USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Lancaster > The story of colonial Lancaster (Massachusetts) > Part 8
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
Both requests were repulsed sternly; but some attempt was made to soften the decree by an offer to build three new meeting- houses, to accommodate the widely scattered population. That did not satisfy the petitioners. Every year some new petition went before the state legislature for dismemberment of Lancaster. Town meetings were frequent and bitter. The old mother town was far from happy over the proposed separations. The "children" were determined to break away.
An act creating the new town, given the Lancashire name of Bolton was passed in June, 1738, its western boundary running four miles east of the western boundary of the original grant, and parallel with it. Out of this area of about thirty-five square miles, Berlin, and a part of Hudson have been taken.
The section in the southwest corner of Lancaster was known
86
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
by the Indian name Woonksechocksett, comprising the region north of Washacum pond. This soon became shortened to Chock- sett. The people in that precinct were growing more numerous year by year, and, headed by Gamaliel Beaman, pressed their demand for separation.
Further to please the people in the Second Precinct, the lumber taken from the demolished meetinghouse on the Old Common was used for three new schoolhouses-one on the opposite side of the road near the meetinghouse on the Neck; one near the Chocksett meetinghouse; a third nearly opposite the present schoolhouse at Deershorns. Each of them was eighteen by twenty-four feet, with seven foot studding.
The north part of Shrewsbury was set off as a precinct in 1742, and Lancaster then gave up about five square miles more at its southern boundary, which, forty years later, became Boylston.
Another attempt was made in 1747, to sever a portion of the northeast corner of the town by Henry Haskell with other resi- dents of Harvard, Groton and Stow. This was unsuccessful.
The part of Stow Leg west of the river was given to Shirley when that district was authorized in 1753 and Lancaster's bounds were not changed.
The traditions of the three towns and two precincts which were formed from Lancaster's territory, in the ten years between 1732 and 1742, are alike. All share with the mother town the heritage of all the toil, the sacrifice, the bravery and heroism, of its pioneer ancestry. All could boast of the deeds of daring and the hardships endured in encounters with wild beasts and with the savages. All shared the good that had come to them in these later years of prosperity and freedom from war and, while each town looked forward to its own civic advancement, each and all were joined in the common cause of promoting the good of their state and country. All at this time were loyal to the King of England, and might have remained so had the policy of the old country been considered fair.
THE SITE OF THE THIRD MEETINGHOUSE
After three years of wrangling, this meetinghouse was ba Bridecake Plain on the "east side" of the rivers. The purcar: 15 CAKEn from the graveyard across της ποεΞ.
THE SITE OF LANCASTER'S FOURTE MEETINGHOUSE AND THE LITTLE COMMON MARKED BY MEMORIAL STONE
The road leading away in the distance was the East road out of town.
87
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
CHAPTER XXV
Two New Meetinghouses-1742-1744
NUMEROUS GRANDSONS OF LANCASTER'S PIONEERS HAD SETTLED in the valley of the North river, on the lands of the "Additional Grant." These families of Houghtons, Wilders, Carters and Sawyers were even farther from the meetinghouse and were more numerous than the residents of "Chocksett." They presented a petition for separation in 1737; then shrewdly joined with the mother town to defeat the separation of Chocksett, in order to gain consent for their own proposal. The ruse was successful and, in 1740, twenty-six square miles was set off with the name of another old English town-Leominster.
With the exception of the one farm of Thomas Houghton in the northwest corner of the old town, all the land given to Leo- minster was a part of the "Additional Grant" and did not alter materially the original bounds of Lancaster.
The Chocksett people did not give up, and finally the mother town consented to a separation provided the new town would assume the support, for all time, of the bridge over the south branch of the river, known as Atherton's bridge. This was not at all acceptable to the Chocksett people. They saw no reason for burdening themselves in this way when they were high and dry, above all danger of floods. So what was known as the "Chocksett war" raged on for two more years, when, in 1742, Lancaster voted to build them a separate meetinghouse as well as to build a new one for herself.
The house of worship for the Chocksett Precinct was built "near Ridge Hill," and the first service was held in it in November, 1742.
Again a legislative committee was called upon to decide the location. Chocksett was called the Second Precinct, and £200 was voted for its church, while £400 was allowed for the home church-this time built upon the Neck, at the top of Schoolhouse Hill, on the land kept "common" by the town. The spot is marked by a boulder at the south end of the main street to South Lancaster, at the top of the hill.
88
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
The following description of the new meetinghouse on the Neck is taken from a description by Hon. H. S. Nourse :-
The new First Church building was nearly square in plan, being about fifty-five by forty-five feet, with entrance doors in the middle of the north, east and south sides. Across the same three sides were galleries to which stairs led from the side-aisles. One of these was assigned to men exclusively, the opposite one to women. Special seats apart were for "negroes." Directly before, and forming a part of the pulpit, was a deacon's seat. On a part of the floor the wealthier families were permitted to build family pews at their own cost. These were square, mostly about six feet by five, ranged along the walls from the pulpit, while in the center of the floor, on either side of a central aisle were long seats, the female part of the congregation occupying one side, the male the other. The pews were "dignified," the size and position of each marking pretty well the wealth and social rank of its owner in the community. The sequence of the first families in 1744 appears nearly this: Rev. John Prentice, Deacon Josiah White, Colonel Samuel Willard, Captain John Bennett, Hon. Joseph Wilder, John Carter, Thomas Wilder, etc.
89
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
CHAPTER XXVI
Fifteen Years of Peace-1725-1740
A LULL IN ACTIVE WARFARE CAME TO LANCASTER MEN BETWEEN the end of Lovewell's War and the beginning of what is known as "King George's" war. Before 1725 the men of the town never had been far from their guns and at all times were ready to fight the ever menacing savage foe. Protecting their homes and the lives of their families had been their uppermost thought even long after the last actual onslaught by the Indians. They had been so busy in the protection of their own homes that, with their hard struggle to rebuild their town, there had been few to volunteer their services in other fields.
During the fifteen years of peace which followed 1725 the town was concerned in adjusting its affairs to meet the new conditions caused by the setting off of Harvard, Bolton and Leominster, and the practical separation, when Sterling was made a separate precinct.
Strange as it may seem, the town showed little sign of suffering from these divisions. To be sure the discussions and "precinct strategy," when each prospective township joined the mother town to help defeat the aims of the other aspirants for autonomy, made town meetings frequent and lively.
The "Chocksett War," as it concerned the setting off of Sterling was bitterest of all, especially after the granting of new charters to the three towns to the east. So the setting off of the district as a second precinct was a compromise, which lasted nearly half a century.
But the Chocksett residents, headed by Gamaliel Beaman, never gave up the fight. Even though they were temporarily appeased by the allotment of their own church and schoolhouse, they carried the struggle for complete separation into the next generation.
Although Lancaster had lost more than half its area by the land grants to Harvard, Bolton, Berlin and Leominster, its gains
90
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
by births, and by newcomers from other towns, had made up the loss of inhabitants.
Rev. John Prentice, the dignified and scholarly pastor of the parish, was not without honor outside of his own town, for he was selected to deliver the Election Sermon at Boston, May 28, 1735. The town was growing in wealth as well as in numbers and there were other men important politically and socially in the town.
The wealthiest citizen of the town was Colonel Samuel Willard. He was a grandson of Major Simon Willard and son of Henry. He was the highest military officer of this district for twenty-five years, and for ten years was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He had won a reputation as an able and popular commander with the rangers in Lovewell's war. He sold his paternal estate on the Still River side of the town, in 1727, and built the house still standing near the railroad crossing on the Neck Road in the Center. He was one of the townsmen chosen to serve on the com- mittee for opposing the separation of Harvard. He seems to have inherited the place in public esteem so long held by his paternal grandfather, Major Simon Willard.
An important person, who perhaps might have been appointed the first judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1731, except for his great age and his growing blindness, was Justice John Houghton. Although eighty years of age at that time, he was mentally and physically alert. His service as town clerk covered forty years, and he was moderator, selectman and assessor at various times. His penmanship was careful and distinct as became the town's earliest schoolmaster. John Houghton was also of pioneer ancestry and had married Mary Farrar. They set up their home on Bridecake Plain, opposite the State Industrial School. After becoming a widower at the age of seventy-five and fifty-two years of married life, John Houghton married Hannah Wilder, aged seventy-two. In the record of his death in the BOSTON POST for Monday, February 14, 1737, the last sentence is,-"There are now living of his children 7, of his grandchildren, 54, and of his Great Grandchildren 73, in all 134."
A number of important families naturally transferred their allegiance to the new townships and some important people moved to other towns, notably Edward Hartwell, who removed to Lunenburg and was, for many years, its most prominent citizen, serving as representative for that town after he was eighty years
91
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
old. He was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1750, and lived to the great age of ninety seven years.
After fifteen years of peace and prosperity, the war drums sounded again, and a recruiting officer went from house to house seeking volunteers in Lancaster. England had forced war upon Spain by a commercial policy which denied to Spain the right to search upon the seas, and held for herself a monopoly of the slave trade in Africa and the enormous gains from smuggling and man-stealing ventures. England also demanded free trade from other powers, but denied it to her own North American colonies. Under the pretense of championing free commerce, England called upon her colonies to aid in an attack upon the Spanish strongholds in the West Indies. Massachusetts was required to furnish a regiment to join the forces of Vice-admiral Edward Vernon. For some reason only four of ten expected captains' commissions were received. One of these went to John Prescott of Concord, a direct descendant of John Prescott of Lancaster, whose name he bore. The historian, Joseph Willard, claims a large enlistment-nearly a twenty-fifth of the whole quota of the Commonwealth, and states that "there were eighteen or nineteen in this expedition who belonged to Lancaster; none of them lived to return." Jonathan Houghton of Lancaster was one of Prescott's lieutenants.
Dr. William Douglass, in his Summary, states that the expedi- tion cost the province £7000, and says that "of the 500 men sent out from Massachusetts Bay not exceeding 50 returned." Many of the men were victims of a pestilence during the siege of Cartha- gena, and when the defeated army was withdrawn to Jamaica, many more fell victim of the disease. Neither history nor tradition has told the story of the deeds or sufferings of the Lancaster volunteers in this unnecessary and unrighteous venture. But the love of king and country was so inbred in these colonists that service was a paramount duty at that time.
92
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
CHAPTER XXVII
King George's War-1744-1749
ENGLAND AND FRANCE BECAME INVOLVED IN A WAR OVER THE Austrian succession in 1744, and both countries looked to their colonies in the New World for support. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were undivided at that time and were called Acadia, and although it had been a British possession since 1710 its in- habitants were nearly all French Catholics; and the Islands, including Cape Breton, were still retained by the French.
When war was declared between the two countries the news reached Cape Breton three weeks before it got to Boston. The French took advantage of this and, in a surprise attack, captured Canseau, and took the inhabitants as prisoners to Louisburg fortress. Acadia was practically defenseless, so, having captured it, the next step would be to attack the New England coast. All New England shipping was at stake, as well as the invaluable codfisheries, and the coast was ill prepared to withstand any attack which they feared was being planned in the supposedly impregnable fortresses of Louisburg and Quebec.
William Shirley was then governor of Massachusetts. He was considered "gifted with great political sagacity." He clearly saw that only by the capture of Louisburg could any measure of securi- ty be insured New England. At great cost to the French, this fortress had been perfected in all the defenses then known to military art. Six months' provisions were stored back of the hundred and more heavy caliber guns mounted in the batteries. An English officer, familiar with the works, wrote that any army attacking them would have the same prospect of success "as the Devils might have in storming Heaven." Some of the prisoners taken at Canseau, when exchanged, had brought back descriptions of the fortifications, and of supposed vulnerable points in its defenses.
Governor Shirley was not dismayed and succeeded in arousing great enthusiasm, accompanied with such great religious fervor
93
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
that the expedition is said to have resembled a crusade of the Middle Ages.
With all possible speed, and in great secrecy 3,250 men of Massachusetts, with 820 men from Connecticut and New Hamp- shire, were assembled for the expedition in two months time. They sailed from Boston on the 24th of March, 1745, leaving behind the message "Pray for us and we will fight for you."
Besides that of Sir William Pepperell, Esq., commander-in- chief of the land forces, there were five infantry regiments led from Massachusetts. The Worcester County regiment, known as the Fourth Massachusetts, was under the command of Lancas- ter's able soldier, Col. Samuel Willard, who, as we know, had been a popular officer in Lovewell's War, and had been at the head of the militia in times of peace. His acceptance of his appoint- ment at the head of the regiment is preserved in the Pepperell Papers, but no rolls of the regiment exist, and the names of our townsmen who volunteered are unknown. It is stated that there were probably fully fifty who went from here.
The troops arrived before Louisburg on the thirteenth of April "less than four thousand men, unused to war, undisciplined, and that had never seen a siege in their lives," landed on a dangerous coast, dragged their siege guns over rocky hills and through morasses, surrounded the fortifications with their batteries and by sheer audacity compelled surrender on the 17th of June, 1745- a day to be made more memorable thirty years later at Bunker Hill.
The English Admiral, Peter Warren, was present with his fleet but did not fire a single gun during the siege. The glory really belonged to the men of New England but the prizes of war-more than a million pounds-all went to the King's navy and into the King's chest. The soldiers from the colonies waited three years before even their expenses were paid, and then the money was paid not as a debt due, but as a gracious gift from his majesty, the King.
When the news of victory reached Boston, New York and Philadelphia there was great rejoicing. Huge bonfires were kindled. There was a general celebration.
The severe climate and toil of the siege had told severely upon these hardy men and the number of victims of disease was far greater than of those killed in action. Just how many men from
94
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
Lancaster died is unknown. The two sons of Col. Samuel Willard survived and soon after were promoted: Abijah, to be captain- lieutenant of the first company, and Levi, to be ensign. The former was twenty-one years of age, and Levi, eighteen.
In spite of the great rejoicing over the capture of Louisburg, New England, in the year following, was in a continual state of unrest. It was known that France had fitted out an armada, headed by forty warships under the Duc d'Anville, to ravage the New England coast.
Over six thousand of our militia were stationed at Boston, and, with all possible speed, rebuilt and garrisoned what few forts there were along the New England coast. Knowing full well the weakness of their defenses, they none the less resolutely awaited, in dread suspense, the coming of their powerful enemy from France.
But the God of battles was on the side of the colonists, in spite of the fact that the mother country made no move to protect them from impending ruin. A great storm arose at sea, lashed and tore the French fleet and scattered it; many of the sailors and soldiers died from disease; and, in September, the Admiral, d'Anville died. New England was spared.
95
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
CHAPTER XXVIII
Indian Raids on a New Frontier-1740
IT SOON BECAME APPARENT TO LANCASTER'S CAPABLE MILITARY officer, Col. Samuel Willard, that the frontier settlements were in great danger from Indian raids. Anxious to prepare against such attacks, Col. Willard addressed a "memorial" to the governor, William Shirley, in the early part of April, 1748, informing him that the frontier towns to the west of Lancaster were in grave peril from Indian onslaught, with insufficient garrisons and men. He begged that scouts be appointed to maintain a constant watch "back of these towns," to defend them. As usual, the Governor paid no attention to the letter.
Three months later the dreaded attack came-first upon what is now Ashby. A half-civilized Indian, named Surdody, led a band of eighty savages in a raid upon the lonely garrison of John Fitch, a carpenter. Two soldiers, Blodgett and Jennings, stationed in the garrison, were slain; and Fitch, with his wife and five children were carried away.
Col. Willard immediately ordered out troops under the command of Capt. Ephraim Wilder, Jr., of Lancaster, with various companies of militia from surrounding towns, to go in pursuit. Without doubt the Indians would have been captured but the pursuit was given up when a note, which Fitch had pinned to a tree, was found. He urged the pursuers to give up any attempt at rescue as the savages had said they would kill their prisoners at once if attacked by the rangers. Fitch and his five children returned in safety the year following, but his wife died on the journey home.
Again Col. Willard wrote to the Governor and his Council mentioning six frontier towns for which there were a total of but sixty-two soldiers and nineteen town scouts, which, he said, was "by no means sufficient to guard them."
By cunning and strategy, French leaders in Canada had won as allies the more savage Indians. Some of the French peasants had married squaws. Presents and promises of bounty, appealed to the Indians' well-known love of finery, which, with promise
96
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
of rich reward, made them eager, often under French leaders, to pillage and plunder the English frontier settlements. Bands of painted savages were equipped and went out to murder, burn and plunder. These cunning, swift-footed fiends would skulk around some lonely cabin, watch for a chance to surprise its owner, quickly scalp him, and drive his wife and children before them back through the trackless forests into Canada, themselves laden with all the spoils they could gather. Then in Montreal or Quebec they would receive the promised bounty and ransom money.
Again it had become necessary to keep parties of rangers con- stantly on the watch.
The frontier now was above Lunenburg and Leominster to the north, and west of Petersham. Col. Willard ordered out a company of men to go "into the woods" under the command of Capt. Jonathan Whitney. These men were from Bolton and Harvard. A company of twenty was led from Lunenburg by Captain John Willard, and a smaller scouting party from Leominster was headed by Captain Jonathan White. Repeated accounts of shoot- ing, and of Indian tracks kept these rangers on the alert throughout that year-1748.
Colonel Josiah Willard of Lunenburg was in command of "the Truck House above Northfield commonly called Fort Dummer" as he wrote of it in 1740. He and his kindred owned the site and the lands about it. The little garrison was manned by less than a dozen men, and these were nearly all Willards or of families con- nected with them by marriage. Fort Dummer began to figure as a strategic position, along with Charlestown No. 4 in New Hamp- shire and Fort Massachusetts in 1748. In July of that year a party of thirteen was waylaid by Indians near Fort Dummer, and only three escaped.
One of the few stories that have come down to us is that of a time when the Indians nearly captured this fort by a ruse, as follows. "The side of Chesterfield mountain, opposite the fort, was covered with dense woods, with opening intervals. One day an Indian, disguised as a bear, was seen on the hillside, and the occupants of the fort were tempted to cross the river and pursue him. Bruin, seeing them approach, withdrew gradually up the mountain, while his comrades were watching to make a rush for the fort; and it is said that the trick was discovered just in time to foil the enemy."
97
THE STORY OF COLONIAL LANCASTER
In the Massachusetts Archives is found a letter from Matthew Wyman, of Lancaster, to the Governor, telling of his capture and bondage in Canada, where he was kept from June to October, and robbed of his gun and a "Hat worth 5s." He tells of the distress and impoverishment of his family and asks for "some Relief." Eight pounds in money and a gun were voted the petitioner, and a few years later he is found again fighting for his majesty the King.
All the sacrifices and the bravery of new England men went for naught, for while the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle brought a semblance of peace between the French and the English, all that had been taken from the French, by the same treaty was restored to them.
These lessons were sinking deep into the souls of the New England men. They were not unmindful that England never had concerned herself over the attacks of the Indians upon their homes nor offered help when, in dread suspense, the New England colonies were in danger from the attack by the French. The only reward for distinguished service went to William Pepperell, who was knighted. Col. Willard's sons were in constant peril. Their only reward was promotion. It was almost impossible to get pay for actual service, and as for bounty, that all went into the coffers of the king.
The lack of a sound currency greatly embarrassed business at this time. The colonists had become impoverished by wars and taxes, and something that might be called the "first depres- sion" was bearing down upon them. The people of Massachusetts were trying the experiment of using paper money. The only measure for wealth was ownership of acres and cattle. Life to the majority was a struggle for shelter, food and raiment. It was the custom for tax payers to "work out" their taxes upon the highways under the supervision of surveyors. The paper currency was worth less than a third of its face value, so a summer day's wage for an able bodied man was then about twenty cents: a winter day's pay was fourteen cents. Finally the British Government sent money for a part of the expense that had been incurred in the capture of Louisburg, and other expeditions. Upon the receipt of about £180 sterling, the notes of the colonies were cancelled and specie began to circulate. A land bank company was estab- lished in 1741, and loaned bills of credit on security of real estate; but they had no funds for redeeming them, and the banks had
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.