possibly from destruction. These trees have always been | highly prized by the inhabitants and owners of the house they have sheltered, and they will long be remembered and regretted by the occupants of the dwelling which they have ornamented and protected for more than a hundred years." The property she so generously gave for the benefit of the town was entirely accumulated from her own earnings in youth. She died December 2, 1871, aged eighty-nine years, and was buried in the old burying-ground. Her grave is marked by a stone, with a suitable inscription, commending her industry and benevolence. The territory of Woburn Precinct, before its settlement, was the home of many Indians, who left numerous marks of their habitation behind them. Various relics, as arrow-heads and hatchets of stone, have been found on the Sewall estate and in other places. In the time of King Philip's War this part of Woburn was not attacked by a large force of the enemy at one time, neither were murdered in great numbers. But one incident occurred at this period, which is mentioned by Hubbard in the preface to his narrative of the Indian wars, and which we quote from Sewall's History of Woburn : — The ancient burying-ground of Burlington is situated on slightly elevated land, in the centre of the town, near the meeting-house, and seems in a manner to share in the history of that venerable building. Into it have been gathered, from year to year, the ministers of the church, the worthies of the town, with their families, and strangers from afar who have laid their weary bones among us. This piece of land was probably selected for the burial of the dead in 1733, although the rec-its dwellings pillaged and burnt, nor its inhabitants ords regarding it are very imperfect. We find, in the recorded proceedings of a town-meeting, November 9, 1733, that a committee was chosen to select a "sutabel pece of land" for a buryingground in the precinct. In 1810 this ground was enlarged and enclosed with a wall, according to a vote of the town. In 1851 it was deemed necessary to procure land for a new place of burial, and a cemetery was laid out on the Bedford road, about half a mile from the meeting-house. Since that time few interments have been made in the old burying-ground, except of aged persons, who wished to be laid with their families or friends. This ancient burial-place, however, shows none of the neglect and want of care too often visible in similar places. The good condition of the burying-ground is owing not only to the care of the inhabitants of the town, but also to the generosity of a native of Burlington, Miss Ruth Wilson, who, a short time before her death, gave in trust for the burying-ground the sum of six hundred dollars, one hundred of which were to be used immediately for needed repairs, and the remainder as a fund for necessary care and improvements in the future. With the part of this money to be expended, in addition to an appropriation of the town for the same purpose, a neat and substantial wall was erected in front of the ground, and with the accumulated interest of the fund, in 1878, a new wall was built on one side, needful repairs being made from time to time, according to the wishes of the donor. In this connection we may say that Miss Wilson gave to the church in Burlington a fund of four thousand dollars for the support of preaching. This worthy lady was born in Burlington, and spent most of her long life in her native place. "On a certain Sabbath, an Indian concealed himself in a hop-house, the kiln of which is still pointed out, about a mile from the Burlington meeting-house, on the road to Bedford, between the house belonging to the Poor Farm and that of Miss Ruth Wilson. When he supposed the neighbors generally had gone to meeting, he came out from his lurking-place, and went to the house which stood on the spot where Miss Wilson's now is. Upon entering, he asked for cider of a young woman who had been left at home. In compliance with his request, she went to the cellar to draw some; but upon her return, he knocked her in the head with his tomahawk. The cellar-door was dashed with her blood, which was never wiped off; and when the house came to be taken down, about 1760, to make way for the erection of the present one on its site, this blood-stained door was removed, as it was, to the barn; and when the barn was afterward taken down, to make room for a new one in its stead, the door was transferred to another barn in the vicinity; and thus continued to be exhibited in these several places for many years, as a memorial of this instance of savage cruelty." The house to which reference is made as belonging to Miss Ruth Wilson is still standing in the westerly part of the town, and is now occupied by Mr. Charles Haven, a relative of the late Miss Wilson. Woburn Precinct, situated so near to the historic towns of Lexington and Concord, was the scene of several incidents connected with the memorable 19th of April, 1775. In the diary of Rev. John Marrett we find the following account of the battle of Lexington: “1775, April 19.—Fair, windy and cold. A Distressing Day. About 800 Regulars marched from Boston to Concord. As they went up, they killed 8 men at Lexington meeting-house: they huzza'd and then fired, as our men had turned their backs, (who in number were about one hundred); and then they proceeded to Concord. The adjacent country was alarmed, the latter part of the night preceding. The action at Lexington was just before sunrise. Our men pursued them Our men pursued them to and from Concord on their retreat back; and several killed on both sides, but much the least on our side, as we pickt them off on their retreat. The regulars were reinforced at Lexington to aid their retreat by 800, with two field-pieces. They burnt 3 houses in Lexington, and one barn, and did other mischief to buildings. They were pursued to Charlestown, where they entrenched on a hill just over the Neck. Thus commences an important period. In the house of Captain James Reed, in the southerly part of Burlington, several British prisoners were confined on the day of the battle. In the History of the Battle of Lexington, by Elias Phinney, we find the following deposition made by Captain James Reed : | . veyed to my house early in the morning, and I took charge of them. In the afternoon five or six more of said British troops, that were taken prisoners in the afternoon, when on the retreat from Concord, were brought to my house, and put under my care. Towards evening, it was thought best to remove them from my house. I, with the assistance of some others, marched them to one Johnson's in Woburn Precinct, and there kept a guard over them during the night. The next morning we marched them to Billerica; but the people were so alarmed, and not willing to have them left there, we then took them to Chelmsford, and there the people were much frightened; but the Committee of Safety consented to have them left, provided that we would leave a guard. Accordingly, some of our men agreed to stay. "Middlesex ss. January 19, 1825. "JAMES REED. "Then the within-named James Reed subscribed and swore to the aforenamed statement, before "AMOS MUZZY, Justice of the Peace." In these perilous times the library and public records of Harvard College were deposited in the house of Deacon Samuel Reed, in the westerly part of Woburn Precinct. This house is still standing, although not in possession of the family. The house formerly owned by the late Captain James Reed is still standing, in good condition, and is owned by one of his descendants. In this connection may be related another tale of the olden time, which is preserved to posterity by the most authentic tradition and record. On the evening of April 18, 1775, Hon. John Hancock and Samuel Adams, with Dorothy Quincy, afterwards the wife of Hancock, were at the house of Rev. Jonas Clark, in Lexington. They had left the Provincial Congress at Concord, which adjourned April 15, and sought the hospitable shelter of the house of the worthy minister of Lexington. Here they remained over night, but were aroused early in the morning of the 19th by tidings of the approach of British soldiers to Lexington. Mr. Clark, alarmed at this news, and fearing danger for his guests, put them in charge of a trusty militia-man, who was instructed to find for them a safe hiding-place. He at first conducted his charge to a woody hill, south "I, James Reed, of Burlington, in the county of Middlesex and commonwealth of Massachusetts, do testify and declare, that, soon after the British troops had fired upon the militia at Lexington, on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, and had taken up their march towards Concord, I arrived at the Common, near the meeting-house, where I found several of the militia dead, and others wounded. I also saw a British soldier march up the road near said meeting-house, and Joshua Reed of Woburn met him, and demanded him to surrender. He then took his arms and equipments from him, and I took charge of him, and took him to my house, then in Woburn Precinct. I also testify that E. Welsh brought to my house, soon after I returned home with my prisoner, two more of said British troops; and two more were immediately brought, and I suppose, by John Munroe and Thomas R. Willard of Lexington; and I am confident, that one more was brought, but by whom, I don't now recollect. All the above pris-east of Mr. Clark's house, where they might witoners were taken at Lexington immediately after the main body had left the Common, and were con ness whatever should occur at Lexington, and while they waited in this place, Samuel Adams, hearing the firing of the British troops, exclaimed, with prophetic fervor, "What a glorious morning for America is this!" Little thought the patriot that those should become the household words of a strong and independent nation, already springing into life in that clear April morning. But the little party were soon persuaded by their guide to retreat farther from the scene of danger, and they were conducted to a place of safety, almost four miles from the centre of Lexington. This refuge was the house of Madam Jones, in Woburn Precinct, which we have previously described. This good lady, a friend of Mr. Clark, and a most earnest Whig, gave a cordial welcome to these honored guests. With great hospitality she began at once to make preparations for a good dinner, an enjoyment not to be overlooked, though "regulars" might be at the door. The coachman was at once sent back to Lexington, for a fine salmon, which had been presented to Hancock and Adams, as a rare treat at that season, and had been left behind in their hasty flight. The repast was prepared in due season, and Mrs. Jones, with her guests, who, in the haste of departure had eaten no breakfast, and Rev. Mr. Marrett, then minister of the parish, prepared to discuss the salmon and the other delicacies provided for them. But scarcely were they seated at the table, when a man who had hastened from the bloody green at Lexington, rushed into the room, exclaiming in accents of terror: "My wife, I fear, is by this time in eternity, and as to you (speaking to Hancock and Adams), you had better look out for yourselves, for the enemy will soon be at your heels!" Startled by this sudden alarm, the company rose from the hospitable board and made ready for flight. Fearing that their travelling carriage, or coach, which was standing by the roadside, might be a telltale object to their pursuers, they hastened to order its concealment, and it was drawn away to the thickets of Path Woods, in the northwesterly part of the precinct. Mr. Marrett then conducted Hancock and Adams, with Miss Quincy, to the house of Amos Wyman, in an obscure place near the corner of Bedford, Billerica, and Burlington. Here they found many women and children, who had sought a refuge from the "redcoats" in this remote spot. But now the illustrious refugees, having tasted neither. breakfast nor dinner in the confusion of flight, began to feel the pangs of hunger. They therefore begged Mrs. Wyman for a little food, and she readily took down from the shelf a tray well filled with cold boiled salt pork, cold boiled potatoes, unpeeled, and some brown bread. With this plain, coarse food they satisfied their hunger, not pausing to cast a regretful thought toward the renowned salmon, which, for all they knew, might be profanely seized and consumed by the voracious regulars. The house of Mr. Wyman has been long since torn down, and its site can be traced only. with much difficulty. It was a current story in those days that Governor Hancock afterward sent Mrs. Wyman a present of a cow, as a reward for her kindness. Hancock and Adams, with Miss Quincy, returned to the house of Madam Jones, on the following day, to find that they had been needlessly alarmed. The enemy, closely pursued by the redoubtable Yankees, had returned to Boston, without wasting time in a fruitless search for the important rebels. Madam Jones, who lived until 1814, cherished the memory of this occurrence, and doubtless related it to the author of the History of Woburn, by whom it is recorded; and many years after the battle of Lexington, this same historian, Rev. Samuel Sewall, then the owner of the old home of Madam Jones, and sonin-law of Rev. John Marrett, listened to the story of the flight of Hancock and Adams, as it fell from the lips of his kinswoman, Madam Scott, the widow of Governor Hancock, the Dorothy Quincy of ancient fame. 1 In Rev. Mr. Marrett's List of Deaths, 1776, William Lock is said to have died at Ticonderoga, in the autumn of that year. 2 Andrew Munroe, a native of Lexington, taxed in Woburn Precinct 1781, 1782, 1783. 3 "June 26, 1775.-Attended the funeral of George Reed, jun., who died of a fever which was occasioned by a surfeit or heat he got in Charlestown fight, the 17th inst."- REV. MR. MARRETT's Interleaved Almanac for 1775. • "Died at Ticonderoga in 1776.”—Rev. MR. MARRETT'S List of Deaths. • Solomon Wood "died of small pox in the Army at the Jerseys, March 16, 1777.” — Rev. MR. MARRETT'S List of Deaths. whose names do not appear on the tax-list for those years, and are not included in this list. Burlington furnished eighty-two men for the War of the Rebellion, which was a surplus of four over and above all demands. None were commissioned officers. The whole amount of money appropriated and expended by the town for the war was $10,651, exclusive of state aid, which was a large sum for a town of about six hundred inhabitants. At the time of the centennial celebration at Lexington, April 19, 1875, an invitation was extended to the citizens of Burlington to join in the observance of the day. At a town-meeting, March 25, 1875, it was voted to accept this invitation, and also to form a company of cavalry to attend the celebration. It was further voted to raise the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars to defray the expense of celebrating the day, to be expended under the direction of the selectmen. In accordance with the vote a company of cavalry was formed, numbering forty-six citizens of the town, with four honorary members. On the morning of the 19th this company escorted the carriages containing the selectmen and four aged citizens of the town, invited guests of the town of Lexington, to the scene of the celebration, where they formed a part of the procession. Probably the most noted native of Burlington in the outside world was Rev. James Walker, D. D., lately deceased, for some time president of Harvard University. He was born in Woburn Precinct, August 16, 1794, the son of General John and Lucy (Johnson) Walker. His mother was a descendant of Captain Edward Johnson, one of the principal founders of Woburn. Both Johnsons and Walkers were numerous and influential families in Burlington at that time. The late Rev. Nathaniel L. Frothingham, formerly minister of the First Church in Boston, and a noted poet and translator, made his summer home in Burlington for several years. He selected a burial-place in the cemetery, where several members of his family were buried, and where he himself was laid at rest. |