USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Tercentenary, 1655-1955, Groton, Massachusetts > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
Rev. Samuel Dana, 1767-1835.
Capt. Abram Child, 1741-1834, who was at the capture of Ticon- deroga and Crown Point, was in the Concord Fight and Battle of Bunker Hill, crossed the Delaware with Washington, was at Valley Forge and at the surrender of Burgoyne, and received his only wound at Stony Point.
Aaron Corey, 1784-1857, who was for many years a well known stage-driver between Boston and Groton.
On July 28, 1748, Groton was the scene of a terrible hurricane. Again on September 21, 1938, the town was devastated similarly, and the havoc in the cemetery was severe. Many large trees and old stones were damaged. All were taken care of, and efforts are continuously made to keep them in proper condition.
The Town of Groton is much indebted to the late Samuel A. Green, M.D., who published in the year 1878 a most useful and valuable ac- count of the epitaphs on the stones standing at that time. It is the only printed record of those resting there.
THE NEW GROTON CEMETERY
"This Association shall be called the PROPRIETORS OF THE GROTON CEMETERY; the Cemetery shall be known as the GROTON CEMETERY. Any person owning one or more lots therein shall be con- stituted a Proprietor."
40
So reads Article 1 of the By-Laws. The Association was organized April 10, 1847 with twelve original subscribers.
The first section was purchased that spring and the Proprietors proceeded to "lay out and ornament" a site for a cemetery, and it was consecrated August 24 by appropriate religious ceremonies. The next year notice was given that a Committee would "be in waiting at the Cemetery on the first day of May for the purpose of planting ... trees that may be brought and furnished by the public as a gratuity." From this and subsequent plantings developed the exceptionally beautiful and serene burying ground known locally as the "new cemetery."
By 1877 the Proprietors had decided on a perpetual care arrange- ment for the lots, and considered purchasing more land. A new section was added in 1890, and was soon laid out and the stone posts erected along the fence adjoining land of Mrs. S. H. Williams.
At the front entrance there had been a wooden arch and fence, but in 1905 this was replaced by the present stone gate- way.
Eleven years later town water was added for the convenience of those who wished to keep flowers at the graves.
At the April meeting of 1939 the Trustees accepted the gift of Mrs. Samuel H. Williams of her land adjoining the cemetery, given in memory of her husband, to be known as the Samuel H. Williams Addition to the Groton Cemetery. This section awaits development.
E.BYWATER. BLACKSMITH
BYWATER'S BLACKSMITH SHOP
41
42
THE HISTORY OF GROTON'S THREE HUNDRED YEARS
The First Settlement
In the early days, Groton was a frontier town. At the time that the first white men came here, Indians roamed over its hills and valleys, and made their home in this place. They called it Petapawag.
A few families as early as 1656 or 1657 left their home in the Massa- chusetts Bay colony and came out into the wilderness to trade with the Indians. They settled near the Mote, which is that part of the Nashua River at the mouth of Nod Brook. At this place a trading post was set up. Cellar holes in the vicinity indicate the location of the homes of these earliest settlers.
It was not until seven years after the granting of the township, and three or four years after the arrival of the traders, that people came in any number to make the plantation of Groton their home. Then was the first real organization in the town and the first division of land.
These settlers, the original proprietors, spread sparsely over the whole town, clearing the land for farming, and building roads. Several homes were erected as garrison houses, where the inhabitants could gather for protection from the Indians. Saw-mills and grist-mills were built to take care of the needs of the settlers, and most important of all a meeting-house was erected.
The first road into Groton from the Bay colony lay through Billerica and Chelmsford. To cross the Concord River in Billerica, a bridge was built at the expense of neighboring towns, including Groton, and was supported jointly by these towns for many years.
The Indian Wars
The first inhabitants of Groton lived on the rough edge of civiliza- tion, and nothing stood between them and an unbroken wilderness. Just above the Red Bridge on the west side of the river was an Indian village, and families of Indians were scattered along the interval land of the Nashua Valley from Lancaster to the Merrimack River.
For several years before King Philip's War the Indians had been supplied with arms and ammunition. The French in Canada and the Dutch in New York had carried on considerable traffic with the natives in these articles; and occasionally some settler would barter with them to let them have firearms. The colonists, aware of this and of the bold- ness which the Indians had acquired, grew suspicious and fearful of their exposed situation. For their protection and emergencies, a military com- pany was organized.
King Philip's War broke out in 1675. It was during the following winter that a small band of Indians alarmed the town by pillaging eight or nine houses and driving off some cattle. This was a sufficient warning
43
44
to send the inhabitants to the garrison-houses. A week later, on March 9, the Indians again threatened the town, and, by a cunningly contrived ambush, managed to entrap four men at work, of whom one was killed, and one captured, while the other two escaped. The final attack came on the 13th, when the enemy appeared in full body, - thought to be not less than four hundred in number. The first volley of shot that morn- ing was a signal for the general burning of the town; and in this con- flagration the first meeting-house of Groton was destroyed, together with forty dwelling-houses.
In this assault, John Nutting's garrison, which stood about where Court Street leaves Main Street, was taken by stratagem. The men defending it had been drawn out by two Indians, apparently alone, when the savages in ambush arose and killed one of the men, and wounded three others. At the same time the garrison-house was attacked in the rear and the palisades pulled down, allowing the enemy to take posses- sion. The women and children escaped to Captain Parker's house near- by. After the garrison-house was taken, the leader of the Indians, John Monaco, or Monoco, (nicknamed "One-eyed John," from the loss of an eye) entered into a long conversation with Captain Parker, calling him his "old neighbor" and boasting of his success in burning and pillaging other towns.
The night following the burning of Groton the enemy remained, some in the garrison which they surprised, but most of them in a nearby valley, perhaps the northern end of the meadow between Gibbet Hill and the village. Here they made themselves merry. The next morning they shot two or three volleys at Captain Parker's garrison, and disap- peared. A few days later the town was abandoned altogether by the settlers.
In the early spring of 1678, just two years after the attack the in- habitants returned to re-establish the town. After King Philip's War the colonists were at peace with the Indians, but it was a suspicious kind of peace. It required watching, and a show of strength of keep it.
During King William's War there was further trouble with the Indians. In the assault of July, 1694, the loss on the part of the inhabi- tants was considerably greater than when the town was burned. A large majority of the prisoners taken at this time by the Indians were chil- dren. They had learned that captives had a market value; and children, when carried off, could be more easily guarded than adults. It was more profitable for the savages to exchange prisoners for a ransom, or sell them to the French, than it was to kill them.
The Hobart, Shepley, Longley, Parker and Rouse families all suf- fered in this attack. Indians appeared suddenly, coming from the other side of the Merrimack River, and began the attack at Lieutenant William Lakin's house, which was situated in the vicinity of Chicopee Row. They were repulsed with the loss of one of their number. They followed
45
it up by assaulting other houses in the same neighborhood, making quick work of it, and leaving town as rapidly as they came. The Indians massacred all the Shepley family except John, sixteen years old, whom they carried captive to Canada and kept four years, after which he re- turned to Groton. The knowledge which John obtained of the customs and language of the Indians was of much use to him in his later life. It is said that when trading furs with the Indians, he put his foot in one scale of the balance instead of a pound weight. In the summer of 1704, while he and thirteen men were reaping in a field at Groton, they were attacked by about twenty Indians. After much skirmishing, Shepley and one of his comrades, Butterfield by name, succeeded in killing one of the assailants, for which act they each received four pounds from the government.
In 1697, one man was killed at Groton, and another, with two chil- dren, carried into captivity. The prisoner was Stephen Holden, who was captured with his two oldest sons, John and Stephen, Jr. John was released a year or more later. It was not long before the father and the other boy were freed.
When England declared war against France and Spain in 1702, the American colonies were drawn into the contest, commonly called in America, Queen Anne's War. The Indians in New England were in sympathy with the French and kept the frontier settlements continually on the alert.
The inhabitants, upon the renewal of hostilities, were obliged to ask for help from the General Court. They had suffered much in life and property, and were little able to bear new burdens. They lived in constant dread of the Indians. Sometimes an outlying farmhouse was attacked and burned; sometimes a farmer was shot down while working in a field. John Davis, who lived on the old Shirley Road, was killed in his own dooryard. John Shattuck and son, who lived near the old mill site on North Main Street, were killed while returning from work across the river, and the Tarbell children were carried into captivity. Near the end of this war there were eighteen garrisons in town, containing, in all, fifty-eight families.
During the summer 1723, the "Indian enemy" was again trouble- some. Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, at that time the acting Governor of the Province, ordered detachments of men, varying from three to six, from the inhabitants of the several towns along the line of outer settle- ments, to be constantly employed in scouting and ranging the woods in their respective towns. About this time the governments of Massachu- setts and New Hampshire offered a bounty of a hundred pounds for every Indian's scalp that was taken and shown to the proper authorities. This stimulated volunteers to scour the wilderness for the purpose of hunting Indians; and Captain John Lovewell of Dunstable, organized a company, which soon became famous.
46
LAWRENCE ACADEMY
It was in the spring of 1725 that Captain Lovewell, with thirty-four men, fought an Indian chief, named Paugus, at the head of about eighty Indian warriors. near the shores of a pond in Pequawket, now within the limits of Fryeburg, Maine, and known as Lovewell's Pond. Of this band. seven belonged in Groton, and one of them was John Chamberlain, who distinguished himself by killing the Indian leader. Lovewell marched from Dunstable to Pequawket. On the morning of May 8, while engaged in prayers, the men heard a gun and shortly afterward discovered an Indian on a point of land which ran into the pond. Lovewell ordered his men to move forward cautiously; and they soon reached a place where
47
PROGRAM
P
May 15, 2:30 P. M.
May 22, 7:30 P. M.
APPLE BLOSSOM FESTIVAL AND CAKE LIGHTING CEREMONY FIRST PARISH CHURCH TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION
Tercentenary Uleek, June 26 to July 4
4 P. M.
SUNDAY, JUNE 26 COMMUNITY RELIGIOUS SERVICE
Groton School Grounds
6 to 8 P. M.
STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL SUPPER First Parish Church
MONDAY, JUNE 27
10 A. M. to 12:30 P. M. OPEN HOUSES 2 to 5 P. M. OPEN HOUSES with Tea at First Parish Church STREET DANCE Main Street
8 P. M.
2-6 and 7-8:30 P. M.
TUESDAY, JUNE 28 GROTON PRODUCTS EXHIBIT Gray Building, Lawrence Academy
2 to 6 P. M. OLD PICTURES EXHIBIT Sibley Hall, Public Library 8 P. M. STREET DANCE (If rainy the night before)
2-6 and 7-8:30 P. M. 1 to 8:30 P. M. 2 to 6 P. M.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29 GROTON PRODUCTS EXHIBIT FLOWER SHOW AND TEA Town Hall
OLD PICTURES EXHIBIT
6 P. M. 6:30 P. M. 7 to 9 P. M. 8:45 P. M.
BASEBALL GAME SUPPER OLD PICTURES EXHIBIT PAGEANT, "The Outer Frontier"
Town Field
Grange Hall
Groton School Grounds
2-6 and 7-8:30 P. M. 10 A. M. to 6 P. M. 2 to 6 P. M. 5 to 7 P. M. 8:45 P. M.
THURSDAY, JUNE 30 GROTON PRODUCTS EXHIBIT FLOWER SHOW AND TEA OLD PICTURES EXHIBIT SUPPER, Christian Union Church, W. Groton PAGEANT
2-6 and 7-8:30 P. M. 2 to 6 P. M. P. M. 5:30 to 7:30 P. M. 8:45 P. M.
FRIDAY, JULY 1 GROTON PRODUCTS EXHIBIT OLD PICTURES EXHIBIT GRANGE PROGRAM Groton School Grounds
BAKED BEAN SUPPER Congregational Church PAGEANT
4 to 6 P. M. 2 P. M. 5:30 to 7 P. M. 7 to 9 P. M. 8:45 P. M.
SATURDAY, JULY 2 GROTON PRODUCTS EXHIBIT PARADE AND GOVERNOR'S DAY PROGRAM CHICKEN BARBECUE Town Field
OLD PICTURES EXHIBIT
PAGEANT
1 P. M.
2 P. M.
2 to 6 P. M.
GROTON PRODUCTS EXHIBIT
MONDAY, JULY 4 SPORTS Hazel Grove Park
9 A. M. to 12 M. 1 P. M.
SUNDAY, JULY 3 FIREMEN'S PARADE Main Street to Hazel Grove Park FIREMEN'S HAND TUB MUSTER Hazel Grove Park
GROTON DRIVING AND RIDING CLUB TROTTING MATINEE AND HORSE SHOW Hazel Grove Park
The Program is under the Direction of Donald H. Martin of Domar STAFF FOR THE PAGEANT "THE OUTER FRONTIER" Mary Wightman Kirkpatrick, Pageant Master Ralph Mills, Sound Technician Leo Langlois, Lighting Donald Moll, Production Manager
they halted, took off their packs and piled them together. Leaving these behind without a guard, and advancing a short distance they came upon the Indian whom they had previously seen. The white men opened fire. but they missed their mark. The Indian returned the fire and wounded Lovewell and another man; but the colonists eventually brought the Indian down. The company then turned back with their wounded leader to the place where they had left their packs. Meanwhile, Paugus, the chief of the Pequawkets, at the head of eighty warriors on their way home from a maurading expedition had discovered the pile of packs, and by counting them, learned how many were in Lovewell's party. Paugus placed his men in ambush and awaited the return of Lovewell. When the company came up for their packs, the Indians rushed forth from their hiding places and began to fire. Lovewell himself fell at the first shot, and eight of his men soon shared the same fate. Ensign Wyman of Woburn then assumed command, and ordered a retreat to the pond, where he took his stand. The fighting continued, and during the day the savages vainly endeavored to compel the little band to surrender. Paugus was slain in the action by John Chamberlain of Groton. After the death of their chief, the Indians became somewhat disheartened, and for a time withdrew from the skirmish. Later in the day the fighting was resumed but with no decisive result. As night approached, they again withdrew, and left this forlorn band master of the field. The survivors fell back and directed their course to a nearby fort, which they found abandoned. Disappointed, they made their way back to the settlements as best they could, coming in at different places along the frontier line.
Another incident of this frontier conflict was the attempt to avenge Paugus' death some years later. Young Paugus, the son of the chieftain, came to Groton, and entered a tavern to inquire where "one Chamber- lain dwelt." The landlord directed him to Chamberlain's home and his mill, which was near Brown Loaf Hill. An old hunter overhead the conversation, and his suspicions were aroused. After the Indian's de- parture, the hunter stepped out and followed a winding path, that led to the saw-mill, where Chamberlain was working. The hunter warned Chamberlain of Paugus' presence in town, and of the probability that he had come to avenge the death of the Indian chief. Chamberlain took down his gun and charged it. He hung near the saw-gate the garment he had worn at work, hoisted the gate of the mill and set it going. He then withdrew to a knoll a short distance from the mill and crouched behind a clump of thick bushes. Chamberlain waited, and in the gather- ing dusk caught sight of Paugus creeping toward the mill. The young Indian apparently heard the noise of the saw-frame, and cautiously and watchfully moved forward. At last he stopped short, brought his rifle to his shoulder and with quick aim fired. Young Paugus crept out upon a mill-log, that extended over the rapid, and stretched himself to full height to ascertain the success of his shot. Chamberlain could spare him
50
no longer so levelled his gun and shot him dead. Paugus' lifeless body fell into the rapids below. It is said that Chamberlain took the body of Paugus to the other side of Brown Loaf Hill, and sank it in a deep hole in Paugus Brook, known later as Paugus Hole. When Chamberlain went back to the mill, and removed his coat from the saw-gate, through its center was a bullet hole.
ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL GROTON SCHOOL
Dummer's War, or Lovewell's War, as it is sometimes called, ended early in the year 1726; and peace reigned for twenty years. When King George's War broke out between England and France in 1744, the belt of frontier towns had pushed forther west; and Groton was no longer exposed to the assaults of the Indians.
51
The Boundary Lines
The original grant of Groton was for a track of land eight miles square, though this was modified so that its shape varied somewhat from the first plan. It comprised all of what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell and Shirley, more than half of Dunstable, a large part of Littleton, smaller parts of Harvard and Westford, and a portion of Nashua, New Hampshire.
In the southeast part of Groton, and adjoining it, was a small town- ship granted, in 1654, by the General Court to the Nashobah Indians, who had been converted to Christianity by Apostle Eliot and his follow- ers. They were few in number, comprising perhaps ten families or about fifty persons. During King Philip's War, the settlement was en- tirely deserted by the Indians, and the colonists living nearby took this opportunity to encroach upon the reservation. The territory of Nashobah was the subject of considerable dispute among the neighboring towns, and an effort was made to incorporate a township from this tract. Nasho- bah, including this part of the original Groton, was incorporated in 1714, but soon the name was changed to Littleton. Through neglect, the plan of the original grant to Groton made in 1668 had never been returned to the General Court for confirmation, as was customary. Through this oversight, the Nashobah tract was lost to Groton. After Littleton had been set off, the town of Groton undertook to repair the damage and petitioned the General Court for an unappropriated piece of land north of the town in what is now New Hampshire. This land was a triangular piece lying between old Dunstable and Townsend, and was called Groton Gore. Benjamin Prescott of Groton was at that time a member of the General Court and the most influential man in town. His petition was presented, and in time was granted to the proprietors of Groton. The Gore was destined to remain only a few years in possession of the pro- prietors because in 1741 a province line was drawn between New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts leaving this piece of land, as well as territory in what is now Nashua, in New Hampshire.
Thirty years after the Gore was lost, the town again sought to peti- tion the General Court for a grant of land to make up this loss. The petitioners were granted a tract of land in the western part of the state. A few years earlier, three Prescott brothers, sons of Honorable Benjamin Prescott, petitioned for some land to make up for their own losses, and they were granted land in Hampshire County. These properties were later sold.
Further dismemberment was suffered by Groton, when a slice of its territory was given to Westford; and that part of the town, known as the Old Mill, was incorporated in the town of Harvard. A few years later the section of Groton known as Joint Grass was set off to Dun- stable; and the boundary line between the two towns was changed several times before it became as it is today. Then the west parish of
52
Groton became the town of Pepperell; and the western part of the town with small parts of Lancaster and Harvard formed the new township of Shirley. The last piece of land to be taken from the old town of Groton was that of South Groton, later called Groton Junction, to make up the town of Ayer in 1871.
Bog-ore
Bog-ore, a kind of iron-ore, sometimes called swamp-ore, was found in Groton by the earliest settlers of the town, and to a small extent was worked by them. In 1689, records show that two Dunstable men at Massapoag Pond in Groton did "help both to dige for and to sett up some part of an Iron Works."
"The Sledges," which means strips of meadows or parcels of low lands abounding in iron ore, is the name of a meadow lying northeast of Reedy Meadow in the north part of town near the Dunstable line, and is mentioned in the early records of the town.
About 1768 Jabez Keep, of Westford, established a forge and bloom- ery on the site of Jonas Prescott's first grist-mill in Harvard, where ore from the Groton swamps was smelted. His son Jabez and his grandson Jabez, "bloomers," succeeded him in the business. The latter probably returned to Westford and carried on the business.
Just before the town of Lowell was incorporated an iron foundry was established at North Chelmsford, where bog-ore was smelted. The supply was furnished largely from towns in that neighborhood, and it was carried to the foundry for the most part by farmers with their own teams. A considerable amount of native ore was dug from various meadows in Groton, principally in the eastern part of the town, and taken there to be smelted; and in this way the farmers during dull times would obtain a little ready money.
The Acadians
It was in the spring of 1755 that the territory of Acadia, or Nova Scotia, fell under British authority; and the conquest was followed by a terrible act of cruelty and violence. The simple Acadians, unsuspicious of the designs of the English leaders, were assembled in their churches, in obedience to military proclamation; and, without being allowed to return to their homes, were driven at the point of a bayonet on board ships, to be scattered over all the English Colonies in America. This was done with so little regard to humanity that, in many instances, wives were separated from husbands, and children from parents, never to see one another again. It was upon an incident connected with this act that ' Longfellow's poem of "Evangeline" is founded. Two of the French fam- ilies, ten persons in all, were sent to Groton, where one of the mothers died not long after her arrival. Our pity for these people will be stronger when we reflect that they were among a race who spoke a strange lan- guage and followed other customs. Under these circumstances their
53
homesickness must have been bitter, but we have reason to believe that they were treated with compassion by the people of Groton. Many Groton men were in the expedition sent against Nova Scotia, which brought away these poor French families. Copies of various muster-rolls for this expedition have been preserved and contain names of soldiers from this town.
The Prescott Family
Although we find no Prescott on the list of first proprietors of Groton, the name soon appears in the early records, and for many years the family was probably the most influential in town. The first one of the family to come to Groton was Jonas. His father, John of Lancaster, set up the first mill in that part of Groton, which is now Harvard, and Jonas operated it. The town made a contract with him to grind the town's corn. Later Jonas built a mill at Stony Brook, where Forge Village now is. However, he lived and conducted a blacksmith shop on the north side of James Brook on the road now known as the Old Ayer Road, which led directly to his mill in the southern part of the town. It is said that a grant of land made by the town, which was in need of a blacksmith, induced him to come here.
His descendants for three or four generations have all lived in the same vicinity, not far from the heater piece, the triangular plot of land, where the monument to Col. William Prescott stands. Jonas' youngest son, Benjamin, built himself a house on his father's property a little to the north on the location of Mr. Kenney's house. Benjamin married the daughter of Honorable Thomas Oliver of Cambridge, and had three sons and four daughters born in this house. The three sons were James, William and Oliver, all of them distinguished citizens of Groton.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.