>^ >P^4- ^-^K. ^ >°-^.. ^ h""^^ ^^ '0^ THE COMMUNITY GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS THE STORY OF A NEIGHBORHOOD BY EDWARD ADAMS RICHARDSON MARCH, 1911 AVER, MASSACHUSETTS ^ U^ ^^-ar^^, ^^^^ .i««'^^^g'< ' *^ * »■ -«- » ^ « ■ « > fc — • Home of Deiijuniiii Hull. 1843 — 1S56. THE COMMUNITY GROTON. MASSACHUSETTS THE STORY OF A NEIGHBORHOOD By EDWARD ADAMS RICHARDSON The subject matter of the following sketch has become of more than pass- ing interest to the writer who lived for a number of years in that part of Groton known as the Community. The settlement in Groton, called for years, the Community, was a gather- ing place in the year 1847 and there- after of kindred spirits who had be- come knitted together in the bonds of friendship and in their faith in the second advent of Christ as set forth by William Miller in the early for- ties. Meii of strong mental attainments became interested and, as viewed in this later day, we can but feel that they were sincere for the greater part and no more to be scoffed at than those other experimenters who took up with the dietetic schemes at Pruit- lands and Brook Farm. To preserve for future historians some of the incidents which led up to the establishment of the settlement and to give an account of its continu- ance and decline is the intent of the following article in the writing of which I wish to acknowledge the as- sistance rendered by my father, Jo- seph Henry Richardson, who was born in Westford, Mass., December 26, 1835, and whose mind is a storehouse of memories of those early days. I have studiously avoided many personal al- lusions and recorded only such char- acteristics of individuals as are neces- sary for a proper understanding of the subject. That former residents of this vil- lage may know of some of the changes here, a few views of buildings of the Groton Episcopal School are inserted in this article, through the courtesy of Mr. George E. Meyet, who is con- nected with the work of the school. These buildings, for the most part, stand on the Graves farm in the old field, orchard and pasture between the locations of the old barn and the Ben- jamin F. Hartwell place, surrounded by extensive lawns and trees and shrubbery. Groton, just before the coming of the railroads, was an important inland town and to it came many people who sought here to pass their declining years in the peaceful retirement of a good old town with a healthful en- vironment. The religious schisms of a few years ago had been adjusted and the three churches in the town had be- come established and working in har- mony when the anti-slavery agitation was started and closely following it, the religious movement known as Millerism, or the belief in the second coming of Christ, was taken up by a few at the centre of the town, while in the country at large, eventually, over 50,000 people were credited as being believers in the faith. One pleasant autumn day in the year 1840, four young men were tramping in company along the "Great Road," from Concord to Groton. The party was composed of Theodore Parker and George Ripley of Boston, Christopher P. Cranch of Newton, and A. Bronson Alcott of Concord. To fully appreciate the conditions which led the people of 1840 and the following years to take up this ism, we must consider that it was a period given up largely to an analysis of all beliefs and dogmas, and that in those days there were not lacking men of independent thought and initiative. It was this spirit that led Messrs. Parker, Cranch, Ripley and Alcott to walk in company over the road from Boston to Groton to attend a Christian Union Convention called by the Sec- ond Advents and Come-outers, who had sat under the preaching of Rev. Silas Hawley. His supporters in Gro- ton were called Hawleyites. This convention was called for the purpose of establishing a new church, or new denomination, as we would say today, in which a greater free- dom of belief should be allowed, hav- ing especial reference to the expres- sion by the Come-outers of their be- lief in the abolition of slavery and looking to the foundation of the Unity of the church. Leading citizens of the town were favorable to this movement, but in the convention, which was attended by delegates from all over New Eng- land and New York State, all was not harmonious and no new church was established. Many of those interested in Groton were found as friends of the Advent faith in the years immediately after. The story of this convention is told at some considerable length in Dr. Samuel A. Green's Groton Historical Series, Vol. I, Nos. IV and XI. In the following years there came other movements led by the abolition- ists, the transcendentalists at Brook Farm, Roxbury, the colony at Fruit- lands, Harvard, and political bodies of whigs, free-soilers, locofocos and others with various shades of beliei. There are men now living in this vicinity who remember the great wave of religious interest which reached to all parts of the country. The various cults and ims had hosts of followers, some of whom became famous as noted thinkers and investigators. Ralph Waldo Emerson, in a lectui^^e, entitled "New England Reformers," delivered in Boston, March 3, 1844. says: "Whoever has had an opportuni- ty of acquaintance with society in New England during the last twenty-five years, with those middle and with those leading sections that may con- stitute any just representation of the character and aim of the community, will have been struck with the great activity of thought and experiment- ing." The Advent belief called new, though appearing at intervals for the past one thousand years, was based on an interpretation of the scriptures not in accord with the generally accepted rendering and was dependent large- ly on the prophesies of the old and new testaments. The following extract is from a let- ter written before 1843 by William Miller to a brother preacher: "I un- derstand that the judgment day will be a thousand years long. The right- eous are raised and judged in the com- mencement of that day, the wicked in the end of that day. I believe that the saints will be raised and judged about the year 1843, according to Moses' prophesy in Leviticus, Chapter 26. Eziekel, Chapter 39. Daniel, Chapters 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Hosea. Chapter 5, and Revelations, the whole book, and many other prophets have spoken of these things. Time will soon tell if I am right. "I believe in the glorious, immortal and personal reign of Jesus Christ, with all his people on the purified earth forever. I believe the millen- nium is between the two resurrections and two judgments, the righteous and the wicked, the just and the unjust. "I hope the dear friends of Christ will lay by all prejudice and look at and examine these three views by the only rule and standard, the Bible." All the comments of the day ac- claimed William Miller as a good man, sincere but under a delusion. Meetings were held all over New Eng- land and somewhat in the states at the westward. Those interested were accustomed at first to go to the -^- Ofc. \:i iBt« \\ illiuiii Miller. 17.N1 — 1S4J) lirookM Hoiisf. Iliiilt 1,S.S4. Hiiiiilre<-l. i:rf«-t<- iiiiiiiKMiin. Iliiill ]!)0U. Home of Lucy 31. Ririinrdsoii. 1S4!t — 1S70. School House — Grotou School. Erected 1898. southeast was the large farm of Ben- jamin Moors. To the north was living George Martin Shattuck on the farm more recently known as the Joshua Wait place, and the next farm towards Groton Centre was owned and occupied by John J. Graves, familiarly known as Jack Graves. This farm is now owned by the Groton School and upon it are most of the school buildings. About this time, as shown by the conveyances, Mr. Hall conceived the idea of establishing the Communi- ty upon and near his farm. The interest of Mr. Hall and his followers had fallen away from the general advent doctrine, but we must under- stand that by this time the community of thought had led to a close friendly acquaintance, and while the real value of their belief was often questioned, among themselves they were drawn the closer and others of their kindred and friends joined them. About 1847, Mr. Hall conveyed a large part of his farm to his long- time friend, Benjamin F. Hartwell, whom he had known in Acton, and to others were sold smaller lots, and these purchasers were assisted in building their homes. Benjamin P. Hartwell was a schol- arly man, and like his brother John, inherited marked mental abilities and physical strength. These qualities were repeated to a great degree in his four children who have filled im- portant places in the world's work and who became leaders in their chosen professions. He was early in life a teacher and studied for the ministry; was a great reader and later in life a good all-around carpenter. He erec- ted and moved buildings and contrac- ted for the construction of churches, schools, houses, barns and bridges. He died on September 15, 1897. At this time other settlers were Jo- seph Richards of Newburyport, who at one time drove stages between that city and Boston; John Fitz and Mer- rick Hale from Winchendon, who were skilled woodworkers; Joseph A. Gushing from Stoneham and Mrs. Weston and Minot Leighton from Westford. From Westford in 1849, also came Mrs. Lucy Richardson and her family of young children, and bought of John H. Hartwell, sixteen acres of the farm he had purchased on April 10, 1847, of Mr. Shattuck. Mrs. Rich- ardson, in company with Miss Betsey Ash, built on this land a cottage house which shortly after the war of the rebellion, was sold with a portion of the land to Jordan Groodwin, a re- turned soldier, and moved northerly to the fork of the roads, enlarged several times by various owners and finally burned on July 19, 1904. Miss Ash moved to South Groton, and Mrs. Richardson had built just south of her cottage location a large two-story house, partly from the wheelwright shop of Mr. Mason, which was taken down at Groton Centre and re-erected here. She lived here until her marriage again in 1870, and moved to the house of her husband, Mr. Francis B. Parker of Chelmsford. Her place was purchased by her son, Joseph H. Richardson, who after sev- eral years' occupancy, moved to Ayer in 1887, and sold it to Mr. George Whitney, the present occupant, in 1890. After Mrs. Richardson moved into her new house, the cottage was rented to various persons. Mr. Albert Bill- ings, who was somewhat of a shrewd business man, occupied it for a season while interested in the yeast business with Noah Button and Joseph Rich- ards. This business was started in Mr. Richard's dwelling house further up the street. Mr. Billings will be mentioned later. Joseph A. Gushing bought a part of the Hall place which here extended southerly to the old Moors farm, in later years known as the Culver farm. The cross road from the Hall place leading easterly to the South Groton Road was laid out by Mr. Hall through the Gushing land and land of Lucy Richardson, and a sharp turn was made around the lot of Miss Nabby Stanley just before it reached the east road. Mr. Gushing built his home and set out grape vines and fruit trees which under the care of the next owner, Mr. Newman, grew to bear fruit of most excellent quality as all the boys of forty years ago will testify. Subse- quent owners were Messrs. Coachman. Ring and Swan, under whose occu- pancy the buildings were burned and most of the fruit trees and vines de- stroyed. The house and outbuildings have been replaced with a dwelling and an extensive greenhouse plant by the present owner, Mr. H. Huebner, the florist. — 5 — John Fitz, Rodolphus Parker and Merrick Hale were located at the end of a lane provided by Mr. Hall off the south side of his farm. Mr. Fitz lived where lately Millard Smith lived, Mr. Parker where a Mr. Rynn lived in the seventies, and Mr. Hale lived on the corner where the lane turned to the right where an instructor's house is now being built for the Groton School. After 1847, a hoop shaving shop used by Walter Keyes was sold to Miss Rebecca Green, a sister of Mrs. Gushing, and converted into the dwelling where John Hackett or his family have lived for fifty years. At the rear of a house built for Mrs. Weston from an old barn moved over from the Hall place was erected, an ell extending across the whole end, and on the upper floor was a hall where the first meetings of the ad- vents in this village were held and continued for about four years. This place was conveyed by Mrs. Weston to Minot Leighton and was after- wards known as the Leighton house. Mr. Hall became the leader of the advent movement in Groton, and in this room was accustomed to explain his belief which differed somewhat from the generally accepted creed in that Mr. Hall preached the establish- ment of the New Jerusalem right here in Groton, while others, of which Dea- con Walter Dickson was a type, be- lieved that the Kingdom of God was to be set up in Palestine, the sacred land of Bible history. Having a common dooryard and a common pump through which the di- vision line ran, Joseph Richards built his home adjoining the Leighton place. This was afterwards known as the Widow Ann Gilson or Goding house, the home of Thomas and Sumner Gil- son, and their sisters, one of whom married Mr. Harrison Goding. These houses stood in front of the present stable of Mt. William Amory Gard- ner. Benjamin Hall, Benjamin Hartwell, John Fitz, Joseph Richards, Walter Keyes and Joseph Gushing were large- ly instrumental in erecting the com.- munity shop which at first had a roof sloping to the road. In order to pro- vide a new hall this roof was soon removed and a larger one placed upon it with gable facing the road. Joseph H. Richardson recalls put- ting the topmost shingles on this build- ing when erected and that as a lad of sixteen he loaded an ox team at this shop with house finish and drove to Goncord and back in one of the cold- est days of winter for which he re- ceived one dollar for his services which ended late at night. This shop was erected in 1850, as a sort of partnership affair to furnish employment to some of the residents and with the new hall was a general gathering place and might be prop- erly called the second advent meeting house. This building was a huge affair with a shingle roof and sides covered with pebbled plaster, and stood nearly op- posite the barn on the Hall farm. On the ground floor in the south- west corner was a huge tread mill horse power, an inclined wheel of about thirty feet diameter. When a horse began to walk around this wheel, a feat that was never accom- plished, a drum underneath was set in motion. The revolving drum below was belt- ed to shafting which operated the va- rious machines for sawing and cutting cut stock for wooden boxes, measures and dippers, sometimes called "nog- gins." Doors and windows were also made here and lumber prepared for house finish. On the second floor, reached by a stairway from about the middle of the fTont of the building and winding up over the horsepower, were benches for setting up the wooden ware and some other machines. The top floor in the roof was fin- ished and plastered for a hall and school, and here every night and Sun- days services were held for five or six years of the ten years of the com- munity period. At times school was kept here by Miss Lizzie Mason, daughter of Aaron Mason. She afterwards married a Mr. James Boyd, an advent visitor from Philadelphia, and moved to that city. She married a second time a Mr. Ewell and died in Baltimore in 1894, and is interred in the Mason lot at Aver. The school was not a large one, having an attendance of about fifteen. The larger boys and girls were for the most part working in various places. The reading room was an annex to this large building and with commend- 6 — Community Shop. ISoO — 187S. Mr, Garduer's Athletic liiiililiii;;. HiHlt IftOl. Grotoii School Boat House. H.jiiio .»! \\alter Dickson. 1838 — 1858. able virtue was erected about 1855, for the use of the young people who numbered over twenty-five. Here v.ere kept newspapers and other read- ing matter, particularly second ad- vent literature. They also played games and for its maintenance con- tributed a small amount for heat and lights, which were candles set in large tin chandeliers or spirit lamps, for it was before kerosene came into gen- eral use The shop for many years after 1860, was a neglected building, a menace to the children of the neigh- borhood, on account of its decayed condition and tend-ency to fall over and was taken down in 1878, by Mr. Hartwell and worked over into a cot- tage house on the same spot. The Deacon Walter Dickson farm was the place where on October 25, 1704, John Davis was killed by In- dians in his own dooryard. The event is recorded by a memorial boulder erected in 1910. Mr. Dickson sold out in 1853 to Henry Moody of Newburyport and went to Palestine in that year. It does not appear that Mr. Moody affliliated with the advents, though his wife did. He had about oppo- site the present Huebner place a blacksmith shop which was taken down by Joseph H. Richardson when he bought the farm in 1856. Mr. Moody made ship irons and jack screws which were sent away to be finished, the jacks being teamed to Lowell to have the threads cut at the machine shop of Silver and Gay. Mr. Richardson lived there about a year when he sold to Joseph Dickinson, the elder, whose widow is now living on the farm at the advanced age of eighty-three, with her son Joseph and family. The story of the experience of the Dickson family has always been of interest to Groton people and a brief account is here given and it will be noticed that the name, Walter Dick- son, has been perpetuated for six gen- erations in this vicinity. Walter Dickson and Walter Dick- son, Jr., came to Groton from Cam- bridge in 1795 and purchased a farm on Farmers' Row. A third Walter Dickson born on the homestead in 1799 lived there with his brother Charles until he moved to the community location in 1838. He was an exceedingly pious man and was known as "Deacon." He lived here un- til 1853, when he sold out and went to Palestine as previously stated. His son, Walter E. settled in Harvard and was the father of Walter Fred Dickson and Philip O. Dickson of that town. The sixth Walter is a son of Walter Fred Dickson above mentioned. Deacon Walter Dickson had anoth- er son, Philip D., who had preceded him in 1852 with his bride Susan, a daughter of Aaron Mason, as a mis- sionary to the Turks and who died in Jerusalem April 25, 1853, and was buried on the Mount of Olives at that city. His widow returned alone from Beirut by sailing vessel in the same year and died September 24, 1863, and is buried in the Mason lot in Ayer. Infused with the zeal of the mis- sionary cause, the father, Deacon Walter Dickson, his wife and three daughters and son Henry sailed Octo- ber 11, 1853, aboard the bark, John Winthrop, for Smyrna, thence to Jaffa. Here he lived and continued in missionary work until 1858. Mean- while his daughters, Almira and Mary, married two Steinbeck brothers. On January 12, 1858, their home was broken into by brigands and the fam- ily brutally assaulted; Frederick Steinbeck, husband of Mary, killed and Mr. Dickson, the elder, left for dead. June 12, 1858, the survivors of the family embarked for the United States from the port of Jaffa, via Alexandria, Egypt. Here the party separated and Mr. Dickson and son Henry went to Con- stantinople to consult with the United States minister as to indemnity, then sailing via Malta, London and Liver- pool to New York and Boston. The others sailed direct from Alexandria on bark Champion via Spain to Bos- ton, and a remarkable coincidence happened. Both parties arrived In Boston on the same day, September 16, 1858, not having heard from each other since parting at Alexandria and sailing by different routes on a voyage of more than three months' duration. They arrived in Harvard September 17, 1858, at the home of the son, Wal- ter E. Dickson. Broken in health. Deacon Dickson lived a little over a year and died in Harvard aged sixty years. The two sons who survived him both enlisted for the war of the re- bellion. Henry in Co. B, Sixth regt.. 7 — from Groton Junction and served through the whole war and Walter E. from Charlestown, where he then re- sided. Henry built a home on Prospect street in Groton Junction in 1860 and after the war in 1865 moved to Fitch- burg, where he now resides. Walter E. died at Ayer in 1872. Charles Dickson before referred to will be remembered by old Groton people as residing on the old home- stead on Farmers' Row, and that he did a teaming business to Boston, taking down hay and returning with general merchandise for the store- keepers of the town. One of his char- acteristics was to stop wherever night overtook him and continue the trip on the next day and often not going to his own home on Farmers' Row. An examination of a Middlesex County map published in 1856, shows the residents at the Community, called on the map Nonicanicus Village, when the settlement was at its best and with the changes since Mr. Hall be- gan the settlement as shown on Caleb Butler's map of Groton in 1847. Instead of Walter Dickson we have Henry Moody and instead of George M. Shattuck, John H. Hartwell. Nathan Davis is living at the Amos Farnsworth farm and Aaron Mason on the Benjamin Moors farm. There are also indicated upon it the new houses of John Fitz, Benjamin Hart- well, Joseph Richards, Minot Leigh- ton, Joseph H. Richardson, Noah Dut- ton and Lucy M. Richardson and the shop opposite the Hall place is also marked. From the small beginning in Mr. Richards' house, the dry hop yeast business grew under the energetic hand of Mr. Billings; the quarters A\ere enlarged and then shortly after the large building known as the Yeast House was put up on land bought of Joseph Alva Gushing on the cross road. In 1852, Daniel Needham for his brother Benjamin, bought out Dutton and Billings after the concern had been going about three years. Bill- ings and Dutton moved to South Gro- ton and formed a partnership with Walter Wright, who built the Yeast House on Pleasant Street, now own- ed by Joseph P. Mullin, and where Abel Prescott later resided and died. Mr. Billings was the selling agent for the dry hop yeast his concerns made, when in Groton and South Groton. Albert Billings lived in the cottage house in Groton Junction at the corner of Pleasant and Cambridge Streets, where afterwards Mr. Joseph Billings lived and since moved by Mr. Donlon, the present owner, to make room for his new residence. He afterwards moved to Chicago and amassed a fortune in the manufacture and sale of gas in that city. Richards and Needham operated the Groton shop until 1860, when the yeast cake business went to pieces. Mr. Richards went to Wisconsin at the time of the exodus to be explained later and Benjamin Needham removed to the "Junction" and opened the Needham House, corner of Forest and Tannery Streets. The young people of the community were not permitted to be Idle and when not obliged to attend school according to the legal requirements, the girls at times worked in the yeast factory or picked berries in season, while the boys, of various ages, worked on the neighboring farms in summer and chopped wood in the winter for Mr. Hall at sixty cents per cord, earning about thirty cents per day. One day in particular six of them, all under fifteen years of age, were sent to Snake Hill and their em- ployer cheered them on their way when it was twenty-two degrees below zero by calling out, "Smart and tough, I can stand it well enough." On the "other road" at the home of Alva Wright they were com- passionately invited in to thaw out their benumbed hands and faces. It was before sunrise and Mrs. Wright exclaimed, "Why you poor boys! my girls of your age are still in bed." Some of these boys remember to this day how their earnings were much reduced by paying for damage to the wood by a noonday fire which was allowed to get out of bounds and how one of their number ran all the way home from Snake Hill for help. They do not forget how the neighbor- hood had to contribute by buying up some of their blackened "crocky" wood at the usual price. In 1863, Joseph H. Richardson while living in Vermont purchased the "Yeast House," and returning to Gro- ton, removed the dry house portion in — 8 — 'ih,ii.i fftlH- Old Chapel — Groton School. Home of John J. Graves. 1834 — 1869. Hnekett Home. 1860 — 1911. Instructor's House — Gi-oloii School. Near the site of .Tohii H. Hart-»vell House. I which the yeast cakes had been dried on stacks of wooden frames strung with crossed meshes of cotton twine Some years later he sold the place to one French, who sold to John Swan. Abel L. Lawton then took the title and conveyed to Mr. George Whit- ney, May 28. 1888. The building went up in smoke April 1, 1890, and upon the lot now stands the Benjamin F Hartwell house, moved over in May 1904. from its original location. The young people of forty years ago will recall the dances and re- vivals held in 1871, in the large room at the yeast house and where an old man in the "seventy tooth" year of his age often spoke. These revival meetings were attended by a great many "from the region around about " as a diary kept at that time states August 18th. 1871. "the yeast house was crowded full." It seems meetings had already been held at the school house and on July 9th, 1871, at Cap- tain Coachman's house which he had bought of Mrs. Newman in the spring of that year. In August 1878. revivals were held by an evangelist in a large tent in the field at rear of the Hall place, then owned by Mr. Daggett, which many attended. ^ There were some causes, a sort of inside history, which led to the break- ing up of the Community life. Mr Hall s second wife had been long dead and he a strong vigorous man of sixty- tour, had been a leader in the vil- lage. His future wife had come into possession of a large tract of land in Germania, Marquette County, Wiscon- fwH^""? ^''- ^^"' 't'^coming interested in the lady, also became interested in the land. They first went to Rochester, N Y. probably in the fall of 1856, where Mrs. Pierce and he were married, and \^tl ^^7^ domiciled there early in 1858. Mr and Mrs. Richards and Miss ii^llis, a daughter of Mrs. Hall by a former husband, jointed them in May, 1858, and in the fall of 1859, Mr. Hall and family were well settled on the Wisconsin tract. Rochester, N. Y., was then the lo- SnH wf ^ ^""^^ ^°^°"y «f the sect "SnJn "^i;. '^?^ ^^^^ to Ct^oton were filled with mighty truth " hZ^^-^^^T^"^ accounts" of the new .iT^f'!'^^'^''''''^^'' ^^^ some, but not all, of those at the community to ar- range for the disposal ot their es- tates and follow. An immense auction sale of some fifteen parcels of land and ten dwell- ings was advertised in Boston and i/°io?n -^T^tion papers for March 14, 1860, which included the homes of Hall Parker, Cushing, Fitz, Richards Leighton Hale, Green, the yeast house and the John H. Hartwell farm. John H. Hartwell was deputed to show the property and Col. Needham. who was then living in Vermont, was given ^^I? "■ ?^ attorney to make transfers. About $20,000 were realized from this sale which over three hundred at- tended from towns near and remote The Hale house burned down before the sale, the yeast house was bid in by the mortgagee as was also the Richards place. The Hall farm was bought by Abel H. Fuller, the John Hartwell place by Joshua Waitt, the Cushing house by Mr. Newman, the Leighton house by Lyman Blood, and the Green house by John Hackett. We now come to the general exodus when about twenty-five souls took train together for Wisconsin, their household goods following in three freight cars. The colonists were- Minot Leighton family, five; Rodolph- us Parker family, four; John H. Hart- well family, five; Joseph Cushing fam- ily, three; Walter Keyes and wife, Martha Lunt, Serina Perham. Rebecca Green. Jane Howe, Julia Hale In April, 1860, they arrived in the new country and lived in a large house provided by Mr. Hall until they could erect their own homes on land from out his tract. Mr. Benjamin F. Hartwell and Mrs Lucy M. Richardson, close neighbors' did not approve of the removal and of all those formerly associating, they and their families remained Subsequent to the departure of Mr Hall for the west, one, Isaac Newton of Lunenburg, for a short time at- tempted to arouse the flagging in- terest in Adventism and conducted meetings in the hall, but he did not possess the power of attracting and holding his hearers that his prede- cessor had and his efforts resulted in failure. He would work himself into a high state of frenzy and extending his arms above his head would picture to his congregation the overwhelming — 9 — wrath to come and wildly shout, "Armageddon is rolling on." After 1863, in the Wisconsin coun- try, the fortunes of Mr. Hall greatly increased. His brother William in England had died and left a large es- tate, which after crown taxes were paid, left about $80,000 to each of five heirs in America of which Mr. Hall was one. A large part of this was used in the further development of the western colony and at Germania and Montello, the county seat, mills were built, in the management of which. Col. Need- ham gave valuable time and assist- ance, residing there at intervals. Mr. Hall died at Germania, October 31, 1879, much respected and lamented. As showing the type of man and the consideration he received in the new west, the following sketch is taken from the Montello Express in a No- vember, 1879, issue: "Mr. Hall was probably the most remarkable man that ever lived in Marquette County. Mr. Hall was of all others the most thorough and the most finished busi- ness man in this part of the country, always active^ with more punctuality and system and precision than can be found in the average business man. "He would never wait a single mo- ment for opportunities, but always created them himself and shaped them to his liking; and why should he not? With a large brain, an early education and training and strong robust con- stitution and an active, willing mind, there was no combination of earthly powers that could restrain him or hold him in check." It has been claimed that Mr. Hall had a sort of hypnotic influence over some, and it is sufficient to say that in Groton he finally lost his control over some of his old-time friends who had lost faith in him. This undoubt- edly led to the ending of this advent community which differed from other communities in that they owned noth- ing in common except a common be- lief. Before 1860 John Mekeen Gilson bought the Levi Stone farm just south of school No. 2 beyond the big pine woods, and had sold the dwelling house to one Otis, who moved it up on the hill towards Groton, but he became discouraged and never finish- ed it, and in the early seventies it became a ruin and all the windows in it were out of it, so to speak. What the school boys failed to destroy the winds and weather finished and a depression in the pasture marks the cellar of the house. Near here Russell lane, closed to travel before 1850, led easterly across the railroad to the Sumner Boynton farm on the "other road" and where a small stream flows down beside the the track, Samuel N. Hartwell had repaired an old dam and flowed up a considerable pond for skating on his father's farm to the delight of his youthful companions;, as it is to-day for the Groton School boys. The pasture was sold in 1860 by Mr. Hartwell to Mr. John M. Gilson and is now a part of the holdings of the last-mentioned school and used for golf links. The house occupied in the sixties by Noah Moulton was the one built for Nabby Stanley before 1835. Another old landmark is the big roof house at the top of the hill on the Ayer-Groton road, which, when purchased by Mrs. Lucy M. Richard- son, was really two houses close to- gether. Mrs. Richardson had Benja- min F. Hartwell cover the whole with one large roof and fill in between with other rooms, not a difficult job for Mr. Hartwell, who as a climax to his building career erected for the town the new High school building in 1870, at Groton Centre. Mrs. Richardson sold the big roof house to Benjamin Needham for his occupancy, when he operated the yeast factory and she also sold the Richards place to Mrs. Ann Gilson. An account of the Community would be incomplete without mention of the associations of old No. 2, or Moors school as it was afterwards called by vote March 2, 1874, from the Moors family who lived near it for genera- tions on the the Junction road. This schoolhouse was probably built in 1792, with several others and the old hipped-roof was replaced in 1856, by the present one. Dr. Samuel A. Green, the historian of Groton, informs me that the pres- ent building was standing in 1817, as he was often reminded by his father. Dr. Joshua Green, who taught school there for one year, during his col- lege course at Harvard which extend- ed over the years 1814 to 1818. 10 — lliill«-r Hiiih School. IJiilIt 1S7(». House (if tho lliji Hoof. 1 s.'T — 1!»11. .awreiioe Aejuleiii.'* — Seooinl Uiiildiii!^. Uedioateil Jliue 20, 1871. Moors School. 1792 — 1911. It is doubtful it a complete list of teachers of this school will ever be made, for the old records of the schools of Groton are rather brief and some of the loose sheets or books are undoubtedly lost. The list of teachers and pupils for the earlier years will probably never be fully known, but the names here given have been obtained from vari- ous sources, chiefly from the registers since 1851. The extended list of pupils is interesting as showing the names of families living in the community neighborhood during that period. For many years it was the custom to have a woman teacher in the sum- mer term and a man teacher in the winter when the big boys attended and he was supposed to be able to thrash all whom he judged to need it. The list of teachers so far obtained is as follows: 1802-3. John Farrar. 1817. Joshua Green. 1818 to 1847. Curtis Lawrence; Clifford Belcher; Maria Nutting; Elizabeth Jacobs; Cynthia Jacobs; Artemas Longley. 1847. Harriet B. Harwood; Curtis Lawrence. 1849. Susan F. Lawrence; J. Otis Whitney. 1850. Agnes B. Pollard; Hollis Carr. 1851. Agnes B. Pollard; John P. Towne. 1852. Alma Willard; Alden Ladd. 1853. Agnes B. Pollard; Alden Ladd. 1854. Mary E. Andrews; Mary P. Baker. 1855. Mary P. Baker; Charles O. Thompson. 1856. Jane E. Davis; Solomon Flagg. 1857. Amanda Parsons; J. E. West- gate. 1858. Elizabeth Graham; Cecil F. P. Bancroft. 1859. Susan F. Bancroft; Cecil F. P. Bancroft. 1860. Susan F. Bancroft; Rufus Liv- ermore. 1861. Susan F. Bancroft; George A. Bruce. 1862. Julia M. Page; Charles E. Bigelow. 1863. Emma C. Hartwell; Emma C. Hartwell. 1864. Emma C. Hartwell; Benjamin H. Hartwell. 1865. Lizzie S. Jaquith; Maria Wright. 1866. Fannie E. Wright; James C. C. Parker. 1867. Fannie E. Wright; Jennie Wright. 1868. Cynthia A. Goodnow; Andrew F. Reed. 1869. Arabella Prescott; Andrew F. Reed. 1870. Jennie A. Hunt; Jennie Wright, two terms. 1871. Jennie Wright, three terms. 1872. Jennie Wright; Lucy Hill; El- len M. Torrey. 1873-4-5-6. Ellen M. Torrey. 1877. Ellen M. Torrey Mason, thir- teen terms in all. 1877. Clara F. Woods, three terms. 1878. Clara F. Woods; Abby D. Pen- niman; J. H. Warren. 1879. Anna Bancroft, two terms; Sarah F. Longley, one term. 1880-1891. Sarah F. Longley, thirty- six terms. 1892. Dora L. Bailey taught in winter. 1892-3. Nannette J. May, three terms. 1893. M. Leola Wright, one term. 1893. Sarah F. Longley, one term. 1894-1907. Sarah F. Longley, forty- two terms. 1908. Mary H. Kimball, two terms. 1908-1911. Sarah F. Longley, eight terms. In the above list where there are two names the first name in each year was the teacher for the spring term and the second for the winter term, which extended over into the next year and both terms varied somewhat in length according to the amount of money available in the district. The two Bancrofts teaching in 1859 were sister and brother, as were also the two Hartwells who taught in 1864. Mr. Bancroft afterwards became principal of Phillips Academy at An- dover, Mass., and Mr. Hartwell was the late Dr. Hartwell of Ayer, who was a successful teacher, before he entered upon the profession in which he became so eminent. In the winter of 1859 he was a pupil in the same school with his brother Harris. During the years of the long service of Miss Longley at her request she was relieved that she might spend a season in California, and her total number of terms of teaching at this school including the present one, is eighty-eight. Now that we are older grown we are inclined to excuse our dear old — 11 — teachers for sundry penalties inflicted upon us for misbehavior. We think to-day, that we would never again merit punishment and be obliged to toe the mark or hold our finger on a particular nail head in the floor with bended back and watch at the knot hole until we caught the little mouse. One old scholar recalls how a lot of boys had to "squat" in a row "down front," sitting on the calves of their legs, as a punishment for prolonging their recess on the ice at the pond in the pasture. They never forget that difficult task. How did we ever manage to sit un- der the teacher's desk, where we would be in readiness to accept the promised punishment after school. Never again would we put a board on the chimney to smoke out the school so that we might have a recess and be compelled to carry the smoking stove out of doors, fire and all. We wish now we had been teacher's favorite scholar so that "me an' " Charlie could go over to the spring and get a pail of water and the far- ther spring was the one selected, of course. When the spelling match was on how slyly we would miss the word because we hated to go above our dear schoolmate and she shyly and perhaps half unwillingly accepted the intended favor and thanked us with her smile. When we were quite younger what a disgrace it was to be made to sit on the girl's side by the side of a girl. Still we have all changed since then. The older ones always coveted the back seats even if they had to stretch to make their feet touch the floor. How delighted the scholars were when our teacher was permitted to make an ascension in the balloon after it had alighted at the Sumner Graves farm on Septem- ber 27, 1871. These were only incidents out of a countless number occurring in a very busy school. All the quarrels and petty jealousies in scholarship and otherwise are smoothed over and the old scholars can feel that they tried to improve the passing time. Some of the boys and girls went from this school to the academy and high school at Groton Centre, but it was here they laid the foundation for a useful career. The former pupils of old No, 2 now living will hold in loving remembrance those teachers who endeavored to im- plant in their minds a desire for a better education than those who pre- ceded them were permitted to enjoy. On the Moors farm in 1847, lived Benjamin Moors, a venerable man who used to ride about in a yellow chaise, one of the relics of earlier days and near here, as shown on the 1847 map, Horace Evans, grandfather of Harrison E. Evans of Ayer, lived in a house which was moved on wheels by oxen to South Groton to the present Bligh street by Mr. Bligh, a railroad contractor during the construction period. Aaron Mason bought the Moors farm in 1850. The former owner had a large hop field and a hop house on the land where the house of James Culver now stands, but Mr. Mason with strong temperance principles would have none of it. He moved away the hop house, cut up the hop poles for firewood and planted the fields with crops that did not enter into malted liquors. He was blessed with four daughters — Lizzie, before mentioned; Susan, who married Philip D. Dick- sou; Ellen, who married Valancourt Stone, and Martha, who married Al- onzo E. Willis. Mr. Mason moved to South Groton in 1855, after he had sold to Elisha Gould Culver of West Hartford, Ver- mont, and for a while he lived at the present J. H. Whitcomb house and on Cambridge street in a house near Columbia street. He then built the house now occupied by Mrs. Ella Stone, where he died April 8, 1875, aged seventy-five years, — five years af- ter the death of Mrs. Mason. Their four daughters lie beside their parents in the Mason lot in Woodlawn Cemeterj' at Ayer. Mr. Culver sold the farm to Mr. Har- riman and he, in 1859, to William Chase and Mr. Chase in 1867 sold it to Nathan Franklin Culver who had married Mary Farnsworth, a ward of "Aunt Betsey" Farnsworth. On the road towards Groton as early as 1834, there lived John Jackson Graves, who owned most of the land where the Groton School buildings now are. Mr. Graves was a country trader and butcher, and was full of palaver, jovial and good na- tured, and was familiarly known as "Jack" Graves, by virtue of his two — 12 — Fives Court. Aariiu Masou H«»iue. ISoO — lS."»n. Erected 1820. 1-lnif I Ji,f Jul 1 qr l^jf r| Grofoii \<'iHUMiiy. Krccfeil i'iV.i — I)iii-iie