Worcester City (part 51 of 58)

Granite of good quality for working is abundant on "Rockey Hill," in the southeast part of the town. Before 1800, Rufus Wakefield and Sylvanus Wakefield com menced working the quarries. Since that time the business has been continued and has been carried on by Gibbs Dodge, Joseph Woodbury, Horace Lamson and others. At the present time, W. Y. Woodbury, J. L. Woodbury and Horace L. Lamson, who carry on business under the firm-name of W^oodbury Bros. & Co., are the only persons working the quarries. Their business affords employment to about twenty men.

George Marsh engaged in the manufacture of carriages at Charlton City, about 1831. At a later date, Horace P. Hicks carried on the same business there.

The sash and blind business has been carried on to a considerable extent, first by Harvey Forbush in the west part of the town, later by Charles Taft at Charlton City, and still later by Knight & Rich at the same place.

Charles E. Morse commenced the manufacture of boots and shoes at the place that has since been called Morseville about 1850. He built large shops for his business, and dwelling-houses for the use of the help employed. The business was carried on quite extensively until the shops were destroyed by fire in 1884. For several years Rufus Dodge was associated in business with Mr. Morse. At a later date Andrew Partridge was a partner in the business. After he retired, C. E. Morse, Jr., and William C. Haven were members of the firm of C. E. Morse & Co.

In 1853 a company was formed at the North Side for the manufacture of boots and shoes, called the Charlton Boot and Shoe Company, of which Berthier Bacon was agent. The business was continued until 1855, when the company was dissolved.

The manufacture of boxes for boots, shoes, cloth and other merchandise has been an important business for a number of years, affording employment to a considerable number of men and a market for a large amount of lumber. Zina Grover, Henry C. Putniim, George Pike and William H. Young have been engaged in the business. Henry C. Putnam commenced in 1863, and is the only person in town now doing any considerable amount of business. He employs about twenty-five men and uses two million feet of lumber yearly.

In 1867 Emory S. Southwick built a large shop at Charlton Depot, in which he manufactured boots and shoes for several years, doing quite an extensive business. In 1871 the shop was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt.

In 1875 H. G. Lamb and A. N. Lamb commenced the manufacture of shoes at Charlton Depot. In 1880 A. N. Lamb retired and Charles Damon became a partner in the business, and remained until 1884, when he retired. In 1885 A. N. Lamb and William H. Lamb were admitted as partners in the business, which is still continued. The business affords employment to about thirty hands and about two hundred pairs of shoes of fine quality are made daily.

In 1865 the manufacture of wire was commenced by Ira Berry on Cady Brook, below Charlton City. In 1868 George C. Prouty entered into partnership with Berry and continued with him until 1871, when the partnership was terminated. Berry continued the business but a short time after the withdrawal of Prouty. In 1871 Prouty built the wire-mill at Charlton City, and commenced business alone. He has built neat, substantial dwellings for the use of help employed. About one hundred and sixty tons of fine card-wire is made yearly.

Although several men of enterprise and capacity for managing business successfully have engaged in manufacturing enterprises within the last few years, and have contributed essentially to the prosperity of the town, agriculture is the principal business of the inhabitants. The soil is of average fertility and there are some excellent farms owned and cultivated by enterprising, progressive farmers, who contribute largely to the annual exhibitions of the agricultural societies held at Worcester, Sturbridge, Oxford, Spencer and other places more remote. The town has been noted for its fine cattle, especially for its large, welltrained oxen, and although horses have, to a considerable extent, taken the place of oxen for farm-work, there are still some farmers that rpar and train oxen that compete successfully with any found at fairs.

According to the statistical tables of agricultural products and property, prepared by Carroll D. Wrighti Charlton ranks fourth among the towns of Worcester County in the value of agricultural products.

Daniel H. Tucker is the owner of the three hundred acres of land which was owned by his great-grandfather, Jonathan Tucker. The one hundred and fifty acres of land which was the farm of Ebenezer Hammond is now owned by his great-grandson, Henry Hammond. Edward D. Blood is the owner of the farm on which his ancestor, Richard Blood, settled. The land bought by Ebenezer Foskett in 1739, and on which he lived, is now the property of his greatgrandson, Dan Foskett, and Edwin Phillips owns the farm on which his great-grandfather, Jonathan Dennis, settled. No other farm in the town is now owned by a descendant of the first occupant.

Representatives to the General Court have been as follows: Isaiah Blood, 1775; Jacob Davis, 1776; Jacob Davis, Caleb Ammidown, Isaiah Blood, 1777; Caleb Ammidown, 1778-79 ; Jacob Davis, 1780 ; Ebenezer Davis, 1782 ; Caleb Ammidown, 1783 ; Ebenezer Davis, 1784; Caleb Ammidown, 1786 ; Samuel Robinson, Caleb Curtis, 1787 ; Samuel Robinson, 1788 ; Ebeezer Davis, 1789 ; Salem Town, 1790-91-92-93 ; Caleb Ammidown, 1794; Salem Town, 1795; Ebenezer Da-

In 1857 Charlton wasjoined with Sturbridge to make a representative district. In 1866 the towns of Auburn, Charlton, Leicester, Spencer and Southbridge were formed into a representative district. In 1876 Oxford, Southbridge, Charlton and Spencer were made a district. In 1886 Charlton, Dudley and Southbridge were united, the three towns being entitled to but one representative.

The men prominent in public affairs until the close of the Revolution have been mentioned. They were mainly men who were among the first settlers. Quite a number who became large land-owners acquired considerable wealth. Ebenezer Davis, a man of sound judgment, prudent and exact in all his business operations, a large dealer in real estate and other property, left at his decease a larger estate than was ever acquired by any other man in the town. The late Hon. Emory Washburn, who was for several years Governor of the State, was his grandson, as was also the late Ebenezer D. Ammidown, of Southbridge. Jacob Davis, a brother of Ebenezer, was a man of remarkable enterprise, who dealt largely in real estate. He was one of the founders of Leicester Academy, and aided liberally in its establishment. Gen. Salem Town, Sr., was long in the public service. He was a representative to the General Court eleven years, several times a member of the State Senate, and one of the committee in 1807 to locate the Worcester and Stafford Turnpike, to assess the land damages, and to superintend the building of the road. He held other offices of trust and responsibility. His son, the late Gen. Salem Town, had command of a regiment of militia called out by the Governor in 1814, and stationed at South Boston. He was State Senator in 1821, '22 and 56, being in the latter year the oldest member. Caleb Ammidown, who was a resident of that part of the town which was taken after his decease to form part of the town of Southbridge, was five years a representative to the General Court. He did much business as a land surveyor and conveyancer, and was one of the agents of the State for selling confiscated lands.

Gen. John Spurr, one of the " Boston Tea Party," was a prominent, influential man, and represented the town in the General Court ten years. Major John Spurr, a son of Gen. Spurr, was active in public affairs, much interested in political matters, and an efficient worker in the party to which he belonged. Isaiah Rider and William P. Rider were men of note and enterprise. Rufus Mixer and William P. Marble were men of prominence, well versed in the laws relating to town and Probate matters, and were careful, competent conveyancers and did much business in the settlement of estates.

Mention may properly be made of Amasa Stone, a man of great enterprise and business ability, who accumulated a large fortune in railroad business and other important enterprises ; Daniel Phillips, one of the pioneers in the express business, in which he was eminently successful ; Moses D. Phillips, a brother of Daniel, and enterprising bookseller and publisher, and who was the head of the firm of Phillips, Sampson & Co., the founders of the Atlantic Monthly ; Linus B. Comins, a capable, successful man of business, who represented his district in Congress several terms, and Albern N. Towne, a noted railroad manager, who were natives of the town, as were Samuel D. Spurr, Dwight Woodbury, John P. Marble, Jerome Marble, Salem T. Russell, Daniel Stevens and Charles P. Stevens, all sagacious, capable business men.

Franklin Gale, who was a lawyer of distinction in Columbus, Ohio, and for many years a judge of a State Court ; Turner Ellis, who was a lawyer of eminence in Indiana; Stephen P. Twiss, who was for sever.al years judge of the United States Territorial Court in Utah ; Dr. W. T. G. Morton, generally regarded as the discoverer of the use of ether as an anaesthetic in surgical operations; Rev. Julius H.Ward, a writer of distinction ; Rev. Caleb Blood, Rev. Ebenezer Lamson, Rev. David R. Lamson, Rev. Darius Gore and Rev. Lewis W. Hicks, clergymen of ability, and Joseph Whipple, a graduate of West Point, and who died in service in Mexico, were also natives of Charlton.

Jacob Davia, General Salem Town, Sr.,and Samuel Lamb were delegates to the convention to form the State Constitution in 1779. Major John Spurr was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1820, and William P. Marble was delegate to the Convention of 1853.

District and Toavn Clekks. - Richard Dresser, the first clerk, held the office eleven years; Nehemiah Stone, the second, served fourteen years and was treasurer seventeen years. Samuel Lamb, Dr. Ebenezer H.Phillips, Dr. Dan Lamb, Leonard Towne, Julius E. Tucker, Luther Litchfield and Alfred E. Fiske, each held the office many years ; the latter was clerk thirty years and treasurer twenty years.

The early physicians of the town were William Ware, Abel Waters, Ebenezer H. Phillips, James Wolcott and Ebenezer Borden. Later there were Dan Lamb, Charles M. Fay, Isaac Porter, Henry H. Darling, Albert Potter, George H. Taft and L. D. Fuller. Others have been in town for a short time. The only physician at the present time is Dr. George H. Taft.

There have been four lawyers in the town - Erasmus Babbitt, Liberty Bates, William Stednian and John Davis. Since the death of John Davis, in 1840, the inhabitants have been obliged to go out of town for legal advice.

Chapter Xcvi

Location - Ponds and Drainage - Original Grants - Settlements - Incorporation - Proprietary AJinirB - Itoads - The Totvn Divided - Personal Notices.

Lunenburg, situated in the northeast part of the county of Worcester, is bounded on the north by Townsend, on the east by Shirley, on the south by Lancaster and Leominster, and on the west by Fitchburg and Ashby. The adjoining towns, Ashby, Townsend and Shirley, are in the county of Middlesex. The centre of the town is twenty-four miles north from Worcester, forty-tliree miles northwesterly from Boston, and is in latitude 42° 35' 30'' and in longitude 71° 43' 30" west from Greenwich. By the survey of Cyrus Kilburn, in 1831, the town contained an area of seventeen thousand four hundred and ninety-four acres, and by the estimate of the assessors, exclusive of water, fifteen thousand nine hundred and forty acres. Within the town are five natural ponds and three of them bear names of Indian origin. The one situated near there-entrant angle in the line of Leominster contains ninety-five acres, and its name has experienced many orthographical changes. In the proceedings of the Colonial Legislature, in 1713, it is written Unkachewalwick, and, ten years later, Francis Fullam, in the records of the committee of the General Court, writes Unkechewalom, and about the same time comes Edward Hartwell, who wrestles with the name, and leaves upon the records Uncachawalonk, while Rev. Peter Whitney, in the " History of Worcester County " (1793), in writing Unkeshewalom nearly repeats the record of Francis Fullam, which has been the prevailing orthography of modern times. Wilder's "History of Leominster" (1853), dodges the issue and abbreviates the word into Chualoom, and frequently of late, when the name is expressed in vocal terms, only the last two syllables are employed. At best the old Indian name is not like the one loved and described by the Elder Weller as "an easy word to spell," and it is not wholly imaginative to say that in the olden times, when a new settler in these parts began to wrinkle his face and twist his mouth and utter a volley of hard and guttural sounds, his hearers knew he was not cursing, but only trying to tell them where he causht a string of fish.

Massapog Pond, of sixty-two acres, also near the Leominster line, is one mile and nearly one-fourth southeasterly and receives the overflow from Unkeche- - walom. In 1713, in the records of the General Courtj I this word is written Masshapauge, and in Ma.shaporg the same sounds are preserved by the records of Nathan Heywood and Edward Hartwell, but from the earliest mention to the present time it has been spelled with considerable uniformity. From an early survey of a small marsh on the north, in 1750, a marsh near the pond is described as " not land nor water and partly both." The overflowing stream bears northerly, easterly and southerly, receiving tributaries on either hand, and empties into the Cataconameg, in the southeast part of the town, about one hundred rods from the line of Shirley. By Francis Fullam the name of the third pond is written Cataconamog, by Rev. Peter Whitney, Catatoonamog, and by Rev. Henry Chandler, in the " History of Shirley," Catecunemaug. The stream from this pond, having gathered the drainage of more than one-half the town, flows through Shirley and empties into the Nashua River. A little more than one mile east from the centre of the town is Lane's Pond, and nearly an equal distance south of that is Dead Pond. Neither of them exceeds five or six acres in area. They are not mentioned in the early records and it is not known when they were first discovered.

The northern part of the town is drained by Mulpus Brooli. The course of this stream is easterly and nearly parallel to the line of Townsend. It flows through Shirley and empties into the Nashua. Pearl Hill Brook, in the west part, flowing into Fitchburg, and Baker's Brook, flowing through the southwest corner, drain small areas in this town.

At the time the territory constituting the town of Lunenburg was severed from the wilderness and fell into the possession and under the control of its grantees, the locality was well known to the dwellers in the older towns. Lancaster on the south and Groton, including Shirley, on the east, had been settled many years. The echoes from the activities of those hardy pioneers and the presence of many scouting parties of white men, explorers and hunters within the confines constitute the first and the unwritten chapter of the history of the town. The earliest official act immediately appertaining to the soil of Lunenburg, of which any record appears, is a grant of two hundred and four acres to Nathaniel Walker, June 6, 1GG3. The limits of this chapter will exclude details. It was surveyed in October, 166G, and the title was confirmed by the General Court, May 27, 1668. This tract of land was situated near the present line of Shirley. It was subsequently owned by Ephraim Savage, and November 5, 1714, it was purchased by Jamej Kibby, of Heading.

In May, 1G72, a grant of one hundred and fifty acres was made to Frances Adams, wife of James Adams, which was located in the east part of this town, and also was purchased by Mr. Kibby. A further account of these two early grants within the town of Lunenburg will be employed in explanation of later and more important events. In 1GG4 the General Court granted two thousand acres to the town of Woburn. The title was suffered to lapse, but was renewed in 1716. In May, 1717, this extensive grant was surveyed by Captain Joseph Burnap, of Reading, assisted by Edward Hartwell, then of Lancaster. It was located south of the centre of the town. Beginning at a point in Leominster line about mid-way between Unkechewalom and Massapog Ponds, the boundary line extended easterly almost one mile, thence northerly a little more than two miles, thence westerly one mile and one-half and then southerly to a point in Leominster line about two hundred rods west of the angle at Unkechewalom Pond. The north line of this grant was about one-half mile south and nearly parallel to a section of the old Northfield road. It included the pond and an important section of the town, but it remained unimproved until many settlers were located around it. In 1717 one thousand acres were granted to the town of Dorchester. It was immediately surveyed and located west of and adjoining Woburn Farm. Its western boundaries were near Fitchburg. Such were the conditions when the grant of the township was made. The region for many years had borne the name of Turkey Hills, and the ponds and the rivers were known by their present Indian names. The major act was not deferred. On the 7th of December, 1719, the General Court, in one act, granted " two new towns on the west side of Groton west line." William Taylor, Samuel Thaxter, Francis Fullam, John Shepley and Benjamin Whittemore, then members of the General Court, were selected to conduct a survey of the grants, to allot the same and to admit the grantees. The grant appears in Torrey's "Fitchburg" and in Sawtelle's "Townsend," but many interesting details of the early proceedings remain unpublished. Three of the committee, Fullam, Shepley and Whittemore, with Samuel Jones, surveyor, and four chain-men, began the survey of the boundary lines of the two townships December 22, 1719, and completed the work in eight days. In April following, in connection with another committee, they established the west line of Groton, or the east line of the new towns. Continuing a work well and seasonably begun, the committee, all being present, met at Concord May 11, 1720, and proceeded to admit settlers or grantees, or, in the language of the record of their proceedings, "to allott & grant out y' Lands contained in Each of y" Two Townships." By the committee the townships were styled North Town and South Town. The former at that time included Townsend and a part of Ashby, and the latter embraced the present towns of Lunenburg, Fitchburg and a part of Ashby. This statement, however, should be qualified with a mention of tl'.e fact that the north line of Townsend and the west line of Lunenburg (now Fitchburg) were subsequently amended. At this meeting eighty proprietors were admitted. This number was subsequently increased, but never exceeded ninety. In October, 1720, a house-lot was surveyed for each proprietor and for the two ministerial rights, but the school and college lands were not defined until a later day. The remainder, and much the greater part, of the township was owned in common by the proprietors, and mainly distributed among them from time to time in second, third and fourth division lots. During the years that intervened between these proceedings and the act of incorporation the affairs of the township were conducted by the committee appointed by the General Court, and frequent meetings were held at the inn of Jonathan Hubbard, in Concord, and at the houses of Samuel Page and of Josiah Willard, in this town. Meanwhile the settlement slowly increa.sed. The early settlers were exposed to constant danger, and their hardships were many. The following petition, now published for the first time, represents that there were nine families here in 1725. It was one of the first papers sent out from Lunenburg, and it presents a vivid picture of an infant settlement on the exposed frontiers. It is superscribed " to Honor'" Wiliam Dummer, Esgur, Boston."

Sir, - We desire with thanks to acltuowlerlg your Honours care of us as well in time past as this presant spring in sending Colo. Buckuiaster to Be what postur of defence we war in & in fiirder desiring to Isnow our Afuyi-8 wliicli we eliould be glad to enform your Honour oftener of had we opertunity. we have liere this spring 9 fanielis posted in 5 garisons wliich are all wiling to stand their ground if they can ; they have the liberty if 2 garisons will come together to haue the solders belonging to each garisouwith them for ther suport. Our manner of eniproving tlie solders has been by scouting & sumtinies garding men at ther woork, sumtinies 2 or :J days together in the woods, but wee think it more for our safety to scout round the town so as to cum in the same day for the strengthing onr garisons at night & when our men gos out to woork they must have a gard or expose themselves & we must leave sume in our garisons or else they are exposed so that we canot keep a icout always out except we Ixave more solders. We have made no discovrey of the enemy yet among us, hut live in dayly expectation of them ; but knowing they [Indians] are in the hands of god who is abel to restrain them to whos name we desire to give the praise of our pre- Barvatiou the year past &. in whos name we desire still to trust with dependance on your Honour's protection, a means under god of presarvation ; if your Honour shall think it needfull to make any ailition to our number of solders we leve it to your Honour's wise concedration & remain your Honour's most humbel servants.

Puiup Goodridqe

Continuiag their trust in God and Governor Durarner and measuring their faith by the number of the soldiers, the settlement was prospered during the ensuing summer. In March of the following year, at a meeting of the committee held at Concord, it was recorded: "The Information ye Settlers then Gave ye Comm"° Was that there was 26 Houses Raised and Ten of them Settled and Inhabited." Concerning the actual number of residents in the town during the next few years the records present no accurate information, and omitting for the present particular mention of those known to be residing here, there remains ample evidence that the infant settlement made continued progress in population and improvements. With each year a few families arrived and new openings were made in the forest and in the rising smoke above the clearings they saw the assurance of an enlarged community and the promise of increasing harvests.

The town was incorporated August 1, 1728. The name of Lunenburg was suggested by one of the titles of George II., who had recently succeeded to the British throne. By this proceeding South Town was supplanted by a more sonorous term, and while Turkey Hills was perpetuated in the local vocabulary, the term no longer designated a community. Compared with the history of many towns, Lunenburg was incorporated at an early stage in the progress of the settlement. The reason of a successful petition for incorporation is probably found in the fact that within the settlement and among the petitioners were a few men of influence and character whose solicitation was potent with the Governor and the General Court. The cause which led the petitioners to desire an early act of incorporation is not concealed. From the first the affairs of the propriety had been ordered and controlled by the committee to whose proceedings frequent mention has been made. Their authority over the municipal and proprietary affairs of the settlement was absolute and in them was vested all power of legislation in the concerns of the settlement. Therefore, when the committee, in the autumn of 1727, ordered the proprietors to build a meeting-house, stated the dimensions and dictated its location, the issue was boldly met, and in the act of incorporation the authority of the committee was dissolved. The proprietors considered apart from the town owned in common all the undivided land in the township. They were either the original grantees or their successors, and their number could not exceed the number of grantees admitted by the committee, and generally the number was less, because a few owned more than a single right. The proprietors were not necessarily residents of the town and only a part of the original grantees ever lived here, but within a few years nearly all the non-resident owners sold their rights to men living In this town. The proceedings of the proprietors constitute an important chapter in the annals of Lunenburg and FItchburg. First they re-surveyed all the lots that had been distributed by the committee and entered the title to each lot in a large recordbook, which was the height of the art of book-making In those times and is now In an excellent state of preservation. Then they gave the five members of the committee collectively one thousand acres of land in compensation for their services. This tract was subsequently located in the southwest corner of Fitchburg, bounding four hundred rods on the line of Leominster and four hundred on the line of Westminster, the other sides being parallel to these. That the committee had left the affairs of the proprietors at loose ends Is seen in the following proceedings.

By an adjustment of town lines a considerable tract was severed from Lunenburg, or what was supposed to be, and added to Lancaster new grant (now Leominster). Several house-lots had been located by the committee within this area, and to the unfortunate owners the proprietors gave an equivalent from the undivided land within the town. Then, to compensate themselves, they applied to the great fountain of land supply. The General Court granted their petition October 2, 1728, as appears In an extract from tbe court records : " A petition of Josiah Willard and Hilklah Boynton, agents for the town of Lunenburg, praying that the said town may be allowed an equivalent for two thousand nine hundred and twenty acres of land lately taken out of said town and added to Lancaster new grant, etc."

October 2, 1728, " In the House of Representatives read and ordered that the town of Lunenburg have liberty by a Surveyour and Chainmen on Oath to lay out two thousand nine hundred and twenty acres of land on the west side of said town and contiguous thereto by a parallel line to their west line throughout, for an equiv.aleiit for the land taken from said town for and within Lancaster new grant."

A portion of this addition is now in Ashby, but enough remains to constitute a considerable part of the area of Fitchburg. On account of this proceed-

In a former account of the grant and survey of the Walker and the Adams farms it was stated that they fell into the possession of James Kibby, of Reading, several years before the grant and settlement of the town. Soon after acquiring possession of these grants Mr. Kibby became insane and for several years no reference to the owner or to the grants is found. In the mean time, unconscious of the existence of any prior rights, the committee had overrun the obscured boundaries and had completely absorbed both grants in the distribution of land in that portion of the town. Soon after the incorporation of the town Zachariah Fitch, the guardian of Mr. Kibby, demanded possession of the two tracts of land owned by his ward. To protect the titles of the new owners who were in possession, the proprietors compromised with the guardian by giving him one hundred and two pounds and a grant of three hundred acres in the southwest part of the town. This land, known for many years as the Fitch farm, was next north of the committee faim of cne thousand acres, and was bounded on the west by the west line of Fitchburg and on the south by a line four hundred rods from and parallel to the Leominster line. It was subsequently purchased by William and Joseph Downe. In this proceeding, in addition to money paid, the proprietors had suffered the loss of three hundred acres and again sought indemnity of the General Court. The appeal was not in vain. A grant of four hundred acres was immediately made, which in two parts was located on the east bank of the Connecticut River. This land was subsequently deeded to Josiah Willard and Edward Hartwell in consideration of the money paid the guardian of James Kibby. By the conditions of the grant of the township two hundred and fifty acres each was reserved for the benefit of Harvard College and for schools. In 1729 the proprietors gave Harvard College two hundred and fifty and forty-one hundredths acres which was located in the northeast part of the town, adjacent to Townsend, but did not extend east to the line of Shirley. In 1774 the college sold the lot to Joseph Bellows for one hundred and twenty pounds. One hundred and sixty-nine acres of the school lot was located in 1764 on the easterly side of Pearl Hill. In 1764 a part of this lot fell in the limits of Fitchburg. The remainder of the school lands was located by a vote of the proprietors " at a place called Tofiet swamp " now in the south part of Fitchburg. For ministerial lands the proprietors laid out four lots. The town, apart from the proprietors, assumed control of the school and ministerial lands, and near the close of the past century disposed of them in small parcels.

Torrey, in his admirable sketch of Fitchburg and Lunei\burg, expresses surprise that with a grant of six miles square, the proprietors managed to secure a township so large. The General Court expressed an equal surprise one hundred years earlier, and ordered them to make a new measurement and report. What was subsequently done is briefly told in the Court records :

November 28, 1729. A petition of Josiah Willard, Esq., and others, a committee of the town of Lunenburg, in the county of Middlesex, showing th.at the inhabitants have been at the charge of a new and more exact survey of the said Town and find thereby that they have Four thousand and one hundred and ninety-seven acres of Land within the limits of their Township above the original grant of six miles square, and forasmuch as they have been at great expense and Difficulty in their settlement by reason of the War; Therefore praying that the plan of said Town may be accepted and confirmed notwithetandiug the said overmeasure.

In the House of Representatives read and ordered that the said plan be accepted and that the land therein delineated and described be and hereby is confirmed to the Grantees of Lunenburg, their Heirs and Assigns, provided it exceed not the contents set forth and does not interfere with any former grant.

In this measurement no account was made of three thousand acres in the Woburn and Dorchester grants. They were included in the municipality ; but they were no part of the six miles square granted the proprietors. The ponds also were excluded. By the surveys of 1830 and 1831 Fitchburg has an area of 17,879 acres; Lunenburg, of 17,494 acres; and estimating the area donated to Ashby at 1627 acres, the amount is 37,000 acres. Then to six miles square add the confession of the proprietors and the two independent grants, - the amount is 30,237 acres. Compared with other ancient surveys, the excess is not unusual. Not that acres then were larger than now, but that the practice of the time was liberal, and the methods of measurement not as exact. In the early surveys there was also an intentional allowance for uneven ground and generally one rod in fifty for what the early surveyors styled "swag of y° chain."

The proprietors continued an organization over one hundred years and as long as any undivided land remained in Lunenburg, Fitchburg or a defined portion of Ashby. At a meeting in May, 1833, they adjourned to meet the next May at the house of Dr. Aaron Bard, and there the record ends. They received the grant from the General Court in community, and sold or donated It to individuals, and in their proceedings is vested the title to all the real estate within the original township. Except to receive the school and ministerial lands, the town, as an organization, had no part in these proceedings. In two or three instances the proprietors sought the friendly offices and the superior influence of the town, which, through a kinship of interest, was invariably granted. In this manner a few votes relating to matters purely proprietary appear in the early records of the town.

On the day following the act of incorporation the General Court adopted an order instructing Captain Josiah Willard to call the first town-meeting. Im- mediately the inhabitants of Lunenburg were duly warned to meet at the house of Ensign Jonathan Willard. This house was on the Lancaster Road and not far east of the Woburn grant. The first election ever made in this town called Captain Josiah Willard in parliamentary terms to the chair, but more probably he sat upon a block or stood throughout the meeting. The selectmen were: Lieutenant James Colburn, Captain Josiah Willard, Mr. Hilkiah Boynton, Mr. Ephraim Peirce and Mr. Samuel Page. Lieutenant Edward Hartwell was town treasurer, and for minor town officers choice was made of Isaac Farnsworth, Noah Dodge, Joshua Hutchins, Jonathan Willard, Nathan Heywood, Eleazer Houghton, Samuel Johnson, James Jewell, John Fisk, Jeremiah Norcross, Jacob Stiles and Jonathan Whitney. Isaac Farnsworth, who was the town clerk the first nine years of the town's history, made a record of the meeting and probably was chosen at this time, but either through modesty or carelessness he made no record of his first elt'ctiou. The record of the meeting preserves the names of many who were residents of Lunenburg in 1728. Others who are known to be residents at this time are: Rev. Andrew Gardner, Philip Goodridge, D.avid Peirce, David Gould, Moses Gould, Benoni Boynton, Jonas Gillson, Daniel Austin, John Grout and the sons of Samuel Pa?e and Philip Goodridge. The town increased rapidly during the years immediately ensuing, introducing many new names, but quite nearly all who were here at the date of incorporation are included in the foregoing list. The Hecond town-meeting, to raise money to meet public charges and to direct the building of the first meeting-house, was convened in September. The next meeting assembled in January, 1729. " It was voted and chose Capt. Josiah Willard Agent for y" Town of Lunenburg aforesaid to Join with Such other men as y' several neighboring towns shall appoint to Consider what may be best in order to divide y° Cofinty of Middlesex into two Counties." This proposition was met in 1731 by the incorporation of Worcester County. Excepting Woodstock, Conn., which, for some years, was considered a part of the county and State, Lunenburg in the order of age was the thirteenth and youngejt town in the new county.

Omitting mention of many roads extending from house to house within the town, one of the earliest exploits of the town was to make a road or amend the existing bridle-path, from Lunenburg Centre to the line of Lancaster. In 1743 a road was cut to the west line of the town " for the accommodation of Dorchester Can.ada (Ashburnham), Ipswich Canada (Winchendon) and the towns above us." In 1745 the town voted that the men living in Captain Hartwell's company build a bridge over the North Branch "in the way that goes to David Goodridge's," and another bridge over the North Branch " in the way that goes to David Page's." The first place was at or near the bridge at South Fitchburg, and the other at the bridge on Laurel Street, in Fitchburg. At the same time the men residing in Captain Willard's company were directed to " build a bridge over Mullepus, in the way by or near Hezekiah Wetherbee's, and a bridge over said Mullepus in the way that goes to Townsend below Widow White's Mill." Subsequently, money was r.aised at short intervals for repairing and building bridges at these points, but after the Indian wars the militia was not again detailed to do the work. The town refused to build a short piece of road for the accommodation of John Scott, and on his petition the court appointed a committee, who reported in 1754 that, '' having viewed the said road, have laid out y'' same to y" great satisfaction of Mr. John Scott and the owners of the land the road goes through, who freely gave their land for the road." This was a short and unimportant piece of road wholly within Fitchburg, and is described in the court records as " beginning at the land of said John Scott and running northeast on John Bridge's land, described by marked tree'", then on land of Mr. Mead, then on land of Joseph Eaton, then on land of Joseph SpoflTord to the road that comes from Isaac Gibson's." The presumption that it was a thoroughfare from Lunenburg Centre to the house of Mr. Scott is not sustained by the record.

In the building of the Northfield road the town did not participate, yet this ancient road receives frequent mention in the records. In 1733 a township bounding on Northfield was granted to Josiah Willard and his associates, many of whom were residents of Lunenburg. The early name of the grant was Earlington and Arlington (now Winchester, N. H.), and the road became known both as the Northfield and the Earlington road. It was conditioned in the grant of the township that the grantees within two years " clear and make a convenient travelling Road, twelve feet wide, from Lunenburg to Northfield, and build a house for receiving & Entertaining travellers on said Road, about midway between Northfield & Lunenburg afores''. - And for the Encouragement of a Sutable Family to settle in s"* House, It is resolved that there shall be granted to him that shall Dwell in s* House for the space of seven years from the Grant one hundred and fifty acres of land."

Many residents of Lunenburg, of Townsend, and of " the lower towns " were employed, and the road was nearly or quite completed in the summer of 1733. There yet are many traditions handed down through several generations from ancestors who, in perpetual fear of the Indians, were engaged in this enterprise. The farm of one hundred and fifty acres on which was the house of entertainment was surveyed by Nathan Heywood, and located not far from where the west line of Winchendon was subsequently established. The survey was made October 7, 1733. In the autumn of 1734 Benjamin Bellows, Hilkiah Boynton and Moses Willard, a committee of the grantees of Arlington, petitioned the General Court for another traci of land on which to build another house of entertainment at a convenient point on the line of the road. This petition sets forth that the road from Lunenburg to Northfield is forty-two miles; that about twenty-four miles from Lunenburg there " is a house of entertainment set up to the great ease and comfort of persons travelling that road, and your petitioners, apprehending it would greatly accommodate Travellers, more especially in the winter season, to have another House of Entertainment between Lunenburg and that already set up." The General Court promptly granted four hundred and fifty acres, which was surveyed by David Farrar and located on the line of the road in the northwest part of Ashburnham. In 1735 a house was built, and for a few years a family occupied it. The Enos Jones farm is a part of this grant. After the obliterating influences of one hundred and fifty years, an attempt to accurately trace this ancient thoroughfare cannot be wholly successful. The ready voice of tradition offers too many .suggestions, and frequently points out roads that are known to have been built subsequently, and for other purposes. At several points the location is well-established by contemporaneous ricords. The old Northfield Eoad began at a point more than a mile southeast of the centre of Lunenburg, and probably on and using the Lancaster Road, it continued past the Old or South Cemetery, and bearing northerly as far as the North Cemetery, and near that point making an angle, its course was nearly due west to near the present line of Fitchburg; then, possibly to avoid the rivers beyond, it bore north, and passed where John Fitch was subsequently captured, now the residence of Paul Gates, in Ashby ; thence it bore we-terly, and from the west line of Lunenburg, now in Ashby, to the east line of Northfield, it was cut through a wilderness of unappropriated land. The survey of an ancient grant in Ashburnham locates the road in its continued course at a point not far from where the present road from Rindge to Fitchburg crosses the line between Ashburnham and Ashby. Then passing north of the North Branch of the Nashua and the South Branch of Miller's Rivers, its course, by the farm (formerly) of Enos Jones in Ashburnham, and near Spring Village in Winchendon, is established by early records.

In ] 757 an effort to divide the town was inaugurated. The eastern section was first settled, and continued to be the most populous. Here was the meetinghouse, the pound and the stocks. Here was the repository of the records and of the standard weights and measures, and, in fact, the seat of government. The situation clearly demanded that in the event of a division by a north and south line, the western portion must be created into a new town. In harmony with these conditions the issue was made. While the incorporation of a town was solely within the province of the General Court, the petitioners desired to fortify their solicitations by the consent and approval of the whole town. For a few years public sentiment was divided by the proposed geographical line of division, and the larger number of voters in the eastern section denied the early petitions for a new town. The etfbrt was continually renewed and vigorously prosecuted, until in January, 1764, the consent of a majority of the whole town was obtained, and a line of division substantially the present town line was agreed upon.

Immediately the inhabitants of the proposed town instructed John Fitch, Amos Kimball, Samuel Hunt, Ephraim Whitney and Jonathan Wood, who had been prominent in this affair, to obtain from the General Court an act of incorporation. Their mission was eminently successful, and Fitchburg, including more than one-half the area of the original township, was incorporated February 3, 1/64.

The limits of this sketch, excluding voluminous material and many interesting events and incidents in the early history of the town, has forbidden a frequent repetition of the names of committees and many other prominent characters ; but no appreciative chapter of the early annals of Lunenburg can fail to associate the actors with the events, and to give some account of the early residents of the town.

Of the committee of the General Court prominent in the early proceedings, Hon. William Tailer was a member of the Council, and the remaining four were members of the House of Representatives. Hon. William Tailer was boi^i March 10, 1677. He lived in Dorchester, where he died March 1, 1732. He was prominent in the early Indian Wars. In 1712 he was chosen commander of the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery." He visited England, and returned with a commission as Lieutenant-Governor, and subsequently he was acting Governor of the Province. The name is here written "Tailer" to correspond with the usage of his time. Samuel Thaxter was of Hingham, and a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Jacobs) Thaxter. He was a colonel, a magistrate, and from 1716 to 1719 a delegate or member of the House of Representatives. He died previous to 17-11.

Francis Fullam was a magistrate and an influential citizen of Watertown. He was a member of the House of Representatives 1717-24, and a selectman of Watertown many years. At the incorporation of Weston his homestead fell in that town, where he died subsequent to 1752. He was the cltrk of the committee and his clear, ornate penmanship is preserved. He wrote his name as here given, but in many records it is Fulham. Francis Fullam, who was residing in Fitchburg at the date of incorporation, was his grandson.

John Shepley was a son of Thomas, and was born in Charlestowu. He settled in Groton, where he died September 4, 1736. He was a prominent citizen and a member of the House of Representatives many

Benjamin Wtiittemore, the fifth member of the committee, was born in Charlestown, September 1, 1669. He was a son of John and Mary (Upham) Whittemore, of Charlestown and of Cambridge. Benjamin settled in Concord, where he became an active citizen, a selectman and a Representative several years. He died September 8, 1734. At the meetings of the committee Mr. Tailer was sometimes absent. The others, almost without exception, were present.

Samuel Page, tlie first settler in Lunenburg, was born in Groton, June 4, 1672. He was a son of John and Faith (Dunster) Page. In 1719, when the committee surveyed the township, they found him residing on the province land and were entertained at his house. This Selkirk of the wilderness began a clearing on the Marshall place in 1718 or a year or two previously, and when discovered by the committee his family consisted of a wife Martha and seven children, the youngest an infant of ten months. Five other children were born in this town. In the admission of grantees, he and his son Joseph became original proprietors of the town. He was a selectman, 1728 and 1731; collector, 1732; and School Committee, 1738. The first pound was at his homestead, and he was chosen pound-keeper. He died September 7, 1747. In sketches of the man and in tradition he is styled " Governor " Page, in recognition, perhaps, of the fact, that while his family constituted the population of the locality he was the chief executive officer of the domain, but there is no evidence that the title was employed during his life. Very probably, it is one of the pleasant fictions of tradition.

Josiah Willard, whose active career would fill a volume, was a son of Henry and Dorcas (Cutler) Willard. He was born in Lancaster, 1695. He removed to Lunenburg, 1723 or the following year, and was foremost in the affairs of the settlement. He was a captain on the frontiers and subsequently was a colonel and for a season was commandant at Fort Dummer. In 1733 he obtained, with others, many of them residents of this town, the grant of a township adjacent to Northfield (now Winchester), N. H., and thither he removed, probably in 1737. During the remainder of his life his active energies .and achievements are conspicuous in the annals of New Hampshire. He died December 8, 1750. The following lines are copied from a journal announcing his death : " He was a gentleman of superior natural powers, of a pleasant, happy and agreeable temper of mind, a faithful Iriend, one that paid singular regard to ministers of the Gospel, a kind husband and tender parent. His death is a great loss to the public and particularly on the western frontiers."

Edward Hartweli, son of John and Elizabeth (Wright) Hartweli, was born in Concord May 25, 1681. In early life he lived a few years in Lancaster, where he was a sergeant in the Indian wars in 1722, and a lieutenant a year or two later. He was in Lancaster in the spring of 1725, but in August of that year he wrote the Governor of the Province that he had removed to Turkey Hills, where he had built a house and made improvements upon his land. He closed the letter with an assurance that at his new home he was " in a good capacity to serve his King and country." He was one of the grantees of the town, and probably he had been engaged in clearing land and building a house during a part of the years 1721-24. He settled on the Lancaster Road, over three miles from the centre of the town.

He was a man of great size and physical strength and power of endurance. Possessing an equally strong mind, energy and force of character, he continually exercised a commanding influence over the rising fortunes of the settlement. In the troublous times on the frontiers he was much employed in the service, and rose to the rank of major. He was a deacon of the church, selectman, town treasurer, School Committee and frequently was elected to important committees and to other office in town affairs. He was a Representative many years, serving in this capacity at eighty-five years of age.

From an early date he was a magistrate, and in 1750 he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas, succeeding Judge Joseph Dwight, and was continued on the bench until a reorganization of the court, in 1762. In addition to these accumulating trusts and responsibilities, it is a surprise that a single life-time afforded opportunity for his well-managed private affairs and many other active employments. With Colonel Willard and Colonel Benjamin Bellows, he was a manager of the Northfield Road, and was a grantee of several townships. Among the proprietors of Dorchester Canada (Ashburnham) he was a controlling spirit from 1736 to '44, serving on nearly every committee, and was one of the men who cut a road from the Lunenburg line to the centre of the town. For many years he was the clerk of the proprietors of Lunenburg, and recorde4 the original title to every lot of land in the township, except a small area of undivided land, which remained unsold at the time his successor was chosen. He died February 17, 1785, " as full of piety as of days." He lives in every page of the early records, and there is found his only monument. He rests in an unknown grave.

Isaac Farnsworth, son of Benjamin and Mary (Prescott) Farnsworth, was born in Groton July 4, 1701. He settled near the centre of the town in 1724. At this time his home was enlivened with a wife and one child. Six children were born in this town. He was an influential man, and was the first town clerk, serving nine years. He wrote a fair hand, and had more regard for the laws of orthography than many of his associates. About 1740 the JM family returned to Groton. ^

Widow Jane Boynton came to this town in 1724 or '25, bringing witli her the memory of a deceased husband and lourteeQ living children. She did much to advance the settlement. She and her family came from Rowley, and, owing to the number of her grown-up sons, they settled in several places. One of her daughters became the wife of John Grout, a useful citizen, the owner of house-lot No. 83. and a selectman several years. Another daughter married Zachariah Whitney, who died in this town, 1781.

David Page, a son of Samuel, who settled in the western part of the town, and often said to be the first settler in Fitchburg, married a daughter of this numerous family. Mrs. Boynton, the mother, died in 1761, aged only a few days less than one hundred years. Benoni Boynton, probably the eldest son, settled nearly a mile north of the North Cemetery. He married in Rowley, and lived a few years in Groton before he came to Lunenburg. His name is frequently met in the early records. He died December 30, 1758.

Hilkiah Boynton, another son, was much employed in town affairs, and was connected with some of the land speculations of his time. He died November 16, 1745.

Philip Goodridge, born in Newbury in 1668 or '69, settled here about 1724, and died January 16, 1729. On his tomb-stone is engraved " The first man interred here." His descendants to the present day have been numerous in this town, and are found throughout New England. This name is frequently written Goodrich. They have been distinguished by industry, ability and character.

Benjamin Goodridge, eldest son of Philip, was born in Newbury February 3, 1701. He lived in the southwest part of the town, and was a most active and influential man, and prominent in both proprietary and town ati'airs. The number of his elections to office is without a parallel in the history of the town. He was a selectman thirty years, town clerk twenty-two years, and constable, collector, member of School Committee and a magistrate several years, and a captain in the French and Indian War. He died April 19, 1773.

Samuel Johnson, son of Edward and Esther (Gardner) Johnson, was born in Woburn, February 21, 1692. He was an influential man in the afl'airs of the settlement, the first deacon of the church, a town officer many years, and by occupation an inn-holder. He accumulated a good estate and was one of the proprietors of several townships in New Hampshire.

Nathan Heywood, son of John and Sarah Heywood, was born in Concord, September 24, 1698. He was a noted surveyor, and his name is attached to the surveys of many townships. He was one of the first settlers of the town, living at No. 175 on the Kilburn map. He was a town officer, a lieutenant and a deputysheriff. He was living here at the beginning of the present century, but there is no record of his death.

Thomas Prentice, born in Lancaster, 1710, a son of Rev. John Prentice, was a man of ability, and while he remained here he was evidently popular and respected. About 1750 he returned to Lancaster, and subsequently removed to Newton. His mother, by a former marriage, was the mother of Rev. Andrew Gardner, the first minister of Lunenburg.

Ephraim Wetherbee early settled in this town. He was a captain, a town ofiicer and actively engaged in land speculations. His name appears in the lists of grantees of townships in New Hampshire. He died in Boston, November 7, 1745.

Benjamin Bellows, son of John and Mary (Wood) Bellows, born 1677, married, 1704, the widowed mother of Col. Josiah Willard. They resided in Lancaster (now Harvard), where their four children were born. In 1728, or immediately following, the family removed to this town. He settled in the centre of the town, on the estate known as the Dr. King place, and in a i'evi years he owned many acres of land in this town. One daughter married Moses Gould, another married Fairbanks Moore, and the youngest became the wife of Ephraim Wetherbee. He died 1743 ; his widow died September 8, 1747.

Col. Benjamin Bellows, only son of Benjamin, wag born in Lancaster, May 26, 1712, and removed to Walpole, N. H., 1752, where he died, July 10, 1777. From the time of his majority until he removed from this town he was the recipient of many honors, and in the conduct of public affairs he was associated with Col. Josiah Willard, Major Edward Hartwell, Benjamin Goodridge, Esq., and other worthies of the town, and among them all, except in years, he found no superiors. He was a surveyor, a farmer and was earnestly enlisted in the land speculations which were rife in those times. His subsequent career in Walpole and the eminent public services of many of his descendants enliven the annals of New Hamjishire.

Chapter Xcvil

From the time a number of men, sufficient to attract the vigilant attention of the colonial government, had gathered in the settlement until the declaration of peace in 1763 the town was almost continuously represented in the military service. In addition to stated service in the wars of the period, rumors of the presence of Indians at a near or remote point, and the frequent necessity of scouting through the unsettled country to the north and the west were continually calling the hardy settlers to arms. In seasons of more imminent danger the men at work in the fields weie attended by an equal number of soldiers, and sometimes the harvests of the town were garnered by armed men going in a body from fleld to field. Many of the military rolls are not preserved, and the history of much of this desultory service cannot be recalled. The military affairs were directed by the government, and ignoring the agency of towns, it made demands upon the able-bodied men of the province at large. For this reason the local records furnish very little information of an important feature of the history of the time. Beginning with the French and Indian Wars, many of the rolls are preserved in the archives of the State, and these contain the names of many Lunenburg men. In a record of deaths is found the name of one of the sons of the first settler of Lunenburg, who was a soldier in the unfortunate expedition under Admiral Vernon to the West Indies : " John Page, the son of M' Samuel Page, of Lunenburg, Dyed at Jamaica, Being there in y'^ Spanish Expedition, December y° twenty-ninth A. D. 1740, as they hear.''

It is certain there were several Lunenburg men in Col. Samuel Willard's regiment, who participated in the capture of Louisbourg in the summer of 1745; among these was Jonathan Hubbard, who was recommended for promotion and who subsequently was a major. He lived in Lunenburg from 1732 to 1756. He was a deacon, a town officer and a mest influential citizen. Immediately after the capture of John Fitch, Capt. Jonathan Willard, of this town, was ordered by Col. Samuel Willard to scout through the " upper towns." The following Lunenburg men were in this service July and August, 1748: Jonathan Willard, captain ; Timothy Bancroft, Thomas Brown, John Dunsmoor, Isaac Gib.son, David Goodridge, Nehemiah Gould, Samuel Johnson, Amos Kimball, Ebenezer Kimball, Ephraim Kimball, Jonathan Page, Samuel Poole, William Porter, Thomas Stearns, Samuel Stow, Jonathan Wood, Paul Wetherbee, Ezekiel Wyman and Zachary Wyman. This John Dunsmoor subsequently was a noted physician in this town. Jonathan Wood was a captain in the Eevolution, and several of these men were then residing in the west part of the town, now Fitchburg. Between 1736 and 1744 a considerable number of families had settled in New Ipswich, Rindge, Ashburnham and Winchendon. Their presence on the border lent a feeling of comparative security to the dwellers of Lunenburg, who for a season were protected from the dangers of the extreme frontier.

In 1744 the younger towns were deserted and again Lunenburg assumed her former position on the border. For the defence of the undeserted frontier a series of block-houses or garrisons on the exterior llne< of Townsend, Lunenburg and Westminster were built, and here a line of defence was drawn. Soldiers under the pay of the province were detailed for the support of the garrisons. In 1748 a company of forty-seven men, under command of Captain Edward Hartwell, was raised for this service, and, while under one command, were distributed along the border of the defended towns. Ten of this company were assigned to the block-houses in Townsend, ten to Lunenburg, fifteen to Westminster and three to Leominster. The remaining nine was a staif of inspection, comprising the officers and a body-guard. Fortunately, the official roll is preserved : Edward Hartwell, captain ; John Stevens, lieutenant ; John Holden, sergeant ; James Johnson, clerk ; Joseph Baker, Timothy Hall, Fairbanks Moore, Jr., corporals; Abner Holden, William Bemis, Jonathan Farnsworth, Elias Stone, Ephraim Dutton, Simon Farnsworth, Ebenezer Hadley, John Thomson, Elisha Pratt, Ebenezer Wood, Jonathan Pett, Zaccheus Blodget, Samuel Wood, Joseph Jennings, Stephen Farnsworth, John Nichols, Nehemiah Wood, Benoni Boynton, Benoni Boynton, Jr., Jos<iph Platts, Nicholas Dyke, Abel Platts, William Smith, James Preston, Ephraim Stevens, Joshua Benjamin, John Rumrill, Nehemiah Holden, Oliver Barrett, William Gilford, James King, William Graham, Jonathan White, Joseph Wheelock, Thomas Wilder, Thomas Stearns, David Dunster, Joseph Holden, Jr., Stephen Holden, Eli-sha Bigelow. Of these, thirty enlisted in April, two in May, the eight last named June 24th and the rest in June, July and August. In the column of expiration of service Zaccheus Blodget and Joseph Jennings are marked " .luly 5 ;" five were discharged at different date>( and the remainder were mustered out the middle of October. A minute upon the muster-roll announces that the five last named were added to the Westminster detail, making fifteen -in all, and that Jonathan White, Joseph Wheelock and Thomas Wilder were stationed in Leominster.

Notwithstanding these measures of precaution, on the morning of the 5th of July the Indians made a sudden attack upon one of these fortified places. The one selected by the enemy was the most northern of the garrisons upon the line of Lunenburg, which stood where Paul Gates now resides in the present town of Ashby.

The house was on the Northfield road, seven miles from Lunenburg Centre, and was owned and occupied by John Fitch, whose family consisted of a wife and five children. The ages of the children were: Catharine, thirteen years; John, eleven years ; Paul, six years and six months ; Jacob, four years; and Susannah, sixteen months. Four soldiers were stationed at this house or garrison, but, on the day of the assault, only Zaccheus Blodgett and Joseph Jennings were present. The story of the capture has been told many times, and generally with the Surdody embellishment. Admitting that Surdody is a good name for an Indian, it remains very probable that the Indians made an attack at the most exposed and solitary point in the line of defense, and if they came in the last stages of their march over the Northfield road, they were led directly to the point of attack. Previous to the moment of the assault no considerable number of the Indians had been discovered at any point in tlie line, while during the following flays they were found in several localities in this immediate vicinity. Mr. Fitch, in a petition to the General Court December 10, 1749, says he had no neighbors within three and one-half miles to join with him in fortifying his house, " yet divers of the inhabitantsof Lunenburg, knowing the great security that a garrison at his plape might be, urged him to build one and assisted him iu it." After making known that four soldiers were stationed at his garrison, in 1748, he proceeds in modest terms to give a narrative of the eventful day: "And on the fifth of July in the same year, by reason of bodily infirmity, there were but two soldiers with him, although others with tlie scouts were to come in that day. On that day, before noon and before the scouts came, the Indian enemy appeared and shot down one soldier upon being discovered and immediately drove him [John Fitch] and the other soldier into the garrison. And after besieging the same about one hour and a half, they killed the other soldier through the port-hole in the fl inker. Then your petitioner was left alone with his wife and five children and soon after he surrendered." The Indians burned the house, killed an ox and conducted the family to Canada. It has been stated that the family were ransomed by " friends in Bradford, where he formerly resided." It has not been shown that Mr. Fitch ever lived in Bradford, and the fact is he was returned by the French with others at the suspension of hostilities. In company with five French officers and other prisoners, he arrived in New York, by the way of Albany, September 23, 1748, not yet three months after his capture. When the complete exchange of prisoners was made ii not known, and the feeble health of his wife might have delayed his progress home. She died in Providence, R. I., December 24, 1748. The capture was probably made and the house was in flames about noon, yet it is current tradition that no resident of the town was informed of the event until the following day. This is improbable. It is certain, however, that Captain Hartwell called his company together and that an alarm and great excitement pervaded the town. On the 8th of July, 1748, the inhabitants of Lunenburg and Leominster joined a petition to Governor Shirley setting forth that the Indians " very lately have beeu among us," and earnestly praying for an additional number of soldiers. Four days later the commissioned officers and selectmen of Lunenburg forward a similar petition announcing that the family of John Fitch was captured and two soldiers killed on the oth instant, and that on the 7th instant the Indians " discovered themselves in a bold, insulting manner three miles further into town than was the garrison which they had destroyed, where they chased and shot at one of the inhabitants, who narrowly escaped their hands." They further state that three days the people were rallied by alarms and hurried into the woods after the enemy. It was '

David Goodridge who was the hero of this exploit, and the scene was within the limits of Fitchburg. Mr. Goodridge subsequently was a lieutenant in one of the Crown Point expeditions.

Joseph Jennings, one of the soldiers slain at the Fitch garrison, was a drafted man from Western (now Warren). He was an apprentice to Samuel Bliss, and when he came to Lunenburg he brought Mr. Bliss' gun, which fell into the hands of the Indians - perhaps the hands of Surdody. Mr. Bliss sent a communication to Governor Shirley alleging that the gun was worth ten pounds, and beside, that he had lost the time of his apprentice, and made it apparent that all in all he was neither blissful nor satisfied. The government was tender and compassionate, and while there appeared to be no spare men on hand, they sent him a new gun.

Zaccheus Blodget was probably from Dracut. Oliver Blodget was residing there in 1749 and gave an order for the wages due his deceased brother, " who was killed by the Indians last year."

John Fitch was born in the part of Billerica now in Bedford, February 12, 1707-8. His father, Samuel Fitch (a son of Samuel, grandson of Dea. Zachary Fitch, of Reading), married Elizabeth Walker and settled on a part of the Winthrop grant in Billerica, which he inherited from his maternal grandfather. Job Lane. John was the sixth of nine children. He was a second cousin of Zachariah Fitch, who was the guardian of James Kibby. Joseph Fitch, the father of the wife of William Downe, was a brother of Zachariah. John Fitch came to Lunenburg a few years after the date of incorporation. He married Susannah Gates, a daughter of Simon and Hannah (Benjamin) Gates, of Stow, and in 1735 he purchased a part of an original house-lot, No. 66, adjoining the lot of Ephraim Pierce, about two miles south of the centre of the town (near No. 188 on the Kilburn map). Here he lived until 1739, when he bought of Ephraim Wetherbee one hundred and twenty acres " at a place called Rendevous in Lunenburg and adjoining Townsend." This land, now in Ashby, is the homestead of Paul Gates. Subsequently he bought a considerable adjoining land. Upon his return from captivity he built a house on or very near the site of the garrison, and there resided over twenty years. He married, February 14, 1750-1, Elizabeth (Bowers) Peirce, widow of David Peirce, ef Lunenburg. About this date he received a substantial legacy from the estate of Simon Gates, the father of his first wife. By the division of Lunenburg in 1764 his homestead became a part of Fitchburg, and in 1767 it was included in the new town of Ashby. Occupying the same house, he was a citizen of three towns within a short space of time. He was the chairman of the committee to procure an act dividing Lunenburg and creating a new town, and in his honor the name of Fitchburg was bestowed. In his estate he was prospered, and for several years was one of the few names on the taxi70

Iist8 assessed for mouey at interest. He was moderator of the first town-meeting in Asliby, a constable and a member of the first Board of Selectmen. He became engaged in land speculation, and deeds of land bought or sold by him are very numerous in the registry of Worcester County and Cheshire and Hillsborough Counties in New Hampshire. In 1772 he removed from Ashby to Rindge, N. H., where he lived until 1779, when he removed to Harvard. In 1780 he removed to Jaflrey, N. H. His wife was living in 1774. She probably died in Rindge or in Harvard. Alone and aged, and for some cause in poverty, the closing and fading scene of an active, eventful and useful life only remains. In 1785 he returned to Ashby, and finding a home in the family of a relative, he was supj)orted in part by the town. He died April 8, 1795, aged eighty-seven years.

Succeeding these stirring times, a truce was maintained a few years between England and France, and until 1755 very few men from this town are found in the service.

In Col. Willard's regiment (a part of the expedition to Crown Point) was a company commanded by Capt. Samuel Hunt, containing twenty-four men from this town, eight from Townsend, four from Leominster and ten from other places. These men were in the service from August 11, 1755, to January 1, 1756. The names of the Lunenburg men are as follows: Samuel Hunt, captain ; Samuel Poole, ensign ; Jonathan Bradstreet, sergeant ; Gilbert Thornton, sergeant ; Samuel Hutchins, corporal ; Samuel Stow, Timothy Bancroft, Archelaua Mcintosh, Phinehas Divol, Thomas Wetherbee, Stephen Foster, Timothy Darnell, Ephraim Peirce, Nathaniel Carlton, Jonathan Stevens, Moses Spofford, Scripture Frost, Thomas Stearns, Thomas Rand, Bezaleel Wood, William Chadwick, Eliphalet Goodridge, Jewett Boynton and Thomas Holt.

An undated roll in the Crown Point service, and probably a part of this expedition, bears the names of Ebenezer Hart, Nathaniel Page, Silas Button, Abijah Wetherbee, Jonathan Wetherbee, John Martin, Solomon Bigelow, Samuel Cummings, Jr., Reuben Wyman, Simon Smith, John Henderson and William Kimball. The last named was a servant or an apprentice of George Kimball, who enlisted under a name borrowed of his master.

Among the rolls of the following year a company commanded by Cai)t. James Reed, containing thirtyeight men, was in Col. Ruggles' regiment at Fort Edward. The roll is valuable, containing the name, age, birth-place, residence and occupation of each man.

The names of the Lunenburg men are Thomas Brown, ensign; John Harriman, sergeant; John Moffet, clerk ; Samuel Hutchins, corporal ; Nehemiah Bowers, Timothy Darling, Joseph Gilson, Manassah Litch, Joseph Platts, Joseph Reed, Robert Spear, John Scott, Bradstreet Spofford, Reuben Smith, Benjamin Scott, Jonas Tarbell, Michael Wood, Phinehas Wheelock, William Holt. In this company Philip Goodridge was lieutenant, but he was sick and not with the company when the foregoing pay-roll was made up. John Harriman died in the service. On the roll two others are reported dead who are known to have returned.

On the rolls of 1759 are many I^unenburg names. These men were also in the Crown Point service, and omitting names who are found in the preceding roll, there remain David Pierce, David Carlile, Moses Page, Patrick Delany, Jonathan Peabody, Moses Eitter, Jr., Moses Platts, Dean Carlton, Zephaniah Buss, Simeon Burnham, Samuel iQibson, Samuel Parker, Nathaniel Page, Jr., Samuel Hammond, Josiah Dodge, Jr., David Chaplin, Jr., Benjamin Gould, Richard Fowler, John White, Patrick White and John Wyman. Jidin Wyman died in the service. During the years 1760 and 1761, and in the final and successful effort for the conquest of Canada, a martial record is continued. Among the names of new recruits appear the names of William Kendall, Samuel Hutchins, Moses Platts, Samuel Hilton and Nathan Platts, and in the company of Captain Aaron Brown, of Littleton, were John Martin, sergeant, Jonathan Boynton, Samuel Downe, Timothy Parker, John Simonds, Ezekiel Simonds, William Simonds and Simon Smith; also in the company of Captain Beaman, of Lancaster, Joseph Reed and Samuel Wyman are reported among " the invalids brought home from the westward." Other men in this company were Daniel Carlile, Patrick Delany, Joseph Gilson, John Hogg, Aaron Hodgkins, Jonathan Page, Samuel Peabody, Daniel Ritter, Ebenezer Wyman, Reuben Wyman, Oliver Powers. About this time John Spear and Silas Wyman died in the service. Five Lunenburg men in 1761 were in the company of Captain Aaron Willard: Jeremiah Stiles, drummer, John Hill, William Henderson, Joshua Page and Israel Wyman. These extended lists do not contain the names of all the residents of Lunenburg who were in the service, yet the most of them have never appeared in print before. With limited space at command, in some instances only one enlistment is given of those who entered the service again the succeeding year. It will be found that many of the persons named were subsequently rtsidents of other towns, but they lived in Lunenburg at the time the service was performed.

The Revolutionary history of Lunenburg should include a series of patriotic resolutions which were debated and adopted during the mouths of active thought and excitement immediately preceding an open declaration of hostilities, and which, with the space at command, cannot be quoted. They cover several pages of the records and are clearly expressive of a sentiment and purpose that animated and sustained the patriots of Lunenburg through the trials and sacrifices of the war. Two companies of twentyseven men each, exclusive of officers, were organized October 25, 1774. In the choice of officers all males over sixteen years of age were allowed to vote. The town approved of the selection made by the men as follows: George Kimball, captain ; David Wood, first lieutenant ; Jonathan Peirce, second lieutenant, and Benjamin Redington, ensign of the first company. Abijah Stearns, captain ; Jared Smith, first lieuten ant; Moses Ritter, second lieutenant, and Phineas Hutchins, ensign of the second company. The terms first and second did not have an ordinal significance. A geographical line divided the town in two parts and a company was organized in each section. On the 18th day of April the minute-men were called out for drill and a practice in the manual of arms. After a dinner, provided by the officers, they were marched to the meeting-house, where a sermon was delivered by Rev. Zibdiel Adams, from the text: "Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." - Psalm xxvii. 3.

The spring of 1775 was unusually warm and forward. On the morning of the 19th of April, the farmers of Lunenburg were sowing grain and plowing their fields. On the preceding day they had learned from their chosen commanders the discipline and from their esteemed pastor the duties of the soldier. In arm and mind the rustic toilers became the patriot soldiers. As they toiled on the war had begun, yet they knew it not. The swift messages of the morning were not long delayed. Some time in the forenoon, tradition says at nine o'clock, the alarm was fired in this town.

A full company from Lunenburg marched for Concord - tradition says so early that they reached Concord and beyond that evening, but the muster-roll would indicate that they proceeded with more preparation and deliberation :

'- A Muster Roll of a company or party of men that marched from Lunenburg on y"^ 20"" of April, 1775, for the Defense of the Colony against the ministerial troops under the Command of George Kimball, Cap' of a company in Lunenburg, who marched in Consequence of an alarm made the lO"" of April, 1775. George Kimball, captain ; David Wood, first lieutenant; Samuel Kimball, second lieutenant; Boman Brown, sergeant; John Searle, do.; Benj. Darling, do.; Samuel Farrar, do.; Samuel Hutchinson, corporal ; Samuel Hilton, do.; Daniel Holt, do.; Barnabas Wood, do.; David Chaplin, drummer; Silas Gibson, John Wood, Abijah Page, Nathan Johnson, Isaac Bailey, Andrew Mitchell, Edward Richards, Moses Sanderson, Charles Gilchrist, Pearson Eaton, John McCarty, Benj. Redington, William Prentice, Jacob Stile-', Solomon Hovey, Eli Dodge, Zebulon

Wallis, Moses Ritter, Thomas Simonds, David Houghton, Jonathan Peirce, Obediah Walker, William Gilchrist, Jacob Sanderson, John Dole, Nehemiah Lane, Nathaniel Hastings, Joseph Hartwell, Joshua Reed, Benjamin Goodridge, Asa Carlton, Amos Page, Thomas Wetherbee, Thaddeus Cummings, Phinehas Divol, Benoni Wallis, George Henry, John Little, John Campbell, Joseph Foster, Caleb Taylor, Jeremiah Willard, Curwin Wallis, William Goodridge, Samuel Johnson, Joseph Priest, Nathan Chapman, Seth Harrington." Here are sixty names, and beside some who hastened forward independent of organization, there were two officers and five men from this town in the Leominster company, as follows : Joseph Bellows and Thomas Harkness, lieutenants ; Noah Dodge, Phinehas Carter, Israel Wyman, Richard Fowler and Jonathan Martin.

From the men and companies thus gathered at Cambridge and from new recruits constantly arriving an army for the siege of Boston was organized. A full company, composed of Lunenburg and Fitchburg men, were in Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regiment a part of the time at least and remained in the service at Boston until the close of the year. The roll is as follows : John Fuller, of Lunenburg, captain; Ebenezer Bridge, of Fitchburg, lieutenant; Jared Smith, of Lunenburg, lieutenant.

Men from Fitchburg: - Jonathan Hunt, Edward Hartwell, Thomas Gary, Joseph Gilson, Ebenezer Harrington, Joseph Policy, Eleazer Priest, Nathaniel Gibson, William Bean, Ebenezer Policy, Samuel Downe, Jonathan Gibson, Daniel Harris, Stephen Bailey, Joseph Farwell, Thomas Platts, Roger Bigelow, John Goodridge, Clark Bancroft, Stephen Fuller, Aaron Hodgkins, Thomas Kimball, also John Taylor, of Hillsborough; Thomas Ball, of Concord ; and Charles Raley, residence not stated on the roll.

In the same service and in Colonel Doolittle's regiment Captain Jo iah Stearns, of Lunenburg, commanded a company of sixty-one men. In this company William Thurlo, of Fitchburg, was lieutenant and the following were Lunenburg men : John Searle, Joi-ihua Martin, John Hall, Jacob Stewart, Barnaby Wood, Joseph Chaplin, Benjamin Bailey, John Brown, William Clark, Levi Dodge, James Darling, Pearson Eaton, Asa Jones, John MoB'at, William

Prentiss, Thomas Peirce, John Ritter, John Stearns (died in the service), Joseph Siraonds, Moses Sanderson, Aaron Taylor, Seth Wyman, William Wyman, Joab Wetherbee; also five from Fitchburg and thirty from other places.

There were other men from this town in the service during the summer and autumn of this year. The residence is stated upon the original rolls and there is no room for doubt concerning the identity of the men. While the following list increases the number of Lunenburg men who served in the siege of Boston, it is not presumed to include everyone: Elnathan Sawtell, Timothy Darling, Joshua Goodridge, Samuel Priest, Kichard Gilchrist, Elijah Gould, Nathan Pushee, Joshua Reed, Peter Davis, Abraham Ireland, Abner Mitchell, William Hennessey, Joseph Chaplin, Joseph Chaplin, Jr., Thomas Hovey, Isaac Baily and Zebulon Willis. The last named probably is the same person as Zebulon Wallis in the roll of minute-men.

1776. - At the annual election of town officers in March a Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety was chosen. They were: William Stearns, Abijah Stearns, George Kimball, Benjamin Redington, Joseph Hartwell, Joaiah Stearns and Daniel Gardner. From this time town-meetings were no longer called " In His Majesty's Name," but " in the name of the government and the people of Massachusetts Bay," they found a greeting more congenial to a sentiment of independence. By a vote of the town Stephen Gorham was allowed " to take earth Irom undtr the meeting-house for to make saltpeter.'' During the remaining years of the war the inhabitants often assembled in town-meeting and the records furnish abundant evidence of a continued and patriotic effort in raising men to renew the decimated ranks of the army and in meeting the increasing burdens of taxation. The enlistments in 1776 were many and the rolls, to a considerable extent, repeat the names of the preceding year. A partial list of the soldiers for a longer or shorter period during the succeeding years include: William Pope, Aaron Buss, John Fuller, George Kimball, David Carlisle and Joshua Martin, who were captains in the service, and also the following lieutenants: Thomas Harkness, Jared Smith, David Wood, Jonathan Peirce, Benjamin Redington, Moses Ritter, Phinehas Hutchins and John Little. A partial list of soldiers not yet named are: Thomas Wetherbee, Zephaniah Wood, Abraham Lowe, Thomas Hill, David Wallis, Benoni Wallis, John Buss, George Landers, Benjamin Stewart, Abijah Wetherbee, Ebenezer Wallis, Jonathan Messer, William Lowe, Ephraim Wetherbee, Daniel Wetherbee, Nathaniel Ha'^tings, Isaac Wetherbee, Calvin Graves and George Martin ; Peter Bathrick, Abraham Carlton, Jr., .Tames Carter, William Gilchrist and Charles Gilchrist, who died in the service.

Col. Abijah Stearns was prominent in military affairs during the Revolution, and during a residence of many years in this town he was an active citizen and a worthy man. He was the youngest brother of Rev. David and Dea. William Stearns, of this tpvvn, and was born in Watertown, December 19, 1724. He came here as early as 1751, living at the centre of the town. He was often elected to office and during the war he commanded a regiment in two or more campaigns. He died November 6, 1783.

Col. Joseph Bellows, a son of Col. Benjamin, the founder of Walpole, N. H., and a brother of Gen. Benjamin Bellows, was born in this town June 6, 1744. After the family removed to Walpole he returned in early manhood to this town. He was a captain in the Revolution and commissioned lieutenant colonel of the militia by Governor Hancock. He was a man of influence and popular among his townsmen. Being bondsman for some failing contractors, his property was attached and his pride was humiliated in the loss of the paternal acres. Feeble health and discouragement unfitted him for active life, and from 1784 until his death. May 13, 1817, he lived near his relatives in Walpole.

Hon. Josiah Stearns, another of our Revolutionary worthies, was the son of Thomas and Abigail (Reed) Stearns. He was born in Littleton, July IS, 1747, and removed to this town several years before the Revolution. He commanded a company of minutemen and was a captain in the siege of Boston. He waM a selectman fifteen years, treasurer nine years and a School Committee, collector and town clerk, as well as a deacon and a magistrate. He was a representative four years, and in 1792 he was chosen to the Senate to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. Abel Wilder, of Winchendon, and was subsequently elected. He was a member of the Governor's Council, 1797 to 1799. He died April 7, 1822.

Dr. John Dunsmoor, who was a surgeon in the army, was a native of Scotland, where he was born in 1720. He was a physician of skill and ability and occupied a prominent position among the profession. Apparently he enjoyed the esteem of his townsmen and he was many times nominated on committees, but he generally declined to serve and probably tbund full employment in his calling. After a practice of many years in this town, he died November 22, 1794.

Dr. John Taylor was a man of brilliant qualities. He was a controlling spirit in the town and a leader in the colony. He was born 1734 and probably in Townsend. Preceding Dr. Dunsmoor, he was the first physician of note in this town. Finding active employment in his other business and in public affairs, it is probable that he was not engaged in active practice many years after the arrival of Dr. Dunsmoor. He was frequently chosen to town office, and was twice elected from this town to the Provincial Congress and excepting General Ward, his name appears upon the journals more frequently than that of any of his associates. At the session which convened at Cambridge, February 1, 1775, it was through his influence, as stated by his colleagues, that an adjournment to Concord was accomplished. He was named on the most important committees, being associated with Colonel Prescott, Governor Brooks and Vice-President Gerry. He was a brilliant debater, and in all the deliberations of the convention he displayed an ability of thought and expression that permitted few superiors. He was a member of the committee which drafted the spirited reply to the proclamation of General Gage extending a promise of pardon to all except Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and also one of the commission that took the historic depositions concerning the afiray at Lexington and Concord, which were sent to Dr. Franklin, then in England. Preceding and in the midst of this loyal and brilliant service Dr. Taylor, however successful in his professional treatment of his fellow-men, did not subdue in himself a deep-seated fever for land speculations, and omitting mention of many transactions of considerable magnitude, in 1774 he bought a tract of land in Maine containing thirty-four thousand five hundred and sixty acres, now the town of Union. He employed many men to clear and improve the land, and by frequent visits he personally directed the work. During the Revolution he removed from this town and in 1780 he was residing in Pomfret, Conn. Subsequently he removed to Douglas, and was a delegate from that town to the convention of 1788, which ratified the Federal Constitution. From the printed proceedings it is ^nown that he opposed the Constitution and made a vigorous objection to several articles. Following the announcement of the final vote, standing one hundred and eighty-seven to one hundred and sixty-eight, he said that " while he had uniformly opposed the Constitution, he would now go home and infuse a spirit of love for the measure and harmony among the people." ' The closing years of Kis life were neither prosperous nor peaceful. About 1780 he sold his township in Maine, and in this and other business transactions he met accumulating troubles and became involved in vexatious and endless litigation. Several times he was committed to jail, and for a season, at least, his courage was undaunted. He died at Dudley from an overdose of laudanum April 27, 1794.

General James Reed, who was a captain in the French and Indian Wars, and whose name appears in the early part of this chapter, was a resident of this town several years. He was a son of Joseph and Sarah (Rice) Reed, and was born in Woburn, 1723. He came from Brookfield to Lunenburg, 1751, and lived a part of the time at or near the centre of the town. (Jn the earliest military roll on which his name is found he is described by occupation a " Taylor." Subsequently he was a licensed inn-holder, and in

April, 1758, the selectmen petition foi' a license to Joshua Hufchins " in place of Captain James Reed, who is now going into His Majesty's service." In 1756 he was a captain in Colonel Ruggles' regiment. He held the same rank in two or more subsequent campaigns. He w^as a selectman of Lunenburg, 1763 and 1764, being elected the last time in March, and a full month after the incorporation of Fitchburg, and in a conveyance of land executed March 4, 1765, he is called James Reed, of Lunenburg. These records are not propitious to a current tradition that during these years he was living at the site of the City Hall in Fitchburg. He removed to Fitzwilliam, N. H., before the close of the year 1765. In June, 1775, he was appointed colonel of a New Hampshire regiment, and the following year was named by Congress a brigadier-general. In an illne.ss, at Cr.iwn Point, he lost his eye-sight and was retired from active service soon after his promotion. He subsequently resided in Keene and in Fitzwilliam, N. H., several years, and later he removed to Fitchburg, where he died February 13, 1807.

Lunenburg, in the War of the Rebellion, was in full sympathy with the unexampled patriotism that pervaded the loyal States. The ardor and zeal of April, 1861, the ready response of the volunteers to the call of the President, the voice of loyalty upon the street and in public meetings and many general features of a patriotic record require no assertion. It would be a thankless task and a useless offering to summon the record in support of such a measure of good works, the summary of which will crowd the limits of this chapter. On the morning of April 22, 1861, a flag was raised on Mount Pleasant by Micah W. Boutwell, Andrew Riley and Albert S. Marshall, and another, later in the day, between the Congregational and Unitarian Churches. Within a few days thirty-eight flags were displayed within the town. Attending the second flag-raising a public meeting was organized, with Cyrus Kilburn chairman and George A. Cunningham secretary, and a series of resolutions, after several speeches, were adopted. Other meetings, both informal and oflicial, followed, and in the proceedings appear the names of Nathaniel F. Cunningham, Daniel Putnam, Cyrus Kilburn, Thomas Billings, George A. Cunningham, James Putnam, Frederic M. Marston, Lemuel Pitts, Daniel Liwe, Otis P. Abercrombie, John Howard, Merrick Wetherbee, William Baker, 'Ephraim Jones, Charles A. Goodrich and other citizens of the town. Five men enlisted for three months, as follows : Charles Kilburn, John E. Lyons, George H. Stall, Ansel W. Stall and Russell O. Houghton.

Seventy-six enlisted upon the early calls of the President for three years' men. They were : Joseph C. Riley, Alfred Billings, Amos Billings, Charles C. Walker, Charles D. Litchfield, William F. Harris, Thomas Larghee, George L. Curtis, Henry L. Burnell, B. Frank Clark, Henry O. Adams, Francis A.

On the call of August 4, 1862, for three hundred thou.sand men for nine months', twenty men volunteered : Henry P. Kilburn, Forester M. Jewett, George A. Howard, Levi Parker, George E. Brown, Clark Dutton, Henry H. Whitney, Frederic J. Lawrence, Benjamin F. Marshall, Samuel Wallis, Franklin O. Cady, Oliver F. Brown, Edward E.Carr, Levi, W. Goodrich, George W. Conant, Merrill B. Carlton, Andrew J. Green, Jesse A. Sargent, George H. Stall, Noble Fiske.

Thirty-three re-enlisted veterans and new recruits were credited upon the early calls of 1864 : Alfred Billings, Charles C. Walker,. Charles D. Litchfield, George L. Curtis, John E. Lyons, James M. Hildreth, George V. Ball, Samuel Hartwell, Luther A. Lancey, Gilbert Cook, Dana P. Spaulding, James D. Fairbanks, William D. Perrin, J. Franklin Boynton, Albert Houghton, Joseph R. Graves, Charles H. Neal, Orlando Holman, William H. Wyeth, John F. Butters, Charles E. Oliver, Richard H. Wyeth, Eli S. Lancey, who were veterans. The following were new recruits: Edward C. Goodrich, Richard F. Burton, Thomas Billings, Josiah S. Houghton, John Snow, Albert Stall, Edward P. Hadley, George N. Burrage and Drs. C. C.-Topliff and E. C. Merriam, who were commissioned assistant surgeons.

Seven volunteered in response to the call of July 5, 1864. There were also twenty hired recruits, whose names are not included in this record. The volunteers were : John J. Ramsdell, Charles Boynton, Martin Sanderson, George C. Jewett, Albert L. Heywood, William R. Neal, Jesse A. Sargent. The whole number of credits upon the several ijuotas, including re-enlistments and hired recruits, is one hundred and sixty-one, and the number of residents included in this record is one hundred and two. Of these, thirty died in the service or immediately after their return, from wounds or from disease contracted in the service; fourteen survived wounds, and fiftyeight were discharged at expiration of term of service without wounds or serious disability.

Chapter Xcviii

To build a meeting-house and settle a minister were among the first duties of a New England settlement. The requisites were a hill on which to set the primitive house of worship and a learned orthodox minister. Generally a hill and a minister of a suitable elevation were selected with rare unanimity. In these proceedings the dutiful pleasure of the settlement was enjoined by the General Court and incorporated in the grant of the several townships. In accepting the grant of Turkey Hills the settlers were " obliged to build a good, convenient house for the worship of God within the term of four years.'' The conditions of the grant for several years remained unfulfilled. This failure, on the part of the proprietors, did not pass unnoticed. In November, 1727, the committee of the General Court, who had continued to exerrise a certain supervision of the settlementi ordered that " The Proprietors shall forthwith proceed to the erection of a meeting-house, to be not less than forty-five feet in length and thirty-five in breadth." Immediately succeeding this action of the committee of the General Court, and before there was an opportunity to enforce the command, the proprietors secured an act of incorporation. By this procedure the resident proprietors and settlers of Turkey Hills became the independent inhabitants of the town of Lunenburg. Liberated from the conditions of the grant, and from the authority of the committee of the General Court, our worthy ancestors proceeded at once to perform voluntarily that which they had neglected to do when enjoined.