Benjamin,* the father of our founder, is said to have been adopted by one Benjamin Moore, of Lancaster, and to have inherited his fortune, which was, for the times, considerable. This fortune, it is also said, he afterward lost in a protracted lawsuit with a British officer. His substance and standing were, at any rate, such as to enable him to marry into a family of the greatest respectability. He was united, in 1704,† to the

7. Eleazer, born 13th April, 1671; married Esther Barrett, both of Marlborough, Oct. 11, 1692.

8. Daniel, born 15th March, 1672 or 3; died at Concord, July 20, 1676. 9. Nathaniel, born 3d April, 1676.

They also had Benjamin, but the date of his birth is not yet found recorded. The family, he adds, were driven from Marlborough at the breaking up of that town by the Indians, in 1675; they retired to Concord, and, in 1680, were again in Marlborough. Benjamin's name is not on the record of either of those towns. Shattuck in his History of Concord, says, John Bellows had children born from 1655 to 1679. He names some of them, and among them Benjamin; only four, and Benjamin last, as if the youngest. Farmer says the same. Mr. Ward adds, There is no doubt in my mind but that the John Bellows who came in the "Hopewell," is the same who married Mary Wood. She was the daughter of John Wood (who died in Marlborough, July 10, 1678, aged 68) and Mary Wood, who died Aug. 17, 1690, aged 80. [Marlborough Rec.] John Bellows died at Marlborough, Jan. 10, 1683, age not recorded, but about 62, according to his age when he came His widow died Sept. 16, 1707, age not recorded-probably about 86.

over.

* Uncle Peter, our founder's oldest son, told his son Solomon that, on a visit at Lunenberg, in the life-time of Col. Ben's father, he saw two brothers of his, one a small man, the other a very large one; one a resident of Pennsylvania, the other of New-York State. There are several branches of the family, severed before our Walpole founder's date, scattered over the United States, which it would be interesting to trace to their trunk.

+ [From a letter addressed to the author by Joseph Willard, Esq., of Boston.]— Henry Willard-Dorcas Cutler, second wife. He was fourth son of Major Simeon Willard, and died in 1701, in Lancaster, where he had resided during the greater part of his life. In his will he names "Dorcas, my beloved wife," and constitutes her "sole executrix." There were six children of this marriage-perhaps seven. Two of them were men of mark, namely, Col. Samuel, of Lancaster, who commanded a regiment at Louisbourg, and Col. Josiah, a leader in the settlement of Lunenburg, Mass., and Winchester, N. H.

Dorcas was married to Willard probably about 1689-when her second husband, Benj. Bellows, was only thirteen years old-if Sibley is correct in the date of his birth. Perhaps you have the place of her birth; if not, I will hazard the conjecture that she was of Charlestown, then abounding in Cutlers-one of whom, namely, Hannah Cutler, became the wife of Daniel, brother of Henry Willard, Dec. 6, 1683.

Shattuck's "Concord" has the following: "John Bellows-Mary, daughter of John Wood, of Marlborough, 1655, and had Mary, Samuel, Abigail, Daniel, and Benjamin, born between 1655 and 1676. Removed to Marlborough, and some of his descendants to Walpole, N. H.

Benjamin, I presume, was born in Marlborough, None of the Bellows family "subscribed to the minister's house," in 1688, in Lancaster; nor are there any of the name in "the settlement of the garrisons" at that place, in 1692. Hence, as we may presume that the early Bellows were both generous and brave, we may equally well presume that they were not of L. in 1688, 1692.

The earliest notice I find of any of the name in L. is of Benjamin, in his early manhood. I find him there on the 18th of August, 1698, when he became the

widow Willard, whose maiden name was Dorcas Cutter. The Willards were then the principal family in Lancaster-Levi and Abel Willard being each distinguished in the legal pro

purchaser of exceeding rich acres near the centre of that exceeding pleasant town. From 1698 to February, 1730, he appears as grantor or grantee in fortytwo deeds, of which I have memoranda, and there are probably others.

In 1706 he sold the choice estate I have mentioned, and, in 1712, and also in 1727, I find him residing in the north-easterly part of Lancaster, at a place called "Still River," now a part of Harvard, where, in right of his wife, he rejoiced in the occupation of the fertile farm which had been the property of her first husband. Benjamin lived in the valley of the Nashaway more than thirty years, and was pretty large landed proprietor.

In the last deed of which I have taken note, Feb. 30, 1730, he calls himself of Lunenburg.

In sundry suits he calls himself, or is called, of Lancaster: August, 1724 and 1726; March, 1727; December, 1727 and 1728. In another suit against him, December, 1728, he is called of Lunenburg, alias of Lancaster. In a suit, May, 1729, he is called of Lancaster. In 1730, [I believe,] in James Bowdoin's suit to recover possession of real estate mortgaged to him by Bellows, the latter is described as "resident in Lunenburg." In an action of debt brought against him in May, 1731, he is called of Lunenburg.

He was on the defendant side in divers actions for debt, and seems to have possessed more acres than pounds lawful. In one suit, 1712, he was defaulted; but, being said to be in his majesty's service," the case was "continued till next terme."

แ

In December, 1715, he sued Sheriff Gookin for an assault and battery, at Watertown, and imprisonment at Cambridge thirty hours. Gookin recovered in the C. C. Pleas, and Bellows appealed. Meanwhile B. was fined by the sessions for resisting the Sheriff, and appealed therefrom. I have not looked to ascertain what became of these appeals.

I have not the year when he married Mrs. Dorcas. She became a widow, I should say, about July, 1701. [Henry's will was proved Aug. 8, 1701.] I can not tell how long it was ere she dried her tears, doffed her weeds, and appeared as Mrs. Benjamin Bellows. All I can say is, that I first find her as his "married wife," July 12, 1705, and thence I trace her through various deeds, lovingly surrendering her right of dower, down to June 28, 1729.

Lancaster meeting-house was burnt by the Indians, and immediately the customary New-England discussion and controversy ensued touching the proper site for a new building. Leading men who lived at some distance from the old building, and who happened at the time to possess large local influence, were urgent for their own neighborhood. The trouble lasted through several years, and the authority of the Great and General Court was sought as in like cases elsewhere. Benjamin was among the petitioners for the old hallowed spot. The petitioners were on the west side of the river where "the meeting-house always stood." They (4 front towards the enemy, and have suffered very much, and are diminished in their number, several heads of families having been cut off within these few years. Several families have removed for fear of the enemy, even to the bounds of Marlborough." They argue that if the new site should be taken, "the enemy might come when the inhabitants were att meeting, and destroy the whole western part, and secure the bridge, so that nobody should be able to resist them or relieve their friends; but the meeting-house being built on the west and exposed side, .. the inhabitants on that side are a guard to the others on this side as well as to themselves; . . . they on this side, having never had a man killed in the service, are grown so numerous that they out-vote your petitioners and carry it against them at their town-meetings." Nov. 29, 1705, is the date of the petition.

There were several other petitions and remonstrances; but finally, in November, 1706, the Eastern party prevailed over Benjamin and his neighbors.

John Bellows was one of the proprietors of Marlborough at the time of its incor

fession. Abel,* after whom our well-known kinsman of this town, now living, (Abel Bellows,) was named, was reputed a Tory, and obliged to flee to England on account of his antinational principles. He returned, after the peace, and settled at Worcester. Levit left his name to another uncle of mine, who died a bachelor-an unusual fate in the Bellows family.‡ The state of the country at the time of the marriage of our founder's father, in 1704, may be inferred from an old record, (see vol. ii. of the Historical Journal, N. H. Library, pp. 154, 155, 184,) by which we learn that, in the year 1711, there were no fewer than twenty-six garrison-houses within the limits of Marlborough, to each of which were assigned, on an average, five or six families-the whole number of families being one hundred and thirty-seven. This was done by act of the General Court of Massachusetts, entitled an act for the better security and defence of the frontiers. In a list of the garrison, given in the report of a committee, occur the names of two garrisoned houses, under control, one of Eliazar Bellows, one of John Bellows. These garrison-houses were usually common dwelling-houses, surrounded by palisades and furnished with a supply of fire-arms and ammunition. Who this Eliazar and this John Bellows were, it is difficult to say; but doubtless near relatives of our founder's father, and we may safely infer that our Walpole father's childhood was familiar with danger, and thoroughly prepared by early experience for the frontierlife he afterward encountered here.

Benjamin Bellows, son of Benjamin and Dorcas Bellows, was born May 26, 1712. His mother had by her first husband

poration in 1660. He was the one mentioned by Shattuck, and probably the John of 28 "Mass. Hist. Soc. Col." There was a John Bellows in the settling of the Marlborough garrisons, Dec. 11th, 1711, assigned to John Newton's (Jr.) garriEleazer Bellows was a soldier in the same garrison.

son.

* Abel, son of Joseph, son of the founder.

Levi, son of Joseph, son of the founder.

+ W. Lincoln's History of Worcester, p. 39, records a petition to Gov. Dudley, in 1709, and to the Council and Representatives, to have a firm foundation of a settlement laid, and a fort built, and needful protection, and (they) are willing to inhabit and settle the place. There are sixteen names to the petition, and Benjamin Bellows is the fourth name. This was undoubtedly our founder's father. Probably the petition was not granted, as the disturbed condition of public affairs often prevented the concurrence of the Council.

§ Own brother, it now appears.

three sons, whose history it is not to our present purpose to trace. She had by her second marriage only one son, our founder, and three daughters. The names of the children, of whom Benjamin was the youngest, were

Mary, born 1707, who married Moses Gould.

Juda, born 1708, who married Fairbanks Moore, afterward killed by the Indians.

Joanna, born 1710, who married Ephraim Wetherbee, and was settled in Charlestown, No. 4, and

Benjamin, born May 26, 1712.

His mother lived to old age, and died at Lunenberg, Sept. 8, 1747.

The town-records of Lunenburg contain abundant evidence of the public spirit and importance of both the father of our founder and the son.*

At how early a period the family moved into Lunenberg it is not easy to say; but from the position of the family homestead, in the very centre of the town, it is natural to conclude that the family was one of the earliest upon the ground. The house occupied by our Col. Bellows, and perhaps by his father before him, is still standing the property of a daughter of Mr. Stearns, (a relative of the family)-occupied by Dr. King. Whether our founder inherited the Lunenberg. place from his father, or earned it by his own exertions, I can not discover. Judging from the enterprise of his later years, we can not imagine him to have been idle until he was forty years oldthe period of his removal to Walpole; and the probability is that this farm of eight hundred acres in Lunenberg was the result of his energetic industry. One of his grandchildren, now nearly four-score, recollects hearing that his grandfather, when a boy of fifteen, managed to buy a yoke of steers, and that, while yet a mere youth, he commenced earning his own living by teaming. However that was, it is certain that he pushed his course with such energy that, at the age of twentythree, he was able to win and marry, Oct. 7, 1735, the sister of the first settled minister of Lunenberg, namely, Abigail

* A lot of land for the meeting-house in Lunenberg was bought of Benjamin Bellows, Jr., and T. Prentice; and old Mr. Esek Whiting, a very venerable citizen there, remembers that Col. Bellows gave in his part of it, though Mr. Prentice took pay for his. The town voted, Nov. 19, 1750, £11 16s. 8d. toward the payment.

Stearns, whose other sisters married, one, Col. Joseph Blanchard, of Dunstable, and the other, Col. Willard.

It is difficult or impossible to obtain any account of Col. Bellows's life in Lunenberg. He came on to the stage at a period when the colonies were poor and struggling for existence. Six successive wars, it will be remembered, desolated the country and its spare inhabitants in its colonial state.

I. The Pequot war, the great burden of which fell on Massachusetts and Connecticut, Connecticut being the scene of operations. It commenced in May, 1637, and ended September, 1638.

II. Philip's war, which commenced in June, 1675, and lasted three years. Six hundred of the inhabitants of NewEngland were cut off, twelve or thirteen towns utterly destroyed, and six hundred buildings consumed by fire. It is computed that about one man in eleven out of all capable of bearing arms was killed, and every eleventh family burnt out; that one eleventh of the whole militia and of all the buildings of the United Colony were swept off by this war.

III. King William's war, which commenced in 1688, and, with brief intervals, continued ten years. This war was carried on against the colonies by the Indians and the Canadian French. Besides pillaging and burning houses, and killing the inhabitants, numerous families were carried captives to Canada, and sold there. At seasons of this war the people were almost wholly dispirited with the prospect of poverty and ruin.

IV. Queen Anne's war, which commenced in 1703 and closed in 1713. The foes were the same as in the last war. The inhabitants were constantly harassed with calls to military service; agriculture was neglected, many people killed and captured, and a heavy public debt incurred.

V. The Three Years', or Lovewell's war, which was declared in 1722 and closed in 1726. The burden of this fell upon the eastern townships of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire. Mr. Blanchard, of Dunstable, the ancestor, I suppose, of Col. Blanchard, of the same place, brother-in-law of Col. Bellows, was carried away captive in this war.

VI. Lastly. The second French war, which grew out of a rupture between England and France, in which, of course, their