Acton Town (part 1 of 3)

Acton Town

" Retained, that the Convention publish their proposed constitution liefore they establish it for tlio Inspection and remarks of the Inhabitants of this State."

At a meeting in February, 1778, " the United States Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," after being twice read, were accepted by the town.

In May, 1778, a Constitution and frame of government for the State, which had been formed by the General Court, was laid before the town for consideration, and was rejected by a vote of fifty-one to e ghteen.

The instrument was so offensive to the inhabitants that in May, 1779, an article being inserted in the warrant, " to see if the town will choose at this time to have a new Constitution or frame of government," the constitution was rejected.

The proposition, however, though rejected by this town, was accepted by a majority of the people, and in July, 1779. Francis Faulkner was chosen a delegate to sit in a convention in Cambridge to form a Constitution, and the result was that the present Constitution of this Commonwealth was laid before the town for consideration on the 28th day of April, 1780,, and it being read, the meeting was adjourned for consideration till the 15th of May.

On that the articles were debated, and at a further adjournment on the 29th of the same month every article was approved by a majority of more than twothirds of the voters. These simple records show heroic grit, combined statesmanship and patriotism worthy of those olden dates and worthy of any dates since or of any that are to follow.

The Faulkner House (South Acton). - This is the oldest house now standing in Acton. You go from the railroad station south across the bridge and ascend the steep hill, and you at once approach the ancient structure. It has on its face and surroundings an impress of age, which strikes the eye at first glance, and the impress deepens as the eye tarries for a second look.

Colonel Winthrop E. Faulkner, who died March 25, 1880, aged seventy-five years, used to say that they told him when a child it must have been 150 years old then. No tongue and no records fix the original date of this ancient landmark. It is safe to call it 200 years old, some parts of it at least.

It was a block-house, and in the early Colonial times it was a garrison-house where the settlers in the neighborhood would gather in the night for protection against the assaults of the Indians.

Enter the southwest room. It will easily accommodate 100 persons. It is a square room neatly kept and furnished with antique mementos. Raise your hand and you easily touch the projecting beams of dry hard oak, which the sharpest steel cannot cleave, eighteen inches solid. The space between the beams of the sides of the room are filled with brick, which make it fire-proof against the shot of the enemy.

an orange in the entering door of this room. They were for use in watching the proceeding of the courts which once were held here by Francis Faulkner, the justice.

Measure the old chimney, nine feet by seven, solid brick furnished with three large fire-places and an oven below and an oven above in the attic for smoking hams, large enough to accommodate all the neighbors and hooks attached in the arch where the hams could remain suspended till called for.

Mark that fine photograph on the wall. It is the life-like face of Colonel Winthrop E. Faulkner. Give him a royal greeting, for he was the life of the village and town in childhood's days and in later years, and there comes his aged widow, still living and gracing the old homestead and guarding the precious relics, now in her eigh:y-third year.

Mrs. Lottie Flagg, her daughter, the veteran and successful school-teachf r, who does a noble work in helping the outfit and hospitality of this historic site. -Note her words as she repeats the tale of this rallying centre on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775.

Francis Faulkner, Jr., a boy of fifteen years, was lying awake early in the morning, no one yet moving and listening to the clatter of a horse's feet drawing nearer and nearer. Suddenly he leaped from his bed, ran into his father's room and cried out, " Father, there's a horse coming on the full run and he's bringing news." His father, Colonel Francis, already had on his pantaloons and his gun in his hand. The fleet horseman wheeled across the bridge and up to the house, and shouted, " Rouse your minute-men, Mr. Faulkner! The British are marching on Lexington and Concord," and away he went to spread the news.

Mr. Faulkner, without stopping to dress, fired three times as fast as he could load and fire - that being the preconcerted signal to call out the minute men.

"And so, through the night, went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm ; A cry of defiance, and not of fear ; A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo forever more."

Being the chairman of safety and colonel of the Middlesex Regiment of Militia - the men were to assemble at his house. Almost immediately a neighbor repeated the signal and the boy Francis listened with breathless interest to hear the signal guns grow fainter and fainter off in the distant farm-houses. Signalfires were also lighted, and every house awoke from its slumbers to the new era. By this time the family were all up in the greatest commotion - the younger children crying because the British would come and -kill them. Very soon the minute-men began to come in, every one with his guD, powder-horn, pouch of bullets and a piece of bread and cheese, the only breakfast he proposed to make before meeting the enemy of his country. Some came hurrying in with their wives and children in the greatest excitement, to get more certain news and to know what was to be done. Word came from Captain Davis that he would march as soon as thirty should come in. In the mean time they were busy in driving down stakes on the lawn and hanging kettles for cooking the soldiers' dinners. They brought from the houses beef and pork, patatoesand cabbages. The women would cook the dinner, and some of the elder boys, of whom Francis, Jr., was one, weredesiguatedtobringitalong packed in saddle-bags. By the time these preliminaries for dinner were made Lieutenant 'Hunt took command of the West Militia Company, Capt. Faulkner having a few days before been promoted to the position of colonel of the Middlesex Regiment.

The line was formed on the lawn south of the house, and they marched amid the tears of their families. Colonel Faulkner accompanied them to take command of the Middlesex Regiment, as the other companies would come in at Concord. Uncle Francis, the boy, waited with great impatience for the dinner to be cooked and packed. Every woman wanted to prepare the dinner complete and separate for her husband or sons. But after much discussion it was agreed to pack all the beef and pork, bread and vegetables, each kind by itself, and let the men themselves divide it. At length, after some hours of talking and boiling and packing, the horses were loaded, and the boys started off.

I asked Uncle Francis why in the world they did not take a wagon, and one horse wonld be enough for the whole. Didn't they know enough to do that? "Oh, yes - they knew too much to do that," he said. The British soldiers might have the road. If we saw a red-coat we were told to give him a wide birth, or he might get us and our dinner. We could quietly topple over a stone wall or take out a few rails and escape through the fields and find our men wherever they might be. To the great surprise of the boy he found the Acton men iu the highest spirits. They had made the re<l-coats run for their lives.

This house is so associated with the history of the Faulkner family, and this family is so blended with the history of the town, that a brief family record is here appended.

Francis Faulkner, the father of Ammiruhammah, and the grandfather of Col. Francis Faulkner, was a rtsident of Andover, Mass., and married Abigail Dane, daughter of Rev. Francis Dane, the second minister of Andover, a woman of noble character and exemplary piety. She was accused of witchcraft, tried and condemned to death. She passed through the terrible ordeal with unshaken firmness, and the sentence was revoked.

Ammiruhammah Faulkner, son of Francis, came ' from Andover and settled in " Concord Village," in 1735, at the "great falls." of the "Great Brook," where he erected the mills which have since been owned and occupied by his descendants, where he died Aug. 4. 1756, aged sixty-four.

was born in Andover, Mass., Sept. 29, 1728, and died in Acton Aug. 5, 1805, aged seventy seven. He married Lizzie Mussey April 29, 1756. He was a member of the Provincial Congress held in Concord, 1774, and represented the town of Acton in the Legislature of 1783-4-5. He had a military commission under George IN., but the oppressive and arbitrary acts of Great Britain induced him to renounce his allegiance to the crown. In 1775 he was elected major of a regiment organized to "oppose invasion."

On the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, he marched with the Acton patriots to the Concord North Bridge, where he engaged the British, and with his men pursued them to Charlestown. He was several times engaged in actual service during the war, being lieutenant-colonel in the Regiment Middlesex Militia called to reinforce the Continental Army at ;he occupation of Dorchester Heights, in March, 1776. He was in service when Burgoyne was taken, and commanded the regiment which guarded the prisoners on that occasion. He was a courageous officer, an able legislator and an exemplary Christian. He built the mills which for a century and a half have been k nown as the Faulkner Mills, now of South Acton. They were first only a saw and a grist-mill, the two most indispensable agents of civilization and comfort in a new country. To these was added in due time a fulling-mill, which was among the very earliest efforts at the manufacture of woolen cloth in this country.

There was first a carding-machine, which changed as by magic the wool into beautiful rolls. They were distributed to many houses to be spun and woven icto rough woolen cloth and returned to the mill. Here the cloth was fulled under stampers with soap, which made it foam and helped cleanse and thicken it up. The process of f aising nap with teazles was exceedingly interesting. The teazle w«s a product of nature and seemed expressly and wonderfully created for that very purpose. Then came the shearing off inequalities by the swift revolving shears and the final finishing up into cloth. When the wool was of fine quality and evenly spun the result was a passable broadcloth of great durability.

In order to encourage wool production and skill in using it, prizes were offered for the finest specimen of home-made broadcloth - that is, the wool, the spinning and weaving were of home ; the rest was of the fulling-mill. This spinning and weaving were the fine arts of our grandmothers and greaf-grandmothers, and noble women were proud of the prizes they won. A prize to a spinster was sure to attract the most flattering attention and take her speedily out of spinsterhood.

Colonel Faulkner was not only an active, energetic "clothier," but also a leading citizen in all public interests. For thirty-five successive years he was chosen town clerk, and the records are kept with neatness, clearness and order. (See Cyrus Hamlin's

Winthrop E. Faulkner Acton

Winthrop Faulkner, the son of Francis, was born in Acton March 21, 1774. and died in Acton March 17, 1813. He received a justice's commission at the age of twenty-three. He was a man of cultivated mind and sound judgment, and his advice was generally sought for all important town matters. He was one of the original members of the Corinthian Lodge of Masons in Concord.

Colonel Winthop E. Faulkner. - He was the son of Winthrop Faulkner, born April 16, 1805, and died March 25, 1880. He was initiated into the Corinthian Lodge of Masons in 1854. He married Martha Adams Bixby, of Framingham. He was noted in all the relations of life. He was an enterprising miller, an enthusiast in music, dancing, military, civil, social and parish activities. He was a pushing man, forward in all enterprises for the public improvement. He was one of the prime movers in projecting the Fitchburg Railroad, and but for his enterprise in controlling the first plans, the road would have gone in another direction. He was for a long run of years one of the most active directors.

The Bobbins House. - Returning from the Fletcher homestead to the main road, and proceeding direct by the cemetery and beyond till we reach nearly the brow of the hill on the left, we come to the site of what was for to many years called the Robbins House. The land on which it was located was purchased of Captain Thomas Wheeler, whose house (the first in Acton) was located a few rods to the south, near the little brook before described in this narrative. When the latter house was taken down the timbers were found to be in good condition, and were used in the construction of the L part of Nathan Robbins' house.

It was an historic structure from the start, and was emphatically so after the 19th of April, 1775. "Before light on that eventful morning, hours before the British entered Concord, a horseman, whose name was never known, going at full spe.ed (they spared neither horseflesh nor manflesh in those days), rode up to this house, then occupied by Captain Joseph Robbins, the commissioned officer in the town of Acton, who lived nearest North Bridge, and struck with a large, heavy club, as they thought, the corner of the house, never dismounting, but crying out at the top of his voice, ' Capt. Robbins! Capt. Robbins! up, up ! The Regulars have come to Concord. Rendezvous at old North Bridge! quick as possible alarm Acton.' "

But "those rappings" - and there was no sham about them - and that cry brought him to his feet inslanter and every other living man in that house. It waked the babe in the cradle. In a few minutes he was on "father's old mare," bound for Captain Davis's, not a mile off, who commanded the minutemen, and then to Deacon Simon Hunt's, in the west part of the town, who commanded the West Company as first lieutenant, Captain Francis Faulkner having, a lew days before, been promoted to be major, and the vacancy not having been filled.

The locality where this house stood is easily recognized from the indications on the ground. It was a two-story building. The barn was struck by lightning in the year 1830, and was rapidly consumed. The citizens rallied to save the building, or at least part of it, but Esq. Robbins shouted out with his stentorian voice : "Boys, save your fingers. There is plenty of timber in the woods where this came from ! '* He knew how to shout, for he was often moderator of the Acton town-meetings, which gave him a good chance to drill in that liue of practice. The house stood afterwards for years unoccupied, but at last it yielded to the destiny of flames, supposed to have been an accide'&tal fire, from the carelessness of transient occupants. The old door-stone still remains in position, battered somewhat by relic-hunters, who have chipped from it for the sake of a memento. A tablet memorial will some day be erected on this ground befitting its historic interest.

The report of this house having been haunted in former years is easily credited by the superstitious, but denied by Lhe more phlegmatic crowd. That those April rappings should have reverberations long continued is credible, and any one going by of an imaginative and appreciative turn of mind can hear them still ringing iu his ears.

Captain Davis' Route to the North Bridge. - The 19th of April, 1775. It was a bright, genial morning. The sun was up at a good, cheery height of an hour and a half. The birds were chanting the very best songs of the opening spring. The men were drawn up in line. The captain at last gave the word "march." Luther Blanchard, the fifer, and Francis Barker, the drummer, struck at once the stirring notes of the " White Cockade," and forward they moved with a quick, brave step. They soon reached the homestead of Parson Swift. -They could not stop for the greetings or the partings of the good man, but ou they pressed, with their faces set for Mother Concord. They moved along over the old and only road leading from the present site of Deacon W. W. Davis' crossing in a straight line through to the meeting-house on the " knowll."

The road struck the other road just below Dr. Cowdry's barn, where now stands Deacon John Fletcher's barn, just relocated by Moses Taylor, Esq. The old road-bed was found when recently digging the cellar for the barn.

p;istor they could hear, and march all the. faster for the memory. The handkerchiefs waving from the Brooks Tavern doors and windows helped the thrill of the hour. Down the hills they moved by the present site of Mr. McCarthy, up the ascent 10 the right, over the heights on the road path, now closed, but still a favorite walk down the hill, across the Revolutionary Bridge, west of Horace Hosmer's present site, the road leading by the spot where the elms south of his house now stand.

This bridge stood very near the spot where the railroad bridge now stands. Some of the stone which formed the abutments of the old bridge were used in the construction of the railroad bridge. The bridge, a few rods to the south of the original, has been sketched by Arthur F. Davis, Acton's young artist, and it is a favorite landscape etching on sale in the cities.

Up the hill they hasten and turn to the right, going by Mr. Hammond Taylor's present residence, the old Brabrook homestead, on the south side, which was then the front side, the road on the north being a comparatively new opening; there thlry left the main road, struck through the woods, taking a bee-line to their deslined point. After passing the woods, the march is by the Nathan Brooks place, now owned and occupied by Mr. H. F. Davis. The passage then was by the nearest way to Barrett's Mills, as then called, not far from the North Bridge.

Luther Blanchard. - He was born within the limits of what is now Boxboro', a part of Littleton at the time of the Concord Fight. He was a favorite young man, tall, straight, handsome and athletic. He was living at the time with Abner Hosmer, a mason, whose residence was the site of Mr. Herman A. Gould, on the South Acton road, from the West, making him a near neighbor to Captain Davis. He was learning the mason's trade. He was a notable fifer, and his skill and zeal on the morning of the 19th had much to do wiih the spirit of the whole occasion. The scene was just adapted to wake the musical genius to its highest pitch, and if there were any white feathers around they soon changed to fiery red at the signal from Luther's fife. When they began firing at the bridge, the British at first used blank cartridges. Captain Davis inquired if they were firing: bullets. Luther said " Yes," for one had hit him and he was wounded. "If it had gone an inch further one way it would have killed me, and if an inch in the opposite direction it would have not have hit me at all." He followed on in the pursuit of the British on their retreat to Boston, fifing with all the vigor of his manly strength, which grew less as the excitement of the day bfgan to tell upon his wasted forces. The wound, which he did not think serious at firs', grew worse as he proceeded, and on reaching Cambridge he was obliged to be taken to a hospital, where he died.

Mrs. Jona'.han B. Davis, a daughter of Simon Hosmer, often told these facts to Mr. Luke Blanchard, now living. It was the statement of Mr. Luke Blanchard's father, who was always careful in what he affirmed, that Luther died from the effects of his wound. Luther Blanchard's brother Calvin died from the fall of a tree. He helped tear down barns to build the fort on Bunker Hill. He would carry one end of the timber while it would take two men at the other end to balance.

Luther and Cilvin Blanchard's father was in the fight at Quebec, and lost his life on the Plains of Abraham. There must have been patriotic gunpowder in the very blood of the Blanchards at the original start.

Aaron Jones was near Captain Davis when he fell, and followed in pursuit of the British on their retreat. He never could forget that morning or speak of it without a changed tone and face. He thought much of Luther Blanchard as an associate on that eventful day, and of his fifing march. He named one of his sons Luther Blanchard in memory of the martyr fifer. As the first blood shed on the 19lh at Concord antedated the fall of Davis, in the person of Luther Blanchard, there ought to be a tablet, somewhere, memorizing the fact.

The James Hay ward House. - The house in West Acton, formerly the residence of Hon. Stevens Hayward and in later years known as the Leland Place, now occupied by Mr. Kraetzer. Mr. Woodbury, in his legislative speech, thus relates the circumstances of James Hayward's fall on the 19th of April, 1775 :

''At Fiske's Hill, in Lexington, they had, as some, thought, the severest encounter of all the way. The road ran around the eastern base of a steep, thickwooded hill. James Hayward, who had been active and foremost all the way, after the British had passed on, came down from the hill and was aimiug for a well of water - the same well is still to be seen at the two-story Dutch-roofed red house on the right from Concord to Lexington, not two miles from the old meeting-house. As he passed by the eud of that house he spied a British soldier, still lingering behind the main body, plundering. The Briton also saw him and ran to the front door to cut him off. Lifting up his loaded musket he exclaims, ' You are a dead man.' Hayward immediately said, ' So are you.' They both fired and both fell. The Briton was shot dead, Hayward mortally wouuded, the ball entering his side through this hole," holding up the powder-horn, " driving the splinters into his body. He lived eight hours; retained his reason to the last.

"His venerable father, Deacon Samuel Hayward, whose house he had left that morning in the bloom of vigorous manhood, had time to reach Lexington and comfort him with his conversation by rtading the Scriptures and prayer. ' Jamts, you are mortally wounded. You can live but a few hours. Before ' sunrise to-morrow you will nu doubt be a corpse.

Killed, April 19, 1775

At this well, April 19, 1775, James Hayward, of Acton, met a British soldier who, raising his gun, said, "You are a dead man." "And so are you," replied Hayward. Both fired, the soldier was instantly killed, and Hayward mortally wounded.

Acton

Are you sorry that you turned out ? ' ' Father, haud me my powder-horn and bullet-pouch. I started with one pound of powder and forty balls, you see what is left,' - he had used all but two or three of them, - ' you see what I have been about. I never did such a forenoon's work befcre. I am not sorry. Tell mother not to mourn too much (or me, for I am not sorry I turned out. I die willingly for my country. She will now, I doubt not, by help of God, be free. And tell her whom I loved better than my mother - you know whom I mean - that I am not sorry. I never shall see her again. May I meet her in heaven.'

" Hay ward had lost, by the cut of an axe, part of his toes on one foot, and was not liable to military duty. He 'turned out' that morning as a volunteer in the strictest sense - as hundreds did. He was one of the earliest at Davis' house, belonged to the same school district and born and bred by the side of him, their fathers being next-door neighbors. He was twenty-eight years old, one of the most athletic, finelooking, well-informed, well-bred young men in town. He had been a schoolmaster, he knew the crisis, he knew what he was fighting for and what was to be gained. He came early to Davis' house and acted with his company. He was seen to go to grinding on the grindstone the point of his bayonet there. On being asked why he did it, ' Because,' said he, ' I expect, before night, we shall come to a push with them and I want my bayonet sharp.' ''

Abner Hosmer House. - Abner Hosmer, a private in Davis' company of minute-men; only twenty-two years old ; unmarried ; the son of Dea. Jonathan Hosmer, of the Acton Church. A friend and neighbor of Davis fell dead at the same volleyshot through the head. He lived where Mr. Gould now lives, half-way between South and West Villages, nearly a mile from either.

Mrs. Mehitable Piper (Acton's centenarian). - She was the daughter of Joseph Barker (2d) and wife of Silas Piper; born Jan. 24, 1771. She died March 25, 1872, at the age of 101 years and two months. Her funeral took place at her residence on the 28th. The house was filled with relatives and friends. After prayer and touching words of consolation a solemn funeral procession followed the remains to the church at the Centre. The house was filled in every part. Rev. Mr. Hayward, Universalist, and Rev. F. P. Wood, Orthodox, officiated.

Her existence was contemporaneous with that of the nation itself. She saw her mother weep in her father's embrace when he tore himself from the bosom of his family to take the part of a patriot in the Concord fight. She was living at the time where Moses Taylor, Esq., now lives, and went up to the top of Raspberry Hill, back of Rev. F. P. Wood's present residence, to see or hear something from Concord. She had seen every phase of her country's wonderful growth, and to perpetuate and promote it hail sent her descendants into the War of 1812 and through the streets of Baltimore to the terrible War of the Rebellion.

She was the last of the devoted band of Puritans who had worshiped God in the town at the time when religious differences were unknown. She was the relic of other days and the wept of many hearts. Though older than the nation, she did not live long enough to make a single enemy, and her friends were those who at any time had known or seen her. She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery by the side of her partner.

She lived eighty years in one spot. She had twelve children, forty-two grandchildren, seventy greatgrandchildren, and two children of the fifth generation. Her father stood beside Captain Davis after he fell, and exclaimed to his comrades, "Boys, don't give up!"

Rev. J. T. Woodbury's Speech. - Who was Captain Isaac Davis? Who was Abner Hosmer? Who was James Hayward ? And what was Concord fight ? What did they fight for, and what did they win ? These were Massachusetts Province militiamen ; not in these good, quiet, piping times of peace, but in 1775, at the very dark, gloomy outbreak of the American Revolution.

Let us turn back to the bloody annals of that eventful day. Let us see, as well as we can at this distance of three-quarters of a century, just how matters and things stood.

General Gage had full possession of this city. The flag that waved over it was not that of "the old pinetree"; nor that one, with that beautiful insignia, over your head, sir - with the uplifted right hand lettered over with this most warlike and, to my taste, most appropriate motto in a wrongful world like this, " Ense ])etit placidam, sub libertate quietem." No, no ! It was the flag of that hereditary despot, George the Third !

And if there had been no Isaac Davis or other men of his stamp on the ground in that day, the flag of the crouching lion, the flag of Queen Victoria - due successor to that same hated George the Third ; first the oppressor, and then the unscrupulous murderer of our fathers ! Yes ; I know what I say - the unscrupulous murderer of our fathers - would still wave over this beautiful city and would now be streaming in the wind over every American ship in this harbor. Where, in that case, would have been this Legislature? Why, sir, it would never have been ; and my conscientious friend from West Brookfield, instead of sitting here a good "Free Soil" man, as he is, would have been called to no such high vocation as making laws for a free people - for the good old Commonwealth of Massachusetts; voting for Robert Rantoul, Jr., or Charles Sumner, or Hon. Mr. Winthrop to represent us in a body known as the United States Senate, pronounced the most august, dignified legislative assembly in the civilized world. Oh, no ! Far otherwise! If permitted to legislate at all, it would be done under the dictation of Queen Victoria; and if he made laws it would be with a ring in his nose to pull him this way and that, or with his head in the British Lion's mouth - that same lion's mouth which roared in 1775 - showing his teeth and lashing his sides at our fathers.

This city was in full possession of the enemy, and had been for several months. Gen. Gage had converted that house of prayer, the Old South Church - where we met a few days since, to sit, delighted auditors, to that unsurpassed election sermon - into a riding-school, a drilling-place for his cavalry. The pulpit and all the pews of the lower floor were, with vandal violence, torn out and tan brought in; and here the dragoons of King George practiced, on their prancing war-horses, the sword exercises, with Tory ladies and gentlemen for spectators in the galleries.

At the 19th of April, 1775, it was not " Ease petit placidam, sub libertate quietcm." "Sub libertate!" It would have been, rather, "Sub vili servitio'1' - sub anything - rather than liberty under the British Crown !

Information had been received from most reliable sources that valuable powder, ball and other munitions of war were deposited in Concord. Gen. Gage determined to have them. Concord was a great place in '75. The Provincial Congress had just suspended its session there of near two months, adjourning over to the 10th of May, with Warren for their president, and such men as old Samuel Adams, John Hancock, John Adams and James Otis as their advisers. Yes, Concord was the centre of the brave old Middlesex, containing within it all the early battle-grounds of liberty - Old North Bridge, Lexington Common and Bunker Hill - and was for a time the capital of the Province, the seat of the Government of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.

And Concord had within it as true-hearted Whig patriots as ever breathed. Rev. Mr. Emerson was called a "high son of liberty." To contend with tyrants and stand up against them, resisting unto blood, fighting for the inalienable rights of the people, was a part of his holy religion. And he was one of the most godly men and eloquent ministers in the Colony. He actually felt it to be his duty to God to quit that most delightful town and village, and that most affectionate church and people, and enter the Continental army and serve them as chaplain of a regiment.

What a patient, noble-hearted, truthful, loyal, confiding, affectionate generation of men they were. And remember, these were the men, exasperated beyond all further endurance by the course of a deluded

Parliament and besotted ministry, who flew to arms on the 19th of April, 1775. These were the men who then hunted up their powder-horns and bullet-pouches, ! took down their guns from the hooks, and ground up their bayonets, on that most memorable of all days in the annals of the old thirteen Colonies - nay, in the annals of the world - which record the struggles that noble men have made in all ages to be free !

Yes, to my mind, Mr. Speaker, it is a more glorious day, a day more full of thrilling incidents and great steps taken by the people to be free than even the 4th of July, itself, 1776.

Why, sir, the 19th of April, '75, that resistance, open, unorganized, armed, marshaled resistance at the old North Bridge- - that marching down in battle array, at that soul-stirring air, which every soldier in this house must remember to this day, for the tune is in fashion yet - I mean " the White Cockade " - was itself a prior declaration of independence, written out not with ink upon paper or parchment, but a declaration of independence made by drawn swords, uplifted right arms ; fixed bayonets ground sharp, cracking musketry, a declaration written out in the best blood of this land, at Lexington first, and finally all the way for eighteen miles from Old North Bridge to Charlestown Neck, where these panting fugitives found shelter under the guns of British ships of war riding at anchor in Mystic River ready to receive them ; a declaration that put more at hazard, and cost the men who made it more, after all, of blood and treasure, than that of 1776.

It cost Davis, Hosmer and Hayward and hundreds of others, equally brave and worthy, their hearts' blood. It cost many an aged father and mother their darling son, many a wife her husband, many a Middlesex maid her lover.

Oh, what a glorious, but oh, what a bloody day it was ! That was the day which split in twain the British empire never again to be united. What was the battle of Waterloo? What question did it settle? Why, simply who, of several kings, should wear the crown. Well, I always thought, ever since I read it, when a boy, that if I had fought on either side it would have been with Napoleon against the allied forces. But what is the question to me, or what is the question to you, or to any of us, or our children after us, if we are to be ruled over by crowned heads and hereditary monarchs ? What matters it who they are, or which one it shall be?

In ancient times three hundred Greeks, under Leonidas, stood in the pass of Thermopyhe and for three successive days beat back and kept at bay five million Persians, led on by Xerxes, the Great. It was a gallant act, but did it preserve the blood-bought liberties of Greece? No. In time they were cloven down, and the land of Demosthenes and Solon marked for ages by the footsteps of the slave.

I regard them as one great drama, scene first of which was at Lexington early in the morning, when old Mrs. Harrington called up her son Jonathan, who alone, while I speak, survives of all that host on either side in arms that day. He lives, blessed be God, he still lives ; I know him well, a trembling, but still breathing memento of the renowned past ; yet lingering by mercy of God on these " mortal shores," if for nothing else, to wake up your sleeping sympathies and induce you, if anything could, to aid in the noble work of building over the bones of his slaughtered companions-in-arms, Davis, Hosmer and Hayward, such a monument as they deserve. Oh, I wish he was here. I wish he only stood on yonder platform, noble man !

" Concord fight " broke the ice. " Concord fight," the rush from the heights at North Bridge was the first open marshaled resistance to the King. Our fathers, cautious men, took there a step that they could not take back if they would, and would not if they could. Till they made that attack probably no British blood had been shed.

If rebels at all, it was only on paper. They had not levied war. They had not vi et armis attacked their lawful king. But by that act they passed the Rubicon ; till then they might retreat with honor ; but after that it was too late. The sword was drawn and had been made red in the blood of princes, in the person of their armed defenders.

Attacking Captain Laurie and his detachment at North Bridge was, in law, attacking King George himself. Now they must fight or be eternally disgraced. And now they did fight in good earnest. They drew the sword and threw away, as well they might, the scabbard. Yesterday they humbly petitioned. They petitioned no longer. ,Oh, what a change from the 19th to the 20th of April. They had been, up to that day, a grave, God-fearing, loyal, set of men, honoring the king. Now they strike for national independence and after a seven-years' war, by the help of God, they won it. They obtained nationality. It that day breathed into life ; the Colony gave way to the State ; that morning Davis and all of them were British colonists. They became by that day's resistance either rebels doomed to die by the halter, or free, independent citizens. If the old Pine Tree flag still waved over them unchanged, they themselves were changed too, entirely and forever.

Old Middlesex was allowed the privilege of opening this war; of first baptizing -the land with her blood. God did well to select old Middlesex, and the loved and revered centre of old Middlesex, namely, Concord, as the spot not where this achievement was to be completed, but where it was to be begun, and well begun ; where the troops of crowned kings were to meet, not the troops of the people, but the people themselves,

And let us remember that our fathers, from the first to the last in that eventful struggle, made most devout appeals to Almighty God. It was so with the whole Revolutionary War. It was all begun, continued and ended in God. Every man and every boy that went from the little mountain town of Acton with its five hundred souls, went that morning from a house of prayer. A more prayerful, pious, God-fearing, man-loving people, I have never read or heard of ; if you have, sir, I should like to know who they are, and where they live. They were Puritans, Plymouth Rock Puritans, men who would petition and petition and petition, most respectfully and most courteously, and when their petition and petitioners, old Ben. Franklin and the re9t, were proudly spurned away from the foot of the throne, petition again ; and do it again for more than ten long, tedious, years ; but after all they would fight and fight as never man fought, and they did so fight.

When such men take up arms let kings and queens take care of themselves. When you have waked up such men to resistance unto blood you have waked up a lion in his den. You may kill them. They are vulnerable besides on the heel, but, my word for it, you never can conquer them.

At old North Bridge, about nine o'clock in the forenoon, on the memorable* 19th of April, 1775, King George's troops met these men and after receiving their first fire fled, and the flight still continues - the flight of kings before the people.

Davis' minute-men were ready first and were on the ground first. They were an elite corps, young men, volunteers, and give me young men for war. They must be ready at a moment's warning. They were soon at Davis' house and gun-shop. Here they waited till about fifty had arrived. While there some of them were powdering their hair just as the Greeks were accustomed to put garlands of flowers on their heads as they went forth to battle, and they expected a battle. They were fixing their gun-locks and making a few cartridges, but cartridges and cartridgeboxes were rare in those days. The accoutrements of the heroes of the Revolution were the powder-horn and the bullet-pouch, at least of the militia.

And Concord fight, with all its unequaled and uneclipsed glory was won, by help of God, by Massachusetts militiamen. Some were laughing and joking to think that they were going to have what they had for months longed for, a " hit at old Gage." But Davis was a thoughtful, sedate, serious man, a genuine Puritan like Samuel Adams, and he rebuked them. He told theni that in his opinion it was "a most eventful crisis for the colonies ; blood would be spilt, that was certain ; the crimsoned fountain would be opened, none could tell when it would close, nor with whose blood it would overflow. Let every man gird himself for battle, and not be afraid, for God is on our side. He bad great hopes that the country would be free, though lie might not live to see it." The truth was, and it should come out.

And no wonder that after the company started and had marched out of his lane some twenty rods to the highway he halted them and went back. He was an affectionate man. He loved that youthful wife of his and those four sick children, and he thought to see them never again and he never did. There was such a presentiment in his mind. His widow has often told me all about it and she thought the same herself, and no wonder he went back and took one more last lingering look of them, saying - he seemed to want to say something, but as he stood on that threshold where I have often stood and where, in my mind's eye, I have often seen his manly form, he could only say, " Take good care of the children," the feelings of the father struggling in him and for a moment almost overcoming the soldier. The ground of this presentiment was this : A few days before the fight Mr. Davis and wife had been away from home of an afternoon. On returning they noticed, as they entered, a large owl sitting on Davis' gun as it hung on the hooks - his favorite gun - the very gun he carried to the fight - a beautiful piece for those days - his own workmanship - the* same he grasped in both hands when he was shot at the bridge, being just about to fire himself and which, when stone dead, he grasped still, his friends having, to get it away, to unclinch his stiff fingers.

Sir, however you may view this occurrence or however I may, it matters not ; I am telling how that brave man viewed it and his wife and the men of those times. It was an ill omen - a bad sign. The sober conclusion was that the first time Davis went into battle he would lose his life. This was the conclusion, and so it turned out. The family could give no account of the creature and they knew not how it came in. The hideous bird was not allowed to be disturbed or frightened away, and there he stayed two or three days sitting upon that gun.

But mark : with this distinct impression on his mind did the heart of this Puritan patriarch quail ? No ; not at all, not at all. He believed in the Puritan's God - the Infinite Spirit sitting on the throne of the Universe, Proprietor of all, Creator and upholder of all, superintending and disposing of all, that the hairs of his head were all numbered and not even a sparrow could fall to the ground without his God's express notice, knowledge and consent. He took that gun from those hooks with no trembling hand or wavering heart, and with his trusty sword hanging by his side he started for North Bridge with the firm tread of a giant. Death ! Davis did not fear to die. And he had the magic power, which some men certainly have. God bestows it upon them to inspire every one around them with the same feeling. His soldiers to a man would have gone anywhere after such a leader.

After about two miles of hurried march they came out of the woods only a few rods from Colonel James Barrett's, in Concord, and halted in the highway, whether discovered or not (this road came into the road by Barrett's some twenty rods from Barrett's house), looking with burning indignation to see Captain Parsons and his detachment of British troopers with axes break up the gun-carriages and bring out hay and wood and burn them in the yard.

They had great thoughts of firing in upon them then and there to venture. But Davis was a military man, and his orders were to rendezvous at North Bridge and he knew very well that taking possession of North Bridge would cut off all retreat for this detachment of horse and they must be taken prisoners.

In a few minutes more he wheeled his company into line on the high lands of North Bridge, taking the extreme left of the line - that line being formed facing the river, which was his place, as the youngest commissioned officer present in the regiment - a place occupied a few days before by him at a regimental muster of the minute-men.

A council of war was immediately summoned by Colonel James Barrett and attended on the spot, made up of commissioned officers and Committees of Safety. The question was, What shall now be done? The provincials had been talking for months, nay, for years, of the wrongs they had borne at the hands of a cruel motherland. They had passed good paper resolutions by the dozen. They had fired off their paper-bullets, but what shall now be done f Enough had been said. What shall now be done? What a moment! What a crisis for the destinies of this land and of all lands, of the rights and liberties of the human race. Never was a council of war or council of peace called to meet a more important question, one on the decision of which more was at stake. Their council was divided. Some thought it best, at once, to rush down and take possession of the bridge and cut off the retreat of Captain Parsons ; others thought not.

Here were probably found in battle array over six hundred troops standing there under arms. Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn were in plain sight, with their red coats on, their cocked-up hats and their spy-glasses inspecting from the old grave-yard hills the gathering foe, for they came in from all directions suddenly, unaccountably, like the gathering of a summer thunder-cloud. Of course it was admitted on all hands that they could take possession of the bridge, but it was to be expected that this skirmish must bring on a general engagement with the main body in the town. The Provincials would be in greater force by twelve o'clock M. than at nine. And if the whole British Army of eight huudred men should take the field against them in their present number most undoubtedly the men would run - they never would " stand fire." Their officers thought so : their officers said so on the spot. They gave it as their opinion, and it is probable that no attack at that hour would have been made had it not happened that, at that moment, the smoke began to rise from the centre of the town - all in plain sight from these heights - the smoke of burning houses. And they said, Shall we stand here like cowards and see Old Concord burn ?

Colonel Barrett gave consent to make the attack. Davis came back to his company, drew his sword and commanded them to advance six paces. He then faced them to the right, and at his favorite tune of " The White Cockade " led the column of attack towards the bridge. By the side of Davis marched Major Buttrick, of Concord, as brave a man as lived, and old Colonel Robinson, of Westford. The British on this began to take up the bridge; the Americans on this quickened their pace. Immediately the firing on both sides began. Davis is at once shot dead through the heart. The ball passed quite through his body, making a very large wound, perhaps driving in a button of his coat. His blood gushed out in one great stream, flying, it is said, more than ten feet, besprinkling and besmearing his own clothes, these shoe-buckles and the clothes of Orderly Sergeant David Forbush and a file leader, Thomas Thorp. Davis, when hit, as is usual with men when shot thus through the heart, leaped up his full length and fell over the causeway on the wet ground, firmly grasping all the while, with both hands, that beautiful gun ; and when his weeping comrades came to take care of his youthful but bloody remains, they, with difficulty, unclutched those hands now cold and stiff in death. He was just elevating to his sure eye this gun. No man was a surer shot. What a baptism of blood did those soldiers then receive ! The question is now, Do these men deserve this monument? One that shall speak?

Davis' case is without a parallel and was so considered by the Legislature and by Congress when they granted aid to his widow. There never can be another. There never can be but one man who headed the first column of attac/: on the King's troops in the Eerohitionary War. And Isaac Davis was that i/><at. Others fell, but not exactly as he fell. Give them the marbie. Vote them the monument, one that shall speak to all future generations and speak to the terror of kings and to the encouragement of all who will be free and who, when the bloody crisis comes to strike for it, " are not afraid to go."

The Birth-Place of Captain Isaac Davis. - Captain Isaac Davis was the son of Ezekiel Davis and Mary Gibson, of Stow. He was born February 23, 1745, at the place in West Acton known as the Jonathan B. Davis House, where Mr. George Hagar now lives. He was baptized, June 23, 1745. He

Captain Isaac Davis' House at the Time of the Concord Fight. - It lies about eighty rods southwest, from the present site of Deacon W. W. Davis, at Acton Centre. We pass through the lane from Deacon Davis', still traveled as a private way, but at that time the old road ; then go through the pastures, then strike the avenue leading to the residence of Mr. Charles Wheeler. His present house now stands very nearly where Captain Davis' house stood in 1775.

The two fine elms in front on the opposite side of the road, if permitted to stand, will help the antiquarian to locate the grounds, destined, as the years go by, more than ever to be the centre of Acton's local interest. The house in which he lived, has been replaced by another and that one repaired and enlarged. It was for many years the residence cf Nathaniel Greene Brown, from 1812. It was occupied by Joseph Brown many years before 1812. It was known for some time as the Ward Haskell place, who reconstructed the building in later years, a noted carpenter. Elias Chaffiu occupied the place in 1812. The original house was two story in front, and the back sloped down to one, the kitchen in the lower part.

An old apple-tree, a few years since, stood seven rods from Mr. Wheeler's house in his present orchard. This was the shooting mark of Captain Davis in his gun practice. The scars made by the bullets had been healed over, and what seemed like burrs covered the body of the tree when cut down. Mr. Wheeler now regrets that the wood of this tree was not at the time made into small memorial blocks, as keepsakes in memory of the noted marksman. Such relics are more in demand now that the days of the newness have passed, and the oldness has come instead.

This site must ever have a historical value, as the house of Davis, on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, where his company gathered, ready for battle, and where the funeral took place, of the three martyred soldiers, Mr. Swift officiating, and where the yeomanry of this surrounding country met on that epoch day, to join with the widow and the breaved public in solemn rites of burial. The antique flat stepping-stone at the ell door of Mr. Wheeler's house is the same trodden by Captain Davis and family, and consecrated by the remembrances of that funeral occasion.

Captain Isaac Davis' Widow and Family Record and later Residence. - The children of Isaac and Hannah (Brown) Davis were: Isaac, born in 1765, a bachelor. He gave his father's sword to Concord. Another son whose name is not known. Hannah, born in 1768, and married Amos Noyes in 1793. She had a daughter, Harriet, who married Mr. Simon Davis, the father of Harriet and Simon Davis. Amos Noyes was the grandfather of Lucian Ephraim>

The widow married for second husband Mr. Samuel Jones, a man of property, July 30, 1782. She had by Mr. Jones, Samuel and Eliza. Samuel was a lawyer and built the house adjoining the monument house, one story, where he had a law-office.

The building was built upon the stumps of the trees, without a cellar. These old stumps were found years afterwards when digging the cellar. This house was afterwards more recently raised to two stories by Simon Davis.

Samuel also built the house owned and occupied now by Mr. John E. Cutter, and the house now owned and occupied by Rev. F. P. Wood, and where for a time Mr. Jones himself lived.

Elijah married a Mr. Waite, and lived in Groton, Massachusetts, and afterwards moved to Albany, New York. She taught school and was highly educated. She secured on one of her visits to Acton a fine oil portrait of her mother in later life, which was much admired and must be a valuable painting if still preserved as an heirloom.

For her third husband she married a Mr. Francis Leighton, of Westford, November 21, 1802. After his decease she lived with her granddaughter, Mrs. Simon Davis (Harriet Noyes) occupying the house now owned by Mr. Lucian Noyes, the grandson of Amos Noyes.

There she was living when Rev. Mr. Woodbury called upon her in company with his brother Levi. When asked by Mr. Levi how she managed to live so long, she replied, " I have always lived on the best I could get."

Mr. Woodbury, in his legislative speech, thus refers to her: " These buckles were given to me by Davis' widow, when ninety years old, under very affecting circumstances. I had rendered her aid, in procuring an annuity of fifty dollars from the Commonwealth, and that being insufficient, two hundred dollars more from the United States. Before these grants she had nearly come to want. The money arrived. We were all delighted at the success almost unexpected, for advocating which before the House of Representatives I am under greater obligations to my eloquent friend on my right (General Caleb Gushing), then a member of the House, than to any other man, and to Honorable Daniel Webster in the United States Senate, for which, with all his recent sins on his head, I must love him as long as I live. He never employed his gigantic mind in a nobler cause."

Davis, if nothing more than a button, I should like it right well. She took her cane and hobbled along to her old chest and drew out these shoe-buckles.

" There," said she, " I have lost everything else that belonged to him. These I had preserved for his children, but if you will accept them they are yours."

Precious relics! seventy-five years ago bathed in the heart's blood of one who, in the name of God and oppressed humanity, headed the column of the first successful attack in modern times of people resisting kings, of ruled against rulers, of oppressed against oppressors. Yes, the very first in these years of the world, but by the grace of God, who has declared himself the God of the oppressed, not the last ! no, by no means. When I have done with them I will hand them over to my children as worth their weight in gold. By these buckles I would swear my son, as Hamilcar, that noble African prince, swore his son Hannibal, " never to give up to Rome." I say, by these shoe-buckles, would I swear my son to be faithful unto death, as Davis was in the cause of human liberty, and the just rights of man. Handle them, sir ! handle them ! How at the touch of these, patriotism, like electricity, will thrill through your bones :

"And one was safe and asleep in his bed, Who at the bridge would be first to fall, Who that day would be lying dead, Pierced by a British musket ball."

A new organization of militia was made in February, 1776, and Acton was assigned to the Third Regiment, Francis Faulkner, of Acton, being made Lieutenant-colonel. The officers of the Acton company were Simon Hunt, captain; John Heald, Jr., first lieutenant ; Benjamin Brabrook, second lieutenant. A regiment raised inSeptember,1776,commanded by Eleazer Brooks, of Lincoln, was in the battle of White Plains. Rev. Moses Adams, of Acton, was chaplain. The Acton company was in the engagement, Thomas Darby being killed. The regiment behaved bravely.

A company sent to Rhode Island in the summer of 1777 had for its first lieutenant Daniel Davis, of Acton. In October, same year, a volunteer company of sixty-three men from Acton and Concord left Concord for Saratoga, arriving there on the 10th and encamping two days. On the 13th they went to Fort Edward. On the 14th and 15th they wenton a scout, and on the 16th brought in fifty-three Indians, several Tories and some women. They returned to Saratoga on the 16th, and had the pleasure to see the whole of Burgoyne's army " parade their arms," and march out of our lines. They guarded the prisoners to Cambridge. Captain Simon Hunt, of Acton, commanded the company that was of the guard at Cambridge, November 28, 1777.

Acton furnished five men for the army April 20, 1779; four more between April and June; eleven, September 1st; eleven June 5, 1780; ten December 2d ; and eight June 15, 1781.

List of the Men of Acton in the War of the Revolution. Isaac Davis ; Capt. Davis liveil on the Ward Haskell farm, about one mile west of the meeting-house. John Hayward, Lieut., grandfather Co Ebenezer Hayward, lived on the Swift Fletcher place. John Ileald, Ensign, entered the Continental army and rose to be Captain ; lived on John Nickles' place, and after the war kept tavern on the Westford and Concord road, under tlio great elms, where John Ileald died a few years since, and where his son William now resides. His daughter Lydia gave me a letter of Ensign John, dated at Ticonderoga, March 20, 1776, for his wife, directed to Lieut. John Heald, his father, who was out also in the Revolutionary war. Joseph Piper, clerk, uncle to our Silas Piper ; David Forbush, Orderly Sergeant, died 181)3, aged 85, uncle to Captain Forbush, covered with David's blood when shot ; Oliver Emerson, Sergeant, died in 1818, aged 43 years ; George Mayfield, Sergeant ; Seth Brooks, Sergeant, grandfather of Esquire Nathan Brooks ; Luther Blanchard, lifer ; Francis Baker, drummer ; Joseph Braker 2d ; Ephraim Billings, out in most of the war ; Oliver Brown ; Joseph Chaffin, out in most of the war ; Exekiel Davis, brother to Captain Isaac ; David Davis ; Elijah Davis; John Davis, Mr. Luther Conant's uncle; Reuben Davis, at the taking of Burgoyue ; Jacob Gilbert ; Dea. Benjamin Hayward, out in most of the war, brother of James; Abner Hosmer, killed; James Law, Reuben Law, Joseph Locke, Philip Piper; Joseph Reed, out in most of the war, our William R.'s father ; Stephen Shepherd, out ill most of the war ; Solomon Smith, at the taking of Burgoyue ; Jonathan Stratton; William Thomas, a school teacher, well informed; Thomas Thorp, Ord. Sergeant several years in the Continental army, and was during all the war ; died, 9G yiars old, at Acton ; Jonas Hunt, he was Frances Tuttle's uncle; Abraham Young; Stephen Hosmer, brother to Abner, who was killed ; total of Capt. Davis's company, Joseph Harris (alive in 1851, 81 years old) said the true number was 38 ; James Hayward, an exempt, acted with them as volunteer ; A. F. Adams, John Adams ; Benjamin Brabrook, deacon ; Joseph Brabrook ; Joseph Barker 1st, our Joseph's grandfather ; Samuel Barker, John Barker, William Barker ; David Barker, died at Ticonderoga in 1770 ; James Billings ; Jonathan Billings, died 1824, at the age of 85; Joseph Brooks, Daniel Brooks, Silas Brooks, Paul Brooks, George F. Brooks, Elias Barrow, David Brooks ; Joseph Brown, Captain during the war, fought at Bunker Hill and Saratoga, and received a ball at Bunker Hill, which lodged in his body and was afterw the November warrant for town-meeting an article was inserted to see what action the town will take in regard to building a new town-house. At this meeting it was voted to choose a committee of six persons, one from each school district, to obtain plans, specifications and estimates to report at a future meeting.

On Tuesday, the 2d day of December, another meeting was called to hear the report of the committee. At this meeting it was voted not to build a town-house. Another meeting was called on the 15th of the same month. In the warrant was inserted the following : " To see if the town will build a house suitable for a town hall and armory for the Davis Guards."

At this meeting it was voted that when the town build a town-house it be built on the spot where the old one stood. Also voted to choose a committee of seven, by ballot, with full powers to build a town-house with an armory in it suitable for the town within the next twelve months. This committee consisted of Daniel Wetherbee, Samuel Hosmer, James Tuttle, Cyrus Fletcher, David M. Handley, Artemas M. Rowell and Luther Conact.

This was erected the next year, as also the large shoe manufactory of John Fletcher and a new hotel by John E. Cutter. Thus, in a measure, was replaced Acton's great loss by fire.

Among other noted residents of the village for many years was Jonas Blodgett, blacksmith and auctioneer. He came to Acton about the year 1830, and carried on his trade until failing health and eyesight obliged him to retire.

West Acton.1 - The brick house on the corner was built by Bradley Stone. He also built the first store at the corner in 1837, where Mead Brothers are now, occupied formerly by Burbeck & Tenney, then Sidney and Henry Bull.

In 1858 Charles Robinson moved that building to where it now stands, occupied by George Conant, bluine manufactory, and built the present store. The hall now used by Isaac Davis' Grand Army Post was built by Mr. Robinson for the use of the Universalist Society, and was used by it for ten years.

The first meat market was opened by John R. Houghton under the tin-shop of L. M. Holt, and was occupied by him until he built his present market. A blacksmith-shop was built by Bradley Stone where the house of V. B. Mead now stands. When this was burned he built a new shop near the site of the old one, and where it now stands, occupied by Samuel A. Guilford. The shop was run for awhile by Enoch Hall, who in 1865 transformed a barn standing near it into the present wheelwright-shop of Herbert F. Clark.

The New England Vise Company in 1868 erected a building for its business which proved unsuccessful. The Butter and Cheese Factory Company was incorporated about 1873, and ran three or four years.

This venture proved unprofitable, and the building erected for the company is now occupied by William H. Lawrence, blacksmith, and Waldo Littlefield, carriage manufacturer.

A part of the ground^ now occupied by the refrigerator and apple-house of A. & 0. Mead & Co. was a building put up by the West Acton Steam Mill Company in 1848, which was burned in 1852, and, as the business had not been satisfactory, was not rebuilt. The building for the manufacture of overalls and clothing was put up by Charles H. Taylor in 1886.

Soon after the railroad was built through West Acton a tin-shop was built by Henderson Rowell, who occupied it until his death, in 1860. Since then it has been carried on by various persons in the same place, and is now run by Lorenzo M. Holt, who does a large and increasing business.

About 1858 a shoemaker's-shop was built, and was occupied by Oliver C. Wyman until his death, in 1885. The business since then has been carried on by William Mott.

In 1845 Shepley & Davis built a house, which was occupied by a Mr. Page and called Page's Tavern. After a few years it was purchased by Adelbert and Oliver Mead, and reoccupied by them for a dwellinghouse a number of years. Since then it has been occupied by various tenants.

In 1848 Dr. Reuben Green opened an office. In 1852 he was bought out by Dr. Isaiah Hutchins, who still occupies the building erected by Dr. Green. In 1848 a post-office was opened in Dr. Green's office, in which building it remained until Dr. Hutchins, in 1854, resigned, whereupon it was transferred to the store, where it remained until the Cleveland administration, when Hanson Littlefield became postmaster, and the office was removed to his store. In 1889 Charles B. Stone, the present incumbent, was reappointed, and removed the office to the room specially built for it.

The grain and grist-mill and cider-mill of E. C. Parker & Co. was built in 1868, burned in 1869 and rebuilt in 1870. The cigar-factory of Frank R. Knowlton was over the store of Hanson Littlefield until the new factory was built in 1889.

Tubs and Pails. - B. F. Taft began the manufacture in the building and was succeeded by Samuel Sargent. Sargent was succeeded by Enoch Hall, who, with his sons, now carry on the business. The business has become an important source of thrift. It was started seventeen years ago and has been steadily increasing.

The lumbering business has been introduced and enlarged ; wood lots and farms have been bought in the neighboring towns with reference to the lumber supply. Tubs, churns and pails are manufactured in large quantities and sent for market in all directions, as far as Australia, South America, California and Europe. Twenty-five men are employed through the year, with extra help in the winter. Estimated average sales per year, $50,000.

Mrs. John Hapgood, the mother of Mrs. Nash, a few weeks before her death, when enjoying unusual clearness of mind, though over eighty years old, wrote out carefully these items from her own personal recollections, and the original copj in her handwriting is now with the town clerk. The statements have since been corroborated by Deacon Samuel Hosmer, over eighty-six years old, whose memory is quite clear and retentive.

H. A. Gould's Place. - Deacon Jonathan Hosmer was the first settler on the place that is now owned by Mr. Gould ; he had four sons - Jonathan, Stephen, Abner and Jonas. Abner was the one that fell, April 19, 1775, at Concord Bridge, with Captain Davis. I remember of hearing my aunt Sarah Hosmer, sister of N. D. Hosmer and wife of Samuel Hosmer, when she was very young, say that her grandfather went out to see if he could hear any news on that day, and when lie returned he groaned when he passed their to go into the front door. What sorrow was then experienced !

Stephen Hosmer, one of the sons of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer, settled on the homestead with his father (at Gould's place). His sons were three - Stephen, Nathan Davis and Jonathan. Nathan Davis Hosmer, son of Stephen Hosmer, bought the place, the homestead, and built the new house which is now occupied by Mr. Gould.

The old house was pretty large for those days, two front rooms with entry between, upright back part with two rooms below. The back chanbers were low and unfinished.

Aaron Hosmer, son of Nathan D. Hosmer, had made arrangements to keep the place, the homestead, as his own ; but he died a few months before his father died. If Aaron Hosirfer had lived, the place would probably have been in the Hosmer name now, which would have been the fourth generation.

Jonathan Hosmer, son of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer, bought and settled on the place now occupied by Mr. Neil, the Simon Hosmer place. It is the first house beyond the Kelley place toward Acton Centre. He had but one son, Simon Hosmer, Esq. He bought the place and lived there most of his lifetime. Afterwards it went into other hands. Francis Tuttle owned it at one time.

Noyes & Barker Place. - Ephraim Hosmer owned the farm that is now occupied by Noyes & Barker. He was a nephew of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer ; he had a number of children, but buried two or three by the dreadful disease of malignant sore throat. My grandmother, Sarah Davis, wife of Stephen Hosmer, said that one of the girls told her she was hungry but she could not swallow - a terrible disease to get into a family. He had two sons that lived, Joel and Samuel, father of Deacon Silas Hosmer.

Joel kept the home place, but when the turnpike was being made, he thought it would be important to have a hotel or tavern, as it used to be called, and he built the large house for that purpose now owned by Joseph Noyes and Joseph Barker; but custom failed, it did not meet his expectation, and after a few years the farm had to be sold, a very great disappointment to him and all of his family.

Frank Knowlton's Place. - Samuel Hosmer, brother to Joel Hosmer and son of Ephraim Hosmer, bought the place that Frank Knowlton now owns. He lived in a small house, but had quite a large barn. He was the father of Deacon Silas Hosmer, who succeeded his father on the home farm and built the large two-story house since remodeled by F. R. Knowlton, who is the husband of Emma, daughter of Deacon Silas Hosmer.

Handley Place. - Mr. John Tuttle owned that place in 1800 and was called a very wealthy man. It has been owned by many different persons since - Jacob Priest, Reuben Handley.

Isaac Peed's Place. - William Reed was the first owner of the farm, living there during his lifetime. Then his son William bought and lived there during his life. The present owner is his son, Isaac Reed.

Andrew Hapgood's Place. - It was owned by a widow Brooks. Ephraim Hapgood and Nathaniel Hapgood,, two brothers, bought it of her, Ephraim keeping the old house and Nathaniel building a new one just above it. Ephraim Hapgood and Nathaniel Hapgood were sons of Ephraim Hapgood.

Ebenezer Smith's Place. - Mr. Smith bought the farm when he was quite a young man (do not remember the person); the house was an old one, but they lived in it a number of years, then built a new one; it was called nice in those days. After his death Edwin Parker owned it, living there several years, then sold it to the present owner, Amasa Knowlton.

Ephraim Hapgood's Farm. - Ephraim Hapgood thought it would be a good plan to go to Maine and take up a large tract of land and settle there, as he had several boys. Accordingly, one summer, he went to^ see about it. The next summer he took two of his sous and went to Maine, to a place called now Norridgewock, and worked all summer, intending to take his family the next year.

When the time came for them to start for home Ephraim, grandfather of Mrs. Nash, one of the sons, said he would walk home instead of going by water, and by that means saved his life, for the vessel was shipwrecked and the father and son were both drowned.

Ephraim Hapgood gave up all idea of going to Maine after the death of his father and brother, bought the home-place, took care of his mother, living 1 there his lifetime. After his decease his two youngest sons, John and Benjamin Franklin, bought the farm,, keeping it together several years. Then Benjamin F. bought out his brother John and lived there until his death. He was killed at the crossing of the Fitchburg Railroad, near Andrew Hapgood. Nathaniel Hapgood was also killed at the same time. The farm : was afterwards bought by Cyrus Hapgood. He kept it a few years then sold it to a Mr. Prescott. The house was burned not a great while afterwards. The land is now owned by individuals - only a small house upon it, owned by Mr. Blanchard, for the accommodation of hired help.

Simon Blanchard' 's Place. - Abraham Hapgood, brother of Ephraim Hapgood, and son of the one that was drowned, bought the place and lived there during his life.

James Hapgood, his only son, bought the place, keeping it several years, afterwards sold it to Alvin Raymond. He kept it a few years, then sold it to Mr. Jonathan Fletcher. After his death Simon Blanchard, the present owner, bought the place ; married for his first wife Elizabeth Fletcher, daughter of Mr. Jonathan Fletcher.

Mr. Hager's Place. - Elias Chaffin lived on this place a number of years. The next owner was Jonathan B. Davis. He kept it a good many years, then sold it to the present owner, Mr. George Hager.

Leland Place. - It was the home of Captain Stevens Hayward, the father of Stevens Hayward, Esq. Mr. Hayward living there during his life, then his son Stevens owned it many years, afterwards he sold it to Benjamin Lentell. He lived there several years and sold it to Mr. Leland.

A. A. Haynes' Place. - It was the home of Deacon Benjamin Hayward. He had three sons - Moses, Aaron and Luke. Moses was accidentally shot by his own son. His home then was the late Cyrus Hayward's place. Aaron Hayward after the death of his father settled on the homestead, but died when quite young.

Alden Fuller Place. - Nathaniel Faulkner in the olden time lived there ; he owned the place ; he had several sons. Nathaniel kept the home-place and lived there during his life. His daughter Sarah married Alden Fuller. He bought the home-place and lived there during his life.

Houghton Place. - Oliver Houghton bought that place, living in a very old house for a long time. There have been two houses built on that place, the low one built first. Levi Houghton succeeded his father and built the new house. Since his death George H. S. Houghton, a nephew, owns the farm and is living on it.

Mrs. Hapgoods Place was formerly owned by the Faulkners. A widow lived here who had three children. The son's name was Moses. There must have been two generations before it went into other hands. It has been owned by Brown and a Wilson. Daniel Wetherby bought it afterwards, then John Hapgood bought it.

Coffin Place. - Deacon John Hunt owned this farm for many years, for Mother Hapgood said (Molly Hunt, daughter of Deacon J. Hunt) when she was very small she remembered the 19th of April, and looked out of the window and saw James Hayward walking along as fast he could, with gun in his hand. He seemed to be in a great hurry. It was the morning of the day he was killed in Lexington. Jotham Hunt, son of Deacon J. Hunt, became owner of the place, lived there many years, then sold it to Porter Reed. Afterwards it was owned by George Coffin.

James Hay ward's Place. - Samuel Hosmer, brother of Deacon Silas Hosmer, built that house, occupying it several years. Some other families lived there before Mr. Hayward bought it. There was a Mr. H«yward, the father of Jonas Hayward, who died when he was a young man. Samuel Hayward owned the farm that William Reed owned and lived there during his life. It was the place that Joseph Cole carried on several years and died there two or three years ago.

James W. Wheeler Place. - The old house that stood near that elm-tree was owned by Samuel Wheeler. His son Nathan succeeded him and still occupied the old house during his life. James W. Wheeler, his son, after a few years bought the farm and built a new house, owned by Octavius Knowlton.

Elisha Cutler Place. - Deacon John Wheeler, brother of Samuel Wheeler, owned this farm, living there during his life. Joel Whitcomb owned it awhile.

Simon Hunt was a brother of Deacon John Hunt, and his home was what was called the Bright Piace, the next house beyond the late Cyrus Hayward's place as you go towards Stowe.

O. W. Mead was born in Boxboro' Oct. 19, 1824. Worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-one years of age. His education was limited to the district school until of age. He afterwards attended academy in Lunenburg three terms, and taught school in Lunenburg and Littleton, one term each.

At twenty-three years of age he went into the marketing business with his brother Adelbert, and drove a horse team to Boston weekly with all kinds of produce.

He moved to West Acton in 1840, and there continued his business with his brother successfully, transporting their freight over the Fitchburg Railroad to Boston. In 1867 his brother Adelbert, Varnum B. and himself leased store No. 35, on North Market St., and carried on the produce business under the name of A. & 0. W. Mead & Co. Their business has been varied and extensive to the present time.

The firm has expended large sums of money in West Acton in buildings and otherwise, which has done much towards the adornment and general pros-

O. W. Mead was an active director in the American Powder-Mill for twenty years, has been intrusted with the settlement of several estates, three years a director in the Florida Midland Eailroad, been one of the directors of the Board of Commerce, is now a director of the First National Bank of Ayer, one of the trustees of the North Middlesex Savings Bank, also president and manager of one of the largest herds of cattle in the Territory of Wyoming.

He has been a prosperous businessman, accumulating successfully through his own exertions. His business has been largely marketing and trading. His property is distributed in several towns, but his chief local interest has been for several years in West Acton.

He is grandson of Calvin Blanchard, who was at Bunker Hill, and helped build the breastworks preparatory to the fight, and was at the Concord fight April 19th.

He is the grandnephew of Luther Blanchard, who was the fifer at the Concord fight - in Capt. Davis' company - and a brother to Simon, grandson of Calvin.

The road from Littleton line - Nashoba Corner, called Proctor's Road, 1746 - leading to Cemetery, and crossing Harvard Turnpike at Daniel McCarthy's, 1735, and on to Joel Conant and so. east Acton.

The Davis Monument - The citizens of Acton believing that the name of Captain Isaac Davis, the first officer who fell in the struggle for independence, and also the names of his two brave townsmen, Abner Hosmer and James Hayward - one of whom fell by his side on the famous 19th of April, 1775, at the old North Bridge in Concord, and the other in the pursuit at Lexington on the same day - were deserving of a better fame than history had usually awarded them, and a more commanding and enduring structure than ordinary slabs of slate to tell the story of their martyrdom and mark the spot where their dust reposes, passed the following vote at a large townmeeting holden on the 11th November a.d. 1850 .

" Voted, That the town of Acton erect a monument over Captain Isaac Davis, Hosmer and Hayward, and that their remains be taken up and put in some suitable place on Acton Common, if the friends of said Davis, Hosmer and Hayward are willing, and that the Selectmen and the three ministers in the town be a Committee to lay out what they shall think proper or petition Congress and the State Legislature for aid in erecting said monument."

The committee consisted of Ivory Keyes, Luther Conant, James Tuttle, selectmen; James T. Woodbury, Robert Stinson, Horace Richardson, ministers, in behalf of the town.

The joint committee of the Legislature or the Militia to whom this petition was referred, unanimously submitted a report in favor of the project. The matter was fully discussed, and after the eloquent address and appeal of Mr. Woodbury, the resolve was passed by a large majority.

Davis Monument

There was a difference of choice by the committee as to where on the Common the monument should stand. The decision was finally left with the Governor, who decided upon the present site, a spot not suggested by any one before, but which all agreed was just the place for it as soon as mentioned by the Governor.

Another question decided, was whether it should be made of rough or hewn granite. "Let it be of God's own granite," said Mr. Woodbury, " and let it be from the Acton quarry nearest to the site." Most of the granite was taken from the hill in the rear of Mr. Woodbury's residence, less than a mile from the Common to the north, and given by him for the purpose.

The model finally approved by the committee has been universally admired for its beauty, simplicity and impressiveness. It is seventy-five feet high ; the top is four feet four inches square ; a square shaft, reaching upward from a finely-proportioned arch on each side at its base. The base is fifteen feet wide, and extends eight feet into the earth, and is of good, split, heavy blocks of granite. Through the centre of the cap-stone projects upward a wooden flag-staff, twenty-five feet in length, from the top of which a flag is kept floating, at the expense of the town, on all public days of patriotic import.

" The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the town of Acton, co-operating to perpetuate the fame of their glorious deeds of patriotism, have erected this monument in honor of Capt. Isaac Davis and privates Abner Hosmer and James Hayward, citizen soldiers of Acton and Provincial Minute-men, who fell in Concord Fight, the 19th day of April, a.d. 1775.

" On the morning of that eventful day the Provincial officers held a council of war near the old North Bridge in Concord : and as they separated, Davis exclaimed, 'I haven't a man that is afraid to go!' and immediately marched his company from the left to the right of the line, and led in the first organized attack upon the troops of George III. in that memorable war, which, by the help of God, made the thirteen colonies independent of Great Britain and gave political being to the United States of America.

The old gravestones, which stood for seventy-five years to mark the resting-place of the three patriots in Woodlawn Cemetery, have been laid on the sides of the mound at the base of the monument. They are very ancient in appearance, and bear the following interesting inscriptions :

" Here lies the body of Mr. Abner Hosmer, who wa6 killed at Concord April 19lh 1775, in ye defence of ye juBt rights of his country, being in the twenty-first year of his age."

" This monument may unborn ages tell How brave young Hay ward like a hero fell, When fighting for his countries liberty Was slain, and here his body now doth lye - He and his foe were by each other slaiu, His victim's blood with his ye earth did stain.

Upon ye field he was with victory crowned, And yet must yield his breath upon that ground. He expressed his hope in God before his death, After his foe had yielded up his breath. Oh, may his death a lasting witness lye Against oppressor's bloody cruelty."

This contains the story of his death. After the defeat of the British he stopped at a pump to drink, when a British officer, who came out of the house, exclaimed, " You're a dead man ! " Both aimed, fired, and both fell mortally wounded, the officer dying a few seconds before young Hayward. The powderhorn worn by Hayward was pierced with the ball, and is now preserved, having been silver-mounted by Edward Everett.

The third stone is that of Captain Davis, which is headed, "I say unto all, watch!" and then, after a record of his death, this is added: "Is there not an appointed time to man upon ye earth? Are not his days also like the days of an hireling? As the cloud vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house; neither shall his place know him any more! Job 7 : 1, 9, 10."

The dedication of this monument was a day to be remembered by every loyal citizen of the town ; indeed, by every one present true to the flag of the Union. It occurred October 29, 1851. The monument was surmounted by the stars and stripes, and from each side of the apex was extended a line of streamers and flags. Across the principal streets were also lines of flags, which were tastefully grouped and arranged by Mr. Yale, of Boston.

The attendance of the citizens of the surrounding towns was quite large. Five thousand persons were judged to be present, mostly the hardy and intelligent yeomanry of Old Middlesex, and their wives and daughters.

The ceremonies of the day consisted of a procession, an oration by His Excellency, Gov. Boutwell, a poem by Rev. J. Pierpont, of Medford, and a dinner, which was succeeded by speeches from several distinguished gentlemen, among whom were Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, Hon. B. Thompson, of Charlestown, Col. Isaac H. Wright, of Lexington, and Hon. Charles Hudson, of Lexington. A thousand plates were set for the dinner, under a mammoth tent, erected by Mr. Yale, of Boston, a few rods to the north of the monument.

noon. The military escort, which made a fine appearance, was under command of Col. James Jones, of the First Artillery, with Major I. S. Keyes and Adjutant E. C. Wetherbee as staff. The following companies composed the battalion : The Concord Artillery, Capt. James B. Wood, accompanied by Flagg's Boston Brass Band ; the Prescott Guards, of Pepperell, under command of Alden Lawrence, first lieutenant; the Sudbury Rifles, Captain Ephraim Morse.

Following the escort was the civic procession, under command of Col. W. E. Faulkner, as chief marshal, assisted by Ed. W. Harrington, A. L. Hutchinson, Simon Davis, Henderson Rowell, Henry Brooks, George G. Parker, A. J. Clough and H. L. Neal, mounted aids, and Messrs. L. Gilman, Marshall Parker, V. Lintell and Lowell Stearns, on foot to escort the ladies ; the Governor and aides, consisting of Colonels Heard, Chapman, Williams and Needham ; the President of the Massachusetts Senate, invited guests, the president, vice-presidents and committee of arrangements of the various towns, composed the second division. The third division embraced No. 1 Division of the Order of United Americans, and the "O'Kommakamesit" Fire Company, No. 2, of Marlboro'. The fourth and fifth divisions were composed of citizens from Lexington, Concord, Littleton, Boxboro', Sudbury, Westford, Stow and Acton. Several of these towns carried appropriate banners. That from Lexington was a large, white banner with a red fringe. On the front was the inscription, "Lexington, April 19, 1775. 0, what a glorious day for America ! '; On the reverse - " Freedom'a Offering ! " and the names of Parker and other patriots who fell in the fight at Lexington.

From the Green the procession proceeded towards the Old Burying-ground, southeast part of the town, where the remains of the patriots Davis, Hosmer and Hayward were deposited, awaiting their removal to the monument.

The bones, which were disinterred some days before, were nearly entire, and were enclosed in an oblong, black walnut box, highly polished and studded with silver nails. The remains were enclosed in different compartments, each marked upon the cover by a silver plate bearing the name of the old patriots. The cheek-bone of Hosmer showed the trace of the ball which caused his death, entering just below the left eye and coming out at the back of the neck.

The box was placed in a hearse, and under the escort of the " Davis Guards," First Lieutenant Daniel Jones in command, met the procession at the junction of the two roads leading to town. Here both parties halted - the military escort in open order, and with arms presented awaited the approach of the sacred remains - the Lowell Band, which accompanied them, playing a beautiful dirge, composed by Kurick. Flagg's Brass Band, which accompanied the escort, then performed the dirge, " Peace, troubled ; " after which the escort fell into position and the procession, including the remains, proceeded to the monument. Eight venerable citizens of Acton, all of them over seventy years of age, appeared as pall-bearers. They were : Joseph Harris, Dr. Charles Tuttle, each eighty-two years old ; Nathan D. Hosmer (nephew of Abner), eighty ; John Harris, Daniel Barker and James Keyes, each seventy-six years; Jonathan Barker, seventy-four; and Lemuel Hildreth, seventy. The hearse was driven by John Tenney.

Upon arriving at the monument the box containing the remains was placed upon a stand in the street, which was covered with a black velvet pall. The box was opened and an opportunity given to all who wished to look upon the remains. The box was then closed and deposited in the monument in the place designed for it. The procession was then again formed and proceeded to the tent, under which the remaining scenes of the day were to take place.

The tent was hung around with streamers festooned and in the centre was the beautiful flag which had recently been presented by the ladies of Acton to the " Davis Guards." The tent was reached about one o'clock. Rev. J. T. Woodbury, president of the day, called upon Rev. Mr. Frost, of Concord, to invoke a blessing on the table and the day. An original hymn composed by Rev. Henry Durant, of Byfield, a native of Acton, was sung to the tune of " Hamburg." The first and sixth of the seven stanzas are here given

The oration, poem and speeches then followed, which were eloquent and stirring with patriotic sentiment and fully appreciated by the responsive crowds in attendance.

The closing words of Governor Boutwell. - "To-day the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the town ot Acton dedicate this monument to the memory of the early martyrs of the Revolution and consecrate it to the principles of liberty and patriotism.

"Here its base shall rest and its apex point to the heavens through the coming centuries. Though it bears the names of humble men and commemorates services stern rather than brilliant, it shall be as immortal as American history.

"The ground on which it stands shall be made classical by the deeds which it commemorates, and may this monument exist only with the existence of the republic: and when God, in His wisdom, shall bring | this government to nought, as all human governments i must come to nought, may no stone remain to point the inquirer to fields of valor, or to remind him of 1 deeds of glory.

"And finally may the republic resemble the sun in his daily circuit, so that none shall know whether its path were more glorious in the rising or in the setting."

Judge Hoar's sentiment (of Concord). - " The memory of Davis and Hosmer and their brave companions in arms : The men who fell at the Old North Bridge, of Concord, and the men who avenged their fall : the first who received the enemy's fire, and the first officer who returned it. One in purpose, one in patriotism : separated by the fortunes of that day - united forever in the gratitude and admiration of their countrymen."

Rev. Mr. Pierpont, the poet, gave this as his sentiment, alluding to the slight interruption by the noise of knives and forks near the close of his poem, and saying that, having pitted his tongue against a bullock's, and been most terribly worsted, a speech could not be expected of him.