The Training Field

The Training Field. , "The meeting-house and school-house and training-field are the scenes where New England men are formed... The virtues and talents of the people are there formed..."- John Adams , The colony of Massachusetts relied for its defense on a town militia system. It was the forerunner of today's National Guard and one source of the American principle of civilian control of the military. Each town's adult men trained for military service in a local militia or train-band. , The Training Field occupied the eastern portion of the present park and extended eastward and northward, a space of two acres. It would eventually provide the nucleus of Quincy Center. , The Training Field was used for monthly military exercises by at least 1647. The only other town institution in the immediate vicinity then was the burying ground. , In 1732 a new meeting house for the First Parish Church was erected just south of the present church. Thereafter the Training Field was also known as the "Meeting House Green." In 1795 a schoolhouse/townhouse was built on the north end of the Training Field. Thus John Adams' three institutions for forming "the virtues and talents of the people" could now be found in one place, , In the twentieth century, the former Training Field or Meeting House Green was reduced to an island in a flow of motor traffic. The Hancock- Adams Common seeks to restore some of its original sense of place. , Colonel John Quincy, 1689-1767. John Quincy, for whom the town, later city, of Quincy was named was, arguably, Massachusetts' most prominent political leader in the decades before the American Revolution. , First chosen Town Meeting Moderator in 1716, John Quincy held that office for three decades. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1717 until 1746, and as Speaker of the House for 12 of those years. He subsequently served in the upper chamber Governor's Council. , The title Colonel derives from his long-time command of the Suffolk Militia. Colonel Quincy was sympathetic to the embryonic Patriot cause, but worked skillfully with the crown-appointed governors. , For more than twenty years, he advocated for the Ponkapoag Native Americans. In 1753, when a bitter and divisive religious controversy erupted in the First Parish congregation, Colonel Quincy staked his reputation and made an eloquent public defense of religious freedom. , In 1764 Colonel Quincy's granddaughter, Abigail Smith, married John Adams. In 1767 John and Abigail named their first son John Quincy Adams, after his great-grandfather. In 1792, the town of Quincy was named in Colonel Quincy's honor.