USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Warwick > Warwick, Massachusetts; biography of a town, 1763-1963 > Part 8
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When the victims of this delusion (if we may be allowed so mild an expression) were wrought up to the highest pitch, when meek-eyed Charity hoped and believed them to be sincere worshippers of God, the bubble burst, the wolves in sheep's clothing were discovered. Such a scene of infatuation and corruption was brought to light as perhaps never before was witnessed in a Christian land. Who could believe that this monster though a pretended servant of the Most High God had long been guilty of conduct that would disgrace a brothel; and to fill up the measure of his iniquity to the brim, he absconded from the town with a young girl, the miserable dupe of his nefarious wiles and a deluded proselyte to his pretended reli- gion. This girl's name was Doolittle. As soon as the rookery was broken up by the arch demon's decamping Mr. Amos Marsh cleared out with Mrs. Doolittle, the girl's mother; and Mr. Amzi Doolittle, the father of the girl, went off with Mr. Thomas Barber's wife.
The exasperated friends and relations of some of these elop- ers followed after them, and took Mr. Marsh and Mrs. Doo- little somewhere in the State of New York, brought them back and committed them to jail in Northampton, where they were tried for the crime of adultery and found guilty. They were sentenced to sit on the gallows, pay a fine, and he was ever after to wear the letter "A" in large capital form on his outside garment. (Blake, Warwick, pp. 59-61)
Blake's account was written in about the year 1830 and por- trays the consternation and indignation felt by the town. Amos Marsh was a selectman and town clerk for many years. Amzi
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Doolittle had been a selectman and had served as town treasurer ten years. Marsh, who suffered the old colonial sentence for his offense, returned to town to live a rather pitiful existence for many years. Finally, in desperate circumstances in his old age, friends took up a collection to pay his traveling expenses to his son. (Cobb's Diary Aug. 18, 1819) Doolittle sold his farm and moved to Vermont.
This was the situation young Reverend Samuel Reed was forced to face as his introduction to the moral and spiritual condi- tions existing in his parish. A native of Massachusetts, he had graduated from Yale College the previous year.
The town had steadfastly refused to vote to procure preaching at each annual town meeting from 1776 to 1778. On October 2, 1778 it had refused an attempt by some to "provide preaching upon a plan of free contributions." Nevertheless the members of the church secured the services of Mr. Reed and the young man's services proved satisfactory.
On December 15 a warrant was issued calling for a town meet- ing to act on the following questions: Should they hire the Rev- erend Reed for any further term of service? Would they vote any sum of money as a salary? Would they adopt a plan pro- posed by the Congregational Society to contribute to a fund, the interest of which together with the interest derived from the fund to be received from the sale of the ministerial land, would be sufficient to pay his salary? Would the town agree that the interest of the ministerial fund be used to support an Orthodox Congregational minister forever? Would they vote a sum of money for a settlement to the minister? And last, would they "hold none but such as are of the Congregational denomination and relinquish all those who are of a contrary way of thinking" from paying the tax assessed to support the church?
When the meeting was called to order on December 28th the Baptists requested that the last question should be acted upon first. When this resulted in an affirmative vote, relieving them of any financial support to the church, they were perfectly willing to approve the other questions. The Reverend Reed was satisfac- tory and he was hired with a settlement of 675 pounds. He was
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to receive a salary of 60 pounds annually for three years and then it would be increased to 70 pounds thereafter. To forestall any further inflation in the value of money his salary was to be based on the present price of a bushel of rye at three shillings and six- pence and Indian corn at two shillings and eight pence. The proposed fund, the interest of which together with the interest of the ministerial fund was to pay the minister, became acceptable. The fact that this latter town fund was to support an Orthodox Congregational minister forever apparently went unnoticed.
Two days later a petition was presented to the General Court signed by 36 men. This stated that in order not to give offense to persons of other denominations they had organized the Con- gregational Society of Warwick and had subscribed 1000 pounds as a fund, the interest of which was to be used to support the Congregational doctrine in Warwick forever. The town had voted December 28 that the income of the ministry land be ad- ded to the fund. The Court was asked to approve the sale of the ministry land and to incorporate the society. The General Court served notice on the town that a hearing would be held on the petition in April. (A&R, Vol. V, p. 1050)
But the Baptists had already awakened to the fact that they were relinquishing all claim to income from the fund to be cre- ated from the sale of the ministry land. They immediately re- quested another town meeting to vote on rescinding all the articles that had been approved. As a result all the articles (except the one relieving other denominations from supporting the minister ) were rescinded.
Then they, too, sent a memorandum to the General Court signed with 55 names. This stated that the Baptists were con- sidering building a meeting house and that they were entitled to a division of the fund, also any other Protestant denomination, according to the number of members. Until such building was erected they were willing to allow the Congregational Church to have all the income.
Before the Court made its decision the annual town meeting had been held. At the end of the warrant the last article asked "To see if the town has any objection to offer against the petition
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of the Congregational Society in Warwick why the prayer thereof may not be granted." When the town meeting was called to order an action took place that the Baptists protested as illegal. Most of the Baptists lived in the outlying sections of the town. Knowing the article they were particularly concerned about was at the end of the long annual warrant many were absent at the opening of the meeting. A request was made to have the article acted upon at the opening of the meeting, it being claimed that there would be more present at that time than later when many, bored by the long warrant, would have left. The request was granted with the result that the interest of the ministerial fund was given to the Orthodox Church.
The Baptists protested and sent a petition to the General Court claiming the vote was illegal. As a result Moderator Samuel Williams wrote the following report of the meeting in a letter to the Court, April 10, 1779:
The said 22nd of March was a Stormy Day, Notwithstand- ing Our meeting was General and much fuller than Sum Per- sons Have Represented it to be, I am Persuaded By the Number of Votes Brought in sd. Day that more than three quarters of sd. Voters attended sd. Meeting. The above Article was one of the Last in the town warant But att the Desire of Sum Persons it was Brought forward and Acted upon when the meeting was at the fullest and att such A time it was That I Put the question to the town to Know if they Had Objections to make why the Prayer of sd. Petition should not be granted.
The question was Put with as much deliberation as I could Put it - I am thoughtful no Person Could Be within the walls of the House But must hear and understand the Question. There Did not Appear to me to be more than one quarter of the People Disposed to Make Objection to sd. Petition being granted in full. The Above is a true State of the Matter. I Certify it upon the Honor of a Gentleman. (A&R, Vol. V p. 1051)
The General Court passed an act incorporating the Society and approved the sale of the ministry lands, but it also agreed with the Baptists. Ezra Conant, James Ball, Medad Pomeroy,
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Samuel Williams and Joseph Mayo were named as trustees of the Society. (A&R, Vol. V p. 962)
The fund thus created would have been an excellent solution to the problem but for the fact that the inflation of money con- tinued at a tremendous rate. The fund remained stationary and soon the poor minister was in dire straits. In fact colonial history tells us no one suffered more during this period than the ministers hired under a fixed contract.
Although the town again felt too poor to send a representative to the Legislature in 1778 and 1779, when the question arose if they would choose a delegate to a convention for the purpose of making a second attempt to draft a State Constitution they voted in favor. Lieutenant Thomas Rich received this assignment, but when the convention was postponed to October Rich asked to be excused and he was not replaced.
Lieutenant Josiah Pomeroy was delegated to attend a county convention held at Northampton for the purpose of establishing lawful prices of necessities. When this convention made its report the town voted to accept it and chose a committee of seven to regulate "the price of hay and other articles which may be thought proper in the town of Warwick." A second committee of three, Hananiah Temple, Martin Stevens and Jonathan Moore were to hear complaints against any persons who transgressed the rules of the State and the above committee.
Once again all persons not legal residents were warned to leave the town according to law.
It is to be regretted that the town failed to record the names of the men who enlisted in the Continental Army to fill the quotas allotted to the town during the latter years of the war. It is only through a long, tedious search of the records of Soldiers and Sailors from Massachusetts that we are able to secure a par- tial list. These records give only the name of the regiment and the dates of the period of service. Seldom is any mention made of battles engaged in or of casualties that resulted. It is evident that many men and boys from Warwick saw extended service and the fact that several never returned home shows that some died in the service of their country.
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Peter Proctor's militia company was again called to support the northern army under General John Stark from December 30, 1778 to July 5, 1779, but no further attempt to invade the States from Canada was made.
In 1778 we find that Elijah Kendrick, John Mallard, John Kendrick, Samuel Brown and Thomas Mallard joined the Con- tinental Army and served chiefly along the Hudson River. Thomas Mallard was a lad of 16 years and here began a career that kept him constantly in the service until November, 1781. Abijah Adams enlisted for three years in 1779 and vanishes into the unknown. In the same year we find Tom Mallard, now 17, at New London, Connecticut, and a year later Mallard, now a veteran, is joined by Steven Conant, age 18, Daniel Bancroft, age 17, and his brother Samuel Bancroft age 19, in Colonel Thomas Nixon's regiment at West Point at the time when Benedict Arnold attempted to betray West Point to the English. Samuel Brown, a member of Captain Petty's militia company joined the Contin- ental army in April, 1779, enlisting for the town of Warwick for a term of three years in the artillery under the command of Colonel Crane. Crane certified in 1802 that Brown served four years with his regiment.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to secure men to fill the quota required by Congress and the State due primarily to the depreciation of the Continental currency. Discharged sold- iers found the money paid for their services almost worthless, and men were reluctant to enter the army. To secure enlistments the towns voted to give bounties and provided clothing for the men. When this failed to secure the required number of men heavy fines were assessed on the towns by the General Court.
In June, 1779 Warwick delegated Colonel Williams, Lieuten- ant Rich, Lieutenant Mayo, Lieutenant Pomeroy and James Ball to petition to the Court, stating the difficulty the town was having to secure the soldiers and asking that the fine be revoked. Seven hundred pounds had been voted to pay bounties to men in 1779. When the new quota of 11 men for six months' service in the Continental Army was called on June 5, 1780, the town voted to give a bounty of 15 pounds in silver or gold or its equal.
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Elijah Ball, Caleb Mayo and Josiah Cobb were told to hire the men in any way they found expedient. On June 22, 12 men were called from the militia for three months' service on the Hudson River. Continental money was all that was available and so on July 10 the town voted to raise 20,000 pounds to hire the soldiers for terms of six months or three months of service. The com- mittee submitted a bill to the town for 15 days spent in hiring the men for six months at the prewar rate of four shillings per day. Lieutenant Josiah Pomeroy was paid 64 pounds (Conti- nental) for going to South Hadley with the men to be mustered.
The following December the constables in collecting taxes were instructed to discount the notes given to hire soldiers at the rate of 72 for one. This meant that 72 dollars in Continental currency was equal to one dollar in gold or silver. Thus the phrase "not worth a Continental" became widely used to denote anything of no value. A year later the ratio was dropped to 75 to one.
Beginning in 1769 the town had dropped the office of tax col- lector. Province law stated that in towns that followed this practice the constables would serve as collectors. It does not re- quire much imagination to realize that during this period of inflation the constables' duty of collecting taxes must have driven them to distraction. Now to top it off, a flood of counterfeit money appeared on the scene. In the annual town warrant in 1780 appeared an article "to see if the town will hear the petition of the constables with respect to their having received from the inhabitants of the town a sum of counterfeit money which the treasurer refuses to take, they pray the town to grant them said sum of money as also a further sum if they see fit for their extra- ordinary services." They received reimbursement for the money but nothing for their extraordinary services. Henry Burnet and Doctor Ezra Conant were elected constables but Burnet refused to serve. Conant resigned as town clerk and left town, reappear- ing in 1787, again as town clerk. Then Doctor Pomeroy and Jonas Leonard were chosen and they refused to take the oath of office. Finally Nicholas Watts and Josiah Cobb accepted.
The appropriations made at the annual town meeting in 1780
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reflect the currency troubles: 5,000 pounds for the support of highways, and men's wages were set at nine pounds a day, a yoke of oxen five pounds and a cart or plough at three pounds. Seven hundred pounds were raised for the support of schools.
On the 24th day of May the new State Constitution was brought before the town for its approval. It was refused approval until it was read an article at a time. The first two chapters were approved unanimously by the 73 voters present. The third chap- ter dealt with the qualifications of elected and appointed civil officials. The Constitution required that they must be of the Christian religion. An amendment was proposed that "no per- son shall hold any seat in the Civil Department except he be a professor of the Christian Protestant Religion." The amendment lost by a vote of 38 to 28. Other objections were raised to articles in the Bill of Rights and a committee consisting of Peter Fisk, Savel Metcalf and Josiah Rawson was instructed to "regulate the objections and amendments and return their doings to the Select- men." The Constitution which was primarily the work of John Adams was ratified by two thirds of the State and on October 25, 1780 Massachusetts became in truth a free Commonwealth.
The first election of State officers was held September 4, 1781. Honorable John Hancock received 24 votes for governor and James Bowdoin 12.
The General Court at several times had called on the town to supply shoes, stockings, shirts and blankets for the Continental Army. All these had been provided, and now in June four horses and 4,240 pounds of beef were called for. Six thousand pounds was voted to procure the beef, and Samuel Langley, Jonas Ball and Ebenezer Cheney were chosen to secure it. In December more beef was requested, and Samuel Williams, Joseph Mayo and Abner Shearman were to buy the beef.
A new quota of men for a three-year enlistment period or the duration of the war was received in December, 1780, and Elijah Ball, Josiah Cobb and Joseph Mayo were to obtain the men. In February, 1781, the committee was dismissed, having failed to secure them and the task was given to Cobb with seven men to advise him. It was decided to "class" the town, agreeable to
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(top) Unitarian Church (bottom) Public Library
Common (now Fellows Memorial Field ), looking toward Mount Grace with the old schoolhouse and Uni- tarian Church in the foreground, about 1900
the orders of the General Court, and each class was to draught one man. The results are unknown, but Joseph Goodell served in the Continental Army from this time until October 8, 1784.
At the annual meeting in 1781 all appropriations for antici- pated expenses for the year were made in the value of silver money; 100 pounds for highways, 60 pounds for schools and ten pounds to pay for the town's stock of ammunition. In June 60 pounds in silver was voted to pay Major Joseph Mayo to pro- vide a new requisition of beef for the army, and Dr. Pomeroy, Williams and Lieutenant Pomeroy were to obtain seven men from the militia companies, 30 pounds in silver being provided for their use. The treasurer was directed not to receive from the constables money collected for taxes except at the rate of one silver dollar for 75 Continental dollars.
The committee to obtain the last call for soldiers submitted their account on August 22. It was found necessary to increase the 30 pounds previously voted to 86 pounds. The personal services of the committee included 17 mugs of flip at a shilling a mug. Evidently this was considered necessary to get the men in the proper condition to sign the enlistment papers.
The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, virtually ended the war although formal peace negotiations were not closed until 1783. The story of the hardship and trials under- gone by the people of Warwick and the country as a whole is shown in the difficulties caused by the tremendous burden placed upon impoverished people. Today after nearly two centuries it is perhaps difficult for the average person to understand the blunders, the apparent inexcusable defeats in battle, the treach- ery found in high officials, and the lack of unity or concern shown between individual colonies.
To understand we must know the customs, the beliefs, the meager educational facilities and the primitive living conditions that existed at the time. We must never cease to honor these founders of our country and impress future generations with the tremendous debt we owe to those who fought for us, poorly armed, poorly trained, often hungry and in rags, and paid in worthless money.
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7 HARD TIMES AND SHAYS'S REBELLION, 1781-1787
WARWICK AND OTHER nearby towns had frequently com- plained in past years to the General Court in regard to the cost and hardship caused by their distance from the County seat where all deeds and estates were recorded. On September 19, 1781 the town elected Deacon James Ball, Captain Goldsbury and Colonel Williams as a committee to inquire among the northern towns of Worcester and Hampshire Counties in an effort to secure their aid in persuading the legislature to set up another county. This question was to be frequently agitated in the ensuing years, but it was not until 1811 that Franklin County was established.
The people in the village of South Warwick also had a com- plaint of several years' standing. During the last ten years they had increased rapidly in numbers and were becoming a close knit community. The distance from Warwick center was an obstacle in attending church and engaging in town affairs, and agitation began to form a separate town. On October 2, 1781 a town meeting was called for October 23 "to see if the town will vote four thousand and sixty acres of land more or less in the southwest corner of Warwick with the inhabitants thereon to be erected into a town with part of Athol, Royalston and Erving- shire." The town approved the article according to the plan sub- mitted by Elijah Ball and the boundary established followed the original lines of the second division of lots laid out in 1737 along the summit of the range of hills which were a natural boundary. This area was incorporated as the District of Orange and joined with Warwick in electing a representative to the General Court. It was not until 1810 that it was incorporated as a town.
By this action Warwick lost many estimable citizens who had been prominent in many town activities and were now to become the leaders of Orange. Among these were the families of Elijah Ball, Nathan Goddard, Benjamin Mayo, Savel and Joseph Met-
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calf, Moses, Ebenezer and Levi Cheney, Hananiah Temple, Alexander Wheelock, Jonathan Woodward, James Mills and Ebenezer Foskett.
On April 1, 1782 Moses Leonard gave the land that now is the north end of the cemetery to the town for a burying ground on condition that the town would erect a fence along the roadside and allow him and his heirs forever to pasture their "neet" cattle and sheep there. Moses was now 73 years old and he had come to Warwick in 1778 to spend his declining years near his six sons and four daughters who had all settled in the town years before. Apparently he lived with or near his son Samuel at the south- east corner of the present cemetery. Many of the bodies buried in the old cemetery in the northwest corner of the town common were reinterred in the new cemetery, including that of the Rev- erend Lemuel Hedge.
Moses' sons all settled in Warwick. Moses, Jr. came here in 1760 with his sister Lucy (possibly induced by Amos Marsh who had married his sister Beulah) and Moses first owned Lot 52 in the first division. Here he built his home, served the town as selectman and in many other offices, and had ten children. Lucy soon married his neighbor Samuel Ball. The second son, Samuel, bought home Lot 22 but later moved to the village and built his home. He married Silence Ripley and had eight children. He lived to be 100 years old, dying in Canton, New York. Jonas, the third son, settled on Chestnut Hill where his son Jonas, 2nd, was born and died, and his grandson Jonas, 3rd, lived until 1863. Francis Leonard, the fourth son, took over the sawmill owned by his brother-in-law Jeduthan Morse when the latter died in the Canada expedition in 1776. Francis, who was a Minute Man answering the Concord alarm on April 20, continued the saw- mill until his death in 1838. His daughter Sarah married George Moore who inherited the mill. Noah, the fifth son married Bethiah Witherell and moved to Keene in 1789. John Leonard, the sixth son, conducted a blacksmith shop near the inn in the upper village until 1793. Francis, Jonas and John all were Re- volutionary War veterans. (Letter from W. F. Leonard, Chicago, Ill., 1960)
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This year 1782, for the first time since 1777, the town voted to send a representative to the General Court, and Captain John Goldsbury was chosen. Five men were chosen to draw up in- structions for Goldsbury and submit them to the town for ap- probation. The instructions, as follows, were approved :
To Capt. John Goldsbury,
Sir, You being chosen to represent us in the General Court of this Commonwealth, we, the inhabitants of the town of Warwick do give you the following instructions: viz., That you do your endeavor that the sums apportioned on us of the pub- lic charges be lessened, as we think that they are more than our part, according to our ability. That the governor, council, senate and all other men in this State that are under public pay, be lessened to a reasonable rate. That the charges annual- ly arising be ascertained. That you inquire into the state of the treasury and of what money has been granted, and how applied. That all men unnecessarily employed in public busi- ness be dismissed. That the General Court be removed out of Boston into some other town.
It is apparent that the town was very skeptical about the con- duct of the State government. Very little interest was shown in State elections. What influence our representative exerted in the legislature is unknown but the following year the town voted not to send a representative and instructed the selectmen to in- form the General Court that it was due to the "extreme poverty" of the town. The following year the town joined with the Dis- trict of Orange and chose James Ball to represent them. During the past few years the deacon had become reinstated in good grace and had served on several important committees. Doctor Medad Pomeroy had long since returned to a prominent role in town affairs and the memory of Reverend Lemuel Hedge was fading away.
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