This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com 3 3433 08190917 ! .THE HISTORY OF J CHELMSFORD, EROM ITS ORIGIKT Iff 1653, TO THK TEAR 1820— TO. GETHER WITH AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE CHURCH, AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OJE THE FOUR FIRST PASTORS. TO wmcn rs ADDED A MEMOIR OF THE PAWTUCKETT TRIBE OF INDIANS. \ WITH A LARGE APPENDIX. BY VVIl.KES ALLEN, A M. Pastor of the Church and Society in Chelmsforu. Tell ye your Children, and let them tell their Children, and their Children, another generation. Prophet Jeel.. " Majorum gloria posteris lumen est ;" — Sal. HAVERHILL .. S - PRINTED BY P. N. GREEN. 1830.- Chelmsfard, Jan. 12, 1820. REV. SIR, THE Subscriber being appointed Agent for the town of Chelmsford, to carry into effect a vote, passed May 6, 1819, "to pro cure the printing of 400 copies of the History of Chelmsford," which they Understand you have lately composed, requests you to accept his cor dial thanks on their behalf, for the unwearied attention and labor you have bestowed upon the collection of their history, and to favor him with a copy of the same for the press. With due respect, yours &c. CYRUS BALDWIN. Rev. W1LKES ALLEN. Chelmsford, Jan. 20, 1820. DEAR SIR, THE attention of the town to its History, and the in terest they have expressed in its preservation and transmission to pos terity, are no less honorable to them, than grateful to the subscriber — As a testimony of bis respect for them and an expression of his regard for their posterity, he commits the History written for them, to their agent for publication agreeably to his request. With sentiments of respect, yours &c. WILKES ALLBN. CYRUS BALDWIN, ESQ. I PREFACE. IT is a duty, which men owe to their posterity, to transmit the knowledge of their ancestors. Minute and circumstantial accounts of our friends, fathers and progenitors acquire an interest in our feelings and imparts joy to our hearts, wh ich the stranger intermeddleth not with. Under this impression the following history has been written with a minuteness and particularity, admisible only in local and private histories, design ed for family connections and friends. It has been the great object of the author to state facts with chronological accuracy ; that he might furnish au thentic documents for the future historian. He has given to the whole the form of Annals, that it might be more convenient as a book of reference, He tenders his thanks to Maj, Nathaniel How ard, TownClerk, lor his assiduous attentions in ac commodating him with the records and documents under his care ; to many individuals for the use of their family records and private papers ; particular ly to Mr. John Farmer of Amherst, N. H a native of this town, for kindly furnishing him with sundry articles of importance to this work. He also deems it a tribute justly due to the sec-. retary of the Commonwealth, Aiden Bradford, Esq. PREFACE. and to the other gentlemen, employed in the secre tary's office, to acknowledge with gratitude their kind attentions and civilities in furnishing him with such papers and records, relating to the origin and first settlement of the town, as are deposited in that office. WILKES ALLEN. Chelmsford, Jan. 12, 1820. THIS VOLUME Is most respectfully dedicated to the inhabitants of the town of CHELMSFORD, with the best wish es of the Author for their growing prosperity. HISTORYOFCHELMSFORD. INTRODUCTION. THERE is a sublime pleasure in tracing the footsteps of past existence, in walking over the ground, cultivated by former generations, in review ing the records of their deeds, and in examining the monuments of their industry, wisdom and piety. — In these acts we seem to become familiarly acquain ted with those; whose voices and countenances are unknown to us, and feel interested in those scenes, which rnce engaged their active spirits and excited their liveliest interest. The propensity, so strong and universal, to dwell upon the virtues of ancestry, finds ample gratifica tion in the learning and piety, patience and fortitude of the first settlers of Massachusetts ; the leading features ot whose character were visible for many years in the inhabitants of this town. The unmolested enjoyment of religious worship and ordinances in their primitive purity, which was their leading object in visiting and subduing this wilderness, was constantly kept in view and made the governing principle of their conduct. Agreea bly Mr. Higgimonin his Election sermon 1663 ob serves, "that it concerneth New-England always to remember, that thej are a plantation religious;, not 8 Commercial. The profession of pure doctrine, WOT* ship and discipline is written upon her forehead. — » Worldly gain was not the end and design of the peo ple of New-England, but religion. If then any man among us make religion as twelve and the world as thirteen, such an one hath not the spirit of a true New-England man.' WE are pleased to find that the ear* Iy inhabitants of this town bore a strong resem blance to their pious ancestors. About twenty per sons from Wouurn and Concord at the last session of the General Court in 1652, petitioned for liberty to examine a tract of land, '.lying on the other side (west) of Concord river. The Court accepted and granted their request. Having by a joint committee examined and viewed the aforesaid tract of land, and having also found sundry others, to the number of thirty nine in all, desirous of uniting with them in „_„ erecting a new plantation, they jointly pe titioned the legislature for a grant of land,* ' bordering upon the river Merrimack, near to Paw- tuckett.'t They stated that, there was a very ' com fortable place to accommodate a company of God's people upon, who may with God's blessing do good in that place for church and state.' They request ed that the said tract of land might ' begin on Mer- rirnack river at a neck of land next to Concord river, and so to run up by said river south and west into the country to make up a quantity of six miles square.' About the same time a petition wos presented tt *See *ppend'iK No. 1. t This word i« spelt by modern writers Pentncket, Pantucket, and Patiickft — J have followed Gookin and other ancient writers, who donbt- lees ii.iii the right spelling. ihd Legislature, by Rev. John Eliot, of Roxburyl agent and trustee for the Indians, for a grant of land," lying about Pawtuckett and Wamesit tails, to be ap propriated to the sole arid exclusive use of the tribe inhabiting thereabouts., This land, called the 'great neck,' was the principal habitation of the Pawtuck- etts, once the most powerful tribe north of the Mas sachusetts. Here they had erected wigwams, and broken up land for planting. The 'court' therefore, t iking into consideration both petitions, directed both an Indian and 1653 English plantation to be laid out ; and that the request of the petitioners from Woburn and Concord should be granted, except some part of the tract petitioned for, lying on Merrimack river. It was made a condition of this grant, that with in two years of the date of the act, they should set tle a competent number of families on it, twenty or more being so, considered, that they might be in a capacity to enjoy all the ordinances of God. Capt. Willard of Concord and Capt. Johnson of Woburn were appointed to lay out the plantation or township.* . , , . It is difficult at this day to ascertain the original boundaries between the Indian and English planta tions. But from a plot of them, presented to the court in 1656 and found among the original papers on file in the secretary's office, and from the documents subjoined at the end of this work, it appears that the original grant for Chelmsford did not extend to Merrimack river on the north east, and barely cor nered on Concord river on the south east.. The plantation, constituting original Chelmsford., was in the form of a parallelogram or oblong square, 1653.— The first person born in town was Joseph Parker,son of Joseph Stid Margaret Parker, March 30. Tradition. * See No. 2 Appendix. 10 It was bounded on the north by a straight line, be- f inning at the glass manufactory and running to the ouse of Benj. Osgood, Esq. of Westford. On the south west by Tadmuck Swamp, and on the south east by a straight line, beginning af Pawtuckett stake, so called, by the side of Concord river at a point where Billerica, Chelmsford *nd Pawtuckett, or Wamesit meet, and running south west 43 deg. to the aforesaid Tadmuck swamp. On the north east by Pawtuckett or Wamesit, for which see No. 5, In dex. The plantation thus granted May 1 8, 1653 and laid out in June following, was occupied within 18 months by a sufficient number of people to render it expedient to call a general meeting for the choice of officers * to manage the public affairs of the place.* This meeting was holden on the 22d Nov. 1654 at which the following persons were chosen int^ office, viz: — Esdras Reed, Edward Spalding, William Fletcher, Isaac Learned, Simon Thompson, William Underwood and Thomas Adams. Their early and liberal provision for the establish ment and maintenance of religious worship and in- struc'.ion. is worthy of special notice. At their first public meeting, measures were adopted for support* ing a settled minister, the Rev.