some were missing from our ranks who would never again respond to their country's call. To them and theirs it was the great battle of the Rebellion; to us, who live to tell of it, only an episode of army life.

A TOWN MEETING-HOUSE,

AND TOWN POLITICS IN THE LAST CENTURY.

BY ATHERTON P. MASON, M. D.

NEARLY a century ago the little town, now the prosperous city, of Fitchburg, Mass., was the scene of a fierce contest that lasted a decade. Never in the history of the town was there contention so bitter or opposition so determined as that shown in the ninety-nine town meetings held during the years 1786-96. The cause of this tempest in a teapot was the location of a new meeting-house.

At that time the "center of the town" was in the easterly part of the township, in the vicinity of the present Union Passenger Depot. Here were located the rather shabby yellow meetinghouse, Cowdin's tavern, Dea. Ephraim Kimball's mill, Joseph Fox's "red store," and several dwelling-houses. Westward from this ran a country road (now Main Street) along which were scattered half a dozen houses. West of the present junction of River and Main Streets there were almost no habitations until reaching the high land, now known as Dean Hill, about 1 miles distant. This high land was early settled by farmers, because of the excellent soil, and comparative freedom from early frosts. Here were two taverns, a blacksmith's shop, a store, and a number of dwellings. These people in the west were considerably removed from the river, which at that time was regarded as a curse to the town, and were desirous of being separated from Fitchburg in order to escape the heavy tax annually levied to maintain bridges. Moreover the west was then the more flourishing settlement, and its inhabitants began to feel that they ought to have a meeting-house of their own, and not be obliged to travel to the easterly part of the town to attend church, in a word they felt rather abused at being considered a suburb.

Early in 1785 one of the articles in the town-meeting warrant

was, "To see if the town will take into consideration the request of Jacob Upton and others, to see if the town will set off the inhabitants of the northwesterly part of Fitchburg, with their lands and privileges, free and clear from said Fitchburg, to join the extreme part of Westminster, with the north-easterly part of Ashburnham, to be incorporated into a town, to have town privileges, as other towns." Had this request been granted a new meetinghouse would have been built near Upton's tavern; but it was promptly dismissed. Baffled, but not dismayed, the petitioners came to the town meeting held in May, 1785, with a proposition to annex to Fitchburg "about a mile or more in width of land, with the inhabitants thereon, of the northerly part of the town of Westminster," and these additional people were "to join the inhabitants of said Fitchburg to build a meeting-house on Ezra Upton's land." This scheme was very artful, but the wise men of the east saw that such a move would throw the balance of power into the hands of the west, and therefore voted it down.

These two defeats stirred up the people of the west, and they determined to carry their point in some way. In March, 1786, they petitioned "that Rev. Mr. Payson have liberty to preach some part of the time in the year in the westerly part of the town." This was certainly a modest request, but was denied, the people of the east evidently thinking that if they yielded an inch they might, at no very distant date, have to travel two or three miles.

All this, however, was but a skirmish. The date of the beginning of the real contest was Sept. 12, 1786, when it was voted "to build a new meeting-house in the centre of the town, or in the nearest convenient place to the centre." It was thus agreed that a new house was to be built, but where to build it was not easily determined. The maxim, large bodies move slowly, was verified in this instance, for, although there was much private sputtering in regard to the location, no further public action was taken for two years. Meanwhile Jedediah Cooper and Jacob Upton, the two tavern keepers in the westerly part of the town, despairing of any redress, determined, together with some of their neighbors, to have a meeting-house among themselves at any rate. They accordingly erected in the course of time a shabby structure, just within the limits of the town, which was used to some extent for preaching; but the proprietors did not take much care of it, and its dilapidated

appearance earned for it the name of the "Lord's Barn." It was sold and taken down about sixty years ago, and the proceeds of the sale (about thirty-six dollars) were divided among the proprietors.

Sept. 9, 1788, the subject was again brought before the town by means of an article in the warrant, "To see if the town will erect a meeting-house in the centre of the town, or receive any part of Westminster that shall be willing to join with us, and then erect a meeting-house in the nearest convenient place to the centre." This article was put into the warrant by the people of the west, whose underlying object was the formation of a new town, while the rest of the inhabitants were strenuously opposed to this project. No action was taken on this article at this meeting. A few days later, Sept. 23, a meeting was called, at which a committee, consisting of Moses Hale, Oliver Stickney, Daniel Putnam, Jacob Upton, and Asa Perry, was appointed “to find a place to erect a meeting-house in the most convenient place to accommodate the inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg." The result of the investigation made by these five gentlemen was that two of them found the most convenient place to be in the west, two in the east, and the remaining member was upon the fence. A town meeting was held, Oct. 2, to hear the report of this committee, and when it had been given it was rejected, and the gentlemen were promptly discharged from further services in that direction. A motion was then made to place the new house on the site of the old one: this was negatived. Then, "after much consideration," as the record says, it was voted "to erect the new meeting-house in the nearest convenient place to the centre." Such brilliant progress must have been altogether too gratifying, for a few minutes later it was voted "to reconsider all votes hitherto passed relating to this matter." At this stage in the proceedings the meeting was adjourned to nine o'clock of the next day.

It

On the following morning the parties proceeded to business. was first moved to place the new house where the old one then stood; this was again negatived. It was then moved to place it "on the hill near Phineas Sawyer's house, on the land belonging to the heirs of Mr. Ezra Upton" (in the westerly part of the town). The meeting was divided on this motion, "to find a true vote," as the record states, and thirty-two voted in favor of it and seventeen against it. So by a vote of nearly two to one it was decided to

place the new house in the west, and it looked as if everything was going on swimmingly. A committee was chosen, consisting of Reuben Smith, Asa Perry, Phineas Sawyer, Elijah Carter, and Jacob Upton, "to be invested with power to agree with the owners of the new frame erecting for a meeting-house (that of Jacob Upton and others before mentioned) in the north-westerly part of the town, if that appear cheapest for the town, otherways are invested with power to provide materials and timber for building a new meeting-house in the prudentest manner for said town on said plat of ground." This committee was instructed to report progress at the next town meeting.

This was a bitter pill for the east to swallow. Resolved on retaliation, the east called a town meeting immediately "To see if the town will comply with a request of a number of the inhabitants of Fitchburg, to grant that they, together with their respective estates and interests, may be set off from Fitchburg and annexed to Lunenburg." This request was denied. The honest people, who, for the sake of peace and reconciliation had favored the west at the previous meeting, were now thoroughly alarmed. They held the balance of power, and were in a very unpleasant predicament. If they voted to place the new house in the east, the west threatened to form a new parish; and if they favored the west, the east evinced strong symptoms of returning to the parent town of Lunenburg.

Meanwhile, undaunted by this sudden squall in the east, the committee had bargained for the frame of the new meeting-house being erected in the north-westerly part of the town, prepared a site for the new house on the land of Ezra Upton's heirs, and done sundry other wise things. Nov. 17, 1788, a town meeting was called to listen to the report of this committee. Their excellent progress was set forth with great confidence, whereupon the meeting gravely voted not to accept the report, and added insult to injury by summarily discharging the committee from further service. This was done by the peacemakers who were at their wits' ends, and this time threw their influence into the eastern scale. At this meeting a committee was chosen to find the centre of the town. After a survey, the centre was found to be on the land of one Thomas Boynton, about five hundred feet north of the pound. Their report was accepted at a town meeting held Dec. 18, 1788, and a committee, consisting of Thomas Cowdin, Phineas

Hartwell, Oliver Stickney, Daniel Putnam, and Paul Wetherbee, was chosen to bargain for a site in the most suitable place. This committee bought twenty-two and a half acres of land, a little south of the pound, of Boynton, paying therefor two dollars and thirty-three cents per acre, and the town approved this action.

The west, not thinking this location near enough, resorted to the old scheme of forming a new town, and called two meetings for that purpose, thereby scaring the conscientious peacemakers nearly out of their wits; but for some reason or other the men of the west did not put in an appearance, and these two meetings were uncommonly peaceable. The petitions were dismissed. The reason of their non-appearance at these meetings probably was that the people of the west, who all this time were carrying on their plans vigorously but quietly, as will soon be seen, wished to lull the rest of the town into a sense of security.

At a meeting held Nov. 2, 1789, the town voted "to erect a new meeting-house on the land purchased of Thomas Boynton," and a committee was chosen to take the matter in charge. Two weeks later the town voted to reconsider all former votes; so that at the end of four years the town was in the same position regarding this matter as when it began operations, with the exception of owning twenty-two and a half acres of real estate. The cause of this singular action was the culmination of the move on the part of the west, alluded to above. The people of the west, together with portions of Westminster, Ashburnham, and Ashby, had presented to the General Court a powerful petition for an act of incorporation into a town.

"This petition set forth in glowing colors the delightful situation of the contemplated town - how nature had lavished all her skill upon it how admirably adapted for a township by itself was the noble swell of land- and that nothing in nature or in art could exceed the grand and imposing spectacle of a meeting-house towering from its summit, while beneath the said swell was a region of low, sunken land which almost cut off the petitioners from intercourse with the rest of mankind.1"

This meant business, and the inhabitants of Fitchburg drew up a spirited remonstrance, in which they were joined by the people in those portions of the three adjoining towns not included in the 1 Torrey's "History of Fitchburg," Fitchburg, 1836.