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ARMORY OF THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY

OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON,
December 25, 1896.

To the Members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts: The Committee on Military Museum and Library have now the pleasure of presenting the second volume of the History, from June 1, 1738, to June 1, 1822.

The third volume is now well under way, and it is hoped will be in print before the end of the present year, and that the close of 1898 will find the fourth and last volume completed.

WILLIAM LITHGOW WILLEY, Secretary.

EDWARD WYMAN, Chairman.
ALBERT ALONZO FOLSOM.
GEORGE HENRY ALLEN.
WILLIAM PARKER JONES.
HENRY WALKER.

PREFACE.

THE
HE kind reception accorded the first volume of the History of the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery Company was extremely gratifying to the Committee on
Publication and to the historian of the Company, and has been helpful in the preparation
of this second volume.

It was originally intended that this volume should cover the entire period of the second century of the Company's existence; but the large number of members of the Company active in the Revolutionary War, and the prominent parts they took in the stirring events in and around Boston during that period, defeated the original intention. This volume, therefore, ends with the town government of Boston (1821), and the third volume will commence with the year 1822, when the city government of Boston was inaugurated.

In 1783, just after the declaration of peace, the population of Boston numbered about ten thousand; in 1821, forty-five thousand. Young men from various parts of New England rushed to its metropolis and established themselves in trade or mechanical pursuits. Many of them became members of the Artillery Company, some of whom, after a short residence in Boston, removed to other localities. It has been impossible to learn whence some of them came or whither they went. The facts recorded concerning these members are therefore comparatively few.

The arbitrary system adopted in the former volume is continued in this. Each year, from 1738 to 1821, is complete in itself. The records of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company are given in full in this and the preceding volume, from the earliest preserved record (1698) until the year 1800. Subsequent to the last mentioned date, those portions of the records which are of value in presenting a correct account of the Company are inserted in the text. During the present century, the records have been kept with much care, and enter largely into the details of Company affairs. Such matters as reports of committees on arrangements for anniversaries, names and number of guests invited, names of members admitted or discharged, and minor details of Company business are omitted, while the essential facts, constituting a portion of the history of the Company, have been recorded in their appropriate places.

The index of this volume is constructed on the same principle as that in the preceding volume. Every student of local history, or searcher after genealogical facts,

has probably had his patience tried in looking up a large number of references, many simply trivial, with no clew as to which reference would afford knowledge of the subject. To obviate this perplexity, the first reference under each name in the index refers to a biographical sketch or to the fullest information regarding that subject in this volume. Other references are incidental. The great value of this method is a sufficient reason for a departure from the common style.

The compiler is under increased obligations to many persons who have furnished biographical data. The names of those persons, near and far, who have rendered this valuable service, are too many for enumeration. A part of them, however, are mentioned in the notes.

His special indebtedness for valuable assistance rendered is to Mr. John Ward Dean, editor of the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," Boston, and librarian of the New England Historic Genealogical Society; also to Mr. William Prescott Greenlaw, of Cambridge, assistant librarian of the above-named society, who has cheerfully rendered every assistance sought by the author in the preparation of this volume.

With a knowledge of its imperfections, but trusting in their fraternal forbearance, this volume is respectfully submitted to the members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.

If it is believed that on these pages justice has been done to the memory of those members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company who fought for the independence of the colonies, and of those who, holding high civil or military authority, fashioned the state, then the patient toil of years will be amply rewarded.

CHRISTMAS DAY, 1896,

MELROSE, MASS.

OLIVER A. ROBERTS.

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