History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

398 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
The population of the district in 1790 was 38:J,
of whom seventeen were colored persons. On the
6tli of January of tliis year a ciiurch was formed,
and the Rev. "Nathaniel" Lawrence (H. C. 1787)
was ordained as pastor. He continued in tlie
pastorate until his death, the record of wliich is
thus made on his headstone in tlie cemetery near
the Thompson place :
—
" lu memory of Rev. Nathaniel Lawrence who died on
Lord's day, Feb. 5, 1843 a;t. 72A. Mr Lawrence was a
native of Woljurn, Mass. He graduated at Harvard Col-
lege in 1787, and on Jau' 6, 1790, was ordained pastor of
the Congregational Society in Tyngsborougli wliich rela-
tion contiiuied 49 years. On the morning of Feb. 5 he
attended chureli as usual in apparent good health, but on
returning to iiis dwelling very suddenly expired. His
death was tliat of the rigliteous and his last end like his."
His wife, Hannah, died September 20, 1835, in
her seventy-second year, and is buried near him.
The churcii of Mr. Lawrence became Unitarian in
sentiment, and so continues.
In 180:1 it was " voted tliat the small scliolars
shall not be admitted into the Grammar School
until they obtain such a pitch of learning as the
selectmen shall think proper."
The population in ISOO had arisen to fiOO, and
in the year following John Pitts, Esq., who had
married Mary, daughter of Judge John Tyiig, was
'chosen to represent Dunstable in the General
Court. His daughter Elizabeth married Robert
Briniey, of Tyngsborougli, September 10, 1S03.
The district of Tyngsborough was taken from
Dunstable, and incorporated as a town Febru-
ary 23, 1809, and by the census of the year fol-
lowing it contained 70-1 inhabitants.
In the great gale, September, 1815, the tall
steeple of the meeting-house was blown down and
other damage done. The present LTnitarian Ciiurch
was subsequently erected on or near the site of the
original meeting-house.
Captain Nathaniel Ilolden, who had served in
the Revolution and in many town offices, died,
greatly lamented, January 21, 1^17, aged seventy-
six years. He was called tiic Praccmaker, and
Holden's Brook perpetuates his iiuinory. In 1820
the population of tiie town iiad arJM ii to 8(18, and
peace atul prosperity prevailed.
Colonel Ebenezer Bancroft, after a life long and
wrll spent, died here Septcndjcr 22, ls27, in the
ninetieth year of his age. .He was buried under
arms, and on the march to the grave near what is
now Little's Station the band played the tune of
" Blue Eved Marv," (his being the onlv one which
all the musicians could perform. Ebenezer Bancroft,
grandson of Colonel Ebenezer Bancroft, and
born December 21, 1807, now occupies " the old
Bancroft homestead."
By the opening of the Lowell and Nashua Rail-
road, October 8, 1838, the town was largely bene-
fited, a ready means of communication with Bos-
ton being thus afforded, and the expense of transporting
produce to market much diminished. The
number of inhabitants in 18-10 was 870, and for
the year ending April 1, 1845, 14,831 bushels of
fruit were raised and 1,550 tons of hay were cut.
A large quantity of lumber, especially from the
Tyng Woods, was prepared for market, and some
brushes were manufactured. The schools were in
a good condition.
On the 27th of November, 184-8, James Butter-
field, son of James, and born September 30, 178S,
was instantly killed by the cars while walking on
the railroad track. Two trains were passing at
the time. The accident occurred about half a mile
below the Tyngsborougli station.
In 1860 the pojiulation had declined to G26; in
the war which followed the town jiatriotically fur-
nished its full quota of men who did efl'ective ser-
vice in the Union army. In 1SG5 the number of
farms was ninety-eight, and a box manufactory had
been established, einjiloying six persons. Robert
Briniey, into whose hands the extensive Tyng estate
had come through his marriage with a grand-daugh-
ter of Judge John Tyng, died here March 25, 1867,
aged ninety-two years. The property came into
the possession of his son, Nathaniel Briniey, who
now occupies the old homestead. The Tyng family
is now extinct, and perhaps it had been better for
the town that the large territory belonging to the
Tyug estate should have been in the outset divided
into sections of moderate size and held by the
farmers in fee-sim])le. It certaiidy would have
been brought thereby into a better state of cultiva-
li(jn.
An evangelical chnrcli was organized here April 1,
1868, and a nieetiiig-honse erected about the same
time. The present pastor is the Rev. Arthur H.
Tebbets.
In 1870 the population was 629, and (he luim-
ber of ])ublic schools seven. They \\\k well in-
structed.
A strong iron bridge was built across the river,
uniting the east and west sections of (he (own,
in 187-k The cost, about §92,000, was met in
part by the (owns in the vicinity. While in the