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BESIDE OLD HEARTH-STONES

CHAPTER 1

So through the night rode Paul Revere, And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex Village and farm, -- A cry of defiance and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo forevermore.

LONGFELLOW

LEXINGTON ALARM IN NORTHERN MIDDLESEX. -- GROTON PLANTATION. -- GROTON PATRIOTS ON APRIL 19, 1775. -- IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. -- THE DEATH-ROLL AT BUNKER HILL. -- THE PRESCOTT FAMILY. -- CHAMPNEY HOUSE. -- GRAVE OF CAPTAIN ABRAM CHILD

      No time was lost in extending the "Lexington Alarm," and so thorough had been the planning that but little or no time was wasted in the most distant towns before the patriots started for the relief of the distressed. Northern Middlesex had given no uncertain sound during all the time when the troubles were culminating. The older citizens were familiar with the war cry, many of them having repeatedly rushed to arms in the early

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wars; and the fireside tales were those of personal sufferings in the Indian troubles and French wars. In many a home was reference made to the family record in the well-worn Bible, and the pine torch lighted in order that the youngest listener might be duly impressed by reading for himself such entries as "Killed at Crown Point; Died at Champlain; Killed by Indians at Fort George." Ticonderoga and Crown Point were household words, kept,vividly in mind by the old musket that had done service in that well-known region. No fairy tales found listeners in these homes; for the siege of Louisburg and the destruction of the peaceful Acadian villages, scenes in which these people had a part, furnished ample subject for twilight pastime.
      There was a tract of land, more than thirty miles inland, granted to Dean Winthrop and others, and incorporated as early as 1655 by the name of Groton. It was named for the home of the Winthrops, in Groton, England. Seven years passed before the record appears of the erection of that all-important building, a meeting-house, and of the election of those well-known New England functionaries, selectmen. These settlers, like other pioneers whom we delight to honor, exemplified true Christian heroism. With their minister, Rev. Samuel Willard, they faced the hardships of frontier life with a resignation hard to be understood in these days of luxury and

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comfort. "They lived on the rough edge of civilization; and nothing stood between them and an unbroken wilderness." Christian civilization was apparent, when King Philip's war broke out, and sorrow settled upon the place. The greater part of the houses were destroyed, including the meeting-house; some of the people were killed, and others carried into captivity. Although forced to abandon the undertaking for a while, those people heroically took up the burden again, and went on successfully. While it was the descendants and successors of the pioneers who indelibly stamped their names on the records of this settlement during the later Indian, troubles and with the French, they manifested no half-hearted spirit in the repeated emergencies.
      Territorially Groton admitted of many divisions; and the natural increase of population, together with the influx from the lower towns, led to the formation of several new districts or townships before the beginning of hostilities with the mother country. Distance only prevented these patriots from having a share in the well-known scenes of April 19; but no better record was made at camp in Cambridge, and in battle at Bunker Hill, than is found to the honor of these people of northern Middlesex.

GROTON.

      In my search for hidden footprints in the town of Groton, I was conducted to the home of Mrs.

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Abigail Moors, who in her ninetieth year was mistress of her own home. Referring to her father, Imlah Parker, a soldier of the Revolution, this interesting woman emphatically said, "I have always thought he was the nicest man that ever lived." With memory undimmed, she, the last of a family of nine children, lives in the full enjoyment of filial affection, bearing testimony to the fact that the true parent is the real patriot.
      It has been shown in "Beneath Old Roof Trees" that the people of Groton received no encouragement from their pastor towards resistance to British aggression; in fact, if they had followed their minister, they would all have been classed with the Tories. But from the spring of 1765, when the odious Stamp Act was passed, they had been outspoken in the interests of the Colonies, regardless of their spiritual leader. Two companies of minute-men were enlisted in the town agreeably to the recommendation of the First Provincial Congress, in its resolve of October 26, 1774, at Concord. The alarm of April 19 was quickly met by the response of these companies, under Captains Henry Farwell and Asa Lawrence.
      The alarm of the previous day, already, explained in this series, had started Captain Nathan[1] Corey and other Groton men to Concord in advance of the companies, and hence given Groton some representatives at Old North Bridge. Two companies

[1] Not Aaron.

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of militia followed the minute-men on the 19th, and all gathered at Cambridge before that April day had closed. There is sufficient reason for believing that General Artemas Ward found the Groton men to be faithful soldiers. He had a special interest in the old families of that town. His wife, Sarah Trowbridge, to whom he was married in 1750, was daughter of Rev. Caleb and Hannah (Walter) Trowbridge of Groton. When the immortal scroll of June 17 was made up, it appeared that Groton had suffered great loss. Among the dead was Sergeant Benjamin Prescott, a nephew of Colonel William Prescott.
      The following names appear on the bronze tablets at Charlestown: --

PRESCOTT'S REGIMENT.

Parker's company.-- Peter Fisk, David Kemp.
Lawrence's company. -- James Dodge, Stephen Foster, Abraham Blood, Benjamin Wood,[1] Simon Hobart, Robert Parker.
Farwell's company. -- Jonathan Jenkins.
Moors's conpany. -- Sergeant Benjamin Prescott.
Corey's company. -- Chambers Corey.

      Although the Colonel Prescott homestead was lost to Groton through the dismembership of the town, the name has been closely identified with it. Various members of the family are notable in its annals.


[1] See Pepperell Death-roll. Chapter IV. of this volume.

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      The first to appear in the town was Jonas, son of John the immigrant, who came to this country about 1640, and settled at Lancaster, where often, in a coat of mailed armor, he appeared to the troublesome Indians, impressing them as of supernatural origin. Jonas, at Groton, was a captain of the yeomanry militia at the time when the savages were committing their depredations. Benjamin, a son of Jonas, was born in 1696, and was a man of military and civil distinction. He obtained lands on the border-line of the town. A monument standing at an angle of the road nearing the centre of Groton tells the following "Colonel William Prescott Commander of the American forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill, was born on the 20th of February, 1726, in a house which stood near this spot." Brothers of Colonel William were Dr. Oliver and Judge James Prescott, each of whom honored the town of his nativity. One of the selectmen in 1775 was Oliver Prescott; Honorable James Prescott was a member of the first, second, and third Provincial Congress, and of the Board of War in 1776. Oliver Prescott was a member of the Council in 1777. The family was also represented in other important positions during the war; and Honorable James Prescott was the representative from the town in the first General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which assembled on Wednesday, October 25, 1780. It thus appears

[Photo Stone Marking Birthplace of Colonel William Prescott, Groton]

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that the heroism of John the immigrant was perpetuated in his descendants, who proved themselves to be true patriots and good citizens in the time of great trial.
      Some interesting facts are here added in regard to the personality of Colonel William Prescott,

[Photo Champney House, Groton]

given by his grandniece, Mrs. Sarah (Chaplin) Rockwood, to Dr. Samuel A. Green. Her father was Rev. Daniel Chaplin, D.D., of Groton; and her mother was Susanna, eldest daughter of Judge James Prescott, brother of the colonel. She was ten years of age when the hero of Bunker Hill died.

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      "She describes him as a tall, well-proportioned man, with blue eyes and a large head. He usually wore a skull-cap; and he parted his hair in the middle, wearing it long behind, braided loosely, and tied in a club with a black ribbon, as was common in those days. He had a pleasant countenance, and was remarkably social and full of fun and anecdotes. He was dignified in his manner, and had the bearing of a soldier.[1]
      Authorities agree on the value of early impressions; and we can but credit this description of the personal appearance of Colonel Prescott, for it was indelibly stamped upon the youthful Sarah Chaplin when sitting upon the knee of the old soldier. She attained the remarkable age of one hundred and four years.
      The Champney house is one of the few dwellings remaining to remind us of the patriots of Groton who left their homes in exchange for the life of the camp and field of battle.


[1] This fact in regard to the dress of the hair was not brought to the notice of the sculptor, William W. Story, the modeller of the Prescott statue at Bunker Hill.

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      In the old burying-ground of Groton is a stone on which is the following record of a patriot who was born at Waltham:--

"Man leaves his little hour and Falls too oft unheeded down."

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
CAPT. ABRAM CHILD.
WALTHAM 1741-1834.      93 YEARS.
He entered the army in the French War at the age of 17 years. Was
with Gen. Amherst at the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown
Point in 1759. He was a Lieut. among the
minute men and aided in the Concord fight and the Battle
of Bunker Hill in 1775. Joining Washington he was one of the Im-
mortal Band which crossed the Delaware Dec. 25, 1776, and turned
the tide of war in the victories of Trenton and Princeton. De-
tached to the North he fought in the two battles of Still-
water, and witnessed the surrender of Burgoyne in 1777.
Rejoining Washington he bore equally the frosts
of Valley Forge and the Heats of Monmouth.
in 1778. Detailed with Gen. Wayne, he crowned his
military career by heading the Infantry as oldest Capt. in the
gallant capture of Stoney Point in 1779 where he received the only wound
that marked his eventful services.

The blood of our fathers, let it not have been shed in vain.

WEBSTER.

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