Groton Town (part 2 of 9)

Church, in Narragansett, Rhode Island " (page 450), where an abstract of the Proceedings o-f the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts is given. It is there stated : -

From 1 7 13 to 171 4. - "For Marblehead or Narragansett was designed the Rev. Mr. Dudley Bradstreet, a native of the country, and a proselyte of their way by education, grandson of Governor Bradstreet."

The Reverend Gershom Rawlins, a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1705, officiated at Mr. Bradstreet's funeral. May 16, 1714 ; and on the next day he wrote to the Bishop of London, mentioning the fact. The letter is found in the " Historical Collections relating to the American Church " (III. 98, 99), and begins : -

My Lord, - The uneasiness which my personal address seemed to give your Lordship yestermorn has obliged me to take this method to acquaint your Lordship that I last night performed y' last office for my late friend and countryman M' Bradstreet who I may venture to say was very deserving of the favour and esteem wherewith your Lordship was pleased to honour him whilst alive. Your Lordship not being at leisure to hear me explain myself upon the favour I came yesterday to entreat for him since his death, I beg leave to do it here. There are people my Lord in New England who will not fail to say (perhaps from the pulpit) when they hear of Mf Bradstreet's death, that it was a Judgment on him for his Apostasy ; for so they qualify conformity. . . .

Mr. Bradstreet died of small-pox, which was the reason why he was buried at night. His family were with him in London at the time, and were left in destitute circumstances. According to Mr. Rawlins's letter, they were probably helped by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, under whose auspices Mr. Bradstreet had gone to England.

The Earliest Church Records In

Mary y= Daughter of Benj'! & Mary Parker David y° son of Eben' & Hannah Prescott Jemima y= Daughter of Moses & Susanna Willard Abigail y^ Daughter of Dudley & Abigail Bradstreet [11] 1728/9 Feb7 23'' Silas Filius Jacobi & Abiga! Parker

Wife Mary Daughter of Josiah Tucker & Abigail his Wife ( Eleazer Filius Gvilielmi & Hepzib";'^ Spaldin 1 Sarah Filia Samuelis & Saraae Hartwell j Ruth Filia Jacobi & Sarase Shattuck I Mary The Daughter of Jn? & Mary Scott Alithea & Esther Fil: Benjf & Elizeb* Martin Jonathan Filius Mossis & Annae Bennit

Oliver son of Obadiah & Hannah Parker Henry y° son of Isaac & Abigail Woods Sam" son of Sam" & Annah Wright Sybill y° daughter of Joseph & Mary Stone f Will"" son of Jonathan & Lydia Shepley Lois Daughter of John & Sarah Holdin Dorothy the Daughter of Isaac & Dorothy Gilson . Elizabeth y'' Daughter of John & Elizabeth Shead

Jan''' 20* Margaret y^ Servant of Sam" Scripture Jun^ Suo Jure ( Subraitt y" Daughter Edward & [Anna] Farwell j Abigail y= Daughter of Nathan & [Abial (Yarrow)]

Barron Ruth Fil: of Isaac Parker Junf [and Mary, his wife.] Zechariah & Jer^ Lawrence & Simon Laltin [William ? son] of James Stone /// Also Joseph son of Joseph Wilson March 10* Mary filia Johannis & [Elizabeth] Ames /// Also Sarah

Hannah filia Guil & [Mary (Farnsworth)] Tarbel March 24 Mary The Daughter of James & Mary Lawrence Aprill 28'!" Mary y" daughter of Sam!' & Prudence Cummins 1* Dom : Sterns &c

James son of John Pratt & [Mehitable ?] his Wife Susannah Daghter of Cornelius & [Sarah] Whittney Elizabeth daughter of Sam'.' Shattuck JunT & his Wife Jain Daughter of Stephen & Jain Ames

{Deliveranc y" Wife of William Shattuck suo Jure Thomas son of Nath" Jr & Dorothy Lawrence Jun! Oliuer son of Elias & Ruth Eliot Dan!' son of Dan!' & [Esther] Sawtell - Aaron son of Ebenezer & Ruth Nutting Richard son of Will? & Holdin

David son of Jonathan & Mary Pratt Elizabeth y= Daughter of John & [Abigail] Buckley Elizabeth daughter of Ebenezer & [Abigail] Blood ( [Daniel] son of David & [Elizabeth] Sawtell ( Phebe daughtf of Will" & Susannah Lawrence Annas Daughter of Ebenezer & Anias Gilson Thomas Trowbridge /// & /// Patience y" Daugh! of Jn»

March 30* Ephr? son of Hezekiah & Joanna Sawtell Benj!^ son of Michael & Susannah Gilson Bathsheba daughter of Benj? & Mary Bennit Sarah Daughter of Nath" & Joanna Parker

Thomas Trowbridge son of Caleb & Hannah Trowbridge janry - John son of John & Elizabeth Burt Janry 25* 1735/6 Oliver son of Jonathan & Lydia Shepley

V Lucy Daughf of Jonathan & Sarah Green Calebs Wife & Neh^ Trowbridge before Cap' Thomas Tarbel & Abigail his Wife Admitted to full Communion - Also Sam" Hobart - Oliver Prescott Jonathan Farwel & Triphena his Wife

Abigail Daughter of ( Benjamin son of Will'? & Mary Tarbel \ Will" son of Jonathan & Sarah Shead (. Hannah Daughter of Edward & [Anna] Farwel r Solomon Son of Nathan & [Hannah (Boynton)] < Whipple

(. Mary Daughter of Sam" & Elizabeth Fisk Jacob son of Stephen & [Rachel] Pierce Mary Daughter of Will" & Mary Longley Sarah Daughter of Amos & Lydia Farnworth Joanna Daughter of Nath" & Joanna Parker f Mary Daughter of Matthias & Abigail Farnworth I Dinah Daughter of Jonathan & Mary Pratt Phinehas son of Phinehas & [Mary (Hubbard)] Wait Elizabeth Daughter of John & [Margaret] Williams Jn? son of John & Mary Scott Submit Daughter of Jn? & Mary Page Isaac son of Nath" & Dorothy Lawrence Martha Daughter of Will'? & Martha Blood Abigail Daught' of James & Mary Stone AHs Daught' of Ebenezer & Elizabeth Jefts John son of John & [Abigail] Buckley Susannah Daught! of Willf & Susannah Parker r Solomon son of Thomas & Abigail Tarbell J Joseph son of Nath'.' & Susannah Smith I Caleb son of Isaac & Abigail Woods L John son of John & Sarah Cummins

- 14* - Abigail Daughter of Will" & Simonds March s* Simon sori of Simon & Susannah Pierce March 12* Sybill Daughter of Joseph & Abigail Parker

Marc 22 Sarah Sanders June 26 John Frost & Ruth his Wife August 2 1 Cornelius Whittney & Sarah his Wife Octob' g'!" Thomas Lawrence & Prudence his Wife 171S''

Novem*" 11 Nath" Lawrence & [Anna] his Wife ( William Tarbell & Mary his Wife I Seth Phillips & Will? Shattuck Juf Novem'^' 17 Daniell Shed & Abigail his Wife

Confessiones Src. - Jan 12? 1706/7 I. Maria Parker vidua (nunc Joannis Nutting Vxor) no/Dvias rea, Sequentem in Ecclesia Confessionem exhibuit :

At Church Meeting at Pages November e'^iyso Jn° Stone & L' Boyden Appointed to Notifie him to atttend y"= next meeting after Lecture ; who y" Reported they had seen him & y' s"! he would come - but did not (was desired to go again) he Told deac" Farwoth often should not put by any business to wait upon y" Church, & y' had done y" no harm & yy had no business with him &c

Jona'l' Parker Sarge Pierce Ambo de Grotonia Sam" Wood to Patience Biggelo Ambo de Grotonia Robert Robbins of Littleton to Elizabeth Cummins of Groton widdow

Zechf Maynard of Sudbury to Hannah Waters of Groton widow Eben" Prescott to Hannah Farnworth both of Groton Dan" Boynton to [Jemima] Brown ambo de grotonia Nath" Woods of Groton to Sarah Brown of Stow :

Groton William Lawrence to Susannah Prescot Ambo de Grotonia Joshua Hutchins to Sarah Shead both of Groton ' John Gilson to Mary Shattuck both of Groton

1723 Benj? Bennitt to Mary Lakin both of Groton Thomas Woods to Abigail Chamberlain both of Groton Isaac Williams to Lydia Shattuck Johannes Davis Rebeccae Burt ambo de Grotonia Thomas Farwell to Elizabeth Pierce both of Groton

April 27* John Farmer of Billerica to Hannah Woods of Groton June 3'' Johannes Woods Saraas Longley ambo de Grotonia June 15 David Pierce to Elizabeth Bowers both of Groton Sep' 14^ Nath'! Woods to y= widdow mary Derbeshire both of

Jan7 27* Sam^ Shattuck Junr to Anna Williams both of Groton Jan7 27':'' Isaac Lakin to Elizabeth Shattuck ambo de Grotonia Feb? i6'? Johannes Shepley Elizabeths Boyden ambo de Grotonia March g'J' Johannes Burt Elizabethse Nutting ambo de Grotonia Aprill 26*!' Ezra Farnworth to Elizabeth Lakin

Groton Nov*!' 22? Jacobus Shattuck Sarase Chamberlain Ambo de Grotonia Decern*;' 28'!" Jacobus Stone Mariae Farwell Ambo de Grotonia Jan7 12"' / 1726^7 Sam'J Fisk to Elizabeth Parker both of Groton March 9'!' Will"? Green to Hannah Holdin both of Groton March 21^' Danl' Davis to Lydia Am's Ambo de Gro? Aprill 2ot Dudley Bradstreet to Abigail Lakin both of Groton August 4* Ebenezer Hartwell of Concord to Rach" Farnworth of to Mary Farnw* all of Turkey Hills Nov*;' 14'!' Jacob Ames to Ruth Shattuck both of Groton Novem*;' 23'* Jn? Grout to Joanna Boynton both of Turkey Hills Dec*;' 20!'' Ebenf Tarb'f to Eliza''?' Bowers both of Groton Feb? 27'!' 1727/8 Sam" Davis to Sarah Boynton both of Turkey

Feb? 28'^ Dan!' Sawtell of Groton to Esther Heald of Concord May 9* 1728 Joseph Stone to Mary Prescott ambo de Grotonia Sep? 26'!' Joseph Blanchard of Dunstab" to Rebeccah Huburd of

Groton Octobr 11'!' Jn° Stevens to Martha Farnworth both of Groton Decern'?' 26* Jonathan Shepley to Lydia Lakin ambo de Grotonia 1728/9 Feb?' 4t Nath'l Lawrence Junf to Dorothy Chamberlain both of

Octohf: 27'!' Jn? Lakin to Lydia Parker both of Groton Deer i8'I' Elias Eliot to Ruth Lawrence both of Groton Dec';'' 30"' Ebenezer Jefts to Elizabeth Far-worth both of Groton Jan? 7* 1729/30 Josiah Boyden to Eunice Parker ambo de Grotonia Jan? 13'!" Isaac Gilson to Dorothy Kemp both of Groton. Jan 28'!" Jacob Lakin to Eunice Lakin both of Groton Feb? 2'! Nathan Barron to Abial Yarrow ambo de Grotonia. Febry: 24"' Matthias Farworth to Abigail Shead both of Groton May 7* 1730 Nathan Whipple to Hannah Boynton both of Groton Janry 12"" 1 730/1 Jonathan Gates of Stow to Elizabeth Farwel of

Groton Jan7 28'!' Jonas Varnum to Mary Shepley both of Groton Feb7 9* Jer'; Norcross of Lunenburg to Faith Page of Groton Febr? 11* Phihf Parker Junf to Mary Kemp both of Groton March 26'!' 1731 Nath'J Nutting to Elizabeth Page ambo de Grotonia Apri'J 14'? Stephen Ames to Jane Robbins both of Groton April 22'' Jn? Fife to Jain Irvine both of Groton Aprill 27':'' David Russell to Mary Clark both of Littleton May is^f Ephrf Nutting to Lydia Spaldin both of Groton June is'!' Eleazer Lawrence Junf of Littleton to Lucy Tuttle of s*) Town Novf 4'? Jn° Kemp to Sarah Holdin Ambo De Grotonia Novf 30'!] Sam'J Randal of Stow to Priscilla Farnworth of Groton Jan? 5'!' 1 73 1/2 Shadrach Whitney of North Town [Townsend]

Aprill 19'^ - Jnf Scott to Mary Chamberlain both of Groton Aprill 25"' - Jn? Albee to Abigail Searl both of Northtown Aprill 26 - Jonathan Pratt to Mary Bowers both of Groton July 12* Thomas Merrifield to Mary Anderson both of Groton Octob' 26* Ephraim Cady of Killingley to Abigail Barron of Groton Ditto M' Solomon Prentice of Hassanamisco [Grafton] to M" of Groton Jan? 4'? i732\3 Will"? Longley to Mary Parker both of Groton Jan? 18* 1732/3 Sam" Rite to Annah Lawrence both of Groton JanT3o* Sam" Cummins to Prudence Lawrence both of Groton Feb"^ 20'!* James Lawrence to Mary Martin both of Groton June 2 if 1733 John Goodridge of Lunenburg to Eunice Scripture of Groton sent Clark July s'!" 1733 Amos Woods to Hannah Nutting both of Groton SepI 12* Jn? Page to Mary Parker both of Groton Octob^ 25"" James Tufts of Medford to Phebee Woods of Groton Novr I? Jonathan Lampson of Concord to Elinor Blood of

Groton Novf 22"* Moses Woods to Esther Houghton both of Groton Decf 6f Nath" Parker to Joanna Stephens both of Groton Jan7 23'? 1733/4 Ebenez' Gilson to Annas Searl both of Groton [54] 1733/4 Jan7 29* Enoch Lawrence to Sarah Stevens both of Groton

Sent to Town Clark March 19'!" Sam? Bowers Jun' to Deborah Farnworth ,, , March 20* Amos Farnworth to Lydia Longley - ) Apill if^ St.[ephen] Barron to Sybill Parker both of Groton Novf 25* Ebenr Procter of Dunstable to Elizabeth Blood of Groton Jan"? 2i'f 1735/6 Phinehas Burts to Sarah Bush both of Groton Jan7 28* - John Cummins of Groton to Sarah Lawrence of march so'!" Will? Parker to Susannah Kemp both of Groton may 13"" Benjf Stone to Emme Parker both of Groton June 23? John Fletcher to Lydia Patch both of Groton 1736/7

- 9* * - Sam^ Hartwell to Sarah Holdin both of Groton June 23? Sam" Farwell to Elizabeth Moors both of Groton July s'!' - Joseph Priest Jun' of Harvard to Elizabeth Atkinson of Groton

- 2i=? - John Kelsey to Elizabeth Russel Both of Groton Nov' i" Nehem^ Goold to Esther Bowers Ambo de Grotonia Nov'^ 23'' - Zorrob'. Kemp Jun' to Abigail Lawrence both of

1 WillT Knox of Suncook to Lydia Irvine of Groton April 19* David Sanderson to Eunice Warner both of Groton August 29"" Nehem"? Jewet to Lydia Blood : both of Groton Sep? 18'!" Caleb Trowbridge JunT to Elizab* Houghton both of Groton

Sent to Clerk April 26* James Green to Sarah Shattuck both of Groton June: 7'!" Shebuel Hobart Jun' to Esther Parker both of Groton June 26'!" Isaac Colburn of Dunstable to Abigail Shattuck of

Oct' II* James Park to Jain Riche both of Groton Novf 2 if Joseph Page to Abigail Shead both of Groton Decf II* John Shattuck to Sarah Hobart both of Groton

ApH 2'? Benj? Hazen to Bette Nutting both of Groton May I? David Blood to Abigail Farnworth both of Groton July 23" Sam" Bason to Sarah Rice vid".' both of Groton August 4* Daniel Dugless to Lydia Lakin both of Groton Sep' 17* Zech' Lawrence to Lucy Lakin both of Groton Novf II* Willf Kemp to Patience Nutting both of Groton

- 25 Thof Patch to Anna Gilson both of Groton May 6 Sanderson to Sarah Russel both of Boston July 15 Jn? Farwel of Harvard to Sarah Sawtell of Groton

C Timothy Mores to Lydia Nutting ) July i2"> Jonath" Parker to Elen Hunt both of Groton July 27 Josiah Farnworth Jun' to Hannah Buttrick both of Groton

- 20 Benj? Lawrence to Ruth Dodge both of Groton July sf Tho? Lawrence to Sarah Houghton botlj of Groton Nov^ 22'' Willf Williams to Mary Perkins both of Groton Decf 4* Isaac Farnworth to Anna Green both of Groton sent to Clark 9' 6'* March 6* 1750/1 Jonathan Gilson & Susanna Pierce both of Groton - 13 - Jonas Prescott Jun' of Westford & y" WiddT Rebecah Parker of Groton

[Ju]ne 17? 1752 John Solindine & Dorcas Whipple ) all of Gro- James Prescott & Susanna Lawrence > ton Peter Hobart & Abigail Lakin Junr ) Jonath? Farwell & Triphena Frost > Micah Crecee of Groton & Catharine Weatherbee of Bolton

Joseph Bruce of Mendon to Elizabeth Farnworth of Groton Nath" Lakin of Pepperrill District to Sybil Parker of Groton Ebenezer Farnworth Junf & Mary Nickols both of Groton

Sent to the Clark May 29 - Joseph Sawtel & Lydia Jenkins both of Groton 29' June 4 - Silas Barron & Rebekah Parker both of Groton i D-r June 26 - Will"? Farwel & Esther Woods both of Groton - \ August 20* - Paul Fletcher of Groton & Anna wilerd of Lanchester 4 : D [42] 1707 _

( Ephraim Sawtell & Elizabeth his Wife & 1 Mercy The Wife of John Hall / Moses Barron & Sarah his Wife 1 Jonath" Farnworth & Ruth his Wife Lydia Whittney y= Wife of Will'? Whitney ( Sam" Fisk & Susannah his Wife < Richard Warner

C Elizabeth The Wife of Benjamin Lakin The Wife of Ep*" Philbrick The Wife of Richard Warner Esther The Wife of Sam" Bowers Abigail Uxor Gvilf Shattuck's Jun

Feb' i7'N Ebenezer Prescott & Hantiah his Wife March 24"" William Lawrence & Susannah his Wife Novem'i' 3'' Susannah y° wife of John Solindine Novem*;' 17'!' Jerem'; Farnworth January 12"^ Rachell Farnworth

March 3'? John Stone Junf & [Elizabeth (Farwell)] his wife Steven Holdin & [Hannah (Sawtell)] his wife The wife of Benj? Martin Ebenezer Farnworth Simon Stone Jun' & [Sarah] his Wife

March 3"* Persons Viz Ensig" Lakin Benjf Parker & Mary his Wife Abr!" Moors & his wife y" wife of Dudley Bradstreet - of Ezra Farnworth - of Eleazer Nutting of Gibson of Joseph Gilson also Sarah Farnworth

Aprill 28 Eleazer Gilson & Wife Jn° Williams & his wife Ensign Page & his wife Eleazer Nutting, y" wifes of Jonathan Nutting Ebenzf Blood Eleazer Green Jun Dauid Pierce Jn° Chamberlain. // 12 in all

Janry 2^ Jonas Varnum - Moses Woods - and the Wife of Nathan Whipple Bancroft & S! Pierce & Obad!" Parker & y' Wives from other Churches Embody'd with us October 29 Isaac Parker & Jn? Swallow

The Consociation of Churches is a Doctrine, own'd and pleaded by the Rev? Elders Whome God honoured greatly by making them the Happy Instruments of Laying the foundations of the Constitutions of the Churches in this American World. The Associated Pastors of 13 churches have out of a zeal for Gods glory and their owne and their churches Good and benefit Resolved by Divine Assistance to pursue the holy instructions left them by those worthy and Learned persons, and to that end have determin'd not to manage any thing in their respective churches which may tend to produce any Embroilment in them without the Advice of those Pastors with whome they are Associated ; and accordingly desire the Consent of the Several - Churches that the Council to advise in and about such Cases shall be call'd out of those Churches to which the Pastors with whome their Pastor is associated doth belong ; theref[ore] it is with you tO' Signifie your Consent hereto.

Moderator At a Church meeting at Groton July 21? 1707 The aboves? Determination was then Voted in this Church Nemine Contradicente D. Bradstreet

At a Church meeting May 14. 1708. Whereas Some wei-e dissatisfied at the Election of John Farnesworth as Deacon I gave liberty of a new Choyce by Papers and s? Farnesworth was Elected by a Majority of three Voices and accordingly Confirm'd

Voted that if Deacon Whitney cannot Serve at y" next Sacram' that he deliver the Church Vessells to Deacon Farnesworth for the Churches use.

At a Church meeting March 10. 1708/9 Voted that Deacon Farnesworth do by the first opportunity provide a Table Cloth, and Platter, for y" more decent Celebration of the holy Coinunion.

Wheras Dec" Whittney is old, & Desirous of y° Choice of Another to Officiate in his Place ; & Whereas Dec" John Farnsworth is Desirous of a New Choice ; Unless he were more Unanimously Confirmd.

The Church Did Thereupon Unanimously Elect or make Choice of Simon Stone Sen- & Thomas Tarbell Sen : To Officiate as Deacons in y' Church of Groton

Voted - That Deac" Longley & Brother Ephr'" Pierce, be a Committee, as Trustees for this Church ; to Call for, & to Receiue of Brother Will? Lawrence {& to give him a discharge upon Receiving) the 40-^ Legacy y' was given by Mf Jonathan Lawrence in his last Will & Testament to this Church (for y° Procuring Some Silver Vessell or vessels for y° Lords Table) and That they Lay out y'= s? 40^ in Such Manner or According to Such Instructions as this Church shall give Them : Agreable to s? Will.

The Same Meeting Put to Vote by hand whether y= Brethren were free y' Dan" Farnworth should officiate as Deac" in this Church : Past in y= Affirmative at y' same meeting Rachell Hartwell Enquir'd of why so Long Absent from Communion of this Church : & advised Reform by me &c Caleb Trowbridge &c

Put to Vote Whither y" Brethren y" Present were free, y' Jonathan Farnworth & his son Jonathan & Simon Stone Jun' should be Dismissed from this Cht ; in order to Lie in the foundation of a Ch£ in Harvard or Embody w' other Christian brethren & Professors There. It Past in the Affirmative

At a Church Meeting in Groton, Jan7 ii'!" 1733/4 Voted That y' Persons appointed (by this Church at y' meeting the 14* of Sep^ Last) to Lay out the 40^ Legacy given to this Church by m^ Jonathan Lawrence in his Last Will - do Lay out y= s"" 40^ for Procuring some Silver Vessel or Vessels, according to y' Best Prudence ; or as upon Proper Enquiry they shall think will be most for y' honour of y-^ Donor : as well as of the Lords Table, And memorand" y' Churches vote ab^ y= ministerial Legacy given by s"" Lawrence was Put into W" Lawrences hand by the Churche order: I gave Bond for s° Legacy to y= Deacon as Trustees &c

After some time The Above appointed brought 2 Silver Tankards to y' Churches Acceptance & frely giving in y' time & Trouble Rec? y= Churches Thanks

Deac" Farnworth only Surviving of y" Trustees to whom I gave the Bond above-mentioned y= Church in y= Year 1759 added Decon Farwel & Deac" Stone to Deac? Farnworth as trustees in y" Room of Deac" Stone & Deac" Longley deceas'd

March g'f 1737/8 at a Church Meeting in Groton Voted y" y' y= Deacons of s"" Church be Allow'd for y' Trouble in Providing for y' Lords table five shillings for Each time of Providing for y-^ time past : & seven shillings & six pence a time for y" future ; till further order Caleb Trowbridge Pastor

At a Cth meet? in Groton at y'= House of Jonath" Page Feb7 29'? 1739/40 Voted That Whereas it has been (for a Considerable time) a Sort of Rule : & the Practice in this Clit : respecting Persons Suspected of Fornication : That such of them as had been married seven months before they \manuscript here torn and illegible'] Infants) had been by the Pastor admitted to Covfa?iXit[torn and illegiblel [48] y? to one, or other, of yf methods, before admission &c And it heing feared by me that this Custom, has (on the one hand) Proved (with some of the less Conscient;ious) a Prevailing Temptation to belye y' Consciences, adding Sin to Sin : and being thought by some an Hardship (on the other hand) upon the more Consciencious (and Doubted at least whither it be Right) to Compel them Publickly to acknowledge, what is, (if not absolutely yet) next to Impossible to Convict y? of : Therefore tis desired y' for y" future (till further Light be afforded) in such like Cases ; the Pastor of this Church, admitt'them to desired Priveledges : without Compelling y" to Either (Provided in the Judgement of Charity they are otherwise Qualified) Desiring & Trusting y' he will Exhort y"" to Serious Repentance

(in Case they are Conscious to yllselves of Guilt) and That he will bring them to declare y! they have Humbly Begg'd of god y° Pardon of all known Sins : & Promise that they will by the help of god be upon their watch against sins of Uncleaness in Particular ; as well as all Sins in General - and That they will Study to know : & sett themselves to -f Practice of all that they do, or shall know, to be their duty.

Caleb Trowbridge Pastor at a meeting of y" iV Cliti in Groton Voted to give w' Church stock y>' had (viz? 1 6^-8^-3 '') to y= 2'? Chi ^ in s? Town towards furnishing y' Commun" Table also voted to allow y° Deacons &c. i-^-o'-o'' old tenor for y' Trouble for Each time of Providing for the Sacrament for y° future till further order at same time I. S satisfied &c as to all articled against him Exhib : Causes : Chi Meefs^ Sep! 23'? 1742 James Stone Chosen Deacon A. D. 1748 voted Each Communicant Contribute is"* old Tenor &c

I first saw Groton in the autumn of 1839. Though a native of the grand old Puritan State, it had not been my good fortune to see any of its Eastern towns or cities. My parents, in my boyhood, moved from Amherst, Massachusetts, the place of my birth, to Central New York. Setting foot in Groton, the very last of September of that year, I found a town 180 or more years old; population upwards of 2,000. And it had the prestige of being originally a grant by the General Court - in part, at least - to a son of the first Governor of the Massachusetts Colony ; also the added prestige of bearing the name of the home-town of the Winthrops in England. I liked it. Though irregular, and setting at defiance all laws of order, - though antique and quaint in its architecture, - though contrasting strangely, in nearly every particular, with Western places, yet it pleased me. Its position was elevated, its natural charms were many ; and there was on all sides an air of solidity and comfort. There was too, in its way, a fair show of the aesthetic. It hdd three churches, - Unitarian, Orthodox, and Baptist ; and, for pastors, the Reverend Messrs. Wells, Phelps, and Sanderson. Besides, it had a structure called the Hall, used for lectures on various subjects. It was by itself, quite unpretentious, still roomy and pleasant. Groton Academy, now known as Lawrence Academy, a creditable building, and beautifully situated, Was deservedly a pet of the town. I say I liked it; I felt at home; and this is saying not a httle for a strange place.

My special mission, at the time, was in the interest of antislavery. It was in the dark' and trying days of the cause. Late in the preceding summer, the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society sent an agent to Central New York, to procure two lecturers. They desired a layman and a clergyman of the Orthodox faith. The agent, as directed, went with the proper papers to the Hon. Gerrit Smith, of Peterboro', N. Y., and he, after due consideration, recommended James C. Jackson and myself. Mr. Smith and I were neighbors - that is, of neighboring towns ; and, if I may assume so much, co-workers. And yet I was much earlier in the cause than he. When a student, and before Wm. Lloyd Garrison started "The Liberator," - a mere boy so to speak, - I took a stand for the enslaved. A little work, styled " Six Months' Residence in Jamaica," by an English physician, first opened to me the enormities of slavery. I hated it from that hour ; fought it from that hour. My father, however, was intensely devoted to Colonization. So, at the time, was Mr. Smith, who, afterwards, was Vice-President of the American Society. It was not until the fall of 1835 that he left that Society. The circumstances were not a little thrilling ; they revealed the nobility of the man. A large Convention, in pursuance of a call, met at the city of Utica, the 21st day of October, 1835, - the self-same day the great and heroic Garrison was mobbed in Boston, - to form a New York State Anti-slavery Society. The whole State was represented, and by some of its best and ablest men. Clergymen, I think, predominated ; and many of these were veterans. It was my privilege to be among them, though one of the youngest of the number. Gerrit Smith was there, and yet as an outsider. His noble figure was in the assemblage. Not long, however ; for, while the meeting was organizing, a mob entered the church, led on by a Committee of twenty-five leading citizens with Congressman Beardsley at the head, and assaulted officers and members, not sparing the old and gray-headed, and brutally drove them from the church. Nor was this all. They hunted the flying delegates in every part of the city, inflicting upon them many indignities and cruelties. Mr. Smith saw all ; it was a revelation to him. He saw, and with startled eye, the real situation ; and, like himself, he said to the hunted and suffering delegates, with tremulous tones: "Gentlemen, go to my Peterboro', and complete your organization ; I will see that you are protected."

They went - gladly, gratefully went; and yet, all through the several towns passed - the distance was some thirty-five miles - they were pelted with brickbats and addled eggs. And when gathered, the next morning, in the Presbyterian Church of that rural village, - the home of the great-hearted philanthropist, - the spectacle presented was a strange, not to say a sad one. The church was packed with the fugitive delegates. And numbers of them were seen with bandaged faces ; while others, cut and bruised, made no attempt at concealment. It was an unwonted scene. All felt that martyr-times had returned ; and no one could forecast what was to follow. Every hour there were startling rumors that the baser sort of other towns were to make a combined assault upon us. It was expected. Such a thing was certainly planned ; yet it failed in the execution. Mr. Smith was too strong in his own section of the State. There was no farther disturbance. The organization was effected. The State Society was an actuality ; and, more than this, Gerrit Smith pledged it his full and hearty support. He was a convert ; and his speech, announcing the change, was one of surpassing power. It was, of course, the speech of the occasion. There was everything lifting it above all others. The speaker, with his grand and handsome personahty ; his deep, rich, musical voice ; his pure, Addisonian style, and marvellous magnetism, was sure not to be second in that or any other Convention. And then the circumstances raised him above himself. His great soul, by what he had seen, had been stirred to its very depths. He had come to see slavery as it was ; that its terrible grip was on the North, as well as on the South ; that we were all slaves ; that our boasted Freedom was nothing but a myth ; that the right to assemble, - a first right of freemen, - and in the supposed Free State of New York, was stricken down ; and with it, of course, the right of Free Speech. And all at the behest of slavery. Slavery was all and in all. The whole nation was at its feet ! He saw this ; it terrified him ; it converted him. Of course, at such a time, he not only excelled others, but excelled himself : no words can describe it ; no words can set forth its effects. It was simply overwhelming ; and, as might have been expected of the man, he at once resigned his office in the American Colonization Society, and at the same time sent a check of ;^ 10,000, to pay the sum he had before pledged to promote its objects. Such was his high sense of honor ; and let it be added that Mr. Smith was much older in Temperance than in Anti^slavery. Among the earliest was he in this great reform. Nor was he much behind in Church reform, - in the work of restoring Primitive Unity. In a large Convention, held at Syracuse in 1838, he read a paper on the subject of great ability and force. It fell to me to draw up, and present to the same meeting, the Declaration of Principles. A broad man was Mr. Smith ; hence a comprehensive reformer. He set himself, with all his great strength and great wealth, against social evils, church evils, and national evils. Grandly good and great was he in his day.

Recommendation by such a man was something. So, with me, felt my friend Jackson. He was a Christian layman, a student of medicine, and highly gifted as a speaker. Few could hold and stir an audience as he. He was early in the cause of the slave, and did it grand service ; so in the cause of Church Unity. We had toiled much together in both lines of reform. He is now the celebrated Dr. Jackson, of the Dansville (N. Y.) Water-Cure. A most enviable mark has he made in this department, as in the advocacy of the cause of the enslaved, and of Primitive Unity. As for myself, I had been pastor for some time of the Congregational Church of Cazenovia, a gem of a town, ten miles west of the home of

Mr. Smith: had, from broken health, resigned. The duties at home, and much lecturing abroad, prostrated me ; my physician enjoined rest. I, however, chose an active rest. Hence travelled much, speaking almost incessantly on church and national reform : saw, too, both causes advancing. The leaven, as to each, was working. Whole churches took the primitive basis, and an entire Association, which was my own. And, at this time, a grand impetus was given to the movement by the appearance of the "Fraternal Appeal" of the Reverend Professor Schmucker, a work of masterly power, the substance of which found its way into the Comprehensive Commentary, edited by the Reverend Dr. William Jenks, of Boston ; even in the Baptist edition. There it stands to-day. An organ, too, was created ; a paper of quite an extensive circulation. This was known as "The Union Herald ;" published at Cazenovia. Its editor, the Reverend Luther Myrick, was an evangelist of the class of the distinguished Charles G. Finney, and a most successful one. He was a preacher of rare power ; and rich spiritual harvests were gathered by him. His " Herald " had no uncertain voice ; and it spoke as fearlessly for Freedom as for Unity. Hence, and naturally, the friends of Church Unity were the friends of National Freedom.

And it is due here to say, and I take profound pleasure in saying, that we were nobly aided, especially in the anti-slavery reform, by Wm. L. Chaplin, Esq., a native of Groton, and a son of its seventh pastor. An able man was he, and fearless as able. He treated the question from the standpoint of a lawyer, and with marked effectiveness. His blows were heavy. I first knew of him in the county of Wm. H. Seward, - the county of Cayuga ; the home of the great Senator, the first advocate of the Higher Law, and the masterly Secretary of State during the Rebellion. It had been mine to break ground on the subject in the southern portion of the county, and narrowly to escape mobbing in one of its towns. Most welcome, then, was the presence of such an ally. He did right good work. And who will say how much the labor, thus early done, and at his very door, had to do with the making, in this matter, of Wm. H. Seward ? Be this as it may, special thanks were due Mr. Chaplin for his efificient aid, and to Groton for giving the country so strong and fearless an advocate of Freedom.-'

Mr. Jackson and I decided to go East ; and yet only for three months. Our young families were left behind. After reaching Boston, and speaking in a oonvention at Taunton, we were assigned our particular fields ; more properly, perhaps, our head-quarters. He was to go to the County of Essex, and I to that of Middlesex. This brought me fortunately to Groton, and to the charming home of Dr. Amos Farnsworth. I was his guest by virtue of his membership in the Executive Committee of the State Society. And, as intimated, a high favor it was. A home, indeed, was his. While there was nothing pretentious about it, everything was in taste. All was solidly sensible. He had buried his wife, and yet his home had the light and cheer of a lovely daughter. There were two sons also, and of promise ; one of them a student at Cambridge. Still, he himself was the central charm. He was tall and symmetrically built ; with large head, mild eye, broad, expressive, pleasant face, and compressed lips. Every thing indicated strength and good-nature. Brain and heart were manifest. With the elements of a commander, he had the gentleness of a woman. He was one of the sunniest of men. Though impressing you with his superiority, you felt wholly at ease in his presence. You knew him at once ; could trust him at sight. And greatly was I struck with his originality. It cropped out in everything. He could not think in a groove, or act in a groove ; no copyist could he be. In the rig of his horse, and the way of treating him on a trip, you saw it. So, and more strikingly, in his treatment of vines and fruit-trees, and the preservation of their products. He had Cato's love of these things ; had means, too. Retired from a long and lucrative practice in Boston, he was able to work out his ideal. Of course, he had the best. And he had a method, it seemed, strictly his own of preserving the same. I own I was not a little irked when I could not draw from 1 See Appendix, page 19.

him the secret of this, to me, surprising preservation. At a select party at his house, as late as February, I think, he had on his table watermelons seemingly as fresh as when taken from the vines, also choice varieties of grapes in a like state. Pressing him for the secret, I got this in reply : " The Hon. George Thompson " - alluding to the great English antislavery orator - " occupying the very seat you occupy, put to me the same question ; and he went back to England just as wise on the subject as when he came." This, I knew, was decisive. Still, it did not seem to justify the withholding of so valuable a secret.^

The same was sure to mark him in the treatment of disease. Though of the regular school, he came to see, in the latter part of his practice at least, that no medicine should be given in fevers. He almost startled me with this declaration, on our first acquaintance. I thought, indeed said, that, if his fine daughter, or gifted sister, or cherished brother, were down with the typhoid, he would give some medicine. Quickly, and somewhat impatiently, he said he should not. Well, he was soon put to the test. A young man brought the disease from Boston, and into the very neighborhood of his brother Luke. The young man died - his mother died ; and, immediately after, that brother was down. The attack was a severe one. And, to my eye, the case for days seemed hopeless. I said as much to the Doctor. I told him, and with emotion, that without medicine, and the most active medicine, his brother would die. He said, with an emphasis all his own, he would not. And he did not. He kept up his negative treatment, and the brother recovered. He treated some other cases the same, and with a like result. He did this, though retired from practice ; Drs. Green, the Bancrofts, father and son, and Stearns, were the regular and able practising physicians at the time.

Needless is it to add, that my esteemed host was a man of positive convictions, and was loyal to them. He could not be anything else. When he took a stand, he was fixed in it ; when he set his foot down, it was down. And this fitted him for his time. It made him the stalwart reformer he was. 1 See Appendix, page 20.

Now, with such a host, I was sure to lack nothing in my work. He not only arranged my places and times of speaking, but dropped me down at the several points. He was ever alert ; preparing, helping, encouraging. So when called to other parts of the State. His optimism never failed. His helpfulness never flagged. It was easy to work ; did not seem like work. The time passed - the period of my engagement - almost unconsciously. Though far away from loved, ones, the three months quickly sped. I may not go into the details of this labor, - wish I might ; it had some marked incidents. SufiSce it to say, it seemed quite satisfactory to my host and to the Society employing me.

And here a Second Act begins. As my special mission to Groton was now full, another was suggested and urged. I had incidentally, and perhaps on several occasions, given some hints as to the Unity of the Church. My heart was full of it. And I did this the more freely, the more earnestly, from the fact that numbers in the several churches, and, as it seemed to me, their best members, were alienated from the same, because of their position on the slavery question. The tie, binding them, was exceedingly loose, and growing daily looser. It was getting to be a serious question whether they could continue to walk with them. Conscience was awake ; the ethical was at work. But what could they do ? Where go ? They could not cut themselves off from all churches - all ordinances - all the institutions of religion. They could not do this. What, then, could they do .' Every church in the place, as such, was in the wrong on the question. Hence no door was open to them. They must be true to the slave - consistently true ; but they could not be with any extant church organization. Here they stood ; here they stood, longingly casting about for a church home where they might dwell in peace, and consistently with their most sacred convictions. My hints, therefore, were eagerly seized as pointers to the thing needed ; so eagerly, that they insisted upon my giving, before leaving for my home, some lectures on the subject. I compHed ; I lectured an entire week. First looking at the Church, as it came from the hand of its Divine Founder ; then at the inspired injunctions as to unity ; then at the example of the Apostles, and the first Christians ; then at the dire evils of sectarian divisions ; and, finally, answering the objections to a return to Primitive Unity. The whole ground was thus covered.

The lectures were given in the Hall, before noticed. The place had become familiar to me. There the cause of the slave could have a hearing, when no church was open for the purpose. Indeed, I was assured that the place was specially erected on this account. The building, during the delivery of the lectures, was crowded. All classes heard. The clergymen were out, and seemed eager, and even approving, listeners. There might have been dissenting voices, but I heard none. It was approval on all sides. And why .' The principles themselves admit of no dissent. Dissent comes in, if at all, when a serious attempt is made to carry them out. Here the trouble begins. Unity is a nice thing - a beautiful thing - a very Christian thing - everybody likes it ; but seek to merge the churches into one, to bring about a visible unity, a tangible unity, a unity the world can see, a real unity, and the whole thing is changed. They want oneness, but no visible oneness ; unity, but no organic unity. Still, every one knows, every one admits, that such was the unity of the Primitive Church.

Well, the lectures meeting with so wide a favor, it was natural that the large numbers seeking a new ecclesiastical home should rally at once, and gratefully, to the Apostolic basis. It was doubly welcome. They could, on such a foundation, be true to their convictions touching slavery, and to their new convictions touching the unity of the Christian Church. It was, in this view, a supremely happy hour to them.

But as to the future. Resolved to take this stand, to plant themselves on this high basis, the question as to a leader was at once started. A leader, a pastor, they must have ; and, to my great surprise, they approached me on the subject. I had not dreamed of such a thing. My field, I had felt, was at the West. There I had grown up ; there been trained ; there were the loved ones ; there the noble associates in Christian and reform work ; there, really, all my cherished ties. But the demand was imperative ; I must return. I did return, and with my family : it was in January, 1840.

The church was at once organized. It had, for materials, the Farnsworths, the Cragins, the Dicksons, the Boutelles, the Wheelers, the Ruggs, the Needhams, the Halls, with many others. Mrs. Rockwood, daughter of Pastor Chaplin and sister of William L., now living at Cortland, Cortland County, New York, upwards of one hundred years old, was with us, though I cannot positively say she was a member. The basis of the church has already been foreshadowed. It was the agreements of Christians, with a toleration of their differences. No narrower, no broader. And by Christians were understood those who were evangelical. It stopped where the Apostolic Church stopped. Whatever made a man a Christian ; whatever entered essentially into Christian character ; whatever was so as understood by the Evangelical Churches, went into the basis of that church, and nothing more. There was no attempt to cut down, or to modify, in the slightest degree, the system known as Evangelical. This was accepted in its entirety. Is one a Christian ; is he one as understood by the Evangelical Communions .' - ^^«^, just that, and only that, was the condition of admission. It was really the same as that of the Evangelical Alliance ; the same, too, as that of the Young Men's Christian Association. And in these, we are sure, we see the Church of the Future. Such was the basis. Planted on the essentials of the Christian faith, receiving one another as Christ received them, love was to pervade all, and fuse all ; to be, too, the bond of perfectness. All felt we might sing with Cowper -

" Were love, in these the world's last doting years, As frequent as the want of it appears. The churches warm'd, they would no longer hold Such frozen figures, stiff as they are cold ; Relenting forms would lose their power, or cease ; And e'en the dipped and sprinkled live in peace : Each heart would quit its prison in the breast. And flow in free communion with the rest.''

The church thus started, earnest work began. A powerful revival soon followed ; large numbers were added. The church, at the dawn of spring, was something near a hundred strong ; and, of the new recruits, there were not a few of interest. I wish space admitted of extended mention. I must note a few.

There were the two Bancrofts, - George and Henry. These brothers interested me at first sight. As in the case of our Lord, on meeting the young man in the Gospel, I loved them. There was a nobility about them, an affability as well, that instantly won my heart. George was cut out for an orator ; had the elements for one. A juster self-estimation and the proper training would have made him eminent as such. Henry had fine gifts, though different. These brothers, together with their excellent wives, - and it was my privilege to make them such, - were among the first to give in their adhesion to the cause. So another choice young man, and related by marriage, John Robbins ; he really was slightly in advance in the matter. There, too, was George Green, the baker, an avowed sceptic, who entered the ranks. And another George, quite young, and yet of promise, - George S. Gates. Besides, if I mistake not, a sprightly young man, with high and generous aspirations, a son of parents referred to, - Daniel Needham. There were others deserving of mention. The work was far-reaching. It attracted many from neighboring towns, especially from Lowell ; and an interest appearing in that city, I was invited to spend there some two weeks. Most satisfactory results followed. In the meantime a large meeting was held at Groton in the church of the Reverend Mr. Phelps, with some of the ablest men in the State as preachers. It was a meeting of interest.

Some of the actors in those scenes come back to me with great freshness. Still, nearly all are dead. Deacon Cragin, with his winning face, is one: a true man, and Christian, was he. Luther Boutelle is another of them ; he, at the time, was a man of the last. So was Henry Wilson, of Natick. But he was before his Natick brother in the cause of the slave, - some time before. He was, like Wilson, a good workman ; so as a reformer ; was his equal in devotion to the cause. He seemed more eager to mend the nation than to mend boots and shoes. A vast deal of this mending did he ; he was ever at it. So when his eyes were opened to the sin and evils of a divided Church ; here the same earnestness was shown. He was one of the most hopeful of men. Better than medicine was it to go into his shop ; his large hope was a sure cure for despondency : I speak from experience. Fitly was he named ; for he had the hope, the firmness, the persistence, of the great German reformer. Nothing could dampen his ardor or shake his purpose ; and, in the power of speech, he developed surprisingly. He continues to work ; seems to know nothing of age. He is ever moving, - keeps all the wheels of life running. My early love for this man, early esteem, abides the same ; though, in later years, we have been somewhat divergent in view and method. I love him, esteem him, for his sterling qualities, and high and varied work.

The Wheelers are others. Early and ardent were they in the work, and in its several lines. The older, however, charming in aspect and sweet in spirit, early fell a victim to consumption ; but Samuel C. was spared, and rendered good service. Cheerful and earnest was he. His face was an inspiration ; he kept all in heart. He once visited me in after years ; and our correspondence, as in the case of Henry Bancroft, was long kept up.

But one of the most marked of these is Elizabeth Farnsworth; she would be marked anywhere. Remarkable was her brain-power and force of character. Physically, much like her brother the Doctor ; mentally, if anything, his superior. She was capable of filling any position, and with honor. Her mind was decidedly of a philosophical cast ; broad, deep, and intensely clear. She was quick to detect error and to see truth, and grandly able to expose the one and defend the other. Her pen was keen, incisive, strong ; so to the last. I have scores of her letters, which, if printed in a volume, would attract wide attention ; and age, as hinted, had no power to impair that pen. Her last letters to me. and when she was along in the nineties, are as racy, trenchant, and nervous as any I ever received from her. Her penmanship, too, held much the same. I have surprised and delighted numbers of my friends by showing them these letters. The like none of them had ever seen. She was early a Christian, and of the Puritan stamp. Hers was the faith brought in the " Mayflower." She, too, was among the very first for Freedom and Church Unity. And, in keeping with her character, near the close of her life she generously remembered Lawrence Academy, the institution to which she felt so much indebted. All honor to a town, giving birth, rearing, culture, even limited scope, to such a woman as Elizabeth Farnsworth ! Would that some able pen might do itself the credit, the town" the favor, and the subject the justice, to write her full history ! ^

It was somewhere, in this connection, I first made the acquaintance of David Fosdick, who had, I believe, previously graduated at Amherst and Andover. He favorably impressed me ; his face amply recommended him. Unlike most of his rearing and culture, he seemed in sympathy with my work. Though not making himself at all prominent, he was affording quiet proof of his good-will. This was help ; a stimulus indeed. And when, after me and on the same field, he made a most worthy attempt against sects, and in behalf of unity, my love and admiration of the man were greatly increased. True, from the force of early training, and subsequent culture, his plan of union differed from mine ; yet I honored and admired him for so noble an attempt in his own line of thought and belief. It was eminently praiseworthy. Besides, the few discourses he kindly sent me, so able and scholarly, afforded me much pleasure and profit.

In my first audiences in Groton, I noticed a young man who attracted my attention. He was, I should say, about twenty-two years of age, - perhaps slightly older; of medium height, spare, erect, trim, dark, with a well-formed head, and a thoughtful face. He was serious, always attentive, ever observant of the proprieties of the place. He was evidently 1 See Appendix, page 20.

present to hear ; to get light, if it was to be shed. These traits so impressed me, that I early inquired who he was. I was told he was a clerk in a certain store. I confess to a little surprise ; for I had thought that studious face marked him as a member of one of the professions, and most likely that of the law. But I found that my information was correct. I met him often afterwards at his place of business. He seemed different from most young men. He was not, as I remember, very much in society; his tastes not seeming to run that way. He moved more by himself ; so it struck me. He was evidently a young man of books ; a close student. I could lay no claim to intimacy. We had little in common, as I conceived, either in politics, ethics, or religion. Still, I felt an interest in him, a drawing towards him, because of the qualities stated ; and this was increased by the sad death of his employer, in the fall of 1840. Disappointment as to the result of the election, in that memorable struggle, so wrought upon him as to lead him to end his own days. This sad event drew to the young man more attention, and, as I think, more sympathy.

But for a season I lost sight of him. His time had not yet come. Things were shaping to bring him to the surface, but the process was slow. The leaven of anti-slavery was silently at work in the Church and in the State - potentially at work ; and yet there was little to evidence it. God was preparing his men for the grand struggle coming ; but it was quite away from the public eye. He had purposed the downfall of slavery, and he had his chief agents in a course of training. They would appear in due time ; indeed, surprise the nation and the world when the crisis came. This is the Divine way of working. He knows what he will do, and by what agencies he will do it, and prepares them for it. When needed, they are brought forth. They are no accidents ; they are picked and trained agents, to work out his designs, to achieve grand and beneficent results. Lincoln was no accident ; Grant was none ; Seward was none ; Sumner was none ; Henry Wilson none ; neither was George S. Boutwell. They were chosen men, divinely chosen, and fitted before- hand for their high work. All went to the anti-slavery school ; all learned in that school the high lesson of true Liberty. Without such a school, the country and the world would have been without such men.

In the summer of 1840, a Convention was held at Groton in the interest of Evangelical Unity. It was, I think, in August ; it was held in the Hall. The plan was early formed. It was intended to be like that already noticed at Syracuse, N. Y., in 1838. And, to prepare the way, as well as to promote the general cause, a little paper was started, styled " The Church Reformer." It did not, as I remember, aim at permanence ; nor was it entirely regular in its appearance. The first issue was devoted largely to a Plea for Unity and the Apostolic Basis of such Unity. It contained, I believe, The Declaration of Principles adopted at Syracuse. In it, of course, was the Call. Not a copy of it, to my great regret, can be found ; nor of any subsequent issue. But the paper, especially the first issue, attracted wide attention. It drew forth many able letters, and nearly all commendatory, which appeared in after issues.^

The Convention promised to be a large one, and so it proved. The season was charming ; Groton appeared at its best. Representatives gathered from most, if not all, of the New England States. New York was represented. Gerrit Smith was expected, but was prevented. The Reverend Luther Myrick, editor of " The Union Herald " was present, and did himself and the cause great credit. The Reverend A. C. Lord, who was my successor, was also there, and shared creditably in the proceedings. Boston, of course, was present in the persons of some of its stalwarts. I recall Oliver Johnson, the anti-slavery veteran ; Mrs. Chapman, one of the foremost women in the great movement, and one of the most gifted ; and John A. Collins, general agent of the State Society. Theodore Parker was present, but only as an on-looker.

The Convention was enthusiastic as well as large. It continued for three days. It was not, as expected, entirely harmonious. The Basis of Unity was the matter of disagreement ; 1 See Appendix, page 23.

the one bone of contention. But, after a long and earnest discussion, - a good-spirited one, too, - it was overwhelmingly settled that the movement contemplated only a union on the Evangelical Basis ; that it simply proposed a return to the Apostolic model ; that it was not to alter the basis of that church, or to widen its door, or to modify its doctrines oi its ritual or even its polity ; that it was not a reform in any of these senses; that its sole object was the restoration ol Original Church Unity ; that it was broad in this sense, and no broader; that this was its purpose, justification, commendation. Such was the decision reached, and by a most decisive vote. The proceedings were published, as reported by Mrs. Chapman, in "The Church Reformer;" but, as I have said, not a copy have I been able to find.

I will add - yet I need not - that this was no Anti-Church movement. There was, and nearly synchronizing with it, such a movement. It was provoked, and not a little palliated, by the attitude of the Church toward the slave. It was the unchurchly position of the Church that occasioned it. And it went farther - went farther on the same principle. It struck at the State. It was Anti-State, as well as Anti-Church. It struck at both, and logically at what was cherished by both. Even the Bible did not escape. It was, I said, provoked, and in a degree extenuated. Not justified ; for the abuse ot a thing does not justify its destruction. This principle carried out would leave us nothing ; everything would perish. The movement at Groton had no manner of connection with this. It was as far from it - using the Miltonic measurement -

The idea of these grand but mistaken men was to crush slavery by crushing the Church and the State. My idea was to crush it through them, by first bringing them back to their normal position. Hence, through all the bitter struggle, I stood by the Church and the State; stood by the Church to reconstruct it after the pattern of its Divine Founder, and by the State to reconstruct it after the pattern of its founders.

The Convention naturally gave a new impetus to the cause ; gave it character and standing, too. There were calls for lectures on all sides. They were given - given very extensively. And so continued until late in the summer of 1841. At that period, two gentlemen appeared at the hotel. One was the Hon. Wm. H. Stowell, of New Bedford. The North Christian Church of that city, and the largest one there, had, after serious trouble, dismissed its pastor, and not only desired a new one, but was intent upon a new departure. It desired an Orthodox man ; I was the one sought. I assured them the thing was out of the question ; that I could not possibly leave my position and work. Then they said they would stay the remainder of the season. They did stay several days. Finally they pressed me to spend a single Sabbath there ; I reluctantly consented. After the Sabbath, a unanimous call was extended. Taking two weeks to consider, I at last accepted on the express conditions that the new departure should be actualized, and that I should have the cordial co-operation of the church in my two lines of reform. The Reverend A. C. Lord, as stated, was brought to take my place. He was a native of Rome, N. Y. ; a man of good culture, excellent spirit, and earnestly devoted to Freedom in the State and Unity in the Church.

I left Groton regretfully in September, 1841. Many ties and tender bound me to the place. It will ever have a charm - a special one - as the birthplace of my oldest daughter, now Mrs. Stafford, of Chicago. As to my work there, I did what I could. There were faults and youthful indiscretions ; were many. Yet I have nothing to take back, nothing to modify, as to principles or even methods. I feel, after the lapse of forty-five years, that they were right. Nor does the seeming failure, in the slightest degree, lessen this conviction, Whittier is right -

" Thy task may well seem over-hard, Who scatterest in a thankless soil Thy life as seed, with no reward Save that which duty gives to toil. Vel do thy work ; it shall succeed In thine or in another's day; And if denied the victor's meed. Thou shalt not lack the toiler's pay."

Appendix

William Lawrence Chaplin was a prominent Abolitionist in the early days of Anti-slavery agitation. On August 8, 1850, he was thrown into prison at Washington, D. C, and treated with great cruelty and indignity, for helping two runaway slaves to escape, who belonged to Messrs. Toombs and Stephens, representatives in Congress from Georgia. He was subsequently given up to the Maryland authorities, and then confined in the jail at Rockville, the shire-town of Montgomery County, where he was treated with much kindness. It happened, fortunately for him, that the sheriff of this county was a gentleman and a Christian, and the jailer a man of good feelings and humanity. He was finally released on very heavy bail, provided by his friends and of course forfeited by him. A pamphlet was published soon afterward, giving a full history of the case, which was entitled : The Case | of | William L. Chaplin ; | being | an Appeal | to all | Respecters of Law and Justice, | against | the cruel and oppressive treatment to which, under color | of legal proceedings, he has been subjected, in the | District of Columbia and the State of | Maryland. || Boston : Published by the Chaplin Committee 185 1. pp. 54.

Thus, after an imprisonment of six weeks at AVashington, and of thirteen weeks more at Rockville, was Mr. Chaplin delivered out of the hands of the Philistines ; not, however, till his friends had paid for him the enormous ransom of $25,000. (Page 49.)

ber 27, 1796. He died at Cortland, Cortland County, New York, on April 28, 1871. In speaking of him, the Reverend John Todd, D.D., who was the colleague and successor of his father, writes : -

He was the youngest son, - the staff of the old man's age. He relinquished all hopes and openings in his profession, - the law, - that he might comfort and support his aged parents on their way to the grave. Most dutifully did he perform every filial duty till he had seen his parents laid in the tomb. Dr. James P. Chaplin, of Cambridge, so successful in the treatment of the insane, was an older brother; and his grandfather [great-uncle?]. Col. Prescott, was a commander at the battle of Bunker Hill. {Ibid., page 15.)

Dr. Amos Farnsworth was the son of Major Amos and Elizabeth (Rockwood) Farnsworth, and born at Groton on August 30, 1788. He graduated at the Harvard Medical School in the class of 1813, and died at Roxbury on July 31, 1 86 1. He was a man of marked ability, and Mr. Hawley's appreciation of his character is eminently just. At an early period he espoused the cause of the slave, when it cost a man his social position and popularity to take the side of that unfortunate class. He was with Mr. Garrison at the time of the "Garrison Mob" in Boston, October 21, 1835, and he also helped largely to furnish the means for starting the "National Anti-Slavery Standard" at New York. Dr. Farnsworth's labors in the anti-slavery cause are noticed in the second volume of Mr. Garrison's Life, recently published.

The following tributes to Miss Farnsworth's character appeared soon after her death, the first one in the " Boston Commonwealth," February 23, 1884, and the other in the "Groton Citizen," March, 1884: -

This lady was a rare specimen of a genuine New England woman - strong in intellect, decided and independent in character, of great energy, and firm in her religious faith, and a constant reader of the best books, having a tenacious memory and keeping herself well informed of things occurring all over the world, in which she retained the vivid interest of a young person. An early Garrison abolitionist (as were her whole family), she was in sympathy with all reformatory efforts, including those to secure larger rights for women, and herself voted at the town election for school committee when 86. She excelled as a most ready letter-writer, and wrote a long letter the very morning of her death, which occurred suddenly of heart disease, while her mind was bright as ever. Among her papers has been found the following letter from Mr. Garrison, written her about five weeks before his death, dated Roxbury, April 19, 1879. After acknowledging some gifts for the suffering colored people in Kansas, he says : -

" It would be indeed a most pleasing occurrence to me if I could have the opportunity of seeing you face to face and conversing with you in regard to things past and present ; but, though I am at least twelve years your junior, my health is so far affected that I am obliged to keep very closely to my home, though none the less in favor of 'immediate and unconditional emancipation' from all 'the ills that flesh is heir to ; ' but happily that will be realized at no distant day, in accordance with the law of mortality. I bear in affectionate remembrance your deceased brother. Dr. Amos Farnsworth, whose friendship I greatly prized, and who brought to the support of the anti-slavery cause an inflexible purpose, a whole-souled consecration, a warmly sympathetic spirit, and a noble disregard of that ' fear of man, which bringeth a snare.' I hope to clasp hands with him on another plane of existence, and with many other dear friends and co-workers, who have preceded me in the matter of translation to a higher life. May the remainder of your days be without any drawback and yet extended to a centennial period. " Yours with profound respect, a well-known resident of Groton, died of old age on Saturday, February 2. She was the daughter of Major Amos and Elizabeth (Rockwood) Farnsworth, and born on October 19, 1792. She came from a sturdy stock, both physically and mentally; and representatives of her family not infrequently have reached an age upwards of ninety years.

Her father died October 19, 1847, aged 93 years, 6 months and 1 day; and her mother died December 11, 1847, aged 90 years, 7 months and 24 days, each one at the time of death the oldest person in town.

Her brother Luke lived to be over 90, and she herself at the time of decease was 91 years, 3 months and 14 days. Her ancestry was peculiarly of Groton origin, having descended from families who belonged to the very earliest settlers of the place, including among them the Rockwoods, Longleys, and Prescotts. She was the last member of her immediate branch, bearing the name, who lived in the town. She was more familiar with the old traditions of Groton than any person living at the present time.

Miss Farnsworth was a woman of strong mental qualities, and took active interest in all the social and political questions of the day. She was a constant reader of the newspapers, and kept herself informed with regard to current news. She was an ardent advocate of temperance, and a firm believer in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures. It was always pleasant to talk with her on these subjects, as she was so familiar with them, and ever ready with apt quotations.

In her girlhood Miss Farnsworth was a scholar at the Academy, having attended in the year 1804, while under the preceptorship of Mr. Butler. At that time the institution was known as Groton Academy. She always took a deep interest in the welfare of the school ; and only last October she sent for the writer of these lines and told him that she did not expect to live through the winter, and desired to add her name to the list of subscribers, in aid of the Academy fund. She then gave him the sum of five hundred dollars for that object, and told him to say nothing about it during her life-time, and this is the first public announcement of the fact.

The following reference to the Convention is found in the Life of William Lloyd Garrison, written by his sons, and published last year in New York. A fuller account is given in No. IV. of this Historical Series (page 13), under the head of "Two Groton Conventions."

The year 1840 was, in a fermenting period, distinguished for the number of conventions, of every species, looking to the amelioration of human society. One, which made much stir, was held at Groton, Mass., on August 12 (while Mr. Garrison was on the water), being called by the friends of Christian Union, who inquired : " Is the outward organization of the Church a human or a divine institution ? " Amos Farnsworth was in the chair, and among other Abolitionists who participated were A. B. Alcott, J. V. Himes, and Cyrus M. Burleigh. But also one remarked the Rev. George Ripley, the future founder of the Brook Farm Community ; Christopher Pearce Cranch ; and (as the report read in the

Reminiscences Of The Rev. Mr. Patch

By the kindness of Mr. Hawley I am allowed to make an extract from a letter, dated Stevens Point, Wisconsin, February 19, 1886, and written to him by the Reverend Jacob Patch, a native of Groton, which gives some of his early recollections of the town.

I have no recollections of Groton that would not probably be far better recollected by mfiny who are now living there, and have kept their memory fresh by passing places associated with interesting events, and by hearing over and over again a recital of the otherwise fading scraps of history." "Leaving the State at sixteen, I had only a boy's interest in passing events. Dr. Chaplin had grown old, and as the art of dentistry was not then perfected, old people often were very slow and measured in speech, and we boys were in the habit of doing some thinking between the Doctor's utterances, until we were forced to sleep by being compelled to sit still ; and hence when John Todd came, with his sparkling thoughts and earnest gestures, we children became his followers. Dr. Chaplin seems to have been of the Orthodox faith, and so he was in heart sympathy with Mr. Todd and his followers. But the women and children could not vote in church matters, and the poor men going with the Todd party were out-voted, and voted out of the meetinghouse by those who had adopted the Unitarian views, and hence were obliged, though not well able, to meet the cost of building a house, and sustain the work incident to the separate congregation. Those were times of highly excited feelings ; and then, as at other times, there were men of the baser sort, who had not intellect and good taste enough to devise any better way to express their zeal, who would take out the linchpins (they did not have burrs or nuts then to hold the wheels on their carriages) and make other disarrangement of harness and carriages at the evening meetings, - and these feats of foolishness and danger were practised upon the Todd party without retaliation. The most impressive event of the year 1829 or about that time was the burning of barns.^ I do not remember how many, but at least seven valuable barns were burned within a few months, and there seemed to be no discrimination of party in politics or church. The whole matter, as far as I can remember, was without explanation. All such events, you readily see, would be the things remembered by a boy, and better remembered, perhaps, by people who were of more mature age at the time, and are still living with their faculties unimpaired ; so please do not let Dr. Green expect me to contribute anything connected with the history of dear old Groton. It is a pleasure to see the name of a son of our physician of olden time in honor.

Groton During The Indian Wars

The following article contains certain facts not mentioned in " Groton during the Indian Wars," and is intended to supplenient the incidents given in that book.

The fullest account of the burning of Groton by the Indians, on March 13, 1676, is found in the Reverend William Hubbard's Narrative ; ttiougR there is a good deal of confusion and uncertainty in the dates, so far as they relate to the relief sent to the town and the removal of the inhabitants at that time. Various attempts have been made by different writers to reconcile these inconsistencies, but without success. The following extracts from manuscripts, hitherto unpublished, throw a little light on the subject, but unfortunately do not solve all the doubts. The first one is from a paper among the Middlesex Court files at East Cambridge.

It seems that Thomas Danforth, Register, had issued a summons to the constable at Watertown to warn the freemen of that town to choose three able and meet men to serve on the jury of trials ; and a return is made by William Bond, constable, certifying that John Bright was one of the three men, but he " is now since his choyce Impressed to helpe fetch ye poore desstresed people from Groatne." The certificate is dated "151 7S-6," - the same as March 15, 1676, - and found in File 27, No. 2, Paper 6.

The other extract is taken from a letter written by the Council to Major Savage, on April i, 1676, and now among the Massachusetts Archives (LXVIII. 192) at the State House. The extract is as follows : -

The Towne of Lancaster is wholy deserted Groton can abide no longer y° Vntill carts bee sent To bring y*" wch wilbe next weeke, Chelmsfored wee fearre will bee soone nessecated to do y' like and what Meadfeld and other froneters towns may short bee put vpon ye Lord know

This agrees with one of the accounts that has come down from early times. It is highly probable, however, that some of the families left the place immediately after the destruction of their homes.

At this assault John Morse was carried off by the Indians, as a prisoner, and taken to the neighborhood of Wachusett mountain, but he was ransomed soon afterward on the payment of five pounds by John Hubbard, of Boston. The following extract from a letter, written by Daniel Henchman, June 2, 1676, helps to fix the date of his release. Probably he was not delivered up until the money was forthcoming, as prisoners were a cash article, worth at that time about four pounds ; and the rum, doubtless, hastened the bargain. Tom Dublet, the agent in the affair, was a friendly Indian, with several "aliases," who lived at Wamesit on the Merrimack River.

Tom. Dublet went a way soone after Mf Clark and with him Jonathan Prescott, Daniel Champney & Josiah White carrying the pay for Goodman Moss & 3 gallons of rum.

In the spring of 1684, eight years afterward, Prescott and Champney signed a certificate to the Council, setting forth the valuable services of the Indian in securing Morse's freedom, and recommending him for a gratuity, which was accordingly granted by that body, in the shape of two coats. The certificate is as follows : -

Whereas wee Peeter Gardner, Daniel Chamney & Jonathan Prescot were Imployed By the Hono'ed Council somtime in May or June 1677 [1676 ?] To goe vp among The enimy Indians that then quartered in the woods About Watchuset in order to procure the deliuery of Inglish Captiues. Wee doe Certify that Thomas Dublet alius Nepanet was our interp'ter & helper in that Affayre ; And that hee hadlaeene a jorney before that time to treat w* the enimy & had procured them to meet vs, aboue twenty miles from ther quarters for the sachem met vs betwene Concord & Groaten ; And at that time old Goodman Moss of Waterton [Groton ?] was deliuerd to vs & brought home & haueing By order paid fower pounds for his redempti[on] w'^'' Thomas Nepan[et] had bargaind for in his forme [r] jorney, And wee further say y' the said Tom Nepanet carried it faithfully in that matter & Deserues satisfaction for his Trauile & Adventure in y' dificult time & wee vnderstand hee hath receiued no satisfaction for that seruice hitherto, therefore wee humble conceue the Honored Councill should consider, him & order him to receue thirty or forty shillings for that Hazardoes seruice : And In testimony of the Truth of this certificate wee whose names are aboue exp'sed haue hervnto sett o' hands, the day & yeare aboue written.

At a Council held at Boston the 8* May 1684 In Answer to the petition of Tho Dublett Indian & in sattisfaction for his paynes & trauile about y' procurme' of Goodman Morses freedom from y° Indians Its ordered that y' Tresurer Giue him two Coates

The Colonial authorities had full knowledge of the intended attacks on the several towns of Lancaster, Groton, Marlborough, Sudbury, and Medfield, during Philip's War ; and their slow action in meeting the danger is not ''asy to explain. Rumors had been rife among the settlers that danger was threatening, and, in order to learn' the truth of these stories. Governor Leverett concluded to send out spies. For this purpose he selected James Quanapaug and Job Katenanit, two friendly Indians, who were as well known for their personal bravery as for their fidelity to the English. They started at once on the service, at the great risk of their lives, " through the Woods in the depth of Winter," says Hubbard, in his Narrative, "when the wayes were impassable for any other sort of people : these two, by name Raines and J^ob ordered their business so prudently, as that they were admitted into those Indian habitations, as Friends, and had free liberty of Discourse with them " (page 76). Quanapaug returned some time before the other spy, and reported to the Council the result of his hazardous journey, which is found in a communication, dated January 24, 1675-6, and now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He says : -

And this Indian [One-eyed John, or Monaco] told mee, they would fall upon Lancast', Groton, Malborough, Sudbury, & Meadfeild ; & that the 1° thing they would do should bee to cut down Lancaster bridge, so to hinder theire flight, & assistance coming to them ; & that they intended to fall upon them in about 20 dayes time from wedensday last.

This intelligence was of the utmost importance to the inhabitants of these outlying towns, but the authorities do not appear to have heeded it. If prompt action had been taken, some of the bloody massacres of that period might have been averted. Quanabaug foretold, almost to a day, the attack on Lancaster, and it was carried out exactly as he predicted. His paper was dated January 24, 1675-6, which day fell on a Monday, and the preceding Wednesday came on January 19 ; twenty days from that Wednesday would bring the time to February 8. The attack came on the loth, which would be "about twenty days" from the date he mentioned.

No attention seems to have been paid to Quanabaug's timely information, until the return of Job, the other spy, who reached Major Gookin's house at Cambridge, completely exhausted after a fatiguing march of eighty miles through the wilderness, on the day before the fatal blow was struck, and confirmed the fearful news. Then, and not till then, was help sent to the beleaguered garrison at Lancaster, where in one house fourteen persons were killed and twenty taken prisoners during this assault, though the relief arrived in season to recapture another garrison house.

The leader of this attack was One-eyed John, the same Indian who commanded a few weeks later at the assault on Groton. He was a vile wretch, who met his well-merited fate on the gallows at Boston, on September 26, 1676. In a letter from the Reverend Thomas Gobbet, of Ipswich, to Dr. Increase Mather, dated March 28, 1677, the writer thus alludes to his jeers : - y° blasphemous speeches of one eyed John vttered at Groton to Capt. Parker in y'^ heareing of Diuerse : Boasting how many places he had Burned, & sayeing he would burne Concord, Watertowne Charlestowne &c Adding : And Me will doe, what me will :

At this period, Captain James Parker, of Groton, was the most prominent man in town, filling many civil and military positions. Mr. Butler, in his History, says of him : -

He was successively chosen a selectman of Groton in most of Ihe years from 1662 to 1699, when chosen for the last time. During this period he was moderator of most of the town meetings, a member and chairman of all important committees, chosen to locate highways, lay out land, establish boundaries of the town, and in fine, to transact all business of a municipal, parochial, or public nature. He was a very active, noted, and, as is presumed, a very brave officer, in the wars with the Indians. (Pages 281, 282.)

I desier an ordf to Cap^ Parker for some shott who hath a Quantity of y" Cuntrys stock in his hand. I am Advised y' Lancaster hunters have lately been w'^ a copany of Indians near wachusett, y= number of y" is Reported to be about 300. yy Report themselves to be Albanians Senecas Maquas w* y'= western or Connecticut Indians, This vnusuall Confluenc of so many Indians makes many to suspect & fear a design ag=' us. I doubt not but y° Council! will satisfy Themselves about it. The sould" y' I Desier will be needed in Chelmsf Groton & Lancaster :

The following extract is taken from an undated letter, written by John Cotton, the minister of Plymouth, to his wife, Mrs. Joanna Cotton, then visiting at Sandwich. It contains an interesting reference to the Reverend Mr. Hobart's son, who was carried off from Groton by the Indians, on July 27, 1694. There has long been a tradition that one of Mr. Hobart's children lay concealed, during the assault, under a tub in the cellar, and thus was saved from the fury of the savages. This story is in part confirmed by the letter, though it turns out to have been the maidservant, and not one of the children. Mr. Cotton writes : -

I thinke I forgot to tell you that M' Hobarts lost son & a woman ran away & gat home, the Indians being drunk, she sayes they were 30 & the English were neere them, had they come a little further they might easily have taken & killed them all ; Mr. Hob's maid hid herselfe under a tub in the cellar, the Indians were there, laid their guns on the tub, smelt her not.

letter from Mr. Cotton, dated, appears to be confirmed. If this supposition is correct, the report that Mr. Hobart's captured son had run away from the Indians was probably false, as Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, in his Diary, under the date of May I, 1695, says that young Hobart was then still held a prisoner by them.

The original letter is found among the manuscripts of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in the volume marked "Prince Papers" 61. D, leaf 23. Another undated letter, written by Mr. Cotton, in the same volume of manuscripts, leaf 33, contains an allusion to Bomazeen, who led the Indian forces against Groton at this assault. It is addressed to his son Rowland, the minister of Sandwich, and, according to Mr. Prince, was written on June 10, 1695. The reference is as follows : -

At the bottom of this letter Mr. Prince has written: "95. May. 20. y" Indians bring 8 captives to Pemaquid-Fort & obt' a Truce for 30 Days."

All the contemporary accounts of the attack of July 27, 1694, state that thirteen prisoners were taken and carried off, but Ann Jenkins, in her deposition, printed on page 73 of " Groton during the Indian Wars," says that only twelve captives were brought back by the Indian leader. It is highly probable that little Betty Longley was the thirteenth.; and tradition says that she perished from exposure, soon after she was taken.

During the early period of Massachusetts history there were " wars and rumors of wars," and sometimes the rumors produced almost as much consternation as the actual hostilities. In common with other outlying places, Groton had her share of vague reports, and the inhabitants were often disturbed b^ their circulation. General Wait Winthrop, a nephew of Deane Winthrop, who was one of the founders of this town, writes

We haue a report from Hadly of Indians and French coming upon Deerfield, Lancaster, and Groton ; and orders are giuen to send men for there defence.

A few years after this time, according to the town records, a garrison was needed at Thomas Chamberlain's mill, situated in the northerly part of Groton. Thomas was the father of John Chamberlain, who was noted as the man who killed Paugus in Lovewell's Fight at Pigwacket, on May 8, 1725. The entry in the records is as follow^s : -

Groton may the 8 1706 At a town Meting legaly woned thay ded by uot declare thay would and doe desire that Thomas Chamberill mill may bee up helde by a solgar or solgars for die good of the town by a patition to the cort or athoratie

Thomas Chamberlain was a carpenter and miller, and lived about a quarter of a mile northerly of Wattle's Pond, on the west side of the road to East Pepperell. He is supposed to have died about the year 1709.

If Chamberlain's mill was defended by a garrison at this period, it was probably there that the two Newton soldiers were killed on July 21, 1706, and another Newton soldier was captured at the same time. The account is given on page 92 of " Groton during the Indian Wars." Two of these men were brothers by the name of Seager, and the third one was Nathaniel Healy. It was Ebenezer Seager who was killed, and probably Henry Seager, Jr., who was taken prisoner. They had been dining with one Blood, and families of this name were then living in the neighborhood. Mr. Butler, in Ifis History (page 265), mentions the fact that there was a large number of persons by the name of Blood in Groton, and that " they resided in the north part of the town."

The Reverend Wilkes Allen, in his History of Chelmsford (page 35, note), states that Major Tyng was wounded by the Indians between Groton and Concord some time during the year 171 1, and taken to the latter town, where he died; and further on in the same work (page 129, note) he gives the Christian name of Major Tyng, which was William, and corrects the date, which should be 1710.

The following article contains an allusion to one of the Tarbell captives, and is found in " The Massachusetts Gazette : and The Boston Weekly News-Letter," October 15, 1772. It is the account from which the abridgment was made that appears in Farmer and Moore's " Collections " (Concord, New Hampshire, 1822), and quoted on page 121 of " Groton during the Indian Wars."

THIS Day Mr. Silvanus Ripley, and his Companion, and Interpreter, Lieut. Joseph Taylor, returned from their Mission to the Indian Tribes in Canada, and brought with them ten Children from those Tribes, to receive an Education in this School ; two of which are Children of English Captives, who were taken by the Indians in former Wars, while they were young, and naturalized ; and these Children are brought up in the Language, and Customs of the Indians. The great forwardness and unanimity of their chief Men, when they were called in Council on the occasion, to have their Children come, and their final resolution to send them, notwithstanding the most forceable opposition their Priest made to it, the Chearfulness, orderly and good Behaviour of the Lads on their Way, and intire satisfaction on their arrival Home (as they called it) and the Accounts they give of Numbers of their Acquaintance which they have left behind, who desired to come with them for an Education, and may be expected in due time, and all this from a Thirst for Learning, founded partly on a Conviction of the Utility of it, which they have got by observing the great Advantage which the Learned have, above others they have lived amongst, and only thro' their superior Learning, also the great and general Veneration the Chiefs expressed towards the benevolent, and charitable Design of this Indian School, exhibit a truly encouraging Prospect that

God yet mercifully designs something shall be done in that Quarter for the Honor of his great Name. Among these Children, is a Grandson about 8 Years old, of Mr. Tarbull, who was taken from Groton in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, about 68 Years ago, when he was about lo Years old ; he greatly rejoiced to see them on this Occasion, and earnestly encouraged his Grandson's coming : the old Gentleman is hearty, and well, and is the eldest Chief of that Village, - he expressed great Affection to his Relations in New-England, and desired they might be informed of his Welfare, and also that he had a Grandson at this School, - also a Grandson of Mrs. Eunice Williams, who was captivated with her Father, the Rev. Mr. Williams of Deerfield, in the Year 1704, would have come with them ; but was sick with the Measels ; but may be expected in the Spring, if they meet with nothing discouraging.

N. B. The Number of Indian Children now in this School, is 17, besides one that is put out to a private Family, on account of his being too young for the School.

Naumox is an additional word to the list of local Indian names printed on page 189 of "Groton during the Indian Wars." It is applied to a long low hill or ridge, a short distance west of the road to East Pepperell, near the Longley monument, and running parallel with the road. It is also used in connection with the neighborhood. Shepley Hill is another long low ridge in close proximity to Naumox, and lying to the west of it. The name is rarely heard at the present time, though it was in use, according to the town records, as far back as February 28, 1670 ; and I mention the fact here, in order to extend its survival.

The inscriptions on the three monuments erected by the town in the autumn of 1879, and formally dedicated on February 20, 1880, were written by President Eliot, of Harvard University. The original draft of these inscriptions, and various other papers connected with them, are now preserved in the Boston Public Library, bound up with a printed copy of the Address delivered on the occasion by Samuel A. Green.

John Prescott'S Agreement With The Town

The following Agreement made between John Prescott, of Lancaster, and a committee of the town of Groton, concerning a grist-mill, is found in the Middlesex Registry of Deeds (HI. 399, 400) at East Cambridge. My attention was first called to it by the Honorable Henry S. Nourse, of Lancaster. The committee was appointed on August 6, 1667, and authorized to make "a firme bargaine" with Prescott. See the printed edition of " The Early Records of Groton, Massachusetts. 1662-1707 " (pages 20, 2i).