ABSTRACT
I was born April 9th, in the year 1778, in the town of Shrewsbury, Worcester Co. Mass. & was the eldest of five children. My parents were at that time, non-professors of religion, but they instructed us in morality, & to render that obedience & submission which is always due from children to Parents. We were taught to abstain from using unbecoming or profane language, from lying, theft, & from all devices commonly detested in good society. These good principles they strongly inculcated both by precept & example.
