Tyngsborough Town

By Rev. Elias Nason

HIS pleasant rural town, lying in the northerly part of the county, and intersected by the Merrimack River, is thirtytwo miles I'roni Boston, and has for its boundaries New Hampshire on the north, Dracut on the east, Chelmsford and "Westford on the south, and Groton and Dunstable on the west. It contains 665 inhabitants, who are mostly engaged in tlie cultivation of the soil. The town is accommodated by the Lowell and Nashua Railroad, and an iron bridge has recently been constructed over the Merrimack River, by whicli the easterly and westerly sections of the town are brought into direct communication. The view of the bridge and of the well-shaded village on the bend of the river is remarkably fine. Two or three affluents of the Merrimack River furnish some motive-power, and Tyng's Pond in the eastern, and Massnpoag Pond in the western section of the town serve to diversify the scenery and to attract pleasure-parties in the summer season. Granite is quarried to some extent near the line of Westford, and iron ore is found on the margin of Lawrence Brook. Scribner's Hill, Pine Hill, and Abraham's Hill are the principal eminences.

Wicasuck Island, in the Merrimack River, containing about sixty-five acres, is somewhat noted in history, and upon it many Indian implements, such as arrow-heads, gouges, and tomahawks, have been found. The town originally formed part of Dunstable, and tlie people, for a long period, attended public worship in that town ; but disagreeing as to the location of the meeting-house, a parish, called the First iu Dunstable, was organized in 1755.

A small meeting-house was erected, and public worship to some extent maintained. The place was incorporated as a district, June 23, 1789, and as a town, February 23, 1809, receiving its name from Mrs. Sarah Tyng Winslow, who had made

So far as known, the first white settler in what ! is now the town of Tyngsborough was John Crom- 1 well, a fur-trader, who, some time prior to 1661, I purchased of Captain Edward Johnson of Woburn j three hundred acres of land on the right bank of I the Merrimack River, built a house, and miide I some iuiprovements on his farm. He died in 1601, leaving a widow. Seaborne Cromwell, and I an estate valued at £608 2*. %d. His servants ' were Thomas Williams and Walter Shepherd, who ] in 1702 testified in respect to the estate. The land subsequently came into the possession of Henry Farwell, and then into that of the Bancroft fauiily. I It is said, though with but little appearance of I truth, that Cromwell was accustomed to use his foot in weighing the peltries which he bought of the Jndians, and that they at length became so \ much incensed at him for unfair dealing with ! them, that they made an assault upon his house, - he and his family having only time to escape into the wilderness," - and then reduced it to ashes. The cellar of the house is still visible, and a sum of money was found buried in an iron pot near by it. In his account of Tyngsborough (October, 1815) the Rev. Mr. Prentice says: "Some time after, pewter was found in the well, and an iron pot and trammel in the sand ; the latter are preserved. The present owner of the place was ploughing near the spot, and found his plough moving over a flat stone which gave a hollow sound. On removhig the earth and stone, he discovered a hole stoned, about six inches in diameter, from which he took a sum of money." Such discoveries were no doubt made, but there is no evidence, except tradition, that Cromwell buried the money, or that his house was destroyed by the savages. The inventory of his estate, as given by his widow, seems to disprove the whole story.

The town of Dunstable, including what is now Tyngsborough, was incorporated October 16, 1673, and among the petitioners for the act was Jonathan

Tyng, son of the Hon. Edward Tyng, born in Boston, December 15, 1612. He early came to Dunstable, and erected a house on the right bank of the Merrimack River, nearly opposite Wicasuck Island, where he continued to reside until about the year 1713. He died on the 19tb of January, 172-4. His father, Edward Tyng, removed from Boston to Dunstable about the year 1677, and died there December 27, 16S1. He was buried in the old Tyng Cemetery, and the inscription on his head-stone is : -

At the time of Jonathan Tyng's arrival in Dunstable it was a frontier settlement. A dreary wilderness, occupied by savages and beasts of prey, extended on the north as far as Canada ; the Pawtucket Indians, under Wannalancet, held the lands upon the river below ; the hostile Pennacooks above. But few white men had then ventured to fix their habitations in this region. Tyng fortified his house, laid out his farm, and resolved to stand firmly at his post. His bravery was soou put to the test. On the breaking out of Philip's War in 1675, as the enemy was found to be approaching, the English settlers left their homes and fled ; but Jonathan Tyng, strengthening his garrison as best he could, remained as the sole inhabitant of the place. For this he may well be called the first permanent settler of Dunstable. The following petition clearly gives the situation : -

"The petition of Jonathan Tyng Humbly Sheweth : That y'' Petitioner living in the uppermost house on Merimac River, lying open to y° enemy, yet being so seated that it is as it were a watch house to the neighboring towns, from whence we can easily give them notice of the approach of the enemy, and may also be of use to the j)ublirpie in many resi)ects ; also are near unto the place of the Indians ffishing, from which in the season thereof they have great supplies, which I doubt not but we may be a great means of preventing tlicni tliereof, there being never an inhabitant left in the town but myself: - Wherefore your Pelitioiier doth humbly recpiest that your Honors would be pleased to order him three or four men to hel|) garrison his said hou.se, which he has been at great charge to il'ortifv, and may be of service to the ])ub!i(|iir : xoiir laMnir herin shall furtheroblige measindiil v biiiiiid tdprav for a blessing on your Councils and n main Your Honrables luimble servant, Joxatmax 'rvNc.

The soldiers sent to defend Mr. Tyng's house were detached from the company of Captain Samuel Moseley, and for their support Mr. Tyng presented, in 1676, this account: " IS of Capt. Moseley's men from Aug. 13 to Sept. 10, £ 16 16.».; for 9 men from Sept. 11 to Jan. 17, £4-7 18«.; for 6 men from Jan. 18 to May 25, £25 '6s. and for 3 men from May 26 to July 14, £88*. also for 20 lbs. of powder at sundry times at 18 J. per lb. and 250 bullets, 5«. delivered for scouting." Also, " for 2 horses to Pennycook out 3 days. Is. 6r/."

At the close of the war about sixty of tiie Praying Indians were removed to AVicasuck Island, and placed under the care of Mr. Tyng, who had Robert Parris, afterwards slain by the Indians, for an assistant. It was probably for this service that the court granted to Mr. Tyng, December 5, 1683, "the island in Merrimacke River called Weikeset."

Mr. Tyng was the largest landholder in Dunstable. In consideration of £ 23 due to him by the town, three thirty-acre rights were granted to him, which were equal to about 1,800 acres. " This, with large accessions, has continued in the Tyng and Brinley families to the present day, and extends from the Merrimack River about six miles westward, by one mile wide to the Massapoag Pond, forming a large part of the town of Tyiigsborough." ^

The Waldo farm extended northward from Tyng's farm as far as Holden's Brook; and Captain Thomas Wheeler's farm extended theuce into wiiat is 710W Nashua, New Hampshire. A part of Wheeler's land subsequently became, and still is, the Bancroft farm. Joseph Perham, Joseph Butterfield, and others took up lands, and settled ou the easterly side of tlie Merrimack River as early as 1711.

Tile first birth mentioned on the records of Dunstable is that of William, son of Jonatlian and Sarah (Usher) Tyng, born April 22, 1679. Of Jonathan Tyng's other children, John (II. U. 1691) was born September 11, 1673, and Eleazcr (H.U. 1712), April 30, 1090.

In 1697 the garrisons in Dunstable were under the supervision of the brave Jonathan Tyng, and he was allowed £20 for keeping the friendly .sachem, Wannalancet, at Wicasuck Island. Early in this year the celebrated heroine, Hannah Dus- tan, who, with her assistants, Mary Neff and tlie boy Leoilardson, had taken the scalps of ten Indians at Coutoocook, New Hampshire, was kindly entertained at the house of Colonel Tyng, as she was on her way to her desolate home in Haverhill.

In the winter of 1703 Captain William Tyng, commanding a company of " snow-shoe men," made a successful expedition to the headquarters of " Old Harry," near Lake "Winnipiseogee. They succeeded in killing six of the enemy, among whom was the traitor, " Old Harry himself," who had led the assaults on Dunstable. For this act of bravery the General Court subsequently granted to the heirs of those composing this company a tract of land, at first called " Old Harry's Town," then Tyngstown, and afterwards Manchester.

In the winter following, Captain John Tyng, with another company, made an expedition to Poquawkett, or Pigwacket, and took five Indian scalps, for which they received £200. In 1710 the g.illant commander of this company was mortally wounded by the Indians between Concord and Groton, and was buried, August 18, at the former place. 1

The celebrated Joe English, grandson of Masconomo, sagamore of Ipswich, was shot by the Indians, near Holden's Brook, in what is now Tyngsborough, on the 27th of July, 1706. He was acting as a guard to Captain Butterfield and wife, who were travelling on horseback. Killing the liorse and taking Mrs. Butterfield captive, the Indians then pursued Joe English, firing at him and wounding him while attempting to shelter himself behind a clump of trees. To escape the torture of the savages, he insulted them with taunting words, when they at once despatched him with their tomahawks! His widow and his two children received a grant of money from the government, because " he died in the service of his country."

In 1711 there were as many as seven garrisonhouses in Dunstable, and two of them. Colonel Jonathan Tyng's and Henry Farwell's, were within the limits of the present town of Tyngsborough ; but the Indian depredations were mostly made in other sections of the settlement. The name of Tyng was a terror to the enemy. There is a tradition, however, that as John Anthony, afterwards of Dracut, Black Tom, and Elisha, a friendly Indian, were returning with hay from Tyng's riieadow, in what is now Hudson, New Hampshire, Elisha, being in advance of the other two, was shot by the hostile savages, who were lying in ambush. His companions, coming up, found his dead body lying in the stream since known as "Elisha's Brook." Three guns were fired and the drum was beaten at the garrison of Colonel Tyng on this occasion, to give warning that the enemy was in the neighborhood. It is said, also, that Church Hill was so named because a Mr. Church, on seeing the Littlehale family who resided there, and whose two sons had been carried into captivity by the Indians, exclaimed, "Let this place be called Church Hill forever ! "

On the 31st of December, 1722, Ensign Joseph Farwell, who with his son, Henry Farwell, had settled on a part of the Waldo farm, died, and was buried in the old cemetery at Little's Station. His son, Henry Farwell, held a captain's commission, and was a deacon of the church. Oliver, another son of Joseph Farwell, was killed by the Indians near what is now Thornton's Ferry, on the 5th of September, 1724-. His uncle, Josiah Farwell, born August 17, 1698, was the only one who escaped from that fatal ambuscade.

On the 8th of May, 1725, occurred the famous fight between Captain John Lovewell and the Pequawkett Indians under Paugus, in what is now the town of Fryeburg, Maine. In this fight Lieutenant Josiah Farwell received a wound, and subsequently perished in the wilderness. The news of the encounter was brought by Benjamin Hassell, a deserter, to Colonel Eleazer Tyng, who, in a letter to Governor Dummer, dated Dunstable, May 11, 1725, says : -

" Capt. Lovewell fell at the first Volue the Indians shott, & Groand : this man [Hassell] being clost by him, & then he saw several of Capt. Lovewell's men get behind trees. Upon this, seeing such a great number of Indians, thought it best to return to some men they had left with a sick man at a Fort they had made, about thirty miles back, by Ossipee Pond, & he got to the Fort the next morning about nine oclock.

Colonel Tyng left Dunstable on the 17th of May with a company of men, and proceeded to the scene of Lovewell's fight. Here they identified and buried the bodies of Captain John Lovewell, Ensign Jonathan EobbinSj Ensign Joim Harwood, and Robert Usher, of Dunstable ; Sergeant Jacob Fulhairij of Weston ; Jacob Farrar and Josiah Davis, of Concord ; Thomas Woods, Daniel Woods, and John Jefts, of Groton; Ichabod Johnson, of Woburn ; and Jonathan Kittrcdge, of Billerica. They also found the body of the chieftain Paugus.

The house of Colonel Eleazer Tyng seemed to be a kind of rendezvous for the friendly Indians, as that of his father had been before him, and it is not without interest that we read this record in the journals of the General Court : -

"Nov. 6, 1725, Col. Tyng presented an account for Expences in Keeping old Christians Squaw and young Christians Squaw from June 9 to Nov. 5, £10, lO.s. he was allowed £5, 5*. - and the next year, he was allowed for keeping old Christians Squaw from Nov 6 to Jan 28, 1726."

The name of " Christian " was Joseph. He was a ilohawk Indian, and long acted as a guide to the English in their marches through the wilderness. He died July 10, 1725, at Dunstable.i

By the state line, established in 1741, the present territory of Tyngsborough was thrown into Massachusetts, and the people for a while acted in church affairs with those of Dunstable, Massachusetts, forming, as they did, a part of this municipality. The Indians had long since ceased to molest them, and nothing of consequence occurred to interrupt the even tenor of their way.

Lieutenant Timothy Bancroft, a fanner of note, settled in what is now Tyngsborough about the year 1730, married for his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Deacon Henry Farwell, and died November 4, 1772. Two of his sons, Ebenezer (born April 1, 17:38) and Jonathan (born August 11, 1750), settled in Dunstable and became prominent in public affairs. Ebenezer married. May 5, 1753, Susanna, daughter of Deacon Joseph Fletcher, of Dunstable, and in 1755 entered the provincial army and served through five campaigns. His brother Jonathan was a deacon of the church and soldier in the Revolutionary army. Soon after the orgiiniziiliim of th(' parish in 1755 a meeting was held, the procredings of which are thus recorded : - the first Parish in Dunstable, voted that the Place for a fleeting House for the Publick worship of God, in this precinct be on the west of Merrimack River, near Mr. James Gordons mills, where a fraim is erected for that Purpose. Also Voted to accept the Fraim that is Now on the spot. Jlessrs. John Tyng & Jonathan Tyng came to the meeting, and gave the Precinct, Glass for the meeting house. Voted to raise twenty-seven pounds to finish the meeting house, also voted the precinct Committee to see the work done.

The meeting-house was erected, having two porches and a tall steeple, near the site of the present Unitarian Church. Of it the Hon. John Pitts is said to have written : -

In 1756 Eleazer Tyng, Simon Thompson, and Oliver Farwell were appointed a committee " to sett off the pew ground to those that have given & Pay** most toward building Said house." In 1757 the parish raised £11 "tn hiic< piiMrhing"; and recent graduates of Harvard ( tilUgc were generally employed to occupy the ])ulpit. The elders sat upon an elevated scat in front of the pulpit, and tithing-men were employed to keep the you)ig people in order.

The selectmen for 1760 were Eleazer Tyng, Major John A. Tyng, and Joseph Danforth, all of whom were of the First Parish in Dunstable, - that is, the present Tyngsborough. The members of this jjarish, in 1762, were: Eleazer Tyng, John Tyng, John A. Tyng, James Tyng, William H. Prentice, Wdliam Gordon, Robert Fletcher, Samuel Gould, Joseph Butterfield, Reuben Butterfield, Jolni Perham, Joseph Perham, James Perham, Jncdh I'lrtchcr, Kli|ah Flrlchir.Zaccheus Spaulding, S;niiu,l (l.uild, Th.unas Jewell, Benoni Jewell, John Ingles, Jonathan Perham, Samuel Fletcher, John Littlelmle, Abraham Littlehale, Timothy Bancroft, Jonathan Butterfield, Jonathan Farwell, Joseph Winn, Eleazer Farwell, lieujamin Farwell, Simon Thompson, Nathan Thompson, Ezra Thompson, Silas Thompson, Asa Thomjjson, John .Vlls, Thomas Estabrook, Thomas Estabrook, .Ir., Tiiiiothv Barron, William Barron, Robert Send, Jacob Reed, John Scott, Willard Hale, John Lewis, Reuben Lewis, Archibald Robinson, Joseph French, Esq., Lieutenant John Varnum, James Littlehale,

Daniel Fletcher, John Didson, Samuel Howard, Oliver Colburn, Ezra Colburn, Joseph xVyres, John Haddock, John Hamblet; total, aS. Tlie Butterfield, Fletclier, Gould, Colburn, Perham, Hamblet, and Varnum families dwelt on the easterly side of the Merrimack River, whicli they crossed by means of a ferry-boat owned by the town. The mill of William Gordon, on Bridge Meadow Brook, and the tavern were the general places of resort. Several slaves were held in easy bondage, and some person was annually chosen to protect tlie deer which were still occasionally found in tlie extensive, forests.

It was voted in 17(38 "to build a bridge witli stone over Biscake Brook," a little stream which enters the Merrimack River near where tlie railroad depot now stands. William Henry Prentice and Jonathan Holden were appointed to assist John Perham, highway surveyor, in constructing it.

In the War of the Revolution the First Parish .of Dunstable took a patriotic and active part. The Hon. John Tyng was chosen in 1768 to represent the town of Dunstable in the convention held in Boston that year for the preservation of the public peace and safety. Oil the -I'-iA of January, 1775, the town of Dunstable made choice of John Tyng and James Tyng to represent it in the Provincial Congress, and on the 1st of February following it appointed those two gentlemen, together with Joseph Danforth, Nathaniel Holden, William Gordon, the miller, Joel Parkhurst, Reuben Butterfield, Jacob Butterfield, and Leonard Butterfield as a committee of inspection.

Minute-men were soon enrolled, the old muskets used in the French war put in order, and powder and ball provided. The sentiment of liberty was deeply imbedded in the hearts of the people, and all were agreed that British aggression must be sternly met. Soon after the battle of Lexington the town " voted to accept of y' Powder James Tyng, Esq., bought for this town," and on the l:Jth of June Abel Spaulding, Lemuel Perham, Elijah Fletcher, and Asa Kendall were chosen to join the committee of correspondence.

At the battle of Bunker Hill a Dunstable company, with Ebeuezer Bancroft captain, Nathaniel Holden lieutenant, and Samuel Brown ensign, performed effective service. The narrative given by John B. Hill, Esq., of the gallant Captain Bancroft's part in the action is remarkably interesting. It was taken from Captain Bancroft in 1825, and then reduced to writing. In it that gallant officer says : -

"Col. Prescott came to me and said, 'If you can do anything with the cannon, I wish you would. I give you the charge of them.' I directed the men to dig down the bank [of the redoubt] in order to form an embrasure, which they were forced to do with their hands, for the party that had carried off the intrenching tools had not left us a single shovel or mattock. Men never worked with more zeal. To loosen the earth, I loaded the cannon and fired into the gap, and they dug again, and I fired again a second time. Both these balls fell in Boston, one near tlie meeting-house in Brattle Siptare, the other on Coriihill, as I was afterwards informed by Boston gentlemen. By this time the British had landed. They learned that we had cannon on the right or most westwardly part of the fort, which was probably the reason tiiey did not attempt to flank us on that quarter till the close of the action. We were not able to use these cannon in the action, because the enemy advanced and the firing commenced before we iiad time to dig down the bank far enough to use them against the enemy. Still, as the few shots that were fired gave the enemy notice that we had artillery, and prevented their attempting to turn our right flank, it must be regarded as a very important circumstance; for, iiad they attempted it, they would have succeeded, and we should not have Iiad more troops had begun their march. They were steadily and confidently advancing directly in our front. Our men turned their heads every minute to look on the one side for their fellow-soldiers who had gone off with the tools, and for the reinforcements which were expected ; and on the other to see a sight which was to most of them new, - a veteran army marching on firmly to the attack, dlredlj in their front .

" It was an awful moment. The enemy had advanced, perha])s, half the way from their station toward us, and our men, seeing no reinforcements, began by a simultaneous movement to draw otT from the east side of the redoubt. This, in my opinion, was the very crisis of the day, the mo-. ment on which everything depended. Col. Prescott hastened to them, and I followed him. W^e represented with earnestness that they must not go off; that if they did, all would go ; that it would disgrace us to leave at the bare sight of the enemy the work we had been all night throwing up ; that we had no expectation of being able to hold our ground, but we wanted to give them a warm reception and retreat. It is but justice to these men to say that they cheerfully took their places again, and maintained them as bravely as any that fought that day. As the enemy were advancing within gunshot, Col. Prescott and the officers gave orders to the men to take particular notice of the Jine coats, and to aim as low as the waislljands, and not to fire till ordered. A firing of eight or ten guns commenced before orders, at the left of the redoubt, but was immediately stopped. We wished the fire to be held till the enemy were w^ithin si.x rods. Our first fire was shockingly fatal. There was scarcely a shot but told. Tlie enemy were thrown into confusion, and retreated a short distance. Their lines were broken, and it was some mhuites before they had conveyed their dead and wounded into their rear. A scattering fire was still kept up by our men. They formed again and advanced, and were a second time driven back in the same confusion. They formed a third time, and flanked us. A body of reinforcements, which had come up in the rear of the redoubt, gave them a fire. At this moment, as I understood, Gen. Warren fell. Oar ammunition was now nearly expended, wliich the enemy probably learned by those who had fired away all their ])owder throwing stones, which were abundant in the trench. We were soon surrounded on all sides. The day was over, and we had nothing more but to retreat as well as we could.

"As I was loading my gun the last time, and just withdrawing tlie ramrod, an officer sprang over the breastworks in front of me, and presented his piece. I threw away the rammer which was in my hand, and instantly placed the muzzle of my gun against his right shoulder, a little below the collar-bone, and fired, and he fell in the trench. This was my '27tli fire that day. The wound it gave was in the same place as that by which Pitcairn died, and, as near as I can recollect, the person I shot answered the description of that officer, who was found niortallv wounded in our trench.

1 h;id tlicli a, seven" stru-'lc. lo escape out of lli,^ fori, i\n- gateway of uliieh was (-..niplctely filled witli British soldiers. I li.'ld my gun broadwise before my face, and rushi-d \\\)>n\ them, and at first bore some of them (fnu ii ; liiit I soon lost mv gun, a remarkably lonir nnr, ^^Ww\^ T hiul taken "from tlir Kmirl, al Chainbl.V, in the old French war. 1 \vA\n-A uium the Ih^hIs of the throng in the gateway, and fortunately struck my breast upon the head of a soldier, who settled down under me, so that I came with my feet to the ground. Directly as I came to the ground, a blow was aimed at me with the butt of a gun, which missed my head, but gave me a severe contusion on the r^ght shoulder. Numbers were trying to seize me by the arms, but I broke from them, and with my elbows and knees cleared the way, so that at length I got through the crowd. The last man I passed stood alone, and the thougiit struck me that he might kill me after I had passed him. As I ran by him I struck him a blow across the throat with the side of my hand. I saw his mouth open, and I have not seen him since. A shower of shot was falling all around me as I ran down the hill. One struck off my hat, several marked my clothes ; one struck me in the left hand, and carried off the forefinger. Our men were all in advance of me, and I was almost, if not entirely alone from the time I left the fort till I came to Charlestown Neck, on which there was not a man to be seen. 1 thought it might be some protection from the fire of the floating batteries, to go faint with fatigue and loss of blood. There was a horse tied by the side of the Common, and I made towards him. Col. James Varnum saw me, and came to me. He took me by the arm, and led me to the horse. While he was with me the ball of the last caimon I heard that day passed within a foot or two of me, and struck the ground a short distance before me. We found the owner of the horse by him, and he cheerfully offered him to me to ride to Cambridge. Our loss was prinei])ally on the retreat ; very few were killed in the fort."

Captain Bancroft continued in the service during the war. He was at tlie battle of Bennington, and was major in the regiment of Colonel Brooks in the campaign at Wliite Plains. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, .Inly 1, 17S1, and served that year in Rhode Island. He also held many civil offices, and in 1776 reported strong resolutions, which the town adopted, in favor of the Declaration of Independence.

Among others of the First Parish who served in the Revolutionary War may be mentioned Sergeant Jonathan Bancroft, Captain Reuben Butterfield, Captain Natiiauiel Ilolden, whose house is still standing' (in (lie left bank of Holdeu's Brook, Captain Jonalhan Fletcher, Fleazer Farwell, Nathaniel Ingalls, Jaenieuaut .John Farwell, Levi Butterfield, Salalhiel Frost, William Perham, Robbin Skinner, John Merrill, Daniel Jaques, Benjamin Swan, Asa Emersou,

Noah M. Gould, and Sergeant Reuben Butterfield, Jr., who was killed in the battle of White Plains, October 7, 1777. Jumping upon a fence, he cried, "I'll give thena one firing more!" when a siiot from the enemy struck liim, and he fell dead in the presence of his comrade, Natiianiel Ingalls. Daniel Jaques died September 2, 1835, and on his iieadstone, in the cemetery near tiie Thompson place, in Tyngsborough, is written, "To die is to go home"; and also, " A soldier of the Revolution." Benjamin Swan was stationed at Saratoga, \ew York.

The Precinct Committee in 1776 were Ebenezer Bancroft, Captain Reuben Butterfield, and Lieutenant Nathaniel H olden ; the treasurer was Lieutenant Nathaniel Holden, the collector, Reuben Lewis, and the clerk, Ebenezer Bancroft.

The parish voted, June 17, 1777, "to pay the soldiers for 8 months service in the war at Cambridge, £8. to each man that performed it belonging to the parish." It also voted " For 2 months at Cambridge or Dorchester ££; for \-l months at York £18; for o months at Ticonderoga £12; for 'Z months at Rhode Island, £5"; and July ;5, 1780, "Voted to allow Noah M. Gould and Nathaniel Ingles 300 dollars in lieu of so much corn at 15 dollars pr bushel." Tiiis last vote shows not only the depreciation of money at that period, but also that reckoning by the federal currency had already come into use.

Some time during this war three British prisoners, while crossing the river in a boat near Wicasuck Island, were upset and drowned. Their bodies were buried on land now occupied by Mr. Solomon Spaulding.

The parish lost a valuable citizen in 1 7S2 by the death of Eleazer Tyng, Esq., who had served it, as well as the state, in various civil offices. He was buried in the Tyng cemetery, about a mile south of the village. A horizontal tablet has been placed over his remains, bearing the following inscription : -

" Undenieatli are Entombed the Remains of Eleazer Tyng, Esq. who died May 21, 17S2, aged 93 : Mrs. Sarali Tyug, who died May -23, 1753, aged 59: John Afford Tyng, Esq. wfio died Sept. 4, 1775, aged 44; John Winsfow, Esq. who died Nov. 3, 17S8, aged 88; Mrs Sarali Winsfow [the last surviving chifd of the said Efeazer Tyng & the truly liberal Benefactress of the church of Christ & Grammar School in this place, in honor of whose name & family it is called Tyngsborough], who died Oct. 29, 1791, aged 72."

stood near it. I It was deemed advisable in 1787 to consolidate I the two parishes of Dunstable into one, and erect a meeting-house on land of Mr. Ezra Thompson, about a mile west of the Merrimack River, and j several meethigs were held to carry this proposition I into effect; but on the 7th of January, 1789, Mrs. I Sarah (Tyng) Winslow proposed, on certain cou- 1 ditions, to make a donation to the town, and this j prevented the union of the parishes. I Her communication to the town is this : - j "To promote learning and jiiefy in this town of I Dunstable, and to unite the town in peace, I will ' give the income or interest of £1,333 6,s. 8 (-/.lawful money to y' said town, one half for the support of a minister, and the other half for the su))port of a Grammar School forever on y« following conditions, viz.: Provided the town will settle a minister within one year, who shall be approved by the j Congregational ministers in the five neighboring towns. Tiiat y' town repair y* East meetinghouse, and that a meeting-house be forever upheld on the spot on which the said meeting-house now stands. Also, that a convenient house for a grammar-school be built within one year, as near the said meeting-house as the grounds will admit a house for said purpose, and on ye said ground, to be upheld forever, and such a learned and vertuous schoolmaster be provided, as the President of y* University in Cambridge shall recommend. Provided likewise that I am not held to pay parish taxes, nor any more expenses for the support of a sciiool in said town. If the town accept of \' foregoing proposals and conditions, I agree to give them security for the performance thereof on my part. Sarah Winslow.

To the conditions of this proposed benefaction the people in the westerly part of the town, living as far as they did from tlie village of Tyngsborough, very naturally objected; and therefore on the 28th of April following she made the proposal to give the sum above mentioned "to the people that lately formed the First Parish, and to such others as will cheerfully accept of it."

In order to secure the donation the people originally forming the First Parish were, on the 22d of June, 1789, incorporated into a district under the name of Tyngsborough, and then accepted and appropriated the liberal gift of Mrs. Winslow.

The population of the district in 1790 was 38:J, of whom seventeen were colored persons. On the 6tli of January of tliis year a ciiurch was formed, and the Rev. "Nathaniel" Lawrence (H. C. 1787) was ordained as pastor. He continued in tlie pastorate until his death, the record of wliich is thus made on his headstone in tlie cemetery near the Thompson place : -

" lu memory of Rev. Nathaniel Lawrence who died on Lord's day, Feb. 5, 1843 a;t. 72A. Mr Lawrence was a native of Woljurn, Mass. He graduated at Harvard College in 1787, and on Jau' 6, 1790, was ordained pastor of the Congregational Society in Tyngsborougli wliich relation contiiuied 49 years. On the morning of Feb. 5 he attended chureli as usual in apparent good health, but on returning to iiis dwelling very suddenly expired. His death was tliat of the rigliteous and his last end like his."

His wife, Hannah, died September 20, 1835, in her seventy-second year, and is buried near him. The churcii of Mr. Lawrence became Unitarian in sentiment, and so continues.

In 180:1 it was " voted tliat the small scliolars shall not be admitted into the Grammar School until they obtain such a pitch of learning as the selectmen shall think proper."

The population in ISOO had arisen to fiOO, and in the year following John Pitts, Esq., who had married Mary, daughter of Judge John Tyiig, was 'chosen to represent Dunstable in the General Court. His daughter Elizabeth married Robert Briniey, of Tyngsborougli, September 10, 1S03.

The district of Tyngsborough was taken from Dunstable, and incorporated as a town February 23, 1809, and by the census of the year following it contained 70-1 inhabitants.

In the great gale, September, 1815, the tall steeple of the meeting-house was blown down and other damage done. The present LTnitarian Ciiurch was subsequently erected on or near the site of the original meeting-house.

Captain Nathaniel Ilolden, who had served in the Revolution and in many town offices, died, greatly lamented, January 21, 1^17, aged seventysix years. He was called tiic Praccmaker, and Holden's Brook perpetuates his iiuinory. In 1820 the population of tiie town iiad arJM ii to 8(18, and peace atul prosperity prevailed.

Colonel Ebenezer Bancroft, after a life long and wrll spent, died here Septcndjcr 22, ls27, in the ninetieth year of his age. .He was buried under arms, and on the march to the grave near what is now Little's Station the band played the tune of " Blue Eved Marv," (his being the onlv one which all the musicians could perform. Ebenezer Bancroft, grandson of Colonel Ebenezer Bancroft, and born December 21, 1807, now occupies " the old Bancroft homestead."

By the opening of the Lowell and Nashua Railroad, October 8, 1838, the town was largely benefited, a ready means of communication with Boston being thus afforded, and the expense of transporting produce to market much diminished. The number of inhabitants in 18-10 was 870, and for the year ending April 1, 1845, 14,831 bushels of fruit were raised and 1,550 tons of hay were cut. A large quantity of lumber, especially from the Tyng Woods, was prepared for market, and some brushes were manufactured. The schools were in a good condition.

On the 27th of November, 184-8, James Butterfield, son of James, and born September 30, 178S, was instantly killed by the cars while walking on the railroad track. Two trains were passing at the time. The accident occurred about half a mile below the Tyngsborougli station.

In 1860 the pojiulation had declined to G26; in the war which followed the town jiatriotically furnished its full quota of men who did efl'ective service in the Union army. In 1SG5 the number of farms was ninety-eight, and a box manufactory had been established, einjiloying six persons. Robert Briniey, into whose hands the extensive Tyng estate had come through his marriage with a grand-daughter of Judge John Tyng, died here March 25, 1867, aged ninety-two years. The property came into the possession of his son, Nathaniel Briniey, who now occupies the old homestead. The Tyng family is now extinct, and perhaps it had been better for the town that the large territory belonging to the Tyug estate should have been in the outset divided into sections of moderate size and held by the farmers in fee-sim])le. It certaiidy would have been brought thereby into a better state of cultivali(jn.

An evangelical chnrcli was organized here April 1, 1868, and a nieetiiig-honse erected about the same time. The present pastor is the Rev. Arthur H. Tebbets.

A strong iron bridge was built across the river, uniting the east and west sections of (he (own, in 187-k The cost, about §92,000, was met in part by the (owns in the vicinity. While in the

Source changes here: from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, by Drake, Samuel Adams, published 1880; 6,583 words in this source stream.

Tyngsborough Town

HIS pleasant rnral town, lying in tlie nortlierijr part of tlte county, and intersected by the Meminaek Biver, is tliirtV' two inilei from Boston, and has for its boundaries New Hampshire on the north, Dracnt on the east, Clielmsford and Westford on the south, and Groton and Dunstable on tin west. . It contiiins 665 iiihabilants, who are mostly enffng^d in the cultivation of the soil. The town is accommodated by the Lowell and Nashua Bailroad, and an iron bridge has recently been constructed over the ftferrimack Biver, by which the easterly and westerly sections of the town are brought into direct communication. The view of the bridge and of the wcll-sliaded village on tlie bend of the river is remarVably fine. Two or three affluents of tho Merrimack River furnish ttme motive-power, and Tyng's" Pond in the eastem, and Mnssapoag Pond in the western section of the town serve to diversify the scenery and to attract pleasure- parties in the summer season. Granite is quarried to some extent near the line of Westfoni, and iron ore is found on the margin of T^wrcnce Brook. ' Scribner's Hill, Pine Hill, and Abraham's Hill are the pnuci|>a] eminences.

\Vicasuck Island, in the Merrimack Biver, containing about sixty-Rve acres, is somewhat noted ill history, and upon it many Indian implements, ' Biich as arrow-heads, gouges, and tomahawks, have . been found. The town originally f<frmed part of ~ Dunstable, and the |)eople, for a long period, attended public worship in tint town ; but disagreeing as to the location of the meeting-house, a parish, called the First in Dnnslablc, was organized in 1755.

A small meetiiig-honsc v» erected, and public worship to some extent maintained. The place was incor|)oratcd as a district, June 23, 17S9, and as a town, February 23, 1809, receiving its name {rom Mrs. Sandi Tyug \VinsIow, who lud made

So far as known, the first white settler in what is now the town of Tyngsborough was John Cromwell, a fur-trader, who, some time prior to 1661, purchased of Captain Edward Johnson of AVobum three hundred acres of land on the right bank of the Merrimack Biver, built a hoaae, and made some improvements on his farm. He died in 1661, leaving -a widow, Seaborne CromwelI> aiu) an estate valued nt £606 2«. ^d. His Krvante were Thomas WilUams and Walter Shepherd, who - in 1702 testified inrespect to the estate. The land Eubsef|uently came into the possession of Heni; Farwell, and then into that of the Bancroft family.

It is said, though with but little appearance of truth, that Cromwell was accustomed to use bia foot in weighing the peltries which he bought of the Indians, and tliat they at length became so much incensed at him for unfair dealing with them, that they made an assault upon hislioose, - he ond his family having only time to escape into the wilderness, - and then reduced it to aabes. The cellar of the house is still visible, and a sum of money was found buried in an iron pot near by it. In his account of Tyngsborough (October, 1815) the Bev. Mr. Prentice says: "Some time after, pewter was found in the well,and an iron, pot. and trammel in the sand ; the latter are preswred. Tlie present owner of the place was ploflghjng near the s|wt, and found his plough moving over a flat stone wliicli gave a hollow sound. (>i lemovins the earth and stone, he discovered a hole stoned, about six inches in diameter, from which lie took a sum of money." Such discoveries weie no doubt made, but there is no evidence, except tradition, lliat Cromwell buried the money, or that his house was destroyed by tlie savages. The invcntorj- of his estate, as given by his widow, seemi to disprove tlie whole story.

llie town of Dunstable, including what is now Tvngsborough, was incorporated October 16, 1673, and among the petitioners for the act waa Jonathan

TTOgy 8on of the Hon. Edward Tjng, bom in Boston, Deoembet 15^1642. He early came tk> Dunstable, and erected a house on the right bank of the Merriniack River, nearly opposife VVicasuck Island, vhere he continued to reside until about the year 171S. He died on the 19th of January, 1724. ' His father, Edward Tyng, removed from Boston to Dunstable about thb yealf 1677, and died there December 27, 1881. He was buried in the old Tyng Cemetery, and' the inscription on his head-stone is : -

At the time of Jonathan Tung's arrival in Dunstable it was a frontier settlement. A dmry wilderness, occupied by savages and beasts of prey, extended on the north as far as Canada ; the Pawtucket Indians, uudef Wannalancet, held the' lands upon the river below'; the hostile Pennabodks above. But few white men had then rentured to fix their habitations in this region. Tyng fortified his house, laid out his &rmy and resolved tp stand firmly at his post. His bravery was soon put ici the test. 'On the breaking out of Philip's War in 1675, as the enemy was found to be approaching, the English settlers left their homes and fled ; but Jonathim Tyng, strengthening his garrison as be^t he could, remained as the sole inhabitant of the place. For tliis hi6 may well be called the first permanent settler of Dunstable. The following petition cleariy gives the situation: -

''The petition of Jonathan Tyng Humbly Shewcth:* Thaty' Petitioner living in the uppermost house dn Merimac River, lying open to y* enemy, yet being so seated that it is as it were a watch boajte to the neighboring towns, from whence we can easily give them notice of the approach of the enemy, and may also be of use to the publique in many respects ; also are near unto the pUce of the Indians ffishing, from which in the season thereof they have gr^t supplies, which I doubt not but we may be a great means of preventing them thereof, there being never an inhabitant left in the town but myself: - Wherefore your Petitioner doth humbly request that your Honors would be pleased to order him three or four men to help garrison his said house, which he has been at great charge to fibrtify, and may be of ser\nce to the publique : your favour herin shall further oblige me as in duty bound to pray for a blessing on your Councils and remain Your llonrables humble sen'ant, Jonathan Tyng.

The soldiers sent to defend Mr. Tyng's boose were detached from the company of Captain Samuel Moseley, and for their support Mr. Tyng presented, in 1676, this account: ''18 of C^pL Moseley's men from Aug. 13 to Sept. 10, £16 16«.; for 9 men from Sept. 11 to Jan. 17, £47 18^.; for 6 men from Jan. 18 to May 25, £25 3#. and for ^ men from May 26 to July 14, £88«. also for 20 lbs. of powder at sundry times at 18^. per lb. and 250 bullets, - 5 «. delivered for scouting.'^ Also, ''for 2 horses to Pennycook out 8 days, 1#. 6d/* ^

At the close of the war about si^ty of the Pny* ing Indians were removed to Wicasuck Island, and placed under the care of Mr. Tyng, who had Robert Parris, afterwards slain by the Indians, 'for an assistant. It was probably for this service that the court granted to Mr. Tyng, December 5, 1683, " the island in Merriinacke River called ^Weikeset.''

Mr. Tyng was the largest kndholder in. Dunstable. In consideration of £ 28 due to him by the town, three thirty^acre rights wefre granted to him, which were equal to about 1,800 acr». " This, with large accessions, has continued in the Tyng and Brinley families to the present day, and extends from the Merrimack River about si^ mila westward, by one mile wide to the Massapoag Pond, forming a large part of the town of T^'ngsborough."*

The Waldo farm extended northward from Tyng's farm as far as Holden's Brook ; and Cap« tarn Thomas Wheeler's farm extended thence into what is now Nashua, New Hampshire. A part of Wheeler's land subsequently became, aild still is, the Bancroft farm. Joseph Perham, Joseph Butterfield, and others took up lands, and settled on thlR easterly side of the Merrimack River as early as 1711.

The first birth mentioned on the records of Dunstable is that of William, son of Jonatlilin and Sarah (Usher) Tyng, bom April 22, 1679. Of Jonathan Tyng's other children, John (H. U. 1691) was bom September 11, 1678, and Eleazer (H.U. 1712), April 30, 1690.

In 1697 the garrisons in Dunstable were under the supervision of the brave Jonathan Tyng, and he was allowed £20 for keeping the friendly sachem, Wannalancet, at Wicasuck Island. Early in this vear tlie celebrated heroine, Hannah Dus-

> "Jnlj 21. 1729. Joseph Blaocbard and hit wife Rcbeccth -dl to Ebenexer Tyng, Esq., for £ 160 in pood pttblicit bilb of credit in the Province two full and whole thirty acre .allot- DMsntt." Deed acknowledged before Benjamin Thompibii, J. P., April 16, 1741.

tan, who, with h^r assistants, Mary Neff and the boy Leonardson, had taken the scalps of ten Indians, at Contoocook, New Hampshire, was kindly entertained at the house of Colonel Tyng, as she was on- her way to her desolate home in Haverhill.

In the winter of 1703 Captain William Tyng, commanding a company of snow-shoe men/' mde a successful expedition to the headquarters of " Old Harry/' near Lake Winnipiseogee. They succeeded in killing six of the enemy, among whom was the traitor, " Old Harry himself/' who had led the assaults on Dunstable. For this act of braverv the General Court subsequently granted to the heirs of those composing this company a tract of land, at first called *' Old Harry's Town," then Tyngstown, and afterwards Manchester.

In the winter following, Captain John Tyng, with another company, made an expedition to Pequawkett, or P^wacket, and took five Lidinn scalps, for which they received £200. In 1710 the gallant copimander of this company was mortally wounded by the Indians between Concord and Groton, and was buried, August 18, at the former place.^

The celebrated Joe Eugli9h, grandson of Mas* conomo, sagamore of Ipswich, was sliot by the Indians, near Holden's Brook, in what is now Tyngsborough, on the 27th of July, 1706. He was acting as a guard to Captain Butterfield and wife, who were travelling on horseback. Killing the horse and taking Mrs. Bntterfield captive, the Indians then pursued Joe English, firing at him and wounding him while attempting to shelter himself behind a clump of trees. To escape the torture of the savages, he insulted them with taunting words, when they at once despatched him with their tomahawks. His widow *and his two diildren received a grant of money from the govemment, because ** he died in the service of his country.*' .

In: 1711 there were as many as seven garrisonhouses :in Dunstable, and two of them, Colonel Jonathan Tyng's and Henry Farwell's, were within the limits of the prescut town of Tyngsborough ; but the Indian depredations were mostly made in other sections of tlie settlement. The name- of Tvng was a terror to the enemy. Tliere is a tradition, however,.that as John Anthony, afterwards of Dracut, Black Tom, and Elisha, a friendly Indian, were returning with hay from Tyng's meadow, in what is now Hudson, New Hampshire, £li^, being in advance of the other ta^o, was shot by the hostile savages, who were lying in ambush. His com^ panions, coming up, found his dead body lying in the stream since known as '^Elisha's Brook/' Three guns were fired and the drum was beaten at the garrison of Colonel Tyng on this occasion, to give warning that the enemy was in the neighborhood. It is said, also, that Church Hill was so named because a Mr. Church, on seeing tlie Xittlehale family who resided there, and whose two sons had been carried into captivity by the Indiansj, ex-r claimed, ''Let this place be called Church Hill forever!"

On ilie 31st of December, 1722, Ensign Joseph Farwell, who with his son, Henry Farwell, had settled on a part of the Waldo farm, died, and was buried in the old cemetery at Little's Station His son, Henry Farwell, held a captaui's coinmia> sion, and was a deacon of the church. , Oliver, another son of Joseph Farwell, was killed by the Indians near what is no.w Thornton's Ferry, on the 5th of September, 1724. His uncle, Josiak. Farwell, bom August 17, 1698, was the oiily one who escaped from that fatal ambuscade.

On the 8th of May, 1725^ occurred the famous fight between Captain John Lovewell and the, Pequawkett Indians under Paugus, in what is now :^he town of Fryeburg, Maine. In this fight Lieutenant Josiah Farwell received a wound, and subsequently perished in the wilderness. The news of the encounter was brought by Benjamin Hassell, a deserter, to Colonel Eleazer Tyng, who, in a letter to Governor Dummer, dated Dunstable, M^ 11, 1725, says: -

*' Capt. Lovewell fell at the first Volue the Indians shott, & Groand : this man [Hassell] beiflg^ clost by him, & then he saw several of Capt. Lovewell's men get behind treesw Upon this, seeing such a great number of Indians, thought it best to return to some men they had left with a sick man at a Fort they had made^ about thirty miles back, by Ossipee Pond, & he got to the Fort the next morning about nine oclock.

Colonel Tyng left Dunstable on the 17th of May with a company of men, and proceeded to the scene of Lovewdl's i^ht. Here they identified and buried the bodies of Captain John Loyewell, Ensign Jona* than 9obbins,^£nsign John Harwood, and Robert Usher, of Dunstable ; Sergeant Jacob Fulham, of lYeston ; Jacob Farror and Josiah Davis, of Concord; Thomas Woods, Daniel Wood^, and John Jefts, of Groton ; ,Icliabod Johnson, of Wobum ; and Jonathan Kittredge, of Billerica. They also found the bodv of the chieftain Paugus.

The house of Colpnel Eleazcr Tyng seemed to be A kind, of rendezvous for the friendly Indians, as thaj^ of his .father had been before him, and it is not without interest that we read this record in the journals of the General Court : -

" Nov. 6, 1 725, Col. Tyng presented an account for E^^pences in Keeping old Christians Squaw and young Christians Squaw from June 9 to Nov. 5, J^IO, lOf. he was allowed £5, 5«. - and the next year, he was allowed for keeping old Christians Sqfiaw from Nov 6 to Jan 28, 1726." . . The name of '' Christian ** was Joseph* He was a l^ohawk Indian, and long acted as a guide to the EuglisK in their marches through tlie wilderness. He died July 10, 1725, at Dunstable.^

By the state line, established in 1741, the present territory of Tyngsborough jras thrown into Massachusetts, and the people for a while acted in church affairs with those of Dunstable, Massachusetts, forming, as they did, a part of this municipality. The Indians had long since ceased to molest them, and nothing of consequence occurred to interrupt the even tenor of their way.

Lieutenant Timothy Bancroft, a farmer of note, aettjed in what is now Tyngsborough about the year 1730, married for his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Deacon Henry Farwell, and died .November 4, 1772. Two of his sons, Ebenezcr (bom April 1, 1738) and Jonathan (born August. 11, 1750), settled in Dunstable and became prominent in public affairs. Ebenezer married. May 5, 1753, Susanna, daughter of Deacon Joseph Fletcher, of Dunstable, and in 1755 entered the provincial army and served through five campaigns. His brother Jonathan was a deacon of the church and soldier in the Revolutionary army. Soon after the organization of the parish in 1755 a meeting was. held, the proceedings of which are thus recorded: - the first Parish in Dunstable, vpted tliat the Place for a Meeting House for the Pul>tiek worship of God, in this precinct be on tlie west of Merrimack River, near Mr. James Gordons mills, where a fraim is erected for tliat Purpose. Also Voted to accept the Praiin that is Now on the spot. Messrs. John Tyng & Jonatlmn Tyng came to the meeting, and giave the Precinct, Glass for the meeting house. Voted to raise twenty-seven pouuds to finish the meeting house, also voted the precinct Committee to see the work done.

Tlie meeting-house was erected, having two porches and a tall steeple, near the site of the present Unitarian Church. Of it the Hon. John Pitts is said to have written : -

In 1756 Eleazer Tyng, Simon Thompson, and Oliver Farwell were appointed a committee *' to sett off the pew ground to those that Imve givea & Pay** most toward building Said house.'* lu 1757 the parish raised £14 '^to hire preaching''; and recent graduates of Harvard College were generally employed to occupy the pulpit. The elden sat upon an elevated seat in front of the pulpit, and tithing-meti were employed to keep the young people in order.

The selectmen for 1760 were Eleazer Tyng, Major John A. Tyng, and Joseph Danforth, all of whom were of the First Parish in Duiistable, - that is, the present Tyngsborough. The members of this i)arish, in 176£, xctxti Eleazer Tyng, John Tyng, John A. Tyng, James Tyng, William H. Prentice, William Gordon, Robert Fletcher, Samuel Gould, Joseph Butterfield, Beuben Butterfield, John Perham, Joseph Perham, Jamei Perham, Jacob Fletcher, Elijah Fletcher, Zaccheus Spaulding, Samuel Gould, Thomas Jewell, Benoni Jewell, John Ingles, Jonathan Perham, Samuel Fletcher, John Littlehale, Abraham Littlehale, Timothy Bancroft, Jonathan Butterfield, Jonathan* Farwell, Josieph Winn, Eleazer Farwell, Beiijamin Farwell, Simon Thompson, Nathan Thompson, Ezra Thompson, Silas Thompson, Asa Thomiison, John Alls, Thomas Estabrook, Hiomas Estabrook, Jr., Timothy Barron, William Barron, Robert Scott, Jacob Reed, John Scott, Willard Hale, John Lewis, Reuben Lewis, Archibald Robinson, Joseph Frendi, Esq., Lieutenant John Vamum, James Littlehale,

Danid Fletcher, John Dicbon, Samael Howard, Oliver Colburn, , Ezra Colburn,^ Joseph Ayres, John Haddock, John Hambletj total, 5S. Tlie Butterfietd, Fletcher, Gould, Colbum, Perham, Uamblet, and Vamum families dwelt on the easterly side of the Merrimack Biver, which they crossed by meaQs of a, ferry-boat owned by the to^n. The mill of William Gordon, on Bridge Meadow Brook, and the tavern were the general places of resort. Several slaves were held in easy bondage, and some person was annually chosen to protect tlie deer which were still occasionally found in th^ extensive forests.

It was voted in 1768 ^'to build a bridge with stone over Biscake Brook,'^ a little stream which enters the Merrimack River near wh^re the railroad depot now stands. William Henry Prentice and Jonathan Holden were appointed to assist Joliii Perham, highway surveyor, in constructing it.

In the W*ar of the Revolution the First Parish of Dunstable took a patriotic and active part. The jHon. John Tyng was chosen in 1768 to represent the town of Dunstable in the convention held in Boston that year for the preser\ation of the public peace and safety. On the 23d of January, 1775, the town of Dunstable made choice of John Tyng and James Tyng to represent it in the Provincial Congress, and on the 1st of February following it appointed those two gentlemen, together with Joseph Danfortt), Nathaniel Holden, William Gordon, the miller, Joel Parkhurst, Reuben But^erfield, Jacob Butterfield, ai^d Leonard Butterfield as a committee of inspection.

Minute-men were soon enrolled, the old muskets used, in the French war put in order, and powder and ball provid(*d. The sentiment of liberty was deeply imbedded in the hearts of the people, and all were agreed that British aggression must be sternly met. Soon after the battle of Lexington the to^n'n " voted to accept of y* Powder James Tyng, Esq., bought for this town,'^ and on the l£th of June Abel Spaulding, Lemuel Perliam, Elijal^ Fletcher, and Asa Kendall were chosen to . join the committee of correspondence.

At the battle of Bunker Hill a Dunstible company, with £benezer Bancroft captain, Nathaniel Holden lieutenant, and Samuel Brown ensign, performed eftective service. The narrative given by John Bv Hill, Est]., of the gallant Captain Bancroft's part in the action is remarkably interesting. It was taken from Captain Bancroft in 1825, and then reduced to writing. In it that gallant officer Aayt: -

'' Col. Prescott came to me and said, ' If yoa can do anything with the cannon, I iiish yoa would. I give y6u the charge' of them.' I directed the men to dig down the bank [of the redoubt] in order to form an embrai^re, which they were forced to do with their hands, for the party that bad carried off the intrenching tools had not left us a single sliovel or mattock. Men never worked with more zeal. To loosen tlie earth, I loaded the can* non and fired hito the gap, and they dug ^gain,and I fired again a second time. Both these b^Ils fell in Boston, one near the meeting-house in Bratfk S(|uare, the other on Cornhill, as I was kfterwards informed by Boston gentlemen. By this time the British had landed. They learned that Ire had cannon on the right or most westwardly part of the fort, which was probably the reason they did not attempt to flank us on that quarter till the close of the action. We were not able to usb these cannon in the action, because the enemy advanced. and the firing commenced before we had time to dig down the bank far enough to use them against the enemy. Still, as the few shots that were fin^ gave the enemy notice that we had artillery; and prevented their attempting to turn our right flank, it must be regarded as a very importailt circumstance; for, had they attempted it, they would have succeeded, and we should not havfe liad more troops had begun their march. Tliey were steadily and confidently advancing directly in our front. Our men turned their heads every minute to look on the one side for their fellow-soldiery who had gone off with the tools, and for the reinforcements which were expected ; and on the other to see a sight which was to most of them new, - a veteran army marching on firmly to the attack, direcHjf in tkeir front f

" It was an awful moment. The enemy had advanced, perhap, half the way, from their station toward us, aiid our men, seeing no reinforcements, began by a simultaneous movement to draw off from the east side of the redoubt. This, in my opinion, was the very crisis of the day, the mo* ment on which everything depended. Col. Prescott hastened to them, and I followed him. We represented with earnestness that they must not go off; tliat if Ihe^ did, all would go ; that it would disgrace us to leave at the bare iight of the enemy the work we had been all night throwing up ; that we had no expectation of being able to hold onr I ground, biit we wanted to give tiiem a warm reception mnd retret^t. It b but justice to these men to say that thej cheerfully todc their places again, and maintained them as bravely" as any that fought that day. . As tlie enemy were advancing within gunshot, C6l. Prescott aud the officers gave orders to the men to take particular notice of .the Jine coafs, aud to aim as low as Ike maisfiands, and not to fire till ordered. A firing of eight or ten gUDS commenced before orders, at the left of the redoubt, but was immediately stopped. We wislied the fir^ to be held till the enemy wei^ within six;rods. Qur Qrst fire was shockingly fatal. There was scarcely a shot but told. The enemy werfe thrown into confusion, and retreated a short distance. Tlieir lines were bro- I^n, and it was some minutes before they had conveyed their dead and wounded into their rear. A scattering fire was still kept up by our men. Tiiey farmed again and advanced, and were a second time driven' back in the same confusion. They formed a third time, and flanked'us. A body of reinforcements, which had come up in the rear of the redoubt, gave them a fire. At this moment, as I understood, Gen. Warren fell. Our ammunition was now nearly expended, which the enemy probably learned by those who had fired away all their powder throwing stones, which were abuudant in the trench. We were soon surrounded on all sides. The day was over, and we had nothing more but to retreat as well as we could.

^'As I was loading my gun the last time, and just withdrawing the ramrod, an officer sprang over the breastworks in front of me, and presented his piece. I threw away the rammer whicli was in my hand, and instantly placed the muzzle of my gun against his right shoulder, a little below the collar-bone, and fired, and he fell in the trench. This was my 27th fire that day. The wound it gave was in the same place as that by which Pitcairn died, and, as near as I can recollect, the person I shot answered the description of that officer, who was found mortally wounded in our trench.

" I had then a severe struggle to escape out of the fort, the gateway of. which was completely filled with British soldiers. I held my gun broadwise before my face, and rushed upon them, and at first bore some of them down ; but I soon lost my gun, a remarkably long one, which I had taken from the Frencli at Chamblee, in the old French war. I leaped Ujwn the heads of the throng in the gateway, and fortunately struck my breast upon the head of a soldier, who settled down under me, so that I came with tiiy feet to the ground. Directly as I came to the groond, a blow was aimed at roe with the butt of a gon, which missed my Iiead, but gave me a severe oontusion on the right shoulder. Numbers ^ere trying to seize me by the arms, but I broke froiQ them, and with my elbows aud knees cleared the way, so that at length I got through the crowd. Tlie last man I passed stood alone, and tlie thought struck me duit he might kill me after I had passed him. As I ran by him I strucIC him a blow across the throat with the side of my hand I saw his mouth open, and I have not seen him since. A shower of shot was falling all aroond me as I rpn down the hill. One struck off my hat, several marked my clothes ; one struck me in the left hand, and carried off the forefinger. Our men were all in advance of me, and I was almost,- if not entirely alone from the time I left the fort till I came to Chartestown Neck, on which there was not a man to be seen. I tliought it might be some protection from the fine of the floating batteries, to go faint witli fatigue and loss of blood. There was a horse tied by the side of the Common, and I made towards him. Col. James Vamum saw me, and came to me. He took me by the arm, and led me to the horse. While he was with me the bail of the last cannon I heard that day paslsed within a foot or two of roe, and struck the ground a short distance before me. We found the owner of the horse by him, and he cheerfully offered him to me to ride tO' Cambridge. Our loss was principally on the retreat ; very few were killed in the fort.''

Captain Bancroft continued in the service during the war. He was at the battle of Bennington, and was major in the regiment of Colonel Brooks in the campaign at White Plains. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, July 1, 1781, and served that year in Rhode Island. He also held many civil offices, and in 1776 reported strong resolutions, which the town adopted, in favor of the Declara-^ tion of Independence.

Among otiiers of the First Parish who served in the Bevolutionary War may be mentioned Sergeant Jonathan Rincroft, Oiptain Beuben Butterfield, Captain Nathaniel Holden, whose house is still standing on the left bank of Holdeu's Brook, Captain Jon* athan Fletcher, Elenzer Farwell, Nathaniel lugalls; Lieutennnt John Fam-ell, Levi Butte) field, Salathiel Frost, William Perham, Bobbin Skinner, John Merrill, Daniel Jaques^ Benjamin Swan, Asa Emerson,

Noah M. Goald, and Sergeant Beuben Butterfield, Jr., who was killed in the battle of White Plains, October 7, 1777. Jumping upon a fence, he cried, " I 'U give them one firing more ! " when a shot from the enemy struck him, and he fell dead in the presence of his comrade, Nathaniel Ingalls. Daniel Jaqoes died September 2, 1835, and on his headstone, in the cemetery near the Thompson place, in Tyngsborough, is written, *'To die is to go home'*; and also, ** A soldier of the Revolution/' Benja* min Swan was stationed at Saratoga, New York.

Tlie Precinct Committee in 1776 were Ebeuezer Bancroft, Captain Beuben Butterfield, and Lieutenant Nathaniel Holden ; the treasurer was Lieutennnt Nathaniel Holden, the collector, Beuben Lewis, and tlie clerk, Ebenezer Bancroft.

The parish voted, June 17, 1777, "to pay the soldiers for. 8 months service in the war at Cambridge, £8. to each man that performed it belonging to the parish/' It also voted *' For 2 months at Cambridge or Dorchester £2; for 12 months at York £18; for 5 montlis at Ticonderoga £12; for 2 months at Rhode Island, £ 3 ''; and July 3, 1780, ''Voted to allow Noah M. Gould and Nathaniel Ingles 300 dollars in lieu of so much com at 15 dollars pr bushel/' This last vote shows not only the depreciation of money at that period, but also that reckoning by the federal currency had already come into use.

Some time during this war three British prisoners, while crossing the river in a boat near Wicasuck Island, were upset and drowned. Their bodies were buried on land now occupied by Mr. Solomon Spanlding.

The parish lost a valuable citizen in 1782 by the death of Eleazer Tyng, Esq., who had served it, as well as the state, in various civil offices. He was buried in the Tyng cemetery, about a mile south of the village. A horizontal tablet has been placed over his remains, bearing the following inscription : -

"Undemcatii are Eutombed the Remains of Elcazer Tyag, Esq. wlro died May 21. 17S2, aged 92 : Mrs. Sarah Tyug, who died May 23, 1753, aged 59: John Alford Tvng, Esq. who died Sept. 4, 1775, aged 44; John Winslow, Esq. who died Nov. 3, 17SS, aged S8; Mrs Sarah IViuslow [the last sur>'iving child of the said Eleazer Tyng & the truly liberal Benefactress of the church of Christ & Grammar School in this place, in honor of whose name & faiuilY it is called Tyugsborough],. who died Oct. 29, 1791, -ged'72."

The hoQse of Eleazer Tyng, built in 1700, standing near the cemetery is noSv occupied by 3ll^ Jacob Di:;ake,.and is supposed to be the oldest

It was deemed advisable in 1787 to consolidate the two parishes of Dunstable into one^ and erect a meeting-house on land of Mr. Ezra Thompson, about a mile west of the Merrimack Biver^ and several meetings were held to carry this proposition into effect; but on the 7th of January, 1789,' Mrs. Sarah (Tyng) Winslow proposed, on certain conditionsy to make a donation to the town, and this prevented the union of the parishes.

''To promote learning and ])iety in this town of Dunstable^ and to unite the town in peace, I will give the income or interest of £1^333 6#. 8i^. lawful money to y* said town, one half for the support of a minister, and the other half for the support of a Grammar School forever on y* following conditionsy viz.: Provided the town leiill. settle a ministec within one year, who shall be approved by tlist Congregational ministers in tlie five neighbopug towns. That y* town repair y* East, meeting-^ bouse, and that a meeting-house be forever upheld on tlie spot on which the said meeting-house now stands. Also,^that a convenient house for a grammar-school be built within one vear. as near the said meeting-house as the grounds will admit s house for said purpose, and on ye said ground, to be upheld forever, and such a learned and vertuous schoolmaster be provided, as the President of y* University in Cambridge shall recommend. JPr9- vided likewise tliat I am not held to pay parish taxes, nor any more expenses for the support of ti scliool in said town. If the town accept of y* foregoing proposals and conditions, I agree to give them security for the performance thereof on my part Saeau Win8LOW. .

To tlie conditions of this proposed benefaction the people in the westerly part of tlie town, living as far as they did from the village of Tyugsborough, very naturally objected; and therefore on the 2Sth of April following she made the proposal to give the sum above mentioned ''to the people that lately formed the First Parish, and to such others as will cheerfully accept of it."

In order to secure the donation the people originally fonning the First Parish were, on the 22d of June, 1789, incorporated into a district under the name of Tyngsborougli, and then accepted and appropriated the liberal gift of Mrs. Wiuslovr. ' >

** la mefhorj of Rev. Nathaniel Lawrence who died on Lord's day, Feb. 5, 1843 at. 72J. Mr Lawrence was a native of Wobiim, Mass. He graduated at Harvard College in 17S7, and on Jauf 6, 1700, was ordained (>astor of the Congregational Society in Tyugsborough which reUtion continued 49 years. On the morning of Feb. 5 he attended church as usual in apparent good health, but on returning to his dwelling very suddenly expired. His death was that of the righteous and his Ust end like his."

His wife^ Hannah, died September 20, 1835,: in her seventy-second year, and is buried near him. The church of Mr. Lawrence became Unitai;ian in sentiment, and so continues. ^ . In 1802 it was V voted that the small scholars ahall not be admitted into the Grammar School '«ntil they obtain such a pitch of learning as the «ftlectmen sliall thinjc proi)er.''

The population in 1800 had arisen to 696, and 4n the ye&r following John Pitts, Esq., who had married Mary, daughter of Judge John Tyng, was ohoeen to represent Dunstable in the General Court. His daughter Eliziibeth married Robert Brinley, of Tyugsborough, September 10, 1803.

. The district of Tyugsborough was taken from i)anstable, and incorporated as a town February 23, 1809, and by .the eensus of the year following it contained 704 inliabitants. . ' In the great gale, September, 1815, the tall steeple of the meeting-house was blown down and other damage done. The present Unitarian Churcii was subsequently erected -on or near the site of the original meeting-house

Captain Nathaniel Holden, who had served in the Bevolution and in many town offices, died, greatly lamented, January 21, 1817, aged seventysix years. He was called the Peacemaker, and Holden's Brook perpetuates his memory. In 1820 the population of the town had arisen to 808, and peace and prosperity prevailed.

Colonel Ebenezer Bancroft, after a life long and ,well spent, died here September 22, 1827, in. the ninetieth year of his age. He was buried under arms, and on the march to the grave near what is now Little's Station the band played the tune of '' Blae Eyed Mary,'' this being the only one which all the musicians could, perform. Ebenezer Bancroft, grandson of Colonel Ebenezer Bancroft, and bom December 21, 1807, now occupies ''the old Bancroft homestead."

By tlie opening of the Lowell and Nashua Bailroad, October 8, 1 838, the town was largely benefited, a ready means of communication nith Boston being thus aflbrded, and tiie ex])ense of transporting produce to market much diminished. The numl)erof inhabitants in 1840 was 870,. and for the year ending April 1, 1845, 14,831 bushels of fruit were raised and 1,530 tons of hay were cut. A large quantity of lumber, especially from the Tyng Woods, was prepared for market, and some brushes were manufactured. Tlie schools were in a good condition.

On tlie 27th of November, 1848, James Butterfield, son of James, and bom September SO, 1788, was instantly killed by the cars while walking on the railroad track. Two trains were passing at the time. The accident occurred about half a mik below the Tyugsborough station.

Li 1860 the popubtion had declined to 626; in the war which followed the town patriotically furnished its full quota of men who did effective service in the Union army. In 1865 the number of farms was ninety-eight, and a box manufactory had been established, employing six persons. Bobert Brinley, into whose hands tlie extensive Tyng estate had come through his marriage with a grand-daughter of Judge John Tyng, died here March 25, 1867, aged nuiety-two years. The property came into the possession of his son, Nathaniel Brinley, who now occupies the old homestead. Tlie Tyng family is now extinct, and periiaps it had been better for the town that the hii^ territory belonging to the Tyng estate should have been in the outset divided into sections of moderate size and held by the farmers in fee-simple. It certainly would Imve been brought thereby into a better state of cultivation.

An evangelical church was organized here April 1, 1868, and a meeting-house erected about the same time. The present pastor is the Bev. Arthur H. Tebbets.

A strong iron bridge was built across the river, uniting the east and west sections of the town, in 1874. The cost, about $92,000, was met in part by the towns in the vicinity. While in the process of eonstniction a freshet occurred in the river by which the trestie-work mi a part of one spoit of the bridge vere carried awajr. Fifteea or twent; men irere piecipilated into the river, yet all irere saved. Hiis bridge is not only of great convenience, but also adds much to the scenic beauty of tlie vilbge.

Tie Ceuleuitial Record, pp. 24, coutaining many particulars in respect to the town, was published by the Young People's League in 1876. The town officers for this year were Lather Butterfield, Cyras Bntterfield, and Oliver Felker, selectr men ; Howard Cobum, town-clerk ; and ^ohn G. Uptot), town-treasurer.

Tyngsborough is the birthplace of^.John S. Sleeper, Esq., editor of the BosicH Journal from 1834 to 1S54. He was born here September i,\, 1794. He was mayor of fioj^bury from 1850 to 185S, and author o't Talea of the Ocean, 1842 ; Salt fFater BiMtet, 1864; Jacl: i» the Fore. eatUe, 1860 ; and Mari Rowhud, 1867. He was a graceful and effective writer.