History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

heads, of potatoes 3,400 bushels, -vverc grown hist
j'ear; milk produced, more than 25,000 gallons;
besides large crops of roots of all kinds, sweet corn,
beans, pease, squash, tomatoes, etc. The number
of acres in hoed crops is usually about sixty.
Tiie population of the town, including the in-
mates of the State Almshouse, is about 2,000.
Valuation of property, excluding State Almshouse
and Farm, S8;34.,006. Number of horses, 290;
number of houses, 2.56.
number of cows, h\Q ;
The earlier history of Tewksbury — that part
which dates back of 1734', when it was part of
Billerica — is exceedingly limited. Indeed, all
that is known is in the history of Billerica, and
therefore the history of tiiat town and the general
incidents related up to the date of the separation
are Tewksbury's as well.
From tiie date of the organization and incorpora-
tion of the town in 1734 to the beginning of (lie
struggle for independence, the chief matters of in-
terest to tiie inhabitants, as shown by the records,
were laying out and constructing roads, and the
building, care of, and alterations in their meet-
ing-house. Scarcely a town-warrant was issued
for a meeting during that time that did not contain
one or more articles relating to tiiese matters. The
people seemed to be deeply interested in them.
But how little appears in the records upon these
subjects from 1774 to 17S4 ! All controversies as
to alterations and improvements in their house of
worship cease ; all petitions for new highways,
town roads, or even bridle-paths are laid aside.
War, grim and terrible, absorbed all their energies.
And while the town was not one whit behind her
neighbors in valor, on account of her scanty numbers,
and because no leading military commander
was found within her borders, her fame, periiaps,
was not as high as theirs.
The "old French and Indian War" records are
meagre indeed ; only a few references are found
touching those perilous years from 1750 to 1760.
In the list of deaths are recorded the names of
four men, who died in 1756 "in y* service at Fort
Wm. Henry," also " one man died in y* service at
Lake George in 1760." One or two are recorded
as dying in iVew York, near Oswego.
It is believed there were six or seven more from
Tewksbury who served in the provincial armies in
that war. And as this struggle began about twenty
years after the incorporation of the town, when there
were only a few inhabitants, it was perhaps her full
contribution to that early conflict.
TEWKSBURY. 375
"Tewksbury, June the 2d 1757. Eec'd of .Mr.
Isaac Gray thirteen pounds ten shillings and six
pence lawful money in full of the wages due to
Benja" Hoagg for the town while he was in the
country service in the expedition formed against
Crown Point in the year 1756. It was in Capt.
Butterfield's company. Pr we
" Tnos. Marshall ) Selecfmen
Abraham Stickney of
^
JouN Needuam J Tewksbury."
No traditional incidents relating to that early
struggle have been found by us, and we give
the above scraps from the early records as all
we know of Tewksburv in the French and Indian
AVar.
Tiie first intimation of the impending revolution-
ary struggle appears to be the votes passed September
21, 1774 " : Voted to buy more powder for
a town stock .... to buy two barrels of
powder in addition to the town stock," .... and
"to leave it to the Committee to provide bullets
and flints as they shall think proper." Septem-
ber 27, 1774, it was voted "to choose a Delegate
for the Provincial Meeting to be holden at Concord
on the Second Tuesday of Oct. next," and Mr.
Jonathan Brown was the delegate chosen " for the
said Provincial Meeting." Tiie same delegate was
chosen on January 23, 1775, " for the Provincial
Congress Meeting at Cambridge on the 1st day of
Feby. next ensuing."
A little over six weeks before the opening of the
conflict, March 6, 1775, the following important
votes were passed. We copy them as they stand
on the town records :
—
"Vofeil, To raise minute men."
" Voted, To give the minute men 5.?. a peace for
every half day in a week tiiat they train til further
order."
" Voieil, To allow Jonathan Brown 4«. 8*/. per
day going a delegate to the Congress."
Of these minute-men Captain Jolin Trull was
commander. He resided in the northern part of
the town, near the banks of the Merrimack River,
on the farm where some of his descendants still
dwell. On the morning of the memorable 19th of
April he was awakened by the clatter of iiorses'
hoofs approaching his house from the road which
leads to the centre of the town. The rider was
either one of the few who had left Charlestown the
previous night, or might have been started upon
his course by Revere himself. Immediately his
voice was heard shouting, " Captain Trull ! the