Town History

Early Beginnings

Ashburnham was born after the French and Indian war between the English settlements in Massachusetts Bay Colony and the French at Quebec in Canada.

After the war of 1690, where Massachusetts assembled troops from the various towns around Boston to attack Quebec, surviving soldiers petitioned the Great and General Court for payment of their services. As the Colony had no money, their pleas went unanswered for about 40 years.

Finally, in the 1730’s the Secretary of the Province came up with a way to secure the northern border from French and Indian attack and repay the soldiers.

The open wilderness between Lunenburg and Northfield would be granted as Plantations in payment to the soldiers and as settlements, they could defend the open space that the attacks were coming from.

Because the lands were granted to the soldiers of particular towns for the Canada War, the plantations were named for the towns the soldiers came from for the Canada War. Thus the soldiers of Dorchester, Massachusetts were granted land named “Dorchester for Canada” . This was later shortened to Dorchester Canada, the first name of Ashburnham from 1735 until 1765.

In 1765 Dorchester Canada finally procured a minister and petitioned the Great and General Court to become a township. Governor Belcher always determined the names of new townships according to his wishes. He was friendly with the Earl of Ashburnham who “had the ear of the king” and honored him by naming a township for him.