USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Woburn > The history of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680 > Part 13
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 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63
46 Resolve of Court, May 19, 1680.
104
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
they might not only maintain justice, mercy and truth at home, but also approve themselves the zealous and successful defenders of British rights and liberties, and of their common Protestant religion in all lands where the dominion of Britain was acknowl- edged, and over which its sceptre was swayed. And finally, he earnestly besought the Lord that he would protect and deliver his persecuted churches and people throughout the world; that he would hasten the end of all idolatry, superstition and impos- ture ; restrain the violence and defeat the crafty counsels of the man of sin and his abetters; that he would everywhere extend the triumphs of the cross, and give efficacy to the word of his grace, and speed the accomplishment of the blessed time foretold in his lively oracles, when Babylon should fall to rise no more; when the kingdoms of this world should become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ.
After prayer, succeeded the second singing, which was followed by a sermon from Mr. Carter. But this was not a written, but, in considerable measure at least, an extempore discourse, founded upon the same text that was treated of in the morning. As then, Mr. Fox displayed to all, especially to the members of his church, their obligations to depart from all iniquity; so now, Mr. Carter enforced those obligations. In a kind, affectionate exhortation, he earnestly charged all his hearers, especially professors of religion, to forsake all sin, to practise holiness of heart and life : thus happily illustrating the distinction anciently made by our ancestors between the teacher and the pastor of a church; assigning to the former officer the explanation and defence of the truth; to the latter, the enforcement of it upon the conscience and the heart.47
When the good man had ceased from this labor of love, Deacon Wright arose and said, " Brethren, if any one among you have a word of exhortation to offer, let him say on." All eyes, I perceived, were instantly turned toward me; and I felt myself constrained, in a manner, to get up, and, after making my respeets to the ministers, to address the people briefly as follows:
47 See Cambridge Platform, Chap. VI., § 5.
105
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
My Christian friends : you conclude, I presume, from the singu- larity of my dress, that I am a stranger in this region ; and indeed, I am a stranger, come from a land of many days journey hence. And yet it sometimes seems, as if I were acquainted here : for there's a surprising resemblance in many respects between your country and mine. The climate is the very same. The natural scenery of both places is almost exactly alike. Your town bears the same name as one next to that I live in, when at home. The names of Charles River, Shawshin River, Horn Pond, and other waters, so common I find among you, are also perfectly familiar to me. Nay, your own names, which have been oft repeated in my hearing to-day, are the very same as those most prevalent in the town just referred to, and within whose ancient limits I myself dwell. In view of all these circumstances, I have at times to-day been almost forced into the conclusion, that I have been travelling ever since I left home in a circle ; and now that I have come round again to the place I started from, some great alterations in the fashions of our dress, which have occurred in the interval of my absence, prevent me and my old friends and neighbors from recognizing one another. And yet, on the other hand, this suppo- sition seems at once rendered inadmissible by the striking differ- ences, which are everywhere apparent between your Woburn, and the Woburn in my vicinity. Here, in the midst of your village, I see no academy, as I do there, seated like a city on a hill which cannot be hid. Here the dwelling-houses are comparatively few, and scattered and unadorned ; there the houses in the principal village are very numerous, and many of them, large and elegant to look to. Here, I see but one house of public worship ; and hear of but one denomination of worshippers ; there, in the centre alone, there are at least three or four meeting-houses, appropriated to the use of Christians of as many different names. So that considering these and other points of difference, I am driven to the conclusion after all, that I stand now in a very different Woburn from that I have been long acquainted with. And yet it is a satisfaction to find, that great as the interval is between us, we still worship the same God, acknowledge the same Saviour, and profess to take the same Holy Scriptures for our guide, both in faith and practice. Let us all then only adhere to that Sacred Rule, and live up to, and act out our profession of submission and obedience to it, and both you and I and the people I dwell among, cannot fail of being finally happy together forever.
106
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Brethren, it has been higlily gratifying, and I hope will be last- ingly profitable to me, to have spent this holy Sabbath with you. I have been edified, I trust, by the prayers in which I have joined with you. I have been cdified by the dispensation of God's Word in this his house ; by the plain and forcible exposition of truth and duty therefrom, to which we all have had opportunity of listening to-day ; and certainly, if our hearts are right with God, we none of us can miss of being benefited by what we have heard. Particu- larly have I been pleased with your singing. It has forcibly brought back to mind the days of my childhood and youth, when I was accustomed to hear sung, from Sabbath to Sabbath, by the congregation generally, the very same or the like simple tunes that I have heard to-day ; though then by fewer voices, and sometimes with the aid of an organ, which I am aware you abhor, or at least much dislike. Concerning those days, I well remember what feel- ings of awe and devout reverence the sight and hearing of my elders, and of my elders' elders, all singing the high praises of God, though with unequal time and occasionally with somewhat discordant voices, used to excite in my breast. Of late, I have but seldom had an opportunity of hearing the songs of Zion sung after this sort. Hence, I have enjoyed listening to them to-day, as a feast, and I regret that it may be long before I am gratified in the same way again. But you, my friends, who are favored with this privilege every Sabbath, do prize it highly, I trust, and will not lightly give it up. And that you may long retain it, beware of multiplying the tunes to be sung. By adhering constantly to the use of a few plain, substantial tunes, which are easily learnt, you are all capable, in one degree or other, of sounding forth the praises of the God of Heaven.
Do not render then this delightful duty impossible to a large majority of your fellow-worshippers (as I have known it done in my own country), by the introduction of a multitude of new and difficult tunes, or by changing singing books once a year. And should your present aversion to instrumental music ever give way (as I doubt not it eventually will), and should you begin to use the harp, the viol and the organ in the worship of the sanctuary, let no one, capable of singing, be willing on this account to excuse himself from the duty, and shift it off' upon a few paid individuals, with their instruments, in the gallery. For if singing the praises of Jehovah be a duty to any, it is to all who have a voice and an car, and any tolerable skill to sing in concert with others. A
107
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
select choir may be a great help in singing. Still its members cannot be supposed capable of doing the work of praise for others, so well as others, who have any ear for sacred music, can do it for themselves. Excuse, I pray you, the freedom of these remarks by a stranger, proceeding, as I trust they do, from a disinterested desire for your good. A few improvements I might here suggest in your present mode of singing ; but I forbear. For in changing there is always risk, I am sensible, of doing harm instead of good ; and I fear, that in attempting to make good in some measure better, I should, as often happens in other cases, mar or spoil the whole.
Brethren, I must repeat the high satisfaction I have taken in the services of this sanctuary this day. The only deficiency I have felt worth mentioning is, the omission to read the Holy Scriptures without comment ; an exercise that is common in my own country, and one, it seems to me, that has a Divine warrant for it, and is both profitable in itself, and in accordance with the practice of the church in every age. But I will add no more on this point ; assured that your own good sense and pious regard to the will of God, will eventually lead you, on reflection, to correct the error, if it be one. As to all other things, I can with truth express my entire approbation. As I have sat here this day, and attended to the several exercises of Divine worship, and witnessed the pro- priety and fervor and engagedness with which they have all been performed, I have been ready to exclaim, as did Jacob of old, " How dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven !" May you ever find it to be so, by your own happy experience ! And so may every house of worship that your posterity may hereafter erect in this place, prove to them and their children ! I rejoice in seeing you do so much as you do, to teach the rising generation the truths and duties of the Gospel of Christ, and to lead them, both by precept and example, to prize the institutions of God's worship. .
In particular, I was glad to perceive in the intermission that you are in the habit of catechising your children, - a good old custom, warranted by Scripture authority, and recommended by carly Chris- tian usage, but now (I regret to own it) much neglected in my own land ! But there seems to be no need of exhorting you, brethren, to see that it be not neglected among you. I am confident that you will keep up the practice with the same diligence that it was transmitted to you by your fathers ; and that you will enjoin upon your children likewise to do so hereafter, for the benefit of those
108
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
who shall arise after them. You will charge them, whatever other means and methods of instruction they call in to their aid for the religious education of their children, on no account to let this be overlooked or slightly performed ; that they will never leave it entirely even to their ministers, much less to other friends of less knowledge and experience than they ; that they will keep the mat- ter in their own hands, though they admit others to share in the labor of it with them ; and discharge it faithfully according to the light and skill and experience which God severally gives them ; and then the result, through the Divine blessing, they may reasonably hope will be, that there shall ever be a generation in this place who shall be taught of God to acknowledge, love and serve him, and whom he will own and build up and rejoice in, - a people for his praise.
Dear Christian friends, this is the first time I was ever with you, and it will, doubtless, be the last. I must presently leave you, and we shall meet no more on this side the grave. But sure I am that, if I am ever prepared myself through grace for a part in the resurrection of the just, I shall meet many, very many, of this congregation again at the right hand of the Son of Man; and shall be admitted to praise and rejoice with you in that better temple above, whence there is no more going out, and where we shall dwell forever with the Lord. The Lord grant that we may all of us find mercy of the Lord in that day ! and till then I bid you, one and all, a cordial farewell.
Upon my saying these words, which were heard with atten- tion, and were apparently welcome, Mr. Carter offered a short prayer, in which he implored a blessing upon the services of the day, and upon the words uttered by their unknown friend according to God's Word : and then, with singing four stanzas of the 119th Psalm, long metre, to the tune of " Hundredth," and with a Scripture benediction by Mr. Carter, the public worship for that day was ended. As for me, as soon as I could conveniently after leaving the house, I took the conveyance by which I came, and was instantly transported over the current of one hundred and eighty years and upwards, from Hilly Way, in Woburn, in his Majesty's Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, to my own quiet home, near Vine Brook, and within the ancient bounds of the Second Precinct of Woburn, Massa- chusetts, one of the Independent United States of America.
CHAPTER IV.
Philip's War. - Persons murdered by Indians in Woburn during that War. - Small-Pox in Woburn, 1678. - Arbitrary proceedings of Sir Edmund Andros in Woburn, 1687-88. - Death of Rev. Thomas Carter. - Medford Bridge. - Death of Rev. Mr. Fox.
SHORTLY after the second meeting-house in Woburn was finished (the building, accommodations and weekly worship of which form a prominent subject of the Chapter foregoing), broke out that scourge of New England, Philip's War. It is so called from Philip, the Indian chief, who was its principal instigator. It began in Plymouth Colony, June 24, 1675, and quickly ex- tending itself into Massachusetts, it spread its horrors and devastations in every direction, and seemed to threaten at times the utter ruin of the country.
In this destructive contest, Woburn was not assaulted by the enemy in great numbers at any one time. Nor was it burnt, pillaged and laid waste, either totally or in part, as Marlboro', Sudbury and Groton in the same county were. Still, it was not exempt from a large share of the common burdens and suffer- ings of that gloomy period.
Its proportion of the public taxes, necessary to sustain the warfare undertaken, was oppressive in the extreme. In 1674, the Colony tax for Woburn was but a' trifle over £30.1 But within fourteen months from the commencement of hostilities to the death of Philip, which occurred August 12, 1676, and which was virtually the conclusion of the war called by his name,2 no less
1 Town Records, Vol. I., pp. 55, 56.
? But war with the Eastern Indians, however, continued many years after. It was distinguished as King William's War, and cost much treas- ure and many lives to bring it to an end. In the course of it, the following instance occurred, in which Woburn people were involved. On the 6th of July, 1690, as two companies of English were scouting, under Captains Floyd and Wiswall. they came upon a party of Indians at Wheelwright's Pond in Lee, N. H. A bloody engagement ensued, in which Capt. Wiswall, his Lieutenant, Gershom Flagg, of Woburn, Sergeant Edward Walker, a son of the elder Dea. Samuel Walker, of Woburn, and twelve others, were killed and several wounded. - Belknap's New Hampshire, in one volume, p. 134.
10
110
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
than twenty single rates were ordered by the Court to be levied for the prosecution of the contest on the part of the Colonists, viz : three rates at their Session, July 9, 1675 ; seven, October 13, 1675, and ten, May 3, 1676.3 But burdensome as these large and quickly repeated demands by the Legislature were, for money to carry on the war in which the country was involved, the inhabitants of Woburn, from patriotic motives, appear to have submitted to them all, without murmuring or complaint, and to have made ample and timely provision for answering them.
On the "23 : 6 mo :" (23 August) 1675, the Selectmen met with the commissioner, and assessed "a rate for the Country"; and in giving it, on the 4th of the month following, to the constables to collect, they ordered them to gather it of every inhabitant "twice over," thus making it equivalent to two single rates. They also directed them to " demand of the old troopers two shillings and a penny upon each rate, as the Court hath ordered "; 4 and likewise "to demand and gather of every person one fourth part of a single rate, for to provide ammu- nition with for a Town's stock; and to demand of every old trooper sixpence farthing more than what is set down in the said rate." 5
3 Colony Records, Vol. V., pp. 45, 55, 56, 81.
' At their session in July 1675, the Court passed the following resolve : "Whereas the troopers and their trooping horses are wont to be exempted in ordinary country rates, it is heereby declared, that they are not to be freed in the rates granted by this Court for the defraying the charge of the present expedition against the Indians."a In the foregoing order of the selectmen, by " old troopers " are meant those who belonged to some troop before the present war began, in distinction from new troopers, who had enlisted since, and of whom, at one time, there were twelve.b There were, at this period, five troops of horse within the juris- diction of Massachusetts, viz : the Suffolk troop, the Essex troop, the Middlesex troop, the Norfolk troop (belonging to the northerly part of Essex County), and the " Three County troop;" comprehending all who had enlisted from " the county of Dover and Portsmouth," from the set- tlements " In and near York, called Yorkshire, and from the settlements upon and near the Kennebeck, erected, 1674, into a county by the name of Devonshire.c Troopers from Woburn were attached to the Middlesex troop, commanded by Capt. Thomas Prentice, of Cambridge Village, now Newton.c
. Colony Recorda, Vol. V., p. 45. · Town Records, Vol. I., p. 64.
. Colony Recorda, Vol. V., pp. 73, 295.
· Town Records, Vol. I., pp. 64, 65, 66, 67, 63, 69.
111
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
The amount of the rate thus assessed, and given to the collec- tors to gather " twice over," added to what was demanded of " fower ould troopers," for their persons and horses, was
£60:19:10
do. of the quarter rate for ammunition 7:06:11
On the 23: of the 9 mo. (23d Nov.) 1675, the selectmen met and levied a rate on the inhabitants " for the charge of the Indian warr," amounting to £120:00:00 On the 18:11 mo. 1675, (18th Jan. 1675-6,) the selectmen met again, and " ordered another Rate for the Indian warr," amounting to - £119:01:06
These last two assessments doubtless answered to the seven single rates called for by order of the court, Oct. 13th, 1675, and also to the third of the three single rates ordered July 9, 1675, but which, it seems, had not yet been assessed.5
On the 14: 4 mo. (14th June) 1676, the select- men, to satisfy the ten single rates ordered in May of that year, levied what is called in the records, "a Warr Rate," being a single rate ten times doubled, amounting to - £325:17:6
Sum total £633:05:9 Of this sum, about £100, as nearly as can be ascer- tained, was reserved for the payment of town debts and expenses, such as schooling, support of poor, county tax, etc., etc. - (Sec Records.) - 100:0:0
£533:05:9
The balance was paid to the Colony Treasurer, or to others, with his knowledge and allowance, towards defraying the expenses of the war.5
To afford some case to the people in the payment of such heavy taxes, at a period of great scarcity of money, they were allowed by the court to pay them in various necessary commodi- ties, and especially in grain, viz : in wheat at six shillings, rye
5 Town Records, Vol. I., pp. 65, 66, 68.
112
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
at four shillings and sixpence, barley and pease at four shillings, Indian corn at three shillings and sixpence, oats at two shillings, per bushel ; provided these articles were delivered to the treas- urer without cost to the country. To encourage, however, the payment of taxes in silver, the court ordered an abatement of one-fourth part to such as paid in money.6
1675. "Paid in to the Treasurer by John Richison, Constable, by shoose and barly - - £8:11 :6." 1675. " Paid by Jonathan Tomson [Constable] in -
oats and otherways 1 :5 :8." 7
In settling for taxes during this war, an allowance was made for what were called "debentors"; that is, certificates from some acknowledged authority, of wages due to soldiers for their services. Whenever a constable presented a debentor to the Colony Treasurer, in payment of taxes, he was allowed for it the same as for silver.
" Paid by Jona. Tomson ... . in silver and debentors, the full sum of all advanced - £67:19 :02."
" Paid in to the Treasurer by John Richison, Constable, in silver and debenturs, etc. - 68:16:03."
" Paid by Joseph Wright in his debentor - 01:07:07." 7
As to the quarter rate for ammunition spoken of above, the Records inform how it was disposed of, as follows :
" Paid to the Captaine [John Carter], of the ammu- nition Rate, the just sum of . . £6:02 :6
Capt. Carter paid Mr. Richards for a barell of powder, the sum of - £5:0:0
By musket bullets and pistoll bullets - 0:17:0
By to [two] Runlets to put these bullets in - -
0:1:4
By the porterige and ferridge [ferryage] . 0:02:0 To Capt. Carter for buying powder - 0:04:0 For flints by Capt. Carter
- 00:00:11." 8
6 Colonial Records, Vol. V., p. 65.
" Town Records, Vol. I., p. 64.
· Town Records, Vol. II., p. 23.
113
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
But the pecuniary cost of this war, incurred by taxation and in other ways, burdensome as it was to the inhabitants of Woburn, was nothing compared with the risk and loss of life which it occasioned many of them, the various and grievous hardships to which it subjected them, and the consternation and terror which it caused to prevail in the midst of them, as well as throughout the Colony, both by day and by night, lest they should be waylaid or suddenly assaulted, their houses burned or plundered, and themselves and families either killed, or cap- tivated and reserved for future torture by their savage foes.
August 2, 1675, an order came from Edward Rawson, Secre- tary of the Colony to the constable of Woburn, " to impresse five able and sufficient horses, well shod and furnisht with bridles and saddles, fitt for the service of the Country; and bring them to Capt. Davis' 9 house in Boston by eight of the clock in the morn- ing." 10 About December 1st, 1675, when preparations were making for the Narraganset expedition, thirteen soldiers were impressed from Woburn, viz : John Baker, John Baldwin, Peter Bateman, John Berbeane, John Cutler, Thomas Hale, Jeremiah Hood, William Peirce, John Polly, John Preist, John Sheldon, Caleb Simonds and Zechariah Snow.10 February 24, 1675-6, nine horses more, with suitable equipments, were ordered to be impressed from Woburn.10 And, March 22d following, Woburn was directed to furnish six draught horses and three men by way of impressment 10 " to carry provisions and ammunition to the garrison at Brookfield." 10
In addition to the thirteen men, expressly named above, as forced into the war from Woburn by impressment, this town appears from its Records, from the Records of Hon. John Hull, Esq., Treasurer of the Colony in 1676,11 and from other reliable authorities, to have furnished for the war forty-five others, who voluntarily enlisted in the service, or who were drafted for it by lot, viz : John Bateman, Isaac Brooks, John Brooks, William
" William Davis, Capt. of the Suffolk troop of horse, who died shortly after.
16 Letters of Rev. Joseph B. Felt, from the State archives.
" A folio, once in possession of Nathaniel G. Snelling, Esq., Boston, but now, It Is under- stood, in the rooms of the Historical and Genealogical Society.
10*
114
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Butters, Jacob Chamberlin, Moses Cleaveland, Jr., Samuel Cleveland, Josiah Clopson (or Cloyson), John Coddington, Jon- athan Crisp, Paul Fletcher, William Green, John Kendall, Benoni McDonald, John Moloony, Richard Nevers, Abraham Parker, 11 Thomas Parker, Joseph Peirce, Thomas Peirce, Jr., William Reed, Samuel Read, John Richardson, Joseph Richardson, Nathaniel Richardson, Samuel Richardson, David Roberts, John Seirs, Benjamin Simonds, James Simonds, Joseph Simonds, Robert Simpson, Eliah Tottingham, John Walker, George Wilkinson, Joseph Waters [or Wallis], John Wilson, Jr., Increase Winn, Joseph Winn, John Wyman, Jr., Francis Wyman, Jr., and Joseph Wright. To these may be added three other soldiers in that war, named by the Treasurer, viz: William Dean, Thomas " Hincher " (Henshaw), and Benjamin Wilson, who may be confidently presumed to have been the three well known citizens of Woburn answering to those names respectively.
Of the fifty-eight persons above expressly named, as enlisted from Woburn in Philip's War, it may be remarked of fourteen of them, viz: of Peter and John Bateman, Chamberlin, Clop- son, Coddington, Crisp, Fletcher, Hood, the two Parkers, Roberts, Simpson, Wallis, and Wilkinson, that they were prob- ably not citizens of Woburn at the commencement of the war, but servants, or hired laborers from abroad, who were persuaded to enlist for this town in the service of the country. Simpson was apparently a Scotchman, one of those who, for espousing the cause of Charles HI., were sent over to this country by Cromwell to be sold, after he had defeated them at the battle of Dunbar, 1650, or of Worcester, 1651; and, being a tanner by trade, was bought by Lieut. John Wyman, tanner, of Woburn, " on purpose for the management of his tan yard." Mr. Wyman, his master (having had his son slain in the fight at Narraganset) petitioned the General Court, May 16, 1676, that his servant,
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.