Historical notes and extracts from our files:

Matthias I

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Matthias Farnworth of Eccles, Lancashire

A Proprietor of Groton, Middlesex, MA "A man of good report and a highly respected citizen"

Died 21 Jan 1689 ‘about 77 years of age’.

2a) The following records are from the original register of the Church of St.Mary, Eccles, and were checked against the 1932 transcript by the Lancashire Parish Register Society, held by the Society of Genealogists in London. Matthias was born on 20 July 1615 in Eccles, son of Richard Farnworth and Elizabethe Marshe (married 12 Jan 1608). He was the grandson of Elizeius ffarnworth, (baptised Jan 1561/2) and Margreta (…), who married in September 1582. The parish church of Eccles lies four miles to the west of Manchester, in the midst of a huge parish bounded by Manchester, Prestwick, Radcliffe, Bolton, Leigh and Winwick, the southern limit being the River Irwell. We hold further information on St Mary’s Church, the registers and clergy, and the Farnworth family of this time.

2b) Matthias was resident at Lynn, Massachusetts, by 1657 - the earliest mention in archives. This settlement was originally known as Saugus, and was named Lynn in 1636. Information about Matthias in these years is somewhat vague, largely due to the fact that the records for the first 60 years of this township are missing. (Briefly recovered around 1730, we understand, but gone again!). Matthias had a farm near Federal Street until around 1660, in which year he probably moved to Groton. He was admitted as a Freeman of the colony 16 May 1670.

2c) From Town Meeting Records, 27 November 1663 (modern translation!) ‘It was voted and agreed that Matthias ffarnworth shall have forty poles* of land to be laid out against his house…..for a building place, provided it does not prejudice the highway’. * A pole is a measure of approximately 30 square yards.

2d) The land granted to the proprietors of Groton was proportionately shared according to the amount each had contributed to the common fund. This generally meant a ‘twenty acre right’ was the standard measurement; and Matthias received several portions in the distribution. Green’s Early Records of Groton, pages 178-9, list the lands held by Matthias Farnworth in fine detail.

2e) In the year 1675 ‘King Phillip’s War’ broke out between the Indians and the New England settlers, commencing on 20 June at Swanzey, Bristol County, which was then in the Plymouth Colony. Many of the Massachusetts towns, including Groton, were attacked, the settlers killed and property burned.

2f) From ‘Narrative of the Indian Wars’ by William Hubbard:

“2 Mar 1676 they assaulted Groton’ the next day Major Willard with seventy horse came into town…..but the Indians were all fled having first burnt all the houses in town save four that were garrisoned, the meeting house being the second house they fired. Soon after Captain Sill was sent with a small party of dragoons….to fetch off the inhabitants of Groton, and what was left from the spoil of the enemy, having under his conduct sixty carts…… when a party of Indians lying in ambush at a place of eminent advantage fired upon the front and mortally wounded two of the first carriers. Soon after this, Groton was deserted and destroyed by the enemy, yet it was special providence that though the carts were guarded with so slender a convoy, yet there was not any considerable loss sustained.”

Matthias and his family returned to Groton early in 1678, rebuilding their log cabin and re-clearing that part of the forest. Sixteen years later, the Indians again attacked Groton and murdered many of the settlers.

2g) Matthias filled many positions in the town of Groton, the most important being that of selectman and constable. As constable he was responsible for the collection of taxes for the settlement. He was not a learned man (it seems that none of the pioneers of Groton were well educated), but he could read and write reasonably well. There are in existence records and tax returns made and signed by him over a number of years.