Editing Chelmsford, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
=== Early colonization ===
The [[Pennacook]] inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Settler-colonizers from the adjacent communities of [[Woburn, Massachusetts|Woburn]] and [[Concord, Massachusetts|Concord]] founded Chelmsford in 1652. An act of the Massachusetts General Court in the last week of May 1655 incorporated Chelmsford as a town; it was named after [[Chelmsford]], England. The nearby communities of [[Groton, Massachusetts|Groton]] and [[Billerica, Massachusetts|Billerica]] were incorporated at the same time. Chelmsford originally contained the neighboring town of [[Westford, Massachusetts|Westford]], as well as parts of [[Carlisle, Massachusetts|Carlisle]], [[Tyngsborough, Massachusetts|Tyngsborough]] and a large part of [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]] (formerly known as East Chelmsford). 

Successive Pennacook leaders Passaconaway and Wonalancet strove to maintain a friendship with the European settler-colonizers who founded Chelmsford within their territory.<ref name=":1">Stewart-Smith, D. (1998). The Pennacook Indians and the New England frontier, circa 1604-1733. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.</ref> Despite this determinedly pro-peace stance, Chelmsford settlers became increasingly violent towards the tribe, often forcing the Pennacook to flee north temporarily or permanently. On one notable occasion, a handful of Pennacook who were too sick or elderly to flee with their kin remained behind and Chelmsford settlers burnt them alive in their dwelling.<ref name=":1" /> Eventually most Pennacook refugees permanently moved north to join relations in Odanak, but their descendants among the Abenaki First Nation and other tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy continue to view Chelmsford as part of their ancestral and unceded homeland.<ref name="auto">Day, Gordon, 1981. ''The Identity of the Saint Francis Indians'', National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, National Museum Of Man Mercury Series ISSN 0316-1854, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper No. 71 ISSN 0316-1862.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=QUATRE NATIONS AUTOCHTONES S'UNISSENT POUR AFFIRMER LEUR AUTONOMIE TERRITORIALE |url=https://caodanak.com/quatre-nations-autochtones-sunissent-pour-affirmer-leur-autonomie-territoriale/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206110726/https://caodanak.com/quatre-nations-autochtones-sunissent-pour-affirmer-leur-autonomie-territoriale/ |archive-date=February 6, 2021 |access-date= |website=Odanak Band Council Website}}</ref>

Several women of Chelmsford were suspected of being [[Witchcraft|witches]], such as Sarah (Hildreth) Byam and Martha Sparks.<ref name=":0" /> In 1691, Martha was held in the [[Boston Gaol (Massachusetts)|Boston Gaol]] for witchcraft, appeared in court, but was eventually set free after about a month. Some relate her freedom to the influence of the Chelmsford minister.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=SWP No. 123: Martha Sparks - New Salem - Pelican |url=http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n123.html |access-date=August 23, 2020 |website=salem.lib.virginia.edu |archive-date=July 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702104654/http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n123.html |url-status=live}}</ref> 
[[File:1899 Chelmsford public library Massachusetts.png|thumbnail|left|Chelmsford Public Library, 1899]]

In 1722 Chelmsford had imposed a fine for keeping strangers in town for more than 30 days. This was used for racial, religious, and political discrimination, as well as to keep out witchcraft. This practice and similar ones occurred until the Act of Settlement of 1793.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Waters |title=History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts |publisher=Courier-Citizen Company |year=1917 |location=Lowell, Mass |pages=572–599}}</ref> Sarah (Hildreth) Byam was accused of being a witch under these circumstances.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Byam |first=Edwin |title=Descendants of George Byam |year=1975 |location=Suffield, Conn |page=14}}https://www.chelmhist.org/media/Descendants_of_George_Byam.pdf</ref>

The Chelmsford militia played a role in the [[American Revolution]] at the [[Battle of Lexington and Concord]] and the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]].  The town's own Lieutenant Colonel Moses Parker fought on the hill.  He was wounded and captured, and died from his wounds on July 4, 1775.  The Lieutenant Colonel Moses Parker Middle School honors his name, and the lobby displays a representation of the man. He is depicted in the [[John Trumbull]] painting [[The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775]] and in a painting in the [[Bunker Hill Monument|Bunker Hill Museum]]. Captain Benjamin Walker of this town was also killed in this battle.

=== Later history ===
[[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] opened a school in Chelmsford in 1825, closing it after a few months to take over his brother's school in [[Roxbury, Massachusetts|Roxbury]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Emerson Chronology |date=March 13, 2008 |access-date=January 10, 2010 |publisher=Ralph Waldo Emerson Society |url=http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/emerson/chronology/emersonchronsublink.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330072358/http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/emerson/Chronology/EmersonChronSublink.html |archive-date=March 30, 2010}}</ref>

Chelmsford's first school for the deaf was established in 1866, with a focus in [[oralism]]. There was a maximum capacity of eight students at a time. This pioneer school was eventually closed in order to make way for the formation of a larger deaf school in [[Rowley, Massachusetts|Rowley]] known as [[Clark School (Rowley, Massachusetts)|Clark School]].<ref name=":0" />

Both the [[Middlesex Canal]] and [[Middlesex Turnpike (Massachusetts)|Middlesex Turnpike]], major transportation routes, were built through Chelmsford in the first part of the 19th century.

Chelmsford was the birthplace of the Chelmsford Spring Co. in 1901, which later became the Chelmsford Ginger Ale Company, acquired by [[Canada Dry]] in 1928. The [[ginger ale]] plant, rebuilt in 1912 after a disastrous fire consumed the original plant, stood on Route 110 until its demolition in 1994. The Chelmsford brand of golden ginger ale continued to be manufactured by Canada Dry for decades. It is currently manufactured by [[Polar Beverages]] for [[DeMoulas/Market Basket]] supermarkets, based out of neighboring [[Tewksbury, Massachusetts|Tewksbury]].<ref>{{cite web |title=A taste of the town's history |date=July 24, 2008 |access-date=March 15, 2012 |publisher=GateHouse Media |url=http://www.wickedlocal.com/chelmsford/news/x390637371/A-taste-of-the-towns-history |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729032922/http://www.wickedlocal.com/chelmsford/news/x390637371/A-taste-of-the-towns-history |archive-date=July 29, 2013}}</ref>