Groton Town (part 1 of 9)

Groton Town

I PURPOSE some time to write a history of my native town, beginning with her earliest settlement and coming down to the present day ; and to this end I have collected many Papers. During a long period she stood in the midst of a wilderness, and was exposed to all the trials of frontier life. She suffered much from hardships and want, as well as from the savage warfare of the Indians. Her original territory has been cut up, and now she is a mother of towns. In former years she exerted great influence in the neighborhood, and her experiences make a story worth telling.

In order to get this historical material under cover, where it may be preserved, and in the meanwhile accessible to others, I have published this Series, which, perhaps, will be continued at some future day.

Contents

The Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen. - Railroads and other Corporations, etc. - Miss Prescott's School. - Groton Newspapers. - Groton Bakery. - Revolutionary Items. - An Old Wall. - "The Neck."

The Functions of New England Academies : An Address delivered AT the Dedication of Lawrj:nce Academy, Groton, June 29, 1871, by the Rev. Charles Hammond. With an Appendix, containing Act of Incorporation, etc.

No. IX. District Schools. - Public Librarv. - Military Matters. - Fires occurring in 1829. - The Ringing of the Nine o'clock Bell. - Mistake in the Spelling of a Name.

Groton during the Indian Wars. - John Prescott's Agreement WITH the Town. - Simon Willard and Nonacoicus Farm. - Samuel Carter, Fourth Minister of Groton.

A Register of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Groton, 1664-1693, and of Marriages, 1713-1793, as Copied from the Middlesex County Records ; also a List of Marriages sent to the Town Clerk of Groton, under Chapter LXXXIV Section 4, of the Acts of 1857, and some from other Sources ; with an Appendix.

Childs, a Revolutionary Officer ; A Singular Petition ; Absentees; An !^xception. - The Presbyterian Controversy in Groton. - President Dwight's Description of Groton. - Memoranda by Joseph Farwell. - The First Operation UNDER Ether. - A January Thaw. - The New Testament in A. Bale of Cotton.

New Chapter in the History of the Concord Ficpx. - List of Groton Subscribers to Important Book.s, etc. - Pepperell Fever. - Naomi Farwell, the Hermitess. - The Gilson Family. - The Town-Clock. - Life in the Wilderness. - A Stray Cow.

An Old House, and Some of its Occupants. - Two Balloon Descents IN Groton. - Tunes called "Groton."- - John Bulkley's Death. - Dr. Wm. Douglass's Summary. - The South Military Company. - A Provincial Note-Forger. - Commodore Bainbridge and the Lakin Farm. - Miss Clarissa Butler. - Revolutionary Soldiers. - The Indian Attack of July 27, 1694.

The Groton Bi-Centennial Celebration- - A Commemoration, July 4, 1876: Groton Burned by the Indians, 1676; Declaration of Independence, 1776. - Samuel Laurence's Recollections. - Tax on Unappropriated Lands. - John Derbyshire. - Chaises and "Chairs" in Groton. - Slavery in Groton, - Items from Various Sources. - Deaths,

No. XIX. General Grant's Visit to Groton. - Old Mill-Sites in Groton. - BiLLERicA Bridge. - William Nutting. - The First Church AT West Groton. - Daniel Farmer and Eleazer Priest. The Farrington Family. - Burning of Judge Dana's Barn.

Reminiscences Of Groton

My dear Sir, - To one so familiar with the history of Groton, in all its departments and records, from the foundation of the town, I am aware that no slipshod reminiscences of my short visit to that place so long ago, can be of much interest or of any use ; and without the pen of Sir Walter or the mallet and chisel of Old Mortality to scrape off the moss and to restore the inscriptions in the churchyard of my memory, any attempt will be in vain.

But, in compliance with your request of yesterday, to make some memoranda of my experiences and observations at Groton during a short residence of about five months in the winter of 1823 and 1824, I will try, though in nearly the eightieth year of my age, and after the expiration of sixty years, without the assistance of any diary, and with a memory materially impaired by age, to furnish, as briefly as I can, the few reminiscences I am able to recall.

Early in the winter of 1823-24, after my dismission from Harvard College, with about half my classmates, in consequence of the rebellion of the class of 1823, and after entering my name as a law student in the office of a distinguished lawyer in Boston, I was induced, partly for the purpose of superintending the education of a younger brother, in whom 1 felt a great interest, to go to Groton, and there, still pursuing the study of the law, to remain for about five months.

Groton was then a town of about two thousand inhabitants, famous as the birthplace of the distinguished and numerous family of the Lawrences, and Colonel William Prescott, of Bunker Hill memory ; and possessing many advantages, from the beauty of its scenery, the loveliness of its situation, and its social attractions as a place of residence.

But, remaining there so short a time, it necessarily offered but few opportunities to collect many reminiscences valuable to an author of a history of that town. A few, however, I will attempt to supply, leaving it to your discretion to adopt, reject, or alter as much or little as you please ; presuming that after such a space of time it is impossible to recall, with any degree of exactness, dates, events, and persons with which you will have to deal in your book.

At that time the two most prominent men in Groton were Mr. Luther Lawrence and Judge Dana, to both of whom I was introduced by the honorable and eminent lawyer, Judge Prescott, of Boston. They received us with hospitality and kindness, and contributed much to the pleasure of our short stay in that town. On our arrival we found comfortable rooms and good board in a large house, standing high on the east side of the main street, or stage road, in a central situation, belonging to Mr. William F. Brazer, and directly opposite to the dwelling of Mr. Butler, a most excellent and estimable man, at that time, I believe, the town clerk, and since then the postmaster and historian of Groton. At Mr. Brazer's two young men, Mr. Norman Seaver and Mr. Charles Butterfield, both graduates of Harvard College and students at law, were our fellow -boarders and agreeable companions. Thus began my first experience of country life in New England.

On Thanksgiving day we were hospitably invited to dine and spend the day with the family of Mr. Butler, our opposite neighbor, where we were inducted into the mysteries of that New England festival, with all its games and frolics in the evening, after a generous supply of turkey, mince and pumpkin pies at dinner, with the welcome exchange of appropriate customary presents. The party was composed of Mr., Mrs., and Miss Butler, and we had a first-rate time. The daughter, Miss Susan Butler, then about sixteen, would, by Washington Irving, have been called the " Pride of the Village." She was bright, pretty, and graceful, full of animation, and the best of company for such an occasion. With a face full of expression and a mind well stored, for her age, with knowledge, with a figure tall and straight, and manner simple and attractive, she would have done credit to any society. Added to all this, she wrote poetry of much more than ordinary merit. She was of an age when coasting was good fun ; and I regretted not a little that my brother anticipated me in securing the best sled and the best girl for this exhilarating winter amusement, which, considering that he was younger, better-looking, and more skilful in steering, was not surprising. About two years afterward, while in Europe, I heard with deepest sorrow, that this child, only sixteen when I knew her, - already then the pride of her parents, the idol of her companions, and the favorite of all who knew her, and, as I was told, still improving in person and character, surrounded by every blessing in possession and prospect to make life happy, - had fallen a victim to some fatal malady, and had been followed to her early grave in Groton, with aching hearts and streaming eyes, by her fond parents and admiring friends. Who, after an interval of nearly sixty years, is now left to tell how much of youthful promise, purity, grace, and sweetness of character lies buried in that grave, with the crushed hopes and fond wishes of those who loved her

15'.y To see if the Town will Vote to Chose a Committee of safety to see that there is no more Infringements made on our Injured Rights and previledges - and act [on] any thing Relative to the above Articles or any other things which may be Necessary for the good of the Publick at Large.

And you are to make return of this Warrant with your doings therein to the Town Clerk of said Town or to some one of the Selectmen of the s* Town by Tuesday next [June 27,] at Eight o Clock beforenoon hereof you will not fail at the peril of the Law. Given under my hand & seal this 24'!' day of June A. D. 1786.

These several articles were referred to a committee, chosen at the meeting, consisting of Dr. Benjamin Morse, Captain Job Shattuck, Ensign Moses Childs, Captain Asa Lawrence, and Captain Zechariah Fitch, to whom " Discretionary power " was given to act as they thought best. They were requested to correspond with the committees of other towns in the Commonwealth, in relation to their public grievances, and to petition the General Court for redress.

The " request " contained in the warrant shows clearly the utter want of appreciation of the true causes of their troubles, on the part of the signers, as well as the proper remedies for relief. Their political notions were crude in the extreme, and in many respects agree well 'with the views of those who now advocate free trade and fiat money.

Committees from Groton, Pepperell,'Shirley, Townsend, and Ashby met at Groton on June 29, 1786, two days after the town-meeting, in order to make preparations for calling a county convention. At this preliminary meeting a committee was appointed, of which Captain John Nutting, of Pepperell, was the chairman, who addressed a circular letter to the selectmen of the other towns in Middlesex County. They were invited to send delegates to a convention, to be holden at Concord, " to consult on matters of public grievances and embarrassments, and devise a remedy therefor." At Newtoa a town-meeting was held expressly for the purpose of considering this letter, when a very sharp and decisive answer was sent by that town to Captain Nutting, declining to take part in the affair. Extracts from the reply are found in Francis Jackson's " History of Newton " (pp. 211-213).

The county convention was afterward held at Concord, on August 23, - the immediate result of the meeting of the town committees at Groton. Its object was to consult on public grievances ; and one such grievance was the Court of Common Pleas, which was to sit on the 12th of the following month. The malcontents felt a special spite against this court, sometimes called the Inferior Court, as it was the principal source of the executions by which property was sold to satisfy the demands of the tax-gatherer. The convention voted ten articles of grievance, and adopted an address to the public, which was ordered to be printed, when it adjourned to meet again on the first Tuesday of October.

Trouble was now feared, and means were taken to prevent it. But notwithstanding these measures, a mob of about a hundred men from Groton and its neighborhood, under the command of Job Shattuck, assembled at Concord, on the afternoon of September 12, in order to prevent the session of the court.

They lodged that night in the court-house, and under such other temporary shelter as they could find, and on the next day took possession of the ground in front of the court-house. Strengthened by considerable accessions to their numbers, they succeeded in their aim so far as to prevent the sitting of the court ; and this produced a great excitement, not only in Middlesex, but throughout the State. Flushed with success, the rioters were now determined to suppress the session of the court to be held at Cambridge on November 28, though some of them were inclined to go no further against the government, but in this were overruled by the leaders. As the day drew near, there were unpleasant rumors of a probable collision between the authorities and the rebels, and due care was taken to avert it. The show of strength on the part of the government, and the want of discipline among the insurgents, prevented the disaster.

John Quincy Adams, then a young man in college, writes in his journal, under the date of November 27, 1786, - as quoted by the Hon. Charles Francis Adams in his Phi Beta Kappa address, at Cambridge, on June 26, 1873 : -

" This evening, just before prayers, about forty horsemen arrived here, under the command of Judge [Oliver] Prescott, of Groton, in order to protect the court to-morrow from the rioters. We hear of nothing but Shays and Shattuck. Two of the most despicable characters in the community now make themselves of great consequence." (Page 6.)

General John Brooks, afterward the Governor of the Commonwealth, writes from Medford, under the date of November 27, 1786, to Commissary-General Richard Devens, that " one hundred Volunteers are expected in this town every moment from Groton to support the Court at Cambridge tomorrow." ^ This is, undoubtedly, an allusion to the force under Judge Prescott, who was a prominent military character in the county. He had previously held in the militia the respective commissions of major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, brigadiergeneral, and major-general.

On November 27 a small party of insurgents, headed by Oliver Parker, of Groton, marched into Concord, on their way to Cambridge with the intention of suppressing the court.

This movement created fresh excitement, as the Middlesex leaders had indeed promised to remain quiet, and their appearance now was quite unexpected. Job Shattuck joined them later, coming in a more secret manner. It was intended that he should have command of the party, and act with the rebel force from Worcester County ; but, owing to some want of co-operation between them, their plan fell through. At this failure the ringleaders became disheartened and scattered, when most of them returned to their homes. Warrants were at once issued for the arrest of the principal offenders. Executive action was based on the following communication:^ -

I hereby certify that Job Shattuck & Oliver Parker Gentlemen & Benj'- Page Yeoman all of Groton & Nathan Smith & John Kelsey of Shirley Gentlemen, all in the County of Middlesex & Commonwealth aforesaid have been active in the late rebellion & stirring up the people to oppose Government, are therefore dangerous persons & pray a Warrant may be issued to restrain them of their personal Liberty.

A company of horsemen, under the command of Colonel Benjamin Hichborn, aided by another party under Captain Henry Woods, of Pepperell, was sent from Boston to secure the subjects of the warrant.

"The execution of these warrants was committed to the Sheriff of Middlesex [Loammi Baldwin], and others, to whose aid, a party of horse, who had voluntarily associated for the support of government, under Colonel Benjamin Hichhurn, was ordered from Boston, early in the morning of [Wednesday] the 29th of November. They were joined by a party from Groton, under the command of Colonel Henry Wood, and the whole consisting of more than 100, proceeded immediately for Concord. On their arrival there, the Groton horse, as being best acquainted with the country, and least liable to excite an alarm from an unfamiliar appearance to the inhabitants, were despatched to secure the subjects of the warrant. These returned at night, with two prisoners, Parker and Page, but Shattuck, the principal leader, had taken an alarm and escaped. Under this disappointment, at midnight, in the midst of a violent snow storm, the whole party were ordered on to Shattuch's house in Groton, where they did not arrive till late in the morning. Here they found that ShaUuck had fled to the woods. A search was immediately commenced, and a judicious pursuit discovered him to a party of a few persons, led by Colonel Wood himself. ShaUuck obstinately resisted, and was not taken until he had received several wounds, one of which was exceedingly dangerous, and which he returned, though without much injury. The three principal objects of the warrant being thus apprehended, the party returned to Boston, on the next day but one after their departure, having pervaded the country for near fifty miles. The short time in which this excursion was performed with so large a body, and the extreme severity of the weather, rendered the execution of this service as honourable to the gentlemen who subjected themselves to it, as their motives in the undertaking were commendable."

Job Shattuck lived near Wattle's Pond, in a house which he built about the year 1782, still standing, and occupied by Harrison Holmes when the map in Mr. Butler's History was made. He is supposed to have passed the night before his arrest at the house of Samuel Gragg, two miles away from his own dwelling. When the company failed to find him at his home on the morning of Thursday, November 30, twelve men, under Sampson Reed, of Boston, proceeded at once to Gragg's residence, where there was reason to think he was hiding. They learned that he had been there, but had just left ; and by the tracks in a light snow which had fallen during the previous night, they traced him to the neighborhood of his own house. Here he was taken by his pursuers, after a desperate resistance, on the banks of the Nashua River, almost within sight of his dwelling. A blow from the broadsword of F. C. Varnum, of Boston, made a fearful wound in Shattuck's knee, dividing the capsular ligament.

" We have the pleasure of announcing to the publick the very agreeable and authentick information of the safe return of the corps of volunteer hbrse, under the command of Col. Hichborn, after havinw achieved the object of their exped.ition, by the capture of ShaUuck, Parker and Page, who have been the indefatigable fomenters of sedition in the county of Middlesex.

" Too much credit cannot be given the officers and men on this occasion, who performed a long and disagreeable march, a great part of the way in the night, in a heavy snow-storm, and in a very short period. - The people every where in the country, through which they passed, so far from the opposition which the rioters threatened, cheerfully gave them every assistance that was wanted. A company of horse, under Col. Wood, of Pepperell, were particularly active, and had the honour of securing two of the prisoners before the party arrived at Groton. - Shattuck, however, had found the means of eluding their vigilance - but upon the arrival of the troop in the vicinit}' of his house, a second search commenced with renewed ardour - until he was finally discovered, pursued and apprehended - though not without a sharp conflict with one of the horse, in which much personal bravery was displayed - but upon two others coming up, he was obliged to surrender. - Shattuck was badly wounded in the knee, and the gentleman immediately engaged received a slight cut on his face. - These deluded and daring violaters of the publick peace had been in arms the day before in Concord, on their way to Cambridge, to stop the Court of Common Pleas, which is now sitting unmolested in that town.

" The most absurd and contradictory stories have been circulated throughout the country ; and it may be truly said, that they have supported a bad cause by the most scandalous deception, as well to their own strength, as to the views of government.

" Every body joins in giving praise to the volunteers, who have done honour to their characters, and rendered the most essential benefit to the State by this achievement.

" Groton is about 43 [33 ?] miles from this town, so that what with the direct course, and the chase which they had before the seizure of Shattuck, who immediately fled to the woods, upon being discovered behind a barn, many of the company must have rode near one hundred miles from Wednesday morning to Thursday evening, and were some of them nine hours on horse-back, without scarcely dismounting in that time. There was not a gun fired at the horse, in the whole expedition, though it was generally believed that Shattuck had fortified his house in order to a vigorous opposition : This, however, proved not to be the case, for he had endeavoui'ed to abscond, after trying in vain to raise a party for his protection. - The troop went in aid of the Sheriff, by order of his Excellency, when it was found that the late amnesty of government was without effect, in reclaiming these hardened offenders."

Captain Shattuck was carried to Boston on December 1, and committed to jail with Page and Parker, though these last two were soon afterward released on bail. Page's liberation was

Sib Mr Benit Page the State Prisoner with his Wife, beggs to know of your Excellency, whither he can be admitted to Bail before the sitting of the General Court ; as he has a large young Family suffering by his absence. Mf Page is a man of property & Mess'.' Joseph Allen & Jonathan Lawrence of Groton, men of property, will appear as sureties. Mf Levi Kemp the bearer, went with s* Page on the 27'^ of NovF last, to Carry a Letter from the Malcontents, to Capt. Pratt in Bristol County, & will inform you of their Conduct in that Journey. Your Excellency will be pleased to inform Mf Kemp whither Page can be admitted to Bail, & what are the necessary requisites for that purpose.

" Shattuck, the state prisoner now in this town, is amply provided with all the necessaries and conveniences proper for any person labouring under such a wound, as he. received in his violent and obstinate resistance to the gentlemen who apprehended him ; he is constantly attended by a number of respectable gentlemen of the Faculty, and treated with all the humanity that could possibly be shewn to any person whatever."

He remained in jail more than four months, but was finally released on April 6, under bonds of X200, and allowed to return to his family. The following letter relating to his son is ou file : 2 -

Groton, JanT 9'.^ 1787 Sir Job Shattuck Juf son of Capt. Shattuck the State Prisoner, earnestly requests your Excellency' permission to see his Father. - he hath been in Arms twice ; & after his father was apprehended absconded & went into the Western Counties, but after his return came & Volun- tarily took the oath of Allegiance a Certificate of which I have sent to the Seoretaryf office, & believe he will be a good Subject & I desire he may be allowed to return to his Family & Business. He will give an account of his discoveries in his Journey if interrogated.

" As the curiosity of the publick has been excited by the situation of Job Shattuck, now confined in the jail in this town ; and as it is not improbable his real condition may have been wilfully misrepresented in different parts of the country, it is thought expedient to publish the following, which may be relied on as a true state of facts.

" About 10 o'clock in the morning of the 30th of November, he was overtaken by a party of the posse who attended the Sheriff". Being armed with a broad sword, he assaulted the party, and before he could be made a prisoner, and disarmed, he received several slight cuts in his face and hands, and a wound in the joint of his right knee, from a broad sword. His hands and face were soon healed.

" By the wound in the knee, the capsular ligament was divided in an oblique direction, on the anteriour and external part. As soon as he could be brought to an house, his wounds were dressed ; and as he was to be conveyed immediately to Boston, it was judged expedient to close the gaping wound by three stitches through the cellular membrane. In this state he was conveyed to town in a sleigh, the most easy mode of conveyance at this season of the year. On the first of December, he was lodged in Boston jail. Having lain a few hours in a room on the first floor, he was removed on the same day into an upper-chamber, warm and comfortable, with a good fire-place, and capable of free ventilation, a room usually appropriated for debtors, and accommodated with glass-windows, where he was provided with suitable bedding, fireing, and a faithful nurse, and every other necessary, attended by a number of the faculty of the town.

" The great degree of inflammation usually brought on by a wound on this part, and of such a nature, was in a considerable degree prevented by bleeding, cooling medicines, anodyne and sedative applications, and by keeping the limb in an easy posture, and for the first week, the wound wore as favourable an appearance as, from the nature of it, could be expected.

" A degree of pain and inflammation, however, continued, particularly on the external and upper part of the joint ; and on Friday the 8th December, it was found necessary to open a sinus which had formed from the upper lip of the wound, and a little above the joint, which discharged a considerable quantity of matter. Notwithstanding this discharge, and the constant use of autiphlogistick applications, and a total abstinence from animal food, and every thing of a spirituous kind, and inflammation of all the parts about the'joint continued, and did not begin to subside until Tuesday the 12th, when they became less turgid, and the wound, with the parts adjacent, assumed a more agreeable aspect, the matter discharged was of a good quality, the patient was in general free from pain, rested well at night, and discovered that inclination for food which proves the system to be at ease.

" The inflammation having now subsided, it was thought proper to give the bark and wine, in order to restore the strength of the patient, which had been much impaired by the fever and discharges of matter ; and there was a pleasure in observing the agreeable appearance and improvement of the wound from day to day under this course. His recovery was evident, not only to the gentlemen who attended him, but was experienced by the patient, and drew from him his approbation and acknowl edgment.

"Notwithstanding these promising circumstances, he was indulged, by government, in the privilege, enjoyed by every other citizen, to choose his own physician and surgeon, and according to his own request, was delivered into the care of Mr. Kitteredge, of Tewksbury, on Wednesday the 20th ; since which time, neither of the gentlemen, who had attended, have seen him, or been consulted in his case.

" [It is to be remarked, that the patient at this time acknowledged, and Mr. Kitteredge declared the wound to be in good order, and that it ' run good matter.'] "

"A report having been circulated in the country, that Mr..Shattuck, one of the state prisoners, had died in jail, it is proper to inform the publick, that he was last evening as well as he has been for three weeks past ; and that his recovery is not improbable."

In the month of May, Captain Shattuck was tried and convicted before the Supreme Judicial Court, and sentenced to be hanged on June 28 ; but, the day before this, a reprieve was granted to July 26 ; then, on the day preceding this, the execution of the sentence was again postponed to September 20,

Job Shattuck's life was one of large experiences. He was born on February 11, 1736, and at the early age of nineteen took part in the French War, serving through the campaign of 1755 under General Monckton in Nova Scotia ; and later he was present at the battle of Bunker Hill. In the year 1776 he was lieutenant of a company that went to Boston after that town was evacuated by the British, and the next year he commanded a company raised in Groton, that marched to Fort Ticonderoga. During the whole period of the Revolution he gave freely of his time and money to promote the popular cause.

In the autumn of 1781, Shattuck was engaged in what were then known as the Groton riots, incited by the opposition to the silver-money tax. He and sixteen other citizens of the town threatened and bullied William Nutting and Benjamin Stone, while attending to their duties as constables in collecting taxes. It was an affair that created a good deal of excitement in its day. At the trial he. pleaded guilty, and was fined £10 and the cost of prosecution.

It is but just to the memory of Captain Shattuck to say that he was a member of the church and much respected by his townsmen. At the time of the rebellion he was near the middle age of life, and a man of great bodily vigor. He was the son of a respectable farmer, and himself a large landowner. Strong and athletic in person, skilled in the use of the broadsword and proud of the accomplishment, utterly insensible to fear and having a good war-record, - all these qualities, aided by his position and means, gave him great influence among his neighbors. He paid dearly for his errors, as the crutch which he used until the day of his death, January 13, 1819, would testify; and we can well afford to be charitable now to the poor misguided men who took part in that needless and wicked rebellion.

It should not be supposed, however, that the whole town of Groton sympathized with the insurrectionary proceedings, as there were many law-abiding citizens still remaining. The following extract is taken from " The Massachusetts Gazette," December 12, 1786 : -

" It may serve, says a correspondent, to give information to the publick, with respect to the importance of the mob in Middlesex, to know, that all the independent farmers, and all the sober, thinking people in that county, discovered the highest approbation of the measures lately taken to put a stop to all future tumults there ; hoping, as they declared, that they should now hear and suffer no more from such infamous doings, and that the neck of sedition was broken. The people of Groton provided every refreshment, for the men and horse who went out to apprehend the leaders of the mob, and refused to receive one farthing's recompence, though ample pay was urged upon them."

During the period of Shays's EebelUon Groton was one of the three towns in Middlesex County where the Court of Common Pleas used to sit, Cambridge and Concord being the other tvfo. In the spring of 1787 its sessions were removed by an act of the Legislature, presumably on account of the part taken by the town in this uprising.

In the year 1835 there was published anonymously at Philadelphia, a work entitled " The Insurgents : An Historical Novel," in two volumes. It is based on Shays's Rebellion, and the scene is laid mainly in the Connecticut valley. In the second volume is an account of Shattuck's capture, which is given with all the freedom of a novelist's pen.

During the excitement of the rebellion Aaron Brown's potash works at Groton were burned, on November 30, by some of the insurgents. Brown was one of the two constables who served the warrants against the leaders on that very day, and the feeling toward him was bitter. The establishment was situated on the south side of the Broad Meadow road, near the village, just before you come to the meadow. " The Massachusetts Gazette," December 8, says : -

"On Thursday night [November 30], last week, the Pot- Ash works belonging to Mr. Brown, of Groton, together with several tuns of Pot- Ashes, were destroyed by fire. The loss to Mr. Brown is very considerable ; and we are well informed, that there is great reason to conclude it was occasioned by the malice of one or more of the insurgents belonging to Middlesex."

It appears from the General Court Records (vol. xlvii. p. 426), May 1, 1787, that Mr. Brown subsequently received some compensation for his losses. The entry is as follows : -

In the House of Eepresentatives . . . Whereas Aaron Brown of Groton has represented to this Court, that his pot and pearl ash works were destroyed by fire, and also exhibited evidence which affords good reason to believe that the same were destroyed by some unknown and wicked incendiary, in consequence of his great exertions in the support of good Government.

And whereas it is incumbent on the Legislature of this Commonwealth, to encourage the manufacture of pot & pearl ash, as well as to provide, as far as consistently may be, that no person shall suffer injury in consequence of his exertions to support and defend the Government : -

Resolved That there be paid out of the Treasury of this Commonwealth to Aaron Brown from the money arising from the fines which are or shall be paid by persons who have been or shall be convicted of being concerned in the late rebellion, the sum of one hundred pounds, to enable him to" rebuild his pot and pearl ash works - Provided notwithstanding if the said Brown shall hereafter discover the perpetrators of the aforesaid wicked act, and shall recover the damage he has sustained, he shall in that case repay the said' sum of one hundred pounds, into the Treasury, taking duplicate receipts, one of which he shall lodge in the Secretary's office.

The works were subsequently re-established on the same site, and the building was standing as late as 1820. Some of the old iron kettles, used in the manufacture of potash, were lying behind Major Gardner's store at a period many years later.

Soapstone Quarry

[The following articles have appeared at different times either in " The Groton Landmark ""or the " Groton Citizen," and are now revised and reprinted in this Series. - S. A. G.]

Groton As A Shire Town

In the year 1729 an attempt was made to divide Middlesex and form a new county from its northwestern section. The matter is referred to in the Reverend Wilkes Allen's History of Chelmsford (page 44), where it says that a committee was appointed in Chelmsford, during that year and the four following ones, to meet with committees from other places in order to carry out the scheme. The author gives a list of the towns to be embraced in the new county, which were Groton, Townsend, Pepperell, Dunstable, Merrimack, Dracut, Litchfield, Chelmsford, Westford, Littleton, Concord, Bedford, Billerica, and Tewksbury. At that time Merrimack and Litchfield were considered as belonging to Massachusetts ; but after the running of the provincial line in the spring of 1 741, they fell on the New Hampshire side of the boundary. It is a mistake, however, to include Pepperell in the list, as that town was not incorporated for many years after this period, either as a precinct or as a district. Bedford and Westford were both set off as towns on September 23, 1729, and doubtless, as new settlements, were interested in the project; but Townsend, not incorporated until June 29, 1732, and Tewksbury, not until December 23, 1734, could have taken no part in the movement.

Rufus C. Torrey, Esq., in his History of Fitchburg, Massachusetts (1865 edition), refers to the same subject, and says that the inhabitants of Lunenburg in 1729 chose Captain Josiah Willard as their agent to join with others to consider what may be best in order to divide the county of Middlesex. This scheme resulted in the formation of Worcester County, on April 2, 1731, which took eight towns from Middlesex, besides others from Suffolk and Hampshire. It was a distinct affair from the one mentioned in the History of Chelmsford. Mr. Torrey furthermore says : -

In a little more than two years after this, attempts were made to form a new county out of the counties of Worcester and Middlesex, of which Groton was to be the shire town. These attempts in a short time were abandoned. (Page 39.)

Further particulars are given in the following extracts from the Journal of the House of Representatives, under the respective dates of June 15 and 17, 1736.

On a motion made and seconded by divers members, Ordered, That the House will enter into the consideration of the Petition of Benjamin Prescot, Esq ; and Capt. yoseph Blanchard, for themselves and others, praying for a division of the Countys of Middlesex and Worcester on Thursday next the -i.'jth. currant in the forenoon. (Page 49.)

According to the order of Tuesday last the House enter'd into the consideration of the Petition of Benjamin Prescot, Esq ; and Capt. Joseph Blanchard, Agents for Groton, Dunstable, &c. praying for a new County to be erected partly out of Middlesex and partly out of Worcester Q,o\xti\.-^?,, as entred the xZth. of June last, and idth.

of March and referred ; the same being read, with* the respective answers thereto, and some debate being had, the following Vote passed, viz. In answer to the within Petition, Ordered, That the prayer thereof be so far granted as that the Towns of Groton, Dunstable, Littleton, Wesford, Dracut, Nottingham, Townshend, Lunenburgh, and Harvard, with the Towns lately granted, and lying Northerly and Westerly of the Towns afore enumerated, and not already included in any County, be and hereby are erected into a seperate and distinct County by themselves, to all intents and purposes in the Law, and that the Petitioners have leave to bring in a Bill accordingly. Sent up for Concurrence. (Page 51.)

The question of dividing the county does not appear to have been brought forward again for nearly thirty years. In the Journal of the House of Representatives, June 6, 1764, the following entry is found : -

A Petition of Capt. Abel Lawrence and others, Agents for several Towns in the County of Middlesex, praying that sundry Towns in the County of Middlesex and Worcester as mentioned, may be erected into a seperate County.

Read and Ordered, That the Petitioners insert Copies of this Petition in all the Boston News-Papers three Weeks successively, that so the several Towns in the Counties of Middlesex and Worcester, may shew Cause, if any they have, on the second Wednesday of the next Session of this Court, why the Prayer thereof should not be granted. Sent up for Concurrence. (Page 39.)

The petition is given in "The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter," August 23, 1764, and sets forth the reasons for the division. It is as follows : -

Captain-General and Governor in Chief in and over His MAJESTY'S said Province ; and to the Honorable His Majesty's Council, and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled at Boston, December, A. D. 1763.

The PetitioJt of the Subscribers, Agents for the several Towns and Districts, viz. of Groton, and District of Shirley, and Pepperrell, as also the Towns of Westford, Lyttleton and Townshend, in the County of Middlesex, and the Town of Lunenburg, and the Township oilpswich-Canada [Winchendon], and Dorchester-Canada (so called) [Ashburnham] in the County of Worcester. Humbly

That your Petitioners and their Predecessors, inhabiting the several Towns and Districts aforesaid, from the first Settlements of said Towns and Districts have, and still do labour under great Difficulty and Burthen, by Reason of the great Distance they live from the usual Place of holding the several Courts of Justice within the Counties aforesaid, as well as the Courts of Probate in the same Counties ; many of the Inhabitants living fifty, some forty, and few less than thirty Miles from the Courts of Probate aforesaid, which renders it at all Times very difficult and sometimes impossible, for poor Widows and others to attend the Probate Courts, and other Courts of Justice, without great Expence ; by Means whereof, many times Actions are and necessarily must be continued, to the great Cost and Charge, oftentimes, to poor Orphan Children, and others who are necessarily obliged to attend said Courts ; and this almost inconceivable Difficulty and Burden daily increases, in Proportion to the Increase of the Inhabitants of said Counties, which are now so large, that the Inferior as well as Superior Courts are frequently obliged to adjourn over Sundays, in order to finish the necessary Business of said Courts, to the great Cost and Damages of many poor Witnesses and Jurymen, and others who are obliged to attend, &c. Wherefore your Petitioners, in behalf of themselves and the several Towns and Districts aforesaid, most earnestly pray Your Excellency and Honors to take their difficult Case under your wise Consideration, and pass such Acts and Laws, as that the Towns and Districts aforesaid, together with the Towns of Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, and Stow, in the County of Middlesex, and the towns of Harvard and Leominster, in the county of Worcester (or such of said Towns and Plantations, or any others, as your Excellency and Honors shall think fit) may be erected and incorporated into a separate and distinct County, and that the same may be invested with all the Privileges that other Counties have and enjoy in this Province ; or otherwise grant Relief as Your Excellency and Honors, in Your known Wisdom and Goodness shall see meet, and

June the 14th. 1764. Read, and ordered, That the Petitioners insert Copies of this Petition in all the Boston News Papers, three Weeks successively, that so the several Towns in the Counties oi Middlesex and Worcester may shew Cause (if any they have) on the Second Wednesday of the next Session of this Court, why the Prayer thereof should not be granted.

It will be seen that the spelling of some of the names of these towns differs from the modern method. Lyttleton, Townshend, and Pepperrell were formerly common ways of writing them. It is somewhat doubtful how Littleton got its name ; but Townsend was so called from Viscount Townshend, a member of the Privy Council, and Pepperell from Sir William Pepperrell, the hero of the capture of Louisburg, who always wrote his surname with a double " r." While, therefore, these forms were correct more than a century ago, long and good usage has decided against them.

On February 6, J776, an Act was passed removing the November term of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Court of Common Pleas from Charlestown to Groton, presumably on account of the disturbances of the War. Two years later, on September 23, 1778, this November term was transferred to Cambridge, to take the place of the May term, which in turn was brought to Groton, where it remained till the spring of 1787. The sessions of the Court were held in the First Parish Meeting-house; and the Court ,was sitting here during the famous dark day of May 19, 1780, when candles had to be used.

It is highly probable that Shays's Rebellion, which occurred during the summer and autumn of 1786, had some connection with the removal of these sessions from Groton. The uprising in Middlesex County was confined exclusively to this neighborhood, and the insurgents always felt a bitter spite against the Court of Common Pleas, which they tried to abolish. The action of the Legislature in making the change seems to have been in part retributive.

The Court House at Concord was burned down early on the morning of June 20, 1849, during a session of the Court. The County Commissioners declined to rebuild, and left the matter to the next General Court. On February 13, 1850, Mr. Boutwell, then a member of the Legislature, presented to that body a petition of Nathaniel P. Smith and others, that the terms of the Court of Common Pleas ordered to be held at Concord, should be held at Groton ; and the question was duly referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The subject was followed up, on March 18, by petitions from Pepperell, Townsend, Shirley, Littleton, and other neighboring towns, in aid of Mr. Smith's petition, which all took the same course. On March 26 the committee reported leave to withdraw, which recommendation was carried on April 8, after a long debate. The matter again came up in another form on the 15th, when the project for a change was defeated for the last time.

No statute in the Provincial period regulated the times and places of holding Probate Courts. I suppose the Probate Judges held their Courts at the Court House on days of which they had before given notice to the public.

By the Constitution of Massachusetts, which went into effect on October 25, 1780, the Judges of Probate were required to hold their Courts at such places, on fixed days, as the convenience of the people should demand, and the General Court was required from time to time thereafter to appoint times and places for holding Probate Courts, until which appointments the Courts were to be holden at such times and places as the respective Judges of Probate should direct.

The General Court did not, by any law, fix times or places for holding Probate Courts in Middlesex County until, by a statute passed June 14, 1813, a Probate Court was ordered to be held at Groton on the first Tuesday in March, on the second Tuesday in May, and on the third Tuesday in October.

A change was made in the law by statute passed February 14, 1822, when the Probate Courts in Groton were required to be held on the first Tuesday of May, the last Tuesday of September, and the last Tuesday of December.

By a law passed on March 20, 1832, the Probate Courts at Groton were required to be held on the first Tuesdays of May and November, which was continued by the Revised Statutes of 1836.

By statute of 1856, Chap. 273, the first Tuesday of November was changed to the third Tuesday of October. By statute of 1857, Chap. 78, the Probate Courts at Groton were required to be held on the fourth Tuesdays of May and September, which last provision was carried into the General Statutes, and by the statute of March 30, 1866, these two Groton Probate Courts were removed to be held at Cambridge, since which time no Probate Court has been held at Groton.

An Act was passed by the Legislature, on June 15, 1821, authorizing the Judge of Probate to hold a special Court at Groton, on the second Tuesday of August of that year.

Destructive Tornado

The following description of a destructive tornado in Warwick, Massachusetts, on September 9, 1821, was written by the postmaster of that town. It is given in a letter addressed to the late Caleb Butler, Esq., under these circumstances.

An account book had been picked up by the wayside near Sandy Pond, in the south part of Groton. It was found by the late Eliab G. Bolton, who judged, from the pieces of shingles and other rubbish scattered about, that there had been a severe gale in the neighborhood, and the fragments brought here by the wind. The book was fourteen inches in length, five and a half in width, and nearly half an inch in thickness. It had a pasteboard cover, on which was written, in a large and clear handwriting, " Blotter, 1802." The book was given to Mr. Butler, who, on hearing of 'the tornado at Warwick, wrote to the postmaster of that town about it, and received in reply the following letter. By a coincidence the postmaster happened to be the very man who had made and lettered the Blotter nearly twenty years before. The shortest distance between Warwick and Groton is forty-five miles, and the fragments, carried at a great height, must have gone much farther even than this. The exact time of their falling is not known, as it occurred after dark.

Sir - Yours of the 24* Ult. was received in due course of mail - stating that clapboards shingles books &c. had been found in the fields in Groton, which were supposed to be carried from Warwick by the wind in the late Tornado. There is no doubt of the fact, as there has been found in Winchendon and Fitchburg large quantities of the ruins of buildings that went from this place.

according to the description you give of the book, it was made & letter'd on the cover, by my own hand. A leaf of Willson's Ledger was picked up in Winchendon containing an account against myself & James Ball in the year 1802, which is probably posted from the daybook in your possession - If so, you will find me charged with i cwt. hay April 5^ - 50 - [cents] May 6* 74"" hay, 34 & August 12"' 2 Pts brandy, 58. -

I am well acquainted with all the names you mention, and the charges against them will give you a very good idea of the character & habits of some of them. Said Willson removed from this place to Upper Canada, and left his accounts & papers with his father (Jonathan Willson) in this town, whose Dwelling-house, Barn & out Buildings were all demolished, and the greatest part of their contents carried away by the late Tornado. Those buildings in the centre of the track of the Whirlwind, were more exposed to its ravages, than any others in its whole extent. I visited this place about an hour after the wind had passed, but have it not in my power to picture to your view, this field of desolation - everything was swept close to the ground, and that considerably torn up. The orchard was carried all away - scarcely a tree within sight, and the heavy stone walls were level with the earth. From the best information I can obtain, those buildings we[re] demolished in less than 10 seconds of time. The family, six in number, who were all in the house, were providentially saved from instant death. Two boys escaped without injury, the other four were taken up much bruised and wounded - one was found in the cellar, one was taken up in the wind, and after being knocked about by the flying timbers, fell a little distance from where the house stood - the other two were found in different directions, among the small quantity of ruins that remained on the ground. Their confinement is a very great addition to their other sufferings. Many others have suffered severely, and some have lost, perhaps, a greater amount of property, but no others have suffered the loss of every thing that is necessary for upholding life, and at the same time deprived of their own exertions to save the scatter'd remnants, or provide a shelter for the approaching inclement season. When we look for the Buildings & conveniences of 50 years industry and prudence, and find nothing, and when we enquire for the subjects of this calamity and are conducted to their beds where they are confined to pain & anxious solicitude, the stoutest heart withdraws in tears, to wash away an accumulated load of sympathetic sorrows.

The people in this place are doing what, they can, to repair the loss of all the sufferers. The town has appropriated J 700, for their immediate necessities; but the loss is so extensive, that it seems impossible for the people here, to grant the relief which their situations require, and repair the damages which the sufferers have sustained. We count five Dwelling houses and thirteen Barns, together with a great number of other buildings, which were demolished, and their contents broken to pieces and scattered over a vast extent of territory : to this calamity we may add, a very great amount of Property destroyed, in wood, timber, orchards, fences and domestic animals. If any of the calamities to which the human family are subject, ever demanded the charity of the Public, I think this is one of the number ; and I am requested by the Central Committee in this town, viz. Justus Russell Esq. Joshua Atwood & Josiah Procter, thro this medium, to solicit of the inhabitants of the town of Groton such assistance as they may feel disposed to grant to the sufferers in this place. You, sir, will have the goodness to communicate to the Selectmen, or other proper persons, the desire of the aforesaid Committee. Your compliance will confer a signal favour upon your friend & Very Humble Servant,

Warwick Ms c^ The tornado happened on a Sunday afternoon, between five and six o'clock; and the dark, heavy cloud betokening the event was noticed by several persons at Groton. I was told by the late Dr. Amos B. Bancroft, that Mr. Butler himself saw the cloud from Walter Dickson's house on Farmers' Row, where he and others were engaged at the time in practising singing for the Sunday evening exercises. The Blotter and Mr. Cobb's letter are now deposited in the library of the Essex Institute at Salem, where it is filed among the manuscripts, and marked "Blotter - 1802." An account of this tornado is found in Blake's History of Warwick, which says that " a part of a leaf [.?] of an account-book was found in Groton, about sixty miles from the house where it was deposited in a chamber" (page 107). The distance, however, as given by Mr. Blake, is somewhat exaggerated.

On Sunday afternoon last [September 9], about 6 o'clock, a most destructive tornado was experienced in Northfield, Warwick and Orange, in the County of Franklin. It commenced near the middle of the town of Northfield, passing with desolating fury, in a direction nearly east, until it was arrested by " Tully's Mountain," about two miles north of Athol Meeting-House. It first struck and demolished a house and barn in Northfield - and thence passed to the easterly part of that town, and destroyed the house of Chapin Holton, seriously injuring him. From Northfield it passed into Warwick, completely demolishing, in its course, the house of a Mr. Brown, a daughter of whom, about fourteen years of age, perished in its ruins - and the barn and out-buildings of a Mr. Ball. A little distance east of Mr. Ball's, in Orange, a house, two barns, and a blacksmith's shop, all belonging to Mr. Smith, fell prostrate before the blast. The family, consisting of eleven individuals, escaped death by retreating to the cellar - all, save one, a young woman by the name of Stearns, who was crushed to death by the falling timber. Several others were, however, so seriously injured that their lives are despaired of.

We have not room nor time, at the late hour at which we write, to detail the numerous circumstances which, we learn, attended this desolating whirlwind. The width of its ravages was from 40 to 60 rods - its length about ten miles. So resistless was its force that the stoutest trees were up-rooted, stone fences removed, immense rocks torn from their beds, and even the surface of the earth itself broken up, as if with "the plough-share of destruction."

" The Massachusetts Spy," September 26, contains an account, taken from the Concord (N. H.) Patriot, of another violent hurricane that swept through the towns of Croydon, Wendell, New London, Sutton, and Warner, New Hampshire, at nearly the same hour this tornado burst forth in Franklin County. They lie about fifty miles away, in a northerly direction from Warwick.

During the preceding century a severe hurricane occurred in the West Parish of Groton, now known as Pepperell, of which an account appears in "The Boston Weekly Post-Boy," August IS, 1748. It is as follows: -

We had here, last Thursday, the 28th Instant, a terrible Hurricane, with shocking Thunder. The Course of the Whirlwind was from South to North, tho' often varying, sometimes bearing to the East and sometimes to the West. It has torn up a vast number of large Trees by the Roots, twisted others off in the midst, took up and carry'd away some Apple Trees to such a Distance that they could not readily be found, removed some large Logs from the Ground, and carry'd them to some Distance from the Place where they lay ; entirely demolishing two or three Buildings, taking off part of the Roofs of some, moving others a Foot or two from the Foundation : It hath carried away a considerable part of the Roof of the Meeting-House, threw down the Fences, Stone-Walls, laid the Corn even with the Ground; the Air was fiU'd with Leaves, Hay, Dust, Pieces of Timber, and Boughs of Trees of considerable bigness, for a Quarter of an Hour, which was the Time it was in passing thro' the Parish ; one House which it took in its Way was garrison'd ; one Side of the Garrison was thrown with great Violence against the House, the other Sides levell'd with the Ground, and part of the House carry'd away: There was a Woman and three small Children in the House, who were all wonderfully preserved, from receiving the least Hurt. Notwithstanding the great Desolation made among us, there was not Life lost, thro' the divine Goodness, tho' many Persons were in imminent Danger. We have not yet heard where it began ; it went quite thro' the Parish ; it's Impetuosity ceased near the Line between Hampshire and this Province, which is not far from us. Damage sustain'd by one man is very considerable, what in the Destruction of his Buildings, Corn, Hay, Fences, &c. he has lost above 500/.

This description was written, undoubtedly, by the Reverend Joseph Emerson, the minister of the West Parish at that time, as it is substantially the same as the one given in the parish records, according to Mr. Butler's History (pages 347, 348).

Two Groton Conventions

A Convention was held in the Orthodox Meeting-house at Groton, on October i and 2, 1834, for the purpose of organizing a County Anti-slavery Society. It was noted for the presence of the English abolitionist, George Thompson, and other well-known reformers. It was at this meeting that Mr. Thompson made his first public appearance in America, and this fact gave the Convention a certain notoriety. To his logic and eloquence Lord Brougham had attributed the triumph of the anti-slavery cause in England, saying to the House of Lords, " I rise to take the crown of the most glorious victory from every other head, and place it on George Thompson's. He has done more than any other man to achieve it." It can readily be understood that such a person would produce an impression in any assembly. He had just arrived in Boston, and it was arranged by William Lloyd Garrison and the Reverend Samuel J. May that he should accompany them to the Convention, then about to take place at Groton.

At that time I was devoting a few weeks of permitted absence from my church in [Brooklyn] Connecticut to a lecturing tour in the anti-slavery cause, and came to Mr. Garrison's house in Roxbury an hour after the arrival of Mr. Thompson. He readily consented to go with us the next day to Groton, there to attend a county convention. We gladly spent the remainder of the day together, in an earnest and prayerful communion over the great work in which we had engaged ; and at night repaired to lodge at the Earl Hotel in Hanover Street, that we might not fail to be off for Groton the next morning at four o'clock, in the first stage-coach, no conveyance thither by railroad being extant then.

to see and hear the great English orator, preliminary matters were disposed of as soon as practicable. Then Mr. Thompson was called up by a resolution, enthusiastically passed, declaring our appreciation of the inestimable value of his anti-slavery labors in England, our joy that he had come to aid us to deliver our country from the dominion of slaveholders, and our wish that he would occupy as much of the time of the convention as his inclination might prompt and his strength would enable him to do. He rose, and soon enchained the attention of all present. He set forth the essential immitigable sin of holding human beings as slaves in a light, if possible, more vivid, more intense, than even Mr. Garrison had thrown upon that "sum of all villanies." He illustrated and sustained his assertions by the most pertinent facts in the history of West India slavery. He inculcated the spirit in which we ought to prosecute our endeavor to emancipate the bondmen, - a spirit of compassion for the masters as well as their slaves, - a compassion too considerate of the harm which the slaveholder suffers, as well as inflicts, to consent to any continuance of the iniquity. He most solemnly enjoined the use of only moral and political means and instrumentalities to effect the subversion and extermination of the gigantic system of iniquity, although it seemed to tower above and overshadow the civil and religious institutions of our country. He showed us that he justly appreciated the greater difficulties of the work to be done in our land, than of that which had just been so gloriously accomplished in England, but exhorted us to trust undoubtedly in "the might of the right," - the mercy, the justice, the power of God, - and to go forward in the full assurance that He, who had crowned the labors of the British Abolitionists with such a triumph, would enable us in a like manner to accomplish the greater work he had given us to do.

Mr. Thompson then went on to give us a graphic, glowing account of the long and fierce conflict they had had in England for the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies. His eloquence rose to a still higher order. His narrative became a continuous metaphor, admirably sustained. He represented the anti-slavery enterprise in which he had been so long engaged as a stout, well-built ship, manned by a noble-hearted crew, launched upon a stormy ocean, bound to carry inestimable relief to 800,000 sufferers in a far distant land. He clothed all the kinds of opposition they had met, all the difficulties they had contended with in imagery suggested by the observation and experience of the voyager across the Atlantic in the most tempestuous season of the year. In the height of his descriptions, my attention was withdi^wn from the emotions enkindled in my own bosom sufficiently to observe the effect |of his eloquence upon half a dozen boys, of twelve or fourteen years of age, sitting together not far from the platform. They were completely possessed by it. When the ship reeled or plunged or staggered in the storms, they unconsciously went through the same motions. When the enemy attacked her, the boys took the liveliest part in battle, - manning the guns, or handing shot or shell, or pressing forward to repulse the boarders. When the ship struck upon an iceberg, the boys almost fell from their seats in the recoil. When the sails and topmasts were wellnigh carried away by the gale, they seemed to be straining themselves to prevent the damage ; and when at length the ship triumphantly sailed into her destined port with colors flying and signals of glad tidings floating from her topmast, and the shout of welcome rose from thousands of expectant freedmen on the shore, the boys gave three loud cheers, " Hurrah ! Hurrah ! ! Hurrah ! ! ! " This irrepressible explosion of their feelings brought them to themselves at once. They blushed, covered their faces, sank down on their seats, one of them upon the floor. It was an ingenuous, thrilling tribute to the surpassing power of the orator, and only added to the zest and heartiness with which the whole audience applauded (to use the words of another at the time) " the persuasive reasonings, the earnest appeals, the melting pathos, the delightful but caustic irony and enrapturing eloquence of Mr. Thompson."

Thus commenced his brilliant career in this country. The Groton Convention lasted two days, the ist and 2d of October. Mr. Thompson went thence immediately to Lowell, where he spoke to a delighted crowd on the 5th. Four days after, on the 9th of October, he gave his first address in Boston. (Pages ii6-iig.)

A report of the proceedings is found in " The Liberator " (Boston), October 11, 1834. In a notice of the meeting, Mr. Garrison, the editor, says : -

We were enabled providentially to attend the Convention, in company with Prof. [Elizur] Wright of New York, Rev. Mr. May of Brooklyn [Connecticut], and our distinguished coadjutor from abroad, George Thompson, Esq. As no reporter was present, the very able and eloquent speeches of these gentlemen, as also those of Rev. Messrs. Rand and Pease of Lowell, and Rev. Mr. Woodbury of Acton, must be lost to the public, although we trust the effects of these speeches will never cease to be felt. Mr. Thompson was received with that hospitality and attention which are justly his due. His addresses were most happily conceived, and most felicitously spoken, much to the admiration and edification of his spellbound audience. He stood sublimely upon the apex of Christianity, and brought within the scope of his vision every tribe and nation on the face of the globe.

Another noted meeting in Groton was the Christian Union Convention, held on August 12, 13, and 14, 1840. The call for it vvras issued by Come-outers, so called, and Second Adventists, and had attracted the notice of Theodore Parker, at that time a young man of thirty. He proposed to some of his friends, among them Christopher P. Cranch and George Ripley, that they should walk to Groton and attend the Convention, which suggestion was readily taken up. In his journal, Mr. Parker wrote an account of the trip and the meeting, which is given in Weiss's " Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker" (London, 1863). He says: - who called the Convention which we went to attend. Our host directed us to a certain house, which we could not find, so we accosted a man in the street, - that dignified personage a youngster about four-and-twenty, about the middle size, with a countenance pleasant rather than otherwise. He had a cunning look, appeared designing and ambitious. His natural language was not prepossessing. It said to me, "Take care - take care ! " (I. 125, 126.)

Abel Rugg, the tinman, who lived on Hollis Street, near the Orthodox Meeting-house. Mr. Garrison, the editor of " The Liberator," in his issue of August 21, 1840, gives a notice of the gathering, and says that "a band of choicer spirits, we venture to say, has not been brought together within the last century." There were about two hundred and seventy-five members of the Convention from different parts of New England and New York, not including those of the townspeople who naturally would be attracted to such an assembly.

The Convention was held in a large hall, situated on the east side of Hollis Street. The building was afterward moved to Main Street, and known as Liberty Hall, but subsequently burned on March 31, 1878. Dr. Amos Farnsworth, of Groton, was the presiding officer of this meeting, as he was of the previous one in the autumn of 1834. The hall on Hollis Street was built by the Second Adventists, or Millerites, as they were called in this neighborhood after William Miller, one of the founders of the sect. The Reverend Silas Hawley, the minister of the society which used to meet in this building, was the ruling spirit of the Convention. It is probably to him that Mr. Parker refers as the person who called the Convention. Mr. Hawley at one time was the editor of "The Church Reformer," a semi-monthly newspaper printed in Boston and devoted to various so-called reforms. It was published in part as an outcome of the Convention, which warmly recommended it to the public for their support.

The Soapstone Quarry

This quarry was discovered, in the year 1828, by John Fitch on his farm in Groton, situated a mile north of the village. He worked it in a small way for several subsequent years, sawing the stone by hand at a shop by the roadside, near his house ; but afterward he built a steam mill at the quarry, forty or fifty rods away. In the year 1855 the establishment was bought of the Fitch heirs by the Honorable Samuel Adams, of Townsend, and Daniel McCaine, and during 1857 the quarry was worked by Mr. Adams.

In May, 1858, Mr. McCaine, with his twin brother, David, and another brother, William, removed from Francestown, New Hampshire, to Groton, and took charge of the business, Mr. Adams having died on April 5 of that year. They enlarged the shop, improved the machinery, and worked the quarry on a grand scale. In the spring of 1859 the building was burned down, and on the same site another and larger one was put up.

In 1 86 1 the Adams heirs sold out their interest to the McCaine brothers, who continued the business till September, 1864, when the mill was again burned. The next month the property was sold to a stock company, known as the Groton Soapstone Company, which represented a capital of ;^ 100,000. Just before the formation of this company, a " Statement " regarding the location and value of the property was printed, accompanied by reports from the Superintendent, Daniel McCaine, and the State Assayer, Dr. Charles Tracy Jackson, on the resources of the quarry. Their estimates were liberal, and showed, on paper, that large profits would result from investments in the company.

In the summer of 1865 the new company completed their mill, which was 80 by 50 feet in dimensions, with enginehouse attached. It was run by a Corliss engine of 75 horsepower, and contained six gangs of saws. It had the latest

During the year 1867 the McCaine brothers, who were still in charge of the quarry, invented and patented a process for making artificial stone. The patent was subsequently sold to the Groton Soapstone Company, which soon afterward became the Union Stone Company. For a while the new process was considerably used in connection with the soapstone, and finally became the exclusive business of the company. The affairs of the corporation, however, did not seem to prosper, and, dividends not forthcoming, the establishment was abandoned and dismantled. The capital stock was then increased, and another mill built at Revere, near Boston, where artificial stone was made under the patent.

Groton Soap-Stone Quarry. - An extensive quarry of Soapstone was discovered in this town, about two years since. It is on the land of Mr. J. Fitch, who was led to the discovery by accident, and commenced penetrating into it immediately, with considerable success. We have seen some specimens of the stone, that has been wrought into hearths, which retains a beautiful polish - and we understand that while the workmen penetrate deeper into the rocky caverns, the stone becomes more pure and valuable, and promises an inexhaustible supply. The quarry is opened on the side of a hill, in two or three places, and the descent from the top is about forty feet, over projecting crags and huge blocks of stone, above which stands a forest of tall trees - the whole forming a grand and pleasing scene. The trees are seldom felled, and as farther researches are made into the earth, they often fall to the bottom of the cavitj' and are drawn out in the manner that stone is taken from the opening of the quarry. New discoveries are made almost daily, and we should judge from the appearance of what has already been done, that it is but a slight introduction to a vast territory of stone, of a very valuable kind.

Some minerals have also been found in this place." Particles of iron ore may be seen among the stones, and black lead has been picked up in considerable quantities - and minerals of different colors, sparkling among the rocks and waters, can be distinctly discerned. Several springs gush from between the crags, and the water has filled the bottom of the quarry so as to delay the work, in one or two places ; but this obstruction is shortly to be remedied by fixing pumps to take away the water, and greater progress will doubtless be made the ensuing Summer, than formerly.

The situation of this quarry is remarkable for its beautiful and romantic scenery - the wildness of nature which presents itself in varying scenes, and the rich groves and forests that appear on every side. After leaving the road we are led about a half mile, over valleys and variegated hills, till the path begins to be lined by huge pieces of Stone that have been drawn from their bed in immense quantities, and thrown aside like the worthless covering of a more valuable substance. The quarry is hidden from the view by towering trees that overshadow it, until winding along the rocky path, we stand before a damp and craggy place that opens at once upon us ; here are heard the sounds of workmen, who are employed in purging from the bowels of the earth this stony substance - some of which is so soft as to yield to the pressure of the fingers, while other kinds are of a much harder nature. The whole is remarkably smooth and soap-like, and Mr. Fitch owes his discovery to the fact that a part of a stone adhered to his axe, as he struck it inadvertently, while cutting wood on his farm. Many fragments were scattered over the surface of the ground at the time, but they had never excited attention until this late period.

An attempt was made, about thirty years ago, to dig down on Mr. Needham's land eighty or ninety rods to the southward of the quarry, in order to strike the vein of soapstone. Many days of fruitless labor were thus spent, but the dip of the stone was too deep to be reached.

Mr. Fitch's first shop by the roadside was originally attached to Major William Swan's house, - which is now occupied by Charles Woolley, Jr., on the north side of the Common near the burying-ground, - and at the end of the last century was used as a store.

Groton, Massachusetts, 1885

THE WESTERN SOCIETY OF MIDDLESEX HUSBANDMEN. - RAILROADS AND OTHER CORPORATIONS, Etc. - MISS PRESCOTT'S SCHOOL. - GROTON NEWSPAPERS. - GROTON BAKERY. - REVOLUTIONARY ITEMS. - AN OLD WALL. - "THE NECK."

[The following articles, with the exception of the last three, have appeared at different times either in " The Groton Landmark " or the " Groton Citizen," and are now revised and reprinted in this Series. - S. A. G.]

The Western Society Of Middlesex

A FEW gentlemen, living in the westerly parts of Middlesex County and interested in farming, met at Chelmsford, on January 6, 1794, and formed a Society for the "promotion of useful improvements in agriculture ; " and subsequently, on February 28, 1803, they were incorporated by an Act of the Legislature, under the name of " The Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen." The various presidents of the organizatioii have been the Reverend Jonathan Newell, of Stow ; the Reverend Phineas Whitney, of Shirley ; the Reverend Edmund Foster, of Littleton ; the Honorable Ebenezer Bridge, of Chelmsford ; Dr. Oliver Prescott, of Groton ; Colonel Benjamin Osgood, of Westford ; Wallis Tuttle, Esq., of Littleton ; and the Honorable Samuel Dana, of Groton. Since the date of its incorporation, and probably before that time, the Society met annually at Westford, Littleton, and Groton, in rotation, but held no public exhibition.

Sec. I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same. That Ebenezer Bridge, Joseph B. Varnum, Phineas Whitney, Jonathan Newell, Solomon Aiken, John Bullard, Daniel Chaflin [Chaplin ?], Edmund Foster, John Pitts, Parker Varnum, Samuel Pitts, Henry Woods, Timothy Bigelow, Abel Fletcher, Oliver Crosby, Thomas Clarke, Joshua Longley, Ebenezer Bancroft, Timothy Jones, Oliver Prescot, jun. Sampson Tuttle, Zacheus Wright, Abijah Wyman, Jonathan Fletcher, John Farwell, Francis Kidder, Cornelius Waters, William Tuttle, Benjamin Osgood, Benjamin Fletcher, Benjamin Bowers, Paul Howard, John Wood, John Egerton, Samuel Stone, David Lawrence, Samuel Fletcher, S?imuel Lawrence, Jonathan Bancroft, Ephraim Russell, Jonathan Lawrence, Ebenezer Bancroft, jun. Thomas Russell, together with such others who shall become members thereof, be, and they are hereby incorporated into, and made a body politic and corporate, by the name of The Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen.

Sec. 2. ^^ zVy^r/z^^r (f«(j:r/^(/. That the said corporation shall be capable of taking and holding in fee simple, or in any less estate, by gift, grant, devise or otherwise, any estate, real or personal, the annual income whereof shall not exceed one thousand dollars, and they may sell or dispose thereof at pleasure, not using the same in trade.

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted. That the said corporation may have and use a common seal, and the same may alter or change at pleasure, and shall be capable of suing or being sued in any actions real, personal or mixed, in any court proper to try the same.

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted. That the said corporation may establish and put in execution such bye-laws and rules for the government thereof, as they may think proper, not repugnant to the laws of this commonwealth ; and they may appoint such officers as they think proper, who shall be capable of exercising such power for the' well governing of said corporation as shall be authorized by the bye-laws thereof: And furthermore said corporation may from time to time admit new members thereunto, when, and in what manner they may think best : Provided however. That every person being a member of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting

Agriculture, shall be considered as an honorary member of the Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen, and shall have a right to assemble and vote at all meetings thereof. '

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted. That the end and design of the institution hereby incorporated is to promote useful improvements in agriculture.

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That Ebenezer Bridge, Esq. be, and he hereby is authorized to appoint the time and place for holding the first meeting of said society, and to notify the members thereof, by publishing the same in one or more newspapers printed in Boston, fourteen days at least before the time of such meeting. [This act passed Feb. 28, 1803.J

I do not find any notice of the first meeting printed in a Boston newspaper of that period ; but among the societies given in The Massachusetts Register for 1805 (page 51) is the following : -

Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen. Incorporated Feb. 28, 1803. Yearly Meeting for choice of Offi,cers, is held on the 1st Tuesday in September, at Westford, Littleton, and Groton, in rotation, at 10 o'clock A. M.

In the Register for 1806 (pages 46, 47) the list of officers was again published, though remaining the same with this exception, that Oliver Prescott's name is left off from the Board of Trustees and Deacon Abel - Fletcher's added. The list continued to be printed in the Register until 18 10, when the names of the officers are dropped from the notice, and the heading only appears ; and this continued till 181 5, when the name of the society alone is given, together with the date of incorporation and the day of the annual meeting. In 1818 the notice disappears entirely, and before this time probably the society had ceased to exist.

The Members of the Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen are hereby notified, that their annual meeting for the choice of Officers, will be holden at Mr. HaWs tavern, in Groton, on the first Tuesday of September next, at ten of the clock, A. M.

This meeting was duly held, and a reference to it is made in " The Medical and Agricultural Register for the years 1806 and 1807" (page 175), edited by Daniel Adams, M. B., when a vote was passed, expressing an approval of the editor's proposals to publish a " Medical and Agricultural Register."

Dr. Adams was a well-known physician of Boston, who had just previously to this time lived at Leominster, and was distinguished as the author of several text-books for schools. He was born at Townsend on September 29, 1773, and died at Keene, New Hampshire, on June 8, 1864, nearly ninetyone years of age. He was an elder brother of the late Deacon Jonathan Stow Adams, of Groton.

In its day, The Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen was considered a permanent institution, and its full history would now be interesting.

Forty years ago several railroad schemes were stirring the people of Groton, and now the very recollection of them has nearly passed away. The earliest one was the Groton Branch Railroad Company, chartered on March 16, 1844, which authorized Benjamin M. Farley, Nathaniel P. Smith, and John G. Park to form a corporation for the purpose of building a branch railroad from what is now Ayer to the centre of Groton, and thence "to some convenient point upon the road leading from Pepperell to Dunstable, between Jewett's Bridge and the house of John Shattuck in said Groton." Its capital stock was to be ^125,000, in shares of ^50 each.

The next project was the Groton and Nashua Railroad Corporation, chartered by the New Hampshire Legislature on December 24, 1844. The company was authorized to build a railroad from a point in the southern boundary line of New Hampshire, within one hundred rods of the Nashua ' River, to any convenient point in the present city of Nashua. A few months later, on March 5, 1845, the General Court of Massachusetts passed An Act to Incorporate the Worcester and Nashua Railroad Company, which empowered the corporators to build a road in a northerly direction from Worcester toward Nashua as far as the State line. It also authorized the Company to unite at any time with the Groton and Nashua Corporation. In accordance with this provision, and a similar one in a special Act passed by the New Hampshire Legislature on June 26, 1845, the two companies were united on November 6, 1846, so as to form one corporation, under the name of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad Company. The building of this road began on December i, 1846, and was finished in a little more than two years. The road was opened for regular business, through its entire length, on December 18, 1848, - though the section from Groton Junction, now Ayer, to Clinton had previously been opened on July 3, 1848, and from Clinton to Worcester on November 22.

The Groton and East Wilton Railroad Company was another scheme, incorporated March 25, 1845. It authorized Lemuel W. Blake, Asa F. Lawrence, Abraham Whittemore, James Parker, and Joseph Tucker to form a company to build the road. It was to begin " at the southerly line of said State of New Hampshire, at a point in Pepperell, in the county of Middlesex, within one mile of the Nissittisit River, where it can be best united with a rail-road from East Wilton to the said State line ; and thence in a southeasterly direction in said Pepperell, to the Worcester and Nashua Rail-road, at the most convenient point for a connection therewith, in either of the towns of Pepperell or Groton, in the valley of the Nashua River."

In connection with these railroad schemes, it may be of sufficient interest to go back to an earlier period and give the following Act for a turnpike. It suggests a contrast between the conveniences for traveUing at the beginning of the century and the present day. It will be noticed that Pepperell is spelled with two " r's," formerly a common way of writing the word, and agreeing with that of Sir William Pepperrell. after whom the town was named.

Sect, i Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That Oliver Prescott, James Brazer, Thomas Gardner, Joseph Moors, Aaron Brown, Luther Lawrence, William Merchant Richardson, esq. Benjamin Woods Parker, William Nutting, Jacob Lakin Parker, James Lewis, jun. and Joseph Fletcher Hall, all of Groton aforesaid, the Rev. John Bullard, Joseph Heald, esq. Simeon Green, and Lemuel Parker, all of Pepperrell aforesaid, together with such other persons as may hereafter associate with them, be, and they hereby are made a corporation and body politick, by the name and style of the Groton and Pepperrell Turnpike Corporation, for the purpose of laying out and making a turnpike road from the first parish meeting-house in Groton in the county of Middlesex, or from the burying ground to the west of the same, as the locating committee may judge will best promote the publick interest, to such point in the line of the state of Newhampshire, as will be, in the nearest convenient rout from the place of departure in Groton aforesaid, to the meeting-house in Milford in said state of New-Hampshire, and for this purpose shall have all the powers, and privileges, and be subject to all the duties, requirements, and penalties, contained in an act, entided an act defining the general powers, and duties of turnpike corporations, made and passed the sixteenth day of March in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight

Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, That when the road aforesaid, shall be laid out, made, completed and shall be approved by the Court of Common Pleas for said county of Middlesex, the said corporation shall have power to erect one gate thereon, at such place as the said court may order, and shall be entitled to receive toll thereat, any thing in the act aforesaid notwithstanding. [This act passed March 3, 1809.J

David Child, Thomas A. Staples, and Oliver Sheple, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of Nashua River Mutual Fire Insurance Company, in the town of Groton, in the county of Middlesex, with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, restrictions and liabilities set forth in the thirty-seventh and forty-fourth chapters of the Revised Statutes, passed on the fourth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, for the term of twenty-eight years.

These several enterprises are now nearly forgotten, though the bare mention of them may revive the memory of a few persons. They show the supposed needs of the town at various times, as well as some of the changes continually taking place among its citizens. In their day these schemes were the subject of much discussion, and attracted a good deal of attention.

The following Act is so recent as to be within the recollection of most persons, but I give it with this explanation. A joint resolution had passed both branches of Congress, and was duly approved on March 13, 1876, recommending a due observance of the centennial anniversary of American independence, on the part of the several counties and towns throughout the country. In accordance with fhe recommen- dation, the town took action, and appropriated five hundred dollars (^500) for the purpose, but subsequently, owing to some informality, this was found to be illegal. In order to correct the difficulty, an appeal was made to the Legislature. An Act to legalize certain doings of the town of

To The Church, Etc

The earliest book of church records in Groton was begun by the Reverend Dudley Bradstreet, fourth minister of the town. The volume was missing for a long while, though the date of its loss is unknown. Three years ago I succeeded in finding it many miles away, in the possession of a family of Groton origin, from whom I procured it. It is certain that Mr. Butler used it when he wrote his History. It is a small quarto volume, with a parchment cover, containing now 55 pages. Some of the leaves have been cut out, and others have been badly mutilated. The early marriages, baptisms, and admissions to the church are entered for the most part in Latin, but the remainder of the record is mainly in English. The various entries have not been made in regular order, but for the convenience of use they are now arranged in chronological sequence. The large figures enclosed within brackets indicate the pages of the record-book, which were not originally numbered ; but in arranging the entries they are sometimes, particularly near the end, thrown out of place. Occasionally I have inserted in the text the names of persons or places, in order to identify them ; but in all cases such additions are given in brackets.

Bradstreet. He was born at Andover on April 27, 1678, and graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1698. He was the first master of the grammar school in his native town, where he was teaching as early as the year 1704, and perhaps earlier. It is highly probable that he was connected with this school when he received his call to Groton. Miss Sarah Loring Bailey, in her " Historical Sketches of Andover," gives some facts concerning his family.

At the town meeting in Woburn, March, 1 703-4, - according to the Reverend Samuel Sewall's History of that town (pages 213, 214), - a committee were chosen to provide a teacher, as was required in all towns, who subsequently reported to the Selectmen that they had made an unsuccessful application to the College authorities for a candidate, and then had gone to Andover in order to propose to Mr. Bradstreet, who had agreed to come until they could procure another teacher. He afterward certified that he had been " personally at Wooburne at the time of Charlestown Court," and no scholars appearing he had returned home. For this service they paid him his expenses, and eighteen shillings in silver as a gratuity. The proceeding was an artifice on the part of the town to save the cost of a schoolmaster and yet to avoid a legal presentment.

Mr. Bradstreet married Mary Wainwright on May 4, 1704, and had three sons, Simon, Dudley, and Samuel, and perhaps other children ; of these Dudley and Samuel were born at Groton. He was preaching here as early as March, 1706, and was ordained on November 27 of the same year.

The following references to Mr. Bradstreet's settlement are found in "The Early Records of Groton, Massachusetts, 1662-1707" (pages 128-130).

At a town meting leagly warned in Aprell the 9 1 706 this town did by uot ass you may see on the othar side of this Leafe and all so did uot that they would giue mr Bradstret one hondred pounds mor as money to satell him selfe in this towne our minister during life Joseph Lakin Town Clark for Groton and at the same meting thay did all so chose Insin farnsworth Simon Stone Joseph lakin to discorse mr bradstret ass the town consarnin his sattlement with us this year

Groton May the aight day 1706 At a town meting legally worned for to see consarning M' brodstreets settlement the town ded by uot declare that thay would make a good house of 38 foot long and 18 foot wide and a leantow of 11 foot wide all the langht of the house and they will finish it comfortably this house to be of 14 foot betwen iants Joseph lakin Clarck

Groton May the aight 1706 at the same meting the towne did by uot chuse a comity to lat out M' brodstreets hous and barne and to by a place for the minister to build the men chose for the same Thomas tarbol Joseph lakin Danil Cady Samuell Parkar Nathanil Wods

Groton June the 20 day 1706 At a town meting legaly worned the towne did declear by note that thay woud pay the one halfe of the purch of that place which We are about to by of Captin Parker

Groton June the 20 day 1706 at a town meting legaly worned the town did agre with Zachariah Sawtell and Sargent lawrnc for 12 thousand of marchiantabel brick and 3 thousand of samman brick the 12 thousand at 18 shilins par thousand and the 3 thousand at half prise

The house " of 38 foot long and 18 foot wide," built under the vote of May 8, 1706, for Mr. Bradstreet's occupation, is still standing and in a state of good preservation. It is situated on Hollis Street, southeasterly of the Burying Ground, and was occupied by A. W. Churchill when the map - opposite to page 247 - in Mr. Butler's History was made. The bricks ordered by the town on June 20 were intended, doubtless, for this dwelling. The house is now owned by Charles Bradstreet Baldwin, and its present measurements conform very nearly to the dimensions, as given in the records ; but the lean-to has long since disappeared.

In the summer of 17 12 Mr. Bradstreet was dismissed from his charge in this town, presumably for his Episcopal tendencies ; and soon afterward he went to England to apply for orders in the Anglican Church. It appears from a copy of the original document in Latin, made in a manuscript volume by President John Leverett (page 90), now deposited among the archives of Harvard University in the College Library, that he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of London, on April 18, 1714, and a priest one week later, on April 25. He died during the next month, only two or three weeks after receiving priestly orders, and tidings of his death reached this country in the following summer Chief Justice Samuel Sewall writes in his Diary, under the date of August 5, 1714, - when the ship arrived, bringing the news, - that " Mr. Dudley Bradstreet quickly after he had received Orders, dy'd of the small Pocks." An allusion to Mr. Bradstreet is found in Wilkins Updike's " History of the Episcopal