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NIGHTFALL PARANORMAL'S OFFICE AND TYNGSBORO'S FIRST PARISH BUILT IN 1755
As the location of the church on Meeting-House Hill did not well accommodate nor please the inhabitants
in the easterly part of the town, they formed themselves into a precinct, called the First Parish of
Dunstable, and erected a small meeting-house, with two porches and a tall steeple,* near the spot where
the Unitarian Church now stands, in Tyngsborough Centre.
* It was blown down in the great gale of September 1815.
1755] COST OF THE MEETING-HOUSE. gt
DUNSTABLE, September ye ioth, 1756. Received of Mr. John Abbott, junior of Andover, Fourteen
pounds Thirteen shillings and Two pence. It being the full value of a Negro Girl, Named Dinah, about five
years of Age of a Healthy Sound Constitution, free of any disease of Body and I Do hereby deliver the
Same Girl to the said Abbott and Promise to defend him. In the Improvement of hear, as his Servant
forever. Witness my hand,
ROBERT BLOOD. JOHN KENDALL. TEMPLE KENDALL.
DEATHS SURROUNDING THE FIRST PARISH:
We hear from Dunstable that a sorrowful Accident happened there as they were raising the Frame for a
New Meeting House in that Town Yesterday was sev' night. Two Men assisting in the work fell from a
spar and one of them [Abiel Richardson of Groton] had his Brains bashed out, his Head in the Fall
striking upon a Rock, so that he expired immediately, the other was much bruised, but 'tis tho't will
recover."
The Rev. Joseph Emerson of Pepperell made at the time this note of the accident in his journal:—
"July 19, 1753, Abiel Richardson, a man above thirty years old, assisting at the raising of Dunstable
meetinghouse, fell, and died in a moment."
The frame was soon covered and a floor laid, so that the house could be used for public worship, but the
seats were introduced gradually, and the structure was not completed for several years.
Robert Blood lived on the place now occupied by Dexter Butterfield, and many stories are told of his
peculiarities. He is said to have called an Indian doctor to prescribe for him in a case of sickness; but
fearing lest the medicine might contain poison, he administered it to his Negro boy, who died from its
effects. The place of his burial is called to this day " Negro Hill." A sheriff once came into church to arrest
Mr. Blood, who, seeing his pursuer, raised his handkerchief to his nose as if it were bleeding, and quietly
left the meeting. On being asked afterwards why he left the church so suddenly, he said, " The sons of
God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." (Job i, 6.) His wife
was a noted swimmer, and frequently swam across the Merrimack River. She was, however, drowned at
last, as it is said, among the lily-pads of Massapoag Pond.
in the easterly part of the town, they formed themselves into a precinct, called the First Parish of
Dunstable, and erected a small meeting-house, with two porches and a tall steeple,* near the spot where
the Unitarian Church now stands, in Tyngsborough Centre.
* It was blown down in the great gale of September 1815.
1755] COST OF THE MEETING-HOUSE. gt
DUNSTABLE, September ye ioth, 1756. Received of Mr. John Abbott, junior of Andover, Fourteen
pounds Thirteen shillings and Two pence. It being the full value of a Negro Girl, Named Dinah, about five
years of Age of a Healthy Sound Constitution, free of any disease of Body and I Do hereby deliver the
Same Girl to the said Abbott and Promise to defend him. In the Improvement of hear, as his Servant
forever. Witness my hand,
ROBERT BLOOD. JOHN KENDALL. TEMPLE KENDALL.
DEATHS SURROUNDING THE FIRST PARISH:
We hear from Dunstable that a sorrowful Accident happened there as they were raising the Frame for a
New Meeting House in that Town Yesterday was sev' night. Two Men assisting in the work fell from a
spar and one of them [Abiel Richardson of Groton] had his Brains bashed out, his Head in the Fall
striking upon a Rock, so that he expired immediately, the other was much bruised, but 'tis tho't will
recover."
The Rev. Joseph Emerson of Pepperell made at the time this note of the accident in his journal:—
"July 19, 1753, Abiel Richardson, a man above thirty years old, assisting at the raising of Dunstable
meetinghouse, fell, and died in a moment."
The frame was soon covered and a floor laid, so that the house could be used for public worship, but the
seats were introduced gradually, and the structure was not completed for several years.
Robert Blood lived on the place now occupied by Dexter Butterfield, and many stories are told of his
peculiarities. He is said to have called an Indian doctor to prescribe for him in a case of sickness; but
fearing lest the medicine might contain poison, he administered it to his Negro boy, who died from its
effects. The place of his burial is called to this day " Negro Hill." A sheriff once came into church to arrest
Mr. Blood, who, seeing his pursuer, raised his handkerchief to his nose as if it were bleeding, and quietly
left the meeting. On being asked afterwards why he left the church so suddenly, he said, " The sons of
God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." (Job i, 6.) His wife
was a noted swimmer, and frequently swam across the Merrimack River. She was, however, drowned at
last, as it is said, among the lily-pads of Massapoag Pond.
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY OF THE
FIRST PARISH IN TYNGSBORO MA.
FIRST PARISH IN TYNGSBORO MA.
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