Worcester County, Massachusetts - Chapter 63, 1889

The New Town

The territory thus set off from Uxbridge, with the few additions afterwards received from Sutton and Uxbridge, is an irregular quadrangle. Its extreme length north and south is about five miles. Its extreme breadth, at the southern end, is absut five miles. At the northern end it is less than three miles, the eastern line running northeast and southwest. It contains 10,551 acres, a little more than sixteen square miles. The Blackstone River runs through it about one mile from its eastern border. The Mumford runs through the southwestern corner. The valley of the Blackstone is from one-half to a mile in width, of desirable intervale land, easy of cultivation and having those natural meadows so much coveted by the early settlers. The land gives quick response to cultivation, but is not strong. The valley of the Mumford is of a similar character, but has le-s intervale for cultivation. A branch of the Mumford runs about one-half mile from the western border of the town, with its deep, narrow valley.

Between these two rivers rises Northbridge Hill, really a broad ridge, with its highest point at the centre, falling oft' Sdraewhat at the north, but s'ill quite high land. The northern portion of this ridge is good, strong farming land, and has been well used for agriculture from the early days of the settlement. These two rivers give several natural water privileges, which have been used from an early day, and have been much improved by tlie building of reservoirs.

The granite which so abounds, often appearing on the surface as boulders and ledges, has furnished abundant materials for building purposes. The town had a dense growth of wood, and the parts unfavorable for tillage are still thickly wooded.

Now legally independent, the people began to care for their own affairs. Their first fourteen townmeetings were at private houses. At the first, at the house of Joseph White, about one mile southeast of the present Northbridge meeting-house, Jonathan Bacon (2d) was moderator, and all the usual town officers were chosen. They early provided themselves with the ordinances of the gospel, voting, in April, 1773, £20 to hire preaching, to be one-half the time at David Batcheller's, one-hi^f at Amos White's. Soon they plan for a suitable place for public worship, and for the transaction of town business. " At a meeting of the town, held on the 1st of February, 1773, it was voted to build a meeting-hou>e on the height of the hill." In regard to the location of the meeting-house there was much feeling ; some wished to have it on the plain, near the local centre of the town, others wished to have it located near the crossing of the roads, northwest of the residence of Joseph White. Another party maintained that it ought to be " on the height of the Hill." They claimed there was a probability that " a mile and a half of Sutton would come off to Northbridge, and then the Hill would be near the local centre of the town." The hill party carried their point, but at the cost of losing some of the other party in all participation in church life, as they always continued to worship in Uxbridge.

"At a meeting held on the 22d of Nov., 1773, it was voted to receive the proposition of John Adams and others, relative to the building and finishing a meeting-house," and it was " voted that it should be 45 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 22 feet posts, and that it be builded as soon as convenient." One hundred and fifty pounds were appropriated to building.

A committee was appointed to carry on the work. The labor and the timber were to a considerable extent furnished by the people of the town. A price was fixed by vote for the various pieces of timber. The house was so far finished by Feb., 1775, that the " pew-spots " (in which the purchasers were permitted to build their own pews) were then sold, and probably meetings were held in it from that time. The following are the names of the purchasers : James Fletcher. Micah Thayer, David Batcheller, William Dalrymple, Stephen Goldthwait, Ezekiel Goldthwait, John Adams, John Adams, Jr., Samuel Baldwin, Dependence Haywood, Joseph White, Henry Chase, Levi Walker, William Davenport, William Bacon and

But very soon the increasing oppression of England called them to consider matters of more than local interest. They were not slow to do their part. They were imbued with the same spirit, grounded in the same principles, and trained in the same habits of self government as were the men of all our Massachusetts towns, who, with a wonderful unanimity, answered to the call to maintain the liberty of the people.

"The first votes of the town as to Revolutionary affairs were passed at a meeting held on the 25th of August, 1774. At this meeting Josiah Wood, Lemuel Powers and Samuel Baldwin were appointed a committee "to correspond with other committees concerning public affairs as occasion shall call for." These committees were suggested by Samuel Adams in 1772, and were soon appointed all over the State and in other States. At this meeting it was also voted that " David Batcheller be chose to provide for a town stock of ammunition, viz., one Barrel of Powder, and lead and flints answerable to it." At the same time it was voted not to import or consume any English goods. The last town-meeting that was warned in the name of "His Majesty" was on the 10th of January, 1775. From this time till 1781 most of the business transacted at the meetings had reference to the struggles in which the Colonies were engaged : as, June 25, 1776, it was voted "to support the Continental Congress with their Lives and fortunes if they should Declare the United American Colonies Independent of Great Britain," and well they kept their vow. We find records of votes for paying the men who had enlisted in the service, for aiding those who had hired men to take their place in the army, and for furnishing provisions and clothing for the soldiers from this town. It is evident there was a disposition to equalize, as far as possible, the burdens that were to be borne. Those who remained at home performed labor on the farms, and in other ways assisted the families of those who were absent. At one meeting it was voted "to allow Joseph White eleven shillings for laboring for Samuel Clemens when he was in the six months' service;" at another it was voted "to raise 40 pounds to pay for shirts, shoes and stockings furnished by the selectmen for soldiers in the Continental Service." At a meeting in May, 1777, it was voted "to allow Stephen Rice 1 pound, 15 shillings, 4 pence, Nathan Park 15 shillings, Jonathan Bacon 9 shillings, and William Park 12 shillings, for carrying provisions to Roxbury in the time of the Lexington Alarm." These provisions were for the men from Northbridge, who were in the service in the vicinity of Boston in 1775.

1. The Ililitia. - Tliese were the men who had been enlisted in the service of the Province, and trained in the towns from the beginning. They were liable to the call of the General Court, through their officers. They were already organized into regiments, the company of Northbridge being in the Eight Worcester County Regiment, with those from Mendon, Upton, Uxbridge and Douglas. These doubtless had long felt they were liable to be called upon for serious work, and they wore prepared for it. It was the militia who sprang, as it were, from the ground, without any summons, save from their company officers, and their own loyal hearts, at Concord and Lexington, and dogged the steps of the British troops in their retreat to Boston, inflicting upon them a much greater loss than they themselves sustained. They soon, at the call of the General Court, girdled Boston, and held General Gage, and his thousands of regular troops, as in a vise. It was they who fought the battle of Bunker Hill, and did all the work of the first year. They were liable to be called out of the State, after the Union of the Colonies was formed, for United States' service, as was the company from Northbridge for eight months at Peekskill in 1778-79, and often in Rhode Island.

2. Besides these were the " Minute-men" volunteers, men not enlisted, but who organized themselves, and stood ready to go at a " Minute's" notice to do brief service in an emergency. They were called out at the alarm that arose from the Lexington fight, and frequently afterwards. On May 9th, fearing a sally of the British from Boston, one-half of the militia and minute-men of the ten towns nearest Roxbury were called there to strengthen the army.

3. But it soon became manifest that an army mbre permanent than either of these could make must be obtained. And the Continental Army, under the command of the Continental Congress, through their officers, with General Washington at their head, was organized. Here were a third class of soldiers whose term of service was from three months to three years, or the war. A quota was assigned to each town, oneseventh of all the males above sixteen, and this quota must be kept full. The quota of Northbridge was eleven. This is in addition to the keeping up the militia, which was often called into service for terms of a few days to eight months.

When the war began there was an organized militia company, under the command of Capt. Josiah Wood, of Northbridge. It belonged to Colonel Joseph Read's regiment, the Twentieth. It was composed of men from Northbridge and Upton.

This company was often called into service. It marched April 19, 1775, at the " Lexington Alarm " to Roxbury with thirty -one men from Northbridge. After a few days fifteen of these men, with seven more from the town, enlisted for eight months' service, under Captain David Batcheller, who went out as lieutenant. Thirty-four men from Upton enlisted in the same company for the same service. This was known as "Captain Batcheller's Company" for several years. It served one and one-half months at Providence as part of the "Third Regiment of the Militia, which marched to this place on the alarm of the 8th day of December, 1776 ;" then for nine, though called out only for eight months, on the North River, at Peekskill, in 1778 and '79; then for sixteen days in Rhode Island in 1780.

In the State archives are found the terms of service of the men in the militia, and also those who were in the Continental service, with many of the pay-rolls. There is evidence that men from the town served in other companies beside that of Captain Batcheller, in the various calls made upon them. These calls were very many. We are told " there was scarcely a week in the fall of 1776 when the militia were not called to march to headquarters now removed to New York, or to Lake Champlain, or to Rhode Island." A large British force also remained in Newport through the spring and summer of 1778, and their fleet commanded the waters in the neighborhood. As a consequence, " the people of Massachusetts, especially near to Rhode Island, were kept in a state of continual alarm. There were but levv Continental troops on the station, and the General Court were obliged to keep the militia in service in great numbers, the whole of this as the preceding year." There were many alarms of raids by the British, as at Tiverton, in May, 1779, when the men of Northbridge were called out and helped drive thtm back. And there is evidence in the town records of many more calls of the militia. There was a difficulty in adjusting the l^ay for the different "turns'' of service, and September 6, 1777, William Park, Captain Josiah Wood and Thomas Read were chosen a committee " to say what past turns in the army shall be put att, according to the year and time of the year, and length of time, and the place where service was done, and the committee make report to the town for their acceptance, and for the town to act thereon as they think proper." The committee reported in October of the next year, 1778. In this report twenty-one " turns '' of service are specified and the pay fixed for each of them, one at Dorchester, varying from two months to one year; five in New York, from three to eight months ; seven at Providence, from fifteen days to two months, and eight others not specified. These, of course, were not all consecutive terms of service, nor by the same bodies of men, for there was not time for so many difl'erent consecutive terms before this report was made. We must suppose the militiamen were called out after this, though not so frequently as before, as the theatre of the war was transferred in such a measure to the South.

of Continentals belonging here. The men from Norlhbridge were absorbed in the various regiments from the Colony. Of the one hundred and eighteen men credited to the town in the State archives, eleven are recorded as having enlisted in the Continental Army, and the town was expected to keep this number good as its quota, so that we must believe there were many more. During the latter years of the war committees were appointed each year to procure men for the Continental Army. And men were hired by individuals for the army. Bounties were paid to some. Some were drafted. Doubtless some of those hired and credited to the town were not citizens here, as is manifest from the warrant for the town-meeting for April 1, 1782, which speaks of men in Norlhbridge and hired men going into the army."

But with all they did, they did not always meet the full demand of the General CoUrt for men. They were taxed for a deficiency of two men in the Continental Army in 1781, and they voted July 28, 1783, that Jonathan Adams carry a petition to have the tax " taken off." At the same meeting they were called upon to act on " one deficiency in the three months' service in 1781, a Quaker man." At the same meeting it was voted to collect a Quaker's tax of about fifteen pounds and pay it to the treasurer. Thus would they have the Quakers pay for the deficiency which came from their not serving personally. It is claimed by the Quakers that this tax was never paid by them, and there is nothing in the town records to show that the town succeeded in carrying its vote into effect. We can hardly understand, even with our recent experience of war, how great the strain was upon our fathers towards the last of the war, with all the loss of life in the service, and the derangements of business so long continued. And no colony bore more than Massachusetts. With less than one-eighth of the population, she furnished more than one-fourth of the years of service in the Continental Army, besides what she did by her militia and minute-men, and of the pecuniary burden she bore about the same proportion. What wonder then that Northbridge, the lowest on the list of towns in valuation, and almost, if not quite, the lowest in population, having but four hundred and eighty in 1776, had difficulty in coming up to the full quota demanded of her, especially as part of her population, the Quakers, contributed no men for the service; she did nobly, and of her record may every citizen feel proud, especially those who trace their families back to those times.

Of course, with these many calls for service, we should expect to find the same man many times in the field. James Sturdevant is found nine times; William Foster, eight times. Nor was the service confined to any one class of the citizens. Of those chosen for the first town officers, we find many in active service. Samuel Baldwin, the town clerk, served four times; Jonathan Bacon, the moderator of the first eleven town-meetings, the first Representative to the General Court, and after chosen to that office, served six times, beginning as private; David Batcheller, one of the first selectmen, saw five terms of service, beginning as lieutenant, and soon made captain and remaining such during the war; Josiah Wood, the treasurer, served three times, as private or captain ; James Fletcher served six times, beginning as a private. Indeed, there could not have been many men in the town, save the Quakers, who did not see some active service.

But personal service in the army was not all that was laid upon them. They, in common with other parts of the country, suffered from a depreciated currency. In 1780 the town voted to raise eighteen thousand pounds to defray town charges, twenty-two hundred pounds for the support of the Gospel, two thousand pounds for the schools and to " allow 100 dollars a day to each man that went to the late alarm at Tiverton." The town afterwards voted not to assess the tax of twenty-two hundred pounds to pay the minister, and that he be paid forty-five pounds silver money, which was probably a full equivalent for the twenty-two hundred pounds Continental money. The same year a vote was passed on account of the scarcity of money, to allow the people to pay their taxes '" in good merchantable grain, to be delivered to the Treasurer." This very difficulty from a depreciated currency, which went down to one-fortieth of its nominal value, made their honor more manifest; for having promised their soldiers a real compensation, their families were provided with food, clothing and fuel by the selectmen of the towns and clothing was furnished to the soldiers. There is ample evidence of this in our town. Being driven to reckoning in silver money as the only possible fixed standard, in 1780 they vote one hundred and sixty-four pounds silver money to purchase beef for the army. They make allowance for the depreciation in settling with Thomas Straight for what he had done in the war. They voted seventy-five pounds silver money to pay men who went to serve in Rhode Island for five months and in New York for three months. They make their contributions to the colony in articles to be used, as beef at a price fixed in silver. There is a sturdy honesty in this, which is very good. They did live in rude houses and worshijj God in unfinished meeting-houses, but they paid their honest dues.

During all this cost and suflTering of the war they did not forget to maintain religious ordinances. The church was organized in 1782, June 6th, with eight members. June 17th they called Mr. John Crane to be their pastor. The town, July 2d, voted to concur with the church in the call. " It was voted," for encouragement, " to give him 200 pounds personage, by giving him the improvement of a farm to that value, or the interest of the same in money, giving him his clioice." " It was also voted to give him 45 pounds annually." In his reply he says, " I accept your proposals, though some things respecting some part of the encouragement have labored in my mind, and the difficulties are not yet removed," Previous to his ordination a vote was passed " to give him 75 pounds as a settlement and the use of 125 pounds as a Personage, instead of the 200 pounds offered by the previous vote." He was ordained June 25, 1783, and ministered to this people for nearly fifty years, quite within the memory of some now living. He resigned his past<jrate January 6, 1832. He preached his last sermon the first Sabbath in May, 1835. He died August 31, 1836. He was a man of great influence, not only in the town, but in all the region. For thirty years he instructed young men in preparation for college or teaching, more than one hundred in all ; among them Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York ; Dr. Calvin Park, Professor in Brown University ; Rev. Cvrus Kingsbury, of the Choctaw Mission ; Rev. Dr. Joel Hawes, of Hartford, and Prof. Alexander M. Fisher, of Yale College.

The people of Northbridge were called upon to act on another important matter during the war - the formation of the State Constitution. They rejected at once the Constitution prepared by the committee appointed by the General Court in 1778. To the convention of delegates from the towns, called at Cambridge, September 1, 1779, they sent Jonathan Bacon as their representative. When the work of the convention was presented in 1780, they did not mean to act hastily in its adoption. At the first meeting, when this was brought before them for action, they adjourned the matter, appointing a committee, consisting of William Park, Samuel Aldrich, Benjamin Benson, Ezekiel Goldthwait and Lieutenant James Fletcher, "to assist the town in examingthe proposed constitution, and in making remarks thereon." At the adjourned meeting they listened to the remarks of these gentlemen, and then they voted on it part by part, amending it where they felt it needed to be amended. The third article of the Bill of Rights they changed to read, " so that those of one religious persuasion shall not impose any tax on those of another." They had Quakers, Baptists and Universalists among them, and they would deal fairly with them, so well had they learned the lesson of religious liberty. And yet not quite to the standard of our day, for they amended the thirteenth article, "so that no one should be eligible to be an officer in either of the foregoing departments unless he shall be of the Christian Protestant religion."