Old Town Hall

So far as known, the first white settler in what ! is now the town of Tyngsborough was John Crom- 1 well, a fur-trader, who, some time prior to 1661, I purchased of Captain Edward Johnson of Woburn j three hundred acres of land on the right bank of I the Merrimack River, built a house, and miide I some iuiprovements on his farm. He died in 1601, leaving a widow. Seaborne Cromwell, and I an estate valued at £608 2*. %d. His servants ' were Thomas Williams and Walter Shepherd, who ] in 1702 testified in respect to the estate. The land subsequently came into the possession of Henry Farwell, and then into that of the Bancroft fauiily. I It is said, though with but little appearance of I truth, that Cromwell was accustomed to use his foot in weighing the peltries which he bought of the Jndians, and that they at length became so \ much incensed at him for unfair dealing with ! them, that they made an assault upon his house, - he and his family having only time to escape into the wilderness," - and then reduced it to ashes. The cellar of the house is still visible, and a sum of money was found buried in an iron pot near by it. In his account of Tyngsborough (October, 1815) the Rev. Mr. Prentice says: "Some time after, pewter was found in the well, and an iron pot and trammel in the sand ; the latter are preserved. The present owner of the place was ploughing near the spot, and found his plough moving over a flat stone which gave a hollow sound. On removhig the earth and stone, he discovered a hole stoned, about six inches in diameter, from which he took a sum of money." Such discoveries were no doubt made, but there is no evidence, except tradition, that Cromwell buried the money, or that his house was destroyed by the savages. The inventory of his estate, as given by his widow, seems to disprove the whole story.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

The celebrated Joe English, grandson of Masconomo, sagamore of Ipswich, was shot by the Indians, near Holden's Brook, in what is now Tyngsborough, on the 27th of July, 1706. He was acting as a guard to Captain Butterfield and wife, who were travelling on horseback. Killing the liorse and taking Mrs. Butterfield captive, the Indians then pursued Joe English, firing at him and wounding him while attempting to shelter himself behind a clump of trees. To escape the torture of the savages, he insulted them with taunting words, when they at once despatched him with their tomahawks! His widow and his two children received a grant of money from the government, because " he died in the service of his country."

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Tyngsborough Town - 13,007 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.