USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Weston > History of the town of Weston, Massachusetts, 1630-1890 > Part 7
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* To the town meetings of New England more than to anything else are due the suprem- acy of the English in America and the failure of the French to hold their own during the long struggle for the possession of Canada. In the next and harder struggle, that for inde- pendence of Great Britain itself, the towns again had a decisive part. When Governor Ber- nard, the royal governor, obedient to his instructions from home, prorogued the Assembly, and left the province of Massachusetts without a legislature, the king and his ministers thought by this course they had deprived the patriots of their opportunity for concentrated action and that they could nip in the bud the incipient rebellion. And so it would have proved, had it not been for the town meetings, which were the real fountain of power, so that in place of one General Assembly the royal governor found he had to deal with two hundred or more local assemblies, small, indeed, for the most part, but self-reliant, aggressive, trained to the considera- tion of public affairs, and ready for action.
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directly from the people has become a delegated power, and the party caucus now usurps the place once held by them. The rage for municipal government has become the fashion, and, in so far as this delegated power gains foothold, in that ratio the people lose their hold and their interest in town meetings. With- out these town meetings and the direct action which they had upon public affairs, it is doubtful if the Revolution would have been successful. The public spirit and love of freedom, together with the jealousy with which the charter rights of the colony were held and maintained, were the means by which men and money were provided to carry out the war, and which no action of the weak Provincial Congress could have accomplished. Middlesex County took the lead in all the preliminary acts that led up to the Revolution. To Samuel Adams and James Otis is due in great part the inspiration which gave nerve to the actions of the town meetings of that period. In this again we see the conservative influences of these town meetings. While the Boston leaders of the advocates of rebellion against the Acts of the British Parliament were sending out letters and broad- sides calling upon the towns to back them up in their daring attacks upon the existing royal government, the towns were backward in taking any hasty action. They calmly calculated the chances and costs. The Stamp Act, the Tea Party, and the Boston Massacre (or the mobs as some old heads, who should know better, now call the defensive acts of our forefathers) do not seem to have created any very marked ruffle on the calm sur- face of the Weston town meetings. In fact, they are nowhere mentioned on the records. It required the march of the British regulars on Lexington and Concord to arouse the sleeping lion, who, when once thoroughly aroused, as was the case on the ever memorable 19th of April, never again drew in his claws until every shred of British and royal dominion had been torn to pieces, -to the regret, it would seem, of some of our latter-day historical oracles. In speaking of the famous Tea Party, we must not overlook two of our townsmen who figured on that occasion. Samuel Phillips Savage, of Weston, was made moderator of an adjourned meeting held in the Old South Church in Boston on December 14, 1773, called to consider the question of the intro-
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duction of the tea into Boston. Mr. Savage continued as mod- erator of the meetings until the evening of the 16th, when the tea was steeped in the salt water of Boston Harbor. Samuel Hobbs, also of Weston, at work in Roxbury as a journeyman in Simeon Pratt's tannery, took part in throwing the tea overboard.
The most important steps taken to arouse the dormant sense of the country towns to the coming storm was the action of Samuel Adams at Faneuil Hall in Boston on the 20th of November, 1772, at which meeting was organized the famous Committee of Correspondence, the influence of which was to play so great a part in the plan of resistance. A letter was forwarded to the selectmen of the various towns, expressing a belief that the wisdom of the people would not "suffer them to doze or sit supinely indifferent, on the brink of destruction." In a few days many towns sent in their adhesion to the plan proposed. This Com- mittee of Correspondence was a sharp thorn in the side of the officers of the crown, and was particularly obnoxious to the Tory element. They looked upon it "as the foulest, subtilest, . and most venomous serpent ever issued from the egg of sedition." This secret correspondence was not confined to Massachusetts or to New England, but spread throughout the neighboring and distant colonies, and became the means of uniting all the people of the continent.
At a town meeting held in the month of March, 1773, Colonel Elisha Jones was elected to represent the town in the General Court for the following year. The Liberty Men of the town took umbrage at his election, as Colonel Jones was a strong and bitter Tory, and some of the most prominent among them drew up the following protest, which was sent to the House of Rep- resentatives :-
TO THE HONORABLE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SITTING AT BOSTON June 8th, 1773.
Humbly shews the Subscribers, Inhabitants of Weston; That Honble House after Declaring the late choice of a Representative in Weston to be illegable, ordered a Precept to issue to the Selectmen of said Town Directing them forthwith to assemble the Inhabitants thereof, in order to elect some person to Represent them, in the Present Session of the General Court, as well as the Remaining Sessions of the year, and the
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said Selectmen were possessed of said Precept on the last day of May last, but have taken no other notice thereof than to propose a meeting of their own, some time about the middle of this month of June: Then to determine whether they will give the Town an opportunity to chose a member or not; which conduct of the Selectmen gives great uneasiness to the Inhabitants of Weston, as we are thereby deprived of the Priviledge of a Representative in the General Court, which other towns enjoy, and we esteem a priviledge which we desire to share in. Therefore we humbly pray that the Honble House would take our circumstances into their wise consideration and releive us from such arbitrary proceedings, by directing the said Selectmen to appoint a meeting for the purpose afore- said. And also appoint some suitable, impartial gentleman to preside at said Meeting as in duty Bound will ever pray.
[Sd] JONATHAN BULLARD JACOB MIRRICK
ISAAC JONES JOSEPH HARRINGTON Jr.
ELISHA HARRINGTON PHINEHAS UPHAM
JOHN FLAGG SAMUEL TRAIN
JONATHAN STRATTON ASA SMITH
WILLIAM LAWRANCE
JOHN MIRICK
JONAS SANDERSON
SAMUEL CHILD
DANIEL LIVERMORE
Weston did not appoint a Committee of Correspondence until the town meeting of September 29, 1774, when Benjamin Peirce, Thomas Upham, and Samuel Baldwin were chosen such a com- mittee. Somewhat later a Committee of Public Safety was added to that of Correspondence. There is no record of the doings of the Weston Committee of Correspondence, if we except an entry in Force's Archives, vol. iii., 4th Series, where men- tion is made of a letter addressed by Benjamin Peirce to Rev. Asa Dunbar under date of September 8, 1775, in which excep- tions are taken to remarks made by him in a sermon delivered on Fast Day. These remarks were distasteful to the Liberty Men, and against them they entered complaint .* As there is
* An occurrence took place in April, 1774, which displayed the courage and open avowal of resistance to the royal government. In 1722 the government, in order to render the judges of the Supreme Court independent of the people of the province, made provision for their being in future paid out of the royal exchequer. The power and dignity of this court as then conducted was very imposing, and raised it above the ordinary criticism with which the other branches of the government were discussed. In view of the unlimited power of this court to fine and imprison such as presumed to disturb the course of its proceedings, it is difficult to imagine the gravity of a measure which had for its purpose to assail one of its members, and that in the person of its chief justice. Chief Justice Oliver alone had accepted his salary
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no record of any Mr. Dunbar among the clergy of this section, he was probably a stranger to the town .* At the town meeting of September 29 Captain Elisha Jones, being a Tory, was recalled as the representative of the town at the General Court, and Cap- tain Braddyll Smith was appointed in his place.
At this meeting Josiah Smith and Samuel Phillips were ap- pointed to attend the Provincial Congress at Concord to be held October 2, and Captain Braddyll Smith was added to go with them. No instructions were given to their representatives at Concord. The session was, for a great part of the time, held in secret, and adjourned after three days to meet at Cambridge, October 17. The Congress at Cambridge lasted eleven days, and was presided over by John Hancock. It undertook to frame a form of government for the people, but to this Weston refused its consent. The Congress appointed a Committee of Public Safety, composed of nine persons, with power to call out the militia, if necessary; also a committee of five persons with power to procure cannon, muskets, and ammunition, and to provide stores for the troops that the Committee of Safety might call into service. They appointed five commanders of regiments, viz .: Jedediah Preble, of Falmouth; Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury; Seth Pomeroy, of Northampton; John Thomas, of Marshfield; and William Heath, of Roxbury.
The question has often been asked, By whom and by what authority were issued the commissions of general officers at the beginning of the Revolution? Previous to that period, commissions were issued by the secretary or deputy secretary and countersigned by the royal governor. The last commission under the crown to the Third Middlesex Regiment, appointing Nathan Barrett, of Concord, senior major of the regiment,
from the crown, and in consequence had made himself the object of general odium. The term of the court was to be held in April, 1774, at Worcester. A panel of fifteen jurors at- tended. Instead of offering themselves, as usual, to be sworn as jurors, they handed the court a written protest, signed by them all, in which they refused to act as jurors if Chief Justice Oliver was to act as one of the judges, and they declare that "by his own confession he stands convicted, in the minds of the people, of a crime more heinous than any that might come before him." Fortunately, for some unknown reason, he did not attend the term of the court.
* The editor of this posthumous history of Weston finds on a slip of paper in the manu- script the following note, presumably intended by Colonel Lamson to be inserted here: It is, however, known that a Rev. Asa Dunbar, of Salem, married Mary, a daughter of Colonel Elisha Jones, of Weston, October 22, 1772.
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and dated February 14, 1776, is signed by Perez Morton, deputy secretary, and countersigned on the margin by the members of the council, beginning at the top of the commission. On the 3d of May, 1776, Major Barrett is made lieutenant-colonel of the same regiment, but there is no mention of King George in this commission. It is issued by a majority of the council, and signed by J. Avery, deputy secretary. This council was composed of the following persons: Joseph Powell, Artemas Ward, William Spooner, H. Gordon, Benjamin Austin, A. Fuller, T. W. Dana, Samuel Niles, Jos. Stimpson, John Pitts, Eleazer Brooks, Oliver Wendell, Oliver Prescott.
The commission of 1781, making Francis Faulkner colonel of the Third Regiment, is dated July 1, 1781, and is issued by John Hancock, governor and commander-in-chief, countersigned by him and signed by the Secretary of State.
The Congress of Cambridge elected Henry Gardner, of Stow, as treasurer and receiver-general, in place of Harrison Gray, who was treasurer under the crown. Orders were issued that all funds and taxes in the hands of collectors, throughout the province, should be paid over to Henry Gardner instead of being paid into the royal treasury.
At a town meeting held January 2, 1775, John Allen, Israel Whittemore, and William Whitney were chosen a Committee of Inspection to enforce the non-importation agreement of 1770, and they were ordered to report the names of any or all persons who may have disobeyed the injunction. Tar and feathers were sure to follow any Tory disobedience of town-meeting ordinances.
At this meeting it was ordered that £45 6s. 6d., which was Weston's proportion of the province tax for 1774, be paid by the town treasurer into the hands of Henry Gardner, Esq., and that he take his receipt in full for the same. The town also voted to hold their treasurer free from all personal liability in the matter.
Colonel Braddyll Smith was again delegated to represent the town at the Provincial Congress to be held at Cambridge on February 1. The Middlesex County was represented by forty members. Congress adjourned to meet at Concord, March 22,
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and continued its sessions in that town until April 15, four days before the British attack on the town .*
As we approach the period of the battle of Concord, we find that the "Liberty Men" were wide-awake and watchful of all the movements of the British troops in Boston. A thorough system of information had been established by means of beacon lights and other effective means. This organization does not appear to have been established upon any given rules or by any body of leaders, either in Boston or elsewhere, but rather to have been the spontaneous action of the Liberty Men generally, and in each town, who passed the word of warning one to another. In fact, the acts of all suspicious persons were made known far and wide with a promptness which is surprising. Each Tory household was as carefully watched in the country towns as were the British in Boston, and to this is due the little aid the British general received from them. The Tories considered their lives and property at the mercy of the Liberty Men. This rendered them apprehensive and timid, discouraging them from taking part in the defence of the crown, which they otherwise would have been inclined to do. The Journal of John Howe, who was a ser- geant in the British army, relates the adventures of only one of three parties sent out over different routes by General Gage early in April, 1775, to discover what arms, ammunition, and provisions were in the hands of the rebels. Howe's Journal is particularly interesting to us of Weston, as the town played a conspicuous part in defeating the original plan of the British general. This was, namely, a movement of troops to secure the stores of the Continentals at Worcester. The spy's report was very unfavorable as to the possibility of reaching Worcester, the roads being unfit for transportation of artillery and, above all, dangerous in consequence of the general preparation of the people to repel an invasion. Howe's report was instrumental in chang- ing General Gage's original plan to attack Worcester, and at the
* The records of the Secretary of State give the following account of the different con- gresses. The first congress was held at Salem, October 7, 1774; then at Concord, October 11, 1774, adjourned to October 15; at Cambridge, October 17, 1774, adjourned to December 10; at Cambridge, February 1, 1775, adjourned to February 16; at Concord, March 22, 1775, adjourned to April 15; at Concord, April 22, 1775, adjourned to the same day; at Water- town, April 24, 1775, adjourned to May 29; at Watertown, May 31, 1775, adjourned to July 19.
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last moment Concord was made the objective point. So much of Howe's Journal (printed by Luther Roby, Concord, N.H., 1827), which is somewhat long, as has connection with Weston, is here given in condensed abstract :---
On April 5, Howe was selected to accompany Colonel Smith who was to examine the road, bridges, and fording places and discover the best route to Worcester for an armed force to march and destroy the stores and am- munition deposited there. Howe goes on to state: We dressed our- selves as Countrymen, with grey coats [probably frocks], leather breeches, and blue mixed stockings, with flag handkerchiefs round our necks, a small bundle tied up in a homespun handkerchief in one hand and a walking stick in the other. Thus equipped we set out like Countrymen to find work. At Watertown where we stopped at the tavern for breakfast, a negro woman recognized Colonel Smith, and when he asked her if she could tell him where he could find work, she looked him in the face, and said, "Smith, you will find employment enough for you and all General Gage's men in a few months." Smith was thunder-struck, my own feelings were not much better; the black woman had been living in Boston and had acted as washerwoman for the British officers, and thus recognized Smith. We travelled about one mile and found the road good: here we got over a wall out of sight to consult what was best to be done. It was not safe for Smith to continue on, he gave me his book, pencil and ten guineas and returned to Boston, leaving me to pursue the route. Smith said if he came out with his regiment over that road he would kill that black wench. He also told me if I got through all right he would insure me a Commission. The last I saw of him, he was running through the barbary bushes to keep out of sight. I found the road good to Waltham Plain. Here I pretended to be a gunsmith and was told to go to Spring- field, where they wanted guns, as they expected the regulars out of Bos- ton, and they meant to be ready for them. I took some rum and molasses, knowing it to be a Yankee drink. From the plain I found the roads hilly, stony and crooked for about three miles, when I came to a hollow with a narrow causeway over it [Stony Brook]; here I left the road and went below to see if there was any place where our artillery could cross, but found none. I examined above and found it bad. Here I saw a negro setting traps: about ten feet from this narrow road stood the largest buttonwood tree I ever saw. The negro said that the people were going to cut it down to stop the regulars from crossing with their cannon. [This tree stood on the edge of thelittle pond near the house of Mr. Turner.] I asked him how they would know when the regulars were coming in time to cut the tree down. He said they had men all the time at Cam- bridge and Charlestown watching them. This tree would completely blockade the road. I asked the negro how far it was to a tavern; he
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said a mile, by Weston Meeting house, and another half a mile above, the first kept by Joel Smith [now house of Mrs. John Jones], a good tavern and a good liberty man; the other was kept by Captain Isaac Jones, a wicked Tory, and said a good many British officers go there from Boston. I found the road to Smith's hilly, stony and crooked. Came to Smith's tavern, where two teamsters were tackling their teams. I asked them if they knew of any one who wanted to hire; one of them answered, he did not know of any body who wanted to hire an Englishman, for they be- lieved I was one: they said I looked like them rascals they see in Boston. I went into the house and asked for a drink of rum and molasses, one of the men followed me and told Smith he guessed I was a British spy. Smith questioned me very closely, where I was from and where I was going. He sent me to Captain Jones who kept a tavern at the sign of the Golden Ball. I handed Captain Jones a letter from General Gage. He took me by the hand and invited me up stairs. I informed him of all that had taken place since I left Boston: it being fourteen miles. He told me it would not do for me to stay at his house over night, for his house would be mobbed and I would be taken a prisoner. He gave me some dinner and sent me by his hired man to the house of one Wheaton in a remote part of the town, where I must remain, until he sent for me [the Dr. Wheaton house is now that of Mr. Ripley]. The man told Dr. Wheaton I was a British spy. I was conducted into a chamber, where I found a bottle of Brandy, candles and paper. I went to work to write up my journal. The next day Captain Jones' man came and told me that the news of what had occurred at Watertown between Col. Smith and the black woman had reached Captain Jones's in the night, by the same teamsters that had seen me at the Smith tavern. By eleven o'clock that night some thirty men had collected at the Jones tavern [with tar and feathers.] Capt. Jones gave them permission to search the house. The black girl told them some persons had been sent into Jericho swamp. After dinner Dr. Wheaton introduced me to his two daughters as a British officer in disguise and we played cards until tea time. That night Cap- tain Jones's man came to take me to Marlboro'. We came out on the road about a mile above Jones's on the Worcester road. I found the roads good to the Sudbury river, twenty-five miles from Boston. I examined the river for a fording place, should the bridge be destroyed, and found a fordable place in Framingham. We went to the house of Squire Barnes [Barnes had married Jones' daughter]. I gave him a letter from General Gage. He had already heard of the Watertown affair. I had also been seen examining the bridge over Sudbury river. Squire Barnes gave me an account of the militia and ammunition from Worcester to Weston. While we were talking, a knock came at the door. He told me if he did not return at once to make my escape out of the window and make for the swamp and go to Concord. When I leaped upon the shed, snow
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having fallen, I fell to the ground on my back. Picking up my bundle and hat, I ran for the swamp. When I got away some distance, I looked back and could see lights dodging at every window. [The people were searching the house for him. Having got to Concord, he falls in with Major Buttrick and Major Parmenter, who invite him to dinner and then take him to the storehouses to see the guns, as he pretends to be a gun- smith. He examines closely the doors and locks of the storehouses, and sets off for Lexington on pretence of getting his tools. He reaches Boston on the 12th, and makes his report to General Gage, who takes his papers and gives him fifty guineas.] The General asked me how large an army it would take to get to Worcester and return safe. I told him if he should send 10,000 men and a train of artillery to Worcester, which is 48 miles, the inhabitants generally determined to be free or die, that not one of them would get back alive. Here Smith exclaimed, "Howe has been scared by the old women." Major Pitcairn said not by a negro wench anyway, which turned the laugh on Smith. The General asked what I thought of destroying the stores at Concord, only eighteen miles. I told him a force of 500 mounted men might go in the night and return safe, but to go with 1,000 foot, the greater part would be killed or taken. He asked me what I thought of the Tories. I told him they were generally cowards and no dependence was to be placed on them .- Howe was en- gaged on the 18th of April to carry letters to the Tories in Malden, Lynn, and Marblehead. He arrived at Concord in the midst of the fight on the 19th, and was sent back to Boston for reinforcements .*
Regardless of Howe's admonitions, General Gage sent out to Concord infantry instead of cavalry, and the result was not far different from that predicted by the spy.
The news that the "British are coming!" passes from town to town with the speed of a modern telegram. Parson Woodward, of Weston, sends his family into the woods for safety, and they drive their cow with them. Mrs. Woodward seizes a skillet as she leaves the house, telling the children they may need it. The Weston company gathers at the house of Captain Samuel Lam- son, then situated where now stands the farm-house on the Richardson place, and Parson Woodward after a prayer takes his gun and falls into the ranks with the men. Numbering one hundred men and three officers, they strike for Concord over Lamson's Hill. On their way they meet a man on horseback, probably Howe, the spy, who tells them the British are driven
* Mrs. E. T. Lamson, of Weston, mother of D. S. Lamson, remembered seeing Mr. Howe when she was a young girl in Boston .- ED.
THE COBURN HOMESTEAD, CHURCH STREET.
This estate came into the possession of Mr. Jonas Coburn in 1801. It was formerly owned by Mr. Aaron Whittemore. For many years and until his death it was the home of Mr. Isaac Coburn, and is still owned by his descendants.
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