History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

540 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
qualification for votes was disapproved, and a
resolution passed excludinf:r ordained ministers and
attoriievs-at-law from membersliip to the legisla-
ture. A few years later, when the Federal Consti-
tution was before the people of Massachusetts for
consideration, the delegates to the state convention
from Woburn were Timothy Winn and James
Fowle, Jr. Deacon Winn opposed the adoption
of the Constitution without amendments. The
speech prepared in defence of his views was lost to
the convention in consequence of his absence at the
time certain amendments were under debate, though
subsequently printed in the Boston Independent
Chronicle. It is well known that the Constitution
was adopted only by a small majority in the con-
vention of about 350 delegates.
Soon after the war there was considerable public
excitement on the question of what should be done
with the tories and refugees who had played a
hostile part against the Hevolution. At a town-
meeting held in May, 1783, very severe resolu-
tions were passed against all such persons, and an
act prohibiting their return to the town or state
urged upon the legislature. It was said, " Our
Canaan will enjoy no rest while the Philistines are
suffered to dwell among us." These bitter feel-
ings survived for many years. But many who had
continued their allegiance to the British crown
during the war, at its close accepted the situation,
and became earnest and patriotic citizens of the
new republic.
The oidy person from Woburn who held any
considerable position in the Continental Army was
Colonel Loanimi Baldwin. He enlisted as a pri-
vate in April, 1775, but was soon advanced to
superior positions, and in August following was
appointed colonel of the 38th regiment. He was
stationed about Boston until the beginning of
1776, when his regiment was ordered to New
\ ork, where he remained until its evacuation by
Washington in September. WitJi him he crossed
the Delaware December 8, and recrossed Decem-
ber 25, and participated in the gallant fight at
Trenton. Colonel Baldwin had many qualifica-
tions as a military leader; but, his health faihng
a \v\\ months later, he was honorably discharged
from the aniiy, ;nid never again returned to it.
His hnig and useful life was spent in W^oburn,
and he was in many respects the most able and
trusted of all her public men. He was the first
high shcriir of Middlesex County after tlie organi-
zation of the new government, an office which he
filled with great acceptance for many years. He
was elected several times as a delegate to the Gen-
eral Court, and exercised through his life a large
and healthy influence in public affairs. To him is
the community indebted if not for originating, cer-
tainly for making known and propagating, the cele-
brated Baldwin apple. He was one of the principal
projectors as well as one of the most active superin-
tendents of the construction of the Middlesex Canal.
This much noted and valuable water-course from the
Merrimack to the Charles was a principal feature in
Woburn for about forty years, and added much to
its business facilities and prosperity. It was wholly
superseded by the building of the Lowell Railroad,
and the site of it through the town is no longer
easily traced.
At the close of tlie Eevolutionary War Woburn
was left in an impoverished state. Besides the
constant drain upon its purse, annually paid out, it
had borrowed $1,000 to §5,000, for which it was
still ill debt. The depression caused by this state
of things led the town into the declaration of
unpatriotic sentiments when the Shays Rebellion
took place, in 1786-87. Being called upon to
raise a force to aid in its suppression, it voted
" not to give any encouragement to the expedi-
tion," and similar votes were passed respecting the
payment of those persons who enlisted for that
purpose. Still, a strong protest was at the
time entered against those votes, and they were
afterward reconsidered. They could never have
been sanctioned at all but for the great evils that
followed the war, and the excitement growing out
of them.
The next important epoch in the annals of Woburn
was the separation from it of the precinct of
Shawshme, or the Second Parish. It has already
been stated that this parish was formed in 1730,
at the time Goshen was made a distinct town by
the name of Wilmington. Attempts were made
by the people, in 1733 - 31, in 1774, and in 1782,
to form a separate township, but were unsuccessful.
In 1797 the subject was again renewed. A
petition was presented to the General Court asking
for tiie division. A town committee was ciiosen to
oppose it, but the project was actively pushed by
the Second Parish before the legislature, and in
spite of the formidable opposition and the appar-
ently small reason for the division, the court de-
cided to grant the petition, and the Second Parish
became a distinct township under the name of
Burlington. This took place February 28, 1799.