England, and vice admiral of the same, April 18, 1761, in the first year of the reign of King George the Third. This commission was presented to the Wallace library in Fitchburg by his grandson, Thomas Cowdin Upton of Fitchburg.

Mrs. Sarah A. Wiggin of Cambridge, great-granddaughter of Thomas Cowdin, presented to the Wallace library his commission as captain in the Eighth regiment of militia in the county of Worcester, dated April 6, 1780, and also that appointing him justice of the peace.

A sad loss came into the life of Capt. Cowdin by the death of his beloved wife, Experience Grey, on April 3, 1760. She left two children, Thomas and Experience.

On Oct. 2, 1761, Thomas Cowdin married Hannah Craig of Rutland, Mass.

The following letter, written to his wife under date of July 9, 1762, shows that he was at that time in service at Crown Point:

My dear

CROWN POINT, July 9th, 1762.

Having this opportunity I with pleasure embrace it to let you know that I am in health, as I hope these will find you and my children in health. I have wrote a number of letters to you, and hant had one from you. I beg the favor of a line from you if possible and acquaint me concerning the season. I hear it is very dry, which makes me very uneasy to hear from home-and must continue so till I hear. The company is well and our camps healthy. I desire to come home at Superior Court if possible; I have prospect of getting liberty. I want to hear how the crop is like to turn this year as to hay and English grain. I have sold my mare and want to buy another if hay be plenty. Give my compliments to inquiring friends. I have sent a number of letters sealed together, but I fear they will not arrive, as the man that I delivered them to, afterwards gave them to a man that I did not know. Nat Biglo is well and Job Harris, and the company in general. This from your loving husband, till death THOMAS COWDIN

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In 1764 Capt. Cowdin purchased of Samuel Hunt "all his lands, tenements and buildings situated thereon,

lying and being in Fitchburg," and removed from Worcester to Fitchburg in July of the same year. Mr. Hunt's residence had been open as an inn and Capt. Cowdin continued the hospitalities there for ten years. The location on Pearl street has long been known as the "Gen. Wood place."

Capt. Cowdin was appointed one of a committee to manage and take care of building a new meeting house, and gave for the site "an acre and forty rods of land from his wheat field," at the corner of the present Crescent and Blossom streets. The town voted to have preaching for six weeks during the winter of 1764-65 in Thomas Cowdin's house. The services were continued till the following autumn, when the new meeting house was completed.

When Thomas Cowdin became a voter in the town he was elected selectman and a member of the school board, positions held by him for many years. He was town clerk from 1766 to 1775. He was a large landholder, owning 400 acres in Fitchburg, his homestead, including about 200 acres, extending from Mt. Vernon street to Baker's brook. In 1770 he was the highest taxpayer in town. In 1775 he built a house on the site of the present American House, and resided there the remainder of his life.

The majestic presence, clear vision and rare executive ability of Esquire Cowdin gave him the right of way among his fellow-citizens. He was on the alert to seize every opportunity for gaining fresh information, and was relied upon for shrewd interpretation of the present and keen forecast of the future. About the cheery fire in the large "corner room of the second story of his house was often held, during the long winter evenings, a symposium of the leading citizens, including Esquire Fox, Dr. Snow, Messrs. Hale, John Goodridge, Abijah Goodridge, Asa Perry and others. They discoursed of things known and

unknown,-of problems of town interests, the latest news from Boston, the relations of the colonies to Old England, the nature and decrees of the Deity. The "Squire" was a leading spirit, but often sat in silence till others had expressed their various opinions. Not a point escaped his notice, and when persuaded to speak he went straight to the heart of the subject, saying much in few words. He was privileged to teach many a lesson in right living that, from the pulpit, might have given the minister long leave of absence.

Esquire Cowdin was justice of peace and trial justice, and equally at home in camp, court or drawing-room. As a popular magistrate he officiated at many marriage ceremonies in Fitchburg, Worcester and elsewhere. We see him in the dress of his time,-conventional puce coat, long light brocaded waistcoat, ruffled bosom, long silk stockings, silver shoe-buckles and knee-buckles, sparkling with Bristol diamonds-the face softened by his modest wig. He is alive, even to the outer garments, while he reverently speaks the potent words that make the twain one.

In 1779 Thomas Cowdin became a member of the "ancient Masons." The degrees were conferred upon him by Trinity Lodge of Lancaster. This lodge was organized in the midst of the Revolutionary war, and liberally recruited from men in the military service on the colonial side. Its officers took their degrees from St. Andrew's Lodge, chartered from Scotland, and having its meeting place at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston. Its members were leading men, among whom were Warren, Revere and Hancock. Trinity Lodge caught their spirit of patriotism and enterprise, and Paul Revere was sometimes present at their meetings. We can imagine what these touches of kindred spirit and bands of the mystic tie meant to the loyal and wide-awake Thomas Cowdin.

The sorest trial of Esquire Cowdin's public life came at the high tide of his mature manhood, when the agitation arose that culminated in the War of the Revolution. He could not at once turn from his king, furl the good English flag under which he had so long and loyally served, and adjust himself to the new order of things proposed. He believed that King George would see the wrongs to the colonists and secure their rights. When misunderstood, and sometimes called a Tory, his dignified reticence showed his native nobility in high relief. Notwithstanding his apparent loyalty to the king, he sent his son Thomas with a load of provisions for the minute men, when on their march to Concord and Lexington.

To his broad, true, sensitive nature the sting must have been poignant when his name was dropped from the roll of town officers for the first time after he became a voter in the town, but he proved himself "better than he that taketh a city." Honestly and fearlessly he continued his duties, "in praise and in dispraise the same."

He was not the man to bear prolonged taxation without representation, and when radical means became necessary he heartily espoused the cause of the independent colonists. When the alarm arose at Bennington in 1777 he responded to the call of Gen. Stark, and had marched ninety miles toward Bennington when the company, no longer needed, was discharged by Gen. Lincoln. In 1778 Capt. Cowdin enlisted for eight months' service in the state of New York. In 1779 he enlisted for three months as captain in Col. James Denny's regiment, raised by order of the general court Oct. 6, to reinforce the Continental army in the state of New York. Gen. Burgoyne surrendered Oct. 17, and Capt. Cowdin was discharged Oct. 23.

No labor was too hard and no sacrifice too great in this cause; and the citizens awoke to a fuller comprehension of the true character of Esquire Thomas Cowdin,