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 26
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17 Attested copy on file.
& The following is a copy of the action of the Court at their next session upon the two petitions of Shawshin above cited.
" Friday, June 14. 1728.
" On the Petition of the North West Part of the Town of Wo- burn, Enter'd August 24 [1727] and January 4. 1727 [1727-8].
" In Council, Read again, together with the Petition herein referred to, and the Answer of the Town of Woburn; and the same being duly considered,
" Ordered, that the Prayer of the Petition be so far granted, as that Jonathan Dowse, Esq'. with such as shall be appointed by the Hon'ble House of Representatives, be a Committee to view the Town of Woburn, and consider the Situation & Circumstances of the Inhabitants of the Northwesterly Part of the said Town, and report at the next Fall session what they judge proper for the Court to do, in answer to these Petitions.
" In the House of Representatives Read and Non-Concur'd ; and Voted that the Petition be dismiss'd.
" In Council Read." >
b Court Records, Vol. XIV., pp. 83, 84.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
present condition, the inhabitants of Shawshin now turned their attention anew for relief to the town's vote of November 15, pre- ceding.15 And if the town would have sanctioned such a con- struction of that vote as would in any measure have met their feelings and views, and assured them of the like exemption from taxation for the support of its own public worship that it had demanded in that vote for itself in support of theirs, in case of a separation between them, both they and their neighbors of Goshen would now, it is very likely, have been glad to accept the proposal of that vote, and have readily complied with the condition annexed to it. To put the disposition of the town on this head to the test, the people of Shawshin and Goshen handed in to the Selectmen the following joint petition :
" Oborne July the 18 daye in the year 1728.
" To the Selectmen of Woborne: Wee the Inhabitants of the Northwesterly and North Branches of said towne, commonly called Shawshin and Goshen, desier you the Selectmen, in your next Warrant to call a towne meeting, [to propose] that the Towne explayne their vote concerning setting off half of the towne- ship to the said Branches ; and that in case these two Branches are set off' in order to support the Gospell among themselves, [to see whether] the town will reimburse what charge they the said Branches are att, in settling another Minister with the Reverend Mr Fox, to them.
" JEAMS TOMPSON
SIMON TOMPSON
EBENEZER JOHNSON
SAMUELL BUTTER
SAMUEL PEIRCE BENJAMIN HARNDEN
BENJAMIN JOHNSON JOHN JACQUETHI
EDWARD JOHNSON JAMES SIMONDS
JAMES PROCTOR.
SAMUELL JONES
KENDALL PEARSON." 18
But this petition never received any reply; or, at least, any that can be found on record. It is dated the same day that a town meeting was held, to decide whether the inhabitants would give a call to Mr. Edward Jackson to be their minister, as a
1ª Sco original petition and signatures, In a bound volume of " Miscellaneous Records and papers of Woburn," p. 100.
253
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
colleague with Rev. Mr. Fox. This was then a favorite meas- ure with the majority of the people of Woburn, and one which they were very earnest to hasten to its consummation. For reasons, therefore, which have been already intimated, and may be easily conjectured, they did not care to hurry, in answering the foregoing petition, or to give such an explanation of the vote referred to in it as would satisfy the petitioners.
But there was still another, and a plausible reason for not answering the above-quoted joint petition of Shawshin and Goshen. A month before its date, viz, June 17, 1728, the peo- ple of Goshen and of the adjoining part of Reading had pre- ferred a petition to the General Court, setting forth the difficul- ties they lay under, by reason of their remoteness from their respective places of publie worship; and praying they might be erected into a " separate & distinct Precinct." This petition had been read with favor in each branch of the Legislature; and the petitioners had been ordered to serve the towns of Woburn and Reading with copies of their petition, that they might show cause on the first Friday of the next Fall Session why the prayer thereof should not be granted.19 Of this petition of Goshen, the inhabitants of Woburn had been doubtless notified, agreeably to Order of Court, as they had long before been aware of the two previous petitions of Shawshin to the Court for the like purpose. It is not surprising, therefore, that these petitions from both the remote quarters of the town to the Court should be regarded as acts of opposition to the majority of the inhabitants of Woburn; and that the Town should not be forward to gratify the petitioners by explaining their vote of November 15, or giving them the assurance they expressed a wish for, in their note to the Selectmen of July 18.
To defend the town, however, against the above petition of Goshen, it was voted at a town meeting in Woburn, October 14, 1728, to choose a committee " to go to the Great and General Court, to give the reasons why the prayer of the petition of Goshen (so called) should not be granted." The committee
19 Records of Court, Vol. XIV., p. 83.
22
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
chosen for this end were Messrs. Jacob Wyman, Caleb Blogget, and Jonathan Thompson.20 Nothing, however, was done in Court that year, or certainly nothing decisive, in regard to that petition : and the people of Goshen were soon made to smart for pre- suming to send it. Two months after they had presented it to the Court, they preferred to the Selectmen, for the sake of securing, for one winter more, the benefit of the allowance which the town had made them the three years past, to procure preaching within the winter, the following humble request :
"Woborne August the 19th. 1728.
" To the Seelectmen of Woborne : Wee the Inhabitants of Goshen, as in time past, so now allso wee renew oure humble Request to the Towne for a sum of money to support preaching the next winter ; and Pray you the selectmen to signifie this our hum- ble Request to the Towne in youre next Warrant.
" Presented by the subscribers hereto in behalf of the Rest.
" DANIEL PIERCE, JAM8. TOMPSON, KENDEL PARSON, JOSEPH LEWES. "21
A like application seems to have been made at the same time by the inhabitants of Shawshin. But they who hold the purse strings of any public treasury, hold a rod in their hands, which they find very convenient to chasten opposition with, and which has often been administered for that purpose. At an adjourned meeting of the town, November 11, 1728, it being put to vote " whether the Town would grant a sum of money to Goshen and Shawshin to pay for preaching among them in the Winter season ?" it passed in the negative : 22 and, though it was imme- diately carried, to reconsider this vote at the next meeting. so far as it related to Goshen, yet it does not appear to have been ever actually reconsidered, or that any money was ever paid to Goshen again out of the treasury of the town, for the above- named purpose.
20 'Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 351.
21 The original draft of this petitlon was to be seen, a few years ago, pasted between the pages 91, 02, of Records, Vol. I., but It is now missing.
23 Town Recorda, Vol. VI., p. 351.
255
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
In this unhappy posture, the affairs of the petitioners remained for a twelvemonth longer. During this period, while the town taxed them their full proportion, not only of Rev. Mr. Fox's salary, but of the settlement money and salary of his colleague, Rev. Mr. Jackson, (who had been ordained August 1, 1729,) it denied them even the small pittanee, by which, in view of their distance from the meeting-house, it had once aided them, in the depth of winter, to provide for the public worship of God among themselves.
But a prospect of permanent relief at length broke in upon them. The following summer, another petition was preferred by Shawshin to the General Court, subscribed by Ebenezer Johnson, Benjamin Johnson, Edward Johnson, James Proctor and Simon Thompson, on behalf of themselves and others, and praying to be set off from Woburn, either as a town or a precinct.23 This petition, dated July 9, 1729, appears to have been presented to the Court during an adjourned session at Cambridge in August and September, and due order was taken for furnishing Woburn with a copy of it, and for their giving answer to the Court December 5, why the prayer of it should not be granted.
September 5, 1729, there was presented to the Court a "Peti- tion of Samuel Eames, John Harnden, and sundry other inhabi- tants of the towns of Woburn and Reading; setting forth their difficulties, by reason of their remote situation from the places of publick worship in their respective towns, and that they are connnodiously situated to make a distinct Precinct of the North- easterly part of Woburn & the Westerly part of Reading; And therefore Praying that they may be set off from their respective towns accordingly by certain lines particularly set forth and described in the Petition."
" In Council : Read and dismiss'd." 24
But though the above petition, for reasons not assigned, was rejected, yet it was soon followed by another from the same people, praying to be made a Town, which found more favor; as appears by the following minutes of the Court :
23 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 10. Records of Court, Vol. XIV., pp. 393, 394.
26 Records of Court, Vol. XIV., pp. 203, 294.
256
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
" At a General Court, begun & held at Salem Wednesday May 28, 1729, and thence by sundry prorogations & adjournments to Harvard College, Cambridge ; and thence continued by proroga- tion to Boston Wednesday Nov. 19th. then met.
" Wednesday Nov. 26. 1729.
" A Petition of Daniel Pierce, Benjamin Harding [Harnden] and Samnel Walker, a Committee appointed by sundry Inhabi- tants of the North East part of Woburn and the Westerly part of Reading ; Setting forth the difficulties they are under by reason of their remoteness from the Places of publick Worship in their respective Towns, And Praying to be sett off and constituted a distinct Township, according to their former Petition to this Court.
" In the House of Representatives Read & Ordered that the Petitioners serve the Towns of Woburn & Reading with a Copy of the Petition, that they shew cause on Fryday the sixth [fifth] of December next, why the Prayer thereof should not be granted.
" In Council Read & Concur'd." 25
At a General Town Meeting in Woburn, December 3, 1729, two days before the day appointed by the Court for the parties to give in their answers to the above petitions; Messrs. Joseph Wright and Jacob Wyman, were chosen a Committee to answer on behalf of the town to the petition of the " Northeasterly part," or Goshen; and Dea. George Reed, Capt. Robert Convers and Mr. Caleb Blogget to answer to the petition of the . Northwes- terly part," or Shawshin.26 From the Town Accounts for 1729 27 it appears, that the hearing of the parties, December 5, before the Court, occupied two days; and the result was so far favora- ble to the petitioners, as that the Court chose a Committee from their own body to go upon the ground and judge for them- selves concerning their ability to sustain municipal and parochial institutions, and then to make report to the Court, at their next session, what they considered right and proper to be done. 28 Notice was given to Woburn of the appointment of this Commit- tec, and of the object of their coming; and at a meeting of the
35 Records of Court, Vol. XIV., p. 323.
" Records, Vol. VII., pp. 42, 43.
36 Records, Vol. VII., p. 39.
18 Recorda of Court, Vol. XIV., pp. 330, 331.
257
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Seleetmen, December 16, 1729, they appointed Messrs. Jacob Wyman and Jacob Wright " in behalf of the Selectmen to attend the General Court's Committee, upon their view to Goshen & Shawshin ; and Mr. Caleb Blogget to attend the Committee on their view upon Shawshin." 26 The Court's Committee, consisting of Hon. Jonathan Dowsc and Hon. Spencer Phips, Esquires of the Council, and of Mr. John Hobson of Rowley, Maj. Daniel Epes of Salem, and Mr. Joseph Hale of Boxford, of the House, appear to have come to Woburn in the summer of 1730, and to have spent several days here upon the business of their appointment ; and their report to the Court, given in at the fall session, being in favor of granting the prayer of the petitioners, Shawshin was incorporated as the Precinct or Second Parish of Woburn, September 16, 1730, O. S .; and Goshen with the westerly part of Reading, as a distinct town, by the name of Wilmington, September 25, 1730, O. S .; or September 27, and October 6, according to the present reckoning of time. The following is the report of the Court's Committee respecting Shawshin :
" Province of the Massachusetts Bay :
" Sept. 16th. 1730.
" Jonathan Dowse Esq'., from the Committee of both Houses, on the petition of divers inhabitants of the Westerly and Northwest parts of Woburn, praying for a new Precinct, gave in the follow- ing Report : Viz.
" The Committee appointed on the petition of the inhabitants of the Westerly and Northwesterly parts of Woburn, praying to be erected into a Township or Precinet : in obedience to the within order repaired to the land petitioned for, the Selectmen of said town as well as the Petitioners being first seasonably notified of the time of the Committee's going. And after having taken a full and careful view of the land, and heard the parties on the subject matter of the petition at large, and maturely and deliberately con- sidered the same, and how far the town of Woburn may be hereby affected ; are humbly of opinion, that it will tend greatly to the advancement of the public worship of God, that the lands within mentioned be erected into a separate and distinct Precinct, by the following Bounds ; (there being a sufficient number of inhabitants therein to support and maintain the preaching of the Gospel there.)
99*
258
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Beginning at a great rock on John Lilley's land to the Northward of his Barn, extending thence on a line to a Bridge, about ten rods to the Southwesterly side of Timothy Snow's house, thence South- westerly till it comes to Lexington line, two miles and an half to the Eastward of Billerica Corner ; from thence Westerly to Biller- ica Corner ; thence Northerly till it comes within one hundred poles of Abraham Jaques' land ; thence to the Cold Spring Stone Bridge, near the figure of Four Tree 4 ; and from thence Easterly to the Rock first mentioned ; excluding the house and barn of the said Timothy Snow, and [excepting?] whom, the Petitioners shall be erected into a Precinet. The Committee cannot but be of opinion, that the charge of supporting the Minister in the town or first Parish in Woburn, will still be very easy on the Inhabitants of that Parish.
" Which is submitted - In the name and by order of the Com- mittee
"July 1, 1730.
" Jonathan Dowse."
" In Council Read and Ordered That this Report be accepted ; and that the lands above bounded and described be erected into a separate Precinet accordingly, and that the Inhabitants thereof be vested with the powers and priviledges that the inhabitants of other Precincts within this Province are or ought by law to be vested with.
" In the House of Representatives, Read and concurred.
" Consented to : J. BELCHER." 29
"Report of the Court's Committee on the Petition of Goshen, etc., etc.
" Thursday Sept. 17. 1730.
" Jonathan Dowse Esq'r. from the Committee of both Houses on the Petition of the Inhabitants of the North Easterly Part of Woburn & the Westerly Part of Reading for a Township, gave in the following, viz :
" The Committee appointed to repair to the North Easterly Part of Woburn & Westerly l'art of Reading, to hear all Parties within named, and view the land within described & petitioned for, to be a Township: Having first seasonably notified the Selectmen of Woburn & Reading, as also the Petitioners, of their going, have repaired to said Land, and taken a careful View of the same, and
10 Records of Court, Vol. XIV., pp. 393, 394.
259
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
fully heard all the Parties therein concerned for & against the Prayer of the Petition ; And after mature consideration thereon in all its circumstances, are humbly of opinion, It is highly reasona- ble that the Prayer of the Petition be granted, and that the Lands within mentioned & describ'd, be erected into a separate & distinct Township, by those Metes & Bounds accordingly, with the following additional Bounds : The Line to extend from one hundred Rods to the Southerly side of Jaques's Farm to the Stone Bridge called the Cold Spring Bridge, near the Tree called the figure of Four Tree 4 ; thence on a Line to the Southerly Corner of John Townsend's land, lately & now in the possession of Timothy Townsend, about sixty rods Easterly from Woburn West Line : Which is submitted.
" In the Name & by the Order of the Committee : " JONATHAN DOWSE.
" In Council Read : and Ordered that this Report be Accepted, and that Order [be taken] thereon [that] the Petitioners bring in a Bill accordingly.
" In the House of Rep. Read & Concur'd." 30
Thus was accomplished a separation, very important in its consequences to the town of Woburn, after it had been in agita- tion five years. By it, of three hundred and twelve persons who had been taxed to pay Rev. Mr. Jackson's salary in August 1730, while the town yet remained undivided, forty-three had been set off, in 1731, to Wilmington, and eighty-two were included within the bounds of the Precinct or Second Parish; making in all, two-fifths of the whole number of persons who had belonged to the First Parish in Woburn in 1730, and been then taxed in it, but who now paid their minister tax elsewhere : inflicting a blow on the First Parish in Woburn, from which it did not recover for many years, as we shall see hereafter.
While steps were taking for the legal accomplishment of this separation, the majority of the town were busily engaged, and finally succeeded in promoting the settlement of a colleague with the senior pastor, Rev. Mr. John Fox. This had become a strictly necessary measure, although the urgency of its friends to complete it, before the then contemplated separation of a very numerous
30 Court Records, Vol. XIV., p. 395.
260
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
and respectable portion of their fellow citizens from the town or First Parish could be carried into effect, could not but give rise to suspicions that were injurious to their reputation. For a number of years, Mr. Fox had been in a feeble state of health, and often unable to perform his ministerial duties. As far back as 1722, there are four charges in the Town Accounts, for that year, for the hire of preachers, " when Mr Fox was sick." 31 At a meeting of the Seleetmen, December 13, 1725, after agreeing with Mr. Samuel Jennison (subsequently minister of Shrews- bury) to keep the grammar school in Woburn, three months, from December 15, they add in the Records, " And we do expect that the said Samuell Jennison should assist to preach for ye Rev. Mr Fox, as often as occasion should serve, he being often indisposed and uncapable to preach."32 And, accordingly, the Town Accounts for 1725 do show that Mr. Jennison preached for Mr. Fox, while keeping school, ten Sabbaths and one-half day, at the town's expense ; 33 and in 1726, the same Mr. Jenni- son preached two Sabbaths more; and Mr. Habijah Weld, six- teen Sabbaths, at the expense of the town.31 And at subsequent periods, the charges are not uncommon for the supply of the pulpit by the town, in consequence of Mr. Fox's illness, and the prospect seemed to be, that unless stated, settled help were soou provided for him, he would become ere long. altogether unable to carry on the work of the ministry.
Accordingly, at a general meeting, April 4, 1728, the town voted, first, " that it was high time to be in a way to settle another minister among us; " and 2dly, " that the town would hear three or four ministers preach severall Sabbath days, in order to settle one to help Mr. Fox." 35 The only prominent candidate for this office, whom they appear to have employed, was Mr. Edward Jackson of Newton, a graduate of Harvard College in 1719. In him, the people became speedily so far united, that at a town meeting, July 18, 1728, the church having previously informed the inhabitants of their choice of him " for
31 Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 157.
32 Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 146.
& Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 212.
44 Town Records, Vol. VI., pp. 22, 204. 35 Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 347.
261
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
their minister, in order to his further settlement with them in convenient time," the town immediately chose him, "by 145 votes, for a Minister for the town of Woburn." 36 They also appointed a committee of ten to inform Mr. Jackson of the choice of him by the church and town for their minister, viz : the four deacons, Samuel Walker, William Lock, George Reed, and James Thompson; also, Messrs. Joseph Wright, Samuel Richardson, John Fowle, Jonathan Poole, Jacob Wyman and Capt. Stephen Richardson ; and having directed this committee to see to the supply of the pulpit in the mean while, they adjourned the meeting to the first Tuesday in September next ensuing.
At this adjourned meeting, September 3, 1728, it was voted - to grant "to Mr. Edward Jackson two hundred and fifty pounds settlement, if he settle in the work of the Ministry in Woburn ; " and also " one hundred and twenty pounds salary per year in Bills of Credit, as the money now is, so long as he carrys on the work of the ministry in Woburn." 37 After re-appointing the former committee, and requesting some of them to go to Mr. Jackson, and persuade him to come to Woburn and preach the next Sabbath day, they adjourned the meeting to September 23, and then again to October 14, 1728.
In the mean while, Rev. Mr. Fox had begun to manifest uneasiness at the proceedings going on. What the cause of his uncasiness was, we are not told. But when it is considered, that, according to well substantiated tradition, these two minis- ters showed afterwards a rooted antipathy to each other, it seems no improbable supposition, that Mr. Fox had already imbibed a personal prejudice against Mr. Jackson, and that he felt averse to receive him as his colleague. To obviate the difficulty, whatever occasioned it, the town, at their adjourned meeting, October 14, 1728, chose a committee of nine, “ to goe to the Rev. Mr Fox to see if they can make things easy with him; and if there be need, they shall goe to some of the neighbouring ministers." The committee chosen for this pur-
36 Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 349.
37 Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 350.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
pose were Ensign Samuel Blogget, Messrs. Jonathan Thompson, Josiah Johnson, John Tidd, Senr., Deacons Lock, Thompson, Walker, and Reed, and Lieut. Peirson Richardson, who were also to go and treat with Mr. Jackson " to supply the pulpit for the present": and to the above numerous committee, they voted at an adjournment of this meeting. November 11, 1728, to add four men more, viz, Mr. Jacob Wyman, Jonathan Poole, Esq., and Messrs. John Peirce and Joseph Wright.38
This large, overwhelming committee of thirteen (with help from neighboring ministers, if needed) appears either to have persuaded Rev. Mr. Fox freely to give his consent to Mr. Jack- son's settlement with him as a colleague, or (which is more prob- able) to have extorted from him a reluctant, unwilling assent to it. And Mr. Jackson seems to have given an affirmative answer to the call he had received from the church and town to the pastoral and ministerial office, in the course of that winter. For, at the annual town meeting. March 3, 1728-9, it was voted that the former committee, chosen October 14. and November 11, 1728, " should be a committee still. in power to proceed with the Church in bringing forward the ordination of Mr. Edward Jackson; and to proceed in calling such help of Elders and Churches, as should be necessary in that case: and that they be a committee to proceed to supply the pulpit, untill the matter be accomplished, or further order of the Town be given them."
And, further, it was voted, that " the Town would by a free Contribution pay for preaching for the present, to Mr. Edward Jackson, if he supply the pulpit, till the Town see cause to come into some other method." 33
Agreeably to the vote at March meeting, 1729, due prepara- tions for the solemnity having been made by the committee, Rev. Mr. Edward Jackson was ordained as colleague pastor with Rev. Mr. John Fox over the church of Woburn, August 1, 1729. + What churches were sent to on the occasion, and what the exercises were of the solemnity, and by whom conducted,
M Town Records, Vol. VI., pp. 350, 351.
» Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 370.
40 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 11.
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