USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Proceedings of the centennial celebration at Groton, Mass., July 4th, 1876, in commemoration of the destruction of the town, March, 1676, and the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776. With an oration by Samuel Abbott Green > Part 2
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Mr. Deane Winthrop, who stands at the head of the list of selectmen appointed by the Court, was a son of Governor John Winthrop, and it is to him that we are indebted for the name of the town. A native of Groton in Old England, it was natural for him to wish to keep the name fresh and fra- grant on this side of the Atlantic. Groton, in Connecticut --- younger by half a century, and famous as the scene of the heroic Ledyard's death - owes its name to the same family. Groton, in New York, was settled, in part, by families from this town. New Hampshire and Vermont both have towns named Groton, though they are comparatively of recent origin. Why they were so called I have been unable to find out, unless it was that the fair fame and reputation of the one in Massachusetts had made the name auspicious.
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There was a place in Roxbury, a hundred and thirty years ago, that was sometimes called Groton .* It was a corrup- tion of Greaton, the name of the man who kept the " Grey Hound " tavern in the neighborhood.
The word Groton, the same as the Grotena of Domesday Book, probably means Grit-town, or Sand-town, -- from the Anglo-Saxon, greot, grit, sand, dust; and tun, village or . town. The locality of the English Groton is in fact a sandy one. A proper pride of birth would suggest that the name was doubtless also appropriate by reason of the GRIT or pluck, now as well as then, characteristic of the people of any town so named.
Groton, in Suffolk, England, is an ancient place, - there being a record in Domesday Book of its population and wealth, in some detail, at the time of William the Conqueror, and also before him, under the Anglo-Saxon King, Edward the Confessor. A literal translation of this census-return of seven hundred and ninety years ago is as follows : -
"In the time of King Edward ; saint Edmund held Groton for a manor, one carucate ; and a half of land. Always [there were] S villeins and 5 bordarii [a rather higher sort of serfs ; cotters]. Always [there was] i plough in demesne. Always 2 ploughs of homagers " [tenants] " and I acre of meadow. A mill, for winter. Always I work-horse and 7 cattle and 16 swine and 30 sheep and 2 free men of half a carncate of land and they could give and sell their land. Seven bordarii. Always i plough & I acre of meadow" [belonging to these 7 bordarii. ] " Then " [i.e., under King Edward] "it was worth 30 shillings, and now 40. It has in length 7 furlongs and 4 in breadth. In the same, 12 free men and they have I caru- cate and it is worth 20 shillings. All these could give and sell their land in the time of King Edward. Saint Edmond has the
New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXIV. 56 note, 60.
f Some idea of the condensed character of the entries in Domesday Book may be gathered from the following transcript of the Latin beginning of the account of Groton, in which the matter within the brackets is what the Norman scrivener omitted : "Grotena[m] t[empore] r[egis] E[dvardi] ten[uit] S[anctus] e[dmundus] p[ro] man[erio]," etc.
# The carucate was a " plough land," and is variously set at from twelve to one hundred acres.
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sre, protection and servitude " [i.e., the lord's legal rights]. " 7 Fence of gelt " [i.e., Dane-geld], " but others hold there."
Such were the census returns, made nearly eight hundred years ago, of the place from which our good old name is taken, and which on that account will always be of interest to us.
It is curious to note the different ways which our fathers had of spelling the name ; and the same persons took little or no care to write it uniformly. In those days, they paid scarcely any attention to what is now regarded as an impor- tant branch of education. Among the documents and papers that I have had occasion to consult and use in the preparation of this address, I find the word spelled in fourteen differ- ent ways; viz., Groton, Grotton, Groten, Grotten, Groaton, Groatton, Groaten, Grooton, Grauton, Grawten, Grawton, Growton, Groughton, and Croaton.
Dictionaries of our language were hardly known at that time and there was no standard for spelling ; and it seems as if every one spelled according to his feelings at the moment. In many cases the odder the form, the better. As an in- stance of orthographic license then prevalent, it may be mentioned that there are sixty-five different modes in which the name of Shakespeare was written.
Yonder river, familiar to us as the Nashua, is spoken of, in a record by Thomas Noyes, in 1659, as the Groaten River, and is so called in more than one place. While this would have gratified our local pride, I am not sorry that the name Nashua was finally kept. It is to be regretted that so few of the Indian words have been retained by us to desig- nate the rivers and the hills and other localities. However much such words may have been twisted and distorted by English pronunciation and misapplication, they furnish us now with one of the few links that connect us with pre- historic times in America. The word Nashua,* in its ful- ness and before it was clipped, meant the land between, and referred to the tract on which Lancaster was settled, because it was between the branches of the river ; the name, however,
* Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, II. 33.
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was afterward transferred from the territory to the river itself.
Among the earliest papers at the State House, relating to the town, is a request for a brandmark. Joseph Parker represents to the Governor and magistrates, in a writing dated May 31, 1666, that he has been chosen constable, and asks that the letters GR -- or monogram, as we should call it - be recorded as the brandmark of the town. This was wanted probably for marking cattle. " In answer to this mo- tion the Deputies approve of ye letter GR to be ye brand marke of groaten." 1
Very soon after the settlement of the town, there was a complaint of improper management on the part of the pro- prietors, and the General Court appointed a committee to look into the subject. This committee visited the place, and re- ported on " the entanglements that have obstructed the plant- ing thereof," giving at the same time their opinion that there was land enough here to furnish subsistence by husbandry to sixty families. When we consider that this opinion was the result of deliberate calculation, on the part of disinterested men, before the town was shorn of its original dimensions, it shows the vanity of human prophecy, and should serve as a warning to us all to abstain from prediction in regard to a century hence. There are now nearly ten thousand persons in the territory of the original Groton Plantation, living mainly by the products of the land.
For some years before the destruction of the town, the Indians began to threaten the inhabitants. They were troublesome neighbors at the best, and their movements required careful watching. Some of them were friendly, but others were hostile and treacherous. They had already acquired the taste for strong drink, and, on more than one occasion, drunken brawls and fights, which ended in murder, had taken place between them and the settlers. In May, 166S, Captain Richard Waldron built a trucking or trading house at Pennicook, now Concord, New Hampshire, where a few weeks afterward Thomas Dickinson was murdered by an Indian ; and "rum did it." The affair created great
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excitement, and it has been supposed that it prevented a settlement of the place at that time; at any rate, none was made until 1726. A warrant was issued to the constable of Groton to summon John Page, Thomas Tarbell, Jr., Joseph Blood, and Robert Parish, all of this town, to appear before the General Court at Boston to give their testimony, which they did under oath. It appeared in the evidence that there had been a drunken row, and that Tohaunto, the chief, de- sired them, if they had brought any liquor, to pour it on the ground; for, said he, it will make the Indians "all one Divill." From this it would seem that rum in those days was about the same as it is now, - no better and no worse, --- for it still makes people all one devil.2
Many of the Indians had now been supplied with fire- arms, which made them bold and insolent, and it is not strange that the natural tendency of events should have been toward open hostilities. We can readily understand how the fears of the colonists were excited when they thought of their own helpless families and their exposed situation. It betokened no cowardice to entertain this feeling, and it was the part of wisdom to prepare for the worst. At an early day there was a military organization in the town, and we find the following order in the Massachusetts Records, passed Oct. 15, 1673, in relation to it : -
"The millitary company of Groaten being distitut of military officers, the Court judgeth it meet to choose & appoint James Parker to be theire captaine, Wm Lakin to be leiftennant, & Na- thaniel Lawrence to be their ensigne."
The thunder of the distant storm now began to be heard, and the colonists were asking for protection. They little thought that the lightning was to strike so soon and with such fatal violence; but in the providence of God it was thus ordained.
Captain Parker writes to Governor Leverett, under date of Aug. 25, 1675, that the inhabitants " are in a very great strait." and "are very much discouraged in their spirits "; that they want ammunition and twenty good muskets for
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their picked men. The letter * itself, with the quaint expres- sions of two centuries ago, will give you a better idea of their narrow circumstances than any extracts from it; so I read it entire : --
"To the honourd John Leueret Esquir Gouernour of the Massechusets collony
" Honoured Sir with the rest of your counsell I have made bold to enform your worships how the case stand with us that the Indians are aproachs near to us our scouts have discouerd sev- erall tracks very near the habitable parts of the town and one Indian they discouerd but escapt from them by Skulking amongst the bushes and som of the Inhabitants of our town have heard them in the night singing and halloeing. which doe determin to us their great height of Insolency : we are in a very great strait our In- habitants are very much discouraged in their spirits and theirby dissuaded from their callings I have received 20 men from the worshipfall Major Willard and Captain Mosselly men to help secur our town, but notwithstanding we are in a very weak capacity to defend ourselves against the Insolency and potency of the enemy if they shold apear in number and with that violenc that they did apear at quabog [Brookfield] the which the good lord forbid if it be his good pleasur, much honoured and respected the good lord be with you In your consultations that you may understand what to doe for your new england Israel at such a tim as this and in par- ticular ourselves and for our dear neighbours at Lancaster upon whom the enemy have made an Inraid 6 persons are already found and buryed the 72 which they doe expect is kild is not as yet found you may be pleased to tak notice that we shall want ammunition spedily by reason that we have parted with som to Capt Mosselly men and som we spent in the fight at quabog as also I have sup- lyed the souldiers with amunition that were sent to me that was Imployed in the service they having spent their ammunition If you could help us with 20 good muskets for our pik men and I will return them again or else give a valluable price for them in such pay as we can produce among ourselves not else at present but leave you to the guidance of the God of heaven who is the only wise counsellor and remaine
" Your servant to comand in any service to my power
"JAMES PARKER Capt
" from Groten
August 25 75" * Massachusetts Archives, LXVII. 244.
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A few days before the date of this letter, Captain Samuel Moseley writes * from "Nashoway Allias Lankaster: 16th Augst 1675," that, in accordance with instructions from Major-General Dennison, he had sent " 12 men to Groat- ton."
In those days, there was no physician in town to offer his professional skill to the government in their time of need ; and it was necessary to impress into the public service a surgeon, as well as a horse and accoutrements, as we find from the following order * addressed
"TO THE CONSTABLE OF BOSTON.
" These Require you in his Majtys name forthwith to Impresse Mr Wm Haukins Chirurgcon : Imediately to prepare himself wih materials as Chirurgcon & to dispatch to Marlboro. to Capt Mosely & attend his motion & souldiers at Groaten. or elsewhere : for wch End you are also to Impresse an able horse & furniture for him to Goe : wth the Post
"Dated at Boston 17 August 1675 making Return hereof to the Secrety
By ye Council " EDW. RAWSON Secrety "
And the constable made the indorsement on the order that Dr. Hawkins was duly warned.
At this time, King Philip's War had begun, and open hostilities had alarmed the inhabitants of this place. The Council passed an order,* Sept. 8, 1675, that Cornet Thomas Brattle and Lieutenant Thomas Henchman should take fifty men, of which thirty were to come from Norfolk and twenty from Middlesex, and place them in the garrisons of Dunstable, Groton, and Lancaster, in such proportions as they should deem expedient. They were to place them "under the comand of the chiefe military officers of each towne : giveing those officers direction : to joyne & lyst other meet persons of their owne companyes with them, &
* Massachusetts Archives, LXVII. 239, 241, 252.
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order them every day to surround the townes yey are to se- cure; & if they can to carry doggs with ym to search for & discover any enimy that may aproch nere such towne & at night to repaire unto such corps du gaurd, as are appointed to them for the security of the sa place."
About this time, the question of withdrawing a considera- ble force from the garrisons seems to have been considered ; but a protest against such action was drawn up and signed by Simon Willard and three others, who were probably the officers in command. From the representation they made, it is not likely that any troops were taken away.3
In the autumn (October 27) of this year, the town was assessed SIT Ios. as her rate to carry on the war; and, when paid in money, one-quarter to be abated.
The coming winter must have been a hard one for the colonists, not only here but throughout New England. The Indians had burned some towns and threatened others, and it was a season of distrust and despair. The time was rap- idly approaching for this town to suffer, and soon the stroke came. They would have been more than human if they had not felt despondent at the hard fate that had now be- fallen them. They had seen their houses and barns burned, and all the results of their labor and thrift destroyed in a day. The little meeting-house, rudely constructed but no less dear to them, was now a heap of ashes. To-day its very site is unknown. Some words of consolation, and exhortation to trust in the providence of God, fell from the lips of their good pastor, Mr. Willard, as they looked tearfully on their ruined homes. He had been their guide and teacher during thirteen years; and much that is inter- esting is known concerning him.
Samuel Willard was born, Jan. 31, 1639-40, at Concord, Massachusetts. He was the son of Major Simon Willard, at one time an inhabitant of this town, and graduated at Harvard College in the year 1659; being the only member of the class who took his second degree. He came here to succeed Mr. John Miller, the first minister of the town, who died, June 12, 1663. Mr. Willard began to preach probably
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Jate in the year 1662, or early in 1663. In the latter year, on the twenty-first of some month, -conjectured to be June, the words of the records being so worn as to be illegible, - it was "voted that Mr. Willard, if he will accept, shall be their minister as long as he lives." Against this action there were five dissentient votes, which number constituted probably one-quarter of all the voters; and they certainly were among the principal and most influential inhabitants of the town. Mr. Willard must have been a man of a good deal of character to have been settled in spite of this opposi- tion, and he seems to have lived it down very successfully. His relations with the people were always harmonious ; and his salary was gradually increased until it was double the original amount. The first year of his ministry, it was fixed at forty pounds ; the second year, at fifty pounds ; the third and several successive years, at sixty pounds ; and finally at eighty, part of it being in country pay. This was the old expression for paying in produce. And when the salary was voted, Oct. 14, 1672, it was reckoned at five shillings a bushel for wheat ; four shillings for rye, barley, and peas ; with pork and beef at three pence a pound ; "and all such as cannot pay his third part of his pay in English corn and provisions, they shall pay in Indian corn at two shillings per bushel ; and the remainder of his pay in Indian corn at three shillings a bushel : his firewood also above his eighty pounds. And farther these persons here set down [Ser- geant Parker and eleven others] do promise and engage to get Mr. 'Willard's hay, mowing and making and fetching home for eight shillings per load, at a seasonable time, viz., in the middle of July."
Mr. Willard was a scholar and writer of considerable note in his day, and even now would be considered such. But little is known of his early history ; and no church-record during his ministry in Groton is extant. Coming here in the vigor of young manhood, at the age of twenty-three, - if we may judge him from the high position he afterward attained, - it is fair to assume that he exerted a strong influ- ence in this neighborhood. It is probable that his early
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experiences here fitted him for the places of honor and dig- nity that he was subsequently called upon to fill. A few weeks after his settlement, he married Abigail Sherman, a grand-daughter of Thomas Darcy, Earl of Rivers; and, after her death, he married, as his second wife, Eunice, daughter of Edward Tyng. He had a large family of chil- dren, of whom five were born in this town. One of his great-grandsons, Robert Treat Paine, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
In the year 1673, Mr. Willard published a volume of ser- mons entitled, " Useful Instructions for a professing People in Times of great Security and Degeneracy : delivered in sev- cral Sermons on Solemn Occasions."
It consists of three sermons, of which one was preached on the occasion of a case of witchcraft that I shall mention shortly. It is evident, from a reference in the sermon, that the fame or notoriety of the case had spread far from this town. Mr. Willard says: "There is a voice in it to the whole Land, but in a more especial manner to poor Groton ; it is not a Judgement afar off, but it is near us, yea among us."
The book is inscribed, "To his Beloved Friends the Inhab- itants of Groton." Like all the publications of that time, it is purely theological, and contains nothing now of particular interest. If he had given us even a few lines of town his- tory, it would be almost invaluable. We look in vain through its pages for any thing that throws light on the manners and customs of the early settlers. We do find, however, the modes and habits of thought that were prevalent in those days; and with these we must be content, for the sermons furnish nothing more.
In the year 1671, there occurred here a case of so-called witchcraft, and to this Mr. Willard gave much time and at- tention. He wrote a very long letter * to Cotton Mather, giving the minutest details in regard to it, and Dr. Mather
* Mr. Willard's letter is printed in full in the " Collections of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society," volume VIII., fourth series, page 555.
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refers to the case in his "Magnalia Christi Americana " (Book vi., chapter 7, page 67). The victim of the witch- craft was one Elizabeth Knap, who had the long train of symptoms which then were usually ascribed to the personal influence of the Evil One, but which nowadays would con- stitute a well-marked case of hysteria. From an expression in Mr. Willard's letter, we learn that the girl went to school in his house, from which fact we infer that the minister of the town was also the teacher of the children. At one time his residence was used as a meeting-house, and now as a school- house. Its exact locality is not known to us, though it was in the present Main Street. From another expression in the letter, we learn there was " a great meadow neere the house," which could be seen from one of the windows in a lower room.
The assault by the Indians on the town was followed by the breaking up of the place and the scattering of the inhabi- tants. Mr. Willard never returned to his pastorate. Soon afterward he was installed over the Old South Church in Boston; as the colleague of the Reverend Thomas Thacher. In the year 1701, he was chosen Vice-president of Harvard College, which office he filled till his death, at the same time performing the duties of minister of the Old South. His connection with the College was really that of President, although he was called the Vice-president. The distinction was nominal rather than real. The President was obliged by the Constitution to live at Cambridge, and this he was unwilling .to do ; so he acted as such without the title.
As minister of the Old South, Mr. Willard baptized Ben- jamin Franklin. The young philosopher was born in Milk Street, directly opposite the church, whither he was taken to receive the sacrament of baptism while yet his earthly pilgrimage was limited to a few hours of time.
Mr. Willard's health began to fail, as he approached his three score years and ten, the period of life allotted by the Psalmist, and he presided for the last time at the College Commencement, in July, 1707. In August, the Governor and Council were notified that he was not capable of doing
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the work at Cambridge for another year. He died, Septem- ber 12, 1707.
Dr. Pemberton, in his funeral sermon, says of him that, " His Master committed to his Pastoral Care a Flock in a more obscure part of this Wilderness. But so great a Light was soon observed thro' the whole Land. And his Lord did not design to bury him in obscurity, but to place him in a more eminent station which he was qualified for."
Several printed accounts of King Philip's War appeared very soon after it was ended ; and these furnish nearly all that is known in regard to it. In those days, there was no special correspondent on the spot to get the news ; and, as the facilities for intercommunication were limited, these ac- counts differ somewhat in the details, but, taken as a whole, they are sufficiently accurate.
The loss of life or limb sustained by the English at this attack on Groton, fortunately, was not great. So far as is now known, only one person was killed and two wounded. It is recorded, however, that John Morse was carried off; but he did not remain a prisoner for a long time. Within a few months of his capture, he was ransomed by Mr. John Hubbard, of Boston, who paid about five pounds for his release. This sum was soon afterward reimbursed to Mr. Hubbard by a vote of the Council.4
These contemporaneous accounts of the assault5 on the town are all short, with the exception of Hubbard's; and I purpose to give them, in the words of the writers, for what they are worth. The first is from " A Brief History of the Warr with the Indians in Newe-England," by Increase Mather, published in the year 1676. This account - prob- ably the earliest in print - is as follows : ---
" March Ioth. Mischief was done, and several lives cut off by the Indians this day, at Groton and at Sudbury. An humbling Provi- dence, inasmuch as many Churches were this day Fasting and Praying." (Page 23.)
" March 13. The Indians assaulted Groton, and left but few houses standing. So that this day also another Candlestick was removed out of its place. One of the first houses that the Enemy
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i proyed in this place was the House of God, h.c. which was wilt. and set apart for the celebration of the publick Worship of God.
" When they had done that, they scoffed and blasphemed, and ime to Mr. Willard (the worthy Pastor of the Church there) his imuse (which being Fortified, they attempted not to destroy it) and : tuntingly, said, What will you do for a house to pray in now we have burnt your Meeting-house? Thus hath the Enemy done wickedly in the Sanctuary, they have burnt up the Synagogues of Gol in the Land ; they have cast fire into the Sanctuary ; they have wist down the dwelling place of his name to the Ground. O God, hry long shall the Adversary reproach ? shall the Enemy Blas- theme thy Name for ever ? why withdrawest thou thine hand, coen thy right hand ? pluck it out of thy bosome." (Page 24.)
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