee to examine the claims of the proprietors." "Adjourned to the first Tuesday in Novem- ber next." At the adjourned meeting, "chose a committee to examine the accompts of the several committees that have been betrusted with any business for the proprietors."
Josiah Willard. Esq., and Lieut. William Lawrence "were added to the committee to lay out the third di- vision." A vote was also passed whereby any five pro- prietors, petitioning their clerk in writing, could call a meeting of the proprietors. In June. 1733. "the com- mittee chosen to examine the accounts of the several committees and persons employed in and about the several services done for the proprietors of said town," reported that the proprietors were in debt one hundred and four pounds.
Whereupon "Voted to assess a tax of one hundred and fifty pounds, to be proportioned according to each pro- prietors' respective interest, and to be appropriated in paying the above mentioned sum of one hundred and four pounds and other necessary charges."
"Ephraim Sawtell, John Stevens and Daniel Taylor were chosen assessors."
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At this meeting, "Voted also by said proprietors, that they would allow and have allowed, unto Henry Parker and Henry Richardson, who built the meeting house in said town the sum of fifteen pounds to ease their hard bargain in building said meeting house, to be paid to them out of the proprietors' stock."
Voted, "that John Stevens, Amos Whitney, and Na- thaniel Richardson, be a committee to inspect the common- and undivided land in order to preserve the timber for the benefit of the proprietors."
"Voted that the selectmen of the town be empowered to lay out places convenient to the meeting house for building horse stables, so they may the least incommode the common."
These equestrians housed their horses quite snugly closing the doors of these "stables" against the wintry storms, while they, themselves, their wives and daughters. were engaged in worship in a building almost as rayless. chilly and forbidding as were the buildings in which they left their beasts of burden. They scarcely needed a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, when the horses were so much better cared for, in proportion, than were the members of their own families.
Meetings of the proprietors for the first ten years after the incorporation of the town, called by their clerk, by posting notices or warrants in the public places at Groton, and Concord, besides "a notice placed on one of the pillars of the State House at Boston." were frequent. There were only occasional meetings for the last half of the cen- tury, ending December 31, 1799, and then only for selling and locating the limited amount of lands not previously conveyed.
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The last meeting of the proprietors was called "at the dwelling house of John Shipley inn-holder in Town- send Sept 16 1822," more than one hundred years after the line was run between Groton and North Town.
John Shipley's tavern was the same building that is now used for a hotel at Townsend Harbor, and it has been a public house ever since. At this meeting, among other acts, "Voted to close our proprietors' matters and to have our book of records and plan deposited with the town as prescribed by law in such cases.
JOSEPH ADAMS* Moderator
DANIEL ADAMS* Proprietors' Clerk"
The committee appointed by the Assembly. "to allott and grant out" North Town were among the influencial men of the province. Francis Fullam, the clerk of this committee, made some mistakes at their first meeting. "Bartholemew of Worcester," should have been Barthole- mew Jones of Worcester, and again, "Stephen Richard for his son Joseph," should have been Stephen Richard- son for his son Joseph. There were seven Richardsons. grantees here before 1737 (proprietors' records), among which we find the name of "Stephen Richardson for his son Joseph" in the index of said records. There undoubt- edly was considerable enthusiasm and good feeling on that May morning when the committee met, at the old town of Concord, to do this work. The noise attending this unusual gathering, the large number present, together with the surroundings of Jonathan Hoberd's "inn," might have
* Brothers.
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been the cause of these and other unimportant errors. It may be of interest to some to know the fact that the land of Nathaniel Colburn, the servant of John Hunt, of Con- cord, the original proprietor, was in part. the farm now owned by the heirs of the late Joseph Haynes, deceased. From this and other circumstances, we may infer that the relations existing between master and slave, in this prov- ince, one hundred and fifty years ago, must have been much more creditable to the "superior race," than was that slavery made null and void by the great rebellion.
The following is a list of the clerks of the proprietors and the years during which they served :-
Jasher Wyman, from 1732 to 1756. Jonathan Wallace, from 1756 to 1775. James Locke, from 1775 to 1786. William Hobart, from 1786 to 1790. Daniel Adams, from 1790 to 1822.
These men possessed a fair amount of literary ability, and the records which they made will compare very favorably in every particular with those of their contem- poraries in our neighboring towns.
Jonathan Wallace wrote a delicate hand, almost feminine, but remarkably legible.
At a meeting of the proprietors in January, 1775,- "Voted to dismiss Mr. Jonathan Wallace as proprietors' clerk, and have chosen James Locke in his room," and at the same meeting-" At the request of Jonathan Wallace it was put to vote to dismiss him in all the offices he sus- tained in the propriety of Townshend as a committee man. and chose Mr. Lemuel Petts in his room in all said offices." This was from political motives as will be ex- plained further along in this work.
According to the record, Mr. Locke, "being about to
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leave town," tendered his resignation (1786), whereupon the proprietors passed the following, which is the only complimentary vote in their whole records :-
"Voted the thanks of this propriety be returned to Mr. James Locke, late clerk, for all his good services, and that Mr. Daniel Clark be a committee to inform him thereof."
There thus appears a great disparity between the popularity of these two men, whereas one might have been equally honest as the other. Mr. Locke had but little to do as clerk, "the heat and burden of the day " being borne by Wyman and Wallace.
A list of the moderators of the meetings of the pro- prietors, and the years during which they held the office. is here inserted :-
Edward Sherman. 1732; Josiah Willard. 1733 : Ephraim Sawtell, 1733, 1735, 1754, 1758: Samuel Ken- dall, 1733; William Lawrence, 1734, 1735, 1736, 1737. 1739; Isaac Farnsworth, 1734; Daniel Taylor. 1748; James Prescott, 1765. 1766: Josiah Sartel. 1767, 1768. 1769, 1770. 1771, 1772, 1775, 1780 ; Lemuel Petts, 1784, 1801 ; William Hobart, 1786; Oliver Prescott, 1790; Jonas Prescott, 1793; Levi Kemp, 1797 ; Joel Adams. 1808 : Joseph Adams, 1822.
Meetings were often adjourned from time to time, so that moderators frequently presided at a meeting a year or two from the time of their election.
Among the inhabitants of Concord, were some of the leading men of this province, at the time of the settlement of Townsend, and onward.
December 6, 1737. "a township east of the Monadnock hills, on the southern branch of Contoocook river," was granted to Samuel Hayward, and others, of Concord. This township was afterwards principally owned by Peter
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Prescott,* of Concord, who was a large landholder and speculator. To the influence of Concord men may be traced much of the success of Townsend when taking its place among the towns of "the Massachusetts Bay."
Our limits forbid anything further concerning the settlers and founders of this town, quite a number of whom were military men, some holding commissions under the King, and again under the Commonwealth, when our in- dependence was the objective point.
Something of an incomprehensible character comes down to us from these bold and intrepid men. They ap- pear almost within the environment of romance, rather than struggling for homes where they could enjoy "free- dom to worship God." Some barrier, always overcome. generally interposed between them and success. A wil- derness was displaced, and in its stead Ceres and Pomona smiled in the sunlight. A savage foe lurked around their cabins and garrisons, but "the annointed children of edu- cation were too powerful for the tribes of the ignorant." And when, after a long time, they began to enjoy the fruits of their labors, and hymns of gratitude ascended from their altars, their king taxed them beyond their endur- ance and compelled them to draw the sword. Then came "the tug of war," in which they were again victorious. Would that the photographer's art could reach back and give us the forms and features of these brave men. 3 But like the knights of olden time :-
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"Their swords are rust. Their bones are dust, Their souls, we trust, Are with the just."
* Tradition says that Peter Prescott, during the time he passed at Peterborough lived in a semi-subterranean cave, songly ensconced in an abrupt hillside with a sunny ontlook ; and that his Concord friends, and the land speculators, would talk about "Peter's burrow." of "going up to Peter's burrow."-hence Peterborough or the name of the town.
CHAPTER III.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
Settlement of Rev. Phinehas Hemenway. the First Minister of Townsend -Memoir of him by Rev. Mr. Temple-Church Covenant written by Mr. Hemenway-Account of Servants ( negroes ) belonging to the Church-Church Discipline-Owning the Covenant-New Lights-Character of Mr. Hemenway-His Death-Settlement of Rev. Samuel Dix-Account of his Pastorate-Sample of his Eloquence-Action of the Church at the decease of Rev. Mr. Dix-Ordination of Rev. David Palmer-Character of Mr. Palmer as an Educator-The Unitarian Excitement and Withdrawal of Mr. Palmer from the Town Meeting-house-Account of the Latter Part of his Life-Pastorate of William M. Rogers-Pastorate of Columbus Shumway-Pastorate of David Stowell-Pastorate of Luther H. Sheldon-Pastorate of E.W. Cooke-Pastorate of Moses Patten-Pastorate of George H. Morss-Pastorate of Henry C. Fay-Ordination of Albert F. Newton-Names of the Deacons- The Unitarians and Their Ministers-The Methodists.
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