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A HISTORY

Town of Dunstable,

MA SSA CHUSE TTS,

FROM ITS

EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE !EAR Of OOR LORD \m.

BY

The Rev. ELIAS NASON, M. A.,
author of the '* life of henry wilson, ' the "life of charles sumner," the
"gazetteer of Massachusetts," and othhr works.

" It is wise for us to recur to the history of our ancestors.
Those who do not look upon themselves as a link connecting
the Past with the Future, do not perform their duty to the
world." — Daniel Webster.
" And shall we not proclaim
That blood of honest fame
Which no tyranny could tame
By its chain ? " Washington Allston.

BOSTON:
ALFRED MUDGE & SON, Printers,
34 School Street.
1877.

PREFACE.

In writing this history of the town of Dunstable, Mass., I have pre
ferred to arrange it in the form of annals, because the intimate connection
between the civil, ecclesiastical, military, and educational affairs seemed
to demand that they should be presented in the order of tirae rather than
apart in groupings by themselves. By recurring to the index, any partic
ular name, event, or subject may be readily found. As the space was
Umited, I have endeavored to avoid, as much as possible, theories, com
ments, and deductions, and to compress as many facts as appeared to be
of interest into the number of pages fixed upon for the work. For the
same reason the genealogies of the families have been omitted, although
I have introduced, as far as practicable, the dates of births, deaths, and
marriages, together with other points of importance to those engaged in
tracing back the lineage of the sons and daughters of Dunstable.
The materials for this work have been drawn mainly from the town,
parish, church, and State records, and the places whence citations have
been made in general indicated. In pursuing my investigations I have
been most kindly assisted by the Committee of PubUcation, consisting of
Messrs. Benjamin French, Josiah Curaraings Proctor, John Adams Park
hurst, and Dexter Butterfield, by Messrs. John Ward Dean and WilHam
B. Trask, of Boston, as well as by several others, to all of whom I would
here tender my very sincere acknowledgments. ELIAS NASON.
North Billerica, Mass., April 21, 1877.

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

CHAPTER I.
Early Settlements in Massachusetts. — Surveys of Dunstable. — Origi
nal Grants of the Land. — William Beenton's Grant. — Other
Grants. — Thomas Brattle's Grant. — Division of this Grant. —
Petition of the Proprietors for Incorporation. —Their Names. —
Act of Incorporation. — Jonathan Danforth's Survey of the
Town. — Extent of the Town. — Character of the Proprietors. —
Name of the Town. — Dunstable, England.
" In the fathers of New England we behold a body of men who, for the
liberty of faith alone, resolutely and deliberately exchanged the delights
home and the comforts of civilized life for toil and danger, for an ungenial
climate and a rugged soil." Gulian C. Verplanck.
" We have no title-deed to house or lands ;
Owners and occupants of earlier date
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates."
H. W. Longfellow.
The early English settlements, commenced along the shore
of Massachusetts Bay, — as that of Plymouth, 1620 ; of Salem,
1626 ; of Boston, 16^0 ; and of Newbury, 1633, — were gradually
extended into the wilderness, then infested with wild beasts,
and tribes of wandering savages who justly held themselves to
be the rightful owners of the soil.
Sir Henry Rosewell and others obtained, on the 4th of March,
1629, a royal charter of a grant of land in New England in
cluded by a line running three miles south of the Charles River,
and another line running three miles north of the Merrimack
River, from the Atlantic to the South Sea, or Pacific Ocean.
The corporation was entitled " The Governor and Company of
the Massachusetts Bay in New England," and under its favor
able auspices the tide of immigration set in rapidly to this unex-

6 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. '"1643
plored and inhospitable region. As many as seventeen ships,
bringing about 1,500 passengers, arrived during the year 1630.
In the selection of their farms, it was natural for the settlers
to follow the course of the larger streams, since along their
margins extended the rich alluvial lands, which, in some
instances, the Indians had reduced to tillage, while the waters
afforded, not only an abundant supply of fish, but also a ready
means of intercommunication between the settlements
Haverhill, then called Pentucket, was settled as early as
1640; the Indian deed — for it was customary to remunerate
the natives for their lands — bears the date of Nov. 15,
1642. Groton, Billerica, — then including Tewksbury, — and
Chelmsford, including Westford, were all incorporated in
1655. Beyond these towns an unbroken tract of wilderness
extended as far as Canada.
Attracted by the fertility of the soil and the heavy growth
of timber in the valleys of the Merrimack, Nashua, and Souhe-
gan Rivers, enterprising men from Boston, Salera, Woburn,
and other towns began, as early as 1660, to obtain grants of
tracts of land of three hundred acres and upwards, lying along
these rivers, to erect garrison houses of logs, and to clear away
the timber, which could be readily floated down the streams
and shipped for market.
A survey of the valley of the Merrimack River was made by
Captains Simon Willard and Edward Johnson in 1652, and the
colony of Massachusetts Bay then claimed all the land three
miles north and east of this river, to a large rock in the Win-
nepesaukee River, and thence due west as far as New York.
The county of Middlesex, organized May 10, 1643, held jurisdic
tion over this vast unsettled region, and within it was embraced
all that extensive territory which a few years later became the
town of Dunstable.
Four years subsequent to the above-mentioned survey,
William Brenton, who afterwards became governor of Rhode
Island, obtained a grant of a large tract of land lying on both
sides of the Merrimack River, and which at a later day formed
almost all of the township of Litchfield. It extended on the
west side of the Merrimack River, from a little stream called
Naticook Brook, just above Thornton's Ferry, down to about

1 6; I J EARLY GRANTS OF LAND. y
2l mile south pf Pennichuck Brook, and was long known as
" Brenton's Farm." No attempts, however, were made to set
tle on this land anterior to 1720. About the year 1660 tracts
of land of five hundred acres each, on the Souhegan River,
were granted to Captains William Davis, of Boston, and Isaac
Johnson, of Roxbury, the latter of whom was killed in the Nar
ragansett fight, Dec. 19, 1675. The town of Charlestown
obtained a grant of one thousand acres, lying at or near Dram
Cup Hill, now in Milford, N. H., for a school farm, and in 1662
the town of Billerica secured a grant of five hundred acres for
the same purpose. It subsequently obtained a much larger
grant. It was the policy of the General Court to extend the settle
ments. The value set upon the land was very low, and hence
extensive tracts of this wild waste were readily secured. Mrs.
Anna Cole obtained a grant of five hundred acres ; Mr. Phineas
Pratt and others, a grant of three hundred acres, " for straights
and hardships endured by them in planting at Plymouth."
Other grants were successively made, among which was one
of four hundred acres to Gov. John Endecott, six miles north
of Pawtucket Falls and one mile west of Beaver Brook ;
another to Henry Kimball, long known as " Kimball's Farm,"
and now in the towns of Hudson and Pelham, N. H. ; while
certain tracts on the southerly side of Salmon Brook were
granted to Samuel Scarlett, Capt. Joseph Wheeler, and to his
son, Lieut. Joseph Wheeler. Edward Cowell had a grant of two
hundred and fifty acres lying on the north of Massapoag Pond,
and Capt. Thomas Brattle, a noted citizen of Boston and a
public benefactor, had a grant of 1,650 acres, extending north
easterly from Mr. Cowell's land, and embracing what is now
the village of Dunstable. It was known for almost a century
as " Brattle's Farm," and the settlement made upon it bore the
name of " Brattle End." Capt. Brattle bought this land July
14, 1671, of Kanapatune and Patatucke,* Indians, and it is
described as being 2,000 acres, " in the wilderness on the west
side of the Merramack, between the river and Mashapopog
Pond, on the line of Chelmsford." The land was formerly
* He was of Wamesit, and one of the owners of the territory of Groton. He
was called by the English, Jacob Patatucke.

8 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l6jS
owned by the Indian Cuttah-huno-a-muck, who may be con
sidered the original proprietor of what is now the town of
Dunstable, Mass.* A plan of this famous farm, by Jonathan
Danforth, dated Sept. 27, 1672, is still preserved, and by it
many questions as to the original owners of the land in that
section of the town may be determined. Who the owners of
the " Brattle Farm " were about thirty-six years subsequent to
the death of Mr. Brattle may be seen from the following inter
esting document : — "Dunstable, Oct 25, 1718.
'' At a raeeting of us whose naraes are underwritten, being the propri
etors of ye farrae that was Mr. Thomas Brattles, and having divided ye
greatest part of it amongst us into lots, both ye upland and ye medow, doe
all agree that every one of us shall bee allowed all necessary ways across
our lands, both open and bridle ways, for the improvement of our lands,
and to ye meeting-house as the major part of the propriety shall order and
determine, and in case anyone be more damnified than ye xt'he shall be
recorapenced for his damage by ye way exing. Witness our hands.
Thomas Cumings, Nathaniel Cumings, Jacob Kendle, Abraham
Taylor, John Taylor, James Jewell, Thomas Jewell." f
In September, 1673, a grant of 1,000 acres was made to the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, of Boston. This
land extended westerly frora the Merrimack River, along the
right bank of Nashua River, as far as Spectacle Brook, and
thence northerly about one raile. Upon it stands to-day the
most densely settled part of the industrial city of Nashua.
The proprietors of these extensive plantations were for the
most part leading raen in the colony of Massachusetts Bay ;
and having conferred together, they presented to the General
Court, in 1673, the following petition, asking to be incorporated
as a town, in order that, as such, they might be of greater ser
vice to the country : —
* See Brattle Family, p. 3. Major Thomas Brattle, born about 1624, married
Elizabeth, daughter of William Tyng. He was a merchant of Boston, commanded
several expeditions against Philip, and died April 5, 1683, in his sixtieth year. He
was one of the founders of the Old South Church. His son, Thomas Brattle, H. C.
1676, was one of the founders of Brattle Street Church, and died May i8, 1713.
t In addition to their meadow lands, they had severally the following portions
ofthe " Brattle Farm'': Thomas Cummings, 125 ; Eben'r Taylor, 153 ; Abraham
Taylor, 158I ; James Jewell, 213 ; John Taylor, 18S ; Thomas Jewell, 138 ; Jacob
Kendall, 133; Nathaniel Cummings, 108; Gershom Proctor, 151 ; and Samuel
Harwood, 211 acres.

i673]

PETITION OF THE PROPRIETORS.

Copy of the Petition of the Proprietors of the Lands along the
Merrimack, Nashua, and Souhegan Rivers, to be incorporated
AS A Town.
To the Honored Governor, Deputy Governor, with the Magistrates ana
Deputies now assembled in the General Court at Boston : —
The petition of the proprietors that are laid out upon the Merrimac
River, with others who desire to joyn with them in the settlement of a
plantation there.
Humbly Sheweth
That whereas, there is a considerable tract of countrys land that is
invironed with the proprieties of particular persons and towns, viz. : by
the line of the town of Chelmsford, and by Groton line, and by Mr. Bren
ton's farm, by Souhegan farms, and beyond Merrimac River, by the outer
most line of Henry Kimball's farm, and so to Chelmsford line again — All
which is in little capacity of doing the country any service except the farms
bordering upon it be adjoined to said land, to make a plantation there ;
and there being a considerable number of persons who are of a sober and
orderly conversation, who do stand in great need of accommodations, who
are willing and ready to make present improvement of the said vacant
lands. And the proprietors of the said farms are therefore willing to join
with and give encouragement to those that shall improve the said lands :
the farms that are in the tract of land before described being about 14,000
acres at the least : —
Your petitioners therefore hurably request the favour of the Honorable
Court that they will please to grant the said tract of land to your petition
ers, and to such as will join with thera in the settlement of the lands before
raentioned, as that those who have improved their farms there, and others
who speedily intend to do the same, may be in the way for the support
of the public ordinances of God, for without which the greatest part of
the year they will be deprived of, the farms lying so far remote from
any towns : and farther that the Honorable Court will please grant the
like immunities to this plantation, as they in their favours have for
merly granted to other new plantations. So shall your petitioners be ever
engaged to pray.
Thomas Brattle. Thomas Edwards.
Jonathan Tyng. Thomas Wheeler, Sen.
Joseph Wheeler. Peter Bulkley.
James Parker, Senior. Joseph Parker.
Robert Gibbs. John Morse, Sen.
John Turner. Samuel Combs.
Sampson Sheafe. James Parker, Jr.
Samuel Scarlet. John Parker.
William Lakin. Josiah Parker.
Abraham Parker. Nathaniel Blood.
James Knapp. Robert Parris.
Robert Proctor. John Joliffe.
Simon Willard, Jr. Zachariah Long.

10

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1674

This petition, signed by such a large number of respectable
men, was granted by the General Court on the sixteenth day
of October, O. S. 1673, and the town was thus incorporated.*
The following is a copy, verbatim et literatim, of the Act of
Incorporation as it stands in the Records of the Secretary of
the State : —
" In ansr to the petition [of] Mr. Thomas Brattle, James Parker, Jonathan
Tyng, Willyam Lakin, in behalfe of themselues & others joyn in their
humble petition, to desire the favour of this Court to grant them liberty to
setle a plantation w'h their farme, and a considerable tract of land belong
ing to the country being environed w'h the proprietyes of particular persons
& tounes, as by the lyne of Chelmsford, and by Groaten lyne, and by M^
Brentons farme, by Souhegon farmes, and beyond Merrimack River by
the outermost lyne of Henry Kemballs farme, & so to Chelmsford lyne
againe, as also such imunties to the plantation as this Court have formerly
granted to other new plantations, the Court judgeth it meete to grant their
requests, prouided that a farrae of fiue hundred acres of vpland & meadow
be layd out of this tract for the countrys vse and that they proceed in set
tling the plantation as to finish it once within three yeares & procure and
mainteyne an able & orthodoxe rainister amongst them.
" Edward Rawson, Secretary.'"
Capt. Jonathan Danforth, of Billerica, a noted land surveyor,
who died in 1 71 2, and of whom it was said, —
" He rode the circuit, chained great towns and farms ;
To good behaviour ; and by well-marked stations.
He fixed their bounds for many generations,"
was appointed to perambulate and make a plan of the new
territory. He completed the survey in May, 1674, and thus
described the boundaries : —
" It lieth upon both sides of the Merrimack River on the Nashaway
River. It is bounded on the south by Chelmsford, by Groton line,
partly by country land. The westerly line runs due north until you come
to Souhegan River to a hill called Dram Cup Hill, to a great pine near to
ye said river at ye north-west corner of Charlestown school farm ; bounded
* George W. Chase, in his Remarks on the Census of Massachusetts, i860,
assigns " Oct. 15, 1673," ^s the date of the Act of Incorporation, and this was in
accordance with other writers. The Hon. Samuel T. Worcester gave, in 1873,
the i6th of October as the true date. On looking at the original records at the
State House, I find that the session of the General Court, during which the Act
was passed, began Oct. 15, 1673, a"d continued several weeks, but the Act of Incor
poration was passed the second day of the session.

1674] SURVEY OF CAPT. DANFORTH. „
by Souhegan River on the north, and on the east side Merrimack it
begins at a great stone which was supposed to be near the north-east
corner of Mr. Brenton's land, and from thence it runs south-south-east
six miles to a pine tree marked ' F,' standing within sight of Beaver
Brook ; thence it runs two degrees west of south four miles and a quarter
which reached to the south side of Henry Kimble's farra at Jeremie's Hill;
thence from ye south-east angell of said farm, it runs two degrees and a
quarter westward of the south, near to the head of Long Pond, which lieth
at ye head of Edward Colburn's farm, and thus it is bounded by ye said
pond and ye head of said Colburn's farra ; taking in Capt. Scarlett's farm
so as to close again, all which is sufficiently bounded and described.
" Dunstable, 3d Mo. [May] 1674."
This tract of land, equal in extent to many a dukedom in
Europe, embraced about two hundred square miles, or 128,000
acres, and included what are now the towns of Dunstable and
Tyngsborough, and parts of the towns of Dracut, Groton, Pep
perell, and Townsend, Mass., together with the city of Nashua,
the towns of Hollis, Hudson, and sections of the towns of
Brookline, Milford, Amherst, Merrimack, Londonderry, Litch
field, and Pelham, N. H.
The western line extended from some unknown point in
what is now Townsend,* about ten miles due north by Miisca-
tanapus, or Bear Pond, near Brookline Centre, to Dram Cup
Hill, now in Milford, on Souhegan River. The northern boun
dary extended along this river to the Merrimack River, and
thence to a high rock now to be seen in Londonderry, in all,
about sixteen miles ; the eastern line, starting from this rock,
ran by Beaver Brookf and Long Pond, near Mr. Edward
Colburn's farm, to a point a little below Wicasuck Island, and
the southern line ran due west, including the whole of Massa
poag Pond, to some point now undetermined in the " country's
land." By the Act of Incorporation all the lands of the town, granted
or ungranted, became the property of the grantees, who, some
twelve years subsequently, purchased the title thereto of the
Wamesit and Naticook Indians for the sum of ;£20 sterling.
* Incorporated June 29, 1732.
t This stream flows through Dracut, and enters the Merrimack River in the city
of Lowell. Long Pond, partly in Dracut and partly in Pelham, N. H., was called
by the Indians Pitnmomitti(iuonnit ; it sends a tributary into Beaver Brook.

12 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. Y^^IA
In no town of this Commonwealth were the lands taken up
by more noted men, who, though they did not all become
actual settlers, still exercised a most favorable influence on
the new plantation. Among the grantees were the brave
Gov. John Endecott (1588-1665), who held the highest military
office in the colony ; William Brenton, a noted fur-trader, and
subsequently governor of Rhode Island ; Gov. Joseph Dudley,
(1647-1701), once a member of the British Parliament; Capt.
Thomas Brattle, a brave and benevolent citizen of Boston ; and
the Rev. Thomas Weld, first minister of Dunstable. Among
the petitioners were Peter Bulkley,* Speaker of the House of
Deputies ; Sampson Sheafe, a member ofthe Provincial Council
of New Hampshire ; and Jonathan Tyng, who was honored with
many important offices, and of great service to the infant
colony. The new town is said to have received its name in compli
ment to Mrs. Mary, wife of the Hon. Edward Tyng, who emi
grated from Dunstable, England, about 1630, and whose son
Jonathan became possessor of a large tract of land in what is
now the town of Tyngsborough. The old English town from
which, not only the Tyng family, but other early settlers came,
is pleasantly situated at the base of the Chiltern Hills in Bed
fordshire, eighteen miles south-southwest of Bedford and ten
miles east-northeast of the Boxmore Station of the London
and Northwestern Railway. It had, in 185 1, 3,589 inhabitants,
and with its green fields and neatly trimmed hedge-rows, its
ancient stone church and brick dwelling-houses, makes a very
picturesque appearance. Henry I founded here a priory of
black canons, which now forms a part of the ancient church.
At the Red Lion Inn, Charles I slept on his way to Naseby.
The name " Dunstable " is supposed to be derived from Dun,
a notorious robber who lived here in the reign of Henry I ;
but it comes more probably from "dun," a hilly place, and
" staple," a mart or emporium. This town is celebrated for
the manufacture of straw plat bonnets and hats, also for the

* " Mr. Bulkley was Speaker of the House of Deputies,— son, I suppose, of the
celebrated minister of Concord of the same name." — Hutchinson's History of
Massachusetts, I, p. 281.

1674] DUNSTABLE, ENGLAND. 1 3
number and size of the larks it sends to London market. A
certain kind of straw braid in Massachusetts long bore the
name of " Dunstable."
The ancient Norman kings had a palace in this town, and
here Edward I erected a cross to mark the spot where the
body of his deceased queen rested on its way to sepulture in
Westminster Abbey. The town is also noted as the place
where Archbishop Cranmer, in 1553, pronounced the sentence
of divorce between Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon.
As the parish register in early times was not well kept, it fur
nishes nothing in respect to the families which emigrated to
America, yet the present citizens of old English Dunstable
express a kindly interest in the welfare of its namesake in
New England.

14

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1665

CHAPTER II.
Description of the Oricinal Town. — John Cromwell the First Set
tler. — An Agreement between the Inhabitants. — Names of Early
Residents. — An Account of the Indians of this Region. — Their
Mode of Living. — Passaconaway. — John Eliot. — Wannalancet.
— His Conversio.m to Christianity and Friendship. — Philip's War.
— Exposed Situation of Dunstable. — Obadiah Perry. — Jonathan
Tvng's Bravery. — His Petition to the General Court. — Pray'-
ING Indians removed to Wicasuck Falls.
" Beneath the same sun that rolls over your heads, the Indian hunter
pursued the panting deer ; gazing on the same moon that smiles for you,
the Indian lover wooed his dusky mate." Charles Sprague.
" Each town was a sraall but perfect republic, as solitary and secluded
in the New England wilderness as the Swiss cantons among the Alps."
George W. Curtis.
"Ye sons, think deep ; be strong in heart and hand ;
Remember God, who with his silver key
Unlocked the western gates, and gave this land
To Fre«dom's sons, and all whom truth raakes free."
Frances M. Caulkins.
This whole region was then, with the exception of an occa
sional clearing in which the Indians had planted maize, beans,
and squashes, covered with a heavy growth of pine, oak, wal
nut, maple, birch, and other kinds of timber. It was well
watered by the noble Merrimack, the Nashua, the Souhegan,
and the Nissitisset Rivers, together with their numerous trib
utaries and several beautiful ponds, whose waters were fre
quented by the wild fowl and well stored with fish. The
beaver built its dam by felling trees across the minor streams ;
the otter, mink, and muskrat were often seen gliding over the
still waters ; bears, wolves, and catamounts ranged through
the tangled forests, and their peltries well repaid the huntsman

1 66 s] JOHN CROMWELL. 1 5
for his venturesome excursions. Here and there an Indian
trail appeared, for the most part leading to some waterfall
where the red men met in the fishing season, and where they
generally built their wigwams and performed their savage
rites. Here and there a trading-post, as that of Cromwell,
had been established, and the woodman's axe or gun occasion
ally resounded through the wilderness.
The name of the first white settler of this broad domain is
not certainly known ; there is a tradition, however, that one
John Cromwell from Boston came to what is now Tyngs
borough as early as 1665, for the purpose of trading with the
Indians. He used his foot, it is said, as a pound weight in
buying peltries of the natives ; but on being detected in this
iniquitous proceeding, came near to pay the penalty with his
life. A party of the Pennacook Indians whom he had thus
defrauded came down the river to wreak on him their ven
geance ; but on being advertised of their approach, he gath
ered up his ill-gotten treasure and saved himself by flight.
The cellar of his house, which the Indians burned, is still
visible, and not many years since a sum of money is said to
have been found in a rusty iron pot by some one who was
ploughing a field in the vicinity. The Rev. Nathaniel Pren
tice, in his account of Tyngsborough, October, i8i5,thus refers
to him : — *
" It is about one hundred and fifty years since he erected a hut in this
place on the banks of the Merrimack. . . . Within a few hours after
his flight [from the incensed natives] a party of the Pennacook tribe
arrived, and not finding the object of their resentment, burnt his hut.
Some time after pewter was found in the well, and an iron pot and tram
mel in the sand ; the latter are preserved. The present owner of the
place was ploughing near the spot and found his plough moving over a
flat stone which gave a hollow sound. On removing the earth and stone,
he discovered a hole stoned about six inches in diameter, from which he
took a sura of money."
It is probable, however, that some tracts of land were set
tled anterior to thfi period ; perhaps about the time, or a little
after, the grant of land at Naticook was made, in 1656, to
William Brenton.
* See Massachusetts Historical Collections, Second Series, Vol. IV, p. 192.

1 6 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1^74
The exclusive right of trading with the Indians on the
Merrimack River was sold to Simon Willard, Thomas Hench
man (of Chelmsford), Ensign Thomas Wheeler, and William
Brenton for ^25 on the first day of July, 1657, and we may
well suppose that actual settlements were made soon after
wards. Some of the farmers, or those cultivating the soil
there, signed the petition for incorporation in 1673 ; the pro
prietors met at the house of Lieut. Wheeler in 1674, which
was perhaps the second one erected on the plantation, and
apple orchards are spoken of in the year following, — all of
which would lead to the belief that some lands had been
actually occupied and improved by the English a considerable
period anterior to the charter.
Previous to the division of their lands the proprietors wisely
entered into a written agreement, by which every actual set
tler was to have a house-lot of ten acres, with an additional
acre for every ;^20 of personal estate he might possess, but
none were to have a house-lot of more than thirty acres ;
while the remainder of the common land was to be divided in
proportion to the value of the respective house-lots.*
" To the intent," proceeds the compact, " y' we may live in
love and peace together, we do agree, y' whatever fence we
do make, either about corn-fields, orchards, or gardens, shall
be a sufficient four rail fence, or y' which is equivalent, whether
hedge, ditch, or stone wall, or of loggs ; and if any person sus
tain damage through the deficiency of their own fences not
being according to order, he shall bear his own damage."
This excellent provision, doubtless, prevented many petty feuds
and vexations which otherwise would have arisen, and shows
the amicable disposition as well as the good sense of the
fathers of the town.
The settlements were begun along the pleasant margin of
Salmon Brook, which afforded fish in abundance and consider
able motive-power, and were extended southwards down that
stream and along the right bank of the Merrimack River. A

*A thirty-acre house-lot entitled the holder to six hundred acres of the
common land.

1674] INDIAN TRIBES. 1 7
garrison house was soon erected ; and invited by the rich allu
vial soil, the heavy timber growth, and the liberal policy of the
proprietors, the tide of emigration set in rapidly to the new and
hopeful town. It numbered soon araongst its actual inhabi
tants John Acres, John, William, and Samuel Beale, John
Blanchard, Andrew Cook, Isaac, John, and Thomas Cum
mings, Henry Farwell, Samuel French, John and Samuel
Gould, Joseph Hassell, John, John, Jr., and Joseph Lovewell,
Thomas Lund, Robert Parris, Obadiah Perry, Robert Proctor,
Christopher Read, John Sollendine, Christopher Temple,
Edward Tyng, Jonathan Tyng, Robert Usher, Daniel and John
Waldo, Samuel Warner, Thomas Weld, Joseph Wheeler, and
Samuel Whiting, son of the Rev. Samuel Whiting of Billerica.
The Indians, who were always less numerous in New Eng
land than is commonly supposed, had been greatly reduced by
a plague which occurred several years anterior to the arrival
of the Pilgrims, and therefore found it expedient to manifest
in general a pacific bearing towards the early English settlers.
Those in Massachusetts, together with those on the Merri
mack River, were divided into four principal tribes, of which
the Pawtuckets, embracing several minor tribes, called the
Nashaways, Nashobas, Pennacooks, Naticooks, and Wamesits,
are thought to have numbered, in 1674, about one thousand
people. On account of their nomadic kind of life, their terri
torial boundaries were very indefinite ; but the headquarters
of the Nashaways were the rich intervals of Lancaster ; of the
Nashobas, the forests of Littleton ; of the Pennacooks, the
alluvial lands of Concord, N. H. ; and of the Naticooks, the fer
tile tracts near the mouth of the Souhegan River ; while the
Wamesits* dwelt near the Falls in the Concord River, and the
Pawtuckets near the Falls which perpetuate their name in
the Merrimack River.
These Indians dwelt in huts called wigwams, dressed in the
skins of animals, and subsisted on fish and game, which the
streams and forests abundantly supplied, and on Indian corn,
* Wamesit signifies " a place of a large assembly." Pawtucket means " falling
waters." 2

1 8 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1644
beans, and squashes, which the woraen rudely cultivated, using
a large clam-shell for a hoe. They parched their corn, and
pounded it in mortars made of stone.*
Their skin was copper-colored ; their hair long, straight, and
black. They wore moccasons, made of untanned deer or bear
skin, on their feet. For money they made use of shells, called
wampum, strung upon a belt ; and for weapons of war, the
tomahawk, made of stone, the bow and arrow, and the scalp-
ing-knife. Their language was rough and guttural, though many words,
as " Nashua," " Nashoba," " Miantonimo," and " Passaconna-
way" (meaning child of the bear), are as euphonious as the
ear of a Tuscan could desire. They had some faint notions
of a Supreme Power, and held a compact, justly made, to be
inviolable. With such rude beings the early white settlers had to deal,
and keep the peace, as far as possible. Of such barbarians
they bought the land, and to them they presented the illumi
nation of the gospel. Of the subordinate tribes above men
tioned, the Pennacooks were considered the raost warlike ; and
the great chief Passaconnaway, to whom all the rest were
subject, dwelt in part amongst them and in part with the
Pawtuckets, who occupied, as it were, the central part of his
dorainions. He is mentioned by Gov. John Winthrop as early as 1632,
and the English, ten years later, fearing a conspiracy, sent a
force of forty men to take him captive ; but failing in the
attempt, they inhumanly fired upon his son and made him
prisoner. In 1644 the father and son submitted themselves,
together with their people and possessions, to the government
of Massachusetts.!
After ample preparation, the Rev. John Eliot, a most de
voted missionary of the cross, commenced his labors amongst
* There is a very curious Indian mortar cut into a huge bowlder in a forest near
" .\ngle Meadow," on the farm of the late John Swallow. It is about seven inches
deep and the same in diameter. Long usage has rendered the surface very
smooth. It is usually filled with water.
t Drake's Book of tlte Indians, Bk. Ill, p. 95.

1 662] PASS A CONNA WAY. I n
the Indians at Nonantum, now Newton, in the autumn of
1646, and soon afterwards extended his visits to Concord and
to Wamesit. On his second visit to the latter place, which
occurred in the spring of 1648, he met a large concourse of
the natives, who had come from all quarters to fish at the Falls
in the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, and he improved the
opportunity to impart to them the elements of the Christian
religion, preaching his first sermon to them from Malachi i,
ir, which he thus paraphrased: "From the rising of the
sun to the going down of the same. Thy name shall be great
among the Indians ; and in every place, prayers shall be made
to thy name, — pure prayers; for thy name shall be great among
the Indians." Passaconnaway, who would not listen to Mr.
Eliot on his first visit, now came forward, proposed many
questions, and expressed his determination to pray to God,
and to persuade his sons, two of whom were present, to do
the same.
This celebrated chief, who was a powwow or socerer, and
who was believed by the natives to be able to " make water
burn, rocks move, and trees dance,"* desired Mr. Eliot, on his
visit to Pawtucket the ensuing year, to corae and reside per
manently with his people and be their teacher. Although the
missionary could not accede to this request, he continued his
annual visits to the Pawtuckets, and here established what was
called his fifth " praying town " of the Indians. It is not cer
tain that he preached at any place within the original limits of
Dunstable ; but the Indians of this region, who were all under
the same sagamore, assembled at Pawtucket or Wamesit to
be instructed by Mr. Eliot, or in his absence by their teacher,
Numphow, as to the principles of the gospel. Passaconna
way lived to an advanced age, and continued to the last a faith
ful friend ofthe English. In 1662 the General Court granted
to him and his men a tract of land above Mr. Brenton's farm,
a mile and a half in breadth and three miles in length on
either side of the Merrimack River. Some time previous to
his death, which occurred anterior to Philip's War, he said to
his children and friends : —
* Hutchinson's History of Massaciiuselts, VI, p. 420.

20 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1665
" I am now going the way of all flesh, or am ready to die, and I am not
likely to see you meet together any more. I will how have this word
of counsel with you, that you may take heed how you quarrel with the
English ; for though you may do them much mischief, yet assuredly you
will all be destroyed and rooted off the earth, if you do ; for I was as
much an enemy to the English, at their first coming into these parts, as
any one whatsoever, and did try all ways and raeans possible to have them
destroyed, at least to have prevented them settling down here, but I
could no way effect it ; therefore, I advise you never to contend with the
English, nor raake war with thera."*
To the pacific counsel and forbearance of this noble chief
and his son and successor Wannalancet, the security which
the early white settlers of this region for a long period
enjoyed is, to a large extent, attributable. In his beautiful
poem of "The Bride of Pennacook," Mr. Whittier thus alludes
to the black arts practised by Passaconnaway : —
" For that chief had magic skill.
And a Panisee's dark will
Over powers of good and ill, —
Powers which bless and powers which ban.
Wizzard lord of Pennacook !
Chiefs upon their war-paths shook,
When they met the steady look
Of that wise, dark man."
In the year 1653 Mr. Eliot obtained a grant of land of the
General Court for his "praying Indians" at Pawtucket Falls.
The bounds were subsequently enlarged so as to embrace about
2,500 acres, lying on both sides and at the mouth of the Con
cord River. A ditch to mark the limits of this reservation
was dug in 1665, and the place was called Wamesit. Traces
of this ditch are still visible. From this period the Pawtucket
and Wamesit Indians were blended together under the latter
name. Although for the most part peaceable and friendly to
the whites, these Indians were not much inchned to Chris
tianity, and Mr. Eliot was never able to establish a church
amongst them. He had the pleasure, however, of seeing them
adopt, to some extent, the English customs, and also to reckon

* Drake's Book ofthe Indians, III, 94.

1674] WANNALANCET. 21
among his converts, not only the great chief and powwow *
Passaconnaway, but also his son Wannalancet, who succeeded
to the rule of the tribe on the death of his father, about 1662,
and who, according to Gen. Daniel Gookin, " was always
loving and friendly to the English."
He was imprisoned for a debt of .;^45 in 1659, but set
at liberty by the sale of the small island Wicasuck,f of
about sixty acres, in the Merrimack River, three miles above
Pawtucket Falls. Fearing an attack from the Mohawks in
1669, he came down the Merrimack River with a party of the
Pennacooks, and erected a fortification on what is now called
Fort Hill in Lowell, where he for sorae time resided. The
settlers of Dunstable were alarmed by the reports concerning
the Mohawks, and withdrew for refuge into their garrison
house.l where they doubtless spent many a long and sleep
less night in anticipation of the wily foe.
During his visit to Wamesit, May, 1674, Mr. Eliot preached
on the Parable of the Virgin (Matt, xxii, 1-14), in the house of
Wannalancet, and on the day following the sachem made this
declaration : —
"Sirs, you have been pleased for years past, in your abundant love, to
apply yourselves particularly unto me and my people to exhort, press, and
persuade us to pray to God. I am very thankful to you for your pains.
I raust acknowledge I have all my days been used to pass in an old
canoe, and now you exhort me to change and leave my old canoe and
embark in a new one, to which I have hitherto been unwilling ; but now I
yield up myself to your advice and enter into a new canoe, and do engage
to pray to God hereafter." §
* These powwows answered to the description which the author of the Anat
omy of Melancholy gives to Pythagoras, being " part philosopher, part magician,
and part witch." See Memories of the Indians and Pioneers of the Region of
Lowell, by Charles Cowley, p. 5.
tThe General Court granted, Oct. 11, 1665, "to Nobstow, Wannalancet,
Nonatomenut, Indians, the island called Wicosucke." It was previously owned
by " Mr. John Euered, a^'aj Webb." — Records ofthe Governor and Company of ¦
Massachusetts Bay, Vol. IV, Pt. 2, p. 285.
X These garrisons " were environed by a strong wall of stones or of hewn
timber, built up to the eaves of the houses, through which was a gate, fastened
by bars and bolts of iron. They were lined either with brick or thick plank.
Some of them had port-holes for the discharge of musketry.'' — Allen's History
of Chelmsford, p. 148.
§ Allen's Chelmsford, p. 156.

22 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [^^7$
At this time Wamesit contained about two hundred and
fifty men, beside women and children.*
Hardly had the little band of farmers laid the foundation
of the town and raised their first rude buildings for the
protection of their families, when they were startled by the
intelligence that the savages were in arms against the col
ony. In the spring of 1675, Philip of Pokanoket, in confederation
with most of the other sachems of New England, commenced
hostilities, with the determination of sweeping the hated pale
faces from the country. The advance of the savage foe was
marked by fire and bloodshed, and town after town was laid in
ruins. In point of numbers, position, power of endurance, and
acquaintance with the territory, the Indians had the advan
tage ; and when, in addition to all this, we consider that they
had learned the use of fire-arms, that they fought in ambush,
and that their hatred against the English was inveterate, it is
almost a marvel that any town escaped destruction.
Dunstable, an outlying frontier in the wilderness, was pe
culiarly exposed. The Wamesit Indians, not altogether trust
worthy, were on the east, the hostile Pennacooks on the north,
and the nearest towns from which any assistance could be had
were Chelmsford and Groton, on the south. Seven Indians
at work for Mr. Jonathan Tyng, near Wicasuck Island, fled on
hearing of the outbreak ; and Wannalancet, ever the friend of
the white man, retired from Wamesit, and sought for safety in
the wilderness.
In a petition to the governor and his council by Simon Wil
lard, Solomon Adams, James Parker, and James Kidder, dated
Groton, Sept. 25, 1675, it is stated that "our p'sent thoughts
are, that it might be for p''sent saftie for the country, that a
Garison wear settled ouer Merrimake Riuer about donstable,
that ther raaye be enttercorse betweene our towns & that
Garison," and in the sarne month Capt. Thomas Brattle and
Lieut. Thomas Henchman were directed " to draft fifty men to
form garrisons at Dunstable, Groton, and Lancaster" ; also to
* Allen's Chelmsford, p. 141.

1675] JONATHAN TYNG. 23
"send a runner or two" to Wannalancet to persuade him to
return to Wamesit.
Although these instructions were obeyed, the feeling of
insecurity became so great that the inhabitants, abandoning
their little fort, the meeting-house they were then erecting,
and their dwelling-houses, which had now begun to assume a
certain air of comfort, sought protection in the towns of
Chelmsford, Concord, Billerica, and Boston. Joseph Parker,
constable of Dunstable from 1675 to 1682, was wounded in
the assault on Chelmsford, March 20, 1676 ; and the following
entry on the records of Billerica shows that one of the inhabi
tants of Dunstable, at least, found a refuge in this town : " 10,
12 mo. 1675. Obedia perry belonging to Dunstable towne
(now resident at Concord, but being inforced to remove from
thence, and not accounting it safe at ye present to remove to
his owne at Dunstable) desiring at present to hire a house at
Billerica, the selectmen, considering his condition, do grant
him liberty to hire in this towne." * He was subsequently
killed by the Indians at Dunstable. f
One heroic man, however, braving the danger, stood firmly
at his post through the whole war, and is therefore justly
entitled to the honor of being the first permanent settler of
the town of Dunstable. It was the Hon. Jonathan Tyng, son
of the Hon. Edward and Mary Tyng, who was born Dec. 15,
1642 ; married Sarah, daughter of Hezekiah Usher, early re
moved from Boston to Dunstable, where he held many public
offices; and died Jan. 9, 1724. His father, Edward Tyng,
came to Dunstable in 1679, '^^^ died here Dec. 28, 168 1, at
the age of eighty-one years. The house of Jonathan Tyng
stood on the right bank of the Merrimack River, nearly oppo
site Wicasuck Island, and about one mile below the central
village of Tyngsborough. It was long known as " the haunted
house." Nothing but the cellar-hole now reraains. Fortify
ing his abode as best he could, and sending to Boston for his
food, this brave man stood alone as an outpost between the

* Town Records of Billerica, Vol. I, p. 126.
t Dunstable Town Records.

24

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1676

enemy and the settleraents below. Finding the Indians
approaching him, he petitioned * the General Court for assist
ance Feb. 3, 1675-6, and several soldiers were immediately
sent to aid in his defence ; but it does not appear that any
assault was made upon his garrison.
This point near Wicasuck Island was then Dunstable, and
Jonathan Tyng individually and collectively the sole repre
sentative Let his name be perpetually held in memory ! The
soldiers sent to guard his house were detached from the heroic
Capt. Samuel Moseley's company. On the 9th of August, 1676,
Mr. Jonathan Tyng again petitioned the General Court for pay
for the cost of his garrison, stating that he "hath been of great
charge and cost to maintaine his garrison, being the only re
maining house of that plantation," and that he was forced to
buy meat in Boston. He also presents an account for billet
ing "18 of Capt. Moseley's men from Aug. 13 to Sept. 10,
;£'i6 i6s. ; for 9 men from Sept. 11 to Jan. 17, ;^47 i8i'. ; for
6 men from Jan. 18 to May 25, ;^25 33-. ; and for 3 men from
May 26 to July 14, £8 8s. Also for 20 lbs. of powder at
sundry times at i8(f per lb. & 250 bullets, ^s., delivered for
scouting." Also, " for 2 horses to Pennycook out 3 days, is.
6d." t
After destroying as many as thirteen towns and six hun
dred colonists, the crafty Philip was shot at Mount Hope,
* "The Petition of Jonathan Tyng Humbly Sheweth : That yr Petitioner living
in the uppermost house on Merrimac River, lying open to ye enemy, yet being so
seated that it is as it were a watch house to the neighbouring towns, from whence
we can easily give them notice of the approach of the enemy, and may also be of
use to the publique in many respects ; also are near unto the place of the Indians
fiishing, from which in the season thereof they have great supplies, which I doubt
not but we maybe a great means of preventing them thereof, there being never an
inhabitant left in the town but myself: —
" Wherefore your Petitioner doth humbly request that your Honors would be
pleased to order him three or four men to help garrison his said house, which he
has been at great charge to ffortify, and may be of service to the publique : your
favour herein shall further obhge me as in duty bound to pray for a blessing on
your Councils, and remain " Your Honrables humble servant, "Jonathan Tyng.
'' DuNSTABi.H, Feb. 3, 1675-6."
t Massachusetts Archives.

1676] WICASUCK ISLAND. 2$
R. I., Aug. 12, 1676, and the war soon brought to a close. A
party of the " praying Indians " at Wamesit, numbering in all
about sixty, were now removed to Wicasuck Island, or vicinity,
and placed under the direction of Jonathan Tyng, who had
Robert Parris as an assistant in the care of them. Here, it is
probable, the good John Eliot occasionally came to instruct his
converts in respect to the principles of Christianity. These
praying Indians remained at Wicasuck Falls about ten years ;
and on their departure to St. Francis, in Canada, in 1686,
Wicasuck Island* was granted to Mr. Tyng in compensation
for his care of them. He was, also, together with Thomas
Wheeler and son, the latter of whom had been wounded, remu
nerated for losses during the war.
*Dec. 5, i6Sj. the Court granted to Mr. Jonathan Tyng "the island in Merri-
niacke River called Weikeset." (Massachusetts Archives.)

26 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1677

CHAPTER III.
Town Officers. — The First Meeting-House. — Rev. Thomas Weld.—
Resident Landholders. — The Tyng Estate. — The Organization
OF the Church. — Names of the Original Members. — The Great
Bridge at Billerica. — The "Bay Psalm Book." — Alarm from the
Indians. — The Garrisons. — Several Inhabitants killed by the
Savages. — Petition to the General Court for Soldiers. — Letter
from Gov. Stoughton. — Joe English. — The First Grist-Mii l. —
Names of the Settlers, 1689. — Death of Mr. Weld. — Another
Garrison established. — Capt. John Tyng's Exploit. — Robirt
Parris killed by the Indians. — Samuel Butterfield and Samuel
Whiting taken Captives. — Attack of the Mohawks. — Record of
Those killed. — Joe English slain. — An Account of the Garri
sons IN 17 1 1. — Condition of the People. — Rev. Samuel Hunt. —
Rev. Samuel Parris. — Other Ministers. — Settlement of thf Rev.
Nathaniel Prentice. — Boundary between Dunstable and Dracut.
" These little municipalities were the nurseries of those principles of
freedom, and trained our ancestors to that capacity of administration which
has made us a great nation of freemen, extending from the rising to the
setting sun." Rufus P. Stebbjxs.
" Their pious toils, their just rewards,
Returning tribute claim ;
While faithful History records
Each venerable name." Samuel D.avis.
At the conclusion of the war one family after another
returned to their deserted homes and resumed their labors in
the wilderness. Town officers were doubtless chosen imme
diately after the Act of Incorporation, but their names are not
preserved. The earliest town meeting on record was held at
Woburn, Nov, 28, 1677, when Capt. Thomas Brattle, of Boston,
and one of the largest proprietors, Capt. Elisha Hutchinson,
of Woburn, Capt, James Parker, of Groton, Abraham Parker,
of the same place, and Mr. Jonathan Tyng were chosen select-

1 682] SELECTMEN CHOSEN. 27
men. They were invested with much more power than such
officers possess at the present day, and it was left with them
to select a minister, at a salary of ;£50 per annum, to be paid
in money, or if otherwise, one third more was to be added
thereto. John Sollendine, a carpenter, was engaged to com
plete the unfinished meeting-house, which was probably but
little more than a log-shanty, and which is supposed to have
stood on the river road, then not much better than an Indian
trail, a little distance from the present northern line of Tyngs
borough, and somewhere between " the Salmon Brook and
the house of Lieut. Joseph Wheeler." It was finished in 1678,
but there is no account of any dedication. The Rev. Thomas
Weld, a grandson of the Rev. Thomas Weld, of Roxbury, one
of the authors of the celebrated Bay Psalm Book, published
in 1640, was the first minister. He graduated at Harvard
College in 1671, and commenced preaching in Dunstable as
early as May, 1679. ^^ married, Nov. 9, 1681, Elizabeth,
daughter of the Rev. John Wilson, of Medfield, and built a
house on the ministerial lot.* This consisted of thirty acres,
and entitled the occupant to the use of six hundred acres of
the common or undivided territory. For his encouragement
in the ministry the town granted him, in 1682, a twenty-acre
lot, but at that period the land was of but little value.
Capt. Thomas Brattle, Capt. Jaraes Parker, Sergt. John
Cummings, and Robert Parris were this year chosen select, or
town's men, and an order was passed that the lots of those
neglecting or refusing to pay their taxes "be sould at an out
cry [auction] on the next public meeting day after such neglect
or refus." It seems, also, that a pound had been erected,
since John Ackers was then " appointed and Imployed to
pound, youke and Ringe such hogs " as might not be kept
according to law.
Although the town had at this time laid out as many as
eighty " thirty-acre house-lots," and had as many as thirty fami
lies, the following land-owners only were then residents of the

* A small tributary of Howard's Brook is called Weld's Brook, probably from
the circumstance of its running through his land.

28 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1687
place, viz., John Acres, John Blanchard, John Cummings,
Sr., Thomas Cummings, Joseph Hassell, Thomas Lund, Joseph
Parker, Sr., Abraham Parker, John Sollendine, Jonathan
Tyng, Widow Mary Tyng, and Joseph Wright. Of these, the
largest landholder was the gallant Jonathan Tyng, who, in
consideration of ;^23 due him by the town, received three
thirty-acre rights, equivalent in all to about 1,800 acres. This
land, with large accessions, has continued in the Tyng and
Brinley families to the present day, and extends from the Mer
rimack River, about six miles westward by one mile wide, to
the Massapoag Pond, forming a large part of the town of
Tyngsborough. It is, perhaps, the only instance in Massa
chusetts where such an extensive territorial domain has
remained so long undivided and under the control of the
descendants of the original proprietor.
The first birth mentioned on the town records, and this
under the caption, " Lambs born in Dunstable," is that of
William, son of Jonathan and Sarah (Usher) Tyng, born April
22, 1679 ; ^'^'^ the first marriage is that of John Sollendine,
Aug. 2, ofthe year ensuing.
In 1684 a new meeting-house was built after the dimen
sions of that in Groton, and on the i6th of December, 1685, a
church was organized, consisting of the following male mem
bers : viz., John Blanchard, John Cummings, Sr., Samuel
French,* Obadiah Perry, Jonathan Tyng, and Cornelius Waldo.
The first and last man named were chosen deacons, and on
the same day the Rev. Thomas Weld was ordained pastor.
Previous to the formation of the church, a road was laid out
from the meeting-house to Groton Centre, probably on the
old Indian trail, as far as Massapoag Pond, at least ; and in
1687 the town was assessed £1 12s. 3^. to aid' in building
* Samuel French was a son of Lieut. William French, who came in the " De
fence" from London, 1635, and settled in Cambridge, then in Billerica. He was
born in Cambridge, Dec. 3, 1645, removed to Dunstable, where he married Sarah,
daughter of John Cummings, Sr., Dec. 24, 1682. One of his sons, John, born in
May, 1691, was the father of Ebenezer French, of Revolutionary memory ; another
son, Ebenezer, born April 7, 1693, was killed by the Indians, at Naticook, Sept.
5, 1724. Still another, Jonathan, born Feb. 1, 1704, was a deacon, and died Nov-
I7> 1757-

1689] ^^ ASSAULT AVERTED. 29

%

what was long called " the Great Bridge " over the Concord
River near " the Fordway " in Billerica, this being then on the
main route of travel to Boston. At a town meeting held on the
2rst of May of the year ensuing, Samuel Gould was chosen
"dog-whipper for the meeting-house," — an office then almost
indispensable, since the country was infested with wild ani
mals as well as Indians, and for defence the settler used to
take his dog and gun with him to church. The Bay Psalm
Book was at this time the manual of song. The words of
the psalm as, " O all yee servants of the Lord
Behold the Lord bless yee ;
Yee who within Jehovahs house
I' the night time standing bee,"
were "lined out" by one of the deacons, and sung to some
such tune as " Hackney " or " York Tune" by the congrega
tion standing.
The great English Revolution came on in 1688, the house of
Stuart fell, and in consequence a contest between France and
England followed, known in history as " King William's War."
Instigated by the French Jesuits, the Indians again set out
upon the war-path, and committed many ravages upon the towns
along the frontier. On the 7th of July, 1689, they commenced
their bloody work by assaulting Dover, killing Major Richard
Waldron, together with twenty of his men, and carrying about
thirty of the inhabitants into captivity.
An attack on Dunstable was at the same time intended,
but it was fortunately averted by information seasonably given
by two friendly Indians to Major Thomas Henchman, then
commander of the little garrison at Pawtucket Falls, and two
companies of twenty, subsequently reinforced by fifty men,
were promptly sent to scour the country from Lancaster to
Dunstable and defend the people.* Major Henchman also
ordered forty men from the towns exposed to danger to scout
the wilderness for the enemy for a brief period, and asked the
government for twenty more to guard the houses of Messrs.
* See the order for this, Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CVII, p. 169.

30 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [169!
Varnum, Howard, and Coburn, which were prominently ex
posed to an assault. The garrisons at this time were at or
near the dwelling-houses of Jonathan Tyng, Edward Colburn,
Nathaniel Howard, on Holden's Brook ; Sergt Varnum, on the
left bank of the Merriraack River ; and one was in the vicinity
of the church. The danger to which the few settlers in this
frontier plantation were then exposed, and the sufferings they
experienced, may be inferred from the following petition in
Vol. CVII, page 230, of the Massachusetts Archives : —
Dunstable, ye July 23, 1689.
To the Honorable, Gouernor and Councill & Company of Represent
atives now assembled at Boston, the Petition of the Inhabitants of
Dunstable humbly sheweth that wee are much obliged to your Honors for
your last Supply of Men notwithstanding finding ourselves still weak and
unable both to keep our Garrisons, and to send men out to get hay for
our Cattle, without doeing which wee cannot subsist ; we doe therefore,
humbly Intreat your Honours to send and supply us with twenty footmen
for the Space of a raonth to scout about the towne while we get our hay ;
and the towne being very bare of provision by reason of billeting soul
diers all the last winter, we doe therefore, intreat your Honours to send a
supply of meat, for bread we can supply, and without this help we cannot
subsist, but raust be forced to draw of and leave the towne. Hoping
your Honours will Consider us in this request, wee Remaine your ser
vants ever to pray for you. Subscribed by the select Men in the name of
the towne. John BLANCH-Ji-RD,
John Lovfavell,
Robt. Parris,
Christopher Read,
Samuel Whiting.
Although four Indian spies were seen lurking around one of
the garrisons at Dunstable about the time of the massacre
at Dover, such was the promptitude of Major Henchman,
Jonathan Tyng, Sergt. Varnum, and others, that no attack was
then made on the town ; yet the enemy was bent on its
destruction, and on the evening of the 2d of September, 1691,
suddenly appeared and murdered five of the inhabitants. The
atrocious deed is thus recorded : —
"Anno Domini 1691. Joseph Hassell senior, Anna Hassell, his wife,
Benj. Hassell, their son, were slain by our Indian enemies on Sept 2nd
in the evening. Mary Marks, the daughter of Peter ISIarks, was slain
by the Indians also on Sept. 2nd day in the evening."

1697] ^'^^^ HANNAH DUSTON. 31
On the morning of the 28th of the same month, the foe again
appeared in Dunstable, and murdered two more of the people,
one of whora, Obadiah Perry, as we have said, had been
allowed to hire a house in Billerica during King Philip's War.
The brief record of the tragedy is : —
" Obadiah Perry and Christopher Temple dyed by the hand of our
Indian enemies on Septeraber, the twenty-eighth day, in the morning."
It does not appear that Dunstable was disturbed by the
Indians in the summer 1694, when they made their great
assault on Groton. The following letter from Gov. Wilham
Stoughton to Capt. James Converse, of Woburn, dated Boston,
Sept. 5, 1695, evinces the danger to which Dunstable and other
frontier settlements were exposed, and the desire of the gov
ernment to protect them : —
" I order That at your next passing over Merrimack with your Company
towards Dunstable etc That you advise with Majr Henchman and Mr.
Jon^i Ting concerning the posting of yor men in the several Frontiers of
Dunstable, Bilrica Chelmsford Groton, Lancaster and Marlboro for the
better inforcerat of the Garrisons there & raaintaining a good brisk Scout
for the discovery of the Enemy to prevent their annoying of those Towns
during the Harvest Season." *
Brave and hardy as the original settlers were, such was their
exposed situation, and such the havoc of the Indians in other
towns, that by the year 1696 nearly two thirds of them had
abandoned the place, and on this account the State made an
abatement of ;^50 to the town for the taxes of such as had
deserted it. For the same reason ;^30 were granted by the
State to help the town support the rainister. The State also
voted, Oct. 28, 1697, ;^20 " towards y" mentainance of the min
istry at y° Garrisons & Towne." f The garrisons were now
under the care of the brave Jonathan Tyng, and he was allowed
^20 for keeping the friendly sachem Wannalancet, who had
again returned to his favorite abode at Wicasuck Island.
In April, 1697, the celebrated heroine, Mrs. Hannah Duston,
on her way to Boston from Contocook, N. H., where she had,
with Mary Neff arid a boy, taken the scalps of ten Indians,
*Dr. Samuel A. Green's Historical Address at Groton, July 4, 1876, p. 78.
t Massachusetts Archives, Vol. XI, p. 126.

32

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. \x6()8

passed through the town in a canoe, and was kindly enter
tained by Col. Jonathan Tyng.
Another friendly Indian, Joe English, returned from cap
tivity to his home in Dunstable in 1698, and was allowed £6
by the General Court for services " in giving intelligence of
the motions of the enemy."
The first grist-mill in town was owned by Samuel Adams,
and was established at " The Gulf" at Massapoag Pond prior
to July, 1689, as may be seen from the following petition for
men to defend it from the Indians : —
"July y=3i, 1689. The humble petission of the Towne of Dunstable,
To the honerable gouernor & Councill & Company of the Representatives
now assembled ; in behalf of Samuell Addaras owner of a Corn mill with
out the use of which raill the Towne Cannot subsist And therefore we
doe intreat your honers to allow such a number of raen as may be able to
secure it. And so we remain your humble devotes ever to pray. By the
selectraen in the name of the towne, John blanchard, John LoveweU, Chris
topher Reed, Saniuel Whiting, Robert Parris." *
The town raised this year a small sum of money to join
with other towns in rebuilding " the great bridge " over Con
cord River in Billerica ; and in the year ensuing, the minister's
rate was .;^I7 2j. 2d., in addition to which he was to be sup
plied with nineteen cords of wood. The names of those who
contributed to " the wood rate," or of all the heads of families
then in town, are, Joseph Blanchard, Nathaniel Blanchard,
Thomas Blanchard, Abraham Cummings, John Cummings,
Nathaniel Cummings, Thomas Cummings, Samuel French,
Daniel Galusha, William Harwood, Joseph Hassell, John
Lovewell,! Thomas Lund, Robert Parris, Mr. Samuel Searles,
* See Massachusetts State Archives, Vol. CVII, p. 242 ; see also Butler's
History of Groton, p. 246.
t Father of Capt. John Lovewell, the famous Indian fighter, and also of Col.
Zaccheus Lovewell, who served in the old French War. He is said, but not on
good authority, to have been an ensign in Cromwell's army about 1653, and to
have died about 1754, at the remarkable age of one hundred and twenty years.
He is known to have served in King Philip's War, but I tind no proof of his having
lived one hundred and twenty years. He was a good man, and was intrusted
with many town offices. When or where he was born, or where buried, I have
not been able to ascertain. — See Kidder's Expeditions of Capt. John Lovewell,
p. 89.

1702] ^ GARRISON ESTABLISHED. ,,
John Sollendine, Major Jonathan Tyng, Robert Usher, Mr.
Thomas Weld, and Mr. Sarauel Whiting.*
In point of population Dunstable was at this time the
smallest town in the province, and but for the indomitable
perseverance and courage of Major Jonathan Tyng, Lieut.
Samuel French, John Lovewell, Samuel Whiting, and the
Rev. Mr. Weld, must have been again abandoned.
In 1702 the town was called to deplore the loss of its hon
ored pastor, the Rev. Thomas Weld, who died on the ninth
day of June, and was buried in the old cemetery near his
church. His first wife, Ehzabeth, is buried beside him, and a
rude, flat stone, placed above her grave, bears this inscription :
" Here Lyeth the body of Mrs. Elizabeth Weld, the wife of
Mr. Thomas Weld, aged about 31 years, who died on July the
29th, in the year 1687." A similar stone, without any inscrip
tion, lies over the remains of the Rev. Mr. Weld. There is
no proof that he was killed, as Mr. John Farmer in his
Gazetteer has asserted, by the Indians. Mr. Weld was noted
for his piety, and highly respected by his people. He married,
for his second wife, Widow Hannah Savage, daughter of the
Hon. Edward Tyng. His son, Habijah Savage Weld, born in
September, 1702, H. C. 1723, was ordained in Attleborough
in 1727, and died in that town in 1782, at the age of eighty
years. His mother, Hannah Savage Weld, died at his house
in 1731.
King William's War, closed by the treaty of Ryswick in
1698, was followed by a brief interval of peace ; but desirous
of sustaining the cause of Charles Stuart, the Pretender, Louis
XIV again became embroiled with England, and what was
called " Queen Anne's War" commenced in 1702, and con
tinued ten years, involving the colonists in many sanguinary
conflicts with the Indians, who, as usual, took part with the
French. Another garrison was established for the defence
of Dunstable, and manned Dec. 25, 1702, by the following
soldiers, viz. : " William Tyng, Lieutenant, John Bowers, Ser-
* His father, the Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Billerica, had received from his
father, the Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Lynn, an extensive tract of land in Dunsta
ble, and this was probably the reason of his coming to live in the town.
3

. . HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [17^4
geant, Joseph Butterfield, Drummer, John Spalding, John
Cumraings, Joseph Hassell, Ebenezer Spalding, Daniel Galu
sha, Paul Fletcher, Samuel French, Thomas Lund, Jonathan
Tyng, Lieut.-Colonel."
During the month of August, 1703, the French and Indians
assaulted various settlements along the northeastern frontier,
and either killed or led into captivity more than two hundred
people. In consequence of these aggressions the government
offered a reward of £40 for every Indian scalp brought in.
Capt. John Tyng, with a small band of followers, proceeded to
Pequawket, through the deep snows of winter in 1703-4, and
succeeded in obtaining five scalps, for which he received ^200.
He was the oldest son of the brave Col. Jonathan Tyng, and
had grown up in immediate contact with the Indians, and in
August, 1 710, was waylaid and killed by them.
In the early part of this war Mr. Robert Parris, his wife and
oldest daughter, were massacred by the enemy. His two
other daughters escaped by creeping into a hogshead in the
cellar and remaining quietly concealed until the savages had
left the house. One of them afterwards married Mr. Goffe,
father of the celebrated Col. John Goffe.*
On the 3d of November, 1704, the sum of ;£24 was ordered
by the General Court to Jonathan Tyng, Esq., for building
four block houses on the Merrimack River, " one in Billerica,
two in Chelmsford, and one in Dunstable." f
In a petition of William Tyng to the General Court, Nov.
18, 1704, he says : —
" That just before the Mischief was done at Lancaster vor Petitioner
was in Boston & by his Excellency was ordered down forthwith to his
Post, to go by Dunstable & thence to Lancaster which yc Petitioner
accordingly did, and rode thither upon his own Horse which he turned
into a pasture there, & the next morning the Horse was by the Indians
taken out of the said pasture & driven into the woods where they killed &
ate the s^ Horse. And farther yor Petitioner showeth that one John
Spalding who was a soldier under his comraand was killed in that action,
& his gun taken by the Indians, & he being a very good soldier (tho' a
youth) & the gun being his ffatbers who is very poor — yo"" Petitioner
therefore hurably prays this great & General Assembly to take the prem-
* Farmer and Moore's Historical Collections, p. 306.
t Massachusetts Archives, Vol. LXXI, p. S3.

1706] ^ SURPRISE. 35
*
ises into consideration & that he may have such satisfaction & recompents
made him for the loss of his Horse and the ffather of the young raan for
the loss of his Gun as this great & Generous Assembly shall Deem meet,
— and yc Petitioner shall ever pray.
"Wm. Tyng."
He petitioned the Court again, June 26, 1705, for pay for
expenses of his march to Norridgewock the preceding winter,
where he lost several men, among whom was Eleazer Parker,
who left a widow and several children.*
Among those taken captive in this war were Richard Has
sell, son of Joseph Hassell, Samuel Butterfield,! who was
cruelly treated, and who killed one of the Indians after being
captured, and Samuel Whiting, son of the Rev Samuel Whit
ing, of Billerica. He made his escape from Canada, whither
he had been carried, and in consequence of wounds and suffer
ings, received in June, 1713, agrant of ;£iofrom the Assembly.
On the night of the 3d of July, 1706, a party of two hundred
and seventy Mohawk Indians suddenly assaulted a garrison
house,} in which Capt. Pearson, of Rowley, and twenty of his
" troopers," who had 'been ranging the woods, were posted.
The company was taken by surprise, for the door had been
left open and no watch appointed. Mr. Cummings and his
wife, it is said, had gone out at the close of the day for milk
ing, when the Indians shot Mrs. Cummings dead, wounded
* See Massachusetts Archives.
t John Shepley, of Groton, petitioned the General Court, Oct. 25, 1704, for some
compensation for killing an Indian from a party of about twenty, who, taking
advantage of the absence of the troops, made an assault upon some men who
were reaping or warding in a field at Groton. In his petition Mr. Shepley says :
" The sd Indians made several shott at the English, but amongst the rest, one
lusty stout Indian with a HoUand shirt on ran about 8 or 10 Rodd side by side
with yr Petitioner &the other 3 men in his company, about 10 Rodd to the right
hand of them when he upon us, and as soon as he had fired yor Petitioner fired,
being loaded with a slugg & another of the company at the same time fired a bullet
at him whereupon the sd Indian fell down and cryd out : Those men 3 of our first
Company killed or carryd away. Afterwards ye sd Indian was found dead & a
slugg & Bullet in his Body, his scalp being sent up to his Excellency by Major
Taylor." The General Court, Oct. 27, 1704, granted ;^4 to John Shepley, and the same
sum to Samuel Butterfield, "who, this House is informed, did assist in the killing
ofthe Indian mentioned in the petition." (Massachusetts Archives, XXX, 496, 497.)
I Probably that of John Cummings, which stood on the right hand of the road
^rom Dunstable to Tyngsborough, about one half-mile from the forraer place.

36 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1706
her husband and took him captive. Rushing into the house,
they were amazed to find it filled with soldiers, as these in
turn were astonished to see themselves thus suddenly in the
presence of the savages. After a bloody fight, during which
several of Capt. Pearson's men were either killed or wounded,
the savages attacked and burned the house of Daniel Galusha,
a Dutchman, living on Salmon Brook. Here one woman was
killed, and another made her escape from the flames by loosen
ing the stones around a small window, pressing herself through
it, and concealing herself in the underbrush until the enemy
had withdrawn. It appears, also, that a party of these Indians
on the same fatal day entered the garrison house of Nathaniel
Blanchard, and murdered himself, his wife Lydia, his daughter
Susannah, and also Mrs. Hannah Blanchard. These tragic
events are but thus briefly noticed in the records of the town : —
"Nathaniel Blanchard dyed on July the 3rd at night, 1706. Lydia
Blanchard, wife of Nathaniel Blanchard, and Susannah Blanchard,
daughter of Nath'l Blanchard, dyed on July 3rd at night in the year 1706.
Mrs. Hannah Blanchard dyed on July the 3rd at night in the year 1706.
Goody Cummings, the wife of John Cummings, dyed on July the 3rd at
night. Rachael Galusha died on July the 3d, 1706."
What terrible days and nights were these ! The Rev. John
Pike, of Dover, wrote in his journal, " The whole number said
to have been slain in Dunstable at this time was nine persons."
The celebrated Joe English was shot by the enemy near
Holden's Brook on the 27th of July of the same year. He
and another soldier were acting as a guard to Capt. Butterfield
and his wife, who were making a journey through what is
now Tyngsborough. The Indians shot the horse on which
these people were riding, and then taking Mrs. Butterfield
captive, while her husband made his escape, pursued Joe
English, firing upon him as he attempted to gain a woody
covert until he feh, wounded and exhausted, into their unpity-
ing hands. Knowing the exquisite torture to which they
would subject him, he at once provoked them by some taunt
ing words to anger, when they immediately despatched him
with their tomahawks. His widow and two children received a
grant of money from the government because " he died in the
service of his country." He was daring, intelligent, of manly

I7II]

HOUSES FORTIFIED.

37

bearing, and always faithful to the English people. His grand
father was Masconnomet, Sagaraore of Agawam, now Ipswich.
During this long, and, to the colonists, exhausting war, the
few families of Dunstable lived in garrison houses ; that is,
dwelling-houses surrounded with palisades, or with a wall of
stone or timber rising to the roof Through this wall there
was a gate made of plank and secured with iron bolts. Port
holes were ^made in various places, and the underbrush was
cleared away from the vicinity of the garrison in order that
the approach of the enemy might be seen.
Ensign Farwell, Thomas Lund, and Joseph Blanchard, se
lectmen in 1 710, petitioned the Assembly for aid in supporting
the ministry; and in 1711, the selectmen, Joseph Farwell,
John Cummings, and Joseph Blanchard, received ;^io from the
Assembly towards the payment ofthe salary of Mr. Parris.*
In the year 1711 there were seven fortified houses in Dun
stable, and they were named as follows : — f

o.2i

¦si is m

¦3
i2

I. Col. Jonathan Tyng's ....
2. Mr. Henry Farwell's ....
3. Mr. John Cummings's ....
4. Col. Samuel Whiting's . . .
5. Mr. Thomas Lund's ....
6. Queen's Garrison 
7. Mr. John Sollendine's ....
Total 

I
32
3 I
2 I

I
32
0 I
0

62
2 I
4 4

8
28
21 8
21

13

7

19

86

The people, now reduced to this small number, lived in con
stant dread of the lurking and insidious foe. They spent
much of their time shut up in the garrisons, and but little
improvement was made in the aspect of the town. They

* Massachusetts Archives, Vol. II, p. 326.
t See Massachusetts Records, Military, 1711.

38 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [17IS
dressed in plain garments of their own making ; they lived on
frugal fare, and had but slender Opportunity for the cultivation
of their minds. They carried the loaded musket with them as
they ventured forth to labor in the fields ; they carried it with
them to the church. They had but little tirae for tillage, but
little land in tilth ; their crops were consequently very slen
der, and they themselves most sadly destitute ofthe common
supplies of life. Had not fish, game, nuts, and berries been
abundant, they must have been compelled to rehnquish the
lands which had been granted to them and to return into the
older settlements.
But peace was at length insured by the treaty of Utrecht,
April II, 1713 ; the doors of the garrisons at Dunstable were
thrown open, and the hope of general prosperity began again
to animate the breasts of the people. The town rapidly in
creased in numbers. Sorae of the large tracts of lands, origi
nally granted, were sold in sections for the accommodation
of small farmers, and other inducements were held out for
increasing the number of the inhabitants.
At the time of the death of the Rev. Mr. Weld, the town
was so reduced in respect to population as to be unable then
to settle another minister. In a petition to the General
Court, March 8, 1703-4, it is said that the inhabitants "can
never hear a sermon without travelling more than twelve miles
from their principal post." In answer to this petition, which
was signed by Samuel Whiting, William Tyng, and Joseph
Blanchard, selectmen, the Court granted ;£'20 towards the
support ofthe ministry. The Rev. Samuel Hunt, H. C. 1700,
supplied the pulpit for many months, until April 23, 1707,
when he was dismissed to go as chaplain to Port Royal. The
Rev. Sarauel Parris, in whose family the Salem witchcraft
commenced by the accusation of Tituba in 1692, began to
preach in Dunstable as early as Oct. i of the year ensuing
and he remained here about four years.
He was followed by the Rev. Amos Cheever, H. C. 1707
who labored here at a salary of ^40 per annum from 171 3 to
1715 ; subsequent to this, a call was extended to the Rev.
John Pierpont of Reading to settle at a salary of ^80 a year ;
the Rev. Enoch Coffin, of Newbury, H. C. 1714, was then

1723] ^ PERAMBULATION. 30
invited to become the pastor of the church, but he also
declined the invitation. Thus one rainister after another sup
plied the pulpit at Dunstable until Aug. 20, 1720, when the
town gave a call to the Rev. Nathaniel Prentice, H. C. 17 14,
to settle in the ministry with the same salary before offered to
Mr. Coffin, and a "settlement" of ;^ioo. It was also voted,
Dec. 8 of the same year, that after his marriage Mr.
Prentice "should have a sufficient supply of wood, or ten
pounds of passable money in lieu thereof yearly." He had at
this time probably been ordained, and not long afterwards
married Mary, daughter of Col. Jonathan Tyng.
PERAMBULATION OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN DUNSTABLE AND
DRACUT. Decembr In y" year 1723.
Renewing the bounds between Dunstable and Dracut by order of the
selectmen of Each town beginning at a pine tree on the North side of
beaver Brook in Sight of sd Brook being marked and lettered with E it
being fallen down we have Laid stones about it from thence Running
Southard by the old marked trees raany of them Lettered w* D D til we
came Near to a place Called Stone Dam then Not finding the old bounds
we agreed both parties to mark a pine wh stands on the East Side of
beaver Brook four Rods from Sd Dam w^ tree is Lettered w* D D and
stands by it w^ frsd tree & Stone both parties a Greed to be a bound between
Sd Towns from Sd bound tree Running Southward to a pine tree marked
and Lettered D D So Running to a pine marked and stones about it Near
to a pine tree w^ is called the Southeast angle of Henry Kimbles farm &
from Sd pine tree we Renewed the old bounds to Long pond then Run
ning by the pond Part of the way to an oak tree then the Sd bound Lost
both Comittyes a Greed upon a Line off marked trees Crag Rock to be
the bounds between Sd towns wh trees are lettered w* D. D. and then we
Renewed the old bounds to marrimac River this is our mutual agreement
that the Sd lines shall stand good for Ever and it is a Greed that the bounds
wi> is mentioned shall be entered in Dunstable & Dracut Town Books.
Joseph Blanchard
his
Joseph X Butterfield.
mark. *
Being the major part of the Comity of the Town of Dunstable
appointed for sd work.

Being the whole of the Comity of Dracut.

Thos. Varnum.
Joseph Varnum.
Saml Colburn.
Samuel Danforth,
Surveyor.

40

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1/24

CHAPTER IV.
Indian Hostilities renewed. — Destruction of the Company of Lieut.
Ebenezer French. — A Curious Epitaph. — A Bounty for Indian
Scalps. — Capt. John Lovewell's First Expedition. — His Second
Expedition. — Extract from his Journal. — His Last Expedition. —
His Men establish a Small Fort at Ossipee Lake. — His En
counter with Paugus at Pequawket. — The Battle. — Lovewell
and Paugus killed. — En. Seth. Wyman. — Jonathan Robbins and
Others left on the Field. — Return of the Survivors. — Col.
Eleazar Tyng visits the Scene of Action and buries the Bodies
OF THE Slain. — Bounty paid to Soldiers and their Families. —
Character of Capt. Lovewell. — Discourse of the Rev. Thomas
^ Symmes of Bradford. — The Famous Ballad of Capt. Lovewkll's
Fight. — Stanzas by the Late T. C. Upham. — Result of Peace on
Dunstable. — Division of the Town. — Sections set off to Lon
donderry AND Townsend. — Nottingham. — Litchfield. — Merri
mack. — Death of Mr. Prentice. — Settlement of Rev. Josiah Swan.
— Hollis. — The Boundary Line between Massachusetts and New
Hampshire established.
" Frora Indian wars this colony suffered more than any of her sisters."
Salma Hale.
" Old men shall shake the head and say,
' Sad was the hour and terrible
When Lovewell brave 'gainst Paugus went
With fifty raen frora Dunstable.' "
Thomas C. Upham.
Instigated by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of
Canada, and the celebrated Jesuit, Sebastian Rale, whose
headquarters were at Norridgewock, the Indians continued to
commit depredations on the frontier settlements of Maine and
New Hampshire ; nor did the killing of Rale and the seven
chiefs endeavoring to protect him (Aug. 12, 1724) serve in any
way to repress the danger. Anxiety and fear prevailed in
every family along the border, the garrisons were strength
ened, and scouting parties sent out to clear the wilderness of

1724] PETITION OF JOSIAH FARWELL. 41
the wily foe. A corapany under Lieut. Jabez Fairbanks of
Groton, having in it Joseph Blanchard, Ebenezer Curaraings,
Jonathan Coombs, Thomas Lund, Isaac Farwell, and John
Usher, of Dunstable, spent the early part of the year 1724 in
searching for the enemy on Nashua River, Nissitisset Hills,
now a part of Pepperell, at the Mine Falls,* Naticook, and
other suspected places in the neighborhood.
On the 4th of September a party of French and of Mohawk
Indians came to Dunstable and carried into captivity Nathan
Cross and Thomas Blanchard, whom they found employed in
getting turpentine in the pine forest along the northerly mar
gin of the Nashua River. A party of ten men or more, under
command of Lieut. Ebenezer French, whose farm was on
the easterly side of Nutting's Hill, at once proceeded in pursuit
of them. One of the corapany, Josiah Farwell, an old Indian
hunter, who had married Hannah, sister of John Lovewell,
warned the leader to beware of falling into an ambuscade ;
but he, too venturesome, replied, " I am going to take the
direct path. If any of you are not afraid, follow me !"
They followed him, and on arriving at what is now Thorn
ton's Ferry on the Merrimack River, they were waylaid, fired
upon by the treacherous enemy, and all the party, excepting
Mr. Farwell, who had concealed hiraself in a clump of bushes,
were either killed upon the spot or taken captives. Judge
Samuel Penhallow gives the following version of the affair : —
"Sept. 4th, the Indians fell on Dunstable and took two in the evening.
Next raorning, Lieut. French with 14 men went in quest of them ; but being
waylaid, both he and one half of his raen were destroyed. After that, as
many more of a fresh company engaged thera ; but the enemy being much
superior in number, overpowered them with the loss of one raan and four
wounded." In a petition of Josiah Farwell, on the records of the prov
ince, another account is given : —
" Nov. II, 1724, Josiah Farwell says he was among the ten who were
ambushed by the Indians, that many of the English were killed, the
* So called because lead ore had been discovered in this vicinity anterior to
1682, when the " Mine Islands " were laid out to Hezekiah Usher.

.2 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1/24
rest were overpowered and forced to fly, that he lost his gun, coat and
three pounds in money, and prays an allowance, he thinks they killed some
of the enemy, he was allowed .^5."
The bodies of eight of those killed were recovered, and
buried in one grave. The names of seven are given in the
Boston News Letter as follows : Lieut. Ebenezer French,
Thomas Lund, Ohver Farwell, and Ebenezer Cummings, of
Dunstable, Daniel Baldwin and John Burbank of Woburn,
and Mr. Johnson of Plainfield. The narae of the other man
was Benjamin Carter. Four rude headstones in the old ceme
tery at Little's Station, not far north of the State line, com
memorate the sad event.
On visiting this sacred enclosure some time since, which I
found to be well enclosed but covered in part with pine-trees
and wild shrubbery, I copied the following quaint inscrip
tion : —
" Memento mori. Here lies the body of Mr. Thomas Lund who de
parted this life, Sept. 5, 1724, in the 42d year of his age. This man with
seven more that lies in this grave was slew all in a day by the Indians."
Beside this memorial stone are three others bearing the
same date and the names respectively of Mr. Benjamin Car
ter, aged twenty-three years, Mr. Ebenezer Cummings, aged
twenty-nine years, and Lieut. Oliver Farwell, aged thirty-three
years. After remaining some time in Canada and enduring many
hardships, the captives, Nathan Cross and Thomas Blanchard,
together with William Lund who had been taken captive in
1724, effected their redemption, and returned rejoicing to
Dunstable. Under such aggravating acts of Indian barbarity, it was
deemed advisable to carry on the war more vigorously, and to
this end bounties for scalps were again offered by the govern
ment and volunteer companies organized.
In answer to a petition of John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell,
and Jonathan Robbins, all of whora were well skilled in
Indian warfare, it was voted by the General Court, Nov. 17,
1724, " that they may be allowed two shillings and sixpence

1725] CAPT. LOVEWELL'S JOURNAL. ^3
per diem each, and also the sum of £\oo* for each male
scalp." Immediately after the decision of the Assembly, Lovewell
raised a company! of thirty men, of which he was corarais
sioned captain, and coramenced an expedition into the wil
derness. On the IOth of November his lieutenant, Josiah
Farwell, received at Haverhill " four hundred and eighty-
seven pound and one-half of good bread" for the use of the
soldiers, and on the 19th of December they fell upon an
Indian trail about forty-four miles above " Winnepisockee
Pond.'' They soon came up to a wigwam, where they killed
and scalped an Indian, and took a boy, about fifteen years old,
captive. With these trophies they returned to Boston, when
" the lieutenant-governor and council were pleased to give
them," says the News Letter of Jan. 7, 1725, " ;^SO over and
above ^^150 allowed thera by law."
Encouraged by this success, the gallant Lovewell soon raised
another volunteer company of eighty-eight men,, among whom
were his brother Zaccheus Lovewell, Thomas Colburn, Peter
Powers, Josiah Cummings, Henry Farwell, William Ayers,
Samuel Fletcher, and others, of Dunstable, and on the 30th of
January, 1724-5, set forth on a second expedition against the
enemy. In this journey he came up with the Indians near a pond,
since known as Lovewell's Pond, at the head of one of the
branches of Salmon Falls River, now in the town of Wake
field, N. H., killed the whole party, ten in all, and returning,
entered Boston, with the scalps stretched on poles, and claimed
the bounty.
In his journal of the expedition Capt. Lovewell, under date
of Feb. 20, says : —
"We Travelled about 5 railes & came upon a Wigwam that the Indians
had lately gone from, & then we pursued their tracks 2 miles further, &
discovered their smokes, and there tarried till about 2 o'clock in the
* The pound was then worth about $1.36, according to our present mode of
reckoning. t He, or Jonathan Tyng, was probably the originator of the volunteer system
in this State, men having hitherto been raised only by draft or impressment, as it
was sometimes denominated.

44

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1/2 5

morning, & then came upon their Wigwams & killed Ten Indian Men,
which were all that were there, & not one escaped alive."
" During the march," says Penhallow, " our men were well
entertained with moose, bear, and deer, together with salmon
trout, some of which were three feet long and weighed twelve
pounds apiece."
On the fifteenth day of April, 1725, the intrepid Lovewell,
at the head of a well-armed band of forty-seven men, of
whom some had shared the dangers of his first expedition,
left Dunstable with the intention of attacking the Pequaw-
kets,* under the noted sachem Paugus, whose headquarters
were in a charming valley on the Saco River, in what is now
the town of Fryeburg, Me. The distance was more than two
hundred miles and the country to be traversed a dreary wil
derness, with only here and there an Indian trail or the track
of a beast of prey. Such an adventure demanded men inured
to hardship, fond of daring exploits, fearless of peril, and such
indeed Lovewell and his comrades were. As given by the
Rev. Thomas Symmes, their names were Capt. John Love
well, Lieut. Josiah Farwell, Lieut. Jonathan Robbins, Ensign
John Harwood, Sergeant Noah Johnson, Robert Usher,
Samuel Whiting, Benjamin Hasseh (purposely omitted by Mr.
Symmes), William Cummings,! and Toby (a Mohawk Indian),!
of Dunstable ; Ensign Seth Wyman, Corp. Thomas Richard
son, Timothy Richardson, Ichabod Johnson, and Josiah
Johnson, of Woburn ; Eleazer Davis, Josiah Davis, Josiah
Jones, David Melvin, Eleazer Melvin, Jacob Farrah, and Joseph
Farrah, of Concord ; Jonathan Frye, of Andover ; Sergt. Jacob
Fullam, of Weston ; Corp. Edward Lingfield and Benjamin
Kidder,! of Nutfield ; Jonathan Kittridge and Solomon Keyes,
of Billerica ; John Jefts, Daniel Woods, Thomas Woods, John
Chamberlain, Elias Barron, Isaac Lakin, and Joseph Gilson,
of Groton ; Ebenezer Ayer and Abiel Astin, of Haverhill. J
* The meaning of Pequawket is, according to Judge C. E. Potter, a " crooked
place." t Not given by Mr. Symmes.
X Mr. Symmes does not give all the names. The number mentioned by the com
mittee on granting the land to the men subsequently, who probably had the roll

1725] LOVEWELL'S LAST FIGHT. 45
After marching a short distance, Toby, a Mohawk Indian,
falling lame, was obliged to return to the plantation. On
arriving at Contocook, noted for the famous exploit of Mrs.
Hannah Duston, William Cummings, of Dunstable, becoming
disabled from a wound previously received from the Indians,
was sent back in charge of one of his kinsmen.
When the company arrived at the westerly margin of the
Great Ossipee* Lake, Benjamin Kidder, becoming unable to
proceed farther, Capt. Lovewell erected here a small stockade
fort, in which he left the sick soldier, under the care of the
surgeon. Dr. William Ayer, of Haverhill. He also detailed
eight soldiers to remain as a reserve and a guard of the
fort. Pressing onward with the rest of his company for about
twenty miles, the heroic captain arrived, on the evening of the
7th of May, at the northwesterly margin of a beautiful sheet
of water, about two miles long and half a mile wide, since
known as Lovewell's Pond, and silently encamped for the
night. No trace of the enemy had yet been observed, and
nothing but some confused noises in the distance, perhaps the
howling of wolves, or Indian voices at the village of Pequawket,
about two miles towards the west, caused any alarm ; but
while engaged in their devotions about eight o'clock on the
following morning (Saturday, May 8), they were startled by
the report of a musket^ which proceeded from the opposite
shore of the pond. They then observed an Indian at the dis
tance of about a mile, standing on a point of land extending
into the lake, and supposing that he was acting as a decoy to
draw them into danger, held a consultation as to whether it
were advisable for them to advance or to return.
" We came out to meet the enemy," said the chaplain, young
Jonathan Frye, of Andover, "we have all along prayed God
of the company before them, was forty-seven. In his History of Manchester,
Judge Potter gives the names of those left in the fort at Ossipee as follows
Sergt. Nathaniel Woods, Ebenezer Hulbert, and Edward Spooney, of Dunstable
Dr. William Ayer, of Haverhill ; Benjamin Kidder and John Goffe, of Nutfield
John Gilson, of Groton; Isaac and Zachariah Whitney, of Concord ; and Zebediah
Astin, of Haverhill.
*The meaning of this Indian word is said to be "the river ofthe pines."

46 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1/25
that we might find them, and we had rather trust Providence
with our lives — yea, die for our country — than try to return
without seeing them, if we may, and be called cowards for our
pains." Complying with this request, Capt. Lovewell ordered his
raen to move cautiously forward. Arriving soon at a smooth
plain, with here and there a pine-tree, the men divested them
selves of their packs, which they piled up together, under the
supposition that the main body of the enemy was in front of
them. Having then proceeded through the forest for about a
mile, they came suddenly upon the Indian hunter whom they
had before descried upon the point of land across the lake.
He was leisurely returning to his people with a couple of mus
kets and a brace of ducks upon his shoulder. Several guns
were instantly discharged at him, when, replying, he seriously
wounded Capt. Lovewell and Mr. Samuel Whiting with
beaver shot. Ensign Seth Wyman, then firing, killed the
Indian, and Chaplain Frye, assisted by another person, took
off his scalp.
The corapany then turned back, and moved along with their
wounded leader towards the open spot where they had left
their packs. But in the mean time Paugus, at the head of
about eighty warriors, on their way home from an expedition
down the Saco River, discovered the pile of packs, and judg
ing from the number that the English force was much less
than his own, determined to engage in battle. He therefore
placed his men in ambush and awaited the arrival of his foe.
When Lovewell's company carae up for their packs, the
Indians rushed suddenly frora their hiding-places, three or
four deep, with their guns presented, as if supposing that
their very numbers would induce the English to surrender ;
but they were disappointed. Bravely Capt. Lovewell's men
advanced upon the savages until within a few yards' distance,
when the combatants on both sides opened a destructive fire.
The war-whoop mingled with the roar of musketry, and the
scene of bloodshed was appalling. Many of the Indians fell,
and Capt. Lovewell, with eight of his heroic band, was soon
left dead upon the field. Three of his men were severely

1725] PAUGUS AND WYMAN. 47
wounded. Those killed upon the spot were Capt. John
Lovewell and Ensign John Harwood, of Dunstable, Sergt.
Jacob Fullam, of Weston, John Jefts and Ichabod Johnson,
of Woburn, Daniel and Thomas Woods, of Groton, Josiah
Davis, of Concord, and Jonathan Kittridge, of Billerica. The
wounded were Lieut. Josiah Farwell, Lieut. Jonathan Robbins,
and Robert Usher, of Dunstable.*
Having met with such a fearful loss and being almost cir
cumvented by the enemy, the English, now under the com
mand of Ensign Seth Wyman, withdrew to the pond, which
served to protect them in the rear, while on their right an
unfordable stream, and on their left a rocky point in part
defended them. Their front was also covered by a deep
morass. In this fortunate position they bravely maintained
themselves against the superior number of their enemies for
the remainder of the day. About three o'clock in the after
noon the gallant Chaplain Frye was severely wounded.!
The fight was rendered the more terrible by the fiendish
yelling and the horrid grimaces of the Indians, who at one
time held up ropes, inviting the English to surrender. They,
however, pointing to the muzzles of their muskets, signified
in reply that rather than to be taken captive they would fight
to the bitter end.
In the latter part of the engagement, Paugus, whose name
signifies " Oak Tree," the long-dreaded chief of the Pequawkets,
fell, and probably, as the ancient ballad states, by a shot from
Ensign Wyman, though a popular tradition ascribes the
exploit to John Chamberlain, of Groton.
Standing near each other, and loading their pieces on the
margin of the lake, it is said that Paugus, in the act of forcing
down his ball, cried out to Wyman, " Me kill you quick ! " To
whom the latter answered, " May be not ! " when his gun,
priming itself, gave him in point of time the advantage, ena-
* See the Rev. Thomas Symmes's narrative.
t Son of Capt. James Frye, of Andover, H. C. 1723, and about twenty years of
age at the time of his death. The beautiful town of Fryeburg, Me., perpetuates
his name. An elm-tree, set out by him at the time of his departure from home,
is still flourishing.

48 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1/25
bling him by a well-directed shot to lay the sachem weltering
in his gore upon the strand.*
Either from the loss of men or of their leader, want of
ammunition, or sorae other cause, the Indians withdrew from
the contest a little after sunset, removing most of their dead
and all of their wounded from the field, and soon afterwards
the men that remained of Lovewell's Spartan band, now desti
tute of powder and provisions, resolved to leave the fatal spot
and make their way back, if possible, to the stockade fort on
Lake Ossipee. But some of them had lost too much blood to
undertake such a journey. Jacob Farrar was just expiring by
the pond. Lieut. Jonathan Robbins, unable to proceed,
desired that his gun might be loaded and laid beside him.
" For," said he, "the Indians will come in the morning to scalp
rae, and I '11 kill one more of them, if I can ! " Robert Usher,
also of Dunstable, was too much exhausted to be removed
from the spot. Leaving, then, regretfully these three dying
companions, the rest of the raen, of whom eleven had been
wounded, started on their journey of more than twenty miles
to the fort. Having travelled about a mile and a half, Chap
lain Frye, Lieut. Josiah Farwell, Eleazer Davis, and Josiah
Jones gave their free consent to be left on the way, hoping
that aid might be sent back to thera, but the two former per
ished in the wilderness. Chaplain Frye, after travelling some
distance, sunk under his wounds, telling his companions that
he was dying, and that he should never rise more, at the same
time " charging Davis," says Mr. Symmes, " if it should please
God to bring him home, to go to his father, and tell him that
he expected in a few hours to be in eternity, and that he was
not afraid to die.'' Lieut. Farwell (b. Aug. 27, 1698) died of
exhaustion on the eleventh day after the fight. Davis, who was
wounded in the body and had one thumb shot off, reached
Berwick in a deplorable condition on the 27th of May ; and
Jones came in at Saco, after wandering, with a severe wound
in his body, fourteen days in the wilderness. On arriving at the
fort, faint and famishing, the little party under Lieut. Wyman
* See Kidder's Expeditions of Capt. John LiK'c-uh-!/, p. 104 ; also Butler's History
of Groton, p. 104.

1725] ESTATE OF CAPT. LOVEWELL. ^g
had the grief to find the place abandoned, since at the very
commencement of the fight, Benjamin Hassell, supposing all
to be lost, had fled, and on reaching the fort had so intimi
dated the occupants that they all deserted it and made their
way back as best they could, arriving on the iith of May at
Dunstable. Ensign Wyman returned home* with his men on
the 15th of May ; and on the 17th of the same month. Col.
Eleazer Tyng, with a company of eighty-seven men, proceeded
to the scene of conflict, and there found and buried the bodies
of Capt. John Lovewell, Ensign Jonathan Robbins, Ensign John
Harwood, Robert Usher, Sergt. Jacob Fullam, Jacob Farrar,
Josiah Davis, Thomas Woods, Daniel Woods, John Jefts,
Ichabod Johnson, and Jonathan Kittridge. He also dug up
and identified the body of the brave Paugus.
When Dr. Jeremy Belknap visited the scene of the action,
he discovered the names of the fallen heroes which Col. Tyng
had inscribed upon the trees, and also the holes from which
he had taken bullets.
For the defence of Dunstable during the absence of Col.
Tyng, Col. Flagg was ordered to detach from his regiment
" a sergeant and twelve effective, able-bodied men, well armed
for his Majesty's service, for the security and reinforcement of
Dunstable until the return of Col. Tyng and his company.
They must be posted at the garrisons of Joseph Bloghead
[Blodgett], Nathaniel Hill, John Taylour, and John Lovewell,
and three sentinels in each garrison, and the sergeant in that
of the four that is nearest the centre. Boston, May 19,
1725." Capt. Lovewell was the son of John Lovewell, and was
born in Dunstable, Oct. 14, 1691. He married Hannah
by whom he had three children : John, born June 30, 1718 ;
Hannah, born July 24, 1721; and Nehemiah, born Jan. 9, 1726.
An inventory of his real and personal estate may be seen in
Kidder's Expeditions of Capt. John Lovewell, p. 93. His
* Soon after his return he was presented with a captain's commission and a
silver-hilted sword. He raised a company, and died soon afterwards while scout
ing for the enemy above Dunstable. The court presented his widow, nie Sarah
Ross of Billerica, the sum of twenty pounds sterling.
4

50 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1726
lands and meadows, in all about two hundred acres, and the
buildings thereon, together with the half part of a saw-mill,
were estimated at £420. In answer to a petition of Hannah
Lovewell to the General Court, June 8, 1726, " it was resolved
that fifty pounds be paid to Capt. Henry Farwell and Col. E.
Tyng with which to discharge the claims against the estate of
the late Capt. Lovewell." Fifteen hundred pounds were
granted to the widows and children of the deceased soldiers,
and in consideration of the services of Capt. Lovewell and his
brave associates, the General Court also (Aug. 7, 1728)
granted to them and to the legal representatives of such as
had deceased, " a township of six miles square, lying on both
sides of Merrimack River." This tract of land, then called
Suncook and afterwards Lovewell's Town, was "to commence
where Pennicook grant terminated." It is now the town
of Pembroke, N. H. Capt. Lovewell lived on the margin of
Salmon Brook, on which he and his father had a saw-mill. It
was voted by the town, Sept. 2, 171 8, " that they should have
liberty to build a dam in the highway " over that brook, and
the mill was subsequently established. The powder-horn
which the hero of Pequawket used in the fight is still pre
served by one of his descendants.
Capt. Lovewell was brave, adventurous, and persistent.
He died with his gun loaded and pointed towards the foe.
His blood was not spilled in vain. The action at Pequawket
closed the war, and insured tranquillity. A treaty of peace
was soon made with the different Indian tribes, and the
Pequawkets, under their leader Adeawanda, removed to
Canada. The following letter (Massachusetts Archives, LXXII,
263), addressed to Col. Tyng, indicates the feeling of security
which prevailed : —
" Sir, — The enemy being drawn off & the season of Danger pretty
well over, you raust forthwith see that the soldiers in the Frontiers be
reduced to the following Numbers ; viz., Twenty-five Men at Dunstable
& Dracut, Ten at Turkey Hills, Fourteen at Groton, Fourteen at Lan
caster, Twenty-five at Rutland, & ten at Brookfield & That all the rest of
the Soldiers in the Counties of Middlese.x and Essex, Including Lieut.

1725] AN ANCIENT BALLAD. 5 1
BrentnaPs scouts be forthwith disbanded. And the several officers are
required to put these orders in execution accordingly."
The name of Lovewell at once becarae faraous. The story
of his exploits was rehearsed in every dwelling, and even in
the pulpits of the country. As early as the i6th of May, 1725,
the Rev. Thomas Symmes, V. D. M., of Bradford, preached a
sermon " occasioned by the fall of the brave Capt. John Love
well and several of his valiant company in the late heroic
action." The Historical Memoirs prefixed to this sermon
contain, perhaps, the best account of the fight that has been
transmitted to us. A very mournful ballad, said by John
Farmer to have been written soon after the tragic event
occurred, embodies the chief incidents of the fight, and is one
of the few compositions of the kind that have floated down to
us from our forefathers. It was for a long period the most
popular song in the colonies. It is to be regretted that
neither the name of the author, nor the music to which the
words were adapted and so often sung in winter evenings by
" the old folks at home," has been preserved.

THE BALLAD OF CAPT. JOHN LOVEWELL'S FIGHT, AT PEQUAWKET.

Of worthy Capt. Lovewell I purpose now to sing,
How valiantly he served his country and his king :
He and his valiant soldiers did range the woods full wide,
And hardships they endured to quell the Indians' pride.

'T was nigh unto Pigwacket, on the eighth day of May,
They spied a rebel Indian, soon after break of day.
He on a bank was walking, upon a neck of land
Which leads into a pond, as we 're made to understand.
HI.
Our men resolved to have him, and travelled two miles round.
Until they met the Indian, who boldly stood his ground.
Then speaks up Capt. Lovewell, " Take you good heed," says he,
"This rogue is to decoy us, I very plainly see.

52

HISTOR Y OF D UNSTABLE. [1/25

IV.

" The Indians lie in ambush, in sorae place nigh at hand,
In order to surround us upon this neck of land ;
Therefore we '11 raarch in order, and each man leave his pack,
That we may briskly fight them when they shall us attack."
V.
They come unto the Indian who did them thus defy ;
As soon as they come nigh him, two guns he did let fly,
Which wounded Capt. Lovewell and likewise one man* more ;
But when this rogue was running, they laid him in his gore.
VI.
Then, having scalped the Indian, they went back to the spot
Where they had laid their packs down, but there they found them not ;
For the Indians, having spied them when they them down did lay,
Did seize them for their plunder, and carry them away.
Vll.
These rebels lay in ambush, this very place near by,
So that an Enghsh soldier did one of them espy,
And cried out, " Here 's an Indian ! " With that they started out
As fiercely as old lions, and hideously did shout.
VIII.
With that our valiant English all gave a loud huzza,
To show the rebel Indians they feared them not a straw.
So now the fight began as fiercely as could be,
The Indians ran up to them, but soon were forced to flee.

Then spake up Capt. Lovewell, when first the fight began,
" Fight on, my valiant heroes, you see they fall like rain ! "
For, as we are informed, the Indians were so thick,
A man could scarcely fire a gun, and not some of them hit.
X.
Then did the rebels try their best our soldiers to surround,
But they could not accomplish it, because there was a pond.
To which our men retreated and covered all the rear.
The rogues were forced to flee them, although they skulked for fear.
* Lieut. Josiah Farwell, of Dunstable.

1725] AN ANCIENT BALLAD. 53

Two logs that were behind them so close together lay,
Without being discovered they could not get away ;
Therefore, our valiant English, they travelled in a row,
And at a handsome distance, as they were wont to go.
XII.
'T was ten o'clock in the morning when first the fight begun,
And fiercely did continue till the setting of the sun.
Excepting that the Indians, some hours before 'twas night,
Drew off into the bushes and ceased awhile to fight.
XIII.
But soon again returned, in fierce and furious mood.
Shouting as in the morning, but yet not half so loud ;
For, as we are informed, so thick and fast they fell.
Scarce twenty of their number at night did get home well.
XIV.
And that our valiant English till midnight there did stay,
To see whether the rebels would have another fray ;
But they no more returning, they made off to their horae,
And brought away their wounded as far as they could corae.
XV.
Of all our valiant English there were but thirty-four,
And of the rebel Indians there were about fourscore.
And sixteen of our English did safely horae return ;
The rest were killed and wounded, for which we all must mourn.
XVI.
Our worthy Capt. Lovewell among them there did die ;
They killed Lieut. Robbins* and wounded good young Frye,t
Who was our English chaplain ; he many Indians slew,
And some of them he scalped, when bullets round him flew.
xvn.
Young Fullam, { too, I '11 mention, because he fought so well ;
Endeavoring to save a man, a sacrifice he fell.
* Lieut. Jonathan Robbins was a native of Chelmsford. He married Margaret
Gould, and settled on Long Hill, Dunstable.
t He died in the wilderness several days subsequent to the fight.
X Sergt. Jacob Fullam was of Weston. " One of the first that was killed," says
John Farmer, " was by his right hand, and when ready to encounter a second sho
it is said that he and his adversary fell at the very instant by each other's shot."

54 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l725
And yet our vahant Englishmen in fight were ne'er dismayed.
But still they kept their motion, and Wyman captain made, —
xvill.
Who shot the old chief Paugus,* which did the foe defeat,
Then set his raen in order and brought off the retreat ;
And, braving many dangers and hardships by the way.
They safe arrived at Dunstable the thirteenth day of May.
Another ballad, purporting to be ancient and commencing, —
" What time the noble Lovewell carae
With fifty men from Dunstable,"
is of modern origin.
The following graceful lines commemorating this tragical
event are from the pen of the Rev. Thomas Cogswell Upham,
D. D., born in Deerfield, N. H., Jan. 30, 1799. They were
written in 1825 : —
Ah ! where are the soldiers that fought here of yore ?
The sod is upon them ; they 'U struggle no more.
The hatchet is fallen, the red man is low ;
But near him reposes the arra of his foe.
The bugle is silent, the war-whoop is dead ;
There 's a raurmur of waters and woods in their stead ;
And the raven and owl chant a symphony drear.
From the dark, waving pines, o'er the combatants' bier.
The light of the sun has just sunk in the wave.
And a long time ago set the sun of the brave.
The waters complain as they roll o'er the stones.
And the rank grass encircles a few scattered bones.
The names of the fallen the traveller leaves
Cut out with his knife in the bark of the trees. '
But little avail his affectionate arts,
For the names of the fallen are graved in our hearts.
The voice of the hunter is loud on the breeze,
There 's a dashing of waters, a rustling of trees ;
But the jangling of armor hath all passed a\va\- ;
No gushing of Hfe-blood is here seen to-dav.
* Paugus was found and buried by Col. Tyng.

1737] DISMEMBERMENT OF THE TOWN. 55
The eye that was sparkling no longer is bright ;
The arm of the mighty, Death conquered its might ;
The bosoms that once for their country beat high, —
To those bosoms the sods of the valley are nigh.
Sleep, soldiers of merit ! Sleep, gallant of yore !
The hatchet is fallen, the struggle is o'er.
While the fir-tree is green and the wind rolls a wave
The tear-drop shall brighten the turf of the brave.
The occupation of the lands of the town consequent on the
return of peace was rapid, families coming in from Chelms
ford, Billerica, Woburn, Concord, and other places, to secure
homesteads in a locality so well stored with timber and so
rich in pasturage. Roads were laid'^ut to the distant settle
ments, fences were constructed, and orchards planted. The
church was the principal institution, the meeting-house the
main rallying-point of the people ; but it was soon found
extremely inconvenient for those living in the remote parts of
the town to assemble at the appointed place, and hence efforts
were early made for a diyision of the ferritory. An area of
two hundred square miles was evidently too extensive for the
practical purposes of a church or a municipality, and so but
little opposition was made against setting off "certain sections
for the better accomraodation of certain people." As early as
June 21, 1721, a small corner in the northeast of Dunstable
was incorporated with the town of Londonderry ; then on the
29th of June, 1732, a section in the southwestern part went
in to help make up Townsend.
On the 4th of January, 1732-3, certain families^ bearing the
names of Blodgett, Cummings, Cross, Colburn, Greeley, Hill,
Lovewell, Marsh, Merrill, Pollard, and Winn, who had com
menced a settlement on the easterly side of the Merrimack
River as early as 17 12, and were living in garrisoned houses,
finding it inconvenient to attend church across the river, were
incorporated into a town by the name of Nottingham. Com
ing into New Hampshire by the divisional hne in 1741, the
name was changed to Nottingham West, and that on the ist
of July, 1830, to Hudson. The town contains an area of
17,379 acres. A church was organized here Nov. 30, 1737,

56 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l734
when the Rev. Nathaniel Merrill was ordained as pastor. He
was succeeded in 1796 by the Rev. Jabez Pond Fisher, who
preached for some time in Dunstable.
In 1733 it was voted that the new meeting-house should be
erected four rods west of where the old church was standing,
but against this vote the following persons, living in the south
erly part of the town, protested : Andrew Foster, Jonathan
Curaraings, Thomas Frost, Ebenezer Proctor, Josiah Blodgett,
Thomas Cummings, Samuel Taylor, Ebenezer Parkhurst, John
Kendall, Ebenezer Butterfield, Nathaniel' Cummings, John
French, Jonathan Taylor, Jacob Kendall, Daniel Kendall,
Abraham Taylor, Abraham Taylor, Jr., and Thomas Howard.
Caleb Parker was allowed ;£[0 <^s. "for building a pound."
William Blodgett, Capt. Henry Farwell, and Noah Johnson
were chosen a committee to fix upon a site for the new meet
ing-house. The preparation of pitch and turpentine, of which the pri
meval forests of pine furnished large quantities, was long a
source of revenue to the town. Such privileges as the follow
ing were occasionally granted. David Kendall, April 10, 1733,
allows Samuel Taylor, for the sum of ^13 5^. "to bled and
chop and dress all y^ pine trees within a mile of y= house of
Ebenezer Proctor on y^ land of said Proctor in Dunstable
afore s"^ in Brattles Farm so called " for turpentine and other
purposes, until March 6, 1735. Witness Nathaniel Cummings,
Jr., and Abraham Taylor, Jr.
The excision of a part of the town of Dunstable to form
Nottingham was followed by a still greater one in 1734, when
the extensive tract called Naticook, and subsequently Brenton's
Farm, was incorporated under the name of Litchfield. It was
divided by the Merriraack River and originally settled by a
few families from Billerica. Subsequently the section of the
town west of the Merrimack River was incorporated under the
name of Rumford, soon afterwards changed to Merrimack,
which it still retains.
William Cummings, 1734, received the sum of £\o on
account of being wounded by the Indians ; and about this
time a party of raen from Dunstable, who were out on a

1741] TtlE STATE LINE. 57
hunting excursion on the frontiers, fell, with but two or three
exception.^, by the hands of the savages. A man by the name
of Whitney escaping, built him a hut and spent the winter in
the wilderness. On the return of spring, Mr. Timothy Reed,
born March 21, 17 14, who lived on the west side of Salmon
Brook, and a few others, went in search of their lost townsmen.
On approaching the hut of Whitney, and seeing something
move among the bushes, Mr. Reed discharged his musket, and
to his inexpressible horror found that he had killed one of his
neighbors. His sorrow followed hira to the grave.*
The number of families in Dunstable in 1730 was about
fifty, and £<^o were raised for the salary of Mr. Prentice,
together with a small sum for the support of a " writing
school." Mr. Prentice died Feb. 27, 1737, much lamented by
his people. He was a good preacher, and his wife, who sur
vived him, was noted for her love of out-of-door exercise and
of target-shooting, in which she sometimes bore away the
prize. The Rev. Josiah Swan, H. C. 1733, was ordained over the
church Dec. 27, 1738, and about this period a new church
edifice, which stood near the old burial-place at Little's Station,
was dedicated. Mr. Swan continued to preach in the new
church until some tirae in 1746, when he resigned his pastorate,
and subsequently became a noted school-teacher in Lancaster.
In 1739, the westerly part of Dunstable, called by the
Indians Nissitisset, was incorporated with the title of " The
West Parish of Dunstable," which soon afterwards became the
town of Hollis The westerly part of Hollis was in 1769
incorporated by the name of Raby, which was subsequently
changed to that of Brookline. The town of Dunstable was
thus gradually reduced in size until 1 741, when, by the run
ning of the divisional line between the States of New Hamp
shire and Massachusetts, in regard to which a long and bitter
controversy had been carried on, the above-mentioned towns,
together with the territory that for some time bore the name
of Dunstable, then Nashville, and which has since become the
* See Reed Family, p. 156.

58 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l74I
city of Nashua, were set off to the former State, leaving
Dunstable proper, which then included Tyngsborough, in the
State of Massachusetts.
Omitting, then, farther notice of the parts exscinded from
the original town of Dunstable, and making only an occasional
reference to the town of Tyngsborough, I proceed according
to the method I adopted for the writing of this history.

:V"%4..

^ B 0 R nUGH

gQ HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873

CHAPTER V.
Topography of Dunstable. — The Water Supply. — Nashua River.—
Unquetynasset Brook. — Salmon Brook. — Howard's Brook. —
Other Brooks. — Massapoag Pond. — The Gulf. — The Disruption
OF THE Dam. — Little Massapoag Pond. — Flat Rock Hill. —
Blanchard's Hill. — Nutting's Hill. — Forest Hill and other
Eminences. — Scenic Beauty of the Town. — Geology and Min
eralogy.— Slatestone.— Bowlders.— Iron Ore —Other Minerals.
— Soil and Productions. — The Inhabitants. — Old Houses.
" I never view the thriving villages of New England, which speak so
forcibly to the heart of happiness and prosperity, without feeling a glow
of national pride, as I say, ' This is my own, my native land ! ' "
Mrs. L. M. CmLD.
" How often have I paused on every charm !
The sheltered cot, the cultivated farra.
The never-failing brook, the busy mill,
The decent church that topped the neighboring hill."
Dr. Oliver Goldsjiith.
Topography. — The present town of Dunstable, incor
porated Oct. 16, 1673, is pleasantly situated in the northerly ^
part of Middlesex County, Mass., and has for its boundaries
Nashua, N. H., by a straight Hne on the north, Tyngsborough,
by a circuitous course on the east and southeast, the same
and Groton on the south, and Pepperell, from which it is in
part separated by the Nashua River, on the west. By the
State trigonometrical survey, the church is in latitude 42° 40'
27.96" north and in longitude 71° 29' 18.63" west. It is
thirty-three railes northwest of Boston, ten miles northwest ol
Loweh, and seven miles south of Nashua, N. H.
The township is somewhat irregular in form, and embraces
in all sixteen and thirteen thirty-seconds square miles, or
10,500 acres of territory. This is divided into ninety farms,
which are again subdivided by substantial stone or rail fences

1873] WATER SUPPLY. 6 1
into lots of convenient size for gardens, orchards, tillage, pas
turage, and woodland.
Though for the most part broken and uneven, the land is
almost all susceptible of cultivation, and presents an admirable
variety of situation, hill and valley, upland and meadow, suited
to the different needs and purposes of the husbandman. As
indicated by the current of the streams, the general inclination
of the surface of the land is towards the north.
Water Supply. — The town is well supplied with water
and has considerable hydraulic power. For about two miles
and a quarter along the western border flows in a gentle cur
rent the beautiful Nashua* River, once the favorite resort of
the aborigines. It was anciently called the " Watananock."
It is on an average about twelve rods wide, and from three to
fifteen feet deep. The water is clear and sweet, the banks of
the stream are low and in the suramer fringed with flowers.
From Pepperell to Hollis the fall is about forty feet, and in
the vicinity of Slatestone Hill it has been recently ascertained
by actual survey that there is an excellent mill-privilege, at
which a dam may be erected with a head of some twelve feet.
This power will doubtless soon be utilized. A little steamboat
has passed up this river from Hollis to Pepperell.
Although the water of this fine stream now turns no mill
in Dunstable, it still serves to decorate the landscape, and
to supply the basket of the angler with the best of perch
and pickerel ; while the intervals on the stream produce
abundantly both hay and pasturage for the cattle of the
husbandman. The chief tributary of Nashua River from Dunstable is
Unquety, or as anciently called, Unquetynasset Brook, a
pretty little trout and mill stream, that, rising near Chestnut
Hill, in Groton, enters the southwestern angle of the town,
where it forms a pond for a saw and stave mill, in the romantic
village of Unquety, and, pursuing thence a northwesterly
course through fertile meadows, reaches the Nashua River
about a mile south of the State line. This meandering stream
* The word " Nashua " signifies a " point of land at the confluence of two
rivers."

52 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
is still the highway of the mink, muskrat, and otter from the
Nashua River to the Massapoag Ponds.
The central part of the town is well drained by the Salmon
Brook, a valuable stream, well stored with fish, that, flowing
from Massapoag Pond, pursues a northerly course through the
Lower Massapoag Pond, and dividing the township nearly in
the middle, empties into the Merriraack River, at what is
called " The Harbor" in Nashua. It receives two tributaries
from the west, one of which, called Barnes Brook, proceed
ing from a swamp in the southwest, furnishes motive-power
for Mr. George Parkhurst's saw-mill, and the other,' known
from early times as Joint Grass Brook, after receiving
the water of Spring Brook, turns the grist and saw mill of Mr.
Daniel Swallow.
Salmon Brook receives, also, an affluent named Black
Brook from the east, which, on being augmented by two or
three small streams, forms motive-power for Mr. James
Woodward's grist and saw mill, near the centre of the town.
There is a fine mill-privilege on the Salmon Brook, where it
issues from Massapoag Pond at what is called " The Gulf,"
but the waters now roll uselessly over a dam of about ten
feet in height. This famous brook, as its name, found in the
earliest records, would imply, was once noted for its supply
of salmon. It is navigable for small boats from " The Harbor "
to the Great Massapoag Pond. Along its banks sorae of the
original settlements of the whites were made, and from its
fertile meadows their barns were well supplied with hay ; its
current, as we shall hereafter see, was once along the valley
of Black Brook.
Howard's, sometimes called Holden's Brook, rises in the
northern base of Nutting's Hill, and by a devious course
makes its way easterly into Tyngsborough, where it affords
some motive-power, and then discharges its waters into
Merrimack River. Its ancient name was Little Naacook,
and a section of it near the Tyngsborough line is called
Seven-Star Brook. One of its affluents, called Weld's
Brook, perpetuates the name of the first minister of the town.
A fine little stream, known as Blodgett's Brook, rises

1873] 'V WATER SUPPLY. 63
about a mile south of the source of Howard's Brook, and
running southeasterly through a pleasant valley, becomes an
affluent of Bridge Meadow, anciently Great Naacook, Brook,
which reaches the Merriraack River at Tyngsborough Centre.
A small tributary of the last-named brook rises on the
easterly confines of the town, and, running along the boun
dary for about a mile, enters Tyngsborough a little to the
southeast of Forest Hill. Another rivulet, rising in the town
last mentioned, and called Sewall's Brook, flows westerly
through a corner of Dunstable into Massapoag Pond.
There are in all, then, as many as six mill-privileges within
tne limits of the town, — one on Nashua River, one on Salmon
Brook, two on tributaries coming into it from the west, one on
Black Brook, where a saw-mill was erected anterior to the
Revolution, entering it from the east, and one on Unquety
nasset Brook at the pleasant vihage of that name.
Massapoag,* called in a plan of John Tyng's land, 1692,
Masshapeage Pond, having an area of more than one hun
dred acres, lies partly in Dunstable, Tyngsborough, and Gro
ton. It is formed by the waters of Cowpen Brook from Groton.
A stone post upon an island in the westerly part of the pond
indicates the boundary of these several towns. f This fine
sheet of water, which originally was full of islands and had an
area of more than six hundred acres, is enclosed by hills and
headlands, affording many admirable scenic views. It is well
stored with pickerel, perch, and bream, which, together with
the wild fowl frequenting it, render it a favorite resort of the
angler and the fowler. In former times the Indian built his
wigwam on the margin of this fair lake, and furrowed its clear
waters with his light birch canoe. When the English settlers
arrived they found it teeming with salmon, shad, and alewives,:i:
* The meaning of the word is " Great Pond."
tin a plan of Groton, made by Jonathan Danforth in 1668, the line of that town
extended from Massapoag Pond northerly, by Edward Cowell's farm, Billerica
land, and Boston farms to Buck Meadow, and thence two miles westerly to a
point at the short turning of the Nashua River a little below the Nissitisset Hills.
It gives about one half of the pond to Groton.
JThe Legislature passed a law Feb. 20, 1807, forbidding " any person whatever
in the night-time to kill, take, or destroy any fish in the pond called Massapaug

64

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE, [ 1688

which the dams on the Merrimack River long since pre
vented from ascending to this point. A few trout are still
found in it, and now and then a chevin is drawn from its
deep waters.
The outlet of the pond, now on the north, and known as
" The Gulf," is one of the most wild and romantic spots in
Dunstable A natural embankment or dam, more than thirty
feet in height and several rods wide, almost encloses the pond
at this point, rendering it evident that the waters at an early
period were much higher than at present, and that they over
flowed a large extent of territory. This mound of earth, now
covered with a heavy growth of oak and pine trees, some (?f
which have been uprooted by a recent hurricane, bears the
marks of a great inundation. The tradition is that in early
tiraes the outlet of the lake was on the east, and that the
Salmon Brook, instead of issuing, as it now does, by a fall of
some ten feet from the northern point of the pond at what is
called " The Gulf, " started from an outlet at the point where
Sewall's Brook, by a fall of about twenty feet, now enters the
pond, and made its way by the valley of the Black Brook,
which at present enters it about a mile southwest of the centre
of the town. This view is confirmed by the earliest deeds of
the land as well as by the plots of the pond. In a plan of Mr.
John Tyng's farra, 1692, the outlet of the pond is on the east,
at what is now called Sewall's Brook ; but as that brook at
present falls into the pond by a descent of some twenty feet, it
is evident that the lake, when discharging its waters at that
point, must have been more than twenty feet higher than it
now appears, and that it raust have covered an area some five
or six times larger than at the present period. The shore of
the pond, as it originally existed, may in some places still be
traced by the level strata of sand and pebble-stones along
the hillsides. In early times Samuel Adams, probably a son
of Capt. Samuel Adams, of Chelmsford, whose death occurred
on the 24th of January, 1688, cut a channel through the
Pond, lying between the towns of Dunstable, Groton, and Tyngsborough." under
a penalty of fifty cents for each fish so taken. See Massachusetts Sixth Annual
Report on Inland Fisheries, p. 96.

1700] "THE GULF." 65
natural dam at " The Gulf," and erected thereon the first grist
mill in the town of Dunstable.
It is related that in the time of a great freshet Mr. Adams
left his mill in charge of a negro servant, who, from being kept
on a very scanty allowance of cold bean-porridge, bore no good
will towards his parsimonious master. While this ill-fed negro
was running the mill, he observed that the swollen waters of
the lake — here more than thirty feet in depth — had made a
small opening through the sand of the embankment. He might
have stopped the current with his hand or hat, but thinking,
as he said, of the smallness of the bits of meat in his bean-
porridge, he concluded to let the water have its course ; and so,
gradually enlarging the opening, and gathering force as the
sand gave way, it soon broke with irresistible impetus through
the mound, and sweeping the mill, the dam, with every other
barrier before it, completely flooded the whole valley below.
By this catastrophe the pond was greatly reduced in size and
depth, the old outlet on the east was left on high ground, an
immense number of fish perished in those places whence the
water had been drawn, the course of the Salmon Brook, as it
now appears, was determined, and a new pond of some fifty
acres, called the Lower Massapoag Pond, was created.*
This is in part traditional, to be sure ; yet no one standing
at " The Gulf," and observing the marks of the disruption ofthe
embankment, together with the water-marks encircling the fine
peninsula near by, can for a moment doubt that some such
catastrophe has in former times occurred.
Some time after the breaking of the dam, another grist-mill
was erected at " The Gulf," and Jonathan Woodward, Sr., who
* Jonathan Danforth, who surveyed Massapoag Pond in 1688, represents it as
"full of small islands." On the 21st of May of the same year, the town of Groton
granted a small pond near Buck Meadow to Samuel Adams, and also permission
to drain it by a brook running into Tyng's Cove. At the same time the town
offered the wood on the easterly side of Unquetynasset Brook to any one that
would set up iron works on Massapoag Pond. The time of the destruction of
Mr. Adams's mill is a matter of conjecture. Timber trees more than two feet in
diameter were cut fifty years ago from places formerly covered by the waters of
the old pond. In bis history of Groton (p. 246), Mr. Butler places the date of
the flood at about 1700, and says the area of the pond, anterior to the catastro
phe, was " equal to a square mile or more."
S

66 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l794
attained the remarkable age of one hundred and one years
seven months and thirteen days, was the miller. His wife,
n^e Sarah Read, a very stout woman, assisted him in his labor,
and easily removed the bags of grain from the back of a horse
to the hopper of the mill. She is said to have weighed nearly
four hundred pounds. In an old account-book kept by Joel
Parkhurst, Esq., I find the following items : " Dunstable,
Nov"'- y'= 25* 1775, then Mr. Jonathan Woodward Came to live
at y'= Goulf. Sept. 6* 1776, then began to Repare, the mill at
the gulf." Leonard, son of Joel Parkhurst, had charge of this
mill nearly up to the close of the last century. An Indian
family long resided in the vicinity, supporting themselves by
fishing, and making baskets.
According to a plan of Dunstable drawn in 1794, Massapoag
Pond covered an area of only seventy-four acres. A fulling-
mill, in charge of Joseph Tucker, took the place of the grist
mill at " The Gulf" in the early part of the present century.
To-day the water is controlled by manufacturers on Salmon
Brook in Nashua, and the music of the cascade is broken only
by the shrill whistle of the locomotive engine as it speeds
along through the sequestered valley. As its waters are clear
and pure, it will doubtless soon be made to furnish ice for
market. This pond was a favorite resort of the aborigines, and many
of their rude implements have been found in this vicinity.
They are made of a hard, white, gray, or black stone not found
in Dunstable. Mrs. Zebulon Blodgett, living in a very old
house near the pond, has twelve Indian relics, all of black
stone. Three of them are gouges, and the edge of one of these
is very sharp. Another is a very curious instrument, used
perhaps for scraping skins ; another is a kind of axe or toma
hawk ; another polished article, together with six arrow-heads,
make up the little cabinet. An Indian hearth near the house
is still visible. Mrs. Peter Kendall, in the same vicinit}', has
also many curious Indian relics discovered near the pond, the
use of some of which it were not easy to determine.
Messrs. John A. and Albert L. Parkhurst, whose ancestors
owned the mill at " The Gulf," have an Indian gouge about

1794] MASSAPOAG POND. 67
fourteen inches long and made of hard stone, the edge of
which is very keen and finely polished. They have also pes
tles and arrow-heads of seven different kinds of stone, one of
them being very long and slender. They have also an instru
ment in the form of a spinning top, a hollow stone cylinder,
and other articles. These old implements, together with the
Indian names of " Nashua," " Massapoag," and " Unquety-
nassetf" are almost the only memorials now remaining of the
race of red men who, a little more than two hundred years ago,
called the lakes and streams of Dunstable their own.
The natives certainly manifested much skill, as well as
patience, in the production of their implements. The few that
have been preserved should be held as precious treasures by
their owners, being associated, as they are, with men who once
lighted their council-fires on the margin of the pond, and from
its vast expense of water gave it the name of Massapoag,
which appellation one of their chiefs is said to have assumed.
A son of Dunstable thus gracefully refers to the departure
of the red men from Massapoag Pond : —
LINES ON THE GREAT POND AT DUNSTABLE.
Oft have I gazed upon the scene
Where curve thy shores so brightly green,
When evening tinged the glowing west
And heaven was mirrored on thy breast.
Fairest of lakes, along thy shore
The Indian hunter strays no more ;
The white man's iron heel has crushed
His every hope ; his voice is hushed.
And yet when Luna's pearly light
Falls softly on thy waters bright,
To Fancy's eye dark forms appear.
And slowly, sadly, wander near.
Their tribes are gone ; we careless tread
Upon the graves which hold their dead ;
And where the wigwam's smoke arose
Our flocks and herds in peace repose.

68 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1^73
The dark-browed brave shall breathe no more
His tale of loVe along thy shore ;
Nor Indian maid within thy bowers
Twine in her hair the woodland flowers.
But beauty lingers round thee still, —
The wave, the shore, the wooded hill ;
And the red chieftain's name in thee
Has found an immortality. Daniel H. Jaqhes.
The Hills of the Town. — Dunstable has many beautiful
eminences, which diversify and enhance the beauty of its
scenery. Flat Rock Hill, in the northerly part of the
town; forms, with its rounded sides and wooded summit, a very
pleasing feature in the landscape. It commands a fine view
of the valley of Salmon Brook, and from its extensive granite
quarries promises to be of great value to the town. The
extensive forest on this hill abounds in partridges, rabbits,
squirrels red and gray, and here " the wild fox digs its hole
unscared." A more solitary place is seldom seen. A pile of
stone in the midst of the tangled wood of this hill still reminds
the visitor of the northern terminus of the line that once
formed the boundary between Dunstable and Groton. The
Nashua, Acton, and Boston Railroad enters the town between
this hill and Salmon Brook.
Blanchard's Hill rises, as a twin sister of the former, on
the west, and is a favorite resort for berry parties in the sum
mer season. From its summit may be seen the spires of the
churches in Hollis, Pepperell, and Londonderry. The valley,
winding along the western base of this eminence, and through
which a cool, clear trout brook makes its way, is very charming.
On the opposite or eastern side of Salmon Brook rises a
long and well-cultivated eminence, over which extends the
main road to Nashua. The southerly part is called Roby,
and the northerly part Kendall Hill. The farms and
buildings on this elevation appear from several of the adja
cent hills to great advantage. The stately elms and ample
barns attest the excellence of the land.
Directly east of this pleasant eminence is the wooded rise

1873] ^-^^ HILLS OF DUNSTABLE. 69
of land called Nutting's Hill, which has perhaps an altitude
of two hundred feet, and which affords a delightful prospect of
the surrounding country, diversified by meadow, forest, and
glade, and dotted with white farm-houses where peace and
plenty dwell.
Forest Hill is a conspicuous eminence in the southeast
angle of the town, from which a splendid view of the Tyngs
borough forests, of the Merrimack River, and of Lowell is
obtained in the east ; while towards the west and northwest
the eye ranges over the village at the centre, the distant
towns of Pepperell, Hollis, and Brookline, and rests upon the
summits of the Wachusett, the Watatick, the Grand Monad-
nock, and the Peterborough Mountains. It is the highest
point of land in Dunstable, and was made a station in the
trigonometrical survey of the State. A good road extends
nearly to the summit, and a cool spring refreshes the traveller
by the way.
Horse Hill, partly in Groton, overlooks Massapoag Pond
and the valley of Unquety Brook ; and Wall Hill, near the
preceding elevation, was divided for the railroad bed, when a
fine specimen of blue clay was brought to light which may
prove serviceable to its owners.
Hound Meadow Hill, in the northwesterly section ofthe
town, is said to have received its name from the circumstance
that when Groton was assaulted by the Indians during Philip's
War, a pack of hounds, employed by the English, pursued a
party of the savages to this eminence, on which two of them
were slain.
Slatestone Hill is a precipitous and picturesque emi
nence on the right bank of Nashua River, composed of slate
stone, and covered with a fine growth of timber.
Spectacle Hill, so named from its resemblance to a pair
of spectacles, rises in the northeast part of the town and
extends into Nashua, N. H. It is also covered with a fine
growth of timber.
Several other rounded eminences, either wooded or culti
vated, serve both to increase the scenic beauty of the town
and to furnish a variety of soil for the requirements of the

70 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
agriculturist. The valley, along which the main road to
Tyngsborough extends, is remarkably pleasant, and seems
intended for the construction of a railway. The land in the
southwestern section of the town is level or undulating.
Although the natural scenery of Dunstable cannot be con
sidered grand or' imposing, it still is very beautiful. Its
numerous hills and streams, its quiet valleys and well-culti
vated farms, with their neat and comfortable dwelling-houses,
often shaded by the elm and maple, form a landscape which
the eye contemplates with delight. So far as varied, rural,
peaceful prospects are to be regarded, few towns in Middlesex
County present more attractions to the eye than Dunstable.
One must travel long and far to discover any scene as truly
beautiful as that which charms the eye on Forest Hill.
Geology and Mineralogy. — The underlying rock is what
is called Merrimack schist. It is a gneissic formation of the
Eozoic Period. It is evidently metamorphic, having been
subjected to the agency of fire. Such rocks sometimes
exhibit traces of the lower forms of vegetable and animal
life. Several ledges afford building stone, improperly called
granite, of a good quality, which may yet prove lucrative.
There is an extensive one on Flat Rock Hill, which yields
fair returns for the labor expended. It was opened many
years ago, and from it pillars thirty feet in length have been
quarried. The grain of the stone is fine, the color a light
gray, the cleavage easy, and in quality this rock is considered
equal to any in the State. The supply is inexhaustible.
The upper surface of some of these ledges bears the marks of
glacial action. The groves or stria; run from north to south,
and indicate that some solid bodies moving in that direction
once furrowed out the lines on the face of the rock. There
is a remarkable ledge of this description on the farm of Dexter
Butterfield, where these glacial marks are distinctly seen.
The dip of the ledge is slightly towards the east, and from
the summit to the meadow below there is a perpendicular
descent of about forty feet.
In the westerly part of the town, between the Worcester
and Nashua Railroad and the Nashua River, there is a

1873] ^'^^^ ^^^ PRODUCTIONS. 71
wooded eminence of more than fifty feet in altitude, consist
ing of an extensive ledge of slatestone, which may at some
future time be quarried to advantage. A clear, cold spring
issues from the western base, over which the rock rises almost
perpendicularly. This picturesque elevation is very appropri
ately called " Slatestone Hill." Specimens of slate are also
found above the saw-mill on Unquetynasset Brook.
Bowlders, varying in form and size, are strewn in liberal
profusion over the surface of the town, having been borne
hither in remote ages by some Titanic force for some benef
icent purpose. They are used for building walls and bridges ;
also for stoning wells and cellars, with which the dwelling-
houses are amply provided. Though somewhat troublesome
to the farmer, they still, by disintegration, improve his land,
and constitute the very best material for enclosing it. One
of these huge bowlders, on the farm of the late Francis
Fletcher, has, by some tremendous agency, been rent as^mder,
and from the cleft a pure spring of water gushes forth. There
is another large cloven bowlder near the Tyngsborough line.
Good bog-iron ore is found on the farm of the late Jasper
. P. Proctor, about one half a mile southeast of the centre of
the town. About half a century ago this ore was carried to
Chelmsford and worked up to advantage. Excellent peat, and
also clay for making brick, are found in several localities. Crys
tallized quartz, conglomerate, ferruginous gneiss, and asbestos
are of common occurrence. An immense ledge, two thirds of
a mile east of the centre, furnishes several kinds of minerals,
and sea-sand of an excellent quality is found near Massapoag
Pond. A mineral spring near the margin of this lake attracted
some attention several years ago, and a hotel was erected for
the accommodation of visitors ; but the patronage was never
extensive, and the spring is now covered by the waters of the
pond. Another small spring, strongly impregnated with iron,
has lately been discovered on the margin of Sewall's Brook
just above its entrance into Massapoag Pond.
Soil and Productions. — The soil of Dunstable is in
the main a gravelly or sandy loam, with here and there an
intermixture of clay. It is in general, even to the summit of

72

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l873

the hills, productive, and well adapted to the growth of hay,
corn, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, garden vegetables, fruit and
forest trees. The number of acres in woodland is about 1,325,
and the timber growth consists of red and white oak, maple,
chestnut, walnut, white and yellow pine, gray and yellow
birch, alder and poplar. Here and there the white or canoe
birch, the black and white ash, the willow, the spruce and
hemlock, Norway pine, beach, butternut, cornus, hornbeam,
rock or sugar maple, and hackmatack occur. Apple orchards
are numerous, and the landscape is in many places beautified
by stately elms and other ornamental trees, which have been
wisely spared in clearing off the forests or planted by the
owners of the soil. The long rows of elms in the centre of
the town furnish grateful shade and give an air of rural beauty
to the quiet village.
The raeadow lands abound in cranberries ; the hills, pastures,
and roadsides, in blueberries, whortleberries, blackberries, and
grapes, whose annual gathering affords both profit and diver
sion to the young people. In the lowlands are found the side
saddle flower, the fleur-de-lis, the cardinal flower, and the blue
gentian ; the ground laurel {epigece repens) and the mountain .
laurel appear in one or \.^o localities ; while the spring beauty,
the white-weed or gowan, the aster, golden rod, and coreopsis
blossom profusely in their respective seasons.
The Inhabitants of the Town. — The people of Dun
stable are mostly farmers, occupying to a large extent the
lands laid out, and eating the fruit of the orchards planted by
the hands of their forefathers. Many families, as, for e.xample,
those bearing the narae of Cummings, Butterfield, French,
Fletcher, Blood, Kendall, Blodgett, Parker, Parkhurst, Proctor,
Woods, Woodward, and Swallow, trace their lineage back to
the original settlers, and in some instances live in the houses
which they built.
The house occupied by Mrs. Zebulon Blodgett is very
ancient. It was once the homestead of William Blodgett, who
was out in the old French War. It was once or twice, in the
absence of the men, assaulted by the Indians, who were kept
at bay by the stratagems of its female occupants. The house

1873] ^^^ HOUSES. 73
now owned by Alpheus Swallow, Esq., was built by one of his
ancestors, and prior to its being repaired had over a door the
date of 1757. A part of the house of John French, great
grandfather of Benjamin French, Esq., now forms one of his
sheds for grain. The age of Dexter Butterfield's house, built
upon the site of that once occupied by Robert Blood, is about
one hundred years. One of the oldest houses in town is that
now owned by James T. Burnap, Esq. It was built by Dea.
Joseph Fletcher about one hundred and forty years ago, and is
still in a very good condition. The house now occupied by
Nathaniel C. Kendall is more than one hundred years old. It
was built by Capt. Oliver Cummings, and long used as a
tavern. Mr. Kendall has a quarto Bible, of the date of 1 747,
and a copy of the Worcester Collection of Music, published in
1788, from which his parents learned the art of singing. He
has also two very large pewter platters which were used by
the Cummings family more than two hundred years ago, and
a small teapot used by Israel Whitney, who died at Cape
Breton in 1745.
The present citizens of Dunstable are industrious, frugal,
and temperate. They are are noted for their republican sim
plicity, well-cultivated farms, pleasant homesteads, and ample
barns. Their school-houses, highways, and bridges are kept in
good repair. The town is out of debt, and in respect to good
order, friendliness, equality, and fraternity is a most desirable
place of residence.

74 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1743

CHAPTER VL
Line between the States established. —Fjrst recorded Town-Meet
ing IN Dunstable PROPER.— Ancient Orthography. —Names OF the
Tax-Payers in 1744. — Notices of the Same. — First Innholder.
— Petition for a Fortification. — Agitation in Respect to the
SriE FOR A Meeting-House. — Vote in Respect to Groton People.
— First Mention of a Public School. — Wild Animals. — Con
troversy ON THE Location of the Meeting-House. — Order of Gen
eral Court IN Respect to Groton Families. — Erection ofthe
Meeting-House. — Accident at the Raising ofthe Frame. — Roads
LAID out.
"Every church hath power of government in and by itself, and no
church or officer hath power over one another but by way of advice or
counsel, saving that the General Court now and then overrules some
church matters." Thomas Lechford.
" Where is that glad and happy throng.
With heart elate and flashing eye,
Who sported here ? The young, the strong, —
Where are they ? Let the grave reply." D. C. COLESWORTHY.
The celebrated line between the provinces of New Hamp
shire and Massachusetts was surveyed and established by
Richard Hazen during the month of February, 1741, bringing
about two thirds of the inhabitants of the old parish into this
State, and it is presumable that town officers were that year
elected in Dunstable, Mass. ; but the few first pages of the
earliest book of records are unfortunately gone, and it is now
impossible to ascertain who were the public officers of that and
the ensuing year.
On the 8th of February, 1743, Eleazer Tyng, Joseph Eaton,
and Jonathan Taylor petitioned the General Court for permis
sion to choose town officers, since the previous selectmen had
neglected to issue a warrant for that purpose. The petition

1744] ANCIENT ORTHOGRAPHY. 75
was granted, and a town-meeting, the first recorded, was held
at the house of Ebenezer Kendall,* March 5, 1743, when the
following officers were chosen : Eleazer Tyng, moderator ;
Eleazer Tyng, John Kendall, and John Woodward, selectmen ;
John Woodward, clerk ; Abraham Kendall, treasurer ; Oliver
Farwell, constable; Thomas Chamberlain, tythingman; Andrew
Foster and Benjamin Farwell, surveyors of wood ; Jonathan
Robbins and John Woodward, Jr., field-drivers ; Joseph Davis
and Stephen Adams, fence-viewers ; Benjamin Scott and David
Taylor, hog-reeves ; and it was voted that Josiah Blodgett
" shall be a Dear Reave to preven y'= killing of Dear out of
season." At another meeting, held at the house of Simon Thompson,!
Eleazer Tyng, Ebenezer Parkhurst, and John Kendall were
chosen " to assist John Woodward, y'' Town clerk, in record
ing all y^ Town votes." It is not at all surprising, though
such aid were rendered the recorder, to find specimens of
orthography on the archives of the town indicating that the
^schoolmaster had not then been abroad ; the arduous work
demanded in the planting of a town leaves but little time or
taste for the grammar, spelling-book, or dictionary. The
church was then the principal school, the minister the in
structor, and these were steadily supported, as the next record
in the old stained and mutilated folio testifies : " March y^ 28,
1 744, voted y' Twenty Pounds in Lawful money shall be Raised
& assessed to Suporte y^ gospel among us." Eleazer Tyng,
Esq., John French, and Ebenezer Kendall were then chosen
" to treate with the Reverend Mr. Swan, & to see if any Thing
was due to him from y'= Town of Dunstabell before y' Line was
Run between y= said Province."
* His house stood a little to the northeast of the central cemetery. He peti
tioned the General Court, Feb. 8, 1743, for license to keep a tavern (Massachusetts
Archives), and was the first innholder in Dunstable, Mass.
t He Uved a:bout one mile west of what is now Tyngsborough Centre.

76

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[1744

THE NAMES OF THE TAX-PAYERS AT THIS TIME (1744), AS RECORDED
on the town book.
Timothy Bancroft.

Eleazer Tyng, Esq.
John French.
John Cummings.
Jonathan Taylor.
John Kendall.
Abraham Taylor.
Ebenezer Parkhurst.
Nathaniel Cummings.
Henry Farwell.
John Woodward.
Abraham Kendall.
Andrew Foster.
Ebenezer Proctor.
Ebenezer Butterfield.
Samuel Taylor.
Isaac Colburn.
Josiah Blodgett.
Thomas Chamberlain.
John Steel.
Oliver Colburn.
Joseph Eaton.
Robert Scott.
Adford Jaquith.
Ebenezer Kendall.
Thomas Frost.
Oliver Farwell.
Benjamin Scott.

Benjamin Farwell.
John French, Jr.
Jonathan Taylor, Jr.
Noah Tarbox.
Stephen Adams.
James Whitney.
Jonathan Robbins.
Samuel Howard.
Samuel Roby.
Thomas Estabrook.
Thomas Estabrook, Jr.
William Scott.
Robert Blood.
Moses Estabrook.
Zachariah Adams.
David Taylor.
John Woodward, Jr.
William Blanchard.
John Kendall, Jr.
Thomas Howard.
Joseph Taylor.
John Buck.
George Addison.
Thomas Adams.
Timothy Taylor.
Ephraim Adams.
Total, 54.

It may be noticed of the above-mentioned persons that, —
Eleazer Tyng, son of Hon. Jonathan and Sarah (Usher)
Tyng, was born April 3, 1690. H. C. 1712, was justice ofthe
peace, colonel of militia, and one of the most prominent men
of the town. His name appears on many deeds and other
papers of his day.
John French was the son of Lieut. William and Sarah
(Cummings) French, one of the earliest settlers of Dunstable,
and was born May 6, 1691. He lived on the homestead now
occupied by Benjamin French, Esq., and a part of his house
still remains. July 4, 17 19, Samuel, Joseph, John, Ebenezer,
and Alice French sell for ^^50 to Nathaniel Cummings one
half of a thirty-acre lot, formerly belonging to John Viall of
Boston.

1744] TAX-PAYERS. >ry
John Cummings was the son of Nathaniel Cummings, and
was born Jan. 14, 1698. He was a captain of militia, and died
Aug. IS, 1770. He gave a bond, Feb. 3, 1729, to maintain
his mother Abigail, wife of Nathaniel Cummings, which was
witnessed by Eleazer Tyng and William Butterfield.
Jonathan Taylor was descended from William Taylor,
who came from England.
Lieut. John Kendall was the son of John Kendall, of
Woburn, and was born Jan. 19, 1696. He died July 27, 1759.
He was the father of Dea. Zebedee Kendall, and grandfather
of the Hon. Amos Kendall. Several brothers of the name
of Kendall settled in Dunstable, a little south of the present
line of Nashua, N. H., about the year 1720. John Kendall
sold to Nathaniel Cummings, Dec. 14, 1739, "a Sartain peace
of meddow Land Lying in Dunstable aforesaid and in Brattles
Farm so called and on y" Weste side of Salmon Brook, half
an acre by measure." The deed was witnessed by John
Woodward and Jonathan Lovewell.
Ensign Ebenezer Parkhurst came to Dunstable from
Chelmsford subsequent to 1726, and settled on the place now
occupied by Albert L. and John A. Parkhurst, about a mile
south of the centre of the town. He died June 13, 1757, in
his fifty-eighth year. The children of Ebenezer and Sarah
Parkhurst were, i. Joseph, born Aug. 30, 1724; 2. Ebenezer,
born Jan. 20, 1728; 3. Sarah, born Feb. 21, 1730; 4. Mary,
born May 3, 1733 ; 5. Silas, born Sept. i, 1737; and 6. Joel,
born Aug. 3, 1741. John Spaulding, of Groton, sold to Eben
ezer Parkhurst, March 8, 1749, a tract of one hundred and
fifty acres of land, bounded in part by Brattle's Farm and lying
on Salmon Brook.
Henry Farwell, son of Henry Farwell, of Chelmsford,
married Esther, daughter of Capt. Joseph Blanchard, and
lived a little south of the Danforth place, in what is now
Tyngsborough. His brother Josiah, who escaped from the
ambuscade at Naticook, was killed in Capt. John Lovewell's
fight with Paugus, at Pequawket. John Bulkley sold land,
Dec. 25, 1710, to Henry Farwell on Little Naacook or
Howard's Brook. In 1721 Henry Farwell conveys "Mill-

78 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [^744
stone Meadow" to John French, and in 1745 a certain lot
of land to Joseph Danforth.
John Woodward died July 18, 1738. The family came
from Reading, and is still represented by that of James Wood
ward, of Dunstable.
Ebenezer Proctor married Elizabeth Blood, of Groton,
Nov. 25, 1735.
Ebenezer Butterfield married Alice  , and was a
member of the church in 1757. The family came from
Chelmsford. Samuel Taylor, son of Abraham Taylor, was born Oct.
I, 1708. He married Susan Perham, was chosen deacon in
1757, and died Oct. 3, 1792. His son Samuel, born Oct. 15,
1734, died at Lake George, Nov. 18, 1755. Dea. James
Taylor lived on what is now the Lowell road, about one mile
from the centre of the town. Jonathan Taylor sold land on
Brattle's Farm, in 1732, to John French.
David Taylor lived on the Wright place, and died Dec. 15,
1809, aged eighty-eight years.
Josiah Blodgett married Jemima Nutting, of Groton,
April 13, 1737, and died Feb. 9, 1792, in his eighty-fourth year.
He was a member of the church in 1757, and lived in the
vicinity of Massapoag Pond. His house was at one time a
garrison. John Steel was for some time clerk of the parish. He
lived on an eminence in the southerly part of the town, and
died Aug. 18, 1760, aged fifty-seven years. Inscribed on his
head-stone on Meeting-House Hill are the words, "The
Memory of The Just is Blist."
Robert Scott lived a little south of John Steel.
Adford Jaquith was an active citizen, an original member
of the church, and died July 16, 1 791, in the eighty-seventh
year of his age. He sold to Nathaniel Cummings, Dec. 14, 1734,
twenty acres of land "a littell westward from y= said Jaquiths
house which was on the northern side of Forest Hill." The
deed was witnessed by John Woodward and John Cummings.
Timothy Bancroft lived on the river road, a short dis
tance south of the State line. He married Elizabeth Farwell,

1744-S] FORTIFICATIONS. 70
whose brother, Lieut. Josiah Farwell, was killed in the fight at
Pequawket, on the 8t.h of May, 1725. He was born in 1709,
and died Nov. 21, 1772.
Stephen Adams was a member ofthe church in 1757.
Jonathan Robbins was born Nov. 4, 1718. His father,
Lieut. Jonathan Robbins, was killed in the Pequawket fight.
The Robbins family lived in the northwest section of the town.
Samuel Howard was born in 1684, and died Feb. 7, 1769.
He owned a large tract of land on Howard's Brook.
Samuel Roby lived about eighty rods north of John French.
Robert Blood married Sarah  , of Groton, and had
inter alios Robert, born Dec. 26, 1733, who was a member of
the church and lived near the garrison house, about a quarter
of a mile east of Meeting-House Hill.
William Blanchard was the son of Thomas and Ruth
(Adams) Blanchard, and was born in 1701. He married
Deliverance Parker, of Groton, Feb. 28, 1733-4.
As the town had no meeting-house, the people continued to
assemble at Ebenezer Kendall's tavern for the transaction of
public business. At a meeting held there May 2, 1744, it was
voted " that the Select Men with Mr. Abraham Taylor and
Mr. Tim° Bancrafte be a committee to tak Cair to hier the
Gospel to be preached among us." At a meeting held July
23, of the same year, it was voted " to except som of y'
peopell of Groton Living in y" Northeaste parte of it Called
Joynt Grass to be enexed to us." John Kendall, Joseph Eaton,
and John Woodward were then appointed to petition the
General Court " for fortifications to defend us." It appears
that two at least were then, or at a previous date, erected, one
of which stood a little to the eastward of the present home
stead of Mr. James Bennett, and the other in front of the
house of Robert Blood and near the present residence of Mr.
Dexter Butterfield. The well of the former garrison still
remains. It does not appear that the Indians made any
demonstrations against the town subsequent to this period.
On the 4th of March, 1744-5, the town voted "y' y"= Swine
shall goat Large y= year insuing''; and on the 14th of the
same month, " y' Decon Abraham Taylors Hous shall be y^
place to preach in for the Present."

3o HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. \}74^
Benjamin Butterfield, son of Joseph Butterfield who settled
on the east bank of the Merrimack River in 171 1, went to
Cape Breton under Sir WiUiam Pepperell in 1745, and after
having been appointed captain, died there in the service.
In November, 1746, the town " voted to raise 8 pounds law
ful money to pay for preach the current year " ; but to whom
that money was paid for proclaiming the glad tidings in
" Decon Taylors Hous " the records do not inform us.
At this period the " vexed question " of erecting a meeting
house began to be agitated, and it continued for several years
to disturb the peace of the people. The territory of the town
was long, extending from Dracut on the east, some ten miles
or more, to Groton on the west. The famUies, amounting in
all to fifty-four, were pretty evenly settled, if we except the
Tyng estate, over the whole surface. A new church had been
erected in 1738 on the New Hampshire side of the line, and
was partly owned by the people on this side of it. Some of
them still preferred to worship there ; others wished to buy
the New Hampshire meeting-house and remove it, — some
to the centre of the territory, some to the centre of popula
tion ; while still another party thought it best to build out
right, and to choose a disinterested committee from some of
the neighboring towns to determine the location. It is very
amusing to read the successive resolutions of the town in
respect to this troublesome question. The contest continued
almost as long as the old Trojan war. Meeting after meeting
was held, plans of the town were drawn up, appeals were made
to the General Court, and the decision of to-day was reversed
by the decision of to-morrow. In his sermon at the dedica
tion of the second meeting-house in Pepperell, the Rev. Joseph
Emerson said, with an eye to this state of things in Dun
stable, " It hath been observed that some of the hottest
contentions in this land hath been about settling of ministers
and building meeting-houses, and what is the reason } The
DevU is a great enemy to settling ministers and building meet
ing-houses ; wherefore he sets on his own children to work and
make difficulties, and to the utmost of his power stirs up the
corruptions of the children of God in some way to oppose or
obstruct so good a work."

1748] PLAN OF DUNSTABLE. 8 1
At a meeting held at the inn of Ebenezer Kendall, May
22, 1747, the town voted to raise ;^iSO to pay for the meet
ing-house in New Hampshire and the ground on which to
place it.
Some famUies in Nottingham, and in Joint Grass, petitioned
the General Court, about this time, to be annexed to Dunsta
ble. Their petition was to be granted on condition that a
meeting-house should be erected two hundred and forty-eight
rods, fifty-two degrees west of north from the northeast cor
ner of Mr. John Tyng's land ; but this location did not satisfy
the town.*
In July, 1747, the people, in a public meeting, voted to
appropriate £2^, for preaching and " to meet on y^ Sabbath at
y" house of Mr. John Woodward " ; and on the 26th of October
following they voted " to Sell or bye y^ said meeting House
and land purchased to sett it on."
The committee appointed to designate the place for the
building was opposed to a proposition to erect it " near y= end
of y^ half mOld to the Easte from y^ senter of y^ 'inhabitants."
The town voted, Sept. 8, 1748, " not to set off y' parte of this
town that was formerly Groton to Groton again." This sec
tion of the town, lying between Salmon Brook and Nashua
River, and containing the Swallow, Fletcher, Blood, Read, and
other families, was of much importance at this time, since it
determined the balance of power on the question of fixing the
site of the meeting-house towards the west
It was also voted at the same meeting " to Rais Money to
buld a Meting-house on y" Place y' was last voted for." This
vote was, however, reconsidered Oct. 20, and it was then
decided to place the house " about ten rod to y= south of
Nathaniel Jewell's house on a Knowl." This place, it seems,
had been recommended by a committee consisting of Col.
Minot, Major Lawrence, and Mr. Brewer, who had been
appointed for that purpose.
A map of the town, made by Joseph Blanchard, and bearing
date Oct. 17, 1748, was laid before the General Court, in order
* Massachusetts Archives, Vol. CXV, p. 510.

82 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l749
to show the centre of land, and also of population to that body,
and the fitting place for the location of the church. On this
plan the farms of Col. Tyng and Mr. John Tyng embrace an
area six miles and fifty-six rods in length, and one mUe wide.
Mr. Jeremiah Colburn's * house is designated as in the north
east, and Mr. Robbins's house in the northwest angle of the
town. By the northern line of the town the distance from the
Nashua to the Merrimack River is four miles, two hundred
and twenty-nine rods, and from the latter river to the line of
Dracut, three mUes and seventy-two rods.f
For the purpose of building the meeting-house the town
voted to raise ;£ioo lawful money, and also, Nov. 15, "to
buld y= said house 46 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 21 feet
studes." On the 27th of Deceraber, 1748, the town voted "to Raise
thirty Pounds old Tenor:}: for the Suporte of a school." This
is the first mention of any action respecting a school on the
records. §
It was probably what was called a "a moveing school," that
is, a school taught by the same person successively in various
private dwellings of the town. The reading-books then used
were the New England Primer, with its rude cuts of Adam
and Eve, Jonah and the Whale, and rustic rhymes, such as
" The idle fool
Is whipt at school,"
the Psalter and the New Testament. The birchen twig was
liberally applied to the offenders, and the Assembly's Cate
chism frequently repeated. It was, perhaps, in the minds of
many too often associated with the tingling of the aforesaid
twig to be of much spiritual service.
It appears that in 1749 some of the timber had been pre-
* He was a Presbyterian, and attended church at Londonderry, N. H.
t The chain for the survey was carried by Messrs. Henry Adams and Timothy
Colburn. X One ounce of silver coin, valued at ds. Sd. was, in 1749, worth 60s. in bills of
credit. Three ounces of silver at 6s. Sd. per ounce was equal to £1 lawful money.
§ In 1742 the town of Groton made provision for a school at Unquetynasset. —
Butler's History of Groton, p. 219.

1749] BOUNTY FOR WOLVES. 83
pared for the coming church ; for on the 26th of May, at a
town-meeting held at the house of Simon Thompson, it was
voted, "y' y= meting-house y' is to be bult in this town be
erected on y^ easte side of y^ Rhoad y' Leads from Mr.
Simon Thomsons to Capt. Cumings whare som of y^ timber
for said House now Lies, which place is about 40 Rods
Northwardly from Isaac Colburn."
The Court declared, June 26, that the people of Nottingham
and Joint Grass had forfeited the benefit of being incorporated
with Dunstable, and that " the meting-house should be erected
on the east side of the road from Capt. Cummings to Simon
Thompsons house where the timber lies for it." The Joint
Grass families at this time were those of John Swallow, Joseph
Spaulding, Jr., Timothy Read, Joseph Fletcher, Benjamin Rob
bins, John Spaulding, and Samuel Cummings. In July follow
ing, the Nottingham and Joint Grass people, being dissatisfied
with the place fixed upon for the church, petitioned the Court
that they might be annexed to Dunstable ; and this, probably,
in order that they might vote on the question.
Wolves were at this time very troublesome, and bears occa
sionally made their way into town ; the catamount also now
and then annoyed the people. It is related that one evening,
while Deacon Joseph Fletcher, who purchased a tract of about
six hundred acres at twelve cents per acre in the Joint Grass
district about the year 1735, was absent at the miU, his
wife Elizabeth, hearing something like the screaming of a
chUd, went to the door, and saw the eyes of a catamount
glaring at her from a tree. She fastened the door upon her
visitor, yet fearing he might gain an entrance through a win
dow, she crept into a barrel, and in that uncomfortable posi
tion spent the night.*
The town voted, in 1749, to pay \2s. 6d. to any person
from Dunstable, Groton, Littleton, Westford, Lunenburg,
Harvard, or Hollis, on condition that these towns should do
the same, "that shaU kUl any Grone Wolf within one year
within the bounds of any of these Respective towns or shall
* See The Fletcher Genealogy, p. 54.

g . HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l752
tak the tracte in any of these townes & folow it till thay kill
it where they wiU if y" hed be produced by way of evidence
& y= Ears cut off as the Law directs."
March 5, 1749-50, it was voted "to alow a town way from
David Taylors to Nathaniel Parkers" ; and in July foUowing,
;£20 were to be raised for " y= supporte of the gospell."
A committee, consisting of Eleazer Tyng, Esq., Josiah
Blodgett, Timothy Bancroft, John Kendall, Jr., and John
Woodward, was at the same time chosen "to fix a place for a
meeting-house." The town could not agree on their decision,
and at a meeting held Oct. 30, it was voted " not to buld a
meting house for y= publick worship of God." It was then,
at a meeting held at Robert Blood's house, Dec. 7, " voted
not to Joyn with y'' peopell in New Hampshire in settling the
gospeU." At the same time it was voted " to Raise money to
suporte the gospell at y^ ould meting house this winter
season." This was the church erected on the New Hamp
shire side of the line rn 1738, the people there using at this
time the church subsequently built by Jonathan Lovewell
and his associates.*
At a meeting held March 18, 175 1, at the house of Robert
Blood, a central point on the road from Joint Grass to the
Merrimack River, where the bridge now stands, it was
voted " to except a Curb way from Mr. Ebenezer Proctors to
Groton line.f The Sura of ;£i5 was appropriated for mend
ing highways and bridges, and a man was to have one shilling
per day for working thereon. At another meeting, held Dec.
19 of this year, it was voted "to set of Mr. James Colburn
with y^ land that lies between Hollis and groton from groton
Corner to Nashua River be laid to groton." It was also voted
" not to send to the Court to git Nottingham and Joynte
grass anexed to us as formerly they was."
On the 20th of May, 1752, it was voted that the meeting
house be erected " on a knowl by the Road that leads from
David taylors % to Simon Tomsons, about five or six rods
* History of tlie Old Toivnsltip of Dunstable, by Charles J. Fox, p. 149.
t lie lived on the place now occupied by Elbridge G. Chapm.an.
X He lived where George P. Wright now lives.

1753] FAMILIES FROM GROTON. 85
north where the road was lying" ; and at the next meeting,
July 6, it was voted that " Dea. Stikny, of billerica, Capt.
Nickols of Redding & Deacon Stone of groton be a Com
mittee to fix a place for a meting house."
The decision of this committee satisfied the majority of
the town in respect to the long-contested point ; for on the
2d of September it voted " to erect a meting house on the
East corner of David Taylors land," as the said committee
had determined. At the next meeting, Oct. 26, it was voted
to raise £^^ 6s. 8d. to pay for that part of the New Hamp
shire church which the committee, consisting of Col. Tyng,
Samuel Taylor, and Joseph Pike, had purchased, and for " taking
down, removing & rebuUding s? meting house." On the i8th
of December following, a committee was chosen to petition
the General Court that " those living in the northeast part of
Groton at a place called Joynt grass be ennexed to this town
of Dunstable as they formerly were."
It appears from the following record that these people were
willing, if the meeting-house were built upon a spot that
suited them, to become again citizens of Dunstable : —
"Groton, May 10, 1753. We have concluded to Joine with Dunstable
in settling the gospell and all other affairs hart & hand in case Dunstable
woud meet us in erecting a meting house in center of Lands or center of
Travel. "Joseph Spaulding, Jr.
John Swallow.
Timothy Read.
Samuel Cumings.
Joseph Parkhurst."
This proposition was accepted June 7, 1753. "The Gen
eral Court ordered that Joseph Fletcher, Joseph Spalding,
Samuel Cumings, Benjamin Robins, Timothy Read, John
Swallow, Joseph Parkhurst, & Ebenezer Parkhurst, Jr., with
their families & Estates, etc., be annexed to the town of
Dunstable, agreable to the vote of the Town of Groton on the
I Sth day of May, 1747." Thus those families became a con
stituent part of the town of Dunstable. It was finally agreed
to erect a meeting-house forty-two feet long, thirty-two feet
wide, and with posts twenty-one feet high " by y= Highway

86 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l753
Side which Leads from y= house of Mr. Temple Kendall to
Mr. Robert Bloods house."
The spot selected is a rocky knoll on the left-hand side of
the road, leading from the vUlage of Dunstable to that of
Tyngsborough, and about one mile distant from the former
place. It commands a fine prospect towards the west, with
the rounded summit of Wachuset Mountain in the distance.
The land is now covered with a heavy growth of pine, oak,
and maple tiraber, and no trace whatever of the old church
remains. The graveyard on the western slope of the hill,
" Where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep,"
alone indicates the place where the people for many years
assembled for the transaction of civil and political affairs, as
well as for the special service of the Lord.
The committee appointed to build the meeting-house con
sisted of Ebenezer Sherwin, Ebenezer Kendall, and Samuel
Cummings, and they reported to the town Dec. 24, 1753, as
follows : " We have built said house, & have erected it on y=
north side of the road that leads frora Ebenezer Butterfields
to Robert Bloods, about 34 poles from said center and have
finished it all saving the doors."
The raising of the edifice took place on the i8th of July,
1753, when we may suppose that the whole plantation was
gathered together to assist in laying the ponderous sills, in
erecting, with long spike poles, the heavy posts of oak, and in
putting the rafters into place. We cannot but suppose that,
in accordance with the custom of those days, they passed the
flowing bowl freely from lip to lip, and- that they partook
joyously of the bountiful dinner which our good great-grand
mothers on such festivals provided. But a lamentable acci
dent occurred before the " raising " was completed, which filled
every heart with anguish. When the frame was nearly up,
two men fell suddenly from a spar, and one of them, Mr.
Abiel Richardson of Groton, striking upon a rock, immediately
expired ; while the other man, more fortunate, escaped with
very severe bruises and contusions. The calamity is thus
noticed by the Boston Weekly Nezvs Letter of July 26, 1753 : —

1755] INTRODUCTION OF THE POTATO. %j
" We hear from Dunstable that a sorrowful Accident happened there as
they were raising the Frame for a New Meeting House in that Town Yes
terday was sev' night. Two Men assisting in the work fell from a spar
and one of them [Abiel Richardson of Groton] had his Brains dash'd
out, his Head in the Fall striking upon a Rock, so that he expir'd imme
diately, the other was much bruis'd, but 'tis tho't wiU recover."
The Rev. Joseph Emerson of Pepperell made at the time
this note of the accident in his journal : —
" July 19, 1753, Abiel Richardson, a man above thirty years old, assist
ing at the raising of Dunstable meetinghouse, fell, and died in a moment."
The frame was soon covered and a floor laid, so that the
house could be used for public worship, but the seats were
introduced gradually, and the structure was not completed for
several years.
A town-meeting was held in the church March 27, 1754,
and as it had now become a central point, several highways
or bridle-paths, converging towards it, were permitted to
be made. It was voted " to allow a town road from y' north
side of Capt. Cumings old orchard to the meeting house,''
also, " a Curb road from Adford Jaquiths to the meting
house," also, " a town road from Samuel Taylors to the road
that leads from Joint Grass." At a town-meeting in May fol
lowing it was voted " to build y^ two bodys of seats and to
Provide Boards for the Pulpit."
Jonathan Tyng, John Alford Tyng, and Willard Hall, Jr.,
petitioned the General Court, this year, that three hundred
acres of land in Chelmsford should be annexed to Dunstable,
and although strenuously opposed by that town, the petition
was granted.*
At a meeting held at Oliver Colburn's house, March 21,
1755, Benjkmin Farwell, Timothy Bancroft, Joseph Danforth,
and John Steel were chosen selectmen, and Ebenezer Sherwin
was elected " CuUer of Staves."
The income from the sale of this article, as well as from that
of hoop-poles, shingles, peltry, and flax, was then considerable.
The potato had just been introduced and was beginning to take
* Allen's History of Chelmsford, p. 50.

88 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l755
the place of the turnip at the table ; fish and wUd fowl were
abundant. The people spun and wove their own flax and
wool into good, serviceable cloth, which they colored with
vegetable dyes and made into garments. The women rode to
church on horseback, seated sometimes behind the men. The
tavern, the miU, and the blacksmith shop were the three sev
eral points where the men assembled for the discussion of the
questions of the day, which had reference generally to the
building of the roads, the condition of the crops, the husking
party, the last matrimonial engagement, the last wild animal
killed in town, or the singing or the sermon at the church.

1755] "^^^ FIRST PARISH OF DUNSTABLE. 89

CHAPTER VII.
The Meeting-House of the First Parish. — Formation of the Second
Parish. — Slaves in Dunstable. — Robert Blood's Sale of a Negro.
— Payment of several Ministers. — Organization of a Church
Covenant, and Names of Members. — The Settlement of the Rev.
Josiah Goodhue. — The Half- Way Covenant. — Bounds between
Dunstable and Groton. — Names of the Fifteen Highest Tax-
Payers. — Line between the First and Second Parishes. — The
Old French and Indian War. — Seating the Meeting-House. —
French Acadians. — Boundarif.s of the Second Parish. — Members
OF THE First Parish. — A Remarkable Thunder-Storm. — The
First State Census. — The Pound andthe Stocks. — A Protest of
Robert Blood and Others.
" I know no other landlord than the Lord of all the land, to whom I owe
the most sincere gratitude." Dickinson.
" Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.
How jocund did they drive their team afield !
How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke ! "
Thomas Gray.
As the location of the church on Meeting-House Hill did
not well accommodate nor please the inhabitants in the east
erly part of the town, they formed themselves into a precinct,
called the First Parish of Dunstable, and erected a small
meeting-house, with two porches and a tall steeple,* near the
spot where the Unitarian Church now stands, in Tyngsborough
Centre.f * It was blown down in the great gale of September, 1815.
t The Hon. John Pitts is credited with the authorship of these lines thereupon; —
" A very small meeting-house,
A very tall steeple ;
A very proud minister,
A queer sort of people."

90 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l755
At a meeting ofthe members of this parish, Aug. 20, I755,
it was voted "that the place for a meeting-house in this pre
cinct be on the west of Merrimack River, near Mr. James
Gordons Mills, where a fraim is erected for that purpose." It
was also voted " to accept the fraim that is Now on the spot."
It is also recorded " that John & Jonathan Tyng came into the
Meeting & gave the Precinct Glass for the meeting-house."
At a meeting of the precinct, held in 1756, Eleazer Tyng,
Simon Thompson, and Oliver Farwell were appointed a com
mittee " to sett of the pew ground to those that have given &
Pay"^ most toward building Said house." In the ensuing year
this parish raised £14 " to hire preaching."
The people ofthe westerly part of the town were also organ
ized into a precinct or parish, about the time of the erection of
their meeting-house, as the following record shows : —
" In answer to a petition presented by Ebenezer Sherwin & Ebenezer
Kendall to the Council, June 13, 1755, it was ordered that such of ye Inhab
itants of ye Town of Dunstable and their Estates situate to ye Westward
of Simon Thomson's Dwelling House to gether with their Associates
who on or before ye thirteenth day of September next shall give in their
Names to ye Secretary of ye Province with their Desires therefor signified
in Writing Be & they are Hereby ordered In to a Precinct and vested with
all ye Powers and Priveleges & subjected to all ye Duties that other Pre
cincts in this Province are by Law invested with and subjected to."
This Act received the signature of Gov. WiUiam Shirley,
June 14, 175 s, and the first meeting of this Second Parish, or
precinct, in Dunstable, as it was for a long time caUed, was
held at "y= meeting-house" on the 27th of October following,
when Ebenezer Sherwin was chosen moderator, and John
Steel, parish clerk. John Cummings, John Steel, and Joseph
Fletcher were chosen as " committeemen and assessors of said
parish." Joseph Danforth was chosen treasurer, and Benjamin
Pike, coUector. These officers were then^worn " to y= faith
ful Discharge of their Respective Trusts," and thus the Second
or West Parish of Dunstable was fairly organized, and started
on its eventful way.
As the custom was in those days, a few persons were held
in Dunstable as slaves, and the following curious paper relat
ing to the sale of one of them is stUl preserved : —

1755] COST OF THE MEETING-HOUSE. gj
Dunstable, September ye loth, 1756.
Received of Mr. John Abbott, junior of Andover, Fourteen pounds
Thirteen shillings and Two pence. It being the full value of a Negrow
Garl, Named Dinah, about five years of Age of a Healthy Sound Constitu
tion, free of any disease of Body and I Do hereby Deliver the Same Garl
to the said Abbott and Promise to Defend him in the Improvement of
hear, as his Servan forever. Witness my hand, Robert Blood.
John Kendall.
Temple Kendall.
The paper has this indorsement : —
"Oct. 28, New Stile, 1756. This day the Within Named Girl was
Five years old."
Robert Blood lived on the place now occupied by Dexter
Butterfield, and many stories are told of his peculiarities. He
is said to have called an Indian doctor to prescribe for him in
a case of sickness ; but fearing lest the medicine might con
tain poison, he administered it to his negro boy, who died
from its effects. The place of his burial is called to this
day " Negro HUl." A sheriff" once came into church to arrest
Mr. Blood, who, seeing his pursuer, raised his handkerchief to
his nose as if it were bleeding, and quietly left the meeting.
On being asked afterwards why he left the church so sud
denly, he said, " The sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." (Job i, 6.)
His wife was a noted swimmer, and frequently swam across
the Merrimack River. She was, however, drowned at last, as
it is said, among the lily-pads of Massapoag Pond.
At a meeting of the Second Parish, held Nov. 20, 1755, it
was voted that .;^20 be assessed " for y° Suport of y' Gospel
for y" present year"; also that a comraittee, consisting of
Ensign Ebenezer Parkhurst, John Steel, and Joseph Fletcher,
" search into y^ accounts of how much Preaching we have Had
in said meeting house " ; and John Steel, Samuel Taylor, and
Adforth Jaquith were appointed a committee to take a deed of
Lieut. John Kendall and Ebenezer Butterfield " of y= land y'
meeting house stands on."
At a meeting of the parish, Dec. 10, it was found that the
account for constructing the church edifice was £74. 4s. i id.,

g2 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l757
and the committee reported that " the preaching we have had
in Said Meeting house and y" Intertaining y= Ministers"
amounts to ;!£'44 is. Who these ministers were appears from
various orders of the parish. At a meeting, held March 6,
1756, the sum of £4 was "ordered out to Mr. Josiah Good
hue for preaching four sabbaths " ; and also to Ebenezer
Kendall four shiUings "for Intertaining Mr. Josiah Goodhue
one week." So, again, March 25, the parish " ordered out to
Ebenezer Kendall ^3 os. 8d. 2qrs. for money he has paid to
Mr. perry for preaching " ; also to Ebenezer Sherwin, £2 4s.
()d. which " he has paid to Mr. Joseph perry for preaching " ;
also to Abraham Kendall £4 ^s. 4^. " which he has paid to
Mr. Cotton* for preaching " ; also " to Mr. Timothy Minot
[H. C. 1747], y^ sum of Six Pounds for his Preaching six days
with us in our Meeting house'' ; also "to Mr. Holyoakf £9
i2s. for Preaching 9 days."
Of these several candidates, who received for their Sabbath
services about £1, together with their " Intertainment," Mr.
Josiah Goodhue (H. C. 1755) was the favored one ; and so at
a meeting of the parish, Sept. 23, 1756, it was voted to give
him " a call to y Work of y= Ministry with us in Tl^is Second
Precinct of y= Town of Dunstable."
Mr. Goodhue presented his acceptance of the invitation
at the meeting held March 15, 1757, under the following
conditions : —
I. That you give me ^^^120 for settlement to be paid in ye manner you
voted the settlement.
2. Fifty pounds as salary yearly, as long as I stand in ye Relation of
a pastor to this People.
3. Twenty-five cords of wood yearly Brought cord wood Length to
my Door.
4. That if Providence should order it that you should consist of
Eighty Rateable Families, then ye salary to be Si.xty Pounds. Josiah Goodhue.
March yo 15, 1757.

* This was the Rev. Josiah Cotton (H. C. 1722), who was called to settle over
the First Church in Dunstable, N. H., Nov. 27, 1758, and the day of his ordination
appointed ; but a quarrel ensuing in the parish, he fortunately did not become its
minister. t The Rev. Elizur Holyoke (H. C. 1750).

1757] CHURCH COVENANT. g^
The parish voted to comply with these conditions. On the
twelfth day of May, 1757, a church was organized, consisting
of thirty-eight members, nineteen of whom were males and
nineteen females.
The covenant, virtually the same as that of the First Church
at Plymouth, was probably drawn up by the Rev. Daniel
Emerson, of HoUis, N. H., and was formally accepted in his
presence. A CHH COVENANT, DUNSTABLE, MAY Y» la*, 1757.
Then ye underwritten Brethren solemly Covenanted before God, & one
with another by owning this Covenant before me, & accordingly were
declared a Chh of our Lord Jesus Christ, regularly incorporated pr Me
Daniel Emerson.
We whose Names are underwritten do covenant with the Lord, & one
with another & do Solemnly bind ourselves before the Lord & his People
that we will, by the Strength of Christ, walk after the Lord In all his
ways, as He hath revealed them to us in his Word.
I. We avouch the Lord Jehovah to be our God & give up ourselves with
our Children after us, in their several Generations, to be his People, &
that in the Sincerity & Truth of our Hearts.
2. We give up ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be ruled &
guided by Him in the matter of His Worship & in our whole Conversa
tion acknowledging him not only our alone Saviour, but also our King,
to rule over us, as well as our Prophet, to teach us by His Word and
Spirit : accordingly we wholly disclaim our own Righteousness in Point
of Justification, cleaving to Him for Righteousness, Life, Grace, & Glory.
3. We prorfiise by the Help of Christ to walk with our Brethren &
Sisters of the Chh in the Spirit of Love, watching over them & caring
for them, avoiding all Jealousies, Suspissions, Backbitings, Censurings,
Quarrellings, & Secret Risings of Heart against them forgiving & for
bearing, yet seasonably admonishing & restoring them with a Spirit of
Meekness, who through Infirmities have been overtaken in a Fault.
4. We will not be forward in chh Meetings to show our Gifts & Parts
in Speaking, nor endeavour to disgrace our Brethren by discovering their
Failings, but attend an orderly Call before we Speak, doing nothing to
the offence of the chh ; but in all things endeavouring our own & our
Brethrens Edification.
5. We further promise to Study how we may advance the Gospel &
Kingdom of Christ so as that we may gain them who are without, Setle
Peace among ourselves & Seek the Peace of all the chhs not puting a
StumbHng Block before any but Shunning the Appearance of Evil.
6. We promise to demean ourselves obediently in all lawful things
towards those God has or shall place over us in Chh or Common Wealth.

g4 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [^757
7. We resolve in the same Strength to approve ourselves in our par
ticular CaUings, shunning Idleness nor will we oppress any we deal with.
8. We also promise as God shall inable us to teach our Children &
Servants the good Knowledge of the Lord & to fuUfill all relative
¦Duties prescribed in Gods Word that all ours may learn to fear & Serve
the Lord ourselves, to this End we promise to keep up ye Worship of God
in our Famihes that our Houses shall be Bethels wherein ye morning &
Evening Sacrifice shall assend.
9. We do profess ourselves to be Congregational in our Judgments
& do hereby promise mutually one unto another that we will practice
on Congregational Principles which according to our understandings are
most agreable to the Directions of Gods Word ; & will take the Plat
form of Discipline tobe our Rule to go by in all matters of chh Disciphne
among us which we look on as gathered out of the Word of God &
agreeing therewithall.
Josiah Goodhue, Pastor. Hannah Kendall.
Joseph Pike. Olive Taylor.
John Kendall. Sarah Cummings.
Ebenezer Sherwin. Elizabeth Robbins.
Ebenezer Butterfield. Elizabeth Goodhue.
Samuel Taylor. Joseph Fletcher.
Josiah Blodgett. Abraham Kendall.
Ebenezer Kendall. John Cummings.
Adford Jaquith. Robert Blood.
Timothy Read. Sarah Swallow.
Stephen Adams. Elizabeth Fletcher.
Joseph Taylor. Ruth Kendall.
Samuel Cummings. Elizabeth Cummings.
Benjamin Robbins. Sarah Blood. .
John Swallow. Sarah Parkhurst.
Susannah Kendall. Mary Cummings.
Alice Butterfield. Hannah Taylor.
Susannah Taylor. Susannah Haywood.
Jemima Blodgett. Abigail Blood.
The 8th of June was fixed upon for the ordination of Mr.
Goodhue, and it may well be supposed that the people of the
West Parish were now fuU of life and excitement in making
preparations for the great occasion. New dresses had to be
purchased and made, or the old ones repaired and put into
decent order ; houses had to be cleansed, larders replenished,
supplies of rum obtained, — for in those days nothing, from a
marriage to a funeral, could be done without it, — the tunes in
the Bay Psalm Book had to be rehearsed, and the church to

1757] HALF-WAY COVENANT. 05
be put in trim for the solemn and yet gladsome services. At
a Parish meeting the day after the formation of the church, it
was agreed " that y'' gaUary floors should be Laid Down, and
y^ Breast Work put up, y"= PiUars and one pair of Stars & two
Doors and also y^ Body of Seats be Built." It was also voted
at the same time to secure land for "a Burrying Place & to
take a Deed of y' same." This sacred spot, on the westerly
slope of Meeting-House Hill, contains head-stones bearing the
names of several of the original founders of the church, and
though now covered with poplar, birch, sumac, pine, and wal
nut trees, growing rankly over blueberry-bushes, sweet-fern,
and golden-rod, still has associations and sermons for the
reflective mind, such as the voice of the living preacher cannot
bring. Mr. Goodhue, then not two years from Harvard College,
was ordained as pastor over the church on the eighth day of
June, 1757. In the records of the church, which were well
kept by him during his ministry, he says, "June y= 8* 1757,
I was Solemly Seperated to y= Work of y= Gospel Ministry
and ordained to y= Pastoral Office Over y= Chh of Christ in
y' 2^ Parish of Dunstable. The ReV^ Joseph Emerson of Pep-
periU began y= Solemn Exercises of y' Day with Prayer ;
The ReV^ Daniel Emerson Preached y'= Serraon from Luke
29* 60* Phinehas Hemenway of Townshend gave y= Charge:
And the Rev^ Daniel WUlkins of Souhegion gave The right
Hand of Fellowship."
The first baptism of an infant performed by Mr. Goodhue
was that of " Jonathan y° son of John & Sarah swaUow " ; the
first marriage, that of " Oliver Farnsworth of Townshend &
Jemima Haywood of Dunstable," which occurred Nov. 2,
1757- The Half- Way Covenant was then in vogue, admitting
persons acknowledging the " Confession of Faith " as their
belief to some of the privileges of the church, and hence the
record of an admission to the church is made in accordance
with the views of the member received in respect to this point.
Thus the first persons who united with the church after its for
mation were Thomas Adams and Ruth, his wife, who were
"admitted into fuU communion, July 3"^ 1757," while Robert

96

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[1757

Blood, Jr., and Abigail his wife " were admitted to y" Privi-
lidge of owning y" Covenant, Ocf. y" 9'"^ I757-" Much the
larger number entered the church as "full communionists."
At the second meeting of the church, July 11, 1757, it was
voted that "^40 5^-. & 4d. Old Tenor," should be used " in
procuring furniture for y" Table of y* Lord in this Place (viz.)
a Table Cloth, a Napkin, two Flaggons, two Tankerds, six
cups, three platters & likewise a Bayson for y use of y= ch''."
At the next meeting, Aug. 3, Ebenezer Sherwin was chosen
a deacon, and the first communion was held on the first Sab
bath in this month. On the 31st of March ensuing, Samuel
Taylor was chosen as the second deacon.
The bounds between Dunstable and Groton were examined
and reviewed in April, 1756, and the line then commencing at
Tyng's Corner passed on the easterly side ofthe old saw-mUl,
which stood where Cowpen Brook enters Massapoag Pond, "on
the southerly side of the road that goes by Ebenezer Proctors
in Dunstable, and terminated at a heap of stones on Flat
Rock Hill." Feb. 15, 1757, a highway was laid out from the
Province line by Joseph Danforth's barn, and thence onward
to David Taylor's house.
It appears that each member of the parish built his own pew
in the meeting-house, on a spot selected by himself, and that
those who paid the heaviest taxes were entitled to the first
choice. The names of the most fortunate were thus quaintly
recorded by John Steel, the parish clerk : —

Dunstable, October ye 21st, 1757.
An acount of y" Names of y* Fifteen Higest Payers which was to
Draw y° Pew Ground as They were voted By y' Second Parish in Dun-

stable first of all : —

Joseph Fletcher y" ist  No 8
Ebenr Parkhurst y° 2d
No 9
Samuel Taylor y" 3d .
No 13
Capt John Cumings y" 4th
No 2
John Steel y° 5th
No 15
Abraham Kendall y" 6th
No 7
Ebenr Proctor y° 7th
No 4
Lt John Kendall y" Sth
No I
Ens. John Swallow y° 9th
No 3
¦1758]

SURVEY OF THE SECOND PARISH.

97

Joseph Spaulding y° loth
Timothy Read y° nth
Ebenr Butterfield y" 12th
David Taylor y" 13th .
Josiah Blodgett y° 14th
Joseph Taylor y° 15th

No 14
No 10
No 12
No s
No 6
No II

John Steel,
Ebene Sherwin.

.!

Comtee

These Numbers annexed to their names is ye Number of each Pew
Ground as ye Comtee laid them out, and each man has chosen that Num
ber annexed after his name.
It was voted, on the 7th day of December foUowing, " to lay
out all y'= raoney ^210 I2i-. that coraes by The Pew Ground
in glass for y<= windows of said house & to putting them up &
in providing Boards for y" Pulpet."
At a meeting, March 7, 1758, the parish voted for the
church " 26 windows & 23 of sd windows Be 24 squares of
glass in Each window that the 2 gavel End windows Be 15
squairs Each & the pulpit window is Left to the Descretion of
the parish coramitte." This consisted of Ensign John SwaUow,*
Joseph Fletcher, and Abraham Kendall. Thus by degrees the
old church on Meeting-House HiU was brought towards its
completion. As the territory ofthe Second Parish was indistinctly defined,
a comraittee, consisting of Deacon Ebenezer Sherwin, Timothy
Read, and Joseph Fletcher, was chosen in April of the ensuing
year, " To petition the Great & General Cort of this Province that They will
Be pleased to appoint a Sevayor to Run a North & South Line By the
Westerdly End of Mr Simon Thomsons Dwelling House a greable to
the order of sd Honorable Cort By which this 2d parish was Errected to

* He was the first settler of the name in Dunstable, and built the house
where his descendant, Alpheus Swallows, Esq., now resides. He is buried in the
little cemetery near by, and the inscription on his headstone, ornamented with the
rude image of an angel's head, is —
" Memento mori.
Here lies the body of Ensign John Swallow who departed this life Feb. 5 1776
aged 65 years & 5 months & 21 days."
7

q8 history of DUNSTABLE. ['759
be the East Line of sd parish & that sd parish may Bound Southardly
upon the farm Belonging to Mr John Tyng that Lyeth in the Southardly
part of sd Dunstable & also Westerdly upon Groton & Northardly upon
the Province Line & that all the Lands in sd Bounds Be the 2d parish
in Dunstable. ".John Swallow, " Parish Clerk."
March 5, 1759, the town voted that ^16 should be assessed
for "y'= suport of a school, or schools," and that it should be
" a Writting school as well as a Reading school," also, that " it
should be a moveing school."
The town was well represented in the old French War, which
comraenced in 1755, and was closed by the Treaty of Paris in
1763. Ensign John Cheney and WiUiara Blodgett were at the sur
render of Louisburg to the Enghsh, July 26, 1758. Their
powder-horns are still preserved. That of Ensign John
Cheney is elaborately ornamented with birds, fishes, deer, and
the letters " F. C. W." ; it has also the incription, " John
Cheney his Horn, Cape Breton. Taken May 26, 1758." This
horn is now in the possession of Mr. Thomas F. Cheney, depot-
master in Dunstable. The horn of Williara Blodgett is now
owned by Mr. George T. Blodgett, and bears this inscription :
" William Blodget his horn, June y^ 7 1760." It is covered
with pictures of various animals, displaying the genius of the
original owner.
Col. Ebenezer Bancroft, born April i, 1738, and died Sept.
22, 1827, was an ensign in Capt. John Goffe's company in Col.
Joseph Blanchard's regiment, and served through the war.
Others in the service were Siraeon Blood, Jaraes French,
Ebenezer French, John Harwood, John Gilson, Joshua Wright,
Ephraim Butterfield, Benjamin Butterfield, Jonathan Wood
ward, the miller of Massapoag, who was at the siege of Mon
treal under Gen. Wolfe ; Thomas Woodward, who was killed in
Canada by the Indians ; John Woodward, who was also killed
during the war ; and Samuel Taylor, who died at Lake George,
Nov. 14, 1755,
Dec. II, 1759, a highway was laid out from John Steel's
house to that of Deacon Ebenezer Sherwin, " two rods wide."

1760] THE ACADIANS.

99

It was the custom in those days for the men to occupy the
seats on one side of the church, and the women those on the
other. The elders sat upon an elevated seat in front of the
pulpit, and the children and servants occupied the galleries.
A tythingman, with a long pole, kept them all in order. A
glimpse of the arrangement of the seats may be had from
a record of a public sale raade Noveraber, 1759.
" Sold to ye Highest Bidder the Two Hind Seats in the Body of Seats
in ye 2d parish Meting House the one half of ye Wimmings too hind
Seats Next To ye middle alle to Mr Ebenr Kendall for j^3 5^-. 4d. law,
the Next on the mens Side Next to ye middle alle to sd Ebenr Kendall
for £2 ijs. H-d. & then ye other Half of ye wimmings too Hind Seats
Next to the stairs To M Benja. Pike for £2 is. 4d. & then the other Half
of the mens too Hind Seats Next to ye place where the mens Stairs are
to B Built To Mr Abraham Kendall for £2 o o. " Samuel Comings,
" Vendue Master."
The parish voted, March 10, 1760, "and chose Edward Ken
daU to sweep the Meting-House and take Cair of the Cushing
& six Shillings Be his wages for the same." The selectmen
this year were Eleazer Tyng, Major John A. Tyng, and Joseph
Danforth, all of whora resided in that part of the town which
is now Tyngsborough. Temple Kendall was the " Sealer of
Lether,'' and ;^i5 were appropriated for the "suporte of
schools." John Steel, the faithful clerk of the West Parish,
died this year on the i8th of August, and was buried on Meet
ing-House Hill.
He was highly respected, and by his death the town was
called to experience a heavy loss. William H. Prentice was
chosen town clerk in 1760, and the records under his hand are
made in a better style.
In August of this year a part of a family of the Acadians, or
French Neutrals, whose melancholy fate is so touchingly told
in the " Evangehne " of H. W. Longfellow, was brought to
this town for support. The family was large, and thus divided :
Dunstable took Peter Landeree and Sarah his wife, also
Peter Landeree, Jr. ; Dracut, Mary Landeree and Elizabeth
Landeree ; while Tewksbury took Mary Magdalene and Jane

100

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1761

Landeree. It would be interesting to know the fate of this
divided househould, but on this point the records are silent.
Sorae of the Landerees were also supported by the town of
Billerica, where one of thera at least remained till about the
time ofthe Revolution.
The hues established between the neighboring towns or
parishes were guarded with jealous care, and frequently sur
veyed. On the i6th of September, 1761, the line between
Dunstable and Groton, so recently fixed by the General Court,
was " perarabulated," and it then passed from a pillar of stones
on Flat Rock HUl, southerly "near Mr. Robin's field," thence
west of Joseph Fletcher's house, thence " to Old Angle
Meadow," and so on to the mouth of Cowpen Brook, where it
enters Massapoag Pond. This left the large tract of land
called Unketynassett still in Groton.
A committee chosen to petition the General Court that the
parish be made a district, presented the following report, which
was accepted Jan. 24, 1761, by the House of Representa
tives : —
" Having herd ye parties & Considered thereon (they) are of oppinnion
that to prevent all Controversies the Bounds of Sd presink ought to be as
follows, viz., easterly on a north & south Line By the meridian running
from ye province Line By ye West End of Simon Tomsons House to
Capt John Tyngs Land & Bounded Southerly B)- Sd Tyngs Land westerly
on Groton Line & Northerly on ye Province Line, Saving that ye Land
within Sd Bounds Belonging To Eleazer Tyngs and Sd John Tyngs shall
Continue To remain to the first Parish in Dunstable; and saving also that
The Land Belonging to ye Inhabitants of sd first parish Lying adjoining
on ye west side of sd North and South Line Shall Remain to sd first
parish & that ye Lands adjoyning on ye Est Side of sd Line which Belongs
to ye Inhabitants of sd 2d parish Shall Be & Remain to ye sd 2d parish &
that a Sevayor Be appointed By this Cort to run sd Line & Erect Bounds
& monuments therein & make Report thereof."
Benjamin Lincoln, Esq., was appointed to make the survey,
and the charge therefor was to be borne equally between the
First and Second Parish.
It is interesting to observe that the acceptance of this
report is signed by the great James Otis as Speaker of the
House of Representatives.

1762] MEMBERS OF THE FIRST PARISH. jqi
At a meeting of the Second Parish, Feb. 12, 1761, Joseph
Danforth was chosen comraittee-man and an assessor " In y°
roora & sted of M" John Steel Late of Dunstable Deceased,"
and on the 29th of June ensuing the parish " Then votted &
grantted to Be assessed 1-13-0 for Col Linkon Running y°
Line Between y= Two parrishes in Dunstable. John Swallow,
Parish Clerk.'^
The town chose, Feb. 24, 1761, Capt. Jonathan Butterfield
"Deer Reef," and on May 25 it voted to raise £16 for the
support of a school, and 18^-. for not having one in 1758.
It appears that at this tirae the members of the parish had
become somewhat remiss in respect to the delivery of the
Rev. Josiah Goodhue's twenty-five cords of wood in due season,
since at the raeeting held March 2, 1762, the parish "Then
votted and chose a Com'" (Josiah Blodgett, Adford Jaquith
and Jeremiah Curaraings) to Se that M"' Goodhue have his
wood By the time above fixed (Jan' ist) or git it themselves."
The town at this period was increasing in population, and
the First Parish, or precinct, consisted of the following persons :
Eleazer Tyng. Timothy Bancroft.
John Tyng. Jonathan Butterfield.
John A. Tyng. Jonathan Farwell.
James Tyng. Joseph Winn.
Wm. H. Prentice. Eleazer Farwell.
Wm. Gordon. Benjamin Farwell.
Robert Fletcher. Simon Thompson.
Samuel Gould. Nathan Thompson.
Joseph Butterfield. Ezra Thompson.
Reuben Butterfield. Silas Thompson.
John Perham. Asa Thompson.
Joseph Perham. John Alls.
James Perham. Thomas Estabrook.
Jacob Fletcher. Thomas Estabrook, Jr.
Elijah Fletcher. Timothy Barron.
Zaccheus Spaulding. Wm. Barron.
Samuel Gould. Robert Scott.
Thomas Jewell. Jacob Read.
Benoni Jewell. John Scott.
John Ingles. Willard Hall.
Jonathan Perham. John Lewis.
Samuel Fletcher. Reuben Lewis.
John Littlehale. Archibald Robinson.
Abraham Littlehale. Joseph French, Esq.

I02

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [^7^3

Lt. John Varnum. Oliver Colburn.
Jarmes Littlehale. Ezra Colburn.
Daniel Fletcher. Joseph Ayres.
John Didson. John Haddock.
Samuel Howard. John Hahjblet.
Total, 58.
Of the above, the Butterfield, Fletcher, Gould, Colburn,
Perham, Hamblet, and Varnum families lived on the east side
of the Merrimack River, which they were obliged to cross by
raeans of a ferry-boat owned by the town. On the 4th of
February, 1755, they were prevented from voting by reason of
the high water in the river.
Although money was annually raised by the First Parish for
the support of the gospel, no minister had as yet been settled,
nor church organized. Much of the land was owned by the
Tyng faraily, and was very sparsely inhabited. The mill of
WiUiam Gordon, on Bridge Meadow? Brook, was the general
rendezvous of the people, who were at this period in a com
paratively prosperous condition.
In October, 1762, the town chose Joseph Danforth, William
Gordon, and Josiah Blodgett to show cause to the Court why
Dunstable " should not be at any charg of buUding or Repair
ing a Bridg over Concord River Billerica."
Joseph Danforth, Lemuel Perham, and Abraham KendaU
were chosen committee-men of the Second Parish, jMarch 14,
1763, and it " Then votted and chose Thaddeus Comings and
Oliver Taylor to sweep the meting House & Take Cair of 3"=
Cushing & Baptizing Bason for y"= Ensuing year and Six Shil
lings Be there wages for y'^ same." It also " Then Votted &
allowed Asa Kendalls accompt i-io-io for making y" Parish
Pew & Half one window."
In Mr. Goodhue's records of the church, it is stated, under
the date of Dec. 11, 1763, that "The man Servant & maid
Servant of Benjamin FarweU were propounded in order to
their owning the Covenant [Nov. y= 27J and admitted to y'
Priviledge, Decem. y° ii''\" Their names were Thomas and
Margaret, and they were probably held as slaves.
A thunder-storm passed over the town on the 15th of June
of this year, when hailstones fell nearly as large as a hen's egg,

1766] THE FIRST CENSUS.

103

by which the early grain was beaten down and the glass of
several windows broken.
The officers of the Second Parish for 1764 were Joseph Dan
forth, Jacob Kendall, Lemuel Perham, committee-men and
assessors. Deacon Samuel Taylor, treasurer, Edward KendaU,
collector, and John Swallow, clerk. They were sworn into
office after the customary form, as seen from the foUowing
record : —
" After Having Taken ye oath Proschribed By Law Concerning ye Bils
of ye Neighbouring Goverments was Sworn to ye Trust & faithful Dis
charg of ye Respective offices to which they were Chosen March ye 12th
1764 Before me John Swallow parish Clerk."
Joseph Fletcher was chosen a deacon of the church, Feb. 23,
1764, and at the same meeting it was voted that " Brother Abra-
hapi Kendall, Brother Josiah Blodgett and Brother Sam" Cum
ings be Queresters in y^ Congregation." These men probably
were expected " to set the tunes," — for assistance in which a
queer sort of a wooden instrument, called a pitch-pipe, was
used, — and also to lead the voices of the people in the singing.
The " lining out of the psalm " was ge^ierally done by the pas
tor or one of the deacons.
The town chose. May 27, 1765, Robert Blood and Josiah
Blodgett " to inspect the Salmon & Fishery according to law."
No dams had then been constructed on the Merrimack or
Nashua Rivers, to prevent the ascent of fish, and Salraon
Brook and Massapoag Pond were teeming with shad, salmon,
alewives, and other fish, which were of great value to the inhab
itants. The first general census of the population of the province
was taken this year, and by it Dunstable appears to have had
in all 90 dweUing-houses, 98 famiUes, 138 males above sixteen,
143 females above sixteen, and a total of 559 inhabitants, of
whom 16 were colored people, and probably held as slaves.* Of
the thirty-six towns in the county, Bedford, Dracut, Natick,
Shirley-, Stoneham, only had a smaller population.
The selectmen of 1766 were Joseph Danforth, William
* See abstract ofthe Census of Mass., i860, p. 255.

104

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1768

Gordon, owner of the saw and grist mUl near the mouth of
Bridge Meadow Brook, and Jeremiah Cumraings ; and Eben
ezer French was the " Deer Reef." £8 were voted this year
for public schools.
A special meeting of the Second Parish was held June 30,
when it was voted to build a pulpit, for which £4 12s. had
been contributed, and £4 were raised by the parish. Deacon
Samuel Taylor, Ensign John Swallow, and Mr. Robert Blood
were chosen to " Carry on y= work," and it was voted that
" They BuUd the pulpit Like that in PeprU meting House,"
and " as Desent as they Could for y^ money subscribed &
voted to be raised."
There seems to have been some misunderstanding in regard
to this sacred desk, for on the 9th of March, 1767, the parish
" Voted Not to Build a Pulpit," so that for some time longer
the Rev. Mr. Goodhue was obliged to dispense the gospel from
the rude platform erected soon after the raising of the meeting
house. The town voted, on the 25 th of May of this year, "to Raise
& assest £%,6 2s. for ths use of a school. Repairing the pound.
Building one pair of Stocks & other Town charges." The
pound in the west part stood and still stands beside the road
from Dunstable Centre to Tyngsborough Centre, a little east
ward of the homestead of Dexter Butterfield. The stocks;
sometimes called the " cage," stood in the vicinity of the
respective churches, and the whipping-post hard by them ;
but I find no record of such an instrument on the books of the
town or parish.
In accordance with the custom of the times, the Second
Parish chose, April 21, 1768, Deacon Samuel Taylor, Benja
min Woodward, and Robert Blood a committee " to seat this
meeting house and that the Highest Payers in the Last years
Tax on the Reail and Personal Estate to be the Rule to Seat
S"^ house By and farther that thay have No Regard to the
Proprietors of the Pews in S'^ house in seating the meeting
house." It was voted also to have regard to age in seating
the meeting-house, also " to Peticion to the Great and Genrel
Court to Be maid a Destrect."

1768] ^ PROTEST. 105
To the action of this meeting in 'respect to one article,
Robert Blood, Benj. Pike, Josiah Blodgett, and Lemuel Perhara
presented severally a protest. Among the reasons assigned
by the latter, one is, " Because thay voted that M'' Joseph Pike
Should Sett in the fore seat when thire was Nothing in the
Warrant thire."
The desire of occupying the first seats in the synagogue
seems to have been as strong as in the days of the Scribes and
the Pharisees. Does not a little of that spirit, in some of our
churches, linger still ?

I06 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1768

CHAPTER VIII.
Beginning of the American Revolution. — First Action of the Town
respecting it. — The Town divided into School Districts. — The
Rev. Josiah Goodhue dismissed. — His Character. — Committee of
Inspf.ction. — A Patriotic Pledge.— Minute Men. — Battle of
Bunker Hill. — Heroic Action of Jonas and William French.—
Members of Capt. Oliver Cummings's Company. — Of the Alarm List.
— List OF the Training Band, 1776. — The Alarm List. — Najies of
Those in the Army. — A Spirited Resolution. — Letters from James
Cummings. — a Warrant of Capt. Oliver Cummings. — Tories. —
Warrant for a Draft of Men. — Foreigners hired. —Enlistments. —
Activity and Expenses of the Second Parish in hiring and paying
Soldiers. — List of Men engaged in the Service and their Pay.
" Every settler's hearth was a school of independence ; the scholars
were apt, and the lessons sunk deeply ; and thus it came that our country
was always free." Francis W. P. Greenwood.
" They left the ploughshare in the mould,
Their flocks and herds without a fold,
The sickle in the unshorn grain,
The corn half garnered on the plain,
And mustered in their simple dress.
For wrongs to seek a stern redress.
To right those wrongs, come weal, come woe,
To perish, or o'ercome their foe." I. McLellan, Jr.
The town voted in 1768 "to buUd the bridge with stone
over Biscake Brook." WiUiam Henry Prentice and Jonathan
Holden were to assist John Perham,* the surveyor of high-
* He was probably the son of Joseph Perham, born in Chelmsford, Oct. 22,
1669, who purchased land and settled near Joseph Butterfield on the east side of
the Merrimack River in 17 11. He married Dorothy Kidder, and had eleven
children, one of whom, born in 1716, was named John. His neighbor, Lieut. Joseph
Butterfield, came also from Chelmsford, where he was born June 6, 16S0, and
lived in a garrison house, built on land purchased of Samuel Scarlett. His sons
bore the names of Joseph, Benjamin, and Reuben. One of his daughters married
a Hogg, who subsequently had his name changed to Moore, but this only made
thc matter worse, for he was then called " More Hog."

1768] THE REVOLUTION. I07
ways, in its execution. This brook is the little stream that
enters the Merrimack River near the depot at Tyngsborough
Centre. But matters of higher moment now began to engross the
attention of the people. The repeated acts of British aggres
sion on the rights of the American colonies had become insup
portable, and Massachusetts issued a circular on the 28th of
February of this year, asking the co-operation of the assem -
blies in opposing the obnoxious measures of Parhament. The
principles of civil hberty, long germinating in the breasts of
the people, were now to come into collision with the arbitrary
and unjust decisions of the British ministry.
To quell the popular demonstrations, Gen. Thomas Gage,
with seven hundred soldiers, entered Boston on the twenty-
eighth day of September, when it soon became evident that
" armed oppression raust be raet by arraed resistance."
In the tremendous struggle which ensued, Dunstable was
true to the cause of liberty, and freely shed its best blood in
the defence of those " inalienable rights " which form the solid
basis of the temple of our national freedom. The first recorded
act of the town in the impending crisis was " to choose the
Hon. John Tyng, Esq.,* to act for them at Boston on the
twenty-second day of September, 1768, in convention with
such as may be sent to join him from the several Towns in this
Province, in order that such measures may be consulted &
advised as his majesty's service and the peace and safety of his
subjects in the Province may require." Ninety-eight towns sent
delegates to this convention, which was called by the select
men of Boston " to deliberate on constitutional measures and
to obtain redress of their grievances," in consequence of the
dissolution of the General Court by the order of Gov. Francis
Bernard. In November following (the 28th) the town voted ;!^20 for
* Son of Major John Tyng, who was mortally wounded by the Indians between
Groton and Concord, and carried to the latter place, where he died in 1711. He
was born in 1700, and died in 1797. He marriecbMary Wardwell, of Boston.
Their daughter Mary, born in 1739, married the Hon. John Pitts, and died in
1781.

I08 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [i772
the use of a school ; and also " to provide a sufficient quan
tity of ammunition for a town stock." This latter vote was
significant. In 1769 the town chose five instead of three selectmen.
They were Joseph Danforth, Abraham Kendall, Joseph Fletch
er, Ebenezer Bancroft, and Joel Parkhurst, aU men of genuine
patriotism and sterling woith. The sum of £6 los. was ap
propriated to the purchase of aramunition and ^20, for the
use of a school ; three shiUings were allowed for a day's work.
Ezra Blood and his wife Eunice, also Josiah, Sarah, Ezra, and
Hannah Blood, came in September frora Mason, N. H., to reside
in Dunstable.
On the 15th of August, 1770, the town was called to mourn
the loss of Capt. John Cummings, who had held many public
offices, and who died " in y" 75 year of his age." The assess
ment of the Second Parish this year was £c, i 8d. 2qrs., together
with 25 cords of wood for the minister, at 4^-. per cord.
John Kendall and Amaziah Swallow were chosen " to repair
y'^ pound."
The Boston massacre, March 5, taxation without represen
tation, pledges against the use of tea and foreign manufactures^
forraed the leading topics of conversation in the tavern, shops,
and homes of Dunstable, and the old firelocks used in the
French War, a few of which remain to this day, were quietly
put into effective order.
March 4, 1771, Joseph Danforth was chosen town clerk, and
the selectmen then elected were Ebenezer Bancroft, Joel Park
hurst, Jonathan Fletcher, Benjamin Woodward, and Nathaniel
Holden. Ebenezer French was chosen deer reeve, and .£24
were appropriated for educational and other purposes.
In 1772 Nathaniel Balston, of Boston, sold to John Tyng, Esq.,
of Dunstable, three hundred and fifty acres of land, bounded
easterly by Brattle's farra, southerly by Tyng's farm, westerly
by Massapoag Pond, and northerly by land formerly owned by
Edward Cowell. Thomas Cooper, of Fort Pownal, quitclaimed
the land. Ebenezer Nutting, his wife and four children, came
to reside in town, Dec. 25, frora Groton. Even to that date
people had to obtain permission to settle in the town.

1774] ^-^^ ^^^- JOSIAH GOODHUE. 109
In the same year the town voted ^84 for educational and
other purposes. In 1773 the town appropriated ;£20 for a
school. It laid out a " town way, two rods wide," from " the
Provence line," coramencing north of John Kendall's house,
and running by Temple Kendall's house "to the road that was
laid out by said Kendalls and Sarauel Taylors house." It
appears that there was a growing disaffection towards the Rev.
Mr. Goodhue, but for what reason the records do not state.
Some ofthe members of the parish declined to pay their rates,
and the twenty-five cords of wood were not promptly piled up
at his door. Contention and ill will so far prevailed that the
parish voted, March 8, 1773, not to be assessed for his salary,
either in money or in wood, for that or the preceding year;
and on the 28th of September following, it voted " to Dismis
the Reverend Josiah Goodhue from any Relation that he
Standeth in to this Second Parish in the Town of Dunstable."
The pastor was determined to have his dues, and so on the
eleventh day of August, 1774, issued a writ against the parish
for ^175 in lawful money, and eighty-seven and a half cords
of wood, ofthe value, says the writ, " of £21 ijs. 6d. of Like
Money for three Years and an half a Year Salary ending the
15th day of March last." By a mutual council, consisting of
seven churches, convened Sept. 28, 1774, the pastoral relation
between Mr. Goodhue and the church was dissolved, " not frora '
any particular dislike to hira, but from a consideration of the
unhappy prospect before him, if he should still continue their
minister." The council aver that they " can heartily recom
mend him as a person of conspicuous seriousness & piety, and
as one whom they judge qualified to do service in the ministry."
The councU also recomraended to the church and parish,
"that whereas they have been broken to pieces by unhappy
contentions, they raay for the future be united together in love
and friendship."
During his pastorate of seventeen years, sixty-five persons
were admitted to the church, and he seems to have left for the
simple reason that the people, as one said, " were tired of hira."
WhUe in Dunstable, he resided in a house near that of Adford
Jaquith, at the northern base of Forest Hill. The arrearages

no

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l774

in Mr Goodhue's salary were subsequently paid. He was
afterwards settled and died in Putney, Vt. In the sermon
preached at his funeral, Nov. i6, I797, the Rev. WUham WeUs
said of him : —
" I believe you will all join with me in asserting piety to
God and benevolence to man were leading features of his char
acter. The great object of his life was to be useful in his
station as a minister of the gospel of Christ, and exemphfy in
his own conduct and teraper those virtues and graces which,
with the greatest sincerity, he recommended to others. His end,
like that of the godly raan's, was peace, being not only resigned
at the prospect of his dissolution, but desirous to depart and be
with Christ." *
Mr. Goodhue was married to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of
Deacon Joseph and Elizabeth (Underwood) Fletcher, July 28,
1757. She died Oct. 22, 1793. Their chUdren were, i. Josiah,
who became an eminent surgeon. 2. Joseph, who was also a
surgeon, and twenty-one years in the United States service.
3. Ebenezer, who was deacon of a church in Westminster, Vt.
4. Eliza, who married Peter Aikin, of Windham, Vt 5. Samuel
B. And 6. Nathaniel, who was by profession a lawyer.
There was an article in the warrant for a town meeting, in
1774, to build a school-house, but the town voted not to do it.
This is the first reference to such a buUding on the records.
The prospect of a war with the mother country probably pre
vented the town from incurring the expense. In April of the
ensuing year. Deacon Joseph Fletcher, Josiah Blodgett, Temple
Kendall, James Tyng, Esq.,t Captain Joseph Butterfield, Wil
liam Gordon, and Ebenezer Bancroft were chosen " to divide
the town into districts for schooling "
By the action of the first Provincial Congress, which, in
October, 1774, created a committee of safety, and provided
that a fourth part of the enrolled militia should, as " minute
men," be held in readiness for iraraedlate service, it became
apparent that a collision between the American and British
* Dunstable Church Records, p. 71.
t Youngest son of Eleazer Tyng, and born March 6, 1731. He held many
public offices.

1775] COMMITTEE OF INSPECTION. m
forces was impending, and Dunstable, with patriotic resolution,
hastened to make preparation to assist as far as possible in the
comraon cause of freedora.
On the 23d of January, 1775, it chose John Tyng and James
Tyng as representatives to the Provincial Congress to be held
at Cambridge, and on the ist of February ensuing, it appointed
those two gentlemen, together with Joseph Danforth,* Nathan
iel Holden, William Gordon, Joel Parkhurst, Reuben Butter
field, Jacob Butterfield, and Leonard Butterfield, as a com
mittee of inspection to " carry into execution in the Town of
Dunstable the agreement and association of the late respected
Continental Congress."
* Lieut Joseph Danforth, born 1720 and died 1795, was a son of the Hon.
Samuel Danforth, grandson of Jonathan and Rebecca (Parker) Danforth, and
great-grandson of Jonathan Danforth, of Billerica, the noted land surveyor. Lieut.
Joseph Danforth married Mary Richardson and had eight children. His son, Josiah
Danforth, was the father of Capt. Joseph Danforth, and grandfather of the pres
ent Capt. Joseph Danforth, born Aug. 9, 1805, who occupies the old homestead
in a pleasant locality, a little south of the State line, and on Howard's Brook.
A part of the Danforth estate is thus described : " Whereas, the Town of Dun
stable granted unto Peter Bennett a thirty acre House Lot, which was laid out
unto him next adjoyning to the lot laid out for the minister and afterwards the sd
Peter did resign up and relinquish his Right in the sd Lot with the appurtenances
and by Consent took his allotment in another part of the said Township so yt the
sd Thirty acre house lot was granted unto Thos Wheler and by him sold to Joseph
Wheeler and by him the sd Joseph conveyed to John Hayward with three acres
of Second Division land adjoyning, which Said Lot and addition is butted and
Bounded northeasterly partly by Meremack river & partly by the land of Joseph
Wheler Southerly by the land of Capt Thos Brattle Northwesterly by the lot
laid out for the minister in the sd Township and southeasterly by the Land o-
Joseph Wheler  Also So acres of Second Division land being bounded north.
west and west by Common Land Easterlv by the Land of Joseph Wheeler south
erly by the Brook that runs from Seven Star Medow also one acre of medow on
the other side of the sd Brook & one acre more on the sd Brook about 30 rods
Distant also two acres of medow beyond Buck Medow — Wee whose names are
here underwritten Being appointed a Comittee for the Laying out of lots in the
Township of Dunstable are prive to this Concern & have managed the same by
Vertue of the power Granted to us and is Confirmed to the Sd Hayward at a
Town meeting the 5th of October 1680 at which time this return was ordered to
be recorded in the records of Sd Town. "James Parker.
Robert Paris.
" A True Copy Attest
pr Joseph French
Proprs Clark."

112 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [f775
The following pledge evinces the patriotic spirit of the peo
ple in the very commencement of the tremendous struggle : —
" We the subscribers taking into our consideration the present difficulty,
do hereby voluntarily engage with each other in defence of our country,
Priveledges and Libertys for the space of six months from this date ; that
we will submit ourselves to the Laws equally the same as if they were in
full force respecting our officers that now are, or hereafter may be chosen
in all Military Duty. — Dunstable, March ist, 1775.
" Edward Butterfield. Samuel Roby.
Nathaniel Holden. Eleazer French.
Lemuel Perham. Philip Butterfield.
George Bishop. Jeralmeel Colburn.
Ebenezer French. Wm. French.
Jonathan Bancroft. Jonathan Sherwi.v.
John Cha.\ey. John Manning.
V Reuben Lewis. Jacob Davis.
John Cumings. Jesse Buiterfield.
John French. Hezekiah Kendall.
Zebedee Kendall. Henry Sheppard.
Joseph Farrar. William Glenne.
John Marsh. Jonathan Woodward.
John Cockle. Thomas Trowbridge."
Total, 28.
The above valuable paper belongs to Dexter Butterfield.
On the 4th of April, 1775, the town voted " to have menite
men agreeable to the desire of the provincial Congress," and
on the 1 2th ofthe same month it voted to assess ;£20 for "y=
encouragement & use of y° minute men" ; and they were " re
quired to hold themselves in readiness to march at the first
notice." * This notice was not long in coming ; nor did it
find the Dunstable soldiers unprepared, since many of them
had seen hard service in the old French W^ar, and a weekly
drill had long been held. Late on the 19th of April, the start-
* " These minute men were trained often, the towns paying the expense, when
the company, after its field exercises, would sometimes repair to the meeting
house to hear a patriotic sermon, or partake of an entertainment at the Town
House, where zealous ' Sons of Liberty ' would exhort them to prepare to fight
bravely for God and their country." — Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 42.
" Lord Percy said at table he never saw anything equal to the intrepidity of the
New England minute men." — Rciiuinbraiiccr, Vol. I, iii. They were of all
classes, and it was held as a marked distinction to be chosen as an ofiicer in a
company.

1775] BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. II3
ling news arrived that blood had been shed at Lexington and
Concord ; but the affair was finished before the men from
Dunstable had time to reach the scene of action. It is said
that whUe the battle of Bunker Hill was raging a stranger
called at the house of Mrs. Jonathan Woodward near " The
Gulf," and asked for something to eat. " WhUe partaking of
her hospitality he began to berate Americans, and, boasting of
the success of the British, declared that all would be subjects
of King George, to whom they rightly belonged. Incensed at
his insolence, she opened the door and commanded him to leave
the house, which he refused to do, saying he would go when he
was ready. She then seized a chair, knocked him down, and
dragged him out of the house, convincing him, no doubt, of
one woman's courage, and devotion to the country." * Eight
days after the battle the town assembled, and " voted to accept
of y^ Powder James Tyng, Esq., bought for this town."
Abel Spaulding, Lemuel Perham, Elijah Fletcher, and Asa
Kendall were chosen to join the Committee of Correspondencef
on the 1 2th of June ; and at the same meeting Joel Parkhurst,
a man of pure patriotism, was chosen to represent the town
in the Continental Congress at Watertown, instead of John
Tyng, whose health was impaired, and James Tyng who " had
a multiplicity of business." This was the time that tried
men's souls. Five days afterwards the Dunstable company,
composed of fifty men, forming a part of the Massachusetts
regiment, under the command of Col. Ebenezer Bridge, com
missioned at BUlerica, May 27, was present, and participated
in the memorable action of Bunker HiU. Ebenezer Bancroft
was captain, Nathaniel Holden, lieutenant, and Samuel Brown,
ensign. Col. Bridge was sent forward on the evening of the
i6th of June with a part of his regiment, embracing Capt.
Bancroft's company, to throw up the entrenchment on the hUl,

* Tyngsborough Centennial Record.
t The Committee of Correspondence was called the mainspring of the Revo
lutionary movement. It published from time to time the news of home and
abroad in hand-bills, and, in concert with the selectmen and parish committees,
took counsel in respect to the enemy, and supervision of all local matters per
taining to the war.

I,, HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1775
and after toiling through the night upon the redoubt, awaited
for the advance of the British squadrons. During the san
guinary contest that ensued, the company from Dunstable
evinced all the valor of veteran soldiers, as many of them
indeed were, and it was only after their ammunition was ex
hausted that they left the field. Capt Bancroft was severely
wounded.* Eleazer French had an arm shot off during the
action, and picking it up, bore it as a trophy from the bloody
field. His brother, Sarauel French, had a baU shot through
his right ear. Jonathan French, another brother, was in the
battle. Williara French and Jonas French, two brothers of
another faraily, did good service on that eventful day. The
forraer discharged his gun with deliberate aim, as at a pigeon,
sixteen times. He was a shoemaker by trade, served through
"the war, and died in Dunstable at an advanced age. From his
sobriety and uprightness he was called " Deacon WiUiam."
At the close of the battle these two brothers left the hiU
together, and on crossing "the Neck" under the fire of the
" Glasgow " man-of-war, they discovered an officer very severely
wounded, and tendered hira assistance. " I cannot live," he
said. " Take care of yourselves." They, however, raised him
to their shoulders and bore him through the havoc to a place
of safety. It proved to be Capt. Henry Farwell, of Groton.f
Mr. Ebenezer French was also at the battle of Bunker Hill.
He was the grandfather of Benjamin French, Esq., who has now
in his possession the bullet-moulds (which are of brass and will
* Capt. Bancroft fought nobly in the redoubt, and was wounded {Siege of Bos
ton, p. 177), and was the last to leave the redoubt. He used a musket in the melee,
and, being a man of remarkable strength, knocked down several British soldiers
after they had surrounded him. He had been an officer in the French War, and
had learned how to fight in earnest. Before he left the field his musket was
wrenched from his h.Tnds, his hat knocked from his head, and the forefinger of
his right-hand shot off. It is a marvel he was not killed. He said of Col.
WiHiam Prescott, commander-in-chief in this battle, and of whose intrepidity
he was an eye-witness, " He continued through the hottest of the fight to display
admirable coolness, and a self-possession that would do honor to the greatest
hero of any age. He gave his orders deliberately, and how efiectually they were
obeyed I need not tell." [Siege of Boston, p. 158.) He was made a lieutenant-
colonel in 17S0, and served through most of the war.
t Butler's History of Groton, p. 268.

1776] BLANKETS FOR THE SOLDIERS. 115
form twenty-four bullets of different sizes at one casting), the
camp-kettle, and musket of this brave soldier. He died April
14, 1808, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. Some of the
Dunstable men were in Capt. John Ford's company of Chelms
ford. They reached the field just before the action began, and
fought with great bravery. Oliver Cummings, soon after made
captain, was, by reason of sickness, not present at the battle.
While Isaac Wright was sitting exhausted on a bank in front
of a house in Charlestown, a cannon-ball came rolling along so
near him that he could have touched it with his foot, and on
being asked why he did not stop it, he said, " I then should
have returned home with only one leg." He was one of the
first to enlist for the war.
During the siege of Boston many of its inhabitants repaired
to the other towns in the State in order to avoid the ill treat
ment of the hostUe troops, and several of them came to Dun
stable, where, as it appears from the following vote, they were
kindly entertained : —
Nov. 20, 1775, voted that "ye Poor & Indigent inhabitants of the town
of Boston which are now in this town be supported with y^ provisions of
this town so long as it could be procured in Sd town therefor."
It was represented to the General Court, May i, 1775, that
there were about 5,000 indigent people in Boston, then in pos
session of the British, unable to meet the expense of removing
themselves from the town. The Court, therefore, resolved that
the towns in the vicinity should do this, and also " provide for
such inhabitants in the best & most prudent way." The expense
was to be met by the public treasury. Fifty-four poor persons
from Boston were assigned to Billerica, and probably about
forty to Dunstable. They brought with them this certificate :
" The bearer  and his family, removing out of the town
of Boston, are recommended to the charity and assistance
of our sympathizing brethren in the several towns in this
province." It was ordered by the General Court, Jan. 4, 1776, that four
thousand blankets should be provided by the respective towns
for the soldiers in the army, and paid for out of the public

ii6

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[1776

treasury. About one dozen of them were furnished by Dun
stable. On the 4th of March, 1776, Capt. Ebenezer Bancroft, Capt.
Reuben Butterfield, Jonathan Fletcher, Nathaniel Holden, and
Asa Kendall were chosen a Committee of Correspondence, and
on the 31st of May foUowing, Oliver Cummings was commis
sioned captain of the Dunstable company in the regiment of
militia of which Simeon Spaulding was the colonel. The com
pany consisted of the foUowing men : —
ROLL OF CAPT. OLIVER CUMMINGS'S COMPANY.

Oliver Cumings, Capt.
Temple Kendall, Lt.
Joel Parkhurst, Lt.
Amaziah Swallow.
Josiah Blodgett, Jr.
Jona'n Fletcher.
Ebenr French.
Abel Spaulding.
Jonas Taylor.
Simeon Cumings.
Jonas Butterfield.
Joseph Spaulding, Drummer.*
Oliver Cumings, Jr., Fifer.
Ebenr Butterfield, Jr.
Jesse Butterfield.
Phillip Butterfield.
Zebulon Blodgett.
Eliphalet Bailey.
Jacob Baldwin.
John Cumings.
James Cumings.
Jesse Dutton.
Josiah Danforth.
Robert Dunn.
Phinehas Fletcher.
Saml French.

Jonas French.
Aaron Farmer.
Benj Jaquith.
Jacob Kendall.
Zebedee Kendall.
Moses Hardy.
John Perham.
Joseph Parkhurst, Jr.
John Proctor.
Jona'n Proctor.
Gershom Proctor.
Benj. Pike, Jr.
Eleazer Read.
Elijah Robbins.
Benj. Swallow.
Peter Swallow.
Oliver Taylor.
Isaac Taylor.
Saml Taylor, Jr.
Jonathan Tenny.
JoN.\THAN Woodward.
Isaac Wright.
Solomon Sartle.
Oliver Green.
Edward Dunn.
Ebenr Parkhurst.

* The fife, the drum, and the trumpet were the only musical instruments then
used in the Continental army. The tunes usually played were " Yankee Doodle "
and the " Road to Boston." The tune of " Chester," by William Billings, was
sometimes heard in the camp, and before the close of the war several new
marches were introduced. Military bands were not formed in this country until
about the commencement of the present century. They were, in some instances,
taught by the Hessians, who settled here after the war w.-is over.

I77<5] ROLL OF TRAINING BAND. II7
John Marsh. James Tarbox.
Jona French. Wm. French.
The Alarm List.
Capt. Leonard Butterfield. Timothy Read.
Lt. Joseph Danforth. Lt. Lemuel Perham.
Lt. Saml. Brown. Jos. Parkhurst.
John Kendall. Timothy Read, Jr.
Benj. Pike. Thos. Fletcher.
Benj. Woodward. Edward Dunn.
Edward Kendall. Parret Tinney.
David Taylor. Lt. John Cheney.
Each soldier was provided with a fire-arm, bayonet, cutting-
sword or hatchet, cartridge-box, from fifteen to one hundred
pounds of buckshot, jackknife, powder, from fifteen to one hun
dred pounds of balls, six flints, a knapsack, blanket, and can
teen. The muskets were long and heavy, and very inferior
instruments in comparison with the effective needle-guns of the
present day. The knapsack was made, in some instances, of
strong tow cloth. Josiah T. Cummings, born 1801, has now
in his possession the knapsack used by his father, Capt. Josiah
Cummings, during the Revolution. The ammunition was
stored in the loft of the meeting-house, and the place of
rendezvous for the minute-men was at the house of Asa
Kendall, which was subsequently owned by Dr. Adonijah W.
Howe. The above list of names, in the handwriting of Capt. Oliver
Cummings, is without date, and may have been written at
about this period of the war, as the following list, on the back
of which is inscribed, "Dunstable June the 25"^, 1776, Joel
Parkhurst to goodness & marcy," would seem to indicate.
LIST OF Y" TRAINING BAND. DUNSTABLE, JUNE 25, 1776.
Sergants ^
Asa Kendall. Amaziah Swallow.
Ebenezer French.
Corporals.
Abel Spaulding. Jonas Taylor.
Simeon Cumings. Jonas Butterfield.

ii8

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[1776

Drummer.
Joseph Spaulding.
Fifer.
Oliver Cumings, Jr.

Ebenezer Butterfield, Jr.
Jesse Butterfield.
John Blodgett.
Zebulon Blodgett.
Philip Butterfield.
Eliphalet Baley.
John Cumings.
James Cumings.
Robert Dunn.
Jesse Dutton.
Josiah Danforth.
Daniel Emerson.
Thomas Fletcher.
Joseph Fletcher, Jr.
Phinehas Fletcher.
Aaron Farmer.
Moses Harde,
Benj. Jaquith.
Jacob Kendall.

Abraham Kendall, Jr.
Zebedee Kendall.
John Marsh.
John Proctor.
Jonathan Proctor.
Gersham Proctor.
John Perham.
Joseph Parkhurst, Jr.
Timothy Read, Jr.
Elijah Robins.
Eleazer Read.
Benj. Swallow.
Peter Swallow.
Lemuel Scott.
Oliver Taylor.
Isaac Taylor.
Saml. Taylor, Jr.
Jona. Woodward.

The names that follow are inserted and erased : -

Samuel Butterfield.
Moses Chandler.
Edward Dunn.
Edward Dunn, Jr.
Jonathan Emerson.
Jonathan French.
C. Leonard Butterfield,
Lt. Joseph Danforth.
D. Joseph Fletcher.
Mr. Josiah Goodhue.
Adford Jaquith [erased].
Abraham Kendall.
John Kendall.
Lt. Lemuel Perham.
Joseph Parkhurst.
Lt. Samuel Brown.
William French.
Jonas French.
Jonathan French.
Samuel French.

Oliver Green.
Saml. French, Jr.
Edward Kendall.
Benj. Pike, Jr.
Benj. Woodward.
The Alarm List.
Benj. Pike.
Timothy Read.
David Taylor.
Benj. Woodward.
Edward Kendall.
Edward Dunn.
Jacob Kendall.
Benj. Swallo\\'.
In the Army. Enoch Jewett.
Benjamin Taylor.
Abraham Taylor.
John Brown.

1776] LET'TERS EEC'S! THE ARMY. ug
At a meeting of citizens of the town, June 8, 1776, Major
Ebenezer Bancroft, Capt. Reuben Butterfield, and Mr. Timo
thy Read were chosen " a committee to prepare y'= Draft of a
vote," which is as follows : —
" At a time when ye most Important Questions that ever were agitated
before ye representative body of this Colony touching its liberties & priv
eleges will demand your attention as we your constituents are called upon
to instruct you in a very important point of duty you may be called to act
upon viz of ye Colony being declared to be independent of Grate Britton.
When we reflect upon ye state of America when our forefathers first came
over & ye cause for which they came & the treatment of Grate Brittan
towards us ever since, but especially of late when our most humble peti
tions to ye king of Grate Brittan for our just rights repeatedly rejected
with disdain & fier and sword taking place upon our brethren of this land.
He and his parliament not only deceiving ye people of Grate Brittan at
tempting to hire ye natives of this land to butcher us & for what we know
hath hired all ye covetous blood thirsty souls upon ye face of ye whole earth
to come against us in order to rob us of life and fortune ye contemplation of
which fills our brests with abhorrence and disdain against ye power that
is thus acting. We then will join with our brethren of America in pur
suing such measures as the honorable the Continental Congress shall
adopt if it is that of Independence of Grate Brittan & will risk life and
fortune in ye cause if called to it, we then sir expect you will equip your
self as a member of society & will use your utmost endeavours in pro
moting ye cause of America not in ye least doubting your abilities.
" Ye above being red to ye town ye question being put whether ye same
be given as above to ye present representative of this town passed in the
affirmative nein. con. " Josiah Blodgett, Jr.
Tozvn Clerk."
It was the reception of such plain, but spirited resolutions
from the various towns of the province that gave the leaders
of the Revolution courage to make the celebrated Declaration
of Independence which soon followed.
In October ensuing the town agree to accept " such a Con
stitution as the House & Council of this Massachusetts Bay
would organize."
In the mean time, the brave soldiers of Dunstable were
carrying out the spirit of the municipal resolutions by active
service in the field. The following letters from Jaraes Cum
mings, son of the gaUant Capt. Oliver Cummings, exhibit the

120

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. \}77^

feelings of the soldiers at the post of duty. It must be borne
in mind that the town, as yet, had enjoyed only the advantage
of a "moveing school," and that unremitting toU had been the
lot of most of the inhabitants of the town. TicoNDEROGA, Aug. i6, 1776.
Hon'd Parents these Lines may inform you that I am well thro' the
Goodness of God & hope you enjoy the same favor. We arriv'd here
yesterday from Skeinsborough which is 28 miles up the Lake. Our men
are all in good health & high Spirits and row'd down in 6 hours landed the
opposite side of the Lake to Ticonderoga but expect to go over as soon as
the Tents come No more at present So after my duty to you & Love
to my Brothers and 'Sister I conclude begging Leave to subscribe My
self your Dutiful Son James Cumings.
Ticonderoga, Oct. 15, 1776.
Honored farther & mother after my Dutey To you & Love to my Brothers
and Sister 1 have Taken this oppertunity to Let you now that I am Well
at present and Blessed be god for it & hope these Linds will find you the
Sam I shant Rite much at present only the Raglars have drove Our flet
Back hear we have sustaned Lors of Men & Vessels & the Enmis armey
is at Crown point or near their & we expect them hear Quick. Phillip
Butterfield is got Better Jeass Butterfield Is pooley yet Rember me to
all Inquirin friends So I Remain your Dutiful Son James Cummings.
Col. Benedict Arnold was in command of flotillas on Lake
Champlain this summer and autumn, and had two disastrous
engageraents (Oct. 11 and 13) with the enemy, but he suc
ceeded in preventing a union between the British forces in
Canada and those in New York, which was the design of his
expedition. His loss in both these engageraents was about
ninety men. It is to these losses that James Cummings
refers. The officers of the first precinct (now Tyngsborough) for
this year were Ebenezer Bancroft, Capt. Reuben Butterfield,
and Lieut. Nathaniel Holden, comraittee and assessors, Lieut.
Nathaniel Holden, treasurer, Reuben Lewis, collector, and
Ebenezer Bancroft, clerk.
A warrant in the handwriting of Capt. Oliver Cummings
runs verbatim, literatim, et piinctatini in the following style : —

1777] WAR-MEETINGS. 12 1
Middlesex, ss. To Jonas Buterfeld Corpril By The athority under
which we hold you are required forthwith to notifie all the Training Band
Soldiers of my Company to gether with the allarum List to meet at the
house of Mr. Ase Kendalls on Wednesday The Eighteenth Instant at
Two of the Clock Precisly in the after Noon of Said Day that is all That
Live to the Est of Salmon Brook of Sd Company with armes Complet it
being on a Special ocasion, or an alaram hereof fail not & mack Due
Return to me on Said Training given under my hand this Seventeenth
Day of September 1776
, Oliver Cummings Capt.
This " special ocasion, or alaram," arose from the news,
which at that period travelled very slowly, of the defeat of the
Americans, August 27, in the battle of Long Island, which, to
Washington, was one of the most disheartening of the war.
Another warrant soon followed, and the people in those dark
days had but little time to rest, or but little to think or talk
about save the encounters with the redcoats, and the progress
of the war.
MiDLX SS To Simeon Cumings Corporil By the Authority under
which we hold you are Required forthwith to notify all ye Traning Band
Soldiers of my Company Together with ye allarm List to meet with arms
at the House of Mr Asa Kendalls on Satterday ye 30th of this Novr
Instant at one of ye Clock in the after Noon of Sd Day Viz All that Live
to ye West of Salmon Brook It being by a Special order of ye Cort. Hereof
Fail not & make Due Return to me on or before Said Traning Given
under my hand this 28th Day of Novr A D 1776. Oliver Cumings Capt.
MiDLx ss. Dunstable 30th Novr 1776 I have Notified all ye Tran
ing Band Soldiers With ye Alarm List To meet at Time & place as within
mentioned. Simeon Cumings.
Feb. 17, 1777, the town chose Ebenezer Bancroft and
Abraham Kendall selectmen and assessors in place of
" Capt. Reuben Butterfield and Lieut. Joel Parkhurst absent
in y" army." It also chose, this year, Ebenezer Bancroft
representative to the General Court.
The town was prompt to respond to the repeated calls for
men and money, and meetings were very frequently held,
either at the " alarm post " or at the tavern, or at the church, to

122 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. \.^777
adopt raeasures for doing its part in carrying on the war.
Several of the Dunstable soldiers served in corapanies of other
towns, and some frora other places joined the Dunstable cora
panies. Lieut. Richard Welsh, as a recruiting ofificer, hired
eight foreigners to serve in the company of Capt. Oliver Cum
mings during the war. Their names are given as follows : —
Benjamin Evans. John Barton.
William Brian. David Osman. .
John Silly. Isaac Hitten.
Christopher Higby. John Walker.
The return is dated March 23, 1777.
In April of this year five men were drafted from the town,
as its quota of the three hundred soldiers the county was
called upon for the reenforcement of the army. The warrant
is a curious document. On the Colony Sarvice.
To the Captns of the Companies of military in Dunstable or in thar
absens To the Naxt Oficer in the Company you are Required forth with
to Inlist or Draft from your Companeys Five abel Bodid efective meen
which is your Part of Three hundred and Five meen out of County to
Renters the armey of Rodiland and mack Return of the Names of the
men so in Listed or Drafted Emedait ly as the Bisnis admits of No
Delay. Aprel the 29 1777. N. B. the above Said men ar To be Detained in
Camp if Needed Two month and no Longer.
The names of those who enlisted or were drafted at this
time I do not find on the town records, but on the back side
of a letter from William KendaU to Capt. Oliver Cummings,
dated New Ipswich, June 3, 1777, the subjoined lists appear
in the handwriting of the latter: —
Drafted for the First Time.
Jonathan Fletcher. Joseph P.vrkhurst
Samuel Taylor. Jonathan Proctor.
Benjamin Jaquith. Samuel Butterfield.
James Perham. Edward Kendall.
Drafted for the Second Time.
D. FLKiriiEK. Oliver Cummings.

1777] TORIES 123
Drafted for the Thitd Time.
Jacob Kendall. Abraham Kendall.
Temple Kendall. Leonard But-terfield.
In April the British troops to the number of about 2,000
entered Connecticut, burned the town of Danbury and mal
treated the inhabitants. Demonstrations were also made in
Rhode Island by the eneray, and a bounty of .^£20, in ad
dition to the .£20 and a tract of land offered by Congress, was
promised by the State to every soldier who should enlist. The
company of Capt. Oliver Cummings was thereupon called to
gether for this purpose in May, by the following warrant in the
handwriting of the comraander : —
MiDLX ss. To Abel Spalding Corprel you are hereby in the Name of
the Government and People of the Massachusetts Bay in Newingland froth
With to Notify all the Traning Band Soldiers to Gether With the alaram
List That thay meet at the Meeting Hous in the Second Parish in Dun
stable on thursday the 15th day of this may instant at one of the Clock in
the after noon of said Day With arms Cumpleet all that Lives to the West
of Salmon Brook in Sd Parish it being a Speashul order of Cort Hereof
Fail Not & make Due Return to me on or Before Said Training.
Given this 10 Day of may A D 1777 Oliver Cumings Capt.
Ano'ther warrant from the same hand soon followed : —
MiDLX ss Dunstable July ye 23 1777. To Corporil Simeon Cumings
In ye Name of ye Government & people of this State you are Required
forthwith To warn all ye Soldiers Belonging to ye Traning band in my
Company Living on the west Side of Salmon Brook that they meet at ye
alarm post To morrow viz ye 24 Instant at 4 of the Clock in ye afternoon
with arms and other Equipments compleet according To Law In order
Viewing &c Oliver Cumings, Capt.
On the back of the paper is written : —
Middlesex SS. pursuant to the with in Warrant I have warned the
Solgars belonging to the traning band to meat at time and place with in
menchoned . Simeon Cumings.
It seems that in Dunstable, as weU as in other towns, there
were some persons holding Tory principles, and that the town

124 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l778
was prompt to bring them to an account for their opposition
to the common cause. At a public meeting held Sept. ii,
1777, Lieut. Nathaniel Holden was chosen "to procure and lay
before y" court y'' evidence y' might be had of y" Enimical
disposition of any of this town that may be complained of
that they may be proceeded with agreeable to an act of this
state." A warrant from Col. Simeon Spaulding to Capt. Oliver
Cummings for three men from his company is here given : —
Chelmsford, February 9th, 1778.
Sir In Consequence of another order from Council you are Hereby
directed to Detach by List or Draft three men from your Company to
march to Boston to Reinforce the guards then and there to Receive and
follow such orders as Major Genl Heath from time to time shall se cause
to give them to tarry for the time of three months unless sooner dis
charged, they being the same number you was ordered to Raise in the
orders of January 28 and any man so detached and ordered to march as
aforesaid and shall Neglect or Refuse so to do or shall not Procure some
able Bodied Effective man In his room to the acceptance of his Officer or
ye fine of ten Pounds in Twenty four Hours after he shall be Detached
or ordered as aforesaid shall be considered as a soldier in s'd Detach
ment and Treated accordingly, and the men to draw the same pay that the
guards in and about Camebridge Draw and you are Hereby Directed to
make Return of the men to me Immediately as the Situation of affairs
admit of No Delay from your Humble servt Simeon Spaulding Collo.
To Capt. Oliver Cumings Dunstable.
I find among the loose papers of Capt. Cummings this note,
interesting for its orthography, if nothing more : —
To Capt Jonathan Stikney Sr one mane Slipt my memery which Should
have been in my Retorn viz Jotham Barron of Dracutt tliat inlisted with
Capt Fox In Cornl henleys Pigment and hired by my Compney as will
aper by Ritings and if you think it Proper Pies to Enter Him one that
Reton and you will oblige your huml servent Oliver Cumings
Dunstable Febery iSth 177S.
It appears from a paper of Capt. Cummings that the follow
ing men were hired and paid by the Second Parish of Dun
stable, for a term of service in 1777 and 1778 : —

1778] ROLL OF CAPT. CUMMINGSS COMPANY. 125
Amos Taylor, of Dunstable, Capt Abraham Watson's company ;
Wm. Davis, Dunstable, of Capt BuUard's company; and paid by
Timothy Read, ^i;. John Proctor & Oliver Cummings, Jr. of
Dunstable enlisted for 8 months from the 3d day of September. Jona
than French enlisted Feb. 16, 1778. Jonas Whiting, Simeon
Stevens, Isaac Stearns & Josiah Wright, of Billerica, enbsted in
the company of Capt Fox ; Samuel Parker of Pepperell enlisted in
Capt Brown's company and was paid ^36, and Jonathan Dickenson
of Charlestown enlisted in Capt Pettingell's company and was paid ^34,
by Joel Parkhurst.
I find the following list of men in the Dunstable company
about this time, as given in the handwritting of Capt. Oliver
Cummings : —
MUSTER ROLL OF CAPT. OLIVER CUMMINGS.
Sergeants.
Amaziah Swallow. Jona Fletcher.
Corporals.
Abel Spaulding. Jonas Taylor.
Simeon Cuming. Jonas Butterfield.
Drummer.
Joseph Spaulding.
Fifer.
Oliver Cumings, Jr.
Eben Butterfield, Jr. Benj. Swallow.
Jesse Butterfield. Isaac Taylor.
Philip Butterfield. Saml. Taylor, Jr.
John Blodget. Oliver Taylor.
Zebulon Blodget. Jona Woodward.
Eliphalet Baley. Isaac Wright.
Jacob Baldwin. Solomon Sartle.
John Cumings. Jona Tenny.
James Cumings. Zebedee Kendall.
Jesse Dutton. Ebenr. Parkhurst.
Josiah Danforth. Edward Dunn.
Robert Dunn. Wm. French.
Phinehas Fletcher. James Pike.
Saml. French. Isaac Kendall.
Jona French. Oliver Tenny.
Jonas French. Leonard Butterfield.
Moses Harde. Joseph Danforth.
Benj. Jaquith. Saml. Brown.

126 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. \}77^
Jacob Kendall. John Kendall.
Aaron Farmer. Benj. Pike.
John Marsh. Benj. Woodward.
John Perham. Edward Kendall.
Joseph Parkhurst, Jr. David Taylor.
John Proctor. Timothy Read.
Jona Proctor. Lemuel Perham.
Gershom Proctor. Joseph Parkhurst.
Benj. Pike, Jr. Timothy Read, Jr.
Eleazer Read. Parrot Tenny.
Elijah Robbins. John Cheny.
Peter Swallow. Ebenr, Star.
The Second Parish appears to have assumed most of the
burden of the war, and was indeed in many respects, through
that dark period, the town of Dunstable itself.
In consequence of the heavy assessments for the payment of
the arrearages to Mr. Goodhue, it voted, March 6, 1775, " Not
to Raise any money for y'^ Seport of the gospel " ; but in
February of the following year, its decision was " to Rase
twenty Pounds " for that purpose. The same sum was also
assessed to " hire preching" in 1777. The First Parish "voted
to pay the soldiers for 8 months service in the war at Cam
bridge £8. o. o. To each man that performed it belonging
to the parish.
"For 12 months at Cambridge or Dorchester . .^200
" 12 month York  1800
" 5 " Ticonderoga  1200
" 2 " Rhode Island . . . . 500"
On July 3d of that year the Second Parish chose Jacob
Kendall, Abraham Kendall, and James Taylor " to borrow such
sumes of money as the officers and committee shaU call for to
hire Soldiers to Inhst into the Contanentel Army." On the
29th of Deceraber it chose Jonathan Fletcher, Temple Ken
dall, Joel Parkhurst, Benjamin Woodward, and Amaziah Swal
low " to Report att the Next Adjournment of this meeting
Respecting the Cost that hath arisen in Said Parish By carre-
ing on the present war with Great Britton."
The report of this committee, made on the fifth day of
January, 1778, exhibits the remarkable sacrifices which the

1778]

PAYMENTS TO SOLDIERS.

127

patriots underwent in those trying times to sustain the cause
of liberty : —
"Whareas Wee Being a Commite Chosen By the Second Parish
... to mak and Lay befor the Parish ... the Expense said
Parish hath been att in going and hiring men into the Army since the
Present War With Greate Brittion att an allowance for each Tower of
Sarvice as wee should Judge wright according to appointment we have
attended that Sarvice & Report as followeth viz : —

£s d

For each turn to Cambrig 8 months thire be an
allowance of .
2 months to Roxburey or Cambrig in winter
12 months to York in Person
3 months to Dorchester
5 months to Ticonderoga
2 months to York .
3 months to Jerses
2 months to Rhod Island
3 months to the Lake
8 months to Pheledelpeh
I month to Stillwater

4 2
IS 2
12 9
12

10 o
o o
o o
10 o
o o
o o
o o
4 10 o
15 00
o o
o o

20 S

and all Times and money otherways Delivered to Capten Oliver Comings
and was Laid out for hiring men into the army for the four months Sar
vice to Tye [Ticonderoga] three months to the Jerses or the three years
Sarvice be allowed to the Persons that Payed the Same and as to those
that mad a Consideration to som men that Inlisted into the twelve months
Sarvice have an allowanc of four pounds ten shillings each.
" Agreeable to the foregoing, Each mans Credite is as follows : —
£ s d
Ebenezer Butterfield
Josiah Blodgett
Josiah Blodgett, Juner
Ebenezer Butterfield, Juner
Samuel Butterfield
Leonard Butterfield
Jonas Butterfield
Samuel Brown .
Eliphalet Bayley*
Zebulon Blodgett
Jesse Butterfield
Oliver Comings .
Simeon Comings .

600600

-300 9 10 0
10 0 0
14 10 0
6 15 0
19 10 0
4 10 0
7 150
II 00
43 JO
16 I 8
128 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. ['778
£ sd
John Comings  21 oo
John Cheane  1200
Joseph Danforth  22 o o
Robert Dunn  7100
Jesse Dutton  4100
Joseph Fletcher  18 10 o
Thomas Fletcher  650
Jonathan Fletcher  16 10 o
Ebenezer French  4 10 o
William French  19 10 o
Samuel French  19 10 o
Jonathan French  1200
Moses Hardy  10 o o
Adford Jaquith  650
Benj. Jaquith  10 o o
Abraham Kendall  18 o o
John Kendall  10 10 o
Jacob Kendall  1600
Tempel Kendall  2100
Edward Kendall  250
Zebedee Kendall  9 15 o
John Marsh  11 100
Lemuel Perham  800
Joseph Parkhurst  20 o o
Joel Parkhurst  16 o o
Benj. Pike  16 15 o
John Proctor  22 10 o
Gershom Proctor  11 10 o
Timothy Read  368
Timothy Read, Juner  12 o o
Elijah Robins  3150
Eleazer Read  15 00
Amaziah Swallow  12 15 o
Benj. Swallow  300
Peter Swallow  1 1 i 8
Ebenezer Starr  500
Abel Spaulding  7100
Joseph Spaulding  880
Samuel Taylor  22 o o
David Taylor . . . ... . . 21 o o
Jonas Taylor  7 7 o
Oliver Taylor . . . , . . .600
Isaac Taylor  6100

1778] THREE Soldiers drowned. 129
£ s d
Perrot Tinney  11 15 o
James Tarbox  4100
Jonas French  19 10 o
Benj. Woodward  915°
Jonathan Woodward  880
Isaac Wright  9100
James Perham  1000
James Pike  14 o o
Solomon Sartel  3150
Sum tottel 911 00
And as to the Six months to Rhod Island and two turns to Roxburey
Left to the Parish altogether.
the above Report being Red Voted and allowed the above said Report,
Voted and Granted to be assesed the sum of Nine hundred and twenty-
four Pounds Six Shilling and Eight Pence for the Cost and Charg Aresen
in said Parish by Carreing on the Preset War with Great Brittion
Benja Woodward Clerk "
On the 22d of March, 1778, the church in Groton contrib
uted " to Daniel Gilson of Dunstable on account of having lost
his house by fire £'i,2 i^s. lod. one pair of shoes, one bushel
of rye and one bushel of Indian corn."*
The following Revolutionary soldiers belonged to that part
of Dunstable which subsquently became the town of Tyngs
borough : Col. Ebenezer Bancroft, Sergt. Jonathan Bancroft,
Capt. Reuben Butterfield, Capt. Nathaniel Holden, Capt. Jon
athan Fletcher, Eleazer Farwell, Nathaniel Ingalls, Lieut. John
Farwell, Levi Butterfield, Salathiel Frost, William Perham,
Robin Skinner, John Merrill, Daniel Jaques, Benjamin Swan,
Asa Emerson, Noah M. Gould, and Sergt. Reuben Butter
field, Jr., who was killed in the battle of White Plains, Oct. 7,
1777, at the age of twenty-seven years. It is related that
while in battle he jumped upon a fence, and said, " I '11 give
them one firing more ! " A shot from the enemy immediately
struck him, and his comrade, Nathaniel Ingalls, of Dunstable,
saw him fall. He was born May 30, 1749, and was engaged
in marriage to Miss Dorcas Coburn.
Of the British soldiers quartered on Dunstable, three were
drowned while attempting to cross the river at Wicasuck
Island, and their remains were buried on land now occupied
by Solomon Spaulding.
* Butler's History of Groton, p. 260.
9

I30 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l778

CHAPTER IX.
Vote on the Proposed State Constitution. — Proposition to unite the
Two Parishes. — Burdens of the Second Parish arising from the
War. — Sums raised to support the Ministry. — A New Meeting-
House contkmplated — The DarkDay. — Population of the Town.
— The New State Constitution. — Men and Provisions furnished
for the Army. — Notices of some of the Revolutionary Soldiers.
— School Teachers VOTE to remove the Meeting-House. — Singing
IN Church. — Vote to unite the Parishes. — Schools kept in Pri
vate Houses. — Overseers of the Poor first chosen by the Town.
— Shays's Rebellion. — A Journal. — The Line between the two
Parishes abolished. — The Totwn assumes Direction of Church
Affairs.
" If we were ever envious, it was of the farmer, — the intelligent, inde
pendent, and happy farmer, who owned his own land and his house and
his barns ; who was free from debt, and whose family were growing up
prosperously around him." Portland Paper.
" With hearts unbent and spirits brave, they sternly bore
Such toils as meaner souls had quelled,
But souls like these, such toils impelled to soar."
James G. Percival.
On the 9th of February, 1778, the town, at a legal meeting,
approved of the Articles of Confederation between the thirteen
States ; and at another meeting, held April 23, chose John
Tyng, Esq., Joseph Danforth, and Joel Parkhurst to examine
the new Constitution of the State, proposed by the General
Court. On hearing the report of this committee, June 2, the
town "voted to reject y" Constitution for y<' following reasons,
viz : Because it invests y'' governor with too unlimited a power.
2d ly because there is not an Equal Representation. 3 ly
Because y^ Governor ought not to have y" Title of Excellency.
J. Blodgett, Town Clerk."

1778] PATRIOTISM OF DUNSTABLE. j,i
This Constitution was drawn up by a committee of four
members of the Council and twice that number of the House
of Representatives. It was submitted to the people of the
State in March, 1778, and by thera rejected. The vote stood
10,000 against 2,000, as many as 120 towns not voting. The
general objections to it were that it did not contain a declara
tion of rights, that it made representation unequal, and that
the powers and duties of State ofificers were not accurately
defined.* Three school-teachers were paid this year, as follows : Welbe
Butterfield, for keeping school, £4 i6s., Jonas French, ditto,
£1 4s., and Abraham Kendall, Jr., ditto, ;£io 13^-. (^d.
The Second Parish voted this year £^q for " the Suport of
the Gospel," and also ;!^i2 to pay for preaching the preceding
year ; and it chose a committee on the 9th of May, consisting
of Dr. Ebenezer Starr, who had recently settled in the place,
Jonathan Fletcher, Timothy Read, Joel Parkhurst, and Joseph
Danforth, to treat with a committee from the First Parish,
" as to those of the first Parish Living on the West Side of
the Marimack River joyning with the Second Parish in Said
Town and the Separation as to parishes be Disolved." This
was for the purpose of forming a union of the two religious
societies. Paper-money had at this time greatly depreciated in value,
taxes were high, many of the able-bodied men were absent in
the army, and the American cause seemed, in the minds of
many thoughtful people, to be sinking ; yet the citizens of Dun
stable StUl went resolutely on to meet the demands the bleed
ing country made upon them.
There was a large British force at Newport, R. I. ; the term
of service of many of the Continental soldiers had expired,
and two thousand men were now called for to fill up the six
teen depleted regiments of the State. Fifteen hundred more
were to be raised as ordered by vote of Congress. This draft
fell heavily upon Dunstable ; but, true to the cause of liberty,
she responded nobly to the call.
* See Barry's History of Massachusetts, Vol. Ill, p. 175.

132 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. \}779
A levy of shirts, shoes, and stockings was also made upon
the town for the army ; and since the women raanifested as
much patriotic fervor as the men, those articles were promptly
furnished. On the twenty-fifth day of June the Second Parish chose
Temple KendaU, Abraham Kendall, and Jonathan Fletcher a
coraraittee to procure the soldiers which " this State Now CaUs
for out of this Parish." The record of the last meeting of the
year, Nov. i6, held first at the meeting-house and then at the
house of Mr. Jonathan Eraerson, reveals something of the bur
dens they with courageous hearts sustained.
"Voted to allow Mr Tempel Kendall Jonathan Woadward and John
Perham and Jesse Butterfield thirty pounds Each for thire Sarvice att
the Seaige of Newport att Rhod Island. ^120.
"Voted to Allow Mr. Joseph Fletcher Leonard Butterfield Tempel Ken
dall Ehjah Robins Eliphalet Bayley Joseph Parkhurst juner Josiah
Blodgett who Did Sarvice on the Guards att Cambridge five Pounds Per
month for a Bounty from the Parish ^120. o. o.
"Voted to allow Mr John Cheny Ebenezer French Philip Butterfield
Joseph Parkhurst juner Joseph Danforth James Coming Lemuel Per
ham Jonathan Fletcher Leonard Butterfield Nine Pounds Each as a
Bounty for six months Sarvice att Rhod Island in the year 1777 .£81. o. o.
"Voted to Be assesed and ordered out of the Treasury forty Pound for
the Support of Samuel Parkers Famalie .2^40. o. o.
" Voted to Be assesed the sum of Nine hundred thirty seven Pounds four
Shilling for Defraying the Charges arisen in Said Parish for Carreing on
the Present War Against Greate Brittion. " Benj Woodward Parish Clerk "
On the 15 th of February, 1779, the parish voted £100" for
the support of famalies of those Persons this Parish have hired
to Engag into Contenental Army."
The town also appropriated this year ^130 for public schools
and other expenses, among which was the procuring of cloth
ing for the soldiers. It also raised ;£i34 8s. for bounties for
four soldiers that went to Rhode Island ; also, at another
meeting, ;£200 for school and other charges.
The General Court aUowed the town, Sept. 14, a bounty of
;^90 for three men in the nine months' service, and also re-

1780] THE DARK DAY.

133

mitted, for what cause it is not stated, a fine of ^^300 against
the town.*
Notwithstanding the expenses of the war, the people reso
lutely sustained the institutions of the gospel. For about six
years the pulpit had been supplied by such ministers as they
were able to find and had the means to pay, and now, in hope
of having a pastor of their own, they discussed the question
of uniting with the other parish in building a church and
settling permanently a minister. On the 6th of March, 1780,
the town chose John Tyng moderator of the annual meet
ing, and Joel Parkhurst town clerk. It appropriated ^500 for
educational and other purposes.
On the 23d of March the Second Parish agreed " to Raise
five Hundred Pounds for the Support of such minister or
ministers of the gospel as may be caul'd to Preach to this
People." At an adjourned meeting, held March 31, the above-
named sura was increased by .£500. Joseph Parkhurst, Benja
min Woodward, and Temple Kendall were chosen a committee
to " higher " a minister, and this was to be done under the
following instruction, given probably on account of Presby
terian views that were entertained by a few of the people —
" We Desire you that you Do your Endeavour to higher such Candidates
to Dispense the gospel amongst us who hold to the New England Confes
sion of Faith and the Cambridge Platform as therein Exhibeted to us."
Jonathan Emerson was the parish clerk, and the above
record is in his handwriting.
On the I Ith of May the Second Parish voted to confer with
members of the First Parish, dwelling on the westerly side of
the Merrimack River, as to the erection of a meeting-house
on the road between the house of Mr. Elijah Robbins and that
formerly occupied by Willard Hall.
The 19th of May of this year is celebrated as the Dark Day.
As an old rhymster said, —
'• In 1780, the nineteenth day of May,
Will ever be remembered as being the Dark Day."
* Mass. Resolves, Vol. Ill A, p. 71.

134

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1780

The obscurity was so great that birds sought their perches at
mid-day, and the people had to light candles in order to distin
guish objects in their houses. Many superstitious persons
thought the day of doom was certainly approaching.
"About ten o'clock," wrote Mr. Phineas Sprague, of Maiden,
in his journal, " it began to Rain and grew vere dark and at 12 it
was allmost as dark as Nite so that wee was obliged to lite our
candels and Eate our dinner by candel lite at Noonday." *
The darkness of the evening of that day was most remarkable.
" I could not help conceiving at the time," says Dr. Tenney,
" that if every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded
in impenetrable shades, or struck out of existence, the dark
ness could not have been more complete. A sheet of white
paper, held within a few inches of the eyes, was equally invis
ible with the blackest velvet."
The darkness did not extend so as to attract much atten
tion south of New York, nor far out at sea. It might possibly
have been occasioned by the burning of extensive forests in
Northern New Hampshire, the smoke of which, under peculiar
conditions of the atmosphere, raight have floated over a sec
tion of New England and obscured the sun. Coming, as it
did, when the spirits of the people were greatly depressed
in consequence of the war, it is not at all surprising that it
caused alarm. It was far raore common to attribute unusual
phenomena to supernatural agency in those days than —
thanks be to the progress of science — it is at the present
time. The belief of the people in ghosts, apparitions, and
haunted houses was then very prevalent. It was almost
invariably considered ominous to see, for the first time, the
new moon over the left shoulder, to spill salt, or to sit
thirteen at the table. A horseshoe was nailed to the posts of
the door to keep off witches, and the ticking of a death-watch,
or the sight of a white spider gliding down its thread, fore
boded evU. Many of these notions came from England, aud
they linger StiU in the minds of some uneducated people. The
Bible, interpreted literally, was the guide book of our fathers.

* Historical Address, p. 14, by Elbridge II. Goss, Esq.

1780] SUPPLIES FOR THE ARMY. 13^
and science, which sheds light upon the meaning of many a
dark passage in Holy Writ, was a word almost unknown to
them. The spirit of the heavenly message they, however, gen
erally caught.
Another State Constitution was framed this year by dele
gates chosen by the towns of the Commonwealth, and sub
mitted, in March, to the people for their examination.
From the record of the vote of Dunstable, May 15, it ap
pears that there was a strong opposition to the instrument. It
was mainly against granting protection to all religions, against
the liberty of the press, against so great a number of council
lors and senators, against the power of the governor to march
the militia to any part of the State, against the appointment
of all judicial officers by the governor, against the governor
and other officers declaring themselves of the Christian relig
ion, against the form of the oath, — they being desirous that
the words " living God " should be included, — against Quakers
being excused from taking an oath, and against the time ap
pointed for the revision of the Constitution.
That instrument was, however, ratified as the organic law
by more than two thirds of the votes of the State ; and the
Hon. John Hancock was the first governor chosen under it.
The election was held on the 4th of September, and Dun
stable gave sixteen votes for Hancock and three for James
Bowdoin. It also cast thirteen votes for Artemas Ward, one
for Jaraes Bowdoin, and one for Jeremiah Powell, Esq., as
lieutentant-governors. It moreover gave eleven votes for John
Tyng, Esq., as councillor. The small vote thrown may be
attributed perhaps to the disaffection of the people in respect
to the new Constitution, and to the absence of many voters
in the army.
The town this year furnished 7,500 pounds of beef which
the General Court called for to supply the array, and voted to
raise ;^2,5oo for school and other purposes. Although the
surrender of the army of Gen. John Burgoyne, Oct. 7, 1777,
may be considered as the turning-point of the war in favor
of the Americans, the constant reinforcement and strategic
movements of the British forces called for frequent levies of

J, 5 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1780
soldiers on our part and a heavy drain upon the people, as weU
as upon the public treasury, for supplies and bounties. The
debt of the country was rated at ^200,000,000 and that of
Massachusetts at ^5,000,000, whUe the valuation of its whole
property was but ^11,000,000. In this exigence paper-money
was issued to such an extent that one doUar in silver came
to be equal to forty dollars in what was called "the Con
tinental currency." The one-dollar bill, about two inches
square, had on its face the Latin words, " Depressa resurgit,"
which is in English, " The down-trodden rises," and which had,
at that time, much significance ; but so great was the depre
ciation in its value, that a blanket purchased by a soldier cost
£i<Xi, and the salary ofthe Rev. Ebenezer Bridge, of Chelms
ford, for eight raonths, " was set," as Mr. Allen informs us in
his history of that town, " at ;£3,6oo." Ebenezer French used
to say that he once paid ;^40 of it for a breakfast in New York.
This paper-money, becoming utterly worthless, went out of use
the year following, and was never redeemed.
This was the darkest period of the Revolution. " Through
out the country," says Mr. Barry, " the sufferings of the peo
ple were almost incredible. The life-blood of the nation had
been poured out like water ; there were desolate homes in
every town ; family ties had been broken and sundered ; the
old had grown gray in military service, the young had shot
up to a premature manhood ; cities and dwellings were falling
to decay, and the half-tilled soil, covered with weeds, and the
ruined fences which scarcely kept out starving cattle, told of
the hardships the yeomanry had endured."*
Dunstable, however, continued to furnish and to pay its
quotas of soldiers, to support religious worship, and to appro
priate something for the education of its children. All classes
cheerfully denied themselves the common luxuries of life, and
gave themselves to unremitting labor. The music of the
household was that of the loom and spinning-wheel, and the
wives and daughters, during the absence of their husbands
and their brothers at the seat of war, were always ready to
help the aged men in out-of-door labor on the farms.
* History of Massachusetts, III, p 165.

I781] SOLDIERS PAID IN BEEF AND CORN. 137
To know the worth of liberty, we have but to turn our
thoughts to those dark days and see how much it cost.
Ebenezer Proctor and James Blood, Jr., paid fines in Groton
this year for not accepting the office of collector in that town.
They lived on Unquetynasset Brook, and, by the frequent
changes in the town lines, were citizens, now of one town and
then of the other, as the votes of the majority happened to
determine. The original settler, James Blood, bought his land
of an Indian half-breed by the name of Cook, and lived near
the house of Mr. Washington E. Blood.
In March, 1781, Lieut. Lemuel Perham, Josiah Blodgett, Jr.,
and Abel Coburn were chosen as a committee of correspond
ence ; and in April following, the town voted 4,460 pounds of
beef and £120 in silver for the array, also, £y:i in silver for
public schools. It gave this year, April 2, twenty-three votes
for John Hancock for governor, and eighteen votes for Thomas
Cushing for lieutenant-governor.
By the defeat and capture of the British forces under Lord
Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va., on the 19th of October, 178 1, the
war, which had cost so many lives and the colonies at least
^135,000,000, was virtually terminated.
In furnishing men and raoney, Massachusetts bore about
one quarter of the burden, and of this the town of Dunstable
its full share.
The news of the victory of the allied French and American
forces under Washington was received in every city, town,
and hamlet with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. " From
every family altar," says Mr. B. J. Lossing, " where a love
of freedom dwelt, from pulpits, legislative haUs, the army, and
from Congress [October 24] went up a shout of thanksgiving
and praise to the Lord God Omnipotent, for the success of the
aUied troops, and- these were mingled with universal eulogies
of the great leader and his companion in arms. The clouds,
which had lowered for seven long years, appeared to be
breaking, and the splendors of the dawn of peace burst
forth, like the light of a clear morning after a dismal night
of tempest."
Although the Second Parish of Dunstable had no bell to

138 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. ['782
ring or cannon to discharge in expression of its joy on the
reception of the news of the great victory, stUl every heart
exulted in the success of Washington and Lafayette, and their
names and deeds were praised by every tongue. The soldiers
soon returned from their long campaigns, and the prospect of
peace and independence revived the drooping spirits of the
people. The Second Parish voted, AprU 11, 1782, "to Raise and
assess thirty pound Lawful SUver money to hire a minister or
ministers of the Gospel to preach in the Parish and that Joel
Parkhurst, Esq., Capt Jonathan Fletcher and Mr Jacob Kendall
should be a Committee to provide for Said preaching."
Of the money (;!^3o) raised for preaching this year, the
Rev. John Strickland received £i 6s., and the Rev. Phinehas
Wright (H. C. 1772) ^11 lis. 6d. Mr. Jacob KendaU was
paid £2, 4s. for boarding the last-named minister. The town
cast eleven votes for John Hancock as governor.
Tiraothy Read, Lieut. John Cheney, and Oliver Taylor were
appointed by the Second Parish, June 15, a coraraittee to hire
soldiers to reinforce the Continental army for six months, and
this is the last mention on the records of the parish of any
levy on the town for men to aid in carrying on the war. It
was agreed at a meeting of the parish, held on the 19th of
October following, to allow the accounts of the said committee.
These were to be settled, not by money, for of that the people
had long been alraost destitute, but by two hundred and fifty
bushels of Indian corn and 3,333^ pounds of beef, "which
grain & beef the abovesaid Committee Engaged to five men
to serve in the Continental army for the term of six months
unless sooner Discharged^'
The following notices of some men actively engaged in the
war of the Revolution were given to rae by Mr. Josiah T.
Curaraings : —
Oliver Cummings, Jr., was a private in the battle of White
Plains, Oct. 28, 1776. He returned to Dunstable and subse
quently removed to the town of Sumner, Me., where he died.
James Cummings was at the taking of Ticonderoga, July
12, 1777, and in other engageraents during the war. He mar-

1782]

HOMESTEAD OF JONAS FRENCH.

139

ried, first, Charlotte French, and, second, Sally Wright, both of
Dunstable, and died Sept. 6, 1840, aged 80 years.
Josiah Cummings, son of Oliver and Sybil (BaUey) Cum
mings, entered the army when a mere boy, and served as a
guard over the soldiers of Gen. Burgoyne, subsequent to their
capture in October, 1777. He also performed duty with the
array in New Jersey. After the Revolution he was corarais
sioned as captain of the Dunstable railitia company. He mar
ried first Sally and then Olive Taylor, sisters, and lived on the
place now occupied by his son, Josiah T. Cummings. His
death occurred Sept. 11, 1834.
William French was a private at the battle of Bunker
HUl. On the expiration of his term of service at Cambridge,
he re-enlisted and well performed his duty through the war.
He was by trade a shoemaker and was never married. He
lived to be about ninety years old, and was much respected.
Jonas French, born Aug. 7, 1757, and youngest brother of
the above, was with him, as already stated, at the battle of
Bunker Hill. He also served as a faithful soldier through the

NAS FRENCH.

war. He was often employed as a school-teacher. He married,
first, Betsy Marshall, and second, Mrs. Ann MitcheU. Both he

1^0 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1782
and his brother William received pensions for services in the war.
It is recorded in the town books that "Jonas French, August 30,
1 792, bought pew No. 1 2 for ;£[ 2 i8j-." He died in 1840, and his
reraains repose in " The French Tomb " in the Central Cemetery.
From him is descended Col. Jonas Harrod French, of Boston.
Ebenezer French, to whom reference has already been
made, served through the war, and died in Dunstable, AprU
14, 1808, in his seventy-seventh year. He married, first, Sarah
Proctor, by whom he had Sarah, born May 6, 1767 ; and second,
Susannah Hamblett, of Nottingham, N. H., by whom he had
Charlotte, born Aug. 13, 1774, and John, born March 15, 1778,
and who was the father of the present Benjarain French, Esq.
Samuel French had a ball shot through his right ear at the
battle of Bunker Hill. He died in Dunstable, and is buried
on Meeting-House Hill.
Eleazer French, wounded in the same battle, died of con
sumption soon after his return home.
Jonathan French, brother of the two last naraed, was with
them in the first great battle of the Revolution, and was sub
sequently, together with his two sons, in the service on Lake
Champlain. William Blodgett served as a private during the war. He
had learned to face danger in the old French War. He was
four times cast away at sea. Ensign John Cheney married
one of his sisters.
John Cheney had acquired great experience as a soldier in
the old French War, and served his country faithfully during
the Revolution. He was at the capture of Quebec. He was
a very useful citizen, held raany town offices, and died Feb.
23, 1 83 1, at the advanced age of ninety-two years, leaving a
numerous posterity.
Temple Kendall, born Aug. 10, 1730, was a brother of
John KendaU, the father of Deacon Zebedee KendaU. His
grand-daughter, Mrs. Prudence (KendaU) Blodgett, is stUl
living on the old Blodgett place. He was a lieutenant under
Capt. John Ford at the battle of Bunker Hill.
John Proctor came home from the war and died of con
sumption.

1782]

HOMESTEAD OF DEXTER BUTTERFIELD.

141

Col. Ebenezer Bancroft, as already stated, fought bravely
at Bunker Hill, and in other battles during the war. He
purchased and enlarged the house once owned by Henry Far-
well and now occupied by his grandson, Ebenezer Bancroft,
Esq. He went into the French War at the age of sixteen
years. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel April 21, 1780,
and justice of the peace in 1798. He married Susan Fletcher,
by whom he had nine children. He died greatly respected
Sept 22, 1827, and was buried under arms, the band playing
'' Blue -Eyed Mary" on the way to the grave.
Jonathan Woodward served as a private through the war.
He lived to be a centenarian, and a sermon was preached on
his one hundredth birthday. He retained the use of his facul
ties until near the close of life, and was an excellent man.
Ensign Leonard Butterfield was a private in the war.
He hved near Meeting-House Hill. Leonard Butterfield, the
father, lived on the south side of the road on Meeting-House
Hill ; his son, Philip Butterfield, lived on the sarae side of the
road, a little towards the west. The cellar-holes of both houses
StUl remain. Leonard Butterfield, Jr., built the house now
owned by Dexter Butterfield, east of Meeting-House HUl, the
picture of which is here given.

HOMESTEAD OF fiEXlER BUTTERFIELD.

142

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1783

Jesse Butterfield served as a private in the war, and
removed to Farmington, Me., where he died.
Philip Butterfield, brother of the above, was also a pri
vate in the war.
Paul Woods went into the naval service, and was kUled by
faUing frora the raast of a ship.
Joel Parkhurst, father of Leonard Parkhurst, was a private
in the war, and died at Dunstable. His house stood about
twenty rods north of that of Mr. John A. Parkhurst.
His son, Leonard Parkhurst, also served in the war, and
died March 28, 1821, aged 57 years and 8 months.
Ephraim and Nathan Taylor, brothers, living in the east
erly part of the town, went into the army, and were never
heard from afterwards.
Daniel Jaques died Sept. 2, 1835, aged 78 years. He is
buried in Tyngsborough, and on the headstone is written, "To
die is to go home " ; and also, " A soldier of the Revolution."
Hannah Jaques, his widow, died Aug. 6, 1840, aged 87 years.
March 3, 1783, the town appropriated £^0 for education,
and allowed to Joseph Dix £}, 2s., and to Asa Parker ^^3 i8s ,
for keeping school On the 7th of April the town cast sixteen
votes for John Hancock as governor, and eleven votes for
Thomas Cushing as lieutenant-governor. At the same time a
comraittee, consisting of Jonathan Fletcher, Nathaniel Holden,
Jonathan Emerson, and Temple Kendall, reported that it was
advisable that the town should be divided into five districts for
school purposes, as follows : —
I. AU to the east ofthe Merrimack River.
2. All the First Parish on the westerly side of the Merri
mack River, excepting Lieut, Perham and Mr. John Bridge.
3. All the Second Parish on the great road from Mr. Ezra
Thompson's to HoUis up to Salmon Brook living on, and to
the north of said road.
4. All to the west of Salmon Brook, excepting Mr. Bridge's.
5. AU the remainder of the town.
In May this report was accepted, and the districts were
established. The Hon. John Tyng was chosen representative,
and it was voted that the selectmen should buUd a pound.

1784] ^OTE TO REMOVE THE MEETING-HOUSE. 143
On the third day of Septeraber a definitive treaty of peace
between Great Britain and the United States was signed at
Paris, and when the news reached Araerica no town in the
country experienced greater joy than Dunstable, for none had
made greater sacrifices during the whole of the long and san
guinary war. Its hardy yeomanry had freely shed their blood
on almost all the great battle-fields ; its wives and daughters
had suffered many privations during the extended conflict, and
all rejoiced to hear the blessed sound of peace once more. The
well-worn musket was now hung above the oaken mantel-piece,
and the old drum went into the attic for " silent repose."
In 1784 the town paid to Mr. WUliam Gordon £$ 14s., "for
keeping school and hording himself" ; also to Mr. Samuel
Whiting £19, Mr. Joseph Dix £1 4s. 6d., and to Miss Susannah
Bancroft £2, for keeping school. The sum of .^£40 was raised
for school purposes. It was voted this year " that swine go at
large." It seeras that town-meetings at this period were held
alternately at the churches of the First and Second Parishes, or
at sorae public or private house in the vicinity ; as, for example,
on Feb. 26 the town assembled at the raeeting-house of the
First Parish, and the adjourned meeting was held at the tavern
of Ovid Houston, near by ; then the next meeting was held
at the inn of Capt. Oliver Cumraings, in the Second Parish.
Ovid Houston, colored, kept a tavern for a long period in a
house near what is now the Tyngsborough depot, and accurau-
lated a handsome property, of which he left about ^5,000.
One of his sons was filled for college.
The committee ofthe Second Parish, 1784, were John Cum
mings, Zebedee and Abraham Kendall ; and at a meeting of
this parish, July 12, at the house of Capt. Oliver Cummings,
innholder, it was voted " to have the Line which runs between
the East and West parishes in this town of Dunstable Dis
solved." As the westerly part of the town had now become generally
settled, and as the centre of population had advanced some
what in that direction, it was thought advisable that the place
of public worship should be changed, and hence at the raeet
ing held Nov. 8, 1784, it was "voted to move the meeting-

144

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1785

house from the place it now stands on to some other Convenient
place in said Parish " ; it was also voted that the place " be
between the Dwelling house of M"^ Jonathan Procters and the
house that Mr. Jonathan Woodward now Lives in on the north
side of the rode that goes from one house to the other a little
to the west of north from said Procters new Barn."
The sum of £6 6s. was aUowed to Abraham and Jacob
Kendall this year for the payment of the Rev. John Bruce,*
who probably supplied the pulpit at least two Sabbaths.
Jacob KendaU was chosen, Nov. 3, a deacon by the church,
but declined the honor proffered to him.
In 1785 the town raised ^£40 for schools, gave twelve votes
for James Bowdoin as governor, and chose the Hon. John Pitts
to represent it in the General Court.
The snow on the 22d of April was two feet deep, and the
surface so much incrusted with ice as to bear up an ox-sled.
From an account-book of Capt. Oliver Cummings, a very
curious, weather-stained folio of some twenty-eight pages, it
appears that the habit of using spirituous liquors, and running
into debt for the same, was very prevalent here, as in other
New England towns, at this period. West India rum was
used on all occasions, and the minister hesitated not to im
bibe it in common with his people. It was looked upon as
a necessity, even at the burial of the dead. " Come, let us
have something to drink," was almost always the first saluta
tion when the minister, on his parochial visit, entered a house;
and the rura, poured out of the long, square, dark-colored
bottles, was raade into punch or " toddy," and passed to him
and to all the others present. This custora was the cause of
untold mischief. The following account (which I find on a
stray leaf) of the innkeeper with his mother, Mrs. Nathaniel
Cummings, wiU give a very good idea of the orthography and
subject-matter ofthe captain's unique folio : —

* He was a native of Marlborough, Mass., where he was born in the year 1757.
He studied at Dartmouth College, and was settled in that part of Amherst now
Mount Vernon, Nov. 3, 17S5, where he continued as pastor until his death by
apoplexy, March 12, 1809.

1786] ATTEMPT TO UNITE THE PARISHES. 145
December, 1785.
My Mother to me Deter
to 3 qurts Rum  020
to 5 Bushel In Corn  o 18 o
to 4 Ry  0180
I Pint West Rum  008
I Pint Brandy  008
I Pound Rasons  010
1 Pound Figs  006
I .Qurt Wes Rum  016
I Qurt Brandy  016
2 Qurts Rum  016
I Qurt Brandy  016
20 wt Pork  068
Oliver Cummings.
The Second Parish, Jan. 25, voted not to disannul the
"vote passed at a late meeting of Sd parish relative to Sd
parish is being Incorporated into a District." It paid Mr.
WUkins for preaching £4 los. ; also Mr. Jacob Kendall
£1 14s. for boarding Mr. Coggin and keeping his horse. It
" voted & chose Mr. John Chaney Jun"" to Lead in Singing in
Pubhck Worship."
This is the only reference to music on the records of the
Second Parish ; but it would seem from those of the church,
that the practice of " lining out " the hymns had not yet been
abandoned. It was about this period that church choirs were
formed in the State, which soon broke up " the deaconing out
of the hymns " so long practised by our worthy ancestors.
The psalms and hymns of Dr. Watts also took the place of
" the Bay Psalm Book," and some of the fugue tunes of WU
liam Billings were now occasionally sung.
There was a strong desire on the part of some persons at this
time that the two parishes should be united, and that a minister
should be settled for the whole town. It was, therefore, voted
by the Second Parish, Nov. 20, 1 786, " to Joyn with the i st parish
in this Town in applying to the General Court to desolve the
Line between the two parishes, and to erect a house for the
publick worship of God at the place where Mr. Ezra Thomp
sons Barn now stands, and will give up our meeting house for
10

1^6 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1/86
the use of the Town upon Condition that the First Parish
give their meeting house for the same use."
In 1786 it raised ^30 for preaching, and allowed Mr. Jacob
Kendall £1 4s. "for Bording Mr. Jonathan Wilkins three
weeks & Keeping his horse the same time."
The school-teachers at this time were, John Blodgett, Joseph
Butterfield, Jr., and wife, Susannah Bancroft, a noted instructor
of that period, Ehzabeth SwaUow, Joseph Dix, Rachel Fletcher,
and Elizabeth Powers. One school was held at the house of
Mr. Ebenezer French, which stood near the present residence
of Benjarain French, Esq., the town paying him £1 14s. for its
use. Another school was kept in the house of Mr. Thomas
Fletcher, in the northwesterly section of the town, and for the
rent of a room for the same, he received the sum of 8s. from
the public treasury.
The town this year, for the first time, elected overseers of
the poor. They were WUliam French, Peter Perham, Jonas
Taylor, Josiah Danforth, and Zebedee Kendall. The poor
were kindly treated, sometimes receiving a small sum of money
from the town to help them in their efforts to maintain them
selves, and sometimes living in the family of a relative or
friend, who received some compensation for their expense and
trouble. The number of paupers probably did not exceed the
number of the coraraittee appointed to take care of them.
Solomon Pollard was elected the " deer reeve," and thus it
appears that this animal was still common in this region.
Goods amounting to thirty millions had been recently im
ported into our country from England, while we, at the same
time, had exported of our own productions only to the amount
of nine millions. The country was, therefore, drained of its
specie, and the people were poor. The result of this suicidal
policy soon appeared in a strong disaffection of a part of the
people towards the governraent. It was during this year
(1786) that the famous rebellion under Capt. Daniel Shays
broke out, causing great excitement in all parts of the State.
Araong the grievances presented in a memorial of the
insurgents were the want of a circulating medium, the large
salaries of the public officers, the aristocratic bearing of the

1787] SHAYS'S REBELLION.

147

Senate, the heavy burden of taxation, the holding of the
General Court in Boston, and the abuses in the practice of
the law. These, and other grievances then set forth, were
not imaginary. The people were in debt, the wages of the sol
diers were unpaid, the taxes burdensome. Daniel Shays,*
who had been a captain in the late war, was appointed leader
of the insurgents, numbering, in all, perhaps 2,000, and in
December they took possession of the court-house in the town
of Springfield. But the good sense of the people prevaUed,
and Gen. WUliam Shepard, in conjunction with Gen. Benjamin
Lincoln, at the head of about 4,000 troops, soon quelled the
insurrection. Though suffering greatly from the effects of
the long war, and not insensible to the grievances complained
of, the town of Dunstable decided that the government must
be sustained, and sent her quota of raen to aid in suppressing
the rebellion. The simple record of their march has been
preserved. "On the 17th of January 1787 we marched to Chelmsford ; on the i8th
to Lincoln; 19th to Weston; 20th to Sudbury; 21st to Marlborough;
22d to Worcester ; 25th to Western ; 26th, to Palmer ; 27th to Springfield
West 25 miles ; 2gth to Hatfield 25 miles ; Feb. 4th, to Petersham ^:i
miles ; 7th to Amherst 25 miles ; 8th to Northampton 8 miles ; 9th to
Chesterfield 14 miles ; loth, to Partridgefield i8 miles ; uth to Pittsfield
8 miles ; 13th to Tyringham, 20 miles ; 14th, to Sandisfield, 16 miles ; 22d,
to Grantville ; 23d to Springfield ; 24th, to Spencer ; 25th to Harvard ;
26th to Dunstable, the end of the march."
This record was probably made by Mr. Leonard Parkhurst,
who, with Capt. Nathaniel Fletcher, Isaac KendaU, and Na
thaniel Cummings, were in the expedition.
They were with Gen. Lincoln, as it appears from the above
* Daniel Shays, son of Patrick Shays, was born on Saddle Hill, in Hopkinton,
Mass., in 1747. He was considered a fine fellow by his early companions. In
the battle of Bunker HiU he fought bravely, and afterwards through the Revo
lution. At the close of the war, during which he had been honored with a cap
tain's commission, he settled in Pelham, and, a bankrupt in character and fortune,
united with Luke Day, and other malcontents, in the rebeUion against the State
authorities. In their attack on the arsenal at Springfield, Jan. 25, 1787, three of
the rebels were killed and the whole force was soon broken. Shays fled to Canada,
and afterwards received a pardon and a pension. , He died in Sparta, N. Y.,
Sept. 29, 1825.

1^8 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1787
record, in his memorable march from the Connecticut River
through the deep snows of winter to the town of Petersham,
where the forces of the insurgents were concentred, — "a
march," says Mr. AUen, " that would have done honor to the
veteran soldiers of a Hannibal or a Napoleon." The sudden
appearance of Gen. Lincoln's troops dispersed the rebels, and
they never rallied afterwards.
At a meeting of the First Parish, held in January, 1787, Joel
Parkhurst, Esq., and Lieut. Joseph Danforth were appointed
to apply to the General Court " to desolve the Line between
the two parishes at their next Session," but elements of dis
cord prevented the union of the parishes.
Dr. Ebenezer Starr was allowed this year £1 os. lod., to
pay Mr. Sarauel Dix for preaching. Other sums were paid to
Messrs. Smith, Dix, and Remington, " for speaking in the
pulpit." One article in a warrant given under the seal of Jonas
French, Zebedee Kendall, and James Cummings, Jan. 19,
1787, is " to See if the parish will Take under Consideration
our Situation in Regard of a burrying place and do and act
thereon as they shall think proper." And with this and the
usual sumraons for the meeting, the first book of records of
the Second Parish in Dunstable closes. It is a folio bound in
parchment, and contains 214 pages, embracing the proceedings
of the parish from 1755 to 1787 ; and although some one has
written in bold letters at the commencement, " A cannon
OF Discord," it contains matter of great interest to the
citizens of the town, and testifies on almost every page to the
independence, integrity, wisdora, and patriotism of the early
settlers of the place.
Preparatory to the union of the two parishes into one, a
resolve was passed in the General Court,* June 16, 1787, re
pealing the incorporation of the Second Parish ; but the dona
tion of Mrs. Sarah (Tyng) Winslow, as will be seen, prevented
the union.
The town now assumed the direction of ecclesiastical affairs.
 i 
* See Massachusetts Resolves, Vol. VII, p. 14.

1787] SELECTMEN. I49
It voted, in 1787, to raise ;£6o for preaching, and also that the
services should be held alternately at the east and west meet
ing-house. It moreover decided, Dec. 3, to buy land of Mr. Ezra
Thompson for a meeting-house. The Rev. Jesse Remington
was the acting minister, and the town engaged him to supply
the pulpits till the ist of March. Captain Nathaniel Holden,
John Perham, Jr., Elijah Fletcher, and Zebedee KendaU were
tMe selectmen. The town raised .;£40 for the support of the
public schools.

ISO

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. ['788

CHAPTER X.
A Church Fast. — A Donation from Mrs. Sarah Winslow. — Names
OF those voting its Acceptance. — People in the West Part o^p-
posED to it. — The District of Tyngsborough incorporated. — The
First School-House. — Certain Families received from Groton. —
Singing in Church. — Removal of the Meeting-House to the Cen
tre. — Sale of Pews. — Dedication ofthe House. — Settlement of
the Rev. Joshua Heywood. — Formation of a Baptist Society. —
A Singing'School. — Roll of Capt. Josiah Cummings's Company. —
A Social Library. — Members. — Agricultural Library. — Several
Persons annexed to the Town. — Opposition to the Bass-Viol. —
Five School-Houses built. — The Town of Tyngsborough incor
porated. — The First School Committee. — The Military Company
at the Beginning of the War of 1812. — Enlistments for the
War. — Spotted Fever. — Death of John Woodward, Jr. — Death
of Mr. Heywood. — His Character. — Mr. Silas Johnson killed.
— Revival of Religion. — Universalist Society. — Groton Line
straightened.
" We know a bank whose vaults are well stored with the richest treas
ures. It has a perpetual charter, and is known as the Grand Bank
OF Terra Firma, an entrance to which may be found on the sunny side
of most of our hills.'' Family Visitor.
" Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound ;
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground." Alexander Pope.
On the 2rst day of February, 1788, the church held a solemn
fast " to look up by Prayer to the Supreme Head of the Church
for his Direction in Choise of a Minister," but it appears that
no minister was found to suit all the congregation. The town
appropriated ^30 "to hier preaching," ;£ 10 for the mainte
nance of the poor, and ;£4o for the support of schools. Jaraes
P. Hovey, one of the teachers, received £1 6s. 8d. for ten
weeks' service.

1789] ^^S- WINSLOW'S DONATION. 151
On the seventh day of January, 1789, Mrs. Sarah (Tyng)
Winslow* made the town an offer of a considerable sum of
money for the support of a minister and a grammar school,
but the conditions were such as to cause a bitter feeling in the
westerly part, and the incorporation of the easterly part into
a district. Her proposals were as foUows : —
" To promote piety and learning in this town of Dunstable, & to unite
the town in peace, I will give the income or interest of ;i^i,333 6j. Sd.,
lawful money, to y« said town, one half for the support of a minister and
the other half for the support of a grammar-school for ever on ye following
conditions, viz. : Provided the town shall settle a minister within one
year, who shall be approved by the Congregational ministers in the five
neighboring towns. That ye town repair ye east meeting-house, & that a
meeting-house be forever upheld on the spot on which the said meeting
house now stands. Also, that a convenient house for a grammar-school
be built within one year, as near the said meeting-house as the grounds
will admit a house for said purpose, and on ye said ground, to be upheld
forever, and such a learned and vertuous schoolmaster be provided, as the
President of ye University in Cambridge shall recommend. Provided
likewise that I am not held to pay parish taxes, nor any more expenses
for the support of a school in said town. If the town accept of ye fore
going proposals & conditions, I agree to give them security for the per
formance thereof on my part. "Sarah Winslow.
"Dunstable, Jany. 7, 1789."
The town voted on the ensuing day to accept the benefac
tion ; but it will be seen by the names of the voters below that
but few from the west section were present : —
John Tyng, Jr. Eliphalet Breed.
Reuben Butterfield. Jonathan Perham.
Joseph Upton. Jonathan Bancroft.
Nathaniel Holden. Elijah Perham.
John Haddock. Charles Flint.
Ezra Thompson. Peter Perham.
Nathan Thompson. Abner K. Butterfield.
John Farwell. Jonas French.^
Samuel Roby. Oliver Farwell.
Asa Thompson. Josiah Danforth.
John Cummings. Ebenezer Bancroft.

* Madam Winslow, as she was called, died Oct. 29, 1791, aged 72 years.

152 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1789
Joel Spaulding. Caleb Coburn.
John Perham, Jr. Eleazer Coburn.
Joseph Butterfield. David Gould.
Oliver Coburn. William Perham.
Isaac Pike. James Butterfield.
Asa Underwood.
The town voted, Jan. 29, ;^ioo for repairing the east meet
ing-house, for building a school-house, etc., in accordance with
Mrs. Winslow's offer, but all persons living three miles west
of said meeting-house and two and a half miles east of the
Merrimack River were to be exempt from taxation therefor.
As the people of the west part of the town were decidedly
opposed to the conditions of Mrs. Winslow's donation, she de
termined, April 28, that if she might retract her proposal she
would make it to " the people that lately formed the First
Parish and to such others as will cheerfully accept of it."
At a meeting of the citizens, held May 25, it was voted " that
this town do relinquish their right to Mrs. Sarah Winslow's
proposals to this town & that the persons mentioned in her
letter to the town (AprU 28''' last) have the benefit of her
donation & that application be made to the General Court that
they and their estates be incorporated into a district or sepa
rate corporation, so as that they may receive said donation."
On the 22d of June following, what is now the town of
Tyngsborough was, therefore, incorporated into a district, and
received for its own use the donation of Mrs. Winslow, which,
as a town, it still enjoys.
On the IOth of August the town voted to build a school-house
and to set it " on the great road and in the centre of the town
according to pay & travel." Lieut. Joseph Fletcher was to have
;£i5 for building it. The teachers this year were Susannah
Bancroft, Mary Holden, Chloe Bancroft, Jonathan F. Sleeper,
Joseph Dix, Aaron Small, and Samuel Smith.
On the 2 1st of Deceraber the town voted that Joseph Dan
forth should not be set off to Tyngsborough, and as a sort of
corapensation for the loss of persons uniting with that dis
trict, that Jaraes Blood and fourteen others, with their lands,
should be received from Groton.

1790] THE REV. NATHANIEL LAWRENCE. 153
The names of the inhabitants received from Groton at this
time are as follows : James Blood, SUas Blood, SUas Blood,
Jr., Henry Blood, Peter Blood, Caleb Blood, Amaziah Swallow,
Caleb Woods, Nathaniel Cummings, Ebenezer Proctor, Silas
Marshall, Silas Marshall, Jr., Levi Parker, Isaac Lawrence,
Amos Woods, Nehemiah GUson, and Caleb Woods, Jr.
These persons dwelt along the valley of Unquetynasset
Brook. The town voted that the meeting-house should be
removed to within thirty rods of the school-house, and ^64
were appropriated for that purpose.
At a meeting of the church on the 22d of October, Elijah
Robbins and Zebedee Kendall were chosen deacons. It was
then voted that "Brother Zebedee Kendall shall Read the
Psalm — a Vars at a time," also that he, together with Abra
ham and Jacob Kendall, " be ar Committe to acquaint the
Singers of their Desire in Regard to Singing." * The hymn-
book now in use was the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts,
and it appears that the custom of " deaconing out " the lines
was still in vogue. Dec. 22 Abraham Kendall and David
Taylor were chosen as " DeUigates to assist in Council In the
ordination at Tyngsborough." A church was formed here, and
the Rev. Nathaniel Lawrence (H. C. 1787) was ordained pas
tor, Jan. 6, 1790. This district contained at the time three
hundred eighty-two inhabitants, of whom seventeen were
colored. Dunstable contained, at the same date, three hun
dred and eighty inhabitants, of whom only one was colored.
The Rev. Mr. Lawrence continued as pastor of the church in
Tyngsborough until his sudden death, Feb. 5, 1843. He was
buried in the old cemetery, about a mile northwest of Tyngs
borough Centre, and the inscription on his headstone is, " In
memory of Rev. Nathaniel Lawrence who died on Lord's day,
Feb. 5, 1843, aet. 72^-. Mr. Lawrence was a native of Woburn,
Mass. He graduated at Harvard College in 1787, and on
Jan^ 6, 1790, was ordained Pastor of the Congregational
Society in Tyngsborough which relation continued 49 years.
On the morning of Feb 5 he attended Church as usual in
* Church records.

154 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l79I
apparent good health, but on returning to his dweUing very
suddenly expired. His death was that of the righteous & his
last end like his." His wife Hannah died Sept. 20, 1835, in the
seventy-second year of her age, and was buried beside him.*
On the Sth of February, 1790, the town held a meeting at the
school-house, and chose a committee to remonstrate against
Joseph and Josiah Danforth, Joseph Upton, and John Cum
mings being set off to Tyngsborough.
The church edifice on Meeting House HUl was removed to
Dunstable Centre in 1791, and finished in creditable style.
A cut of it is presented, and it wiU be seen that it bore exter
nally a close resemblance to the meeting-house in Mason,
N. H.
The land for the site of the buUding, consisting of one acre
and one hundred and thirty rods, was well chosen, and con
veyed by Jonathan Proctor to the town in a deed bearing date
Aug. 25, 1790, and it is described as "the land on which the
school-house now stands, and bounded beginning at the south
erly corner of said land at a heap of stones by the road, thence
running northerly about twenty nine rods to a heap of stones
by a black oak tree, thence south forty four degrees west, twenty
rods to a heap of stones, thence south six and a half degrees
west, eleven rods and a half to a heap of stones by the great
road, thence east eleven degrees south by the north side of the
said road fourteen rods and a half to a heap of stones first
mentioned." The deed contains this condition, " that the
Inhabitants of the said Dunstable shall within the term of
three years from the date hereof have caused to be erected
upon the said land a Meeting House for publick worship and a
School House and shall never suffer said land to be destitute
of said buildings for raore than three years at any time, and
that no other building shall ever be erected on said land than
such as shaU be necessary to accommodate the Inhabitants
when attending on Publick Worship."!
*The oldest inscription in this yard is, " Here Lyes buried ye body ot Mrs
Huldah Thompson, daughter of Mr. Simon Thompson, who died 1752."
t Though the conditions of the deed have not been met, the land is still in the
possession of tlie town.

1793] DEDICATION OF THE MEETING-HOUSE. 155
On the tenth day of August, 1792, David Fletcher, joiner,
gave bonds to Zebulon Blodgett, town treasurer, to finish the
meeting-house at or before the first day of July, 1794. He was
to buUd thirty-three pews and a pulpit, " and the breastwork
in the gallery not inferior to that in the meeting-house in
Tyngsborough." It was delivered in presence of Joseph and Phineas
Fletcher. By an act of the General Court, passed on the twenty-fifth
day of February, 1793, about 'twenty Groton families living at
Unquetynasset were annexed to Dunstable, leaving a bound
ary line with eighty-six angles between the two towns. The
transferring of famUies with their farms, by an Act of the
Legislature, from one town to another, that they might enjoy
greater educational or religious privileges, has given very
crooked boundary lines to many of our towns, and caused much
inconvenience. Though parting with some of its people, a
town should, on many considerations, retain its land. The
act is thus referred to by Mr. Butler : —
"PARTS OF GROTON SET OFF TO DUNSTABLE.
"By an Act of the Legislature passed Feb. 25, 1793, on the petition of
sundry inhabitants of the north part of Groton, about twenty families with
their estates were taken from Groton and annexed to Dunstable. By this
the jurisdictional line between the two towns formed 86 angles, and was
attended with much inconvenience. It continued, however, to be the
boundary line till Feb. 15, 1820, when by another Act a line was established
taking one family and considerable territory from Groton and annexing it
to Dunstable and forming but five angles." — Caleb Butler's History of
Groton, p. 66.
On the 26th of September, 1793, thirty-two pews in the
new meeting-house were sold at public vendue, and Zebedee
Kendall and Philip Butterfield were authorized to give titles to
the same. Joel and Leonard Parkhurst bid off" pew numbered
two for the sura of £1^, to be used by themselves and heirs
" so long as said meeting-house shall remain on the sarae spot
of ground where it now stands."
The edifice was dedicated to the service of God, " agreeable

155 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l794
to ancient example and more modern practices," on the sec
ond day of October, 1793.
The following ministers were invited to be present, viz. :
Mr. Emerson of Hollis, Mr. Chaplin of Groton, Mr. Kidder
of Dunstable, N. H., Mr. Lawrence of Tyngsborough, Mr.
Blake of Westford, and Mr. Bullard of PeppereU. The latter
clergyman preached the sermon, and all the ministers were
entertained at Mr. Isaac Taylor's at the cost of the church.
On the 4th of November Joel Parkhurst was chosen deacon.
The town this year " granted a bounty of one shiUing for
every old crow and six pence per head for every young one
that may be actually killed within the town." It also aUowed
Robert Dunn, Ohver Taylor, and others liberty to introduce
a Presbyterian minister a part of the time into the pulpit.
PLAN OF DUNSTABLE TAKEN IN OCTOBER, 1794.
" Course and distance of the East line of Dunstable beginning at the
southeast corner thence north 2 degrees west 73 rods, thence north 20°
W. 25 rods ; thence north 25° west 34 rods ; thence north 34° W. 1 1
rods ; thence north 72° W 14 rods ; thence N. 51° W 7^ rods ; thence
S 30° W 8 rods ; thence W 9° N. 10 rods ; thence N. 10° E 8 rods ;
thence E 2° N 93 rods ; thence N 21° E 580 rods ; thence 18° W. 114
rods ; thence S 40° West 70 rods ; thence 6° East 41 rods ; thence W 8°
S 43 rods ; thence N. i|° W. 50 rods ; thence N 74 rods ; thence N 30°
East 14 rods ; thence E 2° N. 60 rods ; thence W 32" E 93 rods ; thence
N 2)^ E 66 rods to the Province Line.
" Course of distance of the pricked line beginning at Massapog pond
thence E 5° N 33 rods ; thence N 80° E. 138 rods ; thence N 22^^ E 170
rods ; thence S 23° E 205 rods ; thence E. 263^° N 330 rods ; thence N.
33° W 36 rods ; thence E 8° N 60 rods ; thence N 12 W 24 rods ; thence
E 5° N 102 rods ; thence E 2° N 40 rods."
By this plan the town contains 9,584 acres, exclusive of
Massapoag Pond and of what is claimed by Tyngsborough.
The New Hampshire line is given as running west 8|° north
four mUes and 200 rods. The Massapoag Pond (74 acres) is
included almost wholly within the town, and the Groton line
touches the Nashua River, near the mouth of Unquetynasset
Brook. Having heard the Rev. Jabez P. Fisher (B. U. 1788) for

1799] "^^^ ^^^- ^^- HEYWOOD ORDAINED. 157
some time during the year 1 794, the church voted, Dec. 4, to
extend to hira a call to settle ; but for some reason he declined
to accept the position.
At the regular town-meeting, March 6, 1797, it was voted
to purchase a buiying-cloth, and ^133.34 were appropriated
for the support of the schools. This is the first instance on
the town records of the introduction of the decimal currency.
On the 1 8th of March Leonard Parkhurst was appointed a
coroner for the county of Middlesex. On the 19th of Novem
ber, 1798, the town extended a call to the Rev. Joshua Hey
wood, of Amherst, to become its minister ; and on the loth
of December following it voted to concur with the church in
its choice of Mr. Heywood, and to give him ^333 for a settle
ment, and ^266.66 for his annual salary. A few persons, not
entirely satisfied with the action of the church and town in
respect to the settlement of Mr. Heywood, formed theraselves
into a Baptist society, which had but a brief existence. Their
action is expressed in the following paper, copied from the
town records : —
" Whereas the people of Dunstable that are Congregationahsts by pro
fession are about to settle a minister for the Inhabitants of this town, we
whose names are hereto subscribed, think that the Baptist profession is
much more agreeable to the Scripture of truth, & having formed a
Society, we claim it as our right to choose our own teacher, & to con
tract with & pay him without molestation or subordination from any
other, agreeably to our conviction.
"Dec. 18, 1798.
"Samuel Taylor. Jonas Taylor, Jr.
Benjamin Swallow. Oliver Cummings.
ZiMRi Kendall. Jonathan Proctor.
Ebenezer French. Joseph Spaulding."
John Ingalls.
The ordination of Mr. Heywood took place on the fifth day
of June, 1799, the foUowing ministers taking part in the ser
vices : the Rev. Caleb Blake commenced with prayer ; the
Rev. John Bruce preached the sermon, from Mark xvi, 15, 16 ;
the Rev. John Bullard made the ordaining prayer ; the Rev.
Henry Cummings gave the charge ; the Rev. Daniel Chaplin
gave the right hand of fellowship ; and the Rev. Moses Brad-

158 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [180O
ford offered the concluding prayer. The expense to the town
for the ordination was ^23.
At the incoming of the present century Dunstable was in a
prosperous condition. Its population had increased to four
hundred and eighty-five persons ; it had a good church edifice,
a new and popular minister, and no very serious difficulty
agitated the minds of the people.
In April, 1800, the church chose Deacon Zebedee Kendall,
Capt. J. Fletcher, and Capt. S. Stevens a committee to attend
the meetings of the singing school, for the purpose of choosing
leaders, and it also invited all " who are skilled in sacred har
mony to come forward and assist the church in that part of
public worship." On the 4th of August the town voted to
provide for each of its soldiers who should attend the muster
to be held at Concord, 2 lbs. of beef, i lb. of pork, ijlbs. of
cheese, and 4 lbs. of bread made of rye-flour ; also six ounces of
powder. It also voted to the company one and a half barrels
of cider and eight gallons of West India rum, the whole cost
of which articles was ^60.20. The foUowing is the roll of the
company : — Captain.
Josiah Cumings.
Lieutenant.
Josiah Stevens.
Ensign.
Abraham Swallow.
Sergeants.
Jonas Kendall. Jerahmeel C. Pratt.
Jeptha Stevens. Isaac Woods.
Drummer.
Josiah W. Blodgett.
Fifers.
Philip Butterfield. James Cumings.
Caleb Read.

i8oo]

A SOCIAL LIBRARY.

IS9

Henry Blood.
Caleb Blood.
Joseph Bennett.
Thomas Bennett.
Jeremiah Cumings.
Nathl Cumings, 3.
John Cumings.
Michel Carter.
Davis Chapman.
Imly Corey.
Amos Eastman.
Jona Emerson.
Phinehas Fletcher.
Joseph Fletcher, Jr.
John French.
John Foster.
Peter Gilson.
Wm. Hardy.
Temple Kendall, Jr.
Josiah Kendall.
Zebedee Kendall.

Samuel Kendall.
¦Joseph Parkhurst, Jr.
Nathan Proctor.
Peter Proctor.
James Proctor.
Elijah Robbins.
Zachariah Richardson.
Parker Stevens.
Samson Swallow.
James Taylor.
Isaac Taylor, Jr.
Daniel Taylor.
Josiah Taylor.
Peter Turril.
Noah Woods.
Jonas Woods.
Amos Woods, Jr.
John Wright.
Eben Williams.
Joseph Upton.
Abijah Read.
Total rank and file, 42.

A social library was established in this town Feb. 17, 1800,
and continued, until within a few years, to diffuse inteUigence
amongst the people.
are : —

The names of the original shareholders

Capi. Jonathan Fletcher.
Joel Parkhurst, Esq.
Dea. Zebedee Kendall.
Isaac Wright.
Jonas Taylor.
Caleb Woods.
Silas Johnson.
Temple Kendall.
Josiah Blodgett.
Leonard Butterfield.
Oliver Taylor.
Lt. John Cheney.
John Wright, 3d.
James Taylor.
Peter Proctor.
Lt. Zebulon Blodgett.
Sally Butterfield.
Josiah Kendall.
Joseph Kendall.
Dr. Micah Eldredge.

Josiah Stevens.
Asa Woods.
James Taylor, Jr.
Capt. Philip Butterfield.
Temple Kendall, Jr.
Wm. French.
Jerahmeel C. Pratt.
Peter Swallow.
Capt. Saml Stevens.
Allen Emerson.
Zachariah Richardson.
Daniel Taylor.
Jeptha Stevens.
Thomas Bennett.
Timothy Woodward.
Jona Woodward, Jr.
Nathl Cummings.
George Betterly.
Cyrus Taylor.
Jona Bennett.

l6o HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1803
Amos Eastman. Ioel Keyes.
Jere Cummings. Benj. Kendall.
Asa Swallow. Leonard Kendall.
Saml Fletcher. James Swallow.
James Cummings.
It continued tiU 1841.
An agricultural library was subsequently formed in town,
but its books, like those of the social library, are now scat
tered among the famUies. It is to be hoped that measures
will soon be taken for the establishment of a permanent town
library on a liberal basis.
The town cast thirty-three votes for Joseph B. Varnum and
ten for Timothy Bigelow, as representatives to Congress.
In 1 80 1 Isaac Wright, Jonas French, and Nathaniel Cum
mings were chosen selectmen. Isaac Wright was chosen
town clerk. The town gave forty-eight votes for Elbridge
Gerry as governor, and chose the Hon. John Pitts representa
tive to the General Court. In September it voted " to fence
their burial ground near Gersham Proctors." It also voted
^60 for a bridge over Salmon Brook, and to open a road from
Simeon Cummings's house across the said brook. The church,
July 2, made choice of Isaac Taylor as one of its deacons ; he
declined the office.
The town voted in 1802 to have John Woods, John Woods,
Jr., Thomas Bennett, and Ebenezer Proctor (of Groton) an
nexed to Dunstable.
The ensuing year it voted $40 for purchasing a set of weights
and measures, and also to raise $30 for the support of a singing
school. The territory of the town was divided in five school
districts, and cattle and horses were not permitted to run at
large. Abraham Swallow, Capt. Jeptha Stevens, and Ensign
Peter Proctor, Aug. 29, took the oath of allegiance.
Efforts at various times had been made to introduce the bass-
viol into the church service, but serious objections were urged
against it. One called it " the Lord's fiddle," and another said
he should get up and dance if it came into church. At one
meeting it was " voted to suspend the introduction of the Bass
Viol for the present on account of an objection made by Lieut.

1809] INCORPORATION OF TYNGSBOROUGH. igi
Simeon Cummings"; but on the 20th of March, 1804, the
innocent instrument triumphed over all opposition, the church
voting that the bass-viol be introduced into the meeting-house
on days of public worship, and that those who have skill to use
it, bring it and perform on Sabbath days.
The Middlesex Canal, extending from Boston to a point
about a mile above Pawtucket Falls, in the Merrimack River,
and once considered a grand achievement, was opened this
year, and by it transportation of luraber, cattle, and grain from
Dunstable to the metropolis was facilitated. The canal was
about twenty-seven railes long, thirty feet wide, and three feet
deep, and served as a conveyance of raerchandise from the
Merrimack River to Boston until the opening of the Boston
and Lowell Railroad in 1836, when the use of the canal was
gradually superseded. Both of these institutions, in turn,
advanced the agricultural interests of Dunstable ; and as the
people for the most part manufactured their own clothing and
supplied their -tables from their farms, they did not suffer so
much as those of some other towns in the war that foUowed.
They raised more than they consumed, they paid but little
regard to fashion, they were industrious, independent, and
therefore prosperous.
The town in 1805 provided a book containing the Constitu
tion of the United States for each of its schools, and the next
year voted ^700 for building five school-houses. A disagree
ment between Phineas Fletcher and the Rev. Mr. Heywood
commenced this year, which two or three successive church
councils could not remove, and which continued to disturb tbe
harmony of the church for many years. It probably origi
nated in sorae trivial reraark, and increased by its repetition
untU the whole community became weary of the contest.
In 1807 a man was allowed $1 per day for working on the
public roads. The meeting-house had not been entirely com
pleted, and it was voted in April "to sell ground for pews
therein." The district of Tyngsborough was incorporated as a town
Feb. 28, 1809, and the population of Dunstable wag thereby
greatly diminished.

1 62

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[181I

In May, 18 10, the town chose for the first time a regular
school comraittee to visit and examine the schools in con
secutive order. The following persons were chosen: Paul
Thorndike, Edraund Page,* Nathaniel Cummings, Micah El
dredge, and Jonathan Bennett. It voted, Dec. 3, " to purchase
a hearse for the town's use." The number of inhabitants at
this time was 475. Capt. Jonas KendaU was the commander
of the soldiers, whose names are contained in the following
list : —
I, the subscriber, do request of the Selectmen of the town of Dunstable
the quantity of powder allowed the soldiers by law. The following list
contains the number of Soldiers in said town : —

Jonathan Bennett,
Amaziah Swallow,
John Proctor,
Francis Fletcher,
Jona. Proctor.
Elijah Chapman.
Mark Fletcher.
John Gumming.
Isaac Gumming.
Davis Chapman, Jr.
Kendall Cheney.
John French.
Wm. French.
Nehemiah Gilson.
Oliver Gilson.
Richard Harrington.
James Ingalls.
Joseph Kendall, Jr.
Saml. Kendall.
Levi Kemp.
Joel Keyes.
Pf;ABODY Keyes.
Asa Lawrence.
Edmund Page.
Dunstable, Oct. 4, 1810.

Seargents.

Clark Parker.
James Proctor.
Levi Parker.
Nathan Proctor.
John Pratt.
Willard Robbins.
Saml. Rosy.
Joseph W. Roby.
David Swallow.
Archelaus Swallow.
Kendall Swallow.
James Swallow.
Abel Spaulding, Jr.
James Taylor.
Cyrus Taylor.
Isaac Taylor, Jr.
Samuel Taylor.
Asa Woods.
Henry Woods.
William Woods.
Isaac Woods.
George Wright.
Oliver Willoughby.
Jonas Kendall, Capt.

By the State law passed in 181 1, permitting persons to
attend and support the worship of any denomination instead
* He kept a store and tavern in the centre ofthe town, and held various pubUc
offices.

l8ll] PROPOSITION OF MR. HEYWOOD. 163
of that of the town, it was feared that by the withdrawal of
many attendants on the ministry of Mr. Heywood the burden
of taxation might become very heavy on those that remained,
and he, therefore, in a communication to the town, generously
proposed to rehnquish as much of his salary as would equal
the amount of the deficit under the operation of the new law.
The committee appointed to attend to this matter brought in
their report as follows : —
The committe chosen by the town of Dunstable at their last meeting
Sept. 2, 181 1, to represent to and consult with the Rev. Joshua Heywood
respecting the State of public worship in the town, have attended to that
service and offer the following statements of the Revr Mr Heywood as
their report.
Dunstable, Sept 14, i8ii. Zebedee Kendall,
Micah Eldredge, Comm
Nathaniel Cumings, ,' ittee.
John Cheney.
To THE Inhabitants of the Town of Dunstable.
Gentle-men, Whereas your Committee chosen by you in town meeting the
2d of September 181 1, have represented to, and consulted with me on the
situation of the town respecting public worship, and having represented to
me that there are, in the minds of many apprehensions of pecuniary embar
rassments in consequence of an Act passed at the last session of the
General Court of this Commonwealth relating to religious freedom ; I do
with their advice and concurrence, make the following statement to
you : —
As I did in my answer to the call given me to settle as a gospel minis
ter in this place bring to your view the impropriety of making the
stipulation between a people and their minister, a matter of pecuniary
speculation and as you complyed with it ; I ever thought that we were
bound on both sides, never to do any such thing. I do therefore now
most solemnly record my protest against it.
But conceiveing it to be duty of a people and their minister to be always
helpfull to each other ; under all difficulties and embarrassments ; to per
form this duty therefore towards you now labouring under apprehensions
of embarrassment I propose to you that provided the said Act of the
General Court, above mentioned, shall not be repealed ; but be put in
execution to your damage, so that your ministerial taxes shall be increased
thereby ; upon the valuations of your estates ; and provided there shall be
a majority of the town, who attend the public worship of GOD with the
Congregational Church of Christ, as heretofore done in the house now

l54 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l8l2
built for that purpose, under the regular administration thereof ; which by
divine Providence shall be provided, I will rehnquish so much of my
salery for the present year, as the increase upon their ministerial taxes
shall be ; The year to begin the first of March, 1811, and end the first of
March, 18 12. That no encouragement be taken herefrom by parties to
the damage of the town, I reserve the consideration of any relinquishment
in future years, to my own judgement of the circumstances which may
then exist.
My design and intent, in this proposal and engagement is to relieve
the town from their present apprehension and embarrassment, and to
have them attend on the public worship of GOD in as orderly and regu
lar manner as they can under the present difficulties, and to prevent the
introduction of such irregularities as would be to the damage of the town
and church.
If this proposal give satisfaction to your minds, and meet your approba
tion and you use your endeavours to carry the things proposed into effect,
then this instrument by me signed shall be in full force, otherwise it shall
be void and of no effect. Joshua Heywood.
Dunstable, Sept. nth i8ii.
A few soldiers from Dunstable engaged in what was called
Mr. Madison's war of 18 12, and it will be seen by the foUow
ing paper that the town supplied them with ammunition : —
SOLDIERS OF THE WAR OF 1812.
Dunstable, July i, 1812.
We the subscribers have each received of the Selectmen of the To\vn
of Dunstable twenty-four cartridges with balls, also two flints each, it
being in full of our respective shares of the town stock, which we severally
promise to return to the said Selectmen at the expiration of the term for
which we are engaged, if the same shall not be actually expended in the
service of the United States : —
Jesse Blood, Corp. John Pratt.
Oliver Gilson. Nathan Proctor.
Abel Johnson. Henry Woods.
Benjamin Wetherbee.
In addition to the above, Peter Kendall went into the war,
came home sick, and hired Nehemiah Gilson as a substitute.
Noah Woods enlisted, and served through the whole war.
Isaac GUson, Jonathan Woodward, Jr., Jonathan Swallow, Jr.,
and Samuel Kendall were in the war. Jonathan Emerson and

I8l3] ^ MALIGNANT FEVER. igc
Benjamin Parker also enlisted, and both died at Sackett's
Harbor. In 1812 the town "voted and chose Isaac Taylor, Jr., to
attend funerals with the hearse, & to allow hira $ i for each
funeral he should attend." This year was very darap and cold.
A snow-storm commenced on the 4th of May, and continued
twenty-four hours. Very little Indian corn came to maturity.
In 1813 the town cast sixty-five votes for Joseph B. Varnum,
of Dracut, as governor. The school comraittee consisted of
Deacon Zebedee Kendall, Edraund Page, Davis Chapman,
Mark Fletcher, and James Taylor. The last-named citizen
was chosen, Sept 19, deacon ofthe church.
Of those doing service in the army at this time. Orderly
Sergeant John Woodward, Jr., died at Sackett's Harbor, Sept.
4, and a sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Heywood at
Dunstable, Oct. 24, in commemoration of the virtues of this
brave soldier. The sermon was afterwards published. In a
letter to his parents, dated Sackett's Harbor, Aug. 17, 1813,
Sergt. Woodward says, " Gen. Harrison has taken Gen. Proc
tor's army. It is said that he took six hundred men, which
I suppose to be true. It is expected that our fleet will have
this day an engagement with the British fleet. If they should
capture them, it is thought there will be peace." Of Sergeant
Woodward his captain, Horace H. Watson, wrote, " As a man
he was honest, upright, and virtuous ; as a soldier, prompt,
attentive, and respectful ; and as a Christian, sincere, raild,
and forgiving." His remains repose in the Central Cemetery,
and the inscription on his headstone is : —
" In memory of Mr. John Woodward Jr., who died Sept. 4, 1813,
AGED 23 years.
Sacketts Harbor is the place
Where my body lies at rest
There at rest it must remain
Till the dead are raised again."
The spotted fever, fastening on the robust and strong as well
as on the weak and feeble, proved very fatal during the year

l66 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1814
1813. The following persons died, mostly by this disease, dur
ing the course of the year : Mary, daughter of Leonard Butter
field, Jan. 22, aged 15 years; Benjamin Estabrook, Jan. 24,
aged 68 years ; Elmira, daughter of Capt. Kendall, Jan. 27 ;
Mary Blood, widow of James Blood, Feb. 1 1, aged 88 years ;
Asa Swallow, aged 45 years, Feb. 15 ; Caleb Blood, Feb. 23 ;
Joseph Parkhurst, aged 67 years, March 7 ; Sarah, wife of Isaac
Taylor, aged 59 years, March 10 ; Lieut. Zebulon Blodgett,
aged 60 years, March 21 ; Sarah, wife of Peter Blood, March
22 ; Capt. Jonathan Fletcher, aged 72 years, March 28 ; Peter
Swallow, aged 69 years, April 7 ; Ensign Samuel Fletcher,
April 10; Nathaniel Cummings, aged 45 years, April 17;
Edmund, son of Silas Parkhurst, aged 2 years, April 18 ;
Edward Kendall, aged 78 years. May 26 ; Betsy Robbins, July
22 ; Mary, wife of Jonas Taylor, Dec. 5 ; Gershom Proctor,
Dec. 1 7, aged 60 years. Such a fearful mortality the town had
never before experienced, nor was the cause of the fever ever
satisfactorily determined. Sybil, widow of Capt. Oliver Cum
mings, who died Dec. 16, of the preceding year, was the first
victim of the disease. Though many were sick with this fever
in Tyngsborough at the time, the whole of them recovered.
On the 8th of October, 18 14, Mr. SUas Johnson was acci
dentally killed by falling from an apple-tree on the northerly
side of Forest Hill. The sad event is thus recorded on his
headstone in the Central Cemetery : —
"In memory of Mr. Silas Johnson who was killed by a fall
FROM A tree Oct. 8 1814 aged 69 years.
Alas, how distant was the thought
When I the tree ascended.
That I should to the ground be brought.
And there my life be ended."
His widow, Rebecca Johnson, died Oct. 19, 1823, aged 60
years. On Nov. II, 1814, the town was caUed to deplore the loss
by death of its beloved pastor, the Rev. Joshua Heywood. He
was buried on the 14th, the Rev. Daniel Chaplin, of Groton,

l8l5] PROSPERITY OF THE TOWN. 167
preaching the funeral sermon from Revelation xiv, 13, " Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord." Mr. Heywood was
graduated at Dartmouth College, in the class of 1795. He
married Lydia French, of Boston, Jan. 27, 1800. He was a
large man, of dark complexion, dignified and courteous in his
demeanor, and highly respected by all who knew him. He was
buried in the Central Cemetery, and the following words are
inscribed on his headstone: —
"In memory OF Rev. Joshua Heywood, who died Nov. ii, 1814,
aged 51.
Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear
Invades thy bounds : no mortal woes
Can reach the peaceful sleeper here
While angels watch the soft repose."
The signal victory of Gen. Andrew Jackson over the British
forces under Gen. Packingham, at New Orleans, on the 8th of
January (1815), terminated the war, and on the eighteenth
day of February following. President James Madison issued a
proclamation of peace. This was hailed by the people of
Dunstable with the liveliest expressions of joy. A day was
set apart for the celebration of the gladsome event, and three
companies, one consisting of veterans of the Revolution, an
other of the enrolled militia, and still another of the boys of
the town, paraded on the Common. The people asserabled in
their gala-day attire, and when the soldiers had gone through
with their evolutions, all partook of a bountiful coUation, and
then, repairing to the church, they listened to a patriotic
address from the Rev. John Peckins, a Baptist minister of
Chelmsford. In the general prosperity which foUowed the long and
exhausting war, Dunstable, though not in a condition to
engage directly in the manufacturing interests then absorbing
the attention of the State, made improvements in its tillage,
in its roads, its schools, and private residences. The people
increased in wealth, in numbers, and intelligence. The barns
were filled with plenty, and a more generous style of living
soon became apparent. Newspapers were taken, the chaise

1 68 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1816
and Jersey wagon began to appear in the streets, the singing
school was weU patronized, a better kind of headstones were
raised over the dead, and the use of ardent spirits was aban
doned at church festivals and funerals.
The town, in concurrence with the church, voted, July 24,
1815, to extend a caU to Mr. Levi Hartshorn, of Amherst, to
settle with them as pastor, offering him ^400 for a " settle
ment" and $450 per annum for salary, but he declined, Sept.
4, to accept the office.
On the second day of September occurred what was long
known as " the great gale." The wind blew with such violence
from the southeast and south as to overturn fences, chimneys,
fruit and forest trees, and in some instances, barns and dwell
ing-houses. About sixty chimneys were blown over in Boston,
and seventeen houses were unroofed in Dorchester. A poet
wrote of it, — " For low the favorite elms are laid,
Which wrapped me in their folding shade,
While the rich fruit tree's nectared store
Will wave its blooming gold no more."
Columbian Centinel, September, 1815.
This was the severest storm that had occurred in New
England since Aug. 15, 1635, when, according to the histo
rian WiUiam Hubbard, "many houses were blown down,
many more uncovered. The Indian corn was beat down to
the ground so as not to rise again. The tide at Narragansett
rose twenty feet perpendicularly. The Indians were obliged
to betake theraselves to the trees, and yet many of thera were
drowned by the return of the tide before the usual hour."
The year 18 16 was reraarkable for the severity of the cold.
Frosts appeared during each of the summer months, and the
crop of Indian corn was mostly destroyed. A large spot was
observed upon the disk of the sun, and on the 9th of June
there was a fall of snow.
On Sept. 16 of this year the town concurred with the
church in caUing the Rev. Luther Wright (H. C. 1796) to be
their minister, but he also gave a negative to the invitation.

l8l8] ADMISSIONS TO THE CHURCH. igg
In the year 1817 the town raised ^300 for schools, and the
same amount for preaching ; it also repaired and painted the
meeting-house. The pulpit was in part supplied by the Rev.
Jabez P. Fisher. Dr. Micah Eldredge was the town clerk.
The church in 1817-1818 was favored with an extensive
revival, and as many as seventy-three persons, many of whom
were heads of families, made a profession of religion. Of this
revival the Rev. Dr. John Spaulding gives some account in a
sermon preached in Dunstable, Nov. 19, 1865. He says that
" in the latter part of August, 181 7, the Rev. Jabez P. Fisher
arrived in town and commenced a faithful proclamation of the
gospel. By his advice the church soon appointed a weekly
meeting to pray especially for the outpouring of the Holy
Ghost. If the Sabbath school was a bow of promise on the
cloud, this meeting was the bow reduplicated.
" The church then numbered but ten males and twenty-seven
females, thirty-seven in all, and these resembled the weeping
captives by the rivers of Babylon. Worldliness, Sabbath-break
ing, intemperance, and the like sins, had come in like a flood.
In the language of the church, as expressed and published by
one of its officers, ' Mirth and vain amusements much en
grossed the attention of the young people. Others, more
advanced in life, were unconcerned for their souls.' As the
work (ofthe revival) went on, the public morals improved, and
for years after few towns were more free from open immorality
and vice."
" On the thirtieth day of November four were received to the
communion of this church on profession of their faith, on the
first Sabbath in February thirty-two, on the 8th of March,
five, and on other occasions seventeen, making fifty-eight new
members, — more than doubling its number and quadrupling
its strength. There were some fifteen others who gave cred
ible evidence of having passed from death unto life, whose
youth or peculiar circumstances caused a delay of their pub
lic admission to the church. Thus it appears that seventy-
three, or nearly one seventh of the entire population of the
town (475), had recently been hopefully converted to God, and
one fifth of the inhabitants were members of the church of

lyo HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1817
Christ." In speaking of those then converted, Dr. Spaulding
said, " Of the fifty-eight received into this church as the im
mediate fruits of that revival, only six remain in town. Six
have been excoraraunicated, two of whora have died. Of
twelve disraissed and recomraended to other churches, or lost
sight of in other parts of the country, a raajority are, doubtless,
numbered with the dead. So also with the remaining thirty-
four ; their names are starred on the records of the church, and
we trust they star the crown of their Redeemer in glory. At
least five sixths of the sixty-eight have gone to their final re
wards, leaving only about fifteen survivors."
" Thus star by star declines,
Till all are passed away,
As morning .high and higher shines
To pure and perfect day ;
Nor sink those stars in empty night.
But lose themselves in heaven's own light."
Sometimes you see the sun go down, shining as he departs
with new brightness and glory. So some of them have de
parted. Some of those peaceful, triumphant death-bed scenes
are stiU fragrant in your memories. Dr. Micah Eldredge was
sustained in his last days and hours by the hope he received,
the doctrines he cherished, the Saviour he embraced in that
revival. Deacon Mark Fletcher literally slept in Jesus, so
peaceful was his end. Deacon Isaac Taylor's mental faculties
towards the last were clouded by disease, yet his whole Chris
tian life was the preface and commentary of a peaceful death.
" The present number at this church," says Dr. Spaulding, in
closing his address, " is sixty-nine, sixteen of whom are absent,
leaving fifty- three, or one ninth of the population of the town
(48*7), accessible members of the church."
The first Sabbath school, consisting of twenty-six members,
was organized early in the summer of 18 17, and Deacon
Zebedee KendaU was one of the prominent teachers. " Most
of the hour in this school," says the Rev. Dr. John Spaulding,
"was spent in repeating portions of Scripture and sacred songs,
committed to memory during the week."

i8i8]

UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY.

171

The following table is reprinted from the address : -
Rev. Josiah Goodhue .
" Joshua Heywood .
" Samuel H. Tolman
" Eldad W. Goodman
" Levi Brigham
" Darwin Adams .
" William C. Jackson, present pastor,

Stated supplies, etc.,

17 years,

members

admitted, 65

15 "

30

7 "

23

4 "

" 23

13 "

" 53
7 "
16
6 "
6
69
216
39
83
108
299
A Universalist society was formed by citizens of Dunstable
and the towns adjacent, and a constitution adopted, Jan. 21,
1818. The names of the original members of the society are
as follows : —
Israel Hunt.
Edmund Page.
Leonard'Parkhurst.Simon Thompson.
John Woodward.
Jona. Woodward.
George Johnson.
Abel Spaulding, Jr.
Caleb Read.
Francis B. Maxwell.
Clark Parker.
James Whitney.
David Jewett.
Wm. Cogswell.
Jesse Blood.
Abraham Blood.
John Caldwell.
Benj. Wilson.
Wm. Lund.
Eleazer F. Ingalls.
Levi Wright.
Isaac J. Sanderson.
Peter Turrel.
Levi Lund.
Ezra Fletcher.
Peter Blood.
Henry Blood.
Abel Johnson.
Moody Robbins.
Daniel Ingalls.
William French.
Temple Kendall.
Jonas French, Jr.
William Robbins, Jr.
James Read.
Nathl. W. Gilson.
Jesse Johnson.
Ephraim Johnson.
Libni Parker.
Daniel H. Lawrence.
David Perham.
Salmon Snow.
Leonard Kendall.
Elijah Robbins.
Charles Parker.
William Roby.
Jesse Fales.
Allen Perham.
Ralph Perham.
Jeremiah Upton.
Asa Butterfield.
Joseph Pierce.
Thomas Read.
Isaac Pike.
172

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[(820

Samuel Roby.
Theodore Woodward.
Amaziah Shattuck.
Samuel Davis.
Wm. Whiting.
Avery Prescott.
Abijah Smith.
Cyprian Bannister.
Joseph W. Roby.
Levi Kemp.
Stephen Pratt.
Nehemiah Gilson.
Thaddeus Marshal*.
David M. Combs.
David Darling.
JosKPH Pierce.
Hiram Kemp.
Moses Glynn.
Saml. Spaulding.
Thom.\s Richardson.
James Ingalls.
Frederick Blodgett.
Silas Blood.
Thomas Lewis.
Henry Parkhurst.
Wm. Dane.

Joseph Ingalls.
Josiah Danforth.
Ebenezer Frost.
Joseph Butierfield.
Allen Pierce.
Damel Jaquith, Jr.
Joseph Uutterfield, Jr.
Thaddeus Blodgett.
David Butterfield.
Aaron Davis.
Zebulon Blodgett.
Elijah Fletcher.
Aaron Andrews.
Leonard Parkhurst.
Noah Woods.
Levi Blood.
Henry Blood, Jr.
Jefferson French.
Jonas Parker.
Nathl. Gilson.
John Buttrick.
JuHN Spaulding.
Reuben Shattuck.
Parlin Rollins.
Jefferson Taylor.
Isaac P. Sanderson.

Edmund Page, Esq., was chosen clerk of the society, and
was annually re-elected to this office until 1828, when Temple
Kendall took his place.
The society used the old meeting-house as a place of wor
ship, and the pulpit was supplied by such preachers, holding
liberal views, as could be frora tirae to tirae obtained. Among
them raay be raentioned the Revs. Hosea Ballon, Paul Dean,
Sebastian and Russell Streeter, Thomas Whittemore, d. d.,
Thomas B. Thayer, d. d., and Joshua Flagg.
The number of inhabitants in 1820 was 584. By an Act of
the Legislature, passed Feb. 1 5 of this year, taking one family
and some territory from Groton, the eighty-six angles formed
between the towns in 1793 were reduced to the five which
StiU remain. Tything-raen were stiU chosen, Joseph W. Roby
and Eraerson Parker holding then that office. In April, Asa
Woods, Caleb Blood, and Jaraes (or Jonas) Taylor, Jr., were
chosen to " divide the use of the meeting-house," and the town

l820] CENTRAL CEMETERY. 173
also "formed a sixth school-district, embracing the families of
Peter, Henry, Henry, Jr., James, Ebenezer, Jesse, and Levi
Blood, together with that of Amos Hutchinson.
On the ninth of June Dr. Micah Eldredge, a man zealous in
every good work, was chosen deacon of the church.
Jonathan Bennett and George Wright built a torab, on which
their names are inscribed, in the Central Cemetery in 1821 ;
John Kendall and Leonard Butterfield buUt another in the
sarae year. The other tombs, made after the same style and
facing the road, are those of D. Chapraan and A. Spaulding,
1836; GUman Roby, 1840; Allen Cummings, 1840; Z. P.
Proctor and J. O. Taylor, 1840 ; B. and N. C. Kendall, 1840;
John M. French, 1841 ; and Isaac Woodward, Jr., 1843.

174

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [l822

CHAPTER XI.
The Rev. Samuel H. Tolman installed. — Thomas Ralston and a
Son drowned in Salmon Brook. — Mr. Tolman dismissed. — His Min
istry. — Rev. William K. Talbot. — A Post-Office established. —
The First Parish organized. — The Orthodox Society formedand
Church erected. — The Rev. Eldad W. Goodman settled. — A
Cold Morning. — Various Town Officers and Appropriations. —
The Rev. Dana Goodsell. — The Rev. Levi Brigham ordained. —
Mrs. Roby killed by Lightning. — The Worcester and Nashua
Railroad opened. — Names of Men liable to do Military Duty.
— The Rev. Darwin Adams settled. — A Centennial Discourse. —
Householders in 1856. — The Rev. John Whitney supplies the
Pulpit. — The Rev. William C. Jackson settled. — Population in
i860. — Dunstable Cornet Band formed. — The Town's Activity
IN the War of the Rebellion. — Burning of the old Meeting-
House. — Industrial Condition of the Town in 1865. — Names of
THE Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion.
" One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh ; but
the earth abideth forever.'' Solomon.
" How blest the man who, in these peaceful plains,
Ploughs his paternal fields, far from the noise.
The care, and bustle of a busy world." Michael Bruce.
Although the church had been somewhat strengthened by
a revival, it was stiU unable to support a minister, and there
fore applied, Feb. 7, 1822, to the Massachusetts Society for
promoting Christian Knowledge for some assistance, repre
senting that " about one half the property of this town stands
on sectarian grounds " ; that " the church had been destitute
of a settled minister for seven years " ; that " the church now
consists of about one hundred and five raerabers " ; that " it is
decidedly orthodox" ; and that " for nearly three years past the
Rev. Sarauel Howe Tolraan has labored among us a part of
the time," and that they had given him a call to settle over

1828] REPAIRING THE MEETING-HOUSE. 175
the church for the term of five years. In reply to this petition
the society agreed to pay, conditionally, ^100 per annum
towards the support of Mr. Tolman. He was, therefore, in
stalled over the church and society on the 12th of June, the
Rev. WiUiam Fay, of Charlestown, preaching the sermon on
the occasion. " The audience," says the clerk of the church,
" was numerous, solemn, and attentive, and the music truly
sublime and melting."
Dec. 24 it was voted " to adopt into our church the use of
the Select'Hymns selected by Dr. Samuel Worcester, of Salem,
Mass." This book took the place of the Psalras and Hymns of
Dr. Watts. Several musical instruments, as the bass-viol,
violin, and clarionet, had been introduced into the choir, and
it does not appear that any one now objected to their use in
the service of the church.
The town raised, in 1823, 1^300 to support the public schools
and ;^I50 to support the poor. It gave eighty -three votes for
WUliam Eustis, and twelve for Harrison G. Otis, as governor.
Edmund Page, who kept a store at the Centre and took a
prominent part in town affairs, was the town clerk in 1824,
and the town records of this period are in good order.
The town chose, in 1826, for its school committee, the Rev.
Samuel H. Tolman, Dr. Micah Eldredge, Edmund Page, Jona
than Bennett, Joel Keyes, Mark Fletcher, and Chiles Kendall ;
also SUas Blood and Capt. Peter Proctor, tything-men. Isaac
Taylor, Jr., was chosen a deacon of the church ; Temple Ken
dall was the town clerk; and 1^300 were raised for carrying on
the public schools.
On the 13th of September Miss Jane Parker was drowned
by the upsetting of a boat in which she and four others were
out on a pleasure excursion on Massapoag Pond. She was
about twenty-six years old, and was buried in Groton.
In 1827 it was voted to repair the meeting-house, by mend
ing the shingles, glass, canopy (that is, the sounding-board),
and plastering. Five hundred copies of the Confession of
Faith were printed early in the year and distributed among
the members of the church.
The selectmen for 1828 were Teraple Kendall, Lieut. Francis

1^6 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1829
Fletcher, and James Swallow, Esq. Clark Parker was the treas
urer, and Capt. George Wright the pound-keeper. It was
voted by the town in April " to pay for the Rev. Joshua Hey
woods grave stones."
On the I Sth of June the sympathies of the town were
awakened by a very serious accident, an account of which was
entered upon the town records. Thomas Ralston, his wife
and five children, who were passing on foot through the town
on their way from New Brunswick to Kingston, U. C, stopped
to rest awhile at Massapoag Bridge across Salmon Brook. Here
the oldest two sons went into the deep water below the bridge
to bathe ; being unable to swim and alarmed at the depth of
the water, the larger boy, aged eleven years, by clinching hold
of some blades of grass, drew himself to the land. The father
plunged into the water for the rescue of the other boy, whose
name was Thomas Ralston, Jr., and who was nine years old,
but becoming entangled in the mud and weeds, both were
drowned together in the stream, leaving a wife and four chil
dren, far away from home, to mourn the loss. The remaining
merabers of the unfortunate faraily were kindly assisted by the
people of the neighborhood.
The town gave sixty-four votes for Edward Everett and four
votes for Daniel Richardson, as representative to Congress.
For want of sufficient support, the Rev. Sarauel H. Tolraan
was disraissed Jan. 28, 1829, from his pastoral relation with
the church and society.
Mr. Tolraan was graduated at Dartraouth College in 1806,
and was pastor of the church in Shirley from Oct. 20, 18 15,
to Feb. 17, 18 1 9. On leaving Dunstable, where his salary was
only ^200 per annum, he preached successfully in South Mer
rimack, Atkinson, Lempster, and other towns in New Hamp
shire. He was one of the trustees of the Groton Academy,
from 18 16 to 1840, when he resigned the office. He was a
man of good abilities, and an earnest preacher of the gospel.
On the dismissal of Mr. Tolman, the Rev. William K. Talbot,
author of a treatise on English Grammar, supplied the pulpit,
in part, from November, 1829, untU April, 183 1.
A post-office was established in the town on the 13th of

i83o]

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

\77

February, 1829, and Josiah Cummings, Jr., was appointed
postmaster. He held this office until March 4, 1840, when he
was superseded by Mr. Ranson Fish, who held the ofifice until
June I, 1841. Mr. Josiah Cummings was then reappointed,
and continued to hold the office untU May 13, 1852. He died
Sept. 19, 1864, aged eighty-one years. Previous to the estab
lishment of this ofifice, the people received their mail matter
at the ofifice in Tyngsborough.
The population of the town in 1830 was 593, an increase of
nine persons only in ten years. The town gave forty-seven
votes for Edward Everett and seven for Jaraes Russell, as
representative to Congress.
It was this year deemed advisable by the evangelical part of
the religious society to withdraw from the old meeting-house,
and to buUd a new one. An advisory council was, therefore,
convened Dec. 10, which unaniraously recoramended the pro
posed undertaking. Subscriptions were at once solicited, a

THE PRESENT CHURCH EDIFICE.

site was purchased of Jasper P. Proctor * for the sum of ^100 ;
and the present neat and substantial edifice, under a contract
* Son of Jonathan and Rebecca (Pope) Proctor, grandson of Ebenezer Proctor,
one of the early settlers. Jasper P. Proctor was born Feb. 29, 1793, and Uved in
12

J 78 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1833
with WUliam Rowe, of Groton, was soon erected. It was dedi
cated Dec. 21, 1 83 1, the Rev. Amos Blanchard, d. d., preaching
the sermon.
The Orthodox Church voted July 9, 183 1, that "for the future
we meet in the new meeting-house for divine worship on con
dition that the pews be rented and the rents be appropriated
to the support of the gospel in the new house."
At the same meeting the church extended a caU to the Rev.
Francis Danforth (Dartmouth College, 1819), which he declined
accepting. A caU was then (Oct. 10) given to the Rev. Eldad W. Good
man, which he accepted. His instaUation and the dedication
of the church occurred on the same day.
On the 29th of December the First Parish was legally re
organized by the choice of parish officers, and a new book of
records commenced by Temple Kendall, who continued to be
chosen clerk untU March 13, 1843, at which time the journal
of the church terminates.
Capt. Mark Fletcher was chosen Feb. 29, 1832, deacon of
the Evangelical Church. He was the son of Phineas, and
grandson of Deacon Joseph Fletcher, on whose place he was
born Sept. 14, 1790, and died Aug. 4, 185 1. He married
Rhoda Fletcher, Jan. 24, 18 18, and had issue, Rhoda, Eliza
beth, Nancy C, Samuel M., George Washington, and Susan
Lucretia. On the i6th of March, 1833, Venus Pitman, a woman of
color, died. She is supposed to have been the last represent
ative of those persons once held as slaves in Dunstable. The
town cast forty-seven votes in favor of and none against the
third article of the BUI of Rights.
the house on the easterly side of the Common. He married Mary, daughter of
Henry Blood, and had issue, i. Mary Ann, born Nov. 8, 1821. 2. Josiah
Cummings, born Aug. 9, 1817. 3. Jasper Pope, born June 4, 1S19. 4. Dexter
Putnam, born April 14, 1824. 5. Henry Oratius, born Jan. 7, 1S2S. Josiah C.
Proctor, Esq., has taken great interest in the preparation of this history. He
visited Dunstable, Eng., for the purpose of obtaining all the information possible
in respect to the early settlers of his native town, and was most cordially enter
tained by citizens of the mother town. He married, first. Miss Clarissa E. Proctor,
and second, Miss Emily C. Biden, of Rochester, N. Y.

1 835] DISMISSAL OF MR. GOODMAN. lyq
On the 28th of May, Mr. William Taylor Wright, son of
George and Elizabeth (Taylor) Wright, and born Feb. 25,
1813, was drowned whUe bathing in the Merrimack River. He
swam out to a point in the stream where he supposed he might
rest with his head above the water ; but the river being swollen
he could not touch the bottom, and so, in his bewUderment,
was lost.
The town, in 1834, voted to appropriate ^100 for a singing
school, and chose Henry Parkhurst, Capt. George Wright, and
Cyrus Taylor a committee to superintend the same. It also
voted to surrender the burial-place in the vicinity of the house
of Mr. Abraham Blood. This cemetery, in the western part
of the town, has many graves and one or more tombs contain
ing members of the Blood family, but no inscriptions, except
of recent date.
The town gave the collectors eight mills per dollar for col
lecting the taxes. Temple Kendall was the town clerk.
Both the town and church sustained a serious loss this year
in the removal of Dr. Hezekiah Eldredge and his wife to Pem
broke, N. H.
Deacon Joseph Swallow was chosen superintendent of the
Sabbath school, which was in a flourishing condition.
The morning of Jan. 4, 1835, is said to have been the coldest
ever recollected in this region. The mercury fell from 18°
to 40° below zero, and ranged very low for the six mornings
following; but the dweUing-houses and barns of Dunstable
were so well buUt as to render the people and their stock of
cattle comfortable.
The town gave forty-four votes for Edward Everett (Whig),
and twenty-six votes for Marcus Morton (Democrat), for gov
ernor. On the 25th of August the Rev. Mr. Goodraan, at his own
desire, was dismissed from the pastorate of the Evangehcal
Church. He was an esteemed and faithful minister, but his
salary was hardly adequate to his support. In his communi
cation to the church, Aug. 17, 1835, relative to his dismission,
he truly said, " No minister of the gospel can teU how much
evil he prevents, though he may not see much positive good

j8o HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [184I
effected by a preached gospel and pastoral duties." He resides
at Lake George, N. Y.
The church and society raised this year $150 for the pur
pose of founding a scholarship in Oberiin Institute, Ohio.
This was done mainly through the efforts of the Rev. John
Spaulding, who had in 1828 married Miss Olive C. B. KendaU,
of this town, and who had been assisted by the church in ob
taining his education.
On the 8th of October the church extended a caU to the
Rev. Dana Goodsell, who had for some tirae been supplying
the pulpit. He declined to settle as pastor, but continued his
labors here until August, 1836.
The town expended in the year last named ^350 for public
schools and ^400 for repairing highways. It also voted to
repair the bridge over Unquetenasset Brook.
On the 15th of March, 1837, the Rev. Levi Brigham was
ordained pastor of the Evangelical Church. Henry Parkhurst
was the town clerk. The town chose the year ensuing the
Rev. Levi Brigham, Josiah Cummings, Esq., and Peter Kendall
for the school committee. It voted not to choose tithing-men,
and elected Mial Davis " to repair the fence around the bury
ing-ground at the old meeting-house place." It gave sixty-two
votes for Edward Everett and sixty-five for Marcus Morton as
governor. Mrs. Catharine (Parker) Roby was struck by lightning June
17, 1838, and died in consequence on the 21st of June following.
She had hurried home frora church, and was standing opposite
to a looking-glass, with a sUver comb in her hair, when the
accident occurred.
Peter Kendall was, in 1839, chosen town clerk.
The nuraber of inhabitants in 1840 had risen to 603, and
the valuation ofthe town to ^191,314.
Mr. Jonathan Woodward died Dec. 24, at the advanced age
of loi years, 7 raonths, and 13 days. His wife Sarah died Feb.
28, 1829, aged 86 years.
For the proposed amendment of the Constitution the town
gave two votes in favor and eighty in opposition. In 1841 it
appropriated $350 for the public schools, and sent Peter Kendall

1848] ADDITION TO THE CENTRAL CEMETERY. x8l
representative. It gave seventy-five votes for Marcus Morton
and sixty-one for John Davis as governor. The Rev. Levi
Brigham was elected a trustee of PeppereU Acaderay. It
appears the next year that the town was entirely out of debt,
and the rate of taxation was low. In 1843 Henry Parkhurst
was chosen " to get the school district library." This was
an appropriation from the State. For Marcus Morton seventy-
four votes were thrown, and for George N. Briggs fifty-nine,
as governor.
In 1844 the town appropriated ^350 for the support of public
schools, which were taught mostly by young ladies ; and it
cast seventy-five votes for George S. Boutwell, of Groton, and
seventy-three votes for Amos Abbott, as representative to
Congress. Mr. John Cummings died Jan. 30, 1845, aged sixty-
three years, and was buried in the Central Cemetery. Though
not a member of the church, he honored it by a donation of
^500. This was the only donation of any considerable amount
the church had until then received.
The town appropriated ^400 for the use of public schools in
1845 ; and it chose Peter Kendall, John Kendall, and Benja
min French selectmen. It gave Isaac Davis, of Worcester,
sixty-six votes, and George N. Briggs, of Pittsfield, forty-eight
votes, for governor. Mr. John Hayward said, in the meagre
account of Dunstable in his Gazetteer of Massachusetts, pub
lished in 1846, "The soU is sandy, and generally unproductive
of other crops than hops and rye." This is manifestly incor
rect, the land being well adapted to the growth of all the cereals,
and as good as that of any other town in this section of Mid
dlesex County.
The sum of ^400 was, in 1847, appropriated for public
schools, and it was voted to build a town-tomb ; but this vote
was reconsidered. John Kendall was the moderator of the
annual March meeting.
In 1848 the amount appropriated for public schools was
raised to $500. Warren Wilson was chosen town clerk, and
the town voted " to pay for powder, and for sharpening stone
tools used on the highways." It voted, also, " to purchase
two acres of land of Deacon Thomas Parker, to be added to

1 82

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[1850

the old burying-ground on the south side." This was the
Central Ceraetery, which, having been for many years almost
the only place of interment, had become so crowded with
graves that a space more ample was demanded.
The Worcester and Nashua Railroad, which enters the town
from PeppereU, and passes along its western border near the
Nashua River into Nashua, was opened on the i8th of De
cember ; but as it is remote frora the centre, and leads to
Boston by a circuitous route, it has been of but little service
to the place. It has no station in the town.
The Rev. Levi Brighara, Miles Spaulding, and Daniel Swal
low were the school coraraittee in 1849, ^'^^ the schools are
said to have been in excellent condition ; the roads were also
kept in good repair. The town voted "not to buy the new
meeting-house for a town-house."
The population in 1850 was 590, — a decrease of sixteen for
the last ten years.
The names of the men then liable to do mUitary duty are
as follows : —

George C. Blodgett.
James Bennett.
Leonard S. Butterfield.
Asa T. Butt'erfield.
Charles Baldwin.
John B. Cheney.
Thomas F. Cheney.
Amos Larkin.
Isaac P. Cummings.
William H. Duren.
Joshua T. Davis.
George W. Fletcher.
Benjamin French.
Thomas Frederick.
Joel Gilson, Jr.
William Gilson.
Andrew T. Kendall.
Henry Hale.
Z. P. Proctor.
Jacob Parkhurst, Jr.
Jasper P. Proctor, 2d.
Albert L. Parkhurst.
Daniel Page.
Sumner Parker.

Stephen Moore.
Ebenezer Marble.
John W. Jewett.
Jesse Johnson.
Oilman Roby.
George Parkhurst.
Charles E. Weston.
James Spaulding.
Hiram Spaulding.
Oliver Taylor.
Samuel Taylor.
Kimball Upton.
George P. Wright.
Noyes R. Scott.
Samuel Woods.
Henry V. Warren.
Isaac O. Taylor.
Andrew Spaulding.
Charles N. Woodward.
James C. Woodward.
Jonathan H. Woodward.
Isaac N. Woods.
David F. Rideaut.
Jotham Robbins.

1853] EMPLOYMENT OF TEACHERS. 183
Thomas H. Parkhurst. Freeman Robbins.
Walter Parkhurst. Jefferson Robbins.
William H. Woods. William Simmons.
Benjamin P. Rice. Peter Swallow.
James M. Swallow. Alpheus Swallow.
George Woods. Daniel Swallow.
Freeman W. Marshall.
Total, 61.
The town voted, at one of its meetings, " to sell the old
town standard at auction," and also to receive Ira Hall and
Webb and Bowker, with their estates, from Groton. Warren
WUson was the town clerk. Of the votes thrown by the town
for governor, George N. Briggs had sixty, and George S. Bout
well seventy. The Rev. Levi Brigham was dismissed, at his
own request, March 21, frora the pastorate of the Evangelical
Church. He was an able pastor and of great service to the
town from an educational point of view. His successor, the
Rev. Darwin Adams (Dartmouth College, 1824), son of the
celebrated school-book maker, Daniel Adams, m. d., was in
stalled on the 5 th of September following, the Rev. Jacob
Burnap, of Merrimack, preaching the sermon. The meeting
house, having been enlarged and repaired, was rededicated in
connection with the other services. Miss Lucy Fletcher gave
the church a pulpit. Dr. Daniel Adams presented to it a clock,
and Mrs. Spaulding a set of chairs for the communion table.
The salary of Mr. Adams was ^500 per annum. Isaac N.
Wright was chosen town clerk in 1851, and^450 were ex
pended for schools.
The town gave fifty-two votes for Henry Wilson and forty-
nine for Tappan Wentworth, as representatives to Congress
in 1852.
The Rev. Darwin Adams, Chiles Kendall, and Dr. Adonijah
W. Howe were the school committee. Joel M. Oliver
broke one of his legs through an imperfection in the highway,
for which the town was subjected to some expense. Isaac
Kendall represented the town in 1853 in the Constitutional
Convention, having been chosen over Henry Parkhurst by
sixty-one against fifty-six votes. The town committee, instead
ofthe district school committees, were directed to employ the

184 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1856
teachers for the schools. This was a decided improvement
on the old system, in which the committee-man usually selected
a relative, whether good or bad, to teach the children of his
district The town voted in 1854 to sell the town buildings,
now owned by Libni Parker, and they were bought by Liberty
C.Raymond for the sum of ;^i,500, which was about ^1,000
less than the cost.
In the autumn of the year 1855 Mr. Samuel Gilson, engi
neer, was kUled by an explosion of the boiler of an engine on
the Worcester and Nashua Railway. The accident occurred
near the house of Mr. Newton Wright, in the western part of
the town.
Abijah Davis and E. G. Spaulding were chosen tithing-men
in 1856, and it was voted to print one hundred and fifty copies
of the selectmen's report ; but the report was reconsidered.
According to the map of Middlesex County, published this
year by Henry F. Walling, it appears that the following heads
of famUies were then living west of Salmon Brook, in Dunsta
ble, viz. : —
A. Blood, near Nashua River.
Varnum Woops, near Nashua River.
Willard Robbins, on Unquetenasset Brook.
Isaac N. Wright, now Freeman L. Robbins's place.
Jotham Robbins.
Horace Lovering.
David Rideaut.
David F. Rideaut, son of the former.
Noah Blood, deceased.
Rebecca Proctor, daughter of Ebenezer Proctor.
Isaac N. Woods.
Joel Jilson.
Mrs. Rhoda Fletcher, widow of Dea. Mark Fletcher.
J. M. Swallow.
Francis Fletcher, deceased.
James Bennett, son of Jonathan Bennett, Esq.
Daniel Swallow.
J. Parkhurst, Jr.
A. Swallow.
E. Weston.
T. Parker.
Thomas F. Cheney.

1856] FAMILIES BY MAP OF 1856. 185
Alpheus Swallow. Has a family of ten boys.
John Swallow.
S. Parkhurst.
E. Parkhurst.
Charles Baldwin.
H. Parkhurst.
E. P. Sanderson.
I. P. Sanderson.
Clement Marshall.
T. H. Parkhurst.
D. and E. G. Chapman.
Sumner Woods.
S. A. Lawrence.
Mrs. Spaulding.
J. Gilson.
I. N. Kemp.
Clark Parker.
Ira Hall.
A. Bowers.
Joel Keyes. Deceased.
M. a. Bennett.
I. W. Kemp.
Mrs. John Cummings.
Isaac N. Woods.
There were, according to the same plan, then living on the
easterly side of Salmon Brook : —
Liberty C. Raymond, at the Centre. House built by Edmund Page.
Asa Woods, " "
I. B. Hall, "
Miles Blood, " "
J. Cummings, " "
Jasper Pope Proctor, "
Zephaniah P. Proctor, " "
W. Kendall, "
William Dunn, " ''
A. Parkhurst, " "
L. WhitcoMb, " "
J. C. Woodward, •' "
Reuben Wright, " "
James Woodward, " "
Charles N. Woodward, " ''
B. Parkhurst, " "
A. Parkhurst.
A. Farnsworth, near the line of Nashua, N. H.

l86 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1856
D. W. Garland.
William French (of Boston).
Eben'r Stedman, house once occupied by Paul Thorndike.
E. Swallow.
J. Kendall.
Chiles Kendall, Deacon, and son of Jonas, son of Jacob, son of John,
the first settler, 1726.
Gilman Roby.
I. Taylor.
Jacob Parkhurst.
Rev. Darwin Adams, now James Bennett's Place. House built by Rev.
Levi Brigham.
A. Jewett.
James Blodgett.
Nath'l C. Kendall, son of Benjamin and Sybil (Cummings) Kendall.
M. Davis.
L. Brooks [Estabrooks].
Benjamin French, grandson of Ebenr. French.
I. P. Cummings.
J. Burnap.
J. H. Kateley.
L. Walton.
George Wright, the old David Taylor place.
Josiah T. Cummings, son of Capt. Josiah Cummings.
Leonard Butterfield, near an old garrison house.
Leonard S. Butterfield, west of Meeting-House Hill.
Asa Butterfield, " " "
John Blodgett.
C. Gilson.
Kimball Upton.
J. Blodgett.
D. Richardson.
Z. Proctor.
C. Taylor.
Henry Parkhurst, now John A. Parkhurst and brother.
Peter Kendall, deceased.
Zebulon Blodgett, very old house.
Samuel S. Taylor, the old Steel Place.
A. Spaulding.
Allen Cummings, son of James Cummings.
Amos Carkin, Forest Hill.
Eben'r Gilson, "
Alvah Gilson,

1859] VOTES FOR GOVERNOR. 1 87
There were then a hotel and a bowling-saloon, owned by
Peter Kendall, at the mineral spring, now covered by the
waters of Massapoag Pond. The two store-keepers were
William Dunn and Liberty C. Raymond.
In 1857 Lawrence Brooks was paid for playing the seraphine
in the Evangelical Church. James T. Burnap, Andrew Spaul
ding, and Thomas H. Parkhurst were the school committee for
that year, and ^500 were set apart for the support of public
schools. On Sunday, the loth of May, the Rev. Darwin Adams
preached a centennial discourse, it being one hundred years
from the organization of the church in the town of Dunstable ;
but the discourse was never printed. Mr. Thoraas F. Cheney
was employed to bring the raail from Tyngsborough from
July I, one year. Captain Amaziah SwaUow died Oct. 6, aged
seventy years, and Mr. Josiah Spaulding, aged ninety-three, on
the 1 8th of November. Both of them had served the town in
various public offices, and were highly respected. On the 22d
of September the Rev. Darwin Adaras* was, after a faithful
and affectionate ministry of about seven years, disraissed, and
the Rev. John Whitney, of Waltham, then supplied the pulpit
until November, 1858.
The selectmen of 1858 were Thomas Parkhurst, Benjamin
French, and Andrew Spaulding, the latter serving as moderator
at the annual meeting in March. It was voted this year, " to
improve the burying-ground by setting out shade trees." This
was sadly needed, and though the spot is beautiful, it is hoped
some further decorations will be made. The dwellings of the
dead must never be forgotten ; the ceraetery should be ren
dered one of the most charming places of the town.
In 1859 Dunstable gave four votes for and thirteen against
the amendment of the Constitution, and for governor it cast
forty-three votes in favor of Nathaniel P. Banks, thirty-six in
* The Rev. Darwin Adams resides in Groton. In a recent letter to me he
says, " There was nothing very interesting that occurred during my ministry in
Dunstable, excepting that the meeting-house was enlarged, repaired, and very
much improved. My installation and the rededication of the house took place
the same day, Sept. 5, 1850. At that time there was quite a respectable congre
gation in attendance on the Sabbath, but deaths and removals have reduced the
number until it has become quite small."

1 88 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. \l86l
favor of Benjamin F. Butler, also four in favor of George N.
Briggs. The Rev. WUliam C. Jackson (Dartmouth CoUege, 1831),
of Lincoln, was installed over the church, Nov. 2, 1859, with
a salary of ^500 per annum and the use of a parsonage, built
at a cost of about ^1,000; and in AprU following, Joseph
Swallow was chosen a deacon.
The nuraber of inhabitants in i860 was four hundred and
eighty-seven, of whom two hundred and forty-three were
males and two hundred and forty-four females ; eleven were
over eighty and one was over ninety years old. None were
colored, nor was any one insane, idiotic, deaf and dumb, or
convicted of a crime. This is a strong argument in favor
of rural life. There were eighty farmers, four merchants,
and five school-teachers, four of whom were females There
were in all one hundred and twenty-two dwelling-houses and
one hundred and twelve families. Jonas C. Kendall was
chosen one of the school committee for three years. James
T. Burnap was chosen town clerk, and ;$500 were appropri
ated for the use of the public schools. Thoraas F. Cheney
received fifty dollars for carrying the mail to and from Tyngs
borough for one year, ending on the first day of July.
The selectmen for 1861 were Isaac Kendall, James M.
SwaUow, and Ashur G. Jewett. The town gave forty-five
votes for John A. Andrew and the same nuraber for Isaac
Davis as governor. Mr. Jonas Kendall, of Chicopee, presented
a silver coraraunion service and a baptismal basin to the
church. The men appointed for jurors were Jaraes Spaulding,
AUen, Cummings, James T. Burnap, Benjamin French, Libni
Parker, Sarauel S. Taylor, Andrew Spaulding, and A. G.
Jewett. Levi M. Nutting, aged sixteen years, and son of Narcene
and PhUinda Nutting, was drowned while bathing in Salmon
Brook at Cheney's Bridge on the 30th of June of this
year. While such painful accidents are soon forgotten in
a large city, they for a long time dwell in the memories of
the people of a rural village, where casualties much less
frequently occur.

1864] OLD MEETING-HOUSE DESTROYED BY FIRE. 189
The Dunstable Cornet Band was organized Sept. 15, with
Hiram Spaulding as leader, treasurer, and collector. It has
attained an enviable reputation for skUl in its musical perform
ances as well as for the gentlemanly bearing of its raerabers.
Its services are in good demand on public occasions in all the
neighboring towns.
On the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, the town,
alive to the interests of the Union, manifested great activity
in the enlistment and support of the soldiers. In this patriotic
effort to sustain the government, the ladies bore a conspicuous
part. Volunteers came forward at the call of the country, and
as many as sixty-four soldiers from Dunstable shared in the
privations and battles of the war.
Notwithstanding the pressure of the times, the town raised,
in 1862, ;^400 for the support of public schools, and for the
first time voted to have the annual report of the school com
mittee, at a cost of $10, printed. It was voted, also, to remove
the old school-house. July 26 it was voted to borrow, if
needed, ^500 for the volunteers. James T. Burnap was the
town clerk. In 1863 it voted to put up guide-posts through
out the town, for which it paid about ^50. J. C. Woodward
was chosen town clerk, and Andrew Spaulding one of the
school committee for three years. The school report was
printed at a cost of ^20. In the year following, Samuel S.
Spaulding was appointed to take charge of the liquor agency,
at a salary of ^12.50 for six months, and ^45 were advanced
for the fixtures. James C. Woodward was chosen town clerk,
and Freeman L. Robbins one of the school comraittee. ^52.08
were paid for guide-posts. The sum of ^500 was appropri
ated for schools, and it was voted " to sell the rubbish on the
Comraon." John A. Andrew had fifty-eight and Henry W.
Paine seventy votes from the town for governor.
On the 8th of October the old church in the Centre, which
had been the innocent cause of so many controversies, was
reduced to ashes. It was never supplied either with an organ
or with a bell. In front of the pulpit on the gallery was the
inscription, " Finished in 1793." The old line of sheds for the
horses and the stone horse-block now standing in the waU on

190

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[1865

the side of the Common are the only memorials that remain of
this ancient church edifice.

THE OLD CHURCH, BURNED IN 1864.
The only ministers who preached in it permanently after
the division of the society were the Revs. Hiram Beckwith,
Russell Streeter, Josiah Gilman, and WUliam Hooper, all of
whom were popular preachers. The pulpit was occasionally
supplied by the Rev. Hosea Ballon, the Rev. Adin Ballou, the
Rev! Thomas Whitteraore, and other clergyraen of liberal sen
timents, but I do not find on the parish records when or how
long they occupied the pulpit, or the compensation they
received. By the State report the town had, in 1865, five hundred and
thirty-three inhabitants, of whom two hundred and seventy
were males and two hundred and sixty-three feraales. Nine
were over eighty, and three were over ninety years old.
There were only five persons of foreign birth in town. There
were three blacksmith shops, employing three hands ; value of
work done, ^1,500. Four saw-mills, which turned out 360,000
feet of luraber for market, valued at ^36,000 ; also, shingles,
lathes, etc., valued at ^2,100. It sent eight hundred and two
cords of fire-wood and bark to market, valued at ^1,800,

1865] DEATH OF HENRY PARKHURST, ESQ. igi
2,400 bushels of charcoal valued at $172. Farms, ninety,
equaUing 9,940 acres ; value, with buildings, 1^252,305. Acres
improved, 5,310; hands employed, one hundred and four.
Unimproved land, 2,995 acres; unimprovable, 310; woodland,
1,325, valued at ^48,045. ^orn (Indian), one hundred and
seventy-five acres, bushels, 4,970, value, ^4,970 ; wheat, one
acre, bushels, nine, value, $13 ; rye, sixty-five acres, bushels,
four hundred and eighty-six, value; ^486 ; barley, fourteen
acres, bushels, two hundred and nineteen, value, ^164 ; buck
wheat, seventeen acres, bushels, one hundred and thirty-one,
value, ^78 ; oats, eighty-nine acres, bushels, 1,017, value, ^610 ;
potatoes, seventy-six acres, bushels, 4,853, value, ^2,189 ; Eng
lish mowing, nine hundred and forty-two acres, tons, seven
hundred and twenty, value, $12,960; meadow and swale,
seven hundred and eighty-eight acres, tons, five hundred and
seventy-four, value, ;^4,532; apple-trees, 1,540, value, $762;
nuts and berries, value, $26 ; sheep, 157, value, $1,053 I wool,
six hundred and seventy-three pounds, value, $370 ; horses,
one hundred and thirteen, value, $7,645 ; oxen over four years,
eighty-two, steers under four, fifty-nine, value of both, $7,152 ;
milch cows, three hundred and ninety-two, heifers, one hun
dred and twenty-two, value of both, $13,242; gallons milk
sold, 62,058, value, $8,998 ; butter sold, 9,341 pounds, value,
$2,335 ; cheese, 3,630, $459 ; beef, dressed, 19,765 pounds,
value, $1,383; pork, dressed, 46,204, value, $5,313; rautton,
dressed, 175, value, $21; veal, dressed, 1,435, value, $114;
swine, sixty-five, value, $964 ; poultry, value, sold, $572 ; eggs,
sold, value, $640 ; honey, three hundred pounds, value, $60 ;
other articles, value, sold, $300 ; cloth made in family, seventy-
six yards, value, $76.
The allowance for collecting the taxes this year was one and
one fourth cents per dollar ; for the liquor agency, $49.17, and
for the public schools of which there were five, $500. The
sum of twenty cents per hour was paid for working on the
highways. •
Henry Parkhurst, Esq., an active and useful citizen, died on
the 4th of September, aged seventy-two years. He was often
chosen moderator of the town-meetings, and served the town

192 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1865
in many other public capacities. A view of the house, built
by his father, Leonard Parkhurst, about 1812, in which both
Leonard and Henry lived, and now occupied by Messrs.
Albert L. and John A. Parkhurst, is here given.

HOMESTEAD OF JOHN A. AND ALBERT L. PARKHURST.
The names of the soldiers sent from Dunstable into the late
war are as follows : —
Anderson, Henry, private, three years. Thirty-second Regiment.
Baker, Esau, served one year in the navy.
Barnes, James, served one year in the navy.
Bean, Francis, enUsted for three years Dec. 19, 1863 ; mustered in Jan.
/ S, 1864, private. Company B, Fifty-ninth Regiment.
Brady, Frederick, private, three years, Twenty-second Regiment.
Burrows, Charles, volunteer, three years, private, Company K, Four
teenth Regiment.
Butterfield, Dexter, enlisted and mustered in Oct. 14, 1861, three
years, private. Company A, Second Regiment ; made a sergeant June
I, 1864; discharged Oct. 14, 1864.
Carkin, Harrison, volunteer, private. Company C, Fourteenth Re<Hment
U. S. A. . " '
Cheever, Alvin, enlisted and mustered in Aug. 31, 1S62, for nine months,
Company A, Sixth Regiment.
Conway, Michael, private, mustered in Aug. 14, 1862, three years,
Company G, Forty-first Regiment.

1865] SOLDIERS IN THE LATE WAR. 193
Currier, Warren, 2d, enlisted and mustered in July 11, 1865, three
years, Fifth Battery.
Daglish, John J., enlisted and mustered in for one year Feb. 21, 1865,
Company F, Thirty-eighth Regiment.
Dalyn, Simon, private for three years, mustered in Aug. 14, 1862,
Company G, Forty-first Regiment.
Davis, Ancil, private, nine months ; enlisted Oct. 12, and mustered in
Oct. 17, 1862, Company G, Fifty- third Regiment; died of chronic
dysentery at Baton Rouge, July i, 1863.
Davis, James A., enlisted and mustered in as a private for three years,
Oct. 14, 1861, Company A, Second Regiment ; wounded at the battle
of Antietam and discharged ; re-enlisted for one year, Dec. 30, 1864,
Company E, Cavalry Frontier Service. ,
Donahue, Patrick, enbsted and mustered in July 14, 1865, for three
years, Fourteenth Battery.
Douley, Joseph, enlisted and mustered in Aug. 31, 1861, nine months,
Company B, Sixth Regiment ; discharged Nov. 2, 1862, for disa
bility.
Doyle, James, private, three years. Fifteenth Battery.
Eldredge, Frank W., private, three years. Twenty-sixth Regiment.
Farrar, Edward, private, three years. Fifteenth Battery.
FiNLEY, Michael, three years, mustered in Aug. 14, 1862, Company G,
Forty-first Regiment.
Fletcher, Albert W., private, enbsted Sept. 2, 1862, for nine months.
Company D, Fifty-third Regiment. On the night previous to the
battle of Port Hudson he gave his knapsack and money to a wounded
comrade, to be conveyed to his mother in the event of his being killed
in the battle. He was last seen amongst his company bravely making
the charge in the sanguinary contest of June 14, 1863. What more
noble record could be made of him ?
Foss, Charles V., private, three years, Company B, Fifty-ninth Regi
ment ; enlisted Dec. 19, 1863 ; mustered in Jan. 5, 1864.
Gilson, James H., volunteer, private, mustered in Aug. 6, 1864, for three
years. Company K, Thirty-third Regiment ; farmer.
Hartwell, Alonzo, private, three years. Company B, Fifty-ninth Regi
ment ; enlisted Dec. 19, 1863.
Hartwell, Warren, private, three years, Company B, Fifty-ninth Regi
ment ; enlisted Dec. 19, 1863.
Hickey, James, enlisted Aug. 13, 1864, private, three years, Second
Massachusetts Cavalry.
Hinds, Hiram H., enbsted Aug. 8, 1864, Reserve Veteran Corps.
Hobbs, George, three years. Fifteenth Battery.
Hunter, George, volunteer, private, three years, Company K, Fourteenth
Regiment. '3

194 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1865
Ingalls, James S., volunteer, three years, Company C, Twenty-sixth
Regiment ; discharged and died at New Orleans.
Jackson, Edward P., private, nine months, enlisted Sept. 26, 1862,
Company D, Forty-fifth Regiment ; he was promoted to a corporal.
Jaques, Josiah S., Company K, Thirty-third Regiment, three years ;
mustered in Aug, 6, 1862.
Jones, Cormely R., three years, enlisted and mustered in Aug. 8, 1864,
Reserve Veteran Corps.
Kahoe, Michael, private, three years, Eleventh Regiment ; enlisted
Aug. 16, 1864.
Kelleiky, James, three years. Twenty-eighth Regiment.
Keyes, Peabody, volunteer, three years, Twenty-sixth Regiment.
Keyes, Samuel P., volunteer, private, mustered for three years, Dec. 20,
1861, New Hampshire Eighth Regiment.
Knights, Isaac S., private, enlisted for three years, Jan. 2, 1864, Fifty-
ninth Regiment.
Lyons, Thomas, private, nine months ; enlisted Aug. 31, 1862, Company
K, Sixth Regiment.
Marshall, George E., volunteer, private, three years, Company H,
New Hampshire Seventh Regiment ; enlisted and was mustered in
Oct. 14, 1861. He died at Charleston, S. C, July 24, 1863, of wounds
received at the storming of Fort Wagner six days previous. He was
a prisoner at the time of his death.
Mayo, Willard M., enlisted as a private and volunteer Oct. 14, 1861,
in Company H, New Hampshire Seventh Regiment, and was killed
July 18, 1863, at the storming of Fort Wagner, in Charleston Harbor.
Murray, Michael, enlisted and was mustered in Aug. 19, 1864, Com
pany G, Seventeenth Regiment.
Osborne, Prescott E., private, three years. Twenty-sixth Regiment.
Page, David H., private, volunteer, three years, Company C, Tnenty-
sixth Regiment. Died at New Orleans, Aug. 30, 1863, of dvsentery.
Parker, Luther S., private, volunteer, three years, Company C, Twenty-
sixth Regiment.
Pearl, Gilman A., Company B, Fifty-ninth Regiment; enlisted as a
private for three years, Dec. 19, 1863 ; mustered in Jan. 5, 1864.
Pevey, Lyman E., enbsted March 4, 1865, for three years, Detachment
of Ordnance, Arsenal, Watertown.
Pool, Leonard H., enlisted Aug. 8, 1864, for three years, Reserve
Veteran Corps.
Raui'UCK, Harold A., three years, navy.
Rich, Everett, was mustered in March 11, 1862, three years, navy.
Robertson, William, private, three years. Fifteenth Battery.
Robinson, John, two years, navy.
Rusmussen, Christian, two years, navy.
SiiOKT, William, Company B, Sixth Regiment, nine months ; enlisted

1865] SOLDIERS IN THE LATE WAR. 195
Aug. 31, 1862, and was discharged at the expiration of his service,
June 3, 1863.
Stevens, Kimball A., private, Company B, Sixth Regiment ; enlisted
for nine months, Aug. 31, 1862.
Stickney, Henry, private. Company G, Thirty-third Regiment, mustered
in Aug. II, 1862, and died at Falmouth, Va., Jan. 20, 1863.
Styles, John, enlisted Aug. 8, 1864, for three years, Third Regiment of
Infantry.
Taylor, George E., private, three years, Company A, Second Regiment ;
he enbsted Oct. 14, 1861, and died at Frederick, Md., Feb. 8, 1862.
Teagrean, John N., enlisted for three years in the Sixty-second Regi
ment.
Welch, Patrick, volunteer, three years, Company G, Forty-first Regi
ment.
White, Lucius, volunteer, private, three years. Company D, Eleventh
Regiment Regular Infantry ; wounded at the battle of Gettysburg,
July 2, 1863, and died on the day following.
Wilkins, Luther, private, Company D, Fifty-third Regiment, nine
months ; enlisted Oct. 12, 1862 ; returned home with his regiment,
and was discharged Sept. 2, 1863.
Wilkins, Luther E , enlisted for nine months as a private. Company D,
Fifty-third Regiment, Oct. 12, 1862. He was in the battle of Port
Hudson, returned home with his regiment, and was discharged Sept.
2, 1863. Total, 64.
Among those belonging to the town who enlisted in other
places were, —
William W. Cummings, First Minnesota Regiment.
Hiram R. Kendall.
Alfred G. Parkhurst, Sixth Massachusetts Regiment.
Charles R. Swallow.
Richard H. Knights.
The town under two calls paid $3,100 for bounties.

ig5 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1867

CHAPTER XII.
Dismissal of the Rev. William C. Jackson. — Appropriations for
Schools. — The Rev. Edward P. Kingsbury ordained. — His Early
Death. — The Rev. Charles Rockwell employed. — He is fol
lowed BY THE Rev. Franklin D. Austin. — The Nashua, Acton, and
Boston Railroad opened. — Character of the People. — The Com
mittee chosen for a Bi-Centennial Celebration. — Preparations
FOR the Same. — The Beauty of the Day. — The Procession. — The
Oration. — The Dinner, Songs, and Speeches following.
" They are not fond of great changes, and to mere innovations they are
decidedly averse. Their first desire is to give their children a good
education, and to maintain the literary and religious institutions of the
commonwealth. They acknowledge the importance of useful employ
ment for all classes and ages, and are desirous that their children should
acquire early habits of study and industry." Alden Bradford.
" We boast not the olive, we want not the vine.
For the orange and citron we do not repine ;
We look at no climate with envious eyes,
For what Nature refuses, our labor supplies."
Silas P. Holbrook.
J. C. Woodward was chosen town clerk in 1866, and the
sum of $525 was appropriated for the support of the five pub
lic schools.
In 1867 Libni Parker, Freeman L. Robbins, and Thomas
F. Cheney were chosen selectmen, and $700 were devoted to
the support of the public schools.
The Rev. William C. Jackson,* at his own request, was dis-
* He was born in Eaton (now Madison), N. H., Feb. 7, 1808 ; Dartmouth Col
lege, 1831 ; Andover, 1S35. ^^ married, Sept. 9 of that year, Mrs. Mary A.
Sawyer, of Westrainster, and they sailed from Boston, Dec. 4, for the mission
in Turkey. After spending a few months in Constantinople, they went to Trebi-
zond on the Black Sea, where they continued to labor until September, 1839,
when they commenced a station at Erzcroom. Here they remained until June,
1845, when the severe illness of Mrs. J.ickson necessitated their lelnrn to

1869] AN ACCIDENT. 1 97
missed from the pastorate of the church, Nov. 13, 1867, the
cause assigned being want of adequate support, and the people
were for a while destitute of a settled pastor. Mr. Jackson
served the town faithfully, and one or more revivals of religion
occurred under his ministry. He was long a faithful mission
ary in Asiatic Turkey, and was subsequently settled over the
church in Lincoln, Mass. He has a fine musical taste and is
the composer of the beautiful tune of " Lincoln," on the one
hundred and forty-fourth page of the New Congregational
Hymn and Tune Book. He is now settled at Brentwood, N. H.
The interest due the citizens of the town on money loaned
for the war was $493.35.
In the year following (1868), the sum of $700 was voted for
schools, and of $400 for roads and bridges. James T. Burnap
was chosen one of the school committee for three years.
It was voted " to put that fish law in force." Benjamin
French was moderator of the annual town meeting.
George W. Woods, son of Isaac and Eliza Woods, and aged
forty years, had his skull fractured by the fall of a tree, Dec.
20, and died in consequence a few days afterwards.
In 1869 Henry J. ToUes was the town clerk, and the town
was enjoying great prosperity. It voted $800 for schools, and
also not to abolish school districts, as recommended by the
State Board of Education.
Eri Dinwiddle Raymond, son of Liberty C. and Sarah
(Spaulding) Raymond, of Dunstable, was accidentally drowned
while bathing in the Merrimack River, at LoweU, on the 27th of
June. He was seventeen years, four months, and six days old.
The Rev. Edward P. Kingsbury, of Newton, and a graduate
of Andover Theological Seminary, was ordained but not
installed over the church on the 28th of November, the Rev.
Eben B. Foster, d. d., of Lowell, preaching the sermon.
Dexter Putnam Proctor, son of Jasper Pope and Mary
America. In April, 1847, Mr. Jackson was installed over the church in Lincoln,
where he continued as pastor until October, 1858 He commenced his labors in
Brentwood, N. H., in the month of June, 1870. His children are Mary Rice,
Edward Payson, Julia Sawyer, Charlotte E., Abbie Isabella, George W., and
Florence Clough.

198 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Proctor, died Jan. 16, in consequence of injuries received from
a falling tree. He was forty-one years old.
The number of inhabitants in 1870 was four hundred and
seventy-one; of legal voters, one hundred and twenty-eight.
Araong the town officers this year, Henry J. ToUes was chosen
town clerk, D. F. Rideaut, constable, and George P. Wright,
the pound-keeper. The cost of clearing the roads of snow
the preceding winter was $126.46. The sum of $800 was
appropriated for schools, and it was voted " to clear the bury
ing-ground at Meeting-House Hill " of bushes.
Mr. Kingsbury continued to supply the pulpit acceptably
untU March 12, 1871, when declining health corapelled him
to retire. He died two weeks afterwards at his home in Newton
Centre, beloved and lamented by all who knew hira.
The Rev. Charles Rockwell, at a salary of $600 per annum
and the use of the parsonage, supplied the pulpit from May 4,
1871, to May I, 1873.
The town gave in 1871 fifty gubernatorial votes for John
Quincy Adams, and forty-four for William B. Washburn, who
was elected.
In 1872 Benjamin French, Esq., was chosen moderator of
the annual meeting, and Libni Parker was appointed to meas
ure wood and bark, of which articles a considerable amount
was yearly furnished for market. The sum of $800 was
applied to the support of the five public schools, and of $500
for repairing the highways and bridges.
The valuation ofthe town this year was $326,185.22.
In January of 1873 Samuel S. Taylor and Jacob Parkhurst
were chosen deacons, and the Rev. Franklin D. Austin, born
in Becket, and educated at Union College and Auburn Theo
logical Serainary, was eraployed as a stated supply, July i, at
the sarae salary that was paid to Mr. Rockwell. The nuraber
of members belonging to the church at the commencement of
the year was sixty-five, of whom forty-five \vere females.
The town officers for 1873 were Freeraan L. Robbins,
moderator of the annual meeting ; Henry J. ToUes, town clerk ;
Washington E. Blood, Ira B. HaU, and Benjarain French,
selectmen, assessors, and overseers of the poor ; Libni Parker,

1873] INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 199
town treasurer ; Ira B. Hall, town constable ; Freeman L. Rob
bins, superintending school committee; and L. Herman Parker,
coUector of taxes. The town voted $2,000 to defray the
annual expenses, $900 of which were for the public schools,
and $500 for the repairing of highways and bridges.
Lieut. Francis Fletcher, son of Thomas, grandson of Dea.
Joseph Fletcher, and a valued citizen, died July 28, at the
advanced age of eighty-five years.
Miss Sarah E. Blood, sister of Washington E. Blood, and
aged thirty-seven years, was accidentally killed on the fourth
day of August by a train of cars on the Worcester and Nashua
Railroad. She had gone out to pick berries for the tea-table,
and while on the track was unconscious of the approach of the
train. The Nashua, Acton, and Boston Railroad, running by Flat
Rock Hill, along the valley of Salmon Brook centrally through
the town, and leaving it at Massapoag Pond, was opened for
travel in June, 1873. The ceremony of breaking the ground
for this road took place at Wall Hill in Deceraber, 1871, when
speeches were raade by the Hon. Levi Wallace, of Pepperell,
James T. Burnap, first superintendent of the road, and others,
after which the company partook of a collation provided by
the ladies of Dunstable. The occasion was enlivened by
salutes from a cannon, probably the first one ever heard near
Massapoag Pond, and by rausic from the Dunstable Cornet
Band. The depot is about one half of a mUe west of Dunsta
ble Centre, and Mr. Thomas F. Cheney is the depot master.
By this road the town is well accommodated ; since its con
struction, property has advanced in value and the activities of
the people have been quickened.
Although the people of Dunstable are noted for industry
and sobriety, stiU, as in other New England towns, they
now and then break up the monotony of every-day life by
recreation and amusement, and I record with pleasure that
these are of a character more intellectual and elevated than
were those in which the people of the olden tiraes engaged.
A course of lyceum lectures is generally weU sustained during
the winter season, and the people, both old and young, spend

200

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

[1873

much more time than the preceding generation did in reading
the magazines and daily journals. In the summer season,
several families visit the sea-shore or the mountains for diver
sion ; and in the autumn, the agricultural fair, in place of the
old militia muster, with its many demoralizing influences,
engages the attention. From it, Dunstable has borne away
many a handsome prize. For athletic sports or games of
chance, the people have but little inclination ; the farm affords
a sufficient amount of exercise for the body, and men who till
the soU do not love to risk, in any kind of gambling, the money
for which they work so hard. Music and flowers are con
siderably cultivated ; it seems, indeed, to be the constant aim
of every parent to make the home attractive, the home circle
good, and consequently happy.
The spirit of republican siraplicity, to a remarkable extent,
prevaUs, and what is called faraily pride is, perhaps, less
observable here than in any other town in the county. It is
said that if a lady of Dunstable has a party, she invites her
neighbors in the order in which they live, untU her house is

LIDNI PARKER'S HOUSE AND HALL.

full, esteeming one as worthy of her attention as another.
The people, in general, own the estates on which they dwell.

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 20I
and had much rather take than give a mortgage. They seldom
run into debt, and prefer a large barn to a gaudUy furnished
parlor. There is but little foreign element, and but one pauper
in town. The public meetings are generally held in a con
venient hall in the possession of Mr. Libni Parker, and built
by Mr. Jephtha Cummings. Beneath it are the post-ofiSce and
the only store in town, both of which are in charge of Mr.
L. Herman Parker, who, with his father, Mr. Libni Parker,
occupies the house represented on the opposite page.
As 1873 was the two hundredth year frora the original
settlement or incorporation of the town, it was voted in a legal
meeting of the citizens, held in March, to appropriate $500 for
a bi-centennial celebration, to be observed on Wednesday, the
seventeenth day of September following. Josiah C. Proctor,
Esq., Dexter Butterfield, Jaraes M. Swallow, Jonas Spaulding,
and John A. Parkhurst were chosen a committee to make ar
rangements. To this committee were added WiUiara N. Kemp,
Washington E. Blood, Ira B. HaU, Benjamin French, Esq.,
and George W. Fletcher. This comraittee received a present.

?•

is*-" I;*.

HOMESTEAD OF BENJAMIN FKHNCH, ESQ.

unsolicited, of $50 from Dexter Roby, of Boston, $50 from
A, N. Swallow, of Charlestown, and $20 from Hiram Kemp,

202 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
of Boston, all sons of Dunstable, to aid in defraying the
expenses of the celebration. Benjarain French, Esq., was
apfiointed chairraan of the Coraraittee of Arrangeraents.
Printed letters of invitation, as given below, were sent out
to those specially interested in the welfare ofthe town :-^
BI-CENTENARY of DUNSTABLE.
1673-1873. Dunstable, Mass., Aug. 28, 1873.
Rev. Elias Nason :
Dear Sir, — On the seventeenth of September next this town will cele
brate the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the town.
We most cordially invite you to be present on the occasion.
Yours respectfully, Benjamin French, Chairman of Committee.
As the tirae for the anniversary* approached, the town
became thoroughly alive in making preparations for the
reception of its sons and daughters from abroad, and for the
festivities of the occasion. Josiah C. Proctor, Esq., was
appointed president of the day, together with Isaac O. Taylor
and Jonas C. Kendall, as vice-presidents ; Benjamin French,
chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, Dexter Butter-
* The following is a copy of the printed programme for the occasion : —
BI-CENTENNIAL OF DUNSTABLE.
Wednesday, Sept. 17th, '73.
1673-1S73.,
PROGRAMME.
The Procession will form at the Depot at ten o'clock A. M., and march to the Common.
Exercises on the Common.

Reading of Scripture and Prayer, by Rev. Mr. Austin.
Music by the Band.
Song of Welcome.
Oration, by Geo. B. Loring.
Singing by the Clark Family (New Ipswich).
Original Song, composed by Mrs. Maria A. Whu'COMB.
Music by the B.inds. Dinner at i o'clock P. M., in the Tent.
Voluntary Toasts, Speeches, Poems, Singing, and Music by the Bands.
Parting Hymn, composed by Mrs. Charles Rockwell.

1873] WELCOME 70 THE GROUNDS. 2O3
field, chief marshal, together with James A. Davis and
Andrew J. Woodward, assistants. Dr. George B. Loring
was invited to deliver the oration, and Yale's mammoth tent,
with C. E. Reed, of Boston, as caterer, was engaged for the
occasion. Nothing was omitted on the part of the gentlemen
and ladies of Dunstable to make the celebration a success.
The 17th of September opened splendidly, and at ten
o'clock a procession was formed at the raUroad station, which
proceeded to the centre ofthe town in the following order: —
Dexter Butterfield, marshal of the day, and aids, with the
Dunstable Cornet Band ; two four-horse barouches, one con
taining Gov. William B. Washburn, the Hon. George S. Bout
well, the Hon. George B. Loring, with Josiah C. Proctor, Esq.,
president of the day ; the other barouche containing the Hon.
E. Rockwood Hoar, of Concord, Gen. Israel Hunt, of Nashua,
together with Messrs. Isaac O. Taylor and Jonas C. Kendall,
vice-presidents of the day. Then came in order, Capt. Chris
topher Roby's corapany of cavalry with seventy sabres, fol
lowed by the Pepperell Engine Company, No. i, thirty-three
men, with the Pepperell Cornet Band, and citizens in carriages
and on foot.
A beautiful stand for the speakers had been erected on the
south side of the broad Common, and a large nuraber of con
venient seats provided. Appropriate mottoes covered the
sides of the platform, and above it were seen the cordial
words, "Welcome Home." The dates 1673-1873, in wreaths
of flowers, ornamented the speaker's desk. Flags were flying
in every direction, and salutes from a piece of artOlery
announced the arrival of the long procession at the scene of
the celebration. Never before had old Dunstable Common
been so beautifully decorated, or been visited by such a throng
of people. It is estimated that as many as 3,000 were present.
The services were opened by the reading of selections from
the Scriptures, and a prayer by the Rev. Franklin D. Austin.
These were followed by spirited music from the Dunstable
Cornet Band, and an original song of welcome, beautifully
sung by the Clark family of New Ipswich. Josiah C. Proctor,
Esq., then, in a few well-chosen words, extended a cordial wel-

204 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
corae to the vast assemblage, and read the resolution of the
town in respect to the celebration. He then introduced the
Hon. George B. Loring, as the orator of the occasion. This
gentleman, rising, delivered an historical address in his usual
happy and effective manner, coraraanding for an hour and a
half the earnest attention ofthe audience. At the conclusion
of the oration, the Clark family sang effectively " The Star
Spangled Banner." This was followed by an original song,
composed by Mrs. Maria A. Whitcomb, and by enlivening
music from the Dunstable and Pepperell cornet bands.
song by mrs. m. a. whitcomb.
Sung by the Dunstable Cornet Band.
Tune, "Yankee Doodle.''
This town was all a forest deep,
Two hundred years ago, sir ;
The vales were low, the hills were steep,
And streamlets wandered through, sir.
Chorus : Yankee doodle, this the place,
Yankee doodle dandy ;
We like the good, old-fashioned days.
The people were so handy.
A few brave men, a pilgrim band.
Sought this far-off location ;
They saw it was a goodly land,
And here they fixed their station.
Chorus :
From time to time the settlers came.
And built as they were able ;
At length the town must have a name.
And so t'was called Dunstable.
Chorus :
No draught from China's sultry land
Was seen at morn or e'en, sir ;
The " black cow " gave a beverage bland.
Few drank black tea or green, sir.
Chorus ;

1873] POEM BY MRS. ROCKWELL. 205
In homespun were the people dressed.
Of woollen, tow, or linen.
Their Sunday suits, which were their best,
Were nicely made by women.
Chorus :
The girls could wash and brew and bake,
And also were good spinners ;
The maids could ply the hoe and rake,
While matrons cooked the dinners.
Chorus : Yankee doodle, this the place,
Yankee doodle dandy ;
We like the good, old-fashioned days,
The people were so handy.
After the services were finished at the rostrum, and the
people had spent some time in congratulations and in reme-
niscences of the olden times, they repaired to the mammoth
tent erected on the spacious lawn south of the Common to par
take, as many as could, of the banquet prepared by Mr. Reed.
The Rev. Mr. M. Smith, of Tyngsborough, invoked the divine
blessing, and about an hour was spent in partaking of the
bountiful repast. When this was finished, and the Pepperell
Band had performed an inspiring piece of music, the president
of the day introduced felicitously Mr. O. C. Moore, as the
toast-master of the anniversary. Having made a few remarks,
he announced as the first toast : " Old Dunstable ! she divided
her estate among ten sons, and to-day she calls them home and
bids them welcome." The response was in the form of the
following original poem, written by Mrs. Mary Rockwell, and
read by Mr. James T. Burnap : —
DUNSTABLE.
My childhood's home ! what music in the sound.
Dear to each heart, wherever man is found !
By every nation, every clime and tongue.
In sweetest praise their dwelling-place is sung.
Go to the Indian in the western wild,
Ask him where Nature has most kindly smiled ;
He '11 point you to his dark old forest home.
And to his cheerless wigwam bid you come.
Go to the regions of the frozen zone.

2o6 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Where naught but stinted shrubs and moss are grown.
Ask the poor native what delights his eye ;
He '11 point you to his hut of snow hard by.
Enlightened man no pleasure here can find.
And blesses God that He has not designed
To cast his lot in regions cold and drear,
Removed from all he holds on earth so dear.
Across the ocean, in the eastern world,
Where freedom's banner ne'er has been unfurled,
Where superstition rules with tyrant sway.
And man, degraded, wears his life away,
Yet even here the heart clings to one place, —
Here is his home, here dwells his kindred race.
To nations proud in wealth and culture turn ;
From their attachments, too, we plainly learn
How strong, how deep, the feeling of the heart
For one dear spot of this great earth, small part.
And yet within that little space, close curled,
Lies love's rich treasure, making it a world.
And thus, fair Dunstable, thy children come
To celebrate the birthday of their home.
Two hundred years ! We '11 bridge across time's space.
And turn thought backward on its swiftest race,
Call back the forms and faces that were here, —
In mental vision they will reappear,
Show us the regions that around them lay
Rude and unfilled, two centuries to-day.
Then brute creation, tenants of the wood.
Untamed and fierce, were prowling for their food ;
And savage man, more to be feared than they,
Would lie in ambush to make man his prey.
Lurk round the dwellings, slyly watch and wait
Till on the pale face he could wreak his hate ;
With torch to burn and tomahawk to destroy.
Rending the air with wild, mad whoops of joy.
On scenes like these we will but briefly dwell.
Truths stern and sad the historic page must tell.
We use the past to contrast shade with light.
And make the present look more clearly bright.

Fair Dunstable ! sometimes they call thee old :
Thy youthful days are not yet fully told ;
The peaceful tenor of thy even way
Has left no furrows time and age display.

1873] POEM BY MRS. ROCKWELL. 207
Thy fields are fair, thy woods are bright and green.
Thy lakes and streams are dressed in silvery sheen,
On thy smooth brow is written early hfe,
Untrodden yet the paths of vice and strife.
But changes soon will come thy peace to mar ;
E'en now is heard the rattling railroad car
Along thy wood where quiet reigned around,
And tbe lone night-bird's song the loudest sound,
Till the last year of two long centuries past
Proclaimed, by engine, " men were going fast."
Business and hurry bring on middle age,
They 're foes of youth, a war they quickly wage,
Turn peaceful streams from their calm, gentle course,
Restrain their waters for propelbng force.
The hills are brought on level with the plain ;
And plains made hills to answer hope of gain.
If such of sister towns has been the fate,
Thy turn may come, though it be rather late,
When on the morning breeze the factory bell
Shall to the sleeper hours of labor tell,
When whizzing cars on every side shall go.
And prove this place is neither slack nor slow.
We '11 not attempt to use prophetic ken,
We know what has been and may be again !
Fair Dunstable ! a tribute we would pay
Thy worthy children, long since passed away !
Of the first century history contains
A warlike record, full of griefs and pains.
Hearts brave and noble were compelled to yield.
And for a season leave the foe the field.
No doubt that race were men of sterling worth.
Beloved, respected, while they dwelt on earth.
But of the century now just passed away,
More of thy children we can know, and say :
Some have been worthy tillers of the soil,
Substantial men, rewarded by their toil ;
Some in mechanic arts have spent their days,
Their works declare them men deserving praise ;
And some have sought a livelihood by trade,
Have bought and sold, and thus their fortunes made ;
Others preferred in learning's paths to go,
In three professions Dunstable can show
Men who have made their mark and won renown,
In other places than their native town.

2o8 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
«
But time forbids to pass each in review, —
One name we '11 mention of the noted few,
A name this place may well be proud to own,
Virtues like Amos Kendall's wide are known !
Called by his country to high posts of trust,
Honored and honest, numbered with the just ;
His friends and relatives are with us here,
And all who knew him hold his memory dear.
An aged women Hves, still pleased to tell,
She made him coats and pants, — he hked them well.
In politics this town has borne its part,
Both parties know the tricks of party art ;
And to the statesmen who are here to-day,
We pay due honor, — better than " back pay " !
Fair Dunstable ! thy sons have had their praise,
And shall thy daughters share not in these lays ?
To " woman's rights " they ne'er have laid their claim,
To be right women is their highest aim.
Act well each part within their sphere of life,
A faithful mother and devoted wife.
And now, fair Dunstable, our work is done !
Another century has for thee begun !
Throughout thy realms, may peace and temperance reign.
Increase each virtue and each vice restrain !
And when life's changes all with us are o'er.
Safe may we meet upon that heavenly shore
Where centuries are uncounted and unknown,
And joys are endless round the Eternal Throne.
The second toast, " The President of the United States,"
was responded to by the Dunstable Band playing " America."
The third toast was, " Massachusetts, — the earliest and fore
most in the cause of civU and religious liberty. The lapse of
two hundred years has added lustre to her renown, force to her
example, and prominence to her high place in history. AU
honor to the governor ! and the governed of the old Common
wealth ! "
Gov. Washburn rose and responded happily to this sen
timent, and in the course of his remarks said, " The influ
ence of old Dunstable upon those that were born here has
caused thera joyfully to return, and in the celebration demon-

1873] ADDRESS OF THE HON. G. S. BOUTWELL. 209
strate their fuU appreciation of the benefits received by them
from the place of their birth."
The fourth toast, " Our Representative in Congress, — the
eminent jurist, the practical statesman, the honest politician :
old Dunstable can trust him, and he will honor her," received
a pleasant response from Hon. E. Rockwood Hoar, M. C, who
said : —
" The founders of old Dunstable, with all the hardships of pitiless
winter, merciless savages, poverty, want, and disease, still had some recom
pense, as they had no member of Congress. They worried over temporal
cases, predestination, and free-will, but had no cause to worry over back
pay and Credit Mobilier. An occasion more touching, delightful, and
suited to the beautiful day, could not have been devised than the celebration.
The town is the smallest of the county of Middlesex, and to-day it has
seemed like the old mother sitting in advanced age by her hearth-stone,
her family reduced in numbers by its contributions to other neighborhoods
and places, her daughters changing their names as they form new alliances,
but welcoming to the old homestead and to the thanksgiving table her
numerous progeny."
" The ideas of free education were always cherished in Dunstable, and
will always be cherished as long as the great and undying principles of
justice and truth shall continue."
The fifth toast, " New Hampshire : bleak are her hUls in
winter, and warm are the hearts of her sons all the year round,"
received a brief response from theRev. Mr. Philbrook.
The Hon. Levi Wallace responded to the sixth toast, " Our
railroad, — the tie that binds two cities that Act-on as one."
The seventh toast, " New England : her townships were the
nurseries of Republican institutions ; to-day they are the
model democracies of the world," caUed up the Hon. George
S. Boutwell, who said : —
" There were three points in the history of New England which he
never liked to pass, when New England is concerned, namely, the muni
cipal system, the public-school system, and the ' religious tolerance of
the forefathers.' It may be said of the Puritans that they recognized the
right of government to set up a church, in which all should worship and
should pay toward its support ; but they were willing to have any church
established not interfering with that church, and thus they should be ex
cused from intolerance. The public-school system is due entirely to the
Puritan Protestantism which prevailed in Massachusetts long ago. Its
14

210 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
first object was to train up youth to be able to examine and judge of the
Scriptures for themselves. He deemed it a loss to the municipal system
that the towns, as towns, are not represented in the General Court.
" The larger cities and municipalities are absorbing and corrupt. They
are to be saved, if at all, by large legislative bodies. The civil govern
ment should be in the hands of those who are well paid. The assembly
should be large, and the cost would, of course, be great ; but we must pay
for government. He desired to see the municipalities strengthened and
their pride encouraged. One means of connecting these celebrations will
be by a celebration every half-century."
Gen. Israel Hunt responded to the eighth toast, which was,
" The City of Nashua."
The ninth toast was, " The Orator of the Day : by the abUity,
research, and eloquence which he has displayed to-day, he has
proved himself worthy to be a son of old Dunstable, and we
adopt him."
Mr. Loring responded in his usual happy manner, and the
president of the day then announced that, owing to the lateness
of the hour, no more toasts would be offered.
The Clark family then sang an original parting song, com
posed by Mrs. Mary Rockwell.
CLOSING SONG, BY MRS. MARY ROCKWELL.
Air, — "Days of Absence."
When with joy our hearts are beating,
Why must Time speed on his way.
Bring to end our happy meeting,
Close the pleasures of the day ?
Here we 'd love to tarry longer.
Live again the happy hours ;
Bind our friendships firmer, stronger.
While our pathway 's strewn with flowers.
But life's scenes are ever changing,
Clouds and sunshine come and go ;
Earthly joys are prone to ranging.
Few the gifts their hands bestow.
But for these bright hours of gladness
That have now so swiftly flown.
We would banish thoughts of sadness.
Make them evermore our own ;

1873] CLOSE OF THE CELEBRATION. 2 II
Bid our friends a hearty farewell,
Give our wishes warm and kind.
But we '11 not attempt to foretell
What another century '11 find.
Ere three hundred years are ended.
We shall sleep all in the tomb.
May our lives with Christ be blended.
Find through Him a heavenly home !
At the conclusion of the singing a salute was fired, and the
people, with many felicitations on the serenity of the day, the
excellence of the speaking, the music, and the repast, bade
each other good by, and retired to their several homes, well
satisfied that old Dunstable had honorably and successfully
observed the two hundredth anniversary of her incorporation.*
* Fine stereoscopic views of the Common, the decorations, the concourse of
people, and the dinner-table were taken during the celebration, which serve to
recall vividly the varied and brilliant scenes ofthe day.

212 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873

CHAPTER XIII.
Representatives to the General Court. — Colonels. — Captains. —
Deacons. — Physicians. — College Graduates. — Teachers — Voters
IN 1873.
" Progress is the motto of the age. Let this progress not be confined
to discovery, invention, science, and art. Let it be seen also in morals,
in the love of man for man." Amos Kendall.
" Knowledge is thine armor bright.
Liberty, thy beacon-light,
God himself, thy shield of might :
Bow to Him alone." Lydia H. Sigourney.
REPRESENTATIVES TO THE GENERAL COURT FROM DUNSTABLE.
rJoHN Waldo.
1689. \ Cornelius Waldo.
(Robert Parris.
, j Jonathan Tyng.
' I Thomas Henchman.
1741. John Tyng.
1775- Joel Parkhurst.
1777. Ebenezer Bancroft.
1778. John Tyng.
1780. John Tyng.
1783. John Tyng.
1784. Joseph Danforth.
1801. John Pitts.
1805. Robert Brinley.
1 806. Isaac Wright.
1807. Isaac Wright.
1808. Matthew Scribner.
1809. Dr. Micah Eldredge.
1810. Rev. Joshua Heywood.
1 81 1. Dr. Micah Eldredge.
1812. Dr. Micah Eldredge.
1823. Capt. Josiah- Cummings.
1826. Josiah Cummings, Jr.
1840. Henry Parkhurst.
1841. Peter Kendall.

1873]

VIEW OF THE VILLAGE.

213

214 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
1842. Henry Parkhurst.
1843. Henry Parkhurst.
1850. Ira Hall.
1851. Ira Hall.
1852. Benjamin French.
1859. Alpheus Swallow.
1862. Isaac O. Taylor.
1865. George W. Fletcher.
1870. James T. Burnap.
Allen Cummings was a member of the State Senate in 1853,
and the same year Isaac Kendall represented the town
in the Convention for the revision of the Constitution of
the State.
The following Dunstable men have held a colonel's com
mission : —
Jonathan Tyng.
Eleazer Tyng.
William Tyng.
Zaccheus Lovewell, b. July 22, 1701 ; d. April 12, 1772.
Joseph Blanchard, b. Feb. 11, 1704; d. April 7, 1758.
Ebenezer Bancroft, b. 1737 ; d. 1827.
Frederic Blodgett, d. Oct. 27, 1837, aged 62 years.
Levi P. Wright.
The foUowing Dunstable men have been commissioned as
captains : —
Joseph Blanchard.
Jonathan Butterfield.
Joseph Butterfield.
Benjamin Butterfield, d. 1745.
Leonard Butterfield, d. Nov. 17, 1800.
Reuben Butterfield, b. Oct. 1727 ; d. Feb. 22, 1816.
Joel Cummings.
John Cummings, d. Aug. 15, 1770, aged seventy-four years.
Josiah Cummings.
Oliver Cummings, d. Aug. 15, 1810, aged eighty- three years.
Joseph Danforth, b. 1754; d. 1855.
Henry Farwell.
Jonathan Fletcher, d. March 28, 181 3, aged seventy-two years.
Mark Fletcher.
Nathaniel Fletcher.
Nathaniel W. Gilson.
Ira Hall.

1873] PHYSICIANS OF DUNSTABLE. 215
Nathaniel Holden. He lived on the margin of Howard's Brook and
bore the name of " Peacemaker."
Abel Johnson.
Jesse Johnson.
Jonas Kendall, commissioned April 1808; discharged Feb. 9, 1811.
John Lovewell, killed at Pequawket.
Peter Powers, b. in Littleton, and d. in Hollis, N. H., 1757.
Caleb Read.
Samuel Stevens. He was from Chelmsford, and d. Dec. 10, 1805.
Abraham Swallow, commissioned May 3, 1803, by Caleb Strong.
Amaziah Swallow.
Christopher Roby, now of West Chelmsford.
Jephtha Stevens.
a list OF THE DEACONS OF THE CHURCH IN DUNSTABLE.
Ebenezer Sherwin, elected 1757.
Samuel Taylor, 1757, son of Abraham Taylor, and was born Oct. i,
1708, and died Oct. 23, 1792, aged eighty-five.
Joseph Fletcher, 1759, d- July 17, 1784.
Zebedee Kendall, 1789 ; d. Aug. 12, 1839, aged eighty-four years.
Joel Parkhurst, 1794.
Isaac Taylor, 1801.
Samuel Stevens, 1801.
James Taylor, 1814.
Micah Eldredge, i8ig ; d. 1849, aged seventy-three years.
Mark Fletcher, 1832; d. Aug. 4, 1851.
Joseph Swallow, 1832.
Isaac Taylor, Jr., 1834.
Thomas Parker, 1845.
Chiles Kendall, 1845. He was born Dec. 29, 1798, and is descended
through Jacob^ and Jonas^ from John' Kendall, who came from
Woburn about 1726. He married Susannah, daughter of Dea. James
Taylor, May 3, 1827. physicians of DUNSTABLE.
Dr. Nathan Cutler practised in town before the Revo
lution, and acted as a surgeon in the war. He lived on the
river road near Spit or Cutler's Brook, a little north of the
State line.
Dr. Ebenezer Starr came to Dunstable from Dedham,
soon after the Revolution, and lived on a Kendall Place in the
northerly part of the town. He was highly esteemed as a
physician and as a man. He died Sept. 7, 1798, aged fifty-
two years.

2i6 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Dr. Micah Eldredge practised long in Dunstable ; living
near Salmon Brook, on the road from the Centre to HoUis,
N. H. He married Sally Buttrick of Concord, and had a
family of twelve children, several of whom received a liberal
education. He served the town in various capacities. At
one period he taught a public school ; he was a deacon of the
church, and twice elected representative to the General Court.
He received the degree of M. D. from Dartmouth College in
1841, and soon afterwards removed, to Nashua, N. H., where
he died in 1849, at the age of seventy-three years. His son,
Hezekiah Eldredge, who was of the Medical Department of
Brown University in 1825, succeeded him in the practice of
medicine at Dunstable.
Dr. Miles Spaulding practised for some time in town
and resided in the house now occupied by Mr. Harvey Wood
ward, near the Centre. He now lives in Groton. He was
admitted to the church by letter Sept. 5, 1847, and dismissed
to the church in Groton, Oct. 29, 1851.
Dr. Adonijah W. Howe settled here about the year 1852,
and practised in town several years. He married Miss Martha
D. Butterfield, and occupied the old tavern house, built by
Ebenezer Kendall, and noted as one of the rallying-points
during the Revolution. He now resides in Westford. The
town has at present no resident physician, but employs, for
the most part. Dr. Charles Dutton, a skUful practitioner of
Tyngsborough. list OF COLLEGE GRADUATES.
John Tyng, H. C. 1691, son of Jonathan and Sarah (Usher)
Tyng. Eleazer Tyng, brother of the above, b. in 1690; H. C.
1712 Habijah Savage Weld, H. C. 1723 He was the son of
the Rev. Thomas Weld, and was born in Dunstable, July 2,
1702. He was ordained at Attleborough, Oct. 1727, where he
continued in the ministry fifty-five years. He died suddenly
May 14, 1782.
Peter Powers, H. C. 1754, d. 1800, aged seventy-two years.

1873] college graduates. 217
Josiah Goodhue, H. C. 1755.
John Farwell, H. C. 1808, a lawyer.
Isaac Fletcher, Dart Coll. 1808, M. C.
Amos Kendall, " 181 1.
Josiah Danforth, " 181 1.
Charles Butterfield, H. C. 1820.
Frederick Augustus Eldredge, Dart. CoU. 1832.
Erasmus Darwin Eldredge, Dart. CoU. 1829.
Samuel Mark Fletcher, Am. Coll. 1846. Born March i,
1822, and married Sally Kendall Taylor in November, 1849.
He was a son of Capt. Mark, grandson of Phineas and great-
grandson of Dea. Joseph Fletcher, the first settler ofthe name in
Dunstable. He studied medicine in Philadelphia, and practised
two years in Westerly, R. I. He was assistant surgeon in the
war of the Rebellion ; he then practised medicine in Denver
City and Chicago, where he died Oct. 3, 1875. His wife died
AprU 20, 1867. Their son, Alfred M., was born Sept. 13, 1850.*
Samuel Howe Tolman, Dart. Coll. 1848.
Joseph Willard Keyes, the youngest son of Joel and
^ Phoebe (Cutter) Keyes, was born in Dunstable, Sept. 30,
1837, ^iid graduated from the Theological Department of
St. Lawrence University, Canton, N. Y., 1864. He was
irst settled over the Universalist Church in Minneapolis,
Minn:, then over one at Arlington, Mass., and afterwards
oy^er that in Auburn, N. Y. He is an earnest and effective
speaker. Under his ministrations many have been led to seek
for a higher life.
,\sa Danforth studied medicine with Dr. Thomas of
Tytigsborough, and settled in Norway, Me.
iRASMUs Darwin Eldredge, son of Dr. Micah and Sally
(Bultrick) Eldredge, was born in Dunstable, March 10, 1804.
He Was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1829, and was
printoal of the Pepperell Academy from June 10, 1834, until
November, 1837. He was ordained pastor of the Congrega-
tionaiChurch in Hampton, N. H., April 4, 1838. From this
pastomte he was disraissed at his own request. May 7, 1848,

* See Fletcher Genealogy, p. 103.

2i8 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
and on the 12th of June foUowing he was instaUed pastor of
the church in Salisbury, where he continued until Nov. i,
1854, when he was compeUed by iU health to relinquish the
pastorate. " The labors of Mr. Eldredge," says the Rev. B. F.
Foster, in The New Hampshire Churches, p. 4i3> "were very
useful to the church and acceptable to the people generally,
and it was with much regret that they yielded to his request
to discontinue his connection with them."
Mr. Eldredge and his wife subsequently taught a young
ladies' institute at MonticeUo, and then at MiUedgevUle, Ga.
He was instaUed at Ahon, N. H., Jan. 24, 1861, and is now
pastor of a church in Kensington, N. H. He married, June
30, 1864, Miss Isabella HUl, and is highly esteemed, both as a
pastor and as a citizen.
The Hon. Isaac Fletcher, son of Joseph and Molly (Cum
mings) Fletcher, and grandson of Dea. Joseph Fletcher, was
born in Joint Grass, in the northwesterly part of Dunstable,
Nov. 22, 1784; was graduated with honor at Dartmouth Col
lege, in the class of 1808, and taught for sorae time in the
acaderay at Chesterfield, N. H. He afterwards studied law
with Messrs. Prescott & Dunbar, at Keene, N. H. In 18 11 he
removed to Lyndon, Vt., where he soon came into an exten
sive practice. He was eight years State attorney for Cale
donia County, four years a representative of Lyndon in tte
State Legislature, and twice elected representative to Con
gress, serving in that office from 1837 to 1841. He was also,
at one time, military aid on the stafif of Richard Skinner,
governor of Vermont, and for many years adjutant and
inspector-general of the militia of the "State. He was prompt,
energetic, and self-reliant, and, as it were, the maker of his
own fortune. He married Miss Abigail Stone in 18 13, by
whom he had one chUd, Col. Charles B. Fletcher, who died
sine prole, Aug. 12, 185 1. The Hon. Isaac Fletcher died
greatly respected, Oct. 19, 1842.*
In a letter to his son, Charles B. Fletcher, the Hon. Isaac
Fletcher said : " From my earliest recoUection, my consLtution
* See the Fletcher Genealogy, p. 79. See, also. Life of the Hon. Isaac Fletcher,
by Isaac F. Redfield, 1843.

1873] "THE HON. ISAAC FLETCHER. 219
and health have been feeble, and have continued so to the
present time, but yet able to endure much application, labor,
and fatigue. One rule of my father's economy was that aU the
money spent by the children must be earned by themselves.
By the greatest industry in raising potatoes and tobacco, I
possessed myself of money enough to buy Pike's large Arith
metic, and commenced the study of it during the leisure even
ings I could spare. By dint of perseverance, I mastered every
rule, and could solve any problem in the whole book. This
laid the foundation for mathematical studies, which have been
of use to me through life. I have ever devoted myself, when
opportunity would allow, with more pleasure to the study of
that science than any other.'' He also said: "In 1803 my
father came to a resolution to suffer me to acquire a liberal
education. He informed me that all he could do for me was
to give me my time, and if I thought, by industry and economy,
I could succeed in the attempt, I might make the experiment,
but should I fail, there would be always a seat at his table and
food enough and work enough for me to do on his farm. Thus
encouraged and supported by my father, I collected all my
movable effects, consisting of clothes and a few books, and
left home with a fixed and determined resolution to tax my
genius and industry to the utmost to acquire an education.
With budget in hand I took my departure for Groton to pre
pare for college. At this time I was possessed of a yoke of
oxen, a few sheep, and other property, in all to the amount of
about ^150, which I converted into cash and funded in order
to draw upon as necessity might require. I did not feel myself
able to take board near the academy, but at the distance of a
mUe and a half, where I could get it cheaper than in the vU
lage. I commenced fitting for college in September, 1803, and
entered the Freshman class in Dartmouth CoUege in 1804. I
may as well say, once for all, my feelings suffered much, for
my means were scanty and my dress and style humble."' Gen.
Fletcher continued his classical studies through life, and to
them added the study of the French language and literature.
Of him his biographer says : " He was an indulgent parent, a
kind-hearted friend, charitable to all, unwilling to offend or

220 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
pain any one, hospitable and generous, and accomplished more
for good and less for evil, I think, than most others." He was
an honor to the town that gave him birth, to the State of his
adoption, and to humanity.
Amos Kendall, son of Dea. Zebedee and Molly (Dakin)
KendaU,* was born in the northerly part of Dunstable, near
Salraon Brook, on Sunday, Aug. 16, 1787, and was baptized
by the Rev. Daniel Emerson, of HoUis, N. H., on the first day
of Noveraber foUowing. He spent his boyhood in hard work
on his father's farm, and in attending school during the winter
season. He evinced, in boyhood, a love of books, and employed
many of his leisure hours in reading. His sobriety gained for
hira the title of deacon. He was fitted for college, partly at
the academy in New Ipswich, N. H., and partly in that of
Groton, under the tuition of Caleb Butler, historian of that
town. He was graduated, taking the highest honor of his
class, at Dartmouth College, in 181 1. During his college
course he taught school in Dunstable. Having studied law
in the office of WiUiara M. Richardson, Esq., of Groton, he
reraoved, in the spring of 18 14, to Kentucky, where he was for
sorae time employed as a tutor in the family of Henry Clay,
at Ashland. To his intercourse with this distinguished states
man he was largely indebted for his early political bias and
aspiration. On leaving the family of Mr. Clay, he commenced
the practice of law, and subsequently became 'the editor of a
Deraocratic journal, called the Argus, published at Frankfort^
in Kentucky. He advocated the election of Gen. Andrew
Jackson to the Presidency, and was, by him, appointed, in
1829, fourth auditor of the treasury. From 1835 to 1840 he
held the office of postmaster-general. He succeeded in intro
ducing many reforras into this department, and also in freeing
it frora debt. He assuraed, in 1845, the entire management
* Francis Kendall^ came from England to Woburn about 1640, and had four
sons, Francis, Thomas, Ralph, and Jacob'^, the last of whom, born in 1686, had
nine sons, of whom John'*, Ebenezer, and Abraham settled in what is now Dun
stable, Mass., about 1726. The sons of John'' weie John'', Jacob, Temple,
Edward, and Zebedee. John* had two sons, John and Zebedee^, who was the
father of Amos Kendall".

1873] AMOS KENDALL. 221
of the interest of Prof. Samuel F. Morse in the magnetic tele
graph, and was the founder and first president of the Deaf and
Dumb Asylum at Washington. He married for his first wife,
Oct. I, 18 18, Miss Mary B. Woolfolk, by whom he had four
children ; and for his second wife, in 1826, Miss Jane Kyle, by
whom he had ten chUdren. She died at Washington in June,
1864. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him, in 1849,
by Dartmouth College. He was a friend of the common-school
system and a liberal benefactor. To the Calvary Baptist
Church at Washington, which he was led to join from hearing
a sermon by the Rev. A. B. Earle on, "Almost thou per
suadest me to be a Christian," delivered March 23, 1865, and
of which he was an active meraber, he gave in all ^115,000.
He also contributed about $20,000 to the Deaf and Dumb
Asylum, $6,000 to found a scholarship in Columbia College,
and about $25,000 in aid of two mission schools, one of which
is called Kendall's Chapel. In the autumn of 1862 he went
to live at "Kendall Green," in Taunton, N. J., and in 1866
made a long visit to Europe and the Holy Land. He died at
Washington, on the twelfth day of November, 1869, leaving in
manuscript an Autobiography, which his son-in-law has since
published in a handsome volume of seven hundred pages.
Mr. Kendall was a vigorous writer, and faithfully served the
administration of whose cabinet he was a meraber so influ
ential as to be called the President's " right-hand" man. He
was a prominent actor on the political arena for almost a third
of a century ; he was a public benefactor and a devout Christian.
On the morning of his death he asked to see the sun rise, and
then exclaiming, " How beautiful, how beautiful ! " he soon
closed his eyes, and died in peace.
At his funeral the Rev. Dr. Sunderland said, " He was a
man of great modesty of disposition. He sought no display,
and if he had a fault it was that he was altogether too retiring
and diffident. He was an honest man, purely and exactly a
faithful man. Honest and faithful to his fellow-men, he was no
less so to his God." Of him, also, the Rev. Dr. Sarason said,
" From his youthful editorials up to his elaborate papers there
were a clearness and force and a, fascination, of which many

222 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
still speak as having riveted their attention whenever they
took up anything coming from his pen. . . . As age and
the refining influence of growing religious faith and hope mel
lowed the ripening fruit of his last years, a sweetness and
serenity of temper carae over him which made his famUy and
every circle where his hoary locks were seen moving, take on
a new delight because of his presence."
The following description of Deacon Zebedee Kendall's
farm is taken from his distinguished son's entertaining Auto
biography : —
" The farm was composed of bog meadow, pine plains, and oak hills.
The meadows yielded the coarser kinds of grasses, intermixed with
various ferns, cranberry-vines, and small bushes, but they also sup
plied most of the bay on which the cattle subsisted during the long
New England winters. Through these meadows meandered a slug
gish stream called Salmon Brook, stocked with various kinds of fish.
The pine plains rested on a bed of gravel, and, except along the foot
of the hills, were almost barren. From these, however, the bread of
the family was for the most part drawn. Next to the hills there were
two four-acre fields, cultivated alternately in corn and rye. The com
crop was always manured, and the rye was sown in the fall among the
corn, so that these fields were manured alternately every other year.
The plains between the fields and the meadows were generaUy used as
sheep pastures, but once in five or six years they produced a very small
crop of rye of excellent quality.
" The oak hills were composed of a clay soil, so full of rocks in many
places as to preclude cultivation without removing them. With great
labor small tracts were so far cleared as to become good upland meadow,
furnishing excellent hay for horses and working spans. These uplands
supplied an abundance of stones, with which the whole farm, except the
pine plains, was enclosed ; the fences were of stone, combined with posts
and rails. The upland meadows were cultivated in potatoes or corn once
in five or six years, but seldom in rye, on account of its inferior quality
when produced on a clay soil. A patch of flax was generally a part of
the annual crop, and this, with the wool from a small flock of sheep, manu
factured and made up in the household, furnished almost the entire cloth
ing of the family. The rougher portions of the upland, much of which
was never cultivated, furnished pasturage for the horses, oxen, and milch
cows during the summer."
Mr. Kendall thus vividly describes the discipline of his
father's family : —

1873] ^ WILD FLOWER. 223
" Grace before and thanks after meat, and morning and evening prayers,
with the reading of a chapter in the Bible and the singing of a hymn of
Sunday, accompanied by the bass-viol, played by their eldest son while
he was at home, constituted the regular religious exercises of the family.
The father and mother never failed to attend church on Sunday, except
in case of sickness or when absent from home ; and the entire family, one
member only excepted, were required to maintain a like regularity in Sab
bath observances. Except in special cases, all labor beyond the simplest
preparation of food for man and beast, and all recreation were strictly pro
hibited on Sunday. The evening was spent in learning and reciting the
Westminster Catechism, in reading religious books, and in practising
sacred music. The whole family' could sing, and when all were present,
could carry all the four parts of ordinary tunes."
The following incident indicates the change which came
over the good Dea. Zebedee KendaU, in respect to the use of
an innocent instrument : —
" When Amos was a little boy, a fiddle was an abomination to his father
and mother. His eldest brother, who had quite a taste for music, having
constructed a bass-viol or two, determined to try his hand upon a fiddle,
and produced a very good instrument. Not daring to bring it to the
house, he kept it in a cooper's shop, not far distant. His father, hunting
there for something one day, mounted a bench so that his head was raised
above the beams of the shop, when his eyes fell upon the unlucky fiddle.
He took it by the neck, and apostrophizing it, ' This is the first time I ever
saw you ! ' dashed it into the fireplace.
" Being on a visit to his parents about thirty years afterwards, Amos
Kendall went to meeting in Dunstable on a Sunday, and there sat his
father in the deacon's seat, beneath the pulpit, as in former times, and
there was a fiddle in the choir I "
Mr. Kendall soraetimes invoked the Muses. The foUowing
graceful lines were sent to his wife in 1829: —
TO A WILD FLOWER.
BY AMOS KENDALL.
On the white cliffs of Elkhorn, with cedars o'erspread.
Where beauty and wildness in silence repose,
A gay little wild flower raised up its head.
By zephyrs caressed as in sweetness it rose.
Its beauties no culture could ever impart.
No garden nor meadow can boast such a gem ;
All native it blossomed, for never had art
Transplanted its root or enamelled its stem.

224 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
I saw it and loved it ; and now on my breast
It breathes out its fragrance, its beauty displays ;
My heart leaps to meet it, in ecstasy blest.
The dream of my nights and the charm of^my days.
And oh, thought of rapture ! not like other flower
Does it droop on the air, life and loveliness flinging ;
But its charms and its fragrance increase every hour.
And sweet little buds all around it are springing.
Autobiography, p. 288.
On his return from Europe, Mr. KendaU said to a friend of
the writer, Jereraiah Colburn, Esq., of Boston, "I was thin and
slender when a boy, I was thin and slender when I arrived at
manhood, and you see I am thin and slender still."
The Rev. Samuel Howe Tolman, only son of the Rev.
Sarauel and Rachel (Damon) Tolraan, was born here Aug.
12, 1826, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1848, and at
Andover Theological Seminary in 1852. He acted as city
missionary in Bath, Me., from 1853 to 1855, and was ordained
as pastor of the church at WUmington, Mass., Aug. 14, 1856.
He was dismissed in 1870, and became pastor of the church
in Lenox, Mass., AprU 2, 1872 ; but his mind becoming shat
tered, he committed suicide at Nelson, N. H., Oct. 6, 1873.
He was a faithful and highly esteemed minister of the gospel.*
The Rev. John Spaulding, d. d., though born in Mason,
N. H., Nov. 30, 1800, went to Middlebury College in 1821,
from Dunstable, where he had been for some time employed
in working on a farra. He studied theology at Andover, and
was ordained as an evangelist at Newburyport, Sept. 25, 1828.
On the same day he was married to Miss Oli've C. B. Kendall,
daughter of Capt. Jonas Kendall, of Dunstable. She died
March 14, 1852, and her remains were brought to her native
town for interment The field of Dr. Spaulding's early min
isterial labors was in the West. In 1841 he became secretary
of the American Searaen's Society in New York City. He
delivered a very able historical discourse in the church at Dun
stable, Nov. 19, 1865, and subsequently published an Autobiog-
* See Congregational Quarterly for January, 1874.

1873] SCHOOL-TEACHERS.

225

raphy entitled From the Plow to the Pulpit, which is written
in a very pleasing style.
Aside from its coUege graduates, Dunstable has produced
many sons and daughters who, by their virtues and abUities,
have adorned alike the ofifices of public and the quiet walks
of private and domestic life.
Among its teachers may be raentioned Miss Susannah
Bancroft, daughter of Col. Ebenezer Bancroft, who taught
successfully for many years. She married the Rev. David
Howe WilUston of Tunbridge, Vt., and died Jan. 8, 1838.
Her sister, Chloe Bancroft, born Nov. 8, 1768, was also a
noted teacher in her day. She married Oliver Richardson, of
Chelmsford, and died Jan. 17, 1807. Miss Elizabeth Ken
dall, daughter of Temple Kendall, and born Feb. 8, 1760,
was long a popular teacher. Miss Catharine Parkhurst,
daughter of Joel Parkhurst, Esq., born March 14, 1770, and
Miss Susannah Woods were eminent school-mistresses. Miss
Rhoda Taylor, daughter of Dea. Samuel Taylor, attained
distinction as a teacher. She married Mr. Oliver Wright, and
had a daughter who went out as a teacher to Burmah. Miss
Sally Ingalls stood high as a teacher as early as 18 16, and
afterwards married a Mr. Fife. Miss Sarah Bennett, daughter
of Jonathan Bennett, Esq., acquired an enviable reputation as
a teacher, and subsequently married Dr. Hezekiah Eldredge.
The Misses Susan, Catharine, and Amanda Kendall,
daughters of Capt. Jonas Kendall, were all good and faithful
teachers. This family purchased the first piano owned in
Dunstable. .Miss Maria Swallow, afterwards Mrs. Francis
Fletcher, taught for several years with success. She is the
daughter of Asa and Susannah (Woods) Swallow, and at the
close of her services as a teacher was married to Lieut. Francis
Fletcher, whom she survives. Her father, born May i, 1767,
was the son of Amaziah Swallow, who was born Nov. 22, 1732.
He married, first, Elizabeth Kendall in 1758, and second,
Mrs. Mary Woods, Feb. 16, 1786. The Misses Hannah
and Roxanna Taylor, daughters of Mr. Jonas Taylor, were
well educated and highly esteeraed as teachers. The former
married Mr. James Bowers, of Lowell, and is still living. In
15

226 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
the year 183 1 as many as twenty-two teachers received cer
tificates from the examining committee as being qualified for
the ofifice of teacher, Several had studied at the academies
in Groton, Bradford, and New Ipswich At a later period
Miss Emma Taylor, daughter of Mr. Samuel Taylor, and
now the wife of the Rev. F. D. Sargent, of Brookline, N. H.,
was held in high estimation as a teacher. Miss Hannah M.
Parkhurst, daughter of Henry Parkhurst, has obtained an
enviable reputation as a teacher in the State of New York
The teachers ofthe public schools in 1873 were Caroline F-
Danforth, Lucy A. Robbins, R. E. Luce, A. A. Bancroft'
Lizzie Nottage, Emma J. Cheney, Hattie J. Murphy, and
EUen E. KendaU.
Alfred Mark Fletcher, born in Dunstable, Sept. 13,
1850, studied music two years in Berlin, and is now a noted
teacher of the organ and piano in Chicago.
Dr. John A. Cummings, son of John Alfred Cummings,
attained celebrity as a dentist, and was the inventor of the
application of vulcanized rubber to dental purposes. He visited
Europe in 1863, and died in 1869. His great-grandfather,
Nathaniel Curaraings, was one of the earliest settlers at
Unquetynasset. The following is a list of persons in the town of Dunstable
qualified to vote in elections, for State, county, and town
officers, and for representatives to Congress, as made out by
the selectmen the twentieth day of February, 1873: —
Blodgett, George Z. Cummings, Isaac P.
Blodgett, George T. Cummings, Allen, Esq.
Blood, Miles Cummings, Oi iver
Blood, W. E. Cummings, Everett M.
Bennett, James Carkin, Amos
Butterfield, Dexter Carkin, Albert B.
BuTiERFiELD, Asa T. Darling, Ua\id L.
Brooks, Lawrence Downing, James L.
Brooks, Edwin H. Davis, Moses
Chapman, Elbridge G. Davis, James A.
Chapman, Charles H. Davi.->, Thaddeus U.
Cheney, Thomas F. Davis, Wm. A.
Cheney, John B. Danforth, Vil,vs
Cheney, Wm. F. Divoll, Chai^les B,
Cummings, Josiah T. Fletcher, Francis

1873]

VOTERS IN 1873.

227

Fletcher, George W.
French, Benjamin, Esq.
French, Wm. L.
Farnham, George
Gilson, Andrew J.
Gilson, George F.
Gilson, Asahiel
Gilson, James H.
Gilson, Joel
Gilson, Jerome F.
Gilson, Alva
Goss, Joseph W.
Gook, George
Hall, Ira
Hall, Ira B.
Howard, Samuel
Haley, Edward
Jewett, Ashur G.
Kendall, Isaac
Kendall, James
Kendall, Chiles
Kendall, Jonas C.
Kendall, Andrew T.
Kendall, Nathaniel C.
Kendall, Wm.
Kendall, Almond M.
Keyes, Darwin P.
Kemp, Wm. N.
Marshall, Clement
Proctor, Josiah C, Esq.
Proctor, Jonathan
Proctor, Z. P.
Parkhurst, George
Parkhurst, Thomas H.
Parkhurst, Albert L.
Parkhurst, John A.
Parkhurst, Benajah
Parkhurst, Americus
Parkhurst, Owen A.
Parkhurst, Jacob, Jr.
Parkhurst, Lyman V.
Parker, Thomas
Parker, Jonathan
Parker, Libni
Parker, L. H.
Dunstable, Feb. 20, 1873.

Perkins, Jeremiah
Page, Wm. H.
Plummer, John K.
Prescott, Chas. A.
Ryder, Sanford U.
Robbins, Jotham
Robbins, Freeman L.
Rideaut, David
Rideaut, David F.
Richardson, Daniel
Roby, Gilman
Rockwell, Charles
Ryder, James H.
Searles, Charles W.
Spaulding, Samuel T.
Spaulding, Jonas
Spaulding, Hiram
Sturtevant, Asaph E.
Swallow, John
Swallow, Daniel
Swallow, Alpheus
Swallow, James M.
Steadman, Ebenezer
Story, Solomon
Story, Arthur B.
Taylor, Samuel S.
Taylor, Isaac O.
Taylor, Oliver
Taylor, Eliott O.
Tuttle, Charles
Tolles, Henry J.
Tully, Henry L.
Upton, Peter K.
Woodward, James
Woodward, James C.
Woodward, Charles N.
Woodward, Jonathan H.
Woodward, Andrew J.
Whitcomb, Lowell
Weston, Charles E.
Weston, James E.
Woods, Isaac N.
Woods, Sumner
Wright, George P.
Young, Wallace N.

Freeman L. Robbins,
Washington E. Blood,
John A. Parkhurst,

Selectmen
of Dunstable.

228 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873

CHAPTER XIV.
Inscriptions on the Headstones of the Old Cemetery on Meeting-
House Hill. — Inscriptions from the Burial-Place near the Site of
" The Haunted House." — Inscriptions from the Gravestones in
THE Old Burial-Place at Little's Station. — Inscriptions from the
Graveyard nealR the House of Alpheus Swallow. Esq. — I.nscrip-
TIOns from the Central Cemetery. — List of Deaths, from the
Town Records. — List of Births, from the Town Records.
'' The churchyard, to the inhabitants of a rural parish, is the place to
which as they grow older all their thoughts and feelings turn."
John Wilson.
" Our labors done, securely laid
In this our last retreat.
Unheeded o'er our silent dust
The storms of life shall beat."
Henry K. White.
The following inscriptions on the head-stones in the old
burial-place on Meeting-House Plill were copied by Mr. Dexter
Butterfield : —
Here Lyes the Body of Mrs. Rachel Taylor, who Departed this Life
the 17th of February, A. D. 1754, Aged j years, 9 months, and 4 days.
Here Lyes the Body of Rachal Pike, Relict {sic) of Beniamin, who
Departed this Life the 26th of Decemb., A. D. 1754, Aged 7 years, 4
months, & 14. This is the First pas.
Here lies Buried The Body of Ensign Ebenezer Parkhurst, who
Departed This Life June The 13th, 1757, in The 58th Year of his Age.
From Deaths Arit' no Age is Free.
Memento Mori. Here lies Buried the body of Lieut. John Ken
dall, who departed this hfe July the 27th, An. Dom., 1759, Aged 63
years, 6 months, and 8 days. Few and Evil.
Life is a Blessing can't be sold.
The Ransom is too high ;
Justice will ne'er be brib'd with gold.
That Man may never die.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS ON MEETING-HOUSE HILL. 229
You see the Foolish & the Wise,
The Timerous & the Brave,
Quit their Possessions, close their eyes.
And hasten to the Grave. — Watts.
Memento Mori. Here lies the Body of Mr. John Steel, who
Departed this Life August the Sth, 1760, Aged 57 years.
The Memory of
The Just
Is Blist.
Here lies Buried the Body of Joseph Goodhue, Son of the Rev.
Josiah Goodhue and Mrs. Elizabeth his Wife, who departed this life the
4th day of March, 1761, Aged 19 Days.
From Deaths Arrest no age is free.
Here lies the Body of Mrs. Jane Steel, Relict of Mr. John Steel, who
Departed This Life Nov. 20, A. D. 1764, in the 6oth year of her age
Here lies the Body of Mrs. Ruth Kendall, the wife of Mr. Abra^
ham Kendall, who departed this Life June 17, A. D. 1765, in the 69th
year of her age.
Here lies the Body of Mrs. Sarah French, wife of Mr. Ebenezer
French, who departed this Life, May 22d, 1767, in the 27th year of her
age. Here lies the Body of Mrs. Abigail Blood, Wife of Mr. Robert Blood,
who departed this Life August 14, 1767, In the 31st year of her age.
Memento Mori. Here lies the body of Capt. John Cummings, who
departed this Life Aug. 15th, 1770, In ye 75 year of his Age.
Mrs. Joanna Butterfield, wife of Capt. Leonard Butterfield, who
departed this Life May ye 26th, 1771, aged 28.
In Memory of Mr. Joseph Pike, who Departed this Life March 28th,
1778, In the 88 year of his age.
Memento Mori. In Memory of Mrs. Mary Read, wife of Mr.
Timothy Read, Junr., who departed this Life Nov. 3d, 1778, in the 71st
year of her age.
Memento Mori. Here Lies the Body of Miss Scibel Read,
Daughter of Mr. Timothy Read, Junr., and Mrs. Susannah, his wife, who
Departed this Life, July ye 27th, 1781, Aged 18 years, 3 months, & 5 days.
Dear friends for me pray Do not weep,
I am not dead but here Do sleep,
Within this solid Lump of Clay,
Until the Reserection day ;
And here indeed I must Remain,
Till Christ shall Raise me up again.

230 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Erected in Memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Swallow, wife of Lieut.
Amaziah Swallow, who departed this Life Dec. 9th, A. D., 1784, Aged 45
years, 10 months, and 17 days.
Retire, my Friends, dry np your Tears,
Here I raust lie till Christ appears.
In Memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Cumings, wife of Capt. John Cum
ings, who died July 2d, 1793, Aged 78.
In Memory of Mr. Timothy Read, who departed this Life April 26th,
1799, in the 86th year of his age.
Sacred In Memory of Mr. Abraham Kendall, who died Nov. 14,
1799, Aet 87.
In Memory of Mrs. Hannah Taylor, wife of Mr. David Taylor,
who died Oct. 3d, 1800, Aged 81 years.
Behold and see, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I ;
As I am now, so you must be.
Prepare for death and follow me.
Erected in Memory of Capt. Leonard Butterfield, who departed
this Life Nov. 17, 1800, Aged 60 years.
Erected in Memory of Lieut. Amaziah Swallow, who died Jan. 21st,
1803, Oct. 17.
In memory of Mr. Ebenezer French, who died April 14, 1808, In his
77th year.
Sacred to the memory of Mr. David Taylor, who died Dec. 15,
1809, Aet 88.
The following inscriptions are abbreviated : —
Olive, wife of Capt. Leonard Butterfield, d. Jan. 26, 1S17, aged 79 years.
John, son of Capt. Leonard Butterfield, d. Oct. 18, 1778, aged 10 months.
Sarah, dau. of Capt. Leonard Butterfield, d. June 30, 1S09, aged 31 years.
Sarah, dau. of Capt. Leonard Butterfield, d. Oct. 28, 1778, aged 9 j'ears.
Molly, dau. of Capt. John Cummings, d. Aug. 24, 1758, aged 11 3-ears.
Jane, wife of Robert Dunn, d. Nov. 6, 18 1 1, aged 74 years. Robert Dunn,
d. Jan. 8, 1808, aged 74 years. Samuel Dunn, d. Nov. 9, 1798, aged 34
years. Polly, dau. of Jesse Dutton, d. Oct. 18, 1778, aged i y. 9m. 5 days.
Hannah, wife of Jonathan Emerson, d. Jan. 21, 1756, aged 23 years.
William, son of Jonathan Fletcher, d. Oct. 21, 1778, aged 6 years and 11
months. Francis, son of Thomas Fletcher, d. Apr. 9, 1773, aged i year,
4 months, and 9 days. Susanna, dau. of Jonathan Fletcher, d. Oct. ) 5,
1778, aged 2 years, 4 months, and g days. Susanna, wife of Ebenezer
French, d. Dec. 27, 1808, aged 73 years. Maiy D., dau. of John French,
d. Feb. 14, 1817, aged 4 years. Adford Jaquith, d. July 16, 1791, aged
82 years. Margaret, wife of Adford Jaquith, d. Jan. 24, 1776, aged 62

1873] INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE TYNG BURIAL-PLACE. 23 1
years. Jane, wife of Abraham Kendall, d. Apr. 28, 1806, aged 84 years.
Susanna, rehct of Lieut. John Kendall, d. June 17, 176''), aged 66 years.
Mary, relict (or daughter) of Isaac Pike, d. Jan. 10, 1776, aged 21 years
and 10 months. Lydia, dau. of Benjamin Pike, d. Dec. 17, 1754, aged i
year, 5 months, and 20 days. Benjamin, son of Benjamin Pike, d Sept.
I) 1757, aged 7 months. Leonard, son of Eleazer Read, d. Sept. 3, 1788,
aged I year. Betsy, dau. of Eleazer Read, d. May 8, 1789, aged 8 years.
Martha, dau. of Timothy Read, d. Jan. 20, 1758, aged 16 years. Rebeckah,
dau. of Timothy Read, d. Sept. 22, 1778, aged 8 years. James, son of
Timothy Read, d. Sept. 23, 1778, aged one year. Betsy, wife of Lieut.
Josiah Stevens, 'd. July 28, 1800, aged 27 years. Mary, dau. of Ama
ziah Swallow, d. Nov. 7, 1798, aged 20 years, 10 months, and 7 days,
KendaU, son of Amaziah Swallow, d. Oct. 25, 1778, aged 4 years, 6 months,
and 2 days. Rebecca, dau. of Amaziah Swallow, d. Aug. 17, 1765, aged
I year and 8 months. Deborah, dau. of Amaziah Swallow, d. Oct. 28,
1778, aged 4 years and 11 months. Rebecca, dau. of Dr. Ebenezer Starr,
d. Nov. I, 1778, aged 17 months. Jacob, son of James Taylor, d. March
7, 1789, aged 6 years. Abigail, dau. of James Taylor, d. Sept. 30, 1778,
aged -> years. WiUiam, son of Dea. Samuel Taylor, d. May 6, 1771,
aged 12 years. Ruth, dau. of Dea. Samuel Taylor, d. July 4, 1779, aged
6 weeks. Edee, dau. of Dea. Samuel Taylor, d. Jan. 9, 1789, aged 4
years. WiUiam, son of Dea. Samuel Taylor, d. Oct. 11, 1798, aged 6
years. Edee, dau. of Dea. Samuel Taylor, d. Sept. 28, 1798, aged 9
weeks. Katharine, wife of Benjamin Woodward, d. Feb. 12, 1769.
Eunice, wife of Benjamin Woodward, d. Sept. 25, 1778, aged 39 years.
Rachel, dau. of Benjamin Woodward, d. Sept. 9, 1778, aged 2 years and
2 days. Abel, son of Benjamin Woodward, d. Sept. 11, 1778, aged 4
years. Benjamin, son of Benjamin Woodward, d. Sept. 14-, 1778, aged 7
years, 1 1 months, and 22 days. Eunice, dau. of Benjamin Woodward, d-
Sept. 18, 1778, aged 5 years and 9 months.
It seems that by some disease, not recorded, five deaths
occurred in the family of Mr. Woodward in less than three
weeks. The following interesting inscriptions are copied from tab
lets in the old burial-place, near where the " haunted house "
stood, on the river road, about one mile south of Tyngsborough
Centre. It is probably the first locality settled in Dunsta
ble:— "Here lyeth the Body of Mr. Edward Ting, Esqr., aged 71 years.
Died December 27 Day 1681." It is on a horizontal slab of granite, sup
ported by a pile of brick and stone.

232 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
" Underneath are Entombed the Remains of Eleazer Tyng, Esq., who
died May 21, 1782, aged 92 ; Mrs. Sarah Tyng, who died May 23, 1753,
aged 59. John Alford Tyng, Esq., who died Sept. 4, 1775, aged 44; John
Winslow, Esq., who died Nov. 3, 1788, aged 88 ; Mrs. Sarah Winslow
(the last surviving child of the said Eleazer Tyng and the truly liberal
Benefactress of the church of Christ and Grammar School in this place,
in honor of whose name and family it is caUed Tyngsborough), who died
Oct. 29, 1 791, aged 72.
The above names are all inscribed on the face of a large
horizontal slate-stone slab, at the head of which rises an
ancient Lombardy poplar.
This cemetery, consisting of an area of about one acre, is
neatly enclosed and contains the remains of the Farwell, Col
burn, Drake, and other farailies.
The following inscriptions from the old burial-place at
Little's Station were copied by Benjamin French, Esq.: —
Here Ues the Body of Mrs. Deborah Kendall, wife of Mr. John
KendaU, who died March ye 3d, A. D. 1739, 45 years old.
Dea. Thomas Coburn died Nov. 2d, 1770, in the 8Gth year of his age.
Here lyes ye Body of Ensign Joseph Farwell, Dec'd December ye
31, 1722, in ye 82d year of his age.
Here lyes Buried the Body of the Hon. Joseph Blanchard, Esq.,
who departed this life April 7th, 1758, aged 55 years.
Here lyes interred ye body of Josiah Willard, Captain of Fort Dum
mer, formerly of Lancaster, Lunenburg, and Winchester, and Colonel of
Regiment of foot, who died here December ye 8, Anno Domini, 1750, in
ye 58 year of his age.
Erected to the memory of Ebenezer Starr, Ph3-sician, who died
Sept. 7, 1798, aged 52 years.
Here Lyes Buried the Body of Mr. Ebenezer Cumings, who Deceased
Sept. y' 5th, 1724, in y' 29th year of his age.
Here Ues Buried tbe Body of Deacon Jonathan French who departed
this life Nov. 17, 1757, in y" 54th year of his age.
Erected in memory of Capt. Benjamin French whose remains are here
interred, who departed this life Dec. 15, A. D. 1779, in the 74th year of
his age.
Memento Mori. — Here lyes the body of Mr. Benjamin French,
son of Capt. Benjamin French, and Molly, his wife. He departed this Ufe
Oct. 29, 1776, in the 23d year of his age.
Here lies the body of Mrs. Mary French, wife of Capt. Benjamin
French, who departed this life Dec. 17, 1774, aged 44 years, 7 mos. and
8 days.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS AT LITTLE'S STATION. 233
Here lies the body of Colonel Joseph French, who departed this Ufe
March 21, 1776, in the 63d year of his age.
Here Ues y" body of Mrs. Elizabeth French, v^ife of Capt. Joseph
French, who deceased Jan. 20, A. D. 1753, in the 44th year of her age.
Here lyes the body of Deacon Thomas Cumings, aged 64 years and
17 days, Deceased Jan. 20, 1722-3
In memory of Esther Lovewell, daughter of Col. Noah Lovewell,
and Mrs. Mary, his wife, Died Oct. y' 17, 1777, aged 3 years 4 mos. and
8 days. Her brother Noah, aged 5 mos. and 25 days, lies buried beside
her. Here Ues interred the Remains of Cob Zaccheus Lovewell, who
departed this life April 12, 1772, in the 72 year of his age.
Erected in memory of Mrs. Hannah Starr, wife of Ebenezer Starr,
who died March 22, 1794, aged 42.
In memory of Rebecca Starr, wife of Dr. Ebenezer Starr, who died
Oct. 19, 1810, in the 45th year of her age.
Erected in memory of the Hon. Jonathan Blanchard whose re
mains are here interred, who departed this life July y° i6th, 1788, aged 51,
son of Hon. Joseph Blanchard, Esq.
Here Lies y" Body of Isaac French, y' son of Capt. Joseph French
and Mrs. Bridget French, his wife, who Died Aug. y° 4th, A. D. 1753, in
y' 20th year of his age.
In Memory of Maj. John Lund, who died March nth, 1822, Aet. 74.
One who took an active part in the liberty of his country and defended
weU at the Battle of Bunker HUl.
Hannah, wife of Maj. John Lund, died May 4, 1847, Aet. 96.
In Memory of Jonathan Harvard, son of Jonathan Harvard, who
died May 27, 1802, aged 5 years and 7 months.
Lie still, sweet child, and take your rest,
God called you home when he thought best.
Erected in Memory of Mrs. Charlotte Harvard, wife of Mr. Jona
than Harvard, who departed this life July nth, 1801, in the 28th year of
her age. Friends and physicians could not save
My mortal body frora the grave ;
Nor can this grave contain rae here
When Jesus calls me to appear.
Rev. Nathaniel Prentice, Born December, 1698, settled as the
second minister in Dunstable 1720. Died Feb. 25th, 1737, Aet 39.
Here Ues the Body of Mrs. Elizabeth Weld, the wife of Mr. Thomas
Weld, aged about 31 years, who died on July the 29th in the year 1687.
In Memory of Col. Ebenezer Bancroft, who died Sept. 22, 1827,
Aet. 90. He was an Officer in the French War and in the American
Revolution, and was in the battle at Bunker Hill.

234 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
In Memory of Mrs. Susannah, wife of Col. Ebenezer Bancroft, who
died Oct. 4, 1823, Aet. 80.
Here lies the Body of Lieut. Timothy Bancroft, who departed this
life Nov. 2 1st, 1772, in the 63° year of his age.
Here Ues ye Body of Mrs. Elizabeth Bancroft, ye wife of Lieut.
Timothy Bancroft, who Dec''. Sept'. 23d, A. D. 1754, in ye 39th year of
her age.
In Memory of Ebenezer Bancroft, Esq., who died May 6, 1858,
Aet. 80. He was the son of Col. Ebenezer and Susanna Bancroft. He
tilled the Farm of his ancestors through life. Industry, economy, and
temperance were his characteristic habits, ever governed by justice and
rectitude. The admiration of men he never sought, but at home aU affec
tion and kindness. Sweet offices of love and duty were to him as needful
as his daily bread.
Here lies Buryed y" Body of Mr. Thomas Adams, who departed this
Ufe February y" i8th, A. D. 1746, in y* 71st year of his age.
Here lies Buried y" Body of Phinehas Adams, y' son of Mr. Thomas
and Mrs. Juda Adams, who Dec'd December 4, 1747, Age 23 years, 7
months, and 28 days.
Here lyes the Body of Mrs. Ruth Hill, the wife of Enoch Hill, who
departed this life the 7th of February, A. D. 1747, Aged 36.
Here Ues Buried the Body of Mrs. Jane, the wife of Dea. Samuel
Greley, who departed this life June 12th, 1762, in the 58 year of her age.
Here Ues the Body of Mrs.- Bridget French, the wife of Capt. Joseph
French, who Departed this life October 29, 1735, in the 20th year of her age.
In Memory of Mrs. Hannah, Wife of Ebenezer Bancroft, Esq., who
died Oct. 13, 1870, aged 94 years, I mo , and 15 da3's.
As in years, so in duty, she excelled : long made home glad.
In Memory of Dea. Jonathan Bancroft, who died July 11, 1S15, in
the 65th year of his age.
Surviving friends, come take a thought.
How soon the grave must be your lot ;
Make sure of Christ while life remains.
And death will be eternal gain.
Here Ues Timothy Bancroft, Junr, who dep. this life Aug. 12, 1754,
in y= 2 1st year of his age.
From Death's Arrest no age is Free,
My Friends, Prepare to follow me.
This Erected by E. B. in 1774.
Capt. Matthew Chambers, an officer of tbe Revolution, died Jany.
30, 1809, m.. 73.
Here Ues Interred tbe Remains of Ensign Samuel Howard, who
Departed this life February 7th, 1769, Aged 84 years and 10 months.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE SWALLOW CEMETERY. 235
In Memory of Mr. Oliver Lund, who departed this life March i8tb,
1776, aged 24 years.
Erected in Memory of Mrs. Catherinah Houston, 2d Wife of Mr.
Ovid Houston, who departed this life Nov. 17, 1778, in ye 45th year of
her age. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
Here Lyes the Body of Mr. Eleazer Blanchard, who departed this
Ufe the 19th day of March, 1753, in the 22d year of his age.
Elizabeth Farwell, Daughter of Mr. Isaac and Sarah FarweU,
Dect Novembr ye 1st, 1727, Aged 7 months & 21 days.
In Memory of Dea. Benjamin Smith, who died March 29th, 1821, in
the 85th year of his age.
In Memory of Mrs. Johannah Smith, Wife of Dea. Benjamin Smith,
who died Aug. 21st, 1814, in the 71st year of her age.
Sacred to the Memory of Ensign Benjamin Smith, who died Aug. 16,
1805, in the 41st year of his age.
A husband kind, a parent dear,
A neighbor just, a friend sincere,
Confess'd by all with hira acquainted.
He lived beloved and died lamented.
Rebecca, the wife of Timothy Presby, died Sept. 10, 1841, M,\.. 38,
Husband, why drop a silent tear.
Oh, wherefore do you mourn ?
My joys are great beyond degree,
I wish not to return.
In Memory of Mrs. Clarisa, Wife of Mr. Timothy Presby, who died
July 13, 1820, ^t. 32.
Farewell, my Partner, child so dear.
Weep not for rae, dry up your tears.
And when the last loud trump shall sound
I hope in Christ we shall be found.
Names of some persons buried in the cemetery near the
house of Alpheus Swallow, Esq. : —
Here Ues the body of Ensign John Swallow, who departed this life
Feb. 5, 1776, aged 66 years, 5 mos., and 21 days.
(He was the great-grandfather of Alpheus Swallow, Esq.)
Here Ues the body of Mrs. Sulana Spaulding, w.ife of Mr. Abel
Spaulding, who departed this Ufe Aug. 10, 1766, aged 29 years, 7 mos.,
and 13 days.
In Memory of Mr. Abel Spaulding, who died May 18, 1820, ^t.
84. Also Mrs. Lydia, wife of Abel Spaulding, who died March 9, 1825,
^t. 79-

236 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
The following inscriptions from the Central Cemetery,*
Dunstable, were copied for this work by Miss Hannah M. Park
hurst : —
Ann Eliza, dau. of Calvin and Catharine Read, d. Sept. i, 1835, aged
2 yrs., 7 mos., and 7 ds.
Alas ! how changed this fair flower.
Which bloomed and cheered the heart,
Fair, fleeting comforts of an hour.
How soon we're called to part !
In memory of Mrs. Rachel, w. of Mr. Eleazer Read, who died Feb.
28, 1828, aged 87.
In memory of Mr. Eleazer Read, who died Aug. 10, 181 1, aged 61.
In memory of Capt. Caleb Read, who died Nov. 25, 1838, aged 63.
Calm in the bosom of thy God,
Fair spirit, rest thee now.
E'en while with us thy footsteps trod.
His seal was on thy brow.
In memory of Mrs. SArah Read, w. of Mr. Caleb Read, who died
May 14, 1805, in the 26 yr. of her age.
Behold, ray children, as you pass by.
As you are now, so once was I,
As I am now, so you must be.
Prepare for death and follow me.
Betsey, dau. of Capt. Caleb and Mrs. Caty Read, died Oct. 19, 1826,
aged 5 yrs., 4 mos., and 9 ds.
Sweet child no more, but seraph now.
Before the throne behold her bow ;
Her soul, enlarged to angel's size.
Joins in the triumphs of the skies.
In memory of Mark Read, s. of Mr. Caleb and Mrs. Sarah Read,
who died March 14, 1805, aged 7 mos. and 16 ds.
Sleep on, sweet babe, and take thy rest,
God called thee when he thought it best.
In memory of Miss Rachel Read, dau. of Mr. Caleb and Mrs. Sarah
Read, who d. March 27, 181 8, aged 17.
In memory of Mary, w. of Lieut. Zebulon Blodgett, died June 27, 1839,
aged 74.
" And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly."
* Years, months, and days are expressed by yrs., mos., and ds. ; wife, daughter,
son, and died, by w., dau., s., and d. When the same stanza of poetry is inscribed
on several head-stones, it is here printed in but one or two instances.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 237
Erected in memory of Lieut. Zebulon Blodgett, who died March 21,
1813, in the 61 st year of his age.
In memory of Mr. Josiah W. Blodgett, who died June 22, 1805, in
the 26th year of his age.
In memory of Widow Olive Blodgett, reUct of Mr. Josiah Blodgett,
who died May 2, 18 13, aged 74.
Sacred to the meniory of Mr. Josiah Blodgett, who died June 22,
1805, aged 67.
Sacred to the memory of Mr. Josiah Blodgett, who died Feb, 9, 1792,
in the 84th year of his age.
In memory of Mrs. Jemima Blodgett, relict of Mr. Josiah Blodgett,
who died Nov. 24, 1810, aged 91 yrs.
Here Hes buried the Body of Mrs. Hannah Kendall, the w. of Mr.
Ebenezer KendaU, who departed this life Feb. the 10, 1 861, in the 45th
year of her Age, with Joseph Hasy Kendall, her son, who departed
this life 1760, aged 4 mos.
Here Ues buried the body of Insign Ebenezer Kendall, who departed
this Life Decn 20, 1774, In the 65th yr. of his age.
In memory of Mr. Edward Kendall, who died May 26, 1813, aged
78 years.
In memory of Mrs. Sarah Kendall, w. of Mr. Edward Kendall, who
d. 16 Deer 1806, aged 68 yrs.
In memory of Mrs. Anna, w. of Mr. Samuel Brown, who d. Oct. 28,
1794, aged 26 3-rs.
"Is it nothing to you.' Behold and see.'' Sarauel I:12.
In life true virtue calls forth all our powers,
Time flies and ends, eternity is ours.
Erected to the memory of Miss Mary Worcester, who d. Nov. 9,
181 1, in the 64th yr. of her age.
Friends and physicians could not save
My mortal body from the grave ;
Nor can the grave confine me here
When Christ shall call rae to appear.
Sacred to the memory of Capt. Samuel Stevens, who d. Dec. 10,
1805, aged 72 yrs.
Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Tabitha Stevens, widow of Capt.
Samuel Stevens, who d. March 16, 1807, aged 67 yrs.
In memory of a son and daughter of Mr. Isaac Taylor, Junr., and Mrs.
Polly his w. The daughter d. March 4, 181 1, aged 30 hours, the son d.
March 24, 181 1, aged 20 ds.
So fades each lovely, blooraing flower.
Frail, srailing solace of an hour ;
So soon our transient comforts fly.
And pleasures only bloora to die.

238 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
In memory of two children of Mr. Joel Keyes and Mrs. Polly his w.
ANN,d. Aug. 24, 1810, in the 3d yr. of her age. Sophia, Aug. 26, 1810,
in the 5th yr. of her age.
Sleep on, dear children, and take your rest
God called you home. He thought it best.
Sophia Keyes, d. June 20, 1869, aged 56 yrs. and 9 mos.
Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Polly, w. of Mr. Joel Keyes, who d.
Jan. 9, 1844, aged 68.
Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Mary, w. of Mr. Joel Keyes, who d.
July 26, 1848, aged 6i.
Sacred to the memory of Mr. Joel Keyes, who d. Dec. 15, 1858, aged
82. In memory of Mrs. Rhoda, reUct of Ens. Samuel Fletcher, who d.
Feb. 13, 1824, aged 54.
A soul prepared needs no delays.
The summons comes, the saint obeys,
fiwift was the flight and short the road ;
She closed her eyes, and saw her God.
In memory of Ens. Samuel Fletcher, who d. April 10, 1813, aged
43- In memory of Mr. Charles Kendall, who d. Jan. 5, 1836, aged 38.
" For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
In memory of Andrew Temple, s. of Mr. Temple and Mrs. Prudence
Kendall, who d. Dec. 21, 1818, aged 5 mos.
In memory of Miss Elizabeth Kendall, dau. of Lieut, and Mrs.
Abigail Kendall, who deceased July 14, 1797, in the 38th yr. of her age.
In faith she dy'd, in dust she lies.
But faith foresees that dust shall rise.
When Jesus calls, while Hope assumes
And boasts her joy among the tombs.
In memory of Jeremiah Kendall, s. of Mr. Temple Kendall and
Abigail his wife, who d. Nov. 6, 1778, aged 4 yrs., 2 mos., and 9 ds.
In memory of Olive Kendall, dau. of Mr. Temple Kendall and Mrs.
Abigail his w., who d. Nov. 9, 1778, aged 6 yrs., i mo., and 9 ds.
Sacred to the memory of Lieut. Temple Kend.all, who d. March 6,
1822, aged 90 yrs., and of Abigail, his w., who d. Jan. 9, 1S20, aged 87.
Here all is rest and sweet repose.
Here all our sorrows cease.
For Jesus meets our spirits here.
And kindly whispers " Peace."
In Memory of Hannah Farwell Woods, dau. of Mr. Caleb and Mrs.
Betty Woods, who died June y^ ist, 1793, aged 6 yrs. 9 mos., & 20 ds.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 23Q
In Memory of Mr. Caleb Woods, Jr., who died ist Mar., 1809, In the
41st y of his age. Friends, physicians could not save
My mortal body from the grave.
Nor can the grave confine it here
When Christ shall call me to appear.
In memory of Mrs. Abigail, reUct of Mr. Caleb Woods, Jr., who d.
Aug. 3, 1839, aged 72. Reader, slight not proffered grace,
Slight not a Saviour's blood,
But now, while mercy waits.
Prepare to raeet your God.
In memory of Miss Rebeckah, dau. of Mr. Caleb and Mrs. Abigail
Woods, who d. Sept. 3, 1826, aged 18 years.
Did Christ for sinners weep ?
And shall our cheeks be dry .'
Let floods of penitential grief
Burst forth from every eye.
Hannah Woods, d. Sept. 3, 1870, aged 76 years.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
In memory of Mrs. Betty, w. of Mr. Caleb Woods, who d. Jan. 8,
1S37, aged 90. In Jesus Christ I sought for rest,
He bade me cease to roam.
And fly for succour to his breast.
And now He 's took me home.
In memory of Mr. Caleb Woods, who d. Aug. 13, 1822, aged 85.
Mr. Noah Woods, d. Oct. 16, 1829, aged 52 yrs.
Man goeth to his long horae, and the mourners go about the streets.
In memory of Henry F. Woods, s. of Mr. Caleb and Mrs. Betty
Woods, who d. 8th April, 1809, in the 25 yr. of his age.
Youth, blooraing fair, and age raust die,
And nature will decay.
Their souls to kindred spirits fly.
And hail eternal day.
Mary, widow of Ebenezer Proctor, d. Nov. 16, 1842, aged 92.
As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
In memory of Mr. Ebenezer Proctor, who d. March 3, 1813, aged 74.
In memory of Mrs. Sarah Proctor, w. of Mr. Ebenezer Proctor, who
departed this life Oct. 16, 1778, aged 36 yrs., 3 mos., & 16 ds.

240 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Memento Mori. — In memory of Mr. Ebenezer Proctor, who de
parted this Life May 14, 1774, in ye 75th year of his age.
Behold and see, all that pass by.
As you are now so once was I ;
As I am now so you must be.
Prepare for death and follow me.
In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth, w. of Mr. Ebenezer Proctor, who d.
Jan. 12, 1799, aged "jo.
In memory of Mr. John Proctor, s. of Mr. Ebenezer, Sr., and Mrs.
Elizabeth his w., who departed this life Sept. 18, 1779, in the — year of
his age. Frail man as soon as born decays.
Like flowers that quickly fade.
He counts a few and thoughtless days.
Then passes like the shade.
In memory of Gershom Proctor, s. of Mr. Gershom Proctor and
Mrs. Sarah Proctor, who d. Oct. ye 14, 1783, aged i mo. & 5 days.
In memory of Sarah Proctor, w. of Mr. Gershom Proctor, who d.
Feb. ye i6th, 1791, in the 34th year of her age.
Betty Proctor, dau. of Mr. Gershom Proctor and Mrs. Sarah his w.,
d. Feb. 16, 1791, aged 12 hours.
In memory of Mr. Gershom Proctor, who d. Dec. 17, 1813, aged 61
yrs. In memory of Mrs. Mary, widow of Mr. Gershom Proctor, who d. May
22, 1827, aged 67.
Erected in memory of Mr. Amos Proctor, who died April 27, 1815,
aged 21 yrs. Dry up your tears, surviving friends.
Mourn not for me, but for your sins.
Die to the world, live unto God
The grave must soon be your abode.
Wm. p., s. of Mr: Wm. and Mrs. Rhoda Chandler, d. Oct. 5, 1819, aged
2 yrs. and 9 mos. Here lies my little son at rest,
God called him when He thought it best.
Sarah Ann R., dau. of Ens. Josiah T. and Mrs. Rebecca Cumings, d.
July 14, 1833, aged 3 yrs., 3 mos., and 25 ds.
Mortal, now indulge a tear.
See, our child is sleeping here.
Now its soul in Heaven will see
What was veiled in mystery.
In memory of Mrs. Sarah Cumings, w. of Capt. Josiah Cumings,
who d. Jany- 24, 1820, aged 38.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 24I
In memory of Josiah Cummings, Esq., who d. Sept. 12, 1834, aged 71
yrs. He was a soldier of the Revolution.
In memory of Mrs. Josiah, w. of Josiah Cummings, Esq., who d. Nov.
24, 1840, aged 80.
In memory of Mrs. Rebekah Cumings, w. of Mr. Nathaniel Cumings,
who d. 13* Oct. 1808, in the 57 yr. of her age.
Farewell, ray partner, children all.
For God, my Saviour, does me call.
Prepare to raeet on Canaan's shore.
Where parting hours are known no more.
In memory of Mr. Nathaniel Cumings, who d. May 2iBt, 1812,
aged 61 yrs. Farewell, my children, near and dear.
Weep not for me, nor shed a tear.
But strive the better part to obtain.
And then to die will be your gain.
In memory of Mrs. Catharine Cumings, relict of Mr. Nathaniel
Cumings, who d. 4 Nov. 1807, in the 81 yr. of her age.
Look here, my friends, turn off your eyes
From earth and earthly vanities.
And in me read your certain fate
T' which death will call you soon or late.
In memory of Mrs. Esther Cumings, reUct of Maj. Nathaniel Cum
ings, who d. Nov. 23, 18 16, aged 49.
Sacred to the memory of Maj. Nathaniel Cumings, who d. AprU 17,
1 81 3, in the 45"> yr. of his age.
In memory of Mrs. Sibbel Cumings, w. of Capt. OUver Cumings, who
d Dec. 16, 1812, aged 78 yrs.
Sacred to the memory of Capt. Oliver Cumings, who d. Aug. 15,
1810, aged 83 yrs.
Memento Mori. — Erected to the memory of the widow Elizabeth
Taylor, who departed this life March 14, 1794, in the 93 yr. of her age.
By age our body wears away.
By age our flesh it must decay.
Then let our spirits wing away.
To see an everlasting day.
Here Ues the body of Mr. Jeremiah Cumings, who departed this Life
Oct 10, 1773, aged 45 yrs., 9 mos., and 3 ds-
In memory of Miss Betsey, dau. of Lieut. Jonathan and Mrs. Mary
Emerson, who d. July 31, 1834, aged 48 yrs.
In memory of LieuL Jonathan Emerson, who d. Oct. 10, 1785, aged
41 yrs.

242 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Mary Ann, dau. of Henry and Olive Woods, d. Oct. 12, 1853, aged
20 yrs. and 7 mos.
Thy memory, thou loved one, how sweet and how dear !
Thy virtue shall live though thy dust slumbers here.
Till the last fleeting sun o'er my lone heart shall roU
Shall I cherish thy worth, thou sweet friend of ray soul.
Charles J., s. of Mr. Henry and Mrs. Jerusha Woods, d. June 14,
1826, aged 16 ds. This lovely bud, so young and fair.
Called h'ence by early doom.
Just came to show how sweet a flower
In Paradise could bloom.
In memory of Mrs. Jerusha, w. of Mr. Henry Woods, who d. March
23, 1827, aged 27. No age from death can fly.
No friends but what must part ;
Death will dissolve the tenderest tie
That 's formed within the heart.
In memory of Henry Woods, who d. Nov. 2, 1833, aged 43.
Retire, my friends, dry up your tears,
I shall arise when Christ appears ;
Death is the debt to mortals due,
I 've paid the debt, and so raust yout
Sarah M., w. of OUver Taylor, deceased March 31, 1872, age 57 j-rs.
The cloud that o'er her brow was spread
When here below, afar has fled,
The joys of heaven have put to flight
The shade that veiled her spirit's light.
Mary Ann, dau. of Cyrus W. and M. M. Taylor, d. July 22, 1853, aged
7 wks. and 5 ds.
Our bud, nipped by the chill blast of the Destroyer, is destined to blossom in
fairer climes.
Matilda J., dau. of Cyrus W. and M. M. Taylor, d. March 26, 1831,
aged I yr. and 9 mos.
Is it well with the child ? and she answered. It is well.
Caroline M., dau. of Cyrus W. and M. M. Taylor, d. March 30, 1848,
aged 4 days. Of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Harriet P., dau. of Cyrus W. and IM. M. Taylor, d. May 23, 1845,
aged 4 yrs., 8 mos., and 24 ds.
Harriet, ray dear, I '11 dry my tears,
And put my trust in God,
Convinced it is a Father's smite.
And love that guides the rod.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 243
Bridget, dau. of Cyrus and R. B. Taylor, d. July 3, 1844, aged 27.
There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest.
Rhoda, dau. of Cyrus and R. B. Taylor, d. Nov. 12, 1844, aet. 34.
All is well.
Josiah, s. of Cyrus and R. B. Taylor, d. Oct. 13, 1825, aet. 2 yrs., and
n mos.
Suffer little children to come unto me.
Rhoda B., w. of Cyrus Taylor, d. March 12, 1862, aet. 78 yrs.
Dear mother thou hast gone to thy rest.
We raiss thee, oh ! we miss thee at home.
Thou has left us to join with the blest.
Our dear father in his heavenly song.
Cyrus Taylor, d. AprU 4, 1859, ^t. 74 ys.
My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my
portion forever.
In memory of Wm. Richardson Taylor, s. of OUver and Abigail
Taylor, who d. March 28, 1797, aged 9 mos. and 15 ds.
In memory of Mrs. Abigail Richardson, dau. of Mr. Thomas and
Mrs. Abigail Richardson, who d. Sept. 9, 1796, in the 22d yr. of her age.
In memory of Mrs. Susanna Taylor, dau. of Mr. Oliver and Mrs.
Bridget Taylor, who departed this life Aug. 18, 1801, in the 27th year of
her age.
Rebekah Taylor, d. Dec. 29, 1856, aged 78 yrs. and 10 mos.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
In memory of Mrs. Abigail, w. of Mr. Oliver Taylor, who d. Jan. 19,
1839, aged 75. As Jesus died and rose again,
Victorious o'er the dead.
So his disciples rise again
With their triumphant Head.
In memory of Mrs. Bridget Taylor, w. of Mr. Oliver Taylor, who
d. Jan. 15, 1794, aged 47 yrs. and 4 ds.
She lived desired and died laraented.
In memory of Mr. Oliver Taylor, who d. Oct. 13, 1823, aged •]•].
Our aged friend now sleeps in dust.
No pain disturbs his peaceful breast ;
The Saviour's call he did obey.
And suddenly was snatched away.

244 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
In memory of Widow Susannah, reUct of Dea. Samuel Taylor, who d.
Oct. 14, 1798, aged 85 yrs
In memory of Dea. Samuel Taylor, who d. Oct. ye 23d, 1792, in the
85 yr. of his age.
In memory of Mrs. Mary Taylor, w. of Mr. Jonas Taylor, who d.
Dec. 5, 1815, aged 68 yrs.
Erected in memory of Mr. Jonas Taylor, who d. Dec. 15, 1823, aged
84 yrs.
In memory of HANNAH Taylor, dau. of Mr. Jonas Taylor and Mrs.
Hannah his w., who d. Sept. 24, 1798, aged i yr., 9 mos., and 4 ds.
In memory of Mr. Thomas Fletcher, who departed this Ufe Dec. 22,
1802, in the 64 yr. of his age.
In memory of Miss Rebeckah, dau. of Mr. Thomas Fletcher, who d.
Feb. 5, 1831, aged 51.
In memory of Mrs. Rachel Fletcher, w. of Mr. Thomas Fletcher,
who d. Oct. 10, 1810, in the 69 yr. of her age.
Not dead, but gone before.
Lieut. Francis Fletcher, d. July 28, 1873, aged 84 yrs., 11 mos.
In memory of Mrs. Hannah, w. of Lieut. Francis Fletcher, who d.
Apr. II, 1823, in the 27th yr. of her age.
Loveliness lies here, the tender wife, the mother dear.
Though disease her body wore,
Grace taught her soul to soar.
No pain nor grief, no anxious fear nor mortal woes.
Can reach thy peaceful slumber here.
While angels watch thy soft repose.
Take comfort, Christian, when your friends in Jesus fall asleep.
Their better being never ends, then why dejected weep ?
Why inconsolable, as those to whora no hope is given .''
Death is the raessenger of peace to call their souls to heaven.
Rachel, dau. of Lieut. Francis Fletcher and Mrs. Hannah F. his w.
d. Nov. 4, 1822, aged 20 mos. and 14 ds.
Sweet prattler, gently sleep.
Till Jesus bid thee rise.
Sacred to the memory of Capt. Nathaniel Fletcher, d. April 18,
1839, in the 77 yr. of his age.
When death doth call us we must go.
Whether we are prepared or no ;
Life is the space which God has given
To be prepared to meet in heaven.
In memory of Mrs. Submit, w. of Capt. Nathaniel Fletcher, who d.
Oct. 16, 1835, aged 69 yrs.
Canst thou by faith survey with joy
The change before it come.
And say, "Let death this house destroy,
I have a heavenly horae ? "

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 34?
In memory of Hannah P., dau. of Lieut. Francis and Hannah Fletcher,
who d. Oct. 15, 1842, in the 24111 yr. of her age.
She 's gone, the lovely and the loved,
No tears or prayers her life will save.
From scenes of earth her soul hath fled
To rest in peace beyond the grave.
There every tear is wiped away.
And there is healed the stricken heart.
There pain and death can never come.
And there friends meet no more to part
In memory of Rev. Joshua Heywood, who d. Nov. 11, 1814, ag«d 51
yrs. Nor pain nor grief nor anxious fear
Invade thy bounds ; no mortal woes
Can reach the peaceful sleeper here
While angels watch the soft repose.
Samuel H., s. of the Rev. Samuel H. Tolman and Rachel his w., d.
Sept. 29, 1822, aged 9 weeks.
Ephraim Johnson, d. March 24, 1863, aged 72 yrs.
In memory of Mrs. Rebeckah Johnson, relict of Mr. Silas Johnson,
who d. Oct.' 19, 1823, aged 69 yrs.
A heavenly portal is in view,
Araid a dying hour.
For those who view that God is love
And heaven is a rest above.
Sacred to the memory of Alpheus Taylor, who d. at Nashua July 25,
1846, aged 28 yrs. We have loved thee on earth.
May we meet thee in heaven.
Samuel S., s. of Mr. Samuel W. and Mrs. Eveline Stone, d. Feb. 12,
1828, aged 4 yrs. Rest, happy orphan, peaceful rest.
Secure from sin, secure from harms.
Thy Saviour little children blest ;
Resigned we leave thee in his arras.
In memory of Sally Fletcher, dau. of Mr. Phineas and Mrs. AUce
Fletcher, who d. Nov. 5, 1798, aged 2 days.
In memory of Sewall Fletcher, s. of Mr. Phineas and Mrs. Anna
Fletcher, who d. May 29, 1795, in the 9tt yr. of his age.
In memory of Ch.\rlotte Fletcher, dau. of Mr. Phineas and Mrs.
Anna Fletcher his w., who d. Nov. 16, 1789, aged 15 mos.
Memento Mori. — Erected in memory of Mrs. Anna Fletcher, w.
of Mr. Phinehas Fletcher, who departed this life Oct. y<' 4, 1794, in the
32<l yr. of her age.

246 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Mr. Phinehas Fletcher, d. July 31, 1833, st. 75.
Oh, may my humble spirit stand
Amongst thera clothed in white.
The meanest place at his right hand
Is infinite delight.
Alice, w. of Phinehas Fletcher, d. May 17, 1851, aged 88.
Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.
Lucy, dau. of Phinehas and AUce Fletcher, d. Apr. 5, 1871, aged 69
yrs. and 7 mos.
In memory of Dea. Joseph Fletcher, who departed this life July ye
17'b, A. D. 1784, aged 71 yrs.
Retire, my friends, dry up your tears.
Here I must he till Christ appears.
In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Fletcher, relict of Dea. Joseph
Fletcher, who departed this life Nov. 22, 1802, in the 89* yr. of her age.
In memory of Capt. Jonathan Fletcher, who d. March 28, 1813,
aged 72.
In memory of Mrs. Lucy Fletcher, w. of Capt. Jonathan Fletcher,
who departed this life July 17, 1801, in tbe 6ist yr. of her age.
In memory of Polly C. Lovejoy, dau. of Mr. Daniel and Mrs. Polly
Lovejoy, who d. March i, 1797, in the 2d yr. of her age.
In memory of Lucinda Fletcher, dau. of Mr. Joseph Fletcher and
Mrs. Caty, his wife, who d. Dec. 4, 1796, aged l yr. and 21 ds.
Erected in memory of Catharine Fletcher, who d. Sept. 30, 1826,
aged 34. There is a calm for those who weep;
And while the mouldering ashes sleep
Low in the ground.
The soul, of origin divine,
God's glorious image freed from clay.
In heaven's eternal sphere shall shine,
A star of day.
In memory of Mrs. Caty Fletcher, w. of Mr. Joseph Fletcher, who
d. Feb. 7, 1797, aged 42.
Peace to those friends, those hearts, that weep.
My dearest dear is not dead but sleeps.
Where angels minister around the throne.
Her spotless, unembodied soul has flown.
There joining in the celestial strain,
In praising him who was, and is, and shall forever reign.
In memory of Joseph Fletcher, who died Dec. 26, 1832, aged 81.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 247
In memory of Abigail, w. of Joseph Fletcher, who d. Dec. j, 1838,
aged 8i. Here, reader, see in youth or age or prime.
The fleeting steps of never-standing time.
With wisdom mark the moment as it flies.
Think what a moment is to them who dies.
In memory of Betsy Taylor, dau. of James and Betsy Taylor, who d.
April 20, 1 80 1, aged 9 mos. and 24 ds.
In memory of Mrs. Betsy Taylor, w. of Dea. James Taylor, who d.
Oct. I, 1808, in the 41st yr. of her age.
In memory of Mrs. Abigail, w. of Dea, James Taylor, who d. March
7, 1832, aged 61.
Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.
In memory of Mr. Leonard Parkhurst, who died March 28, 1821,
aged S7. Farewell, dear friends, and children too.
For Christ has called me horae.
In a short time he '11 call for you.
Prepare yourselves to come.
Hannah, w. of Leonard Parkhurst, d. Aug. 30, 1862, aged 93 yrs. and
4 mos. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Sally Parkhurst, died Oct. 8, 1847, aged 45.
By death the form to earth is given.
And the fettered soul made free
To change its home from earth to heaven,
And live in immortality.
In memory of Dea. James Taylor, who d. Oct. 2;, 1847, aged 80.
• Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
In memory of Joel Parkhurst, Esq., who d. March 10, 1808, aged 67.
Ah ! with the slumbering dead he is numbered,
Behold, he sleeps in lifeless clay,
His soul, no more with dust encumbered.
Triumphs in realms of endless day.
In memory of Mrs. Betty Parkhurst, w. of Joel Parkhurst, Esq.,
who d. Oct. 4, 1837, aged 93.
Let us be weaned from all below.
Let hope our grief expel.
While death invites our souls to go
Where our best kindred dwell.

248 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Mrs. Lucinda, w. of Ebenezer Parkhurst, d. Apr. 14, 1842, aged 47 yrs.
Can'st thou by faith survey with joy
The change before it comes.
And say, " Let death this house destroy,
I have a heavenly home " ?
Ebenezer Parkhurst, d. May 23, 1868, aged 80 )ts., 3 mos.
Gone to rest.
In memory of Mrs. Sally, w. of Mr. Ebenezer Parkhurst, who d. Sept.
15, 1827, aged 31. Sudden she was called to go,
And bid adieu to all below ;
Sudden the vital spirit fled,
And she was numbered with the dead.
Hannah, w. of Ebenezer Parkhurst, d. May 5, 1857, aged 86 jts. and
9 mos. She soars above in heaven to sing.
Borne away on angels' wings.
In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Parkhurst, w. of Mr. Ebenr Park
hurst, who d. Oct. 8, 1801, aged 38 yrs.
In memory of Mr. Ebenezer Parkhurst, who d. Oct. 19, 1831, aged
70 yrs. Depart, ray friends, dry up your tears.
Here I must lie till Christ appears.
Margette, dau. of Ebenr and Lucinda Parkhurst, d. Dec. 15, 1S31,
aged I yr., 3 mos., & 16 ds.
Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Caty Parkhurst, w. of Mr. Joseph
Parkhurst, who d. Sept. 21, 1798, aged 41.
Sacred to the memory of Mr. Joseph Parkhurst, who d. May 7, 1813,
aged 57 years.
Sacred to the memory of Miss Fanny Parkhurst, who d. Dec. 14,
1816, aged 30.
In memory of Mr. Joseph, s. of Mr. Silas and Mrs. Lucy Parkhurst,
who d. Feb. 2, 1833, aged 19 yrs.
In memory of Miss Sally Cumings, dau. of Lieut. Simeon and Mrs.
Sarah Cumings, who d. Feb. 29, 1816, aged 45 years.
Sickness sore long time I bore,
Physicians were in vain,
Till God was pleased and death did seize
And eased rae of my pain.
In memory of Jeremiah Cumings, the s. of Lieut. Simeon and Mrs.
Sarah Cumings, who d. Sept. 27, 1792, aged 2 yrs., i mo., & i dy.
Here lies the Body of Jeremiah, the s. of Mr. Simeon Cumings and
Mrs. Sarah his w., who d. Jan. 8, 1776, aged 7 yrs., i mo., & i6 ds.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 249
In memory of Rachel Cumings, dau of Mr. Simeon Cumings and
Mrs. Sarah his w., who d. Oct. 11, 1778, aged 3 yrs.
In memory of Elizabeth Cumings, dau. of Mr. Simeon Cumings
and Mrs. Sarah his w., who d. Oct. 22, 1778, aged 5 yrs., 3 mos.,
& 16 ds.
In memory of Mrs. Sarah Cumings, w. of Lieut. Simeon Cumings,
who d. Nov. 17, 1815, aged 69.
Sacred to the memory of Lieut. Simeon Cumings, who d. March 23,
1817, aged 73. Farewell, my friends and children dear,
Weep not for rae nor shed a tear.
But strive the better part to obtain.
And then to die will be your gain.
Memento Mori. — Here lies Buried the Body of Charles Scott,
firstborn s. of Mr. Lemuel Scott and Mrs. Mary his w., who departed this'
Life Apr. 10, 1777, aged 3 yrs., i mo. & 16 dys.
In memory of LucY Farmer, dau. of Mr. John Farmer and Mrs. Molly
his w., who d. Dec. ist, 1778, aged 2 yrs., 3 mos., and 22 dys. [This
may be Turner.]
In memory of Mrs, Lucy, w. of Mr. Isaac Taylor, who d. Feb. 5, 1832,
in her Tj yr.
In memory of Lydia Taylor, dau. of Mr. Isaac & Mrs. Sarah Taylor,
who d. Aug 22, 1791, aged 2 yrs. & 6 mos.
In memory of Rachel Taylor, dau. of Mr. Isaac and Mrs. Sarah
Taylor, who d. Nov. 12, 1803, aged 12 yrs.
In memory of Miss Deborah Taylor, dau. of Mr. Isaac and Mrs.
Sarah Taylor, who d. July 8, 1805, aged 22 yrs.
In memory of Mrs. Sarah Taylor, w. of Mr. Isaac Taylor, who d.
March 10, 181 3, aged 59.
In memory of Mrs. Easther Woodward, w. of Mr. John Woodward,
who d. Jany- 26, 1797, aged 32 yrs.
On this day she was bom,
On this day she was raarred.
On this day she deceast.
Not raany hours vared.
Mrs. Mary Woodward, who d. May 19, 1805, aged 38 yrs., 5 mos.,
and 7 ds., w. of Mr. John Woodward.

The tender bands that wedlock ties.
By thee' alas ! must break.
Most kind and loving partners thou
Dost from each other take.

250 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
In memory of Mrs. Polly Woodward, w. of Mr. John Woodward,
who d. Sept. 12, 1822, aged 46.
Farewell, dear partner, children all,
For I must go, my Jesus calls,
Happy forever shall I be,
I died for hira who died for rae.
Andrew Sawtell, s. of Mr. John and Mrs. Rebekah Woodward, d.
March ii, 1826, aged 17 mos. and 18 ds.
His course is run, his spirit 's fled,
He joins the mansions of the dead.
He now lies cold, but still his soul
Will live till ages cease to roll.
In memory of Mary P. Woodward, who died July ist, 1813, aged 12
yrs. Youth, blooraing fair, and age must die.
And turn to dust as well as I.
In memory of Mr. Joseph Parkhurst, who d. Janr- 30, 1803, aged 78.
Also of Mrs. Deborah, w. of Mr. Joseph Parkhurst, who d. March 25,
1819, aged 76.
In memory of Edmund, s. of Mr. Silas and Mrs. Lucy Parkhurst, who
d. Apr. 18, 1813, aged 2 yrs., 3 mos., and 23 ds.
Happy infant, early blest.
And in peaceful slumber rest.
John Chaney d. in Dunstable, Feb. 23, 1831, aged 92. He has left a
large circle of relatives and friends to mourn the loss of his instruction
and example. Elizabeth, his w., d. in Charlestown, June 6, 1826, aged 66.
Living here, tender, faithful, good, and wise.
Dying her home 's eternal in the skies.
erected by their daughters.
In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth 'Kendall, w. of Mr. Jacob KendaU,
who d. 3 March, 1804, in the 718* yr. of her age.
In memory of Mr. Jacob Kendall, who died Feb. 25, 1809, in the
8o'h yr. of his age.
In memory of Mr. John Woodward, who d. Feb. 14, 1835, aged 67.
Here all is rest and sweet repose.
Here all our sorrows cease.
For Jesus meets our spirits here
And kindly whispers peace.
Miss Sally, dau. of Mr. John and Mrs. Mary Woodward, d. Sept. 7,
1827, aged 22. In bloom of life one moment stood.
The ne.xt called to the bar of God.
Think, reader, can thy heart endure
A sumniuiis to a bar so pure ?

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 25 1
Rebecca, widow of the late John Woodward, d. Oct. 19, 1868, aged 74
yrs. and 10 mos. With us her name shall live
Through long succeeding years,
• Embalmed with all our hearts can give,
Our praises and our tears.
Andrew Jackson, s. of John and Rebecca Woodward, died Sept. 4,
1836, aged 4 yrs. and 7 mos.
Farewell, my little son, farewell !
With rae thou could no longer dwell.
I hope with thee ere long to tell
That Jesus hath done all things well.
In memory of Mr. Thomas Marshall, who d. Nov. 16, 181 1, aged 30.
In memory of Mrs. Polly Marshall, who d. Feb. 5, 181 1, aged 30.
In memory of Mrs. Mary Marshall, dau. of Mr. Silas Marshall and
Mrs. Eunice, his w., who d. Sept. 3, 1793, in ye 21st yr. of her age.
In memory of Hannah Kendall, reUct of John Kendall, who d. April
30, 181 2, in the 84'h yr. of her age.
In memory of Mr. John Kendall, who d. 13'h of Feb. 1809, aged 85
yrs., 9 mos. and 8 ds.
Mrs. Martha, w. of Mr. Nathan Proctor, killed by faUing into a ceUar
Dec. 8, 1824, aged 20 yrs. and 6 mos.
In bloom of life one moment stood.
The next called to the bar of God.
Think, reader, can thy heart endure
A summons to a bar so pure ?
Isaac Kendall, 2nd son of Mr. Zebedee and Mrs. Molly KendaU, d.
14'h Nov. 1804, aged 5 yrs., 3 mos., and i day.
Isaac Kendall,s. of Dea. Zebedee and Mrs. Molly Kendall, d. Sept.
12, 1798, aged 2 yrs., 9 mos., and 16 ds.
In memory of two children of Dea. Zebedee and Mrs. Molly Kendall,
Abraham, d. Jan. 14, 1786, aged 2 yrs. and 12 ds.; Hannah, d. March
24, 179s, aged 14 mos. and 25 ds.
Sarah Kendall, dau. of Dea. Zebedee and Mrs. Molly KendaU, d.
10 Sept. 1798, -aged 7 mos. and 15 ds.
An infant son of Mr. Tiraothy and Mrs. Mary KendaU, d. Dec. i, 1825,
aged 3 weeks.
Timothy A., s. of Mr. Timothy and Mrs. Mary KendaU, d. Feb. 26,
1828, aged 15 mos. and 25 ds.
Hannah A., dau. of Timothy and Mary KendaU, d. Nov. 7, 1832, aged
2 yrs., 3 mos., and 15 ds.
Loved one, where is now thy rest 'i
Sweetly on thy Saviour's breast
Dost thou now thy bliss begin.
Freed from sorrow and from sin.

252 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
In memory of Mrs. Molly, w. of Dea. Zebedee KendaU, who d. March
29, 1833, aged 74 yrs. and 11 mos.
On thy grave, lovely friend, we will drop the soft tear.
With the hope that when Christ shall to judgment appear
He will raise in his image thy slumbering dust,
And conduct it to glories prepared for the just.
There, oh ! there may we meet to be parted no more.
And with spirits made perfect our Maker adore.
Zebedee Kendall, d. Aug. 12, 1839, aged 84 yrs., having fiUed the
ofiice of Deacon about fifty years.
Firm as his throne his promise stands.
And he can well secure
What I 've committed to his hands
Till the decisive hour.
In memory of two children, daughters of Mr. Leonard and Mrs. Mary
Butterfield, Sarah, d. AprU 22, 1805, aged 7 weeks and 2 ds., Abigail,
d. April 27, 1805, aged 8 weeks.
In memory of Mary Butterfield, dau. of Mr. Leonard and Mrs.
Mary Butterfield who d. Jan. 22, 1813, in the i6th year of her age.
In memory of Mrs. Mary, widow of Lieut. Amaziah Swallow, who d.
Feb. 15, 1828, aged 78.
Mr. Asa Swallow, d. Feb. 15, 1813, aged 45 ys.
In the midst of life we are in death.
Mrs. Susannah, w. of Asa SwaUow, d. April 27, 1848, aged jj.
Follow rae, ray children, where I have followed Christ.
In memory of Mrs. Martha French, w. of Mr. Jonas French, who
d. July 25, 1824, aged 39.
Behold, the spirit of the just
Ascends to God on high.
And though the body sleeps in dust.
The soul shall never die.
Jonas French, d. Aug. 13, i860, aged 78.
Jonas, s. of Mr. Jonas and Mrs. Martha French, d. Oct 21, 1820, aged
S yrs. Joseph A., s. of Mr. Jonas and Mrs. Mary French, d. Jan. 31, 1827,
aged 16 mos.
Sarah Blood, d. Dec. 12, 1842, aged 45 yrs.
Silas W. Blood, d. Aug. 7, 1842, aged 27 yrs. and 7 mos.
Rebekah, widow of Silas Blood, Jr , d. April 15, 1841, aged 60 yrs.
Erected by Ebenezer Steadman.
Silas Blood, Jr., d. Oct. i, 1815, .aged 28 yrs.
Erected by Allen Blood.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 253
In memory of Mrs. Sarah, w. of Mr. Silas Blood, who d. Oct 5, 1834,
aged 75. There was a time, that time is past.
When, youth, I bloomed like thee ;
The time will come, 'tis coming fast.
When thou wilt fade like me.
So once was I, so you raust be.
Prepare for death & follow rae.
Here I lie beneath this hurable stone.
Lifeless as a lump of clay.
Not to rise till the resurrection day.
In memory of Reuben Blood, s. of Mr. Silas and Mrs. Sarah his w.,
who d. Aug. 1st, 1817, aged 17 yrs. and 5 mos.
Sleep, sweet child, and take your rest.
For God did call when he thought best.
The beauteous youth is gone.
The sweet, loved object is fled,
Entered his long, eternal home.
And numbered with the dead.
In memory of Sarah Green Blood, dau. of Mr. Silas & Mrs. Sarah
Blood, who d. Aug. ye 30th, 1794, aged 10 mos. & 11 dys.
Lovelyness and Beauty
Frees no age from Death.
I
Mrs. Sarah, w. of Mr. Silas Blood, d. Feb. 6, 1814, aged 88.
Walk horae, ray friends, dry up your tears.
For I raust lie till Christ appears.
And when ray Jesus doth me call,
1 hope in bliss to meet you all.
An old stone, with a part of the inscription broken off, has this admo
nition : — Death is a Debt from nature due.
Which I've pay'd, & so must you.
Mary, dau. of Mr. Samuel and Mrs. Patty Kendall, d. Sept 5, 1812,
aged 3 yrs. Sweet child no more, but seraph now.
Before the throne behold her bow ;
Her snul, enlarged to angel's size.
Joins in the triuraphs of the skies.
In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Simonds, who d. Mar. 6, 1805, aged 68.
Sickness sore long time I bore.
Physicians were in vain.
Till God was pleased, death did cease [seize].
To ease me of my pain.

254

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873

In memory of Mrs. Anna Pratt, w. of Mr. Thomas Pratt, who d. Jan.
I, 1806, in the 62nd y of her age.
In memory of Mr. Benjamin Parker, who d. Apr. 24, 1828, aged 60.
Elizabeth, his w., d. Apr. 25. 1842, aged 73.
Cl.^rk Parker, Jr., d. June 4, 1849, aged 37 yrs.
In memory of Mr. Winslow, s. of Mr. Clark and Mrs. Tamar Parker,
who d. Nov. 14, 1833, aged 20.
Emeline, dau. of Mr. Clark and Mrs. Lucy Parker, d. Feb. 18, 1829,
aged 21 mos.
In memory of Mrs. Lucy, w. of Mr. Clark Parker, who d. June 30,
1836, aged 49.
Clark Parker, d July 25, 1863, aged 78 yrs.
In memory of Rebecca, dau. of Mr. Emerson Parker and Eunice his
w., who d. Jan. 6, 1825, aged 2 yrs. & 8 mos.
Stay, passenger, though dead I speak.
You know the word conveyed.
A thousand calls like this you 've heard.
But have you one obeyed ?
In memory of Mrs. Tamar, w. of Mr. Clark Parker, who d. Oct. 5,
18 IS, aged 33.
In memory of Miss Nancy Hobbs, who d. Oct. 2, 1820, aged 44.
Far from thy kindred thou dost gently sleep.
Yet friendship may bedew this verdant sod,
Religion o'er thy peaceful grave may weep.
While Hope can view thy better part with God.
In memory of Miss "Venus Pitman, who d. Mar. 22, 1833, aged 49 yrs.
Mr. Stephen Pratt,* who d May i, 1827, aged 42.
Man cometh forth like a flower and is cut down ; he fleeth also as a shadow,
and continueth not. '
Susan F., w. of Moses W. Crocket, and dau. of John & Sarah French,
d. Nov. 12, 1846, aged 45.
In memory of Mr John H., s. of Mr. John and Mrs. Sarah French,
who d. Apr. 3, 1831, aged 20 yrs. & 7 mos.
Betsey Baker, d. Mar. 4, 1840, aged 74 yrs.
Emily Baker, d. Feb. 9, 1840, aged 44.
* Son of Thomas Pratt, who was a soldier in the Revolution, and married for
his fir.^t wife Anna Lawrence, of Groton, by whom he had, inter alios, Stephen,
who married Rebecca Blodgett, of Westford, by whom he had issue William
Warren, b. Oct. 21, 1809; Maria, b. Aug. 12, iSli ; Sarah Ann, b. Jan. 7, 1814 ;
Martha and Mary (twins), b. June 19, 1S15 ; Nancy, b. Feb. 16, 1S19; and Eliza,
b. Oct. 20, 1S22. ' Mr. Stephen Pratt was by trade a joiner, having served his
time with Mr. Asa Woods. His widow died in November, 1S60.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 255
In memory of Mrs. Nabby, w. of Capt. Peter Proctor, who d. Dec. 11,
1820, aged 52. In memory of Capt. Peter Proctor, who d. Mar. 22,
1831, aged 55.
In memory of Miss Sarah Proctor, who d. Oct 14, 1828, aged 24.
Her soul the Friend of sinners sought.
She found Hira gracious, and His grace she taught.
Her state was humble, but her faith was good.
Attend, she still would point thee up to God.
In memory of -Miss Hannah Blodgett, dau. of Mr. Thaddeus and
Mrs. Hannah Blodgett, who d. Nov. 27, 1814, aged 25 yrs., 8 mos. and
23 ds.
John W. Drake, d. Nov. 21, 1834, aged 36. Formerly of Mansfield,
Mass.
A believer in rewards and punishments according to the deeds done in the body.
Erected by his brother, T. G. W. Drake.
Walter Lawrence, d. Oct. 19, 1855, aged 41.
Hknry Lawrence, d. Apr. 17, 1852, aged 66.
Bradford Read, d. July 23, 1846, aged 35 yrs.
In memory of John Cummings, who d. Janv- 30, 1845, aged 63 yrs.
Sacred to the memory of Sarah Ellinor, w. of John A. Cummings,
m. d., who d. May 31, 1841, aged 25.
John Alfred Emmons, an infant s., born May 26, 1841, d. Aug. 15,
1 841. And there afar in yonder home of angels.
Where sorrow's wave ne'er wrecks the bark of joy,
Through fields of green whose verdure ne'er decayeth
The sainted mother leads her cherub boy.
Sacred to the memory of Rebecca Cummings, who d. Oct. 24, 1838,
aged 28. With a hope full of immortality.
Truly she fell asleep in Jesus.
Sacred to the memory of Catherine C, w of Dea. Thomas Parker,
who d. Feb. 14, 1841, aged 27.
Dear as thou wert, and justly dear,
We would not weep for thee.
It is that thou art free.
Gently the passing spirit fled.
Sustained by grace divine.
Oh, may such grace on us be shed
And make our end like thine !

256 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Our Mother.
Catherine B., widow of the late John Cummings, d. Sept. 23, 1859,
aged 78 yrs. and 8 mos. Mother, on earth we loved thee well.
We love thy memory still.
For thou art now a saint in heaven.
And freed from every ill.
Sacred to the memory of John Cummings, who d. Jany. 30, 1845, aged
63. He lived desired and died lamented.
Sarah, w. of John French, born July 18, 1781 ; d. Oct. 20, 1862.
John French, born March 17, 1778 ; d. Apr. 16, i86r.
Jonas Taylor, d. July 24, 1848, aged 81 yrs.
Here sleeps our father in the silent dust.
By all our sorrows, all our love, unmoved.
Sleeps till the solemn summons of the just
Bids him awake to raeet the God he loved.
Elizabeth, dau. of Eleazer and Rebecka MiUer, d. Aug. 18, 1835, aged
9 mos. Georgiana C. Davis, d. Aug. 8, i860, aged 16 yrs. and 7 mos.
The flower is of earth.
But the perfume is from heaven.
Isaac Chaney, d. March 26, 1866, aged 85 yrs.
Susannah, w. of Isaac Chaney, d. May 5, 1847, aged 53.
Her end was peace, an emblem of her life.
For all who knew her, knew her but to love.
She was too pure for earth's unceasing strife,
So Jesus called her to His home above.
Julia A., dau, of Isaac and Susannah Chaney, d. Nov. 27, 1838, aged 11
yrs. A lovely flower in this garden placed.
Permitted just to bloom and part in haste.
Eunice B. Woodward, w. of John Woodward, d. Oct 11, 1865, aged
67 yrs. and 3 mos.
John A., s. of John and M. J. Woodward, d. Apr. 2, 1869, aged 9 mos.
and 28 ds.
Charles L., s. of Lowell and Maria A. Whitcomb, d. Dec. 13, 1S64,
aged 22 yrs. Jesus is ray Saviour.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 257
Temple Kendall, Esq., d. Aug. 20, 1850, aged 82 yrs., 2 mos., and
23 ds. Dearest father, thou hast left us.
Here thy loss we deeply feel.
But 't is God that hath bereft us
He will all our sorrows heal.
Prudence, w. of Temple Kendall, d. Jany- 6, 1868, aged 94 yrs. and 5
mos. Mother, thou art gone to rest.
We will not weep for thee.
For thou art now where oft on earth
Thy spirit longed to be.
Mary Ella, dau. of LoweU and Harriet P. Walton, d. Oct. 4, i860,
aged 7 yrs., 2 mos., and 4 ds.
Dear parents, grieve no raore for me.
My parents, grieve no more,
Believe that I am happier far
Than when with you before.
Sarah L., w. of Simeon B. Lowell, d. Jan. 8, 1850, aged 27 yrs.
Matter shall put on incorruption and be at peace with the spirit. Araen, and
so it shall be.
Sarah E., d. July 30, 1851, aged 6 yrs. and 3 mos. ; Rebecca C, d.
Aug. 4, 1867, aged 3 yrs. and 4 mos., children of S. B. and Sarah L.
Lowell. Hannah P., w. of Rufus K. Green, d. May 30, 1852, aged 28.
Hannah P., dau. of Rufus K. and Hannah P. Green, d. Sept. 22, 1852,
aged 4 mos. and 13 ds. Sweet babe, thy sufferings are o'er,
God hath called thee home to rest.
Freed frora pain, sin, and sorrow.
Gone to be forever blest
Sarah A., dau. of Rufus K. and Sarah A. Green, d. Oct 12, 1854,
aged 6 mos. and 7 ds. Sweet babe, thou germ of fondest hope.
To us was kindly given
To show how sweet a bud would ope
To bloora with Christ in heaven.
Hannah, w. of Charles Tuttle, d. March 18, 1865, aged 76.
Mark Fletcher, d. Aug. 4, 1851, aged 60 yrs.
Rhoda, w. of Mark Fletcher, d. Oct. 25, 1858, aged 61 yrs.
Nancy C, dau. of Mark and Rhoda Fletcher, d. June 27, 1833, aged
12 yrs., 4 mos. 17

258 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Mary B., w. of George W. Fletcher, d. Oct 2, 1868, aged 41 yrs.
Sally A., w. of Dr. S. M. Fletcher, d. at Westerly, R. L, April 20,
1867, aged 48 years.
Elizabeth K., w. of Abel Spaulding, and dau. of Capt Jonas and
Olive KendaU, d. in New York, July 25, 1855, aged 47.
In ray Father's house are many mansions.
O. C. B. Spaulding, w. of Rev. J. Spaulding, New York, and dau. of
Capt Jonas and Olive Kendall, d. March 14, 1852, aged 50.
With Christ which is far better. — Phil, i, 23.
Sarah Kendall, d. April 11, 1806, aged 4 weeks.
Elmira Kendall, d. Jan. 27, 1813, aged 2 yrs.
Olive B. Kendall, d. Sept 15, 1856, aged 82.
Jonas Kendall, d. Nov. 18, 1865, aged 93.
Caroline P. Kendall, d. Dec. 28, 1855, aged 47.
Zebulon Blodgett, d. June 15, 1857, aged 59.
Here lies lamented in a silent grave,
A tender husband, parent brave.
O king of terrors, how couldst thou destroy
The wife's dear hope, and his children's joy ?
Alas ! he 's gone, and like the silent dove.
To increase the number of the blest above.
George E., only son of Samuel S. and Rachel Taylor, d. at Frederick,
Md., Feb. 8, 1862, aged 20 yrs. A member of Co. H, 2d Reg. Mass.
Vols. Though not upon the battle-field
He breathed his latest breath
For freedom and for country.
He died a hero's death.
Proraoted frora the ranks below
To join the ranks on high.
In bleeding hearts he loved and left.
His narae shall never die.
Jonathan Proctor, d. Feb. 27, 1873, aged 87 yrs. & 3 mos.
Warren W., s. of Z. P. & C. W. Proctor, d. Jan. 7, 1868, aged 12 yrs.,
4 mos., & 4 days.
Little Mary A.
He took little children in his arms and blessed them.
Alber-t j , s. of Amaziah and Asenath SwaUow, d. Dec. 7, 1850, aged
22 yrs. How still & peaceful is the grave.
Where life's vain tumults cease !
The appointed house, by heaven's decree.
Receives us all at last

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 259
Capt. Amaziah Swallow, d. Oct. 6, 1857, aged 70.
Beneath this stone, till Christ shall bid him rise,
A husband dear, a most loved father, lies.
Yet cease to weep, 't is God, be calm & still,
And bow in sweet submission to his wiU.
Asenath, w. of Amaziah Swallow, d. Oct. 30, 1865, aged yj-
Mother.
Yet again we hope to meet thee,
When the day of life is fled.
Then in heaven with joy to greet thee.
Where no farewell tear is shed.
Albert O., s. of Amaziah & Asenath Swallow, d. Oct 18, 1826, aged
3 yrs. & 10 mos.
Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.
Jasper P. Proctor, d. Apr. 23, 185 1, aged 31 yrs.
An honest man 's the noblest work of God.
Mary Ann, dau. of Jasper P. Proctor and Mary his w., d. Sept. 25, 1822,
aged 10 mos. So fades the lovely, blooming flower.
Frail, smiling solace of an hour;
So soon our transient comforts fly.
And pleasure only blooms to die.
Jasper P. Proctor, d. Sept. 19, 1865, aged 72 yrs.
Mary B., w. of Jasper P. Proctor, d. April 11, 1866, aged 70 yrs.
Josiah Cummings, d. Sept. 19, 1864, aged 81 years.
Rebeccah, w. of Josiah Cummings, d. Feb. 5, 1866, aged 76 yrs.
Rebeccah, dau. of Josiah & Rebeccah Cummings, d. Apr. 7, 181 1, aged
9 mos. Josiah Spaulding, d. Nov. 18, 1857, aged 93.
Mary, w. of Josiah Spaulding, d. Apr. 26, 1864, aged 86.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
Laura S , w. of Benajah Parkhurst, d. Jan. 20, 1868, aged 69 yrs. &
5 mos. Addison B., s. of Benajah and Laura S. Parkhurst, d. Oct i, 1831,
aged 3 yrs., 1 1 mos.
Alvira L., dau. of Benajah and Laura S. Parkhurst, d. May 3, 1872,
aged 46 yrs. & 3 mos. Gone up from human love
To higher love and care.
From pain below to peace above,
In mansions, oh ! so fair.

25o HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Hannah Jane, dau. of Peter and EUzabeth Kendall, d. Janr. 22, 1839,
aged 9 mos. and 3 ds.
James M. Kendall, d. at Hartford, Conn., Dec. 12, 1854, aged 24 yrs.
A star that did in glory shine.
The hand that made it is divine.
Peter Kendall, d. Sept 5, 1861, aged 67.
My husband — our father.
Hiram R. Kendall, d. in the U. S. G. Hospital at Natchez, Miss., Nov.
3, 1864. A member of Co. G, 8 Reg. N. H. Vols. Interred here Jany-
30, 1866, aged 25 yrs., 6 mos.
" The star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Almira Read, w. of I. N. Wright, d. Dec. 21, 1847, aged 39 yrs.
We shall meet again.
Emma A. P., w. of I. N. Wright, d. May 23, 1870, aged 47 yrs. and 6
mos. Thou hast the test
That heaven itself can give thee rest.
Harrietta a., dau. of I. N. and A. R. Wright, d. Jany. 17, 1845, aged
3 yrs., 4 mos. " Of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Silas Parkhurst, d. Apr. 14, 1863, aged 78 yrs. and 7 mos.
He that believeth in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live.
Lucy, w. of Silas Parkhurst, d. May 25, 1854, aged 66.
Nor art nor virtue could redeem from death.
Nor anxious love prolong the laboring breath.
Conjugal bands asunder must be torn
And partner and children left to raourn ;
But let her virtues now your grief suppress.
And wait reluctant till you raeet in death.
Maria, dau. of Silas and Lucy Parkhurst, d. July 28, 1850, aged 20,
yrs. and 9 mos. Long shall thy memory be revered
By those who knew thy worth.
By those to whom thou wert endeared
By the strongest ties on earth.
Eagen, j., d. Dec. 4. 1848, aged 5 mos., 3 ds.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 26 1
Lucien E., d. Sept i, 1856, aged 16 mos., 3 ds. Children of Joel, Jr.,
and Louisa Gilson. Two lovely babes, so young, so fair,
Call'd home by early doom.
Just come to show how such sweet flowers
In Paradise could bloom.
Dea. Thaddeus Davis, d. Jany- 10, 1863, aged 95.
Bridget, his w., d. Jany- 26, 1826, aged 61.
Their souls have now taken their flight
To mansions of glory above,
To mingle with angels of light.
And dwell in the kingdora of love.
Ellen, dau. of Moses and Susan Davis, d. May 9, 1858, aged 19 yrs.
Like a fair flower in nature's wild
So bloomed awhile this lovely child.
But cruel death soon snatched the prize
And bore it fragrant to. the skies.
Frances E., dau. of Moses and Susan Davis, d. Jan. 29, 1854, aged 2
yrs. and 6 mos.
Caleb G. Jewett, d. May 20, 1856, aged 72 yrs.
My Father.
Mary Ann, w. of Jacob Parkhurst, Jr., d. Aug. 6, 1857, aged 39 yrs.,
2 mos. Loved one, farewell, thy conflicts are o'er.
Sin, doubt and temptation assail thee no more.
Thy friends so beloved thou biddest adieu.
While faith points them upwards with heaven in view.
Abigail G., dau. of John and Charlotte Swallow, d. Sept. 13, 1845,
aged 18 yrs. and 9 mos. The lovely and the beautiful.
How soon they fade away!
The hearts we love and cherish most
First hasten to decay.
Charles R. H., s. of John and Charlotte SwaUow, member of Co. E,
1st Wis. Vol. CavTy, d. at Cape Girardeau, Mo., Oct. 12, 1862, aged 31
yrs. Henry Parkhurst, d. Sept. 4, 1865, aged 72 yrs. and 2 mos.
At rest.
Abigail, w. of Henry Parkhurst, d. Sept. 6, 1868, aged 70 yrs. and 7
mos. We go at His command.

262 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Wm. R., s. of Henry and Abigail Parkhurst, d. in Sacramento, Cal.,
May 20, 1852, aged 24^ yrs.
Fannie M., w. of John A. Parkhurst, d. April 19, 1868, aged 25 yrs.
and 2 mos. We cherish sweet memories of thee.
Gone Home. — Mary Addie, d. Nov. 29, 1861, aged 19 yrs., 11 mos.,
25 ds. ; Ellen Lizzie, d. Dec. 27, 1863, aged 18 yrs., 9 mos., and 16
ds., children of Wm. W. and Esther W. Tenney.
Their souls have now taken their flight
To mansions of glory above,
To mingle with angels of light,
And dwell in the kingdom of love.
Our Uttle Mary Lizzie. Parted below, united above.
Leonard Butterfield, d. Nov. 29, 1857, aged 58 (?) yrs., 9 mos.
Man know^eth not his time.
Gone Home. — Asa Butterfield, d. Aug. 27, 1856, aged 55.
He is gathered to his final rest.
We raeet him here again no more.
He is sleeping on the earth's cold breast.
Where all the cares of life are o'er.
We hope when called from earth away
To meet hira in eternal day.
Pamelia T., w. of Asa Butterfield, d. April 11, 1848, aged 43.
May a., dau. of Asa and Pamelia T. Butterfield, d. April 22, 1847,
aged 17. Thou wast not born to dwell on earth,
Joys nobler, purer, were designed
To fill thy young, immortal mind.
Alvira, ist, d. Sept. 14, 1820, aged 3 yrs.; Alvira, 2D, d. July 28,
1840, aged 17 yrs., children of James and Sibbel Swallow.
Sibbel, w. of James Swallow, d. Aug. 17, 1862, aged 71 jnrs.
Mother.
Lucy A., dau. of Daniel and Rachel Richardson, d. July 27, 1856,
aged 24 yrs. and 5 mos. We part to meet again.
Frances E., dau. of Daniel and Rachel Richardson, d. Sept. 16, 1849,
aged 2 yrs., 9 mos.
Joel Keyes, born April 26, 1804, d. Aug. 11, 1867.
Abigail, w. of Seth Nutting, d. March 2, 1867, aged 52.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 263
Charles A. Butterfield, d. Aug. 30, 1866, aged 23 yrs.
Henry, s. of Leonard and Lucy W. Butterfield, d. July 3, 1835, aged
4ds. At rest.
Wm. W. Tenney, d. Sept. 18, 1861, aged 55 yrs. and 9 mos.
Esther W., his wife, d. Dec. 17, 1870, aged 60 yrs., 11 mos.
Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. — Rev. ii, 10.
Harry D., s. of A. W. and M. D Howe, d. April 6, i860, aged i yr.,
7 mos. Sergeant Wm. W. Cummings, only son of Josiah T. and Rebecca Cum
mings, aged 27 yrs. and 4 mos. Member of Co. H, ist Minnesota Regi
ment He was amongst the first to respond to the President's call for
troops to suppress the great Rebellion, and was kiUed while in the faith
ful discharge of his duty, at PoolsviUe, Md., Oct 27. 1861. He died tbe
death which best becomes a man who has his nation's honor near his
heart. Albert C. "Woods, d. Dec, 18, 1866, aged 36.
A kind husband, an affectionate father.
Willis H. Parkhurst, d. Oct 9, 1871, aged 22 yrs. and 6 mos.
Thy brother shall rise again.
Gone Home. — Kendall Swallow, d. May 5, 1873, aged 79 yrs., 10
mos., and 21 ds. Farewell, dear Husband, Father, Friend so dear,
Oh, how we miss you here !
But we hope to meet again.
Lydia K., w. of Thaddeus U. Davis, d. May 13, 1871, aged 40 (?) yrs.,
II mos. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Abbie L., dau. of T. U. and L. K. Davis, d. Sept 25, 1851, aged 3 yrs.,
9 mos. Also their twin babes. Thy will, O God, be done.
Mary Ann, w. of Isaac KendaU, d. July 5, 1870, aged 46 yrs.
Mother.
Hannah Taylor, d. May 24, 1849, aged 81 yrs.
Look, children dear, upon this hallowed stone.
We stand upon a spot of love and fear.
For there is laid a heart, the fondest one
That ever left its children weeping here.
F. Taylor, d. in Boston, Aug. 5, 1847, aged 48 yrs.

264 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Alpheus Bowers, d. Oct 30, 1858, aged 51. Julia A., his w.,d. Sept
IS, 185s, aged 46.
Children of Alpheus and Julia A. Bowers. Eliza, d. Dec. 25, 1850,
aged 16 yrs. Joseph A., d. Dec. i, 1841, aged 11 mos. Died in Chelms
ford. Father — Mother. Eliza, Adelaide, Joseph.
Zerviah, w. of Truman Gile, d. Jany- 10, 1852, aged 75.
Josiah Kendall, d. July 31, 1850, aged 81.
Betsey, w. of Josiah Kendall, d. July 7, 1855, aged 82 yrs.
Ann M., w. of Nathaniel C. KendaU, d. Sept 28, 1857, aged 46.
Grieve not, kind partner, while I sleep
Far from thy lonely home.
Thee and thy friends may Jesus keep.
Till thy own last change come.
Sarah Jane, dau. of Alvah and Mary W. Kendall, d. Dec. 10, 1844,
aged 4yrs., 3 mos.
Harriet L.,dau. of Alvah and Mary W. Kendall, d. JunS 7, 1846, aged
I day. Gilman, s. of John and Rachel Kendall, d. Nov. 11, 1847, aged 20 yrs.
Samuel Radd'.n, d. June 20, 1853, aged 52.
John, d. Oct 27, 1846, aged 6 yrs., 5 mos. Isabel, d. Aug. 30, 1850,
aged 2 yrs., 3 mos.
Samuel H., d. June 27, 1851, aged 7 yrs , 10 mos. Children of Samuel
and Rebecca Raddin.
Frances E,, w. of Andrew Williams, d. Sept. i, 1856, aged 22 jts.
Martha J., d. Feb. 13, i860, aged 23 yrs., 10 mos.
Augusta A., d. May 30, i860, aged 23 yrs., 2 mos. Daughters of
Samuel and Rebecca Raddin.
Cummings Woods, d. Apr. 6, 1850, aged 51.
Polly Woods, w. of Asa Woods, d. Aug. 12, 1851, aged 73. Asa
Woods, d. Oct. 18, 1870, aged 93 yrs., 11 mos.
Man is Hke to vanity ; his days are like a shadow that passeth away.
John Raddin, d. Oct. 27, i860, aged 85 yrs. and 8 mos. Hannah Copp,
his w., d. Nov. 29, 1859, aged 86 yrs., 10 ds. Natives of Saugus, Mass.
Miss Jane, dau. of Mr. Phineas and Mrs. Alice Fletcher, d. March 22,
1834, aged 30. Oh, why should bliss depart in haste.
And friendship stay to raourn ;
Why the fond passion cling so fast
When every joy is gone ?
Charles Blood, d. Sept. 2, 185 1, aged 48.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 265
Ebenezer, s. of Mr. Ebenezer and Mrs. Betsey Steadman, d. Oct 8,
1832, aged 18 mos. This lovely bud was reared.
And blighted in its bloom.
God has a sovereign right to call
His children ere 't is noon.
Infant dau. of Varnum & Mary D. Woods, d. Aug. i6, 1843, aged 5
weeks. Infant s. of Varnum & Mary D. Woods, d. Oct 26, 1845, aged 7
weeks. Infant dau. of Varnum & Mary D. Woods, d. Feb. 9, 1847, aged 6
weeks. Asa Emerson, s. of Varnum & Mary D. Woods, d. Aug. 23, 1847,
aged 7 yrs.
Wm. Woods, d. March 12, 1859, aged 75.
Betsy, w. of Wm. Woods, d. Nov. 20, 1852, aged 65.
Louisa, d. Aug. 10, 1832, aged 21 yrs. Sarah Ann, d. Aug. 20, 1832,
aged 6 mos. & 12 dys. Daughters of Mr. Wm. & Mrs. Betsey Woods.
Dear parents, check those heaving sighs.
Look not upon our lowly bed.
Up to thy Saviour raise thine eyes.
And see us in his bosom laid.
Charlotte, w. of Isaac Woods, d. Dec. 11, 1843, aged 69.
Lo ! where the silent willow weeps
A partner, friend, and mother sleeps,
A heart within whose sacred cell.
The peaceful virtues lov'd to dwell.
Isaac Woods, d. Feb. 21, 1849, aged 74.
Elbridge Butman, d. Oct. 29, 1839, aged 29. George E., d. Sept. 5,
1834, aged 5 mos., 9 ds. Susan M., d. Apr. 20, 1837, aged 15 mos.
Alvin, d. Apr. 2, 1838, aged 5 mos., 13 dys. Children of Elbridge &
Susan Butman.
Alpha Butman, d. Nov. 17, 1866, aged 27 yrs. & 10 mos.
We '11 raeet again, where " all looks bright,"
Where golden portals ope, and angels
Stand ready to let us in.
Sarah Ann, dau. of Micba E. & EUza Robbins, d. Sept. 9, 1848, aged
3 yrs., 3 mos. One sweet flower has bloomed and faded.
One dear infant voice has fled.
One sweet bud the grave has shaded.
Our loved Sarah now is dead.

266 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
In Heaven there is Rest. — Cynthia Robbins, d. Sept 28, 1861,
aged 55 yrs., 6 mos. The Christian's death is but a birth
To holier, happier life ;
We would not call thee back to life.
To share again its strife.
In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth, w. of Mr. Benjamin Robbins, who d.
July 27, 1832, aged 70.
Thy ways, O King of kings, are just.
Both when we live, and turn to dust ;
Then cease from man, look up on high.
And place your hopes above the sky.
Sophronia Swallow, d. July 8, 1854, aged 55 yrs., 5 mos.
She has gone, her sufferings all are o'er.
Disease and pain are known no more ;
Freed from earth's delusions fair.
She is forever happy there.
John F., s. of John & Sarah S. Blodgett, d. May 20, 1841, aged 3 yrs.
& 4 mos. Our litUe boy has gone
To rest in heaven above.
We feel that he is not alone, —
He dwells with God in love.
Sarah S., w. of John Blodgett, d. May 8, 1842, aged 40.
Matilda A., dau. of John & Sarah S. Blodgett, d. Sept. 20, 1861, aged
15 yrs., II mos. Parents, brothers, sisters, do not weep,
I am not dead, but only sleep.
I have left the world's delusive charms.
And gone to rest in Jesus' arms.
Erected in memory of Mr. Edward Dunn, who d. May 12, i8i6,
aged 56. Time was when, like thee, I life possessed.
And time will be when thou shalt rest
In memory of Mrs. Anna, w. of Mr. Edward Dunn, who d. Nov. 10,
1 83 1, aged 66. Time is winging us away
To our eternal home ;
Life is but a winter's day,
A journey to the tomb.
Wm. Dunn, d. Dec. 15, 1865, aged 78 years. Sally, w. of Wm.
Dunn, d. April 2, 1867, aged 73 yrs., 6 mos.

1873] INSCRIPTIONS. CENTRAL CEMETERY. 267
Nancy Mitchell, d. Mar. 31, 1867, aged 77 yrs., 6 mos.
Sacred to the memory of Lieut Paul Thorndike, who d. Nov. 9,
A. D. 1815, in the 74th year of his age.
Here lies the flesh unconscious, here confined,
But far, far distant dwells the immortal mind.
Erected in memory of Mrs. Olive Thorndike, who d. Apr. 23, 1816,
aged 67. Dry up your tears, surviving friends.
Weep not not for me, but for your sins ;
Die to the world, live unto God,
The grave will soon be your abode.
Jonathan Woodward, d. Dec. 24, 1840, aged loi yrs., 7 mos., &
13 dys. ^
The patriot is gone, his cares on earth are o'er ;
He lived to see one hundred yr's and raore.
His spirit is gone to Hira that gave it birth.
His body is left to moulder in the earth.
In memory of Mrs. Sarah, w. of Mr. Jonathan Woodward, who d. Feb.
28, 1829, aged 80.
Jonathan Woodward, Jr., died Nov. 7, 1848, aged 73.
Sally, w. of Jonathan Woodward, Jr., d. Oct. 24, i860, aged 83.
Leonard Parkhurst, d. July 17, 1861, aged 61 yrs.
He hath gone to Him who doeth all things well.
In memory of Mrs. Louisa, w. of Mr. Leonard Parkhurst, who d. Nov.
9, 1834, aged 21.
Frances M., only dau. of Thomas and Matilda Chaney, d. Jan. 31,
1845, aged 5 yrs. and 7 mos.
A daughter & a sister dear
Lies cold in death and slumber here.
Beloved, affectionate, and kind,
Now gone a home with Christ to find.
Matilda, w. of Thomas F. Chaney, d. March 15, 1847, aged 36.
In life she was gentle & happy & kind.
No sorrows nor doubts did her bosom in thrall,
In death she was calm & serene & resigned.
Still trusting in God as the Saviour of all.
Fanny P., w. of Thomas F. Chaney, d. June 2, i860, aged 41 yrs.
I have loved thee on earth.
May I meet thee in heaven,

268 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
John Blodgett, Esq., d. Apr. 29, 1847, aged 97.
It is the hope, the blissful hope.
Which Jesus' grace has given;
The hope, when days and years are past,
"We all shall meet in heaven.
A memorial of Mary, dau. of John & Mary Blodgett, who d. Nov. 23,
1841, aged 37 yrs. Yes, we hope thou art gone to rest
In the glorious realms above.
Where now like angels thou art blest
The object of eternal love.
Harriet, dau. of Betsey and Edmund Page, Esq., d. Jan. 4, 1845,
i%ed 22.
Mahala a., w. of G. T. Blodgett, d. Jan. 7, 1849, aged 25.
Abby M., w. of G. T. Blodgett, d. Apr. 9, i860, aged 29.
Mary A., dau. of G. T. & A. M. Blodgett, d. Sept. 2, i860, aged 3.
Col. Frederic Blodgett, d. Oct. 27, 1837, aged 62.,
Hannah, w. of Col. Frederic Blodgett, d. Oct. 8, 1857, aged 76.
The following list of deaths was copied from Dunstable
records by Temple Kendall, town clerk, and recopied by Miss
Hannah M. Parkhurst : —
John Woodward, d. July 18, 1753 ; John Steel, d. Aug. 18, 1760 ; Eben
ezer Parkhurst, d. June 13, 1757; Lt. John French, d. Mar. 15, 1761 ;
Hannah, w. of Ebenr. Kendall, d. Feb. 10, 1761 ; Sarah, w. of Ebenr.
French, d. May 22, 1767; Dea. Joseph Fletcher, d. July 17, 1784; Lt
Jona. Emerson, d. Nov. 11, 1785; Dea. Saml. Taylor, d. Oct. 23, 1792,
aet 85 ; Dr. Ebenr. Starr, d. Sept. 7, 1798 ; Widow Susannah Taylor, d.
Oct. 14, 1798 ; Widow Elizabeth Proctor, d. Jan. 12, 1799 ; Widow Sarah
SwaUow, d. Jan. 20, 1799; Timothy Read, d. Apr. 26, 1799, in his 86th
yr. ; Josiah Woodbury, d. May 14, 1799 ; Widow Deborah Whitemore, d.
Aug. 2. 1799 ; Betty, w. of Jonas French, d. Oct 8, 1799 ; Samuel Roby,
d. Nov. 3, 1799, in his 52d yr. ; Abraham KendaU, d. Nov. 14. 1799;
Miriam, w. of Moses Hardy, d. July 20, 1800; Hannah, w. of David
Taylor, d. Oct. 23, 1800, in her 82d j'r. ; Capt. Leonard Butterfield, d.
Nov. 17, 1800 ; Mary, w. of Capt PhiUp Butterfield, d. Jan. 16, 1801, in
her 43d year ; Lucy, w. of Capt. Joseph Fletcher, d. July 17, iSoi ; Sarah,
w. of Capt. Joel Cummings, d. Jan. 26, 1 802, aged 39 ; Elizabeth, w. of
Ebenr. Parkhurst, d. Oct. 8, 1801 ; Widow EUzabeth Fletcher, d. Nov.
23, 1802, in her 98th yr. ; Thos. Fletcher, d. Dec. 22, 1802, in his 65th
yr. ; Joseph Parkhurst, d. Jan. 31, 1803; Lt. Amaziah Swallow, d. Jan.
21, 1803 ; Elizabeth, w. of Jacob Kendall, d. Nov. 3, 1804 ; Josiah War
ren Blodgett, d. June 20, 1805 ; Josiah Blodgett, d. July 14, 1805 ; Widow

1873] RECORD OF DEATHS. 269
Jane KendaU, d. Apr. 29, 1806 ; Sarah, w. of Edward KendaU, d. Dec.
16, 1806 ; Capt. Saml. Stevens, d. Dec. 10, 1805 ; Widow Tabitha Stevens,
d. Mar. 16, 1807 ; Widow Catharine Cummings, d. Nov. 4, 1807 ; Ebenr.
French, d. Apr. 4, 1808 ; Widow AbigaU French, d. July 9, 1808 ; Betsy,
w. of James Taylor, d. Oct. i, 1808 ; Rebecca, w. of Nathl. Cummings,
d. Oct. 13, 1808; Joel Parkhurst, Esq., d. Nov. 10, 1808; Widow Susan
French, d. Dec. 27, 1808; John Kendall, d. Feb. 13, 1809; Jacob Ken
dall, d. Feb. 25, 1809 ; Caleb Woods, Jr., d. Mar. i, 1809 ; Widow Deb
orah Parkhurst, d. March 27, 1809 ; Henry Farwell Woods, d. Apr. 9,
1809; David Taylor, d. Dec. 15, 1809 ; Capt. Oliver Cummings, d. Aug.
15, 1 8 10, aged 83 ; Widow Rachel Fletcher, d. Oct. 10, 1810 ; Jemima,
widow of Josiah Blodgett, d. Nov. 24, 1810 ; Eleazer Read, d. Aug. 10,
181 1 ; Hannah, widow of John Kendall, d. April 30, 1812 ; Sarah, w. of
Moses Hardy, d. Aug. 9, 1812 ; EUzabeth, w. of Saml. Roby, d. Oct. 19,
1812 ; Benj. Marshall, d. Nov. 24, 1812 ; SybU, widow of Capt. Oliver
Cummings, d. Dec. 16, 1812.
[For the names of those who died in 1813 see page 166.]
Sarah, widow of Caleb Blood, d. Feb. 6, 1814; Moses Hardy, d. Apr.
9, 1814 ; Rebeckah, dau. of Josiah Cummings, d. Aug. 9, 1814 ; Abigail,
dau. of Joseph Parkhurst, d. Sept. 10, 1814 ; Silas Johnson, d. Oct. 8,
1814; Rev. Joshua Heywood, d. Nov. 11, 1814; George, s. of Isaac
Woods, d. Feb. 11, 1815 ; Amos, s. of Gershom Proctor, d. Apr. 27,
1815; Tamar, w. of Clark Parker, d. Oct. 5, 1815; Silas Blood, Jr., d.
Oct. 5, 1815, aged 28 yrs. & 7 mos. ; Lieut. Paul Thorndike, d. Nov. 9,
1815, aged 73 yrs. ; Sarah, w. of Lieut. Simeon Cummings, d. Nov. 17,
1815; Abijah, s. of Abijah SwaUow, d. Feb. 26, 1816, aged 2 mos.;
Sally, dau. of Lieut. Simeon Cummings, d. Feb. 29, 1816, aged 45 yrs. ;
Rebeckah, dau. of Caleb Blood, d. Mar. 24, 1816 ; Leonard Brown, a
State pauper, d. Mar. 26, 1816; Olive, widow of Lieut. Paul Thorn
dike, d. May i, 1816; Edward Dunn, d. May 12, 18 16, aged 56 yrs. ;
Jonathan, s. of Jonathan SwaUow, d. June 29, 1816 ; Rachel, w. of O.
Hartwell, d. July 11, 1816, aged 49 yrs.; Eunice, w. of Jonas Woods,
d. Sept. 27, 1816, aged 24 yrs. ; Esther, widow of Nathaniel Cummings,
d. Nov. 23, 1816, aged 49 yrs. ; Fanny, dau. of Joseph Parkhurst, d. Dec.
14, 1816, aged 30 yrs. ; Rebeckah, w. of Abijah Swallow, d. Jan. 14, 1817,
aged 22 yrs. 9 mos. ; OUve, widow of Capt Leonard Butterfield, d. Jan.
26, 1817; Dorothy Robbins, d. Feb. 5, 1817 ; Mary Dandridge, dau. of
John French, d. Feb 13, ,1817 ; Roxana, dau. of Jonathan Emerson, d.
Feb. 21, 1817; Betsy Robbins, d. June 22, 1817 ; Jonathan, s. of Peabody
Keyes, d. Oct — , 1818 ; Andrew Temple, s. of Temple KendaU, d. Dec.
21, 1818, aged 5 mos. ; AbigaU, w. of Lieut. Temple KendaU, d. June i,
1820, aged 85 yrs. ; Joanna, w. of Benj. Swallow, d. Nov. 22, 1820, aged
83 yrs. ; Benj. SwaUow, d. Jan. 11, 1821, aged 84 yrs. ; Leonard Park
hurst d. Mar. 28, 1821, aged 58 yrs. ; George Parker, s. of George
Wright, d. Apr. 16, 1821, aged 14 yrs. ; Lucy Damon, d. June 15, 1821,

270 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
aged 20 yrs ; Jesse Blood, d. Sept. 2, 1821 ; Nancy Hobbs, d. Oct 2,
1821 ; Emeline, dau. of Willard Robbins, d. Oct. 5, 1821, aged 8 yrs. ;
Elsie, dau of Davis Chapman, d. Jan. 25, 1822, aged 7 yrs. ; Lieut Temple
KendaU, d Mar. 6, 1822, in his 91st yr. ; Caleb Woods, d. Aug. 13, 1822,
in his 86th yr. ; Mary Ann, dau. of Jasper P. Proctor, d. Sept. 23, 1822 ;
Samuel, Howe, s. of Rev. Samuel H. Tolman, d. Sept 30, 1822; Rachel
Submit, dau. of Lieut. Francis Fletcher, d. Nov. 24, 1822 ; Elijah Robbins,
d. Dec. 1, 1822 ; Albert, s. of Elijah Robbins, d. Jan. 21, 1823 ; Hannah, w.
of Lieut. Francis Fletcher, d. Apr. 11. 1823 ; EUzabeth, widow of Benjamin
MarshaU, d. Aug. 13, 1823 ; Oliver Taylor, d. Oct 13, 1823, aged T] yrs. ;
Rebeckah, widow of Silas Johnson, d. Oct. 19, 1823 ; Jonas Jewett, s of
Jonas French, d. Oct. 21, 1823 ; Rhoda, widow of Ens. Samuel Fletcher,
d. Feb. 13, 1824, aged 54 ; Martha, w. of Jonas French, Jr., d. July 25,
1824 ; Rebeckah, dau. of Emerson Parker, d. Jan. 6, 1825, in her 3d yr. ;
Alice Powers, d. Feb. 13, 1825, aged 88 yrs. ; Lydia, widow of Abel
Spaulding, d. Mar. 10, 1825, aged 83 yrs.
The following record of births* in Dunstable was copied from
the books of the town by Temple Kendall, a former town
clerk : —
Children of Adford and Marget Jaquith : — Marget, b. Feb. 14,
1736; Mary, b. Nov. 25, '38; Sarah, b. May 11, '41 ; Abigail, b. Aug.
20, '43 ; John, b. May 4, '46 ; Adford, b. Oct 16, '48 ; Benjamin, Sept. 9,
'50; Hannah, b. Sept. 28, '52 ; Elizabeth, b. June 10, '55; Rebeccah, b.
May 5, '59.
Children of Ebenezer and Sarah Parkhurst : — Joseph, b. Aug.
30, 1724; Ebenezer, b. Jan. 20, '28 ; Sarah, b. Feb. 21, '30; Mary, b.
May 3, '33 ; Silas, b. Sept i, '37 ; Joel, b. Aug. 13, '41.
Children of Ebenezer and Sarah Butterfield: — Ebenezer, b.
Jan. 26, 1732 ; Samuel, b. Feb. 24, '38 ; Leonard, b. Nov. 17, '40 ; Jonas,
b. Sept. 12, '42 ; Sarah, b. June 23, '46 ; Mary, b. Oct. 3, '48 ; Jesse, b.
Apr. 28, '52 ; Philip, b. Oct 8, '57.
Children of Ebenezer. and Hannah Kendall : — Asa, b. Mar.
16, 173s; Ebenezer, b. Oct. 5, '36; Abraham, b. Feb. 17, '39; Hannah,
b. Oct 13, '41 ; Molly, b. Apr. 9, '44; Abraham, b. Nov. 29, '47 ; Wil
Uam, b. Oct. 9, '50 ; Hezekiah, b. Apr. 14, '53 ; Abraham, b. Apr. 12,
'56 ; Joseph Hasey, b. Dec. i, '59 ; Isaac, b. Jan. 29, '63.
Children of John and Mary French : — WiUiam, b. July 2, 1752 ;
Mary, b Mar. 21, '54 ; John, b. Oct. 25, '55 ; Jonas, b. Aug. 17, '57.
* The reader will notice the large number of children in the fiirailies, and will
naturally inquire why it is not so at present. Is the blood of the Pilgrims to
become extinct ?

i873l

BIRTHS IN DUNSTABLE.

271

.Children of Josiah and Jemima Blodgett: — Josiah, b- Nov.
28, 1737 ; WiUiam, b. Jan. 25, '38 ; Jonathan, b. May 16, '43 ; David, b.
Dec. 16, '44; Bridget, b. Dec. 31, '46 ; Jacob, b. Jan. 8, '48 ; John, b.
Feb. I, '50; Zebulon, b. Jan. 29, '53 ; Sarah, b. Apr. 13, '55 ; Lydia, b.
Oct I, '58 ; Jemima, b. Feb. 8, '60 ; WiUiam, b. March 3, '62 ; AbigaU,
b. Sept. 4, '64.

HOMESTEAU OF THE BLODGETT FAMILY.

Children of Josiah and Olive Blodgett : — Ezra, b. July 9, 1763 ;
Thaddeus, b. June 8, '67; Frederick, b. Oct. 17, '75 ; Josiah Warren, b.
Nov. 9, '79.
Children of Samuel and Susannah Taylor : — Samuel, b. Oct.
13, 1734 ; Reuben, b. Mar. 8, '36 ; Susannah, b. Nov. 28, '37 ; Jonas, b.
Nov. 30, '39 ; Lucy, b. Apr. 4, '42 ; Thaddeus, b. Apr. 10, '44 ; OUver,
b. June I, '46 ; Rachel, b. May 11, '48 ; Mary, b. Jan. 17, '49 ; Isaac, b.
June 13 '53 ; Samuel, b. Mar. 20, '56.
Children of Joseph and Deborah Parkhurst: — Sarah, b. May
14, 1753 ; Joseph, b. Apr. 16, '56 ; Mary, b. Aug. 21, '58; Ebenezer, b.
May 5, '61 ; Esther, b. Aug, 10, '64.
Children of Leonard and Joanna Butterfield : — Sarah, b. Feb.
26, 1768.
By his second wife, Olive :— Leonard, b. Feb. 28, 1772; OUve, b.
Apr. 19, 'Ti ; John, b. Dec. i, '76 ; Sarah, b. May 5, '79 ; Catharine, b.
Jan. 18, '81.
Children of John and Hannah Kendall : — Hannah, b. Aug. 29,

272 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
1747 ; John, b. Feb. 6, '49; the twins, b. and d. July 7, '50 ; Deborah, b.
May 13, 'SI ; Relief, b. May 9, '53; Zebedee, b. June 6, '55 ; AUce, b.
May 10, '57.
Children of David and Hannah Taylor : — Hannah, b. May 23,
1753 ; Sybil, b. Apr. 9, '55 ; Catharine, b. Sept 3, 'SI \ Olive, b. Nov. 9,
'60 ; Sarah, b. Jan. 9, '64.
Children of the Rev. Josiah and Elizabeth Goodhue : — Josiah,
b. Jan. 17, 1759; Joseph, b. Sept. 16, '62; Elizabeth, b. Apr. 5, '65;
Ebenezer, b. Aug. 12, '67 ; Samuel Bartlett, b. Feb. 22, '70.
Children of Temple and Abigail Kendall : — Abigail, b. Mar.
19, 1758 ; EUzabeth, b. Feb. 8, '60 ; Isaac, b. Jan. 9, '62 ; Zimri, b. Sept
20, '63 ; Nathaniel, b. Feb. 22, '66 ; Temple, b. May 28, '68 ; Rhoda, b.
Apr. 6, '70 ; Olive, b. Sept. 25, '72 ; Jeremiah, b. Aug. 28, '74 ; James, b.
Oct. 26, '78.
Children of Jacob and Elizabeth Kendall : — Jacob, b. March
30, 1762 ; Elizabeth, b.  ; Susannah, b.  ; Esther, b.  ; Ben
jamin, b.  ; Jonas, b. Sept. 16, 1772.
Children of Edward Kendall [brother of the above] and his w.
Sarah : —John, b. Feb. 5, 1763 ; Sarah, b. June 8, '65 ; Anna, b. Jan. 8,
'68 ; Josiah, b, Oct. 16, '69 ; Ezra, b. Mar. 14, '72 ; David, Oct 31, 'Tl ;
Deborah, b. Jan. 2, '76 ; Lucy, b. Mar. 12, '78.
Children of Elijah and Lucy Robbins : — Lucy, b. Sept 8, 1760 ;
Betsy, b. Sept 19, '61 ; Elijah, b. Aug. I, '63 ; Jotham, b. May 5, '65 ;
Willard, b. Mar. 9, '68 ; Henry, b. Oct 14, '71 ; Mary, b.  ; Khoda,
b. Sept II, '73.
Children of Asa and Sarah Kendall : — Sarah, b. Sept. 4, 1760 ;
Asa, b. May 27, '62 ; Catharine, b. Apr. 28, '64 ; Benjamin, b. Nov. 27,
'65 ; Mary, b. Dec. 29, '66 ; Pierpont, b.  ; Oliver, b.  ; Joseph,
b. Aug. 17, 1775.
Children of Thomas and Rachel Fletcher : — Thomas, b. Mar.
19,1762; Nathaniel, b. Feb. 5, '64 ; Rachel, b. Oct 28, '65 ; David, b.
Nov. 6, '67 ; EUzabeth, b. Nov. 8, '69 ; Rebeckah, b. Nov. 30, '71, d. Apr.
5, '85 ; Francis, b. July 27, '77, d. Oct. 7, '78 ; Rebeckah, b. Aug. 7, '79 ;
Patty, b.  26, '81 ; Francis, b.  ¦ 20, '88.
Children of Joel Parkhurst and wife Betty : — Leonard, b.
Aug. 4, 1763 ; WiUiam, b. Sept 12, '65 ; Betty, b. Jan. 21, '68 ; Catharine,
b. Mar. 14, '70 ; Lucy, b. Aug. 16, 'Ti; Rebeckah, b. Aug. 15, '75.
Children of Amaziah and Elizabeth Swallow : — EKzabeth, b.
May 18, 1760 ; Rebeckah, b. Dec. 4, '63, d. Aug. 17, '65 ; Ruth, b. July
22, '65 ; Asa, b. May I, '67 ; Rebeckah, b.  ; Abraham, b. Dec. 14,
'70 ; Deborah, b. Dec. 14, 'ii ; KendaU, b. Apr. 2, '75 ; Alary, b. Dec. 30,
'77. Child of Jonathan and Hannah Emerson : — Jonathan, b. Jan.
6, 1773-

1873] BIRTHS IN DUNSTABLE. 273
Children of Abel and Susannah Spaulding : — Joel, b. Dec. 13,
1761 ; Josiah, b. Feb. 27, '64.
By his wife Lydia : — Susannah, b. Oct. i, 1768; Lydia, b. Mar. 22,
'70 ; Sarah, b. June 19, '77 ; Tamer, b. Oct. 29, '79 ; Abel, b. Apr. 28, '83.
Child of Ebenezer and Sarah French : — Sarah, b. May 6,
1767 By his wife Susannah : — Charlotte, b. Aug. 13, 1774 ; John, b. Mar.
IS- '78.
Children of Peter and Prudence Swallow ; — Nahum, b. June
23, 1771 ; Prudence, b. July 26, '73 ; Larnard, b. July 30, 't^ ; Sarah, b.
Feb. 17, '80.
By his wife Sybil : — Archelaus, b. Jan. 10, 1784 ; James, b. Oct. 23,
'8s ; Lucy, b. Nov. 10, '87 ; Moody, b. Nov. s, '89 ; AbigaU, b. Aug. 19,
'92. Children of Ebenezer, Jr., and Sarah Proctor : — Molly, b.
Nov. 28, 1768 ; Cata, b. Apr. 26, '70 ; Sarah, b. Sept. 4, '71.
Children of Benjamin and Joanna Swallow: — David, b. Nov.
S, 1771 ; Joanna, b. Jan. 3, '75 ; Joanna, b. Sept. 22, '81.
Children of Jonas and Esther Butterfield : — Rebecca, b.
Oct I, 1768; Jonas, b. May 24, '73; Esther, b. Apr. 12, '78 ; John, b.
Apr. 16, '80.
Children of Robert and Jenny Dunn : — Mary, b. Sept. 25,
1772 ; Rachel, b. Apr. 11, '75.
Children of Samuel and Elizabeth Roby : — Samuel, b. Jan. 10,
1773; Joseph W., b. Oct 22, '74; Charles, b. Aug. 7, '82; Ralph, b.
Aug. 24, '85 ; John SwaUow, b. Apr. 2, '87 ; Reuel, b. Oct. 20, '88.
Children of Ebenezer and Elizabeth Butterfield : — EUza
beth, b. Jan. 20, 1763 ; Reuben, b. Dec. 29, '64 ; Joseph, b. July 10, '68 ;
Mary, b. Aug. 8, '70 ; Sarah, b. Sept 17, '72.
Children of Jonas and Mary Taylor: — Jonas, b.  ,  ;
Danforth, b. Oct 30, 1769 ; Mary, b. May 26, '73 ; AbigaU, b. Feb. 12,
'75 ; Abigail, b. May 30, '80 ; Jacob, b. Jan. 16, '83.
Children of Joseph Jr., and Cate Fletcher : — Molly Cumings,
b. Sept. is, 1775 I Isaac, b. Nov. 23, '84 ; EUzabeth Underwood, b. Feb.
24, 'go ; Caty, b. May 6, '92 ; Lucinda, b. Nov. 26, '95.
By his wife Abigail : — Joseph, b. Sept 14, 1798.
Children of Oliver and Bridget Taylor : — James, b. Nov. 2,
1767 ; Oliver, b. Aug. 9. '70 ; William, b. Sept. 22, '72 ; Susanna, b. July
14, '75 ; Rebekah, b. Feb. 20, '78 ; Josiah, b. March 5, '81 ; Cyrus, b.
Apr. I, '85.
By his wife Abigail : — William Richardson, b. June 13, 1796; Abi
gail, b. Jan. 20, '98.
Children of Joseph and Sybil Spaulding: — Benajah, b. July 3,
1766 ; Rhoda, b. June 22, '68 ; Squire, b. July 5, '71.
By his wife Agnes : — Squire, b. Oct 26, 1799.
18

274 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Children of Simeon and Sarah Cummings : — Simeon, b. Sept.
18, 1766; Jeremiah, b. Nov. 23, '68; Sarah, b. Feb. 20, '71 ; Elizabeth,
b. July 6, 'Ti ; Rachel, b. Oct. 10, '75 ; Polly, b. June 18, '78 ; Betty, b.
Dec. 9, '80 ; Rachel, b. Apr. 30, '83 ; Lydia, b. Mar. 21, '86 ; Asenath,
b. July 26, '88.
Children of Jonathan and Sarah Woodward : — Patty, b. Aug.
7, 1766 ; John, b. Sept. 25, '67 ; Sarah, b. Aug. 16, '69 ; Molly, b. Feb.
16, '73 ; Jonathan, b. Jan. I, '75 ; Timothy, b. Jan. 11, '80.
Children of Eleazer and Abigail French : — Abigaib b. Nov.
6, 1757 ; Jonathan, b. Mar. 12, '69.
Children of Timothy and Susannah Read : — Susannah, b. Dec.
20, 1761 ; SybU, b. Apr 6, '63 ; Timothy, b. Aug. 5, '65 ; Isaac, b. Mar.
23, '67 ; Mary, b. Oct. 14, '68 ; Rebeckah, b. Aug. 5, '70 ; Catharine, b.
Mar. 6, '73 ; WilUam, b. Jan. 30, '75 ; Sybil, b. Mar. 11, '81.
Children of Lemuel and Mary Perham : — Rebeckah, b. Feb.
23, 1760 ; EKzabeth, b. Oct. 8, '62 ; Lemuel, b. Oct. 7, '64 ; Silas, b. Feb.
10, '70; Rachel, b. Aug. 17, '71 ; Josiah, b. May i, '73.
Children of Dr. Ebenezer and Hannah Starr : — Rebecca, b.
June 8, 1777 ; James Blanchard, b. Nov. 27, '78 ; Ebenezer, b. Feb. 18,
'80 ; Hannah, b. Jan. 26, '82 ; John, b. Dec. 30, '83 ; Edward, b. July
29, '86.
Children of Moses and Miriam Hardy : — Betty, b. Aug. 20,
1771 ; Lydia, b.  ,  ; Job, b.  ,  ; Daniel, b. July 11^
'73 ; Jesse, b. Aug. 22, 'TT ; WUUam, b. Feb. 13, '80 ; Simeon, b. Aug. i,
'82 ; Hannah, b. June 28, '85 ; Polly, b. July 5, '87.
Children of Lt. Jonathan and Mary Emerson: — Lucinda, b.
Nov. 3, 1778 ; Polly, b. June ig, '80 ; Rachel, b. Oct 6, '81 ; AUen, b.
Apr. ig, '82 ; Jonathan, b. Sept. 29, '84.
Children of Philip and Mary Butterfield : — Philip, b. Feb.
25, 1779; Polly, b. Apr. 17, '82; Ebenezer, b. Aug. 18, '86; Joseph
Parkhurst, b. Apr. 21, '89 ; Asenath, b. June 28, '90 ; Rhoda, b. Apr. 27,
'93 ; James, b. Jan. 29, '96 ; Frederick, b. Apr. 23, 'gg.
Children of Eleazer and Rachel Read : — Rachel, b. June 4,
1770; Rhoda, b. Nov. 26, '72 ; Caleb, b. Aug. 7, '75 ; Leonard, b. Apr. 4,
'tt \ Rebecca, b. Mar. 5. '79 ; Betty, b. Dec. — ,  .
Children of Samuel, Jr., and Ruth Taylor : — Ruth, b. May 17.
1779, d. July 4, 1779; Ruth, b. June 27, '80; Elizabeth, b. Feb. 8, '83 ;
Edee, b. Apr. 19, '85 ; Rhoda, b. Aug. 25. '87 ; Samuel, b. Feb. 16, '90 ;
William, b July 23, '92 ; Luther, b, July 18,  .
Children of Jonathan and Lucy Fletcher : — Elizabeth ; Leon
ard ; Jonathan; Sarah; Samuel; William, b. Aug. 29, 1772; Lucy, b.
Aug. 30, '74; Susannah, b. June 6, 'j6 ; Joseph, b. Nov. 7, '77.
Children of Gershom and Sarah Proctor : — Sarah, b. June 27,
1782; Gershom, b. Sept. 9, '83, d. Oct. i same year; Abigail, b. Mar. 6,
'8s ; John, b. Jan. 22, '87 ; Gershom, b. Oct 15, '88.

1873] BIRTHS IN DUNSTABLE. 275
By wife Polly : — Amos, b. July 16, 1793 ; WilUam, b. Oct 13, '95 ;
Rhoda, b Jan. 30, '98 ; Mary, b. Nov. 14, 1804.
Children of Capt. Oliver and Sybil Cummings :— OUver, b.
July 12, 1757 ; James, b. May 26, '59 ; Josiah, b. Jan. 12, '63 ; Nathaniel,
b. June 20, '67 ; Sybil, b. Aug. 14, '73.
Child of Lt. John and Susannah Cheney : — Luther, b. July 7,
1775. By Elizabeth, second wife : — Sarah, b. Feb. 25, 1778; Rebecca, b
Apr. 3. '79 ; Isaac, b. Sept. 23, '80 ; AbigaU, b. Aug 6, '82.
By Elizabeth, third wife :— Betsey, b. Oct 31, 1790; Kendall, b.
May 16, 'g2 ; Rhoda, b. Dec. 17, 1800.
Children of Abraham and Anna Swallow: — Rhoda, b. Sept.
30, i7gi ; Abraham, b. Jan. 19, '95 ; Mary, b. May 20, '97; Calvin, b.
Apr. 20, '99; Luther, b. May 18, 1801 ; Sarah, b. Aug. 31, '03.
Children of John and Huldah Ingalls : — John, b. June 8,
1774 ; Mary, b. July 15, '76 ; Joseph, b. Apr. i, '78.
By wife Abigail : — Eleazer French, b. Nov. 30, 1782 ; Joel, b. Sept.
27, '84 ; Daniel, b. Oct. 6, '88; James, b. July 6, 'gi ; Sarah, b. Nov. 13,
'93. Children of Zebedee and Molly Kendall : — Zebedee, b. Nov.
24, 1780 ; Samuel, b. Feb. 2, '82 ; Abraham, b. Jan. 12, '84 ; Molly, b.
Oct 17, '85 ; George Minot, b Sept 24, '87 ; Amos, b. Aug. 16, '8g ;
John, b. Nov. 3, 'gi ; Hannah, b. Dec. 30, 'g3 ; Isaac, b. Nov. 25, 'gs ;
Sarah, b. Jan. 25, 'g8 ; Isaac, b. Aug. 13, '99 ; Timothy, b. July 16, 1802.
Children of Dr. Micah and Sally (Buttrick) Eldredge : —
Hezekiah, b. (in Princeton) Feb. 6, 1798 ; Sally, b. (in Dunstable) June i,
1800 ; Almira, b. Feb. 17, '02 ; Erasmus Darwin, b. Mar. 10, '04 ; Horace
Whiton, b. Dec. ig, '05 ; Olney, b. Nov. 12, '07 ; Frederic Augustus, b.
Mar. 25, '10; Clifton Buttrick, b. Apr. 20, '12 ; Micah Rhodolphus, b.
July 16, '15 ; Mary Abigail, b. June 13, '18 ; Lucius Owen, b. Mar. 20,
'20 ; Wilburn Franillo, b. Nov. 17, '22.
Children of Rev. Samuel H and Rachel Tolman : — EUzabeth
Damon, b. Aug. 13, 1820 ; Samuel H., b. July 28, '22 ; Lucy Damon, b.
Mar. 13, '24 ; Samuel H., b. Aug. 21, '26.
Children of Jasper Pope and Mary Proctor: — Josiah Cum
mings, b. Aug. 9, 1817 ; Jasper Pope, b. June 4, 'ig ; Mary Ann, b. Nov.
8, '21 ; Dexter Putnam, b. Apr. 14, '24 ; Henry Oratius, b. Jan. 7, '28.
Children of the Rev. Levi and Mary Brigham: — EUza Cath
arine, b. Feb. — , i83g ; Mary Louisa, b. June 25, '40 ; Edward Dexter, b.
Oct. 4, '41 ; Abby Ann, b. Oct. 13, '44.
Children of Ebenezer and Elizabeth Proctor : — John, b. July
14, 1748 ; Jonathan, b. Mar. 15, '51 ; Gershom, b. Dec. 3, '53.
Children of Jeremiah and Mary Cummings : ^ Mary, b. Nov.
16, 1760; Jeremiah, b. Oct 17, '6g.
Children of Peter and Prudence Swallow. — Nahum, b. June

276 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
23. 1771 ; Prudence, b. July 26, '73 ; Larnard, b. July 30, '75 ; Larnard,
b. June 18, '77 ; Sarah, b. Feb. 17, '80.
By his wife Sybil : — Archelaus, b. Jan. 10, 1784; James, b. Oct. 23,
'85 ; Lucy, b. Nov. 10, '87 ; Moody, b. Nov 5, '89 ; Abijah. b. Aug. 19, '92.
Children of Isaac and Sarah Taylor : — Sarah, b. Aug. 22,
1777 ; Isaac, b. May 19, '80 ; Deborah, b. May 13, '83 ; Lucy, b. Oct 19,
'86 ; Lydia, b. Apr. 23, '89.
Children of Phinehas and Anna Fletcher: — Anna, b. Oct
29, 1784 ; Sewall, b Oct ig, '86 ; Mark, b. Aug. 19, '88 ; Mark, b. Sept.
14, 'go ; Betsy, b. Oct. 2, 'g2 ; Chariotte, b May 19, '94-
By his wife Alice : — Indiane, b. Dec. 13, 1796 ; Sally Ames, b. Oct.
15, '98 ; Sally Ames, b. Nov. 2, '99 ; Lucy, b. Sept 18, 1801 ; Jane, b.
Mar. 12, '04.
Children of Jonas and Betty French : — Polly, b. Mar. 14,
1781 ; Jonas, b. Aug. 12, '82 ; WilUam, b. June 5, '89 ; John, b. Mar. 9, '95.
Children of Capt. Josiah and Sarah Cummings : — Sally, b.
Nov. 25, 1785 ; Olive, b. Aug. 20, '97 ; Josiah Taylor, b. Dec. 29, 1801.
Child of Edward and Anna Dunn: — WiUiam, b. Mar. 5, 1787.
Children of Ens. James and Charlotte Cum.mings : — James,
b. Jan. 26, 1780 ; Charlotte, b. May 13, '83 ; Israel Whitney, July 25, '85 ;
Polly, b. Sept 18, '87-
By his wife Sarah : —
SaUy, b. Aug. 16, 1789 ; Isaac, b. Mar. 3, '91 ; Betsey, b. Apr. 16, 'g3 ;
Lucinda, b. Jan. 28, 'gs ; Rhoda, b. Nov. 23, '96 ; SybU, b, June 20, '98 ;
OKver, b. Feb. 6, 1801 ; Loraine, b. Nov. 17, '02; Allen, b. Oct. 18. '04.
Children of Jonathan and Rebeckah Proctor : — Jonathan, b.
Nov. 22, 1785 ; Rebeckah, b. Feb. 6, '90 ; Jasper Pope, b. Feb. 28, 'g3.
Children of Leonard and Hannah Parkhurst : — Betty Cu
mings, b. Nov. 10, lygi ; Henry, b. June 17. '93 ; Sophy, b. Mar. 5, '95 ;
John, b. Dec. 4, 'g6 ; Hannah, b. Aug. i, 'g8 ; Leonard, b. June 16, 1800 ;
Sally, b. July 3, '02 ; Rebecca, b. May 18, '04 ; Catharine, b. Feb. 2, '07.
Children of Lieut. Zebulon and Mary Blodgett : — Zebulon,
b. Nov. 2, 1797 ; Mary. b. July 9, 1800.
Children of Joseph and Catharine Parkhurst : — Kate, b. Mar.
24, I77g; Hannah, b. Oct 16, '80; Rhoda, b. Jan 12, '83 ; Silas, b. Oct
2, '84; Fanny, b. July 30, '86; Sally, b. Feb. 8, '8g ; SybU, b. Sept 11,
'91 ; Rebekah, b. Apr. 7, '94.
Children of the second wife, Sybil : — Abigail, b. July 21, 1801 ; PoUy,
b. Nov. 3, '02 ; Deborah, b. — ,  .
Children of Temple and Prudence Kendall: — Peter, b. Oct
14, 1793; Rebeckah, b. Dec. 10, '95 ; Charles, b. Dec. 11, '97; AbigaU,
b Mar. 31, 1800; Prudence, b. May 26, '02; Isaac, b. Sept. 22, '04;
James, b. Oct. 2, '06; Sarah, b. Aug. 18, '08 ; Madison, b. luly 30, '10;
Cummings and Stiles (twins), b. Sept 21, '12 ; Rhoda, b. Mar. 10, '14;
Lavina, b. Nov. 6, '15 ; Andrew Temple, b. July 21, '18.

1873] BIKTHS IN DUNSTABLE. 277
Children of Jonas and Hannah Taylor : —Hannah, b. Mar. 20
1797 ; Frederick, b Nov. 12, '98 ; Hannah, b. June 18, 1800 ; Jefferson, b.'
Jan. II, '02 ; Roxana, b. May 10, '04.
Children of Silas and Rebeckah Johnson : — Ephraim, b. Apr. 22,
1790 ; Lucy, b. Sept. 14, '91 ; Abel, b. Nov. i, '93 ; Jesse, b. May 3, '97.
Children of Ens. Samuel and Rhoda Fletcher : — Rhoda, b.
Dec 24, 1796 ; James KendaU, b. Nov. 2, 'gg ; Susanna, b. Apr. 3, i8og.
Children of Peter and Sarah Blood : — Sarah, b. Mar. 7, i7gi ;
Jesse, b. Jan. 13, 'g3 ; James, b. Feb. 3, 95 ; Levi, b. Oct 30, '97 ; Luther,
b. Feb. 3, 1 80 1 ; Susan, b. Oct. 4, '04 ; EU, b. Apr. 24, '08.
Children of Capt. Jonas and Olive Kendall : — Susanna, b.
Apr. IS, 1797; Chiles, b. Dec. 2g, 'g8 ; Olive Catharine Butterfield, b.
Sept. 4, 1 80 1 ; Jonas, b. Feb. 5, '04 ; Sarah, b. March 10, '06 ; EUzabeth,
b. Sept I, '07 ; Elmna. b. Feb. 2, '11 ; Amanda, b. Feb. 8, '14.
Children of Caleb and Abigail Woods: — Henry, b. June 8,
i7go ; Nabby, b. Apr. 4, 'g2 ; Hannah, b. Jan. 24, 'g4 ; Jeptha, b. in
Groton, Mar. 25, 'g6; Matilda, b. in Groton, Feb. 27, 'g8; Deborah, b. in
Dunstable, Nov. 14, 1801 ; Maria, b. Aug. 14, '03 ; Rebecca, b. Aug.
25, '07 ; Caleb, b. Oct. 16. '09.
Children of Jonathan and Jemima Swallow : — AKce ; Lucinda;
Jonathan, b. Feb. 18, 1793 ; Clarinda, b. June 18, '95 ; Sophrona, b. Jan.
30, '99; John Wilson, b. Apr. 18, 1803; Sarah, b. Sept 3, '06.
Children of Asa and Susanna Swallow: — Kendall, b. June 14,
1792 ; Susanna, b. Sept 23, '94 ; Asa, b. Apr. 3, '96; Laura, b. July 25,
'98 ; Ruel, b. Oct. 11. 1801 ; Bera, b. Apr. 10, '06; Maria, b. Jan. 6, '11.
Children of Leonard and Mary Butterfield: — Polly, b. Oct.
3, 1797 ; Leonard, b. Mar. 4, 'gg; Asa, b. Aug. 7, 1801; Sarah and Abi
gail (twins), b. Mar. 2, '05; Catharine, b. Mar. 4, '09.
Children of Elijah and Rebeckah Robbins: — Elijah, b. July
31, 1791; Henry, b. Sept. 25, '93; Larnard, b. Mar. 10, '96; Emerson, b.
July 17, '97; Parlin, b. Apr. 21, 1802; Damaris Powers, b. Sept ig, '05;
Desire, b. June 18, '07; Damaris Powers, b. Dec. g, '08; Albert, b. Dec.
19, '10; Desire Rhoda, b. Apr. 16, '14.
Children of Eber and Sarah Blood: — Adah, b. Mar. 9, 1793;
Isaac, b. Nov. 24, '94, d. Dec. 25, '94; Nancy, b. June 5, '97; Ralph, b.
Nov. 13, '99; Allen, b. Jan. ig, 1803; Lucy, b. Dec. 22, '06; EUzabeth, b.
May 2g. 'og; Rufus, b. June 28, '11, d. Aug. 13, '2g, aged 18.
Children of Henry and Mary Blood: — Henry, b. May g, 1793,
d. July 19, '93; Mary, b. Mar. 24, 'g6; Henry, b. Oct. 11, '98; Charles, b.
Nov. 20, 1802; Betsy, b. Jan. i, '05; Miles, b. Dec, 2, '07.
Children of Caleb and Sarah Read : — Calvin, b. Jan. 20, 1798 ;
James, b. March 30, 'gg; Rachel, b. Mar. 30, 1801.
Children of Ebenezer and Elizabeth Parkhurst : — Ebenezer,
b. Feb. 12, 1788; Benajah, b. Sept 14, 'g4 ; Jacob, b. Aug. 30, '96;
Americas, b. Apr. 17, 'gg.

278 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873

CHAPTER XV.
Letters. — What a New England Town is. — How Dunstable was
FORMED. — Early Settlers. — Manners and Customs. — Modes of
Living. — Population. — Action affer Division. — Heroism. — Love
well's Fight. — Independence. — Troops raised. — Civil War. — ¦
Town Matters — Religious Teaching. — Distinguishhd Men. — Amos
Kendall. — Conclusion.
" History, to be instructive, must not only narrate events, but state the
causes which produced them. Our stock of wisdom is not materially
increased by being told that an event transpired, but when we are made
acquainted with the causes which brought it about, we have acquired val
uable information, and from this knowledge of the past we can reason
with tolerable certainty to the future." Charles Hudson.
" Gone are those great and good
Who here in peril stood.
And raised their hymn.
Peace to the reverend dead !
The light that on their head
Two hundred years have shed
Shall ne'er grow dim." — John Pierpont.
correspondence in respect TO THE BI-CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
Dunstable, Mass., Oct 23, 1S73.
Hon. Geo. B. Loring,
President of the Senate of Mass. .-
Dear Sir, — Will you favor us for publication with a copy of your address
at the bi-centennial celebration of the incorporation of our town ? By so
doing you will confer a favor, as it is the unanimous expressed wish of
the inhabitants of the town that it be published.
Very truly your obt. svt.,
Josiah C. Proctor,
For and in behalf of the
Committee of Arrangements.
Massachusetts Senate, President's Room,
Boston, April iS, 1S74.
My dear Sir, — It gives me pleasure to furnish you with a copy of my
address at the bi-centennial celebration of die incorporation of the town

1873]

BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION.

279

of Dunstable. The occasion will long be remembered by me as a manifes
tation of the veneration in which the people of the town of Dunstable
hold their pious and heroic ancestors. Truly yours, etc., Geo. B. Loring.
Josiah C. Proctor, Esq.,
Chairman of Com., Dunstable, Mass.

oration of hon. george b. loring, sept. 17, 1873.
My Friends and Fellow-Citizens : —
I have accepted your invitation to dehver this address on the occasion
of the second centennial anniversary of the settlement of your town, with
great reluctance and many misgivings. I cannot expect to share with you
all those hallowed memories which spring up in your minds and warm
your hearts, whose homes are on this spot, whose ancestors repose
beneath this sod, whose hearthstones are here, whose eyes have beheld
the domestic scenes and whose hearts have felt the joys and sorrows
which make up the story you would most gladly hear to-day. To you
who enjoy this spot as home, the church, this village green, these farm
houses, every field and wooded hill, the highway and the by-path, the

28o HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
valley and the brook, all tell a tale of tender interest, to you who remember
the events of childhood here, to you who to-day return from long wander
ings, to you who have remained and have brought this municipality on to
an honorable era in its history, to you who turn aside to Unger over the
grave of a beloved parent, and to you who still pause and drop a tear on
that little mound where your child has lain so long and from which,
through all the years that have passed since it left you, its sweet voice
has been heard, reminding you of your duty in this world and assuring
you of the peace and joy of the world to come. To me, indeed, the
domestic record of this town, the most sacred record to you, is, as it were,
a sealed volume, open only to my gaze as a member of the same human
family with yourselves, and as one feeling that common sympathy which
binds, as with a silver cord, all the sons of God into one great brother
hood. While, therefore, I cannot intrude upon the sacredness of your
firesides, nor claim a seat in your domestic circle, nor expect to be admitted
within the railing of your altar, I can call to your minds those events in
the history of your town which have established its intimate relations
with that interesting experiment of society and State which has been
worked out on this continent during the last two hundred years.
WHAT A NEW ENGLAND TOWN IS.
In celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of a New England town,
the peculiar and extraordinary nature of a civil organization of this kind
should not be forgotten, especially by those who enjoy the high privileges
which belong to it. To many nationalities and peoples a town means
nothing more than a cluster of houses surrounded by a wall and fortified,
or the realm of a constable, or the seat of a church ; but to us in New
England the town was in the beginning, as it is now, the primary organi
zation, sovereign in itself. " The colonists had no sooner formed a settle
ment, and erected their cabins in convenient proximity to each other,
than they organized themselves into a town, an independent municipality,
in which every citizen had a voice and a vote." The first duty of these
organizations, in the minds of our fathers, was the estabUshment of a
church ; and the erection of a meeting-house and a school-house received
their earliest care and attention. It is remarkable and interesting to see
how, in the little municipaUties of New England, all the rights of citizen
ship were cherished, and how silently and unostentatiously all the elements
of a free state were fixed and developed. Starting away from the original
colonies, they planted themselves in the wilderness, and assumed at once
the duty of independent organizations. Their citizens, in town meeting
assembled, had the control of all matters relating to their civil and criminal
jurisdiction. " In the New England colonies the towns were combined
in counties long after their establishment and representation as towns ;
so that the county here was a collection of towns, rather than the town a
subdivision of a county." This system of town organization is maintained

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 28 1
throughout New England to the present day, constituting one of the most
interesting features of the civil polity of this section of our country, Says
Barry, in his " History of Massachusetts," " Each (town) sustained a
relation to the whole, analogous to that which the States of our Union
hold respectively to the central power, or the Constitution of the United
States." Says Palfrey, in his " History of New England," " With some
thing of the same propriety with which the nation may be said to be a
confederacy of republics caUed States, each New England State may be
described as a confederacy of minor republics caUed towns." Neither in
New York, with its great landed properties, at first held and occupied by
a kind of feudal tenure, and afterwards with its counties ; nor in the
Western States, where the town survey carries with it no local political
authority ; nor in the South, where the county organization is the one
which governs local matters, can be found that form of self-government
which gives to the New England towns their individuaKty, and which has
enabled them to enroll their names on the brightest pages of American
history. How, in tbe olden time, they cherished the church and built the
meeting-house ; how they fostered education and erected.the school-house ;
how they selected their wisest and bravest men for the public councils ;
how they resolved for freedom in open town-meeting ; how they hurled
defiance at the oppressor, and sprang up, an army of defiant communities,
each one feeling its responsibility, and ready and anxious to assume it !
Would you study the valor of your country in its earlier days ? Go to the
town records of New England. Would you learn where the leaders and
statesmen were taught their lesson of independence and nationality? Read
the recorded resolves of the New England towns. The origin and orga
nization of these New England towns were by no means uniform. In
some instances tbey were founded immediately on the landing of the
colonists, out of lands conferred upon them b}' their charter. In other
instances they were made up by grants of land to an offshoot from the
parent colony, whose enterprise consisted in organizing a new town. In
other instances grants of land were made from time to time to individuals
and corporations for farms and other purposes, which grants were after
wards consolidated into townships. In this last manner grew up that large
town organization known as Dunstable. It occupied one of the most
beautiful sections of New England. " To the great Indian tribes the
Merrimack and Nashua Rivers were as weU known as they are to us.
From the great lake of New Hampshire to the sea ran for them the strong
and flashing river, whose waters abounded with fish of the best variety,
and whose banks were diversified with warm and sunny slopes, fertile
valleys, and tree-crowned hills.
" To the white explorers these lands presented great attractions ; and
so in 1659 and 1660, and on to 1673, grants of land were made in these
regions from time to time to the explorers Davis and Johnson, to Mrs.
Anna Lane, to John Wilson, to the town of Charlestown for a ' School

282 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
Farm,' to John Whiting, to Phinehas Pratt and others, to Gov. Endecott,
to Henry Kimball, to Samuel Scarlett, to Joseph and Thomas Wheeler, to
the ' Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston,' and to others
of less chivalry and less note. It was the proprietors of these farms and
others disposed to settle here, who, in September, 1673, presented a
petition to the General Assembly that they might be ' in a way for the
support of the public ordinances of God,' for without which the greatest
part of the year they will be deprived of, the farms lying so far remote
from any towns." The petition was granted upon the conditions which
were then universally inserted in the charters, viz., "that the grantees
should settle the plantation, procure a minister within three years, and
reserve a farm for the use of the colony."
HOW DUNSTABLE WAS FORMED.
The township of Dunstable, thus chartered, embraced a very large
tract, probably more than two hundred square miles, including the towns
of Nashua, NashviUe, Hudson, HoUis, Dunstable, and Tyngsborough,
besides portions of the towns of Amherst, Milford, Merrimac, Litchfield,
Londonderry, Pelham, Brookline, Pepperell, and Townsend, and formed
a part of the county of Middlesex. It extended ten or twelve mUes
west of Merrimack River, and from three to five miles east of it,
and its average length north and south was from twelve to fourteen
miles. The present city of Nashua occupies very nearly the centre
of the original township. In 1674, because there was " very Uttle medo
left except what is already granted to the ffarmers," the easterly Une
of the township was extended to Beaver Brook by an additional grant
from the General Court, and the town was called Dunstable It received
its name in compliment to Mrs. Mary Tyng, wife of Hon. Edward
Tyng, one of the magistrates of the commonwealth of Massachusetts,
who came from Dunstable, England. This extensive tract of land, thus
incorporated and thus named, has been subjected to many divisions.
In 1731 the inhabitants on the east side of the river petitioned to be set
off, which petition was granted, and a new town was created by the As
sembly of Massachusetts, called Nottingham. In 1733 a part of the town
lying west of Merrimack River was incorporated into a township by the
name of Rumford, but soon after was caUed Merrimac. In 1734 Litch
field was set off and incorporated, because the inhabitants there had, as
they said, "supported a minister for some time." In 1736 HoUis was set
off from Dunstable ; and in 1734 Amherst was settled and incorporated-
In 1732 Townsend was incorporated, taking in the southerly part of the
town, including PeppereU. Thus township after township had become
parceUed out from the original body of "old Dunstable," untU in 1740
the broad and goodly plantation was reduced to that portion only which is
now embraced within the Umits of Nashua and NashviUe, Tyngsborough
and Dunstable. At length the boundary line between New Hampshire

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 283
and Massachusetts was established in 1741, severing Dunstable very
nearly in the middle, and leaving the town of Nashua within the Umits of
New Hampshire. To the township of Dunstable in Massachusetts, where
we are now assembled, have since been added portions of the town of
Groton, the first portion having been set off Feb. 25, 1793, and the second
Feb. 15, 1820, for the convenience of the inhabitants, and that the bound
ary lines might be straightened. EARLY settlers.
Among the original proprietors of this land we find the names of many
of the leading men in the colony, some of whom, with the children and
friends of others, removed here and took up their abode at an early period.
Of this number we find Governor Dudley, who married a daughter of Hon.
Edward Tyng, of this town ; Rev. Thomas Weld, who was the first min
ister, and married another daughter ; Thomas Brattle, Peter Bulkely,
Hezekiah Usher, Elisha Hutchinson, Francis Cook, and others who were
assistants and magistrates. Many of the first settlers belonged to Boston
and its vicinity, a circumstance which gave strength and influence to the
infant plantation. EARLY manners AND CUSTOMS.
Of the motives and manners and customs of those who founded this
town let me here say a word. They formed a part of that large body of
Dissenters, who, under various names, came to New England and settled
the colomes of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. They came, it is true,
to enjoy religious freedom, but they also sought a civil organization,
founded upon the right of every man to a voice in the government under
which he lives. In the charters of aU the towns granted by the General
Court, it was provided that the grantees were " to procure and maintain an
able and orthodox minister amongst them,'' and to build a meeting-house
within three years. " This was their motive. In aU their customs they were
obliged to exercise the utmost simplicity, and they voluntarily regulated
their conduct by those formal rules which, in their day, constituted the
Puritan's guide through the world. We are told, as an iUustration of their
character and manners, that by the laws of the colony in 165 1, '• dancing
at weddings " was forbidden. In 1660 WiUiam Walker was imprisoned a
month "for courting a maid without the leave of her parents." In 1675,
because "there is manifest pride appearing in our streets," the wearing of
" long hair or periwigs," and also " superstitious ribands " used to tie up and
decorate the hair, were forbidden under severe penalties ; men, too, were
forbidden to " keep Christmas," because it was a " Popish custom." In
1677 an act was passed to prevent " the profaneness " of "turning the back
upon the public worship before it is finished and the blessing pronounced."
Towns were directed to erect " a cage " near the meeting-house, and in
this aU offenders against the sanctity of the Sabbath were confined.

284 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
At the same time children were directed to be placed in a particular
part of the meeting-house, apart by themselves, and tithing-men were
ordered to be chosen, whose duty it should be to take care of them. So
strict were they in their observance of the Sabbath, that John Atherton,
a soldier of Col. Tyng's company, was fined by him forty shilUngs for
" wetting a piece of an old hat to put into his shoes," which chafed his feet
upon the march ; and those who neglected to attend meeting for three
months were pubUcly whipped. Even in Harvard College students were
whipped for grave offences in the chapel in the presence of students and
professors, and prayers were had before and after the infliction of the
punishment. As the settlers of Dunstable are described in the petition as
" of soberly and orderly conversation,'' we may suppose that these laws
and customs were rigidly enforced. MODES OF LIVING.
Perhaps a word upon the subsistence and diet of your ancestors may
interest you here. Palfrey tells us that " in the early days of New England
wheaten bread was not so uncommon as it afterwards became," but its
place was largely supplied b)' preparations of Indian corn A mixture of
two parts of the meal of this grain with one part of rye has continued,
until far into the present century, to furnish the bread of the great body
of the people. In the beginning there was but a sparing consumption of
butcher's meat The multiplication of flocks for their wool, and of herds
for draught and for milk, was an important care, and they generally bore
a high money value. Game and fish to a considerable extent supplied
the want of animal food. Next to these, swine and poultry, fowls, ducks,
geese, and turkeys, were in common use earlier than other kinds of flesh
meat. The New-Englander of the present time, who, in whatever rank of
life, would be at a loss without his tea or coffee twice at least in every
day, pities the hardships of his ancestors, who almost universally, for a
century and a half, made their morning and evening repast on boiled
Indian meal and milk, or a porridge, or a broth made of pease or beans
and flavored by being boiled with salted beef or pork. Beer, however,
which was brewed in famiUes, was accounted a necessary of life, and the
orchards soon yielded a bountiful supply of cider. Wine and rum found
a ready market as soon as they were brought from abroad ; and tobacco
and legislation had a long conflict, in which the latter at last gave way.
POPULATION.
It is difficult to reaUze how feeble and few were the colonists at the
time when this town was passing out of its confederation of farms into an
organized corporation. There were then probably " in New England
from forty thousand to forty-five thousand English people. Of this num
ber twenty-five thousand may have belonged to JMassachusetts, ten thou
sand to Connecticut, as newly constituted, five thousand to Plymouth, and

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 285
three thousand to Rhode Island. They inhabited ninety towns, of which
four were in Rhode Island, twelve in Pl3-mouth, twenty-two in Connec
ticut, and the rest in Massachusetts. . . . Connecticut, according to
the account sent home by the royal commissioners, had many scattering
towns not worthy of their names, and a scholar to their minister in every
town or village. In Rhode Island, they said, were the best EngUsh grass
and most sheep, the ground very fruitful, ewes bringing ordinarily two
lambs, corn yielding eighty for one, and in some places they had had corn
twenty-six years together without manuring. In this province only they
had not any places set apart for the worship of God ; there being so many
subdivided sects they could not agree to meet together in one place, but,
according to their several judgments, they sometimes associated in one
house, sometimes in another. In Plymouth it was the practice to persuade
men, sometimes to compel them, to be freemen, — so far were they from
hindering any. They had about twelve small towns, one saw-mill for
boards, one bloomary for iron, neither good river nor good harbor, nor
any place of strength ; they were so poor they were unable to maintain
scholars to their ministry, but were necessitated to make use of a gifted
brother in some places. The commodities of Massachusetts were fish,
which was sent into France, Spain, and the Straits, pipe-staves, masts,
fir boards, some pitch and tar, pork, beef, horses, and corn, which they sent
to Virginia, Barbadoes, etc., and took tobacco and sugar for payment, which
they often sent for England. There was good store of iron made in the
province. ' In the Piscataqua towns were excellent masts gotten, . . .
and upon the river were above twenty saw-mills, and there were great
stores of pipe-staves made and great store of good timber spoiled. In
Maine there were but few towns, and those much scattered ; they were
rather farms than towns. In the Duke of York's province beyond the
Kennebec there were three small plantations, the biggest of which had
not above thirty houses in it, and those very mean ones too, and spread
over eight miles at least. Those people were, for the most part, fisher
men, and never had any government among them ; most of them were
such as had fled hither to avoid justice. In Boston, the principal town
of the country, the houses were generaUy wooden, the streets crooked,
with little decency and no uniformity ; and there neither months, days,
seasons of the year, churches, nor rivers were known by their English
names. At Cambridge they had a wooden coUege, and in the yard a
brick pile of two bayes for the Indians, where the commissioners saw but
one. They said they had three more at school. It might be feared this
college might afford as many schismatics to the church and the corpora
tion as many rebels to the king, as formerly they had done if not timely
prevented."

286 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873

ACTION OF THE TOWN AFTER THE DIVISION OF MASSACHUSETTS AND
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
The division of the original township and the adjustment of the bound
ary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire by no means removed
all the difficulties which had attended the course of the town thus far.
On the 1 2th of March, 1743, a town meeting was held at the house of
Ebenezer Kendall, not only " to raise money to defray yc charges of said
town, and to support ye Gospell," but also " to choose a committee to
treat with a committee in the District of Dunstable, if they choose one,
to examine the debts and credit of y= town and to know how they stood
before the line was run between ys Province of Massachusetts Bay and
New Hampshire." Deacon John Taylor, Ebenezer Parkhurst, and Capt.
John Cummings were the committee A large part of the business of the
town for several years, at the time I refer to, consisted in running lines.
and endeavoring to adjust the debts and claims, interspersed with debates
upon building meeting-houses and laying out burying-grounds. Now and
then a young and ambitious community, which had started off and set
up on its own account, expressed a desire to return to the old roof-tree;
and it was found necessary to vote, in 1743, not to annex Nottingham,
which had been set off but twelve years previous. The places for public
worship seem to have been steadily provided, either in some private
house or barn, or in a building erected for that purpose. Preaching the
people would have at any rate. Of education, I cannot say quite as much.
The burden was, perhaps, at times, a little too heavy for that primitive
people, and so in 1769 they voted not to raise any money for the support
of a school, at one meeting, but at another they voted to spend .£20 for a
school, and in the same breath, mindful of their dangers and necessities,
they voted ^6 and loj. for ammunition. In 1771 they raised ^^24 for a
school, and .£60 for the highways. In 1774 it was voted not to raise
money for schools. But in the midst of all the trials and the impov
erishment of the Revolutionary war, they voted, March 5, 1778, " to raise
and be assessed .^50 for the support of a school," recognizing the value
of a cultivated mind in a community assuming the duties and enjoying the
rights of a free people. I am also reminded by their record that they
intended to hold their public servants to a strict accountabiUty, for in
1751 an article was inserted in the warrant for a town meeting, " To
choose a committee to search John Stealls account as town treasurer " ;
but John Steall, in spite of his name, turned up an honest man, and the
article was dismissed from the warrant.
THE HEROISM OF THE TOWN.
But not in matters relating to the religious and civil and educational
interests of the town alone were your ancestors engaged, from the earliest
settlement in 1655 to the period to which I have now arrived. The lands

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 287
were too fertile, and the rivers too fair, and the forests too well stocked
with game, to be abandoned without a struggle on the part of those abo
riginal occupants who had enjoyed their possession for many generations.
The popular rights there asserted, as the town grew into a definite civil
organization, were not to be established without a blow ; and later stiU,
the integrity of that government which had been founded at such a vast
expense of blood and treasure, and by the exercise of so much study,
sagacity, and wisdom, was not to be preserved except by tbe devotion and
valor of loyal men in arms. In every crisis occurring within a century
and three quarters of its existence — now in struggle with a savage foe,
now in strife against the tyrant and the oppressor, and now in deadly con
flict with the traitor — Dunstable has always done her duty well. As early
as July 5, 1689, your ancestors were called to arms against that savage
band which, having attacked Dover and having killed Major Waldron and
his men, turned their bloody attention towards this town. In the summer
of 1691 this attack was renewed, and in the month of September of that
year, one hundred and eighty-two years ago, the entire family of Joseph
Hassell was slain, — the first sacrifice offered up here in the cause of civ
ilization, — whose simple monument has long since been obliterated by the
hand of industry, and whose sad and touching story alone remains. The
town now became a garrison. The General Court granted aid for the
support of its church, and made a liberal abatement of its State tax. Upon
Jonathan Tyng, that name so long honored and beloved here and so con
spicuous for generations in the annals of our country, fell the duty of pre
serving the very existence of the place, as commander of the fortifications
erected to protect it That this war, which lasted until i6g8, was full of
thriUing and painful incident in this town, we have every reason to sup
pose, although we find no written record, and the tradition was long ago
forgotten ; but we do know that here Joe English performed his won
derful exploits, and that Mrs. Dustin, who was captured at Haverhill, and
who slew her captors, ten in number, at the mouth of the Contoocook
River, found her first refuge as she wandered down the vaUey of the Mer
rimack on her way homeward, in the house of old John LoveweU, '• father
of worthy Capt. Lovewell," which stood on the side of Salmon Brook, a
few feet northeast of the AUds Bridge. When, in 1703, the Indian hos
tiUties were renewed, and the General Assembly offered ^40 for every
Indian scalp, it was Capt Jonathan Tyng, of Dunstable, who first accepted
the tender, and made a good winter's work by going to their headquarters
at Pequawkett, securing five scalps, and receiving therefor .£200. It was
in this war that the family of Robert Parris was massacred, two Uttle giris
alone escaping by fleeing to the cellar and hiding in a hogshead (who
cannot hear their Uttle hearts beating in agony amidst the terrors which
surrounded their dark and narrow retreat ?j, one of whom was preserved
to become ancestress of the useful and distinguished family of Goffes, so
weU known here and in New Hampshire. It was in this war that a band

288 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
of Mohawks surprised your garrisons and murdered your people, and in
which, I am proud to saj', the men of Essex County came to your rescue
and defence. It was in this war. which lasted untU 1713, a period of
twenty years, that the population of this town was reduced one half, but
thirteen famUies and eighty-six persons remaining ; that the entire popu
lation was obliged to Uve in garrison ; and that fear and desolation reigned
everywhere, as the savages hung upon the skirts of the English viUages
" like lightning on the edge of a cloud."
lovewell's FIGHT.
In 1724 a contest broke out with the Indians, in which Dunstable seems
to have been principally interested from beginning to end, and in which
the warriors of Dunstable bore a most conspicuous part. The strife began
with an attack by the English on the town, of Norridgewock, Me , during
which a band of Mohawks turned upon this town, and commenced a story
of cruelty, adventure, and valor hardly. equaUed in history. The capture
of Nathan Cross and Thomas Blanchard began the fray, which resulted in
the death of Lieut. Ebenezer French, Thomas Lund, Oliver Farwell, and
Ebenezer Cummings, of Dunstable, whose burial-place is still marked by
a monument not far from the State line. It was in consequence of this
attack that John LoveweU, Josiah FarweU, and Jonathan Robbins. of this
town, petitioned the General Assembly for leave to raise a company, and
to scout against the Indians. Their petition was granted, changing the
bounty for scalps from ^50 to ,£100, and John Lovewell organized his
expedition. His first successful march into the Pequawkett region was
in December, 1724, from which he returned to organize another and
larger expedition, on which he set out in February, 1725, and which
resulted in the entire destruction of a band of Indians, on the 20th of
that month, near what is now known as Lovewell's Pond. " Encouraged
by his former success, and animated still with an uncommon zeal of doing
what service he could," Lovewell marched a third time into the wilder
ness, intending to attack the Pequawketts in their headquarters on the
Saco River. Early in May, 1725, he set forth with thirty-four men, of
whom seven were from Dunstable, five from Woburn, seven from Con
cord, one from Andover. one from Weston, one from Londonderry, one
from Billerica, seven from Groton, and two from Haverhill. These brave
men, who, having reached the scene of action, and holding counsel on the
subject of attacking a large body of Indians who lay in wait for them,
declared " that as tbey had come out on purpose to meet tbe enemy, they
would rather trust Providence with their lives and die for their country
than return without seeing them," were ambushed and nearly all slain,
Capt. Lovewell faUing at the first fire, and his chaplain, Jonathan Frye,
of Andover, lingering three days after the close of the fight, and d5'ing of
his wounds in the wilderness. Many a time have I, when a boy, paused
to rest beneath the shade of a graceful, sturdy, and imposing elm-tree,

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 289
which crowns one of the finest hills of my native town of North Andover,
and I have mused there upon the sad and tragic story of that young man,
Jonathan Frye, who, when he left his home to join Capt. Lovewell's expe
dition, planted that tree, that he might, as he said, leave his monument
behind should he fall in the service. The memorial is, indeed, beautiful
and significant, as in each returning spring, all through this century and a
half of years, it has crowned itself in honor of his memory who planted it
there; but the young man has a higher and more enduring monument
still, in that it is recorded of him that " worthy and promising," a son of
Harvard, he laid down his life to prepare the way for the dawn over that
wilderness of the religion of his Lord and Master, to whom he had dedi
cated all his powers. The memory of Capt. Lovewell is as green as the
opening springtime forest where he fell; and while man sets high value on
courage and honor and devotion will the poet sing his praise, and the
historian portray his deeds, and your town wUl be proud of her son.
This chivalrous and touching and disastrous struggle closed the long
series of Indian depredations, in which Dunstable had been threatened so
often and had suffered so much.
During the French war, which broke out in 1755, the towns composing
the original territory of Dunstable did valiant service, true to their tra
ditions, and faithful to the memory of their illustrious dead. In the
adventures of that war, in which John Stark commenced his career in
connection with the men of Dunstable, the names of LoveweU, Blanchard,
Johnson, FarweU, French, and Goffe, names possessed and cherished by
you StiU, are foremost. And now the great events of the American Revo
lution began, both in the council and on the field. I find that on Oct. 3,
1774, while this town "chose Capt John Tyng to represent the town in
the great and general court or assembly, to be held and kept at the court
house in Salem, upon Wednesday, the fifth day of October," the inhabi
tants also voted that " John Tyng and James Tyng serve for this town in
the Provincial Congress, to be held in Concord on Tuesday, the eleventh
day of October," two for one in favor of the uprising patriots. With
this, I think, we ought to be content
On the eleventh day of January, 1775, John Tyng and James Tyng
were chosen to represent the town in a Provincial Congress, to be held in
Cambridge on the first day of February, and it was voted " that the
following committee of inspection of nine persons be appointed to carry
into execution, in the town of Dunstable, the agreement and association
of the late respectable Continental Congress. John Tyng and James
Tyng, Esqrs., and Messrs. Joseph Danforth, Nathaniel Holden, WiUiam
Gordon, Reuben Butterfield, Jacob Fletcher, Leonard [Butterfield], and
Joel Parkhurst were chosen as this committee." On the 12th of June,
1 775, John Tyng was, on account of feeble health, obliged to resign his
seat in the Provincial Congress at Watertown, and Joel Parkhurst was
elected to fiU his place. There are frequent indications on your town-
19

2go HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
.books of the advancing spirit of your ancestors in the cause of independ
ence. Feb. 14, 1776, for instance, the town-meeting was caUed"in His
Majesty's name " ; May 15 it was caUed " in the name of the Government
and people of ye Massachusetts Bay"; Sept. 20, "In the name of the
Government and People of the Massachusetts State" ; and Oct. 3, 1776,
the town voted to recommend the adoption of a State Constitution.
A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. ¦
Meanwhile the spirit of independence grew warmer and warmer, and
the idea of American nationaUty fiUed the minds of the people of the
town. The Declaration of Independence had not yet set forth the
wrongs of the colonies, it is true, nor had it proclaimed to the world
the intention and ultimate object of the American people in the great
contest then raging ; but to the people of Dunstable, these wrongs were
famUiar, and their breasts were animated by those patriotic sentiments
which had been uttered in such eloquent tones in Faneuil Hall, and had
found such a warm response on the floor of the Continental Congress,
and so this town spoke and made its record for the time. If you will
turn to your town-books you will find the following entry : — -
" At a meeting of y'^ Town of Dunstable on June 8"', 1776 [nearly a
month before the Declaration of Independence], chose Mr. Joel Park
hurst, Moderator : — Then chose Major Ebenezer Bancroft, Capt. Reuben
Butterfield, and Mr. Timothy Read, a committee to prepare ye Draught
of a vote which is as follows : — At a time when ye most important
Questions that ever were agitated Before ye Representative Body of
this Colony, Touching its Liberties and privileges, will demand your
attention, as we your constituents are called upon to instruct you in
every Important Point of Duty you may be called to act upon, viz :
of ye Colonyes being Declared Independent of Grate Brittan when
we reflect upon the States of America, when our Forefathers first
came over here, and ye cause for which they came, and The Treatment
of Grate Brittan Towards us Ever since, But especially of Late when
our Humble Petition to ye King of Grate Brittan for our just Rights
Repeatdly Rejected with Disdain and fier and sword, Takeing place
upon our Brethren of this Land. He and His ParUament not only
Deceaving the People of Grate Brittan but attempting To hier y natives
of this Land to Butcher us, and for what we know hath Hired all y®
covitous, Bloodthirsty souls upon ye face of ye whole earth to come
against us in order to rob us of Life and fortune, ye contemplation of
which fiUs our brests [with] Abhorrence and Disdain against ye Power
that is thus acting we then will joyn with our brethren of America, in
Pressing such measures as the Hon'ble the Continental Congress shall
adopt if it is that of Independence of Grate Brittan and you wiU Equip
yourself as a member of Society and will use your utmost Indeavors in
promoting the cause of America not in the least doubting your abilities.

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 29 1
The above being Red to ye Town ye Question being put whether ye same
Be given as advice to ye present Representative of this Town passed in
the affirmative. Nem. Con. " Entered by "Josiah Blodgett Jr.,
" Town Clerk."
I think I see them now, those earnest and manly sons of the Puritan
warriors and teachers, who had filled the pulpits and town-houses and
armies of our land during a century of protest and trial and self-sacrifice
and defiance, rising higher and higher in their indignant sense of duty as
the fierce periods which I have just read to you were launched forth upon
an approving town-meeting here by that simple and sturdy chairman. And
can you not feel with them the hot blood of the warrior Lovewell coursing
through their veins as the ardent declaration went on ? The memory of
long and weary trials in the cause of civilization there in that wilderness
of the precepts of those old teachers who were gone, of the bloody seas
through which they had been brought to their great assertion, of the
wrongs of the past, — this, and their glowing understanding of the promise
of the present hour before them, and of the future, all inspired their
minds with wisdom and their hearts with courage for that occasion.
From their humble homes they had stepped forth, not to follow but to
lead, not to listen but to speak, not to be taught but to teach mankind to
be true to the highest demands of a free and independent spirit. It was
to the voice of such assemblies as this that our fathers of the Revolution
listened ; it was the wisdom of such assemblies that guided their councils,
and gave the American people their greatness.
WHAT TROOPS THEY RAISED.
True to this spirit and inspired by this language, Dunstable continued
to supply men to the army, voting, in 1777, "to raise men for the Conti
nental army," and also voting " not to allow those men that hired men
into the Continental army for 1776, equal to others.'' It was also voted,
March 5, 1781, "to aUow the committee to procure beef for the army."
Passing beyond this practical service, the town voted " to recommend the
adoption of a state constitution," Oct. 3, 1776. In aU these acts and declar
ations we cannot but be struck with the important position assumed by the
towns in those early days, and the important part they performed: nor
can we fail to look with profound interest on the intimate relations existing
between the people and their representatives, and the power and persist
ency with which the popular voice was continuaUy raised for the guidance
and instruction of the rulers. In the war of 1812 the town voted "that
each soldier in the town of Dunstable that shall be caUed into the actual
service ofthe United States shaU be allowed, out of the town treasury, a
sum sufficient to make his pay fifteen dollars per month for such time as
he shall be so actually engaged, including the pay allowed by government."

2Q2 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873

THE CIVIL WAR.
And when the country, to the foundation and independence and honor
of which Dunstable had devoted herself through the generations of two
centuries, was threatened with disruption, the spirit which had responded
so warmly for independence roused itself at once for its safety and protec
tion. To the repose of peace your people had long been accustomed, so
long that the front of war was almost unknown, even when presented in
your midst ; but rising with the occasion, this little community decimated
itself for the loyal armies, furnishing forty-three men to the country's
service and appropriating more than $10,000 out of the treasury of the
town for the support and comfort of the soldiers. The votes recorded
in your town-books, commencing in July, 1862, with the offer of a bounty
of one hundred dollars to each volunteer, and ending April, 1864, with a
a vote increasing the bounty to one hundred and twenty-five dollars, mani
fest a patriotic calmness and devotion in the most trying hour of the war.
CIVIL MATTERS IN THE TOWN.
Towards the close of the Revolutionary war, the question of a consti
tution for the State of Massachusetts was submitted to the voters ofthe
several towns in the commonwealth. In Dunstable a town-meeting was
called on May 15, 1780, and adjourned to Tuesday, May 30, to consider
the several articles of the constitution reported by the convention which
had prepared it. The objections are so remarkable and significant that
I shall lay them before you, as an illustration of the positive views and
sentiments of those times. Joel Parkhurst having been chosen moderator
in the place of John Tyng, Esq., who was unavoidably absent, " the meet
ing proceeded to consider tbe second and third articles, wherein they
engage full protection to all denominations of Christians ; which sentences
are so general as to engage protection to the idolatrous worshippers of
the Church of Rome. The questions being put, there appeared twenty-
three for an amendment, none against it.
" The second objection was to the sixteenth article in said bUl of right,
as to the liberty ofthe press, as there being no restraint therein it maybe
made up to the dishonor of God, by printing heresy and so forth, and
injurious to private character. The question being put, twenty-six ap
peared for an amendment, none for the article as it now stands.
" The third objection was to having so large a number of councillors
and senators as forty, whereas twenty-eight, under the former constitution,
they understood, answered every purpose required of that body ; upon the
question there appeared twelve for an amendment."
"The fourth objection was relative to the governor's power of marching
the militia to any part of the State, without the advice or consent of an}'.
The amendment proposed was that when the governor should find it need
ful to march the militia from and about Boston more than one hundred

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 293
miles, it should be by advice and consent of his council and not other
wise, and by the same advice and consent, to have full power to march
them to the assistance of any neighboring State, in the recess of the
General Court, when there appeared eleven for the amendment.
" The fifth objection was to the appointment of all judicial oflScers, the
attorney-general, the solicitor-general, all sheriffs, coroners, and registers
of probate resting in the hands of the governor and council, but held it a
right of the people at large to choose them; upon this question, seven for
an amendment and six against it.
" The sixth objection was to the declaration to be made and subscribed
by the governor, lieutenant-governor, council. Senate and House of
Representatives, before they proceed to execute tbe duties of their office,
which is to declare themselves to be of the Christian reUgion, reasons
offered for said objections were these, that thereby the government would
be confined to Protestants ; upon the question there appeared nineteen
for the amendment, and none in the negative.
" The seventh objection was to the form of oath prescribed ; the amend
ment proposed was this : to place the words 'by the Living God,' taken
in said oath as is required in His word ; thirteen for amendment."
" The eighth objection was that the denomination of people called
Quakers being admitted to office upon an affirmation without taking oath
in manner and form as required of others ; upon the question, there
appeared twelve for the amendment and none against it.
" The ninth objection was to the time proposed for the revisal of the
constitution if it should take place, but proposed to have this amendment,
that precepts be issued by the General Court for a change of delegates
for that purpose in seven years from this time ; the question was then
put whether the town would approve of said constitution or form of
government, if amended for substance as pointed out in this return, when
there appeared thirteen in favor of it taking place, and not one to the
contrary." I think it is evident that your ancestors believed in an economical gov
ernment, were opposv,. "" military despotism and Caesarism, did not ap
prove of a powerful execu,.. '^ Had strong Puritan faith and no great
love for Quakers or Cath/ *¦ ^leant to make an oath as binding
as possible. RELIGIOUS TEACHING.
I have already stated that in the settlement of New England, religion
was at the very foundation, and I have depicted to you some of the early
struggles in this community to provide for the preaching of the gospcL
The first meeting-house was erected in 1678, and was probably built of
logs. In May, i67g. Rev. Thomas Weld was employed here as minister.
He married Hannah, daughter of Hon. Edward Tyng. In 1684 a new
meeting-house was erected, and he was ordained in December, 1685. The
name of Jonathan Tyng heads the list of church members, Mr. Weld

2g4 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
died in 1702,31 the age of fifty, leaving a high reputation as a scholar and
preacher. He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Hunt in 1705, by Rev.
Samuel Parris, of witchcraft fame, in 1708, by Rev. Amos Cheever in 1713,
on a salary of ^40 per year, by the Rev. Jona. Peirpoint in 1717, by Rev.
Nathaniel Prentice in 1720. These clergymen were, many of them,
graduates of Harvard, were firm in the Calvinistic faith, and exerted a
good influence on the community. They exercised an exemplary economy
in their modes of living, and they cultivated those quaUties of mind and
heart in their children which made the families of the clergy of that early
day nurseries of many of the most useful, substantial, and reliable char
acteristics of the New England colonies. From the time to which I have
aUuded until our own day, the condition of church affairs here has been
generally peaceable, and the temper of pastor and people has not been
controversial. In fact, I find but one notable event, to which I can call
your attention, and that is so interesting, so full of instruction and sound
suggestion, such an illustration of that honesty and fideUty which become
a public servant, that I desire to state it fully here. As recorded in your
town-books, it is as follows : —
" The committee chosen by the Town of Dunstable, at their last meet
ing, Sept. 2, 181 1, to represent to and consult with the Rev'd Joshua
Heywood respecting the state of public worship in the towm, have attended
to that service and offer the following statement of the Rev'd Mr. Hey
wood as their report.
"Zebedee Kendall
MiCAH Eldredge
Nathaniel Cummings
John Chaney
*' Dunstable, Sept. 14, 1811.''
" To THE Inhabitants of the Town of Dunstable :
" Gentlemen, — Whereas, your committee chosen by you in town meet
ing, the 2d of September, 1811, have represented to and consulted with
me on the situation of the town respecting public worship, and having
represented to me that there are in the minds of many, apprehensions of
pecuniary embarrassment, in consequence of an Act passed at the last
session of the General Court of this commonwealth, relating to reUgious
freedom, I do, with their advice and concurrence, make the following
statement to you : —
" As I did, in my answer to the call given me to settle as a gospel
minister in this place, bring" to your view the impropriety of making the
stipulation between a people and their minister a matter of pecuniary
speculation, and as you complied with it, I ever thought that we were
bound on both sides never to do any such thing. I do, therefore, now
most solemnly record my protest against it.
" But conceiving it to be the duty of a people and their minister to be

> Committee.

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 295
always helpful to each other under all difficulties and embarrassments, to
perform this duty, therefore, toward you, now laboring under apprehen
sions of embarrassments, I propose to you that provided the said Act of
the General Court above mentioned, shall not be repealed, but be put in
execution to your damage, so that your ministerial taxes shall be increased
thereby upon the valuation of your estates, and provided there shall be a
majority of the town, who will attend the pubUc worship of God with the
Congregational Church of Christ, as heretofore done in the house now
built for that purpose, under the regular administration thereof, which, by
Divine Providence, shall be provided, I will relinquish so much of my
salary for the present year, as the increase upon their ministerial taxes
shall be. The year to begin the ist of March, 181 1, and end the ist of
March, 1812. That no encouragement be taken herefrom to the damage
of the town, I reserve the consideration of any relinquishment in future
years, to my own judgment of the circumstances which may then exist.
" My design and intent in this proposal and engagement, is to relieve
the town from their present apprehensions and embarrassment, and to
have them attend on the public worship of God in as orderly and regular
a manner as they can under the present difficulties, and to prevent the
introduction of such irregularities as would be to the damage of the town
and church. If this proposal gives satisfaction to your minds and meets
your approbation, and you use your endeavors to carry the things pro
posed into effect, then this instrument, by me signed, shall be in full
force, otherwise it shall be void and of no effect. "Joshua Heywood.
"Dunstable, Sept. ii, 1811."
Although I find no recorded words of the clergy of Dunstable, no vig
orous appeals in great public crises, no contributions of theirs to the
controversial hterature of their day, I can still read in the popular charac
teristics of this town, in the unflinching courage and energy of your early
ancestors, in the steady and long-continued rectitude of the public men
here engaged in the councils of both town and State, in the constant
recognition of the value of religion and education, — I can read in all this
the salutary influence of a high-toned and pious succession of Christian
ministers within your borders. But of none, either here or elsewhere, can
higher praise be uttered than of Joshua Heywood, who, recognizing the
burdens which pressed upon his people, declined to avail himself of any
statute for his pecuniary advantage, refusing to make "the stipulation
between a people and their minister a matter of pecuniary speculation,"
and appealing to their sense of honor to stand by that contract which he
made with them, and they with him, in the beginning, even though it
might be to his own loss. If the theology and ethics of this town have
furnished this and this alone as their contribution to the best guiding
principle of the land, then has it not been buUt in vain. I commend the
conscience and temper and spirit of Mr. Heywood to all the public ser-

2g6 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
vants of our land, high and low, to aU who feel and know that a virtuous
and honorable repubUc is the highest glory of man, and that a corrupt
republic is his deepest shame. DISTINGUISHED MEN.
I should not be doing justice to this town, and discharging my duty on
this occasion in accordance with your best sentiments, did I fail to remind
you of some, a few at least, of those men of mark whose names are inti
mately connected with your history. In all my recital of the important
events in your earUer annals you must have noticed the prominence and
importance attached to the name of Tyng. The founder of the family
here was Hon. Edward Tyng, who died Dec. 28, 1 681, aged eighty-one
years. Col. Tyng was born in Dunstable, England, in 1600, settled in
Boston as a merchant in i63g, was representative in 1661 and 1662, assist
ant from 1668 to 1681, and colonel of the Suffolk regiment. He left six
chUdren, two sons and four daughters. His sons were prominent in their
day, and his davighters will be remembered as among the foremost women
of their time ; Hannah having married Rev. Thomas Weld, a leading
clergyman of this town and of the colony ; Eunice being the wife of
President Willard, of Harvard CoUege ; and Rebecca having married
Gov. Dudley. Col. Tyng had the strength, energy, and courage of a
leading and successful colonist, had enterprise enough to leave the Old
World for the opportunities of the New, sagacity enough to become a dis
tinguished and prosperous merchant, and strength of character sufficient
to found a family. He became possessed of lands in this town by early
grants, and having acquired a fortune by commercial enterprise in his
manhood, he had the wisdom to retire to the country to enjoy there the
evening of his day. He gave the name to a town in his own honor, and
in that town his ashes repose. Hon. Jonathan Tyng, the son of Col-
Edward Tyng, was born Dec. 15, 1642, and died Jan. 19, 1724, aged
eighty-one. It is said of him, " He was one of the original proprietors of
the town, and the earliest permanent settler, having remained here alone
during Philip's War, when every other person had deserted the settlement
for fear of the Indians." He was a raan of great energy and decision of
character, and of probity and honor. He was one of the councU of Sir
Edward Andros, a royal commissioner under James II, a representative of
this town and one of its selectmen. It was he to whom the garrisons of the
town were intrusted during the Indian wars. Two of his sons, John and
Eleazer, were graduates of Harvard College, and his daughter Mary
followed the example of many of the attractive and accomplished young
women of that day, and married the parish minister. Rev. Nathaniel
Holden. Col. Tyng married Sarah, daughter of Hezekiah Usher, who
died in 17 14. Rev. Thomas Weld, the first minister of the town, died
June 9, 1702, aged fifty years. He was born in Roxbury, and was a
grandson of Rev. Thomas Weld, the first minister of that town, who

1873] BI-CENTENNIAL ORATION. 297
came from England in 1632. Mr. Weld, the subject of this notice, grad
uated at Harvard in 1671, and studied divinity with Rev. Samuel Danforth,
and settled in Dunstable in 1678. He married for his first wife Elizabeth,
daughter of Rev. John Wilson, of Medfield ; and for his second wife
Hannah Savage, daughter of Hon. Edward Tyng. He was a man of
great piety, and exerted an elevating influence on the community during
his long ministry. He was a good representative of that class of men
who in those days were educated at Harvard, stood by the church, and
encouraged the schools, and who did so much to give New England that
character of intelligence and integrity which she has not yet lost, and
which has been carried by her sons into every corner of our land.
Amos Kendall, an eminent lawyer and statesman, was born in Dun
stable, Aug. 16, 1789, son of Zebedee [KendaU] and his wife. He was
occupied during his early life, until sixteen years of age, in work on his
father's farm. His advantages for education were small, and it was not
until he entered Dartmouth College, in 1807, where he was graduated
with the highest honors of his class, in 1811, that he was in any way
enabled to gratify his love of knowledge. Having taught school in various
parts of Massachusetts, in order to defray the expenses of his education,
and having studied law with William B. Richardson, Esq., of Groton,
afterwards chief justice of New Hampshire ; he removed to Kentucky,
was tutor in the family of Henry Clay, afterwards postmaster of Lexing
ton, Ky., and finally editor of the Argus of 'Western America. While
living in Kentucky, he did much to develop the common schools of that
State, and established the school fund now in existence there. His
ability as an editor and writer attracted the attention of President Jack
son, who, in 1829, called him to Washington, where he was successively
fourth auditor of the treasury department and postmaster general. He
remained in public life until 1840, when he retired to the duties of his
profession. Mr. Kendall was one of the clearest and most forcible writers of his
day. His mind was directed by the warmest instincts for the people, and
by a keen understanding of those doctrines of government which are based
on popular rights and tend to preserve the popular virtue. His words
were well known throughout our country, and to him was accorded the
distinction of clothing the administration of President Jackson with many
of its finest utterances and many of its noblest appeals. The character
of Mr. Kendall was pure and admirable. Towards the close of his Ufe he
formed one of the attractions of Washington, where his mUd, blue eye, his
lono-, snowy hair, his delicate and slender form, his placid expression, were
familiar to all, and where his charming conversation was one of the great
delio'bts of the circle in which he moved. It was this delicacy of his
moral and physical structure which prevented his being one of the most
conspicuous, as he was one of the ablest and purest, personages in our
history.

298 HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE. [1873
CONCLUSION.
And now, friends and fellow-citizens, this brief story of your town is
told. I have not explored the remotest recesses of your annals for marks
of your eccentricity, or for those personal details which, while they amuse
for the hour, make no appeal to those sentiments of pride and satisfaction
which should fill the breast of every man who muses by the graves and
studies the high qualities of his ancestors. I have not forgotten your
errors, — the local controversies, the existence of slavery here when
slavery existed everywhere, the shortcomings and the temporary irrita
tions ; but I have passed them by, and have endeavored so to deal with
your history as to fill your minds with respect for your ancestors and
with a determination to transmit, in more radiant form, the blessed institu
tions which you have inherited, to those whose duty it shall be to preserve
them, and to celebrate them at the next centennial anniversary of the
settlement of this town.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS, NAMES, AND PLACES.

A
Abbot, Amos, page i8i ; John, 91.
Acadians, 99.
Accident, painful, 57, 86, 129, 166, 175,
176, 199, 180, 183, 184, 188, 197-199.
Account book, 144.
Account of mem in service, 138-142.
Acres, John, 17, 27, 28.
Act of incorporation, 10.
Action against the town, 109.
Action of the town after division, 286.
Adams, Daniel, 183; Darwin, 171, 183,
186, 187 ; Ephraim, 75 ; Henry, 82 ;
Judah, 234 ; J. Q , 198 ; Phineas,
234 ; Ruth, 9S ; Samuel, 32, 63, 64 ;
Solomon, 22 ; Stephen, 74, 75, 78,
94 ; Thomas, 75, 95, 234 ; Zachariah,
75-
Addison, George, 75.
Adeawanda, 50 ; Affray at Thornton's
Ferry, 41.
Agawam, 37.
Agricultural Library, 160.
Aid for Bostonians, 115.
Aiken, Peter, no.
Alarm list, 118.
Allen, W., 21, 22, 87, 136, 14S.
Alls, Jno,, loi.
Allston, W., I.
Alton, N. H., 218.
Amherst, Mass., 147, 168 ; N. H., 144,
282.
Ammunition provided, 108, 164.
Amusements, 199.
Anderson, Henry, 192.
Andover, Mass., 44, 45, 47, 191, 224,
228.
Andrew, J. A., 188, 189.
Andrews, Aaron, 172.
Andros, E., 296.
Anecdote, 91, 113, 114, 115, 129.
Angle Meadow, 17, 100.
Antietam, 193.
Arlington, Mass., 217.
Arnold, B., 120.

Artillery company, 8, 282.
Ashland, Ky., 220.
Assault of Mohawks, 35.
Astin, Abiel, 44 ; Zebediah, 45.
Atherton, Jno., 264.
Atkinson, N. H., 176.
Attack on Dunstable, 35, 41.
Attleborough, Mass., 33, 216.
Auburn, N. Y., 217.
Austin, F. D., 198, 202, 203.
Ayer, Ebenr., 44.
Ayers, Joseph, 102 ; 'William, 43, 45.

Baker, Betsy, 254 ; Emily, 254 ; Esau,
192.
Baldwin, Charles, 182, 185 ; Daniel,
42 ; Jacob, 116, 125.
Ballad on Lovewell's fight, 51.
Ballou, Adin, 190 ; Hosea, 190.
Balston, Nathaniel, io8.
Bancroft A. A., 226 ; Chloe, 152, 225 ;
Ebenezer, 98, 108, no, 113-115, 119-
121, 129, 141, 151, 212, 214,225,233,
234, 290 ; Elizabeth, 234 ; Hannah,
234; Jonathan, 112, 129, 151, 234;
Joseph, 212 ; Susannah, 143, 146,
152, 225, 234 ; Timothy, 75, 77, 78,
84, 87, loi.
Baptist Society, 157.
Barnes' Brook, 61.
Barnes, James, 192.
Barron, Elias, 44 ; Jotham, 124 ; Tim
othy, loi ; 'William, loi.
Barry, John S., 131, 136, 281.
Barton, John, 122.
Bath, Me., 224.
Battle of Bunker Hill, 113-115.
Bass-viol, opposition to, 160.
Baton Rouge, 193.
Bay Psalm Book, 27, 29, 94, 145.
Bayley, Eliphalet u6, 118, 125, 127,
132 ; Sybil, 139.
Beale, John,i7; Samue],l7; WUliam,i7.

300

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

Bean, Francis, 192.
Bear Pond, 11.
Bernard, Francis, 107.
Beaver Brook, 11, 39, 76, 282.
Becket Mass , 198.
Beckwith, Hiram, 190.
Bedford, 103.
Beef supplied to the army, 135, 137.
Belknap, Jeremy, 49.
Bennett James, 78, 182, 184, 186, 226;
Jonathan, 159, 162, 173, 175, 184,
225 ; Joseph, 158 ; M. A., 185 ;
Peter, in; Sarah, 225; Thomas,
158-160.
Berlin, city of, 226.
Berries, 71.
Betterly, George, 159.
Berwick, Me., 48.
Bi-centennial celebration, 201-211.
Bigelow, Timothy, 160.
Billerica. Mass., 6-8, 10, 17, 23, 29, 31,
32, 35, 44, 47, 49, 55, 56, 62, 85, 100,
102, III, 113, 115, 125, 2S8 ; North, 2.
Billings, William, 116, 145.
Births, list of, 270-277.
Biscake Brook, 106.
Bishop, George, 112.
Blanchard, Si, 289; Amos, 178; El
eazer, 235; Hannah, 36; John, 17,
28, 30, 32 ; Jonathan, 233 ; Joseph,
32. 37, 38. 39. 41, 76, 80, 9S, 214,
232, 233 ; Lydia, 36 ; Nathaniel, 32,
36; Ruth, 78; Susannah, 36; Thomas,
32, 41. 42, 78, 288 ; William, 75, 78.
Black Brook, 61-63.
Blake, Caleb, 156, 157.
Blanchard's Hill, 67.
Blankets provided, 116.
Blodgett, 55, 71; Abigail, 271; AbbyM.,
268; Bridget, 271 ; David, 271 ; Ezra,
271 ; Frederick, 172, 214,268,271;
George C, 182 ; George T., 98, 226,
268 ; George Z., 226 ; Hannah, 26S ;
Jacob, 271 ; James, 186 ; Jemima,
74, 237, 269, 271 ; John, iiS, 125,
146, 186, 266, 268, 271 ; John F.,
266; Jonathan, 271 ; Joseph, 49;
Josiah, 56, 74, 75, 77, 84,94, 97, loi-
103, 105, no, 116, 119, 127, 130, 132,
137. 159. 237, 268, 269, 271, 291;
Josiah W., 158, 237, 268, 271 ; Lydia,
271 ; Mahala A., 268 ; Mary, 235,
268,276; Mary A., 268 ; Matilda A.,
266 ; Olive, 237, 271 ; Prudence, 140 ;
.^arah, 271; Sarah S., 266; Thad
deus, 172, 271 ; William, 56, 98,
i.|o, 270, 271 ; Zebulon, 116, nS,
125, 127, 155, 159, 166, 172, 1S6, 236,
237, 258, 271, 276 ; Mrs. Zebulon, 65,
71-

Blodgett's Brook, 6l.
Blood, 71, 80, 81 ; A., 184; Abigail,
94, 96, 229; Abraham, 171, 179;
Adah, 277 ; Alien, 252, 277 ; Betsey,
277 ; Caleb, 153, 159, 166, 172, 269;
Charles, 264, 277; Ebenezer, 173;
Eber, 277 ; Eli, 277 ; Elizabeth, 77,
277 ; Eunice, 108 ; Ezra, 108 ; Han
nah, 108; Henry, 153, 159, 171-173,
277 ; Isaac, 277 ; James, 137, 152,
l65, 173, 277 ; Jesse, 164, 171, 173,
270, 277 ; Josiah, 108 ; Levi, 171,
173, 277 ; Lucy, 277; Luther, 277;
Mary, 166, 277 ; Miles, 185, 226,
277 ; Nancy, 277 ; Nathaniel, 9 ;
Noah, 184; Peter, 153, 166, 171,
173, 277 ; Ralph, 277 ; Rebecca, 252,
269 ; Reuben, 253 ; Robert, 72, 75,
78, 84, 86, 91, 96, 103-105, 229 ;
Rufus, 277 ; Sarah, 94, 108, 166, 252,
253, 277 ; Sarah E., 199 ; Sarah G.,
253; Silas, 153, 171, 175, 252,253,
269; Silas W., 252; Simeon, 98;
Susan, 277 ; Washington E., 137 ;
198, 199, 201, 226, 227.
Boston, 1-3, 5, 23, 24, 26, 29, 31, 34,
43, 49, 59, 62, 7 5, 86, 107, io3, 112,
114, 115, 124, 147, 161, 168, 186, 2S3.
Bowdoin, James, 135, 144.
Boundary between Dunstable and Dra
cut, 39.
Boundary between Dunstable and Gro
ton, 96, 100.
Bounties on crows, 156 ; on wolves, 83.
Bounties for soldiers, 132.
Boutwell, George S., 183, 203, 209.
Bowers, A., 185; Adelaide, 264; Al
pheus, 264 ; Eliza, 264 ; James, 225 ;
John, 33 ; Joseph A., 264 ; Julia, 264.
Bowker, 183.
Bradford, Mass., 51, 226.
Bradford, Alden, 196 ; Moses, 157.
Brady, Frederick, 192.
Brattle End, 7.
Brattle Farm, 7, 8, 76, 77, loS.
Brattle, Thomas, 5, 7-10, 12, 22, 26, 27,
111, 283.
Breed, Ehphalet, 151.
Brentnal, 51.
Brenton, 'Wm., 5, 6, n, 12, 15, 16, 19,
56.
Brentwood, N. H., 197.
Brewer, Mr., 80, 81.
Brian, Wm., 122.
Bridgenieadow Brook, 102, 104.
Bridge, Eben'r, 113, 136; John, 142.
Brigham, Abby A., 275 ; Edward D.,
275; Eliza C., 275; Lcvi, 171, iSo-
183, 1S6, 275 ; Mary, 275 ; Mary L.,
27s-

INDEX.

301

Briggs, Geo. N., i8i, 183, 187.
Brinley, 28 ; Robert, 212.
Britain, Great, 119, 290.
Brookfield, Mass., 50.
Brookline, N. H, 11, 57, 68, 226, 282.
Brooks, Edwin H., 226 ; Lawrence,
186, 187, 226.
Brown, 125; Jno., n8; Leonard, 269 ;
Sam'l, 113, 117, 118, 125, 127, 237.
Bruce, Jno., 144, 157; Michael, 174.
Buck, John, 75.
Buck Meadow, 62, 64, in.
Bulkley, John, 76; Peter, 12, 263.
Bullard,' Benjamin, 125 ; John, 156, 157.
Bunker Hill, 113, 139-141, 147.
Burbank, John, 42.
Burdens of 2d Parish, 126, 127, 132.
Burgoyne, John, 135, 139.
Burial-place, 95, 148, 182, 187, 198.
Burmah, 225.
Burnap, Jacob, 183, 186; James T,
72,_ 187-189, 197, 199, 205, 214.
Burning of old church, 181.
Burrows, Charles, 192.
Butler, Benjamin F., 188 ; Caleb, 32,
48, 64, 82, 129, 144, 155, 220.
Butman, Alpha, 265 ; Alvin, 265 ; El
bridge, 265 ; Geo. E., 265 ; Susan,
265 ; Susan M., 265.
Burying-cloth, 157.
Butterfield, 7, 36 ; Abigail, 252, 277 ;
Abner R., 151 ; Alice, 77; Asa, 171,
186, 262, 277 ; Asa ¦p., 182, 226 ;
Asenath, 274 ; Benjamin, 98, 106,
214; Catharine, 271, 277; Charles,
217 ; Charles A., 263 ; David, 172 ;
Dexter, 69, 72, 78, 91, 104, 112, 192,
201-203, 226, 228 ; Ebene'r, 56, 77,
86, 94, 97, 116, 118, 125, 127, 270,
273, 274 ; Edward, 112 ; Elizabeth,
273 ; Esther, 273 ; Frederick, 274 ;
Henry, 263 ; Jacob, in ; James, 123,
274; Jesse, 1.12, 116, 118, 120, 125,
127, 132, 142, 270 ; Joanna, 229, 271 ;
John, 230, 271, 273; Jonas, 116, 117,
121, 125, 270, 273 ; Jonathan, loi,
214 ; Joseph, 34, 39, 79, loi, 106,
no, 146, 152, 172, 214, 273 ; Joseph
P., 274 ; Leonard, in, 117, 118, 123,
125, 127, 132, 141, 159, 173, 1S6, 214,
229, 230, 252, 262, 263, 268-271, 277,
289; Leonard S., 182, 186; Levi,
129 ; Lucy W., 263 ; Mary, 252, 268,
273,274,277; May A., 262; Martha,
D., 216 ; Olive, 230, 269, 271 ; Pame
lia T., 262; Philip, 112, 116, 118,
120, 125, 132, 141, 155. 15S, 159,26s,
270, 274 ; Polly, 274, 277 ; Rebecca,
273 ; Reuben, loi, 106, 116, 119-121,
129, 151, 214, 273, 289, 290; Rhoda,

274; Sally, 159, 230; Samuel, 35,
36. 118, 122, 127, 270; Sarah, 252,
270, 271, 273, 277 ; Welbe, 131 ;
'Wm., 76.
Buttrick, Jno., 172 ; Sally, 216.

c

Caldwell, John, 171.
Call to Mr. Goodhue, 92 ; Mr. Hey
wood, 157.
Cambridge, Mass., 28, in, 124-127,
132, 139, 151, 285, 289.
Canada, 35, 40, 42, 50, 120, 147.
Cannon of discord, 148.
Canton, N. Y., 217.
Cape Breton, 79, 98.
Captains, list of, 212, 213.
Carkin, Albert B., 226; Amos, 186,
226 ; Harrison, 192.
Carter, Benj., 42 ; Michel, 159.
Caulkins, F. M., 14.
Cemetery, Central, 165-167, 173, 181,
182, 236, 237.
Chamberlain, John, 44, 47 ; Thos., 74,
75-
Chambers, Matthew, 234.
Chandler, Mo.ses, 118; Rhoda, 240;
William, 240; William P., 240.
Chapman,! lavis, 159. 162, 165, 173, 185,
270; E G., 84, 185, 226; Elijah, 162.
Chaplin, David. 156, 157, 166.
Character ofthe people, 71, 200.
Character of Mr. Goodhue, 109.
Character of Mr. Goodman, 179.
Charles I, 12.
Charles River, 5.
Charleston, S. C., 194.
Charlestown, Mass., 115, 125, 175,201,
250.
Charlestown Grant, 7, 281.
Chase, George W., 10.
Cheever, Amos, 38 ; Alvin, 192.
Chelmsford, Mass., 6, 7, 10, t6, 21-23,
3'. 34. 53- 55. 63, 70, 76. 77. 87, 106,
124, 115, 136, 147, 167, 215,
Cheney, Abigail, 275 ; Betsy, 275 ;
Elizabeth, 250, 275; Emma J., 226;
Fanny P,, 267; Frances M., 267;
Isaac, 275; John, 98, 112, 117, 126,
128, 132, 137, 138, 140, 145, 159, 163,
250, 275, 294; John B, 182, 226;
Kendall, 162, 275; Luther, 275;
Matilda, 267; Rebecca, 275 ; Rhoda,
275; Sarah, 275; Susannah, 275;
Thomas F., 98, 182, 184, 1S7, iSS,
196, 199, 226, 267 ; 'William F., 226.
Chesterfield, Ma.ss., 147 ; N. H,, 218.
Chicago, 217, 226.

302

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

Chicopee, Mass., i88.
Child, L. M., 59.
Choristers first chosen, 103.
Church covenant, 93 ; organized, 28, 93.
Clark family, 202-204, 210.
Clay, Henry, 220, 297.
Coburn, Abel, 137; Caleb, 152; Dor
cas, 129; Eleazer, 152.
Cockle, John, 112.
Coffin, Enoch, 38, 39.
Coggin, Mr., 145.
Coggswell, 'William, 171.
Colburn, 55; Edward, n, 30; Ezra,
102; Isaac, 75, 83; James, 84; Jer
almeel, 112; Jeremiah, 82, 224;
Oliver, 75, 87, 102; Samuel, 39;
Thomas, 43, 232 ; Timothy, 82.
Cold seasons, 144, 165, i58, 179.
Cole, Anna, 7.
Colesworthy, D. C, 73.
College graduates, 216.
Colonels, 214. (
Committee of inspection, ni.
Committee correspondence, 113.
Committee of schools first chosen, 162.
Compact of first settlers, 16.
Concord, Mass., 19, 23, 44, 45, 47, 55,
107, 113, 158, 203, 2S8.
Concord, N. H,, 17.
Concord River, 17, 19, 20, 29, 32, 102.
Confession of faith, 175.
Connecticut, 123, 284, 285 ; River, 148.
Constantinople, 196.
Contest as to meeting-house, 79.
Contocook, 31, 45, 287.
Converse, James, 31.
Conway, Michael, 192.
Coombs, David M., 172 ; Jonathan, 41,
Samuel, 9.
Cook, an Indian, 137 ; Andrew, 17 ;
Francis, 283.
Cooper, Thomas, 108.
Corey, Elsie, 159
Cornet Band, 188.
Cornwallis, Lord, 137, 138.
Cotton, Josiah, 92.
Cowell, Edward, 7, 62, 108.
Cowley, Charles, 21.
Cowpen Brook, 62, 96, 100.
Crag Rock, 39,
Cranmer, Archbishop, 13.
Crockett, .\ioses W., 254.
Cromwell, John, 15; Oliver, 32.
Cross, 55 ; Nathan, 41, 42, 78S.
Cummings, 35, 36, 55, 71, 72,83,87;
Abigail, 76 ; .\braham, 32 ; Allen,
173, 1S6, 188, 214, 226, 276 ; Asenath,
274; Betsey, 276; Catharine, 241,
269; Charlotte, 276; Ebenezer, 41,
42, 232, 2S8 ; Elizabeth, 94, 230, 249,

274 ; Esther, 241, 269 ; Everett, M.,
226 ; Henry, 157 ; Isaac, 17, 162, 276 ;
Isaac P., 182, 186, 226; Israel W.,
276; J., 185; James, 116, 118-120,
125, 132, 138, 148, 158, 160, 186, 275,
276; Jephtha, 201 ; Jeremiah, loi,
104, 159, 241, 248, 274, 275 ; Joel,
214, 268; John, 17, 27, 28, 32, 34,
37. 75-77. 9°. 94. 96' i°S. ^'2, 116,
118, 125, 128, 143, 151, 154, 159, 162,
181, 214, 229, 230, 286; Mrs. John,
185; John A., 226; Jonathan, 56;
Josiah, 43, 117, 139, 158, 177, 180,
186, 212, 214, 240, 241, 259, 269, 275,
276; Mrs. Josiah, 241 ; Josiah T.,
117, 138, 139, 186, 226, 240, 263, 276;
Loraine, 276; Lucinda, 276; Lydia,
274 ; Mary, 94, 275 ; Molly, 230; Na
thaniel, 8, 32, 56, 75-77, 147, 153,
159, 160, 162, 163, 166, 226, 241, 269,
275, 294; Mrs. Nathaniel, 144; Ol
ive, 276; Oliver, 115-119, 121-125,
127, 138, 139, 143-145. 157. 166, 214,
226, 241, 269, 275, 276; Polly, 274,
276 ; Rachael, 249, 274 ; Rebecca,
240, 241, 259, 263, 269 ; Rhoda, 276 ;
Samuel, 83, 85, 86, 94, 99, 103 ; Sa
rah, 28, 94, 240, 248, 249, 26S, 269,
273, 274, 276 ; Sarah Ann, 240 ; Sim
eon, 116, 117, 121, 123, 125, 127, 160,
161, 248, 249, 269, 273 ; Sybil, 166,
241, 269, 275, 276 ; 'Thomas, 8, 17,
28, 32, 56, 233 ; William, 44, 45. 56 ;
William W., 195, 263.
Currier, Warren, 193.
Curtis, George W., 14,
Cushing, Thomas, 137, 142.
Cutler, Nathan, 215.
Cuttah-huno-a-muck, 8.

D
Daglish, John J., 193.
Dalyn, Simon, 193.
Damon, Lucy, 269.
Danbury, Conn., 123.
Dane, 'William, 172.
Danforth, Asa, 217; Caroline F., 226 ;
Francis, 17S ; Jonathan, 8, 10, n,
62, 64, in ; Joseph, 77, 87, 90, 96,
99, 101-103, 'oS. III. 117. "8, 125,
128, 130-132, 14S, 152, 154, 2S9;
Josiah, in, 116, iiS, 125, 146, 151,
154, 172,217; RebLCca, m ; Saniuel,
39, III, 297 ; 'Vilas, 226.
Danforth place, in.
Dark day, 133.
D.irliiig, David, 172 ; David L., 226.

INDEX.

303

Davis, Aaron, 172 ; Abbie L., 263 ; Abi
jah 184 ; Ancil, 193 ; Bridget, 261 ;
Eleazer, 44, 48 ; Frances E , 261 ;
Isaac, 181, 188 ; Jacob, 112 ; James,
A., 193, 203, 226 ; John Joseph, 74 ;
Josiah, 44, 47, 49 ; Joshua T., 182 ;
Lydia K,, 263; Mial, 180, 186; Moses,
226, 261 ; Samuel, 26, 172 ; Susan,
261 ; Thaddeus, 261 ; Thaddeus U.,
226, 263 ; William, 7, 125, 281 ; Wil
liam A., 226.
Day, Luke, 147.
Deacons chosen, 96, 215.
Dean, John Ward, 2 ; Paul, 172.
Death of Mr. Weld, 33 ; Mr. Prentice,
57 ; oldest person, i8o ; Joe Eng
lish, 36 ; Capt. Lovewell, 46 ; Silas
Johnson, 166 ; Paugus, 47 ; Mr. Hey
wood, 167.
Deaths, list of, 268-270.
Declaration of Peace celebrated, 167.
Dedham, Mass., 215.
Dedication of meeting-house, 156, 178.
Deed of land for meeting-house, 154.
Deerfield, N. H., 54.
Denver, 217.
Departure of praying Indians, 25.
Depreciation of currency, 136.
Description of Dunstable, 14.
Didson, John, 102.
Dickinson, 89 ; Jonathan, 125.
Dinah, 91.
Dismemberment of Dunstable, 55.
Disruption at the Gulf, 64.
Divoll, Charles B., 226 ; Ellen, 261.
Dix, Joseph, 142, 143, 146, 152; Samuel,
148.
Donahue, Patrick, 193.
Donation of Mrs. Winslow, 148.
Dorchester, Mass., 126, 127, i68.
Douley, Joseph, 193.
Dover, N. H., 29, 30, 36, 287.
Downing, James L., 226.
Doyle, James, 193.
Dracut, Mass., n, 39, 50, 79, 82, 99,
103, 124, 165.
Drake, 18, 20.
Dram Cup Hill, 7, 10.
Drinking customs, 144.
Dudley, Joseph, 283, 296.
Dunn, Anna, 266, 276 ; Edward, 116-
118, 125, 266, 269, 276; Jane, 230,
273 ; Mary, 273 ; Samuel, 230 ;
Rachel, 273 ; Robert, 116, 118, 125,
128, 156, 230, 273 ; Sally, 266 ; Wil
liam, 266, 276.
Dunstable, England, 12, 13, 178, 282,
296.
Dunstable, N. H., 156.
Durin, WiUiam H., 182, 185, 187.

Duston, Hannah, 31, 45, 287.
Dutton, Charles, 216; Jesse, 116, 118,
125, 128, 230 ; Polly, 230.

B
Earle, A. B , 221.
Early manners and customs, 283.
Early settlements, 5.
Early settlers, 17, 283.
Eastman, Amos, 159, i6o.
Eaton (Madison), N. H., 196.
Eaton, Joseph, 73, 75, 78.
Edwards, Thomas, 9.
Eldredge, Almira, 275 ; Clifton B., 275;
Erasmus D., 217, 218, 275 ; Frank
A., 193 ; Frederick A., 217, 275 ;
Hezekiah, 179, 216, 225, 275; Horace
W,, 275 ; Lucius O., 275 ; Mary A.,
275 ; Micah, 159, 162, 163, 169, 170,
173, 175, 212, 215-217, 275, 294;
Micah R., 275; Milburn F., 275;
Olney, 275 ; Sally, 217, 275.
Ehot, John, 18-21, 25.
Emerson, AUen, 159, 274; Asa, 129;
Daniel, 93, 95, 118, 156, 220 ; Han
nah, 230, 272 ; Jonathan, 118, 132,
133. 142, 159, 164, 230, 241, 268,
269, 272, 274 ; Joseph, 79, 87, 95 ;
Lucinda, 274; Mary, 241, 274; Polly,
274 ; Rachel, 274 ; Roxana, 269.
Endecott, John, 12, 282.
English, Joe, 35, 287.
Epitaphs, curious, 42.
Equipments of soldiers, 117.
Erzeroom, 196.
Essex, 50, 288
Estabrook, Benjamin, i65 ; Moses, 75;
Thomas, 75, loi.
Euered, John, 2i. •
Eustis, William, 175.
Evans, Benjamin, 122.
Everett, Edward, 176, 177, 179, 180.
Expedition to Pequawkett, 34, 44.
Expedition of John Lovewell, 43.
Extract from Lovewell's Journal, 43.
Fairbanks, Jabez, 41.
Fales, Jesse, 171.
Falmouth, 'Va., 195.
Families of Joint Grass, 83.
Family of Danforth, in.
Farm of Z. Kendall, 222.
Farmer, Aaron, n6, n8, 126; John,
33. 34. 5'. 53. 259; Lucy, 259 ;
Molly, 259.
Farmington, Me , 142.
Farnham, George, '277.
Farnsworth, A., 185 ; Oliver, 95.

304

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

Farrar, Edward, 193 ; Jacob, 44, 48,
49 ; Joseph, 44, 112.
Fast Day, 150.
Farwell, 37, 289 ; Benjamin, 74, 75, 87,
loi, 102; Eleazer, loi, 129; Eliza
beth, 235 ; Henry, 17, 37, 43, 50, 56,
75, 76, 114, 141, 214; Isaac, 41, 235 ;
John, 129, 151, 217; Jonathan, loi ;
Joseph, 37, 232 ; Josiah. 41-44, 47,
48, 52, 76, 78, 28S ; Oliver, 42, 74,
75, 90, 151, 288 ; Sarah, 235.
Fay, William, 175.
Ferry-boat, 102.
Fife, Mr., 225.
Fight at Pequawkett, 45.
Finley, Michael, 193.
First white settler, 15.
Fish abundant, 103.
Fish, Ransom, 177.
Fisher, Jabez P., 56, 156, 169.
Flagg, Colonel, 49 ; John, 172.
Flat Rock Hill, 67, 69, 96, 100, 109.
Fletcher, 71, 80, 81 ; Abigail, 247 ; Al
bert M., 226 ; Albert W., 193 ; Alice,
245, 246, 264, 276 ; Anna, 245, 276
Betsy, 276 ; Caty, 246 ; Catharine,
246 ; Charles B., 218 ; Charlotte, 245,
276; Daniel, 102, 122; David, 155,
272; Elijah, loi, 113, 149, 172 ; Eliza.
beth, 83, 84, no, 178, 246, 268, 272
Elizabeth U., 273, 274; Ezra, 171
Francis, 70, 162, 176, 184, 199, 225,
226, 230, 244, 245, 270, 272 ; George
W., 178, 182, 201, 214, 227, 258
Hannah, 244, 245, 270 ; Hannah P.,
245; Indiane, 276; Isaac, 217, 2 if
273 ; Jacob, loi, 289 ; James K,, 277
Jane, 264, 276; Jonathan, loS, 116,
122, 125, 126, 128, 129, 131, 132, 137
138, 142, 153, 166, 214, 230, 246, 274
Joseph, 72, 83, 90, 91, 94, 96, 97, 100,
lojt 108, no, 118, 128, 132, 152, 155,
158, 159, 178, 199, 215, 217, 218, 246,
247, 268, 273, 274 ; Leonard, 274
Lucinda, 246, 273 ; Lucy, 183, 246,
268, 274, 276; Mark, 162, 165, 170,
175, 178, 184, 214, 215, 217, 257,
276; Mary B,, 258; Molly, 218
Molly C, 273; Nancy C, 178, 257
Nathaniel, 147,214,244,272; Patty
272; Paul, 34; Phineas, 116, 118
125. 155. 159. 161, 178,217,245,246,
264, 276 ; Rachel, 146, 244, 269, 272
Rachel S., 270 ; Rebecca, 244, 272
Rhoda, 178, 184, 257, 270, 277 ; Rob
ert, 101 ; Sally, 245 ; Sally A., 25S
276; Samuel, 43, 101, 160, 270,274,
277; Samuel M., 178, 217, 25S
Sewall, 245, 276; Submit, 244; Su
san, 141, 230, 274, 277 ; Susan L.,

178; Thomas, 117, 118, 128, 146,
199, 230, 244, 26S, 272 ; William,
230.
Flint, Charles, 151.
Ford, John, 115, 140.
Foreigners as substitutes, 122.
Forest Hill, 62, 68, 69, 77, 109, 166,
186.
Forest trees, 71.
Fort HiU, 21.
Fort Pownell, 108 ; Wagner, 194.
Fortifications, 78.
Fo,ss, Charles 'V., 193.
Foster, Andrew, 56, 74, 75 ; E. B., 197 ;
B. F., 218; John, 159.
Fox, Capt., 124, 125 ; Charles J., 84.
Frankfort, Ky., 220.
Frederick, Thomas, 182.
Frederick, Md., 195, 258.
French, 71, 289; Abigail, 269, 274;
Alice, 75; Benjamin, 72, 75, 114.
140, 146, i8i, 182, 186-188, 197, 198,
201, 202, 214, 232, 277 ; Betty, 268,
276 ; Bridget, 233, 234 ; Charlotte,
139. 273 ; Ebenezer, 28, 41, 75, 98,
104, 108, 112, 114, 116, 117, 128, 132,
136, 140, 146, 157, 186, 229, 230, 26S,
269, 273, 288 ; Eleazer, 112, 114, 140,
274 ; Elizabeth, 233 ; Esther, 76 ;
Isaac, 233 ; James, 98 ; Jefferson,
172 ; John, 28, 56, 72, 74, 75, 77, 78,
112, 140, 159, 162, 230, 254, 268-270,
273, 276 ; John H., 254 ; John M.,
173; Jonas, 114, 116, 118, 125, 129,
131,. 139, 140, 148, 151, 160, 171, 252,
268, 270, 276 ; Jonas H., 140 ; Jonas
J., 270; Jonathan, 2S, 114, 117, 118,
125, 128, 140, 232, 274 ; Joseph, 75,
loi, in, 233, 234 ; Joseph A., 252 ;
Mary, 232, 270 ; Mary D., 230, 269 ;
Martha, 252, 270 ; Molly, 232 ; Polly,
276 ; Samuel, 17, 28, 32-34, 75, 114,
116, 118, 125, 128, 140 ; Sarah, 140,
229, 254, 268, 273 ; Susan F., 254 ;
Susanna, 230, 269, 273 ; William, 28,
75, 112, 117, iiS, 125, 128, 186, 270,
276 ; William L., 227.
Frost, Ebenezer, 172; Salathiel, 129;
Thoraas, 56, 75.
Frothingham, R., 112.
Frve, James, 47 ; Jonathan, 44-48, 53,
2S8, 2S9.
Fryeburg, Me., 47, 48, 2S9.
Fullam, Jacob, 44, 47, 49, 53.

G
Gage, Thomas, 107.
Gale of September, 181 5, 168.

LNDEX.

305

Galusha, Daniel, 32, 34, 36; Rachel,
36.
Gariand, D. W., 186.
Garrisons, 21, 37.
Geology and mineralogy, 69.
George III, 113.
Gerry, Elbridge, 160.
Gettysburg, Pa., 195.
Gibbs, Robert, 9.
Gibson, Nathaniel, 172.
Gile, Truman, 264 ; Zerviah, 264.
Gilman, Josiah, 190.
Gilson, Alvah, 186, 227 ; Andrew J.,
227 ; Asahiel, 227 ; C, 186 ; Daniel,
129; Eagen J., 260; Ebenezer, 186;
George F., 227; Isaac, 164; James
H., 193, 227 ; Jerome F., 227 ; Joel,
182, 185, 227, 261 ; John, 45, 98 ;
Joseph, 45, 98 ; Louisa, 261 ; Lucien
E., 261 ; Nathaniel, 171 ; Nathaniel
W., 314 ; Nehemiah, 153, 162, 164,
172; Oliver, 163; Peter, 159; Sam
uel, 184 ; WiUiam, 182.
Girardeau,' Cape, 261.
Glenne, VViUiam, 112.
Glynn, Moses, 172.
Goffe, John, 45, 98, 289.
Gold.smith, Oliver, 59.
Goodhue, Ebenezer, no, 272; Eliza,
no, 272; Elizabeth, 94, 229, 272;
Joseph, no, 272, 229; Josiah, 92,
94, 95, loi, 102, 104, 109, no, 118,
126, 171, 217, 229, 272; Nathaniel,
no; Samuel B., no, 212.
Goodman, Eldad W., 171, 178, 179.
Goodsell, Dana, 180.
Gook, George, 227.
Gookin, Daniel, 21.
Gordon, James, 90 ; William, loi, 102,
104, no, in, 143, 289.
Goss, Elbridge H., 134 ; Joseph W.,
227.
Gould, David, 152 ; Margaret, 53 ;
Noah M., 129; Samuel, 17, 29, loi.
Gray, Thomas, 89.
Grant of Thomas Brattle, 7.
Grants to early settlers, 6.
Grantville, Mass., 147.
Great Britain, 132, 143.
Great Naacook Brook, 62.
Greeley, 55 ; Jane, 234 ; Samuel, 234.
Green, Hannah P., 257 ; Oliver, 116,
118 ; Rufus K., 257 ; Samuel A., 31 ;
Sarah A., 257.
Greenwood, F. W. P., 106.
Grist mill, 32.
Guide posts, 189.
Gulf at Massapoag Pond, 32, 61, 63-65.
Groton, Mass., 6, 9, 10, n, 22, 26, 28,
31. 32, 35. 4'. 44. 45. 47, 48, 5°. 59.

62-64, 67, 68, 76-87, 96, 98, 100, 107,
108, 114, 129, 137, 152, 155, 156, 160,
166, 172, 175, 283, 288, 297.
Groton families set off to Dunstable, 85.

Haddock, John, 102, 151.
Hale, Henry, 182 ; Salma, 40.
Haley, Edward, 227.
Half-way covenant, 95.
Hall, Ira, 183, 185, 214, 227 ; Ira B.,
198, 199, 201, 227; Willard, 87, loi,
133.
Hamblett, John, 102 ; Susannah, 140.
Hampton, N. H., 217.
Hancock, John, 135, 137, 138, 142.
Hannibal, 148.
Hardy, Betty, 274 ; Daniel, 274 ; Han
nah, 274; Jesse, 274; Job, 274;
Lydia, 274 ; Miriam, 268, 274 ; Mo^es,
116, 118, 125, 128, 268, 269, 274;
Polly, 274 ; Sarah, 274 ; Simeon, 274;
William, 159, 274.
Harrington, Richard, 162.
Harrison, Gen., 165.
Hartford, Conn,, 260.
Hartshorn, Levi, 168.
Hartwell, Alonzo, 193 ; O., 269 ; Ra
chel, 269 ; Warren, 193.
Harward, 83 ; John, 44, 47, 49 98 ;
William, 8, 32.
Harvard, Mass., 83
Harvard, Charlotte, 233 ; Jonathan, 233.
Hassell, Anna, 30 ; Benjamin, 30, 44,
49; Joseph, 17, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35,
287 ; Richard, 35.
Hatfield, Mass., 147.
Haunted House, 23.
Haverhill, Mass., 6, 43, 45, 287, 288.
Hayward, John, 181.
Haywood, Jemima, 95 ; John, in;
Susannah, 84.
Hazen, Richard, 73.
Heads of families in 1698, 32 ; in 1856,
184.
Heath, William, 124.
Hemenway, Phineas, 95.
Henley, Col., 124.
Henchman, Thomas, 16, 22, 29-31, 212.
Henry I, 12; Henry VIII, 13.
Heroism ofthe town, 286; of Jonathan
Tyng. 23-
Heywood, Joshua, 157, 161, 163-167,
171, 176, 212, 245, 269, 294, 295.
Hickey, James, 193.
Higby, Christopher, 122.
Hill, 55; Isabella, 218; Enoch, 234;
Nathaniel, 49; Ruth, 234.

3o6

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

Hills of Dunstable, 67.
Hinds, Hiram H., 193.
Hitten, Isaac, 122.
Hoar, E. R., 203, 209.
Hobbes, George, 193; Nancy, 254, 270.
Hogg, 106.
Holbrook, Silas P., 195.
Holden, Jonathan, 106; Mary, 152;
Nathaniel, 108, in-113, ir6, 120,
124, 129, 142, 149, 151, 215, 289.
Hollis, N. H., n, 57, 60, 67, 68, 83, 84,
93, 142, 156, 215, 220, 282.
Holyoke, Elizur, 92.
Hooper, William, 190.
Hopkinton, Mass., 147.
Horse Hill, 68.
Hound Meadow HiU, 68,
Houston, Catharinah, 235 ; Ovid, 143,
235-
Hovey, James P., 150.
How Dunstable was formed, 283.
Howard, Nathaniel, 30 ; Samuel, 75,
78, 102, 234; Thomas, 56, 75.
Howard's or Holden's Brook, 27, 30,
36, 61, 62, 76, 78, in, 215.
Howe, A. 'W., 117, 183, 216, 263;
Harry D., 263 ; M. D., 263.
Hubbard, William, 168.
Hudson, Charles, 278.
Hudson, N. Y., 7, n, 55, 282.
Hulbert, Ebenezer, 45.
Hunt, Israel, 171, 203, 210; Samuel,
38. 294.
Hunter, George, 193.
Hutchinson, Amos, 173; Elisha, 26,
283 ; Thomas, 12, 19.

Incorporation of Dunstable, 10.
Incorporation of Hollis, 57.
Indian massacres, 36.
Indian mortar, 18.
Indian pow-wows, 21.
Indian relics, 65.
Indians of Massachusetts, 17.
Indians' mode of life, 17.
Industrial condition of Dunstable in
1865, 191.
Ingalls, Abigail, 275 ; Daniel, 171, 275;
Eleazer F., 171, 275 ; Huldah, 275 ;
James, 162, 172, 275; Joel, 275;
John, loi, 157, 275 ; Joseph, 172,
275; Mary, 275; Nathaniel, 129;
Sally, 225, 275.
Inscriptions on Meeting-House Hill,
228-231.
Inscriptions in the Tyng burial-place,
231.

Inscriptions at Little's Station, 232-
235. , ,
Inscriptions in cemetery, near A. Swal
low's, 235.
Inscriptions in Central Cemetery, 236-
268.
Installation of Mr. Adams, 183.
Installation of Mr. Goodman, 178.
Installation of Mr. Jackson, 188.
Installation of Mr. Tolman, 175.
Instructions to representatives, 119.
Introduction of the potato, 87.
Ipswich, Mass., 37.

Jackson, Abbie I., 197 ; Andrew, 167,
220, 297 ; Charlotte E,, 197 ; Edward
P., 194, 197 ; Florence C, 197 ;
George W., 197 ; Julia S., 197 ; Mary
R, 197 ; William C, 171, 188, 196.
James if, 296.
Jaques, Daniel H., 67, 129, 142 ; Han
nah, 142.
Jaquish, Josiah, 194.
Jaquith, Abigail, 270 ; Adford, 75, 77,
87,91, 94, loi, 109, 118, 128, 230,
270; Benjamin, 116, 118, 122, 125,
128, 270; Daniel, 172; Elizabeth,
270 ; Hannah, 270 ; John, 270 ; Mar
garet, 230, 270 ; Mary, 270 ; Re
becca, 270 ; Sarah, 270.
Jefts, John, 44, 47, 49.
Jeremie's Hill, n.
Jewell, Benoni, loi ; Caleb G., 261 ;
James, 8, lOl ; Nathaniel, 80, 81 ;
Thomas, 8, loi.
Jewett, A., 186, 188, 227 ; DaVid, 171 ;
Enoch, n8 ; John W., 182.
Jilson, Joel, 184.
Joe, English, 32, 36.
Johnson, 42, 289 ; Abel, 164, 171, 215,
227 ; Edward, 6, 281 ; Ephraim, 171,
245, 277; George, 171 ; Ichabod,
44, 47, 49 ; Isaac, 7 ; Jesse, 171, 182,
215,277; Josiah, 44; Lucy, 277;
Noah, 44, 56 ; Rebecca, 166, 245,
270, 276 ; SUas, 159, 166, 245, 269,
270, 276.
Joint Grass, 78, 80, 81, 83-85, 87, 218.
Joint Grass Brook, 61.
Johffe, John, 9.
Jones, Cormely R., 194 ; Josiah, 44,

K
Kahoe, Michael, 194.
Kanapatune, 7.

INDEX.

307

Kateley, J. H., 186.
Katharine of Arragon.
Keene, N. IL, 28.
Kelleiky, James, 194.
Kemp, Hiram, 172, 201 ; I. N., 185 ;
L W., 185; Levi, 172; W. N., 201,
227.
KendaU, 91 ; Abigail, 238, 269, 272,
276 ; Abraham, 74, 75, 92, 94, 96, 99,
102, 108, 118, 121, 123, 126, 128, 131,
132, 143. 144, 154. 220, 229-231, 251,
268, 270, 275 ; Alice, 272 ; Almon
M., 227 ; Alvah, 264 ; Amanda, 225,
277 ; Amos, 76, 208, 212, 217, 220,
222-224, 275, 297 ; Andrew, 269 ;
Andrew T., 182, 227, 238, 276 ; Anna,
272; Ann M., 264; Asa, 102, 115,
117, 121, 270, 272 ; B , 173 ; Benja
min, :6o, 272 ; Betsy, 264 ; Caroline
P., 258 ; Catharine, 225, 272 ; Charles,
238, 276; Chiles, 175, 183, 186, 215,
227, 277 ; Cummings, 276 ; Daniel,
56 ; David, 56, 272 ; Deborah, 232,
272 ; Ebenezer, 74, 75, 78, 80, 81, 86,
90, 92, 94, 99, 216, 220, 237, 268, 270,
286; Edward, 99, 103, 117, 118, 122,
126, 128, 166, 220, 237, 269, 272 ;
Elizabeth, 225, 237, 250, 268, 272,
277 ; Ellen E., 226 ; Elmina, 277 ;
Elmira, 166, 258; Esther, 272 ; Ezra,
272 ; Francis, 220 ; George M., 275 ;
Gilman, 264; Hannah, 94, 237, 251,
268-271, 275 ; Hannah A., 251 ; Han
nah J., 260 ; Harriet L., 264 ; Heze
kiah, 112, 270; Hiram G., 260;
Hiram R., 195 ; Isaac, 125, 147, 183,
188, 214, 227, 251, 263, 270, 272, 275,
276 ; Jacob, 8, 56, 103, 116, 118, 123,
126, 128, 137, 138, 144-146, 153, 186,
220; James, 227, 272, 276; James
M., 260; Jane, 231, 269; Jeremiah,
238, 272 ; John, 56, 74-76, 78, 84, 91,
96, 108, 109, 117, 118, 126, 128, 140,
173, 181, 186, 215, 220, 228, 231, 232,
251, 264, 269, 271, 272, 275 ; Jonas,
158, 162, 166, 186, 188, 215, 224, 225,
258, 277 ; Jonas C, 188, 202, 203,
227 ; Joseph, 159, 162, 272; Joseph
H., 237, 270 ; Josiah, 159, 264, 272 ;
Lavina, 276; Leonard, 160, 171;
Lucy, 272; Madison, 276; Mary, 251,
253, 272 ; Mary A., 263 ; Mary 'W.,
264 ; Molly, 220, 251, 252, 270, 275 ;
Nathaniel, 272; Nathaniel C„ 72, 173,
186, 227, 264 ; Olive, 13, 238, 258,
272, 277 ; Olive C. B., 180, 224, 258,
272, 277; Oliver, 272; Patty, 253;
Peter, 164, 180, 181, 186, 187, 212,
260, 276; Mrs. Peter, 65; Pierpont,
272; Prudence, 140, 238, 257, 276;

Rachel, 264 ; Ralph, 220 ; Rebecca,
276 ; Relief, 272 ; Rhoda, 272, 276 ;
Ruth, 94, 229 ; Samuel, 159, 162, 164,
253, 275 ; Sarah, 237, 251, 258, 269,
272, 275-277 ; Sarah Jane, 264 ;
Stiles, 276 ; Susannah, 94, 225, 231,
272 ; Temple, 86, 99, 109, no, 116,
116, 123, 126, 128, 132, 133, 140, 142,
146, 159, 171, 172, 175, 178, 179, 220,
225, 238, 257, 268-270, 272, 276 ;
Thomas, 220; Timothy, 251, 275;
Timothy A'., 251, William, 122, 185,
227, 270; Zebedee, 76, 112, 116, 118,
125, 128, 140, 143, 148, 149, 153, 155,
158, 159, 163, 165, 170, 215, 220, 222,
223, 251, 252, 272, 275, 294, 297.
Kendall Green, 221.
Kensington, N. H., 217.
Keyes, Ann, 238 ; D. P., 227 ; Joel, 160,
162, 175, 185, 217, 238, 262 ; J. W.,
217 ; Jonathan, 269 ; Levi, 162; Mary,
238; Peabody, 162, 194, 269; Phosbe,
217 ; Polly, 238 ; Samuel P., 194 ;
Solomon, 44 ; Sophia, 238.
Kidder, 156; Benjamin, 44, 45 ; Dor
othy, 106 ; Frederic, 32, 48, 49 ;
James, 156.
KimbaU, Henry, 7; 9, 10, 39, 282.
King William's War, 29.
Kingsbury, E. P., 197, 198.
Kingston, U. C, 176.
Kittridge, Jonathan, 44, 47, 49.
Knapp, James, 9.
Knights, Isaac, 194 ; Richard H., 195.
Kyle, Jane, 221.

Labors of John Eliot, 18.
Lafayette, 137.
Lake Champlain, 120, 140.
Lake George, 77, 98, 180.
Lakin, Isaac, 44 ; William, 9, 10.
Lancaster, Mass., 17, 22, 29, 31, 34, 50,
57. 232.
Landeree, Elizabeth, 99 ; Jane, 99 ;
Mary, 99 ; Mary M., 99 ; Peter, 99 ;
Sarah, 99.
Lane, Anna, 281.
Larkin, Amos, 182.
Lawrence, 80, 81 ; Asa, 162 ; Daniel
H., 171 ; Hannah, 154; Isaac, 153 ;
Nathaniel, 153, 156; S. A., 185.
Lechford, Thomas, 73.
Lempster, N. H., 176.
Lenox, Mass., 224.
Letter of Gov. Stoughton, 31, to Col.
Tyng, 50.
Letters of James Cummings, 120.

308

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

Levy of shirts, shoes, and stockings,
132,
Lewis, John, loi ; Reuben, loi, 112,
120 ; Thomas, 172.
Lexington, Mass., 113 ; Ky., 297.
Lincoln, Benjamin, 100, 101, 147, 148.
Lincoln, Mass., 147, 188, 196, 197,
Line between Massachusetts and New
Hampshire established, 73.
Lingfield, Edward, 44.
Lining out of hymns, 145, 153.
Litchfield, 6, n, 56, 282,
Littlehale, John, loi.
Little Naacook Brook, 61, 76.
Littleton, Mass., 17, 83, 215.
Little's Station, 42, 57, 232.
List of soldiers, 117.
London, Eng., 28.
Londonderry, N. H., 55, 67 ; 82, 282,
2S8.
Long HUl, 53 ; Island, 12 [ ; Pond, n,
39-
Long, Zachariah, 9.
Longfellow, H. W., 5, 99.
Loring, G. B., 202-204, 210, 278, 279.
Lossing, B. J., 137.
Louis XIV, 33.
Louisburg, 98.
Lovering, Horace, 184.
Lovejoy, Daniel, 246, Polly, 246, Polly
C, 246.
Lovewell, 55; Esther, 233; Hannah,
41, 49, 50 ; John, 17, 30, 32, 33, 40,
42-54, 76, 215, 287, 2S8, 289, 291 ;
Jonathan, 76, 84; Joseph, 17, 55;
Mary, 233; Nehemiah, 49; Noah,
233 ; Zaccheus, 32, 43, 214, 233.
Lovewell's fight, 44-50, 288.
Lovewell's Pond, 43, 45, 288.
Lowell, Mass., 21, 59, 68, 197, 225.
Lowell, Rebecca C, 257 ; S. B., 257 ;
Sarah E., 257 ; Sarah L., 257.
Luce, Abraham, loi ; James, 102 ; R.
E., 226.
Lund, Hannah, 233 ; John, 233 ; Levi,
171 ; Oliver, 235 ; Thomas, 17, 28, 32,
34. 37. 4'. 42. 288 ; William, 42, 171.
Lunenburg, Mass., 83, 232.
I^yndon, Vt., 218.
Lynn, 33.
Lyons, Thomas, 194.

M
Madison, James, 167.
MacLelfm, I., Jr,, 106.
Madison's war, 164.
M.ilden, Mass , 134,
M.ilignant fever, 105, 166.

Manchester, N. H., 45.
Manning, John, 112.
Map of Dunstable, 80.
Marble, Ebenezer, 182.
Margaret, a servant, 102.
Marks, Mary, 30 ; Peter, 30.
Marlborough, Mass., 31, 144, 147.
Marsh, 55; John, 112, 117, 118, 126,
128.
Marshall, Benjamin, 269, 270; Betsy,
139; Elizabeth, 270; Clement, 185,
227; Freeman W., 183 ; George E.,
194; Silas, 153; Thaddeus, 172.
Masconnomet, 37.
Mason, N. H,, 108, 154, 224.
Massacre of the Hassell family, 30.
Massapoag Pond, 7, n, 28, 32,61, 62,
64-66, 68, 70, 77, 91, 96, 98, 100, 103,
loS, 156, 175, 187, 199.
Maxwell, Francis B., 171.
Mayo, Willard M., 194.
Medfield, Mass , 27, 297.
Meeting-house in First Parish, 89.
Meeting-house in Second Parish fin
ished, 27.
Meeting-house, Orthodox, erected, 177.
Meeting-House Hill, 77, 78, 95, 97, 99,
141, 154, 198, 228.
Melvin, David, 44 ; Eleazer, 44.
Members ofthe church, 94.
Men liable to serve as soldiers, 182;
drafted, 122-124.
MerriU, 55; John, 129; Nathaniel, 56.
Merrimac, N. H., 11, 56, 183, 282,
Merrimack River, 5-7, 9-11, 14-17. 19,
21-25, 28, 30, 31, 34, 39,41, 50, 55,
56, 61-63, ^, 82, 84, 90, 91, 102, 103,
106, 107, in, 131, 133, 142, 152, 161,
197, 281, 282, 287.
Miantonimo, 18.
Middlesex Canal, 161 ; County, 6, 50,
59, 61, 157, 181, 184, 209, 282.
Milford, N. H., II, 282.
Mill of William Gordon, 102.
Milledgeville, Ga., 218.
Miller at the Gulf, 64.
Mill Stone Meadow, 77.
Mine Falls, 41.
Mineral Spring, 70, 1S7.
Ministers, succession of, 171.
Minneapolis, Minn,, 217.
Minot, Col., 80, 81 ; Timothy, 92.
Minute-men chosen, 112.
Mitchell, Ann, 139; Nanc)', 267.
Modes of living, 2S4,
Mohawks, 21, 2SS,
Monadnock Mount, 68.
Money voted for a school, 82.
Money paid for preaching, 92.
MonticeUo, Ga,, 218.

INDEX.

309

Montreal, 98.
Moore, 34, 106; O. C, 205; Stephen,
182.
Morse, John, g ; Samuel F., 221.
Morton, Marcus, 179-181.
Moseley, .Samuel, 24.
Mount Flope, 24
Mount Vernon, 144.
Mudge, Alfred, i.
Murphy, Hattie J., 226.
Murray, Michael, 194.
Muscatanapus Pond, n.
Music in church, 103, 145, 153, 158,
160, 175, 187, 223.
Music, military, 116.
Muster at Concord, 158.
N
Names of original proprietors, 9.
Names of early residents. 17.
Names of members of 2d Parish, loi.
Names of men killed at Thornton's
Ferry, 42.
Napoleon, 148.
Narragansett, 168 ; fight, 7.
Nashaway Indians, 17.
Nashobas, 17, 18.
Nashua, N. H, n, 18, 58, 59, 61, 65,
66, 68, 76, 182, 185, 203, 210, 216,
245, 282, 283.
Nashua River, 6, 8, 14, 41, 59-62, 68,
69, 80-82, 84, 103, 156, 182. 184, 281.
Nashua, A. & B. R. R. opened, 199.
Nashville, N. H., 57, 282.
Nason, E , I, 202.
Natchez, Miss., 260.
Natick, Mass., 103.
Naticook, 15, 28, 41, 56, 76.
Naticook Brook, 6.
Naticook Indians, n, 17.
Natural scenery of Dunstable, 69.
Neff, Mary, 31.
Nelson, N. H., 224.
New Brunswick, 176.
Newbury, 52, 38.
Newburyport, 224.
New England Confession of Failh, 133.
New Hampshire, 40, 57, 73, 79-81, 84,
85, 134, 156, 281-283, 286, 287, 297.
New Ipswich, N. H., 203, 220.
New Jersey, 127, 139.
New Orleans, 167, 194.
Newport, 131, 132.
Newton, Mass., 19, 198.
New York, 6, 120, 126, 127, 134, 136,
258, 281.
Nichols, Capt., 85.
Nissitisset, 57.

Nissiti,sset Hills, 41, 62.
Nissitisset River, 14,
Nobstow, 21.
Nonantum, 19.
Nonatomenut, 21.
Norman kings, 13.
Norridgewock, 35, 40, 2S8.
Northampton, 147.
North Andover, 289
Notice of tax-payers in 1 744, 76-79.
Notice of Capt. John Lovewell, 49.
Notice of Danforth family, in.
Notice of Wm, C. Jackson, 196, 197.
Notice of E. D. Eldredge, 217,
Notice of Isaac Fletcher, 218-220.
Notice of Amos Kendall, 220-224.
Notice of S. H. Tolman, 224.
Notice of John Woodward, 165.
Notice of John Spaulding, 224.
Notice of Proctor family, 177.
Nottage, Lizzie, 226.
Nott-ngham, 55, 56, 80, 81, 83, 84, 140,
282, 286.
Numphow, 19.
Nutfield, N. H,, 44, 45.
Nutting, Abigail, 262 ; Ebenezer, ic8 ;
Jemima, 77 ; Levi M., 188 ; Nar
cene, 188; PhUinda, 188; Seth, 262.
Nutting Hill, 41, 6r, 68.

o
Oath of office, 103.
Old houses, 72.
Oliver, Joel M., 183,
Opposition to Mrs. Winslow's dona
tion, 94.
Oration of Geo. B, Lorin,g, 279.
Ordination af Mr. Lawrence, 153.
Ordination of Mr, Brigham, 180.
Ordination of Mr. Heywood, 157.
Ordination of Mr. Kingsbury, 197.
Ordination of Mr. Goodhue, 94.
Ordination of Mr. Swan, 57.
Orthography, curious, 74.
Osborne, Prescott E., 194.
Osman, David, 122.
Ossipee, 45.
Ossipee Lake, 45, 48.
Otis, H. G., 175.
Otis, James, 100.
Overseers of the poor, 146.

Packenham, 167.
Page, Hetsy, 268 ; Daniel, 1S2 ; Da
vid H., 194 ; Edmund, 162, 165, 171,

3IO

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

172, 175, 185, 268; Harriet, 268;
'WilHam H., 277.
Paine, H. W., 169.
Palfrey, 281, 284.
Palmer, Mass., 147.
Parkhurst, 56, 71; A., 185; Abigail,
261, 262, 269, 276 ; Addison B., 259
Albert L., 65, 76, 182, 192, 227 ; Al
fred G., 195 ; Alvira, 259 ; Ameri
cas, 227, 277 ; B., 185 ; Benajah, 227,
259, 277 ; Betty, 247, 272 ; Betty C,
276 ; Catharine, 225, 248, 272, 276
Deborah, 250, 269, 271, 276 ; E., 185
Ebenezer, 74-76, 85, 91, 96, n6, 125
228, 248, 268, 270, 271, 277, 286 ; Ed.
mund, 166, 250 ; Elizabeth, 248, 268,
277 ; Esther, 271 ; Fannie M., 262
Fanny, 248, 269. 276 ; George, 61
182, 227 ; Hannah; 247, 248, 276
Hannah M., 226, 236, 268 ; Henry,
172, 179, i8o, 181, 183, 185, 186, 191
192, 212, 214, 226, 261, 262, 276
Jacob, 182, 184, 186, 198, 227, 261.
277 ; Joel, 65, 76, 108, III, 113, 116;
117, 121, 125, 126, 128, 130, 131, 133
137. 138. 142. 148, 155. 156,159.212:
215, 225, 247, 269, 270, 272, 289, 290,
292 ; John, 276 ; John A., 65, 76,
142, 186, 192, 201, 223, 262 ; Joseph,
76, 85, lOI, 116-118, 122, 126, 12S,
132, 133, 159, i66, 248, 250, 268, 269
271, 276 ; Laura S., 259 ; Leonard,
65, 142, 147, 155, 157, 171, 172, 192;
247, 267, 269, 272, 276 ; Louisa, 267
Lucinda, 248 ; Lucy, 248, 250, 260,
272 ; Lyman "V., 227 ; Margette, 248
Maria, 260 ; Mary, 76, 270, 271 ; Ma^
ry Ann, 261 ; Owen A., 227 ; Polly,
276 ; Rebecca, 272, 276 ; Rhoda, 276 ]
S., 185 ; Sarah, 76, 94, 247, 248, 270,
271, 276 ; Silas, 76, 166, 248, 250, 260,
270, 276 ; Sophy, 276 ; Sybil, 276 ;
Thomas, 187 ; Thomas H., 183, 185
187, 227 ; Walter, 183 ; William^
272 ; WiUiam R., 262 ; Willis H.,
263.
Paris, 143.
Paris, Treaty of, 98.
Parker, 71 ; Abraham, 9, 26, 28 ; Asa,
142; Benjamin, 165; Caleb, 56;
Charles, 171 ; Clark, 162, 171, 176,
185, 254, 269 ; Deliverance, 78 ; El
eazer, 35 ; Emerson, 172, 254, 270 ;
Eunice, 254 ; George, 269 ; James,
9, 10, 22, 26, 27, in; Jane, 175;
Jonas, 172 ; Jonathan, 227 ; Joseph,
9; Levi, 153, 162; Libni, 171, 188,
196, 198, 200, 201, 227 ; L. Herman,
199, 201, 227 ; Lucy, 254 ; Luther S,,
194 ; Nathaniel, 84 ; Rebecca, 254,

270 ; Samuel, 123, 132 ; Sumner,
182 ; Tamar, 254, 269 ; Thomas, 181,
184, 215, 227.
Parris, Robert, 9, 17, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34,
37, 38, III, 212, 287.
Parris, Samuel, 38, 294.
Partridgefield, Mass., 147.
Parts of Groton set off to Dunstable,
'55-
Passaconnaway, 18-21.
Patatucke, Jacob, 7.
Patriotism of the people, 107.
Paugus, 40, 44, 46, 47, 49. 54, 76-
Pawtucket Indians, 17, 18, 19 ; Falls,
20, 21, 29, 161.
Payments to soldiers, 127-129.
Peace declared, 143.
Pearl, Gilman, 194.
Pearson, Capt., 35, 36.
Peckins, John, 167.
Pelham, Mass., 147; N. H., 11, 282.
Pembroke, N. H,, 50, 179.
Penhallow, Samuel, 41, 44.
Pennacook, 20, 24, 50 ; Indians, 15, 17,
18, 21, 22.
Pennichuck Brook, 7.
Pentucket, 6, 19.
People received from Groton, 153,
155.
PeppereU, Mass., n, 41, 59, 60, 67, 68,
79,87, 95, 104, 125, 156, 182, 199, 282.
Pepperell, William, 79.
Pequawkett, 34, 44, 45, 50, 51, 76, 78,
215, 287, 2S8; Indians, 47, 50.
Perambulation of parish lines, 100.
Percival, J. G., 130.
Percy, Lord, 112.
Perham, 142 ; Allen, 171 ; David, 171 ;
Elijah, 151; EUzabeth, 274; James,
loi, 122, 129; John, loi, 106, 116,
118, 126, 132, 149, 152; Jonathan,
loi, 151 ; Joseph, 106; Josiah, 274;
Lemuel, 102, 103, 105, 112, 113, 118,
126, 128, 132, 137, 274; Mary, 274;
Peter, 146, 151; Rachel, 274; Ralph,
171; Rebecca, 274; Silas, 274; Su
san, 77 ; William, 129, 152.
Perkins, Jeremiah, 227.
Perry, Obadiah, 17, 23, 28, 31 ; Joseph,
192.
Petersham, Mass., 147, 148.
Petition for incorporation, 9 ; for scouts,
3°-
Pettingell, Capt., 125.
Pevey, Lyman E., 194.
Pew ground drawn, 96.
Pews, sale of, 99.
Philadelphia, 127.
Philbrook, 209.
Physicians, 215.

INDEX.

311

PhUip, 19, 22, 24, 31, 32, 68.
Pierce, Allen, 172; Joseph, 171, 172.
Pierpont, J., 38, 278, 294.
Pike, 219; Benjamin, 99, 105, 116-118,
126, 128, 228, 231; Isaac, 152, 171,
231; James, 125, 129; John, 36;
Joseph, 85, 90, 94, 105, 229 ; Lydia,
231; Mary, 231; Rachel, 228.
Pitch pipe, 103.
Pitman, Venus, 178, 254.
Pitts, John, 89, 107, 144, 160, 2X2.
Pittsfield, Mass., 147, 181.
Plainfield, 42.
Plan of Dunstable, 156.
Pledge to defend the country, 112.
Plummer, John K., 227.
Plymouth, Mass,, 5, 93.
Poem by Mrs. RockweU, 205, 2io.
Pokanoket, 22.
Pollard, 55 ; Solomon, 146.
Pool, Leonard H., 194.
Poolesville, Md., 263.
Pope, Alexander, 150.
Population, 103, 172, 177, 180, 188, 198,
285.
Port Hudson, 193, 195 ; Royal, 38.
Post-office established, 176.
Potter, C. E., 44, 45.
Powder-horns, curious, 98.
Powell, Jeremiah, 135.
Powers, Alice, 270 ; Elizabeth, 146 ;
Peter, 43, 215, 216.
Pratt, Anna L., 254 ; Eliza, 254 ; Jerah
meel, 158, 159; John, 162, 164; Ma
ria, 254 ; Mary, 254 ; Martha, 254 ;
Nancy, 254 ; Phineas, 7, 282 ; Re
becca, 254; Sarah A., 254 ; Stephen,
172, 254; Thomas, 254; WiUiam
W., 254.
Preaching in a private house, 80.
Preface, 3.
Prentice, N., 15, 39,57,233; WiUiam
H., 99, loi, 106, 294, 296.
Preparation of pitch and turpentine, 56.
Presby, Clarissa, 225 ; Rebecca, 235.
Prescott, 218 ; Avery, 172 ; Charles A.,
227 ; William, 114.
Proctor, 71 ; Abigail, 274 ; Amos, 240,
269, 275 ; Betty, 240; C. W., 258 ;
Catharine, 273 ; Clarissa E., 178 ;
Dexter P., 178, 197, 275 ; Ebenezer,
56, 75. 77. 84, 96, 137. 153. '60, 177,
184, 239, 240, 273, 275; Elizabeth,
240, 268, 275 ; Emily C, 178 ; Gen
eral, 165 ; Gershom, 8, 116, n8, 126,
128, 160, 166, 240, 269, 274, 275 ;
Henry O., 178, 275 ; James, 159, 162 ;
Jasper P., 70, 177, 178, 182, 185, 197,
259, 270, 275, 276; John, 116, 118,
125, 126, 128, 140, 162,240,274,275;

Jonathan, 118, 122, 144, 154, 157, 177,
227, 258, 275, 276 ; Josiah C, 2, 178,
201-203, 227, 275, 278, 279; Mary,
197, 239, 240, 259, 275 ; Mary A., 178,
258, 259, 270, 275 ; Mary B., 259 ;
Molly, 273 ; Nathan, 159, 162, 164;
Peter, 159, 160, 175 ; Polly, 275 ;
Rebecca, 177, 184, 276 ; Rhoda, 275 ;
Robert, 9, 1 7 ; Sarah, 140, 239, 240,
273, 274 ; Warren W., 258 ; William,
275; Zephaniah P., 173, 182, 185,
186, 227, 258.
Proposal of Mrs. Winslow, 151.
Prosperity of the people, 161, 167.
Protest of R. Blood and others, 105.
Pulpit buUt, 104 ; supplied by C. Rock
well, 198; D. Goodsell, 180; Mr.
Austin, 198 ; W. K. Talbot, 176.
Putney, 'Vt., no.

Q
Quebec, 140.
Queen Anne's War, 33.

R
Raby, N. H., 57.
Raddin, Augusta A., 264 ; Hannah C,
264 ; Isabel, 264 ; John, 264 ; Mar
tha, 264 ; Rebecca, 264 ; Samuel, 264.
Raising the meeting-house, 86.
Rale, Sebastian, 40.
Ralston, Thomas, 176.
Ranpuck, Harold A., 194.
Rawson, Edward, 10.
Raymond, Eri D., 197 ; Liberty C, 184,
185, 187.
Read, 80, 81 ; Abijah, 159; Anne E.,
236 ; IBetsy, 231, 236, 274, 277 ;
Caleb, 158, 171, 215, 236, 274, 277;
Calvin, 236, 277 ; Catharine, 236,
274; Caty, 236; Christopher, 17,
30, 32 ; C. E., 203, 205 ; Eleazer,
116, 118, 126, 128, 129, 231, 236, 274 ;
Isaac, 274; Jacob, loi ; James, 171,
231,277; Leonard, 231, 274; Mark,
236; Martha, 231; Mary, 229;
Rachel, 236, 274, 277 ; Rebecca, 231,
274 ; Rhoda, 274 ; Sarah, 236, 277;
Susannah, 274 ; Sybil, 229, 274 ;
Timothy, 57, 83, 85, 94, 97, 117-119,
125, 126, 128, 131, 137, 138, 229-
231, 268, 274, 290; Thomas, 171;
'William, 274.
Reading, Mass., 38, 78, 85.
Redfield, Isaac F., 218.
Red Lion Inn, 12.

312

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

Remington, Jesse, 148, 149.
Removal of meeting-house, 154.
Representatives to General Court, 212,
Revival of religion, 169.
Revolution, impending, 107.
Rhode Island, 6, 122, 123, 126, 127, 132,
285.
Rice, Benjamin P., 183.
Rich, Everett, 194.
Richardson, Abiel, 86, 87 ; Abigail,
243 ; Daniel, 176, 186, 227, 262 ;
Frances E., 262 ; Lucy A , 262 ; Ma
ry, ni ; Oliver, 225; Rachel, 262;
¦phomas. 44, 172, 243 ; Timothy, 44 ;
William M., 220 ; 'William B., 297 ;
Zn.chariah, 159.
Rideaut, David, 184, 227 ; David F.,
182, 184, 198, 227.
Robbins, 82 ; Albert, 27, 277 ; Benja
min, 83, 85, 94, 266 ; Betsy, 166,
269, 272 ; Cynthia, 266 ; Damaris P.,
277 ; Desire, 277 ; Desire P., 277 ;
Dorothy, 269; Elijah, 116, 118, 126,
128, 132, 133, 153, 159, 270, 272, 277 ;
Elizabeth, 94, 266 ; Emeline, 270 ;
Emerson, 277 ; Freeman L., 183, 184,
188, 196, 198, 199, 227 ; Henry, 272,
277 ; Jefferson, 183 ; Jonathan, 42,
44. 47-49. S3. 74. 75. 78. 288; Jo
tham, 182, 184, 227, 272 ; Larned,
277 ; Lucy, 272 ; Lucy A., 226 ; Ma-
r}', 272 ; Micha E., 265 ; Moody,
171 ; Parlin, 172, 227 ; Rebecca, 277 ;
Rhoda, 272 ; Sarah A., 265 ; Wil
lard, 162, 184, 270, 272 ; William, 171.
Robertson, William, 194.
Robinson, Archibald, 101 ; John, 194.
Roby, Catharine, 180 ; Charles, 273 ;
Christopher, 203, 215 ; Dexter, 201 ;
Elizabeth, 269, 273 ; Gilman, 173,
176, 182, 227 ; John S., 273 ; Joseph
'W., 162, 172, 273 ; Ralph, 273 ; Reu
el, 273; Samuel, 75, 78, 112, 151,
162, 172, 268, 269, 273 ; William, 171.
Roby Hill, 67.
Rochester, N. Y., 178.
RockweU, Charles, 198, 227 ; Mrs.
Charles, 202, 205, 210.
Roll of Capt. O. Cummings's company,
116, 125; Capt. Josiah's company,
158-
Rosewell, Henry, 5.
Ross, Sarah, 49.
Rowe, William, 178.
Rowley, Mass., 35.
Roxbury, Mass,, 27, 127, 129, 296.
Rumford, N. H., 56, 2S2.
Rusmussen C, 194.
Russell, James, 177.
Rutland, Mass., 50.

Ryswick, treaty of, 33.
Ryder, James H., 227
227. s

Sanford U.,

Sabbath school established, 170.
Saco, Me., 48.
Saco River, 44, 46, 288.
Sackett's Harbor, 165.
Sacramento, Cal., 262.
Saddle Hill, 147.
Sale of a negro, 91.
Salem, Mass., 5, 175 ; witchcraft, 38.
Salisbury, 217.
Salmon Brook, 7, 16, 27, 36, 50, 57, 61-
65, 67, 76, 80, 81, 103, 121, 123, 142,
160, 176, 184, 185, 18S, 199, 216, 220,
287.
Salmon Falls River, 43.
Samson, 221.
Sanderson, Isaac J., 171, 172 ; E. P.,
185 ; I. P., 185.
Sandisfield, Mass., 147.
Sargent, F. D., 266.
Sartle, S., 116, 125, 129.
Saugus, Mass., 264.
Savage, Hannah, 33.
Sawyer, Mary A., 196.
Scarlet, Samuel, 7, 9, 106, 282.
School books, 82.
School-house first mentioned, no.
Scott, Benjamin, 74, 75 ; Charles, 249 ;
John, loi ; Lemuel, 118 ; Mary, 249 ;
Noyes R., 182 ; Robert, 75, 77, 101 ;
Samuel, 249 ; William, 75.
Scouting for the Indians, 41.
Scribner, Matthew, 212.
Searles, Charles 'W., 227 ; Samuel, 33.
Sermon of Mr. Emerson, 79.
Seating the meeting-house, 99, 104.
Seven Star Brook, 61 ; Meadow, in.
Sewall's Brook, 62, 63, 70.
Shays, Daniel, 146, 147 ; Patrick, 147 ;
Rebellion, 146.
Shattuck, Amaziah, 172 ; Reuben, 172.
Sheafe, Sampson, 9, 12.
Shepley, John, 35.
Sherwin, Ebenezer, 86, 87, 90, 92, 94,
96-98, 215; Jonathan, 112.
Sheppard, Henry, 112; William, 147.
Shirley, Mass., 103, 170; William, 90.
Short, William, 194,
Sigourney, L. H,, 212.
Silly, John, 122.
Simmons, William, 183.
Simonds, Elizabeth, 253.
Singing school, 158, 179.
Skinner, Richard, 2iS; Robin, 129.
Skecnesborough, 120.

INDEX.

313

Slatestone Hill, 60, 68, 70.
Sleeper, Jonathan F., 152.
Small, Aaron, 152.
Smith, 148; Abijah, 172; Benjamin, 235;
Joannah, 235 ; M., 205; Samuel, 152.
Snow, Salmon, 171.
Social library formed, 159.
Soil of Dunstable, 181.
Soldiers in French war, 98 ; in late war,
192-195.
Sollendine, John, 17, 27, 28, 37.
Song by Amos Kendall, 223 ; Mrs.
Whitcomb, 204.
Souhegan River, 6, 9, 14, 17, 95.
South Merrimac, N. H., 176.
Sparta, N. Y., 147.
Spauldm,L', 183, 185 ; A,, 186 ; Abel,
113, 116, 117, 123, 125, 128, 162, 171,
173, 258, 270, 273 ; Agnes, 273; Amos,
235 ; Andrew, 182, 187-189 ; Bena
jah, 273 ; E. G., 184 ; Ebenezer, 34 ;
Elizabeth K., 258 ; Hiram, 182, 189,
227 ; James, 182, 188 ; Joel, 152, 273 ;
John, 34, 76, 83, 169, 170, 172, 180,
224, 258 ; Jonas, 201, 227 ; Joseph,
83. 85. 97. "6, 118, 125, 128, 273;
Josiah, 259 ; Lydia, 235, 270, 273 ;
Mary, 259 ; Miles, 182, 216; O. C. B,,
258; Rhoda, 273; fcamuel, 172;
."-iamuel T., 227 ; Samuel S., 189;
Sarah, 273; Simeon, 116, 124;
Squire, 273 ; Sulana, 235 ; Susan
nah, 273 ; .Sybil, 273 ; Tamar, 273 ;
Zaccheus, loi.
Spectacle Brook, 8 ; Hill, 68.
Spencer, Mass., 147.
Spit or Culler's Brook, 215.
Spooney, Edward, 45.
Sprague, Charles, 14 ; Phineas, 134,
Spring Brook, 61.
Springfield, Mass., 147.
Stark, John, 289.
St. Francis, 25.
Starr, Ebenezer, 126, 128, 131, 148, 215,
231-233, 268, 274; Edward, 274;
Hannah, 233, 274 ; James B., 274 ;
John, 274 ; Rebecca, 231, 233, 274.
Stale Constitution, 130, 135.
Statement of Mr. Heywood, 163.
Stearn.s, Isaac, 125,
Stebbins, Rufus P., 26.
Stedman, Betsy, 265 ; Ebenezer, 162,
227, 252, 265,
Steel, Jane, 229 ; John, 75, 77, 87, 90,
91, 96-99, 101, 229, 268, 286.
Stevens, Betsy, 231 ; Jeptha, 158-160,
215 ; Josiah, 158, 159, 231 ; KimbaU
A., 195; Parker, 159; Samuel, 159,
215, 237, 269; Simeon, 125, 158;
Tabitha, 237, 269.

Stickney, Dea., 85 ; Henry, 195 ; Jon
athan, 124.
Stillwater, N. Y., 127.
Stocks, pound, and whipping-post, 104.
Stone, Deacon, 85 ; Abigail, 218 ; Eve
line, 245 ; Samuel S., 245 ; Samuel
W., 245,
Stoneham, Mass , 103.
Story, Arthur B,, 227 ; Solomon, 227.
Streeter, Russell, 172, 190 ; Sebastian,
172.
Strickland, John, 137, 138.
Strong, Caleb, 215.
Stuart, Charles, 33.
Sturtevant, Asaph C, 227.
Styles, John, 195.
Sudbury, Mass,, 147.
Sumner, Me., 138.
Suncook, N. H,, 50.
Sunderland, Dr., 221.
Superstitions, 134.
Swallow, 71, 80, 8r, 183, 185 ; A., 184 ;
A. N,, 201 ; Abigail, 273 ; Abigail
G., 261; Abijah, 269, 276; Abra
ham, 158, 160, 215, 272, 275; A. 0.,
259 ; Albert J,, 258 ; Alice, 277 ; Al
pheus, 72, 97, 183, 185, 214, 227,235;
Alvira, 262 ; Amaziah, loS, n5, 117,
125, 126, 128, 153, 162, 187, 268, 215,
225,230, 231, 252, 258, 259; Anna,
275 ; Archelaus, 162, 273, 276; Asa,
160, 166, 225, 252, 272, 277 ; Ase
nath, 258, 259; Benjamin, 116, n8,
125, 128, 157, 269, 273 ; Bera, 277 ;
Calvin, 275 ; Charlotte, 261 ; Cla
rinda, 277 ; Charles R , 195, 261 ;
Daniel, 61, 182-184, 227 ; David, 162,
273; Deborah, 231, 272; E., 186;
Elizabeth, 146, 230, 272 ; J. M., 184,
188, 201, 227 ; James, 160, 176, 262,
273, 276 ; Jemima, 277 ; Joanna, 269,
273 ; John, 18, 83, 85, 94-98, loi,
103, 104, 185, 227, 235, 261 ; John
W,, 277 ; Jonathan, 95, 164, 269,
277 ; Joseph, 179, i8S, 215 ; Ken
dall, 162, 231, 263, 272, 277 ; Lar
nard, 273, 276 ; Laura, 277; Lucinda,
277 ; 1 ucy, 273, 276 ; Luther, 275 ;
Maria, 225, 277 ; Mary, 231, 252, 272,
275 ; Moody, 273, 276 ; Nahum, 275 ;
O, 259;. Peter, 116, 118, 126, 128,
166, 1S3, 273, 275; Prudence, 273, 275,
276 ; Rebecca, 231, 269, 272 ; Khoda,
275 ; Ruel, 277 ; Ruth, 272 ; Sam
son, 159; Sarah, 94,95, 268, 273, 27s,
276, 277 ; Sophronia, 266, 277 ; Su
sannah, 225, 252, 277 ; Sybil, 262,
273, 276.
Swan, Benjamin, 29 ; Josiah, 57, 74.
Symmes, Thomas, 44, 47, 48, 51.

314

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

Talbot, William K., 176.
Tarbox, James, 117, 129 ; Noah, 75.
Taunton, N J., 221.
Tax-payers in 1744, 76.
Taylor, 35; .Abigail, 231, 243, 247,
273 ; Abraham, 8, 56, 75, 77-79, 118,
215 ; Alpheus, 245 ; Amos, 125 ; Ben
jamin, 118 ; Betsy, 247 ; Bridget, 243,
273 ; Caroline M., 242 ; Catharine,
272 ; Cyrus, 159, 162, 243, 273 ; Cy
rus W., 242 ; Danforth, 273 ; Daniel,
159 ; David, 74, 75, 77, 84, 85, 96, 97,
117, 118, 126, 128, 153, 230, 268, 269,
272 ; Deborah, 249, 276 ; Edee, 231,
274 ; Elizabeth, 241, 274 ; Elliot O.,
227 ; Emma, 226 ; Ephraim, 142 ;
F.. 263 ; Frederic, 277 ; George E.,
195, 2;8 ; Hannah, 94, 225, 230, 244,
263, 268, 272, 277 ; Harriet P., 242 ;
Isaac, n5, n8, 125, 12S, 156, 159,
160, 162, 165, 166, 170, 175,215,237,
249, 271, 276 ; Isaac O., 202, 203, 214,
272 ; Jacob, 231, 273 ; James, 77,
126, 159, 162, 165, 172, 215, 231, 247,
269, 273 ; J. O., 173 ; Jefferson, 172,
277 ; John, 8, 49, 286; Jonas, 116,
117, 125, 128, 129, 146, 159, 166, 172,
225, 244, 271, 273, 277 ; Jonathan,
56. 73. 75. 77 ; Joseph, 75, 94, 97 ;
Josiah, 159, 243, 273 ; Lucy, 271,
276 ; Luther, 274 ; Lydia, 259, 276 ;
Mary, 166, 244, 271, 273 ; Mary Ann,
242 ; Matilda J., 242 ; M. M., 242 ;
Nathan, 14 ¦ ; Olive, 94, 139, 272 ;
Oliver, 102, 116, 118, 125, 128, 137,
138, 156, 159, 227, 242, 243, 270, 271,
273 ; Polly, 237 ; R. B., 243 ; Rachel,
228, 249, 258, 271 ; Rebecca, 243,
273 ; Reuben, 271 ; Rhoda, 225, 243,
274 ; Rhoda B., 243 ; Roxana, 225,
277; Ruth, 231, 274; Sally, 139, 166,
217 ; Samuel, 56, 75, 77, 85, 87, 91,
94, 96, 98, 103. 104, 109, n6, 118,
122, 125, 12S, 157, 162, 215, 225, 226,
244, 26S, 271, 274; Samuel S., 186,
19S, 227, 258 ; Sarah, 249, 272, 276 ;
Sarah M., 242; Susannah, 94, 215,
243, 244, 268, 271, 273 ; Sybil, 272 ;
Thaddeu-!, 271 ; Timothy, 75 ; Wil
Uam, 176, 231, 273, 274; William
R . 243. 273.
Teachers, 131, 142, 143, 146, 152.
Teagreen, John N,, 195.
Temple, C., 17, 31.
Tenney, 134 ; Ellen L., 262 ; Esther
W., 262, 263; Jonathan, 116, 125;
OUver, 125; Mary A., 262; Mary

L., 262 ; Parrot, ,117, 126, 129; WU
liam W., 262, 263.
Tewksbury, Mass., 6, 99.
Thayer, T. B,, 172,
Thomas, a servant, 102 ; Dr., 217.
Thompson, Asa, 101, 151 ; Ezra, rot,
142, 145, 149, 151: Huldah, 154;
Naihan, loi, 151 ; Silas, loi ; Si
mon, 74, 83, 84, 90, 97, 100, loi, 154,
171.
Thorndike, Olive, 267, 269 ; Paul, 162,
186, 267, 269.
Thornton's Ferry, 6, 41.
Thunder storm, 102.
Ticonderoga, 120, 126, 127, 138.
Tituba, a servant, 38.
Toby, a Mohawk, 44, 45.
Tolles, Henry f., 197, 198, 227.
Tolman, Elizabeth D., 275 ; Lucy D.,
275; Samuel H, 171, 174-176, 217,
224, 245, 270, 275 ; Rachel, 224, 245,
275.
Tombs built, 173.
Topography ofthe town, 59
Tories, 123.
Townsend, Mass., 11, 55, 95, 282.
Trask, William B., 2.
Trebizond, 196.
Trowbridge, Thomas, 112.
Tucker, Joseph, 65
Tully, Henry L, 227.
Tunbridge, Vt., 225.
Turkey Hills, 50.
Turner, John, 9
Turrell, Peter, 171, 159, 179.
Tuttle, Charles, 227, 257; Hannah,
257-
Tyng, Edward, 12, 17,23, 33, 231, 282,
283, 293, 296, 297 ; Colonel, 82, 85,
2S4 ; Eleazer, 49, 50, 73-76, 84, 90,
99, 100, loi, 1 10, 214, 216, 232, 296 ;
Elizabeth, 8 ; Eunice, 296 ; Hannah,
293,296,297; James, loi, no, in,
113, 2S9 ; John, 34, 62, 63,'8o-S2, 90,
98, too, loi, 107, 108, ni, 113, 130,
133, 135, 142, 151, 212, 216, 2S9, 292,
296 ; John A., 87, 99, lOI, 232 ; Jon
athan, 9, 10, 12, 17, 22-26, 28, 30-34,
37. 39. 43. 6S, 70, 75, 87, 90, 120, 142
212, 214, 216, 2S7, 293, 296 ; Mary,
12, 23, 2,-i, 39, 107, 2S2, 296; Rebecca,
296 ; Sarah, 28, 216, 232 ; William,
8, 28, 33, 34, 35, 214.
Tyngsborough, Mass, n, 15, 23, 27,
28, 35, 36, 58, 59, 61-63, 69, 74, 76,
86, 89, 99, 104, 107, 113, 129, 143, 152,
153. 154-156, '61. 167, 177, 2S2.
Tyng's Corner, 96.
Tyng's Cove, 64.
Tyringham, Mass., 147.

INDEX.

315

U
Underwood, Asa, 152.
Universalist preachers, 172, 190 ; So
ciety, 171.
Unquetynasset, 60, 66, 82, 100, 155,
226.
Unquetynasset Brook, 62, 64, 68, 70,
137. i53.i';6, i8o.
Upham, 'r. C, 40, 54.
Upton, Jeremiah, 171 ; Kimball, 182,
186; Joseph, 151, 154, 159; Peter
K., 227.
Usher, Hezekiah, 23, 41, 48, 283, 296 ;
John, 41 ; Robert, 17, 33, 44, 47, 49;
Sarah, 23, 75.
Utrecht, 38.

Varnum, 30 ; Tohn, loi ; Joseph, 39 ;
Joseph B., 160, 165 ; Thomas, 39.
Vaudreuil, Marquis de, 40.
Verplanck, G. C, 5.
Viall, John, 75.
Victory of Yorktown, Va., 138.
Visit to scene of Lovewell's fight, 49.J
Volunteers to late war, 189.
Voters in 1873, 226-227.

Wachusett Mt., 68, 86.
Wakefield, N. H., 43.
Waldo, Cornelius, 28, 212 ; Daniel, 17 ;
John, 17, 2 12.
Waldron, Richard, 29, 287.
Walker, John, 122 ; William, 283.
Wall Hill, 68, 70, 199.
Wallace, Levi, 99, 209.
Walling, H. F , 184.
Waltham, Mass., 187.
Walton, Harriet P., 257; Lowell, 186,
257 ; Mary E., 257.
Wamesit, 7, II, 20-23, 25 ; Indians, 17,
20, 22.
Wannalancet, 20-23, 3'-
Ward, Artemus, 135.
Wardwell, Mary, 107.
Warner, Samuel, 17.
Warrantof Oliver Cummings, 121, 123;
of S. Spaulding, 124.
Warren, Henry 'V., 182.
Washburn, W. B., 198, 203, 208.
Washington, D. C, 221, 297 ; George,
121, 137, 138.
Watananock, 60.

Watatick Mt., 68.
Water supply, 60.
Wateitown, Mass., 194, 289.
Watson, Abraham, 125; Horace H.,
165
Watts, Isaac, 145, 153, 175, 229.
Webb, 21, 183.
Webster, Daniel, i.
Weights and measures, 160
Welcl, Elizabeth, 32, 233 ; Habijah S.,
33,216; Hannah S., 33; Thomas,
12, 17, 27, 28, 33, 38, 216, 233, 283,
293, 296, 297.
Weld's Brook, 27, 61.
Welch, Patrick, 195.
Wells, William, no.
Welsh, Richard, 122.
Wentworth, T., 183.
Western, Mass., 147.
Westerly, R. I,, 216, 25S.
Westford, Mass , 6, 83, 156, 216, 254.
Westminster. Mass., no, 196.
Weston, 44, 47, 53, 117, 288; Charles
E., 182, 227 ; J E.. 184,
Wetherbee, Benj., 164.
What a New England town is, 280.
Wheeler, Joseph, 7, 9, 17,27, in, 280;
Thomas, 16, 25, iii, 282.
Whitcomb, Lowell, 185, 227 ; Maria
A., 202, 204.
White, H. K., 228.
White, Lucius, 195,
White Plains, 129, 138.
Whiting, 143 ; Samuel, 17, 30, 32, 33,
35. 37, 38. 44, 46; William, 172.
Whitney, 57 ; Isaac, 45 ; Israel, 72 ;
James, 75, 171; John, 187, 282;
Jonas, 125 ; Zachariah, 45.
Whittier, J. G, 20.
Whittemore, Deborah, 268 ; Thomas,
172, 190.
Wicasuck FaUs, 25; Island, n, 21-
25, 31, 129,
Wild animals, 83.
Wilkins, Daniel, 95 ; Jonathan, 145,
146 ; Luther, 195 ; Luther E, 195.
Willard, 296; Eunice, 296; Josiah,
232 ; .Simon, 6, 9, 16, 22,
Williams, Andrew, 264 ; Ebenezer, 159;
Frances A., 264,
Williston, D. H., 225.
Wilmington, Mass., 224.
Willoughby, Oliver, 162,
Wilson, Benjamin, 171 ; Elizabeth, 27,
297 ; Henry, 183 ; John, 27, 228, 281,
297 ; Sarah, 27 ; Warren, 181, 183.
'Winn, 55 ; Joseph, loi
Winchester, 232.
Windham, Vt., wo.
Winnipisiogee Pond, 43.

3i6

HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.

Winslow, John, 232 ; Mary, 148, 150,
152, 232.
Winthrop, John, 18.
Woburn, Mass., 6, 26, 31, 42, 44, 47,
55, 76, 288.
Wolfe, James, 98.
Wood supplied to Mr. Goodhue, loi.
Woodbury, Josiah, 268.
Woods, 71 ; Abigail, 239, 277; Albert
C, 263 ; Amos, 153, 159; Asa, 159,
162, 172, 1S5, 254, 264 ; Asa E , 265 ;
Betty, 238, 239, 265 ; Caleb, 153, 159,
238, 239, 269, 270, 277 ; Charles J.,
242 ; Charlotte, 265 ; Cummings,
264 ; Daniel, 44, 47, 49 ; Deborah,
277 ; Eliza, 197 ; Eunice, 269; George,
183, 269; George W., 197; Hannah,
239, 277; Hannah F., 238; Henrj',
162, 164, 242, 277 ; Henry F., 239,
269; Isaac, 158, 162, 184, 197,265,
269 ; Isaac N., 182, 185, 227 ; Jeptha,
277 ; Jerusha, 242 ; John, 160 ; Jonas,
159, 269 ; Louisa, 265 ; Maria, 277 ;
Mary, 225 ; Mary A., 242 ; MaryD.,
265 ; Matilda, 277 ; Nathaniel, 45 ;
Noah, 159, 164,172,239; Paul, 142;
Polly, 264 ; Rebecca, 239, 277 ; Sam
uel, 182 ; Sumner, 185, 227 ; Thomas,
44, 47, 49 ; Varnum, 184, 265 ; Wil
liam, 162, 265 ; William H., 183.
Woodward, 71 ; Abel, 231 ; Andrew
T, 203, 227, 251 ; Andrew S., 250;
Benjamin, 104, 108, 117, 118, 126,
129, 132, 133, 231 ; Catharine, 231 ;
Charles N., 182, 185, 227 ; Esther,

249 ; Eunice, 231 ; Harvy, 216 ;^
Laac, 173 ; James, 61, 77, 185, 227 ;
James C, 182, 185, 189, 196, 227;
John, 74-78, 80, 81, 84, 98, 165, 171,
249-251, 268, 274 ; Jonathan, 64, 65,
98, 112, 116, 118, 125, 129, 132, 141,
144, 159. 164, 171, 180, 267, 274;
Mrs. Jonathan, 113, 180; Jonathan
H., 182, 227; Mary, 249; Mary P.,
250; Molly, 274; Patty, 274 ; Polly,
250 ; Rachel, 231 ; Rebecca, 250,
251; Sally, 250, 267; Sarah, 267,
274; Theodore, 172; Thomas, 98;
Timothy, 1 59, 274.
Woofolk, Mary B., 221.
Worcester, Mass., 147, 181 ; Samuel,
175 ; Samuel T., 10.
Wright, A. R, 260; Elizabeth, 179;
Emma A. P., 260 ; George, 162, 173,
'76, '79, 182, 186, 269; George P.,
84. 198, 227; Harrietta A., :6o ;
Isaac, 114, 116, 125, 129, 159, 160,
212 ; Isaac N , 183, 184, 260 ; John,
159; Joseph, 28; Joshua, 98; Jo
siah, 125 ; Levi, 171 ; Levi P., 214;
Luther, 168; Newton, 184; Oliver,
225; P., 137; Phineas, 138; Reu
ben, 185 ; Sally, 139; William i"., 179.
Wyman, Seth, 44, 46-49, 54.

Yorktown, Va., 137.
Young, Wallace N., 227.

YALE UNIVERSITY

!95&721b

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