Twelfth Generation

3386. Samuel ADAMS was born on 23 November 1652 in Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, BCA. He died on 25 November 1727 at the age of 75 in Canterbury, Windham, Connecticut, BCA. He was .¹²³ 36 HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
FIRST SAW MILL.
It has always been a marked characteristic of the New Englanders from the very first, that they manage to provide for themselves comfortable and substantial dwellings. There being no saw mill nearer than Concord or Woburn, and neither roads nor bridges between those places and Chelms ford, the first who came must have been compelled to erect log houses for their shelter, although there is a tradition that William Fletcher had a frame house in 1654. There is a tradition also that Josiah Richardson's first shelter was partly formed by digging into the bank.
The people were not long content to occupy such rude structures, and very soon negotiated with the enterprising Samuel Adams to erect a saw mill, and also a mill for the grinding of corn. Mr. Adams was a person of somewhat varied accomplish ments. Rev. Wilkes Allen, in some notes made by him after his history of Chelmsford was published, states, upon the authority of some old deeds and other papers in the Adams family, that he was a millwright. "He was also somewhat skilled in medicine & exercised his skill to ye advantage & benefit of this infant settlement while they were destitute of a physician better informed."
He was a Captain in the military, Clerk of the Writs, and for twenty years town clerk. The records in his handwriting are still mostly quite legible.
The Town was quite liberal with Mr. Adams, giving him 100 acres of land in consideration of his "erecting & maintaining a Corn Mill for the Towns suply," and he was given 450 acres in consideration of his erecting a saw mill. These with other grants made his holdings "by estimation about six hundred acres." * * *
The following is the vote of the Town in reference to the saw mill as it appears in the town records [Transcript, p. 32]: "1656, July Day ye third. At a Public meeting of the whole town, it is Granted to Mr. Samuel Adams in Consideration of Setting up a Saw-mill: and thereby supliing the Town with Boards at three Shillings the hundred, or the Sawing of one Board log for the providing and bringing of another to be Redy to work by the next March ensuing. In consideration Whereof it is hereby Granted to the Sd Mr. Adams to have the Sum of Four hundred and fifty acres of Land upon the South Side of the meadowbelonging to the Sd Mr. Adams, called brook meadow; Farther that the Sd Mr. Adams Shall have Liberty to make use of the Pines upon the Common. And to hold the fore Sd Land to him and his heirs for ever."
And "Mr Adams is granted Libberty to sett Flood gates for the advantage of his Mill pond at the Mouth of Hart pond this was granted by the Town for the use of his Mill to him and his heirs forever"*
This mill was upon Great, or River Meadow brook, about two miles, a little east of south, from the center of the town. A saw and gristmill was maintained there by five successive generations of the Adams family. It then passed by purchase to Mr. Abbot Russell, who was followed by his son, the late Lincoln H. Russell, since whose death in 1899, the mill has not been used.
Samuel Adams we should find at his mills on Great brook, and between him and the village was Moses Barron, near the place of the late Chas. Sweetser; and for a short time his near neighbor was Francis Gould and his wife Rose, who had come from Braintree.

Thomas Adams was born in England in 1612, married in Braintree in 1642, moved to Concord, and to Chelmsford in 1650-4. He was Ensign in 1678, and Lieutenant in 1682, in the company of which his brother, Samuel, was Captain. He was town clerk, selectman and representative. He died July 20, 1688, aged 76 years.

1682. May 27. Ensign Thomas Addams is appointed to be lieft to the ffoot company in Chelmsford, vnder ye comand of Capt. Samuel Addams

July 31, Dunstable asked for protection for Samuel Adams' corn mill, "without the use of which the Town cannot subsist." In August six hundred men were furnished for the frontier towns. The General Court ordered the selectmen to furnish ammunition to their respective towns.
In the first number of "Publick Occurences" issued at "Boston, Thursday, Sept. 25th. 1690," the oldest newspaper in the United States (which was suppressed by the Governor and Council four days later, because it "contained Reflections of a very high nature.") is the following item:
"While the barbarous Indians were lurking about Chelmsford, there were missing about the beginning of this month a couple of Children belonging to a man of that Town, one of them aged about eleven, the other aged about nine years, both of them supposed to be fallen into the hands of the Indians."

"The expressions of the Town during all this trying period show that the hostilities which followed were not of their seeking. Their language is not the language of men eager to achieve glory by deeds of arms; nor was their intense desire for a peaceful solution of the difficulties, and caution against rash measures, the caution of timidity, as their subsequent acts abundantly testify." [H. S. P.] They had at first no desire to sever their connection with the mother country. During the first stages of the war hardly any American of prominence, possibly with the exception of Samuel Adams, enter tained any idea of separation. Benjamin Franklin declared that whatever else the Americans might desire, they did not want independence, and Washington asserted that at the time he took command of the Army (July, 1775) he abhorred the idea of separation. [Hist. U. S., Garner and Lodge, p. 409]

he British General Gage had fortified Boston Neck to defend the only approach to the city. On April 15, he learned that Samuel Adams and John Hancock, the two chief arch-conspirators, were in Lexington, and eight hundred troops were sent to arrest these patriot leaders, and then proceed to Concord and seize the military supplies collected there by the "rebels." The signal lanterns having been displayed in the belfry of old Christ Church, Paul Revere, on his famous ride, informed the citizens of the approach of the regulars.

The Spaulding-Hazen place was probably a part of the estate deeded by Andrew, son of Edward, to his son, Henry, in 1706. Andrew bought of John and Daniel Waldo about 260 acres, being a part of the estate of Capt. Samuel Adams. The Waldos married, respectively, Rebecca and Susanna Adams, daughters of Sameul. Henry Spaulding was a tailor. His son, Henry, inherited the property. Then came Zebulon and Sherebiah and Sherebiah, Jr. In 1861, Sanford Hazen bought the homestead from the estate of the latter.

Until about the year 1800 the only way of conveying merchandise from Chelmsford to the seaport markets at Salem and Charlestown was to cart it over the roads. A small caravan, made up of several carts and drivers, for fellowship and safety, would set out late in the day and make the journey to Salem by night, as it was cooler; most of the carting being done in the summer. The men took with them for refreshment some simple fare—brown bread and cheese and a little rum. They spent little or no money while on the trip. They used crude two-wheeled carts drawn by oxen. The carts had heavy wooden axles, and the wheels were fastened on with wooden pins driven through the ends of the axles, and between the pins and the hub was a wreathing of birch withes. An ox-team would travel about two miles an hour. John Tucker the physician and storekeeper received produce and "barils" at the C. O. Robbins place at the South Village and shipped them in this way to market. From his account book is taken the following list of shipments. From the account book of John Tucker, storekeeper: (The spelling has been modernized.)
Sept. 2, 1751, Andrew Betty carted 40 barrels to Mystic and 28 to Charlestown.
March 14, 1753, Mr. Jonathan Butterfield carted 7 hundred of oak boards to Charlestown.
April 15, 1753, Mr. Jonathan Adams carted 40 fish barrels and cloth and old brass to Charlestown.
April 19, 1753, Mr. Eben Harris carted 6 barrels to Mr. Reeves [at Mystic] and 34 to Charlestown.
June 6, 1753, Young Benj. Chamberlin carted 40 barrels to Mr. Hunt near Charlestown .
June 14, 1753, Mr. Samuel Adams carted 35 rum barrels and 5 fish barrels to Mr. John Bickford in Salem.
June 14, 1753, Mr. Beni Procter carted tar and turpentine to Salem.
June 14, 1753, Mr. Simeon Procter carted shingles and tar to Salem.
July 5, 1753, Israel Procter carted 7 hundred slit-work to Salem.
July 5, 1753, Samson Hildreth carted 7 hundred slit-work to Salem.
July 11, 1753, Jonathan Butterfield carted 1 M of boards to Salem.
July 11, 1753, Ephraim Keys carted 7 hundred slit-work to Salem.
July 11, 1753, Henry Byam carted 7 hundred slit-work to Salem.
July 11, 1753, Beni Procter carted 5 M shingles to Salem.
Aug. 9, 1753, Simeon Procter carted 3 hundred and half of staves and 1 hundred and 3 quarters of slit-work to Charlestown to Mr. Devon.
Aug. 9, 1753, Samuel Fletcher carted 40 barrels to Charlestown.
Sept. 28, 1753, Ephraim Keys carted 730 foot of slit-work. Mr. Cory carted 40 barrels to Charlestown. John Minot carted 40 barrels to Charlestown. Samson Hildreth carted 39 barrels to Charlestown. John Hill carted 6 hundred of slit-work to Charlestown.
Oct. 16, 1753, Thomas Adams carted 5 hundred of slit-work and 1009 foot of maple boards and 1012 foot of oak boards to Charlestown. Mr. Harris carted 7 hundred of oak boards to Charlestown. Mr. Jonathan Spalding carted 7 hundred slit-work to Charles town. Jonathan Snow 23 barrels and 150 foot of oak "gice" to Charlestown.
Oct. 30, 1753, John Adams carted 4 barrels of tar and 2 M of shingles to Salem.
Nov. 15, 1753, Jonathan Adams carted 50 feet of boards and 2 M of shingles and 2 barrels to Salem. Nov. 15, 1753, Mr. Procter carted 5 M and half of shingles to Salem. Nov. 15, 1753, Benj. Procter carted 1 M of boards to Salem. Other lists include "oak gice," "double oak gice," "fish barils," "rum barils," "tow cloth," "beans, cloth, tobacko, meal, clapboards, bedstead, carted to Salem." Other men who carted to Salem or Charlestown were Phylup Robbins, Jacob Read, Caleb farley, Amos Russell, "ye old Mr. Ebin hildrish," Simeon fletcher, Georg neclas, Eben spalding. Cooperage was a thriving industry in those days in Chelms ford. "Slit-work" was a name used for thin boards. See Vol. VI, p. 115, Narrative and Critical Hist, of America; also the Oxford Dictionary, and Colonial Laws of the ninth year of Queen Anne, 1710.
In 1791 an item in the Town records states the amount paid for plank and slit-work to repair a bridge. Slit-deals were pine boards 5-8 of an inch thick; whole deals were 1 1-4 inches thick. Oak knees for small vessels were worked out here and taken to the ship yards.
One item of cloth is included in the above list.
Weaving cloth on hand looms also occupied the time of some families during the less busy seasons. The setting up of power looms late in the 18th century destroyed this household industry. This letter to Mr. Andrew Betty or Betteys of South Chelms ford, indicates that orders were taken for such work. In an indenture dated 1758 he is described as a "wever.

Among the commissions, for example, is one from "William Shirley, Esq., Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty's Province in Massachusetts Bay in New England &c," appointing "Simeon Spaulding, Gentlemen, to be cornet of the first troop of horse," dated March 18, 1755. There is also one dated "In the 28th year of His Majesty King George the Second, Annoq. Domini 1755," and signed "W. Shirley." Another com mission, twenty years later,—1775,—appointing Simeon "to be one of our Justices to keep our peace," was signed by "Samuel Adams, Secy.," whose statue now stands in Adams Square, Boston.

The Town of Chelmsford granted several parcels of land to "Mr. John Webb," under date of November 9, 1661. All of these were near to Merrimack River. He was chosen, by the Town of Chelmsford, deputy to the General Court in 1663, 1664 and 1665. In the list of members of the General Court in 1663 his name is given Ensigne John Webb, and for the session of 1664 it appears as Ensigne Jno. Euered. In 1664 he and Samuel Adams were "empowred to joyne persons in marriage that shall be duely published according to lawe wth in the toune of Chelmsford.

In 1656, an order was passed by the Town that no person should own land until he had been approved and admitted as an inhabitant by a majority vote at a public Town meeting. Only such persons as could contribute to the prosperity of the Town or the well-being of the inhabitants were desired. Trades were among the recommendations of the newcomers. About 1655, Henry Farwell came from Concord. He died in 1670, and in his will he styles himself a tailor. In 1656, William How, a weaver, was admitted an inhabitant and granted 30 acres of land on condition that he follow his trade, and perform the Town's work. In the same year, Samuel Adams was admitted.and given a grant of land provided he set up a saw mill and supply the Town with boards at three shillings a hundred, or saw one log for the providing and bringing of another. He was also given other land in consideration of his putting up a corn-mill, and the Town passed an order "that no other corn-mill shall be erected for this town, provided the said Adams keep a sufficient mill and miller."

Mary MEEKER and Samuel ADAMS were married in 1675 in Chelmsford Center, Tewksbury, Massachusetts Baym BCA.

3387. Mary MEEKER was born in 1655 in Chelmsford, Essex, England. She died in 1718 at the age of 63.

Children were: