USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Weston > History of the town of Weston, Massachusetts, 1630-1890 > Part 10
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But the war came to an end, and at once, on the cessation of hostilities, business of all kinds received a great impetus. The agricultural population soon felt the improved state of things.
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Abundance succeeded want and privations, which for so long a period had been the lot of all. Money was still scarce, and taxes very high in consequence of the debts incurred in prosecuting the war. This state of things continued for several years, and brought about the Shays Rebellion of 1787. Among farmers the system of exchange of work and barter took the place (in most in- stances) of hard money. Land was cheap and mostly wooded, and in the purchase of farms throughout New England the standing wood would pay for the land. Distances to market were little considered, if for no other reason than because at central points hard money was to be had for wood and all farm produce. Pro- visions became very cheap, even when compared with the prices of our own day: beef, 6 to 8 cents; veal, 4 cents; pork, 6 cents; butter, 12 and 14 cents; eggs, 8 to 10 cents; hay, $8 to $10 a ton. There being no coal, wood was in good demand, and Boston took all the wood at fair prices. The farmers even brought it from far Vermont and New Hampshire. Ox-teams were then the only motive power, and long journeys were but little re- garded. In this work the boys came into play. Long lines of ox- teams-each load of from four to six cords of wood, piled high in the air-were driven by boys of fourteen and sixteen years of age. The trip to the market occupied several days and nights. Each division of eight or ten teams had one or two men along with the boys to sell the wood and help in case of accident. No money was to be spent on the road. Each boy had his allowance of crackers and cheese, which was to last until he got back home. Feed for the cattle was stowed away in bags on top of the loads. In the fall of the year the streets of Boston were a sight not seen nowadays. The official street-inspectors and anti- obstructionists live in pleasant times to-day; but in the early days of this century and down to 1840 lines of wood-teams with innumerable yokes of oxen filled the streets, the cattle feeding on the sidewalks.
A good story is told of old Solomon Rice, of Sudbury. After the Worcester Railroad bridge was built, crossing the road to Brighton, he noticed one day, when driving a load of wood, that the stakes of his wagon barely cleared the bridge. He went home and put in longer stakes and piled his wood to their top. When
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he reached the bridge, he whipped up his team, striking the bridge and scattering his wood all over the road. He sued the railroad for damages, and obtained a considerable sum of money, while the company were obliged to raise the grade of their bridge.
This wood-teaming continued profitable into the '40's, when the railroads bought the wood at their stations, to be used in their engines. Locomotives were not fitted for the use of coal until in the '50's.
There is probably no part in the lives of our honored ancestors so little understood by the young people of to-day as the prin- ciple of bondage, or apprenticeship, which was in general use down to about 1820. Let the well-dressed, comfortable, easy- going graduate of a high school put himself, for a moment only, in the place of a young boy of those days, of from fourteen to twenty years of age,-stout, ruddy, and full of health; dressed in a pair of leather breeches coming down to his knees; his legs covered with a pair of long blue woollen stockings reaching up to his knees; his feet encased in a thick pair of cowhide shoes, well greased; his shirt of blue homespun, and on a Sunday covered with a false bosom, which was taken off on his return from meet- ing and carefully folded away for the next Sabbath. Then think of him on a cold morning in winter, the thermometer below zero; snow blown through the cracks of his garret chamber, filling his breeches and freezing them stiff; the kitchen fireplace to be cleared of the snow which had fallen down the capacious chimney in the night; no matches, and lucky if the turf in the embers had not gone out, rendering the use of the tinder-box and flint a necessity.
Under the old system of apprenticeship, boys at about the age of fourteen were bound out by their parents for a specified term of years, usually until the age of twenty-one, when they were presumed to have become proficient in their trade and capable of establishing themselves on their own account. Before the establishment of shoe factories conducted by large capital, which is only of recent date, all New England farmers were shoe- makers. There is scarcely a farm to-day without its building formerly devoted to this industry. It was then necessary, in
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order to enable the farmers to eke out a comfortable living, which their farms did not always insure. Young boys were bound out to farmers just as in other occupations, and devoted the winter months to the trade of shoemaking. Many men, who in after life became wealthy merchants, had the early training given by a trade.
In these days of much-talked-of prohibition it seems strange to look back to the time when our progenitors never looked upon water as made to drink. In fact, water was scarcely used by them as a common beverage. New England rum and cider were looked upon as the proper drink. Tea was a luxury, used in sickness or on special occasions of social gatherings. It was purchased by the ounce. Coffee was not in general use, and among farm- ers never seen on the breakfast table, as now. Two quarts of rum and a pint of molasses was the weekly allowance of the average family. This was independent of the frequent potations of flip,-a home-made beer of hops, heated by a flip-iron always at hand. The rum and molasses charges in the books of retailers and grocers in early days are a sight that would overturn the equilibrium of our Prohibitionists.
On Isaac Lamson's books is a charge for New England rum, brandy, and sugar against the committee of three chosen in town meeting to collect the minister's tax of £3 3s. 6d. When we consider that the best rum sold for thirty-seven cents a gallon, some idea can be formed of the wear and tear to which the com- mittee was subjected in the performance of this religious duty. The women aided and abetted in the general use of wines and liquors, but their brew was of their own make. In every house could be found an abundance of currant, elderberry, and noyau wines. No visitor, however humble, was allowed to depart with- out an invitation to the sideboard or cupboard. To have over- looked this act of hospitality was an offence not to be forgotten or readily forgiven. Notwithstanding the universal use of spirits, confined to no one class and forming a part of all contracts be- tween master and servant, there was little or no drunkenness, as we see it in its disgusting form in our day. The men drank hard, perhaps: they certainly drank often; but they worked hard, and black-strap was with them an article of food as well as drink.
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The standing amusement among the neighbors of a rainy day, when outdoor work was impossible, was to congregate at the tavern and pitch cents. On one occasion, having become tired of that fun, one of the party made a bet that there was nothing in Dexter Stratton's store in Waltham one could ask for that he did not have. Joel Smith, or "Uncle Joel," as he was called by old and young, took the bet, and they all started for Strat- ton's, where they asked for all the impossible things they could think of, and Joel was called upon to pay up. But he had made up his mind what he wanted, and asked for an old pulpit. This Stratton reluctantly acknowledged he had not got, but his boy called out that the old Lincoln church pulpit was out in the shed; and there it was found, sure enough! Stratton was not so fortunate as to purchase the old Weston pulpit, for a townsman elevated it to the position of a barn ventilator. Having served its time as a vehicle of the wrath of God to the unrepentant sinner, it finally went up in a blaze of glory.
We have said that every farm-house had its shoe-shop attach- ment. So every farm had its cider-mill. Apples were not then, as now, a marketable article to any extent, and all apples were made into drink, excepting what were needed for pies. These were made at Thanksgiving in numbers sufficient to last the whole winter. The food used by farmers was largely brown bread and Indian pudding. Apples were introduced into Massachusetts by Gov- ernor Winthrop, and Governor's Island in Boston Harbor was given to him for this service to the State. The governor planted it all over with apple-trees. Boys and girls were brought up on brown bread and milk for breakfast and supper the year round, and they were lucky when they got enough of that. Meat was as little in use by our forefathers as is the case now in the old country. There were no butchers going about, as now. Farmers took turns in killing a cow or a calf, and the meat was distributed among the neighbors, generally without money consideration, but in exchange one with another. There is extant a note from Artemas Ward for a quarter of veal sent him by a neighbor. Bean porridge was also a staple article of food. Little is said, however, of the Yankee pork and beans.
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At a town meeting held April 5, 1784, a protest was read from the Baptists against being taxed for the support of Rev. Mr. Kendal, since they paid their proportion of a tax for the sup- port of the gospel ministry to the minister of their own church. A committee was chosen to examine into their grievances, consist- ing of Colonel Marshall, Captain Jones, and Jonathan Stratton. The names of the Baptist petitioners are as follows: Oliver Hast- ings, Jonathan Spring, Josiah Severns, Mary Ballard, John Hastings, Jr., James Hastings, Samuel Pratt, Samuel Train, Jr., Enoch Bartlett, Thaddeus Spring, James Stimpson, Joseph Severns.
At a meeting held April 5, 1786, it was voted to hear the report of the committee appointed to listen to the reasons that might be offered by the Baptist society relative to their paying the ministerial taxes. Here is their report :-
Your committee chosen the 6th of March last, to wait upon those who call themselves of the Baptist Society, to hear the reason they have to offer why they should be released from paying taxes to the Rev. Mr. Samuel Kendal for his services in the Gospel Ministry, report as fol- lows, viz .: "That it is our unanimous opinion that those whose names were sent in to the Selectmen and Assessors of Weston, upon a schedule dated February 13th, 1786, signed by Oliver Hastings, Samuel Train, Jr., and Thaddeus Spring, Committee for said Society, should be released from paying taxes aforesaid for the reasons they gave us, except Messrs. Joseph Roberts, Samuel Seaverns, Jr., and Increase Leadbetter, whose reasons in our humble opinion are not sufficient to exempt them from paying their proportion of the Rev. Mr. Kendal's settlement and first salary at least."
In 1784 the town applied to the legislature for authority to raise the sum of £1,000 by a lottery, which petition was granted and a committee appointed by the town to dispose of the tickets. It does not appear how this venture turned out. The purpose for which the £1,000 was to be devoted was the widening of the Watertown bridge.
In town meeting held March 7, 1785, it was voted that the pews in the church be sold, and that the purchasers of said pews shall hold the same to themselves, their heirs and assigns, forever, so long as the present meeting-house shall stand. Eight pews
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were sold. The committee report that the pew then occupied by Mr. John Coburn was not sold, as the power to sell it was dis- puted by Mr. Coburn, who doubted the right the town had in it. The committee report that there were other pews in the same predicament. They were not inclined to give occasion for lawsuits, and state that the town should now settle the matter. The report is signed by Isaac Jones, Enoch Greenleaf, and Israel Whittemore. For a complete list of pew sales in 1772, a little earlier than the time we are now reviewing, see Appendix III.
At a town meeting held April 2, 1787, it was voted not to offer any bounty to men who marched in the "Shays rebellion." On January 1, this year, the limit fixed by the General Court for taking the oath of allegiance and for receiving pardon expired. At the time of the "Shays rebellion " the State debt was enormous, and the people were saddled with taxes beyond endurance. Farmers especially felt the burden, and many were sold out of their farms on account of not being able to pay their taxes and personal debts. Discontent was universal. Massachusetts' pro- portion of the federal debt was about £1,500,000. Private debts were computed at £1,300,000, and £250,000 was due to the soldiers of the Revolution. Dr. Samuel A. Green estimates that from 1784 to 1786 every fourth, if not every third, man in the State was subjected to one or more executions for debt. In 1784 there were over 2,000 actions entered at the court at Worcester, and in 1785 over 1,700 actions. Executions could be satisfied by cattle and other means besides money, thus putting the creditors at the mercy of the debtors. In 1786 Governor Bowdoin called a special session of the legislature, but the General Court failed to offer any relief to the people. Daniel Shays, who had been a captain in the Continental army, led a party of 1,000 men, took posses- sion of Worcester, and closed the courts. Shortly after he closed the courts in Springfield and held the town, demanding the sur- render of the arsenal. Governor Bowdoin finally decided on vig- orous measures, and 4,400 troops and two companies of artillery were enlisted to serve thirty days. £6,000 was raised in Boston to equip the army. General Lincoln was given command, and Shays's forces were overthrown on January 25, 1787, by one dis-
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charge of grape-shot, which killed four men and scattered the rest. A reward of £150 was offered for the capture of Shays. It was not long before all were pardoned. Moses Harvey, who was then a member of the General Court, was sentenced to stand on the gallows an hour with a rope around his neck, to pay a fine of £50, and be expelled from his seat.
At the April town meeting the petition of Mrs. Abigail Wood- ward was read, setting forth her inability to pay the taxes that had been laid upon her since 1785, and praying to be excused from any in the future, as the circumstances of her family were such as to render her unable to discharge them, and her petition, hav- ing had several readings, was finally granted. December 10, 1787, Captain Abraham Bigelow was elected to represent the town in the convention to be held at the State House in Boston in January, 1788, to take into consideration the ratification of the Constitution, or form of government for the United States of America, as reported by the Convention of Delegates held at Philadelphia in the previous May. It is known that at the time of the Shays rebellion the governor of the State could place very little reliance upon the militia forces. The rank and file were to a very great extent in sympathy with those engaged in opposing the onerous taxation which was bringing ruin on the State. The officers (field and staff) were equally unreliable, and it was in consequence of this prevailing distrust that general officers were placed in command. At this period the "Indepen- dent Companies" were organized and received their charters. Among these were the Weston Light Infantry and Medford companies. The following letter will explain the organization of our Weston company :-
WESTON, January 16, 1787.
Sir,-In Conformity with your advice I have encouraged the raising of a Company of Light Infantry in the town of Weston, which has been so far carried into effect that a sufficient number have associated for the purpose of choosing their Commissioned officers: and did on Monday the 15th Inst: at a meeting appointed for the business elect Abraham Bigelow Captain, William Hobbs Lieutenant and Ebenezer Hobbs Ensign of said Company. I therefore make this return of the proceedings of said Company with a request that your honor would give information
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to His Excellency the Commander in Chief for the procurement of their Commissions. I am with respect Your Honors Obt Servt.
SAMUEL LAMSON, Colonel.
To His Honor JOHN BROOKS, Major General.
This letter is indorsed as follows :-
It is my opinion that the formation of the above company will be for the advantage of the Commonwealth.
[Signed] JO. BROOKS, Major General.
In 1770 there had been formed at Cambridge a voluntary association of the collegians, and Governor Hutchinson had ordered the commander at Castle William to deliver one hundred stand of arms for their use. The history of this college company is very interesting. It continued to exist down to the period of the charter of the Weston company, when, it being difficult to find arms for this company, Captain Bigelow obtained the written consent of Dr. Willard, the president of the college, and applied to Governor Bowdoin for permission to receive the arms belong- ing to the college company. This permission was granted on condition that a reasonable compensation for the arms should be paid to the quartermaster, General Davis, for the use of the Com- monwealth. This was promptly done, and the arms removed from the college armory and delivered to the Weston company. The Weston company is reported to have joined the forces which passed through the town on their way to Springfield, but the town records make no mention of it, excepting that in town meet- ing the citizens refused to pay any bounty to the troops engaged in that expedition. The Weston Light Infantry continued in ser- vice till the 13th of May, 1831, when it was disbanded for insubor- dination at the muster-field in Watertown. The particulars of this affair, while not relieving them from the charge of conduct prejudicial to military discipline, will at least place their conduct in a light affording some excuse for their action on that day. The Weston company was attached to no regiment, reporting to the general of brigade. Its successive commanders were as fol- lows: Abraham Bigelow, 1787; Artemas Ward, Jr., 1789; Will- iam Hobbs, 1793; Alpheus Bigelow, 1797; Nathan Fiske, 1800;
THE OLD JONATHAN WARREN PLACE, NORTH AVENUE.
Built prior to 1780 and occupied then by the Widow Wright, afterwards wife of Jonathan Warren, Sr., father of Jonathan Warren, Jr., and of Mrs. Jonas Hastings, and grandfather of Rufus Warren. This place was occupied successively by F. V. Stowe, Samuel Patch, and others, and is now owned by Francis H. Hastings.
THE FISKE HOUSE, NORTH AVENUE.
Built in 1845 by Alonzo S. Fiske, then taking the place of the ancient house that had formed the Fiske home for many generations. In 1912 it was bought by W. F. Schrafft. Until this date the Fiske estate had been in the family since 1673, and was originally a mile square.
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Josiah Hastings, 1802; Isaac Hobbs, 1804; Thomas Bigelow, 1808; Nathan Upham, 1809; Isaac Childs, 1811; Isaac Train, 1813; Charles Stratton, 1814; Henry Hobbs, 1817; Luther Harrington, 1818; Marshall Jones, 1821; Sewell Fiske, 1822; Elmore Russell, 1828 .*
A detail from this company was ordered, in the War of 1812, to guard the powder-house at Cambridge, namely: Sewell Fiske, Nathan Warren, Nehemiah Warren, Jesse Viles, Charles Bemis, William Bigelow, Henry Stratton, Jacob Sanderson, David Viles, Charles Morse.
Major Daniel S. Lamson, Charles Daggett, William Harring- ton, Deacon Isaac Jones, and Cooper Garfield also took part in this war. Major Lamson was of the Third Middlesex Regi- ment, of which his father had been colonel. He was lieutenant- colonel of the regiment when he died in 1824. Cooper Garfield lived to be over one hundred years old, and died in 1875, hav- ing spent the last thirty-six years of his life in the Weston poor- house. The Weston Light Infantry, under Captain Sewell Fiske, attended the reception in 1824 given to General Lafayette at Concord.
* The muster-roll of the independent company at the time of its charter in 1787, under Captain Abraham Bigelow, is not at hand. The roll of the company commanded in 1797 by Captain Alpheus Bigelow is as follows :-
Captain Alpheus Bigelow.
Privates: Ephraim Allen.
Lieutenant Abijah Whitney.
Elisha Furbush.
Ensign Nathan Fiske.
Amos Hobbs.
Sergeant Josiah Hastings.
Charles Hews.
Isaac Hobbs.
Samuel Lamson, Jr.
¥ Nathan Hobbs.
Amos Lamson.
Music: Ebenezer Fiske.
Ephraim Livermore.
Enoch Flagg.
William Livermore.
Isaac Train.
Joshua Locke.
Privates: William Bogle.
Charles Parks.
David Brackett.
Joseph Parks.
Thomas Bigelow.
Amos Pierce.
Jonas Billings.
Thaddeus Peirce.
Lot Bemis.
Isaac Peirce.
Ebenezer Bullard.
Abner Russell.
Nathan Child.
Josiah Starr.
Solomon Child.
Josiah Smith.
Samuel Child.
Nathan Spring.
Jonas Coburn.
Jacob Sanderson.
Jonathan Fiske.
Jonas Sanderson.
Daniel Flagg.
Amos Sanderson.
A total of forty-four officers and privates. ninety.
Captain Bigelow died in 1847 at the age of
Abraham Hews.
Wm. Pitt Jones.
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The town vote for governor in 1788 gave 80 votes for John Hancock, but no other vote is recorded, which neglect occurred frequently. On May 9, 1788, news was received in Boston that the convention held in Philadelphia on the 28th of April had adopted the new constitution by a vote of 63 out of 74.
At a town meeting held December 11, 1788, the vote was taken for the first representative of this district in the Congress of the United States under the new constitution. John Brooks received 26 votes, and Hon. Elbridge Gerry 20 votes. The vote was also taken for presidential electors, and Hon. Francis Dana re- ceived 58 votes, and Nathaniel Gorham 41 votes.
In 1789 the town borrowed £50 of Harvard College and £50 of Hon. Francis Dana.
At a town meeting held September 3, 1789, a committee ap- pointed at the spring meeting to fix upon a location for a new burying-ground reported that they had selected the south-east corner of Captain Jones's field; that a lane 3 rods wide ran upon the east end of said field, about 12 rods, to the burying- ground, which with the lane is to certain 112 acres, valued at £20. At the same meeting it was voted to allow Artemas Ward and others to build a number of pews in the rear part of the church, and apply the proceeds of their sale to discharge the town debt. These pews were sold to Artemas Ward (£29 14s.), Elias Jones (£27 18s.), Nathaniel and Mirick Warren (£22 10s.), Nathan Hager (£20). Total, £100 2s., which sum was de- posited in the hands of the town treasurer.
In October, 1789, General Washington, President of the United States, proposed a journey to the New England States, which he had not visited since the evacuation of Boston by the British army. He travelled in his own carriage, drawn by four horses, and was accompanied by Mr. Lear and Major Jackson, his sec- retaries, and six servants on horseback. Notice was given in Boston that the President would reach Weston on October 23. He passed the night at the Flagg tavern, now the residence of Mr. Emerson, and while at Weston he wrote Governor Hancock, accepting an invitation to dinner the next day. The letter is dated at Weston. On the morning of October 24 he was waited upon by the inhabitants of the town, and Colonel Marshall wel-
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comed him in an address, after which the notables of the town were presented to him. Among these were officers who had served under him in the Continental army. He was escorted to Cam- bridge by the Watertown cavalry company. His progress through the towns of New England was one uninterrupted ovation, the people far and near flocking along his route. To those who had belonged to his army the visit was particularly pleasing. They were greeted by the general with affection and consideration. It was while in Weston that Washington kissed Hannah Gowen, then a child, and it was for her a matter of great pride and glory as long as she lived. (For a visit of President John Adams to Weston see end of this chapter.)
In 1791 the town ordered that the meeting-house be put in thorough repair and painted. The committee reported, April 4, that in their opinion the back side of said house should be new clapboarded, that the glass should be removed, and new window- frames with glass, and new window-heads, be made, etc. From the date of the incorporation of the town there had been elected each year an officer whose duty was the preservation of deer, but from 1791 the election of this officer ceases.
In 1792 Concord was made the shire town of Middlesex County, but Weston voted against it being so made. In 1791 and 1792 small-pox prevailed extensively throughout the town, and in 1792 the following houses were selected as pest-houses and places for inoculation: the Captain Fiske house on the north side, which was the first house built by that family, and stood on the hill back of the present location; Joel Smith's (this was proba- bly the poorhouse given to the town by his father); the Park- hurst house, now that of Oliver Robbins; Deacon Fiske's, now of Henry White; Ephraim Livermore's; the widow Upham's, now in Loring Place; Josiah Starr's; Joseph Seaverns's; Amos Lamson's, now of James Upham. The alarm occasioned by this epidemic and the large number of deaths caused very stringent measures to be enforced by the Selectmen. The physicians were required to give bonds that they would not allow any person to visit the hospitals but those they were to see thoroughly smoked when they withdrew therefrom; and that they would uniformly cause themselves to be smoked; that there be a smoke-house
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