ADDRESS

IDELIVEIKED IN THE

FIRST PARISH. CIIURCH. IN «BOLTON

JULY 4th, 1878,

AT 'I‘I'II3.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATKDJ OF THE AfiWUVERSARY OF

AfiflflUCAN'INDEPENDENCE;.AND ALSO DJ
OBSERVANCECW'TPC

138m ANNIVERSARY OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN:

By RICHARD s. EDES.

£0

'1‘ C) G 13".‘. TI‘! 17?. R. W’1"'I‘ IT 0 TI I I?) ‘R, I’ R C) C‘. E17. 1) IN G S R T73 I...A'I‘IN C5} T0
% T 11 T33 55 AM "I13 0 C C} A  I O N ,

WITH AN APPENDIX

% CLINTON:
}WUNTEDIh?WLJ.COULTER,COURANT(MNUCE.
1877.

«$7 Qgfk (V? A

 “INTRODUCTORY NOTE

-.................. .. ...........—.-...................... ¢..........~........_...e..»..

,AT 21 legal. llleétillg of the Town of Bolton, held o1iMonclay, April
3:1, 1876, it wzis voted that at committee of live he ztppointecl by the Chair
to 1'n21l<e :Et1'1‘EL1‘1gC1‘1'1€311tSAl-01‘ a Centennial Ce-lel>1‘atio11 on the 4th of July,
I876‘; saicl'a1'l‘n11ge1iie11te to be without expensse‘ to the town.

'1" he Moclemtor nppointecl as members of this conjxmitteez N. 19. GII..-
MAN, R.  l'31.oI:~‘:.s', B. A. EIj)\VAItDS, N. A. N1:-:W'1‘oN, :.1.n<:1 I5‘. E. Wm'r—-
c:oM13. They suhseiquently ox'gn11izec1“,l3y c11c>c>sing N. P. (.]}il1nztn as
Cl111ll‘l’1'1ZL1'1, 13. A. Eclwarcls as Sec1*et;u.'y, N. A. Newton 2155 Tl’t3ZLt5t11'C1‘,‘£11"1Cl
F. E. Whitcomh es‘ SolicitingCcixnmittee. ('l"he e.\'penses"of the cele-
bmtion, ztniounting to zthout one l1un<:lrecl ztncl fifty clollers, were met by
21 geiieml subscription.) '

At it town meeting held June 261411] R(;‘).‘.-‘»\"v'.1i%.‘.I.L l3At1tt1n.«:'1"1*, J. I). I~—Iu1tr.-
13u'1‘, ztncl PAl.l’I..VVlII’1‘C()MZIl3 were ziclclecl to the Committee. I§NC)CI~I C.

”.l£~’I;m::c;:t+:, Sergt. Co. F, 13th Regt.  Vo1:s., was»; chosen Chief Mztr-

:-shawl, ztncl S. I’. Ij:"..x;.)‘tVA.‘1tI).e;, Chief .l)(i2CO1‘£Ll‘Ol‘.

T he exemizses of the Fou1'tl1 were held in the 1'11C(§1;lI‘1g-llO1lSG of the
.l*‘i1'et CC)1‘1g1‘C:g‘£N;lOl1£l.l. CIhu1'<:h, at ten o”e1oel< A. M. After the perfc;>r1nz111ce
by the I~~lucl:.~so11 lszrnsss Bzmcl of suitable imtsic, the I9’1'esiclent of the Day
mztcle :1. 1:.>1'iet' openitng .ec;lc11'ees, in 6;-3L1l1)Sl:£Yt11CC§ :15 follows:

lE‘1‘:~:I..I.(.‘>\v CI’.I‘IZ.If£NS :---W'e meet l1(31‘C to czelelmtte the festival of our ne-
tion”:.~; l)11”tl”LClZ1y. All over our lzmcl A1ne1'1ezLne:pp;11'e toclzty ol3se1'vi1ug the one
l'iunc11'et1'1 e1111ive1ree.1'y ot our count1~y”e hie. But weztre mindful here of :1
clotthle duty. «Our g1*e21t 1'epuhlic.: is made up of nizmy little repul;)1it:s;
beczmse of tlieee the nation czfime into existeiice. The New l§.ng1e11cl town-
ship pnvecl the way for the inclepencleiflcze of the whole country in such 21
clegree that “ in 1650 the liepublic \V2’tS ztlrezicly 'virtuz11,Iy esta.l:>li.~5hec1.” Of

A one ‘of ’Cl1t:S(2 small cLle1nocr::u:ies we now observe, with but a‘ few clny’s c:le-

lay, the one hunczlrecl zmcl tltirty-eiglttlm .’:11'11‘1iVC1'S2L1.'y. The founclers of this
town, as well. as all who built this nation, were men of ntrne religious
faith. “ Our civi1i.'r.attio11," De 'I‘ocqueville has well sszticl, “ is the 1'eeL11t of
two clistinet elements, which in other places lizwe been infrequent l1ostility,
but here in Ainericzn. have been aclmii-ably incorpomtecl and conihinecl with

lea.c11 other, the spirit of religion ;.1nc1‘tl1e spirit of liberty." Our 1~’urita.x1 ‘

forefattliers did not “1na.l<e religioii twelve and the world thirteen.” Re»
membering them, reineimbering the motto on their pine-tree flag, re1nem-
hering the fortunes of 21 1'm.nc:lrecl yezurs, we most fitly open our exercises

ttoclay with an “ ztppeel to I-Ienven.”

Prayer was then otferecl by the Rev. T1~IOMAS T. STONI:‘., D. D., 2-tncl
the Axnericzm I-Iymn sung by 21 select choir. “That noble Declaration,

in

1V

which, written in words whose memory can never perish, ought to be

hung up in the nursery of every king and blazoned on the porch of

every royal palace,” was read by Rev. B..A. EDWARDS, and the Star

Spangled Banner sung by children from one of the public schools.
Introducing the Orator of the Day, the President said:

FELLOW CITIZENS :——The Tree of Liberty under which we gratefully
gather, whose leaves are for “' the healing of the nation,” has many roots

-and rootlets. Here among these hills of Bolton, one rootlet fastened

itself in the soil, to draw from it sap and sustenance for the parent trunk.
In a fertile earth, beneath a kindly sky, the little root did its necessary
helpful work. Sustained by it and by a thousand like it, the tree grew
and flourished. We are fortunate in having among us a fellow-citizen,
whom your committee unanimously chose to address you today, as the
fittest person to describe the course of life through which this Bolton
rootlet of the American Tree of Liberty has passed." A p

The Address followed. Upon its conclusion, and after the singing
of Hail Columbia by the choir, and of America by the audience, the
benediction was given by Rev. J. W. CITTTlICI{ERING, D. D., a former pas-
tor of the Hillside Church in Bolton.

The dinner was laid on tables erected under the trees in front of the
church. After due attention had been paid tn F‘ the physical basis of life,”
the Chairman called the company to order with a few remarks, and then
proceeded to call upon gentlemen present to respond to appropriate senti-
ments. Responses were made by Rev. Mr. EIJES, for Lancaster; by Rev.
Mr. HOUGH'l‘ON, for Berlin; by]. T. JOSLIN, Esq., for Hudson; by A.
R. POWERS, Esq., for Bolton; by Rev. Dr. CI~IICIKERIl\‘G, for the churches;
by Rev. Mr. Enwanns, for the schools; by Dr. Iélonrenr 'I‘.En12s, of
Boston, for the United States Navy; and by1F. E. WHITCOMI3, .Esq., for
the Farmers‘ Club. T

Letters were receivechand the majority of them read during the after-
dinner exercises, from I-Ion. GEORGAE BANCI.t0I~"l‘, THOS.V/"'EN'1"\V’()RTl~I
Hreeruson, WALDO HIGGII\‘-SON, Br. Gen. T1-ros. Siinmvrn, Rev.-GEO. W.

Hosmnn, D. D., Rev. Grso. 8. BALL, Rev.  C. L. Ifinown, Rev. F. L. ~

HOSMER, and Hon. VVILLIAM STONE, Attorney'—Gei1e1'al of South Carolina.
. Fireworks and aconcert: on the Common closed this highly—successful
celebration of the birthday of the town andthe nation. . T
At the annual ineeting of the town, held March 5th, 1877, it was
Voted, To raise and appropriate for printing the address delivered on
the Centennial Celebration, July 4th, ,I876,rtogether with the other pro-
ceedings connected withsaid celebration, the sum of one 11u11d1'ecl,dol1ars.
‘Voted, _That every family in town receive" T one copy of such pamphlet
trratis. _ _, A 1  p _ _ .
ti , ‘Voted,",To send one copy,to._._every_,non-residenttax-payer. I.
In compliance with this vote, the Address is now "presented by the
committee to the citizens ofthe town. T r

ADDRESS

MR. PRESIDENT, L.A.1>II:«:s AN1) G]f.£N7I‘I..I121\IiIEN :----

LET us begin by talking for g1'z:t1,1tec1 the rnztin fz1<§”ts of
history, down to the lzitnciirig of the I?’i1g.:§1*i111 1i‘a1t1t1e1*s at Ply-
mouth, and down to El period Inore than £1. CLf1'1t111"_V1tl1."ti‘1'.
Let us observe at once, that at the times ztncl in the place
to which our attention xnnst be turned t<,:a~c“12i1y. tl‘1i<“>.%e who

Went before 255, even E18 were those wlm wen"t i)efi;>1"e Mme,

f’

and as those onthe stage mmv, were '1m;:17nbe1*.s3 (me of
another," ca.tc11i11g C‘f‘c"lCZ1’1 others” t1r1<rr>t1glr‘1ts. i1"l'1i.t2'l.ti1f’1g" enczli
others’ ex21111p1es, i11flL1o11cti11g; ezteli c‘;>tl1e1“;s4" <;:o11ch1«.‘:tt-——-—1’1<:)t
only as so 1nany inclividuzitls. but 211:3 ccrnrniimrurriitiers:, as t(Ti')'V5’V1”1£~3,

and in other large wztys. Tliiztt iciezm ttiretiilzttte like the.

blood, probzitbly all will E1C11”171iiZ: C3e1i1e1*:tt11i ili1ist<:>ry is zit <:.<::>1n-
mon multiple? to VV11iC.i"1 1n2111yt1c;>ezitl 11i.~3t<i.:>riee rmity ec:>1r1t1*ib1.1te ;
and given 21 general p1'o<:1L1t‘it, and mint: (if its deterrininetl
fa<.°tors;, the others,‘ cornprisectl in ztrty ];*)z;1.1*tic;u1iz“tt1* ]1(!’?)m.2i1‘ irnem-«
ories or tra.c1_itio11s, are ezsusily to be z:tsee1'tztint:c1.

Or,eto express our 1JhC)L1g111; in zzmotlier way, if ,;;g§e:11te1'a1
history present the larger ztéfticiri <;t>:t‘ the piecze, the chief
aétors in the drzunzt; 1C)CE11 1J1istor_y 1”112ty‘ f'u1*nish the eide
lights, and the c11a1*zttԤte1fe5 whiczh, tliougli eztlltacl suborcli-
nate, may be none theless ml@C®$$2!11~y to the co1r1p1etene:~ss
of the Whole, to the full wc>1*1<i11g out of the plot. Or,
leaving t11e’21bst1*21<St, and coining into the e<i>r1c:1'ete,to knew
New England you 1nnst knowt];1ose " little c1e1no<.:1'ztcires,”
its towns; and so if yOL1tVVOL11C1:St11dy to ndvatntztge the hie»
tory of any one town, it inay be well to start with some
general ideas of the Whole of which it forrns zit f1*21<5tiona1h
part. A V A i

IO-

Impressed with thoughts such as these, which it is need-  

less to expand, I ask you to go back with me for a brief
while, to a little more than a century and a quarter ago,
to A. D. 1738, viz. to the time when Bolton become an
independent township,--—-T-while lsketch, in a very general
way, a picture of the prevailing condition of things as it was
in the small country towns of Massachusetts Bay.

The country hereabouts had been becoming settled in a
sort for a little more than a century :——-—~sloWly opening from
an utter wilderness inhabited only by savages» and Wild
beasts, and spreading into communities having some of the
ruder arts of life, and characterized by habits of law and

order. But only here and there had clearings been made

in the woods, and settlements started. After many con-
flicfts wiz‘/z them, many sackings, burnings and massacres
suffered from them -———-in which this town then a portion of
Lancaster suffered with the rest—-V-the aboriginal inhabit-
ants Were still far from being altogether banished or exter-
minated. [Appendix, A]. They lingered about in va-
rious localities; according to their nomadic habits, found
their Way from place to place; had special seats assigned

them Wl1t31‘1€3V€1‘—--—‘Wl1lCl1 was but seldom-——they wandered of A

a Sunday into the houses of Worship ; and were quite often
to be seen by the kitchen hearth as the housewife cooked
her dinner, or sitting. by the fire while her baby sl-umbered
in the cradle. Though much enfeebled, in broken rem-
nants, consumed under the combined effects of their own
improvident habits, wide—-spreading pestilences and epi-T
demics, and the ’’fire water” introduced among them by
the Whites, the Indians were slowly wasting away before
the march of civilization, like the proud forests around
them, once all their own. » ~ T t

The native animals, hardly a grade lower in the scale
than the savages--<-the wolves, the bears, the wild cats, the
deer---continued to inhabit the Woods and the fields,tas the
salmon and shad did the streams. Their numberswere so

3

large as to keep the farmer on the alert to proteét his flocks
and herds, and in his leisure hours, whenever he could find
or make them, to furnish him with the exciting, and fre—-
quently dangerous, pleasures of the chase. If the itch of
OfilC€'OV€I‘C2L1'I1€ him, and he would aét for the proteétion
of the friendly and valuable creatures, or for the extermi-
nation of the hostile ones, he might, as deer or fish reeve,
or in some similar capacity, as forerunner of the modern
field-driver or hog-reeve, assume a badge of dignity among
the worthies of the borough, or exercise his forensic powers
before the town meeting in calling aloud to arms, to arms————
not toebe sure against a human foe, but against another, of
which some of us learnt in the early Latin exercise “ zf;v'z'sz‘e
Zzgbzas ‘ stczdzalzlc. ”

As to the roads of those times, what were they? Strué‘t-
ures of the rudest engi11ee1~ing, and hardly better than to

‘be compared with the paths made by the moose in the win-

ter’s snow, or by the beaver to the side of his dam ; scarcely
more than cow or sheep paths through the woods, and wan-
dering over hill and dale, bog and plain, in the strangest

fashion, Mails, clailyutweekly, or even monthly there were

none; though messengers on liorsebaok with saddle bags,
at irregular intervals wide apart, sometimes found, their
way over the rough and lonely byways, and penetrated
from settlement to settlement. Newspapers————if such ex-
isted of any but the most diminutive proportions and all but
utter poverty of news———were hardly to be seen even in the
larger towrzs,’ and back. here in the interior settlements must
have been the rarest of all rare birds. [Appenclix,B]. Very
few comparatively-«»—-iii the times we are adverting to, in
I738,-—p—could make out to read, fewer still to write. As

thesaw mill driven by water and superseding the saw-pit

and hand tsavvyer—labor, was coming slowly into use, dwell-—
ing houses regularly timbered, boarded, clapboarded and
shingled, were just beginning to be built-~—of the material
so abundantly at hand; butla house with proper easements

4

and with windows glazed throughout was to be found. only
in the larger towns and among the richest of theinhabitants.
Franklin, though born, was not as yet signalized by chim-
nies that would carry smoke ; , nor Rumford to be reckoned
among the household gods by the production of apparatus
that would heat apartments throughout in cold weather.
The parlor of a New England house if any such apart-
ment existed-—-——presented every variety of temperature from
torrid to frigid, and as to its chambers they were but little
if any better in winter time than ice-«houses. At certain
seasons of the year as one approached any house of the pe-
riod, he would hear the buzz and rattle of the spinning
wheel or the loom; the wife with her assistants spinning
and weaving the wool and the flax which the husband
raised; and both they and their children Clad in the home--
spun which had been woven either at their own home or
in that of some neighbor.

Vehicles for domestic use were hardly known, even at a
much later period ; and when Sunday came, both husband
and wife mounted the same horse, he in the saddle, she on
the pillion behind him, with arm lovingly around his waist,
rode ofi‘ together some four, five, six, or eight miles as the
case might be) to meeting: rode, let us say, from what is
now Hudson, then a, part of Bolton, to what is now Lan--
caster, Old CO1‘1'1I“flO11l.;---lllollgll not as now, remember, by
at dire<Ԥt road through the centre of the town but byithe
“ Bay road ” as it was then and years afterwards called, a

winding path which carried them upon WattOC1L10ttOC I-Iill.

[Appendix, C];  

And as to the churches of that day~—-no that won’t do——
the "meeting—houses,” what rude struéftures they were I4 how
far removed from the lL1X11l‘lO11S, painted, carpeted,cushioned,
warmed, 7’di1nly~religious lighted” stru<’5tures to which we

now resort‘, oftentimes without plastering Won the inside,

oftentimes without pews, andwith rough hewn boards for

seats, l'1'eqL1e11tl:,' used for shelter by the passing traveller,

S

or by the cattle when exposed to the violence of one of our
autumnal or wintry storms :—no stoves or furnaces for
heating-——-the winds of heaven admitted freely through rat-
tling windows, and many a crack and crevice. And yet,
for all that, they were doubtless as much " houses of God "’
and “gates of heaven,” and furnished as friendly a "shadow
of a rock in a weary land” as any of our more stately and
adornedmodeirn edifices ; and what was wanting in the tern-
perature of the surrounding air was made up in the warmth
of heart found within the bosoms of the worshippers.

Not always though, as truth compels the cautious and
impartial historian to add. For it would sometimes hap-
pen then, even as in these degenerate times, that people
would fall asleep, during the services. Paterfamilias, over«-
come by weelc:-«day labors in the liayiiig--field, or wearied
by his exercises on hard-trotting Dobbin, as in the sharp
winter’s air life rode to nieeting with his wife on the pillion
behind him, would sometimes, as seventeenthly or nine-
teenthly was under discussion, find his eyes getting heavy,
an<:l—e—4- sad to state---—-—- at length be caught napping, it might
be even snoring. Or may be, exliiausted from the spinning
wheel or the loom, and from being up nearly all night be-
fore with little Tommy in pangs of colic from having eaten
green apples, materfainilias would be seen with her head
bobbing about in a strange fashion from side to side. Or,
perchance, ’fore-said Tom, on the sly, in concert with sister

Polly, would be caught catching flies, or building houses,
.with the hyrr1n—-boolcs---for " boys would be boys ”’ in those
days, even as men and women were human then as now----A

well, whenever any of these things happened, what fol-~

lowed? The offenders brought down on themselves the

rodofg an oflicer, called a tithing man, often to be found in
meeting-houses of the day, an officer armed with fearful
powers, and a no less fearful weapon to enforce them, to
wit, a pole or wand some five or six feet in length, with
which in feline fashion he stole about the house from seat

6

to seat, arousing one here, lZOU.Cl‘1l1’1g up another there, and
careful to see that every one was kept attentive, and that
the preacherls discourse was not wasted on empty air or
drowsy ears. Another of his fnnéitions was to stop travel-
lers passing on the highway on Sundays and question them
as to whether they were journeying on works of necessity
or ineircyz if not, to detain them till after sundown, or till
thesabbath was considered passed. [Appendix, D].

The parson of those times, who shall worthily describe
hirn?—~——-perhaps the grezttest man of all, not even "the
’Squire” exoepted,——~—with his awe—-inspiring Vvig. and no
less OV€1‘VVl1t'3lI'1’1lI1g‘ cooked hat, smalls, and cane! And
the Sunday services, too, with their sermons extending to

"seventeentlilies or twentiethlies, and judgecl of. in the order

of merit, la1'gely by their leiigtli _;-—--W'll.‘l1 prayers of equally
portentous e:~:tent:—~—al1 sat and stood through in STOVE-
less houses in winter, in I3l".IN.‘I)I.ilI£t13S ones in stiimiiei‘. Whyo
shall attempt————save a Mrs. StoWe—-——to portray in what

spirit of rnartyrdom and long sL1tl‘e1'i11g tliey were endured I ll

II”1'1f:1gl11€ a New 1:7.'2ngla11cl winter as it was one "hundred
and thirty-eight or one hundred and fifty years ago ! All

i that should go into the pi<.‘:tu1*e time will not allow me so

much as to touch. Tlie solitude, the utter sequestratioii of
the little clearing in the wood.“ I the aretic cold out o” doors,
the great 1*oa1*i11g tire of logs in the wicle-—throated ohirnney
Within,‘ the family liitclclliiig around it, prote<5tecl from
draughts of air as inueh as could be by the lirtige settle;
the ‘liorses and cows outside the house, without shelter
trembling in the keen blast:.-~——--in SI)17lI1g, eve-11 at a rnucli
later period than this. when barns of some sort were pro-
vided for them, so \“W3ZLl{ from eattiiig; poor swale hay that
they could not lift themselves to their feet withcmt help. i I1n-
agine the t"eelings of the liotisewife, when as she was cooking
her noontide meal, or in tlie early dusk preparing the sup»
per for her husband when he should return exhausted from
labors in the woods, she saw steal in, instead of him, a band

7

of drunken; Indians; and was compelled, in terror of her
life, to give them food, or to minister to their thirst for the
dreadful "fire~wate1*”'which would make them still more
utte1"ly savage and reckless I4 Imagine this, and many more
particulars by which this general sketch might be extended.
and our idea of the times made more complete; but I must
remember wliat is before us, and hasten to strike into that

local historv to which what has been advanced is pre-—

paratory.

p In general, such was the Massacliusetts of 1738 in its‘
more retired portions; such a sketch of the condition of
almost am‘ one of her small towns; such was Bolton.
Wo1'ceste1' was hardl_y a hamlet. with a few straggling
houses and scarcely no trade; and l3oston, now the great

metropolitan city of all New En-gland. with palatial Ware»-
_ houses and numerous lines of travel and modes of industry

and schools of art, but a small trading village so far re-
moved from the ways and thoughts of the ,§;“l*ezi1t\&7<:)1*lcl as
to’ be as much out of mind as it we  out of sight! Ap-
pendix, E]. 1 i ;

But now observe one most important aspect of 2Lti”a.i1's.
Rough, unsightly, hardly reclaimecl from the wilderness
as" the Whole country Was, ignorant as the people in marry
respecfts, rude as were their lives, one lesson was being
most thoroughly learned; learned, doubtless, as it has
been learned by no other people on the fatte of the earth---~
the lesson namely of self—-reliance, of selt'-gove1'n1ne11t. Of
the harcly Ar1glo—Saxon stock, or they would not have been
here; deeply imbued in the religious faith in its severest
form of their old home in England; bringing with them
across the seas the heroic virtues of their English and Pu-
ritan ancestry, but cut oil’ by a Wide and stormy ocean from
all intimate conne;x:ion with the "' mother country” (or the
”f2zz‘/z.e?7'~l21nd,”  now in German fashion we have learnt to
say); thrown on their own‘ resoiwces; forced by circum-
stances to think, to act, to legislate for themselves ;--——our

8

sturdy forefathers were learning in the school of hardship
to stand alone, beginning to throw ofl? many of the hamper»
ing ways of worship to rank, of blind observance of custom
which would have clung to them doubtless if they had staid
at the old home; learning many of the mysteries of that
great art of government which heretofore was supposed to
be entrusted to the hands of a heaven—born few; and to be
exercised only by heads which had received a special unc-
tion from above. Happy then the zaxflds which brought
them this favored knowledge I Blessed the calamities, the
hardships, the rough and t111att1*aC§tive lives which conveyed

to them and their descendants the glorious revelation from .

which such mighty results were to come.

I must not dwell on such points tempting as they may be.
Sufficient if we observe them in passing; I must come,
without delay, to what more particularly concerns us as
citizens or friends of this particular town. y

About the time to which we have been adverting, about
A. D. 1738, or a little before, the inhabitants of the East
Precinét of Lancaster were beginning to feel that the
clothes of early childhood were rather too tight a tit, and
could be patched and extended no more 5 that they must
have an entirely new suit; that they could no longer, every
first day of the week, take the winding "Bay road ”’ over
Wattoquottoc hill to attend meeting on Lancaster Old Com-
mon (where the meeting-house then stood) y;----so they com-
menced the movements of secession, began the work which
Berlin and Hudson afterwards repeated towards Bolton.
But why should I tell the story for them. when they are so
well able to tell it for themselves? Here, then, I open
their record-book, and copy portions of the statements I
find there. Wotilcl that I could copy them in a l"1211’1d.'-VVI'lt-
ing as splendid as that of Jacob Houghton their first town
clerk -----—a hand--writing which if it were reproduced in our

modern Houghton School in competition for a prize would pl

surely carry off‘ the palm I

A GRANT OF THE TOWNSHIP OF BOLTON.

WHEREAS the Southeasterly part of the town of Lancaster, is cornpe»
tently filled with inhabitants who labour under great difficulty by reason
they live very remote from the place of public worship, in said town; and
having addressed this court that they may be set off, a distinct and sepa-
rate township, whereunto the inhabitants of said town by their vote have
manifested their consent : — Be it therefore enacted by his Excellency the

Governour, Council, and Representatives in General Court assembled and

by the authority of the same, -—-~—

That the easterly part of the town of Lancaster be and hereby is set off
from said town of Lancaster and erected into a separate and distinct town—
ship by the name of Bolton [Appendix, F], according to the fol_1owing;
bounclaries, viz: N ortheasterly upon Harvard, 1?.aste1'1y..upon Stow, South-
easterly upon Marlborough, Southerly upon W€StlD()rOL1g‘lt1, and Westerly
upon Lancaster, By a line running near a South and North point parallel
with the West line of said township of Lancaster at four miles distance
therefrom. Agreeable to a vote of the said town passed the first day bf
March, 1735. ”

And that the inhabitants thereot'_be and hereby are vested with all those
powers, privileges, immunities that the inhabitants of other towns within
this province are or otrglit by law to be vested with.

Provided that the said town of Bolton shall be liable and subject to the
payment of their proportionable part of the town of I..ancaster‘s province
tax, and County tax for the present year, as t1ic>t1gl1 they were not by this
act separated from it.

In the House of Representatives June 2 3rd, 1738.

Ordered that Mr. john Whitney, a principal inhabitant opt" a new town,
lately erected out of the town of Lancaster, in the county of Worcester,

be, and hereby is, fully authorized and impowerecl, to assernhle the F ree-

holders and other qualified voters there, as soon as may be, in some con-
venient place in said town, in order for their choosing a Town Clerk and
all other Town Officers, to stand tillthe Anniversary l\r'Ieeting: of said town
in March next.
Sent up for concurrence,
V J. QUINCEX’, Speaker.
In council, June :27, 1738, Read and Concurred,
J. WII.I.,A1{I), See‘:-y.

Consented to. y r J. I5sr.emz.a.
Copy examined, just.-HI WI1.LA.1tI), Seer-‘y.
Per order, O

Jacos I-Iouoatos, Town Clerk.

IO

August I4, 1738.
I have executed the within order aecorcling to due manner and form.
’ ‘ “ jom: Vt/'1-11T:<Ex*.
Per orcler, .
%].xco1: H<..>U(;11'1‘o:<, Clerk.
l3o.I...T(:>:~:, August, 14th. 1738.
The inhabitants of said town being met at the house of Mr. Thomas
Saw_\'e1' made choice of ]A.\n_~:s l<ZI=:\'I«:s to be their Moderator.
1. jA(:on HCJUGI-1T(_)1\‘ was chosen Town C1e1'l~; and Sworn.
They voted to choose five Select men.
. '.1"he_v chose. J.~xc:<_m l“l()U(.'xI-I.'l‘ON, j.~\m<:s I{.£«:yI+:s, l*I1~::\'m'" I~IouGHTo.\*,
jor-IN I;’.aII=:s'1‘, and CAM‘. ](§)I\’A..‘_5 1¥—I<.,)U(;I~1.'ro.\*, Select men.
4. T hey chose I).-Wm VVI~~II']1.'(;.7(..)M1%,, Constable and he was sworn.
5. They chose _](l)SIAI-ll .1~’{Ic.:1mm>s<:>:\*, and VVILLIAM l*:I:2Y.}"£S, Surveyors
(in the original, spelt, Su1'vai1‘s.j) of I~'ligl1\w'a_\'s, and they were sworn.
'- _IAM1‘-ZS I{1::3:'Izs, Moderator.

L») L)’

Per 01'cle1'_, _I.A.c:o1_;; I—l<.)ttt;m'o:~:, Clerk.

Having now got our sl1ip oft‘ the stocks and fairly
launched; or, as We are speakitig of an inland town—-~—i11—-
asrnuch as we have harnessed up our team. oiled the wheels,
taken on the load, and sta1"tec.l for the journey ;——1*e1na1'k-—
ing the while, what a lioiig stretch of road lies between us
and the terminus of our travel, We see it will not do to em-
ploy ox, or even liorse--poweia, but must spring into a sort
of locomotive balloon,to1* some other fl:y'l1“1g111£1Cl‘1l11@, and
skim along with it as if, lllgll upborne in air, We were send-
ding with the clouds over the face of a continent. As, in
the brief time allowed me for so long a wo1*l«:, to men-—
tion names or describe individuals conneéted with important
proceedings, or at any rate inaiiy Ofth€i‘I1:1,Wlll be out of
the question; or to Verify statements by giviiig dates, or
making ext1*aC.ts f1“on1 the books will be equally so, I shall
not often make the attempt, happy if I can but so much as
touch the rnore signiticanteras and events. [Appenc1ixG-—].

Bolton, then, is now started as a separate township ;, and
after its p1'i1na1*y meeting for o1*gz111izatiot1, its first care was
to set about building a meeting-liotise (town and parish in
those days were p1*etty much the same thing, or, in other

AII

words, the town was the municipality considered in its civil
and political aspetft, while the parish was the same munici-
pality in its relations with reqligious faith and ecclesiastical
organization); i

It would take much more time than you would be Williiig
to allow to attempt a11_Ytl1lI1‘£3‘ like a full account of the meet-
ings, the CO11Sld€1'l”11g'S, the 1'eco11sicle1-ing;s, the votes, the
counter Votes, to which the movement gave rise. Human
nature was not so ditlierent then "from What it is today; or

from what it was in the g1*eat Sa‘vior’s clay; nor were the
town meetings of one hundred and thirty years ago so un-r

like those of A. D. I876; nor the then yotitig town of
Bolton so dissirnilar from its modern clist1‘iciit of No. 8, as it
was a few Weeks ztgo, No. :2, as it is now in the present
year of grace. It  enough then to say, that while on the
question of lmilcliiig a new11ieeti11g~lic>t.1se there was no dis-
pute, on the point Where it should stand there was much
diversity of opinion and feeliiigg one party see1'11i11g' to
think that only on this mountain———-—this little knoll -—-—— could
the Father be worshippecl, while another part_y, with equal
earnestness, contended that solely at some small Jerusalem,
a trifle nearer ltome, c>L1g;l1t men to Worsliip. The question
was purely one relating to locality, and had no reference
Whatever to matters fl1.1\'('")l\i’l1"l,‘.§3,‘ 1*eligg;ici3t1s cloé”t1*i1r1e or ob-
servance.

pHurnan strit'es, however, like all other ll.1Vl13g'S human,
must have an end; so that at letigtli it was settled where
the new sttt1éitt11*e should be placed, viz. : just this side of
where now runs runs so that all may’ read) our now flour»-
ishing Lancaster R. R.; just, this side of’ where quite

A, recently stoodour old scliool-l‘1ouse No. I. where now
stands the picfturesque station—house of the railroad afore--A

said, so much admired by all travellers to and froin tlie

Tunnel. [Appendix, II].

What sort of a house it was n1t1_Vl:)e inferred from one or
two votes l1ax*ir1g retierence to it. or <;liscussions concerning

it of which we find record. Thus from time to time com—-
mittees were chosen "' to seat the meeting-house,” as it was
called, i. e., to assign seats where clifferent families or indi-
viduals should sit. Need I add that this was most difiicult
and delicate duty to perform; and that the heart-burnings,
and jealousies, and small griefs that followed were legion.
Mr. A. felt that his velvet smalls should not have been as-
signed to that knotty pitch-«pine board; Mrs. B., the
’squire’s, or the store-—keeper’s wife, that her last new linen
dress, fresh from England, the envy and admiration of the
whole town,‘ should not have been buried in obscurity
under the gallery stairs 5 and the widow C. was justly indig-
nant that her becoming weeds were tucked away on a back

seat where they would be completely out of sight. So it

happened that the unhappy committee for seating the house,
after performing their duty could sometimes not find a seat
obscure enough nor dark enough wherein to hide their
diminished heads; but had to " take it,” as the boys say,
all round. i"Witl1 the most ardent wishes to please and
endeavors to lIl12llZM(3I1Cl,” they but seldom succeeded; too
often making the sad mistake — not unknown even in these
virtuous times—-—-of allowing money bags to preponderate

over everything else, while a thousand other little vanities, ~

male and female, so liable to beset "poor human natur,”
weighed in the balances flew up highly, and kicked the
beam.

Such was " seating of the meeting-house,” one indication
of the times. Another we find in the question, which‘
comes up in“town meeting, shall the meeting-house be
plastered on the inside, when it is decided, after some dis-
cussion, thatit shall not be ; and many years after that, We
get ‘perhaps a larger glimpse of the condition of things, of
the occasions which awakened the interest of people, when,
on the eve of an approaching ordination, a committee is

appointed in town meeting to shore up the galleries that r

they may be able to withstand the great weight of the

I3

throng, from far and near, Within the compass of thirty

miles or more, which it is expected on that day will fill
them.

The old meeting-house to which these remarks have
reference, stood (some ninety years ago) on the little
knoll just this side of the railroad crossing on the Ber-—
lin road; but at length, about I790, it began to show
signs of decay and insecurity; and the town too began to
feel ambitious of a la1'ge1* and more siglt1tly st1*L1t‘E"tt11'e. We
must pass the time with barely a glance. The former pro-
cess‘ is repeated, Articles appear in the town warrants,
shall a new meeting—-house be built? and the question is
discussed forth and back, with much feeling, and no little
debate is stirred up as to whether one should be built at all,
and as to where it should standwhen built; till at length
this time all were united in rather a novel and L111e;x:pe4E'tecl
way. On a certain Sunday afternoon in the dog'~<:lays,
when the minister was in the midst of his af'ternoon”s ser-
mon, and the drowsy members of the congi-eg*z1tic>11 had
composed themselves coinfortablyii to their seveal naps, a

tempest which had some time been gz1tl1e1'i11g suddenlyt

burst forth in fury, the black clouds llltlllg low overhead,
the storm pelted, the llglltlllllg flashed, the thunder
growled,ta11»cl a powerful gust s})1*i11gi11g up at the same
time, so that " the corners of the house were shaken as
with a rushing 1nigl1ty wind,” the timbers of the eclifice
cracked and groaned like the ribs of a ship when strt1g--

gling in the sea and btlfliettecl by the waves. Wome11
screamed and fainted, and men and boys, glad of the

chance, scuttled out at the door. , ,
The moral eflect in the change of feeling, in the recon-
cilement of discordant views, was all that could be hoped
for. At the next town ineetixig, a vote to builda new
house was procured without ditliculty, and thus arose the
strucfture in which we are now assembled, finished and

dedicated in 1793,; remodelled in 1844 -;1 and let me add--

I4

though repaired at intervals since then, and its whole style
changed, never re—shingled-—-nor needing it from that day to
this. A commentary, this fact, on the solid, faithful work

of those times-—a commentary no less significant on the.

character of the contraetors and builders.

Wisliiiig not to mix up topics, I have passed by one, an
interesting one, having an important bearing on the future
history of the town, in order to give it such place by itself
as time will allow. The settlement of a minister, a matter
of far more grave import in those times of less light and
knowledge, but deeper religious sentiment, than now; an
event preceded by examinations and fasts and other observ-
ances, and enlisting a vastly wider range of syiripzttlietic
interest than a modern call and settlement. It is a topic
too large for anything like proper consideration on such an
occasion as toclztfs, and not suited for a gatlriering such as
brings us together. I take it up in its local aspeet exclu-
sively, and shall pass it as rapidl_v as I can. i

Q\uite as important as-“shoultl they build a meeting-house,
was the question should they settle a minister; In due
time -—i— after having its app11op1*iate share of town meetings,
and anxious and sometimes heated ctliscussion, to say noth-
ing. of eo11fe1*ences with neighboring ministers, together
with fasts and so on, and long hearing of the candidate~————
the question appears to be settled, and Rev. Mr. Thomas
Goss (they could hardly, in those days, give the minister
too n1a11_v verbal inanifestatiolis of 1"espetԤt, or too much su-
gar in his tea) was invitedto take charge of the Bolton
church and parish. But this, so far as the call was con-
cerned, though it appears to be the end of the matter, was
not in point of fact the Conclusion. Though at a meeting

" heldDec. 15, 174.0, the tovm had chosen Mr. Thos. Goss

to be their minister, and had voted that '” if the gentleman
called to the work of the 111i1j1i.st1'_v do accept the call, and
upon ezxtainiiiatioii by the ministers of the gospel do appear

to be ortliodox; and clualitied for the pastoral office, then to

E

15
have the sum of £380 in old tenour settlement, or that which
is equivalent to it” [Appendix, I], and though it had been
voted at the same meeting, to give the candidate as a
“ stated sallery, to be paid yearly, £170 in bills of the old
tenour, to be regulated by Indian corn at8s. per bushel, and
Rie at IOS. per bu., and Beef at 6 pence per 1b.,” it
seems, nevertheless, even after having got so far, the people

i could not agree, and the proceedings of the iiieetings just

referred to were set aside as not legal 5 and another ‘meet-
ing was held on the 3d Feb., 1741, at which another lyeriocl
of probation was assigned-to the candidate _; and it was de-
cided on to hear two other canclidates, viz. : Mr. Belcher
Handcock and Mr. Ebenezer Gay. Meantime Rev. Mr.
John Prentice of Lancaster, the Rev. Mr. ls ‘eel Loring of
Sudbury, and the Rev. Mr. john Garclner of Stow were
called in for advice and counsel. The story is a loiig and
wearisome one, and I cut it as short as possible. ‘ After" ad-
ditional pro'ceedings, 1ni;x'ec,l up with other z1fl"ai1*s, the town
got so fen‘ ztgztiii on May I9, I741, as to raise the sum of
£120 "for a rninister’s rate,” and on _]une 71211, I741, at a
town riieetiiig then held, at which Mr. Jacob li“‘IO11gl11ZC>11 was
moderator, it was put to vote whether " the town would
«choose by lott for a ininister.” It passed in the negative;
and then it was voted ( I quote the exaet words) " that Mr.
Thos. Goss should be the minister of the town by 4.4, votes

7 qualified by law.” £400 in bills of old tenour were then

voted to him for his "encoi11‘z1ge111e11t and settlement ;” and

-£180 in bills of old tenour or passable bills of credit for

“ stated sallary.” Sept. Ist, I741, finds the town again in
town meeting to hear Mr. Thomas Goss, his answer, and
for other business._ After prayers, the business proceeded,
and,Mr. Goss’s answer was read and put on file, a commit-
tee chosen to wait on Mr. Goes to " know his mind, when he
inclines to have his ordination,” and who should be sent for
to assist, &c., &c. i ,

It is to be presumed that Rev. Mr. Gross knew his mind

. i

16

after these long delays, and that the ordination was held in
due form and observance, with the usual accompaniments
of feasting and (truth compels me to add) of drinking
which belonged to the times; but I find no account of
them.

At a town meeting held March ,i2d, I742, establishing a

. school for the whole town near the meeting—-house 3 thank-

ing Capt. Osburn for what he had been pleased todo for
the town _; other votes not to plaster the meeting-house, and
to choose a committee to divide the pew ground and seat
the meeting-house; and to accept and allow certain ac-
counts for providing for the ordination, we may consider it
passed at that time, and that the minister has duly entered
on his course and engaged in his worl«:. .
Years roll on, the seasons come and go ; sp1'i11g—ti1ne at?-
ter spring—~time sees the leaves form, and the blossoms
diffuse their fragrance on the air, and harvest after harvest
gathered; these are years, to a1',>pearance, of prosperity;
new households are fo1’1ned:, children are born and die;
and many others, after a protraéfted sojourn, and “lives
more or less useful, go to their long home———-~and where
were they? We take just a hasty general glance. as the
View dissolves before our eyes; and we pass on to sorne-~
thing else. A i .
Imagine much said that has not been said, and told that
has not been told; iinagine some tliirty years or so
passed’ over, and that we are now in A. D. 1770. [Appen-
dizx,  A very great change has come over their dream
in this town and every town throughout the land +—in New
England and in all the original colonies. Thoughpthey
know it not, they are in the birth—-throes of a nation; they

are preparing to drop ———ripe or unripew--~fro1ni the parent

stemp The deeper woes of unhappy Boston have begun,
her committee of correspondence are '7 in communication
with sister towns throughout the province and country;
and rthey,ifor ,,;’Cl1(‘5 most part, are in earnest sympathy with
her. i i

I7

In the endeavor to keep topics distinct, and disentangled ,

from political questions and agitations, however much
mixed up as for years and years afterwards they were
in point of fact, I shall for a moment continue on this
purely local affair, till it can properly be dismissed. In
the town records many a page is given to it. I cles_ire to
dispose of it inas many lines. l

" Patriot” and " Tory.” were not then recognized as dis»

, tinct terms, as they were afterwards, nor were persons so

designated arrayed the one against the other. But the dis-
turbances, the feelings, the political events had begun out

iof which were evolved the two great parties which after-

wards might be distinguished by those words.

The minister whose coming was prepared for with so
muchelabo *ation, with such ta1<:.ing of counsel, with prayers
and fastings, and who was received with such large cordi-
ality, had lost his hold upon the good will and support of
most of his people; lost it, said his enemies, because the
spiritual influence by which he was moved was supposed
to come more from the still than from the heavenly spheres ;
lost it, said his friends, because the views he took and
maintained of ministerial,  well  of royal, prerogative,

were entirely unsuited to the temper of the times, and the

great movement which was everywhere in the air. Wliat
measure of truththey either of them had in the allegations
made on either side, we will not now tal<.e upon us to de-

cide. Sufficient to say the minister was jealously watched ;~
occasions of offence and stones of stumbling, and enough

of them, were speedily discovered (as at such times they
generally are) 3 and then commenced a quarrel anda con-,—
troversy which lastedfor years, and left its impress on the
affairs of the town, on thegenerations born and to be born.
Meeting after meeting was , held, council after council
called (five in all), pamphlet written in answer to pamphlet,

jlawsuits instituted, committees chosen. to defend, moneys

to pay expenses voted 3 feelings became deepliy embittered,

I8_

fathe1"s agaiiist sons, 1”l10tl'1L;‘1‘::’3-lI1-l£1\V £tg&ll1‘1St cl2mghte1*s-i11-
law, fzunilies sepztrzttecl from fz11nilies.e But ztfteiflzt while
the disinission of the 11’1lI1lSlZt.‘1',_SO obnoxious to £1 majority
of the society, is procuifecl, and ztnother 1ninister, Rev. John
Walley, duly installed in his place. This event, tsoefa1*
from pouring oil on the troubled waters, ratlier stirred them
to redoubled Commotion. The town is cliviclecl now, not
onlylinto Wliig zmcl Tory, but into Gossites £111C.l Wz1lley~
ites; The latter holclthe elitireli, l12lVL‘ p1'ez1el1i11g there,
£111CliCO11Sl(le1" tlieinselveai the legztl pzu*isl'1; while the foriner
——-the Goissites—~—ttcl11e1'i11g to the old ininister, meet £11: 21

private house ---thztt now <;i>eeupiecl by the Ho11nz;tn fzunilyi

———~zL11cl lizwe 1)1‘eztel1iiig there. Froin I770 to 127812, alo11g—
side with political 21fli1i1's,, m.i;\:ecl up with them C()I1tl11l12Llly,
c1*»oppi11g out every now zmcl then, in the most “L111C3XpOL'Ii’C(;‘Cl
n1z.m11e1‘,.wl1en one 111lg'lt‘1t suppose it all over, the contest
continued,t like an ztdiiitive Volezmo pou1*ing fortli its cloud of
smoke and 1‘olli11g down its lloocls of lztwt; ztncl, 21$ 21 hz.1lf
eXtineitvolea11c>, it Contiiiuecl to burn till I78:2,Wl‘1L;‘11 Mr.
Goss is cleztcl, and Mr. WzLlle_y* halts taken 21 (llS11”1.l.SSl€)11, left
the town, and 1‘C31'1'10'V(‘2ClU2)-I{C)Xl”J1.11‘y.,‘Cl1(3 hoine-ol’11is fzunily.

The etlieeitsi of this CQ11t1“C)VC1‘Sy, which for the clay of it t

was one of the 1'I1OSlI iiiiportztnt in New Eriglztiicl, were long
felt, not only here in this, but in all the 1ieigl1bo1‘i11g towns.
Tiineztllows only this geiieml :3k:etel"1. ,

~ Wheii Mr. Goss died, his f1‘ie1:1cl:3, ziinoiig whom were the
11€lgl1b01’l11g 111i11i$te1"s, tt1111t>st to .:1 1112.111, e1*eeftec1 to this me1n—
ory 21 monument, sti.llstz1ndi11gi11t our Soutli bt11'yi11g-—-g1*oL111c1,
inscribed in elzissieal Latin ztncl lz1ucl21to1'y terms, with their
tsenseof "‘ the 111El11y'Vl1‘-tL1€3'S both private and public” with
which they supposed him "21clo1'1"1ecl;” ~ When Mr. Watlley
died at Ro:x:bury, Zlllttle while a1fte1"w.:u*cls, he left to the

Bolton parish to which he hacl niitnisterecl 3; small legacy," V

the go'otd“'e'fi’e’€ts of which we still receive in Bibles, a11d
.»other good books, throwing light on the S£lC1‘€*(.l word. The
- idivilcleel secftions of the town, the Gossites and the Walley-

I9

ites, came together again, signed their old covenant, and
became anew one church and society. Wltll the general
cessation from strife in the country at la1*ge, came the local.
Discord had done its work ; and now Peace reigned in her
stead; but not until’ a plentiful harvest had been gathered
from the dragon’s teeth. Happy if the growth from that
thistle seed then sown in Bolton soil has been w11oll_y:eXti1*—
pated since’! [Appenclim K].   »
-As has been stated,t1natters pe1~tz1i11i11g to the political

movements of the period are curiously blended with the.

Goss controversy; and one unacquainted with subsequent
history, and takiiig his ideas from the .l3olton books, would
often be saclly puzzled to tell which of the two were the
more important. ~ l . '

ii That Bolton was sti*o11gly on the patriotic side we find

the evidence conclusive ; that she early 1‘11ii1glecl in the fray
we find evidence just as conclusive; but who of her sons
actually armed for the cc>11l‘lii‘§t and wentto the front is more
diflicult to discover. «[aAppe11cli:x:l,'ili..].  a §;‘€i11Q1‘2T1l tlliiiig
careful lists do not appear to have been l<';C]'_i)ti1.1tl1OS(3 dzglysrg
and one searching our .l.)ocf>l<:s;is ahle to find nowliere a
record of those who served in the ariny. An app1*<.j>xi1m1te
list of that description -—-—if' ever made —--—-will have to he re-
covered as it can be froini fainily traditions, 2111Cl.SL1C;l‘l~()1:l1(i:1'
methods as inay be open. [:A.ppCl'1,(llX., L]. i

The first local inclictation of the great storm which was (

soon to spread over an entirecosinic hclnispliere, and bur_y
in glooma continent, we find in such record as the follow-~
ingi: " The freeholders and other! inhabitaiits of the town
of —Bolton are requiied, in his ‘M2:t_jest_j’s: 11an'1e, to meet at
the 1neeti11g—11ouse on lVIc>11<lzty, 21st of May, 1770,” totsee
(among other questions. one of which relates» to the Goss
‘clifl*icultiesf) whether they will "" abstain from tea and ot1'1e.r
British Goods iinported ctontrary to the agreeineiit cf the
merchantsiof the-townol’ I3z::>ston; and topziiss suchvote
or Votes rel, tliereto as the town shall thinl<:. proper.’.”i

20

Accordingly, when at the date mentioned a town meeting ~
was held, John Wliitcoinb, Esq., moderator, and on the A

second article the vote was put, " would they abstain from
tea and other British Goods?” it passed in the aflirmative
very unanimously ; T and Mr. Caleb Richardson, Col. john

,Wl1itco1nb and Capt. Samuel Nourse were chosen a com"-

mittee to prepare a written vote to that ef’t‘ec”t—+— doubtless to
be transmitted to Boston. Their written vote reads : Voted,
" We highly approve of the conducԤt of the merchants of
the town of Boston respecting the non-importation of Brit-
ish Goods; that we will none of us, under any pretence

whatsoever, purchase one single article (“except in a case

of absolute necessity) of any merchant or trader that has
imported goods contrary to the agreement of the merchants
of the town of Boston; and that we shall esteem such pur-
chasers enemies of their country, and not fit to be employed
in any business of importance. Voted, further, that we
will abstain from the use of all foreign teas ourselves, and
that we will not sutlier it to be used in our families, until the
whole of the late revenue aéfts are repealed. Voted,
fourthly, that we will use our utmost endeavors to promote
industry, frugality, and our own Inanufaéltures as the most
likely means to save our country from slavery, and secure
a lasting inheritenee to our posterity.” i
There is more to the same highly interesting eifeéit. The
ball is now fairly set a-rolling, and blow after blow is given
to it by the i sturdy players, till the game is brought to its
most exciting stage; and long before they were fully
aware of the real significance of their aéts and of what
they were about, they found themselves plunged into the
fearful contest with the mother country, and engaged in
the tremendous struggle to become a free and independent
people.  T 3 _ M T
r The votes just quoted, you observe, were passed in I770.
Allow four years more to pass, and we find the town in
town meeting assembled again in aétion relative to essen-

tiallv the same or similar matters. This time a more formal

report isito be made and a more elaborate document pre-

pared. and Mr. Caleb Richardson, Col. John Wliitcoinb,
Capt. r Samuel Baker, _Capt. Samuel Nourse, and Mr.
Joshua Johnson are the co1n—rnitt'ee to prepare it; two of
them, however,—-—- Capt. Samuel Nourse and Mr. Joshua
Johnson--——do nottsign it. The date is March 7th, I774---
a little more than a year before the battle of Lexiiig-ton and
Concord. It is quite 21 studied argument in justification of
the movements and opinions of the times, in short a sort of
forerunner of the immortal declaration. written evidently
With painstaking, and occupies three or four pages of
foolscap size in a small hand. To quote any considerable

portion of it is of course out of the question. A single i

passage of a few lines will give the flavor of the whole :---
“As to the assertions advanced it goes on to say), that
upon the Provincial Plan of taxation there would be ”f/2z_;z5c—
rirmz in I/2zj>ctw'o,’ a Supreme Governrnent within a Supreme
Government, we think is not stating the fzlcit 1'ig11t; we
always aicknowleclgiiig the authority of the British I5’arlia-

ment (without laeiiig involvecl in thorn) within their just;

limits, and suppcise they have lhll right and power (without
us) to lay a tax ot" IOS. or any other sum) on every’ lb. of

tea before it goes over the capstian of any wharf in Exiglaiid t
for exportation, and the purchaser beixig there-—--wherei

such law takes e1‘l”ec‘t——— must submit to it. But we hurnbly
conceive there may be lzzzgficrwzzxvz _;§;rcz'er lmgérsmfzmz, a
government besides and clistinéit f'ro1n another, if said gov-
ernment respect dirtll-:rent places and constitutions, although
one of the same Branch (Sovereign ,1'1'1€€£1I1lZ) beat the head
of both Constitutions ;”«~—~a1-icl so on and so forth much far-
ther. As to tea"s going over the capstan‘ of at wliarf in
England or anywhere else, we suppose ai11_yiseat'ari11g‘per~
son‘ in the audience would see the clifl'iculty and needless-
ness of that operation; but We let that pass. a s

VVe cannot follow the local history along step by step;

'7'”)
an-.4

there is too much of it. We will but state that we find
notes like these, Viz. : one that "" the selectmen be impow-
ered to lcolileét, procure and transmit to our friends of
this town in the a1*111y, such rprovision as they shallfind
necessary ;” another, that the _" town approves of the
proceedings of the selectmen in their furnishing non—com-
missioned ofiicers and soldiers with blankets ;” a third,
instructing the constables " to pay the rates in their hands
(in other WO1‘ClS, funds from the collecitioxi of taxes), not to

“Harrison Gray, Esq.. the old treasurer under the royal

government, but to Henry Gardner, Esq., treasurer under
the new regime. s

Time rolls on, months pass, and a little more than a year
after the action of the town last referred to, the British
expedition moves out from Boston, and the continuous bat-
tle of Lexington and Concord is fought, April 19th, 1:775.

VVhether any Bolton men were in it or not, I have never

learnt. Certain it is, no Bolton coxiipaiiy was there. The
late John Barnard of Dorchester, son of the Dr. Barnard
(who as a zealous adherent of Mr. Gross and espousing the
unpopular side in the politics of the period then and some
time afterward figured in our annals"), was then liviiig in

‘town, a boy in his father’s family, born on the spot where

my own residence now is. He died not many years zgxgo. l
was well acquainted with him. He once or twice men-—
tioned to me his reminiscences of that €V'(i§1'1t‘f1.1l day. How

he was gathering tire--wood at the foot of a rock in a neigh-

boring pasture. how he heard the clatter of the horse’s
hoofs, as a inessenger g;alloped into town shouting an alarm,
how on hearing the outcry which this occasionecl, he left
his work and rushed down into the street to ascertain the
cause ; and that he saw much of the arniing and equippingl
and hurrying away which followed. There were other
reminiscences of the day. The late Oliver Nourse, who

died among us, a very old 7man, in I855. father of our re-

s edftecl fellow-citizen, Drwid . Nourse, once, Linnincrlv,
I'D ..

23

told me he had one reminiscence of the day he could not
very easily lose sight of, yiz. : that on the morning in ques-
tion, by an accident in the Wood-—shed. he hurt the sight of
one of his eyes -——- an accident he bore the marks of as long
as he lived.

We are now brought down to the year I776, the year the
centennial of which We particularly celebrate, the year of
the IMMORTAI. I)i«:<.vI_;Ar<<i«\.'1*1c>1~¢. In fair and readable, but
not particularly handsome writing it is recorded on the town
records. VVltl1C)1.1lI introduction of any sort, in the inidstof
other matters of petty concernment relating to the locality,
on the stained and decaying page dropping to pieces with
age, there it stands; but as impressive in its homely guise,
as big with fate. as rich in thought, as grand in its simple
but elegant pl 'ase, as it" inscribed in the Capitol of the
Nation on tablets of shining brass, or, on the held of some
eventful struggle, on a inonurnent towering to the skies.
“Who can read the I..)ia:<.éLA1m_'1‘Io1~: and not feel the weight
and soleinnity of its powerful cliéition, and the force with
which it announces truths once new and startling, but
which are now the accepted and cherished principles of all
large and emancipated souls throughout the world. W110
can hear it read; fainiliar as it is, in every school-bool<., and

not be thrilled through and through with patriotic enthusi-~

asrn, and stirred to new ardor for the rights of man I

In those days of provincial feeling, when even themost
daring minds scarcely vexiturecl to contemplate so great a
thought as that of separation from Great Britain, and an
independent national existence for these remote colonies;
when so many everywlt1e1'e-——so many of the heretofore
1*espe6ted and 1*espec°table citizens of this town —--~ shrunk in
utter dismay bet"ore the prospect of a conflict in arms with
the .1nother icotiritifr, how must that 1)]-?3k2I.A.'I?{A'I‘ION have
fallen like a meteor from the skies into these quiet and
secluded shades! I think I can almost see the trembling
hands and the agitated face of the transcriber as he trans-

24

fers the sentences that shine like gold, but cut like steel,
to his books. I think I see the fathers of the town, with
anxious gaze and ‘bated breath gathering round to watch
him as he writes. (In those days it was much more a
Work of time to do so much writing than now, and the
copying, ve1'y possibly, took weeks for its accornplishrnent.)
The copyists, liow they look over their shoulders in sus-
picion and alarm, as if plotting some piece of outrageous
mischief, if any one approaches; how the book is closed
inhaste and trepidation if any stranger comes too near;
how the book for inany a long day afterwarcl is hidden
away with extra care, and ‘guarded with redoubled vigi-
lance l A C . ,
Copies of the document had been forwarded, without
doubt (after being passed upon in Congress), to all the
Massachusetts towns. On the books of Bolton we tind the
following record immediately tbllowing the declaration,
signed by the names of john Hancock, president; Charles
Thompson, secretary. Then  follows :———-“T” Ordered, that
the Declaration of Independence be iprinted, and a copy
sent to the ministers of each parish of exrery denomination,
and that they severally be required to read the same to
their respeéitive congregations as soon as divinesservice is

ended inthe afternoon, on the first Lord°s Dzty after they

shall have received it; and zifter such publication thereof,
to, deliver the said D1;(:I.,a.1;m.1*IoN to the Clerks of their
several towns, or clist1*i<i‘its, who are hereby required to
record the sanded in their 1*espe<‘ftive town, or clistrict, book,
thereto remain as 21 perpetual tneniorial.”

There itihas remained, on the books of this town, a
"' perpetual 1ne1norial_,"’ until this Centennial ye:-11' of grace,

1876; but there it cannot much lo11ge1' remain unless some-

thing be done to make more secureits p1*eservati<t>11.

I find nothing more of special interest relating to the

events of the time excepting what has already been recited.

The VV211‘ Went on, through all its V’-':'L1‘yiI1g phases, the sons

‘in

25

of Bolton, like other men good and true elsewhere, shed
their blood in it; its evils were felt here in care, distress,
impoverishment, as in other towns; scenes of Violence and
riot were enacted, as citizens of opposing factions, with
passions heated, met each other; till at length--——the long
and almost utterly exhausting struggle ogver~———-peace, smil-

" ing peace, was once more restored ; and here, as elsewhere,

people settled down, with all their political relations
changed, in circumstances of uncertainty, gloom and much
cloubtto the new order of things. g a A A

it I im.1st~overleap a period of something lil<:e'forty or fifty
years. A Commerce,meantime, has spread her ample Wings,

L though she has not as yet developeclthe new and gigantic

power which has r1‘€3C€11lCly'CO11‘1¢ into existence. Other
marvellous changes have been macle, wonderfuldiscoveries

in the arts and sciences are adopted; steam is introduced
, for travel on the land, and to a more limited extent on the

water ; other improvedgmethods of transportation have been
in use some time; the post oflice and the cheap postage

i system is thoroughly established and becomes one of our

most important and leading institutions; 11eWspa.pex's are
become a necessity of life; the whole art of living shows
a great advanceglin short, a~new_era has clawned, and

— made a considerable ad tance towards even its pe1"fe<‘5t day.

‘Political changes, quite asgrelatas have taken place
among us, have occurred in otherrealms and nationalities.

'With‘us, an elective President. has taken the place of an
"l1ereditary~ltKing. . Distint’§tio11s of rank are abolished, and
A though‘ the features of the landscape inay be the same as

they" were before. the whole order of society has been
almost altogetherireconstrucitecl.   The sto1‘y has been often
told and is familiar to usall. I shall not repeat it. Time

compelsto a rapid 7*czszz.xiz.c? of some of the leading events of i
’ this intervening pelriod. ,The purely local. “ones are those

onlyl shall notice, till once more we strike down for a mo-

_ mentary pause, for a few Words, before we close, relative to
ottrrecent ‘war of I86J:~—-~’65. , ’ l

26

Bolton, at the close of the war of thetRevolution, was
doubtless, relatively, more of a town than now. In cormnon
with other Massachusetts agricultural towns, it has under-
gone a process of dwindling and diminution, the causes of
which we cannot stop to explain. As yet Hudson was not,
nor for inany and many a year afteitwardsg Clinton was
not; Fitchburg, though existiiig as a township, was of no
importance, but like any other of our small countr_y towns ;
Berlin was a part of Bolton (its south precinct, though in
some respe<‘fts almost independent of Bolton even then);
and Lancaster, the mother town, was much nearer on the
same level with her daughter towns than at present. I
might go on, but must not dwell where so much else is to
be said. [Appendix,  g

It becomes discovered, as the country is explored and its
resources developed, its capabilities more exacftly ascer-

tained, that some of the great roads to parts of this and

contiguous states. must be laid through this region Where
We clvrell. These roads are construéted, inns and taverns
spring up all along the line ; a great inland trade in cattle,
sheep, horses and swine, Wooden ware, furniture and otlier
goods is developed, and for a season, mL1cl1pp1"ospe1*itj*,
depending on this trade, is erijoyecl along the route. I1n-
rnediately among ourselves some new kinds of business are
introduced. the comb manufacture from horn, the lime kiln

at the east part, which for many yezirs supplied all the ““

neighboring region with its lime. But with the introduc--
tion of railroads, and the opening of new lines of travel,
nearly all this prosperity~Was turned away from us, and
bestowed elsewhere. _

Meantime, too, let: us not fail to notice, with the intro-
ducftion of VVhitney’s cotton gin into the South, leading to  

such marvellous and unloolazed for results, socially and,

politically, the 1nanufac"ture of another kind of gin, with
kindred fluids, becomes much extended in New England,
and other parts of the cotixitx-y; and the» danger is becom-

U

ing every day more imminent that this nation of freernen
will become a nation of drunkards ; and the perception of
this danger, and the “dread of it, leads to one of the great-
est and most magnificent moral reforms the world has ever
seen; but, like storms in the natural world, it is accom-
panied with terrible convulsions, and while the general

. result is far extended and deep planted good for the whole,

the partial result is often, for individuals, suffering and loss.
Recalling to your recollection what was said in the
earlier part of this address relative to ‘controversies and

‘troubles which had arisen between ininister and people,

and changes which had occt11“1'ecl,b1*ot1gl1t about by the
march of events and the great political convulsion which
had been passed through; let us look around us, and see
where we are at about A. D. I825, or a little before, or a
little afljel‘. In 1780, Mr. Goss, the first minister, died;
and with him died, as a separate organization, the little body

‘of his ” adherents.” lvflr. Walley, his successor, considered

by most the legal minister of the town, soon afterwards
took. a dismission; and in I782. the two divided portions
reunited, and formed anew one church and society. Rev.
Phineas VVright, a native of Westford, was the next minis-
ter, remaining at his post some fifteen or twenty years, and
after a quiet, and on the whole, prosperous service, cl_vii1g
here while still minister of the parish. I:*le was followed
b_v‘Rev. Isaac Allen, from VVeston, good old man, father
indeed in, the spirit if not in the flesh, who also lived and
died among you, reiiiaiiiiiig forty years, through a period
which many of you freshl__v reniernber, but of which we
cannot now pause to speak more particularly. [Appen-

.dix,iN].

We pass on to say that, about A. D. 1826 or ’7, a new
re1igious,socie,t_v, claiming to hold more closely to the faith

of the Fathers, W£lSrfO1'11f1€Cl. under the special auspices of

the late S. V. S. VVilder, an influential and wealthy citi-
zen, who then, and years before and after, lived among us,

28

e.\:e1'cisi11g a princely liosrpitztlity, Tand who entertainecl at
his elegant abodethe beloved La Fayette when on his visit,

about thattiine, to the United States. Mainly .l)_V,,tl‘1tii.

instrumentality of our fellow-citizen just referred to, a spa-_
ciousand handsome church was built on the hill-side
within his estate, near the Lancaster line, a cor1g1‘egatio11
of goodly size frorn this and 11eigl1bo1*i11g towns gathered,
and a succession of pastors settled. Customs and tisztges
cliaiiging, however, with advancing tiiiie, its members,
finding; the a1*1‘a11ger11e11t inconvenient and dispersing into
other co11g1*egatior1s nearer hoine, the enterprise was aban-V»
doned, and for several years—forsal<en, dis1nan_tled, and
appropriatecl to other uses-4»-——i’ts edifice has stood, like one
of the romantic ruins of the old world, a momimeiitioii
that Vicissitude which belongs to all thingsil1t1ina11., One

of its 1*espetԤtecl pastors, whom many rejoice to see in our
asseimblies once more, is with us at this time, and Will,

participate in the observances of the day ere tliey close.
[Appendix, 0]. A i i

In 1832 the l3aptists, W'lI10 for several years had been A
a gifowing communion in-all the neigl1l3o1*i11g region, ,

organized in this town; 'and from that day to this, their

ministers and members have been aiiioiig our respec"ted

and useful citizens, cloiiig cordially'their appreciated good
work, for the temporal as well as spiritual welfare of our

community. Their gem of a church adorns our principal

thoroughfitre, and their 1*espe<Ԥtecl clergymati isrchairman
of our school committee, and is active in every enterprise
for the public’ benefit. [Appendix, P]. , ~

As to the Friends or (Quakers, their local history, it is
believed, is coeval or nearly so with the history of the
town. They, have produced some of the best inateriial for
usefulness, for promoting the general Welfare and that of
the rising generation we have ever had, "and raised some of
the best scholars that have adorned our schools.

About A. D. 1860 or ’61:, a Metliodist societyxvas formed

in town and maintained its established ministry, having for
their clergyman a young man who seemed to lrave the
hearts of his people, but who was early taken from” them
by death. Finding easy access to churches of their faith
in neighboring towns, they did not long continue their sep-
arate organization, but either formed ecclesiastical ties out
of town, or dispersed into other societies of this. In short,
one disadvantage has always attended us, this, namely, to
form a religious connection it is just as easy to go out of
town, in many instances easier, as it is to stay in. As
regardsthe general interests of the town, the result 0t this
condition of things, as may be supposed, is far from favor-

, able- [AppencliX, 

Till a very recent period, the town has never been with-
out one or more physicians, most of whom, according to
the ideas of their time, have been well read in their pr0-
fession, worthy of the respeel: and esteem of the community -;
and some of them, on account of tried and acknowledged
skill, in demand for their services in all the region round
about. [Appendi:r, R]. i ,

Lawyers have not locally flourished among us; but
Teachers have. Among them were 1nen who, in their later
career, adorned the bar, the pulpit, and the halls of learn-—

ing, but who, on taking their first start in the great Work

of life, wielded the ferrule or the birch, or ruled by milder
sway in our school-houses. A mere list of them would
occupy a large space, and if mace must be reserved for
another place. [Appendi:.x:, S].

About ‘A. D. I849, one of our citizens, who by the exer-
tions of an honest and industrious life had amassed a more
ample competency than usually falls to the lot of farmers,
on his death--bed left by will a large legacy to the town
($12,000), to be used for the establishment here of a high
grade» sphool, where such "' academic instruction” should
be given as the voters shduld decide on. Thuswas founded
the " HOUGIITON SCHOOL,” an institution which has gener-

 

30

e-rally prosperecl, Wlllcll ‘introdufcecl sa new-iancl' elevating
influence amongst us-, and which has done not a little
towardls forming the c11ara€ter‘ancl t‘t11'nishin5g with their
first mental outfit for the start in life most of the i_VoL1nge1*
portion of our icitizens, male and female, who have grown,
or are growing up, totaike their place in societg.i'l. [Appen-
dix,T].  ~ 

And at a period a little later, viz., in I856_.',a public
LIBRARY, free to all Ou1‘“in11a‘bitants, was set on foot, and
has continuecl steadily to ii11creaselsin<:e.~'Its healthful,
cheering and iinproving influence has been -felt througliout
our community, with old and y<)L111g, with male and female ;
and, as the years roll on, continuest to e:;*e1'ciseits kinclly
efi7e<5ts inore and more exteiisivelyi. [Appenclix, U];

h Tht1s,Vio111itti11g much I would cl1ee1't"1t1l1_V notice were
there time ; passing l)_VAWl’El1OL1iZ so muczli as a gla11z:e‘topic's
in themselves of interest and iinportance ; 1*L1sl1i11g over the
‘rail at a rate of Sp€{i‘Cl‘Wl1iCl1 ‘allows -l1a1'cl1‘_\;*s half a ininute
of speech to a~}'ea‘1* of local tl1isto1'_y; the ggliiiipses We ‘gain
of the lanclscape, as we lmiu-_v on, can neitlier be-very
minutely surveyecl by the  nor cleeply lixnpressecl in
detail for the meniory. t But, with _V<:m1* permission, inczlul-
gent friends, -I will fox‘ 21'111(..)11'1(f1Il1lf $;‘%l£?tCl(tf11'E;}})fl3t3Cl, and pause
for a while at‘ a place in our local history,*an<;l'in that zilso
of our whole people, of supli interest and ixnportztnce that
you» would not l‘C)1'gl\’€‘ me if I ‘ p2’1sse’cl it with barely an
allusion. '  l s t i t r ‘ ‘

The war of 1861-365, 11c)w‘\x'el1' wo1*th_”V of lneiiig 1*e1ne1n-
bered, and its lessons cleeplyliinpressed:on our souls I 'As
we have seen beforet. what “sons °ot"uBolton' servecl“in the
great st1*L1ggle -loft the Revolutiomin which our t'at1"1e1*s
engaged, we c:a1111o’t tell with a»<:c:1.11'ac:__V and p1'e’Cision ; wliat
scenes of service itliey" saw, \\il1(i‘lIl‘1(“3'1' ‘Bunker Hill,‘ with
PU’1‘.NAM_, ~P1u-.:sco'1"1‘, and VVIA.i<R1tNv; or Brandywine, iwith
LA F..u*1;'1‘1‘13 ;. or Rhocle‘ Island, with 4].:{OCI-IAl\I‘BI£AU _;, O1;

Trexiton, Pri'nCetonl t'i1'1iCl sYoi1*l«:t<iw11,. with  14 its (i'1‘o1”\*i ‘ and A

 

31

Lmcom: .~=;  Aiurlist of manners  it cz1ta1ogu«e= of"soldie~1*s,~ offic'ers~ *

and 1‘11('3~I1-«,'- 1‘atl1e1%sad to seq‘,ywasl.::r1:ot~»kept,ianclany omis-
sions in that way, if ever pelrtiallyrerneclied, can only be
supplied through,‘.defeétixt:e~trziditions z1l1'eady fadiiig. out,
and through such papers~ and reminiscences of persons and
families.as1nay chance. to be: recoverecl~.. V;[Appenclix,~V].-

The record of our ltas‘tigra«11cl«i struggle for’ National Life
-——-pfo1'-the great Ideas: and I11stitutiowns=w11i~el1 our fathers
establisl1edr—+—i-1'01‘ the Deliverance of those, once Bondinen.
but now our _Fellow—Citize11s' --—ttl1et, »th21nksv for everyl noble»
and grateful tho11gl1t.eo111i11g from 21l)O‘i-’4:3"., for benefits re‘-
Cei-.VeC1.Ii'*"€11a.$ been kept, a11cll«;:.ept with iiz1.fait11t"11l51*1ess wo1"lt1*1y
of all acknowleclgment. By the pious cztre of both our
national anclvstateigtoverrxinents, E1I1Clv?l)’_\'*"1Z*l“1‘€ ’(:)1‘1‘El‘11.1Sl‘c1S1ZlC
efliortsuof severalu of our most uble 21-ncl C1.1ltiV£-1’E€:‘Cl writers
aind.thinke17sp, we lmve the most elztbo ‘ate, tlfe most careful
and minute record of all relming to that most (:’V'€1'ltfL1l time.
All names, with pzirticulars, i1npa1*ti21lly'registered; every
poor soldier's graxre inarkecl, Whether in 11zitiona.l c.e1neter_y
or village cl1111'cl1~y2i11"cl; his nzune preserved on inurble tab-~
let or costly monument in hell or public sq11are~ ; his Widow
aissistecl, and his children not left unprovidecl for; ell this
and much 1no1‘e.p ‘ i l t - V

But I come to ourow-n more pe.rtic’L1l2u* zmcl local-p2u'tici-
pation in these ‘deep inemories. ~ VVl‘1€~11“‘lZl"lC‘ Wz11'ni11g Voice
of the great storm was l*l1*stl1ea1'clo; when the xiuiglity struggle
was about to beginj, W11-ioha, before it was en<:1ecl,W21s to
makefour million f'ree1nen out of tour miellion slaves; this

little. town, nestled ztgnong the l1ills,<‘”0bscu1'e and humble»

though it was, was not found either incliflierent or asleep.
Though .no.ttelegmp-11 poles dot -over «ourtroads, and no
trains roar, tl117oL1gl1 our Valleys, our *ne1‘Ves, nevertheless,
tingled z1s«qL1ickly as tl‘1ose« of 2111-3* more t'2fwo’recl Co111mu11ity
in the boclylspiolitio. . iWl1en' the 2l1l°2511‘111~iW2t*S‘SOL1I’1Cl@Cl in our
11_1oclern.st1‘eets,lz1s pr.omptl_y as ‘on the ev-entt7ul'I9tl1 April,

’7A6,»a~=l1u11cl1-ed‘ amt-l?-«11*1o1*e yez11*s ~21g~<:>,>:til1ose s-ui1n~:rnox1ecl were

32

found ready; and, leaving plough and last; hammer and
saw, tooktheir place —————-yes, and manfully maintained it—-—-
inthe serriecl ranks of war.

And when the call came again and yet again, with what
celeirity and zeal it was met! The teacher threw down his
books, the se.hool--boy tbrsook his desk, the farmer left his
plough a-field, the%Hudson shoe--hand forgot his facftory,
and turning back on home, on wife and children, on sweet»-
heart and‘ friencls, and all that was clear, liurried to the
fearful strife; which was to be "" the last of earth ”‘to how
rhany of them yonder tablets tell. A.l.‘l‘l1“lC€--’COlCIl tale, so
familiar in all towns, in all ears, I need not dwell on it at
length. '

Om’ boys could say-———~eaC:h one almost with a clitlerent
experience-——--—~"n1uch of this I saw, and part of this Iwas.”
The Peninsular, the Seven Dajys Retreat: we were there

with McClellan. The second Bull Run: we were there e

too, and some of our nun1ber never came baczk. F reder-
icksbnrg, Chancellorville, Gettysbttrg : yes, we heard their
thunders, and mingled in the tl1icl«:;est of their l*lghl,'fi'».t
When the bombs fell crashing into Forts Jackson and St.
Phirllip, when F arragut out the chain, and passed up the
river to N ew Orleans 3 xvhen, tied like a target to the mast,
he run the batteries and anchored his vessels in the laay of
Mobile,. we were there; She-rrnan’s lVIareh' to the Sea saw
us; and when the great earthquake throes (tame in the
Wilderness and aronncl Petersburg and Riehmoncl, with
our brave comrades from all over the land, we were found
ready“ to pour forth our blood, and yield up our lives. [Ap-.
pendix,  A

How much there was to signalize the great struggle, and

make it a‘ 1nost inte1'estingo, as well as zttTeéti11g, period in s

our annals! I wish I had: time to tell. Howl deeply our
Women were interested in it; how, all th1‘ougl1 the eventful
time, they met, week after week, to sew, to knit, to cook,

to; put upv hospital stores and other eo1:m‘.'orts for the dear r

33

absent ones, away and exposed to such hardships and
dfa‘,'fl'g€'1’S ; how package after package, and box after box
was sent by them to the Sanitary Commission, and thence
to the front at the seat of war. I might speak of distin-
guished citizens from abroad, like Dr. Loring, John C.
Park, Esq.,. and others, who visited us during thetime
referred to, and labored among us to keep the sacred fire
of patriotism burning brightly in our souls, and to stir up
the minds of our young men to enter our armies; I might
speak too of the dedication of the tablets which now grace
so proudly the neighboring hall. [Appendix,  All
these topics, so rich in themselves, on which one would be
inclined to dwell with how deepan interest, I merely
glance at and leave; concluding with the statement that
Bolton sent in all about one hundred and thirty-five men to
the war, about a dozen of whom and they towards the
very last) were substitutes and hirelings, and that of her
own sons 21. little more than one-sixth never came back.
Such is a glance, taken only here and there as at a
building of goodly appearance and size, seenthrough
enveloping mists, we have been able to take of the history

of of our town. Like other human histories, it is not with» .

out its pages which one would wish removed; nor without
passages which, if fidelity to truth would allow, we would
be glad to have expunged ; but on the whole it is a worthy
and honorable, if not a proud record; and the sons need
not feel ashamed of the fathers, nor the daughters of the
mothers. We are, it is true, among the small towns of the
state, of little importance socially or politically; but‘faith-
ful history enables us to say, we have done our share of
good work, however comparatively insignificant, and made
our mark on the Century, though it may be but a mere
scratch. ~

Fellow--citizens and Friends, we have cast a retrospective
glance into the affairs of our fathers; may we not, before

Awe close, take another glance into the future, with regard

34 ,

to our own prospeéts? Our opportunities, are tl"1€_'§~' smallii
Our position, considered either geograpliicaluly, with refer—~
ence to the great centres, or in relation to trade, or climate,
orthe 1narket—~—--is it unfavorable? Is there any good 'rea--
son, in. the nature of things and the p1'ospeéts that are
dawning upon us, why the best spirit of our times ---~g-tl‘1ese

times of‘ mental ae'tiVit_V, of enterprise, of.philanthrophy--M

should not circulate like life-bloocl lZl"11‘()"L1g'l'1 our veins?
 not all that is unfrienclly to good 1n:emne1‘s and inorals,
and pure religion, and to the best interests of our race, he
gracluallyeliminated t'ro1n our spiritual soil, as pests are
destroyed from the crops? W1i_§r should not the year of
Grace, 1976, see Bolton, if still an agrioL11tur.a1 town-was

in all human probability it doubtless will be--mbeholcl it
also a town of which may be saitl. exrerjytltiizig healthf'ul for 

man, and not much that is evil, grows there, as in the gar-
den of the Lord; 21 spot of this fair earth (;)f\Vl1lCl1 the
Great Father may say : " It is abundantly watered‘ with rny
blessing and is fruitful and bezu1tif'u1?”

‘APPENDIX.

 

For the Centennial observances, not only was the Chief
.Decor_ai'tor ably assisted in ornarnenting the church with
5bouquets of flowers, as well as by flags and streamers, by

the Misses Newton ; but the town hall also was adorned by

ihim in a similar nianxier. Messrs. Barrett, I"Iurlbut and

-VVhitCOI‘1"1b»—--ttj.) whoizn the preparation of the banquet was
assigned———-—- assisted by their wives and other ladies, entered

szealously into their share of the duty ; and a hearty return
of e thanks is due. to them for the satisfaEtc>1'y tnannerin
which it was perforitiecl. i The clisp1'a.y of lfire-works in the

evening‘, under the superintendenee of F. E. VVhitco1nb,
Esq., was appai*eciatin:g,%,‘1y received; as was also the cava1—-
cade and procession of yottiig men ancl school children in
the xnorning. On account of its leiigtli. several pages of
the taddress were omitted in the clelivery, and one or two of
them taken from the text and t'ansferrecl to the appendix.

[;~\. ‘ iI’a_g;e 2.]

. See Acl<;1ress in Commemorzttion of the Two-hunclreth Anniversctry of
the Incorporaticmtof Imicasteif, Mass., lay Joseph Willard ( 1853).

See I.t3i~Ce11itenni:1l If.)i.sr:ourse clelive1'ed in the Meeting;-l1o’t1se of the

First lf_’a1'isl1,,Laneaste1‘, on Sunclay, F eh. :-zoth, I876,in- Commemoration
ofthe Destructioii of. the 'I‘o\_vn- by t11elncI_ians, Fel‘). 21, I670. ' By Rev.
.A.%P. .YM21I‘\fi11._~_ » V% ‘ . , %
V A curiousr1‘e1ic.o.f .the«olclen times, a “pockiet-book,"’ as it is called,
touncl amo.ng._tl1e;papers of tlierfirst clerks of the town, has been preserved.
It co_nta1ns,_am_ong.other items £l11CljOtti11g'S down,.the fragment of a diary
kept by a p'art'y on the “ _war-path,"’ out in pursuit (through what is now
New dH‘ampsh‘i1*e‘)tof -a banlcl of Inclians, who are escaping with their spoils
from some tscene of llviolence in terifitory (as it is now) of this town or of
Lancaster. The date is altogether uncertain; '1‘hetfi,§ures in the left-hand
margin refer to clays of the month. Leaves from the laegilining, which
would indicate by whom written, are iiiissingg

W36 

9. ‘We traveled I4. miles and c:Lmped at the norwest corner of winipi-

socket pond. _
Io. VVe traveled I6 miles, and camped at the north side of Cusumpe

spend.

II. ‘We traveled 6 miles N by E from Cusumpe and there camped --
and sent out scouts, and some of our scouts thought they discovered
smoke.

I2. We sent out scouts, and they discovered iiotliing.

I3. VVe lay still and sent out scouts, and to strengthen us to go fill‘-
ther we sent home 29 men.

. 14. VVe tmx-'elecl IO miles towarcls pigwncltett, and then came upon a

branch of Saco river, and sent out scouts.

I5. VVe lny still and sent out scouts fl.I1Cl discovered 1’10’£l1lrI‘1j.-g.

" 16. We traveled 6 miles and cztgme upon an Indian VV'lg\V'J.n”l-—-—tl1{-:
Indians being gone ve left 16 men with our pciclts until the rest pursued
them till dark and stziyed there all niglut. . _

I7. We followed their track till eiglit o‘clocl~: 11';}.\'.lZ(l.".l_V'z111Cl then we
carne back to fetch our packs, traveled the remaining part of that day and
the night ensuing six miles. '

I8. VV e traveled 20 miles and ca.-mped at the greats pond upon. Snwco
river.

I9. VVe traveled 22 miles and c.1mped at :1. great pond.

20. We traveled 5 miles and come to zi~\vi_{-gwniii where the Indians had 6

but lately gone from, and then we pursued their trziclc about 2 miles flir-
ther and discovered their smoke and then tnrried till about two o"clocl~: at
night and then came upon them nnd killed to I ndizins which was all there
was. '

2.1. We traveled 6 miles. . .

22. We lay still and kept scouts upon our brick trttclcs to  * it" there
would any pursue. W ‘ i

» 2 3. We trnvelecl 30 miles and cnmpecl at Cocheco.

The clinry ends abruptly. How old the hook is, no one cstn tell.
After the minutes we have given, it is filled up with various entries of one
sort and another, some 1'e1ziting3; to recent and private niiiiirs.

[IL l’:1ge 3.]

The fir-st newspziper in North Americzl was set up in l'$c)ston nhout A.
D. I690. It was :1 small sheet of four 4.to pnges, one of which was l)lI:111l{.
It contained 3. record, very poor Z1I1(lV§fl€Z1gl'e, of 1)'.'l.‘5SlI‘1g' occurrences for-

eign and domestic. One number only of this pziper  known to be in

existence, in the state paper office in London. It bears dsite Sept. 25, I690.

On Monclay, April 24, I704, “The Boston News Letter" appeared,
printed on on half sheet of prtper, 12x3 inclie: mzide up in two pages folio,
with two columns on each page. It hid but feeble support nncl limited

p cirCul_z-ition. After striigglixig along; for -years, in 1763 it was united with
another paper called the “Boston Post Boy 8: Aclvertiser," and became‘

the official organ of the government. Passing tl'U.‘OLlf__2_’l1 several h:1nds and
becoming meantirne strongly Tory in its politics, as events moved on, it
continued to be published through the siege of Boston, till about M.i.rch,
1776, when with the termination of the siege it was discontinued.

 

37

Other papers were the “Boston Gazette,” begun 1719; the “New
England Courant,” conducted by Janice, brother to Dr. Benj. Franklin,
commenced in I72I ; the “ Boston Gazette & Country Journal,” published
by Edes & Gill, begttn April, 175 5, the chief organ of the Whig leaders,
which lasted tllrollgll the war, and for some years afterwards ; the “ Massa-
chusetts Spy,” conductecl by Isaiah Thomas at VVorcester, which did not
commence its issues till July, I77o.——]$‘2u:1‘?z‘rr,g%:rzz;z‘.s‘ ]€twzz'2zz'.s'cr?rzz?es, Vol. I.

[(3. iI.~’age 4.]

These statements relative to the “ Bay Road ” are made not only on
authority of the records, but also of traditions still .current in the families
of Mr. Marshal W. I-loughton and his sister Mrs. Sarah S. Learned, Mr.
Joel Sawyer, and others familiar with the localities of the 1'egio11, and who
have had access to the early papers and documents of the town.

[D. l~’age 6.]

Why an officer exer'cisi11g such functions should be called a “tithing
man " does not appear. Perhaps, originally, an officer, some of whose
duties were“ the same, or similar, was collector also of tithes. Did the
oflice, along with its clesignation, come as a Puritan "institution from Old
Englancl P

[E. i Page 7.]

Boston, in I722, less than a century from its first settlement by eight
years, and sixteen before the incorporation of Bolton, occupied not much
more than a half of the old peninsular; without bridges, which were not
built till many years afterwarcls, its sole connection by road with the main
being over “ the N eck,” which was so narrow that the tides, when high,
approached nearly to the roacl~way on either side. In population it was
about 12,030} It contained II churches, had 42 streets, 35 alleys, and
nearly 3,000 houses, about one-tliirrcl of which were of brick, and the
remainder of wood. It had been eight times swept" by fires, and six times
severely visited by Sl"l'1Elll-POX, by which disease lax-ge numb-ers of the
inhabitants lost their lives. , V p A .

To indicate sornewhat their relative importance at the conuuencetnent
of the war of the Revolution, we give the amount of taxes paid in to the
government of the Province, by several of the towns, most of them in
Worcester county, in theyear 1770: l l l A

 

 

38

\ 1,‘ s.) cl.
Boston,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3,o83 9 3
Roxbury, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 o ,8
Dedham,.................... 23512 9
Woodstoclz, then considered in Massrtchusetts, . . 218 o 4
Lancaster,. -... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 209 7 3
Leominster, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 9 9
Worcester,..................16622
Harvard, . . . . . . ,- . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 9 I
Bolton,....................8716
Princeton,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2o 2 8
Leicester,................... 8112 3
Northborough,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 2 4,
Fitcliburg, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .' 18 II 5

This list of course might be greatly extenclecl ; but enough is given to
show the important changes which have since taken place.) The territory
now Clinton, at the time indicated and for many years afterwarcls, was an
obscure corner of Lancaster, with only a dozen or so of inhabitants, with
none of its 1arg;e facilities for mai111factL11'ing purposes “ evolved,"- which
have since been put to use.

[F. Page 9.]

The town was nalnecl~—acco1~cli11g to tradition-—after Charles Powlet,

third Duke of Bolton, who was long a member of the council.
[(3. Page ro.] 1'
In-lieu of citiiignruiies of individuals from the old records, as they
occur in connection with special action of the town, or in other ways——
which from the quantity of the grottxicl to be gone over, and the frequent
occurrence of such mention would be impossible, within our limits»-«-we
have thought best to copy in alpliabetical orcler, per the books, alist of

names of the earlier settlers, with such runnin,<.;_g; commentary as we can i

find space for. l»
Atherton was one of those early names, and later, Ainsclen, Bnbcock,

Ball, Baker, Bacon, Barrett (spelt also Barrett and pB:u-rat, a once large
and influential family that settled on Lon,?_;§ Hill, from which clescenclecl our
present Town Treasurer, Roswell Barrett, Esq), Barnarcl, Bayley, 1»3ige_
low, Brooks, Bruce, Butler, Burnrun, Carter, Caswell, Cooleclge (Coolidge),
Chaplin, Chase, Clark, Danforth, Davis, Divoll, Daikin, ECl‘.V£1I‘ClS, Ellis,
Ellinwoocl, Fai1'banks, Farnsworth, "Faulkner, Farwell, Fife (Foife, Fyfe),
Fuller, Fosket, Foster, Fry (:1 once numerous family, principally among
“the Friends ” or “ Qn:i.kers,” which proclucecl some of our ablest men),
Fletcher, Gardner (a name which did not come in with the first settlement,
but which belonged, at a comparatively early period, to one of the most
influential men the town has ever hacl, the late Stephen "P.), Gates, Gibbs,
Goss, Goddard, Grecnleaf, Gooclnow, Gould, I-Iale, Haven, Harris, Hem—

39 - ‘

enway, I-lastin,gs, Irlolder, Howe, l‘~loL1gl1to11 (a numerously represented
family in all periods of the town‘s history, and associated with some of our
most valued institutions), Ielolman (a family which has produced individu-
als who have exercised a most marked influence in all the affairs of the

place, among whom Genl. Silas and his son Genl. Amory), Howard, Ja—~

cobs, Jewett, Johnson, Jones, Keyes, Ktiiglit, Kimmens, Larned, Lawrence,
Longley (a family which produced several highly useful citizens, among
whom were three of our town» clerks, grandfather, father and son, who held
office successively after each other),.Maynard, Marble, .l\/leriam, Macl3ride
(a name now, confined pretty much to the neigliboring town of Berlin),

iMacVVain (a name which has also entirely disappeared here), Moore (a

name largely represented, in several families remotely, if at all, connected

with each other, which has been borne by three of our town treasurers, a

father and two sons, one of whom was C. C‘. Moore, Esq,, treasurer for
more than thirty years), Newton (two or three distinct families, to one of
which belongs N athanieI'A., l£sq., our present liiglily respected representa-
tive in the legislatt11'e), Nicholle, Nurse (rnodernized into Nonrse, a once
numerous farnily, divided into many sub-families, and which has left its
impress as well as name, on all our localaffairs for two or three genera-
tions),,_ Oaks (,a name now wholly unknown here), Osborn (Osborn, a name
years ago one of the most familiar, but now borne by but one individual),
Pierce, Parker, Pratt, 1~’ollard (once the name borne by many in town,
now confined to a few), Rice, Richardson (an influential name that has
now wholly disappeared ariioiigst us), Reed, Russell, Ross, Robins (of
which names the same may be said), Sawyer (a name which, frequently as
it appears elsewhere, is getting; to be comparatively infrequent here. It
has been often a name of"weigl1t and influence, however, as well as of fre-
quency. T he late ’Sqnire Joseph, Capt. John 'and others, who bore it, are
represented in others, their decendants, still with us). Stearns, Sawtell,
Stiles, Swan, Stone, are names which, as borne by members of the old
families of the town, have disappeared, tliottgli the last mentioned is still

heard in our every day speech, as borne by an honored representative, a J

much more recent comer. Stratton is still among us. The letter T finds
its representatives in Tinney, Towiisencl, and Tombs ( the first and last of
which are no loiiger li'vi1i,<,g; names within our lines). U and V have no
representatives, while W is the most fruitful and best represented letter in
the alphabet. Whitcomb is the large name under that, with numerous
representatives in this and earlier ge1ie1'atio1is. There were Col. John, his
son Jonathan, and his grandson ‘Squire Edwin A.., quite a prominent man
among us, only recently deceased, and very many more. Other names
under W: Walcott, Whitney, Wliite, Welch, .Wl1eele1' (of which, in one
of the families, the late Col. Caleb was the last'representative), Wood?

bury, Woocl, tVVetherbee. The name VVl1eele1-“a11io1ig the Friends is

represented in our influential fellow-citizens, Jesse B. and Tliomas A.,«
and others. ~

4,0

, Our list has swelled to large proportions; and-, even if incomplete,
must be discontinued if we would have room for other topics.

Other names, now familiar, the bearers of which are for the most part

still living, and many of them among our most worthy citizens, are of,
comparatively, recent i_ntroduction. Such as Bailey, or Bayley, Barker,
Bagley, Bellows, Brigham, Campbell, Carpenter, Collins, Cunningham,
Dow, Edes, Felton, Forbush, Gil1nan, Grassie, Hamilton, Harrington,
Heywood, Hurlbut, Rollins, Robinson, Searle, Sloper, Wallace, Wallis

» (this last is represented in John S. Wallis, Esq, for some years of our board

of Selectmen, and who represented the town in the legislature of 1861) ;

and, probably, others we do not now recall-——— of persons, very likely, who-

removed years. ago out of town._ The Higginson family, of which Col. '1‘.

W. Higgins-on is a son, for some years owned and occupied the estate

afterwards S. V. S. Wilder's, and where Mr. Forbush now resides, .4 ,

Until. quite recently there were no” persons of Irish descent in town.
Now they are quite numerous, represented by such names as Broderick,
Butler, Coyne or Kine, Doyle, Dugan, Haggarty, lvlurphy, Shztunessy,
S,ul«li\._*an, &c.

[ H. Page II".]
The paragraph relative to I-loosac tunnel and the elegant station-house

—'-—it may be as well to state for the information of distant readers -—‘--was
written in an ironical vein. Lancaster railroad, built to connect Hudson

and South Lancaster, the old Fitchburg road and the W’orcester &. Nashua, 1

between the valley of the Assa-bet river and that of the Nashua, and run«-
ning with a somewhat curved course through the centre of Bolton, though
very nearly completed years ago, has never been quite finished, and used
by the public. N 0 buildings have been erected in connection with Lan-

caster R. R., and consequently no structure at the place indicated in the
address. The writer ‘spoke rather of what should be, of what he would

be glad to see, than of that which actually was. A note relative to this
matter will be inserted at another place, viz. : at M, farther on.

[L Page’ 15.]

i I

In the early settlement of the country, and for two. centuries. after-
wards, it was customary, on extending a. “' call ” to a candidate for a

parish, to make him an oifer of so much for annual salary, and so much
for “ e~ncouragement,” or, as it came to be phrased afterwards, so much
“for a settlement.“' This encouragement or settlement money was sup-
posed to be used bylthe new minister in paying off old debts contracted
for his education, in purchasing necessary_b»ool«:s for his library, or in PTO."
curing articles of furniture for his household.

The writer has found it difficult, with such references as he has at
hand, to ascertain the value of pounds, shillings and pence in the provin-

4?

cial currency of that period, 1741. He can only state in. general it was
very much less than that of the same denominations in English inonev.

 []. Page16.]  ‘1

All the towns of the Colonies, as afterwards in the war of theRev_olu-t
tion, furnished their share of stores and funds, and their contingent of
men, for the French and Indian wnrs,which broke out shortly after the
middle of the last century was passed. This town, accorclingly, bore its
part,‘and contributed its quota of men to that struggle, which inzuigumted

by the ill—fztted enzpecliition and clisnstrous defeat of Genl. B»1'addocl<.i11,

Pennsylvania, culminated at Inst in the l')ZlI'1lSl11‘1‘1€1'1t of the French power
from Americzt, in the C£l1)lZl.l1'f3 of tl e Czéinztclzu‘-3, and in the conquest of
Montreal and (Quebec. 'I‘1'o.clitions 1‘elnting to that period have, howeve’r',_

, pretty much died out, overslinclowecl hyothers of much greater interest
pe1‘tai11ing_z; to 21 letter tirne; nncl the record which refers to the era of that.
1_wa.r is of the most meagre clescription-»-——not a line which adds anything

either to our local or general 1{l10l\Vl(2C1g;C of the events which then occurred.
But our hooks are not wholly without items which sigiiificently point to
the period; as, for instance, the following: “ Charles I~Iol1na.11,'boi'nin
Concord, Feb. 24, I727, slain in the Army at Lttke Cleorge.” (This—-as

appears from evidence found elsewhere——-~ was in Atigtist, I7 58, when there

was iaiczunp at Luke Geo1‘ge.‘)

But when, some weeks after our Centennial Celelimition, search was

made in fziniilies of the town for writings and ClOC'.‘l.l111€1"1fS‘ relating to the
Revolnti'on:.try period, and before, it proved, in some instzinces, unexpect-
edly successful. At the house of Mr. Pa.ul Wliitcoiiilp in at clrziwer of old
papers, supposed of little or no value, was found it small 4to MSS. volume,
bound. in liog-ski.1“1, with at peculiar brass clasp, which contained, "along
with other items, the “ Orclerly l3ool<." ‘of his gr-a.nclfnt1ie1*i,, Col. john Whit»
coinb, 21 military diary of the times of’ which we are spealting.‘ We give

inlbrief such little account of it and abstract from it as our space will

allow. it * , l , .
Col. John VVl1itcozn«h of Bolton--;1s appears from his title--~w‘as in-

c'om1nancl" of :1. regiment; and, at one end of the book (sever;-11% pages 
being lost out)  recordecl a list of the companies Comprising the regi-yj it

ment. The first seven compztnies are missing; but, beginning with the
8th company, we have 21 list of the rest, officers and men, to the 18th and
last." Then, tL1i'1iin.g the book, we lutve, at the other end, with many

qi.1irks"2tnd flourishes, in 21 hnnclsoinehnnd, the iollowingr “ Colulolinl,

Whitcoinlfs Orderly Book; August 1Ith,I76o. For the total Reduction
of the Canadas ;” ancl from the date‘ just given to thevfollowing, Nov. 9th,
wehave the record of the iplacesof encarnpznent, pa'ss—-words, and orders.

of the day, till, as we suppose, the army was clisbnnded, and[_;Col'. Wliité"
c.omlb-returned to his home, where we find hirnl afterwztrds, serving: in .a..

civil capacity.

4:2

The army for the reduction of the Canaclas, it seems, was composed
of three divisions: Ist, “the Regulars ” (trained British soldiers); 2d,
“the Provincialsg" and 3d, the Indian allies. We give, as -specimens,
one or two extracts (dropping the old-fashioned spelling). The first
entry is as follows :-—— -

“ CAMP ON LAKE C1-IAIVIPLAIN, nth August, I760.

“ Parole Amherst. For the day, tomorrow, the Regulars, Major Camp-
bell, Col. for the day. l—’rovincials, Col. Ruggles, of ; for the
piquet, this night, Lt. Col. Saltonstall. The reports of the Regulars to

 

be made to the field officers of the Regulars. The reports of the Provin-r

cials to C01. of the Provincials, who are to make their reports to C01.
I-Iaviland. It is expected for the future, that the boats are -kept more
regular in their columns, and that they observe -the order of rowing; two
ba2.‘ecz2z.' abreast, and that a careful lookout is kept for signals, when the
army encamps. VVhen the army encamps near the enemy, their tents
must be in three lines, leaving an interval between each company. In
case the army lands, on the passage, as few tents as possible to be brought
on shore, as 1nost of the men will find room to lay in their tlczzetzmr. When

it is thought fit the army should embark, orders will be given to the Roy- R

als to beat 2‘/ze gezzemle, and 2713 arse;/zzliee half an hour" afterwards. ‘T he
other corps to take it from _them, and wait in their boats until the signal
is made for sailing.” "‘ * "‘ *

At date of Sept. I, 1760, under “moving orders," is the following:

“As the army is now going into the inhabitable part of the country, it’

is ordered that none of the inhabitants be plundered or ill used,‘on any
pretence whatsoever. ‘Whoever is detected disobeying these orders will be
hanged. Mill~:,ibutter, provision, or anything else must be regularly paid
for. This to induce the inhabitants to stay in their villages; and good
usage will prevent their men from joining the French army." * ’*‘ ’*‘

At camp before Montreal, on Monday, Sept, 8th, 1760, we find the
following : t -

. “ Genl. A_mherst’s Orders, Parole, King George in Canada. The grena-
diers and light infantry to parade at the grenadiers‘ encampment, where
they will be joined by a :2 pounder. Col. Haldeman will take command

of these corps to take possession of the city of Montreal. T he “oldest

ensignin the army ‘to go in to take charge of the Colours. Col. I-Ialde-
man will not permit any one to go in or out of town, except the guard and
those in public offices and officers of all the departments, for the care of
all kinds of stores. A list of names of all these will be given him.

“ The General sees with infinite pleasure the success which has crowned
the indefatigable efforts of his Majesty’s troops and faithful subjects in
North America. '1‘ he Marquis Vouclrial has capitulated; the troops in
Canada have laid down their arms, and are not to serve during this war;
the whole country submits to the dominion of Great B1*itain. On this
occasion the three armies are all entitled to the general thanks. And the
General assures them that he will take the first opportunity of acquainting
his Majesty of the zeal and bravery which has always been exerted by the
officers and soldiers of the regular and provincial troops, and also by his
faithful Indian allies. The General is confident, that when the troops are
informed this country is the Kings, they will not disgrace themselves by
the least appearance of inhumanity, or by an unsolclierly behaviour in

434

taking any p1under,-- that the Canadians, who now become British sub-
jects, may feel the good effects of his Majesty’s protection."

Col. John Whitconib, from whose orderly book the above extracts were
taken, served, from fifteen to twenty years atterwarcl, in the Revolutionary
armies. His residence, when at home in Bolton, was at the East end;
and he was proprietor, or one of the proprietors, of the lime-kiln. From
him it was handed down to his decendants, one of whomwas ’Squire
Edwin A. Whitcomb, the last who applied it to any use. Many years
afterwards lime from other parts of the country could be got out at so
much less expense, the working of the Bolton rock was discontinued.

. [.I{. Page 19.] _

Mr. Goss, as is mentioned in the address, was dismissed in 1771.
Some of our readers will like to know the “conclusion of the whole mat-
ter.” After the clismission, Mr. Long;ley', the constable, was instructed
(probably by advice of legztl counsel) to prohibit him from going into the
1‘1‘16€%tlI'.1g'-l'101l.‘3C“); and “ on the St1CC(:‘(3Cll11g Lorclls day by violence did pre-
vent him from entering; the clesk.” This done, Mr. Goss then. said that
“he should continue his labors in the gospel‘ as usual, thatthose of his
friends who wished to hear him iniglit proceed to liishouse, that he should
keep on preaching as heretofore.” He had built and was then living in
the house since occupied by Generals Silas and Amory Holman. After
the dismissal, and being forbidden the use of the desk at the meeting-
house, he held forth, Sunday after Sunday, in his ownhouse; a consider--
able 1nino~rityl.following him thither, while the major part of the old
congregationpoccupied the 1T1e€lZlI1g~l101.1SG, and listened to the ministratlons
of the Rev. Mr. Walley; r l '

The manuscript from which we have derived the greater part of these
facts, ends with this sentence: “ Bolton church was the first to withstand
the power supposed to be vested in the clergy; thus did triumph the true
principles of liberty in ecclesiastical affairs.“ l ‘

But it was a triumph purchasecl with a price, and tliat no small one, as
our narrative shows. The movement was altogether in advance of the
times, and was too audacious and high-hanclecl a measure to be passed
over lightly and without signal marks of reprobation. Accordingly, the
neighboring ministers, syinpatliizing with Mr. Goss, refused Bolton church
members permission to come to the communion table in their churches;
and in every way, so fztr as their power extended, and it was not very limi-
ted in those days, sought to excommunicate them. The controversy, for

its day, was a noted one, and several pamphlets, aclvocating the views of ‘
“ one side or the other, were published. Many of these pamphlets, we are

told, are in the libraries both at I--larvarcl and Yale. .
The law-_suits for the recovery of Mr. Goss‘s salary, protracted year
after year, lasted, carried on by his executors and heirs, till some time

'44

‘after his death. We have spoken of the handsome Latin inscription on

his tombstone. There are some who would like ‘to see a translation.‘ We

‘subjoin one:

‘ "‘ Sacred , to the memory of Rev. Thomas Goss, A. M., Pastor of the
church among the Boltonians, who for upwards thirty-nine years, having
exercised ‘the sacred office, departed this life Jan. 17th, 1780, in the 63d
year of his age. A man adorned with piety, hospitality, friendliness and
other virtues both public and private; somewhat broken in body, but
endowed with wonderful fortitude; he was the first among the clergy in
these ‘unhappy times to be greviously persecuted for boldly opposing those
who were striving to overturn the prosperity of the churches, and for
herorically struggling to maintain the ecclesiastical polity which was
handed down by our ancestors. 7Friencls erected this monument.”

See ” Sermon (text and notes) on the Termination of Fifty Years of
his Ministry, Jan. 31, 1836,” by Dr. Bancroft,iof Worcester. ~

See '%‘The Worcester Association and its Antecedents: a History of
Four Ministerial Associations, &c.,“ by Dr. Allen, of NO1"Cl'1l)0I'O1.1gl1
(1868). A

See, also, pamphlets before referrecl to. T ‘

See a MSS. Account of the Goss Diffirculties,. by S.  Houghton, of
Bolton. T B

See Sabine”s Royalists of the American Revolution.

After the death of Mr. Goss, and Mr. 'Wa1ley had resignecl his pulpit
and left the place, in September, 178 3, a call was extended, by the church
and parish, to Mr. Levi Whitman (H. U. 1779), to settle with them, “in
the work of the gospel ministry." The call was accepted, and prepara-
tions made for his ordination, the following churches being invited to
constitute the council, viz, : Church in Lancaster, Rev. Mr. Harrington;
church in Chelsea, Rev. Mr. Payson; ad South Church in Boston, Rev.
Mr". Everett (father of Hon. Edward Everett) ; 3d church in Briclgexvater,
Rev. Mr. Angier; ad church in Pembroke, Rev. Mr. Hitchcock; West
Church in Boston, Rev. Mr. Howard; church in Harvard, Rev. Mr. Gros-

venor; church in Stow, Rev. Mr. N ewellg the ad church in Bolton (now

Berlin), Rev. Mr. Pltlil-tit. But Mr. Whitmanfs health was so much im-
paired as not to allow of his lyeing; settled, and he never became a citizen
of the town.

[L. ‘Page 19.]

In prosecuting inquiries, some weeks after the Centennial celebration,
we learned, from several sources, ‘that the following persons belonging to

' Bolton served during the War of the Revolution :—

Oliver Barrett (lieutenant, and ancestor of the Barretts on Long Hill)
was at the ,Concord fight; Benjamin Bailey, William Bigelow, Benjamin

g Hastings, Abraham Houghton, Jonas Houghton (afterwards major), Jona-

than Houghton, Joseph Houghton, Carter Knight, Nathaniel Longley

4-5

(captain), Dr. Abraham Moore (surgeon), Se-well Moore, Haven Newton,
David N ourse (captain), Benjamin Sawyer, William Sawyer, Jonas Welsh,
John Wliitcoiiib (colonel), Israel Woodbury.

Among receipts, orders for marching and for money, and other scraps
found among the papers of Capt. David N ourse (which were kindly loaned
us by his grandson, D. J. N ourse), were lists of names of men who served
under his command. There are several of these lists--too many to be
copied. We give as a specimen the following :—-—- I

t‘ The Men that I was called to pay money to in May, 1777 (not
signed or dated, but in Capt. Nourse‘s lmndwritingp): Amos Meriam,
Abijah Pratt, Joshua Johnson, David Rice, Samuel Rice, Nathan Jones,
Isaiah Cooladge, Isaiah Bruce, Elijah Foster, Ammeziah Knight, John
Nurse, Jonathan Nurse, John Powers, Silas Howe, Silas Houghton, Bar-
nabus Bayley, Samuel Stanhope, Jonathan Moore, Thomas Pollard,
Thadeus Russell, Eleazer Johnson, Timothy Bailey, Hezekiah Gibbs, Jr.,
Jabez F airbank, Nathan Johnson, Benjamin Bruce, Joshua Hemenway,
Samuel Jones, Jr., James Townsend, Jonathan Meriam, David Rice, For-
tunatus Ifiarnes, James Fife, Jr.“

There are other lists, with other names in them, for which see Bolton
books (volume lettered “ Births,“ page 193, and following). The above
list is the largest one. Airlong the collection of old papers referred to are
some which seem to show that " bounty jumping ” and procuring of sub-
stitutes were not arts which had to he learned at a later day. Such as the
following; :—- I J

“Jos. How and liliakim Atherton received £30, lawful money, for

negro servant named York, enlisted and passed before James Barret of.

Concord, for three years in Capt. Ashleyis company in Col. I3adeson"s
regiment, Continental arrny»--——saicl York to do a turn for Bolton in Conti-
nental army. W’altham, May ad, I777.”

.We find that this “ doing a turn" for others was not of very infrequent
occurrence. To find in what ways the “ Continental" soldiers received
their pay, take receipts like this : “ For whole amount in full of our Con-
tinental \\';1ges, mileage, money home, sauce—money, and also our prize
money, for service in the winter campaign beginxiing Dec. I3ll1, 1776,
ending March 26th, I777, laelciiigiiig to Capt. David Nurse‘s company of
militia, in Col. Josiah VVhitney’s regiment, of the State of Massachusetts
in New Englanctl," so much and so much. F or these and many other
interestirtg and curious papers, we again refer as above, or to the originals,
yytl)iiclt"oL1g;lit to be deposited among the archives of some of our public
1 raries.

An almanac of the year 1776, in a goocl state of preservation, is among ,

the papers we have mentioned. Its title page is as follows: ~*‘Astronorni-
cal Diary and Almanac for the Year of the Christian Era, 1776. By
Nathaniel Low, Massachusetts Bay. Printed by Isaiah Thomas, in Wor-
cester, B. Edes in Watertown, and  &  Hall in Cambridge. Price 6
Coppers single, and so sltillings the dozen.” It contains “An Address to

+6

the Soldiers of'the American Ariny,“ signed by Nathaniel Low, dated at
Ipswich,‘ Sept. 22d, I775 ;‘ and also “An Account of the Cominencement
of I-Iostilities between Great 1-Britain and America, in the Province of
Massachusetts Bay; by the Rev. Mr. William Gordon, of Roxlmry, in a
letter to a Gentleman of Englancl.“ The article g-2;ives a detailed account
of the stores destroyed at Concord. A

p [M. Page 26.]

Berlin (formerly a district of Bolton) was incorporated as District of
Berlin in March, 1784.; as a town, Feb. 6th, 1812. It did not form a
separate religious society until after the (loss troubles in Bolton. See
Berlin Centennial Exercises, and Aclclress of Rev. W’. A. 'P'lc)ug'l1toz1, in
Clinton Courant for _Iul_v 8th, 1876. t

Clinton, now a wealth_v and flc“)t1i'isliing; town, e11gag'ecl. in \'.1rious kintls
of manufacture, such as carpet weaving‘, wire—cloth llilfillilllg‘, the gfiiigliain
fabric, &c., was taken from I[..:im:'aste1'. narnecl after I.)e\Vitt Clinton, and
incorporated in March, I850. It adjoins Bolton on tliesoullh-west, and is
connected with it 1.)); good roads. After the first start, it rapidl_\' out»-
stript L:1nc:1ster. the mother town, and other purely agriet1lt.t1l':1l towns in
its vicinit_\'. l

I-ludson, whicli touches Bolton on the south—east., a flourishing town,
employing many of the lglolton pet ple, male and female, in its factories,
for the most part exigagetl in the shoe inanufacture, was taken mainly from
Marlhorougli, and incorporated in March, 186:’). But, in the spring of
1868, about two square miles of the most populous and best tztx-payixig
portion of Bolton, was aniiexetl to it. Till the p1‘esidenti:1l election of
1876, the inhabitants of the annexed portion continuecl to vote in tliis
town in State and United States elections. The town is now wholly
within Miclcllesezsc county. Its close pro><in1it_v is in most re:~;pects a great
aclV'a11ta_geto Bolton. in others an ll'1jlll‘_\'. 'l..il<e Clinton, it is connected
with this place by excellent roztds.

In the first part of the acl<;lres;=;, mention is macle of" the “ ljay ltoacl,“
which *‘ wound its slow le11gtli“ over LC>1i}__§; Hill as well as over \Vatto-
quottoc, and was the principal tl1orou_gll1t'.11*e to Larncaster, on the one side,
and to the lower towns and l3o.i=.ton, on the other. At what time it heczune
disused and a consideralale portion of it discontinued, does not precisely
appear. As the f"' lay of the land  was more studied, liowever, and engi«-
neering experience increasecl, it w.1sseen to be unnecessarily winding and
long, as well as needlessly hilly; and it was abandoned for the much more
level, more short and convenient ‘road which now traverses the middle of
the town. That, too, in its turn, has been two or three times st1'aiglitened
in certain portions, since its first construction. ,

Within the firsttquarter of the present centur'_r, a new road connecting
the town with the North Villag‘e of Lancaster was constructed, and run

47

many-ye;11.'s, lay a corporation, as a turnpike road. i For a  of years,
it was much traveled and paid good dividends. But with the introduction
of rai.lroads, and the great change in the traffic tlirougli this town prhich
followed, its value as a turnpike speedily dwindled, and it was thrown
open as one of the public liigliways. "For convenience merely, it’ still
retains with many its old name of “ Lancaster turnpike.”

With the sp1'ingi11g up into importance of the new town of Clinton,
with the construction of the Boston, Clinton & Fitclibtiifg railroad, and

- the improvement of some of the fine farms on Wattoquottoc Hill for resi-

dences of wealth and elegance, it was per(:eivecl that the old, narrow,
precipitous, roclcy and crooked road over that elevation, would no loiigei‘
answer. Accorclingl_\', about 1867, a new road was made ~o\‘er that hill,
connecting by a much shorter route Bolton centre with the 13. C. 8: 1*‘.rail—
road station, and the Village of Clinton. Said roztcl was well engineerecl,
and tliottgli it surmounts a quite lot't:y summit, the ascents and desents on
both inclines are graclecl and easy. V It is one of the most picturesque
roads in the countr_v, conducting tlm;:n.1gli some of the most iovel_vscener_v
in New linglaiicl. and situations for summer resorts must ultimately be in
much request on or near its route. S. H. llowe, l£sq., has occupied one
of the most eligilile of these, for some years. Mr. Thomas S. Brackett,
now of Still I.~’..iver, Mr. Daniel  Bryant, since of (Ialil'"ornia, Mr.‘ Dwight
l3o_\'den, first landlorcl of the ’I‘remont House in lioston, and several others
had owned and occupiec_l the place pre\'iousl__\'.

In 1808. as appears from the papers and documents to which reference

has two or three times been macle, a l*"ourth of July ce1.el:>ration was held-
' in town: the only one of which we have heard mention made, or at least

the only one in which the whole town participated, and at which tliey had
a regular ttoration,“ in the approved canonical fasliioii which was form-
erly observed. The oration was printed, and the title page reads thus:
“An Oration delivered at Bolton, July 4th, 1808. .13yAbijah Bigelow.
Counsellor at L.aw.“ its motto is, “ Be mindful of your ancestors, for the
example they have left you calls for your utmost ardour.“ V This oration
was “published l.")_\' request." To indicate its quality, we give one
quotation :

“ The preser\'ation of a blessing requires as much care, as much wisdom.
as great exertions as the attainment; "‘  "" as well might we commit
the Constitution to the flames, as to the hands of ignorant and unprinci-
pled men.“

We avail of the opportunity furnished by this note to add several items
which will be of interest to some of our readers.

In 1854, or thereal>outs, it was found expedient to have the old 1'egis-
tration records of births, 1iia1'1'iag;es and deaths sorted out, a1'rang;ecl i_n
alphabetical order, and copied. By vote of the town, the work of arrang-

48

ing and copying was accordingly done : and our books of the kind referred
to can now be used as readily and easily as a dictionary.

The war of 1812, with Great Britain, was very unpopular, we learn, in
all this region. Nobody was willing to volunteer to serve in it. There
was, however, a draft made ; and the result was that l\“Ir. Elbridge Sawyer,
father of our esteemed fellow-citizen, Joshua Elbridge Sawyer, and the
late Mr. Asa Houghton, were drafted, and afterwards served several
months as soldiers in one of the forts of Boston harbor. So unused had
our people become to anything of the kind, that the drafting caused, we
have been told, great commotion. which did not readily subside.

One of our most popular and useful institutions is the Farmers’ Club,
started about 25 or 30 years ago. It is now in a highly effective and pros~
perous condition: and has done not a little in reviving an ag1'ict1ltt11'al and
horticultural interest throughout the town, and in promoting l_iousewifery
operations, as well as farming improvement. It has held three fairs and
cattle shows, at which the displays of live stock, fruit, and needle-work
altogether exceedecl extpcctations. On these occasions, there were public
dinners, at which addresses were made by popular speakers interestecl in
agricultural affairs. By these means and others, an impulse has been
given to all matters relating to rural economy and progress, that probably
will not soon subside. * i

Another enterprise, in a somewhat clit'ferent direction, has also met
with good success, viz. : the Fish Club, an organization formed for sltoclt-~
ing what considerable fresh water ponds there are in town, with improved
varieties of fish. This association has been in existence now about three
years, and has competently stocked Little Pond and West"s l:~’ond (the one
a little under and the other a little over twenty acres in extent) with black
bass. These fish in our poncls—-—it is said by those who, have taken
observations+--—have increased in numbers, are in good condition, and in
fulness of time are expected to make a sizeable yield for the frying-pan.

Nor have we been without our associations for mental and spiritual
improvement. Not to mention various temperance O1'gfl11lZE1ilO11S which
have existed at different times, lyceums, debating societies --—— all of which
have been fully reported elsewhere, by other ways and means ---—we will
rnerely‘record that there have been formed in town, in years past, clubs
gathered for the express purpose of taking together publications of the
day of one sort or another. Not one such club—to our know1eclge——
has failed ‘in its objects, though some of them have been dissolved in
course of time by death of members, their removal from town, and like
causes. One such club, taking quite a number of our best magazines and
periodicals, is now in existence, and is doing well.

One other topic touched upon in a former note, we must return to for
a. moment before we pass on to 'so1net«liing else, viz. : Lancaster railroad.
Begun in the early spring of ’71, Lancaster R. R. was l;)r0ught nearly to

49

completion in the fall of ‘73. Then, owing to the allegecl illegality of
certain proceecliiigs, it was driven into bankruptcy by a number of its
creditors; and there, through the years ‘74, ‘75, ‘76, and thus far into
April or i\Ia_v, "77. it has lain. Certain arrangements being made and
papers signed, and the road released from baiil<riiptc_v, it wa.s hoped, this
spring, our eyes would be gladdened by the renewal of work upon it, and
by its being opened for travel and traffic. The spring is passing away, the
summer is near at hand, and that hope is not reali7.ed. But our note M
has already far exceeded the limits intended for it, and we must pass to
other topics.

[N. Page 27.]

Rev. john Walley, the seconcl minister establislieifl in their pulpit by
the town, wbzisi _.g‘l'C21t~gl'2111CiS()11 to Rev. Tliomas W alley, one of the early
ministers of Ba1'i1stal.)l-~; and his g1‘aiiclfatlier, i\lajor john Walley, took
an active part in the e.\-peclition againstA(..'anacl.a in I690. Mi.-.,’Wii.lle)',
born Oct. 6, 1716, gracluated at lw—l'arvarcl Cc.>llegc 173,-1,, m2ll'l'lL‘(l .,l.‘:ll‘/.1ll)(.‘ll't
Appleton, but had no children: preached at Portsmouth, N. l~l.—~—-—-notfias
settled minister-——-in 1744: was orclainecl in .lps\\'i(:h in Nov., 1747. and
remained there till l*‘eb., 1764: after wliieli, preached for the I“rench
Huguenots in Boston, till called to settle in liolton, in _li:ine, 1773: where
he remained till he left early in 1783. He died in ls1.<,)xl)i.ii'_\', March, 1784.
His will, by which he left, “ as a token of his love to the C()l.'1g1‘Cg21ilOI1 in
Bolton,“ a small legacy, the income of which was to be devoted to the
purchase ot'l)il31es—leaviiig a similar one to the parish at l])S\‘\'iCl1---~i$
recorded in Siitlolk Registr_v of I’i'obate, Liber 84.

He was succeeded by Rev. Phineas W riglit, born in Westford, June,
1747: gracluatecl with the first honors of his Class, at Harvarcl College, in
1772: ordained here Oct. 36, I785, Rev. Dr. Ciiiiiiiiiiigs, of l.3illerica,
preaching the sermon: mari'iec.l,ii\zIay, 1787, Susanna, clauglite1'ot'Rev.
john (..}arclner, of f}~3to\': but he, too, died without leaving an_v.eliiIclren.
His ininistry came to an abrupt termination by a paralytic stroke, in Dec.
1802. See Alleifs History of the Worcester Association, 

We find on record the following:

“At a i'egtilai' iiieetiiig of the Church of (Jhrist i.n liolton, held at the
meetiiig-lioiise on the 30th of Jaiiiiary, 1803, voted iinan.imousl_v to set
apart a clay for t'iistii.ig and pra_ver, to humble ourselves before (iod, under

the rebuke of Divine”Providence in the suclden removal of our late he-,

loved pastor by death; and to supplicate the divine blessing, that in due
time we may have an able and taithtul minister of Christ, provided and set
over us in the Lord, and that we may continue in peace and liai'iiion_v, and
be preserved in Christian afiection among ourselves."

Rev. Natliaiiiel 'l‘1iaye1' was invited to preach the sermon at tliepr0-
posed fast; and Rev. Reuben l’ut'fer of llerlin, and Rev. Stephen Be-mis
of Harvard, “ to join in the services of tlie day.” Mrs. Wright, on the

50
death of her l11.1Sl)€t11Cl, did not leave town, but lived with his £3t1CC€3St:50l.' in
the ministry till her death.

Rev. Isaac Allen, born in W'e:~;ton., I771, g1'21clua.tecl zit I"‘l£t1'\'&11'Cl College
in 1798, was the sttceessorz E111Cl\Vz1S orc:lz1.inecl here l\=I2u'el1 14th, 1804, at
21 time when there was an immense body of snow on the grouncl, and the
travelling was clifficult and cla11ge1'oL1s. Rev. Dr. Kendall of \/Veston
prea.ched the sermon at his orclination. lsy an zteeicleiitztl fall on the ice,
when 2!. boy, he tvas :1 cripple, liztviiig ever afterwzucls 21 clislrocatecl, and at
times very paiiiful, hip: é1l"1Cl he remained alxvztys :1 baelielor. He xvas,
however, 21 person of 1'em:11'l<21l3lyeven ztntl cheerful teinperzuneiitg of lively
wit, excelliiig in repztrte  of souncl common sense; <:ompete11tl_y,bt1t not
deeply, versecl in the lore of his 1>1.'ot'e.ss.ssic.i1i; and, tlititigli f1.'t1gz1l in his
habits, S1DCl1CllIlg very little money for books‘ or in any other wary, one of
the most kincl heztrted .':'L1'1Cl l1()S1)ltE1l..")lC of men. lilies benefat<:tions in hum»
ble but very efficient wetys were numerous_: sueli 215 loaning money to
young men that needed it, ;:>;ivi1ig :~;"mnll :~;um:s to repztir l.'OZ'tClS, or to extencl
SCl]OOlS. 13y tliese mezm.s;_, by his eon.~st:mt Z1.(,‘l,l\'ll;_\,=' zmcl never l'*i1l,lll.1g :«+_r1n-»
pathy, as well as by hits mini.~;tr21.tion.~; in the pul_1.,>it, he had here, on the
whole, 21 1]alI)];)}lWl.1‘]i1]i‘5t1')l" He died in l\l;treh, 1844, it few clays; over the
fortieth 211mi.ve1‘:s:u'_v of his settlement: lezt\'iiig the whole of his propert_r,
real and 1)C1‘sC)l1E1l, ztnwttiiting to :1l.f)()l.1l; $20,000, exee%1,.>ti1ig one or two
small gifts to others, to the pz'L1'i:_~;l1 “ of which he had rso l(,i),l]‘$,?,‘ been
minister."‘

l\Ifr. Alletfs st1ecessti,1‘s in the ministry of the liixzsst li’21ri.~sh were 21.5 fol-
Iows: fRielm1'cl  Eclezs, 13. Up, 1830, (.’a.ml:>. Div. .‘:3el1ool I834 ('1>reriot1.~sly
settled at liztstport, Marine), from the :~;1,)1'ing of 1843 to the winter 1848;
john J. Putnam, of C.'l1e.s;tertielcl, N. H. (p1'evic_>t1.~;l_v settled at l...t3l.')2't1‘1(.)11,
N. I~~I._), from Sept, "49, to June, ’ 3, ztt‘terwzu'cl:s of ,l:’eterslmm :.tn<:1 l$1‘icl,ge~
w.;tter;,'l‘l1omz1.s‘ T. Sttowne, .I,..). I.)., llowd. C(,)ll@gC 18:30 ‘(for :~3t'2\='C31'Z1l yezitrss
in the C)rthoclo..x: mirii.~stry zit Anc1t:>ve1'z1ncl l:Zzt:~:.t M::tc:l*xiz=1.s;., t\il;1ine.,;tn<:l in the
Unit:u'iz~n1 ministry at Salem), t'rom 183:2 to 1860: Nathaniel C). Clietffee,
l\Ieaclville Theo. School, orclainecl at 1\*llr;)11t2tgtte, and settlecl in Bolton
about two yeztrs; Edwin C. L. llrowne, Me':tclvill.e '.I“‘l1eo.'Sel,1<;>ol I861,
ordained at I:lolto11, April 1863, and 1'enm.i.11i.ng here about six years, 21fter-
wards in the mi11ist1'yztt I{eol<ul<, Iowa, 2'tl1Cl at Chn-rleston,  C., where
he still 1‘BSiClGt~$; Ezekiel. Fitz C}era.l,cl, 'I‘ut'ts College (once of Shirley
Villzwe, ztfterw.:trcls of Clielmstforcl and l\>lontztg;uef), here from two to three

‘" yeztrs; and lztstly, Nzttlmniel I’. Crl.ll'1'lZ"lI'1, Camb. I)iv.. School 1371 (some

time minister at Seitunte), who ifi the present pastor.

[(3. .l*age 28.] V
The Hillsicle Church was‘; ()1'§__{'Ctl1lJ/.E)Cl in April, 1830, with 21. 1l'1(i*ml.T)E31'£~)l1l])
of eighteen ‘males, eigliteen ft-l‘1'1'121lt3:'~3. It wars; in the eontemplzttion of the
principal mover in this religious enterprise to bring together 21 congrega-

O

:11
i—(

tion from live towns, viz, : llerlin, llolton, Lancaster, liar *arcl and Stow.
While the novelty and first enthusiasm lasted, he was entirely successful.
The spot chosen for a church edifice was a line one, and the octagon

structure erected on it was a sightly, as well as a most convenient one,’

liaving; all appliances of rooms, closets, boxes and drawers for holding
luncheon and articles of clothing, such as were not often found in churches
of that day. In summer and pleasant weather, the rides on the Sabbath
to and from service, over good roads and through the lovely landscape,
must have been cleliglitftilg but in winter and foul weather, just the reverse.
As stated in the aclclress, after some years trial of the plan, and the settle-

ment ofyfour pastors, viz., J. W. Cliickering, D. D., Mr. Peabody, Mr. A
, Davenport, I~Ienry Adams (Mr. Wilder in the meantime liaving sold his

place, and retired to another state), it was abanclonecl. Dr. Chicl<e1'ing
was afterwards for several years pastor of a church on High street, I-’ort1ancl,
and Mr. Adams went into the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church

in the West.
'1'he new Balatist church, to which reterence was made, was clechcatecl

in 186-, during the ministry of Rev. Kilburn Holt. p The ministers of that
society were as follows: liltler.Gc*>clcla1'cl, I832-6; Levi M. Powers, 1836':
Isaac C.- Carpenter, 1843-, john Walker, 1814; P.  Whitman, I846;
Asaph l\"leriam, 1868; W’. K. l.)avey, ll. 1]., 1856; _I. I'll. Giles, from
England, 1858; J, lrl. Learnecl, I860; Kilburn I~-Iolt, Colby 'Universit_\'
1863: Joseph llarher, I868; llenj. A. Eclwarcls, 13. U., the present min-
ister.

[ I’.

The Friencls of this locality reside for the most part, in the towns of
Bolton and 'l*§erlin, t'c::>1'riii11g to a certain extent a community by themselves ;
but they by no means isolate themselves from their fellow-citizens of the
town or state. They take as great an interest in general public measures
as do others: and some of their members are, and have been in forrner
times, among the most active and -leaclirig men in townmeetings.

The Boltoii. society--— previously <*>rg;a11izecl before then, as it appears,
as a “ Preparative h’leeti:1g,”” containing; twenty—-two families and about one
hunclretl and thirty members, and "‘l"lI1‘\l’l1"1‘{:T a nteeti.11g—liouse and s:chool—
house near it“-—-— was erected, we g'atlie1' from their recorcls ———— into a
“Monthly Meetirigf‘ in April, 1799. Their first acknowleclgecl ministers
were T hornas Holder, Sarah I-Iolcler, Thonias Watson, and Abel HoL1gl*.-
ton; their elders, john Frye, Lyclia Gates. Others, male and female, too
many for mention, from that (lay clown to this.

l’age 228.]

[Q- ,
The 1ne‘inbe1's of the Methodist society coinmencetl their meetings,
assembling at the town hall in Boltlori, about 1859-60. They had full. at-

Page 29.]

i

51:
kc:

tendance, but their paying members were few. Wa1'1'e11 C. Brown, at
young man of promi.~:se, was their minister, and the spirit prevailing was
excellent. ‘Mr. Brown, however, sicskening and ('l_\'in,<,:_>_; of pulmonary Con—-
sumption, after a re.e.idence here of about two years, the society ciishstnclecl,
and is now sacattered into other societies of this or other towns.

[ ht. i’£1§_;€ 29.]

The plrvsieians, who have made Bolton their home, and practised here,
were---«so t':«.1r as can now he recztlled---I)r. john 'I%zu*nm'd, at zthout the
period of the 1~1evo1utiot1: Dr. Ahr'a11:t1n Moore, who .=';erved in the Revo-
ltttiottary armies; I)r. Levi .Sz1w_ve1': If)r. ml:zt1'ker’y Dr. I.eon:trd,
since of I:.z1~'e-st -oetm  served "7f1‘t11*i11g the late war,
first as ‘‘ contract st1x'geo11," ztftex-w::trc1s as st11'g;ec'>1u in 38th U.  colored
troops; If)r. \Vins;or H. I3igelo\\', who also s~'.erved as ztseis-;tzmt sttrgeoii in
the 32d i\-iiztsssztcltttsetts, 1.>eing; present at Antietam zmd Fl‘€(.16l‘iCSi')l11‘g:
Dr. Ambrose Iiztmess, who was private in rt i\’iI:1S$3.€1Ci1ltHttti.*~: x‘egit1te11t c1111'ix1g9
the war, but Crane here as at prnc:tioner two or three years z1t'ter'wz-‘trcls, on
de-Cease of Dr. Iiigelow. There were other physicix-tns, we helieve, who
resided here for :1 time, but their .~at21_v here w;1.'~‘. so .~'.hort that no twee of
them Wits left on our i‘)(“)t‘“)i~:S. V

[SL Imge 29.]

The town, ti“1I'(“)t1‘sg‘i1(ii)11t' its whole hi.~;tory, has heen ltigltly fortunztte in
the teachers it 1121s; had. 'l‘o.~;:t_v not11ingc‘>f theme from rnttottgg; its own
eitizexts, who have met with as §;;<fmtl SLICCBSS its miy, .~;;uc:h 21>; the l4‘r_ve;-:, the
late 'I‘l1()1‘1"t:lS, his .<;ort.~'. jolm I.£., 'I‘hom:1.~; 1-2. and his t121L1g}1te1' l\I'z'1r_V Ann;

. the }3:1r1'ett.~;, the Holmans, the Jewetts, the S:1w_ve1's, and :tmc‘m}_.;' lztdie:-3

the i\'Ii:~°..~";es iI3:«tt‘mt1'(1, l._31‘ig1t:11t1, Newton, NoI.1r.~se, I”:u'ker, ("").~;l)o1'ne. .S':t\v_x‘e1‘,
\Vhitooml.),z1mi 1'n;"m_v more, of whom it \\'.‘15; imposs:il>1e to keep 1'e<:ord : we
may mention, zt1non_i_;‘ thosse who tried their “'pre11ti<:e hztnd“ in“ our
schools, two pre.«~;ident.~; of 'H:1l'\':1l't'i, the late Jared S1):;11'k:-'. and the late 
C. I~‘elto11: :1ndother.«~; :1fterw;1rd.~; clistintgttieltetl as e<'1L1c'zttit'mist.~:, or in pro-
t'essio11a1 life, such 21:-2 (ii‘}et“n3;_;'e It. Emerson, :tt'terwz11'c1.-; head of :1 .~.~:c:11oo1 for
yotlttg i:£1(’iiCS, the best pe1'I1:1p.~;"l3ost<“m has ever had: ‘Squire ‘Wood, at
well known htwyer zmc1'13olitix:i;tn, late of Fitc1‘xi>tt1*g; Kev. Nsttltzmiel
Wi1it'111.'.-um; Rev. Ntliitfllliel (‘}:tge: _l'11cige I*l‘enr_v (.‘h:11;)in ot'.Wort‘:e:~;ter;
John A. Gooclwizt of Lowell, :1 few _ver.1r.<; ago Spe:tl<.er of the IIou.~‘.e --21
list that might: he extended, hut we remember what tiilfétié I't:’I't1:‘liI15%’tt")i:)t3
said, anti forhear.

Our list of Iloughton S<:11ooI te:1oher.~s, however, which 11:12; heen c:tr.e—
fully kept, we wi_1l—cop_v, as it is. one which 1111113’ will“ like to preserve for
reference. T hose mztrked titties ”‘ dece-steed: ; ‘

 

N

"1
.0

U1

Edwarcl  Chamberlin, Univ. Vermont, afterwarcls clengf_V111a11.
Henry F. Munroe, H. U., afterwards teacher in I-lingltatn, and at
the West. ,
3 ”‘Moses Burbank, W'aterville Co1., afterwards superintendent of schools
in Vermont. V
.-1.. Geo. W’. Chamberlin, Univ. V(31'., 1aw_rer, subseqnentl_\', in one of
the Western states.
5. "Phineas Allen, H. U._, a teacher the most of his life.
6. _[ohn_ M. Rice, B1'iclg‘ewate1‘ Norm. School and B.  Harv. Scientific:

D-G.
D

9

School, professor atterwarcls at U.  Naval. Acad. at Annapolis.
7. \Varren T. Copeland, I-31ficlg'ewate1' Normal School, a professional

teacher. V
8. \-‘Villiam I-41. Swift, VVil1iams College, teacher at'terwarcls in Pittsfielcl.
9. I—Ienr_y Stone, Bmvcl. Col., cle1'g;y111al11, during war confidential clerk

on staff of late Major Gen. Thomas, and now in ofiiceiof the

. Railroacl Gazette, New York city.

Io. David Bentley, B1-iclgewater Norm. School, professional teacher.

II. Thomas Sherwin, J12, H. ‘U., cl111'i11g war adjntant and then colonel
of Mass. zzzcl. lf.)tt1*i1'1g' his administration the war broke out, and
he and sever.t1 of his scholars enlisted. Now Collector of city
of flfioston. '

1”’. Henry S. Nourse, H. U., afterwards acljntant in the war and com-
‘rnissary of rnusters in U.  Vols. ”

I3. Minot G. Gage, H. U., afterwards cle1'g}'11ia11 at Nashua, N. ll-i-l., and
Gloucester, Cape Ann. N

I4. Freclerick L. Hosmer, H. U., since cle1'g§'111a11 at Northhoro’, and

Q_uincy. Ill. ‘

Iiclwiii '1‘. Horne, H. U., since teacher in Iloston (I,)orchester l;)ist.).

Stephen W’. Clarke, 1)art.. Col., since teacher in Portsrnouth. N. H.

.‘ “-“Henry L. Colby’, Dart. Col., died soon at'ter 1.eaving tcm'11.

*Ac1clison Cilhert Smith, H. U., professional teacher.

Sidney A. Phillips, Dart. Col., now lawyer at South l~‘ra1ning'ls1a1n.
Geo. 1... Chandler, lfiowcl. Col., since tutor in llowd. CTol1ege.
liclwin R. Coburn, Dart. Col., now law——student in lloston.
Tlieoclore C. Gleasoii, H. U., since cl.e1'g;'111a11.

Samuel VV. I,.)c>lli11ge1', since teacher and law»-student.

David A. Anderson, "Dart. Co1., has continued a teacher.

Alfred Newell Fuller, I-I. L7,, since c1e1'g)'11iz111.

James I<"‘ranl~: Sa\'ae;e, 'If)art. Col., since 1aw-stuclent.

Albert (”}ray, liowtl. Col., now teacher at N orthhoro'.

Frecleric S. C‘:ut'ter, H. ll., teacher at (late.

tJl3£Jt~),1.)!JL)lJ1‘Jt-to-It-<-<1-1
  N ‘-1 O\D  Qxkn

['11 fl.’:.._{.g;e 30.]
“ 0 to ‘in ~ - 1
Joseph l"‘lO11gl1tC)11, who lived where l11S son, (;_)_1111"1C_\' A. l~--Iong'l1to1.1, 1::
now living, and who died Nov. 7th., 1847, l1a\'ing' hequeathecl to the town

of Bolton $12,000 to establish a school “to he kept near the centre of i

said Bolton, in which such .A(.'Ar)I~‘..\-II<:fA‘I. lNS'L“RUCI’l"I(")T.\I shall he §_.{ive11 as
said town shall decide to he most usefnlfl and also “ eigltty rods of land ‘"
(_clescriheclL) on which to build a school—house: and the town having ac-
cepted the legacy, and huilt the. school—house as required to do : -——- aschool
of the ch:-tracter ahove inclicatecl, and named after its founcler HC>1r(;r-I'1‘(‘)..\’
l§'~lCI~IOoI., went into operation in October, I8.tc)--—-first in the town hall,

.

54

and, shortly 21ft€t1',W'2”t.1'C1S, when the l:)t1itltc1i.11glwz1s reacly, and certain -ques4-
tions tetnpo1'az'ily clisposecl of, in the school—honse itself. Fro1'xi :1 journttl
kept by the teacher and S3CllOi:~11'S ("still extant zmcl po1'tion.~". of it copiecl
into the School _Reco1.'cl.s%)_, it appeztr:4 that twentl_\'-five SCllOl£tl‘S, whose
nznnes are given, were at the fix-st session, which number was»; soon aclcletl
to, and the whole new Lll1C1€I'l'2l.i{ll1g was stztrtecl off‘ with much etitlittsiasmt,
and every 21SS1.11‘2111C€ of SUCCESS, which expectzttionsa‘ were lzn'gel_‘\" 1'e2tli7.ecl.
There was one unhrtppy (”i1‘£1\V'l)I1C1-I, however. Nine l':.tmilie..«:, nztmecl, with
their clescenctlants, were e.\'cluclecl, for rt centtn'_v, lay the provi.~sion.s' of the
tes;t:ttcn"s will from atteitcling; the $;cltool. 'tl[‘his kept out Sc:\'t31':11 very prom»
ising scltolars then living, \\’ll(3SG3 t':itl'ter.«-3 had been tztxecl t’t")t'l)t1iltling' the
s~'.cl1oo1-hotme; and wonlcl, moreover, proclnc.e 11 conclition of lillI'tf;‘S tln'e:;1t-
e11ing' co11s;eqne11ces in the ccititing; time much to he tit*:])1‘t’3"£1l€t(l. lly an
ztmicable ztrrzmgement, the clit’ti<:ttlt_\'wz1.~; ncljustettl. and the question of the
exclusion of the nine fznnilies crm'ietl liefore the Einpreme Cottrt. Thztt tri-
hunctl, after m:1tu1'e1y consiclering the whole matter, ltezt1*i1i;: the {tl'fj'tll‘I1t*;*l'1l;.*3
of counsel, &c., &c., cleciclecl tltztt the (3.\ICT.iLlSl\'C.* Cl:1tlh't3St“)l'. the will eoulcl not
be mztintztinecl, stncl accorclingl_v’set them asicle. thus opening the SCll0t;T)i,
as a. free school, without inviclions clistin<:ti,ons.- to all properly qualified
scltolms, children of “ 1'///m/21‘/‘zm/.s"” of the town. Tlnte etittttiiettcitig, the
school has C01'll;iI111t2Cl to Hottrisli till this time, ztncl its lienefits hztve heen
enjoyecl by 21 large number of our yonn_s_,>'e1' citizens. See CTt1.~‘4ltin,<_»;'.~; Re-
porte, volume 8th, 13:tfg;e nth, Nonrse vs. i\l‘erriznn. See also full exttntstts
from the will relating: to the :~;chool. liolton School l4{ecm'cls;, p:1,t‘.{‘ti‘ 9th.

[lit lii’age 30.]

Before the C1t.1t'i‘.F-3tl(T)11 ot’ tiff‘-it.."Li)il:43l1l.l1f\..2,' rt ;'l4"‘m~:ze: l~’ttn1.lrc‘ I,.t’1n<.~t1»:t' w.;n~;
i)I't)L.lfg'11t up in towh titeetixtg, it hzttl heen ("liSCt1t'~‘.St'.‘(l in privztte «(§?l1‘t;Tit‘§t'~‘u tin‘
months: and when it was fo1'1n:1l1_\'introclttcecl fox‘ Z"tCli,t‘)ll liy the town, it
found most voters t'nll_v p1‘epn1‘e<:l for it, and t';wc;n*:‘1l>l_v cli:~‘;po.~4etl tow:n'cl.s' it.
To Mr. I-Ienry jewett, then one of ot1reiti:.r.ens, lntt simre of l;exin.g;‘t<“>1t1,l>e~
longs the creclit of ll‘tiI‘O(’il1Cil1f," the question het'o1'e the town,  in town
meeting :ms:e1ttl)1ecl.”‘ Mcwement to the ettect. contemplzttetl nt once 1ti>t+gztt1 :
21 lil.n'zu'_\' was sttztrtecl without (it:‘lfL_\', nntl itfls continued to im:re:t.~;e in num-
ber of l)OOl<t'-3 ztncl in efficiency to this; time. It line. m:.m_t' nr~;er.~;, ztntl 11:15;
proved .1 means: of improt'e1i°te11ti Itfltl ltrtptiinesasa of the l1lf_‘;'i‘tCfHl (“n‘tlL‘l'.

[\~'. il—’ztfg'e 31.] p _
Lists of those who served in the last. Will‘, or that of 18614:; --— town,
state and nationz11' liets;-—l1:u'e been kept in vm‘iot1:% forme: ancl lll(”‘)$tti* in
future generations nml<i11gi1tqt1ix'ies tie. to who servecl, ztntl when ztntl wltere,
and from what plzmes, will he at no CliH'iet1lty to final out. 1+I\'e1*y town in
the state was required by lzuv to keep its own proper recorcl of volunteers

enlisted to its credit, and 21 book for the purposse was fn1'1tisl'1ec1 by ntrtte

91
{J}.

etutltority. Ir17ac1cli.tion,~z1t the Acljtttzmt (.}eneral‘s office, the roster of

every regiment in the state SC1“\'.lCC was copied, as 1Tl£1n}’ interesting partic-

t1la.1‘.S ztclclecl as could be, the whole with immense labor made as complete
as possible. and then printed in two thick 8vo Volumes. These books
were sent to all the towns, and given the largest circulation. Not to be
outdone, the Generztl Government, while the war was still going on, not
only estztbli.~shecl National. Cemeteries for interring the boclies of the fztllen,
but hrts since publishecl in several volumes, nncler the general title of
*‘l{o1.1..:.»:t ote I-I<>‘.'mi<.,“ Cl(;‘t€l.ll.€1Cl Czttz:-tlogtte:s of the nztmes of all solcli ‘:5

iwho:~.-;e boclies are known to be buriecl in any of the cemeteries aforesaicl,

and along with these to give all the informztti.on 1)1‘aCtiCE‘tl)lt: respecting the
nutnerotts gtttves of “t1l1l<.l‘t(;)\Vn ‘T there to be founcl. I":l'.(:l‘(.‘21ft(;':1', even
eetttttries hence, whoever is looking up fa.cts and clzttes relating to our

rccent; war will beat no loss where to tincl them.

[Vi/'. l’ztge 32.]

'.I.‘lt<.).se. who servecl clt1i'ing; the war, to the credit of the town of lfiolton.
were :1:-; t'ollow.~; (the nztmes under eztch lieacliiig being arrangecl in alpha-
betical orcler). '..[‘lte names of those who died (luring the war, ancl which
are on the tablets in the town hell, are printed in italics:

13th liiegittteitt; in which were those who first went out.-—J:I7.el<iel W’.
Choztte, Lec:lr:.t A. Coolmlge, Silas  Cooleclge, *Samuel M. I-laynes,
ltlclwarcl A. Hc>t.1glttc)n, FI'z‘tI1C1.‘5 M. lsiimmens. Cltarles MC(;_)_t.11ll5:1I1, Iittoclt
(.3. l’ierce, szergezttntt, W'illi:t1n A. Newhall, /t’a1'[a: N22:/mlas‘, Henry- VVh1t-V
cot ,  ‘tin, om "105. t '  or erv 5 1'0" .1 . C re ‘* V,
~ nb et)t'1 l ll Whtttlei cl 1' e ,_,e'11t "‘Subs quent1__
tsolclier from 13¢-‘:rlin.] t

ed l~1e;;i1net1t.————He111'_v Leztrnecl.

I 5th I{egi1tie1tt.-—-jolttt Fzthee, '[i‘/to/mm //cz.s'z‘z'zz,q:s~, Nelson l.~’1'attt, 'I‘ho:~s.
Sherwin, Jr. (Cétlltflltll ot :1 cotnpaiiy, but company CliSl)211‘1C.l€Cl he went into
:z::cl as €tCl_]tti121I"1l‘.: teacher of 1*-lougltton School on brealting out of wztr).
jolm S. VV1ll1z11ns, 2“t‘ltt;‘l‘\\’£11‘ClS in 4th eztvztlry; john Wood.

Ioth liegiitteztt.——{...le<:>1'ge A. l3ztrne:s, .~1![7erz.‘ C. Hczz/g/ztmz, Oliver L.
.Nt)L11'b't3, ser;.r;eant.

Igth ilxlegittietit.-—¥-Williztm Stone, nmjoi‘.

zzoth Re;;._;;i1ne1e1t.—-—7W0//zzrx I~I~'/21'///Ia/2. H

211st l{e’:glt1"1t:1'1‘t.--VVlll€1l‘Cl  llowers, (.}eo1'ge J11. litllgcfifi, Cltztrles R.
l*~lm'en, jztmes; l{.ennecl_\', 1.21/{*0 C)!/zit (clztimecl and held li)y l..:.tnc2tster, his
nzzune on l..2‘t.I1L:ttS’tt-:1‘ tablet).

2:2c1 il§lCf..;‘ll1'1Cl’l.’C.---C.;c?()}f.g’v /~.~’. Ll)./)1’, (Q/mr/cs .-«I. /*/;V. Joseph S. Hilclretlt.
/t’zx_/ms‘ /1/. NV//1'51///.3‘ (elaimecl 2111(‘l held by l_5erl1n, name on l3e1*lin tablet:s)..

:23cl iI«’.eg_f;i11te1tt.~—-z~\iitt:)s; l5. jztrvis. . l

32d l{eg:itt1.e1tt.——Wincl:sorH. fl3i.g;el,<:>\\', 215.-;iE~3tZt11t SL11'_§;'C(i)l1.

M 33Cl R€3.5,-;’{l1l”1t:‘t1‘t.--~—/L'(I5?LI:?)’r27 /.. /L~(IIé.’.s‘. i
6th l{e0'iment.--—-ltleltrv H. iI".5:t.1'tlett, 'l‘heo(;lo1'e H. liartlett, liclwin
’ ‘m I “ ‘V * '9 I 1
llzttfrtes. ]"l"l>I‘1l‘n£’11i1 l-’. liettne. Reuben (,l.:tpp, /:..s‘/vz (.,2t'm,'/:e..'/', /'I"zZ/M”/I/I /*arzz.s*—
mu‘!/z, ‘Anclrew J. l‘ttlc)ttglttc)‘1.1, _‘7~'().s‘z:“I/I ‘ft/my/1/(2/2, W alter ljiennecly, john
Lztlte, (merge lrl. l’zttr1cl~;, (merge 1*. .‘aa.\vye1*, T_lOt5<2])l1 H. t>zt\v_ye1', orderly

5'6

sergeant’ GeO]'2‘§e I-‘I. '.I‘l1.c>1"na.~s, AS'c111C)1 C. \V'et11er13e<=:. H‘e11rV M. 'Wethe1*~

bee, Reu.b<:11 L, \-Vether1:>ee, Gco1_'gc  \Vi11i.5. fr‘/{[4/1. /3’. LI '0./212’/22//31'."

[]‘Died 21 year or two after the war enc1ec1.]

38th 1'{egime11t.~—G:.';t>1jg"z: H. .S'z‘r7/‘IL’.

47th R€g’i1'l1€11t.—--.1.3L11‘g€SS 'I‘aylor.

57th Regime11t.—_12unes j. McVey, Ge<..>1fgc \Vi11i.s. V

5111 Regiment, Co. I (Nine 1\-’1<;>11t1*1:~5 Mam).~—--*ICc11m1nc1 1.5. ‘13a1)coc1<, F.
R. Be11nett, 'fG.~:.7;j,;;2: .-11. (.'aryav~', _1211"ne.~4 1* . I_)<:spc::1u. .I.._V1n:111 (..,}11)b.<_-1, W’m.
(_}ibb:~s, :1:An'1o1'_V S. I"Ia.ynes, jalncs I). ,I:~I1.11f11)ut, _1:1mcs _111_1.~;(;>11, \/V11l1am H.
fI..:u.‘a1)ee, Charles 1:3. Newto11.ca1:>tz11_11, "‘.I11fz1nC1s 1\1..Nc:'wton, A11c11.'ew L.
Noxmse, W’i11iz1m I). .1‘-’ie1jce, q‘.Anc11'c\v A. 1.’(:)\\'t:1'.51,_ 11eut<=:nant, '1:]ohn H.
S:1w'_ve1.', ::;e1'ge2111t, Isaac C.Stmtto11, A11gL1st11s I-~21. 'I.‘1f<:1w1.)1f1.c;1ge, C11;u'1es
H. W'hit<:, I-Ie111'_\'W0oc1, I-Ie111'y A. VV<::1oc11)11ry. [”‘%Reen11stc:c1 111 4t11C21\'.,
se1'ge2111ts. ’1'Reen1i.~;tec1 111 :2d 1"“Ic:1\'_\-' A1‘t111c:1'_y. T_I{<=:c:n11stc=:c1 111 I5-Iundrccl
I)z1._vs 1\1*1e11.]

5th Regimc:mi. Co. I (AH1.111c11‘cc1 .I)z1ys 1\1c:11).——-—Ac1c1iti<>11z11 1121111cs.J1<.1.ss—
cph A. 1:31fya11‘c, .I...\;'nm11 13. (.,}zi1te:s. C111'.1.s.'t()p11€_:1' L. M. Newton, Amos 1.’.
l1’owe1'.~.;, Step11e11 F. Smith.

N i1n‘.ss 152«1tt'e1*v.--—F1'z1m:is Murph\'.

.Fi1':st Heswy A1'ti11c1'y.—--liclwi11.J. I3mw11_. C11:~11i1c:»‘ I’. (...,}ctc11c11. 1:22.’-ml’/2
/x"z'/lam"): /W1!/, Balclwin. I~1<;)L1g11to11, Wa_1.'1'c:n 1"--1Q¢L1g11t<:.111, .8‘/av]?/21'/I .//. ]~2’zmf-
2'/2,43". C1m1'1esVV. NO1.11'SG, Cieoige W’. ..1’1'.:1tt. I:.1.1ge11e: -‘fimxth. fF1'21.11ci:s I-I.
\Vhitc:om1:>, VVi11ia.m W. W11ee1e1'.

Second Hezwy .A17ti1.1.<21*_v.--~.«-Ma! _‘7(?//11.'.s'_ Cr»//1'/z.1',¢ 1,vZ<1wz11*c1 1:2. 1'1%1oL1_g11to11,
C11:u'.1.es B. Newton. (.,}cc>1*ge IL. Sz1.1'ge11t. C11:11'1&:s C... \V11ce]c:1'.

Thircl C21v21]1.'v, 1\4’ICCrC?C3‘S.—*F1'€111C1S Ii. 1:Iowz1rc1.

Fourth Ca.\»'a.11-y.—-—]3c:sic1es n:11m::~s z111'<::.:1(1_v mc:11ti<,.m<:cl, W211_clc1 1:3. I{im-
mens, ]c)se1)11 I... lVI.:."u¢.s‘to11, A1.)11e1' M. Nuttmg. W'111.1z1m I... Osgoocl.

Fifth. Cz1Vz111fy.—--7%.’)/‘/zfcvzz //2;7__1’(I.'a‘/I, co1o1'cc1.

Fiftlx Cavz111'_v, 1'c:gL11:-11'-U. S. A.-——]ohn 13. Stanley.

Signal Se1.°\'icc.-(jco1;gu ,:Zc:1win W o<.>cI1:':>1.11‘_\-'. 1>1*evioL1s1_vi.11 I*‘ir:.st C2wa11'y.

f{“)1‘ I...er;m1ine-_;ter.

§1f’1f<:>vi:~sio11a1 (}1.1:11fc1.~.;.---~11": A. I)utt<;>n.

';I§‘11om:1..=; G1'z1s.~sic:, <:1‘1z1.1.)l.z1i.11. with 108111 N. Y. VO1L11'111(.?L‘1'S§ R.()Ll1T)CI'.1 M.
\VhitL:omb and C11ar1e.~.s A. W11c:e1oc1<, :-,;1.1tt1<;:1*.~;. with the 36th; H1111 I..)21vi.«-1,
.s;L11'geo11, 38111 U.  co1<)1rec1 t1'c.:>c;i>p>;. /\11"11:)1f()sc 1122111105, 51551 .1{egt.,1)<)t11
p11y:-1:.ici21n.~s in Bolton at’tc:1't11c:\v;11'; 1\1m'yI:Z1iz. I~*Ia1.y11cs, 1m1'se in 11os]%)ita1s.

RegL11211' U. S. Nzwy.-——~’1{o1:)c:1't  1.13c.1c::s_. z11,ssist2111t s1.11.'gc<;>11 in I~‘a1'ra.gL1t":~:
fleet at .N<::w ()1'1.e:111.~s. in the flag 5111171 1* 1.3111131; H.21w1<,“ Com. 1’o1'te1‘. on the
1\1i::;.si:5.ssi1_:>1.)i, z1nc.1 p21:-ssecl E1.S.‘3i.H‘12ZlI'11.' HLl1'g(.‘)Q1'l. on. the “ Co1o1':;1c1c>  _1c:>h1'1
Hem'_V Ha>].)g<')<;1c1, sezxmzm, in the *“ No1‘t11 C:.1ro1i11:1,“ the ‘* 1.’<:1t<:11111a<:," and
the g11n13ozLt 1‘ Union." -

\1-"o1.u1.1t<:*<=:1f N21\1'_x'.~———¥I~Ic11ry [1{0c:l<.w<..>(:>c1, z‘1.s'.~.;i.~st;1111t .ss111'gc(.111. with .11‘;-11‘1'z1gL1t"s
f1<~:et at I\~*1’obi1e, in the “‘ I.tz1.~'.<:;1," the “.Mon<::>11ga11c:1.z1.,‘“ 211161 the “ IA-’oc21-
hontas.“ Aftc21' the war, p11ysiciz11"1 in B<:.>1t<;.>11.. 1 1.

mi

.1.'3.~——-_"?/112/z/1 C’. f{a;1'zz¢’.s', 36111; 1.1117: C)//z'.s', 21:11:; c1z‘.i111c:c1 by 1L.:~111<:z1.~s-
ter. zmcl thc=:i.1‘ nzunes on I..z111c:.:1.~;t<<-:1‘ ‘gz1.bI.c:t. C1m1'1e:s W'oocl, ]r.,1c1.z1i.mec1 by
Hn.1:va.1'c1. Several now citizems of" Bolton :~5c1'vec1 as solcliem in the q11QtzLs
of other towns. ' ~ ~

57

[.‘{. Page 33.]

The memorial tablets erected in the town hall to the memory of de-
eeasecl soldiers were cleclieatecl on the evening of Dee. 20th, 1866, with
app1'opri2tte ol)se1'\'a11ces. Solomon H. Howe, Iisq., was l’1*esiclent of the
evening. I’1'ayer was offered by Thomas '1‘. Stone, 1). I). 13i.ograpl1i.eal
Notices read by R. S. Ecles. An Oration deli.\'e1'ecl by Dr. (free. 13. Lot'-
ing. A Poem, written by Amos W’. Collins‘, \va.s read by Adclison (_}.
Smith, tezteher of the Iéioughton School. Suitable music, inelttcling the
singing of an <31rigi11al ode by Mrs. Mztry I). W'ltit:ney of ltfioston, was pe1'~—
fonnecl by the I—Iuclson band, and by a select choir uncle1'the direction of
H. F. I-lztyne.~s.

See pzt1_npl1let, “ U1'Zltl<,.)1'1 tleliyeretl ztt Bolton, l\l2ts.~5., Dec. 20th, 1866,

at the Declieatiott of the 'l‘2tblet.~;," «SEC. : 1867, pttl3l._isl1ecl frotn the offiee oi.

the Clinton Cottrant.

N. l.‘».-—-——'.I‘o the nztmes of “recent int1‘ocluetion,"‘ under note (J, etclcl
the t'c>ll.o\\'i11g: lfiloocl, l.3ower:a, Cook. (,-}1_‘2tve:~;. Lzt1'l~:i.n, l.’owet':~‘.. liieh.
Santpson. A Bloocl family in the enrliet‘ hi.~r.tot'y of the town: but no
member of it has resiclecl here for many }'t:€t1‘S. ‘

That no e1'1'o1‘s or i1npo1‘t2tnt <.>111is:sio11.s hztye crept fmto
the f<_>1'eg<;)i11g ztppettclix. is l1a1'clly to be expeeted. It 
hoped tl1(i‘_V are not 11L1111t21”OuS. Inclulgent 1'eztde1“:~?: are
laeggecl l«:inclly to exettse them, :13 these sheets were 1*evis.ed
under ci1'et1111stzt11ees 1“e11cle1'ing zt ezt1'efL1l se1*ttti11y \'e1“y
Cliltlfllclllt.