Home

30000 - 10000 BC		Adventurous Asian explorers first crossed an icy land bridge that is now covered by the waters of the Bering Strait, migrating from eastern Siberia into present day Alaska.
11500 BC		Most of New England was still covered by ice sheets several miles thick with the exception of southern Massachusetts and below but it had begun to melt and would do so rapidly.
10600 BC		The melting had resulted in the edge of the ice sheet moving much further northward near to the present day border with Canadia. Over time these first crossings of the Bering Strait would eventually lead to the populating of all of both North and South America even reaching into our northeast corner here in New England.
10000 BC		The earliest settlers to arrive in the New England area appeared - based on radiocarbon dating. Prior to that perhaps as early as 16,000 years ago, early nomads had probably explored the area in the warmer months, leaving seasonally with the first indications of snow fall. The first inhabitants took up residence in New England - probably first entering the area by trailing large game, such a caribou, perhaps even mastodons, mammoths, musk ox and giant beaver as well - in the post glacial period. As trees, grasses and diverse vegatation gradually replaced the tundra and the larger animals left the area, cultivation of foodstuffs became a more dependable food supply than the persuit of the vanishing big game.
7000 - 6000 BC		The Indians of Mexico, Central America and western South America first began serious agricultural cultivation growing maize and beans - this new agriculture gradually spread throughout the continents but it took several thousand more years for the agricultural practices to become well established with our local New England tribes. Seventeen of today's top 72 vegatables originated in the America's as well as many fruits, nuts, seeds and medicinal plants. New England contributed to the early pharmacopoeia by introducing witch hazel, slippery elm and sassafras.
1000		Leif Ericson may have explored the Massachusetts region.
1498		Historians believe that John Cabot sighted Massachusetts.
1524		Italian adventurer, Giovani de Verrazano cruised the New England coast for the French and reported that he found the country "as pleasant as it is possible to conceive" with "open plains as much as 20 or 30 leagues (48 - 75 miles) in length, entirely free from trees" and so fertile "that whatever is sown there will yield an excellent crop". At the time of the arrival of the French and English most of the local tribes had been well settled in the New England for at least the preceeding 1,000 years however there wee probably also a few scattered tribes who were more recent comers. We will never know the exact number of Indians in New England just prior to the first European contact with the French and English however it is clear that they local population was well organized into villages - in excess of 325, connected by hundreds of well trodden pathways, worn deep by footsteps over hundreds of years. An Indian messenger could travel a hundred miles in clear passage in a single day if the need presented itself. The current best guess of the Indian population of the New England State area at the time of contact is estimated to be about 75,000 - with 15,000 of those from Maine and very few from Vermont. The remaining 60,000 populated the lands of the other four states. Local tribes were goverened by a single leader, the sachem, while the individual villages by the sachem's subordinates known as sagamores. Early Europeans had noted that the New England Indians had cleared huge tracts of land for their use in extensive cultivation - many in escess of 500 acres or more throughout the populated tribal areas. Here the Indians grew a variety of crops such as corn, tobacco, squash, Jerusalem artichokes, strawberries, cherries, mulberries, peas, beans and grapes.The shoreline of Plymouth which greeted the Pilgrims was almost entirely cleared, except for a few scattered trees. Native dwellings with attendent gardens had surrounded the harbor. Likewise areas of today's Boston, Beacon Hill, Chelsea and Wollaston had been cleared of trees by the Indians. An extensive treeless plain stretched throughout Quincy and was known as the Massachusetts Fields.
1602		Bartholomew Gosnold landed in Massachusetts. He named Cape Cod.
1606		Samuel de Champlain made maps of the New England Coastline.
1614		John Smith sailed along the coast of Massachusetts. He wrote a book, A Description of New England, which guided settlers to the Massachusetts region.
1620		The Pilgrims left England on the Mayflower and landed in the New World at Plymouth. Before leaving the ship, they drew up the Mayflower Compact
1621		The Plymouth, Massachusetts colonists created the first treaty with Native Americans and celebrated the First Thanksgiving.
1630		The Puritans settled in Massachusetts and the town of Boston was founded by John Winthrop as an extension of the colony at Salem.
1635		Boston Latin School, the first secondary school in the colonies was founded.
1636		Harvard, the first college in the United States, was founded.
1636		A tract of land easterly and southerly of the Charles River was granted to 12 men for the sake of "planting a town". It was requested of the General Court that this grant be ratified and the town be called Contentment.
1636		In replying to the grant the General Court decreed that the name of the new plantation should be Dedham. This Dedham consisted of the present day towns of Dedham, Medfield, Medway, Wrentham, Norfolk, Walpole, Franklin, Bellingham, Dover, Hyde Park, Norwood, Needham, Natick and 3400 acres of western Sherborn.
1638		Massachusetts set up the first library in the colonies.
1639		Stephen Daye set up the first printing press of the American Colonies in Cambridge.
1640		Stephen Daye published the first English language book in the colonies, Bay Psalm Book.
1641		The Body of Liberties, the first code of laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was established.
1647		The Massachusetts bay Colony ordered that elementary schools be established in all towns where there were more than 50 families.
1649		Dedham inhabitants went to Wollomonopoag (Wrentham/Norfolk) to cut grass from meadows due to its scarcity in Dedham.
1652		Massachusetts declared itself an independent commonwealth.
1652		The General Court recognized that the Indians have a just right to land possession and a true right to be there based on Genesis 1 and 28, Chapter 9, 1, and Psalms 115:16.
1660		Dedham selectmen deputed men to search and view Indian lands around Wollomonopoag. The appointed committee, reports back to the Dedham town meeting that they had been to view the lands at Wollomonopoag, "near about the pond (Lake Pearl) by George Indians wigwam" and recommended a settlement there.
1661		Dedham general town meeting votes to sell all uplands and meadows at Wollomonopoag to persons fit to carry on work of a plantation in church and commonwealth. The Dedham general town meeting voted to set up a plantation at Wollomonopoag.
1662		Indian title to Wollomonopoag (6 sq. miles) purchased from King Philip for L20, 10 S. Ten men including, Robert Ware, agreed to go to Wollomonopoag "if the town would enable them to proceed in a safe way" but their numbers were deemed insufficient.
1663		The proprietors drew lots for land in the plantation.
1664		Three commissioners appointed by Governor Endicott to represent Massachusetts Bay Colony met with representatives from Plymouth Colony and Providence Plantation to establish common boundaries.
1667		A second attempt was made to build a settlement at Wollomonopoag including among others, Robert, Nathaniel and John Ware, Joseph Kingsbury, Benjamin Rocket and Cornelius and Samuel Fisher. James Fales, Samuel Parker and Thomas Clapp were allowed to cut three loads of hay each, in the East or southeast part of "Toyles End" (Norfolk) meadow, the same as they did in 1666.
1669		King Philip send letter petitioning for a Holland shirt to wear to Plymouth Court. Reverend Samuel Mann invited to become the minister of Dedham. Samuel Mann given contract to teach school in Dedham for L20 to be paid in Indian corn.
1671		Great gun brought to Dedham due to fear of trouble with the Indians. Seven families, including Robert and John Ware were settled in Wollomonopoag before the end of June.
1673		General Court sent orders to Selectmen of Dedham to make ready for war. A barrel of gunpowder was brought and the ammunition procured. Robert Ware's daughter married Reverend Samuel Mann. On October 17th, the name of Wollomonopoag Plantations was changed to Wrentham, in remembrance of the home town in England. Wrentham, the Mother Town was settled.
1675		King Philip's War commenced. First company formed in Dedham under Captain Prentice. Benjamin Rocket, of North Wrentham (Norfolk) was walking through the forest at dusk looking for his lost horse, when he came upon a war party of 42 Indians. Rocket ran home and rallied 12 other men (including Robert Ware) together and returned to Indian Rock located in present day Franklin. They surrounded the Indian camp and waited till daybreak, when at a prearranged signal they opened fire. The startled and terrified Wampanoags quickly scattered and many jumped off the 25 foot rock's sheer face landing dead, wounded or crippled on the scattered rocks below where they were quickly killed by Rocket and his men as they attempted to flee. Only 2 Indians survived to tell their story. Later Benjamin (Rocket) Rockwood received a wound in the thigh during the Indian Wars which crippled him for life. He lived to be 91 years of age. Late in life he received a pension of L 4 a month.
1676		King Philip Indian War battles raged from Mt. Hope to Hadley, MA. Medfield attacked in Feb.
1680		New Hampshire separated from Massachusetts.
1681?		A portion of the "Nathaniel Miller House" was built at River End, Norfolk. The house was built by John Boyd (Boyde), from whom it descended to his son, John Jr. and then to John Jr.'s daughter Hannah who married Dr. Nathaniel Miller in 1797. This was one of the first five houses originally built on the old Indian Trail from Medfield to Wrentham (on the road leading from Wrentham to Medway and at the junction of the one leading to Franklin, by Kingsbury's Pond). As originally built the house consisted of 3 rooms, 2 of which were approx. 17 x 17 ft. in size. Settlers returned for good with their wives and household goods.
1682		Around 1862 the remaining Indians in the area were required to remove themselves to "Natick, Wombasset or Punkapog".
1684		King Charles II cancelled the colonial charter of Massachusetts.
1686		King James established a government in Massachusetts. He made Sir Edmond Andros the governor of the colony.
1688		Joseph Fisher, one of the areas first settlers died, "in an awful and dreadful way".
1689		Mary became the queen in England. When the colonists heard, they ousted Sir Edmond Andros the governor of the colony from office and set up their own government.
1689		The first of four French and Indian Wars broke out - the final battle of which is not fought until 1763.
1691		TMary became the queen in England set up a new charter for the colony.
1691		Sawmill on the dam, on the Wrentham side of Stop River at Highland Lake referred to as Benjamin Morse's Mill.
1692		Sir William Phips became the first royal governor of the colony.
1692		The Salem Witch Trials took place.
1693		Town of Wrentham gave permission to Benjamin Morse to build a saw mill on at Morse's Pond and Stop River (Highland Lake).
1694		Henry Adams builds a corn mill near City Mills.
1699		On Jan. 2nd Cornelius Fisher, one of the areas first settlers died. He was "the first head of a family (who) died in the town of a natural death for (the last) thirty years.
1700		The Nathaniel Miller house built in 1681 at River End, Norfolk enlarged. This was one of the original five houses built on the Indian Trail from Medfield to Wrentham.
1701		Fifty householders resided in the general area. Law directed that this required that a school to be kept.
1702		It was resolved that a school house 20 foot long and 16 foot broad would be built and finished by the next Mickelmus.
1704		The Boston-News Letter became the first successful newspaper in the colonies.
1717		A 3 months school was established to rotate from the East end of town, to the school house, to Ebenezer Ware's (Wareland's) on a monthly basis.
1720		Ebenezer Ware's will of Jan 22nd references Henry Adams corn mill.
1723		A school was provided for at "Poppolatuck". The schools were not permanently located as to a site at this time as the matter of placing them was a frequent consideration in town meeting.
1728		The Morse's of the Mill at Morse's Pond, now Highland Lake, had a son Joseph born and died.
1732		George Washington born in Virginia.
1732		Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanac, containing weather predictions, humor, proverbs and epigrams, selling nearly 10,000 copies per year.
1732		On Mar 17th, Morse's Mill at Stop River was mentioned in the acceptance of a road by the selectmen in the Town of Walpole.
1734		Benjamin and Sarah Blake Morse, of the Mill at Morse's Pond, now Highland Lake, had a son Nathan born.
1735		Paul Revere born in Boston.
1736		May 29th, Adam's corn mill is still in existence as it is mentioned in the laying out of a surveyor's district.
1737		On December 23rd, Governor Jonathan Belcher signed papers giving legal existence to the West Precinct of Wrentham, later to become Franklin.
1737		Captain Oliver Pond was born.
1739		England declares war on Spain. As a result, in America, hostilities break out between Florida Spaniards and Georgia and South Carolina colonists.
1741		The old saw mill, irons and pond at Highland Lake were deeded to Benjamin Morse by his siblings.
1746		Elisha Ware, son of Ebenezer, married Phoebe Clark of Easie Plains, Walpole who brings her bride's white rosebush to plant beside the door rock.
1746		On April 5th the Rev. David Avery was born in what is now Franklin, CT. After being dismissed by the Wrentham church he become the first minister of the North Wrentham (Norfolk) church.
1750		The Iron Act is passed by the English Parliament, limiting the growth of the iron industry in the American colonies to protect the English Iron industry.
1750		Ebenezer Ware, on his deathbed, tells his wife and children that the time comes for the North Parish (the future Norfolk) to have its own church, he wishes to donate 4 acres on the North Hill, from his farm, for a meeting house.
1751		The Currency Act is passed by the English Parliament, banning the issuing of paper money by the New England colonies.
1754		The French and Indian War erupts as a result of disputes over land in the Ohio River Valley. In May, George Washington leads a small group of American colonists to victory over the French, then builds Fort Necessity in the Ohio territory. In July, after being attacked by numerically superior French forces, Washington surrenders the fort and retreats.
1755		In February, English General Edward Braddock arrives in Virginia with two regiments of English troops. Gen. Braddock assumes the post of commander in chief of all English forces in America. In April, Gen. Braddock and Lt. Col. George Washington set out with nearly 2000 men to battle the French in the Ohio territory. In July, a force of about 900 French and Indians defeat those English forces. Braddock is mortally wounded. Massachusetts Governor William Shirley then becomes the new commander in chief.
1756		England declares war on France, as the French and Indian War in the colonies now spreads to Europe.
1760		A new king, George III came to the throne of England.
1763		British won the final victory in the French and Indian Wars which started in 1689. This war, known in Europe as the Seven Year's War, ends with the Treaty of Paris. Under the treaty, France gives England all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. The Spanish give up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba. The Proclamation of 1763, signed by King George III of England, prohibits any English settlement west of the Appalachian mountains and requires those already settled in those regions to return east in an attempt to ease tensions with Native Americans.
1764		The Sugar Act is passed by the English Parliament to offset the war debt brought on by the French and Indian War and to help pay for the expenses of running the colonies and newly acquired territories. This act increases the duties on imported sugar and other items such as textiles, coffee, wines and indigo (dye). It doubles the duties on foreign goods reshipped from England to the colonies and also forbids the import of foreign rum and French wines. The Currency Act prohibits the colonists from issuing any legal tender paper money. This act threatens to destabilize the entire colonial economy of both the industrial North and agricultural South, thus uniting the colonists against it. In May, at a town meeting in Boston, James Otis raises the issue of taxation without representation and urges a united response to the recent acts imposed by England. In July, Otis publishes "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved." In August, Boston merchants begin a boycott of British luxury goods.
1765		The Stamp Act was passed by the English Parliament imposing the first direct tax on the American colonies, to offset the high costs of the British military organization in America. Thus for the first time in the 150 year old history of the British colonies in America, the Americans will pay tax not to their own local legislatures in America, but directly to England. Also in March, the Quartering Act requires colonists to house British troops and supply them with food. In July, the Sons of Liberty, an underground organization opposed to the Stamp Act, is formed in a number of colonial towns. Its members use violence and intimidation to eventually force all of the British stamp agents to resign and also stop many American merchants from ordering British trade goods. On November 1, most daily business and legal transactions in the colonies cease as the Stamp Act goes into effect with nearly all of the colonists refusing to use the stamps. In New York City, violence breaks out as a mob burns the royal governor in effigy, harasses British troops, then loots houses.
1766		In March, King George III signs a bill repealing the Stamp Act after much debate in the English Parliament, which included an appearance by Ben Franklin arguing for repeal and warning of a possible revolution in the American colonies if the Stamp Act was enforced by the British military. On the same day it repealed the Stamp Act, the English Parliament passes the Declaratory Act stating that the British government has total power to legislate any laws governing the American colonies in all cases whatsoever. In August, violence breaks out in New York between British soldiers and armed colonists, including Sons of Liberty members. The violence erupts as a result of the continuing refusal of New York colonists to comply with the Quartering Act. In December, the New York legislature is suspended by the English Crown after once again voting to refuse to comply with the Act.
1767		In June, The English Parliament passes the Townsend Revenue Acts, imposing a new series of taxes on the colonists to offset the costs of administering and protecting the American colonies. Items taxed include imports such as paper, tea, glass, lead and paints. The Act also establishes a colonial board of customs commissioners in Boston. In October, Bostonians decide to reinstate a boycott of English luxury items. Voted in Dedham that inhabitants should purchase only goods produced and manufactured in the British American colonies, wherever possible and prudent.
1768		In May, a British warship armed with 50 cannons sails into Boston harbor after a call for help from custom commissioners who are constantly being harassed by Boston agitators. In June, a customs official is locked up in the cabin of the Liberty, a sloop owned by John Hancock. Imported wine is then unloaded illegally into Boston without payment of duties. Following this incident, customs officials seize Hancock's sloop. After threats of violence from Bostonians, the customs officials escape to an island off Boston, then request the intervention of British troops. In July, the governor of Massachusetts dissolves the general court after the legislature defies his order to revoke Adams' circular letter. In August, in Boston and New York, merchants agree to boycott most British goods until the Townsend Acts are repealed. In September, at a town meeting in Boston, residents are urged to arm themselves. Later in September, English warships sail into Boston Harbor, then two regiments of English infantry land in Boston and set up permanent residence to keep order.
1770		THE BOSTON MASSACRE occured on March 5, at the intersection of Devonshire and State Street intersection in front of Old State house. It began when a young apprentice shouted an insult at a British officer. A soldier on sentry duty front of the customs house supposedly hit the boy with his rifle. The boy yelled for help, and a crowd of colonist looking for trouble gathered. As the mob continued to harass the British soldiers (who were in Boston to keep order, but the townspeople viewed them as spies and trouble) they fired their muskets pointblank into the crowd, killing three instantly, mortally wounding two others and injuring six. After the incident, the new Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, at the insistence of Sam Adams, withdraws British troops out of Boston to nearby harbor islands. The captain of the British soldiers, Thomas Preston, is then arrested along with eight of his men and charged with murder. In April, the Townshend Acts are repealed by the British. All duties on imports into the colonies are eliminated except for tea. Also, the Quartering Act is not renewed. In October, trial begins for the British soldiers arrested after the Boston Massacre. Colonial lawyers John Adams and Josiah Quincy successfully defend Captain Preston and six of his men, who are acquitted. Two other soldiers are found guilty of manslaughter, branded, then released. If you were living in Boston at the time, this is what you would have read in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal in its edition of Monday, March 12, 1770. The actual account as reported and published in the pages of that newspaper follows. "A few nminutes after nine o'clock, four youths named Edward Archibald, William Merchant, Francis Archibald and John Leech, jun., came down Cornhill together and separating at Dr. Loring's corner, the two former were passing the narrow alley leading Mr. Murray's barrack in which was a soldier brandishing a broad sword of an uncommon size against the walls, out of which he struck fire plentifully. A person of mean countenance. armed with a large cudgel bore him company. Edward Archbald admonished Mr. Merchant to take care of the sword, on which the soldier turned round and struck Archbald on the arm, then pushed at Merchant and pierced through his clothes inside the arm close to the armpit and grazed the skin. Merchant then struck the soldier with a short stick he had; and the other person ran to the barrack and brought with him two soldiers, one armed with a pair of tongs, the other with a shovel. He with the tongs pursued Archbald back through the alley, collared and laid him over the head with the tongs. The noise brought people together; and John Hicks, a young lad, coming up, knocked the soldier down but let him get up again; and more lads gathering, drove them back to the barrack where the boys stood some time as it were to keep them in. In less than a minute ten or twelve of them came out with drawn cutlasses, clubs, and bayonets and set upon the unarmed boys and young folk who stood them a little while but, finding the inequality of their equipment, dispersed. On hearing the noise, one Samuel Atwood came up to see what was the matter; and entering the alley from dock square, heard the latter part of the combat; and when the boys had dispersed he met the ten or twelve soldiers aforesaid rushing down the alley towards the square and asked them if they intended to murder people? They answered Yes, by G-d, root and branch! With that one of them struck Mr. Atwood with a club which was repeated by another; and being unarmed, he turned to go off and received a wound on the left shoulder which reached the bone and gave him much pain. Retreating a few steps, Mr. Atwood met two officers and said, gentlemen, what is the matter they answered, you'll see by and by. Immediately after, those heroes appeared in the square, asking where were the boogers? where were the cowards? But notwithstanding their fierceness to naked men, one of them advanced towards a youth who had a split of a raw stave in his hand and said, damn them, here is one of them. But the young man seeing a person near him with a drawn sword and good cane ready to support him, held up his stave in defiance; and they quietly passed by him up the little alley by Mr. Silsby's to King Street where they attacked single and unarmed persons till they raised much clamour, and then turned down Cornhill Street, insulting all they met in like manner and pursuing some to their very doors. Thirty or forty persons, mostly lads, being by this means gathered in King Street, Capt. Preston with a party of men with charged bayonets, came from the main guard to the commissioner's house, the soldiers pushing their bayonets, crying, make way! They took place by the custom house and, continuing to push to drive the people off pricked some in several places, on which they were clamorous and, it is said, threw snow balls. On this, the Captain commanded them to fire; and more snow balls coming, he again said, damn you, fire, be the consequence what it will! One soldier then fired, and a townsman with a cudgel struck him over the hands with such force that he dropped his firelock; and, rushing forward, aimed a blow at the Captain's head which grazed his hat and fell pretty heavy upon his arm. However, the soldiers continued the fire successively till seven or eight or, as some say, eleven guns were discharged. By this fatal maneuver three men were laid dead on the spot and two more struggling for life; but what showed a degree of cruelty unknown to British troops, at least since the house of Hanover has directed their operation, was an attempt to fire upon or push with their bayonets the persons who undertook to remove the slain and wounded! Mr. Benjamin Leigh, now undertaker in the Delph manufactory, came up and after some conversation with Capt. Preston relative to his conduct in this affair, advised him to draw off his men, with which he complied. The dead are Mr. Samuel Gray, killed on the spot, the ball entering his head and beating off a large portion of his skull. A mulatto man named Crispus Attucks, who was born in Framingham, but lately belonged to New-Providence and was here in order to go for North Carolina, also killed instantly, two balls entering his breast, one of them in special goring the right lobe of the lungs and a great part of the liver most horribly. Mr. James Caldwell, mate of Capt. Morton's vessel, in like manner killed by two balls entering his back. Mr. Samuel Maverick, a promising youth of seventeen years of age, son of the widow Maverick, and an apprentice to Mr. Greenwood, ivory-turner, mortally wounded; a ball went through his belly and was cut out at his back. He died the next morning. A lad named Christopher Monk, about seventeen years of age, an apprentice to Mr. Walker, shipwright, wounded; a ball entered his back about four inches above the left kidney near the spine and was cut out of the breast on the same side. Apprehended he will die. A lad named John Clark, about seventeen years of age, whose parents live at Medford, and an apprentice to Capt. Samuel Howard of this town, wounded; a ball entered just above his groin and came out at his hip on the opposite side. Apprehended he will die. Mr. Edward Payne of this town, merchant, standing at his entry door received a ball in his arm which shattered some of the bones. Mr. John Green, tailor, coming up Leverett's Lane, received a ball just under his hip and lodged in the under part of his thigh, which was extracted. Mr. Robert Patterson, a seafaring man, who was the person that had his trousers shot through in Richardson's affair, wounded; a ball went through his right arm, and he suffered a great loss of blood. Mr. Patrick Carr, about thirty years of age, who worked with Mr. Field, leather breeches-maker in Queen Street, wounded; a ball entered near his hip and went out at his side. A lad named David Parker, an apprentice to Mr. Eddy, the wheelwright, wounded; a ball entered his thigh. Source: The Boston Gazette and Country Journal, March 12, 1770
1770		Dedham voted not to buy any tea.
1772		Post coaches on the roads to deliver mail.
1773		THE BOSTON TEA PARTY of which Few events in the history of American are as well known took place this year. On May 10, the Tea Act took effect. It maintaines a threepenny per pound import tax on tea arriving in the colonies, which had already been in effect for six years. It also gives the near bankrupt British East India Company a virtual tea monopoly by allowing it to sell directly to colonial agents, bypassing any middlemen, thus underselling American merchants. The East India Company had successfully lobbied Parliament for such a measure. In September, Parliament authorizes the company to ship half a million pounds of tea to a group of chosen tea agents. About 8000 Bostonians gather to hear Sam Adams tell them Royal Governor Hutchinson has repeated his command not to allow the ships out of the harbor until the tea taxes are paid. On the night of December 16th, the Boston Tea Party occurs as a band of colonial activists (actually "Sons of Liberty") disguise themselves as Mohawk Indians then board ships in Boston Harbor and dump all 342 chests of tea into Boston harbor. The harbor ran brown for days afterward. A message had been sent. Why did they do this? Why tea? The English government was still in debt from the war it had fought against France and felt the colonies should help pay for it. England was also spending large sums of money for British soldiers stationed in the American Colonies. England raised taxes in America to try and get money to pay back its debt. Patriot leaders were against any internal tax they they did not consent to. John Adams was one of the staunchest leaders who fought against these taxes. He successfully argued against the stamp act a few years earlier. One of the taxes that England raised was on tea imported into the American Colonies. Tea was one of the most imported products in America and England hoped it could raise a lot of money this way. A few Americans were opposed to the tax and issued this as a protest Eyewitness account from George Hawes: The tea destroyed was contained in three ships, lying near each other at what was called at that time Griffin's wharf, and were surrounded by armed ships of war, the commanders of which had publicly declared that if the rebels, as they were pleased to style the Bostonians, should not withdraw their opposition to the landing of the tea before a certain day, the 17th day of December, 1773, they should on that day force it on shore, under the cover of their cannon's mouth. On the day preceding the seventeenth, there was a meeting of the citizens of the county of Suffolk, convened at one of the churches in Boston, for the purpose of consulting on what measures might be considered expedient to prevent the landing of the tea, or secure the people from the collection of the duty. At that meeting a committee was appointed to wait on Governor Hutchinson, and request him to inform them whether he would take any measures to satisfy the people on the object of the meeting. To the first application of this committee, the Governor told them he would give them a definite answer by five o'clock in the afternoon. At the hour appointed, the committee again repaired to the Governor's house, and on inquiry found he had gone to his country seat at Milton, a distance of about six miles. When the committee returned and informed the meeting of the absence of the Governor, there was a confused murmur among the members, and the meeting was immediately dissolved, many of them crying out, "Let every man do his duty, and be true to his country"; and there was a general huzza for Griffin's wharf. It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place of our destination. When we arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships which contained the tea at the same time. The name of him who commanded the division to which I was assigned was Leonard Pitt. The names of the other commanders I never knew. We were immediately ordered by the respective commanders to board all the ships at the same time, which we promptly obeyed. The commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the ship appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and delivered the articles; but requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or rigging. We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water. In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time. We were surrounded bv British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us. We then quietly retired to our several places of residence, without having any conversation with each other, or taking any measures to discover who were our associates; nor do I recollect of our having had the knowledge of the name of a single individual concerned in that affair, except that of Leonard Pitt, the commander of my division, whom I have mentioned. There appeared to be an understanding that each individual should volunteer his services, keep his own secret, and risk the consequence for himself. No disorder took place during that transaction, and it was observed at that time that the stillest night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for many months. During the time we were throwing the tea overboard, there were several attempts made by some of the citizens of Boston and its vicinity to carry off small quantities of it for their family use. To effect that object, they would watch their opportunity to snatch up a handful from the deck, where it became plentifully scattered, and put it into their pockets. One Captain O'Connor, whom I well knew, came on board for that purpose, and when he supposed he was not noticed, filled his pockets, and also the lining of his coat. But I had detected him and gave information to the captain of what he was doing. We were ordered to take him into custody, and just as he was stepping from the vessel, I seized him by the skirt of his coat, and in attempting to pull him back, I tore it off; but, springing forward, by a rapid effort he made his escape. He had, however, to run a gauntlet through the crowd upon the wharf nine each one, as he passed, giving him a kick or a stroke. Another attempt was made to save a little tea from the ruins of the cargo by a tall, aged man who wore a large cocked hat and white wig, which was fashionable at that time. He had sleightly slipped a little into his pocket, but being detected, they seized him and, taking his hat and wig from his head, threw them, together with the tea, of which they had emptied his pockets, into the water. In consideration of his advanced age, he was permitted to escape, with now and then a slight kick. The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it were floating upon the surface of the water; and to prevent the possibility of any of its being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles so thoroughly drenched it as to render its entire destruction inevitable. -- George Hewes
1775		Paul Revere made his famous ride to warn his fellow patriots of the British arrival. The battles of Lexington and Concord were fought starting the Revolutionary War and General George Washington took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge.
1775		Dedham raised a company of 60 Minute Men.
1775		George Washington and a guard of soldiers spent the night at The Tavern of Josiah Ware in Norfolk (North Wrentham). The tavern later was known as the Mann store and was situated on the site where Sovereign Bank is now located. His guard lodged under the pitch pines then covering town hill. Miss Tilpka Smith drew water from her well to give Washington a drink.
1776		On Mar 17th, British army and Loyalists evacuate Boston.
1778		On Mar 2nd, the West Precinct of Wrentham officially became an independent town. The name for the new town would be Exeter. The treaty of France, a project Ben Franklin had been working on for 3 years, had just been signed. Because of this, Jabez Fisher, a local patriot had the new town's name switched to Franklin, prior to its incorporation.
1778		On June 10th, Foxborough incorporated.
1780		Massachusetts adopted its own state constitution.
1781		Major Eli Richardson was born in the area of City Mills.
1786		After the Revolutionary War ended many farmers suffered economically. They could not pay their taxes or debts. Daniel Shay led a group of angry farmers to the courthouse in Springfield. Fighting broke out between the government troops and the farmers beginning Shay's Rebellion.
1786		A donation of books from Ben Franklin to act as the start of a Franklin town library arrived in Franklin.
1787		The farmers surrendered and Shay's Rebellion ended.
1787		The first cotton mill in the United States is built in Massachusetts.
1788		Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution. They became the sixth state to join the union.
1793		Eli Whitney patents his spike cotton gin.
1795		In January a committee in Franklin was chosen to locate new schoolhouses and six districts were laid out, River End was mentioned first.
1796		Elisha Ware, carries out her father's charge and at 81, old and feeble, sitting on a chair on a nearby knoll, she watches the raising of the North Parish meeting house.
1797		John Adams of Massachusetts became president of the United States.
1797		Dr. Nathaniel Miller married Hannah Boyd of Franklin. Two of their three sons became eminent surgeons.
1797		On July 10th, the Montgomery Lodge of Masons held their first meeting in the house of Dr. Nathaniel Miller. Paul Revere, patriot, as Most Worshipful Grand Master, signed the charter of the Montgomery Lodge and officiated at the chattering ceremonies.
1797		The Nathaniel Miller house originally built in 1681 at River End, Norfolk was enlarged. This was one of the original five houses built on the Indian Trail from Medfield to Wrentham.
1800		Circa 1800, Dr. James Mann inoculated his oldest daughter and two of her cousins against smallpox. He later exposed them to a man sick with the disease. Luckily the vaccine took as this was the first experimentation with smallpox vaccine in USA.
1802		A library was located at the house of Alfred Harding Metcalf for the benefit of North Franklin and River End districts. These books were in later years donated to the library in East Medway (Millis).
1807		Thomas Jefferson persuaded Congress to pass the Embargo Act. The act caused huge hardships upon the people of Massachusetts.
1810		Asa and David Thayer open a store at City Mills, selling the oat straw braid that they receive in exchange for goods to Fischer, Day & Co.
1811		Eli Richardson establishes the first post office in the area at City Mills. He becomes the first postmaster in town, built the "city factory" and became a prominent citizen in the community.
1812		War of 1812 begins.
1812		Asa and David Thayer's store operations moved to Franklin center.
1813		Salmon Mann and Daniel Cook established a cotton manufactory at Stony Brook.
1814		The Battle of New Orleans.
1814		Francis Cabot Lowell built the first factory in the United States in Waltham. It was a textile factory.
1815		War of 1812 ends.
1819		Charles Slocomb who made the first straw braid hat for men in this country was born in Wrentham, now a part of Norfolk, MA. One day while at a Boston millinery store, he watched the process in which a woman's bonnet was created. He conceived the idea that straw braid could be converted in a similar manner into a hat for men. The next day he had some of the braid sent to his factory and as a result he appeared with a straw hat, the first of its kind ever made.
1819		Eli Richardson builds his house on the hill next to his factory, in City Mills. He also builds a stone store on the property, at this time. The house and stone store were later owned by William Swett, another prominent businessman in town, in the next century.
1820		Maine separated from Massachusetts.
1821		Boston English high school was the first public high school in the United States.
1822		The River End School District was divided in two.
1823		The Pond Home built by General Lucas Pond.
1825		John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts became president of the United States.
1831		1831 William Lloyd Garrison began publishing the Liberator, an anti-slavery newspaper, in Boston.
1832		The New England Anti-Slavery Society in Boston was formed. The society helped slaves escape to Canada.
1832		The Cleveland Religious Society in North Wrentham was formed at a meeting at the hall over the store of Ebenezer Blake, Esq.
1840		In the 1840s, Nathaniel Miller had a thread mill at River End, with young relatives working in it. It was powered by the water from a dam at Toil's End Brook built by John Boyd Jr. Later Dr. Miller and Caleb Sayles operated the mill under the firm name of Sayles and Miller. There is even mention of a lawsuit, against the Wollomonopoag Manufacturing Company, by Sayles and Miller, to recover a small sum of money.
1849		Norfolk County Railroad bond issued. RR would run through the center of Norfolk.
1852		Massachusetts became the first state to require that all children must attend school.
1853		The Medway Branch Railroad opened for service in Jan and a little engine - the "Hooksett" built in June of 1842 and 2 wooden coaches, ran 26 round trips between North Wrentham (Norfolk) and Medway, via Rockville (where stage connection could be made to East Medway) that day. Wood was burned for fuel. The other locomotive used on the line was named Queechee (probably the Otta Queechee), after the town of the same name in Vermont. In addition to the aforementioned rolling stock there were also 2 boxcars. The coaches could be dimly lighted with coal-oil lamps and heated by sheet-iron stoves. There was also a turntable built in Norfolk to turn the locomotives around.
1859		The Norfolk Farmer's Club was established.
1860		Adam Daniels listed as owner of the City Mill's mill and privilege., including 6 houses, barns and stock houses.
1861		The Civil War begins. Massachusetts supplies more than 125,000 soldiers to the Union Arm over the course of the war.
1861		In May, Company E of the Massachusetts Volunteers were the last passenger traffic carried over the Medway Branch rails.
1864		The Medway Branch RR was discontinued with the rails "being taken up in the night".
1864		Upon suspension of the Medway Branch RR, Charles Holman of Milford started a stage route from Medway through Rockville and North Wrentham to Wrentham Village. He had a 6 horse span and a bright green coach.
1865		The Civil War ends.
1867		Bertha Fales, author of "A History of Norfolk" was born on Avery Street in Norfolk, MA.
1870		Alexander Graham Bell developed the telephone in Boston.
1870		S. M. Aldrich of Woonsocket, RI was taxed for $5000 worth of machinery, 10 houses, a barn and 1 store at City Mills.
1870		John Fischer Torrey appointed postmaster of Franklin City (City Mills).
1870		Norfolk, previously known as North Wrentham, was incorporated
1873		Town meeting discussed building a lock-up for confinement of persons arrested and for the lodging of tramps.
1875		Stephen M. Weld was taxed for $6800 worth of machinery, a factory, 11 houses, 1 store and 35 acres of land, beside woodland and pasture, at City Mills.
1875		In the spring the dam burst leading to an overflow of Whiting's Pond at City Mills. Mr. Edwin Alonzo Morse was washed away 20-30 rods, in a mass of earth, railroad ties and rails, into the pond. He was brought to safety by Mr. Shields, Wood and Fischer, just as another torrent of water brought enough to bury them all alive, if they had been a moment later. It is said to have destroyed the original felt mill at City Mills.
1875		On Jan 12th the fifth annual reunion and festival of the Norfolk Farmer's Club held in the Lyceum Hall'
1876		Town meeting discussed providing a building for tramps and discussed washout of City Mills and overflow of mill ponds.
1877		On Mar 9th, Horatio N. Kingsbury murdered in his home in Pondville.
1877		Town meeting discussed gravelling the road from the Medfield line to the house of Cyrus Morse.
1878		Miller Hall, Dr. Nathaniel Miller's private hospital burned. It was quite a celebrated institution in its day, before public hospitals had been founded and it had a very wide patronage. Its granite columns still stand on Myrtle Street.
1879		The parish meeting house was deeded to the town of Norfolk for use as a new Town House.
1879		The town was asked to accept a gift consisting of about 200 volumes from the Norfolk Library Association to be used as a Town Public Library. An additional loan of the books owned by the Norfolk Farmer's Club was also included.
1879		Town meeting discussed laying out a road between Cleveland St. and Holbrook St.
1880		The City Mills Company of Franklin was taxed for $10,000 worth of machinery, $7500 for a factory and an engine, $800 for a house, 10 houses, 1 store, 2 barns, privilege and 62.5 acres of land, divided into pastures, tillage and unimproved land at City Mills.
1881		A telephone line was set up between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island.
1881		Town meeting discussed buying a place for an almshouse and discussed the binding out of children to suitable persons for a term of years.
1882		Town meeting discussed buying or building a lock-up.
1883		Town meeting discussed buying shade trees to set in the public streets and squares; furnishing books and stationery free of cost to the schools; granting money to enlarge and improve the library and the licensing of intoxicating liquors.
1884		Town meeting discussed what to do about prosecuting illegal sellers of intoxicating liquors.
1885		The City Mills Company of Franklin was taxed for a steam boiler and engine, more machinery, a boiler house and chimney, a stock house besides the smaller house for tenants and the usual amount of land, at City Mills.
1886		Town meeting discussed charging organizations for use of the Town House, $2 a night for the upper hall, $1 a night for the lower and giving the janitor of the Town House $100 a year.
1887		In Sep., John B. Ricker was killed by a train.
1889		Town meeting discussed accepting the road as laid out from Grove St. to the RR bridge near City Mills and enforcing the law in regard to hunting on Sunday.
1890		The City Mills Company of Franklin was taxed for $22,000 for machinery, a new mill, 2 stock houses, 6 new houses and the Comey House and stable beside the old plant, at City Mills.
1890		Town meeting discussed hunting and fishing on Sunday and making a well for the Centre School and the Town House.
1892		Schools at Stony Brook and Pondville consolidated