History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

384 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
acres. There is, however, nothing recorded going
to show that Townsend ever complied with the
terms of the grant, or received the least benefit
from it. At this period (1763) log-houses began to
disappear, comfortable cottages took their places,
and quite a number of the two-story houses, with
their monstrous chimneys, were built by the most
wealthy people of the town. The population at
that time was 598.
15y the incorporation of Ashby, in 1767, Townsend
parted with territory enough to form about two
thirds of that town, with as little regret as is felt
by a mother at the D)arriage of the eldest daugliter
of the family. Since the time of this excision the
limits of the town have remained undisturbed.
At the inauguration and during the progress of
the Revolutionary War the town took a very active
part, being in constant correspondence with the
town of Boston through the Committee of Safety.
Wiieii the alarm was made on the 19tli of iVpril,
1775, seventy-five men, in two companies, under
the comu)and of Captain James Hosley and Captain
Samuel Douglas, took uj) the line of march
for Concord, to resist the " ministerial troops."
Epliraim Warren left his plougli in tiie furrow,
mounted one of tlie horses with which he was at
work, and calling for his gun and ammunition
started at full speed " to have a shot at tlie regu-
lars." During the siege of Boston several sled-
loads of provisions were sent by this town to its
sufi'ering inhabitants. The town records attest the
spirited manner with wliich its quotas for the army
were filled, and to the great interest manifested in
tlie cause of freedom. It, however, had more than
its share of tories, who were a source of great
trouble and aiuioyance to tlie patriots. Several
became refugees. The most prominent among
them was Josepli Adams, a pliysician, who owned
real estate botii in this town and in Pepperell, all
of whicii was confiscated and sold.
During tlie Sliays Rebellion excitement many of
the citizens of the town, not (liscrimiiiatiiig lutwec-n
self-government and anarciiv, were in s\ mp ilh\ \\ ith
tlie insurg(!iits. " Tlic distressed situalimi of pub-
lic affairs" are the words of the record of a townmeeting
in 1 7.S6. Some of tlie most prominent men
in town were ready to assist in obstrueling the sit-
ting (if the cdurts. A company was raised by Lieutiiiaiit
I'llir I'utterfield, largely madt; up of young
men and minors, which jiartieipated willi .fob Sliat-
tuek in the attcmplcd raid on the e(.in-t at ( 'oiiidrd.
At tli(^ eonuneiicement of tlie present century
the people of the town were very much divided in
opinion in regard to tiie location of their house of
worship. As was the custom when it was built,
it was located on a hill which afforded many
channing views of the surrounding country. The
village at Groton, with its white church-spire and
dwellings, the farm-houses in Lunenburg, and the
graceful contours of the Turkey Hills at the south-
west and west, constituted a delightful outlook
from this standpoint. Here had been their house
of worship since the settlement of the town. The
necessity of climbing a steep hill to attend meeting,
together witli the difficulty in getting good
wells of water thereon, were the prominent objec-
tions to that spot, hallowed to these worshippers
by many tender recollections. In 1798 the town
began to agitate the subject of a new meeting-
house in another location, and during the next
year a committee of sixteen members was chosen
"to find the centre of the town," and to select a
suitable place for the building ; but nothing defi-
nite was agreed upon till 1S03, when, after having
from three to five town-meetings in each year, the
town voted to remove their meeting-house to the
place where it now stands, on the Common, wliere
it was newly set up, renovated, and dedicated in
the autumn of ISOk The selection of this spot
for the centre of the town was a very judicious act
on the part of the committee. The pitch-pine forest
soon disappeared, and the meeting-house became
the nucleus of a thriving settlement, since grown
to the proportions of a manufacturing village,
" with the modern improvements."
The Mar with Great Britain in ISH being
unpopular in Massachusetts, no very enthusiastic
resjjouse to the call for troops was made. This
town was represented by one volunteer and about
half a score of dnifted men, among the Middlesex
County troops stationed at Fort Warren, under the
command of Colonel Walter Hastings of Towns-
end. For the first fifty years of the existence of
the town there is nothing to be found on record
whereby tiie military history of that period can be
written". That an eflicient militia was here is evi-
dent from the fact that many town officers have
military prefixes to their names. The earliest
records of the militia show that the town had two
com])anies, known as the North Company and the
South Company ; and the records of the former,
from 1788 to 1817, and of the latter from 17S2
to 1S15, are sfill preserved. The names of the
captains of the South Company, as they succeeded