DATE DUE —1 J^^ / A SKETCH OF THE u S'Ol ()' ( ^ / i Jii SKU HI) MASSACHUSETTS. BY HEXRY S. PE^RHAM 1890. M39-Z.C35^ PREFACE. This sketch was prepared for The History of Middlesex County, published by J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia. It appears here just as it came from their press. H. .s. I'. Chelmsford, Mass., March 3j, iSgi. CHELMSFOKD. 239 CHAPTER XV. CHELMSFORD. BY HENRY S. PERHAM. EARLY HISTORY. The first movement toward the settlement of Chelmsford was made in 1652 by some citizens of Woburn and Concord who petitioned the Court for the privilege of examining a tract of land on the " other side of Concord River." Woburn and Concord were the towns then nearest to this tract, the latter having been the 'first inland town in Massachussetts. The examination of this tract was followed by a petition May 10, 1653, for a grant of the quantity of six miles square, " which bordereth upon Merrimack River near to Paatucket, which we do find a very comfortable place to accommidate a company of God's people upon ; that may with God's blessing and assistance live comfortably upon and do good in that place for church and commonw^ealth." Signed to this were the names of Benjamin Butterfield, John Parker, Isaac Learned, James Parker, George Farley, Thomas Chamberlin, Joseph Parker, John Hosmer, Jacob Parker, Henry Foster, William Chamberlin, John Nuttinge, Edmund Chamberlin, John Baldwinge, Richard Grifl5n, James Blood, John Smedley, Roger Draper, William Fletcher, Thomas Adams, William Hartwell, Robert Proctor, William Buttrick, Baptist Smedley, Richard Hildreth, Thomas Briggam, Daniel Bloggett, John Hall, William Hall. This tract petitioned for included the fishing- grounds of the Indians, at Pawtucket, upon the Mer- rimack, where the city of Lowell now stands. Gookin wrote that this was an " ancient and capital seat of Indians." Rev. John Eliot, of Roxbury, was then engaged in those efforts to convert the Indians to Christianity, from which he came to be known as the Apostle to the Indians. He had visited Pawtucket as early as 1647, in company with Captain "Willard, of Concord, and some of the Christian Indians of his OAvn neighborhood. Again in the spring of 1648 : "At that season of the year there was annually a great collection of Indians at this spot, a famous fishing-place, and they furnished him with large aud- iences — Indians that came from various quarters." The good Eliot, who was mindful as well for the temporal as the spiritual welfare of his dusky charges, petitioned the Court for a grant of land for the Indians. The following answer of the Court was to both petitions : "May 18, 1653. "In ans' to the peticon of seuerall oj the inhabitants of Concord and Woobourne for the erecting of a new plantacon on Merremacke Eiver, neere to Pawtuckett, the court doth graunt the peticoners of Concord and Woobourne the track of land menconed in theere peticon, excepting some part of it joyning to Merremacke River : Provided, that the sajd pe- ticoners shall sufficjently breake vp full so much land for the Indjans in Buch place as they shall appointe wth in such plantacon as shall there be appointed them, as they haue of planting ground about a hill called Bobbins Hill, and that tbe Indjans shall have vse of theere planting ground, aforesajd, free of all damages, vutill the peticoners shall have broken vp the land for the Indians as aforesajd. "2'y. For the plantacon peticoned for by Mr. Eljott, the court judgeth it meete to be graunted them, wth the exceptions and provissions afore- mentioned, and for the stating of both, that Capt Willard and Capt Johnson be appointed to lay out the sajd plantacoua or touneshlpps, the English at the charge of the peticoners, the Indjans at the charge of the countrje, w*in one month after the end of this sessions, that neither of the plantacons be retarded. "3iy. That if the peticoners of Concord and Woobourne shall not, wiiin two yeares, setle a competent noumber of familjes there, by build- ing and planting vppon the sajd tract of land twenty familjes or vp- wards, so as they may be in capacitje of injoying all the ordjnances of God there, then the graunt to be vojd." Of this committee, which was entrusted by the Court to lay out these grants. Captain Edward John- son, of Woburn, was the author of " The Wonder- working Providence of Zion's Savior in New Eng- land," a valuable historical work which epitomizes the Puritan philosophy. Simon Willard, of Concord (the ancestor of two presidents of Harvard College), was the gallant captain who rode to the relief of Brookfield when it was assaulted by the Indians Au- gust 2, 1675. A few families came in and occupied this territory without waiting for their petition to be acted upon, probably in 1652, as the first birth is recorded early in 1653, viz., "Joseph Parker, the son of Joseph and Marget, his wife [ ] 30 daye of March : 1653." One record bears an earlier date, viz. : " Sarah Parker, dau. of Jacob and Sarah, his wife [ ], Janeware 14 : 1653." But the reform in the calendar, by Pope Gregory, had not then been adopted in New England. By the old style then in vogue the year began March 25th ; therefore January, 1653, old style, would be January, 1654, new style. The usual form of writing dates between January and March was 165|. Allen gives it as a tradition that Joseph Parker was the first person born in town. One other birth and a marriage were recorded the same year. The petitioners for the grant of the township did not all take up their abode here, and some who took up land soon disposed of their possessions and went elsewhere. The Parkers were from Woburn. There were five brothers. Of the four whose names were among the petitioners, none of them long remained in Chelms- ford. James went, about 1660, to Groton, where he became the leading man of the town. Joseph also went to Groton and after to Dunstable. Jacob was the first town clerk of Chelmsford, but soon removed to Maiden, and John went to Billerica. The Cham- berlins were also from Woburn. Thomas and Ed- mund settled in Chelmsford and William in Billerica. John Baldwin and George Farley, also from Woburn, settled in Billerica. The first birth in that town was Samuel, the son of George Farley. James Blood and John Nutting took up land here, but both soon went 240 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. to Groton. The latter was killed by the Indians in the assault upon that town in 1676. Abraham Parker, the elder of the brothers, came early with his sons, Moses, John and Isaac, and re- mained in this town. A tradition,^ which is worthy of credence, says that Abraham's wife was the first woman who " baked and brewed in Chelmsford." Sagamore's planting field is shown upon the north- east. The description which accompanied the plan is, unfortunately not preserved. When the adjoining territory came to be occupied the lines of the town were found to be so indefinite as to occasion an un- certainty as to the correct boundaries. The Nashoba Indians had obtained a grant of the section which is now Littleton, through the good offi- THE PLAN OF CHELMSFOED FROM MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES. The plan of the town as laid out by the committee, as here shown, was engraved from a tracing from the original in the Massachusetts Archives, Ancient Plans, vol. 112, p. 81. The space marked " India Land" was the tract reserved for the Indians. Joe 1 Letter of Jonathan Perham, 1821. ces of the apostle, Eliot, about the time of the grant to the Pawtuckets. At the time of King Philip's War the Indians mostly abandoned their reservation, and it was encroached upon by people from adjoining towns, mostly from Groton. Boundary controversies grew out of this. The Chelmsford line bordered upon this tract for a considerable distance. CHELMSFORD. 241 Controversies also arose in another quarter between Clielmsford, Concord, Billerica and the Blood farms. In 1694 the selectmen of Chelmsford and Concord united in a petition to the General Court for a com- mittee to examine and settle these rival claims. This was done and the claims of Billerica were estab- lished. Finally, in 1697, the town chose Captain Bowers and Thomas Parker a committee "to act on the towns be halfe in all things nesery as to the finding out the first grant of the town and to do what soauer is nedfull to secuer the town as it is bounded" They obtained the following deposition of one of the committee, then living in Groton, who assisted in laying out the town forty-five years before : church of Wenham and their pastor, Kev. John Fisk, to remove to this place. An account of these nego- tiations in the quaint diction of the time has been preserved in the handwriting of Mr. Fisk : " A day was set of meeting at Chelmsford. " Vpon the sd day set divers of yo Brethren accompanied the Pastor ouer vnto chelms. where y Comittee & divers others were present A view was taken of ye place. The Brethren p'sent satisfyed themselves aboute theire accommodations, & proposalls were then made to ye pasto' for his accommodation & yeerely mayntenance, as to be tended vnto him by consent of ye whole of Inhabitants & in their name by y« Com- ittee." " Groton, noumber : 24 : 1698 capten Jeams parker being of full age testyfy and say that the honered Jenarall courte grated a sarten track of land for a plantation nowe caled chelmsford and impowered majear symon wilard and capten edward Johnson as a committe, which com. mltte came with full power to lay out sd plantation and did se sd planta- tion layd out to ther content capten John Shearmon being the artes, did lay out sd plantation begining at a riuer comonly caled conkard riuer bounded with a stake upon the land caled wamaset land and so runing on a lyne by marked tres to a heape of stones and to nashoba plantation runing upon nashoba line to a great pine-tre and so runing on a strayt line ouer a pond caled stonny brook pond to a pine-tre marked with C and G and so ouer sd brook to a heape of stones and so mining on the south syd of a great hill on the north syd of sd brook and ouer sd brook to a groat pine-tre and so to sd stake by conkard riuer thus Bd committe and sd arttes layd out sd plantation and rescued fullsattes- facttion for ther saruestherin: and did ingage to make a tru return to the honared court of ther laying out sd plantation : and furder sd parker doothe testyfy and say that hinslef Thomis adams Wilyara flecher and Isack larnit ware the committe chosen by the petetlnors of sd land to se sd plantation layd out : this taken upon outh befoer me this 24 of noumber : 1698 " Thomis hinchman, Justes. "This aboue is a true coppey of the origanall recorded by me, sollo- man Keyes, toune clerk the 6 day of desember 1698 " i It is impossible to reconcile this description, and the lines as settled between Chelmsford and Billerica, in 1701 (in which those towns joined for several miles), with the plan. It will be seen, however, that Chelmsford extended from the Concord Eiver on the east to Stony Brook Pond (now called Forge Pond) on the west. Following the description from there, " over sd brook to a heap of stones,"— the northwest corner,--" and so running on the south side of a great hill"— either Kissacook or Snake Meadow Hill— " on the north side of said brook "— ^tony Brook— "and over said brook to a great pine tree"— the northeast corner. Allen says that the latter bound was at the glass factory, which stood near what is now Baldwin Street, in Lowell, nearly opposite West Pine Street. Although 1 know of nothing improba- ble in this statement of Allen's, his other descriptions of the town lines are so manifestly erroneous that little reliance can be placed upon it. As soon as these few pioneers become established in their new home they set about to provide for the religious wants of the community. In September, 1654, propositions were made to the 16-iI Copied from original record, page 56. Soon after their return to Wenham the major part of the church, seven in number, with their pastor, de- cided to accept Chelmsford's proposals. But at thi» stage of the proceedings, for some unexplained rea- son, the negotiations were broken off. "Thus the matter Lay dormant as twere all winter till y« P' m^ 55, at what time Bro : Read coming ouer enformed vs in such wise here at Wenham, as therevpon both y« P. & y-^ 8^ engaged brethren demurred vpon y« pro- ceedings & some y' had sold heere at Wenham, re- deemed their accommodations agayne into their pos- session and a Letter was sutably sent by Br. Read to acquainte y« Chelmsf. comittee how things stood & advised to stead themselves els^'here." The mutter was not abandoned, however ; several letters passed between them. And in June, 1655, " Jsa. Lernet, Sim : Thompson & Tho : Adams " went with letters from the people of Chelmsford, entrusted " with full power to them to treate & finally to deter- mine the busines depending betwene both parties." It was finally decided " to refer the matter to counsell and y« parties agreed vpon were M--. Endicott, Gov- ernor ; M^ Mather, Mr Allen, of Dedhain ; M' Cob- bet, M' Sherman Capt. Johnson, of Wooburne who determined the case for Chelmsford. " This case thus determined : on either side prep- aration was made for y« Removal of the church. " Accordingly about y« 13''' of g^". 55, There were met at Chelmsford, the pastor with y« Engaged Brethren of Wenham Church, viz., Ezdras Read, Edw. Kemp, Austin Killam, Ser : Foster, Geo : Byam' & Rich Goldsmith, Seuen in all To whom such of the Brethren of Wooburne & Concord Ch : late at Wenham, Now in Removing to Chelmesford, pre- sented themselves & Testimony Giuen were by an vnanimous vote Recejved into fellowship They be- ing y« greater number in way of [ ] complyance a Relation passes [on] either side, as each one rela- tion by [word] viz. : Memb's. Rec*. " IsaackLernett (he dyed 8 of 10, 57) j Simon Thompson (he died about [at Goburne]) 2 Wm. Underwood ' o Abram Parker . Eenj. Butterfield * 5 Tho : Chambei-lin ' . Next received Dan. Blogget, who brought letters of dismission from the ch : at Cambridge 7 "So after this the Seals of the Supper administered and there were admitted by vote these members of other Churches, to communion with 242 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. us in these Seals: Mr. Griffin, Wm. Fletcher and his wife, Tho r Adams) and his wife, Br. Vnd''wood'8 wife (Edw. Spalding), Bro : Biitterfield's wife, Bro : Chaniberlin's wife, Edm : Chaniberlin'e wife,Abram Parker's wife, Jos. Parker's wife, Isa. Lernet's wife, Sim : Thompson's wife. " 8. Since Rec*. into fellowship was Jacob Parker " 9. Tho : Adams and Edw. Spalding on 27 of 2^ 5G." The first town-meeting for the choice of officers to govern the town afl'airs and to provide for the sup- port of the church was held in November, 1654, at the house of William Fletcher. This is said to have been the firet frame house in town. It stood a few rods east of the house of the late Ephraim Crosby, upon laud which has continued in the possession of the Fletcher family to the present time. The following is the record of this meeting : " The : 22d : the : 9th : month : 1C54. " At a meeting then at William Fletcher's Hous there was chosen to officiate in Ordering the Publick affairs of the Place by the Consent of the Major part of the Town for this present year ensuing are as fol- loweth : " Esdras Read : Edward Spaulding : William Fletcher: Isaac Lerned, Simon Thompson: William Uuderwood: Thomas Adams. " We give to Mr. Fisk Thirty acres of meadow and Thirty Acres of Plowable Land for the acomidation of him for his most conveniancy : And we do agree and Order that ho shall have a hous built for him Thirty-eight foot in Length & Twenty foot in bredth, with three fire Booms, the Chimneys built with Brick or Stone : and we promise to pay to Mr. Fisk, Fifty Pounds for the first year ; And we promise to pay his niainti nance as the Lord Bhall enable us for the future." It is uncertain at this day where Mr. Fisk's house stood, but I think it was on or near the site of Wil- son's Block. In all the foregoing transactiori^ we see revealed the deep religious character of the founders of this town. The clause in the first petition for the grant, that "they find a comfortable place to accommodate a company of God's people upon," and the condition of the grant that they .settle a competent number of families ... as may be in capacity for enjoying all the ordinances of God there." And their action in submitting the question of the removal of the Wenham Church to a council composed of the Governor and some of the Colonies' most eminent di- vines, are acts consistent with that theocratic scheme of government which " sought to erect a common- wealth to be composed of a united body of believers.'' The Wenham company was a great accession to the town. Especially the influence of Rev. Mr. Fisk in shaping and guiding the afiairs of the infant settle- ment cannot be estimated. ^ He was born in the parish of St. James, Suflblk County, England, about the year 1601. His parents sent him to the grammar school near their home and after to Immanuel College, Cambridge, where he took his first degree. He then studied for the ministry and entered upon his favorite work. The persecution of the non- conformists obliged him to abandon the ministry. He turned his attention to the study of physic, and, after passing an examination, engaged in practice. He came to New England in 1037. To avoid the fury of his persecutors he was obliged to go on board 1 Allen. the vessel in disguise. " He came well stocked with servants and all sorts of tools for husbandry and carpentry and with provisions to support his family in a wilderness three years, out of which he charitably lent a considerable quantity to the country, which he then found in the distresses of a war with the Pequot Indians." His mother died on the passage and his infant child soon after. " - He taught the Charlestown grammar school and after in Salem the first grammar school in that city." He acted as pastor in Wenham for about fourteen years. "Twenty years did he shine in the golden candlestick of Chelmsford, a plain but an able . . . and useful preacher of the gospel ; rarely, if ever, by sickness hindered from the exercises of his ministry." He was physician as well as pastor and Cotton Mather says of him, "Among the first preachers and writers which rendered the primitive times of New England happy, was one who might be called the beloved physician ; one who might also be given the eulogy which the ancients think was given to Luke — a brother whose praise was in the Gospel, throughout all the churches. This was Mr. John Fiske." Of those who came with Mr. Fisk, Mr. Thomas Hinchman became perhaps the leading man of the town. As deacon of the church, deputy to the court, trustee for the Indians, and leader of the military, he exerted a wide influence. He was also probably the most wealthy man of the town. Although he left no family so far as we know, his name has been remem- bered. One citizen now living was named for him — Edwin Henchman Warren. Esdras Read soon re- moved to Boston, where he died in 1680. The.Spald- ings and Byams have continued prominent names in town to the present time. Austin Killam and Rich- ard Goldsmith both died in Wenham. The latter was killed by lightning May 13, 1673, while engaged in conversation with Rev. Mr. Higginson, who had just returned from the church. The second town-meeting was held " month first Day 24th 1655. William Fletcher is chosen Consta- ble : Isaac Lerned is chosen Sergeant of the band : Simon Tomson is chosen Clerk of the Band : " It is ordered that the first Second Day of the first, month Shall be observed by all the householders of the town from year to year for the Chusing of all annuall officers belonging to the Town as the Select- men or Committee, Deputy for the Court : Constable; The three men to end all small causes under Forty Shill- ings, Surveyors for the high-ways Overseers of the fences and Swine and to meet at the meeting-hous by nine a clock in the morning and for the first hours non-appearance twelve pence and for a whole Days Absence two Shillings." Allen states that the third town-meeting was " held at the meeting-house agreeable to former vote." s Ch. Manual Wenham. CHELMSFORD. 243 It is not stated ^ in the record where this meeting was held. It is probable that the meeting-house was not built for several years. In 1662 a rate was levied for the "meeting-house for ye Towne £100-8." And the two years previous considerable sums were raised relative to the same object. IxcoRPORATiox. — The town was incorporated May 29, 1655, by the following act : " Vppon informacon from Majo' Willard, by a letter from Esdras Bead, Edward Spalden, Wm. Fletcher, etc., inhabitants of anew plauta- con, that the noumber of inhabitants, according to the time plixt in the Courts graunt, were there settled at theire request, the Court doth graunt the name thereof to be called Chelmsford." The incorporation of Billerica and Groton bear the same date. Chelmsford was probably named for that town in England. President John Adams, who was from the same family as Samuel and Thomas Adams of this town, wrote in his diary that " Chelmsford was prob- ably named in compliment to Mr. Hooker, who was once minister of that town in Essex." It is pleasant to feel that in bestowing a name upon the town its founders may have been moved by a sympathy with the enlightened democratic views of the great preacher who founded Connecticut; the author of " the first-written constitution known to history that created a government, and it marked the beginnings of American democracy, of which Thomas Hooker deserves more than any other man to be called the father.'' ^ Saw-IMill. — As soon as the town was fairly or- ganized measures were taken in the following action for the establishment of a saw-mill: " 1656, July Day ye third. At a Public meeting of the whole town, it is Granted to Mr. Samuel Adams in Considoration of Setting up a Saw-mill : and thereby Supliing the Town with Boards at three Shillings the hundred, or the Sawing of one Board log for the providing and bringing of another to be Redy to work by the next March ensuing. In consideration A\'hereof it is hereby Granted to the Sd Mr. Adams to have the Sum of Four hundred and fifty acres of Land upon the South Side of the meadow belonging to the Sd Mr. Adams, called brook meadow ; Far- ther that the Sd Mr. Adams Shall have Liberty to make use of the Pines upon the Common. And to hold the foreSd Land to him and his heirs for ever." A further grant of one hundred acres was made in consideration of Mr. Adams erecting a corn-mill. Later the town gave him liberty to set flood-gates at Heart Pond. This mill was upon Great Brook, about two miles southeast of the centre of the town, where Russell's mills now are. The difficulties which these pioneers experienced in maintaining themselves in this wilderness is indi- cated in their petition for an extension of their grant. "7th.3mo.j 1656. " The humbell petition of the Inhabitants of Chelmsford sheweth that ■wheareas this honoured Courtt hath fformerly giuen them a sertayn tractt of land which we thankefuly acsept of, and wee thought it to haue binn sofitient and Conuenient for a plantatyon, but by reason of the stonines of sum part and the barones of another part there of, we 1 Transcript. 2 risk. weare Constrained to set off our habitatyons on one corner of our bounds which was only Conuenient for that vse, and so wee have vna- uoidably p\it our selues vp on straights because now our setuation is neare vpon our north east line, wheare wee haue no outlett for our Cat- tell to feed on, may it please, therefore, this honoured Courtt to take this our Condityon in to Consideratyon, and to grant a small parsill of land from our north east line downe to merimack Riuer, and so bownded by the sayd Riuer aboutt three mills, and so to run vp on a south west line so as that wee woold not bee any hindrance to Graiitou plantatyon : May it please this honoured Courtt to graunt petytion how euer your pe- tisionors will Continualy Remayne praying for a blesing vpon all your waity affaires. " Isack lerned, " Thomas ^ddams, "Jo ffiske: " Simon Tompson, "Edward Spaulding, "Beniamin buterfild, " William fletcher " William vnderwood, " in the name & on the Behalfe of y« Towne." Some misapprehension has been occasioned by the expression in this petition " our situation is near upon our north east line." The centre of population was at the meeting-house, which stood upon, or near, the site of the present Unitarian Church ; and as the town extended westward to Groton, and not as far northward as the present North Village, it will be seen that what is now the centre of the town was then the northeast section. That " we have no outlet for our cattle to feed on," while there were but twenty or thirty families to oc- cupy such a large extent of territory, was owning to its physical conditions. It was covered by forest ex- cept upon the meadows which skirted the streams, or where fires may have swept through leaving spaces where the wild grasses would spring up, or where the " barroness " of the sandy plain was incapable of supporting vegetation. Eliot had petitioned about the same time for an extension of the Indian grant, and the answer of the Court was to both petitions, viz.: "In Answer to this Peticon and Allso that part of m'. Eliot's Peticon respecting An Interagrement of land, vpon Conference with the Com- ittee who layd out the bounds of Chelmsford and perusal of a deicrip- con, A plott of the sayd plantacons and Allso of the Track of land now by both parts Peticoned for : Wee Apprehend it requisite that the Indian grant be extended A mile from the North East Angle or corner bound of Chelmsford Abutting on Merrimack and Patucket Eastward, taking in John Sagamor's planting ground. And the end of the said mile to determine the Indain plantacon. And for the rest of the land [in behalf of both towns — ] Peticoned for, that Chelmsford South and North line Abutting on Tadmuck, be extended from the Northweast Angle or Corner three Miles north : so as it pass not Merrimack riuer. And from thence to run A parralell line, with the East and west line of Chelmsford, vntill it meete with Slerimack Riuer. And that the whole Track of land so taken in, be and remayne In Comunitie vnto the Towns of Chelmsford and the Indian Town called Patuckett for all vses. " 21th S""" 1656. " Daniel GooKiN, " Joseph Hills, " John W^iswall. " The Deputyes approve of the returne of the Comittee in answer to this petition desiringe the consent of o'' hono^J magist' hereto, " Williasi Tobeey, Cleric. " Consented to by y» magist', Edward Rawson, Secrety." (Copy from original record in the archives at State-House, by David Pulsifer.) The dotted line on the plan shows the territory petitioned for. A portion of this was granted exclu- 244 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. sively to the Indians, and in the remainder they were given equal privileges with the people of Chelmsford. This arrangement, as might be expected, proved "prejudicial to the mutual peace of the said planta- tion," and in 1660 the Court granted permission for an exchange of land Avith the Indians. By this the Indians gained some land formerly held by Chelms- ford, and relinquished to their white neighbors all to the north of the Chelmsford line that had been peti- tioned for in 1656. The agreement was signed by James Parker, William Felther (Fletcher), and Tho. Hincksman, trustees for the Indians and by John EUot, " in witness of my approbation." Appended was " the names of y» cheife inhabitants of Pmatucket, testifying theire consent and sattisfaction in this deed: " The niarke Puntahhun, John Tohatowon. "Themarke Kussinanscut. "Themarkeof Pannobotiquis. " The m^ke of Nomphon. " The m'ke of Peter. "Them'keof Nonnoit. "The m'ke of Wompannooiin." Petition to Trade With Indians. — The follow- ing petition for the privilege of trading with the Indians probably contains the names of nearly all the men then residing in the town : " Chelmsford, May 17 : '58. To the honored Coart Assembled at Bos- ton. "The humble petistion the Inbabetants of the towne ofif Chelmsford Sheweth ; that we have as god by his providen [haveing despoased off uss with ow« famelies into this Remoat Corner of the wildernes ; whare not with StandRg the improvement of all Lawfull Liberties and Advan- tages put into ow" hands wee have and doe find as the State of things now standeth much dificalte '" : nay imposebile[ ] of procuering such nesesarie suplye as boath church and familie ocations doe call for to the great hasard boath of uss and ow's as wee dout not but y wisdoms are eensable off which dificalltie is much increased to uss by beeing prohibe- ted from tradeing with the indiens which we doe conseiue to bee ow« Lawful Liberte: ow* humble Request tharfore is that y boners would bee pleased to take this case into y» consederation : and grant yow» pe- tiscioners thare Lawfall Liberte which wee conceive ought not to bee Menopolised inasmuch as it is no nue inuention, and that the Lord would kepe boath you and yows in his feare and truth wee yow' petis- cioners shall for ever praye wee doe further in[ ] your Uoner to Rate for this inserted Leter to bee ow« townes brand or Leter of marks as Law injoyneth vss : C : " Jamas Parker, Thomas Adams, Josiah Richardson.'.William Fletcher, Edward Spalden, John Fiske, Henry Farwell, Georg byam, Berabin butterfild, Tho. Chamberlin, Beniamin butterfield, Roberd Procter, Edward Kempe, Daniel Bloget, Edman Chamberlin, James Blud, John Spalden, Joseph Parker, Roberd Fletcher, Samewell Foster, Joseph Gil- son, Sames Hildreth, William Underwood, John Shiple, Richard Hil- dreth, John Nutting, Abraham Parker, Edward Spaldeu, John Shiple, Joseph Parkis, Samewell Kempe." In 1665 the line was more definitely established between Chelmsford and Wamesit. The agreement was signed by the following Indians, who were " present and consented : nob how, John line, misstik george,ffrance3, Sameull alias manatoques.ould roger." The line began at the Concord River, where Billerica and the Indian grant on the east side of the river joined; from there "a streight line untill you come ouer the River meadow" — "thence westward cross the high ridge to a pine in the bottom" — "thence westward " — " thence it turns to the great swamp." It is impossible to follow the line accurately, but the language over the river meadow and "cross the high ridge to a pine in the bottoms " seems to describe the lay of the land west of the Lowell City Farm buildings. From there it went to the swamp through which runs the bed of the old Middlesex Canal, and from there north to the river where Baldwin Street terminates. In these exchanges of land with the Indians, it is plain that the superior shrewdness of the whites gained them the larger share. Some compensation may, however, have been made to the Indians, as in 1665 a rate was levied of £31 17s. Sd. "for the pur- chase of the plantation of y^ Indians." Roads and Residences. — It is interesting to trace the early roads, as it enables us to determine the lines of settlement. As we have seen, when this territory was first explored the only land mentioned as under cultivation was the Indian's corn-field upon Robins' Hill. With that exception the territory which these men surveyed from this eminence, was probably an almost unbroken forest, except upon the meadows which skirted the streams. The first inhab- itants could not therefore erect their dwellings in villages, as social considerations and mutual safety would prompt. They must push out upon the borders of the meadows or wherever they could find food for their cattle. Highways were necessary to enable them to go from house to house, and to " mill and meeting-house." At first these were little more than rude paths cut through the forest, some of which came by continued use to be established highways^ without any formal action of the town. The road from William Fletcher's house to the meeting-house passed around in front of the present residences of Mrs. E. B. Worthen and Mr. D. A. Bussell. There were perhaps half a dozen families, besides the minister, living near the meeting-house. These were Wm. Fletcher, John Bates, who lived near Mrs. Worthen's. Dea. Cornelius Waldo, whose house stood in Mr. Bussell's garden (Dea. Waldo came from Ipswich about 1665). Stephen Pierce, a tailor, and Abraham Parker were on the south side of the brook. (Parker and his sons afterwards built the first mill on that stream.) " Stony Brook path " started at John Bates' (now Worthen's) and extended toward what is now Dis- trict No. 7. Upon this road was John Perham, upon land which has continued to be occupied by his de- scendants to the present time. The "town-way to the mill " is now South Street. It has been straightened from time to time. It passed around before the present residence of C. E. A. Bart- lett, and made a turn before J. E. Warren's and, after crossing Farley's Brook, swung around to the east to avoid the hill. Upon this road, besides Samuel Adams, the miller, lived Edward Spaulding ^ (one of the Wenham Company) at the present Sanford Hazen place. > Family tradition. CHELMSFORD. 245 Moses Barron lived near Mr. Charles Sweetser's, and Joseph Warren located, before 1700, upon the place which still continues in the possession of his descendants. It is said that the first burial in town was upon his land.^ The Billerica road was the " road to the Bay." It was the line of travel to Boston, for Groton and Lan- caster, as well as this town, and these towns were re- quired to help support the bridge across the Concord River in Billerica. Henry Farwell lived on this road, I think, where Timothy Adams lives. The road which runs from the town farm over the Golden Cove and Carolina Plain to Middlesex, was the " country way to Merrimac." This terminated at Poor-Man's Bridge, which was near where Westford Street, in Lowell, now crosses Black Brook. It was extended to the river, corresponding to what is now Baldwin Street, probably in 1673. The following is the report of the committee : "William Underwood, William fletcher and Abraham Parker being appointed a comittee to Lay out a highway for the Inhabitants on the other side of Meremack do Determine that it shall begin at the Country- way at poor man's bridge, and so along between the two swamps and over William Underwood's Meadow, all along bounded by marked trees on both sides ; and so Euneth below Mr. Hinchman's Dam ; and so to the Indian Line to answer the Country Road at merimack and on this Bide." A number of families were located on the borders of the Indian land, within the present limits of the city of Lowell, in the vicinity of Stedman, Baldwin and AVest Pine Streets. Two foot-ways were laid out in that section in 1677, of which the following is a copy of the record : - "By appointment of the Townsmen, there is two footways Laid out through the Land of John Wright ; The one begining at the stile next to Jerahmeel Bowers, and so to the cart bridge, and then below the or- chard to the Land of Jonathan Butterfield; and then close by the fence of John Wright up to the Drift- way, and the other Begining against John Shepley's and then Straight to the Driftway at Jonathan Butter- field's Bam ; by William Underwood's and Jerathmeel Bowers'." Jerathmel Bowers lived where Sewal Bowers now resides. The cart-bridge was probably over Black Brook. Bowers was a man of considerable wealth for the times. He removed to Groton two or three years before his death, in 1724. John Shepley came to Chelmsford with Mr. Fisk in 1655. (His house and land in Wenham he sold to a brother of Mr. Fisk.) He is an ancestor of the Perhams through the marriage of his daughter, Lydia, to John Perham, in 1664. His son John sold, in 1698, and removed to Groton. The Indians afterwards massacred all the Shepleys in Groton save a boy, John, sixteen years old, who was taken captive and kept four years, after which he returned, and from him descended all the Shepleys in that vicinity. Other residents in this section were : John Wright, Thomas Sewal, Jonathan Butterfield, John Spaulding, Anthony Harker, James Richardson, Joseph Park- hurst (son of George, of Watertown), and Maj. Thom- 1 E. H. Warren. 'Transcript, p. 63. as Hinchman. Capt. John Webb, alias Evered, or Everett, lived on the banks of the Merrimack, near the present Chelmsford line. He was a man of prom- inence, was the first deputy to the Court, officer in the military and an extensive land-owner. (He owned Tyng's Island.) He was disfranchised by the Court for unchaste conduct, but afterwards forgiven and re- stored to his political privileges and allowed to hold his military office. Henry Bowtall, or Bowtwell, lived near the present Lowell line, on Steadman Street. The Dunstable road entered this as the following record shows : "The : 1": Day of January : 1674 : Levet Thomas Hinchman and Leret Samuel Foster, being appointed by the Town to Joyn, with Levet : Wheeler and Abraham Parker, the Committee to Lay out the Country way from Dunstable to Chelmsford : They do Joyntly agree on both par- ties : That the Way shall in Chelmsford bounds begin at Mr. Ting's Farm, and so to be six polls wide : And so to continue as by marked Trees down to Jerathmeel Bowers' Land : and so to Black brook in to the Country way that comes from Merimack." This corresponded to the road which passes through North Chelmsford. It turned eastward near Drum Hill, over a road now little used and entered the " way that comes from Merrimac," near the present West- ford Street. The travel to Bo.ston, from Dunstable and the country above, passed over this line for a long term of years. The Beaver Brook meadows attracted a number of families to the section which is now School District 5. The first permanent road in town which was recorded was in this section, viz. : " January : " : 1659. " George Biam and Thomas Barrett are appointed a comittee to state the High-way that gos to Tadmuck before ThoniEis Chamberlain's hous : The tree at his Hog's Coat is concluded one bound, and so to Run his due bredth acording to order, towards the Brook Cald Beaver brook." Thomas Chamberlin lived a few rods east of the Hunt place. The road from there goes across Tad- muck Swamp on the north side of Heart Pond. This record presupposes a road to the meeting-house from that point. Thomas Chamberlin was a man of wealth. He owned one-third of the Dudley farm of 1500 acres, in Billerica. Others in the neighborhood were Edmund Chamberlin, Richard Hildreth (from Woburn, died 1693). The Court granted him 150 acres of land because of his " necessitous condition." George Byam, who came with the Wenham Com- pany, in 1655, settled where his descendant, George A. Byam, [now resides. The farm has remained continuously in possession of the family. Arthur Warren lived, I think, where B. O. Robbins' house stands. Jacob Warren lived there in 1711, when the road was laid out from that point northward. The way to " Little Tadmuck," early referred to in descriptions of land in this section, start^t the house of the late S. C. Hunt, passes the No. 5 School- house, and on towards Chamberlin's Corner, in West- ford. This was probably the first outlet for the Stony Brook lands. The Sheehan place was originally occupied by 246 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. Adams. Thomas Adams lived at the Hayward place. He sold to Benjamin Haywood in 1726 and removed to Dunstable, where he died in 1746, aged seventy-one. The farm still continues in the Hayward family. This was a garrison-houae and may have been occu- pied by the Haywards earlier than the above date, as " Mr. Nathaniel Hayward and his man, with two souldiers there posted," occupied a garrison-house in 1692. The Otis Adams place was occupied by Samuel Chamberlin at an early day. The house stood on the opposite side of the spring from the present dwell- ing. The Pine Hill road was not formally laid out till 1755, although it was probably in use as a means of access to Flaggy Meadow at an earlier day. An old cellar, between G. A. Byam and E. E. Dutton's indi- cates an early habitation upon that road. The following is a copy of the record of the Groton road, which passed through this section. A portion of it was probably already in use as a road to the meet- ing-house : "Sa 1 month 1662-3. " Thomas Adams and Josiab Richardson being chosen a committee to Joyn with Groton committee to Lay out a High-way from Town to Town the work is performed by them and the way is Laid out from Beaver Brook Bridge over the North side of Robbins-hill and thence through Bichard Hildxeth's yard and so to the west end of Hart pond over the swamp and so to Thomas Chamberlin's meadow and so on towards Groton on the east side of Tadmuck great meadow." The road which passes around on the south and west sides of Eobins Hill, and enters the above road at John Byam's was laid out soon after as follows : ": 7th: 8: month:: 1673: Laid out by the selectmen the Day above for the use of the Town a high-way which is bounded Between Henry Gidleys Lott and John Blanchards meadow and so all along between the meadow and Robbins hill Runing into the way that comes from George Biams to the meeting-house." This accommodated Gidley, who lived at what is now the Fay place, and Thomas Barrett, who was at what is now Chas. W. Byam's. Probably other farms had paths leading into this road. Mr. E. F. Dupee's farm and Andrew H. Park's are both said to have been oc- cupied by Barretts at this time. The latter was a gar- rison-house. The meadows upon Great Brook early attracted set- tlements to the southern quarter of the town, in what is now Carlisle. In this neighborhood lived John Barrett, George Robbins, Thomas Cory and Ambrose Swallow, and probably others. In 1671 the town laid out a highway " for the Inhabitants of Great Brook and others to travel to mill and meeting-hous." Settlements soon pushed westward into the Stony Brook Valley, in the vicinity of what is now Westford Depot, on tjjie Stony Brook Railroad. John Snow, Joseph Parkhurst (who had removed from his former place of abode), Joseph Butterfield and others were there located. The time of the laying out of their road is uncertain, as the original record is not dated; but the committee to lay it out was appointed in 1696. It was called the " Stony Brook highway to the meet- ing-house." A road was already in use from the meeting-house to the vicinity of what is now the No. 7 School-house. From there it passed over Francis Hill by the house of Joseph Keyes to John Snow's. A portion of this road on the west slope of Francis Hill has been dis- continued. Another road was laid out at the same time leading into this from Arthur Crouch's house, " and by the houses at Little Tadmuck." This com- pleted the first road from what is now Westford Centre to Chelmsford Centre. Arthur Crouch lived upon Tadmuck Hill as early as 1680. He was probably the first person to erect his dwelling upon this beautiful hill, now crowned by the charming village of Westford. Samuel Cleveland was granted land the following year upon the east side of Tadmuck Hill, with the privilege of damming the swamp upon his land. He was a son of Moses Cleaveland, of Woburn, who was the ancestor of Grover Cleveland, one of the only two persons now living who have completed a term in the high ofl5ce of President of the United States. Samuel Burge, John Spaulding, Joseph Spaulding, Joshua Fletcher and Benjamin Spalding were chosen fence-viewers for Stony Brook in 1682, '83 and '84. These records indicate that there were considerable settlements in this section at an earlier date than has been generally supposed. Josiah Richardson, one of the original proprietors, provided a shelter for his family, at first, by digging into the bank. This farm is one of the very few which has remained continuously in one family. Mr. Edward F. Richardson is the present proprietor. The Groton road (1663) passed through what is now the south part of Westford, then called "great tad- muck," and settlements pressed in that direction. Several Chelmsford names appear in a petition in 1711, for a township in Nashoba (now Littleton), which had been abandoned by the Indians, and a short time after a number of families living in that vicinity were united to Littleton for religious worship. The method which governed the proprietors of the town in their land distribution is not described in the records. The first book of proprietor's, records, Allen states, was burned about 1715, with the house which contained them. The lands not taken up were called "common lands'' or " towns' common." There were four divisions of the common lands. New settlers were admitted by vote and granted a quantity of land for a house-lot, and the town granted land from time to time for the encouragement of use- ful trades. The cattle were allowed — subject to certain re- strictions — to range over the town's common. The different lierds were under the care of the field- drivers, who kept the cattle from straying away to become the prey to wolves. This is probably the origin of this oflice, which is now CHELMSFORD. 247 usually bestowed good-naturedly upon the newest benedicts. The limits of the different ranges are de- fined in the following order, which is interesting, as it indicates the early lines of settlement : " 7 : 1 : 71 its ordered Concerning hording of Cattell that from Cros Bridge to henry Boutells shall bee one herd." (Boutell lived near the Lowell line on Stedinan Street.) "2 From Cros bridge to Moses Barrons Shall bee another herd." (Barron lived near Chas. Sweetser's, on South Street.) " 3 From Thoramas Barrets to Kobertt procters and John barke Shall be an other herd." (Barrett's was at C. W. Byam's, and Proctor was near the old .South Chelmsford School-house.i ) "4 From George Biams to Arther warrens shall he another herd and that if Any person shall neglectt to put ther Catell to the herd they shall pay th«r proportion of herding and twelve pence a boast over and Above." (This fourth herd was in District Five, probably from Geo. A. Byam's to B. 0. Bobbins'.) A former vote passed in 1667 provided that " such as Live remoat shall have Liberty to choose their heards and have Cows and working cattell exempted." Swine were also subjected to regulations, some of which must have been very annoying to piggy. " Every inhabitant being an householder shall have liberty to keep two swine on the common," and a per- son holding a ten-acre lot could keep four; "and so every man according to his enlarged lot." To prevent a too free use of piggy's snout it was " ordered that all swine above three months old Shall bee suffitiently Ringed in the midell of the nose Constantly youcked from the tenth day of Aprill until the twentith day of October." Hog-reeves were chosen " to oversee swine and keep them in order." Newfidd. — The interval land along the Merrimack north of Stony Brook, consisting of 214 acres, was fenced as early as 1659 and used as a common pasture by twenty-two proprietors. It was called Newfield, and that name finally became applied to all that section of the town. The pond now called Leeches' Pond is called Newfield Pond in the old records. An eddy at the northern extremity of the field still retains the name. Difficult as were the conditions of existence in this new settlement the people maintained a lively interest in the public affairs of the Colony. When Charles II. sent a couple of ships-of-war with 400 troops to Boston Harbor in the summer of 1664, with commissioners to look after the affairp of the New World, and the Massachusetts' charter seemed in danger, Chelmsford was among the towns which sent petitions to the Court testifying to their good content and satisfaction in the present govern- ment, in Church and Commonwealth, and their reso- lution to be assisting and encouraging the same, and desiring that all means might be used for the con- tinuance and preservation thereof.^ After twenty years of faithful service the aged pastor. Rev. John Fisk, became physically unable to carry the burdens of his labors alone, and upon " The 13 Day of the 10 mo. 1675, att a general mitting of inhabitants of Chelmsford was voated as foloeth : " !'■'■ in consideration of Mr. Fiske' Age and in- fermitis Acompanny the same ther is ned of sum hilpe to goine with Mr. Fiske in the worke of the minestry. " 2'y that besides the eighty pounds formerly granted yerly to the minestry ther shall be forty pounds more Raised yearly for the obtaining of Mr. Clarke to be a help in the worke aforesaid if bee may bee Attained." Mr. Fiske now rapidly declined in health. " On the second Lord's day of his confine- ment by illness, after he had been many Lord's days carried to church in a chair, and preached as in primitive times, sitting, ... on January 14, 1676, he saw a rest from his labors." ^ It is much to be regretted that no stone reveals to us the spot where the remains of this beloved man are interred. Rev. Thomas Clarke succeeded Mr. Fisk in the ministry. The following contract with Mr. Clarke is as it appears in the original record, page 144 : "Articles of agreement bettwine Mr. Thomas Clarke and the inhabit- ants of Chelmsford in order to Mr. Clarks Settelment in the ministry for time to com in Chelmford are as foloeth : "1 firstly it is agred beetwine both parties that the inhabitants of Chelmsford do pay yearly to the said Clarke the just and full sum of eightey pounds in maner as foloeth, twenty pounds in curent mony and sixtey pounds in provisions; viz.; fortey pounds in corn of all sortes as god gives and the other twenty pounds in porke, Beefe and other flish not exseding tow pence, halfe peny p pound more over its allso Agred that the towne shall soply Mr. Clarke with wood sofitient for his family use yearly which is by Agrement thirty cord yearly. " 2 secondly it is also agreed that the said towne shallpay sixty pounds in mony towards the purchas of Corsers land lying in Chelmsford and that they build an house upon the said laud which house Shall be forty foott in length, twenty in bredth, fiveten in stud and a ciching adjoyn- ing of sixten foott Square and tene foott stud provided that the said Clarke shall pay on quarter partt of what this bulding shall cost. " 3 Thirdly it is agred that the said towne make an Adition to the Salary Above stated if he stand in ned and the towne be Abell ther to. " 4 fourthly that the selectt men shall stand in gaged yearly to the performance of the above Agreements by making a Rate and propor^ tiont the Inhabitants his partt of the foresaid sum and to levey the same. " 5 fifthly its agred that this yearly Salary shall be paid with in the year. " Finaly it is Agred that if the Said M^ Clark do grow [ ] remov and leave the worke of his ministry in Chelmsford then the said land and house as above Shall rettorne into the hands of the towne of Chelmsford they paying to Mr. Clarke what hee hath expendid to wards the purehes and bulding and bettering the Acomedatione And for A confermation of this Agrement As above this fifth Day of the twelfth month one thousand sixe hundred seventy and Seven wee have sett to our hands. " Thomas Clarke " Sam'l Adams, Clerk, in the name of the inhabitants." This agreement was ratified by the town with a "full voatt " at a general meeting the same day. Rev. Thomas Clarke was born in Boston about the year 1652. He graduated from Harvard University in 1670." He served for a time in the army at Narragansett 1 Family tradition. ■ Kecerds of Mass. 3 Allen. 4 Allen. 248 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. during Philip's War, probably in the capacity of chaplain. His name appears to an acknowledgment, in 1679, that the town had fulfilled its agreement in regard to building the parsonage. This house stood near the site of the passenger station of the Old Colony Kailroad. In 1692 several families were assigned to his house in case of danger from the Indians. When the house was moved to its present position and remodeled, several years since, the walls of a portion of it were found to be protected by thick plank. Witchcraft. — The witchcraft delusion which swept over the country occurred during Mr. Clarke's ministry. One case occurred in Chelmsford, and it was dealt with by Mr. Clarke with such moderation and good sense that no such disastrous consequences resulted as were witnessed in some of the towns of the Colony. The following is the account as related in Mather's " Magnalia: " " There was at Chelmsford an afflicted person, that in her fits cried out against a woman, a neighbor, which Mr. Clark, the minister of the Gospel there, could not believe to be guilty of such a crime, and it hapned while that woman milked her cow, the cow struck her with one horn upon her forehead and fetched blood ; and while she was thus bleeding a spectre in her likeness appeared to the party afflicted ; who, pointing at the spectre, one struck at the plase, and the afflicted said, 'you have made her forehead bleed ; ' hereupon some went unto the woman and found her forehead bloody and acquainted Mr. Clark of it ; who fortunate went to the woman and asked, ' how her forehead became bloody?' and ^he answered, 'by a blow of a cowhorn,' as abovesaid ; whereby he was satisfied, that it was design of Satan to render an in- nocent person suspected." — Mather's " 3Iagnalia," vol. 2, p. 478. In 1681 the town voted to purchase a bell " and hange him in the metting-house." Previous to this a drum had been used to assemble the people. A drum was bought by the town for Henry Farwell in 1659. The ancient method of noting time, by the shadow cast by the sun, is recalled by the record of a sum ■paid to John Bates "for seting the dial." The same person was paid, in 1698, for " mending the Stoxs " (stocks). This implement, for the punishment of of- fenders, tradition says, stood upon the Common by the old ash-tree near the monument. The supply of wood furnished to Mr. Clarke did not prove adequate, and in 1683 the amount was in- creased to forty cords yearly. In 1688 his salary was increased to £100, at his request. The ministry land was laid out in 1679, " by the Towns Gifte and order was laid out [for] the minis- try, and for that only use for ever in Chelmsford, to say thirty acres of upland and swamp, be it more or less." The Old Burying-Ground at the centre of the town, was first enclosed by a stone wall in 1717. About ten years previous to that date the town had •protected it by a board fence. In 1790 the old wall was replaced by a more substantial one. A few rude stones and some tablets, which bear the marks of having been placed in position at an early date, bear no mark to reveal the name of those who rest beneath. The inscriptions here given are among the oldest, or are otherwise of special interest ; HERE LYES Y BODY OF GRACE LIUEEMOAR WIFE TO lOHN LIUERMOAR AGED 75 YEARS DIED THE 14 OF lANUARY 1690 MARY THE WIFE OF THOMAS CHAMBERLAINE AGED 88 DIED FEBRUARY 8 1G92 RICHARD HILDRETH AGED 88 YEAR' DIED FEBRUARY 23 1693 He was one of the original settlers of the town, as his name appears among the petitioners for the grant of the town May 19, 1653. HERE LYES Y BODY OF CAP A lOSIAS RICHARDSON AGED 61 YEARS DIED THE 22 OF lULY 1695 e HERE LYES Y BODY OF EZEKIEL RICHARDSON AGED 29 YEARS DIED • NOUEMBER 27 1696 HERE LYES Y BODY OF SAMUEL FLETCHER AGED 65 YEARS DIED DECEMBER 9 1697 HERB LYES Y BODY OF Deacon CORNELIUS WALDO AGED 75 YEARS DIED JAN' 3 1700 The Memorj' of the just is blessed He was a man of distinguished usefulness. His house was upon Avhat is now Mr. David BusseU's gar- den. HERE LYES Y BODY OF DEACON SAMUEL FOSTER AGED 83 6 TEARS DIED lULY Y 10 1702 HERE LYETH T BODY OF MAJOR THOMAS HINCflMAN AGED 74 YEARS DEC, JULY Y 17 1703 A foot-stone of the grave beside it bears the name : M"? ELIZABETH HINBSMAN CHELMSFORD. 249 Major Henchman was one of the first settlers, coming with Rev. John Fisk and the church from Wenham. He was an extensive land-holder and a prominent citizen. The following is the epitaph of the Rev. Thomas Clark, the second pastor of the church of Chelms- ford: MEMENTO MOHI FUOIT HOBA. Huic puluerl Mandates sunt Keliqiuse Eevd" Doni Tho" Clark Gregis Cristi Chelmsf : Pastoris Ecimij, qui fide & spe Beatae Resurrectionia anima in sinum Gesu Ecpiravit Die VII Decembr, Anno Dom MDCCIV & stalls suae LII. The following receipt shows the cost of the above monument : "Chelmsford 17"" Nov. 1708 " Keeievd of Mr. William Fletcher the sum of fifty shillings in moiiey to be bestowed for a monument over the grave of the Bev. Mr. Thomas Clark late of Chelmsford deceased ; it being the donations of sundry persons in Chelmsford for that use. I say received by me. " John Hancock." HERE LYES THE T BODY OF LIEU . EDWARD SPOLDIN AGED 73 YEARS WHO DECEASED BY th JAN . Y 10 1707 I g HERE LYES Y BODY OF A M^s A LUCIA A TYNG WIFE TO . CAP^ WILLIAM TYNG AGED A 28 YEARS &4 MONTHS. WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE • TH APRIL . Y . 25 . 1708 Her husband, William Tyng, is buried in Concord, having been wounded by the Indians between-Groton and Lancaster and carried to Concord, where he died Aug. 16, 1710. Here Lyes y= Body of Mr JOHN PERHAM who Dec* Janui'y y« St 21 1721 Aged 88 Years. Here is one which has some historic interest : SACRED to the memory of Mb. JOSEPH SPALDING who died July 31 1820 ^t. 64. in hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie hath promised to believers in Christ. He was among the brave asserters & defenders of the liberties of his country at Bunker Hill, wtjere he opened the battle by firing upon the enemy before orders were given : &, after enjoying for many years the blessings of civil & religious liberty in common with others He, " sunk to rest With all his country? honor's blest. By the Church of Christ in Chelmsford. In testimony of their esteem and Veneration this sepulchral Stone was erected, to stand as a sacred Memorial of their late worthy Pastor, the Reverend Ebenezer Bridge, who after having ofiioiated among them, in the service of the Sanctuary, for more than a year above half a Century, The Strength of Nature being exhausted sunk under the Burden of Age, and joined the Congregation of the Dead, Oct. 1, 1792 ^tat. 78 The following recalls one of the past industries of Chelmsford, which flourished at the time of the old Middlesex Canal : @fc/^ to the memory of John J. Stickelmire, a Native of GERMANY, and late foreman of the Chelmsford Glass Manufactory, Died March 31" 1814 Aged 48 years. This verse reminds the heedless as they pass That life's a fragile drop of unnealed glass, The slightest wound ensures a fatal burst And the frail fabric shivers into dust. So he whom in his heart could none surpass. Is now himself reduced to broken glass, But from the grave, the fining pot of man. From scandiver and galss galls purged again, New mixed and fashioned by almighty power, Shall rise a firmer fabric than before. CHAPTER XVL CHELMSFORD— { Continued) . Indian History — French and Indian Wars— War of the Ilevolution—Shai/$' Rebellion — War of the Rebellion. The Pawtuckets or Wamesits. — The Indians that inhabited in the vicinity of the Pawtucket Falls, where the city of Lowell now stands, were one of the tribes scattered along the Merrimack, and Pis- cataqua Rivers, which acknowledged subjection to Passaconnaway, the great Sagamore of Pennacook. In the early settlement of New England these num- bered about 3000 souls. They were very much re- duced by the great sickness of 1612 and 1613. And in an expedition against the Mohawks or Maquas in 1669 large numbers of them were destroyed. In 1674 ''there were not above two hundred and fifty men, besides women and children."^ These Indians were sometimes called Wamesits, from their village or capital near the mouth of the Concord River, and sometimes Pawtucket^, from the falls of that name in the Merrimack. 'Alien, who quotes mainly from Gookin. 250 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. These Indians were not naturally of a warlike dis- position. Passaconnaway, their chief, died in 1662. A short time before, at a great feast and dance, he gave his dying counsel to his people. He warned them to take heed how they quarreled with their English neighbors. " For though they might do them some damage, yet it would prove the means of their own destruction. He told them that he had used " all the arts of sorcery to prevent their settle- ment and increase," but to no purpose. Passaconnaway was succeeded by his son, Wanna- lancet (also spelled Wonolanset). This chief contin- ued steadfast in his friendship for the English. The following interesting account of Chelmsford's Indian neighbors, and of the conversion of Wanna- lancet, is from the pen of the historian. Gen. Daniel Gookin, who wrote from personal observation : " Wamesit is tlie fifth praying town ; and this place is situate upon Merrimak river, being a neck of land, where Concord river falleth into Merrimak river. It is about twenty miles from Boston, north north ■west, and within five miles of Billerica, and as much from Chelmsford : K> that it hath Concord river upon the west north west ; and Merrimak river upon the north north east. It hath about fifteen families ; and consequently, as we compute, about seventy five souls. The quantity of land belonging to it is about twenty five hundred acres. The land is fertile and yieldeth plenty of corn. It is excellently accommodated with a fishing place ; and there is taken variety of fish in their seasons, as salmon, shad, lamprey eels, sturgeon, bass, and divers others. There is a great confluence of Indians, that usually resort to this place in the fishing seasons, "Of these strange Indians divers are vitious and wicked men and women ; which Satan makes use of to obstruct the prosperity of religion here. The ruler of this people is called Numphow. He is one of the blood of their chief sachems. Their teacher is called Samuel : son to the ruler, a young man of good parts, and can speak, read, and write English and Indian competently. He is one of those that was bred up at school, at the charge of the Corporation for the Indians. These In- dians, if they were diligent and industrious, — to which they have been frequently excited, — might get much by their fish, especially fresh sal- mon, which are of esteem and good price at Boston in the season ; and the Indians being stored with horses of a low price, might furnish the market fully, being at so small a distance. And divers other sort of fish they might salt or pickle, as sturgeon and bass ; which would be mueh to their profit. But notwithstanding divers arguments used to persuade them, and some orders made to encourage them ; yet their idleness and Improvidence doth hitherto prevail. "At this place, once a year, at the beginning of May, the English magistrate keeps his court, accompani«d with Mr. Eliot, the minister : who at this time takes his opportunity to preach, not only to the inhabit- ants, but to as many of the strange Indians, that can be persuaded to hear him : of which sort, usually in times of peace, there are consider- able numbers at that season. And this place being an ancient and capi- tal seat of Indians, they come to fish ; and this good man takes this opportunity to spread the net of the gospel, to fish for their souls. " Here it may not be impertinent to give you the relation following. May 5th, 1G74, according to our usual custom. Mr. Eliot and myself took our journey to Wamesit, or Pawtuckett; and arriving there that evening, Mr. Eliot preached to as many of them as could be got together out of Mat. xxii. 1-14, the parable of the marriage of the king's son. We met at the wigwam of one called Wannalancet, about two miles from the town, near Pawtuckett falls, and bordering upon Merrimak river. This person, Wannalancet, is the eldest son of old Passaconaway, the chiefest gachem of Pawtuckett. He is a sober and grave person, and of years, between fifty and sixty. He hath been always loving and friendly to the English. Many endeavors have been used several years to gain this sachem to embrace the christian religion ; but he hath stood oflf from time to time, and not yielded up himself personally, though for four yeare past ho hath been willing to hear the word of God preached, and to keep the Sabbath. — A great reason that hath kept him off, I con- ceive, hath been the indisposition and averseness of sundry of his chief men and relations to pray to God ; which he foresaw would desert him, in case he turned christian.— But at this time, May 6th, 1074, it pleased God 80 to influence and overcome his heart, that it being proposed to him to give his answer concerning praying to God, after some deliberation and serious pause, he stood up, and made a speech to this effect : " ' Sirs : You have been pleased for four years last past, in your abund- ant love, to apply yourselves particularly unto me and my people, to exhort, press and persuade us to pray to God. I am very thankful to you for your pains. I must acknowledge, s;iid he, I have, all my days, used to pass in an old canoe (alluding to his frequent custom to pass in a canoe upon the river) and now you exhort me to change and leave my old canoe, and embark in a new canoe, to which I have hitherto been unwilling ; but now I yield up myself to your advice, and enter Into a new canoe, and do engage to pray to God hereafter.' "This his professed subjection was well pleasing to all that were pres- ent, of which there were some English persons of quality ; as Mr. Rich- ard Daniel, a gentleman that lived in Billerica, about six miles off, and Lieutenant Henchman, a neighbor at Chelmsford, besides brother Eliot and myself, with sundry others, English and Indians. Mr. Daniel be- fore named desired brother Eliot to tell this sachem from him, that it may be, while he went in his old canoe, he passed in a quiet stream ; but the end thereof was death and destruction to soul and body. But now he went into a new canoe, perhaps he would meet with storms and trials, but yet he should be encouraged to persevere, for the end of his voyage would be everlasting rest. Moreover he and his people were exhorted by brother Eliot and myself, to go on and sanctify the sabbath, to hear the word, and use the means that God hath appointed, and en- courage their hearts in the Lord their God. Since that time, I hear this sachem doth persevere, and is a constant and diligent hearer of God's word, and sanctifieth the sabbath, though he doth travel to Wamesit meeting every sabbath, which is above two miles ; and though sundry of his people have deserted him since he subjected to the gospel, yet he continues and persists. " In this town they^observe the same civil and religious orders as in other towns, and have a constable and other officers. " This people of Wamesit suffered more in the late war with the Maw- kawks than any other praying town of Indians ; for divers of theu- peo- ple were slain ; others wounded ; and some carried into captivity ; which providence hath much hindered the prosperous estate of this place." From this account it appears that their capital was on the east of Concord River, in what is now Belvi- dere. Allen states that Wamesit consisted of about 2500 acres, of which 1000 were estimated to be east of Concord River and 1500 on the west. Upon the outbreak of King Philip's War Wanna- lancet withdrew with his people to the north to pre- vent being drawn into the quarrel. And although he suffered great provocation at the hands of the Eng- lish even in this retreat — his wigwams and provis- ions being destroyed by Captain Moseley's troops — he would not suffer his men to retaliate. " Wannalan- cet after a long absence called on the Rev. Mr. Fiake and congratulated him on the restoration of peace, solicitously inquired after the welfare of the people in Chelmsford, and whether they had suffered greatly during the war. Mr. Fiske replied that they had been highly favored, for which he desired to thank God. ' Me next,' said the sagacious sagamore, inti- mating that through his iyifluence this town had been exempted from the calamities that had befallen many others." ^ King Philip's War. — Chelmsford suffered much less than many of the other frontier towns. The peo- ple were, however, in a perpetual state of alarm. When the father went forth from his home he was tortured by the fear that he might return to find it a smoking ruin, with the mangled bodies of his loved »-Allen. CHELMSFORD. 251 ones beside it. Several years previous to the out- break of hostilities some acts of the town show that even at that time the feeling w^as far from one of secu- rity. While assembled in the church on the Sabbath their devotions were liable to be rudely disturbed by the savages. But whether the menace was from some roving band of the warlike Mohawks, who had dealt such a crushing blow to the Pawtuckets a short time before; or whether it was from some of the Pawtuck- ets themselves, made dangerous by a too free indul- gence in " strong lickers," we can only conjecture. " 25 the 5 mo"" 1G71 It is ordered by the Selectmen For Severall Considerations espetialy for the preseruation of peace That with in one moneth After the Date hear of Eury every malle person with in our towne above the Age of fiveten years Shall provid a good C'lube of fouer or five foott in lingth with a Knobe in the end, and to bringe the same to the metting house, ther to leave the Same vntill vntill ocation fore use of it be [found, &c.] " the name of the Rest By " Samuel Adams, " Clerlie. The next year the town " covenanted with Abra- ham Parker ... to cut all the brush in the Training place . . . and by Training place is understood all that land now cleared by the town for that use." This land was probably on the pine plain between Chelmsford Centre and Lowell. The year following the town built a house upon Robins Hill. The rec- ords relating to this are sufficiently interesting to be given in full : " 7ft 8 mo., 1673. " The towne voated Leftenant Samuell Foster and en — william Fletcher Shold a point the place whear the towne house Shold bee bultt," at the game time, "It was voated that all mall persons from the age of twelve years to sixtey, shall, every one, worke one day in the yeare for the Clearing of Robins hill, on the penalty of twelve pence a boy, and tow Shillings a man, in case thay Neglectt beeing tlier unto caled. . . . by order of the Select men For sixe years in sewing, the datte heer of being left to the Selectmen to a point the day yeerly, and likwis thay are to apoint a man to lead on the worke either ther or else whear, att the selectmens apointment, dated as above by order of the Towne." "7 of October, 1673, att a generall metting [ J the towne order thes foloing, (sic.) " Articls of agreement made the fonith Day of octobor, on thousand sixe hundreth seventy and three, bettwene the inhabitants of Chelms- ford and Joseph barrett, of the Same place, (sic). "The Said Joseph barrett Doth promis and Ingage to buld a house of eighten Foot longe, and sixten foot wid, and eight foot Stud, and to do all the worke belonging to the Same, From the stump to the finishing of the Same, and to find bords for the hole house, and lay the flowers and dobell bord the Roofe, and bord ( ? or bore) the sids and ends, and to make the Chimly, and dore and window, and to find stones and clay and to finish the Said house att, or beefore, the last day of march Next insewing the date above. " The inhabitants of Chelmsford do promise, and hearby ingage, to pay unto the for said barett, in full satisfaction for the house Aforesaid, the Just sum of twelve pounds in towne pay, that is, such as the towne can produce, and to pay the same twelve pounds, att or beefore the tenth day of octtobor, in the yeare on thousand sixe hundreth sevety and foure, as wittness in the behalfe of the towne the date above. " allso it was agreed vpon that the towne Should find Nails for the whole house. "Sam Adams, » CTerfce." It is not clear what purpose this house was intended to serve. It undoubtedly had some military signifi- cance. The committee appointed to locate it were both officers in the " foot company." The place W.A9 admirably adapted for a lookout from which to warn the people of approaching danger. Several years be- fore the Indians had built a stockade upon Fort Hill, now Rogers Park, in Lowell, to protect themselves from the Mohawks, and it is said that they signaled across from that point to Robins Hill. The house was leased by the town to Daniel Galutiah, or Galu- sha, for a term of years for a nominal sum, — one and one-half i^ecks of corn yearly. Galusha was a Dutch- man. He was afterwards a soldier in a garrison at Dunstable. His house there was attacked and burned by the savages and one woman killed. The state of feeling in 1675 may be inferred by the following extract from a letter : " Chelmsford, March y« 20, 1675. Good Sr, I humbly intreat you to pray the Counsell to grant us a stronger Guard, for wee expect the Indians every hour to fall upon us, and if they come wee shall be all cutt off," and a petition from some of the leading citi- zens to the General Court to " Consider o"^ dangerus Conditions y' we are in in refference to o"' lives and estates." ^ The town built several garrison-houses. One of these stood opposite the present house of Henry Hod- son, in District No. 7. (This was the one mentioned by Allen opposite Mr. Andrew Spalding's.) One was on Francis Hill, near the Keyes place. Allen speaks of " one south of the meeting-house." It is uncertain where it stood. It is said that one stood on South Street, between the houses of E. R. Marshall and John S. Shed. The late Mrs. Hezekiah Parkhurst said that one stood on the high point of land between the mill-pond and the South Chelmsford Road. Another was upon the bank of the Merrimack, at Mid- dlesex. This was Lieut. Thos. Hinchman's garrison. In October, 1675, he was given ten pounds out of the public treasury for his " extraordinary expenses and labour." The order sets forth that he " hath been at great charge in providing ffor the diet of certaine soul- djers appointed to garrison his house vpon Merre- macke Riuer, where sundry Englishmen, his neigh- bors, are concerned, which is a very apt place to se- cure that frontier." The withdrawal of the Wamesit Indians into the wilderness occasioned great uneasiness, as it was feared that they had joined the enemy. Some of the Chelmsford soldiers, who were in the more exposed garrisons at Groton, desired to be released because of this new peril at home. These fears fortunately proved to be groundless. In Sept., 1675 Cornet Tho- mas Brattle and Lieut. Thomas Hinchman, who were in command of a company of fifty horsemen, were or- dered " forthwith to march to Chelmsford '' to attend to distributing the forces in the garrisons of the more exposed towns, and " you are to endeavor either one 1 F. P. Hill's, " Chelmsford." 252 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. or both of you (if it may bee) to gaine the Indian Sachem called Wannalanset to com in againe and liue at wamesit quietly [and] pecabley: you may promise him in the councills name y* if hee will re- turne & his people and liue quietly at Wamesit hee shall susteyne no p'iudise by the English ; only you are to ppose to him y' he deliuer for a hostage to the english his sonne who shalbe wel vsed by vs, C in case hee come in and can bee gained then you are to impour him to informe the Pennakooke and Nata- cook Indians and all other Indians on the east side of Merrimack Riuer, that they may liue quietly and peacable in y' places and shall not bee disturbed any more by the english prouided they do not assist or ioyne with any of or enimiy nor do any dammage or preiudice to y* english." Capt Saml. Moseley sent twelve men to the garrisons in Chelmsford in Aug., 1675. He reported that " Our Major having a cer- tain intelligence of a considerable party of Indians that have gathered together a little above Chelmsford, which I hope we shall be up with this night or to- morrow at furthest, and if please God I come up with them, God assisting me, I will closely engage with them, and God sparing my life, I shall, as opportunity gives leave, acquaint your honor of my actions." In the beginning of 1676 the Indians became more aggressive. Wannalancet informed Mr. Hinchman that a company of about fifteen Mohawks were in the Avoods above the river. Joseph Parker was way- laid and wounded, as related in the following letter dated at Chelmsford, 12th Feb., 1676, and signed by Samuel Adams, Samuel and William Fletcher, and sent to the Governor and Council at Boston: "This Morningabout an hower and Half after sun-rising, Jo- seph Parker of this place with his son, coming for [from] the Hon'd Major Willard, about fower Mile from o[v]r Meeting-House, along by some houses pertaining to this towne, now agfinst one house standing nigh the way [were] Way-layed, and had ye indians bullets thick (as they report) about them — They rode fast to escape them. The young Man was wounded in the Shoulder by a Musket Bullet, as cut out on the other side of his Arme, and we conceive by Pistol Bullets. His clothes torn in several Places." This may have been the Joseph Parker who was the first white person born in the town.^ The next month " some part " of Chelmsford was burned. But the people were fortu- nate at sustaining no more serious blow, for the same body of Indians the next day made a furious assault upon Groton, and the town was so nearly destroyed that the survivors abandoned the place altogether. These acts excited such an intense feeling of resent- ment towards the Indians that any act of lawlessness was apt to be followed by swift punishment, adminis- tered, too often indiscriminately, upon any Indians that could be found, without inquiring very carefully whether they were friends or foes. This was the case 1 Hubbard, p. 195. when some of the Wamesits were shot because they were "vehemently suspected" of having burned a barn and some haystacks. This provoked the hith- erto friendly Wamesits to retaliate. The story is thus told by the historian Hubbard: " At Chelmsford the said Wamesit Indians, about March 18, before, fell upon some Houses on the North side of the River, burned down three or four that belonged to the Family of Edward Colburn ; the said Colburn, with Samuel Varnham, his Neighbour, being pursued, as they passed over the River to look after their Cattel on that side of the River, and mak- ing several shots against them, who returned the like again upon the said Indians (judged to be about forty). What success they had upon the Enemy was best known to themselves; but two of Varnham's sons were slain by the Enemies shot before they could recover the other Side of the River." Samuel Varnham lived upon what is known as the Howard farm in Middlesex. His sons who were killed are buried there. April 15th the savage foe made another descent upon the town, and the startled inhabitants beheld their dwellings in flames. Upon this occasion there "were fourteen or fifteen houses burned." By midsummer the wily Philip had been hunted to his death and the fury of the war was abated. Nearly a thousand men in the Colony had lost their lives, while the destruction of property had been simply frightful. The frontier towns suffered most, and Chelmsford was among those that were obliged to apply to the General Court for relief. This was granted in the following order : " In ans' to the peti- tion of the selectmen of Chelmsford, &c., it is ordered that Chelmsford be allowed and abated the sume of fiuety-three pounds seven shillings & one penny out of their last tenn country rates towards theire losses." The Nashoba Indians, who lived upon the southern borders of the town, suffered great hardships during Philip's War. They were removed by order of the Court to Concord, where they were cared for by John Hoar. Here they were living peaceably. When Capt. Samuel Moseley came he broke into their house, scattered their property and they were hurried to " their furnace of aflBiction " at Deer Island. In May of the following year they were, with some of the Naticks, removed, by order of the Court, to Paw- tucket. Those who were removed were mostly women and children. It was ordered "that the men be improved in the service of the country." Arms were provided for such as were trusty, and they were placed under the command of Captain Hinchman. The Pawtuckets did not return, at the conclusion of the war, to their former habitations at Wamesit. They retired with, perhaps, the remnant of the Nashobas, to Wickasuck (Tyng's) Island, in the Merrimack.^ This island had been granted to Wana- 2 Nason's " Dunstable." CHELMSFORD. 253 lancet and other Indians in 1665. They remained upon this island or its vicinity until their removal to '•Pennacook in 1686. The results of King Philip's War were so disas- trous to the hostile Indians that they no longer had the power to threaten the existence of the Colonies. The relations with the survivors were not rendered more cordial, however, by the struggle. Cordial hatred was the feeling between the races. As marauding parties and as allies to the French in the wars with that nation they inflicted great damage to the exposed settlements for many years. By the wise management of Hinchman Chelmsford continued to have a valuable ally in Wannalancet. His influence with the Indians was always exerted for peace, and when danger could not be averted he warned the people so that they were able to prepare for it. Chelmsford should hold the name of Wanna- lancet in grateful remembrance. A feeling of insecurity prevailed, however, as is shown by the following extract from the diary of Samuel Sewall, of Boston : " 7-9th, 1685. When came home heard of body of Indians near Chelmsford, 3 or 400. The fears and Rumors concerning them much increase. The In- dians near Albany ; Wonolanset brings the news to Chelmsford, and mistrusts of their mischevous designs." Through representations made to the Court by Hinchman the services of Wannalancet " in the treaty late with the Indians at Pennacooke" were recognized, as also his grievance that some of his friends were transported, and it was ordered "that the Treasurer advance tenn pounds in money & clothing, deliver the same to y* major-generall, Capt. Thomas Hinchman & Mr. Jonathan Ting, to be distributed by them amongst sajd Indeans, some writting bein draune vp to be presented to sajd In- deans at the same time to signe, for the rattififcacon of an intire peace and amity betweene them & y® English." In 1689 the first of the series of French and Indian Wars began, and military preparations again became active. The following item appeared in a Boston news- paper, under date of Sept. 25, 1690 (the earliest news- paper published in America) : " While the barbarous Indians were lurking about Chelmsford there were missing, about the beginning of this month, a couple of children belonging to a man of that Town, one of them aged about eleven, the other aged about nine years, both of them supposed to be fallen into the hands of the Indians." ^ There were eighteen garrison-houses distributed throughout the town, and one on the north side of the Merrimack, in what is now Dracut. To these were assigned, besides women and children, 158 men, 1 Copied in London by Hon. Samuel A. Green, M.D., of Boston. including four soldiers. This was, probably, the entire adult male population of the town. Another instance of the friendship of the Pawtuckets occurred on June 22, 1689. Two Indians, Job Maramasquand and Peter Muckamug, came to Major Hinchman from Pennacook and reported a plot against Major Waldron, of Cocheco (now Dover). Major Hinch- man immediately despatched a messenger to notify the authorities at Boston, and they sent a courier with the information to Major Waldron. But the news came too late. Upon the fatal night of June 27th, while the courier was detained at New- bury Ferry, at midnight, the squaws, who had impru- dently been allowed to lodge in the garrison-houses, opened the doors and the savages rushed in. The story is familiar of how the major gallantly defended himself with his sword, but was struck down with a hatchet, and then placed in his arm-chair upon the table and taunted by the Indians while they slashed him with their knives until he fell from loss of blood upon his own sword which they held under him. Twenty-two others were killed and twenty-nine cap- tives carried to Canada. Samuel Butterfield, who was captured in Groton by Indians in August, 1704, had a somewhat romantic experience. With other soldiers he was guarding a man who was at work in a field when the Indians came upon them. He killed one Indian and wounded another, but was overpowered by numbers. As the slain Indian was a Sagamore " of great dexterity in war," his captors proposed to wreak their vengeance upon him by inflicting a death by torture. While lamenting his cruel fate, relief came from an unex- pected quarter. The " squaw widow," when asked to name the manner of his death, replied : " His death won't fetch my husband to life : do nothing to him." His life was spared, and after fourteen months of cap- tivity he returned to his friends. He was probably the Lieutenant Butterfield who again met with a nar- row escape from the Indians two years later, while re- turning with his wife from Dunstable. His horse was shot and the woman taken captive, "and Jo English, a friend Indian, in company with y", was at the same time slain." Capt. William Tyng, a young man of promise, who had served the town as representative to the General Court, and filled other positions of trust, was wounded by Indians between Groton and Lancaster. He was taken to Concord, where he died, Aug. 16, 1710.* Chelmsford was drawn upon heavily for men for the various campaigns of the French Wars, and valu- able lives were sacrificed. Lieut. Jona. Barron was in the successful siege of Quebec. Upon his return he presented Parson Bridge with a silver cup taken there. Lieut. Barron after- wards lost his life in the campaign against Crown Point in 1755, as did two other Chelmsford soldiers. 25-i HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. viz. : Jacob Parker and James Emery, This was the campaign in which the English troops fell into an ambush of French and Indians under Baron Dieskau. There were twelve Chelmsford men in the expedi- tion. In the unsuccessful campaign of 1756, undertaken against the same point, of twelve Chelmsford men in the company of Capt. Jonathan Butterfield, of Dun- stable (a native of Chelmsford), four lost their lives, viz. : Nathaniel Butterfield, Simeon Corey, James Button and Isaac Proctor. In the other campaigns the losses were doubtless equally heavy. In the campaign against Nova Scotia, in 1755, which resulted in despoiling the thrifty Acadians of their homes and property, and scattering seven thou- sand of them as exiles throughout the Colonies, twenty- three Chelmsford soldiers took part. It seems a pity that brave men should be employed in such dishonor- able service. Seventeen of these Acadians were cared for in Chelmsford. Their names appear in the following account rendered by the selectmen of the town in 1757, as found in the Massachusetts Archives : " CHELMsrOED, October 24, 1757. "In obedience and pursuant to order of the Great and General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, made and passed the 21st day of January, A. D. 1757. "The following is a true list of the several French Persons' names in the Town of Chelmsford, the amount of their age, sex and the circum- stances of their health and capacity for labor. " The number of [ ] are seventeen, viz. : NAMES. AGED. " Jean Landrie, a man, 62 years. Maudlin, liis wife, 60 Weakly, unable to labor and laboring under the misfortune of a broken arm and the charges thereof now. Paul Landrie, his son, 22 able to labor. Charles Landrie, do. do. 20 sickly and not able to labor. Simon Landrie, do. do. 18 able to labor. Asam Landrie, do. do. 16 years, able to labor. Charles Trawhorn, a man, 29 years, sickly and ailing and not able to labour. Tithorne, his wife, 29 years, able to labour. Mary, their daughter, 6J/^ years. Maudlin, their daughter, 5}^ years. Joseph, their son, 4 years, sickly. Grigwiro, their son, 3 years. Margaret, their daughter, : 7 months. Joseph Landrie, ason of the) -„ v i^i. j 1 1 ^ i u , , » , . f26 years, healthy and able to labour, sd. Jean Landrie, i Maudlin, his wife, 26 years, healthy and able to labour. Jean V., their son, 2 years, sickly and weakly. Murray Maudlin, their daughter, 6 mouths. " David Spaulding, ^ "Daniel Proctor, | Selectmen " Henry Spaulding, y of "Jonas Adams, | Chelmsford." "Andrew Fletcheb, J Numerous entries appear upon the town records showing the expense of the " support of the French." The charges are mainly for provisions, fuel, house rent, medical attendance, and sometimes for rum (spelled in one case rhumb). In one instance one of the French is paid by the town for assistance ren- dered by him to his less fortunate companions in ex- ile, as appears by the following: — "Joseph Landrie for time spent in moving Jane Landrie and wife with their goods from David Spaulding's to Ephraim War- ren's and for going twice to Dunstable about a nurse for said Jane Landrie and wife when sick, five shil- lings and four pence " and David Spaulding is paid for his " cart and oxen to move the French from his own house to Ephraim Warren's." As the Indians abandoned their grant at Wamesit, their lands were gradually occupied by individuals, mostly from Chelmsford. In 1686 their remaining lands on the west of Concord River and 500 acres on the north of the Merrimack were purchased by Jonathan Tyng and Thomas Henchman. This was known as the Wamesit Purchase. Henchman bought Tyng's claim for £50, and by him it was sold to forty- six proprietors in Chelmsford, who occupied it as a pasture. As described by Allen, the northwest boundary " began near the head of the Middlesex Canal, and so to the glass manufactory and thence running near the houses of the late Mr. Philip Parker, Mr. Micah Spalding and Capt. Benj. Butterfield, ter- minated at Wamesit Falls, in Concord River, or at the mouth of River Meadow brook." Philip Parker lived near the present Highland School-house. Micah Spalding at the corner of Lib- erty and School Streets, and Benjamin Butterfield on Hale Street, where the house of the late Benjamin Edwards now stands. To describe this line by the present streets of the city of Lowell, it would corre- spond to Baldwin, West Pine and Liberty Streets, and thence to the mouth of River Meadow Brook. This territory now became a part of Chelmsford, although it was not formally annexed until 1726. The town had now reached its greatest area, and all changes made thereafter were attended by loss of territory. The town now embraced, in addition to what is now occupied by the town, a large part of Carlisle, the whole of Westford and all of Lowell, with the excep- tion of Belvidere, Centralville and Pawtucketville. Chelmsford also held jurisdiction over the settlements upon the north of the Merrimack, at what is now Dra- cut, and the part of Lowell which lies north of the river. The people voted and paid taxes in Chelms- ford and looked to them for protection. This relation was confirmed by the Court in 1667, that " sundry ffarmes erected aboue the toune of Chelmsford, about Merremack Riuer" . . . "haue their dependances vpon & performe services & beare chardges w"* the sajd toune of Chelmsford." The town of Dracut was incorporated in 1702, but the people continued to act with Chelmsford in religious matters till the relation was severed by the following action : " Janawary the : 14 : 1705-6 " " It was uoated that Draw Cut shall not uoate In Chelmsford." The fall ot Fort William Henry in 1757 occasioned great alarm, and troops were hastily summoned to re- pel a threatened invasion. In a roll of the company of Captain Samuel Bancroft, of Reading, raised to CHELMSFORD. 255 meet that exigency, are fourteen Chelmsford names. In 1763 the conquest of Canada was completed and peace again smiled upon the land. War of the Revolution. — Colonel Samson Stod- dard, a son of the former pastor, was perhaps next to Parson Bridge the most influential person in town and shared with him the social honors. He was a graduate of Harvard College and studied divinity, but relinquished the profession for trade and agricul- ture. He kept a store for the sale of general mer- chandise, and was interested in land operations in New Hampshire. The town of Stoddard, in that State, was named in his honor. His house, which stood upon the site of the Central Baptist Church, ■was the resort of fashionable and cultured people. The following from Mr. Bridge's diary, under date of June 24, 1763, shows the quality of the company that sometimes assembled there : " Dined at Col. Stod- dard's with his Excellency, the Governor, and Hon. Mr. Bowdoin, and others, and their ladies." In the disturbances which led up to the Revolu- tion Parson Bridge was at first exceedingly loyal to the home government. The clergy, as a class, were conservative and inclined to favor existing institu- tions. His associations naturally strengthened him in that position. He was a friend of Governor Hutchinson. In 1771 he records a visit to Dr. Ellis and Governor Hutchinson — the latter of whom received him " very graciously." He was honored by being selected to preach the election sermon May 27, 1767, and in this he expressed strong sentiments of attachment to the mother country. But after the republication of Hutchinson's letters, in this country, his feelings underwent a change and he became an ardent sup- porter of the liberties of the Colonies. The position of the people of the town in respect to the grievances under which the Colonies suffered was, in the highest degree, creditable to them. While they firmly adhered to their rights as Englishmen, there is not the remotest suggestion of a desire to sever their connection with the existing government. The riotous opposition excited by the passage of the Stamp Act by Parliament is thus alluded to in the parson's diary : August 30, 1765. — "Every day we hear ye news from Boston of ye mobish doings there in which first insurrection they hanged Secretary Oliver in eflSgy, and then burned him ; burned the stamp-office, etc., rifled his dwelling. . . All this is owing to ye stamp act.'' Colonel Samson Stoddard, the Representative of Chelmsford at the time, asked of the town instructions as to how he should act in so delicate a crisis. In town-meeting the following resolutions were adopted tor his guidance : " This being a time when, by reason of several acts of parliament, not only this province, but all the Eng- lish colonies of this continent, are thrown into the utmost confusion and perplexity ; the stamp act, as we apprehend, not only lays an unconstitutional, but also an insupportable, tax upon us, and deprives us, as we humbly conceive, of those rights and privileges to which we are entitled as free-born subjects of Great Britain by the royal charter ; wherefore we think it our duty and interest at this critical conjuncture of our public affairs, to direct you, sir, our representative, to be so far from countenancing the execution of the aforesaid stamp act, that you use your best endeavors that such measures may be taken and such remon- strances made to the King and Parliament, as may obtain a speedy repeal of the aforesaid act, and a re- moval of the burden upon trade." When, upon the accession of Pitt to the ministry in England, the Stamp Act was repealed, hope again revived in the Colonies, and rejoicings were indulged in. Colonel Stoddard's house was illuminated in honor of the event. Bridge writes, " May 22, 1766. Spent the evening at Col. Stoddard's, with abundance of other company. His house being illu- minated, &c., on acct of the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act." It proved, however, that the hope was not well founded. When, in consequence of the dissolution of the General Court by Governor Barnard, the convention of September 22, 1768, was called by the^Dommittee of Safety of Boston to deliberate on measures to ob- tain redress of grievances, this town was one of the ninety-six there represented. Colonel Samson Stod- dard being their delegate. A town-meeting was called January 11, 1773, to know the sentiments of the people relative to certain grievances under which the Colony is laboring. And at an adjourned meeting, January 22d, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted : " We are fully of opinion that the inhabitants of this Province are justly entitled to all the privileges of Englishmen, and to all those rights inseparable from them as members of a free community. We are also sensible that some of those rights are at present endangered. In such unhappy circumstances, the only question that can be made is this : What method is most suitable to obtain a redress ? Whatever doubts may arise about the particular mode, this we are clear in, that all rash, unmeaning, passionate procedures are by no means justifiable in so delicate a crisis. When a community thinks any of its rights endangered they should always weigh consequences and be very cau- tious lest they run into a step that may be attended with the most deplorable effects." In their instructions to their representative, Mr. Simeon Spaulding, the following language occurs: " Sir, as the present aspect of the times is dark and difficult, we do not doubt but you will cheerfully know the sentiments and receive the assistance of those you represent. The matters that may now come under your cognizance are of great import- ance. The highest wisdom, therefore, prudence and 256 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. decision are evidently necessary. We would earnestly caution you by no means to consent to any rash, pas- sionate plan of action, which will not only sully the dignity, but finally prove the utter destruction of the cause we pretend to support. We hope those little animosities that involve persons, not things, may be utterly banished, and that every determination will be founded in the nature of a free state, and that there- fore every privilege annexed to each part may be re- ligiously preserved. Of consequence, you will be careful not to trample on majesty, while you are firmly but decently pleading the liberties of the sub- ject. In fine, we wish you that wisdom which is from above, and we pray you that your conduct in this im- portant crisis may be such as the coolest reflection will ever after justify." Again, when the news of the act closing the port of Boston and transferring the seat of government to Salem was received, " at a very full meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town, May 30, 1774, in consequence of letters sent to the Com- mittee of Correspondence by the Committee of Corre- spondence of the town of Boston, containing matters of as great importance as ever came before a town- meeting, a Committee of Correspondence was chosen, consisting of Jonathan William Austin, Captain Oliver Barron, Mr. Samuel Perham, David Spauld- ing, Benjamin Walker, Deacon Aaron Chamberlin, Captain Moses Parker, Samuel Stevens, Jr., and Simeon Spaulding, and the town expressed the fol- lowing sentiments : " I^ is the opinion of this town that the present day is as dark and distressing a day as this country ever experienced, and when we consider the aspect of the times, not only what has actually taken place, but what we are immediately threatened with, we must think that the question is, whether we submit to the arbitrary, lawless, tyrannical will of a minister, or by using those powers given us by the God of nature, and which it were sacrilege to surrender, prevent so awful a catastrophe ; and it is extremely afflictive to us to consider that, if we are made slaves, we are so made by a nation whom we ever gloried in as a pa- rent State, whose honor was dear to us, and to secure whose reputation the best, the richest blood has been spilt. Taxation without representation we have no conception of. The present act respecting the block- ing up of the port of Boston we esteem dangerous and destructive. " We are not so lost to every generous principle of the human mind as not to sympathize with our breth- ren of Boston, who have in a more peculiar sense been struggling in our common cause and are now suffering for our common liberties ; and as we think the act so very severe and cruel, so we are determined to support with all our power the town of Boston, in defense of rights common to us all. And while we are sensible our cause is right we are resolved never to submit to the iron hand of despotism and oppres- sion. We resent the base treatment which that illus- trious defender of American liberty — Dr. Frankin — has received for detecting such wicked designs. May he still live to be guardian of our rights and the scourge to the enemies of liberty on both sides of the Atlantic. But in such a situation we do not think it sufficient to weep only at the distresses of our coun- try ; we think our union is our life — the contrary our death. We mean, therefore, to preserve this union inviolate at all hazards, and we are determined in a firm, virtuous, manly and joint way, neither cajoled on the one hand nor intimidated on the other, to secure and defend our liberties, those liberties pur- chased for us by our ancestors, at the expense of so much blood and treasure, and before they are wrenched from us we will struggle hard, very hard for them, considering ourselves as the guardians of unborn millions ; and O, our God ! in the midst of this strug- gle we would look up for Thy direction and assist- ance ; may the liberties of America still flourish under Thy smiles as they did in the days of our fathers, and in this most adverse situation of public affairs we may trust in Thee, and may this be the prevailing senti- ment of us all: In freedom we're born and in freedom we'll die." They manifested the sincerity of their sympathy for the sufferers at Boston by collecting a drove of sheep and sending them to their relief. In Sept., 1774, Mr. Simeon Spaulding was chosen to represent the town at Salem. He was instructed to firmly adhere to the charter of this Province, and do no act which could be possibly construed into an acknowledgment of the validity of the act of the British Parliament for altering the government of Massachusetts Bay. Two delegates were sent to the first provincial meeting in Concord, in August, 1774 — Jona. W. Austin and Samuel Perham. A Committee of Inspection was chosen to prevent the purchase and sale of any articles imported from Great Britain. It was voted to equip the alarm list with the implements of war, also to raise and discipline fifty minute-men. The expressions of the town during all this trying period show that the hostilities which followed were not of their seeking. Their language is not the language of men eager to achieve glory by deeds of arms ; nor was their intense desire for a peaceful solution of the difliculties and caution against rash measures the caution of timidity, as their subsequent acts abundantly testify. For when, upon the 19th of April, 1775, a messenger rode into town with the news that the British were marching from Boston towards Concord, the town was soon on the alert to obey the summons. The time for words had passed, the time for action had come. The alarm-guns were fired, the drums beat to arms, and from the forms and work- shops the minute-men hastily assembled in our little village, at the alarm-post, which was a rock standing where the hay-scales now stand. The good parson was on the ground and requested CHELMSFORD. 257 the men to go into the meeting-house and have prayers before they went; but the impetuous Capt. Ford, his patriotism getting the better of his piety, replied that they had more urgent business on hand, and hastened on witli his men. Soon over one hundred men were on their way to the scene of conflict. One com- pany of sixty-one men were under the command of Capt. Oliver Barron, and the other company, consist- ing of forty-three men, were under the command of Col. Moses Parker. These men did not march in regular order, but hurried off in squads, on horseback, as fast as they received the summons. They assisted in the pursuit of the British toward Charlestown, taking part in the encounters at Merriam's Corner and Hardy's Hill. Capt. John Ford, who was at this time sergeant in Capt. Barron's company, was conspicuous at the latter place. He was an old veteran of the French and Indian Wars, and knew how to handle his rifle. He is said to have killed five of the enemy during the battle. Two of our men, Capt. Oliver Barron and Dea. Aaron Chamberlain, were wounded. Bridge writes : " April 19, 1775— The Civil War was begun at Con- cord this morning ! Lord direct all things for his glory, the good of his church and people, and the preservation of the British colonies, and to the shame and confusion of our oppressors." " April 20 — In a terrible state, by reason of ye news from our army. The onset of ye British was begun at Lexington, was carried on at Concord, where some were killed on both sides. They ingloriously re- treated soon and were followed by our men down to Cambridge, before night. Five captives were carried through this town for Amherst. A constant march- ing of soldiers from ye towns above toward ye army as there were yesterday from this town and the neigh- boring towns. We are now involved in a war which Lord only knows what will be the issue of, but I will hope in His mercy and wait to see His salvation." " April 21 — I sent provisions to the army as did many more. 'Tis a very distressing day, soldiers pass- ing all day and all night." At the battle of Bunker Hill, which soon followed, the Chelmsford men took a prominent part. Upon the morning of that glorious day, the 17th of June, 1775, when the dawn of light revealed to the aston- ished Britishers the American works on Breed's Hill, Capt. Ford, who was now in command of the Chelms- ford company, which consisted of sixty men, was stationed with the army at Cambridge, under Gen. Ward. When the preparations for the battle began, the gallant captain, who had no taste for inactivity, obtained permission from the general to withdraw his company privately and march directly to the scene of action, to reinforce the troops. They marched a^-ross Charlestown Neck, which was being raked by cannon from the British ships, and were proceeding down Bunker Hill when they were met by Gen. Putnam, who ordered Capt. Ford, with his company, 17-ii to draw the cannon, which had been deserted by Gen. Callender and left at the foot of the hill, intu the line. The captain at first remonstrated on the ground that his company were ignorant of the management of artillery, many having never seen a cannon before, but finally obeyed "and moved with the cannon and the general himself to the rail fence," which they reached just before the battle began. Capt. Knowltou with the Connecticut troops and Col. Stark with some of the New Hampshire troops were also stationed at this part of the defences. The right wing of the British army, under Gen. Howe, was directed against this point for the purpose of turning the American flank and cutting ofl' a retreat from the redoubt. As the enemy advanced to the attack, the artillery, manned by a portion of Capt. Ford's company, opened upon them with great effect, some of the shots being directed by Gen. Putnam himself. The muskets were ordered to reserve their fire till the enemy were within eight rods. Joseph Spaulding, however, of Ford's company, could not resist the temptation and discharged his musket, as did some others, while the enemy paused to destroy a fence which obstructed their way. The inscription on his grave-stone, which stands in the old grave-yard, says : " He was among the brave asserters and defenders of his country at Bunker Hill, where he opened the battle by firing upon the enemy before orders were given." When the word was given, the fowling-pieces mowed down their victims with fatal celerity, and the enemy was obliged to retreat, " leaving on the ground," as Gen. Stark related, " where but the day before the mowers had swung the scythe in peace, the dead, as thick as sheep in a fold." When upon the third assault of the enemy the fortunes of the day were reversed, and the Americans were obliged to re- treat from the redoubt, the force at the rail fence, where some reinforcements had been received, main- tained their ground with great firmness and intre- pidity, and successfully resisted every attempt to turn their flank. This line indeed was nobly defended. The force here did great service, for it saved the main body, who were retreating in disorder from the re- doubt, from being cut off by the enemy. When it was perceived that the force under Col. Prescott had left the hill, these brave men gave ground, but with more regularity than could have been expected of troops who had been no longer under discipline. Capt. Ford behaved with great spirit in the engage- ment. Thirteen men of his company were wounded. Benj. Pierce, afterward Gen. Pierce, and the father of President Pierce, was a member of his company. " Capt. Benj. Walker led his company of about fifty resolute men, ten of whom were from Chelms- ford, into Charlestown before the battle commenced to annoy the enemy's left flank. They did great exe- cution and then abandoned their dangerous position to attack the right flank on Mystic River. Here the captain was wounded and taken prisoner. He died of 258 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. his wounds in Boston Jail." Lieut.-Col. Moses Parker, also of Chelmsford, was wounded and left in the re- doubt. He was a skillful and brave veteran of the French Wars and behaved with great gallantry. The British carried him to Boston, where he died, aged forty-three. He was a good officer, much be- loved by his regiment, and his loss was severely felt. An obituary notice of him in the New England Chronicle, July 21, 1775, says : " In him fortitude, prudence, humanity and compassion all conspired to heighten the lustre of his military virtues," and it states that " through the several commissions to which his merit entitled him, he had always the pleasure to find that he possessed the esteem and respect of his soldiers, and the applause of his countrymen." The notice concludes : " God grant each individual that now is, or may be engaged in the American Army, an equal magnitude of soul, so shall their names un- sullied, be transmitted in the latest catalogue of fame, and if any vestiges of liberty shall remain, their praises shall be rehearsed through the earth till the sickles of time shall crop the nation.'' The first news of the battle was received in Chelms- ford by special messenger from Billerica the same evening, and caused great excitement and anxiety on account of the uncertainty as to the extent which our own men suffered. The alarm-guns were fired, and before morning several of the wounded returned. Parson Bridge writes in his diary upon that day : " A terrible day this in relation to our army, in battle with our oppressors at Charlestown. The whole town on fire. The armies engaged on Bunker's Hill. At night we saw a fire from Chelmsford." On the 18th he writes : " The armies at Charlestown still engaged and news flying with respect to the slain and wounded." He expresses the intensity of his feel- ings in the following language: "This is a day big with distress and trouble. Our enemies are those who were our brethren of the same nation, and subjects of the same king, and all for the sake of a wicked and corrupt ministry, a deluded, a devilish, a venal parlia- ment." During the seven long years of the war for inde- pendence which followed these opening battles, this town took its full share of the burden, by providing men and means, although the names of many of the men who served in the army from the town are not preserved to us. Capt. John Minot enlisted a com- pany in December, 1776, seventeen of whom were from Chelmsford. In July, 1776, Capt. Ford and his company were again called out. On the morning of July 23d, they marched to the meeting-house, where the par.son. Rev. Mr. Bridge, prayed with them and gave them a word of exliortalion, and then they took up the line of march to join the army in Canada. In September, 1777, Capt. Ford was again sent with a company of fifty-two men to reinforce the northern army. They were present at the time of the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1777 thirty men were raised for three years or during the war. The town voted to give them a bounty of £20 each over what the State and Congress paid. In consequence of the depreciation of the currency, it was afterward commuted to twenty head of horned cattle, of a middling size, per man. If the war lasted one year they were to have their cattle at one year old; if it continued two years, at two years old, and so on in the same proportion. In 1778, six men were drafted to go to Rhode Island. In 1779 sixteen men were enlisted to go to Rhode Island for three months. In 1780 the militia were em- powered by the town to enlist fifteen men for the Continental service, and the selectmen were instructed to raise money and produce for nine months' service. In addition to the names already given of those who lost their lives in the service of their country, the history records the names of John Bates, David Spaulding, Lieut. Robert Spaulding, Pelatiah Adams and Henry Fletcher. In May, 1776, before the Declaration of Independ- ence was written, this town anticipated the measure and gave its adhesion to it in advance, by the follow- ing vote : " If it should be the pleasure of the Honor- able Continental Congress to declare an Independent state with respect to Great Britain this town will stand by them to the expense of life and fortunes." It will be noticed that Col. Stoddard, whose name is so conspicuous in the period immediately preceding the outbreak of hostilities, does not figure in that struggle. This was due to the fact that he continued loyal to the government of Great Britain. The feelings of respect in which he had hitherto been held now changed to those of animosity, and even his high position did not save him from those indignities which were everywhere heaped upon the Tories. His house was assailed with stones and his fence destroyed.' Shays' Rebellion. — The period between the close of the war for independence and the adoption of the Federal Constitution was a trying one for the new nation. The history of this time is ably treated in Fisk's "Critical Period of American History." The heavy burden of debt entailed by that long struggle, obnoxious tariff laws between the several States, and the utter demoralization of the currency were prom- inent among the causes of that restlessness, which culminated in those deplorable acts of resistance which so sullied the fair fame of Massachusetts, known as Shays' Rebellion. Perhaps at no time in her history has Chelmsford shone so conspicuous among her sister towns for her patriotism as at this crisis. Committees were chosen to co-oporate with those of other towns in measures for suppressing the insurrection. A detachment from the militia consisting of twenty-six men were in the memorable expedition under General Lincoln whicb marched 1 B. P. Hunt. CHELMSFORD. 259 thirty miles upon the 30th of January through the wintry snow to meet the insurgents. War of the Rebellion.— The record of the town in the War of the Rebellion was in the highest degree honorable. When President Lincoln issued the call for 75,000 men, a public meeting was called which was fully attended and all of the speeches expressed the most patriotic sentiments. Three thousand dol- lars was pledged by individuals present to encourage enlistments and aid the families of those who should enter the service. Every call for volunteers was responded to. The records kept by the selectmen show that the total number of men who had entered the service accred- ited to the town was 229, which was eighteen in ex- cess of all the calls which had been made by the gov- ernment, and that the town had incurred an indebt- edness in consequence of the war amounting to $27,623. Every dollar of this honorable debt has since been paid. The account of the selectmen is by no means a complete record of the services of Chelmsford soldiers. Some of the names, those who served for two differ- ent terms of enlistment, appear twice. In the " Record of Massachusetts Volunteers '' by the adjutant-general, the names of Chelmsford men apppear who are not upon the town records. One of these, William R. Patch, was the first Chelmsford volunteer. He was not mustered in, but joined the ranks as they were marching to the defence of the capital, and was wounded at Baltimore upon the memorable 19th of April, 1861. In another case the same published records, by an unfortunate error, class Elijah N. Day, who sacridced his life for his country, as a deserter, one whom his comrades know to have been as true a man as ever faced the enemy. The records should be carefully examined and cor- rected upjn the tjwn-book wli'.le there are living wit- nesses to correct clerical inaccuracies. The following are the names of those who did not live to enjoy the gratitude of their countrymen : Albert E. Pike, Albert S. Byam, Henry Spaulding, James H. Barton, died at sea July 17, '64 ; James Jackson, John T. McCabe, Henry W. Davidson, Patrick Barrett, Thomas Cochran, George E. Keed, George B. Lamphire, Patrick Derry, killed at Gettysburg July 2, 1862; George Curtis, killed at Battle of Wilderness; Webster C. Decatur, Jonas V. Pierce, James Gray. Peter McEnany, killed at Battle of Fredericksburg Dec. 11, '62 ; Henry H. Ingalls, Charity L. Dunn, Colnian S. Farwell, Philip Whelan, Elijah N. Day, Michael Martin. CHAPTER XVIL CIIELMSFO RD—{ Conl inued) . EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. The natural desire of an intelligent people to educate their children was, in the case of the found- ers of New England, stimulated by their religious zeal. Of their political fabric the Bible was the chief corner-stone. As they interpreted the Divine will, through the written word, their course was gov- erned in all things. It was regarded, therefore, as a sacred duty to provide so much instruction as to en- able the children to read and understand the Bible. The General Court made education compulsory. In 1642 an act was passed requiring the selectmen "to have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors to see first that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism in any of their families as not to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their children and apprentices so much learning as may enable them perfectly to read the English tongue." In 1647 towns of fifty householders must appoint a teacher, and towns containing 100 householders must have a grammar school. For the first forty years it is probable that the teaching was mainly confined to that given by the good mothers at their homes, aided, perhaps, by the minister. The first record of a teacher appointed by the town is as follows : "Samuel Fletcher is Apointed to be a scolle-master for the town for the year 1696, by order of the selectmen. Thomas Parker Clarke." Samuel Fletcher, the first school-master, became prominent in the affairs of the town, occupying at different times the several positions of town clerk, treasurer and selectman. The next record in regard to the schools is evi- dently incomplete. It reads: " May the 12 : 16: 98 the towne being m*' edward emerson schoolmaster for the year 1698." This teacher belonged to that family of Emersons which numbered among its descendants Ralph Waldo Emerson, of Concord. The town granted him land at different times. He married a daughter of Dea. Cornelius Waldo, His house stood where Mr. Allan Cameron now lives, in Westford Cen- tre, For the year following the record stands: "Agust the 26''' 1699. the selectmen of said towne Apointed Samuel Fletcher Junr Schoolmaster to Learne young persons to write; on the Day Above said Selectmen Apointed for Scooldames : Deacon Fosters wife, Jno Wrights : Moses Barretts wife and Joshua Fletchers wife." There was at this time no school-house in town. The children gathered at the house of the nearest teacher or school-dame. The teachers must, there- fore, be selec*;ed somewhat in reference to their loca- tion in the different neighborhoods. Deacon Foster lived not far from the centre of the town ; Joshua Fletcher was in the Stony Brook neigh- borhood, now in Westford ; Moses Barrett was near where E, F. Dupee new lives, in South Chelmsford, and John Wright lived at the Neck, now Lowell, For the two succeeding years there was no grammar school. Towns were often complained of and fined by the Court for their neglect to provide suitable schools. Chelmsford was now reminded of her duty 260 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. in that respect, as the following indicates : At a gen- eral town-meeting " March 30"', 1702, A proposition was mad whether we should apply our selves to y" General court by our Debety in Releranc to our being presented to the quarter session & finned at sd court for not having a Uramraar School y' we may endeavor by a petisionHo sd general court to be eased in our greivance on y' account this was voted in y^ Afirmi- tive. •' the day above it was voted y' y'' selectmen should draw up a a petision to present to y*" General court & send it by our Debyty." In August the same year the town chose a commit- tee to ''agree w' A scoolmaster for sd Towne." "Sep- tember 4, 1702, captain Bowers cornet Hili & Eleazar Brown s«° Agreed w' Sir Weld to be our scoolmaster half a year for 15' y* sd Sir Weld begun to keep school on y* 1st of October, 1702." This teacher was a son of Rev. Thomas Weld, the first minister of the church of Dunstable. He had just graduated from Harvard College. He died in 1704. The next year 1703, "capt Bowers and me"^: Emer- son wer chosen to Joyn with the Selectmen to Agree with a scoll master to save the Towne from a fine." In 1705 " the selectmen of sd towne Appointed Moses Barron and Eben wright Scole Masters to teach young parsons To Right And one the Day a boue sd the wido Burdg the wife of John Snow the Wife of Israll Prockter the wife of old tom Cory the wife of sargent Samuell Foster war Appointed scools Dames for the teaching of children to Reed." Moses Bar- ron, one of the writing teachers, was also town clerk, and the record upon the town-book, of which the above is a copy, stands in his handwriting. The spell- ing, use of capitals and punctuation, here snown, are exactly as it appears upon the records. He represented the lown at the General Court and held other important offices. He was town treasurer at the time of his death, which occurred in 1719. His house stood near where Charles Sweetser now lives, upon South Street. Ebenezer Wright, the other Bchool-master, lived in the neighborhood of what is now Middlesex Village in Lowell. There were three brothers, John, Joseph and Ebenezer, living in that section in 16'J2. School -dame Snow lived near the present West ford depot on the Stony Brook Railroad. The neighbor- hood was known as the " Stony Brook houses." Mrs. Corey lived in the south part of the town near Great Brook, now in Carlisle. The grammar school was found to be a heavy bur- den of expense. For several years it was not sus- tained, and the town was again brought to task by the Court, and a petition was sent in " as to an easnientof our gramer Scoole." At "A Generali Toune Meting March the 7"", 1709- 10, voted that the selectmen shall agree With a man to teach children and youth to Wright and sifer and kep scool in Chelmsford," and in 1711 " the Selectmen are appointed By the note of the towne to provide a Scoolmaster as the Law Derects." The following year five pounds were paid to "m' Cheney for being our Scoolmaster." From this time forward the town was not without a school for some part of each year. The grammar school, however, had not yet become firmly estab- lished. The town was called upon to answer for want of one in 1714, 1716, 1721 and again in 1726. At a " Town Meeting May the : 12"', 1718, voted to Petition the genorall court that the fishing place at Pattuctt may be granted to Chelmsford for the benifit ofseportinga scoole in Chelmsford the fishing-place one the south side meremack." Before the waters of the Merrimack were diverted from their native channel, to furnish motive-power for manufacturing, the fishing industry was a most important one. Allen, writing in 1820, says : " The quantity of salmon, shad and alewives caught in Chelmsford annually may be computed at about twenty-five hundred barrels, besides a large quantity of other fish of less value." The river derives its name from the Indian name of the sturgeon. As the settlements extended each year farther from the centre of the town the question of the loca- tion of the schools assumed more importance and sometimes occasioned lively contests. An article-an- nually appeared in the warrant for the March meet- ing similar to the following : "To agree and vote in what part or parts of the said town the Grammar sctool or other schools shall be kept the year ensuing, and to act in that affair as shall be thought proj^er." Upon this question, in 1716, the town "voated that the scule master shall keep scule in the fore quarters of the town one month at a time in one place. " Voated that the selectmen shall determine wheir the fore quarters of the town are." This duty must have taxed the wisdom of the fathers of the town. Mr. Nathaniel Prentice, of Cambridge, was the schoolmaster for the years 1718, 1719, 1720. He graduated from Harvard College in 1714. He was afterwards the second ministerof the church of Dun- stable, where he labored until his death, in 1737. The following is the language of the contract be- tween Mr. Prentice and the town : "Chelmsford, September 22i1, 1719. "The select men have agreed with m'. Nathaniel Preutice, of Cam- bride, to keep scoole in Chelmsford from the firs of October next ensu- ing the Date untill the firs Day of Aprill, 1720, the above sd Nathaniel Prentice does obleige himself to Keep Scoole six hours every Day in sd term exept it be Saturday, Dayes which he is alowed for himself, For wliith sd prentice is to have eigteen pounds." The school, as we have seen, rotated between the four quarters of the town — one month at the centre of the town, the next, perhaps, in the Stony Brook neighborhood, five miles distant, the third at the south end. This school was usually near where the CHELMSFORD. 261 No. 3 School-house was afterwards built, on the road leading from South Chelmsford to Carlisle, past the house of Mr. Quimby. The last month was at the north end. This included, in addition to the present No. 2 District, all that part of the town to the north and northeast, including what is now Lowell. The first school-house was built in 1718. It cost £21 10s., which was paid by the following con- tributors : " m' Stoddard, Moses BarroD, Josiah Fletcher, Deacon Waring, Eben Foster, Edward Spaulding, William Fletcher, John Bates, Stephen Peirce, Moses Parker, John Danes, Nathall Butterfield, Sam" Barron, Benoni Perham, Eben Parker, John Burge, Benj. Parker, Richard Stratton, Joseph Foster, Benjamin Adams, Edward Foster." The land for this building was granted by the town to William Fletcher for this purpose, and by him conveyed to the subscribers. It appears by the description that this school-house stood upon land now occupied by the horse-sheds belonging to the First Congregational Society. "Chelmsford, octobr the 27"i, 1718. "Laid out To W'illam Fletcher, one m' Moses Fisk's Right three Rod and half of Land at the most Easterly Cornar of the bnring Place in Chelmsford afore sd the same being more or Less to the use of the sub- scribers to the bulding of a'Shoole house up on sd Land being bated and bounded as foloweth Eastwardly uji on a stake and heape of stons south- erle by the buring Place Wall to a stake and heape of stons which is the most soutterle Cornar on the westerle Cornar to a stake and heape of stons, the Northerle Cornar to a stake and heape of stons And to the bounds first mentioned. " EPHEIAM HELDRETH, "j " John Wright, > Comite." " Jonathan Bowaes, J " November the 28"' : 1718. " These Presents Declars that I, Willam Fletcher, a boue sd do give the three Rods and a half a boue Laid oute at the Northerie Cornar of the Buring Place on Which the Schoole-house stands to them that bult it to them there heirs and asignes for Euer and to that use for euer as " Witness my hand and seale in Presence of " Robert Richardson. Samuel HowapiD. ." William Fletchek [his seal]." The second school-house must have been erected soon after, for in 1720 a road was laid out from the " North School-house " leading over the home meadow and Carolina Plains. The building stood a few rods east of J. R. Parkhurst's green-houses, at the point where the road intersects with the old Mid- dlesex turnpike. It is probable that this school-house was also paid fur by subscription, as there is no evi- dence that the town raised money for such purposes prior to 1794. Joseph Whipple succeeded Mr. Prentice as teacher. He continued from 1721 to 1724. Mr. Whipple's work did not meet with unanimous approval. But he was sustained by a majority of the citizens in the following vote in 1724 : " voted that the Petition of Moses Parker and nine others, freeholders who Petitioned that the School-master be Dismissed and a committee chose to provide another in his Room, be dismissed." Mr. Thomas Frink, of Sudbury, followed Whipple and taught three years, when the town paid John Spaulding — " to wait upon Mr. Frink home." Josiah Richardson, Isaac Richardson, Joseph Lov- ett and Jonathan Miles each taught for one or two years. .Samson Stoddard, a son of the minister, taught for five years, ending in 1734. He was a graduate of Harvard, a gentleman of culture and strong char- acter. His relation to public affairs is treated in another place. Oliver Fietcher, of this town, taught six years, beginning in 1750. He was a graduate of Harvard, class of 1735. He was a person of high character, and received many honors at the hands of his fellow-townsmen. He was town clerk for a number of years, and the records that he has left are elegantly written. Bridge refers to his death, which occurred in 1771, as a " great loss." Allen says of him, " His piety and integrity gave him great ascendancy over his fellow-townsmen, and secured their esteem and confidence." The action of the town in locating the grammar school sometimes occasioned great dissatisfaction to the people in the more remote sections. In one case, 1724, when the town voted to " settle" the school at the centre of the town, two citizens, Joseph Under- wood and Ebenezer Wright, entered their formal pro- test. Underworld lived at what is now the centre of Westford, and Wright lived where Edwin Heyward now resides, near Chamberlin's corner. The next year the wishes of the dissenters were respected, and the west end was given four months school. For several seasons after Westford was set off the grammar school was continued throughout the year at the centre of the town. At other times the vote would be to keep "one-half in the north end and one- half in the south end," and again it would be decided to " circulate." None of the plans met with suffi- cient favor to become permanent until 1757. That year the time was divided between the north end, the centre and the south end. This method was annually adopted, with but one or two exceptions, until the formation of the school districts in 1792. The north end embraced what is now District No. 2, and North Chelmsford (then called Newfield) and the neck (now Lowell). The school-house for this wide section was less than two miles from the centre of the town, but the school was sometimes kept at a dwelling-house at the neck, " where the neighbor- hood should appoint." The school-house at the south end was built about 1753. It was upon the road leading from South Chelmsford to Carlisle, past the house of Mr. Quimby. The old school-house now forms a portion of a dwell- ing, upon the same spot. Schools of a primary grade, for " reeding, Righting and Cyphering," were provided at the same time for the different sections and held in dwelling-houses. In 1781, in addition to the grammar school, the town voted "Nine months Righting-school, three mos in Neck, so-called, extending from Mr. 262 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. Timothy Clark'c* to the mouth of Concord and to Mr. Simeon Moreses and to Mr. Pierieces So by Mr. Philip Parkers. " Voted one month schooling at Newfield, one month at Mr. David Spaulding's, one month in Concord River Neck, so-called, and five weeks on the mill road, so-called, and eight weeks at, or near, Mr. John Adams." This record is valuable, as it defines the limits of the neck district, and furnishes a basis for estimat- ing the population of Lowell one hundred years ago. Timothy Clark lived in Middlesex, near the head of Baldwin Street. Simeon Mores' house stood upon what is now Moore Street. Joseph Pierce lived near the present City Farm buildings, and Philip Parker upon West Pine Street, near the Highland School. This district then embraced all of what is now Lowell, excepting what lies beyond the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. The children were provided with three months' school in the little red school-house, which stood upon what is now School Street, near the cemetery. The first mention, in the records, of a school-house in this section was in 1767. Soon after the adoption of the Federal Constitu- tion, in 1789, the school district system began to de- velop. Up to this time the management of the schools had been in the hands of the selectmen. In 1792 this authority was, for the first time, transferred to a School Committee, as it has since continued. The change was not made without a struggle. But after several adjournments and attempts at reconsid- erations, the following vote was recorded: "that a select committee be chosen to provide the grammar school-masters and all other school-masters, and that said committee proportion, inspect and regulate said schools." The committee chosen consisted of nine persona, one from each district or " squadron." In 1794 it was "voted to raise £250, for the purpose of building school -houses, each squadron to draw their own money for building their school-house, location de- cided by vote of members of squadrons." In the year 1800 the town supported twelve schools, at an expense of six hundred dollars. They were lo- cated as follows : At the middle of the town, now District 1. At the North School-house, now District 2. Near Ebenezer Parker's, now District 3, South Chelmsford. At Mill Row, now District 4. At Squadron by Capt. Benj. Fletcher's, now District 5. At Concord River Neck, now District 6, East Chelmsford. At school-house by Simon Stevens', now District 7. At Newfield, now District 8, North Chelmsford. At Grate Neck, now Lowell. At school-house by Joseph Adams' and At school-house by Benjamin Chamberlain's. One of thfse last was undoubtedly in Carlisle, where the school-house now stands, north of Great Brook, and the other was in Lowell. This portion of the town had now begun to develop. The little red school- house was outgrown, and three others took its place, — one at the corner of Parker and Powell Streets, an- other on Pawtucket Street where the City Hospital stands, and the third at Middlesex. In these district schools men teachers were usually employed for the winter terms and women for the summer. The grammar school now disappears, and its loss must have gone far towards offsetting the ad- vantages of the new system. In 1801 a new school-house was built in the "Mill Row " District (now No. 4), costing $310, and the fol- lowing year a new brick school-house took the place of the original structure at District No. 1, at a cost of $500. This building is now used by the town for a hearse-house. The district schools had some famous teachers, among whom was Willard Parker, afterwards the em- inent physician of New York. He taught in the old brick school-house in the winters of 1821, '22 and '23.^ Dr. Parker was a descendant of one of the five brothers who came from Wobum and settled in Chelmsford in 1658. He graduated from Harvard College in 1826, studied medicine under the direction of Dr. John C. Warren, Professor of Surgery in Har- vard University, and took his degree of M.D. in 1830. He was at once appointed Professor of Anatomy at the Medical School at Woodstock, Vt., and the same year, the same position at the Berkshire Medical In- stitution. His appointment to the chair of surgfry a'u the same college soon followed. In 1836 he filled the chair of surgery at the Cincinnati Medical Col- lege. He soon after visited Europe and spent consid- erable time in the hospitals of London and Paris. Upon his return he was appointed to the chair of sur- gery in the College of Physicians in New York City, a position which he held for thirty years. He was one of the founders of the Academy of Medicine and at one time its president. In 1870 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by a college in New Jersey. Dr. Parker was a son of Jonathan Parker, who removed to New Hamp- shire when a young man. He returned to Chelms- ford when Willard was five years old and settled upon the hill where Riley Davis now lives on South Street. Jonathan was "Jock" in those days, and he was called " Hill Jock " to distinguish him from another Jonathan Parker, his next neighbor, who was called " Trooper Jock." Dr. Parker always retained his interest in Chelms- ford. He kept the old homestead until near the close of his life, when the care of it became too perplexing. _ 1 Letter of Dr. Parker written in 1877 to H. S. Perham. CHELMSFORD. 263 The feelings with which he regarded it are shown in a letter written in 1879 : " I love it as my old home, and where my parents lived, worked hard and died." His death occurred in New York City in April, 1884. Chelmsford Classical School. — The desire of the people for better educational advantages, for those wishing to pursue the more advanced studies, led to the establishment of the Chelmsford Classical School in 1825. The building, which has since been converted into a parsonage for the Central Baptist Society, was erected for that purpose. The funds for the support of the school were furnished by individual enterprise. The management was entrusted to the following Board of Trustees : Abel Hunt, Eev. Wilkes Allen, Rev. Abiel Abbott, Samuel Bachelder, Esq., Oliver M. Whipple, Jonathan Perhsm, Esq., J. S. C. Knowlton, Esq., Capt. Josiah Fletcher, Sen., Dr. J. C. Daiton, Owen Emerson, Jr., Cranmore Wallace, Captain William Fletcher, Dr. J. O. Green, Dr. Rufus Wyman, Otis Adams, Joel Adams, Esq., Joseph Warren, Captain John (?) But- terfield. The trustees with rare good fortune secured the services of Ralph Waldo Emerson, of Concord, as teacher. Although the Chelmsford Classical School had a brief existence the town has occasion to feel proud of its results. Probably at no other period has so many young men gone out from the schools of Chelmsford to gain distinction abroad and confer honor upon their native town. The following distinguished men were among the pupils of Ralph Waldo Emerson, or the teachers who immediately followed him: Judge Josiah G.Abbott, of Boston ; Hon. Fletcher Abbott, Esq., who died at Toledo, Ohio ; Morrill Wyman, A.M., M.D., LL.D., who is still in the practice of his profession at Cam- bridge, Massachusetts ; Professor Jeffries Wyman, M.D. ; the late Benjamin P. Hunt, of Philadelphia, and the late Professor John Daiton, M.D., of New York, who gained a national reputation in his profession. J. G. Abbott entered Harvard College at the age of thirteen. After completing his studies there hechose the profession of the law, in which he rapidly rose to distinction. He has also occupied many high posi- tions of political honor, among them that of member of the United States Congress. A more extended notice of him is given in the chapter upon the Mid- dlesex Bar. Benjamin P. Hunt, born May 18, 1808, entered Harvard College in 1828. From there he went to Philadelphia and engaged in teaching a clas- sical and scientific school. He sailed for Kingston, Jamaica, March 6, 1840, in the capacity of supercargo. He wrote an account of his voyage which was pub- lished in The Dial in 1843. Emerson said of it: " It seems to me the best of all sea voyages. Besides its rhetorical value, it has another quite additional, inasmuch as it realizes so fully for me the promise of the large, wise boy who made my school-days in Chelmsford so glad by his lively interest in books and his native delight in ethical thought, and life looks more solid and rich to me when I see these many years keep their faith." Hawthorne pays the follow- ing high tribute to the literary excellence of the arti- cle — " a solid example of facts which had not lost their vigor by passing through the mind of a thinker." In 1842 Mr. Hunt went to Hayti and became the head of a wealthy mercantile house. Although actively engaged in business his scholarly mind was at work in other directions. He made a study of the West Indian negro character, and he got together a unique collection of books relating to those islands. It is said that his collection of works relat- ing to the Antilles is the most complete in the coun- try, if not in the world. In 1858 he retired from business and settled in Philadelphia. Here he became actively engaged in charitable and philanthropical movements, especially those for the benefit of the freedmen. Through his efforts the orphans of the negro sol- diers were collected and provided for in a home upon the banks of the Delaware. In June, 1869, Mr. Hunt was requested by President Grant, through Secretary Fish, to "join a party of gentlemen going to the West Indies for the purpose of obtaining information con- cerning several interesting localities in those islands, but more especially Saint Domingo." He was deeply interested in the project of annexation, but sickness prevented his taking part with the commission, Jeffries Wyman was Professor of Anatomy at Har- vard College at the time of the famous murder of Dr. Parkman by Professor Webster, and the trial largely turned upon the scientific investigations of Professor Wyman. His death occurred September 4, 1874. The need of better educational advantages than were offered by the public schools led to a movement in 1859 for the establishment of a school of a higher grade. The use of the building erected for the Chelmsford Classical School, thirty-four years before, was obtained, and on Aug. 29, 1859, the " Chelmsford Academy " was opened. Albert Stickney, A.B., a graduate of Harvard University, was the principal. The trustees were: Levi Howard, M.D., William Fletcher, Dea. David Perham, Charles H. Daiton, Edward F. Richardson, Solomon E. Byamand Edwin H. Warren. Mr. Stickney was succeeded by Edward E. Spald- ing, now of Passadena, Cal. Mr. Spalding was a native of the town, and had had a long and success- ful experience as an instructor. But in the mean time the War of the Rebellion came on. Some of the pupils joined the ranks of the army. The trustees were unable to secure the sup- port necessary for its maintenance, and in 1862 the school was closed. 264 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. CHAPTER XVIir. CHELMSFORD— { Continued). MANUFACTURES. The first saw-mili, established in 1656, has already been mentioned. In 1669 the town granted a large tract of land to Thomas Henchman, William flet- cherand Josiah Richardson to encourage the erection of another saw-mill in the northwest part of the town. The contract stipulated that the inhabitants of the town "shall have their boards at four shillings per hundred, and not exceeding that price, for any kind of pay that the inhabitants can make at price current between man and man, in this town ; and that any of the inhabitants of said town, by giving timely notice to any of the owners, shall be supplied for their pay before others. And it is further agreed that the aforesaid owners of the mill shall have full liberty to take from the town common what timber they see meet to work in the mill." The location of this mill was at what is now called Westford Corner, upon Saw-mill Meadow Brook, M'hich flows from Nabnasset Pond and empties into the Stony Brook at that point. A mill was continued here until within the memory of persons now living. There is some evidence of there having been a mill at an early day upon Stony Brook below the file shop at West Chelmsford. An excavation like a wheel-pit is still pointed out, and marks of an old cart-path leading in the direction of the Crooked Springs Rnad. The late Dea. Isainh Spaulding (born 1792) re- lated the tradition that a corn-mill stood there. In 1678 a saw-mill was built upon Beaver Brook, at the centre of the town, by Abraham Parker and his sons, Moses and John. It is probable that a grist- mill was soon added, as a deed given by Abraham to .John, in 1679, mentions "y'' upper & low'' Dam.'' The old wheel-pit of the mill at the upper dam is still to be seen beside the railroad track, a few rods above the machine-shop. The entrance to this mill was from the " lane," at the point where Alfred Day now resides. The mill was removed to the lower dam within the memory of the older residents. Dutton Brothers (Lewis M. and Edwin E.) are the present proprietors. In 1673 (Feb. 3d) the following action was taken by the town : " the day above, by a major voatt was granted to farther the Iron-woiks that thy shall have for M. a cord leave to cutt wood acording to former agreement." I find no further record in regard to iron-work at so early a date. It probably refers to works near the outlet of Forge Pond, then in Groton. The people in the east part of the town were ac- commodated by a grist-mill upon the Coucord River at what is now North Billerica. The following vote refers to the mill at that place: "7 of March, 1721-2. Voted that the Selectmen in the name of the Town Petition to the Hon'^ General Court that Mr. Christo- pher Osgood's mill Dam may be speedily erected again." Osgood's grant from the town of Billerica was in 1708. The Third Grist-Milt..— In 1695 Daniel Waldo had leave "to set up a grist-mill at the mouth of stony brook below the way that leads to Dunstable between Merrimack river and the bridge." He was obliged to contract "to grind the corn anr^ malt of the inhabit- ants of Chelmsford, except on the forth day of each week, which was appropriated to the use of Dunsta- ble. He was to grind the town's corn and malt for half toll, except a small quantity as a bushel, or the like, and according to turn, as much as may be." ' The original mill was situated on the northerly side of Sr,ony Brook. In 1709 the mill was owned by one John Richard- son, as at a town-meeting held May 25, 1709, "It was voted that John Richardson shall have the Liberty of Drawing of the pond called New- field pond to suply his mill with Water; and shall have the benefit of sd pond to thet high-water mark."- Acting under this authority, he dug through a narrow bank which sepa- rated the pond from the Stony Brook Valley. The water, let into a sandy channel which they had dug for it, soon cut a passage for itself, carrying in its current a negro, who happened to be the only person in the ditch at the time, until a pond, covering ninety acres, was in a very short time emptied, leaving only about one acre covered with water. The body of the negro was never found. The mill property and quite a tract of adjacent land came into the possession of William Adams, Esq., in part, through a descendiint of John Richard- son, and an ancestor of Mr. Adams. In 1814 Mr. Adams rebuilt the grist-mill on the southerly side of the brook, on an improved plan, with three runs of atone, each run by a separate tub-wheel, each one of which was at a different height, so as to be able to run one or all, according to the height of the water in the river. The corn-mill had a fauning-wheel near the mouth of the shoe to blow out the chaff. The other had a tin sieve to let out the sand, sorrel and other small impurities. The saw-mill was rebuilt in 1815.' Mr. Adams owned and occupied the mill until 1822, when it was sold to the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, by whom it was purchased to secure the right of flowage by the erection of the dam at Paw- tucket Falls. It was sold by the Merrimack Manu- facturing Company to the Locks and Canal Company, who leased it to different parties until 1839, when it was sold to Lincoln Drake. In 1842 Lincoln Drake sold to Charles Blood. In 1845 Charles Blood sold one-half to William Swett. In 1848 William Sweit 1 Allen's " History of Chelmsford," p. 30. - TiTinscript of town record, p. 172, ••* Allen's " History," p. 32. CHELMSFORD. 265 sold his half to Joel Paige. In 1861, Edward Lamson, J. E. Rogers and Warren C. Hamblet bought the mill. From 1695 to this time the privilege had been used for grinding grain and sawing lumber. Between the years 1863 and 1868 the saw-mill was taken out, an additional story put on the saw-mill building and the mill utilized for grinding and storing grain for a grain-store in Lowell. A spice and drug-mill was also introduced, where drugs were ground for J. C. Ayer & Co., for the com- pounding of their medicines. Large quantities of gypsum were ground at one time during their occu- pancy of the mill. For a short time a portion of the room was occupied in the manufacture of worsted yarn by Sharp & Axtell. Later the manufacture of hosiery was carried on for a time. In 1868 James C. Dodge bought the mill, and in 1871 sold one-half his interest to John G. Sherburn, using it largely for milling purposes in connection with a grain and flour store kept by them in Lowell. From 1872 to 1882 the premises were occupied by Gray, Palmer & Pendergast, for the manufacture of shoddy, who turned out some 250,000 pounds of shoddy a year, being very successful financially until the dissolution of the partnership in the latter year. After the removal of the shoddy business in 1882, the mill remained substantially idle, the buildings going to decay and the dam rotting and being washed away until 1887, when Mr. Geo. C. Moore bought the privi- lege, and in 1888 tore down the old grist-mill part, and in 1889 removed the last of the dam, building a substantial wall on either side of the brook from the- bridge to the original site of the dam, using them as abutments for a railroad bridge, occupying the re- maining building for storage purposes. It appears that an early date the quantity of bog ore found on the borders of the meadows in town at- tracted attention, and was utilized to some extent, from the following, found in original town records book marked 1656, page 118: From a transcript of town records, page 17, is the following : "At a Gen'll Town meeting, march the 4th, 1706-7, Jonathan Richardson and John Richardson had granted the Liberty of erecting Iron works upon Stony brook with convenency of flowing provided it Damnifies none of the inhabetants." Where these iron works were located the memory of the oldest in- habitants retains no tradition. About the year 1823, Esquire William Adams, thought that with the growth of Lowell, then j ust devel- oping, the amount of iron ore in this vicinity might be advantageously used, and secured the favorable opinion of Gen. Shepard Leech, of Easton, who was then run- ning a foundry in Easton and also in Boston. To ob- tain the necessary water-power, Mr. Adams conceived the idea of filling the breach in the bank of the origi- nal Newfield Pond, cut out in 1709, and by cutting a canal from near the foot of the scythe factory dam at West Chelmsford, to fill the pond to its original capacity. ^ A canal cut from the lower edge of the pond to the present foundry works would utilize the whole fall. He purchased the land necessary for the upper canal not already owned by him, and in 1824 sold to Gen. Leech the land now occupied by the upper canal, with all the original pond bottom, and nineteen acres and fifteen rods of land now included in the village of North Chelmsford, together with the right to dig and maintain a canal from the pond to the village. The canals were dug, the pond filled, and a blast furnace was erected on the site now occupied by a part of Mr. Moore's mill. The first iron was made from ore obtained in the vicinity, in 1825. A large part of the ore used in the manufacture of iron was obtained from Chelmsford and the neigh- boring towns, brought mostly by farmers with their own teams, and reduced by the use of charcoal. Ore, called stone-ore, was brought from Boston, via Mid- dlesex Canal, and mixed with native ore. The blast furnace was in use as late as 1840. Large tracts of land within six or eight miles of the furnace were stripped of wood, which was con- verted into charcoal for this purpose. A large brick- kiln was built, for making charcoal, in the rear of the furnace, but was not a success. The brick block belonging to Silver & Gay was built, in 1842, from the bricks of this kiln. A small cupola furnace was built about the time the works were started for melting scrap-iron, and large pieces of ore as well as pig-iron, at a later date. In 1833, after the death of General Leech, the property came into the possession of Lincoln Drake, also of Easton, who carried on the foundry business till 1849. Williams, Bold & Co. were proprietors and carried on the business till 1857. Mr. George T. Sheldon, president of the present Chelmsford Foundry Co., bought the real estate in 1858, and the present Chelmsford Iron Foundry Co. was organized. They have an office in Boston, and are largely engaged in preparing the iron work for building purposes, furnishing both cast and wrought- iron, much of which is finished and put in place by contract. In 1888 a shop, eighty by forty-four feet, and two stories high, was erected in connection with their foun- dry for thefinishing and fitting up these works. An ad- dition, sixty by thirty feet, one story high, was erected in 1890. They also occupy a shop in Boston and another in Cambridge for the same purpose. In their foundry and shops in the several places they employ about 150 hands. From 1825 many heavy castings were made for the mills erected in Lowell, Nashua and Manchester, especially in the line of heavy gears, until the burning of their pattern-house in 1875. 1 The original pond bottom was now nearly covered with a heavy growth of wood. 266 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. The stone-ore, pig-irou, hard coal, sand and other materials used in a foundry were brought from Bos- ton to North Chelmsford in canal-boats, by way of the Middlesex Canal and Merrimack River, till 1853, when the canal was given up. The boats were "poled "up from the head of the canal into the pond below the grist-mill dam, and the freights transferred to carts and conveyed to the places of their use. Castings were frequently sent to Boston by the same route. Machine-Shop. — Soon after General Leech com- menced operations in the foundry business he erected a blacksmith-shop, containing some machinery, on the site of the present machine-shop, which was burned. The brick portion of the present shop was built later, and in 1834, Lincoln Drake, successor to General Leech, sold one-fourth of the property to Mr. Ira Gay ; and in 1838 he sold one-fourth to Mr. Ziba Gay, both residents of Nashua. Mr. Ziba Gay secured the interest of his brother Ira after the de- cease of the latter. In 1842 Captain Drake sold one- fourth interest to Mr. Harvey Silver. After Captain Drake failed, in 1849, the remaining fourth part came, through several successive owners, into the possession of Mr. Silver, in 1859. Mr. Ziba Gay, Jr.^ succeeded his father, and the shop has been run by Gay & Silver, and Silver & Gay, for many years. Machinists' tools, turbine-wheels and worsted ma- chinery have been extensively manufactured here ; and at present worsted machinery, ball-winders and spring-pins constitute the principal manufactures. The shop has a capacity for the employment of 100 men, Swain's Machine-Shop. — In 1867 Mr, Asa M. Swain, having purchased the site of au old saw-mill on the road leading from North Chelmsford to Dunstable built asubstantial dam across Biodgetts' Brook (called in the early history of the town Deep Brook), and erected a shop, 80x43 feet, one story high, for the manufacture of a very fine turbine-wheel, patented by himself, and known as Swain's turbine-wheel. This shop was run about ten years, affording work at one time for twenty men. It was given up about 1877, and came into the possession of Dr. Simpson, remaining unoccupied till 1889, when it was taken down and the lumber removed. Baldwin Mill. — A mill was erected for the man- ufacture of worsted yarn and carpets in 1841, and a company was afterwards organized as the Baldwin Manufacturing Company, which was very successfully operated for several years, until near the close of the war, when, with many similar companies, they failed, and the privilege has since been unoccupied. The present proprietor is G. H. Sheldon. Moore's Mill.— In 1872, Mr. Geo. C. Moore, then a young man, bought of G. T. Sheldon the old foundry on the northerly side of the passage-way leading from the Lowell road to the old turnpike, near the brook, with the water privilege, except cer- tain rights previously sold and certain rights reserved by Mr. Sheldon. Machinery was put in and wool- scouring was at once commenced. In 1875 he erected a brick-mill, 100x70 feet, three stories high. A part of the building was rented to Mr. Richard Rhodes for the manufacture of worsted yarn, and wool-scouring was carried on in other parts. Oct. 10, 1875, this new mill, just completed, together with the old foundry boarding-house, foundry carpenter's shop, ware-dressing shop, pattern-shop and counting-room were burned. A temporary wooden building, 100x40 feet, one story high, was soon erected and wool-cleansing re- sumed. In 1877 a new brick mill, 220x70 feet, one story high, was erected, covering the temporary wooden building, so that wool-cleansing was not interrupted during the rebuilding. In 1885 an additional brick building, 140-76 feet, two stories high, was erected on the easterly end of the one-story building. In 1888 a second story of brick, 120x70 feet, was put on to the easterly end of the one-story building, and a brick building, 45x56 feet, two stories high, was added to the easterly end of the mill, for a machine- shop and a carpenter's shop. The lower story of the two-story mill, now 260x76 feet, is used for sorting and drying wool, and carding and combing wool. The second story is used for spinning worsted yarn and for a counting-room. In 1890 the old walls of the westerly end of the one- story building were torn away, and a new building, 100x70 feet, three stories high, erected, to increase the facilities for cleansing wool. The worsted-mill is now producing 16,000 lbs. of worsted yarn per week, mostly from camel's hair. He has facilities for cleansing 30,000 lbs. of wool a day. The pay-roll contains 170 names. In 1794 a map or plan of the town was made from a survey by Frederick French. One copy of the plan is on file in the State Archives and another is in pos- session of Mrs. Thomas J. Adams, of North Chelms- ford. From this map it appears that there were at that time two saw-mills and one corn-mill on the Merrimack River at Pawtucket Falls ; one saw-mill and one set of iron works on Concord River near its mouth ; one saw-mill on the canal near where it emptied into the Concord River; one clothier's mill; one saw and grist-mill upon River Meadow Brook ; these were all within the limits of the present city of Lowell. A grist-mill and saw-mill are shown upon the Stony Brook, at what is now North Chelmsford ; a grist-mill on Beaver Brook at the centre of the town, and one on Great Brook (then the Adams mill). The clothier's or fulling-mill was erected in 1790 by Moses Hale, who came from West Newbury. It stood just below where Gorham Street crosses the River Meadow Brook. The saw and grist-mill were above the street. In 1801 Mr. Hale introduced a card- ing machine into his mill, and carried on quite a bus- iness. The iron works were carried on by a Mr. CHELMSFORD. 267 Ames or Ames & Fisher. They were situated on the Concord River at Massic Falls, near the foot of Ames Street. N. P. Ames, a son of the proprietor (born September 1, 1803), afterwards introduced many im- provements into the works. Allen says, " hoes and shovels are manufactured, and various kinds of curious work done, and irons for machinery cast." Young Ames possessed great skill in the mechanic arts, combined with an enterprising spirit and inven- tive talent of a high order. In 1829 he removed to Chicopee, and afterwards became the founder of the Ames Manufacturing Company the first company to engage in the man- ufacture of swords in this country. The success of the cotton manufactories at Wal- tham and in Rhode Island, which had been started as a result of the restrictions imposed upon commerce by Great Britain in 1812, stimulated some enterpris- ing person-* to attempt their introduction here. Capt. Phineas Whiting and Col. Josiah Fletcher erected in 1813 a building sixty by fifty, and forty feet high, for a cotton factory. In 1818 it was purchased by Thomas Hurd, of Charlestown, and converted into a woolen factory. One hundred and twenty yards of satinet per day were turned out from sixteen looms "worked by water." ^ In 1816 a saw and grist-mill were built by Luke Bowers & Son, at Pa\\^ucket Falls, and a grist-mill by Mr. N. Tyler, on the " locks and canals." In 1816 Mr. Moses Hale added a saw-mill to his other works, and two years later erected works for the manufacture of gunpowder. In 1819 Mr. William Tileston, of Boston, and Oliver M. Whipple were taken into partnership in the latter branch of the business. In the autumn of 1821 a scheme was inaugurated which in its importance overtopped all previous en- terprises in Chelmsford, as it resulted in creating the wonderful cotton industry of Lowell. A company of gentlemen consisting of Patrick T. Jackson, Kirk Boott, Warren Dutton, Paul Moody, John W. Boott and Nathan Appleton visited the Pawtucket Falls with a view to utilizing the vast power running to waste there, and compelling it to become the servant of human industry. The result of their investigations was that in the February following the Merrimack Manufacturing Company was incorporated. A canal was built and in September, 1823, the waters of the Merrimack passed through this canal and turned the wheels of the first of the Merrimack Company's mills. Population and capital now rap- idly increased, and in 1826 the new town of Lowell was incorporated. From that time the mother town has viewed with pride and wonder the achievements of her precocious daughter, and rejoiced at everything which has contributed to her prosperity. 1 Allen. Although South Chelmsford has always been al- most wholly an agricultural community, some man- ufacturing was done there at one time which was very important in its relation to modern improvements. The first Lucifer matches manufactured in this country were made here by Ezekiel Byam, a native of the town, in 1835. One hundred of these matciies sold for twenty-five cents. They were ignited by drawing them through a piece of bent sand-paper. Although clumsy and expensive, as compared with what we now have, they were the first practical device to do away with the old flint and tinder. The friction match was invented by A. D. Phillips, of Springfield, Mass., Oct. 24, 1836. Mr. Byam *at once recognized its merits, and with characteristic enterprise he pur- chased first the right to manufacture, and soon after the whole patent, and the following year began the manufacture of the friction match. Very soon the Byam matches, with the following verse upon the wrapper, were known the country over : "For quickness and sureness the public will find, These matciies will leave all otliere behind ; Without further remarks we invite you to try 'em, Kemember all good that are signed by E. Byam." The old "match-shop," as it was called, stood on the old road leading from South Chelmsford to the centre of the town, a few rods, and on the opposite side, from the residence of Mr. Eli P. Parker. It was a small building set into the bank, with one story above the basement. The matches were put up at the Willard Byam house, which stood upon the site of the residence of the late E. P. Bean. After manufacturing here about a year, Mr. Byam removed his business to Boston. He resumed manu- facturing in Chelmsford again about 1845 and con- tinued three years. The favor with which the matches were received by the public was such that his facilities were now entirely inadequate to meet the demands upon them, and the business was re- moved permanently to Boston. The old match shop, was mostly demolished several years ago; a portion of it is now used by Mr. N. B. Lapham for a carriage-house. The manufactures upon the Stony Brook at West Chelmsford were commenced by Dea. John Farwell, who came from Fitchburg in April, 1823, and erected a factory, upon the site of the present file and knife works, for the manufacture of scythes. The little village which grew up about these works was known for many years as the "Scythe Factory Village." From 1500 to 2000 dozen of scythes were turned out annually, from which they realized from $15,000 to $20,000. In the spring of 1844, Dea. Farwell sold out to his son, J. P. Farwell, and others, who two years later sold the real estate to Lincoln Drake, of North Chelmsford, and removed the machinery to Fitch- burg. Drake sold the property to F. T. Sawyer. Christopher Roby purchased a half- interest of Sawyer, 268 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. and together they at once refurnished the works and engaged in the manufacture of scjthes under the firm-name of Roby, Sawyer & Co. From 2000 to 2500 dozen of scythes were annually produced by this company. The factory was destroyed by fire, but soon rebuilt. In 1853 Mr. Sawyer retired, and the business was then conducted under the name of C. Roby & Co. The market for these goods was largely in the South- ern and border States, and when the war broke out, in 1861, this company found their trade destroyed, and in addition to that suffered the loss of most of their goods, which had been shipped during the pre- vious winter. The company now ceased to manufacture imple- ments of peace, and proceeded to furnish implements of war. They manufactured swords and sabres until 1865, when the company closed up its affairs. Mr. Roby continues an honored resident of the village, and by him the data in regard to the industries at that place were kindly furnished. The Hiscox File Company purchased the scythe works, and engaged in the manufacture of files and machine knives. They discontinued business about two years ago, since which time the shops have been idle. In 1830 a dam was built above the scythe factory pond by Mr. Nathan Oliver, assisted, perhaps, by his brother, Samuel Oliver, of Lowell. They sold the water-power and land to the "Chelmsford Company," by which a mill was erected for the manufacture of worsted yarn. Mr. William Calvert was the superin- tendent for several years. When the financial depres- sion of 1857 came on the mill was closed. After a time it was purchased by Isaac Farrington, of Lowell, who resumed business. It was burned 1862, but at once rebuilt. Business was continued by several parties until about six years, when it was again de- stroyed by fire. The power has since remained unused. There are five lime-kilns — two upon the north slope of Robins Hill, and three on the north side of Beav- er Brook — where for many years lime was manufaa- tured. Allen says, that from them "are annuallly drawn about a thousand hogsheads, which may be estimated at $5 per hogshead." The lime used in building the fir^t mills in Lowell was made here. David Perham, Sr., who operated the largest kiln, continued the business till 1832. Maine lime, which was brought up the Middlesex Canal, was sold for less than it could be produced here. This led to their abandonment. The history of manufacturing at the centre of the town is quickly told. In 1887 a brick two-story ma- chine-shop was erected by Mr. John Byfield, for the manufacture of knitting machinery. Business was commenced in January, 1888, under the name of the Byfield Manufacturing Company. Mr. Byfield has since withdrawn from the firm, and occupies the upper story for the manufacture of knit-goods, under the name of the Beaver Manufacturing Company. A business closely related to the farming interests has been the manufacture of cider vinegar. David Perham began to make a specialty of that in connec- tion with his farming in 1840. The business con- stantly increased. In 1872 he sold to his son, Henry S. Perham, who is of the seventh generation from John Perham, who first settled upon this farm in 1664. From 500 to 4000 barrels of cider are made annually from apples brought to the mill from this and adjoining towns. The late Israel Putnam was also largely engaged in this business. In order to facilitate the navigation of the Merri- mack River, and allow of an easier transportation of timber around the Pawtucket Falls to Newburyport, a canal was built beginning above the falls and emp- tying into the Concord near its mouth, the distance being one and a half mil^s. The company was incorporated August 8, 1792, by the name of the " Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River." The same year the first bridge was built across the Merrimack at Pawtucket Falls, then called theMerri- mac Middlesex Bridge. A more formidable canal enterprise was in contem- plation by some enterprising spirits at this time, and in 1793 the Middlesex Canal Company was incorpo- rated. Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn, was the superinten- dent and engineer, and under his direction the work was rapidly pushed to completion. The canal was opened for business in 1804. The business of the company continued to increase until the building of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, in 1835, when the re- ceipts soon fell below expenses, and in 1853 the busi- ness of the company was suspended. The facilities afforded by the Middlesex Canal greatly stimulated the growth of Middlesex Village. The glass manufactory was built in 1802, upon the bank of the canal, near the end of what is now West Pine Street. The annual production of window glass exceeded forty thousand dollars in value. The enterprising firm of Bent & Bush first began the man- ufacture of hats at this place. There were also two stores and a public-house. The latter was kept by Mr. Timothy Clark, who, doubtless, maintained the reputation which it had gained under the former landlord, Col. Jonas Clark, as " the general resort for all fashionable people in these parts." A religious society was organized in 1824 and a meeting-house built. CHELMSFORD. 269 CHAPTER XIX. CHELMSFORD— {Continued). MISCELLANEOUS. Ageiculture. — Although more sp.ice in this arti- cle has been given to manufactures than agriculture, the latter has been the occupation of the majority of the people, and an active interest has been taken in movements for the advancement of agricultural in- terests. A society was formed at Chelmsford, January 6, 1794, for the " promotion of useful improvements in agriculture." It was composed of gentlemen living in the westerly part of Middlesex County. It was in- corporated by act of the Legislature on February 28, 1808, under the name of "The Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen." Its annual meetings were held alternately at West- ford, Littleton and Groton. Hon. Ebenezer Bridge, of Chelmsford, was the first president chosen after the incorporation of the society. Mr. Bridge was a son of the then late parson. He commanded a regiment at the battle of Bunker Hill. He was a member of the Massachusetts Senate from 1781 to 1800, and was perhaps, the most influential citizen of the town at that time. He died at Hardwick, N. Y., February 9, 1814, aged .seventy. This agricultural society was afterwards merged in the Middlesex Society, which held annual exhibitions at Concord until recently. Death of General Washington. — The follow- ing action, in January, 1800, well illustrates the pat- riotic feelings of the citizens of the town : " took into consideration the death of the worthy General Wash- ington, to be observed by an oration 22d Feb. by Mat- thias Spaulding." The orator selected for this important occasion was a son of Col. Simeon Spaulding. After completing his studies he taught school for several years and then entered the medical profession. In 1806 he removed to Amherst, N. H., where he lived to a great age. The following brief notice of his death, in 1865, appeared in the Boston Traveller : " The venerable and eminent physician, Dr. Mat- thias Spalding, died on Monday last, aged ninety-six years. He was born at Chelmsford, Mass., June 28, 1769, and graduated at Cambridge University in 1798." Death of Rev. Thomas Clark.— The people were called to mourn the death of their pastor, Rev. Thomas Clark, which occurred December 7, 1704, in the fifty-second year of his age and the twenty-seventh of his ministry. We have but little material from which to estimate the character of the man. No church records relating to the period of his ministry are preserved. The few modest requests which he made of the town were readily granted. The calm, judicial spirit with which he dealt with the case of witchcraft which occurred during his pastorate well illustrates his character. His descendants were peo- ple of intelligence and force of character. Governor John Hancock, whose name is appended to the im- mortal Declaration of Independence, in the well- known bold and striking characters, was his grandson. Rev. Samson Stoddard, of Boston, the third mint ister of Chelmsford, was ordained November 6, 1706. An ordination was a great social event, and elaborate preparations were made to provide for the guests who assembled. In 1713 Mr. Stoddard preached the election sermon. Sewal pronounced it "an excellent discourse." The old meeting-house, which had served the peo- ple from the first settlement of the town, was now go- ing to decay. It had been repaired in 1702 "both w'out Side to keep out rain and snow, & also within- side such Inlargement as may be needful & in pertic- ular A long table from one allee to another." In 1705 the people in the west part of the town petitioned that the proposed new meeting-house " be set in the senter of the toune." Th^s, if acceded to, would have taken it to Chestnut Hill, and might have pre- vented the formation of the west part into a new town, which occurred a few years later. Death of Rev. Samson Stoddard, and West- ford set off.— The struggle of the people in the west part of the town for the formation of a separate precinct was begun in 1713, and continued from time to time until the object was accomplished in 1724. The separation was made complete by the incorpora- tion of the town of Westford, September 23, 1729. Rev. Samson Stoddard was a person of delicate mental and physical organization. His arduous pa- rochial duties and financial difficulties, which he was unable to meet, produced a severe strain upon his powers. During the last years of his ministry he manifested symptoms of a disordered mind. His death, by sui- cide, occurred August 23. 1740, in the thirty-fourth year of his ministry. His body was found in the par- sonage well. The railroad passenger depot now stands over the well. Rev. Ebenezer Bridge. — On December 30th, of the same year, a unanimous call was extended to Rev. Ebenezer Bridge, to become their pastor. He was ordained to the sacred office May 20, 1741. Mr. Bridge was a native of Boston. After complet- ing his studies at Harvard University he engaged for a time in teaching. His theological studies were pursued under the di- rection of Rev. Wm. Welstead, pastor of the North Church, Boston. In October, 1741, he married Miss Sarah Stoddard, the third daughter of Rev. Samson Stoddard. Mr. Bridge was a man of strong character, and he exerted a wide influence in the trying times through which the country passed during his ministry. In 270 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. person "his stature was large and commanding, his manners grave and digaified. He possessed great social powers, and was a communicative friend and pleasant companion." Although his style was some- what negligent and diffuse, "he was an acceptable, animated and searching preacher. His creed partook of the orthodox of the day," but " he was a strenuous advocate for liberty of conscience and the rights of private judgment." Mr. Bridge's influence was not confined to hi* immediate field of labor. He main- tained a wide circle of acquaintances. He enter- tained liberally, and among the guests at the parson- age were often persons widely honored. He has left a voluminous diary,^ which contains a fund of infor- mation, and gives us an insight into the daily life of a country parson in the colonial days. Up to the time of Bridge's pastorate there had been but one religious society in town, except during the brief time between the formation of the West Pre- cinct and i*s incorporation as a town. But the preaching of the eminent Whitefield, Avhich so stirred the people and created such a di-turbance among the churches, produced a di^aff'ection, lespec- ially among the people of the south part of the town, which the parson was powerless to prevent. The preaching of one Hide, a tailor, in the south part of the town, drew away some of the people, by which the good parson was much exercised. Whitefield himself once preached in this town, at the house of a Mr. Birge, where Israel L. Putnam now lives, on South Street, and it is related that by a singular incident, Parson Bridge was himself an un- willing listener to the discourse.'^ " Before the hour of the meeting arrived Parson Bridge called at the house in order to dissuade the owner, if possible, from al- lowing it to be held. While he argued long with Mr. Birge, the crowd thronged the house to such a degree that the pastor was unable to recover his hat, which had been left in another room, and he Avas, therefore, unwillingly constrained to hear die sermon out with the rest." In 1753 a petition was presented to the Court for - the formation of a district in Carlisle. In 1758 a rude church was erected there. In 1780 Carlisle was formed into a separate precinct, and in 1805 incorpo- rated as a town. By this act Chelmsford lost about seventeen families and a considerable amount of ter- ritory. In 1754, 300 acres of land on the northerly side of the town were set off to Dunstable. This makes a point of land belonging to Tyugsboro' ex- tending into Chelmsford. New Meeting-House. — In 1709 the town voted to build a new meeting-house upon the site of the old one, "and a Terit to hang the bell in." Social distinctions were much more rigiilly ob- served than in these more democratic times. The 1 Now in the possession of a descendant, B. M. Fiske, of Boston. 2 B. P. Hunt. people were seated in church in accordance with the rank which they occupied. These seats were assigned by a committee chosen from time to time by the town, consisting of the most dignified characters. Slavery. — In Parson Bridge's time some negroes were held as slaves in this town, as appears from sev- eral entries in this diary. March 3, 1772, he records: " married Prince, a negro man belonging to William Kittridge, of Tewksbury, and Zulee, a mulatto girl belonging to Dr. Nehemiah Abbott, of this town ; was offered one dollar as a fee, but took none." August 7, 1761, " attended the funeral of Titus, an aged negro of widow Rebecca Parker." By the declara'ion of rights contained in the new Constitution of 1780, Massachusetts has the honor of having been the first of the American States to abol- ish slavery within her limits. Several entries in Bridge's diary similar to the fol- lowing show that the second meeting-hou*e, which had stood eighty years, was now going to decay : " May 15, 1791, Preached all day, but omitted reading by reason of the pulpit being so wet after the rain." The good pastor who had for more than fifty years ministered from this pulpit was nearing the close of his mortal existence. His death occurred October 4, 1792, the same year in which a new house of worship was erected. Upon the death of Mr. Bridge a day of fasting and prayer was appointed by the town, and seven of the ministers of adjoining towns were invited to par- ticipate in the services. Rev. Hezekiah Packard accepted a call by the church and town and was ordained October 16, 1793. By h's agency in establi^hing the Chelmsford Social Library in 1794, Mr. Packard has left an en- during monument to his memory. This library was incorporated in January, 1812, under the name of " Proprietors of the Social Library in the town of Chelmsford." Allen estimated its value at about $1000. Until recently the books have been dispensed from the house of the librarian. Because of the want of a suitable public place for the library its growth was slow. Since it has been placed in the town-house public interest in it has revived and the yearly circu- lation of the books has much increased. Mr. Packard budt and occupied the house now owned by David A. Bussell. His son, the late Pro- fessor Alpheus S. Packard, of Bowdoin College, was born here. The resignation of Mr. Packard concluded his con- nection with the church July 5, 1802. Rev. Wilkes Allen was ordained as pastor No- vember 16, 1803. Mr. Allen was a S)n of Elnaihan and Lydia (Pratt) Allen, of Shrewsbury, Massachu- setts. He graduated from Harvard College in ISOl. In November 13, 1805, he married Mary Morrill, daughter of Deacon James Morrill, of Boston. Their children were James Morrill, born October 5, 1806 ; ' Charles Hastings, born March 11, 1809; Wilkes, born CHELMSFORD. 271 December 30, 1810; John Clark, born November 12, 1815 (?) ; and Nathaniel Glover, born January 22, 1816. Mr. Allen was the author of a "History of Chelms- ford," which was published in 1820 — a work which forever identifies his name with the town. Revolutionary Monument. — The monument in honor of the citizens of the town who fell in the War of the Revolution was erected in 1859. Charles H. Dalton was the prime mover in this patriotic enter- prise. The monument, composed of Chelmsford gran- ite, was dedicated September 22, 1859. The principal address was delivered by Willard Parker, M.D., of New York, president of the Monument Asssociation ; H. W. B. Wightman, was president of the day; Rev. John Parkhurst, chaplain ; Dr. J. C. Bartlett, di- rector of the choir, and Otis Adams, chief marshal. Lawyers. — Previous to the growth of so many manufacturing towns in the State, Chelmsford occu- pied a position of much greater relative importance than it does to-day. This is shown by the character of the men who were attracted to it as a place for the practice of the professions. In January, 1772, Stephen Scales, A.M., settled in town to engage in the practice of the law. What promised to be a brilliant career was sud- denly cut short by death, November 5th of the same year. Mr. Bridge records : " This morning died very suddenly Stephen Scales, at the honse of Sampson Stoddard ; he had been confined with the measles, was able to walk about the house, but took cold, seized with an apoplectic attack, fell out of li'B cliair and died in a few minutes. He was Tutor at Har- vard Coll., since studied law & was a practitioner in the business, a man of strong power of mind, a great scholar, & very considerable lawyer for his age & the time he bath practiced; he bid fair to be a very useful and serviceable as well as honorable man in life, but at once is at an end as to tliis life & world, an affecting stroke in Providence &, may the Lord sanctify it." The following high tribute to his character and talents appeared in The Massachusetts Gazette and the Boston Weekly News- Letter , Thursday, November 12, 1772: " We hear from Chelmsford, that on Tliursday Morning last Stephen Scales, Esq., several years a Tutor at Harvard College, but lately in the Study of tlie Law, was seized with a Numbness in one of liis Hands, wliich increased so fast that he died witliin ten Minutes. He was a gentleman of superior Genius, improved by a thorough Acquaint- ance with the various Braucl»s of Science, — faithful in the Dischaige of his Duty in the College, — of strict Integrity, and exemplary Virtue — and of 80 great proficiency in the study of the Law that he was truly an Honor to the Profession into which he had entered." His tombstone, upon which is a lengthy inscription in Latin, stands at the right, and very close to, the central path in the old cemetery. Within two weeks from the death of Mr. Scales, Mr. Jonathan WiU.lams Austin, a young man of great promise, just admitted to the bar, took up his resi- dence in town to follow the profession of the law. Bridge's diary contains the following reference to him : " Nov. 18, 1772. Mr. Joua. William Austin, who came into town last night, dined with me and spent the P.M.; he comes to settle with us as a Lawyer. He brought letters to me reccommendatory from Rev. Dr. C'hauncy & Cooper." He was born in Boston, April 18, 1751, and grad- uated from Harvard College in 1769. He studied law in the office of John Adams, and, doubtless, had imbibed something of the patriotic fervor of that il- lu.strious statesman, as he immediately became promi- nent in the agitation then going on with the mother country. He represented the town, with Samuel Perham, as delegate to the Middlesex Convention, which met at Concord, August 16, 1774, and, though then but twenty-three years of age, he was selected by the convention for the chairman of the committee to draw up the resulutions expressing the sentiments of the people upon the grave questions which con- fronted them. The resolutions, which were adopted by a vote of seventy-four to four, conclude with the following ringing sentences : " Our fathers left a fair inheritance to us, purchased by a waste of blood and treasure. This we are resolved to transmit equally fair to our children after us. No danger shall affright, no difficulties intimidate us ; and if, in support of our rights, we are called to encounter even death, we are yet undaunted, sensible that he can never die too soon who lays down his life in support of the laws and liberties of his country." He !-howed himself to be a man of action as well as of words, for he gave his life in support of those principles so dear to him. He entered the service upon the opening of hostilities ; was a major in 1775, commandant at Castle William in 1776, and died in the army to the southward in 1778 or 1779. John Wythe, A.M. — A graduate of Harvard in 1760. Settled in Chelmsford 1778. Afterwards removed to Lexington, and from there to Cambridge, where he died.i Samuel Dexter, LL.D., the statesman, who occu- pied, besides other high positions, that of United States Senator from Massachusetts, practiced law for a time in this town, coming here in 1786. He re- moved to Billerica and after to Charlestown. He died in the State of New York in 1816. In 1800 Asahel Stearns, A.M., opened an office at Pawtucket Falls. In 1814 he represented the district in the Congress of the United States. He removed to Charleston, n in 1815, and three years later accepted the position of College Professor of Law in Harvard University. Joel Adams, A.M., was a son of Timothy Adams, of this town. His birth-place was what is now the Shehan place, in District 5. He graduated from Harvard College in 1805, and began the practice of law in 1808. His residence was that now occupied by his grandson, C. E. A. Bartlett. His office stood between his house and what is now Jonathan Lar- com's. He was known as a sagacious counselor and shrewd man of business. He removed to Lowell, and was president of the Prescott Bank, and was connected with other financial institutions. Later 1 Allen. 272 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. in life he relinquished the practice of his profession and again took up his residence at his old home in Chelmsford. In 1813 Nathaniel Wright, A.M.. entered the law- office of Asahel Stearns, at Pawtucket Falls. When the latter withdrew to a wider field, Wright suc- ceeded him in business. He at once became identified with the rising fortunes of Lowell ; was the chairman of its first Board of Selectmen, and later its mayor. He died November 5, 1858, aged seventy-three years. Physicians. — Of the physicians who practiced in the town in the early days little is known. The list given by Allen begins with, — Dr. Anthony Emery, A.M., who graduated from Harvard in 1736, and commenced practice in 1740. In 1748 Samuel King, M.D., came from Littleton. He afterwards removed to Chesterfield, N. H. Dr. Jonas Marshall commenced practice in 1765. His residence was that now owned by Mr. C. W. Byam, on the south slope of Robins Hill. A magnificent elm, standing beside Mr. Byam's house, was brought by the doctor on horseback from his former home in Fitchburg. He was long remem- bered as an active man and successful practitioner. In 1776 his wife and two daughters died of small- pox, which was communicated by a soldier return- ing from the war, to Avhom they had afforded hos- pitality. Their bodies were the first interred in the South Chelmsford Cemetery. He removed to Fitch- burg in 1783. Dr. Nehemiah Abbott came from Andover in 1772. He built and occupied the house which has long been known as the "ark," at the corner of the South Chelmsford road. He died July 13, 1785. Dr. Walter Hastings graduated from Harvard, 1771 ; commenced practice in 1776 ; died December 2, 1782, aged thirty. Dr. Timothy Harrington, a graduate of Harvard, 1776 ; came here in 1782. His residence was what is now owned by Gilbert Wright. He died Febru- ary 28, 1802, aged forty-eight. Dr. John Betty was a native of the town. He was a toldier in the Revolution. He began prac- tice in 1792. His residence was that now owned and occupied by B. O. Robbins, near the South Chelmsford Cemetery. He is still remembered by the older citizens. Dr. Ichabod Gibson, from Lunenburg, commenced practice in 1792. He built and occupied what is now the residence of C. E. A. Bartlett. He died May 10, 1810. Dr. Matthias Spalding, a son of Colonel Simeon Spalding, commenced practice in 1802. He removed to Amherst, N. II., in 1805. Dr. Olicer Scripture, from New Ipswich, N. H., commenced practice in 1807. His residence was upon the site of the house now occupied by Mr. W. H. Hoyt, on South Street. He removed to Hollis, N. H., in 1818. Dr. Rufus Wyman was born in Woburn, Mass., July 16, 1778. He graduated from Harvard College in 1799. He studied medicine under the direction of Dr. John Jeffries. The following degrees were conferred upon him by Harvard : A.M. and M.D. in 1804, M.M.S. in 1811, and later A.A.S. He settled in Chelmsford in 1805. His residence was the house now occupied by Timothy Adams, upon the Billerica road. Dr. Wyman gained so high a reputation in the pro- fession that when the McLean Asylum for the Insane was started in Charlestown (now Somerville) he was chosen, March 28, 1818, as its first superintendent and physician. The appointment proved a fortunate one. Notwithstanding the popular prejudice then existing against hospitals of that kind, the number of patients presented for treatment constantly increased, as well as generous contributions for the support of the institution. He resigned his position in 1835. His death occurred in Roxbury June 22, 1842. When Dr. Wyman removed from Chelmsford, to accept the appointment of superintendent of the Mc- Lean Asylum at Charlestown, a public meeting of the citizens was called to expres-s their high esteem and respect for Dr. Wyman and to request him to appoint a successor. He complied with their wish and introduced Dr. John C. Dallon to the people of Chelmsford. In mak- ing this choice he displayed his characteristic saga- city, and laid the people under further obligations of gratitude to him. Dr. Dalton was born in Boston May 31, 1795. He entered Harvard College in 1810, where he acquired scholarly tastes which he retained through life. He received his degree of M.D. from Cambridge in 1818. Dr. Dalton lived while in Chelmsford at what is now called the " syndicate farm." He was a gentle- man of accomplished manners and an ardent lover of his profession. After thirteen years' practice he removed to Lowell, in 1831. During his residence of nearly thirty years in that city he occupied an honored position both as a physician and citizen. He died in Boston, Jan. 9, 1864. Dr. Faul Kittredge, one of t.hia famous family of doctors, succeeded to the practice of Dr. Dalton, coming to Chelmsford from Littleton in 1831. He was a son of Dr. Benj. Kittredge, of Tewksbury, where he was born Aug. 29, 1784. He studied with his uncle, Dr. Jesseniah Kittredge, of Walpole, N. H. He took his degree, was admitted to the Massachu- setts Medical Society, and then began the practice of his profe.«sion at Littleton, Mass., in 1810, where he remained until he came to Chelmsford in 1831. Dr. Kittredge built and occupied the residence of the late Adams Emerson, Esq., had an extensive practice, and was often called, especially in cases of surgery, far beyond the usual circle of his practice. He had a fam- ily of fourteen children, four of whom were physicians. . CHELMSFORD. 273 One of these, Francis M. Kittredge, familiarly known as Doctor Frank, was a graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege. He was associated with his father in business for several years, and upon the death of the latter, Aug. 10, 1845, succeeded to the practice. In 1848 he dispos>ed of his interests in Chelmsford to Levi How- ard, M.D., and removed to Lowell. He died in Cali- fornia Feb. 13, 1878. Dr. Nathan B. Edwards was born in Westford, Mass. He was educated at Groton Academy and Dartmouth College, studied medicine with Dr. Eli- sha Huntington, of Lowell, and received the degree of M.D. from the Berkshire Medical Institute in 1844. The year following he settled in practice at North Chelmsford. It is somewhat difficult to write unreservedly of persons now living, but after a residence of forty-five years among us a person's reputation may be supposed to rest upon a somewhat substantial foundation. It is not too much to say that no person in Chelms- ford was ever held in more universal respect than Dr. Edwards. Notwithstanding the somewhat exact- ing duties of his profession, movements for the edu- cational, moral, religious, political or material interests of the people have ever found in him an earnest supporter. He has filled, at one time or another almost, every position to which his townsmen could elect him. He has kindly furnished that portion of this art- icle which relates to the manufactures at North Chelms- ford. His appearance indicates a vigor which promises to continue his usefulness for many years to come. Dr. John C. Bartletiwas born in Charlestown, Mass., Oct. 5, 1808, and graduated from Bowdoin College, Maine, in 1828. Having decided upon the medical profession, he studied with Dr. Thompson, of Charles- town, and attended lectures at Harvard University, graduating in 1831. He soon after settled in Chelms- ford, where he continued in practice nearly forty-six years. Dr. Bartlett entered upon his work with the very best preparatory training. His standard of pro- fessional honor was high, and he never neglected a call of duty. Quackery or imposition of any kind gained his decided opposition. Although of a somewhat aristocratic bearing, he was one of the kindest of neighbors, and a man uni- versally respected for the uprightness of his life. He possessed fine musical tastes, and was for many years chorister of the Unitarian Society. He was active in the cause of temperance and in- terested in education. He held the position of president of the board of trustees of Westford Academy for many years. He died Jan. 13, 1877, aged seventy-two. The esteem in which he was held by his medical associates was ex- pressed in a series of resolutions adopted by the Med- ical Society. Dr. Levi Howard was born in Bolton, Massa- 18-ii chusetts. May 26, 1820 ; was educated at Worcester and Bridgeton Academy, Maine ; studied with Dr. Lewis W. Houghton, of AVaterford, Me., and was graduated from the Dartmouth Medical College in 1846. He began practice at Stillriver, Mass., where he remained two years before coming to Chelmsford. Dr. Howard proved to be a worthy successor to the long line of successful Chelmsford physicians. He was thoroughly devoted to his profession, and possess- ed of keen discernment and powers of observation which did not allow the slightest symptom to escape unnoticed ; these qualities, combined with sound judg- ment, self-reliance and devotion to his patients, gain- ed him the full confidence of the community, and he was rewarded by a wide and lucrative practice, which included not only Chelmsford, but all the adjacent towns. This he retained to the close of his life. In physique he was large and powerful, with that per- sonal magnetism born of robust health, quick sensi- bilities and ready tact. His mind was active and well developed in other fields beside the professional one, and he was a lover of literature and music ; in the latter he excelled, and his skill with the violin was of a high order. He practiced his profession to within a week of his death, which occurred January 23, 1885, and was suc- ceeded in practice by his son, Amasa Howard, M.D., who is improving his capacity to rank with his hon- ored predecessors. Church History. — For upwards of a century the history of the church is so interwoven with that ot the town that the history of one includes that of the other. The religious agitation which began with Whitefield finally led to the withdrawal of members from the oiginal church and the establishment of others hold- ing a different creed. A Baptist Church was formed at South Chelmsford in 1771. The following is the record of their first meeting: " On Tuesday y'^ 22°'' October 1771, a num- ber of men and women, baptised on profession of faith by immersion, assembled at the house of Daniel Lock, in Chelmsford, in y^ county of Middlesex, in y* prov- ince of y^ Massachusetts Bay, in New England, being assisted by Mr. Bartlett of New Town, who was chosen therefor by the church of Leicester, under the pastoral care of Elder Thomas Green." ^ A meeting-house was erected in 1772. It stood near the South Chelmsford Cemetery. (This burying- ground was established in 1774, upon land given by Dr. John Bettie.) Their first pastor was Rev. Elisha Rich. The present house of worship, which is about a quarter of a mile from the site of the original one, was built in 1836. The membership of the church when they celebrated their centennial in 1871 was 134. Rev. John Parkhurst, a native of the town, and a 1 Bev. Geo. U. Allen, Centennial Address. 274 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. graduate of Harvard University in 1811, was the pas- tor from November 13, 1822, to April, 1845. The Central Baptist Church, composed of a mem- bership largely drawn from the mother church, was organized February 14, 1847, with Rev. John Park- hurst as pastor. This society worshiped in the Acad- emy building until the erection of their present church edifice, in 1869, upon the historic site of Col. Samson Stoddard's house. The venerable Father Park hurst closed his labors with the church in 1868, after a service in the minis- try in this town of nearly half a century. As a result of the Unitarian movement, which be- gan in 1824, the old First Church adopted that faith ; they continued, however, under the name of the First Congregational Society. The same agitation caused a division in the church at Middlesex, just established in 1824. The Unitarian portion retained the meeting- house, and called to their service Eev. Hezekiah Packard, D.D., who was ordained in 1830. The Trinitarian members with their pastor, Rev, John A. Albro, worshiped for a time in a hall in the village. In 1836 they removed to North Chelmsford, and a meeting-house was erected. Rev. Benjamin F. Clark, was called to this church August 1, 1839, and continued to January 31, 1869, a period of nearly thirty years. Mr. Clark's influence was not confined to his immediate charge. He was an active citizen of the town, the author of several literary works, and at one time represented the district in the Massachusetts Senate. The rapidly-growing city of Lowell drew so largely from the Middlesex Society to its various churches, that services there were discontinued. The meeting- house, after remaining unoccupied for a number of years, was purchased by .the Roman Catholics and re- moved to North Chelmsford. Under the name of St. John's Church, that form of worship has continued there to the present time. The church was dedicated in July, 1860. The St. Anne's Episcopal Society, over which the esteemed Rev. Theodore Edson presided for upwards of half of a century, was first organized in March, 1824, while the territory still formed a part of Chelmsford. An Episcopal Soc'ety, at the centre of the town, by the name of the "Parish of St. Anne's, Chelmsford,'' was formed May 26, 1867. The name was changed by an act of the General Court February 27,, 1888, to "Parish of All Saints." Their Gothic stone edifice was consecrated December 20, 1882. An Orthodox Congregational Society was formed at the Centre Village in 1876. They have since erected a very neat and attractive church building. No New England village is completed without its church and school-house. As soon as a sufficient number of families had clustered about the manufac- turing enterprises at West Chelmsford a religious so- ciety was formed by the name of the West Chelms- ford Union Church, and a house of worship erected in 1848. As the name implies, it was undenomina- tional in character. But in 1871, those of the Method- ist persuasion predominating, the name was changed to the West Chelmsford Methodist Episcopal Church. The present neat and attractive church was dedicated January 10, 1888. The resignation of Rev. Wilkes Allen, October 21, 1832, closed the last of the long pastorates over the First Congregational Society. The present pastor, Rev. Joseph H. Chase, began his labors with this church in 1883. The meeting-house now used by this historic society is the fourth which has stood upon or very near the site of the original one. The third one was destroyed by fire in 1842. Statistical. — The following statistics in regard to the present condition of the town are taken from the Massachusetts census of 1885: Population, 2304; agricultural products, $160,009; agricultural property, $944,116; number of manufac- turing establishments, 22; capital invested, $73,368; total value of goods made and work done, $517,868 ; number of persons employed, 421; total wages paid, $139,717. Census of 1890, population 2693. In the report of the assessors submitted February 28, 1890, the value of real estate assessed is given as $1,336,390; personal estate, $256,769; total valuation, $1,593,159; number of horses assessed, 480; cows, 985; swine, 186; dwellings, 593; acres of land, 14,132; the appropriation voted by the town for the support of schools, including text-books and school inciden- tals, $6700; for the support of the poor, $2300; for highways, $4000. The report of the School Committee gives the total number of school children 463 ; average number at- tending school, 340.8 ; amount paid teachers, $5505 ; the number of schools, 15, four of which are at the centre of the town, four at North Chelmsford, one at West Chelmsford, and one each at Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. BIOGRAPHICAL. GEORGE T. SHELDON.^ George T. Sheldon was born in Easton, Mass., February 6, 1829. His father, Rev. Luther Sheldon, was for more than fifty years the pastor of the Con- gregational Church in Easton. His only brother, Rev. Luther H. Sheldon, a graduate of Middleborough College, after a service of many years as a Congrega- tional clergyman, is now a resident of Andover, Mass. Mr. Sheldon received his education in the common schools, in the academy at Rehoboth, Mass., and at a private school in New Jersey. After a short service as clerk in Easton, he came to North Chelmsford, in >By Charles C. Chase. ^-^is