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 37
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" To Mr Zebh Wyman, Treasurer for Woburn.
" Loamml Baldwin
"Joseph Johnson " Zebh Wyman " Ezra Wyman 1 Selectmen of Woburn."
" Woburn February 19. 1782.
" Sir, Please to pay to Paul Wyman the sum of seven pounds, It being
in part for his procuring the following parts of Clothing : Vizt Shirts,
379
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
During the whole of the Revolutionary War, Woburn was excessively burdened with taxes, the larger portion of which that war had originated, and rendered necessary. In 1774, the . year before the commencement of the contest, its province tax was but £75 18s. 5d; its county tax, £21 2s. 6d .; and its town rate only £150; making its taxes, of every description, for that year but little more than £247. But during the years the war continued, viz: from 1775 to 1783, inclusively, taxes in Woburn rose within a trifle to the enormous nominal sum of £300,000. Most of these rates, it is true, were made payable in the depreciated, ever declining currency of that day. But after making all due allowance for the depreciation of the pa- per they were payable in, they will be found, when added to the taxes that were expressly ordered, or evidently intended to be assessed in lawful money, or to be paid in silver or gold, to amount to a little more than £28,000, lawful money.40 In the course of the nine years above referred to, there were assessed in Woburn, and ordered to be collected and paid over to the Town, County, or State Treasurer, twelve town and five county rates ; twelve State taxes, three " Continental taxes," (as they were termed) ; two " War taxes," four "Silver " or " hard money taxes," and two " Beef taxes," 41 making forty assess-
shoes, stockings and blankets he supplied the State for Woburn in 1781 : and his Receipt &c
"To the Treasurer of the Town.
" Joseph Johnson
" Ezra Wyman
" Zebh Wyman selectunen of Woburn."
4º In reducing sums in paper currency to their equivalents in lawful money, I have observed here and elsewhere the rule suggested by Lemuel Shattuck, Esq., in his History of Concord, and quoted above in this chapter.
41 The reason of the distinction made in the records between " Conti- nental " and " State " taxes is unknown. Taxes of both descriptions were made by order of the General Court of the State, and were payable alike to the State Treasurer, without naming any distinct object for either. The two " War taxes " were ordered by votes of the town in 1776 and 1777, expressly to enable the town to defray the charges incurred by it thus far in the war. Of the four "Silver," or "Hard money taxes," two were imposed by the town and two by the State. The " Beef Taxes " were to raise money for the purchase of beef for the army. All taxes assessed after 1780 appear to have been in " lawful money."
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
ments within nine years. That these public burdens must have weighed very heavily upon the people will be readily perceived. Especially must this have been the case in the year 1780, when, beside a tax of £376, to be paid in specie, no less than eight other taxes were assessed in Woburn, amounting, in all, to £230,889 currency, equal to £7,869 8s., lawful money, or to £8,245 8s., inclusively of the silver tax of £376, just referred to. Again, to pay the " large town tax," as it was called, assessed in July of that year, and amounting, nominally, to £60,190, equiva- lent to £2,051 9s., lawful money, there were only three hundred and seventy-seven residents, and fifty-six non-resident tax payers ; of the residents, twenty-three were widows and unmarried females, and seventy-four paid only a poll-tax or less; and of the fifty-six non-residents, forty-nine paid less than a poll-tax, which, in that assessment, was £41 currency. Under such circumstances, how must these and the like burdens have ground some of those they fell upon to the very dist, as it were! And what could have sustained any under the load, but the persuasion, that the load of oppression which they must otherwise have borne, was still heavier; and that they were contending for a boon, which was more precious than houses, lands, money, or life itself could be without it ?
The burdens of taxation which the war for Independence occasioned were vastly enhanced by the constant depreciation of the paper currency, which the government issued to pay the expense of the contest. For two or three years after the war broke out, the currency seems to have varied but little in value from lawful money. But in the fourth year (1778) that variation had become considerable, and was continually increasing. Wages for labor by the month, paid at the end of six months, in the nominal sum agreed upon, would not purchase for the laborer nearly so large a supply of necessaries for his family as they would when contracted for. Goods bought to be sold again seldom brought back to the trader a return of equal worth to his purchase money, though it might nominally exceed it. And a legacy devised to a widow in needy circumstances, kept back a year by the executor, as the law allowed, and then paid in the
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
paper currency of the day, was sure to be of far inferior worth to the sum named and intended in the will. To remedy the grievous evils growing out of this state of things, and which were universally felt, a State convention was held at Concord, July 14, 1779, in which Woburn was represented by its delegate, Deacon Samuel Thompson. There were present at this convention one hundred and seventy-four delegates, who, "after passing some very spirited resolutions, fixing the prices of several articles of mer- chandise, and agreeing upon an address to the people, adjourned on the 17th, recommending another similar Convention to meet again in October."42 The proceedings of the convention, "relative to the lowering the exorbitant prices of all and each of the neces- saries of life," were accepted by the inhabitants of Woburn, at a meeting August 4th, and a committee of nine was chosen "to report to the town on this subject at the adjournment of the meeting to August 26th. The report of this committee, which was duly presented and accepted by the town, was as follows :
" West India Flip or Toddy at 12s. per mug or bowl : New England 10s. per mng.
" A common Dinner 15 / ; other meals in proportion.
" Keeping a horse at hay 15 / ; at grass 10 / per night.
"Oats 45 / per bushel ; 5 / per mess.
" A yoke of Oxen 12 / per night at grass.
" Lodging 4/ per night.
" Day Labour 48 /, being found, until the last of August ; after that, 36 / per day.
" A Team carrying a ton weight, 18 / per mile, not going more than 90 miles.
" Carpenters and Masons 54 / per day, being found.
" Horse shoeing all round, steeling the fore shoes at the toc, £3 12s.
"Shoeing Oxen, 16 dollars per yoke: other smith work in proportion.
" A Tailor 36 / per day.
" Green Hides 3 / per pound : Sole Leather 18 / per pound ; and all other Leather in proportion.
42 Shattuck's Concord, p. 122.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
" Mens best Shoes 18 dollars per pair; women's best Leather Shoes 84 / .
" For making mens shoes 48 / : Womens, 40 / per pair : and other work in proportion.
" Cloth Shoes, finding the leather and heels, 54 / .
"Sheeps Wool, 23 / per pound ; Flax, 15 / per lb; Rough Tallow 9 / per pound.
" And all other mechanics that are not mentioned here, are to work in the same proportions as those that are here mentioned.
" Per Order of the Committee,
BENJ". EDGEL, Clerk." 43
At the same adjourned meeting, (August 26th,) a committee of fifteen was chosen " to Inspect and see that the Resolves of the Convention begun and held at Concord on the fourteenth day of July last, and the Resolves of the Committee chosen by this Town at a General Town Meeting, August the 4th. 1779, be strictly adhered to in each and every particular."
A committee also of three was chosen at the same time, con- sisting of Dr. Samuel Blogget, Timothy Winn, Jr., and Isaac Johnson, which " should draw up something by way of Instruc- tions" for the committee of inspection. This committee of three, after a short interval, made a report, which being read, was accepted and passed. Their report contained several very stringent resolutions, among which was substantially the fol- lowing, namely: That if any person belonging to this town should violate the resolutions of the Concord Convention, or those of this town made in pursuance thereof, he should, upon con- viction, [at a public trial before the committee of inspection] be accounted as an enemy of his country, have his name published in the newspapers of Boston, and be cut off from all intercourse and dealings with the other inhabitants of the town for such a term of time as the committee of inspection should appoint."
But it was probably soon found by experience that it is casier to pass resolutions concerning such matters, than to enforce them. We read of no one being accused of a breach of these
" Town Records, Vol. IX., pp. 621, 622.
" Town Records, Vol. IX., pp. 621, 522.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Orders of the town, or of suffering the penalty annexed to the transgression of them. At a town meeting, October 22, 1779, a new committee was chosen "to stipulate prices for the town of Woburn." At an adjournment of this meeting, November 1st, the report of this committee in regard to prices was recommitted, for the sake of making amendments and additions; and then it was voted to abide by it. But at a further adjournment, Novem- ber 13th, this vote was reconsidered. Learning by experience doubtless, that there were insuperable difficulties in the way of carrying the resolutions they had passed on this subject into effect, nothing more was done about them, and they were all suffered to go to rest.
Amid the din of war, the attention of the people of Massa- chusetts generally was diverted, in 1780, to a very different subject.
" A new constitution or form of government for Massachusetts, framed by the State Legislature of 1777, had been sent to Woburn, May 1778, for the consideration of its inhabitants. But this being read and deliberately considered in town meeting, June Sthi following, had been unanimously disapproved. At the same time, the people had instructed their representative for that year, Col. Loammi Baldwin, to favor no plan for drawing up another constitution, except in a convention chosen by the people at large, expressly for that purpose.45 The constitution now laid before them had been framed and sanctioned by such a convention, which had assembled at Cambridge in September 1779, and in which Woburn had been represented by Dr. Sam- uel Blogget, as its delegate.46 Ai a legal meeting, May 15, 1780, a committee of fifteen was chosen to consider the proposed con- stitution, and to report to the town at its adjournment, June 5th. On the day appointed, this committee reported; and the town voted to pass upon the new constitution submitted to them, arti- cle by article.
The Bill of Rights was approved, except the third article, relative to provision by law for the support of public worship,
W Town Records, Vol. IX., p. 451.
" Town Records, Vol. IX., p. 521.
384
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
which met some opposition. The article, however, was finally accepted as it stood, by a vote of fifty-two to twenty-three.
The article of the constitution requiring in voters a property qualification was offensive to some; and an amendment was carried, allowing every freeman the privilege of voting, who was twenty-one years of age.
At an adjournment of this business to June 7th, votes were passed, that delegates to Congress should be qualified as were representatives to our own General Court, and that all or- dained ministers of the gospel, and attorneys-at-law should be excluded from seats in the Legislature of Massachusetts.
It was voted, moreover, as the sense of the inhabitants of Woburn, that at the expiration of seven years from the ratifica- tion of the new constitution, a convention should be called to revise it.
And now, having finished the consideration of the proposed new constitution of Government for Massachusetts, Woburn voted its acceptance of it, excepting the articles objected to, and amended by twenty-two votes in the affirmative, to two in the negative.47
The Federal Constitution, or Form of Government for the United States, was drawn up in a convention of delegates from twelve States, assembled in Philadelphia; and was unanimously agreed to by all the States present, September 17, 1787. Agree- ably to a Resolve passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts, October 1787, this constitution was submitted to the con- sideration of a convention chosen by the several towns and districts of this Commonwealth, which assembled in Boston, January 9, 1788, and which, after several weeks of careful deliberation, voted to adopt it. The delegates of Woburn to this convention, chosen at a town meeting, December 17, 1787, were Deacon Timothy Winn and Mr. James Fowle, Jr. Deacon Winn opposed the adoption of this constitution without some amendments ; and prepared a speech to deliver before the con- vention upon the subject, when a motion was expected to be
47 Town Records, Vol. Y., pp. 24, 25.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
made for the appointment of a committee which should endeavor to harmonize the conflicting views of different members of that body, and, by consenting to certain amendments of the constitu- tion, to insure its acceptance by the unanimous or very general voice of its members. But it so happened, that the proposed conciliatory committee was appointed, and its report accepted at a time when Deacon Winn was absent from the convention. And being consequently disappointed in his intentions to deliver in person the speech he had prepared for the occasion, he sub- mitted it for publication, as " a part of the debate " before the convention, in one of the newspapers of the day. - See a copy of it in the Boston Independent Chronicle of March 27, 1788. ·
During the Revolutionary War, two gentlemen, natives of Woburn, attained to great eminence in society, of whom it seems a matter of right, that some particular notice should here be taken.
To begin with the elder of the two, Colonel Loammi Baldwin. He was son of James and Ruth (Richardson) Baldwin, and a descendant of the third generation from Deacon Henry Baldwin, one of the first settlers of Woburn, and a subscriber to the " Town Orders," drawn up at Charlestown, for the regulation of the then projected new settlement, in December 1641.
His father was by trade a carpenter, of good repute ; and is reported to have been the master workman in the erection of the precinct (Burlington) meeting-house in 1732, which is still standing.
He was born at " New Bridge," (North Woburn) January 10, 1744, O. S., or January 21, 1744-5, N. S. Discovering from early life a strong desire for acquiring knowledge, he was a con- stant attendant upon the instructions of Master Fowle, that noted teacher of the grammar school in Woburn, both in the centre of the town and at the precinct, many years in succession. And at a more advanced period of life, with a view to obtaining a thorough acquaintance with Natural and Experimental Philosophy, he was accustomed to walk from North Woburn to Cambridge, in com- pany with his school-mate, Benjamin Thompson (afterwards Count Rumford), to attend the lectures of Professor Winthrop (for which liberty had been given them) ; and upon their return
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
home on foot, they were wont to make rude instruments for them- selves, with which to illustrate the principles they had heard laid down in the lecture-room at the college.
At the commencement of the war in 1775, he enlisted for the service of his country in the regiment of foot, commanded by Col. Samuel Gerrish. Here he was rapidly advanced to be Lieut .- Colonel : and upon the retirement of Col. Gerrish from the army, in August of that year, he was put at the head of the regiment, and was, not long after, commissioned to be Colonel.
His regiment was originally distinguished as the 38th, and con- sisted of eight companies, all of them stationed at Boston lines, viz : four at Sewall's Point, Brookline, three at Chelsea, and one (.Capt. Wood's company of Woburn) at Medford. But upon the reorganization of the army at the close of 1775, it included ten companies, and was designated as the 26th regiment. Till the end of 1775, Col. Baldwin remained near Boston : but in April, 1776, he followed Washington to New York city ; 48 and there we find him June 22d, at the "Grand Battery, in the command of the " Main Guard."
When Washington was compelled, by the superior numbers of the enemy, to evacuate New York, September 14, 1776, and to retreat to the west, or Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, about Decem- ber 8th, Baldwin with his men followed him. And on the memo- rable night of December 25, 1776, when in face of a violent and extremely cold storm of snow and hail the Commander in Chief recrossed the Delaware to the Jersey side, and took by surprise at Trenton the next morning a body of about 1,000 Hessian troops, commanded by Col. Rahl, Col. Baldwin and his men 49 accompanied
" The following passages are extracts from the folio volume deposited at the State House by the Baldwin family, and containing his correspond- ence and various memoranda : -
"New York Apl. 19. 1776 Abstract for Non-Commissioned Officers & Soldiers . . . . In 26th. Regt commanded by Col. Loammi Baldwin for month of Feby 1776."
" A Report of the main Guard at the Grand Battery N. Y. June 13. 1776."
"A List of the Main Guard, under the command of Lt. Col. Baldwin [Col. Loammi Baldwin ?] June 22. 1776."
49 " A Return of the Officers and Soldiers belonging to the 26th. Regt commanded by Col. Loammi Baldwin, that went on the Expedition to Trentown the 26th. Inst. December."
" Trenton Jany ye 2d. 1777.
" This will impower Corp! Caleb SImonds to receive all that I do not receive at my discharge, namely, wages, allowance money granted by the
387
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
the General in his daring enterprise, and partook of the honor and joy with which it was crowned ; a victory most unexpected' and disastrous to the British, but most reviving to the desponding minds of the friends of liberty and of the American cause.
Colonel Baldwin was honorably discharged from the continental army about 1777, on account of ill health. But his subsequent life, spent in his native place, though free from the hardships and dangers of the camp, was by no means a life of leisure and retire- ment. He still retained and cherished the enterprising spirit and active habits of his youth. And his fellow-citizens highly appre- ciating his talents and capacity for business, and confident of his integrity and zeal for the public good, took frequent opportunities for manifesting their respect for him, and found him ample employ- ment the remainder of his days. We find him appointed on a large proportion of all the committees chosen for a long succession of years, on important town business ; and of these, he was gen- erally the chairman. In 1780, he was appointed High Sheriff of the County of Middlesex, being the first who held that office in this county, after the adoption of the State constitution. In 1778, 1779, and again in 1800 and the four immediately following years, he represented Woburn in the General Court. At the election of representative to Congress for Essex South District (to which Woburn was then attached) in 1794, he had all the votes cast in Woburn but one. In August and September 1796, he had all the votes ; and in November of that year, at the third trial for the choice of the same officer, he had seventy-four votes ont of the seventy-six that were then cast in Woburn. And at elections in other years. he was a prominent candidate among those held up in Woburn, for the office of State Senator, Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth, and Elector of President of the United States,50
General, and for arms, ammunition & taken at Trenton the 26th. of Decr 1776. "Ebenezer -? " [Ebenezer Lock ?]
" Rowley, July 25th. 1778.
" Col. Baldwin : Sir, Be pleased to pay unto Jonathan Stickney my travel money from the Army at Trenton to Rowley in the year 1776, and my share of plunder money that was taken at Trintown, and his Receipt shall be your discharge.
" Joseph Stickney."
50 To the above it may be added, that Col. Baldwin, on account doubtless of his enlarged acquaintance with mathematics, and his familiarity with arts connected therewith, was chosen a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and received from Harvard College in 1785 the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
But though Col. Baldwin was deservedly a favorite with his fellow-townsmen and with his fellow-citizens generally, he was not an abject seeker of popularity - not one, who, for the sake of win- ning or prolonging the popular favor, stood ready to sacrifice his principles of duty to the public. Witness his protest with others against the action of the town in the time of Shays' Rebellion. In 1786, 1787, when the Executive was constrained to call ont a military force to put that rebellion down, the town of Woburn, in a moment of high excitement, voted January 29, 1787 :
" 1. Not to give any encouragement to the men called out to go into the present Expedition.
" 2. Not to aid or assist in the present Expedition."
But against this proceeding of the town, Col. Baldwin and thirty-six others immediately entered their protests ; and, two days after, the town itself reconsidered the votes it had passed on this subject.
The prominent part taken by Col. Baldwin in the construction and establishment of the Middlesex Canal will be adverted to more particularly in a following chapter. To him also are the community indebted for the introduction to public notice, and for the earliest cultivation of the Baldwin apple. The history of this celebrated variety of fruit, as connected with his name, is under- stood, upon good authority, to be this : As Col. Baldwin was one day surveying land at a place called Butters' Row in Wilming- ton, near the bounds of that town, Woburn and Burlington, he observed one or more woodpeckers continually flying to a certain tree, growing on land of Mr. James Butters, hard by. Prompted by curiosity to ascertain, the cause of their frequenting that tree, he at length went to it ; and finding under it apples of an excellent flavor, and well worth cultivating, he returned to the tree the next spring, and took from it scions to graft into stocks of his own. Other persons in that vicinity, induced by his example or advice, grafted trees of theirs soon after with seions from the same stock. And, subsequently, whenever Col. Baldwin attended court, or went into different parts of the county, as High Sheriff, he was accus- tomed to carry scions of this variety of apple with him, and to distribute them among his friends ; so that this species of fruit soon came to be extensively known and cultivated. The original tree, it is said, was blown down in the famous " September gale," in 1815.
HISTORY OF WOBURN. 389
At first, apples of this description were called by many, " Butters' Apples," from the name of the person upon whose land the original tree was found ; and by others, " Woodpecker Apples," from the bird, whose constant flight to it attracted the notice of Col. Baldwin, and led to the discovery of the excellency of the fruit which grew on it. But, on a certain day, (it is reported) when Col. Baldwin had a party of gentlemen at his honse to dine, he set before them a dish of these apples ; and one of his guests, admiring their good qualities, asked him by what name they were known? "By no name in particular," the Colonel replied ; "call them, if you please, Baldwin apples." And this has ever since been their common name.
Col. Baldwin's first wife was Mary, daughter of James Fowle, Esq : for many years Town Clerk of Woburn. His children by her were :
1. Cyrus, for many years the respected agent of the Middlesex Canal Company, residing at the head of the canal in Chelmsford.
2. Mary, who died young, of scarlet fever, May 13, 1776, when her father was absent in the war.
3. Benjamin Franklin, Esq., who died suddenly October 1821, as he was on his return to Woburn from the cattle show in Brighton.
4. Loammi, Esq., born in 1780, graduated at Harvard Univer- sity, 1800, a well known and highly respected civil engineer ; died in 1838.
5. Hon. James Fowle, born in 1782 ; settled in Boston as a merchant ; sometime member of the Senate of Massachusetts, for the County of Suffolk ; and prominent among the Commissioners for introducing pure water into Boston from the lake Cochituate. He died after a very short illness, May 20, 1862.
Col. Baldwin's first wife, Mary, dying September 27, 1786,51 he married for his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Josiah Fowle, of Woburn. His children by her were :
1. Clarissa, wife of Thomas B. Coolidge.
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