Townsend Town (part 7 of 7)

Townsend has produced its full share of professional men who have gone out from its borders and made themselves homes elsewhere. Seventeen Townsend men have graduated at New England colleges. Their names are as follows : John Hubbard, D. C, 1785 ; Abraham Butterfield, D. C, 1796; Daniel Adams, D. C, 1797; Joseph Walker, B. C, 1818 ; William Farmer, H. U., 1819 ; John Stevens, Middlebury, 1821 ; Joel Giles, H. U., 1829; John Graham, Amherst, 1829 ; John Giles, H. U., 1831 ; Charles Brooks, Y. C, 1853; Warren Brooks, H. U., 1855; Mark Davis, D. C, 1856 ; Charles Thaddeus Haynes, Amherst, 1862; John Milton Proctor, D. C, 1863 ; Eandall Spaulding, Y. C, 1870; Eliel Shumway Ball, D. C, 1874; Wayland Spaulding, Y. C, 1874.

Daniel Adams, the most noted man born in Townsend, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1797 ; took his medical degree at the same institution in 1799; was associate editor of a newspaper at Leominster in 1801; published The Scholar's Arithmetic in 1808, and The Uiiderslanding Reader in 1810; was a member of the New Hampsliire Historical Society in 1822, and president of the New Hampshire Medical Society in 1823; published Adams' New Arithmetic in 1828, and The Monitorial Reader in 1841. He was for some time a jirnetieal jiliysician and surgeon at Moinil Vern.ui, Xrw Hampshire. He afterward movrd to Kceiic. wlirrr lie resided more than half a century, and wliere he publisiied most of his works. Ilis books had an extensive circulation through tlie common schools and acad- emjes of New England, and they were a decided improvement on the text-books previouslyused. He was a leading man in his profession, as well as a prominent author. He was a diligent student during his life, investigating the cause of things, and laying open their 'hidden relations and affinities. A mind like his may be compared to tiie head-light of a locomotive, that darts its rays far along tlie track. He married Nancy jMulliken, August 17, ISOO. They had two sons and three daughters. Both of his sons received a collegiate education. He died at Keene in 186i, aged 91 years.

For about twenty years this town contained the residence of Henry Price, the man who laid the corner-stone of speculative Masonry in America. He was born in London about 1697, and came to New England about 173:3. From the record of the proceedings in a suit commenced by him against a debtor in \Ti-l it is proved that he was a shopkeeper and tailor in Boston as early as 1731. On petition of several masonic brethren of Boston, addressed to Viscount Montague, grand master of Masons of England, he was appointed " a provincial grand master of free and accepted masons in New^England," April 30, 1733. Within a short time after this appointment he was commissioned cornet in governor Belcher's troop of guards, with the rank of major. He was then thirty-six years old. For some time his place of business was on Cornhill, very near where No. 96 Washington Street now stands. In 1737 he married Mary Townsend, who was superior to most of her sex both in mental and personal endowments, and in 1738 a daughter, Mary, was bom to them. He carried on business, sometimes with a jjartner, till 1751, when he retired to take care of his real estate, of which he possessed a large amount in diflerent towns. His wife (Mary Townsend) died about 1750, and in 1752 he married Mary Tilden, of Boston, at Trinity Cinirch, as he was an Episcopalian. About 17C0, while looking forward to a bright future, his wife and daughter died at nearly the same time, leaving his home desolate and forsaken. It was probably his sorrow at these losses thr.t induced him to make himself a home elsewhere. In 1761 he came to Townsend, and settled on land which he had owned about twenty years. A prospect of scenic beauty meets the eye from the hillside where he hved. He was soon appreciated by the Townsend people, for in 1761 and 1765 he represented them in the piovincial legislature, in which body he served on several committees.

" September y' 17, 1771, were lawfully married Henry Price Esq., with Lydia Kaiidall," both of Townsend, by Ikverend Samuel Dix of Townsend." By this third marriage two cliildren were born to him, Mary and Rebecca. He lived quietly in this town and enjoyed his increasing years. Tradition says that on nearly every Sabbath morning he and his faTnily were driven to church by his negro slave Scipio, and that they invariably returned home at noon, when a good dinner awaited their arrival. Hedied on the 20tli of May, 1780, from the effect of a wound in his abdomen caused by a glancing axe held in his own hands. He performed many journeys to Boston in connection with his masonic duties, where in his old age he was regarded with reverence by the order. At the age of seventy-one years, and while installing Grand Master Eowe, he used these impressive words : -

"It is God's decree that every one shall di(;. Death is his messenger to enforce his law ; nor will he let any of us carry from hence any mark of human pride, treasures or honors, or any proof of our earthly consequence but a good conscience obtained from a well-spent life; from which reflects the most brilliant legacy we can leave our friends in this world, - a good name."

Through the moss on the slate head-stone at his grave the passer-by may trace these words, which have remained there for a century : " An Honest Man. The Noblest AVork of God."

The industries of Townsend, aside from agriculture, liave been numerous. John Wallace and his brother, men of Scotch-Irish origin, came here soon after the settlement of the town, and located on Nissequassick Hill. They were coopers in Boston, but chose this town for a permanent residence on account of the large quantity of white-oak timber found here. Coopering has been the leading mechanical pursuit in Townsend since it was introduced by these men. Until within the last halfcentury no machinery was used in making barrels ; but, since the disappearance of the original growth of the white-oak, barrels have been made from white-pine, and machinery has been extensively utilized in preparing coopering stock. This business has brought a large amount of money into the town. In ISTi, according to the deceiuiial census of the state, the capital invested in this branch of industry was $202,700 ; amount of goods manufactured, $:34.4,25-i. The lumber-mills of the town are, at present, almost exclusively used in the interest of the coopering business. There are two leather-board mills, which turn out many tons of product annually ; and two gristmills sent out, ill 1874, $20,000 worth of "corn, rye, and wheat, ground into meal and tlour. The town has had clothiers, saddlers, morocco-dressers, wool-carders, and hatters, besides tliose engaged in tlie manufacture of spiiniing-wheels, potash, and cast-iron ware, all of which trades and occupations are now extinct.

Townsend has had its full share of ingenious mechanics, the Richardsons, Whitneys, and Stevenses ranking in this class. Long ago Levi Richardson, through the influence of General Varimm, M. C, became the patentee of a spiiniing-wheel, and of a self-setting machine for sawing boards.

Samuel Whitney, a blacksmith, was the inventor of tiie machine known as the Woodworth Planer. He had the castings made, to which lie applied the knives and "feeding" part, made by himself; and he put the machine successfully at work in presence of men wlio are still among the living. Neglecting to apply with sufficient

William Stevens, an excellent machinist, was the inventor of a self-setting gear for the stavesaw, wliich is in constant use in the coopering business, and is a great labor-saving contrivance.

Asa Whitney was a prominent mechanic, from the same blacksmith-shop of his brother Samuel, to whom reference has just been made. As a railroad engineer he was at the head of the profession. When the Erie Railway was being built, he was consulted by the directors on the question of its gauge, to which he gave an elaborate opinion in favor of the 4-feet 8i-inch gauge, which, had it been then adopted (as it recently has been), would have saved the railway millions of dollars. At the close of his life, in 187-1, he was engaged in Philadelphia, at the head of the firm of A. Whitney & Sons, in the manufacture of car-wheels. By his will he left $50,000 to found a chair of dynamical engineering in the University of Pennsylvania. He left a large fortune, and was the only Townsend man known to the writer who was ever a millionnaire.

Let this synopsis of the history of an old township be closed by a single quotation, which should awaken everywhere a greater res])ect for the memory of those great minds which, during all the ])ast, have been continually adding to the aggregate of human knowledge and happiness, from the time of Tubal Cain, the first known cunning artificer, to that of our own Middlesex County Morse, whose first message over the wires was, " What hath God wrought ! "

"The people of the present owe everything to the past ; and without the accomplishments of those who have preceded us, man would be simply a barbarian in tjie wilderness, crouching in a cave, shivering in the cold, afraid of the thunder, trembling before the liiihtiiini,', shuddering at the mysterious voices of tlie winds, without even a knife or a hatchet to defend himself against the wild beasts."

Source changes here: from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, by Drake, Samuel Adams, published 1880; 5,160 words in this source stream.

Bt Ithasar B. Bavtbllb

OWNSEND is situated in tlie northwestern angle of the county, on the state line ; it is bounded on the north by Mason and Brookline, Xew Hmnpjhire, on the east by Pepjierell, Groton, and Sliirlcy, on the south by Lunenburg, and on the west by Ashby. It contains 19,271 acres. In its outlines it is perhaps more quadrangular tlian any other tovn in the county.

The borders of the town, except at its southeast (Xtnier, are occupied by prominent hills, upon some of which are stmidjuints commanding views of scenic beauty. A large portion of the land on these liills is well adapted to the cultivation of the cereals, and produces muclt fruit, - i»rticularly apples and peaches. The central part oftlie town is generally quite Wei, and contains hki^ areas of land consisting of a light, sandy soil. Interspersed nmang tliese plains and near the river are many fertile tracts, which nITord excellent crops. Throui^h this central ba?in flows the Sfjuanicook Birer, which is produced by the conflnence of several lai^ brooks in Ash Swamp, situated in the northwest prt of the lon-n. These brooks drain parts of Mason, OiveHTille, and New Ipswich, Xew Hampshire, nnd . parts of the towns of .Vshby, .\slibumhnm, Fitclibnnr. and Lnnenbui^.

Tlie S(|uanirook Biver runs through tlie town in a southeaslerlr direction to near the Gmton line, when it tnVes a more sonthrm course, and in a ver>' crooked channel it journeys on out of Tnwnseml at the northeast comer of Shirley. This river and its tributaries have fumislied many mill pririlq;ea which have been and are still utilized in varioua branches uf industry. The town has three postal centres, known as Towiisaid Harbor, Tovnsend, and West Townsend, each situated about two milea from the otlier and clustering on both banks of tlie Squanicook. The Peterborough and Shirley Bailroad, a branch of tlie Fitchburg Bailroad (completed in 1849), passes through the town, touching the three villages daily with regular passenger trains. ' Tlie central village is situated nine milea from Fitchbui^, twenty miles from Lowell, and forty miles froui Boston. Townsend was named by the provincial governor in honor of Cliariea Townshend, the English statesman, who vas very popular in the colonies at the time it received iU charter. It apjjears from the town records tliat for more than tifty years from tlie time of its incorporation the correct orthography of ita namesake was generally preserved. Near the banning of the present century tlie " h " was dropped from the name in the records, contrarr, perhaps^ to good taste. The population of tlie town (census of 1875) is 2,196.

The earliest historical trace of any ^claim of ownership in the soil of Townsend has been found among the grants of " the great and general court " to the prominent military men, who two hundred years ago particijiated in King Philip's War in New England.

less, Ijring in the wilderness on tlie north of Groaton river at a plac6 balled bj the Indians MTistequa^ tuek, on the West side of sayd liilL

''It begins at a great hemlock tree standing on the West side of the sayd hill marked with H. and ninns north and by east three liundred and twenty pole to a maple ilttt marked w^ H ; from thence it ranns Wfest and by north three liundred and twenty pole to a stake and stones; froni thence it runns south & by west three hundred and twenty pole to a great pine in a little swamp marked w^ H; frbih thence it ruims east k by south to^tlie first hemlock. All the lynes are rvnne & the trees are well marked. It contaynes a mill squar and Is lajd exactly square> as may be easily demonstrated by y* platform inserted vnderneath & is on file. Jonathan Danfoeth, Surcejo^.

William Hathom was' a magistrate in Salem when tlie Quakers commenced their ec(ientric and indecent proceedings '^ against the peace and dignity '' of the colotiy ; and a captain of Salem militia during the Indian war^ afterward promoted to the rank of major. He was a deputy to the General Court two or three times, speaker in 1661', and a man of prOmuieuce.

" Hathom's farm/* so called, is situated on the aoiithwestem slope of what was formerly known as Wallace Hill, including the meadows at' its base, and was undoubtedly selected from the unbrOkefl yildeme^ on account of the spontaneous growth of grass which it produced. The Indian name in this g^nt has been found spelled quite difTerently. In both the town and the proprietors' records the word is almost invariably Nissequassick. This word, in English, signifies "the two-pine place'' {miuif two, coo9^ pines, and ick, a locative particle). This name has never been applied to any other locality. There is nothing which goes to show tliat the Indians ever made Town^iid a permanent place of abode, although a tomahawk and a few of their stone instruments have been found imbedded in the best soils along the river, where, perhaps, tliey occasionally planted com. The settlers of the town made several garrison-houses in different situations, but there is no record or tradition tliat they were ever molested, or injured in the least degree by the red men.

its Surrounding wilderness. Meanwhile tlicf seasons came imd departed; the gentle breath, of springawakened the untrod forest verdure ; autumii painted' its crimson on the maple leaves; wintef summoned its winds to chiint the requiem of the years as they made their "exits and entnuices," but the axe of the Poritan was not heard on Nissequassick Hill.

In 17>0£ the colony of Massachusetts Bay commenced issuing paper money to ])ay debts which accumulated from the expense of the Indian wars, and other causes. Tlie inflation of the currency) together with a strong passion and greed for landed estates, brought to the surface a class of speculators who were -anxious to have new towns granted and surveyed.

In 1719 a certain number of men, the most prominent of whom belonged to Concord, petitioned the General Court for a grant of two towns at tlie "Westerlv side of Groton.''. This was soon after Grotoii had been resurveyed by Samuel Danforth {vide Ms. Becords of General Court, 1713, p. 216), who established the northwest comet of Groton on the easterly side of " Wistequasct Hill," at the southwest comer of the old township of Dunstable, thereby giving to Groton the gore of land between the north line of that town and the south line of Old Dunstable, liaving the east lines of .Lunenburg and Townsend as they now are for its western boundary. By this survey Groton obtained laige portions of land which are now included within the limits of the townships of Pepperell and Shirley., -

On the 7th of December, 1719, the General Court 'made the following grant, which is of great importance; for it is not only the foundation of the municipal rights of the town, but it is the baae upon which rest the titles to all the real estate in Townsend except Hathora's mile square* It is here given entire, from an exact copy of the colonial records t -

" Anno Regni ReffU 'Geor§ii Magnae Brii* lannae Sexto, At a great and General Courtior Assembly for his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New Eugktnd, begun and held at Boston, upon Wednesday, the twenty-seventh of May, 1719, and continued by Prorogation to Wednesday, the fourth' of November, 1719>'and then met; being their second session.

" Moudaj, December 7i 1719. - ** In the house of Representatives, the vote f6r granting two new towns was brought down from the board with Amendments, which were read and agreed to And the said vote is as follows^ viz : Voted, That two new Towns^ each containing a Qnantitj of land not exceeding six miles square^ be laid out in as regular Forms as the I^and will allow ; to be settled in a defensible manner, on the Westerly aide of Groton West line, and that William Tailor, Samuel Thaxter, Prancis Fullam, Esqrs., Capt. John Shipley, and Mr. Benjamin Whittemore, be a Committee fully impowered to allot and grant out the land contained in each of the said towns, (a lot not to exceed Two hundred and fifty acres) to such persons, and oidy such as will effectually aettle the same within the space of three yeai^ next ensuing the laying out and granting such by the Committee, who are instructed to admit eighty families or persons in each Town at least, who sh^ll pay to the said Ck)mmittee for the use of the Province^ tlie sum of Five Pounds for each allotment^ vrhich shall be granted and allotted as aforesaid ; and tliat each person to whom such lot or lots shall be granted or laid out, shall be obliged to build a good Dwelling House thereon and inhabit it; and also to break up and fence in three acres of land at the least within the Term of three years ; and that there be laid out and reserved for the first settled Minister a good convenient Lot; also a Lot for the School, and a ministerial lot, and a lot for Harvard College, of two hundred and fifty Acres each ; and the Settlers be obliged to build . a good, convenient House for the Worship of God in each of the said Towns, within the term of four years ; and to pay the charge of the necessary surveys, and the Committee for their service in and about the premises ; and that the Committee give public notice of the time and place when and where tliey will meet to grant allotments.

. The townships of Lunenburg and Townsend, by this order or grant of the General Court, were called into 1^1 existence from the " country land '* of the province and from a territory previously called Turkey Hills. From the date of this grant till each of these towns was sur\:eved and received its respective charter Lunenburg was called Turkey Hills, and Townsend was called The North Town, sometimes Turkey Hills North Toiin.

The committee named in this grant called their Arst meeting at the inn of Jonathan Hobart, of Concord, on the 11th of May, 1720, when seventy^. two of the eighty shares in North Town were taken up,* some subscribers paying tlie five pounds.

others paying only a part, and others nothing at tliat time. Twenty-four of these seventy-two shareholders belonged to Concord. At a subsequent meeting the other eight shares were, taken, but the names of those who took them jdo not appear on the manuscript record of Francis Fullam, clerk of the committee. This manuscript is preserved Sji Harvard College Library. It was impossible, far the original proprietors of the town to conform to the strict letter of the grant. The ''convenient house for the worship of God '' was not built till 1730. It was a rude structure, and the only one in town at that time built of sawed lumber. Only a few of the men who met at Concord in 1719, a^d subscribed for an eightieth jnrt of the town, ever became settlers in the North Town. . According to the town recoids, the first liirth was in 1728, during which year several families came here from Chelmsford, Groton, and Woburn.

On the 29tli of June, 1732, Townsend was incorporated and its boundaries made ; but not till October, 16, 1734, did the town settle '' a learned orthodox minister.'' Just before, and at this time, there wa$ a sharp controversy going on between the land proprietors of the townships of Townsend and Old Dunstable, the point in dispute bemg a tract of hind in the northeast comer of Townsend, then in Dunstable. It appears, from all tlie records, that the Townsend proprietors held unreasonable views conceniiug the boundary line between thes^ towns. During the.next decade the town; advane^ considerably. The General Court made a law epi* powering the selectmen to assess and collect a tax of one penny on ever)* acre of " Non-resident landj^'* which w^ a great help towards the support of their minister. In 1733 a saw and grist mill was built at the Harbor; still, the settlers were very poor, and subject to many privations.

In 1741 the province line between l^fassacbusetts and New Ham])shire was establisiied, by which Townsend lost about one third of its terntorv, which is now embraced within the limits of Broukline, Mason, and New Ijxswich, in New Hampshire. This was another source of trouble to the land -loving proprietors, of the town, who soon petitioned the General Court for indemnification. The subject was not acted upon till 17C5, when the assembly '^ granted a township somewhere at the eastward of the Saco Biver, six miles square, to the Townshend proprietors aud otlien, for military services and other losses and senjces." Of this township Townsend was. to have 10,212 acres. There is, however, nothing recorded going to show that Townsend ever complied with the lerms of the grant, or received the least benefit from \ii At this period (1765) log-iiouses began to disappear, comfortable cottages took their pbces, and quite a namber of the two-story houses, with their monstrous chimneys, were built by the most wealthy people of the town. The population at that time was 393.

By the incorporation of Ashby, in 1 767, Townsend parted *with territory enough to form about two thirds of that town, with as little regret as is felt by a mother at the marriage of the eldest daughter of the family. Since the time of this excision the limits of the 'town have remained undisturbed;

At the inauguration and during tlie progress of the Bevolutionary Vfwt the town took a very active part, being in constant correspondence with the town of Boston through the Committee of Safety. When the alarm* was made on the 19th of April, 177Sy seventy-five men, in two companies, under the command of Captain James Ho^ley and Captain Samuel Douglas, took up tlie line of march for Concord, to resist the '^ ministerial trooiis.'* Ephraim Warren left his plough in the furrow, mounted one of the horses with which he was at work, and calling for his gun and ammunition started at full speed 'Uo have a shot at the r^ubrs.'' During the siege of Boston several sledloads of provisions were sent by this town to its Saflering inhabitants. Tlie tbwn records attest the spirited manner with which its quotas for the army were filled, and ta the great interest manifested in the cause x>f freedom. It, however, had more than its share of tories, who were a source of great trouble and annoyance to the patriots. Several became refugees. Tlie most prominent among them was Joseph Adams, a physician, who owned real estate both in this town and in Pepperell, all of which was confiscated and sold.

Daring the Sliays Bebellion excitement many of the citizens of the town, not discriminating between self-government and anarehy, were in sympatliy iiith the insurgents. " The distressed situation of pub- He affaire ''are the words of the record of a townmeeting in 1 786. Some of the most prominent men in town were ready to assist in obstructing the sitting of the courts. A company was raised by Lieutenant Peter Butterfield, lately made if|) of young nen and minors, which partici^xited with Job Sliattnck in the attempted raid on the court at Concord.

the people of the town were very much divided in opinion in regard to the location of tlieir house of worship. ' As was the custom when it was built, it was located on a hill which afforded many cliarming views of the surrounding country. The village at Groton, with its white chureh-spire and dwellings, the farm-houses in Lunenburg, and the graceful contours of the Turkey Hills at the southwest and west, constituted a delightful outlook from this standpoint. Here luid been tlieir house of worship since the settlement oC the town. The necessity of climbing a steep hill to attend meeting, together with the difficulty in getting good wells of water thereon, were- the prominent objections to that spot, hallowed to these worshippers by many tender recollections. In 1798 the town began to agitate the subject of a new meetinghouse in another location, and during the ^next year a committee of sixteen members was chosen " to find the centre of the town,'' and to select a suitable place for the building; biit nothing definite was agreed upon till 1803, when, after having from three to five town-meetings in each year, the to^ii voted to remove their meeting-house to the place where it now stands, on the Common, where it' was newly set up, renovated, and dedicated in the autumn of 1804. The selection of this spot for the centre of the town was a very judicious act on the part of the committee. The pitch-pine forest soon disappeared, and the meeting-house became the nucleus of a thriving settlement, since grown to the proportions of a manufacturing village, " with the modem improvements.'*

The war with Great Britain in 1^12 being unpopular in Massachusetts, no very enthusiastic response to the call for troops was made. Tliis io\n\ was represented by one volunteer and about half a score of drafted men, among tlie Middlesex County troops stationed at Fort Warren, under the command of Colonel Walter Hastings of Townsend. For the first fifty years of the existence of the town there is nothing to be found on record whereby the military history of that period can be written. That an efficient militia was here is evident from the fact that many town officers have military prefixes to their names. Tlie earliest records of the militia show that the town had two companies, known as the North Company and the South Comi>any ; and the records of the former, from 1788 to 1817, and of the latter from 1782 to 1815, are still preserved. The names of the captains of the South Company, as they succeeded each other in office, are William Stevens, Zacliariah Hildritli, Timothy Fesseiiden, Eliab Going, Hezekiah Richard^n, William Archibald, Isaac Spaulding^ Janes Adams, and Isaac Kidder; and of the North Company are John Campbell, Jonatlian Wallace, Samnel Brooks, Joseph Adams, Walter Hastings^ John Waugh, and George Walkce. These' were prominent townsmen in their day, when it meant something to be the commander of a military comi^any. In 1817 Levi Warren, Walter Hastings, and others petitioned for tlie cliarter of an independent company, which was granted; and sobn after it was oi^nized nnder the name of the Townsend Light Infantry, which was kept alive till 1852. It was a Mell-disciplined, fine-looking corps. It invariably appeared on parade with excellent ttusic, and received on muster-days many compliments from military men during the thirtyfive years of its existence. Tlie organization of this company left the number of soldiers in town liable to do military duty so small that they were enrolled in one company. Tlie military spirit in Massachusetts began to wane about 1825, previous to which time the training and muster days were k>oked forward to with much interest. In 1837 the legisbiture passed a lawmaking all military duty voluntary, which resulted in the disbanding of the entire un-uniformed militia of the commonwealth.

There was little interest manifested in military affairs until 1861, when tlie Ufe of the nation was threatened by the Southern slaveholders. The part taken by Townsend in that terrible civil war was very creditable, both to its young men who enlisted and. entered the service, and to the tax* payers who poured forth their treasures without stint in the cause of patriotism and for the preservation of the Union. The town sent to the field three commissioned officers, and, including one drafled man and substitutes, two hundred and sixty-seven men, of whom one hundred and sixtyone were voters in this town at the time when they volunteered. Of the Townsend men included in this number thirty-four lost their lives, - twelve in action, and twenty-two by starvation in Rebel pris* ons, by disease, or other casualties of war. In Company £, 33d Massachusetts Begiment of Volunteers, were twenty-six Townsend men, twelve of whom were either killed in action or died in the armfy. - At present there is no militnry company in town and, in fact, the commonwealth itself is in about the tame defenceless condition as when the guns were pointed towards devoted Sumter in 1861. Our legislators and the people profess the most profound respect for the memory of Waab* ington, forgetting his parting advice: ''In timet of peace prepare for war.''

The ecclesiastical history of Townsend, like that of most New England towns, is replete with inter* est. There were settlers here, in the easterly part of the town, two or three years before a church was gathered, who were acustomed to attend publie worship at Groton. The extreme poverty of theser men, together with the long controversy with Old Dunstable (before mentioned), is supposed to be the principal reason why Townsend did not receive its charter about the same time that Lunenburg was incorporated (1728). The meeting-house was built in 1730, and probably there was occasional preaching in it for some time before a church was gathei^. There is nothing left on record oonoeming the religious status of the town previous t6 1734, when a call was extended to Phineas Hemenway to become the town's minister. A copy of Mr. Hemen way's acceptance of this call is in the to\vn records, dated July 22, 1734. He was or^ dained on the 16th of October, at which time the church, consisthig of sixteen male members, was gathered. The names of these members are Phineas Hemen way, Joseph Stevens, William Clark, Nathaniel Tailor, Daniel Tailor, Joseph Baldwin, John Stevens, James McDonald, John Wallis, Samnel Manning, Jacob Baldwin, Samuel Clark, John Slowen, Benjamin Tailor, Isaac Spaulding, and Jeremiah Ball. The wives of some of these jnea were soon after admitted to the church. Belonging to this body, also, were some of the negro slaves owned bv tlie wealthiest citizens whose * n^mes appear above. During Mr. Hemenway*s pastorate the church increased from sixteen to seventy*' nine members.

Eev. Phineas Hemen way was bom at Framing* ham, April 26, 1706. He was the son of Joshua and Kebeckah Hemenway, of Roxbury. The father settled in Framingham in 1691, and was one fA the founders of the Church of Christ in that towh-» October 8, 1701, at which time he was chosoi deacon. He had enjoyed the advantages which Boxbury afforded, and received a superior education for the time. He was town schoolmaster in 1706* He was a man of decided convictions andj earnest piety. In doctrinal belief he agreed with Edwards; in church polity he M'as a strict Congr^tionalist, ss opposed to the Presbyterian tendeneies of the daj. He took a finn stand in faror of the revival under Edwards and Whitefield, and was known to and shared the confidence of such ministers as SewifU and Prince of Boston. He was an acknowledged leader in the civil affairs of the town, was deputy to the General Court in 1712 and in 1717, and held many important offices of trust. Pbineas, ih^ soiv grew up under tlie influence of such a training. He graduated at Harvard College in 1730. No traditions of his personal appearance or charactejr are preserved in the family. He was the first native-born son of Framingham to graduate at college, and was elected master of the grammar school at the close of his senior year. He commenced teaching July 27, and continued in the ieiirice one year, for which he received the sum of £50. On the 8th of Mny, 1739, he married Sarah Stevens of Marlborough, who was bom Sep7 tember 27, 1713. She survived him, and on the 20lh of October, 1761, married David Taylor, of Ck>ncord.

Mr. Hemenway was a very useful citizen and a luthfal pastor. None of his writings except what are in tbe records of the church have been found. He died May 20, 1760^ in the twenty-seventh year pf his ministry.

With commendable promptness, on the 20th of October following the town ** VoUd and chose Mr. Samuel Dix to be their pastor and gospel minister,, by a unanimous vote,'' whereupon the church gave him a formal call, which he accepted January 13, 1761. Rev. Samuel Dix was a native of Seadihg, bom March 13, 1736, ivas graduated at Harvard in 1758; ordained at Townsend, March 4, 1761 ; died November 12, 1797, in the thirty-sixth year of his pastorate, aged sixty-two. Ha married Abigail Cliandler of Boston. Mr. Dix was an excellent scholar. Everything that is left of his ^writings goes to show that he possessed strot^ intellectual powers, fully equal to most of his contemporaries in the ministry. He performed more pastoral work than any other minister ever settled in Townsend. Tlie towns of Mason, Brookline, Jaffrey, Hancock, and Stoddard, in New Hampshire, and Ashby in this county, were all favored by his visits, to offer consolation at the bedside of the dying, to attend funerals, and to preach the Word. Some of these to\ms had no settled minister at that time. Bev. Stephen Farrar, who preached his funeral sermon, attests to his &ithfulncss and ability ; that ** he shone peculiarly in the virtues of meekness, patience, humility, and self-denial'^; and that his preaching was accompanied ** with earnestness and pathos of address." Tliere was a large assembly at his funeral^, in. which were many ministers, some coming a long distance to express their deep sympathy with his family^ the church, and the town. During his ministry he baptized in Townsend six hundred and sixty-seven persons ; ^nd one hundred and seventy-three joined tlie church.

During the next three years there was no settled pastor. On the 2d of f)ecember, 1799, David Palmer received a call to become the town's minister, which he accepted. He was ordained on the first day of January, 1800, and the occasion was made a holiday. The weather and travelling were excellent. The pastor elect, his personal friends, and the learned council marched to the meetinghouse on the snow-crust to the music of fife and drum. Everybody " kept open house,*' and the multitude that came from the neighboring towns gave special attention to the ^' ordination pudclings," and other good things, both liquid and solid, that were provided for their gastronomic enjoyment on this festal diay. Tlie exercises at the meeting-house werfi very impressive. Bev. Andrew Lee of Lisbon, Connecticut, preached the sermon.

Mr. Palmer proved to be a very acceptable^ preacher and a successful educator. Several young men of this town fitted for college under his tuition. He was a man of genial manners and social disposition ; prticularly useful to the schools, where his visits were always welcome, on . account of the instruction imparted in his peculiarly agreeable manner. His ministry continued more than thirty-one years, during which time he performed three hundred and fifty-four marriages, baptized two hundred and eighty-three persons, and witnessed the admission of two hundred and fifty into the church.

Eev. David Palmer was bom at Windham, Connecticut, in 1768; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1797, was preceptor of New Ipswich Academy in 1798, ordained in Townsend in 1800, married Chloe Kinsley, of his native town, in 1794, and died at Townsend in 1849, aged eighty-one years.

For the first ninety-eight years of the municipal existence of the to^ni it had only three , settl^ ministers, each of whom was animated by the same sublime faith and hope ; whereas, since that time the " laborers '* have been many, and of widely different theological views. At the beginning of. the present century there were two or three Baptirt fiimilies in this town. In 1827 the nnmber of persons of that faith had increased so much under the labors of Bev. Benjamin Dean, that a church consisting of twelve members was organized at West Townsend. In 1834 a tasteful and commodioiis meeting-house was built at that village. from this commencement to the present time the denomination has received aid from the Domestic Baptist Missionary Society. The names of the ministers who foUowed Mr. Dean in succession are Bev. Gileb Brown, Bev. James Bamaby, Bev. Oren Tracy, Rev. Charles W. Eeding, Bev. W. C. Bichards, Bev. Caleb Blood, Bev. F. G. Brown, Bev. Lester Williams, Bev. E. A. Battell, Bev. Geoi^ W. Byan, Bev. Willard P. Upham, Bev. Oren K. Hunt, and Bev. William B. Thompson, who is the present pastor. The church has never been large, but there has been much unanimity among its members.

The Unitarians, holding possession of the meeting-house in 1830, had considerable numerical strength, but none of them made profession of religibn or belonged to any church. The desideratum with them was *' liberal preaching.'^ In 1831 they to6k the naitoe of the First Parish in Townsend, and employed Bev. Warren Burton for their preacher, who remained about a year. He was an eloquent speaker, and a man of good ability. Mr. Burton was followed by Bev. Jesse Chickering till about 1836, when Bev. Ezekiel L. Bascom commenced preaching, and during that year he gathered a churcli consiistuig of rather more than twenty members. He was a plausible writer and speaker. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1798, and died in 1841.

In the autumn of 1836 Linus H. Shaw (Harvard Divinity School, 1833) received a call for a settlement with' the First Parish, which he accepted, and he was installed on the 21st of December following. Tlie mantle of the founder of this church did not fall on this young pnstor ; for although he was a gentleman of unsullied moral character, a good thinker, and a writer of respectable talents, he was never popular either with his church or congregation. Unless making thorough preparation and committing his thoughts to writing, his effbrts in public were always failures. After a pastorate of about two years liis connection with this parish was dissolved. From that time until 1852 the Unitarians had no settled minister, aiid but little preaching. In 1769, by the legacy of Amos Whitney, a valuable farm, located near the meeting-house, was given to the town for a parsonage. This £arm legally came into the possession of the Unitarians, and was sold by tliem*. Tliey also sold the old meeting-house, except the bell, to the Methodists in 1852. In 1854 they built a meeting-house at the Harbor, and employed Bev. Stillman Barber for their minister. Thia gentleman remained with them about two years, at the end of which time no funds were raised for his' support. From 1856 to the present time ''the First Parish in Townsend'' has existed only ilk name.