Littleton Town

By Herbert Joseph Harwood

MONG the first Indians converted to Christianity by the Rev. John Eliot were the sachem Tahattawau, or Ahata- ^\ance, and many of his peoijle, who expressed a wish to become more civihzed and have a town given them at Nashobah, the Indian name of the territory now Littleton. Ou May li>, 16.54, "In ans'. to the peticon of Air. Jno. Elliott, on behalf of seuerall Indians," the General Court granted liis request, viz., liberty for the inhabitants of " Nashop " and other places " to erect seuerall Indjan tonnes in the places propounded," thus incorporating them under the colonial government.

Daniel Gookin wrote, in 1674: " Nashobah is the sixth praying Indian town. This village is situated in the centre between Chelmsford, Lancaster, Groton, and Concord. It lieth from Boston about twenty-five miles west-northwest. The inhabitants are about ten families, and consequently about fifty souls. The dimensions of this village are four miles square. The land is fertile, and well stored with meadows and woods. It hath good ponds for fish adjoining to it. The people live here, as in other Indian villages, upon planting corn, fishing, hunting, and sometimes labouring with the English. Their ruler of late years was John Ahatawance [son of the above-mentioned], a pious man; since his decease Pennakennet, or Pennahamiit, is the chief. Their teacher is named John Thomas, a sober and jiious man. His father was murdered by the Maquas in a secret manner, as lie was fishing for eels at liis

It is remarkable that the southeastern part of Littleton, now called Nashoba, w-as not a part of the Indian town, but was very early settled by white people and called Nashoba Farm. A family by the name of Shepard was living there in 1676, during King Philip's War. Tradition says that, in February of that year, Mary Shepard, a girl of fifteen, was stationed on Quagana Hill, a small rising south of Nashoba Hill, to warn her brothers, who were threshing, if any Indians" appeared ; but they stole up behind her, killed the brothers, and carried the girl away to Nashaway [Lancaster], from which place she escaped the same night, mounted a horse, swam the river, and rode home. The Reed house, the ruins of which may still be seen at the foot of Nashoba Hill, was built as a garrison probably about this time.

The praying Indians fared badly during the war, being distrusted by both sides and feared by the whites. During the month of November, 1675, the Nashobah Indians, numbering twelve men and forty-six women and children, were, by order of the General Court, taken to Concord and put under the charge of Mr. John Hoar, with the double purpose of guarding and protecting them ; from there they were taken, in February, to the islands in Boston Harbor, whence they were removed in May, part to Pawtucket [Lowell] and part to Cambridge Village. Few returned to Nashobah, the greater number finally settling in Natick or other places.

Thomas Dublett, alias Nepanet, who, with his wife Sarah, was among the few who returned to Nashobah, acted as interpreter between a committee of whites and one of the hostile sachems, in arranging a ransom of one of the white prisoners at Nashobah in the summer of 1677, for which service the court awarded him two coats.

The Indians having almost deserted their plantation, tlie English began to move into it, some by right of jjurchase, others without any right, and the neighboring towns, especially Groton, began to appropriate the land. In 1682 the County Court of Middlesex appointed a committee " to run the ancient bounds of Nashobey," who reported that Groton had taken into their bounds nearly half the Indian plantation ; also that the northwest corner of Nashobah had, according to the statement of Groton men, encroached on their town to the extent of three hundred and fifty acres.

June 15, 1686, Colonel Peter Bulkley of Concord and Major Tiiomas Henchman of Chelmsford bought of Keehonowsquaw, daughter of Jolui Tahattawan, and other Indians, for the sum of £70, one half of Nashobah plantation, lying on the east side. It was laid out in the following Jaimary by Jonathan Danforth, whose plan shows the whole plantation. It was a nearly square quadrilateral, bounded northerly by Groton, easterly by Chelmsford, southerly by Concord, westerly by Stow, the sides being about four miles in length : its position may be determined by the four corners.

" This jiarcell of land is bowidid by Concord Town bounds soutkmard two mil: three quarters, eastward by Chelmsford bounds three mile .^ a halfe, /- Northmard by good" Robbins .ypeligg laurance, two mile, westward bounded by y remainder ofNashoba plantation three mile .f- a halfe, something more, ^ this last line runs southv 7 degr. ^ J east, there being '2 maples marked R for y N. JF corner ^- a red-oak mark't Hfor the south west comer.

which were, as nearly as can be ascertained, the present comer on Brown Hill, a pine-tree near the house of the late Barnabas Dodge, the southwest end of Nagog Pond, and a point in the neighborhood of Boxborough town-house. Previous to this the Indians had sold a part of the plantation, lying nortli of the Bulkley and Henchman tract, to Peleg Lawrence and Eobert Bobbins of Groton. These sales did not (as some have assumed) jom the land to the towns in which the purchasers lived.

That the fertile meadows of Nashobah should lie unclaimed was, as before intimated, too much for the itching palms of the neighboring people of Concord, Chelmsford, Stow, and Lancaster, who first severally, and then jointly, petitioned the General Court for parts or the whole of the land, urging various and weighty reasons why they sliould have it, not the least of wliich was that Groton people, who were quietly appropriating, without leave or hcense, all they could lay hands on, were getting more than their share. An investigating committee, appointed in answer to the joint petition, reported, November 2, 1711, the bounds of the plantation about the same as laid down by Jonathan Danforth in 1686, and stated that Groton had " run into Nashobah so as to take out near one half and the bigest part of the meadows.'^ They further state that the plantation contained about seven thousand nine hundred and forty acres. They recommended that the place be made a township, with some addition from Concord and Chelmsford, stating that there were already five families settled in Groton's claim, ten in the remainder of the plantation, and three on Powers' farm, adjoining.

. The few surviving Indian proprietors, nearly all of whom lived in Natick, had then sold the remainder of tlieir land ; one half, a strip about a mile wide and four miles long, having been purchased by Walter Powers of Concord, May 9, 1694, for £15; and the other half, of the same dimensions, by Josiah Whitcomb of Lancaster, May 10, 1701.

The following act of incorporation was passed by the General Court Tuesday, November 2, 1714 (0. S.) : " Upon consideration of the sev" Petitions & Claims relating to the Land called Nashoba Land. Ordered, That the said Nashoba Land be made a Township with the Addition of such adjoining Lands of the Neighboring Towns whose owners shall Petition for that end & this Court shall think fit to grant. That y= s" Nashoba Lands having been long since Purchased of y° Indians by M' Bulkley & Hinchman one halfe, the otlier halfe by Wlietcomb & Powers, that y° s* Purchase be confirmed to v* Children of v° s**

Bulkley, Whetcomb & Powers & to Cap'" Robert Mears as assignee of Maj' Hinchman, according to their respective Proportions. Reserving to y'^ inhabitants who have settled within those bounds their settlements, with divisions of Land in Proportion to y^ grantees & such as shall hereafter be admitted, y" s* Occupants or present inhabitants Paying proportion as others shall pay for their alotments. Provided y° s"* Plantation be Settled with Thirty-five familys & an Orthodox Minister in three years time.

" And y' five Hundred acres of Land be Reserved and layd out for y° benefit of any of y° Desendants of y" Lidian proprietors of y'' s** Plantation that may be surviving, a Proportion whereof to be for Sarah Dublet alias Sarah Indian, the Revrend M'' John Levret & Spencer Pliips esq' to be trustees for y' s"" Lidians to take care of y'' s*" Reserved to their use.

" And it is farther ordered y' Cap'" Hopestill Browne M' Timothy Wiley and J\P Joseph Burnap of Reading be a Committee to lay out y" s*" five hundred acres of Land reserved for y" Lidians & to runn ye line between Groaton & Nashoba at y'' Charge of both partyes & make Report to this Court & however the line may divide y' land with regard to y' Townships y" y" Proprietors on either side may be continued in y'' possession of their improvements paying as afore s*", & no mans Legal rite or Property in ye s* Lands is hereby infringed."

The grantees drew up a paper agreeing to throw all the land in common and draw out their several proportions, admitting as associates Paul Dudley, Esq., Addington Davenport, Esq., and Mr. John Wiiite, all of Boston. The paper is signed by Addington Davenport, Jona. Prescott, Walter Powers, Jno. White, John Hancock, Josiah Whetcomb, Joseph Bulkley, Daniel Powers, William Powers, Robert Robbins, Robert Mears, John Bulkley, Increase Powers, Isaac Powers, Paul Dudley, Thos. Powers, and Eleazer Laurance.

Of these original proprietors, a few lived in the town, the majority in the adjoining towns. The committee above mentioned made a report upon the Groton bounds, which they decided were the original ones, and though rather indefinitely stated, were probably the same as laid down by Jonathan Danforth and by a former committee of the General Court.

The five hundred acres for the Indians were laid out in tlie soullicasl corner of the town as it was then, taking in parts of Nagog and Fort Ponds.

The latter is so called from an Indian fort, which once stood. near its shores, and part of it Speen's End, from an Indian of that name. There are many other things to indicate that quarter of the town as a favorite one with the red men; it is now called Newtown, a name probably given to it about 1734, when, by sale from the last survivor, it came into the possession of white men.

The name Littleton was given to the town by act of the General Court, December 3, 1715 (a date which has been erroneously given for the incorporation), as a compliment, it is said, to the Hon. George Lyltleton, M. P., one of the commissioners of the treasury, in return for which the noble gentleman presented the town with a church bell ; but on account of an error in spelling, by substituting "i" for "y," the present was withheld, with the excuse that no such town as Lyttleton could be found, and was sold by the person having it in charge. The first recorded townmeeting, for the choice of officers, was held March 13, 1715-16; the selectmen chosen were Samuel Dudley, John Perrum, John Cobleigh, Moses Whitney, and William Powers. On the 9th of May following, the Rev. Benjamin Shattuck, A. M., was chosen minister for the town, at a salary of £55 a year, to advance 'IQs a year until it amounted to £70.

Mr. Shattuck was born in Watertown, July 30, 1678, graduated at Harvard College in 1709, and for six years following was teacher of the grammar and English school in Watertown, studying for the ministry in the meantime. He was ordained the first minister of Littleton, December 35, 1717, and continued this connection until August 24, 1730, when it was agreed, by mutual consent, that a council be called for his dismission. He continued to reside in the town, in the house now owned by Mrs. Eliza Hartwell, until his death in 1763.

The first meeting-house - which we may imagine a rough, barn-like structure, without bell or steeple, with doors on the east, south, and west sides - stood on the Old Common, in front of tlie house of John B. Robinson, where it was located to accommodate those Concord and Chelmsford families who worshipped in it. Reference is made to a meeting-house in 1717, and it is ])robable iliat the building was in an unfinished condition at the time of Mr. Shattuck's ordination, and remained incomjilete until tlie year 17:13. Xumcvous attempts were made to liave the above-mentioned families, among whom were those of AValter and Jolin Powers, David Russell, and John Merriam, of Concord, living on Nashoba Farm, and six families of Chelmsford annexed to Littleton. They were for several years freed from their ministers' rates in the towns to which they belonged, and finally, in 1725, the General Court granted the petition for annexation, as far as it related to the Concord families ; and a large tract of land, - that earliest settled by white mea, - extending from Nagog Pond nearly to the Old Common, was added to the town, enlarging the bounds in that direction to their present position.

There was probably more of a village in that neighborhood then than now; the first buryingground, some years since ploughed up, was there, on the Eeed farm ; and a little farther east, in the woods, may be seen a well-preserved dam and millsite beside the brook.

Within the first score of years after the incorporation there were laid out a great many roads, the most of them mere paths, marked by blazed trees, following very tortuous and entirely different routes from the present ; the road from Chelmsford to Groton, for instance, was through the Old Common, across Turkey Swamp and Beaver Brook to Mr. Charles P. Hartwell's, then through the New Estate, turning eastward to the Mill Pond, and then westward through Pingreyville. The first road to Newtown started from the Old Common, a short distance east of the late Captain Luther White's. The object in laying them out seems to have been to pass every one of the few scattered houses, rather than to go direct.

Sparsely settled as the town was, a great excitement was aroused in the year 1720, by an accusation of witchcraft brought by three little girls, - daughters of Thomas Blanchard, living on or near Mr. Elbridge Marshall's farm, - against Mrs. Abigail Dudley, an estimable woman, the wife of Samuel Dudley, the first town-clerk. The death of Mrs. Dudley in August, resulting from an accident, put an end to the excitement and to the strange and unaccountable actions of the children, who confessed in later years that they told and acted a most diabolical lie. This was the last attempt in the country to revive the horrors of Salem.

The proprietors of Littleton held meetings separate from the citizens and kept separate records until the year 1755. The last lot of common land, some one thousand acres, lying mostly in the northern part of the town, was divided in 1730, when the name New Estate was probably first applied.

About the j'ear 1733 the town of Stow brought a claim against the proprietors of Littleton for a large tract of land now part of Boxborough, and relinquished it only upon the adverse decision of a lawsuit lasting many years.

After an interim of nearly two years from the time of Rev. Mr. Shattuck's dismission the Eev. Daniel Rogers, " son of ye worshipfuU Mr. Danl. Rogers, Esq.," was ordained minister of the town March 15, 1731-32. He graduated at Harvard College in 1725, and before coming to Littleton preached at Byfield.

With a ciumge of ministers the town began to talk of building a new meeting-house, and it was decided that the location be changed to the Ridge Hill, as the centre of the town was called ; accordingly in 1740 the town built their second meetinghouse, forty by fifty feet in dimension with twentythree feet posts, on the site of the present First Church (Unitarian) .

It was customary for the men and women to sit separately in meeting, and to choose a committee once a year to assign the seats to the men according to what each paid, considering also " age and dignity." General dissatisfaction and an order for a new seating was often the result of the committee's first effort. At Alarch meeting, 1742-43, the town voted "To cut up six feet of the two hind seats on the women's side next the alley to erect a pew at the town's cost for (Rev.) Mr. Shattuck and his wife so long as either of them live in town."

January 4, 1738-39, the General Court granted the petition of Peleg Lawrence and others of Groton to be set off with their estates to Littleton, and the town bounds were then extended in that direction from the original Nashobah north line to the present bounds between Groton and Littleton.

The desire for political honors does not seem to have possessed the people of this town to any great extent in the olden time, for it was onl«y when some measure directly affecting the town, like a change of bounds, was to come before the court that it was thought worth while to send a representativej to which the town was entitled once in a certain number of years, and pay his expenses.

The town was repeatedly fined for not being represented, in consequence of which a representative would be chosen the follo\ring year for the sole purpose, apparently, of getting the fine re- mitted, in wliicli they were generally successful. On one occasion the town voted to send a re])resentative if any one wonld go on half-pay, and on another if any one would go for £ 12. Captain Isaac Powers accepted the offer, and was accordingly elected witliout opposition.

Ill the year 17-1-9 wolves were so plenty and troublesome that the town offered, in connection with some of the adjoining towns, a bounty for their lieads in addition to that offered by the province, with the stipulation that the wolves' ears be cut off to prevent a second claim for bounty on the same head.

Until almost modern times it was customary to vote at every March meeting whether the swine should go at large during the ensuing year. Almost invariably previous to 1800, and occasionally after tliat, the swine were allowed to roam at will, provided each one had a ring in his nose, which it was the duty of the hog-reeves to insert, to prevent rooting.

The discontent at the oppression of British taxation found expression in town-meeting at Littleton March 5, 1770, the day of the Boston Massacre, as follows : -

" Voted tlie following Persons a committee to consider of some pi-oper Measures for the Town to Come into witli Regard to the non-importation of Goods, viz. Sam" Tuttle, Leonard Whiting, Sam" Rogers, Robert Harris, Nathan Raymond who made report of the following Resolves which the Town Voted to accept.

"The Grievous Impositions the Inhabitants of the british Colonies have long suffered from their Mother Country strongly claim tlieir attention to every legal Method for their Removal.

" We esteem tlie Measures already proposed, viz. the withdrawing our Trade from Great Britain both economical & effectual. We therefore Vote

" I" Tliat we will not (knowingly) directly or Indirectly purchase any british Gnoils that have been or may be imported contrary lo tin' |i:itiiotic agreement of the MercliantsofthofuH-n (,r DnMoii.

2" If any Iiiliahihmt .,f this Town of Littleton shall be known to purchase any article of any Importer of Goods contrary to the afores' agreament or of any one who shall purchase of any such Importer he shall .suffer our high Disiileasurc and Contempt.

:i'' Tlial I he s:\mv Committee be also a Committee to Insppfl the C.iuduct of all Buyers & Sellers & to report tlic names of all Hf any such there shall be) wlio violate the truf spirit and Intention of the aforegoing Votes and Resolutions, tri tlie Towne at their next Meeting.

4'' Voted that we will not drink or purcliase any foreign Tea howsoever imported unliU a general Importation of british Goods shall take Place."

Gazette of March 12. In the same year the town purcliased a bell for tlie meeting-house, but there being no steeple, the bell was hung on a frame separate from the building. The committee to buy it reported that they had purchased a " Bell manufactured in this Province" at a cost of £78 0«. 9| c/.

December ol, 1772, the town met to consider a letter and jiamplilet on the subject of the times, received from tlie town of Boston, and chose a committee on it. A conservative majority reported, February 1, that the town take no action in the matter. The report was rejected and a draft of a reply accepted, asserting confidence in the British constitution, but calling upon the General Court to make an effort to remove the consequences of certain acts of parliament endangering the peace and security of the Province and to restore confidence between England and her colonies. As tliis reply was considered by some not strong enougli, it was withheld until after the March meeting, when it was amended, and a more extended list of grievances added. It is noticeable that about this time a change took place in the administration of town affairs. Several men who had lield prominent town offices but who were ([uite conservative, and some even inclined to toryism, were very suddenly left in retirement, and those chosen in their places who took active parts in the Revolutionary War.

In the Middlesex Convention of August 31, 1774, there were from Littleton Captain Josiah Hartwell, Oliver Hoar, and Daniel Rogers, Jr. September 26, Robert Harris was chosen a delegate to the Provincial Congress to be held at Salem, and Abel Jewett to the one to be held at Concord.

The alarm of April 19, 1775, reached Littleton, and was quickly responded to by Lieutenant Aquila Jewett's company of militia, numbering four officers and forty-two men,, who marched to Concord, where some of the men dropped out, while the rest followed tlie enemy probably to Cambridge, as they marched twenty-six miles. Undoubtedly many others not belonging to an organized company went as volunteers.

The following month the town voted to purchase a number of fire-arms with bayonets, and it is probable that a new company of minute-men was formed, as we find the following pajier bearing date of . Tune 18, 1775: -

" We the Subscribers having Received ammunition out of the Town Slock of said Town, Do promise to Keep & Return the same again into said Stock Except obliged to use the same in Defence of our Eights and Privileges when call'' By an alarm "; signed by thirty-six men, with the amount of powder, bullets, and flints delivered to each.

Among the rolls of the army at Cambridge, August 1, we find still another company in which nine officers, including the captain, Samuel Gilbert, and twenty-five men, were from Littleton, with others from neighboring towns.

To trace the men from this town throughout the war would take too much space ; suffice it to say that the writer has collected the names of one hundred and forty-seven men who served at various times. The smoke from the burning of Charlestown, June 17, was distinctly seen at Littleton, and caused great alarm.

June 17, 177G, a few days before the Declaration of Independence, the town voted that " If the Honorable Congress should for the Safety of the Colonies Declare them Independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain the Inhabitants of Littleton engage to support tiiem in the measure."

Strenuous measures were taken to make men declare themselves whether loyal to the cause of the colonies or not ; and, if not, they were either guarded or forbidden to leave their premises.

It is related that one day a squad of soldiers under command of an officer called upon Rev. Mr. Rogers, who lived where Jlr. James Hussey now lives, to come out and declare himself ; he did not appear, and several shots were fired which passed through the front door and panels to the staircase, upon which Mr. Rogers was standing. He then came out and made declaration. The bullet-holes may be seen yet, though the house has been moved. Notwithstanding this incident, Mr. Rogers was much beloved and respected by his people, and throughout his long ministry the utmost harmony apparently existed in the church. In January, 1776, being old, he asked a dismission, but it was refused; at the same time it was decided to give him a colleague.

Rev. Edmund Foster was ordained January 17, 1781, and succeeded to the ministry on the death of Mr. Rogers, in November, 17S;i. Mr. Foster was born at North Reading, ilassachusetts, April 18, 1752, and was left an orphan when seven years old ; he worked his way through Yale College, and afterwards studied for the ministry. Both Harvard and Yale conferred honorary degrees upon him.

While a divinity student he shouldered his musket and went to face the enemy at Concord and Lexington. He represented his district both in the senate and house after the war of 1812 (hi wliich three of his sons held commissions) ; on one occasion preached the election scnnon,and was a delegate to the constitiUinii;il enuveution of 1S20. He died March 28, ls2(J, m the forty-sixth year of his ministry. His ministry can hardly be called a peaceful one ; he was settled not without opposition, partly on account of whicli the movement for a new parish was started, wiiieh resulted in the formation, in 1783, of the district of Boxborough, taking from Littleton a large corner; then the burdens of the war, which altogether cost the town £126,172 16«. lOfi'. in money of various values, bore so heavily upon the people that they found it difficult to pay Mr. Foster's salary, and he was obliged, on one occasion, to sue for it.

The meeting-house was out of repair, and after much discussion and many votes, afterwards reconsidered, it was voted decisively, December 31, 1792, to build a new house on the same spot, and the town proceeded to erect their third meetinghouse, " -40 X 55 feet with a steeple and porches " ; it was fuiis'hed in the summer of 1794. It was evidently considered a grand affair, and from all accounts was really quite an imposing building. It was provided with a new bell in 1808.

Of Littleton's record in the war of 1812 little is known, the town records not making the least allusion to the war. A number of men from the town served in the war, but liow many the writer is unable to state.

December 4, 1815, Rev. Mr. Foster preached a century sermon on the history of the town, an able and interesting discourse, which has been frequently referred to in writing this article. It is unfortunate that it was delivered a year too late for the true centennial anniversary. From the sermon we learn that the post-office at that time was on the " great road," as it is called, probably at the "long store," now the dwelling-house of Mr. Ralph Parker.

About 1818 or 1820 the peace of the church was disturbed by the presence of preachers from abroad, who held meetings in the interest of various denominations. Among them was one from Andover Theological Seminary, sent, it is said, with the special purpose of dra^dng members away from Mr. Foster's church, on account of his active opposition, while in tlie legislature, to the bill to oblige all ministers to have a license from that institution. Mr. Foster had ruling elders appointed to assist him in bringing back to communion those who absented themselves to hear the " itinerant and disorderly preachers." He sometimes attended the meetings himself to refute the speakers, and on one occasion, announcing that he was the minister of the town, took the chair and dismissed the meeting.

Rev. Benjamin Willard preached at various times, from 1830 to 1823, in the interest of the Baptist denomination, and March 14, 1821, a society was organized with twelve members. Mr. Foster ruled his people with a rod of iron, and not one was allowed to leave the church to join the new society without a vote of public censure.

The first Baptist meeting-house was built in 1822, of brick, and stood wliere Mr. Jolni P. Tuttle now lives; it was dedicated July 9, 1823, when Rev. Amasa Sanderson was ordained, and acted as pastor until March 23, 1831. The succeeding ministers were Rev. Silas Kennev, 1831 - 1834; Rev. 0. Ayer, 1837-1843; Rev. T. H. Lunt, April, 1844, to March, 1845 ; Rev. Aaron

After tlie death of Mr. Foster the town voted, October 29, 1827, to call Rev. William H. White to settle as minister. He was born in Lancaster, Mass., ill 1798, and lived on a farm in Westminster until twenty-one, when lie fitted for college under the tuition of Rev. Dr. Stearns of Lincoln. Mr. White graduated at Brown University in 1824, and at Cambridge Divinity School in 1827 ; he received a call to preach in Kingston, Mass., but preferred Littleton, where he was ordained January 2, 1828.

to settle in this town and win his predecessor's daughter, Sarah Bass Foster, whom he married a year after his ordination. He died July 25, 1853, in the twenty-sixth year of his ministry. He was succeeded by Rev. Frederick R. Newell, September, 1854, to November, 1856; Rev. Eugene Denormandie, February, 1857, to July, 1863; Rev. Albert B. Vorse, June, 1864, to June, 1869; Rev. David P. Muzzey, October, 1869, to April; 1871 ; Rev. T. H. Eddowes, January, 1872, to December, 1873; Rev. S. R. Priest, January, 1873, to August, 1874; Rev. J. Wingate Winkley, March, 1876. Li 1841 the society took down their old church and built the present one on the same spot, tlie fourth building of the First Parish.

We iiave to record the formation, within a few years of each other, of three other societies, viz. the Universahsts, the Unionists, and tlie Orthodox Congregational.

The Universalists held meetings in the Centre school-house and in Chamberlin's Hall from 1830 until December, 1846, when they bouglit at auction the meeting-house the Unionists had built a few years previous, a short distance east of the present union school-house, on the old road between the Centre and Common. The house was burned by an incendiary in 1847, after which the society dispersed.

The Unionists, or Millerites, were an outcome from the Baptists, in whose meeting-house William Miller first preached in town. They built a small meeting-house for tiiemsclves in 1840. Tlie continued existence of the world beyond the time they had fixed for its destruction was a blow which the society did not survive.

The Orthodox Congregationalists withdrew from the First Church in 1840, and formed their society March 23, and their church May 14, of that year. They met in the hall over George Lawrence's Yellow Store until the present meeting-house was completed in the fall of 1841. Their pastors have been Rev. J. C. Bryant, October, 1840, to March, 1845 ; Rev. James" M. Bacon, October, 1846, tou November, 1849; Rev. Daniel H. Babcock, April, 1851, to February, 1853; Rev. Elihu Loomis,

The Littleton Lyceum was organized December 2, 1829, through the efl'orts of Rev. Mr. White, and has been continued every winter until the present day. It was at tirst a debating society with an occasional lecture preceding the debate, but has of late years developed into a lecture course, which, from its antiquity and the quality of its lectures, is the pride of the town.

The first mention of schools in the town records is under the date of March 31, 1735, when it was voted " that the selectmen provide a school master." They hired Johu Powers. At that time and for many years after, it was the custom to have one school from four to six months in the year, kept in private houses, and generally moving from one part of the town to another during the time, but in some years it was kept wholly in the Centre.

May 19, 1760, the town voted "to abate Mr. Stephen Shattuck the Rates for his Son's Poll y° last year on condition his Son Goes to college the next year."

Repeated attempts to pass votes for sciioolhouses were unsuccessful until 1795, when the town voted to build five, but afterwards changed the number to four, which were built t!ie following year, the South near the iiouse of J. A. Priest, the West near the present school-liouse in that quarter, the North near the " long-store," and the East at the corner of the road near the house of Mr. Elbridge Marshall.

This arrangement was unsatisfactory, as it left the Centre and Old Common without school-iiouses, and a long struggle for changes was commenced, which resulted in building school-houses in the Centre and at Nashoba in 18£2, - of brick to prevent their being moved, - and the moving of some of the others; after another struggle a schoolhouse was built on the Common in IS^.^, making seven in all. This number was preserved with renewals of buildings, and slight changes in location, until 1867) when the Union school-house, with grammar and primary schools, was built for the Common and Centre villages combined. For the past few years a high school, of one term yearly, has been kept in the brick town-house.

The selectmen during the Rebellion were in 1861-62 John F. Robbins, John Cutter, and James A. Parker; in 1863-64.-65 Joseph A. Priest, William Kimball, and George W. Sanderson. The town-clerk in 1861, and all through the war, was William Kimball.

The first town-meeting to consider matters relating to the war was held May 1, 1861, when it was voted to raise by taxation one thousand dollars, and to authorize the selectmen to borrow more, if needed, to pay each soldier belonging to the town ten dollars a month while in the service, and to provide for their families. In July a committee consisting of Richard Hall, F. P. Knowlton, Thomas S. Tuttle, and Benjamin Edwards were chosen to act with tiie selectmen in expending the money appropriated. In July, 1863, it was voted to pay a bounty of one hundred dollars to each three years' volunteer, and in August, 1863, the bounty was raised to one hundred and twenty-five dollars. It was also voted to keep a full record of each volunteer belonging to tiie town. The town continued recruiting and paying bounties u

Source changes here: from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, by Drake, Samuel Adams, published 1880; 6,652 words in this source stream.

At Bkkbest Joseph Sabwood

ptMONG the first Indians converted to Cliristianity by the Rev. John Eliot were tbe sacliem Tahattawao, or Ahatawance, and many of his people, -who expressed a wish to become more civilized and have a town given ttiem at Nashobah, the Indian name of the territory now Littleton. ' On May 14, 1654, "In ans'. to the pettcon ' of Mr. Jno. Elliott, on behalf of seuerall Indians," tbo General Coart granted his request, viz., liberty fi» the inhabitantjf of " Xashop " and other places "to erect seuerall Indjan tounes in the places propounded," thus incorporating them under the colonial ^vemment.

Daniel Oookin wrote, in 1674: "Nashobah is the sixth praying Indian town. This village is situated in the Centre between Chelmsford, Lancaster, GrotiiD, and Concord. It lieth from Boston about twenty-five miles west-northwest. Tlie inhabitants are about ten families, and consequently about fifty souls. The dimensions of this viUage -te fohr miles square. The land is fertile, and well stored with meadows and woods. It tiath good ponds for fish adjoining to it. The people live here, as in other Indian villages, npon plants ii^ com, fishing, hunting, and sometimes labouring with the English. Tlteir ruler Of late' years wis John Ahatawance [son of the above-mentioned], a pious man; since his decease Penna-' kennet, or Pennahannit, is tlie chief. Their teacher is named John Thomas, a sober and pious man. His father was murdered by the Maquas in a secret manner, as he was fis)iing for eels at his weah .... At this place tliey attend ci^il and reUgions order, as in the other prapng towns, and they have a constable and other ofRcers.

It is remarkable that tlie southeastern part of Littleton, now called Nashobn, was not a part of the Indian town, but was very early -settled -by white pcojde and caUe<l Nashoba Farm, A family by the name of Sheiiard was living there in 1676, during King Philip's War. Tradition says' that, in February of tliat year, "Slvrf Sttepard, a girl of fifteen, was stationed on Quagana Hill, a small rising south of Nashoba Hill, to warn her brothers, who were threshing, if any Indians appeared; but they stole up behind her, killed the brothers, and carried tlie girl away to Nashavay. [Lancaster], from which place stie escaped the same night, mounted a horse, swam the river, and rode home. The Eeed house, the ruins of winch may still be seen at the foot of Nashoba Hill, was' built as a garrison probably about this time.

The praying Indians fared badly during the war, being distrusted by both sides and feared by the whites. During the month of November, 1675, the Nashobah Indians, numbering twelve men and forty-six women and children, were, by order of the General Court, taken to Concord and put under the charge of Mr. John Hoar, with the double pnrpose of guarding and protecting them ; from there they were taken, in February, to the islands in Boston Harbor, whence they were removed in May, part to Pawtucket [Lowell] and part to Cambridf^ Village. Few returned to Nashobah, the greater number finally settling in Natick or other places.

Tliomas Dublett, alias Nepanet, who, with his wife Sarah, was among the few who returned to Nashobah, acted as interpreter between a committee of whites and one of the hostile sachems, in arranging a ransom of one of the white prisoners at Nashobah in' the summer of 1677, for which service the court awarded him two coats.

Tlic Indians liaving almost deserted their plantation, the English began to move into it, some by ri^t of purchase, others without any right, and the neighboring towns, especiaDy Groton, began to appropriate the land. In 1682 the County Court of Middlesex appointed a committee ** to run the andent bounds of Nashobey/' who reported that Gioton had taken into their bounds nearly half the Indian plantation ; also that the northwest comer of Nashobdi had, according to the statement of Groton men, encroached on their town to the extent of three hundred and fifty acres. T June 15, 1686, Colonel Peter Bulkley of Concord and Major Thomas Henchman of Chelmsford bought (^ Keehonowsquaw, daughter of John Tahattawan, and other. Indians, for the sum of £70^ one half of Nashobah plantation, lying on the east side^ It was laid out in the following January by Jonathan Danforth, whose plan shows the whole plantation. It was a nearly square quadrilateral, bounded northerly by Groton, eastcriy by Chelmsford, southerly by Concord, westerly by Stow, the sides being about four miles in length : its position may be determined by the four comers, which were, as nearly as can be ascertained, ^tlie present comer on Brown Hill, a pine-tree near tlie bouse of the late Barnabas Dodge, tlie southwest end of Nagog Pond, and a point in the neiglibprhood of Boxborough town4iouse. Previous to this the Indians had sold a part of the plantation, lying north of the Bulkley and Henchman tract, to Peleg Lawrence and Robert Bobbins of Groton. These sales did not (as some have assumed) join the land to the towns in which the purchasers lived.

That the fertile meadows of Nashobah should Ue unclaimed was, as before intimated, too much for the itching palms of the neighboring people of Con^ cord, Chelmsford, Stow, and Lancaster, who first severally, and then jointly, petitioned the General Court for parts or the whole, .of the land, urging various and weighty reasons why they should have it, not the least of wliich was that Groton people^ who were quietly appropriating, without leave oij license, all they could lay hands on, were gettmg more than their share. An investigating committee, appointed in answer to the joint petiticm, reported, November 2, 1711, the bounds of the plantation about the same as laid down by Jonathan Danforth in 1686, and stated that Qroton had ''ran into Nashobah so as to take out near oi^e half and the bigest part of the meadows.^ They further state that the plantation contained about seven thousand nine hundred and forty acres. They recommended that the place be^ made a township, with some addition from Concord; and Chelmsford, stating that there were already five families settled in Groton's claim, ten in the remainder of the plantation, and three on Powers' farm, adjoining.

Tlie few surviving Indian proprietors, nearly all of whom lived in Natick, had then sold the remainder of their land ; one half,, a strip about a mile' wide and four miles long, having been, purchased by Walter Powers of Concord, May 9, 1694, for £15; and the other half, of the same dimensions, by Josiah Whitcomb of> Lancaster, May 10, 1701. - ,

The following act of incorporation was passed by the General Court Tuesday, November 2, 1714 (O. S.) : " Upon consideration of the sev" Petitions & Claims. lelating to the Land called Nasboba Land. Ordered, That the said Nashoba Jiand be made a Township with the Addition of such adjoining Lands of the Neighboring Towns whose owners sliall Petition for that end & this Court shall think fit to grant. That y* s^ Nashoba Lands having been long since Purchased of y* Indians by M' Bulkley & Hinchman one halfe, the other halfe by Whetcomb & Powers, that y* s^ Purchase be coufirmed to y* Children of y* a*

Bulklqr, Whetcomb & Powers & to Cap^ Robert Mears as assignee of Maj' Hincbman, according to their respective Proportions. Beserving to 7* inhabitants who have settled within those bounds their settlements, with divisions of Land in Proportion to y* grantees & such as sliall hereafter be admitted, y* s' Occupants or present inhabitants Paying proportion as others sliall pay for their alotments. Provided y* s* Plantation be Settled with Tliirty-five familys & an Orthodox Minister in three years time.

" And V* five Hundred acres of Land be Reserved and layd odt for y* benefit of any of y* Desendants of y* Lidian proprietors of y* s^ Plantation that may be surviving, a Proportion whereof to be for Sarah Dublet alias Sarah Indian, the Eevrend M' . John Levret & Spencer Phips esq' to be trustees for y* ^ Indians to take care of y* s^ Reserved to their use.

"And it is jhrther* ordered y* Cap*" Hopestill Browne M' Timothy Wiley and M' Joseph Burnap of Reading be a Committee to lay out y' s' five hundred a;cres of Land reserved for y* Indians & to runn ye line between Groaton & Nashoba at y* Charge «f both partyes & make Report to this Court & however the line may divide y* land with regard to y* Townships y** y* Proprietors on either side may be continued in y* possession of their improvements paying as afore s^ & no mans Legal rite or Property in ye s* Lands is hereby infringed.^'

The grantees drew up a paper agreeing to throw aH the land in common and draw out their several proportions, admitting as associates Pkul Dudley, Esq., Addington Davenport, Esq., and Mr. John White, all of Boston. The papier is signed by Addington Davenport, Jona. Prescott, Walter Powers, Jno. White, John Hancock, Josiah Whetcomb, Joseph Bulkley, Daniel Powers, William Powers, Robert Robbins, Robert Mears, John Bulkley, Increase Powers, Isaac Powers, Paul Dudley, Thos. Powers, and Eleazer Laurence.

Of these original proprietors, a few lived in the town, the majority in the adjoining towns. Tlie committee above mentioned made a report upon the Groton bounds, which they decided were the original ones, and though rather indefinitely stated, were probably the same as laid down by Jonathan Danforth and by a former committee of the General Court

The five hundred acres for the Indians were laid oat in the southeast comer of the town as it was then, taking in parts of Nagog and Fort Ponds.

The latter is so called from an Indian fort, which . once stood near its shores, and part of it Speeu's End, from an Indian of that name, lliere are many other things to indicate that quarter of the r town as a favorite one with the red men;, it is. now called Newtown, a name probably given to it about 1734, when, by sale from the last survivor, it came into the possession of white men. .

The name Littleton was given to the town by act of the General Court, December 3, 1715 (a date which lias* been erroneously given for the incorporation), as a compliment, it is said, to the Hon. George Lyttleton, M. P., one pf the commissioners of the treasurv, in return for which the noble gentleman presented the town Avith a church bell ; but on account of an error in spelling, bj substituting " i *' for " y," the present was withheld, with the excuse that no such town as Ljrttl^ ton could be found, and was sold by the person having it in cluirge. The first recorded townmeeting, for the choice of ofiicera, was held March 13, 1715 - 16 ; the selectmen chosen were Samuel Dudley, John Perrum, John Cobleigh, Moses Whitney, and William Powers. Oh the i9th of May following, the Bev. Benjamin Shattuck, A. M., was chosen minister for the town, at a salary of £55 a year, to advance 20 # a year until it amounted to £70.

Mr. Shattuck was bom in Watertown, July 30, 1678, graduated at Harvard College in 1709, anfl for six years following was teacher of the grammar and English school in Watertown, studying for the ministry in the meantime. He was ordained the first minister of Littleton, December 25, 1717, and continued this connection until August 24, 1730, when it was agreed, by mutual consent, that a council be called for his dismission. He continued to reside in the town, in the house now owned by Mra. Eliza Hartwell, until his death in 1768.

The first meeting-house - which we may imagine a rough, bam-like structure, without bell or steeple, with doors on the east, south, and west sides - stood on the Old Common, in front of the house of John B. Bobinson, where it was located to accommodate those Concord and Chelmsford families who worshipped in it. Beference is made to a meeting-house in 1717, and it is probable that the building was in an unfinished condition at the time of Mr. Shattuck's ordination, and re^ mained incomplete until the year 1723.

above-mentioned families, among whom were those of Walter and John Powers, David Russell, and John Merriam, of Concord, living on Nashoba Fann, and six families of Chelmsford annexed, to Littleton. Tliey were for several years freed from their ministers' rates in the towns to wliich they belonged, and finally, in 1725, the General Court granted the petition for annexation, as far as it related to the Concord families ; and a large tract of land, - that earliest settled by white men, - extending from Nagog Pond nearly to the Old Common, was added to the town, enlarging the bounds in that direction to their present position. There was probably more of a village in that neighborhood then than now ; the first buryingground, some years since ploughed up, was there, on the Seed farm ; and a little farther east, in the woods, may be seen a well-preserved dam and millsite beside the brook.

Within the first score of years after the incorporation there were laid out a great many roads, the most of them mere paths, marked by blazed trees,' following very tortuous and entirely different routes from the preisent ; the road from Chelmsford to Groton, for instance, tos through the Old Commcm, 'across Turkey Swamp and Beaver Brook to Mr. Charles P. Hartwell's, then through the New Estate, turning eastward to the Mill Pond, and then westward through Pingreyville. The first road to Newtown started from the Old Common; a short distance east of the late Captain Luther White's. The object in laying them out seems to have been to pass every one of the few scattered houses, rather thlan to go direct.

Sparsely settled as the town was, a great excitement was aroused in the year ' 1720, by an accusation of witchcraft brought by three little girls, - daughters of Tliomas Blanchard, living on or near Mr. Elbridge Marshall's fisirm, - against Mrs. Abigail Dudley, an estimable woman, the wife of Samuel Dudley, the first town-clerk. The death of Mrs. Dudley in August, resulting from an accident, put an end to the excitement and to the strange and unaccountable actions of the children, who confessed in later years that they told- and acted a most diabolical lie. Tliis was the last attempt in the country to revive the horrors of Salem.

' The proprietors of Littleton held meetings separate from the citizens and kept separate records until the year 1735. The last lot of common land, some one thousand acres, lying mostly in the northem part of the town, was divided in 1760^ when

About the year 1732 the town of Stow brought a claim against the proprietors of Littleton for a large tract of land now jmrt of Boxborough, aqd relinciuished it only upon the adverse decision of a lawsuit lasting many years.

After an interim of nearly two years from the time of Bev. Mr. Shattuck's dismission the Bev. Daniel Bogers, '' son of ye worshipfoll Mr. DanL Bogers, Esq.,'' was ordained minister of the town March 15, 1731-32. He graduated at .Harvard College in 1725, and before coming to Littleton preached at Byfieldl

With a change of ministers the town began tp. talk of building a new meeting-house, and it ^as decided that the location be changed to th^ Bidge, Hill, as the centre of the town was called ; accorci'- ingly in 1740 the town built their second meeting- , house, forty by fifty feet in dimension with twentythree feet posts, on the site of the present First Church (Unitarian).

It was customary for the men and women to tit separately in meeting, and to choose a committee once a year to assign the seats to the men according to what each paid, considering also '' age and dignity .'' General dissatisfaction and an order fos. a new seating was often the result of the commit-, tee's first effort. At March meeting, 1742--43, tha town voted " To cut up six feet of the two hind seats on the women's side next the alley to erect a pew at the town's cost for (Bev.) Mr. Shattuck and his wife so long as either of them live in town."

January 4, 1738-39, the General Court granted the petition of Peleg Lawrence and othere of Groton to be set off with their estates to Littleton, and the town bounds were tlien extended in that direction from the original Nashobah north line to the present bounds between Groton and Littleton.

The desire for political honors does not seem to have possessed the people of this town to any great extent in the olden time, for it was onk when some measure directly aflecting.the town, like a change of bounds, was to come before the court that it was thought worth while to send a representative, to which the town was entitled once in a ^certain number of years, and pay his expenses.

The town was repeatedly fined for not being represented, in consequence of which a representative would be chosen the following year for the sole purpose, apparently, of getting the fine^ mittedj in which they were generally successful. On one occasion the town voted to send a representative if any one would go on half-pay^ and on toother if any one would go for £12. Captain Isaac Powers accepted the ofiPer^ and was accordingly elected without opposition.

In the year 1749 wolves were so plenty and troublesome that the town offered, in connection with some of the adjoining towns, a bounty for their heads in addition to that offered by the province, with the stipulation that the wolves' ears be Gu^ off to prevent a second claim for bounty on the siame head.

lentil almost modem times it was customary to vote at every March meeting whether the swine should go at large during the ensuing year. Almost invariably previous to 1800, and occasionally after that, the swine were allowed to roam nt will, provided each one had a ring in his nose, which it Was the duty of the hog-reeves to insert, to prevent rooting.

- The discontent at the oppression of British taxation found expression in town-meeting at Littleton March 5, 1770, the day of the Boston Massacre, as folto^ : -

" yoifd the following Persons a committee to coiuiider of some proper Measures for the Town to Come into with Regard to the non-importation of Goods, viz. Sam" Tuttie, Leonard Whiting, Sam" Rogers, Robert Harris, Nathan Sayniond who made report of the following Resolves which the Town Voted to accept.

" The Grierotts Impositions the Inhabitants of the british Colonies have long suffered from their Mother Country strongly claim their attention to every legal Method for their Removal.

"We esteem the Measures alreadjr proposed, viz. the withdrawing our Trade from Great Britain both eoonomiieal k effectual. We therefore Vote

** I* That we will not (knowingly) directly or Lidircctly purchase any britbh Goods that have been or may be imported contrary to the patriotic agreement of tlie Merchants of the Town of Boston.

. 8^ If any Inhabitant of this Town of Littleton sliall be known to purchase any article of any Importer of Goods ocmtrary to the afores^ agreament or of any one who shall purchase of any such Importer he shall suffer our higli Displeasure and Contempt

^ That the same Committee be also a Committee to Inspect the Conduct of all Buyers & Sellers & to report the names of all (if any such there shall be) who violate the true spirit and Intention of the afore^ing Votes and Resolutions, to the Towne at their next Meeting.

'4^ Voted that we will not drink or purchase any foreign Tea howsoever imported untill a general Impor^on of british Goods shall take Phice."

Gazette of March 12.' In the same year the town purchased a bell for the meeting-house, but there being no steeple, the bell was hung on a frame separate from the building. Ttie committee to buy it reported that they had purchased a ''Bell tnanufiietured in this Province^' at a cost of £78 0#. 9\d,

December 31, 1772, the town met to consider a letter and pamphlet on the subject of the times, received from the town of Boston, and chose a committee on it. A conservative majority reported, February 1, that the town take no action in the matter. The report was rejected and a draft of a reply accepted, asserting confidence in the British constitution, but calling upon the General Court to make an effort to remove the consequences of certain acts of parliament endangering the peace and security of the Province and to restore confidence between England and bet colonies. As this reply was considered by some not strong enough, it was withheld until after the March meeting, when it was amended, and a more extended list of grievances added. It is noticeable that aboat this time a change took place in the administration df town affairs. Several men who had held prominent town offices but who were quite conservative, and some even inclined to toryism, were very suddenly left in retirement, and those chosen in their places who took active parts in the Revolutionary War.

In the Middlesex Convention of Augiist 31, 1774, there were from Littleton Captain Josiah Hartwelf, Oliver Hoar, and Daniel Sogers, Jr. September 26, Bobert Harris was chosen a delegate to the Provincial Congress to be held at Salem, and Abel Jewett to the one to be held at Concord.

The alarm of April 19, 1775, reached Littleton, and was quickly responded to by Lieutenant Aquila Jewett's company of militia, numbering four officers and forty-two men. who marched to Concord, where some of the men dropped out, while the rest followed the enemy probably to Cambridge, as they marched twenty-six miles. Undoubtedly many others not belonging to an organized ccMnpany went as volunteers.

The following month the town voted to purcliase a number of fire-arms with bayonets, and it is probable that a new company of minute-men was formed, as we find the following paper bearing date of June 18, 1775: -

" We the Subscribers having Beceived ammunition out of the Town Stock of said Town, Do promise to Keep & Betum the same again -into said Stock Except obliged to use the Same in Defence of our Bights and Privileges when call' By an alann ''; signed by thirty-six men, with the amount of powder, bullets, and flints delivered to ^ch.

Among the rolls of the army at Cambridge, August 1, we find still another company in which nine officers, including the captain, Samuel Gilbert, and twenty-five men, were, from Littleton, with others from neighboring towns.

To trace the men from this town throughout the war would take too much space; sufiice it to say that the writer has collected the names of one hundred and fortr-seven men who served at various times. The smoke from the burning of Charlestown, June 17, was distinctly seen at Littleton, and caused great alarm.

June 17, 1776, a few days before the Declaration of Independence, the town voted that ''If the Honorable Congress should for the Safety of the Colonies Declare them Independent of the Kingdom. of Great Britain ^he Inhabitants of Littleton engage to support them in the me^ure.''

Strenuous measures were taken to make men declare themselves whether loyal to the cause of the colonies or not ; and, if not, they were either guarded or forbidden to leave their premises.

It is related that one day a squad of soldiers u^der command pf an officer called upon Bev. Mr. Bpgers, who lived where Mr. James Hussey now lives, to come out and declare himself; he did not appear, and several shots were fired which passed through the front door and panels to the staircase, upon which Mr, Bogcrs was standing. He then came out and made declaration. The buUet-holes may be seen yet, though the house has been moved. Notwithstanding this incident, Mr. Bogers ^vas much beloved ^nd respected by his people, and throughout liis long ministry the utmost harmony apparentlyexisted in the church. In January^ 1776, being old, he asked a dismission, but it was refused; at the same time it was decided to give him a colleague, t

Bev« Edmund Foster was ordained January 17, 1781, and succeeded to the ministry on the deatli of Mr. Bogers, in November, 17S2. Mr. Foster was bom at North Beading, Massachusetts, April 18, 1752, and was left an orphan when seven years old; he. worked his way through Yale College, and afterwards studied for the ministry. Both Harvard and Yale conferred honorary degrees upon him.

AVhile a divinity student he shouldered his muskrt and went to face the enemy at Concord and Lexington. He represented his district both in the senate and hou^e after the war of 1812 (in which three of his sons held commissions) ; on one occasion preached the election sermon, and was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1820. He died March 28, 1826, in the forty-sixth year of his ministry. His ministry can hardly be called a peaqeful one ; he was settled not without opposition, partly on account of which tlie movement for a new parish was started, which resulted in the for* mation, in 1783, of the district of Boxborough, taking from Littleton a large comer; then the burdens of the war, which altogether cost the town £126,172 16«. 10^. in money of various values, bore so heavily upon the people that they found, it difficult to pay Mr. Foster's salary, and be was obliged, on one occasion, to sue for it.

The meeting-house was out of repair, and after much discussion and many votes, afterwards recon^ sideredj it was voted decisively, December 31, 1792, to build a new house on the same spot, and the town proceeded to erect their third meetinghouse, " 40 X 55 feet with a steeple and porches *' ; it was finished in the summer of 1794. It was evidently considered a grand aifair, and from all accounts was really quite an imposing building. It was provided with a new bell in 1808.

Of Littleton's record in the war of 1812 little is known, the town records not making the least allusion to the war. A number of men from the town served in the war, but how many the writer is mu able to state.

December 4, 1815, Eev. Mr. Foster preached a century sermon on the history of the town, an able and interesting discourse, which has been frequently referred to in writing this article. It is unfortunate that it was delivered a year too late for the true centennial anniversary. From the sermon we learn that the post-office at that time was on the " great road," as it is called, probably at the " long store," now the dwelling-house of Mr. Ealph Parker.

About ISIS or 1820 the peace of the church was disturbed by the presence of preachers from abroad, who held meetinsrs in the interest of various denominations. Among them was one from Andovf^r Theological Seminary, sent, it is said, with the special purpose of drawing members away from Mr. Foster's church, on account of his active opposition, while in the legisbture, to the bill to oUige all ministers to have a license from that infltitution. Mr. -Foster had ruling elders appointed to assist him in bringing back to communion those who absented themselves to hear the 'itinerant and disorderly preachers.'' He sometimes at* tended the meetings liimself to refute the speakers^ and on one occasion, annoiuicing that lie was the minister of the town, took the chair and dismissed the meeting.

-Rev. Benjamin Willard preached at various times, from 1820 to 1823, in the interest of the Baptist denomination, and March 14, 1821, a society was organized with twelve members. Mr. Foster ruled his people with a rod of iron, and not one was allowed to leave the church to join the new society without a vote of public censure.

Hie first Baptist meeting-house was built in 1822, of brick, and stood where Mr. John P. Tuttlenow lives; it was dedicated July 9, 182S> when Bey. Amasa Sanderson was ordained, and acted as pastor until March 23, 1831. The' succeeding ministers were Bev. Silas Kenney, 1831 - 1834; Bev. 0. Ayer, 1837-1843; Bev. T. H. Lunt, April, 1844, to March, 1845 ; Bev. Aaron

After the death of Mr. Foster the town voted, October 29, 1827, to call Bev. William H. White to settle as minister. He was bom in Lancaster, Mass., ill 1798, and lived on a farm in Westminster until twenty-one, when he fitted, for college under the tuition of Bev. Dr. Steams of Lincoln. Mr. White graduated at Brown University in 1824, and at Cambridge Divinity School in 1827 ; he received a call to preach in Kingston, Mass., but preferred Littleton, where he was ordained January 2, 1828.

to settle in this town and win his piedecesaof^s daughteri Sarah Bass Foster, whom he married a. year after his ordination. He died July 25, 185S, in tlie twentv-sixth vear of his ministry. He was succeeded by Bev. Frederick B. Newell, September, 1854, to November, 1856 ; Bev. JBugene Denormandie, Febmary, 1857, to July, 186S; Bev. Albert B. Vorse, June, 1864, to June, 1869; Bev. David P. Muzzey, October, 1869, to April, 1871 ; Bev. T. H. Eddowes, January, 1872, to December, 1872; Bev. S. B. Priest, January, 1873, to August, 1874 ; Bev. J. Wingate Winkley, March, 1876. In 1841 the society took down their old church and built, the present one on tiie same spot, the fourth building of the First Parish.

We liave to record the formation, within , a few^ years of each other, of three other societies, ris. the Universalists, the Unionists, and the '.Orthodox Congregational.

Tlie Universalists held meetings in the Centre school-house and in Chamberlin's Hall from 1830 until December, 1846, when they bought at auction the meeting-house the Unionists had built a feic years previous, a short distance east of the present union school-house, on the old road between the Centre and Common. The house was burned by an ia-' cendiary in 1847, after which the society dispersed.

The Unionists, or Millerites, were an outcomci from the Baptists, in whose meeting-house William : Miller first preached in town. They built a small meeting-house for themselves in 1840. The continued existence of the world beyond the time they liad fixed for its destruction was a blow which the society did not survive.

The Orthodox Congregationalists withdrew from the First Church in 1840, and formed their society ; March 23, and their church ]^Iay 14, of that year. They met in the hall over George Lawrence's Yellow Store until the present meeting-house was completed in the fall of 1841. Their pastors have been Bev. J. C. Bryant, October, 1840, to March, 1845 ; Bev. James M. Bacon, October, 1846, to November, 1849; Bev. Daniel H. Babcock, April, 1851, to February, 1853; Bev. Elihu Loomis,

The Littleton Lyceum was organized December 2, 1829, through the efforts of Bev. Mr. White, and has been continued every winter until the present day. It was at first a debating society with an occasional lectore preceding the debate, but has of kte years developed into a lecture course, which, from its antiquity and the quality of its lectures, is the pride of the town.

The first mention of schools in the town records is under the date of March 31, 1725, when it was voted ** that tlie selectmen provide a school mas- * ter/* Tliey hired John Powers. At tliat time and for many years after, it was the custom to have one school from four to six months in the year, kept in private houses, and generally moving from one part of the town to another during the time, but in some years' it was kept wholly in the Centre.

May 19, 1760, the town voted "to abate Mr. Stephen Shattuck the Bates for his Son's Poll y* last year on condition his Son Goes to college the next year.''

Bepeated attempts to pass votes for schoolhouses were unsuccessful until 1795, when the town voted to build five, but afterwards changed the number to four, which were built the- following year, the South near the house of J. A. Priest, the West near the present school-house in that quarter, the North near the " long-store,*' and the East at Uie cdmer of the road near the house of Mr. Elbridge Marshall.

This arrangement was unsatisfactory, as it left the Centre and Old Common without school-houses, and a' long struggle for changes was commenced, which resulted in building school-houses in the Centre and at Nashoba in 1822, -^ of brick to prevent their being moved, - and the moving of some of the others;' after another struggle a schoolhouse was built on the Common in 1843, making seven in all. This number was preserved with' renewals of buildings, and slight changes in location, until 1867, wlien the Union school-house, with grammar and primary schools, was built for the Common and Centre villages combined. For tlie past few years a high school, of one term yearly, has been kept iH the brick town-house.

The selectmen during the Rebellion were in 1861-62 John P. Bobbins, John Cutter, and James A. Parker; in 1863-64-65 Joseph A. Priest, William Kimball, and George W. Sanderson. Tlie town-clerk iu 1861, and all througii the war, was William Kimball.

Tlie first town-meeting to consider matters relating to the war was held May 1, 1861, uhen it was voted to raise by taxation one thousand dollars, and to lauthorize the selectmen to borrow more, if needed, to pay each soklier bebnging to the town ten dollars a month while in the service, and to provide for their families. <In July a committee consisting of Bichard Hall, F. P. Knowlton, Thomas S. Tuttle, and Benjamin Edwards weiie chosen to act with the selectmen in expending the money appropriated^ In July, 1862, it was voted. to pay a bounty of one hundred dollars to each three years' volunteer, and in August, 1868, the bounty was raised to one hundred and twenty-five dollars. It was also voted to keep a full record of each volunteer belonging to the town. The town continued recruiting and paying bounties until the end of the war.

The whole number of men furnished. was one hundred and seventeen, a surplus of eighteen over all demands. Two were commissioned - offices. When the nine months' volunteers were jready to leave, the people met and escorted them in procession to Central Hall, where a full meeting waa held to bid farewell to and encourage them.

In one instance the town brought home and buried at its own expense one of the slain. Hie total amount of money appropriated and expended by the town on account of the war, exclusive of state aid, was $11,104.33. In addition to this, the ladies under the presidency of the late Mrs; S. B. White formed a Soldiers' Aid Society, and sent many boxes of clothing, bandages, and comforts to the seat of war. -

Littleton is almost entirely a farming town; there are three stores, and two mills for grinding and sawing. About the time of the Bevolution there was a factory for dressing cloth on the brook near the house of Peter S; Whitcomb; it was owned by a stock company, which- had in 1779 seventeen share-holders, mostly residents. Ihe population in 1875 was 950 ; in 1860, 1,063 \ and in 1776, 918; this number, however, included manv who were soon afterwards set off to* Boxborough, so tliat the number has not been so cou^ stant as would appear at first sight.

The town has been represented in the state senate by Bev. 'Mr. Foster, Hon. Jonathan Hartwell," and Hon. Joseph A. Hann'ood, who is now a mem-* bcr of the executive council, holding the highest* oflice yet attained by a citizen of 'Littleton.

A few facts Klected at tandom illustrate the mtn; changes in customs (luring a century. First, the iDventories of 177U and 1771 give the number ti alaves owned as eight. A carriage was a great luxury, and subject to a duty ; in 17S6 the toim boasted two only, - both chaises. Tlie selectmen were empowered to warn out of town any persons whpm they thou^t likely to become paupers, or fbr other reasons. In 1790, sU persons who had CQKie to town since 1767 were warned out The ^ief items of expense for the funeral of the town's first peoper were, for kid gloves and rum I

The nilroads nuiuing through the town are the litchbu^, with a station in the westerly part, distant thirty-one miles from Boston, and the Stony Biook, with a flag-atation in the north part, distant trelvo miles from Lowell.

Since the building of the railroads the local bavel has gradually diminished, so that it does not support a hotel, and the traveller through the town must depend upon the hospitality of the citizens.

In former times there were many taverns ; the first, k^ by Samuel Hunt, is mentioned as early as 1722 i it probably stood neat the house of P. S. Wlutcomb. Another v-as the Laurence tavern, kept in the house now occupied by Henry Crane ; the ^n^ on which was painted a soldier and the words, " Pay To-day and Trust To-morfow," with the date 1768, is still in the house. Otliers were kept by John Fox and Captain Leonard Whiting in the Centre, previous to the Revolution ; by Semi. Gilbert, and afterwards by Captain Kidder, called the Tremont House (where tlie Baptist parsonage stands) ; by Sinieon Proctor (where Solomon S. Fhi^ now lives), aud by Madison Loring (in the house now occupied by J. W. Adams) and Samuel Smith on the Common ui bter times. The Tremont House was struck by light-' ning and burned in 1842 or 1843. Smith's hotd was afterwards kept by 3. M. Colbum, William Chamberlin, Boynton Needham, and others, and last by Geo^e 1). Brown, who owned it when it was bamed in 1878. It had not been a paUie house for a number of years.

The town has two cemeteries remaining; the first, at Nasliofaa, having been long since deafr, crated, as before mentioned. The one at the Common was laid out in 1721; we give two of its. epitaphs : -

HzBS Ijes the body of Isaac Powers One of those sweet and pleasant flowers Who in his Lifetime Lived well. But God did toll his mourafuU bell Let this be a call unto the rest When God doth take from us the best Who was a pattern to us all But God can give a louder call All Earthly ParenU now behohi The price of Grace is more than gold Prepare to meet joni Cliildreu first At the lUiurection of the Just -

NATHANIEL CLARK. GEORGE J. WIIITX; 8. A. SWEETLAND. CHARLES DUNMORE. WILLIAM NDTT. A. H. PARLIN. W. A. BIRD. J. K. FELCIL C. M. FELCH. CHARLES BIGELOW. EDWARD M£SSINGER. A. W. RUSSELL.

BENJAMIN P.. LOVEJOT. IL J. CANAVAN. A. &L KIDDER. W. G TALL3IAN. HORACE ILVSKIN& ' EDGAR PAINE, CHARLES A. DOLE. WILLIAM F. IIALL. CHARLES G. POPE. EDWARD T. FLANAGAN. PERCY A BRIDGIIA^L GEORGE W. McC02C^'ELL. A H. SKILTON. ,