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 28
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12 Records of Sup. Court for Middlesex, kept at lloston, 1730-1734, leaf 230, p. 2.
13 Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 136-130.
14 P'rechnet Records, Vol. I., p. 30.
18 Precinct Recorde, Vol. I., p. 39.
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thercon, the Court decided that the prayer of the petition should not be granted. The Court ordered, however, at the same time, that the Second Parish in Woburn should be "exempted from any charge in the maintenance of the Rev. Mr John Fox from the end of the year 1732"; throwing hereby, for the future, the whole burden of Mr. Fox's support, as well as of Mr. Jackson's, on the First Parish. In consequence of this order of the Legislature, the union which had subsisted hitherto from the beginning, in the ordering of the parochial and of the municipal affairs of Woburn, was now dissolved. All questions concern- ing the settlement and salaries of ministers, which, till this time, had been considered and determined in meetings of the town, were henceforth to be decided, as at the present day, in meet- ings of the several parishes or societies; and their votes respecting them to be registered, together with all ministerial taxes, in their own proper records.
The claims of Mr. Fox upon his people for a competent sup- port had now been established both by the Legislative and by the Judicial authorities of the Province. Still, a majority of the First Parish of Woburn persisted to overlook or contest them. Nothing was raised in Parish meeting for his maintenance dur- ing four years, from March 1732. And the consequence was, two more complaints to the Court of Sessions by Mr. Fox, in 1734 and 1736 ; 16 and two more judgments by that Court in his favor; the former of which judgments was likewise confirmed, upon appeal, by the Superior Court.17
Thus, within the space of four years, the principal Religious Society in Woburn had three lawsuits with their senior pastor respecting his salary. But notwithstanding the great expense of these altereations, and the irritation and bitterness usually attendant upon such contests, the prevailing party in the parish was not yet quite satisfied. No money was raised for Mr. Fox at the annual meeting in March 1737; and hence another complaint was made by him to the Court of Sessions at Cambridge, in May. This complaint was subsequently withdrawn from Court, in pur- suance of an accommodation effected between Mr. Fox and the
16 First Parish Records, Vol. I., pp. 38, 63. 17 First l'arish Records, Vol. I., pp. 47, 49, 71, 74.
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parish at a meeting, where, happily more pacific counsels than usual prevailed.18 But at the annual meeting in March of the next year, the old spirit of contention revived, and the claims of Mr. Fox were once more utterly disregarded. Within a few weeks, however, and apparently before there was opportunity for lodging another complaint with the Court of Sessions. a par- ish meeting was called, at the instance of certain peaceably dis- posed persons, to see what sums of money the parish would grant for the support of the Rev. Mr. Fox, or otherwise to " do that which may be to the satisfaction of the said Mr. Fox, and the peace and safety of the Parish." At this meeting, which was held May 15, 1738, the majority being well aware of the uselessness of contending with Mr. Fox in the law, had recourse to artifice to carry their point. They voted " that they would give the Reverend Mr John Fox seventy pounds in good passa- ble Bills of Credit for the present year as a Gift, provided he will discharge the parish in full until the fourth of June 1738." 19 The motives which prompted this vote were obviously an unwill- ingness to own their obligations to him in equity, by granting him anything as salary; and also a desire to draw from him, unawares, an implicit acknowledgment that what he received from them was a gratuity, and not his just due. But their Fox was too cunning to be caught in the trap thus insidiously set. At their adjourned meeting, four days after, he sent them, by their committee appointed to inform him of the above vote, the following letter in reply.
" Woobourn May ye 19th. 1738.
"To the Frecholders and other Inhabitants of the First Precinct or Parish in Woobourn now convened at the meeting house : First. As to your late vote of the seventy pounds by way of Gift, I am always ready with thanks to acknowledge your goodness therein : And I shall receive it as a Gift, and no otherwise; but can by no means upon my receiving it, discharge the parish of my salary to the fourth of JJune 1738 : which is the hard con- dition of the voted Donation.
"2ly. If you will allow me for this present year (which expires the fourth of June next ensuing) the sum of Eighty pounds as salary for my support, I will accept of it for the sake of peace, rather than contend in
18 First Parish Recorda, Vol. I., pp. $1, 82.
19 First l'arish Records, Vol. I., pp. 99, 100.
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the Law, and discharge the parish for said year. I can uprightly say it is very grievous to me that I should be any ways burthensome to my people, when I can be no more serviceable in the station in which God has placed me. I shall at all times be ready to serve you to the utmost of my power. "3dly. As to the year coming on, I offer the parish to be at the charge of supplying the pulpit one half of the time, for the same allowance which of late you have made to the Rev. Mr Jackson, my Colleague.
" Thus praying that the God of peace would give you peace allways and by all means, I remain
" Your affectionate Pastor " JOHN FOX." 19
Upon the reading of this letter, the same day it was written. the Parish voted, after some debate, to give Mr. Fox £75 for his support the then current year, if he would give them a discharge in full to its close on June 4th; and to this proposal, Mr. Fox appears to have afterwards consented, although the sum voted fell somewhat short of his offer.19 And now com- menced a remarkable change in the Parish for the better, in their treatment of their senior pastor. True, both church and parish saw fit to decline his offer to be at the charge of supply- ing the pulpit half the time that year for the same compensation they allowed Mr. Jackson. But in other respects, they showed themselves wonderfully compliant. Weary of fruitless conten- tion with him in the law, disappointed in all their expectations of getting the advantage of him, and influenced too, it is proba- ble, by respect for his age and the remembrance of his former usefulness, and by a returning sense of their obligations to him in equity, which recent unhappy occurrences had weakened or . interrupted, they henceforth, for several years, and with appar- ent readiness, made honorable provisions for his maintenance. At March meeting, the year following, 1738-9, they granted him. £80, in Bills of Credit; and this sum they gradually enlarged to £90, £95 and £100 of the same currency, in some measure corresponding to its constantly declining value. And this course, so honorable to themselves, they continued to pursue, till the separation of the Third Society from the First gave rise to new difficulties and distractions, and led to new arrangements for Mr. Fox's support, as there will hereafter be occasion to show.
But the contentions of Woburn with the ministers of its First Parish at that period were not yet at an end. Now that Mr.
24
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Fox had passed the ordeal, Mr. Jackson's turn came next. At the time this gentleman was settled in Woburn, (viz: August 1729,) the town contracted to give him a salary of £120 per annum "in Bills of Credit, as the money now is"; or, as its vote on another occasion expressed it, £120 in Bills of Credit, " as they now pass." 20 These phrases, " as the money now is," and " as they now pass," in the town's contract with Mr. Jack- son, or explanatory of it, were doubtless intended, and for years were understood to signify, that if there should be in future any further depreciation in the Bills of Credit in which Mr. Jackson's salary was to be paid, they would annually add enough to his compensation to make it equal in value to what it was at his settlement, in 1729. As was probably anticipated, these Bills continued from that date to decline from their nom- inal value.
No remuneration, however, on this account was either asked by Mr. Jackson, or offered by his people, till 1735. That year, at the request of Mr. Jackson, the Parish Committee called a meeting of the parish, to be held on the 1st of July, to consider and act upon the subject. To the warrant issued by them on this occasion, the preamble reads thus : " Whereas consider- ing the great fall of the paper currency, or Bills of Credit since the year 1729, the year the Revd Mr Jackson settled in the work of the Ministry here, and he having never had allowance or consideration therefor, according to the vote then passed, relating to his annual support, that he should have 120 pounds per annum as the money then was," cte., etc., etc. These words of this preamble plainly show how the Parish Committee, and probably all Woburn, understood the provisions of Mr. Jack- son's contract at that day.21 At the meeting then called, it was voted (and, apparently, without debate or opposition) that Mr. Jackson should have £100 in Bills of Credit, as a recompense for their depreciation during the six years he had been settled in the place: and Mr. Jackson, being present, expressed his satisfaction with the grant, and did freely remit £20 of it to
2 Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 350; VII., P. 11.
" First Parish Records, Vol. 1., PP. 51, 62.
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the parish. Similar grants, in view of the diminished and con- stantly diminishing value of the paper currency of that day, were made to Mr. Jackson the next four years, amounting in all to £140; and were all accepted by him in full satisfaction of his demands on this account. But here the harmony, which had hitherto subsisted between minister and people upon this subject, was, for a while, broken up. In a warrant for a parish meeting, December 7, 1739, respecting the two ministers, one article was, " To see whether the inhabitants of said parish will make the Revd. Mr. Jackson's salary so good as it was when he first settled here in the Ministry, according to Contract," etc. At this meeting, after refusing to grant £50 for the purpose stated in the above article of warrant, the inhabitants finally voted " to give the Rev. Mr Edward Jackson forty & five pounds in good passable Bills of Credit the present year, besides his Annual Salary of one hundred and twenty pounds, provided he will discharge the parish for the present year." 22 This was a larger addition than they had ever raised before, for one year ; and, if not a full equivalent for the depreciation which it was designed to compensate, could not have been far from it.19 But it did not satisfy Mr. Jackson; and, when waited upon by a committee appointed at a parish meeting, March 24th, following, to acquaint him, officially, with what the parish had voted him, December 7th, before, and to inquire whether it would be accept- able, he sent the people word by them, immediately, that he did not accept it; and that he desired no more of them " than for them to make good their contract or agreement with him when he first settled amongst them in the work of the Ministry." 23 This tart, abrupt reply seems to have much irritated the inhabi- tants, who at once made choice of a committee to examine the contract made with Mr. Jackson at his settlement; to ascertain what the public Bills of Credit had depreciated since that time, and to make return to the inhabitants of the parish at their adjournment of this meeting. The committee selected for this purpose were Roland Cotton, Esq., Capt. Isaac Dupee, and
22 First Parish Records, Vol. I., p. 124. Felt on Massachusetts Currency, p. 135.
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Capt. Stephen Richardson, of which gentlemen it is proper to observe, that the first two were comparatively strangers, but recently settled in Woburn; and that the former of these two, Roland Cotton, Esq., chairman of the committee, was decidedly inimical to Mr. Jackson a few years afterward, and probably was so at the time of this appointment. The committee thus composed, instead of inquiring, as they were directed, how much the currency had fallen in value since the settlement of Mr. Jackson, seem to have set themselves at work to discover in his contract, if possible, some plea by which the parish might be released from all obligations to make him any allowance what- ever on the score of depreciation. And the result of their labors they communicated to the parish at its adjourned meet- ing, April 7, 1740, in the following report :
" The Committee, to whom was referred the examination of the Contract or Agreement made by the Town of Woobourn with the Revd. Mr. Edward Jackson in September 1728 [1729?] relating to his support, having considered the same, Report as their opinion, that it was not the design and intention of that vote, to fix the Salary to a silver standard, but only to distinguish the Currency as it then was, from the Lawfull or Proclamation Currency at Gs. 10d. per ounce : Consequently, they intended to give but one hundred and twenty pounds Paper Currency, and are not obliged by said Contract to advance any more per annum.
" Yet the Parish being sensible of the depreciation of those Bills of Credit, have from time to time made an additional grant to the Rev. Mr JJackson by Contributions and other ways ; which has been truly laudable : And we trust the Parish will still from time to time (as usual) encourage the heart and hands of the Revd. Mr Jackson, notwithstanding the great and pressing difficulties the Parish labours under (as well as the whole Province) for want of a medium.
" All which is humbly submitted.
" ROLAND COTTON ISAAC DUPEE Committee. 23 STEPHEN RICHARDSON
" Woobourn April the 4th. 1740."
13 First P'arish Records, Vol. I., pp. 145-149.
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The construction here put on the contract in question was palpably contradictory to the sense in which it had been under- stood in Woburn from the beginning, and which the parish had repeatedly put on it in their action within the last five years. But so vexed do the inhabitants appear to have been with Mr. Jackson at this meeting, for refusing to accept what they had voted him, December 7th, and for insisting upon a strict fulfilment of their contract, that they voted to accept the report of their committee, inconsistent as it was with their own declarations and doings upon record. Still, in accordance with the recom- mendation at the close of the report, they appointed a commit- tee to wait on Mr. Jackson, "to know of him what (would) sattisfie him for the present year beside his annual salary "; and then adjourned to May 19th, to hear his answer.23 At that adjourned meeting, what reply the committee brought from Mr. Jackson is not found upon record. After repeated motions, however, to add fifty-five pounds, and fifty pounds, to his stated compensation, it was at length voted to add £45, "in good passable Bills of Credit," for that present year, (ending August 1, 1740) on condition. that he would discharge the parish to that time.23 The meeting was then dissolved; and the parish Assessors proceeded, July 10th, to assess the addition of £45, voted as above, together with Mr. Jackson's stated salary of £120, without any notice from that gentleman of his satisfaction therewith. But Mr. Jackson well understood his rights; and not being willing to accept any sum whatever as a donation, (according to the late accepted report) which he could claim as his just and legal due, and especially one which he considered as coming short even of that, he entered a complaint with the Court of Sessions at Concord in August, and by their order, duly served the Parish Committee with a copy.24
When notified of this step of their pastor, the people per- ceived they were in an evil case. They well knew that the addition to Mr. Jackson's stated salary, which they had voted to give him, May 19th, though now assessed, had never been
24 First Parish Records, Vol. I., p. 152.
24*
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acknowledged by him as satisfactory. And they were probably convinced too, now that their excited feelings had given way to calin reflection, that the interpretation which had lately been put upon their contract with him by their committee, and approved by their own vote upon Record, would not bear exam- ination in a Court of Justice. They now, therefore, began to wish for an accommodation of their difference with their junior pastor, before any further proceedings were had upon his com- plaint. And, happily, at a meeting called to consider what should be done in their present situation, and held November 25, 1740, a mutual agreement between minister and people was harmo- niously accomplished. The parish voted to add £15 to Mr. Jackson's stated salary of £120, for the year ending August 1, preceding, besides the £45 granted him May 19th, making his salary, in all for that year, £180 in Province Bills. And this sum, Mr. Jackson, who was present, signified his acceptance of, and promised, in consideration of it, to give a discharge to the parish for that year, and to withdraw immediately his complaint from Court. At the same meeting likewise, the parish voted the same addition to his stated compensation for the year which had com- menced as for that which had recently ended.25 And though an effort was made by some disaffected persons, at a meeting December 8th, to obtain a reconsideration of the above votes, under pretence that the meeting at which they were passed was illegal, yet it did not succeed.25 And here was a termina- tion of all differences between the First Parish of Woburn and Rev. Mr. Jackson respecting his salary, till the separation of the . Third Parish in 1746. Henceforth till then, the Parish annually made additions of £60, £65, £80 and £100, Old Tenor, to Mr. Jackson's salary, originally stated at £120, in order, accord- ing to contract, to make it "as good as it was when he was first settled in Woburn." 26 And these additions were severally accepted by Mr. Jackson ; and thus a lamentable and unedifying contention was amicably settled in a manner that was honorable to the parish, and conducive to the peace and usefulness of their junior pastor.
38 First P. R., Vol. I., pp. 154, 156, 157. 26 First P. R., Vol. I., pp. 186, 188, 205, 206, 221, 234.
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While Woburn, First Parish, was involved in these costly, unhappy. contentions with its ministers about their salaries, and burdened with an additional weight of taxes, in consequence of the incorporation of Wilmington and the Second Precinct, the town found some relief in the sale of its two thousand acres at Turkey Hills, now Lunenburg, in the County of Worcester. Concerning this tract of territory, it has already been related, that though granted to Woburn by the General Court, in 1664, it was not located till 1717. But little was done respecting it for seven years after. At a general town meeting, May 15, 1724, the proprietors voted, " that it should lic as it does, until the town or proprietors of the same should see cause to alter it, or pass some other vote upon it." 27 Accordingly, for about ten years longer from this date, it lay in a state of nature, unim- proved ; and though the town was repeatedly called upon to pay taxes for it to Lunenburg,27 yet it derived but little or no bene- fit from it, except occasionally from the rent of its meadows. Measures were taken, however, from time to time, to run its lines, and renew its bounds, and to prevent the spoliation of its timber; and a committee was appointed to take care of the land, and to prosecute any persons who might trespass upon it. But at a general meeting of the inhabitants, May 22, 1733, it was voted, " that the 2000 acres of land lying in Lunenburg should be put upon sale, and the interest of the money be improved for the use of the Town." Accordingly, a committee of five, viz., Mr. Josiah Johnson, Capt. John Fowle, Mr. Samuel Richardson, Lieut. Ed- ward Johnson, and Licut. Samuel Kendall, was then chosen to sell this land to the highest bidder, giving inhabitants of Woburn the first offer of it.28 And, at a subsequent meeting, January 21, 1733-4, the town directed the committee to sell it altogether, in one body, and empowered them, or any three of them, to give a warrantce deed of it, in their capacity of town's committee ; and voted, that the town (would) defend them in their so doing, they returning the interest of the purchase money to the use of the town, or sufficient security to the town's acceptance.28
In pursuance of these votes, three of the committee, viz : Mr.
27 Town Records, Vol. VI., p. 196; VII., pp. 45, 140.
28 Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 151, 164, 165.
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Josiah Johnson, Capt. John Fowle and Lieut. Edward Johnson, made on the day last mentioned, a conditional sale of the land to Ensign Israel Reed of Woburn, for £3,300, in Bills of Credit on the Province, eight respectable fellow-citizens offering to be his bondsmen.28 The price for the land, and the security tendered by Mr. Reed for the payment of the money, were both accepted by the town at a meeting, February 19th, of the same year ;28 and the bargain was completed by the committee's giving a deed to Mr. Reed on the town's behalf. The purchase money for the land, viz: £3,300, in depreciated Bills of Credit, was worth in 1734, (the year of sale) about £1,100, lawful money, or $3,666.67, in the currency of the present day.29 As portions of this sum were paid in, from time to time, by Ensign Reed, it was loaned by the committee to divers inhabitants of Woburn, chiefly, in sums of £100, to any two individuals, secured by their mutual or joint bond.39 And as fast as the interest accruing from these loans, or from the portion of the purchase money still remaining in the hands of Mr. Reed, was received by the com- mittee, or by Capt. Fowle, who was one of them, and also Town Treasurer, it was appropriated to the payment of taxes and town charges, by order of the town.31 By this wise arrange- ment, a large proportion of the taxes in Woburn, for County and Province, and also of its town expenses of every description, were defrayed several years out of the proceeds from the sale of its 2,000 acres. For instance, it was voted at March meeting, 1735, to raise two rates for the payment of town debts and necessary charges; but, at a meeting in November following, that vote was reconsidered : the rates were never assessed, and the charges they were designed to meet, for schools, support of paupers, county tax, and a multitude of other expenses, were paid out of the town's interest money.33 And from the same resource, was paid by order of the town, its Province tax for 1736, amounting to £244 15s. Od. after it had been actually proportioned upon the inhabitants; as were likewise various other town expenses for the same year.3.1
20 Felt on MARRachunella Currency, pp. 83, 133.
10 Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 218, 222.
" Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 212, 216.
31 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 210.
8 Town Records, Vol. VII., P. 250.
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But where public money is intrusted to the care of individuals, it may always be expected that there will be many who will be watching them with a jealous eye; and some, who in their eager- ness to be handling it themselves, will each think they know of one, at least, in whose care it would be safer and better man- aged than where it is. Though the committee who sold the two thousand acres, and had the charge of receiving and letting out the pay, took bonds of those to whom they loaned it, yet they were not under bonds themselves. For the purchase money being secured by Mr. Reed's sureties, and the money loaned being secured by joint bonds from the several borrowers, the town had not deemed it necessary to demand security of their committee likewise, so long as they regularly paid over, as they received it, the interest of the money they had loaned to the town's use. But this circumstance of their not being under bonds themselves for so large an amount (though expected to be put by loan into other men's hands, not to remain in their own) awakened the apprehensions of many who were, doubtless, unfeignedly anxious for the safety of the town's property, and afforded them, and some others at the same time, who were only watching for an opportunity to promote their own personal interest or influence, a handle for complaint.
In 1735, the very first year after the land was sold, an attempt was made, at May meeting, to choose a new committee to look after the £3,300 which the land at Lunenburg had been sold for, with the interest thereof. But such were the reputation and influence of the existing committee, so prudently had they loaned the portion of the purchase money which had been paid in to them, and so punctual were they to bring the interest which they were now just beginning to receive, to the treasurer for the town's use, that this motion to discharge them was negatived.34 But the leaders in this effort, nothing baffled by defeat this year, renewed their attempt the next. In the warrant for May meet- ing, 1736, one article was, " To see whether the Town will choose a Committee to call in the money due to the town from Ensign Israel Reed : or to choose a Committee to take security
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