USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medway > The history of Medway, Mass., 1713-1885 > Part 7
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In the warrant for March meeting, 1776, " His Majesty's Name," in which all warrants heretofore were issued, was omitted, the town calling the meet- ing on its own responsibility ; and the May warrant was issued in the name of the "Government and People of Massachusetts."
In 1776 Elijah Clark was chosen Representative to the General Court at Watertown, and in the instructions given him he is advised that if the " Hon- orable Continental Congress should for the safety of the colonies declare them independent of Great Britain that we will support them in the measure with our lives and fortunes."
TOWN OFFICERS FOR 1776.
Chosen at the Annual Meeting, March 4, 1776, Moses Richardson, Moderator ; Elijah Clark, Town Clerk.
CAPTAIN JONATHAN ADAMS, LIEUTENANT MOSES ADAMS, JOSEPH PARTRIDGE, JR., ENSIGN NATHANIEL PARTRIDGE, ENSIGN JOSEPH LOVELL, LIEUTENANT ASA CLARK, CAPTAIN JAMES PENNIMAN,
Selectmen.
SAMUEL HILL, JUN., HENRY ELLIS, AND STEPHEN ADAMS,
Assessors. HENRY ELLIS, Treasurer.
ELIJAH CLARK, MAJOR JOSIAH FULLER, -
JOSHUA PEABODY, SIMEON CUTLER, AND JAMES BOYDEN,
Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety.
JOHN WHEELER, GEORGE BARBER, AND . Constables. AMOS RICHARDSON,
STEPHEN CLARK AND
Wardens. NATHANIEL PARTRIDGE,
DANIEL RICHARDSON AND LIEUTENANT MOSES THOMPSON, S Tithingmen.
JOHN MORSE, CAPTAIN JOB PLIMPTON, HENRY DANIELS, CAPTAIN THOMAS METCALF, LIEUTENANTS NATHANIEL CLARK AND ABRAHAM HARDING, - Highways.
Surveyors of Public
ELIJAH CLARK, whose name appears frequently in the records, repre- sented the town in the General Court for five years. He was clerk of the
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town for twenty-four years, and the neat penmanship and methodical manner of his keeping of the books is in marked contrast with some portions of the records. Mr. Clark was a prominent man in the town during the Revolu- tion. His father, Edward Clark, came to Medway in 1710, and built the house, still standing, but as presented here much larger than it was originally.
CLARK HOUSE - ERECTED IN 1710.
The oaken timbers of this dwelling have withstood the storms of one hun- dred and seventy-five years, and seem stout enough to last as many more. Here Elijah Clark was born in 1727, and succeeded to the farm. He was married to Bathsheba Harding in 1751, and having reared a large family died in 1801, honored and respected, at the age of seventy-four years. This ancient dwelling is now occupied by Putnam R. Clark, Esq. Vid. GENEALOGIES.
CAPTAIN JONATHAN ADAMS, who was another prominent man in the town, was born in 1704. He was sent as representative for eleven years, and was on the board of selectmen for fourteen years. He married Patience Clark in 1732, and died in 1804 at the age of ninety-six years.
At the March meeting in 1777, the taxes of the following persons were abated, "In consideration of the suffering and hardnesses endured in the Continental service the year past" :
Lieutenant Joshua Gould, Joel Morse, Paul Holbrook,
Joshua Bullard, Jonathan Graves,
Joshua Morse,
Joseph Clark, John Hill, Abiel Pratt,
Jonas Brick, Jotham Ellis,
Ichabod Hawes, Jr.,
Jedediah Phillips,
John Barber,
Samuel Partridge,
David Hager,
Seth Mason,
James Barber,
Simpson Jones, Jesse Richardson,
John Allen.
Vid. THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
In August, 1779, the Rev. David Sanford was chosen to represent the town in a convention to be held at Cambridge, for the purpose of framing a " con- stitution and form of government for the state of Massachusetts Bay." The work of this convention was submitted to the town the next year, which
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in some of its provisions was not satisfactory, and there seems to have been another convention called, as in June, 1780, the town " put to vote to see if it be the minds of this town to choose a man in the name and stead of the Rev. David Sanford to sit in the next convention, and it passed in the nega- tive by a great majority."
THE CURRENCY DEPRECIATED.
The depreciation of the currency during these years of the war may be inferred by the amounts raised, from time to time, for the payment of men and provisions furnished to the army.
In 1778 the town granted the sum of £2,735, 17s., Iod. " for the purpose of making an Everage in this town and to encourage men to engage in the Continental & state service "; in 1779, £4,436, 10s. was raised, and in 1780, £6,466, 13s., and £13,000 to purchase 9,120 pounds of beef, and in 1781 the expenditures of the town for the year before foot up £92,909, 10s., 3d. In - one instance the town voted to pay those " who marched & served in the late alarm in Rhode Island," the sum of twenty-five pounds per day for their services. These sums, which in hard money must have rendered the town bankrupt, show us that an irredeemable currency brought the same evils in its train then, as in these days. The war had now lasted for six years ; the bur- den had been bravely borne, but it weighed heavily, especially in the towns where there was but little wealth except in land and the ordinary produce of the farm ; money was hard to get, and the difficulty of raising taxes, which to us seem light, required a great amount of self-denial and effort among the sparse population of that time. Draft after draft of the best blood of the town had been called for, and tax after tax paid, but we do not find any signs of faltering or submission, although the future must have looked dark and discouraging.
MEDWAY MAY 6th, 1781.
Recd of Capt. Moses Adams by the hand of Ralph Mann the sum of six hundred and fifty one Pounds Ten shillings and six pence in part of the money Produced by his pay-roll to recompence the Militia who marchd for the Defence of Rhode Island at the alarm in July Last. pr me ELIJAH CLARK, Town Treas." 651, 10, 6.
" To the Honrble the Treas of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts
Sir : Please to pay to Elijah Clark Treasr of the Town of Medway all Such Sum or Sums of money as are or may be allowed and made up to us for wages &c on the pay roll of Capt John Baxter to recompence the Militia for service at Nantaskit in Octr 1782, and this shall be your Discharge for the sums so paid.
Witness our hands, WILLIAM JACKSON, ELI ELLIS."
MEDWAY, MARCH 24, 1783.
The following report was adopted by the town May 30, 1781 :
" The Committee chosen by the Inhabitants of the Town of Medway at their meet- ing upon adjournment the 22d Day of May 1781 in order to Instruct Capt. Jonathan Adams the Representative of sd Town.
And sd committee being favored with the Instructions of the Town of Weymouth bearing Date Janry 20th 1781 and finding them so well calculated and agreeable as to recommend their being adopted by the said Town of Medway with some little vari- ation or alteration as follows viz.
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TO CAPT JONATHAN ADAMS, Representative of the Town of Medway
SR : Much uneasiness hath arisen in the minds of the People from an apprehen- sion that Sums of money have been misspent during the war, and that monies and effects of one kind and another to a great amount are not this day accounted for. Whether these, or the neglect of early taxation, inattention to order and government, mistaken notions of inability or aversion of our enemies to maintain and continue the war, a fluctuating currency or a fluctuating system of politicks, are the causes of many of the misfortunes we have suffered, the evils we feel, and the Burthens arising from extraordinary taxes in quick succession laid upon us demand a serious enquiry and nothing short of an impartial enquiry into the State of our public affairs will satisfy the minds of people and open the way to the reformation of abuses and correction of errors. It is therefore expected that you will use your utmost endeavours that no pains be spared to bring public defaulters to justice and that every measure that human wisdom can devise and known justice support be persued for restoring the public credit, removing the complaints of the injured and for conducting public Busi- ness with order, despatch economy and firmness so as to give dignity to government and content to the people and in a particular manner that all militia naval, or other military officers who have been intrusted with public money for expeditions or any other military purposes, committees for erecting powder mills, fortifications, building of vessels, of sequestration of purchases, for the sale of forfeited estates or of what- ever name or denomination, treasurers of the board of war, commissioners, Agents of all sorts in short that all persons intrusted with public moneys, be required to account for them.
If upon reasonable notice given and a proper time allowed, they should refuse or neglect to account : that without favor or partiality, they be prosecuted, and that those who have been negligent in their public trusts be dismissed, and those guilty of fraud be punished with infamy. A steady and determined pursuit of such measures will do much to remedy our evils and render the government respectable, but they fall very short of a radical cure if similar measures be not adopted by Congress. It is nec- essary, therefore, that the Delegates to Congress be instructed immediately to enter upon this just and necessary work, and officially to demand of their foreign ministers, commissioners and agents a faithful account of their management of public business and expence of public money, and that no character, however great, be screen'd from public scrutiny. Instruct the Delegates to insist on this and not to give over till they have fully accomplished the end proposed.
You will also use your endeavors that a remonstrance be made to Congress against the establishment of half pay to the Continental Officers after they are dismissed the Service, and disapprove of every such measure in this Common-Wealth, as it is a measure unreasonable, partial, and pernicious in its consequences. Have they not been promised large tracts of Land at the expiration of the war as an encouragement of their perseverance and as a future reward for their services? Have not the Militia officers accompanied them in their campaigns, fought by their Sides, and Shed their blood with them? Have not many of these sustained equal dangers and done equal Services, and for whom no pension is provided, nor one farthing for the Depreciation of their wages has been allowed? Have the Continental Officers been kept out of their just due? Have they not been supported equal to their merit? If not, let jus- tice be done them. To this we willingly bind our estates. But privileg'd officers with pay for life either civil or military, are repugnant to every Idea of a well regu- lated Common-Wealth, and have been found to introduce corruption, idleness, and luxury, discontent and factions. In short pensions are the entering wedge to the ruin of a State, and we need not look further than that country once fondly called our mother country to read our own fate. Her pensioned tribes have already swarmed like the locusts of Egypt, and like them will devour the land.
It is with extreme sorrow that we hear of the continental soldiers not being fur- nished with the clothing that has been provided for them, until they are almost naked, and the clothing almost rotten. Does this arise from the negligence of the General Court, of Agents or delinquency of Towns, or from what cause needs an immediate enquiry : also whether a less expensive and more certain method of procuring cloth-
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ing, than levying them upon Towns cannot be adopted? Whether the late mode of laying fines on Towns for delinquencies will not in most instances operate directly contrary to the end designed? And in some be productive of great injustice to Indi- viduals are questions worthy of consideration.
As a member of the General Court and as a friend to liberty truth and justice you will bear testimony against all public proceedings inconsistent with either, and en- deavour that the Government be cautious in promising, faithful in performing, and at no time assume the power of postponing the performance or altering the nature of a promise, at will and pleasure.
You are too sensible of the importance of virtue and good manners, to the well being of a Common-Wealth to need our urging your utmost endeavours for the encouragement of these, and that every rational method be adopted by Government for suppressing profligacy of manners, extravagance in dress, luxury and dissipation, vice and immorality too much reigning amongst us.
We apprehend that among other measures the laying an Excise on Spirituous liquors and impost Duties, especially on articles of luxury and Superfluity will con- tribute to this end as well as to render the frequency of Taxes less necessary.
Your abilities and integrity leave us no room to doubt of your Strenuous endeav- ours to promote the public good : to support you in the exercise of them is the aim of these instructions, and may Heaven crown all your endeavours with success."
" The foregoing instructions being diligently read and duly considered were passed in the affirmative."
"Attest, DANIEL POND, Moderator."
COMMISSION OF THEODORE CLARK, GENTm.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
BY HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN HANCOCK, ESQ.,
Governor and Commander in chief in and over the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. To THEODORE CLARK Gentn, Greeting.
[SEAL.] You being appointed second Lieutenant of a company commanded by Capt. John Ellis in the Fourth Regiment of Militia in the County of Suffolk in said Commonwealth whereof Laban Mann Esqr is Colonel.
By virtue of the Power vested in me I do by these Presents (reposing special Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty Courage and good conduct) commission you accordingly, -- You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the Duty of 2d Lieut. in leading, ordering and exercising said Company in Arms, both inferior Officers and Soldiers; and to keep them in good Order and Discipline. And they are hereby commanded to obey you as their 2d Lieut. and you are yourself to observe and follow such Orders and Instructions as you shall from Time to Time receive from me or your superior officers.
Given under my hand and the seal of the said Commonwealth the First day of July in the Year of our LORD 1781, in the fifth Year of the Independence of the United States of America.
(Signed)
JOHN HANCOCK.
By His Excellency's Command, JOHN AVERY jun. Secy.
In 1782 the town instructed its Representative, Moses Adams, as follows : " That he use his influence that the General Court lessen the prices of salary men and days' men that draw pay from the state at this day of public calam- ity, so that the people may not have just reason to complain of oppression,
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and that all persons not absolutely necessary for managing the affairs of this state that are paid by the government be dismissed, so that such heavy bur- thens by reason of such immense taxes laid upon this commonwealth to sup- port the administration be relinquished. Your constituents advise to use your influence that a law be made to restrain the attorneys in our common- wealth from demanding excessive fees, and that the General Court be re- moved out of Boston into some other town that there may be an immediate settlement made with the treasurer of this commonwealth, and all other public boards . . . and that for future there be a descriptive list transmitted to the several towns in this commonwealth annually giving a just account of the state of the treasury."
Scattered through the records of this period, and especially during the war, whole pages are filled with notices to strangers to depart out of the town, in order to prevent their gaining a settlement and thus possibly add- ing to the burdens of taxation for the support of poor, of which the follow- ing is a specimen :
" Whereas we have been informed that Job Puffer and Cloe Puffer came into this town some time in the month of November last from Wrenthan, and as we find our- selves unwilling to admit the said persons as inhabitants of this town - therefore in the name of the commonwealth you are hereby required forthwith to warn the said Job Puffer and Cloe Puffer to depart and leave this town within fourteen days. or give security to the selectmen to indemnify and save the town from all charges that may happen to accrue to the town by any means or cause of their continuing their resi- dence here."
Signed by the selectmen and directed to Abijah Fairbanks, Constable. In 1783 the town voted :
" If the absentees who have left this or any of the United States with their own par- ticular interest therein, and sought to take protection under the British arms which invaded the same, and who have since the commencement of the late war joined or in any way assisted the British forces in destroying or subduing this or any part of the United States, ought to be prevented from returning, or possessing their own estates again from which they fled, and that sd absentees, being rightly termed conspirators and traitors ought to be wholly excluded the right or privilege of inhabitancy or resi- dence in this or any of the United States of America for the future."
Great dissatisfaction appears to have existed in reference to the acts of Congress in granting half pay to the officers of Continental army and laying an impost on the states for this purpose, which they consider " a real griev- ance in its nature and unconstitutional." The instructions to the representa- tive for this year, which are recorded in the clear and careful hand-writing of Elijah Clark, town clerk, were as follows :
" The Inhabitants of the Town of Medway. At a Legal Town Meeting held on ad- journment the 28th day of May A. D. 1783
Voted, that the following Instruction be given to the Representative of this Town for his rule of Conduct in the General Court the Ensuing year viz.
To CAPT. MOSES ADAMS
SIR, Notwithstanding the Confidence this Town has placed in your Integrity and Abilities to Represent them in the General Court the Ensuing year and having no cause to Suspect your attachment to the Interest of this Town and the Prosperity and Welfare of this Commonwealth in General. Yet your constituents viewing the pres- ent Situation of Public Affairs think themselves in Duty bound to Express to you
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their Sentiments for the Regulation of your Conduct, Relating to the following Sub- jects viz. While we place Our attention to the Late Treaty we cannot but feel our- selves much concerned for the event of the 5th Article, which Respects those persons who have not Only fled from this Country when the Liberties thereof were Invaded, But also have Taken Protection under the Armes that Invaded the Same, and united their whole Efforts in Subjugating this Country and their Own fellow Citizens to their Cruel unnatural Designs. And being Apprehensive that Persons who have Exerted all their Power and Malice to overturn our Government Can never again make peace- able Subjects in it And without mentioning Every Perticular Objection which might be offered against the return of these persons who are Described by the Laws of this Commonwealth as Conspirators and Absentees and being fully convinced of the Dan- gerous Consequences which will attend the admitting them to regain their forfeitd es- tates, or place of Residence within this Commonwealth. We instruct you to use your Endeavours by all Proper means to prevent any Person of the aforesaid Description from Ever Returning to this State, or Regaining their justly forfeited Estates within this Commonwealth
Whereas it appears that by some means or other an undne Proportion of the Con- tinental Old Bills of Credit have been Entroduced into this Commonwealth, whereby the Publick and Individuals of this State have Sufferd great Damages and Disappoint- ments by reason that the sd Bills have not been Redeemed or Exchanged by the United States,
Therefore, that you use your Endeavours at all Proper Occasions that Some meas- ures may be Adopted and Prosecuted which will Effect the Exchange or Redemption of the sd Bills on Some Just Principle, by the united States as Soon as may be.
That you Exert yourself at the most Early and favorable opportunity that shall Present To Revive a Petition Preferd to the General Court in 1781 By the Agents of a number of Towns in the Counties of Suffolk and middlesix Praying that a New County may be incorporated and to use your Endeavours that the prayer thereof may be Granted.
We Earnestly Recommend to you the greatest Economy and frugality with regard to the Expenditure of Publick monies and that you Oppose all Extravigrant unreason- able Grants, Salaries and half pay to the continental officers.
Attest ELIJAH CLARK Town Clk "
The tax-list for 1783 fills a manuscript of fourteen pages about eight inches square, and contains the names of 216 residents and 98 non-residents. The poll-tax is 2s., 6d. ; the largest real estate tax-payers were Captain Joseph Lovell, £1, 3s., 8d. ; Asa P. Richardson, £1, 2s., 9d., and Nathaniel Lovell, £1, os., 8d.
MEDWAY ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
" COPPY OF THE DESCRIPTION OF Ye TOWN COMPOSED BY Mr BUCKNAM & HENRY ELLIS, 1785.
" Medway was Set off from medfield Containing all that was medfield on ye Weft Side of Charls River Bounded Eaft & South on Charles river Southweft on Bellingham, Weft on Holliston & north on Sherburn till it comes to Charls river firft mentioned.
" The Town in Length is about 6 miles & in Bredth on an Everage is about 3 miles & }. The Surface of ye Town rough & unfightly By reafon of woods & Swamps, that are Uncultivated & one Especially in ye Center of ye Town more than a mile from Eaft to weft & about 3 miles from North to South. & as for the Soil where it is Cleared Tolerable Grazing for Cattle & where menured Produces Plentiful Crops of Grain many Times more than is sufficient for ye Inhabitants. The air is clear & Healthy the Inhabitants Sub- fist Chiefly upon Husbandry. Buildings, Contains 2 meeting houfes & about
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137 Dwelling houfes, none Very Eligant But in Common Comfortable Habi- tations, 144 other Buildings of Several Denominon. No. of Inhabitants about 850. Divifions, the Town is Divided into 2 Parrifhes of ye Congregational De- nominations. No. of Births Deaths & marriages in ye Town of medway an- nually for 6 years paft upon an Everage are 22 Births 6 Deaths & 12 marriages, Mills 4 Grift mills 5 Saw mills & one fulling Mill, 2 Grift mills & 2 Saw mills on Charls river 2 Grift mills & 2 Saw mills on Boggeftow, and one Saw mill on Chicking Brook So Called. Roads One a Country road Ex- tending from Eaft to weft Called ye middle road from Bofton to Hartford, & a County road Extending from South to North Leading to watertown & the Eaftward parts. The Town of medway from the Center of sd Town is 25 miles from Bofton & Lyeth Nearly Southweft from ye Town, & is in ye County of Suffolk."
"DESCRIPTION of MEDWAY,
MR. BUCKNAM.
Draft by E. Clark, 1786."
In 1787 Moses Richardson was chosen to represent the town in the Gene- ral Court and his compensation was fixed at 4s., 6d. per day, and he was di- rected to " deliver to the treasurer for the use of the town all sums he may receive from the public treasury for his services, above that amount."
In the year 1789, by the perambulation of the line between Medway and Holliston, it appears that it ran in a westerly direction from near the house of Henry Bullard through Winthrop Pond, and across the road leading from West Medway to Holliston, to a heap of stones in Ash Swamp, and then southerly to Charles River ; Holliston bounding it on the north and west ; this included a considerable tract on the north now in Holliston, and left out about as much, which is now in Medway, on the west. An exchange was made, and the present boundary line between Medway and the town of Holliston was established March 3, 1829. The boundary between Medway, Belling- ham, and Franklin was straightened February 23, 1832 ; and March 13, 1839, the boundary between Medway and the town of Franklin was changed ; and February 23, 1870, a part of Medway was taken to constitute the new town of Norfolk.
In 1792 a portion of Franklin was set off to this town, including what is now known as Deanville, and the next year the estates of Peter Bullard and Abner Mason, formerly a part of Sherborn, were added to Medway, and March 3, 1792, the present boundary line between the two towns was estab- lished.
The present Norfolk County was constituted March 22, 1793. The act was approved March 26, 1793, by JOHN HANCOCK, Governor.
The towns included were Bellingham, Braintree, Brookline, Cohasset, Dedham, Dorchester, Dover, Foxborough, Franklin, Hingham, Hull, Med- field, Medway, Milton, Needham, Quincy, Randolph, Roxbury, Sharon, Stoughton, Walpole, Weymouth, and Wrentham.
Originally, May 10, 1643, the Colony of Massachusetts Bay was divided into four counties, viz. : Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The lat- ter embraced the towns of Haverhill, Salisbury, Hampton, Exeter, Dover, and Portsmouth ; the last four were set off to New Hampshire in 1680 ; the other towns were afterward included in Essex County, so that February 4, 1680, the original Norfolk County in Massachusetts, ceased to exist.
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