History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

298 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
son of Governor Wiuthrop, with several others, by
an act of " tlie General Court held in Boston the
23'' day of the S"" month, 1655." Its location is so
far from the centre of the above-named territory—
the settlement of which at first progressed very
slowly, owing to Indian depredations and to the small
number of settlers — that it remained an unbroken
wilderness for more than sixty years after the grant
of the territory of Grnton, and until all the settle-
ments of the neighboring districts had successfully
commenced. During tliis period the Indian wars
of Massachusetts had been waged, carried on, and
concluded, and enterprising settlers were encour-
aged to penetrate and occupy those hitherto wild
lands whicii were to be the future homes of them-
selves and their children, without the protection of
garrisoned houses, and with no fear of surprise
from the nocturnal visits of the revengeful abo-
rigines of the soil.
The precise time of the first settlement in Shir-
ley cannot now be ascertained, but is supposed to
have been about the year 1720. Tiic farms first laid
out and occupied were on the Squannacook River
and along the northern boundary of the town. The
second framed house was erected two miles from
what is now Shirley Centre, at the corner formed
by a union of the roads leading from Shirley and
Lunenburg to Groton. The population had, how-
ever, become sufficiently numerous, as early as
1747, to realize the need of a distinct municipal
organization, and tliose who most fully recognized
this need united in forwarding a petition to the
parent town, praying for an act of separation.
Tiie petition was graciously received and read
"at the anniversary meeting in Groton, and the
prayer thereof granted," with few modifications,
and recorded. But it was not until six years from
the date of tlie petition above named that an
act of incorporation was passed by the state legis-
lature. This was done at the January session of
1753, when the territory became a district, and re-
ceived the name of Shirley in lionor of William
Shirley, Escp, who was then govci'uor of IMassa-
chusetts.
By a subsequent act of the legislature in 178G
all districts that had beni\ incorporated previous to
the year 1777 were made towns. In this change
Sliirley was included.
By an act of the state legislature of 1 7(15 a slrip
extending in length one mile from Lunenburg line
to Nashua River, was annexed to Shirley." This
additional territory has usually been denominated
Stow Leg, and the union •
is what now constitutes
the domain of the town.
The population has been variable. In 1765 it
amounted to 4;30 souls, and in 1870, when at its
greatest, it counted 1,451.
The house of Mr. John Whitney, where the first
to\ra-meeting was held, and wliere the people took
their first step as a body politic, was afterwards
purchased for a work-house and alms-house. Thus
the building, appropriated to the first public busi-
ness of the town, was devoted permanently to a
public service, and continued as long as the wants
of the town demanded, when it again became a
private establishment.
Shirley is favorably located for the health of its
inhabitants. It is situated about fifteen miles froni
the southern boundary of New Hampshire, in full
view of tlie lofty hills that range along that part of
the Granite State ; the refreshing breezes are an
antidote to the fogs and unhealthy exhalations that
arise from the low grounds and rivers by which the
town is partially intersected and bounded.
Tlie soil has an undulating surface, rising to con-
siderable elevations in some places and sinking into
corresponding valleys in other places, and in char-
acter is variable. The Mulpus Brook, which passes
through a northern valley of the town, is bordered
by a low swamp that naturally yields a coarse un-
palatable grass, of little value as fodder, and which
in time, if not guarded against, will give place to an
entirely worthless jungle. When cultivated and
drained, it becomes prolific of hay and other produce.
There are, bordered by the rivers, tracts of inter-
vale land, that are usually overrun by water in the
spring and sometimes in autumn. These overflow-
ings leave behind an annual tribute of sediment by
which the soil is largely enriched. The crops are,
however, exposed to unseasonable frosts and floods,
by whicli they are occasionally injured and sometimes
totally destroyed. In favorable years, under the
hand of faithful cultivation, these lands, easily
tilled, yield large harvests of grass and grain, but
are especially fitted to the growing of hops.
The productions of Shirley are much the same
as are found in other towns of the same latitude,
except, perhaps, that hops have been more a spe-
of land on the south boundary of Shii-hy, lying cialty than in most other towns of the vicinity.
between Shirley and Lancaster, " bring a Icrri- This product has occasionally amounted to fifty
(orv of about two hundred rods in bieailtli, and thousand ))ounds grown in one year.