From Daniel T.V. Huntoon's

History of The Town of Canton, Massachusetts (1893)

CHAPTER XX

THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION

The chief sources of information to which we naturally turn are the records of the town meetings held during the struggle that gained for America her independence. From them we are enabled to trace the gradual course of events; for to the people assembled in town meeting were referred all the important measures of the time, and the decisions and desires of the legal voters are mirrored on the old records. The original warrants are still preserved, as issued by the selectmen. Many of the original instructions to the agents or representatives of the town still exist. Ancient diaries have been exhumed from the recesses of old attics which throw much light on the daily life of Revolutionary days. Again, tradition has preserved to us many familiar and interesting events connected with the men who were active in that war. Thus we shall be able to follow the particular doings of our townsmen of this important period.

On the 18th of March, 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed. A public thanksgiving was held in the old church on the 24th of July, Rev. Samuel Dunbar preaching from the text, "As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning unto a good day, and that they should make them days of feasting and joy."

On the 6th of October, 1766, an article was read at the town meeting, "to see if the town will give instructions to their representative respecting making good the damages that particular persons in the town of Boston sustained in the late disturbances in this Province respecting the Stamp Act." At the annual meeting in May, Lieut. Hezekiah Gay received eighty-three votes, - six other candidates receiving only eighty in all, - and he was elected Representative to the General Court. At a later meeting he was instruction in regard to the late proceedings in Boston in the following language:-

"In the first place, we would Jet you know that we abhor and detest all mobs in general, and that none of us had any hand in that in particular, and we are of opinion that not one thousanth part of the. Province in general, exclusive of the town of Boston, had anv hand in them, directly or indirectly. We would recommend to you by no means to vote for recompense to be made by ye Province, as a point of justice; for the Province, immediately after ye violences were committed, bore testimony against them, and used all proper proceedings to detect those that committed them, but to no effect. But the town are willing justice should be done, provided the people be not taxed therefor."

This loyalty was to vanish before the continued oppressive acts of the British Parliament, as time wore on. In 1768 Mr. Gay was again chosen to join with the several towns of the province at Faneuil Hall, on the 22d of September, at a convention there to be held to see what could be accomplished for the good of the province,%u2014 the General Court having been dissolved by Governor Bernard. This convention asserted its readiness to prevent tumults, and made professions of loyalty. The next day the soldiers from Halifax occupied their places in Faneuil Hall.

On July 31, 1769, Governor Bernard, having failed to obtain grants from the House to support a standing army in the province, left his home at Jamaica Plain and embarked from Castle William. Guns were fired from Mr. Hancock's wharf, and a bonfire started on Fort Hill. The news reached Canton the next day; the bell of the old church rang out a joyous peal, and Seth Billings was unfortunately wounded in firing a salute. He died on the 2d of August.

The population of Stoughton at this time consisted of about 2,100 souls; 530 were of the age of sixteen and upwards. The number of polls was 504. The inhabitants were primitive in their manners, and their wants were few; the greater portion of them could not be called educated, save by the education that comes from innate sense and the varied experiences of life. They were accustomed in difficult matters to look to a few men for advice and counsel, who by their superior natural abilities, or the advantages of early schooling, were acknowledged to be the leading men of the day. When an earnest desire for liberty swept over the land, it found in this town prominent men, whose influence was wielded for the common good; and the hearts of the people beat in unison with the pulse of the embryo nation.

The bleak winds of March were sweeping over the hills and along "Packeen plain," when in 1773, by order of his Majesty George III., the inhabitants of Stoughton congregated at the old meeting-house. It was town meeting day, - a day on which from the earliest times plans were formed for the ensuing year. But on this day the minor matters connected with the election of town officers paled before the rumor that the selectmen of the town had received a letter from certain gentlemen in the town of Boston, styling themselves a committee of correspondence, in which, in forcible language, they inform their friends in the country of the grievances the province was then laboring under. The letter having been read in open town meeting, our townspeople immediately replied to it in the following words : %u2014

To ye Boston Committe of Correspondence :

Honored Gentlemen, %u2014 Haveing had oppertunity to hear and consider your letter to us, for which we are obliged and thankful to you, We, according to our best understanding, think that our Rights as men, as Christians, and British Subjects are Rightly Stated by you, and in ye many instanceses produced have been Greatly infringed upon and violated by arbetrary Will and power, we esteem them heavy grivanceses, and apprehensive that in future time they may prove fatal to us and oure posterity, as to all that is Dear to us, Reducing us not only to poverty, but Slavery, we Do humbly remonstrate against them, & concur with you and our Brethren in several towns of ye Province, tho we cannot join with all ye towns, Nor with ye in every circumstance and perticular of your procedings, Yet we must concur with you and them in Bearing our Testimony against them, and in uniting in all constitutinal methods for Regaining those Rights and privileges that have been ravished from us, and for retaining those that yet Remain to us; and accordingly, we advise & instruct our Representative to exerte himself for these ends; and that as this province ever had, and ought to have, a right to petition the King for ye Redress of such greivances as they feel, and for preventing Such as they have just reason to apprehend and fear, that he move that an humble petition for these purposes be presented to his majesty. Hopeing for a divine Blessing upon all our Constitutional Endeavors for ye preservation and enjoyment of all our Natural and Constitutional Rights and priviledges, and professing our Loyalty to the King, and praying that he may Long set upon the Throne, and Rule in Righteousness, and that he may be a nursing father to us, his Loyal subjects, and that all his officers may be peace, and his Exactors Righteousness, We subscribe ourselves Your Distressed Brethren and oppressed fellow subjects.

The moderator of this meeting and the man who read this letter was Joseph Billings. He was the son of that Joseph Billings who kept the old tavern in Milton, next beyond the residence of J. Huntington Wolcott, sometimes known as the Blue Hill Tavern, but oftener as Billings's tavern. His sons, Joseph, William, and John, removed to Canton. Joseph, the eldest, born June 17, 1709, was a prominent man in Canton affairs. He was for many years guardian of the Ponkapoag Indians, and says, "The Indians have eat and drank at my house more than five hundred times." We have seen a letter written by Parson Dunbar, speaking in the highest terms of his ability and character. Joseph Billings's niece, the daughter of Thomas and sister to Daniel Vose, records in her diary that her "Uncle Joseph died Jan. 13, 1789, aged eighty years." No stone confirms this record; but his wife Anna, daughter of Col. John Holman, of Milton, is buried in the old cemetery, and her stone says she died Oct. 28, 1753, aged forty-five years. Samuel Billings erected, in 1809, a new house on what is now known as the Capt. William Shaller place, which he sold to Alexander French; and here, in 1814, his son, Charles Howe French, was born. From French it passed through two owners, and, May 2, 1827, was purchased by Capt. William Shaller, who resided on it.

Charles French Family

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