History of the town of Acton Massachusetts

Acton Massachusett's story is laid out here as a careful account of how the town grew from a 17th century land grant tied to Concord into an independent community by 1735. Rather than listing events and dates, the author looks closely at the lives of leading families and early freemen, showing how daily concerns shaped the town’s course. The narrative gives special attention to the role of the church, disputes over land and authority during the time of royal governors such as Sir Edmund Andros, and the practical work of putting up meetinghouses and schools in a frontier setting. Drawing on deeds, ministerial agreements, and other early records, and mixing in bits of local tradition such as the tale of the “Count of the Rocky Guzzle,” the book captures something of the character and customs of the period.

Introduction

The compilation of this work was greatly facilitated by the fact that the minutes of every Acton town meeting, both annual and special, together with the acts of the selectmen, are extant and legible. For a short period just previous to the incorporation of the town, when, as Concord Village, it held its own meetings and elected its own clerk, the data is by its very nature less fulsome.

The secondary sources consist largely of the following six books:

1. History of Concord by Lemuel Shattuck (1835).
2. Acton in History, a sixty page excerpt by Rev. James Fletcher and and others, from a composite history of the Middlesex County, (1890).
3. Historical Papers, vol. 2, a volume of historical papers with unnumbered pages, in the Acton Memorial Library.
4. A volume in the Acton Memorial Library catalogued as a scrap book.
5. Memorial to Luther Blanchard, fifer of the Acton Minute-Men, April 19, 1775, by Alfred S. Hudson, (1899).
6. The battle of April 19, 1775 : in Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville and Charlestown, Massachusetts, by Charles L. Coburn, (1921).

Other sources consisted of the printed town reports; heirlooms in the form of family scrapbooks; files of the Boston newspapers, the Acton Patriot, verbatim personal recollections, and a few magazine articles which are clearly identified in the proper context.

Table of Contents

• Part I, Settlement to Incorporation, page 1
• Part II, 1735 to 1750, page 28
• Part III, 1750 to 1800, page 48
• Part IV, 1800 to 1850, page 111
• Part V, 1850 to 1900, page 159
• Part VI, 1900 to 1950, page 288

Appendices

1. Between the town of Concord and Thomas Wheeler, the major portion of the original agreement executed January 12, 1669, 367.
2. Report of the committee chosen by the town of concord to determine a list of proprietors of the new grant otherwise known as Concord Village, 369
3. List of selectmen, town clerks, and town treasurers for the town of Acton from 1735 to 1950, 371
4. Minister rates for 1761, 380
5. Diverse data relative to early school teaching, 382
6. List of Acton men who served in the revolution as compiled by Rev. James T. Woodbury, 384
7. A partial record of the service of Acton men in the revolution, 387
8. List of physicians who have practiced in Acton, 388
9. List of the first fifteen deacons of Acton church, 393
10. Acton men who have served in the state legislature from 1735 to 1950, 394
11. The first fifteen Acton men to receive a college degree, 396
12. Depositions of Thomas Thorp and others concerning the events of April 19th 1775, 398
13. Moderators presiding at the annual town meetings, 1735 – 1953, 406
14. Brief sketch of the history of the several churches in Acton, 407
    • The Puritan Church, 407
    • The Baptist Church, 412
    • The Universalists, 413
    • South Acton Congregational Church, 416
    • The Catholic Church, 417
    • Society of Friends, 417
15. A detailed account of the services of Acton men in the Civil War subsequent to the return of the 6th regiment as outlined in a memorial day address to the Grand Army Post by Mr. Luther Conant, 418
16. Acton men who died in the service of the union army in the Civil War, 422
17. Acton men listed on the tablet at the entrance to the Memorial Library as having served in the union army and survived the Civil War, 424
18. Men not of Acton who because of the town bounty or other reasons enlisted to the credit of the town in the Civil War, 427
19. Muster roll of Company “E”, 6th Massachusetts Regiment, 429
20. Muster roll of company “E” 6th Massachusetts Regiment; nine months men, 431
21. List of names inscribed on the memorial plaque for World War I opposite the Davis monument on Acton common, 433
22. Acton citizens who served in World War II, and in the Merchant Marine at that time, and up to and including the Korean Conflict, 435
23. Population of Acton beginning with the Provincial Census of 1765, 440
24. An analysis of the conflicting data concerning the southerly and westerly boundaries of Concord Village, 441

• Index to Topics, page 445
• Index to Persons, page 455

Source

Phalen, Harold Romaine, History of the town of Acton, Cambridge, Mass. : Middlesex Printing, Inc., 1954.

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