Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts     History
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Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth


An Historical Sketch of Groton, Massachusetts 1655-1890
by Dr. Samuel A. Green, Groton, 1894.

                                  To The Memory
                                       Of
                             George Dexter Brigham
                            Town Clerk, 1855 - 1893
                  A Life-Long Friend and Neighbor In My Native Town,
                      Who Often Gave Most Cheerful Help In My
                             Local Investigations,
                          This Sketch Is Inscribed.
              
                                 PREFACE.
The following pages were written originally for a "History of Middlesex County," published in
Philadelphia four years ago; and a few copies were then separately struck off. They were in-
tended merely as a sketch of the town, and not as a full or formal history. In justice to the
writer this statement seems to be necessary, as the annals of Groton, so rich in material, and
covering so long a period of time, are here treated in a very scanty way. Through some misunder-
standing the work was not divided into chapters, as had been the intention of the author, who had
no opportunity to see the revised proofs.

With the exception of the notice of Major Palmer, the brief biographies at the end of the book were
not written by the author of this Historical Sketch. Luther Blood, a notice of whom there appears,
died on September 22, 1893.                                               Samuel A. Green.
Boston. March 16, 1894.

                              AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
                                   OF THE
                                TOWN OF GROTON.
p.1
The town of Groton lies in the northwestern part of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is bounded
on the north by Pepperell and Dunstable; on the east by Tyngsborough and Westford; on the south by
Littleton and Ayer; and on the west by Shirley and Townsend.  The First Parish meeting-house or "the
tall-spired church" is situated in latitude 42 deg. 36' 21.4" north, longitude 71 deg. 34' 4" west of
Greenwich, according to the latest observations of the United States Coast Survey. It is distant nearly
thirty-one miles in a straight line from the State House at Boston, but by the traveled road it is
about thirty-four miles. The village of Groton is situated principally on one long street, known as
Maine Street, a section of the Great Road, which was formerly one of the principal thoroughfares be-
tween Eastern Massachusetts and parts of New Hampshire and Vermont. The Worcester, Nashua and Roch-
ester Railroad passes

p.2                                GROTON.
through it and traverses the township at nearly its greatest length, running six miles or more within
its limits. It is reached from Boston by trains on the Fitchburg Railroad, connecting with the Worcester,
Nashua and Rochester road at Ayer, three miles distant from the village.

The original grant of the township was made in the spring of 1655, and gave to the proprietors a tract
of land eight miles square; though subsequently this was changed by the General Court, so that its shape
varied somewhat from the first plan.  It comprised all of what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of
Pepperell and Shirley, large parts of Dunstable and Littleton, and smaller parts of Harvard and Westford
in Massachusetts, and small portions of Hollis and Nashua, in New Hampshire. The present shape of the
town is very irregular, and all the original boundary lines have been changed except where they touch
Townsend and Tyngsborough.

The earliest reference to the town on any map is found in the Reverend William Hubbard's "Narrative
of the Troubles with the Indians in New England," a work published at Boston in the early spring of
1677, and in London during the ensuing summer under a different title. The map was the first one cut
in New England and of course done in a crude manner. It was engraved probably by John Foster, the 
earliest Boston printer. The towns assaulted by the Indians in Philip's War are indicated on the map
by figures; and at that period these places were attracting some attention both here and in the mother
country.

p.3                                  GROTON.

There were two petitions for the plantation of Groton, of which one was headed by Mr. Deane Winthrop,
(son of Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts) and the other by Lieutenant William Martin. The first
one is not known to be in existence, but a contemporaneous copy of the second is in the possession of
the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The signatures vary in the style of handwriting, but they
do not appear to be autographs, and may have been written by the same person.  The answer to the petition
is given on the third page of the paper, and signed by Edward Rawson, secretary of the Colony, which fact
renders it probable that this is the petition actually presented to the General Court as the original one, 
after it had been copied by a skillful penman.  It was found many years ago among the papers of
Captain Samuel Shepley, by the late Charles Woolley, then of Groton, but who subsequently lived at
Waltham; and by him given to the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The petition is written on
the first page of a folio sheet, and the answer by the General Court appears on the third page of the
paper. Near the top of the sheet are the marks of stitches, indicating that another paper at one time
had been fastened to it. Perhaps the petition headed by Deane Winthrop was attached when the secretary
wrote the action of the General Court, beginning, "In ans'r to both theise peticons."

The grant of the plantation was made by the Court of Assistants on May 25, 1655 - as appears by this
document - though subject to the consent of the House of Deputies, which was given, in all probability
on the same day. In the abscence of other 

4.                                 GROTON.

evidence, this may be considered the date of the incorporation, which is not found mentioned elsewhere.

In the early history of the Colony the proceedings of the General Court, as a rule, were not dated day
by day - though there are many exceptions - but the beginning of the session is always given, and
occasionally the days of the month are recorded. These dates in the printed edition of the records are
frequently carried along without authority, sometimes covering a period of several days or even a week;
and for this reason it is often impossible to learn the exact date of any particular legislation, when
there are no contemporaneous papers bearing on the subject.

The petition and endorsement are as follows:

"That whereas youre petitioners by a providence of God have beene brought over in to this wilderness
and lived longe herein; and being sumthing straightened for that whereby subsistance in an ordinarie
way of Gods providence is to be had, and considering the alowance that God gives to the suns of man for
such ends; youre petitioners request therefore is that you would be pleased to grant us a place for a
plantation upon the River that runs from Nashaway into Merimak at a place or aboute a placed called
Petaupaukett and Waubansconcett and youre petitoners shall pray for youre happy procedings.

William Martin
Richard Blood
John Witt
Richard Haven
Timothy Cooper
John Lakin
John Blood
Mathu Farrington
Robert Blood.

p.5                                        GROTON.

"In ans. to both theise petitions The Court judgeth it meete to grant the petitioners eight miles square
in the place desired to make a comforable plantacon wch henceforth shall be called Groaton formerly
known by the name Petapawage: that Mr. Danforth of Cambridge with such as he shall assossiate to him shall 
and hereby is desired to lay it out with all convient speed that so no incouragement may be wanting
to the petitioners for a speedy procuring of a godly minister amongst them. Provided that none shall enjoy 
any part or portion of that land by gift from the Selectmen of that place but such who shall
build howses on theire lots so given them once within eighteene months from the time of the sayd towns
laying out or townes grant to such persons; and for the present Mr. Deane Winthrop, Mr. John Tinker,
Mr. Thomas Hinckly, Dolar Davis, Wm. Martin Mathew ffarington, John Witt and Timothy Cooper are appointed
the Selectmen for the sayd Towne of Groaton for one two yeares from the time it is layd out, to lay out
and dispose of particular lotts not exceeding twenty acres to each house lott and to order the prudential
affairs of the place at the end of which time other Selectmen shall be chosen and appointed to theire roomes: 
the Selectmen of Groaton giving Mr. Danforth such sattisfaction for his service & paines as they
and he shall agree.
"The Magistrates have passed this with reference to the consent of theire bretheren the depu's hereto.
"Edward Rawson, Secretary
"25 of May, 1655.
"The Deputies Consent hereto
"William Torrey, Clerk."

The entry made by Secretary Rawson in the General Court Records at the time of the grant, is substantially the 
same as his indorsement on Martin's petition, though it distinguishes between some
of the names signed to each petition. It is evident that the one headed by Deane Winthrop was also 
signed by John Tinker and Thomas Hinckley; and probably by Dolar Davis, Richard Smith and Amos 
Richardson, as is inferred from a petition dated May 16, 1656, and given later in this account of
the town.  The Roman letters and Arabic figures within parenthesis to the volume and page of the
General

p.6                                         GROTON.
Court Records at the State House. The entry is as follows:

"In ansr to the petition of Mr. Deane Winthrop, Mr. John Tinker, Mr. Tho. Hinckly etc and of Lieut.
William Martin, Timothy Cooper etc., the Court judgeth it meete to Grant etc." (IV.204).

Charles Hastings Gerrish, of Groton, has a contempraneous copy of this record made by Secretary Rawson,
which was perhaps sent originally to the Selectmen of the town. It was found among the papers of the
late Hon. John Boynton, at one time Town Clerk.

The record of the House of Deputies is also practically the same, though there are a few verbal vari-
ations. It begins:

"There beinge a petition prford by Mr. Dean Winthrop, Mr. Tho. Hinckley & divers others for a plantation
upon the river that runs from Nashaway into Merimacke called Petapawage & another from some of the
Inhabitants of Concord for a plantation in the same place - to both which the Court returned the
answer that the Court thinks meet to grant etc" (III.462).

The following letter from the Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, whose authority in such matters is unquestionable
gives the meaning and derivation of the Indian name of the town:

"Hartford, Dec. 22, 1877.
"My dear Dr. Green, Pautaupauket and Petapawage, meaning "at" or "on" a place; and both are corruptions
of one or the other of two Indian names found at several localities in New England. From which of the
two your Groton name came I cannot decide without some knowledge of the place itself. I leave you the
choice, confident that one or the other is the true name.

"Pootuppog,' used by Eliot for 'bay' in Joshua xv. 2, 5, literally means 'spreading' or 'bulging'
water,' and was employed to designate either a local widening of a river making still water, or an in-
let from a river expanding into something like a pond or a lake.  Hence the name

p.7                                          GROTON.
of a part of (old) Saybrook, now Essex, Conn., which was variously written Pautaupaug, Potabauge and
later, Pettipaug, etc., so designated from a spreading cove or inlet from Connecticut River. Potta-
paug Pond, in Dana, Mass., with an outlet to, or rather an inlet from Chicopee River, is probably a
form of th same name.  So is 'Port Tobacco,' Charles County, Md (the Potopaco' of John Smith's map),
on the Potomac.

"But there is another Algonkin name from which denotes a swamp, bog, or quagmire, literally, a place
into which the foot sinks; represented by the Chppeway petobeg, a bog or soft marsh, and the Abanaki
potopaug. There is a Pautipaug (otherwise Pootapaug, portipaug, patapogue, etc). in the town of
Sprague, Conn., on or neara the Shetucket River, which seems to have this derivation.

"If there was in (ancient) Groton a pond or spreading cove, connected with the Nashua, Squannacook,
Nissitisset, or other streasm, or a pond-like enlargement or 'bulge' of a stream, this may, without
much doubt, be accepted as the origin of the name. If there is none such, the name probably came from
some 'watery swamp,' like those into which (as the 'Wonder-working Providence' relates) the first
explorers of Concord 'sunkee into an uncertaine bottome in water, and waded up to their knees.'
Yours truly, "J. Hammond Trumbull."

The last suggestion, that the name came from an Algonkin word signifying "swamp" or "bog," appears to
be the correct one. There are many bog meadows, of greater or less extent, in different parts of the
town. Two of the largest, - one situated on the easterly side of the village, and known as Half-Moon
Meadow, and the other on the westerly side, and known as Broad Meadow, each containing perhaps a 
hundred acres of land - are now in a state of successful cultivation. Before they were drained and
improved they would have been best described as swamps or bogs.

It is to be regretted that so many of the Indian words, which have a local significance and smack of

p.8                                              GROTON.

the region, should have been crowded out of the list of geographical names in Massachusetts. However
much such words may have been twisted and distorted by English pronunciation and misapplication, they
furnish now one of the few links that connect the present period with prehistoric times in America.

"Nashaway," mentioned in the petition, is the old name for Lancaster, though spelled in different ways.
Mr. Trumbull has given some interesting facts in regard to this Indian word, which I copy from a paper
by him in the second volume of the "Collection of the Connecticut Historical Society:"

"Nashaue (Chipewa) (nassawaii and ashawiwi) 'mid-way,' or 'between,' and with ohke or auk added, the 
'land between' or 'the half-way place' - was the name of several localities. The tract on which Lancaster
in Worcester county, Mass., was settled, was 'between' the branches of the river, and so it was called
'Nashaway' or Nashawake' (nashaue-ohke); and this name was afterwards transferred from the territory to
the river itself.  There was another Nashaway in Connecticut, between Quinebaug and Five-Mile River.
Natchaug, in the same county, the name of the eastern branch of Shetucket River, belonged originally
to the tract between the eastern and western branches; and the Shetucket itself borrows a name (nashaue-
tuk-ut) from its place 'between' Yantic and Quinebaug rivers (page 33.)"

The town, Groton, is indebted for its name to Deane Winthrop, a son of Governor John Winthrop, one of 
the petitioners for the grant. He was born at Groton, in the county of Suffolk, England, on March 16,
1622-23; and the love of his native place prompted him to perpetuate its name in New England. He stands
at the head of the first list of Selectmen appointed by the General Court and for a short time

p.9                                            GROTON.

was probably a resident of the town. At the age of exactly eighty-one years he died, March 16, 1703-04,
at Pullen Point, now within the limits of the town of Winthrop, Massachusetts.

The following letter, written by a distinguished representative of the family, Robert C. Winthrop,
will be read with interest:

"Boston, 27 February, 1878.
"Mr Dear Dr. Green.
It would give me real pleasure to aid you in establishing the relations of Deane Winthrop to the town
of Groton in Massachusetts. But there are only three or four letters of Deane's among the family papers
in my possession and not one of them is dated Groton. Nor can I find in any of the family papers a
distinct reference to his residence there.

"There are, however, two brief notes of his, both dated 'the 16 of December, 1662,' which I cannot help
thinking may have been written at Groton. One of them is addressed to his brother John Winthrop, the
Governor of Connecticut, who was then in London, on business connected with the Charter of Connecticut.
In this note, Deane Winthrop says as follows:

" 'I have some thoughts of removing from the place that I now live in, into your Colony, if I could lit
of a convenient place. The place that I now live in is too little for me, my children now growing up.'
"We know that Deane Winthrop was at the head of the first Board of Selectmen at Groton a few years
earlier, and that he went to reside at Pullen Point, now called Winthrop, not many years after

"I am strongly inclined to think with you that this note of December, 1662, was written at Groton. "Yours
very truly, Robert C. Winthrop.
(to) Samuel A. Green, M.D."

A few years before the incorporation of the town, Emanuel Downing, of Salem, Mass., married Lucy, a
sister of Governor John Winthrop (of Mass.); had a very large farm which he called "Groton". It was
situated in what was afterward South Danvers, Mass., but now Peabody, on the old road leading from Lynn
to Ipswich and thus named, says Upham, in his "Salem Witchcraft"

p.10                                        GROTON.

"in dear remembrance of his wife's ancestral home in 'the old country' " (I.43). Emanuel Downing
subsequently sold it to his nephew John Winthrop, Jr., and Adam Winthrop on July 23, 1644, when he
speaks of it as "his farme of Groton."  The sale is duly recorded in Suffolk Registry of Deeds (I.57).

Groton in Connecticut - younger than this town by just half a century, and during the Revolution the
scene of the heroic Ledyard's death, was named in the year 1705, during the Governorship of Fitz-John
Winthrop, out of respect to the Suffolk, England home of the family.

New Hampshire has a Groton in Grafton County, which was called Cockermouth when first settled in the
year 1766. Subsequently, however, the name was changed by an act of the Legislature, in accordance with
the unanimous wish of the inhabitants who approved it, on December 7, 1796. Some of its early settlers
were from Hollis, New Hampshire, and others from this town (Groton).

Vermont, also has a Groton; in Caledonia County, which received its Charter on October 20, 1789, though
it was settled a short time before. A history of the town written by General Albert Harleigh Hill,
appeared in Miss Abby Maria Hemenway's "Vermont Historical Gazeteer" (IV 11-45-1168) Taken bodily from
this work, a pamphlet edition was also published with some slight variations, but with the same paging.
The author says:

"It received the name of Groton through the influence of its earliest settlers, who were born in Groton,
Massachusetts. These sterling old patriots who, mid all the stirring activity of those days, forgot not
the old birthtown, but hallowed its memory by giving its name to their new settlement and town in the
wilderness" (p.1145).

p.11                                        GROTON.
New York, too, has a town called Groton, situated in Tompkins County; and Professor Marvin Morse Baldwin,
in an historical sketch of the place, published in the year 1858, gives the reason for so naming it. He
says:

"At first, the part of Locke thus set off was called Division; but the next year (1818) it was changed
to Groton, on the petition of the inhabitants of this town, some of whom had moved from Groton, Massachusetts 
and some from Groton, Connecticut, though a few desired the name of York." (page 8).

There is also a Groton in Erie County, Ohio. It is situated in that part of the State known as the
fire lands, and so called after the Connecticut town of Groton. The name was originally Wheatsborough,
and its first settlement was made in the year 1809.

The latest place apiring to the honor of the name Groton, is in Brown County, South Dakota, which was
laid out six or eight years ago on land owned by the Chicago, Milwaukee and  St. Paul Railway Company.
I am informed that various New England names were selected by the company and given to different town-
ships, not for personal or individual reasons, but because they were short and well sounding, and unlike
any others in that State.

In the middle of the last century - according to the New England Historical and Genealogical Register
(XXIV. 56 note and 60) for January, 1870 - there was a place in Roxbury sometimes called Groton. It was
a corruption of Greaton, the name of the man who kept the "Grey Hound" tavern in that neighborhood.
 
                                   Groton in England, an Ancient Place.

Groton, in England, is an ancient place; it is the same as the Grotena of Domesday Book, in which

p.12                                        

there is a record of the population and wealth of the town, in some detail, at the time of William
the Conqueror, and also before him, under the Anglo-Saxon King, Edward the Confessor. A literal trans-
lation of this census-return of the year 1086 is as follows:

"In the time of King Edward (the Abbot of) Saint Edmund held Groton for a manor, there being one carucate
and a half of land. Always there have been eight villeins and five bordarii (a rather higher sort of
serfs; cotters).  Always there has been one plough in demesne. Always two ploughs belonging to homagers,
(tenants) and one acre of meadow. Woodland for ten hogs. A mill serviceable in winter. Always one work-
horse, six cattle and sixteen hogs, and thirty sheep. Two freemen of half a carucate of land, and they 
could give away and sell their land.  Six bordarii. Always one plough, and one acre of meadow belonging
to these bordarii. It was then under King Edward worth thirty shillings, and now valued at forty. It is
seven furlonge in length and four in breadth. In the same, twelve freemen and they have one carucate;
it is worth twenty shillings. These men could give away and sell their land in the time of the reign of
King Edward. The abbot of Saint Edmund has the society, protection and servitude. Its gelt is seven
pence, but others hold there."

The extract is taken from the facsimile reproduction of the part of the Domesday Book relating to Sullolk, 
England, (page CLVIII), which was published at the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, in the
year 1863. The text is in Latin, and the words are much abbreviated. The writing is peculiar and hard
to decipher. The same entry is found, in printed characters, in the second volume of Domesday Book
(p.359.b) published in the year 1783.

Some idea of the condensed character of the record may be gathered from the following copy of the be-
ginning of the description of Groton, in which the matter within the brackets is what the Norman scrivener 
omitted: "Grotena. (m) tempore regis

p.13                                             GROTON.
dvardi tenuit sanctus edmundus pro manerio" etc. A carucate was a plough land or a farm that could be
kept under tillage with one plough. It is variously estimated at from twelve acres to a hundred acres.

It is curious to note the different ways which the early settlers had of spelling the name; and the
same persons took little or no care to write it uniformly.  Among the documents and papers that I have
examined in collecting material for a history of the town, I find it spelled in twenty-one different
ways. Viz: Groton, Grotton, Groten, Grotten, Grotin, Groaten, Groatne, Groaton, Groatton, Grooton,
Grorton, Grouten, Grouton, Groatton, Grooton, Grorton, Grouten, Grouton, Groughton, Growton, Growtin,
Groyton, Grauton, Grawten, Grawton and Groaton.

From the old spelling of the word, it may be inferred that the pronunciation varied; but at the present
time natives of the town and those "to the manner born" pronounce it Graw-ton.  This method appears to
hold good in England, as the Reverend John W. Wayman, rector of the parent town, writes me, under date
of August 13, 1879, "That the local pronunciation is decidedly Graw-ton. The name of the parish is
described in old records as Grotton or Growton."  I learn from trustworthy correspondents in all the
American towns of the name, that the common pronunciation of the word in each one of them is Graw-ton.
With the exception of the town in South Dakota, I have visited all these places including the one in
England and my observation confirms this statement.

The following paragraph is taken from the Groton Mercury

p.14                                         GROTON.

of June, 1851, a monthly neewspaper edited by the late George Henry Brown, postmaster at that time:

"We have noticed amongst the mass of letters received at our Post Office, the word Groton spelled
in the following different ways: Groton, Grawton, Graton, Grotown, Groutown, Grotown, Growtan, Growten,
Growton, Gratan, Grattan, Grewton, Grothan, Graten, Groten and Grouton."

The daily life of the founders of Massachusetts would be to us now full of interest, but unfortunately
little is known in regard to it. The early settlers were pious folk, and believed in the literal inter-
pretation of the Sciptures.  They worked hard during six days of the week, and kept Sunday with rigid
exactness.

The clearing of forests and the breaking up of land left little leisure for the use of pen and paper;
and letter-writing as we understand it, was not generally practiced. They lived at a time when printing
was not common and post-offices were unknown.  Their lives were one ceaseless struggle for existence;
and there was no time or opportunity to cultivate those graces now considered so essential. Religion was
with them a living, ever present power; and in that channel went out all those energies which with us
find outlet in many different directions.  These considerations should modify the opinions commonly held
in regart to the Puritan fathers.

The sources of information relating to the early history of Groton are few and scanty. It is only here
and there in contemporaneous papers that we find any allusions to the plantation; and from these we 
obtain but glimpses of the new settlement.  The earliest document connected with the town afte its

p.15                                        GROTON.
incorporation is a petitiion now among the Shattuck Manuscripts in the possession of the New England
Historic Genealogical Society, which contains some interesting facts not elsewhere given. All the
signatures are in the same handwriting as the body of the document; but hose of the committee signing
the report on the back of the petition are autographs. The report itself is in the hand of Joseph Hills.
The document is as follows:

"Boston: 16: 3 mo.: 1656.
"To the Right Wor'rll (worshipful) the Govrnor the Wor'rll Deput Govnor and Magistrates with the Worthy
Deputies of this Honored Court.
"The humble peticon of Certain the intended Inhabitants of Groten,
"Humbly Sheweth
"That yor Peticon'rs having obtained theire Request of a Plantacon from this honored Court, they have made 
entranc theruppon and do Resolve by the Gracious assistants of the Lord to proceed in the same
(though the greatest Number of Peticonrs for the Grant have declyned the work) yet because of the Remote
ness of the place & considering how heavy and slowe it is like to be carried an end and with what 
charge and difficulties it will be Attended yor Peticonrs humble requests are -

"1. That they be not nominated or included in the Country taxes until the full end of three years from
these payments in which time they account theire expenc will be great to the building a house, procuring
and maintaining of a minister, etc, with all other necessary Town Charges; they being but few at present
left to carry on the whole works and at the end of the term, shall be redy by Gods help to yeald their
Rates according to their Number & abilitis & what shall be imposed uppon them.

2. That they may have libertie to make choyse of another then Mr. Danford for the laying out their 
town bounds because of his desire to be excused by resson of his urgent ocations otherwise, & that they
be not strictly tyed to a square forme in their line laying out.
"So shal yor peticonrs be incorridged in this great work, and shall as, duty bindes pray for yor
happiness and thankfully best.
yor humble servants
"Dean Winthropp
Dolar Davis
Will. Martin
Jhn. Tinker
Richard Smith
Robert Blood
Jno Lakin
Amose Richenson

p.16                                             GROTON.

"Ins Ans. to this Peticon wee conceive it needfull that the Town of Groton be freed from Rates for
three years from the time of their Grant as is desired.

"2nd. That they may imploy any other known artist in the place of Mr. Danfort (Danforth) as need shall
be.

"3d. That the forme of the Towne may a little varie from A due square according to the discrecon of the
Committee.
"21. 3d Mo. (1656)
"Daniel Gookin.
Joseph Hills.
John Wiswall.

"The Deputyes approve of the returne of the Comittee in answer to this petition & desire the consent
of your honored magistrates hereto.
"William Torrey, Clerke.
"Consented to by the magistrates.
"Edward Rawson, Secretary.
"Indorsed for filing: Grotens Peticon - Entrd & Xs secured Pd 8. 1656"

The next document, in point of time, connected with the history of Groton is a petition to the General
Court from John Tinker, one of the original Selectmen of the town. It is dated October, 1659 and pre-
served among the Massachusetts Archives (CXII.120) at the State House. In this petition Tinker makes
some indirect charges against his townsmen, of which the real nature can now be learned only by in-
ference. It would seem that they had taken land in an unauthorized manner, and their proceedings in
other respects had obstructed the planting of the town; and that he felt aggrieved in consequence of
such action. Evidently the new plantation did not prosper during the first few years of its settle-
ment. The petition reads thus:

"Boston 8 mo. 1659.
To the Honored General Court at Bosotn.
The humble Petition of Jno Tinker
Humbly showeth that "With unfained Respect to the good and welfare of Church and Commonwealth yor
Petitioner hath endeavored to answer the expectation

p.17                                        GROTON.
and desires of this honored Court and the whole Countray in erecting, settling and carying an end
the affaires of Groaton, granted and intended by this honored Court for a plantation, which notwith-
standing (all in vaine) it continueth unpeopled and so like to remaine unless by this honored Court
some wise and juditious comittee be impowered to order and dispose of all things there about, after
which no doubt it will goe on and prosper, which is the humble desire and request of your petitioner
that soe it may be, and that your petitoner be admitted and appoynted faithfully to declare unto and
inform the said comitte 

1. what hath alredy bin done
2. what are the grounds and reasons wherefore it remaineth at the stay it doeth.
3. what he concevith needful to the further confirming what is done according to Right to every
person & cause, and the settling such due order as may incorridge the carrying on of all things
to a prosperous effect, unto which yor Petitioner shall redyly address himself as willing to sub-
mit to the good pleasure of this honored Court & such authorized by them for such due satisfacton
for all his care, time, cost & pains in and about the said plantation as shall be thought meete
and humbly begging the good favor of God to rest uppon youu shall ever remaine to the honored
Court and Country.
"Yor humble servant                       Jno. Tinker.

"The committee having prsed this petition do Judge that it will be very convenient that a Committee
of three: or more meet persons be nominated & impowered to examine the pticulars therein mentioned and
make returne of what they find to the Court.
"Thomas Danfort.
Anthony Stoddard.
Roger Clapp.

"21. August 1659.
The Deputy approves of the return of ye Committee in answer: hereto & have nominated Mr. Danforth,
Mr. Ephraim Child, Capt. Edw. Johnson to be their committee desiring our Honored Magistrates consent
hereto.
"William Torrey, Clerk
Edw. Rawson, Secretary.
"Consented to by the Magistrates.

It appears from the writing on it that Tinker's petition was referred to a special committee, who
recommended that the whole matter be considered by another committee with larger powers, who should
report to the Court of Election. In accordance with

p.18                                         GROTON.

this recommendation, Mr. Thomas Danforth, Captain Edward Johnson and Ephraim Child were appointed such
a committee. I have here given their names in the order in which they are mentioned in the General Court
Records (IV. 324), and not as they appear in the approval of the committee's return on the petition.
The original report, made eighteen months afterwards and duly signed by them, is now among the Shattuck
Manuscripts of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. It is dated May 23, 1661 ("23 (3) 1661")
and bears the official action of the House of Deputies and of the Magistrates. Edward Rawson, the secre-
tary, made his entry on the paper May 29, 1661. In copying the document I have followed the General
Court Records, as this version of the petition contains fewer abbreviations and contractions. The record
book has bee paged differently at three separate times; and the paging marked in red ink has been taken
in this copy. The "Committee Returne abt Groaten & Courts Order" are as follows:

"Wee whose names are subscribed being appointed & impowered by the General Court in October, 1659 for
the examination of the proceedings about Groten plantation & the Intanglements that have obstructed
the planting thereof hitherto - having taking paines to travaile unto the planting thereof hitherto,
having taken paines to travel into that said place & examine the Records of the former proceedings
in that place as also the capacity of the said place for the entertaining of a meet number of persons
that may carry on the affairs of the towne, doe apprehend according to what information we have had,
that the place will afford a comfortable accommodation for sixty families at least, that may subsist
in a way of husbandry - and for such families as be there already planted which are not above four or
five acres we do not finde theire interest in such

p.19                                         GROTON.

lands as they claime is legall & Just nor yet consistant wth the Courts ends in their grant of said
plantation.

"And for the further encouragement of such as have now a desire etc doe present themselves as willing
to plant themselves in that place.

"Wee crave leave humbly to leave our poore apprehensions with this Honored Court as followeth.

"1. That the old Planters & their assignes, whose names are:

John Tinker
Richard Smith
William Martin
Richard Blood
Robert Blood
Jno. Lakin

that they retain & keep as their property of such lands as they now claime an interest in, each of them
only twenty acres of meadow, twenty acres for the house lott, ten acres intervale land & ten acres of
other uplands & that the same be sett out by a Committee so as may not unequally prejudice such as are 
or may be their neighbors.

"2. That the neere lands & meadows be so divided as may accomodate at least sixty families & for that
the first division of lands be made to manner following, viz: such as have one hundred & fifty pounds
estate be allowed equall with the old planters above & that none exceed and that none have less than
ten acres for their house lott & five acres of meadow, two & a halfe acres Intervale & two & a half
of other lands for planting lotts in their first division & that none be admitted to have grants of
lotts there but on Condition following, viz:

"1. That they go up with their families within two years after theire grants, on penalty of forfeiting
their grants again to the Towne & so many ten shillings as they had acres granted them for theire
houselotts & that the like injunction be put upon those above named as old planters.

"2. That all towne charges both civil & ecclesiastical be levyed according to each man's grant in this
first division of lands for seven years next ensuing excepting only such whose stocks of cattle shall
exceed one hundred & fifty pounds estates.

"3. That the power of Admission of Inhabitants & Regulating the affaires of the said place be referred
to a committee of meet persons impowered by this Court thereto, until the plantation be in some good
measure at least filled with inhabitants & be enabled regularly & peaceably to carry on ye same them-
selves.

"4. That this honoured Court be pleased to grant them immunities from all common & ordinary country
charges not exceeding a single rate or a rate & a half per annum for three years next ensuing.

p.20                                       GROTON.

"5. That in granting of lots children have their due consideration wth estates their parents giving
securities to defray ye charges of the place as is before promised.
"Thomas Danforth
 Edward Johnson
 Ephr. Child.

                                       
"The Court approves of & do confirms the return of the Committee & doe hereby further order & impower
the aforesaid committee for the ends above mentioned until meets men shall be found amongst us as shall
inhabit there and be approved of by a County Court."
(General Court Records, IV, 371.)

                                             GROTON.
p.20
The next document in point of time, found among the Archives (I.21) at the State House and relating
to Groton is the following request for a brandmark, which was wanted probably for marking cattle.

"The Humble Request of Joseph Parker to the Honoured Governor, the Honoured Magistrate & Deputies,
Humbly requests in behalfe of the towne of Grawton that the letter Gr may be Recorded as the brand
mark belonging to the towne, I being chosen Constable this year make bold to present this, to the
Honoured Court it being but my duty, in the town's behalf thus hoping the Honoured Court will grant 
my request. I resT your humble servant:                                       "Joseph Parker.


"Boston: 31st May 1666.
"In answer to this motion the Deputies approve of the letters, Gr to be ye brand marke of Grawton.
"William Torrey, Clerk.
"Our honored Magistrates consenting hereto.
"Consented by the Magistrates.
"Edward Rawson, Secretary.

Author's note: Joseph Parker, before coming to Groton, had lived at Chelmsford where his children were
born. He was a brother of James Parker, another of the early settlers of the town.

During this period the town was paying some attention to the question of marks for trees as well as
for cattle. At a general meetingheld on March 5, 1665-66, it was voted that "their should be trees

p.21                                            GROTON.

marked for shade for cattell in all common by wayes;" and furthermore that "the marks should be a
great T."  From various expressions found in the early town records, it would seem that the country
in the neighborhood was not densely wooded when the settlement was first made.  At a meeting of the
Selectmen held in the winter of 1669, an order was passed for the preservation of trees, but the
writing is so torn that it is impossible to copy it.  At another meeting held on January 13, 1673-74,
it was voted that all tres of more than six inches in diameter at the butt, excepting walnut and pine,
growing by the wayside, should be reserved for public works, and that the penalty for cutting them down,
without authority, should be ten shillings a tree.

At a general town meeting on December 21, 1674, leave was granted to William Longley, Jr. to cut down
three or four trees standing in the road near his farm and shading his corn, on condition that he give
to the town the same number of trees for mending the highways.

Insert:
The story of William and Deliverance Longley's family is a sad one.
They were living, with their 8 children, on a small farm, perhaps a 
mile and a quarter from the village, on the east side of the Hollis 
Road.  Their house was built of hewn logs, and was standing at the 
beginning of the 19th century.  The old cellar, with its well-laid 
walls, was distinctly visable, and traces of it could be seen to modern 
times.  The site of this house has been marked by a monument bearing 
the following inscription:


Here Dwelt
WILLIAM AND DELIVERANCE LONGLEY
On the 27th of July 1694
The Indians Killed The Father and Mother
And Five of the Children
And Carried into Captivity
The Other Three.

The monument was erected in the autumn of 1879, at the expense of the
town, on land generously given for the purpose by Mr. Zachariah Fitch,
the present owner of the farm; and it was dedicated with appropriate
exercises on Feb. 20, 1880.

Source: History of Middlesex Co., vol. 2, pp. 512, 513;
Massachusetts Archives, v. VIII, pp. 39, 40.

p.21 cont'd

The early settlers of Groton encounted many trials and privations in planting the town. The men
worked hard in felling trees and breaking ground, and the women toiled faithfully in their rude
houses. They were used to hardships and they took them with Christian resignation. Their daily life
taught them the true principles of philosophy. They lived on the rough edge of civilization and 
nothing stood between them and an unbroken wilderness. These pioneers were a devout people; and the
strength of their religious belief is shown in no way so clearly as

p.22                                         GROTON.

in the fortitude with which they met their lot in life. The prowling Indians were their neighbors,
whose constant movements required careful watching. There were families of savages scattered along 
the interval land of the Nashua valley, from Lancaster to the Merrimack River, who at times annoyed
the settlers by killing pigs and stealing chickens.  Judging from the number of stone implements
found in the neighborhood, there was an Indian village just above the Red Bridge, on the west side
of the Nashua River. It probably consisted of a few families only, belonging to the Nashua tribe, as
they were called by the English.

Like all their race, these Indians were a shiftless people, and often changed their abodes, going
hither and thither as they found good hunting grounds or fishing places. They bartered skins and furs
with the planters; and so much business was carried on in this way, that the government sold to indi-
viduals the right to trade with them. 

                                          John Tinker

As early as July, 1657, John Tinker, one of the original Selectmen of the town, appointed by the General
Court, paid eight pounds for the privilege of trafficking with them at Lancaster and Groton. A few of
these natives knew a little English, which they had picked up from contact with the whites. Daniel
Gookin refers to them in his "History of the Christian Indians," when he speaks of "some skulking
Indians of the enemy, that formerly lived about Groton, the principal whereof was named "Nathaniel"
he and his party did this and other mischief afterward, in burning severl houses at Chelmsford."
This indian, Nathaniel, was taken subsequently at

p.23                                   Indian, John Monaco - One-eyed John.

Cocheco (now Dover), New Hampshire, and hanged at Boston. Some of these vagrants took an active part in
the burning of Groton during Phillip's War. The leader of the savages at this assault was John Monaco or
Monoco, nicknamed "One-eyed John," from the loss of an eye. After he had taken by stratagem a garrison
house he entered into a long conversation with Captain James Parker who was stationed in another house
nearby and called him his old neighbor.  From this fact I infer that "one-eyed John" knew Captain Parker
and had previously lived in the vicinity.  Warfare among the aborigines did not require generalship so
much as knowledge of places; and the head of an assaulting party was one familiar with the clearings
and the lay of the land in the threatened territory. During the ensuing autumn this leader was brought
to the gallows at Boston, where he suffered the extreme penalty of the law.

The Indians soon acquired from the English the love of strong drink, which is sure to lead to disputes
and quarrels.  The earliest documents at the State House, relating to Groton and the savages, give an
account of a drunken brawl which ended in murder.  The affair took place in the Merrimack Valley, and
several men of this town were summoned to appear as witnesses at the investigation before the General
Court at Boston. In the spring of 1668, Capt. Richard Waldron built a trucking or trading house at
Penacock (now Concord), New Hampshire, where a few weeks later one Thomas Dickinson was murdered by an
Indian while under the influence of liquor. The homicide created great excitement and it has

p.24                                   GROTON.

been supposed to have delayed the permanent settlement of the place for many years. A warrant was issued
directing the Constable of Groton to summon John Page, Thomas Tarbell, Jr., Joseph Blood and Robert
Parish, all of this town, before the General Court, in order to give their testimony, which they did
under oath. It appeared by the evidence that there had been a drunken row, and that Dickinson was killed
by an Indian, who acknowledged the crime and expressed gret sorrow for it, but pleaded drunkenness in
extenuation to the deed. The culprit was tried at once by a council of the Indians, who sentenced him
to be shot, which was done the next day.  It is interesting now to note the high temperance stand taken,
more than two hundred years ago, by the Chief Tohaunto, which places him abreast of the most earnest
opposers of the rum traffic at the present time.

During a series of years before Phillip's War, the Indians had been supplied with arms and ammunition
though this was contrary to the laws of the Colonies.  The French in Canada and the Dutch in New York 
had carried on considerable traffic with the natives in these contrabamd articles; and occasionally
some avaricious settler would barter with them, giving powder and shot in exchange. The possession of
firearms made the Indians bold and insolent, and the tendency was strengthened by a feeling of sus-
picion on the part of the colonists, and by one of jealousy on the part of the savages.  Distrust always
grows out of suspicion, and the fears of the settlers,

p.25                                         GROTON.
                                 Organization of a military company.

began to be excited when they thought of their exposed situation. Under these circumstances, it was wise
to prepare for all emergencies; and at an early day a military company was organized in this town. The
following entry is made in the manuscript records of the General Court during the session beginning May
6, 1673:                          
                                        Captain James Parker.
"James Parker of Groaten, having had the care of the military company there for several years, is 
appointed & ordered to be their lieutenant and William Lakin to be ensign to the said company there."
(General Court Records, IV. 718).

The two officers of this organization were each promoted one grade during the next autumn, which would
indicate that the company was filling up in numbers. At the session of the General Court beginning
October 15, 1673, the record reads:

"The military Company of Groaten being destitute of military officers, the Court judgeth it meet to
choose & appoint James Parker to be their Captain, William Lakin, Lieutenant and Nathaniel Lawrence to
be their ensign. (General Records, IV. 726).

Before this time there had been in Middlesex County a company of troopers or cavalry made up of men
living in the frontier towns, of which Groton was one - as mentioned in the General Court Records of
October, 1669.

                                           Major Simon Willard.

One of the prominent men in the history of the Colony at this period was Major Simon Willard. A native
of England, he came to Massachusetts in the year 1634. He had lived at Concord, Lancaster and Groton,
and in all these places exerted a wide influence. He had filled various civil offices, and in his day


p.26                                             GROTON.
was a noted military man. His farm was situated at Nonacoicus, now included within the limits of Ayer,
and his dwelling-house was the first building burned at the attack on Groton, March 13, 1676. During
several months previously he had been engaged with his men in scouting along the line of frontier
settlements and protecting the inhabitants.

At this assault Major Willard came with a company of cavalry to the relief of the town, though he did
not reach the place in time to be of service in its defence.

Major Simon Willard died at Charlestown on April 24, 1676, a very few weeks after this town was abandon-
ed.  Benjamin Thompson, the earliest native American poet, pays the following tribute to his character,
in a little pamphlet published during Philip's War, and entitled "New England's Tears." It is certainly
rude in expression, and probably just in its conception, but not accurate as the date of his death:

"About this Time Died Major Willard, Esq., who had continued one our Senators many years, and head of the
Massachuset Bands. In 23 April, 1676.
         "Epitaphium"
by Benjamin Thompson, Native American Indian Poet.
"Great, Good and Just, Valiant and Wise,
New Englands Common sacrifice
The Prince of the War, the Bond of Love,
A true heroic martial dove.
Pardon I crowd his parts so close
Which all the world in measure knows,
We envy Death, and well we may,
Who keeps him under lock and key."

Nearly one and twenty years had passed since the little settlement in the wilderness was begun, and
Groton was fast approaching its majority. The new town had enjoyed a moderate share of prosperity, and

p.27                                           GROTON.

was slowly working out its destiny. The founders were poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith and
courage. They had now tasted the hardships of frontier life, but not as yet felt the horrors of savage
warfare. The distant thunders of a threatening storm were beginning to be heard, and the occasional
flashes put the early settlers on their guard.  Philip's War had broken out during the summer of 1675,
and the outlying settlements were exposed to new dangers.  The inhabitants of this town took such pre-
cautions as seemed needful, and trusted in Providence for the rest.  They were just beginning to pre-
pare for the work of another season when a small band of prowling Indians alarmed the town by pillaging
eight or nine houses and driving off some cattle.  This occurred on March 2, 1676, and was a sufficient
warning, probably, to send the inhabitants to the garrison houses, whither they were wont to flee in
time of danger.  These places of refuge were usually houses surrounded by a strong wall of stone or 
timber, built up as high as the eaves, with a gateway, and portholes for the use of musketry.

In Groton there were five garrison houses, and under their protection many a sleepless, anxious night
was passed by the inmates. Four of these houses were very near each other, and the fifth was nearly a
mile away. The sites of some of them are well known. One was Mr. Simon Willard's house, which stood
near where the house is now; another was Captain James Parker's house, which stood just north of where
the town hall is; and a third was John Nutting's house on the other side of James's Brook. The fourth
garrison house was probably

p.28                                          GROTON.
north of John Nutting's but perhaps south of Mr. Willard's. There is a tradition that one stood near the
house formerly owned and occupied by the late Eber Woods, which would make the fifth garrison-house "near
a mile distant from the rest."  

Richard Sawtell, the first Town Clerk, was living on this site at that time, and his house would have
been a convenient rallying point for his neighbors. Without doubt he was the Richard Sawtell who served
in Major Appleton's company during Philip's War.

It is recorded in the inventory of his estate, on file in the Middlesex Probate Office at East Cambridge,
that Timothy Cooper, of Groton, was "sleine by the Indians the 2nd day of March, 1675-6."  Cooper was
an Englishman by birth and lived, probably, somewhere between the Baptist meeting-house and the beginning
of Farmers' Row.

It is not known that there was other loss of life at this time, but the affair was serious enough to
alarm the inhabitants.  They sought refuge immediately in the garrison-houses as the Indians were lurk-
ing in the vicinity. On March 9th the savages again threatened the beleaguered town and by a cunningly
contrived ambush, managed to entrap four men at work, of whom one was killed and one captured, while the
other two escaped.

This second assault must have produced great alarm and consternation among the people of the town.
The final and main attack, however, came on the 13th, when the enemy appeared in full body - thought to
be not less than four hundred Indians, in number.  The inhabitants at this time all were gathered into
the several garrisons for protection.  During the previous

p.29                                            GROTON.
night the savages scattered throughout the neighborhood, and the first volley of shot on the morning of
the 13th was a signal for the general burning of the town; and in this conflagration the first meeting-
house of Groton was destroyed together with about forty dwelling-houses.

This building, erected at the cost of many and great privations, was the pride of the inhabitants. With
its thatched roof, it must have burned quickly; and in a very short time nothing was left but a heap of
smoking embers. Although it had never been formally dedicated to religious worship, it had been conse-
crated in spirit to the service of God by the prayers of the minister and the devotion of the congre-
gation.  

In this assault John Nutting's garrison was taken by stratagem. The men defending it had been drawn
out by two Indians, apparently alone, when the savages in ambush arose and killed one of the men, 
probably John Nutting himself, and wounded three others. At the same time the garrison house, now
defenseless was attacked in the rear and the palisades pulled down, allowing the enemy to take poss-
ession. The women and children, comprising those five families, escaped to Captain Parker's house,
situated between James's Brook and the site of the Town house.

There is a family tradition, worthy of credence, that John Nutting was killed while defending his log-
house fort during Philip's War.  His wife's name appears a few months later in the Woburn town records
as "Widow Nutting," which is confirmatory of the tradition.

Several printed accounts of Philip's War appeared

p.30

soon after it was ended, and these furnish all that is known in regard to it. At that time there was
no special correspondent on the spot to get the news; and, as the means  for communication were limited,
these narratives differ somewhat in the details, but they agree substantially in their general state-
ments.

                                         INSERT.

Bodge's History of King Philip's War
Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge (George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891

  

                               Part 1.

p.2 
     The sole object of this series of papers was, at the beginning, the preservation in convenient form 
of the names of those soldiers who served in the Indian War of 1675/7, known as "King Philip's War"; so 
called from the name of the recognized leader of that war, whose Indian name was Metacom or Pometacom, or 
Metacomet; but whom the English called Philip.  He was the second son of Massassoit, who at the settlement 
of the English at Plymouth and Boston seems to have been chief sachem of all the various tribes and fragments 
of tribes living between the Charles River and Narraganset Bay, and including that part of Rhode Island east 
of the Bay, and also the Cape Cod tribes.  The rule of Massasoit was probably rather indefinite both as to 
limits of territory and extent of authority over the subordinate chiefs. 
     While Massasoit seems to have been the acknowledged head of the tribes within the limits above named, the league 
between the chiefs of the tribes was evidently very loose and held mostly for convenience in defence and perhaps 
for the settlement of difficulties between individual tribes.  The territory of this Sachem was bounded upon the 
west by the Nipmucks and Narragansets.  But a very great proportion of this had been sold by the Sachems before 
the opening of the war.  Massasoit had several children, three of whom are known to us by name: Wamsutta and Metacom, 
who came to Plymouth about 1656 
and at their own request received English names from the Governor, who "christened" them: "Alexander" and "Philip."  
A sister of these was the wife of Tuspaquin chief of the Namaskets; she was called by the English name, "Amie".  
Mention is made of another son and also a daughter, but I have not proper authority for their names. 
     Alexander married a Sachem's daughter, or widow, of the Pocasset tribe, and after his death, soon following 
Massasoit's, 1661 or 1662, she returned to her own people, and ruled there with influence and ability until the war; 
when her second husband, Petananuet, Petonowowett, or "Peter Nunnuit" (as he is sometimes called), took sides with 
the English, she, possibly reluctantly, joined the fortunes of Philip, who had married her sister Wootonekanuske, 
and had great influence on her. 
     Massasoit had always maintained a cordial and firm friendship with the English; and it would seem that Alexander 
also was somewhat of his father's nature and disposition.  The moment, however, which saw Philip raised to the place 
of power, gave signal of a far different course of conduct on the part of the Wampanoag Sachem.  The limits of his 
father's olden territory had been greatly reduced before he came to power. 
     The English had purchased and otherwise absorbed a large proportion of their lands.  Philip kept on selling 
and surrendering, till at last, as early as 1670/1 he began to feel the pressure of civilization upon their hunting 
and fishing grounds as well as cornfields.  The Court at Plymouth itself had interfered and forbidden the transfer 
of certain parts of the Wampanoag territories and thus doubtless saved the Indians in various tribes a home.  Pokanoket, 
the hereditary home, was thus saved to Philip's people; and here he lived at the time of the opening of the war.  This 
place was called by the English "Mount Hope" and it is now embraced in the town of Bristol, R.I. 
     But now having given some account of the principal character in the war, we may state briefly the method of 
collecting the material in these papers, and the purpose of this present pamphlet.  The method adopted in arranging 
the soldier's names needs an explanation. The material which served as the basis of the work, and indeed first suggested 
the undertaking, was found in three manuscript volumes, containing the accounts of John Hull who was the Treasurer of the 
colony at the time of the war, 
and consist of a Journal and two Ledgers. The Journal opened June 24th, 1675, and originally contained over five hundred 
pages, as the Ledger shows, but now has only four hundred and sixty-one complete. 
     There was evidently a later Journal and also a Ledger, now missing, which belonged to the set.  The third book is 
later, and contains the closing accounts of the war. These old books were preserved in private hands for a century and a 
half, until discovered by one who appreciated their value for genealogy and history, and secured them for those purposes.  
In searching these books for the name of one who served in the Indian War, the present writer discovered the importance 
of the accounts in the matter of the Indian war of 1675.  Every soldier who served in that war is credited with military 
service, and the name of the officer under whom he served is given in the credit.  The date at which payment is made is 
given in the "Cash" account, but the time and place of service is not designated; nor is the residence nor any further 
information about the soldier given.  Some of the soldiers served at different times and under different officers. 
To be continued  Part 2  Page 3 

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth     

King Phillip's War part 2
Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge 
(George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891 

                                  Part 2 
p.3 to p. 4 

The best method therefore of arranging the men in companies 
was found to be that of following the names of the officers 
as they occur in the credits.  The names were thus gathered 
from the Journal and placed in companies with their officers.  
Then the fortunes of each company were followed as carefully 
as possible throughout the several campaigns of the war.  

But it was found that a great amount of unpublished material 
is still preserved in our State Archives - County and Town 
Records, and elsewhere; and this, in the light of the great 
number of names identified in these credits as soldiers, becomes 
available and interesting as history.  Additional material 
has been gathered and incorporated here from all sources, 
whenever it would add to the sum of knowledge concerning 
the war. 

The Officers and soldiers, many of the, served in several 
some in all the different campaigns; and thus in follow- 
ing their fortunes, it was necessary to go over the same 
events many times, so as to marshal the various compan- 
ies in order in the military operations. 

It will be seen that by this method of arrangement, a 
great amount of important material has been massed to- 
gether conveniently for the study of history, while the 
story of the war has not been followed by consecutive 
events, but acording to the experience of individual 
officers and companies.  It is proposed in this intro- 
ductory chapter to give a brief account of the war, 
following events in order as nearly as possible. It will 
not be necessary to discuss the causes leading up to the 
war.  It is enough to say here, that the English had 
assumed the government of the country, and followed 
their course of settlement with small regard to the 
rights of the natives.  In some of the plantations, the 
settlers purchased their lands of the Indians, as a 
matter of precaution; partly that they might have that 
show of title in case any other claim should be set up 
in opposition to theirs, and partly to conciliate the 
savages, whose hostility they feared, and whose friend- 
ship was profitable in the way of trade, in furs and 
other products of the hunt.  The Indians were always 
at disadvantage with the English, in all the arts of 
civilized life.  The English paid no heed to Indian laws 
customs and religious ideas, with no apparent thought 
of their intolerance and injustice.  They made treaties 
with the savages in the same terms which they would have 
used had they been dealing with a civilized nation. They 
made out deeds, in language which only the learned 
framers themselves could understand.  In brief, the 
Pilgrims and Puritans mostly looked upon the Indians as 
heathen, whose "inheritance" God meant to give to his 
people, as of old he had dealt with Israel and their 
heathen.  There were some, however, who, with Rev. John 
Eliot, believed that the Indians had immortal souls, and 
that they were given to God's people to educate and save. 

But there was nothing which the rulers of the Indians 
resented more persistently, nor complained of more 
frequently, than the attempts of the Christians to con- 
vert their people. 

p.4 
Indirectly one of these converted Indians was the 
immediate cause of the opening of hostilities. There 
were many grievances of which the Indians complained; 
but they had not the foresight to see the inevitable re- 
sult of the constantly increasing power of the English, 
in their acquisition of land, and multiplying of settle- 
ments.  It was only when they felt the pressure of 
actual privation or persecution that they began to think 
of opposition or revenge.  Their chiefs had been summon- 
ed frequently before the English courts to answer for 
some breach of law by their subjects; several times 
the English had demanded that whole tribes should give 
up their arms because of the fault of one or a few. 
The Indians lived mostly by hunting and fishing, and at 
the time of the war used fire-arms almost wholly. They 
had learned their use and bought the arms of the English 
nearly always at exhorbitant prices.  They were expert 
in the use of their guns, and held them as the most 
precious of their possessions.  The order to give these 
over to the English, with their stock of ammunitiion, was 
regarded by them as robbery, as indeed in most cases it 
was, as they seldom regained their arms when once given 
up.  We can now see that from their standpoint there 
were grievances enough to drive them to rebellion. But 
our forefathers seem to have been unable to see any but 
their own side.  But now to the story. 

John Sassamon (Mr. Hubbard says Sausaman) was the son of 
a Wampanoag Indian who with his wife and family lived in 
Dorchester.  They had been taught by Mr. Eliot and pro- 
fessed the Christian faith.  The son John was the pupil 
of Mr. Eliot from his early youth and was made a teacher 
among the Christian Indians at Natick.  Mr. Hubbard 
says that "upon some misdemeanor" there, he went to the 
Wampanoags where he became the secretary and interpreter 
of the chief, to whom he was a most valuable assistant 
and trusted adviser.  He was soon prevailed upon by Mr. 
Eliot to return to Natick, where he became a preacher, 
while still preserving friendly relations with Philip 
and his tribe.  In 1672/3 he was at Namasket as preacher 
among the Indians, whose chief was Tuspaquin, whose 
daughter Sassamon had married.  While here he discovered 
that a plot was in process, extending among many tribes 
to exterminate or drive away the English settlers from 
the country.  This plot Sassamon disclosed to the 
authorities at Plymouth and afterwards the story was told 
to the Massachusetts authorities; and Philip was summon- 
ed to answer to the charge. 

At the examination, where nothing positive could be 
proved against Philip, he found by the evidence that 
Sassamon had betrayed him, and he immediately condemned 
him to death in his council.  The sentence was carried 
out January 29, 1674/5 while Sassamon was fishing 
through the ice upon Assawomeet Pond.  His executioners 
were brought to punishment and it was discovered that 
the deed was done by Philip's order. 
  
To be continued  Part 3  p. 5 to p. 6 


Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge 
(George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891 
Part 3    p. 5 to 6 

The trial was in March, 1675 and the principal actor, 
Tobias and his accomplice, Mattashunannamoo were execut- 
ed as murderers, June 8, 1675; while Tobias's son, who 
was present but took no part in the crime, was reprieved 
for one month and then shot.  After the execution of the 
two in June, Philip threw off all disguise as to his plan, 
and pushed his preparations as diligently as possible. 
The plan had been to complete preparations as and in- 
clude all the tribes in New England, so that a simultan- 
eous assault could be made upon all the settlements at 
once.  This plan was spoiled, and probably the settle- 
ments saved from destruction, by the impatience of the 
leader's vengeance.  While Philip's preparations went 
forward, the authorities thought best not to make any 
immediate military demonstration further than the placing 
of a guard by the various settlements to prevent a sur- 
prise.  They thought Philip would soon tire of holding 
his men in arms and training, so that they could get him 
in their power.  But his company increased and the 
younger warriors began to demand some open act of hostil- 
ity. 

At last they began not only to insult the English settlers 
in the nearest settlements, by their words of insolence 
and threats, but to shoot their cattle and plunder their 
houses.  The Indians increased greatly in numbers from 
the neighboring tribes, many "strange Indians" appearing 
among them, and most of their women and children being 
sent away to the Narraganset country.  At Swansy they 
appeared in considerable numbers and used all their ways 
of provocation to induce some act of resistance from the 
settlers; and at last, upon June 24th one man was so 
enraged at the shooting of his cattle and the attempt 
to rifle his house that he shot at an Indian, wounding 
him.  Upon this the Indians began open and indiscrimin- 
ate hostility and on that day eight or nine of the Eng- 
lish at Swansy were killed and others wounded.  Two men 
were sent for a surgeon, but were waylaid and slain, and 
their bodies left upon the road.  Messengers sent from 
the English authorities to treat with Philip and prevent 
an outbreak came upon the bodies of the men slain in the 
highway and speedily turned back.  The colonies awoke 
to the fact that an Indian war was upon them, but 
supposed that a few companies sent down to Swansy would 
at least overawe the savages and reduce them to sub- 
mission.  A speedy muster was made both at Plymouth and 
Boston and on the afternoon of June 26th five companies 
were mustering or on the march from the two colonies. 

The details of the account of the war will be found in 
the body of the preceding chapters. Here only a brief 
outline of the current events can be given.  The first 
company of infantry from Boston was made up from the 
regular military companies of the town.  A company of 
cavalry, or "troopers" was gathered from the regular 
organizations in three counties.  A third company of 
"volunteers" was raised about the town and vicinity, 
from all sorts of adventurers, sea-faring men and 
stangers, with a number of prisoners who had been con- 
victed of piracy and condemned to death, but were now 
released to engage in fighting the Indians.  Capt. 
Daniel Henchman commanded the first company; Capt. Thomas 
Prentice the troopers, and Capt. Samuel Mosely the 
"volunteers".   These three companies marched out of 
Boston on the 26th and 27th and arrived at Swansy on the 
28th, having formed a junction with the Plymouth forces 
under Major James Cudworth and Capt. Fuller.  The forces 
quartered about the house of Rev. John Miles, the minist- 
er at Swansy, whose place was nearest the bridge leading 
over the river into Philip's dominions.  Some of the 
troopers that evening rode across the bridge and had a 
slight skirmish with the enemy.  On the 29th Major Thomas 
Savage arrived with another company of foot with Capt. 
Nicholas Paige's troop.  Major Savage took command of 
the Massachusetts forces; while, according to the custom 
in the United Colonies, the senior officer of the colony 
in which the forces were engaged at the time became 
commander-in-chief.  The present seat of war being in 
Plymouth colony, Major Cudworth was thus the commander 
of the whole army.  On June 30th the troopers, supported 
by Mosely's company, charged across the bridge for a 
mile into the woods, driving the enemy before them into 
swamps, with a loss of five or six.  Ensign Perez Savage 
being severely wounded on the English side.  This charge 
so frightened the Indians that they fled in the night, 
out of their peninsula of Mount Hope, across the channel 
to Pocasset, now Tiverton, R.I. so that on the next day 
when the whole force marched over into Mount Hope, and 
marched back and forth sweeping the country with their 
lines, they found no enemy.  The forces wer engaged 
several days in scouting the neighboring country in 
search of the Indians, not yet knowing that the main 
body were in Pocasset. 

Then orders came from Boston for Major Savage's forces 
to march into Narraganset to enforce a treaty with that 
powerful tribe, and prevent their junction with Philip. 
They found the country apparently deserted, few except 
the very aged being left in any of the villages.  Neither 
Canonchet nor any of his leading Sachems could be found. 
The officers, however, spent several days completing 
a very ceremonious treaty with some of the old men whom 
they were able to bring together.  Canonchet afterwards 
treated the whole matter with scorn as being a farce. 

In the meantime, the Plymouth forces passed over to 
Pocasset and found a body of Indians and had a skirmish 
with them. Capt. Fuller was in command and Benjamin 
Church conducted a part of the force, which became en- 
gaged with a much larger force, and after hard fighting 
were drawn off with difficulty by the tact and courage 
of Mr. Church, after inflicting serious injury upon the 
enemy, and suffering little loss themselves.  After this 
the Indians retired into the swamps about Pocasset and 
were held at bay until the return of the Massachusetts 
forces; when all marched together for concerted action 
against their enemies. 

To be continued  Part 4  p. 7 to 8  

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth  

Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge 
(George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891 
Part 4  p. 7 to 8 

p.7 
On July 18th the combined forces arrived at the Pocasset 
swamp and made a resolute attack upon the enemy conceal- 
ed in the thick underbrush from whence at the first 
volley they killed five and wounded seven of our men. 
After this volley the enemy retreated deeper into the 
swamp, where it was impossible, night coming on, to 
follow them.  The commanders in council concluded that 
they had the enemy now enclosed securely within the 
swamp, whence it was impossible to escape, if a suitable 
guard were left to watch.  Major Savage and the Massa- 
chusetts men returned to Boston, except Capt. Henchman's 
company of one hundred men, who with the Plymouth forces 
remained at Pocasset.  Capt. Henchman began to build a 
fort there, which might serve as a stronghold for the 
English and might guard the entrance to the great swamp. 

The English were deceived by the apparent easy conquest 
of both the Wampanoags and Narragansets, and believed 
they had over-awed them and set their hostility at rest, 
and now might take their own time in crushing Philip and 
thus finishing the war. 

Plymouth Colony had been engaged from the first in seek- 
ing to conciliate the tribes, in their bounds, which 
were related to Philip.  Through the efforts of Mr. 
Benjamin Church, a resident of Seconet, who was acquaint- 
ed on pleasant terms with nearly all the tribes in the 
colony, negotiations were held with Awashonks the squaw 
sachem of the Seconet Indians and Weetamoo the squaw 
sachem or "queen" of the Pocasset tribe.  Awashonks and 
most of her people passed over into the Narraganset 
country at the opening of active hostilities and thus 
avoided joining Philip, but Weetamoo and her people were 
swept along with him in his retreat towards the Nipmuck 
country.  Plymouth companies were abroad too, scouting 
the country in the effort to protect their settlements, 
exposed like Dartmouth, Middleboro, etc.  They also esta- 
blished a garrison at Mount Hope after Philip retreated 
to Pocasset, to prevent his return.  The entrance of 
Philip into the Pocasset swamps compelled the cooperation 
of the hesitating Weetamoo and afforded him a safe hiding 
place to recruit and prepare for his flight northward. 

In the meantime the Massachusetts authorities had begun 
negotiations with the various Nipmuck Indians.  Seven of 
the principal towns had been visited and treaties made 
with each.  On July 16th Ephraim Curtis returned to 
Boston and reported the Quahaugs gathered at a great 
island in a swamp beyond Brookfield and showing a de- 
fiant and hostile spirit.  The Council immediately sent 
Capt. Edward Hutchinson, escorted by Capt. Thomas 
Wheeler and his mounted company, with Curtis as guide, 
to find the Indians and bring them to terms.  The comp- 
any, accompanied by some friendly Naticks, arrived at 
Brookfield on August 1st, and immediately sent Curtis 
with the guides to arrange for a meeting next day.  The 
Quahaugs, whose leader was the famous Muttaump, agreed 
to come next day to a plain some three miles from Brook- 
field to meet the English. 

p.8 
The next morning, the company, with three of the chief 
men of Brookfield rode out to the appointed place but 
found no Indians.  Urged by the Brookfield men, but 
against the earnest remonstrance of the Naticks, they 
rode forward towards the place where Curtis met them the 
day before.  But coming to a narrow defile between a high 
rocky hill and an impenetrable swamp, and riding single 
file they found themselves caught in a great ambuscade 
of the Indians, who let them pass along until they were 
able to surround them, and then rose together and fired 
into their column at close range.  They killed eight men 
outright and wounded five, including Capts. Hutchinson 
and Wheeler, the former mortally.  The English were 
forced to retreat, fighting, up the hill; and under the 
skillful conduct of their Indian guides were able to 
make a safe retreat to Brookfield where they gathered 
the people and fortified a house just before the Indians 
came sweeping furiously down upon the village. 

Here they defended themselves against great numbers for 
several days, till Major Willard and Capt. Parker came 
with a company and reinforced the garrison, when the 
enemy retired. 

At Pocasset Capt. Henchman continued building his fort, 
and Philip was making ready for his fight.  The English 
seem not to have contemplated the possibility of a 
general war, nor to have at all appreciated the gravity 
of the present situation in the colonies.  Philip with 
all his fighting-men and the greater part of his own 
and Weetamoo's people, escaped across the river and 
passed through the open plain in Rehoboth, where they 
were discovered by some of the settlers.  A scouting 
party from Taunton made the discovery that it was 
Philip's Indians who were thus escaping.  The situation 
of affairs may be briefly stated.  Capt. Henchman was 
guarding the swamp wherein Philip and his people were 
supposed to be securely trapped.  Major Cudworth and 
Capt. Fuller were at Dartmouth with a company of one 
hundred and twelve men. Lieut. Nathaniel Thomas of 
Marshfield was at the Mount Hope garrison with twenty 
men.  At Rehoboth a company of Mohegan Indians under 
Oneko, under convoy of Corporal Thomas Swift, arrived 
from Boston on the 30th on their way to Capt. Henchman 
at Pocasset.  Upon the alarm, Rev. Mr. Newman of Reho- 
both began to organize a company of volunteers for the 
pursuit of the Indians.  Lieut. Thomas with a small 
detachment, happened to come to Rehoboth on the 30th 
and hearing of the escape, hastened back to carry the 
news to Capt. Henchman, and urge his cooperation. Lieut 
Thomas then, on the 31st, took eleven men of his Mount 
Hope garrison and being joined by Lieut James Brown of 
Swansy, with twelve men, marched in the pursuit.  The 
Rehoboth men, with some volunteers from Providence and 
Taunton, led by the Mohegans, had started earlier upon the 
trail of the enemy. 

To be continued  Part 5  p.9 to 10 

Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge 
(George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891 
Part 5   p. 9 to 10 

Lieut Thomas and his party overtook the others at sunset 
and after a brief council-of-war, sent out their scouts, 
Indian and English, to discover the movements of the 
fugitives.  Having found that they had encamped for the 
night, and apparently not suspecting pursuit, the English 
left their horses with a guard, and, with the Mohegans 
in the van, marched silently forward to a field, at a 
place called "Nipsachick" (said to be within the present 
town of Burriville, R.I).  The night being very dark, 
they were forced to wait for light.  At dawn they made 
their attack upon what proved to be Weetamoo's camp. 
The Indians were taken by surprise and fled, leaving every- 
thing behind them.  But the Mohegans and English rush- 
ing forward found themselves confronted with Philip's 
fighting men entrenched behind trees and rocks ready for 
battle.  Adopting the tactics of the enemy, the English 
and their allies engaged them fiercely until 9 o'clock, 
when still fighting desperately, but with powder nearly 
spent, the hostiles sullenly retired leaving many of 
their dead upon the field.  Some twenty-three of the 
enemy were killed, it is said, including a prominent 
chief, Woonashum, called by the English, Nimrod.  Of the 
English, two were killed and one wounded. 

Near the close of the fight, Rev. Mr. Newman and a party 
came up, bringing supplies.  Capt. Henchman arrived after 
the fight, having sailed to Providence and marched up 
thence, with sixty-eight soldiers and sixteen friendly 
Indians.  He immediately took command, but concluded 
not to push the pursuit until next day.  The Rehoboth 
and Providence men returned home, to bring up supplies 
for the further pursuit.  They hastened back next day 
with all speed, but found to their great disappointment 
that Capt. Henchman had not moved until that same day, 
giving the enemy a full day's start; Lieut. Thomas and 
his party overtook him on the evening of August 3rd 
at a place called by them in the report, "Wapososhequash". 
The enemy were beyond pursuit, a part (Weetamoo's people 
except the fighting-men) having turned off into the 
Narraganset country, while Philip and the rest passed 
into the great forests beyond Quabaug.  The Mohegans 
went to their own country on August 4th, accompanied by 
Lieut. Brown and a small party, to Norwich, to secure 
provisions and news of the enemy. After awaiting the re- 
turn of this party three days, Capt. Henchman on August 
7th marched back to Mendon, meeting Capt. Mosely with a 
company of dragoons coming up from Providence with 
supplies.  Next day, Capt. Henchman went up to Boston and 
the Rehoboth men returned home.  Capt. Mosely was left 
in command at Mendon.  Capt. Henchman was relieved of 
command in the field and was sent to bring off his men 
remaining at Pocasset.  Mendon had been attacked July 
14th, by a party of Nipmucks, led by Matoonas, and six 
or more of the settlers were killed while at work in 
their fields. 

When the Indians returned from their seige of Brookfield, 
they met Philip and his people in the woods and told him 
of their exploit.  He was greatly pleased, and gave some 
of the chiefs presents of wampum, and promised them fresh 
supplies of ammunition and arms. 

p.10 
The Brookfield affair had the effect of bringing in the 
faltering tribes and Philip's coming confirmed the plan 
to clear the Connecticut Valley of English settlers. 
Massachusetts Colony raised several companies to protect 
the frontiers.  Capt. Mosely with his own and Capt. Hench- 
man's men marched from Mendon, and Captains Thomas 
Lathrop of Essex County with a fine company, and Richard 
Beers of Watertown with another, marched to Brookfield 
where their forces were joined by Capt. Watts of Connecti- 
cut with two companies of English and Indians.  Major 
Willard took command of this force, and broke it into 
several parties in order to better protect the several 
settlements.  These companies were engaged in scouting 
the frontiers and guarding supplies sent up to the 
various garrisons.  The Springfield Indians, hitherto 
pretending friendship, fled and joined the hostiles on 
the night of August 24th; and the English, pursuing, had 
a sharp fight with them at a swamp near Mt. Wequomps 
losing nine of their own men.  The English troops were 
concentrated at Hadley under the general command of Major 
Pynchon.  On Sept 1st the Indians attacked Deerfield 
burning most of the houses and killing one of the garri- 
son soldiers and then withdrew.  On the 2nd they fell 
upon Northfield, where many of the people were abroad 
at work in the fields, and the women and children at the 
houses in the town.  The assault was from all quarters 
at once and many were killed in the fields as they 
escaped from their houses to the garrison.  The Indians 
burned most of their houses and drove away their cattle. 

On the 3rd Capt. Beers, with thirty mounted men and an 
ox-team, was sent to bring off the garrison of Northfield 
not knowing of this attack.  This force on the next day 
was ambushed at Saw-Mill Brook, near Northfield, and 
Capt. Beers and some twenty of his men were killed.  Next 
day Major Treat with a hundred men marched up to North- 
field, finding and burying the dead of Capt. Beer's 
company and then bringing off the garrison.  It was now 
decided to strengthen the garrisons and act upon the 
defensive.  Upon Sept. 18th Capt. Lathrop with his comp- 
any was sent to convoy teams bring loads of grain from 
Deerfield to Hadley.  A strong ambuscade was made at a 
place known since as "Bloody Brook," and there the 
Indians encompassed and massacred nearly the whole comp- 
any, some eighty, including the teamsters.  Only eight 
or ten escaped.  The number killed was between sixty and 
seventy.  Capt. Mosely came hastily from Deerfield upon 
hearing the shots and engaged the great company of sever- 
al hundreds of Indians, charging in amongst them with in- 
trepid fury which drove them headlong before him into the 
woods and swamps; but finding them gathering in immense 
numbers and seeking to surround him, he threw out his 
lines to prevent being flanked and began a cautious re- 
treat; when Major Treat coming upon the field, the Indians 
seeing the reinforcements, fled. 

To be continued  Part 6  p. 11 to 12  

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth 

Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge 
(George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891 
Part 6  p. 11 to 12 

The English troops, hithto despising the Indians in war, 
now seemed helpless before them.  On Sept. 26th the 
Indians assaulted Springfield, west of the river, burn- 
ing the houses and barns.  On October 5th, having made 
some demonstrations against Hadley, soldiers were drawn 
from Springfield to strengthen the garrison; the Indians 
fell upon the latter village and destroyed it, before the 
companies could return to save it.  After this blow, 
Major Pynchon begged the Court to appoint a commander 
of the forces on the river in his place, and Major Samuel 
Appleton was appointed and by the advice of the Council 
garrisoned the various towns not abandoned and then with- 
drew the other troops to Boston.  The Connecticut troops 
helped to garrison Northampton and Westfield, and the 
Indians withdrew to their winter camps.  Philip had long 
since gone into winter quarters above Albany. 

But now the colonies determined to strike the Narragansetts 
in their own country before they should be able to join 
the hostiles.  A great muster was made in three colonies 
and an army of one thousand men was raised and equipped, 
half of which was sent from Massachusetts.  The Narra- 
gansets were entrenched in a very strong position in a 
great swamp in what is now South Kingstown, R.I. 
It was claimed that great numbers of Wampanoags and 
other hostiles were among them finding refuge, and they 
were defiant and threatening.  The English forces under 
command of General Winslow of Plymouth gathered at Wick- 
ford and on Dec. 19th 1675, marched some twenty miles 
through intense cold and a heavy snow storm, to the 
swamp; the waters being frozen by the severe cold, and 
this fact made it possible for the English to reach the 
rude fortifications.  Without waiting for any organized 
attack, the Massachusetts troops, being at the front in 
the march, rushed forward across the ice in an impetuous 
charge, and into the entrance, where the Indians had 
constructed rude flankers, and place a strong block-house 
in front, so that the first to enter were met with a 
terrible enfilading fire from front and flanks, and were 
forced back for a time; but others coming on pressed into 
the breach, and though suffering severe losses, at last 
stormed all the fortifications, drove the enemy from 
every line of entrenchments within the fort, and out into 
the woods and swamps beyond.  They set fire to the wig- 
wams and store-houses of the savages, in which were 
burned many of the aged, and women and children.  Then 
taking their wounded, the English took up their march 
back through the deep snow to Wickford, where they 
arrived the next morning. 

The details of this fight as well as the subsequent 
movements of this campaign, are given at length in the 
articles of which this pamphlet is the compendium, and 
are briefly passed here.  The Narragansetts kept well 
out of the way of the English army, and made many pre- 
tences of negotiating peace, but at last, about January 
26th having made several raids into the settlements, and 
capturing numbers of cattle and horses, Canonchet with 
his strong rear-guard took up his line of retreat for the 
north, and two days afterwards the army, some twelve 
hundred strong, marched in pursuit. 

p.12 
The Mohegans and Pequots, among the Connecticut forces, 
led the pursuit and had several sharp skirmishes with the 
enemy, always retreating northward.  This running fight 
was kept up for several days, until provisions having 
failed and no base of supplies possible, the General 
abandoned the pursuit and marched his troops to Marlbor- 
ough and thence to Boston.  The men suffered severely 
in this march, from hunger, and it was known for several 
generations as the "hungry march." 

The Connecticut forces separated from the others on Feb. 
3rd, and the main body of the army arrived in Boston on 
the 8th.  Wadsworth was left at Marlborough to guard the 
frontiers and neighboring towns.  Canonchet and his great 
and warlike Narraganset tribe, maddened by what they 
believed their wrongs, and thirsting for vengeance, were 
now joined with Philip and the other hostile tribes and 
all within an easy day's call, except Philip and his 
band who still remained in their retreat beyond Albany. 

The time was critical for the settlements; prompt action 
was necessary on the part of the Indian leaders to keep 
their young men in courage and training.  Upon Feb. 10th 
the Indians in great force fell upon Lancaster and nearly 
destroyed the town.  They killed or took captive fifty 
of the people.  Among the captives was Mrs. Rowlandson 
wife of the minister.  One garrison-house was saved by 
the arrival of Capt. Wadsworth, and his company from 
Marlborough.  On Feb. 21st a strong body of the enemy 
surprised Medfield, although a large force of soldiers 
was then in the town.  There were no guards set, nor 
other precautions taken.  The soldiers were scattered 
about in the houses and the Indians placed ambuscades 
in front of each house, and shot them down as they rush- 
ed out upon the alarm.  The enemy were frightened away 
by the firing of a cannon and crossed the river, burning 
the bridge behind them. 

Another army was now raised and sent out to the Connecti- 
cut River towns to protect them and try to bring the 
enemy to battle.  There were said to be two great forti- 
fied camps; one near the "Wachusett Hill," and the other 
at Menameset, beyond Brookfield.  The army was under 
command of Major Thomas Savage and consisted of three 
foot companies and a troop of horse from Massachusetts. 
Connecticut sent several companies of English and friendly 
Indians.  A number of Christian Indians from the Naticks 
went with Major Savage.  The army marched to Menameset 
on March 2nd to March 4th to find the enemy gone.  They 
pursued them to Miller's River, across which they escap- 
ed.  It was thought that this great body of the enemy 
would now fall upon the western towns, so that the army 
marched thither, abandoning the design upon "Wachusett 
Hill. 

To be continued  Part 7  p. 13 to p. 14 

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth  

Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge 
(George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891 
Part 7    p. 13 to 14 

Major Savage disposed his forces to guard the towns. On 
March 14th an attack was made upon Northhampton, but was 
repulsed with severe loss to the enemy.  On the 24th 
they appeared at Hatfield, but finding it well garrisoned 
made no attack, though driving off some horses and cattle. 
The Indians began to prepare for planting fields along 
the river; and Canonchet with a body of his men went back 
to their country to bring up seed-corn, of which large 
quantities were there stored.  It is probable that a 
large company went towards Plymouth colony, a small 
party of whom destroyed the house and family of Mr. 
Clarke at Plymouth village. March 17th they burned War- 
wick.  Plymouth Colony sent out a company of fifty under 
Capt. Michael Peirse of Marshfield, to protect its front- 
iers.  A party of twenty friendly Indians under "Capt. 
Amos" was joined with Capt. Peirse.  This company marched 
to Seekonk and there had a sharp skirmish with the Indians 
on the evening of March 25th.  Next day, supposing they 
had beaten the Indians, they pursued them and were drawn 
into an ambush and surrounded near Patuxit River with 
great numbers so that they were obliged to fight to the 
death.  The whole company including the officers were 
killed, together with eight out of the twenty Indians. 
The enemy too lost very heavily.  March 28th and 29th 
the Indians burned seventy houses and thirty barns at 
Providence. 

In the meantime in Massachusetts the enemy were not idle. 
Lurking parties hovered about Groton plundering the 
vacated houses and driving away any stray cattle within 
safe reach. On March 13th they fell upon the town in 
force.  The people were gathered in five garrison houses 
One of the garrison houses was captured but the people 
mostly escaped to another.  The other garrison houses 
were stoutly defended.  The Indians burned the unforti- 
fied houses and withdrew.  On March 26th the fatal day 
of Capt. Peirse's destruction, they burned sixteen houses 
and thirteen barns at Marlborough.  Capt. Brocklebank 
then in command at Marlborough, sent out a party in pur- 
suit who overtook and surprised the enemy at night, 
sleeping about their fires, fired into their midst and 
put them to flight.  On the same day at Longmeadow a 
party going to Springfield to church was ambushed by a 
small company of Indians and several were captured and 
killed. 

Finding the campaign to have failed in its main object, 
the Council ordered Major Savage to withdraw his troops 
leaving Capt William Turner with a hundred and fifty 
men to garrison the towns.  April 7th the army marched 
homeward. 

But not the Connecticut authorities, fearing a return 
of the Narragansets to their vicinity, in numbers such 
as overwhelmed Capt. Peirse, mustered a mixed company 
of English and Indians and sent them into the Narraganset 
country under command of Captains Dennison and Avery. 

p.14 
These, guided by a captive whom they had taken, surprised 
and captured Canonchet not far from the Patuxit River, 
where he was encamped with a few of his men, while the 
great body were scattered, scouting and foraging.  He 
was soon after executed by Oneko, by the judgement of the 
English authorities.  The death of Canonchet was really 
the death blow of the war, for he was the real leader of 
all active operations at this time. 

Philip was still the chief instigator, however, and now 
more than before, became, for the time, the controlling 
mind of a larger number than ever before.  There were 
dissensions, however, and many of the chiefs began to 
murmer and some to threaten against him as the cause of 
all their troubles.  Some of the river tribes began to 
show signs of weakening, and proposed negotiations with 
the English.  Philip withdrew to the strong-hold near 
Wachuset with such as adhered to him, and with Quinnapin, 
and such of the Narragansets as followed him.  The Indians 
were still active, and watched every chance to strike 
a blow.  They came to Marlborough on April 18th and 
burned the abandoned houses of the settlers.  Capt. 
Brocklebank commanded the garrison there and refused to 
be drawn into the ambuscades, which before the burning, 
the Indians had set.  On April 20th they crept down, and 
encompassed the town of Sudbury.  On that day Capt. 
Wadsworth marched up from Boston with a company of fifty 
men, passed through Sudbury and doubtless the lines of 
the enemy without any knowledge of their vicinity.  He 
was forcing his march to relieve the garrison at Marl- 
borough, where they arrived about midnight on the 20th, 
and without delay leaving their recruits, took those re- 
lieved to come home, including Capt. Brocklebank, and 
came back towards Sudbury.  The great numbers of Indians 
had encompassed the town and in the morning of the 21st 
began to burn outlying houses to draw out the inhabitants 
from the garrison. 

They soon made a furious and persistant attack on Haine's 
garrison from morning to mid-day, but were beaten off 
until rumors of reinforcements from various quarters 
caused them to withdraw to meet these.  Edward Cowen and 
eighteen coming to the relief of Sudbury, were attacked 
but escaped with only four killed, they turned back, 
suspecting the ambush laid out for them. Capt. Wadsworth 
soon after arrived by another road and meeting with an 
outpost of the enemy rushed forward to engage them and 
as usual they soon found themselves surrounded by great 
numbers, and were forced to a position on a hill, where 
most of the company fell fighting, including Capt. Wads- 
worth, Capt. Brocklebank and Lieut. Sharpe.  Some sixteen 
of the company managed to escape to a mill, and there 
defended themselves until relieved. 

A company from Watertown arrived soon after Capt. Wads- 
worth and crossing the river, made a brave attempt to 
get to the hill to join him in his desperate fight, but 
were nearly surrounded themselves and forced to retire. 
Capt. Hunting with a company of Christian Indians and a 
squad of troopers arrived from Charlestown late in the 
afternoon, in time to rescue the men at the mill. 

To be continued  Part 8  p. 15 to p. 16 

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth  

Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge 
(George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891 
Part 8    p.15 to p. 16 

After the fight, in which they struck such a terrible 
blow, and so close to Boston, too, they seem to have re- 
tired to their several camps, and soon to have gathered 
to their great fishing-places in order to take the run 
of fish.  Capt. Turner was still in command of the garri- 
sons at the west.  From captives who had escaped, and 
scouts here and there, came rumors of a great company 
of Indians fishing at the "Upper Falls" of the Connecti- 
cut.  Capt. Turner and his officers were anxious to 
strike a blow against the enemy and Connecticut authorit- 
ies were applied to and promised speedy reinforncements. 
On May 12th the Indians made a raid into Deerfield mead- 
ows and stamped some seventy head of cattle belongig to 
the English.  Roused by this fresh outrage, the people 
urged retaliation and Capt. Turner and his officers de- 
termined to attack the Indians at their great fishing 
place at once.  On May 18th the whole company of soldiers 
and volunteers, about one hundred and fifty, mustered at 
Hatfield, and marched out at evening towards the "Falls". 
They included the outposts of the enemy, and at daylight 
arrived undiscovered at the camp of the Indians at the 
fishing-place.  The savages were asleep in their wigwams 
and the English rushed down upon them and shot them by 
the scores, pointing their muskets in through the wigwam 
doors.  No resistance was possible and those who escaped 
the first fire fled in terror to the river, pursued by 
the soldiers and were cut down or driven into the water 
without mercy; many were drowned attempting to cross the 
river. 

But it soon found that there were several other great 
bodies of the Indians, above and below the Falls on 
either side of the river, and these began to swarm to- 
wards the fight.  Capt. Turner now prudently began a 
retreat, having struck his blow.  As the soldiers retired 
the enemy gathered in great numbers upon rear and flanks 
seeking to force the English into narrow defiles.  Capt. 
Holyoke commanded the rear-guard, and checked the enemy 
by stout fighting, but for which, it is likely, the 
whole command would have been lost.  Capt. Turner led 
the advance, and while crossing Green River was shot 
down by the Indians lying in wait.  Capt. Holyoke then 
led the company back to Hatfield, fighting nearly the 
whole way.   There the killed and missing numbered forty 
five.  A few came in afterwards, reducing the number of 
the lost to about forty.  It is estimated that some two 
hundred Indians must have been destroyed. 

The blow struck by Capt. Turner greatly intimidated the 
enemy, though the retreat was so distastrous to the Eng- 
lish.   The tribes became divided and demoralized.  They 
seem to have broken up into small wandering parties. 
Philip with large numbers of his adherents went down to- 
wards Plymouth.  Massachusetts sent troops to the west- 
ern frontiers again, and also to aid Plymouth.  The 
operations in the field were mostly the pursuit of non- 
combatants, the aged, and women and children. 

p.16 
Large numbers of the Wampanoags and Narragansets had now 
returned with Philip to their own country.  Small parties 
from time to time plundered and killed as opportunity 
offered.  The colonists were roused to new activity 
at the evident weakening of the Indians.  Aid was sent 
to Plymouth, under Capt. Brattle and Capt. Mosely; and 
Capt. Henchman did good service in the parts about Brook- 
field.  Major Talcott, with a mixed force of English and 
Indians, about five hundred in all, came up the river 
and marched into Hadley about the 11th of June, and was 
quartered there on the 12th, when the Western Indians, 
some seven hundred strong, made their last great assault 
in force in these parts. 

The town was quite strongly garrisoned besides this re- 
inforcement, of which probably the enemy knew nothing. 
The attack was altogether unexpected and was furious and 
determined, but the repulse was decided and sanguinary. 
Major Talcott then led his force down into the Narragan- 
set country, where, about the 2nd of July, he encounter- 
ed a great body of Indians, and driving them into the 
woods and swamps slew great numbers, and took many 
captives.  The plight of the savages was pitiful; with- 
out ammunition, without leadership, without country or 
hope of any sort, they found no mercy now at the hands 
of their olden foes, the Mohegans and Pequots, nor yet 
the English. 

The remaining operations of the war in these parts were 
simply the hunting down of almost defenceless enemies. 
The colonial authorities issued a proclamation, calling 
all those Indians who had been engaged in the war to 
come in and surrender, submitting themselves to the 
judgement of the English courts.  Many parties sought 
to take advantage of this, but were captured upon their 
their approach by scouting parties, and treated as capt- 
ives.  Some of those who had been prominent in the war 
and could not hope for mercy, escaped to the eastward 
and put themselves under the protection of Wannalancet 
and his Pennacooks, who had remained neutral.  Some fled 
further to the east and there incited war. 

The constant success which the Connecticut troops had 
always had after their use of the Mohegans and Pequots 
was a plain rebuke to the Massachusetts colonists for the 
numerous disasters from which the Christian Indians might 
have saved them, if they had trusted and employed them. 
As soon as Capt. Hunting and his Indian company were put 
in the field, this appeared.  The Indians in small parties 
skulking in woods and swamps might have eluded English 
soldiers for years, but as soon as other Indians were 
employed, escape was impossible. 

At the close of July, many of Philip's followers had 
been taken, and his wife and several of his chief men 
were captives or had been killed.  With a small band of 
his followers he was hiding in the swamps at Mount Hope 
and Pocasset.  English scouting parties were active in 
all parts of the colonies hunting down the trembling and 
unresisting fugitives; and especially Philip. 

To be continued  Part 9 (final) p. 17 to 18 

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

King Phillip's War part 9

Brief History of King Philip's War by George M. Bodge 
(George Madison) 1841 to 1914 
Printed Privately at Boston, 1891 
Final Part 9  (final) p. 17 to 18 

Benjamin Church was the most active in hunting and bring- 
in the Indians, and when one of Philip's men came to be- 
tray his chief, he found Mr. Church at Major Sanford's 
in Rhode Island with his scouting party of English and 
Indians a short distance away.  Upon the news of Philip's 
hiding place and the offer of the Indian to lead thither, 
Mr. Church gathered as many as he could enlist in addi- 
tion to his party, and, under the lead of the Indian 
deserter (who acted, it is said, from motives of revenge 
for his brother's death, by Philip's hand, because he 
advised him to make peace with the English), the party 
marched with great secrecy to Mount Hope.  Mr. Church 
arranged his attack with skill, and came upon Philip's 
party unguarded and asleep, and Philip springing up and 
attempting to escape to the swamp nearby, was confronted 
with two of Mr. Church's guards, an Englishman and an 
Indian.  The Englishman's gun missed fire, but the Indian, 
named "Alderman," immediately fired and shot the great 
chief through the breast, so that he fell forward into 
the water of the swamp, upon his face, dead. 

Philip was killed August 12th, 1676.  Weetamoo's party, 
the sad remnant of her tribe, had been captured on the 
7th and she, trying to escape across a river, was drown- 
ed and her body being found, her head was cut off and 
paraded in the public streets.  In the body of the 
papers, by a strange continuance of an old mistake, this 
fact is accredited to Awashonks, squaw sachem of the 
Sogkonates. 

After Philip's death, his chief counsellor, Annawon, led 
the rest of the party out of the swamp and escaped. With 
his party he soon after surrendered to Mr. Church.  The 
death of Philip was practically the close of the war, 
though hostilities continued for some time after, and at 
the eastward for a year or more longer.  At Dover Major 
Richard Walderne had held command of the military inter- 
ests and operations in those parts.  He was a trusted 
friend of Wannalancet and the neighboring Indians.  Under 
the proclamation the old chief and his people came in 
without fear, as they had taken no part whatever in the 
war.  There were many Indians with them, however, it was 
suspected, who had been among the hostiles and now wish- 
ed to come in with the Pennacooks and secure the advan- 
tages of their influence in giving themselves up.  They 
began to come in at Dover about the first of September, 
and when, on the 6th, the companies, sent to the east- 
ward under Capt. Hathorn, arrived at Dover, there were 
some four hundred there, including the Pennacooks.  In 
some way the immediate surrender of all these was re- 
ceived, probably by Major Walderne's great influence with 
them.  They were then disarmed and as the Massachusetts 
officers insisted on treating them all as prisoners of 
war, Major Walderne was obliged to send all, save 
Wannalancet and his "relations" down to Boston to be 
tried there by the Court.  The number sent was about 
two hundred. 

p.18 
Some of the Southern Indians, having lost all except 
their own lives, passed to the Eastern tribes and were 
active in exciting to hostility.  The local Indians had 
been hostile the previous year, committing depredations 
from the Kennebec to Portsmouth.  In the summer of 1676, 
it is thought that many who had been among the Indians 
in the war, came to these tribes and caused much of the 
trouble which ensued.  The day before Philip's death 
the Indians fell upon the settlers at Falmouth and killed 
or carried away some thirty-four persons and burned 
their houses.  Further eastward also the settlements 
were attacked.  It was upon these occasions that Capt. 
Hathorn's force was sent to these parts.  They marched 
on from Dover on Sept. 8th as far as Falmouth, Capt. 
Hunting's Indians scouting the woods.  This expedition 
was not of much avail, as the Indians easily eluded the 
troops, being only war parties without the encumbrance 
of women and children. 

But the scope of this review of events did not contem- 
plate the detailed account of affairs which have already 
been related in the body of the work, of which this pam- 
phlet is a brief summary, but to give a consecutive 
account for the convenience of readers. 
End.
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth 

p.30 - An Historical Sketch of Groton - continued.

                                          GROTON.
With the exception of Hubbard's Narrative, the contemporary accounts of this assault on the town are
all short; and I give them in the words of the writers, for what they are worth. The first is from
"A Brief History of the War with the Indians in New England," by Increas Mather, published in the 
year 1676. This account, one of the earliest in print, is as follows:

"March the 10th, 1676. Mischief was done and several lives cut off by the Indians this day, at Groton 
and at Sudbury. An humbling Providence, inasmuch as many churches were this day fasting and praying.


"March 13. The Indians assaulted Groton and left but few houses standing. So that this day also another
candlestick was removed out of its place.  One of the first houses that the enemy destroyed in this
place was the House of God which was built and set apart for the celebration of the publick worship of
God.

"When they had done that, they scoffed and blasphemed and came to Mr. Willard (Samuel Willard) the
worthy pastor of the Church there. His house which being fortified, they attempted not to destroy it 
and tauntingly said "what will you do for a house to pray in now we have burnt your Meeting-house?
Thus hath the enemy done wickedly in the Sanctuary, they have burnt up the Synagogues of God in the
land; they have cast fire into the Sanctuary; they have cast down the dwelling place of His name to
the ground. O God, how long shall the adversary approach? Shall the Enemy blaspheme thy Name forever?
Why withdrawest thou thine hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosome." 

Several accounts of the war appeared in London in 1676, only a few months after the destruction of
this town. They were written in New England and

p.31                                      GROTON.

sent to Old England, where they were at once published in thin pamphlets. The authors of them are now
unknown, but undoubtedly they gathered their materials from hearsay. At that time Indian affairs in
New England attracted a good deal of attention in the mother country. One of these pamphlets is entitled:
"A True Account of the Most Considerable Occurrences that have happened in the War between the English
and the Indians in New England....as it hath been communicated by Letters to a Friend in London." This
narrative says:

"On the 13th of March (1676) before our forces could return towards our parts, the Indians sent a strong
party and assaulted the Town of Groton, about forty miles north-west from Boston, and burn'd all the
deserted houses; the garrisoned houses, which were about ten, all escaped but one, which they carryed,
but not the English in it; for there was but one slain and two wounded."

Another account, entitled, "A New and Further Narration of the state of New England, being a continued
account of the Bloody Indian War," gives the following version:

"The 14th of March the savage Enemy set upon a considerable town called Groughton and burnt Major Simon
Willard's house first (who with his family removed to Charlestown) and afterwards destroyed sixty five
dwelling-houses more, there, leaving but six houses standing in the whole town, which they likewise
furiously attempted to set on fire; but being fortified with arms and men as garrisons, they with their
shot, killed several of the Enemy, and prevented so much of their designe; nor do we hear that any
person on our side was here either slain or taken captive."

A few pages further on it says: "Groton and Nashaway all ruined but one house or two." 

p.32                                     GROTON.

A third one of these London pamphlets bearing the title of "News from New England," says:

"The 7th of March following these bloody Indians marched to a considerable town called Groaton where
they first set fire to Major Willard's house and afterwards burnt 65 more, there being seventy two
houses at first so that there was left standing but six houses of the whole town."
                                  _______________________

                                   See below - March 1676
Insert:
Source: Farnsworth Memorial
Matthias Farnsworth, his house, six rods above the [Prescott] mill of Jonas Prescott and then it runs four 
rods wide through the land of the aforesaid Jonas Prescott's land to Pennicook River in Lancaster, through 
Swan swamp, six rods wide, as it is already marked out by the committee aforesaid, and from the way aforesaid, 
butting upon Pennicook near to the night pasture wading place, they take the way as it is left in width through 
the intervale, and over Nashua bridge and so on to the meeting house and as it is to be understood, that the 
way in Lancaster bounds runs near the midway between the brook meadow and plum trees meadow, over a hill called 
Mahancknit's hill, and so along on the upland to the pond path, as it runs near to the still river meadow and 
Josiah White's meadow, until it comes to the Swan swamp path as aforesaid and to the confirmation hereof, the 
committee aforesaid have hereunto put their hands, the day and year aforesaid.  

                           John Prescott
                           Roger Sumner
                           James Parker
                           James Knap"

p.49

The exact location of this highway is not known; but by comparing this with other records it is supposed that 
in Groton it passed between the Baptist Meeting House and the common burying ground, thence on the west side 
of the Broad Meadow, as the road now called  "Farmer's Row" runs.   

Matthias Farnsworth, whose house it passed, is known to have lived above James' Brook, somewhere near the houses 
of Ephraim Sawtell and Alva Wright. The road probably crossed Sandy Brook near Calvin Fletcher's saw mill, and 
thence followed the course of the present road to near the old mill.   The selectmen of 1669 had ordered a sufficient 
cart bridge to be built over Sandy Brook; and Matthias Farnsworth was, in the eleventh month of that year viz., 
January, 1670, directed "to make a sufficient cart bridge over James's Brook beneath his own house in that place 
where surveyors shall judge it most convenient"
          
                                   March 1676.

 On the hill above the farmhouse,  Matthias Farnsworth stood waiting for the soldiers and 60 carts to arrive from 
Concord under Major Simon Willard's command, to take the settlers and what was left of their belongings after the 
Indian assault of March, 1676 .
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth
                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

p.32                                     GROTON.
The details of the burning of the town are found in "A Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in
New England," written by the Rev. William Hubbard and printed in the year 1677. It is the fullest
history of the events relating to Groton appearing near this time; and very likely many of the facts
were obtained from the Rev. Mr. Samuel Willard. The account is not as clear as might be desired, and
contains some glaring discrpancies, but it is too long to be quoted here.

The Indians were a cowardly set and never attacked in open field. They never charged on works in 
regular column, but depended rather on craft or cunning to defeat their adversary. The red hell-hounds
as they were sometimes called by our pious forefathers - were always ready to attack women and children
but afraid to meet men.  The main body of the savages passed the night following the final attack "in
an adjacent valley" which cannot now be easily identified but some of them odged in the garrison-house
which they had taken; and the next morning after firing two or three volleys at Captain James Parker's
house, they departed.  They carried off a prisoner, John Morse, the Town Clerk, who was ransomed a short
time afterward. The following reference to him in an undated letter, written by the

p.33                                      GROTON.
Rev. Thomas Cobbet to the Rev. Increase Mather, shows very nearly the time of his release:

"May ye 12th, 1676. Good wife Divoll and Good wife Kettle upon ransom paid, came into Concord & upon
like ransom presently (after John Moss of Groton and Lieut. Carlors (Kerley's) daughter, of Lancaster
were set at liberty and 9 more without ransom."  (Mather Manuscripts in the Prince Collection at the
Boston Public Library I.76)

The ransom for John Morse was paid by John Hubbard of Boston, and amounted to "about five pounds."
Morse's petition to the Council, to have Hubbard reimbursed is found among the Massachusetts Archives,
(LXIX. 48).

Fortunately the loss of life or limb on the part of the inhabitants of the town was small, and it is not
known that more than three persons were killed of whom one was Timothy Cooper and another, without doubt,
John Nutting - all three wounded; two were made prisoners of whom one escaped from the savages and 
reached Lancaster, and the other, John Morse was ransomed.

The lot of these early settlers was indeed hard and bitter; they had seen their homes destroyed and their
cattle killed, leaving them nothing to live on.  Their alternative now was to abandon the plantation,
which they did with much sadness and sorrow.  The settlement was broken up, and the inhabitants scattered
in different directions among their friends and kindred.  In the spring of 1678, after an absence of two
years, they returned and established anew the little town on the frontier.

In the autumn of 1879 the town of Groton erected a monument to commemorate the site of the meeting-house

p.34                                           GROTON.

which was burned during this assault. It bears the following inscription:

                                            "NEAR THIS SPOT
                                STOOD THE FIRST MEETING HOUSE OF GROTON
                                              BUILT IN 1666
                                         AND BURNT BY THE INDIANS
                                            13 MARCH 1676"


The monument, in connection with two others relating to the history of the town, was dedicated with
appropriate exercises in the Town Hall on February 20, 1880, when an address was delivered by Dr. 
Samuel A. Green (the autor of this book) which was subsequently printed.

After Philip's War the colonists were at peace with the Indians, but it was a suspicious kind of peace.
It required watching and a show of strength to keep it; there was no good-will between the native race
and the white intruders.  The savages at best made bad neighbors; they were treacherous and addicted to
drink. The following entries in the Town Records show that they were a shiftless and drunken set:

"Juneuary 31, 1681.
It was agred upon the the select men that the Indians shall be warned out of the town forthwith and if
they shall neglect the warning and if any of them be taken drunk or in drinke or with drinks then these
persons are to be seized and brought before the select men either by Constable or by any other person
and be punished according as the law doth direct and the informer be satisfied for his pains."

"March 28, 1682.
Two Indian squaws being apprehended in drinke & with drinke brought to the Select men. One sqaw,
Nehatchechin sqaw being drunk was sentenced to receive and did receive ten stripes.  John Nasquuns
sqaw was sentenced to pay 3 shillings 4 pence cash and lose her two quart bottle and the liquor in
it awarded to Sgt. Lakin who seized them."

During this period the Indians began again to be

p.35                                          GROTON.

troublesome, and for the next fifteen or twenty years continued their occasional depredations by
murdering the inhabitants, burning their houses, destroying their crops or killing their cattle.
Into these garrison houses the neighboring families gathered at night, where they were guarded by
armed men who warned the inmates of any approach of danger.

At these times troops were stationed here by the Colonial authorities for the protection of the town;
and the orders and counter orders to the small garrison show too well that danger was threatening. In
the meanwhile, King William's War was going on; and the enemy had material and sympathetic aid from 
the French in Canada.  The second attack on the town came in the summer of 1694, and the accounts of
it I prefer to give in the words of contemporary writers. Sometimes there are discrepancies, but, in
the main, such narratives are trustworthy.

The attack was made on Friday, July 27th, 1694 and Cotton Mather in his "Magnalia," thus refers to
it:

"Nor did the storm go over so; some drops of it fell upon the Town of Groton, a town that lay, one
would think, far enough off the place where was the last scene of the tragedy.

"On July 27, 1694, about break of day Groton felt some surprising blows from the Indian hatchets.
They began their attacks at the house of Lieut. Lakin, in the out-skirts of the town; but met with 
repulse there, an dlost one of their crew.  Nevertheless, in other parts of that plantation (when the
good people had been so tired out as to lay down in their military watch, there were more than twenty
persons killed, and more than a dozen carried away.  Mr. Gershom Hobart, the Minister of the place,
with part of his family, was remarkably preserved from falling into their hands, when they made
themselves the masters of his house; though they took two of his children, whereof one was killed and
the other sometime after happily rescued out of his captivity."  (Book VII, page 86.)

p.36
Governor Hutchinson, in his "History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay," published during the follow-
ing century, writes:

"Having crossed Merrimack, on the 27th of July (1694) they fell upon Groton, about 40 miles from Boston.
They were repulsed at Lakin's garrison house, but fell upon other houses where the people were off their
guard, and killed and carrried away from the vicinity about forty persons.  Toxus's two nephews were
killed by his side, and he had a dozen bullets through his blanket, according to Charlevoix, who adds
that he carried the fort or garrison and then went to make spoil at the gates of Boston; in both which
facts the French account is erroneous."

In the assault of July, 1694, the loss on the part of the inhabitants was considerably greater then
when the town was destroyed in the attack of 1676. It is said that the scalps of the unfortunate
victims were give to the Count de Frontenac, Governor of Canada.  A large majority and perhaps all,
of the prisoners taken at this time were children.  The Indians had learned that captives had a market
value; and children, when carried off, could be more easily guarded than adults. It was more profitable
for the savages to exchange prisoners for a ransom or sell them to the French, than it was to kill them.
It is now too late to give the names of all the sufferers, but a few facts in regard to them may be
gathered from fragmentary sources.  The families that suffered the severest lived, for the most part,
in the same general neighborhood, which was near the site of the first meeting-house. Lieut. William
Lakin's house, where the fight began, was situated in the vicinity of Chicopee Row.


p.37                        July 27, 1694 Indian Attack on Groton.

The following list of casualties, necessarily incomplete is given as an approximation to the loss sus-
tained by the town:

John Longley's family                  7 killed                 3 captured.
Rev. Mr. Hobart's family               1   "                    1    "
John Shepley's family                  4   "                    1    "
James Parker Jr.'s family              2   "                    3 ?  "
Alexander Rouse's family               2   "                    1    "

Mr. Gershom Hobart, the minister, whose house was captured in this assault, lived where the Baptist
meeting-house now stands. One of his boys was killed, and another, Gershom Hobart, Jr., was carried
off. There is a tradition extant that a third child was concealed under a tub in the cellar, and thus
saved from the fury of the savages. Judge Sewall writes in his diary, under the date of May 1, 1695:

"Mr. Hobarts son Gershom is well, at a new fort a day's journey above Nerigawag (Norridgewock). Masters
name is Nassacombewit, a good master & mistress.  Master is chief captain, now Bambazeen is absent."
[Massachusetts Historical Collections," V. Fifth series 403, 404.]

According to a letter written by the Rev. John Cotton to his wife at Plymouth, and dated "Election
night, Boston" (May 29, 1694) he was rescued from captivity during that month. The inscription on the
Shepley monument says that "the Indians massacred all the Sheples in Groton save a John Sheple, 16
years old who they carrried captive to Canada and kept him four years after which he returned to Groton
and from him descended all the Sheples or Shepleys in this vicinity."  But there is no record to show
how many there were in this family. Mr. Butler in his History of Groton, p.97, makes substantially

p.38                                          GROTON.
the same statement, but does not mention any number. In my list it is placed at five, which is con-
jectural; of this number probably four were slain.  Shepley lived near where the Martin's Pond Road
starts off from the North Common.  The knowledge which the boy John Sheple obtained of their language
and customs, while a prisoner among the Indians, was of much use to him in after-life.  Tradition says,
that when buying furs and skins of them, he used to put his foot in one scale of the balance instead of
a pound weight. In the summer of 1704 while he and thirteen men were reaping in a field at Groton, they
were attacked by a party of about twenty Indians. After much skirmishing, Shepley and one of his comrades, 
Butterfield by name, succeeded in killing one of the assailants for which act they were each
granted four pounds by the Provincial authorities.  He was the direct ancestor of the late Honorable
Ether Shepley, of Portland, Maine, formerly Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of
Maine and his son, the late General George Fostr Shepley formerly a Justice of the Circuit Court of
the First Circuit of the United States.  John Shepley's petition to the General Court, asking that an
allowance be made for this service, and giving the particulars of the attack, is found among the
Massachusetts Archives (XXX, 496, 497), at the State House.

Among the "Names of those Remaining Still in the hands of the French at Canada," found in a document
dated October, 1695, are those of "Lidey Langly - girl; "John Shipley - boy."  In this list the resi-

p.39                                          GROTON.
ences of both these children are incorrectly written. Lydia's being given as Dover, New Hampshire and
John's as Oyster River.  They both belonged to this town (Groton) and were taken in the assault of
July 27, 1694. The name of Thomas Drew appears in the same list as of Groton which is a mistake, as he
was of Oyster River, Maine (Archives XXXVIII. A.2.)

This expedition against Groton was planned in part by the Indians at a fort called Amsaquonte, 
above Norridgewock, in Maine. It was arranged also in the plan of operation that Oyster River, 
(now Durham) New Hampshire should be attacked on the way; and the assault on that town was made 
July 18, nine days before the one on Groton.
 
At Oyster River more than ninety persons were either killed or captured; the prisoners from the two 
towns appear to have been taken to Maine, where they were brought frequently together in their captivity. 
On Jan 21, 1695, Lieut. Governor William Stoughton issued a proclamation in which he refers to the 
"tragical outrages and barberous murders" at Oyster River and Groton. He says that several of the 
prisoners taken at these places "are not detained by the said Indians at Amarascoggin and other adjoining places."

Hezekiah Miles, alias Hector, a friendly Indian, at one time a captive in the enemy's hands; made a
deposition before the Lieutenant-Governor and Council, Boston, May 31, 1695, which gives some details
of the preparation for the attack; and Ann Jenkins, in a deposition June 11, 1695, adds other particu-
lars.  These pages may be found among the Massachusetts Archives (VIII. 39, 40).

p.40                                         GROTON.


William and Deliverance Longley were living with their eight children 
on a  small farm perhaps a mile and a quarter from Groton village on the east 
side of the Hollis road.  Their house was built of hewn logs and was standing
at the beginning of the 1800s.  The old cellar with its well laid 
walls was distinctly visible forty years ago (1857) and traces of it could 
be seen even to very modern times (1897)  The site of this house has
been marked by a monument bearing the following inscription:    "Here
dwelt William and Deliverance Longley with their eight children." 

On the fatal morning of July 27, 1694 the massacre of this family took place.  
The savages appeared suddenly coming from the other side of the
Merrimack River and began the attack at Lieut. William Lakin's house, 
where they were repulsed with the loss of one of their number.  They
followed it up by assaulting other houses in the same neighborhood.  

They made quick work of it, and left the town as speedily as they came.
With the exception of John Shepley's house, it is not known that they
destroyed any of the buildings; but they pillaged them before they departed.  
They carried off thirteen prisoners, mostly children (perhaps
all) who must have retarded their march.  

William Longley was town clerk in the year 1687 and also from 1692 
till his death  in 1694 and only one week before he was killed he had made 
entries in the town records.

 His father, William Longley Sr. also had been town clerk during the years
1666 and 1667 and d. Nov. 29, 1680.  The father was one of the 
earliest settlers of the town as well as the owner of a thirty acre right
in the original Groton Plantation.  Lydia, John and Betty Longley were
carried off by the savages and taken to Canada.  

p.41

Lydia Longley was sold to the French and placed in a convent in Montreal.  
She d. July 20 1758.
 
Betty Longley perished soon after her capture from hunger and exposure
and John the 3d child remained with the savages for more than four yrs.

Their grandmother, the widow of Benjamin Crisp made her will April 18, 1698
which was admitted to probate in Middlesex County on the 28th of the following
December and in it she remembered these absent children as follows: "I give
and bequeath unto my three grand-children that are in captivity - if they  return
viz: these books, one of which is a Bible another a Sermon Booke, treating with
faith and the other a Psalm book."

The old lady herself, doubtless, had read the Sermon book treating with faith; and
it must have strengthened her belief in Devine wisdom, and been a great consolation
in her trials.  She did not know at this time that her grandaughter, Lydia Longley
was already a convert to the Roman Catholic religion. The knowledge of this fact
would have been to her an affliction scarcely less than the massacre of her daughter's
family.  

John Longley returned about the time when the grandmother died; and subsequently
he filled important offices both in the church and the town. Like his father and grandfather
he was the Town Clerk during several years. Among the papers (Knox Manuscripts,
Waldo Papers, L.13) in the possession of the New England Historical Genealogical
Society is a deposition made by Longley giving a short account of his captivity among
the Indians. - 

p.42

"I was in Montreal where I procured through the kindness of the Mother
Superior at the Congregation of Notre Dame, a copy of the French record of Lydia's
baptism, of which the following is a translation:

"On Tuesday, April 24, 1696 the ceremony of baptism was performed on an English
girl, named Lydia Longley who was born April 14, 1674 at Groton a few miles from 
Boston in New England. She was the daughter of William Longley and Deliverance
Crisp both Protestants.  She was captured in the month of July, 1694 by the 
Abenaqui Indians and has lived for the past month in the house of the Sisters
of the congregation of Notre Dame. The godfather was M. Jacques Leber, merchant;
the godmother wa Madame Marie Madeleine Dupont, wife of M. deMaricourt, Esq.,
Captain of a company of marines; she named this English girl Lydia Madeleine."
Signed:    . Lydia Madeleine Longley
           . Madeleine Dupont
           . Leber
           . M. Caille, acting curate."
At the site of the house of William & Deliverance Longley's house (log cabin)
is this marker:
                             "Here Dwelt William and Deliverance Longley
                              With their Eight Children
                             On the 27th of July 1694,
                             The Indians Killed the father and mother
                             And Carried into captivity the other Three."
p.43
The monument was erected in the autumn of 1879, at the expense of the town, on land generously given
for the purpose by Mr. Zechariah Fitch the present owner of the farm; and it was dedicated with appro-
priate exercises on February 20, 1880.

After this attack of July 27th, the town was left in straightened circumstance and the inhabitants
found it difficult to meet the demands made on them. In this emergency they petitioned the General
Court for relief, which was duly granted.

Cotton Mather says that one man was killed at Groton in the year 1697 and another with two children,
carried into captivity. (Magnalia, Book VII. p. 91.) He does not give the data clearly but inferen-
tially it is June.

p.44                                         GROTON.
The prisoner was Stephen Holden, who was captured with his two oldest sons, John & Stephen Holden, Jr.
John Holden was released in January 1699, at which time the father and the other boy wer yet remaining
in the hands of the savages.  It was not long, however, before they too were freed; for, in the follow-
ing June, the House of Representatives voted three pounds and twelve shillings for the expenses that
had been incurred in bringing them back.

Queen Anne's War, as it is commonly called in America, broke out in the year 1702, when England de-
clared war against France and Spain; and the American Colonies were drawn into the contest. The Indians
in New England were in sympathy with the French; and they kept the frontier settlements continually on
the alert.  Strict vigilance on the part of the colonists was the price of their safety.  Military
companies were still held under discipline and drill, and from time to time, were reviewed by the proper
officers. In the year 1702, Chief Justice Samuel Sewall accompanied Governor Joseph Dudley through
Middlesex County on a tour of inspection; and in his Diary under date of October 28th he writes:

"Went to Groton, saw Captain Prescott and his company in arms. (Governor had sent them from Dunstable
tht would visit them). Lancaster is about 12 miles southward from Groton. Concord is 16 miles 3/4 and
ten rod from Groton."  (Massachusetts Historical Collections, VI. fifth series, 67.)

After these alarms there was a short respite, which continued till 1704, when the frontier towns were
again exposed to savage warfare, and this town suffered with the others.  Samuel Penhallow, in "The
History of th Wars

p.45                                       GROTON.

of New England" (Boston, 1726) thus refers to the attack on this place in August, 1704: "The Indians
afterwards fell on Lancaster and Groton, where they did some spoil but not what they expected for these
Towns were seasonably strengthened. And ye a little while after they fell on Groton and Nashaway (Lancaster) 
where they killed Lieut. Wilder and several more. (pages 24, 25.)

In the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society is a manuscript diary of John Marshall of Brain-
tree which has the following entry:

"The begining of this month of august 1704 the Indians did mischief at Lancaster - killed 3 or 4 persons,
burnt their meeting house; and did some harm also to Groton, the same week. Killed one or more. About
200 men went out after them who were gone 20 days under Major Taylor, but returned without doing any
spoil on them."

The attack on Lancaster was on July 31 and that on Groton probably within a day or two of the same time.

It was during this assault that Matthias Farnsworth Jr. was captured and taken to Canada, where he
remained permanently. He was afterward married to a french wife, and his numerous posterity are still
living in Canada. The name is found written now phaeuf.

A party of Indians numbering about thirty, made their appearance in town and killed a man on the night
of October 25, 1704. Pursuit was at once made for them but it was unsuccessful. The Boston News Letter
October 30, 1704, gives the following account of the affair:

"On Wednesday night, October 25, 1704, an English  man was killed in the woods at Groton by the Indians
which were afterwards descryed in the night by the light of their fires by a person travelling from 
Groton to Lancaster

p.46                                         GROTON.
and judged they might be about thirty in number; pursuit was made after them but none could be found."

From "Marshall's Diary" we learn the name of the man who was slain. It is there recorded:

"On the 25 day October, 1704, Mr. Breck was ordained at Marlborough. The next day a man was killed and
scalped by the Indians. He belonged to the town of Groton. His name was Davis; a very useful man and much
lamented."

It has been a tradition that John Davis was killed by the Indians, but the date of his death was unknown;
this entry, however, seems to fit it. It is said to have happened in the early part of the evening while
he was taking in some clothes which had been washed and hung out to dry. He lived near the Groton School
where W. Dickson resided when the map in Mr. Butler's History was made; and Davis's fordway in the river
nearby, named after him, is still remembered by the older people of that neighborhood.

It is not surprising that the inhabitants, upon the renewal of hostilities, were obliged to ask for help
from the General Court. They had already suffered much in life and property, and were little able to
bear new burdens.  They respresented to the Governor that they had been greatly impoverished by their
loss of horses and cattle, of corn and hay, and that they were scarcely able to hold out much longer;
but the crowning calamity of all was the illness of the minister, Mr. Hobart, which prevented him from
preaching. Their means were so limited that they could not support him and supply his place besides.
They were obliged to earn their living at the peril of their lives; and some were thinking to leave the
town.

p.47                                        GROTON.

They spent so much time in watching and guarding that they seemed to be soldiers rather than farmers.
Under these discouraging circumstances they asked for help from the Province, and were allowed out of
the public treasury twenty pounds to assist them in procuring another minister, besides ten pounds to
be divided among those who had been the greatest sufferers in the late attack on them.

Two years later another assault was made on the town, though with little damage. I again quote from
Penhallow's History of the wars of New England:

"July 21, 1706. Several strokes were afterwards made on Chelmsford, Sudbury and Groton, where three
soldiers as they were going to publick worship, were way-laid by a samll party, who killed two and made
the other a prisoner. (p.36).

A few additional particulars of these "strokes" are found in the Rev. John Pike's Journal, printed in 
the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for September, 1875:

"July 21, 1706. Sab: Two soldiers slain & one carried away by the enemey from Groton. They were all new
Cambridge (Newton) men & were returned to their post from one Blood's house, who had invited them to
dinner." (XIV.143). [Groton July 21, 1706 - Nathaniel Healy and Ebenezer Seber, both of Newton were
slain at Groton and Ebenezer Seber's brother was taken captive.]







Marshall, in his Diary, briefly alludes to this affair:

"On the 21 July they killed 2 and too one captive at Groton."

The Rev. Jonathan Homer, in his History of Newton, as published in the Massachusetts Historical
Collection, V. 273, gives the names of these men as John Myrick, Nathaniel Healy and Ebenezer Seger,
and says they were all three killed by the Indians. This statement however is incorrect, as John
Myrick was not one of the three soldiers, and furthermore

p.48                                        GROTON.

was alive after this date. It is sufficiently clear from contemporaneous petitions among the Massa-
chusetts Archives (LXXI. 345, 419), that two of these men were brothers, by the name of Seger, and the
third was one Nathaniel Healey. It was Ebenezer Seger who was killed and probably Henry Seger, Jr., who
was taken prisoner.

At various times in its early history, the town was threatened by bands of roving Indians, who did what-
ever damage lay in their power to do. Such incursions kept the inhabitants on the alert, and from time
to time companies were organized for the purpose of scouring the neighborhood.

On March 12, 1694-1695, an Act was passed by the General Court, which prohibited the desertion of front-
ier towns by the inhabitants unless permission was first granted by the Governor and Council. There were
eleven such towns and Groton was one of them.  The law required the inhabitants of these out-towns who
owned land or houses, to take out a special license, on pain of forfeiting their property, before they
could quit their homes and live elsewhere.  It was thought that the interest of the Crown would be pre-
judiced, and encouragement given to the enemy, if any of these posts were deserted, or exposed by lessen-
ing their strength.  Many towns were threatened by the Indians about this time, and a few were attacked.
It is recorded that some of the settlers here left the town and there was probably a movement among the
inhabitants in other places to do the same. This fact undoubtedly occasioned the enactment, which was
to remain in force "unto the end of the session of the

p.49
general assembly to convene in May 1696, (if the present war so long last), and no longer, nor afterwards."

A similar act was again passed on March 22, 1699-1700, which embraced fourteen frontier towns, of which
Groton was one and seven other towns that "lye more open than many others to an attack of an enemy."
This enactment had a limitation in point of time similar to the preceding one. Subsequently this Act
was revived on June 8, 1702, with the limitation, though no towns are specified by name; again on June
28, 1706, it was re-enacted, to remain in force until June 29, 1707; and still later, but not for the
last time, it was passed on June 10, 1707. This continuous legislatiion to prevent the desertion of the
frontier towns shows clearly the unsettled condition of the outlying towns during Queen Anne's War, and
Groton was no exception. The inhabitants were now living in constant dread of the savages.

Sometimes an exposed farm-house was attacked and burned, some of the inmates killed and others carried
away in captivity; sometimes the farmer was shot down while at work in the field or while going or coming.  
This was the fate of John Shattuck, and his eldest son John, a young man nineteen years of
age, who were killed on May 8, 1709.

They were returning from the west side of the Nashua River, where Mr. Shattuck owned land, and were 
attacked just as they were crossing the Stony Fordway, near the present site of Hollingworth's paper-
mills, where they were killed. At the time of his death, Mr. Shattuck was one of the Selectmen of the

p.50                                           GROTON.

town. During the autumn of 1882, Messrs Tileston and Hollingworth, of Boston, at that time the owners
of the mill, caused a suitable stone to be placed by the wayside, bearing the following inscription:
                                         
                                             Near this spot
                                              JOHN SHATTUCK
                                          A Selectman of Groton,
                                            And his son John
                                       Were killed by the Indians
                                              May 8, 1709,
                                       While crossing Stony Fordway
                                       Just below the present dam.
                                                  1882.

                           
                                              REMARKABLE FATALITY


A series of fatalities which followed the family of Mrs. John Shattuck of Groton between 
the year 1692 and 1725,was a most remarkable one, and is interesting because it throws a strong 
light upon a most romantic period of our history as a people, the period when the territory lying west 
of the State of New York was almost an unknown land to the whites, visited only by the most daring and 
reckless of that band of pioneers who blazed their way through the trackless forests and became the 
avant couriers of civilization. Their wild life, their romantic adventures, their valorous deeds, their 
years of captivity with the Indians, and their bloody encounters with and hair-breadth escapes from their 
wily foes, have been the theme of many a thrilling tale of border life, and as 
presented by such masters of fiction as Fenimore Cooper, have long since passed into the realms of 
standard literature.

On the 13th of September, 1692, Mrs. Shattuck's father, James Blood, was killed by the Indians, as were
also her uncle, William Longley, his wife and five children, while three of the children were carried 
off into captivity. A relative of Mrs. Shattuck, James Parker, Jr. and his wife, were also killed at
the time of the Longley massacre, and their children were also taken prisoners, the Indians having
learned by that time that if they could bear the hardship and exposure of the march, children had a
certain commercial value with the French settlers in Canada. Mrs. Shattuck's stepfather, Enoch Lawrence, 
was wounded in an engagement with the Indians and was disabled for 
life. John Shattuck, her husband, and John Shattuck, Jr., her son, the latter a young man about 19 
years of age, were shot and killed by the Indians while they were returning from the west side of the 
Nashua River, near where the Hollingsworth paper mills now [1893] stand. The three Tarbell children, 
cousins of Mrs. Shattuck were carried off by the Indians on the 20th of June, 1707. John Ames, who 
was shot by the Indians at the gate of his own garrison July 9, 1724, was the father of Jacob, who 
married Mrs. Shattuck's neice, Ruth Shattuck, and lastly her son-in-law, Isaac Lakin, the husband of her 
daughter Elizabeth was wounded at Lovewell's fight at Pequawket, May 8, 1725, all of these 
casualties occurring in one generation and together forming a series that was remarkable even in those 
troublesome times. In the whole range of fiction there is nothing more pathetic, more romantic, or more 
thrilling than the experiences of the Tarbell children in their captivity. In this case it can 
indeed be said that truth is stranger than fiction. Zachariah, John and Sarah were children of Thomas 
and Elizabeth (Wood) Tarbell, who, with a large family lived in Groton.

p.51

Sarah was at that time nearly 14 years of age, John was a stalwart lad of 12, and Zechariah was seven. 
Early in the evening of June 20, 1707, old style, a date that by the new style would be somewhat
later in the season, they had returned to the house after a day of rare sport in the meadows. As they 
were about to enter the house, they thought of the cherries which were then beginning to ripen, ran to
a cherry tree, climbed it, and at once began to eat the cherries. As they were thus engaged they looked
down and were horrified to see that the tree was surrounded by Indians who made signs for them to come 
down at once. Too frightened to refuse, and knowing that an outcry would result in instant death with
the tomahawks which were threateningly brandished beneath them, they descended and were led off into the
woods, the little girl never to see her friends or home again, and the boys not until they had grown to 
manhood, so changed that they could recall none of their early associations when the memories of their 
childhood's days were obliterated and forgotten and all of its tender ties forever sundered.

The captives were taken some distance into the woods, where the Indians were joined by others of their 
party, making some 15 Indians in all. With the party were several squaws who rode on ponies while on
the march, and while in camp prepared the food for the others. At first the Indians viewed the children
with suspicion and fearful that they would attempt to make their escape, held each child tightly by the
wrist while following the trail and at night kept a strict watch over them. 

One of the squaws, however,took a fancy to the little girl and taught her how to cook in the Indian 
fashion. In this way an intimacy grew up between them which undoubtedly served to save her life, as the 
squaw on several occasions when she seemed ready to drop from hunger and fatique, gave her a seat on 
horseback. On the night of the capture the children were forced to march some 14 miles as the Indians were 
fearful of pursuit and the little captives were dragged some of the way by their heartless and cruel 
captors, who paid no attention to their tears and cries. On the day following the capture, the 
party was forced over a like distance and was then in the vicinity of Pepperell. Here a small stream was 
forded, and a circuit was made in the woods in order to avoid the settlement. At the close of that day 
the camp of a tribe of friendly Indians was reached as a great feast was in progress. Here the 
children had the first real nourishment they had had since leaving home. Early on the following morning 
the trail was resumed, and by night the party came into the neighborhood of the present location of 
Peterboro, New Hampshire.

p.52                                          GROTON.

Another day's march brought them into the vicinity of where Claremont, New Hampshire is now, and there
a rest of half a day was taken, as the Indians then felt that they were beyond danger of pursuit. The
captives were placed in charge of the squaws and Taxous, the chief, and his warriors at once proceeded 
to get drunk in celebration of the success of their enterprise. The boys, who were somewhat familiar
with Indian customs were then told that they were to be take to Coughnawaga, the village of the tribe 
on the banks of "the great river." They knew that the children of several of their neighbors had been
carried off to Canada, and at once resigned themselves to the same fate, 
thanking their stars that it was no worse. From this point the line of march was so deflected that the 
Connecticut River was reached at a point where Windsor, Vermont now stands. 

Over Mountains, through woods, along the banks of rivers they continued, subsisting mainly upon berries
roots and acorns, such game as they could shoot or snare and such fish as could be caught in the streams. 
Their route lay along by the present location of Woodstock, Pittsford and Orwell until they
reached the foot of Lake Champlain, where canoes were obtained, and they embarked for the upper waters
of the lake. Coasting along the shore of the lake to its northern point, they followed one of its
tributaries until they were near Montreal, when a short march brought them to Coughnawaga, the village 
of the tribe which was situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence, the "great river" of the Indians,
opposite the present location of Lachine, the La Chine of the early French settlers. As soon as the French 
people at Lachine learned that the Indians had a young girl who was to be sold as a captive,
they flocked to the Indian village and as she was a healthy, fine-looking child, became interested in
her. Amnong those who came to see her was Father Dubois, the venerable 
priest of the tribe, who interested M. de Lamorandiere, a wealthy French official, in her case. After 
several consultations it was decided that she should be purchased from the Indians. The purchase 
money was paid, she was delivered to M. de Lamorandiere, and was adopted into his family, the event 
being celebrated by a feast to which many of the French settlers were invited, while the little stranger 
was the special guest of honor.
                                   SHATTUCK, A FATED FAMILY


Game from the forest and fish from the river formed the principal dishes and 
the tables were adorned with puddings and ices, tarts and cakes for M. de Lamorandiere was famed as 
an epicure and brought with him to the new world a love of the gastronomic art that long made his feasts 
celebrated. Rabbits baked and fricassed and served with tempting gravies, boiled partridge, venison 
steaks tender and juicy, wild turkey, the luscious Indian corn, and last but not least, a monster salmon, 
flanked with crisp trout and blackfish, were served to the guests smoking hot, and were washed down 
with copious libations of the choice wines which were set out only upon great occasions. Father 
Dubois's interest in the little waif continued, and under his care she soon acquired a fair knowledge of 
the French language. Soon after reaching Canada, Sarah had learned that her relative, Lydia Longley, 
who had been carried off by the Indians at the time of the Longley massacre 13 years before, was living 
with the sisters in charge of the Convent of Notre Dame. Her desire to see Lydia was finally gratified. 
She was taken to the convent and there saw not the romping child she had expected but a sedate and 
most accomplished woman. She learned from Lydia who had taken sacred vows, that when she was taken 
from Groton her little sister Betty had succombed to the hardships of the march, and had died on the way to  
Canada; that her brother John Longley who had been living with the Indians had been ransomed by his 
relatives and had returned to Groton to live. 

Delighted with Lydia and especially with her surroundings, little Sarah  Tarbell at her own fervant
request was placed in the same institution and after faithfully serving her 
novitiate, was admitted to full membership in the order which the sisters in charge belonged. At the 
congregation of Notre Dame at Montreal a record in French reads as follows:

p.53

"On Monday, July 23, 1708, the ceremony of baptism was performed on Sarah Tarbell, who was born at
Groton in New England, October 9, 1693. Her parents were Thomas Tarbell and Elizabeth Wood, both
Protestants, and she was baptized by the minister shortly after her birth. 
Having been taken by the savages on Monday, June 20, 1707, she was brought to Canada; she has since 
been sold and has lived with the sisters of the congregration of Notre Dame established at Lachine, where 
she abjured her religion on May 1. Her godfather was M. Jacques Urbain Robert de Lamorandiere, 
secretary of M. l'Intendant, and her godmother was Madame Marguerite Bouat, wife of M. Etienne Pascaud, 
the deputy treasurer of the king in this country. Her name Sarah has been changed to Marguerite.
[signed]
Mgte Bouat.
Pascaud.
Lamorandiere.
Meriel, Pretre."

The kind and considerate treatment which the girls received at the hands of the French people in a
measure explains their unwillingness to leave Montreal, and this feeling was doubtless reinforced by
the sacred vows they had taken, and their devotion to the faith in which they had grown up. They never
came back to the scenes of their childhood, but grew up in the convent and there passed their lives
engaged in the pious duties and labors of the order. Lydia Longley died on the 20th of July 1758 at the
age of 84. The date of Sarah Tarbell's death (Marguerite) is not known. Their remains lie buried
in the little cemetery connected with the convent. 

We will now follow the fortunes of the two Tarbell boys, John and Zachariah, whose adventures were, if
anything, more thrilling than those of the two girls. At Coughnawaga the boys learned that their
capture had been planned by Villieu, a French officer at Montreal. Taxous (the Indian) was selected
by him as the chief who would be most likely to accomplish it and upon his return Villieu was so 
pleased with the result that he presented Taxous to Frontenac, the Governor-General of Canada, who
complimented him upon the skill and adroitness with which he had accomplished his mission. As preliminary 
step to their adoption by the tribe, the boys were compelled to run the gauntlet, and after their recovery 
from its effects they were placed in the hands of an old squaw who pulled their hair
out until only a small knot remained on top of the crown. This knot was then adorned with feathers
and dressed in the Indian fashion, while their noses and ears were bored and jewelled and they were 
attired in garments made of the skins of wild beasts.

p.54

Paint was then smeared upon their bodies, a belt of wampum was hung around their necks and they were led
to the river and were washed by two young squaws who told them that this custom signified that they had
ceased to be white men, and would thereafter be Indians. Regaining the bank they donned their Indian
garments, their heads were again painted, and they were conducted in silence to the Council House of the 
tribe by Taxous. Entering, they were seated and a pipe, tomahawk and a flint and steel were placed in their 
hands. The members of the tribe in full war paint, and with weapons in hand, then entered,
and forming in a circle around them, were also seated. Then the council 
fires of the tribe were started, and the Indians remained for a long time silent. At last a pipe was 
lighted, passed to Taxous,by him to the boys, and then to each member of the tribe in turn. Taxous 
then told the boys that they had been adopted by the tribe and would be their own flesh and blood. A 
feast of boiled venison and corn followed, and ended in a debauch which was continued for several days, 
and nearly resulted in an outbreak. As the boys grew older guns were placed in their hands and they 
were taught how to track and shoot the bear, the deer and the raccoon, how to hunt with the bow and arrow, 
how to snare their game and how to fish. Later they were taught to fight and proving apt scholars 
soon not only mastered, but became expert in all the branches of woodcraft. Upon their adoption by the 
tribe the boys assumed Indian names, but also retained their English name Tarbell.

As they reached manhood they married daughters of Sakonentsiask and Atawenta, 
chiefs of the tribe and became themselves chiefs. More intelligent, more enterprising, and more 
successful in their undertakings than the other chiefs who became envious of them, it was foreseen that 
the rivalry would eventually lead to trouble and acting upon the advice of a priest, the 
Tarbells in the year 1760 took their wives and their wives' parents and set out to establish a new home 
for themselves in the trackless forest. Coasting along up the St. Lawrence in canoes, they finally 
reached the lovely spot where St. Regis now stands, and there established their home, founding what 
is now the village of St.Regis. The record is by no means complete, but from what has been preserved 
it is known that in 1713 Thomas Tarbell, who was probably an older brother of the captives, 
accompanied John Stoddard and John Williams, who were commissioned by Governor Joseph Dudley to go to 
Quebec and treat with the governor general of Canada for the release and return of the New England captives.  
Nothing came of the attempt however, and so far as is known there is nothing on record concerning the  
boys until the winter of 1739 when they came back, saw their relatives and visited their native place. 

p.55

They were dressed as Indian chiefs, were in full war paint, had only an indistinct recollection of the 
people and the place and to all intents and purposes were as utter strangers as though they had never 
been there before.

They expressed no desire to come back but that year Governor Belcher brought their case to the
attention of the Legislature in these words:

"There are lately come from Canada some persons that were taken by the Indians from Groton above 30
years ago, who (it's believed) may be induced to return into this province on 
your giving them some proper encouragement." The House rejected a favorable report of a committee 
upon that portion of his excellency's address, other efforts to reclaim the boys proved unavailing, 
and they returned and remained with the Indians, each of them living to a ripe old age. Their 
descendants also retained the name of Tarbell, as the frequently appears in official records. On Feb 20, 
1818 a treaty was signed in behalf of the tribe by Loran Tarbell and Thomas Tarbell and another one 
was signed Sept 23, 1825, by eleven chiefs of the tribe, among whom were Peter, Thomas, Mitchel, Louis and  Battice Tarbell.

Lesor Tarbell a son of one of the captives was greatly esteemed among the Indians and whites for his
prudence, candor and worth, and his son, a half breed known as "Peter the Big Speak" was a man of
unusual address and ability, and was always commissioned to represent the 
tribe on important occasions.

p.56
In the year 1772 a descendant of one of the Tarbells accompanied Rev. Mr. Ripley to Hanover, New
Hampshire and entered the charity school at that place, which subsequently 
became Dartmouth College.

The old chief of the tribe at that time, a Tarbell, expressing great affection for his relatives in
New England, to whom he sent his love, with a request that they should be informed that he had a
grandson at this school. In 1826 Fovel, a French adventurer, visited St. Regis and induced one of
the descendants of the Tarbells, a chief whose Indian name was Torokaron, to visit Europe in the
character of an Indian chief, Fovel to act as agent and interpreter.

In France, Torokaron was received by the reigning monarch Charles X who gave him many valuable presents,
including portraits of St. Regis the patron saint of the tribe and St. Francois Xavier. Marseilles
and Rome were then visited and Torokaron was granted two interviews with the pope, who gave him a set 
of books, a silver service for the church, a rosary of jewels and gold, a considerable amount of money,
and many other gifts. Fovel absconded when they reached New York upon their return, leaving Torokaron 
absolutely penniless. By the assistance of friends he was enabled to reach St. Regis and as Fovel was
good enough not to steal the paintings and the rosary, they were deposited in 
the church at St. Regis where they are now to be seen.

p57

In 1877 Dr. Samuel A Green, ex-mayor of Boston and a noted antiquarian, who had become interested in
the history of the Tarbell children while engaged in writing the history of Groton, his native place,
saw a grandson of one of the Tarbell boys at St. Regis who was then more than 80 years of age and
describes him as living with one of his sons in a small house, where surrounded by his grandchildren
he was confortablyt passing his declining years. He could speak only in the Indian tongue, and said
that he was aware that his grandfather, when a boy, was taken from a town near Boston and that he had
relatives who were still living there. At that time the Tarbells were among the most prominent
families in St. Regis, some 40 persons of that name residing in the place.

p.58
During the summer of 1723, "the Indian Enemy" as the early settlers were wont to call them, still
threatened the western frontier towns. On August 16, 1723, according to the printed Journal of the
House of Representatives, Lieut. Governor Dummer, at that time the acting Governor of the Province,
was desired immediately to order detachments of men, varying from three to six, from the inhabitants
of the several towns along the line of outer settlements, to be constantly employed in scouting and
ranging  the woods in their respective towns and under this order, Groton was to have six. On August
24th it was ordered by the House of Representatives that these scouts should be placed under the direct-
ion of the chief military officer of the several towns and such officer should receive five shillings
a week for his services. Owing to informalities in the matter, a dispute arose between the House and
the Lieut. Governor, who within two days sent two messages to that body, and some slight modifications
were made in the original draft.

Penhallow, in "The History of the Wars of New England," speaking of the Indians at this period, says:
"The next damage they did was at Groton, but were so closely pursued, that they left several of their
packs behind." (p.102)

It was on Thursday, July 9, 1724, that John Ames was shot by an Indian, one of a small party that attack-
ed his garrison in the northwesterly part of the

p.59
town. Ames lived on the north side of the Nashua River, a short distance below the Hollingsworth paper-
mills. He is said to be the last person killed by an Indian within the township. The Indian himself was
immediately afterward shot by Jacob Ames, one of John's sons. The Boston Gazette, July 13, 1724, thus
refers to the event:

"A man was killed last week at Groton, by the Indians, and it is supposed one Indian was killed by one
of our men in the garrison; the Indians left their packs, five in number, which were taken and secured
by the English."

In the Gazette of July 27th, it is said that "An Indian Scalp was brought to Town last week from Groton."

The New England Courant, July 12, 1724, reports that "Last week the Indians killed a man at Groton,
and had one their own men very much wounded."

The same newspaper in its issue of July 27th, says that "The scalp of an Indian lately killed at Groton
is brought to town."

Jacob Ames' petition for an "allowance" or bounty for killing the savage is found in the printed Journal
of the House of Representatives, November 20, 1724.

In the summer of 1722 the Provincial governments of Massachusetts and New Hampshire offered a bounty
of a hundred pounds for every Indian's scalp that should be taken and shown to the proper authorities.
This legislation incited volunteers to scour the wilderness for the purpose of hunting the savages, and
with this motive Capt. John Lovewell of Dunstable, organized a company which soon became famous.

The story of Lovewell's Fight was for a long time

p.60                                           Lovewell's Fight.

repeatedly told in this neighborhood and there is scarcely a person who has not from early infancy 
heard the particulars of that eventful conflict. It was in the spring of 1725 that Captain Lovewell,
with thirty-four men, fought a famous Indian Chief, named Paugus, at the head of about eighty savages,
near the shores of a pond in Pequawket, now within the limits of Fryeburg, Maine, and known as Lovewell's
Pond. Of this little spartan band, seven belonged to Groton and one of them, John Chamberlain by name,
distinguished himself by killing the Indian leader, Paugus.

The fullest account of the fight is found in a pamphlet entitled, "Lovewell Lamented, or, A Sermon
occasioned by the fall of the Brave Capt. John Lovewell and several of his Valiant Company, in the
late Heroic Action at Piggwacket pronounced at Bradford, May 16, 1725 by Thomas Symmes, V.D.M." (Boston,
1725.)  The sermon contains an historical preface, duly attested by three of the company, which gives
many particulars of this ill-fated expedition.  It includes a list of the men who took part in the fight
with the names of the killed and wounded. According to this list, the following Groton men were members
of Lovewell's company and present during the action:

John Jefts
Daniel Woods
Thomas Woods
John Chamberlain
Elias Barron
John Gilson
Isaac Lakin
Joseph Gilson.

Of whom, Thomas Woods, Daniel Woods and John Jefts were killed in the fight, and Elias Barron, John
Chamberlain and John Gilson, Isaac Lakin, wounded. It is stated by Mr. Symmes, in his preface, that
Elias Barron subsequently "strayed from

p.61                                            GROTON.
the rest and got over Ossipy River by the side of which his gun case was found, and he has never been
heard of since." (p.viii.)  Joseph Gilson was the only one of this quota who escaped injury. 

The first edition of ther sermon was published on July 1st, and exhausted in a very few days. A second
edition was issued about the middle of July, with a title-page somewhat changed from the original one,
as follows:  "Historical Memoirs of the Late Fight at Piggwacket with a sermon occasioned by the fall
of the brave Capt. John Lovewell and Several of his Valiant Company; in the late Heroic Action there.
Pronounced at Bradford, May 16, 1725, by Thomas Symmes, V.D.M.  The second edition corrected." Boston,
1725.  In this editioin the running title of "An Historical Preface" is changed to "Memoirs of the Fight
at Piggwacket."  A few corrections are made; in the list, both of the soldiers and of the wounded, the
name Isaac Lakin is given in the place of John Gilson.

Capt. Lovewell, the commander of the company was a brave officer and a noted man. He was at this time in
the prime of life, and ambitious to distinguish himself. He had previously led two successful expeditions
against the Indians and his very name inspired confidence.  Only a few weeks before his second expedi-
tion had returned to Dover, New Hampshire, where he ade a triumphal entry at the head of his company.
They bore ten Indian scalps stretched on hoops and were received with great joy and excitement; thence
they proceeded to Boston,

p.62

where they were paid a large bounty by the government. The following Groton men were members of the
company which went on this second expedition:

James Ames
Ephraim Farnsworth*
Reuben Farnsworth*
Benjamin Parker
Samuel Shattuck
Samuel Tarbell
Henry Willard.

Insert - Source: Farnsworth Memorial
p.415-416
*Ephraim Farnsworth b. Jan 2, 1703 son of Jonathan Farnsworth & his wife, Ruth Shattuck of Groton &
Harvard, Mass.
Ephraim Farnsworth m. Deborah Beauman; was a farmer and lived at Harvard, Mass. He died there, Feb.
18, 1737. He was a man of courage and energy and was with his brother, Reuben Farnsworth in Capt.
Lovewell's famous expedition through New Hampshire and Maine against the Indians and was in the fight
with the Indians on Feb 20, 1724. For a full account of John Lovewell and his men, see NEHGS Register,
Vol.7 pp.61-70.
*Reuben Farnsworth b. April 28, 1705; m. April 7, 1730, Mary Holden, b. April 28, 1706 at Watertown,
Rev. Seth Storer performing the marriage ceremony. She was the daughter of Samuel Holden and his wife,
Susanna. They lived for awhile at Watertown but was living at Harvard 1732, 1733 and 1734. He died
about 1755 and his widow married (2) Thomas Barney, a mason by trade. 
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Insert: Lovewell's Fight
Chapter 9 - History of Manchester, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire.
CHAPTER IX.

Alarm from Indian War.--"Lovewell's War."--Cause.--Encroachment of English settlers.--Indians excited.--French influence.
--Sebastian Ralle.--His settlement at Nanrantsouack.--Expedition under Westbrook to seize him.
--Indians attack Merry Meeting Bay, Fort George and Brunswick.--Destruction of Nanrantsouack.--Death of Ralle.
--Continued attacks upon the settlements in New Hampshire.--Attack at Dunstable.--Massacre of French and his party.
--Capt. Lovewell. His first expedition. Intended against the Pequauquaukes.--Their location.--Paugus and Wahowah.
--Lovewell attacks a party at East Pond. Destroys the entire party.--Second expedition.--Goes against Pequauquauke.
--Arrives at Pequauquauke.--Discovers and Indian.--Kills him and retires.--Our men ambushed--the fight.--Their fort deserted.
--Some of the men arrive at Dunstable.--Benjamin Hassel.--Col. Tyng marches to Pequauquauke.
--Gov. Wentworth sends a company to Pequauquauke.--Col. Tyng finds the battle ground and buries the dead.

The little colony of Scotch Presbyterians had hardly got quieted in the possession of their lands at Londonderry, 
before the alarm of war broke upon their ears; a kind of war for which their sad experience in war had made no 
preparation, save in courage and energy. There were those among them, who had witnessed the fierce attacks of King 
James' army upon the walls of Londonderry, who had assisted in repelling those assaults, while the booming cannon 
from the tower of its cathedral sent havoc among the troops of the besieging army--thus adding a terrific grandeur 
to the scene. Yet the war-whoop of the Indian reverberating through the dense, still forests of the Merrimack valley, 
struck terror into such hearts even.

The Indians had remained comparatively quiet for some years subsequent to the close of "Queen Anne's War," in 1713. 
But the gradual encroachment of the English settlers upon lands claimed by the Indians in the valleys of all the great 
New England rivers, became a source of continued and growing irritation. This feeling on the part of the Indians was 
undoubtedly fomented by the French.

At length the Indians became so exasperated, that they broke over all bounds of restraint, and kept up a continual 
series of annoyances against their English neighbors, "killing their cattle, burning their stacks of hay and robbing 
and insulting them." The English settlers attributed all these annoyances to French influence, and particularly to 
Sebastian Ralle, a French Jesuit, who resided among the Indians at Nanrantsouack or Norridgewog. This was an Indian 
village at the head of canoe navigation on the Kennebec, inhabited by people of the tribe called by the French, 
Abnakis. Here Father Ralle, who had spent thirty years of his life as a missionary among the Indians of North America, 
had built a chapel, formed a church, and was the religious teacher of that portion of the tribe upon the Kennebec. 
The English settlers supposed that if Ralle were out of the way, the annoyances from the Indians would cease. They 
therefore determined to seize him. For this purpose an expedition was fitted out under Col. Thomas Westbrook, which 
in the winter of 1722, proceeded to Nanrantsouack for that purpose. Ralle however fled from his home at the approach 
of the English troops and escaped. The expedition was fruitless, except that in Ralle's "strong box" they found letters 
from the Governor of Canada, clearly proving that the missionary was really engaged in exciting the Indians against 
their English neighbors.

The Indians could not excuse this attempt upon the person of their spiritual father and they determined upon revenge. 
Accordingly, early in the succeeding Summer they made a successful attack upon a settlement at Merry Meeting Bay at 
the mouth of the Kennebec--and attempted to take the fort at St. George, but were repulsed. In July, they attacked 
and destroyed Brunswick, a town upon the Amariscoggin. The Indians having thus seriously commenced hostilities, war 
was declared against them and proclamation made to that effect at Portsmouth and Boston. The Indians did not make 
their appearance in New Hampshire till the following year, when they made several serious and successful attacks 
in the valley of the Piscataqua. Upon this it was determined to destroy the village at Nanrantsouack, and thus get 
rid of the influence of Father Ralle. An expedition was forthwith planned, and in August 1624 two companies under 
Captains Moulton and Harman received orders to march against the devoted town.

"The captains Moulton and Harman, both of York, each at the head of a company of one hundred men, executed their 
orders with great address. They completely invested and surprised that village; killed the obnoxious Jesuit with 
about eighty of his Indians; recovered three captives; destroyed the chapel, and brought away the plate and furniture 
of the altar, and the devotional flag, as trophies of their victory. Ralle was then in the sixty-eighth year of his 
age, and had resided in his mission at Norridgewog twenty-six years; having before spent six years in traveling among 
the Indian nations, in the interior parts of America."1

This successful expedition did not stop the hostilities of the Indians. On the contrary, the Fall of 1724 was marked 
by more than ordinary vigilance and boldness in their attacks upon the settlements in New Hampshire.

The greatest fear and excitement existed among the settlers along our whole frontier, and even in our most thickly 
populated towns. In this state of excitement, a clamor was raised against the government for alleged inefficiency 
in meeting these inroads of the enemy--and it was thought, and without doubt truly, that a volunteer system of raising 
troops, leaving the soldiers at liberty to choose their own officers, would produce a more effective corps of fighting 
men than the one adopted by the government, that of forced enlistments under officers appointed by the Governor, and 
oftentimes under those men who possessed few other recommendations, than that they happened to be in favor with the 
appointing power.

While this excitement ran the highest, an attack was made upon the town of Dunstable, in that part of "old Dunstable," 
now called Nashua, and two men were taken captives and carried to Canada. These were Nathan Cross and Thomas Blanchard. 
These men it seems had been engaged in making turpentine on the north side of the Nashua river, and while at work, were 
seized by the Indians. After securing the prisoners, the Indians stove their casks of turpentine and departed. Knowing 
that the men would be missed at night, and rightly conjecturing that they should be followed, with Indian cunning, they 
determined to wait in ambush for any party that might be sent in pursuit.

At night, Cross and Blanchard not arriving at their place of sleeping, which was a sawmill upon the Salmon Brook, in 
Nashua, it was at once supposed they had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the alarm was given through the neighborhood.

"A party consisting of ten of the principal inhabitants of the place, besides their leader, started in pursuit of them, 
under the direction of Lieut. Ebenezer French. In this company was Josiah Farwell, who was next year Lieutenant at 
Pequaukett under Lovewell. When this company arrived at the spot where these men had been laboring, they found the 
hoops of the barrels cut and the turpentine spread upon the ground. From certain marks made upon the trees with wax 
mixed with grease, they understood that the men were taken and carried off alive."

"In the course of the examination, Farwell perceived that the turpentine had not ceased spreading, and called the 
attention of his comrades to this circumstance. They concluded that the Indians had been gone but a short time, and 
must be near, and decided on instant pursuit."

"Farwell advised them to take a circuitous route to avoid an ambush; but unfortunately he and French a short time 
before had a misunderstanding, and were then at variance. French imputed this advice to cowardice, and cried out, 
"I am going to take the direct path: if any of you are not afraid let him follow me." French led the way and the 
whole of the party followed, Farwell following in the read.

"Their route was up the Merrimack, towards which they bent their course to look for their horses upon the intervals. 
At the brook near Lutwych's (now Thornton's) Ferry they were way-laid. The Indians fired upon them and killed the 
larger part instantly. A few fled, but were overtaken and destroyed. French was killed about a mile from the place 
of action under an oak tree lately standing in the field belonging to Mr. John Lund, of Merrimack. Farwell in the 
read seeing those before fall, sprung behind a tree, discharged his piece, and ran. Two Indians pursued him. The 
chase was vigorously maintained for sometime, without either gaining much advantage, till Farwell passing through 
a thicket, the Indians lost sight of him, and probably fearing he might have loaded again, they desisted from farther 
pursuit. He was the only one of the company that escaped.

"A company from the neighborhood immediately mustered, and proceeded to the fatal spot to find the bodies of their 
friends and townsmen. Eight of them were found and conveyed to the burying place. "Coffins were prepared for them, 
and they were decently interred in one capacious grave." The names of these persons given in the Boston News Letter, 
were Lieut. Ebenezer French, Thomas Lund, Oliver Farwell and Ebenezer Cummings, who belonged to Dunstable, and all 
of whom excepting the last, left widows and children, Daniel Baldwin and John Burbank, of Woburn, and Mr. Johnson, 
Plainfield."2

This attack produced the greatest excitement, and a few of the bold spirits in the neighborhood determined to fight 
the Indians on their own ground, and in their own way, if they could get proper encouragement from the government. 
Accordingly, John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell and Jonathan Robins, three men of approved courage and skill in hunting 
and border fighting, were selected as leaders of the proposed expedition, and were requested to petition the 
government for encouragement in their undertaking. In pursuance of this plan, they sent to the General Assembly of 
Massachusetts, the following petition, the original of which is now on file in the office of the Secretary of 
State of Massachusetts.

"The Humble memorial of John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, Jonathan Robbins, all of Dunstable.                                                         sheweth:

"That your petitioners, with nearly forty or fifty others, are inclinable to range and to keep out in the woods 
for several months together, in order to kill and destroy their enemy Indians, provided they can meet with 
Incouragement suitable. And your Petitioners are Imployed and desired by many others, Humbly to propose and 
submit to your Honors' consideration, that if such soldiers may be allowed five shillings per day in case they 
kill an enemy Indian and possess their scalp, they will Imploy themselves in Indian hunting one whole year; and 
if within that time they do not kill any, they are content to be allowed nothing for their wages, time, and trouble.

JOHN LOVEWELL.        
JOSIAH FARWELL.       
JONATHAN ROBBINS.

   Dunstable, Nov. 1624.3

In answer to the petition of Lovewell, the Legislature gave permission to raise a company "to rage, and to 
keep out in the woods in order to kill and destroy their enemy Indians," and voted to pay a bounty of £100 per scalp.

With such encouragement, Lovewell soon raised a company of which he was appointed Captain, Josiah Farwell, 
Lieutenant, and Jonathan Robbins, Ensign. Various expeditions had been set on foot before this, but with 
indifferent success; some had been ambushed by the enemy, and others had returned without meeting the enemy, 
so that Lovewell could only raise thirty men of the "near forty or fifty others" he had spoken of in his petition. 
But with these, he boldly marched into the wilderness for the enemy's country, in the vicinity of the Winnepesaukee. 
They met with no enemy till the 19th of December, when falling upon a track, they soon found a wigwam containing 
a man and a boy. The man was killed upon the approach of the party, and the boy was taken prisoner. For some reason 
the party were content with this small success, and returned forthwith to Dunstable. The boy, with the scalp, 
having been carried to Boston, the promised reward of £200 was paid, and a gratuity of two shillings and sixpence 
per day, was voted each man by the Legislature, by way of encouragement! Such encouragement started up the hunters 
of the region round about "old Dunstable," and when it was known that Lovewell intended to start again in quest of 
the "enemy Indians" at the earliest opportunity, there was no lack of recruits. Eighty-seven men mustered at Dunstable, 
on the 29th day of January, and under the command of the intrepid Lovewell, crossed the Merrimack, and camped on the 
eastern bank of the same. 

Their destination was the Indian country, north and east of the Winnepesaukee, a section of country occupied 
by the Pequaquaukes, or as they were commonly called, the Pigwockets. These Indians, made up of the remnants 
of the various tribes or bands of the Pennacook confederacy, had located themselves upon the branches of the 
Saco, where was an abundance of fish and game; and from the fact that their main village was upon the Saco, 
near where that river makes a noted bend or circuit of some thirty-six miles principally in what is now known 
as Fryeburg, Me., returning within a mile or two of the Indian village, where it commenced its detour, were 
called Pequauquaukes, or Indians at the crooked place; Pequauquauke, being derived from the adjective pequauquis, 
crooked, and auke, a place. This name, thus received, was applied to the Indians of all that region of country, 
and has ever since been applied to the region of country itself. The Pequauquaukes were under the control of two 
powerful Sagamons, Paugus, (the oak) and Wahowah, (the broad-shouldered) and from their numbers, as well as from 
their read communication with the French, by whom they were furnished with arms, had become quite formidable.

It was Lovewell's intention to penetrate the very heart of the Pequauquauke country, if he did not find the enemy 
sooner, but chance threw him upon the trail of a party of Indians fresh upon the war path, that diverted him from 
his original intention.

On the 20th of February, the tracks becoming fresher, the scout marched with more wariness but five miles, and 
came upon a wigwam but lately deserted, and pursuing "two miles further, discovered their smokes." This was near 
sunset, and the Indians were encamped for the night. Lovewell's party laid in "concealment till after midnight, 
when they advanced," as says Dr. Belknap, "and discovered ten Indians asleep round a large fire, by the side of 
a frozen pond."

"Lovewell now determined to make sure work; and placing his men conveniently, ordered a part of them to fire, 
five at once, as quick after each other as possible, and another part to reserve their fire; he gave the signal, 
by firing his own gun, which killed two of them; the men firing according to order killed five more on the spot; 
the other three starting up from their sleep, two of them were immediately shot dead by the reserve. The other, 
though wounded, attempted to escape by crossing the pond, but was seized by a dog and held fast till they killed 
him. Thus in a few minutes the whole was destroyed, and some attempt against the frontiers of New Hampshire 
prevented; for these Indians were marching from Canada, well furnished with new guns, and plenty of ammunition; 
they had also a number of spare blankets, mockaseens and snow-shoes for the accommodation of the prisoners whom 
they expected to take, and were within two day's march of the frontiers. The pond where this exploit was performed 
is at the head of a branch pond where this exploit was performed is at the head of a branch of Salmonfall river, 
in the township of Wakefield, and has ever since borne the name of Lovewell's pond. The action is spoken of by 
elderly people, at this distance of time, with an air of exultation; and considering the extreme difficulty of 
finding and attacking Indians in the woods, and the judicious manner in which they were so completely surprised, 
it was a capital exploit.

The brave company, with the ten scalps stretched on hoops, and elevated on poles, entered Dover in triumph, 
and proceeded thence to Boston, where they received the bounty of one hundred pounds for each, out of the 
public treasury."4

Penhallow adds: "Their arms were so new and good, that most of them were sold for seven pounds apiece, and 
each of them had two blankets, with a great many moccasons, which were supposed to be for the supply of 
captives that they expected to have taken. The plunder was but a few skins; but during the march, our men 
were well entertained with moose, bear and deer, together with salmon trout, some of which were three feet 
long, and weighed twelve pounds apiece."5

This success was hailed with joy and triumph throughout the Provinces. Other expeditions were set on foot, 
but without success, among them, Col. Tyng of Dunstable, headed one and marched into the country betwixt 
Pemegewasset and Winnepesaukee, but after a month's absence, returned without taking a scalp.

The ill success of Tyng and others, only excited Lovewell to greater efforts, and he soon raised another 
company of men with the avowed object of penetrating the Pequauquauke country, and attacking bold Paugus 
in his own home. Paugus had frequently been at Dunstable, and was personally known to most of the hunters 
of the valley of the Merrimack, as a bold and wily chieftain, at the head of a band of fierce warriors, who, 
instigated by the French, had taken part in many of the attacks upon the frontiers.

Lovewell's company consisted of forty-six men besides himself, including a chaplain and surgeon. upon the 
eve of marching, a friend and neighbor warned Lovewell to be upon his guard against the ambuscades of the 
Indiands; but Lovewell, flushed with the excitement of the occasion, and confident of his own knowledge in 
Indian warfare, replied, "That he did not care for them," and bending down a small elm sapling, by which he 
was standing, continued, "that he could treat the Indians in the same way."6 The expedition started about 
the 16th of April, 1725, answering to 27th of April, new style. It is probable, but not certain, that they 
followed the route of the preceding expedition. When out but a short time, Toby, a friendly Indian attached 
to the expedition, becoming lame was sent back with great reluctance on his part. At Contoocook, William 
Cummings, of Dunstable, became so lame in consequence of a wound received from the enemy some time previous, 
that he was obliged to return home, a kinsman, possibly Josiah Cummings, returning with him to assist him 
on his way.

They then marched without any unusual incident, to Ossipee lake, where one of their number, Benjamin Kidder 
of Nutfield, now Londonderry, being sick, they built a small fort, as a place of refuge, in case of mishap. 
While the fort was building, a portion of the men were kept out on scout duty, and discovered the tracks of 
Indians. After a tarry of two or three days, leaving the sick man, the doctor to take charge of him, and 
Sergeant Nathaniel Woods, of Dunstable, with seven men to hold the fort, Lovewell and his men, now reduced 
in number to thirty-four, boldly marched for Pequauquauke, distant some twenty miles. The names of these 
thirty-four men were:

Asten, Abiel, Haverhill 
Ayer, Ebenezer, " 
Barron, Elias, Groton 
Chamberlane, John, " 
Davis, Eleazer, Concord 
Davis, Josiah, " 
Farrah, Jacob, " 
Farrah, Joseph, " 
Farwell, Josiah, Lieut. Dunstable 
Frye, Jonathan, Chap. Andover 
Fullam, Jacob, Serg. Weston 
Gilson, Joseph, Groton 
Harwood, Jno., Ensign, Dunstable 
Hassel, Benjamin, Corporal, " 
Jefts, John, Groton 
Johnson, Ichabod, Woburn 
Johnson, Josiah, " 
Johnson, Noah, Serg. Dunstable 
Jones, Josiah, Concord 
Kies, Solomon, Billerica 
Kittredge, Jonathan, " 
Lakin, Isaac, Groton 
Lingfield, Edward, Corp. Nutfield 
Lovewell, John, Capt. Dunstable 
Melvin, Daniel, Concord 
Melvin, Eleazar, " 
Robbins, Jona., Ensign, Dunstable 
Richardson, Thos., Corp., Woburn 
Richardson, Timothy, " 
Usher, Robert, Dunstable 
Whiting, Samuel, " 
Woods, Daniel, Groton 
Woods, Thomas, Ensign, " 
Wyman, Seth, Woburn 


The company continued their march in a northerly direction, with great caution, fancying they had been 
discovered by the Indians. On Friday, the 7th of May, they heard a gun as they approached the Saco, but 
coming to the river, they met with no Indians, although they discovered their tracks. They struck the 
Saco, probably in the eastern part of Conway. Taking an easterly course they passed upon the high ground 
down the Saco, and diverging south, struck the basin of Pequauquauke, south of what is now called Stark's 
hill. Here they had a full view of the basin, and of Saco pond, just at their feet. This was near night, 
and they cautiously descended the hill and encamped upon the shore of the pond. In the night the sentinels 
thought they heard the noise of Indians about the encampment, and alarmed their companions, but it was very 
dark, and they could make no further discovery. It was probably the noise of some wild animal, a moose 
perhaps, as they were near the spot where these animals usually took to the water. This incident confirmed 
their suspicions that the water. This incident confirmed their suspicions that the Indians were dogging 
them, and these suspicions led to a fatal error, as the sequel will show.

On the next day, May 8th, (May 19th new style) about 10 o'clock in the morning, while at prayers, they 
heard a gun across the pond, and Capt. Lovewell discovered a solitary Indian upon a stony point of land 
running into the pond from the east. This Indian was hunting ducks. It is possible he might have gone 
from the village to the pond, duck-shooting, but it is quite as probable, that he was one of a scout 
of Indians that had been down the Saco, and was returning, and had been sent forward to this point to 
get a shot at ducks in sight. Be this as it may, Lovewell and his men, supposing they had been discovered 
the night previous and before, at once suspected that he was sent out as a decoy, and popular tradition 
has kept up the suspicion, as the point on which the Indian stood is called "Decoy Point" to this day.

They accordingly held a consultation to determine whether they would proceed to attack the enemy, which 
they supposed was in waiting for them on the north shore of the pond, or whether they should retreat.

The question being put, the men boldly answered, says the Rev. Mr. Symmes, "We came to see the enemy; 
we have all along prayed God we might find them; and we had rather trust Providence with our lives, 
yes, die for our country, than try to return without seeing them, if we might, and be called cowards 
for our pains."

It was determined, unanimously, to fight, and they commenced preparations in earnest. In order to be 
entirely disencumbered, Lovewell ordered his men to leave their packs behind, and they were accordingly 
left in the woods, but without a guard. The spot where they left their packs was some thirty rods west 
of the little brooks that empties into the pond, southeast of the present village of Fryeburg. Lovewell 
then led on his men cautiously towards the Indian, who was seen upon the point, a distance of about a 
mile and a half, principally, for the first half of the way, through a pitch pine wood, clear of 
underbrush, and the brakes but just started. The Indian got within five or six rods of them before 
they discovered him, having two guns and a brace of ducks in his hands. 

Upon discovering him, Lovewell and his men squatted upon the ground; but as they did so, the Indian 
discovered them, and dropping his extra gun and his game, he quickly fired upon them and with fatal 
effect; for his gun being charged with large shot, he wounded Capt. Lovewell and Mr. Whiting, the former 
severely. Ensign Wyman then fired upon the Indian and killed him, and this misfire made him the more 
zealous to take his scalp. Meantime, a scout of Indians, some forty in number, under Paugus and Wahowah, 
coming up the pond from a scout down the Saco, crossed the trail of Lovewell's men, and following it, 
discovered their packs, and finding their numbers less than their own, they at once determined to attack 
them. Accordingly, securing their packs, they proceeded to the brook before described, and under its banks, 
formed an ambuscade for Lovewell and his party. Passing east from this brook, you immediately come upon 
the highest part of the pitch pine plain, lying north of the pond. This part of the plain, terminates 
at the pond, in a ridge or bold shore, against which are piled up boulders of rock, evidently the effect 
of ice. East of this point of rocks, is a ridge of sand, extending parallel to the water, some 50 or 60 
rods to another brooks, emptying into the pond from the north-east, and now known as "Fight Brook." This 
sand ridge was from 4 to 6 rods wide, having upon it some scattered pines, and limited on the north, the 
most of its length by a swamp, extending west from the aforesaid brook, and which, in the spring, is filled 
with water, forming of this sand ridge, a long, narrow peninsula, only accessible from the plain at its 
western extremity, in the vicinity of the aforesaid point of rocks.

Lovewell and his men were leisurely returning upon their trail, and probably with less caution than usual, 
as they had not found the enemy they went out to meet, when coming to the bank of the little brook before 
named, the Indians rose from their ambush and fired upon them in front and rear, rushing upon them with 
shouts and yells of defiance.

Capt. Lovewell was killed the first shot, and our men were struck with surprise at the suddeness of the 
attack. But they immediately returned the fire with deadly effect, killing nine of the enemy upon the spot. 
The company then dispersed, each one getting behind a tree, and firing upon the enemy as he got a chance. 
The firing continued brisk; but soon, Capt. Lovewell and eight others being killed, and Lieut. Farwell 
and two others being wounded, and the Indians attempting to surround them, the party determined to retreat 
to the shore of the pond, "hoping to be sheltered by the point of rocks that ran into the pond." Here, 
behind this "ridge of land," and barrier of rocks they continued the fight to advantage, gradually extending 
themselves across upon the sand before described, and protecting themselves behind the scattered pines. Here 
was an excellent position for an attack, but a very bad one for a siege, and had the Indians known their 
advantage,, they could easily have destroyed the whole company. If, instead of immediate attack, they had 
quietly seated themselves at the only approach to the peninsula, hunger would have done its work, and not 
a man of Lovewell's gallant band could have escaped. 

But the Indians could not brook delay, and confident of success from superior numbers, they continued the attack, 
firing at any one of the little band who happened to expose a part of his body. Under the direction of Ensign Wyman, 
the firing was kept up with spirit on the part of our men, and with decided effect. The Indians kept up a continual 
shout, at one time howling like wolves, again barking like dogs, or mimicking other wild beasts. And the English 
were nothing loth in this kind of defiance, but returned their howling with shouts and huzzas. Towards mid-afternoon, 
the Indians ceased firing and drew off among the pines, at a little distance, to pow-wow over their success. They 
had got earnestly engaged in the ceremony, dancing, jumping, howling and beating the ground in a word, pow-wowing, 
when the intrepid Wyman crept up behind the rocks and trees, and fired upon the principal actor, killing him upon 
the spot. This man may have been Wahwah, or Wahowah, as we hear nothing of him afterwards. He this as it may, the 
fight was renewed with greater ferocity, under the immediate direction of Paugus. Ensign Wyman continued to cheer 
on his men, and they fought with all their skill and the energy of desperation, but with terrifying disadvantage, 
as the Indians were near twice their number, and had them completely at their will. 

To add to their misfortune, their chaplain, Jonathan Frye, about this time fell mortally wounded, as also Lieut. 
Jonathan Robbins, who had been wounded at the first fire, and Jacob Farrar. Young Frye, though unable to stand, 
continued to pray audibly for the success of his companions, at intervals, during the remainder of the fight. 
Thus disheartened, the firing on their part became less brisk; and the Indians, confident of their success, 
came forward, and holding up ropes, to show they had them in their power and ready to be bound, offered them 
quarter. The intrepid Wyman replied that "they would have no quarter but what they won at the point of their 
muskets." The fight was then renewed, and towards night the enemy succeeded in getting upon the peninsula or 
beach, some of them at least. Among this number was Paugus their chief, who took refuge behind a pine within 
talking distance of John Chamberlain, one of the best shots in Lovewell's party. They looked at each other from 
behind their trees, each endeavoring to detect an exposed part in the person of the other, and at length, each 
one thinking he had the other at an advantage, aimed his musket to fire; each gun flashed in the pan, and their 
attempts were in vain! Their guns had become foul from frequent firing during the day, and were useless. In this 
dilemma, these bold men, who were acquainted with each other, agreed to go down to the water's side, and cleanse 
their guns, and then take their places and renew the fight. No sooner said than done, and they deliberately went 
down to the water, and commenced washing their guns, the warriors on both sides understanding their motives and 
leaving them to themselves!

In cleansing their guns and charging them, Paugus got the advantage; his ball was so small as to roll down his 
barrel, while Chamberlain had to force his down with his rod. Paugus seeing his advantage, quickly said, "Me 
kill you," and took up his gun to prime! Chamberlain threw down his rod, and bringing the breech of his gun a 
smart blow upon the hard sand, brought it to his face, and fired! Paugus fell pierced through the heart! 
Chamberlain's gun being worn from long use, primed itself, and the knowledge of this, saved the bold hunter's 
life. After the death of Paugus, their Chief, the Indians gradually ceased firing, and soon after sunset drew 
off into the woods, leaving the field to our men, who remained quiet for some time, fearing their return, or 
that they were lying in wait for them. It was supposed and confirmed by reports afterwards, that the Indians' 
loss, in killed and wounded, included the entire party except about twenty.

About midnight, our men hearing no more from the Indians, assembled together, and inquired into their respective 
situations. It was then found that there were twenty-three men upon the peninsula, of whom Jacob Farrar was just 
"expiring by the pond," and Lieut. Robbins, and Robert Usher, were unable to travel. The Rev. Mr. Symmes says:

"Lieut. Robbins desired his companions to charge his gun and leave it with him, which they did; he declaring that, 
"As the Indians will come in the morning to scalp me, I will kill one or more of them, if I can."

There were eleven more of the English, who were badly wounded, viz: Lieut. Farwell, Mr. Frye, Sergeant Johnson, 
Timothy Richardson, Josiah Johnson, Samuel Whiting, Elias Barron, John Chamberlain, Isaac Lakin, Eleazer Davis 
and Josiah Jones; but they, however, marched off the ground, with the nine others who received no considerable 
wounds, viz: Ensign Wyman, Edward Lingfield, Thomas Richardson, the two Melvins, Ebenezer Ayer, Abial Asten, 
Joseph Farrar, and Joseph Gilson. These all proceeded on their return to the fort, and did not perceive that 
they were way-laid or pursued by the enemy, though they knew our men had no provision, and must therefore be very faint.

Four of the wounded men, viz: Farwell, Frye, Davis and Jones, after they had traveled about a mile and a half, 
found themselves unable to go further, and with their free consent, the rest kept on the march, hoping to find 
a recruit at the Fort, and to return with fresh hands to relieve them.

As they proceeded on, they divided into three companies one morning, as they were passing a thick wood, for fear 
of making a track by which the enemy might follow them. One of the companies came upon three Indians, who pursued 
them sometime: meanwhile Elias Barron, one of the party, strayed from the others, and got over Ossipee river, by 
the side of which his gun case was found, and he was not heard of afterwards. Eleven, in another party, reached 
the fort at Ossipee; but to their great surprise found it deserted. The coward who fled in the beginning of the 
battle, ran directly to the fort, and gave the men posted there such a frightful account of what had happened, 
that they all fled from the fort, and made the best of their way home.

Solomon Keyes also came to the fort. When he had fought in the battle till he had received three wounds, and 
had become so weak by the loss of blood that he could not stand, he crawled up to Ensign Wyman in the heat of 
the battle, and told him he was a dead man; but (said he) if it be possible, I will get out of the way of the 
Indians, that they may not get my scalp. Keyes then crept off by the side of the pond to where he providentially 
found a canoe, when he rolled himself into it, and was driven by the wind several miles towards the fort; he 
gained strength fast and reached the fort as soon as the eleven before mentioned; and they all arrived at 
Dunstable on the 13th of May at night.

On the 15th of May, Ensign Wyman and three others arrived at Dunstable. They suffered greatly for want of 
provisions. They informed that they were destitute of all kinds of food from a Saturday morning till the 
Wednesday following; when they caught two mouse squirrels, which they roasted whole and found to be a sweet 
morsel. They afterwards killed some partridges, and other game, and were comfortably supplied **** (until?) they got home.

Eleazer Davis arrived at Berwick, and reported, that he and the three who were left with him waited some 
days for the return of the men from the fort, and at length, despairing of their **** though their wounds 
were putrified and stank, and they were almost dead with famine, yet they traveled on several miles, together, 
till Mr. Frye desired Davis and Farwell not to hinder themselves any longer on his account, for he found 
himself dying, and he laid himself down, telling them he should never rise more, and charged Davis, it is 
should please God to bring him home, to go to his father, and tell him that he expected in a few hours to 
be in eternity, and that he was not afraid to die.--They left him, and this amiable and promising young 
gentleman, who had the journal of the march in his **** (pocket?) was not heard of again.

Lieut. Farwell, who was greatly and no doubt deservedly applauded and lamented, was also left by Davis 
within a few miles of the fort, and was not afterwards heard of. But Davis getting to the fort, and finding 
provisions there, tarried and re**** (refueled?) himself, and recovered strength to travel to Berwick.

Josiah Jones, another of the four wounded who were left the day after the fight but a short distance from 
the scene of action, traversed Saco river, and after a fatiguing ramble, arrived at **** (Saco?) (now Biddeford) 
emaciated, and almost dead form the loss of blood, the putrefaction of his wounds and the want of food. He had 
subsisted on the spontaneous vegetables of the forest, *** cranberries, &c., which he had eaten. He was kindly 
treated by the people of Saco, and recovered of his wounds.

Lieutenant Josiah Farwell of Dunstable, and Elias Barron of Groton were wounded, and died by the way in attempt 
to return home."

The soldier who fled from the battle field so ingloriously, Benjamin Hassel, a corporal in the company. Hassel 
from Dunstable, and a grandson of Joseph and Anna Hassel, were killed by the Indians at Dunstable, in September, 
****. His uncle Richard Hassel had also been taken prisoner by the Indians. Under such circumstances, it is not 
surprising that Hassel should not care to fall into the hands of the Indians. So, the earliest of the fight, 
seeing Capt. Lovewell fall by his company surrounded by the Indians, and becoming separated from his companion 
in their retreat to the pond, he made the best of his way to the fort, and by his imperfect and exaggerated 
intelligence, so wrought upon the fears of the soldiers left in charge of the same, that they at once determined 
upon a retreat.

This probably was an act of prudence under the circumstances, although as it turned out, it was very 
unfortunate. According to Hassel's account, the entire command of Lovewell had been cut off, and the 
Indians in overwhelming numbers were in full pursuit. The fort was a mere temporary affair, with no 
provisions, forty miles from any white inhabitant, no prospect of relief in case of attack or siege, 
and the little garrison including Hassel, Kidder the sick man, and the physician, amounted to but 
eleven person all told. Under such circumstances, retreat was the only alternative. At first, some 
**** blame was attached to Hassel, but people soon began to think that he should be excused, and 
only two years after, when the grant of Suncook was made to those who were in this expedition under 
Lovewell, Hassel was one of the grantees without any exception being taken on account of his conduct 
**** subsequent to the battle. The men who were left in the lot with Kidder, were Nathaniel Woods, 
of Dunstable, sergeant; Doctor Wm. Ayer, of Haverhill; John Goffe, of Londonderry, brother-in-law 
of Kidder; John Gilson, of Groton; Isaac Whitney, and Zachariah Whitney, of Concord; Zebediah ***tin, 
of Haverhill; and Edward Spooney, and Ebenezer H***burt of Dunstable.

The party probably arrived at Dunstable on the 11th of May, 1725.

Upon hearing of this disastrous news, Governor Dummer forthwith despatched a company under Col. 
Eleazer Tyng of Du****, to search for the enemy and to find and bury the slain.

Col. Tyng marched with his company on the 17th of May, and encamped at Namaoskeag, now Manchester, 
the first night. The next day being rainy, they continued at their encampment. Col. Tyng having 
taken all the effective men from Dunstable, leaving the settlers in an exposed situation, wrote 
to Governor Dummer the following letter informing him of their condition, and asking protection for them:

   "May it please your Honor.
         This day I marched from Amoskeag, having 55 of my own men, and 32 of Capt. White's. (?) 
The men are well and proceeded with a great deal of life and courage.
   Yesterday I was forced to lie still by reason of the rain. I would humbly offer something to 
your Honor in the behalf of our people who are left very destitute and naked, that you would be 
pleased to consider their circumstances and order what you shall think proper for their defence 
till we return.

I am Your Honor's
Most Ob't Servant,
ELEAZER TYNG.

   Amoskeag, May 19, 1725."8

Governor Dummer, it seems, had anticipated Col. Tyng's request, and issued the following order.

   "To Col. Flagg.
      Sir, These are to empower and direct you forthwith to detach or impress out of the Reg't 
whereof you are Lieut. Coll., A Sergeant and Twelve effective able bodied men, well armed for 
his Magisteys service, for the Security and Reinforcement of Dunstable, until the return of Col. 
Tyng and his company. They must be posted at the Garrisons of Joseph Bloghead, Nathl Hill, John 
Taylour, and John Lovewell, and three Centinels in each Garrison, and the Sergeant in that of the 
four that ** (are?) nearest the Centre.
   The Sergeant must be very careful to keep the men well upon their duty, so as to be a good Guard 
and protection to the People, and you must give him directions in writing accordingly. Let this 
matter be effected with all possible despatch.

WILLIAM DUMMER.

   Boston, May 19th. 1725"9

Gov. Dummer had also written Gov. Wentworth at Portsmouth, informing him of the mishap to 
Lovewell's party, and Gov. Wentworth, by advise of the Council, dispatched a company to 
Pequauquauke, under Capt. Chesley, but they did not succeed in meeting with any of the 
wounded men. They went as far as Ossipee lake, and found Lovewell's fort **** which they 
hastened, having on Thursday, the 20th of **** discovered the trail of a large party of 
the enemy as they supposed. Under these circumstances, Capt. Chesley and his men were fearful 
they should "meet the same fate" of Lovewell's party, and they returned forthwith to Cocheco, 
from which an express was dispatched to Portsmouth, to inform the Governor of the failure of 
the expedition.

But Col. Tyng and his party were more successful. They "went to the place of action where 
they found and buried the following men, viz:--

Capt. John Lovewell, Ensign Jonathan Woods, Ensign John Harwood and Robert Usher, of Dunstable; 
Jacob Fullam of Weston; Jacob Farrar, and Josiah Davis, of Concord; Thomas Woods, Daniel Woods, 
and John Jefts, of Groton; Ichabod Johnson, of Woburn; Jonathan Kittredge, of Billerica.

Col. Tyng found where the Indians had buried three of their men which were dug up, and one 
of them was known to be the bold Paugus, who had been a great scourge to Dunstable.

Dr. Belknap observes of "Lovewell's Fight," "This was one of the most obstinate battles which 
had been fought with the Indians. They had not only the advantage of numbers, but of placing 
themselves in ambush, and waiting with deliberation the moment of attack. These circumstances 
give them a degree of ardor and impetuosity. Lovewell and his men, though disappointed of 
meeting the enemy in their **** expected and determined to fight. The fall of their commanders, 
and more than one quarter of their number, in the first onset, was greatly discouraging; but 
they knew that the situation to which they were reduced, and their distance from the frontiers, 
cut off all hope of safety from flight. In these circumstances, prudence as well as valor dictated 
a continuance of the engagement, and a refusal to surrender: until the enemy, awed by their brave 
resistance, and weakened by their own loss, yielded them the honor of the field. After this encounter, 
the Indians resided no more at Pequawket till the peace."10
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/nh/county/hillsborough/manchester/book/chap9.html

p.62 cont'd                                  GROTON.

Throughout New England, Lovewell's daring was made the subject of talk, and the public looked to him
as a natural Leader in border warfare.

With the small force now at his command, the heroic captian pressed forward to meet the enemy, and in
a few days reached the borders of Saco Pond, since known as Lovewell's Pond, woutheast of the present
village of Fryeburg, Maine. On the morning of Saturday, May 8th, while engaged at prayers they heard a
gun, and shortly afterward discovered an Indian on a point of land which ran into the pond. They were
distrustful of an ambush, and a consultation was held in order to see whether they should advance or
retreat. Their decision was to proceed at all hazards. They said, "We came out to meet the Enemy; we
have all along prayed God we might find them and we had rather trust Providence with our Lives, yea,
die for our Country, than try to return without seeing them, if we may, and be called cowards for our
pains."  After this answer, Lovewell ordered his men to move forward cautiously; and they soon reached
a place where they halted and took off their packs and piled them up together. Leaving these behind
without a guard and advancing a short distance, they came upon the Indian whom they had previously
descried. He was returning to his companions

p.63                                          GROTON.

with some game that he had killed. Several guns were instantly discharged at him, when he in turn fired
and wounded Captain Lovewell and another man; after which he was killed and scalped. The company then
turned back and with their wounded leader, repaired to the place where they had left their packs. In the
meantime Paugus, the far-famed Chief of the Pequawkets, at the head of eighty warriors on their way home
from a marauding exxpedition, had discovered the pile of packs and counting them had learned the learned
the number of the English.  Finding that the force was much less than his own, Paugus placed his men
in ambush and awaited the return of Lovewell. When the company came up for their packs, the Indians with
hideous yells rushed forth suddenly from their hiding-places and began to fire.

The brave Captain ordered his men to return it, which was done with terrible effect.  Lovewell himself
fell at the first shot, and eight of his men soon shared the same fate.  Ensign Wyman of Woburn, then
assumed the command and preceiving that the Indians were trying to surround them, ordered a retreat
to the pond where he took his stand.  A ledge of rocks projecting into the water on one side of him and
a deep brook on the other side, made a position favorable for the defence. The fighting continued, and
during the day the savages vainly endeavored to compel the valiant band to surrender; but they would not
listen to the proposition. 
                   Paugus was slain in the action by John Chamberlain of Groton.
After the death of their chief the Indians became somewhat disheartened and for a time withdrew from the
skirmish. 


Insert: Ballad of Lovewell's Fight
Subject: The Ballad of Lovewell's Fight - N.H. Historical Collections
Source: Gathered Sketches from the Early History of New Hampshire & Vermont
Adventures of Our Forefathers, Original & Selected by Francis Chase, M. A., 
Claremont, N.H., Tracey, Kenney & Co., 1856.

p.32

On the 18th of April, 1725, Capt. John Lovewell of Dunstable, Mass., & 50 men, fought
a famous Indian Chief named Paugus, at the head of about 80 savages near the shores of
a pond in Pequawkett, the Indian name of a considerable tract of country including
Conway, N.H., Fryeburg, Maine, and the adjacent towns.  The scene of this desperate
and bloody action, which took place in the town which is now called Fryburg, is often
visited with interest to this day, and the names of those who fell and those who
survived are yet repeated with emotions of grateful exultation.

The Ballad of Lovewell's Fight

What time the noble Lovewell came,
With fifty men from Dunstable,
The cruel Pequatt tribe to tame,
With arms and bloodshed terrible.

Then did the crimson streams, that flowed,
Seem like the waters of the brook,
That brightly shine, that loudly dash
Far down the cliffs of Agiochook.

With Lovewell brave John Harwood came;
From wife and babes 'twas hard to part;
Young Harwood took her by the hand,
And bound the weeper to his heart.

"Repress that tear, my Mary dear,"
Said Harwood to his loving wife;
"It tries me hard to leave thee here,
And seek in distant woods the strife.

"When gone, my Mary, think of me,
And pray to God that I may be
Such as one ought that lives for thee,
And come at last in victory."

Thus young Harwood babe and wife;
With accent wild, she bade adieu;
It grieved those lovers much to part,
So fond and fair, so kind and true.

Seth Wyman who in Woburn lived,
A marksman he of courage true,
Shot the first Indian whom they saw;
Sheer through his heart the bullet flew.

The savage had been seeking game;
Two guns and eke a knife he bore,
And two black ducks were in his hand;
He shrieked, and fell, to rise no more.

Anon, there eighty Indians rose,
Who'd hid themselves in ambush dread;
Their knives they shook, their guns they aimed,
The famous Paugus at their head.

Good heavens! they dance the powwow dance;
What horrid yells the forest fill!
The grim bear crouches in his den,
The eagle seeks the distant hill.

"What means this dance, this powwow dance?"
Stern Wyman said. With wondrous art
He crept full near, his rifle aimed.
And shot the leader through the heart.

John Lovewell, captain of the band,
His sword he waved, that glittered bright,
For the last time he cheered his men,
And led them onward to the fight.

"Fight on, fight on," brave Lovewell said;
"Fight on, while Heaven shall give you breath!"
An Indian ball then pierced him through,
And Lovewell closed his eyes in death.

John Harwood died all bathed in blood,
When he had fought till set of day!
And many more we may not name
Fell in that bloody battle fray.

When news did come to Harwood's wife,
That he with Lovewell fought and died,
Far in the wilds had given his life,
Nor more would in their home abide -

Such grief did seize upon her mind,
Such sorrow filled her faithful breast,
On earth she ne'er found peace again,
But followed Harwood to his rest.

'Twas Paugus led the Pequa'tt tribe; 
As runs the fox would Paugus run;
As howls the wild wolf would he howl;
A large bear skin had Paugus on.

But Chamberlain of Dunstable,
One whom a savage ne'er shall slay,
Met Paugus by the water side,
And shot him dead upon that day.

Good Heavens! Is this a time for prayer?
Is this a time to Worship God?
When Lovewell's men are dying fast,
And Paugus'tribe hath felt the rod?

The chaplain's name was Jonathan Frye;
In Andover his father dwelt,
And oft with Lovewell's men he'd prayed,
Before the mortal wound he felt.


A man was he of comely form,
Polished and brave, well learnt and kind;
Old Harvard's learned halls he left,
Far in the wilds a grave to find.

Ah, now his blood-red arm he lifts,
His closing lids he tries to raise,
And speak once more before he dies,
In supplication and in praise.

He prays kind Heaven to grant success,
Brave Lovewell's men to guide and bless,
And when they've shed their heart blood true,
to raise them all to happiness.

"Come hither, Farwell," said young Frye,
"You see that I'm about to die;
Now for the love I bear to you,
When cold in death my bones shall lie,

"Go thou and see my parents dear,
And tell them you stood by me here;
Console them when they cry, Alas!
And wipe away the falling tear."

Lieutenant Farwell took his hand
His arm around his neck he threw,
And said, "Brave Chaplain, I could wish
That Heaven had made me die for you.

The chaplain on kind Farwell's breast,
Bloody and languishing he fell;
Nor after this said more, but this:
"I love thee soldier, fare thee well."

Ah, many a wife shall rend her hair,
And many a child cry, "Woe is me,"
When messengers the news shall bear,
Of Lovewell's dear-bought victory.

With footsteps slow shall travellers go,
Where Lovewell's Pond shines clear and bright,
And mark the place where those are laid
Who fell in Lovewell's bloody fight.

Old men shall shake their heads and say,
"Sad was the hour and terrible
When Lovewell brave against Paugus went,
With fifty men from Dunstable."

footnote:
Of the men who belonged to Lovewell's party, but nine
returned unhurt. Eleven came back wounded, and three had to be
left behind on account of their severe wounds.  Among these three
was Ensign Robbins, who desired to have his gun charged and left
by his side, that he might kill one more of them, should they
return.

The Indian that Seth Wyman killed, was no doubt placed there as
a decoy.  Suspecting this, the men concealed their packs and
advanced with great caution.  Meantime Paugus and Wahwa, with
two parties of Indians followed their trail till they found their
packs. About these they placed themselves in ambush, and when the
Englishmen returned, rose and commenced the attack.

The death of the celebrated Indian happened in this manner:
Paugus and John Chamberlain had been foes, and had met in
bloody fray before this battle. Towards the close of the day,
the guns of each had become foul from constant firing, and they
came at the same time to the water's edge for the purpose of 
washing them.  Paugus was up stream and Chamerlain below. They
immediately recognized each other."Now, Paugus, said Chamberlain,
"It is you or I." "Yes," answered the warrior, "It is you or I."

Both of them sprang to the water and commenced cleaning their
guns.  Each strained every nerve, conscious that to be last would
be death.  Almost with the rapidity of lightning the guns were
washed out and dried. They began loading at the same instant.

The muskets were primed, the powder rammed home, the bullets
thrown into their muzzles and who could tell the issue?  But
now appeared the advantage of Chamberlain's position.  Paugus
standing above Chamberlain was obliged to follow his ball with
a wad to prevent its rolling out.  Chamberlain dropped the ball
down the muzzle of his gun, his eye glanced along the barrel
and with a yell the Indian chief leaped into the air and fell
headlong into the brook.        

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth



p.66                                        GROTON.

In the year 1744, war was again declared between England and France, called by the English colonists
King George's War. Civilization had now pushed the belt of frontier towns far into the wilderness; and
Groton was no longer exposed to the assaults of the Indians, though at times threatened with danger.
Groton's sons and soldiers, however, were still found during this period on the outer rim of settlements
whenever and wherever their services were needed, either to extend the borders or to defend them. A
military organization was kept up in the town, ready for emergencies here or elsewhere in the neighbor-
hood.
                                             FORT NO. 4.
The first settlement of Charlestown, New Hampshire, then known as Fort No. 4, was made in the year 1740
by three brothers, Samuel, David and Stephen Farnsworth, natives of Groton, sons of Samuel Farnsworth 
and his wife, Mary (Whitcomb) Willard Farnsworth (she was the widow of Josiah Willard of Lancaster, Mass.) 
and they were soon followed by Isaac Parker and his sons, and Obadiah Sawtell, also of Groton.

The Farnsworths were leading men at Charlestown and they distinguished themselves on several occasions
in fights with the Indians.  Samuel Farnsworth, the oldest brother, was killed in a skirmish, May 2,
1746.  David Farnsworth was taken prisoner by a party of French & Indians, April 20, 1757 and carried to
Canada. He managed to escape, and reached home not a long time after his capture.

p.67                                          

Stephen Farnsworth, the youngest brother had also his bitter experience with the Indians. He was captured
April 19, 1746 and taken to Montreal where he remained seventeen months before he was exchanged. His
health was so broken down by the hardships of his captivity that he never fully regained it. He died
September 6, 1771, leaving behind the reputation of a brave man and a good citizen.

Ebenezer Farnsworth, a native of Groton and cousin of the three brothers just mentioned (and son of
Josiah Farnsworth & Mary Pierce of Groton) who settled at Fort 4, in 1750, was captured by the Indians
Aug 30, 1754 by the St. Francis Indians, at Charlestown, N.H. He was carried to Montreal and held 
prisoner three years. His ransom was paid in the summer of 1755 but he was not then set at liberty.
Mrs. Susannah Johnson and her sister Miriam Willard were taken prisoners at that same time. They were
daughters of Moses Willard (grandson of Major Simon Willard of Mass.) who had formerly lived in the
south part of this town.  A full acount of the affair is given in "A Narrative of the Captivity of
Mrs. Johnson" published at Walpole, New Hampshire in 1796.  Two years later on June 18, 1756, Moses
Willard, the father, was killed by the Indians at Fort No. 4, Charlestown, N.H. and in the same attack,
his son Moses Willard, Jr. had a narrow escape from death by the hands of the savages, being severely
wounds at the time. 

                              Insert: Captivity of Mrs. Susannah Johnson


urname: JOHNSON, Susannah (Willard)
Source: History of Charlestown, NH, The Old No. 4,
by Rev. Henry Saunderson printed by the Clare-
mont Mfg. Co., Claremont, NH 1876

                 Part 1 of 4 Parts

p.445
Capt. James Johnson m. Susannah, dau of Lieutenant Moses
and Susanna (Hastings) Willard. She was born at Turkey
Hills - later known as Lunenburg, MA Feb 20, 1729/30.

See also in this book Moses Willard grandson of Major 
Simon Willard who emigrated from County Kent in England to 
Cambridge, Mass 1634

Susannah Johnson and family were taken prisoners together
with her sister Miriam Willard, Peter Labaree and Ebene-
zer Farnsworth, on the 30th of August 1754 and were 
carried to Canada. The story of their journey and
captivity is one of deep interest and is now familiar
to thousands who have read her graphic and exciting
narrative. The manner of her capture and the subsequent
circumstances of her captivity and sufferings will be 
best appreciated by her own description of them. But
as this cannot be inserted (here) on account of its great
length, a brief abridgment of the facts and circumstances
as narrated by herself, must be accepted in place of it.

About the 20th of August, 1754, the capture of the 
Maloon family on the Merrimac River by the Indians be-
came known in Charlestown (NH) and very great excitement
prevailed in consequence. Mr. Johnson was absent at the
time and Mrs. Johnson and the family were living in their
house on the farm, which stood at what is now the north
end of the street in the village and which, being at
about the distance of a hundred rods from the fort, was
in a very exposed situation. It is scarcely a matter
that should surprise us, therefore, that her mind should
be filled, as she describes it to have been, with the
most fearful apprehensions. But her husband soon re-
turned and putting confidence in his courage and ability
to protect her, all fears were theron dismissed.

But although special danger had ceased to be feared, it
was still no less imminent for, on the morning of the 30th
of August, they were suddenly surprised by a party of
eleven Indiansand all the family were taken prisoners.

The circumstances were these: There had been a social
gatheringof neighbors at the house the previous evening
who being very agreeably entertained with fine ripe 
melons and exciting beverages prolonged their stay to an
unusually late hour. The consequence was that the
family on retiring soon fell asleep and would doubtless
have continued to sleep until late in the morning had
they not been aroused about half way between dawn and
sunrise by the loud knocking of Peter Labaree at the
door, who had been engaged by James Johnson for a day's
work and had thus early come to commence it. On being
awakened, Mr. Johnson slipped on his jacket and trousers
to go let him in, but by opening the door he opened a
scene terrible to describe: Indians! Indians! Indians!

He sprang to his guns, but Labaree, heedless of danger
instead of closing the door to keep them out, began to
rally our hired man upstairs. But in an instant a crown
of savages fixed horribly for war, rushed furiously in.
I screamed and begged my friends to ask for quarter. By
this time they were all over the house; some up the
stairs; some hauling my siter Miriam Willard out of bed
another had hold of me and one was approaching Mr. John-
son, who stood in the middle of the floor to deliver
himself up. But the Indian supposing that he would make
resistance and be more than his match went to the door
and brought three of his comrades and the four bound him.

I was led to the door fainting and trembling. There
stood our friend Labaree bound. Ebenezer Farnsworth whom
they foundup chamber (a hired hand), they were putting
in the same situation; and to make complet the shocking
scene, my three little children were driven naked to the
place where I stood. After what little plunder their
hurry would allow, we were ordered to march. After go-
ing about 20 rods we fell behind a rising ground where
we halted to pack things in a better manner. While there
a savage went back, as we supposed, to fire the buildings.
Ebenezer Farnsworth proposed to my husband to go back
with him to get a quantity of pork from the cellar to
help us on the journey, but Mr. Johnson prudently replied
that by that means the Indians might find the rum and in
a fit of intoxication - kill us all. The Indian returned
with marks of fear on his contenance and we were hurried
on with violence. Two savages laid hold of each of my
arms and hurried me through thorny thickets in a most
unmerciful manner. I lost a shoe and suffered exceed-
ingly.

We heard alarm guns from the fort. This added new speed
to the flight of the savages. They were apprehensive
that soldiers might be sent for our relief. When we had
got a mile and a half, my faintness obliged me to sit.
This being observed by an Indian, he drew his knife, 
to put an end to my existence, but he only cut some band
by which my gown was tied and pushed me on. My little
children were crying; my husband and the other two men
were bound, and my sister and myself were obliged to make
the best of our way with all our might. At the distance
of three miles there was a general halt. The savages
supposing that we as well as themselves might have an
appetite, gave us a loaf of bread, some raisins and
apples which they had taken from the house. While we
were forcing down our scanty breakfasta horse came in
sight known to all by the name Scoggin, belonging to
Capt. Phineas Stevens, Esq. One of the Indians attempted
to shoot him but was prevented by Mr. Johnson. They
then expressed a wish to catch him saying (pointing to
me) for the squaw to ride. Mr. Johnson and two Indians
caught the horse on the bank of the river. By this time
my legs and feet were covered with blood which being
noticed by Mr. Labaree, he with that humanity that never
forsook him, took his own stockings and presented them
to me, and the Indians gave me a pair of moccasins. 

Bags and blankets were thrown over Scoggin and I mounted on
top of them and on we jogged about seven miles to the
upper end of Wilcott's Island. We there halted and pre-
pared to cross the river. Rafts were made of dry timber
Two Indians and Farnsworth crossed first. Labaree, by
signs, got permission to swim the horse and Mr. Johnson
was allowed to swim by the raft that I was on, to push
it along. We all arrived safe on the other side of the
river about four o'clock in the afternoon. A fire was
kindled and some of their stolen kettles were hung over
it and filled with porridge. The savages took delight
in viewing their spoil, which amounted to forty or fifty
pounds in (monetary) value. They, then with a savage yell
gave the war whoop and bade defiance to danger. Our tarry
in this place lasted an hour. I had time to reflect on
our miserable condition. Captives in the power of un-
merciful savages, without provision and almost without
clothes, in a wilderness where we must sojourn as long
as the children of Israel did, for aught we knew, and,
what added to our distress, not one of our savage masters
could understand a word of English.

Here, after being hurried from home with such rapidity,
I have leisure to inform the reader respecting our Indian
masters. (Susannah, as she writes her memoirs of her
captivity, here, speaks to the readers of her account)
They were eleven in number; all men of middle age, except
one, a youth of sixteen, who, on our journey discovered
a very troublesome disposition. According to their
practice he who first laid hands on a prisoner consider-
ed (the prisoner) his property. My master, who was the
one who first took my hand was as clever an Indian as I
ever saw. He even evinced, at numberous times a dispo-
sition that showed he was by no means void of compassion.


The four who took my husband claimed him as their prop-
erty. My sister, three children, Labaree and Farnsworth
had each a master. When the time came for us to prepare
to march I almost expired at the thought of leaving my
aged parents, brothers, sisters and friends and travel
with savages through a dismal forest to unknown regions
in the alarming situation in which I then was with three
small children. The eldest (child) Sylvanus (Johnson)
was but six years old. My sister Miriam (Willard) was
fourteen. My husband was barefoot and otherwise thinly
clad. His masters had taken his jacket. My two daughters
had nothing on but their shifts and I had only the gown
handed to me by the savages. In addition to the suffer-
ings which arose from my own deplorable condition I could
not but feel for my friend, Labaree. He had left a wife
and four small children behind - his situation was
extremely unhappy. The Indians pronounced the dreadful
word, "munch", (march) and on we must go.

I was put on the the horse; Mr. Johnson took one daughter
and Mr. Labaree took the other. We sent six or eight
miles and stopped for the night. The men were made secure
by having their legs put in split sticks somewhat like
stocks and tied with cords which were tied to limbs of
trees too high to be reached. My sister much to her
mortification must lie between two Indians with a cord
thrown over her and passing under each of them. The
little children had blankets and I had one for my own
use. The fatigues of day obliged me to sleep for several
hours in spite of the horrors which surrounded me. The
Indians observed great silence and never spoke but when 
necessary. My children were much more peaceable than
could be imagined. Gloomy fear imposed a deadly silence.

End Part 1: The Captivity of Susannah Johnson

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth


Captivity of Susannah JOHNSON 
Source:  History of Charlestown, NH, The Old No. 4,
     by Rev. Henry Saunderson printed by the Claremont Mfg.
        Co., Claremont, NH 1876

                  (Part 2 of 4)

p.449
In the morning the prisoners were aroused before sunrise
and given water gruel for breakfast when they were again
compelled to start on their journey.  But they had not
travelled over an hour before Mrs. Johnson who before her
capture was in daily expectation of being confined, was
taken with the pains of childbirth.  This becoming known
to the Indians, they signified that the party must pass 
on to a brook. The spot at which this was reached lies
within the present limits of Cavendish.  Here on a flat
rock elevated a little above the bed of the stream, at
about ten o'clock in the morning a daughter was born who
was subsequently named Elizabeth Captive Johnson, and
during that day the sad and weary mother was permitted
to rest.  But early the next morning after a scanty break-
fast of meal and water the prisoners were summoned to 
proceed.  

Mrs. Johnson was laid on a litter which the
Indians had prepared, which was borne by Mr. Johnson,
Labaree and Farnsworth; while Miriam Willard and little
Sylvanus Johnson were put upon Scoggin, and the two little
girls were carried on their masters' backs.  In this way
they proceeded about two miles when the men who carried
the litter grew so faint that they found it impossible
to proceed any further.  This the Indians perceiving,
a general halt was called, while they should take
counsel what it would be best to do.  After a brief
consultation the Indian who claimed Mrs. Johnson made
signs to her husband that if she could ride on the horse
she could proceed, otherwise she must be left behind.

Of course she preferred an attempt to ride to the un-
certainty of perishing miserably and alone.  But so weak
was she and faint that every step of the horse almost
deprived her of life.  She rode an hour in this way when
she had to be taken off and laid on the ground for the
purpose of resting and recruiting her strength - and
this had to be done every hour or, every little while.
In this way her life was preserved for another day which
brought them to the head of Black River Pond where they
encamped for the night.

The next morning was foggy and cold, but after partaking
of a little meal and water they were compelled again to
pursue their journey.  All the prisoners by this time
were so exhausted with fatigue and bowed down with grief
that they felt little disposition to talk and so moved
on in silence.  Their course lay througha difficult
region lying sometimes in miry levels, at others over
steep and broken hills.  Their fifth day's journey there
fore became an unvaried scene of toil and fatigue.  In
addition to this, their provisions had failed and the two 
or three hunting parties which the Indians sent out re-
turned without any game.  All became seriously alarmed.

They halted a little before night, having reached the
height of land where the waters run into Lake Champlain
and the Indians by the aid of punk which they carried in
their horns, kindled a fire, after which a plan was soon
adopted for relieving their hunger.  Old Scoggin, the
horse that had served them so well was shot and the best
parts of him broiled and given to the prisoners.  "An
epicure, (says Mrs Johnson in her narrative), could not
have catered nicer slices, nor in that situatiion have
served them up with more neatness.  Appetite is said to 
be the best sauce; yet our abundance of it did not render
savory this novel steak." 

The children however ate so much that it afterwards made
them sick.  Broth from it flavored with roots was made
for Mrs. Johnson and little "Captive" (her newborn infant)
All ate enough to be refreshed and their spirits were
greatly revived.  But Mrs. Johnson as her mind anticipa-
ted the future, passed a most unhappy night.  By the aid
of poor old Scoggin, she had hitherto been enabled to
travel; but what was she to do now that he was gone?
Her weakness was such that to walk was impossible.  In
the midst of a wilderness, therefore, of a hundred miles
on every side in extent, what could there be for her but
inevitable death.

In the morning which commenced the 6th day from their
starting out, the Indians pounded up old Scoggin's marrow
bones and made a soup.  Every root that could be gather-
ed from the woods both sweet and bitter were thrown in
to give it flavor.  Each partook of as much as his feel-
ings would allow when the war whoop summoned them again
to march.  "My fate, says Mrs. Johnson, was unknown until
my master brought some bark and tied my petticoats as
high as he supposed would be convenient for walking and
ordered me to "munch" (march)  With scarce strength to
to stand alone, I went on half a mile with my little son
and three Indians.  The rest were advanced.  My power to
move then failed; the world grew dark and I dropped down.
I had sight enough to see an Indian lift his hatchet over
my head while my little son screamed, "Ma'am do, for
they will kill you."  As I fainted my last thought was
that I should presently be in the world of the spirits.

When I awoke my master was talking angrily with the 
savage who had threatened my life.  By his gesturesI
could learn that he charged him with not having acted the
honorable part of a warrior by an attempt to destroy the
prize of a brother.  A whoop was given for a halt.  My
master helped me to the rest of the company where a
council was held, the result of which was that my hus-
band should walk by my side and help me along.  This he
did for some hours.  But faintness then overpowered me
and Mr. Johnson's tenderness and solicitude were unequal
to the task of aiding me further.  Another council was
held.  While in debate as I lay on the ground gasping
for breath, my master sprung towards me with a hatchet.
My husband and fellow prisoners grew pale at the sight
suspecting that he by a single blow would rid themselves
of so great a burden as myself.  But his object was to
get bark from a tree to make a pack saddle for my con-
veyance on the back of my husband.   We moved on faint
and wearily till night.  The Indians then yelled their
war whoop, built a fire and hung over their horse broth.
After supper my booth was build as usual and I reposed
much better than I had the preceding night.

In the morning she found herself greatly refreshed.  
Nature had begun to provide a remedy for the weakness.
And after a breakfast of horse steak of which she par-
took with no little relish, the weary daily march was
again commenced and they soon arrived at a beaver pond
formed in a branch of the Otter Creek which they were
under the necessity of wading.    In attempting this,
Mrs. Johnson's strength failed and without ability to
move she stood motionless and stiffened in the middle of
the pond, which her husband perceiving from the opposite
shore, immediately went to her assistance and taking her
in his arms bore her safely to the other side, when the
whold company and the Indians with great humanity built
a fire for the purpose of warming her and restoring her
exhausted strength.  

In two hours they were enabled again
to move on which they did uninterruptedly till about the
middle of the afternoon when they came to one of the
great branchesof Otter Creek.  This was very rapid and in
the view of Mrs. Johnson "passing dangerous."  But after
a little refreshment its passage was attempted and 
accomplished without any fatal accident, though Mr.
Labaree when about half way over was tripped up by the
rapidity of the stream and lost little "Captive" whom he
was carrying, into the water; but was fortunately able 
to gain his footing in season to reach a corner of the
blanket in which she was wrapped so that she was saved.
After they were all over the Creek, the Indians built
a fire at which Miriam Willard warmed the infant and
very carefully dried its clothing.

End Part 2 of 4 Parts

Surname: JOHNSON, Susannah Captivity
Source: History of Charlestown, NH, The Old No. 4,
by Rev. Henry Saunderson printed by the Clare-
mont Mfg. Co., Claremont, NH 1876

                      Part 3 of 4 Parts


p.452
The savages being now beyond danger gave tokens of their
joy by the most boistrous hallooing and yelling. They
also, but whether as a diversion or a religious ceremon-
ial, Mrs. Johnson never knew, taught their prisoners to
dance. Each of themalso was taught a song. Mrs. John-
son's song was, "Danna witchee nachepung." That of little
Sylvanus Johnson was: "Narwiseumpton". Of the titles of
the others we are not informed. But if these things
were a diversion to the Indians they do not appear to
have been so to the prisoners, as Mrs. Johnson informs
us that they were "very painful and offensive." "Here,
says Mrs. Johnson, we were visited by seven Indians who
were received with great joy by our masters, who took
great pleasure in introducing their prisoners. The war
dance was held again. We were obliged to join and sing
our songs while the Indians rent the air with infernal
yelling. We then embarked and arrived at Crown Point
about noon. Each prisoner was then lead by his master
to the residence of the French commander. We were order-
ed to his apartment and used with that hospitality which
characterizes the best part of that nation. We had
brandy in profusion, a good dinner, and a change of linen.
This was luxury indeed after what we had suffered for
want of these things. None but ourselves could prize
their value. We, after dinner, were paraded before the
commander and underwent examination; after which we were
shown a convenient apartment, where we resided four days
not subject to the jurisdiction of our savage masters.
Here we received great civilities and many presents.
I had a nursewho in a great measure restored my exhausted
strength. My children were all decently clothed, and
my infant in particular. The remainder of this history
must be briefly told. And only that which particularly
relates to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson will be referred to here
as the incidents relating to Mr. Labaree, Mr. Farnsworth
and Miriam Willard will be given under their own names.

On the 4th day after their arrival at Crown Point the
prisoners were delivered to their Indian masters, when
the whole company embarked in one vessel for St.Johns.
They had not sailed far before on account of the shift-
ing of the wind, it became necessary to cast anchor.
While lying thus, a canoe containing a white woman who
was bound for Albany, came alongside by whom Mr. Johnson
forwarded a letter to Colonel Lydius of that place. This
contained some particulars of their situation and which
afterwards being published in the Boston papers gave to
their New England friends, the first information of their
safety.

After a disagreeable voyage of three days, they arrived
at St. Johns, on the 16th of September where they ex-
perienced once more the politeness of the French command-
er. From this place they passed on to Chamblee where in
the garrison they found all the hospitality their necess-
ities required. "Here, says Mrs. Johnson, for the lst
time after our captivity, I lodged on a bed." Brandy
was handed about in large bowls and we lived in fine
style." But the next morning they were carried in the
canoes of the Indians to Sorelle, from thence they were
taken to St. Francis which was the home of their masters.
And, the headquarters of the tribe of that name.

Mr. Johnson was allowed to remain only a few days at
St. Francis, before he was taken to Montreal to be sold.
Soon after his arrival at this place, a parole of two
months was granted him that he might return home and
obtain the means of redemption. By applying to the 
Assembly of New Hampshire, he obtained, after some time,
one hundred and fifty pounds sterling. But the season
was so far advanced and the winter so severe, that he did
not reach Canada until Spring. He was then accused of
breaking his parole, and a great partof his money was
taken from him by violence. He was then shut up with a
part of his family in prison, where he took the smallpox
He was retained in prison three years, when he and his
son, Sylvanus were permitted to return to New England.

On arriving at Boston he had no sooner landed than he 
was put under guard on suspicion of not having performed
his duty in the redemption of the Canada prisoners, which
suspicion was occasioned by his remissness in producing
his vouchers. But the following certificate procured his
liberty:

"This is to certify whom it may concern that the bearer
Lieutenant James Johnson inhabitant of the town of
Charlestown in the Province of New-Hampshire in New
England, who, together with his family, was taken by the
Indians on the 30th of August, 1754, has ever since
continued a steady and faithful subject to his Majesty
King George, and has used his utmost endeavors to re-
deem his family and all others belonging to the Province
aforesaid that were in the hands of the French and Indians
which he cannot yet accomplish, and that both himself
and family have undergone innumerable hardships and
afflictions since they have been prisoners in Canada.

In testimony of which, we, the subscribers officers in
his Britannic Majesty's service and now prisoners of war
at Quebec, have thought it necessary to grant him this
certificate and do recommend him as an object worthy of
aid and compassion of every honest Englishman.
Signed: Peter Shuyler
Andrew Waztkins
William Martin
William Padgett
Quebec, Sept. 16, 1757

Mrs. Johnson with her two youngest daughters and her
sister Miriam Willard after remaining in captivity 
eighteen months were conveyed in a cartel ship to England
and arrived in New York on the 10th of December, 1757

p.454

Mrs. Johnson in her narrative says: "After his (Mr.
Johnson's) dismission from the guards in Boston, he
proceeded directly to Charlestown (Fort 4). When within
fifteen miles of Springfield he was met by a gentleman
who had just before seen me and who gave him the best
news he could have heard. Although it was then late at
night, he lost not a moment. At two o'clock in the
morning of the lst of January, 1758, I again embraced
my dearest friend. Happy New Year."


Mr. Johnson a few days after this meeting, set out for
New York to adjust his accounts in Canada. On his journey
he was pursuaded by Governor Pownal, to take a Captain's
commission and join the forces bound for Ticonderoga
where he fell at the breast work on the 8th of July 
following, in the battle that proved also fatal to Lord
Howe.

Surname: JOHNSON, Susannah
Source: History of Charlestown, NH, The Old No. 4,
by Rev. Henry Saunderson printed by the Clare-
mont Mfg. Co., Claremont, NH 1876

                  Part 4 of 4 Parts
p.455

This commission was dated at Boston, March 30, 1758 in the
3lst year of the reign of His Majesty George the 2nd.
He was commissionedto be Captain of a company in the
battalion of light infantry, to be formed out of the
forces then raised by the governor, for a general invas-
ion of Canada, commanded by Colonel Oliver Patridge.

Thomas Putnam of Charlestown, afterwards Deacon Thomas Putnam
was in his compnay as a sargent and gave the following account
of the manner in which he was killed. - He says, "On the 8th of 
July, 1758, Capt. Johnson's company was ordered on the left wing
of the army and we arrived within gunshot of the breast work, when
the enemy fired upon us. We in turn fired at them, whenever we had
a chance to get sight of their heads above the breast work, till we
had discharged a dozen or more shots, at which time the firing 
appeared to cease on the part of the enemy. Immediately the enemy 
hoisted a flag, which was supposed by Capt. Johnson and others, to
be a signal that they were about to give up to our army.

A part of his company being still at some distance to the left,
Capt. Johnson ordered me to go immediately to the left, to have
those cease firing, saying with joy "The day (or battle) is ours."
I immediately set out climbing over brush, trees and logs, lying
eight or ten feet from the ground; when stepping on a tree some
rods distance from where I left Capt. Johnson, there was a full
volley fired from the enemy.

I escaped from being wounded, a ball only grazing my hat. I let
myself down as soon as I could, and made the best way possible to
escape their fire. I soon found some of my companions that were with
Capt. Johnson, who gave me the melancholy tidings of his being shot
through the head and of his having expired instantly on the spot where
I had left him. His body was left on the ground, but his arms and
equipage, together with some of his clothing were brought off.  

I was acquainted with him from my youth - I knew him in the former
war when a lieutenant under the command of Edward Hartwell, Esq.,
posted at Lunenburg, Townsend and Narragansett, No. 2, etc.

He was universally loved by his company and equally lamented at his
death.  He was the soldiers friend and a friend to his country - was 
of easy manners, pleasant, good humored yet strict to obey his orders
and see that those under his comand did the same.  

p.456

The loss to his wife and family was irreparable.

Mrs. Johnson resided at Lancaster until October 1759 when she again
returned to Charlestown, N.H., where she subsequently married (2)
John Hastings, Jr. and the remainder of her life was spent. She had
fourteen children.  She says at the close of her narrative 

"Instances of longevity are remarkable in my family. My aged mother
could say to me before her death - 'arise, daughter and go to thy
daughter, for thy daughter's daughter, has got a daughter,' - a
command which few mothers can make and be obeyed."

Mrs. Johnson being desirous of perpetuating the memory of her sufferings -
in 1787, accompanied by Elijah Grout, Esq, and her daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth
Captive Kimball (Captive was her middle name), made a journey to Weathers-
field for the purpose of ascertaining the spot where her daughter was born,
the 31st of August, 1754, that she might erect upon it some memorial of the
occasion. Again in 1790, she made a similar journey.  In 1799 accompanied
by Mr. Peter Labaree, who had been her fellow prisoner, she went to take
another view that "She might ascertain with more precision the memorable
place."

They were both agreed as to the spot - that it was on the northeast corner
lot of land in Cavendish, about half a mile from the main road leading from
Weathersfield to Reading.  On being fully satisfied she determined to erect
two stones: one on the spot where Elizabeth Captive Johnson Kimball was born
and the other on the spot where the Indians encamped, which were about half
a mile from each other.

She therefore engaged a stone cutter to do the work and to set the stones
when finished, in the places which she had designated for them. But in-
stead of obeying her directions he placed them both together on the main
road leading from Weathersfield to Reading at the right hand on the way
just as you pass the stream, and there they both have stood to the present
day.

The inscription on one of these stones is this: "This is near the spot
that the Indians encamped the night after they took Mr. Johnson and his
family, Mr. Labaree and Mr. Farnsworth - August 30th, 1754, and Mrs.
Johnson was delivered of her child half a mile up this brook.

On the other stone, it is as follows: "On the 31st of August, the year
of 

p.457

our Lord, 1754, Capt. James Johnson had a daughter born on this spot of
ground being captivated with his whole family by the Indians.

One of these stones is sculptured what was doubtless intended for the
figure of an Indian with gun, bow, arrows, tomahawk, etc; on the other
stone, at the bottom is a carving which was without doubt meant to
represent an infant in a recumbent position.

Mrs. Johnson alais Hastings, - Joanna Johnson died at Langdon November
27th, 1810, her daughter Mrs. Kimball, the wife of Col. George Kimball,
being present with her at the time.

August 30, 1870, some of the relatives and descendants of Mrs. Johnson
and her fellow captives erected in the beautiful cemetery at Charlestown,
N.H. a monument in memory of their sufferings and virtues.  A discourse
was delivered on the occasion on the early history of the town by the
Rev. Benjamin Labaree, D.D., grandson of Mr. Peter Larbaree. Among
those who were largely interested in the erection of this monument
we may enumerate the following:  Mr. Levi Willard, Mrs. Harriet M.
Baker, Mr. Charles Willard, Rev. Benjamin Labaree, Charles K. Labaree,
William H. Labaree and Moses W. Shurtleff of Waterbury, Vermont.

The children of Capt. James and Susanna (Willard) Johnson (her maiden
name was Willard). 

1. Sylvanus Johnson b. Jan 25, 1748; m. Susanna Hastings, the dau. of Capt.
Sylvanus and Jemima Hastings, b. May 29, 1746. Children:
       1. Betsy Johnson b. Jan 12, 1771; d. June 26, 1849.
       2. James Johnson b. Dec 30, 1772. d. Feb 19, 1795.
       3. John Johnson b. 1778; d. April 22, 1854.
       4. Phineas Johnson b. 1781; d. Nov 18, 1823.
       5. William Johnson b. 1782; drowned April 6, 1804.
       6. Susan Johnson b. 1784; d. Dec 29, 1862.

The age of Sylvanus Johnson at the time of his capture by the Indians with 
his father and mother, was six years.  He was with the Indians three years
during which time he wholly forgot the English language

p.458

but became perfect in the Indian language and so fully had his habits
during that period, become conformed to those of his Indian masters, that
they were never subsequently eradicated and he so much preferred the modes
of Indian life to the prevalent customs of civilization, that he often ex-
pressed regret at having been ransomed.

He always maintained and no arguments could convince him to the contrary
that the Indians were a far more moral race than the whites. "He died at
Walpole in 1832 aged 84 years leaving the reputation of an honest and up-
right man."  His wife died Dec 7th, 1819.

2. Esther Johnson dau of Capt. James and Susanna (Willard) Johnson, born
Dec 23, 1749; died January, 1750.

3. Susanna Johnson b. Dec 19, 1750; m. Capt. Samuel Wetherbe of Fort 4.

4. Mary (or Polly) Johnson b. Dec 8, 1752; m. Col. Timothy Bedell of
Haverhill, N.H. - this officer was originally from Salem, N.H. but
settled in and became a prominent citizen of Haverhill, N.H.

5. Elizabeth Captive Johnson (a notice of her birth has already been
given)

6. James Johnson son of Capt. James) born at Quebec in Canada, 1756, in
December and died the same day.

7. James Johnson (again) born a Leominster, Mass. March 12, 1758; died the
middle of the following May.

Other Johnson marriages recorded at Charlestown, N.H.
p.458

Thomas & Mary Johnson - child: Michael Johnson b. July 5, 1785.

Joseph & Mary Johnson - Children:
1. Seth Johnson b. April 23, 1786.
2. Bulkley Johnson b. Feb 17, 1788
3. Josiah Johnson b. Oct 6, 1789
4. Joseph Hunt Johnson b. July 15, 1791
5. Emma Johnson b. July 13, 1793.
6. Mary Jane Johnson b. June 7, 1795.

Joseph & Anna Johnson - child:
1. Polly Johnson b. Aug 23, 1797.

Jeremiah Johnson & wife Thomazzen. Children:
1. Mary Deusbury Johnson b. Feb 19, 1789.
2. Thomazzen Johnson b. Jan 25, 1790.

Ichabod & Ruth (Grout) Johnson. Child:
1. Silas Johnson born at Keene, N.H. 1800.

Henry C. Johnson (son of Ira and Diana (Downer) Johnson
b. at Thetford, VT Nov 4, 1827; m. Dec. 29, 1855, Lucinda C. Dearborn
dau of David & Abigail (Eaton) Dearborn, b. at Corinth, VT Jan 29, 1830.
Children:
    1. Rollin Johnson b. at Corinth, VT; May 24, 1858.
    2. Fred Johnson b. at Eden, VT Dec 16, 1861.
    3. Bessy Johnson b. at Albany, VT Mar 4, 1865.
Mr. Johnson settled at Charlestown April, 1869.

The author does not say wether these 'other' Johnson(s) were connected in
any way to James and Susannah Johnson of Indian Captivity.

Note: Moses Willard took his daughter, Susanna Willard to Boston and there
they viewed the ship bringing indentured servants to Boston - Susanna liked
one of them particularly - James Johnson, from Scotland a boy about her age and Moses
Willard selected him for service.  Susanna Willard married this James Johnson.

End
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

p.67                                      GROTON.

Lieutenant Isaac Parker was taken prisoner by the Indians at the same time with Stephen Farnsworth,
and remained in captivity until the following winter when he was returned to Boston under a flag of
truce.

The Sawtell family is also largely represented in

p.68                                        GROTON.

Charlestown, N.H., where the name is now spelled Sartwell. It is a numerous family in that town, and
they sprang from the early settler, Obadiah Sawtell, who went from Groton. He too, had a sad experience
in savage warfare, and once was captured by the Indians.  He was taken by them on May 24, 1746 and re-
mained a prisoner until August 20, 1747. He finally met his death at their hands on June 17, 1749 being
attacked while ploughing in his corn-field, unsuspicious of any danger.

Charles Holden, Isaac Holden and Seth Walker, natives of Groton, were early settlers and proprietors
of Fort 4. Moses Wheeler was another pioneer and a distinguished soldier, taking part in some of the
fiercest encounters of the French and Indian War.  He was a large man and noted for his strength. He
was called by the Indians, "The strong man".  Moses Willard, Isaac Farwell and Micha Fuller, other
settlers were also from Groton.  Eleazer Priest, son of Joseph Priest of Groton and a soldier, was
captured by the Indians on March 15, 1748, at Fort 4 and died at Louisburg, Nova Scotia, in September,
of that year while on his way home.

The earliest minister of Groton was Reverend John Miller, who graduated at Gonvil and Caius College,
Cambridge, England in the year 1627 and came to this country in 1637. For a short time he lived in Rox-
bury where he was one of the Elders in John Eliot's church. From the year 1639 to 1641, and perhaps later, 
he was settled in the ministry at Rowley, Mass., as assistant to Rev. Ezekiel Rogers; and during
this period he filled the office of Town Clerk. He was

p.69                                         GROTON.
made freeman of Massachusetts on May 22, 1639. In the autumn of 1641, he was waited on by messengers
from Woburn who desired his services for their church; but they found "Mr. Roggers loth to part with him." 

Johnson, in his "Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's Saviour in New England" refers to him both in prose
and verse. The following specimen of the poetry: -

"With courage bold Miller through Seas doth venture,
To toil it out in the great Western waste
Thy stature low, one object high doth center;
Higher than Heaven thy faith on Christ is placed."
-Chap. XI., p.131.

From Rowley Mr. Miller removed to Yarmouth where he was settled as a preacher, though the date of his
removal to that town is not recorded. Nor is it known exactly when he came to Groton, but probably at 
some time during 1662, as in that year the town voted to build a house for the minister. On March 18,
1663, a vote was passed asking him "to continue still with us for our further edification," which shows
that he was preaching at that date; but in three short months his labors ceased and he went to take his
reward. In the first return of deaths, made by the Town Clerk of Groton to the recorder of the county,
it says: "Mr. Jno Miller, minister of Gods holy word died. June 12th, 1663."

The second minister of Groton was the Reverend Samuel Willard, a son of Major Simon Willard and Mary
(Sharpe) Williard and born at Concord, January 31, 1639-40. He graduated at Harvard College in

p.70                                             GROTON.
the Clas of 1659, and was the only member who took his second degree. He began to preach at Groton
probably late in the year 1662, or early in 1663. In the latter year, on the 21st of June, it was voted
"that Mr. Willard if he accept of it shall be their minister as long as he lives, which Mr. Willard
accepts except a manifest providence of God appears to take him off."

Mr. Willard was a scholar and writer of considerable note in his day, and even now would be considered
such. But little is known of his early history.  And no church-record during his ministry at Groton is
extant. Coming here in the vigor of young manhood, at the age of twenty-three, - if we may judge him
from the high position he afterward attained - it is fair to assume that he exerted a strong influence
in this neighborhood.  It is probable that his early experiences on the outer rim of civilization fitted
him for the places of honor and dignity that he was subsequently called upon to fill.  A few weeks after
his settlement he married Abigail, a daughter of John Sherman, minister at Watertown; and after her
death, he married as his 2nd wife, Eunice, daughter of Edward Tyng.  He had a large family of children,
of whom five were born at Groton. One of his great-grandsons, Robert Treat Paine, was a signer of the
Declaration of Independence.

In the year 1673, Mr. Willard published a volume of sermons entitled, "Useful Instructions for a professing 
people in times of great security and degeneracy" delivered in several sermons on solemn
occasions."

p.71                                             GROTON.
It consists of three sermons, of which, one was preached on the occasion of a case of witchcraft which
occurred at Groton. It is evident, from a reference in the sermon, that the fame or notoriety of the case
had spread far from this town. Mr. Willard says, "There is a voice in it to the whole land, but in a more
especial manner to poor Groton; it is not a Judgement afar off, but it is near us, yea among us."

The book is inscribed, "To his Beloved Friends the Inhabitants of Groton."  Like all the publications
of that time, it is purely theological, and contains nothing now of particular interest. It he had given
us even a few lines of town history, it would be almost invaluable. We look in vain through its pages
for anything that throws light on the manners and customs of the early settlers. We do find, however, the
modes and habits of thought that were prevalent in those days; and with these we must be content, for
the sermons furnish nothing more.

After the town was burned by the Indians in the spring of 1676, and the settlement deserted, Rev. Samuel
Willard became the pastor of the Old South Church in Boston, where he died on September 12, 1707.

The third minister of Groton was Reverend Gershom Hobart, a son of Rev. Peter Hobart of Hingham and
a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1667.   In the early spring of 1678, just two years
after the attack on the town, the old settlers returned to their former houses; and Mr. Hobart accompanied 
them or soon followed.  He was not ordained, however, until November 26, 1679; and soon
afterward troubles between the people and the preacher began

p.72                                             GROTON.

to spring up. There was the usual controversy about the site of the new meeting-house, which is not
peculiar to this town or to that period, but is common today here and elsewhere; and there was a dis-
pute over the minister's salary. Mr. Hobart's pastorate was anything but happy and harmonious, and he
appears to have left Groton about 1690.  The records of this period are very meagre but contain brief
allusions to his absence.  During the next two years there was no settled minister of the town, though
the inhabitants were not without stated preaching. The Reverend John Hancock filled the pulpit for
several months and received a call to become the minister, which was declined. He was the grandfather
of John Hancock, Governor of the Commonwealth and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The fourth minister was the Reverend Samuel Carter who came in on an invitation given by the town, on
October 21, 1692. It is evident, from the scanty records, that he accepted the call and remained with
his people until the time of his death, which took place in the autumn of 1693. According to papers
on file in the Middlesex Probate Office at East Cambridge, administration on his estate was granted
on October 30th of that year.  Mr. Carter was the eldest son of Thomas Carter, first minister of
Woburn, and born on August 8, 1640. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1660 and before
coming to Groton, had been preaching at Lancaster for a considerable length of time.  He was followed
in time by Gershom Hobart, who became the fifth minister as well as the third, in the order of settle-
ment. Mr. Hobart

p.73                                                GROTON.
came back to his former parish in the autumn of 1693, but it is not now known how the reconciliation
was brought about between him and the town, as the church records of that period are lost; perhaps
it was through an ecclesiastical council.  He continued to preach here until about the end of the year
1704, when he gave up his charge. His dwelling stood on the site of the present Baptist meeting house
and at one time during the Indian wars, was used as a garrison house. On July 27, 1694, it was captured
by the savages, when one of Mr. Hobart's children was killed and another, Gershom Hobart, Jr., a lad
eight or ten years old, was carried off a prisoner and held in captivity during nearly a year. Mr. Hobart
the father, died at Groton on Dec 19, 1707.

During the year 1705 the pulpit appears to have been filled by John Odly, as the records have it and
probably the same as John Odlin, a native of Boston and a graduate of Harvard College in the class of
1702. On July 3, 1705 he received a call to be the "Town's minister and the church's officer," which
was not accepted.

The fifth minister was the Reverend Dudley Bradstreet, a son of Dudley Bradstreet of Andover, and a 
grandson of Governor Simon Bardstreet. He was born at Andover on April 27, 1678 and a graduate of
Harvard College in the class of 1698. He was the first master of the grammer school in his native
town, where he was teaching as early as the year 1704, and perhaps earlier.

It is highly probable that he was connected with

p.74
this school when he received his invitation to come to Groton. On May 4, 1704, he was married to Mary
Wainwright and they had three sons and perhaps other children. Mr. Bradstreet was preaching here as
early as March, 1706 but was not ordained until November 27th of that year. Under a vote of May 8,
1706, a house "of 38 foot long and 18 foot wide" was built for the minister, which is still standing
and in a state of good preservation. It is situated on the east side of Hollis Street and the present
measurements conform very nearly to the dimensions given in the records.

In the summer of 1712 Mr. Bradstreet was dismissed from his charge in this town, presumably for his
Episcopal tendencies; and soon afterward he went to England to apply for orders in the Anglican Church.
It appears from a copy of the original document in Latin, made in a manuscript volume (page 90) by
President John Leverett now deposited among the archives of Harvard University in the College Library,
that he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of London on April 18, 1714 and a priest one week later on
April 25th. He died of smallpox during the next month, only two or three weeks after receiving priestly
orders; and tidings of his death reached this country in the following summer.

The sixth minister was the Rev. Caleb Trowbridge, a son of Deacon James Trowbridge of Newton. He was 
born on November 17, 1692, and graduated Harvard College in the Class of 1710. On March 10, 1715, he
was married to Sarah Oliver of Newton and on September 18, 1718, to Hannah Walter of Roxbury. Mr. Trow-
bridge was blessed with a family of nine children, and until recently some of his descendants were living
at Groton. He died September 9, 1760 and lies buried in the old burying ground, where the inscription on
a slab of slate laid over his grave makes a just statement of his religious and social character.



Surname:  TROWBRIDGE
Source:   Epitaphs from the Old Burial Ground, Groton,
          MA by Dr. Samuel A. Green  pub. 1878
p.2
Tombstone
(Death's Head)
Here Lyes Buried the Body of Mrs. Sarah Trowbridge, Wife
to ye Revrnd Mr. Caleb Trowbridge; Aged 26 Years, & 5 Mo.
Dec'd June the l6th, l7l7.
Author's note:  The daughter of Deacon Thomas and Mary
(Wilson) Oliver of Cambridge Ma b. Nov l4, l690.  She
was married March l0, l7l4.

p.37
Tombstone - A Tablet
Underneath this stone lies the Body of The Revd Caleb
Trowbridge, late Pastor of the Church of Christ in
Groton, born of reputable Parents in the Town of Newton
educated at Harvard College in Cambridge New-England;
of such natural and acquir'd endowments as render'd him
an ornament and blessing in the several relations which
he sustained: he was a good steward over the House of 
God, and discharg'd the Duties of his Pastoral relation
with prudence and impartiality, diligence and fidelity.
He was a tender and loving husband, an affectionate
and kind parent; an agreable and faithful friend; and
a useful member of society: he was much belovd and re-
spected while he liv'd and dyed greatly lamented the 
9th Day of Septr A D, l760 in the 69th year of his age
and 46st of his ministry and is, we trust receiving
the reward of his labours in the Kingdom of his Lord:
and in honour to his Memory his loving People have erect
ed this Monument over his grave.  Blessed are the dead
that die in the Lord for they rest from their Labour
and their works do follow them.   The Memory of ye Just
is Blessed.
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

The seventh minister was the Rev. Samuel Dana, son of William Dana and born in that part of Cambridge
which is now Brighton, on January 14, 1738-39. He was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of
1755 and ordained in the ministry at Groton on June 3, 1761. No articles of faith or church covenant
appear on the church records until the period of his settlement. On May 6, 1762, he was married to
Anna Kenrick of Newton; and they had five children born at Groton. His pastorate appears to have been
harmonious until the political troubles of the Revolution began to crop out, when a sermon preached by
him in the early spring of 1775 gave great offense to his parish. Mr. Dana's sympathies were with the
Crown while those of the people were equally strong on the other side; and the excitement over the
matter ran so high that he was compelled to give up his charge. After his dismissal from the town and
church he remained at Groton during some years, preaching for a year and a half to a Presbyterian society
then recently organized; and later he removed to Amherst, New Hampshire, where he died on April 2, 1798.

The eighth minister was the Rev. Daniel Chaplin, a son of Jonathan Chaplin of Rowley

p.76                                           GROTON.
where he was born on December 30, 1743. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1772, and studied
under the tuition of the Rev. Samuel Haven, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was ordained at Groton on
January  1, 1778, when he became pastor of the First Parish, and he continued to hold this relation until
the time of his death on April 8, 1831, being the last minister settled by the town.  The degree D.D.
was conferred upon him by Harvard in the year 1817. On June 24, 1779, he was married to Susanna, eldest
daughter of the Honorable James and Susanna (Lawrence) Prescott of Groton. After their marriage they 
lived for awhile in the house built by Colonel William Lawrence, who was Mrs. Chaplin's grandfather.
It was situated on the north corner of Main and Court Streets, Groton, laterly the site of Liberty Hall,
which was burned on March 1, 1878; and subsequently they removed to the dwelling built by Major William
Swan and situated on School Street, north of the burying ground.

Prescott Memorial- p.74

Susanna Prescott b. Oct 9, 1757, dau. of the Hon. James Prescott and Susan Lawrence; m. Rev. Daniel
Chaplin, afterward D.D., June 24, 1779. He was born at Rowley, Mass., Dec. 30, 1743. He was son of
Jonathan Chaplin and Mary Boynton and grandson of Hugh Chaplin, who came from England in 1640 and 
settled at Rowley. Rev. Daniel Chaplin in early life, labored with his father and did not enter college
until twenty-six years of age. He graduated at Harvard College in 1772 and was one of the best scholars
in his class. He studied theology with Rev. Dr. Haven of Portsmouth, N.H. and was ordained at Groton
January 1, 1778. Mr. Chaplin's discourses and sermons were instructive, practical and experimental,
rather than doctrinal. He taught the great and essential duties of Christianity, more than the parti-
cular tenets of any sect. He preached the semi-centennial sermon from his ordination in January, 1828,
and died April 8, 1831, aged 87 years, 3 months and 9 days; three sons and five daughters; one son and
two daughters survived him.  Children - source Groton Historical Series by Dr. Samuel A. Green Vol II.
p.432                   Rev. Jonathan Chaplin & his wife, Susanna Prescott had issue:
                        1. Susanna Chaplin b. March 31, 1780, m. April 20, 1808, Rev. Stephen
                        Bemis of Harvard, Mass.  Children:
                                1. Daniel Chaplin Bemis
                                2. William Lawrence Bemis.
                        2. James Prescott Chaplin b. Mar 17, 1782; m. Dec 10, 1807, Hannah Gardner
                        of Brighton. Harvard Class of 1805; died at Cambridgeport, Oct 12, 1828.
                        3. Daniel Chaplin b. Dec 28, 1783; died 1815.
                        4. Sarah Chaplin b. Nov 8, 1785; m. Abel Rockwood.
                        5. Matilda Chaplin b. Mar 3, 1790; died Oct 14, 1808.
                        6. Eliza Chaplin b. Oct 27, 1796.

p.76                                                 GROTON.
Dr. Chaplin's youngest daughter, Mrs. Sarah (Chaplin) Rockwood died at Cortland, Cortland County,
New York on November 26, 1889 at the remarkable age of 104 years and eighteen days.

The ninth minister was the Rev. Charles Robinson, the eldest son of Caleb Robinson, of Exeter, New
Hampshire, where he was born on July 25, 1793. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1818;
was ordained over the Unitarian Church at Eastport, Maine, where he remained two years and a half.
Mr. Robinson was intalled at Groton on

p.77                                                 GROTON.
November 1, 1826, and resigned his charge in October, 1838. He was afterward settled at Medfield and
at Peterborough, New Hampshire, but in the year 1860 he returned to Groton, where he resided until his
death on April 9, 1862. During his residence here he was married on July 3, 1827 to Jane, only daughter
of the Hon. Stuart John Park of Groton, who died on March 23, 1828. He subsequently married three other
wives.

The tenth minister was the Reverend George Wadsworth Wells, son of Seth and Hannah (Doane) Wells of
Boston, where he was born on October 17, 1804. He graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1823,
and then pursued his theological studies at the Harvard Divinity School. For a while he preached in
Boston and Baltimore, and on October 24, 1827, was ordained at Kennebunk, Maine, as colleague pastor
of the first Congregational Church in that town, where he remained during eleven years.  On November
21, 1838, Mr. Wells was installed over the First Parish of Groton, where he preached with great accept-
ance and success until his death, which took place on March 17, 1843. The last time that he officiated
in the pulpit was on Sunday, February 5th of that year.  He was married on May 30, 1833, to Lucia
Gardner daughter of John Fairfield of Boston. Just before graduation at college, his middle name was
inserted by an Act of the Legislature on June 14, 1823.

The eleventh minister was the Reverend Joseph Couch Smith, a native of Waltham where he was born on
July 18, 1819. He graduated at Bowdoin

p.78

College in the classs of 1838 and subsequently passed two years at the Andover Theological Seminary.
On October 11, 1842 he was ordained at Portland as an Evangelist. After Mr. Wells' death he came to
Groton and was installed on July 12, 1843. Here he remained during eight years, working diligently
and faithfully in the cause of his Master, to which he had devoted his life. Finally the loss of his
health compelled him to ask a dismission and his relations to the society ceased in August, 1851. After
passing six or eight months in foreign travel, and returning home much invigorated, he was called to the
Channing Congregational Church, Newton. Here he preached for four years, when his physical infirmities
again compelled him to seek retirement from his cares and labors; and he sailed for the Sandwich Islands
in the hope that he would still be able to act as an agent of the American Unitarian Association, but
in this he was disappointed. After a rapid decline he died at Honolulu of consumption on December 29,
1857.

Mr. Smith was twice married - first on August 31, 1843 to Augusta Hepsibah Lord, dau of Ivory and Louisa
(McCulloch) Lord of Kennebunk, Maine; and (2) on December 8, 1846 to Margaret Ann, dau. of George and
Margaret (Shattuck) Brigham of Groton. His first wife died at Groton, June 20, 1844 and his widow died
at Lowell, March 31, 1864.

The twelfth minister of Groton was the Rev. Crawford Nightingale, a son of Samuel & Elizabeth Kinnicut
(Thompson) Nightingale and born at Providence, R.I.

p.79
on November 3, 1816. He graduated at Brown University in the clas of 1834 and at the Harvard Divinity
School in 1838, and was ordained as an Evangelist in Providence on November 7, 1838. He was married on
May 13, 1846 to Mary Hoyt Williams, daughter of William Henry & Frances Wiswall (Humphrey) Williams of 
Athol. Mr. Nightingale was settled over the parish on January 26, 1853, and received his dismissal on
September 1, 1866, though he continued to be a resident of the town until the year 1875. Before coming
here he held a pastorate at Chicopee, and had previously acted as a missionary in Toledo, Ohio and in
Chicago.  He has now retired from the laborious duties of his profession, though he preached occasionally
and is living at Dorchester.

The thirteenth minister was the Rev. George McKean Folsom, a son of Charles and Susanna Sarah (McKean)
Folsom, and born in Cambridge on February 6, 1837. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1857
and at the Harvard Divinity School in 1866 and married on January 8, 1867, Susan Cabot Jackson, daughter 
of Charles Cabot Jackson, Jr. and his wife Susan (Cabot) Jackson of Boston. In April, 1869, he left 
Groton and removed to Dedham where he was installed over another parish. He died at Boston on May 20,
1882, and his wife died at Dedham on June 27, 1871.  An only child, a daughter, was born at Groton,
November 16, 1867 and survives the parents.

The fourteenth minister of Groton was the Rev. John Martin Luther Babcock, a son of James Babcock, of
Andover, Maine,

p.80

where he was born on Sept 29, 1822. His father's family removed to Boston in the year 1825, where he
remained until 1846. In early life he studied for the Baptist ministry, and joined the clerical profession 
in 1852, though he was not ordained until January 1854.  He held pastorates at different
towns in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, but later he changed his denominational relations and enter-
ed the Unitarian pulpit being settled at Lancaster, New Hampshire, before coming to Groton. He was in-
stalled over the First Parish, Groton, April 26, 1871 though he had been preaching here since December
1, 1870, and received his dismission on August 31, 1874, though he continued to fill the pulpit until
April 1, 1875.  Since leaving Groton, he has given up the profession.  On November 30, 1843 he was
married (first) to Martha Day Ayer of Plaistow, New Hampshire who died on January 26, 1846 and secondly,
on April 5, 1849 to Miriam Clement Tewksbury of Wilmot, who died at New Hampton, N.H., on September 22,
1888.

The fifteenth minister of Groton, was the Rev. Joshua Young, a son of Aaron and Mary (Coburn) Young and
born at Pittston, Maine on September 29, 1823.  He graduated at Bowdoin College in the class of 1845,
and at the Harvard Divinity School in 1848. He was married on February 14, 1849, to Mary Elizabeth
Plympton, daughter of Dr. Sylvanus and Mary Bell (Warland) Plympton of Cambridge, Mass.  Mr. Young
was settled in Groton at the beginning of 1875 and still continues to be the minister of the parish.
Before coming to this town he had held pastorates in Burlington, Vermont and in Hingham and Fall River.
On commencement,

p.81

June 26, 1890, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma Mater.

The formation of a second church in Groton dates back to the summer of 1825, when the venerable Dr. 
Chaplin, enfeebled by age, became so infirm that he required the help of an assistant. At that time he
was well past eighty years and the powers of a vigorous manhood were beginning to fail him. On Sunday
afternoon, July 10, 1825, a very hot day, Dr. Chaplin, near the end of his sermon, fainted in his pulpit,
and soon after the question of settling a colleague pastor came up. This matter gave rise to much contro-
versy and discussion, and resulted in a division of the old parish into two societies.

It happened during a period when throughout the Commonwealth many of the Congregational Churches were
undergoing great changes in their creed, and were forming new lines of theological belief. Few persons
of the present day are aware of the bitter animosity that prevailed in New England, at that time, when
these churches were torn asunder by interal dissensions, and of the sectarian feeling that followed
the division of the parishes.  At the beginning of the troubles the Reverend John Todd, a graduate of
the Andover Theological Seminary in the class of 1825, had received a call to become a colleague pastor
with Rev. Dr. Chaplin, but which, owing to certain informalities, was never recognized by the town, and
over his settlement the main controversy had arisen. The second society made up of those who had now
separated from the First Parish, was duly organized and a house of worship built, which was

p.82

dedicated to the service of God on January 3, 1827, and at the same time Mr. Todd was ordained in the
ministry. He remained as pastor of this society, which became known as the Union Congregational Church
until January 8, 1833, when he was dismissed at his own request.

The Reverend John Todd was the eldest child of Dr. Timothy and Phebe (Burt) Todd, and born in Rutland,
Vermont on October 9, 1800. He graduated at Yale College in the class of 1822, and then entered the
Theological Seminary at Andover.  On March 11, 1827, he was married to Mary Skinner, daughter of the
Rev. Joab Brace of Newington, Conn., who died at Pittsfield on April 29, 1889. After leaving Groton,
Dr. Todd held pastorates at Northampton, Philadelphia and Pittsfield, where he died on August 24, 1873,
after an illness of three months. In the year 1845, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred
upon him by Williams College.  He was the author of more than thirty volumes, besides many sermons and
pamphlets including among them "The Student's Manual," a work which has exerted a wide influence on the
young men of the country.

The second minister of the Union Church was the Rev. Charles Baker Kittredge, a son of Josiah and Mary
(Baker) Kittredge and born at Mount Vernon, New Hampshire on July 4, 1806. He graduated at Dartmouth
College in the class of 1828 and at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1833, but the time of his
ministry here was short, as he was dismissed August 31, 1835.  After leaving this town he was settled

p.83
over various parishes in different places and died at Westborough on November 25, 1884. Mr. Kittredge
was married on July 9, 1830 to Sarah, daughter of Charles and Susanna (Bayliss) Brigham of Grafton, who
died on March 26, 1871.

The third minister was the Rev. Dudley Phelps, a native of Hebron, Connecticut, where he was born on
January 25, 1798 and a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1823 and of the Andover Theological
Seminary in 1827. He was ordained at Haverhill on January 9, 1828, where he remained until the year 1833,
and during 1834 and 1835 was the editor of the Salem Landmark. Mr. Phelps was installed at Groton on
October 19, 1836 where he continued as pastor of the church until his death, which took place on Sept.
24, 1849.  He was the father of the late Hon. Benjamin Kinsman Phelps, district attorney of New York, an
only child by the first wife, who was Ann Kinsman of Portland, Maine. The second wife was Lurcretia
(Gardner) Farley of Hollis, New Hampshire, and of Groton, to whom he was married on October 12, 1837.

The fourth minister was the Rev. Edwin Adolphus Bulkley, a son of Erastus and Mary (Walbridge) Bulkley
and born at Charleston, So. Carolina on January 25, 1826. He graduated at Yale College in the class of
1844 and at the Union Theological Seminary in 1848 and was married, September 28, 1848 at Huntington,
Long Island, N.Y., to Catharine Fredrica, daughter of Daniel and Catharine Fredrica (Kunze) Oakley. Mr.
Bulkley was installed

p.84

over the society on September 18, 1850, and dismissed on January 10, 1864. Before coming to Groton he
was settled at Geneva, New York, and on leaving this town he went to Plattsburg.  At the present time
(1894) he has charge of a Presbyterian Church at Rutherford, New Jersey. He has been blessed with eight
children of whom three survive, and five of the eight were born at Groton. In the year 1868 the degree
of D.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Vermont.

The fifth minister was the Rev. William Wheeler Parker, son of Ebenezer and Hannah Brooks (Merriam)
Parker, and born at Princeton on March 2, 1824. He graduated at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1858,
and on August 24th of that year, he was married at Holden to Emily, dau. of Joel & Diodamia Walker.
Mr. Parker was installed at Groton on May 16, 1865 and dismissed at his own request on August 25, 1868.
Since leaving Groton he has lived in several places, but is now residing at Harwich Port.

The sixth minister was the Rev. Jeremiah Aldrich Knight,  a son of Nehemiah Knight and Sarah Bowen
(Branch) Aldrich and born in Providence, R.I. on May 20, 1826. He became a licentiate after an examina-
tion before the Windham County, Conn., Association of Congregational ministers on June 4, 1862, and was
ordained at Central Village, Plainfield in that State on February 17, 1863. He was settled at Groton on
June 1, 1870 and dismissed at his own request, on May 18, 1873. Mr. Aldrich was married, June 3, 1848
at Providence, R.I. to Sarah Hamer of Taunton.

p.85

The seventh minister was the Rev. Benjamin Adams Robie, a son of Thomas Sargent and Clarissa (Adams)
Robie and born at Gorham, Maine on Sept 9, 1836. He graduated at the Bangor Theological Seminary in the
class of 1865 and was married on June 6, 1869 at Vassalborough to Lucy Hedge Wiggin of that town. He was
settled as pastor-elect on April 1, 1874 and resigned on April 1, 1884.

The eighth minister was the Rev. George Austin Pelton, a son of Asa Carter Pelton and Ophelia (Austin)
Pelton and born at Stockbridge on April 15, 1833. He graduated at Yale College in the class of 1861 and
at Andover Theological Seminary in 1864. He was licensed to preach by the Essex South Association in
February, 1864 and ordained "to the work of the Gospel ministry" without installation, at Franklin on
August 9, 1865. Mr. Pelton was married at New Haven, Conn., on April 27, 1864, to Catharine Sarah Brownson, 
daughter of Seth Warner Brownson & Catherine Post Brownson. He was settled as pastor-elect
on May 15, 1884, and resigned on May 15, 1886.

The ninth minister was the Rev. John Barstow, a son of Ezekiel Hale and Eunice (Clark) Barstow and born
at Newton Centre on February 16, 1857. He graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1883, and at 
the Andover Theological Seminary in 1887 and was ordained and installed on June 29th of the same year.
Mr. Barstow was married at Wethersfield on July 5, 1887, to Mary Weller Wollcott of that town. He was
dismissed at his own request

p.86

on September 12, 1889 and is now settled over a society at Glastonberry, Conn. At one time his father
was the principal of the Lawrence Academy, Groton.

The tenth minister is the Rev. Edward Leeds Gulick, the present pastor. He is a son of the Rev. Luther
Halsey Gulick and Louisa (Lewis) Gulick and born in Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands on March 21, 1862. He
graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1883 and at the Union Theological Seminary, New York in
1887. He began his labors on October 27, 1889 and was ordained on December 23d of the same year.

Insert.
Source: Farnsworth Memorial
p.99
Harriet Marie Farnsworth, b. April 26, 1864 at Cesarea, Turkey; died Feb 4, 1951 at Brookline, Mass.
She m. Dec 2, 1890 at Westboro, Mass., Rev. Edwards Leeds Gulick b. Mar 21, 1862 at Honolulu, HI; died
April 27, 1931 at Brookline, Mass.  B.A. Wellesley, 1887. Edward Gulick grad. Dartmouth Coll. 1883;
Union Theological Seminary, 1887, Pastor at Groton, Mass., and Hanover, New Hampshire.  Children:
1. Edward Leeds Gulick, Jr. who m. Lillian ____. Children:
           1. Edward L. Gulick III, who m. Sally Roush.
           2. Madlin F. Gulick who m. 1949, Donald C. Moore.
           3. Peter Gulick who m. Oct 6, 1956, Susan Spaulding.
           4. Timber Gulick.
2. Helen Farnsworth Gulick b. 1894; died 1968; m. Dr. Donald Storrs King (1189-1963)
           1. William King.
           2. Margaret King Dolphin.
3. Carolyn Palmer Gulick b. 1897; died 1972; m. Chauncey P. Hulbert.
           1. Harriet Hulbert who m. Philip Ball.
           2. Ralph Hulbert who m. Judy _____.
4. Harriet Farnsworth Gulick who m. Eugene McKinley Pierce.
           1. Gene Pierce who m. Dr. Horace Blood.
           2. Helen Pierce who m. Ronald Swetland.
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

p.86 continued                            GROTON.

A Baptist Society was organized on December 5, 1832 and the Rev. Amasa Sanderson was the first minister.
Capt. Josiah Clark, one of the members generously gave them the use of a commodious hall in the third
story of a house at the south corner of Main Street and Broad Meadow Road. In the year 1841 the society
erected a meeting-house on the spot where the Rev. Mr. Hobart's dwelling stood, which was a garrison
house in the summer of 1694.

Mr. Sanderson was a native of Gardner, Mass., where he was born on April 16, 1796. He was married, first,
at Weston in 1822 to Abigail Rand, who died on January 3, 1867; and secondly, at Nashua, New Hampshire,
in July 1867, to Mrs. Mary Rebecca (Batchelder) Woodbury, widow of Seth Woodbury. Mr. Sanderson supplied
the pulpit until May, 1843 when from feeble health he resigned his charge. He died at Nashua, New Hamp-
shire on June 1, 1877 and was buried at Ayer, Mass.

The Rev. Alfred Pinney of Auburn, New York,

p.87

was the second minister, and had charge of the society from August, 1843 to August, 1844. He is a son
of Joshua Lasselle Pinney and wife, Mary (Lake) Pinney, and born at Middlefield, Otsego Co., New York,
on October 15, 1812.  In early life he studied the profession of medicine, which he practised for awhile,
but soon afterward gave up in order to enter the ministry. He began a course of study in the academic
department of Madison University at Hamilton, New York, with a view to graduate from the college and the
Theological Seminary, but owing to trouble with his eyes he was compelled to abandon the plan. On June 8,
1841, Mr. Pinney was married in Troy, New York to Olivia Marcia Brownell; and he is now living at No.
95 Madison Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Rev. Lewis Holmes, a native of Plymouth, was the third minister. Born on April 12, 1813, he graduated
at Waterville College (now Colby University) in the class of 1840. He was settled at Groton in May 1845,
and remained until May 1849. Mr. Holmes was settled over various societies in Massachusetts and died at
Plymouth May 24, 1887.

The Reverend John Allen was the fourth minister and his pastorate extended from June, 1849 to September
1853. He was born at Mansfield on March 27, 1792 and died at East Providence Centre, Rhode Island on
Nov. 28, 1882. He was married first, in the year 1816, at Easton, to Sally Bonney; and secondly, on April
22, 1856 in Boston, to Mrs. Anna (Carpenter) Carpenter, daughter of Caleb Carpenter, and a native of
Rehoboth. His father's name was Joseph Allen.  

The Rev. George Everett Tucker was the fifth minister

p.88

and his service began in November, 1853 and lasted until June, 1857. Born at Canton on February 29, 1820,
he fitted for college at Pierce Academy, of Middleborough and graduated at Brown University in the class
of 1842. He held pastorates at various places in Rhode Island and Maine and died at Dedham on October
24, 1888, while on a visit, though his home was at Brunswick, Maine.

The Rev. Lucius Edwin Smith was the sixth minister and served the society from December 1857 to Sept.
1865. Mr. Smith is a native of Williamstown, where he was born on January 29, 1822, and a graduate of
Williams College in the class of 1843. He first studied law in his native town and was admitted to the
bar in the year 1845; afterward studied divinity and graduated at the Newton Theological Seminary in
1857. His editorial services have been extensive, and he is now associate editor of the Watchman (Boston)
The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater in 1869.

The Rev. Oliver Ayer was the seventh minister and had charge of the society from April, 1866 till March
29, 1874. He is a son of Daniel and Nancy (Day) Ayers and was born at Plaistow, New Hampshire on August
2, 1810. He graduated at Brown University in the class of 1834, in the same class with the Rev. Crawford
Nightingale of Groton, and immediately after graduation became the principle of Rockingham Academy at
Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. In the year 1837 he was ordained at Littleton, Massachusetts, where he was
the pastor of the Baptist Church until 1843 and then, after a settlement at Dover,

p.89
Claremont and Deerfield, all in the state of New Hampshire, he came to Groton in the spring of 1866.

After leaving his town he was settled for six years over a society at North Oxford, since which time
he has been living in Providence, with no pastoral charge.  Mr Ayer was married first, on November 5,
1835, to Caroline Persis Garland, dau. of William and Elizabeth (How) Garland of Portsmouth, who died on
September 23, 1857, and secondly on September 16, 1862 to Susan French Sargent of Lebanon, New Hamp-
shire.

The Reverend Benjamin Franklin Lawrence was the eighth minister, and settled over the society from July,
1874 to August, 1880. He graduated at Colby University in the class of 1858 and studied at the Newton
Theological Institution during the years 1859 and 1860. He has had charge of various parishes in New
England and is now at East Jefferson, Maine.

The Reverend Herman Franklin Titus served the church from December, 1880 to February, 1881 without
settlement. He is a son of Moses and Sophronia (Patch) Titus, former residents of the town.

The Reverend Thomas Herbert Goodwin was the ninth minister, and settled over the society from October,
1881 to January, 1884. He is a son of Benjamin and Lucy Adams (Mixer) Goodwin and born at Manchester,
New Hampshire, on July 4, 1847.  He was married on March 23, 1871 at New London, New Hampshire, to 
Arvilla Olive Pattee and is now living at North Hanover.

The Reverend Frank Curtis Whitney was the tenth

p.90
minister and settled over the church from August 1, 1884 to October 1, 1889. When he left the society
he went to Minnesota.

The Reverend Samuel Bastin Nobbs, the present pastor, is the eleventh minister and took charge of the
congregation on December 1, 1889. He is a son of James and Eliza (Haynes) Nobbs and born at Charlton
Kings, Gloucestershire, England, on July 1, 1862. After a short residence in Australia he joined his
parents in their removal from England to New York in September, 1881.  Receiving his preparatory edu-
cation at Gloucester, England, he entered the Theological Seminary at Hamilton, New York, in the year
1885 where he graduated in 1888. His first pastorate was at Newport, Vermont. Mr. Nobbs was married
on July 1, 1886 to Loue Maud Richardson of Hamilton, New York.

During the year 1885, a house of worship was built at West Groton, which was dedicated on October 7,
according to the ritual of the Methodist Church. The Congregational, Baptist and Episcopal Societies
of the town were well represented on the occasion and everybody seemed to feel that the new building
was a benediction to the village.  In the "Life of John Todd" p.181, written by his son, there is an
early allusion to a chapel built during the winter of 1827, as follows: "My friends are preparing me
a pretty chapel over at this spot (West Groton) and as soon as it is finished I am to open a battery
there."  All recollection of this building among the inhabitants of the village has now passed away.

During the first three years after the present church

p.91
was built, services therein were conducted under the auspices of the Methodist denomination, but since
that period the society has made arrangements with the Congregational minister at Groton to supply the
pulpit, and he preaches on each Sunday afternoon.
                                              ~~~

Services of the Episcopal Church were begun in connection with the Groton School at its opening in
October, 1884. The parish is called St. John's Chapel of Groton School, and the sittings in the church
are free. The services are conducted by the Head Master, Reverend Endicott Peabody. The present chapel
was built in the year 1887, and consecrated on January 8, 1888 by the Bishop of the Diocese.

                     Lawrence Academy - formerly known as Groton Academy.

During the early part of the year 1792, a voluntary association was formed at Groton by certain people
of the town and neighborhood, in order to establish an academy where a higher education could be ob-
tained than was given at the district schools of that period.  A subscription paper was circulated
for the purpose of procuring funds to erect a suitable building.  A subscription of five pounds currency
was the smallest sum received from any person, and was denominated a share; ten pounds was called two
shares; and so on.  On April 27, 1792, the association organized by choosing trustees and the other
customary officers; and from this as a beginning sprang the institution known formerly as Groton
Academy, but now as Lawrence Adademy.  When it was first opened, in the spring of 1793, the exercises
were held in the district school-house, on Farmers' Row.  By a resolve of the Legislature, on February
27, 1797, a grant of land was given to the academy.

p.92

which consisted of half a township situated in Washington County, District of Maine. It comes now in
Hodgdon, Aroostook County, and lies on the eastern frontier of the State, just south of Houlton.

Among the early friends and benefactors of the institution may be mentioned:

Benjamin Bancroft
Timothy Bigelow
James Brazer
Aaron Brown
Francis Champney
Daniel Chaplin
Samuel Dana
Nathan Davis
Zachariah Fitch
Samuel Hemenway
Samuel Lawrence
Joshua Longley
Joseph Moors
William Prescott
Oliver Prescott
Samuel Rockwood
William Swan
Samson Woods.

During the summer of 1841, the Lawrence Academy building was remodeled for the first time and somewhat
enlarged by an addition to the rear, at a cost of $2,000., generously given for the purpose by Amos
Lawrence, Esq., of Boston. The grounds also were improved, and a fence, consisting of stone posts and
chains, place in front of the yard, as well as on the south side, separating it from the Brazer estate.

In the spring of 1844, William Lawrence, Esq., of Boston, an elder brother of Amos Lawrence, gave the
sum of $10,000. to be added to the permanent funds of the institution. In consequence of this liberal
gift and other manifestations of their interest in the school, on the part of the two brothers, the
trustees voted the annual meeting on August 20, 1845, to petition the General Court to change the
corporate named of the school to "The Lawrence Academy of Groton."  At the next session of the Legis-
lature the petition was duly presented and granted on February 28, 1846.

p.93
The benefactions of the Lawrence brothers did not cease with the change of name in the school. During
the month of July, 1846, Amos Lawrence, Esq., bought the Brazer estate (so called) adjoining the Academy
lot on the south, and formerly belonging to James Brazer, Esq., for the sum of $4,400, and soon after-
ward conveyed it by deed to the trustees of Lawrence Academy. He also requested that all the buildings
and fences on the place should be put in complete repair at his expense, which was accordingly done at
a cost of more than $1,200. During the next month William Lawrence, Esq., wrote to the trustees, offering
to give $5,000. to be used for the enlargement of the Academy building, for the erection of a substantial
stone and iron fence in front of the grounds, including the Dana and Brazer estates, and for the pur-
chase of another bell for the school.    The Dana estate, adjoining the Academy lot on the north, had
formerly belonged to the Honorable Samuel Dana, and was bought by the trustees in the summer of 1836.
With this sum, thus generously place in their hands, the trustees, during the ensuing autumn, enlarged
the Academy by an extension on its north side, and very soon afterward carried out his wishes in the
other matters.  At Mr. Lawrence's death which occurred on October 14, 1848, he bequeathed the sum of
$20,000. to the institution.

Unfortunately, the main building of the Academy was burned to the ground on July 4, 1868, and a structure
of brick and stone erected on the same site which was dedicated June 29, 1871.  

p.94

A celebration in connection with the history of Lawrence Academy took place on July 12, 1854 when an
address was delivered by the Reverend James Means, a former principal of the institution. It was a dis-
tinguished gathering, and known as that time as the "Jubilee."  A full account of the proceedings was
afterward published, with a general catalogue of the school from its beginning. Another re-union was
held on June 21, 1883, when a dinner was given in the Town Hall to the old pupils.  The assemblage was
not so large as the previous one, but quite as enthusiastic.  The wish was generally expressed that the
centennial anniversary of the school, which comes in the year 1893, should be duly celebrated. The pro-
ceedings on this occasion also were printed in a pamphlet form.

During the early days of New England there was no distinct class of men following the profession of
medicine, but the practice was taken up in connection with some other calling. In every community either
the minister or the schoolmaster or some skilled nurse was expected to act in cases of need, and, for
the most part, such persons performed the duties now undertaken by the faculty.  In the early part of
1672, the Rev. Samuel Willard wrote a long account of a case of witchcraft which befell Elizabeth Knapp
of Groton and he relates how the "Pysitian" came to see her on November 5, 1671, when he gave his judge-
ment on the case, or, in other words, made the diagnosis.  It would be an interesting fact to know who
was the doctor then practicing in the neighborhood, but this is now beyond the reach of historical
inquiry.

p.95
                     Colonel Edmund Goffe was of Cambridge, Massachusetts

The earliest physician in Groton, mentioned by name, of whom I have found any trace, is Dr. Henry Blas-
dell, who was impressed into the public service by Colonel Edmund Goffe.

Insert:
Letter to Col. Edmund Goffe
Sir.
Pursuant to your Directions, we chose out fifty good able Soldiers & having fitted you in as best
manner we could, began our march from Richmond toward Norridgwalk the __ currant and proceeded 
according to the inclosed journal, to which is to be referred.

The Jesuit Rale through the inadvertency of Lord ___ was informed that we were preparing to give
him a visit; yet that report did not his belief but he remained unfound until Quorobussett, whom we
mention in our journal, had the good luck to orverrun us which he had not if we had not previously
glogged with the Province Moccasins & snow shoes which are a _____  And therefore we take this
opportunity to intreat you to move the government to prepare good materials & imploy the four
hostages to make a quantity of good Indian snow shoes and moccassins.

The Jesuit was not removed to Canada according to the Indian report to us, neither was he out of his
house many hours before we were in it. For though the weather was exceeding cold and the study had
no fire place in it, yet neither his ink in his standish or drink in his pot were frozen.

The Jesuit was well provided with good things for housekeeping, beside a considerable quantity of
fur, but considering him as a subject to a Prince whith whom his Britanick Majestie is at peace,
and least (?) that Jesuit should animate his Indians to make reprisal upon the Frontier people by
killing their cattle we leff all his assets intact, excepting his papers, which we have herewith 
sent you, supposing they will the goven a true light of him & shows the contents of his designs.

We are of the opinion that the Jesuit is returned to Norridgewock by this time & will be more then
if we had not marched thither, supposing there will be no more attempts against him this winter, and
therefore we believe he may yet be taken this winter. If proper methods be taken. But its vain to
attempt it except the affair be kept secret & able men chosen & well provided with good snow shoes
& mocassins so they may be very expeditious in the march, otherwise its next to a miracle if the
Indians that are daily down at the seasides do not over run and supplant them. The soldiers in the
frontiers seem very willing to goe again if they may be well fitted out.

The meeting house at Norridgewock is a large, handsome log building adorned within with many pictures
and toys to please the Indians which we found them very fond of & afraid we would deface, but we were
better than their fears.

Wee have not wrote to you any but yourself, thinking it more proper that his Excellency & the Governmnt 
should receive the report. From our Colonel none but ourselves.

We are with hearty respects.
Brunswick. January 21, 1721-2
Your most humble obedient servants

Johnson Harmon
Joseph Heath.

This letter was written by Johnson Harmon and Joseph Heath to Col. Goffe recounting a raid on the settlement 
at Norridgewock where Jesuit priest Father Sebastien Rasles (Rale) lived. 

GOFFE, Col. EDMUND, of Cambridge, bought land of Jonathan Sherman in this town in 1720. He also had a grant 
of land from the town upon condition of his becoming a resident, or sending in a family. If he resided here, 
he returned to Cambridge at the beginning of Lovewell's war. It is more probable however, that Jonathan Stone 
was his substitute. Col. Goffe owned mills on the stream that bears his name, and considerable other property in the town.
http://www.mykennebunks.com/history_g.htm

http://www.mainememory.net/media/pdf/7350.pdf


                                  Early Physicians of Groton.

                                        Dr. Ezekiel Chase.
p.95
Dr. Ezekiel Chase of Groton, was married at Newbury, May 20, 1729, to Priscilla Merrill of that town.
She was the daughter of Nathan and Hannah (Kent) Merrill and born at Newbury on October 16, 1703.

                                       Dr. Benjamin Morse.

Dr. Benjamin Morse was a son of Dr. Benjamin and Abigail (Dudley) Morse and born at Sutton on March
20, 1740. He was married on November 27, 1760 to Mary, dau. of Isaac and Sarah Barnard, also born at
Sutton, on Sept. 13, 1741; and while living in that town they had a family of six children.

Dr. Morse came to Groton probably during the Revolutionary period, and was a Representative to the 
General Court in the session of 1784, and several succeeding ones; and he was also a delegate to the
Convention for adopting the Constitution of the United States, in the year 1788, where he opposed the
adoption. He lived in the south part of the town, near the present village of Ayer; and the site of his
house is laid down on the map of Groton, published in 1832. He died on May 31, 1833, aged ninety-three

p.96

years and his widow on Dec 16, 1835 aged 94 years.

                                      Dr. Ephraim Ware.
 
Dr. Ephraim Ware, a physician of Groton, was married at Cambridge, on October 13, 1785, to Mrs. Abigail
Gamage. He was a native of Needham and born on January 14, 1725. His first wife was Martha, dau. of
Josiah and Elizabeth Parker of Groton, where they were married on July 26, 1764. She was born on Jan. 7,
1737 and died at Groton on April 4, 1776. After their marriage they went to Dedham to live, as the 
records of that town say: "The Selectmen on the 2nd day of August 1765, gave Orders to Israel Everett,
Constable, to warn Ephraim Ware, Martha Ware, and three others, to depart this Town in 14 days, or give
security to indemnify the town."  Such orders were in accordance with an old practice, then common 
throughout the Province, which aimed to prevent the permanent settlement of families in towns where they
might become a public burden. Their two eldest children, both boys, were born at Dedham; and three other
children, a daughter Sarah and two sons, who both died in infancy, were born at Groton.  Sarah, born on
September 18, 1769, was married to Richard Sawtell of Groton on March 10, 1796 and died on March 23, 1851 
having been the mother of nine children.
                                   
                                    Dr. Ephraim Woolson.

Dr. Ephraim Woolson was practicing medicine at Groton in the year 1766. He was a son of Isaac & Sibyl
Woolson and born at Weston, Mass., on April 11, 1740. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of
1760 and married Mary Richardson on July 29, 1765. Dr. Woolson appears to have been living

p.97
at Weston just before his residence at Groton, and in the year 1767 he bought land at Princeton, where
six of his children were born. He was Justice of the Peace. He died in the year 1802 at Hanover, ___.

                                    Dr. Jonathan Gove.

Dr. Jonathan Gove was a son of John & Tabitha (Livermore) Gove and born in that part of Weston which
is now Lincoln, Mass., on Aug 22, 1746. He graduated Harvard College in the class of 1768 and studied
medicine under the instruction of Dr. Oliver Prescott of Groton.  About the year 1770 he was married to
Mary, dau. of Nathan & Mary (Patterson) Hubbard of Groton and here John and Lucinda their two eldest
children were born and baptized.  This son graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1793; studied
law and died at Chillicothe, Ohio, in the year 1802.  From Groton, Dr. Gove removed to New Boston, New
Hampshire, where three more children were born. His wife was born at Groton on Jan 9, 1748 and died at
New Boston. He was married (2) on January 6, 1791 to Polly Dow, who became the mother of three children.
Dr. Gove subsequently removed to Goffstown, New Hampshire, and died there on March 24, 1818.

                                  Dr. Samuel Farnsworth.

Dr. Samuel Farnsworth was the youngest child of Isaac & Anna (Green) Farnsworth and born at Groton
on Sept 29, 1767.  He was married on November 25, 1788 to Betsey, dau. of Capt. Zachariah and Lydia
(Tuck) Fitch. They had a family of eight children of whom two sons, Samuel Farnsworth & Benjamin 
Farnsworth were graduates of Dartmouth College in the class of 1813. Dr. Farnsworth subsequently re-
moved to Bridgton, Maine, where he had a

p.98

successful career as a physician. His eldest child, Betsey Farnsworth was born at Groton on July 2,
1789 and the next child, Samuel Farnsworth was born at Bridgton, Maine on October 9, 1791; and the 
removal from Groton took place in the year 1790. He died on November 4, 1817.

Insert - Dr. Samuel Farnsworth - Source: The Farnsworth Memorial
Subject: Isaac Farnsworth
Source: Farnsworth Memorial
Benjamin Farnsworth/Mary Prescott Line

p.208
Isaac Farnsworth b. Nov 30, 1723, son of Isaac Farnsworth and his wife Sarah Page of Groton.
He lived at Groton and was a respected citizen of that town in his time. He was Town Clerk from
1778 to 1781, when he was chosen the first representative to the General Court under the constitution
of 1781; declined an election to that office the next year and was elected Town Clerk again in 1785,
filling that position three years. He was Deacon of the church Dec 31, 1773.

He was an influential man in the town during the Revolutionary period. His recognized good sense
and conscientious frankness, together with his courage to act according to his convictions made him
a prominent figure.  In January, 1773, the Selectmen called a town meeting "to enquire into and con-
sider the matters of grievance which the people of America and the inhabitants of this province in
particular labor under, relating to the violations and infringement of their rights and liberties."

A committee was appointed, of which he was one, that reported in two weeks afterwards with a spirit
of energy not anywhere exceeded (see Butler's Groton p.118) At a subseqent meeting held in Groton,
Dec 16, 1773, respecting the tea tax, he was again made a member of the committee to consider and
report on the subject. That committee recommended the support of the people of Boston in their action,
and at their recommendation the people voted unanimously to use no tea.

On Jan 3, 1775, he was appointed one of the important "Committee of Inspection" for the town, that was
to see that the recommendations of the Provincial Congress of the preceding Dec 5, 1774, were carried
into effect. (see Butler's Groton, p.123)

                   Anna Green, dau. of Eleazer & Anna (Tarbell) Green of Groton

He married (1) December 4, 1744, Anna Green, daughter of Eleazer and Anna (Tarbell) Green of Groton,
b. July 23, 1725; she died and he m. (2) Oct 9, 1800, Lydia Nutting, widow of Timothy Moors, he b.
Sept 11, 1720; she born Nov 2, 1723.  Deacon Isaac Farnsworth died October, 1812.

p.222
Deacon Isaac Farnsworth and his first wife, Anna Green had issue at Groton, Mass.:
1. Anna Farnsworth b. Jan 23, 1746; m. June 25, 1772, William Colburn of Hollis, N.H. who died at
Fort George Oct 26, 1776, aged 29 yrs, in the service of his country; he was born June 3, 1747 at
Pepperell, son of James Jr. & Sarah Colburn. They had one child, Anna Colburn b. Mar 19, 1773.

2. Isaac Farnsworth b. Jan 14, 1748; died 1835, unmarried.

3. Elizabeth Farnsworth b. Mar 24, 1750; m. Mar 3, 1774, Caleb Blood of Groton as his 2nd wife. His 
first wife was Hannah Holden dau of John & Sarah (Davis) Holden, b. June 24, 1735; m. Nov 1, 1753; 
she died Sept 1, 1773.  He born Nov 23, 1734, son of John & Joanna (Nutting) Blood. She d. Dec 9, 1819;
he died Dec 9, 1804. Caleb Blood had by his first wife:
               1. Caleb Blood b. October, 1755.
               2. Hannah Blood b. Sept 23, 1757; m. Oct 17, 1774 Jonas Taylor.
               3. John Blood b. Sept 6, 1759; m.  Aseneth Powers & m. (2) Purcey Holden.
               4. David Blood b. July 8, 1761; twin; m. Sybil Parker.
               5. Samuel Blood b. July 8, 1761; twin of David; m. Sarah Bartlett.
       By his 2nd wife, Elizabeth Farnsworth, Caleb Blood had:
               6. Timothy Blood b. Mar 18, 1775; d. Jan 13, 1777.
               7. Thomas Blood b. Aug 31, 1776; m. Oct 17, 1793, Mille Fitch b. July 9, 1779; d. 1823.
               8. Timothy Blood 2nd, b.Sept 8, 1778; died Oct 13, 1854
               9. Elizabeth Blood b. Aug 25, 1780.
              10. Levi Blood b. Sept 14, 1782; d. Sept 29, 1782.
              11. Sally Blood b. Aug 31, 1783.
              12. Luther Blood b. Oct 1, 1785; died Sept 8, 1832.
p.223
              13. Nancy Blood b. Mar 27, 1791.

4. Oliver Farnsworth b. Jan 19, 1753 at Pepperell; m. Benjamin Whitney. She was his 3rd wife. His 1st
wife was Mary Turner. His 2nd wife was Anna ____. He m. (3) Oliver Farnsworth and probably had a 4th
wife (see Barry's Framingham).

5. Sally Farnsworth b. Apr. 12, 1755; m. 1776, John Pierce, Jr., of Shirley, Mass, son of John & Hannah
Pierce, she b. May 12, 1753; he died January 1827; she died Aug 1,1833.  John Pierce, Jr. served in the
Revolutionary army during the war and was stationed near Boston. He first resided at Shirley, Mass. and
then Westmoreland, New Hampshire, then in Vermont and then in Maine then back to Vermont and then back
in New Hampshire. He died at Syracuse, New York.

6. Molly Farnsworth b. Nov 28, 1758 m. July 21, 1789, Thomas Tarball b. Oct 8, 1751, son of Thomas
and Esther (Smith) Tarbell of Groton. He is said to have had four daughters, one of whom, Lydia
Farnsworth m. ____ Whitney of Pepperell.

7. John Farnsworth b. Jan 19, 1765; m. Nov 29, 1789, Nancy Baker b. 1769 of Groton. He died Dec 22,
1843.

8. Samuel Farnsworth b. Sept. 29, 1767; m. Nov 25, 1788, Elizabeth Fitch, dau. of Capt. Zachariah
Fitch of Groton, b. Dec 30, 1769; he died Nov 7, 1817; she died April 6, 1844; Samuel Farnsworth was
a noted physician and lived at Bridgton, Maine.

p.245
Dr. Samuel Farnsworth & his wife, Elizabeth (Betsey) Fitch had issue at Bridgton, Maine:
1. Betsey Farnsworth b. July 21, 1789 at Groton, Mass., m. Thomas Perley; she died 1838. Children:
          1. Elizabeth Perley who m. ____ Blake of Philadephia, PA; res. at Princeton, N.J.
          2. Dr. Thomas Flynt Perley of Fryeberg, Maine.
2. Samuel Farnsworth b. oct 19, 1791; m. Sept 16, 1817, Nancy Mussey, dau. of Theodore & Dolley
(Sanborn) Mussey; she died Sept 19, 1882. He graduated Dartmouth College 1813; A.M. & M.D. 1816;
Resided at Bridgton, Maine; a distinguished man. He died April 13, 1842. The doctors, Samuel Farnsworth,
father and son, and their families were liberal supporters of the Bridgeton Academy. A building was
erected for it with a library, recitation rooms and a dormitory called "Farnsworth Hall" that will
perpetuate the memory of that liberal and public spirited family.

3. Benjamin F. Farnsworth b. Dec 17, 1793 at Bridgton, Maine, gread A.M. from Dartmouth College in 1813,
He then studied theology in Portland and Philadelphia. He m. (1) Aug 20, 1817, Julia Ann Cushing, of
Ashburnham, Mass., He was ordained pastor in 1818 of the Baptist Church, Edenton, N.C.  Because of the
failure of his wife's health, he remained there only two years and returned to Massachusetts to take
charge of the Middleborough Academy where his wife died Sept 17, 1819. He m. (2)

p.246

Aug. 2, 1821, Maria Cates Ripley. From this time on, Dr. Benjamin Farnsworth gave his considerable
talents to a distinguished career of establishing high schools and colleges. For two years, until
1823, he was Principal of the Bridgewater, Mass. Academy. He then opened the Female High School in
Worcester, Mass. and next edited the Christian Watchman in Boston, until May 1826, when he became the
first Principal of the New Hampton Academical & Theological Institution in New Hampshire. He spent 7
years of his life there and had conferred on him the degree S.T.D. He left in 1833 to start a boys'
high school and one for girls in Providence, Rhode Island. In the Fall of 1836 he became president of
the Georgetown College in Kentucky. Within in less than a year he received the degree D.D.  In 1837
he became the first president of the Univ. of Louisville, KY and so started the oldest municipal
college in this country.  When his health failed, he retired to the home of his daughter, Julia Maria
who had married Patrick H. Thomson and died at their home, Hurricane Hall, Donerail, Fayette Co. near
Lexington, KY, July 4, 1851.

4. Henry Farnsworth b. May 26, 1796; died September 1817, unmarried.

5. Isaac Farnsworth b. Oct 31, 1798; m. ______ nothing further of him is known.

6. Harriet Farnsworth b. July 22, 1804; died February 1818.

7. Caroline F. Farnsworth b. Nov 22, 1806; m. Nov 22, 1824, the Honorable George Pierce of Otisfield,
Maine, he born July 22, 1799; she died Sept 15, 1871. He lived on the farm left to him by his father,
he was Adjutant of the old militia and also Brigade Quartermaster; a Justice of the Peace 40 years;
a Coroner five years; on the Governor's Council 1857-1858; Representative 1861; Senator 1865-1866;
was a surveyor; was six years employed as Agent for Alford H. Haven and D. H. Treadwell of Portsmouth
N.H.; as lumberman on the headwaters of the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers; and during all that time,
for 35 years, had charge of matters pertaining to the township of Dummer, New Hampshire. In 1876
he was a rsident of Harrison, Maine and continued to act a prominent part in the interest of that town
and state. They had no children.

8. Sybil Anne Farnsworth b. April 25, 1812; m. Dec 5, 1831, Solomon Andrews of Bridgton, Maine. She
died Jan 22, 1882; she possessed in a marked degree the abilities shared by this remarkable family;
She had four children of which one is known: George P. Andrews b. Sept 29, 1835 at No. Bridgton, Maine.

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth


p.98                                          GROTON.

These several physicians practiced their profession in the neighborhood of Groton, though they had never
taken medical degrees. Before the present century this was a common custom throughout the country; and
the instances were very exceptional where practitioners could rightfully append M.D. to their names.
As a class they were men of shrewd sense and acute observers, and their practice was attended with
success. Perhaps they made a better use of their opportunities than we make today, with our richly
endowed medical schools and numerous hosptials.

                                         Doctor Oliver Prescott.
During the last century, Dr. Oliver Prescott was an eminent physician of Groton and he took high
professional rank throughout the Province. He was the youngest of three distinguished brothers, of 
whom the eldest was Judge James Prescott, who filled many important positions in civil life as well 
as in military circles; and the second was Colonel William Prescott, who commanded the American forces
at the Battle of Bunker Hill.  Both Dr. Oliver Prescott and his son, Dr. Oliver Prescott, Jr. occupied
an exceptional place among the physicians of Middlesex County.

Dr. Oliver Prescott was a son of the Honorable Benjamin Prescott and his wife, Abigail (Oliver) Prescott,
and born at Groton on April 27, 1731.  He graduated at Harvard College with the highest honors in 1750,
and then studied medicine under the tuition of Dr. Ebenezer Robie of Sudbury, Mass.

p.99

On October 19, 1756 he was married to Lydia, daughter of David & Abigail (Jennison) Baldwin of Sudbury
and they had eight children. His high standing in the profession gave him a place as a charter member
of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1781 and at the commencement of 1791, Harvard College conferred
upon him the honorary degree of M.D.  He was also the president of the Middlesex Medical Society, during
the whole period of its existence. Apart from his professional laurels he likewise enjoyed many civil
and military honors.

Dr. Prescott was Town Clerk of Groton during thirteen years, and Selectman during thirty-two years.
Before the Revolution he held the office of Major, Lieut. Colonel, and General, respectively, in the 
militia.  Subsequently, in the year 1778, he was appointed third major-general of the militia, and in
1781, second major-general, but soon afterward, on account of ill health, he resigned the position.

He was a Justice throughout the Commonwealth, a member of the Board of War, a member of the Council
of Massachusetts, until he declined the office, and in the year 1779, was appointed Judge of Probate,
and continued as such until his death. He took an active part in supressing Shays's Rebellion, which
had many supporters in this neighborhood.  Dr. Prescott was one of the original trustees of the Groton
Academy, and the first president of the Board; and he was also a member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences. He died on November 17, 1804, aged seventy-three years and his wife died on September 27,
1778 aged sixty two years.

p.100
                                        Dr. Oliver Prescott, Jr.

Dr. Oliver Prescott, Jr., was the eldest son of Dr. Oliver Prescott and born at Groton on April 4,
1762.  He pursued his preparatory studies under Master Moody at Dummer Academy, and graduated at Harvard
College in the class of 1783. He studied medicine uner the direction of his father, and Dr. James Lloyd
of Boston, and established himself in practice in his native town of Groton.  With every social advantage
in his favor he at once took high rank as a physician, and soon enjoyed a wide reputation.  On February
22, 1791 he married Nancy, daughter of Capt. Leonard Whiting & Ann (Hall) Whiting of Hollis, New Hampshire, 
and they had nine children.  His wife died on September 13, 1821 aged 58 years. He married
(2) November 6, 1823, Mrs. Elizabeth (Atkins) Oliver, who was born on December 30, 1762 and died on
May 21, 1835.  Dr. Prescott was the Town Clerk and Chairman of the Selectmen from the year 1804 to 1811,
and Representative of Groton to the General Court during the sessions of 1809 and 1810.  He was a Trustee
of the Groton Academy from the time of its incorporation until 1811, when he removed to Newburyport, Mass., 
where he died September 26, 1827.

Insert:
Dr. Oliver Prescott
Prescott Memorial.
p.56
Hon. Benjamin Prescott & his wife, Abigail Oliver had issue:
1. Abigail Prescott b. April 23, 1719; died Nov. 23, 1739.
2. Hon. James Prescott, a Colonel, b. Jan 13, 1721; m. his cousin, Susanna Lawrence, dau. of Col.
William Prescott, June 18, 1752.
3. Elizabeth Prescott b. Oct 1, 1723; m. Abijah Willard of Lancaster, son of Hon. Samuel Willard of
Lancaster.
p.57
4. Colonel William Prescott b. Feb 20, 1726; m. 1756 or 1757, Abigail Hale of Sutton, Mass.
p.59
Dr. Oliver Prescott b. April 27, 1731; m. February, 1756, Lydia, dau. of David & Abigail Baldwin, Esq.,
of Sudbury, Mass., b. Oct 15, 1735; ten children. He graduated at Harvard College, 1750 and was dist-
inguished at college for his literary attainments and correct deportment. He studied physic with Dr. Roby
of Sudbury, who had been educated in Europe, and a cisciple of the renowned Boerhaave, and was an eminent
physician. He settled at Groton, Mass., his native town, and for many years was extensively patronized,
not only by that but by the neighboring towns.  It is said by his biographer that he had a carefull and
trusty horse, on whom he would frequently sleep when deprived of rest in bed.  His distinguished pro-
fessional acquiremnts; his prompt and unremitted attention to the sick; his tender and pleasant demeanor
while treating them in their distress; his moderate charges and forbearance toward the poor, together with 
the general success which attended his practice, operated to render him for nearly half a century,
one of the most popular, while he was one of the eminent and useful physicians in the Commonwealth. He 
was one of the original members of the Massachusetts Medical Society at its incorporation in 1781, and 
an honorary member of sundry medical societies.  He was President of the Middlesex Medical Society during
the whole period of its existence.

p.60
Dr. Oliver Prescott took an early and decided part in the American Revolution, by entering warmly into
those measures which were necessary to vindicate our national rights, and by assisting cheerfully and
largely in their defence. He received many important appointments. In the militia he was appointed by the
King, a Major, then Lieut. Colonel and then Colonel.  In 1776 he was appointed a Brigadier General for
Middlesex County by the executive council of the Massachusetts Bay; he also was in the same year chosen
a member of the Board of War.  In 1777 he was electeded at member of the Supreme Executive Council; and
in 1778, he was appointed the third Major General of the militia throughout the Commonwealth.

He was elected Town Clerk of Groton from 1765 to 1777, inclusive (13 years). Upon the death of John
Winthrop LL.D. in 1779, he, Dr. Oliver Prescott, was appointed his successsor in the office of Judge
of Probate, etc for the county of Middlesex, which office he retained until his death.

In 1781, he was appointed second Major General of the militia but soon tendered his resignation by reason
of other important duties. In 1781, Dr. Prescott received from government a commission to "cause to be
arrested and committed to jail, any person whom he should deem the safety of the Commonwealth required
to be restrained of his personal liberty or whose enlargement within the Commonwealth is dangerous there-
to."*
*footnote: On the 3d of January, 1775, he and his brother James Prescott and Jonathan Lawrence and
Amos Lawrence, and eleven others, were appointed a committee to see that the resolves of the Continental
Congress relative to the "Test Oath," so called, "be faithfully carried into effect."

Dr. Oliver Prescott was incorporated a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1780. Also,
one of the Trustees of the Groton Academy, and the first President of the Board. He was in stature full
six feet in height, somewhat corpulent, and possessed and ever practised a peculiar suavity and polite-
ness of manners, and a gentlemanly deportment, which strongly endeared him to the people, always command-
ing esteem and respect.

Dr. Oliver Prescott was not only respected for the above qualities, but the whole was sweetened by a
uniform Christian life, and true devotion to the cause of Christianity, and the social virtues in which
he and his wife walked together and adorned their profession by a well ordered life and godly con-
versation. He possessed uncommon powers and versatility of mind, showing himself in all matters of
difficulty, at once competent to its development and elucidation, by which he was enabled to dispatch
business with surprising rapidity.

Dr. Oliver Prescott ended a well spent and useful life on the 17th of November 1804 aged 73 years and
nearly 9 months; caused by the pectoral dropsy of the chest) the same disease that terminated the 
existence of his two brothers, Honorable James Prescott and Colonel William Prescott. His wife had
died previously on the 27th of September, 1798 aged 63 yrs.

p.77
Dr. Oliver Prescott and his wife, Lydia Baldwin had issue:

1. Abigail Prescott b. Feb 21, 1760; died Aug. 5, 1765.
2. Dr. Oliver Prescott, Jr. b. April 4, 1762; m. (1) Oct 22, 1791, Ann, dau. of Leonard Whiting, Esq.,
of Hollis, N.H., by whom he had nine children. She died Sept 13, 1821. He married (2) Nov 6, 1823,
Elizabeth, the widow of Thomas Oliver, Esq., and the dau. of Henry Atkins, Esq., a merchant of Boston.
She was born Dec. 30, 1762 and died May 21, 1835. He prepared for college at Dummer Academy, Byfield
Parish, Newbury, Mass.; entered Harvard College in 1779; graduated in 1783; studied medicine with his
father, but completed his professional education with Dr. James Lloyd, a celebrated physician of Boston.
He was admitted a licentiate by the censors of the Massachusetts Medical Society in June, 1786. He was
appointed a surgeon to a regiment under Col. Henry Woods, which, together with other regiments was under
the command of General Lincoln. These troops were collected and organized for the purpose of supressing
the Shay's Rebellion.  He was afterward made surgeon of the 6th Regiment of the 3d Division of Militia,
which he held until he resigned in 1800.  In 1800 he was elected a member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society and was afterward one of its counsellors.  He delivered the Annual Discourse before the Society
in 1813 and in 1814 received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from Harvard College. In 1825
he was elected a member of the Corporation of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and was elected Vice
President of the Medical Society in 1827.  Dr. Oliver Prescott, Jr. had a very extensive practice in 
Groton and the towns adjacent; but becoming of an asmatic and dropsy, he removed with his family from
Groton to Newburyport, Mass., in February, 1811, hoping to receive the benefit from a residence near the
sea, together with a greater regularity of life enjoyed by physicians in compact settlements.  Here his
practice soon became extensive and continued so until his death, which occurred on the 26th of September,
1827, after a short illness of typhus fever in his 66th year.

By his ardent zeal in the cause of his profession, his diligent study, acute observation and accurate
discrimination, he gained the confidence and esteem of his patients and of the community. Dr. Prescott
contributed to several valuable articles to the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery. But his
most important publication was the discourse before alluded to, which he delivered before the Medical
Society, entitled, "Dissertation on the Natural History and Medicinal Effects of the Secale Cornutum, or
Ergot."  This dissertation was very favorably received by the profession. It was reprinted in Philadelphia 
and London, and was translated into the French and German languages and was published under
the article "Ergot," in the 13th volume of the French Dictionary of the Medical Sciences.

p.78 

Dr. Oliver Prescott, Jr., was repeatedly and for many years, called by the citizens of Groton to parti-
cipate in the management of their municipal affairs, being chosen Town Clerk, Selectman (of which he was
Chairman from 1804 to 1811) was repeatedly (1809-1810) and on, chosen a Representative to the General
Court of Massachusetts, and declined repeated solicitations to serve in the Senate for the County of
Middlesex, Massachusetts.  He was one of the original founders of the Groton Academy, and was a Trustee
and Treasurer of that institution and manifested a laudable zeal for the promotion of education and
science.

Children of Dr. Oliver Prescott and his wife, Lydia Baldwin, continued.

3. Thomas Prescott b. Oct 11, 1764; died Aug 10, 1765.

4. Thomas Prescott (again) b. oct 27, 1766; died Oct 26, 1785. He was a cripple, caused by rickets.

5. Abigail Prescott b. June 25, 1768; died Oct 6, 1783 of consumption, following the whooping cough.

6. Lucy Prescott b. March 13, 1771; m. Sept. 30, 1791, Honorable Timothy Bigelow, son of Colonel Timothy
Bigelow of Worcester, who commanded one of the Mass. Regiments in the Revolutionary War.  Hon. Timothy
Bigelow was born April 30, 1767; graduated at Harvard College in 1786; read law with the Honorable
Levi Lincoln, Sr. and opened an office at Groton in 1789. He was eminently successful in the practice
of his professtion; a sound lawyer and distinguished advocate. In 1802 he was Representative to the
General Court and was chosen from that body as one of the Executive Council, in which office he served
two years. In 1806 he removed from Groton to Medford, and opened an office for practice in Boston. He
represented the town of Medford in the General Court nearly if not quite all the years from the time of
his removal there to the time of his death.  He was Senator for Middlesex County from 1797 to 1801,
inclusive, and Councillor again in 1821.  His executive abilities were of the first order, and he had a
fine opportunity to exhibit them while presiding as Speaker of the House of Representatives for eleven
years, beside presiding in various literary and charitable societies of which he was a member. He was a
close student and a great reader. Books in all the liberal arts and sciences were his familiar acquaint-
ances. He died May 18, 1821, aged 54 years and 19 days.  Mrs. Bigelow died in the consolation of a re-
ligious faith, December 17, 1852 aged 81 years and 9 mos.  The newspapers of the day that recorded her
death, stated that she was a worthy consort of a good and eminent man. She was well known for her moral
loveliness and beauty, the elevation of her character, the gentleness of her nature, and calm self-
possession.  It is said that a prominent trait in her endowments was a concern for the welfare of others
and a resignation and Christian patience and fortitude under trials and losses of her children.

p.79
7. Samuel Jackson Prescott b. Mar 15, 1773, graduated at Harvard College in 1795, and read for the prof-
ession of law; but after admission to the bar, he abandoned the practice on the account of partial
deafness. On the 13th of November, 1804, he married Margaret, daughter of Major Joseph and Margaret
(Cleveland) Hiller of Salem, Mass., b. July 29, 1775, and died at Brookline, Mass., Aug 4, 1841 aged
66 years.  Major Joseph Hiller was the first appointed collector of the Port of Salem under George
Washington. Mr. Samuel J. Prescott early engaged in mercantile affairs but after a few years was un-
fortunate by reason of the embarrassed condition of affairs, occasioned by the embargo of 1807 and 1808,
and the War with Great Britain, 1812 - 1815, which followed.  He subsequently became an acting Magistrate, 
was a notary public for Suffolk Co., residing in Boston. He died at Brookline, Mass., Oct 7,
1857 aged 84 yrs, 6 mos and 22 days.

8. Mary Jackson Prescott, b. Nov 8, 1774; m. (1) September, 1805, John Park Little, Esq., who graduated
at Brown Univ. and was a lawyer; born in Lunenburg, Mass. 1773; settled in Gorham, Maine where he died
March 26, 1809 leaving an infant son, John Oliver Little b. Mar 27, 1808 and died Sept 18, 1809, six mos.
after his father.  She m. (2) April 19, 1810. the Hon. Lothrop Lewis, b. 1764 and who, during his life,
filled a great variety of civil and military offices. For many years he was Representative from the town
of Gorham, Maine to the State Legislature and for several years a Judge of the Court of Sessions. For a
long series of years he was a member of the Massachusetts Senate, and one of the Governor's Council. He
was a member of Governor Strong's Board of War, 1812-1815; at the time of his death on October 9, 1822,
aged 58 yrs, he was Land Agent or Commissioner for the State of Maine and was employed in surveying and
dividing certain townships of land between Massachusetts and Maine. In the militia of Maine he rose to 
be a Colonel of a Cavalry regiment. Mrs. Lewis was distinguished for her pure Christianity. Her cordial
and heartfelt sympathy for all around her; her charity and benevolence to the poor and needy, and for her
dignified manners and courteous bearing. She possessed a finely balanced and highly cultivated mind which
she retained to the last.  She was a noble specimen and a fine model of a true Christian lady; she was 
for more than fifty years a worthy and active and much loved member of the Congregational church of
Gorham, Maine where she died May 30, 1862 in her 88th year.

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

p.100 - An Historical Sketch of Groton - 1655-1890 by Dr. Samuel A. Green, 1894
                                   Continued.

                               Dr. Joseph Mansfield
  
Dr. Joseph Mansfield was a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Whittemore) Mansfield, and born at Lynn, Mass.,
on December 17, 1770. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1801, and among his classmates
were Tyler Bigelow, Thomas Bond, James Abbott Cummings, Timothy Fuller, Luther Lawrence, Stephen Minot
and William Bant Sullivan, either natives or at some time residents of Groton.  Both while an under-
graduate and while studying his profession, he

p.101
kept the district school on Farmer's Row and even after he had acquired his profession he taught the
same school with the understanding that his hours of instruction should conform somewhat to the needs
of his practice. While in college he took high rank as a scholar, and, at an exhibition near the end of
his junior year, he delivered a poem which attracted some attention in literary circles and subsequently
was printed.  He studied medicine with Dr. Oliver Prescott Jr., and on June 11, 1805 was married to Abi,
daughter of Benjamin and Meriel (Nichols) Hartwell.  About the year 1810 he built the large dwelling
with the brick ends, near the Baptist meeting-house, where he resided until his death, which took place
on April 23, 1830.
                               Dr. George Mansfield.

His son, Dr. George Mansfield, born at Groton on October 8, 1807, studied medicine and graduated at the
Harvard Medical School in the class of 1832. He was married on November 15, 1832 to Hannah Maria Curtis
of Boston and died at Janesville, Wisconsin July 25, 1869.

                                Dr. Amos Bancroft.

Dr. Amos Bancroft was a son of Edward and Rachel (Howard-Barron) Bancroft of Pepperell, where he was
born on May 23, 1767. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1791, and from the same institution
took the degree of Bachelor of Medicine in the year 1794.  He began the practice of his profession at
Westford, but soon afterwards removed to Weston, where he remained until the year 1811. He was married
first on August 29, 1796, to Abigail, daughter of Capt. Leonard & Ann (Hall) Whiting of Hollis, N.H.,
who was born on

p.102
March 25, 1772, and died at Weston, on Dec 4, 1799; he m. (2) on October 7, 1800, Sarah, daughter of
Henry and Faith (Savage) Bass, of Boston who was born on April 21, 1768, and died on April 30, 1837,
he m. (3) on October 17, 1839, Eliza Doane, of Boston who died on November 11, 1840 and he m. (4)
on October 31, 1841, Mary, daughter of Richard and Martha (Hall) Kneeland of Westford who was born on
February 25, 1789 and died on April 22, 1862.

Dr. Bancroft had a large practice and at various times, a considerable number of medical students under
his tuition, including among them the brothers James Freeman Dana and Samuel Luther Dana who were grand-
sons of the Reverend Samuel Dana, a former minister of Groton, and graduates of Harvard College in the
class of 1813. He was frequently called in consultation by other physicians, and often at a long distance
from home. In those days there were no railroads, and traveling was attended with many difficulties.

Durint the winter, when the roads were blocked up with snow, he was obliged, sometimes, to travel on
snow shoes; and as his patients lived many miles apart, he was often absent from home for several 
successive days.  To add to his discomfort on such occasions, it was difficult to obtain proper food,
though there were at that period but few dwellings where he could not obtain some New England rum or 
other spirit to help restore exhausted nature.  In the year 1811, his Alma Mater conferred on him the
honorary degree of M.D. On July 12, 1848 while walking down State Street,

p.103
in Boston, he stepped from the sidewalk in order to cross the way, when a wagon, coming along rapidly,
knocked him down and injured him so severely that he died in the course of a few hours.

Dr. Mansfield and Dr. Bancroft were the last physicians of Groton who while visiting patients used to
ride on horseback with saddle-bags, although they also drove much in sulkies.  In early days, owing to
bad roads, physicians on their professional rounds were in the habit of riding, and it was near the
beginning of the present century in this neighborhood, that the sulky or covered gig, came into fashion
among them. At the present time the four-wheeled buggy solely is usded by physicians.

                                     Dr. Joshua Green.

Dr. Joshua Green, was a son of Joshua and Mary (Mosley) Green and born at Wendell, on October 8, 1797.
He attended school at the academies in New Salem, Westfield and Milton, Massachusetts, and graduated
at Harvard College in the class of 1818.  He studied medicine in the office of Dr. John Collins Warren,
of Boston and took the degree of M.D. at the Harvard Medical School in the year 1821.  Soon after taking
this degree he was appointed apothecary at the Massachusetts General Hospital, then just opened for the
reception of patients, where he remained for one year.  At that time the apothecary, in addition to his
own duties, performed those of the house-physician and the house-surgeon.  In March, 1823, Dr. Green
began to practice his professtion in Sunderland and on January 5, 1824 was married to Eliza, daughter
of Major Samuel and Susanna (Parker) Lawrence of Groton. His wife was born on March

p.104

13, 1796, and died on August 20, 1874. During a winter of his college course he taught a district school
at Groton, now known as the Moors School and boarded in the family of Major Lawrence who lived on Farmers' Row, Groton.

In the spring of 1825 Dr. Green removed to Groton, where he continued the practice of medicine, but after
about ten years, owing to ill health, he gradually gave up his profession.  In the year 1832, a pulmonary
hemorrhage compelled him to pass a winter on the Island of Cuba, where to a fair degree he regained his
health. He joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1826, and for many years was one of its councillors. 
He represented the town in the Legislature during the years 1836 and 1837, and was one of
the Trustees of the Lawrence Academy, from 1831 to 1867, and during most of this time either the
secretary or the president of the board.  On the seventy-fourth anniversary of his birth, October 8, 1871, 
he had a paralytic stroke from the effects of which he never fully recovered. After the death
of his wife he went to live with his only daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Lawrence (Green-Kendall) Swan at
Morristown, New Jersey, where he died on June 5, 1875.

                                       Dr. Micah Eldredge.

Dr. Micah Eldredge was a son of Hezekiah and Abigail (Whiton) Eldredge, and born at Ashford, Conn.,
May 24, 1776. He studied medicine with an elder brother, Dr. Hezekiah Eldredge and in 1798, began the
practice of his profession at Dunstable, N.H., where he resided for many years, living first on one
side of the State line and then on the other.  On October 1, 1797, Dr. Eldredge was married to Sally,

p.105
daughter of Tilly and Abigail (Hale) Buttrick of Princeton.  In 1826 he removed to Groton, Mass., where
he remained for two years, when he established himself in Dunstable, New Hampshire (now Nashua, N.H.).
The honorary degree of M.D. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College in 1841. He died at Milford, N.H., 
on July 2, 1849, and was buried in the Hollis Street Cemetery at Nashua.

                                       Dr. Jacob William.

Dr. Jacob Williams was a son of Jacob and Hannah (Sheple) Williams, and born at Groton on July 16, 1789.
About the year 1816 he was practicing medicine at the Gilmanton Iron Works, New Hampshire, and in June,
1822 he was married to Irene Locke of Epsom. In the year 1828, he returned to his native town and esta-
blished himself as a physician; and while there his wife died on March 11, 1831. During the next year
he was married secondly to Betsey Wakefield of Kennebunk, Maine.  He remained at Groton until the year
1835 when he removed to Kensington, N.H., where he died on July 7, 1857.

                                          Dr. James Wilson

Dr. James Wilson was a son of the Hon. Abiel & Abigail (Putnam) Wilson, and born at Wilton, N.H., Dec.
4, 1796, on the farm where his great-grandfather, Jacob Putnam began a settlement in the year 1739. He
studied medicine under the tuition of Dr. John Wallace of Milford, N.H. and graduated at Dartmouth
Medical School in the class of 1821.  He was practicing his professiion at Boston in the early part of
1825, as his name appears in the directory of that year, and he removed to Groton, Mass., near the
beginning of 1828.  He was married, in

p.106

February of that year to Elizabeth P. Wilson, of Boston, a daughter of the city crier; and he came here
to Groton under the patronage of Dr. Amos Bancroft who desired some respite from a large practice, and
acted as his sponsor in the community.  After living at Groton during two years he returned to Boston and
passed a brief period, and then removed to New York, where he remained a short time. Soon afterward he
went to Cuba where he spent the remainder of his days and died at Matanzas on November 23, 1868.

                                         Dr. George Stearns.

Dr. George Stearns was the youngest child of Ephraim and Molly (Gilman) Stearns, and born at Walpole,
New Hampshire on May 10, 1802. He graduated at the Harvard Medical School in the class of 1827, and be-
gan the practice of his profession in Boston, where he remained about three years when he settled at
Groton, Mass.  He was married, on July 2, 1868, to Mrs. Ann (Moulton) Gilson, widow of Joshua Gilson of
Groton.  Dr. Stearns was the last survivor of thirteen children and died on March 7, 1882 at which time
he was the oldest physician in the town.

                                         Dr. Amos Farnsworth.

Dr. Amos Farnsworth was a son of Major Amos Farnsworth and his wife, Elizabeth (Rockwood) Farnsworth and
born at Groton on August 30, 1788.  He studied his profession with Dr. Calvin Thomas of Tyngsborouth,
and with Dr. John Collins Warren of Boston, but before his graduation he was commissioned as surgeon's
mate in the Fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, on April 14, 1812, just before the war was declared
by the United States with Great Britain; and two months later on June 15, his regiment left South Boston
for

p.107
Burlington, Vermont, for service on the frontier. He remained with the Fourth Infantry during thirteen
months, when he resigned his commission on May 14, 1813.  During the following summer he graduated at
Harvard Medical School and began the practice of his profession in Boston, where he remained until the
year 1832 when he removed to his native town. On March 21, 1823, Dr. Farnsworth was married to Mrs.
Mary (Bourne) Webber, the widow of Capt. Seth Webber of Boston. He died at Roxbury on July 13, 1861
and his wife at Boston on Oct 27, 1828 aged 37 years.

Insert: Dr. Amos Farnsworth
Source: Farnsworth Memorial
Benjamin Farnsworth/Mary Prescott Line.

p.227

Amos Farnsworth, b. Aug 30, 1788, son of Major Amos Farnsworth and his wife, Elizabeth Rockwood of
Groton, Mass.

Amos Farnsworth m. Mar 21, 1823, Mary (Bourne) Webber of Boston, the widow of the late Capt. Seth
Webber. She died Oct 28, 1827; he died July 13, 1861. He commenced the study of medicine with Dr.
Thomas of Tyngsborough, Mass., and continued and completed his studies with Dr. John C. Warren of
Boston. He was appointed Surgeon's mate by the President, in the army engaged in the war with England,
April 14, 1812.  He left south Boston in that capacity with the Fourth Regiment of Infantry June 15,
1812 for Burlington, Vermont, his regiment having been assigned to the defense of that frontier. He
wrote his thesis which was about pneumoni, while in camp, by the light of the pine knots. He

p.228 - Farnsworth Memorial

submitted it to the university examiner and was graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 1813.
He resigned his commission and commenced the practice of medicine at Boston, May 1, 1814, and was
elected a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, October 2, 1816.  He continued in practice at
Boston for twelve years, near the homestead of his ancestor, Jonas Prescott.  He was an ardent supporter
of the anti-slavery cause in the days when it was most unpopular, and his hospitable home at Groton was
the resort of the leaders of that cause.  There came George Thompson, Wendell Phillips, Samuel J. May
and William Lloyd Garrison, with many of the lesser lights of that movement, who, in about twenty years
after Garrison had sounded his trumpet-blast in his paper in Baltimore, swept away the whole fabric
of negro slavery in the United States.

p.253
Amos Farnsworth Jr. and his wife, Mary (Bourne) Webber had issue at Boston, Massachusetts:

1. Mary Elizabeth Farnsworth b. Dec 28, 1823. She was the light and cheer of the household after her
mother's death and was her father's housekeeper.  She married (1) Dec 9, 1851, Josiah Burrage Kilbourne
who died Nov 21, 1855. She m. (2) May 2, 1861, Samuel Hall, Jr., as his 2nd wife (his first wife was
Harriet Bridge of Boston who died Mar 23, 1851.) He was born Feb 18, 1815; she had children by Josiah
Kilbourne:
               1. William Farnsworth Kilbourne b. Sept 15, 1852; died Sept 15, 1855.
   By her 2nd husband, Samuel Hall, Jr., Mary had:
               2. Prescott Farnsworth Hall, b. Sept 27, 1868; graduated Harvard 1889.

2. Amos Henry Farnsworth b. Aug 8, 1825; m. June 6, 1850, Julia P. Cushman, daughter of Judge John
Cushman & his wife, Maria (Talmadge) Cushman of Troy, New York; she b. Dec 10, 1822. He grad. Harvard
College, A.B. 1844, LL.D. 1846. One child:
         1. Maria Talmadge Farnsworth b. April 29, 1851; m. Sept 3, 1878, John Hugh Knox of New York 
         City.

3. George Bourne Farnsworth b. Feb 29, 1828; m. June 1, 1870, Marian S. True, dau. of Dr. N. B. True,
of Bethel, Maine.  He res. at Boston, Mass., and died April 12, 1887. He graduated Harvard Coll. A.B.
1847; A.M., 1850. He was appointed a Lieutenant in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment of Cavalry in the
war of the Rebellion and served until the close of that war. (his regiment was negroes) She m. (2)
Dr. John G. Gehring.

Insert:
Dr. John G. Gehring - pencil drawing by the author
 Dr. John G. Gehring was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1857 and came to Bethel in 1887, at age 30. On 
October 20, 1888 he married Mrs. Susie Marian True Farnsworth, of Bethel.  At the Congregational Church 
in February, 1889, Dr. Gehring gave a scientific lecture on the subject of insects. (The news correspondent 
commented that Dr. Gehring is married to a daughter of Dr. N. T. True - he is stopping in Bethel for his 
health; he is connected with a hospital in Cleveland.) In March 1889, the news reported that the Gehring's 
had just returned from Boston with a carload of new furniture. 1890 - The Gehring's spent winter months in 
Atlantic City.  At the 1890 annual town meeting in Bethel, Dr. Gehring was elected to the Superintending 
School Committee. The year would prove demanding for Gehring and Mr. Upton as they would survey and report 
on 20 schools scattered over 15 miles. 

1888
Mrs. N. T. True and her daughter, Mrs. Susie Marion True Farnsworth, have gone to Florida for the winter.
http://www.thebetheljournals.info/Names

5-22-1888     Bethel: The body of George B. Farnsworth who died in Boston about a year ago was brought to 
Bethel Thursday for burial. He married a daughter of Dr. N. T. True. His widow bought a lot in Greenwood 
Cemetery, Bethel, and laid him by the side of her father. She will erect a monument to his memory. 
http://www.thebetheljournals.info/Names

10-30-1888: Bethel: Mrs. Susie Farnsworth, of Bethel, was married to Dr. J.G. (John George) Gehring of 
Cleveland, Ohio, Saturday the 20th last. They started on their wedding tour immediately to visit his home 
in Cleveland, Ohio.  
http://www.thebetheljournals.info/Names
                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
p.107 - Historical Sketch of Groton

                                      Dr. Amos Bigelow Bancroft.

Dr. Amos Bigelow Bancroft was a son of Dr. Amos & Sarah (Bass) Bancroft and born at Groton on April 3,
1811. He graduated Harvard College in the class of 1831 and at the Harvard Medical School in 1834. He
began the practice of his profession at Groton in connection with his father; and on June 11, 1840, 
married Marietta, daughter of Nathan and India (Emerson) Shepley of Pepperell. Dr. Bancroft remained
in Groton until the spring of 1853, when he removed to Charlestown, Mass., where for more than ten
years he was physician to the State Prison. Under the administration of General Grant, he was appointed
superintendent and surgeon in charge of the Marine Hospital at Chelsea, which position he held from
August 1, 1869, to June 30, 1877, when he took up his residence in Boston.  While traveling abroad with
his family, he died at Florence, Italy, on November 8, 1879, much lamented by a wide circle of friends
and patients at home - leaving a widow and two daughters to mourn his loss.

p.108 - Historical Sketch of Groton

                                        Dr. Abel Hervey Wilder.
Dr. Abel Hervey Wilder was a native of Winchendon, where he was born on June 16, 1801. He was the son
of Levi & Grace (Wilder) Divoll.  By an Act of the Legislature on February 7, 1812, his name was changed
from Hervey Divoll to Abel Hervey Wilder, keeping the surname of his mother.  He graduated at the Dart-
mouth Medical School in the class of 1828 and began to practice his profession at Temple, New Hampshire.
On Feb 29, 1828, he was married at New Ipswich, New Hampshire, to Mary, daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth
(Bent) Brown, a native of Lincoln.

Dr. Wilder subsequently removed to Pepperell, Mass., and in the year 1836, came to Groton, Mass., where
he had the management of an institution for the treatment of nervous diseases. He continued to live here
until the death of his wife, which took place on February 12, 1843, when he removed to Pittsfield. After
leaving Groton he was married for the second time; and after a residence in different parts of the
country, he died at Bloomfield, New Jersey on January 2, 1864.

                                       Dr. James Merrill Cummings.
Dr. James Merrill Cummings was a son of Jacob Abbott Cummings and wife, Elizabeth Merrill, and born
in Boston on July 27, 1810. He graduated at Bowdoin College in the class of 1830, and at the Bowdoin
College Medical School in 1834. On November 4, 1835, he was married to Sarah Thurston Phillips, dau. of
Joel & Sarah Phillips (Thurston) Hall of Portland, Maine.  In the spring of 1842, Dr. Cummings came to
Groton and bought out the establishment of Dr. Wilder, which he conducted for four years; and in the
spring of 1846 he removed to Salem, Mass., where he remained

p.109
for four years, when he settled in Portland, where he died on July 20, 1883. His widow died on January
29, 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-five years.

                                        Dr. Rufus Shackford.
Dr. Rufus Shackford, a son of Capt. Samuel and Hannah (Currier) Shackford, was born at Chester, New
Hampshire on December 17, 1816; studied medicine under the tuition of Dr. Cummings, and graduated at the
Harvard Medical School in the class of 1845.  He practiced for a brief period at Groton, in the office of
his preceptor, after which he lived at Lowell for a short time, when he removed to Portland, Maine, where
he is now in practice.

                                        Dr. Norman Smith.
Dr. Norman Smith was the son of Jesse and Nabby (Kittredge) Smith and born at Mount Vernon, New Hampshire
on october 13, 1811.  He graduated at the Vermont Medical College, Woodstock, in the class of 1843 and
began to practice medicine at Groton, where he passed his whole professional life, with the exception of
four years spent in Nashua, New Hampshire.  In April 1861, at the outbreak of the Rebellion (Civil War)
he went out as surgeon of the Sixth Massachusetts Militia Regiment and was with that famous organization
on its march through Baltimore and during its first campaign of three months.  He was a member of the
Union Congregational Church, and prominent in all matters connected with the welfare of the town.  His
death took place at his farm on Common Street, on May 24, 1888, and the funeral, on May 28th, was con-
ducted under Masonic rites.

Dr. Smith was married (1) on May 3, 1838 to Harriet, daughter of John & Lydia Sleeper, of

p.110.

Francestown, New Hampshire, who died September 2, 1839. He m. (2) on November 6, 1843, Mariett Sleeper,
sister of his first wife, who died on July 6, 1846; he m. (3) on September 22, 1847, Abigail Maria, dau.
of Ephraim & Sarah (King) Brown of Wilton, New Hampshire, who died on July 17, 1852. He m. (4) on Sept.
12, 1853, Sarah Young, dau. of Solomon & Dorcas (Hopkins) Frost who died on Dec. 4, 1856 and (5) on
Sept 11, 1866, to Mrs. Mary Jane (King) Lee, dau. of Daniel & Rebecca (Parmenter) King of Rutland, Mass.

                                    Dr. Lemuel Fuller.
Dr. Lemuel Fuller was a son of Dr. Lemuel and Mary (Shepherd) Fuller and born at Marlborough on April 2,
1811. He graduated at the Vermont Medical College, Woodstock, in the class of 1844, and came to Groton,
from Harvard in the year 1847. On June 6, 1844, he was married to Catherine Palliseur dau. of Francis &
Maria Foster (Palliseur) Barrett of Concord.  Dr. Fuller left Groton in 1850, and died at Harvard, Mass.
during a temporary visit from home February 11, 1864. During the last ten years of his life he lived at
North Weymouth.

                                      Dr. Miles Spaulding.
Dr. Miles Spaulding was a son of Capt. Isaac and Lucy (Emery) Spaulding and born at Townsend, Mass., on
April 4, 1819. He graduated at the Berkshire Medical Institution, Pittsfield, in the class of 1842, and
he soon afterward established himself at Dunstable, where he remained until the year 1851, when he removed 
to Groton. Dr. Spaulding was married first, on January 12, 1848, to Sophia Louisa, daughter of
Aaron and Lucinda (Munson) Miller of New Haven,

p.111
Connecticut, who died September 4, 1852; and m. (2) on August 27, 1863, Mary Mehetable, the only child of
Stephen and Mary (Kilborn-French) Stickney. He still lives at Groton, the senior physician of the town.

                                    Dr. Peter Pineo.
Dr. Peter Pineo is a son of Peter and Sarah (Steadman) Pineo and was born at Cornwallis, Nova Scotia,
on March 6, 1825. He graduated at the Bowdoin Medical School in the class of 1847, and was married in
Boston, on May 8, 1850 to Elizabeth, daughter of Kendall and Betsey (Hill) Crosby. In the spring of
1853, he came to Groton, where he remained for two years, after which time he removed to Quechee, a
village in the town of Hartford, Vermont. On June 11, 1861 he was commissioned as surgeon of the Ninth
Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and soon afterward promoted to a brigade surgeoncy, which office was
abolished on July 2, 1862 by an Act of Congress, when officers of that rank became surgeons of the United
States Volunteers.  On February 9, 1863 he was made medical inspector, United States Army, with the rank
of Lieutenant-Colonel, and he served with distinction until the end of the war. At the present time he is
a resident of Boston.

                                   Dr. Kendall Davis.
Dr. Kendall Davis was a son of Joseph and Hannah Davis and born at New Ipswich, New Hampshire on Dec.
4, 1802. According to the State Register of the years 1847-50, he was then living at Groton, where he
practices for a short time. From this town he went to Athol, and died at Templeton on September 20, 1875.

                                   Dr. Richard Upton Piper.
Dr. Richard Upton Piper is a son of Samuel and

p.112.

Mary (Folsom) Piper, and was born at Stratham, New Hampshire. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical
School in the class of 1840, and began the practice of his professtion at Portland, Maine, where he
was married on November 8, 1841 to Elizabeth Frances Folsom, a native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 
In the year 1864 he came to Groton and remained five years, though without engaging in the active
practice of medicine.  He afterward lived in Chicago, but is now a resident of Washington. He is an 
author of some note having written a work entitled, "Operative Surgery Illustrated," and another on
"The Trees of America."

                                   Dr. Joseph Franklin Coolidge.
Dr. Joseph Franklin Coolidge, was a son of Charles and Nancy (Spaulding) Coolidge, and born at West-
minster on Sept 11, 1837. He graduated at the Harvard Medical School in the class of 1862, and in the
year 1864 came to Groton, where he remained until his death, which took place on June 1, 1865. Dr.
Coolidge was one of a family of ten children, and was never married.

                                    Dr. William Ambrose Webster.
Dr. William Ambrose Webster was the only son of William Gordon Webster and wife, Susan (Ambrose) Webster,
and born at Rochester, New Hampshire, June 13, 1830. He graduated at the Medical School of the Long
Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, New York in the spring of 1862. Soon after graduation, on July 1, 1862
he was commissioned as surgeon of the Ninth New Hampshire Volunteers, which left for the seat of war on
August 25, 1862 and he continued in that capacity until January 5, 1865, when he was honorably discharged.  
In September of that year he came to Groton

p.113
where he remained during three years, when he removed to Westford. He died at Manchester, New Hampshire
on February 8, 1887.  Dr. Webster was twice married - (1) in August, 1851 to Mary Anne Kaime, of Pitts-
field, N.H. and (2) on Aug 9, 1858 to Marion M. Ladd, of Middlesex, VT. By the first marriage two daught-
ers were born, who both are now living and by the 2nd marriage, one daughter, Susan Marion Webster, who
was born at Groton on June 25, 1866. She died soon after her father.

                                        Dr. David Roscoe Steere.

Dr. David Roscoe Steere is a son of Scott and Mary (Mathewson) Steere and was born at Lisbon, Conn.,
April 27, 1847. He graduated at Dartmouth Medical School in the class of 1871, and after graduation,
practiced for a few months at Savory. In July, 1872, he came to Groton, where he has since remained;
and in the year 1878 he built the house at the corner of Main and Church streets which he now occupies.
On June 18, 1873 Dr. Steere was married to Adelia, daughter of Jeptha and Betsey (Boynton) Hartwell.

                                       Dr. Edward Hubbard Winslow.

Dr. Edward Hubbard Winslow was a son of Rev. Hubbard Winslow and wife, Susan Ward (Cutler) Winslow and
born at Boston December 26, 1835. He was married, on Sept. 1, 1859 to Helen H. Ayer, of Montvale, Maine
and in the early spring of 1875 came to Groton, where he remained about two years. Dr. Winslow died in
New York on October 16, 1873.
                                       Dr. George W. Stearns.

Dr. George W. Stearns was a son of Paul and Lucy (Kneeland) Stearns, and born at Reading, Vermont, on
Dec. 25, 1814. His mother was a sister of Rev. Abner Kneeland, the preacher and author. He

p.114
took his medical degree first in March, 1857, at Penn Medical Univ., Philedelphia, and secondly, in 1858,
at the Hahnemann Medical College in the same city.  In the spring of 1878, Dr. Stearns came to Groton
from Marblehead, and in November, 1882 removed to Holliston, where he remained a few years, when he went
to Holyoke, of which city he is now a resident.  He was married first on May 8, 1838, at So. Yarmouth, to
Sylvia Crowell, and m. (2) to Julia Amanda Ware, dau. of Cyrus and Eliza Eastman (Cottrel) Ware.

                                     Dr. William Barnard Warren.
Dr. William Barnard Warren was a son of Noailles Lafayette and Mary (Barnard) Warren, and born at
Leominster on November 16, 1853. He graduated at the Medical Department of the Univ. of the City of
New York in the class of 1881, having previously attended a course of lectures in 1879 at the Dartmouth
Medical School. In December, 1882, he came to Groton and established himself in practice, where he now
remains.  Dr. Warren was married at Groton, on October 31, 1883 to Ardelia Temple, daughter of Thomas
Haines and Relief (Cummings) Smith of Boston.

                                     Dr. Marion Zachariah Putnam.
Dr. Marion Zachariah Putnam was a son of John and Sophia (Weaver) Putnam, and born at Mount Sterling,
Illinois on August 14, 1844. In the year 1870, he graduated at the Medical Department of the Northwest-
ern University, Chicago, and began to practice in his native town. On September 9, 1880, Dr. Putnam was
married to Harriet Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Spencer and Harriet Heyward (Lawton) Farnsworth of
Groton. About the year 1883 he came to Groton from Lowell where he had resided for a short period. He
lives on Pleasant Street, but has retired from actice practice of his profession.

Insert:
Source: Farnsworth Memorial
Benjamin Farnsworth/Mary Prescott Line.
p.251
Thomas Spencer Farnsworth b. Oct 1, 1813, son of Thomas Farnsworth and his wife Lavina Page of Groton &
Shirley, Mass.  Thomas Spencer Farnsworth m. Dec 3, 1835, Harriet H. Lawton of Concord, Mass.; resided
at Clinton, Mass. (once a part of Lancaster). He died Sept 10, 1883.
p.287
Thomas Spencer Farnsworth and his wife, Harriet H. Lawton had issue at Lowell, Mass.:
       1. Thomas Spencer Farnsworth b. Dec 17, 1837.
       2. Henry Martyn Farnsworth b. Nov 19, 1840.
       3. Harriet Eliza Farnsworth b. Oct 21, 1843; m. Sept 9, 1880, Marion Z. Putnam, M.D. of Mount
       Sterling, Illinois.
       4. Ann Maria Farnsworth b. Aug 30, 1846; died July 8, 1848.
       5. Jane Delap Farnsworth b. April 7, 1849 at Groton, m. Feb. 7, 1872, George Parkhurst Bellis 
       who died Mar 26, 1876 and she m. (2) Dec 21, 1893, George Packard Carey and had:
              1. George Albert Carey, b. Sept 13, 1873 at Groton, Mass.
       6. Amos Farnsworth b. July 16, 1851; died Feb 26, 1893. He was born at Groton.

p.115 - Historical Sketch of Groton, continued.

                                         The Town of Ayer.

The Fitchburg Railroad was first opened to public travel, through the southerly part of Groton on Dec.
30, 1844 and the Peterborough and Shirley Railroad, under the management of the Fitchburg company, was
opened during the year 1847. The Worcester and Nashua Railroad was operated for regular business, through
its entire length on Dec. 18, 1848 though the section from Groton Junction to Clinton had been previously
opened on July 3, 1848, and from Clinton, Mass., to Worcester, on November 22; and the Stony Brook began
its operations on July 1, 1848.  Soon after these interconnections were made, a village sprang up in the
neighborhood, which became popularly known as the "Junction" though by the Post Office Department in
Washington, it was officially called, "South Groton."  On March 1, 1861, the name of the post-office was
changed by the Department from South Groton to Groton Junction. This settlement, growing in numbers, after 
awhile was set off from Groton and by an act of the Legislature on February 14, 1871, incorporated
as a distinct township under the name Ayer.

After this date, therefore, the list of physicians, so far as they relate to the Junction, and their
biographical sketches, will cease.

                                   Dr. Ebenezer Willis.
Dr. Ebenezer Willis was a son of John and Nancy (Spriggens) Willis and born at Newmarket, New Hampshire,
on January 26, 1815.  He was married at Exeter on July 23, 1836 to Mary Frances, daughter of

p.116

Benjamin and Mary Seavey (Neal) Batchelder.  Dr. Willis came to Groton Junction in March, 1849, and was
the pioneer physician of that place. He died at Ayer on May 10, 1890.

                              Dr. John Quincy Adams McCollester.
Dr. John Quincy Adams McCollester was a son of Silas and Achsah (Holman) McCollester, and born at
Marlborough, New Hampshire, May 3, 1831. He took his degree of M.D. from the Jefferson Medical School
in March 1856.  Dr. McCollester was married (1) on May 6, 1856, to Sarah Elizabeth, dau. of Joseph &
Anna (Longley) Hazen, of Shirley, Mass. who died on May 5, 1858; and he m. (2) on Aug. 9, 1859, to
Georgianna Lydia, dau. of Daniel & Lydia (Fisk) Hunt of Groton.  During the war of the Rebellion (Civil
War) he was the surgeon of the Fifty-third Regiment, Massachusetts Militia, having been commissioned
on December 1, 1862, and mustered out of the service in September, 1863. He is now a resident of Waltham,
Mass.

                              Dr. Edson Champion Chamberlin.
Dr. Edson Champion Chamberlin, a native of Thetford, Vermont, came to Groton Junction in the summer of
1859 and remained one year. He graduated at the Worcester Medical Institution on June 20, 1854. He m.
Mary A. Pierce of Southbury, Conn., where he died January 26, 1877, aged fifty-six years.

                                  Dr. Gibson Smith.
Dr. Gibson Smith came to Groton Junction from the State of Maine about the year 1866. He was an "eclectic" 
physician and a spiritualist, and died at Ayer on September 26, 1885 aged seventy years.

                                Dr. John Eleazer Parsons.
Dr. John Eleazer Parsons was a son of John and Rosalinda Davis (Robbins) Parsons and was born at

p.117
Harrison, Maine, on November 20, 1835. He graduated at the Harvard Medical School in the class of 1863,
and on March 18th of the same year was commissioned as assistant surgeon of the Twenty-eighth Regiment
Massachusetts Volunteers, but for disability was discharged on July 30, 1863. Dr. Parsons next served
as acting assistant surgeon, United States Navy, from October 10, 1863 to December 10, 1866, when he
resigned. During the last week of December, 1866, he came to the village of Groton Junction (Ayer) where
he is still residing.

                                 Dr. Benjamin Hall Hartwell.
Dr. Benjamin Hall Hartwell was a son of Benjamin Franklin Hartwell and his wife, Emma (Whitman) Hartwell
and was born at Acton, Mass., Feb. 27, 1845. He received his early education at the Lawrence Academy, Groton, 
of which institution he is now one of the Trustees, and graduated at the Jefferson Medical
College, Philadelphia on March 7, 1868. In the early spring of 1869, Dr. Hartwell came to Groton Junction
(Ayer) where he still resides, having filled many prominent positions of trust and usefulness. He was
married on September 10, 1879, to Helen Emily, daughter of Major Eusebius Silsby and Mary Jane (Shattuck)
Clark.

                                 Dr. James Moody Moore.
Dr. James Moody Moore was a son of Dr. Ebenezer Giles Moore and his wife, Eliza Sarah (Hidden) Moore, and
born at Wells, Maine on June 20, 1832.  He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the class of 1860, 
and in May of that year came to Groton Junction, where he remained until April, 1861.  Dr. Moore
then removed to Concord, New Hampshire, his father's home, where he died on February 3, 1870.

p.118                                     GROTON.
                             Representatives to the General Court.

A List of Representatives to the General Court from the colonial period to the present time, with the
dates of their election and terms of service; including also the names of certain other officers:
1672 to 1887.

The Assistants of Massachusetts, sometimes called Magistrates, were the forerunners of the Provincial
Council and the State Senate.  They were few in number, and in point of dignity and honor, next to the
Governor and the Deputy Governor. 

                                      Major Simon Willard. 

Major Simon Willard, the only citizen of the town who ever held the office, became a resident of Groton
in the year 1672, removing here from Lancaster at that time. He was first chosen to the position in 1654,
when living at Concord.
                                       Court of Assistants.

Date of first election                                                    Term of Service.
May 3, 1654.                           Major Simon Willard.                  1672-1676.
                              He died in office on April 24, 1676.

                                            Senate.
October 26, 1780.                  Hon. James Prescott                     1780-1784, 1786.
June 1, 1797.                      Hon. Timothy Bigelow                      1797-1800.
May 8, 1805.                       Hon. Samuel Dana                        1805-1812, 1817.
           (Mr. Dana was president of the body during the years 1807, 1811 and 1812.)
Nov. 13, 1837.                     Hon. Stuart James Park                    1838, 1839.
January 9, 1851.                   Hon. James Boynton.                          1851.
Nov. 13, 1854.                     Hon. Abijah Edwin Hildreth.                  1855.
Nov. 5, 1867.                      Hon. Daniel Needham.                      1868, 1869.
Nov. 8, 1887.                      Hon. Moses Poor Palmer.                   1888, 1890.
                    Of these Senators the last two are the sole survivors.

There is no reference in the Groton records to the election of any Representatives to the General Court
before the year 1693; and even then the names are not given, and only by the receipts for their pay,
and some allusions to the subject, is it known that any

p.119                               Captain James Parker.
were chosen previously to that date. According to the Colonial Records, Capt. James Parker served as a
Deputy or Representative, during the session beginning November 7, 1683 and it is probable that he was
the only one from Groton under the first Charter.

The following entries comprise every allusion to the subject found in the earliest volume of Town records
which is known as the "Indian Roll."

                                         Indian Roll.
"February 6, 1693.  The inhabitants being met together for to consider of some way for to prevent future
unnessary charges did by vote declare that they would petition unto the Generall Court that their Repre-
sentative might be released from attending the sessions anymore.

"The same day the town did by vote declare that they would have Deacon Lawrence for to manage the petitions 
for them which the committee hath drawn up." (p.107)

"Groton April 12, 1693. Know all people by these presents that Nathaniel Lawrence, Sr. hath received
full satisfaction by the Selectmen and Constables for serving the Town as a Representative at the two
first sessions. - "I saye received by me - Nathannil Laurance."

"Groton. April 12, 1693. Know all people by these presence that John Page Senor doth fully and (sic)
clearly acquite the Town selectmen and constables for serving the town as a Representative at the first
session held at Boston in ye year 1692. "As witness my hand - John Page senior."

"Payed to Nathaniel Lawrence, senior, eight pounds in money."

"Payed to John Page, senior two pounds, sixteen shillings and nine pence in money" (p.109).

May ye 15, 1693.  The Town being met together thereunto orderly warned then the town did by vote declare
that they would not send nor choose any person or persons for to Represent them at the Great and General
Court or assembly.

"John Page Senior, James Kemp, John Stone and William Longley senior dissent from this vote. John
Farnsworth and Steven Holden.

"The Town's reasons is they do not judge themselfs liable, neither according to Law nor Charter.
"As attest - William Longley, Town Clerk." (p.109).

p.120                                            GROTON.
"October 30, 1693. At Town meeting legally warned, Capt. James Parker was chosen to Represent the Town
at ye Great and Generall Assembly held at Boston the 8th day of November ensueing the date hereof."
(p.110).

It does not appear from the recores of the General Court that Captain James Parker was present at any
meeting of this session.

"January 1, 1693/4. The town this daye did engage to secure the Selectmen from any harm or damage that
they shall meet with all in respect to Nathaniel Lawrence in that he doth demand thirty six shillings
in money for to be his due for serving the said town as a Representative and the Town do refuse to pay 
the said money the Selectmen being esteemed as the rest of the inhabitants in the matter. Also the town
did by the major vote choose Liftenant Jonah Prescott and James Parker Jr. for to answer in the case if
the said Lawrence should trouble ye selectmen or town and they did accept the choice and they are to
have their paye for their pains when the said town is able to paye them.  "As Witness, William Longley,
Town Clerk."

"John Page senior dissents from the above mentioned proposition (pp.111, 112.)

"At a town meeting legally warned May 9, 1699: Capt. Prescott was chosen for to attend the General Court.
For to serve as a Representative.  - "James Blanchard, Clerk."

"May 17, 1703 (p.118) At a town meeting legally warned, the town did by vote declare that they would
pay Deacon Lawrence the money that the Deacon demands for serving the town as a Representative in the
year 1693.

"The town did vote and declare that they would borrow the money of Thomas Williams for four months
and pay for the use of it one shilling."                  "James Blanchard, Clerk."

"Groton, May the eight, 1706 (p.126).  At a town meeting legally warned to choose a Representative
the free holders and other inhabitants qualified according to law did by the major vote choose Simon
Stone for this year 1706 a Representative.           "Joseph Lakin, Town Clerk." (p.129.)

p.121

The paging, as given after these several extracts, refers to the printed edition of "The Early Records
of Groton, Massachusetts, 1662-1707," from which they are taken. Since the year 1707, and even before
that date, in the Town Records, there are occasional ommissions of the names of Representatives and 
these gaps I have filled from the Colonial and Provincial records at the State House. In such cases
the names are printed within brackets, and the dates given with them refer to the beginning of each
session; and in all other instances in the list, where dates of the sessions have been obtained or in-
ference drawn from these records, brackets are used.

In early times the Representative to the General Court was paid by the town that sent him; and this 
fact furnishes the reason why the town of Groton, on May 15, 1693, voted not to send one.  It was then
poor, and staggering under a heavy load in the shape of debts and current expenses.  Notwithstanding 
the receipt of Deacon Lawrence given on April 12, 1693, the town was threatened by him with a suit for
thirty-six shillings, for his services as a Representative, perhaps during a short period after the
petition of February 6, 1693, when it was voted that he should be released from attendance. It is not
now known whether a suit was ever begun, but ten years later, as appears by the vote of May 17, 1703,
the town agreed to settle the matter by paying the demand, though it was obliged to borrow the money
for that purpose, an indication of its extreme poverty.  During some of these ten years, Deacon Lawrence
was a resident of that quarter of Cambridge which is now

p.122
Lexington; and his absence from Groton may have been, in part, the cause of the long delay in settling
the dispute. Neither Deacon Lawrence nor Mr. Page was chosen to the Assembly that convened on May 31,
1693. [Deacon Nathaniel Lawrence]

Insert - Lawrence family of Watertown and Groton, Mass. 
Subject: John Lawrence
Source:  Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of 
Watertown, Massachusetts, Includes Waltham and Weston - by Henry Bond, M.D.,  Boston, 
1860.

p.819

John Lawrence settled in Watertown probably in 1635, as his eldest child was born there,
March 14, 1635/6.  His name is on the earliest list of proprietors extant, and he was
admitted freeman April 17, 1637.  The date of his arrival in America has not been ascertain-
ed, nor is it known whether he was married before or after his arrival.  Nothing has yet
been ascertained from American records or archives, with respect to his parentage or ancest-
ry.  It has been supposed that he was the John Lawrence of great St. Albans, Hertfordshire,
who embarked in the Planter for New England in 1635, then aged 17 years.  This is evidently
a mistake, as the passenger in the Planter was only 19 years old when John Lawrence of 
Watertown was admitted freeman.

By his first wife, Elizabeth, he had 12 children, all born between his settlement in Water-
town, and his removal to Groton, whither he moved in the autumn of 1662.  His wife Elizabeth
died there the next summer, August 29, 1663 and he married (2) Nov 2, 1664, Susanna Batch-
elder, daughter of William Batchelder of Charlestown.  

He died July 11, 1667, and his widow Susanna died July 8, 1668.  His Will dated April 24, 
proved October 1, 1667, appoints his wife and sons Nathaniel and Joseph, executors; mentions 
sons Enoch, Samuel, Isaac, Jonathan, and Zechariah; of the three at home.  

Elizabeth "to live with Mr. Ensigne Buss of Concord, till of age; and the other two, Enoch 
and Zechariah, be trust to Samuel Willard and William Lakin, till of age."  

To his daughter, Mary, he gave only half a portion with the rest, "to
teach her a remembrance of her disobedience and unfaithfulness to me in my distress." [She
married two days before the decease of her mother.]  Inventory, 278 pounds, no shillings &
4 pence.  House and 10 acres of land, from the street to the hill, taking an equal breadth
apprized at 60 pounds.  The Will of his widow, Susanna, dated at Charlestown, July, proved
Dec 16, 1668, mentions her two daughters, Abigail and Susanna; her father and mother Batch-
elder; two sisters, Rachel Atwood and Abigail Asting; her father Batchelder, and brother
Atwood, of Malden, executors.

                           Removal from Watertown to Groton, Mass.

The date of his removal to Groton is determined with sufficient precision by the following
facts.  October 23, 1662, he sold land in Watertown to John Barnard.  Oct 27, 1662, he sold
another lot to William Page, and on the same day another lot to Joseph Underwood, and on the
same day he sold to John Biscoe his homestead in Watertown, a dwelling house etc., and about
thirteen acres, "being the now mansion-house of said John Lawrence," bounded on the east by
the highway; north by Timothy Hawkins and John Hammond; west by the meadow of said Biscoe;
south by land of John Flemming, deceased; widow Dix and her sonne; widow Bartlett and said
Biscoe.  In December 1662, "meet men were found amongst the inhabitants of Groton, when
Deacon James Parker, John Lawrence, William Martin, Richard Blood, and James Fiske, were
chosen selectmen." [Butler p.17]   

His early admission as freeman, and this election to the
first board of selectmen of Groton, show that he was well known, and of good repute. Accord-
ing to the list of possessions in Watertown in 1642, he then owned 7 lots, amounting to
154-1/2 acres.  In legal instruments he was designated a carpenter, although, from the amount
of his land, it might be presumed that he was chiefly devoted to agriculture.  The birth of
his daughter Elizabeth is recorded in Boston, and as no births of his family are recorded in
Watertown from 1649 until 1659, perhaps he resided in Boston several years, in the excercise
of his trade.

p.820
Children:

1. John Lawrence b. March 14, 1635/6.  He is not mentioned in his father's Will, and it 
   might therefore be concluded that he was deceased and without issue.  But it is to be
   observed, that he does not mention his son Peleg, nor his daughters Abigail and Susanna,
   who are known to have been then living.  We shall assume that he was then living, until
   there is some evidence to disprove it, and that he had a family.

2. Jonathan Lawrence buried April 6, 1648.

3. Nathaniel Lawrence b. Oct 15, 1639; an executor of his father's Will, admitted freeman
   May 15, 1672.

4. Joseph Lawrence b. March died May, 1642.

5. Joseph Lawrence b. May 30, 1643; an executor of his father's Will; adm. freeman May 15,
   1672; m. 1670/1 (?) Rebecca ____.  He was probably the Joseph Lawrence who by wife
   Rebecca had daughter Rebecca, baptized in the 1st Church of Boston, Feb 1, 1679/80 and
   who [Joseph] died Nov 14, 1685. It is conjectured that the persons making the following 
   Will were his wife and daughter.  The Will of Rebecca Lawrence (? of Boston), dated July 
   18, proved Dec 12, 1726 gives her estate to her mother, Rebecca.  The Will of widow Rebecca 
   Lawrence, dated Sept 27, proved Oct 11, 1731, bequeathed her estate to her sisters, Margaret
   Davis, Ruth Royce, Maria Frost, Hanna Davis; nephew William Whitcomb, and niece Huldah
   Archibel [Joseph Lawrence was witness to Broomfield's deed, Newbury, 1677.

6. Mary Lawrence, b. July 16, 1645; died 1686/7; married Aug 25, 1663 Inego Potter of
   Charlestown.  Children: John Potter. Richard Potter. Inego Potter baptized in Charles-
   town April 24, 1683. Child Potter baptized July 9, 1682.

7. Peleg Lawrence b. Jan 10, 1646/7.

8. Enoch Lawrence b. Mar 5, 1648/9.

9. Samuel Lawrence, mentioned in his father's Will; probably the one who married Sept 14,
   1682, Rebecca Luen of Charlestown. It is conjectured that he moved to Connecticut.

10. Isaac Lawrence mentioned in his father's Will; probably the one who married Sept 14,
    1682, Abigail Bellows, born in Concord May 6, 1661, daughter of John and Mary (Wood)
    Bellows [see Bellows Family of Walpole, N.H.]  Isaac Lawrence and wife, Abigail of
    Norwich, Conn., heirs of their uncle, Deacon Isaac Woods of Marlboro, executed a deed,
    Feb. 26, 1718/19.

11. Elizabeth Lawrence b. in Boston, May 9, 1655.

12. Jonathan Lawrence, mentioned in his father's Will.  He died 1725.  Perhaps he was the
    one who married in Cambridge Nov. 5, 1677, Rebecca Rutter.  If so, they d. s. p., for
    Jonathan of Groton, in his Will, does not mention wife or children; but he gave to the
    town of Groton 100 pounds; to the Church of Christ in Groton, 40 pounds to be laid out
    for the procuring some silver vessel or vessels for the church's use, as they shall
    order.  Also, 20 pounds, the income to be annually paid or accounted for to the settled
    or ordained minister.

13. Zechariah Lawrence born in Watertown March 9, 1658/9.  He was probably the Zechariah
    Lawrence of Boston, mariner, master of the "Success," against whom a suit for wages
    was brought in 1691.

                              By his 2nd Wife, Susanna

14. Abigail Lawrence b. at Groton Jan 9, 1665/6.

15. Susanna Lawrence b. July 3, 1667, eight days before the death of her father.

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

                                 Historical Sketch of Groton.
p.122

John Paris was a member of the Council for Safety of the People which met on May 9, 1689, just after
Governor Andros was deposed. It is probable that the town was unrepresented during the following years:
1693 (first session), 1694-1698, 1700-1704 and 1707, as the Provincial records of those dates do not
mention any member from Groton.

In the following list of Representatives, I have given the church, civil and military titles found in
the records, inasmuch as they indicate, approximately, the period when they were acquired. For nearly
a century and a half the term of service of each member was during the year of his election. The name
of John Sheple, as spelled in the town records, is written John Shepley in the Provincial records but
the two names refer to the same man, and the Nathaniel Sawtell of the town records is identical with 
the Nathaniel Sartle of Provincial records.


                          MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.


Date of Election.
November 7, 1683.                     Captain James Parker. 
May 9, 1689.                          John Paris.
                              
                              UNDER THE CHARTER OF WILLIAM & MARY.
June 8, 1692.                         Nathaniel Lawrence.
June 8, 1692.                            John Page.
May 31, 1693.  (First Session)    (probably none chosen)
Oct 30, 1693.  (Second Session)    Captain James Parker.
May 30, 1694.                     (probably none chosen)

p.123

May 29, 1695.                              ditto.
May 27, 1696.                                "
May 26, 1697.                                "
May 25, 1698.                                "
May  9, 1699.                           Jonas Prescott.
May 29, 1700.                       (probably none chosen)
May 28, 1701.                              ditto.
May 27, 1702.                                "
May 26, 1703.                                "
May 31, 1704.                                "
May  8, 1705.                           Jonas Prescott. [son of John Prescott founder of Lancaster]
May  8, 1706.                            Simon Stone.
May 28, 1707.                       (probably none chosen)
May 26, 1708.                          John Farnsworth.   [son of Matthias Farnsworth of Groton]
May 25, 1709.                      Ensign John Farnsworth. 
May 22, 1710.                      Ensign John Farnsworth.
May 30, 1711.                          John Farnsworth.
May  7, 1712.                      Ensign John Farnsworth.
May 11, 1713.                      Ensign John Farnsworth.
May 26, 1714.                          John Farnsworth.
May 25, 1715.                           Thomas Tarbell.
May 30, 1716.                            John Shepley.
May 21, 1717.                            John Sheple.
May 28, 1718.                            John Shepley.
May 27, 1719.                            John Shepley.
May  6, 1720.                      Capt. Jonas Prescott, Jr.
May 22, 1722.                         Capt. John Sheple.
May  1, 1723.                      Lieut. Benjamin Prescott.
May 18, 1724.                      Lieut. Benjamin Prescott.
May 14, 1725.                         Capt. John Sheple.
May 19, 1726.                         Capt. John Sheple.
May 17, 1727.                         Benjamin Prescott.
May 10, 1728.                         Capt. John Sheple.
May 14, 1729.                            John Longley.
May 18, 1730.                        Deacon John Longley.
May 17, 1731.                        Deacon John Longley.
May 31, 1732.                          Nathaniel Sartle.
May 21, 1733.                        Nathaniel Sawtell, Esq.
May  8, 1734.                        Nathaniel Sawtell, Esq.
May 19, 1735.                        Benjamin Prescott, Esq.

p.124                               HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

May 18, 1736.                        Benjamin Prescott, Esq.
May 17, 1737.                      Colonel Benjamin Prescott.

May 15, 1738. Benjamin Prescott, Esq. Died in office on August 3, 1738.
December 25, 1738, Justice Nathaniel Sawtell, in place of Benjamin Prescott, Esq., deceased.

May 23, 1739.                     Justice Nathaniel Sawtell.
May 28, 1740.                          John Longley.
May 25, 1741.                     Justice Nathaniel Sawtell.
May 12, 1742.                         Nathaniel Sawtell.
May 25, 1743.                          William Lawrence.
May 14, 1744.                         Nathaniel Sawtell. 
May 17, 1745.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 18, 1746.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 18, 1747.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 17, 1748.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 22, 1749.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 28, 1750.                    The Town voted not to send.
May 27, 1751.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 14, 1752.                      William Lawrence, Esq.

The District of Shirley, Mass., was set off from Groton on January 5, 1753, and the District of
Pepperell, three months later on April 12, 1753 and after these dates, until the period of the Revo-
lution, the two districts were Representend in the General Court by the parent town, Groton.

Date of Election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Continued.

May 14, 1753.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 29, 1754.                          William Lawrence.
May 13, 1755.                     Colonel William Lawrence.
May 17, 1756.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 13, 1757.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 17, 1758.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 25, 1759.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 26, 1760.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 15, 1761.                      William Lawrence, Esq.
May 17, 1762.                       Capt. Abel Lawrence.
May 16, 1763.                       Capt. Abel Lawrence.
May 21, 1764.                       Capt. Abel Lawrence.
May 14, 1765.                       Capt. Abel Lawrence.

p.125

May 12, 1766.                        Col. James Prescott.
May 18, 1767.                        Col. James Prescott.
May 10, 1768.                        Col. James Prescott.
May 23, 1769.                        Col. James Prescott.
May 21, 1770.                        Col. James Prescott.
May 20, 1771.                        Col. James Prescott.
May 18, 1772.                        Col. James Prescott.
May 17, 1773.                        Col. James Prescott.
May  9, 1774.                        Col. James Prescott.
May 22, 1775.                   Honorable James Prescott.

After this date Pepperell and Shirley were each represented in the General Court separately, and not
by the parent town (Groton). Owing to the political disturbances, a new Assembly was chosen by the
Province in the summer of 1775. The precept issued to the town of Groton, with the answer, is found
among the Archives (CXXXVIII. 214) at the State House, as follows:

                            "COLONY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY."
"These are to will, and require you forthwith to cause the Freeholders & other Inhabitants of your town
that have an Estate of Freehold in land within this Colony or Territory of forty shillings per annum at
the least, or other Estate to the value of forty Pounds Sterling, to assemble at such time, & place as
you shall appoint; then & there to elect, and depute one or more Persons (being freeholders, and resident
in the same town) according to a number set & limited by an Act of the General Court or Assembly, which
was convened at Watertown on the 19th day of July current (1775) for the services of this Colony, and is
still in being; and to cause the Person or Persons so elect, and deputed by the major part of the electors 
preent at such election to be timely notified & summoned by one of the Constables of your town
forthwith to attend the Service of this Province in the said General Court, or Assembly, & during the
Session or Sessions of the same.      Hereof fail not, and make a Return of this Precept with the name
or names of the Person or Persons so elected, & deputed, with their being summoned into the General
Assembly, as oon as may be after such election & summons shall be made.

"Dated at Watertown this 31st day of July, A.D. 1775.
"By order of the House of Representatives.
"James Warren, Speaker."

p.126                                        GROTON.

"To the Selectmen of the Town of Groton, in the County of Middlesex.

Greetings.

"Pursuant to the Precept within written the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of Groton, qualified as is
therein directed, upon due Warning given, assembled and met together the 21st Day of August and then did
elect and depute Captain Josiah Sartell - to serve for and respresent them in the Session or Sessions of
the Great and General Court or Assembly which was convened at Watertown on the 19th day of July, 1775,
current for the Service of this Colony, the said Person being chosen by a major part of the Electors 
present.
"Dated in Groton aforesaid the 21st Day of August, A.D. 1775.
                                                      "Oliver Prescott,
                                                       Isaac Farnsworth,
                                                       Amos Lawrence.
                                                     Selectmen of Groton."
"The Person chosen as abovesaid
Notified thereof & Summoned to
Attend accordingly by me, Contable
of Groton, Oliver Fletcher.
Indorsed - "Return from Groton, Capt. Josiah Sartell.
"Mr. Fowle - Please to make out a Precept for the townof Hancock in the County of Berkshire - according
to this Form.
Addressed: "To the Selectmen of Groton."

Date of Election.
August 21, 1775 - Capt. Josiah Sartell.
May 20, 1776 - Colonel Josiah Sartell.
May 26, 1777 - Honorable James Prescott, Deacon Isaac Farnsworth and Col. Josiah Sartell.
May 18, 1778 - Honorable James Prescott.
May 17, 1779 - Honorable James Prescott.
May 15, 1780 - Honorable James Prescott.

The first General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts met on Wednesday, October 25, 1780,
and the Honorable James Prescott was the Representative from the town of Groton. He was chosen to
the House on September 4th and a short time later, in order to fill a vancancy in the Senate, he was
elected to that

p.127

body by a convention of both branches on Thursday, October 26, 1780; and subsequently by another
similar convention on Friday, October 27th to the Executive Council. At that time the Councilors
and Senators were chosen on the same general ticket, without any special designation of either office,
and then the Legislature selected from the upper body the members of the Council.

The Continental Journal, Boston, November 2, 1780, gives a list of the members of the General Court of
Massachusetts, where Mr. Prescott appears not only as a Representative, but also as a Senator and a
Councillor; and in another column of the same newspaper it is announced, as a resolution of the Legis-
lature, that owing to Mr. Prescott's acceptance of the Senatorship, his office as Sheriff of Middlesex
County was rendered vacant, and oweing furthermore to the lack of time in filling it, agreeably to the
new Constitution, the session of the Supreme Court of Judicature, Court of Azzize and General Gaol
Delivery would stand adjourned for one fortnight. He was also chosen, during the years 1781, 1782,
1783, 1784 and 1786, first to the Senate, and shortly afterwards to the Council, where he appears to
have served through the respective terms.

He had previously Respresented the town of Groton in the three Provincial Congresses of 1774 and 1775,
and his experience in legislative bodies was large.

Two of the Representatives in the following list, namely, the Honorable Timothy Bigelow and the Honorable
Luther Lawrence have been Speakers of the House.  Mr. Bigelow was first chosen to that position on May
29, 1805, and for eleven years, at intervals, he continued

p.128

to fill the office - the longest term of service in that capacity ever held by one person - though
during a part of this period he was Representing the town of Medford. He was Speaker at the time of
the separation of Maine from Massachusetts.  Mr. Lawrence, a brother-in-law of Mr. Bigelow, was elected
to the same office on May 29, 1822, and  held it during one year. It is not a little singular that they
both were occupants, at different times, of the same dwelling, formerly situated on Main Street, Groton,
but now moved away; and both had their law-offices in a building nearby, where, also, Mr. Dana, the
President of the Massachusetts Senate had had his law-office.  This coincidence is by no means weakened
by the fact that Governor Boutwell, the present owner of the place, was once the Democratic candidate
for the Speakership, when the Legislature met on January 6, 1847, and he also was a resident of Groton
at that time.  It may be worthy of note that another Speaker, the Honorable Timothy Fuller, the father
of Margaret Fuller, who was known as the Countess d'Ossoli, was a citizen of Groton for some years before
his death, which took place on October 1, 1835.

Under the Constitution originally the political year began on the last Wednesday of May, but the Senators
and Representatives were chosen at different times.  The members of the House were elected, annually,
in the month of May, ten days at least before the last Wednesday of that month, and their term of service
was during the year of their election.
                    
p.129                                             GROTON.

                                         UNDER THE STATE CONSTITUTION.
Date of Election.
September 4, 1780                          Honorable James Prescott.
May 14, 1781                               Deacon Isaac Farnsworth.
May 13, 1782                               Deacon Isaac Farnsworth declined and
                                           Israel Hobart chosen in his place.
May 12, 1783                               Israel Hobart.
May 10, 1784                               Dr. Benjamin Morse.
May 9, 1785                                Ebenezer Champney.
May 8, 1786                         The town voted by majority not to send (a Representative)

On March 7, 1787, the General Court passed an order fining the town of Groton twenty-four pounds and
ten shillings for its neglect to send a representative during the preceding year. Forty other towns
were fined various sums at the same time for a similar neglect; and among them were Pepperell, Dunstable,
Westford, Littleton, Harvrd and Lunenburg.

Date of Election.
May 7, 1787 - Dr. Benjamin Morse.
May 12, 1788 - Dr. Benjamin Morse.
May 11, 1789 - Dr. Benjamin Morse.
May 4, 1790 - The town voted not to send.
May 9, 1791 - Major Aaron Brown.
May 7, 1792 - Major Aaron Brown.
May 6, 1793 - Major Aaron Brown & Mr. Timothy Bigelow.
May 12, 1794 - Mr. Timothy Bigelow.
May 6, 1795 - Mr. Timothy Bigelow.
May 1, 1797 - Mr. Timothy Bigelow.
May 14, 1798 - Honorable Timothy Bigelow.
May 6, 1799 - Honorable Timothy Bigelow.
May 5, 1800 - Honorable Timothy Bigelow.
May 4, 1801 - Hoborable Timothy Bigelow.
May 3, 1802 - Honorable Timothy Bigelow.
May 2, 1803 - Samuel Dana
May 7, 1804 - Honorable Timothy Bigelow.
May 6, 1805 - Honorable Timothy Bigelow, Speaker & Joseph Moors.
May 5, 1806 - Honorable Timothy Bigelow, Speaker & Joseph Moors.
May 4, 1807 - Joseph Moors.

p.130                                          GROTON.

May 2, 1808 - Joseph Moors.
May 1, 1809 - Joseph Moors & Oliver Prescott.
May 7, 1810 - Oliver Prescott & James Brazer.
May 6, 1811 - Major Joseph Moors & Major Thomas Gardner.
May 4, 1812 - Joseph Moors & Luther Lawrence.
May 3, 1813 - Joseph Moors & Luther Lawrence.
May 2, 1814 - Joseph Moors & Luther Lawrence.
May 1, 1815 - Luther Lawrence.
May 6, 1816 - Luther Lawrence.
May 5, 1817 - Luther Lawrence.
May 4, 1818 - Luther Lawrence.
May 3, 1819 - Luther Lawrence.
May 1, 1820 - Luther Lawrence.
May 7, 1821 - Luther Lawrence.
May 6, 1822 - Luther Lawrence - Speaker.
May 12, 1823 - the town voted not to send.
May 23, 1824 - Capt. Noah Shattuck.
May 2, 1825 - Honorable Samuel Dana.
May 1, 1826 - Honorable Samuel Dana.
May 7, 1827 - Honorable Samuel Dana.
May 5, 1828 - the town voted not to send.
May 4, 1829 - Caleb Butler who declined - William Livermore chosen in his place.
May 3, 1830 - Luther Lawrence & William Livermore.
May 11, 1831 - Captain John Boynton.
The town voted not to choose a second Representative.

p.130 Historical Sketch of Groton 1655-1890, continued.

By the tenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution of Massachusetts, adopted by the General Court
during the two successive sessions, and ratified by the people on May 11, 1831, the beginning of the
political year was changed from the last Wednesday in May to the first Wednesday in January and the
day of election changed to the second Monday in November. In this list hereafter the term of service
is during the year following the date of election.

Date of Election.
November 12, 1832 - Capt. John Boynton - Captain John Rockwood.
November 11, 1833 - Capt. John Boynton - Capt. John Rockwood.

p.131

November 10, 1834 - Capt. John Boynton - Timothy Blood.
November 14, 1835 - Capt. John Boynton - Timothy Blood.
November 14, 1836 - Johy Gray Park - Dr. Joshua Green.
November 13, 1837 - Dr. Joshua Green.

The Town voted not to choose a second representative.

November 12, 1838 - John Gray Park - Capt. Daniel Shattuck.
November 11, 1839 - The town voted not send a reporesentative.
November 9, 1840 - John Boynton.
November 8, 1841 - George Sewall Boutwell.
November 14, 1842 - George Sewall Boutwell.
November 13, 1843 - George Sewall Boutwell.
November 11, 1844 - William Livermore, Jr.
November 10, 1845 - William Livermore, Jr.
November 10, 1846 - George Sewell Boutwell.

Mr. Boutwell was chosen on the third trail by five majority. On the preceding day there had been a
tie vote between him and Edward Coburn, the Whig candidate.

Date of Election.
November 8, 1847 - George Sewell Boutwell.
November 13, 1848 - George Sewell Boutwell.
November 12, 1849 - George Sewell Boutwell.
November 11, 1850 - Phinehas Gilman Prescott
November 10, 1851 - Phinehas Gilman Prescott
November 8, 1852 - William Shattuck
November 14, 1853 - William Shattuck
November 13, 1854 - John Warren Parker.
November 12, 1855 - John Warren Parker.

Insert: Phinehas Gilman Prescott
Source: Prescott Memorial by Dr. William H. Prescott, 1870, Concord, N.H.
p.148
Phinehas Gilman Prescott b. Jan 1, 1803, son of Abel Prescott and his wife, Hannah Spalding of Groton.
Phinehas Gillman Prescott m. Dec 27, 1832, Sarah Salisbury of Groton, she born at Derby, Vermont, April
3, 1810.  He was a farmer at Groton. (see p.203 for children)
p.203
Phinehas Gilman Prescott and his wife Sarah Salisbury of Groton, Mass., had issue:
1. William Abel Prescott b. May 24, 1834; m. Maria Gibbs, Feb 21, 1860. She was born December, 1841.
2. James Gilman Prescott b. July 4, 1835; died April 9, 1861.
3. Ann Eliza Prescott b. Jan 12, 1839.
4. George Salisbury Prescott b. May 4, 1840.
5. Sarah Ellen Prescott b. April 8, 1842; was a teacher at Newton, Mass.
6. Edwin Wells Prescott b. Feb 11, 1846.

p.131 - Historical Sketch of Groton - continued

By the fifteenth Article of Amendment to the State Constitution, adopted by the General Court during
two successive sessions, and ratified by the people on May 23, 1855, the day of election was changed
to the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November.

Date of Election
November 4, 1856 - Warren Fay Stone.

Under Chapter CCCVIII, Acts of 1875, a new apportionment of Representatives was made throughout

p.132
the State, and the town of Groton became, thereby, in connection with the towns of Pepperell, Shirley,
Westford and Dunstable, the twenty-sixth Middlesex District with two Representatives.

Date of Election
November 3, 1857 - Eliel Shumway.
November 3, 1857 - Robert Parker Woods.
November 7, 1860 - George Henry Brown.
November 4, 1863 - George Samuel Gates.
November 8, 1865 - Benjamin Franklin Taft.

Mr. Shumway's election was contested before the General Court by Allen Cummings of Dunstable, and a
hearing was given by the Committee on Elections; but the matter was decided in favor of Mr. Shumway.
For a full statement of the case, see "Reports of Controverted Elections in the Senate and House of
Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1853 to 1885 inclusive" (page 41), by Edward
P. Loring and Charles Theodore Russell, Jr. (Boston, 1886).

By another apportionment, made under Chapter CIII., Acts of 1866, Groton and Pepperell became the
Thirty-first Middlesex District, and were entitled to one Representative. The town of Ayer, on its
incorporation, February 14, 1871, except that part which had previously belonged to Shirley, was added
to the district.

Date of Election.
November 7, 1866 - Daniel Needham.
November 4, 1868 - William Livermore.
November 2, 1869 - Edmund Dana Bancroft.
November 5, 1873 - George Samuel Gates.

                                           WESTFORD.

By still another apportionment, under Chapter XV., Acts of 1876, Groton became, in connection
with Westford, Dunstable and Pepperell, the Thirty-fourth Middlesex District, and entitled to one
Representative.

Date of Election.
November 8, 1876. - Asa Stillman Lawrence.
November 3, 1880. - Asa Stillman Lawrence.
November 7, 1883. - Moses Poor Palmer.
November 12, 1886 - George Sumner Graves.

Colonel William Lawrence was a member of the General Court during seventeen years - the longest term
of service of any Representative from the town; and after him came the Honorable James Prescott, who
served fifteen years.

Mr. Boutwell is now the senior surviving member, and with the exception of Phineas Gilman Prescott,
William Shattuck, Warren Fay Stone, George Henry Brown and George Sumner Graves, all his successors
are still alive.

                                       REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
                              First Provincial Congress of Deputies.
Date of Election.                                                                Term of Service.
May 9, 1774.                         Honorable James Prescott.                        1774.

                              Second Provincial Congress of Deputies.
December 26, 1774.                   Honorable James Prescott.                        1775.

                              Third Provincial Congress of Deputies.
May 22, 1775.                        Honorable James Prescott.                        1775.

                                      Members of the Board of War.
October 30, 1776.                      Oliver Prescott - Declined.

November 16, 1776.                          James Prescott                           1776-1779.

                                         Member of the Council.
May 29, 1777.                                Oliver Prescott                         1777-1779.

According to the records of the General Court, when the Board of War was first chosen on October

p.134

30, 1776, "Brigadeer Prescott" was elected a member. This referred to Dr. Oliver Prescott, at that time
a Brigadier-General, but it does not appear that he ever took his deat with the board.  On November 13th
the records state that two of the members, whose names are given, had declined, and their places were
at once filled; and on November 16th, five more resignations were announced - though no names are men-
tioned. And the vacancies then filled.

Dr. Oliver Prescott was undoubtedly one of the five who declined at this time.  Among those at the 2nd
election was "Colonel Prescott," was was James Prescott, a brother of Oliver Prescott. It is a little
singular that their Christian names are not given in the records, as both were well-known men. The
Journal of the House, October 30, 1776, prints the name of "James Prescott, Esq.;" as one of the nine
original members chosen at that time but this is an error.  Colonel Prescott attended his first meeting
with the Board of War on December 18th, - according to the manuscript minutes of the Board.

                                          VARIOUS OFFICERS.
                                     Governor of the Commonwealth.
Date of Election.                                                                 Term of Service.
January 11, 1851.                  Honorable George Sewall Boutwell.                1851, 1852.
                 
                                 Secretary of the United States Treasury
                                           Under President Grant.
March 11, 1869.                    Honorable George Sewall Boutwell.                1869-1873.

                                             Senator in Congresss.
March 12, 1873.                    Honorable George Sewall Boutwell.                1873-1877.
                 
                                        Representatives in Congress.
November 5, 1810                    Hon. William Merchant Richardson.               1811-1814.
November 7, 1814.                         Honorable Samuel Dana.                    1814-1815.
November 4, 1862                       Hon. George Sewall Boutwell.                 1863-1869.

p.135                                            GROTON.
                                       Members of the Executive Council.
October 27, 1780                           Honorable James Prescott.             1780-1784, 1786.
May 28, 1802                               Honorable Timothy Bigelow.                   1802.

                                              Presidential Elector.
November 6, 1820.                            Honorable Samuel Dana                      1820.
The Electoral College of Massachusetts cast its vote on December 7, 1820, unanimously in favor of James
Munroe for President.

                                  DELAGATES TO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
            Convention for forming the Constitution of Massachusetts, September 1, 1779.

Date of Election.                                                                    Term of Service.
August 16, 1779.                       Honorable James Sullivan.                       1779, 1780.
Mr. Sullivan was afterward Governor of the Commonwealth and died on December 10, 1808, while holding
office.

              Convention for adopting the Constitution of the United States, January 9, 1788.
December 3, 1787.           Dr. Benjamin Morse, Joseph Sheple, Esq. 1788
                               Both these delegates opposed the adoption.

                 Convention for altering the Constitution of Massachusetts, November 15, 1820.
August 21, 1820.            Honorable Samuel Dana & Luther Lawrence, Esq.     1820, 1821.

                 Convention for altering the Constitution of Massachusetts, May 4, 1853.
March 7, 1853                            John Gray Park, Esquire.                  1853.
Mr. Boutwell of Groton, Represented the town of Berlin, Worcester County, in this convention.

                                      JUDGES AND OTHER COURT OFFICERS.
                                 Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.
Date of Appointment.                                                               Term of Service.
June 3, 1803.                     Honorable James Prescott, Jr.                        1803.
By an Act passed on June 21, 1811, the Court of Common Pleas became the Circuit Court of Common Pleas.

                          Chief Justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas.

October 14, 1811.                        Honorable Samuel Dana.                     1811-1820.

                                    Justice of Court of Common Pleas.

December 21, 1782.                        Honorable James Prescott.                 1782-1800.

p.136
                                               Judges of Probate.

July 1, 1779.                              Honorable Oliver Prescott.               1779-1804.
                                          Reappointed on March 27, 1781.

February 1, 1805.                           Honorable James Prescott Jr.            1805-1821.
                                       Impeached by State of Massachusetts             1821.
                                          
                                                   SHERIFF.
Sept 6, 1775.                                Honorable James Prescott Sr.           1775-1780.

                                         Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas.
May 28, 1783.                                    William Swan, Esq.                  1783-1789.

"The Massachusetts Register and United States Calendar for the year of our Lord, 1806" (p.75) gives
Ephraim Wood of Groton, as one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas in Middlesex County, but
the place of residence is without doubt a mistake. I cannot find that Judge Ephraim Wood ever lived at
Groton.

                                              A LIST OF RESIDENTS
     Of Groton who held Commissions from the Governor and Council, during the Provincial Period.

Date of Appointment:

August 27, 1713      Captain Jonas Prescott, Justice of the Peace.
December 9, 1715     Captain Jonas Prescott, Justice of the Peace.
December 26, 1727    Benjamin Prescott, Justice of the Peace.
October 10, 1729     Benjamin Prescott, Justice of the Peace.
March 19, 1729-30    Captain Nathaniel Sartle, Justice of the Peace.
July 9, 1731         Benjamin Prescott, Justice of the Peace.
July 9, 1731         Nathaniel Sartle, Justice of the Peace.
June 27, 1735        Benjamin Prescott in place of Paul Dudley, a Special Justice 
                             of the Superior Court of Judicature.
January 2, 1735-36   Benjamin Prescott, Justice of the Peace and of the Quorum.
November 10, 1737    Benjamin Prescott in place of Paul Dudley, a Special Justice in divers cases.
December 29, 1739    William Lawrence, Justice of the Peace and of the Quorum.
August 12, 1749      William Lawrence, Special Justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas.

p.137                                            GROTON.

June 21, 1751        William Lawrence, Special Justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas.
January 2, 1753      James Prescott, Justice of the Peace.
June 26, 1755        William Lawrence, Justice of the Inferior Court of Common Please in place of
                     Francis Fulham who resigned.
November 20, 1761    William Lawrence, Justice of the Peace and of the Quorum.
November 20, 1761    James Prescott, Justice of the Peace.
June 8, 1764         Abel Lawrence, Justice of the Peace.

                                     CORONERS OF GROTON.
The first three names mentioned below are taken from the Council records; but the others are found in
the "Record of Civil Commissions," in the office of the Secretary of State.  Under the Constitution,
Coroners were appointed for life, unless sooner removed; but by an act passed on April 29, 1862, their
tenure of office was limited to seven years, subject to reappointment.  By another act passed on May 9,
1877, the office was abolished, and, so far as related to inquests, the medical examiner was substituted
in place of the Coroner.

Date of Appointment.
March 8, 1759            Israel Hubbard (Hobart)
November 20, 1761        Israel Hobart
                 (These two above are one and the same)
July 12, 1769            Isaac Farnsworth
August 28, 1775          Isaac Farnsworth
September 24, 1778       Ephraim Russell
March 27, 1781           Ephraim Russell
March 2, 1790            Samuel Lawrence
January 7, 1801          Samson Woods
February 3, 1803         William Farwell Brazer
July 4, 1803             James Lewis, Jr.
July 5, 1809             William Lawrence
February 20, 1810        Abel Farnsworth
August 20, 1811          Jacob Lakin Parker
March 2, 1813            Amos Lawrence
May 26, 1817             Benjamin Moors

p.138                             GROTON CORONERS.

February 9, 1820         William Austin Bancroft.
(Mr. Bancroft was a resident of Townsend at the time of his appointment.)
January 16, 1822         David Childs.
June 29, 1852            Jacob Pollard.
May 15, 1856             John Mason Porter.
April 2, 1858            Eusebius Silsby Clarke.
April 10, 1860           Asa Stillman Lawrence.*
        Groton Historical Series by Dr. Samuel A. Green, Vol. II p.120:
        *Captain Asa Stillman Lawrence, son of Asa Lawrence & Betsey (Bennett)
        Lawrence, was born May 10, 1820 at Groton. A farmer, and now
        living at Groton in 1890. 
January 24, 1866         John Quincy Adams McCollester.
April 16, 1867           Asa Stillman Lawrence.
April 30, 1869           Benjamin Lincoln Howe.
April 30, 1874           Asa Stillman Lawrence.    

                                    NATIVES OF GROTON.
And residents of the town of Groton who have afterwards filled important positions elsewhere.

Honorable John Prescott Bigelow was born at Groton on August 25, 1797, Harvard College, 1815;
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1836-1843; Member of the Executive Council, 1845-
1849; Mayor of Boston, 1849-1851. Died at Boston on July 4, 1874.

Insert:
John Prescott Bigelow (1797-1872) of Boston, Suffolk County, Mass. Born in Groton, Middlesex County, Mass., 
August 25, 1797. Member of Massachusetts state house of representatives, 1828; secretary of state of 
Massachusetts, 1836; mayor of Boston, Mass., 1849-51. Died July 4, 1872.

He graduated at Harvard College in 1815; studied law. He was president of the Common Council of the city 
of Boston; for several years Secretary of State for MA and subsequently mayor of Boston and member of the 
Executive Council. Mr. Bigelow laid the foundation of the Boston Public Library, which he had the 
satisfaction of seeing grow to the gigantic proportions of some 150,000 volumes and had been one of 
the trustees from its foundation until health compelled him to resign in Jan., 1869. Mayor Shurtleff, 
in presenting his resignation said of him that "he had ever been an ardent friend of the Library and 
that he gave the first money that was received towards the foundation." He expressed "great regret that 
his feeble health demanded the severance of the tie which had for so long a time connected him with this 
and other branches of the City Government." It was Mr. Bigelow's delight to do good and be useful, and he 
was entirely void of that selfishness and exclusiveness which is but too common among many in the higher 
walks of life.    http://www.scripophily.net/citofbos18.html  

                                     NATIVES OF GROTON.
Honorable Henry Adams Bullard, born at Groton on Sept 9, 1788, Harvard College, 1807; Justice of the 
Sixth District Court of Louisiana, 1822-1831; Representative in Congress from Alexandria and New Orleans,
Louisiana (Twenty-first, Twenty-second and Thirty-first Congresses) 1831-1834, 1850, 1851; Justice of
the Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1834-1846, with the exception of a few months in 1839, when he acted as
Secretary of State. Died at New Orleans on April 17, 1851.  Mr. Bullard's father was the settled minister
at Pepperell, but all the printed accounts of his life say that he was born at Groton, which is my
(Dr. S. A. Green) authority for the statement.

Honorable Willard Hall, born at Westford on December 24, 1780, Harvard College, 1799; studied law with 
the Hon. Samuel Dana at Groton; Secretary of the State of Delaware, 1811-1814 & 1821; Representative in
Congress from Wilmington, Delaware (Fifteenth & Sixteenth Congresses) 1817-1821; Judge of the United
States District Court in Delaware, 1823-1871. Died at Wilmington May 10, 1875.

Honorable John Harris, born at Harvard, Mass., on October 13, 1769; Harvard College, 1791; studied law
with the Honorable Timothy Bigelow at Groton; Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature of New Hampshire, 
1823-1833. Died at Hopkington, New Hampshire, April 23, 1845.

Honorable Amos Kendall, born at Dunstable on August 16, 1789; Dartmouth College, 1811; studied law with
the Hon. William Merchant Richardson at Groton; Postmaster-General under Presidents Jackson and Van Buren, 
1835-1840. Died in Washington, D.C. on June 12, 1869.

Honorable Abbott Lawrence, born at Groton on December 16, 1792; Representative in Congress from Boston,
(Twenty-fourth and Twenty-sixth Congresses) 1835-1837, 1839, 1840; Presidential Elector, 1844; Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britian, 1849-1852. Died at Boston on August 18,
1855.

Honorable John Locke, born at Hopkington, Massachusetts on February 14, 1764; Harvard College 1792;
studied law with the Hon. Timothy

p.140

Bigelow at Groton; Representative in Congress from Ashby, Mass., (Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth
Congresses) 1823-1829; Member of the Executive Council, 1831. Died at Boston on March 29, 1855.

Honorable Thomas Rice, born at Pownalborough (now Wiscasset, Maine) on March 30, 1768; Harvard College,
1791; studied law with the Hon. Timothy Bigelow at Groton; Representative in Congress from Augusta,
District of Maine, Mass., (Fourteenth and Fifteenth Congresses) 1815-1819. Died at Winslow, Maine, August
24, 1854.

Honorable William Merchant Richardson, born at Pelham, New Hampshire on January 4, 1774, Harvard College,
1797; Preceptor of the Groton Academy 1799-1802; studied law with the Hon. Samuel Dana of Groton; Post-
master 1804-1812; Representative in Congress from Groton (Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses) 1811-1814,
removed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and afterwards became Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judi-
cature of that State, 1816-1838. Died at Chester, New Hampshire, March 23, 1838.

Honorable Ether Shepley, born at Groton on November 2, 1789, Dartmouth College, 1811; Senator in Congress
from Maine 1833-1836; Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1836-1848; Chief Justice of the same 
Court, 1848-1855.  Died at Portland, Maine on January 15, 1877.

Honorable Samuel Emerson Smith, born at Hollis, New Hampshire, March 12, 1788; Harvard College, 1808,
studied law with the Honorable Samuel

p.141
Dana of Groton; Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Maine, 1822-1830; Governor of Maine, 1831-1833;
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas again 1835-1837. Died at Wiscasset, Maine on March 3, 1860.

Honorable Asahel Stearns, born at Lunenburg June 17, 1774. Harvard College, 1797; Preceptor of Groton
Academy during a short period, immediately after his graduation; studied law with the Honorable Timothy
Bigelow at Groton; Representative in Congress from Chelmsford, Mass., (Fourteenth Congress) 1815-1817;
University Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, 1817-1829. Died at Cambridge on February 5, 1839.
Asahel Stearns was a son of the Hon. Josiah & Mary (Corey) Stearns
On April 23, 1801, Professor Stearns was married at Chelmsford to 
widow, Mrs. Frances Wentworth (Whiting) Shepard, daughter of 
Benjamin & Grace (Hall) Whiting and the widow of Daniel Shepard 
of Amherst, New Hampshire.

Honorable James Sullivan, born at Berwick, Maine on April 22, 1744; a member of the three Provincial
Congresses from Biddeford, Maine, 1774, 1775; resident of Groton, Mass. 1778-1782; a Delegate to the
Continental Congress, 1782; a Member of the Executive Council, 1787. Judge of Probate, Suffolk County,
1788-1790; Attorney-General, 1790-1807; First President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1791-
1806; Governor of the Commonwealth, 1807, 1808. Died at Boston December 10, 1808 while in office.

Honorable John Varnum, born at Dracut, Mass., June 25, 1778; Harvard College, 1798; studied law with
the Hon. Timothy Bigelow at Groton; Representative in Congress from Haverhill, Mass., (Nineteenth,
Twentieth and Twenty-first Congresses), 1825-1831. Died at Niles, Michigan, on July 23, 1886.


                                           The Revolutionary War.

In the spring of 1765, the odious Stamp Act was

p.142
passed, which did much to hasten public opinion toward the American Revolution. This town sympathized

warmly with the feeling, and prepared to do her part in the struggle. A large number of her inhabitants
had received their schooling in the French War, as their fathers before them had received theirs during
the Indian troubles. Such persons did not now enter upon camp life as raw troops, but as experienced
and disciplined soldiers.  The town had men willing to serve and able to command. The leaders of the
Revolution displayed great foresight in the careful attention paid to the details of their work; and the
final success of the struggle was due as much to their sagacity as to the deep feeling of the people.

On the side of the patriots the skirmishes of April 19, 1775, were fought by companies made up of minute-
men, organized on a recommendation of the First Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in a resolve passed
at Cambridge on October 26, 1774. It was at that time recommended to the field officers of the various
militia regiments that they should enlist at least one-quarter of their respective commands, and form 
them into companies to be held in readiness, at the shortest notice by the Committee of Safety, to march
to the place of rendezvous.  Such soldiers soon became known as minute-men, and proved to be of very
great help and strength to the popular cause.

Two companies were enlisted at Groton; and at the desire of the officers, the Rev. Samuel Webster, of
Temple, New Hampshire, on February 21, 1775, preached a sermon before them, which was afterward printed.
It was there stated that a large majority of

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town had engaged to hold themselves in readiness, agreeably to the plan of the Provincial Congress, to
act in the service of their country. The sermon is singularly meagre in those particulars which would
interest us at the present time, and is made up largely of theological opinions, perhaps as valuable now
as then, but not so highly prized.

On the memorable 19th of April, two companies of minute-men, under the respective commands of Captain
Henry Farwell and Captain Asa Lawrence, marched from Groton to Concord and Cambridge and on the same day
for the same destination two other companies of militia, under the respective commands of Captain Josiah
Sartell and Captain John Sawtell. According to the company rolls at the State House, there wer in Farwell's 
company at the time of marching, three commissioned officers and fifty-two men, and in Lawrence's, three 
officers and forty-three men; and in the two militia companies, (Sartell's) three
officers and forty-five men and (Sawtell's) one officer and twenty-five men, respectively, though in
Sawtell's company some of the men were from Pepperell.

At the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, one commissioned officer and eleven soldiers, residents
of Groton, were either killed in the fight or mortally wounded. This roll of honor comprises the names
of Lieut. Amaziah Fassett, who fell wounded and died a prisoner on July 5th; Sergeant Benjamin Prescott,
a son of the Honorable James Prescott and a nephew of Colonel William Prescott, who commanded the 
American forces, and privates Abraham Blood,

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Chambers Corey, James Dodge, Peter Fisk, Stephen Foster, Simon Hobart, Jonathan Jenkins, David Kemp,
Robert Parker and Benjamin Woods. This was the largest loss experienced by any town in that battle and
it shows the patriotic character of the citizens at that period.  Colonel William Prescott, the commander
on the American side and three of the Pepperell soldiers who lost their lives in that fight, were natives
of Groton.
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth