USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Warwick > History of the town of Warwick, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1854 > Part 4
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" 5thly, As also, paying the Representatives by their own towns, which might be more equitably done by the Province : a great hardship that a town of forty families should pay as much for the legislative power as one that has three hun- dred families in it ; and as we are poor, and hard drove to pay our taxes, every thing that is a burden that can be taken off or eased ought to be done.
"6thly, That all deceased wills be proved and recorded, and estates settled, in each town where the deceased last lived, by the Selectmen and Town Clerk in the same town ; and that each town have liberty, at each annual March meet- ing, to choose a Committee or Town Council to prove Wills and settle Estates, and a Register to record Wills and Set- tlements of Estates. Said Selectmen or Committee, and the Town Clerk or Register's fees, to be each year agreed upon by the same town."
Here in these instructions you see the jealousy of
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
our fathers, their republican principles, their love of liberty and equality, and above all, though miserably poor, their determination to support the cause of their country.
At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Warwick, July 4, 1776 (this meeting was called in compliance with a resolve of the General Court to express their sentiments on declaring Independ- 'ence of the Kingdom of Great Britain), a motion was made and seconded, that the town will express their sentiments by declaring for independence by yeas and nays; and all that are not present at this meeting have the opportunity of giving their names to the town clerk within six days from said meeting, by personally appearing before said clerk ; and voted, that the town clerk give off the sentiments relative to independence to Lieut. Thomas Rich, the representative for said town. Thirty-eight names voted yea ; and forty-four more came in within six days and voted for Independence : making a total of eighty- two yeas, and not one in the negative.
A handbill was circulated through the State, and a meeting called, to get the opinion of the inhabitants respecting a constitution and form of government in the several towns. This meeting was in October, 1776 ; and it was voted in this town, that the present House of Representatives, with the Council, should not enact and agree on a constitution or form of government, but that they should report one, and send it out to the towns, for their inspection and perusal ; and they chose a committee to frame instructions for the rep- resentative of the town. Chose Amos Marsh, Josiah
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
Rawson, and Peter Fish. Said instructions were as follows ; viz .: -
To MR. THOMAS RICH.
Sir, - Having by a late vote empowered and directed you to join the other members of the General Assembly in forming a plan of Government for this State, and being fully sensible that it is a matter of the greatest importance, both to the present and future generations, that such a plan be adopted as shall be most free from the seeds of tyranny, and have the greatest tendency to preserve the rights and liber- ties of the people, and the most likely to preserve peace and good order in the State, we therefore beg leave to lay before you the following short hints respecting a form of government, which we apprehend, if adopted, will have a tendency to answer the purposes above mentioned.
Ist, That there be but one branch in the legislative au- thority of this State ; viz., the representatives from the sev- eral towns, with a president or speaker at the head.
2dly, That an equal representation may be made, and the balance of power properly preserved, let each incor- porated town send one member, and the larger towns not more than four or five, and the other towns in equal propor- tion.
3dly, That in making choice of the representative, every free male inhabitant, twenty-one years of age, to have the privilege of voting.
4thly, That in case sufficient evidence appears to a town that their representative or members are guilty of acting contrary to the rights and liberties of the people, then to have the privilege, at any time in the year, to recall him or them, and choose anew, «
5thly, That not less than eighty members make a house.
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
1777.
On Feb. 14, 1777, there is an account allowed by the town, in the following form : -
The town of Warwick to the Selectmen, Dr.
For numbering the people, in the year 1776, agreeably to a resolve of Congress, and act of the Court of the State of Massachusetts Bay. One day and an half each, at four shillings per day : the whole fI. Ios. od.
We notice this record, because it coincides with our opinion, that it is much the best way of numbering the people, - the cheapest and the most accurate. March 31, 1777, chose five Selectmen, and seven men as a Committee of Correspondence and Inspection and Safety. Forty pounds was raised for highways, half of it to be worked on the county roads ; and twenty-four pounds, with the interest money, for schooling.
Thomas Rich was chosen Representative.
In August the town met, and voted to pay Josiah Cobb and Asahel Newton twelve pounds twelve shillings, to defray the expense of getting the salt from Boston, apportioned to them by the General Court.
About this time the depreciation in the paper money caused many embarrassments ; and a meeting was called to take into consideration a late act of the General Court, in calling in the State's money, and granting treasury notes upon interest. And it was voted, that if no other method could be adopted than to call in the State's money and put it upon interest, that we would have said money called in and burned,
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
rather than to run our risk in paying interest for it at a day when money cannot be had so easy as at the present day. Also voted, that the town will make choice of Caleb Strong for their County Register.
1778.
March 30, 1778, voted to choose five selectmen ; and chose Amos Marsh, Lieut. Joseph Mayo, Lieut. Thomas Rich, Lieut. Josiah Pomeroy, and Caleb Mayo ; and it was voted that the second, third, and fourth selectmen be assessors. Four hundred pounds was voted to repair the highways, half of it to be laid out on the County roads. Voted to allow twenty shillings a day for a man, ten shillings for a yoke of oxen, and six shillings for a cart or plough .*
Voted to set off Richard Wastcoat and the inhab- itants about him, as a school ward.
May 21, 1778, a constitution or form of govern- ment was laid before the people in the several towns in this commonwealth. The vote in Warwick was three for adopting said constitution, and twenty-four against it.
Sept. 18, a meeting was held to see if the town will pay a bounty on wolves ; and also to see if the town will provide preaching in said town, upon the plan of a free contribution ; also to choose a committee to procure the same, upon the plan above mentioned ; and also to see what measures the town will take to support the widow Sarah Crossman.
* This shows that the money was depreciated, by allowing such a price for labor.
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
Voted at the foregoing meeting to pay a bounty of twenty pounds per head on wolves ; and proposed joining with Northfield, Winchester, Royalston, and Athol; and voted that the selectmen be a committee to send to said towns.
Voted to pass over the article for procuring preach- ing.
Voted that Josiah Rawson and Samuel Mellen be a committee to provide for the widow Sarah Cross- man the necessaries of life ; and chose Dea. James Ball to look into the affair relative to the widow Crossman being an inhabitant of said town.
The crisis is passed and gone, which was so full of interest and instruction. The " breaking out " (as it has many times been expressed) of the " Revolution- ary war," and the many heroic displays of the genera- tion which has immediately preceded us, have in some measure eclipsed the many meritorious acts of the subsequent times. The most important, the long to be remembered transaction, that of declaring our- selves a free and independent people or nation, had passed by. But much remained yet to be done. The patience, the unexampled patience and fortitude, of our fathers and brothers, was severely tested.
In the midst of a noble struggle for liberty and the rights of man, they steadily and firmly stemmed the unequal contest, - a contest unexampled in the history of nations. The stripling youth, young and inex- perienced, was now seen contending with the power- ful and hard-hearted parent. The rights and the liberties which the God of nature had conferred upon him as his birthright were clandestinely and unfeelingly
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
withheld. The allegorical David, unaccustomed to the "tented field," unaccoutred with a coat of mail, and unprovided with an armor-bearer to shield his throbbing breast from the cruel and powerful sword of his enemy, trips forward to meet the Goliath of the world, - the lion of the Islands of the seas. The valley that was between them was the vast Atlantic Ocean ; his armor-bearer was a thousand ships of war, manned by veteran and experienced seamen ; his shield the heavy and thundering artillery, that had so long protected him from the rage of all his foes.
And mark the result ! Relying on the God of ar- mies, his youthful hands prostrated the proud Goliath, and literally killed him with his own sword ; for never could we have conquered the enemy, if we had not taken arms and ammunition wherewith to have taken off his head. We well know that they contended per- severingly, and accomplished the object they had in view. We are enjoying the rich fruits of their labors : may we have the wisdom and virtue to transmit to our posterity unimpaired all these national blessings !
But the "rude din of arms " and " horrors of war " were not all the evils which surrounded our towns- men at this time. To add to the calamities of this (I had almost said ill-fated) town, at the time when the public burdens were the heaviest and most sensi- bly felt, a powerful religious excitement was produced among the inhabitants, by the preaching and ex- hortations of one Elder Hix, an itinerant Baptist minister, whose zeal, by what has been related of him, could hardly have been exceeded by St. Paul him- self. They went from house to house, convincing
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
and converting one another ; held their meetings by day and by night, in season and out of season. Their daily and usual occupations were neglected ; some of the first characters in the town were sub- jects of irresistible grace, and exhorted and prayed and admonished each other to flee to the ark of safe- ty ; and children and boys, unlearned and untaught, could pray with the tongues of men and of angels. : Much enthusiasm made them mad, sober reason was discarded, and the town was well nigh turned upside down. But listen to the sequel.
When the victims of this delusion (if we may be allowed so mild an expression) were wrought up to the highest pitch, when meek-eyed Charity hoped and believed them to be sincere worshippers of God, the bubble burst, the wolves in sheep's clothing were dis- covered. Such a scene of infatuation and corruption was brought to light as perhaps never was before wit- nessed in a Christian land. Who could believe that this monster in sin, though a pretended servant of the most high God, had long been guilty of conduct that would disgrace a brothel ; and, to fill up the measure of his iniquity to the brim, he absconded from the town with a young girl, the miserable dupe of his nefarious wiles, and a deluded proselyte to his pretended reli- gion. This girl's name was - Doolittle. As soon as the rookery was broken up by the arch demon's decamping, Mr. Amos Marsh cleared out with Mrs. Doolittle, the girl's mother ; and Mr. Amzi Doolittle, the father of the girl, went off with Mr. Thomas Barber's wife.
The exasperated friends and relations of some of
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
these elopers followed after them, and took Mr. Marsh and Mrs. Doolittle somewhere in the State of New York, brought them back, and committed them to jail in Northampton, where they were tried for the crime of adultery, and found guilty. They were sen- tenced to sit on the gallows, pay a fine, and he was ever after to wear the letter A, in a large capital form, on his outside garment.
Before leaving this disgusting story, I will inform you of one of the methods this famous Elder Hix used to lead astray his credulous hearers, and make them the willing subjects of seduction.
He told them that men and women had their spirit- ual husbands and wives as well as their temporal ; and consequently where the spirit led them to love and admire each other in a spiritual sense, there was no criminality in the connection.
I think we may truly say with the poet, -
" When such sad scenes our senses pain, What eye from weeping can refrain ?"
Thus the peace and happiness of four or five fami- lies were completely destroyed, and society received an almost irreparable wound. A solemn warning, this, for all of us to beware of impostors, and not to be led away by infatuated religionists, nor deluded by a mistaken zeal.
But to return to our previous subject, respecting the national difficulties and obstacles that our fathers en- countered in those exciting and trying times.
Our government was only a rope of sand. A new
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had been drawn up and submitted to the town for their approbation or disapproval ; and it was almost unanimously. opposed, only three voting in favor of it. The proposed constitution did not agree with their liberal and republican principles ; yet, at the same meeting, they voted to grant the requisition of the General Court, respecting supplying their proportion towards clothing the Continental army.
The town at this time was also destitute of a minis- ter ; the Rev. Lemuel Hedge having died Oct. 17, 1777, on the very day that Gen. Burgoyne surren- dered his army to the Americans.
The depreciation in the paper money then in circu- lation was an evil severely felt : silver and gold was scarce, and the circulating medium was principally paper. For an example of its value, it is recorded that at the annual meeting in March, 1779, eight hundred pounds was raised to repair the highways, two-thirds of it to be laid out on the county road ; and the wages of a man was fixed at thirty-six shil- lings per day, and a yoke of oxen at three dollars.
The December previous (1778), it was voted to give the Rev. Samuel Reed six hundred and seventy- five pounds, as a settlement in the gospel ministry ; and it was also voted to relinquish all that are not of the Congregational denomination from paying minis- terial charges.
They also voted to pay the Rev. Samuel Reed sixty pounds lawful money for the first year's salary, and seventy pounds a year afterwards ; said salary to be paid in money, equal to rye at three shillings and six-
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
pence per bushel, and corn at two.shillings and eight- pence per bushel. Rev. Samuel Reed was ordained in Warwick, Sept. 23, 1779, and he had thirty cords of wood added to his salary annually.
The town meetings at this time were called in the name and government of the people of the State of Massachusetts Bay. In June, 1779, the town convened for the purpose of petitioning the General Court to relinquish a heavy fine laid on them for not raising their quota of men, and to represent their inability to raise men for the service in proportion to their numbers. It has been said that the town could not procure men without paying large bounties, or pro- viding for their families while they were absent ; a large proportion of the inhabitants being poor.
The town chose a committee of five to draft a peti- tion out of two forms produced by Lieut. Thomas Rich and Col. Samuel Williams, which was to be signed by the town clerk in behalf of the town, for a redress of grievances. In August, 1779, the town voted ' to warn out all persons residing in said town, that were not inhabitants," according to law ; and for the future to practise accordingly. They also voted to send a member to the county convention, to be holden at Northampton, to state the prices of the necessaries of life. Lieut. Josiah Pomeroy was chosen. After the delegate had returned from Northampton, the town voted to adopt the doings of the convention, and chose a committee of seven persons to fix the price of hay and other articles which should be thought proper. They also chose a committee of three persons to hear complaints, provided that any should transgress these regulations.
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IIISTORY OF WARWICK.
On the 8th of November, the town voted to raise seven hundred pounds to pay bounties and mileage of soldiers.
I 780.
This year the paper money had so depreciated, that five thousand pounds was voted to repair the high- ; ways. Men's wages fixed at nine pounds per day, and a yoke of oxen five pounds, and a cart or plough at three pounds per day ; and fifteen hundred pounds was raised for the support of the poor.
May 17, this year, the sixth article in the warrant is as follows : viz., "To see if the town will take any method to prevent the wolves catching sheep."
The present constitution of this State was laid be- fore the town for their acceptance the twenty-fourth day of May of this year ; and they voted to accept the third article, viz., " the article on religious freedom :" seventy-three voting in favor of the article, and finally the whole constitution at large, with this amendment : viz., "That no person shall hold a seat in the civil department of government, except he be a professor of the Christian Protestant religion." Afterwards it was voted not to receive the constitution with the pro- posed amendment ; and a committee was chosen to regulate the objections and amendments.
The town was called on, in June, to raise a number of men for six months ; and a committee was chosen, with instructions to offer the men that would go into the service for that time fifteen pounds bounty, equal to silver or gold, or a sum equal to their wages. In
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
July following, the town raised fourteen hundred and forty-nine pounds and twelve shillings, to pay said bounty ; and they also raised five thousand pounds for defraying necessary charges ; and in September, to cap the whole, they voted to raise twenty thousand pounds to pay up the soldiers.
1781.
Jan. 8, the town voted three thousand one hundred pounds, to pay for horses for the Continental service. About this time the town was called on for three years' men ; and they voted to class the town, and each class was to provide a man, and pay him. Thus may be readily perceived the difficulties that beset our towns- men. We ought to feel grateful that Providence has cast our lot in an age that is distinguished for peace and prosperity, and that we have none to molest us or make us afraid. But the story of our predecessors' sufferings is not yet all told.
This town was called upon, in July, to raise seven militiamen, and a quantity of beef for the use of the army ; and the town raised, or voted to raise, sixty pounds, silver money, to pay for said beef. And also chose a committee of three men to give them their own securities, and the town would indemnify the committee. They also raised thirty pounds lawful money to pay the men a part of their wages.
Is it not a matter of astonishment how this town, poor and oppressed as it was with the public burdens of those times, ever succeeded in defraying them, with-
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
out leaving a large debt for their posterity to cancel ? But it appears that they did. They must have been better economists than we are, or it never could have been done. In the midst of all their poverty and privations, they seemed to be looking forward into futurity, and making calculations for after-ages, as well as for their own convenience.
In September of this year, they called a town meeting, and chose a committee of three to petition the General Court to set off the north-west part of the county of Worcester, and the north-east part of Hampshire, into a separate county. Here follows the petition : -
" At a town-meeting held in Warwick, Sept. 19, 1781, taking into consideration the many hardships and dis- advantages incident to individuals, as well as towns and places, when their situation is remote from county adminis- tration. Such is the case with this town, that the inhabit- ants cannot make any title to their lands without going sixty miles to get their deeds recorded ; and all probate business, as well as other county matters, are finished at a great distance. Which burden, in addition to our propor- tion in the common cause, renders the inhabitants of this town, and others in like circumstances, unable to continue their exertions with the people and towns who are at little or no expense to do such business."
The committee were instructed to write to the towns of Hardwick, Barre, Hubbardston, Templeton, Winchendon, Petersham, Athol, and Royalston, in the county of Worcester ; and to Greenwich, New Salem, Shutesbury, Wendell, and Erving's Grant, and such
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
other towns as they shall think proper, to unite with them in petitioning the General Court to accomplish their object ; also to meet delegates from those towns at Samuel Peckham's tavern in Petersham, on the sixth day of November following, at ten o'clock, A.M., to consult on the best method of proceeding.
In October this year, the town voted to set off four thousand and sixty acres of land (as exhibited on a plan shown by Elijah Ball), with the inhabitants on the same, to be incorporated into a town with other lands from Athol, Royalston, and Erving's Grant. This town was called Orange.
I 782.
In 1782, Mr. Moses Leonard gave the town what is now the north part of the burying-ground, on con- dition that the town will fence the same with a good fence fronting the road, with posts and two rails and a suitable wall under the same ; he reserving the privi- lege of feeding the same with neat cattle and sheep only.
Many of the bodies of the dead were dug up, and removed by their friends from the first burial ground to the present place of interment.
At the May meeting this year, Capt. John Golds- bury was chosen representative, and a committee was chosen to draw instructions for the representative, to be laid before the town for their approbation ; and the meeting was adjourned until the next Thursday, to . hear them. They are as follows, viz. : -
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
TO CAPT. JOHN GOLDSBURY, -
Sir, - You being chosen to represent us in the General Court of this Commonwealth, we, the inhabitants of the town of Warwick, do give you the following instructions : viz., That you do your endeavor that the sums apportioned on us of the public charges be lessened, as we think that they are more than our part, according to our ability. That the governor, council, senate, and all other men in this State that are under public pay, be lessened to a reasonable rate. That the charges annually arising be ascertained. That you inquire into the state of the treasury, and of what money hath been granted, and how applied. That all men ·unnecessarily employed in public business be dismissed. That the General Court be removed out of Boston into some other town."
These instructions have been copied as a specimen of the fashion of the times ; and also hoping, that, from these blunt hints, those now in public business might gather some instruction from it.
1783.
The north and north-west part of the town (viz. school districts, Nos. 7, 8, and IO, as they now are) were divided in 1783, and the line between them was as follows : viz., " The line to be from what is called Bennett's Knob, Mount Grace, and to extend to Jona- than Smith's south-west corner, and to extend in a straight line to said Smith's south-east corner, and thence northerly the same point to the State-line."
At the May meeting this year, it was voted that the
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
" Selectmen be directed to write in their returns to the General Court, that, considering the extreme pov- erty of the town, they have not chosen a represen- tative the present year."
June 23 of this year, in town-meeting, it was voted "That the new plantation (Orange) called South Warwick be districted to the town of Warwick, with the privilege of joining with us in the choice of a representative, but to act with us in no town affairs whatever."
1 784.
On the 20th of January, the town chose Thomas Rich and Capt. Peter Proctor, a committee to assist the selectmen in procuring the best account of the charges that have arisen-during the war. (No report found.)
On the 3d of May, the district of Orange was summoned for the first time to meet with the town of Warwick to choose a representative ; and Dea. James Ball was chosen. This year we find an account exhibited by Mr. Isaac Hastings, which at this day would appear novel ; viz., "To taking care of the meeting-house and mending the doors, eight shillings. To making a tythingman's club and a warden's staff, two shillings." (The account was allowed.)
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