​The way New England towns were settled by the English was actually very common across Massachusetts. Religious dissenters (primarily Puritan) established communities where there was plenty of land and other natural resources and followed traditional English laws. Towns were built around the Meeting House, the central location of all things religious and political.
 
Residents were primarily farming families. Couples bore many children to work the family farms and faced the odds of losing some to diseases like smallpox or the flu. After a few generations in those early communities, there was not enough open land for the increasing number of growing families. Surveyors headed westward to find new areas for establishing new towns. For example, the early colonial town (or “Plantation”) of Sudbury, Massachusetts became crowded and a handful of young men set off to find a new home in the adjacent combined lands of what is now Marlborough, Hudson, Northborough, Westborough, and Southborough. In that manner, "Marlborough Plantation” was settled in 1656 and the first settlers lived near the center of modern Marlborough, farming land in the outer areas of the town.
 
Over subsequent generations, families continued to grow in number and needed to find more living space outside of the center of Marlborough Plantation.  A village a few miles west at Lake Chauncy sprung up (the "west borough"), where farmers of the western stretch of the Plantation (Northborough and Westborough combined) could live closer to where they worked during the day. However, the new village was inconveniently far from the Plantation Meeting House; it was a slow and hilly trip back to the meeting house every Sunday. It followed that once there was enough people living in Chauncy to warrant building their own meeting house, hiring their own minister, and “managing their own affairs,” the villagers petitioned for separation from Marlborough. In 1717, the new independent town of Westborough was officially established and comprised the lands of modern Northborough and Westborough.
 
When the Westborough meeting house moved from Lake Chauncy to three miles south to the center of modern day Westborough, there were well over 30 families living in the “north part” of the town who again found themselves facing a very long and difficult trip back and forth on required meeting days. Can you just imagine the families, on an early wintery Sunday morning, trying to be up, dressed, and ready to march down the hazardous road [what is now Rt. 135] to church in Westborough Center? The devoted northern Puritan families were outraged even more by the inequity of their situation when finding themselves at funerals without a minister; he himself did not like to make the long trek up north to Brigham Street Old Burial Ground. To address these religious concerns, the northern family heads met and petitioned in 1744 to become a precinct of Westborough. Note that a “precinct” was distinctly different from a “town”: the newly formed Northern Precinct would have its own meeting house and preacher but would remain politically and fiscally a part of the town of Westborough.
 
Over the two decades following the 1744 petition, there were lingering serious challenges because the Northern Precinct was not fully independent from Westborough. For example, elected northern officials found it difficult to travel south to important town meetings and represent the interests of the northern families. Another problem was that the Northern Precinct was viewed as only one of the town's three school districts and the teacher was not available full-time in any single district. Adding fuel to the flame, no funding was made for Northern Precinct schools, highways, or other types of community improvements.
 
To finally achieve the independence they had sought and desired for so long, town founders successfully presented a petition to the General Court in Boston. The District of Northborough was officially formed on the 15 January 1766 and the district  became a fully-fledged town on 23 August 1775. 
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Transcription of the original Act that separated Northborough from Westborough

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SOURCES:
​
Clifford, John Henry et al. The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay: to Which are Prefixed the Charters of the Province with Historical and Explanatory Notes, and an Appendix, Volume IV. Boston, Massachusetts: Wright & Potter, 1890.
 
DeForest, Heman Packard and Edward Craig Bates. The History of Westborough, Massachusetts. Westborough Massachusetts: Town of Westborough, 1891.
 
Kent, Josiah Coleman. Northborough History.  Newton, Massachusetts: Garden City Press, 1921.
 
Parkman, Ebenezer. The Diary of Ebenezer Parkman (1703-1782): First Part, Three Volumes in One (1719-1755). Francis G. Walett, editor. Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1974.

How the war played out locally-
Marlborough Plantation in Massachusetts was settled about 1656 by neighboring Sudbury residents needing more land for their families. By the start of the war in 1675, Marlboro Plantation had a population of roughly 225 white people, comprising about thirty homes.  The only inhabitant in the part of Marlborough that is modern Northborough was John Brigham.  Considered the first settler, he was gifted large tract of land in 1672, extending westward from the present center of Northborough to Ball Hill, in repayment for surveying services rendered to Marlborough. He had a sawmill on “Howard’s Brook” and his house stood on Church street, near the meetinghouse common. 

The “Praying Indian” village at Marlborough had about forty men, besides women and children.  During the hostile times surrounding King Philip’s war, under the direction of the English, the Indians had built a fort for themselves.  They were furnished with ammunition and some with arms by the government, as well as arms of their own.  While relations between the Marlborough natives and colonists were mostly civil, there had been conflict dating back to the 1660’s, when the town’s first meetinghouse was erected on an old Indian planting field and blocked access from the Indian village to the town’s main road.  After the deadly attack on Lancaster, the Marlborough Indians’ loyalty to the colonists fell under suspicion and their fort was attacked and plundered by colonial soldiers.  Fifteen of the Indians were arrested and sent to Boston, tied neck to neck like galley slaves.  After a long trial and imprisonment in Boston, eleven of the fifteen were fully acquitted.  Few returned to the area and their persecution was the likely cause of the abandonment of the Indian settlement at Marlborough.

Being a frontier town, Marlborough was exposed to attacks from all directions.  But as it was located on the road to Connecticut, Marlborough was also considered to be a point of military advantage.  The garrison at Marlborough had become a rendezvous for the troops going to and coming from the western towns and while it was occupied by soldiers, the people felt some degree of security in their homes.  After the hostile Indian raids on Lancaster and Deerfield, the people of Marlborough felt vulnerable and designated specific homes where assigned families and soldiers could gather in case of an attack.   As anticipated, the settlement was attacked twice in 1676 and partially destroyed when many of the town’s remaining structures were burned. Tradition holds that several days after he had evacuated, John Brigham’s home was also burned to the ground by Indians.  In fear, the people of Marlborough, including John Brigham, fled to Watertown.  Marlborough was not completely abandoned as it continued to be maintained by the military as a supply depot.

Although the town suffered a major loss of property during the war, there was no significant loss of colonists’ lives.   Many settlers returned after the war, desiring to divide the "Indian Plantation" for deeds among the Marlborough proprietors. While John Brigham did not return at the conclusion of the war, eventually settling in Sudbury, he did retain his role as proprietor and remained active in the town as it regrouped and rebuilt. 

SOURCES:
Allen, Rev. Joseph. History of Northborough, Mass., in Various Publications and Discourses.  Worcester: 1880.

Bigelow, Ella A. Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and Prominent Events from 1860 to 1910: Including Brief Allusions to Many Individuals, and an Account of the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town.  Marlborough, Mass.: Times Publishing Company, 1910.  
 
Bodge, George Madison.   Soldiers in King Philip's War; Being a Critical
Account of That War, With a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677, Official Lists of the Soldiers of Massachusetts Colony Serving in Philip's War, and Sketches of the Principal Officers, Copies of Ancient Documents and Records Relating to the War, Also Lists of the Narragansett Grantees of the United Colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth and Connecticut.  Leominster, Mass.: Printed for the Author, 1896.

Brigham, Willard Irving Tyler. The History of the Brigham Family: a Record of Several Thousand Descendants of Thomas Brigham the Emigrant, 1603-1653. New York: Grafton Press, 1907-1927.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Worcester County.  Deed Records, 1877. 
Worcester County Registry of Deeds, Worcester. 

Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts: From its First Settlement in 1657 to 1861: With a Brief Sketch of the Town of Northborough, a Genealogy of the Families in Marlborough to 1800, and an Account of the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town. Boston: T.R. Marvin & Son, 1862.

Kent, Josiah Coleman.  Northborough History.  Newton, Massachusetts: Garden City Press, 1921.

Schultz, Eric B. and Tougias, Michael J.  King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict.  Woodstock, Vermont: The Countryman Press, 1999.

Overview
King Philip's War (1675-76) was the almost two-year conflict between the colonists and the Native Americans in New England that was considered to be one of the most devastating wars in this country's history. One in ten soldiers on both sides was either wounded or killed. At the height of the war, hostilities even threatened to push the English colonists back to the coast. In the aftermath of the war, it took years for towns to recover from the loss of life and property damage.

The war is named for King Philip, the son of Massasoit and chief of the Wampanoag nation. After the death of his brother in 1662, whom the Indians suspected the English murdered, Philip became sachem. He maintained a shaky peace with the colonists for a number of years. However, peace eroded after the steady succession of land sales forced on the Indians and by their growing dependence on English goods.

By 1671, the English colonists grew suspicious of Philip and questioned him, fined him, and demanded that the Wampanoag surrender their arms. Following that indignation, a Christian Indian (who was an informant to the English) was murdered in 1675, probably at Philip's instigation. For that murder, three Wampanoag were tried and executed. These events led up to the official beginning of the war in June of 1675, where in retaliation to their tribesmen’s  execution, the Wampanoag raided the border settlement of Swansea. Other Indian raids followed, where towns burned to the ground and many colonists were viciously slain.

The Wampanoag were joined by the Nipmuc and Narragansett Indians, and soon all the New England colonies were involved in the war between colonists and “hostile Indians”. On the other hand, “Praying Indians” (Native Americans of New England who converted to Christianity) pledged loyalty to the colonists and provided invaluable service to the militias. Sadly, the great majority of these Praying Indians were persecuted due to distrust and misinformation. By March 1676, in the panic caused by heavy colonial losses, four hundred innocent Christian Indians were forcibly removed to Deer Island in Boston Harbor, where many died of hunger and exposure.

The war declined after Philip’s unsuccessful attempt to secure aid from the Mohawk to the west.  The consequence of the war, which was extremely costly to the colonists in both people and money, was the end of tribal Indian life in southern New England and the disappearance of the fur trade.  Westward expansion of the colony would face virtually no resistance as the Indians no longer inhabited the frontier border lands or posed an imminent threat.

NEXT WEEK - Part II:  "How Did King Philip's War Play Out Locally?"

SOURCES:
Allen, Rev. Joseph. History of Northborough, Mass., in Various Publications and Discourses.  Worcester: 1880.

Bigelow, Ella A. Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and Prominent Events from 1860 to 1910: Including Brief Allusions to Many Individuals, and an Account of the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town.   Marlborough, Mass.: Times Publishing Company, 1910.  
 
Bodge, George Madison.   Soldiers in King Philip's War; Being a Critical Account of That War, With a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677, Official Lists of the Soldiers of Massachusetts Colony Serving in Philip's war, and Sketches of the Principal Officers, Copies of Ancient Documents and Records Relating to the War, Also Lists of the Narragansett Grantees of the United Colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth and Connecticut.  Leominster, Mass.: Printed for the Author, 1896.

Brigham, Willard Irving Tyler. The History of the Brigham Family: a Record of Several Thousand Descendants of Thomas Brigham the Emigrant, 1603-1653. New York: Grafton Press, 1907-1927.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Worcester County.  Deed Records, 1877. 
Worcester County Registry of Deeds, Worcester.  

Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts: From its First Settlement in 1657 to 1861: With a Brief Sketch of the Town of Northborough, a Genealogy of the Families in Marlborough to 1800, and an Account of the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town. Boston: T.R. Marvin & Son, 1862.

Kent, Josiah Coleman.  Northborough History.  Newton, Massachusetts: Garden City Press, 1921.

Schultz, Eric B. and Tougias, Michael J.  King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict.  Woodstock, Vermont: The Countryman Press, 1999.

SOURCE
Kent, Josiah Coleman Kent. Northborough History. Newton, Mass.: Garden City Press, 1921.