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CHAPTER VII

FIRST SETTLERS OF SHIRLEY. – LONGLEY AND HAZEN. – LONGLEY HOMESTEAD. – STORY OF "WILL THE MILLER." – JOSHUA LONGLEY AND BRIDGET MELVIN. – HON. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL AS A SCHOOLMASTER. – HOLDEN FAMILY

We call them savage, O, be just! Their outraged feelings scan; A voice comes forth, – 'tis from the dust – The savage was a man! Think ye he loved not? Who stood by, And in his toils took part? Woman was there to bless his eye, – The savage had a heart! Think ye he prayed not? When on high He heard the thunders roll. What bade him look beyond the sky? The savage had a Soul!

      My researches in this part of Old Groton were under the direction of Mr. John E. L. Hazen, a lineal descendant of the heroes of the early wars and also of the Revolution. Two families prominent in the beginning of the record of Shirley were Longley and Hazen. They have continued in prominence and influence during the almost century and a half of the town's corporate existence.

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      The romance of history appears in all its fascination in the story of early members of the Longley family. We are fortunate in having the record from direct descendants, who cultivate the acres reclaimed by their ancestors when the musket was the yeoman's constant companion. William Longley, son of Richard of Lynn, located in Groton as

[Photo - "Hazen Home, Shirley"]

early as 1659. His wife Joanna was sister to Deputy Governor Thomas Goff, and with her husband shared the hardships of frontier life. The first William lived until King Philip had made his last desperate effort to exterminate the white settlers. William Longley, the second clerk of the town, suffered more severely at the hands of the Indians. It was in 1694 that several of the fam-

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ily fell victims to the savage hand of the lurking foe.
      "The Indians, having lurked about the premises undiscovered the day previous to the slaughter watching a favorable opportunity to effect their purpose, early in the morning of the fatal day turned the cattle out of the barnyard into a cornfield, and lay in ambush. This trick had the desired effect to draw out some of the family, probably Mr. Longley and his sons, unarmed, to drive the cattle from the corn. The Indians then rose upon fhem, and killed or captured the whole family. It is said, however, that Jemima, a daughter of Mr. Longley whom they had tomahawked and scalped, was found alive, sitting upon a rock, and that she survived many years, married, and had children." Three who escaped the tomahawk were carried away into captivity. Betty died there of starvation. Lydia was sold to the French in Canada, and never returned to her people. It remained for John to perpetuate the name in this line of the family. He was about twelve years of age when his family was massacred, and himself carried into captivity by the savages.
      An interesting incident of the life of this boy is told by his descendants. Says Melvin W. Longley, "My grandsire, John Longley, after going some distance from the old home with his captors, when they came to a halt told the Indians that his father's sheep were shut up in the barn, and

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would starve unless they would permit him to go back and release them, and that having done this he would at once return to them. They allowed the boy to go, and he kept his promise. My ancestor pursued a wild life with his captors five years, when he was ransomed by the government. The romance of his captive state was not altogether averse to him, and it required some time to accustom himself to life in Groton after his return to his native town. He became a useful citizen, being clerk of the town for six years, and was thrice elected as representative to the General Court. He was a deacon of the church twentyeight years."
      John Longley married Sarah Prescott, an aunt of Col. William Prescott, and subsequently married Deborah Houghton.
      It is apparent that the stronger characteristics of this family were perpetuated through successive generations. Mr. Longley's three eldest sons manifested the greatest bravery and perseverance in overcoming all obstacles and establishing homes on a section of the original grant. William, the eldest of the three Shirley emigrants, settled in the south part of the town, and together with Samuel Hazen, the founder of the other pioneer family, set up the first grist-mill in the place. In my tour about Shirley I was early directed to the site of the mill, which is still of interest to the descendants of the first proprietors. The waters

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of the Catacunemaug still ripple through the meadows as when the early millers utilized the pure stream; and some of the primeval oaks shed their autumnal foliage upon the smooth, glassy surface as when William Longley turned out his grist a century and a half ago.
      The influence of the hearth-stone narratives of the redeemed captive and father upon the Longley-Prescott children, and upon all who heard the familiar tales, may best be judged by tracing the acts of the patriots of that town.
      The Indian depredations had ceased before the incorporation of

[Photo - "Shirley Oak"]

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Shirley; yet the French war, which terminated in the surrender of the Canadas to the English government, was still being waged, and the town's first human sacrifice in that struggle was Joseph Longley, who was wounded at Fort William Henry, and died at Greenbush, N.Y., in 1758. He was first selectman and town clerk. That spirit which prompted them to fight for the king impelled them to take up arms against him when such a course was needed to sustain the rights and liberties of the Colonies. The Stamp Act brought them to action. They held a town meeting October 18, 1765, and unanimously instructed their representative, who was Abel Lawrence, Esq.: –-

      "Is it a matter of wonder that every thinking person in the Colonies of North America is greatly alarmed by the late act of Parliament, called the Stamp Act, as it affects the state and liberty of every loyal subject of said Colonies? . . . We look upon said act as a burden, grievous, distressing and insupportable; not only likely to enslave the present but future generations. The great and heavy load lying upon us, occasioned by the late war, with its increasing interest, and all other incidental charges at home for the support of the government, &c., have sunk us so low already that we are wholly unable to bear the duties imposed upon us by the stamp act, which, if it takes place, must and will immediately prove our certain ruin. . . . We are far from saying or acting anything whereby we might be charged with disloyalty, as subjects to the best of kings, or that we have not a proper sense of the British Court, but we do think that our charter privileges, and natural rights, as the free-born

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sons of Britain, are infringed upon by said stamp act. Our advice, instruction and direction, therefore, to you is, that upon all proper occasions you use and exercise your utmost endeavors, and strongest efforts, in a modest, becoming and respectful manner, to prevent said act from taking place in the government; and that you with a watchful eye, upon every occasion, diligently guard and protect the liberties of your country, to the utmost of your power, against all encroachments and innovations. . . .

By order of the Committee,

JOHN LONGLEY."

      On January 11, 1773, the people indorsed the act of the Committee of Correspondence in Boston, saying, –-

      "We are fully persuaded, if the judges of the Superior Court of this Province have their salaries from the king, . . . that our liberties are greatly infringed thereby, and that we shall have no better chance for justice, no better security of life and property, than the people have in the most despotic government under heaven." They further say "that our grateful acknowledgments are due to the inhabitants of the town of Boston, for their vigilance upon this and many other occasions of like nature.

JOHN LONGLEY, Dis. Clerk."

      The passage of the act on tea by the British Parliament brought out the people of Shirley in a series of resolutions, which bear the impress of decided patriots. They stand out upon the town book in bold hand. Art. I. is: --

      "Voted, that we will neither buy, nor sell, nor drink (nor suffer it to be drunk in any of our families) any tea that is subject to an American duty."

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      The name of Obadiah Sawtell, another patriot, appears as district clerk at the conclusion of this series of resolutions.
      Thus far sympathy and acquiescence with the Boston patriots had only been shown by words, but the Port Bill brought out something more real. They held a town meeting on January 18, 1775, and chose a committee to receive donations for the poor of Boston and Charlestown. They continued in sympathy with each progressive act of the people of the lower towns, and were ready to respond to the alarm of April 19, 1775. Every man old enough to bear arms, with the exception of seven, responded to the messenger, and made haste towards the scene of danger. Eighty names appear upon the roll of the Lexington alarm in command of Captain Henry Haskell, and thirty-five appear as serving for eight months during the siege under the command of Captain Robert Longley of Bolton. They were in the regiments of Colonels Whitcomb and Prescott.
      Some of the personal experiences of the soldiers of this town are told by their descendants on the old farms.
      Melvin W. Longley, already quoted, was met at his cheerful farmhouse, where were also two sisters of the same generation. Soon after the Revolution this house "was built by my greatgrandfather, Joshua Longley, on a part of the original grant. My children represent the fifth

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generation who have gathered about the old hearth-stone, and the sixth who have trodden these acres, while three earlier generations have lived in this territory when it was included in original Groton." The first of these was William, the proprietor of the mill.

THE STORY OF WILL THE MILLER.
      William Longley the father, and William the son, were both millers. In order to distinguish the craftsmen, the good farmers of the locality, who brought their grist to be ground at the mill on the Catacunemaug, called the elder "Old Will the Miller." No disrespect was implied; for the rugged yeomen looked upon Old Will as their great benefactor. He had been the first to set up that indispensable institution, a mill, thus relieving them of much of the burden of life.
      The Longley and Hazen mill was rude indeed, but in keeping with the dwellings of the farmers, made as they were from rough-hewn logs, and affording but little beyond the bare necessities. The farmers, young and old, delighted in listening to Old Will's recitals of his father's experience during the five years of his life in captivity. Waiting for grist was no hardship for them if Old Will, dressed in powdered apparel, was tending the stones. The elder William was a sufferer from rheumatism, and not in a mood for story-telling

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at all times; but when he was at his best in describing the life among the Indians, the farmer's boy was reluctant to leave. In fact, the fathers were known to tarry long after Old Will had taken his toll, and emptied a fresh sack into the hopper.
      These stories of savage warfare served a two-fold purpose. They amused the miller's patrons, and prevented their being impatient while waiting their turn, and also kindled a fire of patriotism in the minds of the farmers, which served them well when the time came for opposing the king.
      The news of the Stamp Act aroused the miller to a high state of indignation, and he declared his readiness to fight against all such oppression. The Port Bill reanimated his spirit of patriotism, and he dipped deep into his toll-bin for the aid of the poor of the distressed port.
      He had reached almost the allotted age of man when the Lexington alarm was sounded through the town. The exemption from service granted to millers was no excuse for him. The ardor of youth possessed his spirit when his sons, neighbors, and friends were hastening to and fro in preparation for the march.. But his bowed and crippled form made it impossible for him to join the company; yet he insisted, saying, "True, I cannot handle a musket, yet I will fight the redcoats with my two canes;" at the same time brandishing those formidable weapons as though his words we're not to be disregarded. He reluctantly remained at home

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with the few who were compelled to stay because of age or infirmity. But no citizen of the town evinced more genuine patriotism, watched the progress of the war with more interest, or manifested more joy when the yoke of oppression was thrown off, than did Old Will the miller.
      "Joshua, son of 'Will the miller,' my greatgrandfather, was among the eighty men who marched from this town on April 19, 1775," said the present occupant of the estate. "He remained in the camp until the 30th of the month, and later entered the service for eight months. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill, escaping with but little injury." At this point of the narrative a cannonball was brought forward which a family tradition says was fired from the British side, and when well-nigh spent carried away a portion of the skirt of Joshua Longley's coat.
      "My great-grandfather's trip to Concord on that eventful morning was not the first that he had made to that town. He had been over that familiar route to Concord in quest of the young lady who became his bride in March, 1770." She was Bridget Melvin, daughter of Eleazer and Mary (Farrar) Melvin, and had connection with noted families already described in "Beneath Old Roof Trees."

      NOTE.– Eleazer Melvin and his brother David served in that fight at Pigwacket in 1725, and were both in the expedition to Louisburg, and in later campaigns of the Colonial wars.

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      A Melvin powder-horn, now in the possession of John E. L. Hazen, one of the Longley family connections, is a memorial of the Concord patriots as well as those of Shirley.
      Joshua Longley carried on the farm, besides acting as a miller and builder, until his death in 1814. A stone in the old burying-ground tells the following:

JOSHUA LONGLEY,
BORN AT GROTON, MASS., JULY 23, 1751,
DIED AT SHIRLEY, Nov. 7, 1814.

BRIDGET MELVIN, HIS WIFE,
BORN AT CONCORD, MASS., DEC. 9, 1751,
DIED AT SHIRLEY, FEB. 27, 1817.
      The next generation on this farm was Stephen, who was followed by his son, Stephen Melvin, who is succeeded by Melvin W. Longley; and so it appears that the grandsire's union with the Concord family is pleasantly remembered by perpetuating the name of the bride of Joshua, while the beneficent life of the patriot has not lost its effect upon succeeding generations.
      In the southerly part of Shirley, not far from the original Longley-Hazen mill site, and on a portion of the territory first settled by Samuel Hazen, I met a great-great-grandson of the pioneer of Shirley, Mr. Thomas L. Hazen. He said, "My great-grandfather, Samuel Hazen, Jr., was at work on these acres when the alarm of the 19th of April reached him. He immediately left his

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plough, ran to the house, took his gun and powder-horn,[1] and said to his wife (Elizabeth Little), 'Betty, you take care of the children and the cattle! I must go!' The family then consisted of five children, the eldest not ten years, and the youngest less than two months. He, with the others from this town, reached Acton about eleven o'clock, where they heard of the fight at Concord and of the retreat; but they concluded to march on, and pursued the enemy to Cambridge. Samuel Hazen remained there thirteen days, and later joined the army, and was made captain of the Shirley company.
      On a stone at his grave is read: --
CAPT. SAMUEL HAZEN,
DIED MAY 6, 1815,
AGED 74 YEARS, 11 MONTHS.
      One of the old dwellings now standing in Shirley is that known as the Joseph Hazen House. It is a well-kept reminder of the days when the children and grandchildren of Samuel the patriot were taught beneath its roof the lessons of patriotism. Near by was the old Pound Hill schoolhouse, where many a rustic youth was taught the rudiments of education under the supervision of Mr. Joseph Hazen, "the committee-man." Said Mr. Herman S. Hazen, "My father enjoyed a peculiar satisfaction in having employed for a win-


[1] Powder-horn now in possession of Thomas L. Hazen.

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ter term a young man from Lunenburg, who has since acted well the part of a patriot." George S. Boutwell taught Pound Hill school from December, 1834, to February, 1835. He passed his

[Photo - "Shirley Schoolhouse. ‘A ragged beggar sunning'"]

seventeenth birthday while teaching in Shirley. He received sixteen dollars a month and board. But four[1] of the pupils are now living who recall


[1] The four pupils are Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan Davis of Pepperell, Mrs. Henry Edgarton of Shirley, and Charles Anderson of Minneapolis, Minn.

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the erect figure and genial countenance of the young man who went in and out before the youth upwards of sixty years ago. The schoolhouse still remains: "ragged-beggar sunning."
      The master's desk is gone; but there may be seen –-

"The warping floor, the battered seats,
The jack-knife's carved initial."

[Photo- "A Battered Seat From Shirley Schoolhouse"]

"The charcoal frescoes on its wall,    Its door's worn sill betraying The feet that creeping slow to school    Went storming out to playing!"

      Among the minute-men of Shirley was James Dickerson, who heard the April alarm while in the

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field engaged in planting corn. He left his hoe, took his musket and powder-horn, and joined the company. His wife Priscilla[1] took up the hoe, finished the planting, and carried on the labors of the farm until her husband's return.
      In passing through the southerly part of the town, I met Mr. Elihu Longley, who at fourscore

[Photo - "Old Home, Shirley"]

years dwells on a portion of the original grant. At the well, dipping "the moss-covered bucket," I met Mr. Edward A. Jenkins, who is the fifth generation on his farm. When gathering his children


[1] This Priscilla, born in Shirley, March 6, 1749, and wife of James Dickerson, was a daughter of Francis and Susanna Harris. Harris was one of the foremost men of the town. Eleven times selectman, also town clerk and treasurer. He was the delegate of the town in the first and second sessions of the Provincial Congress.

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and grandchildren about him, he boasts of seven generations who have drunk from the same well. Mr. Jenkins recalls the face of his great-grandfather, Moses Jennerson, who was among the patriots of 1775.
      At the northerly part of the town I passed the farm where lived two patriots, Timothy Bolton and his brother William. The latter was a drummer in the Shirley company when it left the town on April 19, 1775.
      Near the Bolton home was the old tavern kept by Obadiah Sawtell. Here were lively times when the Shirley company gathered to discuss the questions of those trying days. But "Flip and Toddy" never gave out as long as the company remained. Obadiah Sawtell, Jr., was one of the alarm band, and also in later service, to the credit of the town. This noted landlord was the town's first representative to the General Court under the Constitution, and a member of the convention that adopted the Constitution of the United States.
      In passing I made note of the home of John Dwight, who was wounded at the battle of White Plains.
      In the easterly part of the town lived Jonas Longley, the third son of John, the redeemed captive. Although sixty-four years old at the opening of the Revolution, this old hero and his son Jonas shouldered their fowling-pieces, and marched to Cambridge on April 19, 1775. It is of interest

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to note that the present town clerk of Shirley is Jonas Longley, a great-grandson and namesake of the old veteran.
      In passing I was shown the homes of the Page family, from which went Jonas and Simon to the war; of Samuel Walker, who lived almost a century, and told his story of the Revolution to four generations; also that of Deacon Joseph Brown, who was in the ranks.
      At the southerly part of the town is the old brick house from which John Edgerton went to the service of his country, in company with Ivory Wilds, who later renounced the world, and became a member of the Society of Shakers.
      Among the treasured relics of the days of peculiar trial is a package of the Continental currency, shown by members of the Parker family, who are thus reminded of the service of their patriot ancestor, Captain James Parker.
      Continuing the journey, I came to the old family seat of the Holdens, who have been numerous through the entire history of the town. Seven of the name were in the Shirley company on April 19, 1775, five of whom enlisted for eight months, and were in service on the 17th of June. There was another of the family, John Holden, who made record during the war, although too young to be registered with the soldiers at the beginning.

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