How Carlisle became “Carlisle” (concl’d)

The Second District’s founding officers¹ included our 6GGF Nathan Munroe, then aged 64, in two roles: as a member of the Committee of Safety and also as a Tythingman. Whatever that entailed. It’s on the research agenda. Nathan’s nephew-by-marriage Lieut. Isaac Wilkins is listed as one of six Surveyors of Highways. A year later, “John Robbins, Timothy Wilkins and [Nathan’s brother, 7GU] Joseph Munroe Jr. were chosen to set or tune the Psalms…”² in times of public worship.

Speaking of Revolutionaries, moreover, it appears that the estates of our distinguished ancestor, 6GGF Oliver Wheeler I “of Acton” are also now located in Carlisle. It won’t come as a surprise that the documents describe their location as “The Acton Road,” now Acton Street. About a mile east and a little south of the Munroe properties.

The next time Carlisle’s religious history hit a major transition point, our people were once again in the thick of it. The year was 1830. The Rev. Paul Litchfield, the first settled pastor in Carlisle, had died three years earlier after forty-six years of service. When the town chose successors of the Unitarian persuasion, a dozen displeased voters founded a second Religious Society, the Union Calvinistic Society, with a more traditional doctrinal position. Three incorporators were our family members, headed by two sons and a son-in-law of Minute Man 1C7R Jonas Munroe³and of Sarah Henry Munroe:

• 2C6R Jonas Munroe (1795-1879); his brother
  
  
• 2C6R Reuben Munroe (1788-1852); and
  
  
• Timothy Meek, husband to their sister 2C6R Betsy Munroe.

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¹Ruth Chamberlin Wilkins, Carlisle, Its History and Heritage. The Carlisle Historical Society, Inc. (Carlisle:1976), p.75.
²Ibid.,, pp. 98-99, where Wilkins discusses some fascinating details of "Arrangements for Singing." More than I can legitimately extract from a copyrighted source, but you may want to check it out.
³1C7R Jonas, husband to Sarah Henry, was a son of Uncle (7GU) Joshua and Aunt Ruth Kendall Munroe. Joshua was a grandson of Corporal Joe.

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