History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

y Governor "\Tiiithrop. The scenery around it is
very picturesque. Opposite the Stony Brook depot
is a hill called Snake Rock, from the rattlesnakes
Avhich used to abound at the foot of its precipitous
western side. In the face of this high rock is a
horizontal cave, some twenty feet in depth, called
the Devil's Den. In this cave negro slaves con-
cealed themselves in the summer of 1780, to avoid
the draft.
Some of the prominent citizens of the town deserve
more tlian a passing notice, from positions held by
them, from individual peculiarities, and for other
reasons.
Captain Josiali Jones, admitted a freeman April
18, 1690, was one of the original members and one
of the first deacons of Weston church. He died
October 9, nii. From his commanding- the
Farmers' company, the Farms rcecivrd the name of
"the precinct of Lieutenant Jones's Company.
His son Josiah, also a captain, was elected dea-
con, February 13, 1714- 15, as successor to his
father, but he refused to accept. /Abigail, the only
daughter of tliis son, became tlie second wife of
Colonel Ephraim Williams, of Newton (father by
his first wife of Ephraim Williams, tlie founder of
Williams College), to whom siie bore five chil-
dren. Her daughter Abigail married as her
second husband General Joseph Dwight, of Great
Barrington, by whom she had two eluldren, the
elder, Mary, marrying Hon. Theodore Sedgwick,
and becoming the mother of Theodore, Henry, and
Charles Sedgwick, all distinguished lawyers, and of
Catherine M. Sedgwick, the eminently distinguished
authoress.
Isaac Jones, son of Captain James Jones, born
September 29, 1 7-2S, kept a tavern and store, but was
such a loyalist as to bring down upon himself tlie
following denunciation from the Whig Convention
of Worcester County, held in 1775 :
—
"Resohed, Tliat it be earnestly reconiincnied to all the
inhabitants of this county, not to liave any coinmereial
transactions wilb Isaac Jones, but to shun liis house and
erson, and to treat him with the contempt he deserves."
He died in 1813. His tavern was probablv the
one called the Golden Ball, mentioned by Charles
H. Fiske, Esq., in his oration delivered in Weston,
July 4, 1876.1
Josiah Jones, seventh son of Colonel Elisha
Jones, was born November 9, 1744. He studied
^ One of the best centennial addresses delivei'ed on that mem-
orable day. The writer acknowledoies his deep indebtedness to
it in preparing this sketrh, and returns thanks to Mr. Fiske for
his courtesy in allowing its free use.
"
WESTON. 499
medicine, and became a physician. He joined the
British army at Boston soon after the battle of
Lexington, and was sent by General Gage to Nova
Scotia for supplies for the troops. He was cap-
tured on the jjassage, and committed by the Pro-
vincial Congress to jail at Concord. After a few
months he was released. He again joined tlie
British, and was appointed to a position in the
commissary department. In 1782 he settled at
Sissibo, Nova Scotia, as a lawyer. He obtained
half-pay from the British government. He was
first judge of the Court of Common Pleas of An-
napolis County for several years. He died at
Annapolis in 1825. He was a man of education
and ability. His property in Massachusetts was
confiscated.
His brothers Elisha and Simon also settled at
Sissibo, Nova Scotia. The latter was a half-j)ay
British officer.
It will be acknowledged that Rev. Dr. Samuel
Kendal's estimate of tlie people of the town must
be a correct one ; he says : " The inhabitants of
the town are mostly industrious farmers, a class of
men which, in a country like ours, merits the high
consideration and esteem of every other class.
The character of its inhabitants would not suff'er
by a comparison with those of almost any other
town in the commonwealth, of no greater advan-
tages." They have had some of the ablest men in
New England as pastors of their churches, and the
followhig list of college graduates, natives or resi-
dents of the town, unfortunately almost exclu-
sively limited, by the means of information at
hand, to those from Harvard College only, includes
many names of which the commonwealth is justly
proud.
Colonel William Williams, one of the first set-
tlers of Pittsfield, was the eldest son of Rev. AA'il-
liam Williams, born in Weston, May 14, 1711,
graduated at Harvard College in 1729. "He
was a jovial military man, and was very much
distinguished in the French and Indian \yars. He
held the office of colonel in 1758, and was in the
memorable attack on Ticonderoga," on the 5th of
July of that year, of which he gave a thrilling
account in a letter to Dr. Thomas Williams of
Deerfield, dated July 11, 1758. He was an emi-
nent man, much beloved, and was chief justice of
the Court of Common Pleas in Berkshire County.
In 1771- he was a member of the General Court,
among those friendly to the king, "who," snvs
Hutchinson, "in common times would have had